Buying His First Rental at 19 by Doing What Most Newbies Are Afraid to Do

We have heard from our rookie audience that you would like to hear more from true rookies. And today we are bringing on a guest who has one property that he purchased within the last year. Of course, he hopes to eventually retire from real estate, but he is just getting started. He is definitely the inspiration we might all need right now that buying real estate after the low pandemic interest rate is still very possible. This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. I. I'm Ashley Kerr and I'm here with Tony J. Robinson.

And welcome to the show where every week, three times a week, we bring you the inspiration, motivation and stories you need to hear to kickstart your investing journey. Now, Elijah, welcome to the podcast, brother. Super excited to be chatting with you today, man.

Hi, Tony. Thank you. It is more than a pleasure to be here with you guys.

At 19 years old, it's an incredible accomplishment to already be investing in real estate.

Yeah. Elijah, to start the show off and you went in to mention your 19er. So what were you doing before you bought your first property?

A little background about.

I work at MT Bank. I'm the vault custodian there. I'm a boxer, registered boxer within Ray's Gym. I do a lot of fishing, play video games sometimes, but, you know, not so much then. So that's kind of why I came dressed like this and not, you know, my suit that I wear at the bank to show, you know, I'm not some guy with a top hat and a monocle and I'm like, I'm just like a normal kid. You know, most people are calling me a kid still, but, you know, I'm kind of an adult now. So I learned fire, you know, financially independent, retire early after doing, you know, some digging.

So Elijah, just real quick, when you discovered fire, what made you decide that you were going to use real estate as your vehicle to reach that financial independence?

And I knew during when I was like doing like penny stocks and like trading all that, I knew, like there's no way all the big money getters, there's no way all the big fish are sitting here doing this. You know, there has, there has to be something different. And it was, it's real estate, which is, you know, it's crazy enough to think that, but it's. And honestly, with it being real estate, I think you have to kind of find your own. Why? You know, just because real estate was kind of, you know, the top end. Because I started me starting off in residential. My end goal is to be commercial, you know, eventually move to hotels and Big syndications like that. So that's the end goal. But, you know, starting small like this, you got to realize that you have to find love in this. You know, like, I wouldn't be doing, like, this reason why I quitted trading and investment, stuff like that. I didn't love it. I had no control over that variable. In real estate, you have a lot of control. It's a lot more forgiving. And I actually love it. You know, like, I. I love saying that I'm the landlord. I love going to my property, rehabbing it every day. It's something that I love. Like, I'm building, quite literally an empire. Like, this is an empire. This is why I. I love it.

Now, Elijah, I' curious, man, because we. We have a lot of folks who are, you know, you said, you know, you're 19, but we have a lot of folks who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, who haven't yet figured out how to save the capital that's required to actually go out and purchase real estate. And these are people who have maybe had two or three decades on you to actually save that money. So I think the biggest question for me right now is, how did you, as a teenager, accumulate enough capital to actually go out there and buy something?

Yeah, that's a really good question, Tony. Which it's kind of like a caveat, kind of like a trick question, kind of, because you got to think of it like me being so young. Thankfully, I took you know, the path out to kind of, you know, learn this. And I never grew up on bad debt. I never. I didn't have the time to learn how to improperly use a credit card or how to take on bad debt. And then, you know, now I'm in some rabbit hole. I'm the most frugal person ever. You know, when I. When I go to the grocery store, I only go there to what I need, and then I'm out. I'm not, you know, getting bag of chips and all this, because all that stuff, even though it's a small. It really does add up over time. You know, instead of driving to my fishing spot, I'll go ride my bike to my fishing spot. Like, that's how frugal that I'll. I'll really get. So, Yeah, I was 14.

Yeah, I would say I was 14 when I first started. I would say job I was, you know, mowing my neighbor's lawn for, you know, money on the weekend. And then at 16, I actually got my working papers. I work at. Worked at Dunkin Donuts for a long time. Well, not a long time, only like two years just to save up as much, you know, for my car. And then after I bought my car, I was like, wow, I just worked all that time just to buy this car and all my money's gone. You know, I have a car but like now I have no money. Like that's.

