Leo Young: Passive Income Through Manufactured Housing Communities

In this episode of the Passion Millionaire Podcast, Robert Roth speaks with Leo Young, founder of Cornell Communities, about how real estate can create predictable cashflow and long-term financial independence. From working at Tesla during its toughest years to building a real estate investment firm, Leo shares the journey that led him to passive investing and private equity.

They break down how real estate actually works behind the scenes, including how investors can earn steady income without managing properties themselves. Leo explains why manufactured housing communities are a unique and resilient asset class, how deals are structured, and what returns investors can realistically expect.

This episode is ideal for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to put their money to work, build financial security, and reduce dependence on active income. If you’re considering your first or next investment, this conversation gives you a clear and practical starting point.

Contact Leo Young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-young/

Podcast Website: https://rockandrollyourdreams.com/podcast/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Create a life of entrepreneurial freedom with insights from successful creatives, entrepreneurs, and investors. Discover how they overcame challenges and turned their biggest dreams into reality. They share their personal success playbook so you can build the business and life you truly want. Welcome to Passion Millionaire, the podcast by Robert Roth. Rock and roll your dreams.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Welcome to today's episode of the Passion Millionaire Podcast. Again, as usual, I'm super excited. And today we have a different angle for all of you entrepreneurs and all of you investors, especially. Today we have an expert in real estate, and he's an expert because he's not only worked in the real estate space for a very long time in all kinds of different roles and collected a lot of expertise, but he has his money as well where his mouth is. And that's for me personally always counts twice at least when somebody puts his own money where the expertise is, because then you know they really know what they're talking about. So we know whatever Leo, our guest today, is gonna let us know, it's inform us about like that has a lot of weight, and I'm I'm very excited about that. So he is in the real estate space currently the founder of the Cornell Communities, which is a real estate investment firm focused on acquiring and operating manufactured housing communities. And in general, he has generated more than$75 million in real estate sales. So that's quite a noticeable number. And um, he personally also has achieved financial independence, which is what all of us either already have achieved or are after to achieve, because it definitely makes your life better once you have that financial pressure off. So therefore, I'm excited if Leo is gonna go ahead and share some of the insights as well, how he was able to achieve that. And I'm excited to actually hand over to you, Leo Young. I'm welcoming you and I'm excited to have you here on the podcast. Please feel free to correct and add my intro as necessary.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

