Financial Freedom Fighters
Step into the world of real estate investing with your hosts, Jacob and Mike. Join Jacob, a W-2 tech employee trying to escape the rat race, and Mike Magno, a top 1% Cleveland realtor, as they share real stories and valuable insights from their journey towards financial freedom.
Financial Freedom Fighters
EP #29 - One Rental Property Changed His Life – From Broke to 500+ Units
Join us as we dive into the inspiring journey of Jay Maranan, a seasoned real estate investor who has mastered house hacking, Airbnb, out-of-state investing, and large-scale syndications. Jay shares his personal story, highlighting the importance of mindset, the power of taking action despite fear, and the value of building generational wealth. Don't miss this insightful episode filled with aha moments and actionable advice!
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This is the Financial Freedom Fighters Podcast
@cashflowsaga:Welcome everybody to the financial freedom fighters podcast. I'm your host, Jacob Sandoval, AKA cash flow saga. I have with me a very, very special guest today. He is a bad ass for many reasons. One, he's a veteran. Thank you for your service. He is a bad ass real estate investor as well. He's done everything from a house hack to Airbnb to out of state investing. He's a general partner on a syndication. I think the unit count is above 500 units right now, but most importantly, he is a loving father of two, third one's on the way. welcome everybody to the podcast, Jay Moranin, aka j. invest on Instagram, aka Stila on the beat. If you know, you know,
@jay.invests:there we
@cashflowsaga:say what's up to the people, Jay.
@jay.invests:What's up y'all. What's up y'all. Amen. Thanks for having me a long time overdue. Thank you for the introduction. Um, I know you've been doing a little bit of research and just kind of following my journey. So I appreciate that touching on a lot of the, pivotal moments in my life and, and just kind of my accolades. So yeah, man, I'm happy to be here.
@cashflowsaga:Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you for blessing the podcast. I've been really, really excited to have you on for more reasons than one. You know, obviously we met a little while ago at a real estate meetup, and we kind of found out through many conversations we had a lot of similarities. you are Filipino. I'm Filipino as well. And one of the things that I kind of noticed in this space is we just don't see a lot of Filipinos from our background, you know, grew up in the Bay Area. had the upbringing that we had because you just don't see a lot of real estate investors, a lot of people that are trying to build that generational wealth, you know, my parents immigrated here from the Philippines and they just did what they could to make ends meet and to them having a stable job, being able to pay the bills, that was success for them. So we didn't have a lot of examples of that. So. I just really love seeing another Filipino in the space that was hungry, that was chasing something bigger. And so I want to dive into all that today, Jay, but you and I were talking a little bit off air on how we can deliver as much value as possible to the listeners. And when I think about podcasts that I've listened to where, man, that, that podcast really hit, that really did a lot for me. They kind of hit on a couple of things. One, they hit on aha moments, They hit on moments where something about their story or their journey, it shifted the way that they thought and therefore shifted the way that I thought. So I, I, I really want to hit on some aha moments from your journey today. And the second thing too, is I like when the people on the podcast, they're a lot more vulnerable about the mistakes that they've made, the, the failures that they've had, and what the insights were from those mistakes, from those failures. And so that I can avoid those mistakes and that I can accelerate through my journey. So that's the backdrop of the conversation today. So Jay, I want to jump into your story. let's just start with the X Men origin story of Jay. Where did it all really begin
@jay.invests:San Francisco, California, Visitation Valley, to be exact. I'm an eighties baby, so it's a different place now than what it was when I grew up. and I really like, first of all, I really like a lot of the things you said about, people of our ethnicity, our background, our upbringing. I don't think we have enough representation in, in the real estate space or in just business in general. and that's why I'm very, um, I'm very motivated. To, to kind of send out a message to our people I mean, we could have been on this a lot, a lot earlier on in our journeys, but we just didn't have, the knowledge, right. I'm first generation here. And, you know, the American dream was different back then. And I think it's changed a lot, it's, more about ownership, equity, generational wealth, thinking for the future. as immigrants, like my family, you know, they're just trying to figure out how to navigate this new society. you know, now it's our opportunity and our turn to take what they taught us, but yeah, so my start was visitation Valley. public school kid, really surrounded by my peer group was the projects, right? it was that mindset that crabs in the bucket. I grew up forever living like that. I remember one time coming home from work, I was beat had my first son, my wife wasn't working. And I was like, okay, I just want to relax. I'm tired. I just want to relax. And I opened up my front door to take a breath. And then I lived across the street from a liquor store right near the liquor store and I was getting robbed. It was like this whole commotion out there. The owner was fighting. I was thinking about my kid. And I was like, I don't want to raise my kid in this type of environment. So that was like one, like mindset shift, like a moment in my life where I was like, this can't be it. This cannot be life. This can't be come home from work, see this type of environment. Have dinner, get the kids ready for bed, wake up, rinse and repeat every day for the rest of my life. This can't, this cannot be it. So that was like that kind of struggle was like, I took that and decided not to be a victim of the circumstance. And I was like, I'm going to do something about this, whatever it is. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm doing something. there was another moment where there was a shooting in front of my house. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was like, anything I have to do to get out of here, I'm gone. So my whole, everything, my, my focus every day was thinking about how to get out of here, how to get, or how to get out the neighborhood.
