Do you have inquiries about mortgages? You are not alone. Although mortgages might be difficult, it's crucial to be aware of your options whether you're purchasing your first home or considering a refinance.
In this episode, Ian Jimeno sits down with Ski Bum, Alex turner. Over this podcast, we talked about the pleasant experience at San Diego’s BPCON and the ins and outs of home lending, lending options leading to the purchase or refinance of a residential home loan.
Whether you are looking to buy a home or save money by lowering your interest rate, you’ll know who to contact! Alex is a knowledgeable and confident professional willing to help any and all.
Key Takeaways:
[00:13] Adventure Skiing: Alex shares his adventure skiing in Vail, Colorado
[09:45] Alex’s bucket list to go to in Greater Denver Area
[12:30] Alex and Ian experiences at San Diego’s BPCON
[20:10] Don’t get scammed! Popping money account, and bitcoin investments
[25:18] Kill two birds with one stone: The freedom to choose how you spend your time in real estate
[28:15] Alex shares how he got into Aslan Home Lending
[35:25] Pool of clients of Alex in Aslan
[39:40] Why are there discrepancies in some home lending services?
[42:30] The more people you trust and connect with the better the business goes
[44:00] Alex’s upcoming podcast: Make sure to connect with him.
[52:14] Ian takes over in the “turntable” segment!
Resources:
To stay updated on real estate and lifestyle content, you can follow Ian Jimeno and Alex on their social media platforms. Make sure to check out their profiles for more updates and insights.
Alex Turner
Aslan Home Lending
Ian Jimeno
Do you have inquiries about mortgages? You are not alone. Although mortgages might be difficult, it's crucial to be aware of your options whether you're purchasing your first home or considering a refinance.
In this episode, Ian Jimeno sits down with Ski Bum, Alex turner. Over this podcast, we talked about the pleasant experience at San Diego’s BPCON and the ins and outs of home lending, lending options leading to the purchase or refinance of a residential home loan.
Whether you are looking to buy a home or save money by lowering your interest rate, you’ll know who to contact! Alex is a knowledgeable and confident professional willing to help any and all.
Key Takeaways:
[00:13] Adventure Skiing: Alex shares his adventure skiing in Vail, Colorado
[09:45] Alex’s bucket list to go to in Greater Denver Area
[12:30] Alex and Ian experiences at San Diego’s BPCON
[20:10] Don’t get scammed! Popping money account, and bitcoin investments
[25:18] Kill two birds with one stone: The freedom to choose how you spend your time in real estate
[28:15] Alex shares how he got into Aslan Home Lending
[35:25] Pool of clients of Alex in Aslan
[39:40] Why are there discrepancies in some home lending services?
[42:30] The more people you trust and connect with the better the business goes
[44:00] Alex’s upcoming podcast: Make sure to connect with him.
[52:14] Ian takes over in the “turntable” segment!
Resources:
To stay updated on real estate and lifestyle content, you can follow Ian Jimeno and Alex on their social media platforms. Make sure to check out their profiles for more updates and insights.
Alex Turner
Aslan Home Lending
Ian Jimeno
Alex: Hey, everybody. My name is Alex Turner. I am a mortgage broker with Aslan Home Lending. I am so grateful to be on the Invest in Denver Podcast here with Ian. I am a Colorado native. I love Colorado. I've been here my whole life. You can't get me to leave.
One of my favorite things to do is to actually go skiing in Vail. I used to kind of think Vail was like a snobby mountain where only the rich people ski. I got the Epic Local Pass last year, and I used all 10 days at Vail because the back bowls are just so amazing. You get so much good powder, and you can really hit it hard and just lap that. I think I got like 40,000 vertical feet in one day of skiing at Vail, which I don't really do that that often. So, to be able to do that and have so much open terrain, Vail is where it's at. It's only like two hours away from Denver, so it's a great place to be. Skiing is definitely, probably, like my biggest hobby here in Colorado.
Ian: Love to hear it, man. Thanks for the quick insight on the whole Vail scene. So, that pretentious, rich, snobby people, that's over in Aspen, right? As opposed to Vail?
Alex: I would, yes, 100%. But also, you're going to find snobs in any ski resort. It's definitely a high barrier-to-entry hobby, but it's so much fun. I've been skiing my whole life, so I like to hit it pretty hard and go on those blacks and double blacks and really hit moguls a lot. Finding good terrain is like you trip over in Colorado, you could ski in any resort, and you'd have a great time. It's extra-large, and so there's just a little bit more of that cool terrain to ski down.
Ian: Yeah, and I only bring up the whole Aspen aspect of it just because I am a huge fan of Dumb and Dumber. That's the first thing that I thought of because they just bring up Aspen so much. There's just this bigwig situation like benefit shows and things like that. I don't know if it's true, because I've never personally been to Aspen. But it sounds like the back bowls and the whole Vail scene, there's something for everyone there.
With you being a fan, especially being a Colorado native, there's something to be said about that. So, tell us a little bit about the whole back bowl scene. What does that even mean? I don't even know what back bowl even means.
Alex: Yeah, honestly, I didn't know what it was either because I skied Vail for the first time last season. So, I grew up skiing Winter Park, Mary Jane, Keystone. I did a little bit of A Basin. They all have their fair share of steep terrain.
The back bowls in Vail, you go up to the top of the mountain. I think they have a gondola that will take you right up to the middle of the mountain, and then you take a lift all the way to the top. So, there's a whole front side of Vail, which is relatively like family-friendly skiing — lots of pretty easy groomed runs that you can either do the catwalks down on. But you're going to run into a lot of the crowds because Vail is such an international resort to go to.
I found that when you get to the top of the mountain, there's a literal gate that says "The Legendary Back Bowls." You go through that gate, and then it just opens up. There's like no trees or anything. It's just this sweeping mountain scape of just wide-open terrain with easy way downs, but then there's also more difficult, steeper terrain that you can navigate to.
