DON'T Hire a General Contractor BEFORE LISTENING TO THIS | Antonio Dominguez

How to Communicate With a General Contractor (And What Most People Get Wrong)

In this episode, we sit down with Antonio who is a general contractor and business owner based in Florida to break down what it really takes to build a strong working relationship with your contractor. We learned a lot of things we wished we would have known before we did our previous rehab. (and we would have saved an extra $8k). In whatever way you are involved in real estate, this conversation gives you the perspective from the other side of the table.

► Connect with Antonio
His contracting business: https://www.homefixerz.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/antonio.dominguez09016
Personal development and leadership business: https://www.instagram.com/oneness_growth

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general contractors, how to work with a general contractor, hiring a contractor for real estate, what to ask a general contractor, general contractor red flags, managing contractors real estate, working with contractors real estate, general contractor tips, managing flips with contractors, real estate rehab tips, general contractor Florida, setting expectations with general contractors, common mistakes when working with contractors, best practices for hiring a general contractor

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Latinos in real estate whether you're an OG investor or you're just getting started this is your spot I'm Carlos I'm an investor and we wholesale if you're looking for off Market opportunities hit us up we got you today's episode is a really good one we learned a lot and if we would have known what we know now after this episode we would have saved so much money in our latest rehab so much time and most importantly the stress we would not have to fire some contractors today we get into the mind

of a contractor and we talk about how to maximize the relationship so we have the best outcome we can get it for the best price it's good quality and everybody's happy thio has a ton of experience in this so this one's really interesting there's a lot of really good information nuggets in this so you're going want to stick to the end I'm talking chasing dreams want to see you grow and Rise I know you got that hustle I know you got welcome lovely people uh today we have a really special guest someone that is

near and dear to my heart good friend uh he's an entrepreneur he's a real estate investor he's a professional speaker and a man of God a family man and AKA and number one let's go he's a good friend uh but welcome Antonio how are you hey good first of all thank you both for this opportunity and and I think this is great so it's an honor and a privilege to to definitely be part of this tell us a little bit about your background you know where you're from and kind of your your journey to where you are right now so I'm going to try to

give you the the short version right the the quickest version so I was born um here in United State actually I was born in Brooklyn New York but I did the opposite of the Immigrant uh my mom uh decide to move to Dominican Republic when I was 2 years old which I think it was the best thing to happen um because to grow growing up in a third world country uh it taught me a lot of a lot of lessons like being grateful for things that sometime we take for granted here and it definitely gave me a different perspective I I I truly love

growing up in lant America and and it definitely gave me that opportunity I came back to the states around 14 years old uh I would say it for those who who come come from different other count doesn't matter if Latin America or others it's difficult I mean I came to my to Miami which everybody spoke Spanish so it made it very difficult to definitely learn English as I should have have so it was only me and my sister uh my sister actually helped me to come here uh she bought my plane ticket she was only 21 years old when I

think about that I think that's why I'm always grateful for her because she you know she sacrificed so you know 21 years old taking care of her 14y old brother uh not a lot of 211 year old would do that so she did you know and as soon as I came here I knew that I wanted to help her we were living in a little efficiency little apartment and haia and uh you know it was tough that's pretty much the beginning of of my journey and where where are you at now I live in Southwest Florida so I live in Fort Myers but actually my home is in

Coral Florida which is about you know 10 minutes from for Myers so growing up what was that like what was the mindset of and like I mean growing up the way that that that you did right and like having that um you know smaller home humble beginnings tied to your perspective on money like what what was your view what was your family's view of finances growing up I would say none to be honest because for example my grandma was illiterate she didn't know how to read or write and but she was such a hard worker and I didn't know she didn't

know how to write or read until later on in life to be honest and my mom you know she lived paycheck to paycheck you know she didn't know you know I would say she never understood what what how to even invest or or buy things or save money and then you know coming here um my sister you know she struggle a lot you know imagine you know 21 in Miami living in a little apartment with her little brother I don't think in any form shape or form we ever talked about finance and saying hey this is the opportunities that we have

this is something that we can do to be honest there was very little convers the conversation we have is how am I going to pay for the bills or you know or you know how we going to make ends meet or you know are we going to have enough no it's interesting that you that you share that cuz we have we both have very similar stories right like Benda and I and I know that that your wife we know we as immigrants coming from from different countries we have different walks of life but we came here and we were all living a similar situation

right and it's so honest my wife my wife was even harder like she she crossed the border at 9 years old like when I think about that you know we have a son our son David who's 9 years old he's having a hard time doing his laundry and to go on that like I know your wife's story and it's it's it's powerful right and like the the courage that she was able to take when she was a little older with you know Investments and all of that progressing in life right but on this topic that we're on right now this this this Wednesday I literally took mi suegra

her mom to to a doctor's appointment and what we were talking about there is like you know she came and she shared her story with me she she came here and you know we we didn't have the finances didn't have that migrantes or you know coming to this country are the ones that choose to do it it's as simple as a choice to her it was very simple right and she was able to you know they they they were able to buy house and things like that and you went through college and everything like that but it's like that it's so important though that that

