The BRRRR Investor Podcast
The BRRRR Investor Podcast is a dynamic resource for aspiring and seasoned real estate investors, focusing on the Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat strategy to build generational wealth. It offers expert insights, practical advice, and real-world examples to guide listeners through every step of successful real estate investing.
The BRRRR Investor Podcast
Building a Real Estate Empire with Section 8 Housing
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🎙️ In this powerful episode, host Alex Nahle sits down with Jamie — a former government employee and teacher turned real estate investor — who now owns 50+ rental units across South LA and Watts. Jamie shares his incredible journey and reveals the exact strategies he used to build generational wealth through Section 8 housing.
💡 Whether you're new to real estate or a seasoned investor looking for stable, cash-flowing opportunities, this episode dives deep into the realities, risks, and rewards of Section 8 investing in Los Angeles.
🔥 What You’ll Learn:
- How Jamie transitioned from 9-5 to full-time investor with 50+ units
- How Section 8 housing works for landlords (and why it's worth considering)
- The biggest myths about Section 8 tenants—debunked!
- Smart tenant screening tips to reduce risk and headaches
- How to run your rental properties like a business for long-term success
📍 Learn from someone who’s doing it right in the heart of LA, navigating challenges and building community at the same time.
👇 Got questions for Jamie? Drop them in the comments — we might feature them in a future episode!
📩 Connect with Jamie:
📧 gutierrez.jamie69@yahoo.com
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Thank you SO much for stopping by! I appreciate you!
💰Subscribe to my YouTube channel: alexnahleonvideo.com
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Grab your FREE SOP for analyzing deals here: SOP
Welcome back to the BRRRR Investor Podcast, where our mission is to empower aspiring real estate investors in their journey towards building generational wealth. All right, glad to be back on another episode. Super excited for our guest today. We have Jamie. Jamie, thank you so much for joining us today. Appreciate your time.
Absolutely, my pleasure.
So I'm very excited about this episode. You know, again, having. Having you here, Jamie. You know, we're going to talk about local LA, specifically around Section 8 housing. And, you know, you, you bring a tremendous amount of experience. You know, you're a former government employee, an educator, father, father figure and, and a great, you know, community leader. And now you currently own 50 plus units. So that's amazing. That's very commendable. So, again, thank you so much for joining us. If you can share a little bit about your background, how you got into real estate, and, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Absolutely. Well, I was always interested in real estate, but I think it took a more bigger place in my scope. When I was at college, I went to school up north, went to Berkeley, and when I was there, probably like many of my other classmates, I had various jobs while I was going to school. I worked at a bank, I delivered meals, I was a telemarketer. You name it, I did it. But one of the jobs I had, I had a job where I was assisting a small business owner and he had a small insurance, health insurance company where he sold, you know, policies to small businesses, usually 50 employees or less. So anyway, in doing this job, I would see these checks come in not from his business, but from property managers. And so I started to question him and he said, yeah, he says, I have a bunch of rentals in LA. He was in a different arena. He bought only 20 units or more. But, you know, those checks were very significant and they were every month. So, long story short, I worked with him for a couple years. We got very close. And before I left college, my, my junior year, he said, hey, I know you use your financial aid to travel and buy stuff, because I had all these jobs. So I didn't, you know, I, I always had extra money. He says, Gather $10,000. I'll match it and I'll help you buy, you know, we'll buy some units together. This was when you can buy properties. You know, we're talking, you know, probably 30, 40 years ago. And, and anyway, long story short, we did buy a little duplex in San Francisco. He already had a, you know, a knack for it. And sure enough, when I left I graduated, I stood up north an extra semester. And so when I came home, he gave me the option of buying him out or he would buy me out. Well, I was coming home, so I said, well, let's buy me out. I took a chuck and change and I came home, I started teaching and I bought my, my first duplex in Long beach with the money he gave me from that first initial investment. And I think the rest is history. Having the extra money and seeing the possibilities kind of gave fuel to the fire. And the rest is history again. Yeah, so, so I came home, I started teaching. I continue to, to try to buy properties, I try to partner up with other teachers, friends, anybody who would listen to me. And you know, I had a lot of naysayers. Oh, why are you doing that? Having to deal with tenants and you know you're never going to make any money. You're going to lose all your, your, your principal, your capital. I was like, no, you know, I've seen the, the other side where it could be very lucrative. And sure enough, yeah, I continue to push forward. And back then I was teaching year round because they were year round schools with La Un so I would always get, you got a regular check every month, but if you substitute taught when you were off, they would double your check. So I would do that every time and I would use those checks to just save, save, save, save and try to buy a property every other year. And that's where I started.
