From College Dropout to Real Estate Fund Manager | Will's Untold Story

In this episode, we sit down with Will Harvey to unpack his journey from a young loan officer to managing multiple real estate funds—and how faith plays a central role in his business.

🏡 What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Will went from dropping out of college to building a successful real estate career
• His strategy for house flipping—and why “buying right” is everything
• The transition from flipping houses to managing investment funds
• What syndications are and how they work for investors
• Why real estate is hyper-local and how to analyze your own market

🙏 Faith & Business:
Will shares how he boldly integrates his Christian faith into his work—from investor communication to decision-making—and how he views wealth as a tool for greater purpose.

📊 Market Insights:
Get practical advice on what actually matters in today’s market, including:

• Local inventory trends
• Interest rates
• Behavior of lenders and buyers in your area

💼 About Will Harvey:
Founder of Harvey Capital, Will manages multiple funds including hard money lending and owner-finance note funds, with experience across residential, multifamily, mobile home parks, and hospitality assets.

🔗 Connect with Will:
Website: https://harvey-capital.com
Email: will@harvey-capital.com

👇 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations with leaders in real estate and business!

📲 Interested in learning more about licensing or mentorship?
Connect with our team here: homeguys.com/yt

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Legally, I should throw that disclaimer out there. I was legally paying very, very little in taxes. You hire people, and my partner, that was his background. So I was more the finance background, and then he was the he was more the construction background. So it was a great, it was a great marriage. The biggest thing with doing that is making sure that the sponsor or the operator is is is the horse that you want to ride in on.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Alrighty, everybody. We are back with another Home Guys podcast. We've got um James and Jen here pairing up again. And we are excited to be joined by Will. Um Will Harvey is the founder of Harvey Capital. He got his start in real estate back in 2015 as an award-winning residential loan officer before launching his first real estate company in 2019. He eventually stepped into the world of private syndications as both a limited and general partner. And Will be interested to hear what that all means. And then that experience led him to start Harvey Capital, where he now manages multiple funds and personally invests right alongside his partners. Today we're diving into one of the most overlooked tools in the real estate investing industry, which is private lending and why it's simple, um asset-backed structure that can deliver consistent returns for investors. Will lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and their two boys, and like Home Guys, brings a faith-based or faith-driven perspective to the business, which um we're kind of excited to dive into a little bit. So welcome.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Welcome, Will. I really want to dive in that one right away, just because I was kind of excited to hear that that um you have a faith-based business too. Um, but somebody was um, so we're franchising our model. Okay, so we flip houses here in Minnesota. We got three more already uh licensees or I'm sorry, franchisees, and then that's why Jen and I this year are teaming up to um of course the the franchise, that's why we're doing these podcasts and everything. Um it came up the other day, and they go, Are are you serious? You guys you guys actually pray for month before Monday morning meeting? And he's like, that that is awesome. I'm like, yeah. We we basically always say it's like it's a faith-based company, but you don't feel like praying out of respect. You just you you just you don't have to pray, but you you bow your head or whatever. Um, but that's not what people want. They they love that. They love having that that faith-based um that we got your back. Um because we're we're just we help we help everybody out. Um there's again, I'm getting into something. We always have this model is uh do the right thing, the money will follow. Yeah, amen. Um, but yeah, that's exciting. How do you get what what what does faith based based in your company mean?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

What does that look like? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yeah, so I just I try to infuse my faith and just be bold about it in everything that I do. So monthly I send out investor updates and I, you know, sign my uh, you know, in the in the actual updates, I I uh I try to mention, you know, I I don't hold back on on anything where you know I mention praying over an opportunity or or or anything like that. And I noticed some people that might sound crazy and investing, it's like, oh, you prayed about it. If they're a non-believer, it's like, well, that's that's silly. You may as well go, you know, do a palm reading or or something like that. But uh, but no, I I I try to, you know, just infuse Jesus into everything I do. I s in in my signature. I used to say, you know, God bless Will Harvey, uh, but now I put in Christ. Like I I specifically want people to know that you know I am a believer in Jesus Christ and it's it's what I what I stand for, it's what I follow, and and uh I have a biblical worldview. Um so really just trying to infuse that into into the day-to-day, into the into the big picture as well is uh is is what I what I aim for. And then obviously, you know, being in a in a in a business like real estate and and uh hard money and and fund management and all that, uh, you know, those can be, as I'm sure you guys know, they're they're vehicles to generate wealth. And that wealth is is uh uh based on my worldview, which is a biblical worldview, is not to sit around and be stored up for my own uh my my own pleasure or lifestyle or anything like that. It's to be used to you know support initiatives that are trying to get the gospel to unreached places and and that sort of thing. So that's really you know near and dear to my heart, and that's how I try to incorporate faith into into what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Yeah, we we say that this just us being in this business right now was definitely a leap of faith. Um and we're not here for any other reason than God had a plan and he led us down this path, and luckily we listened and we followed, and you know, we didn't like the system and and uh because this has you know built built something for so many people and we've been able to help so many people. Um, but yeah, the story James was telling, Jaden was at church, he was doing uh who Jaden's our other um business partner and he joined a business leadership men's group at church, and so they were asking um how you incorporate into your business, and he he said, Yeah, every Monday morning meeting before we start our meeting, we have an architect, we have our entire team get together, um, whether it's virtually or you know, some people are in the office, and we started off with a prayer. And they looked at him and said, You can do that, you you just do that as part of your business. And he said, Yes. Um and I love that yeah, it's just the culture we've built. People even in the interview process, we're like this is a faith-based company. We're gonna pray, we're gonna have Bible verses, we're gonna um lean into that faith for Christmas. We gave everybody um uh daily devotional, like just hey, here like just as a you know, stocking stuffer, but um just really really leaning into that. And that's that was really cool to see that there are um other people, and I like how you say being bold about it.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Will have you ever heard of C12?

