The Best Advice for New Real Estate Agents | The Real Estate Revolution | Episode 7

Coming up on this episode of the Real estate Revolution.

One of my struggles in starting out is feeling like so much of the, like you said, lead gen is that that time of just randomly reaching out, doing and I'm very relational to begin with, so that was kind of killing me. So it's good to hear that that's more of push into the stuff I like to do anyways, which is connect with people for real.

On this episode, you're hearing from Sean, a newer agent who also has a love for investing. And he is ready to dive in and ask some great questions which you're going to love the answers. Let's go. Welcome back to another episode of Limitless Real estate podcast. We're talking about life, wealth, legacy and real estate. Today I've got a special guest, Shaun White. He is a neighbor in Munds Park. We met kind of talking about some investment stuff newer to the game of real estate and he's on another team at real brokerage. Sean, welcome to the podcast. I'm waiting for the zingers that you throw me today because that's what this is about.

Thanks Steve. Appreciate you having me on, man. I been blessed to get to know you and learn from you a ton.

So awesome. Well, what do you got? What's the questions today?

Yeah, I think probably a good place to start out. I am pretty much a brand new agent just getting into this stuff and I would say what habits and tasks would you tell me as a new agent were the key things to focus on? Like as just as I'm getting going starting out in this, I love that.

Well, as a new agent, I think the main thing to understand and focus on is understanding how to build relationships because relationships are going to be the backbone of your future as far as referrals go and things like that. Right. So how do we build relationships? Well, number one, stop calling people leads. Right? If you have lead gen time, it should be relationship building time.

Right?

Because relationships add value with asking without asking for anything in return.

Love that.

The more, the more value you're adding to people. And I'm not talking about what the canned bull crap that comes out of CRMs. I'm talking about true value. Right? It's like a text message on their birthday, a random text after they close, seeing how things are like genuine, giving a shit about somebody, not looking for the typical, hey, if you know somebody looking to buy or sell, please send them my way, Please, I'm begging you because I'm starving.

Right?

We don't want to deliver value that way. So I would say the critical thing is your, your contact management is critical, but it's more critical in how you follow up with those people. You can't throw them in there and just expect it to generate the relationship for you through canned stuff.

That's good, man. That's good. Yeah, that's been, that's been one of my struggles in starting out is feeling like so much of the, like you said, lead gen is that that time of just randomly reaching out, doing. And I'm very relational to begin with, so that was kind of killing me. So it's good to hear that that's more of push into the stuff I like to do anyways, which is connect with people for real.

Exactly.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I also am wondering, you know, so being a new agent and then also really interested in investing, kind of how you go from that spot of brand new in all of this, figuring it all out to investing myself, you know, being, becoming an investor myself, but also walking and leading people into that. I love that you talk about, you know, doing strategy sessions with people all the time and that like, that really resonates with me because that's, that's what I want to do. What does it look like or what would you recommend? You know, hey, this is how you can kind of get from A to B. Because sometimes I feel like, hey, I want to do that, but then I feel like that, you know, the newbie who's like, yeah, but I'm here and what do I give you in this strategy session as I'm figuring it out myself?

So I think there's a path for every agent that starts in the business. And the path is to learn the traditional side, right? So you understand the flow, you understand the contract, you understand the ins and outs of representing people so that you can do a good job for people, right? It's the one fallacy of our industry is you get in and then you go practice on your family and friends, right? And it drives me insane that somebody's like, oh yeah, my sister just got a real estate license. She's going to do a bang up job in my $2 million house. I'm like, I bet you she will. Good luck with that.

Right?

So getting really good and having a good mentor in the traditional space is really smart, right? Depending on how fast you pick it up or how hard you're wanting to work is a great way to understand the flow of property and escrow and all those things during that time. I think it's a great idea to start thinking about before you invest in property or those types of things, it's investing in yourself, right. Do you have a mentor? Do you have somebody that's guiding you alongside once you learn the traditional side? Because I think you can have your paths crossed if you're trying to do traditional and investing. And it kind of gets a little bit sticky, right? Cause you don't know all the lingo that goes with it. So I think it's important to constantly be learning from people that are doing it.

Right.

It's one of the things that I tout in my coaching and my mentoring, you know, and in the limitless circle is just I'm still doing the same things day to day that you should be doing. Right. It may look a little different, but I'm also seeing the trends. Right. And some of us will go buy a canned something or other that was from a late night infomercial 10 years ago of a guy that used to do it 20 years ago.

Right.

So the conversations have changed. And so it's really looking at that investing in yourself. And I believe that investing yourself is going to be a continuous act no matter what part of your career is. Right. Because it may be learning this side of the business and then another side of the business. Some of it may have to do with like some of the things that I'm involved in, which is masterminds. So I do believe that continuing education is always. But I also believe as a newer agent, you can start to practice by looking at MLS as if you were an investor. Does this make sense? Can I follow this property through the process? Somebody bought it for this. How much do I think they put into it? And so you kind of get to practice your numbers and know your areas and your deals and what you're truly looking for an investment.

Okay, how. What would you say in terms of, you know, being. Being a new agent and being in that, like you said, starving and feeding my family. But that's not what we're putting out there. Aside and getting the investment, the mentorship ways, ways or directions to look for that or seek that, that aren't the, hey, here's a $15,000 mastermind, or here's a, you know, thousand dollars a month gig when you're just getting started.

I think there's so much free information out there.

Right.

If you're following me on social media, I'm always trying to give tips to agents on how to do things. Right. There's a ton of YouTube stuff out there, a ton of people that are giving a lot of Free information around things. Right. And so it doesn't mean go buy a course. It means right now you might not have money to invest, but you want to invest time because you have more time than money. Right. So those things are going to give you ideas. You just have to be careful with who you practice those ideas on. Right. So you may hear something that somebody did in Atlanta, but it doesn't work here in Phoenix because the laws are different or things have changed. Right. So we have to be careful with that. But I do think that there's all kinds of investment groups that can be gone to like Phoenix, Ria, Asria, these are investment clubs. You can go and hear people talk for free almost once a month or twice a month, which is really good learning experience too. Kind of keep. And you never know who you're going to meet at those events. Right. So I always say, you know, go find the places where the investors are and learn and be around that and be willing to soak it up and be a sponge in those environments.

Awesome. Yeah, that makes sense. What ways? So I know for me, I started starting out, obviously I got on a team because, you know, I need to, need to learn, need to start in there. What, what ways would you encourage me as a new agent to leverage? Like being, being part of a team, being on a team with guys who've been doing it for decades.

Well, being on a team and like, let's just cut this down a little bit more is that if you're just getting into the business, you're like, oh, I don't want to go to a team. Because splits, splits always become an issue. You have to understand that if you were a doctor, an attorney, you paid like 12 years of schooling and you've got a gazillion dollars in student loan debt, no doctor gets to go into the emergency room and go, cool, I get to hang out with you and cut this guy open. And this is how I'm going to learn and I'm going to get paid to do it, even screw it up.

Right.

If we get into real estate with a men with a mental mind shift of not looking at splits, not looking at things, but realizing that I'm willing to invest part of what I could make for the proper training, right. For somebody to help me cover my blind spots. You know, when, when I started in the business, I started for $8 an hour working for my dad. I didn't write a contract for the first two years. I showed houses and I listened. And that was, that was how I learned the Business, it wasn't through, okay? I got my license, and now I'm going to make six figures this year. I wanted to learn it. When I started doing real estate investing, I really wanted to learn it, but I wanted to learn all ends of it because I wanted to see what came from the lenders and I wanted to see what came from the real estate side and how I can maneuver through things. And I only saw that by listening to my dad and watching him maneuver through things. And so being on a team, you can't look that this person's making all this money on me versus look at how little my education costs for something that is going to teach me to do for the rest of my life.

That's good. That's good. So one of the. So one of the things I'm doing on my team or just talk to my team lead about was kind of doing a more intentional mentorship. Basically. I asked him, I said, hey, you know, I want somebody. I want somebody who's willing to show up and not just go, hey, good job. You know, you're out there. Like, I want somebody that's actually gonna speak the truth, say, hey, dude, you didn't. You didn't do several hours of this like you said you were gonna. That's. That's why your numbers suck. And somebody that's really gonna do that. What. What components or what things would you encourage that? I. Because I'm trying to be really intentional with it and respect his time and, you know, know that if we do an hour a month or an hour every two weeks, if I can get, that would be awesome. But, like, how I really make the most of that time.

So the way to make the best out of that time or the most out of that time is this. You said you have them about an hour a month.

Yeah, we're looking. We're looking at doing an hour either every couple of weeks or maybe even every week starting out.

So there's two points to this part. One, accountability typically comes with consequences. Okay? That's how we've been taught accountability. Right. If you don't do this, this will happen. Right? That's how a lot of teams operate. If you don't produce, you get lopped. Accountability should not be for the consequences, but the consequences to you as to not being productive. Right. So accountability is you being accountable, saying that I did the things that I said I was going to do, not the other person saying, well, did you do these things? That's you being accountable to you. First of all, to make the Most out of that time with a mentor is this. If you truly cherish that mentor's time and want to get specific answers, then you prepare for that meeting by sending them a text the day before saying, I have these five things that I want to cover tomorrow. This is all I want to cover. I wanted to give them to you ahead of time. So if you had anything to think about or add or share, you could and be prepared. So you're prepared for those five things. You're not going to get off track, like, how's the family? How's all the things? Right. It should be very much like, this is the time that we have for this. And I want to come prepared. And if you show that person you're coming prepared, they're going to bring their A game because they know that you mean business for that meeting. And this isn't a coffee. Catch up.

Awesome. Awesome. I think one of the things that I'm thinking through or chewing on being in my 40s, I know I look boyishly young, but being in my 40s, starting out in this, um, and basically having had a full career already before this, when I was in my 20s, started in ministry, the stuff that I was doing, it was no big deal to, you know, grind 247 and just learn it, be in it. Now trying to do that and balance three kids, wife, responsibilities. What. What would be your encouragement or thoughts on? Because I know my tendency can be like, okay, I'm just going to put my head down and grind on this, but I don't want to disregard that family time and the things I should be.

And, you know, okay, so multiple, multiple answers to this question. One, There is a time when you get into this business that there is going to be a rhythm, not a balance. And that rhythm means it's having a conversation with your spouse or your partner saying, in order for me to succeed at this, I do need to spend some extra time until I'm in this part. Because I'm learning and I'm doing right. Doesn't mean you go disappear and go AWOL for two years.

Right?

It's not a hiatus, but it's being specifically intentional that I'm going to have to do some extra work in order to not have to work that way down the road. Because right now you're trying to build a business, right? You're trying to build relationships. Now the rhythm is going to depend on where your kids are at ages, right? In fact, I just, I just made a post today which was, you know what? There's no Balance. With your kids, there's only rhythm. Good friend of mine, Kyle Depia, said that years ago when he said work life rhythm, not work life balance. I'm sure it came from somebody else and I'm just regurgitating it.

Right.

But how old are your kids right now, Sean?

16, 14 and almost 12.

Okay, so different rhythm than somebody has a three, five and eight year old at home. Right. So as we're building our lives, we got to figure out what that rhythm is. Because when Your kids are 3, 5 and 8, guess what? They're not going to remember that you were home every night at five o'.

Clock.

They're going to remember the egg you threw at them at dinner Right. When you were there. As they get older, where they are now, it's a little bit more prevalent to want to be around because they're doing things or sporting events, those types of things, Right?

Yeah.

But I think it's also an intention of how we set our schedule and how we set expectations with our clients. If we set expectations that we're going to respond to every text within two minutes or I'm going to answer the phone no matter what, you are setting yourself up for failure. I hear agents talk about that. I answer my phone every time, dude. I live on do not disturb. I will answer your call when I'm in the mindset to answer it. Or they can call my office and talk to my staff. And I've set those expectations up so that I can live life by the design that I want it to be, not by somebody else's design. And that is like, that's good. The mistake of all real estate agents, when they get like, I'm going to go work for myself. You're like, nope, you just traded your 9 to 5 job for a 24, 7 job. 24 7, right.

Yeah.

But again, it depends on how you set expectations. Right. And early on, the expectations are going to be a little bit more loose. But as you become more confident in your business, you become more confident and people will wait for your skill set and they will be patient with you knowing that, you know, although it does get frustrating sometimes, it's like people say, well, I didn't call and ask you to sell my house because I thought you were too busy. I'm like, well, it's what I do. Right. So it's always interesting. But those are some of the things that I would just look at, is that find the rhythm that works for you and your spouse, find the rhythm that works for you and your kids and Then devote the rest of the time to what you want to do in your work and making sure that in the beginning, you're really focused on relationships, right? Which is texting people, thoughtful conversation, and you're adding value to people. You're not constantly sucking it from them, because then you end up being that guy that every time you call, you're like, hey, dude, I just got into a new.

Listening to years of your stuff and following along how to incorporate or bring my kids into the business so that they're number one. They're. They're seeing what I'm doing. They're part of it, but they also have an opportunity to learn, you know, as I'm going in. I mean, they. They of course, love it when I drag them up to Muntz Park. And we had it when we first got the place, totally redid it, and I was like, guess what? You guys are moving a wood pile from here to there for the next four hours. And they're, you know, they thought it sucked, but I'm like, well, which one? He wants kicked out of the family business and doesn't want a part of this house in 30 years, so.

Right.

You know, but, yeah. What. What have you found? Or what kind of things have you done to expose? I know you're. You know, you talk about it a lot with your boys and, like, bringing them into it, making them part of it. Yeah. Just thoughts on that.

Yeah. So it's such a great question, and I love that you brought that up, because real estate was just constant in our household when I grew up. Right. Whether it was cleaning out gross houses or, you know, whatever it was. I mean, I was always being paid to do odd jobs. I mean, that was part of my work ethic. Right. My dad's like, hey, 500 bucks to clean this lot up or, you know, go take a lawnmower down the street or, you know, all those things. The boys have been brought up the same way, where the only difference between the way I was raised my dad and the way I was raised, when we raised our kids, is we included these conversations at the dinner table, like, hey, we had this client that bought this house, and we're kind of like, even though they don't seem interested, you'd be amazed at what they're actually picking up. So the adult conversations about what we do and letting them know that, you know, what they see now took me 20 years to accomplish. If you want to do this business, you'll start in the same manner, which is you're not making Any money. But you're learning something that is beyond, you know, comprehend, not beyond comprehension, but beyond compensating for.

Right.

So they're constantly learning and seeing and talking about houses and what does it look like? Like, you know, now they're starting to ask, well, what about your first house and your first rental? What did that look like? What was the cost of it? And then as you, and you can even do this with your kids, this is the cool thing. We're actually doing it as a family thing once a quarter with them where we're going over the rental portfolio and showing them the profit and loss.

That's awesome.

That they understand because that's part of their legacy. Yeah, Wendy and I do pass. They understand what's happening in the business and what properties the family owns. So it's a good way. Even though they might seem disinterested and sometimes you do have to wait for them to show some interest. But they will sometimes get aggravated. Like your 14 year old will probably get aggravated because they think everything's a lecture and everything's a learning. The funny thing is later on they're like, hey, I remember when you told me, right? And then it changes. So it's letting them be privy to adult conversations rather than like, hey, you're all sitting at the adult table and or the go sit at the kids table. Right? That was how I was raised is go over there and now our kids are fully engaged with everything that we're doing so that they do understand it.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I knew, I knew I was probably spouting off too much at them when my almost 12 year old was like, I'm never living in anywhere with an HOA and I'm going to go to Montana because their taxes are lower. Dude.

I remember, I remember my kids when we were doing foreclosures and we had to have a ton of money that we paid out in utility bills and repairs and got reimbursed by Fannie and Freddie. When my five year old pipes up and goes, or my seven year old, he says, hey dad, he's like, who's Fannie and Freddie and why do they owe us so much money?

Right?

Because they heard that through conversations that Wendy and I were having.