mindset shift of like choosing that hey although I grew up poor although I didn't have this although we live paycheck to paycheck it does not need to be like that anymore because I'm choosing that is going to be a different future for myself and my family going to that point I know how the growing up is so impactful um what you see and what you hear and it shapes you to be who you are as a as a as an adult cuz of all the stories that we live in I know you you had some some tough challenges growing up in in your life how has like tough

moments in in your life like what you've seen how has that shaped you in in what you do today as a as a business owner as a as a coach as a leader um as a family man like how has that shaped you well I I think you have to like you said you know you have to make a choice I went through a very challenging childhood my mom was an alcoholic and I always make a joke my my mom knew how to pick the wrong ones always and uh and and she definitely did you know and and and and one of those wrong one was uh my stepfather who used

to uh physically and emotionally uh and verbally abuse us and it was probably 5 years of my life I would say was from 3 years old to almost seven 8 years old where he was in my life and it's funny people say you know how do you overcome that well I I would say you have to deal with your junk before it follows you so definitely I I would say that I definitely had to deal with it at one point or another because they it follows you for a long time I used to sleep when I used to sleep and somebody would come and just try to wake me up I was ready

to jump them and my kids and that's called post-traumatic stress about to Loco in you yeah it was about to loc in me fortunately it's something that you without thinking about it it was in my sub subc conscience right and all those things that happened back then bad and good listen resilience pretty pretty much I would say I'm very res resilient very adaptable I had to learn how to adapt and I think that's a very clear thing with Latinos know we we adapt at every situation almost like we have to we don't have no choice I would say this

for almost almost uh every immigrant too so story is so impactful right like caros was saying there's so many other Latinos that relate to your story right you did a little bit backwards where you went back home instead of coming to the US and then you know reverse 

I make a joke that that when I left I only knew English and then when I came back I only knew Spanish now I don't know what I speak maybe a little both right a little Spanglish right yeah but I mean that like the whole story right your Horror

Story you had challenges but with every single challenge that you came across that you decided right you made the decision to learn from it Grow from it it shaped you to who you are today you mentioned also your background how you grew up in the Dr then you came here when you were 14 with your sister who was 21 so after that after you kind of came back here how did you eventually trans I into real estate so I you know I I I wouldn't recommend anyone to take the same path because um I think I took the long way

it was a high school dropout so I got into a lot of trouble uh I wanted to really be the B local for Real uh moved to Charlotte North Carolina when I get to Charlotte I think things started changing for me I started in restaurant I did everything from the back of the house to the front of the house for those who are servers in bartend I used to be that there was some people along the way that gave me a hand and I think the first one was name is Bill Wilson he was you know he was a crazy bll guy uh Greeno but for whatever reason he he just love

my my hustle and he gave me the opportunity to be in leadership he um I was a manager for one of the restaurant and he was the first one to introduce me believe it or not to uh investments in stocks and so from restaurant I went to sales for construction this is my first experience with construction it was a sales for pre-engineered steel building have no experience in in in in pre-engineering steel building I didn't know how to even build one I didn't know how to how to even break it apart and you probably asking how in the world do

you got that job you know how I got that job guess what bilingo baby you know I lasted there for probably a couple years and then from there I I I went to work for a um I don't know if you I don't know how to explain it but we call it the shell so this company uh built a shell for homes so the shell is your slab your wall your block and then your they call it the lid so your your roof and I think 2006 2007 I lost everything I it was a hard period uh it was a dark period because not only did I lost everything but I had to start from

scratch um you know and and I didn't know what I was going to do and and I got I was afraid I was like man you know I don't have a degree what am I going to do and uh and again I would say God open the door again um I I went to work for a telecommunication after a year okay so I it was a year without a job I I did a bunch of jobs you know I always tell my my wife always laugh I even sold fish out of a little car that I had I did landscaping so anybody who does Landscaping me respecto my respect but I was blessed enough I got an

opportunity for tell Communications actually working for concret business selling fiber and and of course I end up then I became an entrepreneur which for the past three and a half year that's what I that's what I've been doing I love that what a what a journey it's not like a easy from be that's why I said that's another path that you should take yeah no but I'm I'm really glad that you chose to work at at Gartner uh at one point that's where you and I met when we met in the hallway right I heard you you were your energy man it was just

like you were so positive and and I was too right we our energies matched and then we started talking right and yeah I just see you in the office we got lunch one day and then we we had a good relationship remember we we we went out for some tacos you were giving me coaching some some you were coaching me on how to be a good salesperson in Corporate America selling big big ticket items to corporations right and then you invited me to your home and man I tell Brenda I tell you many times that that day that you

invited me to your home just like your friend invited you many years ago it changed my life that was the first time in my life that I saw a home um a family that I wanted to I wanted to have a similar life like that where everybody sitting down at the table eating together you know having a genuine conversation and God is there right like you know we talked about the Bible we talked we prayed together that was that was beautiful I never seen that so I appreciate you for for doing that for me you know and it impacted me a lot what