You did a wonderful job. Thank you, Robert. I appreciate you having me here and I appreciate the intro. So, yeah, my name is Leo. I'm the founder and managing partner at Cornell Communities. And what Robert mentioned was was good because I've had somewhat, some would say an interesting winding career. You know, I me being in the private equity space right now, I wasn't the perfect candidate for it. It's not like I went to investment banking, did this, that, the other thing. I actually, so so I studied finance in college. I graduated, I took a pivot, I went into sales to sort of face my fears of selling. Um, but I think just like giving presentations, like talking to people, like uh back then, that was something that I really wanted to get better at. And I was working at Tesla. Tesla was my dream company at the time. And when I was there, it was a very intense period of the company's history because they almost went bankrupt. And every literally everyone was a hater in Tesla. I I could not tell you how many people. It's a very different world now, but nobody believed it back then. They're like, oh yeah, Tesla is that owned by Toyota? Like, oh, what happens like if Tesla goes out of business? Like, will the cars be around? Like, oh, these are the cars that that uh catch fire, right? But anyway, so in there, you know, it was a really intense experience. I learned a lot. Um, it helped shape my work ethic, but then also it burnt me out because we we were getting worked very, very hard. So that's that's where I sort of looked to different alternative options in terms of financial freedom, independence, and you know, stumbled upon some real estate forums, read up about them, learned about passive investing. And I thought to myself, wow, that's a pretty good concept. I mean, I just invest with people that I I like, invest in projects that I like, and basically they work to make money for me. And that was a really cool concept. So started doing that um almost a decade ago, and um just through the years built up the financial independence, which is um more um or it it was less momentous than I thought. You know, your your freedom day, you know, people like uh um Kiyosaki, they talk about that in Riftshap Bordad, um, about having your your cash flow be higher than your expenses. That's when you're truly independent. Um, but yeah, I think it's a lifelong journey, you know. Then from there, got got my real estate license. I started helping people to learn and earn. I helped people all different, basically, walks in life from affordable rentals to luxury mansions to multi-million dollar commercial projects. So I learned a lot. I've spoken with a lot of different kinds of people and have their perspectives. Then I worked at a real estate fund. It was, I think it was like four and a half billion dollars that we were helping them to purchase, so buying assets nationwide, and then got the great idea to start my own firm with a co-founder. And um, you know, here we are later, fifth year in business. We're we're doing great, we're ahead of business plan and you know, making a lot of investors a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Sounds great. Yeah, almost too great to be true. There's a lot that goes behind this, yeah. Yeah, that's right. I mean, I think that's a great asset that you have, that you have seen your space real estate from so many different angles that um you probably can connect dots differently than somebody who hasn't done that. Like I could imagine somebody who's a real estate agent for, you know, probably also decades and and knows exactly what is doing and is really good at this one thing, couldn't handle some aspects that you are handling the way you are handling them. That's uh what would you see a difference there, maybe? Yeah, you know exactly what you're doing right now, especially also the investors that you're working with, right? Um, maybe you can speak a little bit about that. Who are those typical investors you're working with, people that are looking to get into real estate, right? And then what are the things that you are making sure are handled super well?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, you know, I think a lot of investors, they sort of know, or a lot of people in general, they know the benefits of real estate, right? You know, it's like it's an asset that will always have demand because like everyone's gonna pay rent every month, right? So we sort of go based on that. But then the next step is like, how do I invest? Like what's a good deal and like how much work do I want to do? And that that's where a lot of people, they sort of have varied directions. So a lot of the investors that come to us, they're usually one of two buckets. You know, they're they're people generally that are crushing it in their career, doing very well. And, you know, they're they're asset rich but time poor. So they're they're either doing really well in their careers, you know, they're like a VP director or something like that. They have a family, they have a lot going on, they're making good money, but you know, that the money sitting in their bank or in the SP, you know, that's like kind of volatile. It's like here or there. And, you know, they want something different. They want to create that financial base so that they can have predictable cash flow that basically doesn't rely on them showing to work. Because, you know, in this job market, there's like a lot of uh downsizing happening, a lot of like unpredictability. And that's led a lot of these people to search for that kind of financial foundation. And, you know, a lot of people they're later on in their careers, like, they're like, oh, I I should have started doing this like 10, 20 years ago. So, you know, they they come to us wanting to to build that financial foundation. And the second bucket is generally successful business people. So they're they're running their business, they're doing very well. Um, and that is their their unique value to the world. You know, they're doing really well in it, whatever business that it may be, but obviously like they have money that they're not putting to work and they don't know how to put to work. And they they seek this opportunity because, you know, they invest with people that basically we set up a whole company to do this one thing. So, you know, our investment thesis is very, very specific. And we sort of proven that this is a machine that we can operate time after time after time and get investors' consistent returns. So these guys like it, they understand the importance of investing, and also to them, too, having that level of cash flow, that level of sort of passive wealth building. It's very important to them because business, like a lot can change, right? I mean, during COVID, you know, overnight businesses were were turned upside down. So they they want to just make themselves more more financially invulnerable. So those are the the two general buckets.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Yeah, it makes sense. And now that you are in you know manufacturing housing communities, so what makes this type of investment special?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

