\n<\/p>\n
Your\u00a0network can be your most powerful tool\u00a0<\/strong>inside and outside of real estate. Today\u2019s guest,\u00a0Ryan John<\/strong>, started his\u00a0real estate investing journey<\/a>\u00a0after seeing his friends succeed in the investing space\u2014including his childhood friend, Ashley Kehr. Ryan has been in the real estate game for a year and a half and has\u00a0closed on two off-market deals\u2014a house hack and a duplex.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As all rookies know,\u00a0trying to find and close on your first deal can be a mix of emotions<\/strong>. From\u00a0excitement to fear to anxiousness and fulfillment,<\/strong>\u00a0you go through various emotions when trying something you\u2019ve never done before. While Ryan wanted to get started right away, he\u00a0experienced a lot of nervousness regarding his first deal\u2014<\/strong>waking up at three in the morning, scared he was missing something. But, unlike many other investors, he didn\u2019t allow this to deter him from accomplishing his goals.<\/p>\n Ryan\u00a0prefers\u00a0<\/strong>off-market deals<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>because he doesn\u2019t have to go through a realtor. An off-market deal requires more legwork but often comes with significantly better numbers. Becoming an investor has also given Ryan the\u00a0freedom to make big life changes<\/strong>. Ryan went to his\u00a0first real estate investor meetup\u00a0<\/strong>and met investors with a wide range of experience. After attending,\u00a0an incident at work<\/strong>\u00a0prompted him to\u00a0quit<\/strong>. Since he\u00a0lives below his means<\/strong>\u00a0and has cash-flowing rentals, he has the\u00a0time and ability to breathe and explore his options\u00a0<\/strong>before deciding his next steps.<\/p>\n Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Dom: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ryan: Ashley: Tony: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: Ryan: Ashley: \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Interested in learning more about today\u2019s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Check out our\u00a0<\/i>sponsor page<\/a><\/i>!<\/i><\/p>\n Note By BiggerPockets:<\/b> These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.<\/p>\n
This is Real Estate Rookie episode 229\u2019er.<\/p>\n
I preferred the method of not being an imposter syndrome, but just telling people, \u201cHey, I\u2019m looking for property. I\u2019ve had property in the past, just primary residents that I ended up selling. I didn\u2019t know about house hacking or really major flips.\u201d And then when I met the guy that I bought the duplex from, I just jumped right in at him. I figured I was nervous. I was waking up at 3:00 AM sweaty and like, \u201cI\u2019m going to screw it up,\u201d because there\u2019s something I had to have missed, right? And I just keep kind of researching and then realizing that once you get in it, you just learn so much.<\/p>\n
My name is Ashley Kehr and I am here with my co-host, Tony Robinson.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast where every week, twice a week, we bring you the inspiration, information and stories you need to hear to kickstart your investing journey. We oftentimes like to start the show with a quick shout out to folks in the rookie community who have left an honest rating and review for us on Apple or whatever podcast platform you\u2019re listening to.
Today\u2019s review comes from BraveSmith28. Brave Smith says, \u201cThis podcast has been constantly pushing me in my real estate investing career. Listening to this podcast has gotten me to think about different strategies. I\u2019ve bought three single family houses since listening to this podcast. I\u2019m about to do my first short term rental. I wouldn\u2019t have thought about it without this and the other BiggerPockets Podcast. The tips and tricks are easy to follow with whatever strategy you use.\u201d
BraveSmith28, congratulations to you on the success. We appreciate you giving us a shout out. And if you haven\u2019t yet, please do leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcast, whatever platform it is you\u2019re listening to.<\/p>\n
Tony, what\u2019s new? How\u2019s California? I bet the weather\u2019s great because it\u2019s pouring rain here.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s actually blistering hot today. There\u2019s like a massive heat wave warning this weekend, supposed to get into the triple digits. But outside of that, not too bad. But actually before we hopped on, I was a little late hopping on this morning because we were negotiating with a seller for a motel in Utah. So we\u2019re hopefully getting close to maybe getting a signed LOI on that property. We still have the Big Bear deal that we\u2019re working on so there\u2019s a high possibility we end up having two hotels under contract at the same time, which I guess isn\u2019t a bad situation to be in. We just have to figure out which one makes the most sense. But we\u2019re moving. It\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exciting. That\u2019s awesome. I knew you went to Utah a couple weeks ago, but I didn\u2019t realize that was to look at a property, so that\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n
Yeah, it was super last minute. We\u2019ve been going back and forth with the seller and then we got pretty close on terms to like, \u201cHey, the seller\u2019s actually going to be at the property if you\u2019re willing.\u201d So I actually ended up driving up there. I was trying to fly but there were no direct flights and I would\u2019ve had to have landed in some other part of Utah and still drive an hour and a half from the airport to the hotel. It was only a six hour drive from my house, I was like, \u201cAh, whatever. I\u2019ll hop my car and I\u2019ll drive.\u201d So it was a little road trip up to Utah.<\/p>\n
Nice.<\/p>\n
Yeah. What about you Ash? What\u2019s new?<\/p>\n
Not much. Finishing up our A-Frame, started to refinance on that to pull our money back out this week. So it\u2019s always good to get money back. It\u2019s exciting to wait for the appraisal to see what the appraisal says. Our attorney says we should be closing on our lake house in 10 days or so, so that\u2019s awesome except for that lake season is coming to an end so we can\u2019t really enjoy it, but-<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll build the anticipation for next year.<\/p>\n
Yeah, the downfalls of trying to close in New York state, it takes forever, so yeah. But we have a couple closings. Campground we have under contract, we have the signed LOI on it. But now that we\u2019re actually putting the contract together with our attorneys, the seller\u2019s trying to change some things.
One thing that he has all of a sudden decided that he wants is he wants 10 years of timber and mineral and oil rights to the property. So there is a lot of timber on this property that\u2019s valuable. New York State also offers kind of a tax incentive. If you sign up for their 10 year forestry program, they will actually come in and slowly harvest the timber over 10 years. So it\u2019s not just you\u2019re going in, you\u2019re killing the forest all at once, you do it throughout time. And that actually helps the forest grow because you\u2019re getting rid of trees that need to be cut down. You\u2019re opening up where it\u2019s not so much coverage. I don\u2019t know the technical terms of it or whatever.
