First Deal Episode with Dylan Palmer

Focusing on one market with Dylan Palmer  as he talks about closing on a 36-Units apartment complex in Lexington, KY

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
For more educational content, visit our website at www.diaryofanapartmentinvestor.com
Interested in investing with Four Oaks Capital?  First step is to schedule a call with us. 

----
Dylan Palmer
We are buyers with private family office capital and large institutional JV equity partners. We are actively looking for direct deals and can also co-invest as a GP with quality operators who seek active capital partners. We protect buy-side brokers for true off- market deals. We have active 1031 exchanges in progress.
Connect with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-palmer-a85128153/
Follow him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dylan_palmer13/
Or Email dpalmer@urbanrenewalpartners.com

----
Your host, Brian Briscoe, is a co-founder and principal in the real estate investing firm Four Oaks Capital.  He and his team currently have 629 units worth $36 million in assets under management and are continuing to grow.  He will retire as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps in 2021. Learn more about him and the Four Oaks team at www.fouroakscapital.com  or contact him at brianbriscoe@fouroakscapital.com - be sure to let him know where you found him.
Connect with him on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Transcript

Brian Briscoe: 0:00

What advice would you give an aspiring investor that's you know six to 12 months behind you really focusing on one market

Dylan Palmer: 0:06

you know one or two markets that you really like whether it's you know, personally you have family there or you know somewhere that's within you know, whether it's 15 minutes or two hour drive somewhere that you could be that you could drive around and kind of you know, start looking at real estate and looking at the market you know, go you know, Secret Shop in a sense and go just find out kind of what's happening, what's, what's going on, and really hone in on one market because having good relationships with 123 brokers is a lot more important than having you know very partial relationships the 20

Brian Briscoe: 0:46

Welcome to the diary of an apartment investor podcast with your host Brian Briscoe. In this podcast we bring some of the top professionals in the apartment investment field to discuss various aspects of the apartment investing journey, with the sole purpose of educating listeners to make wise investment decisions. The Diary of an apartment investor podcast is sponsored by four oaks capital bringing you high yield returns through apartment complex investing. Welcome to the diary apartment investor podcast. I'm your host Brian Briscoe with four oaks capital. I'm very excited for today's show. It's one of our first deal series episodes and we have Dylan Palmer with us who recently closed on a multi use commercial property with a 31 unit apartment complex on the on the property in Lexington, Kentucky So that said, Dylan Welcome to the show.

Dylan Palmer: 1:30

Thank you for having me Brian. How to be here.

Brian Briscoe: 1:33

Yep, yep. So very impressive what you've done I you know, we've talked about this before and I'm super excited to dive right in for today's show. But before we start I want to ask one question just just to highlight something that the people usually look at as a liability. How old are you?

Dylan Palmer: 1:50

So I am 20 years old I graduated this past May

Brian Briscoe: 1:54

okay I graduated from San Diego State University if I'm not mistaken which is my wife's alma mater so nice and we want to talk about the football game online.

Dylan Palmer: 2:03

Yeah, we will we were already the back and forth. Yeah, yeah.

Brian Briscoe: 2:07

So get the ball bounced the other direction so to speak, maybe we would talk about it but there we go. So uh, let's start with this. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Dylan Palmer: 2:19

Yeah, so your name is Dylan Palmer just graduated this past May I grew up in Huntington Beach California. My parents you know they grew up in New England kind of over here on the East Coast met down in Florida and then came out to be a part of you know, the entertainment industry for my father and then when I was a part of Marriott, so both w two incomes and you know, kind of grew up always loved math was always into finance. And always be you know, being good at it. I had a good friend to introduce me to get in kind of a math book outside of class and I distinctly remember you know, go into that same store buy the math book to try to beat him at it. So I've always had had a niche or a kind of entice draw towards math and that kind of led me down the avenue really a physics initially which kind of was the mix of math and science in the physical and in bringing science into the real world. That's where I first found interest and I ended up talking to initially major in physics when I went to San Diego at the same time, my first semester the the group of people that I was kind of surrounded with and then also the material just kind of fell interest and fell out of interest for me. So I transferred over to the finance department in business and that's where I really found my skills you know, coming into play and I fell in love with finance and it was with the right people and I think my personal skill set has really shined with finance and then that's kind of you know, brought me to to my point in real estate and that's kind of all the background

