1507: Special Guest Lupei Chou
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00:01
Welcome to Episode Seven of Season 15 of the Growing Empires Show. Today I am here with my special guests Lupei Chow, who pays real estate investing journey began with the purchase of her first single family rental in 2018, which opened her eyes to the power of real estate. From there, she quickly scaled to large commercial multifamily properties by leveraging creative financing and strategic partnering. So today, we're going to talk to Lupe all about her creative financing and strategic partnering ideas. This allowed her to grow her business and investment portfolio with greater efficiency, scalability and profitability. Today, Lupe holds a portfolio of over $7 million in residential commercial properties in six states. So please make sure that you stay tuned as I interview Lupe about her real estate investing journey.
00:47
Welcome to Growing Empires hosted by real estate entrepreneur and trusted Investment Advisor Jennifer de Jesus. Growing Empires provides insight to building wealth through passive income producing real estate investments for those who want to build and manage a more profitable real estate portfolio.
01:08
So welcome, Lupei, to the growing empire show. I'm so glad that you're here.
01:13
Hi, Jennifer. Thank you for having me.
01:16
So we're gonna kick off this episode with you sharing a little bit about your background, how you got started investing in what you're doing now?
01:24
Yeah, let's do it. I love to share my story. It's always fun to share as well as to hear other people's story.
01:33
Awesome. So tell me how did you get started? How did you get started real estate investing? What's your background?
01:38
So I am active duty military, I am still serving right now. I just reached my 20 years in the Navy.
01:48
Oh, wow. Thank you for your service.
01:50
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So I, you know, the the way I got started in real estate, I think it's kind of accidental. But really, you know, I think it was also you know, as I approach the end of my military career, I'm really, you know, thinking about retirement. I know, it's early, but you know, typically people retire in the military like really early, right, like, in their 30s. Even. So, you know, retirement was on my mind. And I also sold the house. At the same around the same time I got started and has some money, you know, that I wanted to invest. Okay.
02:35
So after you so you've just started thinking about your the end of your military career and what you wanted to do from investing. How did you actually get started? What was the How did you you said you had a property that you own that you were selling? Where did you get that property from? Was that the house you lived in?
02:52
Yes. So the house I sold Okay, in 2018, my husband and I moved back to the States. We were stationed overseas for about three years. So we moved back, and we're in DC, we're still here in DC. So about 10 years earlier, I purchased a house in California when I was stationed there, it was my home when I was stationed there, right. And then after I moved, it became a rental. And it pretty much you know, was a rental for the next six, seven years. Luckily, I had just one tenant, he stayed there for the entire time, and he was taking good care of my property. But I was like nowhere near you know, having any kind of investor mindset, okay, I was just happy people are paying my mortgage, I don't really have a lot to worry about. So when we came back in 2018, we wanted to sell that house because we wanted to buy here in Maryland. And to my surprise, the house had appreciated so much. I almost feel like I'm like, okay, like this is like, Am I like doing something illegal? Right? Because like it was it was so good. It was too hard to believe. Yes. And another really sweet thing that we happen to qualify was because we are both in the military, we actually qualify as even after like, almost 10 years, right, we qualify as primary resident like that house still qualify as our primary resident. So we didn't have to pay any capital gain tax for that transaction. Oh, wow. So that was really one event that really made me to think like, okay, you know, dig into real estate, you know, start exploring this because it's definitely something you know, like, you know, after this experience, right, like, Okay, what else can I do with it? Yep. Very cool. Very cool.
04:56
So today we are going to talk about quickly scaling up and using leverage to build your wealth. And I've asked Lupe, to join me to share her wealth of knowledge that she's gained throughout the years on these subjects. And I want to start out by talking about, you know, your your passion, what, what keeps you going every day? What are you passionate about in regards to real estate investing?
05:20
You know, I, I think it's just so different from what I know, right? Like, for me being in the military for 20 plus years, always, you know, either military or government, right? I mean, the government sector as well, I work with a lot of government, civilians, different agencies. So this whole entrepreneurial world was very new to me, and very interesting. And I love it, because it's so different from what I know, and what I'm used to. And they really kind of like, brought out a different side of me, you know, after, you know, I've been doing it for a while. So, this is what I enjoy doing. And I hope to be able to do this full time in the future.
