Business Financing Secrets For Real Estate Investors And Entrepreneurs

Hello everyone. My name is Brian and this is the Global Integrity Finance Podcast. Today I have the proud pleasure of bringing to you Dwight Mikalski with Premier Lending Solutions. Dwight, extremely fascinating gentleman. Go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us about who you are, where you're located, and, you know, a little bit about your business and what got you into it.

My name is Dwight Mikalski and I'm the proud owner of Premier Lending Solutions. We're located out here in Brooklyn, New York. And the main reason why I got into real estate is, it's a passion and a desire to grow wealth and help a lot of people in an industry that has been successful, produce success for a lot of people.

Yeah. Yeah, when it comes to real estate, it's one of those investments, right? It's, you go buy a stock, and you got to have all the cash, right? I mean, primarily, you buy stock, but when you when you buy real estate, you really— you can get into different leverages, right? And yes, I put a lot of money down, put a lot of money down, and your asset will grow over time, right? There's always up years and down years, but you either have a long-term plan or that short-term plan. So I definitely understand what you're talking about with building the wealth and generational wealth and then also helping people, because when you go to school and you learn math, science, and everything else, you don't learn about real estate and checkbooks and, you know, how these things work. So that's great. You know, so looking at your website, Premier— it's premierlendings.com, correct?

Yes.

PremierLendings.com. The business is Premier Lending Solutions. Tell us about what your organization offers. I believe you offer a plethora of things to kind of business owners and real estate. So tell us about that. Unpack that for me a little bit.

Perfect. I'm glad you asked. Premier Lending Solutions is a general help for a company that helps business owners get financing. And a lot of business owners struggle to get finances from the traditional banks and credit unions. and therefore they look for alternative source, and Premier Lending Solutions help just to bridge that gap and solve those problems for small business owners. So we, we, we work with direct lenders and other major brokers to get different types of funding from a term loan and lines of credit. We can help with merchant cash advances. Bridge loan and other forms of loans to help business owners make payroll, meet their needs, expand their businesses, and so on.

Okay. And then when it comes to the real estate, you do offer a real estate option as well. Tell us about some of those products and what you do for real estate investors, brokers, things like that.

So really, the real estate part is really exciting, and that's one of my, my specialty. That's my niche. And in the real estate world, we help anyone who is looking to acquire properties for investment. So we work with lots of flippers, developers, and other brokers. And so we provide them access to funding that they're desperately looking for without the stress of full documentation and personal history. Instead, uh, the lenders with whom we help these investors to acquire funding, definitely the stress is on the asset itself. And so it's, we are not looking for income necessarily. We're not looking for any kind of personal things except a strong credit score and an entity for the most part, as well as the property performing at a certain rate. And the lenders will lend against that, obviously with some equity. To hedge against other inflations and other expenses.

Yeah, absolutely. So that's important you find somebody that's reliable and the property's up and going to really justify, hey, I believe in this property, I think it's going to go. So there's a lot of those characteristics that people like me and you in the business of what we do, we look for those things. And sometimes from the consumer standpoint, we can't necessarily see it from their eyes. So it's always good for them to just divulge as much information as possible, like educate me on what you're trying to do, and I'm going to see where I can place that, right?

Yes.

So you yourself, we were talking earlier, you yourself actually own a few investment properties. Tell us about what kind of properties they are, how long you've owned them, and then how'd you come about acquiring them? I might ask you some more questions after that too, but let's start off with the basics.

Well, I'll start with the last question first. When I started college, I saw the late night infomercial about real estate is the gateway to financial freedom.

I can't get you late night.

Yeah, and I was glued to it. And, uh, um, coming from Jamaica where I was not wealthy and never owned real estate, it felt like an opportunity to really, you know, tap into this system. And so that's where the idea was birthed. And, uh, after college, I, I met a realtor and he introduced me to house hacking. And the idea was fascinating that you're leveraging a property, and you're leveraging finances to gain access to this wealth. And so we started, my wife and I started with a triplex. And now we have two, two, two, three family in one in New Jersey, and one in New York.

Nice. So do you, do you self-manage those? Do you sublet that out? How do you handle that maintenance and those kind of that care for the property?

Oh my goodness. We— so we manage the property. We mean, and I, um, yes, there's still a we there.

There's other responsibilities around the corner. I get you.

Yeah. Um, so we manage the property by ourselves, and, um, one of the most important thing is my goal was to learn how to manage a property from, um, all aspects of a property. And we also crunch certain numbers to figure out at what point is it profitable to delegate this to a property management company? So it was first, almost like new parents, we also knew landlords, you know, I have this property, this big expensive thing, how do I manage it? What do I do? And it required a lot of self-study. And I read landlord books my wife bought me, all my presents and gifts were something about being a real estate investor, a landlord. So I was bingeing on those books instead of the infomercials to become a landlord. And so That's one of the best ways that I learned. And then I connected with some other landlords on the ground who mentored me, and I was able to learn how to manage successfully in different states and navigate in different rules and regulations when it comes to rentals and so on.

Yeah, it's really important, right? There's all these rules. It's— Yes. You know, it's kind of like, you know, if a police officer stops you to say, you know, hey, did you know what you're doing is wrong? Like, you can't necessarily be ignorant, right? Like, they still might write you a ticket for whatever you did. So, you know, rules are rules and those are things you have to study on. May not be real estate or not, but you mentioned, you know, you dive a lot into books. I was your presence for a while. I'm sure there's still a presence today. What's, what's your favorite real estate book? Or what kind of helped you out the most there?

