REI INK

keep more properties and cash flow in 2023

David Olds is the founder of Ez REI Closings, a real estate wholesale company based in Chattanooga, TN. He moved to Chattanooga in the middle of the crash in 2009 and built his business from the ground up, and he is on the show today to share his story. Listen now to learn more about Ez REI Closings and the lessons David learned through the years as a real estate investor! Quotables “No matter what the market is, always be looking for opportunities to grab long-term cash flowing assets.” “I think a lot of our customers are experiencing, what I heard at a conference the other day, a reversion. It’s not really a correction, it’s definitely not a crash, but it’s reverting back to normal.” “Anybody that’s been around just a little bit and has a fully scaled-out business, they’re doubling down right now.” “As soon as rates flatten and stabilize, it’s going to be a feeding frenzy. It’s going to be unbelievable.” “I promise you, keep some of these properties. Get some financing, buy Sub-To, learn creative financing – whatever you have to do, but build that portfolio so you can get to the end faster.” “It’s, in my opinion, the best investment vehicle in the world because it’s inflation indexed, it’s residual income, and it has an underlying asset.”

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THE BEST OF SEASON 1

2022 was a great year. As we conclude the first season of Uncontested Investing, I want to look back on all the experiences and lessons, so we can take them into 2023 and use them to grow further. Listen now to discover what I learned in 2022 and how these lessons and experiences have prepared me for this year! Quotables “What I found after 21 years in this industry is you don’t know what you don’t know. No one knows everything and everyone knows something.” “The point is you’ve got to have a plan and you’ve got to plan your work and work your plan, and don’t let your work, work you.” “You should not be hoping or wishing, you should be planning.” “The thing about food, water, and shelter is as long as you provide a quality home at an affordable price, I think you’ll always have demand.” “When you network and meet other people, you actually get on the ladder where they’re at. You can skip all the wrongs that they had to climb.” “You have to wait, you have to have a plan, you have to work towards that end goal.” “Having a plan and delaying gratification is the number one way to be successful.” “Don’t keep doing the same thing, expecting the same result – that’s the key!” “Now is the time to formulate your plan. Now is the time to get your capital in a row, then go execute on your plan.”

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UNIN 24 | Renters Warehouse

Renters Warehouse: Leveraging Your House To Generate Income With Noel Christopher

  When you own the house, you can’t generate wealth from it if you don’t leverage it. In today’s society, where people are moving five to ten years from now, how can you create wealth by owning that house? In today’s episode, Noel Christopher, the Senior Vice President of Renters Warehouse, shares his insights on homeownership and how you can leverage your house to generate income. Tune in and learn more about how you can optimize homeownership and create a long-term investment plan! — Watch the episode here   Listen to the podcast here   Renters Warehouse: Leveraging Your House To Generate Income With Noel Christopher Thank you so much for stopping by. I’m here with a good friend of mine, Noel Christopher. Thanks for stopping by, bud. Thanks for having me. Noel, why don’t you take a minute and tell everybody a little bit about yourself? I’m the SVP of Portfolio Services for Renters Warehouse. We are a national property management company. I manage about 15,000 homes in 45 markets around the country. I run our Portfolio Services Division, which focuses on institutional investors, family offices, and private equity that want to invest in a single-family rental scale. Everything from sourcing homes, if you want to buy off the MLS, off-market sourcing, underwriting, acquiring, renovating, leasing, and property management. A little bit of asset management light in there as well. We are going to get into your background. There is probably a lot more in-depth here but you are not just a guy at Renters Warehouse. How long have you been in the investing field, and how many houses have you bought? I started in commercial real estate in Chicago back in the ’90s. That’s where I cut my teeth. It was a doggy dog world. It still is. After the Great Depression or the Great Financial Crisis, I got into real estate investing personally in Chicago, buying 2 and 3 flat buildings. I bought a few hundred of those. Renovated them, and you couldn’t get a purchase loan. We worked with a lender and did refinances. We did Fannie Mae and Freddie’s refinances. We did almost a thousand of those overall but I owned a couple of hundred. In 2012, through a mutual friend that I went to college with in Arizona, the late Todd Farnsworth, who is a good friend of mine from college, introduced me to Dallas Tanner when it was still Treehouse Group, and they were about to go big with Blackstone. My real estate group was the main broker they used in Chicago. Previous to that, as a commercial real estate shop, we were buying other brokerages and doing a lot of different things. We started buying homes from Invitation Homes, and the rest is history. Since then, I’ve worked all through the industry. I bought thousands and thousands of homes, whether that’s buying directly for a fund or representing different funds. I have some very close friends and deep connections in Chicago, some of whom I’m sure you know, that I still do a lot of business with. I decided in 2012 that this was what I was going to do, and I’ve been doing it since. I start each week with a segment we call the bottom line up front. What I’m going to do is I’m going to ask you to look into the camera and spend two minutes talking to that individual investor. That investor that’s out there only heard you blush over, “I bought a couple of hundred homes.” As we know, I’m a client of Renters Warehouse and most of your customers don’t own a hundred homes. There’s a lot of fear out there. There’s a lot of misinformation. There’s a lot of, “What should I do?” Imagine that after these two minutes, they are going to stop tuning in. They are going to stop at a gas station to get some gas. In two minutes, pour into the audience the most important things you are seeing, the things they need to know, things they should be doing, and things they shouldn’t be doing. Take it away. If you look at where the market is now, I talk about this a lot. What’s happened in the last few years is that it’s gone up to about 40%, 42%, and 45% in some areas. A lot of people talk to me if it is time to sell their house. What should they do? What’s going on? The fact is that if you think that the market was going to continue to go, for example, if we were back in 2019 and fast forward now and we said, “The market went up 3.5% to 4% in the last few years. The rent went up from 3.5% to 4%. We had all been clapping each other on the hands, saying it was a good couple of years. Now, it’s gone up 40%, and people are having a little bit of a conniption with it going back down maybe, and I’ve heard some projections, 15% to 20% in certain markets across the country. That’s a huge opportunity because it probably will not go down and what will continue to go up incrementally is rent. That’s what’s going to drive your investment. The cost of the capital is going to adjust over time, so you buy and invest now. In a couple of years, you will probably be able to refinance into a lower term. You are taking a higher equity risk now and for the next year so that you can realize huge gains in 18 or 24 months. That’s whether you are a large institutional investor, whether you are a small or a medium-cap investor. You have a 1031 exchange, you are investing a couple of million dollars or you are a small investor buying one home. Don’t look at where the market is today and where it’s going to be tomorrow. Look at where it’s going to be in 5 or

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UNIN 19 Dylan | Overleveraged

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

  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

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UNIN 16 | Insightful REI

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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UNIN 17 Chad | Optimizing Real Estate Business

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

  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

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