Elsa has been actively involved in the Real Estate industry since 2002 when she started out as a licensed Real Estate agent and passive investor. In 2016, she left her 15-years of corporate career where she worked as a Controller and Human Resources Director, to be a full-time Real Estate Entrepreneur.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Going bigger faster
- The challenges of being a single mother
- The Benefits of The Warriors
- Networking within the industry
- What you should do first in your journey
- How to find your superpower
- They “why” behind the drive successful people feel
To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com
Full Transcript Below
Intro
Hi. My name is Rod Khleif, and I’m the host of “The Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing” podcast. And every week, I interview Multifamily Rock Stars. We talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons to get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out. Let’s get to it.
Rod
Welcome back to Multifamily Rock Stars. And as you guys know, this is where we interview people that are crushing it in this business. And we show you really the inside workings of how, you know, incredible multifamily investors are creating massive success in their businesses and in their lives. And, you know, as always, I’ve got my co-host, who is the director of my massive action team for our warrior mentorship program, Mark Nagy on the call. Mark, what’s up, brother?
Mark
I’m excited for today. I was just looking at my calendar before this call here. And I know this will come out a little bit later, but the guests and I here met just exactly one year ago from maybe a few days ago. And so it’s exciting to see a familiar face so soon on the podcast here.
Rod
Yeah. And when you hear what she’s accomplished in the last year, it’s pretty extraordinary. And I will tell you, I’m very excited about this particular interview because not only is she a wonderful human being, but, you know, she’s a single mom. And she’s got so much stuff going on. She’s closed on 112 doors. I think she’s got another 600 doors under development to come out of the ground. She’s got 70 under contracts. She’s doing an assisted living facility. I mean, it just goes on and on. And again, you know, my mom was effectively a single mom. And I just have an affinity for anybody that is in that situation and then achieves the level of success that today’s guest has already achieved. Her name is Elsa Nguyen. And like I said, we are very excited to have you on the show today, Elsa.
Elsa
Thank you so much, Rod. Thank you, Mark. Really, it’s such an honor to be on the show today. It really is. Thank you so much for that.
Rod
Well, I can tell you it’s an absolute treat for me, and I’m very excited to get into your story. So why don’t you take a minute and talk about, you know, your background and make sure you talk about how you came into this country as well, please.
Elsa
Oh, wow. Okay. Thank you so much. So I emigrated to this country in 1991, and, you know, I came with my family to a government-sponsored program. And I was 13 at the time and came from a place of poverty. So when I grew up it was–you know, I grew up with no utilities. It’s a village out of nowhere. So as you could imagine, when I stepped onto the ground of this country, everything which is amazing.
Rod
You came from Vietnam. Yes?
Elsa
I came from Vietnam. Right. So that was back in 1991. And fast forward, I always have a love for real estate, but never really dive into that until the last five years or so. And that’s kind of just–you know, the beginning of– really this career started with this program to be honest with you.
Rod
Thank you for that.
Elsa
Even though I did some minor stuff prior to that.
Rod
No, I know you, you know, you got licensed as a real estate agent and you did some other things, but boy, you have just gone crazy in the last year and it’s just been such a treat to be a fly on the wall for that. So, you know, I know you didn’t speak English like I didn’t speak English when I immigrated. And I’m sure you got thrown into school and you had to deal with all that awkwardness and, you know, and all that stuff?
Elsa
Yeah.
Rod
Again. Yeah, right?
Elsa
Yes.
Rod
And of course, you know, talk about a culture shock, right?
Elsa
Exactly. Yes.
Rod
To go from a village in Vietnam to the United States. So, you know, talk a little bit more. Expand a little bit more on all the stuff you’ve got going on because I didn’t really do it justice. So talk about what you’ve accomplished in the multifamily space and what you’ve got going on. Just elaborate on that for us a little bit, please.
Elsa
Thank you so much. So prior to joining the Warrior program, I had zero apartment. I had a few single families. I sold them all. But I wanted to get into multifamily because during the pandemic, you know, I did my research and this is the one asset class that everybody was talking about.
Rod
Right.
Elsa
And I figured that I need a good mentor in order for me to be successful in this business. So that’s when I decided to join the program back in, I believe, March of 2021. And since then, I had acquired over 100 units as a GP. And on top of that, I am expanding and working on free development for land. So I’m working with two different partners right now on two pretty major projects. One is in Florida for 250 townhomes, and then another one is in New Jersey for 397 high-rise condom mediums. And recently, I also joined forces with a partner that we are–we purchased a building, currently an assisted living, and we are converting it to a drug rehab treatment center in North Carolina. We’re not the operators, we’re the landlord, so I’m just going to stick to my landlord and not, you know, dilute myself too thin.
