How Daniel Velez Built His Multifamily Buy Box Strategy
Daniel Velez’s journey into real estate is anything but typical. A licensed CPA with over a decade of experience in audit and financial reporting, Daniel transitioned from corporate roles and startup environments into multifamily investing with a clear, analytical approach. His breakthrough came when he refined a powerful Multifamily Buy Box Strategy, allowing him to filter deals efficiently and focus only on high-potential opportunities.
Instead of chasing every deal, Daniel defined strict criteria including property class, location quality, and minimum unit count. This clarity helped him avoid distractions and quickly identify an 84-unit property that aligned with his investment goals. His strategy emphasizes scalable assets in stable, working-class areas with value-add potential, which creates both immediate and long-term upside.
From Single Family to Scalable Multifamily Investing
Before committing to multifamily, Daniel experimented with single-family flips and small rentals. While these strategies provided valuable experience, they lacked scalability and operational efficiency. Multifamily, on the other hand, offered a more business-oriented approach with systems, teams, and the ability to grow faster.
Key reasons Daniel shifted to multifamily include:
- Greater scalability compared to single-family investing
- More predictable cash flow in strong rental markets
- Opportunities to increase value through rent optimization and operations
- Proven systems that reduce the need to reinvent processes
This transition reflects a common evolution among sophisticated investors who prioritize efficiency and long-term wealth building.
Finding a Discounted Deal Using a Clear Buy Box
Daniel’s first major multifamily deal came directly from a broker relationship. After reviewing a listing that didn’t meet his criteria, he proactively shared his buy box with the broker. This simple move positioned him as a serious buyer and led to an off-market opportunity that checked nearly every box.
The deal stood out because:
- It met his minimum unit threshold
- It was located in a strong retail corridor with national tenants nearby
- It offered significant upside through below-market rents
- It was acquired at a deep discount
This highlights the importance of communicating your buy box clearly to brokers and staying consistent with your criteria.
The Power of Partnerships in Multifamily
Daniel didn’t close this deal alone. He partnered with a team of investors, each bringing different strengths to the table. By structuring the deal as a joint venture, all partners remained actively involved, avoiding the need for syndication.
When selecting partners, Daniel focused on:
- Alignment in long-term goals and values
- Complementary skill sets
- Trust and communication
- Willingness to contribute actively
He also emphasized the importance of asking tough questions upfront, treating partnerships like long-term commitments rather than short-term opportunities.
Mindset, Consistency, and Playing the Long Game
One of the most valuable lessons from Daniel’s journey is patience. It took over a year from joining a mentorship community to closing his first deal, but that time was spent building relationships, refining his strategy, and preparing for the right opportunity.
His daily approach is simple but powerful:
- Commit to at least one or two real estate tasks every day
- Block time for deal analysis and broker outreach
- Continuously expand his network
- Stay focused on long-term goals rather than quick wins
This consistency allowed him to build momentum and ultimately secure his first multifamily acquisition.
Leveraging Networking to Accelerate Growth
In addition to investing, Daniel built a local real estate meetup group that grew from just a handful of attendees to dozens of regular participants. This network became a valuable resource for relationships, deal flow, and future capital opportunities.
By creating a community, he positioned himself as a connector and leader, even before scaling his portfolio. This strategy has historically been one of the most effective ways to build credibility and attract opportunities in real estate.
About Daniel Velez
Daniel Velez is a CPA with over 11 years of experience in audit and financial operations. He has worked with global corporations and high-growth startups, gaining deep expertise in financial systems and scaling businesses. In addition to running his own consulting firm, Daniel is a real estate investor and agent who recently acquired his first 84-unit multifamily property through strategic partnerships.
His analytical mindset, combined with a disciplined Multifamily Buy Box Strategy, positions him for continued growth in the multifamily space.
If you want to hear the full conversation and detailed insights, watch the podcast video or read the complete transcript below.
Multifamily Buy Box Strategy FAQ
What is a multifamily buy box strategy?
A multifamily buy box strategy is a clearly defined set of investment criteria that helps real estate investors quickly evaluate and filter potential deals. It typically includes factors like property type, unit count, location, price range, and value-add opportunities. By sticking to a buy box, investors avoid chasing deals that do not align with their goals and can scale more efficiently.
Why is a multifamily buy box strategy important for investors?
A multifamily buy box strategy is important because it creates focus and consistency in deal analysis. Without it, investors can waste time underwriting properties that do not meet their financial or operational goals. A strong buy box also helps build credibility with brokers, making it easier to receive better deal flow and off-market opportunities.
What should be included in a multifamily buy box strategy?
A well-defined multifamily buy box strategy should include key criteria such as target market, property class, minimum and maximum number of units, price range, expected returns, and renovation scope. Many investors also include preferred asset types, occupancy levels, and neighborhood quality to further refine their search.
How do you create an effective multifamily buy box strategy?
To create an effective multifamily buy box strategy, investors should start by defining their financial goals and risk tolerance. From there, they can analyze past deals, study market trends, and identify the types of properties that align with their long-term vision. It is also important to refine the buy box over time based on real-world experience and deal performance.
How does a multifamily buy box strategy help with finding deals?
