Real Estate Investing Strategies and Selection

Ed Mathews

So the big question is this how are real estate investors who don't have a ton of free time , don't have access to off market deals and didn't start life on third base , how do we grow a real estate business conservatively to support our families , finally leave the corporate rat race and build a legacy ? That is the question and this podcast will give you the answers . I'm Ed Matthews and this is Real Estate Underground . This is the Real Estate Underground podcast show number 86 . Greetings and salutations real estate undergrouders . This is Ed Matthews with the Real Estate Underground . Thank you so much for joining us today . Today is a really interesting conversation with a gentleman by the name of Bud Evans . Bud , welcome to the show . Thank you so much for joining us . It's a pleasure to be here .

Bud Evans

Ed , Thank you very much for having me .

Ed Mathews

So , bud , you have an interesting background and , kind of a circuitous way , a path to how you got to where you are today , which is really , really impressive . I'm going to make you tell all the stories you just told me offline , but for those folks out there that aren't necessarily familiar with you , why don't you just tell them about your background and who you are and how you got here ?

Bud Evans

Sure thing , ed . Thank you . So I'm from Philadelphia , pennsylvania , originally . After high school I went into the United States military . That was 1987 . I did that for several years , became a police officer in 1993 . Did that for 13 . They hit the towers . I went back in after being deployed a few times and I finished my service with over 34 years I am the former mayor of Cinnamon's in New Jersey . I'm a real estate investor and a licensed agent . I have primarily properties in New Jersey and Pittsburgh . I have single family homes and commercial multifamily properties as well . I was a real estate investment coach for about two years for Tariq Al Moussa from HGTV , where I specialized in the BRR method , commercial multifamily analysis , property management and velocity and infinite banking methods . I've underwritten about a little bit more than a hundred million in deals at this point and I've created a personal real estate portfolio of several million dollars myself . I'm the president of AMI properties . We own eight subordinate properties , ranging from single family properties through property management and out to hair salons .

Ed Mathews

Wow , really All right . Yeah , that's awesome Cash cows right .

Bud Evans

Yeah , right . Well , my wife is a hairstylist , so it just seemed like a natural fit .

Ed Mathews

Well played , sir . Exactly , well played Well . Thank you for joining us . One of the things that's interesting about your background is a lot of people , a lot of investors , that I speak with on the show . They're typically focused on one asset class , but one of the things that I learned as I was stalking you on social media was that you tend to be more deal driven than necessarily asset driven . So I'm curious , first and foremost , what treat a real estate , given your career of service , thank you again for serving both your community and your country , so we're all grateful for that .

Ed Mathews

Thank you In terms of real estate . How did you pick real estate as a place to be your next act after you left service ?

Bud Evans

There's a really funny story behind that . Okay , so I transitioned positions from a it was Air Force Forces Subordination , just strategic planning type of position , and when I transitioned from that into an RPA unit RPA is remotely piloted aircraft , or as you guys call them , drones I made that transition from one to another and when I did , I found myself in Cinnamon , new Jersey , which is where I currently reside . My goal has always been to make a place better than when I got there , so I saw some value add that I could provide within Cinnamon's and Township Committee , so I decided to run for local office . I had no idea that I wasn't allowed to do that . I even went to the JAG and asked them hey , am I allowed to run for local office ? And they said sure . And I said , great , can you sign this letter saying that I'm allowed to run for local office ? I had two JAGs and my commander all signed off and I ran for committee and the next thing I knew I was the mayor .

Bud Evans

Fast forward a year and a half and they come back and they go hey , yeah , you were never allowed to run for mayor . Well , so I wound up resigning on a Friday and making it official on a Monday in July of 2018 . So I was on a committee for about a year and a half and I did some good things . I was very happy with my progress . But the one thing that I really enjoyed while I was the mayor was economic development and basically building and planning and zoning . So what I found was that we put up a legal store . We put up , we redid a supermarket into a storage facility . We had an over 55 community , raised seven buildings at one time , opened up a couple of pad sites . We balanced the budget so well that for the five years after I left , we didn't raise property taxes in Cinnamon .

Ed Mathews

It's in New .

Bud Evans

Jersey , in New Jersey , right . So I was very happy with how we did there and oh , by the way , the guys that followed me into those positions are outstanding people and they just continued to do the job that I had already started . I took over for some fine people as well . Well , that economic development process and all of that building stuff , all of that real estate stuff . I saw the value that I could get from that , and when they made me resign , I was like , well , there's 40 to 50 hours of my life back . Why don't I get into real estate ? So guess what I started ? I jumped in with both feet and then , yeah , so that's how I got started in real estate , and there's a story behind that and the progress from that point on .

