What it Takes to Get Your First Few Real Estate Deals with Lucas Chaya

Good morning and welcome, Wicked Smart listeners. Once again, it's Chris Prey and I'm your host this week. Yes, another week with, with me. You got to hang out. So whether you're driving or sitting focused and listening, I encourage you to always listen for the nuggets that you can act on. It's interesting. I was reading some stuff this morning and I forget what book it was in. I went from Tony Robbins to Jim Rohn to something else. But one of the, one of the things that stuck in my mind was they were talking about the old adage that knowledge is power. Okay, knowledge is power, but you got to act on it. Like, there's so many people that keep accumulating. We had a a boot camp here in our office a month ago. The gentleman said, I've been watching you and studying and getting knowledge about you guys for 4 years. 4 years. My gosh, he could have done so many deals. He ended up joining finally in one of the Level coaching programs while here in the private room. But, but, but the reason I want to share the story is don't get caught in just knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. The interaction, the interactive, and the taking action is where the money is. And I want to share today a little chat I had with Lucas Chaya. Lucas has got a really cool, interesting story. He's got an MBA. He came from Argentina. He thought he wasn't going to stay in the US, end up staying in the US. He's super over-the-top entrepreneurial and you're going to hear us chat about his journey. But the big thing here and why I tied it to my opening is Lucas took action and he continues to take action. We get off the interview here that you're going to hear and he started telling me about a fund he's building to go ahead and buy a bunch of short-term rentals and he's going to get back to this entrepreneurial venture and you'll hear all the stuff he has going on. How can he do all that, especially coming from another country? Takes action. He doesn't just listen. He takes action. So enjoy this chat I have behind the scenes here with Lucas, and I hope to see every single one of you listening right this second. And if you're not, this is part of the taking action. I'm going to give it to you right now. QLS Live, Boston, Mass., September 23rd and 24th. It's only 2 days. I promise you it'll be super, super cool, knowledge-packed. It will empower you. It'll give you confidence. And we get to interact, you and I, One-on-one at this event. Can't wait to see us. Enjoy my chat with Lucas and I'll be back with you at the end. All right, guys, I want to make sure I remind you about our QLS Live event. We've been hosting this thing since 2016 in a basement, and now we have a brand new facility in Boston, Massachusetts. This year, 2024, it's going to be September 23rd and 24th. That's a Monday and a Tuesday. Makes it easy for travel. It is literally right next to the airport. Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/qslive. And use the coupon code podcast fifty. That's going to give you fifty percent off. I'll see you there. All right, Lucas, with that as a little bit of an intro, welcome to the show, buddy. I think this is your first time, right?

First time, yes. Thank you for for inviting me.

No problem. There's going to be many more because you're going to you're doing a bunch of stuff, and I hope a whole lot more deals.

Nice. Yes, hopefully, hopefully.

Yeah. So Lucas, give the Wicked Smile listeners a little backdrop. Like you know, I just did a little intro, but. How'd you find us? What were you doing before finding us? Now you've transitioned your life in a few ways since I met you, which is kind of cool. So maybe just give a backdrop there and where you are now, if you could.

Yeah, yeah. I'll do like a quick intro. So I'm born and raised in Argentina, and I was born in a family of like real estate. I have father, mother, sister. They're all architects, developers, kind of like I grew around real estate. But I didn't do real estate at the beginning. I, I started a, a coffee business while I was still in college back there. And then with my wife, we grew that business to a little over 100 employees. We, we opened 11 stores and, and we have like a coffee distribution. Um, we still own like part of that business. We, we sold the, the retail part and we own the distribution.

And is it all— is that, uh, coffee business, the one that exists today, the piece that exists today, is that in Argentina only?

In Argentina, yes, it is. We are— we have— we have a— we're franchisees and distributors for a national brand, and we have— my business partner and I, we have the Córdoba and the Mendoza provinces.

Nice, nice. So I, I interrupt you. Go ahead. Sorry.

