Invest in Real Estate Anywhere with These Expert Tips!

What is going on everyone? This is the Painless Wholesaling Podcast and I have here my good friend MJ. And today we're going to be talking about investing from literally anywhere. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, you can invest. And MJ, he's the authority on that matter. And you know, I've had the pleasure of getting to know him. He gave me an awesome book I read. He came to one of my meetups. I helped him on one of his videos. So we got to know each other pretty well. And I'm excited to have you on here. What's up, MJ? How you doing?

And I am doing absolutely positively wonderful. And first and foremost, thank you so much for the opportunity to come and just kind of pour into your people, man. This is a joy.

Yeah, always. I love, I love meeting you. And it's honestly kind of crazy. We just met a couple of weeks ago and I feel like we're really good friends and we have a lot in common already and, and how our desires to help people grow in our communities, like, I think there's alignment there. So that's really cool.

It is. On top of the fact we both have 404 area code numbers and live in Salt Lake.

That is, that is interesting. So MJ, I want to start off— this might not— this might be different for the people on the podcast, but you gave me a book. You gave me a book and I read the book. I listened to an Audible while I was reading it. Amazing book. My question for you is, what made you interested in giving me a book?

Yeah, it's the kind of thing where you just get a sense of someone that that is intentional, that wants to grow, that is functioning in a business model that has greater capacity. And when you come across a different tool or resource, whether it's, you know, software— in this case, that'd be a book— and this one by Dr. Ben Hardy that spoke to 10x is easier than 2x, it just felt like it was something that would really meet you at where you are right now. You know, that idea that Again, we can give all kind of gifts. I mean, I could have brought you something from the Masters Tournament because I love golf, but that would have been for me. It was, you know, when we identify with the people that we're having an opportunity to engage with and then can pour into them. And it was my hope that that particular book would strike you, and, you know, praise God, it did.

It did, man. That's beautiful. So let me ask you, is that something that you, um, someone taught you to do? Is that something just in your heart you would just like to give? Or I'm curious because I, I, I, I network with a lot of people and, you know, you don't really see too much of the, you know, giving. Yeah, it doesn't— I'm not poo-pooing on anybody. I'm just saying it's— I'm curious about how you— how that comes about.

You know, those are life lessons. And any time that I can give kudos to my dad for the different things that he shared, I can remember that when I was a kid and I was thinking I was going to the first— my first prom, and I was— I started school early, so I was like 14 years old going to the junior prom or something like that.

Oh wow.

And, um, he, he, he was very intentional about telling me, when you, when you pick out a greeting card, make sure you read several of them so that it has the, the desired impact for the person that you're giving the card to. And so the act of giving a card to the mother of the young lady I was taking to the prom, I think, was a different dynamic. So that kind of got into the give of yourself, giving to others. And then the intentionality that it wasn't just any card that said, you know, thank you. It was something that reflected the actual activity. And, you know, that, that concept has been nurtured. I think it's been retaught in other examples of people that walk through, through my life. But I can go back to those early teenage years and kind of point the finger at my dad.

That's amazing. And it almost goes in line with what the book teaches about quality, you know, instead of just the quantity and just throwing it out there and just being like, hey, I do this for everyone. Sounds like you're really intentional about the quality. Of the gifts that you give as well.

True, true, true, true. Um, and it shows up in, in different ways, in different engagements, um, based on who you're, who you're, you know, you're talking to and getting to know. I remember reading a book, um, I want to say it was The One Thing, and I could be wrong, but I refer back to The One Thing by Gary Keller, and it's this, uh, being intentional about listening and so on and so forth. And so, uh, in the book he talks about an associate that went to visit a friend and he couldn't meet with him right away, but it was a person that was a headmaster of a border school. And just by listening and asking questions, he was able to engage very intentionally with the gentleman that was the head of the boarding school. So much so that when his friend that couldn't be with him came back, he said, listen, one of the students, the head of boarding school, was really impressed by how much you knew about boarding schools. He says, I know nothing about boarding schools. I was just engaged in conversation with him and listening with intent. So those are one of those little gifts that we can be engaged in that produces real fruit. Even when someone gives you a referral, I mean, if you're— especially if you're asking for one, make sure that you follow up, but you're also letting the person that gave you the referral that you're following up. Be intentional about those things because, one, it basically shows your gratitude for the connection that was made, and it demonstrates your capacity to that other individual that you're accountable, that you're going to live into the, um, the gift that was bestowed upon you, especially in terms of networking, connecting. So those are some things that I've learned, in some cases the hard way, in some cases the right way. But now I try to continually pay it forward wherever possible with intention.

