From Debt to Hundreds of Doors: The Steven Andrews Blueprint for Real Estate Mastery - REIA 447

Welcome to Real Estate Investing Abundance, the show for busy, fulfilled professionals like you to learn how to develop financial independence built on solid passive real estate investments. Now, here is your host, Dr. Allen Lomax.

Hello, enlightened investors.

Welcome back to Real Estate Investing Abundance. I'm your host, Dr. Allen. Thank you so much for being with us. We always appreciate your presence with us. Today, I know you're going to be very interested in the topic of the new American dream. Embarking on his own investment journey, Stephen Andrews faced daunting doubts and insecurities. Now fueled by his triumphs, he's a beacon of empowerment in the real estate realm. With his forthcoming book, The New American Dream: A Simple Roadmap to Purchasing Investment Properties, and the establishment of SOREx Consulting, Steven is not just shaping dreams, he's crafting blueprints for success in the dynamic world of real estate. So Steven, take us into the show and share the beginnings of your story with us.

Absolutely. Thank you, Dr. Allen, for having me today. Like you said, my name is Stephen Andrews, founder of SOREX Consulting and the author of The New American Dream. And really, my story started a decade ago. And so really a little over a decade ago, I was— during my time at High Point University, I took a real estate class where I fell in love with real estate. And it was several years later that I finally took that plunge and And during that time, I was a retail store manager making $45,000 a year. I was $75,000 in student loan debt. I knew I wanted something more. And so I linked up with a local investor, which is now my mentor named Joel. And he was looking at downsizing his business. He wanted to spend more time with his family. I was looking at getting into the business. It was just a perfect match for us both. And, and it was daunting, though. You know, anytime you do something new, Um, kind of the human nature is to be a little bit scared. Am I good enough to do this? Do I need money to do this? Do I need to be well connected? All of those went through my mind. But fast forward a decade later, several hundred rental units later that I have bought, now flip houses, I loan money, and now I've authored The New American Dream and founded Storex Consulting to be able to kind of give back, uh, to the kind of that next generation that's wanting to get into the, uh, this great business called real estate. And really, really looking forward to that portion of my journey.

Well, fantastic story there. So take us into the details here of the beginning of that journey. How did you just fortuitously link up with the individual that you became partners with? And what were some of the first steps that led you down this road of, uh, rental property investing?