The runs are super long. It takes 15, 20 minutes to get down a run. Versus when you're on the front side, you can get to a lift in maybe 5 or 10 minutes — depending on how fast you go, of course. The reason they're called the back bowls is because it's just wide-open terrain with no trees and just bowl-shaped mountains.
Ian: Nice. I love to see it, man. I feel you should be an author, man, or some sort of writer because I pictured that in my mind's eye so clearly. I love it, dude. As far as the gates that you mentioned, the moment that you said the gates and then going into the back bowls and how heavenly that was, I was like, dude, call it the pearly white gates. Call it what it is. This is heaven, it sounds like.
Like I mentioned before, Alex Turner, thank you so much for being on the Invest in Denver Podcast. This is a genuine pleasure and a long time coming, man. I know we've been in and out of meetups and just hanging out, texting with each other. Also, you've been in the Colorado scene for a while — not just the skiing portion of it, but also seeing the festivals. You go out and about. That's something that I like to extract from you as well and give out to the audience, as far as like what's there to do in Colorado? What's there to do to hang out or enjoy yourself in the seasons, whatever season it is? What festivals have you gone to, or what concerts have you gone to that someone experience here in the Colorado scene?
Alex: Yeah, this is honestly something that is newer for me. I'm exploring it. So, I just went to my first music festival. But that was out in Washington, so we won't even talk about that. That's nothing to do with Denver. But growing up in Colorado, I've been surrounded and blessed by the epic Red Rocks concert venue. One of the festivals that I went to recently was called Rowdytown. Big Gigantic came and played. The Joyride came and played. INZO came and played. All EDM-type style music.
The thing that I think I love about that scene and that community is that everybody is so non-judgmental. You can go, and you can dress up in crazy colors, in tie dye, and throw in stickers and glitter on your face, and just go and have a good time and dance and enjoy the music. That's what I did probably, most recently, was that concert at Red Rocks. Big Gigantic, yes, he's EDM, but he also can throw down with some dirty saxophone. So, he got up on stage and was doing live saxophone. I don't know what it is about a saxophone but it touches my soul. So, we're just getting down and dancing.
Before that, I went to Fiddler's Green, which is right here in DTC, the Denver Tech Center. That is an awesome venue because it's very easy to get to. I went and saw Odessa there. That show blew my mind. I could not believe that there could be a production that was just so clean. They had this live percussion set that came up. All of the drums were LED drums. So, they're like drum into the beat, and then the lights were flashing on the drums. Then they had fireworks shooting at the same time that the beat was dropping. It was just such a cool experience.
Between Fiddler's Green, Red Rocks, you have a bunch of other smaller venues. You have Cervantes', the Mission Ballroom, Bluebird, the Ogden. There's a lot of good places to go and listen to any type of music, and not even necessarily EDM. That's what I've been getting into lately. But I recently went saw Slenderbodies at the Gothic Theater. That was like a super mellow, chill, alternative style music. Again, I think that you find this with a lot of people that are either moving to Colorado or have been to Colorado. You don't find a person who isn't friendly. So, everybody you're talking to at a concert, it's just there to have a good time. Easy to talk to. It's just overall a good vibe when you're out and listening to music.
Ian: Yeah, dude. The whole Red Rock experience was pretty new to me as well. I've lived here for just over two years now. This was the first Red Rock's concert. I've done myself a disservice by not going there anytime sooner. The Head and the Heart, just like folky Americana also. I love that band. Me and Kat, my wife, we grew up with that band in a way. I think their first album, which we absolutely adored, came out 8, 9, 10 years ago or something like that.
Luckily, with these concerts initially, when I was a kid, I thought they were only going to be playing their newer stuff. But I forget that they play the hits. We were so stoked seeing them, and we're going to be seeing Rezz if you're familiar during Halloween, at the end of October. So, we already got our costumes ready for Red Rocks and speaking everything to what you're saying. We're not afraid going in there making a fool of ourselves and dressing up in costumes. I'm going to be going as, if you're familiar with Stranger Things, I'm going to be going as Dustin and wearing the "camp know where" shirt, a green shirt. Then Kat is going to go as — oh my gosh, I forgot his name. The Hellraiser guy, the D&D dungeon master from the latest season — I forgot his name.
Alex: I was going to say Eric or something like that. I don't remember.
Ian: For real. To your point, it's just a good time. People are just very friendly there, and they just want to experience the music and experience the ambiance. I'm glad you're experiencing it, man. Is there a venue that you have yet to experience in the greater Metro Denver area or even beyond that is on your bucket list?
Alex: Oh, geez, that is a very good question. I will say, I have not gone to a concert in Boulder. I know that there's — I think it's Finley stadium that is on the University of Boulder campus. That would be a cool one to go to because you're sitting right next to the Flatirons. Boulder is such a beautiful city to go and visit. Then to be surrounded by music, that would just be an amazing experience.
I'd say probably there is one that I have not explored yet. I personally went to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and so I did actually see The Head and the Heart. They do like their orientation concert. So, that was my freshman year. We went and saw The Head and the Heart.
Ian: No way.
Alex: Yeah, it's funny you bring that up, because I've definitely seen them live. That was a great concert to do just with all the CSU students. Then also, in Fort Collins, if you drive through the Poudre Canyon, there's a smaller venue called The Mishawaka. That is such a cool, intimate outdoor venue. Because unlike Red Rocks, I think the cap is maybe like 500, maybe 1,000 people in that range. Whereas Red Rocks, you probably got like 20,000 people shoved in that amphitheater. So, that one's a lot more intimate, and you're right on this river. It's just super cool. That, I would say, also is another highly-rated concert venue that I've been to that I really, really enjoy.
