You've probably heard it before, but real estate investing is all about location, timing, and strategy. But what happens when your first few deals come with unexpected plumbing disaster, contractor headaches, and a case of FOMO-fueled decision-making? Today's guest went through it all and still came out on top. Yeah, that's right. He didn't have a perfect start, but he kept showing up, learned from every mistake, and built a strategy that works.
If you've ever second-guessed a deal or felt overwhelmed figuring out where to begin, this episode's going to hit home. You'll walk away with practical steps and maybe a few hard lessons you won't have to learn the hard way.
Welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. I'm Ashley Kerr. And I'm Tony J. Robinson. And today we're talking to why an investor who got started in Oklahoma City and has since grown a rental portfolio through grit, smart pivots, and a whole lot of problem solving. Why? Welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. Super excited to have you, man. Thank you guys for having me. I'm so honored to be here. Well, let's get started with your background before real estate investing. So,
what was going on in your life and what actually sparked an interest in real estate. So I have a story that's very similar to a lot of the guests. I think, you know, my family and I, we immigrated to the States in 95 from Vietnam.
My dad, he served in the South Vietnamese Army with the Americans and so that. He got put in prison for about 10 years. And after that, they allowed him to come to the States. And he was able to take seven of us siblings. So my parents had 10 total. But only seven of us were able to come because the others were older than 21. So two parents, seven siblings. We all came over in 95. I actually found out...
from my mom a few weeks ago that we had to borrow money to come to the states because we didn't have any money. So came here in '95, you know, all you know is go to school, get a good job, take a, you know, take advantage of the opportunity that the states has to offer. And so that's exactly what I did. Went to college, you know, made good grades, went to PA school. Now I've been practicing as a PA for nine years now.
Got married, you know, built a house, have two beautiful children.
And then we're like, what next? And so because of COVID, my wife, she was able to save about $30,000, give or take, because of the loan deferment. And so we have a couple of sisters that own a few rental properties who have done a few flips. And we just decided, well, let's just take that next step. But I think what really did it for me was the whole...
purple book, you know, Rich Dad Poor Dad that everybody references to. After I read that and reading The Richest Man in Babylon, it just struck something in me and, you know, how to grow my seeds, let it grow. They say to, you know, make your money work for you while you sleep. And so I just didn't want to get caught in the rat race, working that eight to five, nine to five, retire at, you know, what, 75, you know, not be able to enjoy it.
I think it's been a long time since someone's actually mentioned Rich Dad, Poor Dad for the longest time, like every guest would bring it up. So it has been a while. And yes, that is a great book to recommend to anyone if you have not read it. But also, it's a great book to give to family and friends to get a spouse on board and I
I think that also brings me to my first point is where you both fully on board right away. Um, you know, you mentioned your wife, you know, saved a lot of money during COVID, um, and your nurse, your wife is a nurse practitioner, correct? And then you're a PA. How did you kind of balance going into real estate investing, having full-time jobs? She was not on board like most spouses initially. Um,
I just kind of did my thing. You know, I read a bunch of books. I put in the work, listen to podcasts, listen to you guys, the BiggerPocketsPodcast. So I just kind of just kept doing my own thing. And I think from her just kind of seeing me so dedicated and learning and
And I kind of, you know, I sent her the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And I don't know, she might have gotten through a couple of chapters. But I think just her seeing me, you know, putting in all the work, seeing the results. And slowly and surely, you know, I kind of just asked her little things like, hey, what do you think about this paint color or design tips? And almost two years later, I think we've got her on board. But Huwai, you said something super important that I, and I appreciate you sharing this because Ash and I have talked about this so much on the Ricky podcast was, you know,
The way that you got her on board, quote unquote, was you put in the work yourself first. And you said that you were reading the books, you were listening to the podcast, you were engrossing yourself first.
in all things real estate investing. And it sounds like you've already had a lot of success in your career life. So I'm sure that your wife maybe just already has a certain level of trust in you and your abilities. And when you say something, you're going to do something. But those are the things that we have to do to get that buy-in from our spouse. And I think the advice that Ashley and I often have when folks
have challenges around getting their spouse on board. Like the first thing you have to do is look in the mirror and say, have I earned that respect and trust of my spouse to get on board with me? And if you've never seen anything in your entire life all the way through, why would this be any different? So I appreciate you sharing that because I think that's something that a lot of folks miss. I wanna talk about the first deal, but just really quickly for folks, what does your overall portfolio look like today? Why? So today we're,
We just acquired a fixer-upper quadplex in one of the up-and-coming districts called the Paseo District in Oklahoma City. But I believe that brings us up to 12 doors. We have four single-family homes.
and two quadplexes now. The one quadplex being under renovation. So yeah, 12 doors. And this is over the time period of two years, right? Yes, it'll be two years this August, actually. When I bought my first rental, I thought collecting rent would be the hardest part. Was I wrong?