SPEAKER_00 7:01

C12. I just yeah, I I was just on the phone with someone this morning that was talking about he's in C12.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Yeah, so it's a Christian, so it's like the 12 apostles. Uh oh, okay. And so you're with that group from the start. So they'll start filling a group up, and you might only have six or seven. The next person comes, and then once you hit 12, I guess it's you don't get out. I mean, it's and it's it's only for Christian-based uh business owners.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Oh, that's so good.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

They're in different locations throughout. Um I mean, there's a bunch of them down in Florida because of the population. Um I'm looking into it up here. Um Jaden's been to a couple meetings down there. So yeah, take a peek at it.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

It's uh Yeah, that's that's really neat. Yeah, hopefully nobody gets designated as the Judas of the 12.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Just kidding. No, that's cool. Yeah, I I it sounds like an awesome I the guy that I uh was talking to, he's a he's a awesome believer. Yeah, that that makes total sense that he's in that.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Yeah, so that's awesome. Um, yeah, that's super exciting. And then so to kind of let's talk a little bit about how you got into you know what you're doing now. What was uh you know, the real estate and lending and kind of what's your background and how did you get here?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah, so I um I'm a double college dropout. So originally I went to the University of South Carolina and had a little bit too much fun there, ended up uh getting sober when I was 19. So that was dropout number one. Okay, and then I ended up uh transferring and and uh playing football for a short while at a school in Ohio uh before I had uh double hip surgery. So the double hip surgery and the end of football was dropout number two. And I came home and and uh was kind of flirting around with finishing my uh degree, but a lot of my credits didn't transfer. Uh so a family friend that you know that my parents were close to, we we he was over at my house and we started talking and he gave me a shot in the mortgage business. And I I thought that that was interesting. You know, it was uh uh a position as a loan officer where uh your income is is limitless in a sense. You're you're paid commission only. And uh and that was that was appealing to me. Um I I started off on a on a small salary while I learned the business, but um after a year or so I jumped out into production and had had a you know, praise the Lord, had a had a great first year where I just lived, breathed, and slept mortgages and and um had you know had a great first few years in it. I I bought a few uh rental properties in the Northern Virginia area.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Um and what uh what time frame is this? Is uh when you're writing all these. Well, this is 15, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Well, that's when I late 15 is when I started. I got into production right around the time uh that Trump got elected in 2016. So it was like late 2016. Um, I remember everything was crazy, the markets were adjusting after Trump got elected. And started moving up, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:16

I mean, that was when uh uh more houses started moving.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, yeah. 17 was a good year, rates were low, and and then 18 was was uh was rates started going up, and then yeah, it was it was a good, you know, 17 and eight 17, 18, and 19 were the years that I was originating, and you know, they they were they were great years, and um I lived very uh frugally. I didn't have a wife or kids or anything. I didn't live lavishly by any stretch. So uh I was able to just bank a a good good chunk of cash and and uh put it into rental properties and and uh and then at the end of 2019 I I left the mortgage business because it was just it was it was great money, but it was I was on a hamster wheel, you know, it was there was no wealth being generated. I was a I was a W-2 uh commission, it was commission based, but I was still a W-2 employee. And and um you know, so I I wanted to go off in into real estate and do my own thing. So um I went out and started flipping flipping houses with a with a partner. And at the same time, I would uh I would use the earnings from flipping houses and I would uh direct those funds into syndications as a limited partner. So I was I was investing passively. And if you know anything about the tax code, um if you're an active real estate investor, you can you can offset earned income with uh passive losses. So I would use the depre the bonus depreciation from these uh you know, get negative K1s from these investments I was making, and it would offset the income that I was generating from flipping houses, and it was great. I mean, I was I was legally, I should throw that disclaimer out there. I was legally paying very, very little in in taxes. Keep going.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

So I was I'm kind of uh curious. Um, so you got into flipping, were you like let me even go back further? Who told you about this? Like, who told you? Did you learn all that stuff as a loan officer? And then you know, like you started to invest, or did somebody say, Hey, you read this book, you know, everybody says rich dad poor dad. I I don't know um what made you because you just didn't go, I'm gonna do this, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

No, yeah, right. Rich Dad Poor Dad is one of the first books that that I read. I mean, that's kind of like it seems like everyone, every real estate investor's write a passage just to read Rich Dad Poor Dad. And for me, it was certainly really quick thing never meet him. Yeah, I've heard that.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

