Real Estate Insights and Opportunities From Chicago to Austin with Drew Breneman

 

Real Estate Insights and Opportunities From Chicago to Austin with Drew Breneman

 

Guest: Drew Breneman is a real estate investor based in Austin, Texas. He began his journey at a young age, starting an online business and saving his earnings. As he delved into investing, Drew explored various avenues, including stocks and mutual funds, but found his passion in real estate. Inspired by books on investing, he realized the potential of leveraging properties and their appreciation. Drew purchased his first duplex as a college freshman in Madison, Wisconsin, and continued to expand his real estate portfolio while completing his education. With a focus on multifamily properties, Drew combines his business mindset with investment strategies to create successful ventures in the real estate market.

 

Big Idea: Join hosts Drew and Dan in this inspiring real estate podcast episode as they discuss Drew’s journey from Chicago to Austin, his early entrepreneurial ventures, and his success in real estate investing. They delve into various topics, including the reasons for Drew’s relocation, real estate opportunities in Chicago, Drew’s entry into real estate investing, his early ventures, transitioning to multifamily and value-add deals, expanding into new markets, the importance of real estate education, holding properties for the long term, and the significance of preparedness. Gain valuable insights and strategies from two experienced real estate professionals.

 

 

    

 

Dan: Yes, I love Chicago personally for the rental apartments that I own. I think Chicago is understated in the national investment context when we talk about apartment buildings, although I don’t necessarily know if that would hold true when we get into the main topic here of the size of deal that you are focusing on now. I think it probably is a good market, and I’m not super familiar with, let’s say, 20 to 34 units and up in the city of Chicago. But one unique thing, we do deals in Atlanta, Chicago, Philly, around the country, Florida, a lot of other markets as well. And the one thing I found and love about the Chicago market specifically, Drew, is the abundance of two, three, and four-flat buildings. So like, I’ve found no other market, maybe Los Angeles or New York offers that kind of opportunity to call the entry-level investor to get the two or the three or the four-unit buildings and kind of do the house hacking.

So I’ve loved this city for that reason. And when I got here, moved here from Philadelphia in 2015 to Chicago, I was blown away by the high prices in areas where I came from. In Philly, we have very, very low prices comparatively. People making the same kind of money in Philadelphia can buy a much lower-cost house in the city. And then the prices were probably almost double in Chicago. So we have expensive real estate and high rents. And my investment philosophy, buying those apartment units over the past couple of years, has been to get into the expensive property and take out, I don’t want to overpay, but I want to take out a higher and higher mortgage with higher and higher rents on a per-unit basis because I’m paying down that at a higher velocity over time. And then the two and a half percent increases are larger dollars. So it allowed me to play a little bit bigger than I might have been able to play in the city of Philadelphia. And there’s just such an abundance of that type of inventory. Whereas in Philadelphia or a lot of other cities, Atlanta having a duplex or a triplex is like a unicorn. It’s a really rare event. But I digress on that. Why don’t we, for listeners, Drew, why don’t you kind of do our evolution of the business model and your origination story so we can get a picture of who you are and what your business looks like?

Drew: Sounds great! And I’ve noticed the same thing about Chicago. If you wanted to get started in a two to four-unit, there might be more there than anywhere. I often give that advice to someone starting out, and one of the people I was talking to was in Phoenix, and he was like, “There’s no three units here. What are you talking about?” So I was like, “Well, you got to figure out where they are. I’m sure there’s some.” But anyway, yes. So I got started really young. So started from the Milwaukee area, and both my parents were teachers. I was living in the suburbs my whole childhood, and I started a business online just buying and selling items and video games. I didn’t make any huge money on any one sale, but I made five or $10 per sale, and I saved all the money.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://www.Breneman.com/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Drew Breneman & I Discuss Real Estate Insights and Opportunities From Chicago to Austin:

  • Reasons for Relocating: Seeking Safety and Lower Property Taxes
  • Real Estate Investing in Chicago: Abundance of Entry-Level Opportunities
  • Drew’s Early Entrepreneurial Journey: From Online Sales to Real Estate
  • Transitioning to Multifamily and Value-Add Deals: Maximizing Returns in Chicago
  • Expanding to New Markets: Venturing into Sunbelt Markets

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 222 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Unveiling Your Real Estate Edge: Insights from Jeremiah Boucher

 

Unveiling Your Real Estate Edge: Insights from Jeremiah Boucher

 

Guest: Jeremiah Boucher, a seasoned real estate investor, shares his transformative journey in the industry, from a challenging experience during the 2008 financial crisis to finding his competitive edge. With a focus on manufactured housing, self-storage, and small bay industrial properties, Jeremiah emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, building relationships, and honing communication and negotiation skills.

