Ekabo Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Podcast
A podcast for those who do not believe they were put on this earth to work 40 to 50 hours per week for 40 to 50 years, to hopefully retire at the age of 65.
Ekabo Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Podcast
113. Turning Mix-Ups into Financial Leaps: Atlanta Hotspots, Smart Property Management, and Investing Mastery
What happens when a scheduling mix-up transforms into a golden opportunity for your financial journey? Discover how an unexpected twist turned our session into a rich, interactive Q&A, filled with personal updates and insightful discussions. Listen as Liban and I draw parallels between consistent habits in investing and leveling up in video games, emphasizing the power of persistence during slow market periods. This candid start sets the stage for a deeper exploration into the mechanics of achieving financial freedom.
Next, we shine a spotlight on the outskirts of Atlanta, including areas like Suwanee and Gwinnett, which are rapidly becoming prime investment hotspots. Learn about the strategic advantages these secondary markets offer, often missed by out-of-state investors. We share our experiences with self-storage investments, discussing innovative strategies like leveraging Google SEO and promotional rates to boost occupancy. Our conversation highlights the importance of understanding local market dynamics, supported by real-life anecdotes that make these insights both practical and relatable.
Finally, we unpack the complexities of property management, from tackling tenant fraud to comparing landlord-tenant laws across regions. Gain valuable tips on handling squatters and securing affordable insurance premiums amidst rising costs in Georgia. We also reflect on personal growth stories from home renovations and the importance of networking with experienced professionals. Stay tuned for our upcoming interview with Nas, which promises to be an insightful addition to our series. This episode is packed with practical advice, personal experiences, and a touch of humor to keep you engaged and informed.
🗓️ Tune in every Wednesday at 7 PM Eastern! Don’t miss out on our journey toward financial freedom through smart investments.
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Our Links
➣ Financial Freedom Mastermind Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/53083...
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➣ Ekabo Home Network (IG, Youtube, Email) https://linktr.ee/ekabohome
Niyi Adewole is a licensed realtor in Georgia, brokered by EXP Realty. Feel free to reach out at Niyi.Adewole@exprealty.com if you would like to work with an investor friendly real estate agent.
Welcome to the Financial Freedom Mastermind Group Podcast. Here we're all about breaking free from the 40 to 50 year work grind and accelerating our journey towards financial freedom. Join us every Wednesday at 7 pm Eastern as we explore different types of investments that can fast track your path to financial independence. We serve as a hub for connecting with fellow members during our sessions so you can share successes, ask questions and keep the momentum going.
Speaker 2:Good morning everyone. This is Nii Adewale, host of the Aqaba Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Group, and I'm excited to be joining you midway through July as we are continuing to move into the second half of 2024. And we sent out messages earlier today for everybody to join and you are going to be interviewing the new director of operations within the Acapul Home Realty team. But we actually mixed up the dates, which is completely on me. Today he's actually celebrating his anniversary. Shout out to Naz and congrats to him. We're going to be interviewing him next week and kind of kicking it off there. So we're going to shift today into an open session. So any questions that you have, anything you want to talk about, feel free to hop in. Feel free to throw some messages in the chat. We'll make it happen from there and I'll pause for any questions.
Speaker 2:In other news, while we wait for others to join and again for those that recently joined, this is going to be an open session. We actually messed up the date for when we're going to be interviewing the new director of operations with the Acaba Home Realty team. So that's going to actually take place next week, but you may notice that I'm filming from a new location, so we canceled the last two meetings because I was in the middle of a move right, and thankfully that move is over. There's still a couple of boxes to be unpacked, but I'm now in a new location. I don't have a mat or everything behind me, but I do have it in close proximity, as well as the sign that I'll be behind me as well. So excited to be in the new location, excited to kick off the second half of this year with a bang, and I hope that you are too.
Speaker 2:And again for those that are just joining, this was going to be an interview with uh, one of our team members, but that got shifted to next week because today is his anniversary. So this is an open session, so feel free to throw any questions in the chat in order to join live. We will make it happen from there. Hello lebanon.
Speaker 3:How you doing? I'm doing good. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:super good man, super good reporting from a new location. I see, I see we are both having some upgrades, but directly behind me. Now I got to my left nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a little change of scenery now. It's gonna take a minute to get used to, but hey, we're both making upgrades. You're so more than mine. We changed internet Nice, we are now with AT&T, so hopefully you know this is going to be a nice little test run. Hopefully nothing crashes.
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm hoping they got that five-line optic cable hooked directly to your computer.
Speaker 3:man, Not even to the house, to your computer man? Not even to the house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, it needs it at this point but no, it's been a minute since we caught up. I know um. The past two sessions have been canceled, uh I mentioned a little bit earlier, but I was in mid move into this new location and so a lot going on, a lot of boxes, a lot of coordination and so definitely needed, you know, close to yes, yeah, but man, what's going settled? But I'm excited man.
