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Turn Up The Hustle Podcast
Welcome to the Turn Up The Hustle Podcast – Where real estate investors and entrepreneurs share their stories, strategies, and mindset behind their hustle.
Turn Up The Hustle Podcast
Turn Up The Hustle EP 15 - Clint Belew
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This episode of the Turn Up the Hustle podcast features Clint Belew, a real estate investor who shares his journey from framing houses for $100 a day to building a commercial real estate empire.
The discussion covers the tactical advantages of "triple net" leases, the transition from managing 40 residential rentals to scalable commercial assets, and how wholesalers can pivot into high value commercial deals. Clint also introduces his platform, CommercialJV.com, designed to help investors partner on and fund distressed commercial properties.
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Podcast Introduction ️
SPEAKER_02Hustlers, on today's episode of the Turk to Hustle Podcast, we're setting up the hustler who's a real estate investor with a powerful story of growth in the industry. He started out framing houses, got his first taste of investing by flipping his first deal at just the age of 23, and went on to build a successful house flipping business. Now he's made the transition to commercial real estate, investing in it full time. This episode is all about evolution, leveling up, and what it takes to scale in real estate. Today's episode, Clint Ballou. Welcome to another episode of the Turn of the Hustle Podcast, where real estate investors and entrepreneurs share their stories, strategies, and mindset behind your hustle. I'm Michael Giannis, aka Mr. Hustle. To my right, Scott Moon. Let's go. Today's special guest, Clint Balou. How you doing, man?
SPEAKER_01Doing great, man. Thanks for having me, guys.
SPEAKER_02Now thank you for being here. Every podcast, I always start the same. My hustle is real estate wholesaling, real estate flipping, and real estate subject too. When someone thinks of Clint, what is Clint's hustle?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I've been pushing hard lately for the last about five years in uh commercial real estate. So that's the uh that's the push, man. That's the game, that's the hustle right now.
SPEAKER_02When I think of Clint, I think of commercial, I think of club space for some reason. Night nightlife, what is when I when I think of you. But we'll get into it, man. So commercial before we get into the uh who was Clint before commercial, did you always start a commercial or you at residential?
SPEAKER_01No, residential. Residential first.
SPEAKER_02All right, so before the before the commercial, before the residential, before the club nightlife space that you're in, who was Clint before all this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh started like 18 years old, 21 years old. I was construction full, full blown. So they were uh, you know, the boys would be out there and we're we're framing houses. That's where I really started. So that's kind of how I learned um to get into my flipping hustle. So as I was doing the construction, I would be like, man, I could I could do this, right? And I would look around, go, man, what's what's going on with all these guys that are nobody was flipping. This is like 20 years ago. Nobody was flipping like they are now. Everybody flips right now. How old are you? 41. Oh, 30 young. Oh man, yeah, it's 30 young.
SPEAKER_02They were like 32, 33.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I'll take it.
SPEAKER_02All right. So when you're saying you're out there framing, like you're out there in the sun, in in the works, in the trenches.
SPEAKER_01I'm walking top plates, I'm framing headers. Yeah, I'm going at it. How'd you even get into it? How'd you get into it? Yeah, there was a friend of mine at church that was that was a builder basically. So he would put crews together and we'd all go out on the cruise and and go for it. So yeah, I was making a hundred bucks a day just straight weddle, you know. I mean, they they were I was going at it, man. It was funny because now, you know, we're hearing a lot more about, you know, like like the deportations and things. But I would tell you, back then, I I would be up on a roof and be like, guys, and dudes would just take off running. Like the big green trucks would pull up, and it was it was wild. Yeah. So that was like my mystery. So it's nothing new going on right now. No, yeah, of course. Nothing new under the sun ever. But I mean, we're here in San Antonio, so you know, it's kind of normal, I guess. But yeah, I I would say um, even recently, I've seen some guys that aren't here anymore, some of my some of my crews, and then they'll they'll make it back typically. But uh make it back. I mean, that was that was my world. So I still work with, believe it or not, some of the guys that still do they're still in construction. Wow. So now I'm just hiring them instead of working with them.
SPEAKER_02So how was that working with them? Spanish? How's your Spanish?
SPEAKER_01Uh, not too great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You were channeling?
First House Flip
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I knew a lot of the the good construction uh lingo lingo, you know, and we would go to like the little like taquerillas that were all just complete Spanish. Uh-huh. So when they would say, like, hey, say something like this, you know, and I'd say it to the girls, you know, and they would laugh and think it was cute, and then I'd be like, What did I say? And I'm like, dude, like nowadays for sure that's changed. I would be in some shit, you know? Like you can't talk to them like that. But I didn't know what I was saying, right? So they would just think it was like funny and everything. So, but yeah, no, it was uh it was legit, man. Born and raised in San Antonio? No, I was born in Oklahoma. So yeah, Oklahoma, I don't remember much. Funny enough, um, I moved here at 12. So sixth grade started here. And I always just think like, if you didn't drive in a place or something, like what do you remember of it? I remember a little bit, obviously, but when you're a kid, it's just like, you know, going to sports or you know, whatever little things around there. We we had um, it was kind of different actually in Oklahoma. I had um a motorcycle track instead of like a pool in my neighborhood. So we did like dirt bikes, which was pretty dope. But once I got here, um, yeah, we didn't ride much as as much. I mean, I rode street bikes here and there, but yeah, so Oklahoma was cool, but I love San Antonio. I mean, it's definitely home and you know, where where I've been and been doing, you know, real estate. I feel like I guess maybe that's why I feel like when I drove around buying a bunch of real estate at one point, it was like, man, I knew every street.
SPEAKER_02So you're 18, you're on the ruse with the Mexicans, as you say, right? Hard work, manual labor. What's the next step after being a framer to get you into your first your own flip? Because a lot of people watching this podcast are typically flippers or wholesalers. And it takes a lot for someone to, hey, I just don't have the money to do the first flip. What were you at after framing? How long was framing till you got your first flip for you?
SPEAKER_01Man, so again, back then there was a funny thing, a little loophole that uh I was married at the time, and my ex-wife was working with Syntex Homes, and she was going to go be a loan officer, and they had something called stated income loans. So it was like, How much do you make? And I was like, What do you mean? They were like, you can state your income.
unknownSo I was like, look.
SPEAKER_02You've been around for a minute, man.
SPEAKER_01Let's state some income. Yeah. I was right, I wish I knew back then, right? Yeah, yeah. So we would just state income. So um, yeah, I stated more than I I had, obviously, and um was able to build my first house. So at 23, my crews that I was working with were also helping me build uh build my first house. So I did a design build, and yeah, it turned out pretty cool. We lived there two years, we were able to sell it tax-free, and then use that money. So about 26, 27, started really pushing and buying um actual flip homes.
SPEAKER_02So your first house was your live in homestead built from the ground up with your plants using the stated income.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Because I mean the crash was oh eight, right? That's when uh the state income was.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was probably right around there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Sold that house and then you got your that's where you use to do your first true flip, if you will.
SPEAKER_01You know, we made, you know, I don't know, 35 to 50 grand, something like that. And yeah, then I went and bought my first uh, you know, foreclosure house basically. So over in River Road, which is now, you know, all these homes that I had back in the day were, you know, 150, 200,000 or something and selling for 500 right now or something, you know.
SPEAKER_02Crazy, right? How yeah everything appreciates, especially in the pockets of the San Antonio.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_02So now you're flipping houses.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The crew from back then, you use those guys?
SPEAKER_01Man, I've got so many crews at this point. Yeah. So I I mean, I would start out doing a lot of the work. So in the beginning, um, you know, keep my expenses low still. So I didn't change any of that. And, you know, I learned kind of fast. Um the money would just go fast. I mean, I made like a hundred grand. I remember showing everyone that you know.
SPEAKER_02You all know, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I I remember eating out at a Mexican restaurant. I was like, I have a hundred grand, you know. I'm like looking on my phone, like showing everybody like in my account, like this is sick, you know. I went and bought like two homes and I was like, dude, I don't know how I'm gonna eat next week. You know, I was literally like, I didn't realize it was gonna be like that, right? I mean, everybody, all the gurus and you know, the Montalongos were here, right? So seeing all those guys doing it, and you're like, dude, I'm gonna have a hundred million dollars in a week, you know, this is easy. Obviously, it wasn't like that. And so, um, yeah, we were living low, but still making good money and just always turning it into the next deal, the next deal, the next deal. But I was also taking on projects that others wouldn't take on, I think because I knew construction. So there's a lot of deals out there that, you know, you couldn't I think at some point I always say like the the housewives got involved in flipping, making it a little tougher. So they had a husband that made, you know, some pretty decent cash. They go, okay, I'm gonna go buy a house, right? So they have their own little thing that they're doing, right? I was like, man, I can't compete with that, but I can go in and do a massive rehab, completely changing, adding huge additions, things like that. And so that was kind of my my wheelhouse for a while. But again, I wasn't turning the cash as quick as I wanted, and and the uh the cash flow just wasn't there.