@cashflowsaga:I love everything that you said, because how many of you listening right now, you're in a job that you don't like, or you're in a situation that is less than ideal, you know, not everyone is going to be in the situation, but I know everyone knows that feeling, that gnawing feeling that you're Inside this can't be it, you know, this can't be my life. This can't be how the rest of the story goes. We all have that feeling one way or another. We have that feeling, whether it's a job, circumstance that you're in, whatever it is, you have that feeling, but what are you doing about it? Right. At the end of the day, what are you doing about it? And I understand it is so much easier to take that feeling and to just turn on Netflix it's so much easier to distract yourself from that feeling than to attack that feeling head on. So all I want to say Jay is. I just commend you for saying, look, enough is enough. You know, I'm not going to continue to ignore this feeling. I'm going to do something about that. And like you said, you don't know exactly what that is, but you still made the decision that I'm going to do something about it. And that's what I encourage anyone listening or anyone watching this to do. Don't ignore that feeling. And maybe the answer is real estate. Maybe it's something else, but just do not ignore that feeling. So anyway, Jay, continue on with the story.
@jay.invests:Yeah, 100%. you must do something if you're not happy with your situation. And I think the biggest component to this whole thing is mindset. I could have laid down and just said, you know what, this is it. You know, I'm okay with this and been content, but I knew deep down inside there's something greater. There's something In me, like there's a higher potential in all of us. Actually, there's, there's something in all of us that's greater than what we believe. And what's holding us back from reaching that potential is our belief, right? Or non belief. If you, if you believe in yourself, you're going to figure something out. So that was me at that moment was like, I know there's something more, more to life than what I'm seeing right now, what I'm living. This is not real. This is not reality. And this can't be it.
@cashflowsaga:So Jay, how did you connect that kind of point to. That you were at, the decision that you were going to do something about it. How did you connect that to, okay, real estate is the thing that I'm going to, that I'm going to pursue
@jay.invests:it took some time, honestly, it took some time. It took maybe about a year. how it started was I just Googled cause I didn't have a lot of money. And I was like, how do you buy a house without money or something like that? It was something like that. Right. And then I just kept doing, I just kept searching. And then, uh, bigger pockets came up and I was like, huh, what's this? And then I remember I listened to the first episode that I listened to at the time. It was about this, um, I can't remember the episode number of the person, but I remember it was a single mom with three, three kids in Detroit.
@cashflowsaga:Detroit. That's, that's gotta be the most, my most favorite episode. I think it's probably their, their most popular one as well. Continue, continue. I love this. I love this episode.
@jay.invests:So, she was a single parent living in Detroit. And she was like, I want to make all my kids like sports and ballet and all that stuff. And she was a waitress. I think she was making like 24, 000 a year. she took her tax return check and put that on a down payment on a house, moved in the next tax return. She did the same thing. and she just kind of repeated that process. And that's how she, she grew. And then she rented them out and she started to increase her income from rental. And then I'm like, damn, if a single mom with three kids, she's doing it by herself off 24, 000 a year. I know it's different markets, but Regardless, if she had the drive and tenacity to figure something out, whatever the situation was and do something about it to where she was financially free. I have no excuse.
@cashflowsaga:her name is Ashley Hamilton on Instagram. She is Detroit investor, very much encourage everyone to give her a follow. She's another bad ass and very, very inspiring. I was super inspired by that. So go ahead, go ahead, Jay.
@jay.invests:I felt like listening to the podcast was almost like a cheat code I felt like it was like the matrix when you're plugging in and you're just downloading all the information. And what I liked about it was that we're talking to everyday people like you and I that invest in real estate. What are our challenges? What would we do different? how do we do it? Why do we do it? And it just kind of gave me a different perspective. It was almost like I was having daily conversations with people that were investors. That's how I took it. So on my commute, I was just listening religiously. And then I started watching the market. And then that's kind of where. I was like, okay, my biggest expense my mortgage at the time. how do I get rid of that? I lived in a two story house, right I always talked about renovating the lower part and then renting it out forever
@cashflowsaga:and just for the, just for the listeners, Jay, cause I know this, the house that you were living in with your family. You had purchased that actually right from your, from your family.
@jay.invests:hundred percent. Yep. So I bought that. but it needed a lot of work, right? I think it was like, it was a 1930s house. think the last time I got rehab was like in the nineties. So, you know, we're, we're talking about like 20, was it's 2015 ish now. So it was, it was outdated where you know, I had to put pots out when it was raining, know what I mean? Cause it was leaking, you know, it was just bad. Right. so that was the property that I bought. And then, um, I rehabbed it.
