Epic Real Estate Investing - I Was Laid Off... Thank Goodness For Rental Properties | 1002

Episode Date: April 28, 2020

In today’s episode, Mercedes, the Turnkey Girl interviews Blane Gaubert, a full time mechanical engineer and a real estate investor. Tune in and find out how real estate investing and Cash Flow Savvy helped Blane to overcome an unexpected situation in which he found himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terrio Media. So you want to be a real estate investor, but you don't want to do the work. If there were only a way where someone else could do it for you, now there is. Tune in here each and every Tuesday on the Epic Real Estate Investing show for Turnkey Tuesdays with your host, Mercedes-Torres. Hello and welcome, welcome to Turnkey Tuesdays brought to you by Epic Real Estate Investing. My name is Mercedes-Torres. I am lucky enough to be partners in crime with Mr. Matt Terrio, the guy who created the epic real estate empire.

I run cash flow savvy and I get to help busy professionals create passive income through real estate investing so they don't have to work so hard and even retire sooner. So with that being said, we are going to jump in today's episode with a very special guest. And whenever I have a guest on our show, I always say there's. special, but this one is especially special, not only because he's been following us for, oh, I don't know, about five years, but literally knows everything about epic real estate and cash flow savvy, and finally jumped in and plunged into real estate investing. Now, our guest today is a father. He is an engineer. He's a father of two and has a really supportive wife. But ladies and gentlemen, he is a full-time engineer. So without further ado, I'm going to let him tell us his story. And welcome to the

show, Mr. Blaine Gobert. Blaine, are you there? And can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you well. Thanks, Mercedes. No, you are so welcome. I am honored to have you on our show, Mr. Blaine. So thank you for joining us. Yep, you're welcome. Cool. So I want to know a little about you. Who is Blaine and what is he all about? All right. So just a short synopsis. I was born and raised in New Orleans and I've lived there my entire life. I'm the eldest of four siblings and I have two young girls, as you were saying, they're age two and six. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and I've been working in the oil and gas industry since I was young. So my grandfather had a business manufacturing electrical cable for, you know, offshore and shipboard use. And then beyond that, I've been working for a

company that manufactures pumps and systems for oil-filled chemicals. I love it. So with all that being said, what time do you have for you with a two-year-old and a six-year-old in the picture? When is Blaine time? Well, there's not much. Actually, my daughter was saying the other day, why do you work all the time day and night? So it's minimal. And so since, and that was like pre-COVID, so now that we're in that mode and she's here more often. She sees me working on the computer constantly. So it's not much, that's for sure. Awesome. I get it. I get it. And I say awesome because now that you're home along with everybody else in the world almost, it feels, probably enjoying your presence a lot more. Is that not the case? Yeah. No, it's good. At least,

those brief moments in between things that, you know, we're here in the same place. So you get to spend a little more time at least. Ah, totally get it. Awesome. So tell me, how did you discover Epic Real Estate and Cashflow Savvy? So I was looking for a real estate podcast, you know, just or other things to listen to on my commute every day and happened across Matt's epic real estate podcast, starting to listen to that. And I guess it was about, I was trying to remember the timeline on that, too, because time flies. And it was about the time, like, right before he started that podcast with Matt Andrews that was hold that house. Yeah.

So I don't know how long ago that was, but I think it isn't, though. It's in the four to six years range. Six years ago, sir. You've been seeing us for six years. Wow. Yeah. So that's when I started and I, you know, backed it up and started from, I think, like, episode one. Yeah.

And then I've been listening ever since. So that's kind of how it all started. and then I came to the cash flow savvy property tour in 2017. I think it was like November 2017 in Birmingham and met you guys in person there. And then I came to the Epic Intensive in January 2019, I believe. Yeah. Wow. It's been a long time.

You were one of the few people, Blaine, that came up to Matt and myself and said, I know everything about you. I know I've been following you since you were living in L.A. And I thought, whoa, you do know everything about us. So thank you for your loyalty. Awesome. We've all been giving good tips for a long time, so it was worth saying and listening. We try.