A multifamily buy box strategy helps investors find deals faster by eliminating properties that do not meet their criteria. It also allows investors to communicate clearly with brokers and sellers, increasing the chances of being presented with relevant opportunities. Over time, this leads to better relationships and access to higher-quality deals.
Can a multifamily buy box strategy change over time?
Yes, a multifamily buy box strategy should evolve as an investor gains experience and their goals shift. For example, an investor may start with smaller properties and gradually move into larger assets or different markets. Adjusting the buy box ensures it stays aligned with current market conditions and investment objectives.
What are common mistakes when creating a multifamily buy box strategy?
Common mistakes include making the buy box too broad, ignoring market data, and failing to stick to defined criteria. Some investors also underestimate renovation costs or overestimate rent growth, which can lead to poor deal selection. A disciplined approach and regular review of the strategy can help avoid these pitfalls.
How specific should a multifamily buy box strategy be?
A multifamily buy box strategy should be specific enough to filter out most deals but flexible enough to capture strong opportunities. For example, setting clear ranges for unit count, location quality, and return metrics helps maintain focus while still allowing room for unique deals that meet the overall investment thesis.
Disclaimer: This summary was written with the help of AI and reviewed by Rod’s Team.
00:00:28:24 – 00:00:49:18
Rod Khleif
Welcome back to Multi Family Rockstars. So as you guys know this is where we interview people that are crushing it in this business. And we show you the inside scoop as to how multifamily investors are creating massive success in their businesses and ultimately in their lives as well. And as always, I’ve got the my co-host is the director of our massive action team for our Warriors, warrior Group.
00:00:49:20 – 00:01:12:04
Rod Khleif
That is Mark Nagy on Mark. Hey, rod. Good to be back for another one. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So today we’ve got Daniel Velez. So Daniel is a licensed CPA. He’s also he’s done that for 11 years, doesn’t do taxes. He’s run the audit financial reporting side. The more interesting side and he’s also a real estate agent in new Jersey has been doing that for a good bit of time.
00:01:12:06 – 00:01:20:10
Rod Khleif
And I think joined the warrior program a little over a year ago. And we’re lucky to have him today. What’s happening? Brother?
00:01:20:12 – 00:01:22:17
Daniel Velez
All right. Thanks for having me. Appreciate being here.
00:01:22:19 – 00:01:38:06
Rod Khleif
Absolutely. So why don’t you do a much better job of, you know, introducing yourself than I just pathetically did? And, tell us who you are and why. Real estate. You know, CPAs make pretty good money and, talk about, you know, your journey a little bit.
00:01:38:08 – 00:01:54:04
Daniel Velez
Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, I got my CPA license out of school, and you have your conversations with all your professors. Where do you want to go? And they all push you towards go to big for our audit side, if you can. You’ll get to learn and see a lot more of just overall business operations, financial operations. So that’s what I did.
00:01:54:05 – 00:02:08:04
Daniel Velez
I had a great time there. I learned a ton. I was just an absolute sponge. After a couple of years there, I want to travel the world. So I joined a global pharmaceutical company, got to travel the world on their dime. It was fantastic. Got to see so much, learn so much on a global operation scale.
00:02:08:04 – 00:02:26:10
Daniel Velez
That was something I didn’t get in my public accounting experience. So I got to see that. And the fun part about that was basically every country I was in every month, the operations were a little bit different. So I had to learn that company or that entity pretty quickly to get up to speed. But all the controls are pretty much the same, so little nuances here and there.
00:02:26:10 – 00:02:30:06
Daniel Velez
But that was a great experience while I was traveling on the road a lot, I sort of remember well.
00:02:30:06 – 00:02:35:04
Rod Khleif
What what country? Sorry, sorry, sorry to interrupt. What countries did you go into? Just out of my own edification.
00:02:35:07 – 00:02:47:18
Daniel Velez
Sure. India. England. Germany? Ecuador? Panama? Argentina. Brazil. Wow. A couple cities within the US. Yeah. So I was I was out of the country or on the road, for two weeks a month.
00:02:47:20 – 00:02:55:12
Rod Khleif
Wow. Oh. That’s cool. What what what, what an incredible experience. Okay. Sorry. Please. Please continue. Sorry. Please. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:55:14 – 00:03:16:13
Daniel Velez
So while I was traveling, I started reading about entrepreneurship. Read rich dad, poor dad. And then one of my old managers from public accounting had recruited me over to join a residential solar installer. They were a number one competitor, Solar city at the time. So they had just got acquired. They were going to go through restructuring instead of helping their company grow in scale, and they announced that they were actually going to shut down business operations.
00:03:16:13 – 00:03:24:03
Daniel Velez
So I fell on a small team that was actually responsible for shutting down operations. So a little bit different experience. Then I during that time.
00:03:24:03 – 00:03:37:02
Rod Khleif
No value is still valuable though, right? I mean, still valuable. When you shut down a company, you learn a ton. Ask me how I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hate that, I hate that, I know, hate that I know how to do that. But yes, I do, but I’m sorry. Please continue.
00:03:37:07 – 00:03:55:10
Daniel Velez
Yeah, that back of the envelope math was always a little bit different once the actual start rolling through. So, but now great experience. Right? Rich dad, poor dad started thinking about more about real estate. Just different businesses. That led to me buying a small school bus, just trying to start a brewery tour operation. Didn’t pan out, but, we had a bunch of fun with it.