SPEAKER_02You mentioned the uh month alongos. Ever do anything with those guys?
SPEAKER_01No, um I you know I've I've interacted back then. Um I was living kind of right by their offices and uh they were doing their thing, but no, I mean I I would see them, hear them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Back then, flipping houses back then, you know the month of longos.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'll still see David sometimes, and you know, yeah. Everyone's I'm I'm cool with all of them, but I never really like did business with them.
SPEAKER_02So, how many as residential, how many years were you in residential?
Triple Net Lifestyle
SPEAKER_01Man, I mean, you know, I don't know that we ever leave residential in some ways, right? So yeah, I I just sold uh my last, you know, I had 40 rentals at one point. There there was a time where I was really building this up. And um, yeah, I I I still have a residential lot right now, but I sold most of the houses and and have really been in the last three years like pushing a lot harder, just commercial. Um once I got, and we'll get into, but once I started getting a triple net uh kind of lifestyle, if you will, I was like, I'm not going back. So I I can't imagine that I would go back um to owning as many rentals or anything like that. But there's always the little random one-offs for whatever reason, you know, where it's like, I'm not gonna do this again, or I'm not, and then you, you know, like I got a lot, right? I'm like, maybe I'll build on it, or maybe I'll do that, you know. And so that those do pop up. Um, you know, I'll wholesale some every now and then, or pick, you know, something comes up that makes sense, but for the most part, I'm trying not to hold them.
SPEAKER_02Let's go back to the basics. You said something about triple net. For those who don't know what triple net means, how would you break down what a triple net really means in the commercial space?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, real simple. You know, when you when you jump into commercial, it's funny because they have like different terms. So, and it's the same ideas, but triple net would be um, I guess you would almost relate it to an owner-finance home almost, in the way that if the water, you know, uh AC goes out or a roof leak or, you know, the water burst or something, it's on you. So they've got to pay taxes, they've got to pay insurance, they've got to pay pretty much ev everything. That's right. So, you know, you you're you're owning something, and I'm getting that appreci appreciation, but I'm not having to to demand really any of the situation.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03I learned about triple nets the hard way because I was a retail operator for 12 years. And I mean, yeah, we would go to sign l. I did, I don't know why. I was always negotiating my own deals since the time I was 18, never hired a a really an agent, and just kind of learned through the school of hard knocks. And so I really got good at reading commercial leases because I mean at one point I think I had signed probably my career I've signed over a hundred commercial leases as personal guarantor. So with your name on the guarantor, you've got to know what the hell you're getting into, right? And so, yeah, man, it's crazy. You're you're literally paying for their building, paying for all the maintenance, paying, you know, so the guy that's mowing the lawn, the guy that's free-striping the parking lot that's coming out of your rent or on top of your rent, you've got a base rent, and then you've got a triple net. You're paying for the taxes, the insurance, every on top of you have to buy your own insurance. So you're paying their insurance and your insurance, right? So it's from a landlord's standpoint, it's the best thing that you could possibly do. From a renter's standpoint, it sucks because the other thing, too, is your triple net is it fleck it's flexible. It doesn't stay the same. Next year, when taxes go up because the state raises taxes, the landlord doesn't have any worries. It's up to the tenant. Hey, you know, it used to be$2,000 a month extra in taxes, now it's$3,000 an extra month in taxes and there's not a thing you can do about it. There's no reconciliation from from and if you hey, actually, you know what? It changed last year, we forgot to bill you, so you owe us$24,000 this year from last year, and your rent's going up$3,000 this year, and there's nothing you can do about it. Hey, my AC went out, it's$26 grand to replace it. Cool. Right. Good luck. Let me know how it works for you. But not only that, you have to put it up to par with what's in the lease. Sure. It can't be some used old unit. They want a new one on there and they want it to be serviced every year, and they want to see your service contract. Right. And so from a from a landlord standpoint, like you said, there's no reason to go back to to residential once you can break into that commercial space because there's like no risk other than just your your tenant defaulting, and then you've got, you know, obviously you can talk about it better than I can, but there's investment that goes into it to rehab in the space. If you know you've got a national brand that's, you know, an A uh I don't know what you're calling, an A-rated tenant that comes in there, you know, wingstop, and they say, hey, we want to put a wingstop here, you know they're gonna pay forever, but we need y'all to contribute 250 grand towards the finish out. So there's some stuff, you know, there's pros and cons in it like any other real estate business, but it is it is top tier uh as far as collecting rent goes.
Residential vs. Commercial
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I you know, and that's really the thing is um I I saw other guys doing it, and there's not a lot of people talking about it, which is sort of interesting, although it's almost maybe they're just like hiding it, right? And so um, yeah, I I started seeing a lot of the the older guys that I looked up to in real estate doing it. And I was thinking, man, why, why, you know, why why isn't everyone doing this, I guess? And I'm looking at these rental homes, and even even though I had I had um, you know, people running it, property management, that kind of stuff, um, things would still slip through the cracks, right? It was like, hey, we'll call you anything over$500 or something, right? And it would be like, oh, we we we tried to get a hold of you, we couldn't. Um there was a hole in the wall and it was, you know,$1,800 to fix. And you're like, come on, man, for a hole in drywall, you know, but those things would just kill and just wreck wreck my year. Yeah. Of um, you know, I always relate it to if your HVAC goes out, you're making two to three hundred bucks uh a month and that's gone with one HVAC. So basically a whole house would just go away. So I started looking at my numbers. I remember in like 2016-ish and going, like, man, like I've got a lot going out, not much coming in for what for what I had, and you're sitting on these houses, which of course are are appreciating, which is great. But all the gurus, like I said, are saying, like, dude, you should be, you know, with your family, you know, you, wife, kids, everybody on a yacht in Greece. You don't need to be even around. I mean, they're still out there all over Instagram, and I'm just always like laughing by it, you know. I've even posted, like, hey, you know, I'll repost something like that, be like, is it true? And it's so funny to see even half of the investors that I guess say they're investors or whatever will be like, yeah, absolutely, this is true. And I'm just like, guys, this is not it. But I did see the commercial guys doing that because again, I mean, if your AC went out, real honestly, you probably weren't even calling the landlord to tell them you were just fixing your AC. So it wasn't, it wasn't like something that I would even know about, possibly. Boy, I was calling, I was calling him telling me to help help me, give me some TI or something.
SPEAKER_03Actually, Solomon Abdel, I'll give him props. He's an older Jewish guy. I think he's still around. He's like in his late 90s now. And uh he actually, because I was young, dude, I was 18, 19 when I started. I didn't have money to replace. I had to replace two AC units. He actually stepped up and said, Hey, we'll finance it. You still gotta pay us back. Your rent will go up, you know, 400 bucks a month until it's paid back. But shout out to that guy. There are some good landlords sometimes that'll that'll help you out.
SPEAKER_02Makes sense when you say owner financing. Very, very much similar to this. It's one real one good way to break it down, mean. So you said you had 40 rentals. You decided, hey, I'm gonna go to commercials, I sold the rentals, or why do we sell those 40 rentals and I just hold on to them?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that kind of takes me, I guess, into getting into commercials. So at one point, I was like, man, yeah, this just isn't adding up, right? I didn't have Chat GPT to easily break this down. It's funny because I plugged it in, I don't know, a year ago, let's say, and I was like, you know, here's my PLs, here's the stuff from like back then. I was like, tell me why this wasn't working and why, you know, it was like it basically came out to something. I I should release something about it, but it was like it came out to where I was like, oh, it's gonna take you 12 years to actually get to where you want to be. And if you were working in a triple net kind of situation, you you're like year two, right? Like things could be moving and possibly even a lot of what I can do is like right away, right? So if you go in and get something that's distressed, so I got rid of most of most of those right away and then jumped into commercial. Um, I was still flipping houses, income, but jumping in and actually holding more into commercial. And so I was able to get into that. And at the time, my bankers here in town were like, listen, if you can own the building with, I mean, the business within it, the next time you go as an entrepreneur to go buy a building, you go, okay, I want to buy a building and I want to take up X amount of percent, then we can give you two different loans and actually get that going as well. So that's what I jumped into right away after that.