Ian: Nice. Thanks, man. That's something for me to pursue as well. Because, like I said, I've done myself a disservice by not going to enough shows these days. I myself grew up with the whole emo pop punk scene as well. So, I guess the first technical concert that we went to was over at the Fillmore auditorium to go see New Found Glory and Four Year Strong. I had the pleasure to mosh again for the first time for like seven or eight years, or something like that. So, it was a grand old time. I got sweaty. I love it, man.
Alex: Dude, that's great. I love a good mosh pit, man. That's just energy you can't match.
Ian: No joke, and bruises to speak for it, too. I love it. Yeah, man. I'm glad that you're big into the whole Colorado scene — the music scene, the outdoor scene. I love it. Another thing that's here in the Denver area is BiggerPockets. Not many people know that the HQ is in the city of Denver. I know that we got to see each other a little bit more often just because I saw you over a BP Con over in San Diego. It was a blast over there, myself. But I want to hear your experience over there. Was there anything that you took away from it? What even made you go?
Alex: Yeah, that was really off. I'm glad that we were able to bump into each other there. We both had coordinated that we would be there beforehand. It was really exciting, because I am the only person that went from my company. I was reaching out to some of my colleagues. "Hey, I think this would be a cool opportunity to meet people and network." Like you mentioned, that BP is headquartered in Denver. So, I think that there was a lot of people from the greater Denver area that came to BP Con. Not only networking with people around the country, but also being able to network with other people that are in my local market and see what they're doing in terms of their investments and figure all of that out.
To circle back to your question, what was my biggest takeaway from there, I would say the networking was the top tier. But then, the seminars and the breakout sessions that they had were so informative. It was like day one was technically Sunday. I didn't go to that. Day two, which I think was day one, was Monday. Every single seminar I went to, I was just like holy cow, like there's so much good information. I have pages and pages of notes from the different seminars that I went to. I just filled out the questionnaire as to how was BP Con. It was like, which one was your favorite? I was like, "Oh, this one, but also this one. This one was good, too. And this one too." So, I think I had four favorite ones.
The first one was 0 to 38 doors in under three years. The speaker on that was Rachel Richards. She is actually local to Denver, I found out as well. She was just very inspiring to listen to. She's about our age. I think she's like 27 now. She has 38 units. She said that she's retired now. She's just passive investing. So, to hear that kind of story from somebody who's not that much older than me was really, really inspiring.
I think the keynote that David Greene gave was also very inspiring. He instilled that real estate is a good investment. If you look over the course of history, we've had a couple of blips — a big one being 2008. But as long as you keep it as a long-term investment, houses continue to appreciate and it is a good long-term investment strategy. So, that was really inspiring to hear. I think that not a single person that I talked to was worried about rising interest rates. They're like, it's just one of those equations where you make the numbers make sense for you. Whether you're doing house hack or if you're just doing straight investment properties, it's about finding a good deal that works. Then you just hold on to it. Over time, you're going to see returns. That was inspiring to listen to.
Another one that was good was getting young people into it. It was getting people under 25 interested in real estate. I really liked that, because I'm the oldest of four kids. So, to hear how to communicate that to my younger siblings and getting them interested — they're so involved in TikTok and that kind of thing. It's all about changing your verbiage when you're talking to these people. To hear his perspective — that guy was also a local to Denver. So, maybe I just only like the people that—
Ian: Who was that?
Alex: That was Dan Sheeks that did that one. He runs—
Ian: SheeksFreaks, right?
Alex: SheeksFreaks. Exactly. So, he talked about that SheeksFreaks' community of young people — 21-year-olds, 18-year-olds — that are buying their first property. I was just like, this is cool. You're making a huge difference in these people's lives. If you can introduce people to building an investor type of mindset early on, it's going to serve them so much better than any other formal education, I think, will. That was a good one.
Ian: 100%.
Alex: Then I would say my last favorite one was the creative financing panel. Being a lender myself, I always fall into the mindset of, "You go to follow the rules and the guidelines. Yes, I'm fortunate in that we have in the box conventional FHA, VA type of loans. But then, we also have non-conventional loans for investors or people that are self-employed that don't claim income taxes. To hear that there's other types of financing — doing seller financing or subject to or seller carry backs — those are things that I've heard of, but I didn't fully understand until I sat in that seminar, that panel. After that one, I went and I bought three of the books at BP Con because I need to learn about this as quickly as I possibly can.
Ian: That was a huge benefit, too. Purchasing the books over there, you get it for a pretty significant discount. I think if you got like three books or more, it was like 30% off for the whole thing. It was pretty cool. Man, there's so much to touch on. I know Dan Sheeks with SheeksFreaks.
Taylor Thompson on the FI Team, he actually went through that program with Dan Sheeks. So, he bought his first house hack at 18 and learn about house hacking through Dan. He's on his third property right now. He's 21. The dude is making insane cashflow on that thing, doing rent by the room strategies. I think he bought a five-bed, three-bath. He was recently on the podcast about to be released, by the time this episode comes out, maybe late October or something like that. The story is great. He's all about traveling as well, which I got more information out of that. Because I know how to house hack. But travel hack, what is this?
Not only did he get the whole build your financial independence as soon as possible situation, but he was able to live his life the way he wants to live as well. I'm like, dude, if I learned this 10 years ago, oh my god, this is the stuff that I wanted to learn — credit card hacking, leveraging the points, and all that good stuff. I learned so much from Taylor. The dude is just like 21.
SheeksFreaks, I am a huge fan of the whole organization. So, Dan, keep it up if you're listening to this. I love it. Then lastly, before that, you mentioned Rachael Richards. Money Honey Rachel. She made a really good book, two good books — that whole Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement, and the Money Honey book. I forgot the full name of it. But nonetheless, it's such an approachable book. The returns on that with self-publishing, doing all the advertising and marketing herself, great book. Even better person. So, you definitely got to go reach out to Rachel Richards. Go on Instagram. Go check her out, Money Honey Rachel. It should not be that hard to find her because she's pretty popular.