So sunlight gets in and more trees can grow, something like that. So you get a big tax savings on your property taxes if you do this, where if we give him the timber rights, he could just go in the first year and slash all the trees and we don\u2019t have those rights to get the tax credit anymore. So that\u2019s something we went back and said no, we\u2019re not even considering willing to budge on that especially with it being a campground too. We just don\u2019t want him to be able to come in at any time and just start cutting down trees.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s crazy how every market is so nuanced. If I were negotiating with the seller and they asked me for timber rights, I would have to figure out what that meant. I know minimal rights, but I\u2019ve never heard of timber rights before so that\u2019s interesting.<\/p>\n
Yeah. You know what I was thinking about too the other day is you didn\u2019t know what a well was for the water.<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
Yeah. And it\u2019s just because it\u2019s not common in your area and Daryl is actually working on getting a new well or getting one rehabbed on one of the properties, I was thinking like, \u201cWe should actually do a video on this for\u2026\u201d And I was like, \u201cWell, what would people care?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cWell, there\u2019s actually probably other people that don\u2019t know what a well is and kind of [inaudible 00:05:42]-<\/p>\n
I would love to see that.<\/p>\n
\u2026 what goes into it.<\/p>\n
And if you can let me know\u2026 I\u2019m still nervous. We have a property that\u2019s own a well, we bought one last year in Tennessee. I\u2019m just still so curious what happens when the water runs out. What am I going to do? But they keep saying that it\u2019s not going to happen, so I don\u2019t know. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
You know what? That actually has happened on this property, is the well water is so low.<\/p>\n
No way.<\/p>\n
That actually happened at my house, like my primary residence. When we built our house, we ended up just tapping into the well. There\u2019s two other houses on our property and we just tapped into one of those wells. Last winter, the well actually ran off water because there was more people living in the other household and it just like we weren\u2019t getting enough water to keep up with the water usage in both. So as soon as spring came, we actually put our own well in now.
But learning about the wells with this other property we have and Daryl kind of dealing with that is there\u2019s not enough water in there to pump up to the one house that\u2019s up on a hill, so we\u2019re going to try and rehab it. The people think that there\u2019s actually some kind of blockage in there. He said, \u201cYes, it\u2019s very hard for a well to actually go completely dry, but there could be issues in it that it\u2019s just more cost effective to actually put in a new well than to rehab this one.\u201d So as of right now, we\u2019re going to spend $2,000, we\u2019re going to have them attempt to rehab it and see if that fits the issue. And then if not, then we\u2019re going to go into doing a new well.<\/p>\n
We got to do a well episode. If for no reason other than my own interest and curiosity, we got to do an episode on well water.<\/p>\n
Okay, well we\u2019re going to have to have Daryl do that because he knows way more than me.<\/p>\n
Well, we\u2019ll have all of five listeners for that episode.<\/p>\n
Yeah. Well, maybe we\u2019ll do well and septic together.<\/p>\n
There you go. There you go.<\/p>\n
Well today anyways, we actually have a friend of mine as the guest on the episode and we\u2019re doing it in person. So Ryan joined me at my house to record this podcast. His name is Ryan John. We are actually childhood friends, and just say we actually weren\u2019t super close for probably since high school even, but I started riding a motorcycle and knew he rode a motorcycle. So last summer we rode motorcycles a couple times and we started talking about real estate investing, and here we are today where Ryan is now a real estate investor.<\/p>\n
Man, I\u2019m super excited for this episode, not only because Ryan shares a tremendous amount of embarrassing memories about Ashley as a child, but he also has a fantastic story as a real estate investor. One of my favorite parts of this episode is where he talks about how he recently went to his first real estate meetup and how the very next day a big massive change occurred in his life as a result of that meetup. So make sure you guys listen towards the end because he shares kind of how that experience changed his life.<\/p>\n
I thought you were going to say he talks about his first all-girls sleepover he went to [inaudible 00:08:41].<\/p>\n
That as well. It also changed his life. It probably just as equally changed his life.<\/p>\n
Well Ryan, welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. Let\u2019s start off with you telling everyone a little bit about yourself and how you got started in real estate.<\/p>\n
Yeah, my name\u2019s Ryan John. I\u2019m let\u2019s say a year and a half into the real estate game. I started by nagging Ashley with questions I could have answered off of Google and then she sent me some books and then I continued to dive from there.<\/p>\n
So before we go any further, what does your portfolio look like today?<\/p>\n
A whopping two units. I house hack a primary residence that I\u2019m currently living in with my girlfriend. And then I have a duplex that originally was an in-law suite that I finished the conversion on that\u2019s rented right now.<\/p>\n
Well Ryan, we are very happy to have you on today and dive into your story. I know you said a whopping, sarcastically only, those units, but that is great and that\u2019s part of the reason we wanted to have you on, is because it\u2019s so fresh in your mind as to how you got started in real estate. So why don\u2019t we kind of talk about why you even considered real estate investing. What made you reach out to me? What was the first thing?<\/p>\n
And Ryan, if we can, before you answer that, just also give us some backstory on how you know Ashley and how she was as a child and any other embarrassing stories you can share that we can use as leverage for future podcasts.<\/p>\n
I had my first all girl sleepover in fifth grade with all her and her friends, so that was fun. Basically with the property that I got, it started off just asking people for help, like Ashley. And then I had other friends in the industry too so I was kind of always intrigued by it. And then to be honest, seeing her on the boat having fun, I know it\u2019s not all fun all the time, but I was intrigued. I was like, \u201cOkay, maybe the 9:00 to 5:00 isn\u2019t for me,\u201d so I just wanted to dive in and get dirty and start learning.<\/p>\n
So once you started learning about it, how long until you actually did your first deal? You said you\u2019re house hacking your primary residence. Did you start doing that right away or did you get your duplex first? What did that look like?<\/p>\n
I moved into the primary first. I wasn\u2019t house hacking it at the time. Probably a month or two ago I actually just started house hacking it with my girlfriend. And then the duplex, it was a year or so of just reading podcast, avoiding the shiny object, I was just like, \u201cOh maybe I\u2019ll do this. Ooh wait, let\u2019s do this. Oh wow, that sounds fun.\u201d And then I believe it was the lapse thing where you narrow down what you want to pick and I did that. I figured small mal multi-family is going to bring a little bit more income than just a single family. I wanted to take a little bit more of a risk. So that\u2019s when I decided to go that route.<\/p>\n
Okay. So once you made that decision, how did you take action? There\u2019s lots of people probably listening now that want to get into real estate. So what are some tips or advice you can give them so that they actually go out and get a deal?<\/p>\n
I preferred the method of not being an imposter syndrome, but just telling people, \u201cHey, I\u2019m looking for property. I\u2019ve had property in the past, just primary residents that I ended up selling. I didn\u2019t know about house hacking or really major flips.\u201d So I just put it out there. And then through meeting a lot of people at my old job, the deal\u2026 I got denied on a lot of offers. I only put five or 10 in so not really a lot, and then just kept hammering down and meeting people. And then when I met the guy that I bought the duplex from, I just jumped right in at him. I figured I was nervous, I was waking up at 3:00 AM sweaty and like, \u201cI\u2019m going to screw it up,\u201d because there\u2019s something I had to have missed, right? And I just keep kind of researching and then realizing that once you get in it, you just learn so much.<\/p>\n
Ryan, I just want to follow up with that because I\u2019m glad you mentioned that fear and waking up in the middle of the night. I think so many rookies that are listening have that same fear around getting started. At what point did you realize that you were ready to actually submit that first offer? Do you remember that moment? What switch went off in your mind to say, \u201cOkay, today\u2019s the day. Here\u2019s the property I\u2019m going to put this offer in\u201d?<\/p>\n
Well, it really started fast because basically I was at my old job and the guy walked in the building and talk to the owner of the business and he said, \u201cHey Russ,\u201d the guy\u2019s name was Russ, he\u2019s like, \u201cCan you sell my house for me?\u201d And I was like, \u201cBoom.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where the ears perk up.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I barged right in the conversation. I\u2019m like-<\/p>\n
Do you work at a real estate brokerage? Or why [inaudible 00:13:49]?<\/p>\n
No, I used to be an insurance appraiser so I would go out basically when you screwed up and tell you how bad you screwed up when you crashed your car. I was able to meet a lot of people through that, which I\u2019m glad about that. But basically, the guy, he said, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s right in Boston.\u201d I live in Colden, Glenwood and kind of in Ashley\u2019s market too, so it\u2019s right down the road, it was 15 minutes away. And he goes, \u201cI\u2019m going there now.\u201d The driveway\u2019s not plowed. I\u2019m wearing sneakers, two feet of snow, I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, I don\u2019t care. Let\u2019s plug through there.\u201d
