MMM Edition: How Specialization Will Get You To #1 with Dale Kessler

Want more REO wins with fewer surprises? We sat down with 20+ year veteran Dale Kessler to decode how banks actually think, why some offers fly while others stall, and what separates investors who get accepted from those who get ghosted. Dale has moved thousands of bank-owned properties with a lean admin-first team, and he lays out the practical steps that make institutional sellers say yes: entity-aligned proof of funds, 10% earnest money on cash offers, clean timelines, and precise paperwork that plays nicely with automated portals.

We explore when post-foreclosure purchases beat pre-foreclosure deals by shifting title cleanup to the bank, even if the upfront price is higher. Dale shows how tradespeople create unfair advantage on heavy-lift properties—bidding with confidence where retail buyers hesitate—and how to approach auction platforms like Auction.com and Hubzu when access is limited. He also gets real about the difference between hard money and cash, why using the bank’s title provider can sometimes offset transfer tax, and how “accepted” offers still lose if you don’t execute fast.

Beyond tactics, Dale makes a compelling case for specialization. He sharpened his edge through thousands of BPOs, building elite valuation instincts that banks reward. When the moratorium hit, he adapted by widening markets and rebalancing, proving that a focused operator can pivot without losing altitude. We round out the conversation with Dale’s core four framework—body, being, balance, business—using 90‑day sprints to compress time, stay accountable, and avoid a one-dimensional life. Expect candid stories, zero fluff, and a roadmap you can act on the next time a bank asset hits your radar.

If this conversation helped sharpen your playbook, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s hunting REOs, and leave a quick review so more investors can find it.

VCap Real Estate Podcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Tonight with Dale Kessler. Dale's been in the industry for over 20 years, if I'm right. Your specialty is REO and foreclosures. And you're super passionate about health fitness, and I love your views on mindset, so we'll get into that. But tell us your story. How did you get here? What do you do? Give us the details.

Breaking Into REO And Bank Clients

Why Post‑Foreclosure Can Beat Pre‑Foreclosure

Finding Advantage In Heavy‑Lift Properties

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So my name's Dale Kessler. I own a Realty365 locally here. It used to be REO Complete Real Estate. I rebranded to get more traditional business under the roof and encryption agents. But where I I started, I went to Lehigh accounting, kind of within that world for a little bit, and eventually fell into real estate and opened my own brokerage. Because I had a background in accounting and I wanted to invest in properties. I figured, well, why not try to get some brokerage as listings? So there was one or two people at the time who had the majority of the business. And I was like, how are these people getting all this business? There was a guy that was in, so Gary Keller owns Keller Williams. He's just got these books out on how to be great agents. And the people he interviewed in his millionaire real estate agent book were all multimillionaire real estate agents. And this guy was quoted in the book that was local here. And I'm like, how is this guy doing this much business? There's got to be room for somebody else. So I just started to try to break in, eventually broke in. And now I probably have um about 30 different banks I work with. Uh I do government stuff with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mack, HUD, uh the FBIC, VA. I do all their stuff. I also cover private hedge funds, Bank of America Chase, City, NationStar, all those banks. I work with every one of them. So I've probably moved listing-wise about 3,900 properties myself. So uh my team is not a team of agents, it's just a team of admin. So I'll have uh somebody who handles my closings, somebody that handles my bookkeeping, two or three runners, and myself. So you hear agents out there closing three, four hundred deals, but they've got a team of 40 agents. When you hear somebody selling three or four hundred in a year and they're a team of one, it's a totally different volume. And that's the kind of volume that I move with the banks. Um, some of the things that I wanted to touch on while I'm here, and it's a little bit about what I do. I do traditional work too and all those kind of things, but what I'm known for here, banks. Like when you see banks, if you're local and you're looking stuff up online and it's listed with a bank, there's a good chance my name's gonna be off. And not because I'm super smart and any, I just worked my ass off. Literally just worked my ass off and tried to do the business. I slept in my office, I did all those things to just make sure I could get the work. Um so as far as the as far as the bank foreclosures go, stuff that I wanted to kind of touch base with you guys. I'm sure a lot of you are out there doing wholesale stuff, um, you're sending mailers out, you're doing all these different things to try to get business. And and honestly, you're gonna probably get your best deals doing what you're doing. But the bank foreclosures REO listings have their place. And the place that they are is one big example is if there's blemishes on some of these properties that you guys are trying to take pre-foreclosure, there's potential title issues that you're gonna have to clear and it's gonna be a problem, and you don't want to deal with it because it can cost you a lot of money. But you buy it post-foreclosure after the bank already foreclosed, they're gonna handle clearing the title. So, in that case, you may pay up a little bit when they list it after it's foreclosed, but you're eliminating that risk, you know. So it's it's it's something right now that there's there's not too many of them, so you're not getting the best deals per se. But there's ones out there that need a lot of work that owner occupants aren't gonna grab. Maybe there's some specialty things that maybe you're a roofer, maybe you're an HVAC guy, and one particular property has is huge, and the roof replacement is 80,000 bucks. Well, for anybody else bidding on it, it's gonna be a problem, but you can probably do it for 2030, so you're able to just go a little higher than everybody else and lock that deal up. So even right now, as the market shifts and things are slow, keeping your guys busy is important. Like if you got a crew of guys working and you can't keep them busy, they ain't staying with you. They're gonna go work with the other guy, and now you ain't got anybody to work with. So even if you're just breaking even, making a little bit of money, but you're keeping busy enough till the next deals start coming through, it's a good idea to pick up those kind of properties for the present. So there's not a ton of foreclosures out there right now. Um, I don't know how many of you have been like through 2008 and dealt with all the foreclosures. There was a time I was bringing in 30, 40 new assets every month. Literally, inventory had two, 300 sitting in the background, and I would constantly have no less than 30 or 40 assets on the market at any time. Uh, and that was pretty much just in the valley. Now I've cover Jersey, uh, I get to Philly and I get up to like Wolf's Burr Spring area as well. And that's strictly because there's not as much of that particular niche that I specialize in, so I've just expanded the market a little bit. Um, but as far as you guys go, that's where the REOs can can kind of play a role. Uh, and the other place that you want to look is I work with auction companies. So a lot of times guys aren't going to Hubzoo, uh, Zone, Auction.com. There's all these other websites where you guys can go and bid on these properties and possibly lock up a decent deal. Now, the thing you're gonna run into on an auction is it's literally sight unseen. You're most of them you're not able to get into, they're occupied. Um so there's a little risk there. But I've got quite a few investors that they love grabbing them because they if they grab 15 of them, either 15 or 14 were decent inside. Yeah, you get that one once in a while, it sucks, and it's a total shitbox. But it usually it for the most part it pays off. And when you're looking at the outside of a property, you'll have a good idea what the inside's gonna look like. It it does usually follow suit.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