00:03:55:10 – 00:04:14:11
Daniel Velez
Anyway, and then I still had that itch to join, like a scaling startup company. I ended up doing that. I was there for four years. We were acquired in September 2021. As a 25th employee, we grew the company to 165 employees at the time of acquisition. So it was great growth, great scale, had an amazing management team there.
00:04:14:11 – 00:04:43:12
Daniel Velez
I learned a ton from them. And then basically post acquisition, I kind of decided to go off on my own. I want to start focusing more on real estate, something I’ve always had an interest in. And then, I also started my own consulting business, kind of focusing on that startup in the tech space, that series A, series B, letting founders and just new ops folks focus on product, getting to market, and let me take care of the back end, the financials, certain KPIs, reporting metrics, and just make sure that the financials make sense for who their investors are.
00:04:43:17 – 00:04:52:09
Daniel Velez
So delivering that to them. So been doing that. And recently just closed on my first 84 unit here with a couple other warriors. So excited to get that going.
00:04:52:11 – 00:05:17:19
Rod Khleif
Fantastic. Fantastic. Wow. You’ve done a lot, brother. And love the consulting. I mean, so, so, you know, the fact that, you know, you’re helping budding aspiring tech companies, find money is, that’s that’s sounds exciting as well. But let’s talk about real estate. That’s why we’re here. So. Yeah. Why did you why did you join the warrior program?
00:05:17:19 – 00:05:30:11
Rod Khleif
You have a lot going on. You know, if you’d exited a company with the way you described, I think you probably didn’t leave broke. So, you know, we probably made a couple bucks, so why why why multifamily?
00:05:30:11 – 00:05:49:02
Daniel Velez
Why why why, yes. So in the background of all this, I’ve been running a local meetup group here in central Jersey, for the past 6 or 7 years. And for the first couple years we got go and we kind of focused on that bigger pockets crowd of, fix and flip burgers. The wholesalers, the BR strategy 1 to 4 units.
00:05:49:04 – 00:06:11:03
Daniel Velez
We had a couple syndicators pop in and out. We had decent crowds for those events, but it never actually clicked. We did have, local syndicator kind of come in, and the way he presented it, everything finally clicked over the years, and I was like, oh, man, that makes a lot of sense. Just on the multifamily side, thinking about how I view business now after being in startups for the last 5 or 6 years, and just the ability to scale.
00:06:11:03 – 00:06:19:23
Daniel Velez
So I’ve done the fixing flips, I’ve done the wholesaling, I tried to do and manage the small rentals. And it’s a lot more difficult than people think about.
00:06:19:23 – 00:06:28:09
Rod Khleif
Oh, stop it, stop it, stop it. It’s so easy. Yeah. You know, it’s. How many did you do? I tell me, how many of you did?
00:06:28:11 – 00:06:33:24
Daniel Velez
Approximately single family run, fix and flip. And, we have a family right now.
00:06:34:00 – 00:06:36:18
Rod Khleif
How many? How many did you do? How many did you do?
00:06:36:20 – 00:06:37:19
Daniel Velez
Four. And it was enough.
00:06:37:23 – 00:06:54:06
Rod Khleif
Okay, well, I did 2000, and I. And it took me that many to get the memo. Okay, so you’re much smarter than I am. Just so just see, you know, good God, hell, yeah. They’re easier to to. It’s much harder to do, single family just to do what we do. Sorry. I keep interrupting you. I’m not. I’m getting a lot of hate.
00:06:54:06 – 00:06:57:22
Rod Khleif
I’m going to get a lot of hate on this episode for that. But anyway. So.
00:06:57:24 – 00:07:21:21
Daniel Velez
So, yeah, just thinking about business and scaling operations. Did a bunch of research, talk to a couple different folks who have their syndication businesses locally. And multifamily. Right. Was always going to be the most consistent. People always need a place to live. And in certain markets, locations. Right. They’re always going to want to be there. So if you’re close to a downtown, if you’re in a major metropolitan area, growing city, I don’t think you’re going to be able to go wrong there.
00:07:21:21 – 00:07:38:05
Daniel Velez
Right. And there’s always going to be room for improvement of operations, improvement of rents, making sure you’re on top of the asset as a whole. And then there’s just so many systems in place. There’s no reason to recreate the wheel here in the space. There’s been thousands and thousands and thousands of people over history who have made their fortunes in real estate.
00:07:38:07 – 00:07:46:16
Daniel Velez
It’s a long road, but it’s stable and it’s consistent. And, being a CPA, pretty conservative in nature, that aligns pretty good with my values.
00:07:46:18 – 00:07:51:10
Rod Khleif
So. So again, back to my question. Did you come to a boot camp? Is that how you joined?
00:07:51:10 – 00:08:07:06
Daniel Velez
Oh, actually. So I started looking at a couple of the different, programs. One of my old senior accountants, at my startup, his friend was actually in the program. So I got on the phone is, with the wells. So I spoke to one of the wells.
00:08:07:06 – 00:08:07:19
Rod Khleif
Oh, good.