@cashflowsaga:even the awareness of, To say, look, it's not, it's not the greatest property in the world, far from it. At a point where you didn't know anything about real estate, the awareness to say, you know what, it might be a good idea for me to buy this from my family. It might be a good idea to own this. well, well, well, before you knew anything about real estate. So even that just, even that crucial insight to say, you know, I got to be an owner. I got to own real estate, especially in the Bay area, regardless of where it is. You, you knew that somehow that that was going to be important.
@jay.invests:a hundred percent. I didn't have it all figured out to be honest. And when I started off, I was afraid because I didn't know what I was doing, but I also knew that if I didn't try, nothing would change. And this was my attempt at, you know, just using my resources, my circumstance to my advantage, to the best of my ability. yeah, so it was like, I need something to change and something drastic has to change. or cause I don't want to stay in the same situation this time next year. I was taking a crack at it. I was like, this is the only opportunity I'm not going to be able to go buy another house. I already have this one, so I have to make this one work. So that was it. Right. And then the next aha moment was when I kind of did some rehab work, refinance and pull some cash out. And, use that cash to renovate and do what I've been talking about, but I was always too scared to do it. But now it's like, okay, I have a kid, I have to do something. So I rehabbed the house and then I rented it. I rented a portion of it out and got my first tenant. Boom. I was scared through the whole process. I had to figure out how to, how to screen a tenant, how to collect the payments, how to everything, how to send out the contracts all like within a short amount of time. But I got my first tenant, then this was, this was it. So the first, the first thing that was like, there was a light bulb was when I cashed out refinanced. I was like, damn, this is, this is pretty cool. So I was able to increase the value of my property, put a new loan on the property and take a piece of the cash out of the equity and then how it, I had a lump sum of cash tax free. And that's what I use to do the rehab work. And then I did it again. But when I, when I saw that first, rent check deposit into my account, I was like, Oh, this is rental income right here. And then I got my second tenant, boom. And then I was like mortgage free. And I was like, Oh, this is it right here. This is financial freedom. That's what I was thinking at the time. But that was the moment I was like, okay. Cash out, refi, this is how people make money in real estate, right? Or one way to make money. And then when I started getting the rent check, I was like, the rent deposits, I was like, Oh, okay. I'm leaning in. Like, there's something here. I need to figure out how to, how to continue to grow this. And that was kind of that moment I was like, okay, now how do I scale from here?
@cashflowsaga:Yeah, so I, I just want to pause for two seconds here. Cause I think this is such a critical, critical component of your story, Because you had this asset and you were working with what you had, but just to show the power of one single property and yes, this is the Bay area. Yes. It was kind of extraordinary times because the interest rates were low and property values were, you know, increasing quite rapidly but still, There were so many unlocks here. So many aha moments, so many light bulbs. The first one being, Jay did a cash out refinance and a lot of people get really, you know, fixated on the cashflow, you know, what is the cashflow? What is the cashflow? But ultimately where the wealth is created in real estate is through the equity in the property. As these values appreciate over time and your loan balance is continuing to go down over time, that Delta between the value of the property and how much you owe the bank, that is the equity. And that is always increasing. And in Jay's circumstance. It increased so much so that when he refinanced took a new loan on the property. he had enough equity so he could take cash out, keep his mortgage payment the same or lower, probably the same. And he took that cash and you could do whatever you want with that tax free. Jay leveraged wealth that was created just by owning that property. And he didn't go buy a car with it. He went and he improved the value of the property further. He added units. What he said he always wanted to do And then boom, you got a tenant in there and he got rental income. And I want to just say the same thing about that first rental check, hitting that bank account and what it does to you mentally, because I had a very similar thing. My first rental property I bought in Portland, it was actually a house that my wife and I were supposed to move into. Long story short, we didn't move into that property. I had to get a tenant in there. I was freaking out. And as soon as they paid. That first month's rent and it hit my account. And then I did the deductions of the mortgage and everything like that. And I was like, Oh, there's still a little bit of money left over. I had the same aha moment. I was like, this is all I'm going to do. This is all I'm going to do. I'm just going to keep building this rental income. So anyway, the cash, our refinance, the rental income, the mindset shift that comes with that. I think it's huge. I think it's huge. And that's, I think that's where I really want to focus. Cause a lot of the people listening to this right now are people that haven't done the deal Jay. And so I really want to emphasize how much changes when you just do that first deal. And it might not be the greatest deal in the world. It's likely not going to be, but that's not the point. The point is to get in the game because you can't unlock the levels to this game if you just don't even start playing, right? If you don't start playing. So anyway, Jay, I want to pass it back to you so we can keep going with the story, but I just wanted to hit on those points.
