EP 462 – A Note Investor’s Journey with Note Mastermind Member Liza Banaag

Foreign. This is the no Closers show where you get the latest developments in distressed note investing and learn the secrets of how you can control millions of dollars worth of property for pennies on the dollar. Get educated and entertained by someone who has closed thousands of deals and lives to support you in achieving the same. Now, here's your host CEO of We Close Notes, Scott Carson. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Note Closure Show. And I am excited to have a special guest on for this episode. She is now known as the Note md. All right. Our friend Lisa Benang joined us. Good morning, good afternoon, Good evening. Huh.

Hi, Scott.

How are you doing? I'm doing good. About yourself?

Doing great, thank you.

Good stuff. Glad to have you. Now, for those that don't know, Lisa is doing some great things. A relatively new note investor, but not a new real estate investor. You've been doing different real estate for years though, right?

Yeah, yeah. Mostly buy and sell and some flip and that's about it.

That's right. What's your background, though? Why the Note md? Talk about kind of your background, Lisa.

Okay, well, first of all, thank you for having me here. I am a physician and I practice wound care and hyperbaric medicine for about 20 years. And, and things were going great, things are doing well, get good income. But, you know, sometimes life throws us a, you know, a curveball. Curveball. And so 2016, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, had to undergo surgery and then three months in recovery made me face my mortality and future. I realized that you're only one event away from bankruptcy, total financial, you know, distraction. So I thought since I love real estate, I wanted to do something that would create passive income, increase my passive income. And since I in and out of real estate, I thought I'll just focus. In November, I met you. December, I went into your training, did all the stuff, and here I am.

And funded a couple deals and getting involved on a bigger and better bases all the time, right?

Yes, yes.

And we actually met at the local REA meeting. Exactly. That Charles Wilson's runs.

Right.

Therefore they were talking and like you said, doing some fix and flips, buying and selling stuff like that. What got you out of that, though, is it just because the market here is a little bit tighter or expensive or what?

Well, there's a heavy marketing about fix and flip, so everybody's doing that. Besides, you have a lot of. It's a lot to deal with, the contractors, the materials, and I guess my micromanagement is just making me just nervous.

Well, it's pretty easy to micromanage a fix and flip dealer. You got a lot of different parts and if you don't, sometimes your expenses can get away from you. Huh?

Oh, yeah. And it's just too time consuming. At the end of the day, I'm dead. Then I rise up again and do the same thing.

So it's like Easter every day, that is all you're saying?

Yes, my Easter.

She's risen. So what attracted you to the notes side of things? What attracted you here to be in the paper business?

Well, I would like to have home business. One, since you don't put everything in one basket. The same amount of money that you spend in one fix and flip, you can invest in multiple. You can do most. You can do everything from your backyard, at home, everywhere, anywhere, which attracts me. So that's mainly what I like about it. And of course, the profit.

Profit's always nice.

Exactly.

Well, that's the thing too. You've. As we get older, we do face our immortality. You have a scare there, but doing well coming out of that, right?

Yes. Yes.

And you've got some wines. You're wanting to do some stuff, build some wealth not only for yourself, but also your family too, right?

That's right. I want to get my children out of the working class. Work, work, work. And if you need money, work some more. I want them to enjoy life because it was late for me to enjoy life and so I want them to enjoy life earlier and so does the grandchildren.

Great. How old are the grandkids?

The oldest is 11, and then I have four and five. And then I think the only girl will be one year old in June. And then one other for one, he'll be two years old.

So good ages to spoil that, huh?

Yes. Gotta have money to spoil it, though.

Well, but you're also very active in learning more about the IRAs. You go to the Quest Trust events quite a bit. Have you started accounts or worked with the parents? Start accounts like Roth or educational savings accounts or things like that for the kids?

Yes, I've started one and I have opened up Roth because without that education, I was told all the time that because I'm working, I can't do Roth. So I found out I can, so I started that. I have the traditional self directed IRA now.

You just recently moved, right? Moving down to the Valley. You're up here for the mastermind, but you're moving down to the Valley and you're looking not only for residential but also commercial assets, right?

Yes.

And we, this Tape on the other night, we talked about breaking down, doing some commercial due diligence, Right?

Correct.

And there's this one down near where you're moving to or where you've moved to. Right?

Yes.

