Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Stuart Grazier, Co-Founder of Storehouse Mastermind

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Stuart Grazier is a retired Navy pilot who served 20 years in the military. During a 14-month deployment to Iraq in 2008/2009, Stuart had the opportunity to do a deep-dive study into real estate investing and learned about the power of passive income. Through endless learning, lots of determination, and continuous action, he and his family have become financially free. From house-hacking (before the term was coined), wholesaling, and flipping houses, to investing in real estate mortgage notes, private lending, commercial property syndications, and buying cash-flowing rental properties, he and his family have reached financial independence.Stuart and his family now own a portfolio of over $600,000 in performing mortgage notes, a personal portfolio of 22 single-family rental properties, a commercial office building, an RV park, a mixed-use commercial building (2 retail and 10 apartments), and is a General Partner in 2 mobile home park syndications. He has also been a Limited Partner investor in multiple multi-family syndications. Additionally, Stuart owns and manages a $5M hard-money lending fund, and is co-founder of a turnkey real estate company where they are providing rehabbed, cash-flowing rental properties to their network of investors. Starting in June of 2018, his company Storehouse 3:10 Ventures has acquired, rehabbed, and sold approximately 200+ turnkey rental properties, averaging 3-5 properties per month. Stuart is also the co-founder of a Men’s Mastermind Group, which aims to network, educate, and connect other men that are wanting to grow as husbands, dads, and leaders within their community.Stuart has been married to his beautiful wife Kristel for 15 years, and they have two amazing children, Kollins (9 year 9-year-old girl) and Wells (6 year 6-year-old boy), and they reside in Parker, CO.Learn more:https://storehouse310.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartgrazier/Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/elite-real-estate-leaders-podcastSource: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-stuart-grazier-co-founder-of-storehouse-mastermind

Welcome to the Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group, bringing you interviews with the best real estate and mortgage professionals, empowering you to understand the current trends in the housing market so that you make the American dream your reality. Enjoy today's episode. Welcome to the Elite Real Estate Leaders podcast. Today we have with the Stuart Grazier, who's the co-founder of Storehouse 310 Ventures. Stuart, welcome to the program. Mike, thanks so much.

for having me on. I'm excited for this conversation. Yes, I always love learning from people and perspectives and life stories and what brings you to the industry. So I'm excited to hear about what you're doing at Storehouse 310 ventures. But get us started off with your story yourself and your background. How did you get into the real estate industry? Yeah, thanks. It's been an interesting journey for sure. So I am a 20-year retired Navy pilot, Navy officer. I started that journey in college. I went to the Naval Academy.

And I have always had just an entrepreneur spirit. I was the guy in college, like selling the underground t-shirts around the dormitory. But, you know, I started doing that. And then I really got interested in just other business building and real estate investing. I graduated from college and I went to flight school in Pensacola. of Florida. And a good friend of mine that was there at the time with me was his father was in real estate. And he was, they were buying raw land over, uh, in Florida and also in Alabama and told me what he was doing. I was like, I'm kind of one of those like action takers. Like, uh, I just go try something

and figure out how to do the rest of it later. Um, so that's kind of what I did. I went over to, uh, the Gulf shores of Alabama. And, uh, I met with a realtor and he showed me a raw piece of land and a new development. Uh, it was for sale for, I think, 45. $5,000. I put $5,000 down, refinanced the rest of it, and just sat on it while I was in flight school. A hurricane came through like three months later and basically wiped out everything and I pretty much thought my investment was gone. But there was nothing much I could do for it and just sat on it. And then nine months later, that same realtor reached out to me. He's like, hey, your, your lot is the last one in the development and someone wants to buy it for double what you paid for

it. And from then on, I was hooked on real estate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because, It sat there, sat there, and then it created a benefit for you. So now that was raw land. What got you into other types of investing? Yeah, so that was kind of the hook. It got me really interested in it. I ended up moving to San Diego for my first duty station. And I took that pot of money that I had acquired. And I went and put that as a down payment on a single family house in San Diego. It's really expensive in San Diego. So I actually partnered with a really good friend of my. line that we went on on a house on the beach, 50, 50 partners. And we, you know, quote unquote, house hacked. The new term is house hacking. But back then, that really wasn't talked about. And so we ended up, you know, we were young, single guys. And we rented out all the rest of the bedrooms to our fellow, you know, Navy buddies that were, you know, they're at the squadron with us. And we rented out every room to include, like, our garage slash basement to a guy who, like,

put a mattress on the floor and, uh, wow, to that out. Um, and, and I just got really interested. So I just started educating myself, reading books, listening to podcasts, going to conferences, going to, you know, investor meetups. And I ended up going to a three-day boot camp seminar by a guy named Robert Allen. I don't know if you remember that. Oh, yeah. No money down. Down guy. Yep.

