$47K Creative Finance Deal Breakdown by Two Investors with Steve Kinsley & Chuck Bingham

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Okay, Wicked Smart listeners, thanks for joining us for another episode. It's Chris Pree, your host, and we are actually going to be doing a Wicked Smart family cast here because we got a couple of gentlemen from the Wicked Smart community. They are associates currently, and I actually think a deal is closing imminently here any day. So Chuck and Steve, welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You bet, you guys. I wanted to, for the Wicked Smart listeners to know too, that because some of them might be new to the show, I want them to hear I love, I wish I could do this every week. I want them to hear from the community, right? So first I'd like you guys just to tell 'em who you are, what market you're in, what you were doing that caused, what you're doing now. And I think it's the same as when you started, but what caused you to look at, you know, entering with the Wicked Smart community? And then we'll kind of tear it apart depending on where we want to go organically. So Steve, why don't you go?

Yeah, so Steve Kinsley, I'm in Brandon, Mississippi. I work in a wealth advisory and wealth planning firm. I've been doing that since 2020. I also have an IT background, so I've done a lot of computer work over the years. But in the mid-2000s, my wife and I went to Africa for about 6 years to do mission work, and those were prime earning years, and we really didn't put away anything for retirement and those kind of things. And then when we got back in the 2010s, my wife got cancer and she passed away about 10 years ago. And we just didn't have a way to really get retirement set. And I really don't intend to retire anyway. So the whole idea of creating passive income and having income outside of a W-2 became really important to me. And Chris, I heard you on a podcast. I don't even remember which podcast it was, honestly, but I heard you on a podcast. You were giving away books and I love to read. I got your books, absorbed those, and then started sharing what I was learning with Chuck. And so in 2024, I joined the Apprentice Program to go to QLS Live virtually, which I did in September virtually, and began sharing Chuck with what I was learning. And we both got excited. Chuck's got a background in real estate. He'll talk about that. But we knew the subject-to market and creative financing market was one we wanted to get into.

And then eventually, I think the goal for you is to leave the W-2 totally.

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.

Awesome. We'll come back to that. Chuck, how about you, buddy?

Yeah, I'm actually a landscape architect by design. I took Uh, I graduated from Mississippi State University in landscape architecture in '82 and, uh, worked that business for a few years and then, uh, decided that I was gonna, uh, pursue real estate. Uh, when this guy called me, I was sitting on the couch and I got a phone call one night and, uh, he said, would you be interested in taking a class? And I said, yeah. And it was in New Orleans, so I had to drive for to New Orleans for 6 months every other weekend to take this class. I didn't have the money to take the class at the time, so I put it on the credit card, went down there, and the first 3 months we were learning how to evaluate deals. And we, we, the next 3 months we were actually, there were, there were 11 of us in the class and we were riding around New Orleans. Looking at properties and making offers on properties. We actually bought a property with 11 of us on the deal. We looked like a bunch of gypsies when we'd roll up into a neighborhood because we'd come piling out of there and the neighbor that we'd, we'd disrupt the whole neighborhood. But anyway, the guy taught me how to, uh, buy and sell property, how to make offers and that kind of thing. And we bought a property as a group. And, uh, there were 11 of us on the deed and we actually closed that property. I made enough money to pay for my school, to pay my credit card off. I came back and sold my wife on the deal, who is Steve's sister, by the way, and, uh, decided that, hey, this is going to be good. So I'm going to try this. And, uh, that was 1996 and, uh, I've been buying and selling Uh, real estate ever since 1996, and I've done well over 100 real estate transactions, uh, down through the years. But I always knew that, uh, the lease purchase was out there, but all I was doing was flipping. I was buying, fixing up, turning the property, making a profit, and moving down the road. Uh, I always knew the lease purchase was out there. And then Steve, you know, he knew that I was in real estate and he called me and said, hey, I got something I want you to look at, and that's how we wound up, or how I wound up pulled into the Wicked Smart community. And to make a long story short, I'm excited about what we're doing. It's a new unique way. I'm looking at different levels of property than what I was looking at before. And it's a unique way to be able to help a seller that can't get rid of a property. And be able to help a buyer that can't buy a property. So you're actually helping people out and making money at the same time. So it's a good thing to do.