What have a question? Where is the legal and ethical barrier between going inside when you're not supposed to and not?

SPEAKER_00 7:33

I know nothing about people going inside of properties.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

I'm not saying I'm not saying you recommend it.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

And I honestly don't know, you know, when they're going to sheriff sale and you guys are going to the sheriff sale, uh-oh. Somehow you all get in. There may be a certain set of keys that some people have to get in. There may be open windows. Um there's definitely there's the gray area. And and if you want to push that gray area, I don't think it's a it's a problem. Look, at the end of the day, whenever you acquire those properties, you're improving on the like the goal is to improve in the agents. Um other things that I I wanted to touch on. So there's just a few things here that I wanted to touch on. I want to make sure that I get to a few of these things. One, just a little bit about me. The next thing that I want to talk about is like the agents that are helping you. I know there's at least one or two agents in this in the room.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Agents?

Auctions, Risk, And Reading Houses From Outside

The Right Agent For REO Deals

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Okay, three or four. Um you will go on websites looking at Zillow, looking at all these different places, and it's gonna say foreclosure specialist, and somebody pops up. 99% of them have no clue how to how to deal with a foreclosure. They don't. They just literally put foreclosure specialists next to their name, short sales, they don't know anything. They just don't. The people that you truly want to work with that know the stuff is someone like myself, and I'm not trying to get you guys to just come work with me, or it's not, it's I know the other side of the REO through the listings, so I know what the bank's looking for. And if an agent's never listed a bank foreclosure or they don't do it consistently, they don't know what the bank wants. They don't know what the bank's thinking. Like some of the clients, they're locked into a number for a reason. They don't tell me, here's what we acquired it for, and here's what we need to get. I never have that conversation with the client. I don't care. Why? What the market bears is what the market bears. If you have a house that they're into with for 200 and it's falling down, they're getting 50. They can play the game of trying to list it for 150 and let it sit there, but the market's gonna dictate. You know, and sometimes they're good because you guys will say, Well, I see they took it back for three grand. Why don't they take 75? Because they can get 600. Like, why would they bother? Uh, so the market's gonna bear what they're gonna bear. Now, on that side though, there's some there's some tricks that you can do, and these are other things that there are few agents that work buyers and investors all the time, and they start to develop a relationship with like someone like myself, and then they kind of know where they need to be. And some of them I can also give them some insight. That's when they build those relationships with guys that list the properties. Well, now all of a sudden, I ain't got anybody on it. Let's you get it into this price range, I think I can get the bank to take it. Like, I'm gonna have those conversations with people that I start to build a relationship with. Um, so there are definitely some good agents out there who can help you with REO, but you want to have somebody who's gonna understand when you're coming to the table, you gotta come correct. So we get investors who do deals privately. So you guys will go out there and buy properties and wholesale and see you buy them from somebody's just trying to move a house quick or trying to get out of the area, and you get a good deal. You own XYZ corporation. Here's my paperwork. I'm buying it at XYZ Corp. Here's my proof of fund, your name's John, proof of funds John, XYZ Corp's buying it. In that world, that's fine. In my world, that's not how that works. You bring me proof of funds out of your personal account, I don't care. Your money has to be in the business because it's a separate entity. Like, that's like you buying a house with me and giving me your mom's proof of funds as cash. Like, my mom, here's my mom, she's gonna pay for it. How do I like know that you're authorized to do that? You know, I don't know that. So you have to make sure that everything lines up. So if you're gonna buy it in a corporation, doing a foreclosure, you want to have your LLC documents available, you want to have your proof of funds in a bank account, same entity, and everything in order in that manner so that you guys can you know, because when your offer goes in, there's nothing for the bank to come back at. And on a cash deal and bank foreclosures, it's always 10%. At least 10%. Do not bring me a cash deal that's less than 10% of the purchase price. It just you're trying to minimize the likelihood the bank's gonna counter you. And the reason why you do that is the bank is probably gonna take a day or two to get you an answer. So guess what could happen in a day or two? Somebody else brings that offer. Now we're multiple offers. Now I'm pinning you against each other and see who I can push higher.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

And say that again, you said 10%, don't bring something over 10% on purchase both.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

No, if you're so you can, so if you're don't bring it up. Don't bring something under. So if you're buying it for$200, the deposit's$20,000 if you're cash. And if it's anything less than that, my clients are thinking, what's this guy's buying his cash, but he doesn't have$20,000 to put down?

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Oh, I see, just on deposit, you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Correct, just for earnest money deposit. Yeah, so apologies, that wasn't big. Yeah, perfect. Just for earnest money deposit, that's that's what they want to hold. Um, the banks, 90, I want to say 90% of the bigger banks and institutions, doesn't matter who you use for title, their title company is holding your isn't. Your agent's not holding it, my brokerage isn't holding it, their title company is. Now you can also use their title company. So, and that's a double-edged sword. What I typically tell people is if you're an owner-occupant buying a full closure, because there's a lot of really nice foreclosures out there, too, you may want to use their title company. Reason being title's title. Title policy has to follow certain rules. It's whoever's doing it doesn't really matter. Um, there's some minor fee differences, but for the most part, it's the same across the board. Uh, if you go with the bank's title, usually there's a stipulation in there that they'll cover the title policy. So you're saving, if you're buying a half million dollar house, you're saving three, four, five thousand bucks. Um, now it's not gonna be an enhanced policy, but the act, like, I don't know anyone in all the deals I've ever done, not one person has ever bought an enhanced policy. They just don't really serve a purpose. So enhanced policies, there's a little bit higher threshold for certain things, it's just not worth the money.

unknown 14:17

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

So um when you're buying these bank properties again, now the downside is you typically are not splitting transfer tax. So you, as the buyer, are gonna cover that 2% transfer tax on PA. If you're in Philly, there's a little bit more. Um, usually, now with government deals, that's non-negotiable. And the reason being is if they ever get sued, now they set a precedence by allowing one person to do it, they should allow everybody because they're gonna have a little equality type thing going on. So they don't do that at all. It's really non-negotiable. You have to pay 2%. But on the upside, if you use their title company, it kind of even validates. Okay. Um other things that you can do, um, just super clean offers. Just try to bring your offer as clean as you can. If you need to do inspections, you do the inspections.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

In case somebody here is like, what does a clean offer mean?