Yeah. So I went to that boot camp. I got hooked. I paid for all the education. And so I just went all in and just started trying all these different strategies I was using. I was trying to do lease options and rent to. and, you know, you know, seller financing, creative financing, all these different strategies and just went all in on trying, you know, my hand at all these different things. I failed a lot

along the way. But, you know, I gained some, I gained some great education and got some wins along the way, too. So, you know, along my Navy journey, we would continue to move to different locations. And I would, I would learn something. I would go try it. I'd try to do some house flipping. I'd try to buy some rental properties. And so I just kind of continued to go along my journey while still active duty in the Navy. In about the 15 year mark, I was stationed in Italy with my best friend from college. He had bought some rental properties. I had bought some rental properties. And we both had not the greatest experiences with these, quote, turnkey companies. And his was almost to like fraudulent level. And he ended up having to fire everybody that was

in that turnkey company and go find his own team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. out of due necessity. And from there, we started talking about building our own business. And then we started, you know, building a team of people that we could, you know, know, know, like and trust, and that were experts in that area in the field, in the market that we were in. And we started buying houses ourselves, using private money, private lenders, rehabbing them, turning them into rental properties, keeping them some from ourselves. And then also selling those as Turing your products to other military guys, Navy guys that were wanting to get into the investing space and own some rental properties. I love it.

There's so much we can unpack in that. But one thing that jumped to mind is one of the things you said the word win, and it makes me think about that old cliche thing. Like, you know, you'll stand it from the crowd and you go, okay, you either win or you. And the crowd goes lose. And you're like, no, you win or you learn. And some of those school of hard knocks things that you described, you know, there's really no book that. is going to get you know right now if you were to highlight every single lesson you learn from a mistake or a hard thing that's not in any book it's a snippet from that book a

snippet from that mastermind it's your experience and so now you are synthesizing and repackaging that up from what you've learned and now it becomes this innovative vibrant thing now because yes people know the real estate industry but they don't know it the way you've done it I think that is so huge so what we're looking about on some of those? What were some of those lessons that you had to learn kind of the hard way? Yeah, I think one of the biggest lessons is, honestly, I think real estate investing is a team sport. And for quite a few years, I tried to do everything on my own. I would, you know, like I said, I would get educated, I would learn something. I would go try it. And it was just me.

It was just me trying to do everything and trying to figure out every little piece of the big puzzle. And it's a big puzzle. And there's a lot of pieces to real estate investing. And so not until later on, not until, you know, I added my business partner and we started our full-blown company that I learned that, you know, doing it with another person is really fun. But then from there, we actually started doing it with more people and really finding the people that could, you know, have the experience in the certain specific items, contractors, realtors, property managers, you know, handymen. And then also we built out a team of network of other investors. So then we got to be really good at like raising money and, you know, partnering on deals. And that's where it really gets to be fun because you can kind of tag team stuff and partner with stuff. And you're doing it with people you like and you know and you trust.

And you can really, you know, go farther or faster with a team. Do you find that some of the people you are working with or who are attracted to you are military? Do you have that as a focus? Not that you turn away anyone else. but does that seem to crop up a lot? It does. Yeah, we have a lot of investors, a lot of our friends that were prior military and some that are still in the military.

