The Most Dwanderful Real Estate Podcast Ever!

The Donis Brothers' Blueprint: Sowing Seeds of Success in Property Investment

• Dwan Bent-Twyford • Season 4 • Episode 360

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Embark on an enthralling exploration of real estate, resilience, and the remarkable power of faith with the Donis brothers, Kenneth and Jeffrey, who return to share their latest investment adventures and spiritual insights. From scaling the heights of multi-unit property ventures to nurturing the roots of their family tree, these siblings illuminate the profound impact of biblical wisdom in today's business world. Their journey isn't just a testament to strategic acumen; it's a heartfelt narrative of personal growth and familial dedication.

This conversation doesn't shy away from the obstacles of youth in a seasoned investor's market. Kenneth and Jeffrey candidly discuss how they've turned potential weaknesses into strengths, crafting a formidable brand and team that's rewriting the playbook on entrepreneurial ingenuity. Discover the unforeseen advantages of humility and the competitive edge that comes from starting early, as we weave tales of triumph, community revival, and the deep fulfillment that accompanies the creative process of renovation and design.

As we wrap the episode, our gaze turns to the horizon, where dreams of interconnected towns and vibrant communities take root. The Donis brothers' passion for competition and construction merges with my own reflections on mentorship, partnership, and the creative joys of real estate. We leave you with an invitation to join us on this journey, from the personal narratives that shape our decisions to the broader aspirations that could one day see our towns flourish side by side.

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Make it a Dwanderful Day!

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Hey everybody, welcome to The Most Dwanderful Real Estate Podcast Ever and I am so excited to have my guests on today. I interviewed these handsome young men a couple of years ago and I have been following. I mean, I swear I'm like a secret stalker. I follow everything they do, watch all their videos. I watch them on YouTube and I wanted to bring them back in so we could just talk a little bit more about the Donis Brothers.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So if you're new to my podcast, my name is Dwan Bent-Twyford. I'm an American most sought after real estate investor, and our motto at Dwanderful is people before profits. So if there's something that resonates with you, then I'm your girl. You're going to love these guys. Also, you can go to Dwanderful D-W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L Dwanderful. com. opt in, have a free e-book, flip your way to a fortune and have a couple other free things. So head over to Dwanderful. com, opt in. Also subscribe to the podcast. I bring you awesome guests. We're doing eight podcasts a month now, so a lot of good information. Okay, so I have the Donnas brothers and today we have Kenneth and Jeffrey, and there is another one, Kermit. He is not with us today, but that's okay, because I got the best two today.

Kenneth Donis:

That's good. His name is Kerwin. His name is Kerwin.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Kerwin. Oh my God, did I just say Kermit?

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, that's good. That's the one you should have gone ahead. That's what I call him.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Oh my God, okay, don't let him see this.

Jeffery Donis:

It is Kerwin I know that I don't know why? I think I just wrote down KER it's funny you can just flip over the W and it becomes Kermit. It's like Kerwik, but it's not Kermit.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Okay, don't tell him. I said that I know all your names. Okay, so we have Kenneth on the left, we have Jeffrey next to him, then you have me, then we have Kerr-Win, the Donnas brothers. So I met you guys a couple of years ago. I interviewed you like I don't know, was it two years ago, maybe?

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, yeah, it might have been a little less, but time flies A little bit less.

Kenneth Donis:

I think after the last few years have all just been a blur.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Oh, I imagine for you all. It has really been something, because you guys at that time you know we're getting into doing multi-units and just all kinds of really neat things and I remember. So how old are you guys right now?

Kenneth Donis:

So I'm 25. I'm 22.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And then you and Kerr-Win are twins.

Jeffery Donis:

Correct, so you guys are 22, 25.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, 22. And I was thinking you were like 19 or 20, but it doesn't matter. And I was just like, oh my gosh, these young guys. They're working so hard, they're building the Streltsy Empire. They're going to take care of their mom. Like who doesn't want to raise kids like that?

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, we're. You know, we're blessed to have the mom that we have and I think she's been still a lot of things to us, so we try to pay her back for all the things she's done and I feel like it just all. I guess it's kind of a duty that we have.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It is Well. You know I take care of my mom and my dad and you know my parents. I'm lucky for me. I'm almost 65 and I still have both my parents, which at my age I don't have a lot of friends that still have their parents, and so it is definitely an honor to be able to do that. But it's so nice to see young men starting off being like that. Instead of worried about like women and sex and drugs and party and all the crazy they're like, hey, we're going to build an empire, we're going to take care of our family. That is more rare than it used to be.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, I would say, obviously there's a lot of things that you're tempted by, especially when you're young, but we came into our faith pretty recently and that's actually played a major role in keeping us, I think, close to what's good.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Y'all got saved.

Jeffery Donis:

Yes, yes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I did not know that. Congratulations, oh, me too.

Jeffery Donis:

Thank you. That's the greatest thing I've ever done.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So you guys just recently kind of got back into the faith.

Kenneth Donis:

It was about a year ago. Yeah, yeah, about a year ago. I mean, we've always believed in God and our mother going up she wasn't necessarily like the most religious but obviously always told us to pray and just kind of showed us about God. But yeah, we more recently got more into our faith for sure.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Well, you know, the book of Proverbs tells you exactly how to run a business.

