00:01

Welcome to Episode Five of Season Seven of the Growing Empire Show. Today, I’m here with my special guest and colleague, Ronald Bowser, and we’re going to talk about the power of networking. So stay tuned.

00:12

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.

00:31

Okay, so welcome Ronnie to the Growing Empire Show. I’m so glad that you’re here. Let’s kick off this episode about building the dream team with you sharing a little bit about the work that you’re doing now in real estate and how you got started investing on your own.

00:45

Hi, thank you. Yeah, I started investing about eight years ago now. I had interest in real estate investing. I was familiar with it, did a little bit of research and actually got together with a couple of my friends and convinced them that we should pool our money together. And you know, get started investing. Our strategy, initially, was buy and hold. I pretty much stick with that strategy with some things mixed along the way. And it kind of just threw into me realizing how much I enjoyed the industry. Now I’m a licensed real estate agent working with investors to begin or build their portfolios.

01:20

Fantastic. So today, we’re going to talk about building a network of people that help you learn, grow and be successful investing in real estate. And I’ve asked Ronnie to join me to share his wealth of knowledge and secrets that he’s picked up over the years. Today, we’re going to cover a fairly wide range of topics. From things that you need to know about investing with other partners, to how to get started and maybe start networking to build your own portfolio. How do you build a team of people around you so that you can be successful? How to scale your investments, pros and cons of networking with other investors and other groups? So let’s just dive right in. Tell me since you’re investing with other partners, tell me what you’ve learned from this. And how would you say that you’ve benefited from it?

02:05

Sure. Well, as I mentioned, I kind of started with my buddies. So as we began, we were all a little low on capital, but we all had kind of different skill sets. I’m not the handiest guy in the world, but a couple of my buddies are. I’m a good helper, but that was definitely the strength that I was looking for from them, you know, in addition to pooling our capital together. But really, it’s just about filling in each other’s weaknesses, and, you know, taking the lead on the things that you excel at. And you know, just working to build out partnerships with people that help fill in those gaps, and the things that maybe you’re not familiar with yet, or struggle with. So that was definitely a big, big benefit for me is getting to see their hands on work. And when we were new, we’re just beginning out we’re self managing. So that’s how I kind of dug into learn more about the management process and everything that goes in with that. And really, it’s just kind of build a head building off of each other relying on each other. And it can be a great help, whether it’s, you know, the different strengths and weaknesses, and whether that’s knowledge on how to take care of certain projects, or bringing capital to the table. You know, it depends what strengths you’re looking for in your partners.

03:22

Do you think that that was the most beneficial thing about you investing with other people is that you all had different strengths to bring to the table?

03:29

Yes, absolutely. We all own our own home and had done little work around the house. And just but you know, talk about oh, we should start investing and doing it on the side. But without a doubt, people bring their little niche of knowledge and information or know how was by far the most beneficial?

03:48

Was there anything about your partnership, or about investing with others that you would not do next time or something that you would do differently next time?

03:55

Um, as we were starting, you know, it was four of us in total. So, you know, it helped to get us started. But you kind of get a lot of hands in the pot and people have different ideas on what maybe should happen. Maybe some people aren’t pulling their fair share. So it gets a little stressful or whatever the appropriate word is, at times, working and relying on so many people. You may get to the point where you’re like; hey, I feel like I’m doing the majority of the work. But ultimately, I’m splitting the profits throughout people. So it’s something to consider, you know, make sure you’re partnering with people that you think are passionate and will pull their weight and contribute the way you intend to.

04:40

Would you advise somebody to make sure that they have their partnership arrangement documented legally?

04:47

Oh, yes, absolutely. That was actually one of our very first steps because it was four of us. We formed an LLC to make sure we had everything spelled out legally and on paper. So yes, without a doubt, any partnership, whether it’s a full on LLC or a joint venture, you definitely want to make sure you cover your bases, you know. Handshake agreements aren’t recommended.

05:11

Absolutely. So if you are not a person that has the opportunity to maybe invest with people, you know, maybe they’re, you know, cash poor, or maybe they don’t have the time, or maybe they’re not interested in investing in real estate, where would you suggest a new investor get started to network with potentially other investors? And what would be the goal of that networking?

