The True Value from Understanding The Real Estate Game | The Real Estate Revolution | Episode 6

Coming up on this episode of the real estate revolution.

And I think a lot of, A lot of. I know a lot of people in the, in that same, in that situation. They're single, single moms. I have a passion for, and I don't even know if it's possible legally having some sort of a, an investment collective where money is pooled or it's partnered or there's some, some way that money is kind of like you can invest in this fund. I don't know if it's a REIT. I don't think it's a REIT because REITs are, like, publicly traded. I don't, I don't even know because I don't know enough.

This episode is so full of great questions and great strategies. You are not going to want to miss this. Make sure you listen till the end. Welcome back to another episode on the Limitless Real estate podcast. We're talking about the practical, tactical real estate life, wealth, and legacy. Today, I'm joined by a newer agent, Kristin Lima, who is here in my backyard that I just found out. She's down the street. So we're throwing oranges at each other and she's got some great questions about what brokers to choose, where to start on the investing side, how not to sound like one of those lame cold and caller and text people. So we're going to dig into it and we're going to talk about the practical and tactical and see if I can't help some of those questions out there. Just like what Kristen has. Kristen, thank you and welcome. And I appreciate you doing this and the impact that it's going to have. For those that are listening, thank you so much, Steve.

It's super fun. I'm excited to be here.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, where do you want to start first? It's your interview.

Yeah. So I'll just. If I can just give you some background. So I've been in the online marketing coaching world for the last seven years. Before that, I was in the fitness industry. I've been an entrepreneur twice. I am very entrepreneurial in the way that I approach everything. And so my mom's been in real estate for 2,800 years. You know, she's mine, too. Love you, mom.

Mine too.

And she's hustled. Right. She's. It's always been get. It's just a sales job. I'm not looking at my, you know, venture into real estate as a sales job. Sales that pay me, you know, money. Every time I sell something, I'm looking at it from a business standpoint. So I want to learn. Even as like, as rookie as I am, I legitimately got my. Passed my exam two weeks ago.

Awesome.

I just welcome broker. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm clear on what my vision is long term and it has to do with being on the investment side. So as someone new, what I'm being told is from, from, from the traditional kind of, you know, resale, retail side is I have to do that as well. I'm willing to pay whatever dues I need to pay. And also that's the focus. So the investment side, the business side, I want to learn everything about the business of real estate investing, wealth building, all of that. And so I did interview four, four different brokerage companies. I ended up.

What was your experience with, with the four interviews?

Um, you know, being like brand new to this industry, not brand new to business or entrepreneurship, but being brand new, there is this feeling of like, I don't know. I already know. I don't know what I don't know. Sure. And so I got some guidance from a friend who's been with said brokerage number one. She's like, they're great. Their fees are low. The best thing I can tell you is go with someone who's not going to take all your money. And I was like, okay. So I met with them and I was pretty much just like. She was like, I'll mentor you. And. And I met with her and she's not a mentor. She's not, you know, she's. And she's not on the investment side. And I sat there and I listened and I was like, I don't think this is a fit. And she's a friend. And so I just kind of pulled back a little bit over the next couple of days. I just started doing some more searching, but talked to someone in that brokerage that had. Was apparently, you know, investor friendly or worked with investors or had investments or had done flips. And he again, I'm so big on energy. I'm so big on like, am I connecting with this person? Can I do I want to spend a bunch of time with this person? The answer to that question was no. Nice guy. Just the answer was no. And then I just kind of kept doing that process. Really. I mean, I'm the kind of person that taps into my own intuition and how does this feel to me? And met with another brokerage company that was what I would call very bro ish.

Very like fist bump, chest bump type bro ish.

Well, a little bit like Real salesy. Like, let me tell you, let me tell you what you need to know about being with a brokerage company. And, you know, I just kind of sat back and listened. I'm, I'm, I'm open. And again, energetically, I'm like, I. I'm not going to do well knowing myself. I'm not going to do well in an environment where someone's just talking at me. Right.

Okay.

And then third option was someone who was on a team. And the thing that was just. I couldn't get my mind, I was like, was this. We're going to all the sales that come through. You need to get that, that all of the sales, if you're on that team, all the sales go under that team member's name. And I don't, I don't think that's gonna work for me. And then I met with a very dear friend of mine, and she and her husband are investors. They have a whole investment side of their, of their business. They're willing to mentor and coach me in that area. And so I went, I went with her because she checked off all the boxes. You know, I had the boxes of what I wanted to learn. It's all about what I want to be exposed to, the kinds of buyers, the kinds of clients that I want to work with, the kinds of things that I want to learn about. And so she checked off more boxes than everyone else did.