00:08:07:19 – 00:08:21:01
Daniel Velez
People. And he was. Yeah. And the simple question, I was like, would you be where you are today? And then the program short answer was, no one was like, that’s all I needed to hear. So wow, maybe that’s great to know. A couple days later. Yeah. And, got on the horn and here we are.
00:08:21:03 – 00:08:25:06
Rod Khleif
Here we are. Okay, so where is this 84 unit that you bought?
00:08:25:08 – 00:08:45:24
Daniel Velez
So this is in a small town called Indiana, Pennsylvania. It’s about an hour east of Pittsburgh. Location right across the street from the university, right on the main road. There’s two Starbucks each direction next to Burger King, Walmart, Kohl’s, local shopping center. There’s a bus stop right outside. It’s, y tech property. So low income housing tax credit.
00:08:45:24 – 00:08:53:20
Daniel Velez
It’s just coming to the end of its 30 year agreement. So we’ll be able to take advantage of that in the two years when that ends in 2025.
00:08:53:22 – 00:09:01:15
Rod Khleif
And so what he means, guys, is they’re going to be able to bring the rents to market level, which is that going to be significant as well from what you can see.
00:09:01:17 – 00:09:07:05
Daniel Velez
Yo. Yeah, yeah. We should be able to get a nice spread there. The beauty of it is we bought it at a massive discount.
00:09:07:07 – 00:09:13:06
Rod Khleif
Fantastic. So and this was a joint, a JV deal. Joint venture. So you didn’t syndicate this deal?
00:09:13:08 – 00:09:26:16
Daniel Velez
Got it. And we kept all the money with ourselves. So there’s six total partner groups. Okay. For the for the team members are out in Pittsburgh, so they’re going to be the boots on the ground, which is great. I’m here in Jersey and then we have a partner down in Florida, who has that live tech experience.
00:09:26:16 – 00:09:34:00
Daniel Velez
And he’s significantly more experience than the rest of us on the team. So he’s staying within the guardrails. And, we’re learning every day.
00:09:34:02 – 00:09:34:18
Rod Khleif
Okay.
00:09:34:20 – 00:09:36:13
Daniel Velez
Just so much fun so far.
00:09:36:14 – 00:10:00:15
Rod Khleif
So one thing I wanted to flag that you said, and, you know, you you have heard me talk about this. You want national retailers around your asset, and I, you know, if there’s a Starbucks nearby, I’m happy as hell. But you don’t want, you know, you know, small local retailers, you know, because, you know, if there’s a lot of national retailers, they really do their demographic research and they can tell when there’s a good market.
00:10:00:15 – 00:10:07:19
Rod Khleif
So it’s really important. That’s that’s a big barometer. So, I love the fact that, you know, that that you flagged that.
00:10:07:24 – 00:10:17:02
Daniel Velez
So yeah, it probably wouldn’t have been an asset that I would have dug into further had it been further away, out on the outskirts of town and town. But this is right on the main road.
00:10:17:04 – 00:10:23:11
Mark Nagy
You mentioned you got this deal at a discount. How did you guys find it? On market broker. Off market, direct to seller. How did you get that?
00:10:23:13 – 00:10:38:01
Daniel Velez
Yeah. So I found this from a broker. I was scouring lupine at one day or see one of the two. There’s a deal that was just outside my buy box that I had set. So I said, let me do a quick underwrite. Didn’t hit the parameters that I was really looking for and the overall returns I was looking for.
00:10:38:01 – 00:10:51:03
Daniel Velez
So I just shot the broker, an email. I said, hey, I just took a look at this property that you had listed on lupine, that it’s a little bit outside of our buy box. I attached my buy box, I gave the feedback and I just asked if she was available for a call. We jumped on a call the next day.
00:10:51:05 – 00:11:06:12
Daniel Velez
She mentioned this property and she was like, it is outside your buy box in just terms of price. But it had the number of units had a vacancy or the occupancy that we were looking for, and then a couple of the other demographics that kind of zone in on. So I said, you know what? Yeah, I’ll take a look at it.
00:11:06:12 – 00:11:22:03
Daniel Velez
We looked at it, the numbers worked. Right. And then so I knew I had the first move warrior I had met, actually at the first warrior events only, he’s in Pittsburgh, so I sent it to him to take a look at. He connected me with another warrior who’s in Pittsburgh, who also underwrote the deal and presented it to him a day later.
00:11:22:03 – 00:11:29:10
Daniel Velez
So the three of us got on the phone and we said, let’s go make a push at this deal. So, yeah, this one came from a broker. It wasn’t.
00:11:29:12 – 00:11:50:08
Rod Khleif
So you made it. You met a warrior. You met a warrior at a warrior event? Yep. And that’s, that that’s in Pittsburgh. And that’s how that’s how this this, this, what do you call it? This waterfall of of kind of communication started, you know, you said something else. You kind of alluded to your buy box, and I think I’d like, I think for edification of the listeners, talk about what your buy box is.
00:11:50:08 – 00:11:54:07
Rod Khleif
So what did you tell that broker you were looking for? Can you be a little more specific?