Ed Mathews

Okay , so I'm going to make you tell that story in a second . So , in terms of asset classes , when you look at a single family home or a multi-family , a commercial multi-family , or even a hair salon for that matter , I'm curious what are you looking for ? What kind of peaks your interest as an investor ?

Bud Evans

Yeah , two things cash flow and appreciation Right which ?

Ed Mathews

one's more important to you .

Bud Evans

Cash flow ? Okay , cash flow . I will tell you that I hold them in equal value . But I won't take a property that's only going to appreciate if I'm not getting some sort of cash flow from it . I'll tell you that right now . If I can find an asset where Bud's Big Six is covered that's Roof , windows , foundation , plumbing , electric and HVAC if all six of those things are in good repair , I'll pick up a property if it's cash flowing $100 , knowing that in three or four years rents will raise somewhere between 5% and 10% per year 25% increase over five years and I know that I'm cash flowing at that point . Quite well , as long as that property is going to appreciate somewhere between 8% and 12% 8% and 12% over that five-year span or per year .

Bud Evans

Yeah , no , we're looking pretty much like over 5% is considered outstanding . Usually , if I'm looking at those properties that are only going to cash flow about $100 per year to start then we're looking at better than five . It's most likely . Well , in Pittsburgh , in the area that I'm currently investing in , we're hitting that 8 to 12 mark every year .

Ed Mathews

Wow , no kidding . And is that something since 2018 , 19 , 20 , 21 were blockbuster years , right , and 18 was starting to be a great year . Yeah , I'm curious . What you're seeing in terms of appreciation these days , as we're kind of looming over a recession , is potentially looming over our world .

Bud Evans

Yeah , pittsburgh , we're still looking at double-digit returns . Appreciation is going to flatten . We're still going to be looking at that 3% to 5% hopefully in that area In South Jersey , not North Jersey . North Jersey I think they're going to level off and start to peter out a little bit because of Manhattan . But the overall I see the return still in South Jersey going and they might level off a little bit in the fact that they'll probably only appreciate at 2% to 5% . And I say that simply for this reason .

Bud Evans

I'm still seeing them licensed into Jersey . I still see three to seven days on the market on an average sale . I just had a flip that went in a negative 27 days , I'm sorry , negative 18 days . So I'm allowed to list the property as coming soon for 21 days in New Jersey . And on day one I had a realtor reach out to me and ask me flat out hey , if I give you a contract , can I tour that home before before you put it on the market ? And I said what are you looking for ? And they said 10,000 over ask . I said see you tomorrow .

Ed Mathews

Right , yeah , so I had a similar experience . It was about a year and a half ago , but we bought this house out of foreclosure and this was when I was flipping and bought it for $118,000 , put about 130 into it . It was a gigantic house , it was like 4,800 square feet and go to put it on the market at , I think , $799 . And no $7.59 , as a matter of fact . And same thing happened . Somebody came up we did a coming soon and somebody came up and said what'll it take to not put this on the market ? And I gave them a crazy number and they went done , done and the rest is history . So it's yeah , it was crazy .

Ed Mathews

We stopped flipping , not because of the market , it was just a matter of focus for us . I saw multi-family as the company's future . So there's only a finite amount of time that we're blessed with , so I chose to use it to just do multi , because I have a profound case of entrepreneurial ADD the shiny object syndrome in the periphery so I have to actively keep myself from doing that , and so stopping flipping was one of those things . So all right . So now I'm going to make you tell that second story .

Bud Evans

Yeah , so crazy enough . So here I did , I got out of and I was like , all right , I got to find a mentor . So there was a guy that I knew , who he was literally living . He was making $10,000 on three buildings , that was it . So I asked him hey , will you mentor me ? And he gave me some advice and nothing in depth , no documents . Hey , research something this way or that way . It was just hey , go to these two websites and just make offers on just about everything . And it was , and I'm just going to put them out there Hubsu and Auctioncom , oh yeah , right . So here I am , putting in offer after offer after offer , auction after auction after auction . I've bought stuff on eBay before I can do this , right ? So from literally August through September two full months , so right after I left in mid July , so right before August started up through September 25th I was putting in , just going to auction after auction after auction , putting down like a 3,000 hold on this one , a 3,000 hold on that one , a 3,000 hold on that one Never met a reserve , had over 130 wins , with no buildings to show for it . Right , it was bad .