Speaker 3:What's going on with you? So far, so good, no complaints, obviously. You know we're just trying to make things happen. I am noticing and this is kind of a constant theme the process is really the most important aspect of it, because it very much the reward is an after effect of it. So just kind of keeping that in mind, especially kind of now where it is a little slower, you know it's kind of one of the tougher times, especially for people who are trying to buy, just because of where everything is. But that kind of you know has its benefits as well in getting deals. So it's always just trying to look for the positive in things. You know, I feel like that's the most important thing Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And do you mind digging deeper than that, cause I'm a huge component of the process and a huge component of consistency, right Like there's. There's some folks who are like hey, you know, they need to kick, they go to the gym and they go one day for four hours and then they don't go for the next two weeks. It's like you know it'd be better if you just go 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes once a day. What do you mean by the process?
Speaker 3:I mean more so, and I think the baseline of it is you are an after effect of your habits. Like, I really try to think of myself not as and this kind of sounds very odd but not as a person, but as a set of like. I'm kind of like a video game character, right, and in the same way, hey, when you're playing a video game, you have to do certain things to level up certain skill sets, and the kind of process of it is hey, I know, if I do these things, x will happen. It's just a matter of how long I have to do them for right. And of course, as you do things, it kind of gets easier and easier and you kind of develop a process in that way. And the same way in a video game, you kind of, when you're grinding through the levels, it gets easier and easier and you get upgrades throughout the process to make things easier. So that's kind of helpful to me just in general, especially during tougher times where I'm just like hey, you know, we're just going through it right now.
Speaker 2:It's a like hey, you know, we're just going through it right now. It's a process, you know we're gonna get there. I think you're spot on and I love the analogy because it makes a lot of sense. It's literally you know, there's a time period where everything's going crazy and there's time periods, like this, where it's okay, this is where we refine our skills. And, hey, what do the processes look like and what should I be doing? How do I move this along along? How do I have this conversation? How do I own my steel?
Speaker 2:Because there will come another cycle here and I'm targeting and this is if you're a betting man right after the election, there's going to be a lot happening around the metro. We saw what happened with just Copa America coming here. Yeah, imagine the world up in 26. I think at some point between you know the end of 25 and all of 26, there's going to be another, not boom, but we're going to get back to more of a normal market, to where it's siphoning through pretty quickly. And so, long story short, those that stayed in the game and continue to hone their skills are going to be well positioned. You've taken advantage of that. I'm excited for what?
Speaker 3:we got with the team. Yeah, and additionally to one thing I think to note is just like, kind of, you're a perfect example because you just moved. Hey, you know that first step it's long, comfortable. We're going to do a lot of upfront work for the first two weeks, like you just said, we're doing a lot, but now we're settled in, it's chill, it's easier and to kind of.
Speaker 3:Your point and this is kind of something you know, I always look at as a really positive attribute about yourself is you're always willing to push it in terms of doing, because you could have just easily said, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to stay in that place I'm at right now, but you saw an opportunity. Hey, I am going to have to move. It's a little bit worse, but I know, hey, I'm going to use the advantages of every single year I buy in the house. Every single year I'm buying a house and I'm going to trade up a little bit. It might not be a lot, but, hey, a little bit incremental. And now we went from literally first property to now where we're at with a brand new, fully built out, you know, duplex.
Speaker 2:So it's very exciting to see come on now and once we get settled settled we got to get you over here to come check it out, but it's, it's, it's, and I think all of us got to continue to level up, and that's one of the things I really love about you is you're always looking for new ways and new things to try right, and even going out and putting yourself out into different groups and meeting individuals. You never know where any of these seeds that you're planting are going to lead, but you do know that if you keep planting that, you will get something from that Right, and so I can't tell you how many deals I've personally closed where it's like something that happened a year ago, you know, six months ago. Things that ancient all of a sudden just blossoms and boom, and so I get excited when I'll see you trying new things, especially what we talked about earlier this week no, 100%, 100% To kind of note on kind of the stuff that's happening.
Speaker 3:kind of wanted to ask you what are you most excited for development-wise that Atlanta's planning on doing?
Speaker 2:Man. So for me, right, and it has to do with the project because I just moved here, things of that nature but the Beltline, like a lot, revolves around that, and when you look at what they're essentially doing, the Eastside Beltline is a scarce resource. If you want to buy something on the Eastside Beltline, you'd be hard pressed to find something below seven figures, right, unless you're getting a small bundle load, that's a two bedroom or something of that nature. Those you can get for like 600K, but if you want, like a full fledged house, it's going to be close to that million range, maybe more. And so when I look at that, and then I look at the West side and the South side that they're completing now and all the businesses that are getting built up along those, that is going to essentially become the central park of Atlanta, right, except a lot bigger, and so I get excited about that development. The fact that the mayor committed to have that done before 2026, that's the piece I'm most excited about. What about you, man? I know you've been paying attention.
