{"id":103252,"date":"2018-10-25T00:02:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T06:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=103252"},"modified":"2023-02-09T20:29:26","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T03:29:26","slug":"biggerpockets-podcast-301-incredible-power-long-distance-brrrr-investing-alex-felice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/biggerpockets-podcast-301-incredible-power-long-distance-brrrr-investing-alex-felice","title":{"rendered":"The Incredible Power of Long-Distance BRRRR Investing with Alex Felice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking to get started investing but don\u2019t have millions of dollars and notice there\u2019s not a lot of opportunity in your market? Well, this is the episode for you! Today\u2019s guest is a long-distance investor who uses the BRRRR strategy to buy fixer-upper properties in other states, then refinances to use the money to buy more deals! <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Alex Felice<\/strong> shares his valuable insights on his criteria for analyzing deals, how he builds his out of state team, and why he\u2019ll never look at a property in person! You won\u2019t want to miss Alex\u2019s strategies for overcoming the fear of investing long distance, as well as his plan for living broke on purpose and how he combines long-distance investing with the BRRRR method to build a portfolio that scales! Alex is a high-energy individual who is passionate about taking action and building the future he wants. Don\u2019t miss your chance to learn from what he\u2019s accomplished, and start making progress building your own portfolio now!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/biggerpockets-podcast-real\/id594419649\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a>\u00a0to listen on iTunes.<\/p>\n<h2>Listen to the Podcast Here<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=BIGPOC7405506382\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Read the Transcript Here<\/h2>\n<div style=\"overflow-y: scroll; max-height: 400px; background: #eee; padding: 20px; border: 1px solid #ddd;\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>This is the Bigger Pockets Podcast Show 301.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>The Geography doesn\u2019t matter and if you are far away it forces you to learn really important skills and talents are incredibly valuable like\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>You\u2019re listening to Bigger Pockets Radio, simplifying real estate for investors large and small. If you\u2019re here looking to learn about real estate investing without all the hype, you\u2019re in the right place. Stay tuned and be sure to join the millions of others who have benefited from biggerpockets.com. Your home for real estate investing online.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>What\u2019s going on everyone this is Brandon, host of the Bigger Pockets Podcast. We\u2019re here with David Green. I was going to go with your middle name but I couldn\u2019t remember it so I was going with Lin, David Lin Green, it\u2019s like every one\u2019s middle name but<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>No dude, not very often, usually you use my middle name \u201cthe man\u201d, what happened with that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Well you know I don\u2019t want to lie to the audience<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Ok I see how this is going to be. Alright Brandon let\u2019s continue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>So what\u2019s up Davidson, man? What\u2019s going on?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>You know what\u2019s funny while we were recording today\u2019s podcast which was super high energy, a lot of good content and kind of creepy in a way because this guy that I\u2019ve never spoken to and says he\u2019s never read my book says word-for-word everything that I preach about at real estate investing. It\u2019s like what are the odds that the 2 of us are doing the same thing and we\u2019ve never met and we come up with the same systems, it was just very, man, what are the odds that would be the case, but <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Unless because that\u2019s what works, right? That\u2019s just what works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>That\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m getting at. We both came up with the same conclusion coming from different places because that\u2019s what works. I like that he definitely encourages people in the same way that I do so you guys are going to get a whole lot out of the show. He\u2019s also a Ber investor, which we are a huge proponents of, the Ber method, so he talks about that. But as we were recording the podcast I\u2019m getting messages from a wholesaler whose like \u201cI really need to move this property and I can reduce it to another 20%. Can you buy it?\u201d so we we\u2019re talking about real estate while I was negotiating a deal while we were recoding because there was somebody else who wants to buy the house. I think by next episode I\u2019ll have another house in contract to talk about which is cool because it\u2019s a another real estate property where i can use the Ber method, I can finance 100% of my money out of it and you have cash in rental.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Fancy stuff! And speaking of Ber which is exactly what we\u2019re talking about today. We\u2019ve got Alex on the show, Alex Felice, I hope I\u2019m saying that one right. I got to start asking guests how to pronounce their names, I got to start doing that. Alex is a really awesome dude, he\u2019s been very involved in Bigger Pockets and part of Bigger Pockets success stories. He was sitting right of where a lot of you are a few years ago, trying to get properties, trying to get into it and really made some big changes in his life and is now just crushing it with the Ber strategy. You are going to learn a lot about that today. He\u2019s got a really good personality and fun to talk to so you guys are in for a treat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Before we get there let\u2019s get to today\u2019s quick tip. Alright quick tip is very simple today it\u2019s something that we talked about a while ago but I just want to restate it. For those who don\u2019t know Bigger Pockets actually has provided a landlord forms for all 50 states. If you are a Bigger Pocket\u2019s Pro member it\u2019s included for membership or you can buy them at, what\u2019s the word, ad hoc, no what\u2019s the word, a la carte, you can buy them a la carte, maybe for your state. Anyway go to biggerpockets.com\/llforms. Are you laughing at my lack of<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>I love that you always do this for different words, housekeeping, house cleaning, ad hoc. It\u2019s like Steve Carrel from the office how he\u2019s mixing up what he\u2019s always trying to say. You\u2019re hilarious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s my goal in life, it\u2019s to be like Michael Scott.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>You can buy them a la mode here at Bigger Pockets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Anyway go to biggerpockets.com\/llforms to check those out. And to hear from our show sponsors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>You know one of the biggest expenses for most landlords, especially those who invested in multi-family properties, is the water bill, tenants tent to use a ton of water when they\u2019re not the one paying for it. And here why that\u2019s so bad, you probably know the value of multi-family properties goes down as the expenses go up so your tenants may literally be causing you hundreds and thousands of dollars in equity. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Well not anymore. You need to check out True Sub Meter today, even if you\u2019re told sub meter in your property is impossible, True Sub Meter\u2019s smart, custom, low cost flow meters install at all points of use without costly plumbing modifications. Even when the plumbing is split between an apartment, True Sub Meters has smart meters for that. True Sub Meter looks at the sub metering industry of yesterday and married it with today\u2019s technology. True Sub Meter offers real time log in and 100% automated billing directly to the tenant all for a small cost. This leads to fast ROI, and an instant increase in your property\u2019s value. True Sub Meter is a real solution to landlord\u2019s paid water.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Check them out on truesubmeter.com\/biggerpockets. That\u2019s truesubmeter.com\/biggerpockets<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alright thanks for our sponsors always. Now I don\u2019t want to waste any more time, you guys are going to love this show! This thing is just a lot of fun and very, very motivating and very, very informational. You will not be able to leave this show without knowing exactly what the Ber strategy is, how it works, how you can use it in your own life. So with that let\u2019s get to the show!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alright Alex welcome to the Bigger Pockets podcast. How you doing man?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Very, very excited to be here, thank you!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright so people have been telling me forever about you. Let\u2019s go to your story and figure out how did you get into real estate, why real estate, walk us through that beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>You know I find that I\u2019m probably like a lot of people who, I got into personal finance first because I was living my life tragically irresponsibly fiscally. Living with making bad decisions, you know, like a lot of people. I got sick of it after really bad decisions and found personal finance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Well started saving some money and started saying to myself I need to parlay this capital into something that will make money passively. And I didn\u2019t want to start a business and I had no service to sell and I\u2019m really lazy so it had to be passive and I needed to be tried and true because I didn\u2019t want something that will only work a few years and then have to start over. Be tried and true, passive, and I had to do it without a lot of capital. If you write that on paper there\u2019s nothing that would have appeared to work and then I found real estate and around \u201913 and \u201914 I started listening to your podcast and you know, I burned that thing down, 6 episodes a week while I was going to college and I bought a house inside 8 months with 3 grand. We bought a foreclosure, we moved in, we house hacked it, 18 months later it was worth, I pulled out 60 grand in cash and I was hooked. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s awesome. Alright tell us about that first deal, is it a single family house that you bought?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah it was just a foreclosure, it was like 54 thousand, we FHA, moved in, it was kind of dumpy enough that it was foreclosure distress but nice enough that FHA would let us move in which is kind of hard to find but 3 grand later we were able to find a house that was 54 grand and 18 months later appraised for 115.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s awesome. Where was that at?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Bayville, North Carolina, that\u2019s where I do all my investing, small town next to Fort Bragg, biggest military base in the county.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah cool. I was actually looking at a property out there like a year ago and I run the numbers and I was negotiating and it didn\u2019t push through, I don\u2019t know I think I should have done it, sounds like a good market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>You should have called me, you should have called me, I got your baby. Actually I will tell you a story. I was listening to this podcast in the car on the way to college. After all my irresponsible life ended I go back to school, I went back to school for finance. My idea was I\u2019m going to school for finance to learn how to make money and I didn\u2019t because it\u2019s college. They teach you how money works but they don\u2019t teach you how to make money. I was listening to this podcast on the way to college, back and forth, and I swear that\u2019s where I got my real education. Listening to the podcast back and forth is what made me money, not actually going to, the commute meant more to me than the degree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s awesome. I like that idea you know, Zig Ziglar has that idea, well I think Zig Ziglar said it about how you should turn your vehicle into a mobile university. Like if you\u2019re sitting in traffic anyway why not use that time, instead of listening to rock music, our country, go listen to someone who\u2019s going to help you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So you did that, you listened in to podcasts and kind of growing and so at your first deal what made you, I\u2019m curious, why did you go and do, basically we call it the live and flip, house hacking of a live and flip. How did you go that route instead of just continuing renting and going investing in rental property?