So let's, let's just go through it. You know, from that standpoint, you said something that was very intriguing, that I think people need to understand is that, you know, you're getting into the business not just from the sales aspect side. You want to learn the investing side. Right. And so a lot of people get into it just to be in the sales. Kind of like brokerage number two, you're talking about. Right. It's all sales and it's. That's what it's oriented around. It's not sales plus opportunity. So if we talk about if your mom was in real estate. My parents were in real estate. Right. We saw decades of grinding one sale after another. But I don't know about your mom. Does she own some real estate? Did she own some real estate? Right. Okay, so you're taking some of your past and what you saw, just like I did. And you're like, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to try to do it a little bit differently because have you ever asked your mom, does she have any regrets?

I don't know if I want to Open up that can.

But I like to. It's kind of fun. I mean, me and my mom get in a pissing contest about. No, no, she's, you know, they were very versed in it and they loved it, but they never sought the opportunities, even though they were around it. So it's kind of like the amazing part about when we start this business is that brokerages, when you start, it's all about the sales, the numbers, the transactions, and it's very little about the opportunity. And are we really helping people? And it actually, to me, sometimes when you look at people, I've got a transaction going on right now, and, you know, the guy's signature line is like, you know, I'm an expert in real estate guidance, and I'm listening to the guy on the phone going, this guy is like, if I could call your client and tell you, like, you're totally getting screwed, I would, right? But I can't. But you're like, does the general public do any checking on the people that they actually meet and hire? Because it's very frustrating, right? So the brokerage piece, though, is really important. A lot of people don't realize that a brokerage is a place to start and you're probably not going to be there for your life, right? There's going to be changes. So in your case, if you found somewhere that felt that was good and they're going to train, the training is the critical part of right now. Because there is a lot of things that you don't know, a lot of blind spots, a lot of things that are going to be really important. Having that initial hand holding is really important. I'm going to go back to something everybody might have missed as well. The one friend of yours, it's like, oh, we have really low fees and I'm going to mentor you. Okay? Those are the two things that if you're going into a brokerage or a team and you're new in this business and the only thing you're focused on is. Is splits and low fees, you're in a lot of trouble because you're going to have to learn that part of getting into this business is an investment of commission that you're not paying up front for training and mentorship. And until you're really good at what you do, you have to realize that that's part of giving this up. By the way, if you look to any other business, you can't go into a doctor's office and be a doctor and go, yeah, I'll give you 50% of whatever surgeries I do for the next 10 years to pay for your schooling. No, you have to pay for that real estate. We don't have to. Right. So I think you made a really good choice of going somewhere where you feel you're going to get that. The only thing that I would say on that is that it's kind of like hiring and firing. Right. They say to hire slow, fire fast, same thing. You did a lot of interviews. A lot of people say a lot of things at the beginning. And if you're not getting what you're needing, you're going to start now. And I say this very specifically. We're not talking about money. We are talking about if you are not getting the training and the mentality and the things that you want, then you start looking again. I think that's important. So I think you did good with where you're at. And I think that the question is, where's it going to be? I think one of the things you probably talked to a lot of brokers about, though, was your intrigue in business and investing. And interesting is that if you actually took a survey, I don't know the exact numbers, I'm just going to throw one out there. Opinion. I would say that 80% of the real estate brokers and managing brokers in the country don't own any real estate. And so they are not going to be very investor friendly. They don't own it, they don't know anything about it, and they just think there's a lot of liability to it. Just my opinion from the people that I've talked to. So I find it very interesting from that standpoint because they're certainly not going to push on it. So good. All right. That's a good start. So you're talking about the investment opportunity. So where do you want to go in your career? Like, where is that starting? Because there's a lot of people out there that are same as you are. Right. I think one of the things that's changed about real estate is there's a lot of social media that's plugging a lot of glitz and glamour on the investment side, and that's where they want to go. So let's kind of talk about what your true goals are in what you want to accomplish.

Yeah, so my dad was in construction, so I grew up on job sites. I grew up smelling, you know, the sawdust and the. And the here and the nails. I feel like it's in my blood when I think about selling a home. I'm like, meh. When I think about going in and looking at the structure and being like, we can move this here. We can move like, my mouth waters. I'm like, I feel like I could do that all day long. Now that's a piece of it. Being able to. I love finding deals. I love being like, this is, you know, whatever it is. Doesn't, doesn't have to be my first, My home that, that I bought, my first home was gutted. We walked in and I was like, we were looking at move in ready homes. I picked the one that's, that's gutted. Like, this is the house. This is the house of the floor plan. So for me, I want to be able to learn all those, those moving parts about rehab, you know, refinit the whole BRR method, that Brrr method, hold, sell Airbnb. I want to learn everything about that. My. I don't know if I want to share my vision because it's really, it's, it's, it's really weird and it's really big, but I'm going to do it anyway. What drives me is, so I'm recently divorced. I've been a. Not a non W2 employee. I've been an entrepreneur for the last 12. On paper, I, I don't look good. My income goes up, it goes down. I don't have all the right. I don't have the qualifications for traditional lending.