The admin never stops. Expenses, receipts, tax forms, tenant issues. I didn't expect the behind the scenes work to take up so much of my time and headspace. Every night was another round of paperwork and I started thinking, if it's like this with one, how do people do five or 10? Baseline helped me get out of the weeds. It's the official banking platform of BiggerPockets
that handles the whole backend for me. Expense tracking, financial reporting, rent collection, even tenant screening. It's the first time I felt in control. And now that I'm not drowning in admin, I can finally see how my real estate business can scale. If you're starting out today, do yourself a favor, sign up at baselane.com slash BP today and get a $100 bonus.
Let's talk about a real estate-backed investment with major tax advantages, car washes. PBR's Opportunity Fund offers accredited investors access to a high-margin, recession-resistant industry with passive income, tax efficiency, and significant upside potential. With operations in prime locations using best-in-class technology managed via a vertically integrated team, this fund is designed to deliver strong, stable returns.
Backed by over $1 billion in assets under management, PPR has provided passive returns to thousands of investors since 2007. Don't miss out. Learn more today at biggerpockets.com slash PPRCAR. That's biggerpockets.com slash PPRCAR.
Do you know that feeling when you're about to leave the house and you pause to double-check the locks? I used to get that feeling all the time until I got SimpliSafe. Here's why I trust it. Most security systems only act after somebody's already inside. SimpliSafe takes action before anything happens. Their AI-powered cameras and agents keep an eye on things 24-7.
If someone's hanging around your property, the agents can talk to them, activate spotlights, and even call the police all in real time. I've had peace of mind since day one. Setting it up is a breeze, and I'm honestly not very handy, and it could be done in just under an hour. Plus, there are no contracts, there are no surprise fees, and plans start at just $1 a day. And if it's not for you, that's fine. They offer a 60-day money-back guarantee. It's no wonder SimpliSafe's been named the best home security system in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report,
five years in a row. Right now is a great time to get SimpliSafe because you can get 50% off a new SimpliSafe system with professional monitoring and your first month free. Go to simplisafe.com slash pockets. That's simplisafe.com slash pockets. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.
Check this out. Funding your next real estate deal might be easier than you think simply by using your retirement account. With a self-directed IRA, you can invest those retirement funds into real estate while reducing or eliminating taxes. And here's the best part. You don't need a huge IRA to get started. You can partner with other IRAs or funding sources to make it work.
As BiggerPockets' exclusive self-directed IRA provider, Equity Trust brings over 50 years of experience and $58 billion in assets under custody and administration. Get started online in minutes at TrustETC.com. That's TrustETC.com.
We're back from our short break and we're going to go through the first deal. So let's kind of like go through what that deal actually looked like. What were, what was the moment in time where you said, I'm ready to make an offer? So, yeah, uh, we said we're ready to make an offer because we got tired of looking. And I think, um,
my realtor got tired of showing homes. And we've gone through several realtors now, but Max, he was our first realtor that showed us homes. He was great. He was patient. But honestly, again, we just got tired of looking at homes and we got tired of, I think, making him mad, honestly, because as realtors, when you keep looking and you don't want to buy, then that can turn them off. So we
We came across this half duplex in northwest Oklahoma City. It was pretty turnkey. It was listed for about $150. I think we bought it for $150. May have put less than $1,000 in it, just fixing up some little things. It wasn't the perfect deal, but it got us in the game, right? So we bought it for, again, $150. We PITI. We put 20% down. PITI, about $1,150. We were able to get it rented pretty quickly for about $1,500. So about...
about $350 gross cashflow. But again, like I said, it was our first deal. It was probably our worst deal, but the most important thing was that I took action and that gave me the confidence to be able to roll it into the next deal. I love that you said that and we didn't even need to say it. I was gonna say, you're like the poster child right now for all the things we want rookies to internalize. So you said it the right way. It's like the first deal wasn't a massive deal.
