How To Quit Your Job and Invest in Real estate

I love her. Yeah.

Good. Well, let's talk about you, Thayha. Is it Thayho? Is that correct? Thayho.

It's spelled like T-A-O, but I have an H. Yeah.

Remove the H and I'm good to go, right?

Yes. Yes.

Great.

Yeah.

Too bad David couldn't make it. Like I said, it's going to be his loss because you're now going to be the rock star. You're going to be the face of the company and everybody's going to want to hear from you. So, and you're probably— I've never met David, but I'm going to say you're probably a lot prettier than him. So this is good. We got the good side of the family on here.

You're so sweet.

So, Tal, tell me what's the name of your company, how long you guys have been in business, and where do you do business? So those three things, the name of the company, how long you've been in business, And what area do you guys service?

So my name is Thao and then my husband David Nguyen. We do real estate investing under several companies, you know, depending on if it's passive or active income.

Okay.

So for rental, that's what we've been doing with Global Finance that we do. We work under Nahamia Investment. And DT Home Solutions, or Trinity Legacy. So I purchased property under different companies' names.

Okay, and how long have you guys been investing in real estate?

So we bought our first rental property in 2014, but To, to do real estate full-time, that would be 2018.

Okay, so you kind of started dabbling in it around 2014 and then pretty much went full scale around 2018, is that right?

Uh, yeah, correct. I didn't— I, uh, we didn't know much about real estate back in 2014. We just think, oh, we got some extra capital, and was, uh, you know, David is like a handyman, you know, he liked to work on things. So it was like, okay, let's just buy a rental. So we bought a couple before 2018, but 2000— yeah, and then 2018 is when we do it full time.

Okay, great. Now let me ask this million-dollar question that everybody wants to know: how did you get into real estate and why real estate? So, so what, what inspired you to get into real estate investing. Like you said, you didn't know anything about it, so why jump in?

So, you know what, we— so we came from a family that, you know, like most Asian families with traditional mindset, um, where we were told that we're supposed to do well in school, um, get, get a good grade, you know, and then graduate with a good degree, get a good job, work for a good company.

Right, right.

And that's what we did. I graduated with a doctorate degree in pharmacy and I was a pharmacist working for Walgreens for 13 years. And then David's also a chemical engineer, chemist. He worked for Tinker Air Force Base here in Oklahoma for 17 years. Wow. Yeah, but I mean, what we did is, you know, we thought it's good and all, but it's really a change of mindset. We realized that what we did was good. It was stable, but it didn't give us the freedom. And we realized that there are better options that we can go. And so we learned about financial freedom, you know, learned about how real estate can help us achieve financial freedom and also leaving like a lasting legacy of wealth for our family. We want something that we can scale up. You know, what we do is good. We like what we did, but I guess we leave the good for the better.

Good. What you had was good corporate jobs, but they weren't just that. They were jobs. They weren't a career. You had to punch a clock. You got a paycheck. You had to pay Uncle Sam, and you were tied to that. Desk every day to go in, do your job and go home. And it didn't give you a lot of latitude or freedom, like you mentioned, financially or personally to do what you wanted to do on a day-to-day basis. Correct?

Correct. Yes. And that's why it is really getting out of our comfort zone as well. Yeah.

Well, then that's 99% of the people we talk to, you know, they're like, well, you know, like you, we were told to get a career, get a job, save our money. And in 20, 30, 40 years we could retire. And more and more people are realizing it ain't going to happen under this strategy, under this setting with the 401(k) and maybe some investment in stocks. They're not— you're not going to be able to retire comfortably. And you may, with all the stuff that's going on with the new health issue, you know, new medicines and taking care of yourself better than we used to, people are going to maybe outlive their money. And so, you know, you've got to really understand that the quality of life has to be better than punching a clock day in and day out, hoping that after 20, 25, 30 years of working a job, I can retire.

Yes, you're all right.

