Epic Real Estate Investing - EPREI 046 : How to Get Lucky in Real Estate Investing

Episode Date: January 9, 2013

Believe it, or not, much about real estate investing success can be summed up to luck. For that matter, most successful people in any endeavor are just that, lucky. How would you like some of that luck to fall in your lap? On today's episode, Matt and one of his coaching clients discuss how to get lucky in real estate investing... among other invaluable investing tips. Also, Matt has a special announcement about a new service that will enable you to get special attention from Matt for free. Good stuff! Download the free real estate investingcourse, How to Do Deals - No Money Required, at FreeRealEstateInvestingCourse.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Without further delay. Your guru. Sorry. Your guide to a better life through real estate investing. Matt Terrio. Hey, this is Matt Terrio, the rat race escape artist. This is episode 46 of the epic real estate investing podcast. And why the rat race escape artist?

Why this new title? Well, you know, I changed one thing. just one time. And in a very short period, I escaped the rat race forever. And this is the podcast that will show you how to do the very same thing so that you can enjoy life while you're still young enough to enjoy life. Not only will you learn how to escape the rat race, but the intent is that you actually take what you learn and do it. Got it? Deal? Cool. So what is the one thing that I change just one time. You wondering? That's a good question. Well, it's very simple. I stopped focusing on making money and started focusing on creating cash flow. That's the distinction there. I changed that one thing

about myself. I stopped focusing on making money and started focusing on creating cash flow. If you do that, you two can exit this rat race in just a few years, maybe even less. You know, as opposed to taking the making money route for 40 to 50 years and hoping, everything turns out okay. Hope is not a good strategy. You know, at the end of the day, it's up to you, my friend. And, you know, just remember that you are that to me, a friend. And that's why I share this information with you. Because how whack would it be to know something that would absolutely help out a friend, would help you out of your situation, and not share it with you? That'd be really stupid. That'd be terrible. So that's why I'm here to help you get everything that you want

out of life. And unfortunately, we live in a society where life costs money. There is nothing in our life that replaces money in which the way that it serves us. You know, it puts the food in our stomach. It puts the clothes on our back. It puts the roof over our head. It pays the hospital bills. And it allows us to do all of those things for the people that we care about as well. Life costs money. And there's no easier way to make lots of money. Now here's the keyword indefinitely, make lots of money indefinitely than there is through real estate. So that's why we're here, and that's why I'm sharing this information with you. All righty.

So today's show, I'm broadcasting live from Las Vegas, Nevada. I don't know if I sound differently, but I am in a hotel room right now recording this episode. And I'm recording from Las Vegas from the New Media Expo. And I'm here to learn about new and exciting ways of helping you get what you want. And, you know, one of those ways is that I want to answer your questions directly. there's going to be a little shift and some changes going on here at the show. And this is something I've come up with. And I just, I want to help you get your questions answered directly, of which I have been doing

via email. I've been doing a lot of email responses. And thank you for those questions. Keep them coming in. But I want everyone to hear the answers because a lot of the questions get repeated over and over and over again. And I find myself typing out the same answers over and over and over again. And I thought, how cool would it be if I could actually have you all on the show to ask

your questions? then that I thought about it like what a logistical nightmare that would be, at least it would be for me, because I'm not that technically inclined. So the next best thing is you can call in, how's this? You can call in, you can leave a message and then I'll go ahead and I'll play your question over the air. You'll actually hear your voice right here on the show. And then I'll answer your question here so everybody can hear it. I mean, it'll almost be like you were here in the studio with me, sort of. So that part of it is very cool. but ultimately I want to make sure that you get what you want out of spending your time here with me. I want this to be worth your while. You know, I spend a lot of time probably, I don't know, I would estimate 70 to 80% of the time

informing you of what I think you should know. But as I've been mentioning, I want the show to really make a difference for you in your actual results. I don't want you to just leave smarter. I want you to leave this show each time a little bit richer, a little bit wealthier, a little bit more money in your pocket, if that makes sense. So I'm well aware that I don't know at all. By any means, I do not. So I'll continue to share with you what I think you should know,

but I want to level out the ratio a bit to also discussing what you want to know. I mean, perhaps with some of you, I'm just preaching to the choir most of the time, and you just need one or two questions answered to connect the dots. Like, that's what's going to make the difference for you. If you could just have that one question answered, then it's going to click. So my intent is to go to 50-50. That's my intent. 50% of what I think you should know and 50% of what you want to know. And that might sound a little strange right now. Like you just want, just give me what I want to know.

But trust me, you need both. Okay, you really do. You need both. So if you like your questions answered on the podcast, here's what you do. You're going to call 8888. That's an 888888 number, not an 800 number. It's 888 891 7203. and leave a voice message of what you want to know. Record your question there. And here's all that I ask. Just be short, sweet, and to the point with your question, please. And if you have more than one question, that's fine, no problem. Just call multiple times and leave a new question with each voice message.

Separate them for me if you can. And, you know, what I don't want, which is what I frequently get from my emails, okay? This is what I don't want. So how does this real estate thing work? Or can you explain to me how to wholesale? or I need to pay my rent in 12 days and I have no money in credit. What should I do? Okay?

Please don't ask those types of questions. I'm not going to answer those questions. I mean, the answers to those types of questions have filled entire books. I mean, there's entire novels out there that are filled with the information to answer those questions. And I created that free course for you. I created a free course for you to get the step by step of how to get started doing deals with no money or credit.