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Well I was broke. I had 5 grand. And so if you want to buy a house that\u2019s 5 grand you got to move in it and do FHA or VA, but you have to buy one that\u2019s distressed enough, and that\u2019s a really tricky avenue, you know, specific unicorn to find but you know it\u2019s possible. And this was 2014 where it was maybe a little bit easier than it is today but I didn\u2019t plan it as good as it sounds now. Kind of like, honestly I was living in a condo and my girlfriend kept collecting dogs and they kicked me out of my condo. I was like I need to go and buy a house so bought this one and I think it\u2019s going to make some money and did way better than I had expected. So that was in \u201914 by \u201916 I bought second actual rental because I have been saving cash for so long and I bought 5 since \u201916.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s awesome. Ok let\u2019s go to that. I want to, a lot of people are able to do the first deal, a lot of people can do, they can buy a house, maybe a house hack, or a live and flip or the combination, whatever, they can do the first one. Where a lot of people get hung up is the second one. They say sell well I got the first but now I don\u2019t have enough down payment, I don\u2019t know how to get the second. How did you pull off the second?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I lived broke. After I figured out that I was broke, I\u2019ve lived broke for a purpose and I\u2019ve saved lots of money and it took me 4-5 years and couple of hundred bucks a month plus I cashed out that second property and after 4-5 years I think I paid 68 thousand dollars for my first rental property, all in, cash and rehab 68 grand. I think I had like 70 thousand dollars to my name and so there was no room for error but, you know, you do what it takes. I bought that house, we did a Brrrr, thank you for that Brandon. I got all my money back by 6 months later and then I found out about delayed finance and then I did 4. It takes me 8 weeks to do a Brrrr now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>We got to unpack that, all that you have just said. Ok so first of all you said you did a Brrrr, for those who don\u2019t know its buy, rehab, finance, repeat. You buy a rental property maybe for cash maybe for some short term financial you move in, you fix it up, you rent it out and you go to a bank and you get a new loan to pay off whatever you used to buy it. If that totally confused everyone just go to biggerpockets.com\/brrrr with 4 Rs, you can read more about it but so it\u2019s a strategy here that David Green loves and is actually writing a book on it\u2019s a strategy I love i\u2019ve used it a lot and Alex a strategy that you love and you\u2019ve used now. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So let me go back to that, you bought this property, how did you finance the property originally to buy it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Cash<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>So you bought it with officially cash, right? So and you fix it up<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>My own capital that I saved up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Perfect. Saved it up, bought the property then went to a bank and got refinanced. Would you remember how much it got appraised after you got it all fixed up and ready to go?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>95 thousand<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s awesome so then the bank gave you like a 70% or something?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah they gave 75% for single family, 70% for two to four thing<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>You got all your cash back?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah when you say that I ran into a problem as well, people can get their first one because they have a little bit of capital and they can move in or do a fix and flip. But you\u2019re right you drain all your capital then it goes slow. And I think that goes back to the interesting principle that I talked to with real estate people all the time and I, and I say real estate is easy, super easy, and it is. Real estate transactions are really easy. What\u2019s hard is building a business. And building a business around doing this can be difficult because people say well I don\u2019t have enough money, well part of you\u2019re business is raising capital, getting other people to invest in your common goals. So people they want to do it themselves, they want to raise their money, they want to spend their money, and it goes much slower than that so, when you do it that way. So building a business is hard and that\u2019s really the part I wish I had worked on more from the start and I could have gone a lot faster. I\u2019m crushing it now but<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I love that, oh go ahead Brandon<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>I was just going to say that the concept of, you\u2019re building a business and not just casually buying property you\u2019re building on something that\u2019s solid. David go ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>You make a really good point about how and I say the same thing all the time and Alex and I have never met before this conversation right now but sounds like we\u2019re doing very similar stuff \u2013 we\u2019re both using the brrrr strategy, we\u2019re both investing long distance, and maximizing the efficiency from which we\u2019re building our portfolio. Even if I don\u2019t know Alex I can guarantee you he\u2019s like yup that\u2019s whats exactly is going on, he makes such a good point that you can get the first deal because you only have to put a little bit of money down if you do a live and flip and you buy as a primary resident then you have to start putting big chunks of money down, and unless you\u2019re making a ton of cash you start losing money really quick. That\u2019s where you start to figure out the brrrr strategy, have big goals that you want to build a big portfolio. You got to build a big refinance to get your money out so you can go invest it again. I was like Alex you figured the same thing out. Tell me what was that process like for you that you realized I need to learn how to brrrr so I don\u2019t run out of money and what are the skills you had to develop to be able to do this?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I think everyone went into that problem wherein they ran out of capital and exactly what you said, what do I do next, well, you go and figure it out and the way I figured it out was I asked everybody in the planet for alternative strategies forward to both teach me and to do it with me. And what I mean by that is, I didn\u2019t figure out the brrrr method, I found the lender that taught me how to do it and then he helped provide options or opportunities or avenues for continued success. And so if you ever get stuck on a part of your strategy its likely you, it\u2019s never a money problem, but a networking problem or maybe educating problem you have to learn more about the process or you have to go find people that know and can help. So when I got stuck, I said well I\u2019ve spent all my money and you know its funny, people who don\u2019t do real estate love to say oh wouldn\u2019t it be nice to pay with my money right up in cash. Well the first time I paid off my house in cash I felt a hole because my bank account was drained and I had 900 bucks a month, that was worse so I needed a loan immediately and you know you wait 6 months and its uncomfortable so literally the discomfort of going slow, I am not a go slow guy, I don\u2019t like it, I don\u2019t like sitting still. That right there annoyed me enough to go I have to produce a solution here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Ok so what are the problems that we hear people run into that are trying to do what you\u2019re doing is they just can\u2019t get over this hurdle of buying a property they don\u2019t see and you mentioned that you buy properties that you\u2019ve never even seen. What\u2019s your process like for how you can get over that emotional obstacle of \u201cI need to see a property before I buy it\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Suck it up buttercup!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s the best answer I\u2019ve ever heard. That\u2019s great.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>It\u2019s not a problem. Look I have a big rant about this. Being close to your property, being geographically close to your property is not a benefit, it is a hindrance. It is a crutch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>How so?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Well because look if your tenant doesn\u2019t pay and he\u2019s 5 miles down the street I guarantee you, you\u2019re not going to go there and choke him out to get your money back. Being close, provides you no actual benefit other than and some seemingly important piece of mind that doesn\u2019t really exist. Being far, being close you can\u2019t do anything, if you have squatters that\u2019s not going to do anything. The geography doesn\u2019t matter and if you are far away it forces you to learn really important skills and talents that are incredibly valuable like managing a team, trusting people long distance, learning how to incentivise people for mutual gain. Like my team on the ground out there, I\u2019m worthless without them, but the value was building the team and building the common goals and the culture that we have, far more than if you\u2019re close to the house. If you\u2019re close to the house you end up doing everything yourself and that\u2019s the wrong skill to learn if you want to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah I actually agree. In fact I often times tell people that my ability to do work, well people have heard my story, sure I could fix up a house, I learned how to use a saw and a hammer and all that. My ability to do work hindered me in the same way that my insistence on doing only local stuff hindered me, right, because I felt like I had to do it because I could do it, it was there right so I didn\u2019t even think about properties in other areas where I probably, to be honest I live in an area where real estate works so why not just invest there. But when I think about it now I lived in a very, very small area that would cap me at the number of deals that I can do because there just wasn\u2019t much inventory at any given time. I think you have a really good point there like you\u2019re not going to drive up over and show up for rent anyway why not build systems that allow you to get things done without you having to be there. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah and that\u2019s a harder skill to learn too. You know people get stuck I think, I buy 3 houses that\u2019s a lot of work and you kind of get stuck in 3 houses or 4 houses and you\u2019re just managing those buildings and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that but if it were me if I really want to scale this thing then you need to learn the skills at scale and fixing toilets doesn\u2019t scale. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>What are skills that scale?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Your ability to attract good talent, your ability to motivate people toward common goals, your ability to<b> <\/b>delegate and build infrastructure, your ability to create a culture around your team. The abilities you need at scale are really networking and education. I say these two all the time, I talk about it all the time. Those are two things, if you do those on mass, meet people that can help you get your goals and learn what it takes to get your goals and do it everyday obsessively, I mean, success is inevitable. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s really good I think every person needs to click that button on their iphone or wherever they listen this podcast on and go back 30 seconds, listen to what Alex just said again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Networking and education<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah like that\u2019s so key right? We get so stuck on the principles of real estate sometimes especially at the beginning. I know you had to learn them and get into them, how to analyse a deal, but would it be better to learn how to fix a toilet or learn how to find a great plumber that will last you the next 20 years, what skill would be better spent right? And we talk about that a lot on the show and I\u2019m not saying you should never change if that\u2019s all you can do is change the toilet then fine maybe you should change the toilet but there\u2019s a good chance that there\u2019s other skills that can serve you much better in the long term. So that\u2019s so good, that\u2019s how you scale a business by getting those systems down so. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I want to go back on that note, you mentioned how you can do a I think you said 8 weeks, you\u2019re down to 8 weeks, can we talk about that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Easy baby, easy!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>How do you do that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Look I have the luxury of buying houses off the MLS. I still have a sick realtor so she\u2019ll find a house get the offer accepted, close in 5 days, rehab takes 3 weeks, 4 weeks for a 20 thousand dollar rehab, tend to placement, again my property manager is a monster, again. Everything I do is a product of my fantastic team and so I really couldn\u2019t do as much as I do without them so you find a tenant in a blink and so that whole thing takes 6 weeks and then I go to a lender and I use the finance delay exception which says you can finance your property inside of 6 months with, as long as you may, as long as you finance, this is it, most misunderstood topic on the forum. They say you could finance what you buy for but that\u2019s not the rule. The rule is you can finance it at 100% a hud and that\u2019s very different and so I go to buy the house, close in the hud, I put my rehab cost on there and pay for it in full and with insurance. Once the tenant gets placed I go to a lender and I say hey I want to go write this loan, I paid 66 thousand all in, that\u2019s what it is on the hud, as long as that\u2019s 75% LTV or 100% hud whichever is less, hopefully its less I leave no money to the deal, I get out my entire amount, and my underwriting goes fast because I do commercial underwriting for a bank so I got the inside scoop. So the last 8 and a half weeks from the time I have closed in on a house, I have 100% of my funds back minus some hard closing costs some 400 bucks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Ok so I need to dive in here. Delayed financing, we\u2019ve only talked about it once before in the show, I can\u2019t remember what episode it was and I haven\u2019t even heard it at that time. So you\u2019re saying basically it\u2019s like the brrrr loan from finance. You can actually, so normally, let me get on some background. Normally when you do a brrrr property, you buy it and then you go and get a loan. The lender requires what they call seasoning, you have to di six months sometimes up to a year to get a new loan again once you buy a property, so the brrrr is 6 months maybe even 12 months. They delayed financing is a exception in that rule, housing refinance is much, much quicker, I\u2019m not what you\u2019re talking about but I\u2019ve never heard this before, a 100% of hud. What do you mean by your repairs go on hud? How does that work?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>So I talk about this all the time. I\u2019m certainly nowhere near the only person that has figured it out, say it\u2019s incredibly misunderstood and I try to deal, I\u2019m on forums all the time trying to help people out and they just think I\u2019m crazy but it really works so you go to close in on your house, the hud is your purchase price plus or minus maybe taxes, and so you pay 35 thousand for the house the hud lends 35 thousand grand right we all know this?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Sure<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Yes<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>So you close in the house 35 thousand dollars, the hud says 35 grand so when you go to get a loan even if you use delayed finance they\u2019re going to say you can pay a 100% a hud or 75% whichever ones less. So the house appraises for whatever and I only paid 35 grand so you can only get 35 grand. That\u2019s what everybody doesn\u2019t like about delayed finance. You can only get out what you paid for the house.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So what I started doing was when I got the hud I went to the title attorney and I just said I\u2019m going to add some stuff to that do you care? No we don\u2019t care, why would an attorney care what\u2019s on the hud? They don\u2019t care. So here\u2019s an invoice for 3000 dollars for my contractor, here\u2019s 700 bucks for my insurance, can you add to it? Sure, now the downside is you have to pay for all of it upfront and they\u2019re going to Escrow it to the insurance, they\u2019re going to escrow it to the contractor and you can set it up, they do disbursements or what not but now the hud says 66 grand. And so when I go to the lender they\u2019re like oh 100% a hud, we\u2019re done. Cool 66 grand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s fast and interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>So if I understand you right Alex, you\u2019re paying your rehab cost into the Escrow, you\u2019re closing the cost of the house is going to the seller and the Escrow company is keeping your cost in Escrow which they disperse to your contractor as they complete the work. Is that correct?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>That\u2019s the way you should do it. I don\u2019t do it that way, I pay my contractor full upfront, I don\u2019t care because him and I are, that\u2019s the power of having a great team. You can tell them Escrow it out you know as you tell them they will disperse it no problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Ok so I\u2019ve never heard of that either that\u2019s an awesome strategy and you basically, your hud is showing a higher amount, the bank will let you refinance you more of your money back out which is the whole point of brrrr right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah and there are specifics here that work for me because generally my all-in cost are 75% or close to hud so if you had a place where you had 65 grand in a house but its worth 150 for like weight the 6 months because that\u2019s a big chunk of money that you\u2019re not going to be able to put out and vice versa you have a house you have 65 grand into it or you got 80 grand into it and its worth 100 you\u2019re going to lose 10 thousand dollars because its LTV or hud whichever one\u2019s lower. So you really want to make sure that your numbers line up before you purchase the property that your all-in cost will be 75% of the ARV.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>It\u2019s fascinating to me that you and I never met but what you\u2019re describing is everything I talk about in the book and our criteria is almost exactly the same. I charge mine all in for 75% of ARV. So you\u2019re describing like having a team, having other people do the work, that\u2019s in the book I wrote Long Distance Investing, that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about, is how you build that team, how you develop these relationships you should be looking for. You\u2019ve done this a couple times now for people who are just getting started. What practical advice you can give them, what they need to know in order to be able to start this?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>They are too focused on how much money they don\u2019t have and not focused enough on how much they don\u2019t know. Again it goes back to education and networking. If you\u2019re having troubles getting ahead or putting something together, odds are you haven\u2019t met the right people yet. I\u2019ve spoken about this significantly on Bigger Pockets how to find mentors and you know, the beekeep mentors is fantastic, local areas, learning, getting out and finding a guy like me who already knows it and then will give you a lot of confidence. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The other thing is people don\u2019t know their market. That\u2019s a real big problem. You have to know, I bought, I analyse my properties from MLS pictures and I\u2019ve bought them without anyone walking into the house before I made money because I know the market so well. So when I look at a house I know exactly how much it\u2019s going to rent for, work its going to take, what ARP is and I can do it in 10 seconds. Not because I\u2019m smart, that\u2019s because I\u2019ve been grinding out zeelo and truly analyst templates or practise for years so if you\u2019re unsure of capital or you\u2019re unsure where the capital is going to come from you need to network. If you\u2019re unsure of what market to go in you need to educate and if you\u2019re unsure of what a good deal looks like you\u2019re way behind the cure. If you don\u2019t know what a good deal looks like you\u2019re not going to know on how to spring on one when you see one so you have to analyse 10 deals a day. Just grind them out, do your underwriting, check out and so when the good one comes along, you go, \u201coh yeah that\u2019s the one, I got that one\u201d, you can make a move because if you don\u2019t know what a good deal looks like even if one crosses your desk, you can\u2019t close and you can\u2019t move forward, so know a good deal when you see one and start making moves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>You know that\u2019s all I tell people all the time, well I don\u2019t have the money to quite invest yet, analyse this anyway. Get so good knowing what a good deal is then everything else becomes easier right? Because it doesn\u2019t take much money to run a number on, I mean you might have a pro membership right cost in there but regardless, analyse deals, be so good at that and everything else becomes easier right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah and you have to have the,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>you know you got to practise, you got to prepare because when it comes to making decisions in this business you\u2019re going to learn real quick that you always make an imperfect decision and that\u2019s something that doesn\u2019t, people don\u2019t like to hear that, everybody on BP is looking for unicorn deals, 2% of a perfect deal and I\u2019ve never bought a perfect deal, I don\u2019t think it happens, so you have to be ready to make a deal that you can go it\u2019s going to be good enough. Well if you\u2019re unsure what a good deal even looks like then you\u2019re never going to take a, that\u2019s what you call analysis paralysis so you really got to know and spend a lot of time, I call it obsessing, a lot of time obsessing over this, like I said, meeting people, talking to people all the time, I spend hours on that website, on your website talking to people and learning still to this day. Education and then networking, I\u2019m always shouting out to people finding ways to meet them, I met Scott and Mindy last week. And I met my close real good friends from spending time on BP and when you meet people that are doing well and they like you they\u2019re going to take you along.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah I love that<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>So a lot of it is relationships, most of it is relationship<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>So Alex that\u2019s a great point because I see what is called perfect deal paralysis all the time. You get people that are like into it they\u2019re on BP, listens to the podcast, they\u2019re talking about real estate when they meet up, they\u2019re doing everything on paper that they should be doing but they can\u2019t quite pull that trigger. It\u2019s so frustrating because you\u2019re doing all this work and not getting the pay off. And that\u2019s one of the reasons I love brrrr because when I dig in to why people get a perfect deal paralysis is because they have fear of missing out, if I buy this deal and a better one comes along, they\u2019re going to miss out, right? And that\u2019s why I love brrrr because if you\u2019re using the traditional method and you got 40 grand to put into a deal, if you buy A is better you missed out on B, you\u2019ll be kicking yourself and if you know that before you actually pull the trigger it keeps you from taking a shot. So people are like, \u201cI don\u2019t know I go that market or this market? The duplex or the single family?