00:11:54:09 – 00:12:12:03
Daniel Velez
Sure. So we’re kind of looking for those class C plus B’s. So this way there’s a, avenue for the value add. And then we’re looking for a minimum of 50 doors. Okay. And location wise we’re looking for a, B, b plus area. We don’t want the A areas. But we just want to make sure it’s going to be stable.
00:12:12:03 – 00:12:27:16
Daniel Velez
It’s going to be that middle class working class group, where we’re not going to have to go in and do a mass of tenant turnover. But the item with this property was that there’s quite a bit of deferred maintenance on it, and so it’s going to be a little bit heavier of a lift. But the tenant base was great.
00:12:27:18 – 00:12:49:00
Daniel Velez
So we felt really comfortable at that. And so the price again right, we paid 1.45 million for this property for 84 units. Rents are 680 bucks. So they left us plenty of room there. Yeah, yeah. So it was really a good deal. Just on the surface. And then once we actually went to go look at, like, walk the property, the team was just thrilled with the shape that it was.
00:12:49:00 – 00:12:57:18
Daniel Velez
And property management had done a really good job over the time. Just keeping up with all the tickets, great reviews from the tenants, which was hit or miss.
00:12:57:18 – 00:12:58:11
Rod Khleif
It’s always good.
00:12:58:13 – 00:13:10:09
Daniel Velez
Always good. Yeah. So but yeah, now we. Yeah. Checked all the back. So our Bible says that 50 units want that value. Perfect plus simple rehabs. It’s kind of we’re looking for perfect.
00:13:10:10 – 00:13:30:01
Rod Khleif
I have one more comment here. Mark. I’m sorry I’m stealing all your thunder, but, you know, I will tell you that 50 unit is a sweet spot, okay? And and because it’s typically not the most sophisticated sellers that you’re, you’re buying from, institutional players aren’t interested in it. And, you know, you can get some great deals, as evidenced by the fact that, you know, this deal you got.
00:13:30:01 – 00:13:51:15
Rod Khleif
And I want to mention something else you mentioned, we talked about this being a joint venture C joint venture, in in a joint venture, everybody has to be active. And you’ve got 5 or 6 people in that deal, which is absolutely doable, that everybody’s playing a role in that deal. If you take money from someone and they’re not active, you absolutely have to syndicate.
00:13:51:15 – 00:13:59:16
Rod Khleif
And, you know, I drill that into you. You know, you know, I drill that into my warriors. And but that that deal is solid. The way you did it is solid. So, you know great job on it.
00:13:59:18 – 00:14:01:24
Daniel Velez
Yeah. Yeah. And I appreciate that.
00:14:02:01 – 00:14:19:07
Mark Nagy
One thing we haven’t kind of talked about is this is this timeline, right. I think if if my dates are correct, it maybe took year 15, 16 months from when you became a warrior to closing this first deal. And probably in that time frame, it could probably feel like a long time. Right before you get your first deal.
00:14:19:09 – 00:14:37:06
Mark Nagy
What? And this is really important, right? Thinking, thinking long term. I know rod talks about the law of the first deal, but what what was your mindset going into this that you’ve had through that entire 15, 16 months that kept you moving forward and kept you continuing to make progress instead of quitting like a lot of people might?
00:14:37:08 – 00:14:57:21
Daniel Velez
Yeah, I think I knew that it was going to be a longer game. Right. And I was being really patient throughout my search and just communicating with the different teams where I’ve had opportunities to jump on and be a capital raise. But I really wanted to get my hands or my feet wet and really jump in on the asset management side and kind of own IT control and go through that process and just drink from the firehose right off the bat.
00:14:57:23 – 00:15:23:23
Daniel Velez
So my search range on that initial was definitely a little bit smaller than most. And then I was also looking for, I wanted to experience I really that was the big thing, right? And then focus on working with a team that I felt super, super comfortable with. And that was really what I was kind of doing as all the meetings that I built and all the relationships that I’ve built so far over the past, 16 months now.
00:15:24:00 – 00:15:39:07
Daniel Velez
But at that time, I think when we got under contract, I was maybe ten months in. But yeah, just finding the people that I felt really, really comfortable with, working on and going through a deal and making sure that if I’m unavailable, somebody else will be available to pick up the slack, or if they’re unavailable, I’ll be available to pick up the slack.
00:15:39:07 – 00:15:40:14
Rod Khleif
So how did you.
00:15:40:14 – 00:15:42:03
Daniel Velez
Get to fruition?
00:15:42:05 – 00:16:04:11
Rod Khleif
How did you, evaluate these team members, these warriors, for example? What sorts of things did you look for and how to talk a little bit about your because you’re obviously very analytical, extremely analytical. And so I’m sure that you put, you put them at least in your corner, you put them through some sort of a of a, of a process that they may not have known they were in a process.
00:16:04:11 – 00:16:08:05
Rod Khleif
But I’m sure you put them through a process. So can you speak to that a little bit.
00:16:08:07 – 00:16:23:16
Daniel Velez
Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that like our overall values aligned right. Like make sure. So you have that partnership questionnaire that’s out there. So we had gone through that and just excellent. Oh you did good. Yeah. Yeah yeah. So just simple questions of just what are the things that are important to you. Why are you in a space.
