Podcast

Operating A Real Estate Business With Rob Fuller

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Are you one of those that have a real estate dream they want to realize but just don’t know how? Then this podcast is for you! Join us as Rob Fuller, a real estate developer, investor, and visionary, shares his journey on getting into the business of buying and selling homes and gives exclusive takeaways on operating a real estate business! — Watch the episode here Listen to the podcast here Operating A Real Estate Business With Rob Fuller Welcome back. Thank you so much for deciding to spend your time with me again. I am joined by my good friend Rob Fuller. Rob, thanks for coming down. I thought I was going to have to remind you of my name. We’re that good friends. Rob, tell everybody a little bit about yourself. In 2007, I was graduating from college, thinking I was going to med school. I applied and was accepted for five interviews. I went to the first and pulled all my applications out. The funny thing is when I was dating my now wife then, she said, “You’re not going to go to medical school.” I was great at the courses and I scored well. I did well in the MCAT enough to get interviews, but I didn’t have the passion for it. What I had a passion for was real estate. A couple of years later, in 2009, my wife and I together bought thirteen houses. As time progressed, by 2016, we were buying 30 to 40 homes per month at the peak of what we were doing. At the time, there were a lot more distressed homes than today. We may see some in the next few months, who knows? I certainly haven’t seen many for the last couple of years, especially with the forbearance. There was none to speak of. As time passed, we were buying so many homes. It actually became a burden to operate with that many homes that we were buying and selling, and so we started looking at other opportunities. We had some rentals. We had quite a lot of rentals. We tried to hold on to as many of them as we could. Time passed and we started moving into land acquisitions and building from the ground up. We still sold a number of those units that we built to institutional rent groups to the point that now we have a number of communities that are in some phase of annexation, rezone, entitlement, horizontal development, or home building, all across the span where we’ll hire site contractors to do the horizontal work. Right now, we have three developments in horizontal construction. There are a couple that is supposed to be coming into that within the next few months. We’ve got a few that are in vertical construction. We’re building homes. That’s what we do now. We try to buy early. We make our money by buying right. That’s what I talk to investors about. There’s the old adage of location, location, location, which is imperative. It’s the right location in the right city at the right time. Also, it’s buying it right. You don’t speculate that this house is going to be worth $1 million in twenty years or in six months. It’s more like that for a fixed and flip. “This house is going to be worth 200% of what it’s worth today in six months from now,” just based on value increasing if you’re going to actually build into the value by increasing the asset. Some of that is probably jumping the gun a little bit about what we want to cover here, but that’s my story with investing and how I got into it. I can’t wait to ask you more questions. I start every episode with the segment I call the bottom line up front, the bluff. In the Marine Corps, when I used to brief generals, they always said, “Don’t bury the lead. Tell the most important thing up front in case they have to get up and leave.” I would like you to tell the audience the most important thing they should be focused on today, what they should be doing, what they should be avoiding, or things they should be on the lookout for. Good to go? Yes. Go. I think this goes back to what we were talking about, which is buying right. Over the last couple of years, you can make a lot of mistakes. With the market appreciating and what it has done, those mistakes could be covered up. With the market in its current state of affairs, lending is more difficult. The declining home values are potentially more dramatic in some markets, depending on where you’re at. Buying right is more imperative than ever. People have a tendency to over-project their ability to get things done in time, in money, in dollars, and in the costs of rehab. Those numbers are tight. Whether you’re buying to hold or you’re buying to flip, you want to make sure you get the numbers right on. Take a step back and maybe even take it to a mentor, a friend, or somebody else who can look at those numbers and say, “I don’t think that you’re being realistic here, here and here.” Listen to those people. There’s a saying, “Haters will hate.” That sometimes is the case. Sometimes we need a dose of reality. To say we’re going to do $50,000 worth of renovation in a month is probably not realistic. We need to take a dose of reality and step back. The economy is changing. I don’t think anybody knows exactly where it’s changing, how it’s changing, how long it’s going to take to change entirely, and what the long-term effects are going to be. There’s a lot of speculation. After something happens, everybody will be able to look back and say, “I told you so,” but from this day forward, they don’t have solid answers