No, no, no, that's totally fine. So, um, We worked on that business for a little bit over 9 years from 2007 to 2016. In 2016, I came to the US. We moved with Flor, with my wife, to do an MBA. I moved to North Carolina, did an MBA at Duke University. Back then, the goal was to go back to Argentina, like do the MBA and go back. But then things Things started happening and opportunities, and I ended up doing an internship at Dell. And during my internship, I worked on a project that right now is a program called Dell Expert Network. And so I got an offer to come back, like pretty much launch that program from scratch. We said with my wife, okay, let's go to Austin for a couple of years and then we'll go back. So, he came to us and that's why we are here, because of Dell. Just long story short, I also worked on launching a new program called Dell for Startups, and I ran that program for the last 6 years. And between both of them, it was like a $400 million business a year. So, it was an amazing, amazing opportunity. for me coming from a smaller, like tiny market, like totally different industry, it was amazing. Always, we always had the goal of like, when we made the decision we're gonna stay in the US, we always had the goal of like, okay, whenever we get the residency, the green card, we go back to entrepreneurship. We'll leave the W-2 job and So Green Card got delayed because of COVID and stuff and things started like, and then we, we got it last year and, and yeah, like we, we, we've been like on the side investing in real estate for ourselves. Um, and then friends, family, we started doing property management for ourselves, for friends and family. And now we launched a, a like property management business for long-term rentals, short-term rentals. We have like a whole bunch of properties that we're managing. And then back to your question, uh, I was—

Yeah.

Um, I, back, back to your question. I, I was, I was looking for like something else around real estate and I was like pretty much during COVID uh, I was, I was like searching for, for, for something else to like on, like in parallel to create wealth because like we, we have the businesses that we have like recurring cash flow and we like, pay the bills and, and, and, and everything. But, but I was looking for something that, that I would like create wealth, um, in parallel with, with our, with our core activities. I was like, probably I, I was looking at 5 or 6 and then I don't remember how I got your book. Um, the one that you have on, on, on, on your—

Yeah. Right.

And then I read that book and, and I was like, okay. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go all in into this. And then you and I had like 2 or 3 calls. I explored the different tiers and said, okay, I'm, I'm probably not gonna be, not gonna be like the typical associate. Um, but I wanna do it with, with a high 6 just to have like the full support and the full experience. And, and yeah, here we are. We, I, I took a, I probably compared to, to all your associates, I, I, I'm a little bit on, on a different Like, silent approach. But yeah, we're ready to go full steam on this side of the business as well.

That's awesome. Thank you. I have a few things, a few comments and a few questions. So it sounds like, because I knew most of that, not all of it, you're a mix of— some people look to replace their income, some people look to add a supplemental. You're kind of a mix of all that because you're already an entrepreneur. You already had some businesses going, still do. And you just took this terms business, it sounds like, and tacked it on to what you're already doing and you're doing some side deals like that, right?

Exactly. Yeah.

So with the 3 Paydays system with us, is it 2? How many have you done?

2? 2? Yeah.

Okay. Interesting. And how many paid— first of all, how long did it take you? Because you were busy. You had your job then too. How long did it take you to, to do those first 2 deals after joining?

I am 9 months, like almost a year. The first 6 months, I took like a small, like a slow like ramp up to learn and get acquainted. And then I purchased these 2 properties and then I started like building a system so, so it's not so, so time-consuming for me. Like, like, uh, with all, with all the support from, from, from your team. Uh, I have one VA that is doing calls, Dominic, who's amazing. Um, and then I have another VA that, that I, I'm, I'm sharing with, with the property management, management business.

Nice. Efficient.

And then after a call from Dominic, Mike, which is the other amazing VA, He runs all the comps for sales and leases and stuff. So when I get on a call, I already have pretty much—

You're equipped. Yeah, you're ready.

Yeah.

So the 2 deals you did, I don't recall the deal structures. How much in 3 paydays were created? I know they're still in play, but how much was created in 3 paydays each?

I just printed one of them, which is the one that is already— the home is already sold to a tenant buyer.

Oh, it did. Okay, awesome.

$68.5K.

$68K. Okay. Okay. Right in line with a lot of averages. And what was the second one? The other one?

The second one is still like on the market, but it is around $70K as well.