Yeah. Super win-win. I, on that note, first of all, I didn't know you had your first property with 11 people on the deed. So side note there, that's pretty cool. Was that an— I gotta ask this, was that an LLC or just 11 people? Like, how did you structure that? I just have to, I'm curious.

It was an LLC. We set it up as an LLC way back when. Oh, that was back in '96. So.

All right. Not too bad then. Not as bad as I thought.

All right.

Um, you guys talk about, so you, so you came into the, to the, to the company and you came to the In the Trenches bootcamp here at the office. Um, and I'll give everybody the link to that in a second, but talk about that. 'Cause I think that, well, you tell me, I don't wanna put words in your mouth. Did you have ahas? Did you, you know, what, what was your thinking after that small boot camp? It's only 2 and a quarter days.

Well, for, for me, um, I, I've— it proved that we could do it. So we came in, uh, to the, the In the Trenches boot camp on the Apprentice program, uh, so we were really just dipping our toe in the water. And at the end of the first day, we, we went back to the Airbnb we were staying in. We said, this is This is something we want to invest in. And we had brought our wives with us and we sat down as a family and talked about joining in. And so the importance of ITTB, the bootcamp, was we saw people really making real calls, talking to real people, getting real results. And it just gave me confidence that I had the type of personality I could do that. And it didn't scare me. And on top of that, we saw just going through the deal structures that we went in on the second day, we saw how lucrative it could be. And at the same time, it scratched an itch we had to help people. So that was a very important part Chuck brought up just a few minutes ago, is that it fits our core mission as a family to help people. And while we make money.

Yeah, I think it's huge because there are a lot of niches, as you guys know, that I'll call it predatory, not in a negative sense, but they are more predatory. And that's not us, meaning the creative space. That's a super win-win-win. Chuck, you've been at it for a bit, as you just said earlier. So were there any ahas? And I literally have an answer to this from the bootcamp itself that was different because 30 or so years like me in the biz, you know, what happened in your brain that day?

Well, what happened with me was I saw an opportunity for a different aspect of real estate that I hadn't been pursuing in the past. And also my main thing was the support that you've got is tremendous. I mean, everybody that we've dealt with has been, you know, above board and right on line with what they're putting out there. I was really curious about the paperwork and how that applied to what we were doing, you know, locally here and how all that's worked out. And, you know, everything has been, everything has been, you know, it's not a, it's not a business for the faint of heart because it gets a little tough sometimes, but the deals are out there. You've just got to go work the business to get the deals. flowing. And once you get the, once you get the ball rolling and get the deals flowing, you know, I can see, I can see the potential in this. It's, it's a niche market.

You know, I'm glad you said it's hard, uh, Chuck, because you guys know, like, it's 100 times worse than when I started, I think a little over a decade ago when I started, meaning just the creative space, the noise in social media now and in the marketing in general, I think is like 100 times worse. pounding people, get rich quick tomorrow. So I'm glad you said it's, it's hard. Entrepreneurship is hard, right?

Exactly.

It's just hard.

Absolutely. And, you know, uh, in, in the flip business, Chip and Joanna Gaines were the worst thing that ever happened to me because everybody and their brother's out there trying to be a flipper now. You know, they watch the show on TV and I've seen people lose their tails, you know, trying to be a flipper. But, uh, but this is a totally unique market. And it's, it's, uh, it's something that, that, uh, it's a niche market. It's like pushing a chain uphill in the snow sometimes. But, uh, you know, it's, it's very difficult, but I can see the reward on the other side of it. You've got to have resilience to be in, you've got to have resilience to be in this business.

So, okay. Before I go to your deal, you guys, let's talk about this. Uh, talk about resilience and the support and all that. So when curveballs come up, what has been important for you guys? Um, I haven't had a ton of interaction with you, but I'm assuming Rick, one of the coaches, and my son Nick have. So if you guys can talk to that a little bit, and here's why I preface this. Um, I do calls every week with people just like you. They maybe hear a podcast and they go, yeah, but I've tried like 8 things and I don't do any deals. And this is like normal conversations for me. And it's hard for me to get them over the hump to, without trying to sound like I'm, you know, biased clearly with the company, that we can help them, we can support them, et cetera. So any comments on that, you guys?