Clean Offers, Proof Of Funds, And Deposits

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Give me a couple things, just to so the cleanest of offers is obviously cash, no inspections, quick close. Uh, with a bank, 20-ish days cash is usually what they like to see. 20 to 30 is totally fine. Um, and it's also area dependent. I don't make it longer to do certain inspections. Um, cash, quick close, asking price or higher. That's you know, kind of as clean as you can. And then the the next one is gonna be hard money. And hard money is not cash. So there's a lot of people out there who think hard money and cash are the same. It's not the same. The hard money guy pulls his funds, you ain't got the cash. So when you put a deal in, and this is what some agents don't know, they're well, it's cash. Well, no, well, we're they're using this hard money, but it's cash. No, it's not, it's not cash. So I have to then explain to them like what that is and and why it's not. And and again, you just have to be you're dealing with a company and a business, you're not dealing with private individuals, so you've got to come correct. Just like you were going to the bank to get a loan, you've got all your documents in order, and they expect the same thing when you're doing these kind of deals.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

So I'm assuming if you were to say, hey, I have cash, but you're doing hard money, and then they're gonna say, Okay, where's proof of funds? And if you don't have proof of funds, but you don't have the cash in some way, that's where you're saying it could get you correct, just as an example.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

And and that's why when when they're bringing offers to me, I require all of these things, down to the letter of how are you taking title? Because now with things getting automated, they go into a portal. Once you're accepted, and sometimes even your agent is actually having to put it into that portal for you. I may not even see it. It goes directly from the agent, the client sees it. But once one gets accepted, whatever you put into that portal, they auto-generate the documents. And if you put John J. Smith and it was just supposed to be John Smith, and he doesn't want to take it, now we have to redo all the paperwork. So it's just those little things that sound silly, but it's what makes a difference, right? And it helps get your transaction in faster. And why do I want to get your transaction in faster? Because until seller and buyer have executed documents in full, another offer comes in, I'm submitting it, and you're potentially going to lose the deal that you got accepted. Just because you're accepted doesn't mean anything in the world with banks. And it'll say right on most of the emails that I send out, please know, until seller executes docs and everything's fully executed, the seller is still considering any other offers that come in. And if one comes in higher and they want to, they may come back to both of you highest and best again. And I just don't like seeing people get pissed off because like that would piss me off. If I have a deal and my agent hasn't shared with me like the things that could go wrong, and we have a deal, we're doing all this paperwork, and all of a sudden, well, another offer came in. Dude, what do you mean? Like we were accepted. No, technically, well, why don't you tell me that up front? Like those are the little things that you guys are gonna want to know up front to just help it, help the transaction move smoothly.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

So, real quick question for you one of the things that I noticed that you keep referencing in a way or a roundabout way is that like you're an expert in your field and you specialize in your niche. And so if somebody here is kind of all over the place, or maybe they're trying this or they're trying that, and they're kind of not sure what they want, or they just try to cover a big market, what would you say to them in terms of like you should probably niche down or just be an expert? That's one thing.