05:33

Sure. So for me, I started online, I was trying to gain as much knowledge as possible. And I stumbled across Bigger Pockets, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned in past podcasts. But it’s a great place for one, soaking up information and learning more and more, but also getting on the forums. And what I did was I set up keywords that would alert me anytime like the Lehigh Valley was mentioned Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, I would get an alert. So if people were talking about our area, I can learn more and chime in. And honestly, I can say I can’t even count how many connections I’ve actually worked with from from Bigger Pockets is actually quite surprising. There’s other online forums, real estate investment blogs, and things that you could match. But what I also did was attend local meetup meetings for like minded people trying to learn. Trying to network. And that can be a good resource, like right in your immediate area, to make the connections you’ll need with real estate agents, property managers, other investors that you can learn from and you know, like I said, maybe pull off of their strengths and learn more and provide your own value as well.

06:46

Okay, great. Where would you find those meetups that you’re talking about? So you’d mentioned Bigger Pockets, which is an online forum for investors. Where would you find like a local meetup group for investors?

06:59

Actually, Bigger Pockets is another good resource to local investors, you know, are posting those it’s just like a little invitation like, hey, come this Tuesday for a little happy hour and discuss a certain topic and you can just kind of connect through it that way. There’s just you can go on Facebook and and places like that people is a popular way to post now about meetups. I think back when I actually went, I think I honestly found a flyer and was like, Hey, I should just go check this out it happened to be close to my house. And I stumbled across it. Online is probably the best resource now Facebook, social media stuff, but they’re definitely out there. So I certainly suggest to get involved in those those local meetups.

07:44

You think it’s something you could just Google today to find like local investment groups?

07:50

Honestly, yeah, I mean, everything seems to be so you know, internet based, but honestly, a quick Google search, going on Facebook and looking in your local area. Bigger Pockets, of course. Oh, those are all great resources.

08:04

Okay. So tell me some of the pros and cons though of actual networking with other investors or in other groups. Have you found I mean, obviously, the pros would be, you know, learning from others. But is there anything other than the obvious that you pick up from other investment groups that would be a good pro? And what would be the cons, if there are any to that?

08:27

Yeah, it’s like you said, I mean, the pros are gaining knowledge making contacts that with people that are already working in the business. The pros pretty much speak for themselves. The knowledge you can gain, the people that you can connect with, and help with whatever. Contractors go to these things and other investors. So it’s a great way to meet all those people that eventually you’ll need on your team. The cons, as they say, somebody is always trying to make a buck. Say you know that they’ll almost be like, advertisements kind of for certain for certain brokerages. Or there’s people there who are looking for newbies, take advantage of them with maybe wholesaling deals and stuff like that. So you just have to be a little weary about who you, who you trust. You know, there’s people out there trying to make a buck. So like everything else, you just have to approach it with caution and, you know, not over commit with someone you don’t know very well.

09:23

The episode will continue in just a moment.

09:26

Building your dream team must start with trust, which is the cornerstone of our approach and what allows us to deliver the results that we do. You need to trust your team so they’re empowered to bring their best and deliver the results you need to be successful. Your team is your true partner and your growth strategy and trusting their contributions and capabilities is what will free you up to focus on sustaining your growth. Whether you’re an active investor or a passive investor, your dream team should be compromised of not just experience and capabilities, but people with heart you can trust us true partners. Wrong choices will cost you lost time, money and most importantly opportunities to capitalize and grow, I want to share my experiences with you and help you sidestep those risks when building your dream team. Let’s get on a call and talk about your dream team so we can get you set up for success. Book a call with me today at growingempires.com, and I will help you clarify what you need to build the perfect team for you.

10:19

Have you ever experienced anybody maybe even just in your real estate career that got started in some kind of forum or networking group and got bad information?