Okay.

And I think a lot of, A lot of. I know a lot of people in the, in that same, in that situation. They're single, single moms. I have a passion for, and I don't even know if it's possible legally having some sort of a, an investment collective where money is pooled or it's partnered or there's some, some way that money is kind of like you can invest in this fund. I don't know if it's a REIT. I don't think it's a REIT because REITs are like publicly traded. I don't, I don't even know because I don't know enough. But I want to have the ability to fund with private money or private investor money properties for. I don't want to say it's not, it's not, it's not underprivileged, but it's like the people who can't get traditional financing. I'm thinking right now, right off the top of my head, my sister, she's a W2 employee, but she doesn't have the traditional 20%. I want to be I want to ultimately, and we're talking down the road, be a provider of financing for women who want to buy their own home. Women who want to buy their own homes. It's a, it's a big, bold way down the road vision. But that's what, that's what drives me.

So here's the cool thing, is that while that's part of your vision, that's also going to be part of your learning. You know, here's, here's what I thoroughly believe in, is that if you can learn how to do it for yourself, you are of a better value to your clients. As far as a value proposition. Right. You've been in the health and fitness space. Right. It's like you can't be a personal trainer and teach somebody how to get healthy if you're not healthy. Right, Right. So how do real estate agents teach people how to invest if they've never invested? But we do it all the time.

Yeah.

Our industry is full of people, right. That will sell an investor a property, but they know nothing about it, which sometimes is okay and sometimes turns out to be a disaster for those investors, especially people that are first time you know, wanting to invest. And that's, that's one of my passions and my goals is like helping real estate agents to understand the investment game because they're missing the opportunities not just for themselves, but for future. And like your vision is, hey, if I can learn this and understand it, how many more people can I help along the way by understanding it? Right. Which again is where, you know, the real estate license and the amount of opportunity that is possible is all connected. Right. So many people want to separate it. There is no separation. Right. Because if you're truly building a business that is very versatile and you're on the investment side and you're on the first time home buyer side, you're giving them the practical, tactical of the investment mindset. Right. How to go through things, which is a lot of what I do with our clients is, you know, I believe that everybody that's buying a home is an investor. So I treat everybody that way. And we, you know, eventually there's emotional decisions. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I are doing it, we have clients doing it, but we still have a lot of conversations around investment money, how it's moving, breathing, and so it's a long learning process. But it's one house at a time, it's one experience at a time. And when you don't know something, you dig into it. Like, how is this Possible. How are people doing this? So I love the vision.

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks. I just, I, my, my, I'll just tell you my trepidation, my fear is that I'm going to be steered. Right. Like, because I don't know that I'm going to be steered more towards that resale retail side. Like what you. And again, like, I don't, I don't want to say I'm not going to do that, but how can I be exposed to? I'm going to look at every single opportunity that I sit with someone. I'm going to look at that from a business standpoint. It's just how I, it's just how I look at it.

Let me, let me give you the tactical to that.

Yes, please.

You're only going to be steered toward resale and residential if that's all you're focus on.

Okay.