Bud Evans

So then I was working overnight , we did a 24-7 , 365 mission . And here I was at 2 o'clock in the morning and I looked up on television and I saw this ad 2 o'clock in the morning text this number to this for this and real estate will be in your area on this date and it's a very large organization . So I wrote the number on my phone . No phones where I worked . I worked in a windowless room , so I wrote it down on my hand . I walked outside , I said I'll be right back . I walked outside , I texted the number and the next thing I knew I was in a two-hour course and I brought my son and I said hey , whatever happens , do not let me buy anything Right Before I leave this room .

Ed Mathews

Here's my wallet . Do not give it back to me .

Bud Evans

Right An hour and 30 minutes later , my son . He's 31 now . It's only four years ago , so he was 27 at the time , 26 , 27 . He taps me on the shoulder . He goes yo , you're doing this right . I'm like there goes my anchor Right .

Bud Evans

Right , so the next thing , I knew I'm jumping into this mentorship program and that happened at the end of September of 2018 . But October of 2018 , I went through three days of what they call a full immersion course , where they go through how to source a deal . What a rehab looks like . You hop on a bus , you go check out some flips and then you jump back in and they go through the finished stuff and then you're gone and the next day I closed my first house . Wow , yep . Then January , we started that flip . By the end of January , I had two more rentals behind it . At the end of year number two , I had 10 whole sales , 30 flips and 21 rental properties . At the end of year four , we doubled it . I went up picking up 30 doors last year in 2022 , which was not a great year for me , but still .

Ed Mathews

But it's interesting you say that because Jersey , I'm in Connecticut and there's similar markets , not a lot of inventory out there . So yeah , so , and I know from a realtor perspective the MLS used to be a target rich environment . I had very close relationships with all the Rio agents in the area and those have since dried up . So how are you driving deal flip ?

Bud Evans

I'll tell you , and this is what I tell my students I can get you to seven digits if you just source wholesalers and agents and have them bring you off market deals . That's it . And if you really want to go and you want to make eight digits , then you need to start doing your own marketing and we take them through three levels of marketing . And what's good for the neighborhood , what's good for the zip code , what's good for the county , and we go that way with it . But with little to no money out of pocket you can just start making phone calls and get on a bunch of lists and check out Facebook Marketplace and check out Greg's list , and start reaching out to people and have deals come across your desk and learn how to source them very rapidly and make offers before anybody else .

Ed Mathews

Wow , that's amazing . And so , just out of curiosity , how many doors do you have today ? 50 .

Bud Evans

In five years . Four , yeah , but yeah , wow rats . January of 2023 was exactly four years that we started , from our first flip till now .

Ed Mathews

Wow , I used the term earlier , but if you're going to be a bear , might as well be a grizzly , right ? Yeah , that's awesome , congrats

Collaboration, Joint Ventures, and Property Management

Ed Mathews

. So where are you taking the business next ? I mean , what's the next sale to take ?

Bud Evans

So a couple of different things . First and foremost , we've scaled back a lot . We were doing direct to seller and now there's really no reason there are . I know that there is a scarcity in the market , but for some reason , I don't know why , I still get six deals that cross my desk every day from quality wholesalers . I'm still getting three or four phone calls from an agent who's got a pocket listing and I'm providing them to my clients , my students , my network , getting maybe a little taste of the fees that they're getting , cherry picking the ones that I want , keeping those , yeah , and then giving back by teaching others how to do what I did .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , and one of the things that drives you , I know , and also drives me , is it's a big world out there . If somebody else gets theirs , it's okay . You can celebrate that . You don't have to worry about saying , man , I should have done this or I should have done that to get that deal . Somebody once said I think it was Robert Kiyosaki said the deal of the century comes by just about once a month . Right , yeah , so you know , it's a tremendous feeling to not only win yourself but help other people win as well . So thank you for that .

Bud Evans

Yeah , ed , I fully believe in collaboration over competition , Me too . So tell me more about that . Yeah , so it's funny . But my friend Yasser we call him the property captain because he's an actual Delta Airlines pilot , right , so he's a captain and he is in the next county over . So I work Mercer Burlington in Camden County part of Camden County , not Camden City , by the way , in case anybody's listening from the area , because it's the death capital of the world those three counties and he works literally Camden and Gloucester County down in South , a little bit farther south for me , and we are sourcing deals and as we're doing that , I'm picking up the phone and going Yo , yasser , did you see this one ? I think this one is right up your alley . Or he'll pick up the phone and call me and go hey , dude , roland just called me and he's got this six unit and I know you're making that transition to multifamily . Do you want this ? You know , and it works out very well .

