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Lokal Keys and Contracts
From off-market gems to high-return flips, Lokal Keys and Contracts is your front-row seat to the thriving world of Cleveland real estate investing. Whether you’re a first-time investor or a seasoned pro, we bring you insider strategies, market insights, and unfiltered conversations with local movers, shakers, and dealmakers.
Hosted in the heart of The Land, we go beyond the listings—diving into the neighborhoods, trends, and hidden opportunities that make Cleveland one of the nation’s most underrated real estate markets.
If you want to learn how to find, fund, and flip (or hold) properties for long-term wealth, this is your blueprint to success in Cleveland’s real estate game.
Lokal Keys and Contracts
Investor: Brandon Hancock’s Journey in Cleveland Real Estate
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In this episode of Lokal Keys and Contracts, Gabriel Newberry sits down with fellow investor Brandon Hancock to talk about his transition into investing in the Cleveland market. Brandon shares what pushed him toward investing, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and the challenges he’s had to overcome while building his business. From mindset shifts to real-world obstacles, this conversation gives an honest look into the realities of becoming an investor in today’s market.
Whether you’re thinking about getting into investing yourself or just want insight from someone actively doing it, this episode is packed with valuable perspective and experience.
Welcome to Keys and Contracts, guys. This is Gabriel Newberry, your host, and I am here with a phenomenal guest, Brandon Hancock. Thank you so much for coming, my friend. Thank you, Frank. Absolutely, absolutely. This guy is a real estate investor at its finest. He has gotten into rentals, he's gone into burrs, he's gone into turnkeys, he's gone into flips, and at the same time, too, now he's leaning into construction, guys. It's absolutely the it's it's an absolute pleasure being able to sit here with you, man. And then if you can give a little bit more intro about yourself to the people.
SPEAKER_02So that's kind of what like shifted me towards real estate and lasered focus in on that. Because before then I really wasn't doing anything, honestly. Just day-to-day, just going to work, coming home kind of aimlessly. Um after a while that gets mundane. So I started looking for something to lighten the load of life, I guess.
SPEAKER_05That makes complete sense. I mean, the real estate is just one of those avenues where you just have that ability. And I mean, how did you even start with that journey?
SPEAKER_02Kind of walking, walk us through that. As cliche as it sounds, reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Get out. Yeah, I read that book, and then I ended up buying like two more of his books, and then I bought some more books, and I read them, and then I read so many books, I was like, okay, I've read enough, I gotta try to do something. Like, I gotta try to use what I read. And that was like 2019, and I can remember going to see a two-family, and it had tenants um up and down, and I remember I think they only wanted like 35k. And it was, I was just thinking, because I started doing the math in my head, because for 35k FHA, that's only like 3200, three grand for you to put down just to get, it might even be less than that just to get a duplex. And I was kind of thinking, like, kind of, that's easy. Like, it makes perfect sense, especially if you have a tenant downstairs paying and you upstairs, just even if you're staying there for one year.
SPEAKER_05That's crazy though, that it was that much. How much rehab did it need? Did it need anything?
SPEAKER_02Um I never walked inside of it because the tenants were in there, but from what the pictures, it didn't, I mean, I would have bought it with tenants in it. So it probably would have paid for itself even if each tenant was paying 500 bucks a month for 35k. It's it'd have a lot of no-brainer, man.
SPEAKER_05Especially that it was that cheap. When was this? 2019. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02Like right before COVID. Yeah. 2019, 2018. That's why, and I'll slowly watch those same two families get more and more and more expensive. So it's just like it's better to buy it and just wait than just keep watching on the sidelines because you're just watching the price get more unobtainable.
SPEAKER_05And when you ended up like navigating this market, so you started just before everything went crazy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I did. Right before it got crazy. And I was even back then, I was telling people you should really buy them, because not only was were they that cheap, uh, you could buy a two-family in certain areas in Cleveland and certain banks like the one I was, I didn't end up using them, but the certain banks like Huntington Bank have at the time had like opportunity zones. So if you bought in certain locations, they would pay your closing costs, or I think you're you only had to pay $500. So if you did the FHA and you bought an opportunity zone, I mean I still have I have to find it. I have one of like the little HUD disclosures. I think the closing costs on one of the two families had only been like $3,800. For a two-family. That's wild. Exactly. Oh my gosh. So I just started doing numbers in my head, and it was just like, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna commit to doing this. Um, fast forward, I think I was looking in 2019, I don't think I actually purchased one until 2020 or 2021. And I bought a two-family um on 151st, like two streets from Shaker. And I bought it for 85K. I used FHA. I stayed upstairs with my then girlfriend, but now it's my wife. And downstairs I had my tenant, and she paid $600 a month, and she had been there already for like five years. And she, no signs of ever wanting to move from that property. And my mortgage when I first bought the house for the first year was $725, so I only had to pay $125 a month for a full year. Wow.
SPEAKER_05That's wild, brother. So how okay, so jumping into the rental side now, how are you even underwriting these deals? Because it seems like you have this whole strategic system, especially with the banks, because you're just mostly utilizing a lot of their um their opportunity systems.
SPEAKER_02Uh, yeah, for me, because I I guess that's the importance of a mentor, just figuring it out on my own. So it's just kind of I actually took the time to go sit in the banks. I would go in there, ask questions, hey, what are your FHA programs? Or what programs do you guys have? Because once I learned one bank and kind of what words to ask them or what I was necessarily looking for, I would go to other institutions and kind of ask and start pricing out numbers and percentages. Because really, I would just really trying to, I wasn't like a solid plan, but the main plan was I knew I knew where I was looking was pretty much in a low income area, which is one of those things where they'll give you down payment assistance. And I also knew that I knew that I wanted to do that, that I wanted to do the opportunity zone, but I actually honestly that was like the main focus and calculating the mortgage to see how much I would have to pay every month. Well, at the numbers at what they were, like if you got a two-family that was pretty much rent-ready, not necessarily turnkey, but rent ready, you could break even on your first year and cash flow the second year just doing a simple house hack.
SPEAKER_05That's wild. That's wild. So you use the house hacking to be able to end up starting you off. Correct. Basically, because then with the house hacking, I know too, because I do something similar now, where you can end up buying it, getting a lower down payment amount, and then at the same time, too, you might be able to go into an opportunity zone where you have different programs that also help fund towards either closing costs or down payment. So that's amazing, man. So how were you finding, like, okay, how early on did you start? Because I know you're right around my age, man. So if it was right around 2019, what were we? 20 at the time?
SPEAKER_02I wasn't 20. Um 24? 24? 24. Yeah. How much older are you than me? 28.
SPEAKER_05Okay, wait a second. I was 27. So am I doing math wrong? You said 2019.
SPEAKER_022019 is when I first started looking and going out looking, but I don't think I got the first one until like 2020, 2021.