Why It’s Dangerous To Be Overleveraged In Real Estate With Dylan Tanaka

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Leverage can be a good thing for your real estate business because it allows you to do a lot more than you can by simply using your own resources. But too much of a good thing can also be bad. As a new investor, you need to learn that you have to be careful with leverage because when you get overleveraged, that’s when you get into trouble. To actually run a successful real estate business, or any business for that matter, you have to build cash flow in one way or another. That’s what today’s guest, Dylan Tanaka, has to say to anyone who’s trying to build a real estate business in this rapidly shifting market. Dylan has been in the business for over 20 years, so he clearly knows what he’s talking about. In this episode, he talks about his observations and predictions of the real estate market in Metro Detroit and beyond, his ideas on the importance of relationships and active listening, and a lot more. Tune in to hear more of his insights! — Watch the episode here Listen to the podcast here Why It’s Dangerous To Be Overleveraged In Real Estate With Dylan Tanaka In this episode, I’ve got my good friend, Dylan Tanaka, here. Dylan, thanks for being here. Tim, I’m super excited to be here. It’s been a long time coming and I finally get to be in the studio and chop it up with you. Dylan, why don’t you take 1 minute or 2 to tell the readers a little bit about yourself? I’m from Metro Detroit. It’s one of my famous sayings. I’ve been investing in real estate for many years. I’ve done everything from single families to multifamily, borrowing money, lending money and everything in between. I start every episode with a segment I call the Bottom Line Up Front. When I was in the Marine Corps, if we were briefing the general, they always taught us to lead with the most important thing in case they had to get up and leave or something. What I want you to do is take two minutes and talk directly to the audience. What are some things in this market they should be focused on, paying attention to, things they should be trying to do or maybe some things they should avoid? Give the audience the bottom line up front. The most important thing that new investors need to learn and be very careful about is leverage. When you get over leverage, that’s when you get in trouble. We might be moving into a bit of a real estate shift. Everyone is talking about it. I haven’t quite seen all of those numbers come through, but since I’ve been around long before the foreclosure boom and then after those days, I know what happens if you get over-leveraged. Lesson number one is to make sure that you don’t get over-leveraged. It’s easy to do, especially if you’re good at finding lenders or private money. The second most important thing I would say is you have to be able to be nimble. We talked about this the last time we sat down. You have to be able to look in a lot of different directions. Business is not just one way. I’ve been in the business for many years and I’ve done almost every segment of single-family investing and a little bit of multifamily. It’s because the market forced me to do that. If I wasn’t able to shift myself, pivot and do different things like partnerships, taking on my deals, working things out with private lenders and all those different aspects of real estate investing, I’m going to end up failing. Let’s talk about that. I’m a lender. We were pushing some 80% loan-to-value products. The industry as a whole pulled back from that a little bit. If someone’s business is built on max leverage, what are some symptoms that are maybe diagnosed? Weakness is what it is. Most entrepreneurs will tell you this, not just real estate guys. “Cashflow is air.” You have to create that cash coming in. If you’re leaning on those lenders, always using their money and not having any of your own, there’s no cushion. We’re in Dallas, but we’re talking to people worldwide. Every market is different. It’s the thing that I always say, “When the tide goes out, they’re going to see who’s not wearing their bathing suits because it can get tough.” I don’t ever want to sound negative, but I want to be real. We all want to be in this business. I want every single person to be successful so do you. The better you’re doing, the better they’re doing and the better we’re all doing because a rising tide lifts all ships, especially as real estate investors. It’s hugely dangerous to be over-leveraged. As a newer investor or even someone who’s been in the business a long time, you’ve got to learn how to use your cash or bring that in somehow. In Metro Detroit, what are your areas of focus? You’re a hybrid agent and investor, so you play on both sides of the closing table as the advisor and execution. What are you personally focused on? I shifted myself a couple of years back and said, “This market has been crazy,” especially in Metro Detroit. We were talking about Jimmy Kimmel and Johnny Carson, which tell our age. He’s a lot older than me and I’m older than Tim. We were talking about the late-night guys and Detroit was the end of the butt of the joke or however that was. The city itself is better than it’s been my entire life and probably halfway through my parents’ life. I see values going up. I don’t think that even in Detroit or nationwide, we’re going to have that crazy slide that we did before because you and I both know that it’s much harder to get