Jeffery Donis:

It does. It's a religious.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I tell people all the time it's like you want to learn how to run a business, read Proverbs. You don't need to read a bunch of business books. Read Proverbs. Tell you everything you need to know about how to run a business, how to treat people, how to be a boss, how to treat everybody. Tell you everything you need to know.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, it seems like a lot of the principles that the business books and the self-help books that we read. A lot of that information is, in other words, in the Bible in some way, and Bible is obviously older than all of those books.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I don't know if you know this. If you don't, I'm going to tell you, and if not, you'll find out on your as you read along. But the number one topic in the Bible is finances. It's talked about more than anything else is finances, so I feel like what I thought it was important enough to talk about throughout the Bible.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

More than be kind, more than believe in, more than all that, money is the number one topic in the Bible. So I feel like, if God feels it's that important that we need to learn what he wants us to do with it and what we're supposed to do and what good we're supposed to do with it, and what's expected of us once we are tithing and doing things and using the talents, like the parable of the talents Once you're using the talents, god expects you, god expects ROI.

Jeffery Donis:

So yeah, this is a great issue, yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

He expects you guys to do a lot. Okay, so just real quick for people to find you, it's the Dona's Investment Groupcom and then all over social media, Don is brothers. So just bring us up to date. Like I'm going to ask you some questions, but for people that have never heard of you, never saw you before, tell everybody what you do.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah. So my two brothers and I, we each have our own roles within what we do and over the last few years we started investing in real estate primarily. At first was a single family, and then we transitioned into multifamily and since, I'd say, the last 12 to 14 months, we've now been doing a mixture of multifamily and single family. So, yeah, I can tell you more about what we're doing currently on the single family side, right.

Kenneth Donis:

So you know, we, like my brother said, dove into multifamily. Things kind of started slowing down due to interest rates and we, you know, we're very flexible with things. So we kind of went back into the single family space and, as of late, we've been flipping houses and trying to, you know, pretty much buy, renovate and then sell for a profit houses recently.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, I've been watching all your houses that you guys are fixing up and you all are really good. I mean, you're there, they're beautiful when they're done and you buy the kind of houses I buy, like the little you know three bad, two bad, you know, and in like the neighborhood. That's the same kind of stuff that I still do, but you know, after all these decades of real estate investing, I still kind of like single family. I feel like, regardless of what's happening in like politics or the economy, or whether we're in a recession or not, in a recession, single family always seems to just be a solid something you can just count on.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, yeah. And of course, more people can afford single family homes on average in America than, obviously, the multifamily complexes that we're buying. So I think it is a lot more sort of something that people can relate to that average person, and we're still taking the same approach that we did with our multifamily business in regards to bringing on investors and approaching it with the same mindset of being able to bring other people along with us, and we think we can obviously grow at a quicker pace and build it into something that is truly not just beneficial to us if we can bring other people into the deal. So it's interesting to see that there are a lot of overlaps we might have overlooked than that we didn't necessarily see at first.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's a multi-unit.

Kenneth Donis:

Yes, so we've done a few transactions within our, you know, partnered up on a few different multifamily apartments within the southeast primarily.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Okay, so how many doors do you have at this point?

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, we've done five projects on the general partnership side and each of those properties are anywhere from 100 to 300 units, so with five it puts us. I mean, obviously the number of doors can be a little misleading, but it is People always oh, I have my door to have.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It's like, um, I don't know. I own 20 buildings and some of them have doors and some of them the walls are open. I don't really even tell you how many doors I have.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, but it's. It's a, I think, a little over a thousand units at this point that we're in partnership on. And those are different, so tell me because you all are young.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So you know, when I started I mean I was 30, but I also started 30 years ago and there were very few, and there were very few women that were like infesting and at Rio groups that were hardly any female speakers, like it was really the boys club.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

But then you all come along and then you're super young. So what have been? What do you have? You found has been like one of your biggest challenges to kind of break through, for people to take you serious, because you know you are young. But if anyone just spends a minute talking to you it's like you've definitely done your work, you do diligence, you've got your plan, you got God on your side like you got it all. You got your mom, you know. But what? What would you say has been something difficult because of your age.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, well, I mean, I guess, speaking specifically on the multi-family side, a lot of these properties, especially the larger ones, are bought from or bought by larger companies. And so when, when you know, when we've attended, when we've attended events specifically like an MHC, there's a lot like really really big companies they're right Like Reads, or companies that are just doing billions of dollars and purchases a year, and so when they see me personally, you know, when they see me, they probably don't think anything of me until, like you said, they actually have a conversation with me. So I would say, like, on the multi-family side, that's probably the most. That was probably the most difficult thing for us. Just since we're so young, we probably come off as not really knowing anything. But on the single family side of things, like my brother said, it's actually, I think, it's easier for people to wrap their head around the fact that, although, yes, we are young, we are hustlers, so it's easier for them to wrap their heads around them being able to understand.

Jeffery Donis:

Oh yeah, you could actually do this at probably a young age, yeah, and Kenneth yeah, kenneth was the acquisitions and he still does the acquisitions for multi-family for us. So, on his from his perspective, that's who he was engaging and interacting with. It was brokers and mainly people that are obviously a little bit older than he was and he still is.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It's the old white boys club. I don't care if that sounds racist or not, that's what it is. It's the old white boys club and they all know more than everybody.

Jeffery Donis:

You can already hear first. For me, I would say, since I'm mainly talking to investors and the different institutional investors, so that's retail and institutional groups. I didn't necessarily because I'm speaking with a lot of these people over phone calls and zoom calls. If they don't keep my face which they do over zoom, but if it's a phone call usually they don't I don't feel like they treat me any differently. Eventually they find out through our social media content and then obviously you can see who we are, that we're pretty young, but I think a lot of the things that we did to build our brand and how we were intentional about building a solid team around us has helped us overcome those challenges.