That's awesome. That's amazing. So your first, the first, the property you bought in Long beach, that was by yourself when you did come back from up north?
Yes, that was a little, a small little duplex in North Long Beach. It wasn't the great area of Long Beach. It wasn't North Long beach, probably not far from like it was on California. It was not far from the, the 91 and, and cherry. So it was actually a, a pretty bad area in North Long Beach. But it seems that that's my niche. You know, as you know, my niche now is South LA, Watts. That's where I make most of my money. I have properties in other nicer areas or decent areas, but my cash cows, as they call them or my, my moneymakers are in South LA and Watts. Okay, why? Probably that's the next question. Because of Section eight.
There you go, there you go. That's the, that's the thing. And like you said, the niche, that's the important thing is really you found your niche, you enjoyed it. You have many reasons why you enjoy it. In addition to it being Lucrative financially, but there's other purposes, I'm sure there. And you did it. Now, do you still own that property or did you.
No, that's. No, I don't own that property. I actually sold that property and then I bought my home in Downey with some of those proceeds, and then I end up buying another property, my first property in South LA. So from the property in Long Beach, I was able to buy two properties.
Got it.
Flip it. Yeah.
Very cool. Before we continue, I do want to mention if you're watching this on YouTube, please, please hit the like and subscribe button to help us with the algorithm and support the channel. And if you have any questions for Jamie, please drop them down below in the comment section and we'll be sure to answer. Now, it's interesting you mentioned, Jamie, that, you know, you had a lot of naysayers, you know, a lot of people were questioning you, why are you doing this? Maybe even like your age, you were younger at that time and, oh, no, you're doing the wrong thing. This and that and then, and they probably have never invested in real estate themselves, but then there they are trying to give you advice. Right?
And that's very, very true there, Alex. You always have people, everybody has an opinion. But there, you know, a lot of people and, but, but the majority of people are risk adverse. So, you know, I would say 70 to 80% of population are very, very conservative. And it's been ingrained in us to you, you know, even the old model where, you know, I was a product of that, you go to school, you do well, you go to college, you do well, you maybe go to grad school and then you get a career and you retire from that one job or two jobs and you don't move around and then that's it. But we know that that mode is not what, what works. You know, people are moving around all the time. My son, I, I've shared this with you. He gave me a quote that the top 1% or 5%, they give you a career, you know, or a salary to keep chains on you, because then you don't break free because your ceiling is only here. But when you start to think like an entrepreneur and think outside the box, then the ceiling can be way higher. There is no ceiling because it's what you want to do. So I think that's kind of the first step is people have to kind of reevaluate their idea of risk. Now, I'm not saying to, you know, you have to do calculated risk, obviously, of course, but yes, but a lot of those folks are still, you know, they're probably still teaching because I'm not that old. I'm sure a lot of people that said don't do it are unfortunately still punching the clock from 9 to 5 and, and hoping they take a vacation once a year.
You know, they have the, the chains on, just like yourself.
The chains on. And they're, they're unfortunately tied to that dream, which is, you know, and that works for some people, but.