Yeah. And so we see this every time. So let's go back to the beginning. Let's go to the 2014 on your first property. Tell me about that first deal, the good, the bad, the ugly about it.

Yeah, I mean, like I said, we, we, we don't even know what we was doing. We just say, okay, just buy a rental property and I love it, you know, and something for David to work on. And we bought it, was like a really good deal. I feel like it was a duplex and we bought it only the purchase price was only $70,000 for both, for both, for the duplex.

$35,000 aside.

Yes, correct.

Okay, okay. And where is this property located?

It's in Ryan, Oklahoma City, and it's actually in the Plaza District, which is a very, you know, one of the popular districts.

That's a great area to spend $35,000 a door unless it was about to fall down on you.

Yeah, well, you know what? And guess what? I did a refinance last year with you guys, and it was appraised for $300,000.

Holy cow. So, so we bought, we bought a duplex All extra $70,000. How much money did David put into it to get it rent ready?

Well, we, we do, you know, the first to get repair up and, you know, rent ready, probably just by about $10,000. Wow. I already have a tenant, so we kind of like finished the other side, just about $10,000 to, to get it rent ready. And then we have like long-term tenant on both sides for a while. So after the both tenant move out, we renovated to make it like an Airbnb because we, because we We really like that. It's a really good area, like good location.

Yeah, yeah, if you're in the city, it's a great area.

Yeah, it has been giving us good cash flow for the short-term rental.

How much did you pay the second time you renovated it for the Airbnb? How much do you think you guys put into it at that time?

Um, you know, because it's only a 1-bedroom unit on each side, like a 1-bedroom, um, so it's it didn't really take a lot of money on that. It's, I think it's probably about $20,000 on each side.

So, so we've got— so you bought it for $70,000, you put about $10,000 the first time, got some renters in there, got some rental income, then dumped another $20,000 into it. So we got $90,000 to $100,000 into this property. You refinanced about 9 months ago, is that right?

Uh, yeah, some— sometime, yeah, last 9 months ago, if I remember right.

And it appraised at that time for over $300,000, right?

Yes, yes, yeah.

Not a bad investment, Sunshine, because the whole time you've got property appreciation, you're collecting rents on the property, right?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, even though we didn't know much about real estate and this—

yeah, and you didn't have a clue what you were doing.

Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. Back then, I wish we had that kind of deal now today.

Oh, I'm telling you, don't we all? Don't we all? So on that duplex, it's a 1-bedroom, 1-bath on each side. So what are you collecting, about $900 a month on each side? What's your, what's your rent income on that?

For, for Airbnb, we make about $1,500 to $1,800 per year.

Per side?

Per side.

Per month?

Per month. Yeah.

So you're making about, say, let's just say $3,500 a month on the complex on a $100,000 investment. So you're making roughly $40,000 a year income on this $100,000 investment. Is that right?

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah.

It was a really good rate of return.

Let's do that thing about 20 more times and you'll be able to retire. How's that?

Yeah. Unfortunately, not every deal is the same.

Well, You know, and again, I want to go back to the audience. The people are listening to this. This was your first deal. You guys didn't have a clue what you're doing, but yet you found this opportunity. You jumped in, you didn't hesitate, you capitalized, and look how well you've done. Now let's go into— so that was 2014. Now in 2018, how many— by 2018, how many units did you guys own at that time?

2018, when, before, yeah, before we going into full time, we have probably, we bought another duplex and then maybe a couple more single family. So about 7 doors.

About 7 doors. So over the next 4 years, you got about 7 doors. In 2018, you both said, we're done going and punching a clock. We're not going to the job anymore. We're going to launch our career in real estate investing. And so that was 7 years ago. How many units have you guys acquired in the last 7 years?

So yeah, when we started in 2018, we took— because we know that we don't know much about— we are science people, so we don't know much about business, accounting, finance, and all that. So we did a coaching. We took a coaching session. It's pretty expensive.

Yeah.

It was just because we put so much money in it, so we took massive action.

