Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Alvin Johnson - TedX Speaker and President at Hope Housing Foundation and Multifamily Monopoly

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

Welcome to another episode of The Radcast! In this week’s episode, host Ryan Alford talks to Alvin Johnson, TedX Speaker and President of Hope Housing Foundation, Assertive Management Group LLC and Multi-Family Monopoly.Alvin discusses how he was able to refine his skill set and how his life experience and motivations led him to a career in real estate. Alvin also talks about the many challenging moments in his life, and how he eventually overcame these through sheer determination. Alvin explains Hope Housing Foundation’s goals and plans for the future. He also shares how he combines marketing and social media into his work and what motivates him aside from his own passion.If you want to learn more about Alvin Johnson, check out his website https://www.alvinhopejohnson.com/. Follow him on Instagram @alvinhopejohnson and Twitter @alvinhopejohnsn.If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com. Check out www.theradicalformula.com. Like, Share and Subscribe to our YouTube account https://bit.ly/3iHGk44 or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radical_results @the.rad.cast. If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

I volunteered for a company that went bankrupt. I had my own mortgage company that went out of business in 2009 with the crash. So how do you pick yourself up from that? And that's what I had to do and figure it out really quickly because I needed to eat. I have had so many highs and so many lows. I try to stay in the middle because, you know, you can get excited today and then tomorrow something happens and you don't close. And then you go from here to here.

The hottest part of that meeting is starting again. You know, you can get excited today and then tomorrow something happens and you're down clocked. And then you go from here to here. You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. We're talking real estate today. We're getting deep with my friend Alvin Johnson. What's up, man? Welcome to the show. Hey, Ryan, man. Glad to be here. Thank

you for having me. Hey, man. Glad you could get in and excited to talk about your journey. Nice to be here, man. It's nice to have you, man. President at Hope Housing Foundation, multifamily monopoly. You got the gear on. I like it. Branding. Thank you, man. You know, I wondered if I wanted to wear this you man you know i wondered if i wanted to wear this today you know because i didn't know what the weather was like uh my friends told me i need to start wearing more suits because we're trying to attract more money and uh so man okay but after this one oh yeah i think you're good man i think people uh i don't know i think the money follows the good i don't know if it follows the suit. I agree with that.

I agree with that. That's why I only got one suit. Yeah, man. So Dallas is home? Dallas is home, yeah. Yeah. Always been home? I grew up in Beaumont, Texas.

So it's east of Houston, down on I-10. But I got out of there as quick as I could and lived in Houston for a while, Amarillo, Texas for a while, and now Dallas for. Cowboys fan? Oh, is there another football team? Oh, Texas for a while, and now Dallas for. Cowboys fan? Oh, is there another football team? Oh, yeah. America's team. That's it.

I've always been a closet Cowboys fan. I don't want to admit that on the podcast. It's out there now. Everybody is a closet Cowboy fan. It's because they're everywhere. I mean, it's like branding. I mean, it's seated in my head because they're on every weekend. It's America's team.

That's right. You can watch them anywhere. That's right. So, Alvin, man, I know you've been up to a lot. I'm not going to tell you a whole life story, but I do want to get behind what you've been up to. And, you know, let's talk a little bit about your journey. Well, thanks, man. Right now we're on a journey to build 20,000 units of high performance apartments in the next five years.

I got attracted to this technology called structurally insulated panels that can go together like Lego blocks, really high wind ratings, great efficiency, great for the planet, near net zero. We can put panels, solar panels on the roof and have an apartment building with no electric bill. So I got really involved in that three years ago when we couldn't find any other apartments to buy that made sense for my investors. So I'll tell you, man, 2008, I volunteered for this guy that had 16,000 units of apartments. My life had fallen apart after my second divorce. And this guy told me he'd help me. And so he met me in Dallas. He flew in. I was living in Houston then.