We really, really try. So why passive income? What made you decide to consider real estate and passive income? Well, I had several family members, you know, aunts and uncles and things like that that were in real estate. So I just kind of paid attention when I was younger and recognized the benefits of long-term investing rental real estate. So I got started pretty much right when I got out of college. And the first place I bought was a duplex with my cousin. And we lived in one side and rented out the other.

And that's kind of how it all started. And just since then, I've been methodically saving and then, you know, buying a problem. as I could until now, you know. Yeah. And how it all happened. I do. So what specifically was going on in your life and or what challenge were you trying to overcome when you came out to join us on the property tour?

Because you had already dabbled a little bit. Yeah. For us talking about that. So what challenge were you trying to overcome? So I had a couple of things going on. One is I didn't have a. ton of time to look for properties and I really like, you know, listening to you guys, you were in line with, you were aligned with my mentality on how to invest and,

and just kind of the, my core values and everything. So I wanted to broach the topic of possibly investing elsewhere, which was kind of the second reason. So the first thing was just not having time to really do the work. And so you guys were doing that. And it was a fit. And then the second thing was I had gone through Katrina in 2005 and saw how that kind of wiped everything out. And of course, you know, you have insurance to cover that type of thing, but I wanted to be a little bit geographically diversified so that in the event of something else occurring, you know, I wouldn't have all my eggs in one basket. Everything wouldn't flood at the same time, that type of thing. So those were the two factors that kind of drove me to come out and

do the property tour. I love it. I love it. So what described was, the property tour was like? And what did that mean for you? Did that change anything for you? Your perspective? Yeah, it did. It just gave me that extra level of confidence. It was highly professional. I showed up. You know, the whole arrangement was highly professional. You know, I got to meet you guys and other investors that were, you know, a couple of them had already bought a few properties. So you got to talk to them. And then, you know, there was other people like me that either maybe had a little bit already that they were. building up and kind of were doing something similar to me looking for other avenues or were just

fresh. So it was kind of a mix and people came from different backgrounds and different areas all over the country. So it was nice to meet them and talk. And then, you know, the next day, jump on the bus and then go for the tour. And, you know, it exposed me to the property management company, which I thought was highly professional, really knew the area because they were going through and just kind of given an off-the-cuff, I don't know, tour, but, you know, background information about the area and the rental market and everything like that. And I just felt like they were really on top of their game. I also appreciated their whole process for finding and placing tenants and preparing for, you know, if something were to go wrong, they had video and stuff in place that they could go back in reference for, like,

damage on the property, things that I hadn't seen. other property management groups kind of go to that length on. So I felt like they were highly professional and had it underwraps very well. So it gave me that much more confidence to move forward with it. Yeah. After you do over 3,000 properties, you pretty much get it down to that. Sure. So we work really hard at that.

I also think it's really important that our property tours are very detailed and I purposely keep them small. I have no more than 25 people on our property tour because I want to give everyone undivided attention. And I feel like if it's a huge bus of a hundred people, like how am I going to give 100 people our undivided attention? So I do do our tours a little more customized and specialized so that you can get the experience that you got. So I would attest to that. That's true too. The group was like the perfect size, not too big, not too small. Yeah, and, you know, it wasn't a rush. It was kind of a just a really good pace, and you're right, they give a lot of detail, and of course, that fits in with my personality being an engineer. You engineers, and you're, I know it, I tell you.

You did mention that you were one of the people that suffered from analysis paralysis, but you overcame that. So, kudos to you, Blaine. So you were looking to diversify because you did experienced Katrina and you were looking to do out-of-state investing. And so you finally decided to jump in. What would it have meant to you or what did it mean to do personally and financially to find that solution? It gave me an avenue to just further the mission because that was my goal all along was to build up, you know, real estate to a point that I have passive income. not on involved income. Very good.