10:29

Yes, absolutely. I mean, I can’t think of a concrete example, like straight off, like this guy happened to him. But people live in different areas. There’s different laws and rules. Each borough or city that you’re working in has their own zoning laws. So you really have to be familiar with your local area and what is true there compared to maybe what is a you know, across the country, you know. So you have to just be careful for the information you’re soaking in. Other people have different strategies, and other people have different, you know, risk tolerance. So you really have to kind of take what you’re hearing and take what you’re learning and kind of make sure it applies to you. And certainly confirm I mean, and building your knowledge and understanding is key and asking questions when you’re unsure and making sure you don’t, you know, go too far too fast is important, in my opinion.

11:23

Yeah, I agree. I think also, you know, something my mom taught me as a youngster right is always make sure that you’re listening to people and following direction of people that are smarter than you or are in a better place than you. So I think that rings true in investing too, right? Because everybody has opinions right? I was just actually having this conversation with my daughter this weekend about other people’s opinions, right? Everybody has an opinion, right? You can look on Facebook or social media sites. And you can see people with a wide range of opinions on everything. That doesn’t mean that they have any factual knowledge of anything that they’re talking about. They just sound like they are. So I think the same rings true for any kind of investment group or public forum. You just want to make sure that if you’re going to go into partnership, or listen to somebody, that they actually have earned the right to give you education. They have to be doing something right. So in other words, like if you’re getting started investing, you want to learn from people that are already investing, and have had some huge successes, right? You don’t want to listen to somebody that completely failed. Or maybe that is not investing at all. Yeah, that wouldn’t be a good person to listen to. But okay, well, thank you for that. So if somebody wanted to get started building a good team, is there any other place besides these forums and meetup groups that they could go to start building out their team and who would be part of this investing team or investing group to get a newer investor started?

12:51

Well, I think the first step for an investor is to determine what their investment strategy is going to be. If they’re going to buy and hold, if they’re going to flip, if they’re going to wholesale, you know. There’s a ton of different approaches to being in real estate. So if you’re going with a group of guys, for my personal experience, we knew we needed to form an LLC. So our very first step was reaching out to an attorney to make sure that we were doing everything properly and documented. So that was technically the first person on my team outside of my group of friends that you know, we were going to do this with. So that was my first step. Another big first step, in my opinion, is working with a lender. You have to start making calls and making sure you can get pre qualified and understanding their terms and what you’re going to need for deposit money. And honestly, anybody looking at whether a first time homebuyer or just you’re starting your investment, that’s like step one. You have to be pre qualified. You have to be ready to go with that information and with a lender, if you’re going to start bidding on properties. Because people will shoot down the offer if you’re not prepared and you have deadlines to meet throughout the contract. So that’s another very important one. And pretty much my next step was starting to reach out to lenders and get all those things in order. After that it was connecting with a real estate agent that understood what we were looking for, you know. Everybody can go on Zillow, and now other popular websites, and start looking at investment properties. But ultimately, you’re gonna want to get inside or get eyes on it in some capacity. You don’t you’re not just I mean, you get comfortable with certain people. I work with people that buy remotely. But for my first experience, I wanted to see the properties. I wanted to understand what I was looking at. I wanted an agent that could explain to me hey, these are the things you got to look for, here’s a concern. And then not just that, but investing. It’s really about the numbers. So understanding the income, understanding the expenses, all of those things are very important. And for me, the real estate agent I worked with a number of years ago was an investor himself and that showed and he could explain to me what he was looking for. So that was definitely you know, the lender nd the real estate agent that can connect you in the local market are definitely key in my opinion. As you work through the process, hopefully that agent you’re working with, or even the lender can then make recommendations when it comes to inspection services, or if an appraisal is needed. That’s typically handled by the bank, but that’s one of their networks. So really, for me, it was kind of wedge my foot in the door and start reaching out to people and then kind of growing off of their network, taking their references, and then using my own as well. If you’re looking for a turnkey property, maybe you don’t need contractors. But if you’re going to try and buy value-add properties or perform a flip or something like that, you’re definitely gonna want to have a trustworthy contractor that you’re familiar with. Or if you can do the work yourself, you know. It’s so it really depends on what your investment strategy is, and the team that you have to build out down the line. And you know, eventually, then you get to your account, and all of those things that they’re all people that you’re going to need throughout this journey. So building that out, but without a doubt starting, my recommendation is start understanding your financial situation and working with lenders, and then find a good agent who can help you target what your strategy is,

16:13

You made a really good point that once you get that first connection, a lot of times there are additional connections will make a lot of sense. Because if you find somebody that is super knowledgeable in the world of real estate investments, they already have a network of people that you can essentially borrow right for your kind of elaborate from there. That’s a really good point.