 

Big Idea: Jeremiah Boucher discusses his  journey of self-discovery and growth in the real estate industry. From overcoming adversity during the 2008 financial crisis to finding his niche in specialized asset classes, Jeremiah shares his insights on finding your competitive advantage, building trust, and the importance of continuous improvement. Get ready to gain valuable knowledge on deal sourcing, negotiation strategies, and the power of effective communication and presentation skills in real estate.

 

 

    

 

Boucher: Yeah. Similar to a lot of the listeners, I quit college and got into real estate. I bought a lot of houses. I lost everything in 08 with just like the big short, you know, and had some real challenges with tax liens and foreclosure and credit card debt and all of that whole deal. I didn’t have an edge, so I was doing what everyone else was doing in Vegas. You know, everybody was a realtor, everybody was a house flipper, learned the lesson. I knew something in my gut was wrong in that whole process, and I knew that wasn’t going to survive. I took the hit and had to rebuild, and then the next 10 years really were about building up a manufactured housing portfolio

I did that by just being young and naive and aggressive and reaching out to some guys that started a big mobile home park fund and helped them build that fund by sourcing deals and kind of putting together creative deals and managing and operating some of these deals and then had a nice swap with them in 2016 where I was able to take on my own assets and manufactured housing. That gave me some autonomy to take that cash flow and put it into my own management company. I ran that out of Vegas, a lot of the assets were in Vegas and up near Reno, and I was able to at that point, you know, kind of build up my resources and learn the ins and outs of the operational part of the business, which is rough when you’re dealing with some types of, you know, lower-income housing and, what revolves around that.

I saw at least the writing on the wall for me that I thought asset values were extremely high, and I really wasn’t prepared to grow or scale that type of business at that time, so I had a good exit in 2019 and wrote the book and then, you know, connected with I think you a couple of years later, but it was really through, you know, a bunch of different networks where I started to actually scale and start with some funds rather than doing individual syndications, and at this stage, I only operate out of raising money through funds. I’m a typical, you know, private equity syndicator, like a lot of guys on your show, and then at that stage, you know, my niche, my focus, you know, first was manufactured housing. We still look at it, but it’s not as heavy in the portfolio. Second is storage, you know, traditionally storage and tertiary secondary markets. A lot of them are up in the northeast. We remotely manage a lot of them, and we look for the rough ones and improve them.

Then lastly, my most recent kind of fun asset class is Small Bay industrial up in the Northeast, and I’m building a lot of it. I do construction as well. We can get into all that, but that’s trying to condense it as best I could for you, Dan.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

www.PatriotHoldings.com

www.StorageBootcamp.com

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Jeremiah Boucher & I Discuss the Unveiling Your Real Estate Edge:

  • Finding Your Competitive Edge: Identify and leverage your unique value proposition to gain a competitive advantage in real estate by specializing in a specific asset class and continuously improving your skills.

  • Building Relationships and Trust: Learn how to build strong relationships and foster trust with sellers, partners, and investors, crucial for achieving success in real estate. Effective communication, active listening, and demonstrating credibility as a buyer are key elements discussed.

  • Understanding Different Asset Classes: Gain a comprehensive understanding of various real estate asset classes, including manufactured housing, self-storage, and small bay industrial properties. Explore the potential benefits and challenges of each asset class to make informed investment decisions.

  • Strategies for Deal Sourcing and Negotiation: Discover practical strategies for finding and evaluating real estate deals, along with effective negotiation techniques. Jeremiah shares insights on deal sourcing, market analysis, and structuring creative solutions that align with both buyer and seller goals.

  • Importance of Communication and Negotiation Skills: Recognize the significance of developing strong communication and negotiation skills in the real estate industry. Effective presentation, problem-solving, and active listening are essential for navigating complex transactions and building long-term relationships.

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 221 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Inside the Self-Storage Industry with Jacob Vanderslice of Van West Partners

 

Inside the Self-Storage Industry with Jacob Vanderslice of Van West Partners

 

Guest: Jacob Vanderslice is a real estate investor and entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in the industry. He is the founder of Van West Partners, a real estate investment firm that specializes in self-storage facilities. Jacob has an extensive background in residential fix and flips, multifamily, adaptive reuse retail, and town-owned development, but his passion lies in the self-storage business. Jacob explains the reasoning behind his shift towards storage, the company’s investment philosophy, and how they create value in their facilities.

