Ep #371 – Christopher Grenzig – Asset Managing $50 Mil portfolio
Here is some of what you will learn:
- What is Multifamily Asset Management
- Understanding the business plan for a property
- Why you should never renovate from cash flow
- Importance of sequencing renovations
- What to look for in your weekly reports
- How to assess your assets
- The importance of monthly rent surveys
- How far to push the upside envelope
To find out more about our guest: click here
Full Transcript Below:
Christopher Grenzig – 27-Year-Old Asset Manager overseeing $50 Mil Portfolio (Ep #371)
Hi! I’m Rod Khleif. Each and every week I record an interview with a thought leader that I know you’re gonna get a ton of value from. Now here on YouTube are the video versions of my podcast, Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing. Now to make sure you get the latest information please subscribe and hit the notification bell. Let’s get started.
Rod: Welcome to another edition of How to Build Lifetime Cash Flow through Real Estate Investing. I’m Rod Khleif and I am absolutely thrilled that you’re here, and I know you’re gonna get value from the young gentleman we’re interviewing today. His name’s Chris Grenzig and Chris started out in flipping. Tried that, failed at it, didn’t like it, tried buying tax deeds, didn’t like that, and finally got into multifamily became home and started with an 8 unit property then joint ventured into a hundred unit property then got a job with a group that owns over 3,200 doors and does asset management for them. Chris, welcome to show brother.
Chris: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Rod: Absolutely. So, I kinda stole your thunder a little bit but let’s go back and dig, dig a little deeper on the bio that I just mentioned. You know, you said you started and you’ve only started for a few years ago like January at your, how old?
Chris: Yep, 27. Started, you know, from scratch in January 2016.
Rod: Fantastic. So talk about, that in your words, your experience of this evolution in real estate. Why did you do it to begin with?
Chris: Yeah, sure.
Rod: You have some background, right?
Chris: Yes, a little bit. So, I graduated college in 2014. I was a student-athlete. No real direction. Didn’t really do it properly so, I bounced from, my first year I actually coached Division 2 soccer. I played Division 1 tried that. Wasn’t really a fan. Came back home. Moved into the finance world and wasn’t really crazy about that, and kind of midway through that process of being in that job, you know, probably about seven, eight months deep. My mom, my cousin bought a flipping course for single-family homes, and they kind of dragged me along kicking and screaming but ended up, probably, being the best thing that’s happened to me in the last couple years and that was my first introduction to real estate. The perfect example I give was how little I knew, I thought asbestos was a type mold going into it and, you know, so that was kind of my introductory. It was, you know, two, three day, you know, seminar, you know, 10, 12 hours a day and from there just kind of caught the bug, and for the next five, six, seven months, me, my mom, my cousin tried to flip houses and, like you mentioned, just completely failed. Didn’t buy a single home. Didn’t put any under contract. Spend tens of thousands of dollars and tons of hours putting in time to try to get these things done and just failed. Two parts of that, one, just lack of execution on our part. I think, probably, if we stuck it out a little bit longer we could have made it work. Two, was just the area we’re in really high income from Long Island, New York, so, the margins were so fine and just .
Rod: Thank you God you weren’t successful at it, brother. Thank God. Because, then it would have been three or four five years before we’d be having this conversation on this multi-family podcast so, awesome.
Chris: A hundred percent. So, from there, I’m just through networking and stuff. I met one of the owners for the company, I met Toro, and at the time, he had just finished off selling all his properties in Philadelphia. He’d bought them all through auctions and they were tax D properties and introduced us to that so, we gave it a try. We drove down one weekend and drove 50, 60, 70, properties really quick. Instantly hated it. Came back. Just, it was really rough areas. Just wasn’t the right fit and then came back, sat down with him again. We were just talking. He was raising money for a little 8 unit in Covington, Kentucky. We decided to invest passively with the caveat just saying, hey, can we pick your brain once a week? Grab coffee. Jump on a call. You know, the whole months. He said yes, and then, from there, developed into a partnership on another 17 units in that area. Another 82 units down in Jacksonville, Florida, which is how we got into the Florida market, and kind of, as all this was happening, I was flat out hated my job. I was ready to quit without having another job lined up and luckily just at the time Toro is it, you know, we’re a small company and growing then, they were looking really to bring somebody in to kind of coach up through the company, you know, learn their process and then, you know, grow into a larger role. So, I, you know, I was brought in doing grunt work, you know, basically, and then, now it’s developed into a role where I handle most of, if not all, the Florida, region of our portfolio. As well as take on some of the, you know, the debt, the equity, the whole nines, but, you know, it’s grown into, you know, 50 million dollar portfolio, 750 doors acquired in Florida.
