The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom

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Scaling Your Real Estate Business with Virtual Assistants with Bob Lachance

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0600

Bob Lachance is a professional hockey athlete turned real estate investor, speaker, mentor, and Founder CEO of REVA Global, LLC, one of the premiere Real Estate Virtual Assistant Staffing companies, He is also the co-host of Pucks to Properties Podcast, and Friday Coffee Break Unfiltered alongside Amy Ransdell and Pat Precourt. Likewise, he is the founder and CEO of Perch Rock Management, LLC, an alternative asset capital firm focused on acquiring distressed, non-performing, and undervalued single-family and multifamily real estate assets in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts markets.

In today’s episode, Bob talks about building and utilizing the power of virtual assistants to scale businesses, how to increase business productivity, gaining back lost time while focusing on the income-producing tasks that grow your business, and building a team of Virtual Assistants, and outsourcing business to prevent burnout!

KEY POINTS

1. How a hockey athlete turns into a real-estate investor

2. Similarities in business and sports

3. Scaling your real estate business through Virtual Assistants

4. Misconceptions about hiring VAs

5. Increasing productivity while working less with VAs

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle in getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

· There were a lot of naysayers, and overcame it by blocking all the noise.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Positivity in ups and downs

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

PropStream (bonus - use this link for a free trial!)

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Compound Effect book by Darren Hardy

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

Start buying and holding sooner!

RESOURCES

PropStream (use this link for a free trial!)

Pucks To Properties Podcast

Friday Coffee Break Unfiltered Podcast

Revaglobal.com

Connect with Bob on Social Media

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Foundational and Monumental 400 Episodes with Jacob Ayers

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Top 10 Lessons from 400 Episodes with Jacob Ayers

Thank you so much for investing your time to listen to numerous insights and wisdom from all the remarkable guests in the past years. We are asking you to continually support and listen to us in the upcoming episodes. The right mindset with the right vision, having the knowledge, and taking action are keys to realizing our goals!

KEY POINTS

Top 10 lessons that Jacob learned in 400 podcast episodes
How to create thousands of dollars’ equity through 1 multi-family property
Risk mitigation methods to protect deals during this COVID-19 pandemic
Jacob’s recent deals and refinance

Top 10 Lessons I’ve learned from 400 podcast episodes

You don’t have to have it all figured out before you get started (this podcast for example)
Success is built on consistent action
You can achieve anything you want if you’re intentional (Intention Journal)
Pick an investing strategy and stick with it
Surround yourself with people who are like the type of person you want to become
Do something every single day that your tomorrow self will thank you for
Measure your success not based on other people, but rather based on your past. Always measure backwards. Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy
Build positive momentum with little wins
Create a vision for your life and slowly make that vision a reality (Cam Herald’s Vivid Vision)
Do what makes you happy. You only have 1 life. Live it to the fullest based on your own rules.

Bonus: If you’re not embarrassed by where you were 3 years ago, you’re not growing enough.

RESOURCES

Propstream

Exactly What to Say book by Phil M. Jones

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Taking Massive Imperfect Action Turn out a Real Estate Wholesaling Expert with Rafael Cortez

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Rafael Cortez is an organizational psychologist, real estate coach, broker, investor, all-around rock star entrepreneur, high-level wholesaler, and host of CEO Pulse Podcast, a show where you'll access to first-hand business experience, strategies & exclusive performance tools from successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and Game Changers.

In this episode, Rafael shares insights about the mindset and psychology of entrepreneurs, a lot of stuff about real estate wholesaling, and the systems and processes he uses in his real estate business!

KEY POINTS

1. Shifting from a firefighter into real estate

2. The benefits of real estate wholesaling

3. The 6 steps to real estate finding, negotiating, and buying off-market deal

4. Pre-qualifying sales leads

5. The importance of real estate cold calling

6. The 3 stages of conversation

7. Advice for a real estate wholesaling newbie

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Taking the leap, but overcome by listening to podcasts, and taking massive imperfect action.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Morning rituals through meditation, journaling, working out, listening to podcasts, and reading books.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Audible

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Psycho-Cybernetics book by Maxwell Maltz
The Alchemist book by Paulo Coelhos

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

Cut the learning curve through coaching and mentoring!

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Build Your Authentic Life with Jamie Gruber

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 02 May 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Jamie Gruber is an entrepreneur, a full-time multifamily investor, performance coach, community founder, and leader of Multifamily and More, Gobundance Emerge, and Gobundance Ascend. He is a recovering W2 employee and currently helping people find purpose & fulfillment in life!

KEY POINTS

Living an authentic life and not led by ego
What a mastermind can do for you
How to treat people in mastermind and be part of it
GoBundance
Jamie’s real estate investing journey
The three superpowers that a team must have

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Deal flow, therefore found another market.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Mindfulness practice through meditation and exploring things.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

YouTube

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Be the Breakthrough book by David Nurse
Outwitting the Devil book by Napoleon Hill
The Gap and the Gain book by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

Just start in real estate and buy something!

RESOURCES

Online Hustlers with Esteban Andrade

www.gobundanceemerge.com

Join and use the code: JAMIE to get $500 off

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Scaling Real Estate Investing Thru W2 Job with Ryan Bolduc

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Ryan Bolduc, based in Southern Maine, is an electrical engineer and multifamily investor. Wanting more control of his time, he set out to invest in real estate buying and holding small multifamily properties. Ryan has been documenting his journey to financial & time freedom and beyond. Ryan is a professional engineer, along with being a husband and dad.

KEY POINTS

Scaling your real estate portfolio with a day job
Keeping your money working - HELOC vs. refinancing
Time freedom, Location Freedom, and Financial Freedom
How to get started in an expensive market
How masterminds and coaching can fuel your growth

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

· Mindset and taking action, therefore started listening to real estate investing podcasts.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

· Keep grinding and going after until he accomplished his goal.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

· Rich Dad, Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

· Go buy 4 units now!

RESOURCES

@mainemultifamily

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

A Mindset for Successful Life with Jason Yurusi

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Jason Yarusi is an ultra-runner, workout enthusiast, real estate syndicator, and investor with his wife Pili Yarus. Together, they have acquired over 13-0 multi-family units through their firm, Yarusi Holdings, which repositions properties through operational efficiencies, moderate to extensive renovations, and complete rebranding.

Jason hosts The Multifamily Live Podcast, a podcast that provides actionable content and tools to build and strengthen your multifamily business. Moreover, Jason is also the founder of the New Jersey Multifamily Live Club with over 2,500 members that focuses on Real Estate Syndication and Multifamily Investing and trains others on the success formula for buying apartment buildings at www.7FigureMultifamily.com.

KEY POINTS

1. What lead Jason to real estate investing

2. The benefits of getting comfortable with uncomfortable situations

3. The secret sauce to Jason’s success

4. How fitness and wealth intersect in Jason's life

5. The key to grow and scale your multi-family business

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Overcompensating on learning instead of action.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Consistency is key because it allows you to see what’s not working.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Google

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Twelve and a Half book by Garry Vaynerchuk

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

“I needed what I was doing at that time to get where I am today!”

RESOURCES

Yarusi Holdings

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

DIY Financial Freedom with Belen Caballero

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Belen Caballero is a real estate investor, known as “Belen the Builder” on Instagram for her DIY house rehab and construction expertise. She’s always been a yes-woman, taking everything as an adventure. She moved from across the country to build her real estate portfolio one runned down the house at a time. Belen has learned how to breathe life into her rehabs and shares her journey along the way. She enjoys traveling and experiencing different cultures. Her goal is to achieve financial freedom and create generational wealth.

KEY POINTS

1. How to invest in real estate from out of state

2. Finding and analyzing BRRRRs

3. Why long term rentals

4. The power of masterminds and coaching

6. Belen’s plans moving forward

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Believing that it couldn’t do something for them.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Yoga to stay motivated and energized every day.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

YouTube

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Set for Life book by Scott Trench

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

Focus less on things that you thought would matter, and things that you thought would never be possible!

RESOURCES

@belen_the_builder

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Asset Protection through Series LLC with Scott Smith

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Scott Smith is an asset protection attorney based in Austin, Texas, a real estate investor, host of Real Estate Nerds Podcast, and Founder of Royal Legal Solutions, a company that helps real estate investors protect their assets and create time and financial freedom. He started his career as a litigation attorney who brought suits against major insurance companies. He was first aired in the podcast in Episode 129 way back in 2018.

KEY POINTS

Key asset protection points investors must know
Why you need asset protection for your real estate portfolio
Structuring your asset protection strategy
Why anonymity is important in LLC
Series LLC
Land Trusts
Tax Incentives

RESOURCES

Royal Legal Solutions

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Self-Storage: A Recession-Resistant Asset-Class with Jacob Vanderslice

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Jacob Vanderslice is a Principal at VanWest Partners, a Denver-based real estate investment firm focusing on the acquisition and management of self-storage centers and other opportunistic real estate throughout the United States. VanWest has established a track record with over $195mm in real estate assets. Jacob and his partners’ success is driven by a commitment to delivering an expertly-executed, adaptable strategy with an institutional investment approach.

KEY POINTS

Why Jacob focus on self-storage than any other asset-classes
Diversification in real estate
Investing in self-storage during a changing economy
Why self-storage management is critical
Value-add opportunities in self-storage
Factors to consider in choosing a self-storage properties
Debt and lending options for self-storage
Self-storage investing advice

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Not knowing anything, making mistakes, and being under-capitalized. Overcame it over time by doing deals, learning about operations, execution, underwriting, and financing, and just learning by doing.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Calendar blocking to focus on the important and less of the urgent.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

In the Kingdom of Ice book by Hampton Sides

5. If you’d go back and give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started investing in real estate, what would you tell?

“Don’t sell anything.”

RESOURCES

Email: jacob@vanwestpartners.com

VanWest Partners

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Lead Generation & Finding Off-Market Deals with Esteban Andrade

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Esteban Andrade is an online entrepreneur, an expert in finding off-market deals, and motivated sellers, business owner, and founder and CEO of Hesel Media, a lead generation agency that is committed to helping people and scaling companies get more off-market property deals.

He is also the host of The Online Hustlers Podcast, the show will reveal the secrets of successful high-level entrepreneurs that turn hustles into multi-million dollar businesses. Currently, Esteban runs a successful Real Estate Investing Marketing Agency with lots of his REI partners all over the USA.

KEY POINTS

How Esteban got into the world of real estate investing
Lesson learned from Esteban’s very first deal
Why Due Diligence is important in real estate investing
Strategies on finding off-market deals
Importance of Lead Generation in finding off-market deals
Creative ways to close deals

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Not knowing how to find off-market people, but started working and squading up with someone that’s already doing deals and with longer experience really helps him.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Making sure to stay consistent.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Podcasts, YouTube, Audible, and BiggerPockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don’t be a chicken and just do it!

RESOURCES

Hesel Media

Facebook Group

Detroit Land Bank Authority

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Achieving the Freedom System Through CRE with Mike Sowers

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Mike Sowers is an entrepreneur, licensed real estate contractor and broker, Certified Commercial Investment Member - CCIM Designation, founder of CRETools Software Corporation, keynote speaker, author of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, "Commercial Real Estate Investing: A Step-By-Step Guide To Finding & Funding Your First Deal", host of the "CREative Commercial Real Estate Podcast", where he interviews the ultra-wealthy investors and uncover their secrets, and CEO of Commercial Investors Group, a company that repositioning commercial real estate assets across the country and franchising their system to help others do the same.

He designed and launched the most comprehensive commercial real estate investing training and education program available in the market, the "Commercial Investing Mastery." From 2005 to 2017 Mike rehabbed over 1,000 properties, mixing in wholesaling, flips, and rentals

KEY POINTS

2 types of risks in real estate
3 myths on commercial real estate investing
Property valuation
7 steps to freedom system system
Mike’s CRE tools
7 Common mistakes in treating risks

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Trying to figure out how to pay for the property, therefore started by going to seminars

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Take a cold shower in the morning, be grateful, take time to think about the important things, and reflect.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Watching other people’s real estate ads and programs, and spending dollars on coaching and mentorships.

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The One Minute Manager book by Ken Blanchard

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

You don’t need a hundred thousand dollars to start in commercial real estate, and you can do it today with zero connections!

RESOURCES

CREative Commercial Real Estate Podcast

Discovery Call with Mike

Commercialinvestingmastery.com/webinar

Commercialinvestingmastery/book

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Six-Figure Fix and Flipping with Victor Jiracek

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Viktor Jiracek is a full-time real estate investor, fix, and flipper who flips all types of properties including single-family, townhomes, condos, and mobile homes. Flipping is his passion as well as teaching others to do the same. He helps and mentors real estate beginners starting and making six-figures flipping houses. He is the Founder of the Asoka Health Care Company whose Focus is to consolidate the fragmented home health and hospice care industry.

Last year he did 20 flips and his goal is 30 flips for 2021. His best flip was a $64k net profit deal that he ironically almost backed out of. Victor also does lease options, seller financing, short-term rentals, and long-term rentals.

KEY POINTS

How did Victor get started in real estate
Victor’s very first deal and hurdles encountered
Systems and processes for flipping
How to source deals
How to source funds for fix & flips
How to work with wholesalers as an investor
Finding ideal properties and sellers
Victor’s worst and best deals
Advice to first-time flippers

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Victor, like many people, always thought it requires a huge sum of money to get started, so he applied creativity and started earlier.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Work on mindset daily with visualization, affirmation, and meditation.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Victor’s online flip calculator

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Good to Great by Jim Collins

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Get started earlier!

RESOURCES

Check out this link for your free trial of Propstream

Victor Jiracek

Victor’s online flip calculator

Six Figure Flipper Facebook Group

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Finding the Best Debt for your Commercial Deal with Tim Milazzo

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Tim Milazzo is a commercial financing entrepreneur, and the co-founder & CEO of StackSource, a tech-enabled commercial real estate financing platform that has now completed more than $250 Million of commercial financing transactions. They are re-inventing the stagnant mortgage brokerage model with a tech-enabled marketplace/service.

Prior to StackSource, he worked for Facebook and Google where he helped expand B2B marketplaces in ad tech. Years ago, he interned at a top NYC real estate company before the current real estate tech wave.

KEY POINTS

Technology-enabled commercial debt financing
Understanding debt and financing for your next deal
Different sources for debt financing
Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS)
Tim’s projections on interest rates
Common financing mistakes to avoid
Best financing options for buying properties

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Did not have the time and the knowledge, therefore invest passively as a Limited Partner.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Exercise daily.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Subscribing to real estate, personal development, and tech podcasts

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Who: The A Method for Hiring book by Geoff Smart

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start earlier in building relationships with people that you want to steal knowledge from, and start investing as an LP!

RESOURCES

Stacksource

The Encyclopedia of Commercial Real Estate Advice

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INVESTING WITH TERRY PAINTER

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Terry Painter is a real estate investor, a member of The Forbes Real Estate Council and is a contributing writer for Forbes Online Magazine, founder of Business Loan Store, and Apartment Loan Store, a company that offers a full line of apartment and multifamily loan options, and a creator of mortgage banking firm specializing in commercial lending in all 50 states since 1997. He has been a top producer for Lasalle Bank and Lehman Brothers.

He is the author of "The Encyclopedia of Commercial Real Estate Advice" published by John Wiley & Sons. He is also known for his exceptional investment consultations and stratagems. For 18 years, he has spoken nationally to commercial real estate investor groups and real estate professionals about commercial real estate investing and lending. For over 20 years, he has built strong correspondent relationships representing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA/HUD, Life Companies, Wall Street conduits, Hedge Funds, Regional, and National Banks.

KEY POINTS

Property valuation
Commercial real estate lending
Commercial versus residential real estate investing
Best return-driven investment in multifamily space
Value-add real estate
The risk of buying property based on a pro forma versus actuals
Transitioning to the world of commercial real estate
Common mistakes in commercial real estate investing
Terry’s investing outlook in 2021

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Trying to figure out what properties to buy that earn interest, and so find a mentor to help with it.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Eliminate distractions by not answering the phone, checking on emails, and social media all the time.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

LoopNet

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book by Stephen Covey

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Buy properties at a young age!

RESOURCES

Apartment Loan Store

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Investing in AirBNBs with Superhosts Malyssa and Taylor Meek

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Malyssa and Taylor Meek are a husband and wife team of real estate investors and Airbnb Superhosts, with W2’s as perfusionist and a lawyer. They’re using their individual skills to achieve financial freedom by investing in and managing Airbnb rental properties. Malyssa uses her expertise in finding and setting up a place, decorating, and curating an experience for their guests. Taylor focuses his attention on the backend, communicating with guests, handling bookings, and running the day-to-day operations. Currently, they are running three Airbnbs and also helping other investors manage their own Airbnb rentals.

KEY POINTS

How Taylor and Malyssa got into the Airbnb model
Airbnb versus long-term rental models
Rules of thumb in analyzing short term rentals
How to increase your Airbnb return
Managing your Airbnb property remotely
Scaling your Airbnb business
Important qualitative features of Airbnb investment property
How Taylor and Malyssa promote their Airbnb properties

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Finding a cash-flowing property was difficult, but using an Airbnb model allowed them to buy a property and achieve the returns they needed.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Malyssa writes a daily journal on a list of priorities, and tasks.
Taylor gets up early in the morning and works out.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

I Will Teach You To Be Rich book by Ramit Sethi

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Rethink our approach to our career, how you look at debt and student loans and start in real estate as early as you can!

RESOURCES

Stay with Meek Instagram

https://linktr.ee/staywithmeek

Email: Meekresidential@gmail.com

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

RECESSION RESISTANT REAL ESTATE INVESTING WITH MARK KHURI

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Mark Khuri is a real estate investor, CA Licensed Real Estate Broker, Managing Partner at Aerial Investment Management, Vice-President and Co-founder of SMK Capital Management LLC, a company that focuses on providing eligible investors with attractive returns through commercial income-producing real estate.

Mark has been an avid real estate investor for over 15 years and has sourced, underwritten, acquired, raised capital, renovated, managed, and sold both residential and commercial real estate investments throughout multiple markets in the US. He has analyzed hundreds of investment opportunities and has successfully bought, renovated, sold, and invested in over 120 properties with a combined value of over $1 billion and created and managed over 40 real estate partnerships with investors.

KEY POINTS

Pivoting to deeply discounted distressed residential real estate
Top four (4) asset classes that yield high returns
What diversification means to Mark
Importance of building relationships with operating partners
Best investment opportunities today
Underwriting multifamily deals
Reasons why Mark rejected deals

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1.What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Getting comfortable with the numbers. Therefore, surrounded himself with a partner that has the experience and hired a mentor to help him get started.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Wake up early, and read a lot.

3.Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Rich Dad, Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start earlier and take advantage of the opportunity!

RESOURCES

SMK Capital Management

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

CREATIVE SELLER FINANCING WITH BILL HAM

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Bill is a real estate entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and mentor, and author of the book, “Creative Cash”, Chief Operating Officer at Broadwell Property Group, and owner and Senior Manager of Phoenix Residential Management, LLC, a company that has been operated a portfolio of over 1500residential units and has been in business since 2009.

He did not come from a family of real estate people. However, for over 20 years of experience in it, he had a proven track record as he had built a massive portfolio on real estate multifamily with over a thousand units.

KEY POINTS

1. Creative Seller Financing

2. Creative Cash: How to go out and get deals

3. Common real estate problems of sellers and properties

4. Master Lease Options

5. Knowing the values in your area

6. Advantages of Creative Seller Financing for buyers and sellers

7. How to avoid the Capital Expense Tsunami

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The fear of the very first deal and the fear of someone saying, “YES”. But, get into the business that makes offers regularly really helped me get over that nervousness.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

A cup of coffee and the Wall Street Journal every morning.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Clubhouse App

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Prince book by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Art of War book by Sun Tzu

RESOURCES

Email: Bill@gobroadwell.com

Broadwell Property Group

Creative Cash book by Bill Ham

Creative Apartment Deals

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

FINDING MASSIVELY DISCOUNTED PROPERTIES WITH ZACK BOOTHE

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Just a few years ago, Zack Boothe was a window cleaner. You can even find his window cleaning tutorial videos on YouTube with millions of views. Although he achieved success with his window cleaning business, he always dreamt of being a real estate investor. Taking a leap of faith, he walked away from window cleaning, and within a handful of years, he was making over a million dollars per year from real estate investing. Zack now has his own team and spends much of his time giving back and helping others get started in the competitive game of real estate.

Zack is passionate about sharing how easy it is to be successful once you implement a system that consistently produces discounted properties. When he isn’t helping people make money through real estate, Zack can be found spending time with his wife and two children and hiking the mountains of the Western United States.

KEY POINTS

1. Going from a window cleaner to real estate investor

2. Building both money and time freedom with real estate

3. Zack’s advice on how to start investing in real estate

4. How to build and keep up your positive belief system

5. Real estate wholesaling

6. Secrets on finding massively discounted properties

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Trying to figure out myself, and trying to get traditional loans for everything. Overcome that by listening to podcasts and YouTube channels, and having a mentor.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Always have a goal and focus on the day-to-day tasks that will hit the goal.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

DealMachine App
Google Calendar

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book by Stephen Covey
Secrets of the Millionnaire Mind book by T. Harv Eker
The ABCs of Real Estate Investing book by Ken McElroy

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate

investing, what would it be?

Start learning and educating yourself!

RESOURCES

DFD Mastery

Driving for Dollars Mastery Podcast

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

JUST START REAL ESTATE WITH MIKE SIMMONS

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 17:28:00 -0600

Mike Simmons, is a serial entrepreneur, CEO, business coach, speaker, author, host of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, owner of a successful real estate investing company, and partner in one of the largest real estate mentorship companies. He personally works with hundreds of entrepreneurs to help them optimize and grow their businesses.

He has shared the stage with Gary Vaynerchuk, Ryan Serhant, Jocko Willink, Russell Brunsson, Walter Bond, Andy Frisella, and Tom Ferry among others.

KEY POINTS

How to make your own money work for you
How to safely invest money for retirement
Mike’s secret sauce to success
How to tell whether it’s time to shift your career or retire
The catalysts for a change in life
How to hire effectively and scale your team
Competition Perspective: How to win things
Tips for becoming a better leader
The Learn-Do Ratio

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Fear that he feels sick and disgusted but made him motivated.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Compare-analyzing

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

YouTube

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
Traction by Gino Wickman

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Figure out where you want to go, make a plan, and execute it.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Just Start Real Estate Podcast

Level Jumping book by Mike Simmons

Text: JUST START send to 55444

Listener Questions and Economic Updates with Damion Lupo

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 31 May 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Damion Lupo joins us for his 4th appearance on the podcast, setting a record for repeat guest appearances!

Damion is a serial entrepreneur, real estate investor, noted financial mentor, founder of the eQRP® , an ultimate investor retirement tool, host of Financial Underdogs Podcast, an American sensei, 5th Degree Black Belter, and founder of Yokido, a blend of Aikido and Yoga, creator of Black Belt Wealth, and best-selling author in personal finance.

He has started and owned more than 50 different companies including an insurance agency, precious metals firms, a venture capital company, a coaching and consulting firm, and more than a dozen real estate investment and development companies!

KEY POINTS

Damion’s economic outlook
How to invest in an inflationary environment
Cryptocurrency pros and cons
Listener Questions from Ernest, Jarrod, and Connor
Profit-sharing, and how small business owners benefit from the eQRP
eQRP versus self-directed IRA
Is there any risk with eQRP in the future
Using technology to invest in real estate

RESOURCES

Financial Underdogs Podcast

eQRP

Text: eQRP to 72000 For a FREE Report

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Buying Multifamily with a Day Job with Brian LaBrec

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 24 May 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Brian LaBrec is an Engineer in Plastics, an entrepreneur, a mentor, real estate investor, and the Founder and CEO of the LaBrec Group, consisting of LaBrec Capital Investments and LaBrec Realty Solutions. LaBrec Capital Investments has a commercial real estate investment business that provides all the tools, resources, knowledge, and systems necessary to accelerate Multifamily Real Estate business and reduce risks.

Presently, Brian enjoys helping people pursue their own path to financial independence and teaching them how real estate investing can help them reach their goals!

KEY POINTS

Why Brian stays in Corporate America while building his real estate investing portfolio
Recovering from a burnt down, totally destroyed property
Working towards financial freedom
Work / Life balance with a W2 while investing in real estate

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

It’s the mindset and taking action, therefore he got coaches and mentors to help him through that.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Reading books every day.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

BiggerPockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Millionaire Mind book by Thomas Stanley

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Real estate, real estate, real estate. Everybody should start today!

RESOURCES

Labreccapitalinvestments.com

Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Buying 60+ Rental Properties with a W-2 with Bo Kim

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 10 May 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Bo Kim is a buy and hold real estate investor, a Software Implementation Manager, and has been working in the accounting industry for the past 7 years. He is also an avid writer on his blog, and founder and host of the Bigger Cash Flow podcast, a show aimed to help newbie real estate investors take back control of their finances. Currently, he owns 63 rental units across the markets of Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Little Rock.

KEY POINTS

Buying turnkey rental properties out of state
How Bo lost money on the very first deal
Using private lending to buy turn key rentals
Leveraging time and expertise with turnkey providers
Real estate investing tips for newbies
Leading versus lagging measures

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The fear of the unknown, but breaking out of the shell by talking to other investors, and educating himself.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Not having any downtime by blocking off his time to enjoy whatever he wants, and get things done.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Set for Life book by Scott Trench
Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start buying real estate right away, don’t wait!

RESOURCES

BiggerCashFlow.com

Bigger Cash Flow Podcast

BiggerPockets

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Why You Should Passively Invest in Multifamily with Spencer Gray

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 03 May 2021 09:00:00 -0600

In his role as President, Spencer develops, leads and executes investment strategy, performs underwriting and due diligence of all assets in the Gray Capital portfolio, and interfaces with investors. Since founding Gray Capital, LLC Spencer has been involved in over $700 Million in transactions. Spencer is also President and CEO of Gray Properties, LLC, a commercial real estate focused family office.

As an entrepreneur, Spencer has founded several successful businesses in the fields of media distribution, real estate and agriculture before turning his passion for investing in commercial real estate into what is now Gray Capital, LLC . Spencer has extensive experience in a variety of real estate investing strategies since buying his first rental property in 2006. Spencer is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys rock climbing, fly fishing, archery and free diving. He is also a father to two girls.

KEY POINTS

Spencer’s entrepreneurial journey to multifamily investing
Lessons learned from Spencer’s first multifamily deal
How to raise capital without previous experience
The benefits of passive investing
The lesser-known benefits of real estate investing
How to hedge against inflation

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Not qualified and no real track record in multifamily, therefore partnering and leveraging track record with someone else.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Having a morning regimen like meditation through a steam shower.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Hands-Off Investor book by Brian Burke

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Try to focus a little bit on what’s going to work, and really appreciate the time.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Gray Capital LLC

Email: spencer@graycapitalllc.com

Self Storage Fundamentals with Scott Krone

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Scott Krone is a real estate investor, real estate coach, an expert in the self-storage asset class, Principal of an international award-winning Design + Build firm and at Coda Management Group Chicago, a company that purchases undervalued warehouse space and converts it into climate-controlled, Class-A, and REIT ready self-storage properties. He has a background in architecture and enjoys creating and developing things. He had learned about real estate from his college instructor who owns a real estate development company where he began working until finally started his own real estate company!

KEY POINTS

Self-storage benefits and value-add returns
Why scott switched from multi-family to self-storage
How to find and analyze self storage investments
Types of buildings that are convertible to self-storage facilities
Rules of thumb and metrics for analyzing self-storage deals

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

How to build credibility for himself and gain trust from people to buy what he was selling. Scott crafted his story around what success he had up to that point.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Getting up early, spend quiet time with his wife and dog walking on the beach at 5:30 in the morning. Scott practices accountability in business and his personal life, always looking to improve and grow.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Instagram

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Road Back to You book by Ian Morgan Cron, and Suzanne Stabile

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Be patient and enjoy the process!

RESOURCES

Coda Management Group

Email: info@codamg.com and reference this podcast for a free 100+ page Sustainability Report on a self-storage property.

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Helping Others Through Real Estate Investing with Erin Hudson

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Erin is a mother of 5, a real estate investor, doctor of chiropractic, and co-founder of Quattro Capital, an investment firm focused on residential multifamily real estate.

As a chiropractor, Erin was living paycheck to paycheck building multiple practices in Southern California. Wanting more control of her time, she sought out real estate investing, buying single-family homes across the country. She eventually transitioned to multifamily investing, and now is a partner at Quattro Capitol, where she continues to help people achieve the same time and money freedom she has discovered for herself.

Erin is focusing on building a legacy on multifamily real estate investing. Her mission to create time freedom, financial freedom, leave a blazing trail and a massive LEGACY behind!

KEY POINTS

Money freedom and time freedom
Erin’s Transition from Chiropractic Practices to Real Estate Industry
Getting started with double closing real estate deals
Going from chiropractor to real estate investor
Why Erin prefers multifamily
How Erin raised $300,000 in just 48 hours
Tips for women who want to engage in the real estate world

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Wishing she had more time.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Wakes up at 5:30 in the morning, reads, writes down the 5 things that she is grateful for in life, sets goals and the things that she wants to accomplish, and an hour workout in the gym.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Hubspot

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Who Not How book by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Run, jump, leap, lean forward to multifamily real estate, and find a mentor at an early age!

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Quattro Capital

Creating a Syndication Team with Brian Alfaro and Cody Laughlin

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Cody Laughlin and Brian Alfaro, Managing Partners at Blue Oak Capital, focus on helping and connecting with professionals that are too busy to invest in real estate themselves to show them the power of commercial multifamily real estate.

Cody Laughlin is a real estate entrepreneur, podcaster, and meetup host with 10 years of real estate investing experience. His focus is acquisitions of cash-flow producing real estate with a special focus on value-add, multifamily assets. Cody is the founder of the “Prosperity Through Multifamily Real Estate Investing” podcast and the Space City Multifamily Meetup. He works alongside other investors through syndication to acquire multifamily assets and is currently invested in 128 units.

Brian Alfaro is a real estate entrepreneur and local Houston business owner. Starting in foodservice operations, Brian quickly expanded his span of control in a customer-focused Franchise business. Leveraging his expertise, Brian now controls a multi-location business that serves 1000’s offering an upscale coffee experience. In addition to his Commercial Real Estate experience from his retail business, Brian is also a residential real estate investor and currently a licensed agent.

KEY POINTS

The power of partnerships
Scaling with systems and processes
Time management while investing with a full-time job
Leveraging relationships in your network
Common mistakes made by beginning real estate investors
How Blue Oak Capital came to be

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Limiting mindsets - both Cody and Brian worked on their mindsets first and then scaled.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Both Cody and Brian prioritize exercise in their daily lives.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

BiggerPockets
Subscribe to commercial brokerage lists (Marcus & Millichap, CBRE, etc.)

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Miracle Morning book by Hal Elrod
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book by Stephen R. Covey

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Cody: Stay focused, stay disciplined, and stay patient!
Brian: Get started now!

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Blue Oak Capital

Cody’s LinkedIn

Brian’s LinkedIn

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing book by Ken McElroy

Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

Using Data to Make Decisions with Aaron Norris

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Aaron is a licensed real estate broker and lender, speaker, writer about technology and its impacts on real estate, a contributor on Forbes.com, BiggerPockets, and ThinkRealty Magazine, co-host of the Data-Driven Real Estate Podcast for PropertyRadar, and VP of Market Insights for PropertyRadar where he tackles insights into public records data to help Main Street small businesses disrupt disruptors.

He comes from generations of real estate investors and has been part of the family's hard money loan business, The Norris Group, since 2005 where he also launched the award-winning radio show with his "Pops," Bruce Norris. In addition, he’s been directly involved in raising over $2 million for local charities through events like "I Survived Real Estate" and Give BIG Riverside County.

KEY POINTS

How you can use data to make investment decisions
Using software to access real estate data
Tips on getting your first off-market deal
Advice for aspiring investors wanting to buy their first rental property
How to use data to maximize a property's highest and best use (i.e. - upzoning)
Mortgage forbearance and eviction moratoriums
Using data to drill down on a specific target
Four step process to finding deals: DUCA - discover, understand, connect, & automate

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Getting out of his head and pulling the trigger but overcome it by finally pulling the trigger and owning one.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Always learning through podcasts, and LinkedIn Learning.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Building Wealth One House at A Time book by John Schaub

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Better money habits. Drop the credit card, monitor your cash in and cash out, and find more ways to save than spend!

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Community Property Radar

PropertyRadar

Investing Strategies to Build Generational Wealth with Stephanie Walter

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Stephanie Walter is the CEO of Erbe Wealth and a legacy cash flow specialist, capital raiser, syndicator, and real estate investor. She has been a financial educator for 15 years and a real estate syndicator for the last 10 years. Stephanie’s passion is teaching people to “unlearn” what most of us have been wired to think about money and re-educating people on attaining wealth that can be passed onto the next generation. Stephanie lives with her husband and young son in Colorado.

KEY POINTS

Real estate lessons from the insurance world
How you can best use insurance in your investing approach.
Unlearning what you know about money
Legacy Banking Concept
Investing strategies to build generational wealth
Preferred investment vehicles (401k, IRA, etc.)