And I made it as simple as I could. could, but even there, I mean, that's like three hours or so of video instruction. So, keep your questions short, sweet and specific, and I'll do what I can, I guess, to sort of fill in the holes. If I missed anything or if I shared something in the course that didn't quite click or didn't quite make sense, you need clarification on that. Awesome. If you also, if you're in the middle of a deal and you have something going on right now and you're a little stuck, do that. Probably won't be the most timely way to get your question answered, but you can certainly open to do it that way. And if that free course, if you want to get that free course that

I created for you, you can download that at free real estate investing course.com. Free real estate investing course.com. That's where you get that. All righty? So that's that. And we've got the voice message system in place so you can ask me questions directly and get them answered here live on the show. And that number once more time is 888891-7203. Or you can leave me a message of what you think of the show or what I really like to hear is about the results that you're getting from what you're learning here.

from what you're learning inside the academy. I appreciate those messages as well. And for the last time today, the number is 888-891-7203. Speaking of feedback, recently, I just visited iTunes to check in on how my podcast is appearing to the masses, what you guys actually see when you go to iTunes. And I noticed there have been several reviews of the show posted since I last checked, a lot of them actually. You know, those people, they logged into iTunes, they searched for this show,

and they clicked on this podcast and they wrote a review and they gave me a rating and I really, really appreciate that. And I want to acknowledge some of those real quick. Let me see, let me go over here. I'll just do the few that we got in December. From SG, he actually left his email address. I won't leave his email address over the air, but from SG, he leaves me a five-star review. Thank you very much. This is accurate, informative, and solid direction. I have been teaching real estate investing for the past 10 years. Awesome. So he's also a teacher. So many of the students come to class with unrealistic expectations. Get rich quick.

Doesn't require much effort. And my favorite can be done at home and your underwear and bunny slippers. I've heard that one too before. Matt takes the time to accurately provide an overview of various strategies and then subsequently spends time going into the details. A must for those considering real estate as a vehicle to financial freedom. Well, SG, thank you very much for that. The Real Deal.

Five stars. Awesome. From T. Dog Hop. Matt is great. He is unique. of the box, creative and friendly. I love this podcast and listen to it daily. Thanks, Matt, for all the info. T-Dog Hop, you're very, very welcome, and thank you for the review. Kether, I think that's how I say it. Keither, awesome info, another five stars. Very informative, a wealth of knowledge and all

without asking for a dime. Matt is my new hero. Thanks, Keith. And last one from Mr. Matt Larson. Thanks, Matt. You have me on the path of financial freedom. Five more stars. Thank you very much, Matt. Hey Matt, happy new year. I just wanted to thank you so much for your awesome content and motivation. I listened to all of your podcasts and training materials, went out and flipped 12 properties last month with no prior real estate experience. Wow. I quit my 9 to 5 job in October before doing my first deal. I know risky, but I've since made $40,000 wholesaling and things are looking good. Your motivation kept me on course and your training tips, put into action delivered results and money. Now, I can ramp up and build systems and wealth. I owe you beer and

wings at the minimum. Thanks again, Matt. Matt Larson, thank you very much. Awesome. Wow, that one caught me by surprise. That's what I really want to hear. I really want to hear your results. I want to hear how this show is really making a difference for you. And I love giving you the information. I love that you're learning things. I love that it's opening your eyes to new ideas. And I love that you feel good when you leave here. And I love that you feel smarter when you leave here. But I really want to hear about the results. Okay. So thank you for the feedback. All of you. Thanks for the nice words. And it really helps me out. And from what you, from what you, I hear. It also boosts the show's visibility in iTunes so that more people can find it. And I appreciate

that also. So if you've got something to say about the show, please go to iTunes and share that. I really, really appreciate it. Okay. All right? So let's get to today's episode. Finally, right? I know. Sorry about that. I try to keep the announcements up front to a minimum. It's just that today we had a bunch to talk about. So let's get to the meat of today's show. I promised you at the end of the last episode that I'll have another interview for you today. And I do. I'm very excited about this one. I have one of my coaching clients on the line, a guy that's had some really remarkable success. And I'm going to ask him some questions and ask him how he's done it. And I'm always interested in how people can go through the same course, get the same information,

get the same assistance, and yet still come out with wildly different results. So listen to the little nuances in the conversation during this series of interviews. You know, we're right in the middle of this series. And I'll point out what I hear after each interview, but try and pick up, you know, pick up what you think the difference makers are. So listen carefully. Cool? All right.

On the phone, I'm joined by one of my coaching clients. Rick, Rick, welcome to the show. Thanks, Matt. Glad to be here. Awesome. I'm glad that you're here as well. So before we get into your recent accomplishments and successes and your awesome stories, why don't you just tell us a little bit about your background

and what was it about real estate that attracted you? All right. Well, Matt, mine's probably a little unconventional like anybody else's, but I've got almost 20 years in the investment world and have dabbled in real estate probably the last 10 or 12 years, but never really followed through on anything more than buying a piece of property here or doing a flip there. and I believe that in the environment we're in, probably more than ever, that individuals, myself included, have to start looking for different alternatives to create wealth for themselves and income streams. And so that's what got me really focused on getting back into the real estate and actually taking it to a different level. Right, right.