06:07
Okay. Your military career is kind of coming to an end, are you are you about ready to segue out? And then what are you going to do from there, you're going to go full time into real estate investing.
06:18
Yeah, I, I, that's the plan, right. So I put I do plan to retire in the within within two years. And I have been kinda like laying the ground in the real estate world. And I hope to do that, to make that transition one Simon out of the military, and make this my full time job. And I want to talk a little bit more about what's so different about the two different world I'm a, you know, so when you are in the military or government, usually you're in a very, very structured world, right? Like everything is has say, some HIPAA regulation, it tells you exactly what to do and what you cannot do, you have very clear boundary, very clear rules to play. So I'm used to that. And I'm, that's like, my comfort zone, right. But once I kind of fly into this entrepreneurial world, it's kinda like, wow, this is really just like, anything and everything, you know, you can be creative, you can make your own rules in a lot. I mean, within legal limits, right? Like, build your business, however you want to. Works with your personality, your schedule, your your family life. So it's that flexibility. And the way you can be really creative is what really, I found so interesting.
07:48
That's awesome. So how big is your portfolio now? Um,
07:52
so I invest. When I first started, I started in single family home, and we have six doors in the single family home, not a huge portfolio. But and the reason is that I think six door is a lot for somebody who's doing a job full time and try to manage and deal with all the problems when it comes to tenant maintenance, property management. So we got up to six doors in about two years, when we first started out, although I think we could buy more, but I was really not interested in buying any more because I felt like it was taking so much of my my time and my energy just to manage what we have. So, so that's like my single family investment. And from there, we started to look into multifamily. So I have done several joint venture deals on smaller multibuy I invest as limited partners, a syndication as well as general partners now started last year. So that's kind of like being my portfolio. On a I don't have the town's like, I don't really have everything, I'll add it up. Sure.
09:21
Sure. But you you are investing now in multiple ways. So it started from your single families and then you kind of just scaled into the multifamily and commercial real estate and then just your partnerships and stuff like that. What made you get started with the partnerships, you know,
09:37
it really started you know, because of out of necessity because I didn't think I had any more time or downpayment to buy another property and I didn't want to do that I was just tired. I feel I was feeling the landlord burnout and doing everything by myself. It's It can be discouraging, right? And then really have, my husband is very busy with his job. So he's not very involved. So I feel like I'm doing anything by myself. And that can be very challenging at times, I did join a coaching program, you know, have mentors. And that's how I found my partners for the first time in multifamily, you know, do the small joint venture project on the 80 unit, and learn the power of partnership from there.
10:33
Okay, so tell me, tell me about that. Tell me tell me more about the power of partnership. What is it done for you?
10:40
So what's so nice about having a partner is that none of us is good at everything, right? Like, I don't think I'm good at everything. I mean, a lot of things I'm not good at. But I have partners who are stepping, you know, in those areas, like, I'm not good at construction or rehab. It's just not my background. But, you know, I work with partners who's you know, who knows, like, who knows the numbers, who knows? The price is right or wrong. It's just so helpful. You, instead of like me here calling five different contractors, right, trying to get some quotes. So things like that it really, I think, just really helped you, and really speed up the growth when you are us, leveraging other people's talents. Okay.
11:37
And I think you you had a key point there, too, is that you're combining powers, right? You're combining skill sets, that that's a really powerful type of partnership.
11:47
Yeah, definitely. And you own you can also, of course, you come by your resources, you're able to, you know, go after bigger properties. And that's just it's a way to scale of course. So that was important aspect of it as well. Okay.
12:08
Tell me about the real estate investor meetup that you operate that you run.
12:13
Yeah. So for all the lady investors out there, if you don't know about this, real estate, invest her is a great organization. And it's for women to connect and grow and build friendship partnership. So I actually met my partner, II invest her while a local chapter here in DC, it's the Capital Region chapter. And we, it's just a forum for the ladies to connect and grow and, you know, empowering each other, we do monthly education, calls, we do quarterly in person meet up. It has been a really great experience for me. We have partnerships being formed business deals, real estate transactions. So yeah, if you are in the DC region, please join us.