You didn't have that gratification kind of reward. Yeah.

Elijah, want to go back to your point though, about like the saving piece because again, the initial capital is where a lot of folks get stuck. So obviously you're working full time at 16 years old, which is amazing. But maybe what were some specific personal finance tips that you employed that you can maybe share with the rookie audience to help them save for that first deal?

Yeah. So, yep, going back to how I said, because of my age, I really wanted to not start off on the wrong track, you know, taking on huge student loan debt, taking on huge credit card debt and doing all this nonsense. I kind of took the time out to really study and how I can save as much as I possibly can, like from the initial starting point when I bought my car and went from zero in my head was like, because, you know, because I'm so young, I don't have any bills, I don't have anything bills, you know, my gas and you know, food that I wanted to really get. So I said in my head I'm saving everything I can to put this money in because in order to make money, you have to spend money. So I'm saving the most that I can in order to hopefully project me somewhere into where I want to be one day, which is here. And I never from that time I had no clue was going to be real estate. I had no clue I was going to buy my house. Which is really, you know, crazy to think about that how in that short amount of time frame that I switched from just saving as much as I can to hopefully, you know, use it one day to better myself to now investing in real estate.

After a quick break, we're going to hear more about how Elijah sourced his first property with an investor friendly agent. Do you need a great agent to go to biggerpockets.com/agent finder.

Running your real estate business doesn't have to feel like juggling five different tools. And the tools are blades or flaming torches. With resimpli, you can pull motivated seller lists, skip, trace them instantly for free, and reach out with calls or texts, all from one streamlined platform. The real magic AI agents That answer inbound calls, follow up with prospects and even grade your conversations so you know where you stand. That means less time on busy work and more time closing deals. Start your free trial and lock in 50% off your first month at resimply.com biggerpockets that's R E S I M P L I.com biggerpockets what if I.

Told you you could forget everything you know about investment property loans? Because Host Financial is rewriting the rulebook, tossing out those pesky DTI restrictions. They focus on your property's income potential. No tax returns or personal income statements needed. Simple, efficient and tailored for investors like you. Imagine a lender that sees the gold mine in your property, not just the numbers on your paycheck. That's the Host Financial difference and they're approved in 47 different states. So your next big deal could be just around the corner. Ready to unlock your property's true potential. Visit hostfinancial.com don't let old school lending hold you back another day.

That's host financial.com youm've worked hard to build your success. Now it's time to invest like an insider. With Lightstone Direct, you can invest side by side with one of the nation's leading real estate sponsors, a firm with over $12 billion in assets and nearly four decades of experience. This isn't crowdfunding. There are no middlemen, just direct access to institutional quality real estate. The same kind of deals that major funds and family offices invest in. And because Lightstone Co invests at least 20% in every offering, your interests are always aligned. Invest confidently. Invest directly. Visit lightstone direct.com bp today welcome back to the show.

Elijah. When you were saving, did you have a number in mind or did you do any kind of research, get a pre approval to know how much capital you actually, actually needed to buy your first property?

Yep. So I never actually like had a budget. I, you know, starting, you know, I invest in Liverpool, New York, which is right across from Syracuse, New York, not that far from Buffalo, which is again, it's super crazy to be here with you, Ashley. And he's like, you're not even that far away. It's only a couple hours. But yeah, I knew I didn't want to invest in like a single family. I knew wanted to go multifamily, literally only about like a 5 or 10% difference between buying a 4 Plex and buying a single family, you know, unit and maintaining it and managing it, you know, apart from the cost and why not? So I Was hoping to get a 4 Plex but the market here in Liverpool is kind of, kind of hard for that. So I settled for the duplex which going back to knowing your market kind of, that's what I mean. Like you kind of have to like know your market and where you're buying. Because with my DTI I knew that I needed to have the initial capital which you know, depending on what loan you're using, that's going to be however much you're going to be putting down. And you I needed to have my personal reserves, six months of, you know, personal reserves. I wanted to have 5% reserves for the property, you know, in case heater goes out, whatever goes out, I still have that initial reserve set aside, not counting it within the cash flow, you know, reserve capex, whatever. That's kind of when I refined it. Okay. What loan product do I really want to use in order to minimize my initial down payment which is at the end all be all is going to keep more money in my pocket at the end of the day. So at that time, that's right when the new Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac 5% down, that new loan came out.