Yeah, and it's usually, you know, I mean, the, it's usually the people that really care about you, they don't mean any harm. However, you know, just like you said, everybody has their own risk tolerance and, you know, it's sad, but nothing really has changed nowadays. There's still, it still happens. You know, it happens to me. It happens with a lot of my clients and investors that, you know, I network with and speak with, which is cool. We have a lot of people that do love and care about us. However, you know, you want to listen to someone that has done it before, has made the mistakes, yes, is successful, but also has made the mistakes and learned from other people's mistakes. Right. As I'm sure you know, you've, you've made a lot of mistakes, which we'll touch on in a bit. And you know, you've had a lot of tremendous successes that you can share and inspire others. And I feel that people should do that. You know, it's, it's good to take risk. Take as much risk as you're able to digest. But if you're going to listen to somebody, I mean, I would say do your due diligence, vet them very well. And it's best to probably listen to somebody that has done it, whether they tell you to do this or not. So you're a perfect example of that. You know, the journey you've been on. Again, you know, a government employee, educator, and now doing this, you know, semi retired or just retired and having fun with it.
No, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm type A personality, so I don't think I could just stay home and watch TV or, you know, just. I'm not a golfer, so I'm definitely not gonna. But no, I, I have to be doing stuff. I think the moment that I actually stop, I'm afraid what might happen. But I like the point that you said is that, you know, two things. One, yes, nothing is perfect. You're gonna make mistakes, you know, and you may make mistakes that May cost you, you know, a thousand, a few, but you have to definitely learn from those mistakes. I tell a lot of my mentees that every gut punch is an opportunity to reflect and learn. And then the second thing you said is align yourself with people who have been doing it for a while and have had these gut punches and have learned. And the law change. The tax CPAs will also change with the rules and the new things that come out every year, the tax laws and the, the write offs that you can write off. So it's very important to stay educated, you know, read up on your industry and align yourself with people who are doing that so that they can help you, you know, limit the mistakes you make. And, you know, and, and are you going to have some losses? Yes, of course. That's. That's just the name of the business. Sometimes I just call it, you know, you have to pay a little bit sometimes to make a little bit.
It's cost of doing business, right?
Doing business. Yeah. You have to set a certain percentage aside from miscellaneous things that come up, you know, and, you know, unlike any business, a lot of their businesses and customer service, they make, they do so well because they take care of their customer. Do they get a lot of returns? Absolutely. People change their minds. You know, tenants are human. You know, you'll. For every 10 great tenants I have, I may have one that is, you know, a knucklehead. And you have to take the good with the bad. So.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, personally, mistakes, if you, if you embrace them, usually that's, you know, the road to success. Sometimes a mistake is less costly than not even doing anything at all. Right. Not taking action. The amount of people that I, you know, speak with that, you know, are like, I want to do, I want to get into real estate investing. I want to, but this is not the right time. But this is going to happen, and this is going to happen. And then they see others or they see friends, family, they, you know, that are taking action. Like, oh, man, you know, I had the opportunity this many years ago to do this, and now the property is worth so much. I wish I did this. I wish I did this. So the cost of not doing anything is more costly than doing something and making a mistake. As long as, you know, you're, you, you calculate things. So it's crazy.
Alex, I want to actually piggyback on your point. You know, I have one partner that I've partnered with on real estate, and he's very savvy, very smart, very conservative, but very smart. However, case in point, he's been wanting to buy his dream house now for several years. He had the opportunity and he said, oh, but the rates are a little high and the prices are high. And I told him, we know when have the prices come back down, the prices continually are on a trajectory going steadily up, right? And he told me, you marry the price and you date the rate. I said, you're never going to get the price here. So why are you waiting for the rate to come down? Get into the property that you want and then you'll refinance later. And to this day he tells me, I know I should listen to you in my own words. Real estate, you know, unless you buy in swampland or in, you know, some war torn country, you're not going to lose, you know, again, calculated risk, but you know, you're going to marry the price and date the rate. So, you know, even if you buy something and the, the rates right now are, they are, you know, they're in the sevens, six and a half, you know, high sixes, low sevens. But you know, historically they're going to come back down to four, maybe not fours, but at least fives. But at least you would have gotten your property for 2, 3, 500, a million less than what it will be in five or 10 years when the rate comes back down.