Yeah, that's amazing thing to learn. And I, I think it's, it's getting more tough to be intentional with all the distractions that are out there. You know, you want to do so much, you're getting distracted from all your phone, you know, uh, social media, all this stuff. So it is a gift. I think it's a gift and a skill set to really focus and be locked in when, you know, when you're having conversations with people.

Yeah, well, you know, like it's that thing, Nathan, the phrasing says you'll get to the things or do the things that are important to you. And when, as we're engaged in business, I mean, the wonderful things that you teach, the follow-up, to be able to engage and do wholesaling and do it from a variety of different markets and having the specific a way to engage and talk, even run the numbers. So it's steps that you want to put in place and do them consistently. And therefore, not only can you make your business move forward, but you get a real strong sense of your own accountability to self. The more you believe in yourself, rather than making excuses for why you didn't do something or an opportunity passed you by, you eliminate all that with being in What it was, my phrase is, do your actions match your desired results? Do your actions match? You could say a whole bunch of stuff, but do your actions match your desired results? That's what's really going to get people moving forward and being able to discover that 10x is easier than 2x.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you think a lot of people's actions don't match their desired results because they don't know what actions to take, or do you think they're just lazy? What do you think is the main, the main thing?

Well, I mean, I don't want to say you answered it for me, but I think it's some of both. I think there's any number of circumstances where individuals, they, those bright, bright shiny objects, those distractions. Yeah, I want to go do this. I want to do this deal. I'm going to do that deal. And, um, they're not really weeding out to say, okay, this is my set of goals. This gets me moving in that direction. And if it doesn't get me to that goal I've established, then I don't need to commit to it. I don't need to say I want to do it. Or if it's something else you want to do, express it in that fashion. That's something that I may want to give time and attention to, but not right now. Um, I'll write that down, put in a journal, and maybe I'll come back to that when the timing is right. It's no different than deals. I mean, we know that, um, the ideal scenario is the right time and the right deal. Um, the wrong time and the right deal doesn't work, right? The— what is it? The Right deal was a— I said wrong time, right deal doesn't work. Wrong deal, right time doesn't work. So never get emotionally attached. Just always be in a position where you can do the right deal at the right time. Uh, what's that another thing you and I teach this both? It's like, look, if it's your first deal or your next deal, and it makes it— just say there's a gap between the two. Yeah. We, we can never get in a position where we're emotionally attached to it. Okay. Yeah, of course. I, I, I gotta do a deal for the sake of doing a deal. That, that is, uh, that is a formula for disaster. Of course, when it comes to why or how people get engaged in things or don't do things, or if they miss the follow-through, I think it's just a combination of the two. Um, don't overcommit and just definitely be intentional about the things you know are going to get you to your end goal. They may— look, I'm trying to get in 5 deals this month. Well, that means you're gonna have to look at 100 to get to 50 to analyze, to get the 20 that you actually make offers on, right? To get the 5 deals you're going to do. But we have to be intentional about the hundreds before we can even get to the 5 successful ones.

Yeah, I think a lot of people, they focus on just getting like the, the 100 just done just so they can say they got it done. But you're, you're saying it has to be, especially when you're investing nationwide, like, or not even nationwide, anywhere. Yeah, you can, yeah, you can invest anywhere, but that doesn't mean you should invest literally just anywhere in the world. You got to be really focused on where you're going, right?

Exactly.

I spent a lot of time when I first started wholesaling just thinking I needed to find a good deal, just like— and when I say good deal, I just mean anywhere.

But that's—

you find out quickly that just because a deal looks good in North Dakota, that doesn't mean that that's a good deal, because that might not be a good area that a lot of investors are, are investing in, or there's good rental. So you really have to be locked in, and that's Something I want to ask you about when you're talking to people about investing anywhere, how do you kind of help them understand like, okay, this is a good market, this isn't a good place for your time. How do you help get locked in?