The conventional one.

Yep, yes, yep, conventional 5% down. Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac. So we use that and at the time which is no longer available right now, there was a depal grant for first time homebuyers which my loan officer very recommended me to use. Otherwise my DTI would be, you know, way too high for me to aff. So with those two, that's how we really initially afforded purchasing the property using that grant which is no longer, I'm sure other banks have it. I mean t doesn't right now. It's always only distributed, you know, per bank for first time homebuyer. So I was really lucky to get a part of that.

And did your loan officer tell you about this grant?

Yes, yes she did.

Oh cool. Yeah, awesome.

That's the one thing I didn't know about real estate is like you could have an agent who's not really, you know, an investor agent. They're going to go to the house and they're going to show you cabinets and stuff like that. They're not going to really show you, you know, the divot in the ceiling. That's going to be a big capex problem or you know how the area is that's going to be in the market rent. So with my lender I knew I wanted to have a real estate friend or real estate investor friendly landlord lender which me Working at the bank, I literally sat right across from her like on.

Wednesday. So it was a lot, it was a lot easier to, you know, communicate with her versus you know, having to do it over email or I can call it like that.

And for anyone who isn't sitting right next to a lender, you can go to biggerpockets.com lenderfinder and I think when you are talking with lenders that is a great question to add to that initial consultation is do you have any grants available? Great question to add just one follow.

Up to that too. And Elijah, you make a great point and Ashton, I've talked about this in the podcast before but as you're, as you're shopping for, especially your first real estate deal, when you go talk to lenders, don't necessarily tell them, hey, this is the loan product that I want. The, the goal and the better strategy is to say, hey, here's, here's the goal of what I'm trying to accomplish. I want to buy a small multifamily and you know when you say Liverpool, in the Liverpool area and hey, what do you think is the best loan product for me? And then let them assess your entire situation and say, well, hey, I, Elijah, you're actually a first time home buyer so we can use this and we can combine it with this. And now you've got a really low cost loan product to use. So important thing, you walk into the bank and you say, here's my goal. Don't walk into the bank and say here's a loan product that I want to use.

Exactly. Because they're going to stick you with that.

Yeah, yeah, they'll just give it to you. Right. So Elijah, we have a sense of the buy box, we have a sense of the kind of debt that you used. But I'd like to maybe get into some more specifics about the property itself. So we know it's a duplex. How did you actually find this deal?

Yeah, so it was actually through my realtor who I found on Bigger Pockets.

Awesome. We love that in the forums or on the Agent finder.

