The Real Estate UNLOCKED Podcast | Episode 01

Special Guest Miri Cordaro talks about her journey into Real Estate and offers advice for anyone looking on how to get started. Take action!!

Transcript

All right. All right. Hello everybody. What's going on? This is the Real Estate Unlocked podcast. My name is Joseph Marohn and today we have a special guest, Miri Cordoro.  How are you doing today? I'm doing very well. Thank you. How about you? I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. So yeah, so I wanted to just kind of kick this off and just kind of make a formal introduction to you and what you're doing in the real estate world right now.

And that way you can kind of share with my listeners and let them know what you currently got going on. So, with that being said, can you kind of, just start off by telling our listeners, you know, a little bit about your background and how you got started in the real estate industry? Absolutely. So, I am  a mother of three, four guys, three wonderful girls and one boy, and I have been a stay at home mother for most of my motherhood career.

I could say that and always loved real estate. So when my, I was kind of like heading to be an emptiness, except my son is still around, uh, my girls grown left the nest and I said, okay, this is the time for me to do something that I really love. And, uh, I always loved real estate. Um, so that's something that was kind of like, I'm going to do it when my kids are gone, which really, honestly, I should have done it even earlier.

That's,  I should have, but anyway, it's never too late. I started about five, almost six years, I would say. And to be very transparent, my, my journey was quite rocky. It wasn't a very smooth, uh, like, you know, like sometimes you see, oh, it's easy and it's, It's nothing, you don't have to work hard. My, my journey was really rocky.

I'm, I'm not where I want to be, but I'm getting there. So, and I love it. I love what we, what I would do. And, um,  that that's about it. That's where I am. That's great though. You know, obviously we all kind of have our hiccups in the beginning, starting off. But the point is that, you know, you're learning and you're growing and you're learning from those, uh, whatever mistakes that you may face and, uh, we're pushing forward.

We're staying positive. So that's great. You know, great to hear that. Um, so another thing in our industry we talk about as an avatar, can you tell everybody listening what avatar you are and maybe a brief description on what exactly an avatar is for those that don't understand what an avatar is. Okay. So it's kind of funny because.

Avatar is something that was very new to me in just recent months, right when I heard it. First time I was like, avatar, what does that mean? I mean, I knew what's the meaning of the word. I mean, it's obviously describes what you good at, I guess, and what you, uh, can give back. But I had no idea. I literally listened to PACE avatars.

They were like hours, and I took notes and I tried to said, okay, where, who, where am I in all those avatar?  So by, but what I was doing. Naturally, really what I was like more DTC, no DTS and DTA, which is direct to seller, direct to agent.  That's what I would have been doing. But really, honestly, when I, when I kind of dug into who really am I, I'm, I'm very much a connector.

Now,  I'm not going to do what, what I have been doing, but I love connecting people. If somebody tells me, Hey, you know, I do this, I do that. I'm really looking for somebody. And if I have somebody in my head or I bump into somebody that does that, I will connect them. I just really love that because I think we all need to be connected somehow to things that we do not like to do, do not, uh, no good at it and all really didn't even, uh, develop that skill.

Yeah. You know, because before I found, uh, the sub two kind of community, I, I did everything by myself. It was just very daunting. I mean, it's like, Oh my gosh, I didn't want to do that. So, um, there's other things that I really would love. I, I, I want to construct what I'm doing right now, but I would love to, uh, get really, really good in underwriting.

It's really something that. Really gravitate to me too. So I, I'm, I'm getting better at it. So I try to underwrite and understanding, uh, regular underwriting and creative on there. That's something I would love to really get good at.  Yeah. Underwriting is definitely a skill that you need to learn in this industry.

Um, you know, just getting a property and, and understanding how to punch the numbers in and make the deal work. Because a lot of people I see, they, they go and they see a property and they're so quick to, you know, want to lock that property in or that deal, they're excited to get a first deal or whatnot.

And then the numbers don't make sense. So you got to know how to properly underwrite and it. It does take some time. There's a lot, there's a lot to it. Yeah. So that's great. Right, exactly. And then you touched on another great avatar, which is a connector. I think connectors are very valuable in this field.