@jay.invests:this is something that I think about constantly like you have to take time out of your day to think and then you have to focus, be intentional and then just go. Otherwise, what are you doing? Right? I think for me, what has been helpful. And this whole thing, ever since I, like, really got intentional and started was spending a quality time for myself. So I could have that space to just sit in my thought and think about what it is that I really want out of life, The things that I want to create, journaling, doing some mental work, meditation, all that stuff. Because we get caught up in life so quick, Before you know it, a year passes and what's changed, what's improved, you know, you get caught up in this routine. So you need to take a moment out of your day and just kind of think about life. Think about what it is you want. And I do that daily. And that's, that has helped me kind of create my, my lane, my path, and, where I've landed up until this point.
@cashflowsaga:I love that you said that, Jay, because, you know, you, you talk to a lot of people about this and I talk to a lot of people. I mean, we both have W 2 jobs. We both started investing in real estate while having W 2 jobs. And a lot of the times I talk to people and they say, I'm too, I'm too busy. You know, I, I don't have the time I have kids and, you know, when am I going to find the time? So I want you as a father, as somebody who's grinding with the W 2 job as somebody that is juggling all of these things, you know, to kind of speak to the people who say. they just don't have the time to do something like this.
@jay.invests:you have time for what's important. Point blank. if you really want a life that you dream of, it's just not going to appear out of nowhere. You're going to spend eight hours of your time, helping somebody else's dream. When you get out of that job, you got to come home and you got to spend time on your dream. Otherwise, what are you doing? we all got things we got to work, work through, I think it's really, it's really the mindset if you think about it, we live to about what, 80, 85,
@cashflowsaga:If we're lucky.
@jay.invests:if we're lucky, you know, think about that. And then if you, if you retire, you're depending on a social security check, 401k. To me, that's too much of a risk, I just know that if there's things that I want in life, I got to work for it. And I would say the same thing to everybody else, It's just not gonna happen on its own. you want something out of life, you gotta, you gotta make it happen. You gotta create that. You gotta put in the work. You gotta dedicate some time. you're gonna sacrifice something. Time with your family, sleep, something. You're gonna sacrifice something. But if you can sacrifice for a couple of years, to live a little bit more comfortable life, then it might be worth it.
@cashflowsaga:a hundred percent agree with everything that you said. You're going to make time for the things that matter. if you want a different life, Cause we talk about at the beginning of the episode, you have that feeling. this can't be all that life is. If you want to get rid of that feeling, you have to be making the moves that are going to help you get out of that. The rat race, the nine to five grind, work eight hours a day, come home, watch Netflix, rinse and repeat, live for the weekends. that life is the fate of everybody. If you don't do something about it and you have to pick your head up every once in a while and do the intentional thinking that Jay's talking about And then you actually notice are people playing different games. when I see younger people, they don't understand the finance game, They don't understand the, the world of investing. They don't understand that. Hey, there's moves that, you know, I could have been making five years ago, where you could have been making five years ago that we would have just been so much further along at this point. Real estate investing is not going to, it's not going to happen because you listen to a podcast. It's not going to happen because you read a book. It's going to happen because you took action. And you're only going to get to that point. If you make that decision for yourself that, this is the time that I'm going to, that I'm going to move.
@jay.invests:Man, you said a lot of things there that I want to touch on as well. kind of going back to your nine to five and things like that. You have to dig deep because I hear a lot like, Oh, I'm tired. Okay. That's going to be forever. When are you not going to be tired? And, and it's always going to be an excuse. Find a reason and a purpose to do something instead of an excuse, because I can say the same thing. I'm tired. I got three kids. I got, you know, taking them to sports, this, that, and the third, but I still got to accomplish my goals. So you're either going to find a reason or find an excuse. Everything is hard, It's hard to be fit. It's hard to be overweight. It's hard to be single. It's hard to be married. Everything is hard. It's hard to be broke. It's hard to have a job. It's hard to be an investor. It's hard to be an entrepreneur. Everything in life is hard, but you got to pick something that is worth it. If you want something out of life, And then also something that I've been talking about a lot lately and you had touched, touched on it was equity, right? I talked to a lot of people and, you know, they gave me the, uh, You know, I asked what your goals and, you know, 10 K passive and I'm like, okay, cool. You know, and then we talk about how do you plan to get there and we kind of map it out and not, not to discourage, but I think to be realistic, real estate, it takes a lot of, a lot of work and a lot of the times it's not that passive, you know, so maybe it's been like a buzzword in the past and it's something that I've, I've thought and that's what I've worked towards and that's why I'm now. have been really focused on multifamily real estate because it's, it's a little bit of different game, but for like getting 10 K passive, I think that's great. But what you said was also just as important is the equity, building the equity, going into a market where your equity grows, because that's how you build a lot of good wealth is through the equity, right? Like you can force it. You can go into markets where it just naturally appreciates fast. you know, and everybody has a different strategy and different, schools of thoughts on this and there's not a right or wrong way. but I'm like, I like to focus on equity, a little bit of cashflow too, but I think equity is where you can really move the needle in terms of like your, your network and, you know, hitting your financial goals and, you know, just having a lot more options. So, you know, just to, for everybody that's out there listening, passive income is, is good. but just know you're gonna have to work for it. No matter what, right? If it's your first deal, it's not going to come easy, right? You're going to be emotional. You're going to be scared. You're probably going to lose some sleep, but that's all part of the process. And then when you get your next one, then you're going to be like, okay, cool. I've been through it one time. I can handle this and you get your next one. And then you kind of go from there. It's a slow start. It's a slow process, but you got to walk through the steps.