Rod
Right.
Elsa
So that is 120 beds of drug rehab treatment centers in North Carolina. And currently, I have about 70 plus stores under contract that we’re supposed to be closing within the next few weeks.
Mark
Wow.
Rod
Okay, so I have to ask another question. Tell us about your children for a minute. Just shift gears for a minute. How old are your children and how many children do you have?
Elsa
So I have four children and one of them passed away at birth. So right now I have three. My oldest just turned 15. And then I have a son that is 11 years old, and my youngest is nine.
Rod
Okay, 9, 11, and 15. So my question to you is, how are you able to do what you do? Have this much stuff going on and still be a mommy?
Elsa
You know, my schedule is eight to ten every day. To be honest with you, it’s not easy. I work less when I was a real estate agent. But you know what? I love what I’m doing right now, and I’m starting to use my calendar a lot more intensively than before. So I have to pencil in everything, and I don’t just go with the flow. So everything has to be on the calendar and on the date when I have the kids, then I block out the time when I need to take them to school, the time that I need to pick them up. I block out dinner time just so then I can give my full attention to them. And then everything outside of that, it’s just work. And it works, you know, as long as we have a schedule in place, we can make anything work.
Rod
Yeah. You know, just real quick. One of the things that I teach is time blocking. I teach a weekly planning process that includes blocking time for your family. And as you know, I placed a lot of weight on the importance of balance in life and in your personal life. And, you know, when you’re making dinner and having dinner with the children and one on one present with them, then that’s what they need.
Elsa
It is very critical. Very critical that we give them that full attention. And I’m still putting them to bed at night. So we do our Bible storytime, and then we pray and I tagged them in. So that is my routine. And I don’t change that. I don’t just send them to bed. Right. I put them in every night when I’m with them.
Rod
That’s beautiful.
Mark
I know you’ve mentioned partners a couple of times, helping you in all this. In what ways do having team members and partners help you do all this and get to your goals faster versus if you were to try and do all this on your own?
Elsa
Oh, my God. That’s a great question, Mark. Definitely, I would not be able to do this on my own. So shortly after I joined the Warrior programs, in the first few months, I network quite a bit, kind of just trying to find my drive and, you know, who would have the same work ethics as me and so on and so forth. And then from there, I started just building up my team slowly. So I figured that my skill really isn’t in the acquisition and contract negotiation because I came from a real estate background, so that comes very easy for me. As well just networking and talking, capital raising, that’s kind of where I know I landed. My weakness is access management and operation because I don’t have any multifamily before. So I figured that in order for me to be successful in this business, I need a partner that is strong with access management. So my main partner is Garrison because he is very strong with access management and operation.
Rod
And he’s a warrior as well. He’s a great guy. Yeah, okay.
Elsa
Absolutely. And then from there, we just started to build up our other team members from deal finders to someone to help us with underwriting. Kind of just bows– I’m pretty good with underwriting, but I would like somebody to back me up on that and just overlook the number to, you know, cross our eye in order to make sure that all the numbers are in the right place.
Rod
Sure.
Elsa
And kind of just how we go from there.
Rod
Yeah. Well, listen, what you did was really extraordinary, you know, in the way you described it as well because you are a hustler and you’ve got an incredible work ethic. And partnerships that I’ve had that haven’t made it have been typically because in the sense, you know, I end up doing all the work and my partner doesn’t. And it’s frustrating. You know, this business is a team sport, and they require partnerships, and it’s super important to align with the right people. And, you know, we’ve got a resource that I give and I’ll have to find the code for it. But I’ll give you guys a resource because it’s really important when you do a partnership to ask all the right questions and so–you know, because you get caught up in the emotion of it, and then, you know, you end up doing business. And if you don’t ask the hard questions upfront, then it’s very easy to, you know, overlook something important. So if you guys want a resource, text the word “partnership” to “72345”. And it’s a list of questions that you really need to ask before you get into a partnership so that you don’t make a mistake because, you know, partnerships, like a marriage, are easy to get into and hard to get out of. And, you know, I can tell you in my Multifamily Boardroom Mastermind, you know, which is the largest mastermind of its type. I can think of two people, a male, and a female, that dissolved huge partnerships because they didn’t ask the hard questions upfront. And, you know, it’s just painful and you don’t have to go through it if you do the heavy lifting upfront. So I wanted to mention that. But Mark, go ahead and ask the next question if you would.