SPEAKER_05Hmm. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, that's that's amazing, brother. So, okay, let's let's walk it through now with the tenants. So, how was it buying properties with tenants? Because you know my nightmare scenario. I mean, how how was it when you were first getting started? Um, especially with your first deal.
SPEAKER_02Um, honestly, that house was probably a blessing. Because the lady downstairs is an older suite lady, and when I moved in, I told her I wasn't gonna raise her rent. I didn't raise her rent. Um, I just because the mortgage was low, it was simple, and I wanted to make it to where she was stable, because if she was stable, I was stable. God bless. So as and my mortgage was only 725 bucks, so she paid 600. So I really didn't have a problem with that. She never um she never really complained. Um, if it was something that needed to be fixed, I would always go down there and fix it or have someone come fix it. But she was very unproblematic. Um as my whole time as her landlord, I think she only paid rent late one time. Um, and that was it. I never I never had issues with her ever. So sweet older lady.
SPEAKER_05And I think I know I know exactly who she is because this was the same one that we ended up selling later. Yep. Oh my gosh, yeah, she's such a sweetheart. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Did everything work out, by the way, with she ended up actually, because my wife had went over and helped her apply for other um places for her to live, and they and she got on the wait list and eventually she did get into one. So she ended up moving out of there and moving into that one of those locations. She actually texted me when she did it, she sent me a nice little long um text message. Her son even called me.
SPEAKER_05And how how is it for you kind of seeing that entire process? Because some people, some investors, they just they either get so antsy on taking on another tenant from a different landlord. They're always not really sure how to go about that conversation, how to go about that interaction, how to go about it as it goes throughout X amount of time that you own it. How do you how did you end up working through that process, especially with that being your first time and living on the upper floor, you know? Did you let her know you were the landlord?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she knew. Okay. Um I I'm pretty sure I'm positive that first week, not even actually been before I moved in. Actually, yeah, it was. Before I even moved in, I was just walking it because I wanted to walk in and see everything. And um, I told her I was like, I'm gonna be moving upstairs, I'm not, I'm gonna be going to work, I'm not really loud, my wife's always gonna be here. And also like reassure her. Oh, so you threw it back on Shifan?
SPEAKER_06You were like, she'll always be there.
SPEAKER_02I mean, she works from home, so she is near more than she. So I let her know though, that like I'm not coming to raise your rent, I'm not coming here to be like a slum lord. I'm coming here just kind of to build myself. And um she, I mean, I kind of grew a relationship with her with her. She was a really sweet lady. I used to um cut the grass, make sure I cut the grass, and we put flowers out for her. Um she was just she was just nice overall. I never ever had an issue with her ever. She just probably that's why I said it was a blessing. Because some of the tenants I got at the next property were like nightmares.
SPEAKER_05And before before we get into that, I know you you jumped into flipping as well. Um so tell me a little bit more, how did that transition come through? Like what was what was the thing that kind of drove you towards, okay, I want to switch over from being a landlord and buying properties to now I want to flip properties and rehabs.
SPEAKER_02I would say it's just like kind of the love of the game. Like once I figured out how to do one thing over here, and I guess you can call it like misguided direction. That's why I understand when people say the importance of a mentor, because I could have really just stayed at what I was doing and just kind of slow and steady. But you know, once the excitement of being able to accomplish one factor over here, I ran and tried to do um, try to do the flips, you know. Because I mean the rentals necessarily wasn't the problem. I guess, I guess you could say, like it's a millennial thing, like you're chasing chasing the money instead of like sitting back and realizing where you are, what you already have, and just re-implementing what you've already done. That was a success. Why change it? So I um but you know, just learning, bump my head as I go through. Um, because I really got into the flips because it's kind of like the rentals are great. It's stability, as long as everyone's paying on time, it's consistent income, but it's not gonna give you that push you really want, like that big jump in income, unless you have multiples of them. But even then, as I learned, the more you have, they still have expenses that come with them. So it's a it's a give and take. Yeah, you can go get 12 rental properties, but like if you're paying five grand every other month and repairs on something here and there, it's gonna eat that cash flow, that cash flow. So you're kind of just running in circles. You're not really, yeah, you have the homes, you may get the tax benefits, and you may get the appreciation and the like money on paper because you're paying down the home and getting equity, but that's long-term money. So you you have to basically short term, you have to keep it going. Yeah, you have to keep that flowing, and you don't reap those massive benefits probably until maybe like five to ten years in. So that was the thing that I was um coming into, and I just I just always went once I've seen that and I've been doing that, I was like, oh, I really want to try a flip. So I shifted directions and really started honing in on doing that.
SPEAKER_05Now, when you started honing in, was it similar to your entire experience, like you were saying, where you just sat into banks and just pretty much learned the process. Walk us through how you went point by point in learning flips. Or did you just go, okay, I want to make media cash. I see these guys on HGTV and it's game home. Like you just immediately jump for it.
SPEAKER_02HTV, HGTV is a lie. That's for sure. Yeah. Um I actually, at that time I did, I was working under someone who's doing um Xavier. He was a wholesaler. And what I would do is I would just go to the homes that he would, I guess he would talk to the owners, I would walk them and I would send the videos. I'll walk all his homes and I was sending the videos. And from doing that, um I would message, also message a lot of realtors on Zillow. So over time, my email was filled with like correspondence from realtors, and after a while, it's kind of like some a lot of them put me on their list, so I was getting emails about homes. Some people would just email me certain homes that they would have, because it was just like some one lady I called, she only worked with homes that's on foreclosures list or something, so sometimes she randomly sends me homes like that. So it was just like kind of I I didn't realize it at the time, but I created like a snowball. Eventually, all those same realtors started feeding me homes, and I would just look through my email and kind of start to see what May sent, and that also gave me like I wasn't necessarily driving for dollars, but it was like dropping for dollars. I was seeing a lot of the homes, I knew how much. And I I remember specifically I did, I went to one with my wife, and it was um, I want to say it was like on the west side, and it was a single family. It was a newer update, I could tell was up there in the early 2000s, newer built home. They only wanted 25 grand, and like the biggest thing that was like, and I was I was looking out of my I could do this. Like, but I that fear, I didn't, I didn't jump on it, but I just looked like I could buy this and do this, like this isn't nothing. The biggest thing that was in that home I remember was just like poop on the carpet. That was the main biggest thing. It was like poop on the carpet, and I was like, I know I could do this. He sold that, he flipped that house like really quick, I want to say within like a week. And I knew it too, because I was like, oh, this is a steal, it's so it's not that messy, it's kind of clean, it's easy, but I was scared. So eventually I had to get out of that mindset of uh fear of the unknown and just shoot for something when I found an opportunity that made sense.
SPEAKER_05And that's all of us, man. Like, how did you personally kind of push yourself out of that comfort zone to jump out? Because honestly, that fear that's non-stop for every single new thing, especially in this, because there's so many unknowns. You know what I mean? So many. And you never know.