Yeah, it's really unique because having my background as a former real estate appraiser and having built out Investor Comps, we're able to help people look at data in all the major market areas across the country, including the US territories as well. And so we start with, is your own backyard a place where you're going to do investing? Okay. And if, if it's not, then maybe it's just within the county, maybe it's just within the state but a different city. Uh, if that's not the case, then we talk about where the places that you have an affinity for. When I first started doing this virtual investing, I lived in the Atlanta market, but I was familiar with Woodbury Virginia, just outside DC, right around Manassas and Dumfries and Woodbury— Woodbridge, excuse me. And what I knew about that market area was from driving back and forth to visit family in New Jersey and stopping to visit my uncle. So that same scenario could be where grandma lived, it could be where you went to college, trade school, or had some other engagement. Maybe it's where your best friend and you were to go visit them during your formative years, during your college years, identify the area that you have an affinity for that, that we can look into. Maybe you have resources there, whatever the case may be, that will let you dive deeply into that market and do well there. Or we'll look at a market that literally just has better demographics, workforce, uh, mixed-use community, so on and so forth, that is more ideal for investment than where you live. That's how we get to the point where we determine where you're going to invest, because you can do it literally investing anywhere from anywhere.

Yeah, for sure. Like, I do know a lot of people that invest in smaller towns, like 50,000 population, 60,000. And I would normally look at that and I'd say, man, that doesn't seem like something I would want to invest my time in. But they are like the, the go-to guys in the town. They're the big dogs. Like, everyone thinks of them. So have you kind of noticed that, like, yes, you can invest anywhere, even in markets that don't look good, if you are the main player and people bring you all the good deals?

Yeah, it's just making those connections. And again, those connections do require follow-up and follow-up because that's where the money is. The money's always in the follow-up. I mean, who would think that Evansville, Indiana, a little small town, probably 30,000 folks, would be a really good market to do wholesaling in? Now the margins in terms of dollar amount isn't that big, but the percentages are stellar. So it makes for a good market area to engage. And there's other pockets like that around the country. I like, Bibb and Houston County in Georgia, right around the Warner Robins Air Force Base. You know, we've built a portfolio as well as wholesaling there, and we offer turnkey properties there. Who would think that that would be a market area where, you know, homes— you're talking about, yeah, again, you can't touch a house for $75,000. You can't touch land for $75,000 in Provo or Utah or Salt Lake County. And yet you can buy homes that are, in some cases, already turnkey ready or with a resident in is paying 1%, 1.25% of the acquisition value each and every day in those market areas. So yeah, I mean, you get to— you, we, you, we can discover any number of market areas that garden variety someone wouldn't think that was the place to invest with actual intentional individuals. Like you say, the players there that can help you grow and expand your business.

Very interesting, because I, uh, I actually know Evansville, Indiana. I was selling Dish Network, uh, in Terre Haute, Indiana for, uh, a summer, and we would go to Evansville We would sell some Dish Network accounts there when I was in college. And yeah, so those— there are those little pockets that you could clean up if you're the— if you know that area, you know that market, if you buy there. Definitely a lot in the Midwest that are very affordable because like you said, Utah, you can't find anything under $200,000, $300,000 sometimes in specific counties.

Counties, exactly.

Very, very interesting. So, so tell them, for the listeners that are new, because most of the— I would say majority of people listen to this are getting into real estate— what What would be some advice that you could give someone that, let's say, potentially they live in a market and they're like, this is not a good backyard, my backyard is not good for investing. What would be the next step that they would take with your guidance?

