Real Estate Investing with Nate Riggs
From an early age Nate Riggs knew exactly what I wanted to do; serve others and help them live their best life now. He started helping people buy and sell real estate in 2008. He was young and the market was tough, and he knew he needed real-life experience if he was going to be a valuable asset to anyone. Answering the desire to serve other’s he joined the US Navy as a helicopter Search and Rescue Swimmer in 2010. He never lost his passion for real estate and continued to follow the trends in the market. Now, ten years later, he’s building on the values and principles he gained while serving as a SAR Swimmer.
He spent 10 years in the Navy. And he’s on a mission to help folks, especially in the military house hack. He gets their financial stability going as they’re starting out in their careers and their lives and even their second careers as they’re moving away from the military.
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Brett:
I’m excited about our next guest. He’s out of the great state of Florida. He’s in the Jacksonville area, he spent 10 years in the Navy. And he’s on a mission to help folks especially in the military, house hack, right. And house hack is something we’re gonna talk about here in a minute, but really get their financial stability going as they’re starting out in their careers and their lives and even their second careers as they’re moving away from the military. So please welcome to the show with me, Nate Riggs. Nate, how are you doing?
Nate:
Hey, Brett, thanks for having me. Uh, doing good. It’s nice and warm down here. Watch says it’s 82. It might be warmer. I don’t know.
Brett:
That’s cool. And I see that surfboard in the back. I mean, are there you surfing pretty good in Jacksonville? Or were you doing there?
Nate:
You know, I used to do a lot of surfing. But lately, I’m just like growing a family growing kids. And so not as much time out there as I’d like to play a little guitar also as a hobby. You know, just kind of that lifestyle here in Florida. This is Jacksonville, Florida, probably as far north as all ever live. I just can’t do it can’t go any further.
Brett:
I hear you, I hear you. So I’m in Northern California. And so it’s probably about as far north as I’ll ever go to. So let’s dive right in Nate. For those who are just getting to know for the first time, would you give us a little bit more about your story and your current focus?
Nate:
Yeah. And in short, I actually grew up on the river and Sebastian, Florida, and rode around in my grandma’s old Lincoln, my grandpa had a sport was marine on Lodge, we also had some commercial stuff like, you know, coin laundry, changing soda machines, she had done some development. So I always was into real estate. What happened was I got my license at a young age at like 20 years old, started doing real estate. And then, of course, the Great Recession happened, they are 2007 2008 timeframe really, really sets back a 20-year old that’s trying to like take off in the world during that. So it was tough. So I had to do something to kind of fill my resume to grow up a little bit. And that’s what led me to the Navy. join the Navy as a helicopter search and rescue swimmer. And I spent 10 years doing that. So towards the end, I knew it was about time to get out and get back to real estate. So in the last 18 months of my Navy career, turn my license back on I stepped away from the Navy last January. The so last year 2020 was my full-time year. Of course, that was an interesting year, to say the least. But I never quit working, I went to work every day was lucky and fortunate enough to do that have continued to work. And we’ve done pretty well. And just kind of in the real estate world. Beautiful love that.
Brett:
And you know, I believe we’ve all been given certain gifts Nate in this life. And these gifts have been given to us to be a blessing helped others. So maybe go back to your high school days, maybe the early military days, and maybe identify maybe one or two gifts that you believe you were given? And what are those gifts? And how does that help? How do you help bless people today?
Nate:
Wow, okay, um, gifts I have, I guess, I guess one of the things that I have and, and I’ve noticed this over time, whether it was getting job promotions, even as a young age, I like the younger jobs, you know, I kind of stepped away from a job. And if I ever wanted back, always got it. And then as I was in the Navy, in the rescue swimmer, we call it a shop. But you know, it’s kind of a small community in the bigger realm of things. And I realized I had the ability to change the energy in the room. So if I came into a room, the energy changed. At some point, I didn’t really notice that or I didn’t focus it and sometimes they call them rigs rants, I could just fire off these rants and basically get into topics and fire everybody up, right. And then once they got labeled, I realized that rants are inherently negative. So I tried to kind of harness that and say, Okay, if I can control the energy in the room when Nate Riggs comes into the room, I want to make sure I’m making a positive difference and I’m moving this room forward, bringing uplifting statements to people so that’s probably the biggest gift to gift of energy. If I had one.
Brett:
That’s a beautiful gift and you think you said it so well. I could feel the energy from here in California on the other side of this microphone here in Florida. So I the rigs rants you know they think I think about two I think about you see the movie or the show they actually show us better than movie Friday Night Lights right? And this guy named Riggs right and I think they got the brothers they start like rigs you know rigs, you know car. Thank you. rug shop or whatever it is right but they in I don’t even know if that’s even pronouncing right. But I just think about that I think about that show. And that particular actor, you know, he could come in and change the energy of the room. And so I really appreciate you sharing that. Have you seen that show, by the way, Friday Night Lights?
Nate:
You know, I’ve seen it but not enough to be able to kind of my go-to has to back might have to review.
Brett:
He does. It’s really good. And it’s about football, it’s about life. It’s about family and community. It’s honestly, top three show all the time I’ve ever seen. It’s a Friday Night Lights, not to be confused about the movie, the movies, and movies. But the show is legit. All right. So let’s dive right into real estate. So what’s the biggest kept secret to house hacking, especially as it pertains to folks that are either coming out of the military? And or, you know, folks that are just kind of getting started?
Nate:
Yeah, so I guess I would say, don’t go after your dream home, for your first home. Right. So when you’re shopping, maybe you’re shopping for your first home, or you just moved to a new area. And you want to build that portfolio slowly over time. We’re talking like over 1015 years, as you work your job, you’re taking your extra income and you’re pouring into these homes, I would shop with the idea of rental in mind. I’m a fan of buy and hold real estate and so when you buy your house, maybe you’re buying your first house, is this house going to be rentable, in the future? What’s the rest of the neighborhood like? And not just that once you’re in that house? What updates do you need to do to make it more rentable? Or if you were to sell it, how to make a profit? You know, I’ve worked for people in the past they’ve come in and they’ve made these beautiful kitchens or these beautiful outdoor like paver patios. The problem is nobody else in the neighborhood has that. So when they move out, and they tried to sell, it’s hard to make appraisals, right. So appraisals are just as important as taste, somebody may come in and say, Hey, I’m willing to borrow this much money from the bank, but the bank may turn around and with its appraisal, smack that down and say, well, but we’re not going to give you that much because everybody else in the neighborhood is lacking. So you know, you don’t want to be the best house in the neighborhood, you know, so you kind of want to shop for that average or lower-end house in the neighborhood, get into that house if you’re going to live in it for a little bit. And then look at things like, Okay, if you buy a house that has carpet, hard, hard floors are popular, what’s the price point? Can you go in and put LVP so luxury vinyl plank versus putting real tile in? You know, what’s the price point? What’s going to have the best ROI, right, or the return on your investment? So I would start there, start the conversation there with somebody.
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