Commercial Building Fear
SPEAKER_02Commercial space, a whole different animal. Yeah, exactly. From what I from what I was texting. I'm obviously I'm a big residential guy. I just done it since day one, so I kind of stick to what I know. But for someone who wants to trans who wants to transition, what's the first couple of things they should know about commercial? I mean, it's tough to even break into, I would think. Um or it could be easy. Maybe I don't know. Yeah, I I think people um they just see commercial building, they see higher numbers, they see things.
SPEAKER_01I think they're just scared of it right away, right? I I don't think that it's harder. And in some ways, um it could be easier. It's easier. I mean, I I just bought one recently, 16,000 square feet. So you go like, oh my God, that's crazy or something. It wouldn't be a normal house to flip. In the same breath, it's a metal building. So you you look around and you go, like, I can see everything. I don't have to know what's behind the walls. I don't know, you know, I'm going in, I'm doing brand new electrical, right? But again, there's not much to do. And then you and then you have tenants that go, hey, I want to do this with it or that with it. And so, you know, one thing that I've been kind of preaching to people recently is like, if you go buy a house right now, it's a house. I can go buy a building and, you know, the the building here, right? It could turn into anything. I mean, the the spaces can change with within parameters, zoning, depending on where you're at, that kind of stuff. But um, yeah, I was able to buy a metal building, see everything, know everything. To me, it felt less scary than what I would normally buy as like a flip house, not knowing, especially historical or something. I wouldn't know what's under, you know, under the ground. What, you know, people walk through a house, they're like, dude, if if your foundation is a little cracked and you don't think about it, right? It's your first one. And you go, okay, well, I'm gonna buy this house. Let's, you know, let's level it out. Boom, you break all of your pipes underneath, you do this and that. And you're going like, oh my god. Watching my Instagram, dude. Did you just have one?
SPEAKER_03No, my first one of my first ones for me.
SPEAKER_01It's normal, right? I mean, it's literally that normal. And that was to me like, God, that's so much worse. I mean, honestly, where I can go in, clean something up, get it a little bit nicer, and then and then get a tenant. And the tenant either wants, you know, in this situation, um, we're we're kind of taking it more into a flex, which will really pump rents. So I'll keep rents fairly low in the beginning, uh, put them on, you know, they're they're on five-year-ish leases. Um, but yeah, again, I I think the difference is too, is you're structuring. You you can almost structure it however you want. They're they're a different contract. And so again, it's like, you know, you get into residential and it's like pretty standard, right? Like just kind of like here's how it's gonna be. You can go into commercial and you could do a 20-year lease, you could do a hundred, you know, not you have 99-year leases, you know, you can get TI where they, you know, it's 10 to improve, they're they're gonna give you money. There's like ways, so it's it's actually it in some ways to me, like, I guess that's more complicated because there's more options, but it's also like, yeah, there's so many options.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's go to the first one so I can get a better understanding. You're doing framing, flipping, and then you got your first commercial presentation opportunity. How'd you find it? What did you do with it? Was it are you still having it? What's the exit strategy on that first commercial? Like, all right, let me get my foot on the door.
Finding Commercial Deals
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I'll give you a little backup on that. Is I was also GCing projects. So I was building a lot of the bars and restaurants here in town. One of the more popular ones, I built Tony Parker's. Um, I had built that Nueve? Uh yeah, Nueve. I finished out um, I believe one that possibly, I don't know if you got into it, um, but uh Boulevard. Oh my gosh, yes. It was a nightmare. Yeah. The guys uh they called me and I was like, man, I'm done building bars. Like I at some point, I you know, I was like, I did the the aquifer was the first one. So that'll date. I mean, it's been like 16, 17 years. Um uh slackers. I I was the GC and and would kind of like help with, you know, how to set it up, build it, do it, the whole thing. And I remember even walking into my first metal building, if you will, um, with the aquifer. And I remember looking up being like, dude, I don't even know how these trusses work. I'm a wood guy. So it was like a scary thing in the beginning, I guess. And um, I remember being like, yeah, I can do this, no problem. And I had no clue. Like I was just like, dude, I remember calling my welders and being like, guys, hey, boys, what do I do? Right. So I was like sort of like, man, I was a little lost. And again, it's a little easier now. I mean, I feel like you can jump on YouTube pretty quick and almost learn a lot of stuff. And again, using AI or whatever, you know, hey, what's this picture? And it'll tell you, right? So, fast forward, I I go to buy this building, like my first one. I said, Okay, cool. It's uh it's a vet clinic since 1945. I go, perfect. These guys have been here since 1945, they're part of the City Vet Clinic, which is like there's quite a few around town, and you know, so they Paying a little under what I wanted them to pay, but I was like, I'll bump it up a little bit, just leave it and walk away and start this triple net game, right? So um How'd you find it? Uh I found it honestly, just posted online. Um, that's another thing I think that people don't realize in commercial. There's like a window, I would say anything uh even lenders don't like things under like$10 million, believe it or not. So you've got this window of like, you know, half a million dollars up to five million dollars. Investing firms won't touch them either. So this was sitting on market. It was an older building and it was it was distressed, right? Nobody wanted it. Because again, I think a lot of people, hey, I, you know, I'm gonna put a little money into this, keep moving and go. And that's kind of the commercial, you know, the the Solomons of the world, you know, that they're not necessarily like flipping these things. I wasn't looking to either. And literally the next day after we closed, the guys were like, hey, we're not renewing the lease, you know, jokes on you. And I was like, dude, it's been, you know, 80 years. What do you mean? You know, and if you see the new vet clinics, though, they're like hospitals, they're awesome. So I got and they were like, man, we're not gonna build this up. So I was like, okay. They had like, I don't know, uh, you know, six months left on a lease or something like that. And I said, okay, well, I know how to build bars and you know, the the space was cool, um, like, you know, in an area where it could be that. So um, you know, again, that that goes back into my my my banker saying, well, you can, you know, own, operate, and run, and and we can give you all kinds of different, you know, deals. And um, you're you're not bound by like a like you know, the strict laws of of residential loans. I said, okay. So I started plans and and and that was kind of the start of what is now MAVE. Um, you know, and yeah, it was a um it was a process, I'll tell you. It was a it was that was a huge lift from what it was to what it is today. The before and afters are insane. But um yeah, it's I I think it'll be a spot that's you know able to be there for a long, long time. And again, it's a triple net setup. And that was kind of the first one that started me into that game. You still have it? Yeah, yeah, they're paying rent. So I was able to uh run it for a year. So we built it out. Um that took it took uh, you know, I don't know, maybe, maybe a year-ish. Um we were able to open it up, ran it for a year, and then I sold it off to another bar um operating group that they have multiple bars, and that's kind of their game, right? So from the operating side, for me, I was like, man, and I know you've been in the bar game, you know, it's like, dude, you're you're going to bed late, you've got problems, they're calling you, and then you're trying to wake up early and you know, find your next real estate deal. And you're just like, when am I sleeping? Like, like when am I around for you know things? I remember at one point um my daughter was like, Dad, and she was going to sleep, and she was like, Don't, don't go in tonight. Like, can you just stay home? And I'm like, Oh, you know, like there's things going here, and you, you know, you gotta watch them. I mean, you know, the it's it's a it's a business. So as an operating business, it's it's a living, breathing, evolving thing, as you know, and and you got to kind of be around it and do it, or or have the right people in place. And so um, yeah, I I I learned a lot, would do it way different, obviously. I had never run a bar, I'd always built them. So and went out and drank in them, right? Leaves and you're like, I guess we're cleaning up, and you're doing that every day. Yeah.
Commercial Real Estate
SPEAKER_02Hustlers, real estate investing doesn't have to be overwhelming and you don't have to do it alone. If you've been watching from the sidelines, scrolling past deals on Zillow, or binging YouTube videos, but still not taking action, this is for you. That's why we built Hustle Academy, a community designed for new and experienced real estate investors who want to learn, network, and grow. Inside Hustle Academy, you'll get weekly live calls, QA sessions, and step-by-step classes on fix and flip, wholesaling, creative finance, and my favorite subject to deals. Everything you need to know to build real skills and start closing real deals. You'll join a powerful group of like-minded hustlers who are sharing wins, breaking down deals, and all pushing toward the same goal financial freedom through real estate. If you're ready to level up, no matter what stage you're starting at, join Hustle Academy today, tap the link in the description, or visit hustleacademy.com and let's trump the hustle together. There is a lot of work, man, from the commercial side to the owner operator side too. Now you're renting them out, right? We're renting the structure to the the new uh operating group. So what's the that was your first one and you still have it? Yeah. What are some of the other commercial stuff? Like what's at all the commercial, like in real estate traditional, you got all kinds, right? We got wholesaling subject too, flipping, burr, small, multifamily. How's the space in the commercial side? And what's more of your niche commercial?