But it was exactly what you needed to get your second deal. And now, like you just said, you know, two years later, you've got, would you say, 12 doors? But it doesn't happen without that first deal. And I think that's the part that rookies really need to understand when it comes to getting started is that the first deal is meant to give you the confidence to do the second deal and nothing else.
And if you can reframe it that way, then it takes a lot of that pressure off of making that first deal perfect, right? It's there to help you learn. Now, one question, what city are you based in? Where do you live currently? We actually live in Yukon, kind of near Mustang, Yukon area, but we invest a lot in Oklahoma City Metro. Gotcha. I have no idea where Yukon is. What state is that? Yes.
So it's a suburb about 15 minutes west of Oklahoma City. Gotcha. Okay, cool. So Oklahoma City is kind of your backyard already. I was going to ask because, you know, Oklahoma City has come up in quite a few Ricky episodes for different reasons.
And I've actually got a flight booked out to Oklahoma City later next month to go look at some properties because it's one of the places that we want to start buying some real estate, man. So it's cool to see that you're having some success there. But going back to the first deal, why? So you're tired of looking at all these houses.
You find the deal that actually finally pencils out and you said it wasn't a home run, but it sets you up for the next one. I'm just curious though, like if we focus on that first deal, purchase price said about 150, how did you finance that property? So we put 20% down for a conventional loan. And where'd you go to get the financing? To a local bank.
And why local? So I actually talked to my realtor that helped us build our first home and she recommended this bank and I just called them up. You know, they gave me a pre-approval letter for up to $200,000, I think. And we just got it rolling. You make it sound so simple. I know.
And like, and really it is, it's just like making that phone call and contacting a lender to get that pre-approval. Like obviously there's documents you have to submit information. You have to give them to get that pre-approval letter. But once you have that letter, it's valid. Do you remember how many days yours was valid for like 30 days, 60 days, and then you're ready to make offers and get
I mean, that's just one step to taking action is getting that pre-approval done. So now that you've got that done, you find a property. How does the negotiation go? Are you in a bidding war? Do you get it under asking? Let's go into the numbers on this deal.
So we got it inspected and a few things came up. I think the HVAC, it was leaking some sand or something because it was on a slab. There were some issues in the backyard with retaining wall. And so we were able to negotiate, I believe, $5,000 down and $7,500 credit at closing.
We didn't use all the credit. We just fixed up some things and, like I said, got it rent ready with an under $1,000. You say it wasn't your best deal, but it was potentially your worst deal. So I guess I'm curious why. I mean, the numbers sound decent. Seems like there's a little bit of margin there. What made this potentially your worst deal? So I say it's my worst deal because we put $40,000 down roughly and we got one house out of it.
Now that we learned about the BRRRR strategy and how it can really accelerate your growth. What are you doing different now? And you mentioned the BRRRR strategy. What is different with the purchase piece of it? So you're not putting 25% down.
walk through what you learned and what you're doing different to actually do the BRRRR and to implement it. Right. So we, I started reading about the BRRRR strategy, you know, with David Green's book, the BRRRR book. I actually used to think it was a scam when I see all these Facebook moguls, you know, like, oh, hey, you can use your HELOC, buy a property and take money out tax-free.
And so the more I learned about it, the more it just intrigued me. And I said, this is the way to go. I mean, why would you not want to do this? So we just started looking at distressed properties where you can force equity
And that kind of rolls us into the second and third deal. And on those properties, how were you purchasing them? So on the second and third property, we got a commercial loan through another local bank. So you did a commercial loan on these two properties and then you rehabbed them and fixed them up and then you went and refinanced. What type of loan did you get when you refinanced on the properties?
We actually tried to sell one of the properties. One of them's out in El Reno, kind of a smaller town, about 30 minutes west of OKC. It was actually supposed to be a flip. It fell off twice the week of closing. So we ended up just keeping it and renting it out because I got tired of paying the interest on it. But we refi them into two into both conventional loans. And just now we deeded them to our LLC. I think there's always like this misconception of like, oh, don't.
you can't fund a BRRRR with a loan because you're paying closing costs twice. But explain to us in your situation why it made sense to go and buy the properties with a commercial loan and then go and pay more closing costs to refinance into a better, longer-term loan and to pull your money back out. So if you look strictly at the numbers, our first...
Burr, we bought it for $130,000 and we put about $30,000 into it and it appraised for $189,000. So we're all in for $160,000 and we're able to pull out about $141,000 and some change.