It's, it's The Millionaire Real Estate Investor.

Okay.

It's by Keller. And it was just a straightforward book that researched so many successful investors and find a common thread that was it, they were able to distill, like, if you were to be a successful real investor, these are the things that successful people have done. And you could, you know, go lean into that category. So they kind of filtered everything for you. And it made, it made sense to me. And I was excited to, to implement them.

Nice, nice. Thank you for sharing that. So kind of sticking to real estate, You know, what do you feel is it, whether it be in your neck of the woods or across the country, where, what do you think the biggest challenges are right now facing real estate investors, property managers, things like that? You know, definitely in your wheelhouse. What are your thoughts on that? Like, where do you think we're going? What do you think we need to do better?

The things that came to mind were one, policies, and then interest rates. And then I stopped to think, those are external things that have always been in play. And so I think the biggest challenge is not necessarily the external things that, uh, um, happen, but it's the, uh, the relational part of real estate. And what I mean by that is a lot of people are in real estate to do transactions, transact, transact, transact, and they often ignore the relational part. And that's a very important aspect of real estate as well. So it That creates and gives real estate a negative connotation, and it lends itself to a part of real estate that kind of dehumanizes people rather than humanize us, because real estate is a very, very important, essential part of our economy. And even though it's not factored into the Consumer Price Index, it is a staple of the economy and will always be. And I believe that we could do a better job in collaborating rather than just competing, we could do a better job in educating ourselves first and also a better job in finding, finding the right mentors and leaders and being the right mentors and leaders to others and bring others up. And the one final thing I would say, since you mentioned, Brian, that real estate isn't taught in school, it means that real estate and business should be part of the school curriculum, at least as an introductory introduction to create opportunities for kids to be exposed to you know, one of the greatest assets and aspects of our economy ever.

Right. You're giving me goosebumps over here, buddy. They, that was extremely well said. That's not, that's not just a, a crazy con— like, that is, that was very, very well said. Well put. I have nothing to add to that. So thank you. And I could not agree with you more on all those points. So speaking of that, right? So we, we need to start sharing information, right? Be more collaborative to your point. How do you stay organized? Like, what's your favorite hack? Like, to, to the businessman that you are, like what really helps you that somebody else can pick up and say, you know what, I want to give that a shot.

I keep it simple. Yeah. And I use Google Docs and stick to Google Docs a lot. For one, it gives me the opportunity to be on any device and I can access my things. But two, it's just simple to use. And I know that there are many, many, uh, certain websites and systems and CRMs and so on that's there. And they are great, even better than Google Docs. But I would say that, that has worked for me. The one tip I would give is choose a system and stick with it. If you keep shifting and changing, then it becomes frustrating. So that's one. And the second thing is having secure, either secure email or Dropbox for sensitive documents. So that's because cybersecurity and so on is another important aspect. And this is a fiduciary duty to, to our clients and to, to ourselves to make sure that these things are— you have these levels of security for things of that nature.

Yeah, right. That you're just not being ignorant or complacent with how you're handling all the sensitive information that people are entrusting you with. So those are, those are really good points. I myself have fallen victim to that, right? There was that that old saying, I don't know if people even say it anymore, but like there's an app for that. So you don't want to have that FOMO of like somebody else is using this app or somebody else is using that. Who cares? Right? Like at the end of the day, it's how you utilize the information, what works best for you and your, your memory and how you function every day. That's going to make you effective. And if something's missing, you'll then take that step to go find something else that'll help you get better. Right? You don't need to sit there and keep trying stuff to your point. You're just going to get frustrated. So that's great. I appreciate that insight. When it comes to, you know, reaching out to Premier Lending Solutions, reaching out to Dwight, where can people find you? How can they connect with you?

www.premierlendings.com. And my telephone number is 917-764-4207. I'm also on the social media. And just one point of emphasis, I use my personal social media and for business purposes. And that's part of my philosophy of being authentic. And so you will see sometimes my family, sometimes my friends, when I keep it appropriate. And I use it a lot to help others in my sphere of network.

Nice. And what social— what's your favorite platform you're usually on?

Um, Facebook is what I'm on mostly. Okay. Recently, uh, started TikTok, and I have Instagram as well. And, uh, In LinkedIn, I spend a lot of time with real estate developers and masterclasses and so on, more on the business end.

Dwight, thank you so much for talking with me today, talking with us today, sharing your thoughts and insights. Do you have any final thoughts for anybody? Anything you're like, hey, I really want to make sure I get this said now that you're kind of warmed up and talking with me?

Yes. So before we came onto this call, I had, I was talking to a good friend of mine. And she's finally wants to get into the real estate, uh, game, so to speak. And she's still apprehensive. And, and the thing that we agreed on is the time is now. So one, I would say, uh, get your mind right, find strong, good mentors who care, and act now. Lack of action is worse is the worst action that you can take.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. If anybody is interested in talking, connecting with Dwight, please reach him out on the channels I talked about. But remember, it's premierlendings.com. Thank you all for listening to the Global Integrity Finance podcast. My name is Brian. If you need anything from us, reach out to us at globalintegrityfinance.com. Thank you so much.