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Knowledge. Stephanie didn’t know what she was doing and invested in herself by hiring a mentor and get an education.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Working hard and sticking with something until she gets it done.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

CoStar
C rexi

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett B. Gunderson and Stephen Palmer
What Would the Rockefellers Do? by Garrett B. Gunderson, and Michael G. Isom

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Learn about syndication and get out of the mentality of buying and holding your real estate property for a long time.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

ErbeWealth

Elevate Commercial Investment Group

Dollars Over Doors with Christian Montalvo

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Christian Montalvo is a real estate investor and house hacker extraordinaire. She's a mom to two young boys and lives in Dallas-Fort Worth where she and her husband invest in small multifamily properties. Outside of working her full-time job and building a real estate empire, Christian loves to spend time with her family, travel, exercise, read, and study real estate investing.

KEY POINTS

Getting started with House Hacking
Lessons learned from 3 house hacks
Buying small multifamily properties in a hot market
Doors versus Dollars mentality
Being opportunistic and patient in your investing journey
Rack and Stack Mode
The importance of accountability and networking
Pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone

FAVORITE BOOK

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

RESOURCES

You Need More Money book by Matt Manero

Connect with Christian on Instagram here

Email: cctrentalstx@gmail.com

Connect with Christian on BiggerPockets

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Making it in Multifamily with Jorge Abreu

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Jorge is an active & passive full-time multifamily investor, member at Forbes Real Estate Council, an expert on Locating Deals, Due Diligence, Executing CapEx & Raising Equity, CEO of Elevate Commercial Investment Group, owner of a construction company, JNT Construction, that focuses on helping multifamily investors with their full renovations, and new construction. JNT has been in business 10+ years and has an outstanding reputation.

Being in the real estate business for 15 years now, he owns and manages several thousands of apartments. He has 1,720 doors on the GP side & over 1,400+ doors on the LP side.

KEY POINTS

Making a leap from single-family to multifamily investing
Leveraging partners and teamwork
Syndicating large apartment deals from zero
Reverse engineering goals
Utilizing social media to business benefit
The biggest advantages of networking in business

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The mindset, but allowed advice from people and changed it.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Stay focused, time-blocking using Calendar to work on his goals, and blocked out noise.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

CoStar

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Traction book by Gino Wickman
Best Ever Apartment Syndication book by Joe Fairless, and Theo Hicks

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Skip single family and go to multifamily, and network at an early age.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

JNT Construction

Lifetime Cashflow Podcast

Improving Your Goal Setting Process with Rod Khleif

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Rod is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, member of the Forbes Real Estate Council, host of the Top-ranked Real Estate Investment Podcast; “The Lifetime CashFlow Through Real Estate Investing Podcast" with more than 10 million downloads, director at The Lifetime CashFlow Academy, author of the book “The Lifetime Cashflow.” Also, he loves talking and educating people about multifamily real estate investing one on one, as a coach, or through his podcast.

KEY POINTS

How to go from broke to a multi-millionaire
The power of mindset and psychology to success
An effective goal setting process
The importance of writing down and visualizing your goals
Putting time limits on your goals
Success vs. fulfillment
The key to continuous self-motivation

Rod Book Recommendations:

The 5 Languages of Love book by Gary Chapman
Turning Pro book by Steven Pressfield
The Slight Edge book by Jeff Olson
The ONE Thing book by Gary Keller, & Jay Papasan
The Miracle Morning book by Hal Elrod

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Text: MULTIFAMILY to 72345 or 41411

Checkout Code: RODFRIEND for $97.00 discount

Think and Grow Rich book by Napoleon Hill

Three Feet from Gold book Greg S. Reid & Sharon Lechter

Lifetime Cashflow book by Rod Khleif

Steps to a Successful Investing Journey with Chris Larsen

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 03:00:00 -0600

Chris is a real estate investor & syndicator, coach, sales executive, and founder and managing partner of the Next-Level Income, through which he helps investors become financially independent through education and investment opportunities. Having a passion for helping other real estate investors achieve financial freedom. Thus, he shares the shortcuts and tips to not make the same mistakes he did.

He was a professional cyclist who turned full-time to real estate. Currently, Chris is investing and managing real estate for over 20 years and presently syndicating multifamily properties. He began syndicating deals in 2016 and has been actively involved in over $150M of real estate acquisitions. Also, has invested in equities, oil & gas, and small business lending, as well as being active in Venture South, one of the nation’s Top 10 Angel Investing groups.

KEY POINTS

Shifting from a professional cyclist to a single-family investor
Next Level Income
Return on Equity (ROE)
How to Let Your Money Work Fully for You
Chris’ True Meaning of Freedom and Scalability
How Chris Uses his Emergency Fund in Personal and Financial Life
Infinite Banking Concept
Term versus Whole Life Insurance Policy
Steps to a Successful Investing Journey
Real Estate Investing Tips for Beginners

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Getting comfortable with it but found a mentor that has helped him.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Reading and learning from other people, and meditation using Calm App.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Early To Rise

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Perfect Day Formula book by Craig Ballantyne
Never Split the Difference book by Chris Voss

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Go bigger. Take risk advice, learn property management, partner up with somebody, and start to do those bigger deals earlier.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Next Level Income

Email: coach@nextlevelincome.com

Debt is an Asset with Aaron Chapman

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Aaron is a real estate investor, a veteran of the finance industry, and highly skilled in financing for the real estate investor aiding in the analysis and structure of multiple financed properties. He is an expert in Self Employment income/ Credit Analysis and owner-occupied Financing. He has closed nearly 1,000 transactions every year, been in the finance industry for 23 years now.

He is presently ranked #14 in an industry of over 300,000 licensed loan originators for transactions closed annually (723 closed units for real estate investors in 2019, 707 in 2018, and 676 in 2017). In addition to a career in real estate finance, Aaron is a Published Author with 4 books released and dozens of magazine articles.

KEY POINTS

Understanding the deal as the debt, and the debt as the asset in real estate
Calculating Real Estate Cash Flow
Learning about Compound Interest associated with Finance
How inflation impacts investors
The purchasing power of $100 in the past 3 decades
Determining your Debt-to-Income ratio
Tips for getting your next real estate loan
The Basics of Real Estate Tax Depreciation

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Looking like 17 at the age of 23 and people saw him face to face at a hard time. He overcame it by growing a beard.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Get up every morning at 4:30 or earlier, and start reading scriptures, and other books that help him to focus his mind and energy towards his goals.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

ShadowStats

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Outwitting the Devil book by Napoleon Hill
The QJO Initiative book by Aaron Chapman

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Enjoy where you are right now.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Master Key System book by Charles F. Hannel

Building Your Billion Dollar Foundation with Ari Rastegar

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Real estate investor, entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Rastegar Property Company. He specializes in working with high-net-worth individuals and institutional partners to build Areal estate portfolios in fast-growing markets designed to reduce risk and provide strong returns.

Also, well-known for his interest in and dedication to a healthy lifestyle and is one of the preeminent thought leaders on biohacking and physiology, as featured in GQ Magazine.

In this episode, Ari talks about his journey to real estate, bio-hacking, and health, wealth-building, motivation, and the importance of living a well-balanced life!

KEY POINTS

Ari’s Journey from Law School to Real Estate Investing
Creating the Best Customer Experience in Real Estate
The Gift of Failure
Tips for Effective Goal Setting
The importance of investing in yourself
The Three Feet from Gold: The Story about Persistence
Bio-hacking and making yourself the best asset

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Being scared to death to start with but overcome it by taking massive action.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Transcendental Meditation

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Youtube

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Relentless book by Tim S. Grover
Three Feet from Gold book by Sharon L. Lechter
Defy Aging book by Jacob Rosenstein

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Study some business stuff like take Accounting classes, and some basic business courses.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Rastegar Property

Instagram @rastegar

Just Start Real Estate Podcast

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Relentless book by Tim S. Grover

Three Feet from Gold book by Sharon L. Lechter

Defy Aging book by Jacob Rosenstein

Financial Independence, Retire Early with Raj Jha

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Raj is an expert real estate investor, apartment syndicator, achiever, financial independence retiree, engineer, and founder of Big League Capital, a company that educates and shares private investment opportunities with other people and helps them to invest in real estate in a passive manner. He came to the United States in 2000 seeking freedom and independence. He was working in the corporate world for 20 years but only achieved financial independence through multifamily real estate. As an early retiree, Raj is now living on his own terms.

Today, Raj talks about his approach and philosophy on money and abundance mindset.

KEY POINTS

How to know if you’re financially independent
Creating intergenerational wealth
How to be a well-informed investor
How to retire early with real estate
The importance of an abundance mindset for investors
The key to managing and owning multiple properties
Cap Rate Calculation: Stock Market versus Real Estate
The balance of living in the present and for the future
Tips for new investors

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Education but Raj read books, blogs, and listened to podcasts,

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Rise early, plan the day, meditation, and pray.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Millionaire Next Door book by Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start and educate yourself sooner, be bolder, and jump straight into real estate.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Yahoo Finance

Big League Capital

Just Start Real Estate with Mike Simmons

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 09:00:00 -0600

He has shared the stage with Gary Vaynerchuk, Ryan Serhant, Jocko Willink, Russell Brunsson, Walter Bond, Andy Frisella, and Tom Ferry among others.

KEY POINTS

How to make your own money work for you
How to safely invest money for retirement
Mike’s secret sauce to success
How to tell whether it’s time to shift your career or retire
The catalysts for a change in life
How to hire effectively and scale your team
Competition Perspective: How to win things
Tips for becoming a better leader
The Learn-Do Ratio

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Fear that he feels sick and disgusted but made him motivated.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Compare-analyzing

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

YouTube

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
Traction by Gino Wickman

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Figure out where you want to go, make a plan, and execute it.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Level Jumping book by Mike Simmons

Text: JUST START send to 55444

3 Steps to Prepare for the New Year - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Here we are in December of 2020 – one of my favorite times of the year. Many people are winding down, getting ready to enjoy the holidays, spend time with family and recharge for the upcoming new year. This is a great time to start planning and preparing for the next year ahead. 2020 has been a unique year and one we’ll remember for years to come. A global pandemic impacted in some way nearly every single person’s life on our planet. This has been a devastating event, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who have felt the brunt of the impacts this has left. You’ve probably heard people talk about what a bad year 2020 has been, hear news media tell you what disasters have characterized this year, and you may find yourself starting to think along those lines.

However, like anything else, you can find silver linings wherever you look. Think back over the past 12 months of your life and I’m sure you’ll find some things that you’re happy about. Take 30 seconds here to reflect on the positives in your life, big or small. Perhaps you’re financially stable, still have a great job, have a healthy family, got to spend more time at home, picked up a new good habit, started a new project, bought another investment property, helped someone in need, kept food on the table. I challenge you to think of 3 things you’re happy about right now.

See, there are things we can all be thankful for. Let’s carry that momentum now and look at 3 steps we can take to prepare for the new year.

Reflect. Think back over this past year and reflect. If you had any goals identified for 2020, look at how you tracked towards those goals. Likely, your goals changed over the course of the year. Identify things that went well for you and things that didn’t work so well. It’s important to take these lessons forward with you into next year. Practice gratitude. Celebrate your accomplishments and aim to learn from your failures.
Visualize. Ask yourself what you want your life to be like in 1 year, 5 years, & 10 years. By visualizing your life, you create your own reality. Get clear with yourself about your priorities. Identify a few areas of your life you want to improve. The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan is a great book that will help you identify your most important priority. Once you have a clear vision of where you want to go, you can start to map out goals to get you there.
Set Goals. Maybe your goals took a backseat this year. Or maybe you crushed your goals and have some great momentum headed into the new year. Either way now is the time to start thinking about your next set of goals. I say your next set because I’ve found the best time period for setting goals is 90 days (or 3 months). This goal setting strategy was first introduced to me with Bryan Moran’s 12 Week Year, and I use Brandon Turner’s 90 Day Intention Journal to implement it. Going back to your vision for your life in 10 years and working backward to 5 year and 1 year visions, you can break down those large goals into smaller goals. There’s a Chinese Proverb that says, “A journey of a thousand miles must start with a single step”. Start thinking now about your goals for the next year, and break those down into 4 sets of 90 day goals. You’ll be able to take consistent and daily action towards your bigger goals. In the One Thing book, Gary and Jay teach you to ask yourself “What’s the One Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”. This is a great exercise when you’re looking at your big picture goals and when you’re looking at your daily action steps.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin

Those are 3 things you can do now to prepare for the new year. Your life is more important than some arbitrary man-made date, so don’t wait until January 1^st to start becoming the best version of yourself you can be. Create your own reality. Be intentional with your actions. Line up your dominos and start by knocking over that very first very small domino, and you’ll eventually become unstoppable.

The Multifamily Takeoff with Shawn DiMartile

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Shawn DiMartile is a multifamily real estate investor, managing partner of an apartment investing firm, Pac 3 Capital, and host of The Multifamily Takeoff Podcast, a podcast about all aspects of apartment investing.

He came to the realization that the traditional path of working in a 9 to 5 as an aircraft controller, being and saving in a 401(k) until 65 was not the road to the wealth he wanted to follow. After reading books and listening to tons of podcasts about real estate and various asset classes, he came to realize that multifamily real estate has the power to build wealth and provide financial freedom.

In 2019, while still working his full-time W-2 job as an air traffic controller, he partnered with two colleagues to acquire their first multifamily acquisition, a 32-unit in Indianapolis.

KEY POINTS

Selecting the right market to invest in.
How to build credibility without any experience.
How to raise money for your very first deal.
Why a 401k isn't the right way to save for retirement.
Good Debt vs. Bad Debt.
Why habits are SO important.

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Experience hurdle and overcome it by preempt and hammering at weaknesses.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Writing a blog or article, reading and learning more every day to get better in his business.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Pitch Anything book by Oren Klaff

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Go buy a real estate asset right now.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Trinity Study

Pac 3 Capital

The Multifamily Takeoff Podcast

Shawn's LinkedIn

Freedom or Security - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Life is full of choices. You have the ability to live your life how you want for the most part. Work a 9-5, be an entrepreneur, travel the world, buy a home, raise a family, adopt a child, marry a spouse, etc. There are so many different ways you can live your life, and it’s completely up to you to decide. When you ask someone what they want in life, you’ll get typical answers like health, happiness, prosperity, wealth, etc. Those all make sense. Who wouldn’t want those things? But then comes this dichotomy. People want freedom. They also want security. In today’s episode we’ll aim to dissect each of those two terms – freedom and security – and then compare and contrast them.

Security. This seems like a reasonable desire, right? It’s natural to want to protect yourself and your family from threats. After all, that’s how our ancestors survived generation after generation, and lead us to where we are today. Often when people talk about security they’re referring to financial security just as much as physical security. Financial security could be the ability to retire when you want. It could be job security, meaning you have a stable and steady job to rely on. It could simply mean knowing what to expect in your life tomorrow, next week, and next year.

Then we have Freedom. Freedom is another thing that people want. It is one of the principles the United States is founded on. We likely take many of the freedoms we do have for granted. We have the freedom to choose our careers, who we marry, where we live, how we earn money, where we travel, speak freely, discuss ideas, and so much more. People have so much freedom that they don’t even know what to do with it. I have a good friend who travels the world with nothing more than a backpack. He’s been abroad for two years now traveling all around the world and picking his next stop based on what type of food he’s in the mood for. I’m not kidding. He has what most would call a high level of freedom.

Freedom and security are a bit of a dichotomy. On one hand, freedom allows you the flexibility to do what you want, whereas security will provide assurance and safety every day. Think of freedom and security on a sliding scale, with freedom on one end and security on the other. Now take that slide and push it all the way to the security side. There are all different types of ways to relate this, but let’s look at a few examples.

If we were talking about government, then the security side of the scale might look a lot like communism, whereas the freedom side of the scale might look like total anarchy. I’m not attempting to be political here, but rather show that if you have only one side of the scale then the results look much different from the other side.

Or another example is your lifestyle. Slide the scale all the way to the security side and you might find yourself in a maximum-security prison. Slide it all the way to the freedom side and you might find yourself without any possessions, job, or money, roaming the world doing whatever you want with absolutely no security. After all, we don’t have any maximum freedom prisons that I know of. But we do have maximum security prisons.

Now sure, these are quite dramatic examples but you begin to understand what one without the other looks like. Then comes the question, why are we even talking about freedom vs. security in the first place. Well, you have the ability to live your life as free or as secure as you want. It’s up to you to decide where to take risks for your freedom, and where you want security. Chances are you probably don’t want completely one without the other.

Only you know what balance of freedom and security is best for you. Understanding that taking risks in return for some level of freedom will cost you some security is important. So find freedom where you want. Build security where it matters to you. Using these two levers you can begin to engineer the lifestyle you want, which is one of the fundamentals here at the Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Real Estate Updates with Marco Santarelli

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Marco Santarelli returns to the show for a second appearance. Marco is a licensed real estate broker in California, an investor, author, serial entrepreneur with multiple businesses, founder and CEO of Norada Real Estate Investments, a nationwide provider of turnkey rental properties that helping people build their real estate portfolio by providing knowledge, tools, and resources to achieve financial freedom and build wealth.

He is the creator of DealGrader™, a scoring system that measures the investment quality of a real estate investment, giving you an overall snapshot of its profitability and investment risk. Likewise, he is hosting the Passive Real Estate Investing podcast, the show where busy people learn how to build substantial passive income while creating wealth for the long-term.

KEY POINTS

The Importance of Staying Market Agnostic
How to Pick the Best Market
Suburbs versus Urban Core markets
Supply, Demand, and Balance in Housing Markets
Is it a Good Time to Invest in Real Estate During this Crisis
Shadow Demand vs. Shadow Inventory
Tips for First-time Investors
How to Identify the Ideal Neighborhoods within the Best Markets
Your Core Five Team Players
Why Marco likes Single-Family Homes

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Passive Real Estate Investing Podcast with Marco Santarelli

Norada Real Estate Investments

Market Metrics - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0600

In our world today we’re seeing a shift in the way people work, commute, live, and much more. With these new trends, we’re seeing people move around the country, less tied to where they once were with many more people working from home than were just 8 months ago. Consequently, this has created new supply and demand imbalances in different markets. Once hot San Francisco has seen an exodus of white-collar tech workers leaving the city for lower cost of living locations. Where people once lived near downtown and large cities, they can now move to more rural locations. These are just a couple examples of shifts we’ve seen over the past 6 months.

We talked about some of these trends a couple of weeks ago and then followed that up with how to qualify deals in new markets. Let’s look at some metrics in analyzing markets for real estate investing.

By now you’ve heard the saying “the 3 most important factors in real estate are location, location, location”, which I largely agree with. In the world of real estate investing, the location of a property can be described by its market and submarket. A market can be thought of as a city or town, and the submarket as a specific part or neighborhood of that city.

CBRE publishes several different commercial real estate reports, in those they categorize markets into 3 tiers.

Tier 1

San Francisco
San Diego
Seattle
Chicago
Miami
New York City

Tier 2

Dallas / Ft. Worth
Houston
Denver
Atlanta
Orlando
Philadelphia

Tier 3

Oklahoma City
Jacksonville
Charlotte
Cleveland
Kansas City
Nashville

So what makes a market better or worse than another? Sports teams, great parks, no traffic, cool coffee shops? Well, close but not quite. Evaluating markets as a real estate investor, we’re concerned with two main metrics – jobs and population. That’s what it all comes down to. Are there people who live in the market and have a job that allows them to pay rent? That’s what we’re focused on.

These two metrics – job growth and population grown – are indicators of a strong market. While we can never predict the future (i.e. – COVID-19), we can look at historical trends and project those into the future. Generally speaking, jobs bring people. After all, you don’t see a booming population in Antarctica. Knowing this, we can sometimes gauge population growth in a market by looking at what jobs are expected to grow or relocate to the market. Oftentimes, employers will announce new locations, headquarters, etc. and we can use this to assess the increased population those jobs will bring to the market.

Now digging a bit deeper and understanding that we want people and jobs in a market, we can next look at employment rates. Employment rates are simply a percentage of people employed or unemployed. Our nation’s unemployment rate is generally in the single-digit percentages, although that number spiked to double digits during the initial phase of COVID-19.

Now I want to bring something up here. There really is no such thing as one housing market or a national housing market. The same thing applies to these metrics. There isn’t one unemployment metric. Rather these metrics broken down by markets, or states at the very least are what we should be concerned with, more on a micro-scale. Just because the U.S. unemployment rate may be 7%, doesn’t mean that’s what it is in your specific market. It may be lower (great) or high (uh oh). The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports unemployment rates and breaks this data down by markets, or Metropolitan Statistic Areas (MSAs). A good example of an MSA is Dallas/Ft. Worth and principal cities that include Arlington, Plano, Garland, Irving, McKinney, Frisco, and others. DFW MSA makes up a single MSA of nearly 8 million people

Getting back to the unemployment rate. This number is manipulated in many ways (after all, the government reports it, so that shouldn’t be a surprise). Ken McElroy, an experienced real estate investor, recently did a YouTube video explaining the different ways unemployment rates are measured. That video is linked in the show notes if you want to check it out – I recommend it!

Lastly is the supply and demand. Remember our San Francisco example where we’re seeing an out-migration. Supply and demand is an important factor in looking at markets. If there are a low supply and high demand, then prices are driven upwards. If there is a high supply and low demand, then prices are driven downwards.

WeAreApartments.org is a great resource for high-level supply & demand data. They indicate that the country needs to build 328,000 new apartment homes each year until 2030 to meet demand. You can drill down on their website to a specific market and look at the supply and demand. Looking at Oklahoma City, for example, they indicate that nearly 1,000 new apartments are needed annually to keep up with demand. You can pair that demand with supply data from the US Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey to determine how many new apartments are predicted to be built, and see if this supply is being outpaced or is outpacing the demand.

So that’s a summary of what metrics are important in analyzing a new market. Learn more about each of these metrics and how you can use them to make better investment decisions. Be data-driven in your approach to real estate investing. Peel back the layers of the numbers and really understand what’s going on in your markets and others.

I’ll end by mentioning that our nation is, and has been, facing an affordable housing crisis. Sure, across the nation we’re continuing to build new apartments and new homes, but these are largely unaffordable to the blue-collar workforce that drives our country. This is a market that continues to be underserved, and it’s an area where I’m focusing my efforts. That is workforce housing in the heartland of our nation. Housing for the median wage earner that is clean, safe, and affordable. If you want to learn more about where I’m investing, what types of properties I’m investing in, and connect further, you can learn more at AyersAcquisitions.com

Outsourcing to Scale with Charles Carillo

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Charles Carillo is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, and managing partner of Harborside Partners, a real estate syndication firm where he owns over 250 multifamily units. He hosts a real estate investing podcast called Global Investors Podcast, which focuses on interviewing professional and international investors interested in investing in the U.S.

Charles grew up in a real estate family where his dad owned apartments. Later, he started his own journey of investing in multifamily in 2006 with a 3 unit. He eventually grew it into multifamily properties and built his portfolio.

KEY POINTS

Self-Management versus Third-Party Management
Perfect Blueprint for Scaling Properties
The Mindset Shift of Bringing Equity Partners
The Traits to look for in a Business Partner
Why Traditional Value-Add is Not Wise during this Pandemic
The Power of Networking

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Taking the leap initially and raising the money. Overcome it by following up with successful people, and attending conferences and events to build networks.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Time-blocking using Google Calendar

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Calendar Balance Source

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The 80/20 book by Richard Koch
Art of the Deal book by Donald Trump

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Live more strategic and figure out what you want exactly your 5, 10, and 15 years goals to be, and figure out what you can do daily, weekly, and monthly to achieve them.

RESOURCES

Harborside Partners

Schedule Charles

Qualify a Deal - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0600

There is a lot of real estate. Like, a whole lot. Practically everything you see is either real estate, or is on or in real estate. If you’re driving down the road, running in a park, or cleaning your garage as you listen to this podcast, chances are you are surrounded by real estate. When you start to see everything as real estate, you then start to look at that real estate from an investment perspective.

There are a lot of ways to invest in real estate, as shown with the different guests we have here on the podcast. From buy and hold single-family investing, to house hacking small multifamily, to apartment syndication, there are different niches and investment strategies.

Starting out, most people are successful by being as narrow focused as possible, meaning they select one real estate niche and focus solely on it. If you don’t focus on one niche, you’ll find yourself looking at raw land in South Texas, Condo’s in San Diego, and new development multifamily in Virginia. Which brings us to the next point – the market. Just as it’s important to narrow down your niche, it’s also equally, if not more important, to narrow down on a few markets.

These two criteria – niche and market – will help you develop an investing strategy.

So, by now you’ve committed considerable time and resources in your own education. Now it’s time to start finding deals.

Let’s look a how to qualify a deal in three steps.

Setting your investment criteria. Now that you have a niche and market, you can begin to develop your investment criteria even further. Let’s take multifamily apartments in Texas and Oklahoma for example. This is our niche and markets. This is still relatively broad, and can be defined more. We need to consider things like:

Size of the property
Markets and submarkets
Property type
Property age
How you find and buy the deal (direct to owner or through brokers)
Returns

Once these criteria are defined, we now have a specific set of criteria that we can filter all deals through. If the property doesn’t fit these criteria, then think long and hard about pursuing it. Just because something looks like a deal, doesn’t mean it’s a deal for you.

Underwrite the deal. Once you have a deal that fits your investment criteria, it’s time to analyze the numbers further. This process is called underwriting and is an iterative process. You’ll look at the property’s past performance, project it’s future performance, and model out your business plan. During you’re underwriting you’ll be making assumptions and modelling different scenarios. Having some sort of underwriting tool is a must. Most people use excel or google sheets spreadsheets. You can build you own, or find one from someone who has already built one. Either way, an underwriting tool is a must.

Due Diligence. Due Diligence is the process of confirming all the details of the deal, from your underwriting assumptions to property inspections and anything specific to the deal you’re qualifying. During due diligence you’ll dive into all the minute details of the deal, making sure once last time that you understand everything there is to know about the deal. You’ll confirm things like:

Rent comparisons
Sales comparisons
Renovation Scopes or Work
Property inspections
Lease audits
Expense details
Quotes from vendors and contractors
Much more

From those early days and all that investment into yourself to the final phases of due diligence on your investment deal, you have gone from 0 to real estate investor! Congrats! Crossing the finish line and closing the deal is a huge milestone. It’s the end of one chapter and the start of the next! Do this repeatedly and consistently and you’ll be well on your way to building wealth and achieving financial freedom. This is a journey, so enjoy the process. It won’t happen overnight, and it will take a lot of work and effort. But remember, if it were easy then everyone would do it and the rewards wouldn’t be quite as nice.

Remote Real Estate with Brandon Barnes

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0600

BRANDON BARNES

Brandon Barnes is a real estate investor and owner of REI Live! Atlanta, a monthly meetup group. After being fired from his job as a production supervisor, he made an immediate pivot and chose to become a real estate investor focusing on wholesaling. Faced with a choice to either get another job and spend years trapped in a cubicle or work toward becoming a successful entrepreneur, he chose to keep his eyes on the prize as an entrepreneur. He quickly scaled his real estate company within 1 year and then got fired, but this time was different. He fired himself. This gave Brandon the flexibility to focus on building the business and leading his team. His team now operates his company successfully without his day-to-day involvement.

In his free time, Brandon spends his time with his wife and four kids. He is passionate about sharing his expertise and coaching students to take action and make money in real estate with his Send More Offers Coaching Program.

KEY POINTS

How real estate wholesaling works and why it's appealing
Leveraging the power and ability of a team
Working on the business, not in the business
How to build a remote and automated business model
How to maintain and build rapport with prospective sellers & buyers without meeting them personally
How can a wholesaler best work with an investor and vice-versa
Common mistakes and struggles in real estate investing
How many leads, offers, and follow-ups it typically takes to get a deal
Methods for finding off-market properties
How to build a virtual and remote team
3 C’s of success in business

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Financial constraints but consistency found his niche within a niche.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Reading books like E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber, Traction by Gabriel Weinberg, and Justin Mares, and Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The One Thing by Gary Keller

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Network earlier.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

SendMoreOffers.com

Connect with Brandon on Social Media

Virtual Investing Mastery

Long Distance Investing - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Our world is rapidly changing. It’s uncommon that we would see megatrends unfold so quickly, like we’re seeing today – social distancing, remote working environments, etc. But something interesting is happening due to this new normal – people are still living their lives, the world is still turning, and we’ve figured out how to adapt to these new trends. Who knows if these will be permanent or how long they’ll last, but one thing I predict is there will be lasting impacts, mostly good I’ll add, that will affect each and every one of us.

Some of these trends that macroeconomists and others predict include things like:

The rise of telemedicine
Remote work environments becoming permanent
De-urbanization of large cities
More focus on space and social distancing

With these trends impacting our entire world, it’s important to have a forward thinking perspective as a real estate investor and make sure we’re keeping up with these trends.

Now maybe you once invested primarily in the market you live in. Chances are though, either you or your residents have the opportunity to move to a new location, a new city, or even a new state. This may be a huge disruption to your real estate investing business, or just a minor hurdle you have to overcome.

Let’s look at 5 tips for long distance investing.

Systems and Processes – these will help you automate your business and bring some structure to the way you do things. Systems are the things that help you – software, tools, online resources etc. Processes are the things you do, the way do them, and the order in which you do them, often with the help of systems. Here’s an example of a way I use systems and processes in my business. Let’s look at how I screen new residents. The systems that help me most is the online screening and application software called Cozy.co. This software allows me to advertise my available rental units, collect rental applications, and screen prospective residents. That’s the system. The process looks more like creating a profile for each of my rental properties, uploading lease documents, applications, etc., and activating the listing when I have upcoming availability.
People – real estate is a people and relationship business. While much of the processes of managing a rental property can be done virtually, you still need to have a solid team of people to help you. Relationships with property managers, contractors, realtors, attorneys, accountants, and others are key. With the right people in place, you can outsource tasks to the people who are best and most efficient at carrying them out. The best part is you don’t have to have these people full-time, on staff sitting in an office. In today’s day and age, you can simply hire these team members on a contract basis, using their services when you need them.
Local knowledge – Data is great, but nothing beats local knowledge sometimes. You can research online all the data you want – migration trends, job growth, etc. Sometimes you just can’t beat local knowledge. Every market has its quirks and nuances. Having local knowledge will help you make better decisions. Whether this is knowledge you already have, or knowledge you may have to leverage from local relationships, it’s important to understand the details of the market you’re investing in.
Ability to hire property management – you really should be able to outsource possibly the most important role on your team, property management. Without a property manager, you’ll be self-managing and will eventually be the bottleneck in your own process. Whether you self-manage or use third party management now, make sure you have the ability to outsource this role if/when the time comes.
Pick the right market for the right reasons – you’ve heard the 3 most important things about real estate are location, location, location. This is because you can change quite a bit about your real estate. You can fix it up, paint it, change it’s use entirely, but you cannot easily change it’s location. If you are no longer tied to investing in the market you live in, then you have practically limitless possibilities for a new investment market. Look for a market with population growth, job growth, and increasing demand.

As a real estate investor, it’s important to stay up to date with trends. A few resources I look to include:

Emerging Trends in Real Estate published by PWC and ULI
BPInsights by BiggerPockets
WeAreApartments.org
National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Research and Insights
Long Distance Real Estate Investing book by David Green

I hope these give you a good starting point to learn more and continue to educate yourself on the subject of long distance investing. Location independence is something we value here on the show. Having the ability to live where you want and invest where the numbers make sense will allow you to more easily live the life you want.

Action and Accountability with Connor O’Brien

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Connor O'Brien is a real estate investor, engineer, and house hacking professional. After graduating college, Connor moved to Chicago where he got his start in real estate with a duplex house hack using an FHA 203K loan. Connor has gone on to invest in small multifamily properties in Illinois and Indiana.

Key Points

Accountability
House hacking
FHA 203K loans
Finding opportunities in problems
Scaling to small multifamily properties

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The money piece. Through accountability groups, Connor learned and gained the confidence to overcome that limiting belief.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Connor attributes much of his success to accountability groups.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Stessa - online property management tool and accounting software

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Be a part of an accountability group.

RESOURCES

Connect with Connor on BiggerPockets

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Negotiating - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Every day you are pitching, selling, and negotiating. While you may not realize it, you are constantly vying to communicate a point to someone else, present yourself in a certain way, and so much more. Just the simple act of communication in your day to day life is a form of pitching and selling. You communicate your thoughts to others in the form of a conversation (or podcast episode in this very moment), using words to express your thoughts and feelings to someone else. Communication, defined, is to share or exchange information, news, or ideas.

From your direct actions to your subconscious thoughts, you are constantly maneuvering so that you can affect the way you are perceived and influence others how you want. This isn't a bad thing; we all do it. From political speeches to casual conversations with friends, the words we use are meant to communicate our points and shape others' thoughts.

There are also nonverbal ways we pitch, sell, and negotiate. How you dress, your body language, your actions, how you listen, among many other factors, are ways you relay nonverbal cues to others.

You may be thinking, I don't have anything to pitch, sell, or negotiate. You might nor be in sales, or be a high profile defense attorney, but none the less you pitch, sell, and negotiate your biggest asset every single day. That is yourself. At work or in a professional setting, you probably dress professionally, speak more properly, and act in a certain manner respective to your location. Let's take that high profile defense attorney for an example. You wouldn't expect him or her to walk in the courtroom to present the closing argument in a sports jersey with flip flops and sunglasses, right? You would especially hope not if you're the defendant being represented! But why not? Perhaps the attorney is well prepared and has a solid defense put together. The reason is the attorney is selling him or herself as someone with status who is knowledgable, respected, and takes their responsibility seriously. They're selling themself first before they even pitch and negotiate to the jury the case at hand.

