Real Stories of Scaling With Creative Real Estate

Their franchise prohibits creative real estate because they have to stay in their lane. They need you.

I think there's another one called like Red Barn or something like that too.

Need you guys. There's a ton of them.

All right, Rick, come on up. Let's bring everybody. Give Rick a big round of applause. No, no one. No. Oh, let's go. We even— and Jeff.

You guys, Zach and Rusty, we were talking this morning just to give you guys some different journeys, right? Had Sergio come up yesterday, Annette, Judy. Just want you to hear from different people.

All right, come on up. Come on, come sit down.

Don't be scared.

I am going to do—

He's two-fisting.

I'm going to do one of these the whole time, though.

I'm good. I am good.

Well, we wanted to share with you guys some additional journeys, right? So that way you guys get additional perspectives. How many of you guys are in the corporate world right now?

Okay.

I love how they're doing this. Like, if that's yes or no, I'm not really sure. Oh, I guess corporate. Yeah. W-2. How many of you guys are engineers in here? Why do you guys all raise your hand like shot up like you're super proud? But the corporate people like, uh, must sign myself in. Uh, Rick, can you give us some background? Those of you that don't know, uh, Mr.

Rick Abbiati, especially with all the W-2s in the room, Rick, give us some back—

like, yeah, just tell us who you are. Um, thank you.

Um, obviously I'm Rick Abbiati. Um, I coach Starter and Immersion and I6 and President's Club as needed. We all share.

And—

If that sounds like hieroglyphics to you, this afternoon we'll talk about what all that means.

Yeah.

But what'd you do previous? What was Rick previous to—

So I am a former Navy submariner. Spent 6 years in the Navy.

Yeah.

And then I went to work in the defense industry as defense contractors. So I did engineering. Surprise, and then worked my way up through program management almost 40 years. And then back in about 2000, I had purchased the single-family home, and I had renovated it, totally tore it apart, and renovated it myself. And I thought, you know, this would be pretty cool. I enjoyed doing that for a little while. My weekends and nights were all. renovating, you know, it got pretty old, but I realized there was money in it. So, uh, what I decided to do in 2016, as my career advanced, I realized that, you know, I really don't have retirement to, you know, to speak of. And in the defense industry, and you've heard it on the news, you know, there are defense cuts. And I realized at some point I could get laid off. Surprise. I didn't, but fortunately I came close and I didn't see the job security, you know, especially we know companies never discriminate against age. And, you know, but I knew getting up there in age, my time was eventually going to come to an end with, with the company, even though I'd established myself. And so in 2016, I decided I'm going to get into wholesaling and flipping. Flipping part went away really quick because I realized having the W-2, you just don't have time to do that. And so I decided to do wholesaling. So I started my LLC and I didn't have a lot of success. In fact, I had no success in wholesaling because that's where everybody starts. You get wannabe investors that start wholesaling.

And I never knew the answer. How long did you try that for?

6 years.

6 years?

5 years.

5 years.

5 years still?

Yeah, still. Yeah.

Wow. It's 60 months. And you guys use our contracts.

I went on quite a few appointments, but there was always somebody underbidding me, overbidding me, so I didn't get anything out of it. And then you had the flipper on the other side cutting my profits down and it just didn't work. And it was another job. And, you know, if you're going to make a $5,000 wholesale fee, yes, there are bigger ones, but it was just like you say, another job. So having set up my LLC, I did that through Anderson Business Advisors. And then in 2021, I ran into Chris and Zach through a webinar that Anderson Advisors was doing. And I thought, you know, this is really something to do. And by the way, before that, I had invested in other coaching programs. And they said, yep, go do this driving for dollars, you know, do cold calling, knocking on doors, all that kind of stuff, and just let us know how you make out. So there was really no in the trenches as we, we have. So anyway, I joined in 2021, 2021, May, the end of May. And less than 2 years later, almost to the day, I left my W-2 with 4 deals.

Yeah.

Like, why don't I definitely come back as far as the experience?

Yeah. Yeah. Let's hear from Jeff.

Just realize it's an empty seat and you made me stand over here.

I was wondering about that. I was going to say something about me.

Yeah. If you guys aren't close enough to Jeff, he doesn't smell very good right now.

Or anytime.

Anytime? It's a Florida idea.

Question?

Just give us some background, who you are.

Yeah.