Brian Briscoe: 4:06

Yeah, I mean being good at numbers is important and incidentally, I have a bachelor's in math as a minor in physics you know so at one point I would say for me it was the opposite I was good at math growing up but I didn't like it didn't really start liking it until my senior year in high school and that's that's when I decided to major in math but you know almost opposite direction you know you you like math up front and you know switch gears and I want to do something besides math and decide decided to do that but yeah, knowing knowing numbers and being able to to be able to take advantage of that that knowledge in real estate and underwriting is extremely helpful so so graduated in May let's let's talk about how you got into multifamily

Dylan Palmer: 4:49

into your previous point. You know, one thing about you know, being well equipped with you know, knowing how to perform math and in numbers, one of my favorite parts, you know, Really about finances that you're taking you know these numbers that are on a sheet of paper you know you're taking these numbers that are kind of abstract in a sense and then being able to translate those numbers into paint a picture for someone just the average person who doesn't really understand you know those whatever level of math it is for them to be able to understand and paint a picture for them to to be able to digest and feel confident and making a wise decision as really you know, kind of stems my my appreciation for for math and what I've found right now

Brian Briscoe: 5:32

you know, and I, I've always been good at numbers and I've likened it you know, I don't know if you've ever seen the movie The Matrix you know where you have ones and zeros coming down and I don't remember the character name in the movie but Keanu Reeves is able to see like pictures inside there and I don't know for me that's that's that's the best way to explain it to somebody else is you know, I read numbers like a lot of people read a book you know, you look at the numbers and you can see trends and that's something that's extremely beneficial especially when you're looking over things like you know, rent rolls and T twelves. and stuff I mean, it may seem pretty boring but if you're if you're able to read those numbers like other people read a book you know, you can see things a lot of people won't

Dylan Palmer: 6:15

right and there's a lot of you know, on I'm seeing value that's that happens especially with mom and pop owners or people who have been doing it for 20 or 30 years who have the same building, there's a lot of numbers and issues that they don't really pay attention to. And that's where you can really find you know, really be able to create value you know, especially in apartments and commercial real estate investing specifically.

Brian Briscoe: 6:38

Alright, so before we jump into this deal cific deal sorry, what is your your motivation for doing this what I call your big burning Why?

Dylan Palmer: 6:47

Yeah, my real motivation, I was very, I was very fortunate growing up to where I had parents who were really involved in my life and my social, whether it be in school out of school sports, and I really would like to do that for my children. So my Why is to be that kind of role model that my parents were to me and be able to be that person who can take a picture with them on their first day of school, you know, can be able to take them up and take them to ice cream after can can coach their little league team can can take them to gymnastics, whatever it may be, to really have a strong presence and be able to build them into you know, a really family oriented and and, you know, a leader in their own sense.

Brian Briscoe: 7:25

Yeah, yeah, love it. I love it. Alright, so we're switch gears right now talk, you know, deal specific stuff. And first question I want to ask is, you know, how did you educate yourself in the multifamily space? That's that's a great

Dylan Palmer: 7:42

question. And it really comes down to to the old saying books and tapes. Kind of Yes, the best way that I found education and a lot of it's free nowadays which is great whether it be YouTube or podcasts or reading books, a lot of my education came from you know, the typical BiggerPockets podcast especially and then now kind of the more multifamily route whether it's Michael Blanc or Jake and Gino but I'd say that the most education that I actually received wasn't during that time of being out there to learn and read and listen to podcasts the most education and the most value that I got out of you know especially learning in my you know, my first few months was actually doing it so however you're able to you know, go out and talk to whether it's talking to brokers or underwriting deals or I remember you know my when I first started my partner told me to go you know go sign the CA for for this property and I had no idea what gay was right very basic thing and I but I figured it out and that was my best the most education that I got was was through figuring it out and I think that's a that's a great way to take action learn