\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When you brrrr you do A then B. Do A you get your money back and you can do B. that takes all this pressure off of you to make the perfect deal and instead what you should start thinking is \u201c30 years from now am I going to be glad I bought this house or not?\u201d right? Not or should I buy this right now and don\u2019t know if a better one comes along? Nobody looks back at a house they bought 30 years ago that has gone up in price times 5 and is paid off and say \u201cI wish I shouldn\u2019t have bought it and bought the one across the street\u201d, you know? You won\u2019t even remember the house across the street and that\u2019s the shit in thinking that you need that\u2019s what I love about brrrr and long distance investing is that it opens up doors that you can always be making a move it doesn\u2019t matter where your market is, it doesn\u2019t matter where your market is in the market cycle and it doesn\u2019t matter if a better deal is going to come along later. Do you have anything to add along those lines?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah I love that comment because people do get I call it unicorn paralysis where they\u2019re looking for the perfect deal and you know I think people need to settle any more than where they already are. If they knew, I don\u2019t care how you think that deal is odds are, your first deal\u2019s going to be junk and you\u2019re not going to know until so much later because as you get better you\u2019re going to look at pass them, oh man I stresses about that deal like you said David and so think long term, like it doesn\u2019t have to be, I don\u2019t need 10 homeruns, I don\u2019t need 5 homeruns, I need 50 singles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah I did what you call the stack right? We\u2019re talking about this all the time like you\u2019re first deal is not going to make you rich. Your first deal is not going to give you freedom. First deal does nothing for you really but gives you knowledge and experience and credibility right because the first deal the whole point, the only point is to get the second deal. Once you can get the first then you can get the second. The only point of the second deal really is if you get the third, get the fourth and the thing that makes you wealthy is like you said 50 singles but it\u2019s not going to happen if you don\u2019t get the first one. Again we\u2019re not saying buy a bad deal but it doesn\u2019t have to be homerun. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Don\u2019t buy a bad deal but don\u2019t wait around to get a good deal like on my last deal, I looked at it, I was like man I could have made more on this deal if I bought it right. Who cares? 5 grand like in 12 years this is going to be irrelevant. And not to say that those amounts are not big money but it\u2019s ok to lose that money or overspend, it\u2019s just if you\u2019re going to make 20 grand, don\u2019t get mad that you didn\u2019t make 25. Like just take the profitable deal, get the experience especially if you\u2019re new because a lot of it is like jumping off an airplane it\u2019s easier the second time. The first one is oh this is really scary, oh no, no it\u2019s amazing, fun and its easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Do you jump out of planes? Is that a thing you do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I was a paratrooper in the military, yeah. Couple of shanucks, black hawks, yeah I got a couple of stories. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>I can see in my mind\u2019s eye I can see Alex jumping out of a plane and with a guitar and amplifier playing stairway to heaven on the way down and buying 3 houses before he hits the ground. If you guys can see Alex right now, if you\u2019re not watching on youtube, he\u2019s a very high energy, positive, awesome guy. And he just dabbed. I\u2019ve never seen anyone dab on BP before. We got our first documented dab. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ok Alex I want to ask you, what do you look for in a deal, what catches your eyes? So if someone else wants to copy your system which is very close to my system, what should they be looking for?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Well look it\u2019s not going to work in every market. Every market is going to have small differences. In my market I\u2019m going to give you the real transparent in what I do. I look for a house that I can be all in for 65 grand whether I pay 55 then ten to rehab or whether pay 30 and do 35 in rehab. I need to be all 65, it needs to rent for 850, it need to be worth 95, 90-95. That\u2019s it. There\u2019s other small things in my market a lot of houses come with car ports and I hate car ports but I know if it\u2019s a 3-2, I can rent it, or say 50, if I go to, if I look at a 4-2 and you convert that garage and can cost me around 4 grand to do it I can rent it to section 8 and I get a guaranteed 950 because it\u2019s a 4 bedroom. And so there are these really intricate new wants, market additions that you\u2019re going to have to learn on your own market. But what I\u2019m basically looking for is to be all in at 65 with a 25% equity and it rents and it\u2019s going to give me, I call it a 1.5 price to rent ratio, kind of of narrow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>So you clearly know your market right because I don\u2019t know anything about by it though but I can guarantee from what you just said, most of the houses are going to be appraising between 90 and 95, between 90 and a 100 thousand that you will be looking at right, and you\u2019re going to be all in with the 65 number. You came up with that because you know when you go to refinance you get all your capital back maybe a little bit more. You know that if they rent for 850 it\u2019s putting you right in the cash flow where you want to be. So it\u2019s beautiful what Alex is doing is he\u2019s not wasting time analysing everything in zeelo like the newbie is he\u2019s focused everything down to only the houses he knows are going to work and then he\u2019s taking those ones and picking his best option, right, out of everything I\u2019m seeing at here\u2019s my best option, if it meets my criteria, I buy it. It\u2019s very similar to what I\u2019m doing. There\u2019s a reason that these patterns keep emerging in long distance investing that I do and Alex do and we\u2019ve never met. I look for all in at 75% of ARV, I want to cash positively so to be around the 1% rule and I want to be in a good neighbourhood. I don\u2019t want to be in D class neighbourhood or war zone or anything like that. And if it makes sense, Alex is in the same boat but he knows exactly what properties look like so he\u2019s buying it right away. If you can figure out in what market you want to be, general idea of what deals look like. Man it\u2019s so much easier to make a move without getting stuck in that unicorn or perfect deal paralysis. Like decision making is a talent that you really have to work on and I don\u2019t know how to teach that, unfortunately, I don\u2019t have any good advice for that but decision making, being able to make a decision, good or bad is incredibly valuable to make one quick and like I said, for better or for worse, not being able to make a decision, not being able to pull the trigger, that is a hindrance because as you get better you have to make harder decisions that involve more people, it\u2019s going to involve their livelihood. Now you know my business takes up probably a good portion of my property managing contractors lively their portfolio. And so you have to be able to make decisions you have to be able to do fast decisions and you\u2019re going to have to start doing it with a lot of responsibility on your back so I don\u2019t know how to teach that but yeah once you found out what works you got to be able to pull the trigger. And I think a lot of that comes back to analyse the properties, learn the markets, build a team, and if you, you know what position that really turned me around was I was just starting to get into this and I found a deal it was 50 grand it had a tenant, renting for 800 bucks a month, and a wholesaler came up to me and said, \u201clook just give me a thousand dollar fee and you can have this house. Its done\u201d and now I look back and I go \u201csteal, perfect\u201d but at that time I was really scared so this is what helped me get over the analysis process forever. Called a VP friend of mine to invest in my area, said, \u201chey I\u2019m scared to take this house down, what do you think about it?\u201d and a week later he closed on it and he\u2019s making money on it. It wasn\u2019t a perfect deal. He took it down in a cocaine heartbeat, I mean he took it down. And so I looked and I said, \u201cdude I missed that deal out of fear\u201d, that\u2019s all it was. It was a good deal, I knew in my gut and never again will that happen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>I\u2019ve wrote an article for Bigger Pockets on how I analysed and bought a deal in 5 minutes. I mean it\u2019s exactly what you just said. It\u2019s weird it\u2019s like this yin and yang thing going on, we\u2019re very different personalities but we\u2019re doing the exact same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah we should date. Where do you want to go?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright I want to ask something kind of random. You mentioned you are an underwriter for business, what is that for commercial loans?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah for SBA actually <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright let\u2019s talk about that for a minute. What is SBA? If you come to this show I\u2019d love to know more what kind of loans do you underwrite? I\u2019ll ask more questions after that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah back to when I went back to school for Finance. As I said I went to school for Finance because I wanted to learn how to make money or at least how they work and I started working at a bank in a small town without any real finance opportunities. And then when I moved to Las Vegas 2 years ago I wanted to do more, I knew I could do more so I\u2019ve gone to this underwriting department and it\u2019s SBA is Small Business Administration. It\u2019s loans that they give to, its only for owner occupied businesses but its basically for new start ups, people that want to start up a business that can\u2019t go through a bank traditional funding because there\u2019s risk pool because I know you want to start a Subway franchise but you never run one and you don\u2019t have much capital so big banks aren\u2019t going to deal with you but the SBA you can come in and they\u2019ll say we can help you with the franchise, we\u2019ll let you do a smaller down payment. They mitigate risk in different ways to get start ups going. So I mostly deal with actual owner occupied businesses- restaurants, some franchise stuff, you guys have a nothing bundt cake, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard of that, we do a whole slew of them, tropical smoothies, small stuff \u2013 but then we also do big stuff, a lot of local businesses in Las Vegas are done through the SBA. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Underwriting has been a fantastic learning experience for me because when you do single family writing it\u2019s basically doing the cash flow analysis but it doesn\u2019t really mitigate, show you how to mitigate risk. What I do is I look at these 5 million dollar loans and you got to go through all the collateral relationships and make sure that everybody can mitigate risk a bunch of different ways and we can explain how the loan is going to be done and then it doesn\u2019t work for passive multi family, SBA won\u2019t do passive investment but man what you learn by, look, I get the advantage of everyday somebody gets me in tax return for their business. I get to look at their business credit report and their personal tax returns and personal credit reports. And I put this whole thing together and you see the story how the business is running. Why its good, why its bad and paint a picture of trending and it doesn\u2019t have direct impact on what I specifically do, knowledge of how a bank looks at a deal is incredibly useful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah I argue all the time because I used to work for the bank, I wasn\u2019t the underwriter but I was the front guy that took the loan apps and stuff when people wanted a home equity line or whatever. And what I realize is that underwriters, for the most part, you\u2019re kind of painting a picture of what this looks like but a lot of it is if you think like an underwriter thinks rather than thinking like the front sales person thinks because a sales person is designed to say one thing \u201cyes get the application, yes we can do that loan, yes\u201d the key power is in the underwriter like you are the one who actually makes the decision not some front end banker who whatever saying I can do anything right. So learn how an underwriter thinks. And with real estate it\u2019s not that complicated I mean the rules are fairly standard and straight forward. There\u2019s income, loan and devalue, you can find those things out and then underwrite your own deals. Again encourage people, look into that, how does an underwriter think. If you guys want to know more about that go to biggerpockets.com\/bankfinancing. I put together an ebook a couplr years ago on how a bank thinks, how an underwriter processes at biggerpockets.com\/bankfinancing it\u2019s free, it\u2019s not like a paid book or anything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">On that note I\u2019m wondering can somebody as far as you know use an SBA loan to like build a fund for like flipping houses or maybe for brrrr can I do any of that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Flipping houses well banks do not like flipping these days. Not to say that they won\u2019t do it, I\u2019m going to get emails saying that I\u2019m wrong but banks in general especially in Las Vegas are wacky about flipping because well because banks are filled with really conservative, you know, scared people on purpose because we don\u2019t want to them to mispend money. So the rule of SBA is that it can\u2019t be passive so you can\u2019t do it for a multi family unfortunately. What you can do with SBA is self storage so if you want to do a self storage, big loan with value add you can get construction built in and you can do it low down payment, 10 or 15% at times, and if you\u2019re a veteran you get some discount benefits here and there. SBA\u2019s a fantastic program for people who want to start a business, not passive, but don\u2019t either have a lot of capital or have a really good understanding on how to embark on that adventure because they healp build a business to plan for you. It\u2019s a fantastic program, I kind of lucked into it but I love it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah pretty cool. I just wanted to make sure we covered that. I really hear a lot of good things about SBA loans, not so much with real estate, but friends of mine who are entrepreneurs and I know there\u2019s a lot of entrepreneurs who listen to our show so definitely check out SBA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alright last question before we move on into the deep dive of, I\u2019m wondering what does your future look like? Where do you see yourself headed with real estate?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah so I had the same plan that I think a lot of people on the site have which is I want to buy 10 houses, do it over 10 years and then retire. And I bought 7 in 2 years and blew that idea straight out of the water so what it taught me was go as slow as, go as fast as you can, as slow as you need to but don\u2019t set your goals too small. Before I bought a house I didn\u2019t think I can do it. Before I went to college I never thought I could do it. I bought 3 houses real quick and I was like man maybe I\u2019m better at this than I\u2019ve given myself credit for or maybe I\u2019m setting my self expectations too low. So now that I\u2019m about to close on my 7<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> rental and I\u2019m helping other people buy a house through consulting and what not. And so what we talked about earlier, building a business is hard, real estate transactions are easy and they\u2019ve gotten really easy and I\u2019m bored so we started looking at a 68 unit that I think I\u2019ll close but the plan is I want to buy a small multi unit so I could get my feet wet to guy buy a 250 something big. I just always you know, I say this all the time, the answer to every business problem is scale bigger. So I\u2019m going to scale as big as I can.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>I like that, I like that. Well cool, alright, I want to switch, yeah solid. I\u2019m even writing down notes, I\u2019m going to make little instagram quote cards later like sorry David, as fast as you can as you need to but don\u2019t set your goals small, that\u2019s like instagram glory right there. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alright I want to shift gears here though a little bit and head over to the deal deep dive. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>There\u2019s rarely a sure bet with investing. Outcomes are nearly impossible to predict but Simply Safe is an investment you can be sure about. This is home security that\u2019s going to protect your family round the clock and save you money doing it. To start Simply Safe prices are fair and honest, 24\/7 professinal security monitoring is just $14.99 a month, no contracts, no pricey hidden fees and if you don\u2019t love it after 60 days, return it for a full refund. It\u2019s a guaranteed investment. On top of that it\u2019s fantastic protection, wire cutter, PC mag and Cnet all safe top choice for house security so you know your home is secure.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Protect your home like I do with Simply Safe and support us by visiting simplysafe.com\/pockets. Know we sent you at simplysafe.com\/pockets.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alright let\u2019s get to the deep dive, these are, this is the part of the show I should say where we dive deep into 1 particular deal you\u2019ve recently done to learn the good, bad the ugly, what went wrong, what went right, or whatever about the property. We\u2019re going to ask you a bunch of questions about it. For the first one though it\u2019s just, you have a deal in mind, correct? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yes!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright first of all what kind of property was it? What are we talking about here?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I found this property online. I\u2019ve seen it only from the MLS pictures, and they we\u2019re tragic. There was a deck in the back that you couldn\u2019t see, because there was growth, like over the house, it was out of control. It even had growth coming through not the windows but the walls. And I looked at this house and there\u2019s not a single redeeming quality about the house, I must have it. But I knew the area, I knew the market, I knew it was scarier, I knew people were scared, they were fearful of it not that it wouldn\u2019t make money. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright you said you found it. You said MLS right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yes MLS it was 36 grand so I knew it should have been worth a hundred. It looked worse than it really was. Does it makes sense?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>It does yeah, yeah. It makes perfect sense, in fact I love looking at properties that look worse than they really are.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah and it was on the market for like 70 days. I think everybody was just scared of it which those are my favourite ones, you know, if you\u2019re fearful of it I\u2019m going to come in and write a check.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright there you go.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Alright Alex how did you negotiate this deal?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Well with this one I was very fortunate, I was on MLS and it was on there for I guess 90 days or something and low ball them a little bit, I\u2019m not a low baller kind of guy, more like just pay and get it done. So I lowballed a little bit, I think I paid 36 grand for that house. And everybody that I told that to thought that I was out of my mind. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Do you remember what they were asking for, do you remember?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Probably not much more than, I want to say 40, something like that, yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright now a lot of people are listening to this and going like that\u2019s just crazy, I can buy a car for that right. So I mean every market is a little bit different and like I always say either go to a market or you know if you want to buy cheaper property go to where you can buy them. Or figure out what works in your market. Don\u2019t use that as excuses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah if you have a house in your market that don\u2019t work, you\u2019re looking at it as an obstacle when its an advantage because now you get to go pick a market that does work and you get to pick from out of all the markets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>I also want to add in there you also hear us say you shouldn\u2019t buy 30 thousand dollar houses right you can get in trouble with these. There\u2019s a difference between, that\u2019s a house with a 30 thousand dollar ARV, these are houses he\u2019s buying for 40 thousand but ARV is going to 90 to 100 thousand combined. Complete different concepts so don\u2019t hear that low number and just be like \u201coh I was told to go buy these picks\u201d it\u2019s not the same philosophy<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah the other thing is with those houses you get, my market if you a buy a house I rent it for 650 a month or less. I can\u2019t get a property manager to shell out because the quality tenant changes, it\u2019s going to be different for every market. So I see that all the time people buy now a duplex for 80 grand or a quadplex for 90 grand, I\u2019m like I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re thinking but I know it\u2019s trouble when they rent for 500 dollars a month. The number might work on a cash to price ratio analysis but you\u2019re not thinking of what it takes to actually put somebody, boot on the ground and deal with a person that only wants to pay 500 dollars a month. Every landlord has probably dealt with the tenant that doesn\u2019t want to pay the full rent but they\u2019ll trade you some stamps for the remainder. And so you don\u2019t want to, not that you don\u2019t want that tenant, you have to calculate those troubles. And when you get that 30 thousand dollar house and you just see it on paper, it\u2019s not going to work out the same on real life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon:<\/b> Yeah I totally agree. How do you fund it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Cash. This is perfect, actually I was waiting on a check back from a refi from a previous house so when I put the bid in I was, look I can afford to buy this house but I can\u2019t afford pretty much anything else until the money comes in. And then even then I had just enough. Well between the time I closed and this I had 8 checks go out and it cost like 8 grand so I did not have enough money to do this project. And then the bid came in and I got the offer and accepted it. So I had an offer for a house that I really wanted but I couldn\u2019t pay for it and I haven\u2019t seen the house yet, the contractor hasn\u2019t seen the house yet, hasn\u2019t been inspected, nobody has seen it. So I called, I just made phone calls and find somebody to loan me 25 grand and I found a guy on BP who I\u2019d buy a house. I said hey man give me 25 grand I\u2019ll pay you in 60 days because I\u2019m waiting on this refi, I\u2019ll pay you just an obscene amount of interest, annualised, right? Whatever and he loaned me 25 grand so I bought the house and I made a bunch of money. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So if you get stuck like the money is not the problem. It made me very nervous, I don\u2019t mean to sound that I was confident or that I had it lined up. It was like you have this house now, you have this offer accepted, what are you going to do about it? And you grind. You go borrow, beg, steal from your friends and you make sure if the deal is good, you show him the deal, yeah that\u2019s going to make money no problem. And I pay him back in 60 days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Very cool, very cool. Alright what did you do with the property then after that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>So I bought that house with growth and everything without getting it with my rehad contractor didn\u2019t even look at it. So I had to, I was guessing what it cost to rehab and I had to borrow money to pay for it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I love the story because in my head it felt incredibly, I was nervous but I knew it was going to work out as everybody else thought I was a lunatic. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Which is what you want? What you really want to be?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>And so we rehabbed it we ended up putting in a bunch we did H vac, we built a whole new deck, we did a new driveway, cost me, yeah I mean right around 30 grand, 31 somewhere there. All in all it ended up costing up to 68 and then it appraised for 95 or 105, and the lady who lives there is as happy as can be. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>What\u2019s the rent on that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>900<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>That\u2019s awesome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>It\u2019s greater than 1%<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>1.3, 1.4 somewhere there<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Yeah 1.4 is what I get which is why your confident and comfortable buying a deal like this without all the specifics. You don\u2019t need to know the exact rent, you don\u2019t need to run the numbers precisely, you can do it without getting a bid from your contractor as you\u2019ve done enough of these deals and that you really have a good understanding of how it\u2019s going to turn out and you\u2019re going to do really good or pretty good but its enough to move forward so that\u2019s why you want to know your stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah. That was only my 3<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><sup>rd<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> deal actually. It was my first long distance deal but again it comes down to, I looked at the house and I said worse case scenario I\u2019ll make 15 grand. Well just do it, I mean what are you waiting for, just do it. Because I can use the 15 grand and then the next one I\u2019ll feel more confident. Next one I might make 50 grand. You know I\u2019m not worried about one, I\u2019m worried about you know 12 hundred. How do I get to 12 hundred.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>So what was the outcome with this one?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>It took me a little longer to refi that one because the spread ended up being bigger, well with the spread being bigger I didn\u2019t want to do it in the delayed financing so I took the 6 months and got an extra 5 or 6 grand out of it, I think. And but I still own that house<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Cool. And lessons learned, kind of overall what did you learn from this thing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Be fearless. You can solve problems in a pinch if you take the problem on. You can\u2019t solve a problem that you have no skin in the game with. Like if you feel like I need to go raise money ten go get a deal that you actually have to raise money for because if you just ask somebody you go, \u201cHey can I have 20 grand in case I need it? Can you pledge it to me in case something comes up that I need it?\u201d. You\u2019re going to get yesses and when the time comes who knows. What you really need is put yourself in a position to have to figure a problem out like actual skin in the game. Are you losing sleep? Now you\u2019re ready to actually solve a problem. When there\u2019s nothing on the line you don\u2019t have real incentive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>It sounds like Brandon during his 10, 31 exchange trying to try buy his apartment, he got a deadline, the last day<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yes stress<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>A few questions for you Alex about this deal. What is it cashing per month right now approximately?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>About 300 bucks. My expense ratio is really low, 2% and I can attribute 100% of that to how great my property manager and contractor is. We do a bunch of capex upfront and so he knows like don\u2019t put chandeliers in kid\u2019s bedrooms. Like a bunch of capex upfront there\u2019s not a lot or maintenance afterward and we never have vacancy. So overtime these things they let you cash for more than the paper would say so a lot of times you do your cash flow analysis come out to 100 dollars a door and it\u2019s like yeah but if you don\u2019t have any maintenance or very low maintenance for the year, low vacancy, you\u2019re going to do better than you project if you\u2019re projecting conservatively. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>And what did you leave in this deal? How much of your capital did you leave in it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>As little as possible, I think I took out, you can take 100% of what you took in like the loan cost so it\u2019s probably nine hundred bucks or something. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Ok so I\u2019m just going to give you an example. I don\u2019t even know how to calculate ROI on that number. It\u2019s going to be almost<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I\u2019d call it infinite<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Yeah it\u2019s basically infinite ROI. If people that would criticize well you don\u2019t even know what you were doing, you didn\u2019t know how this was going to end up, you were reckless. He ended up with an infinite ROI because he left almost nothing on his deal and 300 hundred dollars on cash flow plus all the tax benefits plus the no capex plus the loan paid out. Everything that comes with real estate, that\u2019s what brrrr will do for you. It creates this bold incredible attitude that I don\u2019t need to know everything because its so efficient I\u2019m always going to come out on top.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah I mean I say you don\u2019t need to hit all homeruns but if you do brrrr and you check all your money out it\u2019s a homerun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Yeah <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>You make a 100 bucks a month. It\u2019s like how much free income do you need before you start getting excited? And so 300 bucks a month or 100 dollars a month people say that\u2019s nothing, yeah get 15 of them. And you only need one set of cash. You\u2019ll spend in like initial 70 grand right? I mean if I can do it<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>It\u2019s recycling the capital<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Love it, love it. Alright dude let\u2019s move on to the next segment of the show which we refer to as our fire round.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s time for the fire round. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Today\u2019s show is brought to you by Stesa this is an essential and a really cool tool every growing real estate investor needs. We\u2019ve been there right? Overwhelmed with the shoebox of receipts that need to be recorded in multiple bank accounts and honestly unsure of how much money actually making every month on our own selves. If you\u2019re like me you probably spent a ton of time manually updating spread sheets to keep track of that income and expenses. You know I used to think that was the only way to do it until I want to pay for some expensive bookkeeper but Stesa real estate investors automate the busy work so we can focus on growing our portfolio, ensuring tax time is a breeze and it lets investors see all of our current properties and keep performance matrix in one central dashboard. I can\u2019t tell you how long I\u2019ve looked for a way to do that and Stesa is exactly what I needed.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>So take a few minutes today add your profile, link your accounts and everything updates in real time. Stesa brings institutional tools by the pros the everyday investor for free and it\u2019s been featured in Forbes, NY Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Built by investors for real estate investors so to learn more and get started with a free account, seriously do it, go to stesa.com\/bp, stesa.com\/bp<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alright that\u2019s it for today\u2019s fire round. This is the segment of the show where we go through questions that our users of bigger pockets forum actually ask. So I know Alex you\u2019re in the forums. Anyway maybe you\u2019ve even seen this but we\u2019re going to fire them at you right now. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">First question, I like this one, this is I\u2019ve done a lot of reading about brrrr and I think I\u2019ve got some sort of mental block, I just can\u2019t get how it works. Can you explain it to me like I\u2019m a second grader?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>No. Look it\u2019s easy to do this on paper. It\u2019s easy to see it on paper but it is a little bit hard to explain, talking it through. Here\u2019s what basically it is, I\u2019ll try to use easy number as possible. If you buy a house all in for 65 grand, that\u2019s cash ok, cash gone and then you, it\u2019s worth, let\u2019s use easy numbers. You buy one for 75, you go to get it appraised and its worth a hundred. The bank is going to give you 75 in cash and they\u2019re going to give you a loan for the same amount. And so you started with 75 grand, you ended with 75 grand and a 75 thousand dollar loan. You traded no difference in net worth, you traded non liquidity for liquidity. And you have the 25% equity left over and the cash flow left over and the tenant is going to take 30 years to pay the bank off plus you a little bit. People make it seem, it\u2019s new and it sounds, it\u2019s not something you get into regularly so it sounds more complex than it is but so freaking simple. They even let a knucklehead like me do it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>There you go<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>It\u2019s like I\u2019m going to go second grader and say like you have a snickers bar in front of you and, I have no idea how to but I need to work on that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I have a pretty good one. People get hung up on this idea that you get a loan when you buy something. That\u2019s stuck in their head like you have to get a loan to buy a house, to buy a car, to buy a thing. The whole idea of a refinance is completely different because you\u2019re not getting a loan to buy it, you already have it. But when you get a loan to buy something the bank doesn\u2019t care that you\u2019re buying it, all they care is they\u2019re getting a percentage of what its worth. Because they want to be able to take it back from you if you don\u2019t pay and they want to get their money back. So if you got a car that was paid off, you can go to a place that gives car loans, I have a car and I want to take out a loan, and they\u2019ll say we\u2019ll give you 75% of what the car is worth, here\u2019s the blue book value, that would be the equivalent of an appraisal. We\u2019ll let you borrow 75% of what the blue book value is right. For whatever people get it with the car but they don\u2019t understand it when you say house. It changes everything right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Yeah I know<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>You bought and fixed up that car less than 7500 dollars you\u2019d get all that money back when appraised if the car was worth 10,000 dollars. That\u2019s understanding brrrr and what Alex is saying is that if you don\u2019t do that you still have the net worth but its stuck in equity in the property where it could help you if you refinance you take that money out of equity and turn it into cash that you could put in your pocket which you can then use to go buy your next car or your next house or whatever your investment choices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Yeah the other thing I think people get jammed up with house loans is they don\u2019t think in terms of loan devalue, they think in terms of down payment, and that\u2019s a mistake. You say well how much down payment do I need and you don\u2019t want to think this way at all. What you always want to think of is CLTV product that I can get. Can I get a 75% CLTV product, well then I need 25% equity. Whether that comes from your down payment or your purchase you\u2019re ability to negotiate a house. If you could buy a house for 25% you don\u2019t need a down payment and you can move right in but that doesn\u2019t happen that often. But that\u2019s how you think so when I say you\u2019re going to get a 75% loan, it\u2019s no different than when you get a 97% FHA loan. If you could buy a house at 3 \u00bd% equity you wouldn\u2019t need to put anything down either. And so I think people get jammed up in that regard with the down payment. You know that\u2019s like the idea of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Alright next question. What are some pros and cons when buying investment properties out of state?