this guy thought about me you just being so because because my wife always says to me she's like man you're so like sometime like I don't know if people understand that this is who you are truly are like you like this person who will say hi and become a friend but I grew up that way you know and and I always believe about paying it forward because I'm not here because I got here because you know I like people say oh I got here because of my own strength you know what there's been people who open doors for me who helped me who were who were just

kind to me and I'm always I want to always pay it forward so yeah my family anytime you want to come to Florida especially if it's cool now you know you can come yeah and I appreciate you said that if I ever need um some rehab properties over there like if I ever need some gc's you're going to get 50% off right right go Giver in Florida I'm I'm kidding no just kidding right but let's talk about what you do now right like i' I've followed you on social media I've seen the before and afters I've seen the work that you do in real

estate and is phenomenal I I'm like look at this house it's like wow can you tell us about what what what you do right now with fixing homes and everything yeah so so it's funny um three three year well it's actually going to be three years so um our community got affected by a major hurricane there was a lot of people that I knew friends family even even strangers that lost their homes or their roof uh their homes got flooded and something was happening that I started reading in social media was like and this came from Friends sometime that

oh you know a contractor wants to charge me this much for roof or you know I'm trying to rebuild my home but you know it's just too much and I felt like huh I was looking for an opportunity to try to do something that you know provide service um in the concern because we we own a few homes already and things like that and I said well I want to offer service with a good quality that does not we don't have to be making 40% profit you know a lot a lot of contractors think that way um and I I said you know I want to help and I think

that put in my mind what I wanted to do from the beginning and it's like you know I want to be able to help others rebuild or remodel their homes at a with good quality materials at a decent price and that's been our model our model is let's exceed our clients expectation every time let's look for ways to you know do better without without um adding so much um like cause to the client and we we I I run a full uh Suite so we take the the if it's a rebuild we do the whole thing from from rebuilding the whole house um to remodeling a kitchen

bathroom um we also do a little bit a new construction as well I love that and I love the value that you said and the type of clients that you have like I've worked with some contractors That Couldn't care less who they work with they're all about the profit and you know and VI vice versa right but the um the value that you offer in like the unique um clientele that you work with I think is is is is really interesting now on I think a lot of contractors get burned out I think I think some of them start maybe um with the right

intentions and sometime they get burned out along the way or they forget and and I think well I think that's for almost every business you know I always say that's why you got to start with why you're doing it if you're always doing it only for the money eventually that's going to and and people say well it's easy for you to say that no no you know don't get me wrong I understand that money is important you have to provide and everything but if that's only your only why exactly it's going to burn really quick so powerful and I think we both

see it that way right like we're in real estate we're investors we're looking for properties what differentiates Brenda and I than than anybody else you know we're we're building Latinos in real estate we care about our community we want to see them succeed and if in the long and if in that Journey if God blesses us with opportunities to invest in real estate or help other people find properties like we we're all about it so I I love that that's why from from day one I really clicked with you and resonated with you forever um on the

relationships though with with contractors what you what you talk about like what what best practices have you noticed in your experience working with with both um the the investor and yourself like what is something that you can share with the audience so then we can you know have good relationships so you you know you got a three-year relationship with a contractor like any other like I don't know I don't like to go to Just One mechanic I want to hear or or like let's say you go to a doctor and the doctor says uh we find a lump I mean what's the

second thing you're going to do second opinion right or third opinion you know uh I think it's important that um if you're going to um look for a contractor don't just chase the lowest price look for at least I would say at least minimum three bids you know um and and see those three bid because sometimes you can L Sal yes you know you can find a cheap cheap contractor and there might be a reason why he's the cheapest you know uh look for experience quality of work you know you know maybe go to see a visit one of

their past work or current work um I would say give them a surprise go go see them really quick and see a job and see how clean they are how organized they are I think it's important before you make the decision um I would say this the the the second one which is I don't put it in any particular order but I would say the first one this one I would say is the first one and it's based on everything right like take a marriage you got to build trust right so I would say that first one is to build trust first um with that contractor um you're

going to it's going to sound funny but pay them on time whenever you say you're going to pay them pay them you know um I think a lot of time I know that the trust has to come from both way I know that the the investor or the one who's building or remodeling I cuz I deal with that I mean sometime you know the way I make my contracts I make it very very win-win so I don't me I don't get my last payment till we complete the job so like that the client feels hey I am going to finish it's in my best interest to finish our work because if not then

I'm not going to get my my my last payment so I think it's important to build trust both way hey you know maybe ask questions that you want to know but um it's like anything you know you want a reliable the the the contractor wants a reliable client and I know the client wants a reliable contractor right so uh also be clear in your expectation that's part of trust right like what is it you're looking for you know um what is it that you're trying like what exactly the scope you know uh because one of the things that I I try to do and that this

takes me the longest time is sometime when I want to estimate something is I want to understand clearly what does the client's looking for and see if I can meet those expectation or exceed them not meet them but exceed them and how can I because the the last thing you want when you're building a trust or building a relationship is have a wrong which has happened having the wrong expectation like the client wants this or expecting this type of material or expecting this type of thing or oh you know what this bathroom I want it this