Ed Mathews

It's great . Yeah , I mean I've got a group of folks that we work with . Actually , one of the guys who actually organized it , dave DeVito , calls it the Fab Five , and same thing . Right , we're looking at apartment buildings , but we're all . I'm focused in Connecticut and Kentucky and Carolinas . And one of my other colleagues , chris Moran , he's focused on Indiana . And Margaret Kozlowski , she's raising money for built to rent communities , so it's a really good fit . And Brendan Chisholm is down in South Carolina , so , and Dave is kind of the facilitator and he's a heavy hitter broker here in Connecticut . So , yeah , it's just a good fit .

Ed Mathews

So we all get together and we , you know , I'll pick up the phone . Hey , man , did you see that 57 unit in wherever that ? You know , a guy from Marcus Milchap throws my way , and it's great to have that collaboration because I'm very careful about confirmation bias . So the other value out of that is hey , I'm seeing this , are you seeing the same thing ? And , you know , shoot holes in it . No pride or authorship . I want to know what you think and that's really valuable in all respects .

Bud Evans

Yeah , actually I just threw together a blog on how to double your property inventory in a short period of time , and it basically comes down to working with others and leveraging other people and having them put their money to work in your deals so that you can both prosper .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , so what kind of structures are you using when you're working with other investors , like joint ventures , syndication , like how does that work for you ?

Bud Evans

Yeah , so I am a limited partner in a couple of deals . I don't include them in my personal portfolio , but you know they are . The 50 doors that I have are either individually owned by me or they are partnerships or JVs . So we have four companies , two partnerships and one joint venture , Gotcha .

Ed Mathews

Okay , interesting . And so you know when you're engaging with a partner . You know , one of the things I'm always interested in is how people find their partners right , and you know I liken it to dating and getting married . Right ? Yeah , I want to date first , right , I want to at least know that you and I are compatible . So you know what's the process you go through to vet or to figure out if you know a partner is a good fit for what you're looking to do .

Bud Evans

Yeah , it's funny . I just referred to my operating agreement as a pre-nup .

Bud Evans

Really that's what it is . Yeah , it's pretty good . When you're using the exact same analogy I just literally used about an hour ago , I may borrow that that's great . Yeah , it's absolutely perfect .

Bud Evans

So what we were talking about was when you're getting into these joint ventures , these partnerships , and you're throwing these LLCs together and you're using your operating agreement , your operating agreement should not just specify hey , this is the best possible case scenario , this is what's going to happen . Right , it should be hey , in the case of the best case scenario , we do this and this and we hold it for 30 years , or whatever the case may be . You know , we hold it for five years , we sell it and you know , split the profits evenly , or however you're going to deal with it . But it should also spell hey , if we lose our shirts on this deal , you know we just shake hands and go off in our own separate ways . Capital call be damned and we go right , whatever the case , you know .

Bud Evans

However , you want to structure that thing Right , and here are my four points to a good deal , a good partnership , right . When you spell it out , the contract should basically have three things . So , three things First , the number's got to work Right . Both parties have to agree to it and it's got to be legal , right yeah ?

Ed Mathews

That's it . Yeah , that's not that bad . That's not that bad .

Bud Evans

Right , figure it out . Whatever you want this to say . If you want this to say sure , in four years , partner A is going to get 10% , partner B is going to get 2% . You're going to split the proceeds in that percentage and then you're going to walk out the door . Great , no problem . Do the numbers work for him ? Do the numbers work for me ? Great , is there a contract ?

Ed Mathews

Absolutely .

Bud Evans

Are we both going to sign it ? Absolutely Terrific . Let's go Right on .

Ed Mathews

So tell me about your team when you are running your 50 doors . Do you have your property management in-house or do you outsource it ?

Bud Evans

Yeah , we're vertically integrating right now and it's painful ?

Ed Mathews

Yeah , it is absolutely painful that last year , and I'm three inches shorter from it .

Bud Evans

Exactly . It's funny . We finally found the system that we want to use , the structure that we want to use . We've got the back office software set up and the phone lines are ready to go and all of the ACH payments software and all that kind of stuff , and we're ready to go with it . And now we're in the process of downloading the Excel spreadsheet from the former property manager and then uploading it into ours , and we've got less than three weeks to do it . And then we just had to bring somebody in who is a specialist in this particular program that we're using . Oh , granted , look , it's virtual and it's literally one day a week , so it's not really that expensive . It's actually quite cost effective to use a virtual assistant who's a part-time employee , whether they're making $25 an hour and they're working four hours on a Friday and your books are straight , yep .

