If you’ve listened to our show for any time now, you know that we have a network of agents across the country that cater to the specific needs of real estate investors. Well… in this episode, we get to showcase the journey and share lessons from one of our trusted agents, Bryan Rodriguez.
Before Bryan became a real estate investor/agent, and before he knew all that he knows about the business now, he was previously an active member of the United States Army (which actually benefited him a ton starting out because he was able to utilize a VA Loan!). However, his life would change when he met his soon-to-be wife right before he got deployed to Afghanistan.
Bryan basically knew nothing about real estate, but Lana’s parents had decided to not pay for their wedding expenses, but rather, purchase a starter home instead. Instantly, Bryan understood the power of wealth building and storing that wealth in tangible assets. So as he left for overseas, Bryan read as much as he could about personal finance and real estate investing during his time there. Upon returning back to the homeland, Bryan made an executive decision that the next property they were going to buy would be a 4-plex.
And that they did. Bryan learned a ton from that first property (as most investors do), but they, Lana and Bryan alike, only got better as time went on. Up to date, Lana and Bryan are at the top of their field respectively, both as a team and as competitors.
Main takeaways from our conversation with Bryan:
1) Ignorance is bliss. After purchasing the questionable property in a questionable neighborhood and then implementing questionable tenants, Bryan got, as he called it, “A rude awakening.” He realized that despite his experience with order during active duty, property management and dealing civilians was a whole other animal. But with every challenge comes opportunity. Not only did these problem tenants teach him valuable lessons, it also allowed him to hire a brand new property manager and teach her valuable lessons as well. And to this day, that property manager still takes care of that same unit.
2) Understand landscaping. This is one of those items that usually comes with experience. So take it from Bryan. Understand how landscaping and drainage works! Water flowing into the wrong areas can easily become the silent destroyer of your property, right out of its foundation in fact. However, that also goes to say that don’t fear the unknown. Just like all aspects of real estate, items are only scary until you learn how to address them and/or deal with them firsthand. Find competent minds and find competent hands.
3) When describing his experience with commercial multi-family real estate, Bryan described the whole process in one phrase: Due diligence. It’s all about understanding your property, what you can do, what you want to do, and what you’re ultimately allowed to do. But we believe that this advice doesn’t apply explicitly only for large real estate developments. This applies to your very first investment property and all future ones after that.
If Bryan could go back and talk to his 16 year old self, he’d tell him, “Love your significant other [and] be patient, it’s going to come.”
An unexpected benefit of real estate investing, Bryan said, was the ability to preserve your capital and wealth in tangible assets.
A piece of advice Bryan would tell his friends looking to get started in real estate would be to “Take action… Worst case scenario, you get educated.”
Bryan recommends using Redfin to help you with your real estate needs because of their intuitive and user friendly interface.
Bryan recommends reading Sell It Like Serhant: How to Sell More, Earn More, and Become the Ultimate Sales Machine by Ryan Serhant to help you learn how to close deals like a pro.
If you’d like to get in touch with Bryan, contact him at (512)944-7900
Thank you to everyone that has reached out to us to connect them with our trusted real estate agents (like Bryan!) in their area! And congratulations to those who have even closed deals using our referrals! For those that didn’t know, we can help connect you with real estate investor friendly agents in your area to help you get started investing in real estate. We recently made some changes to our website that we believe will better suit you in your real estate investing needs. For more information, visit www.millennial-realestate.com and head over to the “Start Investing” Tab. Best wishes and see you in the next one!
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