That's awesome. Standing around and then yeah, people, yeah, that's awesome, man. That's awesome. What would you say? I mean, so I, you know, I know I've told you a little bit of it. My background of doing 20 years doing ministry at ASU, obviously that was hugely relational. So in some ways I'm like, okay, I've got this giant relationship basis built. I mean, that's what I've spent 20 years doing. And then also we raised, raise, support doing it. So I've got a network of guys that were on my support team, business owners, guys that are, you know, not just broke college students or just out of college students. What would be your thoughts or your, you know, just ways of, ways of leveraging that. But, but at the same time, also, like you said, I. I never want to come across as that dude that's like, hey, I'm just hitting you up for something. But the ways to step into that network of people and bring value, like, like you were saying.

So I think a great way to network with a community of that, especially young guys, young families, those types of things, right? It's how can you teach something that they have questions about that they might not be ready for? Right? So if you're like, hey, here's my community. These are young guys, they're at college, they're ministry. And you're like, hey, guys, I want to do this free zoom call. I want to show you the power of real estate and that it actually is possible. Here's the things that you would need, by the way, if you've got a friend that you want to invite, you know, here's the link. Like, share it with your buddies, okay? Now what happens is you give them ideas and like, oh, I could get a co signer or I could partner with my mom and dad if I presented it this way. Or what if we turned it right? So you're giving them value that gives them ideas, and then they come back and you follow up from that standpoint. So it's, you know, when I do my free trainings every month, it's about giving to people with nothing in return, Right. Everybody always thinks, like, when you do that, there's got to be some sort of hook, line and sinker. And the reality is I believe that you can give and you will receive in different ways down the road. But I think that those are also ways. You're like, hey, mom and dad, like, you should see this. Sean did this first time homebuyer class. I've got some questions. And the next thing you know, you know, they need to sell a house or Aunt Mabel passed away and they've got a. Like, do you see where all the dots connect?

Yeah, Doing that. Yeah.

Because now it becomes top of mind. And so you're trying to give your community a lot of Resources that eventually will come back to you full circle because you're always giving and always willing to give and answer the questions and go through those things, and then they're going to bring it back to you, and that's. That's where you're earning your keep.

That's awesome. Yeah. What, what would you say? Something I've run into recently with a few connections and guys that know I'm stepping into this and doing it full time is some of the guys that have come to me and, and they have legitimate money, you know, several hundred thousand, whatever, that they want to invest somewhere. And they're kind of coming. They're coming to me saying, hey, you know, you have ideas, things that we can do. How. How would you handle that? I, you know, obviously I have some ideas, but at the same time, I'm like, man, I really want to respect that opportunity and, and do the most I can for them. Not just, oh, hey, you could go buy this, this, or this, you know.

So essentially it's, hey, I'm an investor. I have a half a million dollars, and I would like to invest. What are your ideas? Okay, so first and foremost, the. That's great that they came to you. The next step is to find out what they want to accomplish and what their risk tolerance is.

Okay.

So if I've got an investor that comes in and they're in their 60s, I'm going to ask them, how do you feel about risk versus steady income? Okay. Because while we could go do a flip, and that seems really exciting, and that's why you came to me. Are you going to be okay losing 10,000 of your 490,000 if this thing is not profitable? Because I can't control the outcome. Right. I can buy the best deal, but I can't control the market. Right. And I want to make sure that I'm accomplishing your goals through this. So if they're like, hey, you know what? I don't want to do flips, but I kind of like the rental income. And then you start talking about, okay, well, what kind of rate of return would you like to see on this cash?

Right.

Some people have a lower expectation. Some people have a higher expectation, right? So somebody's like, I want to see 10%. You're like, okay, that's going to be really hard to accomplish inside a rental property. Unless that 10% is including, you know, your tax benefits, your depreciation, and your cash flow.

Right.

So maybe they want to see, you know, a 3 to 7% return. Well, maybe they want to buy rentals then. But at age 60, do you really want to buy rentals?

Right, right.