Um, making the right connections because you may know somebody that I don't know. And then you can connect me to that person. So, I mean, what, what motivated you to become a connector?  It's just that I, because I'm a very people person, I love to talk to people. I like to find out what they're doing. So it just,  it just came naturally.

Oh, wow. You wanted to do that. I know somebody that does it already. Once you just connect and talk. And so just, that was, this is just recently that I picked on. I said, wow, this is so awesome. And I ended up going to that, um, zoom meeting that. Jesse does on Tuesday,  specifically for connectors. Right.  So I'm, I'm now connecting with other connectors so we can help and work to together, you know?

So Yeah, like, like you, when I first heard Avatar, I, I thought they were talking about the movie. I said, what? Yeah, exactly.  I said, what is that Avatar? Right? So, but yeah. Uh, pace does have a three, what is it? Four hour long video. Yeah, it's a very, very tedious and long, right? So anybody that's starting out, I highly recommend you look up Pace's video.

He has available on YouTube and you can look that up and you can watch it and figure out, you know, because one thing about real estate, there's so many different ways you can enter this space. And so it's important to identify what you're good at, because you might think that you're good at calling and maybe you're not.

You know, maybe, and then you might get intimidated when you're making phone calls and it's not going your way. And then you find out, Hey, I might be better as a connector. I can connect people or I I'm good at underwriting, you know, but me, me personally, when I watched it, I saw myself as a direct to seller visionary.

You know, I like talking to people. I like getting on the phone with people. So that's what's something that I found. But that's great. That's great. You know, connector is definitely a great one. So, okay. Another thing is, um, so many people consider real estate to be a long term investment, right? So what advice do you have for someone looking to get their feet wet and just don't know how to start or where to begin in real estate? 

Well, that's a very, very, very good question. You already mentioned that Israel is a really huge umbrella. That's so much. under it. You can do long term, short terms, so many strategies. You can just land, you can just, it really depends where you are in your life. Really, really depends. For example, I'm much older, I want to build something faster so I can have more space, more time for myself, you know, and for my kids and grandkids.

When, especially if you're young, What I would recommend to people is to, uh, start from the basic, really, really learn the basic foundation of real estate that, you know, that's, that can apply to any strategy, just really find a good, um, and of course space is awesome. I mean, to find a very, very solid basic understanding, you know, like, You know, I, I talked one time to a kid.

It was 22. He had no idea what's amortized learnings. I mean, you need to understand the basic before you jump.  And, but the other side of it, I don't recommend to people just learn and learn and learn bench learning and never take action. I know it's scary. So to do that, also find somebody that can take you a little bit. 

under your wing. Maybe you can give them something and you know, maybe your time or whatever they need and uh, they can take you under their wing and they just give you the basics to really build a solid foundation. I find a lot of people don't have a solid foundation and that's why it's like a house.

If you don't have a foundation, it's going to fall, it's going to crumble.  And so to find somebody that can, you can tag along, learn. And, uh, in community, they can support your community. For me, it's everything. I absolutely love community. I mean, I've, I know that real estate, it's actually a sport that it's, it's a team sport.

It's not, it's not a single sport that you can't, I mean, yes, you can, but you're going to be lonely there and you're going to have to do everything and you're going to burn out. So those are the advice that I have to people when they start. That's a great answer. And then, you know, like you touched on, you know, just understanding like key terms in real estate, you know, knowing what, like you mentioned, amazation, understanding what that is.

And, and, you know, and then another thing you touched on, which I thought was a great answer was, you know, Take an action, you know, don't just sit there and absorb all this information and do nothing with it because you'll do better off, you know, learning a little bit and then taking action and then learning a little more and taking more action because we learn more as we, as we make mistakes, right?

When we're doing things, we learn and when you're doing things,  So, you know, talking about mistakes, um, you know, I know you kind of brought it up earlier and, um, not to address you personally, but you know, what are some of the common mistakes you've seen new real estate investors make and how can they avoid them?

Okay, so I can actually share one of mine that I think it's a very common one. Is that vetting people who you're doing business with? Oh my gosh. Let me tell you, it is a big one, huge one. You gave me goosebumps right now by that answer. I'm not kidding. I'm right now going through.  And I don't know if I mentioned to you before, but I'm going, uh, I did a partnership with, uh, she's a realtor and investor.