And I didn't know he was flying in on his private plane. But when he walked in the room, he was so good looking, man. He sucked the air out of the room. And I said, man, I got to be with this guy. So three weeks he called i'd call i'd call him he'd answer my call he'd give me some stuff to do and then i'd check in the next week and after three weeks he quit answering my call and i said man i thought i had found the guy you know i prayed for this mentor and this guy walks in and uh after three weeks he quit answering my call but i kept calling every week you know the money's in the follow-up right yeah um on the 53rd call literally one week

i mean one year he said alvin johnson i'm so tired of you calling me uh if you want to know what i do you can get here and i'll put you up for 30 days that 30-day journey uh ryan changed my life i went to serve this guy. I told him, I'll sharpen your pencil, shine your shoes. I just need to be with you. He let me hang out for 30 days, asked me what I was going to do. I said, man, I'm not going home unless you send me home. I don't have nothing to go home to. And I stayed there for another year, 13 months to the day I got there. He died in a car wreck. But in that 13 months, he had allowed me to, he took me in as a son. He really mentored me. He's only 12 years older than me,

but I felt like a kid. I'd sit at his foot, man, and just let him talk and listen. When he died, I became the president of this billion-dollar company. I mean, they had 16,000 units. Today, it'd probably be worth one and a half, two billion bucks. We walked that thing through a bankruptcy for a year and a half, and I got fired. And liquidating bankruptcy. And, man, I sat there and said, okay, well, I'm fired. I ain't going to get hired nowhere now. What am I going to go do?

You know, I've always been an entrepreneur. And we took Hope Housing Foundation. They reconstituted the board. It was another organization that supported the other one. And they said, Alvin, you can take it, man. If anybody can do something with it, you can. I didn't have nothing to lose at that point. I had spent those two years.

They paid me a salary after I got hired. Took that salary money, paid off all my bills from all bad decisions. So I had no I had good credit, but none. No experience buying apartments. I volunteered for a company that went bankrupt. I had my own mortgage company that went out of business in 2009 with the crash. went out of business in 2009 with the crash. So how do you pick yourself up from that? And that's what I had to do and figure it out really quickly because I needed to eat. So I'll go back, man, to my son was three years old, his third birthday. This was 1989.

I got out of high school, no college, became a painter, learning how to paint million-dollar houses in the 80s. Worked for this guy for two years. He went out of business. So I had to eat. It's a story of my life. You got to eat, man. We all do. We all got to eat.

And then I had that three-year-old. It was his third birthday, man, and I was like. Damn, he's got to eat too. I opened the kiln. There was no more food in there. We were getting kicked out of our house that day. This 1989 interest rate's 18%. I couldn't buy a job.

I was a painter. So I tried to kill myself that day. I said, man, 38 to the head. The gun didn't go off. Took a bottle of nitroglycerin pills that are good for heart patients. You take one and it blows up in your heart to make it work. I said, two or three hundred of these ought to work. When I laid down that day after taking those pills, I said, God, man, if you got a plan for me, a purpose for my life, then I'll be okay and please forgive me.

If you don't have a purpose for my life, then please forgive me because they told me it's hot down there. So I woke up, man, 10 days later and said, boy, you're a loser. You couldn't even kill yourself. So from there, my family nursed me back to health. It took six months for me to get my shit together. And I vowed that I would use this fifth opportunity because I had so many up to that point

to just try to make a difference. But I had to eat first. And, you know, you can't take care of anybody else. You can't take care of yourself. And so I got back to work, man. And I after that, I got a job driving a truck for three years, working in a chemical plant for five years, hated all of that junk. And I said, I'm a real estate guy. Went back to real estate, started doing construction work in Houston after driving that truck for a few years, got into the mortgage business in 96, 96 to 2007, made a bunch of money, saw a couple of cycles of the real estate crash, you know, up, down, up, down. And then when I went to volunteer for Steve with the 16,000 units of apartments, that's why I say that part changed my life.

