Epic Real Estate Investing - Secrets to Consistency Pt. 2| 879

Episode Date: December 27, 2019

Today, we are continuing the conversation on how to succeed in real estate investing! Our guests, Chris Warren, Parker Stiles, Anita Hirth, and Dr. Rob Borer joined us to tell you where to find the off-market deals and funding for your next investment property and to share their secrets to consistency, the main ingredient to success! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terrio Media. Success in real estate has nothing to do with shiny objects. It has everything to do with mastering the basics. The three pillars of real estate investing. Attract, convert, exit. Matt Terrio has been helping real estate investors do just that for more than a decade now. If you want to make money in real estate, keep listening. If you want it faster, visit R-E-I-Aase.com.

Here's Matt. All righty, hello, and welcome to the Epic Real Estate Investing Show. This is where we show each week, everyday, average, normal people, people just like you, how to escape the rat race and using real estate specifically. And I got a really good show for you today. And it's all around creating consistency in your business. You know, inside of the Epic Pro community, we've got our Facebook group. And on Fridays, we do something called Follow Through Friday,

where everybody goes ahead and they post their wins. And, you know, in the last 12 to 18 months, it's really been pretty remarkable to see that the success and the results that the members have been producing. But I've noticed, you know, there's probably eight to nine people that are there pretty much every single week, if not two to three times a month at least. And so last week we talked to half of them and they shared their perspective and their secrets to consistency. And I brought on the other half to do the same. So to see if there's a different insight, additional insight, there's a pretty common theme last week. So I'm really interested to see what's going to happen this week. So without further ado, let me just go ahead and introduce everybody.

Actually, I'll let you guys introduce yourself. Tell me your name and what market you're in and we'll go from there. So Chris, why don't we start with you? Sure. Thanks. My name is Chris Warren. I live in South Florida and I focus on the Birmingham, Alabama market and have a little bit in Montgomery, but primarily it's the Birmingham Metro.

and primary business is rehabbing and holding as well as selling as turnkey products. Perfect. Perfect. Anita. Hi, my name's Anita Firth. I live in western Colorado. My market is Colorado mountain towns, but I'm expanding really all over the state now. My primary business is buy and hold, mostly long-term rentals, but I do have quite a few short-term rentals as well. Awesome. Glad you're here. Dr. Rob. Hey, Rob Boar. I'm out of southeast Michigan, just west of the district.

Detroit area. My market is the Metro Detroit area. So, you know, all the multiple towns around the Detroit downtown. I don't do downtown Detroit, but I do everything around it. I do a lot of Western Detroit stuff too, which is Ann Arbor Ipsi and stuff like that. So my primary strategy is wholesaling. My long-term strategy is buy and hold. And so I do a little bit of combination of both right now. Perfect. Thanks for joining us. Glad you're here. And no stranger to the show, Mr. Parker Stiles. Welcome, Parker. Thanks for having me back. Yeah, so Parker Stiles. My markets are Charleston, South Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, and I live in Silverthorn, Colorado. Let's see, my primary strategy is wholesaling. And really just with the whole idea to take

those capital gains and roll them into passive streams. Super. Yeah, so it's really interesting. We got a kind of an eclectic mix, people from different backgrounds, different ages, different experiences, different goals and visions. And some are part-time, some are full-time, some have been doing this for a long time. Some just got started. And one thing that you guys all have in common is consistency. And I'm really excited to talk about that. But I wanted to talk about a few other things. I want to talk about your best source for off-market deals. I wanted to talk about your criteria for determining whether or not you actually go out on an appointment. I want to talk about the common denominator that you recognize for getting contract signed. What do you notice in your meetings where people actually sign the contract? And then what works best for you and most often using what strategy for finding money or finding buyers for your deals? And then we'll go ahead and we'll wrap it up with what's your secret to consistency.

All righty. So let's go, Parker, let's go with you. your best source for off-market deals at the moment? I got to go with the tried and true direct mail. Get out of here. That stuff still works. I know. That's still done.

Please. Even when there's, you know, seven postcards at a time from different, seven different companies landed in somebody's mailbox. You can still do deals with it. But, you know, really consistency, and we'll get into that later. But we're sending about 40,000 postcards a month between Charleston and Atlanta. we're at about a 3x return multiple in Atlanta from that. So we're kind of working on that to get that up.

And then we're about a four and a half X in Charleston. So pretty pleased with that. But yeah. So when you say that you spend $1,000 on direct mail in Atlanta, you get $3,000 back from deals? Correct. Okay, got it. And it's four and a half in Charleston.

Correct. Got it. Perfect. Just a little less competitive over there. That's part of the issue. But there's still ways that we can increase that three. in other ways, so we're working on that. Sure.

Interesting that you brought up competition because Atlanta is a fairly competitive market, right? Yeah. And those little itty-bitty postcards, just sending a lot of them being consistent with them, still works there. Yep. Awesome. I'm glad you said that. Super.

Chris, so just a few months we've been working together, and boy, it seems like you're really on a role and you got something new to report every single week. What's been your best source for off-market deals up to this point? It's been spread pretty evenly. I've only done five deals. And I can tell you that two of those came for mailings. They happen to be the ones with the most profit in them. So I'm definitely keeping going with the mailings.

But other than that, I've gotten one from a realtor, one from a property manager, and one from a general contractor. So I'm making a big effort on spreading my cards across the table and trying to keep all those different sources healthy. And I've recently started to spend more time looking on Zillow and having imping me because the one that the property manager brought me was sitting on the MLS, it was a great deal. So I'm realizing that's worth giving a little bit of attention to as well. But it's hard to just hand it all to one source, but I definitely like the results I'm getting from the mailings.

And I plan to keep going and narrow down into smaller geographic areas that I think you're going to have the better properties for a long-term portfolio. Perfect. I think it's important to point out for those that are listening, Chris has done just five deals. We've, we've spent about four weeks or so getting his business up and running and set and ready to market and receive incoming increase. So he's probably only been active like full time, a full time status for like eight weeks. So that's five deals in his first eight weeks. So congratulations, Chris. That's awesome.