Title, Transfer Tax, And Closing Timelines

Portals, Execution, And Losing Accepted Deals

Why Specialize And How To Choose A Niche

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Being an expert is very important, but there's a lot of factors that go into it. Are you 60, 70 years old if you're trying to jump in the game? Or are you 19, 20? It plays a role. Do you have a family? Do you have a wife? Do you have a husband? Do you have kids? Do you have other obligations? Do you have another job? Like all these things are factoring in. So now if you're just getting into the game, okay, let's shotgun, let's see what's out there, what let's dabble a little bit, and I'm gonna take, let's just say, for argument's sake, I'm 30 years old. I'm gonna take the next couple years to focus on these two or three things that I'm really like. I don't want to do commercial. So there's commercial, residential. I don't really like the commercial thing, but I want to stick to the residential, multifamily, single family. Okay, single families, I can grab them cheaper. It's easier for me to get those deals, and eventually I buy enough doors that I sell them off and maybe go multifamily then because it becomes easier for me to manage. So there's all these different things you guys are gonna have to factor in, but specializing is super important. But then once you specialize, so like I have done, at first I got in the business, I did a little bit of everything, but I was like, yeah, investors are my thing. Like I understand construction, I understand the counting stuff, I can help somebody do a 1031 exchange, I can help them with their taxes, I can help them set up a company, explain an LLC versus an S-corp versus a C Corp, why you should do them these way. That gives me, I sound smart. I don't know shit about real estate yet, but I know this. So let me talk to these people and I'll figure the rest out. So I just started working with some investors and anything that would come my way. Um then eventually, as I was doing that, I was like, these dudes listed in these foreclosures. In a shitty market, there's foreclosures, in a great market, there's foreclosures because there's always divorces, deaths, there's all these different factors. Um so from a from an analysis perspective, like a SWOT analysis perspective, this is good. Like, this is something I should get into. And then I saw what they were making and the volume they were doing, and like I can have two, three, four clients and have a lot of volume. So I just sat there and said, in what in what I you can do this in any industry, you just have to sit down and analyze it and say, okay, what are the pros and cons to each of these things? And where's my heart? Like, what do I feel I would gravitate towards? Maybe I don't know yet, and maybe I might be wrong, but you gotta go after, you gotta go straight after something. So I went, head down, it got to the point where I was like, I am not doing an open house for anybody ever again. I'm not going to anybody's house and sitting at the table, the kids running around. I want nothing to do with that. I am literally gonna work on these bank properties. So I did what's called broker price opinions because I was told that's a way to get in the game. So I did those, I made like$70,000 a year running around for$50 a property, taking pictures and doing values on the property. But little did I know, doing that kind of stuff taught me how to be a rock star at analyzing deals and valuing properties. So when I got an opportunity to list a foreclosure, my numbers were on point. And the clients score you on a scorecard. So I'm based on performance. I have to get tasked in on time, my values have to be within plus or minus 5% of list price. There's all these little things that I'm uh that I'm gauged against. But that got me really good at valuing properties in any market. So I also am licensed in Florida, I was in Palm Beach for a few years while my team ran the business here. I was down there, I got into that market, got my license, and honestly, I had 12 listings down there within a couple months. Because my connections with the bank, some of them were cool with me doing place and both. I just started, but I could value properties quick because I just sat down and said, here's the market, here's what things look like. Cool, let me go look at a few properties, and you get it. You guys start in a market, understand it, value your properties, figure out the numbers. You can go anywhere you want. That's why these guys are buying deals in Chicago, they're buying them in Florida, they're buying them in Arizona. Because once you start to analyze a market, you know a market. I mean, it's it's it's not difficult. Um, so as as as far as that stuff goes, when it comes to specialization, please do it. And then what's gonna happen is you get so good at what you're doing, now it's time for you to expand. So, even for me