Playing The Long Game In Real Estate, Running A Short-Term Rental Business, Thoughts On The Housing Market, And More With Kevin Lee, Insightful REI

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The housing market isn’t in its most pristine state now, and many investors are running away or else crouching in a corner until times get better. Not Kevin Lee. Despite everything that’s going on with high interest rates and inventory problems, Kevin stays optimistic that he can make the most of the opportunities out there. In this conversation with Tim Herriage, he talks about his philosophy of playing the long game in real estate, his tips on running an Airbnb business, and his general thoughts on the state of the market and where the opportunities lie. Kevin also shares with us a powerful message on how following your passion will help you achieve the financial freedom through real estate. Tune in for a quick hit of wisdom and inspiration from an insightful REI expert. — Watch the episode here Listen to the podcast here Playing The Long Game In Real Estate, Running A Short-Term Rental Business, Thoughts On The Housing Market, And More With Kevin Lee, Insightful REI Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for swinging back by. I’m with my good friend, Kevin Lee. Kevin, thanks for being here. Thank you so much for this opportunity to invite me to the studio to have a candid talk with you. It’s an honor. I’m glad you’re here. Why don’t you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself? I started real estate investing back in 2010. I did that somewhat passively for about seven years. I was buying rental properties while I was on my W-2. I did that for seven years and then decided to do this full-time actively. I didn’t find passion or fulfillment in my W-2 job, so I quit that. I started active real estate investing back in 2017. I started out virtual wholesaling just like anybody else in the business. I thought that was the easiest way to break into the industry. I have had some success with that. I said to myself, “Why not go big or go home?” I went big on it and I have been doing this for five years. We had great success doing this. I never looked back. You’ve gone big and we brought you home. I start every episode with a segment I call the Bottom Line Up Front. In the Military, we used to brief generals. They always said, “You don’t bury the lead. It’s not a sales presentation. You go to get the most important thing out front in case the general has to leave.” Imagine someone tuning into this episode. In a little bit, they’re going to pull over and get gas, and they’re going to forget to turn it back on. Let’s give them the most important thing that you see in real estate now. They’re things that you think people should be focusing on. They’re maybe things that you think people should be doing differently or maybe not doing it all. We have been bombarded with so much media attention. You should insulate yourself from the media. Whatever bad news that you hear from all these news outlets, you should do what is best for you. If you look at real estate as an investment instrument, like the stock market, it’s going to go up over time. I’m in it for the long term. I don’t know about the audience, but I wouldn’t let whatever recession or bad news hit me. I would go full-on with whatever I think is good for me. I would buy these properties, hold on to them as long as I can, and then wait for equity to build up and invest for the long-term. I’m in it for the long-term. I will encourage the audience to do the same as well. Hang on there. It’s going to come back. There’s going to be a blip in the market in the next couple of months, but we’re going to be coming out just fine. Have that confidence in the market. Real estate is a hard asset to own. It’s not like stocks where it goes up and down, and you can lose money so easily. We’re talking about hard assets here. Hang on to these hard assets. Over time, you’re going to be coming out fine. That’s good stuff because so many people lose focus on the assets. They start focusing on money, income, and lifestyle. They lose focus on the assets. I’ve been studying a lot about compound interest and looking at the way real estate appreciates. It’s the compounding effect. When you look back in the rearview mirror it’s nice, isn’t it? You definitely hit the nail on the head. It’s the compounding effect. I’m like Warren Buffett. He is a value investor. He sees it over the long term. I see it in the long-term as well. A lot of people are in it to make that quick buck. You have to have the mindset that this is not a get-rich-quick, overnight or quick scheme. You have to be in it for the long-term. It’s like building a company or starting a brand new business, you’re not looking for that exit the very next day. You’re looking for that exit given that the market condition is good for you to IPO. What do you think is the long way for a startup to become mature? Five years, maybe. You got to give it time for it to grow and capture the market. We were talking about this offline that you and I are maybe less than 1% of the market. We’re barely scratching the surface. We got 70-plus years. Speaking of startups, you come from these California markets. You said you used to live in the Bay Area. You were involved in some technology companies. From your tech background, were you a software developer? Did you own a startup? What did you do there? I worked in several tech companies, big and small. I started working