Oh good.

You know, because, uh, we're like, we gotta get the money back.

My coach tells me speed of implementation guarantees success.

Yeah, we did.

We took massive action, uh, and we're glad we did because it's right before COVID Oh yeah, yeah, because yeah, 2019, you're in, you're full-fledged in, you're no longer going to the job, you no longer got that W-2 paycheck. Oh, you got rental income, you got to go after it. So 2019, you're starting to buy. COVID hits in 2020. What happened here? What happened?

Well, so we didn't really quit like cold turkey, quit, quit. We just wait. So 2018, we did the cold recession. We bought a lot. I think we— and so we did, you know, single-family home. Small multifamily, um, and we bid— we also bought our first mobile home park, all in 2018.

Nice. How many, how many units were on the mobile home park?

Um, it's just a small one, it's only 30 lots.

30 lots? And yes, and so, but you— so then let's— for those people, there's a lot of people that love to get into mobile home parks. Let's talk about that real quick. So on the mobile home park, you only own the lots, you don't own the mobile homes, right?

It actually came with some mobile homes. It came with some, like a mama, you know, mom-and-pop park. So it came with old mobile homes with the park. But as soon as we bought the park, we rent to own to all the tenants.

Yeah, you got rid of them so you don't have them anymore.

Yeah, we don't want to do any kind of—

not on a mobile home because you'd be fixing toilets and HVAC systems and roofs and all that all the time, skirting. Mobile homes deteriorate fast, but they're great cash flow. They're great cash flow.

Yes. Yes. So we rent to all the tenants. So, you know, the tenant take into ownership so they would take care of the mobile home themselves.

Perfect. Perfect.

We just collect a lot rent. And so I love it. I love mobile home parks.

They are great. We really— we're personally at Global Integrity Investments, we are looking deep into the mobile home parks and we like the combos where it's an RV mobile home park. So you have some short-term stay and you have the long-term tenants, but it's not trashy. So it really helps generate good cash flow, good investment. So we like that.

Yeah. I mean, you can do a lot with mobile home park or RV park.

Yes. Yep. Yeah. So now we've gotten through COVID. So did COVID impact you? Tell me, tell me, you know, the struggles you all faced as a new investor getting into this. COVID hits. Tell me, tell me a little bit about that story. What happened?

Well, so 2018, doing full time. And so when we have a lot on hand to hold and then the rental income can cover David income, then that's when David quit in 2019.

Gotcha.

So after when David quit in 2019, that's when he— we start to flip We do a lot of flips during COVID which was a very good time because the property value went up. So like for a flip, if we think we're going to sell it for like $200,000 after repair, but by the time it hit the market, the value could go up to like $240,000, $250,000. Right, right.

Yeah.

So it was a really good time for flip.

Good.

Wait, I think we flipped like around—

Well, yeah, interest rates went down to like 3%. Exactly. Everybody's buying property at that time.

Yes. Yeah.

The guy that couldn't qualify for $150,000 house now qualifies for a $300,000 house.

Yeah.

He's like, oh my gosh, I'm going to live in a castle now. And so, yeah, resale went through the roof in 2021, 2020, 2021. It was the best time to be flipping houses. You're right. You're right. It's great.

Yeah, it was really good time. So that's when, you know, we did, we do, we flipped. And we buy more rentals. In 2021, January 2021, because we bought, we flip a lot, so it just makes sense for me to get a real estate license so that we can keep the commission in-house. Yeah, so I got my license in 2021, January 2021, and I, by the end of 2021, I already make double my pharmacist income. So I I quit my pharmacy job in November of the same year. Yeah, yeah.

So now we're through COVID, we run through the low interest rates, 2022 comes along, interest rates jump up overnight. Uh, so now it's not as easy to sell because those people that used to qualify no longer qualify again. So what are you guys doing through 2022 till 2024?