Beyond your everyday casual interactions with others, there are many other scenarios when you need to pitch, negotiate, and sell. From negotiating a raise at your job to making offers on investment properties, you must know how to frame conversations, listen to and guide the other person's thoughts and actions to create the outcomes you want.

Pitching, selling, and negotiating are subjects that have been researched, studied, and written about in-depth for many years. I've found a few books and resources particularly valuable. They are:

You have something that others want and need, whether that's a bit of information that you know that someone else doesn't, or something you have learned from your experience, simply some words of encouragement, a solution you can provide for someone else, or a number of other things. It's up to you to be able to present those ideas, frame them in a way that you can easily communicate them, and ultimately persuade someone to take action. That's exactly what I am doing here. By interviewing guests every week to providing little nuggets of information on Friday Fundamentals, I hope to provide the knowledge and motivation for you to achieve financial freedom, build the life you want, and help others do the same. Someone somewhere wants and needs what you have. It's up to you to find who, where, and how to provide that value.

"You either promote what you've got, or you're demoting it." - Robert Martinez, Guest on Episode 252.

Out of State Investing with Lauren Hardy

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Lauren Hardy is a real estate investor with a “People First” approach to business. Investing in hundreds of properties in her career, Lauren has the unique reputation of being a successful “virtual investor” having not lived in many of the states she’s invested in. Lauren has been able to persevere in extremely competitive markets by constantly following the market changes and being flexible and willing to move market territories when needed. She currently lives in Southern California with her two daughters but invests in properties all over the country.

KEY POINTS

Out of State Virtual Investing
How to find the right market to invest in out of state
Common mistakes in choosing a market
The Rent to Price Ratio Indicator
The Hurdles of Investing Out of State
The 4 Quadrants of the Real Estate Cycle

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

FEAR and overcome it by making herself COMFORTABLE.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Eat clean and healthy, get good sleep, waking up early, exercise, reading personal development and business books, and listening to podcasts.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Podcasts

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Compound Effect book by Darren Hardy

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don’t worry and take more risks. Just go and try stuff.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Bruce Norris Quadrants

Paul Stamets Mycelium Genius

Instagram @ thismomflips

Write Your Own Story – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Do you remember when you were a kid what you wanted to be when you grew up? For me, first I wanted to be a truck driver. Then it was a bull rider – I wore boots, jeans, and a cowboy hat to pre-school, kindergarten, and throughout elementary school. I held my own real-life rodeos with the help of my dog. Then it was an astronaut. I had a poster of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins from the 1969 Apollo 11 space flight and the moon landing. I also wanted to be a veterinarian, an anesthesiologist, and the President of the United States just to name a few more. Luckily, my parents, like so many others, encouraged me to do and be whatever I wanted.

When we are young we are encouraged to explore, learn new things, and be creative. But eventually, that freedom fades as we grow older. Eventually, we’re expected to bear the normal responsibilities of working a steady job, traditional retirement planning, raising a family, and so on. We quit encouraging people to explore and learn new things way too early in life. At 18 years old you’re expected to know what you want to do for a career when just 2 years ago you couldn’t even drive yourself to a job. Before we know it, we’re slapped with the responsibilities of life, and all that room for being creative quickly disappears.

“Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because they are looking for ideas.” – Paula Poundstone

You can live your life however you want. Anything you can imagine is possible. You must first imagine that. This is your vision. Your vision is the big picture. It’s the framework for goals and actions. You vision outlines who you want to be, how you want to live your life, and what values you have. Your vision will be your reasons why you wake up every day and pursue your goals. Your vision is what you strive for.

The more specific you can make your vision, the better. A vision to simply “be wealthy” or “be happy” isn’t enough. Be specific. Use emotionally charged language about how you will feel. Most importantly, write it down. It’s ok if you don’t know exactly what your vision is just yet. Writing it down will help you turn your thoughts into words, and then turn those words into actions. Your vision will probably change over time too. Think big with your vision. Remember, people, overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in a decade. Look at New Year’s resolutions for example. People set lofty goals only to give up by the time February rolls around.

A lot can change in 5 years, 10 years, and so on. 5 years doesn’t seem like that long of a time, right? But think back 5 years ago to a point in your life. Look at how much has changed for you since then. I’m sure you’ve grown, learned and experienced new things, and are capable of more now. Your interests, hobbies, priorities, and responsibilities have probably changed some too.

One thing is certain: whether you changed (for the better or worse) or not, those 5 years have passed. And the next 5 years will pass.

“It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.” – Jim Rohn

You owe it to not only yourself but to the other people in your life, to be the best version of you. That’s all – just be the best person you can be. Anything less is wasting your potential, and well, there isn’t anything more you can do.

Living Intentionally

Your vision serves as a purpose for you to live intentionally. Living intentionally means you make conscious decisions to living your life how you want. As we all know, it can be easy to get caught up in everyday life, being reactive to the things that come our way. If life is a pinball machine, you can either be the pinball being bounced around, or you can be the paddles. Which do you want to be?

If you don’t know EXACTLY who you want to be and what you want to be doing in 5 years, you’re already doing it.” – Tom Bilyeu

Who will you be in 5 years? What will you be doing? The answer should align with your vision. Let’s look at how you can create your vision, and then build some goals to achieve that vision.

Step 1. Create your vision. Ask yourself these 4 questions:

Who do you want to spend your time with?
How do you want to live your life?
Who do you want to help?
How will you feel when you are living out that vision?

Step 2. Set 10X goals. This exercise comes from The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. Set goals 10X more than you think you can achieve. Remember, you probably underestimate what you can do in a decade, so shoot for the stars.

Step 3. Break those 10X goals into 10-year, 5-year, 3-year, and 1-year goals. I know, this sounds like a lot. But you’re really just creating stepping stones to achieve those 10X goals. These intermediate to long term goals help keep you accountable to yourself.

Step 4. Break your 1-year goals down into 12-week goals. Remember, we can’t leave ourselves to 1-year goals. Remember how successful we tend to be with New Year’s resolutions? Me too. That’s why we need a more frequent reminder of our progress. This 12-week goal is inspired and created by Brian Moran in his book, The Twelve Week Year. Brian outlines some compelling reasons why breaking down goals and actions into 12 weeks periods produces better results than operating on a 12 month year. 12 weeks allows you enough time to accomplish large goals, but it is compressed so as not to give you time to procrastinate. Let’s look at an example. Let’s say your goal is to lose 20 lbs. If your goal is to lose 20 lbs this year, starting January 1st, you know that you have 12 months to accomplish this. You can have that cheeseburger and milkshake in February, knowing you have 10 more months to recover and get back on track. But rather, if your goal is to lose 20 lbs. in 12 weeks, that’s a little more than 1.5 lbs per week you have to lose. No room for milkshakes there. But Brian goes even further with the 12 week year to outline weekly action plans. You track your leading and lagging measures to understand how you are tracking and then project your results. This is a hyperfocused approach to achieving your goals.

Backing up to our 30,000 ft. view and reviewing our 10X goals – let’s look at something. Let’s say one of your 10X goals is to earn $1M per year in passive and/or business income 10 years from now. Without intermediate and short term goals, you could easily procrastinate that goal this entire year, making no progress towards it. But that’s ok, you still have 9 years left, which seems like forever away, right? Wrong. If you’re not taking steps every day to get you towards that goal, then how do you expect to accomplish such a large feat?

To summarize these steps – start with your vision. This anchors your goals. Then set 10X goals, and break those down into 10, 5, 3, 1, and 12 week goals. Tailor this approach how you want. Maybe you only make 10, 5, and 1-year goals. It’s up to you. The more specific you get, the more specific you can plan.

Life The Life You Want

You can choose to either live the life you want and create for yourself or live the life someone else creates for you. Your vision, reasons why, and goals are simply the tools you use to create that life. Your ideal life won’t happen accidentally. You’ll have to create it.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

So what do you want to accomplish in your life? What legacy do you want to leave behind? What do you want to think about when you’re old and reflecting on all the things you did and didn’t do in life?

Spend some time thinking about these things. You’ll come up with all sorts of ideas, thoughts, feelings, and you can use these to help start building a life you want now. No matter who you are, where you’re at in life, or what you have or haven’t accomplished so far, you are capable of creating any life you want. All you have to do is figure out what that is and do it.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone

The Twelve Week Year by Brian Moran

The Intention Journal by Brandon Tuner

The Black Sheep Mindset with Mario Mazsamuto

Jacob Ayers — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Mario Mazzamuto is an apartment syndicator, appraiser, a full-time real estate investor, a house flipper, Certified High-Performance Coach, a builder, speaker, best-selling author of the book "The Road to Success" with co-author Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul), and CEO at Black Sheep Real Estate Experts, LLC. He is a black sheep that bootstrapped both his education and career.

Although he was kicked out of high school multiple times, this didn’t hamper him to achieve success in life. Mario keeps on learning through experience. He was 14 when first working full time, and fell in love with it. He is a true definition of a word ‘workaholic’ who loves grinding every day. He has been in a real estate appraisal company for 18 years now, flipping business for almost 11 years, and running construction as well. As a certified life coach Mario is very particular with his physical and mental health while achieving his goals and vision in life.

KEY POINTS

Mindset behind both making and losing money
Creative ways to invest in real estate with no money
The power of partnerships
Why networking is important to your success
Your health is more important than any investing strategy
Tips to create a well-balanced life
How to win battles against your negative thoughts

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Getting started and overcoming it by just taking action.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Forcing myself to look at the glass half full.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Jocko Willink’s Instagram

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Awaken The Giant Within book by Tony Robbins

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don’t take it all so seriously. Just start small, start somewhere, and take that action. If you lose money, you’ll survive so don’t worry about it.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

GoBundance

Tribe of Millionaires book by David Osborn, Mike McCarthy, Pat Hiban, Tim Rhode, Hal Elrod

Mario’s Website

Mitigate Your Risks - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Hedge Your Risk

Risk, by definition, is the possibility that something bad or unpleasant will happen. We take risks, avoid them, mitigate them, and are surrounded by them at all times. From getting in our vehicles and traveling to investing our money or time, we take calculated risks every day.

We all have different levels of risk tolerance. We all have different perspectives of what risk is.

To some people, investing their time and money is a risk. To others, not investing their time and money is a risk. We don’t even always agree on what exactly risk is.

Obviously, real estate investing comes with some risk. However, not investing in real estate also comes with risk. Some people go so far as to avoid risk that they incur risks by doing nothing. Some will argue that investing is risky and to that, I say doing nothing is also risky.

There are opportunity costs of doing nothing. So this leaves us at a crossroads – risk if we do risk if we don’t. SO how do we move forwards and not let risk paralyze us.

Well luckily for real estate investors there are ways we can hedge our risk. Let’s explore those.

Force appreciation – this is one of the biggest advantages of multifamily. Since multifamily properties (5 units and larger) are largely valued on their net operating income, you can increase the value of the property by increasing the NOI.
Buy for positive cash flow – when you purchase a property that creates positive cash flow every month, you don’t have to worry about the current value of the property, current market conditions, and other things that may be somewhat out of your control. This is because whether or not the property increase in value or not, you are still getting paid to own it every single month. This gives you a lot of options.
Secure long term debt. There’s almost no other asset in which you can get a long term, 30- year, fixed-rate loan. We might not know what the future holds, but with these types of loans, you can be sure that one of your largest expenses, your mortgage, will stay the same.
Have adequate cash reserves – When you buy a cash flowing property, not only are you building up monthly income every month. If you have adequate cash reserves, you are more easily able to handle those unexpected expenses that may arise.
Buy at a discount – when you purchase a property at a discount, or wholesale price, you can provide yourself with more wiggle room to complete the project, produce positive cash flow, or achieve whatever it is you’re doing with that specific property. There are several ways you can find and buy discounted properties. Usually what you’ll look for are sign of either owner distress or physical distress of the property. These include:

Pre-foreclosures
Foreclosure auctions
Tax foreclosures
Physically distressed properties
FSBO
For rent signs

*Bonus – business entities, like LLC’s LLP’s, etc., property insurance, and equity.

As real estate investors, we’re constantly seeking asymmetric risk/return profiles, meaning the returns far outweigh the risks. The best hedge against risk is education. There’s nothing that pays a better dividend than investing in yourself. Once you understand how to protect your downside and mitigate risks, you can begin to take calculated risks that you may have once felt uncomfortable with.

Don’t let the fear of losing keep you from winning. Invest in yourself, continue to learn, and remember to look for opportunities where others see challenges.

Doing Well by Doing Good with Dave Holman

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0600

DAVE HOLMAN

When it comes to the world of real estate investing, there doesn’t have to be a distinction between doing well and doing good. Enter Dave Holman, a man on a mission to use real estate to solve problems and improve communities. Having nearly a decade of experience as a real estate investor, Dave is passionate about teaching others how to achieve doing well by doing good.

Dave’s story did not start in real estate. His first major investment took place right out of college when he co-founded a multi-lingual retail chain in Bolivia, The Spitting Llama Bookstore and Outfitter, with the hope of improving the country’s social environment and ecology. It wasn’t until five years later that he entered the world of real estate investing and brokering with a similar mission: to help benefit residents, investors, and the planet.

Dave now co-owns 94 rental units in Southern Maine, enjoying his time working with investors, owners, residents, and contractors to help with energy efficiency, syndications, and property management. In addition to investing and brokering, Dave expresses his passions through writing and is the author of three books: Youth Renewing the Countryside, Coffee Smuggler, and Cyber Fire.

KEY POINTS

Starting a real estate business from 0
How to achieve a freer-life mindset
Replicable entry into real estate from a duplex to 94 units
Finding deals through mismarketed properties
Property management best practices for investors, landlords, and tenants
Growing and scaling your portfolio by refinancing
Passive vs Active investing – the pros and cons of each and how to choose the right fit for you
Working with new immigrants and creating a win-win situation helping communities

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

No capital, so he partnered with family who had the capital and who believed in him.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Stay positive to people and to life.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Let My People Go Surfing book by Yvon Chouinard
Investment Biker book by Jim Rogers

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Try to erase some of the stigma against landlords, & wait for the right time for you.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Katahdin Property Management

Building Your Team – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Building The Best Team

Real estate investing is a team sport. You don’t have to look far to see that. Take buying an investment property for example. We’ll walk step by step through the process and look at the team it requires to be a successful real estate investor.

You, the investor, look for an investment property to purchase. Likely, that search isn’t solo. You might enlist the help of a realtor to find on-market deals, or build a direct-to-seller campaign using the help of virtual assistants, local support, and many other creative ways to find those elusive off-market deals.
Once you’ve found the perfect deal, the next step is to get it under contract. Your realtor can help with this process, or if you’re more experienced you can navigate it on your own. Using your state’s real estate commission approved real estate contract is usually a good approach.
Next, it’s time to get the financing process started. You’ll need a good lender who is experienced with investment property loans. Your lender will be able to help you apply and qualify for a loan that fits your investment strategy. They will also help and guide you through the process of getting to the closing table with the title company, and preparing the loan documents needed to close.
Behind the scenes, your title company is doing the heavy lifting, making sure the property has a clear title with no leans, encumbrances, etc. Your title company handles the transfer of the funds, working with your lender to transfer the funds to the seller, only after all the appropriate paperwork has been signed by both the buyer and seller. Finally, you’ll close on the property, and this is just the beginning.
Now you need a solid team to operate the property. You will typically enlist the help of a property manager unless you decide to self manage the property. The property manager will take care of the day-to-day activities from showing and leasing, to collecting rent, handling maintenance requests, and creating monthly P&L reports.
Keeping an accurate record of your finances is crucial. These records will feed into your tax returns and future loan applications. Hiring a bookkeeper can be a huge help in this area. If you’re just starting out, you may manage the bookkeeping on your own. I’ve found Stessa to be a great asset management software that helps me manage the finances in my portfolio.
Taxes are one of the five ways you’re paid as a real estate investor, so it’s important to make sure you’re getting the most out of it as you can. Hiring a good CPA to handle your taxes is critical. Unless you’re a CPA experienced with real estate investments, I suggest you get a good CPA on your team. They’ll be worth their weight in gold, not to mention saving you a lot of liability when you file your taxes on your own. Your CPA will be able to help maximize your deductions, consult on different tax saving strategies, and so much more. Definitely hire a good CPA, and you won’t regret it.
Investing in real estate will sometimes require you to enlist legal assistance. From dealing with tenant/landlord suits to asset protection and corporate setup, specialized attorneys can be an asset on your team. There are many different areas of law, and finding an attorney who specialized in a specific area you need is important. Ask around for references and find an attorney who will fit well on your team when you need them.

You can scale this team up or down to meet your needs. Each one of these team members will serve an important role on your team. But fortunately for you, this doesn’t mean you have to hire a team of a dozen people full time sitting in your office. You can hire each of these people for a specific task, kind of like a consultant. Other team members you may consider, depending on your specific business, are:

Partners
Investors
Syndication attorney
Cost segregation consultant
Property tax consultant

Go Far Together

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb

Real estate investing is a journey and one that you will hopefully take you far. It’s not a get rich quick way to wealth. No overnight successes, no striking it rich, and no shortcuts. Rather, building a team supported by processes and systems is the key to success. Real estate investing is said to be a people business. It’s not complicated and doesn’t require you to start up the next tech company, design a widely used app or any of that. It simply requires building or using systems, creating processes, and leveraging the experience of others to build wealth and achieve financial freedom. Starting with yourself, learn as much as you can about investing in real estate, then start building out surrounding yourself with the best team you can. One day you’ll look back at your journey to that very first deal and realize just how much you accomplished with your team.

Resources

Stessa.com

Power Up Your Real Estate with Mike Fritz

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0600

MIKE FRITZ

Mike Fritz is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, best-selling author, international speaker, coach, CEO & Founding Member of Titanium Capital Investments, and founder of Power Up Real Estate, a platform that helps people start in real estate investing, create financial freedom and enjoy the life they designed for themselves.

Currently, Mike is doing a lot of bigger deals, mainly passive multifamily investing. He developed the 10-Week Multi-Challenge, a coaching program that helps people get a property within 10 weeks.

KEY POINTS

Why it’s necessary to have a life blueprint
How your mindset affecs your success
Steps to start designing your life
The 3 important pillars of life
Mike’s Freedom Number
How to get started in real estate with house hacking
Living within your means and stretching your mindset
Investing your money to up level your mindset that will create more cash
Why mentoring and coaching are worth your investment

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Finding money/capital but overcome that by targeted and looked for seller financing low-money down deals that could generate cash for him.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

All kinds of meditation, and exercises.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Ed Mylett App for mindset training
Bigger Pockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind book by T. Harv Eker

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Focus in a single direction rather than a split direction.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The 10-Week Multi-Challenge

Email: Mike@poweruprealestate.com

The Power Up Real Estate Podcast

10 Things to Be Thankful For - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Real estate investing can be an emotional roller coaster, from the highs of closing on a home run deal to the lows of losing deals, and dealing with the many challenges that every investor faces.

10 things to be grateful for as a real estate investor:

1. You can be creative to solve problems. Being a real estate investor, your primary responsibility is that of a problem solver. Most of the time there isn’t a policy, procedure, or go-by for you to turn to. Instead you’re able to be creative in your approach to solving problems. You’re also paid in direct proportion to the size of the problems you can solve.

2. Leverage. Ahh, yes, leverage – one reason why real estate outperforms other asset classes. As a physical asset, that has historically appreciated (both due to natural appreciation combined with inflation of our currency), banks, individuals, and other institutions are willing to lend borrowers, just like you and I, money to purchase real estate, since their money is collateralized (i.e. – backed) by a physical asset. In the U.S. we’re able to borrow long-term, fixed-rate loans, often as long as 30 years, with currently historically low interest rates. This leverage allows you to spread your capital across more than just one property, and thus control more and more real estate.

3. No glass ceiling. There is no limit to your success as a real estate investor, other than the limits you place on yourself. Want to buy 1 house a year for the next 20 years? Fantastic. Want to scale your real estate portfolio to 10,000 units? More power to you!

4. Creating win/win scenarios. Real estate investors sometimes have the perception from others as greedy landlords, Scrooge McDuck type people only concerned about their own well-being. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. As real estate investors, we must create win/win scenarios for ourselves, the residents who call our property home, the communities we invest in, and our investor partners.

5. Compounding success. Real estate investing is like eating potato chips. It’s hard to have just one. This is because your success compounds with real estate. Starting out, you create a small snowball and with time it grows larger and larger, almost impossible to stop.

6. Wealth creation. Real estate investors become wealthy over time due to appreciation, principal pay down, and inflation profiting. As a property increases in value over time, the tenant is paying down your mortgage for you, all while your mortgage payment is paid back at a fixed rate in nominal dollars.

7. Financial freedom. Real estate investors grow rich in their sleep. If you follow the principles we talk about here on the show, then you’re investing in cash-flowing markets that generate positive cash flow. With enough of this passive cash flow, one can reach financial freedom. The tax benefits of investing in real estate are an added bonus, allowing you to keep more of the money you earn in your pocket.

8. Knowledge. There is a plethora of information and resources at your fingertips, from podcasts to books, meetup groups, conferences and so much more.

9. Relationships. Real estate is a team sport, and your success is directly related to the quality of your relationships. You get to develop relationships with partners, team members, the communities you invest in, and the residents who reside in your property.

10. Fulfillment. As a real estate investor, you find problems, create solutions, and are compensated for doing so. But more importantly, you’re p[providing one of the fundamentals needs of people – housing. You can see a direct impact of your actions, which gives you a sense of achievement and fulfillment.

So, there you have it – 10 reasons to be grateful as a real estate investor. So often we get caught up in our own version of the rat race – growing our portfolios, scaling our operations, becoming better investors, that we can forget to stop and remember all we have to be thankful for. This is an exercise that can be done in every aspect of your life. I encourage and challenge you to think of 10 things you’re thankful for in any aspect of life you want. Write them down, reflect on them, and use them as inspiration to continue to engineer the lifestyle you want.

Investing with Your Tribe with Travis Smith

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Travis is the founder & CEO of Tribevest. He started his career with Morgan Stanley but realized the most direct path to true wealth and financial freedom is in the private markets. He is now a partner in several investor groups (he calls Tribes) that invest in SFRs (single-family-rentals), multifamily, and commercial real estate. However, his favorite investor group is the one that enabled him to own vacation homes and even a racehorse with his Brothers. Now his obsession is to level the playing field, and he knows first hand that forming investor groups is the great equalizer. As a result, he built Tribevest, an online platform where people can assemble their tribe, align, form, and operate their own investor group.

KEY POINTS

The most direct path to true wealth and financial freedom
Leveraging the power of your tribe
Tribe Mentality, social contracts, and the great equalizer
Hurdles and stigma of investing with friends and family
How Tribevest can help people just like you
Why a lot of tribes never get started
How the Job Acts of 2012 has democratized private investments

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Travis didn't have the know-how, capital, or network but solved these challenges by forming an investor tribe.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Meditation, counting gratitude, a vision, and prayer every morning.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Bigger Pockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Mindset book by Carol S. Dweck

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Form investor tribe earlier, and told himself just how awesome the real estate is and why.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

TribeVest

Email: travis@tribevest.com

The Crossroads of Progress and Perfection - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0600

You are planning a road trip that will take you across the country, from Portland Maine driving south to Tampa, Florida. But being the perfectionist, Type-A person you are, you want to make sure everything for your trip is planned just right. That includes making sure you avoid every bit of traffic, travel when there is only good weather, and never even so much as hit a red light. Sounds ridiculous, right? With that perfect of a trip expected, you wouldn’t make it past the Casco Bay Bridge into South Portland, much less ever make it to Florida.

If you instead committed to driving to Tampa, Florida with the expectations that you will come across unforeseen circumstances along the way, then you can best prepare for those now and start your journey knowing you’ll make it to those sunny and sandy beaches regardless of what the open road challenges you with. Not to mention, you’ll have your feet in the sand before you would have even left your front door, had you waited for the world to align to your perfect conditions.

This is where so many of us find ourselves in our daily lives, although we may not realize it. We’re waiting for the perfect time to do that thing we’ve been thinking about and putting off. We want to wait for the right time, have it all figured out, and be completely prepared for every realistic and unrealistic scenario we can imagine.

We find ourselves at the crossroads of progress and perfection. On one hand, we don’t want to make any hasty moves that may incur unnecessary risk. Therefore, we put off taking action thinking we are avoiding risk. But what we often don’t realize is not taking action doesn’t mean we’re avoiding risk. In fact, not acting is a risk in itself. Darned if you do, darned if you don’t!

We are wired to avoid risk wherever possible. But this risk aversion can sometimes come at our own detriment. We may miss out on opportunities, unknowingly incur risk by staying in our same risky situation, or worse, never even experiencing the feelings of taking calculated actions and overcoming our own hurdles in life.

This is what psychologists call loss aversion, which refers to a person’s tendency to prefer avoiding losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains (Wikipedia). Simply put, it is better to not lose $5 rather than to find $5. Do you keep what you have, or strive for more?

Striving for perfection comes with opportunity costs. Opportunity cost refers to the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. In other words, you cost yourself other opportunities by striving for perfection, rather than making progress. In the tech world, when a product is being designed, the developer will release a Beta version, which its purpose is to test market conditions, receive feedback, identify bugs, and in return, the developer improves the product in iterations, based on those inputs. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, is a popular case study for this topic. Although he was a notoriously fierce perfectionist, even he released the early version of the iPhone with flaws. Think of the difference in technology between the first iPhone and the latest model. Had Steve Jobs waited to launch the iPhone until it was perfect, you might be carrying around a BlackBerry, Motorola Razr, or Nokia phone instead.

Think back to a time when you were faced with a big decision- maybe a new job offer, deciding on where to attend college, proposing to your significant other, or moving to a new place for instance. Think of the feelings and emotions you had. On one hand, you’re excited, and on the other, you’re nervous about taking that next step and reviewing all the risks that come with it. Hopefully, you thought through the decision, weighed your options, and made the decision that was best for you with the information you had at the time. That’s how I have experienced life – a series of these decisions. Your life is a culmination of the decisions you’ve made. Your thoughts, decisions, and actions have led you over the years to where you are now.

Tips for taking action:

Commit to one step, then the next. Don’t look at the entire journey, but just your next step.
Accept you’ll make mistakes. The only wrong decision is not making one.

“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.” - Eckhart Tolle

Ryan Holiday, in his book, The Obstacle is the Way, suggests you should find the obstacles in your life and focus your effort there. That is where you will find accomplishment, fulfillment, and results. So next time you’re feeling indecisive or unsure of what to do, look for the obstacle in your life and tackle it.

We each have something in our lives that we can progress, rather than perfect. For you, maybe it’s starting that new business idea, investing in that real estate deal you’ve been considering, planning that bucket list trip, or moving to that dream location. Whatever it is for you, start taking action now. Even with the smallest step, do something today that will put you one step closer to making that dream a reality. Soon enough you’ll have accomplished what once was only a dream and you’ll thank yourself for starting right now, today.

Resources

The Obstacle is the Way

Multifamily Investing with a Full Time Job with Mike Vann

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Mike has been investing in real estate for almost 20 years throughout Arkansas and Missouri while balancing a family and a full-time career in the Medical Device Industry. He has built a $6M+ personal portfolio across multiple asset classes, consisting of Single Family, Small Multifamily, Apartments & Commercial properties. Having worked in the family construction business, he gained experience in both doing the work and in project management. These skills served him well as he has completed many flips, rehabs and even a heavy lift, $7k per door apartment complex renovation over the last several years.

In 2017, after years of informally helping people through advice, mentoring and sharing his knowledge of the business, he decided to formalize and scale those efforts to help other busy professionals realize the security and freedom that can be attained through real estate investing. He is achieving those goals through apartment syndication and has since been involved in the purchase of approximately 1000 units in Kansas, Oklahoma and DFW valued in excess of $60M.

Besides educating and helping busy professionals work their way towards financial freedom, Mike enjoys being involved in local, national, and international mission work and believes “We are blessed, to be a blessing”.

KEY POINTS

Balancing real estate investing with a full-time day job
Scaling a duplex into 55+ units
Growth through doing the uncomfortable things
Tips to a successful multifamily syndication
What to look for in a potential partner
Common mistakes of a new real estate investor
Passive vs. Active investing

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Taking action.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Prayer and strong faith.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Continue educating oneself on a daily basis like reading journals and listening to podcasts.

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Rich Dad, Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki
Phenomenal Teaching book by Wendy Ward Hoffer

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start now.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Mortgage Calculator from Bankrate

Email: mike@tridentmultifamily.com

Your Environment – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 05:00:00 -0600

Every single day we're influenced by so many different things, both internally and externally. Some of these influences we may be aware of, and others influence our subconscious. These influences together make up our environment.

People make up much of your environment, but there are also other factors to your environment - your home, thoughts, health, energy, etc.

Other people, whether you realize it or not, influence your thoughts. Your thoughts guide your actions, and your actions determine your outcome. If you want to change your life, then change your environment.

There are people who give you energy, and then those that require your energy. It's important to surround yourself with positively influential people and a supportive environment.

You may have to detach from certain things in your environment. Other things you may not be able to detach from and will have to learn to limit those influences (read: family).

"You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with." - Jim Rohn

Your environment is ever changing, and with some intention, it can be for the better. Let's look at some resources to elevate your environment.

Conferences provide an environment of people and information focused on a commonality. This can be a way to find people who have the mindset, values, and success that you may be looking for. From my experiences, conferences are a great way to get around people who are doing what you want to do, think the way you want to, etc.
Meetups are like mini conferences. You can find meetup groups on meetup.com for almost anything you can imagine. These are often more social interactions where you can develop relationships in your community and find people who are interested in the same things you are. If there isn't a meetup group in your area for whatever it is you want, then go out and start one! Chances are other people are looking for that same group.
Accountability Groups are another great way to connect with people who are all moving in the same direction together. An accountability group can be an informal group of friends or peers who network together periodically and help one another achieve their desired outcomes. By providing accountability to one another, you encourage and each other to accomplish things that you may otherwise not have the personal motivation to do.
Your circle of friends has so much impact on your day-to-day thoughts, actions, and outcomes. Although most of us don't realize the effect our friends have on us, they do have quite an impact on our outcomes. Look at who you spend the most time with and evaluate what each person's positive and negative qualities are. Your circle of friends changes over time usually, considering all of your first-grade childhood friends and you have likely grown apart since then.
Online content. In a world connected by the internet, we're constantly influenced by things we see online. In fact, there are now what we call "influencers". Don't ask me what an influencer actually does. But nonetheless, it's important to be cognizant of what online content we are consuming. If you find yourself watching silly videos and scouring funny memes, then you might not be promoting as positive of an environment as compared to consuming more productive content, or following inspiring people, or learning new things.

These five things will help you elevate your environment and in turn, start to provide more positive influences in your life. Elevating your environment is a constant exercise and something you should be consistently evaluating and working towards. You yourself, just at much as other external influences, are a big influence. Think of yourself as a magnet. You can attract positive influences or you can attract negative influences. Instead of getting together with a group of friends and having a pity party about make believe obstacles while holding each other back, rather uplift others. Be the person who provides value to those around you. Be that person who everyone enjoys. One of the best ways you can do this is to listen to people more. Actively listen. Don't just wait for your turn to talk. Learn about other people. In return, you'll attract more positive people in your life, thus elevating your environment. That's what I hope I'm doing here on this podcast (although, yes I do all of the talking here haha).

Elevate your environment. Surround yourself with positive influences. Uplift others. You'll be surprised just how fast you see positive changes throughout your life. Try it and let me know what you see.

Positivity Brings Profitability with Vinney Chopra

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 06:00:00 -0600

VINNEY CHOPRA

Vinney “Mr. Smiles” Chopra returns to the podcast for his 4th appearance on the show. Vinney is a multifamily investor & syndicator, podcast host, speaker, educator, and best-selling international author. Vinney is Jacob Ayers’ mentor and partner.

In this episode, Vinney talks about how positive thinking can impact one's life and shares some tips on how to stay on top of your career and business despite this pandemic!

KEY POINTS

Why Vinney’s companies have been less affected by COVID-19
Great opportunities in multifamily investing
Real estate tips for beginners
Golden rules of goal setting
Vinney’s secret sauce to success
Multifamily Investing Academy
Time management techniques

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Apartment Syndication Made Easy book by Vinney Chopra

Positivity Brings Profitability book by Vinney Chopra

The Miracle Morning book Hal Elrod

Vinney's website

90 Day Goals – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

90 Day Goals

Does anyone feel busier now than ever before? What happened?? We’re expected to juggle family, careers, personal lives, keep up with social and political news, all while keeping our sanity. Maybe this is just me growing up and being introduced to the real world – I don’t know for sure, but it seems that we have an ever-increasing number of things vying for our attention. Every day it seems we’re inundated with information, news, social media updates, etc. Sure, some of it is good information. Others is a drain on our mental capacity. With all this noise, it can be hard to focus on our own lives. We can get wrapped up reacting to things, rather than being proactive.

While it may seem like much of the world is out of our control, and it is, we do have control over one thing, and by far the most important – ourselves. We have the ability to think how we want, make decisions, and act how we want, thus controlling our own lives. Living intentionally, I like to call this.

Living intentionally is something each of us can do. This means you can make your own decisions, have your own perspectives, learn what you want, and do what you want. With so much control over your own life, you have the ability to shape your own outcome. In that, you can find comfort amidst a busy world filled with noise.