@cashflowsaga:Yeah, absolutely. So I just want to kind of riff a little bit off of what you said, when I talk to people, Especially if we're talking long term rentals, and I know you have an Airbnb as well, and, um, I think that's a little bit different of a game, but when we're talking about long term rentals and we're talking about maybe, you know, cash flowing 250 bucks for a long term rental, I, I talk to a lot of people and they're like, why would I do that? Why would I do that? Right? And I think you're kind of missing the point. I think we Put too much of an emphasis on cashflow in the real estate game, right? too much of an emphasis on, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to quit my job through real estate investing. You might very well do that, but you have to understand that it's going to take a very long time. the game is not to get that 250 a month in cashflow. The game is to stack assets. That's it. The game is to stack assets, right? Whether the assets are stocks, real estate, whatever you have to stack assets. And those assets, they're going to provide a little bit of cashflow, but mostly they're going to just go up in value, right? That's, that's your hedge. That is your generational wealth. That is what you're passing down to future generations. You have to stack assets and then you have to stack assets consistently for a very long period of time. You know, I'm going to talk about this probably in a future episode, but I left a very high paying job, in tech. making around 250, 000 a year And the only reason I felt comfortable leaving that job is because I had done enough work over a long period of time, investing in stocks, investing in real estate, that if I just. Hit my very conservative projections if I hit traditional retirement, 59 and a half, those assets that I had stacked up to that point, I would be good. am I financially free right now? No, but I'd done enough work to know that I can take a step back or I can take my career in a different direction because I had stacked the assets and that's all J and I are trying to say. we're not in the cashflow game. We're in the asset stacking game. that is what is going to be very, very powerful because assets give you options. You have a rental property. That's maybe not doing that. Well, cool. But you have equity, you sell that, you get into a different rental property, right? You have some stocks that are performing cool. You sell that and maybe you shift it over into a down payment, into real estate, but you have options because you have assets. that's all I want to say, Jay, is that you need to give yourself options.
@jay.invests:A hundred percent. I want to add to that too, about a W2 working a nine to five. There's a lot of people that say, I want to quit my job and go real estate. it's okay to work in nine to five. It's okay to have a W 2. You want to have a W 2 because that's going to help you get loans. So you can buy more assets. So you can buy more property. So you can invest in stock, crypto, whatever it is, business. You can stack up your bread. And buy a business, but you're going to stack up your bread from your W2. So don't quit your W2 and then try to buy a house because now you're going to have a problem. they need to see your pay stubs. If you have no pay stubs, now you got a problem. You're going to have to find an alternative type of loan. That's going to cost a lot more. So I would think twice before quitting. I'm not saying don't quit. All I'm saying is like explore your options and your goals and figure out what it is you want to accomplish. And do that while you're working, because that's your, your bread and butter. That's your income. You take that income or increase your income as much as possible. Get a raise, get, get another job, increase your W 2 income as fast as possible. take that income, save it, put it in a high yield account while you're trying to figure out what you want to do with it, then invest it. That's the steps right there. Increase your income, save your income and use that to invest before you leave your job, right? It's like you were saying, um, you stacked up your assets, you made an investment so that when it was time to leave or make that decision, you already were pretty comfortable. Cool. You know, whether it's not like, you know, super high cashflow, but you are comfortable enough to sustain your life to leave that, that position. Right. And I would challenge you guys to, you know, the listeners to say, think the same thing. Like everybody probably wants to leave their job, but think about why you're there. What can you do with that income?