Yeah, and people miss the idea that, you know, real estate is very local, so they, they listen to others, you know, in other states and nationally and so forth. I mean, California specifically Los Angeles is not the same as other areas. And again, you do have to, you know, be careful, invest in the area that you know or you have the team that knows that area very well. And you know, in my opinion, there's a misconception about California and LA. I get it, there's a lot of laws against landlords and that's unfortunate and I hope that changes. And however, every state has its pros and cons in whatever you're going to invest, but people don't see the positives, they focus more on the negatives. And it's unfortunate but again, it's opportunity for others. So with that said, I want to get into the topic of you said in LA, in a specific part of LA, other people are afraid of investing there. And your niche is working with. I mean, that's one of the things you do. I want to touch on, you know, your niche in a bit. But you know, Section 8 housing. So can you tell us a little bit about what is Section 8 housing?
Section 8 housing is a government funded Housing program for typically low to moderate income individuals. So these individuals usually, typically will have, they are on general relief, which is called gr, or they're on some kind of special program where either they're themselves or their children are getting assistance from the government for other areas, whether it's health care or school needs or maybe they have a child that has special needs. In a nutshell, the government will pay a portion of the rent. Now, there's no formula, meaning every individual is unique. So if you have a $2,000 apartment, Mrs. B, you know, we'll call her, you know, Tanya, she may get Section 8 to pay 1,800 of her rent and she pays 200, which is based on her other income, whether she's getting, you know, general relief or Social Security disability, etc. Then another person, you know, named Jasmine might have to pay $800 because Jasmine has a part time job and they only pay 1400 of the 1200 of the $2000 rent. So every person is very unique. Now as an owner, you have that money that the government pays you, guaranteed. So every month they will send you a check or direct deposit their amount in your account. You only have to collect the portion from the tenant that they're responsible for. And typically the fair market rents that Section 8 pays are usually a little higher than the normal rents if a person was non section 8. So it makes, that's the incentive for the homeowner or owner to take in the Section 8 tenants because they know that sometimes, you know, there are, there are other issues that you have to deal with. Possibly the credit's not going to be there, typically, not always, but you know, typically the credit may not be there. They don't have the money for a security deposit, but they'll have to use another entity to pay their security deposit as well.
Got it. I mean, you're doing a good thing and at the same time you're, you're, you're helping your business as well by, you know, securing a tenant. For the most part, you know, it's a tenant that, like you said, the pay is coming from the government. So at least the majority of it, you mentioned about, you know that, you know that you're going to be dealing with certain things in some cases more than the traditional tenant. What can you tell us about like the screening process? Like how, what does the tenant screening process look like with Section 8?
It's probably very similar to non Section 8 tenants.
Okay.
@ least, and I can only speak to what I do right. When I screen my section 8 tenants, if they've done something that's, that's not on the lease, they can get evicted. So they would have an eviction on their record. So, you know, I still run the credit. I'm not looking for typically, you know, a 700 fico score or above. I'm just looking for possibly bankruptcies or maybe evictions that are on there or any liens from property management companies or other owners that had to take him or her to court. But again, it's kind of like I would make the comparison that taking a Section 8 tenant is kind of like taking an FHA loan. So the government is backing the loan. That's why a lot of people can get their first homes, because the banks give you a loan, but they know that that loan is backed by the government. So the same thing with Section 8, you know, you may not have the strongest candidate in terms of credit or they're making two times the income on the rent. Because when, you know, when you rent a non section 8, usually you look for two, two and a half times the gross income of whatever the rent is. You know, that's not going to be the case with your section 8 tenants because not all of them have a full time job because maybe they're caretakers or they've been unemployed for a while or they've had other obstacles that prohibit them from getting a full time job. But again, that's why Section 8 is guaranteeing the monthly rent. So the screening process is a little different, but you still can run the credit and look for other things and just make sure that they, what they're saying on the application. You still have to have your application. You have them fill it out and you compare their answers with what you get on the credit report and the criminal background and the history, etc. Like you would on a normal tenant.