On the Agent Finder what I did is I put in my, okay, I'm going to get into something that you shouldn't do in a second. But Stephen, thank you so much for everything without. You know, I wouldn't be here without you. Which I found him on the Bigger Pocket. So again, what I did do, which I don't think you should do is I went on the Agent finder and I messaged every single one of the agents to kind of, you know, just find, you know, who I really wanted to work with and. Because before I got into finding an agent, my. One of my workers at the bank kind of recommended me to an agent. But he was like, you know, one of those agents who aren't really, you know, a real estate investor agent. So after messaging all of those agents on the bigger pockets forum, I was kind of like, okay, I want to go view. Like, how am I going to know how you're going to work for me if, you know, if we're just sitting here talking? We're not actually, you know, viewing the properties. And this is. I'm actually glad I did this, which I'm not recommending again. So I visited a property with one of those agents. Correct. And I told them from the very beginning that this is my. This is my first property. I want to. And I'm talking to multiple other agents just so I can see how things go. So viewing the first property, you know, the first agent. I'm not gonna say any. Any names or anything like that. He was kind of. He's kind of just like, you know, the other agents kind of just let me walk through. He wasn't really, you know, showing me, you know, look at this dip in the ceiling. That's going to be a huge capex problem. Look at the foundation. That's going to be, you know, other huge catback problem. He's kind of just letting me walk out and, you know, feel it out the same, you know. So I was like, okay, maybe that's just how it is. I mean, maybe it's not. So I went to go review it with the other agent. You know, this wasn't Steven. And it wasn't. It was kind of pretty much the same thing. And I was like, okay. But the moment I talked to Steven, it was. It was a game changer, you know, like within my first couple sentences, I was like, you know, I'm kind of trying to escape the rat race. You know, I see my path through real estate. And he was like, oh, my gosh. You know, a lot of people hit it, like, talk to him and like, they want to go view properties and all this stuff, but they haven't even, you know, read, you know, a book of rich dad, poor daddy or something like that. They haven't begun to get their first step of self education before trying to, you know, go out and do all this stuff. So the very moment that I even spoke to Stephen and walked into the property, he was like, look at this, look at that. Look at this, look at that. You don't want this. You don't want that. I wouldn't buy this. I wouldn't do that. And that's the realtor who I wanted. You know, I got a little bit backlash from that because, you know, working with Stephen after that, you know, the other two realtors who I kind of was like, okay, you know, not to really say I don't want to, you know, work with you anymore, but kind of just like terminating, you know, the relationship, because that. It's not like that I owe them, you know, anything. I was only viewing the property. You know, you only get, you know, the money off of the sale of the property. And I kind of got. I kind of got like a relationship backlash or that, you know, why are you talking to this realtor when, you know, you're talking. You know what I'm saying? So. Yeah.

And, you know, Elijah, you said that you don't recommend doing it that way. But, you know, honestly, I think there's a lot of value in getting a good feel for an agent before you actually decide to work with them. Now, I'm not a. I'm not a real estate agent, so don't. Don't quote me on this, but obviously with the, with the legal changes, the NAR settlement that happened earlier this year, I'm. I'm almost certain now that before an agent can even show you a property, you have to sign a buyer's representation agreement now, so that that exact strategy might be a little bit more difficult. But, you know, there's still other ways, I think, to kind of suss out who the agents are and which ones you want to work with. So it sounds like Elijah, this investor friendly agent that you met through bp, they were the ones that, that found that duplex for you. And was it just listed on the mls?

Yep, we visited. It was like every single weekend for that initial was January, towards the beginning of January, where I was like, okay, when am I done? I'm done. Waiting in time to pull the TR Met Steven. From then until, like, April, we were visiting properties every single weekend. And so it was this part. It was just one property. It just came on the market. He sent it to me and he was like, I think we should check this out. I was like, okay, let's go check it out. And the moment we got there, it was. It's an A class. I would say it's an A class neighborhood. It's definitely a class neighborhood. You know, at the. It was very good walkthrough. And all that. And at the end of the walkthrough, he was like, yeah, we're not getting this. There's no chance. Because it was just that good like this is. And he was like, I would, I myself would put an offer on this if you don't. So, you know, if I was kind of, okay, you know, I gotta do this. But he was like, we're not getting this. I was like, so he's like, do you still wanna put an offer on this? I was like, yeah, well, you know, why not?

Yeah, you might as well try.

Elijah, one quick follow up question. When did you actually close on this Property?

It was July 31st of this year. Yes.

Awesome. So the reason why I asked that is because, you know, there's a lot of real estate investors who say that there are no good deal deals on the mls. But I think you just proved that depending on your strategy, depending on your location, depending on your, your kind of business plan, there are very much still deals available directly on the mls. And kudos to you for, for using that because it was, it was an easy resource for you.

Yes, definitely. I do think it's some, a little bit of luck because there was 10 investors who looked at the property before me and I'm technically not the first place winner. The first place buyer, his lender couldn't. Or his lender said, you can't afford this. So they backed down to the second place buyer who was me. So in some way, I think it was kind of luck, but not really because, you know, I'm the one who put in this time, dedication, education, and, you know, determination, blood, sweat and tears to actually be here. So in some way, I think it's a little bit of a mix.