Walk through. I\u2019m not a home inspector, I\u2019m literally a rookie with all this. I just kind of used my sense of judgment. The market was hot and I thought the price was reasonable. He denied a few offers that were a little bit lower than what he was asking. So I just walked around for 30 minutes and shook his hand and then called everyone after and was like, \u201cCan you look at this and make sure I didn\u2019t pay too much or it\u2019s going to fall over?\u201d stuff like that. So I just kind of dove in with it.<\/p>\n
Did you give him what he was asking for it? What did you pay for it?<\/p>\n
Yes, this was before I read the Chris Voss negotiation book. I was a professional negotiator at my old job, but I was kind of so excited to get going. He turned down a lot of offers. I just gave him his asking price, it was 185,000. I shot at 175,000 and he just shook his head and I just figured, \u201cWhy go back and forth? He\u2019s pretty set on his price. The market was fair.\u201d Long story short, with some of that stuff, the appraiser came back higher than my bid.<\/p>\n
What was it about this property, Ryan, that like\u2026 Because you said you had been studying for a year, give or take, leading up to that point. What was different about this property, this opportunity as opposed to all the other properties you had seen before that moment?<\/p>\n
I like off market stuff. My first home was off market. The primary one I\u2019m living in now, that house hacking was off market. And so was this. I just like the thing of not having to go through a realtor and being in control of doing all that myself because I was a little bit familiar with it and had a lawyer. And then the main thing was the fact that I walked downstairs and it had everything to be a full apartment besides a stove and a gas line for a stove. It was just an in-law basically right there and it just needed that little extra. I don\u2019t think\u2026 Maybe other people didn\u2019t see that when they looked at it, but to me that kind of stood out.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go through that process of buying an off market property. So you\u2019ve done that what? Three times now?<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
Okay. So what does that look like? Can you kind of walk somebody through who\u2019s maybe never bought a property before or only used an agent what that process looks like?<\/p>\n
Yeah, basically the first one is going to be the sweaty syndrome a lot. You\u2019re going to be all nervous and, \u201cOh, did I not fill out that form?\u201d or something like that. But basically, I just called friends and family and just asked for a lawyer who specializes in doing real estate transactions, I did that. And then basically just be married to the bank for the next three months when they call and say, \u201cHey, I need this form. Hey, I need this.\u201d Just a little bit more legwork that I think maybe would scare someone off. I mean, it is easier to do a realtor. I sold my house with a realtor. It was a breeze. But just a little bit more legwork when you don\u2019t have a realtor.<\/p>\n
What tips do you have for somebody who\u2019s looking for off market deals besides just being in the perfect place in the perfect time when you hear somebody talking about it and eaves dropping? But what are some other ways that people can find off market deals? How did you find your other ones?<\/p>\n
The old school drive for dollars sort of thing. At my old job, I did a lot of [inaudible 00:17:49] at the time as my boss used to call it. I just drove all around Western New York, I mean roads that I didn\u2019t even know existed, literally stuff that was dirt road, not even on Google Maps yet probably. I didn\u2019t really know about all this stuff yet, so I would kind of take pictures and then jot down every bad address that I saw.
But I recently just did one too. It was down the road. I sent a letter. I didn\u2019t act fast enough. They emailed me back and they\u2019re like, \u201cOh it\u2019s already listed.\u201d But just doing the homework that not a lot of people want to do. Maybe go to the town halls, kind of get familiar with the code enforcement, maybe trouble properties because I\u2019m starting off and I just don\u2019t have that big bank yet so that\u2019s the way I choose to look at it.<\/p>\n
One follow up question and then I want to talk a little bit about the small multifamily piece, but you said driving for dollars. First, can you explain what that is for folks who aren\u2019t familiar with that term? And then second, once you found properties that you liked, what was your process from there? What was the next step?<\/p>\n
Yeah, basically I took the advice from your guys\u2019 podcast too actually. But just looking for stuff that\u2019s like overgrown, there\u2019s not a lot of cars in the parking lot, maybe the roof lines bad, like it just looks like it\u2019s just been left to die essentially. Obviously you want a turnkey, like get right in there and get rent, but there\u2019s a lot of meat left on the bone normally if you can get the right price. And then this is, honestly, I want to get better at this because I\u2019m still kind of struggling with this part, but is tracking down the owners. I know there\u2019s a lot of tools online and stuff, but sometimes they\u2019ve passed away or there\u2019s no will and stuff like that.<\/p>\n
But say you do find that person, what do you do when you find that person?<\/p>\n
So the recent letter, full transparency, I\u2019ve done two letters at all because there\u2019s market that a lot of the houses just sell really fast, so the drive for dollars might not work all the time. But my girlfriend has wonderful handwriting, I don\u2019t. So I printed up a sheet with my information on the bottom typed because I didn\u2019t want to blow smoke or anything like, \u201cI\u2019m new to the game but I wanted to be a little professional with everything.\u201d And then just a nice handwritten short message just to show that I\u2019m not kind of one of these computer generated lists that just send out thousands of things every day. So once it works, I\u2019d love to come back on here and explain how well it went. But so far I\u2019m striking out but that\u2019s part of the game.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s her cut, her percentage if you end up getting a deal from one of her handwritten letters?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a great question.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t get her on the pay. Well, I don\u2019t like the word can\u2019t right away, but right now I\u2019m not set up to put her on the payroll. So basically, I took my tax return, I bought myself some gold and then I gave her my old gold bracelet to get her\u2026<\/p>\n
She gets the old gold, you get the new gold.<\/p>\n
\u2026 and the asset. I wanted her to get the asset trading and buying commodities that are valuable instead of clothes and stuff. I said I wasn\u2019t going to talk about her too much in this, but oops.<\/p>\n
Like my Gold Mike, hot commodity.<\/p>\n
There you go.<\/p>\n
Yes. See, I love the Gold Mike. I was like, \u201cWe can get along with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan, I want to ask a little bit about the small multifamily piece. A lot of new investors when they first think of investing in real estate, they think single family house, long term tenant, buy a property, manage it, do your thing. You went the small multifamily route. What was it about that asset class that intrigued you more than going the traditional single family route?<\/p>\n
Honestly, probably listening to the BiggerPockets stuff I heard a lot of people starting off because it\u2019s safer in the single family, but I\u2019ve also heard the returns were a little bit less so I was just kind of under the impression, \u201cWell, if I get a duplex and let\u2019s say one of the tenants is bad or I can\u2019t book it, at least I have some cash coming in to cover the rent or the mortgage costs and everything like that.\u201d So kind of to mitigate a little bit of the risk with it. It\u2019s weird though, with mine, it\u2019s a duplex but I only have one tenant so technically it is a single family. He has a large family, he ended up taking the whole unit himself<\/p>\n
Really?<\/p>\n
Yeah, it\u2019s kind of a weird thing. He was striking out. A local real estate agent reached out because he works at a local plant down here and they ship in a lot of workers from out of state. He was in an Airbnb for two months, he was bleeding out from that. So he was thrilled that there was an option for him to get in. Honestly, I\u2019m pretty happy about that too because he seems like a great tenant and I\u2019m not negotiating between noise complaints or anything like that being that it is a new duplex and everything like that.<\/p>\n
It\u2019d be really weird if he was complaining about noise, you know?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just like, \u201cThe kids out.\u201d Kick the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like, \u201cDude, can you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kid\u2019s in the lower unit,\u201d right? But to touch on like that, how you said if one tenant isn\u2019t paying rent, then you know have the other tenant. And it\u2019s kind of like that security, at least there\u2019s some income coming in from other units. You have more units under one roof, there\u2019s less overhead per unit. And so if you had 10 in a complex, that was 10 units under one roof. Compared to 10 single family homes, there maybe cost differences there because they\u2019re all under one roof. But you do have that side of tenant complaints then, people living wall to wall to each other that there will be disputes over different things that you have to be the one that they think is the mom in the situation and take care of it, which it\u2019s not always the case. You\u2019re adults, you could take care of yourself and figure it out.