Yeah. No, it's about the team. You know, I got the guys on the ground and none of those deals are wholesale. They're all being full-term key rehab. So I'd probably be able to wind it up a little bit, you know, into more deals that were just wholesaling. You shouldn't say just, you know, if I were wholesaling and not trying to do a full-scale rehab. But, you know, one of the big things I've searched for as I went through the first few months is exactly how the business is going to take shape for me. And with my background and my team member strengths, rehabbing just seems to be the best place.

So we've got a good cruising altitude right now where we are. Yes, sounds like it. So thanks for being here and sharing. So Anita, you have a, you've been around for a while. and, you know, you just kind of, I think you're kind of quietly under the radar and always posting little deals here and there. And you've always got something going on. What's been your best source for off-market deals? I would say mostly direct mail.

Okay. In my market, it's very interesting. The vast majority of the people who end up calling me back have never received a direct mailing because I'm mailing these small towns. So I have a very high response rate to those mailing. So mostly direct mail. However, I did just get a big deal under contract and that was a pocket list. from a commercial broker. So those relationships with the brokers, property managers, people like that have been really

important. I've been fed some other good deals, which I didn't end up taking, but they weren't bad from my property manager as well from one of my property managers. And then what's funny is two of my best deals I got from walking around and seeing for sale signs, and they were with sellers who didn't list them online or anything. They just had a sign up on their window. So that was like as well. Awesome.

Interesting. So, Dr. Rob, you run a full-time chiropractic business and you manage in your spare time part-time. I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of people listening right now. They're like, wow, he's got a full, he's a full-time chiropractor and he's still doing deals on the side. He's doing them consistently. What's been your best source for off-market deals? I think to me, managing in my spare time is, you know, I just send the mail out and, you know, let the phone calls come back.

And then I've been doing a better job of doing a follow-up. I remember that mastermind we had where I kind of, I looked at everyone blankly when I said, what do you do with all these phone calls that are missed? What happens when you call them back? I'm like, I had like an epiphany right at that moment. I'm like, okay, I need to do a lot more follow-up. So I'm doing a lot better job of following up on the phone calls. So, you know, I get a ton of phone calls.

And then, you know, of course, you don't, you know, lots of them I got stuck on is that they didn't leave messages. So I thought that I thought, well, well, that's done. But I've actually done some deals where I actually followed up. And it wasn't even the property that I mailed on. You know, they go, well, I got this other property out and, you know, whatever. You know, it's a pain in my butt. I want to get rid of that thing, you know. So it's funny how often you mail, you'll get another house under contract.

Or some dude has like six houses he wants to sell. And it's not even the one that you mail them on. So drug mail kind of has an interesting kind of like ripple effect. You'll, you'll kind of percolate up all kinds of deals just, just sending out mail. And you'll hit people who, you know, might not even be the property you mailed on. It's funny. people. Yeah, yeah, drug mail is kind of the only thing I really have time. I mean, whatever. I mean, it works for my schedule.

Sure, I want to talk about your time in just a second, but it's funny that you'd said that because people have asked me, how did I market for all of my multifamilies? And I was like, well, I was marketing for single families and those people owned multifamilies of which I bought. So you're seeing the same thing. All right, so perfect. So let's just, let's go on a roll here. Let's not cut the subject here for you, Rob, as far as you've got this full-time profession that you do, and time is an issue, right? And you return the phone calls, you return the phone calls, and what criteria are you listening for on the phone to determine whether or not you're actually going to take time away from your full-time career to go out and visit with them?

What are you listening for on the phone? Yeah, it's kind of intuition, I would say, you know, It's no hard and fast rule, but first of off, I'm, you know, vetting it like on Zillow. Like, okay, is this, is this even a property in a neighborhood or in a region that I'm even interested in? I mean, some are just goofy, you know, some are like farmhouses and, you know, some are just like weird. Like, well, I can't resell that, right? So I'm kind of like assessing it whether I think it could be a deal. And then I'm then, I guess, you. you know, listening for all kinds of clues that I've kind of learned over the years about,

you know, well, I mean, how receptive are they? I mean, you know, you hear the, well, you know, ah, you know, if the price is right, you know, boom, I'm like basically hanging up, you know, if the price is right, you know, like, well, okay, obviously, you know, you just kind of are inter, right, there's the prospects versus the suspect. So, you know, you're listening for the right clues. And ultimately, you know, I like your nine point checklist where you just kind of go through that. And the more closely I've followed that, the closer I'll know whether it's even worth my time or not. So I don't know if listeners know what this nine point checklist is, but I really, I think it's very effective to just walk through that method. Talking about the nine point seller

interview. Exactly. Right. Right. So if I can get through the bottom of that and set an appointment where I kind of have gone through all those points and it still sounds like a deal to me because, you know, you know, you probably do the same thing I do. Everyone probably does the same thing while you're talking. You know, you're pulling it up on Zillow. You're, you know, you're crunching some numbers. You're doing some, you know, some real quick 70, 60 percent kind of estimations and some 1% rule calculations. And, you know, you just, you know, those don't take more than a second or two for you to look at and figure out, you know, to do your due diligence, of course, before you ever give them a written offer.

But still, you're kind of, I guess I'm trying to figure out, can I resell it? Two is, do I think there's money in it for me and who I sell it to? Because that's what I'm always looking for is, you know, I might be able to make money, but if I can't make my buyer make money, you know, it's not a deal for anybody. So that's kind of my main thing is, can I turn it into a deal? and you're listening to see how receptive the seller actually is. Got it. So on the other end of the spectrum,

someone like Parker, who has a giant marketing machine that drives a lot of volume as far as inquiry leads. Parker, how do you determine whether or not someone's going to go out on an appointment? Because I know you've got a team of acquisition people. I know you still do some of that. So how do you determine whether it's going to be worth your time

to get in the car and go over and meet with the seller? Well, it used to be pretty difficult to decide. and now it's really easy if my lead manager can get them to say, yes, you can come to my house, then my acquisitions manager is going on the appointment because I've learned that people just put up their guard and there's so many people taking advantage of people these days. Like you just literally first call, second call, you can't gauge someone's true motivation and build rapport to break down those walls in that amount of time. until you are, you know, just truly sitting at the kitchen table with them for, you know,