Jeffery Donis:

So I truly think that there wasn't as many challenges as you might think and I'm sure if there were, there were still challenges that I probably was oblivious to. I simply didn't necessarily and this might be, this might have been because I was a bit naive, but I wasn't aware of it. So it didn't really inhibit me in ways that I was never conscious of, and I think that's something that as I get older I start to realize that oh wow, I mean I still can see how that could inhibit me and the people could like to be differently. But I think there's a lot of things you can do that are within your control, and obviously our age isn't one of them.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

But if you just I agree I don't think age makes any difference. I mean my kids used to go door knocking when they were teenagers. My son was 11, going with the girls and people thought he was a kid. But I'm telling you, by the time he was like 14, 15 years old. If you talk to him people are like how old is he? He's like he talks like he's a 50 year old man, like he's got so much knowledge. And now my son is 31,. But shoot, he's got a bunch of rentals and married. He's got four kids now.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So I think some of the talk to you guys I've had two more grand babies and when people talk to them they're always like catch this, and he looks real young and he's probably six, five, like real GQ, very young looking. But people are like dang, he sounds like he's been investing since like the moment he was born I was like dude. Our kids have been door knocking, making phone calls, doing lead follow up since they were 10, 11, 12. I mean I even had a little when she was like nine, taking her with me, going door knocking, having to fill out envelopes and mail, cause you know we didn't have all the automated stuff like your lab and my kids have been doing it forever and I think that. So my son used to always like, yeah, people are. When he started on his own, like the girls got older, got out of school and you know, there he was. They know what's going to take me serious. I'm too young at the honey. You just stand with authority and once you speak, they'll listen.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And you know now he runs the RIA group in Denver. So yeah, and I think another thing that you said that I love is when you're really, and not when you're young, but when you're new, like when I was new, I was really naive, so a lot of things I didn't know would be an obstacle, and since I never knew it, I never thought about it. I never thought about it, never worried about it, like I didn't realize, so I was in it that like being a woman was a big thing. It's like how's it?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

going with you guys. How's that a big deal Like. I'm smarter than anybody else and so sometimes being I always tell people I think being naive was one of my biggest assets, because if I heard all the things that can go wrong and all the things I shouldn't do and all the things that people say, I don't know if I would have had the guts to do it by myself.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, and one thing that I've become aware of recently it's since we don't come from a high sort of like, we come from a low income background, yeah, and we approach this business with a level of, I would say, humility that may be more difficult for people if they had a previous success in their past careers, which comes with experience. At time and usually when you're older that's something that you have, but we were coming into it pretty fresh, so when we approached it we were very curious and we understood that we obviously hadn't done much yet. We had that sense of humility and I think in the Bible there's principles and different books that talk about it where it's harder for the person that has wealth to get into heaven and for us. We're not saying like, we're not comparing the two, but I think there's definitely some parallels there where it is, it's harder.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

What does this say? It's harder for a rich man to get into heaven and for a camel to get to the eye of a needle. You know the eye of a needle is the gate.

Jeffery Donis:

Exactly, and when you approach it with the way that we were like approaching it, we were just so curious asking questions, and I think it's important that we keep that and everyone keeps that, because then when you're talking to these people, who may have a lot more experience, I think that's attractive to them to want to help you, and at least I think it's better than the opposite, which is arrogance, and that's obviously not. I don't think that's a good thing.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Well, nobody likes anybody arrogant about how old you are. Yeah, you know, I mean seriously. I meet people now and sometimes I've done this and they're real arrogant about it and I'm just like I'm not even going to brag or try to like go tip or tat right here about what you're saying.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'm so far past you but you don't need to know that, because it's not a pissing match and I feel like as a older person, after I was investing for just a few years five or six years I already wanted to start helping other people do it. I was fired from Denny's, I was broke, I was a single mom. My husband took off and no money, no car, no college, no nothing. And I'm like, well, if I could do that, other people can do it. So I wanted to start helping people and teach people right out the gate. Because of all the stuff I'd been through, I didn't. I thought there's no reason for people to go through all that and just you know like, so let me just share. So I've always wanted to help people. So I meet people that are new or especially young and I my first thought is like, oh, what can I? What advice, what can I do? What can I do to help? Because, especially young, you stay with it. Oh man, just think of the empire that you'll build.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, that's just very true, and we've been blessed to be able to meet a lot of awesome people like you and people that are just willing to help, and it's surprising. You might just not something you're necessarily expecting, but you get into these kinds of rooms and it's surprising how many people are actually happy to help.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, and also you just never know who you'll meet. And just being opened or just, like my brother said, just having humility when you go to an event or you're out primarily events really but just being open to just trying to speak with people, learn what they know, ask questions Like that is so okay, people actually want to give, they enjoy that. It kind of feeds them in a way.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Usually they go to all the time. I went to a really big podcast event a couple months ago Now. If I go to a big real estate event, usually the person that's teaching or the people that are speaking like people know who I am. So I went to this podcast event and there were like 1200 people and nobody knew me. Nobody knew who I was, but I don't know who most of the other people were either.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And I thought, wow, this must be what it feels like to be a new investor in a giant room and nobody knows you or cares or really wants to take the time, because everyone's trying to meet or make some kind of connection and unless they feel like you can specifically help them, so a lot of people they're like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll loop back. And I was like in my mind, I feel like saying, hey, do you not know who I am? But then the other side's like no, don't say that out loud, man, God still got a whole bunch of them lightning bolts up there. You do not want one to hate you, yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, it's so weird to be on the other side of the fence for four days. I went into every class, I went into everything. I made a little group of friends and we started hanging around together. But it was just so weird. Like nobody recognized me at all, not a single person.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, which everything I have no reason to.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Everyone's got a podcast and you think, like I watch real estate shows, so I should know all the real estate podcasts, but there's like two or three million shows out there nowadays. Yeah, there's a lot. But it was really fun and I learned so much. I went four days. I had classes like every hour and a half. I went to every class, everything every day, and I was like gosh. This is how people felt at the end of a three or four day workshop I was exhausted.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah yeah, networking can be very exhausting and learning as well. Just trying to cram all that information in it.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, we always come back very, very tired from those trips. I mean, you stay up late because you're networking, and then you wake up early, yeah, and we go to a couple of early years. It's just like we don't get much sleep and you're always on go throughout the day. A lot of coffee, yeah, a lot of coffee, I know.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