But my biggest complaint about that is the tenants that they don\u2019t even talk to their neighbor first. Sometimes that\u2019s all it takes, is for them to say to the neighbor like, \u201cHey, just so you know, I can hear you screaming at night\u201d or something like that in a way nicer way. But that was the thing I always did. We\u2019ll have you talk to the other tenant first and talk to them about it and they would be like, \u201cWell, no.\u201d And that would always be the first step, is to take that from there.<\/p>\n
I like that.<\/p>\n
Yeah. But Daryl and I went to a property today too, which reminded me of the point that you made. The more units under one roof was, there was an eviction there, the tenant hasn\u2019t paid since June and so the eviction\u2019s been done and it\u2019s time to get rid of her content. So we went in. I mean, there\u2019s just stuff everywhere and just the garbage removal\u2019s going to be $1,100. We have to repaint, we have to put new flooring in the two bedrooms, just all these costs and we\u2019re just thinking like, \u201cWow, this was a single family home. This would\u2019ve taken away your whole cash flow for the year. Maybe even more and you would\u2019ve broke even.\u201d But since there\u2019s other units on this, then it\u2019s not going to hurt the property as much, this one unit out of 40 not making any income this year. I mean, it\u2019s still obviously sucks, but that idea of having more units under one roof.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it. That\u2019s such a good point, Ashley. I think the only thing I would add to that is that for those of you that are listening, what\u2019s most important is that you just get started. If you buy a single family, you buy a small multifamily, you buy a mobile home park, you buy an Airbnb, whatever it is, I think you just get started.
This is what I like about your story, Ryan, is that you educated yourself, but as soon as you saw that opportunity, you\u2019re like, \u201cI\u2019m not letting this pass me by. Maybe I\u2019m ready, maybe I\u2019m not, but I\u2019m going to figure it out.\u201d And it was that one decision that\u2019s led you to the success you\u2019ve had so far. So for all of you that are listening, try not to get too caught up on which path, which model, which asset, which this, which that. Just make the decision and get started because eventually you\u2019ll learn the lessons you need to learn to make it a successful thing for you.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s so many pros and cons either way you go. I mean, it\u2019s like not one way, it\u2019s multifamily, lots of units is the perfect way. It\u2019s not. There\u2019s tons of advantages to having single family too.<\/p>\n
Even me, right? I\u2019ve made a name for myself in the Airbnb space. And even so I\u2019m like, \u201cMan, should I be buying self storage right now?\u201d I have those questions with myself all the time. So it\u2019s like whatever asset class you\u2019re in, the grass always I think feels greener or seems greener on the other side.<\/p>\n
Well Ryan, do you want to talk us through the numbers on one of your deals? You want to go through the duplex?<\/p>\n
Yeah, I\u2019ll go through the duplex.<\/p>\n
Okay, I\u2019m just going to rapid fire questions at you and then you can tell us more of the story of once you closed on it, what has kind of happened. So what was the purchase price?<\/p>\n
Purchase price, like I said earlier, 185,000.<\/p>\n
Okay. And how did you finance this?<\/p>\n
Just a traditional finance through a local Nickel City Funding in Buffalo.<\/p>\n
So like a 30-year fixed rate?<\/p>\n
30-year fixed. Yep.<\/p>\n
What was your interest rate on that?<\/p>\n
My interest rate was very nice. It\u2019s 3\u2026 That\u2019s another reason why-<\/p>\n
Okay, you already said three, and yeah we\u2019re all like, \u201cYep, that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll go quick to my primary residence, that was 2.62 which wow, I love that.<\/p>\n
Wow.<\/p>\n
Wow.<\/p>\n
The iron was hot, I wanted to strike again. I got 3.36 something like that. So yeah-<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n
\u2026 just that alone was huge for me to get the loan.<\/p>\n
Okay. And then would you do just 20% down on the property?<\/p>\n
I was able to do a 15% just because I got referred through another client that they work with.<\/p>\n
Oh cool.<\/p>\n
They gave me a little bit of a break, which was nice.<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s awesome. I didn\u2019t even realize that places would do that. That\u2019s cool. So definitely something to ask if a bank will do that and then you go and find one of their clients and get referred and get a discount on your down payment. Okay, so you purchased it from 185,000. How much did you put into the rehab of the property?<\/p>\n
This is a true rookie statement because literally I have rough accounting done. I need to sit down and just QuickBooks it out. I\u2019m very good with the receipts because I had to do that with my old job with expenses and everything. So I\u2019m going to ballpark, it was probably 10,000 but I want to say closer to 15 grand. It was just adding appliances, flooring. I just wanted to make it nice to bring in a better tenant.<\/p>\n
Did you do a lot of the work yourself or did you hire it out?<\/p>\n
Yeah, and I recommend\u2026 Halfway through I learned to get off my wallet and just pay professionals because I would say I paid my flooring guy like 700 bucks and next thing you know I\u2019m demoing the basement, drywall and doing all that. I come up and upstairs is done, where before I was banging my head against the wall trying to do everything, work till midnight. I think it\u2019s good to DIY because you learn it, but you got to start treating it like a business even though it\u2019s new, you got to learn to outsource, which is hard for me.<\/p>\n
I think too, just the time, at least for me, I know how to install vinyl plank flooring, it\u2019s just going to take me two days longer than paying the professional. So what is my time valued at? Am I actually saving money by doing it myself or is it costing me more because now for three days I\u2019m installing flooring instead of paying a contractor who could get it done in one day and then I\u2019m actually working my regular business in what I do in those two other days and making even more money because I didn\u2019t have to be stuck installing flooring. So looking at that opportunity cost as to what your time value is too I think makes a big difference if you should pay a contractor or not to.<\/p>\n
Yeah. Can I add just one thing to that? I love what you said. You said get, \u201cOff of my wallet.\u201d I\u2019ve never heard a phrase that way, but it\u2019s such a smart way to do it. Obviously what you said actually is so true. It\u2019s like people want to hold on to the $5 not realizing that they\u2019re costing themselves $10 by doing it themselves. But one caveat I will say is that a lot of times when you\u2019re starting, you maybe can\u2019t afford to hire it out. So when you a rookie, maybe sometimes you do have to realize that, \u201cOkay cool, I am going to invest a lot of time into this, but it\u2019s because I don\u2019t have the funds or the resources to hire it out to somebody else.\u201d So for those of you that are listening, just know if you have the money, definitely spend the money. If you don\u2019t have the money, don\u2019t feel bad about it. You\u2019ll figure it out.<\/p>\n
I would say get creative too because I mean every state\u2019s a little bit different with contractor rates and stuff, but I would get ahold of a friend that used to work doing trenches or drainage or general contracting and you say, \u201cHey, can you come over here? I\u2019ll give you, I don\u2019t know, 25, 30 bucks cash\u201d and they\u2019re like, \u201cOkay cool. Yeah.\u201d I mean it\u2019s going to cost you 75 to 100 to get a licensed contractor, but if you know someone in the game and experience and not that you\u2019re being a boss, but be a good leader\/boss, don\u2019t be brutal and beating up your people with work they\u2019re helping you out. So just kind of incentivize them because then I\u2019ve noticed the ones I pay the most, they\u2019ll just come back and help me. They\u2019ll come over for a couple hours and they don\u2019t expect anything. That\u2019s kind of nice. It goes a long way.<\/p>\n
I think too when you\u2019re starting out too, it\u2019s great to barter. So if you have a friend that is really good at something, maybe exchange services with them for them to help you too with something. Daryl, he\u2019s had bartered for stuff before and it\u2019s been really great for me. Huge advantage for me. I don\u2019t have to do anything or pay anyone.<\/p>\n