and you've been talking for the last 45 minutes about some trinkets that they collect and, you know, the picture of, you know, her grandson over the mantle place and not even talking about the house, just talking about the seller's problems. Like those are people who in our original seller notes, they say for the right price. They say, oh, I'm just looking for numbers at this point. I mean, they, they yell at you. I am a tire kicker. Yet four months down the road, it's tagged in podium as closed wholesale. So you just, you can't go off of that mindset. And I lost a lot of deals in the past from that. And so now, you know, but that was also when I was going on the appointment. So I was vetting those appointments harder because I was like, where is my time best spent? And sometimes,

like, if you really calculated, that may be true. Maybe your time is. is if you do if you have to if you're doing everything and it's a one man band you might be better spent doing things working on the business which means you have to run less appointments and so that you know then maybe that's uh kind of some motivation to hire it out to where you can make sure you're going on every single appointment you're soaking up every deal that you can yet you can focus your time on other pieces of the business so that was a a big turning point um for us yeah i think over the last probably 24 months, I've changed my tune significantly on that because I've just heard too many stories of people going on appointments just for practice and coming home with signed contracts,

right? I believe that there wasn't a chance in hell this person was going to give me this property at a deal. At least that's how they'd interpreted it over the phone. I just, you know, I've always been a big proponent of just go through the repetitions and get better and better at your conversion skills and just go out and practice. If you've got nothing else to do, that's probably the best use of your time at that moment. And more times than not, people come home with signed contracts. So, yeah, that's good. Chris, you're running your business virtually, right? So I think you're in Florida and you're working in Alabama, right? Correct. Okay. And so are you doing everything over the phone or do you have somebody on the ground taking handling business and appointments for you? How do you determine whether or not it's

going to be worth your time? Both. So what I do, I go into the market about once a month, physically, maybe every six weeks. Not so much for the houses and the cellars as much as building my team, spending time with those guys, finding out what they want, figuring out how to get them what they want, and putting the organization together. But as far as talking to potential sellers,

I have the initial phone call with them. And because I don't have the right accent and I'm 800 miles away and I don't even know the town will yet, I really have to do a good job at connecting and building report with them. So, you know, I just figure out how to do that and get him laughing and chuckling. And, you know, by the end of the call, they think, well, he's a decent honest, nice guy. And I usually get that, you know, that sense of integrity both ways. So there's a connection there.

As far as the property, the whole time I'm talking to them, I'm looking at the neighborhoods. You know, I keep a map where I've got the war zones figured out. I'm learning the town as fast as I can. And, you know, I'm talking to everybody I can about the different neighborhoods. So if the house comes up in an area where I know I don't want to be excluded, it's more of a process of, you know, eliminating the things that I don't want. The price is too high, you know, if it's newly rehabbed, you know, all of the things that are indicators that it's probably not going to be distressed enough or discounted enough for my purposes, I'll kind of eliminate it. And if all the things look right, I'll tell the person that, you know, I need to get a couple of times. times when I can have one of my buddies come by. I'll get that window and then I'll get on the phone

with a local property manager or two and ask them about that neighborhood, that street, what would it rent for? Same thing. I've got a couple of realtors there who specialize in investors. And the first thing I did again with them is figure out what do they want, what do they need, how can I get it for them? And those guys are bringing me deals and they're giving me a lot of free consulting. They're telling me about the different neighborhoods. I've got one particular realtor who goes out with my pre-signed contract and negotiates the price and fills it out and then hands it to him and he brings me that contract back a lot like Parker's buyers are. He's performing that function for me. And I'll ask them, do you think this is worth pursuing? I get a lot of

those decisions made by talking to the people there and asking them to help and make them. Good. So you have a very specific strategy or extra strategy that you're looking for, at least the one that you kind of lean to towards the most. So you're looking for a specific type of property. You're leaning on your team a little bit for their input and then a little bit of your own intuition all mixed in, right? Yeah, my business goal is to build my portfolio. That is the reason I'm here.

It's to build my own portfolio of passive income. And the means to getting there is to provide my own properties. And in providing my own properties, I do need to sell some of them to keep the lights on. you know, as I say, I need to sell some turnkey properties to feed my buy and hold addiction. So when I look at a house, the first question I have is, would I hold this? Is this a neighborhood I want? It doesn't have to be always an A. Sometimes I like a little Cs, sometimes a little A.

You know, you get the variety. Recognizing the different buyers out there like different things, but am I comfortable with this type of property in this type of neighborhood? And if I'm not, I'm done because my attitude is, if I don't sell this as a turnkey, I'm going to cash out refi and keep it long term. So it has to meet that criteria. I won't even put an off-line for the first place. Got it. Anita, so you're marketing in multiple little towns, and so I imagine sometimes the distance

can be a little bit far for you to travel and go meet with a seller. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I understand your business. Do you have a determining factor or criteria to help you decide whether it's going to be worth your time or not? It depends on why I'm mailing. So last year I did do a few flips. So I was mailing for flips. And when I did that, I actually mailed entirely to condos.

And the reason for that is that it's extremely easy for me to evaluate a condo. If someone calls me from that building, you know, the area where I'm mailing, I know most of the condo buildings. My realtor knows pretty much all of them. So as long as I can have the seller tell me the general condition, you know, is it original from the 70s, is it kind of updated, whatever, I already know the price. don't even have to walk in. I did one of the deals I did, I never saw the condo.

You know, my realtor walked in and we, and when I did those flips, I didn't do any rehab. I just bought them and immediately resold them on the MLS. So when I was doing that, it was very easy, really, I didn't need to see anything. I knew everything I needed to know just based on comps and the building. Now that I'm doing these multifamilies in the small towns, like you said, you know, they are pretty far from me, anywhere from two to four hours. So I do much more due diligence. And I really make sure I kind of establish a relationship with the seller,

make sure he's serious, make sure that he or she's serious, make sure that they know that I'm serious. And really kind of kind of get everything up front, get the rent, basically the rent rolls, understand really what price they're asking and really what they're looking for because sometimes what they're looking for isn't so much the price. Maybe they want seller financing. Maybe they want, you know, cash flow from a note, something like that.

and make sure, and before I actually go and spend the time to have either me or, you know, if it's one of the further towns, I'll have one of my property managers go and evaluate the property. You know, I want to have almost all that information ready and make sure that this actually could be a good deal. If there's, if we're so far away from from this being a good deal, I don't, you know, in my business, I don't do the appointment. I just say, hey, you know, if anything changes, you know, let me know. And there's some buildings that I actively target, and I do call those sellers every six months. And I'm just saying, hey, how's it going?