Speaker 3:What's top of mind, I got to say. My thing I'm most excited for is spaghetti junction. How?
Speaker 1:much they're expecting.
Speaker 3:No, I'm lying, I'm lying, no, I'm actually I would say more so what they're kind of doing on the outside of Atlanta, so for instance up in like Suwannee coming area you know my aunt lives up there so I'll drive up there from time to time and I go to see where I used to go and now I'm dropping off my cousins to do stuff and I'm like, oh my God, there's all these houses. You know they've recently done a development kind of like Avalon, called the Halcyon. I don't know if you've ever been to it or heard of it. It's off exit 1312. It's exactly like Avalon. It's huge.
Speaker 3:They got the exact same layout, design, kind of a walkable shopping area with, you know, everything, literally copy paste of Avalon, and I think they're going to keep doing that all across the area. So kind of the outside you know Gwinnett too what they're doing there is kind of insane, because I'm more so excited for the outskirts growth because we know, hey, atlanta major city is going to boom but there's those smaller pockets that are kind of not so much seen as hey, this is going to transform but they have so much and that's, I think, one of the reasons why Suwannee and those areas up north are so rapidly being developed is just because they've been in the land and, honestly, we just hit on something right.
Speaker 2:That is an unfair advantage for those investors that live in Atlanta or in the metro in general. Everybody hears the headline. We hear about the Miamis of the world, we hear about Houston, texas, we hear about Atlanta, georgia and the North Carolina of the world. But if you go to that secondary market the Suwanis of the world, the Snellvilles of the world, the Marietta's, where it's just one step outside you're still able to capture a portion of that appreciation. But you're getting ahead of some of the out-of-town investors, the people from out of state. All they are focused on is like, hey, how can I get close to the metro, downtown, things of that nature, because that's what they hear about. But if you actually live here you understand okay, if I take a step outside of that, I'm close enough to be able to benefit from proximity but get it for a little cheaper to where the numbers may work out better. And so I'm huge on looking into those markets for deals especially, you know. I mean you've seen how much we've done in Decatur and surrounding areas, so it's good. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:On a side note, I haven't done an update on the storage in a while, but we recently contracted with this person who does Google SEO so that we can really maximize this summer. We just started doing that about a week ago and the logs have been picking up, so it's been awesome to see part of that piece go. Right now, we are still below 50% occupancy. We're steadily ramping up right. I think we have like I don't know anywhere from like 50 or so units filled out of 220. So we need to get-.
Speaker 3:So are you having like an average? Is your month over month increasing? Like amount of people signing up every month increasing?
Speaker 2:It's still early to tell. It's still too early to tell. I think it's been pretty consistent. It's been early to tell. It's still too early to tell. I think it's been pretty consistent. It's been pretty consistent. But now over the last week we signed like four or five people.
Speaker 3:So there's been a noticeable change after the signing of them to do that. Yes, oh nice.
Speaker 2:After Google search, the phone started ringing a bit more, which is awesome, and the goal is to, by the end of the summer, get you 50% occupied, because that means that it's covering the note. Right now it's not coming out of pocket right? Once it hits 50% occupied, that's enough to cover the note. Then the other 50% is where we start to ramp it up.
Speaker 2:What we have done, though, is we took the advice of I think I heard it on a podcast or something like that but we took the advice from somebody who's much, much more experienced in the self-storage space, and, essentially, these big conglomerates that buy all these self-storages. What they do is they offer ridiculous rates initially, like hey, $1 to move in half off. You know all that stuff, because they know, once somebody moves all their stuff in, it's very hard for them to move it out, you know. So main thing is getting your occupancy up, getting it to like 80% or so, and then you start to take your price back, and so what we did is we did a construction discount along with the launch of the Google Ads, and the construction discount is 50% off until September, and so people are like, oh, that's amazing, but September it got to a normal rate and we'll see.
Speaker 3:But it's a cut where you got to a normal rate and we'll see, but it's, it's working so far, nice, yeah, that makes sense, especially because you're and that's so important and kind of not a lot of people talk about is knowing kind of your margin, when you can play around with because you're saying hey, at the end of the day, I'm in the long-term game, so my up front really doesn't matter.