He literally, I I was very, very disappointed, and I literally wanted to like well then get the hell out of this country then. If you're he he's a ex-marine, he's always a marine, but he's 78 years old and he's just getting up there and ripping on America the whole time. And I'm like, leave, get out of here, you know. Um, thank you for the book, but go away.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yeah, I've heard he's a little crusty.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

Yeah, that's a good way to put it. He's a little crusty. Yeah, yeah. That's a way better way than I would have put it.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

But if you he has a new, he has a new book out. Well, I said new, it was like six or seven years ago it came out. Um, I forget what it's called, but if you read it, the the tone is just kind of angry and it's it's just kind of his his tone just just isn't it it's not a positivity that I that I uh you know like to carry and put out there to everyone else.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

A little disappointed.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah, yeah. They say never never meet your heroes, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah, but I I mean originally Rich Dad Cordet, I mean the the message in that one is you know helps kind of get that mindset of exactly um that investment or that entrepreneur or that business mindset to kind of um set you down a path, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Yeah. You read the Rich Dad Cordad, and then you were making all this cha-chang because you're uh I'm so I'm assuming you're still single at this time and you're like, well, I gotta do something with this. I gotta buy. So you started buying rental properties.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah, that was really all I knew how to do. I saw, you know, um people doing it in the mortgage business. I knew how to qualify for a loan. I was buying them as primary residences where I would live in it for a year and then I would move out into an into the next one. And you know, that was all kosher and legal and and uh and turn. Who were you at that time? Um my first one was 23.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

See, that is great. I love it, I love it, I love it. It's like why can't we start talking these younger kids? They don't think they can buy a house. You know, and I want to I don't think they want to put the effort into it.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Yeah, yeah. I I think we lost.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Oh, I'm here. Sorry, can I come out?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Yeah, no, I I I think I think uh what James was saying is exactly right. I mean, so many people just don't we lost for a second.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

I heard the whole time. I don't know if you heard me.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Oh no, yeah, but to go to go back to what you were saying, yeah, I think so many people just are are kind of ignorant uh how um there's so many awesome first-time buyer programs and grant programs. And I I I just think people, especially with with all the uh you know AI models out there, it is so easy to get information these days that people just really don't have an excuse when it comes to uh like I hear a lot of people complaining about how it's so expensive to buy homes, and and that's not I'm not saying that that is incorrect. That that is true. Home prices have gone up, but there are so many programs available, and if and and if you you know go outside of the major metros, you can get land and properties cheaper. And yeah, no, I I totally agree with what you're saying.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Our daughter was 19 and bought a house. Uh she um she was also in the guard, so when she hit her five years, they actually moved out of that. Um use it as a rental, they cash flow basically a grand a month, and they're close to us.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Um she got a VA loan, I'm assuming. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

The second one she was able to use her VA loan, which that's another benefit that people don't really understand.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yep, it's the best loan that exists.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah, it was the easiest. So they they were able, so she and her husband now, um yeah. Of course, everybody thinks you have to sell the house to get the down payment to move into the next one, and just um, luckily we had, or she had um someone in the guard that that is in real estate, his wife is in mortgage, and they're like, Why are you selling the VA loan? Doesn't care. Have you been there more than a year? And they said, Yeah, and they're like, It's just a free property for you. It's just, you know, you can move into your next one. So they're 24 now, they have a rental property and another one, and so um, yeah, that's that it's it's huge.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Um, so Will, you're uh you're now you're getting out of the mortgage business. You start flipping houses, was it 19, 2020?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah, well, I think I flipped my first one at the tail end of the my mortgage career in in 2019, and uh that was a total accident. So a guy that I had met while I was in the mortgage business, uh, great guy, he he became my uh business partner uh when we when we created the house flipping company. He brought me uh a deal. He's like, hey, I got this deal. I don't really know how to come up with the money for it, but you know, I think it's a good deal. I've looked at it, you know, back of the napkin and seems to pencil out. And we looked at it, and I didn't know the first thing about flipping, but I was like, Yeah, this seems like a good deal. You know, if we buy it at this price and uh put this much into it, we should we should make a pretty good spread. And so so we we did that. We uh I got connected to someone who's a hard money lender and we we we borrowed money at at Did you know how to swing a hammer though? No, I still don't. Okay. Exactly. You hire people, and my partner, that was his background. So I was more the finance background, and then he was the he was more the construction background, so it was a great, it was a great marriage.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Um and that's say something like that, just that that's kind of you and Jaden.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

James is the like construction handyman background, and Jaden's the the engineer money background.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

So yeah, yeah, it's it's so good to have someone that complements your your weaknesses and vice versa.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

That's the goal. I mean that's that's why we're still married for 27 uh six. That's right, 27 somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Uh yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Yeah, that's awesome. We lose count after a while, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Yeah, exactly. So yeah, so we we we did that flip. We made every mistake in the book that we could, but because we because we bought it right, that's the key. Um, because we bought it right, we we did end up making good money on it. So we made about 50 grand on it. It was uh we bought it for about 170, put probably 50 grand into it, and then sold it for around I want to say like 300. And when the dust settled, we made about 50 grand on it. And we thought we were gonna make more at one point, but we were not complaining at all. It basically gave us the the seed money to to then you know go out and start a company. We we enjoyed the process, and I think I think house flipping is one of the best ways to leverage your time to earn money. If you know what you're doing, and the in the biggest key that I can stress is to buy it right, and I'm sure you guys would feel the same way. If you set it right there, yeah, if you overpay, you you're you're doomed from the start, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