SPEAKER_02You don't, you know, and you never will unless you do it. And the more you do it, the more you know. It's kind of like the cat, you gotta keep jumping into the unknown, and then the unknown becomes the familiar. So that's a beautiful saying. So it's just one of those things. But my biggest push will probably be my my wife. She's like, um, so when you gonna go do what you said you were gonna do, because you know she's always been like a push. When I get complacent, she'll push or she'll say something, and I'll just be like, Well, I'm gonna show you better architect. And I'll go out.
SPEAKER_05Shout out to Brandon's wife. Well, that's a good thing, though, because she's pushing you to be better, man.
SPEAKER_02She is, she is. I remember when I um was first looking for the first rental, because what they don't show you, and that was I've even told some of my friends, because they followed me and they started looking for homes too, and I had to tell them is what that getting beat all the time when you put in those PSR homes, like you have to get used to like when you're first starting, that can be like a real motivational killer because you could go see like five, ten homes and get beat in all of them. Someone has cash or whatever, so it's just kind of like that persistence. You have to be persistent and just keep hammering that that you'll get one of them sooner or later, but you're definitely gonna get rejected to quite a bit before you get in there because it's like real life monopoly.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it really is. It's funny because it's kind of pulling back over to Rich Dad Poor Dad.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I mean, tell me a little bit about that. So, with Rich Dad, Poor Dad, what are some of like the core things that really kind of motivated you with that? Because I know he talks about that a lot and how life's like a real life game, a monopoly. And you just kind of move your pieces along and make sure to keep on collecting, and then over time you're buying the oil, um the the railroads and all that. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Um more so just kind of sitting back and seeing where the people who are around me, the lifestyle that they live. I asked the question I ask myself is who around me lives the lifestyle I would want to live? And the more I ask myself that, and the more I looked around, it's like not many people at all. And the common thing with many of the people who don't is kind of like it's kind of like the rut. They just go to work, come home, and they don't kind of do anything, investing or take risks outside of their money besides what we would probably be going in there 401k. And so it made me think like, I mean, if I'm I've I mean, all the evidence is there, you kind of just look around you, so it's just like I gotta do something different if I want a different result. So that was kind of the big push because I remember in The Rich Dad Poor Dad, there's like the four quadrants, like the business, the entrepreneur, the worker, and the way he broke that down, it kind of really did make sense because my mom's a hard worker, and I always tell my mom, like, you can do so much more. Like, you can own your own business, you can go buy a house, but she just doesn't want to do that, and that's fine. Now everybody wants to do that. She loves what she does, and she has no problem with it. And then I look at my grandfather, who used to live in the city, and then he moved to Sandusky, and he started a taxi company. And I remember the day my mom bought him his first truck, and I think before, because he's older now, um, before he retired, I think he had like 12 or 13 cars, and he paid him off all cash, used cars. Now so I've I've growing up, I remember watching him work all the time to have it workers and throwing like a worker appreciation like summer dinner every year. So I seen like how like that aspect of someone who like instead of working at nine to five, he created something. It didn't happen overnight, but it was it was it was amazing to watch over time because he kind of I I even watched like how business worked, how he beat out other businesses and doing different things and pivoting. So it's just it was a good. Thing to see at a young age because when I ask myself who lives kind of something I would want to live, well he's someone who lives somewhat of what I would want to live, and he doesn't do what all the other people do. So it's just like something something must be there that isn't here.
SPEAKER_05Oh my gosh, the Cleveland Robert Kawasaki. No, I um I resonate a lot with that because um growing up in Philly, it was it was always I mean, we we really didn't have much. So overall, it was my mother working non-stop, we're taking care of my great-grandmother, dad wasn't in the picture, and it was back-to-back hustle, that's the way you end up making your money. You just work. And I never understood until funny enough, reading that same book. I never understood how there were all these people with with um with nice cars and stuff like that, and they're driving around, you know, and there's a whole other life. It made absolutely no sense to me. But the one thing that resonated was just in a sense, the investor market and the investor world, and also the entrepreneurial world of you know, my mom was starting tons of side businesses trying to end up making things work, like clothing, clothing things and stuff like that, and resale. So that side and quick cash and sales was always interesting, you know. Now, for you, for your uncle's business, my curiosity is when you ended up seeing that that um that shift and that side, this is a little bit unique for this particular channel. What how did you make that mental shift? Because for me, it's complicated because when you're in that sphere of friends that are more so it's a hustle mentality, and you kind of work till you're dropped game, you're ostracized or you're very, very atypical. So curious about that, how did you end up meeting people that were kind of in the business? How'd you meet Xavier, who kind of showed you, showed you those rounds?
SPEAKER_02Uh, one thing I like to say is I like to play video games in my spare time, and so I treated it like a video game. So I told myself, you can't play the game unless you know who the top players are. So I started um looking at on Instagram like who around me is playing the game, who's doing real estate. So I started to add those people, and then not only did I add those people, I also got on, I forgot what the app is, but it's an event app. I think it's Eventbrite, I think is what it's called. Okay. And I just looked at real estate and I started going to all the Rhea meetings. And um over time I kind of started, I'm I remember I see you there, I started seeing, again, you started to see the players of the game. I started also seeing those same people I follow on Instagram in the same rooms. So you kind of start kind of kind of like a key to like, okay, I'm kind of in the right direction because the same people I'm seeing on here doing stuff, I'm I see I can go walk to them, walk up to them and talk to them in this room. They're in this room. So for me, that was kind of be like the first breakaway is kind of getting around the same people with the same mindset and soaking up the knowledge that they could give me per se, and um following up with that with connections, like how I met you and how we ended up getting here.
SPEAKER_05Curious how for the flips, when you took your first jumps, walk us through some of the hurdles that you went through on the purchase side, um, and then talk us through some of the hurdles throughout rehab. Because I know that's like the looming beast of like jumping into a flip. Is how do you budget? How do you find your team?
SPEAKER_02Well, that those are all the things I learned the hard way. Um because again, I didn't have a mentor, it's kind of just you figuring it out and you're loose canon. So when you're loose canon, it also is gonna come with some learning lessons, a lot, a lot of learning lessons. Um the first hurdle with that home that I thought was interesting is when I bought the home, um I didn't know fully, which is my fault, I should have really paid attention more, is that it had lit. And it was on the lid list. So, you know, even while going through the rehab, I never got anything in the mail from the city. But when that particular home we listed it, I got this thick old packet from the city of Cleveland with this big old report about how there was lead on the property. I went in like 2017, a Kia tested positive for lead on the second floor. So the home was on the lead list. So that was my first, one of my first hard lessons is like you one thing you can't account for, you can try when you're dealing with the rehab, is like the city timelines. Like they they're on their own timelines. You know, you may get lucky and there's someone to do your case or whatever quickly, or in my case, where there's only one lab bait inspector at the time. Yeah, yeah, you're on this long list of other people who want you want them to just sign off on this piece of paper for what you can do. That's one of the things, and then on top of that, it's kind of like the city wants you to correct something, but you gotta correct it with your money. So not only did I have to wait a while for them to even take me off the list, also still had to pay for a lead of baby contractor to come in there and redo some of the things that I already did, but just, I mean, I can't do anything if the cities, for example, I painted, I put, I put new wood, I put a whole new porch. New wood, and we just painted it white. No. The city said no. They were still nervous, so they made me cover that up. But that fresh new wood that I had put up, painted, covered up with another piece of wood in front of it because they just for lead. Even though I know it wasn't lead. But again, it once the city says something, you could fight it, but now you're in even longer process if you even try to do that. So it just kind of that was probably one of the a big lessons I've learned with that is always check to make sure and see, double check and see what lings you could find. Because what I found out is that there, I don't know if it's the list, there's like two lead abatement lists. And sometimes they'll look at one and you won't be on one, but you'll be on the other. So that's how it didn't come up because I don't recall getting anything from title when I went through the um home to see if, like, hey, nothing came up, like, hey, this is on the lead abatement list. Do you know that? Yada yada yada. So that's just one lesson learned. You I gotta had to do better due diligence on what I was doing when I was looking at these properties.