Speaker 3:I'd rather keep on the back end somebody in because I get them in longer. Because, to your point, I had a storage unit and the only reason I'm moving right now is because they recently raised it a third time. And now I'm sick of it. You know it took three times and I'm raising the price, and it's only because it's been in the last year. So I'm like, hey, you know I called, I found one significantly cheaper. They're. You know I called, I found one significantly cheaper. They're, you know, giving me a deal now. So I'm like, okay, I'll do it. So to that point, I'm a perfect example of somebody that would very much switch in that moment, because that very thing happened to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and in this game it's all about that occupancy, right. It's hey, how many are occupied and once you get to a certain threshold now you can raise the price and bring it to market rate. Right now, we want to take any and all people. And the cool thing about self-storage is you're less picky, right, because you have automatic payments and you have gates that lock if people don't pay and things of that nature. So it's a lot less screening, we'll call it, than if you had to pay. A need to fill an apartment building with tenants? Yeah, because there's tenant rights and all this stuff. It's all storage, literally. If you don't pay 14 days later, we're cutting that lot.
Speaker 3:It's going to be auction wars and I heard too, especially now, the amount of fraudulent information people are receiving from tenants in general has increased, which is you've got to really do your due diligence, make sure you're using the service that's reputable in terms of like for the background check and stuff. Cause, yeah, I've seen people. I knew a woman actually who back when I was a server, she lived in Alpharetta. She bought a house, she was a server and the reason she was able to afford the home is because she claimed to own a mechanic business, but because rates were so cheap at the time because she bought it in the middle of covet, you know, rates were so cheap. Her monthly payment she could actually afford it with the server income with her and her family and everyone else. So she just fronted as though she owned this business, qualified, and now she lives in alpharetta and I just that's incredible forta.
Speaker 3:That's incredible for her. Yeah, that's incredible for her, don't?
Speaker 1:do that though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. And you know what's actually very interesting 30310 had the largest mortgage in the state of Georgia. Yeah, actually, atlanta apparently was really bad for mortgage fraud. I forgot the number. We were definitely in the top 10, which was very shocking.
Speaker 2:We're in the top 10, which was very shocking. We're in the top 10 for a lot of things. Yeah, that's true, but one of the things that you mentioned which is so true is just that tenant fraud. I was actually talking to somebody earlier this week who was going through that. It really was on Sunday I talked to them. They had a tenant that basically didn't pay for six months and they're just now able to get it out because they had to go back to court. Things kept getting appealed and they just dragged out for a long time, and the way the tenant did it was this person had enlisted their house for rent and had gone two months without being directed, and so they were eager to get somebody in, and so when somebody filled out the application, they didn't go through the stringent process that you should when you're looking to rent your investment to somebody.
Speaker 2:There's a saying that random turners should say, when he's on bigger pockets, that it's better to have your unit vacant than to have a bad tenant. It's 100% true, because a bad tenant can mess up the unit. That's a turnover. When they're out, they can not pay, run out of bills, so their little bill's been transferred to you. There's a lot of things that can go wrong when you have a bad tenant, so it's much better to be patient in order to maybe reduce price and get more people in and be able to select the tenant that you want and then work from there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's very important is picking your own tenant A hundred percent. A hundred percent, yeah. Additionally too, I was going to ask to kind of piggyback off of the tenant screening piece. I know because you know New York, we've seen a lot of the news stories and in general, squatters and kind of the situations in general dealing with squatters. Thankfully, I know here in Georgia it's a lot easier, but still the process I heard is very difficult, kind of what is the thing in a situation where someone does have, let's say, for instance, you've owned a property, it's been vacant. Or an investor bought a package of homes. A home was vacant, it has already someone in there, that's a squatter. How would then someone go about handling that?
Speaker 2:Matt. So this is part of the reason I like investing in the Southeast, because in the Northeast, in certain cities and then, as you mentioned, new York, indonesia, and then also on the West Coast, it's a lot different landlord-tenant laws, right In some of those other areas. I'm not expert to them, but from what I've heard and seen, people can squat. If you're there for a certain amount of time, essentially that becomes your residence, and now you have tenant laws, which makes it very hard and difficult to get somebody out on a reasonable time. Basically, the southeast is not like that, and so I can tell you I've actually dealt with squatters in some of the homes that I used to own and move Like legit if I to own and move. If I look back through my emails, there was one instance I remember very clearly where they were like, yeah, man, there's Canadian flags, there are Canadian flags and whatever you need, they probably made you went to the hill.
Speaker 2:Glasses broke in, went inside and you got to just just hang it out, just hang it out. And so in that instance because we're in the Southeast, you know it's not as stringent rules around that we still had to give.
Speaker 3:Hey, I need some people to call the police.
Speaker 2:The police is here ASAP and, worst case scenario, if somebody's not willing to leave or there's some issue there, you could do your 14-day notice, which is what it is in the title, and then the sheriff will actually put anybody out. All right, 14-day notice, okay, we're coming in, they're going to bring back up, get that door open, put anybody out and then you switch out the locks. So in Georgia specifically, if there's any squatter issue, I would recommend that you, if you have a throughout room management, they should be able to call the police and or get the eviction notice to them to kick off that process. And if you're managing yourself, you want to make sure you're up to date on the eviction process. Submit that paperwork just in case, but then call the police to see if they can't come and help you knock it out.