 

Big Idea:  Real estate investor and entrepreneur Jacob Vanderslice shares his expertise in self-storage investment. Jacob discusses his journey in real estate investing and how his company, Van West Partners, moved from single-family rentals to self-storage investments. He emphasizes the importance of creating value through income streams and optimizing unit mix for maximum revenue. Jacob also talks about his investment philosophy, which centers around value-add investments in growing markets.

 

 

    

 

Daniel: Okay, nice. Yeah, I’m in Chicago. As listeners probably know. Figure maybe we’ll start with the evolution or the reader’s digest version. Maybe a little bit about who Jacob is, but then also VanWest and kind of how your personal career and your business model evolved to the point where they’re at today in 2022.

Jacob: Certainly. Well, it’s all been accidental and I guess unintentional to a degree like most things are. We started investing real estate full-time in about 2006, and we cut our teeth doing lots and lots of residential fix and flips. We did a bunch of rentals. We did buy, fix and sell deals. We did almost probably 1200 of them over a fairly long period. We really started in 06 and kind of kept going in that business until about we had some overlap, but kind of started to quiet it down in about 19 as deal flow constricted and returns kind of went down. So that’s how we cut our teeth. Just buying residential homes at the auctions and fixing them up, making them better, and either running them out or selling them. We’ve also done a fair amount of multi-family adaptive reuse, retail, some for-sale townhome development, and we got in the storage business in 2015. And we looked at storage for a while, and we like the fact that it’s historically downside protected.

It’s got durable recurring revenue streams. It’s scalable, repeatable, defensible. So we researched it for a while and we kind of jumped in head first on our first deal. We did a ground-up development project here in Denver, and then we did a few other development projects locally, and then we opened up the Milwaukee market starting in about 2016 just north of you. We did a handful of deals out there. And over time, I mentioned accidental earlier. Over time, I just kind of evolved to becoming our main line of business. The residential business is great. Fixed and Flips is a great business. But one of the things we didn’t like about it is it was I guess overly transactional, meaning you’re buying, selling over and over and over again. And to make money, you constantly have to be buying a deal, making it better than selling it. And we wanted to shift to a business that was more cash flow focused versus a quick reversion focused. And that’s why we landed on storage. And through today, we’ve got 38 storage facilities, about 275 million in asset center management all over the country, Midwest, southeast, south, got some stuff in Denver, and we’re buying more and we’re building more.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

www.VanWestPartners.com

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Jacob Vanderslice & I Discuss the Self-Storage Industry:

  • The evolution of Van West Partners’ investment strategy

  • The state of the US real estate market and the impact of COVID-19

  • The role of technology in the real estate industry

  • The potential impact of government policies on the market

  • The outlook for the real estate market in the near future

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 219 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Maximizing Asset Protection and Tax Savings with Scott Royal Smith

 

Maximizing Asset Protection and Tax Savings with Scott Royal Smith

 

Guest: Scott Royal Smith is a real estate investor, attorney, and founder of Royal Legal Solutions. He shares his background in real estate and law, and how he scaled his wealth through strategic planning and asset protection. He believes in educating people and forming relationships to help them leverage their assets to build wealth.

 

Big Idea: Scott Royal Smith shares his expertise on cost-effective legal structures for real estate investing and tax strategies for asset protection. He presents a practical system involving creating a series of LLCs and a Land Trust to hold assets, which provides effective asset protection and can help minimize maintenance costs. Scott’s insights offer valuable perspectives on how to reduce risk, minimize costs, and ultimately build wealth in real estate investing.

 

 

    

 

Dan: Nice. Scott, so for listeners, would you mind giving us maybe the reader’s digest version of the evolution of your business real estate and law career and then sort of what the business model is today?

Scott: Yeah and so my company is Royal legal Solutions but I got started in real estate when I was in law school. I bought a commercial property and auto repair and transmission repair shop for the back taxes. And I end up flipping the business in the building upon graduating to graduate from law school without any debt. And I thought that was going to be a hotshot litigation attorney. So I took a job suing insurance companies in a law firm. Turns out insurance company’s business model is collecting premiums and denying coverage, especially when things get expensive. And then that’s what attorneys does, they sue them whenever they do that. So, get first-hand experience about how does the whole game of insurance really work and how it’s important for us to have insurance, but also have additional protection in place.