You listen. So to a point where, you know, I would have the leverage to quit my job at some point, that type of thing, earlier than waiting all the way until, you know, I'm too old to enjoy it type of thing. And to build up something that I can pass on to my children, whereas, you know, it's not like you can do that with your job. So that was the whole goal. So yeah, it just kind of gave me that ability to further that mission quicker. type of thing. I had, you know, kind of leveraging other people's time and experience to do those elements that I wasn't, that I didn't have time to execute on my own. Yeah, I got it. So how many

properties have you acquired through cash flow savvy thus far? Thus far, I have four now through you guys. Wow, I love it. Okay, we need details. Walk me through the process of what that was. And I know, Blaine, And if you don't mind me sharing, when you and I spoke originally, I don't know, like two years ago, maybe three years ago, you had challenges, financial, not because you didn't have the means available, but there were roadblocks. Do you mind sharing those with me and then walking us through the process of what that looked like? Yeah, so the main thing was, I was doing. So the first roadblock I had, which kind of stalled me a little bit, was refinancing a few

properties and I forget exactly what the delay was on that. It might have been kind of a a little bit of analysis paralysis, but I can't remember exactly what the details were on that because I started and then I stopped and then I came back around to doing it. But once I got past that point and we did the first two set of properties, that part went super smooth. I, you know, called you up. I got put in the queue and within a short period of time, I think in like a day or two. I had a list of properties and I had selected one and then we started moving on with the process. I had gone through the point of getting pre-qualified before that, so it was pretty much good to go. And then as soon as I selected the first one, I asked you to put me right back in the queue, which you did.

Shortly thereafter, I had another list of properties and I selected another one. So that was right around Christmas last year. So move forward with that. and, you know, the next part of the process was getting moved over to Chaley's team over at Ridge, lending, which that part of the experience was great, too. I've already had already done, you know, eight other purchases or properties in the past. So I had experience with the process, the lending process and everything and other lenders. I'm going to stop you right there because Chaley Ridge is, and Ridge lending,

is an integral part of this whole process because not only does she do all of the pre-qualification up front, I know that she gets on the phone with you and works hand in hand with you and your specific situation. So share with me what that experience was like. It was great. So yeah, that's true. She got on my phone with me. We walked through kind of my personal financial setup where I was at that particular time and where I was trying to. to go and what kind of timeline. And so we mapped out a plan to execute that. And then like you said, they had already done all the work up front to get all the documentation in place. So that was already done. So we're pretty much ready to go at that point. And there wasn't hardly any slowdown

which if you've done this process with other lenders in the past, it's not always necessarily the case. I've had it more than once where, you know, it's kind of, it drags on and they keep piece mail asking you for pieces after you. You know, you're expecting to close this week. And then, oh, well, we need three more pieces of information. And then, you know, another week later, it's another couple of pieces. So it just kind of drags on and it's kind of annoying. But, yeah, that was avoided with them.

They kind of knew just to ask for the gambit from the start, compile it all. And then, you know, it made us ready to go. So, yeah. Chaley Ridge. We're super professional. Yeah, for sure. Chaley Ridge and the Ridge team are amazing at that. And in fact, that's why they've become our exclusive lender.

because they are phenomenal. And like you said, they created a roadmap for you so that you knew exactly what to expect. What was that roadmap like? It was just laid out as to, well, for me, too, since I already had properties, you know, it was laid out such that, you know, you're going to need this group of documents for each property, you know, all your income stuff. You know how it is. It's everything in your blood type.

and, you know, she's been about the kids and everything. But like I said, everybody needs this information. It's not different for any lender, but the difference is when you know what you're doing and you understand that you're dealing with investors that you get all the proper information on the first shot and it goes through like it should.

So that's kind of how it was. You know, she asked for everything she needed. I provided it and then that was it. And then past that point, it was smooth sailing. Yeah. That's true. I will attest to that they do everything up front and they're amazing. Okay, so you chose the properties.