You're already sending yourself we have a sales team of five, right? And then we just had this conversation on Monday, and it's like, guys, yeah, you you win by buying it right. You don't if you keep giving we it was a couple years ago, they kept saying, I kept hearing this, we'll try, we'll try because we wholesale. And um, I go, guys, we're never gonna say the words out of our mouth. We'll try because we know our business and we know what buyers are gonna buy at. And our range is we need to make 15 to 20 um on wholesale deals. And if we don't make that, we don't make it, we we go, we go away because I always try to tell them it takes just as much effort to make three thousand dollars on a wholesale deal that it does twenty. So why not shoot for the twenty?

SPEAKER_02 21:02

That's it.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

So yeah, it's uh it's kind of crazy. So sorry, keep going. I I like hearing this.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Uh no, that that's I mean, you hit the nail on the head. The the it's the whole trite cliche uh saying you you you make money when you buy, not when you sell. Um, so that's we we learned that on our first deal. We overimproved the house. Uh we there were delays, there were all kinds of things that went wrong in the market.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

HTTV. You HCTV.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Yep. We did the we did the nice backsplash and we did all the stuff that we in the future, we we ended up not. You just gotta know your your your target uh market and where the property's located, and you got to do it based on the the standards of that area instead of you know just going in and making it something from HG TV like we did.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Um my uh business partner, he got uh he he almost killed me. So one time I had to spend fifteen thousand dollars on carpet. He's like, Are you what the heck are you spending? I go, Jaden, it's in a nicer area and it's 3,500 square feet. Yeah, so it was twice as much as a normal. You know, because typically we try to stay in the medium price range. It's like, oh, okay, but I had to go higher grade because at that time it was considered, you know, 360 home. And now that home is probably 500, just in you know, a few years that we've been doing it. But yeah, you just had to go higher, right? I mean, but you have to you have to put into what the neighborhood exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

It's like it's like anything. You're putting out a product for an end user, and you have to you have to be smart and know who your end user is. Is it a first-time buyer? Is it you know a move up buyer that's gonna expect you know a nicer product because it's in a nicer area? Um, and that that's the that's what we didn't really understand on that first flip. We just thought, you know, we just gotta make it as good as we can. And and uh yeah, that was not the right, the right move, but um, but it worked out. We made money.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Still made money, that's the key part of the bottom, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Exactly. And that all comes comes from buying it at the right price. Uh so yeah, so we did that one, and then you know, fast forward to the end of 2019, uh, let my licenses expire in the mortgage business, and just just had had enough and was ready to do my own thing. Um, so I I left that and and uh and we started uh flipping and it was it was a good it was it was it was good. We had some we had some great uh great deals in there and uh I was investing in syndications and and doing that whole thing. And um, and I actually a couple years later in 2022 uh with a with another guy, I uh I we bought with some silent partners. Uh him and I are the operating partners, but we bought um uh a wedding venue and a small hotel. Um and we still own those today. And and uh and then after that, I just venue and stuff too on it. What's that?

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Are you running the wedding venue or is somebody renting that out from you?

SPEAKER_00 24:12

No, he's yeah, my my my my partner and his wife, they do a great job.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Really? That's um so he owns a couple hotels or his own hotels too, um at different times, and then sold them too. He's taken hotels um and turned them more and extend a stay.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Oh, cool, okay. Like a midterm rental.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

Instead of having 20 people running the hotel and changing sheets every day, now you maybe have four because you have one person because you're changing them every week, and you're even just handing them the clothes, right? You're not even making the bet, anyways. Uh, he's had that model on a couple of them and and and cashed out on them.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

Yeah, I know that's pretty well on that. How big is your hotel?

SPEAKER_00 24:58

The the the motel is about I should say motel. It's uh it's seven rooms. It's it's in this area in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where there's a bunch of wire wineries and breweries, and uh it's real, it's real cool looking, and we we we put some money into it and it looks real modern, and and uh it's it's a cool, it's a cool little hotel. Um it's it's not big, it's seven rooms, like I said. Right. And uh, but it's yeah, it's a it's a cool project.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Do you make them like more of a Airbnb kind of?

SPEAKER_00 25:29

We are on air. We're we're syndicated across a bunch of different platforms, like Airbnb, Verbo, Expedia, all the we have a direct booking website. We want everyone to book there because then we don't have to pay a commission to one of the the the but what a cute little spot.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

You can make those so little, you know, neat with the wineries and yeah, people go on.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Drop that link in there in the chat down there to the um and we'll we'll make sure to include that. In fact, I might look into it because that's yeah, sure. That's a great little area, but yeah, we'll have Brady, our content guy, um make sure he works that in uh the link, the direct link.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Um that'd be we're empty masters now, Will, and so you know we have a grandkid, believe it or not. Um, I know we look so young.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Congrats.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Um he's perfect. How old is he? Yeah, we we six months.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Nice, six months.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

How old are your kids, boys?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Uh I have a three-year-old, he just turned three, and I have uh almost ten month old. Oh so I'm so yours are on the move. Oh, yeah. They're on the move. It's it's fun, it's a blessing.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