Well, I'd say it's two things. One, let's actually look and see if in fact your backyard is better than you think. Okay. Because, you know, there's no need to go branch out. You know, one of the One of the basic things we teach right out the bag is that, you know, you don't put the key in the ignition until you smell money. And then when you do, you want to keep that to about a 35-minute drive. So let's actually look and see if in fact your market area is more dynamic and has opportunity that you otherwise would not have been able to see without having the right data tools to do a good analysis. Then if we do verify that, okay, yes, we do need to branch out, we need to go another county over, you need to go state over, or one of those areas that you might have an affinity for, then we can get into first, what is the housing stock? I mean, there are any number of properties in the Manatee, Bradenton, Hillsborough counties that are right there between Tampa and Sarasota that you can do a wealth of deals on a 2-1 or 2-2 and do very, very well. Where the standard we know is we engage, look, I want a 3-bedroom, 1-bath, preferably a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, before I even, even start running some numbers on it. So understanding the dynamics of the different market areas and what is moving and what you can be successful with is one thing. A lot of times, like in the Upper East Coast corridor, from corridor from basically Northern Virginia, Arlington, all the way up into Connecticut, Uh, even in Massachusetts, there are, because of the density, a lot of brownstones and/or townhomes that are fee simple and not part of an HOA. That's like the garden variety stock of property you could do rather than a Southeastern or Midwest where you're expecting to have land around you and a single-family dwelling with no detached walls. So be able to roll and analyze the demographics of the market area and the stock that's there. Age, uh, you want to really get into curb appeal, design appeal, those things that we utilize from a valuation-first approach that give us a real good glean into what deals we could be successful with. So understanding the market, what's going to be the deal that actually is going to churn most in that area, and then you start transitioning into lead sources, um, valuation, and then who the buyers and sellers are so you know you can turn those deals. See, man, you got me sitting on the edge of my seat.

I'm teaching, getting excited, getting excited. No, I think, I think I think that's very important because I, uh, we just— I just got off a sales call. Actually, I was listening to one of my, my sales guys on a call with a potential student, and he was telling me that he just started and he was all over the United States. He was in, you know, uh, Oregon, um, Washington, Dallas, Texas, Utah. He's all over. And the guy's like, I haven't gotten a deal. I've been doing this for like— I've been learning about for 3 years, but I still haven't done a deal. And the thing is, he's just spraying and praying. He's locking up deals, doesn't know what, what is a deal. And what you just said is so important of knowing, you know, what, what is a deal, knowing your area, knowing your market. And I think what happens to a lot of people is they, they, uh, they jump into this and they think they just need to lock something up and they'll get lucky, which can be a complete waste of time.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Last thing you want to do is just be spinning your wheels. You want to be able to get tangible results because that builds confidence for the next deal and then building out what will be an eventual real good passive income business.

I love it. So Mark, kind of tell us a little bit more about how the listeners here can reach out to you if they want to kind of learn more about your model of investing anywhere from anywhere.

Yeah, without a doubt. So the core business is Investor Comps. We have a wonderful community called VIP Plus. You can find that at vip.investorcomps.com. vip.investorcomps.com. Lots of information there. And if folks want to catch up with me, just go to themarkjackson.com. themarkjackson.com. It has been my joy to take everything I've learned as a real estate appraiser and convert that into first becoming an investor, but then teaching and training and working with clients. That was originally domestically and has grown to international. We have folks that are as far away as Europe and Italy and Germany and Scotland, all the way to Australia. That utilize and are part of the VIP Plus community. So there's lots of synergy, conversation of people looking at different deals around the country. But then what really is special is those individuals that are coming to being VIPs for the very first time, whether they're active investors actually looking to wholesale and do deals, or to deploy capital as a practice professional that maybe has a self-directed IRA. Um, it's amazing how many deals happen between the members, the active investors and the passive investors. We all have to speak the same language and communicate together. It makes for a really good, secure, safe environment, but with a lot of good success as well.

Yeah, and I think I just— we can just end with the importance of having a great network in a community to doing deals. It's not like you have to just feel like you're doing this on your own. Whether, you know, if you're brand new, you need to connect with the great community, whether you go to like meetups, you know, that are free, whether you join a community like that you can learn a lot from others instead of trying to figure out yourself.

Yep, it's so true, man. It is so very, very true.

Well, Mark, uh, I really appreciate having you on here. Everybody, you heard it here. If you want to learn more about investor comps and how you can learn more about investing anywhere from anywhere, and truly anywhere because you, you said you have people in Australia. Where did you say you got Israel too? You got all over.

We have Australia, Israel, Italy, France, Scotland, Canada, Asia. It's, it's, I mean, of course mainland US as well. Yes, of course.

All right, well, you heard it here. If If you're outside the United States and you want to be in a community that's— whether you're in the United States or not, that sounds like that's the place to be. VIP. Was it VIP?

Um, vip.investorcomps.com. Love it.

All right, everybody, have a good one. Hey, MJ, thank you.

Absolutely a pleasure, man. I look forward to catching up with you real soon. Yes, sir.