00:16:23:16 – 00:16:40:17
Daniel Velez
Are you just in it for a quick buck. What’s the long term play? What are their goals. So we wanted to make sure we aligned on a lot of those. And then obviously. Right, just being able to have a laugh and a conversation with that person outside of work and actually enjoying it, where I’m not feeling pressured or sales or just being overanalyze.
00:16:40:20 – 00:16:45:21
Daniel Velez
What’s the true value that I can bring? They were just really genuine relationships right off the bat.
00:16:45:23 – 00:17:07:19
Rod Khleif
Love it, love it. And I was hoping that’s what you would say. And and since you did, I want to let you know, guys, partnerships are like a marriage. They’re easy to get into and hard to get out of. Asked me how I know. And so, you know, you want to ask all the hard questions up front, and I’ve got a free resource for you if you go to Rod’s links.com rods plural links, parole.com.
00:17:07:21 – 00:17:22:08
Rod Khleif
It’s in the free book section. It’s a list of questions you should ask before you get into a freaking partnership. Important questions. Because, you know, you get you get excited about a deal, or you get excited about someone you meet. And just like when you’re dating and I’m dating again. So I know all about this right now.
00:17:22:08 – 00:17:41:24
Rod Khleif
And so, you know, you get excited and then, you know, and then it doesn’t work out. And, and so it’s really important that you ask these hard questions upfront even when you’re dating. So I can’t believe I went there. But anyway, so so if you go to Rod’s links.com, go to the free books. There’s the that book is there and it’s very valuable.
00:17:41:24 – 00:18:04:17
Rod Khleif
I highly recommend you use it. And lastly, before we move on, you know, trust your gut, trust your intuition, your brain is so powerful that it’ll pick up on micro nuances that you don’t consciously pick up on yourself, you know? And I like this example. From a book called blink where, you know, the best art experts in the world can be looking at a painting, and they know it’s a fake, but they don’t know why.
00:18:04:17 – 00:18:17:02
Rod Khleif
They know it’s a fake. And so it’s the same thing when you meet someone. If your gut doesn’t feel right, just freakin trust it. Because ask me how I know I’ve ignored it a couple of times and I’ve regretted it every single frickin time. I’ve ignored it.
00:18:17:05 – 00:18:25:21
Mark Nagy
So they know now that you have that first deal closed, how much easier do you think it’s going to be to get the next one, the next one, the next one? I know this happens very often, but I want to hear it from you now.
00:18:25:21 – 00:18:56:05
Daniel Velez
I think it’s gonna be significantly easier just being able to talk to brokers. I feel that there’s a much more natural confidence that I have about speaking like I was very educated on the process, but you don’t really know until you go through it, right? So I take an education as far as I can go. And now just being able to go through and actually having examples, having those conversations, being in those different scenarios or before, significantly more confident and actually that broker that we bought this property from, she just sent us another portfolio unit that we’re in the process of underwriting same team.
00:18:56:05 – 00:19:06:20
Daniel Velez
We’ll look at some more experienced partners. It’s a little bit larger, but hopefully that’ll pan out something because again, beautiful location. So we’ll see where it goes. But yeah, I feel much more confident now going forward.
00:19:06:22 – 00:19:29:06
Rod Khleif
Beautiful. And you know that’s one of the benefits of the warrior program. There’s so many sponsorship groups in there. So you know if you if you need a more experienced group that you got to raise more money, you’re going to actually syndicate, for example. There’s just so many options like that. So let me ask you a question. You know, we get so many and, this is a question I ask almost every time we get so many people that are listening that have not taken action towards their dreams.
00:19:29:06 – 00:19:45:06
Rod Khleif
They’re, you know, in a job they don’t love, or maybe they’re in a job they love, but it’s not going to give them the retirement that they want, the freedom that they want, and they haven’t taken action yet. And I really believe we’re heading into an incredible environment to buy deals. I we’ve got one that we think is going to go under contract today or tomorrow.
00:19:45:08 – 00:20:01:00
Rod Khleif
That was a 28 million. We’re getting it for 18 okay. So so we’re seeing huge discounts right now. So you know the people that are listening that haven’t taken action aspiring you know commercial real estate investors. Give them some words of wisdom. Give them some advice please.
00:20:01:02 – 00:20:16:17
Daniel Velez
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Yeah, I know that’s where I was stuck for a long time before joining. Group was just trying to go out of my on my own, and, it was difficult. So being able to ask for help, I think is just pushing your ego aside briefly. All right. Everybody has to start somewhere.
00:20:16:17 – 00:20:33:05
Daniel Velez
And there’s a lot of smart people out there that are just looking to give their advice. So be genuine about the questions that you’re asking. Try to bring value where you can write, analytical, spend a long time in spreadsheets. So I’m always happy to underwrite for folks or review underwriting. And then I’m always happy to present my underwriting.
00:20:33:11 – 00:20:40:11
Daniel Velez
Now, for somebody who’s more experienced in a particular market, just to make sure that my assumptions fall in line with what they’re seeing and what they’ve done before.
00:20:40:13 – 00:20:46:13
Rod Khleif
Are you using the new underwriting software that Craig and our team put out, or are you using something else?
00:20:46:15 – 00:20:48:23
Daniel Velez
No, I kind of built my own a little bit.
