all right welcome to a special new
podcast series the 20 minute investor
where my business partner Nathan and I
bring you actionable nuggets and
insights from our real estate investing
Journeys in bite-sized 20-minute
episodes I’m Aaron am me my wife and I
built a portfolio of eight cash flowing
rentals across three states while
working full-time and raising a young
family and I’m Nathan the tech executive
more importantly husband father and we
managed to build a portfolio of rental
properties across two states thousands
of miles away together we co-founded the
remote real estate Academy where we
coach investors on how to build their
own portfolios of cash flowing rentals
from anywhere in the world each week
we’re going to share what’s happening in
our real estate businesses including
inside the remote real estate Academy
and workshop the strategies that help
investors like you build wealth without
sacrificing your time now that that’s
out of the way let’s jump into
[Music]
it since this is our first episode we’re
still feeling out what order to go in
but we promise to keep things under 20
minutes CU that’s kind of our our
philosophy here is that our portfolios
and our strategy that we teach is how to
run your portfolio in 20 minutes a day
or less so we figur the 20- minute
episodes are a good touch here but why
don’t we like maybe look at um you know
what’s going on in our portfolios to
start I know you were working on a deal
can you share something about that uh I
am still working on a deal yeah I’ve had
a busy you and I talked about this but
I’ve had a busy let’s say January on the
W2 front pretty uh pretty hectic start
to the year which is not um unusual but
that’s just to say that kind of on the
real estate side on the real estate
portfolio side things had slowed down a
little bit for me and my wife and then
just recently late last week I think it
was actually an old a real estate
investor that I met an old friend sorry
the person is not old but an old friend
in my real estate uh investing Network
that you know I I met through networking
years ago and just kind of sporadically
stay in touch from time to I’m reached
out with a deal of theirs in the market
that or one of the markets that we’re
investing in and they’re looking to
offload it and they wanted to see if we
were interested and it’s particular or
we’re particularly interested in this
particular property because it’s um you
know fits our buy box it’s exactly what
we look for typically in the exact same
zip codes and areas but this person’s
also open to seller finance so today I
spent a bit of time just kind of um
working through details kind of
explaining what we need to be able to
take on this property in terms of
returns and things like that now they’re
they went back on their end to figure
out what they can do and we’re going to
try to work something out so even better
if we could do it on seller finance no
need to go through a bank or anything
like that add another property so uh
yeah hopefully it’ll pen out but we’re
still yeah still working on that one
awesome you hear all the time about
people who want to find properties that
are available for seller finance and
also people bringing you deals right I
think that’s one of the things we like
to teach quite a bit is how to build
relationships with other people and
share what your buy box is so that
instead of you having to go fish for
every single deal you get people that
they know you as the guy that has that
specific buy box in that specific area
can you just share a little more about
how you met this person and and like
what did you do to frame that
relationship that’s a great question I
can’t remember how we met I think if I
remember correctly and I’m going to go
out on a Lim here simply because how we
reconnected recently was over LinkedIn
and I think we might have met over
LinkedIn or through Linkedin where I had
must have posted something or I was
talking about real estate or I commented
on something real estate and then then
we we found each other and then started
exchanging a bit and then this person
and I if I remember correctly this
person at the time was looking to start
their real estate Journey um and they
needed a bit of help and I helped them
out for a bit in the early days this is
a few years ago hopefully I’m not
getting any of this wrong but I think
this is what happened and then uh um
they acquired one or more properties in
the same Market you know I kind of
helped them out with
some of our you know Network the people
we work with property manager lender you
know insurance broker that type of stuff
they closed on on this and I believe
other deals as well and now they want to
offload this one they’re starting to
Pivot their strategy a bit so they came
back and they said hey I know you buy
these types of properties in these zip
codes so would you be interested I was
like yeah of course I am let’s talk yeah
but it was all to I think to your point
or maybe where that question was going
it was like even you know when
especially when you get started you hear
a lot about these these experienced
investors bigger pocket stories that
type of stuff you know where people get
deals brought to them you know off
Market just this person brought me a
deal and I found this deal through that
person you he hear all those stories and
you’re like well that sounds great how
how the heck does that happen when is
that going to happen to me and whatnot
and I think what I came to to realize or
understand is it just takes time and
patience and over the years building
these relationships with other investors
people invest in your network you know
online offline all that type of stuff is
after a while it it pays de dividends
right it comes back and this is
literally what happened in this case um
and again the deal’s not closed yet but
it’s still a good example of what
happens as you kind of build your
network grow your network and meet
people and I also fundamentally believe
in karma right I I think our
relationships already started by helping
each other out in this case and now this
is coming back so yeah I feel jerk I
guess what I’m saying to be a ni be a
nice person yeah and look for ways to
add value right you hear that all the
time but I think you you spot on that it
takes a while to build these types of
relationships not every single person
that you contact is going to be a good
fit for you you you might not be
compatible or have uh the same interests