way and it was never spoken from the beginning or the kitchen you know oh I don't want white cabinet I wanted to have blue ones oh so I think having a clear expectation of the scope and what you really are looking for uh you know hey I really need this to be completed by three months because I have a back loan and I need to do it can you do it within that time and if the contractor says and here's my take in it both goes back to communication which is my third step in communicating is so important is if you can if the contractor says they

can don't just right away say and move on with another contractor because maybe the contractor is telling you no it's telling you the truth hey we can't like I like to say it's not it's not how you say it's not no it's how you say the no it's say hey no but we might be able to finish in such a time uh and here's why because a lot of time you hear somebody says oh I can't do it in three months ohos it might be that you know the the contractor seing the bigger picture and says well we might we don't know what's

under that flooring or we don't know what's on behind that wall you know there's a lot of thing element that can have so I would say that the three things is number one you know get multiple bids don't just go with the first one don't go with the one that says is lowest um L salaro build trust uh communicate clearly and professionally with each other like provide detailed scope uh try avoid change orders as much as you can because if if you have a good SC scope uh of what you're looking for um I think it's is is clear from the beginning what what

you want and what they want right and then of course keep keep Communication open um don't micromanage but keep communication uh open so so you guys both are you know I try to talk to my clients especially those who are not in like they're not in Florida I try to keep them update at least once a week and send them pictures and send them a update of everything negotiating with uh the contractors can be kind of tough sometimes right cuz you said like at the end of the day we have to make sure that we communicate with

them get the different vids um but do you have any other tips or anything else on how to get like a great deal without cutting Corners yeah I mean if you have multiple uh projects like let's say you say you know I have three houses that I want to rebuild or remodel right or or flip maybe they you know I done that where you know um they have three homes and I said okay because you know you if they're very close in in personality is it's easier to to maneuver so that's one way um maybe another thing that you can that you can

do to maybe um so and this is something that it all depends on the contractor but I don't mind doing that so let's say you say Hey what if I buy all the materials and they just charge it for labor so that could be but you again going back to the communication have a clear scope of that contract hey what's included there what's not included um I think sometime is easier for the investor or the one who's buying the house or the one who's remodeling to buy the materials because maybe you buy a material you know you say you know what

um I found this like right now we're rebuilding a house and the and the um the owners they actually work part time at Ace Hardware well they get they get like a 50% discount in a lot of things so Menards yeah so because they get such a good discount and a lot of materials it makes sense for me not to provide a lot of things that they want and that's okay I just charge them for for the labor and like that the client actually gets cuz contractors just to give you an idea and this is something very important for a

lot of people who they shouldn't be charging more than 20% for material um and here's how the breakdown of 20% is think about it they are putting their their you know they either paying for the delivery of the material number one or number two they actually payt one of their guys to go get those material that's number two gasline bringing those material down making sure they don't break so there's a lot of liability but more than 20% is too much I I I've heard contractors sometimes charging 30% 40% for material that's a

little too much I I I I I don't I don't charge more than 20% sometimes less but like for example I get cabinets from Tampa for example that's a 2hour drive from here and that's what if what if they get an accident what if you know so there's a lot of things that happen but I I I still don't charge more than 20% and and again I'm almost coming even right because I got to go get them pay the gas and everything but I just share that because it's true a lot of time you see contractors trying to charge you know 30% 40% for for materials but

that's another way that you can that you can negotiate and say Hey you know uh what if I provide all the materials would would you provide me a you know just a labor price if we would have known this before this rehab that we just did in in Green Bay like if we would have known just the last like 15 minutes if we would have heard that the headache that it would have saved us the money that it would have saved us oh man we we did everything that you just said we did the opposite well I would say I'll I'll take

ownership but I caues you with something if you're buying the material so let I just give you an example let's say you remodeling a bathroom right this is something again going back to communication I would tell the client right you provide them material but all the material needs to be there so you got you got to understand you it's your responsib now you're going to be the project management of the material you become you're going to make sure they have all the tile they have their you know all the plumbing fixtures

you know so it has this good so you're saving money but you're not saving time yeah does that make sense that that makes sense and for us with the time that we we don't have the the time we don't have a big truck I can barely fit in in my little car right so what we did what we did we went with the cheapest uh contractor everybody was bidding us at like right around 1720 we went I I would say I went I went with the guy that was like wife looking me I take ownership hey I'm like what really they got me with the with the with the pictures and

then I called three other families that I personally know that they have done work with they're like they're they're the best they're so good I'm like really I'm like it's too good to be true so I went with them long story short Lo but I don't view it as we took a l i view it as it was a seminar that I paid money to go learn um I paid x amount of dollars I learned this that will never happen again and now I know that I can feel like I feel like I can use that as a negotiation in the future hey in the past you know I this is this situation

happened to me therefore for you and I working together I want to make sure that we're holding each other accountable you know I I want to know how much you're you're you're spending on like material because I felt you know so I can use that story to help me um in in in the future Well Properties well I I think transparency and again going back to building trusts you have to have transparency and your contractor should have some transparency and they should be able to tell you hey you know I'm I'm charging you a fee for material for

