Ep #453 – Alina Trigub – 1200 doors in Multifamily in 2.5 years
Building trust and partnerships
- Choosing where (and who) to invest in
- Building your team
- Asking the hard questions up front
- Power of passive investing
- The value of mindset
- Building community through meetups
- The value of consistency
- Match SWOT analysis
- Overcoming shyness
To find out more about our guest click here.
Full Transcript Below
Ep #453 – Alina Trigub – 1200 doors in Multifamily in 2.5 years
Hi my name is Rod Khleif and I’m the host of the “Lifetime Cashflow through Real Estate Investing Podcast” and every week I interview Multifamily Rockstars. We talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the like and subscribe button and get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out. Let’s get to it.
Rod: Welcome to another edition of How to Build Lifetime Cashflow through Real Estate Investing. I’m Rod Khleif and I am thrilled you’re here. I know you’re gonna enjoy the lady that we’re interviewing today. She’s actually a former student of mine and a wonderful personality. Her name is Alina Trigub and she’s the managing partner of Samo Financial which is a boutique private equity firm that helps people invest passively in real estate. Welcome to the show my friend
Alina: Thank you Rod. It’s pleasure to be here and good to see you even though virtually this time. But
Rod: I know we were just reminiscing before we started recording and I think you were one of the first people to buy my course online when I first did my course literally one of the first. I mean like within the first five and you I think you even gave me feedback on it if I recall
Alina: I did yeah
Rod: Taxing my limited brain capacity I remember that now as I was saying that and then you attended my first live bootcamp in Tampa, two and a half years ago and I look like I’ve come now. You’ve done so much and I can’t wait for you to explain what you’ve done because I know you’re not just in multifamily you’re actually in multiple asset classes. You’ve you know raised a lot of money, been involved with a lot of deals. So tell my listeners you know a little bit of your story please
Alina: Sure Rod. I’d like to start by thanking you for all the work you’ve put into your training and for the wonderful team you put together. I’m so grateful I met many of your team members while I was learning, while I was going through the training and have been in touch with them ever since especially Robert. I really like the guy
Rod: Oh yeah Robert and I are a great team, I’m the mouthpiece and he dots the I’s crosses the T’s and loves the spreadsheet
Alina: Yeah and I’m truly truly truly grateful for you know the training you put together and the team that was supporting me throughout my journey when I was starting out
Rod: Thank you
Alina: Thank you for that. So my name is Alena Tregub. I started my company about two and a half years ago and the reason for that was simply because I wanted to help other people to find way to passively invest in real estate just like I did that earlier about six or seven years before that when I was starting out my real estate investing journey and was looking for ways to invest in real estate. And when I started out I started looking locally where I live in New York, New Jersey, as you can see area, but everything is too expensive here I couldn’t find anything. So through my research I came across the syndications way of investing and it piqued my interest. I started doing the research and deeper and then realized that that was the type of investing I wanted to do myself. So I invested in one and then another and then kind of the trickle-down effect came in. And when I realized that it was a great way to invest and it was a way to help other people to do the same thing without any interruption to their day-to-day life. I decided to take action and start my company. And that’s how SAMO Financial has been born and we’ve been doing really well by helping folks to invest like you said not only multifamily but we’ve also expanded our portfolio to diversify into other asset classes such as mobile home parks and storages and
Rod: Self storage right. I know in your bio, I was reading your bio and you’ve been involved in 1,200 doors in the multifamily space. You’ve been involved with a 10 million dollar fund in the self storage space, ten million dollar fund in the mobile home park space, which is really interesting but let’s stick with multifamily because that’s really the tenor of my show and you know but I think you know before we started recording, we talked about some topics that you’re very knowledgeable about that you could add value with this is in the first one maybe is creating partnerships because we all know this is a team sport and you’re only as good as the team and really to maximize the opportunities in this space, you need an incredible team. So maybe you could speak to that?