I was the, I was running the project of the flip. She was the money lending. Okay. And, um, and I thought things were going well, but. As we were going on, there was a lot of problems and I very quickly figure out that she's definitely not the person I want to work in the future.  No, no. But after I got paid and even though it was not paid what I was supposed to, I, but I was just wanting to let it go.

I said, you know what? That's fine. We're not going to argue. Let's, let's close the deal. We sold it. Everything went fine. She actually sued me in a small court. Wow.  You know what she wanted? She wanted me to pay her back all the money that she paid me. Tell me she lost. She did. She actually not only lost the interesting things because she wouldn't let go.

And I was willing to just let it go. I actually, Connor sued her and I won both  down with her. She kind of did something that she really, there was no jurisdiction for that day. She wanted a new, a new, she could only.  appeal. That's the only remedy. If she wanted a new trial,  but something was fishy was happening.

Now she asked for another trial in small court, because you know, when you appeal, you go to the district.  So now we're dealing with that. So I thought that we were done, but she just won't give up. She just really, and what she did to my contractor, she really abused him now. So we'll see. I'll, I'll let you know how it's going to end up, but I did definitely want the first one very well.

I mean, okay.  No two ways about it, but so, so this is really, really important because it's, it's fun to do deals together. You want to JV with people, but vet those people really, really vet them because you know what, they might not be just your people and they just might be just bad people. You don't want to deal with them.

It's not worth it. So that's one thing I would highly recommend. I mean, that sounds scary, you know, you know, jumping into doing a flip and then someone automatically wants to sue you on your first deal. Like, well, it's not the first deal I've done already.  Had it with me. I already did, but she, and not only that, she attacked my character.

She said things like, Oh my gosh. It's like, I mean, I'm not perfect, but nobody.  being, uh, deceitful and of really harsh words. Li must be kidding me.  But y I think the judge  saw it  and she didn't like it.  S going to happen next. We  To determine what's happening after the holiday. So, well, I'm glad things are kind of going your way with that.

You know, that, that does sound very intimidating. I mean, what do you think there could have been anything different that you could have done or yeah.  Absolutely. Okay, great. I knew where she came from. I knew she'd moved from California from, uh, she was, she  was still working in California as a realtor and as an investor. 

But, um, I just should have, I should have really checked her background, seeing what people worked with her, how would they say about her? You know, that's what I should have done.  I love it. I love it because you know, we're a lot of us like to team up. You know, and there's nothing wrong with teaming up.

Teaming up is great, you know, to, to scale in this business. You absolutely need to team up.  So you touched on a great point, you know, doing your due diligence on people, doing some background on them, you know, asking around about these people and just making sure that these people have a good track record because exactly. 

Like Pace mentioned, you know, we don't want to just jump into a partnership. We want to date them for a little while, you know, and get to know that person. Exactly. Oh my gosh, so true. I love that analogy. It's like we're dating first, then we get married. And then we can figure out things later. Right? So, okay.

So there's another thing you touched on, but, um, I wanted to kind of bring that back. So how important is networking in real estate industry and what strategies have you found? To be the most effective for building a strong network of contacts. Oh, okay. So, oh gosh, networking is absolutely crucial for your real estate investing again, because we did say it already.

It's a, it's a team sport. How are you going to meet people? You know, you want to, you want to, you want to build your team. You want to build your net.  Friends around you that you can help them. They can help you, you know, because I knew so much people around here, I could draw, even if my contractor could make it, I could find another one because I knew somebody I could lend their contractors.

So building that it's so important to be out there. I think my, my strategy is to do it personally. So meetups, any kind of real estate, any kind of real estate, um, you know, just REI.  Real estate meeting. It's best to go there and just be out there. Show your face. I don't do it  on a very regular basis, but I try to make as many as I can.

We just had one of the sub two here, which I love. That one we do once a month, but there's other kind of meetups that you can do. And of course, social media. I mean, social media is amazing. You can actually  like what I just learned from sub two. You just put up there what you're looking for, what you need, and people just reaching out.

And that's how you build relationships. That's how you help people. They help you. And it's absolutely crucial. You can't skip that.  I absolutely agree with that. You know, and in California, we have a SoCal JV group and we just met, um, last, uh, three weeks ago, we went to Hollywood at a hotel and it was awesome.