The first step to living an intentional life is figuring out what you want. This is your vision for your own life. Your vision is just as it sounds, literally. It’s your vision for how you want your life to be. From work/life balance to family, finances, hobbies, lifestyle, travel, etc., you should visualize as specific as possible what you want your life to look like. Some questions you can ask yourself include:

· How much time do I want to spend working?

· How much time do I want to spend with family?

· How much income will I need to live the life I want?

· What ways do I want to spend my free time?

· What things are important to me that I would like to spend more energy doing?

These are all questions that will help you determine your vision. After you create an awesome vision, then ask yourself “how”. Your “how” is the goal. It’s the action step. From there, you can work backwards and create goals to achieve that vision.

That’s where I want to focus today’s Friday Fundamental – in creating those goals to live an intentional life.

There have been numerous studies that support the science that setting goals improves one’s odds of accomplishing that goal, and the odds are even further increased when the goal is written down.

Tony Robbins said, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”

Goal setting is perhaps (well, definitely), the most discussed topic here on Friday Fundamentals. From new years' resolutions to 10X goals, there are many different goal setting strategies. By far my most favorite goal setting strategy is setting 90 day goals.

Inspired by Brandon Turner’s Intention Journal and Brian Moran’s book, The 12 Week Year, this 90 day goal setting strategy is one I have found quite effective in my own life for the following reasons.

1. 90 days is not too long and not too short to make an impactful change in your life through daily actions. Setting goals, for example, 10 years out leaves a lot of time for one to procrastinate, things to change, and leaves too much to chance. Trying to achieve a big goal for example, in 7 days, might not give you enough time to make any meaningful progress. 90 days is just right. If you take consistent daily action for 90 days in a row, you will most certainly see change in your life. And after that 90 days is up, you can reset your 90 day goals and build on the progress you’ve already made.

2. You can do anything for 90 days. It’s close enough in the future that you can visualize yourself accomplishing your goal.

3. It builds momentum. After 90 days you’ll see the things you’ve accomplished and want to build on those things. You take on another 90 days, and then another, eventually building so much momentum and seeing exponential change through your daily and consistent actions.

4. You can break your 90 day goal into weekly plans, and then into daily steps giving you a step by step playbook to achieving your goals.

For these few reasons, I’ve found that people are able to make real change in their own lives by following the principles outlined by Brian Moran’s book in The 12 Week Year and tracking their progress with Brandon Turner’s Intention Journal.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “What gets measured gets done”. By measuring your progress, and holding yourself accountable to progress your goals, you will become an unstoppable force. You might not see the momentum you're building at first, but slowly and surely you’ll change your trajectory by multiples.

As Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”. Think about your own life and what you want, create an exciting vision, and make a plan to achieve that vision. The time will pass whether or not you decide to take action, so you might as well give it a shot. You’ll probably even surprise yourself with what you’re capable of doing.

The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast is brought to you by Ayers Acquisitions. Ayers Acquisitions is a real estate investment company that acquires cash-flowing real estate in emerging markets. With a focus on multifamily investments, Ayers Acquisitions seeks value-add opportunities in recession-resistant markets and properties that generate strong returns for our qualified investors.

To learn more about our investment strategies and processes, visit www.AyersAcquisitions.com. There you can schedule a call with me personally, Jacob Ayers, to connect further. As always – engineer the lifestyle you want.

House Hacking to Financial Freedom with Diego Corzo

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Diego is a sought-after Forbes featured millennial entrepreneur and real estate investor. Diego is on a path to financial freedom and aspires to help others, especially millennials, become financially free and reach their full potential. His story has now been featured in Forbes, CNN Money, Inc.com, Entreprenuer.com, Fox News, Telemundo, and Univision.

KEY POINTS

House-hacking to financial freedom with a single-family home
Finding your unfair advantage
How to have your expenses paid by other people
Ways to start real estate investing with little money
The right mindset to achieve a rich life

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
Finding the right bank that will lend to me. Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer and never gives up.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Investing in myself by going to two to three events a year.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
Dropbox
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Don’t focus on getting your first deal by hitting the home run, but just get to the first base, take action, and learn from that.

Resources

DiegoCorzo.com

Rat Race to FI

Watch Diego's Ted Talk here!

Email - info@diegocorzo.com

Connect with Diego on Social Media!

Additional Resources

GoBundance

Unleash the Power Within – Tony Robins

The Rich Life Podcast by Matt Aitchison

Velocity of Money - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Real estate investing is kinda cool, I like to think. From building long term wealth to generating residual passive income, there are some really powerful benefits to investing in real estate. One of the things that make real estate so attractive is the ability to leverage debt. When most people hear the word “debt” they automatically think “bad”. We’re told to avoid debt where possible, pay debt off as fast as possible, and become debt-free. Used wisely debt can be a tool that maximizes your wealth and income. Used incorrectly, and it goes the other way.

Good debt and bad debt, as Robert Kiyosaki defines them, are as follows. Bad debt is debt that you have to pay yourself, typically on liabilities. In this context liabilities are anything that takes money out of your pocket every month (think car loans, credit card bills, etc.). Good debt, on the other hand, is debt that someone else pays back for you, typically on assets. Assets, opposite of liabilities, are things that put money in your pocket every month (think investment properties, dividend-paying stocks, businesses, etc.).

Using debt to purchase income-producing real estate can be a great thing that magnifies your return on investment. Any time that you can achieve a higher ROI by using debt than you could without, is good leverage.

Let’s look at an example of how debt can impact your cash on cash return of a rental property.

Scenario 1: Cash Purchase

You buy a $50K rental property without using debt. This means you buy the property for all cash. The property rents for $500/month.

Your expenses for insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management total $200/month.

Your cash flow is $300/month or $3,600/year. $3,600 divided by your investment of $50,000 = 7.2% cash on cash return.

Scenario 2: Using Debt

You buy the same $50K rental property in Scenario 1, but this time you use debt. With a 20% down payment of $10,000, you borrow $40,000 at 4% for 30 years (a typical fixed-rate mortgage).

The property rents for $500/month.

Your expenses for insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management total $200/month.

Your mortgage is $191/month. Total expenses including mortgage = 391

Your cash flow is $109/month or $1,308/year. $1,308 divided by your down payment of $10,000 = 13.08% cash on cash return.

Even further – let’s look at appreciation. Let’s say the $50K property appreciated at 5%, to a value of $52,500. This is a gain in equity of $2,500.

Scenario 1: Cash Purchase

$2,500 in equity gain / $50,000 = 5%

Scenario 2: Using Debt

$2,500 in equity gain / $10,000 = 25%

Notice here that the amount of equity you have in your property does not matter. The property appreciated, regardless of your equity position. Both scenarios have the same appreciation rate of 5%. However, in scenario 2 using leverage, your return is 5x that without using leverage.

As my good friend Keith Weinhold from Get Rich Education says, the rate of return on equity is and always will be 0%.

Alright, so that’s the case for using debt to invest in cash-flowing real estate.

Velocity Of Money

Let’s talk more about how to keep your money and, more importantly, other people’s money working for you. Knowing now that the rate of return on equity is and always will be 0%, we want to manage and minimize to a certain level the amount of equity we keep in an investment property. This can be done through several ways, once of which is doing a cash out refinance.

A cash out refinance is simply taking out a new loan on your investment property, paying off the original loan, and pocketing the difference. Let’s look at an example of this.

You buy a duplex for $55,000. With a long term fixed-rate loan, you put down 20%, or $11,000

Through a lot of sweat equity and hard work, you fix the place up, paint the interior and exterior, update the hardware and finishes, and do some kitchen and bathroom upgrades. You know have the property looking good, and fully occupied with each unit renting for $550 per month.

2 years later, you realize that the properties in your area are selling for much higher than you bought yours just 2 years ago. Most of this is due to you buying the property off-market and partly due to an appreciating market. Knowing that you likely have a significant amount of equity in the property (what it’s worth minus what you owe) and decide to explore a refinance to capture some of that equity to put to work in another property.

After talking with your lender and applying for a new loan, the appraisal for your property comes back at $110K, coincidentally 2x what you paid for it 2 years ago. This means you have significant equity in the property. Now some would think to pay down the property and be debt-free. But all that equity is trapped in the property then and not working for you. As the savvy real estate investor, you are, you want to capture that equity and roll it to another property.

So you are able to refinance your property leaving a healthy 30% equity position in the property, and borrowing 70% of the $110K. This means the bank will lend you $77K, which you use to pay off your existing loan of $43K (it started at $44k, but you’ve paid it down over 2 years). You take the $77K, pay off $43K, and are left with $34K to use at your discretion. You could go to Cabo, buy a new car, or roll that money into another investment property.

Doing this, you are maximizing the velocity of money while using the power of leverage. This is how you can snowball a real estate investment into real estate empire.

Categorizing Your Goals

Using debt, maximizing leverage, controlling more assets, and taking on more good debt are concepts that may seem counter-intuitive at first. But so is being wealthy. To be wealthy, look at what other wealthy people do. If this sounds unusual to you, I encourage you to think more about it, talk with other people who have built real estate portfolios, and see for yourself how using debt to buy cash flowing real estate can help you build the life you want.

Resources

Get Rich Education

Building a Real Estate Business with Pete Barrow

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Pete Barrow

Pete Barrow, along with his sons Sam and Isaac, founded Parrot Property Group, a family-owned business based in Indianapolis. They focus on providing the reliability and responsiveness that you need in order to make your real estate investment a success. Parrot Property Group has a team of 5 members with approximately 80 years of combined experience in construction and real estate investing.

Parrot Property Group provides a full-service solution for real estate investors in Indianapolis. From acquisitions consulting to leasing and property management, they do it all.

Key Points

Making real estate investing a family business
Buying a package of duplexes with an investor
Seeking out a real estate market – what to look for
Branding and marketing
Direct mail campaigns to motivated sellers

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Lack of money. With a long-time customer who was willing to put up capital on that package of duplexes, Parrot Property Group was born.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Pete and everyone in the business enjoys working.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Pete enjoys podcasts and leans on YouTube for many of his projects

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don’t follow your dream unless it makes sense.

Resources

Parrot Property Group

Pete Barrow’s BiggerPockets Profile

Visit Audible for a free trial, and a free audiobook download

Partnerships, Teams, & Passive Investing - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Often times in life it isn’t what you know but rather, it’s who you know. You’ve probably heard this before. This is because, in part, you can’t possibly know everything. Heck, you probably don’t even know half of what you need to know!

In business, life, and everything in between, there are constantly new challenges you face. Sometimes you don’t even foresee the challenges coming because, well you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s why it’s important to surround yourself with a team. Your team can consist of partners, mentors, and coaches, among many others.

Elite athletes surround themselves with coaches, mentors, and a great team. Even young kids have coaches and instructors for sports, dance, band, etc. Growing up, you are surrounded by teachers in school, mentors in your parents, and a team of friends and family. In business, the same should apply. You need a team to help you grow and excel.

Real estate investing is a team sport. Whether you are investing actively, or passively, your team is the most important factor in your success. Your team will be made up of property managers, brokers, accountants, attorneys, and other roles that you'll need throughout your real estate investing journey.

It’s important t le. As Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. You already have a team, whether you realize it or not. There are people in your life who act as your coaches, mentors, partners, and friends. Your team is fluid and will change over time.

Let’s look at some roles you can consider when building your team. These can be tailored towards your goals, but are a good starting point.

A mentor. A mentor will help guide you and encourage you to reach your goals. Usually, a mentor is more experienced in the same area you are in and knows what you should do in order to get where you want to be. It’s important to find a mentor whose values align with yours, and whom you trust.
A coach. A coach will accelerate your progress and help you achieve your goals much faster. A good coach will help you navigate from where you are currently to where you want to be, with specific and actionable advice. Your coach should challenge you, make you see new perspectives, and push you past your comfort zone. Find a coach who expands your mindset and makes you think bigger.
A partner. Your partner(s) should share your same vision for the future. You should have similar goals and be willing to put in work together to achieve those. But you don’t have to find a partner that is just like you. Actually, you need a partner whose strengths complement your weaknesses. A partnership should be complementary, not supplementary.
A sphere of influence. These are your friends, family members, and peers. Not everyone will support you and promote your best interests, and not necessarily in ill will. Some people just aren’t on the same path as you. Your sphere of influence is your network of people who you surround yourself with on a day-to-day basis. These people will influence you directly and indirectly with their thoughts, actions, and inactions. Be careful who you spend your time with because you’ll be the average of them.
Brokers, accountants, attornies, property managers,

A mentor, coach, partners and your circle of close friends can elevate you to new highs. They can help you reach new levels of success, and in return, you can help them too. These relationships are all about creating win-win scenarios.

Partnerships

Partnerships can be a great way to grow and scale. An ideal partner is one whose strengths complement your weaknesses and vise versa. Whether you invest actively, or passively a great partner can be the key to your success.

If you're a passive investor, then you're relying on your partner to build these teams and make these connections for you. We'll talk more about that in an upcoming episode with Travis Watts, a full-time passive investor.

Guarding Your Team

Building a team may sound like just another responsibility to add to your plate. It might sound like it will just slow you down, cost you money, and distract you from taking action now. But that is not the case. A team will help you go further in your journey, avoid distractions, focus on the big picture, and grow your mindset. There are some limiting beliefs around partners too. Some people don’t want to partner with other people because that means they’ll have to share the rewards of the business. This is a limiting belief and that should be avoided. A piece of a watermelon is better than an entire grape.

Like we mentioned, you have a team now whether you realize it or not. Guard that team, and don’t let people into your life who don’t support you and want what’s best for you.

Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you, people who care about your success, and people who help you grow. In return, be that same person for others. With the right team, you’ll find yourself reaching your goals, expanding your mindset, and new opportunities you never even imagined opening up. So build your team, take action, and continue to be the best version of yourself.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Success in Short Term Rentals with Avery Carl

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Avery Carl bought her ﬁrst rental property at age 26 on a 37,000 salary. Through strategically investing in short term rental properties in mature vacation rental markets, she was a millionaire by 31. She now owns a portfolio of 29 properties and is the CEO and founder of the Short Term Shop, a real estate team that helps investors acquire short term rental properties in the most recession-resistant markets, and trains them on the methods that led her out of the corporate rat race and into ﬁnancial freedom.

KEY POINTS

Short term vs. long term rental properties
Mature vacation rental markets vs. metro markets
3 types of markets
Mature vacation rental markets (regional)
Metro Markets
National Vacation Destinations
Self-management of short term rentals remotely, from anywhere
Analyzing a potential vacation rental for optimal ROI and cash on cash return
How to finance short term rentals
How to manage your online reputation

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Saving the first down payment. Avery made the sacrifice to live with a very frugal life together with his husband.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Waking up very early in the morning.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

BiggerPockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Long-Distance Real Estate Investing book by David Greene

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Get started investing sooner.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Short Term Shop

Email: info@theshorttermshop.com

Bigger Pockets Episode

The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast is brought to you by Ayers Acquisitions. Ayers Acquisitions is a real estate investment company that acquires cash-flowing real estate in emerging markets. With a focus on multifamily investments, Ayers Acquisitions seeks value-add opportunities in recession-resistant markets and properties that generate strong returns for our qualified investors.

To learn more about our investment strategies and processes, visit www.AyersAcquisitions.com. There you can schedule a call with me personally, Jacob Ayers, to connect further. As always – engineer the lifestyle you want.

Negotiating Seller Financing – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Lately, I’ve been talking about seller financing. In Episode 319, we explored what seller financing means, how to identify scenarios where it works best, and why it works for both the buyer and seller. Today let’s talk more about how to negotiate seller financing. If you haven’t listened to Ep. 319, I recommend go give that a listen – it’s less than 15 minutes. For a quick recap, let’s revisit first what seller financing is.

Seller financing is when the seller finances the property for the buyer. Sometimes this is called “carrying the note”, “holding the paper”, and even sometimes “rent-to-own”, although that last term is oftentimes misused. Seller financing entails the current owner/seller letting the buyer make payments directly to him or her, rather than requiring the buyer to go out and get a loan from a bank and paying the entire purchase price upfront. As such, the seller is financing the property for the buyer, hence the term “seller financing”.

To successfully negotiate seller financing, it helps to understand the benefits to not only you but more importantly to the seller. These benefits include:

The seller will make a return on the money they lend the buyer. Rather than taking the proceeds from a traditional sell and putting it all in, let’s say a savings account earning 0.01%, the seller could lend you the money earning 4%, 6%, or whatever interest rate that you agree to. Whatever that rate is, it’s likely much higher than what they could expect by putting that money back in the bank in a savings account, CD, etc.
The seller can still get a large initial payment in the form of a down payment.
Carrying the note allows the seller to still “invest” while being more passive. Rather than managing the property, collecting rents, and being responsible for maintenance, the seller can instead sit back and cash your mortgage checks every month, while earning a return on their money.
Tax deferral. This may be the biggest benefit to the seller of any. If the seller sells their property for all cash (assume the buyer is borrowing the purchase amount from a bank), then the seller will be responsible for paying capital gains tax (assuming they owned the property for greater than 1 year). By agreeing to seller financing, they spread their tax liability out over a greater amount of time. I highly recommend you talk with your CPA and urge the seller to do the same. Everyone’s tax situation is different. But this can often help the seller avoid a large tax liability, and that point alone should always be highlighted.
There are costs with selling any real estate. Agents fees, bank fees, closing costs, title work, etc. With seller financing, many of those costs are minimized and some are avoided altogether

Once you have a good understanding of the benefits of seller financing you can begin to craft different pitches and selling points. Remember, just because you’re buying a property, doesn’t mean you’re not selling both yourself, as a reputable and knowledgeable investor, but you’re also selling the idea of seller financing.

You’ll also have to overcome objections and concerns from the buyer. Knowing these common objections and concerns from the seller’s perspective will help you be more prepared in overcoming those and being able to provide solutions to them. Some common objections are:

The dreaded “Due on sale” clause in many mortgages. This is a clause in many mortgages that says the mortgage can be called due upon the sale of the property. In other words, if you sell your property, you have the pay the bank. Makes sense, especially from the bank’s perspective. I’ve personally never heard of a note being called due, especially if it’s performing (or being paid in other words). There are many more experienced people than I that will tell you the same thing. There are even attorneys that refute the notion that seller financing is a sale. They contend that it’s an agreement to sell, rather than a sale. This is often the biggest objection to seller financing from the owner. I would always recommend the owner to do what they are comfortable with, and point them towards knowledge resources from attorneys, etc. They can even talk to their lender. Sometimes lenders are okay with this type of agreement.
Concern about the legitimacy of turning over keys for monthly payments. Have an attorney who specialized in real estate law write a specific contract for this transaction. This will protect both parties and ensure that the agreement will be upheld.
Receiving payments over time, rather than the entire sale price at once.

Tax deferral
Interest on their money
A better option than putting the money in a low yield account.

Understanding both the benefits to the seller and how to overcome objections will help you better negotiate seller financing and ultimately create win-win scenarios. Seller financing isn’t always the right solution, but when it is, it can be a great opportunity for you, as the investor, to purchase an investment property and at the same time help the property owner.

In Episode 319 I mentioned a few books on the topics of negotiation and communication:

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Exactly What to Say by Phil Jones
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Of course, don’t listen to me when it comes to legal and tax advice. I know practically nothing. Have a CPA and real estate attorney advise you on these subjects; it’s imperative. Don’t take my advice as that of a professional.

I hope you learned something you may not have realized about seller financing. When it all comes together, it’s a great solution for both the buyer and seller. After all, as a real estate investor, you are a problem solver and you get compensated in direct proportion to the level of problems you can solve. So add this to your toolbox, and make offers. I challenge you to look for opportunities where seller financing may work and make an offer this week. I look forward to hearing how it goes for you!

The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast is brought to you by Ayers Acquisitions. Ayers Acquisitions is a real estate investment company that acquires cash-flowing real estate in emerging markets. With a focus on multifamily investments, Ayers Acquisitions seeks value-add opportunities in recession-resistant markets and properties that generate strong returns for our qualified investors.

To learn more about our investment strategies and processes, visit www.AyersAcquisitions.com. There you can schedule a call with me personally, Jacob Ayers, to connect further. As always – engineer the lifestyle you want.

Scaling with Syndication with Dylan Marma

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Dylan Marma is a principal of The Requity Group, a real estate investment company focused around the acquisition and operation of mobile home parks and multifamily real estate. He has been a principal on over $50M in real estate transactions over the last 4 years. Dylan is co-founder of a software platform, Equity Tree, focused around helping real estate investors raise capital and improve investor reporting. He has been featured on dozens of podcasts and has spent hundreds of hours doing real estate consulting for professionals in the space.

KEY POINTS

Accounting education to transitioning into real estate
The law of the first deal
Scaling with multifamily syndications
How to get started with little capital
The importance of investing in yourself
How to find the right partners in business
Leveraging experience from partners
Traits of a successful investor
Actionable tips for beginning real estate investors
How technology is impacting real estate

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Not knowing where to start but being with experience people inspires and helped Dylan to learn.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Reading a lot of books

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Principles book by Ray Dalio

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Asana

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start a business & get the entrepreneurial experience sooner. The sooner the better.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Begin with the End in Mind- Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0600

When starting any new venture you think about what your goals are, what the end product or result looks like, and then start building towards those. This goes for any new sport or hobby you pick up, your education, career, and your life. When you take this approach, you are building the foundation for your success. Begin with the end in mind is a phrase many have heard.

Beginning with the end in mind isn’t just some fancy phrase though. It has quite the merit. See, when you start with the end in mind you have to visualize and contemplate what that end thing is. That could be a status, a product, a result, or a number of other things. It provides a framework for you to strive towards, benchmark progress, and serves as a target for you to aim at. But most importantly and most excitingly, this creation can be anything you want. You can set the bar as high as you want, only limited by your imagination. Once you identify what the end goal looks like for you, then you can use that as motivation to get up every day and strive towards achieving that goal. This for me is where the real value is.

Stephen Covey details this “Begin with the end in mind” in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen writes that when you begin with the end in mind, things are created twice. You create something first in your mind or conceptually. The second time is when you create it physically, or in reality. He goes on to use an example of building a home. You would first design the home how you want, designing the floor plan to fit your needs, visualizing the details of the finishings, etc. Then you would begin to create the blueprints, all before ground is ever broken. Only once you have created every detail conceptually, then would you start building and creating your new home.

One of the principles here on The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast is “Engineer the lifestyle you want”. This is a very similar principle to beginning with the end in mind. In order to engineer something, one must understand what the finished product looks like, thus beginning with the end in mind.

If you’re not sure what journey you are on just yet, this might seem like a difficult exercise – to begin with the end in mind. You might not yet know what that end result looks like for you yet, and that’s ok. With some thoughts and self-reflection, you can begin to shape that end and put it into tangible thoughts, words, and eventually actions. Let’s look at how.

Engineer Your Lifestyle

Beginning with the end in mind, you must first have well, an end in mind. So let’s take a look at some ways you can visualize and create your own end.

Imagination. Look at your future as a blank slate, and you can put anything you want on it. This starts to free up your imagination and allows you to be creative in building the life you want.
Rescript your thoughts. Much of the way you view your future is based on something you were taught or learned earlier in your life. You may have to redefine these things if they do not align with your desired outcomes.
Create your own personal mission statement, from which you can base your principles. Your personal mission statement outlines what is important to you, what you stand for, and how you want to live your life.

These three steps will put you on the path to identifying and creating your end. Starting with these, you can begin to envision your future, change your reality with your thoughts, and create a framework that will guide you in your approach.

Journey

Beginning with the end in mind is ultimately identifying something to strive towards. This target will help you visualize the path you want to take in life, and give you something to aim toward. The real journey is in your day-to-day quest to live the life you want. Use your imagination to create whatever result you want, whether that’s in your business, career, family, or anything else. Understand that whatever you can imagine is possible. Pursue your goals each and every day by doing something that moves your forward step by step. When you start with the end in mind, make constant progress towards that end goal, and never quit, you will have pushed yourself to new heights and have achieved whatever it is you set your mind to.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Real Estate Technology with Jake Marmulstein

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:00:00 -0600

JAKE MARMULSTEIN

Jake is an entrepreneur and business executive, a technology-centric guy, and the President & CEO of the Real Estate Investment Tech SaaS company, Groundbreaker Technologies. It is the most easy-to-use technology available for capital fundraising and investor management, built by real estate investors for real estate investors.

He grew up in an entrepreneurial family in the restaurant industry. He got his start in the real estate space as an analyst working for a Real Estate Investment Trust. Working there, Jake identified the need for investment management software, typically only available to private equity firms, family offices, and high net-worth companies, to real estate investors, syndicators, and people just like you. From there, Jake founded and launched Groundbreaker.co.

In this interview, Jake explains the software overview of Groundbreaker and how it helps real estate investors and syndicators!

KEY POINTS

The competitive advantage of adapting digital technology in the real estate space
How Groundbreaker helps real estate syndicators and investors
Features to consider with investment management software
How Groundbreaker enables you to scale with funding and managing deals
How technology is impacting the world of real estate investing - pre and post COVID-19 era

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Getting started, Jake didn’t know what he was doing. His solution was to act like he knew what he’s doing and started gaining experience.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

When in a conversation, Jake always asks questions to develop better relationships with people and get to "why".

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Both Sides of the Table blog

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Atomic Habits book by James Clear

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don't use age as a factor in doing something. If you want it bad, go out and figure it out, do it, and get started early.

The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast is brought to you by Ayers Acquisitions. Ayers Acquisitions is a real estate investment company that acquires cash-flowing real estate in emerging markets. With a focus on multifamily investments, Ayers Acquisitions seeks value-add opportunities in recession resistant markets and properties that generate strong returns for our qualified investors.

RESOURCES

GroundBreaker.co

Code: therealestateway

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

An Infinite Return – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Let's jump right into two scenarios. We're going to compare two different fourplexes, each located in a different market.

Fourplex #1 is $250,000.
Fourplex #2 is $750,000.

Which is the better deal? If you said #1, you're wrong. If you said #2, you're also wrong. Why is that? Well, we don't have enough information to decide. Let's look deeper into the psychology that price plays. As real estate investors, the purchase price of a property is often the first thing we look at. However, price is not the most important number when analyzing a real estate investment. Before you hit stop and think I've lost my mind, or have a rich uncle with deep pockets, let me explain!

You may have even heard the term "you make money when you buy the property", or something along those lines. So wouldn't purchase price be a critical factor? Let's go back to our two fourplexes.

Fourplex #1 is in rural Kentucky. It's a 1970's construction, Class C property with more deferred maintenance you would prefer. The total rents per month are $2,000.

Fourplex #2 is in the heart of Austin, Texas. It's a 2000's construction, great location with proximity to high paying jobs, and has upgraded finishings throughout. This is a Class A property. The total rents are $8,000 per month.

Which is the better deal? While it's still hard to say, we can start to see that the rent to value ratios for fourplex #2 are a good amount higher than they are for fourplex #1. If we continued our analysis comparing property taxes, insurance, operating expenses, etc. we would come down to the metric that really matters to us, as real estate investors - cash flow. Cash flow is important because it allows us to do several things:

We can hold the property as long as we need, and not have to sell during a down market, compared to if we were buying for appreciation.
The cash flow we make is profit in our pockets.
By having a positive cash flow, we know the property sustains itself and won't require additional capital investment.
We can reinvest the cash flows and exponentially scale our real estate portfolio.

Cash Flow

Real estate cash flow is the economic driver in our investment decisions. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure what will happen in my market next year, the year after, or anytime into the future. I would rather buy a property that creates positive cash flow, so that I can hold on to it for as long as I want, and possibly even my entire life.

Another metric that we can use to compare properties is the Cash-on-Cash Return (CoC). This is the ratio of annual cash flows to the total amount of cash invested (down payment, closing costs, and repair costs). Let's take our Fourplex #2 in Austin, Texas as an example. We purchased it for $750,000 and put the traditional 20% down ($150,000). With monthly rents of $8,000 let's assume we're cash flowing $1,500 per month, or $18,000 per year. That means our Cash-on-Cash Return is $18,000/$150,000 = 12%

An Infinite Return

Continuing down this path, let's look further into the future. This property is in Austin, Texas where the population is growing, jobs are moving to, and the demand is increasing. Our rents and property values continue to rise over the next 5 years. Eventually, we've built up significant equity in our fourplex. But as we know, the rate of return on equity is..... 0! So we decide to refinance our fourplex and cash out our equity. For the sake of not getting too deep in the number here, let's assume we're able to refinance for a higher loan amount, and we can pull out $150,000 in equity, which just so happens to be the exact amount of money that we put into the property with our down payment initially. Our new cash flows are now only $1,000 per month. But let's look at something really vital here. We want to calculate our CoC Return now. Our annual cash flows divided by our total amount of cash invested. Our annual cash flows are $12,000 per year divided by our total amount of cash invested, which is $0. $12,000/$0 = an infinite return on your investment.

This means that all that cash flow you receive is free money to you. You no longer have any of your money in the property, and every dollar you make is an infinite return! You have just unlocked the power of true wealth creation! So now that you have your $150,000 originally invested in your fourplex back in your pocket, you could go do this again and again, snowballing your portfolio, while generating passive income along the way and building wealth. This is The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom.

Buying Your First Multifamily Property with Sterling White

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Sterling White is an investor and business owner on a mission to make the world a better place through principled and efficient real estate investment.

Before transitioning to multi-family, Sterling had been involved with the purchasing and selling of 100+ single-family properties. Today his focus is on purchasing income-producing multi-family properties while scaling his 300+ unit portfolio across the nation through the company he Co-Founded, Holdfolio.

The success of Holdfolio’s technology gave birth to SyndicationPro, a fast-growing all in one software solution empowering investors to efficiently and easily raise capital online.

Key Points

No capital, no experience – what you can do
Find and buy your first multifamily property
Building your team for a successful syndication
Leveraging your partner’s experience using “The Power of We”
Off-market strategies – cold calling, personal visits, follow-ups, etc.

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Fear of failure. By taking on a huge challenge of completing a Guinness World Record for the world’s fasted fireman carry for 1 mile. By acknowledging defeat, Sterling realized that at the end of the failure,

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Training in sales every day – reading books and Grant Cardone’s Cardone University.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Cardone University

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Find a mentor to work with, and work for them for free.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Holdfolio

SyndicationPro

Sterling White’s BiggerPockets profile

Creating Your Own Outcome - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Spontaneity, adventure, and excitement are things that we crave. Then, on the other hand, we also want predictability, stability, and security. We’re fickle beings, I tell ya! Today we’re going to drill down on predictability. There are certain areas of life we want to be able to predict and have control over – like health, wealth, and happiness. As much as we want to be able to control the future, we all know there are things that are simply out of our control, completely unpredictable, and have the ability to shape our future.

When we make plans or set goals, there are always twists and turns in the road. No matter how much we prepare, plan, and organize there are always unforeseen events. Events in this context could mean anywhere from political impacts, tax changes, and economic uncertainties, all the way down to personal habits and reactions, psychology, and the ever happening “life” getting in the way. For the most part, we cannot control what events happen to us. But what we can control is the outcome of those events. Now you may be thinking, “How can I control the outcome of events that are out of my control?”. Great question.

I wish I could take credit for this simple yet profound formula. This comes from a book called “Wealth Can’t Wait” by David Osborn and Paul Morris. In the book, David and Paul layout a simple formula that is:

Event + Response = Outcome

Events, as we just defined and provided some examples, are things that happen to us. From minor events to life-changing ones, there are constant things that are happening to us that affect our outcome. But these events alone are not the only part of the equation. In fact, events aren’t even the most important variable. Your response to the event is much more important in creating an outcome.

The Variable You Can Control

How you respond to an event is up to you. It’s the variable that you can control if you’re conscious about it. You have the ability to perceive an event any way you want. That could be positive, negative, or neutral. If you go around perceiving events as negative, then guess what? The outcome will be negative. But if you perceive every event as a positive or at least search for the positive in an event, then your outcomes will be positive. Let’s look at a few ways you can improve your response.

Look at events as temporary. No matter how good or how bad an event may be, it’s just temporary. That feeling you have to it will eventually change. Knowing this in the time of a negative event can help you move past it, look to the bright side, and produce a positive outcome given the situation.
Be optimistic. You have to perceive events as something, either positive, negative, or neutral. Why not choose positivity? Your outcomes will be positive, rather than negative or neutral.
Be conscious of your responses. It can be easy to react rather than respond. When you react, you are doing so automatically without considering the implications of your thoughts and actions. When you respond, you are doing so with intention.

Vinney, Mr. Smiles, Chopra, who I consider a great friend and coach, is one of the best practitioners of positivity. You may know him from his guest appearances here on the podcast. Vinney exudes positivity in everything he does. And guess what that gets him. He’s always happy and helping others, not to mention wildly successful. Imagine if Vinney instead exhibited a “poor me” attitude? He likely wouldn’t be where he is today.

Staying Above The Line

Not all events are positive. Unfortunately, there are negative events that do happen. But with every event, there is something you can learn from it, and that in itself is positive. You can’t avoid what would be negative events, no matter what you do. There will always be bumps and twists in your journey. That’s part of life. Learn to respond to those events in a way that will help you constantly learn and grow, continuing on your path to success. You are in control of your response, and in turn are in control of your own outcomes. So make the most of your journey. Push yourself outside your comfort zone, help others do the same, and build the life you want.

Mobile Home Investing with Jay and Samera Harvey

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Jay and Samera Harvey are the Founders of Trailer Cash Academy, the fastest-growing mobile home investing education and training program in the US. Their passion is to educate and mentor beginner investors on how to close their first deal with a unique niche in real estate of mobile home investing.