Got it. To make sure they're giving you the right.
Yeah. That they're not hiding anything. You know, obviously. You know, I would say Again, for every 20 applicants I get that are Section 8, you may get one that is not being completely truthful. And sometimes I take that as okay, well, what are they hiding or what does that lead to? Right, That's a different, that's something that I may think twice if I have other applicants that qualify for the unit as well.
Sure, sure.
And then on the flip side, nowadays section 8 tenants also are, are interviewing you as an owner because they know that with their voucher they kind of have a lottery ticket because they can, they know that the owner is looking for that voucher because you're getting max rent. Well, they want the unit to also be. You have to do your part and make sure the unit is super clean, you know, gives them extra amenities because they can really go anywhere they want. Within the city of la.
Sure. Yeah. You know, as mentioned, there's a lot of misconception about section 8. Based on your experience, what are some of the myth and, you know, some facts about Section 8 housing that you can share with us that you've heard along the years?
Sure. I think along the years, I always hear, oh, that all Section 8 tenants are problematic, that they're, you know, they don't take care of your property, that they're destructive, that they come with this array of problems and that it's too convoluted or complicated to get, you know, on the Section 8 program or to become a Section 8 vendor. There's been a lot of that going around over the years, but I find quite the opposite. I find that most of my section 8 tenants do value their voucher and their situation, so they're not going to do anything to jeopardize that voucher. You know, that's a great help that they're getting from the government. When you're looking to provide a roof over your head for your. Yourself or your children and you have somebody helping you, why would you jeopardize that? So I find that, you know, you know, and again, this goes section 8, non section 8. For every 10 good tenants, you'll have one that's bad whether. And it doesn't necessarily mean they're Section eight, so. But I do find that my Section eight tenants, you know, they do take care of the property. They do respond to your texts, your emails saying, hey, there's a upcoming inspection. Whether it's code or section 8, I need you to get the, you know, I'm going to be there. They make the property accessible, they're keeping it clean, and they're following the terms of the lease agreement between you and them. Okay, it does. It's not that the paperwork, it may be difficult the initial time, but after that it's. It's pretty clockwork. Right. The paperwork doesn't change that much year to year.
And I'm sure, you know, it has a lot to do with the tenant, landlord relationship, the communication, you being. I mean, you're such a good human being. I'm sure, you know, not everybody's going to appreciate it, but I'm sure that comes into play and that helps out a lot as well.
You know, absolutely, Alex, I'm glad you said that because I, you know, I try to have a good relationship with the tenants, you know, Section eight or not. But you're right. I think if you do your part and they see that you're trying to help them and give them a nice, clean, safe place to live, they're appreciative. And I have been told that when the tenants leave, you know, and they leave one because they either leaving the area or they've outgrown my unit, they have to get a bigger unit or they have to downsize. So, you know, sometimes section 8 tenants can stay 3, 4, 5. I've had them stay 9 years. But if one of their kids grows up and they go off and get their own voucher or they leave, then sometimes they have this downsize and they may not want to stay in the unit or they may not qualify. The same goes if they have another child or a child has a child, you know, because sometimes their kids are. And they may be teenagers or something anyway, when the family makeup changes, they may either have to go up in unit or down in unit. So I. So when I've lost tenants, they've said, you know, I wish I could stay with you. You're such a good guy. You're so reasonable. You know, you're always looking out for us. You address issues when there's a concern of a repair or this. And I think it's just, you know, that karma, if you're good to your tenants, they're going to be good to you.
Yeah, no doubt. You know, talking about this. And just like any other business or any other niche or any other area investment, there's risks, right? There's risk involved in Section eight housing. So if. If we're talking to an investor that, you know, is. Is concerned about investing in Section 8 or, you know, doesn't, you know, is afraid to get started in that. What would you share with them? Like, what would. What can they do to mitigate some of those risks? If they want to invest in Section 8 housing, sure.