and my own business, I'm really good at foreclosures. I didn't do a lot of traditional business, so then I started to do more traditional. I I literally was, I took way too long to be there. Like, way too long. So I was like, and I'm fat happy. I'm just gonna stay here. Do I really want to go deal with these people? No. Then the pandemic happened. Then they put a moratorium on all the foreclosures. So guess whose business literally went away. Thankfully, I had like 80 properties in my inventory that were already in that I could work through through the pandemic, and then values just kept shooting up. So I made enough, and I had but I had to let people go. So then it's all my runners were let go, my billing persons let go, like pretty much all my staff except for my assistant, all let go. It's the only way I was gonna survive. And then I started building the brokerage with agents. Uh, long story short, with that, I realized that wasn't. I was surrounding myself with people that weren't my people. Like, don't surround yourself with people who are not your people. If you're moving in a direction and you want badass people around you who are your people that are gonna level you up, do not settle for anybody less than that. Don't cater to people that aren't your people. I tried. Like I truly tried to like, Dale, you can't be so like judgmental. You can't be so. I tried that. It didn't work. Like I work with some different coaches or some online guys that I'm close with. Um, Andy Elliott. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Andy Elliott. Andy, I've had sit-downs directly with him. Like, and I saw what he was building, and that's what made me literally get rid of every one of my agents. I said, you know what? This dude is surrounding himself with badass people who are his people. He's a fit dude, he's in the fitness. The people that he surrounds himself with, they're fit. And if they're not fit, they want to be fit. Like, I don't care if you're not fit, you can come, but yo, like let's get it. Like, let's go get that stuff together because when you're fit, you feel better about doing things like this. Like, are you uncomfortable in your skin that you won't sit in front of people, but you have something to share with the world? That's not okay. Like, this isn't a religion thing, but God wants you to be your best person. How are you gonna be that when you aren't willing to sit up in front of people and share what you know? There's so many people, I'm sure you've been in the audience, a ton of people who have so much knowledge to share, and they're unwilling to because they're scared of public speaking or they don't want to be judged by the way they look. Like, I just I've always thankfully I I I was I learned about fitness at an early age, and I always just stayed the course. And as I got older, it just got something I got more interested in. But being fit has made my life a million times better than if I wasn't fit. When I was a kid, I got up, I got heavy at one point. Um, and I knew what that felt like.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

I really like that.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

You know, and being I'm in my 47, like being in my upper 40s, being running circles around guys half my age, there's nothing like that. But it's also good for them to look up to. You know, like you got younger guys who will want who are like, yo, yeah, when I get older, I'll I would definitely love to be where you are. And I still do it. I see guys that are like in their sevenths and like seriously seven years old, and they're out there doing their thing. Um, make sure you're surrounding yourself with the people that are gonna help you grow. People that you came up with, they can still be your friends. But if they ain't moving the way you want to move, like bye. You have to be willing to do that. I have a lot of friends who are like, oh, we've been friends since grade school. That's why you're stuck in shitty job in a shitty town still. You wanted to move, but you didn't want to leave your friends. That's, you know, and then when you get to the end of your life, are you gonna be glad you did that? And I do really ask myself one question through, like, I've worked with Tony Robbins, I've worked with a lot of different people, and he will take you to the place like when you're on your deathbed, are you gonna are you gonna regret this decision? Just ask yourself that. Like, hey, if I'm staying in this place, am I capable more? Like, I may not know this stuff yet, but can I do it? Yeah, and when I get to the end, what's scary? Because when you're laying on your deathbed and you got nothing left, all of a sudden the shit you never tried, you were scared to do ain't so scary. So just try to think about those things when I don't want to do stuff. Because I don't want to do stuff all the time.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