So it's a very unique asset class to the United States. And in especially in this market cycle, it makes a lot of sense to invest in because the call it the three main forces. One is that there is a big supply constraint. So they're not building any more of these. Um, it's a very unique asset class that it was popular 50 plus years ago, but they they stopped allowing it. So the local governments they stopped allowing it because it just doesn't make sense for them. So we can only buy existing ones and it just makes the existing ones more valuable. The second is it's very recession resilient because it's the most affordable form of housing that's not government subsidized. So you don't rely on whoever is, you know, in the in the government in the White House to say, like, hey, the checks are good. Because there was a there's a period in time. Exactly. Last year, there was a period of time that uh, you know, it it was called into question. You know, it was like put on pause and like Yeah, yeah, people took it for granted and then they're like, oh wow, so it's not, it's not a certain thing. But so this is the lowest cost form of housing, and people always want it. So we have wait lists at all of our communities, like people just want them, but there's just not enough supply. And the third reason is that there's opportunity for increasing the value. So for us, we're we're value add investors. We want to buy a property because we know we can add value to it. And a lot of these assets, the these manufactured housing communities, they come from older owners. Like, you know, we we speak with a lot of sellers, like they're in their 70s, 80s, you know, they've owned the property for like 30, 40, 50 years. And there's a lot that can be done better, you know, like giving residents a way to pay rent online, improving where they live, you know, repaving the roads, like increasing the lighting, things like that. And uh, of course, like, you know, normalizing the rent. Uh it's usually very, very below market rents. So, you know, there's like room for growth and it's still supported by local market comps. So that's sort of how we we increase the value of the property and make um the money for our investors. Yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

And also, at least that's something I have observed when I was whenever looking through Silo.com, etc. Um, it seems to me that a lot of those um manufactured housings also are on yeased land. So therefore, um correct me, please, because like you're my personal observation, which might be uh just you know a small uh region of houses I might have checked, and it's the case there or whatever. Um, but how would you deal with that? Like, uh are you usually making sure you buy the land with it? Because I mean that makes a difference, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Or how does it look like that so that's what makes this business model so unique is that the the residents they own their own homes, but we own the land. So think of it like uh an HOA, like you're in a condo, right? You pay the HOA fee every month, they they do the maintenance. That's pretty much what we do. So we we maintain the roads, we maintain the utilities, we we give them just generally a place to put their trailer. So uh another um nickname for you know the manufactured housing communities is a mobile home park. Right. So yeah, that's generally it came from the term of a mobile home parking lot. So we basically we maintain the parking lot for them to put it there. And how that translates into the investment world is that it's a very simple asset class to operate. There's a lot fewer moving parts, fewer things that can go wrong. I mean, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

The wall things that are expensive kind of exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, I mean, look, if you're talking about like an apartment building, like you have the roof, you have an elevator. An elevator can only be serviced by a certain vendor. You need a leasing team, you need to figure this whole thing out. So it's a very simple business model. We're able to just run it time and time again and just have a good um visibility into like how each asset is doing.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Um yeah, I believe that is a very smart um investment we could call. Like I've I've heard people that are pretty big in the YouTube scene, real estate investor YouTube scene also talking about that and sure and even, hey, I've invested in this mobile home park, and this is um how it turned out. And um I think it's very smart because of you know, it's risk averse compared to other real estate investments. So therefore I'd be curious, like um, let's say I would go ahead and invest in with you, together with you. Like, how would that look like? And what is it I would get? What would I own? What would I not own? Yeah. How would cash flow look like? What is the minimum, maximum investment to get an idea about that as well?

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah. So for us, we we operate simply with the private equity model. So we basically we pull capital together from investors to purchase larger assets than you know each of us individually can. So basically, we would be partnering in a deal and and we would purchase this one specific property. And to that, you're a part owner, and then you get a portion of the upside and downside um of the actual property itself. And generally what that looks like for you as an investor is you would get a stream of cash flow because basically people pay their rent, we deduct expenses, and then you get your cash flow. So you do that.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

And then what's the management fee on that?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

It varies typically. Um and and yeah, for us it's around between like two and three percent. But I think it's it's hard to compare apples to apples when it's like the actual percentage points, because you know, the percentage point for or the dollar amount for a$1 million project versus the dollar amount for a$100 million project is substantial, right? And for us, what the management fees go to, typically it's just expenses and payroll, because we need staff to support the actual properties to make sure that they're operating well. Um, because you know, we we don't want a single point of failure that's just like people are understaffed and like the properties aren't being served well. So generally we operate at pretty much cost, if not slight cash flow negative. So, like meaning that we we as a company we supplement, you know, to pay payroll.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

So how do you make money then? Like you put put your own portion of your own cash into the project and then actual amount of cash flow?