SPEAKER_05Well, the curiosity is it's just it's so complicated now, too, because you have the lead list and lead violations, and then you could potentially have condemnation violations. Now, do those correlate together or not necessarily so much, right?
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure. It's I mean, I'm sure it's pop do know it's like once the city's involved, you know, you kind of open in the can of worms. So if you do have that in there, you know, it's you might get double hit. Because once you're on one list and they're coming in here to check for something else, they can hit you with another one.
SPEAKER_05Well, how is it whenever you're dealing with those lead lists? Because I'm I'm kind of curious. Okay. The biggest complication, even in the realtor world, is just being able to find those. Because unless title flags them, sometimes, you know, you check the city site, you'll find, you'll find the list. For our purposes and for yours, that came through. You said that never came through a title. It just out of nowhere. It just it hit. So it's like, how do you deal with that? And how do you deal with the city with regards to that and and communicating with the city on those?
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm I do know there is like a CDC site or something every time I found. I did find a website that will show you. That's how I was able to check to see when I was off the list. Because I could go in there every day and I could find my home, and then one day I went on there, I couldn't find my home, so they finally took me off the list. Um, but what I do know is like you can go to the city all you want. I was when I was on that list, I was up there once a week, and I you know what they kept telling me? She's in the meeting. She's not here. You know, so you can go up there all you want to.
SPEAKER_05Which city was this for?
SPEAKER_02City of Cleveland. City of Cleveland.
SPEAKER_05Please don't cancel me.
SPEAKER_02So it was just, it was just a very frustrating experience because I understand the lead thing and the safety for the kids, but it's also kind of like you're disincentivizing the people who are gonna be the ones that will actually come in and fix it. Like you kind of chase them away from fixing the problem. There's no real big incentive because I have to hold the house longer because I'm doing more things and I'm spending more money, you know, for a problem that the city kind of knows is a big, like it's always been a big problem. So, you know, kind of throwing it on the people out there trying to fix it, I don't think is like the best way to go about it.
SPEAKER_05Well, with these lead violations, too. I mean, uh so you have an entire process with that too, because you have to end up going in, you get the lead inspector first. Correct. Once you go through the lead test, then you have to end up going in and then have the city come out and give the stamp of approval, which I know just through the house we were selling over in Cleveland, it was just like that was almost like four or five weeks. Exactly. Of just it was just scrupulous, man. So how do you deal with that? Like, stress-wise, and and honestly, for the for people that are doing it, it's like stuff just comes up sometimes. It it flows and it's pretty smooth across board.
SPEAKER_02But every once in a while, and you know, like you just you deal with some bumpy roads that you're just like, what the f I think um for me I just I think it just is part of the game, you know, it's peaks and valleys. So I try not to get too negative about it. I just kind of just keep pushing through. Um I just I feel like if I if I keep showing up doing what I'm supposed to do, nine times out of ten, things kinda work themselves out. Um, versus me in a negative mind state thinking of all the things that's going wrong. I can focus on what I can continuously do and just focus on that. Because like with the city and the land thing, that was was like really driving me crazy, but it's nothing I can do. And me going down there, which I did make a couple connections with some city people, I got their number, and they were really cool to be able to contact them when I couldn't reach the actual head person. Yeah, but even then there's it's out of your hands, so you can't really stress about something you can't control. You can try to steer the situation to an outcome that you would like, but at the end of the day, you still don't have full control over how it is. You know, all you can do is focus on what you can do. And what I could do is make sure the rest of the property was ready to go and all my paperwork and everything else was lined up, so when that seal of approval did come, I could sell my home.
SPEAKER_05And typically, how long is that whole process from contract to finish? From contract to finish? Just your projects on just your experience. With like the lid thing? No, no, no, across board on sale. So with contract to finish on the on the deals.
SPEAKER_02Oh, well, for that one, for my first one, that one took a while. And that was because it was one, no guidance, just going in there like a loose cannon, and I bought multiple properties at once. I didn't just have the one with the lead problem. It still was a whole nother home that we learned about another set of city problems of how that works too. So, like, we got a real good lesson on like dealing with the city and how to scope these homes when I'm looking at them for what I really want to look for that's gonna come back in on the construction side. Because like I had the layout with the first home and the second home on Somerset. There was stolen power. So this um city cut that. We had I had to call the city because one of the lines were on the ground. And one of the workers noticed it, so I called the city and they cut the line and they cut the power there, but that also required me to now have a full-blown electrical inspection because I have to get the new updated to code meter base, new breakers, that's up to art, like so. That ended up costing thousands of dollars just for the like the electrical, because the home was like 3,300 square feet. Oh my gosh. And then I started working on that property like more so in the fall. But another lesson I learned is just turn all your utilities on at once. Because what happened was when I got to do the gas lines, I learned that the city had cut the gas lines. So now I have to wait for the city to come out and dig up the yard and run a new gas line. But to do that, you need to fill out a form. You also have to give them um, I can't remember what it's called, kind of like a scope of work per se, though, of like where your gas meter is, where they can run the lines. And then you have to wait. You have to wait for the city to come out and do what they're supposed to do for that. And then not only did it do that, I had the gas lines fixed and set for how it was, so that there was no gas fixation and everything. But the gas meters were inside the home. The city said, no, we're putting the gas meters outside the home. So I had to redo the gas lines because now I have to run them somewhere on a different side of the house. And it's because it was a two-family, so I needed to run both lines straight to where the manifold was outside. So I also had to go back and redo that. So it was just like it's really important to check on eggs. When's the last time utilities been on here? Because, you know, that that's another thing, like you can you can have the fastest construction crew in the world. But if you have to have city inspections or anything with the city, I it just blows it out. It's gonna blow your projection out of the water because you know you could you you probably could flip the home in 30 to 60 days, but the city it's gonna take 30 days here to do this, another two weeks to do that, and it's kind of just like dead time. But in that time, you still have to pay the utilities, you have to pay the mortgage, you have to pay the taxes, so you know that time eats away at what you will get back on the vacuum.