00:20:49:00 – 00:21:10:08
Rod Khleif
Of course you did. Of course you did. Well, we’ve got some kickass. Craig has done this incredible job. Oh. Yeah. It’s really, really good. And it’s free to warriors, but but, of course you have your own. I should have, you know, I bet you’re you kick ass with asset management. Just as your attention to detail, are you playing a role in the asset management on that, on that property?
00:21:10:08 – 00:21:10:12
Rod Khleif
Yeah.
00:21:10:12 – 00:21:22:11
Daniel Velez
Yeah. So I’m going to be one of the, main managers on the deal. So it’s myself and another warrior. He’s going to be kind of pushing the contractors forward, and I’ll be on the backside making sure that we’re sticking with in line with our budget and our business plan.
00:21:22:13 – 00:21:25:11
Rod Khleif
Do you feel like you’ve gotten value from the warrior program?
00:21:25:13 – 00:21:47:13
Daniel Velez
Oh, yeah. The relationships alone, right. That yeah, that was the biggest thing by far, is just making sure I could find people I could trust. And then just having like, the mindset that the positive mindset stuff that you push out in the content that is so important, especially right, you’ll see folks who join a group with already a couple of assets under their belt, or folks who just hit the ground running, and they’re at 100 doors within a month.
00:21:47:15 – 00:21:56:14
Daniel Velez
You’re like, whoa, but just staying focused, staying positive, and then just being patient with it. Yeah, I mean, so much value there for sure.
00:21:56:16 – 00:22:16:20
Rod Khleif
Thank you, thank you. By the way, if you’re listening and you’re interested in applying to the warrior program, text the word crush to seven, two, three, 4 or 5. Again, that’s crush. So we can help you frickin crush it. In this business, 272345 and and, and we’ll check you out, and you check us out, and if it’s a fit, you are going to frickin love it.
00:22:16:22 – 00:22:27:05
Rod Khleif
And if it’s not, you’ll still leave that call. Better than when you came on. So again, text crush to 72345. And, we will look forward to speaking with you.
00:22:27:07 – 00:22:44:00
Mark Nagy
So, Daniel, I know your husband, father, accountants, all that sort of stuff. Those are typically excuses that people use to not take action, right? How how how have you overcome that? And and what did you tell yourself to just jump in and get started when you have all those things going on in your life?
00:22:44:02 – 00:23:02:03
Daniel Velez
One of the goal setting workshops, right where it’s like you really draw out and you put everything on paper, what you want in the future. And then following the miracle morning process of just writing down what that future looks like and then just visualizing it, and then really being detailed about what my day is going to look like.
00:23:02:08 – 00:23:25:22
Daniel Velez
So I always block out time for underwriting deal search and calling a broker. I try to do at least 1 or 2 tax tasks a day towards real estate, towards moving my business forward on this aspect. Outside of my consulting business. So my agent business. Right. So just really want to make sure that I’m doing something on a daily basis to make sure I’m striving for it, even if it’s just a phone call with another warrior or somebody else who’s local interested in real estate.
00:23:25:22 – 00:23:31:09
Daniel Velez
Just trying to expand, but I just 1 or 2 things every day, just kind of keep pushing it forward.
00:23:31:11 – 00:23:50:04
Rod Khleif
That’s fantastic. You know, you mentioned goal setting, which obviously that’s the first thing we do at our boot camps because how the hell do you get any of them? You don’t know what it is. You got to know what you want and you got to know why you want it. And you talked about time blocking, which is another thing that’s, you know, if, by the way, if you’re listening and you haven’t done your goals in a while, go to Rod’s links.com.
00:23:50:04 – 00:24:02:22
Rod Khleif
At the bottom is my goal setting workshop. I do it every day on New Year’s Day, every year on New Year’s Day. And there’s a guide you can download. We’re not going to try to sell you anything. You know, people spend more time planning a frickin Christmas party than they do designing their lives, and that’s designing your life.
00:24:02:22 – 00:24:15:21
Rod Khleif
So if you haven’t done it, if your spouse hasn’t done their goals, have them do it as well. It takes about an hour. You’ll leave so freaking juiced, you’ll be coming out of your skin. And then, you know, if you’ve got kids that are over ten years old, have them do it. Better yet, come to one of my boot camps.
00:24:15:21 – 00:24:30:15
Rod Khleif
But if you can’t go to Rod’s links and do it, there, because that’s that’s how you get that hunger. You’ve got to have a burning desire. You gotta have hunger to go out there and make it happen. And, Oh, you said something else I wanted to elaborate on. You said goal. Oh, you talked about Hal Elrod and the miracle morning.
00:24:30:15 – 00:24:45:11
Rod Khleif
You know, I just interviewed him three days ago, on the show again. He’s got a new book he is rocking, and he sent me a autographed copy. It’s not even out yet, but, yeah, if you if you want a great book, get the miracle morning. Talk about what you do every morning to set your day off right.
00:24:45:15 – 00:25:01:02
Rod Khleif
It’s a gift that I give my warriors, and, because it’s so, you know, impactful and, you know, talk about journaling in the morning, exercising in the morning, meditating or praying in the morning and just starting your day off. Right. Like that is incredibly powerful.