After, and it was down here in Denver at the Gaylord, the big, fancy, fancy Gaylord hotel. But the prom of the hotel, everything's so big I feel like I walked 5,000 miles on the rooms here the conference centers here all the evening stuff was way out there outside it was like, oh my God, I need like a golf cart to get inside the hotel.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I came back with bags. You know how they give you, like the bags. I had bags of stuff. It honestly probably took me a month to go through every single thing and I took a lot of cards for people I wanted to connect with later and I had to Google some of them because you can't remember every single solitary thing. But I ended up working with probably 15 different people that I met from there just through different phases of what I needed in my business and in my podcast side and things like that. So I was like, and that was the best trip ever, so many great connections.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, was that best ever it was pod movement.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I think pod movement no it was great and they're doing another one. I think they're doing another one maybe this actual weekend and they do two a year. I'm like I'm going to start going to those because I don't go to a lot of events anymore, because I speak at a lot of events on the real estate side and it was really good to be in the audience because you get so much fresh ideas.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, yeah, it's been a little bit. We went to a mastermind event recently, but we haven't been to an event and it seems like a little bit longer than it had been in the past. So definitely should make it a back out to when you're inspiring us to make it a back out.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Well, they're fun. Well, if you find a really good one, let me know and I'll go there too and we can all like hang out and spend some time actually in person.

Kenneth Donis:

So, now.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

so you guys are doing a little bit of everything. You're doing some single family, you're doing some multi-gitters, are you keeping rentals, are you interested in, like, airbnb's, or you just sort of focus, like these are the niches that you're focused on.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah. So my brothers and I we've had this conversation. So, as I mentioned, you know, the multifamily space has really slowed down due to interest rates and so the transaction volume has significantly decreased within the last 18 months and we believe that there's going to be a huge opportunity to potentially buy. So right now, obviously, you know, if we find a deal where we could potentially buy, fix up and then rent, that's an option. But our goal is really to generate as much cash, which is why we're fixing and flipping so that we can then take that cash and go out and buy a multifamily or just larger apartments or buildings, I guess, if we ever want to get into that, but primarily multifamily, just because we do believe that there's going to be a really, really big opportunity in buying here in the next 18 months or so.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I think so too. I feel like that too. I feel like you know, this is a presidential election year and during the year of elections I mean at this point I've been through so many election cycles and I always noticed that during election cycles, you know rates will go up or down and everyone's fighting for this the Republican, the Democrat, and everyone's making millions of promises and what happens is a lot of people get into well, I'm going to wait until the election and see before they buy or they move forward or they lend more money or things like that. So I have found for my personal self during election years I always do really good because I don't want to wait and see. I don't care who the president is, that's not going to make no difference in my business.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I mean, I do care who the president is. That's a very phrase I don't understand care who the president is, but it's not going to affect me either way. So you'll find and you're right in January, so I think you'll find that you'll see a lot of people with kind of like the oh you know, we'll wait and see, kind of you just keep plugging forward and you'll get so much further ahead in the next 12 months and a lot of people, because people do go into a wait and see mode.

Jeffery Donis:

Well, when you said more people will go into the market, it makes me think that with more competition, prices will they'll have to go up, but doesn't it make more sense for prices to go up? So yeah, you know what I mean. Like, it seems like it will only get more competitive and then prices will go up, which would make it a harder time to buy. So maybe now is the best time to buy, If that's what you're going with that's what you're going with.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, it's kind of like that. It's like the prices might go up, interest rates might go up. I mean, who the heck knows if you know if Kamala Harris becomes the president like the whole economy could crash. I don't know. But I know that it's a piece of sorry for all my liberal friends, but you can't tell me. I'm not lying. So it's like so a lot of people that have a lot of money. They're like well, I'm just going to wait, I don't want to invest in stock market mid crash. This could happen, that could happen. And then other people are like I don't care, I'm just going to keep rolling with it. I think you'll find a lot more foreclosures this year. Yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I think prices will be okay and interest rates are kind of coming down a little bit.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And that's what things happen like in an election cycle. But on the other side, when you're looking to do some big deals and you need millions of dollars, you'll find people like, well, you know, we're just going to wait and see what happens because they don't know. So people kind of get like in a wait and see mode. But I don't know. I find it's always a really good time to do a lot of rehabbing and fixing and flipping and stuff and election cycles, because on some of the bigger things not everybody wants to let go of the purse strings so easy.

Jeffery Donis:

Right For sure, and that's what we're really just doing, what we can to stay busy. And one thing that we really enjoy doing and what we saw the opportunity on the single family side was we had these investors that wanted to place capital but there wasn't the. We didn't see there that opportunity for us to go and actually satisfy that need in the multifamily space, because deal flow is down for us in our markets in the criteria that we were looking for. So in single family there's a lot more deal volume. We already had that skill set and we can deliver some. We are delivering some pretty solid returns to our investors. So that really satisfies that need and also allows us to move forward, I think, in the right direction, regardless of what's going on in the space that we were in.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, so I can't tell you guys are physically rehabbing like physically doing the work ourselves, and we hire out contractors, and for the most part just contractors per deal, so we'll have some more. I don't always love rehabbing. You enjoy it. I do enjoy it, you know, for our content. I loved it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I did it for a decade solid. I loved it.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, for content purposes, I'll go in and just get some content on demo, and I do enjoy that when I get to swing the sledgehammer, oh yeah, it would just take me way too long to do the project itself if it was just me or just us. Since we're doing several at one time, you know we can conquer a lot more at once, although I do enjoy it and it's fun to learn how things are being put together within the construction side of things. But doing it myself, yeah, I'm not.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I did it. I mean I had a crew, that one point. I had a couple crews, so like I'd be me and my partner might be working on this one house and we'd have a couple other houses going and have crews. But I always liked it. And I remember when I met Bill the first time I met because you know we're coming up on 20 years of marriage now, so this is like I'm like 40 something when I first made Bill and I remember the first time he came to my house and he walked into my garage and I mean I have like tools, like every tool that they have that you would need. I have all the tools. I have all my walls arranged with tools everywhere and he's like, well, who's this bull on two Was like they're mine. He's like you know how to use all these tools. It's like, dude, I rehab all the time I know and I always say you know, I think he fell in love with my tools.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, he likes, like toys and stuff, and he was so stunned. I had so many things I'm like and I know how to use them all, and so to this day, if like a little something around here, a sink or something I'm just like, just let me fix it.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, it's a really good skill set to have for sure it is.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And you know the thing is, as technology gets more and more and more younger, people don't know how to fix things.

Kenneth Donis:

Right.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Like they literally don't know how to fix anything. It's like but how do you not know how to change a tire? Like, how do you not know that I knew how to change a tire since I was like 10.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, how do you not know how to?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

like change, how to fossil? How do you not know how to do that? I can not put a toilet in, so having the skill set is gonna. People are gonna get paid a lot more than they used to, because all the young kids just only know technology. They don't know how to fix anything.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, it is true, but I think we have like things like YouTube, so you don't necessarily need to. You just have to be able to move forward, even if you don't really know how to do it, and be resourceful, because obviously you guys maybe back then like we didn't have guys in access to certain things. But I agree, I think it's good point to know. It is something that I personally have to improve on, because usually I'll just like I don't actually go to the houses all the time. So, to be honest, I probably I've been trying to be more intentional with learning things like how to be more handy.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

But yeah, we have a lot of work to do, but women like handymen. So I'm just telling you from a woman's point of view. Even younger girls that are all about oh, they like techie, whatever. Deep down, all women want a man that can like fix something or build or something or change her tire. Or women, deep down they want that little bit of silvery, they want that guy opening that door for them. And no matter what all these feminists say, deep down all women.

Jeffery Donis:

We agree, we agree 100%. That's what I'm trying.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I hate the feminist movement. It's like why do you all want women to be equal? I don't. I like kicking back Like I. I don't want to go work a man's job. I was wrong with you girls, shut up.

Kenneth Donis:

Right.

Jeffery Donis:

So I love it. I what happened to like old fashioned women Like.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

the women get offended if you open their door. It's like, seriously, my little four year old grandson opens doors for women Like what happened to them. So stay shoveled as women like that deep down at the end of the day and I care how feminist someone says they are Everybody still wants a man and everybody still wants a man that can fix and do things for them.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Don't lose when you're in the Bible more so you'll learn more about like women still want a man and like for a guy. You want a wife. That is. You know, women are more precious than rubies. Like in Proverbs. It talks about having a Proverbs wife. You want a Proverbs wife. My wife will take care of the house and the kids and, and you know, be the spirit of the household. Like you want those things.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, yeah, 100%.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

We were very much in alignment with with that thought Right More than you might know yeah, now, well, yeah, I feel in my thought I was like listen, you're going to get married, you're going to have kids, you're going to since he was like 10 years old, you're going to open doors, you're going to do this, you're going to do that, you're going to call people ma'am, You're going to call people sir and you're going to have manners. And now he's grown, he's got kids and and people are always like, oh, your son, he's just, and your daughter is like they're so great, they're so well spoken and they're this or that, and it's like, yeah, that's for them and beaten on them, since they were teenagers, to grow up and like be respectful.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, you see that I thought there's a lot of kids, are you know they? I wouldn't say a lot of them, but you know it's. It's rare to find a kid that has you know manners, and our mom was the same way. You know. She raised us to always say yes, ma'am, yes, sir. You know, thank you, be respectful, it's just the thing that you know. Nowadays, I guess, kids just get away with a lot, and so they kind of grow up differently. For sure, yeah, Not my kids and not my grandkids, I'm around other kids.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'm like, excuse me, what did you say, right? Can you repeat that and say yes, ma'am, at the end of that sentence? Like if they get a Mivus Senate, they're going to get smacked upside the head for not having good manners. Never go out of style. They don't All right. So what do you guys so like now? What's your very, what's your biggest goal that you have right now, and how can we, at Duandiful, help you reach that goal?

Jeffery Donis:

Yes, sir. One thing that our company is trying is will accomplish this year is two to four deals a month. So if you don't have any wholesalers in the audience or agents that get deal flow in North Carolina, we would love to get in touch. And also with doing those deals. As we mentioned before, we do bring on investors, so anyone that's looking to either learn more about the market or get into a deal like that in one way or the other, we'd love to connect and I think that's how your community can help. But that's kind of what the goal is is to do two to four deals every month this year.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

All sale deals or rehabs, or Rehabs really, and yeah, rehabs.

Jeffery Donis:

That's what when I say that, I refer to the single family, fix and flip company.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Two to four deals a month and also you'll accept people to invest with you. Correct, that's good. I like that Because even people like me have been doing it forever, like I still have goals and I still have things I want to do. I think people think after you've been doing it a long time, it's like oh yeah, she's done everything We'll get you possibly want, but I still have goals and things I want to do. So my goal this year, one of my goals this year, is everyone that I interview and everyone that I talk to. I want to find out what their goal is and how can I help people reach their goals. I love it.