Ed Mathews

Bring it on . Absolutely yeah , we do the exact same thing . We do the same thing with virtual assistants that do everything from property management interacting with our residents to investor relations , to social media websites , search engine optimization . I've got somebody that helps with helping me brainstorm and create content . We've got an acquisitions person transaction coordinator , and they are all living 8,000 miles away , yeah , and they're amazing , Every single one of them is my transactions coordinator is in Kansas City .

Bud Evans

It was a very tense day in January when the Eagles lost Super Bowl to the Kansas City team .

Ed Mathews

I know that was painful .

Bud Evans

Yeah , yeah , so I did not talk to Amber for a week .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , it's okay . You get time heals , it's all right . Yeah , it's all good , yeah , but in fairness , you guys are stacked and now you've got your quarterback in the future . So Jalen Hurts , that kid is a class act and he's a heck of a football player .

Bud Evans

Yeah , don't tell anybody yet , but I went to Penn State . I'm a master's from there . I'm a Penn State football fan , but I'm also an Oklahoma Sooners fan , right yeah . I've been following them since Sam Bradford when they won the national championship . I've got a friend of mine who lives in OKC Okay .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , it's okay to have double allegiance , it's fine .

Bud Evans

I know they'll never meet because Oklahoma's not good enough to make it to the NCAA playoffs anyway . Ouch , yeah , Actually this year they might it's top 12 now . Right yeah , they look good .

Ed Mathews

We'll see , we'll see . I think that's something in terms of you know , you're obviously a mentor , you have a mentoring program and you help a whole bunch of people kind of get to where they want to go . I'm curious about your mentors over the years yeah , you mentioned one of them but I'm curious about the advice that they've given you . What is the best advice you ever got from someone in your life , and who was that person ?

Bud Evans

Yeah , you know that's a great question . I got to ponder that for a couple of seconds . Honestly , I've had some really great ones and I've had some not really great ones , you know . So I've seen the entire spectrum . The best leader I've ever worked with was Lieutenant Colonel Mark Waller . So , when it comes down to leadership , it was provide

Leadership and Learning in Real Estate

Bud Evans

the strategic vision and let your guys do it , you know , and they'll surprise you . Take care of your people and the people will take care of the mission , was what he said him , Lieutenant Colonel Waller and Lieutenant now general Chip Eisler . Same basic leadership philosophy . I'm going to hold you accountable , but this is what I need . I'm not going to tell you how to do it . Go figure it out .

Ed Mathews

Right .

Bud Evans

These are the requirements , these are the key performance indicators . So that's that's how I ran my program , the within real estate . Laura Fine out of Pittsburgh was really kind of the first person , the first mentor that I had in real estate , who was like what are you worried about ? You got this Right , you know what . And now I've kind of taken that approach . I've actually got a YouTube short out where the entire conversation is OK , make the offer . Ok , make the offer , and that's that was all you said .

Bud Evans

Up an entire conversation , yeah , the entirety of our conversation . For one of my students first short term rentals by a lake out in Minnesota was great , ok , did you do the work ? Great , make the offer , yeah . But he said , yeah , it doesn't matter what the the did you do the work ? Yes , then make the offer . She got the house . She just finished it .

Ed Mathews

Oh , that's great .

Bud Evans

Yeah , yeah , it was absolutely awesome .

Ed Mathews

So you know , my , my story is that in 2008 I read the rich dad , poor dad , and it fundamentally changed my life . Yeah , years later , because it took me three years to get over the fear and of uncertainty and a pull in that trigger , and you know , I had a short version of a very long story . Amy Rio is a realtor here , a broker now in Central Connecticut , and you know , when I knew her , she had , you know , four or five agents and now she's gigantic . But so she , bless her heart , she took me to no less than 20 properties and I always found a reason not to want it Right , and it was , you know , at that point it was 2010 into 11 .

Ed Mathews

And you know , on the 21st house , right , it was a four family on Clark Street , hence the name , the name the . She , you know , was a four family , it was for 99,000 bucks , it was a deal and a half and you know it was in really good shape . It was a . Somebody had acquired it and was trying to update it and flip it and ran out of money for whatever reason . And so , you know , I was scooping it up and I came out like , well , and she , she took a pen and clicked it and put a contract down on the hood of my car and she said sign the F in contract or never call me again . And you know I'm six four , I was , I'm the legitimate foot taller than her right . And she scared the living daylights out of me and I took , I very quietly took the pen and scrolled my name on it and you know I still own that property today . So , thank you , anywhere you are .