All right, guys, we have to take our final break, but more from Elijah on how to break into today's market as a rookie right after this.

What if your CRM actually did the hard work for you? I know. Crazy Resimply lets you pull seller lists, skip trace them at no cost, and contact your leads by call or text without bouncing between apps. Then its AI agents take over answering calls, following up automatically, even grading your conversations so you can focus on the deals that matter. Everything's under one roof, designed to simplify your day and scale your business. Start your free trial today and lock in 50% off your first month at resimply.com biggerpockets that's R E S I M P L I.com biggerpockets tired of.

Traditional lenders holding you back? Host Financial is here to change the game. They've ditched the DTI restrictions, and they zero in on what really matters your property's income potential. So no more chasing papers for tax returns or personal income statements. Think about it. A lender that values your property's worth over your paycheck? That's the Host Financial difference. Approved in 47 states. They are ready to help you make your next big move. Curious if you qualify? Just head over to HostFinancial.com, and find out. Stop letting outdated lending practices hold you back. That's HostFinancial.com where your property's potential meets unlimited financing.

You've spent years making decisions that shaped your career, your family, your future. When it comes to investing, those choices matter just as much. That's why there's Lightstone Direct, a $12 billion institutional real estate firm now giving you direct access to the same elite opportunities once reserved for institutions. No middlemen. And with Lightstone Co investing at least 20% in every deal, you have a true partner by your side. You've earned this seat at the table. Visit lightstonedirect.com bp today to learn more. It's 3am on the 6th, and you're wondering if you should text your tenant about rent. Here's a better idea. Don't with Avail. Rent collection runs on autopilot. Automatic reminders go out, payments land directly in your account. Late fees trigger when needed. Tenants can enable autopay, and with fast pay, you can get paid as soon as the next day. Sign up for free at Avail Co biggerpay. That's a V A I L co biggerpockets. Avail handles rent collection so you can actually get some sleep. Starting your own business can be intimidating because of all the hats you suddenly have to wear. There's the marketing hat for emails and social posts, the web designer hat for your storefront, the copywriter hat, the logistics hat and of course, the hat hat just for tracking all the other hats. It's a lot, but the right tool to simplify it all. Total game changer for millions of businesses. That tool is Shopify. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, including 10% of all U.S. e commerce, from brands Mattel and Gymshark to ones just starting out. Launch your store fast with beautiful templates that match your brand. Shopify's built in AI helps with content, too, writing descriptions and headlines, and even enhancing photos. Want to market like a pro? Create campaigns wherever your customers scroll. Best of all, Shopify's your expert partner, handling everything from inventory to shipping and returns if you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big ideas into you. Get it. Sign up for your one month $1 per month trial period and start selling today at shopify.com bprookie go to shopify.com/bprieker. Shopify.com/bprikee.

All right, let's jump back in with Elijah.

So what was the actual asking price of this property?

Yep. So it was 165,000, and I put in an offer 180, which was my highest that I was going to go.

And did they accepted it right away or did you have to counter with them at all?

Yep. So I guess I don't the first place winner. I'm not sure how he. How much he offered offered. It was probably way above 180, but his lender said, nope, you can't afford this. So they kind of just went down to the second solution.

Oh, so then they came back to you. And that is why it is always so important to put an offer in, because you never know what could happen if there is a. An offer higher than you. Because I've had that happen before too, where something happens and they come back to me and say, you know what? We'd actually like to take your offer. So. Such a great idea. Patience still put in that offer no matter what. And thank goodness you did. Yeah. So, okay, so now you've got this property. What were you looking at as far as the rehab? How much did you estimate for the rehab and how much did it actually cost to do the rehab on the property?