You know, are you thinking about maybe getting rid of this building now? Got it. So you do a lot more due diligence up front than I think a lot of people do. I mean, you're actually going through rent rolls and stuff like that before you even get it under contract. Well, because I'm targeting multifamily is almost exclusive. Right, right. They're big deals. And, you know, when I get a deal, it's a lot.

It's a big deal. and there's a lot of work involved. And I do a lot of due diligence up front. So I'm not chasing a lot of deals, but the ones I'm chasing are fairly big. Got it. Good. So have you noticed of the deals that you've closed,

the contracts that you get signed, is there a common denominator amongst, like is there a condition or a situation or a character trait with the seller that you notice or something about the conversation that goes the right way? Do you notice anything like that? They've been very different. They've been very different.

and sometimes I have no idea what's going on and why they sell to me at such a below market price. It's all sorts of strange situations. So, you know, when people say, especially, you know, I'm in a really hot market, Colorado, how do you ever find anyone to sell to you below market? Why would someone not list on the MLS? Yeah. I don't know, but there's a lot of reasons people have in their lives. I don't really have insight into them.

But they're out there. Yeah, no, I'm glad you said that because that is a really common question. I mean, I imagine all of you get it, right? Why would people sell to you at a discount if they could just go list it with a realtor? And because there's just other things out there just because houses are important to you. Doesn't mean they're important to someone else, right? Besides, his realtor called me. I mean, he could have just listened to the guy, but he didn't want to.

You said, okay, I'll take this money. I'm happy and I'm out. We don't, you know, what we want may be extremely different from what a lot of other people want. Amen to that. Rob, have you noticed amongst the deals and the contracts you've gotten signed? Is there a common situation? or a common condition, I guess, with the seller or maybe a common conversation that leads to that contract getting signed? Parker might be able to answer this better. He's probably done more volume, but I haven't done a lot of volume yet.

So everyone's been pretty unique. I'd have to kind of reflect on each one. Most recent one I did, where I posted kind of a nice title company check was kind of a hybrid of a probate and a tax delinquent. they seem to kind of go hand in hand I've been finding. So if I pull either one of those lists, I usually get kind of a cross-pollination of both those. You know, and the seller just wanted to be done with it mentally,

you know, last year of her mom's life was torture, you know, lived in that house, grew up in that house. So the house just, I think, had all kinds of baggage.

She just wanted to be emotionally done with it, you know. So, you know, so it was just connecting with her, just, you know, lots of empathy, you know,

nodding your head, that she just kind of talked forever about her mother. And, you know, they was just connecting with the seller. So that was a sweet deal. Parker, you know what was anything? I mean, I just have to say financial distress or physical property distress. I mean, every deal that we've done has an element of one of those involved. I wouldn't say there's like anything more.

It's just pretty across the board. I don't think there's anything more specific, like a gold, thread. There's lots of different situations, but for the most part, if they're going to sell at the discount where, you know, I'm going to wholesale it, it's either been financial distress or that the property was just, or both. So one of those two. Chris, you? Again, small volume, but I do see that every property I bought so far, the seller did not live in it. Part of that is the nature of the mailings that you have coming out of the ACE program or going to non-uner occupants, but even the ones that have been brought to me by other people

are non-properties. So that gives me an insight on where to focus. I do have one kind of interesting situation that came up that I just thought of. It didn't. I don't think I had either. There was no financial, there wasn't any financial distress and there wasn't any property distress either. In fact, we put it right on the MLS. It was pretty interesting.

The lady was in Texas. the house was in South Carolina. They were friends. The Texas owner or the South Carolina homeowner got a terminal illness and was given about a year to live. And the friend in Texas moved in with her friend in South Carolina and took care of her and kept her comfortable for the remainder of her time here. And then at the end, you know, she willed her friend in the house. That was just like the agreement said, hey, come live with me and, you know, the house is yours

after it do with what do with it what you please and um you know it was a really cool uh connection kind of relationship and and deal all together but that was the one kind of that i can think of that it's not really your question but it didn't have either of those so there are like outliers um that kind of just poke their head out every now and then so you just want to keep your eyes open and and be aware for those because she just simply didn't need the house anymore she was going to move back to texas and you know do their thing so yeah uh last week's conversation with with the group. Very much similar to this. Like, no one could really pinpoint it. But what I'm hearing it very clearly is making the personal

connection with the seller, like actually meeting them. And second is recognizing that they got other stuff going on in their world. That's just not as important as the traditional full price sale of a house. And probably the underlying thing there is they've got a problem and you're out there solving it for them. And that's why you get the equity, right? Yep. giving a peace of mind for something. So super. So one of the bigger reasons people don't even get started in real estate is because they think they need money.

They think they need a lot of money to go out and invest. And when I asked this question last week, it was really interesting. And I'm interested to hear if it's answered differently here today. But I'll just sense, Parker, since we're talking, what's worked best or most often strategy-wise for finding the money or finding buyers for your deals? Well, it's not always what a new investor would want to hear, but having a good deal always brings great buyers and they hate that answer. Oh, crap, I got to find one though first. So, you know, I've heard you teach it forever.

Find the deal and the money will come to you. That's easy. Some extent, it's easier said than done. but I guess one I kind of went backwards for some length of time when I was very like 2014 I think is when this was first getting started. Every day I just post this back with when I had my full-time job. I was just posting Craigslist ads of hey, I got off market discounted property. You know, same old, same old stuff. 60 to or 40 to 70% of fair market value.