Ed Mathews

But , but yeah , I mean it's great , make the , you know , make the offer was really hard for me and so I'm glad I'm not alone . I know I'm not alone because you know it's a lot of responsibility . I tell people , you know , my handshake is on every contract , because if you're not , if you don't , you know , if you aren't going into this , into each property , a little bit nervous , you don't understand the magnitude of the responsibility you're taking on , right . So you know , pay attention to that . But you know , you put the business systems in place , put the team in place and and you manage it right . Yeah , so that's the process , exactly , exactly , right .

Bud Evans

And I'm on stage , you know , speaking 2013, . I was in Afghanistan . We were getting rocketed , mortared , shot at , you know , constantly . I went up losing four guys in a plane crash . It was , it was absolute insanity . I came home that August , fast forward years later , I signed that first contract . I was shaking more , signing that contract , than I ever was under attack . Yeah Right , and it's just . For whatever reason ? I was confident in my capabilities in combat , but for whatever reason , I was scared to death here , man .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , I hear you , that's amazing . That reminds me of a commercial that this guy was interviewing , obviously a veteran , and you know it's flashing back to him in service in a combat situation , and you know the guy behind the desk fast forward to the present . And the guy behind the desk says , can you handle stress ? And the kid looked at him and went , yeah , I can handle stress . So , yeah , it's pretty , pretty , pretty interesting . Wow , it's , yeah , it's amazing . What will freak out that caveman brain of ours , right , yeah , yeah .

Ed Mathews

So I'm curious . You know leaders tend to be readers and you know , obviously you've accomplished a lot in a really short period of time and I imagine that not only do you have mentors , but you probably also take in a lot of information over the course of a day or a week . So you know it used to be that . You know tactile books were the . You know where . I used to have a stack of these on my nightstand , and now I just have an iPhone or an iPad full of books . So you know , I'm curious . You know how do you take in information , whether it's podcasts or videos or whatever , and also , who are you paying attention to these days ?

Bud Evans

Yeah , all of the above . So I have a process on whether or not I'm going to actually read a book and , you know , feel free to steal it . So I use a program called Blinkist . It's Blinkistcom Now . I'll download essentially the equivalent of a Quick Notes and I'll either page through it over breakfast or I'll listen to it while I'm , you know , in the gym , or something of that nature . If I like it , I'll get the audiobook . If I like the audiobook , I'll get the paper back . And I have so , truth be told , my wife thought I was absolutely insane . One year I had just read a snowball about Warren Buffett , you know , and in there they talked about him reading like 52 books a year , and I had to hold my beer moment . So I read 86 .

Ed Mathews

Really .

Bud Evans

So it was a full time job .

Ed Mathews

Oh , I'll bet I do the same thing every year . Last year I was like I'm reading 52 books . This year I think I got to about 38 . This year I'm actually on track . But yeah , it's a full time job , you know , and that is outside of college basketball season and now the NBA playoffs and football seasons right around the corner , and I'm notorious for watching a game and having a laptop and I'm on properties . But then I have to carve out the hour or two a day that I need to be able to continue to read and stay on track , although I have a cheat code and that is so .

Ed Mathews

I listened to Blinkist as well and I tend to do it . I listen rather than I'm more of a visual , you know learner than a reader , and so I'll listen to Blinkist and I also belong to Audible . I have a membership , so I'll listen to it in Blinkist and then go okay , this author really knows what they're talking about and I'll go cash your credit in and get the audio book . And then I listened to it at , you know , anywhere from 1.5 to 2.0 speed , and that's how I can cram in so many books . In a week I can get that one book done . That should take me eight hours to read . Really only takes me about five .

Ed Mathews

And , yeah , it's amazing , your brain can catch up , but , yeah , so that's how I shortcut the whole process of reading . It pays , it really does , it does , yeah , and it gives people perspective , right , because you know you're basically an author . You know snowball , right , or atomic habits . You know James Clear's book , which I read about six months ago fantastic book , any of the books right , you're cramming in about 10 years of that author's life into 245 pages and you know if you can consume that information in you know , a week or a matter of a couple of weeks . You just got 10 years smarter from that person in that particular topic . So you know , I don't know why you wouldn't read and taking information , because it keeps . I can't tell you how many times it's kept me from doing dumb stuff , right , yeah , or learning how to fix the dumb stuff I had already done .

Bud Evans

Perfect , and I'm going to make a recommendation because so I'm on this big mindset kick right now Not that I'm not always on a big mindset kick right now , because my whole life has been about the appropriate mindset , but I know . So I've just read for the fourth time Essentialism by Greg McEwen .