But the whole time while I was working as an attorney there, I continued by real estate and I scaled my own real estate portfolio until I was making more money doing real estate and I was being an attorney. It took me about like a year and a half. I wasn’t sleeping a whole lot at those times in my life, and I didn’t need a lot of money, right? I wasn’t married, didn’t have kids and I was like, hey man, I’ve hit it. I’ve hit my financial freedom. I was like I’m golden, but then I ran into the problem and I think a lot of people run into which is like wait shouldn’t I be structuring this inside of like LLCs and should I be using any of trust to hold my assets and my company’s anonymously? And what should I be doing with all of my taxes and my estate planning, and my insurance? And why do I want to be doing all that? How’s that all suppose to work?

So, I did what everybody does and I was like, well, I’ll try to read the books and I’ll try to contact professionals. And so I did all of that, and I realized that nobody really have a complete system we’d put together. So I had to put one together for my own. So I built my own team of people because I was like, well, I want, I had the financial freedom but I wanted the time freedom. And the only way I can get there is if I built a team. If I studied for myself to understand how to do it for myself and then built a team of people that do it for me on basically managing my wealth for me.

It was great, I finally had everything that I wanted and I was traveling a ton and living a great life. And as I came back in living inside the states, a lot of my friends real estate Investors and asked me like hey man, how are you doing? What is he doing? How are you living this lifestyle? What is going on right now? And it’s like, well, here’s what I built. And this is how it all works. And they’re like, well, can I get in on that? Can you take on more people and help me build this thing? So I was just kind of helping people out, getting them into the things that I’d figured out for myself. And eventually when I was like, hey, you should go in this BiggerPockets podcast and go just share with people about asset protection. It’s one part of whether it’s some of the stuff you know. And I didn’t think anything was going to come of it. So I gave up my personal email and phone number into it.

And what happened was I was getting 30 to 40 phone calls a week from investors all over the country. They were like, hey man, I really need help on asset protection and how all these other pieces are supposed to put together. So then that’s where I realized that whatever you want to call, that higher power in life was really tapping me on the shoulder and says, hey, this isn’t all about just hanging out on the beaches and have a good time. You need to be of service to other people, help them be able to walk the path that you’ve walked and get them to that place of being secure and having the true freedom and protection in place for keeping what they’ve work so hard to be able to build. And that’s Royal legal Solutions is now turning and I, we serve all 50 states, we have over 2,000 clients that we’ve helped that are Real Estate Investors and we have about 30 people of attorneys, CPAs, paralegals and support staff.

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://RoyalLegalSolutions.com/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Scott & I Discuss:

  • Leveraging LLCs for asset protection

  • Land Trusts to hold assets

  • Private Foundations for tax savings

  • Strategic planning for building net worth

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 220 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

The Future of Commercial Real Estate Investing in Major Cities with James Nelson

 

The Future of Commercial Real Estate Investing in Major Cities with James Nelson

 

Guest: James Nelson is an industry expert in commercial real estate with over 20 years of experience. He is a Principal and Head of Tri-State Investment Sales at Avison Young, one of the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firms.

 

Big Idea: In this podcast, James Nelson shares valuable insights into investing in commercial real estate in major cities like New York and Chicago. He discusses the challenges and benefits of doing business in these cities, the importance of thorough due diligence, and the potential for value-add opportunities in “tired” assets. Nelson also emphasizes the significance of location in real estate investing and provides guidance on navigating current challenges in the industry, such as the shift towards e-commerce and the need for more flexible office spaces.

 

 

    

 

Dan: So I was going to make a little bit of a perception of the New York real estate market from around the country, right? Oh, it’s overpriced, it’s outrageous. The price of land in Manhattan and those kind of things that we all hear around the country, it’s like, who could ever buy anything in New York, anywhere in the city and be successful at the way the prices are? So that was growing up in Philadelphia, James, so that’s my perception, right? We would get the New York buyers who would come down and see Philadelphia as just like discount bargain just pay cash for it. Who needs a mortgage kind of a market. Well, when I got to Chicago, Chicago had a similar, very priced out type of feel to it coming from Philadelphia. And long behold, it does work and you can’t make money.

Sometimes those high price points offer things like high commissions and high profit spreads and 8,9,10%, or even 3 or 4% appreciation on a larger number is larger numbers at the end of the day as well. So I’ve gotten more comfortable with the higher price points myself personally. And I’m curious, as we kind of get into today’s show, I imagine cut your teeth in the New York market, and it’s a high price point market we all know that. I’m excited to kind of hear today’s show with that frame, if you will.

James: Sure, yeah. New York certainly is a place to live. It is very expensive. So a studio apartment here is $3,000 a month. The median apartment sells for, I think it’s 1,000,00.