So again, we're trying to figure out what they're trying to accomplish first. And then if it's like, hey, really, what I want to do is I want my $500,000 to grow by 7 to 8% a year without it being risked in the stock market. Cool. What if I showed you a way to be a private lender that would loan on properties that I'm buying? So I'm taking the risk, and you're in first lien position, and I could pay you 7% interest, only payments a month, and then when I sell that property, you get all your money back, and then we can go do it again. And so as long as I'm moving that money, you're getting a 7 to 8% annual return. So we have to walk them through and see what's really important to them before we can direct the investment. Because that person. Let's change the age. What if that person comes to you with a half a million dollars and says, I'm 40 years old, I got a half a million dollars in cash. I want to buy one rental property, and I'm going to go, cool. What do you want your retirement to look like? Well, right Now I've got $500,000 and I want to create passive income. I'm like, okay, cool. Do you need passive income right now, or is it more important to create benefits down the road from owning multiple rental properties? Well, what does that mean? What does it look like? Well, then, based on the risk tolerance, I'm going to take that $500,000 and show them how not to buy one $500,000 house, but how you could buy six $300,000 houses.

Right.

And this is what your leverage looks like. This is what your cash flow is going to look like. But hey, we don't need passive income right now. We want it in 20 years. And if we have six properties versus one that we get to appreciate and depreciate over time, you're going to see that value. So I always like to go to the example of, okay, one house over 10 years at 6% appreciation. Yes, you owned it free and clear. That money gave you a 6% return on your money. Right. But what if you had six of those that were leveraged that all appreciated 6% a year, and you got to depreciate them on your taxes and. And you didn't create cash flow, which you didn't create a taxable event during the Time you were making good money. And now you have these six properties that are almost free and clear 20 years later that have appreciated and gone up, and so your leverage is a greater return. So every investor is different based on their goals, not mine.

Yeah.

So, but a lot of times their goals line up with something that I'm doing or strategy that I can create for them.

That's awesome. That's awesome.

That that's really where the investing side comes into play, is like, again, understanding how the lenders work, you know, where the loans work, and then being able to know and pinpoint where that investor wants to go. And sometimes by asking those questions, them lending money nobody's ever talked to them about. And that really appeals to them. Right. So now you've given them options rather than, let me go show you freaking one $500,000 house, rather than going through the work of, well, what if we could do two houses? What if we could do three based on what you want now, you just created, you know, $3 million worth of sales rather than one $500,000 sale. And guess who benefits? Everybody.

Yeah. And. And when they hit their timing of when they need it and the market's squirrely, it's not the one house that went in the tank. There's some options and things going on.

Right.

Yeah. Okay. What, what would you. Another kind of. Kind of similar, but more specific. I had a guy that came and said, hey, you know, I'm in an investment with some people. I'm probably going to be looking at about 130 to 150 grand. That's going to come out of it later this year. I'm super interested in multifamily. That's kind of where we, where we started and we're going to talk about it more. What are. Yeah. What are your thoughts on that?

So multifamily versus single family.

Mm.

I think it depends on geographic location because some cities have a great multifamily option. Our city does not. Right. They stopped building multifamily back in the 70s. And it stops in areas you may or may not want to own rentals in. And if they are good multifamily, they're in super high end areas, which. It doesn't create cash flow, it creates problems. Right, right. So here's always my thing with multifamily, first of all, asking them why. Right. Why multifamily? Right. And most of them will tell you, well, multiple units, one building, blah, blah. Okay, that's great. We want to go through comparison numbers wise. So I gave this comparison recently, right. Go out and look at all the four plex as you can find in the area they want because that's typically what you're going to find in the multifamily. With 150 grand to put down, you're not, you're not going to be looking at a $2 million apartment complex.

Right?

Right. Because you're going to have substantial, you know, money that's needed and 10% probably isn't going to be enough. So you got to be careful where you're playing. So most people, when they start, it's like, hey, the fourplex, okay? So you can go out and look at fourplexes and then look at the rents in comparison to the price, okay? So if the average fourplex is 600 grand, you're paying $150,000 a door, okay? Now each door has its own air conditioning, has its own water heater, has its own bathroom, its own kitchen, right. You have four single family homes, okay? Now if you can buy that, and let's say all four of those doors rent for $1,000 a month, it's $150,000 purchase price, raw numbers, it's about an 8 to 9% cap rate. Right. But we haven't capped for expenses yet. That's a gross cap rate. Now, you also have long term liabilities on all four of those units. Okay? Acs, all the other things, right. If I take the same number. And so by the way, that's a $600,000 complex. I take the same number and I say, okay, what If I bought two $300,000 homes, two less AC units, two less kitchens, two less tenants, two less leasing fees, right. Those two to $300,000 homes rent for $2,000 a month each. It's the same income, but less long term liability. And you can split the investment up, right? If I want to sell this one to move it on, I can if I want to do this right. And, and there's more inventory to choose from in the single family rentals than there is the multifamily.