Ed Mathews

Oh that's a new one for me .

Bud Evans

Yeah , m-c-k-e-o-w-n . I don't have it on my shelf . I just read it again . Right , and so one of the things it's if this decision does not get me to my end goal , don't do it . If this action does not get me to my end goal , why am I doing it ? Right , either give it to somebody else to do or don't do it at all . Right , and it can be as and I'm not kidding you , I just did this with my wife the other day where , by showing her my example , and I went through all of my sweatshirts and my closet , all of my pants , all of my shirts , all of my t-shirts , all of my joggers , and I went well , I don't wear this .

Bud Evans

And she goes . Well , what happens if you gain weight ? I went trash . Right , I have like three pairs of joggers , three pairs of shorts , like 10 T shirts because I exercise . So you know , just , and just started going down the line and the next day , the next day , I couldn't open my bedroom door because her clock , she was cleaning out the walk-in closet of all the shoes and boxes .

Ed Mathews

Right If I haven't worn it in a year . Right , Mission accomplished .

Bud Evans

Exactly , I can open and close my closet doors now . It's absolutely amazing , yeah .

Ed Mathews

Life changed forever .

Bud Evans

Yeah , translate that directly into business and you have . Okay , this is my goal for 2022 . Right , okay . And then Gino Wickman , traction or EOS , great models what are the three rocks that lead to that particular goal ? And then build from there . Right , then set your goals backwards so that you can actually take those bites . Yeah , and you can execute . We eat that elephant one bite at a time .

Ed Mathews

Right on , right , so yeah . So you and I are reading the same books , because I do a very similar approach , although it's usually my wife that's getting needed to toss stuff the other way around . So , in fairness , yeah . So the thing the mantra in our family is if you haven't worn it in a year , it's time to get rid of it , donate it or toss it if it's ready , yeah . So let me ask you something . You've done a lot , you've accomplished a lot . If you were that 18-year-old kid coming out of high school , what would you do differently if you had to go back and start over ?

Bud Evans

Yeah Well . So first off , I would still join the military . I'm just going to say that flat out . The military completely changed my life . You've seen my YouTube bio . I grew up in a standard middle-class neighborhood . I had a regular middle-class family . I'm from a divorced family , so my parents got divorced when I was in high school . The military changed my life . It created this drive and this discipline that I didn't have before the military . I was smart enough in school , but I didn't have the discipline to actually engage . I was actually literally told by my guidance counselor that I would struggle in the United States Air Force , that I shouldn't go in , and that he had a friend working in Philly . I would be able to be a trashman . Wow , yeah . So five degrees later Did ?

Ed Mathews

you go back and see them , that counselor .

Bud Evans

I never got the chance to confront him with it and then later on listen , it is what it is . You've got to constantly reflect and in one of my reflections I came up with this conclusion he was a $35,000 a year frustrated not NBA basketball player who was sitting in a back room with no windows talking to punk kids like me who thought their stuff didn't stink , and he was taking out his own failures on me . So I look back and I go , like you know what Feel bad for that guy . He's long since passed , but I am successful .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , indeed , and the thing is is that I always look at , I look . I've learned to look back , not in frustration but in gratitude , because those are the people in my life that lit a fire .

Bud Evans

Yeah , he definitely motivated me .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , thank you . Thank you for telling me I'm not capable of this . Oh , my beard right yeah exactly , and so you know you have those people that are . You know they may be a negative force in your life , but there , you know , there is a positive to take away from that and it's the .

Bud Evans

you know , watch me right , yeah , so the second part of that is this while you're in the military and you're moving along Now , for those of you who aren't , you can still do this . Right , in the military you have the option of a VA loan . Right , you can take a VA loan and get up to 100% on the purchase of a house ,

Military Strategies in Real Estate

Bud Evans

including your closing costs , because they'll transition that and they'll put it on the buyer . So , in that case , buy a house , rent it out , rent the rooms out to your buddies . You all collect basic allowance for housing , bah . Have everybody pay you . You don't pay anything . Keep all of your BAH . Throw that into a bank account . Rinse cycle , repeat .

Bud Evans

Go to your next base . Do an FHA loan , 3.5% down . Go to your next base . Do a VA loan , you know , refinance the first one , maybe refinance the second one . Keep going right . If you're in , if you're only in for four years and wind up with one property in a different location and it's 100% funded and now you're renting it out and actually making your mortgage or better , in that place , come home , use the FHA loan , get yourself a duplex , triplex or quad and house , hack it , yep , live in one and have the other two pay your mortgage .