I think that naturally happens just because that's where you came from. That's who you are. So, you know, like minds attract. And, you know, there's already a common ground that builds that first layer of trust because we're all following that same mission. So definitely there is that for sure. sure. I think that, you know, we also really try to build a community and, and partners through just the values that we have and, and really digging in and figure out who individuals are as, you know,

knowing their core values and talking through, you know, what happens in current situations and future situations and really diving in and digging into who that person is before you do business with them or her. Yeah, that was a, that was a great question, Mike. actually that was something that I was kind of pondering on the side too and wasn't going to say. But, you know, Sue, I love that you called this a team sport. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone call it a team sport, but I absolutely love that little tidbit. I'm probably going to take it and use it.

So thank you. But also, you know, how do you find people that you know and trust? How do you actually make someone a partner and, you know, someone that you can work with for a long time. Lots of hard conversations. Honestly, you know, there's there's lots of different ways. Obviously, there's, you know, just, just networking and referrals, friends of friends, you know, saying hello more and having conversations. And, you know, we also have a podcast. And so I think, you know, that platform that is a great way to connect with people, you know, a one to many type connection. You know, I can't

tell you how many times I've I've jumped on phone calls with individuals and that individual will just tell me straight up like, hey, I feel like I know you so well because I listen to your podcast, but we've never talked, but I know you because of your stories and I listen to your podcast and you talk about your family and your values and who you are as a person. And I'm like already trusting you and ready to invest. And this is the first time we've ever talked, but that platform of them listening to to us on a podcast is a really great way to build, like a building and trust with individuals.

100%. You know, I'm looking at your website and you've got some focuses that you are serving your clients with designing an abundant life field with faith, family, and freedom. That's not the typical type of messaging you hear with a real estate investment club mastermind kind of a thing. So it's almost like real estate meets life coaching. Yeah, it's way more than just investing.

We're trying to build a community of like-minded individuals and investors to really do life with and push each other to become better humans, not just investors. We started the company, the background of storehouse 310. We really had this idea that we could take our businesses and just really be a serving and giving platform to serve and give. give to other nonprofit organizations, charities that we know and love. And so, you know, we decided at the very beginning of our business start was we would take the first 10% of our profits and put it into a donor advised fund, which in itself is a nonprofit. And then we would go and partner with other nonprofits that are doing great work in areas that, you know, that are important to us. And so storehouse 310, 310 comes from Malachi 310 in the Bible. and they talk about bringing a tithe to the storehouse.

That's kind of the background of that. That's really cool. I love that. And talk a little bit more about building that community of relationships because when you've got that KLT factor, no like and trust, now you can do a lot because people understand you don't have something out to get them or take advantage of. It's like we're all in this together. So how does that relationship lead to better real estate investing? Yeah. So I'll give you an example that just happened just recently that maybe can kind of, you know, bring it all together.

So we started a men's mastermind group about two years ago. It originally was called storehouse mastermind, but then we rebranded a little bit to kind of tie it more to what we're all about and called it the kinetic man mastermind. And in that mastermind, there are tons of real estate investors doing different deals all over the place, different assets and strategies. and at the end of last year, I was having a meeting with our CPA. And our CPA was like, hey, she was really honest with me. She's like, you guys didn't do a very good job of tax planning this year. And you're going to need to do something, you know, kind of at the end of the year here to kind of lower your income. So you're going to be, you know, taxed on.

And I was like, okay. So I sent a blast message out to all the men in our mastermind group. I was like, hey, guys, I know there's a bunch of investors in here. Is there anyone that has a deal kind of last minute that I could, you know, invest into as a passive investor? Specifically, are there any ones that's doing like, you know, bonus depreciation, cost segregation, anything like that that could, you know, lower my taxes for the, on the K-1? And one of the men was like, yep, we have an apartment complex that we're closing on in two days. We're looking for one more spot. Here it is.

You know, I'll send you over the private placement memorandum and take a look. And I know the guy. I trust the guy. He's a military veteran. I know his family. I know his core values. You know, I tell him I love him because he's a good friend of mine.

I'd tell you what, I barely looked at the deal. I looked at it very quickly just to kind of get the, you know, the raw information. But because I know him and like him and know his core values and know he's going to do well by me and be a good steward of my money, I had it really a day to sign the data of the line.

get the paperwork over to him. Wire the money before, like, you know, I could call it quits at the end of the tax year. And so, like, just that alone, like, having that community and close friendship to know that, like, a quick, yep, I got this deal. Let me look it over. I know you. I love you. I like you. Let's do this deal together.