You know, just collecting buyers and that was very, that was very easy to do. And then if people would ask specific questions, I'd just say, yeah, I'm collecting. I'm marketing for off market properties. I'm marketing direct to sellers. People come to me when they want to get rid of property quickly. So, you know, let me have your email and whenever I have something, I'll shoot it over to you. And let me get your phone number so I can call you as well. And at that point, it was just a lot of phone calls.

There was no big email blast. It was just calling my, you know, 15 individual buyers at the time and saying, hey, I got one. You know, is this something you'd be interested in? Also, when you're getting started, wholesalers are great. It's kind of like a partnership when I was starting rehabbing. I partner with another rehabber and, you know, say, just give me, give me five grand, but walk me through everything. Show me how to do everything.

Teach me. Same thing with the wholesaling. If you want to say you get a deal and, you know, pick out a couple, maybe go to your local Ria or there's a couple of them and go to the people with the microphone and say, hey, I got a deal. What do I do with it? Like, well, JV, I'll let you take 50% of the profits, but can you kind of show me how your systems work?

and how to do it. I think the buyers are out there. It's just kind of in the beginning, getting your hands dirty and beating the pavement a little bit. Yep. Anita, what's been your secret to finding the money or your best approach or strategy to finding money or buyers? My secret thoughts.

Well, absolutely agree with Parker. When you have the deal, the money will follow. But then how do you make the money follow? I have two types of investors. I have equity investors and I have debt investors. And it's a bit different for both. For the debt investors, if you have people lending you money,

you just kind of make those payments on time every month. And whatever problems you're having with that property, don't tell them about it. Don't tell them a word about it. Don't tell them what a nightmare that property is and how the roof caved in and you have to replace the sewer line and you're so far in the hole on this property.

Don't free the word of that to them. Just send them your checks or your electronic payments or whatever. Send them those interest payments. every month. For both and both types of investors, people with money have friends with money.

So, you know, we started with a couple of investors and all the other investors we've had since have been friends of those investors. So people do a deal with you and they're happy,

they're going to tell their friends about it, and they're going to want to do a deal. And what happens is when you find another deal and you call your initial investor, they're going to say, oh, I don't have the money right now, but boy, I've got a friend

and I've been telling him about all our deals and they really want in. So you'll find those initial investors and do right by them. And the other thing is, you know, like my husband and I try to always talk about real estate around people. And you see that some people don't care. Some people get uncomfortable and some people get really interested and they want to learn more and they want to come over for dinner and they want you to tell them about it. And some of them will end up being investors as well. And some of them can end up being partners or just can be people that, you know, you end up getting into the business and you learn from each other.

Right. All out of the five commandments of private money is perfect. Like, you know, don't share. Whatever's going on with the property is not their problem. They don't want to hear about it. Pay them on time and talk about what you do. And the other one, oh, yeah, they always have more than they say they do up front, whether it's their money or their network's money.

And, yeah, just be a person of integrity and follow through. And that money is abundantly there. Money is always looking for an opportunity. And if you're good at finding opportunities, that money is going to find you. Dr. Rob, anything to add to that? not a lot although i think i stumbled upon parker's uh um craigslist strategy because uh last deal like doubled my buyers list i mean it's just like unbelievable like the the truth and you have a deal and you know you will have so many buyers that you don't even know what to do it i've got people you know

i closed the deal weeks ago i've still got people contacting me like hey is that deal you know you know can i get into that property i'm like dude i've sold that property weeks ago so um And what happened is I forgot to cancel that Craigslist ad that I ran for it. So it's like Parker Strategy. People keep like just flocking to that Craigslist ad. I would definitely continue to keep those ads going. I did that a lot when I was getting started. Just really had those out on Craigslist, Facebook pages, search investor for Facebook

and find all of those pages in your area. Just leave them out there. When people call you, oh, sorry. You know, that one just recently got locked up. But I got another one coming. So give me your information. Right. I love it. Chris, anything to add to that? You know what? I look at these, I think keeping in mind my buyers are turnkey investors and that's what I was in my last life. So I'm looking at these properties saying, why would I want this? Why would I hold this? What are the reasons why I think this would be a great investment for me or for my sister? And when I talk to people, I'm ready to explain that to them. And I pretty much apply the same thing to the investors.

is I look at that, because I've done private money lending in the past before I started buying out of state, and I would just look at that, like, what do I need to get comfortable? What's the level of communication I do expect? I agree that you completely need about not giving them too much, but I like to give them weekly updates. People don't like it when it goes silent. So I give them information like, okay, you know, we're two weeks into rehab and we're on schedule, and we had our first inspection and we're good, and we've had three showings this week. and they really appreciate that.

The other thing that I found that makes a big difference with the investors is I explain to them, what's my plan B? What if this doesn't go good? What am I going to do? And I tell them that the first time I talk to them, which is I only will buy and start a rehab if I know that my numbers are where I can cash out refinance in the end. So even if I don't sell this to a turnkey investor,

I'm going to go and take this out and get a long-term fixed loan and hold it. and I can get all the money back to take you out. So there's a lot of comfort in that. And it's basically it's all about the golden rule. It's all the principle about what would I need to feel comfortable. Well, that's what I'm going to make sure they get from me. Nice. So, Chris, the big question of the day, what this is all about,

your secret to consistency. We've got basically eight weeks, full steam ahead, maybe another week or two, give or take, but full steam ahead in the business. We've got five deals, five projects under. what do you attribute that to? Small, daily, consistent habits. I break down my tasks.

I wake up in the morning and I look at my big long to-do lists and I say, what are the two or three things that have got to get done today? Those are the first things I tackle. That's my habit. The slight edge is a build block for this whole concept about consistency. It is knowing what the right habits are and doing them. They don't have to be huge. They just have to be consistent and you have to be married to them.