It's true.

There's more people vying for that. And some of the multifamily here just isn't in great. You know, we call them C and D class neighborhoods where it's not the upper end tenant tour. You can go buy a single family home in a reasonable upcoming neighborhood that might appreciate better. And the other thing too, about fourplexes, we're not factoring the same appreciation calculations that single family has. It's all based on cash flow sure. So people, people buy value based on cash flow in multifamily. They don't buy it based on what the appreciation is going to do to the property. Now I'm going to go one step further on that. Sometimes it's looking at the four plex, like one that I recently bought it, we paid 500,000 for it. I think it's $4,500 a month in rent. It's a good unit. Excuse me, but the lot that it sits on is surrounded by higher rise multifamily. So we're looking at not what it is, but what it could be. So I'm looking at the cost of a 1960s building and the footprint. Can I take this to an 8 Plex? Can I build something new here down the road? So sometimes it's also looking at what it could be in the future. And that's going to be part of the investment.

Yeah.

Strategy.

That's, that's how I wish I owned a few of those dump fourplexes in Tempe that now are the footprints for these massive.

Dude, we don't, we don't want to talk about regrets because, you know, whenever I go back to the 2008, 2009 days, I can tell you in Sunny Slope, we were selling four plexes that were completely boarded up for 15 grand. Like, you think about what you've paid 15 grand for in the last year.

Yeah.

And I'm thinking about how many units I could own back then. But this is the great thing where you're at, Sean, is you will mentally be prepared for no matter what market is doing. Right. If it's up or down, if it starts to go down, you're going to go head deep in the investment mindset. Right. Because that's when people come out of the woodworks. Right. If I was investment mindset in 2008 and I wasn't worried about making commissions on sales, things would have. Life would have been a lot different.

Right.

But I didn't have the mindset, so I wished I had had more of it early on. And I wish I, you know, I wish I knew now what I know or whatever that is. Right. What I know now, back then, it would have been a lot different.

It's true. That's true. Yeah. Plus in that whole fourplex rundown, when your D class neighborhood tenant, you know, recreational uses on the weekend and burns the whole place down, then it's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Then you've just impacted all four instead of just one of them. But no, exactly. That's good, man. I'm curious your, your thoughts, if there's still a minute for it, on some of the no cash creative like subject to, you know, I know a lot of that's like hot topic being thrown around more just your thoughts on that style of investing or ways of, you know, getting into properties.

I love that style of investing. You know, when you can do something where I mean the simplicity is, you know, if, if somebody owns something free and clear and you can show them how to create income by doing a seller carry, it works great. Right. It's a, it's a great way. We bought some stuff on seller carry and done really well on it. It's a great way to start. It's also a great way to learn to have the conversation with people. Right. So I'm not scared. A listing appointment to ask somebody if they own their house free and clear, if they'd be willing to sell it on terms.

Right.

Because they may never have thought about it. Well, tell me more about that. Right. But if nobody's presented it to them, they're not to. Going, going to. And again, it comes into how you present it to those people. You know, as far as the subject to. It can get tricky, but it can be done. I do like it when, you know, especially in older people, they're not going to need the mortgage anymore and, or somebody's passed or somebody's sick and you can take over that mortgage, then it's a great strategy to take those on. So it's just being aware of your surrounding. Right. It's like the coaching that I did last year was really situational awareness. The better the questions we ask, the better the conversation, the better we can guide somebody and give them options to choose from.

Yeah.

And that's, that's really the goal on the investing side is that, you know, as real estate agents, we walk into opportunities every day, but we don't know it's an opportunity until we ask the right questions. And then it's which solution do I have? Can I pull out of the bag that's going to solve the problem for this person and make it a win win situation for all of us. Is it a creative financing deal? Is it a seller carry deal? Is it sell it as is cash? Right. And so then we've given them the arsenal of options and if they choose to put it on the market, great. If they choose to sell it creatively, great. Right. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah.