UNIN 17 Chad | Optimizing Real Estate Business

Optimizing Your Real Estate Business To Live Life To The Fullest With Chad Weeden

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There’s nothing wrong with working hard to grow your business. But as Tim says, the business is the vehicle, not the dream. One man who’s got that concept down is Chad Weeden of Fusion Real Estate Investment Group. In this episode, Chad talks with Tim Herriage about how he’s optimizing his real estate business to make time for what matters most: family. By automating processes, getting marketing down, and having a trusted team, Chad has built his business to function in a way where he can make spontaneous plans and still get things done. He even spent a month vacationing without his business missing a beat. If you want to learn how he did it, tune in to this episode! Be moved by Chad’s philosophy and learn the strategies to help you live life to the fullest without compromising the growth of your business. — Watch the episode here Listen to the podcast here Optimizing Your Real Estate Business To Live Life To The Fullest With Chad Weeden I’m here with my friend, Chad Weeden. Chad, thank you for being here. I appreciate you having me. Chad, why don’t you take a second and tell everybody a little bit about yourself? That’s a long story. I’m a former military guy who somehow ended up in the car business. I was a finance manager for a long time. I’m a failed business owner the first time around, broke as hell, and found real estate investing. That’s the shortest term. I’m not going to steal your story, but folks, I’m here with the greatest dad I know. We’re going to talk about that in a little bit because it’s a big part of my passion for this business. I start every week with a session I call the Bottom Line Up Front. As a military guy, you know what I mean. General, we’re in the tent, we’re briefing, mortar rounds come, and the general has to leave. I got to make sure he knew the most important thing. I want you to share the most important things happening now in business, the things people need to be focused on, things they need to be thinking about, and maybe things they should be trying to avoid. Impart your wisdom and the things they need to take away what’s happening now. I’ll start with my focus. I was in the car business when the crash happened in 2008. My focus now is to be smart and make sure that I’m not missing out on any opportunities. I feel like I don’t want to get crazy and out of hand, but I don’t want to miss the boat. Back then, I missed the boat on some things out of fear. For a lot of us as entrepreneurs, fear is a driver. It can stall your trajectory on what you want to do. Outside of that, I’m still looking to capitalize on all of the things that are right in front of my plate. One thing I don’t want to lose track of is why I got into this business and why I got out of the business that I was in. We’ll probably touch more on that. I’ve focused on chasing time. That’s been my number one thing, chasing time for my family. We’re blessed with an autistic little guy. Our whole family is totally blessed. That’s been my life focus now, going on what we’re doing. I try and intertwine and weave in and out of life, with that being my main focus. I would say don’t miss on opportunities, but don’t get too crazy. That’s all I have to say. That was great. You brought it up, so we’re going to go straight there. Many people get into this business. On my personal website, the headline says, “The business is a vehicle, not the dream.” I’ve been there. I’ve got lost in the business I claimed to have created to spend a lot of time with my family. I never saw my family because I was working in the business. Did you spend how many days in Florida? We spent six weeks roughly in Florida and a whole full month in Key West. We pretty much hung out on our boat every day. It’s the Salt Life. It was incredible. It’s you, your wife, and your kids. Did you shut your business down during that time? No. The investments side of my business never skipped a beat. I got back home, and I was behind on some stuff, but we still bought as many houses as we were going to buy, regardless of whether I was in the Keys or sitting in my office in the basement of the house. Your wife, Wendy, is a realtor. She’s a multi-state broker in Denver and South Carolina. We both have teams. It’s amazing. One thing we’ve figured out, and I do this to my wife a lot, is, “Drop of a hat.” We’re going to be gone for a week. We’re going to hit the road. We do these road trips. For example, I’d booked Airbnb for a month, and we’re going to live somewhere for a month. I always get this same response from her, “What? Can we just stay home?” I am not a homebody. I’ve crafted my business to be able to live that way because I’ve sat in the office and the car business for so long, chained to a desk, that I envy people that could travel and do what they wanted to do. I love my children and my dogs, but I’ve told my wife that when the young one is no longer in school, we’re going. I’m going to be up in the Northeast during the summer. I’m going to be in the South in the winter. Part of that, which I’m guilty of, is making excuses on why I can’t do it now. I could find someone to board the dogs. I could