20% um and I'm making for the M because you got understand what what do I offer a client like let's say you you guys are busy right I offer peace of mind yeah I take over the whole like for example I have a client right now they're they live in in Atlanta I have another one that lives in Chicago guess what they know that their job is being completed and it's it's getting done they don't have to call they don't have to deal with providers they don't have to deal with sun contractors they don't have to I'm dealing with all of that I'm making sure

that every every provider that's coming next is setting up the schedule some people say well I can do that well if you have the time because it's almost like almost a full-time job to do that then do it like if this is let's say you all you do is rebuild and and flips well that makes sense however um I think transparency is very important and going back to one thing you said um about the the the the contractor there I'm careful you you know how you go to Amazon and what's the first thing that you do when you looking

for a uh some type of product go to go to the search you go for the review like when you see the product when we're looking at it yep so I've been doing this for the past five 5 year cuz I know how the algorithm works I don't go for the first five reviews I go all the way to the back why because I want to see an average of experience people with that product I want to understand so the same thing I wouldn't ask the cont maybe you can just ask for random five or ask them for random four listen they're going to

I it's funny I give you an example when we ask for a review for a client I let them know if we have not earned five star give us an opportunity to make it right mhm most of the time they said I'm tell you guys did a five star I I don't think I have ever got one that we haven't however there's some clients we have some challenges not everything has been roses right and guess what those are the clients that I actually want to to give to talk about us cuz they're going to give you the the and it's funny because they ask me why and tell you you said

(32:35) because I want you to speak the whole truth and the you know and let let whoever I'm going to hire us to know what they're getting yourself into and tell them where we dro the ball and how after we dropped the ball how do we pick the ball again and how we fix the problem but if you're only hearing and it's funny uh they say too no no not everything that goes smooth like it's too good of a deal then run it's true it's too good of a deal so uh maybe asking and maybe going to see their job because what if they they

say Primo wait can you be my can you be hey you know what could happen Okay let's not get oursel uh Hey cuz I need you to be a good review for talk to these people right here it could happen I mean I I will dare to tell people like let's say somebody who's doing investment real estate I will strongly recommend them to either go to a current job site that this contractor is working you can ask them hey can you give me two or three places where you're working right now um you know and they're like and they probably first if

they have nothing too high they're like yeah uh just let me know when um so we can accommodate you that's fine that's a fair you can give him a 10-minute Hess up 20 minutes 30 minutes hey in 30 minutes we'll be there you don't have to tell exactly the day just go and see this let me tell you I tell my crew my people like I just want to see this house that we're finishing and it was a mess and I got I was upset cuz I always tell them I said listen how would you feel if you going into that house and let's say you're

you're the owner of that house and you go and you see W we're doing remodeling man I understand that we are doing remodel man but doesn't mean we have to be a messy all over yeah and I said you know just take like how would you feel and they're like yeah I wouldn't like it I said okay so if you don't like it then cuz we we I I tried for them to understand that we are trying to deliver excellence in every job and whether we're remodeling rebuilding it I understand it's construction I but doesn't mean we can be a little bit organized and clean not

having bottle of waters everywhere uh cemento here like what is going on and it's funny because I talked to to to the to the superintendent I say bro what's that oh I I told I I've been telling them I said I understand I I H listen I for the most part I know you guys are very clean but come on um let's let's be but I would recommend those people who you you know if you're looking for a contractor or something you know you definitely want to do your D diligence and I'm not saying that the cheapest guy is not the best okay I'm

not saying that but I would say drw with caution like make sure that you're doing all your due diligence before you move forward with that person yeah I love that thank you for your advice like I said I wish we would have known this months ago but going on to like real estate and Investments right now now the interest rates are ridiculous uh the prices of homes they're really high and right now A lot of people are saying that it's not a good time to invest but I remember when we met uh like just a couple weeks

ago you said it's a it's a it's a perfect storm could you elaborate on that what you meant so the first thing I would say to about the market is what are you trying to do right like are you looking for shortterm or long-term does that make sense mhm yep so if short-term flip houses right pre construction investment I would say short-term investment right longterm is like you're buying like a you buy and hold right like you're buying a house and you say you're not going to hold it I'm going to rent it or commercial or

land right so that I would say that's the F like I would say that's the foundation like what what is it I'm trying to to do in this market because yes there high interest um there you know houses are I mean I was reading the other day I think it was a couple days ago I was reading that you had to work in Florida you had to work a base wage hourly have to work 110 hours to pay the to pay for rent in this market no way yes they will have to work 110 hours I'm like that is madness that is crazy and I and