Brian Briscoe: 8:54

you know, you bring up a great point and you know, our backgrounds once again are very similar and incidentally this comes up a lot on the podcast is you know, there's only so much you can learn by the books and tapes method you know, the the podcasts and the books and whatnot but I felt the same way I mean once once I started once I realized that I would learn more by doing I almost stopped listening to podcasts you know, I probably went to set for a while I was listening to podcast everywhere I went you know, probably 234 Real Estate podcasts a day you know, I wish this podcast was was around you know, three or four years ago because I think it's great but yeah, I was listening to Michael Blanc I was listening to Jake and Gino I was listening to the rod Cleese of the world and the Joe fairless is and you know what, once I started getting my hands dirty, and started putting stuff into action, I was learning a lot faster and it almost got to the point to where you know, podcasts were no longer my go to for learning. You know, just jump rolling up my sleeves and jumping in and it'd be You know, my preferred preferred method. But in the

Dylan Palmer: 10:04

podcast, they're huge. Just in the education, they're fantastic. As far as, you know, short term energy and motivation and learning, you're able to really expand your knowledge and feel as if you are doing it. And that's what's really great, because podcasts and education and books, they really can bridge the gap between not doing anything and doing something because it gives you whether it's a false sense or a true sense of confidence, it gives you enough to gives you enough, you know, motivation to start taking action, and then that's when you really start taking off and learning exponentially.

Brian Briscoe: 10:34

I think that was a key for me to the podcast kept me motivated, you know, sometimes I'd learned stuff, sometimes I just hear somebody's story and be like, man, I can do that, too. Or I want to do that too. And a lot of times, it just kind of fueled the dream for me. And, you know, maybe I didn't learn you know much about the business. But I also think that's important as well, you know, fueling that dream. But let's, let's talk about, you know, how you met your, your business partners, can you go into give us a short history on on how that came about?

Dylan Palmer: 11:06

Yeah, so I met them through through LinkedIn, I'm a huge LinkedIn guy, I love the platform, I think it has great reach. And they have a great algorithm in order to not only promote content, but also show you content that you're intrigued in. And basically what I did was I sat down and I created a three step kind of, I wouldn't say it's a program, but kind of a, you know, a list of things that that would, you know, ask someone, and then initially started with initial connection with adding a note of saying, who I was, and how I how and why I'm reaching out. And then the second one after we connected was, you know, saying, Hey, I'm skilled in x, y, z, and I really want to be an x, y, z, and I see that you're doing it, you know, what is it like, don't don't ask for 15 minutes of their time. And after, you know, between, you know, 50 to 100 times, just like reaching out to people and getting on the phone and talking to them. I met a guy named Gary Martinez. And Gary Martinez was an industrial broker out of Southern California. And he, you know, my last question was always, you know, what, what's your biggest problem, and the biggest problem at the time for him was, you know, finding space for his list of tenants to be able to rent out, and he gave me an opportunity, and I started cold calling for him. And, and with that, you know, I made 100 calls a day for about two months and, and we were able to get them to pieces. And with that, you started to invest in me. And one of the things that he did was he invited me on to a past and President wrote president Roll Call of CCM presidents, which is a national, you know, commercial brokerage fraternity, in a sense,

Brian Briscoe: 12:45

it's kind of a, it's a big deal amongst the brokers and people who are inside not just the brokers, but people who are inside the business. So that's, that's a big deal is what that is.

Dylan Palmer: 12:54

Yeah. And I didn't know at the time, I had no idea what a CCI M was, I was just very lucky to be there. And I took advantage of it by asking every person on that call, the same exact three questions. And, and along the line, I met a guy named Robert Lee. And Robert Lee is in the medical office space and medical office investing. And he was started a an apartment arm of his business. And that's where he kind of took me on as initially to build systems out for the medical side. And he saw my interest in apartments, and he brought me on as an acquisitions guy. And that's kind of where my initial start happens in the multifamily space. And I'm more than happy to share with anyone, you know, my kind of system that I used in order to get on the phone with people through LinkedIn and reaching out and kind of have like a template that I'm more than happy to share with all.

Brian Briscoe: 13:42

Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great way to do things. I mean, LinkedIn is a great platform for protecting for professional relationships, you start professional relationships, you took advantage of it, you reached out to a bunch of people, you were focused on the type of person that you wanted to meet and learn from, and that eventually made connections. Now a question I asked you a couple weeks ago, I'm gonna re ask you again here, but how many people do you think you reached out to on LinkedIn? And how many people did you get on the phone?