Speaker 3:That makes sense. And then just real quick curiosity question Insurance covered the damages for that, I'm wondering. Or did you just have to pay that?
Speaker 2:I try not to. Does insurance cover that? I literally try not to use insurance. So I know most people are like, hey, insurance may cover that. I'm not sure Right On that piece. I'm really trying not to use insurance at all unless it's something catastrophic. I try to use reserves because I don't want my insurance to go up or premiums to go up.
Speaker 2:There's so many properties that you're trying to buy, you continue to buy that you know. Hey, if this insurance goes up $100 and this one goes up $100 and this one, it starts to add up across the board. So maybe I'm a little bit paranoid, but I have not used home insurance to cover any of this stuff.
Speaker 3:And then, speaking of premiums going up, I kind of was curious because I was reading about Florida, how insurers are pulling out, and I'm just kind of confused how that's possible, because I thought, hey, you know you have to have insurance in some aspects, right, and so is it just quite literally becoming unprofitable due to hurricanes and everything, and so it's like one load where you literally to your point you have to have insurance if you're going to have a mortgage on the property.
Speaker 2:If you're buying it cash, you don't have to. But I wouldn't put that much money on a property without having insurance. I'd still have insurance. Yeah, exactly, you're right. A lot of properties are pulling out because people got smart over the years and I'm sure you know some of these roofers that will go around and say, hey, this qualifies for health and you can replace the roof for free. The insurance is paying for all that stuff and they're paying a high premium to get all that stuff going.
Speaker 2:And so they've smartened up over the years and they said, hey, these high-risk areas you know, it's not worth it for us to insure here, and so the people that are insuring there are charging some crazy amounts. I can tell you that even early this year, we used to use a mortgage broker for our Georgia clients. It was really late last year, early this year. That was based out of Kentucky and he was awesome, right. But he started to run into issues for getting good insurance premiums for here, because there's been a lot of hell and wind damage claims, right, because trees and branches can fall down. You know, this is a forest, so these trees and branches can fall and hit your house and you're actually able to claim that on your insurance and get a brand new one.
Speaker 2:And so, because that's picked up around the Georgia area, it was getting treated almost like Florida with some of these premiums and, for example, we were helping a client get a triplex and the premium that he came back with was like $13,000 a year. I was like what? That completely threw off the numbers. The numbers didn't work at all at that point. Yeah, yeah, they were able to scramble and find an insurance that was $3,000 a year, which makes a lot more sense, but we've had to figure it out and find new brokers that can help us find deals here as well. That makes sense. That that can help us find deals here as well, that makes sense.
Speaker 3:That makes sense, and it's literally just because of all the tree damage. Wow, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's so many claims. Insurance companies are smart. They have much more data than we do and they just look across the board. And what are the claims that we're getting? And they should be making money each year. They essentially just factor in the risk of this happening, or what percentage of homes are getting claimed for this? Okay, and that's how they decide what the premium is that everybody pays to cover each other and make a profit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that makes sense. And then so inherently, just Florida. They said, hey, it's not, the math is not, the math is not adding up. Time to go Okay, that makes sense, that makes sense. So then at that point, would Time to go Okay, that makes sense, that makes sense. So then at that point, would, because a home insurer still is needed because of the mortgage. So if you're in an area where there's no insurance providers, are you then just having to pay that premium? Is the bank then picking that up? I'm kind of curious to see how that develops.
Speaker 2:So a bank would never. Most banks are not going to close unless you can get insurance. That's one of the final things you need to actually get a final clear. To close is they have to have that home insured to protect their money Right, it's really to protect them from the investment. If it burns down, you can get it rebuilt so that the mortgage still stands and they can sell that thing. Right, and it's covered by the insurance. So it's a hard stock on that. I think there's definitely a way to still get insurance in Florida and people are doing it actively. It's just much, much more expensive than it used to be. And now you have to actually underwrite that piece. It's not just saying, hey, it should be, I don't know, 1800, 1500, two grand a year, right. Now it's like, hey, this could be a couple hundred a month, right, and at that point it affects your numbers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, like you mentioned, it was.