I say something's got to give you know there just you know when you have houses there are way way higher than the you know than let's say let's say you make let's say you make a little bit above minimum wage who you going to rent or who you going to be able to provide you know it's just crazy to me so uh it's funny we have rentals and we do we even when there were like people were like renting the houses for like 2500 and three bedroom like I told my wife listen we're not going to do that we're not going to do this is not we we might lift it up a

little bit more so we can pay for our taxes and make some profit but there's no reason for us to be the same way as everybody else love that you know we we you know the whole point is not to you know I I said greed is one of the worst thing that we can have in life uh there's nothing wrong with making uh money but when you allowing greed to take over o that's just going to destroy you and and again going back to compassion empathy you know you got to you know so I think the first thing that people need to ask when they're going to

this Market is what is it I'm trying to do am I trying to do a shortterm or longterm investment if I'm doing a short term is it the best time now to do that no I I especially with the interest so high and how unless you're finding a perfect deal and this is what I call like like a best deal is that is the hor in a great location but a good location and and here's a cavier because people say oh I I found this amazing house and and it's going to be great and said um have you gone a night to see how the neighborhood

is no then how you know it's great because the night is when you're I said you should go a Friday night and see how the neighborhood is and if you see the neighborhood Pang that I don't know if there going to be a great great family neighborhood so I will location is so important I would say is your number one cuz listen you can find a a a a house in distress and maybe not such good area right and that's okay you could buy it to but you you need to know that that's what you're getting yourself into right like you

have to be realistic don't don't be like buying this house in a in a not so good neighborhood and think oh I'm going to get like bunch of renters you know again think think your market and who you're trying to rent so I like we like me and my wife like to find homes that are in good family neighborhood um that are very very close to different places um so I would say neighborhoods number one location making sure they drive at night drive a Friday night a Saturday night see make sure everything is good so and if it's not for family if

let's say you say you know what like for example uh I have a good friend of mine he bought a duplex in a very uh in an area that is not maybe it's not it's a bad area cuz I don't like to call areas bad right uh it's just an area that is not um I wouldn't say it's a family area but however it's a it's an area where a lot of workers work and live so guess what he wants to attract people who they just here they want to live they just want to have a duplex and they they're not they don't have families guess what both of

the duplex are rented he bought it he had a great deal it was in distress he talked to me he said hey how much you think I need to put you know so I I the first thing that we do we want to make sure that that house is structurally sound what does that mean we looked at the foundation there's no Foundation problems uh we look at the roof we looked at the AC because those are the things that are super expensive to change um and they're they're the one going to give you the most headache you know uh if it's a if it's a structure of

wood does it have termites how you know and people say well how do I know if it have termite well you better hire somebody that that can be a professional and and take a look because you're not a termite expert I'm not a termite expert so I want to find somebody who's truly going to go and go into the attic and go to the places and and find out hey has this been affected by termites and if it hasn't then great if it has walk away or or maybe figure out how much damage it had cuz that's what I would look and and

my friends we I went uh we saw it um I told them listen I'm very concerned about the plumbing being um copper that's going to bring you a lot of headaches and it says but if you replace it it's going to cost you about you know it's say a good 10K at least and I said yes the kitchen needs to be remodel so so I give I give him a rough like what was going to cost him I said you know probably rough on the on the worst case scario you're probably looking at maybe 40 50 to put in um best case scenario maybe 30 but he already

knew kind of what he was getting into and he bought a duplex and he did he changed all the plumbing um because what happened with copper you know I don't know I don't know if you guys have copper a lot in your area but copper uh is not there was a time where we buil homes like that but copper is actually not good for your health and eventually uh cuz it has lead a lot of lead in it and then also it's not very efficient so uh that's how we used to build it and again people ask me why would people build it before that well that was the

code before you know we have learned to EV evoluate and do things better but you know that's that was the code yeah and do you and your wife um mostly hold or flip so in our case we have a long-term goal long-term investment um we always talked about it um that we were going to buy and hold Buy and Hold so build a portfolio like that's always been our goal um and that's why I said it's so important that you you know what you you know I I look at flips like a can I say it like a drug addict right a good fix let's

go and it it works right but in the other side I seen people like for example I have a client uh this is an investor he bought three homes in distress that were completely flooded in for my speech MH he bought each house uh each home I think it cost him about each $900,000 almost a million dollar again they were completely stripped to [Music] Bones come let's say a year and two years almost after it's been rebuilt now he's stuck with an investment that he put because rebuilding and everything cost him probably about 1.5 now with

(45:06) everything he's not going to get $2 million for those house not in this market maybe in five years but that's why it's so important that we don't and and it's funny because we I had a convers and this guy is you know he's he's a multi-millionaire you know he's pretty smart guy he has a lot of money and and we were having a conversation I got to know him he got to know me and I said hey Mike if you could do it all over what will you do differently he goes not buy this house he goes I would he says I I would still buy them but I will wait um I I'm

sure you hear this the fear of missing out F oh yeah don't go with fomo yeah don't don't you know he he he thought he was going to he was he he impulsively uh bought this three places and because he didn't he fear missing out right he's like oh you know he's an investment right and now he has three home beautiful they all came out really nice however who's going to pay them for those three houses now uh he didn't lift them up they're still ranch style so there's still chances of water being you know water coming in again at one point or another

you know maybe not maybe maybe yeah maybe it won't but that's a chance that's a risk that somebody has to take so I think it's important that when you're me and my wife when we have when we look at a property we say okay is this is a property that we want to have in the long term um do we want to is it how much we have to put in and is this the type of home that we want to keep for long time like long term and we we look for things like okay location number one okay how much do we need to put into it uh number two number three