So that's kind of something that I'm still in the middle. I'm. I'm. I myself am doing the rehab. The. I inherited one side of the unit, so it's. I don't plan on rehabbing that until, you know, the tenants move out the other unit. The first time I walked into there, I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have to rip down this wall. There's a lot of cracks in the wall and stuff. I'm gonna have to rip up this floor because the floors are completely shot. I didn't like when I. Like when I said, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have to rip down all these walls, all the cracks and stuff like that. I didn't realize that the walls were plaster and not drywall. So all I had to do was, you know, scrape and joint and, you know, whatever. It's not drywall or it's water damp, I have to take it all out. And the floors Were just extremely well worn. I didn't have to take them up. All I have to do is take a drum sander to it. So it's, you know, simple stuff like that, which kind of saved me. I haven't. From the moment that I purchased this property and have been doing rehab on this every day, I've spent probably $10 on just, just, just stuff like not even. Yeah, only $10. Because most of the stuff I've already had or I'm just getting from my mentor under work, working under his wing for a long time. I'm kind of just using his tools. I thought I was gonna have, you know, buy all these sheets of sheetrock, go in there, you know, take all it. But in reality, it's just a lot. Nothing's hard. It's just a lot of tedious work like scraping the walls and then taping and then jointing and then painting over that and then drum sanding, applying the polyurethane, stuff like that. There's. It's really just tedious work, you know, nothing's hard or really that expensive.

You're learning a lot, Elijah, is what it sounds like, man.

Yeah, it's a lot of YouTube University.

Yeah, a lot of YouTube University, which is good, I guess. One last follow up question. You said the purchase price was 180 and I know you had the grants that assisted with the down payment. So Elijah, what was your actual out of pocket expense to purchase the property?

Property, like my cash to close or what my loan value is right now?

Your actual cash to close. Like how much did you have to bring to the table?

So my cash to close was around, it was 19. Around 19,000.

And that was with closing costs. Everything.

Yep, everything.

Yeah. Very nice for a conventional loan.

Right.

And what was your interest rate on this loan?

It was. So I was supposed to have a lower interest rate because I'm an employee of the bank, but because I was able to get that loan, they're like, nah, you kind of can't. That's the funny thing about underwriters.

Can't double dip.

Yeah.

So it was 6.5.

That's actually pretty good, right?

Like historically, this is what a lot of people don't see is like, historically interest rates were a lot higher than, you know, some 6, 7, even 8%. And even worrying about that small interest rate, you know, the part the appreciation of your house appreciates by 5% every year. So while you're worrying about some 6% interest rate the property of your house is of, the value is going up by 5% each year. So it doesn't really. That's. A lot of people don't really, you know, get that part.

Tony, I think one takeaway for you here is that Sean needs to get his next job at the bank while he's in high school so that he gets a discount on interest rate to buy houses for you.

So, Elijah, I guess what. What would you say, because you've taken this deal down in a time when a lot of. A lot of people with maybe more life experience, with maybe more cash, with maybe more resources have been sitting on the sidelines because they feel that, you know, 2024 isn't the time to invest in real estate? I guess. What would you say to those folks, you think that maybe right now is not the best time, not the best.

Time to be sitting on the sidelines.

Not the best time to invest in real estate?

Honestly, you just question, you know, really, why? Because in my eyes, 2024 is kind of the golden age to be investing in real estate. So there's people who think that not investing right now is going to get you anywhere because all, you know, the interest rates and, you know, all this stuff, you know, investing in real estate is not about timing the market, it's about time in the market. So it doesn't really make sense to be sitting on the sidelines. And I kind of thought that that was kind of my ideology, too, is, you know, if I just wait it out, you know, wait for the interest to go lower and stuff like that, things are going to get a lot better. But how? I was just saying it's about time in the market. You know, that's how you make the most money, is through cash flow and appreciation and outweighing all those other stuff that, of course, is going to affect the market that you don't really have, you know, a controllable variable over kind of getting over that fear is what is really going to determine, you know, to turn the tables. Because that's kind of the discussion I had with my mentor, Lashawn, is. It was like I took a year of just going through financial education, how to actually manage the property accounting, insurance, stuff like that. A whole year of just educating myself before, you know, obviously saving the capital to actually pull the trigger. And to lashawn, it was kind of like, why? Like, why? What are you. What are you waiting for? And the end all, be all. It was just fear. And to him, he was like, what are you afraid of? And it's just all the other variables that, you know, everyone, like what if the house burns down? Or, you know, what if this goes on? What if. And I don't have enough money saved up, but at the end of the day, that's just fear. As long as you've saved, as long as you've done what you needed to do on your terms of due diligence, then that should all be taken care of. At the end of the day, if that ever does come up, Elijah, you.