And it really produces. It's about getting your priorities right, working your priorities right. And you can take a lot of time off. You can take a couple of days off, but you never stop spinning any one of the plates. You keep them all going and it just keeps working. I frequently think about the analogy of place. pushing a car. Those first few inches are far harder than after you've gone, you know,

20, 30 feet and you can push it with one hand, basically. It's just keeping the momentum, right? It's good. So consistent actions produce consistent results is basically what I'm hearing. Anita, do you have a different approach or a different secret? Well, I have a couple. One is just the drive. I am just really, really driven to achieve financial independence. That's so important for me and for my family. I want it so much. And actually, in the last six months, I keep trying to take a break from this business. And I just can't. I don't know. I just can't. I understand that if I take a break, it'll be that much longer until I achieve the financial independence. So I think having that drive, really understanding

what you want, really understanding what you think your life might look like when you get to that financial independence is really important because it's a really difficult business sometimes. Sometimes everything's great and sometimes everything's tough and it can be really emotionally trying. And then the other thing, and this is what I think really made my business so much better in the last year, is just get everything off your plate that you don't need to be doing. You know, like you always say delegate but don't abdicate. I'm just trying to do that more and more and more. And every day, you know, at the end of the day, saying, all right, what did I spend my time doing?

And can any of those things be either automated or delegated? You know, especially for me at this point, I'm only working about three hours a day, five days a week. That was my goal last year, and I pretty much gotten there. So every hour is super precious for me. And every week I try to evaluate what did I actually spend my time doing and how do I get that off my plate so that I'm only doing the things that I really, really need to be doing. And I built an amazing team that way. I mean, a year ago, I was managing all my properties and I was working night and day, weekends all day, every night before. bed all the time and I'm down to three hours a day and I'm still keeping my business going.

So I'm just thinking, you know, if I want to keep expanding, how do I keep gone on that trajectory? Got it. In a sentence or two, what is financial independence to you? How do you know when you'll reach it? I have a number in mind. I have a number of mind. And what will that mean to you personally once you hit that number? It means I can live, me and my family, we can live a very comfortable lifestyle without having to

exchange our time for money and our limber for money. money. It's good. I ask that question because you're the first one that's come up with that's stated that their drive is the reason. You have a big why as to why you're doing this on a daily basis. So it's good. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. Rob, what's your secret to consistency? So with a full-time job, what I've really had to do is actually structure my business, my day job so that it allows for it. And what that really has been nice is that, you know, I know that when these hours in the week roll around, it's like, okay, these are my real estate hours, period. And, you know, that's what it's dedicated for and that's what it's devoted to.

So if I'm not, you know, moving bones in the office, you know, I know I'm on the phone or I'm looking at a property or I'm, you know, organizing and mailing or I'm doing something. And those are my hours dedicated to real estate. So I've kind of structured my life so that it's built in. And there's no excuses because, you know, it basically is Wednesday afternoons is, you know, is 100% real estate. And, you know, when I'm done Wednesday at noon with my office hours, I'm like, okay, I'm putting on my real estate hat and that's it. Right. And then all my evenings, I'm working in my phone calls, my, you know, my business to houses and all that. So it's not just Wednesdays. But I really structured my week around making the time. And the other thing I'd add to that, along with Anita's talking about drive, would be also staying motivated. And I've kind of made an effort. My consistency isn't perfect on the Thursday night calls. But being around. like-minded people is huge for me because like I need to say is you know it kind of is a little bit lonely you know you're not exactly in an office with other real estate investors you know you're kind of sitting there by yourself making your phone calls and you know being on you know these

conference calls with with you and the rest of the people on this phone call um that we're on today weekly is a great motivator it's a great way to kind of keep your mind in it keep the why why am I doing this, seeing other people doing it, you know, knowing that they're doing it too. And it's kind of a little bit of kicking the pants to kind of, you know, keep yourself motivated too. So scheduling it in advance and that time that you schedule being non-negotiable, this is the time we're going to go to work. I like it.

And I think one thing of, yeah, being intentional about creating your environment and putting yourself in that position or in that environment where you are with like-minded people, you know, the peer pressure, it goes both ways, right? hang around the knuckleheads, you do knucklehead things. You hang around the achievers. You start achieving, right? It just happens. That's how human beings are wired.

So thanks for sharing that. New insights on the consistency today. I'm enjoying this. Parker, interested in this from you. You're such a data guy and you're driven. You've got a big why. You've got all of the above. What would you add to that?

First of all, if any of my data friends are watching this, they would just be bawling on the floor laughing right now on how undata of a guy I am. Oh, really? Every time I talk to you, you seem to know your numbers backwards and forward. I mean, I'm detail-oriented, and one time I went to a mastermind, and I got just split wide open for not knowing my KPIs, and I didn't even know what those three letters stood for.

So that's why I know I'm so well. But, you know, first of all, props to Anita, that's awesome about the three hours a day. That's like, that's a big accomplishment right there and really cool. But for the question, I had a full-time job for like a year. And I had an internship before that. That was right in college and then after college. I'm just not built for it. So, like, most of my why is just so I don't have to work from nine.

I'm not a structured person. Like the structure that I have in my business is because I've built like team members around it. And also partly because of my wife, because she like shoves structure on me. I'm just kind of like flying about to seize my pants. But that's a big part of my wise just so I can work when I want to work. I found growing up that if anybody else was telling me what to do and how to do it, I didn't do it with anywhere near as much motivation or drive or really like the quality of the work just wasn't even there when it was being told to do versus me knowing that I had to do it.

otherwise it wasn't going to get done. So I have to set what needs to be done in order for it to be done right. And I enjoy working for myself. And I enjoy managing people when the people are easy to manage. But that's a big part of it. So I just, I really like this business and working for myself and making the rules. Nice. Yeah, I think that's why I get along so well with you, Parker. I think we have a lot in common. I mean, for Anita, her reason. kind of her secret to consistency consistency can kind of be summed up as you know she's chasing a number she's chasing pleasure as tony robbins would say it and i think i'm kind of like you i'm running away from pain like i don't want to go back to what the alternative was for me and that was bagging groceries

after the music business and uh you know you know you don't like working for someone else you said something right there at the end like if you don't do it for yourself nobody else is going to do it for you and you know you'll slowly slip back into exactly what you don't want Exactly. Awesome. So I have this question written down. I was like going to be, what's your biggest surprise about the business? I think it's a little bit vague.