I'm in uh hey, the the baby needs changing mode. Here you go.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

That's yeah, that's that's the joy of being a grandparent. You don't have to you can you can love the the child and do you know and and and be there and hang out with them, but as soon as they poop, you can hand it right back.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Yeah, well, actually, he hands them to me. I'm like, no, I'm not I do that with my mom. I can hand it no, I get the baby, but that's okay. I'll change him. He's control.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

That's what grandmas do.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Yeah. So to circle, kind of jump back in here. It's explain syndications. Um what yeah, what is what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 27:17

So a syndication is basically where um it's it's it's basically where people aggregate funds together to buy a property that they couldn't buy on their own or that they don't want to buy on their own. So um in in in our case, and in most cases in real estate, there are two sides of the of the syndication. There's uh the the limited partners, who are the partners that are just putting up the the the money, the the funds, um, and they have no active role in the you know, you know, in managing the property. All all their role is to is to write a check and supply uh a portion of the equity, and that's it. Um and then the other side of it is the general partner or the general partnership, which is the um the group or person or entity that is tasked with uh running the deal and making sure it gets from point A to point B, which is whatever you projected. So um, so that's kind of it at a at a very high level.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Okay. And so and you were doing that, and that, and then you that led you into Harvey Capital?

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah, I've done uh so when I was flipping houses, I was investing as a limited partner. So I would I would make uh you know, I would, I would make some money on a on a flip and I would roll that into a a uh a syndication. So I would roll it into I had a few guys that were doing apartments, that was the main thing I did. Um I've invested in some mobile home parks as well, but uh apartments was was really the bread and butter. Um, and I would I would take a chunk of chunk of cash, you know, 25, 50, 50 grand, that was usually the increments that I would do, and I would uh just invest it into a a uh uh a syndication, you know, a hundred unit multifamily property in in Arizona or Texas or or wherever. And uh if the deal made sense, if the per I mean the the biggest thing with doing that is making sure that the the sponsor or the operator is is is the horse that you want to ride in on. You know, everything hinges on their ability and and and their uh their character. Um so yeah, you want proof that they've done it before.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

Exactly. Yeah, it's uh it's pretty big. Hey, I just wanted to pause if you see me disappear, I have my dogs in here, and I'm either letting them out or putting them back in. I I don't disrespect you. I I know about syndication very well.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

I have a very needy dog, so I understand.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

Yeah, well, I we got three of them here, and they're just there's only one that's really needy, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

He's he's just enthusiastic about life.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Yeah, well, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

He's enthusiastic.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Um so okay, and then so doing that, and then you started Harvey Capital in um when did you I actually start I actually formed the entity in 2018, but I didn't really I didn't really do anything with it. I I I I meant to be uh I I formed it in the in the hopes that I would become a syndicator and do uh these apartment deals on my on my own, where I would be the where Harvey Capital would be the general partner. And uh and over time I just realized that I don't like being on the operations side of things. I am I am very I love being behind behind a spreadsheet. I love being an XL. It's it's therapy for me. Um, you know, and and I am way better situated on the finance side of things. I don't I don't really, you know, the past almost decade of of real estate, I've kind of learned what I what I like, what I don't like, and uh, and I've settled on um on things that are in the financial realm as opposed to the real estate or operations realm. So, you know, now that looks like me running a uh hard money company. And uh and I have another fund where uh one of our things that we started doing recently is is buying uh owner finance notes from people. So we you know buy them at a at a discount and it works well for our fund. It puts cash in the hands of uh these these people that want to liquidate them.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

So I can see you liking notes, shoving notes back and forth. That's uh that was that would be a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

It's yeah, it's it's fun because you kind of get the you you get the elements of flipping that I enjoyed, which is the negotiating, the making offers, analyzing deals, but then you don't have to go and do all the work toilet and tenant. Exactly. Exactly. It's just a note, you're just buying a piece of paper, and as long as they pay, you know, Eddie Speed. I've heard of Eddie Speed, yeah. He's a big yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

He's he does a really good class for he's down in in uh uh I think is he in Dallas? He's in Texas, but I guess he's in Texas, yeah, or down there, but yeah, I run into him uh actually quite a bit with some of the groups that we uh that we hang around with. That's how I know a lot about the the notes.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

He's always talking the note, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Yeah, because he's he's always he's always talking notes, and then um he doesn't like contract for deeds whatsoever. Um because I don't know if you know, like in the 80s, they were abusing the contract for deeds, and so I guess Texas is a state that you can't do a contract for deeds because um interest rates was so they were so high. We're talking 18. Well, they would do they were doing these contract for deeds uh at 13 because they were basically letting somebody assume the mortgage from somebody else, and then that's when all these rules came out, anywho.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Um about and not something I've ever done.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah, yeah. So so I I just want to be clear. So you started um your capital business, how far in before you started flipping houses and like making a return there? Because it I I got to I I'm there where you flipped your first house.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