SPEAKER_01I'll say um all all all of that is it it equates to the same thing, right? So again, it's just a it's a property, you know. I when I first started back in the day, like we talked about, uh, you know, people weren't talking about buy box.
SPEAKER_00Buy box, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? So these terms that people start using now, um, you know, wholetails and all, I mean, people just call them what it what it was, right? It was like, okay, I bought it, I double closed, or you know, the wholesalers, it's a different world now that I've seen than than it was back when I first started. But it's the same game, right? You you could absolutely wholesale uh a commercial deal. One of the nice things about that, wholes uh commercial deals are a lot longer of a close, like very much expected to be longer. Um, I put one under contract last week, maybe two weeks ago. Um, we're probably looking at like a six-month close. Jeez. That's what they want, right? Because they have uh platd to do. They have this, they have that. Um, you know, you might have to get your environmentals, you know, little things like they they they just take time. And so really, I mean, I I've got it at such a great price on that deal where yeah, I could easily, you know, turn it to someone, make a hundred grand like right now and walk away. Probably a lot more than that, but easily right now, right? So I think those deals happen. Um, I I did uh one of the deals, I won't talk too much. I'm still in it, but um I I bought a building and I bought out a percentage of someone else. And um, so I own 60%. And we've been in the lawsuit for two years now, and and we're making some pretty good progress on that. Um as of the last few weeks, I think we're getting there. It's it started off with, hey, we want to buy it, and everyone seemed to be okay with that. And then it wasn't. So again, a little bit of a different uh situation, but I think again, it's it's just contracts at that point. And so you can really get through these contracts like a little bit easier, and and you're and you're not you're not bound by um, you know, in your world, let's say if you know they're 65 or above and something's wrong or whatever, or they don't want to leave and it's just hard, you know, to kick them out, it's difficult or something. For the most part, it's like, dude, I just put a lock on your door and you're done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is the cool part. Yeah, because right now I'm going through two evictions, and we're in this commercial building. One of the, I don't know if you've seen one of the doors here, have what that uh that lockout in front. And one of this in this commercial building that ran there's a bunch of suites. And I stopped by and read it, and I was like, it's pretty cool. I mean, you just put that door on there, the lock, they can't get their stuff, you gotta everything has got to go to the landlord versus on my end. Right now I'm going through two evictions, and it's been a month since they're having paid. Follow the the suit. Now they're still not getting out. Now we gotta go to the rid of possession versus commercial. Man, just put that lock on and call me when you're ready.
SPEAKER_01Think about it like this, too. You know, it's like um there was a rumor that went around that that the bar was was gonna be closing or or something that at there at my my building. And I had three people in my DMs immediately, and I I woke up to it. I didn't even know, and it was just a rumor. And I was like, not that I know of, but they were like, hey, are they out or did they leave or something? I know everything's fine as far as I know. And um, anyway, I was just like, basically, what's happening? And people are like, how much can I buy it? So you could take and resell, just like how you bought a bar. Yep. So not only that, it's like I can lock you out, I can resell it to someone else, cash up a decent amount, right? I mean, depending on where it is and what it is, and do it over and over and over again. And so I I mean, I think again, that's just such a different concept. Though it's the same idea, it would be like taking a very large um down payment on one of your rentals after you evict them, right? Which would just be like almost unheard of. I mean, you could pretty much get like a whole year's rent if you just resold it to somebody at that price.
SPEAKER_02With the upgrades that they did to it, depending on what it you know what it is, right? The upgrades and all the stuff they did to it, and then the landlord pretty much takes it over and it is what it is, and you sell it or you do what you gotta do.
Lease Agreements
SPEAKER_01Which which would which would equate in anything. It doesn't have to be a bar, right? I mean, it could be uh a metal shop, right? And if if you get locked out, we're gonna keep your entire uh yeah, y'all's restaurant, right? Yeah, same thing.
SPEAKER_03I mean I learned about this the hard way again back when I was a retailer for Sprint. You know, I'd go into it's a fine balancing act because you don't want to lock yourself into a 10 or 20 year lease because then you're as a personal guarantor, you've got 10, 20 years where you're stuck on this. But I think one time I did a it's probably in Laredo or a smaller city. I was just trying to find the cheapest rent, obviously, because that's as a good business person, you want to pay low rent and you know have your sales high. And so I found a spot that was run down, no tenant in it, you know, junk hole place, but I can go and turn around. So I said, hey, I'll give you a three-year lease, put in, I don't know, 100 grand in renovations, now it's you know, because the brand requires you to have a certain looking, you know, storefront. And so you go in, you do all the renovations, the electro, the plumbing, the fixtures, you know, all the stuff you need to do. And at the end of the three years, oh, your thousand dollar rent or whatever that makeup numbers, your$1,000 rent is now like$4,000. It's like, well, what the heck? Well, because you only signed a three-year and now we need to bump it. If not, now we can go lease this space, you know, or same with desire. When I was selling desire, uh, you know, I had at that point I had 12 years of experience leasing commercial spaces, so I know the game really, really well. And I'm at the end, I know that my lease is coming up in 12 months, and I know that I kind of want to get out of the business. So you've got to start looking for buyers because if not, he has the right, if you look at the lease, within six months of your end date. So if I had 12 months, I only had really six months to sell it, because then he can start saying, hey, desires for lease. They don't know that, you know, that the owner of the business is not selling it. It's just like, hey, you haven't signed a renewal, we need to lease it. And it's smart from his standpoint because he doesn't want to have empty space. But now basically, you know, you can take out all your equipment. What are you gonna do with a bunch of screens and stereos and you know other you know, equipment? You can go sell it or go set it somewhere else. But if you're not trying to, you know, set up somewhere else, now you've got to go rent a storage or find somebody that you can buy it on clearance. And so they're basically getting all the work and you know, the name could come with it. What obviously they probably couldn't buy the name, but they could easily just swap out the name for something different or negotiate, you know, hey, we'll buy your name for you know 10 grand or whatever. But yeah, you've got to really in the commercial space, you've as a tenant, you've got to really understand your lease and the different uh aspects of it because you can get screwed really, really quick. Yeah. But from a landlord standpoint, it's great.
SPEAKER_01Well, I well, I think it's also like it's kind of a standard, right? So and then if you were to even go into, I'm I'm sure in the malls, um, I I think it's very standard now, which is kind of crazy when you think about residential to commercial, these kind of things are the big things is they'll they'll do like rent, and then if you're doing really well with sales, and again, these these numbers can kind of fluctuate, but they want percent on top. And so, you know, those those kind of things can be really unique as well. So you you know, you're making a a decent rent and that business is blowing up, guess what? You're you're making a little cut too. So, and again, that's very standard. I mean, these these are things that if you're you know, it almost sounds too good to be true from a residential side on some of that, but if you go to rent anywhere, this is just what it that like the like that's how they've put the standard in place. And so I I've found being able to to buy properties in that in that price range that you know your your big groups aren't. You know, there's guys that have a billion-dollar fund and they need to they need to move it. So it's like, hey, if if they gotta go how many houses, right? Instead, I want to go buy 10 million plus buildings, put that money around, and we gotta get it working, we gotta get things moving. So there's just a nice window in between there um where I think people can get in probably relatively easier than they thought. And in the same breath, I think um, you know, the same way you're searching out for residential deals um through through distressed and and things like that, it happens quite a bit in commercial, and you'd be really shocked because it's it's out there, but there's just not as many people I think targeting them.