Alina: Absolutely. Thank you Rod. Yeah partnerships are created by meeting people and really establishing and working on a relationship with these people and these can be compared to marriage more or less when you’re looking to marry someone you have to take time to spend time with them to see whether it’s a good fit for you or not that you know it’s not created overnight. The same applies to partnerships and whether it’s a partnership where every partner is general partner or whether you’re entering into a partnership as a limited partner and want to invest with someone. You have to be very careful. You have to spend some time doing due diligence, researching your potential partners, reading about them, and then getting on a phone or a meeting in person and ask them questions really making it into a conversation. And when I started out as a limited partner for instance, so I started by getting on a call with potential operators that I wanted to invest with and really talking to them about the asset classes they were investing in, about the markets, and the investments that they were offering just to learn more about their strategy what they were planning to do and how they were planning to implement that strategy and to hear what they wanted to say and to make sure that the strategy they had in mind was in alignment with what I had in mind. Essentially, if they were saying that hey I want to buy this a second will probably hold it for seven to ten years you know that I wanted to make sure that’s what I want to do because you know I don’t want to go into asset knowing that this syndicator is looking to let’s say flip it in a year because maybe it fits for one person investment goals that didn’t fit my personal investments. So conversations like this should be happening and not just one essentially several to make sure that you get to know the person and you’re in alignment with them and this is someone you trust and you want to proceed with
Rod: That’s a great feedback great feedback and I was just looking here I’ve created a couple of resources that I want to give you guys for free that relate to this topic. One is you know and like Alena said whenever you are getting into a partnership it’s like a marriage, easy to get into hard to get out of. And I created this resource which is a list of questions you should ask when forming a partnership. And it’s free just text the word partnership to 41411. And it’s all the hard questions you know what values most to you? What’s you know what do you hope our business looks like? If someone gets hurt or sick, what happens? If somebody dies, what’s our goals? Who’s gonna do what? And you really want to dig into not just that you know these questions but research who it is you’re considering. Look at their work ethic because I will tell you I’ve been in many partnerships and who do you think does most of the work with knowing what you know about my energy and my passion. And so it’s important that you really, now I can say with Robert he works his butt off and he probably works as hard or harder than I do for sure. But that’s so important and you know how are you gonna communicate what roles are you going to play. So again partnership to 41411. I’ll get you this free resource and these heart you know cuz you gotta ask the hard questions up front. I will tell you you know I did a livestream boot camp you know about a month ago and I had 900 people on it and I had some panels and there were a couple of super large investors in that group, a lot of a large investors everyone on the panel was a large investor but two of the big ones had had partnership breakups and because they didn’t ask the hard questions upfront. And so very very important. So besides the research and asking all the hard questions up front so you know you’re aligned, I would also tell you real quick is to play to your strengths okay. And so like Alina you are great at you know raising equity and talking to investors. So you know that’s your strength and that’s what you bring to a relationship you know with seasoned operators. Speak to, let’s talk about the investor relations part of this, how you go about establishing a relationship maybe I know that you’re also the host of two meetups right? So that’s certainly a great resource for you to to meet people but maybe you could speak around all that a little bit. Let’s start with those relationships and just go from there
Alina: Sure. Absolutely. So again when it comes to relationship building, it takes a very long time to have the person on the other end to trust you. And you don’t necessarily have to be doing anything specific. You have to be yourself but you also need to show that you are transparent. You need to show that you have the track record and you have the team that can perform up to the investors expectation. And essentially that’s done by bringing value to other people. Rod, you mentioned my meetup but so what I try to do with my meet ups is bring as much value to folks as possible and my meetups are called the power of passive investing and even though a lot of topics are around syndications and how to passively invest. I try to bring presenters that can help people be well-rounded in general and can support them in other ways. For example, you’re gonna like this one, I had a mindset coach earlier this year when we were still in person. The session was incredible everyone loves her she did a phenomenal job and people came out with a bunch of homework assignments from her. It was incredible so stuff like that only happens by you know by hearing what people have to say. So I try to help out the folks in my groups in any way I can them. Well not everyone is passive investor is indicator that we have flippers, we have people that buy single-family houses here in New Jersey. I hear what people are looking for and I hear and I see how I can add value and I try to do that in any way I can. So meetups are about building the community, helping others, and really showing people that you’re about bringing value and helping them as much as possible
Rod: How long have you done your meetups Alina?