Speaker 2:And then the one thing about Atlanta as well, around a lot of the neighborhoods, is they've started reassessing a lot of the houses, and so the taxes, the property taxes have probably not been significant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mine last a little bit. Have you seen that too? Mine went up. It hurt. I kind of felt sad. It was a bittersweet moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's gone up significantly. It's one of those things where that's something that you have to factor in as well, like, hey, my property tax is going to go up next year, and does this still make sense? Am I able to implement some type of strategy that uncovering? The thing that I always keep thinking about, though, is that long-term vision. Yes, there's some headwinds right now. That's taking a lot of buyers out the market, but if you're able to find a way to secure a property and make it make sense right now, five years from now, you're going to be thanking yourself, and a lot of people are going to be looking and seeing and thinking like how are you able to get that property for that price? You know, in these conditions? Is that what I keep thinking about? Hey, five years from now, will I be happy to have this property? If the answer is yes, I keep looking for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I agree. There's that saying hey, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now. So, yeah, I agree, I agree Because it's not going to get cheaper.
Speaker 2:It's definitely not going to get cheaper, no, and if you can buy on the right location because when you think about it, it's not necessarily the property itself that are appreciates it's the land right, it's the land that becomes more valuable, it's the area or alongside the bell line. You can no longer just buy a plot of land there. Okay, the houses around there start to go out of value, because these are the only plots I can get. I get some money out of this house and it comes with it, so now I got to pay extra for it.
Speaker 3:So that's certainly a good one. Yeah, location, location, location, location.
Speaker 2:Desmond, where was that how you doing man?
Speaker 4:Hey go Quakers.
Speaker 3:What's up, man? How you doing? He doesn't even sound right. You don't even know who the mascot is.
Speaker 2:The Quakers, the Quakers, the old Benjamin.
Speaker 3:Franklin, benjamin Franklin, the.
Speaker 4:Oats, the Quaker Oats guy. He's got a big deal with Philadelphia. Tell you what Half the city is made after benjamin franklin. This is true. This is true. This is true. I've been. Why did you?
Speaker 2:this is true he's everywhere, but desmond how you been.
Speaker 4:I've been great man, I've been great. I just finished up with, uh, an electrician here in my house not too long ago getting some work done, trying to now that like things are kind of at a smooth point and I'm not like running around like a chicken with my head cut off like 24-7 trying to like, oh, something went out or like, oh, we need to, you know, get this ready for whatever. So I feel like I'm kind of at a point where things are kind of stable and you know, for the most part, kind of running themselves with me as like the oversight. So now I'm finally at a point where I can start to kind of focus on my place and also myself and you know my health and all that right which can kind of get ignored. As we get into this grind Me as opposed to right above him talking about grind Right. So as we get into this, grind me as opposed to right above him talking about grind right. So as we get into that right, you can start to kind of it can be easy, I should say to lose sight of. You know your own routine or what you have going on personally. So that's kind of what I've been doing lately, so got some new ceiling fans installed, some nice like three blade modern ceiling fan. I just realized too it kind of sucks. I think I'm going to change them out. They're not smart ceiling fans, so, and this kind of goes to having a plan right In anything but definitely in remodel.
Speaker 4:So when I first got into this work, or into you know kind of what we're doing in my place place, it first started with me just getting a washer and dryer. Um, and that was like that's like you guys have no idea. You guys actually do have an idea, because you understand my laundromat woes a lot. And it's funny because this past time I was there it was like last week and like the day before my washer and dryer had just gotten delivered I I was like man, like this sucks, this sucks. So super excited to be getting that. And then that has kind of turned into oh well, we've got the ceiling cut open. You know I might as well, like you know, put a new light in and that always turns it.
Speaker 4:So now I've got like three new lights, I've got two new ceiling fans, I'm changing my shower and I've been fortunate enough to have who has become kind of like a mentor for me, this guy down the street who bought a six unit in my neighborhood and like the first day he bought it I walked up to him like hey, you know, just really try to ask him a question about the building. So you want to prove him total all this blood in this town? I won't let you know. No, but I walked into just like ask me about the building, like you know, thinking he's like one of the maintenance guys, cause you know, I feel like as an owner, when you do a lot of the work, that's how you can kind of dress, especially around your property.
Speaker 4:He's like, no, I just bought the building. I'm like, oh, wow, right, so we we get to talk to what not and fast forward. He's like helping me kind of do some of the remodeling my place, since he's doing a complete gut and renovation in his six unit down the street and like it's completely flipping it, making-modern, taking the rinse from what were probably like $1,100, maybe $1,200 at best up to like $1,617, $1,818. That's significant.
Speaker 2:Pretty good the work he's doing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean he's completely flipped the play. So it's like he's got granite countertops, he's got like a stone wall with fireplaces, he's got flat screens. It's nice. He's completely transformed the look and feel of the building it once was. You might remember he's been on this block. It was the white and brown building. I think it went up for sale shortly after. We're looking at that. We've looked at that.