Serving somebody else, trying to make somebody else's dream come true, he poured into me something that I couldn't have paid for. And then I got a master's degree in education, unwinding this billion-dollar company with $1,000-an-hour attorneys. And we wrote a bankruptcy plan, and they chopped that shit up and said, this is no good for us. I said, it'll get the creditors all their money back. But they didn't have any confidence that I could have refinanced all those properties, because where did I come from? I was a freaking volunteer. So sitting in a seat of a billion-dollar company as a volunteer, that's how I got started. You heard my background. These attorneys had no confidence, so they wrote their own plan.

The attorneys wound up with all the money. The properties went away. The creditors barely got any money. And we went off and started this work and said, we're going to go buy some apartments. And today we have about 1,100 units. We've got, let me see, we've got 200 units under construction now. That's a $50 million project. It'll be worth $65 million when it's completed.

Princeton, Texas, we got 250 units passed through planning and zoning. And then Anna, Texas, that's a $70 million deal. It'll be worth over $100 when we're done. We've got another 300 units in Greenville, Texas. So we've got 1,000 units we're going to start this year, 3,000 next year, 5,000 a year after that, 8,000 a year after that. That'll put us over 20,000 units.

We're building our own structurally insulated panel plant to build these panels. We're going to get structurally insulated panel plant to build these panels. We're going to get workers from the penal system that can't get jobs because nobody will hire them. We will train them to be our workers and entrepreneurs and subcontractors. There are a lot of people that love to do this work. And that's what I've been up to. And that's where we're going, man. Hey, man. Where does your calmness come from? Are you always that way? I mean, are you?

I'm on a podcast. I'm not calm. I know. Yeah. There's something even about you, though. You're not even? Man, I have had so many highs and so many lows. I try to stay in the middle.

Yeah. Because, you know, you can get excited today. Hey, man, I got to clear the close on this deal. And then tomorrow something happens and it don't close. many lows i try to stay in the middle yeah because you know you can get excited today hey man i gotta clear to close on this deal yeah and then tomorrow something happened and it don't close and then you go from here to here here to here and i try to stay in the middle what's what's driving you what's the driving force now uh uh is it because it this success like is it still like the journey of success is it that or is it like you're trying to prove something to yourself all of that yeah i can prove it to my gotta prove it to myself it's a big lofty dream i'm reading john maxwell's book uh put your dream

to the test i picked it up five years ago and couldn't finish it I couldn't get past chapter one because I couldn't answer the first ten questions about the dream and now a week ago I said man I need to get that book again

I bought it I didn't know where my copy was I got through chapter one I answered all the questions about the dream really specifically. I just told you the dream, right? And now I'm going to finish the book. John says you can get through that.

You'll probably have a 99% success rate of that dream coming true. And I know it's coming true. I'm meeting people that have been doing this for 20 years and said, man, where you been? I needed to get with a developer that had this kind of vision. These apartments, three, four stories. We've got the latest prop tech in there. The air conditioner systems are engineered so differently. You won't get sick if your neighbor's got COVID because no air goes from unit to unit. It all ventilates outside. Tankless toilets, really cool hanging on the wall like you see in the airport. Really nice.

I mean, it's really, really nice. And all driven by solar. And driven by solar, if we want to. Now, we're not going to put panels on the roof on all of them, but we will use part solar for parking lot lights, exterior lights, and stuff like that. And then we will provide one pay option for the tenants. You just move in, your lights, water, everything's on, all the appliances are there, just move in. The latest of everything, really nice.

What are y'all doing with the Hope Housing Foundation? Hope Housing Foundation is the developer on a lot of these deals initially because our goal is to do affordable workforce housing. So everybody's gray collar unless you're white collar. And if you don't work, then you fall into the affordable bracket or I don't want to say if you don't work, the income brackets are really different based on area median incomes. But what we're doing with Hope is we're buying now assets that are there and stabilize, repositioning them, rehabbing

them. And we want to grow about 5,000 existing units within the next few years as well. So we've got the nonprofit side that's providing the affordable housing for people that make anywhere from 30 to 80% of the area median income in any particular market that we're in. 80% of the area median income in any particular market that we're in. That's great. I mean, that's got a, I don't know, it sounds cliche to say make you feel good, but it's got to make you feel good. Well, it does.