And so we got this brand new renovated, you know, three to 1500, around 1500 square feet for, you know, under $20,000 in. Whereas our first deal, we put $40,000 in and we got this half duplex, you know, in a not so great area. And so the math just made sense. On the second deal,
we were actually able to cash out about $10,000 tax-free. - Why I think the two biggest challenges right now with the BRRRR strategy is finding good deals.
Actually, that's probably the biggest one right now. It's just making sure that you can find good deals to pencil out. And then maybe a secondary concern for rookies are financing slash finding good contractors. Those are probably the two biggest things. But if you can nail, hey, you find a really killer deal, you've got the right financing, you've got a good crew lined up, then the BRRRR strategy can really reach the potential that it has. So I guess maybe that biggest challenge first. Yeah.
For the deals that you're finding, like you said, the one where you guys were able to get back 10,000 at closing, that's more than a perfect burr, right? That's exactly what people are hoping to be able to do. You're getting paid to buy cash-flowing assets. How did you find that deal? So both of our first deals were actually on the MLS. I just kept looking and looking and looking. And like I said, we just happened to come across them on the MLS and we got to, you know,
looking right away because those deals go quick. So if you don't jump on it, you know. Well, that was my next question. Why? Right. Like, I mean, on the MLS, right. You know, there's a very strong misconception amongst rookie investors that you can't find good deals on the MLS. So I guess a couple of questions here. Number one is,
Did you end up closing at, above or below the initial asking price? So we actually closed both of them below. On the first deal, it was listed at $145,000, but he was in a rush to sell. So that's always a good thing, right? We offered $130,000.
And he countered at $138,000, but then ended up just taking it at $130,000 because he needed to get out. The house was a hoarder house. It probably needed to be a wholesale house, but it was on the market. The second deal I actually offered above asking. It was listed at $55,000, I believe. We offered $60,000 just based on the pictures. But when we actually went to go look at it, it was worse than what we thought it was. So we ended up settling for about $47,500.
- Wow. What do you think it was about your, the first one, I guess that makes sense, right? You had speed of being able to close, which was important to that seller. But for that second deal,
What do you think it was about your offer that made them accept it? And the reason why I'm asking this why is because there's a lot of folks who are listening right now who just aren't even paying attention to the MLS because they don't believe they can get good deals there. But you've obviously figured something out in your market that's allowing you to leverage one of the most plentiful sources of deal flow for rookie real estate investors to successfully burn property. So again, going back to the question, what do you think it was about your approach, about your offer?
about your strategy that allowed you to find multiple deals below market value? Like I said, we just kind of ran rough numbers in our head, you know, on what the ARV looks like, how much rehab would be. And then we just came in with an offer. Like I said, on the second property, we offered above asking because initially,
With our calculated rehab, it made sense based on the photos, but when we actually got into it, inspected it, it was way worse. So we just negotiated and I think the sellers knew what they had, which was not a very good house. It was a 1920s home. And so, like I said, we were able to negotiate that down. - Just one last question on the acquisition from the MLSY. Are you targeting properties as soon as they get listed? Like, hey, it was listed at 12 o'clock, I'm getting my offer at 12:05.
Or are you taking the opposite approach where you're looking for properties that have already been on market for 90 plus days? Like which strategy do you find yourself focusing on more? I usually tend to lean towards the first strategy. I'm more of the early bird gets the worm guy. So we have a realtor that sends us an automated list of criteria under a certain amount, three bed, three bath, whatever. And it gets sent to our email, but also browse Zillow pretty often.
And as soon as I see something that I haven't seen the day before, then I'll click on it, try to run some quick numbers in my head, get my realtor out there. That's a great point, too, is that, yes, you can get those automated listings sent to your inbox. But oftentimes, listings aren't always correct, where there could be a three-bed, two-bath home with a huge square footage, and it ends up having an additional room that
It's currently a second living room but could make another bedroom, which is exactly what you wanted, four bedrooms, two baths, something like that. So that's great advice is to also peruse Zillow as much as we don't want you guys just constantly scrolling and scrolling and actually taking actionable steps. There are oftentimes information that someone else may miss because they're just reading books
what the listing says as far as bed bath count and, you know, missing those opportunities where there's value adds, such as it's a larger lot, so maybe you could put an ADU on it, things like that. So that's a great point on that end.