So Jeff Cody, I live in Florida. Like Rick, I started in about 2020. I had done a flip back in 2003. I was an airline pilot like Lance back in the day, and my roommate introduced me to Rich Dad Poor Dad. And so he and I started talking about real estate and investing in different things. And so he and I bought a place together and needed a little bit of work. So we did that and we had a couple other pilots that would stay with us as like a crash pad. And it was 2003, '04. I think we sold it in '06, made a ton of money. And I'm like, that was easy. So airlines, you know, at that time it was very difficult, went out of business. And I said, I think I'm done. I don't want to start over at the bottom of a new airline. So I moved to Florida because I had family there and real estate in 2006 was skyrocketing. And I said, that, that's what I want to do. So we all know what happened with 2007, '08, right? So I got into technology. I've been doing that for 17 years. And I knew at some point, like Rick said, that was going to come to an end, whether it was my choice or theirs. And, you know, I'd done well with stocks and investing and sort of been prudent in doing that. But I said, if the stock market has another 2008 downturn and I'm depending on my stocks to live, I don't want to have to pull that money out. So I said, maybe I'll start doing real estate. And so we moved back to Florida in 2020 and I started getting into real estate and trying to decide what I wanted to do. And at some point I decided I, I don't really want to be a wholesaler, but I want to be good at finding deals. And so I don't call myself a wholesaler or any particular label, but what I want to be good at is finding deals. And then when I find the deal, I can keep it, I can flip it, I can wholesale to somebody. And so that's what I've been working on. But I realized, like Rick said, It's wholesaling or finding deals is a job. And I had started hearing about rent-to-own and creative finance and came across Chris on a podcast and just went down that rabbit hole. And so a year ago, I did a strategy call with Chris beginning of August, and he said, what do you want to do? Like, what's your goals? And I told him, and he said, you know, that's what we do in our community. Like, we're in the trenches with you and we can help you do that. And I said, man, I, Coming up to Boston next week. I wish you guys had something in person. And he goes, we have an In the Trenches boot camp next week. I said, which days? And it was like, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So I changed my flight and I came up early, did the In the Trenches boot camp. I joined like the apprentice program because I just— I didn't know what I didn't know yet. And I left there and I joined High Six like it was that quick. And then the next week— sorry, the next month. So a year ago, Was QLS Live. So that was my first event last year. So it's been a full year.

Love it, Rick. You've been with us for a long time. I mean, other than like now, obviously you're coaching. Like what? What keeps you hanging around? Like what? Because we get asked all the time, like, well, what happens after like associate? Like what do I do? I'm curious, like what keeps you hanging around?

The community and having been in coaching, uh, I thoroughly enjoy working with each and every one of you. Um, and of course with Chris, it's much more than the business, it's the personal side too. Um, you know, we do nightly accountability, a lot of us do nightly accountability with Chris, and, um, you know, it's— we talk about our KPIs and I talk about my business as well as coaching, what's going on with the coaching and all of you. But, and it doesn't need to be all business. If I have a personal question, maybe financial or whatever, it's always— Chris is always there and I don't know how he does it. And it's like 4:30 in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning, he responds to my message and a lot of times he'll say, Rick, let's get on chat live about this. So that keeps me going. And the team is very supportive, whether it's of us as coaches or of all of you. And you don't get that in corporate. Forget your company, right?

Jeff, question kind of sparked me when he said community for Rick. You, when you and I talked about the boot camp, I remember there was— you can tell me if I'm wrong, but there was definitely hesitancy about Not coming to the boot camp, you jumped, which is cool. But it was like, yeah, I don't know about that associate thing because, you know, why would I do that? I got— I can do my deals. I remember that. And then at the boot camp, you're like, boom. So what, what didn't you know that these guys should know?

Right?

Because then you said it was quick after that.

Yeah, I think a lot of us have tried different programs, we've done different things, and you just don't know, like, is this really going to be worth it? Right? Is it going to Is it going to pay off or yeah, I'm taking a big gamble. Is it really going to be worth it? And I started probably last summer, I started doing some calls to sellers and talking creative stuff with them. And I had had some before you, probably a couple of months before, just, you know, if it wasn't a wholesale deal, like let me try a creative offer, not really knowing what I was doing, but just, just trying it. And I had a Somebody reached out to me on Facebook. They were trying to rent their place. And I said, what if I bought it? Like, would you do like a lease purchase? And she's like, yeah, that sounds good. Like we talked through it and I fumbled my way through it and we got really close to a deal. And when I did my strategy call with you, Chris, you said, okay, so tell me about that. And we walked through the numbers and he said, did you offer them a purchase price or did you offer them an equity amount? On a lease purchase? And I said, purchase price, I'm going to give them $350,000. Why? And he said, because you, if you offer them an equity amount that you'll pay them out in 3 years, that's what they're going to get. You're going to get the principal paydown if you structure it the right way. And so we ran through the numbers and I didn't get that deal, but had I got that deal, I would've made an additional $18,000. on one deal from one conversation. And so after, after that, I said, how many more conversations can we have? Right? And it was, it was a no-brainer from there.

I remember that.