Speaker 2:It wouldn't make sense. Because you can't make sense, because you can't have that, because too many units something like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it was an eyesore community, it was a property on the block and that's definitely the best property on the block, so he's like completely flipped it. So he's helping me out here and that's been a great relationship and just kind of getting advice and, you know, general tips and whatnot from him. So, yeah, that's to say, network with the people around you and tell people what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, that's amazing. That's awesome. I don't know why?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been fun. He's doing the work himself, as in, he's the one, like he's the contractor going in doing the gut work.
Speaker 4:So he's not doing, he's doing some of the work himself. He knows how to do the work, like he's been in the game for a minute. He's like 40 something. So he's he's knowledgeable about, uh, what the work is that needs to be done and he has, you know, some. I think he has like maybe 40 or so doors, um, and in some of that portfolio he's done a lot of the work himself on his own personal home too. So he understands what the work is that needs to be done and can come in and say he can kind of like come in and gc the project. But he does have guys coming in and he has electrician plumbers coming in and especially doing some of the larger tasks and it's a big building. So you know he, he's doing some of the stuff like he might paint a fence or a wall here and there, just because, like he's a big building. So you know he's doing some of the stuff Like he might paint a fence or a wall here and there, just because, like, this is what he does full time.
Speaker 4:So he sometimes does have the time. But he just closed on. I'm trying to get him on here too. He'd be a great person. He'd be awesome. Yeah, he'd be a good guy to interview. He just closed on the property across the street which you might also remember, which it's a four-unit but then there's a single-family home connected to it by like a fire escape kind of staircase thing. So he just closed on that one as well. He's going to flip that one too. He's going to paint it the same color, so he's trying to make like a little community. He might even put like a fence up around just the whole surrounding perimeter, you know. So it's like a little community thing.
Speaker 2:Honestly, this is like a testament to one focusing on an area and becoming an expert on it, like the fact that you own you know X number of units in that same area and you've been making connections with just about all the other owners. Like that's incredible and it can lead to some major wins down the road that we don't even know yet. Right More and more. I think we got to talk about this, the networking piece, the fact that when you stay in the game and stay consistent, you can really build out a portfolio with not a whole heck of a lot of changes. Yes, it's going to be uncomfortable once you first get it. Getting it up and running, getting it to a point where it can kind of run itself and be smooth. You first get it. Getting it up and running gets you a point where it can kind of run itself and be smooth, but it's a heck of a lot worth it.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. I totally agree and I feel like even just on this block and the surrounding blocks, I've met so many people doing different things and it's led to the guy who does my grass now the work that's being done in my house right now the electrician, you know. I got from me. So like I think most of the work I've gotten done, and especially I think some of the best work I've gotten done, has come from referrals or word of mouth, and I feel like typically I feel like I'm getting more hit over the head or more screwed over when I call, like the big name companies. I'm flipping through the yellow pages right trying to find someone. Like that's when it can feel the toughest and when you can feel like the most alone, I agree.
Speaker 2:You always want to try to go on recommendations in this world and the thing is it's going to change from time to time because somebody who is great for a season or for two seasons, but then they get busy and now they start the quality starts dropping off and so you gotta you it. But if you stay around and hang around other investors and continue keeping that conversation going, you'll always have a Rolodex of individuals that are pretty good at their job, which is awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely, and it kind of gets into. I was listening to I think it was the Rookie Podcast, the BiggerPockets Rookie Podcast, and they had this guy on there. He was like ex-military and he was kind of talking about that same thing. Where he runs his business, or at least how he manages his contractors, is by like the pace, method or strategy. And the military has the same strategy when they're doing their like trainings or, you know, preparing for combat or whatever. So it's primary, alternate, contingent and then emergency. So for each of his vendor roles he tries to have that, yeah, he tries to have that list. Hey, here's my primary. And he has that documented in an SOP as well. Right, and he's really big on having these SOPs, not being the only person that knows how to do something.
Speaker 4:And I'm really trying to build that out myself to where, like, I realize, like how hard. Like okay, when the hvac goes out, I'm not gonna do much more to like go out there, take a look at it. Like I realize now there's a little bit more you can do inside the unit. You can go and you know, flip the breaker, you can reset the thermostat. There's some basic things you can do and that can be an SOP and I realized I don't have magic hands that have to be doing those things. So if we can document what are those routine things we have to do, okay, that didn't fix it.
Speaker 4:Call the primary he didn't answer, he's busy Alternate and then so on and so forth. So I'm really trying to kind of follow that. That was a really good episode. I don't know the episode number off the top of my head but, um, if you go look through the rookie podcast you'll find like he's a ex-military guy talking about all the military kind of strategies he uses and let's go and a quick question, I feel like, just for people in general.
Speaker 3:What is an sop for people who might not?
Speaker 4:That's a good question. Yeah, it's a standards practice. You guys said that, right Standards are operating procedures, but standards were I don't even know the exact, you know acronym. That's a problem, right? That shows you how little SOPs I'm not.