Alex: I will say though, don't get scammed. I got reached out by multiple fake money honey accounts that were like, "Hey, I can help you with investing in Bitcoin." I was like, I feel like everybody probably gets those messages on Instagram. I had to verify with another friend. It was like, "This isn't her account." She's like, "No, no, no, no, that's not her." Okay. Good. So, be careful out there because those things do exist. It sucks that they're trying to scam other people based off of the success that Rachel has had. Because when you hear her talk, and you see her present, she is so humble. She will admit that she doesn't know the first thing about Bitcoin. So, be weary of making sure you follow that correct money honey account.
Ian: Word of wisdom there. I appreciate that, Alex. I know I haven't gotten scammed myself, but I definitely see those scammer pages reaching out to me. I don't think you're the ones that really talk about foreign exchange stuff or whatever, the forex trading and all that good stuff. Cheers, man. I appreciate that overall experience. I heard the next one's going to be in Orlando. Am I going to be seeing you there?
Alex: Yeah, man, I think that I had mentioned before we got on that I just had a closing earlier today. So, I'll be getting paid soon, which is nice. That paycheck is going straight to BiggerPockets Conference for Orlando next year. I will definitely be there. I had such a great time and could not recommend it highly enough. Because it was just such a fun environment to be around all of these like-minded people, super supportive.
I'm at a point in my investing career where I don't have any properties. So, you show up to this conference where there's people that have 30, 40. Even Brandon Turner was there, and he's got 7, 000 units. You're like, oh my gosh, this is overwhelming to be around all of these people that are doing things. Here I am just sitting on the sideline, trying to get my first property. Everybody was so supportive. They're like, "Oh, you're going to try to do a house hack? That's awesome. I wish I had started doing a house hack when I first got into my first home. You got it, man. Keep it up." So, to be around that kind of positive energy was unlike anything else.
Ian: For sure, man. What was great about that, too, is that whenever you bring up house hacking to a lot of my friends and family, they're like, "Wait, so you're living with strangers? You're getting money from them? Number one, do you know the laws of land lording and all that good stuff?" There's so much doubt. There’re so much limiting beliefs that they have already. I'm like, "Dude, this is my third property. I've been doing this since San Diego, like a blue state in California. I don't understand why you still think there's all these doubts. Why not do it yourself and see the success or the results that I'm getting? I want you on this train."
A lot of the BiggerPockets people, when I was hanging out with them, I'm no longer the freak. Everyone there is as freakish as me. They're all house hacking. They're all investing. They're all doing the real estate thing. If anything, I look normal compared to a lot of these people. There are some other people out there like Brandon Turner, David Greene, the big wigs out there. They have some gnarly portfolios. You're like, wow, I want to get to there. It sets the aspirations. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Depending on your strategy or depending on what you want to do with your investments, there's something for everyone there. So, that's the last thing I'll say about BP Con. Because I had a blast myself, especially being in San Diego. It's nice to be back home.
Alex: I'm sure, yeah. I had never been to San Diego. It was such a beautiful city. The weather was just on point. I knew that California was a desirable place to live, but I haven't been there once. I went to Carlsbad when I was maybe seven years old. This was my first time back in California. I actually booked an extra day after BP Con to just go and walk around the city. So, I got to go to Balboa Park and see all the Spanish architecture in the park. I went to the Japanese Friendship Garden and just put in some peaceful music. I walked around there. That was just such a nice way to decompress from the hustle and bustle that was BP Con, and then to just really soak in the beauty that is San Diego. So, that's the other thing I'm looking forward to for next year BP Con in Orlando. I've never been to Florida, so this will be another new adventure for me. I'm thinking maybe I should just book an extra week and do the whole Universal Studios, and maybe go down to a beach or something.
Ian: Disney World.
Alex: Yeah, Disney World. I want to do that. I want to live it up. Because when you have an opportunity to go and make something a business trip, but you can also make it a fun vacation as well, it's like why not kill two birds with one stone and just live and enjoy your life? That's one of the things that I found being in real estate. It provides the most freedom to choose how you spend your time, as long as you're doing efficiently. I think BP Con was a very efficient way of meeting people, learning, growing myself personally, and then also a little vacation about Villa Park for a day.
Ian: Not a bad gig. This is all something that people should understand going into it: go around your tribe. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here. But the final nail in the coffin is like, surround yourself with people that you like and enjoy the same things that you like to do. It doesn't have to be real estate-related. Like I myself, I'm trying to join a running club as well. I just signed up for my first 50k over in April. I have never ran anything over 26 miles. So, this is me trying to set myself up with other people that have done the same thing or want to get to that point as well. So, get your tribe. Live in there. Work with those same people.
Alex: I like how you said that super casually. I've never ran anything more than 26 miles. That's not a small feat in. I did a half marathon and it about killed me. That was only 13 miles. I could not do anything more than that. So, that's super exciting to hear that you got that signed up on the books. Good for you. More running for you, less for me.
Ian: Cheers, man. I'll represent myself — my last name will be Turner.
Alex: Perfect.
Ian: With the FI Team itself, even within the FI Team, there's three, four or five people that signed up for half Ironman’s or full Ironman’s. There are people that I know, like, and trust already. Little did I know that these guys are insane on the athletic ability. So, I brought that goal upon myself not too long ago, maybe about a couple of weeks ago. I was like, you know what? I want to get to these guy's level, except for the swimming part and maybe the biking part. I'll just run. So, I'm just going to be running that 50k well, just right. Those people, they really pushed me. Other people that push you outside your comfort zone just makes you a more interesting human being. To be honest, why live a boring life? Just make it interesting. Even if you fail, break a leg or something. It's a cool story. I'm starting to learn that more and more as I live my life.
But with that being said, man, there's so much more about the real estate community and the industry itself. I want to dive a little bit deeper on the Aslan, the lending portion of it. I know you've just dedicated a lot of your nine to five, your W2 job, to the lending portion of it. So, what even got you into that lending industry? What got you into Aslan, and how are you liking it so far?