So you're speaking of other types of investments. So why are you so sure? How are you so sure enough to go forward and move and think that real estate was the actual answer? Well, you know, I own stocks. I buy companies through the stock market. You know, traditional allocation of cash, fixed income investments like CDs and government bonds or corporate bonds. If you look at those returns, if you look at a slow growth economy. economy or muddle through is one of the phrases we hear a lot today.

Essentially, we could very well be in a decade or two of single digit type of returns. And obviously we can't predict that. When we look at the fact that you can own real estate at these levels and cash flow real estate and get really double-pid rate to return and the benefits that come along with owning real estate. I'm just a strong believer that you, you, it's hard work, but you've got to have that piece of the puzzle in your portfolio.

And if not, you're going to have to find an alternative. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And for me, I enjoy real estate. I like the physical aspect of it. And so it fits very well. Got it. Got it.

So you've been mildly involved in real estate for a decade or so, I think you said. When I say mild, I've maybe owned three or four properties in the last decade. Okay. Are these counting your personal residences? No. Okay. You're outside of my personal residence. And these are, you know, I would maybe get the itched one, not really knowing what I was doing.

and I'd add a rental property or I'd be involved with somebody else doing a flip. It was just a handful of things. I never really was fully engaged. Right. And what prevented you from being fully engaged? That's a question I ask myself all the time. Honestly, I think it was because I've been in management as well as taking care of clients in the investment world, and that was a 60-hour, you know, it is a 60-hour work week,

and so it took away from real estate just wasn't a priority for me. So what is it that's happened in your life recently that's led to your decision to take this more seriously and more as a, I guess, just more hours of your day. I don't know if it's full-time for you yet, but what's led to this decision to get serious about it now? Well, when you start to think, maybe it's my age, but when you get to a certain level and you start to look and, you know, I focus a lot on working with people who are trying to retire or are already retired, and you look around and you realize there are no pensions out there anymore, very few, and the pensions that are out there are underfunded. You look at what's going on with Social Security and you quickly run. realize that you can, you know, you can save, but you can't predict what your returns are. And it just, like I said, you know, my idea, I've got to learn.

I've got to secure it for my family. But maybe also it helps educate me so that I can help folks nerdily answer questions and, you know, and provide, provides the others. Mm-hmm. Good. So we met. You gave me a call and you said you wanted to take on the coaching program. And I'm always curious. This is a rather self-serving question, but I'm always curious, why me? Why the Epic Pro Academy and Epic Real Estate investing? Why did you choose this? Matt, it's a great question. And I think you deserve just a lot of, a lot of accolades. Because I have, through the years, I've attended conferences, you know, the weekends, seminars where they try to sell you packages. Uh, I've, I've been to the events where they have, you know, 20 years and, uh,

Hey, apartments. It's good and this guy. He's doing it this way and that. And, uh, the problems I've found in those circumstances is, I could never get off center. And, and even when I, you know, I might try, uh, apartments, for example. And, and I would use that or. tax liens, you know, you just learn different things, but I never really found anybody that was

willing to talk without some kind of obligation. And, you know, after listening to your shows, I'm a runner. And so I love to listen to podcasts. And one day, I literally just put real estate investing in. Your information popped up, and I downloaded a series of shows. And And from there, you know, you said, hey, here's my phone number, call. And I just really liked the content. I think you share a lot with listeners that others won't. You know, they all kind of tease you and then say, hey, buy my course. You have a different approach.

And I felt like you were a guy that would be honest but fair in helping me get where I wanted to be and a little more confident and thinking in a little different manner. And so that's why I called you. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you. So, you know, with the coaching program, you get free access to the Epicurl Academy. How has that been for you, the experience inside of the academy?

It's been fabulous. It helps me, first of all, get organized, which I think, you know, it comes down to processes are important, people matter and being able to utilize some of your experience has been helpful, but also challenge me, I think the biggest challenge, and maybe especially for a guy that's worked in the financial world, the investment world for so long, you start to believe certain things, certain rules, and you have challenged that in my mind and gotten me to think outside the box when it comes to asking questions and looking at financing and how to put deals together. And so I just think I think it's great. It's been powerful for me.

Awesome. So you say that you've been challenged. What have been, I guess, have you had any major epiphanies or any myths that have been completely shattered for you inside of real estate investing thus far? I think the biggest myth is expecting that I already know the answer and that or something to the effect of, hey, I'm going to go to them and inquire about, here's the way I would be willing to buy a property and think, and they'll never go for that. That kind of, you know, you get that little voice in your head and you've been able to shatter that. that for me. And you realize that people have all sorts of different motivations for doing the things they do. Right, right. You know, that's one of the, I clarify me if I'm wrong, but I think

you're under this line of thinking, is that, and I see this a lot, not just with new real estate investors, with seasoned real estate investors. Because of their past experience, they do a lot of the thinking for the seller. Like, they're almost negotiating the deal on the seller's behalf, so they won't ask for what they really want. They're going to ask for what they think. think the seller will accept. Is that what you're getting at? That's exactly what I'm getting at. Yeah. It's, you know, just because you wouldn't do something doesn't mean the seller wouldn't do something and that stops so many people from their progress. So awesome. If you got that

epiphany, then you're going to be just fine from here this point forward. How is the actual coaching, the interaction, we have a weekly call? How has that helped you? You know, I think especially early on, you challenged the thing that I really liked, was you challenged me to not just go do it, but have the goals and the reason behind going out and doing it the drivers. And, you know, and that was great. And now it's just evolved to a point where you're either confirming kind of what I'm doing or maybe getting me to think, of it from a different angle, but also the accountability. And I feel accountable in that relationship.