Jay and Samera started their mobile home investing journey in 2017 after losing over $90,000 in unsuccessful real estate deals. In 3 short years, they have completed over 400 mobile home transactions and perfected the process of creating quick cash and cash flow using basic real estate strategies in mobile homes parks.

KEY POINTS

Leveraging mobile homes to create financial and time freedom
The stigma of investing in mobile homes
Balancing life/work while transitioning from a day job to a full-time real estate investors
Benefits of investing in mobile homes directly
Mobile home investing insider’s wealth secrets
Rules of thumb when analyzing mobile homes
Developing a winner’s mindset despite losing over $90,000 in unsuccessful real estate deals

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Jay: There were so many different avenues to choose from and didn’t know which one best fit us to get closer to our goals.
Samera: Hard to know who to trust, but through some mistakes, we're learning the process to choose partners that values align with ours.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Jay: Fuel my body with 30 minutes of working out and sweating every day.
Samera: Working out with Jay, taking the time to really focus on gratitude, reflection & meditation in the morning.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Active Campaign
Google Calendar

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

High-Performance Habits book by Brendon Burchard
The Calling book by Rha Goddess

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Jay: Get started to focus on where your money, time, energy, desire, and faith is going, and start to create a grand vision for your life.
Samera: Get out of the bar, really focus on how to become more in yourself, build good habits, become who you are and where you want to become.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Trailer Cash Academy website

Trailer Cash Academy YouTube

Seller Financing – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Ahhh, the elusive seller financing. The unicorn of transactions in the real estate world. You may have heard of it, know of someone who has successfully closed a deal with it, or even have done it yourself. If you haven’t or have and want to do more, we going to first explore what exactly seller financing means, identify scenarios where it works best, and uncover ways to pitch it and make it work. Ready? Let’s go!

You might be thinking to yourself “Why would a seller agree to payments rather than a lump sum?”. That’s a great question and one that many sellers ask themselves when posed with this option. Before we get into overcoming objections like this among others, let’s next look at the advantages and disadvantages for each side of a seller-financed transaction.

Advantages

Let’s start with the obvious advantages to the buyer.

The buyer doesn’t have to qualify for a loan with a traditional lender and go through all the processes that come with that – providing financial statements and tax returns, loan applications, loan fees, and not to mention all the time that entire process takes.
The buyer can negotiate terms directly with the seller. From down payments to interest rates and amortization schedules. Try doing that with your local bank and see how far you get.
The buyer can more easily take title to a property in an LLC. Especially on smaller deals, banks are sometimes hesitant to loan to LLCs. Until you get to larger commercial deals with Fannie/Freddie loans, banks want to have the recourse of your name on the loan. With seller financing, you can more easily build in that non-recourse option.

There are of course advantages to the seller. You should be keenly aware of these and how to present them if you hope to convince a owner of seller financing.

The seller will make a return on the money they lend the buyer. Rather than taking the proceeds from a traditional sell and putting it all in, let’s say a savings account earning 0.01%, the seller could lend you the money earning 4%, 6%, or whatever interest rate that you agree to. Whatever that rate is, it’s likely much higher than what they could expect by putting that money back in the bank in a savings account, CD, etc.
The seller will still get a lump sum payment in the form of a down payment.
Carrying the note allows the seller to still “invest” while being more passive. Rather than managing the property, collecting rents, and being responsible for maintenance, the seller can instead sit back and cash your mortgage checks every month, while earning a fixed rate interest on their money.
Tax deferral. This may be the biggest benefit to the seller of any. If the seller sells their property for all cash (assume the buyer is borrowing the purchase amount from a bank), then the seller will be responsible for paying capital gains tax (assuming they owned the property for greater than 1 year). By agreeing to seller financing, they spread their tax liability out over a greater amount of time. I highly recommend you talk with your CPA and urge the seller to do the same. Everyone’s tax situation is different. But this can often help the seller avoid a large tax liability, and that point alone should always be highlighted.
There are costs with selling any real estate. Agents fees, bank fees, closing costs, title work, etc. With seller financing many of these costs are minimized and some are avoided altogether.

There are some disadvantages to seller financing.

It’s up to both parties to work together to make the deal happen. There likely isn’t an intermediate (real estate agent) helping broker the deal.
It can be difficult to come to terms, especially if one party isn’t experienced in this type of transaction.
The interest rate or other terms may not be as competitive as a bank will offer, resulting in a higher cost of capital for the buyer.
The seller and buyer must trust one another to perform each of their obligations. A good contract will help with this (more on this later)

There are obvious advantages to seller financing, but it doesn’t come without it’s fair share of challenges too. You may find better odds of successfully negotiating seller financing with certain types of properties and sellers than others. This strategy likely won’t work as well with a new construction single-family home listed on the MLS, as it would with an off-market distressed duplex.

Some indicators of possible seller financing include:

For sale by owner (FSBO)
High equity
Distressed property
Tax liens
Pre-Foreclosures
(https://www.foreclosure.com/)
(https://www.propstream.com/)
Out of state owners
Eviction notices
Municipal fines

Treat this seller financing like another tool in your toolbox. Sometimes it can be the right tool for the job, and other times it will be like trying to hammer a screw. It’s up to you to solve problems. With seller financing, you have one more strategy in your skillset that can help you solve a property owner’s problem. Being able to explain the advantages of seller financing will help you create win-win scenarios for both you and the seller.

As a bonus, I recommend improving your negotiation and communication skills A few resources that I’ve found helpful are:

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Exactly What to Say by Phil Jones
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Millionaire Mindset with Mike McCarthy

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Mike McCarthy is an entrepreneur, speaker, and bestselling author, as well as regional owner of the Keller Williams Greater PA Region, overseeing 50 offices and 8.5k agents who closed over 52k units in 2018 for $14 billion. Mike attributes his success to his own grit, but also to the individuals who have kept him on track. In 2015, Mike was named CEO of GoBundance, a fast-growing peer group of successful men who understand one another’s unique set of needs and hold each member accountable to his own high standards, all in pursuit of helping one another plan, execute and achieve their financial and lifestyle goals.

Since the inception of GoBundance, new members have been added to the tribe each year. Today, membership has grown to over 200.

In addition to serving as co-founder and CEO of GoBundance, Mike is the co-author of Tribe of Millionaires and the founder of FamBundance, a mastermind community for entrepreneurial families. He is also a LEAF Certified Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator, where he designs and delivers high-level group collaborations in high-stake scenarios. His GoBros affectionately refer to Mike as “McLovin,” and he resides in Austin with his wife and two children.

Key Points

How your environment shapes your destiny
A powerful purpose can help you overcome the greatest obstacles
How evolution has wired accountability into our very nature
Discovering your purpose through being present

The 6 Effects From Tribe Of Millionaires

Let’s look at a few ways you can grow, change, and control your mindset.

The Influence Effect – Your destiny is shaped by those around you
The Multiplier Effect – The right group of people compounds your efforts
The Accountability Effect – Responsibility to others is the world’s most powerful force
The Authenticity Effect – You find your true self among those you trust
The Purpose Effect – The right people reveal your richest source of power
The Connection Effect – Your life will be measured by the quality of your relationships

Resources

Financial Underdogs Podcast

GoBundance.com

1LifeFullyLived.org

Connect with Mike at GoMikeMcCarthy.com

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Start With Why - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Ok, so it’s June at the time of this recording. 6 months into the year. 6 months into your new year's resolutions. I know, I know. I’m not here to harp on you for letting those be nothing more than a distant memory. After all, who could have predicted the things 2020 has brought so far. If you have slipped up on some of those new years resolutions, well I have news for you – you’re not alone. I have a good handful of things that aren’t tracking so well – some in my control, and some out of my control. But honestly, those are just easy excuses. Things change, we change, and maybe who we were and what we wanted 6 months ago are no longer the same as they are today. That’s perfectly ok. This can be a bit of a dichotomy in my experience though. Set goals, take consistent action, and achieve the outcomes you want. On the other hand, be flexible, adapt to change and keep your eye on the prize. These two things, while not exactly contradictive, can be hard to merry up sometimes, in my opinion. So my solution to that is to view my own path as one of constant improvement, intentional action, and keeping my focus on that end result. With an engineering mind, this makes perfect sense to me. Make a plan, adapt to changes, find solutions, solve the problem. Simple and straightforward. This approach though only addresses the “What” and the “How” parts of the equation. The third part, and arguably the most important, is the “Why”.

Now, a quick caveat here – many of the topics discussed on this show are inspired from the materials I’m constantly consuming like audiobooks, podcasts, reading, etc. This Friday Fundamental is no different and is inspired by the current book I’m reading, Start With Why by Simon Sinek. As you might guess, Simon talks about the importance of starting with why. So many of us set out on our respective journeys with the “what” and “how” all figured out, only to lose sight of our “why” or worse, never even start with one. So today, I want to dig into finding your why. Your why is your purpose. It’s what drives you and motivates you to take action. It’s the thing that makes what you do not feel like work.

So let’s look at a scenario. You’ve set out to accomplish something – let’s say start a business, buy an investment property, read a book, or whatever it may be. Your typical thought process might look like first identifying the “what”. Typically, the “what” is the end thing we desire. The “how” is the vehicle to get us to that what. The “Why” is the reason behind the “what”.

Let’s take buying a rental property as an example. The end goal isn’t necessarily the rental property, but rather the passive income it will create. After all, there are other ways to create passive income (like investing in dividend-paying stocks, etc.). The passive income is the “what”. It’s the desired outcome here. The investment property is the vehicle, or the “how”. But what we’ve yet to define is our why. Our why is more important than the “how” (rental property) and the “what” (passive income). Without a strong why, we don’t have a reason or motivation to strive for and achieve our biggest goals. It all starts with our why.

You have so much potential within you. The things you’re capable of are limited only by your imagination. With a strong “why”, you’ll have a sense of purpose to set the bar high and achieve the things you’ve always dreamed of. So with whatever next challenge you face, start with your why.

The Mindset behind 1100+ Flips with Michael Green

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 31 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Michael Green is a successful house flipper and the host of The Flip Factor, but at one point in time this success was just a teenage boy’s dream. At the age of fifteen, prompted by late-night infomercials, Michael bought the book No Money Down by Carlton Sheets, which planted the seed of eventually becoming a house flipper. But the road to success wasn’t always easy. Growing up next to the projects in Baltimore, Michael found himself getting into trouble, and his relationship with his dad was built on breaking the law.

At 17, Michael found himself thrown into a paddy wagon with handcuffs around his wrists. Faced with a four-year jail sentence and a cold, uncomfortable prison cell, with terrible food, scratchy blankets and no freedom, Michael had a lot of time to think. He thought about how if his life up to that point were a house, it would be a broken-down, boarded-up house. His negative patterns and limiting beliefs had eaten away at his foundation like hungry termites. Michael could either continue these patterns and let his life crumble around him, or he could step up and fix it. So he got to work on his first flip – himself.

Key Points

Lessons from turning a 4-year jail sentence into a successful house flipping business
Shifting your mindset to that of success and abundance
Scaling down, rather than up, to grow your business
Building a business that does 170+ flips per year
Applying the 80/20 rule to find the best deals

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Analysis paralysis. Michael learned just enough to get started, and then learned as he went.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Michael plans out his next day, every evening. He finds that he is most productive in the mornings, so he plans out his next morning the evening before.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Mindset by Carol Dweck

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Get started. You are capable and can achieve great things. Find a mentor, educate yourself, and take action.

Resources

The Flip Factor podcast

TheFlipFactor.net

Visit Audible for a free trial, and a free audiobook download

Freedom or Security – It’s Your Choice – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 29 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Freedom Vs. Security

Only you know what balance of freedom and security is best for you. Understanding that taking risks in return for some level of freedom will cost you some security is important. Find freedom where you want. Build security where it matters to you. Using these two levers you can begin to engineer the lifestyle you want, which is one of the fundamentals here at the Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

CARES Act Impacts to Investors with Damion Lupo

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 25 May 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Damion Lupo is a serial entrepreneur, professional real estate investor, financial mentor, eQRP® expert speaker, the Yokido Founder, a 5th Degree Black Belt, creator of Black Belt Wealth, host of Financial Underdogs Podcast, and best-selling author in personal finance such as the Maverick Mistakes in Real Estate Investing, The Quick & Dirty Guide to Gold & Silver, and more. His mission is to free 1 million from financial bondage. Damion is committed to guiding people to Financial Freedom & Financial Reinvention. Focuses on the Retirement System and teaches about the eQRP, a tool to design retirement.

KEY POINTS

How to take control of your financial future
How the CARES Act impacts real estate investors
Retirement account disbursements, withdrawals, and more
Investing your retirement account without paying taxes
Reasons to rollover 401k into another qualified retirement plan
Pros and cons of rolling over your money from 401k or IRA
The eQRP and how it works
Roth vs. Traditional contributions
How to convert your retirement account into an eQRP
The impact of media in today’s crisis

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Total Control Financial

Text: EQRP to 072-000

Damion's Website

Watch Damion's interview with Tim Gertz here

Habits – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 22 May 2020 03:00:00 -0600

As part of last week’s Friday Fundamental, adapting to change, we discussed constant improvement with daily habits.

This week we’ll expand on that piece a bit more in detail and look at how you can create new habits in your life starting today. There is no shortage of great content out there when it comes to habits. As mentioned last week, Charles Duhigg and James Clear have both written great books on the subjects. Researchers such as BJ Fogg of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab and others have studied human behavior and psychology. Jim Kwik has studied and dissected the mind in an effort to unlock our true potential. Nothing I say will compare to the work each of these people have done, but I’ll do my best to relay some of the interesting things they’ve taught millions of people, including me, and share with you how you too can engineer the lifestyle you want starting with habits.

Jim Kwik, in his book, Limitless, talks about the importance of what he calls S³ – simple small steps. By taking a bigger goal and breaking it into smaller manageable action steps, we’re able to progress towards that goal without letting the fear of such a daunting task prevent us from ever getting started. These simple small steps, over time, become habits. Habits compounded over time can create extraordinary results.

To show the power of habits, Jim references a famous study called the Zeigarnik Effect. Russian psychologist, Bluma Zeiganarik studied a phenomenon noticed by her professor of wait staff at a local restaurant. Her professor noticed that wait staff at the busy restaurant were able to keep track of customers’ orders even while managing the many other tasks he or she is responsible for. Interruptions, other customers, and the chaos of the restaurant didn’t seem to create any confusion. However, after the order was placed and completed, the wait staff no longer remembered the details of the order. This seems counterintuitive. How can one remember specific details amidst interruptions, yet forget those details afterward? Zeiganarik and her professor set out to study this strange occurrence. What they found was that a task that has been started, but not finished, creates a tension in the mind, which improves the cognitive recollection of that event. If you think about this in your own life, you’ll likely recognize the feeling.

Think to a time when you’ve procrastinated something – maybe a school assignment, a work deadline, etc. You tell yourself you’ll do it later, it will only take a short period of time, seemingly countless other reasons your mind can conjure up that will allow you to postpone said action. The result though, as you may be familiar with, is your mind is constantly reminding you of that thing you’re procrastinating. You’re unable to enjoy whatever it is you’re doing because your mind is in constant tension reminding you of that thing you’re putting off. It’s only when the action we’ve procrastinated is completed that our mind let’s go of that tension (and then on to the next thing). Psychologists believe this is why, in part, we feel guilty about procrastination. Given enough time to procrastinate that amount of tension can build and make us resent the task that much more, and cause you to not enjoy your current state.

The solution? Well, don’t procrastinate would be the end all be all, but hey, we’re only human so let’s look at some more practical ways to deal with this dilemma we all face at times.

In all likelihood, that thing we put off isn’t as big as we make it out to seem. The biggest hurdle is just taking that first step and getting started.

Let’s take an example of reading. Whether it’s for school, work, personal study, or leisure. You have a book you should/have to read. But here you are on a beautiful weekend day, with so many other things you would rather be doing. As humans our tendency is to put off that burdensome task of reading and go enjoy the countless other things we would rather be doing. You look at that book and it looks daunting – hundreds of pages just sitting there waiting for you to pour over them. You think to yourself, “Nah, I’ll start that later tonight before I go to bed” or “Tomorrow sounds like a better time to sit and read”. Whether it’s reading, running errands, or a number of other things, we’ve all faced this internal battle with ourselves at some point.

But what if instead, we approach that task, in this case – reading, by breaking it into small actions. We could set aside 5 minutes and read the back cover, skim the table of contents to get an idea of what the book is about and read the forward or introduction. Boom – you’ve just started, which is 90% of the battle. Mark your page, and leave the next chapter for another time. Now you’ve started the book, and next time you have a few minutes you can read another 5 pages. Better yet, do the exact same thing same time, same place tomorrow. 5 pages a day and you’ll have the book finished this month. Whala! You’ve not only accomplished the task in only 5 minutes per day, but you’ve freed up all that space in your mind and dealt with the would-be stress of procrastinating. That 5 minutes you committed to reading would have been easily spent doing who knows what else, had you not set that time aside for some quick reading.

You can approach anything in your life with this same structure. If you’re not as in shape as you would like to be, it can be difficult to imagine yourself in great shape, able to run a 5K, and work out 4x per week, so instead you wait for the new year to roll around to “start then”. No! Start now – go walk to the end of your driveway, walk up 5 stairs, or do 1 pushup.

Start small, build habits, and see just how much you will accomplish in your own life. My challenge to you today is to create 1 new habit around something you want. Take the smallest action you can think of. If you can’t think of anything, then consider reaching out to me and telling me your commitment. You can do that by going to www.JacobAyers.com and contacting me from there.

You are an ever-evolving and capable person. With your will power, thoughts, and actions, you are capable of achieving anything you put your mind to. Start small, build on today’s achievements, and you tomorrow you’ll be one step closer to achieving your goal.

An Economic Outlook with Lior Gantz

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 18 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Lior Grantz is the Chief- Editor and Founder of Wealth Research Group, he has been called a thrill-seeking entrepreneur by his team, has built and runs numerous successful businesses, and has traveled to over 30 countries in the past decade in pursuit of thrills and opportunities, gaining valuable knowledge and experience.

He has been actively investing in the markets since the age of 16 and is now bringing the same proven strategies he has implemented himself. He is an advocate of meticulous risk management, balanced asset allocation, and proper position sizing. As a deep-value investor, Lior loves researching businesses that are off the radar and completely unknown to most financial publications.

KEY POINTS

Covid-19’s economic impact in the U.S.
The effects of "helicopter money"
Why the stock market increased 40% in one month despite the crisis
Investing strategies during a recession
Wholesaling real estate strategies
Real Estate versus the Stock Market
The real causes of inflation

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Finding the right partners.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Reading educational materials and stuff that Lior don’t agree with at least 1 hour a day.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Keys to Success book by Napoleon Hill
Think and Grow Rich book by Napoleon Hill
Triumph of the Optimists book by Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh, Mike Staunton

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don’t waste your time and look for the right people. It’s the first realizing what you’re looking to do.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

https://www.wealthresearchgroup.com/goldplaybook/

https://www.wealthresearchgroup.com/round2/

https://www.wealthresearchgroup.com/list/

Adapting to Change – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 17 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Life, as we know it lately, has been completely turned upside down for most of us, in at least some aspect. The way we travel, live, work, and even shop for groceries and other supplies has changed. If we stop and think about it though, the only thing that makes these changes seem like changes is the rate at which they’ve happened. Throughout our lives, things have changed drastically. 10 years ago, I didn’t have an iPhone much less was I requesting with my phone a stranger to track my location via GPS and come pick me up to take me to the airport - what we today call ridesharing. Our world has evolved and changed in many ways in the past just 10 or 20 years. The changes that technology, consumer behavior, and psychology have driven are astounding.

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher said, “Change is the only constant in life.”.

It’s how well we adapt to these changes that determine our success. In today’s information age, you are either learning and growing, or dying. I know which I want to pick. So what are you doing during these times of rapid change to keep up with an ever-changing world?

Let’s look at a few key things you can do to continue to change and grow

Mindset - the most impactful thing I think you can do is to start with your mindset. Jim Kwik has become a go-to resource for many people looking to understand how their own mind works. In his book, Limitless, Jim dispels the myths that many people have around their own mindsets. We all have limiting beliefs. Addressing your limiting beliefs can be like cutting the ball and chain that has been weighing you down. Just as powerful as our minds can be at reminding ourselves of our limiting beliefs, it too can be tricked into turning these limiting beliefs into empowering ones. Jim outlines 3 keys to reframing your own limiting beliefs.

Name your limiting belief – this is the process of identifying your limiting belief and labeling it.
Get to the facts – when thinking about your limiting belief, look to the facts that support the belief, Jim says. Chances are, you won’t find many facts. Instead, that limiting belief is just that – a belief, not a fact.
Create a new belief – With your newly identified limiting belief dispelled due to the lack of facts supporting it, you can create a new belief.

Constant improvement with daily habits. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear are two great books on the topic of habits. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. If you want to change your life, change your habits. These words have been said in various ways by many great minds, and they ring true. If you want to become someone much different than you are now, then you can start now by forming just one little new habit. With an empowering mindset, you can build habits that shape your actions and in return will determine your future.

“Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential.” – John Soforic, The Wealthy Gardener

Find Your Passion and Purpose – to change and adapt can be difficult if you don’t know what you should do. Life is short and finite. Do what brings you fulfillment. This concept of passion and purpose is one I’m still figuring out, so I’m no Dalai Lama here. I think that exploring what you are passionate about and finding your purpose to use that passion in your life and others’ is an area in your life where growth is important. For more information on this subject, check out Jim Kwik’s interview here with Jonathan Fields.

Bonus - Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is a method for time management. It was created in the 1980’s by surprisingly, not a guy named Pomodoro, but rather Francesco Cirillo. The concept of the Pomodoro Technique is to work in timed intervals, usually 25 minutes, taking short breaks in between each interval, called a Pomodoro. For example, you would first decide on a task, set a timer for 25 minutes, and work on that task uninterrupted until the timer rings. There are apps you can use, but I prefer to just simply set a timer on my phone (of course with all other functions silenced) and work for uninterrupted intervals until I accomplish the task at hand. I’ve had surprisingly good results this week by using this technique. Try it out and let me know how you like it.

Joint Ventures and Building Communities with J Myers

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 11 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Jerome Myers, also known as “J”, is a developer of people and place, an engineer, real estate entrepreneur, an expert in multifamily, investor, educator, coach, and the host of the podcasts DreamCatchers and Myers Methods Presents Multifamily Missteps. J is the founder and the Chief Inspiration Officer of DreamCatchers and the Myers Development Group, who built a multi-million-dollar portfolio following the principles of Myers Method - a real estate education company created to educate investors on his 4-step process to owning and operating apartments.

KEY POINTS

Why engineers make great multifamily investors
How to start in multifamily investing with no experience
Joint venture model versus Syndication
Why it’s an opportunity to be turned down by banks
The process of Myers Method (4Fs)
Mistakes to avoid when starting out in joint ventures
The 4 challenges of every investor to overcome
The power of using leverage in real estate
Why invest in multifamily real estate
Landlords responsibilities to their tenants & sense of community

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? -

J couldn’t get into the game because he didn’t know anybody and he didn’t have the experience. J went out and met with people who were already in the field and learned from them.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Get up early and walk 6 miles a day to devote time to thinking, reflecting, & strategizing things.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Rentometer

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Millionaire Success Habits book by Dean Graziosi

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Go to your local REIA (real estate investment association) meeting. Educate yourself and go network.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Fake by Robert Kiyosaki

Myers Methods Website

Myers Methods Presents Multifamily Missteps Podcast

Dream Catchers Podcast

Progress Over Perfection – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 08 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Tips for taking action:

Commit to one step, then the next. Don’t look at the entire journey, but just your next step.
Accept you’ll make mistakes. The only wrong decision is not making one.

Ryan Holiday, in his book, The Obstacle is the Way, suggests you should find the obstacles in your life and focus your effort there. That is where you will find accomplishment, fulfillment, and results. So next time you’re feeling indecisive or unsure of what to do, look for the obstacle in your life and tackle it.

Resources

The Obstacle is the Way

Building a Business Around Your Lifestyle with Cliff Hayden

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 04 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Cliff Hayden is a real estate investor, broker-owner of Altec Properties, and founder of ShowMeTheRental.com, a unique online service that automates the most difficult part of property management: finding and screening qualified tenants.

Cliff knows the importance of finding the right balance of priorities in life, especially as a business owner. This quest for a more abundant life inspired Cliff to walk away from his fruitful career and into the often-chaotic world of real estate investing. After quitting his day job to pursue real estate investing as a career, Cliff found himself overwhelmed by the responsibilities of managing multiple properties, keeping the business running smoothly, and finding time for his family. As someone who’s personally struggled with this juggling act, Cliff knows the emotional, mental, and physical toll it can take on real estate investors, property managers, or landlords — whether it’s their full-time career or side hustle. This struggle was Cliff’s impetus to develop ShowMeTheRental.com, which screened all his leads so he didn’t have to.

ShowMeTheRental.com takes all leads (phone, email, or text) and pre-screens them with customized questions, then arrange for qualified leads to see the home, follows up with these leads, and even takes care of the application process — leaving more time for property managers to work on the things that matter most, like spending quality time with their loved ones or growing their business.

Key Points

Building a Business Around Your Lifestyle
Vacation rentals – VRBO and AirBNB
Building processes and systems to automate your business
Cliff’s mistake – making money a goal and not a tool
Finding and screening qualified tenants
How a “failed” drug test led Cliff to live his best life

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Fear of the unknown. Cliff just jumped in and got started.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Cliff lives by the Golden Rule – he treats others how he wants to be treated.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

ShowMeTheRental.com for screening tenants
Blinkist

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Building Wealth One House at a Time – John Schaub
Traction – Gino Wickman Munger

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Learn about vacation rentals and buy nicer properties.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

ShowMeTheRental.com

Cliff@ShowMeTheRental.com

Time Blocking - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 01 May 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Time is our only non-renewable resource. We don’t have limits when it comes to health, wealth, happiness, fulfillment, etc. Time, however, is limited. No matter how you spend it, there are only 24 hours in the day. So how do some people seem to accomplish so much more in the same 24 hours? We’re going to dive into that, but first, let’s take a look at how people operate.

Have you ever noticed what most people’s default answer is when you ask them how they’ve been? Most people reply with something non-descriptive like “I’m good” or even “I’m great”. One response I hear more often than not though is, “Busy”. Everyone feels busy. Everyone is busy. In today’s world, we have so many things vying for our attention – some important and others not worthy of said attention. We’re constantly inundated with news, politics, social media, emails, mail, advertisements, etc. With so much going on, it can be hard to determine what to focus on and what not to.

But one thing is certain. People are busy. And even if we’re not, we still make ourselves believe we are. Busy has become a badge we wear with honor. But are we as busy as we think?

Think to a time when you thought, I would like to *insert whatever here*, but I just don’t have time to. Then you proceed to spend hours of screen time on your phone and TV, doing things that don’t merit the time you’re devoting to them.

How does Elon Musk run 3 companies with goals to inhabit Mars, make space travel viable, build electric cars, and make solar power the main energy source on Earth? Meanwhile, you’re trying to get 8 hours of sleep and simply work out 3 times a week but can’t seem to manage that. How is this possible?! What are you doing wrong?

Time just seems to slip away from you. Don’t let it do that. Rather, guard your time. Protect it. Don’t let it slip away or get consumed with actions that don’t put you closer to your goals. How? Time blocking.

Yes, the solution is time blocking. Time blocking, as defined by WikiHow, is a type of scheduling that can help you manage your time better. Instead of working by the clock, you can focus on finishing big and small tasks one at a time. This will help you limit distractions, get things done faster, and leave you less overwhelmed by lengthy to-do lists.

One of the underlying principles of time blocking is setting aside time to do the important things first. Rather than letting your day fill up with tasks as they get thrown at you.

Let’s look at 5 ways you can start time blocking.

Identify which tasks you should start time blocking first. Many have heard the Pareto Principle, more commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule. This principle says that 20% of your actions are responsible for 80% of your results. So start your time blocking calendar with adding those 20% actions. It might take you some time to identify what exactly those are, but you probably have a pretty good idea to start with.
Determine how you are going to manage your calendar, either physical or electronic. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. There’s no one better option. Just use the one that works for you and that you’ll actually use. For electronic calendars, Google Calendars, Microsoft Outlook, and Calendar on Mac are all good (and free) options.
Create start and stop times for your day. Determine what time you are going to start your day, and what you need to first accomplish. Do the same for the evening, when you are wrapping up your day. This will set parameters for your day, making sure you give yourself time to sleep (which needs it’s own time block alone!).
Schedule that first task on your calendar. Set aside a certain amount of time to accomplish this task, uninterrupted by emails, texts, etc. Sit down and accomplish that task in the time you set aside. Don’t worry if you go over or under the time you scheduled. You can start to tweak your calendar as you go through this process.
Set recurring time blocks for things you need to do every day. From morning routines, to exercise, following up with business leads, etc., there are things we have to do every day. Set those in stone in your calendar. Use them as your anchor points. Once you have all of your important tasks scheduled on your calendar, then you can start to fill up with white space with other things. Been putting that one thing off forever? Don’t worry, just put it on your calendar where you can fit it, and tackle that task.

By implementing a time blocking method to your life, you’ll begin to see it doesn’t do what you think it might. Many people think this sounds very Type A and strict. They fear their calendar will control them, and they won’t have time to do the things they want. Rather, the opposite is true. You’ll find you have more time to do the things you want because you haven’t wasted time putting things off you need to do. You may find time to pick up a new hobby or devote some time to the areas of your life you’ve been neglecting.

The overlying principle of time blocking is being intentional and purposeful with how you spend your most valuable resource. As long as you are doing things on your own terms, then you can at least feel in control. No more being pinballed around by the constant barrage of things coming your way. Implementing this simple time blocking strategy will give you back the time you’ve been missing.

All too often, we trick ourselves, at best, and lie to ourselves at worst, by saying “I don’t have time for that”. This isn’t exactly true. You have time for anything you want. The question is, what are you making time for?

Your time is your most precious resource, yet one that is wasted the most. Guard your time. Spend it on your own terms. Do the things that are important to you. If you’ll do these things, you’ll find you have so much more time to find new challenges, experience new things, and ultimately, life the life you want.

Retire Rich with Real Estate with Joe DiSanto

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Joe is a real estate investor, owner and consultant at Business Papers Inc., and the Founder of The Play Louder, finance, business and real estate consulting. He was a former executive producer/owner of an Emmy Award-winning production and post-production company, managing artist’s careers, working on the world’s biggest brands and investing millions of dollars in real estate. Currently, help others navigate their own personal and business adventures, and help maximize their financial potential. Also, Joe provides educational resources via his blog.

Joe DiSanto spent his childhood riding BMX bikes, breakdancing, and tagging abandoned buildings, but the carefree days of youth wouldn’t last long. By 13 he was working as a busboy, helping his recently-divorced mom put food on the table. A valuable lesson was learned: If you don’t deal with your money, your money will deal with you. From that point on, he made it his mission to learn everything he could about making smart money moves.

It paid off. By age 30, Joe had wiped out $70k in student loans, married the love of his life, bought his first house, and started his own post-production company in Los Angeles. During this time, he and his wife also transacted on over a dozen residential and commercial real estate properties. But nothing had more life-changing impact than the birth of their son.

Joe’s efforts are now focused on his educational blog Play Louder, where he uses the fiscal know-how amassed over his lifetime to help individuals and business owners navigate their finances, increase their net worth, and plan better for their future.

KEY POINTS

The Do-It-Yourself Entrepreneur
Renting vs. owning your primary residence
Tips for buying your first rental property
Office Hacking – some things you need to know
Real Estate Versus Stocks
The huge driver of real estate returns
Financial analysis and tracking portfolio based on the numbers
Measuring your real estate ROI vs. the S&P 500
Investing in out-of-state-turnkey properties

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

My down payment cash but work really hard to save money.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Willingness to work a lot of hours, and when started doing something it’s hard to put it down undone.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Play Louder

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Loopholes of Real Estate by Garrett Sutton, Rich Dad Advisor

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

You need to act like a real estate investor before you have the resources. Don’t be shy, go apply for your loan, go out there and start doing a league work even if you think you’re not ready to buy.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Play Louder

Fuel Your Mind - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Life is a journey of self-improvement for some and self-sabotage for others. If you are listening to this show, you are obviously on a journey of self-improvement. This journey is one of constant improvement, with the goal of being better than you were yesterday – not better than your neighbor, not better than that internet personality, just better than you were yesterday.

The basic tools you have in life are your body and mind. When talking about improving your body, we all generally understand the obvious need for good health through diet, exercise, rest, etc. Our bodies are a product of what we put them through, and what we put through them. We understand that fueling our body with good foods and exercising regularly are important to our health and longevity. But rarely do we give the same consideration to our minds. If comparing mind and body, the mind is a much more powerful tool. The average adult brain weighs 3 lbs, is capable of producing 23 watts of power, and is made up of over 100 billion neurons, and over 100,000 miles of blood vessels. All of that, and we watch cat videos on social media, gossip about celebrities we don’t know and watch reality TV. Our minds are much like our bodies. They are a product of what we put into them, and how we use them, kind of like diet and exercise.

What You Put In Is What You Get Out

Our minds are like a sponge. What we put in them gets absorbed and stored. If you are constantly fueling your mind with good and positive information, then those are the things that make up your thoughts. If you are constantly feeding your mind with junk, limiting beliefs, and negative content, then those are the things that make up your thoughts. When you realize this, you begin to guard your mind against that bad input, and instead consume as much good content as possible.