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, so there's two ways. So one is that yes, we we also invest alongside our investors because the projects that we bring to the table, we like it ourselves. We we just don't have enough cash in the hand to to buy it ourselves. Um, so that's one way. The other way is called like the profit sharing. So we basically we have return metrics that we value that that that we measure the project on. And if we exceed it, then we get a certain portion of the upside. And if we don't exceed it, we get nothing. And we're not a charity, so we we operate for that upside. And basically, when you refinance, when you sell the property, that's sort of when we actually get included in the profits.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

Okay. Yep, understand. Makes sense to me. And then uh how would it look like for an investor? Let's say I would in invest with you, like what's the minimum investment, maximum investment might also depend now on the size of the as you've just mentioned. But yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

It so generally, you know, it it depends project to project, but kind of like general figures, you know, one one deal that we've done in the past, you know, generally um for us, we want to keep our minimums as low as possible. I know in the private equity world, there's a big range in terms of minimum. So like the fund I used to work for, their minimum was$10 million. Um, you know, in in other ones, like they might have like$250,000. But for us, you know, we want to make it as accessible to individuals as possible. Um, so we we make it typically around$50,000. We try to keep that for as long as possible because there's obviously you know costs associated with compliance and all that stuff. So um we generally don't go too much below that. So that's sort of something to keep in mind. As far as the returns, generally, like cash flow is around six to eight percent per year. So, you know, let's say you invest$50,000, then that's three to four thousand dollars in extra cash flow that you're building per year for basically the the project. And as far as the upside, we generally want between 15 to 20 percent in total returns. So simply put, we want to double your money once every five or depreciation or exactly. Exactly. So we we add value to the property, and that's that's what the uh the end of the rainbow looks like. So we want to double your investment once every five or seven years. Okay, and is there a a goal to exit those properties or is the goal long-term whole? Generally longer term, uh, because these these assets they they perform best longer term. The what makes sort of manufactured housing so unique is that it has some of the lowest default rates in the entire real estate space. So it's generally better to hold on to it. There is a lot of big, big financial institutions coming into the space. So, like Blackstone, Apollo, um, equity lifestyle, sun communities, like all these big REITs, they're they're coming in and they're buying at just valuations that don't make sense to us. And because their investors are able to accept lower returns, um that that's how they're able to.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Exactly. So so it would be beneficial to hold on for the longer term for us to compile a portfolio and then sell it to them at a much better valuation. But of course, if there is like another reason to do so, you know, if there's an opportunistic price, if someone makes an offer that we can't refuse, like yes, like we'll we'll consider it for sure. But generally long-term hold.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Okay, interesting. Yeah. And um how would that agreement generally look like in case somebody invests with you? Like, how is that being structured also? You know, like how is the ownership structured and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yeah. So we're we're governed by the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission. So there's a lot of kind of paperwork that we have to do correctly and file correctly. So basically, there's a big document that outlines all the terms and like what to expect. And generally the relationship is that you're a limited partner and we're the general partner. And what that means is that as a limited partner, your exposure, your liability is limited. So it's not like if something goes wrong, like, I don't know, like a tenant can sue you. No, like us as the general partner, we have general liability. So like we have unlimited downside. So we we basically take that, we sign on to the loans. If something goes wrong, like the bank seizing all our assets. It like we we don't want that to happen. So like we will make sure that it doesn't happen. So that's kind of the relationship between the two, and basically what to expect moving forward. You know, generally there's investor portals, there's like quarterly updates, like we share with investors what's going on. They can reach out to us anytime. We have like conversations with investors all the time just to let them know like, here's what's going on, like what are your thoughts? What are your plans? And we we sort of take that into account too. Because we we want to serve our investors and and uh you know give give them good opportunities. Yeah, makes total sense to me.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

Very interesting. I'd be curious, like um, is there anything you could tell about the best um of those properties that you have invested so far? And how was it different from the the worst one?

