Running an Acquisitions Company. The Good, Bad and Ugly and Our Most Recent Scam | EP. 23

Hey, everybody, Flip here, co founder, one of the co founders, I should say, of the Freedom Real Estate Group family of companies. And this is our podcast. And our podcast is Real Talk for the. Which is real talk for the real estate investor. And today we've got a new guest with us. You might have seen him on our recent vlog, but this is our director of operations of acquisitions, Mr. Matthew Packer.

Thank you, thank you.

Welcome, welcome. Also goes by Pac Packer, Packer, Pac man, packerama.

There you go.

Packet back. But so anyway, so we're going to talk to. The main thing about this podcast is the running and leading an acquisitions company. And I actually want to do host this one because, well, the acquisitions company was me for three years by myself. And so thankfully now we've expanded, we've brought you in, we brought in some other guys and other guys and girls, I should say. And we now have an acquisitions department.

Yes, we do.

Not a department of one, but like a department of many. And so this podcast is going to be all about that. So again, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity.

My pleasure. Our pleasure. So tell us, tell us about yourself and your background.

Well, how far back we want to go?

I mean, it was as far as you're comfortable.

Let's see, you know, it was A cold Friday, February 13, in Columbus, Ohio. That's probably a little too far. But no, like I said, from Columbus, Ohio, born and raised, had a very entrepreneurial spirit from day one, I would say I collected baseball cards for the potential future value of them. That old trunk full of them. Yeah. After high school, went to University of Cincinnati, you know, obtained a degree in operations management. After that, I was able to kind of venture into some entrepreneurial things and, you know, got into real estate as well.

That's awesome. Did you ever have a good baseball card? Like one that was, like, worth something?

Oh, absolutely. I got a bunch of those. Oh, do you remember, you know, when I started collecting, it was right around Ken Griffey Jr. Okay, you know, five Frank Thomas. That was my guys right there. But plenty of those rookie cards.

Yeah, I started right around the Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrigarri.

There you go. So it was a couple days before me.

Awesome. So what is appealing to you about running an acquisitions company? Because I'm sure this wasn't like, sure, you know, this is your dream gig, you know, but it landed in your lap. And so what's appealing to you about this?

Well, it's funny you say that because actually it is turning into, you know, A dream gig. I love it here, number one. But as far as running an acquisition company, I think really running any type of company is really helping your people, helping your team grow, you know, and get better. And that's what's always appealing to me when, you know, obtaining a leadership role. How can I make them grow and how can I make them better? You know, in this particular company, we're actually. I'm actually able to help them and help our customers as well. So that's appealing on both ends, you know, very gratifying. So that's awesome.

And, you know, when I said about the dream gig, you know, it's like, I just want to run an acquisitions company. You don't get too many people saying that.

I was 8 when I first thought about it.

So what about managing the acquisitions company aligns with your background and makes you successful?

I think just what makes me successful, I think my management style, my leadership style. Like, I'm not a. I'm not a micromanager. You know, I like to let my. My team do what they need to do to get the job done right. You know, make sure they understand the goal, you know, make sure they understand where we're going, give them the tools to get the job done, and then kind of let them be the CEO of their own business, if you will. So I think that's what helps me be successful, is really letting my people do what they need to do. Of course, I'll be here as a resource. You know, when they need help, obviously I'm there, give them guidance. But I think, you know, letting them do what they need to do on their own.

Right? We got a great, great team right now, so that's awesome. So I know this is going to be a silly question, but what does an acquisition company do? And don't just say we acquiesce or.

We get acquisitions, we get properties. Right. So it's kind of, well, in this, I guess, mindset, if you. What's a twofold kind of question within the frameworks of Freedom Real Estate Group. I mean, as you will, as you know. But of course, folks out there, Freedom Real Estate Group, we, you know, maintain. And I don't want to put this. We create turnkey properties for our investors. We handle every aspect of that. So that comes from the acquisitions. You know, rehab a property, put a tenant in them, and, you know, then we'll turn around and give that to our investors. The acquisitions piece. Of course, we go out, we find those properties, you know, we. We call those folks, we try to Help people out. So here, that's what we do as far as the freedom real estate part. Now, on the flip side, you know, we're able to help people as well out of the acquisition side. You know, I would say 90 to 95% of the, you know, properties that we require. We're helping people out of situations.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, dire situations most of the time, you know, whether it be, you know, foreclosures, you know, back taxes due, divorce, whatever the case may be.