And I think if you're going to do real estate, there's a benefit to having somebody to help keep you accountable because we've all wanted to do things. And then we come up with reasons not to do them. And so, you know, I've gotten a lot out of that. Good, good. And you said that, like, a lot of our roads, we're here right at the end of the few, three months of our coaching session and, you know, a lot of our calls are really short. In fact, we've even sent a couple texts to each other, no need for a call today unless

you won't have something to say. And what that kind of just demonstrates is that the business isn't that difficult. It's actually rather simple. I mean, it's hard work, but it is a simple business. And once you can start on the right track, you know, the coaching part, hey, you know, by the time you get to call eight, nine, or ten with me, you know, Rick, whether you have, whether you did your work or not that week, right? That's right.

You can't fool Matt. But, I mean, you get to the point where you can't fool yourself either. That's exactly right. You're holding yourself accountable. Absolutely. That's awesome. And that's ultimately what I want for everyone that comes through the Epic Pro, whatever, whether you're listening to the podcast and we never do business together.

You take on the full coaching program, whatever it is, I want you to be self-sufficient. And that's my ultimate goal for you. So up to the, now we've been there, like I said, almost a few months. Why don't you share what you've accomplished so far? Well, I'm sitting outside of a property I just recently purchased. But I have, gosh, Matt, I've probably put in 15 offers on houses since we've been doing that. I've got three. I've got one in ownership, two under contract, one that I'll close on right here at first of the year.

And we've been able to, we've made just, the interesting part is the connections that we've made. And the deal flow is starting to pick up. You know, I'm looking at deals every day and new ones are coming across. It's interesting because not that I'm not out looking. I'm always, I'm out running in the morning. I'll run by a house and I'll notice that there's a four-sell and it'll make me take a close look. But I've got contacts that I've made who I've positioned, you know, and you've helped me do that, positioned the right way who are now bringing deal flow to me.

And that gives me the opportunity to look at more deals, analyze more deals, and make offers on more deals. And so, you know, right now I just recently picked up this latest one on an REO. And we've already got a renter ready to go and we're not even closed on the house yet. Right. So, so exactly right. It gets me excited. I enjoy it. That's awesome.

I've been watching, just watched the season finale of X Factor last night. And I got so annoyed and irritated every time one of the coaches' students would perform, they'd always say, I'm just so proud to be your coach. And I was like, oh, my God, here we go again. But Rick, I got to say, I'm really proud to be your coach. Well, and I'm honored that you've been helping me, and you've been coaching, Matt, it really is helpful. And I think you said it, if they listen to the podcast and if they see the material that you offer anybody,

and then if they really think, you know, if listeners are sitting there are going, you know, there's something to this real estate, I've always believed it, but I don't know how to, I don't know how to do it. I would tell you, you know, you think about investing in education. And this is an investment, this is a life investment in education that has big dividends. And if you want to go down that journey, you know, Tiger Wood has a coach. We've all heard the cliches before, but that's what was really instrumental in my thinking, was if I'm going to go do this, I can either do it on my own and make my mistakes,

or I can get some help from somebody that truly wants to help that's got some good information that's done it before. and, you know, Matt, you know, and I will say I'm not being paid for this. So this is my honest opinion. If people are thinking that real estate is something they want to do, they really owe it to have a conversation with you because you're really up front. Hey, if you don't think it's a good fit, then that's a deal. But there's a lot to be had from that relationship, and I'm seeing the benefits of it. So I appreciate it.

That's awesome. You know, you point out one thing there that I experience all the time with listeners and people that send me emails and just conversations I have at real estate clubs and stuff is the mindset, in my opinion, the mindset that is for sure to fail at this, that is absolutely for sure to fail at this, is the person that's out there looking for, okay, how do I just get my first paycheck? I just want to get my first paycheck. I just need to know enough to do a wholesale deal and then my life will be okay.

or what's the quickest and easiest way to do this? And something that you had said, and it's no surprise that you're having the success that you're having because you have the right mindset. And I talk so much about mindset, so much about thinking. And so many people think that that part's the fluff part or it's the rah-rah part. But it's so important to have the right thinking going through your head. Is that you approach this with, hey, this is a lifetime decision that I'm making. I need to do this right.

And that really is what real estate investing is all about. I mean, it's not just let me flip a few houses so I can put some extra money. money in in the bank and you can certainly do that but it's really hard to do that but if you jump into it with the long-term mindset that you have and you know there's no surprise that you're getting the results that you're getting it's no surprise that you're creating the result or the the relationships that you're getting and now deals are coming across your desk you're having to chase fewer and fewer deals so i mean you're just like a perfect example of someone that jumps into this right and takes it on and really puts in the work you know you're a perfect example of the results that

you'll get. And a lot of it's happenstance. A lot of it seems like it's luckies. A lot of it just seems like, wow, that just, that was a fluke. But, you know, flukes and happenstance and luck, that all happens to people that actually do the right activities. And when it's back with the right mindset, it's unstoppable. So, congratulations. And it sounds kind of like a stroke fest right now, but I'm just, I'm getting a lot out of your, a lot of epiphanies are coming up to my head as I'm listening to you talk. Go ahead. Well, Matt, what I was going to say, as you hit it right on the head, you know, early on in our conversations, those doubts were in my mind as well. You know, hey, I'll never get these flows.