We call it doing good while doing good. And when we partner with investors to do that, they can put their money in the deal and say, hey, man, we really are doing some good. And let me explain it really quickly. You've got an area that is $100,000 a year area median income, okay? You've got a school teacher that makes $50,000 a year. She's at, or he is at 50% of the area median income. The rents in that 100,000, in that market are probably $2, $2.50 a foot. So two-bedroom units are going to cost them $2,000. You make $50,000 a year.

How can you afford that? That math don't work. That math doesn't work. So when we talk about affordable housing, most people think about Section 8 vouchers. We think about the gray-collar worker that goes to work every day that's barely paycheck to paycheck. Rents are going up so much, affordable housing is an absolute necessary. Got to have it. Yeah.

We see that even here in Greenville, South Carolina. Yeah. It's booming like everywhere else. Everywhere is doing that right now. So rents are 15%, 16% increases over the last year and probably expected to do that for the next couple of years. Incomes aren't going up like that. No, I had that same discussion. I'm like, I run a marketing agency and I'm like, our fees ain't going up that much, but everything else is going up. Oh man, all this is happening in Texas?

Texas, Louisiana, we're closing on a deal in Green Bay, Wisconsin, May 15th. We're doing 100 units up there right on the lake. So, man, we're just wherever we can find the right opportunity and the right people because we're doing this with partners. You say, hey, Alvin, man, I got 10 acres right here in Greenville. We'll get together because we have made relationship. So it starts with the alignment before the deal. It's always the alignment before the assignment. My pastor, Keith Craft, tells us that. Ooh, I like that. I'm a quote guy. Nick, am I a quote guy? Oh, yeah.

I got more sayings than the book. Yeah, but I like that. Alignment before assignment. Alignment before assignment. That's a good one. My favorite is inspect what you expect. Yeah, I've been guilty of not doing that before. Haven't we all? Haven't we all? What do you do when you're not working? Thinking about working.

You know, it's so funny. I was telling a young lady last night, I said, I apologize to her because everything I do is towards this work. And if I'm not doing work, and it's not really work because it's our life, right? Yeah. I'm thinking about it

or I'm planning to go on a trip about it or I'm coming to South Carolina to talk about it or I'm going to Vegas to talk about it. So it's all about, and I think that comes from a purpose, man. When you get to a place where you actually know there are two great days in a man's life, the day he was born and the day he figures out why. And when you figure out that why, everything that you do leads to that or points that way. Amen. That is truth. That is truth.

How have you embraced marketing and social media and what you do? Like, you know. I hate the camera. Yep. I never wanted to hear myself talk. And you got a good voice. All I do now is I'm in front of the camera and I'm hearing myself talk. It works, though, doesn't it?

It does. Grant told me, he said, Alvin, the reason you don't have what you want and you're not where you are is because nobody knows who you are or what you do. And at that point, I changed. Being known matters. do and at that point i changed being known matters and it's not about being popular or being famous it's about having influence that's it and you can't have influence nobody knows who you are that's right you know you're doing all these great things you know trying to get people behind it we're going to tell people how they can get involved with it but they don't know who you are you know and that's what we coach people on all day. It isn't about like, you know,

none of us really want that camera in our face. Now Grant kind of likes that camera in his face. Well, he's got to a place where he does, right? Yeah. He probably has always been like that. I think so too, you know. But success leaves clues. Yeah.

And so the thing that drives me about him, you know, he said he was a screw-up until he was 25, but he's had 35 years of consistency after that, just decisions. I look at my pastor, been married 560 months, however many years that he honors his wife every month, success leaves clues. So he's never had a year like this because at 15 they made a decision to put their life together and do it like this. And so they've had 35, 40 years of 560-something months of life like this based on decisions.