And Asher, it reminds me of that episode that we had with Ariel Herrera, where her entire strategy, and she took it to the nth degree where she had scripts running and stuff like that, but she was basically looking for properties that were undervalued by every other investor. Like you said, looking for properties with disproportionately large lot sizes or where the square footage seemed really large for the bedroom count. So I love that idea of trying to find the hidden value.
That's the first challenge why, but I think the second challenge for rookie investors when it comes to the bird, like I said, is finding a good crew. How did you find a trustworthy rehab crew to actually execute on these rehabs? Because even if you find the best deal, if you can't find the right people to do the rehab, then you're not going to be able to do the rehab.
The deal could quickly fall apart. So what steps did you take to find the right people to do the rehab work for you? So actually the first two deals, my brother was actually my contractor, but as you know, that doesn't always work out. Family...
So my other contractor, I actually met from another realtor, one of those Zillow realtors that, you know, initially when we were trying to look for homes, I just used one of those Zillow realtors and she introduced me to this contractor that was in her office. And so I kind of saved her contact
And I didn't, you know, reach out for months. And then when I found that house in El Reno where it was kind of, you know, a bigger rehab than I anticipated, she came out. She was very personable. She eased my anxiety and concerns about how big of a massive rehab it was for a rookie. And, you know, she was able to take it to the finish line within the budget that we talked about within the timeline. And so, yeah.
I just, like I said, kept using her for my next few deals. Along that process of like, you know, you hired your family and you found contractors and different team members. What would you say was like the hardest conversation that you had to have?
with finding someone? And was that the actual, like, moving on to someone else? Or was that the vetting process of trying to find new team members? Yeah, being that it was my brother, that was a little bit more difficult just because you don't want to disappoint family. But I just kind of told him, you know, it's not going to work out. But also, as...
we will learn later the contract is not easy in itself. And I actually got burned twice from the same contractor. So I think both, I mean, are difficult conversations to have. Yeah. And I think that like, there's this saying that goes like fire fast, higher, slower, higher, slow, fire faster, something like that. And it's,
basically the concept of you want to hire slow. So taking your time, vetting someone, bringing them on board, hiring them, making sure it's the right person, and then fire someone fast. Like get rid of them before...
more bad things happen and move on. And so that can kind of go with team members and like people that you hire as to like, take your time vetting someone. Do have them do one small task for you, one small project or something.
one deal for you at a time to kind of date this person and see how that relationship goes instead of going, oh, okay, great. I'm going to hire you super fast. And here's three projects. I want you to work on three different remodels. Go ahead, go.
And then, oh, it's not working out. Well, I'm going to give them another chance. I'm going to give them another chance. Maybe they need to do this instead, blah, blah, and dragging it on forever. But it's like if things aren't working, it's better to cut your ties faster. And I think that concept is used more as an employer-employee term in business, but I think that is very much the same when you're working with contractors, you're working with lenders, you're working with agents, like contractors.
you know when it's time to move on and actually take your time vetting different people to actually fulfill that role because that turnover can take so much time to get used to how someone else works, what their process is, what your process is and things like that. So I had a very similar experience in my portfolio as well, where we were doing a lot of rehabs. My original crew was like tapped out. So we brought in this other crew and,
And we ended up bringing them in on two jobs simultaneously and didn't work out. And we had to fire them from both jobs. And we ended up losing some additional money on both of those deals because we had already paid them a percentage to start. Had to come and pay someone else to pick up where they left off. And it just cost us more. So I couldn't agree more with the notion of if you can start small and give them smaller projects first, then
just to see like, do we even like working together? Are there someone who follows through on their word? Like, are they actually going to show up and do the job as opposed to just kind of giving them a bunch to a bunch to start with? And that's the issue I have is I'm kind of impatient at heart. I kind of like to get things done right away. Same thing with vetting tenants, right? You want to get them in as quick as you can to decrease that vacancy.
And so, yeah, you're absolutely correct. Definitely higher, slow, fire fast. We have to take a quick ad break. But when we come back, let's go over some red flags that rookie investors should be aware of. We'll be right back.
Want to earn passive income every month without the hassle of property management? If you're an accredited or high net worth investor, PPR Capital Management offers a proven solution. Since 2007, PPR has helped nearly 2,000 investors earn over $100 million in consistent, predictable passive returns. Headquartered just outside Philadelphia, PPR manages a $1.1 billion diversified portfolio designed to provide steady income and long-term growth.