You would talk about the great deals that you were doing or talk about other people, have other people on your show. And I remember thinking, yeah, that sounds great, but, you know, you almost start to rationalize. Well, I don't have to do that as much. Or maybe I won't have that much luck. And the truth of it is, with just a few daily habits and, you know, putting yourself, positioning yourself a little differently. Boy, it's just amazing the thing. If you told me six months ago that I would have people coming to me to talk about deals

and wanting to work, you know, and people that I didn't even know. and to have the amount of these deals going on right now, I tell you're crazy. And I would tell you the other thing is I run an investment firm, you know, a brokerage firm. So this isn't my – this is a secondary thing for me, but it's a long-term thing to secure my financial future along with my other stuff. And everybody has those doubts. But if you do the daily stuff, it just – I hate to say. It's just one day you're sitting there and you're like, wow, it's just happening. You know, so you absolutely got to do it.

Awesome. And I'm sure there's probably a lot of people listening right now, like you were listening at one time. Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay, whatever. Sure, that happens for you, but not me. It didn't start out this way for you, though. So what have you found to be the most effective way to generate leads to find deals?

Matt, I have done just about everything. I've looked in the paper. I've followed Zillow. You know, I've, we use the yellow letter all the time. The truth be told, I'm probably behind on about four or five calls that I need to return of people that we send out yellow letters that have actually returned. If anybody hasn't listened to the yellow letter or anybody has listened to the yellow letter and doesn't think it works, That is amazing. It is too simple to be true, but we've gotten some that way.

The others have been other investors. I've gotten to know other real estate investors. I think that's important. And I will tell you one thing that I've learned, Matt, is I traditionally have not been a fan of the realtor. I don't see much value there, but I have met one or two that actually have been beneficial. And so, you know, I think if you're very particular, you can get some value there as well.

So I guess what I'm telling you is there's no one magic way. And you know this because this is what you teach. You've got to have multiple strategies. But I know what I'm looking for and I share that. And like I said, Now it's turned into a situation where I get people that will call me as well, you know, with deals because they know what I'm looking for. Right.

You know, you were just telling me before we started this call and I told you to save the story about something that happened this morning. Can you go ahead and start that story again? Well, yeah, I was, you bet, Matt. I was telling you that, you know, I made an offer on another house this morning. And the whole way that I even got to that deal. was about two weeks ago, a real estate investor had contacted me, said, hey, I think you might have an interest in this deal. Here's the code to the house, go check it out. So I drove out.

I took a look at the house. I liked it. And so as I was coming out of the house and locking it up, I looked over next door, and there was a for sale sign. So I thought, initially, I thought, well, I didn't think I would give a call or anything. I thought, well, heck, I'll just call and see what they're asking. And so I called the realtor, and she was nice, said, this is what they're asking. And I said, okay, thank you. If I have any more questions, I'll give you a call. And about three or four hours later that same day, that realtor, who didn't know me from Adam, called me and said, hey, if you're interested, this house is pre-foreclosure. And I think we can work. I know who the bank is, and let's go in and make an offer. And she said, and I said,

well, what do they want? And she said, well, let me go see what the details are and I'll give you a call back. So fast forward to today. We sat down and we made an offer. And she's working to secure that well below market and we'll see what happens. So, but it was, I guess the point that is, Matt, I would have never thought that I was making an offer. on the next door, you know, the house next door. Right. And, by the way, I did make an offer using your, you know, here's the three ways that I would buy this house.

I did make that offer to the other, to the other real estate investor as well. Awesome. Awesome. It is pretty awesome, isn't it? It is. It is, you know. And what do you point out there and whether you realize it's actually happening or not because you do have a little bit of.

intuition, you know, to notice, recognize an opportunity while you're out there working. And, you know, yes, the yellow letters are very effective. The big yellow, ugly signs, they work. I'm not a big fan, but they work. Yeah. Classified ads and all that kind of stuff works. But when you start, when you actually get a call from a yellow letter, this is a lesson for everybody right now, when you actually get a call from a yellow letter and you go out to meet that person,

yes, you're focused on meeting that person and look at that property. but keep your eyes open around you. I mean, Rick, you saw the house that next door was for sale. You placed a call there, and now you're submitting two offers instead of one. And that happens all the time. You'll see another house down the street that's under construction. And you go over there and you talk and you finally and you connect with another real estate investor that's doing business in that area.

Great way. I get so many of my deals from other investors. Another way is, you know, you go out and you meet with them. If you got an offer accepted and you're going to be. be fixing that property up, knock the 10 doors to the right, knock the 10 doors to the left and just tell the neighbors what you're doing. Hey, I just bought this house over here. I'm going to fix it up, make the neighborhood a little bit nicer. Do you know anybody else that might be selling? I mean, you're already there. You're in the middle. You're in the flow. You're, you know, you're in the zone.

You just got your offer accepted. You're starting your deal. And that's the best time to go and start talking to people. And when you start doing that, you're going to notice that the deals will start calling you as you're starting to experience. And so, again, I'm not surprised because that's a really hard thing to teach. It's a really hard thing to convince people of because it's just, you know, it seems a little difficult or time-consuming on the surface. But it's actually leveraging your time because you're there already. And you're not just leveraging your time.