Here are just a few resources and ways I’ve found helpful to consume interesting and positive content.

Podcasts. Of course, I had to put this at the top of the list. But you already know that podcasts can be a great source of information since you’re listening to this podcast at this very moment. Podcasts have become the audio version of Google, with almost any topic imaginable being available at the touch of a button.
Audiobooks. Audiobooks are a great source of knowledge and entertainment, and a convenient alternative to reading. Like podcasts, you can listen to audiobooks on the go – in your car, on your commute, while exercising, or just around your house. Audible is a great audiobook resource that I personally use. If you’ve never heard of audible, and are interested in trying it out, there is a link in the show notes that will give you a free trial. I highly recommend it.
Youtube. Youtube is the second largest search engine and the third most trafficked website on the internet with over 1 billion hours of content watched each day! Anything you can imagine is on Youtube.
TED Talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment, and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues. You can find TED talks on all kinds of interesting subjects, and these short talks are usually 15-20 minutes in length.

While there are many studies that back up the power of positive thinking, that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. You don’t have to spend your days watching motivational videos and staring at your vision board. What I am saying is fuel your mind with new and interesting ideas, concepts, thoughts, and visions. Learn new things. Explore new ideas. Spend some time just thinking. When is the last time you sat down to just think? I don’t mean sitting down and worrying about all the things you have to do, the bill you need to pay, etc. Rather, take some time to focus your mind. Meditation is a good practice that will help you exercise your mind. It’s by no means something that I’m good at, but I have found it to be helpful.

Constant Improvement

You don’t have to be the smartest person, you just have to have the right mindset. If you can improve each and every day from where you were the previous day, just imagine what you would be capable of in 1, 5, 10 or even 50 years from now. Don’t compare where you are at now, to where others are in their journey. You are different from everyone else. Fuel your mind with worthwhile content. Exercise it by thinking about things that will help you and others. Don’t ever quit improving, growing, learning, and experiencing new thoughts and ideas. With the right mindset, you are capable of achieving anything you can imagine.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Straight Talking Syndication with Bruce Petersen

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Bruce Petersen is an entrepreneur, a serial syndicator, TV personality, public speaker, and a mentor on how to invest in apartment complexes. He started with a 48-unit building and has now syndicated over 1,100 units and became known in the real estate world as the “Apt-Guy”. Bruce is also the founder and CEO of Bluebonnet Asset Manager LLC and Bluebonnet Commercial Management. He has received local and national recognition for his syndication efforts. He was the recipient of the Austin Apartment Association’s Independent Rental Owner of the Year for 2016 and the National Apartment Association’s Independent Rental Owner of the Year for 2017.

KEY POINTS

Transitioning from retail with no experience in real estate to real estate syndication
How to syndicate your first apartment deal
The lessons from misplacing $5.2 million of investor capital in a wire transfer gone wrong
Advice for entrepreneurs who are currently in real estate investing
When to fire an investor and prospective investor
How to get funded and build trust with investors
The exercise to destroy negativity
Common pitfalls in real estate syndication
How to become a successful real estate syndicator

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The knowledge because I didn't know anything about it. I was starting from scratch, but I listened to other people’s advice.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Journaling a little bit, doing Miracle Morning stuff, and keeping a positive mindset.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Bigger Pockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Killing Sacred Cows book by Garrett B. Gunderson

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Just take action. Don’t be afraid to take action, go as big as you can safely!

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Bruce's Website

Mortgage Calculator from Bankrate

Syndication is a B*tch book by Bruce Petersen (release in May 2020)

Unlimited Power book by Tony Robbins

The Wealthy Gardener book by John S. Soforic

The Velocity of Money – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Real estate investing is kinda cool, I like to think. From building long term wealth to generating residual passive income, there are some really powerful benefits to investing in real estate. One of the things that make real estate so attractive is the ability to leverage debt. When most people hear the word “debt” they automatically think “bad”. We’re told to avoid debt where possible, pay debt off as fast as possible, and be debt-free. Used wisely debt can be a tool that maximizes your wealth and income. Used incorrectly, and it goes the other way.

Let’s look at an example of how debt can impact your cash on cash return of a rental property.

Scenario 1: Cash Purchase

You buy a $50K rental property without using debt. This means you buy the property for all cash. The property rents for $500/month.

Your expenses for insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management total $200/month.

Your cash flow is $300/month or $3,600/year. $3,600 divided by your investment of $50,000 = 7.2% cash on cash return.

Scenario 2: Using Debt

You buy the same $50K rental property in Scenario 1, but this time you use debt. With a 20% down payment of $10,000, you borrow $40,000 at 4% for 30 years (a typical fixed-rate mortgage).

The property rents for $500/month.

Your expenses for insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management total $200/month.

Your mortgage is $191/month. Total expenses including mortgage = 391

Your cash flow is $109/month or $1,308/year. $1,308 divided by your down payment of $10,000 = 13.08% cash on cash return.

Even further – let’s look at appreciation. Let’s say the $50K property appreciated at 5%, to a value of $52,500. This is a gain in equity of $2,500.

Scenario 1: Cash Purchase

$2,500 in equity gain / $50,000 = 5%

Scenario 2: Using Debt

$2,500 in equity gain / $10,000 = 25%

As my good friend Keith Weinhold from Get Rich Education says, the rate of return on equity is and always will be 0%.

Alright, so that’s the case for using debt to invest in cash-flowing real estate.

Velocity Of Money

A cash-out refinance is simply taking out a new loan on your investment property, paying off the original loan, and pocketing the difference. Let’s look at an example of this.

You buy a duplex for $55,000. With a long term fixed-rate loan, you put down 20%, or $11,000

Doing this, you are maximizing the velocity of money while using the power of leverage. This is how you can snowball a real estate investment into real estate empire.

Categorizing Your Goals

Using debt, maximizing leverage, controlling more assets, and taking on more good debt are concepts that may seem counterintuitive at first. But so is being wealthy. To be wealthy, look at what other wealthy people do. If this sounds unusual to you, I encourage you to think more about it, talk with other people who have built real estate portfolios, and see for yourself how using debt to buy cash flowing real estate can help you build the life you want.

Resources

Get Rich Education

Securities Law with Mauricio Rauld

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Mauricio is an investor, entrepreneur, speaker, a premier syndication attorney that helps real estate syndicators raise hundreds of millions of dollars to pursue their dreams of financial independence. He is the founder and CEO of Premier Law Group and spends 100% of his practice on syndications for real estate investors. He specializes in Reg D exempt offerings and educates investors from around the world on how to navigate the complex world of securities laws.

Named as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine, Mauricio regularly shares the stage with The Real Estate Guys and the likes of Robert Kiyosaki, Ken McElroy, Brad Sumrok, Peter Schiff, and others. He is also a constant on the real estate investing podcast circuit, regularly contributing to The Real Estate Guys Radio show (consistently one of the most downloaded podcasts on real estate investing) where he is Robert Helms’ personal attorney.

KEY POINTS

What role does a Syndication Attorney play on your team
The importance of SEC securities law to real estate investors
3 things that you should consider when offering a security
Rule 506(b) Versus 506(c)
Syndication Versus Joint Venture
Rules and Regulations of Raising Capital
The do's and don'ts of raising capital

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The information overload but finding the right people had really helped.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Getting up early as 3:30 in the morning.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

My social media stuff.

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Traction book by Gino Wickman
The One Thing book by Gary Keller
Equity Happens book by Robert Helms and Russell Gray (Disclaimer: This book is no longer being published, so it's very expensive on Amazon).
Rich Dad, Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

What are you waiting for? Get on it!

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Premier Law Group

Team@PremierLawGroup.net

Check out Mauricio's Youtube Channel for more great content.

Connect with Mauricio on Facebook

The 10,000 Hour Rule – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Whether it’s our personal life, relationships, career, hobbies, or any other aspect of our lives, we’re always striving to become better. It’s human nature to grow, improve, learn new things, and become more capable. It’s how we, as humans, have evolved over many years. Today, the same thing applies, but we’ve focused on shortcuts to success. We’re constantly looking for the next big thing, the fast track, loophole, hack, and anything that will shortcut the process. Take dieting and exercise for example. Fundamentally we know what it takes to improve your health, lose weight, and become more fit – eat healthy foods and exercise. That’s it. But we have a funny way over overcomplicating things by trying to shortcut the process. Weight loss pills, surgeries, special formula drinks, waist trainers, etc. The list goes on and on of unique ways people have tried to shortcut the process.

The truth is, there is a secret formula. Well, the secret might not be so accurate of a description because everyone knows it already. That is hard work over time. Anything worthwhile doing takes hard work. Malcolm Gladwell coined the term the “10,000 hour rule” in his book, Outliers, where he states the key to achieving world-class expertise in any skill, is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing the correct way, for a total of around 10,000 hours. That’s a lot of hard work. 10,000 hours when broken down equates to 5 years of 40 hour work weeks.

The Power of a Team

10,000 hours is, as Malcolm Gladwell says, the amount of practice it takes to become an expert. However, after interviewing and analyzing the success of people like Bill Gates, The Beatles, and many other Outliers in their fields, Malcolm concluded that hard work alone isn’t enough to ensure success. The one critical component that separated those who accomplished great things and those who didn’t was the support from others.

“No one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses—ever makes it alone” – Malcolm Gladwell

Hard work alone isn’t enough. You have to surround yourself with a positive sphere of influence. This is the power of leveraging your relationships. So many people work their entire lives to become experts in their field, but never realize their full potential by not building relationships.

Let’s look at a couple of ways you can both achieve the 10,000 hour rule and develop and grow your sphere on influence.

10,000 hour rule – there is no shortcut. As stated above, broken down 10,000 hours is 5 years of 40 hour work weeks, or 2.5 years of 80 hour work weeks, or 10 years of 20 hour work weeks. The math is simple. Spend 10,000 hours, and you will become an expert. There are no shortcuts. So make a plan, put in the work, day in and day out, and you’ll eventually reach that 10,000 hour milestone.
Your sphere of influence – from friends to family, peers, coworkers, and acquaintances you are influenced by many different people. Make sure those influences are positive. Surround yourself with people who push you to grow, challenge you, make you think differently, and ultimately support you in your path to success.

If you couple hard work and the support of those around you, then you will have a much better opportunity to reach your full potential.

You Are Capable

Unfortunately, there are no real shortcuts. You likely won’t achieve overnight success, although one day people will look at you as such. Your overnight success will be the culmination of thousands of hours of hard work and the support of so many people around you. Whatever it is you want to achieve, you are more than capable of it. You’ve likely laid the groundwork already, and are well on your way to success. Keep your head down, continue to work hard, and one day you’ll have accomplished all you set out to.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Millennial Multifamily Investors with Jeff and Taylor Adams

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Jeff is a software engineer with a background in computer science. His analytic perspective lends itself well to the world of real estate investing. Taylor is a realtor at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Chelmsford, a lifestyle & business entrepreneur, and co-founder of @womensinvestmentnetwork.

Together, Jeff and Taylor founded JT Adams, LLC and have scaled their real estate portfolio through multifamily investments. Taylor has always been passionate about real estate. She worked for a large real estate firm, then after graduation started investing in real estate, and now works as an agent to help other people find their dream homes.

KEY POINTS

House hacking a duplex
Investing out of state and scaling to multifamily properties
Maximizing rents with short term rentals
Time freedom - living the lifestyle you want
The importance of networking to your success

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The mentality of buying your first property. Jeff and Taylor overcame the fear by doing research and making sure the numbers were right.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Inspired by The Miracle Morning, Jeff's personal habit is getting a start to his day by getting up early, working out, and journaling.
Taylor says she is excessively organized, relies on a to-do-list, and structures her day with time blocking.

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Bigger Pockets

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

7L: The Seven Levels of Communication book by Michael J. Maher
Never Split The Difference book by Chris Voss

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Start right now.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Wealth Gardner website

Email: taylor.adams.c@gmail.com

Email: jeff.adams.c@gmail.com

Envisioning Your Future – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 03:00:00 -0600

The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast is brought to you by Ayers Acquisitions. Ayers Acquisitions is a real estate investment company that acquires cash-flowing real estate in emerging markets. With a focus on multifamily investments, Ayers Acquisitions seeks value-add opportunities in recession-resistant properties that generate strong returns for our qualified investors.

Friday Fundamental - Envisioning Your Future

Our mind has a unique and uncanny ability to turn out dreams into realities. If you think of it, your life today is the product of years of thoughts and ideas. At one point in your life, you made a decision that led to another and then another and has led you to where you are now. We could chalk that up to “that’s just how life works” and move on, but there is a lesson to be had out of that simple realization. We have the ability to envision a future and then through our actions, create that future. That, in itself, is a powerful realization. Anything you can dream, you can do. Why would you settle for anything less than an extraordinary future? If you knew that you would not fail, then what would you strive for? Take a second and think about it. What would your life look like? How would you spend your time? Where would you live? Would you travel to new places? Will you live close to your family?

There. You have just imagined your future. Whatever thoughts just flashed into your mind are entirely possible. That life you just imagined can be your reality, and likely will be.

I’ll outline a 4 step approach that will take you from figuring out your dreams to turning them into a reality.

Thinking
Visualizing
Setting Goals
Taking Intentional Action

Let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail.

1. Thinking – thinking may seem like the most underrated approach to building a life you want. Thinking, though, is where it all starts. Now you’re probably thinking something like ‘really, Jacob? You’re telling me to think? What do you think I’ve been doing all day since the second I woke up this morning?!”. I get it. But I’m talking about a specific type of thinking. The type of thinking I’m referring to here is more of a reflective and introspective approach. It’s not thinking about the hustle and bustle of your day today – heading to work, juggling your personal life, running errands, taking care of a family, and so on. You have to do those things no matter what. Setting some time every day or every week to just sit and think will help you start to understand what you really want in life. You can reflect on things in your life, dream of your future, and understand better what you want in your own life. I understand this may sound a bit hokey, and I agree. But what I do know is when I block a few minutes to sit and think, it helps me determine a clear path forward in my own life. If you’re like me, you have a busy mind always looking for the next thing, constantly moving forward. I’ve found that using resources like guided meditation apps and reading personal development books give me something to think about and ways to structure my thoughts.

2. Visualization – This is where it gets hokey if I’m being completely honest, but I’ve found myself in times of success when I’ve visualized my outcomes. This doesn’t mean print a picture of a Ferrari, hang it on your mirror and it will magically appear in your driveway next week. Rather, to me what I think this means is visualizing yourself achieving the outcomes you want. This helps your mind to start turning your thoughts into realities. Once you see yourself achieving that desired result, you’ll begin to find ways in your everyday life to get you there. I don’t know what else to say here other than just try it and see how it works in your life.

3. Goal setting – now that you have given yourself some time to think about the life you want and envision your future, you can begin to create a plan to realize those dreams. Goal setting is a topic I’ve probably talked about more than any other topic of Friday Fundamentals, so I won’t belabor the point here. Set goals that stretch your current abilities. Slowly and surely you’ll progress towards that vision of your future.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

4. Intentional action – You must take calculated and intentional action if you’re going to achieve your vision for the future. You won’t accidentally stumble to a life you really want. It will require you to take consistent action towards your goals. Likely, this will take you a long time. It may be months or even years before you start to see the results of your goals and actions. But don’t give up. You’ll slowly build momentum that one day will snowball into a life more abundant than the one you could only dream of years ago.

“Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, vision with action can change the world.” - Nelson Mandela

Your desires will change over time. What once wasn’t as important to you may one day become more important. I think this is a natural progression in life. With that, it’s ok to change the vision for life as you want. You’ll achieve, change, and revise your goals throughout your life.

You have the ability to shape your outcomes with your own thoughts and actions. This is a liberating realization, but also one that comes with great responsibility. It’s up to you to create the future you want. Anything you want in life is possible. It’s up to you to decide what that is and make it happen.

Protecting Your Assets with Brian Bradley

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Brian T. Bradley, Esq. is a public speaker, a leading Educator and Asset Protection Attorney for High-Risk Professionals, Entrepreneurs, Real Estate Investors and High Net-Worth Families. His goal is to give you peace of mind knowing your assets are safe. Also, acts as a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) for law firms helping them maximize their value, along with technology integration.

Brian was selected to the Lawyers of Distinction List 3 years in a row 2018 through 2020, Super Lawyers Rising Star List 2015, nominated to America's Top 100 High Stake Litigators List, and nominated to the 2017 Law Firm 500 Award. He also writes and teaches on High-End Asset Protection. Brian has been featured on numerous Investing, Real Estate, Cash flow, Finance and Coaching shows.

KEY POINTS

What is Asset Protection
Ways to Create an Asset Protection plan
The Pros and Cons of an LLC
Asset Protection Strategy and its importance
The Power of Legal Authority over Practical Authority
Asset Management Limited Partnership Structure
Domestic versus Foreign Asset Protection Trusts
What is a Bridge Trust
Why is Jurisdiction important when setting up an Asset Protection System
Full and Maybe Asset Protection
How COVID 19 impact wealth and businesses
Steps to create a conservative plan for crisis

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Failure to launch.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Very organized and structured and love flexibility.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Richest Man in Babylon book by George S. Clason

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Be coachable and learn.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

BTB Legal Website

Email: Brian@btblegal.com

Power of Perspective – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

In March of 2020, at the time of this writing, many people are seeing their lives drastically changed from just a short time ago. The global pandemic has been a domino in the global economy, impacting jobs, GDP, commodity prices, what may be the end of the longest bull run in the U.S. stock market in its history and the very livelihood of millions of people.

Many people are fixated on all the negative things going on in the world today, and rightfully so. That doesn’t mean you have to share the same outlook on life. In times like these, being calm and reflecting on these things can bring some clarity. When the world seems to be crashing down around you, tap into your inner peace to find strength and clear thoughts. Our perspective is a powerful ability to see things how we want to see them. It’s up to you to decide yours.

Life is a series of events you imagine, create, and experience. From your very first memories to where you are today, you’ve grown into a completely different person than that younger version of yourself. This, however, didn’t happen overnight. Slowly and steadily, your thoughts, actions, and environment shaped who you are today and are continuing to shape who you will be in the future.

Starting with your thoughts, let’s look at how these alone can impact your future. When we are young, we start with very few thoughts, and eventually start to reason on our own. These thoughts take shape in our minds, are carried out with our actions, and shaped by our environment. Thoughts, actions, environment - these are the three things that compound over time and lead us into the future. One thought turns into another and another, expanding our mindset. Acting on these newly found thoughts, we begin to turn them into a reality. Of course, this doesn’t all happen in a vacuum. We’re impressionable creatures and are easily influenced by our environment.

In today’s digital age, our environment is more than just our physical surrounding. The influence from others is far reaching with a world connected by the internet, social media, news, and more. As stoic as you may think you are, you are influenced by your environment, the people in it, their ideas and much more. That’s just life. We’re the product of our thoughts and environment. While we may not be able to control our environment entirely, we can choose how we respond to it and use it to our advantage.

You can create your own reality, starting with your perspective. While one person may perceive a particular event in one way, which shapes their reality, another person could perceive the exact same event a completely different way and shapes an entirely different reality. This happens all the time.

We have the unique ability to shape our own reality with our thoughts. It may sound farfetched if you’ve never considered the notion, but rest assured many great minds have already come to this realization.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

Therefore, it’s important to continually work on your mindset and perspective on things. With the right mindset you can accomplish more that you can imagine in your current state.

Our mind is constantly interpreting all kinds of inputs. Our environment, thoughts, action, and much more are all processed by our mind. It decides what’s important, what to keep, what it needs to store, and what it can throw away. We can direct our minds to focus on things we want, either consciously or subconsciously.

Take this scenario as an example. Let’s say you drive a white 2004 GMC Sierra extended cab truck. Maybe back in mid to late 2000’s this make/model of truck was more common on the road, but 16 years later there aren’t as many on the road. So you’re driving down the road and you notice another similar model truck just like yours. Your mind recognizes that truck and says “Hey, there’s a truck just like mine”. We’ve all done that. Maybe in your case you drive a more common car seen on the road today, but either way our minds all do that exact thing.

While this quirk in our minds is subtle and we easily dismiss it, this is your reticular activating system at work. Why is this important? When you put a thought in your mind, it begins to look for ways to address that thought.

Let’s say you want to buy a duplex. On your normal commute to or from work, you notice a for sale sign, or a rundown property with mail overflowing, or an overgrown lawn, or a for rent sign. Your mind says “hey, maybe that’s a duplex you mentioned the other day”. Now had you not thought to yourself, and even written it down (more on that in a minute), then your mind would be at work on other things like looking for 2004 GMC Sierra trucks on the road.

Taking that reticular activating system one step further, let’s look at how to go from a thought to an action. You would think that’s easy enough and need not be mentioned, but many people live out their lives without ever acting on their dreams.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

If you want a certain reality, you first start with the end in mind.

Steven Covey described this principle in his well-known book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Begin with the end in mind is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things. Stephen Covey makes the point that everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.

Goals without action are just dreams.

The moral of all this is you have the power to create your own reality. When the world seems like it’s in constant chaos, you can choose your own version of reality. You can live in a reactionary state, constantly being smacked around like a pinball in an pinball machine, or you can take control of your own outcomes by creating your own reality, taking the same environment and influences and making the best of them. With the right mindset, you’re unstoppable. You’ll see opportunities, where you once saw risk. You’ll have a positive outlook when you were otherwise fearful. You’ll succeed where you would have failed.

Stay positive, continue to develop your mindset, and enjoy the journey of life.

Duplex to 600+ Apartments with Jason Pero

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Pero Real Estate was formed in 2001 by Jason and Nadia Pero when they purchased their first duplex. They now own and operate over 650 residential rental apartments in Erie/Northwest Pennsylvania. PRE’s primary focus is the acquisition and rehabilitation of distressed residential housing. We look to be part of the revitalization of downtown Erie by improving it’s overall housing stock one property at a time.

Jason and Nadia make their home in Erie where they raise their 2 children. They are active members of the Apartment Association of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Jason has served on the Board of Directors since 2008.

Key Points

Starting with a duplex and scaling to over 600 units
Growing a portfolio without partners
Personal development as the fuel for your growth
The importance of building relationships
Being the best in your market

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Money and age factor. Jason didn’t have any money. He took the first $3500 he earned and invested it in real estate.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Jason tries to exercise every day and read every day.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Real estate Facebook groups

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Compound Effect – Darren Hardy
Poor Charlie’s Almanac – Charlie Munger

If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Enjoy the journey and create some balance.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download!

Pero Real Estate

Jason Pero’s BiggerPockets profile

Jason Pero’s Facebook profile

Self Sufficiency – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Hi and welcome to The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast.

I hope all is well on your end. There is so much going on in the world today. I want to acknowledge all the people around the world that have been impacted recently. There are times when things happen that are completely out of our control and we feel like we're at the mercy of our environment. Just know that this too shall pass.

With the CDC recommending social distancing, I’m glad we're able to still connect virtually on the podcast today!

If you're anything like me, you've been watching the news cycle lately and maybe even stressing yourself out with all the things going on. While I’m certainly paying attention, I have to turn my attention to more positive news and productive channels to keep my sanity (and be glad most of my investments are in more stable and still cash-flowing real estate!). Here are some books and podcasts I’ve been reading/listening to lately that help offset all the negative news.

1. The Wealthy Gardner by John Soforic. I recently interviewed John on Episode 294 of The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast.

2. Episode 284 of my favorite podcast, Get Rich Education, where the host and my good friend, Keith Weinhold, discusses COVID-19 and how it impacts real estate investing.

3. The Code of The Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani and the related MindValley community and content.

Two things I'm thankful for are my ambition and my habit of looking for opportunities in things. There are opportunities everywhere you look. The eye just has to be open to them. Often these opportunities will not reach out and grab to you. They’ll come as subtle hints. Continue to be open to new ideas and look for opportunities,

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

There have been a few exciting things on my end. As you know, I’ve been investing in real estate for about 5 years now and have been scaling up through multifamily properties in emerging markets with strong economic and demographic growth. You can learn more about what I’m doing, including markets I’m currently investing it, and asset classes I’m pursuing at the newly revamped website - AyersAcquisitions.com.

This week’s Friday Fundamental is Social Security and Self Sufficiency

Social security, broadly defined (by me), is a program or institution that provides social benefits to its people. In the U.S. we’re lucky to have a strong social security system. Our social security system provides support to people in the form of financial assistance, healthcare, disability support, and more. Providing this support to those who need it helps our society, by ensuring that basic needs are available to everyone. From there, we’re on our own to strive for more.

Self-sufficiency describes someone who is completely dependent on one’s self for basic needs and prosperity. From a homesteader in the remote Alaskan wilderness to a successful business owner or established real estate investor, self-sufficiency comes in many shapes and sizes.

Being that wealth and freedom are the two pillars of this show, self-sufficiency is where we strive to be. Self-sufficiency, to me, means relying on myself to create my own success and outcomes. It means that it’s my responsibility to determine how I want to live my life, then set goals to achieve those things. It means that my financial success, economic status, and even happiness are all in my control. When you take control of these things, it’s up to you to produce the outcomes you want. Sure, there are things that happen to us all the time that are out of our control. Just see the world around us today. But as Albert Einstein said, in the middle of difficulty comes opportunity.

Being self-sufficient, to me, isn’t an option, but rather a responsibility. It’s a responsibility to myself so that I can live my life the way I want. It’s a responsibility to my family so I can provide for them, and it’s a responsibility to others so I can support others with my own form of social security.

You are capable of not only creating your own financial success but being so self-sufficient that you are able to help others. And since you are capable of this, it’s your responsibility to do so. Not everyone is in the fortunate position you are.

The vehicle to this self-sufficiency for me is… you guessed it – real estate investing. Being that I have personally only been investing in a bull market, and never have personally experienced a recession in my investing career, I’ve been reflecting on what, if anything, I’ll need to change when a recession does come along. We may be starting to see the beginning of the next recession. I’ve been listening to other people much smarter than I am, on this subject and building my own philosophies to take forward with me.

One thing I’m certain of is I do not know what the future holds. I don’t know if property values will increase, if interest rates will stay historically low, and if borrowing money from banks will be as easy as it is now. There are, however, a few things in my control that will ensure as best as reasonably possible, that my real estate portfolio performs well in a recession or in an economic upturn.

These are the Three Immutable Laws of Real Estate Investing

As Joe Fairless outlines in his book, The Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book, there are three immutable laws of real estate investing:

Buy for cash flow, not appreciation. By investing first and foremost for cash flow, not appreciation, you ensure that the property brings in enough income to cover the expenses. Determine what a worst-case scenario would be. If the property still cash flows in that worst-case scenario, you can be confident in the durability of your investment. If not, then figure out what point the property is no longer profitable. If that number doesn’t have much room for error from an ideal scenario, then you may be too optimistic and not safe come a recession.
Secure long-term debt. Depending on the property type you are investing you, you can usually get at least a 10-year loan, sometimes even 20 or 30 year for residential loans. By securing a longer loan term, you give yourself options for an exit strategy, not to mention likely improving your monthly cash flow.
Have adequate cash reserves. This is an important thing that many people miss. Having adequate cash reserves can help you cover unforeseen circumstances, increases in expenses, or decreases in rent.

If you couple these three laws with selecting a strong market you have a recipe for a successful real estate investment. Just like everything else, there is risk involved when investing – this you know. The best hedge against risk is education. Learn as much as you can. Implement what you learn and take action. Use resources like Joe’s book and others, podcasts, real estate conferences, and networking to leverage other people’s experience. Do these things, and you’ll be well on your way to building a real estate portfolio that gives you the wealth and freedom to live the life you want.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Wealthy Gardner by John Soforic

Episode 284 of Get Rich Education Podcast

The Code of The Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani

The Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book by Joe Fairless

Principles from a Wealthy Gardner with John Soforic

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

John is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, and author of The Wealthy Gardener, a book for his son to distill his own wisdom on money and success. The premise of the book is that even average people have the power to get what they want in life IF they use their full powers. It became a best-seller, was translated into foreign languages, was ranked #45 on Audible.

KEY POINTS

The timeless success principles of The Wealthy Gardener
You gain your freedom in your free hours
Opportunity costs - what you sacrifice by not sacrificing
Why it’s dangerous to be in a comfortable situation
The power of purpose
Choosing your own money beliefs
Fear Mindset versus a success mindset

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Getting money.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Focusing on wealth and purpose

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Darren Daily

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Think and Grow Rich book by Napoleon hill
The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Do not worry so much along the way & have financial instability before starting winning the game.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

The Wealthy Gardener book by John Sofofric

The Millionaire Next Door book by Thomas J. Stanly & William D. Banko

Wealth and Freedom – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Hi and welcome to the real estate way to wealth and freedom podcast. I'm your host Jacob Ayers this is episode 293. You're listening to Friday fundamentals.

Today I’ve got some exciting news to announce.

The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom is approaching the 3-year mark with nearly 300 episodes. With so many great guests, like Keith Weinhold, Joe Fairless, Rod Khleif, Matt Faircloth, Michelle Bosch, Scott Trench, Christian Montalvo, Brian Burke, just to name a few, this podcast has reached thousands of people including you. I want to thank you for choosing to spend your valuable time listening to the show every week. But more importantly than thanking you, I want to congratulate you on choosing to improve your life, educate yourself, and continue to engineer the lifestyle you want. You have likely made so much progress in the past few years, and have drastically shaped the course of your future. For that, you should be proud.

The purpose of this podcast has been and is to bring as much value to you as possible. With that, I’m excited to announce this week’s episode is brought to you by Ayers Acquisitions. You may recognize the name! Ayers Acquisitions is a real estate investment company that acquires cash-flowing real estate in emerging markets. To learn more about Ayers Acquisitions, visit www.AyersAcquisitions.com.

Here in mid-March 2020, we’re almost a quarter of the way through the year and I hope that the year is shaping up well for you. By now you have a good feel for what is going right, where you have over-delivered, and where you have under-delivered. You can now start to make changes to both your goals and actions based on your results so far. Maybe in let’s say February, you slipped up on some of those new year goals, but that doesn't mean it's too late for you to right the ship. We’re only a few months into the year with more than 9 months left. You still have plenty of time to course-correct where you need to.

That leads us to this week's Friday fundamental. This week's Friday fundamental is wealth and freedom. Yes, wealth and freedom - the two underpinning philosophes of this podcast. So let's jump right into what these two terms mean. And this is just my opinion so take that for what it is. Let’s talk about these two terms, what they are and how they relate to you.

Let's start with wealth. To me, wealth means that you have a net worth backed by assets that are durable over the course of time. With enough wealth, you can have what's called generational wealth meaning your wealth will outlast you and be passed on to generations after you. Now this obviously sounds very appealing, but there's a catch. There are many people with a lot of monetary wealth, but that monetary wealth isn't very valuable if you don't have the freedom to use it as you wish.

Freedom, on the other side of the coin, is the ability to do what you want, when you want, where you want, and with who you want. Wealth can certainly be a factor in your freedom. However, wealth alone will not give you freedom. Freedom requires the right mindset, good health, and time.

Let’s look at some ways you can achieve both wealth and freedom.

Invest in yourself. The great news here is you are already doing this right this very second by listening to this podcast. By investing first in yourself, you are investing in your most valuable asset – your mind. There is no better investment than this.
Invest in durable assets over the long term. Obviously real estate is a great asset class for building wealth, as proven throughout history.
Following Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 rule, 80 percent of your results come from only 20% of your actions. If you can focus your efforts there and double down, you will see exponential growth in your life.
Make money follow you. This is one of my favorite principles shared by guest Keith Weinhold. Don’t follow money, but rather make money follow you. What this means is find a way to earn money wherever you are, rather than chasing a job to trade your time for dollars. Doing so will give you location the freedom to live wherever you want.
There are only so many hours in the day, 24 to be exact, that you can trade for money. Find a way instead of trading your time for money, to leverage other people’s time and money. There are so many ways to do this that aren’t exploitative.

Wealth and Freedom start with your mindset. Once you realize that you can easily build wealth and achieve financial freedom just by making the conscious decision, you will begin to see all kinds of possibilities. It’s much easier to live a life of abundance rather than one of scarcity. The only difference is which one you decide to pursue.

I want you to dream of the life you truly want and then build a plan to achieve that. This is how you engineer the lifestyle you want.

Mobile Home Park Investing with Jefferson Lilly

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 10:00:00 -0600

Jefferson is a self-made millionaire, mobile home park investment (MHP) expert, educator, and industry consultant. Park Street Partners owns 17 MHPs coast-to-coast totaling over $32mm in value. Prior to co-founding Park Street Partners in 2013, Mr. Lilly spent seven years investing his own capital acquiring and operating mobile home parks. Before becoming an investor full-time, Jefferson spent nine years in sales leadership roles with several venture-backed startups in Silicon Valley.

He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Jefferson started and hosts the Mobile Home Park Investors Podcast. He also founded the Mobile Home Park Investors group on LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional networking group focussed on MHPs (3,500+ members).