@cashflowsaga:I always say You're especially your twenties, especially your twenties, your entire focus needs to be maximizing the amount of income that you could possibly make. And I, and that's what I did, right? I, I got a degree in accounting, not because I'm passionate about accounting, but I needed to get a stable job, right? I had student loans and accounting was a stable job, but from there, I made a lot of pivots in my career that landed me in tech and I was in analytics, you know, I. wrote SQL code. I was analyzing lots of data. It's not that I was super passionate about it, but I was opportunistic in that this is what was going to allow me to make the most income as possible. And you have to make the moves that are right for you to increase your income as much as possible. Because like Jay said, you got to pay to play in real estate. You know, there's a lot of buy this with no money down seller financing, sub two type of stuff. And I'm not saying any of that is bad. I'm just saying that. From my experience, you're going to need money to make money in real estate. And that's going to have to come from your W 2 job. but that being said, the earlier you get started in this, the faster this is all going to work, right? If I started buying houses when I was 22, 23 years old, you know, when I use an FHA loan, or I did a house hack right away and rented out the rooms. If I got started earlier, man, this This whole journey. And I'm sure for you to Jay would have been so, so much different. So that's why I really urge anybody. If you're listening to this, if you're in your early twenties, and maybe you don't make the most, as much income as you need to right now, focus on increasing the income, but like Jay said, stack a stack a little bit away each and every month, you know, even if it's a couple hundred dollars a month into the S and P 500, just set it and forget it. Every time you increase your paycheck, increase that contribution to your investments or into your high yield savings account, you'll be surprised, you know, after two, three, four, five years, how much you've stacked up, just act like you don't have that money. So Jay, we've been going back and forth and I love this conversation. I want to bring it back to your story. We got to the house hack. We got to the cash out refinance, but I know you made a lot of moves from that point. you jumped out of state investing. You eventually got to this indication. So maybe for the next five minutes, let's, let's fill in the gaps of how we got from the house hack to, you know, doing. multiple hundred units as a general partner on a syndication. Let's kind of like try to fill the listeners in on the evolution there.
@jay.invests:yeah, for sure. So you know, I had turned that first property into a three unit and then, uh, COVID hit and I was like, okay, by this time, you know, I was already like a year, year and a half in just religiously listening to bigger pockets, listening to audio books, thinking grow rich, you know, rich dad, poor dad, those types of books just to kind of help you with my mindset. The subtle art of not giving a F that I needed that one in my life because I cared too much about what people thought about me and I needed to think differently and just kind of go on and focus on my life and be okay with that and just kind of move on. So then, um, COVID hit, I had rented out that other property. Um, and then the same thing, right? I moved jobs. I got like a 40 percent bump and that was like, okay, Cool. Now I feel a little bit more comfortable. I'm going to try to get the next one. Cause I just had my dog, my second child, my daughter at the time. And I was like, okay, I got a house for my son. I want to get a house for my daughter. That was my focus, right? Because I want them to have options. So, um, found something off market big enough for, um, an ADU, which is what I'm working on now. But I got that because of that option. that was my second property. And then my DT, my income, my capital was going down because, you know, for, you know, a million dollar house here, a million dollar house there. It's a lot of, it's a lot of, uh, money you're putting down, we have work and all that. So I was running low on capital. So I was like, okay, I got to buy something a little bit cheaper. So then that's when I started looking out of state. Then my first full gut rehab on private money in San Antonio, never done any of that before. I was, I literally was losing sleep. I like, I failed hard with this one. But I was like, you know, I'm giving everything I got. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, try my best. And for me, that was kind of like the rites of passage. I didn't feel like an investor until I did that out of state property. Loan fell through the week before close. I had, um, met, you know, I'm part of some, uh, different communities and I met, um, somebody in my community. Um, the community I'm with is Zen Coast. Shout out to my Zen Coast people. And, um, I met somebody in there. And I told them about the deal and they were like, you know, they liked me enough and they trusted me enough to fund my deal. So private money. I bought it all cash and portion of the rehab blew my budget. The time to double the amount of time, man, this was like the worst deal. Like it wasn't the deal. It was the, it was the contractor that I was working with was just terrible. And I learned so much through the process, but I was able to make it through my whole. Focus on that deal was make sure I paid back the private money lender. I don't care if I'm out of pocket, but that's, that's number one to me. Um, if I have to sell it, I'm selling it, but I want to make sure that I'm paying back. So then I got that property. And what I learned from that was have a backup contractor, maybe another, and if things ain't, if things don't feel right, and they're just not working how you want them to work, fire them right away. There's great contractors that I worked with, but this one wasn't one of them. And if they're not executing the game plan, hitting the milestones and staying on target, because at the end of the day, it's your money on the line or your investor's money on the line. So if you have to make that executive decision to do that, then do it. I've doubled my budget on the rehab. So I was out of pocket, but at the end of the day, my game plan was solid enough to where I still made money on it because I turned a three bedroom, one bath into a four, two. So I just boosted my, my, my, the value of the property. My comparables are now no longer three bedroom, one bathroom. This one is valued at that. Now the value gets four bedroom, two bathroom. So that, that margin right there helped, you know, save the deal for me. But even now it's paying for itself and it's, it's grown in equity. So at some point I could 1031 exchange it and move it into something else later. So yeah. Yes, I went through that long process. It felt like a grueling process, but I earned my stripes on it. I took my lumps. I learned how to, you know, deal with private money lending. I did a full gut rehab. I'd never been to San Antonio still to this day, and I've managed to rehab out of there. But what I didn't account for was the location. It's very important, right? I got to see class location. What I, it's in a cul de sac, which I love, so it's not a lot of traffic, but the tenant pool and the type of people in the area, um, you know, you just have to be mindful of that. Right. And I had, um, tenants that weren't really qualified to my standards. So I had to bend and flex a little bit on that. And then. You know, pay for a lot of rehabs after they move out. But what I didn't account for was the new build, the new constructions that were coming online, right? When my, my rehab was done, there was a