SPEAKER_02So earlier you mentioned wholesaling and how it could be comparable in commercial space. A couple years ago, I had a lot of my little spurt of I want to wholesale commercial buildings. And so I've wholesaled a commercial building, one on West Avenue. I've wholesale small apartment complexes here in San Antonio and down in the valley. And what I was doing back then a couple years ago, I was like, hey, commercial's not my thing. I know cap rate. I was like, let me find deals. I was offering 10 caps to the seller, and I was trying to wholesale for a nine cap. And it was crazy how that one percentage made such a big fee when it comes to wholesaling. Because that one percent on the cap rate was like, man, this is really easy. Instead of making uh cash offers at the 70% rule when it comes to residential, I was like, let me just find 10 caps. We're looking for small apartment complexes, 10 to 20 units. We're looking for small commercial buildings, mixed to use uh office space with residential. Um just making offers at 10 caps. Hey, bring me your numbers, we underwrite it, whatever the 10 cap is, that's my offering. These guys are motivated, right? Most of their mom and pops kind of want to get out, retire. And we ask for the books, it's uh a notebook sheet or an Excel spreadsheet. It was nothing crazy. And there's a lot of deals out there. Yeah, and I think they're gonna pop up more. And I think they're gonna pop up more. And you've done wholesale, you do wholesaling for wholesalers who are watching, and they say, Hey, cool, I never thought about wholesaling commercial. What can Clint provide as being an expert in commercial who does wholesale deals? How can a wholesaler transition from residential to commercial?
Cap Rate Analysis
SPEAKER_01I in wholesaler. Yeah, I think it's not really even a transition, right? Just look at it as again, forget the buy box idea. You know, it's like um I was teasing a friend of mine last night, and um I said, Hey, what what what was your cash app again? It's it's the same concept as you selling me your Rolex, your your brand new gold Rolex for five grand. What's the cash app? And he's like, uh, right. There's no buy box. I mean, you you you can wholesale anything, buy low and sell high is is the basics, right? I think we overcomplicate it, you know, you you've got to find this. I think the cap rate is in a lot of ways, it's just BS, right? I mean, we're we're we're making up a cap rate because of these percentages that that they do. Whereas, oh, well, I can adjust the rents, you know, if you've got 20 units and I adjust the rents by X, my cap rate changes by X too. So a lot of these things, again, I think there, there's just terms that people use that that are like, what is a cap rate? Or what is this? And when you look into it, you're like, man, I and so I don't even look at deals really like that, which is funny. So if I'm talking to a commercial broker, they're very much looking at it like that. And I'm like, all right, well, and oftentimes I find more than not that they're messing up their actual values, to be honest with you. So, you know, if you're looking at a distressed property and the cap rate is, you know, terrible, well, I I know that I can come in and make it nicer and I'm gonna make it a lot better. And now I'm I'm hitting ranges that that all these guys want. So the same kind of thing. Um, I think one of the big things the wholesalers need to look for, and um I I do have commercial jv.com. So um we're we're down to help JV with deals as well. So um can help really from from any angle of that. That being said, I think one of the bigger things that I found was trying to find the middleman, um uh hard money lender that liked commercial. We we bought one recently that the industrial building, it it's paid off. I said, hey, I I I want to find a new hard money lender. Um I I was offered like 1.6 for this thing, and uh we we bought it at you know, 700 so from an estate. And um kind of funny, I couldn't get anyone to give me 250 grand initially. Um as as a as a middleman, you know, I I just want to get a relationship going. And I was calling, like, I hadn't used hard money in a while. I was working with with the banks, you know, local banks more recently. And you can't necessarily get um the funding for all the rehab by just going straight to your bank. But if you get get that middle money, right? So your hard money, even it costs you a little bit more, I can use the Burr method, essentially, right? So because of that, um I said, man, I I just need to get more relationships with this. And I would hit up people and say, hey, look, I've got an asset that's, you know, worth a million bucks. I need 250,000. And they're like, we don't do commercial. Like we we just don't. A lot of these hard money lenders that we all know here, like in Texas, whatever, they were just like, we don't do it. So, real easily, right? I mean, like anything in business, what do you do? You just go search out different lenders and new lenders, and that was it. So I I think that's probably the biggest thing. But you know, maybe maybe the one biggest barrier, um, a lot of people do wholesaling and they'll put like$10 down, right? And that doesn't overly fly as easy in in commercial. I'm not saying you can't, but I would say that's your bigger, that's your bigger barrier. That being said, five to ten grand. I mean, I I just put one um under contract. I'm I'm in it for about half a mil. Um, I looked up what they paid for it. They paid 1.8 um like five years ago. That being said, I I saw some things popping up about this this group, and they were having some trouble within the group. I think this is one of those weird distresses where it's not necessarily that they're broke, but they just don't want to deal with it anymore, and the partnership hasn't overly developed properly for them. And so as I saw that kind of taking place on some of their really big projects, I was like, hmm, I wonder if I could swoop in on this one and get it at a really good price. So I put five grand down. So, but again, say that I take it and sell it for$700, I'm making$200,000 on five grand. Right? So that that's not the goal at the moment, but that's that would be an easy wholesale kind of play, and it's still under what they had it on the market for. So, and and I'm having them break it up so it was on the market as a different piece. I'm having them break some off, replat it. They're paying for all that. So again, I think I think you're dealing with a little bit more educated, um, typically, of a seller.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And they're also willing to negotiate a little bit easier. And and again, I think you guys know this too from commercial, people are not as emotionally attached. Right. So it's like, you know, I don't know how many times I can go in and be like, look, you're gonna lose your house at the tax sale. Like you're going to. How can I help you? I would love to. No, I am not leaving this house. And you see it all the time, and they just won't and they lose it like that.
Business Mindset Shift
SPEAKER_02And they lose it. Yeah, it is crazy. And a couple weeks later, like, there it is. I offered this person money, they would have made some money. The difference in, I would think, you know, the commercial is more business mindset versus residential. It's uh sentimental, right? Yeah, they're emotions. They're losing their home, right?
SPEAKER_01I mean, this is where my kids were, this is whatever, you know. And I think you see that a little bit with some of these probably older um, you know, they ran their business there forever or something like that. But again, they're just tired and they do want to go be at home. And so I think they're a little bit more, and I and I also think what you find is there's a little bit more like room for owner finance.
SPEAKER_02In a in a commercial side?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah, especially I, you know, we're we're seeing the baby boomer boom, uh-uh, uh, you know, the the drop-off, right? Of of retirement and and passing away. And so as that's happening, you're you're I I think we're gonna see it quite a bit more, and we'll see how long we have, you know. I I have a partner that we that I buy some stuff with, and we're hoping like, and even guys that I talk to, um, I've talked to these guys, they've got 10 hotels. Um, I was having dinner with them two nights ago. Um, they were they were checking out for a new hotel that they're building here. And um, they they kind of felt the same that maybe like a two-year window, you know, right now is a great time to be finding, negotiating, getting in. And maybe it'll maybe it'll last longer, which would be great. But I think if I can go get a bunch of these, you know, if I had 40 buildings, I probably could just be on, be on that yacht in Greece right now, as opposed to the 40 houses. And I think the appreciation is going to be a lot more, not to mention how how you how you price and value commercial is a little bit different. Again, you're you're looking more at your your your leases at and what you're getting for them. So if I change a property, you know, take take the building here. If it was just completely distressed, you go put some money into it, I mean, you might make double or triple rent, which automatically your building goes from round number sake, if it's a million dollars, it's three million now. Right? So it's it's a little bit different of a game, which you you just can't do that with with residential. So when I was selling some of my higher end nice residential recently, and people are like, dude, what are you doing? They're gonna build the stadium, the Spurs stadium right there. I'm like, it's gonna take five years, number one. I'm gonna be living here with the construction. And on top of that, I mean, is this house gonna go from one million to two? million? No, I don't think so. But I bet you if I buy a building down the street, rehab it, put in a good tenant, it's gonna double way quicker than the house will.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So um that was really like one of those mind shifts where I was like, man, this is it's a little bit of a cheat code and and I don't know why the the well I kind of know why I guess the the rich guys, you know, that I had done work for uh Solomon that you're talking about. I had built out some of the properties. I think he was I I I don't want to misspeak and say it wrong, but I think one of one of the mentors that I look up up to that has a lot of commercial I think he was like one of the investors for him, right? And these guys are you know 60 something and I think he's he's in his 90s I think. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So um you know those guys have been doing a long time and they they definitely weren't out there on a podcast telling you how to get into it. So that was kind of where I saw I'm like man you know I I I think if I can, you know, there's there's a catch 22, right? You talk about it and now I'm competing with everybody. Yeah. But there's a lot out there. And and to be honest, you know, I I know guys with a lot of cash and they again a billionaire a billion dollar fund, you still can't keep up, right? Because you could spend a billion dollars, you know, buy go buy a data center. Good luck, you know? I mean it can go real fast. So I think there's enough of these out there where people could really jump in and and there's markets probably all over the US that are just ripe and ready for it.
SPEAKER_02Speaking about being on a podcast and sharing information back then, which you didn't know now in the commercial space, everyone watching a strong lesson or mistake like man, I went through this commercial journey I knew this would have saved me time, money, energy, effort, whatever that case may be with something that for a beginner commercial guy who wants to really get into it an experience that you had, like man, if I knew this it would have been a game changer.