Inherited property.

Inherited properties.

You know, I got this property, I don't even want it.

I don't even want it. Yeah, you know, good problem to have.

Yeah, exactly.

But it's a burden to them. So as part of the acquisitions company, we. We help, you know, help people alleviate those burdens, you know, so it's.

Yeah, I always used to tell people, like they're always asking me, you know, what do you do? And I said, well, our company has this vehicle and the acquisitions is the gas.

Is the gas. Right.

Fuels that, that vehicle throughout the process. Absolutely. So how does an acquisitions company serve our family of companies? And on the other side of the coin, how does it serve the community and other local investors who sort of just answ.

Just kind of going back to that, you know, helping people out of those situations are able to help the communities. You know, these properties are run down, you know, kind of, you know, a blight on that area, if you will. You know, we'll take that over, get that under control. And then, of course, helping out local investors, we are, you know, making it easy for them to get into the real estate field, real estate game. You know, we will give them a property that's already, you know, you know, cash flowing, make it real easy for them and hopefully, you know, obtain financial freedom through that way.

Absolutely. And another one that I just thought of too, was getting calls from other investors. Hey, I bought this house six months ago and I was going to flip it because I watched that show on tv, you know, and I can't do it.

It's taking me more than 30 minutes to get done, so.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. So how many team members are in cash for Ohio houses that you manage and describe their roles?

Sure. So, well, being ahead of the whole division, I mean, effectively almost 15 people, you know, most of them are autopilot, though. You know, my marketing people, you know, my hr, my financial people, my transaction coordinator, but for the most part, my day to day, about six of them that I really have to, you know, guide, if you will, on a Daily basis. Those start at. With our lead intake folks and our scheduling coordinators. You know, they're. They make those first initial contacts with those potential customers.

And they're not local. Where are they?

They are actually our VA's. They're over in the Philippines and they're amazing at what they do.

Yeah, they're the best guys.

They are. They are. You know, so it doesn't flow without them really, but. But yeah, they make that initial contact, they make sure that we're going to be a good fit, you know, we're going to be able to help them out. Then they pass them on to our acquisitions team and they really dive in deeper, you know, with the customer. Like I said, make sure we are going to be a good fit for them. Make sure we are going to be able to help them out, you know, and effectively work through that process. We make them an offer, they accept it. We of course, answer any questions they may have and walk them through that process. And, you know, that's what they basically do on a daily basis.

That's awesome. And they're local?

They're local.

They're right here.

They're right around the corner.

Yeah. So what are the different ways you find deals?

Well, initially, one of the best ways or biggest ways that we do are from the different lists that are out there. All public service lists. You know, you have your, you know, your tax list, your foreclosure list, your sheriff sales, you know, those what our lead intake guys really go through, you know, every day. But then of course, the ones that I love, you know, the ones that. Where we have kind of molded relationships. That's what I like to like the network. I like to talk with people. So another big way, though, of course, wholesalers. I love wholesalers. I love our wholesalers. I love developing those relationships with those wholesalers. You know, I want us to be their first stop, you know, when they get something, you know, their contract and say, we're gonna go to cash for outhouses, we're gonna go to Packer in particular or, you know, his team, because they know what they're doing, they're efficient, they're effective, and we get the deals done. But that's another big way that we do it. And of course, there's a couple of ways where we help people earn money. You know, another way, another effective way that we get leads. As for our bird dog referrals or driving for dollars, it's a way for you folks to make some money out there.

Oh, yeah, we're gonna get into that here in a little bit.

So it's. There's a few ways that we. We go about getting deals there.