16:37

Well, that’s why I joined your team. You knew everyone already.

16:42

Yes, thank you. Yeah. And that’s that’s exactly what we do on the I mean, obviously, on our side, and you know, it’s, you know, we we build our network of people, because we know that we can trust them, because we’re going to be asked, and we want to make sure that whoever we’re referring is going to put the same energy into that potential client, as we do. So we do surround ourselves with people that are super knowledgeable in this industry, because we want to make sure our clients are very well taken care of. So last question is, so once you get started, you get your team, you get a couple of properties under your belt, whether you’re trying to self manage, you’re going to hire a management company, where do you go from there? How do you get to the point of scaling your investments? Because your team should be built by the first maybe investment strategy that you do or the first investment purchase that you do. So how once you get that first one under your belt, right, and you learn a little bit from it, where do you go from there? How do you see people scale? Do they, you know, always invest with their partners or their investor groups? Or do you see some people going out independently? And, more importantly, how do they take that first property and build from it?

17:49

Sure. So as I mentioned, when I started, I was buy-and-hold. It was let’s get a property, let’s get it rented and have someone else paying the mortgage basically. We’ll continue to grow equity and well, we weren’t paying ourselves. That was another agreement we made early on that we all had our own nine to five and jobs. This was just something in the background to try and you know, grow equity in that regard. So for us, the beginning was just continue to accumulate money capital. And then we eventually got our next property. That one was a short sale that we fixed up and ended it that way. So our first one was a multi unit that we just rented. Basically turnkey, so to say, with some minor work. After that, we renovated a whole property, so then we got a bit two, and then we were generating some more income, we had another property at one point, we actually went to private money lending. Which is an option as well, if you’re trying to scale your portfolio. Other people flip properties. I actually flipped a couple properties in between as well to grow my own capital. Because as I’ve mentioned earlier, I wanted to have a larger stake in my investments. So while I technically had 25%, originally with the LLC with my buddies, I wanted my own investment properties, or I wanted just a larger portion of the pie, so to say. So, for me, it was learning to scale and get my own money with through those flips. Which, for the record, I had to build out a network there of contractors and people that helped me get the work done, because as I mentioned earlier, I’m not the best handyman. But you know, getting those people on my side helped me grow capital that way. I mean, there’s there’s a lot of strategies. Really it’s about capital and getting the down payment for that next property. Or if you’re really good at networking, connecting with other investors and show them the strength you bring to the table and maybe they can bring the capital. So that’s another way to continue to scale.

19:45

That’s a really good point. Any financial tricks that you have up your sleeve for scaling next investments? Do you always recommend us you mentioned hard money lending or you know, an independent brokerage. But what about pulling equity out a deal Do you see people doing that kind of thing where they buy a property? And then after it grows and appreciate, so they pull the equity out of that investment property to buy others?

20:09

Yes, absolutely. That was part of our strategy. So not only were we building capital, as you know, just not paying ourselves. But over the course of time, we were building our equity and we actually just refinanced all of our properties out for the beginning of this year. I mean, as most people are aware, the rates were phenomenal. The market has been increasing significantly, so our equity really jumped and we were able to pull out cash and we’re actually looking for what we’re gonna do next.

20:37

Fantastic. Well, I think that’s it for today. I certainly appreciate all of your insight and your knowledge on how to build a great team and tips for networking to get started and as well as scale your investment portfolio. I hope everybody enjoyed today’s show and until next time, take care.

20:56

For more information about how Jennifer can help you plan, develop and manage a strong real estate investment portfolio, visit growingempires.com