Commercial Contracts ️
SPEAKER_01Yeah I I think probably the the big thing is I I guess maybe the contracts I I think hiring a a decent uh at least in the beginning or you know if you're if you're savvy enough, you know, ChatGPT will get you through a lot of it or Claude or whatever you use, right? It will talk you through a lot of this. Um but I think that's probably the hardest. I think the hardest for me was I bought a very distressed property with the bar and with the what? With with the bar. It with MAVE. So because it was so distressed I was doing a massive remodel as well as starting a a business at the same time. So uh otherwise I think if you know that was a little overcomplicating the situation, right? And so if I wasn't doing both at the same time, I think it's just the contract. So but I think um again it's pretty standard. One of the things that I would say that people could really use to at least just like dip their toes into this is is the L O eyes, right? So it's just a letter of intent. So it's funny because I I I put one in on on the property recently that I that I just put under contract and she sent it back and was like hey I think you should sign this and I I didn't sign it. And um I said well if you if you read the contract in a letter of intent it literally says that it's not a contract. So what is the signature? She goes well I guess you're right so again I I think I think that it's just overcomplicating it. I think if people just you know if you're getting into your first one again think of contracts think of all the unique ways you can run a contract and that's kind of what I would I would dive in and figure out I think I think that's going to be the biggest um uh the the easiest way to get into this if you just structure your contract I have a buddy of mine I'll give you an example of this he was going to buy a a property and I was literally talking to a good friend of ours who does he's been on the podcast does great business he goes how is he getting all these really high properties I go you know he just got one recently three of them on in Lava on the Riverwalk like across from Selena where Selena did her videos or something right people like how does he get that you know like right now with a good deal and this and that he bought it donated it I I'm gonna mess it up to say it all like simply but he bought it donated it to the uh conservation society and did like a 99 year lease back again very much something like 20 years ago not that people weren't doing it but like the word sub to you know Mr. Hustle the man sub to like people weren't doing it like that and people weren't talking about it like that. So I'm wondering like when I hear of someone doing a situation like like I just said and I'm like man that's incredible and their leases are insanely cheap. Right? So you you could go do a deal like that say you had a hard money you know front that and then you you did a lease for you know less than what you pay monthly on your house for the entire year. Yeah that's insane. For like 99 years. And it might pump up very very little right so there's again it's just a contract tweak but you couldn't do that in theory I don't think very easily with residential.
Commercial Financing
SPEAKER_03Yeah it's funny you say that so again having signed so many commercial leases I've signed as probably as small as five page commercial leases your mom and pop ladies 80 years old and got passed down from family member to family member they just have their either whoever Chad GTP or their attorney or just themselves write up a five page lease and I've signed I probably the most difficult ones are like up to 500 pages for a mall. JLL and all these big guys, you know, Simon and it's for a hundred square foot kiosk. So like the big crazy buildings you could have a five page lease and for a small 10 by 10 kiosk it could be a 500 page lease and so like you said there's just so much flexibility on the contract side and it's really whatever you want it to be and whatever the tenant agrees to pay and the only reason they would agree to not pay but to uh sign with is because you've got a desirable space that they need to be in right and so you can do whatever you want you really control the situation much, much more than on the residential side. And there's no flexibility. It's a house you want it or not like you know here's the price here's the square footage here's how much it comes with or what uh what comes with it, what doesn't it like it's pretty simple. So it's funny you say that because there really is a ton of ways you can do the commercial side. But on that point, you actually started to answer one of my questions I had for you today was so for people like he was saying that want to get into hey I'm in residential for me example I'm in residential flipping right now I know the game I know how contracts work and wholesaling what to buy it at and what to sell it at and I have the hybrid of kind of knowing commercial for somebody who was in that position what kind of financing is available? Is there hard money lenders? Is it all just straight to the bank? And then for guys like me and you who don't have W-2s, we rely strictly on you know, whatever we produce as a business, you know, whether it be through flipping or owning rentals or whatever, that makes it hard to buy anything, you know, even just buying your own residential house and stuff like that. And so how is the financing in deals like like these?
SPEAKER_01Yeah so quite simply I I went you know Google and and say um you know industrial financing right and what you'll find is again a lot of them will be like dude if it's not five million dollars we don't want to finance it. And what I found was I would just call them right so I mean one of the hardest parts of of wholesaling is like getting some of these people just to pick up a phone and call somebody right it's like it's not that hard just call them. So you call a Linder and you go hey um I I would love to buy this or you know do this whatever and I want a relationship with you guys. And that's been my big push when I've talked to these guys. And again I think I've found that with these you know the bridge loans right the hard money guys um they're down for it. Right. So they're you know one of one of the differences is I would say I don't know how they're I haven't used hard money um in residential in a long time because I I got in with some of the local banks. So I I would also say once you once you find depending on which realm you're getting into if you're doing I mean honestly a lot of the guys you know it is commercial but if if you're doing apartments they'll do them condos that kind of thing depending on what it is like these these guys are okay with it because it's still a residential play on some level if you're getting into the industrial or you're getting into um retail or something like that there there is lenders out there you might pay a little extra on points up front and in the back end um if you're just gonna go to the bank they're gonna want like 30% down. So that's your your struggle and they're most likely not going to give you the rehab budget. So 30% down on a million bucks there's your 300 rehab yeah plus your rehab yeah that there's a barrier right so I I did find because that was my thing is like, okay, say we have a million bucks to play with yeah you got three deals. Again it's back to me showing you my hundred grand going like I'm so rich. Like I got a million dollars cash and then you don't have any money. And you're like damn you know so and that's always in business I think just any kind of growth it does take money and it just you know you you go through that. But I do think that there's plenty of lenders out there you'd be shocked. I mean lenders that I didn't know about and a lot of them aren't also worried about um uh location or I don't I don't know it's like they're they're pretty flexible like they understand business they're looking at it from business they're looking at what is it worth now what is it worth later again a little bit different terms a little bit different you know things but it's literally the same like there's nothing real new in in the process. I don't think they're so worried about and I think they're more used to I guess um not seeing um the W-2s to be honest with you um my partner just refinanced his house um that that I bought this property with um um he he went through way more struggles yeah just to get a refinance on a house than he did for any kind of like I uh to give you an idea I mean right now we're we're showing um to buy to buy the or to get the loan that I'm getting right now um just to get a relationship going it's I mean I think that they're at 12% they're gonna get us down to 10 after that um they want an extra point if we sell within six months outside of that they're fine with it so the you know the the Burr method will work once you do one again you can literally take and do the same the same system as far as hey I'm getting 10,000 in rent what you know what will you give me for that rent, right? So everything works pretty much the same and and they're not bound again by by um mortgage laws. So the mortgage laws are way way more strict than than a than a business. So again it's very much more like you know you can do contracts. Yeah. So I think I think you're you're dealing more with um with the contract than you are with um with you know again I I think a lot of this stuff went in play because of 08 right and and and everyone losing their homes and you know like no nobody wants to see you know kids and grandmothers thrown out into the street.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. No nobody wants to see that in America especially right so you're just not gonna find that in commercial and you're just not gonna have those issues. So I I feel like at least for what I've played with again I, you know, I I know some guys um you know who are doing data center kind of things, right? And they're pretty, pretty huge. I'm not dabbling in that at the moment. We we kind of have a little thought process um that that I work off of at the moment, which is like look, I I want to I would rather have 10$1 million buildings so that when when and if a tenant is gone and I need to bridge in between, I'm not just stuck. So a lot of guys like I said, you know that the I-35 corridor was just blowing up with guys buying like if it's not a 50,000 square foot building and they want one tenant and they want there's these certain ways that they kind of set these things up. And um for me at least I was like man I, you know, I definitely don't want to be holding the bag on a$10 million deal that's going to take two years to release. So um I think that that's that's probably a big barrier, right? But I think again there's that there's this like nice window that's um it's it's kind of like the price of a of a luxury home. I know you've done some luxury flips, right?