They had a NFL player there that he got into real estate and there was a couple other speakers there and they were just really motivating. And it's just like they mentioned, you know, everything that you would need in real estate. Is in this room right here right now. So it's up to us to go out, network and meet these people.

Because as we talked about avatar, everybody does some, something different. You know, we might have a private money lender over here. You might have a connector over here, you know, so there's,  it's all up to us to go out there and meet these people and talk to them and build relationships with these people.

So absolutely. I agree with you a hundred percent on that. So, um, so for me personally, when I got into real estate, I, You know, I was reading books and watching videos. So for you, what resources, what books, podcasts, or educational materials, would you recommend to someone looking to for, uh, further their knowledge in real estate? 

Well, this is, this is the deal. I think there is, uh, Out there, there is bombardment of education and of gurus. I mean, I personally don't like gurus because I don't like their style. I agree. Usually the way I describe gurus, they come in town, they gather everybody, they sell you something, they upsell you over and over, and then they go wherever they come from, you hardly can hear from them, the connection.

I think it's very important to find, you really need to get educated. Now, I bought originally a solid education, really good. I mean, it's, it's updated all the time. It's for life and I can go there. It's, it's has everything, every,  um, strategy that you can think about. And more than that, because when you do real estate, it's not only The real estate itself and the strategy you want to do.

It's like, how you run the business? Do you have an entity? How you, how do you do taxes? How you can negate that? There's so much financial around it. Do you have, some people have a lot of, um, uh, retirement money. How do you take it out to, to how you, you learn how to, uh, to direct it. And then you can teach other people to do it.

Then you can, they can JV with you because they want to be a passive. There's so much to learn. And I think.  Again, you find a good education and you, and you, and you shop around, you know, you really do. And then you, you start from the basic, you don't jump,  you know, you don't jump where you're not, you can't do it.

Get the ground, get the, the really the basic, the foundation, and then go from there. So that's what I did. So when I kind of came across a sub two and all that, I had, I knew a lot about a lot of things.  I have so much still to learn. I'm learning every bad every day to me. You learn every day Otherwise, it's a day that's not worth living.

You need to learn something every day  But I did have a good good foundation and then i'm building on top of that, you know You learn something you implement it, you know when you can do  how you're going to do that and right You know you need as well lawyers you need to do all that so you can be protected too So you need to understand that So, I think that's the most important to get those, those basic stuff.

I think the, the day you stop learning is the day you stop growing, right?  I think the day you die.  If you, if you feel like you've learned everything, congratulations, but we're all learning every day and we're trying to better ourselves and keep staying ahead of the market and the market changes, you know, staying ahead of every and then now we have all this new technology coming out.

We have AI. Yeah, it's like people are utilizing that to their advantage now. So understanding these things and learning and keep growing and progress. Yeah, I love that. I love your answer. Um, So that, that's pretty much it that I had for you. Um, I guess one last thing I would like to ask you is, um, is there anything in particular that you would like to, you know, just bring up or anything you want to talk about or anything you any recommendations you can give to my listeners listening for the first time that just want to jump in or any advice? 

Well, I think, I think we already had most of it is like, um,  really, uh, get the basic first, find people that you can work with and learn from, find a good community that can support you, that you can, because people say, well, I don't have anything to give. Everybody has something to give  everybody, you know, nobody can't do nothing that we all have gift that we can do.

We just have to find them. And then of course, when you start, Learning don't wait a year or two, three, four. And then I'm still learning. I'm certain now just take action. Even baby steps little bit at a time. You'll learn something implemented, even if it's just. Even just mindset. It doesn't matter. Just implement everything that you're learning and you'll grow, you know, compounded in over the time. 

Great answer. Great answer. I love it. Um, thank you so much, Mary. You've been excellent. I really enjoyed this interview with you. Um, and you know, anybody that's looking out to find you, where, where can they locate you or where can they find you at? Well, I'm basically in two platform and Instagram. It's my name.

I don't change. That's how you find me through my name and say Facebook. I don't, I don't do anywhere else. Great. Okay. I don't do TikTok  and I don't do, no, I'm not a TikTok person.  . I don't do TikTok myself either. So I don't blame you, but no, no. Great. Okay, well thank you for your time and I appreciate the interview and uh, you have a good rest of the day.

Okay? You too. Thank you, Jo. All right. Bye.