Let's talk about that deal a little bit because you got a bid. We got an outstanding bid in. And I think it's actually a pretty good bid point because what's the value of this property? It's a little bit of a unique situation though, right?

Yeah. The value is really on over the board. I seen from 60 to 130, so. And we drove by the place.

Oh, you did? Okay.

Yeah, the place is really nice. Looks like it's occupied. And no obvious structural defect. So I'm really excited about that.

So this is not really. It's a. It's not really a convenience store. It's kind of a little Mexican restaurant for the most part, right?

Yes. And with an apartment.

Oh, there is an apartment. I did not know that. Okay.

Oh, we're not supposed to say.

You're not giving away the location of it yet. All right. But the unpaid balance on this asset was only 30 grand.

Correct.

They haven't paid in about a year, if I remember correctly.

Well, it says that the due date is January of 2019.

So. Okay, that's right. So. Yeah, that's right. 90 to 120 days late.

Yeah. So.

But they've had this property for sale for quite some time, I think two years. Yes, that's correct. So it was like 130. They dropped it at 125. The bank is motivated to get off its books. They don't want to foreclose. And this property is kind of a weird. Not your traditional commercial property.

Correct. And yeah, and there's not a lot of comparables in the area, so I think I'm the only one who knows where that's at.

So let's talk about this. You got a bid in at 15. Because the UPB is only 30. There's a lot of equity. I think it was a strong bid. We're waiting for the bank to come back and say whether they're going to accept it or not. What. What do you want to do with this? Are you wanting to modify, take the property back, tell the borrowers like, hey, see you later.

Well, since there's occupants, we have to find out if the occupants are the owner, if the owners will try to work with them and see if we can do some modification if needed, but get them to pay if not. I don't want to lease it. But I'll probably do either an owner finance or just sell it out. Right.

Willing to keep the existing business in place in there.

There's no business going in there.

Oh, there's not at all. So I thought you said. Okay, so it is empty then?

Yeah, it's. The apartment is occupied.

Oh, that's right, yeah. Do you know what the market rent rate is for the apartment?

I think it's like 400, 500.

Okay, so there's 500 times 12. Six grand. Six grand on a $15,000 investment is. What is that? That's 40% yield on that. You'd have some expenses and stuff like that. So that's still not a bad return on investment if you can get for that.

Right. And if we foreclose, then we'll just sell it. Sell it cheap so that, you know.

Right. Or just have it, you know, sold at the what you. What's owed on it. So you can double your money that way if you need to, huh?

Oh, that's right.

Yeah, that would be good, huh? Yes, yes. Texas, you can foreclose pretty relatively quickly.

Correct.

Because they've already at that past that 90 day period there for you. So what made you come up with the note? Md do you like doing workouts?

Huh?

Wanna do some more workouts?

Workouts?

Workouts with the homeowners or work out with the bars?

Yeah, well, of course, that's the goal. Bad things happen to good people, so we like to be able to help. But sometimes we know that even if we wanted some good for the homeowners, they don't want it themselves. So it depends. We'll try to get the feel. We have some companies that we work with who would be able to talk to them, work with them in our behalf. And if we can work something with them, then it'll be easy. If not, then we'll have to do the plans A, B, C, D. What's.

Been the biggest learning curve for you getting into this?

Understanding the financial terms. You know, it's like medical terms. You have to understand that. I understood it. Big switch to a different field.

What about the marketing? Has that been a challenge for you too?

Yes, I have always tried to be below the radar, below the radar in the social media. Now I have to, I have accepted the fact that I have to expose, you know, I have to go out there and market.

So when you came for the fast track, you were like a boom. Second take video went perfectly for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that was it. I shrank back and now you ran.

For the hills scared? No.

Yeah, I think I did another one after that. And then, you know, sometimes business kind of, you get away from it. You chase rabbits, and then you kind of find yourself alone.

Well, but you're also. You've had a move just recently, too.

And a move and all this. Different issues, things coming up. So that's why I like the WCN crew. You can keep touch with everybody, keep you accountable and all that.

So, yeah, the Facebook group is a great way to just stay plugged in at something.

Yes.

You know, that's the 940plus people being a part of that in a good way. You post there, you ask questions on a regular basis, which is great. People respond.

They do. So you don't have to be. You don't have to consider the time of day, because if somebody comes out there and sees it, they just answer. So you get the answers immediately.