Alex: I started with Aslan two and a half years ago. That was right before the pandemic. I graduated at Colorado State University in December of 2019. I got my degree in neuroscience, thinking that I would go to medical school or a PhD, and then I was burned out by year three. I was driven enough to complete the degree. So, that's what I did. I added a business minor and graduated. I started looking for jobs that were in pharmaceutical sales or medical device sales — something where I didn't have to go and get more education. Because I just knew I couldn't do any more school. I had a bunch of interviews lined up. They all fell through at the announcement of COVID-19 and the shutdown. So, I didn't have anything lined up.
I had gone and shadowed a family friend for a lending position at Aslan. I kind of got a feel for what it was. But I was just like, I should probably try to get a job that's in my industry. That's what my background is. When it all fell through, I reached out to that family friend. I was like, "Hey, I need a job. Can I get a job?" So, they were kind enough to say, "Yeah, but you got to get licensed." So, I took the next month and a half to go through the education of getting my mortgage originator license. I took the test. I passed it, and started working for Aslan in June of 2020. It was cool. My experience was, I came in and I worked as that friend's loan officer assistant. That was right when rates started just totally getting down to the ground — 2.75%, 3% interest rates. Her business blew up with refinances, people trying to purchase.
So, I came in. I was handling all of the behind the scenes processing to make sure that the loans were going smooth. So, I got my hands on. I think we closed 75 transactions my first year. Just that sheer amount of volume really got me up to speed with the pace that is real estate. Because things are always moving. You have to keep building up your pipeline. You have to make sure you're hitting the deadlines. It was a very stressful position, but it was something that I knew that I could handle. I did that for about a year.
Then it was last September, almost a year ago now, that I branched out from underneath her and became a full-time originator on my own. It's just been an awesome ride since my business has been doing very, very good, I would say, for being my first full year on my own. I feel like because I know the systems and the processes of getting through the mortgage side of things, it just makes it a lot easier. When I get referrals to clients, I know how to talk to them, make a good connection, and answer the questions. I know the answers to their questions. It's like one of those things that I was surprised in myself. When somebody's like, "Well, how does it work with a down payment?" I'm like, "Oh, well, you don't have to put 20% down. You can do 5% down or whatever." That was simple. That's a simple question.
But just all this information that I accumulated over my first year, it's in my head, and I know it. It's just about spreading that knowledge with other people. That's the thing I really like about lending the most. It's such an educational position to be in because we're not taught finances. We're not taught how mortgages work, how taxes, how credit any of that works. So, to be able to be the person that you're talking to potential clients about, "This is how it works, this is what you should do, this is how you prepare and plan for it," I just feel like I'm helping people in a way that our education system is just not set up to do. I really love it. I've been doing it, like I said, two and a half years. I'm a year on my own now. I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.
Ian: Love to hear it, man. Having a lender in your sphere of influence is pretty important, especially me as a realtor as well. Because everyone needs it, will for the most part unless you're doing all cash. But the whole lending side is fascinating to me. I've learned so much just being almost through osmosis, being next to you, next to other loan officers being like, "Whoa, I didn't even know that existed." Not just the QM loans, but the loans that you were mentioning earlier, to get creative — DSCR loans, 5% down, 3% down, CHFA down payment assistance programs. I had no idea so many tools exist for my clients, and even for me as an investor in the Denver area. It's amazing what you guys can provide.
I would say, have one in your sphere of influence if not Alex Turner. Definitely have him at your repertoire. Going back to the whole volume aspect of it, I'm learning, too, that the more you do anything, the better you are at it. The moment that it gets boring, it means that you know it inside and out. That's something that I've learned as a consumer of reels, Instagram, social media. Like Alex Hormozi, if you're familiar, he's all about the sales, the business, and its volume that sets apart the men from the boys. When you are just through osmosis, learning from your family friend to like, what can I do with a certain loan or with a certain transaction, it really helps knowing that you had a year behind you. Getting 75 transactions done, like, okay, I've seen this before. I can now speak with confidence in this aspect. How long have you been in the industry now? So, it's about two years. Going on three now, yeah?
Alex: Yeah, I'll hit my three-year mark in June of '23. I started June 2020. It's easy to track because it's a nice, even 20 number. I'm at two and a half years now, a little under two and a half years now. I'll be at three years coming up next summer.
Ian: Okay. What kind of clients do you usually work with?
Alex: I would say, my biggest pool of clients has been probably first-time homebuyers. I have been really trying to tap into the investor space, though. Because I think that was one of my motivations going to BP Con. It's to meet more investors. The reason I really like working with investors or just people that are interested in real estate as an investment, they look at it differently. They're a little bit less emotional about the house and more into the numbers, which for me, it makes sense.
I'm a numbers guy, dude. I'm a lender, so I am looking at numbers and pulling it all together every single day. So, when I'm having those conversations, I can be very frank with an investor and be like, "All right. This is the interest rate. This is the cost of the loan. This is the down payment." They'll say, "Oh, that down payment doesn't work for me. Do you have a down payment option that's 15% instead of 20%?" Then it's like, "Okay. Yes, I do. Actually. I have another lender that can do that. But you're going to see a little bit of a higher interest rate, because that's a risk to the lender." Being able to explain that and having them understand it, I've really enjoyed working with those types of clients the most in the last year. But I would say most often, I'm working with first-time homebuyers.
I think the difference with first-time homebuyers is, it comes back to that education standpoint. There's so much that they don't understand when it comes to getting a mortgage, how taxes work, how insurance works, getting it set up for them so that you know they have an escrow account. A lot of people are like, "What's an escrow account?" So, you get to explain all of these super, what I think would be typically considered boring topics. But you get to explain it in a way that they can digest. That's also very rewarding to see them understanding the process, and then also know that I am here as a resource if they ever need help.