but if you’re investing in a market
especially if it’s out of state and you
take the time to build you could even do
something like one try and make one new
contact per week in the industry whether
it’s I had that as an actual goal for a
few years when I was getting started in
my goal tracker I had meet two new
people a week that I was tracking and I
did that for many many years exactly and
it can be stuff like even just
commenting on posts in a local Facebook
group you could use Bigger Pockets I
know we both have um mixed feelings
about the signal to noise ratio there
but there are lots of good people that
post on there but there’s a number of
different ways you can go about it but
yeah this is just such a good example of
that early effort to meet people paying
off with at a minimum a lead and
potentially close deal if all goes 100%
yeah yeah
yeah it’s also about it’s also about you
know creating these
networks or creating these Network
opportunities and and connections with
people without expecting anything in
return right I wasn’t actively going
into you know I talked about my goals of
meeting two new people a week and I
wasn’t going into those hoping that I
would get something out of it it really
was just let me start connecting with
people let me start meeting people and I
never you know went into this particular
relationship thinking or wanting
something from it I was just you know
trying to help tring to give you know
being a good guy and and talking to this
person and now it’s coming back to pay
in a sense yeah I think the second moral
of that story though is to be open about
what it is you’re looking for not from a
transactional standpoint not hey I’ll
only talk to you if you bring me leads
that fit this buy box but I think when
you talk openly about the type of
properties you buy where you buy them
then you become known as the person who
has that specific criteria right that’s
that’s why we spend a lot of time like
refining a buybox I know one of the
things I love on your your website you
have your buybox posted to where it’s
just a URL so people can click on it and
if somebody asks like what’s your buybox
you can just direct them to the URL and
it clear as day like with all the
parameters and even some pictures I
thought that was a really cool cool
approach yeah I have a it’s it’s a page
on our site that is just that just
describes our buy box and I think I link
to that page in my uh email signature
for example so that’s the first thing
people see if they ever want to click on
a link that’s you know tied to me
somehow it’s my buy box yeah so if I
hear you talking about how you can’t
find any deals my my question to you is
going to be what are you doing to
explain what it is that you’re looking
for and how many people have you reached
out to recently that are in that area so
that’s a good example let’s see in my
world I think most people listening to
this may be aware that we’re my wife and
I are doing a ground up development
project we’re building a assisted living
home here in Houston area that is a very
involved process much different than our
background buying single family rentals
we’re deep in the process of the due
diligence for land that we’re under
contract for so we have seven acres
under contract and we have we’re about
seven days into a 120-day due diligence
period but we might meet every day of it
because you got to take raw land which
currently has a bunch of trees on it and
we have to map out all the site work
right all the infrastructure how we’re
going to run utilities we got to get
bids from all the different Builders and
you know those are pretty big
fluctuations we’re talking about
building either one or possibly two
10,000 foot homes and they’re meant to
be luxury homes so these are not cheap
so there’s a ton of components that go
into that the financing probably being
the biggest Mak or break uh and then of
and then finding the right you know
reputable vendors who can help us
actualize that Vision I’ve never done a
transaction like this obviously well you
know this because you know I’ve talked
but I’m curious do you have any skin in
the game at this point so you said you
have 120 days to go through kind of the
due diligence process and and you’re
under contract and on land what happens
if I mean can you pull out at any point
or what happens do you have any skin in
the game at this point any risk I guess
yeah so we put
$25,000 down as earnest money the
majority of which is currently
refundable there is like a a small fee
if you pull out our due diligence clause
and our feasibility period is is pretty
Broad in nature so for the most part at
our discretion if we find something that
makes the deal not viable we can pull
out and we just forfeit that small
portion that’s non-refundable but there
will be probably in the next week or so
Pursuit costs right we got to do
Environmental Studies we probably need
to get a new survey you have to start
paying for the site plans the appraisal
a commercial appraisal is going to be
needed to get the SBA loan that we’re
going to use and those are upwards of
$10,000 and you know if you go down that
road and start getting all these things
and paying for them and you end up
pulling out of this plot of land like
those are sunk costs yeah yeah yeah so
the risk as of right the time of this
recording we’re not in a huge risk
position but we by the next time we
record one of these we will be you know
starting to Shell out for sure and
everything’s going good so far I mean I
know it’s early stages but you guys on
track is everything good it is and you
know we are working with a mentor who
has built this exact building in another
part of Texas not too far from here
similar demographics similar like costs
for material Sim regulatory environment
so we have a Playbook that we really
need to just execute but but these big
moving variables with the construction
costs and the infrastructure that’s kind
of like that’s what’s occupying most of
our head space right now is just trying
to make the numbers work but we feel
very good and confident about where
we’re at thus
far and what’s next after the 120 days
fall goes well you have another 45 days
to close the transaction from there so
that I think is just giving some wiggle
room to the lender to make sure they
process everything and and that we are
on track to you because the moment that
loan funds your shovels in the ground