Now, this is your second mastermind. You were the one in December in Cape Coral. Do you feel a bit more comfortable now than you did then?

Oh, yes. Now, the things that I have learned through Mastermind, Fast Track, you know, I learn a lot, but it's all jumbled up now in this mastermind. It kind of finding its place in my brain, so I probably would be able to function better.

Yeah, that's the thing. There's a lot of things. I mean, you were like, I want to do this right now. And you came into the office. I was like, okay. I'm like, all right, that's fine. Let's just relax.

Let's do this now.

It's like, I don't want to talk to the phone. I want to come talk to you face to face. Right? And I'm like, that's fine. Come in. We visited for an hour. I was like, hey, it's all right. Relax. You're like, no, I want to do this now. Like, okay, let's do it now then. Right.

Because I retired. That's why I need to get on track.

So right now, have you reached out to any of your doctor friends or things? You got a little bit of a more advanced network than most people have because you do have relationships with doctors and other people that are looking to invest money. Have you tapped into that? Any sort of profession?

You know, that's funny, because even I'm in the medical field. I'm kind of isolated from everybody because our clinic is away from the hospital, so not much interaction with the doctors. But now I'm focusing. I'm finding out places where I can communicate with Them and reach out to them. In fact, next month, I'm trying to get an audience with them at least for 15 minutes just to show what I do. So. Yeah.

Cool. So what are you planning on doing? Are you putting together, like, the pitch deck or the. Okay. Kind of like what Melanie and Phil were showing here earlier?

Yes. Like a PowerPoint presentation. Having. Sit down and show them what I do.

That's awesome. Good stuff. What advice would you give somebody who's coming into the note business is kind of coming from either a different background with not much real estate experience, or somebody that's coming in, it's got some real estate experience. It's a little bit different. It is.

Oh, get your education. Education. Education and mentor. Get a good mentor. I have one.

I appreciate that. Thank you. I'll pay you the $20 for that later. Okay. But that's the thing, is you're not afraid to ask questions. I think that's one of the big strengths that you have. And that's a good thing. Honestly, that's a good thing. We always say there's no dumb questions. The only dumb question is the question that's not asked. Okay. You're very. Talk with people. You're communicating. You're asking questions not only, but everybody else. And you're really. You're taking this serious.

Yeah. The only difficulty, the first difficulty that I have when I enter this space is I don't know what questions to ask. So I was just listening and just listening, and now that I kind of dove into it a little bit, then the questions pop up.

So, yeah, that's a good thing because you're like, oh, now this makes sense. Now I know what to ask.

Yeah. Now I know what I'm doing.

Now I know what I'm doing. Exactly. Now you. You go to. You were going to the network of events pretty regularly.

Yes.

And you've built some networks with that, Correct? It's been helpful.

Yes.

What's been the biggest surprise that's been, like, kind of shocking to you or like, maybe give you a little bit of a kick in the shins? Since November.

Actually, it's a positive one. The biggest one is if you do what you're told, it works.

Okay, what's that?

Well, when we did Mastermind in the fast track, you told us to call and email. Well, not good at emails. I made phone calls and then social media, and I got responses.

Yeah.

And so I started this January. It's April now. Four months. I've gotten tapes which I almost fainted when I received Them like, oh, wow, it does work.

So how many you were calling asset managers or calling banks or calling off the list, banks. Do you know how many phone calls you made before you started getting some tapes in?

Actually, it's through link through social media.

Okay. Just connecting with them on LinkedIn.

Yes.

Okay, cool. Do you know how many people you.

Connected with before I got the.

How many people did it take you to connect with before you got your tapes? The tapes in?

No, I don't know, but it's like two days off the limit in the LinkedIn. Okay, I got them already.

All right, good. And it's residential. Commercial.

Residential.

Okay. Now you're making some offers off of those or just working through them still?

Well, I work some of them. Some of them didn't really fan out, so. But I'm encouraged because then if you, you know, I'm getting responses, I only need the response. Once I get a response, I know I can push through.

Right. And then it becomes a numbers game.

Yes, yes. Well, it is a numbers game, but, you know, when you don't get anything, kind of get discouraged. Yeah. So when you get responses, then you move on.

What's been the biggest surprise? What's the biggest thing you're taking away from this weekend here in Austin at the Mastermind?

How easy to market. How easy it is to market.

Getting easier for you to market.

Yes. Using technology.