lot of new construction that came online. So I get it because if you're a renter, you're going to say like, why don't I just rent this other brand new property for a couple hundred dollars more instead of renting this one, although it was rehab, it was still, it was still an older unit. So I had to wait like seven months for that. That to get absorbed those new bills to get absorbed before I got another tenant. And in that moment, I was like, damn, I got a three unit in San Francisco, COVID hit one unit went vacant and I'm still cashflowing multi it's like a small multi. So that was kind of an, that was an aha and pivotal moment for me. I was like, damn, I spent all this time, energy and effort. And money on one unit and it went vacant. I was like, I better get like a duplex or something or two to four unit, because if one unit goes vacant, at least the other units are covering. And that was kind of where I started to explore and then open my mind up to multifamily. And then I got a duplex out in OKC doing great. It's, it's like one of my, it's solid. So I'm happy about that. Then my debt to income started getting impacted because I had a couple of different properties now, right? So I was like, okay, how can I continue to go? Because I think my purpose of doing what I'm doing is, is, is so strong. There's no reason or no excuse. I cannot move forward. I'm just going to keep going. If there's a brick wall, I'm going through it or around it or over it or something. Right. Um, I ha I'm so hungry and I'm so motivated and I'm so Committed and dedicated to having this, this type of life for me, myself, my family, making an impact, having my little contribution to that community. I'm like, I'm going all the way in as much as possible. So I can't let anything stop me. And that was every time I hit those moments, I always ask myself like, well, how can I do it? How can I keep going? What else can I do? And sometimes those moments take like a month or two. I'm But I'm trying to figure out how to keep going. So when I got to that point, my DTI was a problem. I was like, okay, it has to be multifamily. That was my thought. So then I was like, okay, well, how do I do this? And then the, you know, a 36 unit popped up and I partnered up on that to really learn and just kind of understand how, how these, these larger multifamilies operate, I want to see the paperwork. I'm going to see the documentation. I want to be on a phone call. I want to see what the game plan is, the business strategy. I wanted to see all of that. I want to see the operations. So I could understand and I did that and I was scared because I was a big deal. Um, but that was like the, the transition from like single family and then kind of evolving into the multifamily. And then, then I just started kind of getting around other people that were doing it at a high level and just not, not even asking, but just kind of being a fly on the wall. And then however I could help or assist or connect, that's what I was doing. Cause that's what I had was like my network, my connection. If I can't do anything for you, maybe I know somebody that can, and here's the introduction, right? And then maybe later on down the line, maybe we can do business, but it's not an expectation. I've learned that the more that I give, the more I receive, and I'm always going to give, because I know I'm going to receive, you know, I don't know how that's going to come back, but it will. I just know that. And, um, so that was my, my identity was like, I'm, you know, I'm a connector. I'm, I'm going to give, I'm going to just keep doing my thing. And then, you know, I was moving around, traveling, looking at property, being around other people, joining other mentorship programs and, um, you know, these, these other properties came up and I think I've built, um, somewhat of a reputation for myself of, of, you know, somebody that's going to go out and do the work, some people call me the people champ, I'll take it, you know, and because where I come from, where we come from, right. We're not supposed to be real estate investors Being a successful figure in this space. so people, you know, trust me. And they were like, Hey, you know what, I have this deal. Do you want to participate in the deal? And I'm like, yeah, what do you need? How can I help? And they were like, yeah, we need to raise capital. Can you do that? I was like, yeah, boom. And then that's, that's kind of how I got into the GP side of these larger multifamily syndications. I got into 150 units. Raise capital and, you know, helps a couple of different investors realize that they can use their, their capital that's sitting and get a return on it because, you know, for the people that say they don't have time for it, that's fine. If you don't have time for it, maybe take your capital and invested in something that's passive, like this indication. And that was what I was presenting to a lot of people that are too busy. Right. I had a phone call yesterday with somebody that, they're a doctor and he has no time and a family. I'm doing all these other things on the side and he wants to get involved and this is a way to do it. Right? So you got to find ways to do it. And this was my way. It was like, okay, my debt to income is, is, is kind of, I'm hitting the wall. It's going to be hard for me to buy another single family home or a two to four unit. What's next is the multifamily. And then just how can I get on the GP side? How can I bring value? How can I be around people that are doing this at a high level? And then just rinsing and repeating, right? Going to networking events, just connecting. And then being a person of value and never, uh, not asking for anything, but just always willing to give. And then the next deal pops up and I'm like, how can I participate? How can I help? What needs, what do you need? And then see if I can help, you know, fill that void or at least, you know, bring something to the table. And, and that's just kind of my MO and that's how I've been operating. And I've been lucky enough and fortunate enough to be in conversations with these bigger deals and, you know, be able to participate. And I think just having, um, a track record, even starting off from my house hack to scaling up to 500 plus and people that have seen my journey and the people that know me before this, they know my personality, they know my intentions and they, you know, they, they respect it and they trust it. So that's how I was able to kind of scale in that multifamily space. So now I'm having different conversations with different people that are focused on different things. And that's such a blessing for me that I even get to have these conversations. and where my position is now is like, I want to educate people and help them understand this as well, right? Like, if you would have asked me this three years ago, if I'd be where I'm at now, way, impossible. 150 units, you know, 355 units here, you know, 71 under contract. Absolutely not. That's how, that's how I thought of myself was that I wasn't valuable enough. we are way more powerful, way more capable and have a higher potential than we tend to believe for ourselves. We have these limiting beliefs and I was like, uh, you know, a big component of that, you know, a couple of years ago, like I would never make this amount of money. Why, why would somebody want to partner with me? You know, like. You know, I just think thought so low of myself and I had to change my frequency. I had to change the people I was around. And then once I started thinking different, everything started, the pendulum started to swing the other way, right? We're gonna have ups and downs. And, you know, this was my my time was down now in my time to come up, right? And I'm gonna ride this as far as I can. And I hope I stay up.