Wait, can I tell you guys about a time I failed at negotiating? It was the funniest thing. For my 30th birthday, we had a 2000s throwback party and I wanted to dress like I would dress in the early 2000s, so I wanted to get a really big old school basketball jersey. They only sell those at the swap meet by my house, right? So I went to the swap meet. Swap meet\u2019s all these different vendors kind of doing their thing. You can usually like, \u201c$5?\u201d\u201dNo.\u201d\u201d$10?\u201d And you guys go back and forth. So I find this jersey, it\u2019s like a replica of this Michael Jordan jersey and I see it hanging up, I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay cool, this is the one I want.\u201d So I go up to the guy, I\u2019m asking him, I was like, \u201cHey, this is a nice jersey.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a great jersey.\u201d And I was like, \u201cAll right, cool man.\u201d I was like, \u201cLook, I really want to buy it but I\u2019ve only got so much money.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019ll give you 40 bucks for it.\u201d He was like, he turned the jersey around. And on the backside of the jersey there was a price tag and it said 40 bucks. So I\u2019ve completely failed at negotiating. Because what can I do at that point? Can I go back and say, \u201cI meant to say 30.\u201d So anyway. Double check the price tags before you start negotiating was the point of that story.<\/p>\n
I think another way too to save money with contractors is also if you continue using them. So today, even when we got the estimate from the junk removal company, this is only our second time using them and right off the bat, we didn\u2019t even have to ask, he said, \u201cUsually this job I would say 1,300, but since you guys are a repeat customer and you\u2019ve talked about using us for other work, we\u2019re going to do it for 1,100.\u201d And yeah it can be blown smoke or whatever, but we do appreciate that for sure. And it still was. Our other quote we got was $3,000 so no matter what, we were receiving tons of money going with them and we\u2019ve used them before and they were great. So I think too using those same contractors and sticking with them I think can be super beneficial. If they do do a good job and they do give you good rates, keep using them.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a great point, Ashley. Honestly, you can even leverage that before you\u2019ve done work with them. If you can say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m a real estate investor. I plan to buy X number of houses this year. Every time I buy a house I\u2019m going to hire you to do my trash haul,\u201d that by itself can kind of help give you some leverage to get a discount. So that\u2019s a fantastic point.<\/p>\n
And giving the contractor out for referrals. I think a lot of people like to hoard their contractors because they don\u2019t want them to get too busy. But even Ryan has sent me your electrician that you use and other people\u2019s referred me to them and I\u2019m sure they appreciate it as much as I appreciate it. So next time Ryan needs a referral, I\u2019m going to go through and see who I can connect him with. And I think having that and the contractors knowing, \u201cOh, Ryan has been referring me, I\u2019ve been getting tons of work to him. I want to give him a deal too because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can I ask one follow up question, Ashley? Are there certain people who you work with that you won\u2019t refer out?<\/p>\n
I would say yeah, there\u2019s one person right now that I won\u2019t because I want to really use him for one project and I know that he\u2019s super busy already, but I think everybody else I would. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Yeah, same. I have our main guy who runs all of our rehabs in JT and I will never give his name out to anybody. But our subs, our electrician, I\u2019ll refer him out. Our countertop guy, I\u2019ll refer him out. Our garage door guy. But our main dude, I\u2019m taking that name to the grave. No one\u2019s going to know who he is.<\/p>\n
I got a friend like that too. He was like, \u201cYou can call him, but wait six months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s how it goes.<\/p>\n
Okay. So now that the rehab is done, what is the property renting out for?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to be a little long winded with this because it is a single family home with an in-law suite, so it would\u2019ve cost a lot of money to get separate meters. So essentially it\u2019s two units. I had 200 per month for utilities. So 400 since he\u2019s taken the whole thing. But 2,400 and then the 400 is included in that. Honestly with our market it\u2019s a little bit high, but the more I talk to people, people are running sides of a duplex so they don\u2019t even have a whole backyard, a whole house themselves, shed, deck, there\u2019s a lot of amenities at this property. They\u2019re 1,900 to 2,200. So I\u2019m right in line with it. I think a good lesson is I bit the bullet and ate the first month\u2019s mortgage because I was looking for a good tenant. I think an extra 100 to $200 isn\u2019t nothing if you have a good tenant and you don\u2019t have issues. I think that\u2019s goes a super long way.<\/p>\n
So 2,400 is what you\u2019re getting in total?<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
Okay. So you say you account 400 to that in utilities, which especially when winter comes, is it gas for heat?<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
Yeah, so you\u2019ll definitely need [inaudible 00:36:40].<\/p>\n
And there is two central layers, you know?<\/p>\n
Yeah, so running AC. Okay, yeah, great point. Okay, so what does your cash flow end up being after you pay the utilities and you pay your mortgage payment?<\/p>\n
It spreadsheet it out at 700. I\u2019m not taking this money or running to the bank and smiling and laughing, but last month the guy\u2026 Actually, when he moved in the, he was helping me seal up all the windows. He go, \u201cOh this window\u2019s not sealed. If I\u2019m running the AC\u2026\u201d And I\u2019m over here like, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s like this guy gets it. He\u2019s not going to be just burning stuff up on me.\u201d So I appreciated that and I was hoping it was going to go smooth. And then last month it was 1,017. I mean, well above what I projected, but like I said, I\u2019m not too high on that knowing that the winner is coming and he\u2019s from Texas.<\/p>\n
Okay. Ryan, nobody cares. That is amazing, okay? Your first investment property outside of your primary, a thousand dollars cash flow, even $700 cash flow. How much money did you end up putting into it? The 10,000 rehab. And how much was your down payment on it?<\/p>\n
There was some I gifted or took a loan out from a family member, but I think all in right now I\u2019m at 32,000 we\u2019ll say.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I just did the math. That\u2019s a 27% cash-on-cash return.<\/p>\n
Tony, I was going to ask you to calculate it and I was so happy you read my mind.<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s a 27% cash-on-cash return.<\/p>\n
Good. That\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n
But dude, that\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
This is why I want to do my accounting so I can be like, \u201cOh okay, it\u2019s going okay. Good.\u201d I\u2019m having the numbers in front of me, but\u2026<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t you know we do deal analysis live to let you know the results of [inaudible 00:38:25]? Well that is super cool, Ryan. That\u2019s awesome. Congratulations on that first find. So what\u2019s next for you now? What are you looking for next?<\/p>\n
As much as I would love thousand dollars returns each month, I\u2019m looking at just doing more duplexes and conservative even if it is a couple hundred dollars. I know all the deals aren\u2019t going to be a home run deal. But even last night, I looked at, there\u2019s a ski resort by us and there\u2019s a little mobile home. It\u2019s built in \u201976. I started learning you can\u2019t do a traditional mortgage on anything older than \u201987. But I figured, \u201cHey, let\u2019s look at it and all that.\u201d But as I\u2019m looking at it, I\u2019m like, \u201cIs this really going to be in line for what I want to do?\u201d Just because there\u2019s a deal out there, I don\u2019t want to jump on it, because if it doesn\u2019t line up with what I\u2019m trying to do, then I\u2019m jumping around doing too much and I\u2019d rather master, let\u2019s say, one asset class and then move away from there.