So I'm going to rephrase it in a different way. What do you know now that you wish you knew when you got started? And you can kind of put the word surprise around that if you want. But, you know, knowing what you know now, what do you wish you knew when you got started? Anita. The biggest surprise I've had has been working with investors and finding investors. And this is true for sellers as well. But the biggest surprise is that other people have completely different priorities from you

and view the world and money and investing in ways that sometimes you can't even wrap your head around. So we have our ways of evaluating deals. We have our ways of evaluating investments. We have our ways of evaluating analyzing investments and setting our own goals. And I bet for all of us we could at least understand each other's goals. There's a lot of people out there who view the world totally differently. and I still have people that I work with investors where I still don't completely understand what it is that they're actually looking for. And I'm surprised when they get upset about certain things and then I'm surprised at the things that they get happy about.

So the biggest lesson is do not assume everyone is like you and everyone wants the same thing as you. I think that's so invaluable. You know, when I talk about what it takes to be a successful real estate investor, you need knowledge, time, money, and credit. And when I got started, I was deficient on a couple of those. And the biggest surprise for me was kind of connected to what you just said was, I didn't realize what I was deficient in was like piece of cake for someone else, right? That was so easy and they were so puzzled by what came easy to me. And yeah, I think that kind of goes the same thing with thoughts, right?

What you're thinking doesn't necessarily mean what everyone else is thinking. That's a great observation. Chris, what have you found so far as the biggest surprise? What do you know now that you wish you knew when you got started? It's not as hard as I thought it was. If you look at the four things you just named, I think that people make knowledge into this bigger obstacle than it is. You need to know the basics. You need to know some fundamentals.

But then you've got lots of examples of people over the years who just took off screaming with great success and barely knew what they were doing. And I think that that stops people from starting sooner. And it stops people from starting small thinking they have to stop. start big. And I, you know, I left a 13-year corporate job to come do this full-time. And I would have done it a lot sooner if I realized that I could have made a full-time living so quickly because it just really isn't that difficult. You know what you need to know. You put the time in. You try to make the right choices. Focus on, you know, helping people get what they want and not losing money and doing things stupid and it's really not that hard. It's not this big, scary thing once you get out of

there. I like it. I love that answer. So, Rob, kind of a different story. Like, we met a long time ago. We've been working together, I don't know, 18 months, almost maybe two years now. And you had a full-time career, right? And you still have that same career. And you've held on to it. So in contrast to Chris, he left the career to do this. You've maintained both. What would you say is your biggest surprise. What do you know now that you wish you knew then? Well, that it's doable. You know, that it's not that it doesn't have to be one or the other. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Kind of my game plan is kind of like Anita's is to become financially independent and sufficient where I do not have to do my full-time job, which I currently have,

or that it now becomes just mad money. You know, now my full-time job is just, you know, like my spending money. So, you know, the key here is I enjoy my job. You know, I enjoy moving bones. It's hugely satisfying. And I'm not running away from it. So I'm not running away from pain, maybe like you described. I am running towards pleasure, you know, so I do know that I can only move bones for so many years before, you know,

I'm no longer able to physically. So this is kind of my retirement strategy. And, you know, so I guess maybe to speak to people who are in full-time jobs and maybe don't want to maybe take the plunge and go to cold turkey. And I wouldn't even recommend that. And I'm sure you might not even either because that's not necessarily financially good strategy. That's a lot of risk, right?

And a lot of stress. But basically I'm transitioning from one to the other. essentially at some point both will support me and then I can choose kind of which I want to put more time and effort and money into. So what has been the biggest lesson, right? So what's the biggest lesson that you just like, bam, if I had known this earlier, things could have been different. Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of comfort and confidence knowing that my future will be secure going in this direction of real estate investing. So there's a lot of less stress.

There's a lot less anxiety about the future, about my retirement, about when I'm 80, you know, what's life going to be like. I mean, I see these news reports now about people, you know, these commercials almost crack now. Do you have enough money to retire? I'm like, I don't need some financial investor to tell me that. I'll know, just like a needle. No.

I mean, we'll see. We'll say, I got, you know, 40 doors, cash flowing 300 a month. I know I'm upset, you know? So, yeah, exactly. That's where comfort's going to come from. Yeah. I'm not some silly Charles Schwab financial guys, right? There's a new study out.

And I've seen it in the headlines in various publications and various platforms about today's retirees. Their biggest fear is running out of money before they run out of life. And they fear it more than the death itself, which I find pretty extraordinary. But I can imagine. I mean, you know, being on this planet without money in the way that the money serves us in the society, that can be a very scary thing. Yep. This is, if I could say, I mean, I have a bookshelf behind me in one of those books, the title is, what happens if I live? And it's about exactly that.

And, you know, what do you do? And that's why, I mean, when I started, I said, this is about passive income. I'm right in line with Amita as far as, you know, the passive income that replaces the full-time income that then allows you to pull back and start spending more time doing more. you want. I mean, congratulations on three hours a day. That's beautiful. But I'd like to take that down to about three hours a week and then three hours a month and then just do it for fun. But yeah, that fear is something that is wonderful to get away from. I don't have that fear. It used to be not a fear. It used to be just horror. I'm never going to get there. I'm going to work right now. And then, oh, wait a minute. Now there's real estate. And now it's basically my full-time efforts are,

on my retirement plan. I'm right in line with you, Anita, as far as what is your why. Super. So Parker, now having this full-time business and two virtual markets and living the life in Colorado and we were just talking about snow

before we started recording and it gets sticky when it gets cold. I mean, you know all these things now, right? These local, this local knowledge because of what real estate has been able to give you, what do you know now that you wish you knew a lot earlier when you got started. Oh, man, well, I was about to say the opposite of Chris and just saying how much like

grit and time and stress. And, you know, I was rehabbing before. So, you know, I knew about the money. But really just the time and the grit and the emotional, mainly rehabs, which is why I'm probably not going back to rehabbing unless it's going to be for rental property, but emotional stress from it that you have to go through to really, you don't have to, right? I could have been doing it wrong, but that's what I was going to say. But then I was like, I'm kind of glad I didn't know that because I might have not started at all. So I'll switch to

kind of like one of the biggest lessons that I wouldn't have had to have made this mistake if I would have known it ahead. And I'll go back to KPIs. If I really wish I would have known how many appointments that I was supposed to be going on before I got a contract. How many leads that I was supposed to be generating based on a certain marketing strategy or for, you know, a hire, when I hire somebody, you know, what numbers they need to be hitting and what they need to be producing before they get the cut and it goes to somebody else. And, you know, I just at a recent meetup that I went to and with some guys, guys that with bigger businesses and with bigger businesses than me, you know, I got an answer that