@cashflowsaga:I just, I'm really inspired by you, by your story, by the growth that I've seen, you know, when we met at that first meetup. You know, not that many years ago. Um, I, I remember exactly where you were at, right. you weren't really in big multifamily. You were asking a lot of questions and to see the evolution from my seat. You know, I, I saw you posting on Instagram. I saw you landed that first like syndication. I saw you all different podcasts. I saw you kind of everywhere. I just saw the growth and I saw the movement and. To, to just see that happen, you know, has been really, really inspiring. And so in terms of, you know, accomplishing your goal of inspiring those around you, um, spreading your message, you know, educating everyone that you can educate. I think you're doing that. And then some, so thank you for your contributions in that regard. And I congratulate you on all your success. If you want to round out this episode, Jay. And there was just one takeaway, right? And I know you're a coach, right? So you have a lot of these conversations, but if someone's listening on the podcast right now, and they're just on the fence. You know, they, they, maybe they're not happy with their life. Maybe they're too skittish to do that first deal. They're just on the fence. They're just sitting there. They're just kind of in that analysis paralysis phase. What is, what is the one piece of advice you give to that person?
@jay.invests:Ooh, one piece of advice that I would give to somebody that is sitting on the fence That's a great question. I want to say take action and be okay with failing because that's what it takes to win. if you're afraid, you're never going to try. if you don't try, you're never going to win. You're never going to accomplish anything. difference between successful people and those that aren't successful is the amount of time the successful people fail. They go out there, they try, and if they fail, they pivot and they keep going. And that's it, right? You have to be able to operate and work through your fears. Otherwise, you're not going to get anywhere.
@cashflowsaga:yeah, I love that advice. I heard this on a different podcast, but they were talking about courage and Courage is not the absence of fear. it's taking action despite the fear that you have, right? There actually is no courage if there is no fear, but it's your decision to move forward despite the fear that you have. So like Jay said, you can get paralyzed by the fear and succumb to the nine to five hamster wheel life that we're all destined to have. If we don't do anything, or you can punch fear in the face. never take no for an answer and just move forward anyway. And, and Jay's journey and his growth and his success so far is a testament to that. So Jay, on behalf of myself and the financial freedom fighters listener, I want to thank you for blessing the podcast today with your story, with your insights, with your knowledge. If people want to reach out to you, get in touch with you, connect with you, where can they do that?
@jay.invests:Yeah. Follow me on Instagram. J dot invest. I'm, I'm active on Instagram. My links are there. Um, you know, reach out and um, yeah, let's connect, man. That's, that's where I'm at. You know, like you said, I do coaching, uh, Zen Coast universities, uh, the program, the real estate mentorship program that I'm a part of. Um, you know, we, we do this for, uh, impact, you know, we want to help people break past that fear of that first deal. Right. Um, go into the multifamily deals, but that's, that's what I'm about, man, is this impact helping uplift the community, helping people, um, you know, just get the first, second deal, create that generational wealth of mindset thing is very important to me. So J dot invest on Instagram, follow me and let's connect.
@cashflowsaga:Absolutely. Absolutely. So that is J dot invest on Instagram. I definitely recommend giving Jay a follow and connecting with him. He is a wealth of knowledge. I'm Jacob. On all socials at cashflow saga. This has been a fire episode. I've hope you've had a lot of light bulb moments, a lot of aha moments and got a lot of insights from this episode. We are the financial freedom fighters podcast. We will see you in the next episode. Peace.
Nancy:Goodbye