I mean, I wouldn\u2019t mind getting a campsite with her. We used to camp all the time. I got it all the time in the world to manage something like that now.<\/p>\n
Can I ask, Ryan? You say you have all the time in the world, what does that mean?<\/p>\n
I went to my first ever real estate meetup a month ago. Ashley sent me the link for the local stuff.I just had a really good time, hit it off with everyone. There\u2019s people with no units and then there\u2019s 5,000 units there, so you get a taste of everything. I was talking to a local agent and I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m kind of an investor.\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cNo. No, you are an investor. You tell yourself you\u2019re an investor.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay. Yeah. Yeah.\u201d And it helped my self esteem all that. And then the next day I go into work and we had a disagreement and we parted ways.
I\u2019ve been listening to the Quitter Podcast of the BiggerPockets. I was planning on doing that three to five years, but hey, my hand was pushed a little bit sooner. So I\u2019m just trying to take advantage of the time and not feel forced to jump back into the traditional job market.<\/p>\n
Well, I think Ryan too is we even talked about this a couple months ago, I think it was, where you\u2019re like, \u201cI really don\u2019t have that much living expenses.\u201d You\u2019ve always lived way below your means. You never made a huge income at this job anyways and you\u2019ve bought a house. You\u2019ve never had a car payment, right? You always had your cars paid off. I think that you had that foundation that you set, your personal finances up like that has put you in a great situation so that when you did leave your job it was okay. You weren\u2019t panicked to go, and you have your duplex money now.
I think that is such a big thing that even if you\u2019re not ready to invest now, start getting your personal finances in order so that when you\u2019re ready to leave your job, you do have that option and you have some time to breathe and figure it out, \u201cOkay, here\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do now.\u201d I think you\u2019ve gotten a lot of people having you do different stuff anyways during this time. I think just the time you\u2019ve been able to put into your investing and the research and everything has been kind of awesome.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an awesome point because that\u2019s why I like hanging out with Ashley and other people in the business because they have just such a cool mindset where if I talk to friends after I left the job, they\u2019re like, \u201cAren\u2019t you freaking out?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m never been this relieved In eight years.\u201d I realized I wasn\u2019t doing stuff that \u201caligned with me\u201d and what I enjoy. I\u2019m glad you made the point about low expenses because it was always hard on myself, like, \u201cMan, I wish I had 50 grand cash reserve to just do whatever.\u201d But when I went to finance the duplex actually, they\u2019re like, \u201cWhat did you drive here?\u201d\u201dMy vehicle. Why?\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cYou\u2019ve never had a loan on a vehicle.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m like a country boy. I don\u2019t know. I just buy beater trucks and they last me five years and cost me two grand.\u201d So you start doing the math and then you realize how there is a lot of people with a lot more money, but kind of like Ashley saying, if you\u2019re just rolling a bigger ball and you\u2019re buying flashy stuff and you\u2019re buying liabilities, you\u2019re not going to get to the goal you want to be at. You can just, I don\u2019t want to say struggle and don\u2019t have pleasure in your life, but just realize that you might not need all the things you think you need. It might be more of a want or trying to impress somebody. Just own what you can own to survive and save for the cash assets I think is smart.<\/p>\n
Ryan, can I ask next, so now that you have no day job, what\u2019s your plan here? Are you thinking about entering back into the workforce? Is this more of like a sabbatical or are you planning to go full force into real estate and never go back to the 9:00 to 5:00?<\/p>\n
Well, since I\u2026 I want to be clear with all the rookies, because I\u2019m a rookie too, this is not passive, doing the duplex stuff obviously, unless you were to let\u2019s say have a property manager handle all that stuff. So in the theme of being passive, I\u2019ll say this now because I know Ashley\u2019s too busy, so she\u2019s not going to snipe this idea, but my friend, I actually looked at these a couple years ago, but when you go to a wedding event and they have those luxury toilet rentals, I just went to my friend\u2019s wedding and he actually told me a year ago, he goes, \u201cIf you get in this business, I would rent it from you.\u201d
So I go to his wedding and get slapped in the face with, \u201cOh there it is, there\u2019s a trailer. It could have been mine.\u201d So I\u2019m actually working right now to get a little bit of private money. It\u2019s in the theme of real estate because it is a rental entity and I look at it as the cash flow is equivalent in a weekend to what a month of rent is. I like the pressure of I could go work for someone. We all know friends who we could probably do side work or cash or sell off some toys or something, but I like the pressure that kind of motivates me to try a new business and make myself a little uncomfortable again.<\/p>\n
Ryan\u2019s known me a long time, but obviously not long enough because he made the mistake of posting on Instagram in a story of where he was getting a quote on these toilet trailers from and I already went in, got my quote, and it should be delivered any minute in my driveway.<\/p>\n
Yeah, she\u2019s going to rub it in and deliver this bad boy and I\u2019m going to sink into my chair.<\/p>\n
But I think I shared with you too Codie Sanchez on Instagram and she has YouTube too.<\/p>\n
Oh, yeah. She\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n
Talking about boring businesses and you can be a real estate investor, but also investing in businesses too just to diversify and create some income and how to make them as passive as possible too. So she\u2019s really awesome to follow if you guys are interested in doing something like the toilet travel trailers and things like that.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I mean just one thing to add on to that, not having that steady paycheck from a job is definitely a scary thing because as a society we are so heavily programmed to think that that\u2019s the one and only way to make a living for yourself. And even if you\u2019ve been setting real estate investing and even if you\u2019ve been deep in this world of entrepreneurship as a real estate investor, it\u2019s still scary when that moment actually happens because you\u2019re like, \u201cOh it\u2019s here. Oh my god, it\u2019s happening,\u201d right? And it\u2019s scary. But I can tell you, my business had a tremendous amount of growth the day that I stepped away from my day job because it\u2019s like you said, there\u2019s this pressure to make sure that you\u2019re able to provide for yourself and provide for your family.