Right. So. But I also want you to understand that if you change your messaging and your marketing and your studies and your habits, that with every retail client comes an opportunity for the investment side. Because we're connecting. Yeah, we're connecting the dots. This, this is where, this is where the investor side of the business fails to see the opportunity of holding a real estate license. You see, if you just wanted to do investments and you were really good at marketing and you're like, okay, I've got this great marketing pitch and I've got leads coming in and things like that. You're like, hey, this is a first time home buyer that wants to go out and look at houses. Who do I know that I can refer that person to and make a 25% referral fee off of? Because I really don't want to spend the time doing that. Now the only drawback to that is you're not building a database and a clientele and you're not getting experience. Because I believe that, you know, there's a lot of people in my position to be like, oh God, you still go out and show houses? I'm like, actually I do. Because here's what happens when I go and show a first time home buyer house. I see opportunities next door in the house. I'm showing them. You know, my wife and I were out walking an open house the other day. You know what we saw from the deck, the trashed house next door. Do you think that's a target? So if you're aware of the opportunities and what you want, you will constantly see those no matter what part of the business you're doing. I can't tell you how many Houses that I've shown, when the buyer walks out, I'm like, oh, you don't like this one? Are you sure you don't like it? Because as long as you're sure you don't like it, I'm going to go buy it, right? And I have those conversations because there's opportunity. So. And I think that you, if you stay up in the residential and the retail side of things, it's the experience that you need. If you're flipping a house, you're connected with what's happening in the market, right? That is one of the reasons that we have done so well is that I'm very, very still connected in the retail side. So I can see what the retail side of the business is doing, which gives me an idea so that when I'm out on the investment side, I'm connecting those dots, going, well, I know right now, in today's market, if I buy a house in comparison to two years ago, I have to budget my flips for closing costs. I have to budget for a little bit more holding time, right? If I was just doing investments and I was doing a flip. If you were doing, if you were doing, let's just say you were an investor and you were doing one flip and you started it in April of last year and you completed it in January, and if you lived under a rock, you, you would know all this stuff that was going on. And all of a sudden you come to market, you're like, what the hell happened? Right? Because they're not involved in the traditional side. Now, most people are not just flipping one house. But do you see what I'm saying? Because we're so involved in it, you can switch back and forth and this is where, where you're starting, what's going to be really important. The investment side is a lot of fun, but for the next year or two, depending on your grind, you want to learn every aspect of the traditional side. You want to be out there working with buyers and sellers because you're perfecting your pitch, you're practicing on things. So one of the things that you would do is like, let's just walk through some real quick. If somebody calls and says, hey, Kristen, I'm thinking about selling my house, you're like, great. What questions are you asking and are you practicing? You're not going to practice on them, you're going to practice for yourself. Hey, these people want to sell their house. If this house is in tip top condition, what can I put it on the market? If it's crappy condition, what should I be buying it at? Right. So you're practicing from the traditional side and the investment side because I can tell you, once these businesses ideas merge, you are going to have a call from a seller that says, hey, my mom is sick, she's lost her marbles, we have to put her in her home. And I'm desperate to sell this house. I don't have time to put it on the market. I need to get this old. And if you're the traditional agent where you don't have that ability, they're going to sell it to somebody else that can pay cash for or connect the dots. And my goal when I go into the house is to connect the dots. They know all of their options when I'm there and they get to choose which adventure they want to choose. Right. And a lot of times people do choose to just sell me the house. I've gone through them. You can get this much, it's going to be this amount of time. These are the things you can expect. But we can also go this way, which is more convenient and less cost, but you're going to take a little bit less money for it. Or are you okay with that? Right. People think that there has to be this, you know, douchey way of buying a house from somebody below market, and that's not what it is. When we buy houses, we're solving somebody's problem.

Right?

Right. And we've given them the option to go both ways. Some people never even get the option to go both ways. They are just so sold a bill of goods. And so that is one of those pieces, the other piece that's really important that you can do as an agent, you now have access to the MLS. There's this one search criteria in everybody's MLS's. It's called Fix up needs repair. Right. If every morning you said, I'm going to be an investor eventually or I am an investor, if this opportunity crossed my path, do I know what to do with it? You're going to go out there, it's probably vacant. You're going to set an appointment and you are going to go play investor. You're like, I have cash going out to buy a house today, but only the right house. So you're going to go to that house and you go, okay, I'm going to look at the comps, I'm going to look at what it possibly needs and then I'm going to run my numbers and say, I could buy the house for this much. And if you're really brave. You're going to write an offering, you're going to send to the agent, you're like, you know what? This is what I got, and here's why. Here's my numbers, here's what needs to be put into it, here's what I'm willing to pay for it. Let me know if that works now.

And then you find a buyer.

Well, you could find a buyer. You could spend your time negotiating, practicing, and then go, oh my God, somebody actually took it. Now what do I do with it? And you're like, I don't know what to do with this. Cool. That's called say yes and figure it out later. Because guess what? You still have an inspection period. You can still cancel. Nothing set in stone. The only thing that's really lacking is going to be earnest money, depending on if you have it or not, depending on the other agent. So my point is, is that if you part of your due diligence right now as an agent, this is where some agents will sit around. They're like, okay, I want to learn the business. So I'm going to sit here and I'm going to wait for the phone to ring. I'm going to wait for an email to come in. And then they do this all day. When the reality is you could go look at five houses a day, practice numbers on, and get really good at knowing the neighborhoods. Hell, go take a walk every morning. My wife and I have been walking every either morning or night in a neighborhood where we want to build a house and knock one down. So we are looking every day. Here's my target, here's my target. And we go home and we look at Monsoon and I circle some stuff and we go, okay, let's start making target practice until something hits. So the one thing that is really prevalent in this business, a lot of people don't understand, is that activity generates activity. If you're sitting around waiting for stuff to come to you, it's not going to produce anything. If you go out every morning and say between 9 and 11 o', clock, I'm going to find one house to go look at and know my numbers on, I'm going to practice on it. And the funny thing is, is like, you could also look at wholesale deals that come across your desk and go, okay, I don't like that one. What would I pay for it? And then you're going to track it for six to nine months, right? What did somebody actually pay for it? Oh, it came back on the market, which you can set Up a search in MLS by address so it comes back on market. And then you're like, okay, I'm going to go look at it. I want to see what they did to it. I want to see what their profitability was, how much spread was in it. Right. So you learn by two ways. You either learn by practice or you learn by experience. Right, by the braille method.