Absolutely. So, um, my father actually knew Joel, and so, um, my dad knew that Joel had a ton of experience. And, and I was talking to my, my parents about it, and, and so he's the one that gave me Joel's number. I called Joel, I linked up with him, and, and it took several months, right? You know, because everybody in this business, including me, you know, we, we We get calls all the time. Hey, I want to do this business. And some people, all they do is talk about it, and some people actually don't actually take the plunge. And so when I first linked up with Joel, Joel wanted me to read a book called Building Wealth by Russell Whitney. And so very similar to my book, it was really a roadmap on how to do this business called real estate and how to scale it. And it told you about his own downfalls and shortcomings and, and his successes. And I think that's the great part about that book. You know, there's a ton of books out there. Some don't have real-world experience inside that book. And, and I'm a firm believer, get that real-world experience, you don't make those same mistakes someone else does. And you can do that with a mentor, you can do that with a book, you do it and learning yourself. And so linked up with Joel, it took us several months, you know, he said, hey, you know, I've had so many people Just like yourself, call. I want to make sure you're serious about it. And I did everything that he was asking me to do. And it started with reading the book, you know, then it started with, hey, you know, banks want, you know, 2 years' tax returns, they want a financial statement, they want pay stubs. He said, you know, get that stuff together. And, you know, and it was just kind of a process that just continued to build on itself. And he said, okay, you know, I think you're ready. And He said, I want to link you up with a banker. And the one thing that always stuck with me was he said, a banker, in your relationship with it, when you first go and you talk to them, you're interviewing the banker as much as the banker's interviewing you. And I didn't fully understand what that meant until you, you know, you get years into this. But essentially what that means is, you know, if your loan's 15, 20, 25 years, They have to like you, you have to like them. And that, that's a lot of years to kind of quote unquote be in a relationship with someone. And, um, you know, because you're talking to them on a, on a monthly basis, maybe a yearly basis. And so, you know, it's a two-way street. And so you need a banker to help fund, or any sort of financial institution, whether or not you use a hard money lender or, or some sort of other financing. You need financing to to build your dreams, right? So not unless you just have money in the bank that you can just go pay cash for it, which I was not that person. And so, you know, knowing that the banker needs to lend money, that's their job, right? You know, so if they don't lend money, they're not going to have a job. But also, if they lend money and it's a bad loan, they could also lose their job. And so, you know, it's kind of a two-way street of, you know, you have a commitment to do your part of making your loan payments and be a good customer for the bank, but also the banker has their part as well. And the one thing that I really loved was, you know, he said, build authentic relationship with bankers before you actually need them. And so that's always stuck with me, because when you build a relationship when you don't need something from anybody, that, that tends to feel a lot more authentic. Whereas if you go to a banker knowing that you need a loan already, then you're really creating that relationship with a banker based on needing something. And so believe it or not, bankers tend to wanna loan money when you don't need it, right? So when you go in there and you say, you know what, I just wanna come in, create a relationship, I'll let you know, you know, when I'm ready to pull the trigger. And here are the things that I know you're gonna ask for, I brought them today. That creates so much credibility. And then on the tail end of that, maybe meeting 2, that's when you bring a deal back to them. And I've done this hundreds of times. There's been times where I went into bankers' meetings and said, hey, I don't need a loan yet, just want to come create a relationship with you. But already knew in the back of my mind, hey, I'm working on some stuff. But you don't necessarily have to let the banker know that either, because you want to build authentic relationship first. And, and that has just paid so much, so many dividends. And And a testament to having a mentor. I always tell people, try to get a mentor because especially somebody who's been there before you, because if I didn't know that information, I would've messed that up the very first time I went in there because, you know, your mind says, well, hey, I wanna, I just wanna throw everything out on the table. And bankers just don't quite operate that way. You know, they kind of want it in layers. And so that was one of the key pieces. And, you know, I went in and it was a hometown bank. I always tell people, try to bank hometown with your hometown bank. Bank instead of a big bank. Hometown banks can do so much more than a big bank can do. And literally, whenever I left that meeting, it was a handshake. I mean, you know, he— I was referred over by my mentor, which had done millions of dollars worth of business with this banker. We gave a handshake at the end. He said, hey, I'm going to get a bit of— get a loan done for you. You know, obviously I got to check and make sure what you're telling me is the truth, but if it is, you know, we're going to be good. And And that really helped catapult me into being able to buy my first 2 properties with this banker. And now I have forged hundreds of loans with this banker, millions of dollars, which has been so great, you know, over the years.

Well, that's, that was certainly good advice. I think it could be challenging to just walk into a banker and say, I'd like to just have a conversation with you. I don't need a loan. You had had some coaching to help you with that first meeting. And one of the things you mentioned was that you had gotten essentially your tax returns and all of your financial information together, which would entail what loans do you have, what's your credit score, and certainly your tax returns. What else did you need to get together for that initial meeting?

Yeah, so normally bankers want 2 years' tax returns, financial statement, pay stubs, and that's really the basics. And so, you know, they kind of want to know— they essentially want a financial history of, of what loans you might have out there. Also had to give them my student loan information as well. So, you know, any sort of loans, you know, they would want, because all that, you know, goes into whether or not, you know, you're overextended or whether or not you'd be a good candidate for for them. And, you know, I tell people that, you know, bankers— and I felt the same way, you know, um, it's kind of scary to go in there that first time.

Mm-hmm.

But no, they're humans just like you are. They have a job to do just like you do. And I think if you go in there authentically, I think if you go in there and you say, listen, um, I've heard great things about you, I want to use you as a banker, but I want to create this relationship first, get you the information you need so we're doing this the right way, not the wrong way— I think that goes such a long way. Um, and not going in there pushing, because bankers are very conservative at nature, at heart. And so I think that just helps so much.

Well, good suggestions. Just following up on that just a tad bit more, uh, bankers, particularly your loan officers, are busy people. How do you set up that meeting by just telling them, I don't, I don't want a loan, I just want to come in and talk to you? How do you, how do you go about that? What's What's your wording for that kind of a conversation?