And then, like, you know, it's fun to do business with your friends and people you really enjoy hanging out with. Well, we've all gotten those emails or messages like, oh, I've got this thing. and you need and you just look at the from email and you're like, oh my goodness, come on. It's ABC, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 at blah. And you're like, this is just spam. Well, when that email went out to that tight group, that person knew you. You knew that person.

It was just a perfect scenario. So that's exactly what I was thinking and looking for. It's like, you know what? If we, you know, like way back in the day and I'll bet you've done some reading with Napoleon Hill, think you grow rich, his mastermind. That's one of the benefits of that mastermind because everyone has each other's back, everyone's best interest in heart. And when you said, I was told this and I'm looking for that, someone stepped up and said, hey, take a look at this. You had a level of trust. Now, you looked close enough to make sure it was a good deal. And it was. But I think that is just a

spectacular benefit of being involved with a tight knit group of people that have shared values. That's right. Yeah, for sure. And like I said, it's just, It's way more fun to be doing deals together with people that, you know, you like to hang out with and go grab a beer with. And, you know, you go do property tours together and, you know, have the like-minded values and know you their families and you hang out. And, you know, we talk about other things besides just real estate. We talk about how their families are doing it. How you're doing as a dad and how you're doing as a husband and, you know, health and, you know, all these other areas of our life that are, you know, just as important or more. And, you know, it's just you do life together.

So is there a limit to that mastermind in where I'm going with it is this. A mastermind should not be 4,327 people because it should be a tight-knit group. But is there like a mastermind and then like an inner circle where you really go deeper, deeper? But how do you build that team of trusted partners? And then is there a limit to that where you really want to make sure that everyone's getting benefit from the mastermind? Yeah, it's a great question. We open the doors a few times a year, and we kind of do, we treat it like small groups, almost like a church small group, 10 to 15 men. And those, that group will stay together the entire time and talk through, you know, all the core curriculum items that we discuss.

And then we also will have like kind of bigger all calls where everyone gets together. Maybe we'll have a guest speaker come in and talk on a different subject. But you get to be really close with your, you know, we call them tribes. and you get to be really close with the 10 individuals stay together in its entirety as long as you are a member in the mastermind group. So you'll get really tight-nate group with diving in into the bigger problems. And that allows then people to really get to know each other. And then they know more than just the business side, the real estate side, the opportunity. They get to know those people as a person and really the definition of that tribe is, you know, we're almost like,

like circling the wagons and watching out for each other's back. And I think that's a huge opportunity for people considering, you know, investing to learn from people like, like you guys. Yeah, 100%. And, yeah, you know, you, you know, when you know, you know, the individual and their background and their family and their hobbies and, you know, the goods and the bads, you know, it just makes it for a better investment experience just in general.

100%. Well, I tell you, it's really interesting hearing what you've built and why you've built it. We all hear the cliche, you know, what's your why, but your why is so powerful. It draws you. It pulls you. It doesn't push you. So hearing your why and your story is just so powerful and what you guys are doing. So if someone is interested in learning more about what you guys have going on and being able to take advantage of some of the opportunities that Stores 310 Ventures has, what's the best way someone can learn more and then also reach out in. connect with you. Yeah, so I'll lead people to our podcast. We're, we just hit the, uh, over the 300 episode mark. Um, it's called the kinetic man podcast. Um, and, uh, it's, it's hosted by myself and my business partner, David. Um, and we run, uh, the podcast. We have a, a men's mastermind group called the connect man mastermind. And then our, our, our real estate

business is storehouse 310 ventures. Uh, the website is storehouse 310.com for that. Um, and I'm very active on on LinkedIn and lastly we have a two bi-monthly newsletter called the manifesto and we just talk a lot about finances health wealth kids parents you know all kinds of stuff that are applicable to just being a better human really and if they're interested in joining our newsletter you can go to the kineticman.com backslash newsletter awesome well stew thanks so much for coming on it's been a real pleasure talking with you. Yeah, thanks, Mike, and Tia. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Elite Real Estate Leaders podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group. To learn more about the topics mentioned on today's show or listen to past

episodes, visit www.com.com.com.