Um, yeah, so after COVID, and then when the market, you know, the interest rates start to rise, and then, um, so we don't flip anymore. We try to— we finish what we have in inventory. And then basically last year, we kind of like, you know, it's— we hit our, you know, 5, 6-year mark.

Yeah.

And that is like very typical for a business kind of like, you know, kind of sit back and kind of like can sort of see what we've done well, what we, you know, what's working, what not work. So last year it's kind of a relaxed year for us. We travel a lot. We got to take the kids to Vietnam.

Nice!

First time. Yeah, it was great. Um, we did a lot of traveling.

I didn't get the invite.

You can always tag along. You can always—

I never got the invite. I would have gone to Vietnam with you all. I'd have babysitted the kids?

Oh, it was great, it was great. The kids love it. Um, they, they came back and appreciate what they have.

Yeah, I'm sure they did.

Yes, yes.

Oh wow, we could have been living like this, but we're not, we're living like this.

Yeah, it was a great experience. They got to see, you know, yeah, where I was born, you know, what school I went to, and got to meet a lot of relatives over there.

You still have— so you still have family there, both of you, you and David?

Extended family, yes. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

How old are the kids?

Um, Nathan is, uh, 13, Hannah, uh, 10, and then Mia is, um, 6.

Wow. So they really got to see how great they have it.

Yeah.

I bet they're nice. I bet before that they were brats, they were mouthing, they knew it all. They come back from Vietnam like, oh my God, Mom and Dad know everything and we're gonna be nice.

No, but they enjoy it there. They love it.

So we took our kids to jump. So when our kids were little, we took them on mission trips to the Dominican Republic, and I think they were like 13 and 16. And, and I told them, you don't straighten up, this is where you're going. This is where you're going to live. You need to understand you got it pretty dadgum good. And these kids would love to be in your shoes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a great experience. It's a great education. And it It does allow our children to realize they are blessed and potentially mature them to a level that they will respect others and maybe do something good for society as a whole.

Correct. Yes, yes, yes. I enjoy it. I mean, it's awesome.

I'm hurt that I didn't get the invite.

You can always tag along with us next time.

Next time I'm the babysitter. You call me, we go, I babysit. We, we We have a great time.

All right. Yes, yes.

So how many, how many units do you guys have right now in your portfolio?

So, um, talking about rental, we, um, like I said, we do single-family home, um, small multifamily. We have like duplex and small apartment, like 12 units, 16 units. Um, we don't have big apartment. Um, and then we have 3 mobile home parks. Yeah, but it's just small one, like 30 lot each.

Yeah. So what would you say, 150 units total?

Yeah, yeah, about 180 doors.

180 doors. Okay. I was running—

Yeah, after COVID, we sold a few of them that we don't like, not in the area that we think it would be good. And then we bought some. So yeah. So in the last 2, 3 years, We sold some and we bought some. So it's about the same number of units. So we sold about 10 and we bought about 10 more. So just getting rid of the old, bringing in some new, cleaning up our portfolio.

Yeah, the ones that are low performing, not good renters, we'll get rid of those, bring in some higher valuations, better emerging market areas, all that. So is everything you guys doing in the Oklahoma City area? Where all are you guys looking at property? Cities?

Um, yeah, we mainly do in Oklahoma City, just rental. Um, we also— well, during— after I quit pharmacy, I also get into residential assisted living home. Have you heard of that?

Yep, yep.

Okay, yeah, yeah. Um, I mean, I— because of my medical background, I always have a passion for care. Um, so I saw that, um, um, you can, um, you know, I can combine my real estate knowledge and then my medical knowledge. So And I love the idea of residential assisted living home.

Okay.

So we, we open 2. You open 2? Yes. Yeah.

And so you're out— but you're outsourcing that. You have a third-party company that manages that with the nursing, the orderlies and all that, right?

Correct. Correct. So I own— we own the real estate.

Yeah.

And then we partner with an operator. Yeah, you know, like administrator. She's a PA and she runs the business for me and we just do the profit sharing on the business. Then the business pays me rent.