With decades of in-house expertise, their team strategically mitigates risk to help investors achieve their financial goals. See how a PPR fund could fit into your portfolio. Visit biggerpockets.com slash PPR today. That's biggerpockets.com slash PPR. Looking to build serious long-term wealth in real estate? A 1031 exchange can be one of the smartest ways to make that happen. This strategy lets you defer capital gains taxes while reinvesting in new properties. Whether you're looking to diversify into new markets or different property types,
Equity 1031 Exchange will guide you through every step. Learn how to defer taxes and reinvest smarter in just minutes. Visit getequity1031.com slash bprookie. That's getequity1031.com slash bprookie.
Running out of gas? That's a problem that's avoidable. Owning a rental property without proper landlord insurance? That's a problem that's equally avoidable. Steadily Landlord Insurance can help. Steadily offers fast quotes on property and liability coverages that are tailor-made for the real estate investor community.
And they can even compare pricing from multiple carriers for landlords looking to weigh their different options. You can rest easy knowing your investments are secure with Steadily. They're available online 24-7 and they can start coverage as fast as the next day. Visit biggerpockets.com slash landlord insurance to secure your investments with Steadily Insurance. Steadily Insurance, founded by landlords for landlords.
Starting your own business can be intimidating because of all the hats you suddenly have to wear. There's the marketing hat for emails and social posts, the web designer hat for your storefront, the copywriter hat, the logistics hat, and of course the hat hat just for tracking all the other hats. It's a lot. But the right tool to simplify it all? Total game changer. For millions of businesses, that tool is Shopify.
Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, including 10% of all U.S. e-commerce, from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to ones just starting out. Launch your store fast with beautiful templates that match your brand. Shopify's built-in AI helps with content, too, writing descriptions and headlines and even enhancing photos. Want to market like a pro? Create campaigns wherever your customers scroll. Best of all, Shopify's your expert partner, handling everything from inventory to shipping and returns. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big ideas into...
You get it. Sign up for your one month, $1 per month trial period and start selling today at shopify.com slash bp rookie. Go to shopify.com slash bp rookie shopify.com slash bp rookie.
You can Venmo this or you can Venmo that.
The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank, and a pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated. Card may be used everywhere MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply.
Welcome back. Before we get into red flags, I do want to ask, how do you balance your full-time job and being a real estate investor? So I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to have a little extra time during the day. So I work eight to five. And so I spend my time after work looking at properties if I have to. And I get a lunch now from 12 to one where my last job I didn't. So I, you
you know, try to make use of that time as well. So we try to make it a whole family affair. We take the boys and not only are we, you know, hanging out together, but I'm teaching them the real estate side of the business. Yeah, that's awesome. My youngest, he's like my little protege of like, in a sense, you know, he's very smart about real estate investing and knows that that's what he wants to do. But the
the reasoning driven behind him being a real estate investor, I'm still working on because he just wants to rent out houses so he can stay home and play video games all day and not have to go to a job. So like, he's got half of the concept. Like, I'm glad he like realizes this is like, he has the potential to like make money this way and what to do. But for the reasoning why I'm still kind of working on that as to, you know, don't really need to play video games all
Yeah, mine wants to play video games and buy a Ferrari. Yeah.
Yeah, mine's literally the same. So I want to talk about the red flags. But before we make that transition, you also transitioned from single family to small multifamily. And just for the rookies that are listening, I'm curious, what was it that prompted the desire to jump from single family to small multifamily? So I think it has something to do with, you know, the
And just part of it was FOMO. Everywhere you look...
Or here on the podcast, people are saying, oh, get into small multifamily. And I actually looked into larger multifamily, but that's a whole nother ballgame. So I just stuck to the four units or less. And so I just happened to come across a Facebook post about somebody, a wholesaler trying to sell a quadplex. And I just jumped on it right away and went to look at it the next day. So let's get into some of the red flags.
that a rookie investor may come into. Is there anything that happened in your properties that looking back, you thought, you know what, there was this red flag and I didn't see it. And then this circumstance happened. Yeah. So going back to that quadplex that I was referencing to, we got it inspected for the commercial loan, not because it was required,
required, but the lender needed a little bit more confidence. Usually it's just an appraisal to make sure that the building is going to appraise as much as we think it's going to be, or at least the cost of the purchase price. So during the inspection,
For some reason the inspector said, "Oh, I can't reach the sewer line or something. I couldn't go through the roof." And he couldn't find a drain. He said he had to pull a toilet. So I said, "Okay, well that's fine. We'll just do it during the rehab process." Fast forward, we close on the property. My contractor's in there. She's doing her thing and I said, "Hey, let's scope it." She said, "No, you know, it's fine." I had my guys run the snake. Everything is draining.