You said you flipped a bunch of them, but now you're uh you're you're investing money into syndications on different things, hotels, uh that was yeah, the hotels we bought those in 2020, the hotel and the wedding venue we bought in 22, and then it was uh 23 that I started my first fund, and pretty much everything since then that I've done. Um, like I said, I still have investments I've made in the past, and I we we still own those, uh, the the hotel in the in the wedding venue, but uh everything from there forward has been uh through the original fund that I started and then the um and then this this dedicated hard money fund that I started uh last year.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

So are you looking for more? You know, I mean this is if this this would be the time if you were going to, you know, are you looking for more money? I don't know what your role you know. Um again, we're we we have a fund too and credited, so we we can go out and ask people. Uh we can use it in different states now. Um we're we're trying to build that up also.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

That's great.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Um it's it feels like we spent a lot of money to get that piece of paper that's like yay thick, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:46

I mean, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

Yeah, um, so yeah, we we build funds uh all the time. So that's great. You're now building funds now. So what does the day-to-day operation look like in in your day? You know, just hop on some podcasts every once in a while. Yeah, that's what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

That's yeah, that that that's right. And I um, you know, we recently so when I started doing hard money, it was out of this other fund that wasn't really meant for hard money, it was just uh it was a real estate fund where we were uh gonna back operators that were doing projects, like uh we did a multifamily built-to-rent property that was newly built. We put some funds into that, and uh we we did some mobile home parks. And that was the goal was the was to continue doing that kind of stuff. Um, but in the interim, we had we had cash sort of laying around and not generating a great return just being in treasury bills. So uh I had I had an old coworker when I was from when I was in the mortgage business, he called and he he said, Hey, I have this uh I have this guy that he's from a different country, he's he was from Ghana. And he said, Hey, this guy he's got great income. He's he earns he owns a hotel in his country, and you know, he he he earns great income and he's putting down 75 on this brand new house, right, you know, 10 minutes from where I lived in a great area. And uh he's like he just he just can't qualify for a loan and he needs a 25% loan. And and he he was asking me to do a hard money loan, 20 25 L T V in first lean, you know, first lean position. Yeah, and uh and it was before he got before he got finished saying all that, I was like, I'm in. I'm I'm good, yeah, no brainer. So I got some money to work there, and uh, and I just caught the bug. And and so the hard money thing has been accidental.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

I I did I I I dipped out a little bit, but I heard everything that you were saying. I was waiting for Jen to send me back in because it still had you talking. So if you saw me disappear and I came back, I I heard I heard everything.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Yeah, so that's kind of how it most of the things happen that are that are really good, you right? It's uh they happen by accident, and that's that's one of those things that Jen and I always say it's a godly thing. Amen. It's like something was going, wait a minute, you gotta go do this. But I thought I was supposed to do this. Nope, I guess this is he he he leaves it to the front of you that nope, you're going this way now.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Yeah, um, so this question for both of you, kind of as we're wrapping up here, we'll um but James too. Um kind of a two-parter. So in this the market we're in right now, um, where what do you see as far as opportunities in the next few years for people to kind of watch for? And then and what are you paying attention to in the market right now? Like what what's gonna affect some of the just the investment industry in general? What do you what do you guys think?

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Well, I I'm very I'm of the strong belief that real estate is just so localized that the the the national data, if you're if you're operating nationally, then great, you should you should listen to that. But um if you're in a local market like we are, or even just uh one state, that's where you should be having your finger in the wind and focused on.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

And and that's what I well, but that's the power of this darn internet. Everybody thinks they have an opinion, and it's like you're I a hundred hundred percent agree with you. It's like quit trying to go off the national average, go off your area, understand real estate is local, yeah. Sorry, that was that just hit you just hit a nerve, man.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

That was no, it's it's so true, and I and I think the same thing when I start start hearing people regurgitate regurgitate statistics nationally, it's like who cares?

SPEAKER_03 38:50

It doesn't it it doesn't mean anything, and again, unless you're a national lender or a national builder or or or whatever you're a numbers guy, and and I don't know if you feel this way too, because you're saying something that I normally lean more into, is um if we all knew the correct KPIs and had the exact same KPIs, how we're judging something, then we can go off of that, but we don't, and so one person says, you know, one thing because their statistics are saying 35. I'm just making up numbers, right? And I go, that's why I don't like those, and that's why what you just said hit a nerve to me because I'm like, Yeah, it's quit taking all this stuff, all these statistics from outside our area, yeah, taking them in our area, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

So that this this to some people, this might sound crazy, but I get the best information from just listening to what other people are saying and talking to borrowers, talking to other lenders. Um, I go to meetup groups and networking things, and and I hear, I've been hearing lenders, I heard it more than once where lenders are talking about um having to do extensions and stuff sitting on the market longer. So, you know, that's a data point for me. And immediately once I heard that two or three times, it's like, all right, well, we're gonna we're gonna cut our our uh our max uh you know, you know, the percentage we'd lend based on the ARV, we're gonna cut that a little bit because you know, I don't want to run into a situation where we're we're where we're uh you know over over leveraged on a ones.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Yeah, I mean that's part, you know. I mean that's for money, and you have to understand it. You have to understand now. When you lend, are you just lending to in your area? Are you uh can you lend to different states or right now?