13:17
That's awesome. I think that's really powerful, too. You don't, you know, being in this business for you know, into my second decade of this business. I, there's, there's very few women I come across very, very few. So it's, it's a commendable number one. But number two, it's it's it's really intriguing to me that, you know, women can get out there and empower each other to be successful in real estate investing. What is your what is your ultimate goal? So you invest in real estate, because why? What are you trying to achieve?
13:57
You know, I really asked myself that a lot. And I feel like this a question. I'm still kind of like, evolving, because it really changes kind of like over time, I will say in the beginning where of course like we've asked to make money, right, like, first motivation, you know, I wanted to stash away something for my retirement, you know, for my future. But the more I got into it, I really love the business world. I love the creative side of it. I love you can build your own life and your own business, right. And now, like we talked about with invest her, you know, I also got involved with a lot of women. I'm really, I'm also involved in the military community. And it's just a great way to to share the knowledge I love to connect with the ladies, especially the ladies You know, to kind of like, do things together, grow together, build a community together, it's been very, very rewarding. So I would say that's, you know, becoming a really big reason as well, because now I have so many ladies I know, I feel like okay, I have to keep going, and then you know, keep the community strong. And, you know, for all of us,
15:28
the episode will continue in just a moment.
15:31
As an investor, we know it's important to stay on top of market trends and real estate opportunities that add value to your portfolio. We also know that having a trusted source of reliable information to help you stay a step ahead of other investors is critical to your success. If you're interested in having these types of resources, as well as access to me and my team, I invite you to join the Empire Investment Club, a free service that gives you an easier way to make sense of today's and tomorrow's real estate opportunities. As a member of the Empire Investment Club, you'll get access to relevant resources and investment focused experiences, such as live interactive webinars, market trend presentations, and investor socials designed to equip you with what you need to succeed. So whether you're an active investor, passive investor, a combination of both, or just starting out, the club is where you'll get what you need to build a portfolio you love to join, just head over to Jennifer to Hey, soos.com Sign up, and we'll see you in the club, where everyone's on a journey to becoming a better investor. How important do you think networking is, in the real estate business?
16:37
Networking is very important. Really, like especially I see people, you know, doing really well by themselves. And, and I think that's great. But I really think it just depends on what you're looking for. There are a lot of resources, a lot of people are willing to help, especially I have met, you know, very experienced investors that willing to help me to grow. So another time times, it's really about sharing the information and just talking to people learn about what's out there. Really, like sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. I think so definitely. Very, very important aspect of it.
17:23
Yeah, I think it's really critical. I think it's a matter of fact that I personally think it's probably one of the most important parts of being successful in real estate investing is is your networking power, because you it's not it's not a business you can do alone, you have to at least if you want to scale, right you you have to have other people on your team, whether they be your your lender, or you know, a partner that you invest with or or your your GP, your LP you have to bring people around you that that are going to help you excel. And I think a critical components that is the knowledge that other people have from their experiences. So when you're able to bring somebody's experiences, not only just their wins, but their losses to write their wins and losses, so that they can say, hey, I did this, I tried this, it didn't work. And here's what I'm going to do next. Right. I feel like that's really, really powerful. So I definitely think that your network is a really crucial component of your success. Let's go back now and talk a little bit about your property. So you use you said the first one you you had bought that you were you were living in? So I assume because of your veteran status, you probably even got like a VA loan or something on it initially. Am I correct on that? Yes, I did. Okay, wonderful. And then you sold that and because it was your primary residence, you didn't have to worry about capital gains, which is a huge win. Yes. So where did you go from there? How like, how did you buy How did you actually buy it? Did you did you leverage everything? Did you bring in partners for some of the financial aspects How did you get to the next property and the next property and the next property?
19:09
Yeah, so like I said, I started in the residential, and I bought you know, we bought like, six rental properties, and really that we didn't leverage anybody we just kind of like use the profit from the sale you know, use that as a downpayment and put it down for new investment properties I found out of the six project, I down to bursts. So I was able to, like recycle my capital by doing that. At that point, after that, you know, that's when I started the multifamily. Really like in the beginning we didn't know much about leveraging right like we didn't know about, you know, like how to leverage other people's capital you know, I use The cash I had, and I sold my, my my mutual funds and, you know, stocks, you know, and put them into real estate. I use my retirement accounts, my self directed IRA. But I think once we we get into the multifamily, you know, world we learn a lot more about leveraging, you know, like, how to raise capitals how to find partners. So that's, that's definitely a big part of scaling, right, when you are able to have more access to money. Oh, capital,
20:40
more capital? Yeah. What do you feel? I know, you said time was a big piece of the component of why you only had an you know, those six or so single families initially, but Do you also feel like capital was another reason why you were not scaling as quickly is because, you know, at that time, you were using your own money. And it wasn't until you started using other people's money that you were able to make that transition to more units, more doors, larger properties, right.