Dylan Palmer: 14:12

Yeah, so so that's a good question. I actually looked back, you know, going through, I started scrolling through all of my messages. I mean, I have to say, so I, you know, it's to your point earlier, LinkedIn, and it's just such a such a solid platform, especially for people, you know, of my age, where we don't have that sense of credibility. But LinkedIn has that, that that sense of credibility and professionalism to it to where you're, you can kind of be that person that you're trying to be and kind of present yourself as one of the big things is like I started out with like five connections, and really just poured my time into it posting every single week. And now I'm up to you know, almost 1300 over the over the last year, which is more than my Instagram Just because you're putting more important more effort into it and it's great because after a you know a couple of weeks my my peers and friends started come up coming up to me and they're like yo you're like you're doing you know you're doing shit that's awesome you know that they think that you know I'm really part of it and I'm very you know happy that I can be able to add value to them and be a resource for them most of my peers it'll be you know three five years down the road when we'll start you know, hopefully having conversations when they you know get interested in real estate investing specifically that person that they think of

Brian Briscoe: 15:35

Yeah, you know, and that's something I found with social media as well is you know, your friends and family that you may not think of connecting with a lot of them will self select and reach out to me and you had the exact same thing happened to you so you know, lesson learned right there you know, use social media as a tool you know, for helping your business grow and you know, if you're looking for passive investors if you're looking for partners you know, whether you're doing JV syndications or whatever you think things a great place and social media is a great tool to be able to announce to the world what you're doing and people will come you know so if you're doing it right so so let's let's fast forward here so you know lots of calls lots of messages on LinkedIn lots of lots of phone calls linked you up with you know your your eventual partner tell us about finding the deal now

Dylan Palmer: 16:30

Yeah, so it was it was no no easy route it was very difficult I do admit it took me you know, took us nine months kind of from when I started and that was you know, during school so a lot of my hours outside of school I'd be taking the time underwriting and and it's no you know, it's no small time commitment for the amount of underwriting and how much work you do in front of an Excel sheet. But to answer your question, we started you know very very broad and our sense of markets and that was kind of where we started with with Kentucky Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida all that kind of is sunbelt where everyone else is focused and it took a took a while to gain traction with brokers and talking with that many brokers at the time with my current schedule it was difficult to really gain traction as a relationship and being 3000 miles away and just communicating over phone and email didn't help at all did no but your yeah and that's you know, took a long time and it took us nine months but we fortunately were able to we had a 1031 kind of one of our investors sold with his personal assets and we had a TD and he was an attempt 31 so it was our job to kind of find him his his three bullets that he could use in that catalyst really, you know, boosted our you know, credibility amongst brokers, especially here in Lexington and that's where we found you know, I was on there at the very last day our last bullet was on this property right behind me and something that I never realized till I'm looking back at it is like those nine months right it's like the actual offer from you know, sitting down and submitting an offer and getting accepted was like you know, an hour or two hour process Yeah. And that whole entire nine months but you know, it seems like it's a waste but really it's like those nine months prepared you know me for to be able to execute those final two hours and be able to get a deal like this. So I'm just very blessed and happy that I've been a part of it.

Brian Briscoe: 18:30

Yeah, I'll tell you you know it's very similar situation you know, not not downplaying anything but you know, saying a lot of people who who get to where you're at go through the same process you know, and over those nine months you got a lot better at what you're doing newer you gain more confidence, like you said, and you were able to build those relationships with with brokers, it doesn't come quickly, you know, so I see a lot of flashes in the pan people who say they're gonna do it and they realize I think when they realize that it's gonna take nine months to a year before they get a property under contract, you know, a lot of people don't stick with it, but but you did, you kept on going, you kept on pushing through. And, you know, finally, you got, you got a deal under contract. And one more point I want to double down on is, you know, when, when brokers are talking with newer investors, you've got to be able to convince them that you're going to be able to close and having you know, 1031 money in your back pocket, can you get alone is is one question that brokers are going to ask, and can you can you bring the rest of the money to the table, that's really what the brokers care about, can you bring the purchase price to the table within the contract time, you know, and if you can do that, you know, you're going to be one step ahead of everybody else, but having that 1031 money in your back pocket, you know, is going to put you above a lot of other people who are dealing with the same broker or bidding on the same properties.