Mark
Yeah. Well, I know you mentioned superpowers there. For someone listening who doesn’t know, maybe they don’t have a real estate background. They’re brand new in the business. How do you think people listening to this right now can find their superpower? Like maybe what sort of questions should they ask themselves or what should they look at their skill sets? How do you think they could do that?
Elsa
Great question, Mark. I would just say do a deep evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses. And there are tests out there that you can take to find out what your strengths are. If you don’t already know that and from there, if you want to get into this real estate business, at least learn what intel’s in this business. Right. There are acquisitions, there are operations, there’s capital raising, networking. Ask yourself what you are good at, and then from there emphasize on your strength rather than try to improve your weaknesses. It’s kind of what I– my theory. So, you know what your strengths are, emphasize on that, if you’re a people person, perhaps you are good with networking, and working on raising capital. If you are an introvert and just like to work with numbers, then focus on underwriting. So that is kind of where I would probably start out. Just do a deep evaluation of yourself first.
Rod
Yeah. Let me expand on a couple of things you just said. They sounded very familiar and I wanted to expand on them. So one is on the tests you can do a Myers-Briggs, for example. Tony Robbins has a free test called a DiSC Profile, DiSC. And It’s very, very accurate. You can just Google that online and take it. And another thing that’s great about it is if everyone takes it like that DiSC Profile, for example, and you read someone else’s, you know how to best communicate with them because people hear communication differently. Like for me, if you communicate with me, you need to get it out very, very quickly because I can’t wait on someone to belabor a particular point. And so it’s things like that and it’s very, very helpful in communicating with partners. And I want to expand on something Elsa just said, which is, you know, when you’re working in what you’re good at, you’re going to enjoy it, number one. Number two, you’re going to be passionate about it because you enjoy it. And if you’re passionate about it, you can influence people. And so, that is a real kind of important natural progression in this business. And obviously, it starts with competence. You know, if you enjoy it, you’re likely going to be or become competent in it, then that will equate to your confidence in it and then– because you enjoy it. And then you’ll be passionate and be able to influence people. Let me ask you– let’s go negative for a minute. Have you had any failures? You know, I call them seminars. Any setbacks, any nose bloodied instances so far, like, let’s say in the last year since you’ve been a warrior. And, you know, tell us what happened and the lesson that you got. And, you know, maybe nothing dramatic, but I’m just curious if you’ve had any setbacks that you had to deal with or, you know, scary moments.
Elsa
I did have a couple of scary moments which happened not too long ago. And I had two deals under contract. I was working with one lender and I had closed a few deals with that lender already. So I totally trusted them. And we were doing just fine until a couple of weeks before we were supposed to close. The lender just disappeared on me. I call, I text, or email, nothing happened. Right.
Rod
Wow.
Elsa
And I don’t know what’s going on. So it was very hectic, very scary because now we need to close and we couldn’t– start to go back and ask the seller for the extensions. And thankfully, we were able to. But instead of getting a conventional loan, you know, the extension gave us like a month. So now I need to get a bridge loan to be able to close on time. The lesson I learned is maybe to engage more than one lender if we can, just to have a backup option because we just don’t know. So I wouldn’t just put all my eggs in one basket.
Rod
Yeah, that’s tough. I will tell you, though, that’s tough because, you know, you’re going to upset one of them. I don’t know that there actually is much of a solution for what you just described because it’s–you know, I would tell you, get references. But if you’d already closed loans with this person, you know, then you already had a track record. So I’m not sure what you encountered is avoidable, honestly, other than, you know, having great relationships with other lenders that can move very quickly to get something done. But if you have two lenders going simultaneously, you’re going to upset one of them and you’re going to get a bad reputation. So I would encourage you to be careful with that. But yeah, your situation is unique and very difficult, honestly, to prevent and proactively, you know, deal with other than, you know, having a lot of potential investors that can throw cash in and again, having another potential to lean back on quickly that can move quickly that you’ve already developed a relationship with in that regard. But wow. Okay.