SPEAKER_05That's a whole nother thing I didn't even go into, and I can you know you can only control the controllable, you know, and the fact that you went through all those different hurdles, dude, you came out so much wiser than most because a lot of people who haven't done any of it, the reality is there's always something that happens. Yes, there's always something that you're going to end up having to deal with as a learning curve that you can never even imagine. Um how did you secure financing for all this? That's one thing I never really went into.
SPEAKER_02Um I was always working a job. Like the first home, um, the first rental I bought, um, I think I was making what like $18 an hour. But I that's just be and I did that. That's why I also tell people it's you can do you you can do it. Like the longer you wait, the harder it gets. Because like I said, those duplexes in those homes didn't cost that much. So for me to save for the down payment didn't um like hold me back as much because the numbers were like, I guess you could say in my tax bracket, I started in my tax bracket. I didn't shoot for the stars. Um I had to make sacrifices per se. But you know, you gotta start, you gotta start somewhere. Um so I used for the that rental, I used um FHA. And then when I came back around a year, a year and a half later, I used, I came to you, and then I used the conventional loan, but I did the same thing. You know, I um instead of but it wasn't a first-time home buyer. This time I did conventional and I only had to put down five percent. Put down five percent, and again, that one I saved money, and then my grandfather, who has the business, also gave me some money, and I just used that to um get the second rental property. And then for the flips, that's when we get in the like Jag and um using him. And with Jag, I um used Key Bank. I used Key Bank um for the closing for that because Key Bank, I don't know if they still have it, but at the time you can go into Key Bank and all you need is your ID. And you can all you need is your ID and LLC that's preferably at least two years old, and they will give you um anywhere from up to ten to fifty thousand dollars um on a line of credit and or a credit card um for your business. And all you need is your ID. Everything everything else was stated income. Only asked for stated income, and that's it. So with that, I was able to get $10,000 on a credit card and $10,000 on a line of credit, just like that. And about, I think the credit card came in like a week, and then the line of credit took a little bit longer, it's like two weeks.
SPEAKER_05Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Guys, the reality of this thing. You can just, if you're intent on getting something done, anything's possible. And being able to do all that, I mean, just sit in the bank, apparently, they'll give you all the information you need to be able to facilitate.
SPEAKER_02Well, I learned that though. I will say I learned that from another real estate investor. Um, I went to um Xavier had like a meeting, and there was someone there, and he told us, told us in I got it, and I was like, hmm, I'm gonna try it. And I got his number. Um, and I went to Key Bank that weekend. I just see what happens. I went in there with my ID and um walked out of there with approvals for both.
SPEAKER_05Like immediate?
SPEAKER_02It was um the credit card was, yeah. Credit card was listened. You knew right then and there the line of credit still took underwriting, but it didn't take any paperwork or anything from me, just stayed it. And then I was then I had a card and a line of credit in two weeks.
SPEAKER_05That's wild.
SPEAKER_02And I used that to start that.
SPEAKER_05That's wild. That's wild. I want to get into nightmare scenarios a little bit.
SPEAKER_06Just to touch on.
SPEAKER_05Um I know you you touched on it a little bit with the flip side. You were mentioning before about the rentals. Just walk us through a couple interesting lessons that came out of all there.
SPEAKER_02Um my first one, I really did not have any problems with that. Yeah. When I do try to do it, I will always rent to older folks. They they seem to be key for that.
SPEAKER_05Um But we're not being ageist at all.
SPEAKER_02We're still not violating any laws, I promise. But my my for me in my experience, when I'm dealing with people who are older, I seem to have less problems. That's just the reality of it. Um but nightmare scenarios on my second rental, my first tenants, they were a younger couple. It was a younger woman and her her boyfriend. Uh huh. And I think she had two kids. And then so, like one, I remember one day um I had to put a ring camera on because I was living downstairs, they were upstairs. Um oh always if you house hack, do don't live downstairs. Always live above the tenant. Never let the tenant live above you. Just just saying. He had gotten to a dispute with her, and I didn't know that. But when I always check, I woke up and I looked at my ring camera, and all I seen was him climbing the side of the house to get up, and he did. I don't know how he did it. He climbed the house and he got back up there through because it was a porch, the porch on the second floor. He climbed up there and got up there. So I had to go up there and said, Don't climb my house. Because it's like if you would have failed, then it would have caused a big liability type of problem and put me in a weird situation. So it's just like I never thought I would have to tell a person, don't scale the house. You know, like that was for sure one of the, not actually not one of the craziest, but a crazy moment.
SPEAKER_06Um what I understand the dispute process. Like he just figured, okay, I'll scale the wall. She must have blocked him out.
SPEAKER_02She must have locked him out the house or something I could think of. Like he needed to scale the front. And not only that, he scaled the front of the house. So it's just like anybody could see you climbing the house. Like, what if someone thought you were breaking in?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. He didn't care.
SPEAKER_02I know he was thinking in the moment. So that was one thing. This one's kind of funny, but it's not funny. I I joke about it with my, I joked about it, um, that sweet old lady. I joked about it with her too, so it's kind of funny. Um, when I moved out of that home, I had put tenants upstairs.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And they were smoking marijuana. And she, and I could tell when I got there, and it wasn't just like a little, like I could tell like they like hotboxed the second unit. And they had the windows closed. So it was going straight through the vent downstairs. And she had like a panic attack and called 911. Yes. And I got a call in the middle of the night. So I had to come over there, talk to them, talk to the ambulance, talk to her son. In the middle of the night, mind you have to go to work in the morning. So it's just like it was, it was like crazy and kind of funny at the same time.
SPEAKER_06Um how old was her son?
SPEAKER_02Um, he's grown. I don't know exactly. He's grown. But when um we ended up, I came back, I came back and checked on her.
SPEAKER_00She's like, Yeah, I think I was a little high. I said, Yeah, I said, You okay though?
SPEAKER_02But you know, she was a sweet old lady, but we we cracked up about that. Um it's still funny to this day, but I definitely made sure that the tenants upstairs would did not do that again. Because also in the it was also in their least, like, no smoking. So it's just like you kind of like telling yourself. But that again goes back to written to younger generation. You know, it's gonna be things that come with that that you have to understand that unfortunately is a part of the culture in certain in certain areas and demographics. So, you know, um they were younger, I just had a talk with them. I didn't have a problem again. I just you know, I went over there and talked to them. I was they age at one point too.