Well, that's awesome. Yeah. I've always told the story that when, when Danny and I lived in Phoenix, I would drive every day for about four or five hours and I'd pick up doing Driving for dollars, and I'd pick up all the properties and then. And then we'd call them and we'd get them under contract. And then when I'd get them under contract, after about four or five months of living in Phoenix, we knew the three big buyers. So when I got them under contract on my drive home, because everything took a half an hour to drive on my way home, I called one guy. If he didn't buy, I called the next guy. If he didn't buy it, I called the next. I'd have it sold before I got home. So one of the things when we got here to Ohio is establishing ourselves as one of the big buyers so that people understand, hey, when I get a deal, let's call Cash for Ohio houses, they're going to buy it. And so it's in the driving for dollars. I tell you, it's a great way to do it. It's a lot of fun. I mean, I would just put on music and just drive around and we'll get into that here in a second. So what are some. How about a good story or case study about some deals that have come through the pipeline? Maybe a good, bad and an ugly.

Sure, sure. Well, nothing particular as far as the good and the bad, but it is. It's kind of one of the same. You know, the good ones are always the ones where you're helping people out in those situations that it's a burden to them. You know, they tell you their story, you listen to them, empathize with them, you make them an offer, and it's. You can just hear the joy, you know, through the call. You know, you can see their face lighting up like, oh, you know, thank you. You know, they're thanking you, you know, for helping them out. And of course, the bad is when you can't. You know, when it's too much just makes it impossible. You know, liens, whatever the case may be. Title issues. Yeah. As far as an ugly, actually, very recently, we. We had. Guess you could say we got scammed.

Yeah.

Out of a.

And not only us, but, yeah, everybody.

The whole gamut, everybody got scammed. So apparently he was an. An avid scammer. He's done this before. He Effectively got a property deeded in his name and sold us the property. Yeah. The issue was the person that signed it over to him died three years prior to him getting it. How did he sign that? That's pretty impressive, but that's kind of the ugly, you know, so lesson learned. One for the record books. You know, something all you new investors and, you know, people should know, always get title insurance.

Yes. That's very important because this one could.

Have been uglier than could have been ugly. Luckily, we didn't start any work on it, but.

And everything is all resolved. I think we only lost a little bit, but not. Not much at all.

Much at all.

Yeah. I could tell you what's funny is the good, the bad. And I mean, I'm just thinking through the Rolodex, you know, hundreds of properties. I'm going, oh, I can think of a bunch of good and bad. But the unfortunate part is the good ones never last long.

Right.

They're the ones that are. We get it under contract when we close in seven to 10 days or whatever, and it's. It's gone. You don't even see it again. The bad ones are the ones that drag on. And I think of one that we actually did a case study a couple years ago on, and we got it under contract in January. We didn't close on it until August.

Oh, wow.

And it was. Oh, one thing after another and. Yeah. Yeah. And then the ugly, too, not being able to help people.

Yeah.

A woman wanted to sell her house, and we got all the way contract and got all the way title. And they said, okay, well, where's her husband? And she's like, oh, I don't know. He's in Chicago somewhere. I haven't talked to him in two decades.

Wow.

And she couldn't sell it because in Ohio you have to have both sides. They're still legally married. So that's an ugly one because we felt horrible. There was nothing we could do.

Right.

So. So if people are interested, we touched on this a little earlier. If people are interested in getting paid to help us find properties, or they are an investor who wants to buy some of the properties we find, how do they get in touch with the right people on your team?

Absolutely. Well, if you want to make some money, like I said, bird dog, driving for dollars. Make money finding properties. Dot com. Real simple there.

It's right here along the bottom of the screen, I'm sure.

Right here.

Yeah.

Potential investors. You want to learn about the turnkey process or want to get into real estate cashforohilehouses.com Best way to get a hold of us. We have a 24 hour turnaround policy so you get in touch with us, you'll hear from us. If not that day, the next day for sure. So.

Yep. And if you're just an investor that wants to. Because if occasionally we wholesale properties.

Absolutely.

We don't buy. They might buy something like that or if they want to send us properties just send them on over.

Please do.

So is there anything else you wanted to add?

Like I said, once again thanks for this opportunity. Reach out Castro houses. Flip Danny. Gotta love these guys. And hey, invest smart.

Live happy. See, that's how we end it. See you guys.

Have a good one.

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