Dan: Wow.

James: So yes, it is certainly expensive. When you’re looking to buy here on the commercial side yes, the barriers of entry are high because there is global demand looking to purchase properties here in New York, when we talk commercial, I’m talking multi-family with five or more units. I’m talking retail, office development, industrial, and there’s only about in Manhattan about five or 600 of those sales that happen a year. So there’s always this supply demand imbalance. And so the New York terms here are very challenging, especially for kind of the first time investor because most of our deals are signed with a 10% hard deposit due diligence done prior to contract signing. So that’s pretty daunting to jump in and have to put in hard money day one, really tough when you’re buyer, but when you’re looking to turn around and sell again, the market is liquid. So there are challenges to break into this, but once you’ve been able to secure an investment, if your business plan is to resell, you’re going to have a much easier time exiting when the time is right.

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://JamesNelson.com/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

James & I Discuss:

  • The challenges and benefits of investing in commercial real estate in major cities

  • The importance of thorough due diligence in real estate investing

  • The potential for value-add opportunities in “tired” assets

  • The significance of location in real estate investing

  • Navigating current challenges in the industry, such as the shift towards e-commerce and the need for more flexible office spaces

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 218 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Revolutionizing the Apartment Industry: Mike Kaeding on Disruption, Inclusive Investing and Company Culture

 

Revolutionizing the Apartment Industry: Mike Kaeding on Disruption, Inclusive Investing and Company Culture

 

Guest: Mike Kaeding is the CEO of Norhart, a company designing, building, and renting apartments. Mike and his team are transforming the way apartments are built and managed, incorporating technologies and efficiencies from other industries. After his father’s passing, Mike took the reins of the family business and found success by changing the way construction is done, hiring the best talent and solving chronic construction inefficiencies. Through this process, he has been able to provide cost-effective projects to solve America’s housing shortage and improve the way we all live.

 

Big Idea: Mike Kaeding, CEO of Norhart, is revolutionizing the construction industry by creating an attractive company culture, solving chronic construction inefficiencies, and integrating traditionally unaffiliated trades to achieve higher quality, more cost-effective projects. His mission is to solve America’s housing shortage by transforming the way apartments are built and managed, ultimately improving the way we all live. Inclusive RE Investing is one way that Norhart is paving the way for the future of construction disruption.

 

 

    

Dan: Mike, I did the research, the listeners did not, before today’s episode, do you want to kind of give the brief Reader’s Digest version of your business model and maybe how it evolved to that point in some of your story about how you got there?

Mike: Yeah, I would be happy to do so. At a high level, we design, build and rent apartments, but we’re really focused on solving the cost of housing. And we’re doing that by transforming the way construction is done. We’re already achieving about a 20 to 30% reduction in construction costs, and we believe we can achieve a 50% reduction. But imagine what that means. It means someday your rent could be half or your mortgage payment could be half. And that’s the kind of impact that we want to make. We want to solve America’s housing affordability crisis. Now didn’t always start out that way, we were very small. My parents started the business. They built just small eight unit apartment buildings at the time. In fact, I can remember family outings where we drove off to the local hardware store about a half an hour away.

My brother and I, my mom and dad, we each fill up two carts full of supplies, then filled it at my dad’s trailer as we’re driving down the highway to go work on our building a little bit more. So summers, we’re often working on these small buildings with my family, winter season we’d be in school. So it was very much ingrained in my life and then went after college. But I wanted nothing to do with the family business. It was very small, but I wanted nothing to do with it. And the reason is, deep down, I didn’t want people to think it was given to me. So I really wrestled with my own ego on that and eventually realized that really what I wanted to do was try to make some kind of meaningful, positive impact on the world.

And I started to see that I could take this small business and grow it in something larger, but we can have a wider impact in the world. And so I jumped in with my dad and my dad and I doubled the size of the company in the first few years. And then overnight he passed away. And so at this stage it was horrible. It was a horrible experience. And this stage ended up taking over the company entirely. And since then, we’ve just started to make changes. And now looking back, that was sort of the magic because we didn’t know what we were doing and there’s a lot of pain in that. But we also didn’t know the way things were supposed to be done and we can start changing the way things were done as a result. And we started to have some decent impact. And today we’re at about a 200 million valuation and producing about 500 units a year. And we’ve been doubling in size almost every year.