You're leveraging your energy and you're leveraging your focus because you are in the zone. You are there about business. And you can turn one success into two successes really quickly that way. So go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. Not only Matt in that, but now I've got a new contact, you know, just to add to my database of people that know that I'll buy homes. Absolutely.

And it knows what my criteria is. And, you know, so I expect that, you know, we'll have a good relationship. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you will. I'm sure you will. That's awesome. So looking back now, Rick, knowing what you know now.

What do you wish you would have done more of inside of the coaching program? Inside of the coaching program. So only since we've started, Matt? Yeah, so knowing what you know now, these last three months, like, well, what could you have done to maybe generate more business or take more advantage of the coaching program? What could you have, what would you wish you would have done more of? That's a great question.

Here's how I would answer that in an ideal situation, I would have, I'd have 20 hours a day to dedicate to what we do. And I would be organized, a little more organized. You know, and it's something that I, one of my short-term goals is to reevaluate all the processes that we're going through and looking for ways to be more efficient because I'm up against it. But if I had one thing I could do, you know, if I had unlimited hours early on, we'd be way above the curve at this point. At this point. Right.

So just more time to do what you already were doing. That's right. And that's what I would tell listeners is, remember, you know, I'm doing this in my evenings and on the weekends. You know, I'm holding a very full-time job, and I'm having a result. So somebody that, you know, I always think back, Matt, and think, gosh, in my 20s, if I would have had this experience, if I would have had this exposure, you know, here I am in my 40s today, but I'm motivated over the next 20 years, where can I be? Mm-hmm. Gosh, every time you say something that makes me think of something else that I just think is awesome, is that a lot of my clients, a lot of my listeners are in their late 30s, 40s, even 50s.

And I seem to have most of my, I don't know if you call it this, I don't know if I have fans, but my fan base, without just lack of another word, are in that demographic. and what you just said is so powerful because I say the same thing also. If I would have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad in my senior year in high school and just kind of ditched Catcher in the Rye or one of the other classics, my life would have turned out completely different. And when you say, I wish, when I was in my 20s, if I had taken this on.

And what's sad is the people that are in their 20s that are taken on this business or deciding that they want to invest in real estate, even their early 30s, I guess they're seduced by the, the easy ways, the easy pitches, those weekend seminars and boot camps that you talked about. And not until you really go through some of those, do you really start to realize that, wow, okay, so this actually is work. It's like it's a real job. And you don't really take it seriously as that until you've been burned a few times.

And that's the sad part. You kind of have to be burned a few times before you become a real believer. Hey, Matt. Yeah. Hey, Matt. I need to put you, I need to put you on hold for just. a second. Sure. I've got some guys standing out here outside my window. Can I put you on hold? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. He's got some, he's standing out in front of a house right now.

He's parked in front of a house that he just purchased and someone stand out outside of his window. So who knows? Maybe it's another lead. That would be really crazy and that would almost sound like we planned it, wouldn't it? But we did not, I assure you that. But what we were talking about was, you know, that there are multiple ways of taking on this business and getting that education. And they probably all work. Just don't fall prey to the, to the, it's easy. It's the push of a button because it's not. It's just not. It's, it does take work.

But the alternative would be working for someone else. So you can work hard for for yourself or you can work hard for someone else. You can build your dream or you can build someone else's. That's the choice that you get. And the reason so many people choose real estate investing as that vehicle is that it has produced more millionaires and billionaires than anything else. So if you're going to work hard at something, you might as well work hard at the thing that provides you the greatest opportunity or the greatest possibility of success.

So hopefully you're getting that out of this. I don't know how much longer Rick is going to be, but we'll wait for a minute. And I'll have a sip of my gingerbread latte, Starbucks coffee. So we're talking about Rick's schedule. You know, Rick has a full-time job. He has a very time-intensive job, and he's been able to create the time on the side. Two, to experience the results that he's getting, I think he's purchased, he's closed two deals during the coaching program, and he just spent a second or third offer. Hey, I'm here.

Sorry about that. Are you still there? I am. I was entertaining while you were gone. Sorry about that. No worries, no worries. Anything important? You got to run?

No, no, I'm good. Okay, cool. So we're talking about your schedule and you have a full-time job. It's time intensive and you have been able to produce some really fantastic results in your part-time. So explain to like someone else that might be in that situation that has a full-time job and wants to do this. What are your day-to-day activities?

What does a typical day look like for you right now? Well, as far as, well, I'll throw it together. I'm an early morning guy. I've got some military background. So normally, and I'm a runner, so I'm usually up by four. And what I will do is, I would joke, I have my first cup of coffee and check my emails real quick. And then go for a run, I will, first of all, I am a fan. So I will often listen to the podcast while I'm out running.

And it gets my mind thinking. When I get back, I get an easy. email every day, and I should say, I have had the benefit. And Matt, you know, I've had the benefit of partnering up with a marketing team, friends of mine. And I now have an automated process for my yellow letters. And so at 7 o'clock every morning, I am now at a point where I get a report of yellow letters that are going out for the day. So I will typically see that report, look through it. I put it away. I'll look at any emails, real estate email that have come across, and I will look through Zillow. I'll look through newspapers and keep my contact. Then I go into work in the morning. I have a small family.

I have two small children. So I'm dealing with that in the morning trying to help. But then I'm off to work, and I will get phone calls and emails during work. And if they're urgent, I'll attend to them. But during the day, 99% of my day is what I do for a living. After hours, I will meet with sellers. I do that. I try to do that every week.