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah. Um yeah, that's a good question. So the first off, I mean, with with anything, there's always a risk, right? You know, like nothing, nothing risked, nothing rewarded. So and and even like even like the safest of the safe things, like treasury bills, like they have technically a risk. Like if the US government goes belly up, like that's at risk. So um, with that being said, yes. So like uh most of our projects have exceeded the business plan, fortunately, because we we underwrite very conservatively. So what that means is just that the assumptions that we make, like where we can bring rents to. Where we can increase or decrease the expenses too. Like we're generally very, very safe with that. So we we like to just make sure that there's enough buffer in the business plan. So, you know, one one success is like, you know, we we purchased this property in in the southeast. It was uh a little under 80 units. It was um a distressed property that we took on. It was very hands-on. We cleaned it up, we improved the uh the landscaping, the the lighting signage, everything around the community. We just gave them a better quality of life. We brought the rents up closer to market. And that asset, so we were initially targeting because that was more aggressive, we were targeting a 2x by year, year four. Um and and yeah, uh, and fortunately, we 2x in 18 months. So investors are super happy. Um, because like, yeah, I mean, if you put in 50k, like right now you're at 100 in uh two years ahead, two and a half years ahead of business plan. So everyone's really happy about that. Um, but it it was a lot of work that went into the background. It was a lot of like coordinating with the government, like getting permits approved, and like bringing in units and all that stuff. So um that's that's one. Another one that did not go according to plan was so there's there's the concept of resident-owned homes and uh park-owned homes in in these communities. So, you know, to what you said earlier, we generally like when the residents own their own homes because they're they're basically responsible for their own maintenance and anything like that. So we we purchased one that we're better.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

That's about India and Pride.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We purchased one that was majority park-owned homes. And um, you know, we we got it, it was an attractive basis, but basically a lot of the um the properties, like the homes itself had deferred maintenance. It was just old homes and like the the tenants were not treating it well through the years, and basically the previous owner was just not picking up the phone, like they she was ignoring phone calls and stuff and like not making the repairs. So, like when we took over, all the phone calls came in and we're like, okay, we did not expect any of this. So that that dug into a lot of our reserves, but fortunately, um, it was very hands-on for us. You know, we we got inventory of all the the homes, like issues that are going on with each one of them. We sort of had to, you know, move some residents around in different homes into better homes. So, so then we were able to to get over that that hump. But um it it was far more internal pain and and uh frustration to go through than than you know you see on the surface. But you know, fortunately, we're turning the corner in that. And you know, they they speak about the the J curve of acquisitions in private equity a lot, is that when you purchase an asset, it always gets worse before it gets better. That's sort of the plan. But you know, our goal is to make that J as small as possible, right? So, you know, this one was just a bigger J, but you know, we are turning the corner.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Okay, I hear so the turner is still uh the corner is still turning. It hasn't fully touched.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's it's on the way up now. So we're doing much better. You know, we're selling the homes and like we're actually getting more more residents that are, you know, paying closer to market. So it's it's on the way up.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Okay, yeah. Interesting story. I could imagine there's as everywhere in business, uh, more things that could go wrong than we would be able to think of beforehand. Yeah. As long as you can't figure them out and you you're stuck with the thing in the long term, yeah. With a long-term view and mindset and handling it like that, uh, unless it was a complete mistake, which hopefully is not happening, then uh we should be fine in most opinions.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

That's kind of how I would interpret that. I think the the fortunate part about being in real estate is that it's a really well-defined formula for business. It's like, you know, people pay rent, you make sure that your expenses are lower than that, and and that's that's it, you're you're making a profit. So um with with that being said, too, um, yeah, I mean, there's complications, but also like we have a very capable team that, you know, are they very hands-on, they're not afraid to get into it. Whereas, you know, some some larger firms, you know, they they point the finger, oh, you know, macroeconomy, oh, this, that, this, that. And like they, you know, they're sitting in their office and like, you know, with their nice suits on. But like, no, like we we go and we visit the property. Like, I've physically lived at a a property and like I was there for two weeks just to you know make sure that things are going well. And sometimes you have to do that. And uh, you know, fortunately, like our our team, like we're we're ready to roll up our sleeves to make sure that the projects are doing good.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Yeah. I'd be curious also, because you have mentioned, for example, um, if you had invested in this really good property, right, you put 50k in, and then 18 months later, it's technically worth it. Yeah, that that's not normal. That was the that's not normal. But let's or whatever that is, let's say yeah, seven years later, right? Yeah. It's worth double, right? Yeah, that would be more the the normal case, right? If I got it right. Yeah, yeah. Five to seven years, yeah. The way the the the deal is structured, like let's say if I would do that, right? I have it invested seven years ago, 50k, now it's worth 100k. Um can I borrow against this equity?