Yeah, the, the coaching support is like Chuck said, the support's been second to none. Anytime we hit any question whatsoever, we pick up the phone or get on the Slack channel and contact our coach Rick, uh, who's a wealth of knowledge. He's He's seen a lot. I don't think he's seen as much as you, Chris, but he's seen a lot in the deals he's done. And there hasn't been any question that he hadn't been able to answer, or at least get the answer within a couple hours. And I know we experienced the same thing. You know, one of the questions that we had going in was, how hard are these things going to be to sell once you get 'em? And we found out that is not an issue. We had volumes of people inquiring about the properties that we've had. But on that side of it, when Nick got involved, it just greased the wheels for everything we were doing on the sales side. So it's been the support of the community and sitting in on the mastermind calls every Thursday that we have has been super important because you hear all the different angles from different people from different parts of the country. And you get nuggets that you can use in your business to maybe move a deal along or maybe close a deal or a creative way to execute on something when you hit a, when you hit a roadblock. So the coaches are great and the community is a wealth of knowledge as well.

Okay. Who wants to be the next apprentice? Pretty interesting, guys. We started this apprentice program back as a July 4th, 2024 promo. That's where it started. And it was so incredibly effective. We were just going to run it for the summer. It was so effective immediately we kept it. It's in place now. And what is it? It allows you to get into the community, the Wicked Smart community, for less dollars than the QLS home study course sells for right now on our site. In fact, when you go to smartrealestatecoach.com/apprentice-pod, apprentice-pod, When you go there, you're going to see that as an apprentice, you're going to get over $13,000 worth of coaching, the possibility for you to touch base with us if you want to, 4 or 5 times a week. And it doesn't exist anywhere out there, frankly. That's why we did it. We did it for 2 reasons. One, no one is giving you the support out there. We keep hearing feedback, which is how this was born, that other educators are not giving support. They're just selling stuff. So it doesn't exist anywhere and nowhere in the real estate education or coaching space. And we want to help you do one thing—

deals.

So we've wrapped the support mechanism around this. We've allowed you to get into a Slack community with the other associates who previously were protected in Slack, and now you get to jump in there and experience that for 12 weeks. You also get to come to the In the Trenches boot camp, which is private. It's a chance to hang out with the family team and one of the coaches for 2 and a quarter days in our conference room, roll up our sleeves, Get calls done, get deals done. If you come with leads, you leave with deals. Absolutely incredible. I could go on and on. Go to the website right now, check out more information about the Apprentice, and I'm going to give you the In the Trenches boot camp site because you don't have to become an Apprentice. It just happens to be free with Apprentice and Associate. So 2 links I'm going to give you, super important. smartrealestatecoach.com/ittb-pod. That's going to give you some information about the boot camp. If you want to buy a ticket to the boot camp, it's more expensive, but you can just come check us out. About 1 or 2 people every time we run it do just that or become an apprentice and it's for free. smartrealestatecoach.com/apprentice-pod. Let me fill in a couple of blanks of things you guys both said just so the Wicked Smart audience is not totally lost. I tend to just roll and forget to explain things to them. First of all, Nick is my son and Nick has perfected literally the buyer process because we in the community really care about cashing the buyers out. Whereas, and this is public knowledge, I'm not speaking outta school, you can go on any podcast and hear other educators say, we don't care if they cash out 'cause we'll just put another one in there. And although that might be legally okay, morally and ethically it stinks. So we want to set 'em up to win. Secondly, I think Steve referenced it and both of you guys referenced the Apprentice Program and the Bootcamp. So let me just give the links for those 'cause I didn't, I'm not going to do that in the outro, guys. If you're listening for the first time and Apprentice and Bootcamp doesn't ring a bell, the Apprentice program is a great group coaching entry-level platform for you. Just go to smartrealestatecoach.com/apprenticepodcast. And the Bootcamp is super private. We run it every 6 or so weeks. It's right here in the conference room. Literally can fit 10 or 15 in there max with 4 of us. It's very hands-on. Just go to smartrealestatecoach.com/bootcamp. I-T-T-B podcast. That way we get those 2 out of the way so we don't leave people hanging. Guys, let's talk about your deal. The source of it, and you guys can both chime in, but the source of it, timeframes, like how long it took, conversations that might've been easy or hard, you know, just talk about the deal a little bit. And then I know it's closing like any day now, pending some health challenges the buyer's parents have had.