Yeah. I saw you over there messing around with the geomarketing earlier. You had that whole table peeking over your shoulder, excited at you.

Yes, that is. That makes a lot easier. You know, technology is not my forte, but you know, it's easy to learn. So easy to use.

There's no excuses not to learn a new trick, right?

Yes, yes, that's true. So when I call you, I tell you I did this. Yeah, all this.

Yeah, you do, exactly. You're very good. We talk on a regular basis. We talk a lot via like Facebook messenger or the emails back and forth or we jump in on a phone call and go from there. What are you going to use the geomarketing for? Which aspect kind of solves you like, is it like doctors conventions or things like that with your background or other things?

Yeah, well, of course default is doctors, real estate, single moms, homemakers.

You know, with your background, what advice would you give somebody if they know doctors? Is there anything that would be like a hot button, maybe make sure you respect their time, give the point. Or what kind of advice would you give to somebody talking, wants to talk to somebody coming from the medical field?

Well, What I have noticed is most doctors who are in the men who are in real estate, they just buy and sell, you know, retail. I can offer them this note business which is easier, faster and a lot more secure. I think it's more secure than just fixing and flip flipping well.

But it's probably a nice continual return to em versus having to do a lot of work with the fix and flips. And then also hey, what are you, you know, is this taking time from you or would you rather make some passive returns that are pretty average?

Right, right. And then introducing them to the self directed IRA to use for their investments because a lot of them are real, you know, are on the 401 case. And for like me, I just let it sit there watching it and then panicking when things are going down and you know, you're like hopeless because you don't helpless because you can't do anything. But this one you have. And with multiple properties or assets that you invest in, something falls apart, then there's some cushion. There's a lot more cushion.

Or leverage across multiple assets is nice there too. Plus I've often found too that doctors are great doctors, but not the best when it comes to business owners or investors though, too, right?

Yes. So they rely mostly on regular investment in the 401k. It just scares me so. Yeah, yeah. Because I don't understand that and I don't care to learn to understand that because it's not in my radar.

But if it's something you're enjoying, you dive head first into it, right?

Oh yeah. Real estate has been in my mind a long time, since I was born.

And Mike has been very supportive. He came to the fast track with you. He's very busy, huh?

Yeah, he's busy working and teaching. So kind of do this on my own and it's like a hobby, you know, like Confucius say, if you do something that you like, you'll never work a day in your life.

That's a great quote. I think we'll have to use that one. That's good stuff. Well, you're doing a great job. I see a difference in you in the sense of the last mastermind. I see it's a good thing. I see you coming in, you were a little nervous the first time, didn't know exactly what to expect. But this time you're like, you're walking a little more of a strut in your step, which is good. You're talking a little bit more, which is great. You're asking more questions and it's a good thing to see you're getting some experience in rock and roll and do some great things.

Yes.

So what's your big goal for the next 12 months for you, Lisa?

I'm looking really pushing marketing. When you do market, I believe that if you do marketing, then you fill your pipeline and then goal is 60 to 100 to the next 12 months and hopefully be able to really replace my income in the next two years.

Yeah, there you go. And spend more time spoiling your grandkids, huh?

Yes.

Are they in the valley? Are they up around here or where they live?

No, they're in Dallas or in Houston.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you're supposed to be making some commutes then, huh? Yes, or flying in.

So we need. I need to buy properties over in those places.

Oh, you need to buy. So we need to find some assets for you there. Okay. All right, let's see what we can do for you there.

Yeah.

All right. Well, we look forward to your continued growth. We look forward to figuring out what this asset manager, the bank wants for that property and they commercial loan.

I'm still waiting on that one.

I know. Same here. Trust me, because I got a couple bids and some other assets with them as well, too.

Oh, and that tape. Awesome.

So what's the best way for people to reach out to you if they want to pick your brain or ask any questions of you?

Oh, well, they can send me an email. Liza at the NoteMD. That's L I Z A denotemd.com thenotemd.com exactly.

L I Z A at the notemd.com. all right, well, thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you.

No problem. Anytime. Keep up the good work and we'll visit back with you in a few months and go from there.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Lisa. Have a great day, everybody. Go out, make something happen. Don't be afraid to go learn some new tricks. She's doing a tremendous job out there. And you'll be seeing some big things from the Note MD in the future. Otherwise, have fun and we'll see you off the topic, buddy. Bye, Sam.