And my ultimate goal, the one thing you've drilled into me, and one of the things that was important for me to get to the realization, I was doing the marketing, doing the marketing, and I was making some offers early on. But now, you know, the deal flow is always there, and we're always working on it. But my ultimate goal, my measure every week for real estate is how many offers am I making? And so I use – so if I come across a deal, I'll use your analyzer. I love the tool.

It's taught me how to look at it from maybe a little different level. I like the way that you say we're shoppers versus, you know, real estate buyers. And I've taken that to heart because the one thing I know about my business, a lot of times it's not where you sell that makes you the money. It's where you buy and what you pay. And so I take that approach. But that's a typical day. And, you know, by 9 o'clock at night, you know, I've looked at deals. I've maybe made an offer.

I've met with people. And I've run my business. And then on the weekends, that's where I like to drive around. I've even taken my kids because I think it's critical. I want to teach them and expose them. So I take them with me if I'm looking at a property and try to teach them what I'm looking at. And there you go. Rents and repeat, as they say.

That's awesome. But just kind of goes to show you if it's important enough to you, you find the time, don't you? That's exactly right. For me, Matt, and with you, and the one thing I would tell listeners is, you know, the one thing that keeps me driven on this is I have a goal. I know where I want to be in the next 10 years. And every day, I think about that. and every day I just wonder if I do a little bit more, just one thing.

If I just do one thing a little differently or one thing a little bit more, will it help me get to where I want to be? And that's something that you've helped develop. And more importantly, and I'll say this, for those that are out there, you know, for me it was confidence because I've been around the numbers, but, you know, making that first offer is kind of scary. and you know you think man I'm going to screw this up and that's one of the things you've been able to provide is to help build confidence that you're going to be okay you've got an escape

clause you've got an out you know as long as you're doing it with good intentions you know you have a way to protect yourself and and that's been valuable you know you said if you you were saying that you've got your 10-year plan and you know if you can you're the thinking all the time if I could just do a few more of these or a few more that or add one thing, you'd get there a little quicker. If you had to add something today, based on what you've learned, what could you add to your daily activities that would get you greater results? That's a great question.

If I could make five more phone calls a day, I hate to say it, but it's that simple. If I could talk to five more people a day about real estate, I think it would have a very big impact. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Is that a time challenge or is that just a mental challenge? Well, what I look at it, everybody's, we all have some wasted time, so I think for me it's continuing to look at my process and to put focus on that, on that, and come up with a solution.

Mm-hmm. And leverage, Matt, that's the one thing is I'm learning to leverage myself because I can't do it all. And I am looking to leverage through the different resources to help do that as well. Right. Yep. You definitely need a team. No one makes in this business all by themselves. So that's awesome. So if you can't make those extra five calls a day, have someone else doing for you. That's right. Absolutely. Awesome. So you're on fire right now, Rick, and I'm so glad we got to talk to you before the end of the year. Hopefully it inspires people to take on their investing a little more seriously for the end of the year so they can see, I mean, because they can see what's possible here today.

What do you see in your future for real estate investing? Well, next year, I want to add 10 to 15 properties. That's what I see in the next year for myself. But who knows? I just want to have fun while I'm doing it as well, Matt. And so I have big expectations, and we'll just keep to improve and get to where where my goals are.

Awesome. Are you having fun, Rick? I'm having, I'm having a blast. If you can't tell if it doesn't come through, it energizes me. Uh-huh. You know, and those that are listening that, you know, the whole office environment has a tendency to be an energy zapper. Mm-hmm.

But this is a people business. And when you get to deal with people, when you get to find creative ways to be win-win for everybody, and you see your net worth and you see your income, when you can project that out and see those opportunities to grow your independence, I don't know how you can't have fun. I can tell already just from our very, very first coaching call, you're rather skeptical maybe a little bit or cynical a little bit.

And you kind of laid out a warning for me that, hey, but if this doesn't work, we're going to have a problem, which I remember that. And I appreciate that. And you're definitely a different person right now. I can just hear it in your energy and you're speaking. So congrats to you and your success. Any words of advice to somebody that's listened to you right now that might have had a couple false starts and is looking for the right way to do this or just looking to get started or somebody

that's just totally inspired by what you said and they want what you have. What would you recommend? Anything? Well, what I would say is the person that has maybe, and I see this a lot, people that have messed around with real estate and it didn't work out for them. Everybody makes mistakes, and that's the most valuable education sometimes. But don't – this is – I think this is a key for those that want to do it, and not everybody wants to do it.

But for those – don't give up just because one or two deals didn't work out the way you thought they should. We all have our problems, you know, come across our problems, and the ability to think, you know, and again, Matt, to think outside the box. Just keep doing it. But for those that want to do it that are listening to this and maybe say, hey, you know what, next year, I'm going to give this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to try this. What I would tell you is don't give it a one-year plan.

Understand that it is hard work. You know, if it was easy, everybody would do it. And unfortunately, I think a lot of people that think it's easy. do it and they get in trouble. But I would absolutely look for help, whether it's the real estate clubs that are in the area, whether it was Matt and the resources valuable, those have been incredibly valuable to me, but you can do it. And that's the thing is, believe in yourself, you can do it.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Rick, for joining us during the holidays, taking time out of your busy schedule. You have a blessed holiday season with you and your family. And if it's okay with you, can we check back in with you next year to see where you stand? Matt, anytime. And I can't tell you how much I really appreciate you.