Yeah, I'll talk about the acquisition side and Chuck can talk about the sales side. It was an expired listing. So we get expired listings through a data aggregator called My Plus Leads. And that's one of the leads that came in. I have a virtual assistant that does our primary initial calling. And she had reached out to this couple and they were interested. They had expired listing. As I said, they had tried to sell the home for about 9 months and their challenge was they were just basically upside down in it. And they were having to leave the city to go accept jobs in another state. They were moving from Mississippi to Virginia and they just, they were ready to just give it to the bank and walk away. And so we were able to come in and basically offer them what they needed to satisfy their debts.

And so they would've had damage for years, Steve, if I can jump in.

Oh yeah, they would've gone through Yeah, they've been foreclosed on. They probably foreclosed on by now. We started this in February. No, actually March. We started this one in March and we got to an agreement fairly quickly with them and they were very grateful. We did a couple extra things. We helped them get their electricity turned back on, for example. We've helped them with some of the mortgage payments they were behind on. We've got all that settled. So we actually closed on that. We closed with the sellers actually last week because we got the buyers in place. But the conversations were initially difficult because we were having to explain what lease purchase and subject-to financing, both those terms, what they meant to the sellers. And And they even had questions up to the day we signed documents. And so we learned a lot about how to educate our sellers on both those pieces. The other challenges we had with them is they basically left to go accept these jobs. And so we had a home that wasn't lived in, that hadn't been cleaned up, and those kind of things that we had to had to deal with from, and Chuck can talk about that from that side. And the house is 2.5 hours away from us. So we had the distance logistics as well. But all in all, other than the curiosity and needing to educate them on what the process was, they were very grateful that we were, that there was a solution that avoided foreclosure. So the only, the only ding on their credit's going to be a couple of past due payments and, and rather than having to deal with foreclosure, potential bankruptcy.

Yeah.

For 7 years, probably.

For 7 years. Yeah. Yeah.

Crazy. So Chuck, how about the buyer side? Meaning why do the buyers need this? Right. That's always a cool story because to Steve's point, everybody thinks they're hard to sell. It's the opposite. So why do they do it? And then either one of you guys want to just address what the 3 paydays projected are, because this is just launching.

Yeah, the, uh, the, the way we structured our business is I'm handling the buyer side and Steve's handling the seller side. So, uh, and, and I've been able to work with Nick closely and, and I'm gonna put a plug in for Nick. He's dang good at what he does. He, he has, uh, he has really opened my eyes to, uh, the way that he structures, uh, Working with the buyer themselves. And, uh, you know, I knew that when we put our signs out there in the yard that my phone was gonna blow up because, you know, when you start putting a sign out there that says no banks and, you know, you've got an opportunity to, to, to step into this deal, uh, it's, it's a unique market that people see and they want to be a part of. And we had, I think we had almost 100 just from the advertising that we were doing. But the person that we wound up with, she was aggressive. She was very, very aggressive about wanting to do this deal. And then we went through the vetting process and I learned Uh, from Nick, uh, what the vetting process was like and, and how, how it was gonna happen. And, uh, you know, it was just, it was just down the line and we got her vetted and, uh, you know, she had had some problems in the past. Uh, uh, but, uh, once we looked at where she was on paper and looked at, uh, you know, what she looked like as far as being able to close the deal. It was a green light and that's, that's where we are right now.

So, so she has some legitimate life events, which is very typical, and you guys analyze it and say, okay, it's not a 40-year life event. It was a life event and we can help them.

Right, right. And those things happen, you know, every day to, to normal people.

Yeah.

The whole thing about this business is finding people where they are and relating to these people where they are, because you're gonna be on both sides of the coin. You're gonna have people that are in trouble with a piece of property, and you're gonna have people that are in trouble that are trying to buy a piece of property. And you're, you're trying to, to mesh those 2 together and, and, and you make money in the process. So it's a, it's a, it's a good thing to do.

Yeah. Super win-win. So what are the, uh, you guys, what are the all 3 paydays on this deal? I, I wanna say a little under $50,000.