But it's awesome. And I think it was last meetup you were here, and I've known you, just I've seen you on platforms, and we talked before briefly, but we were at one of the meetups here, and I remember we chatted afterwards, and I was just like, this guy's got an energy, like this is amazing. The way you spoke about everything, your passion, just about growth, um, about mindset, I was just blown away. And so I want people here to experience that. So, what are things that contribute to your mindset? You're very strong-willed and you're very positive, and I think that's huge. So, give me a couple things of just like being in the right frame to succeed.

Becoming An Elite Valuator Through BPOs

SPEAKER_00 28:40

So, for me, I wasn't born with it. That is the farthest. So, backstory, super quick version. Um, youngest sibling, half brothers and sisters, no brother and sister that same mom and dad. Um, mom married multiple times. I've seen her have her teeth knocked out, arm broke, seen it all. Abusive husband, alcoholic. I've seen her drug down the driveway because he was going to the bar to meet up with his girlfriend, and she's holding on to his leg. Like, no, don't leave. Don't go to the bar. And I'm like, seven. Sitting in the car with my grandpa, my sister in the back, in the neighbor's driveway, and the look on my grandfather's face, he's too old to get out of the car and beat the shit out of this dude. And he's taking care of his grandkids right now. But to look at his face and know what he wanted, and I knew as a six, seven year old kid what my grandpa wanted to do, but he just sat there. Like, I've seen all those kind of things, and then I realized growing up, like, unfortunately, my mom won't. Three jobs. My mom's a great woman. I love her to death. And because of the shit that she went through, I'm able to be who I am. Like, don't disrespect a woman. Open doors, carry bags. There's no, that's not I can do it myself. No, it's called respect. So that taught me all those kinds of things. Um, but she instilled in me it was okay to quit. I would do sports and quit, wrestle, football, quit, quit, quit. And it was okay with it. When I got to play basketball and had some friends that played and we carpooled, I stuck with it. And then all of a sudden I got good at it. One most improved player year award, like a bunch. Once I won that award, I never fucking quit. Anything so that instilled in me, like, yo, this is what it feels like to win. So then from that point, it was Tony Robbins had these CDs, you know, and keep in mind, I'm 47. Like at CDs, I'm listening to these CDs up in college. I'm like, because I I barely graduated high school. I went to community college. Um, I was like, all right, I don't want to work in a factory, so I gotta figure this shit out. I like business. I took accounting courses in high school, I kind of liked it. So I was like, okay, let's do this. And I just I had to go back to elementary algebra because when I was doing college, the professor was like, listen, you got two days to drop this course, dude. You're not gonna pass. It's pretty obvious you didn't do anything in high school. Really should go back to like intermediate or even elementary algebra, and I took his advice. He wasn't being disrespectful, he was being a good dude. Um, so I went back to elementary algebra, aced it, studied my ass off, then intermediate, then I went to college. I aced all of them. They let me skip trade, went to calc, calc one, two, aced every single one of them. And I ended up becoming a tutor in algebra just to prove that I could do it. Like, so I'm not into the math stuff, and I went accounting, but accounting's not math, it's just nowhere to put the numbers. Um, so that's what that's where a lot of my growth started. And even with the being college, I'm I'm look- I'm I'm sitting here looking at this stuff, listening to Tony Robbins, subliminals, and like he's telling you how to map out your next one, three, five, ten years. And if you could have anything, what do you want? Like, I wanted like the purple Lborgini. Like, just you know, I'm thinking of all these things I want. I want to make six figures by the time I'm 30, because at the time that was a lot of money. And probably like when I was 29 and I was just getting into this and I was starting to get good, and I turned 30, and I was like, and I found like the paper that I wrote this stuff down on, and I was like, yo, I could do this. So I just put my head down, and right before I turn 31, I hit six figures for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

It's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

So it's like those kind of things, like writing out your goals. Um now I do things that are more like what we call 90-day challenges, where you take a quarter, you sit down, and and for me, it's what's called the core four, your body being balance and business. You literally have to look at every area of your life and say body being balance and business. So it literally hits everything. So it hits your body, which is your physical fitness, your um, your being, which is your spirituality, your business, and your balance is your relationships with like family level and the like little stuff. So you're gonna hit those core areas of your life and more or less say, if I had a goal that I wanted to reach in a year, like what's that look like? And then you try to hit it 90.

unknown 33:31

Wow.