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Just just Virginia. So we're we're we're really just focused on Virginia. I like uh well the the big thing is that I live here, I know the markets that that I'm in and uh under understand them. I understand the the borrowers that we're trying to serve and and uh you know so many guys that I talk to have, you know, the the guys that have gotten in trouble in 2008 or or whenever. Um so many times I have heard the same story where they say, you know, the stuff that I was doing in my local market did did fine. I would have survived there. It it actually did did great, but it was the stuff that I did outside of my market that led to my downfall and led to them having to file bankruptcy or having to whatever. Um, and it I've heard that story so many times where somebody somebody just they they they get too big for their britches and things are going great, and they start investing in Miami. They live in Virginia, and Virginia is what they know, but they have somebody that starts talking to them in Miami, and they're like, Well, let's let's do this in Miami, let's do developers.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Total different market, total, yeah. You know, we we just did a uh podcast, um, Jana and I about like the top the top 10 worst markets to be in right now. And it I wanted to let everybody know, and who is listening, is it doesn't mean don't you can't start a franchise here, it just means you have to buy lower. That's what that means. Because this business works, our business works. It just means you need to know where where is the bottom or where is the top, right? And if you know that, you you then that's what you offer, and that's what you go for. So you Jen asked a couple questions. I jumped in, and then I think we kind of got off, right? Uh, Jen, what was the the rest of your your question?

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Um, what are you guys paying attention to?

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Or what should even regardless of the market, what should people pay attention to when they're investing, when they're looking at um lenders or uh I think the biggest thing for both lenders and talking in the realm of residential investing, I think that both lenders and uh investors should be paying attention to inventory and what's going on right now and interest rates and and just what the supply in their local market, forget the national averages, forget the national stuff, look in your local market, your and even it's even neighborhood by neighborhood, you know, right? It's so localized that if you're not in your in your market and and have boots on the ground and a and a and a uh you know pulse on what's going on in the different neighborhoods, then you're you're just at a disadvantage to the guys that do uh have have a beat on all that. So um, you know, I would just I would just say pay attention to all that stuff. It's what I'm paying attention to. I'm looking at what what is stuff that's sitting. I'm looking at um just what what people are saying, what other what our borrowers are are are saying and their experience and um the DSCR lenders, because a lot of times we we do a loan and it gets taken out by a by a DSCR loan, uh, where someone gets out of our short term loan and into a long term uh fixed rate loan. And you know, is that process Easy. Are those guys pulling back? Or are those? I just think there's so many data points that um there's no like set science to it. At least I don't think there is. Um, but there's a lot of data points that that are a lot simpler to find than than people probably think.

SPEAKER_03 44:31

So one of the other things that we keep finding is like on a data point where you have a$500,000 house that sells and uh um a$250,000 house that sells. Well, now they say the average house is you know$325,000. You know, I'm not doing my yeah, you understand what I'm saying. Is that they're they're they're pulling it off. So but there's just as many houses as the medium houses that are below that people are still moving. Um the higher price of houses are they're not as moving, but like you said, we know our market, so um, we know that people are gonna if they're gonna go into a different mortgage right now and they're gonna move and they're not empty nesters, they're uh they're moving up, they're going to buy in uh the springtime because we live in a winter state, and if you're in a school district, you want to be in a certain school district, that's the time that you move. So we plan our flips that know that they go live when we know they're gonna be hot because again, we know our market, yeah. So that again, that it just referred back to you hit a nerve when you said that just these numbers, it's like go off your own market, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Guys can sound smart by you know reading all these uh these data points and what the experts say on the national stuff and what supply is, and but it's it's all kind of nonsense, right?

SPEAKER_03 45:55

So, hey Will, as we we kind of finish up, is there anything that you want to get across at all? I mean, this is you know, like I said, it's an open uh format. Um, otherwise, I would love to have you on again for like different times and just maybe focus in on like one thing of uh maybe you know syndication and stuff because there's a lot to be said about right now about that. Um, there's a lot of there's a lot of those loans that are coming due that are five six from when they they set them up, and now we got properties and commercial properties that you know we got one that was what downtown Minneapolis, a hundred million dollars, and I think it sold for 10. You know, I mean that was literally the difference in in the price. So again, I I really think you could uh we could talk a little bit more in in depth. Um apartments, and then you know, and then you can talk a little bit more the loan. So that would be something I think I would want to grab Jaden um to to have him on. Uh that would be great.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

I I do I and I we didn't even talk about this, but I've uh in that first fund, we we we invest uh we we invest in publicly traded uh real estate companies as well. And there's there's a lot of you know things I've seen going on from reading all the all the filings from those different REITs and and things like that, and just seeing all the all the carnage and loans being pushed back and and uh right you know it's it's it's very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

Yeah, no, I mean I we're we're we're getting um we're getting better at this going back and forth, and I hope it uh it I thought it went well. I just think it uh we could even narrow down to like uh just even a more of a topic because sure um you're pretty interested in listening to.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Um and uh yeah, I I think Yeah, obviously very knowledgeable and and you're in in the real estate investment.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Tell you what, we'll find out how many views this gets if it gets a bunch.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

Then we'll no pressure, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Yeah, yeah, no pressure, no pressure.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Um yeah, did you have anything that you know?

SPEAKER_01 47:56

What's one one final nugget that you would want people to walk away with?