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://www.Norhart.com/invest/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Mike & I Discuss:

  • Company Culture & Construction Disruption: How Norhart’s Unique Culture Revolutionized Construction

  • Housing Shortage: Solving America’s Growing Housing Crisis

  • Overcoming Leadership Challenges

  • Integrating Traditionally Unaffiliated Trades

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 217 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Dani Beit-or: Leveraging Repetition and Reinforcement in Real Estate Investments

 

Dani Beit-or: Leveraging Repetition and Reinforcement in Real Estate Investments

 

Guest: Dani is a 20-year real estate investing veteran with extensive experience in the US market. He has collaborated on nearly 5,000 transactions since 2004 and has helped hundreds of investors cultivate robust property portfolios across a variety of metropolitan areas. Dani’s investment strategies have been refined from his experience during the 2008 market downturn, and he now leverages his expertise to help investors at all levels, from novices to seasoned professionals, optimize their real estate investments.

 

Big Idea: Dani Beit-or shares his 20+ years of experience as a real estate investor. He discusses the need to have each property standalone and pay its own expenses, the power of repetition and reinforcement and the kindness of those in the real estate industry in helping one another. Additionally, Dani explains how he uses his real estate investments as a 401K. This podcast is an invaluable source of advice for anyone looking to venture into real estate investing.

 

 

    

Dan: Cool. So I’m here in Chicago, listeners know I’m back from Florida, spent the winter there. It was pretty cool. I wish I was still there because it’s not quite done being winter in Chicago yet. But one of the things most of the listeners probably know, I think we were talking about before the show started, so I buy, sell. Buy, fixi and sell, I own rentals, and I do that in Philadelphia, originally. I moved to Chicago in 2015, so I could be near my daughter who was heading into late middle school at the time. So I was like, oh, it’s now or never. She’s back in Philly now at college. I’m still in Chicago. That’s how I ended up in Chicago. And then I met someone who we opened up the Atlanta market and we did a lot around the country.

And I say all that as kind of a setup, Dani. I never would’ve probably left my backyard in Philadelphia because flipping houses, making money. I know the market, the brand, people know me, they’re bringing me deals, my contractors are there, my money partners are there. And I was afraid that when I left, the whole thing would crumble when we would go away now. And I was okay with that if that happened when I got to Chicago, but grace of God, the business grew and things continued in all three areas. So that was my catalyst for looking around the United States at other real estate markets. And we’re now eight years later and I feel like the thing that’s most exciting to me right now is market selection and paying attention to the nuances of this huge variety of markets throughout the United States.

I guess I need the challenge of having to underwrite new markets. But I think it was really cool because I was able to see a market like Atlanta. Seeing like, let’s say 8% to 10% or 12% appreciation for several years. And then a market like Chicago, which maybe it had 3% or 4% and probably a 10% bump during COVID or something like that and there’s opportunities in each of those markets. But I would imagine for buy and hold investors, and I’ll allow you to encapsulate your business model here in a moment, but for buy and hold investors, I’m getting in getting out in a 12-month period or less. So it doesn’t matter how much the appreciation is unless it’s significantly negative one year. But to a buy-and-hold passive investor probably has another career or has a lot of rental properties. That appreciation component’s going to significantly drive or hinder the total IRR. So with that setup, I’ll pass it to allow you to describe what you do in the evolution of your business model.

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://SimplyDoIt.net/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Dani & I Discuss:

  • Making each property standalone and pay its own expenses

  • The power of repetition and reinforcement

  • Using real estate investments as a 401K

  • Selecting the Best Markets to Invest-No Matter Where You Live

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 216 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Franchise Investments with Kim Daly

franchise_investment

 

Franchise Investments with Kim Daly

 

Guest: Kim Daly is an independent franchise consultant with FranChoice. She is also the co-author of Franchising Freedom & Mission Matters Volume 5, Top Tips to Success.

Big Idea: Kim Daly is an expert in franchise investment. Kim Daly has spent the last 20 years helping people achieve financial freedom by enabling them to find the perfect franchise opportunities. Her skill for matching a client’s background, interests, skills, finances and life goals to the ideal opportunity has made her one of the top franchise consultants in the country. On today’s episode we discuss the way some real estate investors transition from house flipping to owning a portfolio of franchise businesses-which might be a great solution in today’s low inventory real estate market. We also discuss the process of getting started and then building to scale, where you reap the real rewards of the franchise business.

 

 

    

 

Dan: Love it. I found a quote online. I think this would be a good place to start. I don’t know if you wrote this or someone wrote it about you, but it said “She worked as a personal trainer and had medical school dreams before entrepreneurship and franchising found her.” Tell me about that.