Yeah.

And so in your case, have you done any flips? Do you own any investment properties?

No.

Okay, we're. So let's. Again, we want to have a starting point. Starting point. Do you own the home you live in now?

I, I, I don't. I. Okay, he got the home. I, I'm renting.

That's okay. Yeah, that's okay. So in your position, there are, there's another search capability. Right? So you're, you're in a position where a lot of people get right. It's like, okay, I just went through a messy situation. This is what I have. Okay, I don't have a lot of money, whatever the case may be. So the myth is I can't afford it, I don't have any money, and what am I going to do? Right? So how we break those myths is there's another search criteria in MLS called seller financing, lease option, seller carry. As far as new financing terms, now we want to go look at what are those? Right. Do I have any way to negotiate a deal and can I get good at what the questions are? And you'd be amazed. I have a client right now that just sold their commercial building, was zero down at a 4 and a half percent, 30 year fixed interest rate to the tenant that's in it because they really like the tenants and they really believe they're good people and they need a break. And I'm like scratching my head going, okay, this is my point, is that if you went to somebody that you found and you're like, hey, you start that rapport, that relationship, and you're like, would you be willing to do a seller carry? For me, here's my situation. This is what I'm doing. Um, like there's so many ways to structure things. And so being an agent is thinking way outside the box and having the limitless mindset of anything is possible right there. There are no limits in this business. There's some rules that we have to apply by. But if your main rule when you're dealing with somebody is, I want to figure out how to create a win win situation that works best for everybody, you will win every time with that Mentality, because that's character and integrity when it comes down to it. So your beginning stages are doing some practice. If you truly want. On the investment side, you know, you start going to. There's tons of meetups. There's Phoenix Rea that Chris Iman does, and then there's asria. Anybody that's out there in different parts of the country, there's all kinds of RIAs, which is real Estate Investing association something or other. You can Google it, right? There's all kinds of investment meetups. You go to be around other investors, you know, and if you go and you're like, yeah, I'm new, people will just throw up all over you.

In a good way.

In a good way, right? And I think that one of the pieces about investing that is going to be really critical as well. When you want to start investing, you're going to want to start looking at things like, where am I going to get my mentorship? Am I paying for some coaching? Am I learning it from this standpoint? And do I have somebody that I can go and find a deal and make a little bit of money, but also have an agreement for them to, you know, coach me or teach me through something? You know, one of the things that I do with some agents and investors is like, I will help you put it together, but I'm going to take a percentage of the deal, right? So that I. So they can help and learn through it. Because maybe they don't have money for coaching or training or those types of things. So it's important to see, where can I be useful and where can I get into somebody that might be doing this on a bigger scale that I can at least see, right. And be willing to give up your time, right? There's. There's three things that we have. We have time, talent, and treasure, right? If right now you're starting the business, guess what? You have a whole lot of time. And if that time can be traded for knowledge, that may be where it is. Because eventually you're going to be trading money for knowledge, right? And then eventually, you know, you have your. Your talents of, okay, maybe I can do this for somebody, or whatever the case may be. So those are some things that we have to think about. You know, I remember an agent calling me and going, I don't have any money to pay you to coach me, and I really can't be in your group. I have no money, but I will drive you all day. I'll shut up in the car. I'll ask you a couple of Questions, but just to be around you for a day. They were being resourceful, like, well, if I'm not doing anything today, I'll, you know, I'll go sit behind the steering wheel, right? I'll listen to the phone calls, conversations, whatever. And what's really interesting about that is that that is how I started in the business was with my dad. My dad maybe sit at the edge of his desk for two years, listening, watching, learning. You know, the old school way, right? There's. There's no if. If real estate agents truly wanted to get into the investment or the retail side of things, and they said, you know what? I will work for $40,000 a year doing whatever you tell me to do. Whatever. I don't care if it's picking up your dog poop. I mean, I used to do that for my dad when I was getting my real estate license. Right. It's like, I will do anything for the opportunity to be around just the knowledge and the conversation. It would be priceless for most people. All right. I think I totally just, like, went off on a tangent. So you had some other questions. So let's go into a couple more questions here.

Do you have them in front of you?

Because I forgot when I asked. I do, I do, I do. One of the things you talked about was just, you know, how can I fast track my learning on the investment side, you know, without having capital myself? Right. There are people in the business. So I want you to think about this and you can say, yes, I do, or no, I don't. Either way, being in the different industry that you're in, would you say there is a Contact one, maybe two people that you know are somewhat wealthy people?

Yep, 100% right there.