Key Points

Why mobile home parks serve an important purpose in our country
How to manage properties nationwide using the latest technology
Supply and demand imbalances
The MHP business model
Value add opportunities in MHPs

Fun Facts

Mobile homes have a VIN number, just as a boat, car, or trailer would
10% of the U.S. lives in mobile homes

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Jefferson was distracted by his job, personal life, etc. He’s now completely focused and disciplined in his search for mobile home parks.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Jefferson has made an effort to hire people to help him out in his business. His goal is to make himself irrelevant to his business.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Bestplaces.net

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Do the same things, but sooner.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Park Street Partners

Rent Manager – Property management software

Bestplaces.net

Finding Deals – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Your Highest And Best Use Of Time

Whether you are building a real estate empire or buying a couple of rental properties, you are essentially running a business. For most people starting out, you are the CEO, janitor, and everything in between. You’re responsible for acquisitions, underwriting, property management, financing, bookkeeping, hiring contractors, and what seems like a hundred other things. Eventually, for some, you start to build a team and outsource these things, like hiring a real estate CPA, property manager, bookkeeper, etc.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “time is money” before. Yes, this is true. Your time is valuable. The question is, just how valuable? If you are constantly in the weeds of your business, mowing the lawns of your rental properties, chasing down tenants late rent, etc., then you aren’t using your time to it’s highest and best use.

As the CEO to your real estate business, your job essentially comes down to two things: finding deals and raising money. It’s that simple. Everything else is a distraction. Unless you are the best carpenter around, or the best plumber, etc. then you shouldn’t be spending your time doing those tasks. And even if you are the best carpenter in your market, ask yourself if are you trying to build a plumbing business or a real estate business. It’s important to work on your business, and not in your business. If you are working in your business, that is a job.

Finding deals and raising money can be a bit like the chicken and the egg. Which comes first?

Finding Great Deals

The name of the game in real estate is finding great deals. You’ve heard that if you have a great deal, the money will follow. Especially as value-add investors, finding distressed properties or owners is a great way to find deals. Distressed deals can mean a few things. The owner can be in distress, either personally or financially, the property can be in distress or a combination of both.

Financial Distress describes the owner more so than the property. People go through hardships from time to time, losing their jobs, relocating, or a number of other hardships. As a real estate investor, you have the knowledge and capability to help people out in certain situations. This is much different than taking advantage of someone. The key difference in helping out a financially distressed homeowner or investor versus taking advantage of someone is both parties benefit when you help. Let’s look at some ways you can search out people in financial distress.

Foreclosures
Pre-foreclosure
Foreclosure Auctions
Bank Owned
Tax Foreclosures
Evictions
Bankruptcy

Life happens. Sometimes that’s good, and other times it’s not so good. People fall into personal distress for many different reasons. Family, work, moving, divorce, and even death are reasons people might face personal distress.

Absentee owners
Divorce
Probate

When seeking out deals you are looking for distressed properties just as much as distressed sellers. Distressed properties can provide opportunities for you to add value to the property and do a number of different things with – like flipping, BRRRR, wholesale, etc. Typically a distressed property is in poor condition. You can look at a property like this and usually tell that it is run down, vacant, or just not being maintained as it should. If you aren’t in the area to be able to drive the neighborhood (drive for dollars), then you can also search online for city or country code violations.

Code violations
Vacant/run down properties

Driving for dollars

These are just a few of the many criteria that you could look for when searching for distressed properties and owners. Two great resources I’ve found helpful in searching for public records and data are:

Listsource is a great source for… well, building lists. You can search for hundreds of different parameters to build targetted lists in your markets. With these lists, you can send mail to homeowners and offer to help them out, however you can – often by buying their house.

Foreclosure.com is another great resource that focuses on foreclosures, preforeclosures, and REO properties.

Getting Stuck In The Weeds

Starting out, it can be hard to not get drug into the weeds. Especially if you are self-managing your property. I totally understand this. But as soon as you can, start building systems and processes that help you automate and outsource things. Drive your business from the 30,000 ft. view and focus on growth. You owe it to yourself and those around you to be as successful as you possibly can. Help out others along the way. Treat people how you want to be treated. Do these things, and you’ll have a hard time not achieving everything you can possibly want.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Listsource.com

Foreclosure.com

Data Driven Investing with Neal Bawa

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Neal Bawa is Founder and CEO at Grocapitus Investments, a commercial real estate investment company. Neal sources, negotiates and acquires commercial properties across the U.S. for 200+ investors. His current portfolio contains over 1000 units, with a projection of at least 2000 units in 12 months.

Neal speaks at Multifamily events, IRA events & meetups across the country. Nearly 2,000 students attend his multifamily seminar series each year and hundreds attend his Magic of Multifamily boot camps. Neal is the co-founder of the largest Multifamily Investing Meetup network in the U.S. (BAMF), a group of investors that has over 4,000 members.

Neal is an accomplished single-family and multifamily investor. Currently owns single families, duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes in CA and IL. Active and passive investor in multifamily and commercial syndications in TX, NC, KS, OH, NV, UT, FL, and IL. Taught Fundamentals of Multifamily investing, Real Estate trends and deal analysis to 1000+ students, including investors from three different IRA companies. Raised tens of millions of dollars to buy 200+ unit students housing and multifamily projects.

Neal has a special knack for teaching and gets rave reviews from his presentations and training sessions. Neal also enjoys meeting with people one-on-one to understand their real estate goals, aspirations, and challenges.

Neal is a backyard tomato farmer and a protein diet health nut. He believes in positivity and Karma, is passionate about cricket and about the enormous potential of self-driving electric vehicles to solve the global climate crisis.

Key Points

Using technology to understand the fundamentals of real estate
How to evaluate markets
Why data is important
Knowing what sources are reputable
Why Neal is overpaying for large multifamily

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Neal leads with value to people who knew more about real estate investing than him.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Neal ends every day with a plan for the next.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

The One Thing – Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Don’t drink the real estate kool-aide. Stick to your ethics.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

MultifamilyU.com

GroCapitus.com

Contact Neal: Neal@multifamilyu.com

Live the Life You Want – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 08:00:00 -0600

There are many times when we find ourselves doing things we don’t want to do, but we never stop and ask ourselves why we are doing them. Sure, there are some things that are necessary. You can’t let those stack of cups in your kitchen sink grow any taller. You do have to file your taxes. You do have to change the oil in your car from time to time. But these small, yet necessary, things aren’t what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the times when you find yourself doing something that’s not bringing you any value or joy, yet is in your control. These range from big things in your life to the daily routines and activities.

For example, why do you live in the town or city that you do? It might be because that’s where your job is. Why do you drive the vehicle you do? Maybe because that’s what other people drive who are in your same economic class. Why do you find yourself being dragged to social events, like your friend’s brother’s college roommate’s birthday dinner? That one, I’m not sure why you got pulled into that, but it happens.

One thing leads to another, and soon you find yourself living a life that you didn’t quite design for yourself. Rather than you designing a life for yourself, other people, other circumstances, and many other factors shaped this life you’re living. Do what you want. Life the life you want.

It may be difficult to do what you want, if you don’t know what that is. That’s ok. We’re going to explore how to identify those things, and then how to live them.

First, understand that anything you put your mind to is possible. You’re capable of living the life you want – any life!

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

Developing this mindset it key. Don’t fall prey to those ever-present limiting beliefs.

Reflect. Take some time to reflect on what things make you happy. Some people never even stop to consider what they like and want. Family usually tops the list. Friends, health, wealth, and satisfaction round out the usual priorities. Dig deeper than this. Don’t think of these in the buzzword like sense. What really brings you joy? It could be the grind of a long project at work, or the win of getting that new client or project or being able to take every evening and spend with your family. Everyone is different. This is why it’s important to reflect on what’s important to you.

Once you have the right mindset and have reflected to understand what brings you joy – then take action. Remember, you’re capable of living any life you want. You just have to implement it. Don’t bound yourself by the norms of society. This will be a work in progress. You probably can’t quit your job, sell your car, and take off on a sailboat circumnavigating the globe tomorrow. But you can take steps every day that will put you closer to living the life you want.

I know what you’re thinking – “but Jacob, I have bills to pay, and family to raise, a job to go to, etc.”. Yes, I know you do. I’m not suggesting you quit paying your electric bill because it doesn’t make you happy. Unless of course, sitting in the dark makes you happy – then go right ahead! I want you to know that any life you can dream of, you can have. Don’t underestimate what you’re are capable of. Don’t be tied down by societal norms, limiting beliefs, and the pressure to live life how everyone else does. You are you. You aren’t anyone else. So live the life you want. Do what makes you happy. That’s the ultimate success.

Building a Successful Real Estate Company with Gabe DaSilva

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Gabe DaSilva is Founder and President of DaSilva Group Inc. Prior to forming his firm Gabe held several positions with both public and private financial institutions in the Greater New York City Area. Gabe specializes in implementing effective profitability optimization strategies and conducting complex financial valuations and analyses.

Key Points

Building a vertically integrated real estate business
Creating a culture of success
Systems and processes to grow your business
House flipping – add a level/pop tops
The mindset of success
The difference in building a business and buying yourself another job

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Lack of capital (no deals, no dollars). Gabe found a good lending partner and built a relationship, and used leverage to grow.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Gabe has what he calls a non-negotiable, and that is unplugging on Sunday.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Podcasts

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
E-Myth by Michael Gerber
Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
Traction by Gino Wickman

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Stop playing and get serious about life. Take massive action, find a circle that elevates you, and level up together.

Resources

DaSilva Group

The Build video series on Youtube

Gabe’s Instagram profile

Flip Tip E-book

Visit Audible for a free trial, and a free audiobook download.

The Power of Your Psychology - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Your psychology is perhaps the most important quality in your life. It controls what you do, how you do it, and ultimately how successful you can be. With the right psychology, the sky is the limit. With the wrong psychology, you might never reach your full potential or even come close.

Have you ever come across someone who seems to be less driven, less qualified, or less capable than you, yet is more successful at something specific? If it isn’t due to capabilities, intelligence, or some other innate quality, then what could their success over yours be contributed to? It’s likely their psychology.

Your psychology in this context is how you perceive both yourself and your surroundings. If you perceive yourself as capable, successful, ambitious, or positive, then chances are you are those things. If on the other hand, you perceive yourself as lacking, inadequate, incapable, then you probably are those things. Your psychology determines your thoughts. Your thoughts guide your actions, and your actions drive your outcomes. If you want to change your future, then start with your psychology.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” – Henry Ford

Your psychology is the guiding force in your life. Luckily, you have the power to take control of it and use it as you wish.

Leverage Your Psychology

Let’s look at how you can understand and leverage your own psychology to shape your thoughts, actions, and outcomes to ultimately engineer the lifestyle you want.

Embrace your positive self-concepts. These self-concepts are the way and things you think about yourself. If you have the positive self-concept that you are driven and motivated, then embrace that. Use that self-concept to push yourself and achieve new heights in your life. After all, you are a driven and motivated individual. Continue to develop new positive self-concepts and use them to your advantage. You already have a ton of great qualities about yourself that you may not even realize. Maybe you are great at viewing the big picture or are extremely task-focused, or organized, or encouraging, or a number of other things. Use these to your advantage. Remind yourself that you have a superpower.
Recognize and understand your negative self-concepts. We all have some negative self-concepts of ourselves. If you can realize what these negative self-concepts are and then explore the root of them, then you can use them to your advantage. Awareness is key.
Focus on growth, rather than contraction. A growth mindset can insight fear, make you uncomfortable, and force you out of your zone. By doing these things, you will grow and expand, achieving new heights. The alternative is to shrink, be comfortable, not expand and reach your potential.

There are a ton of psychology hacks, improvements, and thought exercises. By focusing on this area of your life, you are investing in yourself both now and in the future. Your psychology will play a huge role in the amount of success you have in life. Any thought exercise, investment, or time spent on your own self-psychology are time, money, and resources well spent.

Limiting Beliefs

There will be times when you have limiting beliefs creep into your mind. Don’t for a second allow these thoughts space in your mind. It’s only normal to experience limiting beliefs. If it weren’t for them, you would be recklessly taking on risks and exposing yourself to dangers. But at the same time, you can’t let them hold you back.

Invest in the best resource you will ever have – your mind. Develop and grow your positive self-concepts. With the right mindset, coupled with taking action, you can and will achieve anything you set your mind to. Grow, learn new things, take on new challenges, and force yourself to continually push your psychology to new levels.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Passive Investing to Create Time Freedom with Travis Watts

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Travis Watts is a full-time passive investor. He has been investing in real estate since 2009 in multifamily, single-family and vacation rentals. Travis is also the Director of Investor Relations at Ashcroft Capital. Travis has invested in over 27 passive syndications between 14 different firms. Travis now dedicates his time to educating others in the world of investing and has made it his mission to share passive investment strategies in order to help others achieve and maintain wealth in real estate.

KEY POINTS

Making the transition from being an active investor to becoming 100% passive
House hacking your first investment property
FIRE Movement and how real estate can be a great vehicle to achieve Financial Independence (FI)
How to vet sponsors and teams as a limited partner
The pros and cons of single-family & multifamily
How to create "Time Freedom"
How to determine your investment criteria
The importance of networking as a real estate investor
Self-education: why it’s essential
The benefits of diversification in syndication

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
Having fear of buying the first property.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Self-education (reading, listening to an audiobook, & podcast)
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
Ashcroftcapital.com/passiveinvestor
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
Choose FI by Chris Mamula, Brad Barrett, & Jonothan Mendonsa
Tax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Buy your first property, start reading, start educating, join real estate meetup groups, listen to podcasts, and expand your mind & clearly define your goals.

RESOURCES

Ashcroft Capital

Ashcroftcapital.com/passiveinvestor

Email: Travis@Ashcroftcapital.com

LinkedIn / Biggerpockets / Facebook

Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant book by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Partnerships, Teams, & Passive Investing - Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Let’s look at some roles you can consider when building your team. These can be tailored towards your goals, but are a good starting point.

A mentor. A mentor will help guide you and encourage you to reach your goals. Usually, a mentor is more experienced in the same area you are in and knows what you should do in order to get where you want to be. It’s important to find a mentor whose values align with yours, and whom you trust.
A coach. A coach will accelerate your progress and help you achieve your goals much faster. A good coach will help you navigate from where you are currently to where you want to be, with specific and actionable advice. Your coach should challenge you, make you see new perspectives, and push you past your comfort zone. Find a coach who expands your mindset and makes you think bigger.
A partner. Your partner(s) should share your same vision for the future. You should have similar goals and be willing to put in work together to achieve those. But you don’t have to find a partner that is just like you. Actually, you need a partner whose strengths complement your weaknesses. A partnership should be complementary, not supplementary.
A sphere of influence. These are your friends, family members, and peers. Not everyone will support you and promote your best interests, and not necessarily in ill will. Some people just aren’t on the same path as you. Your sphere of influence is your network of people who you surround yourself with on a day-to-day basis. These people will influence you directly and indirectly with their thoughts, actions, and inactions. Be careful who you spend your time with because you’ll be the average of them.
Brokers, accountants, attornies, property managers,

Partnerships

Guarding Your Team

Like we mentioned, you have a team now whether you realize it or not. Guard that team, and don’t let people into your life who don’t support you and want what’s best for you.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Investing in Self Storage with Kris Benson

Jacob Ayers — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Kris Benson is the chief investment officer for Reliant Investments, a subsidiary of Reliant Real Estate Management and one of the top 30 commercial self-storage operators in the U.S. in 2018. Kris is part of the investment committee and develops institutional-quality self-storage investment opportunities for accredited investors.

Kris’s investing goals have always been about changing the paradigm of trading time for money in order to have time for more of the things we love to do. Likewise, investing in real estate has been Kris’s steadfast path to passive income and he is passionate about inspiring others to change their mindset around investing for their future.

Key Points

Continuously pushing yourself out of your comfort zone
Finding your strengths and playing to those
Finding motivation beyond money
Building a portfolio of small multifamily properties, then scaling with syndication
Three pillars – returns, protection, opportunity
Investing in self-storage

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Fear and lack of knowledge. By taking advantage of self-education resources like BiggerPockets, and then taking action, Kris was able to get started.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Kris figures out what needs to be done and then executes it.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Shoe Dog – Phil Knight

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Do it sooner! The best tool in all of investing is time – take advantage of it.

Resources

Reliant Investments

KrisBenson.com

Kris’ LinkedIn Profile

National Association of REITs data

Visit Audible for a free trial, and a free audiobook download

Pitching and Negotiating – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

There are also nonverbal ways we pitch, sell, and negotiate. How you dress, your body language, your actions, how you listen, among many other factors, are ways you relay nonverbal cues to others.

Beyond your everyday casual interactions with others, there are many other scenarios when you need to pitch, negotiate and sell. From negotiating a raise at your job to making offers on investment properties, you must know how to frame conversations, listen to and guide the other person's thoughts and actions to create the outcomes you want.

Pitching, selling, and negotiating are subjets that have been researched, studied and written about in-depth for many years. I've found a few books and resources particularly valuable. They are:

You have something that others want and need, whether that's a bit of information that you know that someone else doesn't, or something you have learned from your experience, simply some words of encouragement, a solution you can provide for someone else or a number of other things. It's up to you to be able to present those ideas, frame them in a way that you can easily communicate them, and ultimately persuade someone to take action. That's exactly what I am doing here. By interviewing guests every week to providing little nuggets of information on Friday Fundamentals, I hope to provide the knowledge and motivation for you to achieve financial freedom, build the life you want, and help others do the same. Someone somewhere wants and needs what you have. It's up to you to find who, where, and how to provide that value.

"You either promote what you've got, or you're demoting it." - Robert Martinez, Guest on Episode 252.

Property Management with Jim Murray

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Over the past ten years, Jim’s multifamily real estate investments have blossomed into a successful property management company, Lyon Property Management Group. An investor himself, Jim intimately understands the needs of an investor landlord, and that’s why Lyon Property Management is tailored to the multifamily investor.

Jim is also an investor educator along with Lyon Property Group co-founder Frank Patalano. Jim and Frank host a podcast called The Cashflow Kings where they have been known to pass out free golden nuggets of real estate wisdom.

KEY POINTS

How to house hack your way to financial freedom with hardly any money down
The daily grind of entrepreneurship
Getting into deals with $0 out of pocket
The downfall of being penny-wise and dollar-dumb and what that means
How to build a best-in-class property management company

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
Getting an education.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Jim reads 15 pages every day to help keep him educated.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
RI Prop Info - this is a database of tax information local to Jim's market.
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
The Wealthy Gardner by John Soforic
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Take a ton of action. Time heals all wounds in real estate when you buy for cash flow.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Lyon Property Group

Cash Flow Kings podcast

Live up to Your Potential – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Potential, defined, is having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future. Similarly, in the world of physics, potential energy is the energy possessed by a body by virtue of its position relative to others, stresses within itself, electric charge, and other factors.

Think of potential like a slingshot, pulled all the way back. With a simple release of the strap, the object in the slingshot is rocketed forward. Who knew I was inadvertently studying physics as a young kid while causing trouble with my home-made slingshots made of tree branches and bicycle tire innertubes.

You, just like that slingshot, have potential. You’re made up of potential energy. This life is filled with endless opportunities. You can do and be anything you want, so why not live up to your full potential and life a purposeful life?! Whether you realize it or not, you have the ability to tap into your potential and direct it towards wherever you so choose. We live in a world where we get to choose how to live. Take a moment and think about that. Yes, you get to choose how to live, where to live, who to spend time with, what hobbies and interests to pursue, and so much more.

You have so much potential. It’s just a matter of tapping into that potential and directing your focus towards your goals. Let’s look at some effective ways that will help you do just that.

Try new things. There is so much for you to experience, opportunities you didn’t even know existed. The only way to find those is to get out and try new things. It’s impossible to know what interests you unless you are trying new things. You have to explore both the outside world and yourself to be able to realize what opportunities exist, and what you are capable of.
Put yourself out there. It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone. But you’ll never challenge yourself, grow, and reach your full potential by staying where you’re comfortable. Progress happens when you are challenged because you are forced to solve problems, learn new things, experience new opportunities, and grow to new levels. Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to fail.
Nurture your environment. Whether you realize it or not, your environment is the single biggest factor in your success. The people who you surround yourself with, your physical location, and the information you process are all part of your environment. When you have an environment that supports your growth, learning, and improvement then you can more easily reach your full potential.
Be a lifelong learner. Continuously study new things. Your mind is your most valuable asset, so be sure to always invest in it first. Podcasts, books, online courses, conferences, and networking with others are all great ways to learn and study new things. You’ll never be too educated.
Take action. This is a vital part of realizing your potential. Taking action doesn’t always mean it’s the right action. Often times, you’ll do something that may or may not be effective. Either way, it’s a success so long as you learn from it. Implement the things you learn, pull the lessons out from things that did and didn’t work, and create that feedback loop so that you’re always improving and getting better.

Your potential is massive. You likely won’t tap into it overnight. It’s a process that you’ve got to stick with for the long run. In a journey to become your best self, there really is no finish line. It’s more of a lifestyle of constant improvement. You can start right this minute. In fact, you have already started just by listening to this podcast, which simply required you to hit play. Take hundreds, thousands, or even millions more of those tiny steps in the direction of self-improvement, and just imagine where you’ll be in 1 year, 10 years, or even 50 years in the future.

My wish for you is that you’ll realize your full potential and then live up to it. You are filled with greatness. So go out there and show yourself and the world what you are capable of.

How to Value Cash Flow with Ryan Smith

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 09:00:00 -0600

RYAN SMITH

Ryan Smith brings with him more than fifteen years of extensive business experience in market evaluation, property analysis, management systems, due diligence, finance, and more. Mr. Smith and his affiliates co-manage multiple investment funds, which specialize in investing in manufactured home communities (MHCs), and participates in the ownership and/or management of over 20,000 MHC lots.

Ryan graduated from the University of Tampa with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science. An athlete, he was highly recruited for both baseball and basketball and was drafted as a senior in high school by the Baltimore Orioles, and again in college by the Anaheim Angels. Ryan pursued his athletic talents by playing baseball throughout his college experience.

His foresight and ability to communicate the state of the marketplace has propelled him to be a featured commentator alongside the likes of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, General Colin Powell, and other notable individuals. He currently is on the board of Young Life College – UCF and is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Christian Foundation’s Orlando chapter. Ryan lives in Orlando with his wife and two children.

KEY POINTS

Why it is nearly impossible to earn yourself rich
Cash flow vs. the value of cash flow
Wealth creates income; income doesn’t create wealth
Focus on the lesser-taxed part of the income equation
Successful syndication secrets
The incredible value of a stigma – mobile home parks

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest hurdles are what you don’t know. Ryan used his resourcefulness to clear many of those hurdles, and built relationships with people who he could look to for help.

Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Ryan is a believer in taking the next best step.

Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Drudge Report

What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Right Away and All at Once by Greg Brenneman

If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Go forward and listen to this exact podcast.

RESOURCES

Elevation Capital Group

Visit Audible for a free trial, and a free audiobook download.

An Infinite Return – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 09:00:00 -0600

Let's jump right into two scenarios. Let's say we're comparing two different fourplexes each located in a different market.

Fourplex #1 is $250,000.
Fourplex #2 is $750,000.

You may have even heard the term "you make money when you buy the property", or something along those lines. So wouldn't purchase price be a critical factor? Let's go back to our two fourplexes.

Fourplex #1 is in rural Kentucky. It's a 1970's construction, Class C property with more deferred maintenance you would prefer. The total rents per month are $2,000.

Fourplex #2 is in the heart of Austin, Texas. It's a 2000's construction, great location with proximity to high paying jobs, and has upgraded finishings throughout. This is a Class A property. The total rents are $8,000 per month.

We can hold the property as long as we need, and not have to sell during a down market, compared to if we were buying for appreciation.
The cash flow we make is profit in our pockets.
By having a positive cash flow, we know the property sustains itself and won't require additional capital investment.
We can reinvest the cash flows and exponentially scale our real estate portfolio.

Scaling with Syndications with Duamel Vellon

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Duamel Vellon is an entrepreneur, licensed electrical engineer, an investor, a real estate expert, and the Founder of Ten15 Capital, an investment platform that serves and provides value to the community through multifamily investments and financial education. They are dedicated to connecting busy professionals with alternative real estate investments and partner with experienced operators in growing markets to generate strong monthly cash flow and equity growth. Duamel has networked with many like-minded investors and created a team of All-Stars. He is advised by two of the best in the industry, Vinney Chopra & Jens Nilsen and is currently invested in 526-doors.

KEY POINTS

How to define and then achieve wealth
From flipping houses to syndicating apartments
Entry points to becoming a multifamily investor
The benefits of coaching and masterminds
Why teamwork matters
What goes into due diligence for a $50M+ deal

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
Limiting beliefs.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Taking massive action,
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
YouTube
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
Multi-Family Millions by Dave Lindahl
The Art of Stress-Free Living by Dr. Brian P. Ramos
The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Change your friends, your circle of influence; find higher quality & successful people.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Ten15 Capital

Email: duamel@ten15.co

The Influence of Our Environment – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 03:00:00 -0600

People make up much of your environment, but there are also other factors to your environment - your home, thoughts, health, energy, etc.

There are people who give you energy, and then those that require your energy. It's important to surround yourself with positively influential people and a supporting environment.

You may have to detach from certain things in your environment. Other things you may not be able to detach from, and will have to learn to limit those influences (read: family).

"You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with." - Jim Rohn

Your environment is ever changing, and with some intention it can be for the better. Let's look at some resources to elevate your environment.

Conferences provide an environment of people and information focused on a commonality. This can be a way to find people who have the mindset, values, and success that you may be looking for. From my experiences, conferences are a great way to get around people who are doing what you want to do, think the way you want to, etc.
Meetups are like mini conferences. You can find meetup groups on meetup.com for almost anything you can imagine. These are often more social interactions where you can develop relationships in your community and find people who are interested in the same things you are. If there isn't a meetup group in your area for whatever it is you want, then go out and start one! Chances are other people are looking for that same group.
Accountability Groups are another great way to connect with people who are all moving in the same direction together. An accountability group can be an informal group of friends or peers who network together periodically and help one another achieve their desired outcomes. By providing accountability to one another, you encourage and each other to accomplish things that you may otherwise not have the personal motivation to do.
Your circle of friends has so much impact on your day-to-day thoughts, actions, and outcomes. Although most of us don't realize the effect out friends have on us, they do have quite an impact on our outcomes. Look at who you spend the most time with and evaluate what each person's positive and negative qualities are. Your circle of friends change over time usually, considering all of your first grade childhood friends and your have likely grown apart since then.
Online content. In a world connected by the internet, we're constantly influenced by things we see online. In fact, there are now what we call "influencers". Don't ask me what an influencer actually does. But nontheless, it's important to be conginisant of what online content we are consuming. If you find yourself watching silly videos and scouring funny memes, then you might not be promoting as positive of an environment as compared to consuming more productive content, or following inspiring people, or learning new things.

These five things will help you elevate your environment and in turn start to provide more positive influences in your life. Elevating your environment is a constant exercise and something you should be consistently evaluating and working towards. You yourself, just at much as other external influences, are a big influence. Think of yourself like a magnet. You can attract positive influences or you can attract negative influences. Instead of getting together with a group of friends and having a pitty party about make believe obstacles while holding each other back, rather uplift others. Be the person who provides value to those around you. Be that person who everyone enjoys. One of the best ways you can do this is to listen to people more. Actively listen. Don't just wait for your turn to talk. Learn about other people. In return, you'll attract more positive people in your life, thus elevating your environment. That's what I hope I'm doing here on this podcast (although, yes I do all of the talking here haha).

House Hacking to Financial Freedom with Diego Corzo

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 02:30:00 -0600

KEY POINTS

House-hacking to financial freedom with a single family home
Finding your unfair advantage
How to have your expenses paid by other people
Ways to start real estate investing with little money
The right mindset to achieve a rich life

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
Finding the right bank that will lend to me. Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer and never gives up.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Investing in myself by going to two to three events a year.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
Dropbox
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert T. Kiyosaki
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Don’t focus on getting your first deal by hitting the home run, but just get to the first base, take action, and learn from that.

Resources

DiegoCorzo.com

Rat Race to FI

Watch Diego's Ted Talk here!

Email - info@diegocorzo.com

Connect with Diego on Social Media!

Additional Resources

GoBundance

Unleash the Power Within – Tony Robins

The Rich Life Podcast by Matt Aitchison

Market Analysis – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600

Happy new year, and new decade! It's 2020, and I couldn't be more excited for the future! I hope your year is off to a great start!

If you haven't thought about the next year or even the next decade, there's no better time to start. Setting goals is the first step in turning your dreams into a reality. There are so many great resources and tools out there around goal setting. Learning to organize your thoughts, turn them into goals, and pursue them with action is one of the best recommendations I can make to you. Goal setting has been a journey for me, from starting with New Years resolutions, to writing 10X goals every day, and now to where I'm at today. I've found that writing my goals down every day helps keep me on track and focused on taking action every day (ok, I admit - there are days where I slack). One of my current favorite resources and goal setting is The Intention Journal designed by Brandon Turner and published by BiggerPockets. This is a 90 day journal that guides you from setting 3 goals to accomplish in 90 days, then provides a roadmap by coming up with a weekly battle plan, which is executed with daily action. It's simple, yet effective. Check it out if you're interested in crushing your goals in the next 90 days.

So with all that, let's jump into this week's Friday Fundamental - Market Evaluation.

The three most important things about real estate, you have have heard, are:

Location
Location
Location

This in part because you can do a lot of things to your investment real estate. You can fix it up, change the property use type, use different types of debt and equity to structure the deal, and pretty much everything else except that you cannot move it to a new location. That's one reason markets are so important. While the market is important, it's not the only criteria you should look at when evaluating real estate deals. As Joe Fairless says in his book, The Best Ever Apartment Syndication book, the market you select means very little if you can't execute your business plan properly and stick to the Three Immutable Laws of Real Estate Investing. These laws are:

Buy for cash flow, not appreciation
Secure long term debt
Have adequate cash reserves

By following these three laws, your investment will thrive in any real estate market.

So with that, let's look at some qualities you'll want to consider when evaluating a new market. To simplify things, let's think about what you really need as a real estate investor. You need people to live in your real estate. And those people need jobs to pay you for a place to live. People and jobs are what it comes down to. There are six factors that will give you an understanding of the people and jobs in any market. They are:

Unemployment
Population
Population Age
Job Diversity
Top Employers and Businesses
Supply and Demand

Let's start with unemployment. Tenants need a job so they can pay rent to you, the landlord. You can find how many people have jobs (or don't) by tracking the unemployment rate using government data on Factfinder.Census.gov. You want to look at unemployment rate trends in a particular market. Most importantly, you're looking for a downward trend in the unemployment rate, meaning more and more people are gaining employment. This indicates a good job market.

The next is population. You want people in your market. Afterall, they are who will live in your property. More specifically you want a growing population. Once again, you can find population data on Census.gov under Annual Population Estimates, and look at the 5 year trend. Has the population increased or decreased?

Population Age is a factor too. While there may be a large population, you might be specifically targeting a certain demographic for your apartment community, maybe Millennials for example. You can find population demographics on Factfinder.Census.gov in the Demographic and Housing Estimates table.

The 4th factor in your market research is job diversity. Job diversity is important because you don't want your market tied to one or two industries only. If that industry is in a downturn, then it will likely lose jobs and population. Think about Detroit and the automotive industry. You can find industry information at the Census.gov website, searching under the Income tables, specifically in the Selected Economic Characteristics Tables. You can find the number of jobs by industry, giving you an ideal of how diversified the jobs in that market are.

The 5th factor is top employers and businesses. You also want a diversified job market across many difference employers. A market with only a few large employers can be too dependent on the success and outcome of that company. If that employer moves locations, or shuts down, then your market loses a large portion of jobs. This research takes a bit of digging. Typically you can find the largest employers in a market with a quick google search. Search your city + top employers and list those.

Lastly, we want to touch on the supply and demand of rental property in your market. Sure there may be a lot of people with good jobs in the market but if there are twice as many rental properties as there are people, then likely you'll have a hard time finding people to live in your property. Supply and demand is a balance. You can start by analyzing vacancy rate and median rental rate trends in your market. You'll want a downward trending vacancy rate and an upward trending median rent rate. These data points can be found at the Census.gov website under "Selected Hosing Characteristics" tables. And lastly, as part of you supply and demand analysis, you want to look at the supply of rental properties by analyzing how many new properties are being built. You can find this information at a related but different site called the Building Permits Survey on the Census.Gov website. You'll want to look at permits for 5+ unit dwellings and look at the trend in permits granted.

With these 6 factors you'll have a good idea of how your market has fared over the recent years, and reasonable expectation how it will continue to trend. Once you have identified 2-3 markets, you can begin to start your property search for a property that meets your investment criteria.

Resources

The Intention Journal by Brandon Turner

The Best Ever Apartment Syndication book by Joe Fairless

Factfinder.Census.gov

Building Permits Survey

Scaling with Partnerships and BRRRR with Aaron Fragnito

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 03:00:00 -0600

Aaron Fragnito is a Real Estate Pro, Co-Founder of the Peoples Capital Group, host of New Jersey Real Estate Network, a licensed New Jersey Realtor and a full-time real estate investor. Aaron has closed over 250 real estate transactions, totaling more than $35,000,000 in his Real Estate career, currently holds 75+ rental units in the New Jersey Market, and with a total of $10M Real Estate Portfolio.

KEY POINTS

How to start your own real estate investing company.
Growing portfolio through BRRRR
How to Build a Real Estate Portfolio much faster
Protecting your investors’ money
The pros of real estate partnerships
Tips on how to make money in any market cycle

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?

Not the money but the mistake of choosing the wrong partner.

2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Work ethic

3. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?

Zillow, BiggerPockets, and Podcast

4. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?

Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki

5. If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?

Stop dating so many girls (lol), focus, and start taking action.