Here, I have a really good story of what happened yesterday. I closed this couple in the Sloan's Lake area a year ago in August. He emailed me about a month ago. Hey, I got this email from the insurance company that our policy is pending cancellation. I was like, "No, that shouldn't happen, because we have an escrow account set up for you. It should automatically pay the insurance fee to renew your policy." So, they reached out to me yesterday. They're like, "We're extremely frustrated, because they're telling us our policy is cancelled. We received communication from the lender that the payment had been already made on behalf of us. So, we're not sure what the confusion was here."
So, they were able to reach out to me directly. I immediately got on the phone. I started making calls, making sure that everything was covered. Because that is what I do for my clients: I'd be available for them. When I have something set up in place that I know should be automatic and should be taken care of, and it's not, they don't have to sit on some 800 number and wait to figure it out for their insurance to be put back in place. I get in and handle that for them. I educate them again on the escrow account, it automatically pays it once a year for insurance. You shouldn't have to worry about it.
It was really nice to be able to touch base with that client. I haven't talked to him much since we closed a year ago. He was totally cool. He's like, I've seen you've been on it. I know you were at the conference last week. You were still emailing back and forth and getting a hold of the insurance person that we were working with. So, I really love that even though it's a very transactional business, I'm still there to support my clients when it comes to any questions they have in the future about their mortgage, their insurance, their taxes. However they need my assistance, I'm happy to help.
Ian: Yeah, man. I love that extra mile. There's a lot of people out there that are just in the transactional basis with a lot of their clients. But we're developing relationships here. More for my curiosity, I want to find out what happened. How come there was that discrepancy? Oh, you didn't pay. It's getting cancelled. Where's the payment? All that good stuff, what happened?
Alex: They worked through an insurance broker. The broker set up their policy with Progressive somehow, in the last year. When I set up their loan, I sent them to a lender that I know, A, closes very quickly and, B, services their own loans. When I say services their own loans, there's a lot of lenders that will sell your mortgage once you close to another lender to service it. You'll get a notification letter of, "Hey, your loan was sold. Your mortgage was originally with Wells Fargo, but now it's with Chase Bank." Then you have to go through a headache of getting it set up with the Chase Bank and making sure your payments go through.
But I intentionally set them up with a lender that services their own loans, so they wouldn't have to handle that headache. Because I know this lender doesn't sell them. So, what happened on the Progressive side is that they somehow changed the loan number. The policy was paid for, but Progressive system didn't accept it because they had switched the loan number. Then we had to go through and send them confirmation of the payment, show that it was this loan number, not the loan number that they changed it to. I don't know how that discrepancy exactly happened. But from my understanding, that's where we saw the lapse in their policy.
Ian: Got you. To a lot of people that are listening to this, it may sound dry. But to me, this is stuff that even I deal with, even with my property back in San Diego, on the deed or the transfer of the refinance. It's a duplex. That second address didn't get included for the policy itself. So, now I have to personally go through it and have that annual fee updated for that insurance for the second unit.
The first unit is in escrow. That's why I was mainly really curious about this, what the heck happened? Is it like my situation? Like, am I the only one? Why is no one having this problem? But yeah, man. It's really interesting to see what kind of problems arise and knowing that, hey, even if you don't know the direct answer square one, you take that extra effort to make sure that your future clients or your current clients are just happy. That's the big thing here. It's a relationship business that we're in. The more that people realize it, the better the businesses are going to be. With that said, man—
Alex: I think it also goes back to building that kind of team that you're working with. You want to have a good insurance person. You want to have a good mortgage person. You want to have a good real estate agent, general contractor, electric, lights. Real estate is all about neck networking. The more people that you know and trust, and that will go that extra mile to solve any problem that comes up for you, and to be able to not have to stress about that as a buyer, I think, is probably one of my biggest tips for people that are getting into it. It's really trying to find somebody that you can build trust with and know has your back should anything happen that you don't know or you don't understand, and you need help understanding.
Ian: Nice. Love that wrap-up, man. That's really good. Speaking of building your team, man, I know that you've been working a lot with Ben Rhoden as far as even generating a podcast. It sounds like you guys have a lot of common values. One, wanting to work with the investor versus the residential buyer primarily looking for, is this white countertop or whatever? Stuff that really does not matter personally to me. But nonetheless, I will help them. If that's what they're looking for, I will definitely help them out with. But nonetheless, going back to Ben and your relationship, the podcast, I know that you guys have done some recordings. What's it all about? When can people start hearing this?
Alex: Yeah, man. We're having such a fun time getting into the podcast space. For me, that's something that I think I've struggled with a lot in my own business. It's pushing out content. A podcast is a great conduit for me. Because I'm not a big video person. I don't really post pictures all that often, unless I did something really cool like go to a music festival. So, the podcast has been a way for me to have conversations with Ben around real estate.
It's the Unnamed Podcast right now. We're still planning and preparing for it, but we are moving forward with recordings and just trying to get things in place so that once we do launch — we're shooting for a January launch. But we also talked about last week about maybe releasing it sooner because it's been really, really fun to do a recording every week. As long as we are prepared and planned, I think we could probably launch it earlier. So, we're shooting for January maybe sooner. It's all about investing. It's similar to, I guess, you’re Investing in Denver, but more broad than that, too. Just developing an investor mindset through either real estate. I also want to invite financial planners on and see different strategies for building your wealth for retirement, investing in the stock market, getting maybe a crypto specialist on there to talk about how you can do crypto.
I haven't thought about forex. That's one that I still think might be a little bit scammy, or Amazon FBA. I'm not sure about that yet. But it's just been a really good way to know that we're creating content and still providing value for people. Then once we start releasing it, my ultimate hope and goal is just that people learn something from the podcast. It's also a great way to do networking. Like to have a conversation one on one like we are now, it just I think strengthens your relationship.