You were introduced to your personal transaction coordinator and then you started the inspection and then we did the appraisal. Walk us through that process. What was the inspection process like? Was it a pain? And you did multiple properties at a time. So what was that experience like? Yeah, so I got a list of inspectors from you guys and then selected one off the list.

he went out and did the inspections on, you know, two of the properties, pretty much back to back, came back with a written report. It was, you know, as professional as I would expect and as detailed as I would expect. And then plus he jumped on the phone with me and kind of gave me a brief run through of the high points, which I appreciated a lot because you'll see when you run through those types of inspection reports. There's a lot of detail that, you know, isn't necessarily. a major problem or anything in that and it kind of gets muddied up with there's so much detail the things that are important kind of get lost in the details per se so he kind of ran me through the high points I have enough experience with dealing with property and maintenance and that type of thing on the ones I had already owned that I know the major points so there was a few knick-knacks that I

on each one maybe that I went through and said hey look what can we do about these things and they were remedied in a very brief amount of time, probably, you know, within the week before we closed. So it was a good experience. That was one of the things that I was a little bit hesitant about way back before was just that I'd have to rely on somebody else to go look at properties, whereas I'm used to going and looking at them myself, you know, being there live and kind of looking at things and estimating how much things will cost to fix and that's not everything. So I didn't have to worry about any of that. And then that's the other thing, too. I was used to, I bought some properties in the past that needed some sweat equity type of thing or some, you know, had some deferred maintenance that I'd go in there and either fix myself

or, you know, bring somebody in to fix a contractor or something. So I didn't have to do any of that, which was nice, which comes back to that time element. So it all went really smooth. And I was really happy with that inspector. As a matter of fact, I even just kind of had them go back out and re-inspect, you know? Awesome. Awesome. I love that. That would be the injury. engineering you for dotting all the eyes and crossing all the teams. I love it. For all the engineers in the house, I love it. Goodos. And what was that like? Were you happy? And it was great. He just went back out, double check the things that we said that we were

going to fix and, you know, verified that they had been done, boom, done, gave me peace of mind without really having to do much more than have a phone call with them and then, you know, move forward with the closing process. So isn't it amazing to just pick up the phone and have it all done for you. I like it. And then you hit the open in your email and then you get the full report. What a concept. Right. Yeah. No, it's great. No, I will say it is probably one of the biggest hurdles of out-of-state investing that you don't have the, you have the access to the properties, but you don't have the ability to hop into your car and drive to the property. You have to depend on a team and there's a level of trust that that is involved. And it took me years to get over. And it took me years to get

over it. Now my entire portfolio is in the Midwest and in the South, but I understand you, Blaine, because it took me about a year and a half to get over it. So that ended up being a plus, too. In retrospect, the fact that you cannot go do it, it forces you to trust the person. So it's true. It kind of gets you out of that mindset, because I can guarantee I would have gone by those properties that they were within a couple hours from here. Several times you would have gone by the properties. No, that's true. And also, I mean, it's a time saver, but let's be real. Maybe you're an exception to the rule Blaine, but for the most part, real estate investors, the clients that I work with anyway, are full-time something else. You're a perfect example. You are a full-time engineer. And it's not to say that you don't know how to change a water heater, but you're certainly not an expert on water heaters or air conditioners or laying tile. So the reality is, even if you can go and see it, there's not a whole lot that you can do. Now, you can hire somebody to do that for you, but what difference does it make if you're hiring someone in your town or in, you know,

a plane ride away town that's going to do it for you? So that's right. Yeah, no, that, that's awesome that, that, that, that, that, you came to the realization of that. So then you, you, you had the inspection, you had the re-inspection. We got the appraisal done and then we're closed to closing. So we introduced. you to a couple of insurance teams that we work with. Right. Yeah, I kind of forgot about the insurance piece. So, yeah, that worked out. That was really smooth. They gave me, like, three different options of the insurers. I contacted all three of them, got quotes, and selected one and move forward.

And that was a simple process as well. And then, yeah, so once we had that all tick and tied, then we went ahead and went to closing. And funny enough, the notary actually ended up living a block away from me, like he walked over. Oh, I love it. How random is that? Yeah.