Yeah, and the business pays you rent.

But like you said, with your medical background, you know, like in Oklahoma, you kind of have to have some kind of medical background to get the license.

Yep.

For the assisted living home. I don't really much, but you know, I would be like a backup pharmacist if needed for the facility.

You know, and something else, Teo, um, I don't know if you guys have got into the, um, the, uh, and I don't know what it's called, like the, the Myers cocktails where they do the, the vitamin IV, uh, clinic stuff. Have you ever gotten into any of that before?

Uh, no, but I heard about them.

I think that it is amazing. I'm telling you, it is amazing. So we're going to talk about this on the side, okay? I got another business proposition for you. I've been looking for a partner to bring on because my son-in-law is a fireman paramedic. He's a big body. He's got— he grew up with some digestive issues, health issues, but he's all into this, doing the IV vitamin feeds and all that stuff. And, and with all the firemen and all the paramedics and all that, it's a huge demand.

Yeah, I mean, it's more popular, you know, with COVID too.

Yes, that's correct. That's correct. It's extremely popular.

Yeah.

And with our new society wanting to be healthier, wanting to do better for their bodies and doing all this, trying to flush out all the crap that goes into food today, this is one of the highest demands. And so you and I, we got another— I just, that just came to my mind. You and I got another business proposition. We're going to talk offline.

I love that. I love that. I'm all about that. Yeah. All right.

Yeah. David and Theo, where are you going in the next 5 years with the real estate world? Where are you guys going with all that in the next 5 years? Yeah, where are you going to be in the next 5 years besides we're going to back to Vietnam in the next 5 years? Where are you going to be in the real estate world?

You know what, um, we, we just, uh, I mean, of course we, we're still going to be in the real estate business. I, I said that we want to retire early, but I don't think we As a real estate investor, we're retired, are we not? Yes. Yeah.

We come and go as we choose. We go on vacation when we want to. Everything kind of self-runs. So this is the glory of real estate investing, is you are retired once you get a platform built and you got 180 doors, you got, you got mailbox money coming in every day. So you are retired. It's just now, how big do you want to retire, right?

Correct. Yeah, yeah. So when we first started, we're, you know, at first it's more for us. We thought we're just doing this for us, for our family and all, but then as we grew in the business, we realized it's about so much more. You know, real estate is like a platform, like a mean for us to—

mean to an end.

That's right. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, and what I see that we can do business with purpose. You know, and we can make a lot of impact in people's lives by doing real estate investing.

That's, that's exactly the kind of people we do business with. And this is why we work with you guys so well, because we love your, your culture. We love your, your deeper passion. It's not about going and buying real estate and making money. Sure, we all need to make money, but when we change lives along the way, our lives change. When we do good for others, we're doing good for ourselves. And look at the legacy that you're passing on to your children.

Yes, I hope they can keep that. Well, we take them back to Vietnam. God bless us so much. God bless us so much that we, we definitely want to give back. You know, this is— I have to give God all the credit. I mean, this is doable, but it's not easy. We, we've been through a lot. And it's because of God and because of all the relationships that we have that, that we can have the success that we have today.

I love you saying that. And, you know, you said it wasn't easy. We've— we all go through struggles, but if it was easy, everybody would do it. You know, only the people that have true passion. And this is what I teach when we, when we do our coaching sessions, I tell people right off the bat, if you're doing this for the money, get out now. Get out now, because if it's only for the money, you will run into a situation where you buy a bad property, things go wrong, you won't make any money, and then you'll quit. And what you've done is wasted time. But the people that are in this for the right reason, to, to build a legacy, generational wealth, generational legacies, to impact and change lives, they work through those situations because there's a bigger picture at the end of the day. There's more involved than just making a dollar bill. You guys are the poster child of that passion. And we just— Rochelle talks about you guys all the time. You're one of her favorite clients. And let me tell you, you guys was my favorite lender.