Measuring Risk and Reward In Today’s Market With Josh DeShong

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The real estate market is shifting, which could mean different things for different asset classes. How do you measure risk and reward for your investments? Here to help guide you is Josh DeShong, the Founder/Investor/Chief Problem Solver at Josh DeShong Real Estate. Josh joins Tim Herriage to share why it’s essential to understand the risk and rewards of every investment as we approach a change in the market. Some will do better, and some won’t. Don’t miss this episode so you can ready yourself with valuable expert tips and insight. — Watch the episode here Listen to the podcast here Measuring Risk and Reward In Today’s Market With Josh DeShong In this episode, I have an industry legend, Josh DeShong. Josh, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, Tim. Josh, if you want, take a couple of minutes and just say a little bit about yourself. I am Josh DeShong. I started in the real estate space at the ripe age of seventeen. I got licensed immediately after turning eighteen. I joined Keller Williams Realty and became one of the top ten agents in the country underneath them. I was a Wall Street Journal ranked real estate agent back in 2012. I decided to invest in real estate, but mind you, I had gone through the worst housing recession in history, and I did not know anything. I started investing in 2012. I did well in 2013. In ‘12, I bought two houses. In ‘13, I bought over 30, and then in ‘14, I bought over 100. The story goes from there. I started buying, fixing and flipping, holding for rent, and then I started wholesaling. I came at the wholesale business in the opposite direction. I think most people start with wholesaling and then they get into the fix and flip. I went the opposite. I went fix and flip into wholesaling. We built a platform for wholesalers and investors to give them a safe to transact. The high level is me. You are a bored person that never does anything. I bite off more than I can chew most days. I like to start each week with what I call the Bottom Line Upfront. When I was in the Marine Corps, we would brief the general and we were always taught, “Never bury the lead because the general may have to get up and it may be combat or there may be mortars coming in. You have got to make sure that the general knows the most important thing.” I start each week with two minutes to talk about things they should be looking at in the market and things you think they should be doing if there is anything you think they should not be doing. It is just two minutes, you and the audience. This is a perfect piece of the segment. I have been thinking about what I would share, what I think is important, everybody should know and be paying attention to. I was reminded of a conversation I had. I was talking to an investor and he said, “I only care that I make $20,000 per deal.” I thought that was an interesting statement. This particular investor buys 20, 30, or 40 houses a year. He is a very experienced investor, but I was reminded that in times of expansion, opulence, and everybody is doing well, we tend to lose sight of what matters and forget the basics. With that statement, what matters? I challenged that person. I said, “Would you be willing to make $20,000 on a $100,000 deal?” The answer was yes. “Would you be willing to make $20,000 on a $3 million deal?” The answer was no. Clearly, it is not, “I need to make a $20,000 minimum.” We have increased risk. You should size the returns you expected against the risk you are willing to take and understand that for every property you buy, you are taking risks. Whether you are buying in a high-end area or a low-end area, it does not matter. Everything has risk associated with it, and make sure your return expectations are properly aligned. Risk versus reward. I will tell you a funny story. I was in Vail and my wife texted my twelve-year-old. She says, “What are you eating for breakfast?” He says, “I am making cinnamon rolls.” I am like, “What?” She says, “Who is helping you with that?” He writes back, “I read the constructions.” He still calls instructions constructions because his entire life, he wanted to know how to build something. I would say, “Let’s get the instructions.” In his mind, he was saying construction. I grabbed the phone. I call and I was like, “Stop.” He was like, “Dad, I am hungry.” I was like, “Your grandmother is there. Get her to do it.” To him, he just wanted the reward. He was not worried about the risk. Here in the DFW market and in every market, we have not had to worry about risk. That is something that has been thrown to the wayside. We are talking to many investors. I think it is a national thing. What type of risks are we looking at? If you look at the economic makeup of communities, different classes are going to be affected differently in the future. Property values could come up or down. Rents are going to go up or down. That is going to happen differently based on the price point that a home is in. I think the biggest risk that investors face is not properly understanding an area and what they should be making relative to the inherent risk that area possesses. For instance, a rent-heavy market could absolutely affect home prices. You have a high degree of quite a few tenants. What is controlling housing prices in that market might be more tied to the property values than somewhere like Plano, where a lot of people want to move in