Okay. Everybody else has those as well. Those are the people that I want you to think about. And I will tell you the exact conversation that I would have with those people. This is where people fear this conversation. But I want you to understand that you are not asking for money. You are presenting an opportunity. Anybody that is wealthy is going to do two things, especially if you know them. They're going to be willing to look and listen to any opportunity that's going to give them a rate of return. If they know you, they're also going to be willing to have that conversation. And if they see the ability that they can help you do something, they will, because it's a double whammy investment helping somebody, and I'm getting a rate of return. Okay. The conversation is very simple. Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Smith. I wanted to let you know that I just got into real estate. And don't worry, I'm not asking you if you know anybody to buy or sell. I have some opportunities that I'd like to present to you. Do you have time for coffee or a phone call? Because I want to show you some of the things that I'm doing and there might be some opportunities for you to create some wealth or income through this. Would you be willing to.

Okay, now, is that something that I do? I noticed you didn't say the word investment. You said opportunity.

Exactly.

That's on purpose. I don't want to say the I word.

Yeah, no, it's on purpose. But it depends. I mean, it depends on who you're talking to. Right? It's an opportunity to invest. It's an opportunity to make a great return on your money. It's just different, right, because people that are wealthy, they get pitched investment ideas all day long and they don't want to have the door to door salesperson that's like, I have the next golden goose because it's not what it is. And it could also be prefaced with a conversation of, hey, I have a great idea that I would like to share with you that both of us can create income and wealth. Would you be willing to listen? Right now, the rest of that conversation is showing them. Okay. Hey, Mr. And Ms. Smith. You know, I want to let you know, like, over the last couple of years, I went through a really hard time, divorce and everything. The first investment property I'd like to buy is something for myself, but I need private financing. Can you share with me what kind of rate of return you're currently getting on your investments? If they have $500,000 in the bank, they're not getting anything on their return. If you had that type of money and I could find a house that would work for myself and it would take me one to two years to refinance it. Would you be willing to be my private lender?

Right.

It sounds. It sounds simple. It really is. But we have to get over the fear that we're asking somebody for money, because we are not. It is an opportunity.

I don't think I'd have a problem around that. It would be knowing how to. Knowing how to look at, let's say, like look at a property and be able to value it. Look at the opportunity to be able to value it and tell them that that's the nuts and bolts.

Okay, here's the deal. You don't need a property right now. You need an Opportunity. Because what's going to happen? And it goes both ways. Right. You can have this conversation now or later, but this is also a great way to make some connections right now and let people know that you're in real estate without telling them I'm a realtor. Right. Because what's the first thing your broker is going to do? Go tell your friends and family that you're a realtor now and then tell your friends and family, I know you know 12 other realtors, but I'm in the business now and I would like to experiment on you.

Yes. Everyone and their mother, including me and my mother now are. Yeah.

And my mom's mom.

Right.

I mean, she passed away, but yeah. So. Yeah. So, you know, it's, it's one of those things that I would rather approach the conversation from that standpoint because wealthy people know other wealthy people and when you impress a wealthy person, they refer you to a wealthy person. And I'm not talking about maybe for their sales and things, I'm talking about for the investment opportunity. So that's just one thing. The other thing too is you can't be scared of finding an opportunity. Like I said, if you're writing contracts on things and all of a sudden you're like, oh my God, what do I do with this? If you find a really good opportunity, I guarantee you you'll find the money.

I'm actually, I'm actually, there's, there's enough people in my sphere that I'm actually not worried about finding the money.

There you go.

I'm more worried about finding like having it all. Here's your, you know, here's the opportunity. That's it. Right. And I know that will come.

I get that it will come. But now you have to determine are these going to be partners or investors? Right. Because they're going to buy the house, they're going to pay for the repairs, you're going to manage it and you're trying to help them. So you have to be careful because if you screw something up, it will be the last time they do it.

Yeah.

Right. So you got to be careful with what you are doing. So don't go and experiment on a really good friend or client and then lose a bunch of their money. It's not going to go well for you.

Yeah.

The other thing that you asked about was just finding off market properties that work. Right. Without spamming people. That is the age old question. Because that's the age old question for any real estate agent.

Right.