Dylan Palmer: 19:52

Exactly because of that, you know, to your point it's, it's the efficiency in the in the accuracy of closing, you know, between two bids. Under the same price one being a 1031 buyer one not more likely that they're going to you know the the seller is going to choose the 1031 buyer because they have to close you know they have to identify you're using one of their three you know bullets those are those who aren't familiar with the 1031 you have to use you know, there's only three properties to identify or it's I think it's a there's a certain value threshold i think is the other kind of qualification. Yes.

Brian Briscoe: 20:26

Yeah, I mean in general you have three properties that you can select you know, at the 45 day mark and you have to close at the 180 day mark and incidentally and this is very coincidentally is this morning's podcast episode 190 I think it was is on 1031 exchanges so I literally just just recorded a 10 minute snippet on that you know, about two hours ago so But yeah, I think you're absolutely right since since you have a timeline you're up against the clock you're going to close you know so the if you don't close you're going to typically pay a very large capital gains tax bill you know, including depreciation recapture taxes and everything else. So there there's a lot of incentive with somebody with 1031 money to actually close more so than somebody who you know, may or may just be bringing personal money to the game. Right, exactly.

Dylan Palmer: 21:17

Yeah. And that's and that's you know, someone who is you know, we were you know fortunate to have that kind of position and if you you know, if you find yourself in the same you know, basket use it to the full advantage while you have it.

Brian Briscoe: 21:29

Absolutely. Alright, so calling a lot of brokers you found the deal, tell us about the deal, what you liked about it, and what the business plan is, yeah,

Dylan Palmer: 21:38

so this deal, it's actually right behind me so if you're watching it, you can see the the retail portion, it's a mixed use asset so it has five retail tenants in the front. And these retail tenants are really kind of that health and wellness lifestyle focus brand, Amazon resistant, is really kind of what we focus on something that that it's not like a JC Penney or Macy's where Amazon kind of come in and you could just buy it from there for something like this, it's those gyms, the boutiques, more of a you know, kind of the you have a seafood distributor here. So it's very localized and it's in this area here is really known for its, you know, local local locality and they're, you know, this neighborhoods very special here. So we like to have the fact of its triple net, you know, it's something worse commercial long term leases, very predictable cash flow and in rent increase bumps, so it has a good cushion, you know, where we can kind of be confident that we can have a good long term view. And then in addition to the five retail tenants, we have 31 apartment units in the back, and that is where we really saw the value at the time. The owner ethic I put it for 12 years, and there were 11 vacancies when we put it in the contract, one of the biggest, you know, concerns that we had was you know, why are there so many vacancies and the first call that we had with the owner we asked him you know, one of one of our biggest concerns is the 11 vacancies Is there a reason why and he was he didn't he was confused he didn't know he actually had no idea to ask you know, his his office manager at the time who was the property manager? Yeah, you know if it was true and she's like yeah, yeah it is and the first day of DD when we flew in here you know, I there's no marketing online there was no kind of posts that I was available I had to see there was phone number on the on the front of the building and I called the number and the phone line was dead. So it was kind of like you know, all those boxes were checked and it's great to be able to foresee the values you're creating a solid marketing system you know, using applications that are at our disposal and technology that's available today to be able to really create a strong ecosystem and around dragging, dragging in leads and we found that you know, show Mojo has been a very solid tool for us. And then really, believe it or not, has been facebook, facebook marketplace, it's free if you just create kind of a sub account from yourself as the property and post it on Facebook, we get you know, at least one or two leads every single day and these are you know, kind of the core demographic that we're trying to reach. So those have been really you know, successful factors in that and with those, not only were we able to really increase the occupancy being kind of a value add portion, but also the average rents were around $500. Most tenants have been there for a long time. So we're able to kind of go in immediately and renovate those 11 units and be able to get you know a good premium and we've been able to get 699 and every single those unit, those units we closed in July, and we're officially have nine out of the 11 rented. So, two months we've been able to get you know solid tenants in there and I was putting together you know our I put together an investment update every single month to our investors in This month we had an increase you know at $25.84 of our average rent across the building so that you know capped out over those 30 unit 31 units is you know taking that yearly cap divided by the average cap rate here which about you know five cap is$184,000 in future value so power of the cap rate and being able to provide you know not only value to the investors but also value to the tenants whether it's safety you know a better living situation then also you know creating jobs for you know contractors and subcontractors and lenders and and it's been a it's been a fantastic experience you know be part of it