Consistency Mindset: From Delivering Pizzas To A 9-Figure Real Estate Career With Pamela Bardhi

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Real estate is the industry that creates the most millionaires. But in order to break into the industry, you need the right mindset. You need consistency. Real estate markets are changing constantly, so you need to be prepared to pivot and you need to be consistent at that. That is why it’s important to start at your niche, and then you can build from there. Join Tim Herriage as he talks to real estate and life coach, Pamela Bardhi about how she went from delivering pizzas to creating a 9-figure real estate career. She was also featured in Forbes and Time Magazine at 27 years old. Discover how she made it in this industry by having the right mindset. Find out why real estate is really just a numbers game and how you can really know your math. Also, learn why you need to focus on your niche first before you branch out to other markets. So what are you waiting for? Go out there and start hustling. — Watch the episode here Listen to the podcast here Consistency Mindset: From Delivering Pizzas To A 9-Figure Real Estate Career With Pamela Bardhi A member of my family is here, Pam Bardhi. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you so much for having me, Tim. I have known you for several months now. I have been following you online. I’m glad you were able to swing to Dallas. Why don’t you take a minute and tell the audience a little bit about yourself? I am the real estate underdog. If you notice on my title, it says, “Real estate underdog.” I went from delivering pizzas to a nine-figure real estate career. People are like, “Pam, how the hell did you do that?” There is a whole backstory to all of that, which I can get into. It’s totally up to you, but that is what happened. I made it through flipping properties in the Boston, Massachusetts market, but it didn’t start that way. I like to start each episode with what I call the bluff, the bottom line up front. When I was in the Marine Corps, they always told us, “Don’t bury the lead. The general has got to know the most important thing in case he has to get up,” or something like that. What I want you to do is take two minutes, pour into the audience, and talk about the most important things that you see in today’s economy, real estate market, and society in general. Things you think people should be doing or maybe staying away from at this phase in the market. The most important thing for you to know and understand when it comes to this is to know your numbers. Please never fall in love with the deal and the property. Fall in love with the numbers. One of the most critical things that I have learned throughout my real estate development career has been to know your numbers and analyze them properly. Leave a lot of buffer room and contingency for that construction budget because we all know what can happen. For example, I had budgeted a 20% contingency in every single one of my deals before COVID hit. Thank God I did because I needed that for my construction material. Otherwise, these are the types of things that people lose their shirts. As the market is shifting, make sure that you know your numbers like the back of your hand, and be conservative. I can’t stress how important that is. Not only that, but also focus on multiple exit strategies. You look at a property. If something comes across my desk, I need to look at it as a short-term rental, a long-term rental or if I can flip it, and all the different avenues that I can take with it before I do the deal. The second most important piece to that is before you ever put an offer on a property, you need to know roughly what your property margin is going to be in each of those exit strategies. If you know your numbers and you have multiple exit strategies, you cannot lose. The third thing that I would mention to you guys, especially in this market, because we came off of the summer season. Everyone is making money. Everyone is happy and driving. That’s great. Now you got to prepare for winter. What are you going to do about that? What comes next? Make sure that you have these multiple exit strategies, you have everything in place, and you know your numbers and profit margin in advance because it’s going to be very cool. There is this thing called math. They used to teach it in school, but they haven’t taught it in real estate in the last couple of years because you could say, “We will sell the house for $1 million.” It would sell, and if it didn’t, wait a month and it would. I was at a mastermind and somebody said, “These houses, I’m reducing the price three times in the first two weeks.” I was like, “Are you bad at math?” He was like, “What do you mean?” I was like, “Aren’t you running the average of the last three sold comps in the last 90 days, pricing it at that, and seeing that it’s going to take 25 days on the market?” He was like, “I hadn’t thought about that.” These people don’t have that experience and skillset. I know you’re a real estate agent as well. Talk about how people can maybe hone those skills that they need to be better at in this stage of the market. I come from three different angles of the real estate development game. I’m a licensed general contractor. I’m a real estate developer. I also have my real estate license. What’s interesting for me is I become a triple threat on a project because I can look at it