Here's what I'll tell you if you're approaching the business from the standpoint of opportunity will always come with good conversation and rapport and relationships and if you will have relationships around real estate other than the typical real estate conversations that people have. So I'll give you an example in just a second. Is opportunity wall of a sudden come out of the woodworks, right? Because you had a relationship with your neighbor and you went to their dad's birthday parties and you acted like you actually gave a crap because you actually did. They're going to call you and go, hey, my, my dad just passed. You know, we need to sell his house. We really don't want to do anything to it. What do you suggest? And you go, well, we can do these options. What do you think? Well, you can buy it, right? Because you had a relationship, right? So that's where opportunity comes in. Sometimes those opportunities are three, four, five years out. You never know when they're going to happen. But I can tell you, because of that way of running our business, they happen all the time, right? But we have to or we should. I don't say have to. You can have whatever conversation you want. My opinion is, is that our business is no longer that sales position because there's so many options for people right now, right? You have discounted brokers and you have expensive brokers and you have cash buyers, you have online buyers, you have all these different things. How do you become the authority amongst your sphere that you are a problem solver? I don't care what you want to do or what they want to do. How can I solve your problem? Who do I need to connect you with, right? That is how you're going to be there when opportunity strikes. Because somebody may be like, hey, you know what, we're ready to sell our house, buy another one, blah, blah. And you're like, hey, you know what? I really would consider keeping this house as a rental property. Can I connect you with a property management company just so you can at least have a conversation about the numbers and so we can really look through it as to maybe this is a good wealth building piece for your future, right? You just talked yourself out of a job, but what you did is you just in the short term, but you just built confidence, right? So it's, it's really being there to guide people and understand. And if you go from agent to investor, which is why I'm doing this podcast, which is why we do our video courses and things like that, is so that agents can be of better service to their clients. Because I honestly believe, like, if you are very well rounded and you're not just going in with your listing presentation, which usually is an ego presentation, it's about how great you are, how many houses you've sold and all the things. And to be honest with you, nobody gives a shit. They want to have a genuine connection about can you solve the problem that I have right now? And the only way we can solve the problem is by truly asking better questions and having better conversation with them. Because some people at that appointment are embarrassed that they don't have the money to fix it up. I can't tell you in my past or how many people do this. They walk into the appointment and they're looking around at the house going, oh, my God, they live here. You're like, okay, so in order for us to get this price, we're going to do paint, carpet, go through this. Little do they know they are broke, they are embarrassed. They don't know how they're going to feed their kids or pay the next mortgage payment. But nobody asked, right? They're just instantly like, hey, in order for us to get this.

And really saying is, in order for me to make this sale, in order for me, right?

Well, in order for us to get the top dollar. But the reality is they don't act, ask, like, what is more important, top dollar or timing, Right? Is there motivation? Are you behind on your payments? You know, when you go into a house like that, it should be like, okay, there's something going on here. And I'm not sure what it is, but we need to find out so that we can help them properly. Sometimes it's putting it on the market, sometimes it's not right? But creating that opportunity to know what they need is the important part. Telling somebody that they need to put 30 grand in their house because the house next door is remodeled. Maybe they don't want to. Maybe they're like, hey, you know, we have enough equity. We're good with taking $100,000 less. Just get me out. And the sooner the better. Like, can we do this in seven days? No, but I can probably do it in 10, right? So it's getting into that type of conversation with people and it truly comes down to if you can learn. So as we, as we kind of like wrap this up, you know, it's. Here's some of the steps you want to build relationships with people. Not from a realtor side, but from a friend, a colleague, whatever that that may be, right? Those relationships should be dripped on and communicated with in A non salesy way, how am I adding value? Right. If you had 25 people that you knew and you sent a text out, hey, have you ever thought about keeping your house as a rental? Why or why not? Simple question. You didn't ask anybody to sell their house. You're collecting data, you're thinking about things. If somebody said, yeah, I've been thinking about it. Cool. Can I connect you with a property management company? Oh, and if you do rent this out, where are you going? What are you looking for? So you see how we can have these, these, these little conversations that are value add rather than staying away from just sold. Here's a picture of my dog and my clients with a key. Right. Like I'm telling you, you want to do some market research? Just go through Facebook and look at the real estate posts.

Yeah.

And just realize that the posts are really very egocentric. They're more about the realtor than they are about the client. And so, you know, if you do a good enough job for the client to ask, hey, I want to get a picture with you so I can post this. That is true fan, right?

Yeah.

If you are getting the picture to post for you, that is not a true fan you're trying to feed. Right. I know that that's market proof, but I think that it's the other way around. Right, right. So, you know, and the practical tactical also is how are you practicing on a daily basis? Because eventually you want to do this. So you know, I got a text message from somebody other day, they're like, hey, I want to buy this house as a short term rental. What do you think? I'm like, okay, here's 12 questions. Who's going to pay for the furniture? Who's going to pay for the payments? Who's going to manage it? Who's going to. Because it was out of town, here's all the things. The only response was, I don't know. I'm like, well, until you know, you shouldn't buy anything. So again, if you're practicing for yourself, look, you live in the Glendale area, right. You go around and you start understanding what things are renting for, what things are selling for. Because you want to know both sides of it. Right. Market knowledge is really your best friend. Because I can tell you, you know, in Arrowhead, around my office, in some of the areas we own rentals. So somebody gives me an address, I can pretty much tell you what I might be willing to pay for it or if I'm going to get really excited about it. So Take the mentorship you're getting in the traditional space very seriously because it's going to be very important. You want to learn all of those beginning stage realtor stuff because it is going to be severely important to your future. So as much as you want to jump into the investment side, you can be learning that, but the retail side is going to be very important for. For your future opportunities.