21:06
Yeah, I think capital is definitely a part of it. And I mean, capital is like, everybody's like, everybody looking for capital, right? Sure. I think that was a big part of it. But I also think that, you know, even if I had capital, I was probably not experienced enough. Like, I wouldn't want to take on a large commercial building by myself. I didn't think I was ready. So that's also where my partners coming, I'm able to partner with more experienced people, or just people have different background than me, you know, everybody bring different things to the table. Right? So like, by coming together, you are able to, you know, take down, you know, bigger and just more sophisticated, like doing more sophisticated transactions. So I think partner in general is, is my, it's kind of like my challenge. I needed somebody to be on my team to do things together. Okay. So besides
22:11
having access to capital, do you feel like those partnerships are really the thing that did allow you to then eventually scale so quickly? Oh, yeah.
22:20
Yeah. 100% Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I will still be, you know, struggling with my, you know, renters if I if I didn't do that today. Yeah.
22:31
Yeah, I was just gonna ask you that. So now I now I assume you have somebody managing your properties for you. You're not physically doing it yourself now. Right?
22:38
Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely.
22:40
Okay. So tell me some of the, you know, what was one of your biggest like, Aha moments? Like, what was one of your biggest learnings that you took from all the years that you've been doing this?
22:53
You know, I think the biggest learning for me is, is really like when it comes to capital raise. Right. Like, it's like how you find investors. I, I just kind of like I finally understood, yeah, like, how you connect with people and how you. It's, yes, like, we are all in here for the profit, right. But I think when you are interacting with your investors, it's more than just a profit you really, if you listen to people and like, listen to their stories, listen to their struggles, right? Like, if you can really understand where they come from, it really makes raising capital A lot easier. Okay, connect, you know, to connect with your investors.
23:43
Yeah. So where did you find these people that you were that you're currently in business with? How did you find them? Um,
23:50
you know, I actually met a lot of people in my women's group. So the, with the ladies, you know, like, generally, I know, you know, the women, they are in this group, because they want to be active, right? They want to be hands on. So really, it's about kinda like providing them the opportunity, because there's so many people who want to get into real estate, but they just don't know how, or having a lot of doubts, right, as a beginner. So it's really about kind of like providing that opportunity to learn people coming at the level where they feel comfortable, is not too risky for them. So I connect with a lot of women that way, from my women's group. I connect with a lot of my military friends for various reasons, you know, there are friends who sold their house, they needed to avoid their capital gain taxes, or they just needed somewhere else to put their investment. There are people who wanted to build something for Their, their their children or their grandchildren. So, yeah, just kind of like listen to people's story and kind of understand what they're looking for.
25:11
Okay, what type of love leverage are you using currently? Like in today's in today's market with the interest rates and stuff like that? Are you using private equity now? Or how are you? How are you funding deals today?
25:25
Um, so, I mean, private equity. I mean, I think we have investors, but it's not like private equity, we just still we're doing the traditional lending, we have done in our last deal, it was agency law, we are currently looking at do now it's a smaller property. So we're looking at local credit unions, just different lenders. Pretty standard, I don't think we're doing anything out of the out of the ordinary.
25:59
Sure. You had a lot of tips, though, already, because you said, you know, you originally started with your VA loan, right, which obviously, only a small population of people can actually get away with doing because you have to be military. But you use that you used it to defer your capital gains, essentially, or not pay capital gains, which is a huge profit, then you did a couple of births, strategies by fixed flip, you know, rehab, you know, that kind of stuff. And then you pull it out that equity, and then use the equity to buy more properties. And then you had gotten some other traditional loans. But you also said that you'd move money out of like your money market accounts, your IRAs, or self directed IRAs. So you were taking money from different investment strategies and using them in the real estate segment? What made you decide, hey, I should take my money out of my stocks or my IRA and invested in real estate, did you feel that you were going to have a better return on investment?