Brian Briscoe: 25:43

Yeah, absolutely and I mean fortunately you know a lot of the value add was just management you know, getting a good leasing agent you know, or a good property manager you know, somebody who can answer the phone you know is simple you know very very simple solution to a problem you can go from a 21 out of 31 units occupied to I think 20 or 31 you know 11 units down so you know rough math in public you're at like you know 65% occupancy and to go up to close to 100 I mean essentially all you have to do is put a phone number on there that works and somebody on the other end that can start leasing it out and very simple value add but yeah so and I understand you're doing some some renovations to to bring things back up to to market level what type of renovations you guys doing.

Dylan Palmer: 26:33

Yeah, so with these ones, we're going you know, kind of, you know, very standard so it'd be new paint, new flooring, new appliances, new lighting is kind of our big kind of core aspects there there was carpet in all of the units before so that's kind of like one of the big changes and it is great to be able to take that and be able to use some agreeable gray you know, nice fresh paint and new appliances and LED lighting and low flush toilets to where we can you know, make it something where it's a very kind of core markets you know, looking unit here in Lexington and we're able to get you know, in reflection those market rents Yeah,

Brian Briscoe: 27:15

yeah, absolutely. So I think that's a very smart combination you know, management efficiencies you guys are working out and you know, just you know $25 you know, a month times 31 divided by a cap rate is a lot of money no so i think i think you're you guys were very wise to jump on this one. And incidentally, you mentioned this earlier I'll just recap you know, the five retail you're there you're gonna have a very different you know, return profile. And like you said, the benefit of retail is there's some very consistent predictable rents because the tenants are are signing long term contracts. And the contracts typically have the rent bumps built in you know, year over year rent bumps, and it's it's consistent money, you don't necessarily have the same appreciation that you might in multifamily, but at the same time, it's a very consistent cash flow that you know, when you look at the overall the overall project, you have five units with very consistent cash flow and you've got, you know, 31 units where you can do a significant value add, I think that's a winner all the way around. So let's talk about good.

Dylan Palmer: 28:17

Yeah, it really helps kind of with just kind of risk risk adjustment, right? Because you have the two aspects you have you know, that's really important what kind of tenant mix you have, and having that you know, pad in order to you know, you can cover your expenses and your debt service with the retail, but then you have that kind of upside with the apartments that really, you know, you get a good return and risk profile with the mixed use asset.

Brian Briscoe: 28:42

Now, what was the 1031 investor The only investor in this case or do you have more more people involved?

Dylan Palmer: 28:48

Yeah, so that's a great question. We actually ended up not using the 1031 investor in the money that he had to do 1031 heat up going with a different project different group, which was totally okay so we had to raise money and we syndicated this through you know, a group of a group of high net worth individuals that that have had relationships or my partners have had relationships on previous deals with and just kind of been being being in the industry over the last you know, you know, 20 years or so they've had their kind of own contacts and we ended up syndicating with you know, a smaller group but it was you know, we raised the equity

Brian Briscoe: 29:25

right? Yeah, yeah, I mean that's a good thing you guys are flexible enough to be able to shift on that one because you know if you're if you're banking on one person coming in and doing the entire you know funding and that one person drops out you know, a lot of people are scrambling You know, a lot of people end up you know, wondering Okay, what what are we going to do now but you guys were able to quickly fill that gap and get get the ball rolling again. So you've talked a little bit about capital raising, you've talked about some of the the capital expenditures, your renovation plans, you've done sense let's talk about the closing process. Were there any big hitches Getting across the closing line.