Speaker 2:That's the issue, right there. So when? To that point you're spot on and I can tell you, when I was managing my properties I didn't have an SLP. It was kind of flat all those teeth. Just hey, can I acquire another one and figure out how to keep it running. But the sooner you can start to offload things to other people, even maybe slightly before you're even ready, it's going to allow you to do so much more.
Speaker 2:I always talk about when I was self-managing. My max was 15. I got to 15 and it was too much going on to even want to buy another property. Once I moved that to, property management put some systems in place. All of a sudden I was able to go to 25 in a blink. I was like, okay, this is great, I just get a property, hand it off to go with 25 and blink and it's like, okay, this is great, I just get a property, get it off.
Speaker 2:Right now, like the past two weeks which I've been moving and kind of busy with boxes and all that stuff, we've had two properties that we signed on to property management. I've only been to those properties once at least. Right, I went there, did the scope of work, handed it off to my operations manager. She has a whole list of what she needs to do and they're just getting it ready, like one of them's going to be ready by the end of this weekend. I said, okay, this is great. Now we're just using photos. It didn't start out like that. I mean, you saw how it started out. It started out with these crazy build days where it's like all of us coming in there. I'm trying to bribe you guys to help me with pizza.
Speaker 3:It's a man. That was a great time. Guys, come on great networking.
Speaker 2:Guys, come on, it'll be great networking, you know, hang out, and so I'm also sure it doesn't have to be pretty at the start, but the sooner you start doing exactly what you're doing, which is just writing it down morning and then you up, at least you have it and then you pass it to somebody and, man, it frees you up to grow big yeah, yeah, absolutely, and that's like I think that's like the thing I've been kind of like struggling with right now is just like formalizing it and then figuring out what is the right piece to offload.
Speaker 4:I think it will be probably at the start, and me and I've talked about this for a little bit or in the past, but I think it might be guest communications, where I realize right now and like I don't have a problem with doing guest communications, like responding whenever I realize it's it is like 24, seven basically.
Speaker 4:I mean it's, it's all around the clock and it's at any day, right, so I don't really have the chance Like I always have to have my watch on, basically Like the chance I always have to have my watch on.
Speaker 2:basically, If I don't have my watch on, I'm probably missing a message I can't get in.
Speaker 4:The code's not working. Hopefully it's not that one. That's the worst one, right, I don't respond for two hours. Thankfully that hasn't happened. But that's because I keep my watch on. That's to say I don't have the chance.
Speaker 4:I think this might be for most hosts, but I think you know to scale you have to free up your time somewhere. So, like that's what I'm struggling with and like also just formalizing, like making sure I'm giving up, you know, profit Right, and like being okay to do that and then, like you know, know the business can support that, right and all that. So that's what I'm trying to understand now, like just still thinking about what's the best thing to like formal. I feel like I'm in a weird period where I'm not at 15 yet but I'm like I'm, you know I'm not at, you know I'm not super high, but I'm not at four, where I used to be, where at four I was like, oh, I can, this is not a problem.
Speaker 4:Right At eight I'm like it's a little stretched. I probably should like I'll have to work, you know, kind of later hours on my job, on my W2. And I think I'm really lucky to have a flexible W2 that lets me do that. But yeah, that's really my biggest challenge right now just figuring out what that right piece is in doing the scale. But I think once I get to 12, it'll become a lot more obvious, and after the next building I'm going to have to. There's just not going to be, I don't think, any more bandwidth for me to be running around, and I'm also trying to do something else on the side too to kind of accelerate the funds as well.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things where something that helped me out, especially making that decision, because even building on the property management team, that was tough initially. It was like how are you going to afford this when you've got like six units under management? We're not going to have to afford the systems that we're using. What is the point, Right? But it was one of those where if you sit down and just map it out, I know you have goals, like everybody has goals in their mind but if you sit down and actually map it out and work through, okay, what are my expenses, what are my income, If I were to build this to X, you know, would it then make sense? And it's better to make that jump ahead of time, Cause then those folks can grow with you. You know what I mean Like. So it's easier said now. You know, now that we get kind of to the other side, you can see like dang, I should have hired these folks earlier.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's one of those where you got to just write it out whatever you got to do to get comfortable with that and make that jump, Because once you do one, it gets easier to do that in other parts of your life and kind of free up time. Yeah, You're getting the time. We are at time. I hope that both of you have an awesome rest of the evening and I look forward to catching you next week and next week. I know this is a little bit of a bait and switch. We said we're going to interview Nas. Today's actually his anniversary and we completely messed up the date, so the interview's going to be next week. So please be generous and we will catch you next week with Nas on for an interview.
Speaker 1:See you guys. Join us every Wednesday at 7 pm Eastern as we explore different types of investments that can fast-track your path to.