26:58
I think so. I think real estate gives me a lot more control, like I'm able to control my project, right, like, to a certain extent, of course, pocket factor and everything else. But also, I think it was really a way for me to diversify. So as a military member, you know, my retirement plan is in TSP, the Thrift Savings Plan, and I've been putting my money away in tsp for you know, like, the last 20 years or so. I had my self directed IRA. So, you know, if you look at it, all my retirement is in the market 100%. So, I really think, you know, I just thought it was a good idea for me to diversify it and, you know, use my IRA to a real estate. And that's just a small portion of my retirement, because the main one is the TSP and I cannot access it, you know, like, until I retire, right. So, and I intend to even down the row, you know, move a portion of that, and then move that to real estate, just so to give me some more diversification in my, you know, in my strategy.
28:19
Sure. So what advice would you have, for my listeners,
28:24
I think, you know, using retirement is a very powerful tool. If, if that, because I know, I talked to a lot of investors, people get nervous, people get very nervous about touching their retirement fund. So I would say, if that's something, if that is a money, you have access to definitely learn about it, and learn about how self directed retirement works. Because I think in today's world, we all have to take control our retirement, because who knows if it's gonna be there in 3040 years? Who knows if Social Security gonna be there? So I would say, don't rule it out. But be open minded and just know this. It's a good strategy, and then lots of people are using it.
29:18
Fair enough. And would you say it's also safe to say that you have to be creative with money, like you have to be willing to pull it from different sources? Like, I don't think anybody ever got Successful in Real Estate by just like the one trick pony like it's not just one way and only one way you have to be willing to learn grab knowledge and be able to diversify. Not only your your investments, but but how you fund them how you get money and actually buy the deals. Oh, 100%
29:49
January, you're so right, because, you know, it's like, I don't care how much money you have, okay, you can be a millionaire. You're gonna run out of money at some point, right? So if you Don't get creative with it, if you don't think outside the box, you know, it's gonna be a limitation, you know, for your growth. So definitely that is, that is a great point, you know, be creative. And then, you know, there's the money is out there, you know, you just gotta know how to fight.
30:18
You sure do, and you have to be willing to go get it, right, you have to, you have to do the research, you got to be involved, and you got to, you have to educate yourself, and you got to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you, for sure.
30:31
100% You know, education is a big, a big, a big one, I take it very seriously. Especially when you start using other people's money, you know, it's a huge responsibility, you know, to, to know what you're doing, you know, like, not like doing anything, especially when it comes to investors money, you know, don't do anything unless you are you confident in your decisions and your moves. So yes.
30:58
Awesome. Is there any questions that I didn't ask you that I should have?
31:05
Huh, how we talk a lot.
31:09
I'm usually pretty good at the questions. So
31:12
I feel like you cover a lot of really like, I feel like I shared. You know, like, all the good nuggets in the last like, three, four years I've learned, like, the self directed thing is just really a powerful tool, even in my investors, you know, like, people, when people start realizing like, Oh, my God, I have access to this money. And people start investing. And really, like I've seen great returns, I've seen that for myself. I've seen that for my investors. That is a big part. It's just people don't really know about a lot of people still don't know about it. Yeah,
31:49
I agree. Sometimes, sometimes the things you don't know can be the most powerful tools for you to really scale and grow your portfolio. But Lupe, thank you so much for your time today. It was really wonderful to talk to you. And um, I really appreciate all your insight and your knowledge and, and all the things that you do for women investors as well.
32:07
Yes, thank you. Definitely, Jen. I hope maybe you can join us one day. We do events here in DC.
32:14
I would love to. Yeah, that's awesome. That's really awesome. Well, thank you again, so much for your time today.
32:20
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
32:23
I hope you enjoyed my episode with Lupe Chow. I think she shared a lot of great insights on how to get started investing how to scale and using leverage to really be that catalyst. She also gave us some insight to some other creative options for financing as well as where to pull capital from. So until next time, take care.
32:46
For more information about how Jennifer can help you plan, develop and manage a strong real estate investment portfolio visit growingempires.com