Rod: You asset managed in Florida?
Chris: Yeah. Right.
Rod: Yes. Okay. Okay.
Chris: I’m on some other things but yeah. That’s the primary responsibility that I have.
Rod: Right. Okay. Well, you know, we haven’t really dug deep on asset management on this show. So, you know, let’s pretend they don’t and the people listening have no clue what that means.
Chris: Sure.
Rod: Can you give a high-level definition of what that term means and your role really means in this genre?
Chris: Yeah. Absolutely. So an asset manager or the asset management is basically the financial big picture managing of the properties you own. A lot of people get it confused with property management which is kind of the day-to-day side so, we use third-party management for all our properties currently. And, basically, they handle, you know, the main inside; the payroll side, collecting rents, you know, evictions. All nines of the day-to-day stuff but the big picture items where it’s, you know, okay, where are we taking this property? What’s the business plan? Looking at the rent role deciding, you know, what’s the renovation scope? How our renovation is going? You know, what we’re spending? Approving big-ticket items, and then, looking at the performance of the property on a, you know, weekly, monthly, quarterly, an annual basis and evaluating as you’re going through it and then, making any changes necessary. So, just because we buy a property and we have, you know, one plan in mind doesn’t mean that’s the plan we’re gonna finish the property with we may make changes or deviate depending upon how certain things are going or, you know, the market or different vendors or in there’s a million different ways that we could change, but it’s, basically, the continual analysis of the property. The performance and where things are going and making changes as necessary.
Rod: Love it. Well, you said a lot of things and I want to drill down on some of those things.
Chris: Absolutely.
Rod: And forgive me. I can tell I’m, probably, gonna have to interrupt you from time to time.
Chris: Go for it.
Rod: Just to hammer, just to hammer home some points. I didn’t want to, in what you just said, because you, because you gave a great high-level overview of what asset management is. And like you said, so many people think asset management is actually boots on the ground property managing.
Chris: Right.
Rod: Dealing with tenants and whatnot and it’s not. You know, most people in this, most of the more successful people in this business certainly starting out until they really get a lot of infrastructure, a higher third-party property management. You guys at 3,200 doors are still using third-party property management. Now, a lot of people when they get to your level will bring it in-house because they look at the numbers and they, you know, because asset management is managing the property managers. It’s managing the third party property managers and so, you know, maybe that’s something on the horizon for you but I, you know, my position is; why screw with it, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it while you’re an acquisition mode. So, you know, that’s my two sense on that. But let’s drill down on asset management. So you talk about the business plan. Okay. And guys, those are you listening, you know, you’re thinking business plan, this isn’t a company, this is not apartment complex. It’s no different guys. You have to have a plan for that property. So, give some examples of some business plans. Give some examples of what that means, you know, in real life here.
Chris: Yeah, for sure. So, you know, the plan has to be, you know, detailed and aligned with the vision from, you know, top to bottom. So, it’s gotta be from the owners to the asset managers to the property managers to the investors. Everybody’s gotta understand what the goal is here. So, we’re not gonna tell our property management; hey, the goal is to own this property for ten years and we’re gonna turn around sell it or two or three because that’s not fair. They’re also not gonna implement the plan we’re looking to do if they expect one thing or another. So the plan is gonna include how long we intend to hold the property, the renovations we plan on doing if any, you know, the way we’re gonna market the property to potential tenants, how we’re gonna handle the eviction process, how often we’re gonna distribute money to investors, you know, what our exit strategy is; are we gonna sell? Are we gonna refinance? Things of that nature. It’s also gonna be, it’s gonna explain the breakdown of our compensation, so any fees, any profit structure. Investors have to understand that. So there’s a lot that goes into it but …
Rod: Sure.