Again, the comparison to FHA. So when you prepare your property for a Section 8 tenant, I would think about if you were going to sell your property to an FHA buyer, you know, there's certain things you have to do. Like it's all about security and safety. So, you know, getting your water heater strapped, making sure your smoke detectors are working, carbon monoxide, etc. So it's not a whole lot of repairs or stuff that you have to do. But, you know, Just your typical, the right thing to do for the property. But I would share that if they're on the fence. You know, during the pandemic, a lot of my colleagues and some of my clients, they were hurting because their portfolio was maybe 20%, 15% section 8 and 80, 85% non. Well, their non section 8 people were not paying them rents during the pandemic. I, on the other hand, and some of my, my colleagues that were Section eight heavy, we didn't suffer as much. You know, we were getting those payments even during the pandemic and during COVID you know, so I only had a couple people that were behind on their rents. And because we had a good relationships relationship, they actually caught up. And I was not in the negative. Whereas a lot of my, my friends, some of them lost their buildings because they're, you know, they had may have a building where it was 100 non section 8 and these folks were not working. They lost their jobs. You know, things happen and you know, they, you know, you had tenants owing 30, 40, $50,000 in back rent and they didn't apply for the rental assistance and they were, they were hurting. Yeah, my Section 8 tenants were, I was getting those, those payments on the, you know, first of the month from the government.
That's so valuable, man. That's such a good point. And the comparison between, you know, Section 8 FHA, you know, it's a great opportunity. It's just you got to do your due diligence and it's an opportunity for both the buyer tenant in this case and also the landlord, as long as you do the the right things and have the right intention. So again, just want to remind you guys, if you're watching on YouTube, please, please hit the like and subscribe button to support our channel. And if you have any questions, please drop them down below. I know we had you, Jamie, you know, about a few months ago at our Pasadena Real Estate Investors event. Appreciate you coming out there. I had a chance to meet your son there. So if you want to know about any of our upcoming events, in the description section below, we have a link that will let you know about any upcoming events. We'd love for you to come by in person. We have two events, we have two virtual events every month as well. So check us out. If you're in the LA area, we'd love to meet you in person. If not not, jump on virtually. Let's continue on. Being that, you know, most of our listeners and our viewers are newer or aspiring investors, can you touch a little bit on some of the challenges you experienced and how you overcame them in your first purchase or maybe in this case in the Long beach purchase since the first one, you know, you had your mentor, your someone that inspired you and helped you and partnered up with you. Tell us a little bit about the, the Long beach purchase.
Absolutely. And I think that was kind of a perfect example. You know, if you have a lot of people that are starting out and don't have a home loan yet or yeah, they don't have a home loan yet and, or they're in their first job, you know, FHA is a great, a great resource because it's a government backed loan and I think that our investors today have, although the prices definitely are higher than when I started. However, once you get out of FHA and I started to buy investment properties, I needed to come up with 20, 30% down. So I had to partner up with other partners to come up with that kind of money in the beginning. But now FHA has changed the rules. So if you're, you know, a single person or you're a starting out family or a couple and you don't have an FHA loan, you can buy units, you know, four or less. So a duplex, a triplex or a fourplex with as little as 5% down. Now that's still very doable. If you're talking about eight hundred thousand dollar loan for a four plex in LA, you know, you're talking about forty thousand dollars, that's not impossible. That's very doable for the people that want to do it, they'll come up with the 40,000, they'll flip away for me. I did an FHA loan on my first house and it was a flip. So even though I rented it, it wasn't a single family residence, so it wasn't apartments yet, but I was able to buy that low. And then another thing is, you know, being a little bit handy so that you don't pay top dollar for remodeling or construction also helps. But you know, you learn along the way what you can do and what you can't do. I definitely am not good at tiling or other stuff and I don't pretend to be. So, you know, you learn right away, which I'm a good demo guy and landscaper. Demo and landscape. Everything else I lead to the, to the, to the other handy man or professionals.