I need to give one of my long-term acquisitions managers. So let me know before you post this because I didn't let him know first. But, you know, there's other people that could be doing it better. He's great. He can build rapport like no other. And he can make the seller just feel very, very comfortable and break down those walls. But, you know, There's certain roles in your business where an innate skill is needed. And if they don't have that, you're not going to know, really, because they could be performing at just a mediocre level. And that's what my case was, is we were still making, you know, we were paying the bills and making some money,

but it wasn't to the extent where it needs to be. And I was always kind of scratching my head, like, hey, why are the returns not better? here. And that was the answer. So being able to know the data sooner so I can make those decisions sooner before you have to look back and say, wow, I missed out on, you know, $400,000 of missed deals last year that I could have made if I had somebody that, you know, was really a rock star. Got it. So if I heard you correctly, knowing what you know now, wish you would have known when you got started was just how important the numbers were in trackstor. tracking those a lot earlier?

Yeah, knowing that they're important, but also just really tracking, there's a difference between tracking and knowing your numbers and then knowing how to compare them to the standard, what the standard should be for, it's going to be relative for market to market. But that's the hardest thing. Like the easiest thing is to track numbers. The next easiest thing is to track your numbers and know your numbers. And then the third hardest thing is going to be to do the two of those and know how those numbers that you're producing stack up to the standards for what your market should be producing

based on the amount of money that you're spending. That's like bringing it full circle and what will enable you to say, okay, I need to make this change and cut this person because this number is too low. It should be, you know, four points higher. Right. Right. So actually also knowing how to respond to the numbers and what shifts or modifications to make to improve those numbers. Yes, 100%. Absolutely. Great. So thank you guys so much. I just want to wrap up real quickly. What was your biggest takeaway from the other participants on this call? Chris, what was your big takeaway from being here today? Parker never ceases to amaze me. The guy has a machine. He knows how to build it. He knows how to maintain it. He knows how to drive it and keep it running. And I think that that's just a

phenomenal example for everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. I really like this. I mean, like, I started off this conversation where it was such a diverse group with such different, just different things going for them and different things that they're after. So very different perspectives. Rob, what was your biggest takeaway from the group here today? Yeah, I just really enjoy being around like my people and just really enjoyed this whole, you know, time we spent together connecting. You know, we all kind of speak the same language. We kind of have similar objectives and it's just been a real joy. And it's just, you know, I've just really enjoyed my whole, you know, venture into real estate investing just as an activity in general.

So this has been a blast. That's great. Really glad you're here. And thanks for sharing that. Anita, what's been your biggest takeaway from the other participants on the call today? I think just that there are so many different ways to, so many different types of real estate businesses and so many different ways to make money in real estate. And it sounds like we all have passive income as our goal. there's a lot of different ways to get there and the key is just to do it.

You got to just go for it. Yep, yep. I'm noticing the diversity as well. Parker, what was your biggest takeaway today? I guess just the boost of, you know, being around like-minded people is a boost of confidence. You know, it's easy to get dragged down from the stress of this business or maybe the stress from another business that you're trying to do this at the same time and life. You know, there's just a lot going on when you can get around, you know, everybody that's

kind of going for the same goal. Like I need to say, there's lots of different ways to get there. But overall, it's just that pursuit of, you know, financial freedom. So just kind of, you know, staying around these people and having these conversations is awesome to do every once in a while. Yep. Agreed. I get so much out of them, too, hearing from you guys in your real world experience, you're out in the trenches. And, yeah, I can just tell you guys are doing it.

When you do this for as long as I've been doing it, you know who the people are really doing it, the real people. out there doing the work and you can tell it from the people that are just kind of, you know, floating around and talking a good game. So it's great to be around doers. So real quickly, and you guys can answer this if you want or you don't have to, but if someone wanted to get in touch with you, what would be the best way for them to do that? And this could be a buyer or a lender or a partner or something like that. Parker? I'd say on our Facebook page, Barrington Acquisitions, message me there or my personal page, Parker Stiles. Got it. Perfect. Rob, if someone wanted to get in touch with you, it would be the best way.

The easiest way is text. So 734-649, 5329 is my direct mobile. Don't hesitate. You know, always put your name in there because I get bizarre texts all the time. I can imagine if you give your phone number out on podcast, you'd probably get a lot of bizarre text. Well, my first reply is like, who are you? What do you want? So put a, you know, put a name in there, put, you know, while you're contacting me, maybe how you heard about me. But, you know, I'm always, interested in networking and it's always a win. Sweet. What was the number again? 734-649-5329.

Awesome. Thank you. Anita, if someone wanted to get in touch with you, would you welcome that? How should they do that? I would certainly welcome that. Anyone is welcome to email me. My email is Sky High Homes, Colorado. It's all spelled out. It's really long. Skyhigh Homes, Colorado at gmail.com. Perfect. Thank you. and Chris. Email is best, and that is Chris, C-H-R-I-S- at PortfolioP-P-G-G-com.

That stands for Portfolio Property Group. PortfolioP-G.com. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for carving this time out of your busy schedules. Anita, you don't have the schedule, really? You're not so busy. It doesn't sound like I think we're all listening to you. Like, that's the way we all want to do it.

So congratulations to you guys. Thanks for being here. And let's stay in touch. If you need anything, let us know. And we'll do this again, okay? Sounds good. Thanks, Matt. All right, you bet.

Take care. Bye you guys. All righty. So that's it for today. If you'd like to do deals, go ahead and you can subscribe to the podcast. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel. So if you want to do deals, go there. If you want to go fast, go to R-E-I-A-Ase.com.

All righty. So that's it for today. I am Matt Terrio. To your success. God bless. and we'll be back here next week on another episode of the epic real estate investing show. And take care. Bye.

Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. You didn't know home for it. We got the cash flow. This podcast is a part of the C-Suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.