You've been a big help to me and Merry Christmas to you. And you call me anytime. All right. Thanks, Brian. You have a good one. Take care. Take care. Bye.

Bye. So, as you can tell, that phone call was recorded over the holiday break just before Christmas. And I've spoken to Rick since, and he has been crushing it even more. since that call. I mean, that's just been what? I don't know, three weeks, almost to the point where I wanted to conduct this interview all over again. But no, I mean, it'll make for a really good follow-up story in the future.

And besides, he touched on some invaluable stuff during this conversation, a bunch of stuff, actually. But I want to point out a few things. First, he's treating his real estate investing as a long-term endeavor. That's really important. He's creating relationships. That's not a short-term strategy. That's a long-term strategy.

But it's the best strategy. So he's creating relationships with everyone that interacts with him while he's conducting his business. I mean, he's meeting other investors and he's creating relationships with them. He's found a couple of key realtor relationships. And, you know, what he does so well is he's always sharing, he's always sharing his property criteria or his investment criteria with the people that he interacts with. And because he's sharing his criteria and he's really specific about it, deals are starting

to come to him, the type of deals that he wants. They're coming to him now. And, you know, there's a great book that I just read for the second time called The Millionaire Fast Lane by M.J. DeMarco, awesome book. The Millionaire Fast Lane. And MJ, he comments on how process creates luck. That's essentially one of the big subjects or the big theme that goes through his book. And what that means is very much what I've been saying on this show from the very beginning. And I've been teaching this in my workshops for a really long time. And he just kind of summed up in three words. process creates luck. And it's actually one of the hardest things to teach because, you know, before it actually happens for one of the students or one of the people that attend my workshop, most people don't believe it. But the process does create luck.

Process does create luck. I mean, the more activities you do, the luckier you get. The harder you work, the luckier you get. And as you heard Rick share his situation, you notice how he went to one house to write an offer and ended up writing a second offer on the house next door. He's doing the activities, and he stumbles upon opportunity after opportunity. The activities that he's doing, that's the process. And during the process, he's getting lucky.

Then, you know, then the realtor from that second house he wrote the Hoffron calls him back with a third opportunity. And he got a lucky call, right? Absolutely he did. But he's creating his own luck through the process, through doing the work. Okay, so process creates luck. Thank you, Mr. MJ DeMarco, for making that social. simple for me to explain and thank you, Rick, for pointing out exactly how it works.

You know, the second thing I want to point out is, you know, Rick said his business would completely transform and be exponentially better if he could just do five more calls per day. Just five more calls per day. I mean, surely, I mean, even if he just did one more call a day, that would be 300 more calls per year. I mean, how many more deals could you do with 300 additional calls per year? A lot. I don't know what the number would be, but a lot.

And Rick wants to do five more per day. That's 1,500 more calls per year. Yeah, and I mean, no duh, your business would transform with 1,500 more calls per year. And that's just five additional calls per day. And, you know, and Rick is starting to understand it's those little activities. Those little activities performed consistently over time. That's the process. That's what I'm always trying to get you to understand us.

Those little activities performed consistently daily, like he wants to do those five little additional calls per day, the process. compounded over time will produce exponential results for you. And it might start off a little bit slow. But it does ramp up and it produces these exponential results to the point where he's getting more calls than he can possibly get back to now. That's how that works. And the third thing I want to point out is Rick is measuring his success

by how many offers a day that he writes. So just as those calls are going to compound, the amount of offers that you write are going to compound also. And that's when I really was when I was really hustling, when I was really in the trenches and working the deals with the motivated sellers and the distressed sellers is when I was measuring my day by whether I wrote an offer that day or not. Because I know just as those additional phone calls per day will compound, what's really going to produce the money is when those one offer a day starts to compound.

You write one offer a day, you will do deals. You will not have a problem at all. But to get to the place where you can actually write that offer, offer per day, you've got to do the other activities. You got to, you got to what Rick is doing. He's sending out the letters and he's placing the ads and he's creating the relationships and, you know, you do your direct mail, you do your roadside signs, you just do a multiple lead generating activities. And that gets the phone to ring. When the phone rings, then you start setting appointments. And when you start setting appointments, you start doing your presentations and you start submitting your

offers. But you got to do all those little activities first to get to the point where you can write an offer per day. But that should be your goal and that's where Rick has gotten to. He's, gotten to that point really, really quickly, and he's measuring his success by how many offers a day that he writes. So make that a goal. I want to write an offer every single day. You know, you wake up in the morning and the first question is, who am I going to submit an offer to today? So think of your business like that. All right. So that's it for today. I'll see you next week with another awesome interview of one of my coaching clients. And this guy's had a very different experience than Rick and Alan from episode 44. So be sure to check back in next week. And

if you've got a question or comment about either of these episodes or anything at all about real estate investing, you can leave your question at 1-888-891-7203. 888-891-7203. Leave your question or your comment there and I'll put your voice on there and I'll answer your question also. So until next time, as a very wise person once said, opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thank you, Mr. Thomas Edison for that one.

To your success, I'm Matt Terrio, living the dream. Thank you for spending this time with Matt Terrio and the epic real estate investing podcast. When you have a moment, stop by iTunes to leave your comments and let us know what you think of the show. And if you haven't done so already, get started investing today by visiting free real estate investing course.com. To access Matt's free course, how to do deals, no money required. Until next time. To your success. To your success.

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