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

So you might be able to. Um that's that's not something that that we deal directly with because you know, we're we're not broker dealers essentially, but there there is a market for it. And and you know, a lot of people like they they borrow against their assets. That's like the whole buy, borrow, die strategy that a lot of like rich people use. And like, you know, now, you know, people like Elon, right? He has a ton of Tesla shares, he borrows against it to, you know, have his living expenses and like the amount borrowed is not taxed because it's not a taxable event, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, I mean, a lot of people do do that. Okay, so it's it's possible the way it's structured that you could do that if you would decide to. I I don't see why not. I I personally don't have experience with that, but uh I'm sure there's there's like a lot of different financial kind of methods out there, especially in America. Like they they have all these different things. Like I get pitched like all day, just like with different things and unique cases.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

I could imagine. Yeah, very it's a it's a detailed question, but uh it would make sense for me that this question could come up for some people.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That that would be interesting. Um and and yeah, I mean generally like a lot of our our investors, like they they have the the money laying around. It's just like stuff that they they want to put to work and and make it work harder. Or a lot of people actually they they do their um they invest from their retirement account. That's what people don't know, is that in your retirement account you can do that. And obviously in your IRA, it's it's uh tax-free. So that just further increases their their return and like helps them along the way too. Yep, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

And I'd be curious also, um, this is not only for accredited investors, but it's available basically for anybody who has enough cash to be, you know, putting 50k in in position with that, and um, that's it. Or is there anything, any limitations uh for investors, or how would that look like?

SPEAKER_01 29:31

So so generally, you know, just in in this space, like most of the opportunities are for accredited investors because traditionally, right? I mean, pre uh, I would call it 2011, there was like when when the Jobs Act was passed and allowed these things to happen. But pre that, it was like super wealthy family offices and you know, things like that. They're investing in private equities because it's just like much stronger returns than the public markets. And and for them, yeah, so it it is still most of the opportunities for accredited investors, and which just means basically, you know, if you're an individual, you're you're making$200,000 a year, or if you're a couple, you're making$300,000 a year, or you own over a million in assets, excluding your primary residence. So that's that's one way. Another way is sophisticated investors, basically investors that um you have a personal relationship with that you kept in touch with. And um over the the years, you know, they they sort of learn more about it. They're like, okay, I understand what this is, you know, I I like it. It fits well with my investment plan, so let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Yeah, that's good to know, I believe. Um it's easy to figure out if I can do this or can't be.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

So easy answer is like technically anybody can. And um, you know, I I gave you kind of the the more like compliant answer is like, hey, here's how they they define it. And there are certain opportunities that are only for accredited investors, there are others that are for both. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 31:01

And then also like maybe somebody is thinking, why do I need you and why don't I just go ahead and do it myself? Like yeah.