When you have a day job, you know that check is coming every two weeks. But when you don\u2019t have that, the check is only coming if you do the work and it does kind of motivate you in a way that this never happened before. I think that\u2019s why when people take that leap, they see this hockey stick kind of growth because everything\u2019s on your shoulders now. So I\u2019m glad you recognize that and I\u2019m glad that it\u2019s motivating you to take that action as well.<\/p>\n
Yes, and I\u2019m being hesitant too because I\u2019ve had opportunities like you kind of just said of getting back into the workforce and people trying to transfer businesses. And it\u2019s so funny, it\u2019s like people want to do that but then they almost just want the worker be, because the minute you ask, \u201cHey, what would the buyout be or what is your monthly payment that you would like?\u201d because I\u2019m trying to look at it like she looks at stuff, business stuff, I don\u2019t want to have to be in the field doing everything. I would love to be able to hire it out. You can employ people, give some the freedom and all that. They just keep a lot of older mentality or something like business folks think you just got to do it all yourself and they think, \u201cOh, if something\u2019s \u2018easier,\u2019 it\u2019s not going to last and it\u2019s not real.\u201d I\u2019m all good with hard work. I think you should work hard and smart, but not just hard.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s kind of like Robert Kiyosaki how he has the four quadrants. The first one is you\u2019re the employee, you work the 9:00 to 5:00 job, you have a boss. And then it\u2019s also the business owner, and it\u2019s where basically you own the job. Like, yes, so I think of, I always think of a chiropractor for example. You own your chiropractor business, but you\u2019re not making money unless you\u2019re there cracking backs. So you have to work every single day to make money. You take off work, you are not there.
And even my dad, he is a mechanic and he owned a mechanic shop forever. It\u2019s always been really hard for him to take off work because he\u2019s the one that does everything, runs everything. He has a few employees, but he never had that person that could really take care of things for a long time because he\u2019s always put himself as\u2026 He\u2019s the reason people come to his shop because they want him to work on their vehicle, not other people. So I think kind of having the difference between that. And then there\u2019s becoming the investor where you are just investing in the businesses and it becomes a lot more passive. Tony, what\u2019s a fourth one? Which one am I missing?<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s employee, self-employed, business owner, investor.<\/p>\n
Yeah, so the self-employed one would be the one where you are the chiropractor example. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Right. Right. Awesome. Well thank you for sharing that, Ryan. I appreciate the trans transparency, man. It\u2019s always a scary moment, but being able to take that leap, it\u2019s like the matrix, right? It\u2019s taking that red pill and you see this whole new life that you didn\u2019t even realize existed before.<\/p>\n
[inaudible 00:49:29].<\/p>\n
There you go.<\/p>\n
I feel like it would be impossible for me to go back to a job. I would have to find a sugar daddy or something. I don\u2019t think I could dust in my mind.<\/p>\n
I would also look for a sugar daddy if I had to go back to, so I\u2019d be right there with you.<\/p>\n
Yeah. Ryan, we\u2019re going to take it to our Rookie Request Line now. This is where anyone can call in and leave us a voicemail at 1-8885-ROOKIE and we may choose your question to be played for our guests to answer. So Ryan, here\u2019s today\u2019s question.<\/p>\n
Hi, my name\u2019s Dom. I\u2019m new to this podcast. I\u2019m a student college. Right now I have just about $20,000 saved up in my account. What would your advice be to me to get started in real estate and what books to read and what other things I could do to prepare if I want to get into it?<\/p>\n
I would read\u2026 For the book thing that\u2019s easy for me to answer, is I got The Richest Man in Babylon in my duffle bag over here, and Relentless from Tim Grover. Those are just really good, like going back to what Tony said, is like we\u2019re so ingrained that the only way you make money is trading your labor for time. The more research you do on success, the most successful wealthiest people trade their money for money, like let the money work for them.
And then in regards to the 20 grand, I mean I guess I don\u2019t want to dodge the answer, but I guess it would depend on what market you\u2019re in. I mean, they always say you can go partner with someone too, which I think is a great thing. Me personally, in my first one I love doing it single, by myself, just because you got to take on all that responsibility. You learn a lot more. I feel like on a partnership you could maybe push some of the pressure on someone else and there could be issues. But honestly with the 20 grand, I\u2019m assuming you\u2019re working and you\u2019re not a bum like moi, you could get financed really easy on that luxury restroom rental too. And that might be a way to learn how to do the passive sort of income. It\u2019s going to take a couple hours of your weekend to get going on that.