Kim: That is all true. In franchising, Dan. The question that’s commonly asked is, how did franchising find you? Because nobody really wakes up and says, “Oh yeah, I think I’m going to go get into franchising.” Right? It’s more like you’re looking for some outcome in your life and you stumble upon the advantages of franchising and go, “Ooh, this is a way to get where I want to go.” That’s pretty much what happened to me. There were two things I wanted to do when I was young. One was to become a motivational speaker, but like, how does one do that? You pursue the more logical thing. I was a straight-A student. I’m going to go to medical school and help people. Like I just always desired to be a person of influence, to do something that genuinely improves the lives of other people.

After undergrad, I answered a classified ad in the newspaper that was for a franchise consulting company, not the one I’m part of today. But literally, that classified ad changed my life when I found what franchising as an industry is and does for people, which is, it’s an industry of people helping people. It’s an industry where every single day people are realizing their dreams, living their dreams, just inspiring, and helping each other. I knew that I had found my homeland. I did make a temporary deviation into entrepreneurship because like every good business owner, I think we all think that we can go out there and do it on our own. I tried to do that for five years and figured out how hard it is and mainly how lonely it is and the things that I now help other people realize and learn about in franchising like that.

In a franchise, you’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself. You have the comradery of, not just a corporate office, but all of the other franchise owners that are out there that are part of this brand. Together you are building something. It’s like people who go off to war together often talk about the part they miss about being in the military is the comradery, right? People that go through an intense situation together in anything in life, they’ll reflect back fondly on the people that they went through that experience. Like if you’re bringing a company up to an IPO, right? I think the same thing is true in franchising. We’re all trying to achieve our own individual dreams, but collectively we’re coming together to build a brand altogether and so it has that same sense of camaraderie. Once I came back to entrepreneurship at the very old age of 29, I’m sorry, but once I came back to franchising at 29, I never left. I’ve spent 20 years now as a franchise consultant.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

How to Invest in a Franchise Business with Jon Ostenson

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Kim & I Discuss Franchise Investing:

  • Is Franchising Safe in an Uncertain Economy?

  • Why does Franchising Grow in Challenging Times?

  • How to Find the RIGHT Franchise for You

  • Best Franchise Opportunities in the Market Today

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 208 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Nashville Tennessee Real Estate Development with HBG Capital Founder Brandon Cobb

 

Nashville Tennessee Real Estate Development with HBG Capital Founder Brandon Cobb

 

Guest: Nashville Tennessee Real Estate Investor Brandon Cobb is the founder of HBG Capital.  He is also a licensed and bonded General Contractor in TN managing more than $1O Million of new development annually.

Big Idea: Investing in Nashville Tennessee real estate is like most of the U.S. at the time of this recording:  Low inventory combined with an insanely inflationary environment.  There is also a housing shortage which has created profitable conditions for residential real estate developers who are capable of building with scarce & expensive building materials and labor.  Not an easy task.  On today’s episode Brandon & I discuss this situation and the system he’s developed to build profitably.  Shall we begin?

 

 

    

 

Daniel Breslin: Today’s guest, Nashville Tennessee Real Estate Investor, Brandon Cobb, is the founder of HBG Capital. He’s also a licensed and bonded general contractor in Tennessee, managing more than $10 million of new development each year. Investing in Nashville Tennessee Real Estate is like most of the US at the time of this recording, super low inventory combined with insanely inflationary environment. There’s also a housing shortage, which has created profitable conditions for residential real estate developers who are capable of building with scarce and expensive building materials and labor, not an easy task.

In today’s episode, Brandon and I discussed this situation and the system he’s developed to actually build profitably.

Brandon: Yeah, so I could probably speak to Nashville more than I can in the other markets. I know Memphis is a very heavy rental market. Over there, you can still scoop up properties for pretty cheap, but you got to be really careful because your tenant base is if you don’t have a good system to processes for vetting tenants, you will get hosed on that. Knoxville, you’re probably referring to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, tons of cabins going up Airbnb, right? COVID kind of blew that area up. Everybody wants to go on a vacation, but they’re scared of COVID or there’s a lockdown. So those areas where you can kind of get the whole glamping experience or cabin experience blew up, that area’s phenomenal. The Smoky Mountains are obviously one of the best places to go and hike, especially during the fall when the leaves change. A little tip for everybody, right? If you have not been in the Smoky during the fall, it’s great.