Absolutely. You know, I always tell people that always be on time, be punctual. Um, the way I always have the conversation, uh, with the bankers, I try to tend to, to talk with the people at a local hometown bank that makes the decision. And there are still plenty of hometown bankers that are presidents or vice presidents of companies that, that are still their own loan officers because it is a smaller bank. And so I tend to always call and say, you know, hey, I've done a little bit of research, you know, so I can kind of speak to— hey, I've seen you've been in the banking industry for X number of years, um, you know, I see your conventionals, you know, you're probably someone I really want to meet and do some business with and would love to come in and sit down and talk with you. I'm looking at getting in the rental business. Or, hey, I'm already in the rental business and I'm looking at expanding my network of bankers that I use. And would love to come in and just chat with you, you know, 15-20 minutes. I know you're super busy, and I would love to bring my information with you so, you know, you have a great understanding of who I am. And I'm going to bring my 2 years' tax returns, financial statement, uh, pay stubs. And I normally then ask them, well, hey, is there anything else you need?

Mm-hmm.

You know, so then that way I'm engaging with them as well, and I'm bringing everything that they need. And Um, and then, you know, we set the meeting, you know, and, and always be punctual. You know, a banker does not like someone that's going to be late, so always try to be there 5-10 minutes early and then stick to why you're really there.

Yeah.

So obviously you want to go in and, and, and maybe for the first 5 minutes get to know each other to build that authentic relationship, and then get right in, you know, to the point of, hey, you know what, uh, Like I said on the phone, I'm not necessarily looking at getting a loan at the moment, but I want to expand my, my network of bankers. And, and I brought this information with you, and here's the 2 years' tax returns, here's the financial statement, here's the pay stubs, here's anything else you've asked for. Would love to leave this with you so you can do what you do and, and, and see if this will be a good fit. And, and, um, here's my information, here's my number, you know, let's, let's, you know, just give me a call. And let me know what you find out. And I normally always typically have those 15-20 minutes max because, to your point, they are extremely busy. And, and if you're talking to a VP or president of a bank, like, that's normally who I do business with. And these are local banks, so, you know, these are also sometimes the people that are actually writing the loans. And, you know, but they're also the ones talking to loan committees and potentially the ones actually making the decisions. And so They're extremely busy. And so you want to stay to the point, but also be very authentic about it. And then, you know, be very strict about, you know, if you told them initially 15, 20 minutes, try to stick to that, you know, because, you know, they would really appreciate it. And then just don't be too overbearing, you know, just say, all right, you know, get with me. When do I expect to hear from you? You know, that way there's some expectations there on when they might be following back up with you. And then just do what you've told them you would do. You know, if you said, all right, well, I'll follow back up with you in 3 days, follow them back up in 3 days. If they said, hey, we'll call you once we have it done, I would, I would give them at least a week, you know, before I would reach back out, because there again, they are busy. So just very— do what you say you're going to do is really the biggest part. That's how you really create that trust.

Enlightened Investors, if you haven't done so already, Be sure and click that like button and also click that share so others can take advantage of the content. And finally, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single one of our upcoming episodes. Yeah, I liked— I like how you framed it there, just starting out with, you know, you have just, you know, 15 minutes of your time. I've got my tax returns, my loan information, my W-2s, and I don't need a loan right at this moment, but I just want to get things set up for when I might potentially need that. And it just sets things out on a really cordial basis and not pressuring them and not putting them on the spot in any way, shape, or form. And like you say, go in there and stick to your 15 minutes and respect their time. As well as yours. Excellent advice there. Well, we are talking with Stephen Andrews, who is the founder of SOREx Consulting and the author of The New American Dream: A Simple Roadmap to Purchasing Investment Properties. Stephen, tell us about The New American Dream and the book that is coming out here shortly, and what is the book about and And really, what was the motivation behind going to the effort of actually writing a book?