SPEAKER_05I was about to ask you, did you end up having to go through an eviction process or go through a 30-day notice process? Or you left with you you left with them there?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, we had I just had a discussion with them and they and I made them go downstairs and apologize to her. And they went downstairs, they apologized to her. Everybody, everybody was cool, you know, because she she liked them too. She understood that they were younger. So it was kind of more so of like a communication thing, like, hey, like, and they felt really bad too, because they just like holy, like this older lady just went to the hospital because of what we were doing up there. So I didn't really have any crazy issues with that. Um, my craziest tenants would be my Section A tenants. Um Section A tenants, I had them um it because then the second rental was a home in Garfield. Yeah. The first tenant moved out. She just wanted a bigger space because she was pregnant, so they got had more kids. So she was just that one was just like normal cash. They was paying every month. They stayed there for about a year. Um and then they just randomly popped up and just said we're moving and wrote the lease and left. I said, okay.
SPEAKER_05Um like midway through type of thing?
SPEAKER_02Or it was like at the end. Kind of after a year, like maybe a month or two going into the second year. Okay. Okay. Um the second tennis was uh section eight, and they were by far the wildest, craziest tennis I've ever had. Um why it was again, mind you, section eight, they paid every section eight paid every month, never late. But the downside with that was the tenants, and mind you, I live downstairs, they live upstairs. They I remember craziest one. Um all I hear, I'm asleep, I go to sleep early because I gotta go to work. All I hear is this loud commotion and banging. So I get up, and she and the girl and her boyfriend or baby daddy at the time. Yeah, his sister was trying to fight her upstairs. So I'm holding them back. My wife's holding them back, like, hey, like, because like they stormed in the house, and so like kind of, so they were about to do that and they were about to fight her. We stopped that, we called the police. Um, Garfield was there like two minutes, like sword, like surrounded the house. So yes, Garfield police are great. They come immediately and and numbers um because we ended up having to call them. Actually, it got so bad that the the police knew that tenant. The police knew that tenant.
SPEAKER_05Wow, you know, they're ten times better, by the way. Just a quick side. Over in the west side, they're not the same way. They called me back after a half hour. They're like, you still need us? I was like, yes, get over.
SPEAKER_02I've never had documents in the power field in it immediately. I so I did, I was saying, it makes you feel good about paying those taxes there. Because they were definitely there on the scene.
SPEAKER_05But sorry, I didn't mean to cut you.
SPEAKER_02No, you could they ended up kicking them out. Um and it was just so we they kicked them out, and then we had to sit there and have a talk with them. It was just really weird because it was just like, okay. I think that was they were only there for maybe about a week, too. So that was like the sign. They were only there for like a week or two. Um, and mind you, the family thing with them became a like continuous occurrence, like non-stop. Because I um I guess the boys' parents lived close by, so they will always walk over to the property. And it's not like I can't tell them they can't come there because if they want to come visit their son up there, they can. So that was always a thing. It was always that dispute. They would get drunk, they would be loud. Uh, yes. Um what else happened in that um I know Did they tear up the property? Of course. Um their last day there, I came. Oh, I yeah, I came home, the back door was wide open. Upstairs windows had a couple open, broke windows, and their unit door was wide open. They never came back. Just left. Everything was still in there. They just they had all their stuff. She never came back. Um, and it's crazy because in that mailbox still to this day, because I think she has a warrant out in Garpola. All her court mail still comes. Yeah, they got arrested multiple times at that property for just a bunch of different occurrences, occasions, disputes. It was just a wild full year with them.
SPEAKER_05Wow. And how did you navigate that, especially living there?
SPEAKER_02Oh, God, you I don't know to this day. You kind of just, you know, you deal with dealt with it day to day. Um but that was something I got used to. Yeah, I did not do section eight again after that, though. Um I cleaned, I fixed the unit up. Um, I still cash flow for that be for because of the section eight, but it was just like the when you have to live with them, it's kind of like another kind of like whole different thing.
SPEAKER_05Well, dude, it's a whole thing, period, whenever you deal with section eight. Like, even whenever I'm talking with clients, it's like, is it really worth it at the end of the day for the extra hundred and fifty dollars in cash flow? Maybe, maybe not.
SPEAKER_02It all depends on who you get in that unit. It does. And then on top of that, like the Section 8 process isn't like a speedy process. Like when Section 8 tells you it's gonna take 30 days, it's gonna take 30 days, and those 30 days do not include the weekends.
SPEAKER_05Well, let me ask you this. How, because you know, like I have my own situations with like water, sewer, and all that. Uh whole thousand dollars, by the way, had finally hit. Same situation.
SPEAKER_02I told you that's gonna happen because it had happened to me. Yeah, yeah. And it was the same thing, the toilet. Wow. So how long was it running? I had to be a while like you, because when I got my sewer and water reveal, they're like twelve hundred dollars. And I I wasn't sure, because again, learning current, I'm still learning stuff. Um it's kind of like how when I came to your property heard that like humming, like kind of like the the toilet was still putting water in there, that cycling noise. So the same thing. We kept hearing it, but we didn't think anything of it. Like, okay, and time went on and on. I was like, something's not right. And then I got an email from the water department saying you might have a leak. So, and then I was looking around, I was like, I don't see any water anywhere. And then it kind of started to click like I think it's that toilet, like the toilet, and that's exactly what it was. That their toilet wasn't right or something, so it just kept filling, kept filling, filling, filling, and ranning, and ran that water and sewer vehicle up sky high. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_05And how do you deal with something like that? You just pay it. You have to take that one to be in as my fault. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, I should have I should have addressed it sooner and immediately, but that's just the ignorance of not knowing. So, but I know what that sounds like now. So I if I hear that noise, I know. Oh yeah, we need to turn that off.
SPEAKER_05Oh, it was hilarious because you were at the house. When I when I heard that and I started running over to the tennis, you were like, you better go and catch them and try to see if you can get up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, turn that off. Yeah, the longer it runs, the higher that bill is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, guys, just quick aside, like if you ever hear that, run like hell to shut off your your toilet. It could be like maybe a $20, $30 part that you need. This is all it takes. And it's an $800 bill that you can get. So, yeah, yeah. But when you end up dealing with um that type of stuff too, is there ever anything in the lease that you put in? Because I've been going to some meetings, and actually, maybe you go over to some of the um Loria meetings with me, man. They end up putting different clauses in their lease. Uh and that's another good thing going back to the groups that you were mentioning, is you can always pull things because you can put little stipulations or stuff like that within the lease structure to protect yourself, um, especially for tenants and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02I haven't I haven't had anything crazy put into the lease, but that's also kind of I'm I'm still kind of new, newer landlord, but not a newer landlord. I've been doing it for a couple years now, but I do want to refine that contract because it's just like just over the years of different things I've encountered to see like I kind of want to put this in here and that like the water thing with the sewer bill and stuff like that, especially if you have tenants who will like have a problem in the unit but won't say anything because they kind of don't want you to go in the unit, because they kind of know they're living dead wrong in the unit. So it's kind of like a thing definitely that should be in there. Like, hey, I need to get in there, I don't care what's going on, but you're not gonna give me a thousand dollar bill, or if you know something's wrong and you're just negligent to it and don't say anything, it's like you should be responsible for that because I could have solved this problem the day it happened versus two, three weeks later down the line, or now the bill is bigger.