You know, I work with a lot of lenders. You know, I have, you know, I work with a lot of lenders. So I— and then you guys actually one of the best.

And I appreciate that.

Favorite, um, um, like currently that I work with.

Well, we're going to get rid of all—

have a really good system too. You have a really good system.

Well, and, and we, we work, you know, I've been doing this for a while, for 30 years. I've flipped hundreds of houses. We underwrite thousands of houses, and we work with a lot of clients nationwide, and we try to put ourselves in your shoes. If I was on that side of the table, What would I expect from a lender, from a company to help me grow my book of business? And that's what we do with clients like you. And we try to perfect it every day. If we're not evolving, we're losing out and we're not helping you grow your business. So, oh yeah. And so this is what we do. Hey, real quick, we just got a couple more minutes. What advice would you have for somebody getting into real estate, knowing what you know now? What advice would you have to give that new person jumping in like you did back in 2014?

Um, you know what? Um, well, of course, you know, I have a couple of things. You know, first, like we talked, you know, we got to start with why you want to do it. And if you remember why you want to do it, then, you know, it will help you a long way. Um, you know what you're working toward, like, you know, about freedom, legacy, the purpose in life and all that. And second, I would say don't do it alone. 5, your support group, your tribe. 6, mentors, you know, stay teachable. You got to have a support group because it's, you know, people, I mean, this is relationship business. It's not, it's a people business too. It's so hard to do it alone. And, you know, and also I think I would want to say that This is not like— there's no get-rich-quick, you know, scheme. But as you know, success would take time. You would have, you know, failure and all, but that doesn't mean anything. It's just gonna, you know, keep your faith strong. And, you know, and even just a small success, it will be worth it.

Well, and I think you go back to when you have that failure, you got to go back to the first thing you said. Remember your why. Why are you doing this? And this is what we talked about. If your passion and drive is for money, you're going to fail miserably. But if there's a bigger reason, a bigger value, a bigger ad, then you're going to work through that because there's something better at the end of the day. So I gratefully appreciate that. You know, and you're talking about get your tribe, get your team. We preach and teach that, you know what, your net worth is equally equal to your net worth.

Yes.

So if you've got a small network, you're not going to grow your net worth. As you grow your network, your tribe, your support, your net worth will grow equally.

Oh yeah. Well, so you said you do some coaching. What are you coaching? Investor?

So we do. So, so one of the things that we've done forever is bring on new people that want to get in And we tell them there's 3 things you have to have to succeed. Number 1, you have to have the right property. And you know how many deals you guys look at, how many properties you look at, and they fail miserably. So you have to have the right property first and foremost. Number 2, you have to have money, whether it's your money, you borrow it, whatever. And number 3, you have to have knowledge. And most people, all of them, don't have knowledge in the beginning. So they get a tribe, they get a coach, they get a mentor. And so we as a lender, number one, will evaluate your deal with you to make sure it will work for profitability. We lend you the money, but then I'll take it one step further and we bring on people and we coach them. We ensure their success and profitability for many, many reasons. One is I need a long-term client like David and Tao because— or Tao— because this is a long-term relationship. I want 20 years with you guys. I want 20 years of investing. Of making a difference in people's lives. And if I do that 100 times over, then look at the impact my company, my people make on, on society. So we do. We're a lender. I'm a coach. We mentor. And then I partner with people.

Awesome. Well, you're doing some great things there.

Well, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

We're out of time. I thank you so much.

Yes.

Everything you've done. You guys are amazing. You're making a difference. We want to partner with you for another 10 years and we're going to ensure that you guys continue to grow. You know how to get a hold of me and Richelle. If you ever need anything, give us a call. And for the audience listening out there, like, share, comment. We want to hear from you. We want to make your life as great as their life is so you can enjoy what real estate retirement looks like. This is what it looks like. This is what it is all about, and this is why people get into real estate investing. Thank you so much, Teo.

Yes, thank