Chris: The big picture is, you know, we’re buying this property; okay, great. What are we gonna do with it? And how long are we gonna have this thing?
Rod: Well said, brother. Well said. Perfect. And guys, that just so you know, you know, it’s a good idea for you to get, to watch webinars of operators that are trying to raise money for a deal because that’s what they’re gonna present to you is their plan for the property, their business plan. So let’s talk about, let’s talk, so you manage the plan. You make sure it’s on track. You make sure that you guys are firing on what you, you know, you’ve decided to push for, you know, and how you’ve decided to implement. So let’s talk about your renovation oversight. Have, you know, have you been involved in a reposition on a property yet? Have you done, have you done, you know, where you’ve gone into every unit and done some work? Have you managed that process?
Chris: Yes. So we’ve done our typical deals are anywhere from, you know, light to medium value add, you know, doing a handful of units or, you know, 20% of units all the way down to highly distressed vacant deals. So we’ve bought several vacant 100-unit, 300-unit properties where you have to go in and renovate every unit because they’re down to the studs. So, we’ve had a few deals that have, you know, we’ve either renovated all the units or 50% of the units or brought it from, you know, 25% occupied 60, you know, all the way up to kind of stabilized site.
Rod: Right. How about you personally though? Have you, give me an idea cuz I’d like to drill down on that a little bit. But I don’t wanna ask you questions that you haven’t experienced yet. Have you, have you been involved in one of these, you know, full property renovations or and if not, it’s okay. I just wanna drill them.
Chris: So, in Florida, so far we haven’t bought anything like that.
Rod: Okay.
Chris: You know, but I can speak to other because we are a small company we all have kind of a finger in all the different pots. But in Florida our kind of typical deal is buy something that, you know, either long term ownership or a lot of meat on the bones and we’ll renovate 50% of the units over two to three years, kind of as tenants leaves. So we’re not displeasing anybody and we’ll increase the quality of the interior. We’ll also do a lot of exterior and amenity upgrades and then kind of increase the NOI and then look to …
Rod: Right, right. That’s the business model. But I wanted to drill down. I wanted to drill down on, forgive me, I totally cut you off there. I’d, probably, I apologize.
Chris: No, go for it.
Rod: I wanted to drill down on the actual nuances of managing a renovation. So, you know, let’s play around with that a little bit. Yeah, we just, in fact, we just bought a property in Sarasota last week 80 units. Very exciting …
Chris: Great area.
Rod: And really hardly gonna do anything to it at all. So, I get it, but I wanna add some value to my listeners as to managing a renovation process, and let me, let me pre-frame this by saying; guys, do not anticipate doing this from cash flow. You raise the money for these things. That’s a newbie mistake. Thinking you can do it from cash flow. But let’s talk about how to manage, kind of, I can almost seem a little overwhelming. Let’s say, you’ve got a hundred doors and you’re going into every single unit. Maybe evicting, cleaning, you know, evicting two or three people or five people at a time and you got to do it over a certain period of time …
Chris: Sure.
Rod: Let’s speak to the nuances of how to manage that. Do you have some software you guys utilize? You know, how do you stay on top of that process?
Chris: Yes. So we don’t have any software. Most of our stuff is done through Excel. You know, we, obviously, have the management software. So we use real page which will keep track of, you know, all the tenant activities. So payment, eviction, move out, move in, etc. but for the capital side of things we have several different trackers that we’ll use that will stay on top of, you know, how much we’ve spent per unit on renovation, how much we spent at the property for different exterior things. We’ll look at the rent beforehand and the rent afterwards. We’ll compare that to what we’ve budgeted and see, you know, are we over budget, under budget. Why is that? Do we need to do a different type of renovation? So, we use a couple different type of Excel sheets to just stamp top of that.
Rod: Okay. Actually. So that’s after the fact and so that lends me to think that you guys don’t do the construction in-house. You actually bring in GCs and allow them to manage that process. Yes?