SPEAKER_05I had one guy who mentioned he he had um over fifty units and the other one had a little bit over a hundred. And they said that their their way that they avoid that, because the reality is the tenants, it ultimately is an initial conversation, an initial contract. So on the initial vetting stage, when you get to the point of a conversation, you do all of that up front with regards to look, if you end up seeing something, let me know. If there's X, Y, Z that's going on. This is going to be stated in the contract that if it's uh if it's a toilet issue or something along those lines, or something that you neglected to let me know, that is going to have to be covered. And if it isn't covered, then you're in violation of lease, and then you have to vacate. But if you do let me know, we can set up either a payment plan structure or something along those lines for the overage or whatever in the event that it was just missed, or something along those lines. Like I so it's little tidbits like that where those meetings are so powerful. It is kind of going back to that. Um, are you still going to some of these investor meetups and stuff like that?
SPEAKER_02I haven't been to one as of recently, just um mainly because I was doing the flipping and stuff, so it kind of between work and match like eats up a lot of time. Yeah. But that's definitely something I want to go back to doing. Kind of like for the flips, especially one, I need to find like a solid flip mentor to try to avoid those mistakes when I go do it again. Like I've learned a lot this time, so kind of when I go back and do it again, I've really can hone in, but it's always gonna be something I don't know. And I'd rather somebody tell me ahead of time before having to pay for it again.
SPEAKER_05I know what you mean. I know what you mean. And going back to that too with partnerships, it's like those those meetings are the best ways for you to kind of cultivate those relationships and figure those things out too. And um, like I'm starting to do flips with partners, it's just it's easier to be able to function that way. That way you can just end up balancing off of each other. Um, but the biggest question, too, is with a lot that you've learned. We've talked through the rentals now, some of the things you've learned off of the flips. What's one key thing moving forward you think that you're going to be looking at more intensely on your next flip?
SPEAKER_02Scope of work, without a doubt. Really? That making sure that scope of work is rock solid. Because you know, you you may not be able to count for everything, but if you have a solid scope of work, you can be pretty dead on the nose on like with this. I'm gonna have to project a certain amount of days because I don't know how long it's gonna take me with this particular process or whatever I have to do for that particular home. Um, so yeah, it'll definitely be scope of work. And then not only that, it's just like if you're doing hard money or you're going to like a private lender, they're gonna want the scope of work because that's how you get your draws. So the better your scope of work is, the kind of smoother your draw process will kind of pan out too, because you don't want to have to be doing something, and then you realize you have to do extra, but in your scope of work, you didn't allocate for that. So it's kind of like you kind of either you're gonna either you're you are going to eat it, and the only way to eat get back is kind of like skimp on something on the rehab, or you have to wait to the back end of the end of the rehab to get that money back. But when you're talking about thousands of dollars, it's kind of you don't want to keep holding the bag for months until you get to the end, you kind of want to just keep replenishing yourself as you go and just do it right the first time, or as best as you can the first time.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and finding those contractors, man, I know it's so complicated.
SPEAKER_02So having other art part is finding good workers because good workers are always busy and they're always with somebody.
SPEAKER_05So like Well, what's the reason you don't would you go with a GC next time around? Or what are you thinking?
SPEAKER_02Um I mean, I'm not opposed to a GC, but it it's I don't know. For me, it's kind of like it's all numbers, because it's if you get a GC, you still have to kind of they're like cutting themselves in on those particular things. So it's just like an added cost. But also it's just like if you have a good GC, that extra cost gives you peace of mind. And peace of mind is more priceless, honestly. So you can't really put a price on that. So it's kind of, I would say, it's like a give and take thing, kind of like do you do you have the time to be here to make sure that this goes how you want it to? And if you don't, then you probably should pay someone to do that so that the process goes as smoothly as possible, because it's in your best interest for that to happen, for you to be able to get your money out in the end. Because I mean, if if you get into it and you don't have a GC like I did, you can run into or you don't have a good GC, I had a GC, you don't have a good GC who really knows or who's really looking out for you, you are gonna probably pay double the price.
SPEAKER_05And I know how valuable when you when you mention, brother, like with regards to having a mentor, it means so much, especially if you have someone who understands the construction side helping you out.
SPEAKER_02It's like a cheat code.
SPEAKER_05It's a cheat code, but it's also like it's it's monumental for even if you're splitting a lot of the profit, because even if you're making a smaller portion of the profit, the reality is it's saving you so much stress. And it helps you ultimately to be able to get from point A to B as quickly as possible to get to the next point.
SPEAKER_02It's a safer way to learn.
SPEAKER_05It's like it's safer, but I would say it's arguable that your process as well is important too, and it's valuable because when you go through things when you go through the lessons that you're going through with the pain, that also is monumental for a partner that you're bringing in as well. Because when you're bringing in a partner, you're able to come back with experiences and then take that into the next flip where you can make decent money. Because the good thing is you've got time on your side, brother.
SPEAKER_02That's the one thing I always say that I try to do it early because it goes back to what I'm saying of like peace of mind and the freedom of being financially stable is kind of like I don't wanna like you like even at the job I work now, it's just like there's a guy that's like 67. And don't get me wrong, he clearly loves what he's doing, but it's just like, dude, go be with your wife. Like, why do you want to like why do you want to be here? Like, I for me at my age, I can't fathom that. It's just like the thought of seeing that is just like I don't want to do that. Like, you don't have much life left to live at that age, so it's just like I'd rather try to figure it out. Even if I make mistakes like I've been doing is and hit my head, I'll rather do that than face the future reality of what I can see down the road if I just stick to a different path. I'd rather just kind of like learn the lessons now and keep going. Because I mean the goal is also like I want to have kids. I I can tell my son and or daughter this knowledge, and they can be miles ahead of me before they're 20, you know. I've seen people who are flipping houses at 18, 19, you know, because they have a mentor, they have like that support system to just get out of school and start running, like it's invaluable. Like it's you you leapfrog a lot of people just by doing that.
SPEAKER_05But you also like you should you should read this book, The Gap in the Game, though. The gap in the game, Daniel Sullivan. Okay, pretty sure Daniel Sullivan. Fact check me. But I so gap in the game, they go into the value of also understanding and appreciating how far you've gotten from point A to B, and not to end up, even though it's it's massive and monumental, to appreciate other people in their journeys. It's also massive to appreciate how far you've come in yours as well, individually, and also to keep trackables with that. So it's a mindset book, but at the same time, too, more of a productivity book as well. It's a really good book, and Daniel Sullivan across board is a phenomenal salesman. Um he has a lot of cool, cool books too. Like he has another communications book. I love some of his stuff.
SPEAKER_02Send that to me and text it to me.