Resources

Peoples Capital Group

Creative Real Estate Investing with Tamera Aragon

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 03:00:00 -0600

Tamera Aragon has founded and ran her own small businesses since her teenage years. At the age of 20 she founded her first multi-million dollar company. Since then she has grown many successful businesses both online and off.

With the smarts to invest her money, she jumped into real estate investing. Since that time Tamera Aragon has profited investing in hundreds of properties to date, establishing her as an expert in the real estate investing field.

Today Tamera finds her true passion lies in teaching others the steps to profitable real estate investing. This is why she continues as an online entrepreneur and event trainer providing tools and tips for her step by step methods to finding profits in any type of real estate market.

Tamera's experience has earned her a solid reputation in the industry as well as the respect and friendship of many top national real estate investment experts.

KEY POINTS

From flipping horses to flipping houses
How to create multiple streams of income
The Magic Question in negotiating with a seller
Creative strategies for your first deal
Effective lead generation methods and processes
High-level lease options
Hot tips for newbie real estate investors

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it
Contracts and knowing the steps to logistics. Got over it by hiring a mentor and a coach.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Reading
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
The Bottom-line Deal Finder
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen & Robert G. Allen
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be
Get a mentor and a coach.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audio book download!

The One Minute Millionaire book by Mark Victor Hansen & Robert G. Allen

7 Days to Freedom

Twenty-Seven Ways to Find Real Estate E-book

Real Estate Investors Posse

Other People’s Properties with Brian Page

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 13:23:00 -0600

Brian Page

Brian Page became a millionaire in his 20’s as a residential real estate investor, only to lose it all in the historic crash of 2008. Starting over with no credit or ability to buy property, Brian discovered a way to use other people’s properties to earn income. He went on to make six figures in six months and over $300,000 his first year, renting and listing properties on Airbnb.

Realizing that no one at the time was teaching how to build and scale an Airbnb business, Brian created a training called the BNB Formula. His masterclass is now the world's best selling Airbnb training where he has taught thousands of people from 38 countries how to build six to seven figure

Airbnb businesses, with several of his students now doing over $1M in bookings. Brian has worked with heavyweights like Tai Lopez, Mike Dillard, Kevin Harington, Dean Graziosi and Grant Cardone and has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur and Inc Magazine. He is passionate about helping people create new sources of income and become financially free.

KEY POINTS

Controlling properties rather than buying properties
How to make money on Airbnb without owning property
What advantages there are to short term rentals
How the sharing economy is impacting real estate
Working with property owners to create win-win-win scenarios
What property types and markets work for AirBNB - you may be surprised!
Vacation rentals vs. short term rentals

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
With a lack of capital, Brian had to be creative and figured out renting properties on AirBNB
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Morning rituals
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
Audible
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
Deep Work by Cal Newport
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Be careful what you commit to.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Be the Captain of Your Own Ship – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 11:47:00 -0600

Be The Captain

Each and every one of us is responsible for our own actions, successes, failures, and outcomes. You either decide these things for yourself, or give that control to someone else. Wealth and freedom are two things that you’ll have to take responsibility for if you want them. No one will simply hand you either. You have to make your own outcome or be content with the outcome someone else decides for you.

Think of your life like a ship. It can anchor in the harbor, or set sail under the command of a captain. That captain can be you or someone else. If you want to control where your life is heading, then you have to be the captain.

Accountability

This starts with accountability. Hold yourself accountable for your actions and results. If you’ve taken control of your own life, then you are the only one who can be held responsible. Not your employer, not the government, not society, politics, laws, or luck. You, and only you, are responsible for your actions and outcomes.

When you take control of your own life, you have to make decisions. Sometime you’ll make the right decisions, and other times you won’t. All you can do is your best, with the information, tools, and resources you have.

Real estate investors, especially, will have to make a lot of decisions and hold themselves accountable. You have to select a market, search for properties, analyze deals, make offers, and ultimately build a portfolio of income generating rental properties. No one will be there to make sure you’re doing the right things. No one will make sure you are sticking to your investment criteria, buying good deals, placing qualified tenants, and hiring good property management. This is all up to you. Sounds kinda scary, huh?It doesn’t have to be though. There are things you can do to help yourself succeed.

Here are some ways that will help you make decisions along your journey.

Look for someone who is doing what you want to do. Search that person out and learn from them. This might be someone in your local area, a public figure, author, or whomever. Learn from that person. Implement the things they’re doing well in your life.
Vet deals, people, services, products etc. before trusting them with your hard earned money and time. The best way I’ve found to vet these people and things are through referrals. If you have a personal referral from someone who has experience with the person/product/service, that gives you insight and confidence in making your decision.
Do your own homework. Lean as much as you can about the particular subject at hand. Knowledge is power and you need that knowledge to make the best decision.

When things aren’t going your way, it’s easy to place blame anywhere but on yourself. It could be that terrible property manager you hired, the new tax laws, lending rates, or the faceless bad luck. Don’t fall into the trap of blaming others, instead of holding yourself accountable. Remember, if you do the best you can with the information, resources, and tools you have, then that’s all you can do. The alternative is to do nothing at all and waste away all of your potential. Take control of your life. Be the captain of your own ship. You’re capable of living any life you want. You just have to take action and make it happen.

Investing Out of State with Antoine Martel

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 03:00:00 -0600

Antoine Martel

Antoine Martel is a real estate entrepreneur & expert, apartment investor, turnkey business owner - Martel Turnkey, specializes in assisting first-time and veteran real estate investors purchase cash flowing rental properties in a wide range of markets across the U.S. He has built a rental property portfolio with over $10M in assets and has completed over 150 rehab projects. And is the author of the popular real estate investing book, “A Millennial’s Guide to Investing in Cash Flowing Rental Properties", and host of the popular podcast, “A Millennial’s Guide to Real Estate Investing”.

KEY POINTS

Investing and Capital raising strategy
Growing single family to Turnkey rental properties
Property management
How to win the very first deals
Why you should consider investing in Memphis real estate market
Why teamwork’s matter
The advantages of starting a business at a young age
Real Estate Market Analytics
The benefits of using Turnkey company

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
How to start and invest in real estate with $40,000.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Waking up early and not procrastinating things.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
Bigger Pockets
ZOHO CRM
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
A Millennial’s Guide to Investing in Cash Flowing Rental Properties book by Antoine Martel
Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki & Tim Wheeler
Multi-Family Millions book by David Lindahl
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Skip all the flash of flipping million dollar homes in LA and shows on HDTV.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Martel Turnkey

Free Book

Capital Gains Tax Solutions

Year End Mindset – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0600

Year end mindset

Here we are in December of 2019, with less than 30 days left in this decade! This is the time to reflect on your 2019 goals and progress and start planning for an even better 2020!

First, let's reflect on your year. Think of how much you've changed over the past 12 months, how far you've come, and all you accomplished. Hopefully, and likely, you are proud of how the year went. It's hard to see how much you change over time, being that you see your own life each and every day. But imagine what someone else would notice if they saw you once and then 12 months later. What would they notice? Perhaps you've gotten in better physical shape, improved your mindset, become happier, more motivated, and have started taking steps towards a better you. Sure, there's always room for improvement, but you've likely had a killer year filled with tons of positives when you look back.

Looking forward to 2020 and beyond, use your reflections to plan your next year and more. People tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade. Just look to overzealous new year's resolutions for proof. Start with a 3-year plan, and then figure out what the first steps are to that long term goal. This will help you visualize and outline what your next year needs to look like so that you can eventually accomplish that 3-year plan.

Let's look at how to build your 3-year plan, 1-year goals, and subsequent action steps.

3 Year Plan

Your 3-year plan is more of a vision of your life and everything in it. Think about how you want to live, earn an income, who you want to spend your time with, where you want to live, what you do for fun, fulfillment, and challenges. This 3-year plan will help you create the vision for your future. Don't short yourself here. 3 years is a long time and you can accomplish more than you think. Just look back three years in the past at your own life and look how much has changed since then.

1 Year Goals

Working backward from your 3-year plan, you can start to outline your goals for the next 1 year. You have a vision of where you want to go, and now you have to make a plan to achieve that vision. Let's say you want to achieve financial freedom as part of your 3-year plan, which means you'll need to build a passive income stream of $5,000 per month. Starting out in year one, let's say you need to build $500/month in passive income and grow exponentially from there, working toward that 3-year plan. Great!

90 Day Goals

90 days goals are a great amount of time for you to break smaller goals into. 90 days is long enough for you to accomplish large goals, but also short enough to keep you pushing. Brian Moran outlines some great reasons why these quarterly goal periods are beneficial in his book, The Twelve Week Year. Brandon Turner is also a proponent of this 90-day goal setting strategy and has built a daily journal designed around setting 90-day goals, with weekly action plans, called The Intention Journal. Both of these are highly recommended! The 90-day goal-setting period is designed to identify that first short term goal, and breaking it into action steps you take every single day. Going back to our 3-year plan of financial freedom, we decided we need to build $500/month in passive income in year one. Let's assume that means you'll have to buy 2 rental properties that generate $250 per month each. Our first 90-day goal-setting period might be laying all the groundwork to buying those two properties. You'll have to select a market, build a team, search for and analyze deals, make offers, and eventually close on a property. You can break each of these into daily, weekly, and monthly steps. This is where you're really making progress towards that 3-year plan. Work on your 90-day goals for the next 3 years and see where you end up! I bet you'll surprise yourself and your wildest imagination.

I want you to understand that you are capable of achieving your wildest dreams. You just have to live intentionally, figure out what you want, and pursue that with all of your efforts. You can have anything you want in this life, all you have to do is decide! You're already on a journey of self-improvement, just by listening to this podcast. Keep it up, continue investing in yourself, continue to take massive action, and aim high. You'll look back on your journey one day and be amazed at just how far you've come.

Building a Legacy with Sara Jung

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0600

SARA JUNG

Sara Jung has been a leader in real estate finance for over 17 years as a mortgage originator, being named in the top 1% of mortgage originators in the country in 2018. Her expertise in real estate finance includes underwriting, loan and deal structuring, new construction, renovation programs, affordable housing programs and multi-unit financing. Her track record in sales, marketing and operations has resulted in customer service excellence gaining loyalty from her team, customers and business partners alike.

Sara has taken a successful career in mortgage originating and has actively invested in multifamily real estate through her company, Legacy Equities LLC. Sara's goal is not just building a legacy for her family but also helping people build wealth and get into real estate.

KEY POINTS

How to generate passive income and reduce taxable income
The transition of mortgage business into a real estate flipping
How can you qualify for home loans and investment loans from an investor’s perspective
What mortgage lenders are looking for from the applicant
Rules of Tom in investment & lending industry
How to create much more cash flows and build wealth over time
The key to success on multiple rental properties
How to build a life that is flexible and lead to more time with family

LIGHTNING QUESTIONS

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
Having a fear, being frozen, & not knowing what to do.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Doing daily devotions, and think about things that I should be grateful for.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
Bigger Pockets, YouTube
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
Tax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
Get out, take action, and start now.

RESOURCES

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Legacy Equities LLC

Gratitude – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 03:00:00 -0600

With Thanksgiving yesterday, many of us are coming out of our food coma and reflecting on spending a great day with friends and family. I want to thank those who weren’t able to spend time with their families because they are protecting yours, mine, and theirs.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite times of the year. Getting to spend time with family, look forward to Christmas in just a few weeks, think about how your year has gone so far, and start looking ahead to next year. These times give me so much to be grateful for, as I'm sure they do you as well.

Gratitude is a powerful mindset. Reflecting on the things and people you are grateful for might possibly be the strongest emotion, once you tap into it. Don't believe me? Let's try it. Think of all the people you are grateful for - family, friends, co-workers, people you look up to and inspire you, that awesome barista at your local coffee shop, your barber or hairdresser, or anyone else who you are glad is in your life. Look to the environment around you - your community, your town, your home, circle of friends, your career, organizations you're part of, your nation, or any other thing that you may take for granted. What about your experiences and abilities - traveling to see family, spending time relaxing on vacation, the freedom to do things you want, learning new things, investing in awesome deals, and so much more.

Each one of us has so much to be thankful for. Warren Buffet said just being born in the US, you have won the lottery. That alone is something to be thankful for.

This weekend, I'll be sitting around with my family eating great food, laughing, and digging up embarrassing baby pictures. It's times like these that make me realize this is why I do what I do.

Some people are only able to spend time with their family once or twice a year during the holidays. That may be enough or even too much for others because, let’s face it, we all have a few crazies in our family! You may be thankful they only have to endure this a couple of times per year.

For others though, this time is neither frequent nor long enough. You're left wishing the holidays weren’t ending and looking forward to the next time you get to see everyone.

Either way, we could all be more thankful for the things we appreciate in this life. Many people are more than thankful for the time they get to spend with family, volunteer, or just take some much-deserved downtime from the hustle and bustle of life. However, most people only take time to reflect on what they’re thankful around this time of the year and Thanksgiving holiday.

It’s important to constantly remind yourself what and who you are thankful for. Be thankful for all of the positive things in your life – in the past, present, and future.

Work this little exercise into your morning routine. Take a couple of minutes to reflect on the things you’re thankful for – from physical things, like your coffee maker on a cold morning, to more abstract things like health, prosperity, opportunities, freedom, and all the other blessings in your life.

If being in control of your future is important, then I encourage you to live your life intentionally. Identify what’s important to you, make a plan of how to achieve that, and then set the plan in action.

For many, real estate investing is a great vehicle for building a lifestyle that will allow you to do what you want, when you want, where you want. This is complete freedom – financially, physically, and mentally.

Some, unfortunately, don’t ever give thought to building their own lifestyle. They simply settle for what is “normal”. Many people get wrapped up looking ahead and don’t stop and reflect on the things they’re thankful for in life. Without this reflection, you can lose track of what matters to you and get caught up chasing things that don’t really matter.

Be thankful. Be humble. Never stop building a life around things that make you happy.

266: Deferring Capital Gains Taxes with Brett Swarts

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 23:14:51 -0600

Brett Swarts

Brett is an entrepreneur, one of the most well-rounded Capital Gains Tax Deferral Experts, Commerical Real Estate investor, podcaster, deferred sales trust educator/trustee, Founder of Commercial Realty Apartment Advisors and the CEO of Capital Gains Tax Solutions, an educational platform inspires and helps business professionals execute a passive capital gains tax deferral wealth plan of their own. He holds series 22 & 63 licenses. Brett has been featured in various notable podcasts across the web and who trains hundreds of business professionals at companies such as Marcus & Millichap, Keller Williams, Western International Securities, Multifamily Investing Academy & Equilus Financial Group, Inc.

Key Points

Capital Gains Tax versus Income Tax
What is smart debt, risky debt, and dumb debt
The Pros of Deferred Sales Trust (DST) versus 1031 Exchanges
How to defer capital gains tax on the sale of business or primary home and invest into commercial real estate all tax-deferred
How to create and preserve more wealth
Why one would want to defer taxes
The role of Trustee and what to look for
Estate Tax Planning
How to avoid overpaying taxes and escape from 1031 exchange

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

Biggerpockets

Deferred Sales Tax Calculator

Email – Info@capitalgainstaxsolutions.com

265: Cash Out Refinances – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 21:28:46 -0600

Leverage

Real estate investing is kinda cool, I like to think. From building long term wealth to generating residual passive income, there are some really powerful benefits to investing in real estate. One of the things that make real estate so attractive is the ability to leverage debt. When most people hear the word “debt” they automatically think “bad”. We’re told to avoid debt where possible, pay debt off as fast as possible, and be debt-free. Used wisely debt can be a tool that maximizes your wealth and income. Used incorrectly, and it goes the other way.

Let’s look at an example of how debt can impact your cash on cash return of a rental property.

Scenario 1: Cash Purchase

You buy a $50K rental property without using debt. This means you buy the property for all cash. The property rents for $500/month.

Your expenses for insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management total $200/month.

Your cash flow is $300/month or $3,600/year. $3,600 divided by your investment of $50,000 = 7.2% cash on cash return.

Scenario 2: Using Debt

You buy the same $50K rental property in Scenario 1, but this time you use debt. With a 20% down payment of $10,000, you borrow $40,000 at 4% for 30 years (a typical fixed-rate mortgage).

The property rents for $500/month.

Your expenses for insurance, taxes, maintenance, and management total $200/month.

Your mortgage is $191/month. Total expenses including mortgage = 391

Your cash flow is $109/month or $1,308/year. $1,308 divided by your down payment of $10,000 = 13.08% cash on cash return.

Even further – let’s look at appreciation. Let’s say the $50K property appreciated at 5%, to a value of $52,500. This is a gain in equity of $2,500.

Scenario 1: Cash Purchase

$2,500 in equity gain / $50,000 = 5%

Scenario 2: Using Debt

$2,500 in equity gain / $10,000 = 25%

As my good friend Keith Weinhold from Get Rich Education says, the rate of return on equity is and always will be 0%.

Alright, so that’s the case for using debt to invest in cash-flowing real estate.

Velocity of Money

A cash out refinance is simply taking out a new loan on your investment property, paying off the original loan, and pocketing the difference. Let’s look at an example of this.

You buy a duplex for $55,000. With a long term fixed-rate loan, you put down 20%, or $11,000

Doing this, you are maximizing the velocity of money while using the power of leverage. This is how you can snowball a real estate investment into real estate empire.

Categorizing Your Goals

Resources

Mortgage Calculator from Bankrate

Get Rich Education

264: Creating Forever Cash with Michelle Bosch

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 08:00:41 -0600

Michelle Bosch

Michelle Bosch is the Co-Founder and CFO of Orbit Investments and a full-time real estate investor since 2002. She has bought and sold over 4000 pieces of real estate and built the 3rd largest land investment and auction company in the U.S., bringing that company successfully into the 8-figure revenues in a matter of 18 months. Through the recession, she positioned Orbity Investments for rapid growth in the single-family and multifamily investing space with over $40M in assets under management. Michelle is also the co-creator of nationally recognized Land Profit Generation Progam focusing on teaching others how to invest in land.

Key Points

One time cash (land flipping) vs. forever cash (apartment investing)
Using income from land flipping to invest in multifamily real estate
Using systems to scale

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
- Michelle and her husband, as immigrants to the United States, had to overcome the language barrier at first. They started with an easy to understand asset class – raw land.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
- Michelle connects every morning with something bigger than her with breathwork, meditation, and prayer.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
- My Fitness Pal app for tracking meals and exercise
- Notarize.com
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
If you were to give advice to your 20-year-old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
- Surround yourself with the right team, and start creating your core values together early.

Resources

LandProfitGenerator.com

Land Profit Generator Facebook Group

MichelleBosch.com

InFlow Podcast with Michelle Bosch

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

263: Goal Setting – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 19:55:56 -0600

Goal Setting

With the new year fast approaching and less than two months until the end of the year, this is a good time to reflect on your goals for this year and also start planning for next. First reflecting on your goals and progress this year, look back at everything you set out to accomplish and all the progress you made. Recognize how much you’ve accomplished, grown, and learned. Bu t also look to where you could have done better, made more progress, and where you fell short. This will help you take those lessons learned and apply them to your next year.

Goals, which are probably the most discussed Friday Fundamental topic, are absolutely necessary if you want to live your life with intention. David Osborn, author of Wealth Can’t Wait, Miracle Morning Millionaires, and Tribe of Millionaires, talks about creating his flight plan for his life. This flight plan is a set of goals that he uses to live an intentional life. They’re the set of plans to get from one point to the next.

You can create your own flight plan for your life. By assessing where you are now and where you want to go, you can develop a flight plan to get you there. What this really means is creating goals that will get you to where you want to go.

I’ve learned that setting and achieving goals is a learned skill. My personal goal-setting journey started out with New Year’s Resolutions like so many others do. Then I started setting 10X goals, writing them down every day. This 10X goal setting, inspired by Grant Cardone, is great at creating an extraordinary vision. But I found writing down 10X goals every day, I wasn’t necessarily making actionable progress towards them. These 10X goals were more of an intention than a goal, meaning they were my desired outcome, not the action required to get those outcomes. It’s here I started to realize this difference in goals and intentions.

You might have an intention to be fit with <15% body fat and six-pack abs. This is an intention – the desired outcome. Your goals to get that outcome might be to exercise 5x per week for 30 min, only eat sugar 2 days per week, and keep your daily calorie count below 2000 calories. These are your goals. Your intentions are more results-focused, whereas your goals are actions-focused.

Using the flight plan analogy from David Osborn, let’s look at how you can develop your own flight plan. The purpose of having goals is to get you somewhere you are not currently. The first step is figuring out where that is. This is your vision. Your vision is just as it sounds. It’s your vision for how you want your life to be. From work/life balance to family, finances, hobbies, lifestyle, travel, etc., visualize as specifically as possible what you want your life to look like.

From there, you can create goals that will get you to that vision. For example, if you want to spend 3 months per year vacationing with your family, completely unplugged from work, then you need to identify some goals that will get you to that point. You might find that you need to earn $10,000 per month in income for 9 months per year so that you can afford that lifestyle. Great! Now we’re making real progress here!

Categorizing Your Goals

Once you have your vision crafted, it’s time to identify some goals. Breaking your goals into categories is a practice that many high performing people use. You can create categories that fit your life. Some examples are:

Health, Nutrition, and Fitness
Relationships
Spiritual
Personal Growth / Education
Finance
Environment
Career / Business

You can create categories that fit your life how you want. The entire purpose of setting these goals is to live your life with intention however you want.

It’s okay to change your goals as you go. After-all, you won’t be the same person in a year as you are today, especially when you are on a path of self-improvement. But don’t wait to start setting your goals and working towards them. Start now. There’s no better time. Give some thought to your vision. Build some goals around that vision, and start taking action. Soon enough, you’ll look back on your journey to realize how far you’ve come.

Resources

David Osborn.com

Wealth Can’t Wait

Miracle Morning Millionaires

262: Building a Business Around Your Lifestyle – with Tim Bratz

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 08:00:45 -0600

Tim Bratz

Tim Bratz is the CEO and founder of CLE Turnkey Real Estate, a real estate investment company that acquires and transforms distressed commercial and apartment buildings into high-performance investment assets for their own portfolio. Working in real estate, Tim has learned how to build a passive business and create a residual income that allows him to live the lifestyle of his choice. He’s here to educate and empower others to become financially free through commercial real estate.

Key Points

From brokering deals, to learning to invest in deals
Using resourcefulness as the ultimate resource
Building a resume by giving up large amounts of equity partners
Time blocking
Finding money and finding deals – the two most important skills

Lightning Questions

What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it?
- Youth was a hurdle with Tim, getting started when he was in his early 20’s. Tim used that resourcefulness to find deals and find capital, leveraging partnerships.
Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success?
- Time blocking.
Do you have an online resource that you find valuable?
- Excel and Google Docs
What book would you recommend to the listeners and why?
- Twelve Pillars by Jim Rohn
If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be?
- Find a mentor or mastermind group.

Resources

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

www.CLETurnkey.com

Commercial Empire

Tim Brats Facebook

261: Building the Best Team – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 17:00:50 -0600

Building the Best Team

You, the investor, look for an investment property to purchase. Likely, that search isn’t solo. You might enlist the help of a realtor to find on-market deals, or build a direct-to-seller campaign using the help of virtual assistants, local support, and many other creative ways to find those elusive off-market deals.
Once you’ve found the perfect deal, the next step is to get it under contract. Your realtor can help with this process, or if you’re more experienced you can navigate it on your own. Using your state’s real estate commission approved real estate contract is usually a good approach.
Next, it’s time to get the financing process started. You’ll need a good lender who is experienced with investment property loans. Your lender will be able to help you apply and qualify for a loan that fits your investment strategy. They will also help and guide you through the process of getting to the closing table with the title company, and preparing the loan documents needed to close.
Behind the scenes, your title company is doing the heavy lifting, making sure the property has a clear title with no leans, encumbrances, etc. Your title company handles the transfer of the funds, working with your lender to transfer the funds to the seller, only after all the appropriate paperwork has been signed by both the buyer and seller. Finally, you’ll close on the property, and this is just the beginning.
Now you need a solid team to operate the property. You will typically enlist the help of a property manager unless you decide to self manage the property. The property manager will take care of the day-to-day activities from showing and leasing, to collecting rent, handling maintenance requests, and creating monthly P&L reports.
Keeping an accurate record of your finances is crucial. These records will feed into your tax returns and future loan applications. Hiring a bookkeeper can be a huge help in this area. If you’re just starting out, you may manage the bookkeeping on your own. I’ve found Stessa to be a great asset management software that helps me manage the finances in my portfolio.
Taxes are one of the five ways you’re paid as a real estate investor, so it’s important to make sure you’re getting the most out of it as you can. Hiring a good CPA to handle your taxes is critical. Unless you’re a CPA experienced with real estate investments, I suggest you get a good CPA on your team. They’ll be worth their weight in gold, not to mention saving you a lot of liability when you file your taxes on your own. Your CPA will be able to help maximize your deductions, consult on different tax saving strategies, and so much more. Definitely hire a good CPA, and you won’t regret it.
Investing in real estate will sometimes require you to enlist legal assistance. From dealing with tenant/landlord suits to asset protection and corporate setup, specialized attorneys can be an asset on your team. There are many different areas of law, and finding an attorney who specialized in a specific area you need is important. Ask around for references and find an attorney who will fit well on your team when you need them.

Partners
Investors
Syndication attorney
Cost segregation consultant
Property tax consultant

Go Far Together

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb

Real estate investing is a journey and one that you will hopefully take far. It’s not a get rich quick way to wealth. No overnight successes, no striking it rich, and no short cuts. Rather, building a team supported by processes and systems is the key to success. Real estate investing is said to be a people business. It’s not complicated and doesn’t require you to start up the next tech company, design a widely used app or any of that. It simply requires building or using systems, creating processes, and leveraging the experience of others to build wealth and achieve financial freedom. Starting with yourself, learn as much as you can about investing in real estate, then start building out surrounding yourself with the best team you can. One day you’ll look back at your journey to that very first deal and realize just how much you accomplished with your team.

Resources

Stessa.com

260: Tribe of Millionaires with Mike McCarthy

Jacob Ayers — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 14:26:28 -0600

Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy is an entrepreneur, speaker, and bestselling author, as well as regional owner of the Keller Williams Greater PA Region, overseeing 50 offices
and 8.5k agents who closed over 52k units in 2018 for $14 billion. Mike attributes his success to his own grit, but also to the individuals who have kept him on track. In 2015, Mike was named CEO of GoBundance, a fast-growing peer group of successful men who understand one another’s unique set of needs and hold each member accountable to his own high standards, all in pursuit of helping one another plan, execute and achieve their financial and lifestyle goals.
Since the inception of GoBundance, new members have been added to the tribe each year. Today, membership has grown to over 200.

Key Points

How your environment shapes your destiny
A powerful purpose can help you overcome the greatest obstacles
How evolution has wired accountability into our very nature
Discovering your purpose through being present

The 6 Effects from Tribe of Millionaires

Let’s look at a few ways you can grow, change, and control your mindset.

The Influence Effect – Your destiny is shaped by those around you
The Multiplier Effect – The right group of people compounds your efforts
The Accountability Effect – Responsibility to others is the world’s most powerful force
The Authenticity Effect – You find your true self among those you trust
The Purpose Effect – The right people reveal your richest source of power
The Connection Effect – Your life will be measured by the quality of your relationships

Resources

GoBundance.com

1LifeFullyLived.org

Connect with Mike at GoMikeMcCarthy.com

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

259: Potential – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Sat, 02 Nov 2019 17:39:40 -0600

Potential

You have so much potential. It’s just a matter of tapping into that potential and directing your focus towards your goals. Let’s look at some effective ways that will help you do just that.

Try new things. There is so much for you to experience, opportunities you didn’t even know existed. The only way to find those is to get out and try new things. It’s impossible to know what interests you unless you are trying new things. You have to explore both the outside world and yourself to be able to realize what opportunities exist, and what you are capable of.
Put yourself out there. It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone. But you’ll never challenge yourself, grow, and reach your full potential by staying where you’re comfortable. Progress happens when you are challenged because you are forced to solve problems, learn new things, experience new opportunities, and grow to new levels. Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to fail.
Nurture your environment. Whether you realize it or not, your environment is the single biggest factor in your success. The people who you surround yourself with, your physical location, and the information you process are all part of your environment. When you have an environment that supports your growth, learning, and improvement then you can more easily reach your full potential.
Be a lifelong learner. Continuously study new things. Your mind is your most valuable asset, so be sure to always invest in it first. Podcasts, books, online courses, conferences, and networking with others are all great ways to learn and study new things. You’ll never be too educated.
Take action. This is a vital part of realizing your potential. Taking action doesn’t always mean it’s the right action. Often times, you’ll do something that may or may not be effective. Either way, it’s a success so long as you learn from it. Implement the things you learn, pull the lessons out from things that did and didn’t work, and create that feedback loop so that you’re always improving and getting better.

My wish for you is that you’ll realize your full potential and then live up to it. You are filled with greatness. So go out there and show yourself and the world what you are capable of.

Resources

258: The Art of Beliefology™ with Brad Blazar

Jacob Ayers — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 01:11:34 -0600

Brad Blazar

Brad is an effective sales leader, coach, speaker and author who over a decade ago set out on a mission to compile stories from his prior business career as founder and CEO of a small oil company, in addition to the encounters he had from meetings and speaking events with some of the most world’s best leaders in sports, business and politics. His encounters include 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush, former Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Oliver North, NFL Hall of Fame recipients Joe Namath and Fran Tarkenton, NBA legend and former LA Laker Magic Johnson, accomplished business leader and Shark Tank personality Kevin O’Leary, and Rudy Ruettiger who was made famous thru the movie about his life at Notre Dame. Brad is the founder of The Art Of Beliefology – believing that you have the power to change your limiting beliefs and providing a path to the millions of men and women around the world raising their hands for help.

In On the Wings of Eagles – Learning to Soar in Life Brad has assembled his copious notes into this book. Taking the message from each encounter, while sharing stories from his past, Brad has put together a book on success, what it means to be committed, and changing one’s limiting beliefs.

Key Points

How to raise capital
Dreamers, Blamers, and Game Changers
How a coach can be an asset
What to look for in a coach – SEC (support, encourage, & challenge)

Resources

BradBlazar.com

Learn to Soar Network

Connect with Brad here

Visit Audible for a free trial and free audiobook download!

257: Your Tribe – Friday Fundamentals

Jacob Ayers — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 08:00:35 -0600

Your Tribe

Your tribe is who you spend most of your time with – your circle of friends, family, co-workers, peers, etc. These people aren’t necessarily the closest relationships you may have, but rather specifically those you spend the most time with. If you work a 40 hour per week job, then you spend 1/4 of your life at work – depressing to think about, I know. So chances are, you’re spending quite a bit of time with those you work with.

Then you have friends, family, and likely your significant other.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

Take a minute and think about the 5 people you spend the most time with. List each person. If you’re driving, then do this later and think of them instead. Give some thought to each person, and ask yourself the following questions.

Who are they?
What do they do for a living?
What is their general socioeconomic status?
How healthy are they?
How happy do they seem?
Are they a positive or negative person?
Do they continue to grow or are they stagnate?
Do they live life abundantly or scarcely?

These are just a few cues you can use to determine the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Then ask yourself the same questions about you. Chances are, you are very similar to these 5 people. Is it a coincidence? Are you similar because you spend time together? Or do you spend time together because you are similar? It’s a bit of a chicken and egg question, I know. Now, what’s this all about? Why does it matter who you spend your time with, you might be wondering.

In Tribe of Millionaires, Simon, the executor to Ethan’s Dad’s estate, explains to Ethan the importance of who you surround yourself with by saying:

“We tend to feel like we make conscious decisions about our lives. We make decisions. We take action. We get results. We shape our destinies. What we don’t realize is that subconsciously, there are powerful forces at work that affect how we think and act. We’re being subtly shaped by the world around us all the time.”

We think we are in control of our future. But we don’t realize just how important our environment is. Part of our environment is our tribe. Your tribe has a huge impact on your life – from shaping your thoughts to guiding your actions and much more. People come and go in your life, like an ebb and flow of influence. If who you surround yourself is as important as Jim Rohn and so many others say, then being intentional about your tribe would only make sense.

Building Your Tribe

You can create and control your environment in many aspects. Growing your tribe is one of the most impactful ways you can create your environment.

Network with people who are doing what it is that you want, or are where you want to be. These can be meetup groups, conferences, mastermind groups, etc.
Seek out people online and learn from them. You don’t have to personally know Warren Buffet to learn from him. You don’t have to be pals with Ken McElroy to replicate his success as a multifamily investor. By following people online and learning from them, you are elevating your mindset, your actions, and your results.
Grow new relationships. Your tribe will change over time. People will come and go. With that, comes the opportunity to develop new relationships with people.
Contribute to your tribe. In a traditional tribe, each member has a role. When each person is playing their part, the tribe functions like a well oiled machine. When someone starts lacking, it pulls down the entire tribe. The same is true with you and your tribe. You have so much to offer, so be sure to bring value to your tribe where you can.

The 6 Effects

Let’s look at a few ways you can grow, change, and control your mindset.

The Influence Effect – Your destiny is shaped by those around you
The Multiplier Effect – The right group of people compounds your efforts
The Accountability Effect – Responsibility to others is the world’s most powerful force
The Authenticity Effect – You find your true self among those you trust
The Purpose Effect – The right people reveal your richest source of power
The Connection Effect – Your life will be measured by the quality of your relationships

Resources