Dylan Palmer: 30:01

Yeah, I mean, the first thing that comes to mind was, you know, the bank, the bank appraisal, you know, when you're working with a bank, it usually takes a pretty good amount of time. So you got to be very careful and make sure you allow enough lead time when, when the bank, specifically the appraisal, because of you know, the current environment that we are in, and that we were in the lead time was was pretty extended. So it was a good four weeks before we were able to actually get, you know, an appraisal date set, and then also to be able to receive appraisal from the bank. In addition to that, you know, having the getting the inspector out here and getting someone to be able to do an auto survey and engineer, everyone was very booked out in advance. So that was something that, that we had to be very conscientious of as far as a timeline, we did have to, you know, extend one time and then do the amendment. But, you know, we're very thankful that the seller was willing to work with us on that, and were able to get all the information, you know, in under, you know, within a good timeframe.

Brian Briscoe: 31:02

Yeah, yeah. And incidentally, you know, the, the bank, the lending is typically the single longest process and everything and every time we've extended, it's been because we were waiting for, you know, lenders almost every single time, you know, sometimes it takes a while for those third parties to get ordered. And sometimes, you know, the third party providers, you know, the appraisers take a while to get out to the property, but just just understanding that will will help you, you know, navigate the process when the time comes.

Dylan Palmer: 31:31

And now, like, when we look at our, you know, we look at deals now, make sure I, you know, we schedule out ahead of time, and we're ready, you know, because to give enough lead time just in case because it because it cushion, you know, sometimes you didn't and usually get it gets, you know, a bites taken out of that time.

Brian Briscoe: 31:48

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, something that, you know, a couple of gurus I've heard say, they'd say, delay spending money, as long as possible delay spending money, it's a risk capital, you don't want to put that money at risk. And on our first property, we delayed the loan application fee, you know, and this particular lender was charging the third party reports upfront before they would put the application or before they've processed the application. And I'll tell you what, that almost came back to bite us at the back end, because, you know, we had we ended up waiting for that lender to be able to close but yeah, I think it's a it's a risk either way, you want to get those third parties, you want to get that the lender working as soon as possible. So, you know, some, there's, there's a nice little balance point somewhere between, you know, let's let's make sure our risk capital is not going to be lost. But at the other point, you know, making sure things are getting done fast enough. So anyway, that said, let's see, we talked a little bit about first steps after closing. Oh, incidentally, when did you move out there?

Dylan Palmer: 32:54

Yeah, so really, it was it was perfect timing. So I, we went under contract, April, March, March, April, and then I graduated in May. And we were set to close you know, July 14, and it was kind of a situation where, you know, everything kind of lined up perfectly, or I took kind of a leap, a leap of faith in a sense, and kind of just, you know, got in the car and my mom came with me and and we drove across the country. So I landed here, left there about July 5, and going to drove across the country and I've been here since you know, you know, July 10 ish. And it's been a, it's been a great experience, you know, being on site and being able to, you know, really work hands on with our onsite manager and I have to admit, you know, learning some of the nuances such as I know how to, like, you know, fix a faucet now I know how to replace you know, a tub stem, it's just pretty cool stuff, is experiences that I don't think I would have been able to get, you know, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Brian Briscoe: 33:54

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I mean, that kind of segues right into the next question, you know what what's next for you?

Dylan Palmer: 34:01

Yeah, that's that's a great question. I think x for me is really kind of staying here and you know, creating a good network of brokers here in town and also owners and be able to find you know, more deals similar to this and kind of you know, you know, work in the acquisitions role, you know, a lot more confident now kind of going through the process, you know, of renovations and knowing kind of you even down to like a square foot basis of what each of his kind of everything's gonna cost us. So now I know like, it's gonna be about $8.50 a square foot, you know, depending on the building that we can get for a nice clean renovation, this could bring us up to par with this building here, and be able to attract a good tenant base. So be able to take that information and now being on site when when I get a, you know, call from a broker, about a property that may be coming to the market or something that's kind of in his back pocket. I'm able to get my car and drive and be there within you know, 10 or 15 minutes, which has been very valuable and been able to really, you know, enable gain some some nice traction. So we're looking at more deals here in town and, and, you know, hopefully with with the path that we're going right now that we'll be able to scale this, you know, into a couple 100 units here.