Absolutely. You know, a couple years ago during the pandemic, you know, a lot kind of happened. You know, you start thinking about, my goodness, everything going on right now, and nobody ever anticipated that. But one thing it did do also is it flooded kind of the real estate market with new investors and new realtors. And there's so many new people that want to do this business. And Um, I had several different realtors reach out to me and other people that were in the business that were investors, and they said, hey, there's so many new investors, there's so many new realtors, and people want to know what you know. Um, and not necessarily they knew who I was, but more about, you know, they want the experience that you have. They, they want the experience of what maintenance looks like, how to get financing, how to find out whether it's a good deal or not, how to build authentic relationships. How to handle local municipalities. And so it got me really thinking, you know, what's the next chapter for me? And, you know, because I've been so successful in this business, and, and a book come to mind. And so I started putting pen to paper and, uh, you know, really materialized, uh, into what it is today. And, and really, The New American Dream, um, is a book that, um, really outlines everything I've learned over the last decade. And really the namesake of it, the New American Dream, is how I come up with that is, you know, when my parents were coming up and they would always tell me, hey, the American dream was always owning your own property, owning your own house. And I truly believe that kind of the new generation, the younger generation of this country, they don't care as much about owning their own house. They're okay with renting because they're fine with moving around and that sort of thing. But they care about getting in the rental business. And so they, they want some secondary income or potentially primary income. And that's where I got the new American dream, because I believe that's what it is. I believe that people are fine with renting and, and they want to get into the rental business and they would rather spend their money there. And I don't necessarily 100% agree with that. You know, I think that you need to own the property in which you live. And but hey, I'm also a landlord, so I'm perfectly fine with With having 20 or 30 people fighting over one unit. I mean, it's, it's great for the business. It really is. But, but that's where the namesake, the title came from. And it is a simple roadmap to purchasing investment properties. It's everything I've learned in the last decade, from what are the first things first, do you need LLCs, do you need insurance, to how you handle maintenance, how do you handle financing, how do you know if it's a good deal, to, you know, how do you protect yourself with insurance and LLCs and other mechanisms, umbrella policies, to authentic relationships, to, you know, even municipalities, how, you know, how do you maneuver and handle local governments. And then it ends the book with when's enough enough, you know, because I think that's a question that you know, after you've had some success or in your later years of life, you always say, okay, when's enough enough? And I love that part of the book because it really, really gets you thinking. And it makes you kind of compare yourself. And for me, how I left it was, you know, I'm 35 now. You know, if I told my 25-year-old self, you know, where I'm at today, would I be okay with that? And not to spoil it too, too much, and maybe we deep dive a little bit more into that last chapter. But I think that last chapter is going to leave people Well, that is good to have something to think about.

And, and I like your title, The New American Dream, because things have changed over the last 40, 50 years here significantly. And like you had said, the American dream used to be owning your own home, and that usually entailed having a, a good-paying W-2 job with a, a good retirement. And That American dream is no longer here. The wages have not kept up with inflation. Excellent retirement plans are nonexistent, and we need a new American dream. And I think you're absolutely right. The new American dream, the only one I really see is actually investing in real estate. Well, take us down this road, Stephen. You had gotten out of college, you had found employment as a retail manager, and like so many individuals, particularly today, they go to college, get out of college, and then find themselves in professions that aren't particularly satisfying and with wages that just are not going to cut it. But you found your way out of that. So working full-time as you were doing and building a business, take us down that journey and what all did you have to do to combine a W-2 job with becoming a successful entrepreneur?

Absolutely. You know, it's, it's a hard one, right? You know, because there's only so much time in a day. You know, I wish we could buy more time. That's the one thing in this world, you know, you just can't do. And, um, for me, You know, I was set— like I said earlier, I was $75,000 in student loan debt. I was paying $45,000 a year. So I didn't have a lot left over at the end of the day. You know, I was still living at home. I didn't, I didn't clear enough money after having to pay, you know, um, for my student loans and, and gas and insurance and, you know, the common things.

Right.