Ben and I, I feel like I've started to really realize that we're on the same page. We both have similar aspirations. We both are pretty knowledgeable in our designated areas — him being a real estate agent, specifically working with a lot of investors. Then myself, working with investor clients on the financing side. It's been a fun experience to bounce back and forth and have fun conversations. So, to be determined on the release date, but definitely a fun work in progress that I'm excited to put out there for everybody.
Ian: Love to see it, man. I know Ben's also been working on just like presenting. I know he was over at Zeona's meetup, just talking about short-term rentals or even just the market in general. Maybe you can speak a little bit about that, if you're familiar with it.
Alex: Yeah, so that was what our topic was on the podcast last week that we recorded. We talked about, is now a good time to buy in this extremely volatile market? With interest rates rising as quickly as they are, it's very intimidating, I think, for homebuyers to see that their monthly mortgage payment is thousands of dollars more than it would have been a year ago. But we talked about why it is still a good time, and just changing your perspective as to the advantages that you have in this market versus the market a year or two years ago.
I think that's what his presentation was about for Zeona's meetup. I know that she is very big into the short-term rental. She even has a book on the medium-term rental space. For him, I think he was going there and just talking about what to expect in this market, and what you should think about and that different change of perspective moving forward. Because we are going to see a big change, and it's going to take time for it to cool off and settle back to more normal levels. But honestly, I think it's a great thing. When you compare a year ago, people putting in offers $100,000 over the listing price, that's a huge chunk of change to just get a listing agent to look at your offer.
Now we're in a market where your monthly payment is $1,000 more, but you're getting the house at list. Or, a lot of times right now, I'm seeing clients go under below list. You think about it in a longer-term perspective. You get a 7% interest rate, or whatever you qualify for. You're paying $1,000 more each month than you would have if you had bought a year ago. Let's say, you hold that interest rate for two years. You're paying $1,000 more for two years. That's $24,000 extra that you would have been paying for buying a house today. That's a win if you would have had to pay $100,000 a year ago. Just changing your perspective of like, yeah, interest rates are higher and it sucks. But the reality is that, in two years’ time, we'll see interest rates drop back down. You can refinance, and you can lower your monthly payment.
This entire time, in that two-year period, you're building equity. You're gaining appreciation. You have tax benefits. You could do it as a house hack and mitigate your mortgage cost. It's just, I think, things that people get scared of the number, that 7% interest rate, it's like, no, no, no. Just change your perspective on it, and see it's not a bad time. I'm seeing so many clients get seller credits to buy down their interest rate even. So, if you are working with a knowledgeable real estate agent who knows how to negotiate those terms for you, then I don't think that there's much that you need to worry about in this market. Because you will find a house much easier.
Ian: Dude, I could not have said it better myself. That was brilliant. For everyone listening, that was the most valuable tool. If we could just have a podcast with just that two minutes, that was amazing, dude. I love it. I'm seeing it myself. I feel like I've mentioned this a couple of times already on separate episodes, but I'm closing on one today. Just looking at what happened with the transaction itself, we went 10k under asking price. We got everything on the inspection list taken care of and then some.
We also got our 40-gallon water heater replaced. What else do we get? We got the roof sealant. We got some patch work done on there. You can almost ask for the world. That upfront cost is no longer a huge factor. Because now you just got to worry about, okay, how do I mitigate this mortgage as much as possible? House hack. You got to rent out those rooms, or do something about it.
I guess, in the grand scheme of things, if you are able to afford that mortgage, shoot. Like you said, that's a win. So, that is awesome. I'm glad that you're saying the same thing, too, Alex. I can't wait for that podcast to come out. I'm a big supporter of anyone that's all about the financial independence space and investing in the Denver area as well.
For those of you who don't know Ben, Ben used to be, or at least still is within the FI family. But he was a more active agent on the FI Team. I used to work with him a lot, as far as like the retreats go and getting showings done with each other. Nonetheless, Ben's a great guy. As you know, by Alex's expertise, it's a force to be reckoned with. So, really excited about that podcast, man. With that being said, man, I got nothing else for you. But is there anything you want to ask me? I'm going to turn the tables, give you the mic. Is there anything you want to ask me?
Alex: Yeah, actually, I'm going to go off of what you had just talked about with winning all of these inspection items. Because that's another point that we're seeing different from last year this year. How do you feel about inspections now versus a year ago? Because I saw a lot of people just waving inspections. What is your opinion on doing things like that versus what we're seeing today?
Ian: Waiving inspections is a hard no for me. I would not recommend my buyers to ever waive inspections. At the very least, I would put in my offers. We will not ask anything for the inspection. Buyer has the right to an inspection, but we will not ask for anything. We have the right to terminate based on inspection. Basically, it's an all or nothing situation. That's what I would recommend it. That's how I wrote my offers. That's very less risky for my buyers. Because we definitely want to know what's wrong with the place before we buy it.
Whether we ask for something in return, that was a conversation that I never had until June, not until well into my real estate career where I was like, okay, now you're going to entertain my offer, that's sweet, with my inspection objections. That's cool. So, I would never advise to waive inspections. But I would just get that wording in there of like, yeah, duty inspection. But terminate based on that, and you don't have to ask for anything in return.
Alex: I think that it's super smart. Because there are so many things that you don't see as a buyer walking into a home. That inspector is going to be very thorough in checking. Then it's going to help you analyze if that's a good call for you. Because if there's something, like a foundational issue that you're not aware of, that's going to cost you 20 to 40 grand to fix. If you're not aware of that, you're just putting yourself in a precarious situation. I wouldn't want a house that's going to have foundational issues, and the whole structure is going to collapse. That would be not a good investment.
Ian: 100%, yeah. It all goes back to like, what's your risk tolerance? Is this something that you can either delay or take advantage of right now? Something like a 15-year-old water heater getting taken care of. But let's say, if it's five years old, you got another maybe five years of life into it at the minimum. So, it's all based on your risk tolerance. Also, just talk with your agent. Preferably, they've done the things that you've wanted to do already. So, they've seen these things in advance in other transactions. So, use their knowledge to your advantage.