you know is this close to schools to jobs to Transportation I know those things are silly but those things you know when you rent it when you rent it to somebody you want to make sure that hey those are the things they're going to sell or rent faster right um and and if they fit that criteria uh then we go but you know if you don't mind my wife at one point so I I call her the Hawkeye because guys there was a home that we saw together in distress really distressed okay this house was I wish I have a picture of the I don't have it with me

but I was like tasa you're crazy we're not buying the house she's like no this house is in a good place Antonio like really I mean I think the only thing I practice is we can pay we can buy for like 35 40,000 he said well we probably going to have to put another 50,000 in this house she's like trust me it's going to work out great like I'm like I don't know I was like sweating I like I said losing it but she saw something she's like listen I know you don't see it but look how how close is this from he this look where it is look family

this she saw a picture I did not see like I was like like this like I can't see I can't see it but she saw it and listen that house came out so nice and it's one of the so it's funny the value so we had we before we were finishing remodel rebuild like we were very close people were calling us to to buy the house for like triple what we PID and they like yeah you were I you know I hate to admit it but you're right you were 100% right I was completely wrong maybe I should stick to just doing rebuild REM model and you be the one who

finds the property cuz I obviously didn't see it and you did that's so cool wow yeah yeah I think I think that was a great lesson I I think another thing is if you're gonna buy uh outside of your area so let's say you say like you know what I buy in Florida go and see the area yeah you know I I that same um client even though he was familiar with from Myers spee he never even sold the property before he bought them um not that they were bad places it's just if you're going to buy outside of your state or your city go go go see that

place because if you don't like for example we interested in Tennessee we gone to Tennessee a couple times we like the area we we haven't pulled the plug yet we've seen a few properties but before we going to pull the blug we have to make sure that that you know the area or the home that we're going to buy or we understand the the the economics of the area like you know who they have usually and all those things are are easy to find you got to do a lot of research but you can find it you know you can see you know what's the type of

population there you know all all that information is public information I love that Antonio one thing that I have admired about you over the years since we met what is in like 2017 I think 2017 since um yeah but every time we talk you you reference something from the Bible right and I've and it's always been so powerful every message has been has been really good remember I called you one day and I was like hey you know I'm I'm looking for some books what would you recommend uh for leadership communication look at that you bought me

that book right there see the Maxwell Bible right like everything that that you have shared with me um has been tied to the Bible and I I really respect you for for that right um and when we met met before you you talked about how there's verses in the Bible that also talk about finances and that's what we've been talking about right now right with real estate so how do um verses from the Bible influence you and and your wife's decisions on on real estate investing um a lot so it's funny I have a one of my favorite verses is right

across my wall and it's on Proverbs 3 4 and 5 it says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding and but I like what it says in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path but the first thing is we want to trust in our own understanding and believe me I done it we did like that day that day of the house that's a pure example you know I was like I'm pretty sure this is not going to be well and it wasn't it's funny you know going walk you through that we both sat down and I

said okay you know tell me let's lean out in our understanding what how help me understand why you see it that way and let's pray about it let's let's if this is the right place then let's pray about it so um I would say our faith in God his faithfulness number one has been I mean he's taking this little boy from Dr to places where I never even imagined and not only I'm not talking only you know financially but just just family and I just a lot of things that I could not even imagine and um I I will say that you know and again I don't I I'm

very aware that we're living in a time where a lot of time we want to push our beliefs into other people and you know I'm very respectful of that all I can tell them is H how do we how do I incorporate my faith in my own life and our own walk and and our business is the same way you know uh whether it's in the leadership coaching whether it's in the construction even when we fell listen one time we were remodeling a a a condo and my guy we were supposed to remodel only one bathroom so one of my guy by accident he knocks down the other

door wall of the other bathroom we end up reming both bathroom the other bathroom didn't cost the client I I just just couldn't like I said guys we we got to do it right and I'm it might not be I might not make the same profit and that's okay but that's how we carry that's how I Implement every you know okay I need to Jesus Jesus said for us it's not that we need to carry ourselves with Integrity it's that we need to live integrity and integrity means what is doing what's right even when no one's looking and

that's hard don't get me wrong I was not like I said growing up in Miami 305 vato loco forever I didn't have a lot of Integrity obviously your faith plays a role into the business and the way that you do things with integrity and I mean you're leading Crews right so being a Serving Leader at the end of the day not only with your in your business but also at home and and everything else um you gives us a lot of like inside into like what you do um but now that youve you and your wife right have like investment properties what's one piece

of advice that you if you could go back you would give yourself we wish would have bought a bunch of ones you know I I I think the biggest advice is start small buy a piece of lot buy a piece of land that's the easiest way to get into real estate buy some land sometimes cheaper you know I I think we would have wish we would have bought more land to be honest um I mean there was a point where some Lots were going for like $6,000 you imagine you know um now they're like 40 you I think that's something that we have learned that you

know we didn't do it because like oh you know we want to buy we want to have a house first we want to buy this you know I think that's one lesson that I wish we could have done differently is like you know start small you don't have to start you know a lot of people say oh I don't want to I don't want to get into real estate because I don't know okay then learn first of all and then second of all do your research don't just go and and and say I'm going to buy this property why you want to buy the property so um I think that's one

advises that definitely you know if you have the opportunity start small like we didn't we our the first house that we bought it took us a couple maybe a year or two to buy the second one um we we wanted to be very um um understanding that we wanted to do without going to a lot of debt uh another thing you can do is once you have one maybe use some of the equity that you have in this in the first one and try to get the second one buy the second one I I would cautious though you know be very intentional not to be in debt because I seen a lot of

people lose everything because they just they want to go too fast like I see going back to the and you probably think I'm against flips I'm not but I think a lot of a lot of um influencers they make a scene like it's so easy and so this and it's far from the truth you know those people have G you know everybody goes through their uh learning things right everybody like I I our first one of the first property we bought um we end up selling it because it was just we bought bad and we didn't do our due diligence however like you said