and you get to work fun exciting very
different from a three bit two bath uh
home rental in uh St Louis which is what
I know the the
most yeah but you know that we talked
about this with our students all the
time but it’s like your the time Horizon
for your goals and the like specific
circumstances in your life can always
evolve and change and of we I still
firmly believe that single family long
distance Buy and Hold real estate is and
rental properties are the best
foundational strategy we we plan to hold
the majority of our portfolio and once
we get this up and running um we plan to
continue to invest in single family most
likely out ofate uh rentals so I think
this um this project and the reason we
took it on was largely because we have
three young kids you know my wife had to
choose kind of after you taking breaks
for both of our kids of course all three
of our kids when they were born she took
some time off work we had to decide is
she going to go back into a traditional
corporate job or are we going to try out
some of these skills and experience that
we’ve got and put it to a different use
and so we decided to shoot our shot
which we’re really excited about so well
we have only a few minutes go ahead yeah
I was just curious how open was your W
what was the process like I guess to get
your wife in you know to this point
right going from I had a job corporate
job then I had kids you know mother
raising kids to not going back to
corporate going all in and in real
estate how was that Journey was she
always all in with you and you guys were
kind of aligned from the start or did it
take some
convincing she’s always been interested
in our business and like particularly
the impact that it can have for our
family right both of us worked we’re
very underpaid overworked positions she
was in nonprofit which doesn’t sound
like it would be that grueling but the
one she was at was pretty intense and I
was in the conerts industry and so we we
kind of know what it feels like to put a
ton of energy into something and not be
able to extract a ton of value out of it
we got a lot of skills and experience
but financially it was really capped
like what we could do and so when we
started investing in real estate we saw
like the the potential Financial benefit
for our family I I like the phrase you
own your upside right like we’re
investing in a business has ultimately
we can raise the ceiling as high as we
want it’s not capped by an employer so
that idea has always sat well with her
but I think this project ignited a
passion because of experience she had
with her family members you know it’s
Assisted Living it’s senior care it’s
end of life care and it’s specifically
memory care and she had some experience
with uh her father and her grandparents
they really spoke to her to where this
is now not only you know tapping into
the real estate that we already know has
the potential we want but it has that
kind of personal meaning and is her way
of kind of giving back and providing a
better experience than what her family
members went through so I think that was
the that was the Tipping Point to get
you know hey this full-time
dedication yeah and there’s an aspect to
um you know assisted care that just is
yes it’s a business of course but I feel
like there’s still an aspect of it that
is you know giv back and helping right
those in need in a sense and again I
know it’s a business I understand that
I’m going to get roasted for saying this
because it’s still going to be operated
as a business but I I just think it’s a
good Mission personally yeah no I
appreciate that and I think what you
said is important know there’s a
distinction right like we’re we’re
building we’re building on Raw land
we’re taking that we’re developing it
and creating a structure that’s the real
estate but it is really important to
realize that the the business is a very
very active Endeavor and you know the
the stakes are very high it’s a ton of
responsibility and ultimately it’s going
to be a lot of effort to get it to where
we want it to be so it is not in any way
shape or form a passive activity and you
know we’re well aware of that so you
know I get a lot of people asking me
like oh you guys going into residential
Assisted Living you know what’s the
process like transitioning it’s really
not the same thing right like there’s
the way we’re choosing to do it is
extremely Hands-On and involved um but
again the upside is um enormous both
from a financial standpoint and impact
standpoint yeah of course no it’s
awesome well you good luck congrats I
don’t know both because I know the the
road ahead still pretty long to get this
up and running but you’re making awesome
progress so kudos to both of you yeah
thank thank you man I appreciate it well
to keep in advertising with our
20-minute episodes we might have to try
and like cap this this first topic here
um and then I know we’re going to come
back and and give some fun updates on
how things are going inside the academy
and some and some changes we’ve made so
maybe that’ll be a little tease for um
for what we do next time but uh any
anything else you want to add on on the
topic of our our portfolios no not right
now I would say that was a good tease
come uh come join us next time and we’ll
talk about what’s happening in the
academy bit more awesome let’s do it and
uh in keeping with the name the
20-minute investor Nathan and I did put
together a workshop where it’s kind of
the core Foundation of our Academy and
what we teach uh and it’s called the
20-minute investor Workshop we show
different examples of how we spend our
20 minute a day that we set aside for
Real Estate including workflows and
here’s what we do if we’re in an active
buying phase here’s what we do if we’re
in a maintenance phase and we have just
kind of library of Sops of how we
approach app if you guys want to check
that out you can go to 20min
investor.com that’s the number 20min
investor.com and we will send it to you
for free so thank you for tuning in to
episode one and uh we will look forward
to doing this
again awesome thanks Aaron thank you for
making it to the end of today’s episode
as you may know podcasts are very
difficult to grow organically if you’re
getting value from today’s episode I’d
deeply appreciate if you can take 30
seconds to leave my show five star
rating and review this will go a long
way to helping me reach more listeners
just like you thank you so much in
advance