Pandemic Shock And Rebuilding The Business

SPEAKER_00 33:31

So you try to just come you collapse time and try to hit these goals to move faster. You know, like you we all think that we can do things in a week that we can't do, but we also think in five years it's impossible to get to something, but it's actually turned out to be pretty easy. So if you really sit down and plan it out, and it's just a course correction, it's here's what I want at the end of 90 days, where do I need to be at day 60, 30, where I need to be each week going there? And every Friday just look at it and say, Where am I at? Am I on course? Am I off course? If I'm off course, how do I course correct and just keep moving in that direction?

SPEAKER_01 34:12

That's awesome. I love that. Because it takes like focusing life in quarters and like kind of going the normal way of like, okay, well, I'm gonna accomplish in three years, so every quarter I'll eventually get there. But I like how you go, no, one year, three-year goal, 90 days. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

And and and listen, and I do it, and I and I'm moving fast in some things, but there's also stuff that I've been trying to do for 15 years and I'm still suck at it. Like it just it continues to elude. But the thing is, I'm not gonna give up. Even for example, some people are always late. They show up late to everything. And I have some friends who are late to everything, it's just how I am. And I was like, you know what, that's how I am. I end up being late. I put too much on my plate, but that's not who I am. I am going to continue to fight this until I show up on time for everybody because I realize it's very disrespectful showing up late. It's just disrespect. Some people sit down like, not a big deal. It is like now five minutes is one thing, you got some trying, and you call ahead. That's cool, understandable. But you're consistent with 20, 30 minutes, then no, it's all right. It's just disrespecting them. And once you get that, I if you're a good person, once you get that, you're like, I can't do that to somebody, that's not okay. You know, and it's a do-one to others.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Yeah. I like that. And one of the things that the different pieces that you're saying that I think are awesome is you're talking about like the fundamental good pieces of business, and whether we're buying multifamily, while we're buying uh REOs, whatever it is, like all these things that you're mentioning are just good fundamental practices. And I like that you're saying that you're identifying them, you have the awareness of it, then you're sticking to it, and then you're not even just doing it, sticking to it, you go further and keep improving it. And I just think it's something that everybody here can listen to and go, what am I not doing out of those things, or what am I not taking?

Choose Your People And Level Up Standards

SPEAKER_00 36:00

And honestly, being brutally honest with yourself, like you have to take responsibility for everything, even if it's not your state. So stop pointing the finger at everybody else. Point it at yourself. Like, I may have people that let me down on my team. What didn't I give them so that they could do their job better? What am I not doing? You know, it it falls on my shoulders, because at the end of the day, it falls on your shoulders. If at the end of the day you end up on your deathbed poor, that's your fault. It is your fault. Once you hit 18, everything became your problem. It doesn't matter if you grew up being molested, being beat, whatever it is, you have to figure a way out of it. Like, I know that I have issues with uh just didn't have a dad in my life, and when I met him, it didn't seem like he wanted me in his life. I'm like, how can a guy not want his own son who's not, you know, like I'm not like the greatest guy in the world, but I got a lot of good things going on. Like, how's my dad? Like, there's an abandonment issue there. It took me years to sit down and say, I have abandonment issues. Like, I literally would push people away before they could push me away. But I know a lot of us do that. We never think about it. People say, it's in the past, leave it in the past. No. Take Pandora's box, open it up, and start killing everything inside of you. Because if you don't, you're never gonna get up to the next level. So good. You're just not. Because there's gonna be mindset things that just hold you back. Right. You don't think you're worthy, and when you start reaching something, you're gonna, in your head, cause you screw it up. See how I didn't deserve it. No, dude. You sabotage yourself, it's just what it is.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

I love that. And it's funny because we can talk about that for hours alone. And I don't know if anybody here is interested in that stuff. Like, I just feel like that's so fundamental, foundational, and so much of the being of humans and just trying to accomplish things. So I love that. Um I want to go through a couple questions though. Last question, things I ask every guest. I'm very excited to hear your answers. First one is what separates top-performing investors or business owners or whoever you want to target just from everybody else in the crowd?

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Commitment. 100%. Their emotional, physical, mental commitment to getting to the goal that they've already set out, to attain that level that they want to attain? That'd be committed.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

What is a daily habit that you do that contributes to your success?

