In this video, which was shot at my boot camp, my student Chris talks about his journey as a real estate investor over the past 5 years.
I met Chris 5 years ago when he moved to the U.S from Brazil. He wanted to learn about investing in real estate and he attended one of my monthly real estate investment club meetings where he decided to sign up for the Wholesaling Real Estate Boot Camp.
At the boot camp, on one of the breaks, Chris approached me and said he was serious about learning real estate and investing in real estate and that he wanted to sign up for my private coaching program.
Since Chris was new to the U.S he had no credit. So his first property was a rental property in Okeechobee that I sold to him with seller financing. We decided together that he should focus on one area and he made his area Okeechobee. Chris lived in Miami and had to commute 2 hours each way to reach Okeechobee. But he had an advantage in that most investors in Miami market and look for deals in Miami. I always teach my students to rather be a big fish in a small pond (Okeechobee) than a small fish in a large pond (Miami). The reason is because there is much less competition.
Chris spent his first year focusing on buying rental properties in Okeechobee. I personally loaned him the money to buy his rental properties. His first 2 houses were purchased for just $20,000. What is ironic is that I mentioned those same 2 houses at my boot camp to my students and no one recognized the opportunity but Chris. He stepped up to the plate and purchased both of them for $20,000 each, fixed them up, and then rented them out to Section 8 tenants. These properties had great cash flow, but they were also not in the best area.
After that, he transitioned into working in better areas of Okeechobee and he started learning fixing and flipping. He learned how to fix up properties and make them look really good for a retail investor. He would then list these properties on the MLS and sell them for a very nice profit. He did very well fixing and flipping primarily by finding properties that needed extensive repair that were badly damaged. He fixed these properties up and then he flipped them for a very healthy profit. I saw him net $60,000 to $100,00 or more on multiple deals. Chris was at every boot camp. He still attends almost every boot camp (5 years later).
At this point, now that he had experience he had more lenders and was tapping into multiple lending companies to fund his fix and flips.
One day we were having lunch together, and I mentioned that I wanted to hire an additional disposition manager. He asked me if I would consider him for the role. He wanted to learn wholesaling, and he figured out that learning how to work with my cash buyers would be a great way to learn. So Chris became a dispositions manager, selling wholesale deals to cash investors.
One thing you hear Chris reference in this video is how to be a “Complete Real Estate Investor”. This is a term that I teach and often use in my trainings. A good investor needs to know how to buy rentals, how to fix and flip houses, how to wholesale and flip, how to furnish and list Airbnb’s, how to sell houses on lease option, how to sell with seller financing, and how to buy a house by assuming the seller’s mortgage (subject to). As an investor, you need to be able to monetize every single lead that you get. And you can only do this by having a deep understanding of all of the processes.
Chris now has his own fixing and flipping company and manages multiple crews who are working on multiple fix and flips. Chris is also a fix and flip coach for our students at Lex Real Estate Training and helps our students analyze and rehab and fix and flip properties.
If you want to learn how to fix and flip make sure you attend my Fixing and Flipping Houses Boot Camp. You can learn more about the boot camp by clicking on the link below: