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
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
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