Alex: I like how you said that, that your agent has done things that you are wanting to do. I think that that's something that I would recommend. If there's somebody who is house hacking or investing in multifamily homes or has rental properties, and that's something that you see yourself doing, then that's a person that you want to work with because they'll know how to guide you through. Most agents that are doing that want to help you do that, too. They want to see you succeed. I feel like that's something that the FI Team is very good at. You provide a lot of value in that how to make real estate and an investment type of path. So, that was another question that I have for you. How did you get in with the FI Team? How's it going with the FI Team? What do you love about the FI Team?
Ian: Oh, man, where do I start? I guess, when I first house hacked, I didn't even know the concept of house hacking even existed. Obviously, when I was in college, I lived in a dorm with two other guys in a 300-square-foot place. Why not own the place, and rent out all the bedrooms? Because college kids are going to have to live somewhere. If they had to live under the stairs, start house hacking.
Any who, going back to the whole FI Team aspect of it, in order for you to be a part of the FI Team, you need to have an investment property — which makes the agents a little bit more legit when they're talking with potential leads. How do I know I can trust you? I want to work with Craig. "Well, I've done this house hack. I've had this investment property. I also invest in multifamily properties." Okay. You sound legit. So, that's another reason why I really like working with the FI Team. It's not just like it's a transactional thing. It's a relationship. I want to make sure that you're getting the biggest bang for your buck, and you're that much closer to financial independence whether it's buying a really good property for your house hack. Not even a house. It doesn't have to be house hack, but also investment property itself.
But also, strategic selling. If you are getting bogged down with this property, you don't want to work with tenants anymore, 1031 exchange it. Work it into like a commercial property that you can have a property manager manage it, instead of having you dedicate all this time and effort into it when it's not the best use of your time. So, the FI Team in itself has just given me a whole bunch of resources and the mindset shift of what I mentioned before. We have Ironman finishers on the team. It not only brings out the best in my real estate portfolio, but it also brings out me the personality, the person behind everything. It gives me that third dimension. So, that's also another reason why I like the FI Team. It's like, there's more to the person or more to the agents than the real estate portion of it. All of that being said, they also helped me out with this podcast, too.
Alex: Love it, man. That was my last question, too. It's circling back to what you're doing in your personal life. You're running this 50k? What is it, 50k?
Ian: Yeah.
Alex: Dude, that's super impressive. How are you going to train for that? What are you going to do? You get to do it in Colorado, which is pretty sweet. So, you got some running spots you're going to go to. What does that training regimen look like for you?
Ian: Yeah, well, training for day one is running and running a lot. That's pretty much my training regimen for the next six months — just running more and more. To be honest with you, I think the biggest thing for me, for preparing for it — sure, I know the training aspect of it — diet. How am I going to be replenishing those calories? Because for me, I'm a stick, man. I feel like I'm walking on stilts. I'm pretty much skin and bones.
I'll give myself some credit. I'm a pretty lean guy. But I got to make sure that I'm eating enough calories to supplement a 20-mile day. That's the biggest portion of it. Joining these running clubs, I feel like it would get my knowledge base up without having to research online or watch YouTube videos. Meet these people, have conversations with people. 50k is about 30 to 33 miles. I forgot the exact number. That's not on pavement. It's on a trail. That's another thing, too. How prepared do my ankles need to be? If I trip on a rock, and my ankles give out, that's it. That's game over. So, there's a lot more to it than just running a lot. I don't know what I don't know. So, I need to know these things so I can better prepare myself for that 50k.
Alex: Any specific running trails that you're thinking you're going to train on?
Ian: For sure. I recently discovered the power of Green Mountain over in Lakewood. It was just a fun one and pretty close. That is really good trail running spot. Mount Falcon, not too far away from me over in my area. No joke. I think, if anything, it's just more for building the quads than anything for me, and calves.
Alex: For sure.
Ian: Also, just having the clubs, knowing where other people go to, that's something that I want to build up my knowledge base as well. Training during the winter, I have not seriously done it. So, that's going to be new to me as well. Will I have numb toes at the end of the run? Most likely. Am I mentally prepared for it? Yeah, I'm ready to take on that beating.
Alex: Hell, yeah, man. I'm excited for you. That's going to be such an accomplishment. I wish you the best of luck in training for it and completing the race. When is the race date again, you said?
Ian: I'm holding myself accountable. For all you, listeners, out there, it's April 30 at the Cheyenne Trail. So, it's over in the Colorado Springs area. Not only do I have to run at elevation, but I have to run with elevation in the course as well. So, I got to train for it all. April 30, 2023.
Alex: All right, man. I'll be rooting for you on April 30.
Ian: Nice. Thanks, man. Well, I appreciate all of your time, Alex. I mean, this is really good stuff. It's about time we had a loan officer on here just talking about mortgage rates, the mindset behind it, what you got going on, and the whole real estate industry in general. I appreciate your time, man. So, if anyone were to reach out to you, what's the best place to reach out to you? Maybe your email, Instagram handle, all that good stuff?
Alex: Yeah, I would say, sending me an email is definitely going to be the fastest way to get something coordinated with me. I prefer getting on a phone call and having a direct conversation with somebody. So, sending me an email — my email is alext@aslanhlc.com. My Instagram handle is another good way. You can just direct message me. It's alexturner1818.
Ian: Nice. I myself, I'm ian.realestateagent. I'm on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. I post weekly videos. I got vlog tours all about house hacking and investment properties, and all that good stuff. That's all on YouTube. This will be on YouTube, as well. So, I hope Alex took a shower. Obviously, he looks great already. Luckily, you can't smell him. But please, leave a rating. Review, comment, like, subscribe, follow, or whatever people are doing these days. We want to make sure that the people of Denver are listening to this and getting the most value out of their community. This is the Invest in Denver Podcast, a FI Team production hosted by yours truly, Ian Jimeno. See you.