Yeah, it's about $47,000, all 3 paydays.

And that's if it kept up how many months?

18 to 24 is what our report says. So we, we, I believe they'll get there because they're making some extra deposits along the way for the next 18 months as well. So they're going to be seriously financially invested in it. So I believe they'll make it. And they're very, they're an interesting couple. In fact, Chuck and Nick had a great phone call with the buyer's father who was a mortgage broker. We, we thought it was going to be a troublesome call and he was just so thankful that we could help his daughter and her family acquire a home. It was really a neat story. But yeah.

But now that you say that, Nick was in the next office from me, came in and said, oh, here we go. Because usually you get that protective call, you know?

Correct.

And he was super pleased.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I'll say all 3 paydays is about 47.4.

On this one, $47,400. And payday 1 total and upfront as closing year, about $22,500.

Yeah.

Sweet.

It's about half.

Nice little deal. We just got to put about 5 or 6 more of those together.

No doubt.

Absolutely.

So you guys talk as we wrap here, talk directly to the Wicked Smart listener, right? And from your, your heart, I don't want to put words in your mouth, from your heart, why they should Perhaps come to, because this is airing in July, so maybe why they should come to the QLS Live event in Boston, which is coming right up. qlslive.com, by the way, if you're listening, qlslive.com. So any thoughts for them? Any, or anything else that comes to mind, guys, as we wrap?

Chuck, go first.

Yeah, I think, you know, it's a great opportunity and, you know, if there's any way you can bring some deals to the table, you know, when you're going through a bootcamp, Man, you can learn a ton and you can make some money, you know, at the bootcamp. But, uh, you know, with this first deal, we're gonna, we're gonna pay for what, what we need to. And then our next deal's gonna be gravy. So, uh, you know, we're, we're just setting up our process and getting to the point where our business is gonna start, start, uh, start moving forward. And we're just gonna, you know, add some oil to that, to that wheel and keep the wheel moving. So I would highly recommend, you know, getting around people that are like-minded, that are trying to do the same things you are and just learn from them. Yeah.

And I always say, you guys have heard me say this, Steve, before you go, like-minded, awesome. And then next level, people that'll prod you, push you, hold you accountable. And that's what we've got. We've got both of that going on. So Steve, any thoughts from you as we wrap?

Yeah, I attended QLS Live virtually last year, watched the online, and I'm excited about being in the room with the people because this community is really one that's not competitive with each other. We're competitive in the marketplace. We're not competitive with each other. We help each other. Like I said, I get nuggets from the masterminds and other group members all of the time about how to handle particular situations. And so if you're looking for the opportunity to get into real estate and get real coaching with people who are doing real deals, that, you know, you guys are still doing tons of deals yourself. And so everything you're talking about, you're practicing every day. It's not just something you've done in the past and now you're making money as an educator. You guys are doing deals and we're in partnership with you. And so it goes beyond a coaching program because you're in a partnership and you're in a partnership with people who've done this for a long time. And that's made all the difference in the world is it's not just theory, it's practice. The coaching program's very affordable and you guys will talk about that, especially for the value that you get. That's what we were excited about is that, and I have a, we do nightly accountability with our coach. We report back what we've done every 5 days a week. We report back and getting positive feedback on that, getting critical feedback on that has been key to moving the business forward. And yeah, I'm looking forward to what the next Next 12 months old.

Well, no pressure. I appreciate you guys being on, but no pressure, but we'll have you back on maybe at like deal 3. So hopefully that'll be what, next month?

Yeah, I hope, man, if I can drag some people across the finish line before they get out for summer.

We're here to help you. We'll get that done by QLS. That's actually more realistic. You guys want to meet Steve and Chuck, come to qlslive.com. To their point, meet like-minded, meet people that'll help you, prod you, push you. and help you get to your goals. And by the way, I say goals. The last boot camp, guys, I said, how about we erase the whole goal thing? Because a lot of people don't hit their goals. How about we just get a plan that we commit to and make it set certain, right? So let's, let's everybody do that and let's everybody show up at QLS Live, QLSLive.com. Guys, thanks so much. Appreciate you.

Yeah, me too. See you later.

Thanks.

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