Alina: About two years
Rod: Two years, Wow. And so let me add something guys so there are so many ways that you can create reach. I just interviewed a guy earlier that gave all sorts of feedback on how to do a platform on LinkedIn. Of course I’ve used the podcast I’ve also my YouTube videos got watched 30,000 hours last year which blows my mind but so many places Facebook, but meetups and a lot of my students have started meetup groups and very very successfully in fact a lot of the big operators that I interview on my podcast with thousands of doors, that’s how they got going. And so you know but there’s a couple of keys. The one you hit on you must focus on adding value. You’re going there to give. And so that’s number one but the second thing which is the reason I asked you how long you’ve been doing it is consistency. You have to be consistent and so if you’re gonna post in LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or you know do a meet-up, you’ve got to be consistent with it, podcast, I mean I will tell you the last two weeks I’ve agonized about it. I’ve been late by a day posting my podcast episodes and it’s the first time since I started two and a half years ago that I’ve been, I’m an 8 million downloads that that I was late and it was agonizing about it because that consistency is so important. So and the beautiful thing about Alina you know doing a meet-up like this is you know even if you’re not an expert yet, you can bring in experts and by virtue of the fact that you’re the host, you’re acting as if. You fake it till you make it almost and I know you’re an expert now Elina but when you first started you weren’t. And so it’s such a great way to position yourself and build a brand and add value and of course you know it’s resulted in your case and anybody that does it, lots of deals and investors because you focused on them you focus on adding value
Alina: I couldn’t agree more with you Rod. In terms of consistency I think with anything any business or any type of investing if you’re not consistent, you know if you’re looking for deals if you’re not consistently calling brokers or calling homeowners, you’re not gonna get anywhere. Only by speaking true to the course and having that grit in you, you will be able to get results and yeah completely agree same applies to meetups or any sort of social media platform you leverage, you have to be on it. You have to constantly bringing value.
Rod: Well I know you’ve worked this a long time, like I said well long time two and half years it’s not that long but for me it’s long because that’s when I first started doing you know my training and it’s such a treat to have you on. And so let me ask you this, you know there are a lot of people that listen to my show that haven’t done anything yet and you know there are lots of ways to get into this business like again you did it by building relationships and equity raising. Can you speak to that a little bit about, but well first of all I’d like you to give them some inspiration but then maybe we could talk about the different ways someone can get into this multifamily investing business. But talk about what would you tell those people that haven’t taken action yet? What advice would you give them?
Alina: I think it’s very important and I think you’re gonna like it to start with your own mindset. You have to be open to the idea that you can do it. And instead of saying, I don’t have the money, I cannot do it, or I have five kids and a full-time job you need to ask yourself, how can I do it? Where can I find the time? What are the ways that I can come up with the money? or what skills do I have that I can bring to the deal? You don’t have to be good with numbers. I mean in my case for instance, yes I am former accountant. I am good with numbers or you know I like talking to people but let me tell you something, I was probably, when I started investing in real estate seven years ago, I was the probably the shyest person in the room. I wouldn’t talk to anyone. I would sit in the back in the corner avoiding looking at people faces altogether. But everything happens for a reason. And the more I was going to these meetups the more I was talking to people, I realized that not every single person in the room is an expert. You have to keep talking to people, you have to open up, and you have to find the ways to bring value to others. You don’t have to be an expert in all fields but if you expert in one field then maybe someone else is an expert in another and Rod, as you said you have to find the match to find partnership you need to find people with metric skills. I you know someone who went to business school I call it SWOT analysis. So what I do it those SWOT analysis with people by looking at their strengths, their weaknesses, opportunities and threat and matching it against mine. And then I see where does that match happen okay
Rod: Okay I want to slow you down because you just you just dropped some incredible information. So again she did that very fast. Whenever you’re analyzing a business when you’re going to buy or when you want to improve, a common methodology is to do that SWOT analysis and you’re looking for strengths of the business, the weaknesses of the business, the opportunities associated with the business and if there are any threats associated with the business. So you’re doing the same thing when you’re looking at an operator or aligning with someone yes?
Alina: Yes or aligning with someone I mean whether it’s an operator or whether it’s a joint venture partnership, anything. I always try to align and see what capabilities and what is the skill set that the other person has that doesn’t have and where is that match, is there a match? And then the alignment that strategy is also very very important. Are we aligned in our long term goals? That’s also a critical component.
Rod: Yeah you know when you’re gonna partner with someone guys and you guys have heard me say this before, you want to be playing to your strengths and they should be playing to their strengths. And hopefully those strengths are complementary like with Robert and I you know I used to be introverted like you and I’d like to circle back to that for a minute in a second. But I’m not anymore obviously I’ve speak in front of thousands of people a year now but Robert is the numbers guy he’s a CPA like you and done a billion and a half dollars with the deals and so we’re perfectly aligned. You know I did an interview I don’t know if you heard it Alina you said you listened to some of my recent podcasts I had these young guys on in their 20s, there were three of them and I think I called it young rockstars or something whatever but all three of them, well there was about 70 million in assets between them which was very impressive, but all three of them were partnerships between an analytical person and an outgoing person. Now I want to circle back to you, because you’re obviously super analytical and you pushed through that and I have a lot of analytical listeners that are like oh my God to start a relationship and you remember I made, you probably don’t remember this has been two and a half years for my first live event. But I make people stand up and meet each other and get to know each other and we did that actually, we didn’t do it on my live stream or did we, no we didn’t do it on a live stream but we just did it with our warrior group. We had a 2-day event for my mentorship students and we made everybody network groups of six. We had to do it on Zoom of course. By the way, have you taken your meet-up virtual or how are you doing it now?