You bring up fear, which I think is an important thing for us to probably close out with. But fear is sometimes a good thing, right? Because if you're. If you're operating inside of your comfort zone, you're typically not fearful. But if you're operating inside of your comfort zone, you're also not growing. You're also not getting better. So if both of those statements are true, then the only way that you can grow as a person, as a real estate investor, as an entrepreneur, is to step outside of your comfort zone, which always induces a little bit of fear. And I think the question for the rookies that are listening is what kind of person do you actually want to be? Do you. Do you want to be the person who continues to let their fears counsel the action, The. The actions that they do or they. Or that they don't take? Or do you want to let your goals and your visions be the thing that drives your next step? So I know a lot of folks who sit on the sideline because they have that fear. But, guys, fear is a good thing because it means you're stepping into something new. And, and for you, Elijah, again, super impressive you're able to. To break past that and kind of do that scary thing. And obviously it's worked out pretty well for you.

Yes. To add on to that really quick, Tony, you know, me being a boxer, there hasn't. There's not really anything scarier than getting up into that ring and, you know, knowing the guy across and you're trying to knock your head off. So, you know, like how Mike Tyson's trainer, Cus d', Amato said.

Everybody has fear, and if you don't have fear, then either you're lying or something's wrong and you should go to the hospital. Like. Like a deer. Yeah, like a deer in the middle of the woods. Once he hears that twig of a snap, you know, he's gone. That fear keeps him alive, just like how it keeps us humans alive. It's a natural instinct, like how you. Which you should be using. And that's how Mike Tyson really became who Mike Tyson was he used to that fear like a fire. And fire can either burn your house down or you can cook your food. So that's kind of how I use my fear.

Well, Elijah, thank you so much for joining us today. We're going to link your information into the show. Notes. If you're watching on YouTube, it will be in the description. Thank you so much for taking the time, giving back and sharing your journey and providing so much information to the rookies that are listening today.

Yes, I'm really glad that you guys were able to listen to me today. Hopefully I can be that beacon of light to people around my age or, you know, people of all ages who are kind of just, you know, lost in the dark and really need that push of motivation because, you know, at the end of the day, I'm not that lion who's up top. I'm still that lion who. I'm still. I still have that hunger. I'm still climbing the hill. You know, once you're up top, you're up top, you know, so I'm still climbing that hill. I'm. You always got to be hungry. You always have to strive. You always got to better yourself.

I think anyone who's over the age of 19 is probably thinking right now, I wish I would have started when I was 19. So.

And that's what everyone is saying to me, which is why I'm.

There might be a little remorse and regret listening to this episode, too, but Elijah, congratulations on making such smart decisions at such a young age. Thank you again for coming onto the episode. I'm Ashley and he's Tony. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Real Estate.

Ricky.

Hey, rookies, if you're watching this, we want you to apply to be a guest on the Real Estate rookie podcast. That's right. Ashley and I are looking for amazing stories just like yours to be a part of our Real Estate rookie podcast. Now, look, you don't need to be an expert. You don't need to have done thousands of deals. Even if you've done one deal, your story could help inspire the next listener.

As a rookie investor. Especially if you just got your first deal. It is all fresh in your minds and you are the best person to tell your story, give your experience on how you got it done to help someone else get their first deal.

So head over to biggerpockets.com guest if you want to be a part of our show again. That's biggerpockets.com guest and we'd love to have you on.