Okay, I have one. I have one question.

Absolutely.

Open houses, yes or no?

Yep.

Okay.

When you're starting off. Yes, but do it different. Okay. Open houses are a way to question people. Open houses are a way to build rapport. They're going to meet. Wendy and I did it the other day. It was so much fun. Here's my advice. Before you do an open house, I want you to go to 10 open houses on Sunday. Go be a buyer. Like, like, do a survey form that you're going to fill out on every agent when you walk out and go, how did I feel? What questions did they ask? Did they do a good job presenting? What does it look like? And then go see what you don't want to be.

Fricking love that. That's brilliant.

Because, I mean, we were just in an open house on Sunday. We told the lady we lived in the neighborhood, we were looking for a bigger lot. And she asked like, well, she didn't ask like, what do you think about the house? Does it work? You know, know, does it need to be like, does it work? Anything? And then on the way out, she's like, yeah, you know, if you know anybody looking to buy or sell, the neighbor, just have them give me a call. Okay. Let me write this down. Because we were out on our walk, we had our water bottles with us, but it wasn't like, is there anything get for you? Like, are you curious? Like, right, so I'm serious. Like, you want to know what not to do?

Yeah.

Go to some open houses. They're super fun.

It's great. Thank you.

And you know, go out there and then, you know, start building your story. We didn't talk much about social. I don't. I mean, if you've been in the fitness influencer space, you've probably been around the social media stuff, right? So I think it would be very, very good of you, which is a lot of people won't do. In fact, I've recommended to several people. They still won't do it. Just talk about your story, right? Like, hey, these are my struggles today. I'm a new real estate agent. Or, hey, today was really fun. I went out to 10 open houses, and this is what I found. I. I realize now my competition is very slim. Like, don't talk too much shit about people, right? It's not fun, but you start sharing and having an impact on other people, and people start following you because they're like, God, this girl is like, going through it or you're going out, right? You want to be an investor. Guess what? Nobody knows you're an investor or a buyer if you don't talk about buying houses. So if you got up every morning and you said, I'm going to go look at a house, and you're on your Instagram going, you. Yep, here's the house I'm looking at today. I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but I'm going to practice. Here's what I see, right? Make it fun, because you don't have anything to lose. Nothing, right? So as you start that journey, somebody may be like, hey, what are you doing? How do you like it? Right? Somebody may be looking for an investment property, or somebody may see the property. That. That's why you have to be careful with what you talk about the property online. Because if somebody's like, I would like to buy that house. What's the address? Cool, I can meet you over here at 5, right? That's, you know, my guess is if you were in the health and fitness, you probably have a decent following.

Yeah, it's not bad. It's.

And pretty good. That's a. That's a whole other tapped or untapped resource, when it comes down to it, is that space. And what I know about it, because I come from the influencer world, they're making a lot of money and nobody is guiding them on where to put it. So if you start to understand the investments or you go out and you're like, hey, I'm looking at this house today. You know, it looks like it needs, you know, about $30,000 worth of renovation. You could buy it for about here, and it would rent for about here. This would be a really great investment opportunity. Now you're mixing it up. And I had a hard time early on trying to figure out, like, how do I mix the traditional and the investing? And guess what? It all ties together, right? So don't be scared to talk about investments and putting it out there, because you may not, you know, somebody that follows you or knows you may be like, oh, God, I never thought about that. Maybe I should buy a rental property. Hey, Christian, what's the deal with the rental property? Thing. Right.

Okay. So share the beginner journey is what you're telling me.

Do it. Don't be vulnerable. Walk through it.

Special sauce, right? There's authenticity and. Yeah, okay.

Yeah. I mean, you will gain a lot more following from where you're at. And you know that that is just one of those things that if you can be vulnerable, you're like, I'm starting this new career. I'm starting over. These are the things I've gone through, and I'm gonna freaking crush this. So feel. Feel free to come along with me for a ride. I'm gonna do some investment, experimenting. I'm looking at different things, and it's gonna be super interesting.

Right.

And the more interesting houses you can show, the. The better your stories are going to be. Engaged.

Love it. That was. I loved everything you said in the last 45 minutes, but that was priceless.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you for joining. I hope you don't mind, but I want to get a picture here if you're good with that, and I will share it with you because it's so much fun. All right, smile. Kristen, thank you so much for joining me on this podcast and really helping make an impact. You guys. You had some great questions, and I think it's really going to impact a lot of people. So thank you for joining me and I wish you the best of success and we will stay connected because, well, you're not that far from the office and we'll probably run into each other.

Thanks, Steve.

Have a good one. If you are looking for a real estate strategy or coaching, mentoring or community to belong to, pop over to Steve D. Valentine and let's connect. This is a place where everything lives, and I am hoping to help you build your real estate wealth, life and legacy.