Mark
My takeaway really quick on that is that, you know, whether it’s avoidable or not, have that mindset. I know we talk about mindset so much. Have the mindset going into your first deal, second deal, whatever, things could go wrong, things are going to go wrong. And so when they do, you know how to handle them. You’re not going to freak out. If you think, oh, everything is just going to be flowers and daisies and it’s going to be perfect all the way through. Then obviously, when bad things do happen, that’s when you mentally kind of start to spiral and you don’t be able to find solutions. But obviously, Elsa found a solution. Bridge loan. Made it happen and made it work. So that was my takeaway. So I think that was really good.
Rod
Yeah, both are right. Good.
Elsa
Well, one thing I learned is that always have an extension in place because that can rescue you. And yeah, I know I wouldn’t be working with two lenders at the same time, but at least get a term sheet from two or three lenders.
Rod
Yeah. Okay. There you go.
Elsa
A couple of backup options, knowing that if this doesn’t work out and I jumped right back to the one that had already reviewed our deal. So then that way it eliminates some time.
Rod
Perfect. Exactly. Perfect. Great answer. You said something else. I wanted to expand on. I lost it. Go ahead, Mark.
Mark
We’ll touch on something here. I know you’ve gone full-time into real estate. Now, you know, whether someone is going to go full-time or they have a W-2, kids, whatever. What are some actions that you take on a weekly or maybe monthly basis that list your listing right now?
Rod
Or daily.
Mark
Yeah, or daily, you think they should do and get started with.
Elsa
If they want to go full-time and quit the W-2 job.
Mark
Could be full-time or maybe just starting out part-time. What are some actions you think that they should just start taking?
Rod
Yeah. Good.
Elsa
Well, I spend a lot of time on education before I jump on, you know, into this program. So I did a lot of– I watched a lot of YouTube videos and when I joined the program, I watched all of Bosh modules. I went through the whole library [inaudible].
Rod
That’s painful.
Elsa
Well, there’s just so much, you know, sometimes don’t think that I already know this stuff and then you don’t watch it because there are a lot of nut gifts in those. So that’s kind of where I am. I learn. I want to make sure I know what I get myself into and that’s what I would recommend for other people. Don’t just jump into doing it without knowing what you’re doing. At least work with somebody who has been there, done that because that could save us a lot of headaches.
Rod
And I want to expand on something because also on the flip side, don’t get just caught up in the learning and not take any action either.
Elsa
Absolutely.
Rod
Okay, so there are two sides to that. Yes, you need to learn it before you jump, but you don’t also belabor it. And then, don’t be a perfectionist about the learning before you take action either. So there’s a flip side. So let me ask you this. Knowing what you know now about the business and, again, you know, you’ve only been a full bore for a year. I know, you know, you’ve had your license and done real estate longer than that, but really cranking for a year. Is there anything you do differently yet? Is there anything– any aha moments there? You’re like, okay, you know what, maybe if I could go back and start over, even just a year ago, I don’t know, that’s probably not enough time. Well, go back five years. Would you have started earlier in this business? Would you have done anything differently? Let’s go back to when you first got into real estate. Is there anything you would do differently knowing what you know now?
Elsa
Oh my God, for sure, 100%. I probably would just skip all of my W-2 jobs ever since I learned about real estate and just dive right in. And of course, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know. Right? But now, knowing what I know, I would just start out as limited partners. You know, if you have 20, 50, 100 thousand dollars, put it into a deal, learn the business, and then I think big. That’s what I’ve learned. Is that don’t think that I don’t have enough money to get into this business because syndication is for everyone. Real estate investment is for everyone, as long as you’re willing to. So that’s what I would do differently. I would start early. I would start, you know, participate as early as I can.
Rod
Yeah. Let me ask you this. What do you think have been some of the biggest benefits you’ve gotten from our program just because, I mean, you have done so much in such a short amount of time? Talk about some of the benefits that you’ve gotten from being associated with us.
Elsa
Oh, my God. There’s so much benefits. The biggest– you know, 100% I wouldn’t be where I am today without this program.
Rod
That’s sweet.
Elsa
And the biggest benefit for me is the network that I have, the people, the warriors. We have access to– I don’t know how many people. There are six, seven, 800 people.
Rod
Yeah.
Elsa
Everyone is so open and very warm. We just have that, like your personality, Rod, you draw a certain type of people to your program. And for that reason, these people are always open to network, to work with others, as long as they find a fit in it. So to me, that would be my biggest benefit is to have access to all these people. And whether we became friends or partners or, you know, sometimes some of them also could just work with us as a limited partner. And that’s okay. We build a lifetime business partnership, as well as some friendship, which came out of this.