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Well the pros are if you live in a state or you live in an area that\u2019s not working for what you want to do then the pro is you have unlimited opportunity to find the better area. The con is it seems harder. That\u2019s it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Alright good, I like that. Next one, what team members are important in investing out of state?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Property manager, most important. I would say and I\u2019m going to say this in no order because all these people are incredibly important to me. Property manager, realtor, lender, contractor, not in that order. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Isn\u2019t that David, your 4 core?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>That\u2019s exactly right. Alex said he\u2019s never read my book and we\u2019ve never talked before if you just listened those are the same people I\u2019ve said. If you have those people you can do it that\u2019s all you need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Besties! You have to have those 4 people. Here\u2019s the thing when youre going to call long distance you\u2019re going to run into people who suck. Fact! And you\u2019re going to have to burn a lot of them and when you\u2019re new you don\u2019t know they suck, you think they\u2019re good because they tell you their good. And then you won\u2019t even know their bad. You\u2019re going to have to run through a lot of these people but you really want people that are smarter than you to do this. You don\u2019t want people that are, you want people that are better than you to deal with you. Really the goal so they can bring you up. You want to go find somebody, I want to be a contractor and you I want to be a realtor, we should start at the same time, no you\u2019re doing too much, you need to find somebody who can help you not learn with you. So find people that are good spend a lot of time networking, reaching out to people, bigger pockets has research tool for this because you can search by location and keyword: broker, Charlotte Carolina. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David:<\/b> I call those rock stars. You know rock stars they\u2019ll change your life. They\u2019re top producer they know what they\u2019re doing, smarter than you, then you bring them value, they bring you value, that\u2019s the best relationship. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>And they know the rock stars<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Dude are you sure you didn\u2019t read my book? Alex do you swear?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Are you sure you didn\u2019t read my diary?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Alright this is all too creepy I\u2019m just going to keep on moving on. I\u2019m looking to purchase a property online, site and seen, can you give any tips for purchasing property like this?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>If you\u2019re sure it\u2019s a deal, do it. If you\u2019re unsure it\u2019s a deal, you need to practise more so you can be sure. Like if it\u2019s a deal buy it. If you don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a deal then you are working on the wrong problem. You need to educate more. You need to know if it\u2019s a deal. If youre close ask somebody that knows. If you have a deal and its in David\u2019s area and youre like \u201cHey man is this a deal?\u201d and he\u2019s going to say no and this is why and you can predict the future. But if you have a deal, you\u2019re unsure if it\u2019s a deal, you need more information. If you\u2019re sure it\u2019s a deal and you\u2019re just scared, suck it up buttercup. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>There you go.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Ok I got my last. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>In the car business I used to work in cars I used to mess with people. They\u2019d be like \u201coh you know I\u2019m too scared, payments are too high\u201d, yeah I know payments are high but I lean hard the form are in triplicate. Do it anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon:<\/b> Alright question for you. That\u2019s not the final round but I\u2019m just curious what\u2019s with the background behind you. For those who are not watching us youtube you got a lot of bright, awesome pictures behind you,what is that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Here\u2019s some good advice, if you want to be happy in life you need 3 hobbies: one to keep you in shape, one to give you money, one to be creative. Few years ago I started photography, I\u2019m not a creative guy but it\u2019s been fun so when I started doing the youtube stuff like that I wanted something that would be visually appealing to build the set. I am a production quality themed about my work and there\u2019s a billion people on youtube that have office in the background so I I bought a nice photo printer and I printed out pictures that are my life: bars, Las Vegas, canyon, Red Rock Canyon, friends that drive cars. So yeah I just put them up because its visually appealing aesthetics and its me. And I\u2019m all about me baby.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>I love it well more about you let\u2019s shift gears one last time and head over to Famous Four. Alright I\u2019ll get to the Famous Four, this is the same 4 questions we ask every guest every week and we\u2019re going to see what you\u2019re going to say. I know you\u2019re heard this before because you\u2019ve listened to the show. I think you said earlier you listened to every episode 3 times. So first one, what is your favourite real estate related book?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Rich Dad, Poor Dad baby. Look that book I read 10 years before I bought a house. It\u2019s not a book that you read to learn real estate, that book you read to get your mind right. I hate that it\u2019s been said so many times but it really is. That\u2019s the one that changed everything for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Ok what is your favourite business book?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>I am a heavy reader of nonfiction but very rarely do I like business books. Gallileo has a good one. If I could recommend one book that everyone in the planet should read it\u2019s a new one by Yuval Noah Harrari it\u2019s Sapiens not a business book but a book it\u2019s a book about humanity and it provided me massive perspective. I don\u2019t read a lot of business books but I do read a lot and I have a reading list on my website if anybody want to see I read hard nonfiction, science, culture, and history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Wow give us more examples of what you mean by that? Nonfiction that\u2019s not business like what are these books you\u2019re reading?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Oh my god that\u2019s my favourite question.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman that teaches you how your brain works. Brilliant becaue its not working the way you think. I read a lot of Richard Dockins, hard science, evolutionary biology. I just reread Stephen Hawking\u2019s book, The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan that\u2019s an old one. Factfulness by Hans Rosling that\u2019s a book about why the world is doing better than people think. Trying to think of some other ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Well that\u2019s good we\u2019ll encourage them to go to your website and check them out which I\u2019ll ask you about in just a second. Before we do that, David you\u2019ve got the next question. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Yes you mentioned about what your 3 hobbies are can you just reiterate very quickly what they are. You said for staying in shape, being creative, and what was your other one?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Making money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Making money. So what are the 3 hobbies that you do for each of those?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Well photography for creativity, real estate for making money and I have been power lifting for 15 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>There we go, awesome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>And that small advice really works. If you think about it that way if you spend your time doing 3 things you like everyday, those 3 hobbies, and if you can find one that makes you some money which shouldn\u2019t be that hard. If you can do that man life gets so easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>You know I saw that advice recently the same habit thing. And then I added one to it, I threw it on instagram and I said also if you can find a hobby, now it could be, find the ones that builds relationships, I think hobbies are great. Find one that you can do with somebody else, family, friends, whatever. Hobbies with people are just so key. Because our happiness is typically based on our community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Yeah I love that<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Agreed and this is a relationship. Well my photography wasn\u2019t like that until I started hanging out with other photographers. My power lifting didn\u2019t get good until I go to the power lifting gym and yeah so I mean I agree with that, I should probably amend that 3 hobbies and you have to include other people in them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>I love it. Ok last question, for me anyway. What sets a part real successful real estate investors from all those who give up, fail, or never started?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Obsession, obsession, obsession. I have been thinking about this for 5 years, actually I wrote an article I want to send you, I didn\u2019t call it the famous 4. I\u2019ve been pining over this question for 5 years and I wrote a long form article about it and I sent it to Mindy today actually. 5 years ago I was listening to this podcast, heard that question, I said I need to answer that and arrogantly I said inevitably I\u2019ll be on that podcast and I need to get my perfect answer. Funny how things work out. Well obsession is the answer, I wrote a thing about how you come to that and at first I thought its networking and education. That\u2019s the first difference to those who succeed and those that don\u2019t. and then I spent a lot of time going through all the old podcasts and I wrote everyones answer and put them into graphs to see which one would show up most. And you know tenacity, all these types of answers take action, be fearless, all these types of answers they all seem incomplete to me. So I\u2019ve been pining over this, this exact question for like 4-5 years and I\u2019ve written about it and I really think the reason I\u2019ve been successful and many other people can be described by their obsession with what they want to get done and learning about this question and trying to answer this question and being obsessed it really led me to a lot of success. Being obsessed about real estate it leads you to success. The gym I\u2019m a good power lifter I lift a lot of weights, you can\u2019t just show up to the gym you have to get obsessed. And so I think whatever you\u2019re obsessed over, whatever you think, breathe, talk, live about, will happen. Ralph Waldo Emerson has this great quote, \u201cA man is what he thinks about every day\u201d or \u201cA man is what he thinks about all day long\u201d. If you\u2019re trying to do real estate or trying to find a way to get started and you\u2019re doing it casually or part time, it\u2019s going to be much harder. Turn your life into a obsession machine whatever it is you want to accomplish and it is inevitable that you\u2019ll succeed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Love it, love it. Alright last question of the day David Green<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Where can people find out more about you?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>Brokeisachoice.com it\u2019s just my personal website, I put my thoughts on deals. You can get a contact of me there, I put my profile list, I spend a lot of time on Bigger Pockets so if you reach out to me on Bigger Pockets, you can find me on brokeisachoice.com I reach out and talk to people all the time. Hit me up, happy to help. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Brandon: <\/b>Very cool, very cool. Alright dude this has been a ton of fun so thank you so much for coming on the show. I\u2019m sure people are going to love this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Alex: <\/b>My absolute pleasure. You know I love this community. I\u2019ve been deeply involved in this community for 4-5 years. I know there\u2019s other people that not in this community and want to be a part of it. I can say just obsess, stay on the website, talk to people, reach out and I\u2019m so thankful to be here to be ablt to give back to the community that did so much for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That\u2019s awesome. Well thank you very much. Everyone else of course check out the show now on biggerpockets.com\/0306 you can jump in and ask Alex questions you can comment on his amazing hair or you could just get involved in the conversation. Like Alex is a bigger pockets success story so I love having these stories because that\u2019s why I have a podcast right. If somebody can do it network, get yourself involved, talk, like don\u2019t just listen to the words we\u2019re saying in the podcast but go put it into action. Alex heard about house hacking\u2019s a way to start and did it boom. Right heard about brrrr, did it. I took action so I want to recommend everyone to do that as well and we\u2019ll see you back here again next week. If anyone has questions jump into the show notes and just get involved on bigger pockets. Go make a free account on biggerpockets.com and that\u2019s all I got so David Green you want to say something to take us out?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>David: <\/b>Thank you so much Alex this was a great show. This is David Green for Brandon the real estate god, signing off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">[End of Discussion 1:12:54]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"podcast-youtube-video\">Watch the Podcast Here<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Incredible Power of Long-Distance BRRRR Investing | BP Podcast 301\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3OOl59e2WfI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Help Us Out!<\/h2>\n<p>Help us reach new listeners on iTunes by leaving us a rating and review! It takes just 30 seconds and instructions can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\/25\/topics\/161423-do-you-listen-to-the-bp-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>. Thanks! We really appreciate it!<\/p>\n<h2>This Show Sponsored By<\/h2>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-103256 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/True-Submeter-300x125.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/True-Submeter-300x125.png 300w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/True-Submeter-768x321.png 768w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/True-Submeter.png 926w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>TrueSubmeter<\/strong> took the submetering industry of yesterday and married it with today&#8217;s technology. True Submeter offers Real-time logging and 100% automated water billing directly to the tenant all for a\u00a0small cost. This leads to fast ROI and an instant increase in property value. True Submeter is a real solution to landlord paid water.<\/p>\n<p>Check them out at <a href=\"http:\/\/truesubmeter.com\/biggerpockets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Truesubmeter.com\/biggerpockets<\/a>. <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Deep Dive Sponsor<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-77567 alignright no-display appear\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/simplisafe.png\" alt=\"simplisafe\" width=\"271\" height=\"58\" title=\"\">Check out\u00a0<strong>SimpliSafe<\/strong>\u00a0Security\u2019s DIY home security systems; an affordable, wireless, cellular, and customizable system that doesn\u2019t require a contract!<\/p>\n<p>Try it today with a discount:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/simplisafepockets.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">simplisafepockets.com<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Fire Round Sponsor<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-101944\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/stessa-logo-300x67.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"67\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/stessa-logo-300x67.png 300w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/stessa-logo.png 330w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Stessa makes it easy for both novice and sophisticated investors to drive operational efficiencies, maximize revenue, and improve overall portfolio performance.\u00a0Just take a few minutes, add your properties, link your accounts, and everything updates in real-time. Stessa brings the institutional tools used by the pros to the everyday investor for free<\/p>\n<p>To learn more and get started with a free account, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stessa.com\/bp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stessa.com\/bp<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>In This Episode We Cover:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Alexander&#8217;s <strong>back story<\/strong> and how he got into real estate<\/li>\n<li>Why <strong>live-in flip?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>His strategy of being <strong>broke on purpose<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>How he learned about <strong>the BRRRR strategy<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Why he thinks <strong>being close to your property<\/strong> is a crutch<\/li>\n<li>The importance of <strong>&#8220;skills that scale&#8221;<\/strong>: networking and education<\/li>\n<li>How to complete a <strong>BRRRR in 8 weeks<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>What <strong>delayed financing<\/strong> is<\/li>\n<li>How to know what a <strong>good deal<\/strong> looks like<\/li>\n<li>What <strong>&#8220;unicorn paralysis&#8221;<\/strong> is and how to avoid it<\/li>\n<li><strong>His strategy<\/strong> in his own market<\/li>\n<li>How to <strong>think like an underwriter<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>And SO much more!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Links from the Show<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BiggerPockets Forums<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/get.biggerpockets.com\/forms\/index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BiggerPockets Landlord Forms<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zillow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zillow<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trulia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trulia<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/renewsblog\/five-minute-deal-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How I Analyzed a Deal in 5 Minutes (&amp; Bought it Before Anyone Else Could)<\/a>\u00a0(blog)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/bankfinancing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Secret to Unlocking Bank Financing<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brokeisachoice.com\/best-investment-books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The highest return on investment you can make &#8211; Best Investment Books<\/a> (blog)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Books Mentioned in this Show<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/richdadpoordad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Rich Dad Poor Dad<\/em><\/a> by Robert Kiyosaki<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2Sfl4ms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Principles: Life and Work<\/em><\/a> by Ray Dalio<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2D4ktQf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind<\/em><\/a> by Yuval Noah Harari<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2Sh34Z6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em><\/a> by Daniel Khaneman<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2SeIsjU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Science in the Soul<\/em><\/a> by Richard Dawkins<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2SiqQ6J\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>The Demon Haunted World<\/em><\/a> by Carl Sagan<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2Rbdvfb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Factfulness<\/em><\/a> by Hans Rosling<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Fire Round Questions<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\/12\/topics\/392001-brrrr-refinance-question\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Can someone explain BRRRR to me like I&#8217;m a second grader?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\/48\/topics\/124757-out-of-state-investing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What are some pro&#8217;s and con&#8217;s with buying investment properties out of state? <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\/311\/topics\/462350-putting-together-my-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I was just wondering, what questions should I ask potential real estate agents before I make them apart of my team? <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\/88\/topics\/290793-sight-unseen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I am looking to purchase some property online sight unseen. Can you give me any tips for purchasing property like this?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/forums\/52\/topics\/523884-buying-remotely-and-tolerance-for-repairs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do you focus on properties with little to no repairs? <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Tweetable Topics:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Live life broke and save a bunch of money.&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=%22Live%20life%20broke%20and%20save%20a%20bunch%20of%20money.%22%20BP%20Podcast%20301%20biggerpockets.com\/show301%20%40biggerpockets\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet This!<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Being close to your property is a hindrance.&#8221;\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=%22Being%20close%20to%20your%20property%20is%20a%20hindrance.%22%20BP%20Podcast%20301%20biggerpockets.com\/show301%20%40biggerpockets\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet This!<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;The only point of the first deal is to get the second deal.&#8221;\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=%22The%20only%20point%20of%20the%20first%20deal%20is%20to%20get%20the%20second%20deal.%22%20BP%20Podcast%20301%20biggerpockets.com\/show301%20%40biggerpockets\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet This!<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;As fast as you can, as slow as you need to, but don&#8217;t set your goals too small.&#8221;\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=%22As%20fast%20as%20you%20can,%20as%20slow%20as%20you%20need%20to,%20but%20don&#039;t%20set%20your%20goals%20too%20small.%22%20BP%20Podcast%20301%20biggerpockets.com\/show301%20%40biggerpockets\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet This!<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;You want to convince people that are better than you to deal with you.&#8221;\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=%22You%20want%20to%20convince%20people%20that%20are%20better%20than%20you%20to%20deal%20with%20you.%22%20BP%20Podcast%20301%20biggerpockets.com\/show301%20%40biggerpockets\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet This!<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Connect with Alexander<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/users\/AlexanderScott\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexander&#8217;s BiggerPockets Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/brokeisachoice.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexander&#8217;s Personal Blog<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking to get started investing but don\u2019t have millions of dollars and notice there\u2019s not a lot of opportunity in your market? Well, this is the episode for you! Today\u2019s guest is a long-distance investor who uses the BRRRR strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17340,"featured_media":118212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4565],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biggerpockets-podcast"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}