It just kind of goes on perpetually there.

No, that's awesome. Yeah, I was just curious because I see a lot of benefit to it and actually the third transaction I ever did was subject to wrap, which if you want to get confused and complicated in your third transaction, transaction in real estate. But, but it, it sold a house that was going to get foreclosed and it got myself and my team lead paid, which was. There you go, awesome. But I, yeah, I hear the back and forth.

More importantly, more importantly, it was a solution that created a win win for everybody. Right. And that's the kicker is like, yeah, it's going to go to foreclosure, but if I can catch up on the foreclosure and keep the 3% note on it, then yes, it's a great deal because then it cash flows, right. So it depends on where everybody's trying to get to. And it also helps the seller out because it's going to help their credit by a house not going into foreclosure, catching up on the payments and then making the payments. Good. So it's also showing the seller the benefits of taking over that mortgage when it comes down to the creative side of things.

That's awesome. That's good. What, what spaces or places? You know, I always hear and believe in and agree with that whole idea of like get in the right rooms. And I know you mentioned some of the like real estate investing ones. What are some of the specific spaces or, or things that you would say, hey, as a brand new person, just step into this, like target these ones, like get into, do what you can to get into these rooms.

I think the rooms are going to be a gravitational pull from your personality, right. Because you're going to resonate with certain people that you're like, I'm drawn to that person. To where you may not be drawn to this person or their style, right? So you want to find the people that kind of match your style and your energy and look for those rooms, right? Make those people the people that you follow. You slide into their DMs and you know the one thing that I can tell you that's really helpful to understand when you're like maybe wanting to introduce yourself to someone or whatnot, find out how to add value to them in order for that value exchange, right? The worst thing you can do is DM somebody and go, hey, can I take you to lunch and pick your brain. You're like, so you want to buy me a twenty, twenty dollar hamburger when I'm making five hundred dollars an hour So I can just give you this.

Stuff which, which I have to throw in there is, Steve, what I, what I love about you, one of the things I love about you and your, your personality is that you were cool enough even when my dumb self, what, three years ago was like, hey, man, can we meet for coffee in Mun's Park? Because I was clueless and knew nothing about how anything. You were actually still cool enough to do that. So I, I hugely appreciate that, but also appreciate you pointing out, hey, also pay attention and know, you know, that this is the way this actually works. Sure.

But you also got to remember that we were in Mun's park. And that's kind of my, you know, I'm going to be down there having coffee anyway. So it's a kill two birds with one stone. So it was like, I'll, you know, join for the company. Right. And it was a neighborhood thing. So there is some things with that. But when you're, when you're reaching out, you know, I've had some people, I mean, I had one agent say, hey, I just want to spend the day with you. I will drive for you all day. I will shut up unless you give me permission to talk. I just want to hear your phone calls and drive for you and let you be productive.

Right.

That's a way of like adding value to a day that I have to give somebody that time. So when you do that, you know, I've reached out to some people, like, dude, I'll make a $200 donation to a charity for a 15 minute call with you, or $5,000 to a charity to, you know, whatever. Right. So those are ways you can lean in and get around those people.

Awesome. Awesome. Cool, man.

Sean, it was so great. I, the questions were awesome today and I love that you're, you're newer in the business and you're, you're learning some of the investment stuff and I think that that is a great path and I'm gonna, I think you're gonna be a great asset for your clients because you are for learning how to connect the dots. Right. And make things come together. So I appreciate you being on here because I guarantee you there's a bunch of other agents out there that have the same seven or eight questions that you do that you really helped add value to their life. So thanks for being here. I appreciate you, Sean. Have a good day.

Awesome. Thanks, Steve. You too, man.

Hey, if you enjoyed that episode with Sean, I would love for you to subscribe like and follow anywhere that you can on social media and would love for you to share this if it was super impactful to you. And hey, by the way, I want to remind you about the Limitless. You can go to limitlesscircle.com and check it out. It is a low investment, thousands of dollars of monthly value that I'm giving to my community. So join their limitlesscircle.com and check it out. And let's keep building wealth, life and legacy through real estate. Have a good one.