Jeffery Donis:

How can we help you reach your goal?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Well, let's see, I want to finish my town. Yeah, you did that. I want to finish my town this year, because we bought all those 20 buildings and then Bill had to have that stem cell transplant and then I had to have a new hip this year. So for two and a half or three years our entire giant project has been on hold.

Jeffery Donis:

I'm like all I want to do is finish my town.

Kenneth Donis:

That's all I want. You got to send us before and after pictures. Yeah, that's awesome.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

You just come to Clinton Island, visit sometime and stay for a couple of days and I'll take you around and show you how to buy all these crazy buildings.

Kenneth Donis:

And so I just want to finish my town, because I don't know what.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I want to do after that Right now that's my sole focus is getting that town done, getting all the buildings out, rented, everything running and operating the way it's supposed to be. And so, yeah, with Bill being sick and with my hip this year, we got put on hold for two years. But the nice thing about that, I guess, is that we've been investing for so long and we know so many different things. It's not like having to put such a giant project on hold for two years like bankrupt it off, like a lot of people would have a giant project. Something happens, they can't work on or finish it and boom, they're out of business. So it's always good to have lots of backups.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah that's an awesome goal and it's really cool that you're doing that. I've actually never met anyone that was building a town. The only person I know is Tyler Perry. Doesn't he have like that? He has a studio, he has a town, he has like a community, isn't he?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, I don't know if he bought it, but I know he built like a big studio and just a bunch like hundreds of thousands of feet. So we bought a bunch of old buildings in this little town called Clinton Iowa. They were just old buildings that were like boarded up. They've been sitting there for decades. No one's done anything with them. So we were going to buy a building and then we were like, well, we'll buy another one. And then my husband's like, let's get another one. Then this lady called and said hey, I heard you're buying buildings. I've got three. My husband's been dead for a decade. Will you take my building? Then another lady says, hey, I've got two buildings where you take my building? I was like, oh my God, for the love of God, bill, stop buying buildings.

Kenneth Donis:

That's crazy.

Jeffery Donis:

No tell them I'm going. I know, is it the only one on the same?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

floor, I'm sorry. So the downtown is three blocks. It's on the river, so it's three blocks this way and three blocks that way. So it's just that little bit and we own 20 buildings in that little space.

Kenneth Donis:

Wow, so you own a whole downtown.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Well not all of it, but we own enough to have the controlling boat.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Because that's a downtown because it's in the city of Clinton but it's in the downtown, which has its own taxes that go into a fund to do things and fix things and to do events and do things like that. So the downtown has its own fund and then so we all have to vote. So all the building owners that own buildings vote on things like festivals, october, fast music, all the things that little towns do. They vote. And after I don't know a year or so getting voted out on a bunch of stuff, I said let's just buy some more buildings so we can control the vote.

Jeffery Donis:

You're going to name the town after yourself.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I should do. Wonderful land, but it's really fun because they're doing a thing this summer called Tailgate and Tall Boys and it's a big four-day country music festival and big people like Jelly Roll was there and Tim McGraw big people were there last year and they signed a three-year contract for stuff like that. So the town is doing some nice bigger things and since we started buying buildings till now, the property values have gone up 50 percent. Wow, I'm just like, oh yeah Now we just have to buy more buildings.

Kenneth Donis:

So, so, what are you guys planning on starting up again on renovations, or are you waiting on permits, or where are you coming out?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

No, we have some guys doing renovations. Bill, my husband really, really, truly loves to work on things that he likes to build. That's his happy place. If you put him in an old 1920s dusty, old, musty building, he's just like. He's like a pig wallowing in the mud. He's so happy so he cannot go back in and be around all of that until the summer.

Kenneth Donis:

OK, gotcha.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Because of the stem cell transplant and when you're in old buildings and you're cutting wood, there's a lot of mold spores and things that are in the wood that you breathe in, because any wood, any plywood and I did not know this, but any plywood or any wood or anything you buy, that's actual, real wood that came from a tree. Some animal has pooped or peed or done something, and then it's in there and then when you saw dust was flying around, it's got mold spores from animal pee and animal poop and dead food and you breathe it and, like you and I would just not worry about for Bill, they can make him super sick Because it's something that your body has to learn to fight off again. So he kind of had like baby immune system.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, we have people working inside.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

We're redoing one building that would open up a whole floor and we're putting in a bunch of locks. So we just ripped the entire floor open and we have some people doing the roofs. But like really back back, we'll be back to summer.

Kenneth Donis:

OK, gotcha. Yeah, that would be awesome to see. Honestly, I mean, I don't know how far you all the best of luck.

Jeffery Donis:

That sounds very exciting. So yeah, it's so much fun.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It is really exciting, it is exciting and I told Bill we first bought the first building like four years ago and we had, like we had a five year plan. Well then three years got knocked out with the whole issue. So it's like damn so, all right. So now we got three more years and said we'll be done by time we're 70. So I don't know what we'll do after that. Maybe we'll do another town because it's it's super fun. But remember, one night we were sitting around having dinner and I said do we know anyone that just sits around over dinner and says what are we going to do with our entire town that we bought? Like who just buy the town?

Kenneth Donis:

Or or let's buy another town.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, I'm like let's get another, let's buy a town where I came from, let's do another one, so I don't know. So it's really fun because it's super different and they're older buildings and so there's a lot of things to redo. They have, you know, asbestos and they have a lot of stuff, but we're trying to restore them back to like their natural beauty. And I'm telling you, these buildings were so beautiful. Yeah they were just so beautiful, they were just so beautiful. I'm sorry.

Kenneth Donis:

Like break buildings, I'm assuming.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yes, most of them are break and they've got like some kind of ugly facade on them. We're like no, we're tearing all that stuff back, making it back to the way they were, because they were really beautiful and the craftsmanship was so nice back in the day. Compared to like the craftsmanship Today, people just slap up some walls and call it a day.

