Christian Osgood coaches Ethan on cold calling using the "circle drill": state your story, articulate a goal, convey its significance. Christian owns 10-15 multifamily buildings using seller financing and advises buying larger assets like a 38-plex instead of stacking duplexes to grow faster.
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Yes. All right. Hello, this is Christian speaking.
Christian, hey man, my name's Ethan. How are you doing?
Hey Ethan, I am doing pretty well. Do I know you?
No, I'm, uh, so I'm 23. I'm actually a newer investor in the area. I, uh, I saw you're the owner of a duplex over on West Peninsula. Is that right?
Yes, I am. Well, I was until just last week. I actually just sold that. That's the first property I ever bought that I've actually gone full cycle on and sold. But yeah, up to this point, I've owned that for about a year.
Oh man, well, congrats on that. After that, I did a little bit of research and saw that you actually have your name on quite a few properties in the area. If you don't mind me asking, how many do you actually own?
Uh, how many properties or how many units?
How many properties?
How many properties? I want to say it's got to be 10, 15 total buildings, uh, but spans 71 units now. Wow.
And how long you been doing it for?
I have been doing this for about a year and a half. I bought my first duplex just over a year and a half ago. Uh, that one I just sold was my second duplex, the one you called on, and, um Yeah, from there I realized I need to scale faster, bought a 38-plex and never stopped buying after that.
Dang, that's awesome. How'd you get into that? Did you use seller financing?
Well, I did. So my first deal I bought conventionally. I was working a 9 to 5, I had the money, I qualified, and so I did it. I got a little duplex. Met my buddy Cody Davis and he convinced me to try Central Washington. So I actually did hard money for that duplex that you called on, financed at 101%, which was awesome. Free real estate is ideal. Then after that, every other deal that I've done is seller financed, every single one.
That's great, man. Hey, well, listen, I'm also looking into diving into the multifamily space, and you seem like somebody who may know a thing or two about it. And I would love to get to know a little bit more about you and your story. If you're not too busy, would you be open to going sometime next week and grab some lunch?
Well, let me ask you this. What are you trying to accomplish? Why, why do you want to invest in multifamily?
Well, personally, I mostly want freedom. I want to, I want to give back to my parents for getting me to where I am. And I want the freedom to live a life that I want to live, to be honest. And I think multifamily is the best way for me to get there. I'm passionate about it and I know there's a lot of money there too.
And what— how far are you on your journey? Do you already own some real estate or is this going to be a first? Are you looking to make your first property?
So I have one single-family home. I'm house hacking it right now, but I know multifamily is a much quicker way to achieve my goals. So that's my reason for diving in there.
All right, well, yeah, I always love to help someone get started. What'd you have in mind?
I was thinking maybe Panera.
Panera works. I can do that. When, uh, when are you in town?
I'm in town all next week.
Okay, well, tell you what, when you're in town, shoot me a text and I'll make it a priority.
Sounds great. I appreciate it, Christian.
All right, thank you, Ethan.
All right, man, talk to you soon.
All right, Ethan, how do you think that call went?
Uh, I thought it went pretty well.
Went okay. I made it a little softball on you. I, I wanted you to make it all the way through before, before you asked for the meeting. Tell a little bit more of your story. Okay. It felt a little early to try and book a meeting because I told you, like, you kind of fed me seller financing. You go, do you sell our finances? Like, well, I mean Some of them. Awesome, sounds like you know a lot. We should meet. We didn't have quite enough of a dialogue to meet. I would have communicated, I love— basically, 71 units. I love what you've done. That's incredible. I'm trying to figure out how to scale there. I'm starting with a single-family house and I don't have any of my family who's done this before. My goal is to give back to my parents. And I would love any pointers on how I can get started. From 70 units, what advice would you give me starting from 1? That would be how I would ask that question. That makes sense. Because now, now you remember the circle drill. Now you have some of your story in there. You have an actual reason. You've built relatability. You've built a clear goal. And you've built significance behind that goal. When you've answered all 3 of those questions, that is when you can ask for a meeting.
Gotcha. So just include a little bit more personality in there?
Just include some of your story. Make sure that, like, with what you had, it makes sense that you're reaching out, but it wasn't super clear to me that, hey, I am young, I have one unit and I'm trying to scale to something. So I just let them know, hey, I got a single-family house. I am sold on the idea that multifamily is the way to get to my goals. I'm trying to give back to my family and I've never had anyone in this space who can help me. I'm figuring this out on my own, right? Super inspired by, inspired by what you've done. I'm curious, if you were starting where I'm at, what advice would you have For me, starting out, that question would get me at a coffee meeting with you. If you asked me, hey, I— this is what I've done, this is where I'm headed, what advice do you have for me? That is where I'm probably going to tell you one thing, like, uh, seller financing, or if someone asked me that, I'd, I'd say buy bigger because I bought 2 duplexes. A 38-plex got me to my goal of 30 units by 30 a lot faster than than stacking duplexes would've. Right. Actually got me significantly over that goal, right? So I would give you that advice, and that is an appropriate time to say, you obviously know what you're doing. I am in town next week. Can I buy you coffee? I am dedicated to figuring out how to get started, and I don't have anyone else in this space to help me. Can I get 10 minutes of your time? That—
A little more convincing, I must say.
That's how I'd frame it. Your call, you will book some meetings with that, but you'll book a lot more meetings if you can go through that circle, create some significance, and build off that. Get one golden nugget for them and go, okay, you know what you're doing. I need to meet with you. This is, I'm willing to make this happen. I'll drive out to you. Coffee's on me. Whatever that pitch looks like for you. Create that credibility first and then book the meeting.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah, other than that, I mean, your questions are good, your tonality is good, um, you've always been good at that.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, yeah. As you're going through your calls to owners today, do you have any other questions for me before you make that call?
Um, I asked you those two earlier. Those were the two that were on my mind. Um, no, I can't, I can't think of any right now, to be honest.
No, that's just fine. I just want to make sure you're totally set up for success. Practice that circle drill, even if that's just practicing in the mirror one time before you call. Uh, the best thing you can do at this point though is go call actual owners, make the call, get the experience, and it's going to get easier every time you do it.
Yeah, yeah, I practice pretty much every time I get in my car, so I'll do it one more time before I head back over to the office and give that guy a call.
There you go, I love it. I've pitched my steering wheel quite a bit over the last few years. That is a great way to do it. All right, well, hey, sell your car on it first and then make some calls this afternoon. Text me when you book that first meeting. Will do.