00:25:01:04 – 00:25:05:18
Mark Nagy
Unless you’re like me, you’re not a morning person. Then you can make it a miracle evening. I prefer that, okay.
00:25:05:18 – 00:25:08:04
Rod Khleif
That’s fine. That’s fine. So here’s our miracle.
00:25:08:06 – 00:25:32:14
Mark Nagy
That’s my miracle evening. I just switched it. Now, Daniel, we talked about the underwriting, the analytical. But you kind of glossed over something you have, a networking group that you’ve done for for many, many years and for people listening that that may want to do the same. Start a local meetup, whatever. What are some tips that you can give to them to help them get started and and build that that community, of attendees coming to those?
00:25:32:19 – 00:25:53:19
Daniel Velez
Sure. Yeah. We started off, in a brewery, so it was great location social. It was just open networking at first. And we just wanted to see who we could get. Right. And this is probably six, seven years ago. We maybe started off with maybe 7 or 8 people for our first meetup. And then right before Covid, we were averaging 35, 40 people at every meet up with speakers.
00:25:53:21 – 00:26:12:10
Daniel Velez
And we’re getting great turnouts and just such a wide spread of folks who just listened to their first podcast, the folks who had significant assets under management, or folks who had successful wholesaling businesses or flipping businesses, different contractors. But yeah, know, my advice would be to find a great location and then just let people know that you’re having a meetup.
00:26:12:10 – 00:26:34:18
Daniel Velez
So we used to put it on meetup.com, Facebook, biggerpockets. We eventually set up our website where we were building out that email list over time. So I think that’s up to over a thousand names realistically. So just really letting people know and the network and then we built a great relationship with our venue as well. So it was slower during the week and then we would come in with 30 or 40 people once a month towards the end, and they would love it.
00:26:34:18 – 00:26:50:05
Daniel Velez
Right? So they would cater to us a little bit and offer a couple discounts. They’d have bring on an extra bartender. But yeah, so just make sure that you’re obviously publicizing it and then find out what people want to learn about. So that really helped to at the end of every meeting, we’d always ask, what do you want to learn about next?
00:26:50:07 – 00:27:00:01
Daniel Velez
Who’s someone that you might want to hear of? That’s a local that we can invite to come and speak. And so that’s exactly what we did, right? Just asked the people what they were looking for. And you brought it over to them.
00:27:00:03 – 00:27:26:08
Rod Khleif
You know, it’s so awesome that you did that. I mean, I, I’ve, you know, a lot of warriors that since they become warriors have done that and, and, very, very successfully and, and I talk about this where, you know, you can act as if, even if you’re not experienced in a particular area of business, you can act as if by bringing in experienced speakers and by you being the host, you’re perceived as being, you know, as having knowledge and experience in that particular area.
00:27:26:08 – 00:27:40:23
Rod Khleif
And a lot and same, same with being a podcaster. You interview experts and and again, by being the host, you’re perceived as the expert and you’re acting as if and and so you know, what’s great about the fact that you have that is, of course, that’s going to be a great source for raising money for you at some point.
00:27:40:23 – 00:28:01:14
Rod Khleif
You know, it’s, in fact, before social media, I’ve had, you know, people on the show with five, six, seven, 10,000 doors and they started before social media, and that’s how they did it. It was called real estate Investor club meetings. So before we even meet up and and they raised, you know, tens of millions of dollars by doing these weekly or monthly meetings and meeting people.
00:28:01:14 – 00:28:15:09
Rod Khleif
So, you know, I it’s fantastic that you’re doing that. And, and, and and it’s, you know, it’s it’s fun. You have fun with it. You meet great people. It’s just a home run all the way around. So last question I have for you, brother, is what’s your definition of success?
00:28:15:10 – 00:28:39:04
Daniel Velez
Well, good one I think. Right. I don’t think there’s no one set definition, but my definition would be are you happy at the end of every day. Right. So I, I’m successful today. And is it my long term goal. Not necessarily. I have those long term goals, but that I give it almost 100% every day. Sure, there’s some days aren’t, but did I make strides towards what I’m working for and I’m grateful for the things that I have around me?
00:28:39:04 – 00:28:42:17
Daniel Velez
Yeah, so success is super simple. I think I’m one of the most.
00:28:42:20 – 00:28:45:17
Rod Khleif
Married kids I, I forgot. Are you married?
00:28:45:17 – 00:28:48:15
Daniel Velez
Kids? Yep. Married. And we have a five month old daughter.
00:28:48:17 – 00:29:06:04
Rod Khleif
Oh that’s awesome. Yeah, I have fun. That’s awesome. Awesome. Well, listen, thanks for coming on the show, brother. I really appreciate you bringing some wisdom and and, really impressed with what you got going. And just based on the, the caliber of your answers, I mean, you’ll be on in a couple of years with a few thousand doors.
00:29:06:04 – 00:29:08:00
Rod Khleif
I can see that coming a mile off.
00:29:08:02 – 00:29:09:17
Daniel Velez
So I hope so.
00:29:09:19 – 00:29:14:18
Rod Khleif
That’s a it’s a it’s done. I can I can see it. Seriously. Thanks for coming on, brother. Thanks.