SPEAKER_05I will. I will. Um, but yeah, uh I think one thing that you're undercutting to is the fact that you can be young and have a fresh start. Like we had somebody in here, the the last guest, he was 19 years old and had a portfolio of 10, 15. I mean, exactly. But the reality is nobody goes on the same on the same scale. Some people look at Grant Cardone. He started at 50 or 40, or whenever. He ended up amassing a scale of like probably almost a billion dollars in real estate, something along those lines. It's it's wild. Because the reality is it doesn't matter when you start, it just matters more so that how you're tracking and also like what experiences you're taking with you and the partnerships that you're making. Um I'm curious with that being said, okay, because we have a little partnership too. I'm curious now with the construction side. We're going into a junk removal business together. So we're starting a junk removal business, also clean outs, demo, all that good stuff. Curious, man, with the construction side. Where do you like where do you want to put your focus now as we're going over towards um towards flips? I would love for you to be a partner on these flips too. And then the good thing is, we'll always have a demo crew now.
SPEAKER_06That's the positive. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um my focus really, my focus would be to probably get back into another flip before the year is over. Um I've kind of got my hand in a different spot right now. I'm still like the um the home at Wycliffe that I got, which is basically seller finance. So um just kind of that one was kind of fell in my lap, I would say. Like, but just like I've been thinking about that too, like how there are tons and tons of older folks who have homes that are paid off that kind of they don't want to sell or they can't necessarily sell, but they have a home that they could technically basically just be the bank. They could be the bank and get that monthly residual income to help them in that later stage of life. So that's something I've been kind of like researching, just kind of more seller finance and sub two deals type of thing. Um yeah, just reading up on them, understanding them, because like I said, this one fell in my lap, but just just like uh talk through the terms of how you like function that please. Um so um the this person in particular, um, he has two homes. He has a home on the website, and then he had the home in Wycliffe. And he knew, well, it was my it was one of my high school teachers, which is kind of crazy, but he's my friends and the people around me also know that I've been doing the real estate thing, so they told him that. And word got back to me, and I went over to his house, and um I walked the property and I said, Yeah, I could I could do that. Um one caveat that I learned because we had talked to David about it at PNC when he was still at PNC, is that in order to structure it the way we wanted, is I think he had maybe like five or ten grand left on his mortgage or something like that. Oh my gosh. So I've been staying there for the year, we worked it out. Um I pay him 400 bucks a month for the year. That's why I kind of like to lease 400 bucks a month in utilities, and um once he pays that mortgage off, we would do the seller financing, we would structure the deal to where he would be the bank and I would buy the house from him because actually the person before him did that same process with him. So that's how he got the home. Is that that person did the same thing that he's doing with me. Um, he bought it from them. They never went through the bank per se. The owner was the bank, and the investor financed it through him when he stayed there until he moved out and got his own home. So he's kind of like paying it forward to me as well. It's kind of how he broke it down to me. Because he's not like someone who's needing of money, like he's he's not. So and he got it for zero dollars, nothing. Zero, I mean, per se, like I didn't I got into a deal without having to put a lot of money out of really not m no money up out of my pocket as of now. I've been paying him like the $400 for the year. That's fine. But I spoke to him um maybe like a week or two ago. Um, I know he the mortgage is almost paid off, and he came back to me and said, Do you still want to buy this? And I said, Yeah, like we still want I still want to go through um what we discussed.
SPEAKER_05So how was the payment? Oh, I'm sorry. How is the payment structure with with regards to it? Is it a certain percentage that you're doing and on top or no interest?
SPEAKER_02Um, so we have to I have to figure out how we we're gonna sit down and talk about it per se, but what I do know is he doesn't want the blump zone. He doesn't want all that money up front. He has already explained that to me. He he wants the money to come as he's getting older as like a supplement, as an additional source of income for him as he gets older. So that's mainly his focus. Um so we just kind of structure the deal to find what's a decent amount of like supplemental income that would make sense for that home too. Because it's not trying to like short them or anything, kind of make it make sense for the both of us.
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_02Um I definitely was playing with the numbers and stuff and seeing what I was coming back to is probably like try to put the interest rate at like two, three percent if we do do it that way. But um, his main thing is really just having that supplemental income when he's older, you know. So we're gonna fine-tune the terms when that time comes. But that was kind of like a blessing that kind of just fell in my lap.
SPEAKER_05It really was.
SPEAKER_02That opened my eyes to like there's just so many ways to acquire properties out here.
SPEAKER_05There are. And I I didn't even end up mentioning that other side, too. Um man, there's so much, so many different ways, and there's so many different flavors to real estate. And the cool thing is, like I said, going back to the amount of time you have, and now we have this other leg at the same time, too, um, on the construction side, which is just a whole nother new avenue to be able to try and find different deals. So I I'm so excited, brother. B and G contracting, by the way, at any point, BNG contracting, yeah. We can end up helping you out with junk removal, trash removal, and then at the same time, too, brother, I can't wait for more deals to come through. Please, if you can, we're going over everything on deals, stuff like that. But what's next for you? Outside of the contracting side, finding flips, stuff like that. What's next? What's next coming up within this next year? What would you like to share with the people?
SPEAKER_02Uh for me, for the next year, I'd probably like to, I don't, kind of what you say, I would kind of like to slow down a little bit and just appreciate where I am. Because another thing I've like from my lessons that I've learned is I'm kind of leaning towards like it's like the story like the rabbit and the turtle running the race. I kind of think I would rather be the turtle. I'm gonna slow and steady and just take my time and really hone in and focus on where I what I'm doing good at and kind of stick in that lane. And so, like the contracting thing with the clean outs and being able to facilitate that and do that in a seamless process and also um acquire more rentals. Um I would kind of like because those two homes I had were two families. I want to acquire a couple of single families, but when I'm doing that, I don't necessarily want to get them turnkey. I kind of want to burn. I want so I can still continue to get the reps of the rehab and doing that process. Because I've got the reps of the landlord and thing, and dealing with people and the contracts and CMHA and kind of getting city permits for different things like that. So I kind of got a good hold on that. I want to really hone in on like that construction side and that um flip side so that I can be more well-rounded when playing the game. Um I don't want to be kind of like one-track minded, but I also don't want to be all over the place. Because, like we said, there's so many different ways to acquire properties, but you also don't want to bog yourself down with just this one way is the only way, because there's like a million ways, and you can be shortening yourself by being so tunnel vision, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_05It does, it does, and you want to perfect your craft, and I I totally understand that, man. And the positive is like I said, we've got the time. I know exactly what you mean. One thing at a time, one day at a time. One piece of advice that you'd want to give the people is gonna be the last thing. Brother, straight into the camera, what would you tell the world?
SPEAKER_02Slow and steady wins the race. Um, I had somebody say this to me is um slow money is for show money. You know, the fast money will leave you just as fast as you get it, is as fast as it'll leave you. But the slow money sticks with you longer. So don't go chasing fast money. You may not get all the money up front, but that slower, consistent money will help you win over time.
SPEAKER_05Amen. Hey guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate everything and um keep killing it. Slow money isn't necessarily fast money, but it's for show money. It's for show money.