About the same. Okay. Interesting. In both those deals you bought, were they sub-2 deals or owner financing? What were they?

One is owner financing. This one that already has a tenant buyer and the other one, it says sub-2.

Sub-2. That's awesome. So as I always say, Lucas, and you jumped right to it, the people that like get it, I'll say, and have the confidence and sometimes have some resources like yourself, the sub-2 and the owner financing, which are your first 2 deals, are much more beneficial than the lease purchase because you own it, you depreciate it, and all kinds of other things that would be a different show for a different day.

And on top of that, we're in Texas, so we cannot do percentage leases.

The sandwich. Yeah, you can only assign it. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Which are my 2 preferred ways. So that's good for the listeners to hear. Like, okay, I'm in Texas, I'll do that. I'll do what, what you've been saying to do anyway, Chris. And number one, and number two, the attorneys there are very well-versed because that's what they do. So I love it. I love it. So talk about— okay, a couple of things I want to hit for the Wicked Smart listener. We have an event coming up, the QLS Live event. Maybe for those that have not interacted with the community, like you've interacted with the coaches, you've interacted with some members of the community and the family, for maybe someone who hasn't, from the heart, just whatever comes to mind for you, why should they come to the QLS Lab event and meet us and meet you and meet everyone? You know what I mean? Why should they go there?

So I would say there's 3 pieces, um, and for me the last one was the, the one that I got the most like the most like value, like overall. But the, the, the first piece is the content, like what, what you guys present, what you guys coach and teach, and, and how you guys show, show things. That, that's, that's, that's amazing. It's like, like getting like a hands-on experience on, and then you meet like the real humans that are, that are like making—

Yeah, we exist, we're not AI.

Exactly. Yeah. Um, the second one is like the, networking and you're, you're like, we go to, to a restaurant or a bar with, with like other associates from different states and, and stuff like that. Something that, that like you start talking like, oh, how do, how do you get your leads? How do you like, like, how do you work your VA? How much do you like, pretty much everything.

Real stuff.

And then the third one that I, I, I got a lot of, a lot of goodness from is the, the The sponsors and the vendors that you get there, all of them add value to your business. Like, just to give you an example, like in tour, I think 3 events ago, 2 events ago, I met Anderson Advisors there and I started working with them from, and then we changed the whole like structure of like LLCs and companies and the holding company and everything.

Yeah.

Because, because of them. Then, um, like you name it, you have like the, the pre— you have like a set of like 6 or 7 vendors, um, like CRM system mindset, like everything. And, and all of them, I, I come back from, from your events with like a pile of books like this. And then I, and then I read 'em like for the next 3 or 4 months. And yeah. And it's like, It's a lot of added value. Like, it's not only what you're gonna, what you're gonna like see on stage and learn and stuff, but it's like the next 3, 4, 5 months, you're gonna be reading all these books and then you're gonna connect it with all these like vendors and which are all meant to add value to your business.

Yeah, because the knowledge is one thing and you've lived this, but it's execution, right? To be, so you get all that and then you execute with the team. Before I forget, you said the book, which is over my shoulder. If you're not watching this on YouTube, I want to make sure everybody gets the book for free if they don't have it. So let me, let me give you a link. That's why I was glancing down. So go to wickedsmartbooks.com/podcast. You'll get it for free, guys. And I mean free. We don't charge you for shipping. We just ship it out of this office. So wickedsmartbooks.com/podcast. If you don't have Real Estate on Your Terms or Deal Structure Overtime, we'll ship those out to you. As far as the event, before I get off that, I want to give them a 50% off code for that as well, Lucas. So So for the event, you're going to go to smartrealestatecoach.com/QLS. Stands for Quantum Leap System. QLS Live. And use a code PODCAST50, 5-0. You'll get 50% off. We want you there, Lucas. You can meet Lucas, you can meet coaches, you can meet everybody. Lucas, the only thing I didn't ask you, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this because again, we haven't talked in a little bit, is you have interacted with like Nick on the buyer side, my son Nick, you've interacted with the coaches. Any thoughts or comments on the value add there or sort of like the support or the crutch it gives you? You know, any comments on the community and the coaches?

It literally, I think it saves you like 5 years of learning because you can do this like business with no coaching, but it's going to take you 5 years and mistakes and And like, you're going to spend money, you're going to like waste money and time and everything.

Like, hopefully not lose money too, right?

Or lose money or— yeah. And so on the buyer side, just silly examples. Like, we were used to like go to every showing, properties that not for this like rent-to-own credit financing, But then when, when we put the, the houses on the market, the creative financing, we were going to every showing with, with the tenant. And then Nick said like, hey, that's not the way. Like, you're, you're hurting your, your chances by, by just do it automatically. And then, and then I have like a million examples like that, that is like things that you take for granted. You have to do it this way. And then you talk with Nick and Nick said like, no, no, no. Like, do, do it this way. And it's like— Little tweak and then boom, it, it changes. So back to your question, I, I think like working with coaches saves you at least 5 years because like you guys have probably made all the mistakes like 20 years ago and then don't make it.

Yeah.

But, but, but now it's like, it's like a shortcut to, to, to doing things like exactly the way you need to do 'em to, to make it.

Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, we're still making them. I said that facetiously, but it's true. So I like this week is a good example. I'm going to be on the mastermind call this week because, you know, that's for associates only. And so when I know I'm going to be on it, I just, I just literally in my journal make notes of either mistakes or lessons that either we went through or someone in the community went through because we're like a microcosm of society. If you think about it, we're this little— we get some community, but all kinds of cool lessons come out of it. And then I bring them to the mastermind call and then that gets translated out to the community. So it's just cool stuff like that. You put a timeframe on it. You said you saved 5 years, but that's awesome. But It's continuous too, right? So good stuff. Lucas, anything I didn't ask you that you'd like to share for a nugget or a thought or takeaway before we jump? And then I want everybody to obviously meet you at QLS Live, of course.

I don't think like if there's anything—

We hit it all.

No, no. Yeah, yeah.

Good stuff. Good stuff for the Wicked Smart listeners. Definitely take advantage of the free book if you have not. You're perhaps brand new to the, to the show and we want to meet you in person. And I'll say this publicly, I will tell you that you'll consider time well spent, probably the best time you could spend. It's only 2 days. It's September 23rd and 24th. And if you don't feel that after the event, come up to me and tell me, hey, look, Chris, it's not what I expected, and we'll give you a refund for your travel and your ticket. I don't want that ever to be an experience that you don't say that was absolutely amazing. I know it will be. So I make that offer to you. Lucas, good to hang out and see you again, buddy, as always. And I look forward to seeing you at the Mastermind and certainly at QLS Live.

Thank you, Chris. Yes, I'll see you in person next month.

Look forward to it. Be safe.

Thank you.

Okay, guys, that wraps up our time together today with Lucas. Come meet Lucas at the event. You'd be remiss not to. I want to make sure you take 2 seconds today. Give us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Go ahead and share this episode, especially if you know someone that sort of can relate in some shape, form, or fashion to Lucas's story. Perhaps they're in another country. Perhaps they're frustrated with their process on the green card. Perhaps they're frustrated with starting a new business. Let them hear Lucas's story. One better I can do you. Why don't you register them and you? They can be your guests. You can come to the event and you can meet Lucas and let him and the other coaches empower you to do some really cool things. Now, if you're not sure if the event is for you, if you're not sure if the terms business is for you, That, that literally I trademarked some really cool things that you can benefit from in the next decade. If you're not sure, though, I personally would like to speak with you. Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/chrisfreecall. The sole reason for that call is what can I do to help you from where you are now to where you want to be? And let's tear apart the pathway in between. smartrealestatecoach.com/chrisfreecall. Until then, I'll see you next week and hope to see you live in Boston, Mass., September 23rd and 24th.

See you there.

See you then. Thanks for listening to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. If you're ready to invest in yourself and take your investing to the next level, check out our 90-Day Jumpstart Program by going to smartrealestatecoach.com/jump. That's smartrealestatecoach.com/jump, because now is the time to act boldly in this unprecedented market shift.