Conventus Real Estate ️
SPEAKER_02So it's like let me ask you something you ever thought about investing in real estate but assuming you need a perfect credit, a huge savings account or a bank willing to say yes? That's exactly why we're excited to partner with our guy Mike Leva at Conventus. Conventus is a real estate lender built specifically for investors and not homeowners. They help people fund deals like fix and flips, buy and hold rentals and even ground up construction. And here's the part most beginners don't realize Conventus doesn't lend based on your W-2 income or your personal credit score. They focus on the deal itself the value of the property and the numbers behind it. That means investors can often access higher loan amounts and more flexible terms than a traditional bank sometimes with rates that are more competitive than people expect. So instead of asking do I qualify the better question becomes is this a good deal if you're serious about getting to real estate investing and want a funding partner that truly understands investors reach out to our go-to guy at Conventus Mike Leva today using the link in the show notes and see how real estate investors are actually getting deals funded.
SPEAKER_03That's what I think let's say I had a million dollar luxury house that was worth$2 million. It needs I don't know how numbers$200,$250K in rehab, right? I can go to my lender today, hard money and say hey here's the house, here's how much worth they're gonna go do a simple appraisal or a drive-by and okay cool within a week I can get 100% of the home finance the purchase and 100% of the rehab purchase. All I'm paying is closing costs and points, right? So let's say for you know argument's sake, it's$50,000, I can then go call my private money lender and say hey I need$50 grand. Actually I need$70 grand or 80 grand, I need the payments covered too. So I can get into a deal like that with literally zero money out of pocket within seven days, right? Sure. Are opportunities like that, so let's say let's take the other side of it, you find a million dollar rundown shopping center on West Avenue that you know has had tenants in there forever and the rents are too low and all you need to do is put in the same 250 grand and then you could bump the rents and it would be worth two or two and a half million, right? How do you fund that deal and can you fund it within 30 days without any money out of your pocket? Yeah.
Long-Term Strategy
SPEAKER_01Same exact way. Yeah I that's what I'm saying. I I mean believe it or not um it especially because you've already got the relationship with those lenders, they'll probably do it anyway. Okay. So I I was looking at one not too long ago and um it was like a two million dollar deal and and the guys were coming in to buy it and I was I was like thinking to myself I can't believe they're doing that you know like if if they have to lease which I I saw someone recently they they did they they didn't sell the house you know the the two million dollar house right away so they're sitting on it okay let me put a a lease in there let me let me rent it out it's not getting anywhere near what it should as opposed to again a commercial yeah I'm you know I could be in something a million bucks making 150 triple net a year. That's cool. Right? So so my numbers are I I again I'm I'm taking back to like maybe when I was buying my rentals back you know 10 to 15 years ago and you could find deals all the time where it was like man if this deal doesn't really work I'll just put a tenant in there and I'm gonna make money. Yeah I got different exit strategies I don't think it's so easy right now. So I think a lot of people you know and everyone's like okay wholesale wholesale and that's why right but I as much as I love that because we need cash flow and that is important but the the grind is complete all the time right and at 40 now 41 I hope to not be like you know working 80 hour day weeks forever, right? And so I think the the concept is again and then also you know once you start having kids and you start thinking okay like what would I want to leave you know again my my daughter says she wants to go do um whatever she wants to do in life right I hope at that point she's a a halfway trust fund baby and gets to you know pursue her dreams. But but with that being said is like, okay, you've got a metal building she doesn't have to have you know I've done some really cool flips and like I I just got into it you know I I would travel around I mean I've been in all kinds of cities going to the AIA architect tours and seeing like okay San Francisco has this really cool house on architecture tour. How can I just dumb it way down for San Antonio and make it dope here though and then sell that house right so I was doing a lot of that but if she doesn't have the passion for that and then I'm I'm like leaving her you know 40 80 you know 500 homes what have you that comes with a lot more problems whereas like man I I feel like if I'm just leaving her buildings that for the most part are you know self-ran. They're self-ran. You know, yeah I mean for the most part once you get them to that point. So um yeah I I started thinking about that and thinking like all right what is my what is my long term right? So again from a from a flipper side I think that there's a lot of guys that if you're finding the deals right and I think there's a lot of them out there like like you're saying I think there's a lot of them out there. So you're thinking okay I can cherry pick and hold some right and there's a lot of them that are going to make complete sense to just you know sell them to you know the the Solomon's kids.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_01Those guys that are there that are sitting here going like dude I I would love to have more of these things right like I would love more strip centers. I would love more of and again I there's just not a lot of people talking about it and people jumping into it. But I think wholesaling it's like anything else you're gonna have to find you know again I just feel like it's so much easier but you know find the groups on Facebook that's like commercial real estate guys. I mean I I you know I see those you know the same people post the same house and I see you know three, four, five different numbers of what it's for sale for. I see like I mean it's just like pretty rough out there sometimes in the wholesale world if you know it's like, oh you own it? Yeah yeah I'm the guy right and you find out like you know I end up you know I'm talking to one of you and I'm like oh you guys have the contract they're just pushing it for you. You know, a lot of the dates Jane, right? And I don't I don't think I see it as much currently and I'm sure it will happen, but in the commercial space, but I think if if if you build up a relationship with people that want to buy these things, like I want to hold them, right? So again, commercial JV.com, put it in there and see but I I think it's the same kind of numbers and I and I'm looking at numbers more I mean everything that I've bought recently I'm buying it like man I I've been in the 40s of square foot on buying these things. A metal building in San Antonio is going to trade 100 to 150 a square right so and what am I really having? So again I can go buy a 16000 square foot house what am I going to have to do and what's underneath that and how much and who's gonna buy it? Ask Tony Parker how selling his house has been exactly right it's not that it's not that easy. You know if we were in Palms you know what I mean places even in Dallas. I mean honestly I I go to Mexico City a lot believe it or not people are buying up metal buildings I mean all over because the same thing's happening at all these places and we're gonna need storage, we're gonna need data centers, we're gonna need there's certain things that people are going to need, you know I I I'm not somebody who's uh I I'm not looking at a, you know, a Wells Fargo building, you know, I had a guy come and speak at the bar one time, uh commercial real estate guy you know it's like we had 100 people show up and he's like man I'm buying you know old office buildings like huge ones or whatever, which is cool. He's got a niche for it. It's working I think the money's a little harder and higher to get into and it's just not my thing. I don't see that as a direction right now. I think everyone's like who's getting laid off next right I mean AI everything this and that but I but I do know that people do need um certain spaces right so again I I think if you're in that little niche there's not as many people and I think that's one of my big things too is you know I don't want to compete with you know uh five you know five million people buying the same property and I've got to get it lower and oh well I only want to make you know 10 grand on it and I you know it's like dude I you know I want to compete with with a smaller group you know I'm sadly helping to educate lately more and more people do this and I tease that but I mean I I I'm happy for it honestly I think it's gonna be a great boost from my 40s to 60s or something but I do see this as a as an opportunity to jump in now and I think that I think that as wholesalers start figuring it out. I mean I'll give you an idea I threw one of one of my pro uh a property I have I threw it into um well they they're they're trying without again talking too much on this situation but um they they're trying to foreclose on the deal I stopped paying on it because my lawsuit I needed to to to get this thing flowing this was an avenue we found to make it work. So I've been getting all the text and all the all the calls and like hey you'd be surprised how many people straight up right off the bat I I'm like you know they they're sending you the text right like hey what's your house what's this what's that I'm like did you even look at the property and I'm talking to some AI I'm sure by the time I talk to somebody I'm like we know it's a commercial building right and they're like oh you know what we don't we don't touch those and I'm just like shocked I mean I'm telling you like I've probably had 10 I mean I I've literally filmed my conversation with people and they just won't like they won't make any even an offer. And I'm I'm like shocked by it. I'm like man like I can't even imagine I mean if this one is not in distress like that it would be but it if it was and I was like dude I you know I I literally reply back right away I'm like yeah how much you want to give me I'm just kind of curious to be honest because I haven't had anybody hit me up for houses like this. You know so I'm like hey yeah sure whatever and um they don't like it's it's so amazing. I haven't had one person that's hit me up from from that and said yeah I I actually will buy a commercial literally I I'm talking I've talked to six or seven and every one of them says no.
SPEAKER_02Well let's segue into this so your commercials obviously your thing you know a lot about wholesaling right I think most commercial guys really don't wholesale they just focus on commercial but you got the best of both worlds what's uh what's the real details on this website commercial jb.com what's the benefits what's the pros the cons yeah I mean so I I just launched it launched it recently and the the benefit is is
SPEAKER_01I'm going to help straight up look at deals with people as of as of right now. So we'll, you know, people can put in, you know, hey, here's the deal, here's what I got, and I'll and I'll sit there and look at it, go over it with them and actually check it out and actually link up with lenders. We can help fund the deal. We can, you know, give them their JV cut. We can do all kinds of things, right? So until that's larger, and and I'm building systems for that.