I mean, obviously you want to buy a house right away, but I have a friend who\u2019s in a similar position where he renovates vans and does that and he\u2019s like, \u201cMaybe I should keep doing that until I get some cash going and then buy one.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cDude, you\u2019re renovating these vans, they look awesome. You\u2019re doing interior design. The house is the same thing, it\u2019s just on a bigger scale. So you\u2019re building up experience right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s so true. I think a lot of people have a skill set they don\u2019t realize is a huge advantage that other people don\u2019t have. That if they got started, they might have it a little easier because they have the skill that they can use and apply to buying their first investment property. I think asking the $20,000, people get too hung up on finding the perfect, the best way, the biggest return on that first investment. Don\u2019t get hung up on that. Look at all the different scenarios you can do with that money. First of all, congratulations, you have $20,000 saved up. You\u2019re way ahead of the average American I would say with that money ready to invest.<\/p>\n
Especially in college, right?<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
I was negative in college.<\/p>\n
I think that just look at the different ways you can get started and pick one, okay? Run the numbers. Look at the property the way you invest it. If you put a $20,000 down payment and maybe you buy two houses and do a $10,000 down payment on each and they\u2019re just smaller houses, if you partner with someone in five years, what are you going to end up with? You don\u2019t have to make the perfect investment, you don\u2019t have to have the best return on your money because once you get started, you\u2019re going to figure out so many other ways to keep buying properties and keep going because you become addicted.<\/p>\n
Momentum is a real thing.<\/p>\n
Mm-hmm. Yeah. There you go.<\/p>\n
Fantastic advice. All right. So Ryan, I want to take us to our next section, which is our Rookie Exam. So these are the three most important questions that you\u2019ll ever be asked in your life. So are you ready for the exam?<\/p>\n
Yes, my deodorant stopped working an hour ago.<\/p>\n
All right. So question number one, what\u2019s one actionable thing rookie should do after listening to your episode?<\/p>\n
Well, I\u2019m assuming you\u2019re already reading, but it\u2019s hilarious that you brought that up because me and her just chatted the other day and just reading even if\u2019s 10 pages a day, just enamor yourself in the mindset of doing real estate business. It doesn\u2019t even have to be a real estate book, right? Just something that you\u2019re learning constantly every day. And then let\u2019s say you were like me and you were reading and going down the rabbit hole of everything and talking yourself out of it and talking yourself into it and all that, and on the fence of just going in on it, even if you know an Ashley in your neighborhood or someone like me just starting and they need help, I don\u2019t know, framing up a duck something, just trying to get used to the terminology and just dealing with people and the tenants and stuff like that because that\u2019s just inevitable when you\u2019re on the job site and picking people\u2019s brains for information.<\/p>\n
I would just want to add in too because I know people are going to ask Ryan this question, is like, \u201cHow do you find somebody like Ashley to talk with you?\u201d or whatever? First of all, it\u2019s taking me out to eat. So free food always works. But he will bring a piece of paper like a notepad and he will have all of his questions ready to go and he will take notes. I feel like sometimes I talk to people and they just ask very generic questions. And Ryan even said to me the other day, he came to my son\u2019s football practice and sat with me for two hours-<\/p>\n
Whatever it takes.<\/p>\n
\u2026 and kept me occupied a while and just we talked real estate the whole time. It was great, but he was willing to come and just sit there with me. And it\u2019s the same thing, he had his questions ready and he is like, \u201cI remember you saying before not to ask generic questions. It\u2019s super specific so that you can actually help me through my situation.\u201d And I thought that was awesome that he is actually listened to things that I\u2019ve said and that he comes prepared. He has his questions ready and then he takes notes too. I always think that people that do take notes, it shows that you are generally interested and you really want to take action on what that person is saying instead of someone just like, \u201cOh yeah, cool. Okay\u201d and then listening. How can you actually remember all of that? When I go to a restaurant and they don\u2019t write down my order, I have severe anxiety that they\u2019re going to mess it up.<\/p>\n
Hey, Doug. Hey, Doug. Like, \u201cDoug, if you don\u2019t just write this down like every other server in this restaurant\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I know. So yeah, I think having great questions prepared, asking detailed questions and then taking notes I think is\u2026 And that Ryan\u2019s obviously taking action too<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want to toot your guys\u2019 horn too much, but the more I immerse myself in this stuff is I realize my time is very valuable. And I can only imagine, I don\u2019t have kids, you guys have kids and stuff. Your time is valuable and I can understand the frustration with being in a position of having the knowledge and then being asked like Ashley said of generic stuff, like you can go on Google. Because that\u2019s what I started with her. I was bugging her and then I\u2019m like, \u201cWait, I got to just take some action.\u201d And then once I do it and trip over myself and then be like, \u201cHey, how do I fix this or what about this?\u201d And it kind of helps add value to each other because I don\u2019t want to leech on her, that\u2019s why I\u2019m offering her and Daryl some help on their property. Anything I can do.<\/p>\n
Yeah. He came out to one of our properties and worked for a day with Daryl. That was awesome that he did that.<\/p>\n
Not a lot of hardwork. I was handing tools and stuff. Daryl\u2019s smirking over here but\u2026<\/p>\n
Okay, so our next question is, what apps, tool or software do you use in your business right now?<\/p>\n
Boom, I was waiting for this. I got a good old Rent Ready from her and then I\u2019m sure there\u2019s probably promo codes still active for all that. So if you guys want my referral because I don\u2019t need her to send you the referral, I could use that hundred too. No. But no, it\u2019s very convenient. And being me that I\u2019m scatterbrained and stuff, that\u2019s why I do jot down notes when I do ask questions with everyone because I think it\u2019s just a society thing. Our brains are so overwhelmed with information, it\u2019s hard to keep all that together.
So I think it\u2019s good to be organized. It\u2019s on a spreadsheet. Everything\u2019s right at the app portal and it just helps organize a tenant and yourself, because you\u2019re running a business so you tell the tenant, \u201cHey, this is how the business operates.\u201d A lot of people are like, \u201cOh I used to just give cash or run a check over.\u201d Well what if you\u2019re on vacation going back to the job thing? What if you\u2019re out somewhere and it is the end of the month and you can\u2019t get your rent checked because you\u2019re on vacation? Something trivial like that. And then it helps with accounting, which I\u2019m not good at. So that\u2019ll be all organized and just make it a little easier at the end of the year I would say.<\/p>\n
Awesome. So last question. Where do you plan on being in five years?<\/p>\n
Five years I originally thought, okay, when I first bought my duplex, I\u2019m like, \u201cOh man, I get five of these?\u201d And I do the math, I\u2019m like, \u201cThat\u2019s more than I made working.\u201d But the more I thought about it, my friend said, \u201cHey, are you going to buy one next year?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI want to buy one this year. I don\u2019t want to wait that long.\u201d But as the more I thought I want bigger multi-units because there\u2019s less grass, I mean our environment out here is we have all four seasons and it can be horrible. So there\u2019s just a lot of expenses involved with like say you had five properties, that\u2019s a lot of grass, a lot of driveways. So my goal would be to buy in the 10 to 15 unit range because I just don\u2019t want to bite off too much right off the bat, but I just like the versatility of having that much income and value add opportunities and stuff like that.<\/p>\n
I love that, man. So moving into our last segment here, this is the Rookie Rockstar, and super excited for this one because it\u2019s a great story. Today\u2019s Rookie Rockstar, it\u2019s Patrick Eldridge. Patrick says, \u201cMy wife and I are no longer employees as of today. Our real estate journey started just under two years ago. After working so incredibly hard we were able to acquire a whopping 32 doors following the BRRRR method.\u201d So Patrick, but congratulations to both you and your wife and welcome to the Matrix.<\/p>\n
Yes, call me.<\/p>\n
Did you just watch The Matrix recently so [inaudible 01:00:44] couple times to reference it?<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t. I just feel like putting your job and doing the thing. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
I respect it.<\/p>\n
You know what, Tony? You\u2019ve been on with this podcast for what, two years? I think this is the first time you\u2019ve ever quoted movies. You\u2019re trying to make up for never watching [inaudible 01:01:01].<\/p>\n
For never watching it.<\/p>\n
Well Ryan, can you tell everyone where they can reach out to you and find out some more information about you?<\/p>\n
Yeah, I\u2019m not going to give you my other personal page because I\u2019m kind of a crazy man on that. But my real estate page is BND Rentals. Boy, Nancy, David Rentals. I\u2019m on there a lot because I am a professional bum. So if you have questions or a deal or help, I mean even if it\u2019s something I can\u2019t personally do, like Ashley said, maybe we\u2019ll know somebody. I just love reaching out and following just the like-minded people so we can just get to the path we want to go on.<\/p>\n
Awesome. Well thank you so much for joining us.<\/p>\n
Thank you guys.<\/p>\n
Ryan\u2019s computer conveniently wasn\u2019t working during his audio check yesterday, so he had to come over and do it in person.<\/p>\n
I wanted to check out this massive empire, this Real Estate Empire in person.<\/p>\n
Well thanks so much for coming over and dealing with all our tech set up and everything. So thanks again. I\u2019m Ashley, @wealthfromrentals, and he is Tony, @TonyJRobinson on Instagram. We\u2019ll be back on Saturday with a Rookie Reply.<\/p>\n