I didn't make those decisions early, but I've made them now. And so my life today has, you know, my life has been like this or like this, but, and we still have some of those, you know, places where we peek out for a minute until we go up,

but no more down years. Yeah. So what are your sources? I mean, you mentioned the books, but like what, what are your sources for inspiration,

motivation, all that? Where do you, other than your own drive, which is obviously clear. People. Yeah. It's relationships. I love to be around people that are positive.

I love to see other people win. That's why we join our mastermind groups, right? You get in a group like whoever, and you sit there and you see everybody in that group doing something spectacular. And then you look at yourself and go, well, I don't feel like I'm doing anything spectacular. Well, shit, they doing the work. Okay, well, I guess I'm in this group, man. I think about 15 of the people in that group have become writers for the forbes business council over the last two months and i'm seeing them post that every day and on the inside of me i'm happy for them

on the other side i'm going alvin you should be doing the fucking work i'm sorry ron i should be doing the work oh you can this is a radcast brother okay shit fuck damn whatever but i'm not doing the work so i can't be mad that they're doing something that I've got some accomplishments that I hadn't had so I love to be around people that are doing that because it just pushes us yeah I mean I've I learned that the hard way I don't know why I mean because I'm naturally driven type a in a way but uh it took me a long time not because I thought I was better or like I really wasn't like it probably came off as arrogance but it took me a long time, not because I thought I was better, or I really wasn't. It probably came off as arrogance, but it took me a long time to learn,

wait, I can learn. Success leaves clues, but you need to be around other people. Right. It's because you don't know what you don't know. And that's what, for me, it wasn't because I was seeking to know and I was pushing forward and I was having success, but you don't know what you don't know, and people have been through things you haven't that can empower you. That's right.

I'll tell you, one of my buddies told me, this guy I met, he called me off LinkedIn about four years ago. He said, hey, I've never seen a guy look like you that's doing what you're doing with a nonprofit and apartments with construction background. You mind if I come in and see you? Guy flew in from Atlanta the next day. And four years later, we're best friends. We're partners on everything that we're doing. But what he introduced me to Grant, he said, Alvin, you need to watch this guy's Instagram.

I said, no, no. I don't want to listen to anybody else talking about apartments. My model works. That was dumb. Yeah. I said I said okay I'll watch it and I said man I like this guy and now I would call him a friend now I've had dinner with him at home and stuff like that and not like this but yeah but the influence that he's provided to me has has helped change my life yeah so has I think everything helps change our life if we allow it. But the App Clubhouse has been absolutely amazing for us, just having an opportunity to talk about what we do

and meet people and make relationships. Well, I know we might do, maybe we'll do a remote part two of this. I know we had our schedules run. But where can people that want to get to know Alvin better get involved, maybe with some of the things you're doing, and keep up with you? Alvin Hope Johnson on Instagram, Facebook, all of the social platforms. And if you click the link on those bios, it'll take you to our website, multifamilymonopoly.com, our Hope Housing Foundation, if you want to get involved in the nonprofit side, doing good while doing good.

I love it. I'm glad God had a plan for you, man. Me too. I'm glad I'm here. I had an opportunity to spend a weekend with my grandkids last weekend and doing that regularly and great son and great family. I was the only asshole in the black seat, man. Hey, man.

You figured it out, though. We're working on that. Hanging around with guys like you. Hey, man. You figured it out, though. We're working on that. Hanging around with guys like you. Hey, man.

I'm blessed to meet you, and I know we'll move this along and stay connected. I like that. Maybe do a part two, maybe remote. We'll see. Maybe I'll come to Dallas and we'll do it in your house. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Cool, guys.

Go follow Alvin Johnson. Get involved with everything he's doing with Hope Housing Foundation and Multifamily Monopoly. You know where to find us, theradcast.com. You can search for all this content. Search for Alvin. You'll find all the highlight clips from today. I'm Matt Ryan, offered on the platforms. We'll see you next time on the Radcast.