Nashville’s probably the only city that has gosh, 30, 40 cranes downtown. So you can just look if you just had a picture of three cities, you be able to identify Nashville from those three because it’s got a ton of cranes. Nashville’s just exponential growth. I think all the national builders are now officially here. They set up shop in the building. That mean, you’ve got these ginormous developments that are being announced every single year. They just announced one. It was like a $2 billion development over in the Bordeaux area, which is your first development where you’re going to have heavy commercial skyscrapers that are kind of outside the downtown core. If you look at Nashville, you get the Cumberland River that kind of rolls through it, and that’s sort of your barrier to all these heavy, deep skyline commercial buildings. Well, now, it’s starting to get outside of that and it’s across the river now. So it’s very interesting, and you’re going to start to see that area really kind of explode. So Nashville’s just a hot, hot, hot housing market.

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 6.99%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

www.HBGCapital.net

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Brandon Cobb & I Discuss Investing in Nashville Tennessee Real Estate:

  • Nashville Tennessee Real Estate Market

  • Developing Residential Real Estate

  • Lessons Learned from Losing $40,000

  • Getting Past a Bad Deal

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 207 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Investing in Hotels with Mike Stohler

 

Investing in Hotels with Mike Stohler

 

Guest: Investing in hotels with Mike Stohler.  Mike is a former commercial airline pilot, Navy veteran, and co-founder at Gateway Private Equity Group.  Including apartment complexes, houses, and hotels, Mike has owned or operated over 1300 units.  Seeking value-add opportunities and higher returns, Mike pivoted from multi-family to hotels and now focuses exclusively in this niche.

 

Big Idea: Investing in Hotels is really a two-fold investment.  First you’re investing in the real estate where the hotel is located.  Second, you’re investing in the business of running that hotel successfully.  Because of this dual nature, hotel investing can be riskier than other real estate investments while offering larger & faster returns when executed properly

 

 

    

 

Dan Breslin: Today’s guest, Mike Stohler, is a former commercial airline pilot, Navy veteran, and co-founder at Gateway Private Equity Group. Including apartment complexes, houses, and hotels, Mike has owned or operated over 13,000 units. Seeking value-add opportunities and higher returns, Mike then pivoted from multifamily to hotels and now focuses exclusively on this niche. Investing in hotels is really a two-fold investment. First, you’re investing in the real estate where the hotel is located. Second and maybe more importantly, you’re investing in the business that is running that hotel successfully. Because of this dual nature, hotel investing can be riskier than other real estate investments but at the same time offer larger and faster returns when executed properly.

Dan: All right. To give some background, maybe you just want to start with the evolution of your real estate career and what your business looks like today.

Mike: Sure. Yeah. I’ll try to keep it quick. I’m a little bit older. I got started, I caught the PG days, the pre-Google days, and absolutely failed. I did probably what a lot of you did is I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, got excited, bought some tickets to seminar land, and then bam! Okay. I’m in small-town Indiana at the time. Buying was the easy part and then I didn’t know how to be Atlanta[?]. I’m like, “Okay, wait, there’s the paperwork? What’s the least- get out. Oh, I need a 5-day notice[?]. I didn’t know anything, right? I couldn’t google anything. I failed and failed miserably just because I just didn’t know what to do. We don’t have podcasts. We don’t have mentoring. We didn’t have any of that back in the days.

If I needed a tenant, it’s like, what do I do? Put an ad in the newspaper, and it’s the old day of doing things old way. Fast forward, now, what I did is I learned. I was like, “Man, this is the way that I need to do it. This is how you make money. Real estate is it.” I actually went to work for a property management group because I was like, that’s the part that- the buying was the easy part, but how do I get experience? How do I get a mentor? I actually went and worked for them and I learned that end of it.

I learned how to be a landlord because there are two parts of [inaudible]. You’re an investor, but then once you get the asset, how do you become the landlord of someone who wants to stay in your asset? You have to learn both sides of it. That’s what I did. Then I started in 20- about ten years later, this is probably 20- during the recession time period. I started getting back into it because I was like, “Okay, there’s going to be some deals. I now have money. I have some cash. I have a good job. Let’s get back into it.”

Fast forward, I went from fourplex to 2 hotels, to 20 homes. I owned, managed around 1300 units of multifamily, and I did that within about a 7, 8 year time period.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Kiavi- Kiavi Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://www.GatewayPE.com/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessRealEstateDeals.com/

 

Mike & I Discuss Hotel Investment:

  • Repositioning Hotels while Enjoying Cash Flow

  • Site Selection-Finding the Right Location

  • Recognizing Profitable Hotels Post-Covid

  • Outsize Returns from Investing in Hotel Deals

    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 204 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.