Alina: I have yeah I have taken it virtual. We’re now doing virtual it’s obviously not the same but with the new features of breakout rooms, it’s possible to network now. It’s very helpful. But I actually like that approach when you made everyone get up and start networking. It kinda reminded of, I know you’ll appreciate that Tony Robbins because I went to Tony, I went to Tony’s event roughly around like year and a half or so ago it was incredible but it reminded me much of the experience that you shared with us
Rod: Sure sure sure and you know of course you’re hugging people there and giving people hugs and I’m sure you really had to stretch yourself you know because here’s a person that used to be in the corner of the room would even make face contact. And you’re giving people a massage, but yeah no it’s a real stretch for people but look where you are now and the growth that and you know Alina, I mean I know I’m been a little gushy with you because I’m just so impressed with because I remember that, that person you know that that introverted personality when we first met and just incredible progress. And you know the things that you’ve done and so, for the people that are like you used to be, introverted like that, what advice would you give them?
Alina: I think it’s important for them to start by working on their personal development and reading such books as Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins. The Miracle Morning, Five-second rule by Mel Robbins. I don’t think she’s associated Tony but yeah those books are incredible and what’s great about Amazon is like once you hear those books, it’ll start suggesting other books in the same area but you have to constantly work on your mindset. If you don’t work on your mindset you’re not gonna be able to open up opportunity to many of the things that are in front of you. A lot of those are closed now just because you know shy people, they’re narrow-minded. And that’s how I was you know some recent time ago with narrow minds that I cannot do this, this is not me, that’s not my cup of tea. So you have to open that mind and give it try it so that cup of tea and see maybe you’ll like it and you know if not like you said, Robert is analytical you are very social and you guys found the match. Same way people can find the match by networking with others and by opening up to others and by letting others know what skillset do they have and what can they bring to the table. And it’s just it’s really important to start working on that. Obviously, education is the second thing. Once you’re able to open up your mindset that second thing is educating yourself. Working on, learning about multifamily, syndications, or whatever the real estate investing ish you want to work on
Rod: Yeah that’s good advice and which is why I spend so much time on mindset in my training and a little quick plug, we are having another two day event you know I had 900 people pay for my last one and it was incredible two-day livestream boot camp and I’m having another one I’m not selling anything, it’s July 25th and 26th I believe it’s multifamilyvirtualbootcamp.com, it’s $97 guys, come on for 16 hours of me training if you can’t you know that’s less than an expensive meal but anyway it’s multifamilyvirtualbootcamp.com or text rodlive to 41411 and we’ll see you there in July. But,
Alina: You will not be disappointed if you go get this bootcamp I can personally vouch for add I’ve been to his training like I said I bought his online training and I’ve been to his live bootcamp. Obviously it’s better than virtual but right now virtual isn’t as good as it gets and you know you don’t need to buy any tickets to fly anywhere or get hotels. It’s excellent and you’re just gonna get you know a ton of great value
Rod: Thank you thank you
Alina: I recommend it
Rod: Yeah you know I have to ask you this because you are so driven and you push through your fear, what drives you?
Alina: My family, it really you know it’s a huge factor for me just like you I emigrated here. I was slightly older but then you were when I immigrated you know 20s and I went to college and everything, same with my husband he is an immigrant but you know because I wanted to succeed and that I had to go through a lot of challenges while going to school and paying for everything myself I don’t want my kids to go through the same challenges. So whatever I can do for my family to avoid having any challenges like like I went through makes me get up every morning
Rod: Nice, how old are your children? Are they grown or they’re still in the house?
Alina: Somewhat, I have a high school in the middle school
Rod: oh wow wow wow wow beautiful beautiful. Well listen Alina, I really appreciate you being on the show. You’ve added tremendous value and it’s such a treat to see you after all this time and I’m sure that all paths will cross again at some point in the near future. But thank you for coming on and adding some value
Alina: Thank you Rod, it’s a pleasure to be here. Appreciate you
Rod: My pleasure. Take care
Alina: Thanks!