I didn't have a lot of money at the end of the day left to be able to actually go and, and live in an apartment or buy my own property. So, you know, I wanted something different. And, and so I started thinking about that, you know, how do you get in this business and I think there's such a big misconception that you have to have a ton of money, and you have to be well connected to get into real estate, and you don't. How I got into real estate was there was a local bank that offered a credit card, and they would actually offer a credit card where you could get a cash advance off the credit card. And that's how I got in it. You know, that was my down payment. You know, I was able to take a cash advance off a credit card. So I borrowed my down payment to put down on my first loan because I didn't have the money. And so people might say, well, you know, that doesn't make any sense in today's market. Well, you know, 10 years ago it was only 7% interest. I get now it's probably 20-25% interest, a little bit different. But there's other avenues. You can get a hard money loan. There's just so many different ways, creative ways that you can, you can do it. And so for me, that's, that's what I did. I borrowed the money to, to get into this great business called real estate. And, and it was a lot of work. A lot of time, you know, I worked a retail store manager job. So it wasn't a 9-to-5er. I mean, there was 10, 11, 12-hour days. And then sometimes I would have to go do the rental stuff at night. But what I did was I knew I wanted to do it full-time at some point. And so I needed to expand. And so what I did was the money, you know, I bought the worst house on the block because I believe that's what you do. You know, you buy the worst house on the block, has the biggest upside, because if you buy that Best house on the block, it's already the best. There is no upside. Um, not unless it's years down the road, it might still appreciate, rents go up. But the biggest upside is the worst house. Go in there, sweat equity, fix it up. And that's what I did. And I refinanced. So I bought the worst house on the block, put money in it, refinanced it, pulled my sweat equity back out, pulled my down payment back out, paid the credit card off, and the money I had left over, I I rolled into the next property. And so don't go out and buy a nice fancy boat or a nice fancy car. That's not going to make you any money. Roll it into something else that will make you money. And that's what I did time after time after time. And fast forward 10 years, you know, that's how I did it. But I will say, a lot of people think real estate is passive income. There's no such thing as passive income, not unless it's a retirement 401, some sort of pension. that doesn't take any effort for you to actually, um, get money in. There's going to be work you're going to have to do, whether you do it yourself or you hire a rental management company. There's still going to be things you have to do on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis. You want to time manage yourself, uh, quite well.

Yes, good advice, uh, there. And, and it is challenging to, to get started. And like you said, there are a number of different ways to To finance those first properties, credit cards, bank loans. You'd already talked to us about how to establish relationships with bankers, and you also mentioned private lenders, which those are more readily available than most people think about. And also you mentioned the fact that this isn't a passive endeavor, that it takes a lot of work, effort, and energy. To establish that. That's true of any entrepreneurial endeavor that anyone is going to go into. Well, before we close out here, Stephen, I know a lot of times when we are on these interviews, we get off the interview and we go, gosh, I wished I had said this or that or the other. So closing us out, what, what would you like to, to close us out with? that we haven't addressed already?

Absolutely. You know, uh, whatever dreams you have, go after them. You know, dreams, um, are meant to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, um, because, you know, if it was comfortable, if it was easy, everybody would do it. But, you know, if you want to get into real estate, go for it. I launched a business called Tourette's Consulting for that reason. I wanted to be able to give back to that next generation getting into real estate. In the book called The New American Dream, it outlines everything that I've learned over the last, uh, 10 years in this business. But I actually have a real estate course within Sorens Consulting that does the same thing, but it goes even further, you know. So you know, we get so much information in a book. Sorens Consulting has an 11-week module. You can do it faster than 11 weeks, but it's 45 downloadables. It only takes a little over 3 hours to go through it all, but it is absolutely everything that I've learned in the last 10 years, from how to know, um, what's a good deal, first things first, maintenance, uh, how to build authentic relationships, um, to the rental process. Um, it just gives so much information. And so if you want to take that plunge, if you need help, I'm here for you. I'm here to help. You can reach me at coach@soretsconsulting.com. You can also go to soretsconsulting.com as well. And we're here to help because I want more people to get into this business. And that's, that's what I'm here to do. And that's what I hope the book will do as well. You can get it on Amazon as well. Um, just search The New American Dream. It comes out March 12th. And, um, I'm so, um, so blessed to be around the people that I am, but I'm also really looking forward to seeing how this really helps, uh, the next generation get into this business.

Well, we have been visiting today with, uh, Stephen Andrews. Thank you so much, Stephen, for being with us today. You can You can contact Stephen through his website, soarxconsulting.com. That's soarxconsulting.com. That information will be in our show notes as well. Thank you, Stephen, for being with us today. It's been our pleasure having you. Enlightened investors, thank you so much for being with us today. You make our show. So please stay with us, and if you can, please like, share, and subscribe, and take a moment to give us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, live abundantly. We'll see you in the next episode.

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