That's the fun part. Demo is the best.
That was the best. Put on your goggles and your gloves and you're good to go. Get Your frustrations out. Yeah. So, you know, everything's a learning curve, but I think it goes back to what you say. Align yourself with people that can help you. Even in the beginning, just the initial process of purchasing. You know, if you have Alex on your team, he's going to get you to a good home inspector and then you're going to get the appraisal so you don't have any unknowns, you know, that the property is going to appraise it, what you're buying it for, and then you're going to get a home inspection just to make sure that, you know, the bones are good. I think that's where everything starts. And then from there, you know, you have to get a team together. If you're going to rent this property out, you want to have those pieces in place. You know, what's your market, what are you going to be able to rent it for? What kind of money is it going to leave you after you make your payment? So I think if you do like Alex says, your due diligence and gather a good team starting here, hopefully with one of us. And I think that that's, that's key. And are you going to make some mistakes around along the road? Absolutely. You just have to limit what those mistakes are going to cost you in terms of money and time.
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Well said. Is there a favorite property you have or have or had maybe sold?
You know, I wasn't much of a flipper. I did do a few because I had a couple of buddies that wanted to flip. It was in their veins. They just wanted to be able to say they did it. So we did do a few. But I really learned early on from my mentor that the name of the game was buying and keeping. You know, that's where the, the, the legacy comes in or generational wealth. Right. That's where if you really look at some of the people in our country or the world that really have other than tech, that have large portfolios and can come and go as they want, they have a large real estate portfolio. But yes, going back to your question, there are a couple of my cash cows that even as, as recent as 2018 or 19, I bought a triplex in LA on 75th Street. I think I mentioned this during the presentation in Pasadena, Glendale. My two of my business partners were like, why are you paying the, you know, the prices have gone up. You could have bought that for a hundred and something. Thousand. You're paying over 400. It's over 100 per door. Blah Blah, blah. And I said, no, this is going to go up. It's, you know, it's got potential. The rents were kind of low when I got it, but, you know, from experience, I know people come and go. The renters don't stay forever. Especially in South LA. Some people think, oh, well, the rents are so low you're never going to get them out. You know, families change, you know, they grow up and they outgrow the place. Anyway, I bought it and sure enough, my first tenant left. About a year later, I got my section 8 guy in there and then I started to build. So I, I kept building, building. I added two ADUs. Then I joined the, the one bedrooms under one roof and made them into twos. The front tenant was very cooperative because, again, you have to be nice to your tenants. So in return, they were willing to move from the front unit to the middle. And I was able to rehab both, you know, rehab one, then move front to the back. And they were able to go up and rent because they are getting an extra bedroom and it was remodeled and you gave them, you know, I didn't give them market rent, but, you know, it was a nice compromise. But anyway, that property alone almost pays my mortgage on my, on my main home. Of course, it wasn't there. Yeah, so that's, that's my baby. I'm not giving that up. Kids will inherit that one.
That's a cool story.
That's a doozy. Yeah, that's a good one.
That's awesome. You know, with, you know, since I met you, you've been helping a lot of my clients in different ways. You know, related to guidance with, you know, tenant issues and, you know, property management. I know you've developed that business with your experience. So I want you to share a little bit about your property management as we come to conclude this episode. Just in case, if anybody's interested in, you know, such services, I want them to know that you do offer property management services. Would you like to touch a little bit on that and.