unknown 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

Because technically you could go ahead and decide, hey, I'm gonna buy this thing if I don't have enough money. I just find find the money in my network or forever and get it done myself, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Absolutely, yeah. And and uh, you know, a lot of people do do that. And it just depends on what you want as far as your your career goes, because you know, some some people they have time but not money, and then other people it's vice versa. So it it generally depends. And um the the one thing to note, you know, if you're looking to buy your own property is that especially commercial property, it's very unforgiving. Um, you you don't get the typical like consumer protection that you do when you're buying a residential property. So just make sure that you're you know what you're doing, you have enough in reserves that you're you're underwriting conservatively, and also just budgeting more time and and um and uh headaches to that than you expect because things things go wrong, you know, residents nag you, you get called into like meetings, and like there's there's a lot of things that go on behind the scenes. And um, you know, we we have a team of 15 people to to make these these projects happen. So um just just be prepared. It's gonna be a lot of work. Um, but it's not impossible. I mean, if you want to do that, by all means.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Okay, yeah, it makes total sense. I mean, as as everywhere, that once you figure out the details, you figure out it's expensive as well. And if you know the details, you can probably at least avoid some of it or handle it in a better way.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Exactly. And and look, it's all choices, right? I mean, everyone lives a different life. We're all in different seasons, and you know, some some people they they find the thing that they're really good at. You know, like if you're a really great coach for, you know, like business owner is like, why not do more of that? Like your your incremental time you spend on that will generate you exponentially more returns than it is to learn something new, take on a risk, sign on to a loan, qualify for a loan, and find a deal, and find a deal that makes sense and like do all that stuff. So, you know, that that's why like most people do that. And it's like it's a sensible choice for a lot of people. But um, yeah, I mean, some people do give it a shot.

SPEAKER_03 33:14

Yep, makes total sense. I'd be curious. So, as a last question for this podcast, with all the experience that you have, everything you have done, and let's say we're speaking to uh somebody who is thinking to make either the first or the next real estate investment, whatever that might be, but maybe sit on the fence, not sure how to make a good decision about making a real estate investment or not. What would you say is a good way to make that decision in case there would be some steps to that, for example, or a framework or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Yeah, yeah. And to to that I would say education is key. An educated investor is an informed investor. And, you know, in in this world, the better decision that you make, the better outcome on average that that you get. So um that's that's one thing that I I did when I was an investor. Like I read up everything I can. I was like in all the forums, I was watching YouTube videos, I was reading books to learn everything I can, talking to people, like um seeing how I can help them out, and like just figuring out ways to to learn more. So, and also like of course, like paying for like coaches, masterminds, like all that stuff. Like I spent like easily, easily six figures into like my own sort of extracurricular um development, essentially. And you know, it it is worth it. It is the long game. But, you know, if if there's um, you know, on the other side, like look, if you're interested to invest, if you want to learn more, something that we really emphasize at our team is investor education. So it's basically like you can learn basically on the sidelines and and not be obligated to anything and there's no cost to it. We just want to make you an informed investor. So we have a lot of resources that we can share, including like, oh, hey, how do I analyze a deal? What are the tax benefits? Like, why should I do this? What's like the returns of the public markets versus private markets? And we have all of those resources. We're happy to share it. You know, just just reach out to us, you know, check out our website and um we'll we'll get you hooked up.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

Wow. Yeah, good to know. Appreciate it. Thanks so much, Leo. Yeah, so especially now the very last thing in case somebody wants to get in touch with you and potentially also the opportunities you can provide, what would be the best way to do that?

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Yeah, so there's two ways. Um, one is to reach out to us on our website, Cornell Communities.com, spell it out. And the other one is you can reach out to me on LinkedIn or Instagram. On LinkedIn, it's LeoYoung, Y-O-U-N-G, on Instagram, LeoYoung Real Estate. And one thing that is important to know is that for the investment decision, I mean, it's not an easy decision for a lot of people. So, you know, most of our investors, like they basically they sit on the sidelines, they they learn for some time, they talk to our team, they sort of learn it better, and then they invest. It's not like you know, right away they do it. So we have a lot of free resources that we can share with you um in our investor community. So I I encourage people to to join and and uh to ask any questions. And and we're we're an open book, but you know, we want to help you succeed.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

All right, sounds great. Thank you very much for that. And again, also especially, Leo, appreciate you taking the time and educating us in this case about what you're doing and what the opportunity is, how it looks like. And I learned a lot myself right now as well. Appreciate it. Thanks. And excited to see you again.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yes, thank you so much, Robert. And um, I appreciate all you listeners and uh any questions, reach out to us.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Go to rock and rollyourdreams.com forward slash podcast.