And so I just left it at that. Fast forward again a few months once we get it all rented out, one of my tenants send me a video and there's water coming from the ground. And so we get a plumber out there and he's saying, you know, it's going to need to be
to be repaired the the p-trap underground is going to need repair. Well we get him out there he starts the work one thing leads to another we go from one unit and it's now into all four units. One of my tenants actually tried to sue me during the process because he said that the plumber left the lines uncapped and it smelled like sewer. So during the repair one of the tenants tried to sue me because he said that the plumber left the lines uncapped and it started to smell in his units. It
And come to find out in his unit, it was a nine, this is like a 600 square foot unit mind you. And not in the best area, but he had these $2,500 end tables, $5,000 paintings on the wall. So I don't know if he was a scam artist, but on paper he looked great at the tent. He had a 750 credit score. He gave me the references. Did I verify that? No. So red flag number one, always verify your references. But I was desperate again to get somebody in there to pay the rent. So here we go.
he's in he gets mad because the plumber left the lines uncapped and it smells he called the
the city and the city actually came out and come to find out my plumber did not pull a permit so he had already finished one of the units and concrete it all and so we had to bust out all that concrete redo the lines in that one we're into all four units now again the tenant contacts his renter's insurance instructs him to come after my insurance and the plumber's insurance and so i have to go talk to a lawyer but
He also threatened to call the city health department as well as the news station. So here I am trying to juggle all this. I have them all in extended stays because the plumbing took like a month or longer.
So we did put a claim with the insurance, but I was not hopeful that it would cover because I heard, you know, plumbing issues are impossible to get coverage. Lucky for us, they did end up covering the majority of the cost, which was about $50,000.
I mean, I feel like you would be able to go after the plumber. Like this was the, I mean, was it like a miscommunication where the plumber thought that you were pulling the permits? This, so I had my contractor kind of hire out the plumber. And so it was kind of like he said, she said, again, as a rookie investor, you're not verifying all of these things because I'm over here with a full-time job, you know? Yeah, I totally get it. I had that happen with a sump pump inspection. Like,
Everyone else said everyone else was doing it and nobody did it. And yeah, like there, it is definitely like, especially as you don't know certain things or certain things are assumed as you're going along being an investor, things like this can come up. I think, I guess, like you said that you worked with your insurance to get them to cover some of it.
How were you able to cover the rest of this large expense? Was it your reserves? Did you, you know, just take money from your paycheck each week to put towards this? How were you able to come up with money to cover those costs? So we got a HELOC at the beginning of the year. And so we were able to leverage that and pay for the costs on that one. Well, I mean, I appreciate you sharing that story with us and
- You know, Ash, I think of our friend James Dignard, part of the On The Market podcast, but James is probably one of the smartest real estate investors that I know, and oftentimes he credits his vast real estate knowledge to the mistakes
and, and lessons that he's learned along the way. So even when we have these moments that feel like setbacks, they're, they're just part of the arc of becoming a great real estate investor. Um, quite, I really appreciate you sharing your story. And before we let you go, I guess just one last question for, for me, for someone who's listening, um,
they want to follow maybe your footsteps and invest in Oklahoma city using the BRRRR strategy. And I'm raising my hand because I, you know, I shared before we started recording that I'm actually going out to OKC in about a month or so. What are maybe like three steps that you'd recommend they/I take as we look to get started in that city? I see a lot of deals on the MLS that I actually pass because I either have too many projects going on or I just don't have time to go look at. So I would definitely start there.
Network, they say your network is your net worth, right? So definitely go out, join the Facebook groups, go to the meetups. So the Plaza District and the Paseo, you know, those are up and coming areas. I'm sure you've heard about it. You've done your research, but...
Those are definitely areas you should check out. Well, White, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciated having you on the podcast today. Can you let everyone know where they can reach out to you and find out more information? Thanks for having me, guys. I'm actually not a big social media guy, so you just find me on Facebook, White Tin Win. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to join us for this episode of Real Estate Rookie. Thanks again to our sponsor, Baseline.
Thank you everyone for listening. If you're not already, make sure you are subscribed to our podcast from your favorite podcast platform. I'm Ashley and he's Tony. And we'll see you guys on the next episode of Real Estate Rookie.