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah, yeah, they build better quality buildings back then, for sure.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It did. It's a good learning experience. There's a lot of stuff we didn't know, like you know, like you guys, there's a lot of stuff we didn't know we didn't realize about permits, we didn't realize about we have to vote. You know, we're used to just like this is what we're doing and here's what we're going to do, and then we're going to sell it, and you know so. We're not used to like having to play with others in an entire community, especially because we are more forward thinking than most of the people, and so sometimes I'm like, oh my God, what is wrong with these people? So I'm like you know what? We'll just buy some buildings.

Kenneth Donis:

No, you have no say.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So, when in doubt, buy the controlling vote, that's my tip when in doubt, buy the control. When it comes to the very end of the day. You know I came doing this massive project. Control the vote.

Kenneth Donis:

That's great advice, yeah that's really good.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I mean, it took me 60 years to figure out. Like, hey, we're not all equal partners. Everyone has an individual vote and not everybody thinks like we do. And you know, I'm a more big thinkers and we got help back by so many little things. It's like what is wrong with everybody else? They want this town to grow, like what is wrong. So we're like we'll fix that. Yeah, when you get going and you got done, you're the one with the money and you're doing a big, giant project. Control the vote, and then you'll never have to worry. You'll love all your projects 100% and keep us updated on this.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, you'll start seeing a lot of videos.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'll start posting a lot of videos. For somebody that's younger, like you guys, and they're like, hey, I want to get involved in real estate investing. What's something you would?

Kenneth Donis:

tell them to do so. I guess investing wise I mean wholesale is a good option. It is a hustle. So if you have like no money, I would say wholesaling is a good option to actually just get your feet wet and make a little bit of money. But if you have a little bit of money, I would potentially just jump into flipping houses just because getting a hard money loan is not incredibly difficult. It's not very difficult at all, Honestly, as long as you have some form of money. They typically lend based on the asset or the house that you're flipping. So I would say that that's probably the best, and maybe even getting your license and selling real estate first, so you understand how numbers are run. Agents make a really good amount of money as well. So I would say those are probably the three best options I could think of. I've won.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So, jeffrey, for you, what's your favorite and all the real estate investing that you've done so far? What's your favorite aspect of investing? What do you personally?

Jeffery Donis:

enjoy the most.

Jeffery Donis:

So I've been competitive my whole life and I don't say that from an egotistical perspective, I just have learned that's something I enjoy. So when I can go and put that energy towards something that I find productive, and obviously I'll set up a goal, and when I hit that goal, that gives me a really good sense of fulfillment and I think that's God, given. He gives me those desires that I've had since I was little. So one of my biggest things that I enjoy is I'll set a goal and when I hit it it makes me feel good. So, for example, when I close like when I lock up a deal, which I did last night that was awesome. I worked really hard for the one I got last night I underwrote maybe like a hundred deals. Over the last three weeks I've been hunting deals down and I really was starting to feel like I was being tested and I was being tested and I just kept praying about it and kept pushing forward and leaned on God in those nights and times that I was really discouraged. So I'd say that's probably my favorite part is, for me, hunting down deals, and then after that there's a lot of challenges that obviously come before and once you block it up, you have to go, then go and raise the money. So that's a tone challenge.

Jeffery Donis:

But to answer your first question about what I think people can do and they're new, I think what I would go back and let's say I had no experience I would find someone in my local area or online who I look up to, who is doing what I want to do or something that you know they're doing really well and I can look up to them and for that reason I would try to go and work for them and obviously you might make some money. You might not, but if you can go and sort of, even if it's fixed and flipping, you can partner up with someone else, which will mitigate the risk of doing the deal by yourself, increase the chances of it going well and you can probably make money while doing it. So it's pretty much getting. You're going to make the learn. So you, anything that you're going to do in real estate, I recommend partnering with someone that has more experience, or is that way? You're even getting a mentor and you're going to make money.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I agree Mentors great because they help you cut your learning curve 100% and then, Kenneth, what is your like favorite aspect of what you've learned so far? What's your favorite thing Like, I love your deal hunter. I my husband's like a deal. I tell him he's a deal and that's, he's like loves that part. So what is yours?

Kenneth Donis:

Yeah. So I really love the construction side of things. So, as of late, I've been doing all the project management. So once we close on a deal, we're pretty much, you know, I'm overseeing the contractors, making sure that they're doing the work on budget on time. And then, for the most part, on these higher end ARVs or higher end deals, we're the one coming up with the design and kind of the layout of the house and how things will look in the bathroom, in the kitchen, and you know people don't really think about that stuff, but it's very important because you're, you know, you're tailoring it to. You, have a customer at the end of the day and you have to make sure that it's a product that people will like and flows well and looks good. So I've enjoyed that.

Kenneth Donis:

I think I've always enjoyed construction. I've always, you know, growing up, I've always helped my mom with different things. So I think it was just, I don't know, naturally, maybe not naturally, but it's just something I've always enjoyed just growing up. So I've learned a lot about construction since starting, you know. I mean, I've, you know, been learning this whole time, but recently, since we've been doing more flips, you get to see it day to day and week to week, and how things are put up and how structures work and what things are supposed to look like and what they're not supposed to look like.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, it's been, it's been a, it's been a really, really good time, see it's nice you each have like your own niche and everyone always has like their favorite thing, so it's nice that each of you have like something that's different, so you're not both doing the same thing is the best kind of partnership is where you like this thing and they like that thing and the other likes this thing, and then I think that makes for a really well rounded partnership. So, and I love both, I love deals, I like I think at this point I'm more like I like the design side, like you know, laying out the rooms and doing things because we're taking these buildings that we have and like tearing them back to the walls. So you'd be surprised, like sometimes you don't realize how creative you are. Yes, 100%.