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Nutrition and working. So everything that deals with my physical body from what I put into it to how I how I move it, it 100% is part of everything.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

What is a uh piece of advice you'd give yourself if you're starting again?

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Um just believe in yourself. Like, no question, you can do this. The conversation is you have what it takes to do this, just go. Like, just go do it. Like, you have and you have every I've heard so many times, like, yeah, why are you not doing this or that or this? And it's it's mental box, right? You can't allow those things from the past to hold you from moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Favorite real estate or business book or podcast or uh favorite real estate.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

I'd have to say the Millionaire Agent book by Keller Williams. Um it's it's just specifically for my niche. They do have an investor one out there too, millionaire real estate investors. They have a different the way that it it tells you how to build out teams and how to get to that fifth, sixth, seventh level. Uh it's it's great. It's it puts a lot of structure into the business.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Awesome. Yeah, so good. Alright, last question. What is your favorite part of real estate or real estate investing?

Fitness As A Force Multiplier

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Uh it's two. One is making a shit ton of fucking money. Right. And the other is helping my people. Like, I got in the business, first and foremost, and I tell my clients, first and foremost, I'm here to make money. Like, I I'm literally, I'm not doing deals for you, so I don't make money. Like, I'm here to make money. But secondarily, the nice thing is I get to make money and help people buy a house to live in, buy a house to invest in, like, all that. Yeah. So it's cool that I get to help people do that kind of stuff and give them like a bit of an education. When you're out there showing them properties and you're pointing things out, they're like, dude, I've worked with five agents. They usually just open the door and like let me walk around if I have any questions. You walk from basement to point out, like, see the water heater, the little rust on there, that means this, and and you know, here's some discoloration over here, all you gotta do is give me. They're never told those things. And they're not told those things because the agents have never been, one, taught properly, two, they don't got enough deals under their belt to actually know what they're supposed to be doing. And that's where I say, I'm not smart, I've just done a lot of deals and fell on my face a shit ton. So I know what's potentially gonna happen. When I see something going a little bit this way, I know where it's gonna end up, so I can just course correct it and bring it back because I've already been down that half five times. Just like you doing deals, your first few, you're like, what the heck? But now you can start to like you literally can see the field. So you're not in the box. Now you see the whole playing field and you know where things are gonna go, where you can get that money. Shh, this money just closed off. I need extra here. I got this investor over here. So you put the rest in, you've got you've made relationships, and you're able to just pull it all together.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

So good. I could sit here and talk to you all day, but for the sake of everybody else, we'll wrap it up there. So anything else you want to tell? Anybody before I kind of cut into outros?

Origins, Adversity, And Never Quitting

SPEAKER_00 41:58

Just um, you know, make sure as you grow this business, you grow everything. Don't be one a one-dimensional douchebag, is what I call it. Don't be one-dimensional. Any of you can become really fucking rich. But if your wife leaves you, your kids don't know who you are, you're out of shape, you hate your life, is the money worth it? But on the flip side, you can have a great relationship with your kids and wife, but have no money. Well, guess what? Yeah, yeah, you got the love, don't get me wrong. But that money is gonna make things so much better for you and your family. Like, don't ever think that you know we're not meant to have a lot of money. We're supposed to prosper in everything that we do. We're whatever your belief is, God wants you to be the best in everything. Like, you didn't get put on this earth to be a person, to just be mediocre. Like, and I have to think about that every day because it's hard, but we get stuck in this shit. And the day-to-day grind, you're like, ugh, I don't want to do this. But you have to pull yourself out just for a second, very kid. This is not gonna get me where I want to go. I've got to do this, and as I start rolling, I'll feel better. There's gonna be ups and downs, but I just gotta push through. So just please don't stay one-dimensional. Make sure that you're, you know, you're loving on your kids, you're loving on your spouse, you're dating them, you're that having a strong spouse, and I'm saying listen, I'm single with no kids. But I know what what it means to have a good person on your side, and God willing, I still have an opportunity to have some kids, but just helping those kids grow into good adults, it's your freaking job. Like it's your responsibility. If you're a shitty parent, you're gonna create shitty kids. And and I'm straight with people, I don't pull punches. Like, we want to just build good. Listen, I grew up not having a dad and not knowing what it like how to be a man, I have to figure all that out. If I had a dad, like some of my friends are really good dads, if I had a dad that like showed me the ropes, where would I be at 47? Even mentoring young kids, if you don't have kids, mentoring somebody younger and just trying to help them get where you are at 30, you can get them there at 20, they're gonna go so much further. And then if they pay that forward, that's how everybody gets better on the time. So we can talk about our own way. It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

We'll stay after. Um, but let's give Dale around the hand round a hand while right.