Ed Mathews

Without a . That's excellent advice . Yeah , so , but I'm curious you know , when you're not talking about real estate or helping other people get into this , into this world , you know what do you like to do ? How do you spend your time ?

Bud Evans

Don't tell my wife , I always talk about this .

Ed Mathews

This is we'll be . We're going to be men here . We're not going to share this .

Bud Evans

Yeah , exactly so , ed . I'm going to tell you the truth here , because you brought something up earlier and we never kind of circled back around to it . But how I found my first JV partner ? This guy's name is Matt Zvitkovich . Matt is a coder for SoFi Bank , right , and he and I we've known each other for probably eight , nine years . I had season tickets to the Philadelphia Flyers , anyway . That's a different story , but I also belong to this club within the Wells Fargo Center . It was called the Cadillac Girl for a very long time and now it's Adriens , which , whatever , yeah , it's Philly right , anyway . So I did not know , and until I actually started to network with people , I did not realize the level of network ability that I had . In that bar , standing there one day having a conversation , bringing a contractor in there to talk business , while we're standing at the bar , matt walks up to me and taps me on the shoulder and says dude , how come you never asked me to invest ? That was it .

Bud Evans

Partnership started Started out as a private money lender lent on about 10 or 12 deals . At the end of that , he goes . What can I do to do what you do ? So what do you ask of me ? He goes , I want to buy rental properties . Like you , I want to retire someday . And I went okay , done so . Then the funny part was I was like 300,000 . He goes , done . I went oh , so that's what he has for five . He goes done again , right , yeah . So he and I partnered on a couple of different LLCs . We have a six unit together , another multi-family unit and a bunch of single families together , but that's where I get that . You know that prenup , right , right . But that's how I met my first JV partner . Bringing this full circle , I talk about real estate everywhere and pretty much all the time , simply for that reason , right . But what do I do while I'm talking about real estate ? I love good whiskey , I love good food , I love to travel and I love ice hockey Excellent . And fitness , yeah .

Ed Mathews

Yeah , it's interesting . I think I got it from a podcast I was listening to years ago , but it's something called the three foot rule , and that is that if someone , if a human being , is consuming oxygen within three feet of me while I'm consuming oxygen , I will somehow find a way to bring in real estate into the conversation and then talk about my passion , right , and I can't tell you how many people I've met , who I've either . You know , and it's the always oh , I would love to do that , right , but I don't have the time . I don't know where to get the money , I don't know where to get the deals and all that . And you know that's when I tell them hey , I'm a cheap date , you know , yeah , come grab a beer or a cup of coffee with me . I'll tell you everything I know and you know and , like I said , most of the time I'll buy . So , but the thing is is that you know you meet , it's amazing , the rooms . If you put yourself in the right rooms , proximity is power , as they say , right , and you know , if you're putting yourself in the right rooms and actually making an effort to network , it's amazing that the people that you'll meet that you know .

Ed Mathews

A friend of mine , chris Moran , was at a coffee shop a well-known national coffee shop and , you know , struck up a conversation with the gentleman in front of them . I guess the coffee was taken a little long and , you know , somehow it turned to real estate and the gentleman said I wish I had time to do that , but I'm , you know , an executive at this insurance company . Turns out he was the CEO of that insurance company and Chris struck up a friendship with him and I . At one point he was deploying , I want to say , a million dollars a year into the business so that Chris could go find deals for him . And you know they were joint venture partners and doing great , and to this day , I'm pretty sure they're still doing great . So it's amazing what you can learn if you just open your mouth and make friends right , exactly , yeah . So , but I've really enjoyed this conversation . I really have . And so if someone wants to learn more about your property business or your mentorship program , you know what's the best way for them to get in touch .

Bud Evans

Two ways , Very simply put look at on Instagram at budevans , aka the property patriot at budevans on Instagram , or just check out budevanscom . Excellent .

Ed Mathews

Well , bud Evans , thank you so much for your time today . You're a wealth of information and I'm grateful for all the gold nuggets you were dropping over the last wow , 45 minutes . We've been talking a while .

Bud Evans

Yeah , man , I could talk about this all day .

Ed Mathews

Me too . For days I can talk about it so . But thanks , it's a pleasure to see you .

Bud Evans

Thanks , Ed Same here .

Ed Mathews

All right , this has been the Real Estate Underground Podcast , a Clark Street capital presentation . Thanks for joining us . If you're enjoying the show , please remember to subscribe and share it with your friends . If you'd like to learn more about Clark Street capital and our upcoming projects , please join our investor club at clarkstcom . Slash join Until next time . Happy investing .