SPEAKER_03 47:59

Well, no, I wanted the if he had anything that uh any anything on his agenda. I didn't I didn't know and then he would give us one nugget, one nugget, one nugget.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

No, I I mean I I don't uh not not really. I just I hope this was helpful for your for your audience. If you know if they want to get in touch with me, I'm sure you'll put my info in the yeah in the show notes. But um, no, I mean I just hope this was helpful.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

It it might even you might even get some hits where you know there's a lot of people that want to talk to other Christians too, you know. Yeah, um, which is uh is amazing. Um yeah, no, I mean that's another avenue you know we can so Jaden and I we we do a podcast where we're like hey this is a Jameson Jaden show where we talk about real estate and whatever else comes up. And then you know sometimes you know we we talk about our faith, and sometimes you know we're talking about you know, hey, should we go get a rental over here and blah blah blah, you know? Yeah, um and then I how many port what's your portfolio look like? Yeah, me we can even we can end it and we can we can finish talking. You want to end it, hon, and then we can talk. Yeah, uh so I was just gonna talk to him really quick. And then I'll ask you is like that could be another avenue for talking to.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Yeah, I feel like there are a few different shows we could do here, or you know, a few different topics we can pull from. But um, if anybody has questions and wants to get in touch with you, um how what how can they do that? What's your yeah?

SPEAKER_00 49:24

They can they can go to my website, it's uh Harvey-capital.com, or they can just shoot me an email, will at Harvey-Capital.com.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Perfect. And um, yeah, that's uh like I said, we'll probably have you back on at some point and yeah, if you'd like deeper and just dig deeper into some of these topics because um it's definitely something that that people want to hear about. And uh this is yeah, this has been great. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

It's therapeutic for me to talk about this stuff. I talk about it with my wife, and her eyes start to glaze over and she falls asleep. So, you know, it's it's good to it's good to talk about this stuff. It's therapy for me.

SPEAKER_03 50:03

Is she in the business at all?

SPEAKER_00 50:04

Or uh she has her own, she's she's in in the occupational therapy world. So she has her own business, but no, she's she's not in in this. She's very she I I I'm I say that jokingly. She's very interested in what I'm doing. She's right, she's an amazing wife and uh awesome supporter of the city.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

No, sometimes we just glaze over when it's like we start yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

Um so we're we're on this venture now of um of we're we're actually working together now. I mean, again, we've always worked together, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:36

Yeah, for the past 10 years, you know, we've been building this, but we've been in different areas. Like I've been the operations and behind the scenes, and James is and Jaden are the visionary, so they're out kind of um driving everything. But so now with the franchise side of things, James and I are actually together going to conferences and conventions to learn about franchising and to get the word out there and doing the podcast. So it's a little different dynamic for us.

unknown 51:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:05

Um would you say that that has helped or hurt your marriage? No, we're not even at that.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

No, no, but you know what? It's you you don't understand, Will. This is it's been very hard for us for the last um I would say five to seven years because we're at that age where parents are friends of ours, they got their kids out of the out of the house and then they divorce. And so one of the things that I always did, I always went straight to her. She always went straight to me when we walked through the door, and then we would go to the kid. And it's it's so the kid would always go, Hey, hey, um, you know, mom's doing this. I go, you know what, I would love to agree with you, but you're gonna turn 18 and move out, and then I'm gonna still have to live with mom. So I'm gonna agree with mom.

SPEAKER_00 51:53

And I just literally said it that I love that, right?

SPEAKER_03 51:56

Yeah, it's it's and you know what? And she went, okay. You know, and it was just that's just the way it was, and that's that's the best.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Uh you know, it it adds, I mean, it it adds a different level to the relationship instead of you know, when you when you're having to interact uh a different dynamic to the relationship. And I actually talked to John and Amy Nolan this morning on another podcast, who are another husband and wife team in Oklahoma. Um, and people are always amazed that like wait, you you work together, you live together, you actually still like to socialize and hang out together. Um, and I said, you know, it's it's weird. That's why we got married. Like that's why, you know, and yeah, it's right sometimes it's a challenge, and sometimes, you know, you you're um that's that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

It's it's you know when it's business, it's business, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:48

And when it's not business, it's it's not business.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

Yeah, and being able to separate that, and then you know what Amy, John and Amy and I talked about this morning too is respecting the other person's skill set, you know, because I I can't do what James does, and James can't do what I do, and that's you know why when James and Jaden kind of this all came together, they're like, Oh, we need somebody with this skill set, and brought me in to run the office and the operations, and um, and it it's really just a trust and respect thing, like yeah, amen. That's awesome. Um, but yeah, it's been good. So now we're going down this uh this new path and and we'll figure out it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 53:28

It's uh it's figure out what it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

That's so great.

SPEAKER_03 53:31

Another challenge, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

It's yeah, I'm pumped for you guys. Seems like you guys got a good thing going.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

Yeah, we'll we'll keep in touch. And then like I said, we'll have you on again. And thank you everybody for listening. That's Will Harvey and James.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

You're you're oh you're you're still going?

SPEAKER_01 53:47

Yeah, we're still going. We got all that. Brady will just Brady will work with it. He's our content guy. So um awesome. Thanks, everybody.

SPEAKER_03 53:57

Thanks, guys. Thank you.