That is so great. Okay, so at closing, because the closing was in Alabama and you live in Louisiana, the closing or the title company sent a notary to your home in this case to close all of your documents. Now, I'm very curious because each closing is about 200 documents apiece. And I know that you closed multiple at the same time. So what was that closing like? Did you do all of them at the same time? Did you do one or two?

How did you? Yeah, so we had only the first two done at that point. It was like January 31st, I think. And we signed both documents side by side. You know, it took a half an hour to an hour, something like that. And just ran through them. That was nice. That was quick.

And only had to do it once. And then I got back in the queue to do a couple more right after that. and then did the same thing at like mid-March, like March 19th, I think it was. So same kind of thing. But the nice part about that was I didn't have to redo all the documents. So that part was already done. You know, you probably end up putting a full day at work into collecting everything, making sure everything's right, going back and forth a couple of times with a few questions

and clarifying this detail of that for the underwriter. And then, you know, once you have all that done, I was able to use it for four closing. instead of one. So that was nice. That was a big time time saver. What a concept. The amount of work that it takes to close one property, you can do four at one time. And you yourself experience, it goes much easier when you do multiple. I love it. I love it. What would you say was the biggest lesson that you learned from this whole experience? Well, that was one of them, for sure. Try and do more at a time. But I guess the main thing was just, you know, moving forward. And once you get to a certain level of confidence or belief that something should work,

then just kind of moving forward with it instead of stalling. That was the main thing. I mean, it was simple. Everything went smooth. At the end of the day, everything's panning out like I expected it would. So the whole process was exactly how I expected. And the end result pretty much is exactly what I expected. So kind of wish I would have done it a little bit quicker, probably the first time I came in

you guys, but it is what it is. So here we are now. I've got four under my belt. I expect to do more in the future. I love it. I love it. And all your properties are doing, I mean, you just closed on them several weeks ago. So are your properties tenanted in performing?

And what's property management like for you? Yeah. So property management's been great. They picked up right where Chaley and the closing left off. And three of the four properties. properties were rented, you know, either before I closed or like immediately thereafter. And then there's only one that's still open, but I mean, it's only been a few weeks and they're still active interest. And I would expect that one's going to, you know, be rented soon,

even during this whole stay-at-home order and this whole COVID pandemic. So I think it's all been working out well. I'm satisfied with the results for sure. And they've been very forthcoming with information and proactive and sending us, you know, actually just before I got on the call, the property manager sent me an email, just kind of giving me an update about that one open property and that activity on it and just that all the, you know, they don't have any indication from any of the other renters currently that they would expect that there will be a delay in payment or anything like that. So they're really on top of the pulse of what's going on and, you know, so that you can have some expectation ahead of time.

So that's been really good. Yeah, if there's one thing our property management teams have done is we've been extremely proactive at reaching out to all of our tenants. And with our vacancies, we haven't seen there be a significant drop in tenetting our properties. So to your point, I don't believe that we're going to have an issue finding a tenant for your property besides it's a great house. So it'll be no time before you get your.

final tenets. So Blaine, if you were to do this all over again, what would you do different? Probably not much except for go faster. That's about it. I mean, I don't know that there really would be anything I would change. Everything, like I said, everything went smooth and as expected, and the only thing would be, you know, just a, I would have done it a little bit quicker, for sure. Yeah. Was it as easy as you? you were expecting, or did you think that that was just too good to be true? No, I think it was, oh, yeah, there is an element of that, right? That's part of your pause for being a little bit slow, but yeah, so to that question,

I would say, yeah, went smoother than expected or as smoothly as I would hope it would go or as smoothly as you would say it would go, but it actually panned out that way, you know, and that's what you're, I guess, sometimes when, you know, have a little bit of holdback on it. That's why you're kind of curious if it's too good to be true type of thing. But yeah, so far, so good. Yeah, you don't know what you don't know. And until you try, you just don't know.