Brian Briscoe: 35:11

Awesome and just rewinding you know, if you were to hit the, you know, go back 20 minutes in the podcast button, you mentioned that one of the biggest challenges Getting Started was trying to invest in that area from 3000 miles away, you know, so you know, by moving out there, you've basically knocked out several birds with one stone, you're gonna have better management, because you're out there, and your acquisitions train is going to run a lot smoother. Because, once again, you're out there. And, you know, the benefit of being 1520 minutes away, or even an hour or two away from some of the properties gives you a lot more flexibility than you would have had sitting in, you know, Mesa Cal, La Mesa, California. Right? So is that what you, that's where SDSU live? Is that where you lived?

Dylan Palmer: 35:55

Yeah, so my last year I was in PB, so I was in Pacific Beach.

Brian Briscoe: 35:59

Oh, that's even nicer than when they said I was. Absolutely,

Dylan Palmer: 36:03

I could, I can't complain. And, yeah, it's such a good point that you that you bring up, because it's, yeah, every single market is going to have its own areas that that have where you know, where it's growing, right, whether it's a single neighborhood or a sub market. You know, one of the things that was it was a big struggle, in the beginning, you know, was having that kind of broad net, and having those multiple markets kind of looking all at the same time and be able to gain traction with brokers from that far away. It was it was difficult. And then, you know, being able to pick a market kind of data relatively close to or that you like to go or you have family in, you know, gives you another reason to get out there, which I think is really important when deciding on a market, because every market, like I said, has has its own neighborhoods and sub markets that are growing and that you can find places to invest in.

Brian Briscoe: 36:49

Absolutely, absolutely. Well said. So, last last two questions, you know, first one is, you know, probably the most important, but what advice would you give an aspiring investor, that's, you know, six to 12 months behind you,

Dylan Palmer: 37:02

yes, six to 12 months behind me, I would say, you know, like, really focusing on one market, you know, one or two markets that you really like, whether it's, you know, personally, you have family there, or, you know, somewhere that's within, you know, whether it's 15 minutes or two hour drive somewhere that you could be that you could drive around and kind of, you know, start looking at real estate and looking at the market, you know, go, you know, Secret Shop in a sense and go just find out kind of what's happened and what's what's going on, and really hone in on one market because having good relationships with 123 brokers is a lot more important than having, you know, very partial relationships to 20. Yeah,

Brian Briscoe: 37:41

absolutely. And I agree, you know, once again, we, we started gaining traction when we focused on on single metros, you know, so when I, when I narrowed it down from anywhere in the US to, you know, one or two metros, all of a sudden, you know, things are working. So very, very good advice. Thank you. Last question, how can listeners learn more about you?

Dylan Palmer: 38:06

Yeah, the best way to learn about arcs is you get in touch with me. So I have a couple you know, platforms I, like we kind of talked before I love LinkedIn. So just Dylan Palmer on LinkedIn, that's d y la en Palmer, PA, l m er, and that also kind of something that I've just started doing now that I'm on site is I've been really utilizing Instagram. So if you want to follow me on Instagram, go ahead. It's Dillon underscore Palmer 13. And what I've been doing is that every time we've had, you know, major capex item, or renovation, I've been posting on my story and kind of collecting those stories in those little bubbles. So eventually, when the full turn happens, and we're stabilized, I'm gonna be able to take that video and really create a nice, you know, presentation for whether it's investors or just people that are interested in real estate and what happens, you know, during the process of a renovation, you know, a lot of investors, you know, they get to have those monthly updates, but the not all of them get to see kind of what happens on the day to day. So I love to be able to be that, that bridging that gap. And I have, you know, I try to do as much content as I can and just share my experiences and then always females do color at Urban Renewal partners. That's a good way to do it too. Sweet. So

Brian Briscoe: 39:15

we'll put links to LinkedIn, Instagram, and your email address in the show notes. Anybody interested in connecting with Dylan? You know where to find the show notes. So with that said, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate your time and wish you the best of luck in the near future. Well, in the far future, too.

Dylan Palmer: 39:34

Yeah. Well, Brian, thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be on the podcast. Thank you.

Brian Briscoe: 39:44

Thank you for listening to the divergent apartment investor podcast today brought to you buy for x capital. If you'd like to know more about how to invest in apartment buildings or want to be a guest on our show, visit our website at four oaks capital comm slash podcast or email us directly if you're still Listening you obviously like the show, so pull out your phone, app, subscribe, and leave us a five star rating on your favorite podcast app. And we'll see you again next week.