Rod
Yeah. Well, you know, I noticed at the Warrior event, you know, I thought it was you that organized this incredible group of women that were there. So we had a Warrior event. I don’t know if you guys haven’t heard, you know, just for our students. We’re about 250 students there, and we had a lot of fun. And we did deep dives on some analysis and things like that and had warriors do presentations and attorneys do presentations. But I’m pretty sure I saw you put together a pretty big group of women. It looked like, I don’t know, probably 20, 30 women, and you had a meal or something together. Is that right?
Elsa
Yeah. I think, about probably 50 people at the woman–
Rod
50. Wow.
Elsa
And we’re talking about a Warrior woman retreat now.
Rod
I love it. I love it. Listen, you let me know because I want to help with that for sure. By the way, guys, if you are interested in the Warrior program, to apply, you text the word “CRUSH” to “72345” so we can help you crush it like Elsa is doing. Again, the word “CRUSH” to “72345”. And, you know, we check you out. You check us out. We don’t take everybody, but it is a pretty extraordinary group, as I hope you’re getting the memo on. So another thing I want– you know, you talked about the incredible giving nature of our group. Tell me, what your why is, Elsa. What’s driving all of this, that’s this incredible determination and fortitude and resolve and massive freaking action. What’s the why driving all that?
Elsa
As I mentioned earlier, you know, I really came from a place of poverty. And I have a big heart, a big thing for the poor, you know, for the children that are in the orphanages in Vietnam. And I’m pretty active in supporting some of the work over there with my family. And that’s my why. Right. So, you know, as I was talking to my aunt last night, she has this big piece of land that she wants to develop. And she wants to build not just affordable housing, but free housing for people that don’t have– it’s so cheap to build a house there. That’s like $10,000. So somebody donated land and she wants to expand that and build just free housing for people. And then, you know, we also work with orphanages. So that’s my why. Because I know how it was like to be poor. I knew how it was like to have nothing and just like hopeless. And this is why my biggest why is I would be able to–you know, my W-2 job has a cap.
Rod
Right.
Elsa
This job doesn’t. Right?
Rod
Right.
Elsa
There are things that the sky’s the limit for those who are willing to work in this business. And that’s my why. Like I want to be able to grow and be able to go back and just help as much as I can.
Rod
I absolutely love that. And guys, you know, I don’t know if you listen to these rock star episodes of my warriors, but there is a common theme, and this is the common theme. You know, Dinesh, the one we just interviewed, is doing a similar thing. And I know you know who that is in India. And guys, power moves to those who serve. That’s just the way God of the universe works. And when you give back, you get– it just multiplies. And as evidenced by this incredible, dynamic woman we are interviewing today. So listen, Elsa, it has been a real treat to have you on the show and see you and just get to share in, and how exciting things are going for you. And I just can’t wait to see where you’re at in another year, two years, three years. It’s just extraordinary to watch.
Mark
Have you back in two more years and see where you’re at.
Rod
That’s for sure, for sure.
It’s an honor to be here.
Rod
Probably won’t even wait that long. Elsa, thank you for coming on. It’s been a real treat to see you. And I know we’ll see you soon. I know we’ll see you at the Denver event for sure. We’re doing that. You know, guys, we’re doing a three-day boot camp at the end of July in Denver. It should be about 1000 people I’m anticipating. So it’s going to be a fun one. To talk about networking. There will be networking there. But anyway, Elsa, thank you. It’s great to see you.
Elsa
Thank you so much, Rod. Thank you, Mark.
Rod
Okay.
Outro
Rod, I know a lot of our listeners are wanting to take their multifamily investing business to the next level. Now, I know you’ve been hard at work helping our warrior students do just that, using our “ACT” methodology, which is Awareness, Close, and Transform. Can you explain to the listeners how they can get our help?
Rod
You bet. Guys, we’ve been going nonstop for three years building an amazing community of like-minded people, and our coaching students which we call our warriors have had extraordinary results. They’ve purchased thousands and thousands of units and last year we did over 1000 units with our students. And we’re looking to grow this group and take it to the next level. We’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework that’s really step by step and then leverage our systems and network to raise equity, to find and close deals, and to build partnerships nationwide. Now, our warrior community is finding success in any market cycle. So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more of our incredible network and take advantage of the incredible opportunities that are coming very soon, apply to work with us at “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345” and we’ll set up a call so you can check us out and we can check you out. That’s “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345”.