Rick, what is, what's your favorite part of this business? Maybe doing it for quite some time. So a million different ways to make money. Like what? What's your favorite part of creative financing?

Well, as I mentioned before, working with each and every one of you is huge to me.

All right, enough with the politics, Ray.

No, actually, um, I don't— I don't— I'm not going to mention who it was, but, um, he got his first take and I was like off the wall excited. And he says, wait a minute, you're more excited than I am. Uh, because it's just— it's being able to help legitimately help somebody else succeed and do what I've done and others have done. Um, that's the biggest thing. And, you know, in—

how about you, like, as an investor?

As an investor, every deal is different and you're always learning something. And I know looking at my biggest thing was I needed to know how each and every kind of deal worked. That was part of the delay in me getting my first take-in. But I found I learned more as I got— when I got a deal, And I went through structuring it with Chris and then I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. Oh, we did graduated interest over time. You start off at principal-only payments and then, you know, 3% interest and increase to 5% interest. So it's getting that creative deal and being really creative with it. And it's really cool.

And just share with these guys briefly, we did it kidding around yesterday. Your first, very, very, very first deal was how much payday one?

$90,000.

So, so belief-wise, what did that do?

Seriously?

Oh, I was—

On the next time.

I was excited.

See, that's about what I'm saying.

You're going to see. Come take a picture.

And can anybody else in here, when you get deals, like, start, like, yelling and screaming and, like, jumping around, please? We really need some excitement in this community.

Now, actually, when I got that $90,000, I was sitting in my car looking at the check going, is this real?

Thick ones.

But I did take a picture of it and it's on my monitor, one of my monitors when I make calls. And from that point on, I didn't have a hard time. A seller said no, I'm like, okay, next, you know? So it changed my confidence big time.

So we'll close that gap for you guys as quickly as we can. That's why I asked that. That's important. And your belief goes through the roof.

Jeff, you brought up That you had other real estate experience.

Not sure where to get started? Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/getgoing for free books, strategy calls, and a whole bunch more. We're going to help you get going the wicked smart way. We've been after this for over a decade doing exactly that.

What are you doing?

She's my camera person.

Oh, we— somebody get some photos for social media.

Social media.

Make sure you tag them in it. Hashtag QLS Live Decade. Yeah. Look at now. Adam's going to film it just so you got it. All right. Don't worry.

Adam Carroll's the best.

You have real estate experience, right? And I know you talked about you want to be really good at, like, just doing deals, right? So who else is in here doing a different real estate strategy? Just raise your hand. All right. So let's speak to the people that have some real estate experience. Like, how are you molding creative financing into your current real estate strategies to be more profitable.

Yeah, I think whatever it is that you're doing, whether you're wholesaling, you're a realtor, you're a long-term buy-and-hold investor, you know, any of those things, creative is just another tool in the toolbox. So if you can go to a seller and say, you know, what is your challenge? What are you trying to solve? And you have multiple ways that you can solve that challenge for them. You're going to help them, you're going to help yourself, probably going to help buyer at some point. So it's just another tool in the toolbox. So if they say, look, I just need money tomorrow, my house is in horrible shape, wholesale deal, right? If they say, look, I can wait, I just want to maximize the price, then we do a creative deal. So there's multiple different ways that we can get things done. But I love creative as a way to You know, help everybody create a win-win. Yeah.

How many of you guys are throwing away deals, right? Because they don't fit inside your current strategy.

Well, Deidre, do you hear that?

And now you can profit. I always like to tell wholesalers, I'm like, man, if you just get one additional deal, you paid for marketing for the entire year. Now you have a profitable wholesaling business, right?

And I can, I can touch on that real quick too. I do some wholesale deals and I did one last year and with a, with a franchise company, we JV'd on a deal. And a guy bought that franchise months later and he called up everybody in the, in his, in his book and he called me and he said, hey, do you got any other deals we can JV in? And I said, not right now, but I'll definitely let you know. And I said, hey, while we're at it, if you have any deals that aren't good for you or your sellers don't want your low cash offer, come to me because I can do a creative deal and then you and I can JV on that. So this one wholesaler has given me probably 8 or 9 really good leads. And in turn, I've given him some wholesale deals that, you know, at the time when I had a W-2 before July 2nd, I just didn't have time to do. So he and I have shared a bunch of leads back and forth, and that's just one person. So if you can find somebody like that, they're going to throw the leads away, right?

Yeah.

If they don't work for a low cash offer, they're going to throw the lead away. Just tell them you can probably make something out of that.

Guys, that's gold, right? That's actually for all you guys. Everybody heard of We Buy Ugly Houses, right? Their franchise prohibits creative real estate because they have to stay in their lane. They need you. Yeah.

I think there's another one called like Red Barn or something like that too.

Need you guys. There's a ton of them.