Sure, sure. You know, hopefully some of your viewers or listeners, if they do get into this business, not everybody wants to collect rents or deal with housing inspectors or Section 8 program, you know, all the minutiae of the paperwork. So that's what I learned through my, you know, endeavors. I like doing it, so it comes naturally to me. I'm a people person and, you know, I don't. I'm kind of a chameleon. I can deal to talk to a lot of different people. You know, I speak another language, I speak Spanish. So that's also a big help in being a property manager. But really knowing the area and the community and, you know, the culture of that area, I think lends itself to being, you know, a good property manager, an effective property manager. So people who want to start investing, if they're not interested in doing the management of it, then I offer kind of a sliding scale. You know, it really depends on the size of the property, the amount of units. Typically, if it's, you know, a larger property, then I charge a percentage of the rents. I do charge less than what normal property managers charge because I am a mom and pop business. It's myself, my son and one other employee. But I can offer those services, you know, for inspections. I also offer, you know, once in a while. Again, I've been doing this for over 20 years, and in about 25 years, I've only had a handful of evictions because of the good property management skills and techniques, you know, and, and the screening process. So our evictions a reality. Of course, you know, in this name of the People sometimes change. They get into issues where they can no longer pay the rent and it's just a business and you have to sometimes take care of yourself and you have to take people to court. Yeah, but that's a very small minute part of the business. But in that, in those instances, you want somebody who's been through the court systems, especially in the city of LA with all of the tenant rights, you want someone who's knowledgeable and who has an attorney, you know, on speed dial. I hate to say, but, you know, I, I do, I know a lot of the rules, but once in a while I have to refer to my attorney for all of the nuances and the new, you know, rental laws and.
Tenant that are constantly changing. Right?
Constantly changing, yes. So, yeah. So at some point, I'm sure Alex will put my contact information. So if you need help, you know, in the property management side, or you definitely want to get a rental property, but you don't necessarily want to do that aspect, you know, we can still, you can still make money handover, hand over fist, as they say, and still pay a property manager and then, then you're really at an arm's length of your property. You're getting the benefit of the rental income, but you're not having to deal with tenants or code enforcement or Section 8 issues.
Yeah.
It all to Jamie.
Yeah. I mean, just like you said earlier, give it to the. The professional. Right. You know, the landscaping of the demo you want to do it. But everything else, you got to give it to those that are experts in that. Because you want to treat it like a business, right? You want to grow it, treat it like a business. There's nothing wrong with, you know, managing your own property to a certain point just to get to familiar with the process, what things were this way you can also help man, you know, work with another property manager, know what they go through, know the things to look out for. But then, you know, you want to scale, you want to grow, you want to create a business. Definitely, you know, get a property manager. In my opinion, with my experience that that's great, especially if you want to invest out of state. Highly recommend that as well. I'm super excited, you know that we're going to have you on our virtual webinars. So please everybody stay tuned to that. If you want to know and get notified as to when Jaime will be on again, click the link in the description below. It's going to have. It's going to take you to our Eventbrite page which will inform you when what is our upcoming event and when Jamie will be on there. So check that out while you're there. Again, hit like and subscribe and help us out so that we do truly appreciate it so we can keep going and providing this content. We will be putting your the the contact information below. What is the, what is the best way would you like people to reach out to you via email call? What do you prefer?
Either either email or text is good.
Okay, perfect. So we'll provide that information again in the description below. Feel free to reach out to Jamie and his team. True. Again, like you said, mom and pop business, but boots on the ground. Truly good people, very honest and that's what you know, a lot of businesses lack these days. So grateful to have met you, grateful for the opportunity to have you here today, have you at our previous event and you know, upcoming virtual event and you know, in, in in my life and allowing me to offer your services to my friends, family and clients. So I'm very grateful for that and thank you so much for taking the time to be here, Jamie.
Thank you Alex for inviting me. It was my pleasure. Look forward to seeing you again soon.
Absolutely perfect.
Take care.
Thank you. Thank you all for joining us on the BRRRR Investor podcast. If you found today's episode helpful, please hit like and subscribe to our channel for more real estate insights. We love hearing from you, so please leave your thoughts, questions or topics you'd like us to cover. In the comments section below. Be sure to check out our website, thebrrrrinvestor.com and follow us on social media. The BRRRR Investor. Keep learning and investing and we'll see you in the next episode. I'm your host, Alex Nahle. Stay invested.