SPEAKER_03When is a time that you in your life and your career have said, you know what? I stole this quit from you, by the way. I have to uh I've really got to turn up the hustle, right? I've got to make a change in my life, or I've got to really double down on something that I'm doing. But when is uh when is a time in your life that you've had to actually go harder on something?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think, you know, kids are obviously a huge factor. Um I think once I started realizing, you know, I think hitting 40 years old and then having kids, you start thinking like, okay, again, like I'm not invincible anymore, right? Even though you never were, you just feel that now. And then you start thinking, okay, what am I gonna leave behind as a legacy for her? And, you know, that's part of the hustle, right? And that's part of the thing that I think drives probably a lot of people to changing, to changing some of their ways. So I would say for me, man, that's been a been a pretty big one. I I want her to have every, every opportunity that that I didn't overly have. You know, I think a lot of people think, you know, you have to start rich, you know, this, that, whatever. I mean, I always joke, I'm like, man, you know, I I my my cousins in Alamo Heights, right? I don't actually have cousins there, you know, but San Antonio is just like automatically like, oh, he's rich. Why? He's probably got all this. Like, I told you guys, I was literally framing because that's just what I was doing, right? Like I there was not, I didn't have another opportunity, right? I mean, at the time it was like every other kid that's 20-something years old, it's like, I either want to be like a sports star or a rock star. Like, those are what you really would want, right, in life. And then what happens is like, you know, the the failed rock stars and the felons, like, you know, they work with me in construction, you know. So it's like, all right, this is a totally different deal. And so, um, but yeah, I just knew I didn't want to stay in that. I think I had a pretty big burst of hustle, like just that young energy. I would say I sort of settled in and kind of coasted at some point, which probably a lot of us do. And then um, yeah, I I would say, um, yeah, once once having a kiddo, I think changes it because it's like, without the kid, I don't know. I I feel like if I I wonder sometimes with people that don't have a kid, is like, I'm not leaving anything behind anybody, this, that, or whatever. It's like just go hard and just have fun. You know, like just do it. Because when you're done, you're done. But I think um, you know, uh, I I would love the idea that um, yeah, I could change, change my family lineage, right? That's that's something that's motivating. That's very cool.
SPEAKER_02Now, this is the uh Trump the Hustle podcast, right? So Trump the Hustle to me is not a motto, it's not a slogan, it's like a way of life for me. What does Trump the hustle mean to claim?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I again I think right now for me, um my my goal right now, my my my hustle that I want to turn up, I would love to have you know, the goal right now is within the next 12 months, having about 10 million in uh commercial properties. I think that that's fairly easily gonna be a 10% minimum coming in off of that. And then um annually, right? So if I if I can take, you know, if if I'm in it, let's say it's 60%, if I've got a$10 million um, you know, again, just look at simple numbers. If I've got$1 million buildings at this is my next 12 months, 16 months, this is the goal, this is the turn up right now. If I can have that, I'm gonna have a really nice cash flow. Um, and that really starts changing um what the banks will do. The guys that I know that transition from that, they then go get lines of credit based off of the buildings. Funny enough, some of those guys are the ones who are doing the hard money on your buildings.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Long-Term Wealth View
SPEAKER_01So these things start changing pretty quick. So I've watched guys buy$10 million buildings, turn it into a$30 to$50 million building, go take$10 million out at, you know, whatever the I mean, I I watched them at some point, they were taking out 4% deals, right? So I go take$10, and then what? They're gonna go lend it to us, you know, with points and and 14%. So so the numbers start changing. So I think for me, um I I feel like it was like at first it felt like a little bit of a setback because you're jumping into a little bit bigger of a game. It's it's a little bit different when you're trying to hold on to them, especially. Although when you look at like, you know, I I used to say when I was young, I'll give you this, for the turn up the hustle, I remember saying this, and it's still true today, which is and it was easier back then. I would say, hey, if you could make$10,000 for the next 10 years, right, at 21. I remember telling people this, and and you know, you and then at 31, you're making a million a year after, right? Most people, believe it or not, are like, no way. I the other option was, or you just make a hundred thousand forever, you know, a year. And most people literally check that box, right? They do. It's just what it is. I think it's an 80-20 rule on some level or something, right? But for those 20%ers and those and those actual hustlers, right? You you you do have to at times take a step back. And it's not because, you know, you don't want to drive the Lambos or you don't want to have all the fun toys that I think we've all had. I think the other side of it is, you know, if I can have more buildings at the moment, I'm gonna have more flexibility to do all kinds of fun things. You know, I'm looking at it like, man, at 45, which seems super young right now. You know, it's like when I was older, I guess, uh or younger. I mean, I thought, like, dude, 40 is like, oh, you're done hanging up. Yeah, I feel young, man. I feel young. So I, you know, I always hated the idea that, you know, the average millionaire is still 65 or something. So it's like you're waiting your whole entire life to have money to do fun stuff. And then you're like for like three years and you're done. Yeah, like I don't have, you know, at 65, you're still, you know, you're just not able to go do the fun things physically. I think, you know, and there's a healthy 65. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I I looked up the other day, Grant Cardone's like 68. Yeah, dude looks great. Like dude's seven years old. I mean, almost seven, it's incredible, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But like for the most, you know, the things start, you know, happening just like a vehicle, right? So if I had a billion dollars, I better look at least that good. Dude, I yeah, especially with everything out right now. I think it's you you could you could do it, right? But yeah, I think, you know, the biggest killer is stress, I think, you know, that that most people would agree on. And so um, yeah, I think if I'm if I'm not stressing over having wholesale having the wholesale, again, I I think that things continue to open up where, and I'm sure it's happened with you guys, where um like deals just chase you now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. So I think the more you're doing deals, and I think that's really the big thing, is just being in the room to be able to do the deal.
SPEAKER_03No, you're definitely doing the right thing. Like you said, post it on social media, even though you may be teaching other goggles how to do it, you're already so far ahead. It's like with Logan, you know, our mutual friend Logan Fulmer. He's uh he's teaching everybody how to do curative title. He's the one winning at the end of the day, because everybody knows he's the guy to go to. If there's a deal that needs really hard work, like JVing on, he's the guy they're gonna go to. If they want to buy education, he's the guy to go. So you're doing the right thing. I know you're early in it, still, you're only a couple years in, but by giving out the free game, it's gonna come back to you and and and droves later on. So you're definitely sowing the right seeds and it'll the dividends will be paid, you know. With anything. If you do anything long enough and you master it, you put the 10,000 hours in, but now with social media, you also project that out for so many months, years, you know, it's just gonna stick that hey, he's the commercial guy, right? So but brother, really appreciate you coming on the show. It's been a fantastic show. Thanks, guys. Um a lot of value drops. If people have never heard of you, this is the first time they've seen you. Where do they find you? How do they connect with you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, real simple, just Clint Ballou um on Instagram, Facebook. Uh I used to be Lavaca King. Yeah, it used to be the Library. We didn't talk about that.
SPEAKER_02Change it, huh?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I changed it. Um, you know, I I I was living in Lavaca, right, for the neighborhood for a long time. And and I mean, I've owned four houses just on the street, was buying a bunch of them down there, dealing with the historical and all that. But yeah, I think it was part of the change was I was like, you know what? I I just want it to be more about like my my brand at this point. Um, especially I I'm just not into the houses like I was, you know. It's like I don't care to be in that neighborhood or this neighborhood, real honestly. I I'd like to be on a beach in Mexico a lot more than I am here. And I'm doing that a lot. But yeah, just right under Clint Baloo. And then again, I've I've got commercial JV.com. So, you know, and that's the whole goal is people to be sent. And you'd be surprised how many deals I I got several over the weekend they sent uh the different people sent just from little posts, and then um also people are sending businesses, you know, like hey, this business wants to sell. So there's there's outlets where you could, you know, kind of work again within all that. It all just kind of starts flowing together with that.
Final Thoughts & Thanks
SPEAKER_03We've got to get you the new Instagram uh hash or handle from Lavaca King to Commercial King. That'd be a good one. So no, brother, we really appreciate you coming on. It's been fun. Uh hopefully we'll get you back on. We'll talk about some other stuff we didn't get to talk about, Lavaca. And I know you were on American Idol one time, but we'll we'll do that on the next one. So appreciate you coming on. And guys, if you found value in this podcast, like always, like always, we ask that you like, comment, share it, and subscribe to the channel. We are going to continue uh to put in hard work to find good guests and continue to bring you value every single week. So again, appreciate you. As always, as always, turn up the hustle. We will see you on the next one. Peace.
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