Carlos you know it was a lesson learn you know it was a costly one but it was a lesson learn and we had to learn that that was not a thing so that's why I say it's not I'm against flipflops I'm not against those things however be like start small like if you only have to buy a piece of land then buy the piece of land um find out how much taxes you got to pay for that land though it makes sure it's a land that can be buildable you know people say oh I found this piece let this happened not too long ago my wife you know she's always looking for

deal so she's like oh I found this three lots look how much they want for them you know at first I was like man that's pretty cheap and I'm like hm I wonder if something a cash and she's said well you know reach out to the real estate telling her that if they can represent us they can get both the both commission from the sellers and the buyer you know like that they like that is actually for them um and my wife does a little more research and it's like um there's this turtles that live in certain uh what's it called I forgot

the species but they're they're you can't just take them out so all three lots have this so imagine we would have you would have to open up a zoo or something or wait until the leave uh so again do you due diligence you know over here we have the borrowing ows and for you to move them you have to pay almost 10 15,000 and you have to be specific a time to move their thing to another place you have to pay them so uh there's also Wetland I don't know if you've ever deal with those type of lands in in your area but over here in

Florida you have areas where it's called wetlands and that means you have to fill them up with soil and and things that so you can just build right away so again do your du D but I was small I think the biggest advice is let's start small you know do what you can like if you if if your first flip up is a one bedroom one bath and that's all you can start with that's fine there's nothing wrong with starting you got to start somewhere so I wish we would have instead of going to start like on certain thing we I wish we

would have started like smaller and and and of course buy a bunch of lots cuz those lots were like $6,000 back then I'm like damn I can't believe we missed that that makes sense and to what you were saying about the the influencers like in everybody's saying buy properties do this do that um get into wholesaling but they don't know what's behind the curtain so I appreciate the realness and like after we've been talking to a lot of investors a lot of people with experience a lot of people say the the same thing right it's not

(59:44) what they painted on on social media Instagram YouTube with what we're doing here we're not we're not encouraging that either if it makes sense right and that's why we're bringing experts like yourself share the advice you know yeah well one of the last things that that we asked people on on the episodes are is what is your favorite dish from Latin America oh you killing me there's so many I love food oh my goodness so I don't know if you're familiar with Co San coo no all right so my favorite Mexican dish is pole my wife

knows I love pole so it's very similar to po it's like a cardo and and it's a Dominican and has um like five different meats and has and I just love it I I love it but you're going to laugh you know my simple favorite dishes what is it ohos my wife laugh she's like you're definitely not hard to please I'm like yeah I know you you give me rice why there something about white rice and overy or scramble eggs but anyway squ is probably my other second my my favorite one all time but my simple one like it's funny it's my

go-to so I love that I'm going have to try that and we we wrote it down out my son Carlo loves that too he loves what whenever my my wife says okay if I can do anything really quick and we like so funny how we resonate love that so Antonio for people that are listening that might need a contractor that might need some some properties remodeled in where where you're living in Florida how could they get in contact with you and also for what you're doing with leadership team building everything I know we talked about that in the

beginning like how can people get in contact with you and and reach out to you so you can connect so uh I think for a contractor you know we both have our you know we have our website we actually now created our portfolio page so people can see a lot of our work um and they can reach out you know there's a phone number there um I always say you know if you want to talk to us let me know help me understand what you're trying to accomplish I always talk to clients like that say Hey help me understand what you're trying to accomplish so

definitely they can reach out to the website the same thing we just uh launch our website for leadership in both instance they can go to our website and reach out there's email there I think the best two methods I always say is email me um reach out I'm very good about responding uh but there's also a phone number there too as well absolutely and we'll have that down here in the descriptions like we have for every episode uh we definitely want people listening to connect with you so Antonio we appreciate your time from the

bottom of our hearts uh thank you so much well for today that's uh wrap for the episode uh we hope that you you took notes you got something useful out of the conversation that that you can use in your journey in in life wherever you're at um and and we hope that you see that the power of of Building Wealth and and reaching your goals or as Antonio mentioned you know it's it's it's a choice that we're making right to to to make that and as as you know we need to have that plan so if you enjoyed today's episode please subscribe

to the YouTube channel leave a comment like share it's not necessarily for our benefit but it's to keep the conversation going it's for the movement that we're doing we want to help our Latino Community grow connect together and ultimately you know leave a good Legacy behind.