So you are a true testament of, oh, my God, it sounds really easy. And guess what, it was? Yeah, sure. I love that. So, Blaine, you said, you know, you didn't act as fast as you wanted you. That's the one thing you would change. So what's next for you? Oh, right now. It's pretty open. I'm not sure. As of this morning, since it has got laid off, which was a surprise. But other than that, so I guess I'll be scrambling to figure out what's next for me in more than one way. But I'm definitely without a doubt going to keep on with investing. I think this whole experience just continues to prove that, you know, you can't really rely on an like a job. But the things that I've built while I was at that job,

will stay with me, which would have been, you know, all this real estate that I've kind of built up over time. So it just furthered that it kind of reseemed in at that point in my mind that that's something that I'm going to continue to do. And so I'm sure I'm going to do more of that in the future. So we'll just see how it all goes. Might have to get into some more creative financing deals, you know? You know, Blaine, thanks for sharing. Prior to our interview, we, you had just informed me that you had been laid off like hours ago. And in fact, we all. almost didn't do this interview to be perfectly candid. And so I sent you a text saying, dude, you are not alone.

But if you don't mind me asking you a couple of questions because you're, you're an engineer. You're a high level engineer. You had quite the position in your company. I know this was kind of a surprise to you, but considering the pandemic and what's going on in the world, I first and foremost, I feel for you. I understand it. but you're not alone.

And more importantly, you are one of the few people that has multiple rental properties. And so at least at the very least, you know that you have something that you can bank on with tomorrow. Yeah, for sure. And that's the whole thing. Exactly. Exactly. So I feel for you, the nation feels for you. I mean, we're all in this together.

And I just am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason. And you are laid off for a reason. And there's something more to this than just being laid off. I know that. I have no doubt about that. So it'll be interesting to see what it comes next. Yeah. Awesome.

Well, here's the amazing thing is you get to create it. And the beauty of it is I just think that, you know, it's a horrible pandemic that we're involved in, but there is insane opportunity after this all blows over. I know it. I've shared before I started real estate in 2008 when the mortgage industry completely collapsed. I was doing short sales when nobody was doing short sales. So I will say that if I did it during a national crisis in the mortgage banking industry, you can do it too. I know that. So Blaine, can you finish this statement for me? I almost didn't work with Mercedes and cash flow savvy because of... It sounded too good to be true.

Huh. I love it. That's probably the thing that I was most fearful of, but past that now for sure. I love it. We're bonded for life now, Blaine. So many of my clients say, so what happens after I buy the house and it's over? I'm like, you're stuck with me. That's what happens. So you're stuck with me. Oh, awesome. My last question to you, Blaine, and it's a question that I asked with the most respect, because you've been around for five years and you finally just took the plunge about a year ago. No, not even a year ago, like three months ago.

what advice or what recommendation would you give a new investor that is considering turnkey properties? I would definitely recommend moving forward with it sooner than later. Just like I was saying, the sooner you get started no matter what your current status is, you know, how old you are, that type of thing. The sooner you get started, the better. And that it's the only way that you can legitimately build something up to rely on that you can pass on. in the future, I think. Something that's highly stable and that you have a high degree of control over.

And that was prior to this whole COVID thing and losing a ton in the market and then getting laid off. So that even just further proved it to me. And that's what I would say. I would say, you know, if you have any interest in it, then definitely do it and do it sooner than later. Yeah. I couldn't have said it better myself. Blaine, thank you so much for your time, but really for your candidness and for being so open about what has transpired in your life in the last, I don't know, three to six months. I thank you so much for sharing and I can't wait to see you blossom into my competition.

How about that? Gleine, thank you so much for joining us. And for those listeners that are just hanging on to Blaine's every word, yes, he did think it was too good to be true. And you can ask Blaine because he said it himself. That's it for this week, my friends. If you'd like to reach out to me, feel free to email me, Mercedes at epicrealstate.com. I do answer every single email, if it takes me a few days to answer them. I'll go to our website, cashflowsavvy.com, that's savvy with two V's.

Click the contact us and myself or one of my teammates will reach out to you, and you too can be the next success story just like Blaine. Have an epic week. Does your money work for you as hard as you do for it? If not, no worries. You do not have a money problem. You merely have an idea problem. We're cashflow savvy.com,

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