Kenneth Donis:

You really tap into that creative mind.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that for all three of you guys and I really appreciate you guys coming back on. So, before we go today, well, first of all, everyone I know that you enjoyed listening to the Donis Brothers is who doesn't love these guys, like Sarah, say, who doesn't love these guys? And just follow them at Donis and best one groupcom and all across their social media. I'm at DeWonderful. I took DeWon and Wonderful and I made a new word, dewonderful and opt in at DeWonderfulcom and I'll give you some free ebooks and I've got some free training and I've got all kinds of like, just cool stuff for you. So so do that. And then the last thing I want to ask each of you and I'll start, kenneth, with you I want you to give us a parting word of wisdom, but just actually a single word like a parting word of wisdom, see, on Japanese wait, what's my word going to be?

Kenneth Donis:

My word would be persistence.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Okay, persistence. I have to write these down and then but it's one more, or is it just? The word, no, just persistence. Jeffrey, what's your word? Can you say the same word?

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, faith.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Oh, faith, okay now. So what we do at D'Wandful is I have all the my guests, give us a word of wisdom and then that becomes the word of the week. So, because we have two of you, we have two words of the week, which is persistence and faith. So, kenneth, what does the word persistence mean to you? Like, when you hear the word persistence, what does that mean to you?

Kenneth Donis:

So it just means you know, day to day, things can get tough and you just keep going, or something doesn't go your way but you just keep going. I was reading a this was a little while ago, but Stephen Schwartzman I think the pursuit of excellence is what it's called. He said, and this might not be verbatim, but he said if you just continue looking for the solution to the obstacle, you will always find a solution. So it literally does not matter what problem you're facing, and whether that's in life, in business, in your deal, in a relationship. If you just look for the solution and never give up on looking for the solution, you will always find a solution. I love that.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I was like to ask people what the word means to them, because everyone has a different idea of what persistence is. So that is the word of the week, folks, and that is a description. So then, jeffrey, what does faith mean to you? When you say faith, or think of it, what does that mean?

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, it is a profound word and there's a lot of different meanings that it has for me, but I'd say that one way that I sort of interpreted is I lean into something that I perceive as infinite and whenever I'm having a problem and I kind of said, if I need to persist through something, I just understand that I'm not alone and I believe that God is walking with me in it and I try to tap into that by having that relationship and growing in that relationship.

Jeffery Donis:

So, as I do that, it is my business and it's everything else outside of my business. So, if I want to, I truly believe that. Let's say, I have a problem, like I said, and I am trying to find my way through it and obviously come on the other side. That's the good side. I do that with God because I have faith that he wants the best for me and I'm going to go that direction. So it might not seem like a business principle, but I think it's a principle that you should take into everything you do and obviously it'll help you in your business if you can have faith.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It is a business principle and the other thing is both of your principles, like yours being persistence and going and figuring things out and all that, and then what you say about faith, trusting God to help you do that. It really comes down to the same thing. Like you know, you have to stay persistent and you need God to help you. Like it's the perfect business model and faith is, and some people are. You know you don't need faith in your business, you do. The whole Bible tells you how to run a business. So you just do things God's way and you will be greatly blessed. You guys are already greatly blessed, but imagine in five years and 10 years and 15 years, and imagine when you're my age. You'd be like damn man. Remember back when we did those first couple of deals. Look at us now and that's when you have to stay humble.

Kenneth Donis:

Yes, that's easy to go.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Look at all my stuff, because God can take it away as fast as he can give it to you.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And I have learned that lesson so many times over, getting a little too big for my britches, and God's like, oh really, okay, well, I'll just fix that for you. And then there I am. It's like, oh so, stay humble. Like, really stay humble. I appreciate it again. I appreciate having you guys on today. It was fun to talk to you, tell Kermyn that we said hi and I just always look forward to what you're doing. I always recommend you to people to be on their podcasts. I just appreciate you're young and you're really working so hard. You've got your faith and your family and those. Really, at the end of the day, those are the foundations, those are the things that make life worth it.

Jeffery Donis:

Yeah, we appreciate you having us on again. We really do enjoy talking to you and wish we could do it more. Yeah, we will do it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So just FYI. So do we have any wives, girlfriends, anything going on? Single? All right girls. Look at these two, how cute they are Single, Just putting it out there.

Kenneth Donis:

Just going to help you out.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Just going to help you out.

Kenneth Donis:

I appreciate it, yes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

All right, everybody, thank you for being on the podcast today. I know you've loved it, so make sure you subscribe. Go to my YouTube channel, d'wandaful Real Estate, and like and subscribe and hit the bell so you can see the new videos. And for everyone that would like to watch this podcast, it's on my YouTube channel and you can watch and see just how adorable these guys are and, of course, how wonderful I am, and you know we're all fun to watch. So watch us, listen, subscribe, share and, if you've got some money to invest, I would wholeheartedly tell you to have some faith in these guys. I've watched their journey and they are the real deal. So, all right, you guys, seriously, thank you. I just love you two so much all three of you and I love all your videos and I'm going to just keep sharing and preaching about the Donnas Brothers and you guys just keep doing what you do. It's your total rock stars.

Jeffery Donis:

Thank you, dawn. Likewise, keep crushing, we'll have a town, hopefully, god willing, soon as well.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, I'm visiting my town. I'll give you some ideas and you get your own town. You can get a town next to my town.

Jeffery Donis:

Good idea yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

We can just like connect them and have a big, giant town.

Jeffery Donis:

Since wonderful Donnas town.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

All right, everybody, we'll be back next week, same bat time, same bat channel, and remember that the truth is in the red letters. Okay, ciao, bye everybody, bye you guys. Thank you, everybody.