Chris: Yeah. Well, yeah. We’ll hire somebody either GC or will sub it out ourselves so have …
Rod: Okay.
Chris: The flooring guy come in, the paint guy come in.
Rod: Alright. So you do that sometimes.
Chris: We’ll actually do some of that work too.
Rod: Okay. Well, that lends itself to the next question or next comment and that is, it’s so critical to sequence this stuff properly and I can’t tell how often I’ve seen, you know, renovation projects go where they’ve, where they’ve put in the floor and they haven’t painted yet, for example. Or, you know, and so, it’s real easy to get discombobulated when you’re managing the subs and screw up the sequencing so, that’s kind of why I asked the question. I just wanted to bring that up as a possibility. Okay. Fair enough. So after the fact, that certainly you’re looking, so let’s talk about money for a minute. Let’s talk about the spending list because I know that’s probably where you spend most of your time.
Chris: Sure.
Rod: So talk about, talk about what you look at on a weekly basis on these assets that you manage from the financial standpoint and how you would do that analysis.
Chris: Yeah, for sure. So all of our property on sites we’ll do weekly report and some of the stuff we look at on a weekly basis is what we’re currently occupied and what we’re pre-leased at for …
Rod: Okay. Let me stop you for one second.
Chris: Sure.
Rod: What are the reports that you look at? So let’s list the reports that you get from your third-party property managers. Let’s start there and then we’ll drill down.
Chris: First, so we get a weekly report, like I was just starting to describe, every Wednesday of the week. It’ll be effective for the Sunday before. Then we get obviously the monthly financials, every month. And then, also get, which there’s a more conducive report with that as well, and then, we’ll get year end financials but on our side we’ll take those monthly financials and we’ll also look at it on a quarterly basis and run different reports as well. So we’ll look at, you know, last quarter versus this quarter. We’ll look at last year’s first quarter versus this year’s first quarter and we’ll do different reports on, you know, are we over budget, under budget, have we grown, how much have we grown by, etc.
Rod: Okay. Okay. Do you look line by line?
Chris: I will look. So line by line is a little, so, there’s like a repairs a maintenance line item or a payroll line item. If that looks off, I’ll then dig in deeper and say; okay, what is, you know, why is this high and is it, you know, is it, there was a high bonus or was it, you know, we had to double pay our manager that month or, you know.So if it’s not up to expectation, I’ll dive in deeper to each line item but, you know, we probably have 12 expense categories. I’ll look at each category and see how it lines up and then I’ll dive an even deeper because it’s my …
Rod: That’s what I was going for.
Chris: If you’re going on a hundred line items overall so …
Rod: Right, right. That’s what, that’s what I was going for.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Rod: Just tell my listeners. As you’re looking at these financial reports, what you’re really looking for is anomalies? You’re looking, you know, if you compare month to month or, like you say, quarter to quarter, you’re looking at either a decrease or an increase and that’s when you want to drill down like you just said. And that’s kind of what I was going for with that question. Okay. And so, let’s talk about big-ticket projects that you’re responsible for; roofs on a project, painting on a project. Talk about how you, how you go about organizing and holding people accountable on those things.
Chris: Yes. So, a lot has helped with property management. Our property managers will always use somebody that already manages in the area so they have really good contacts but will also keep them modest and we’ll bring in outside people to bid it out as well. So, we always get two, three, four bids for any project that we do just so we know we’re getting the best value. Not necessarily the cheapest but the best value because sometimes you may pay more to get it done quicker or pay more to get a better warranty, especially, if you’re talking about roofs or termite, you know, treatment. Things of that nature. So, we’ll always look at the process of who were the work to and what type of person do we want doing that work. Is it a big company? Is it a small subcontractor? And we’ll have that conversation internally about which route we’re gonna go. And then, we’ll also take a look at; okay, we’ve got these five projects. Is there any of these that are our priority over others? Or is there certain ones that should be done before other things? For example, we’re not gonna do a parking lot if we’re gonna do a big landscaping project because we don’t want to do all the landscaping stuff and have trucks rolling in with dirt and bushes and stuff and it’s like; alright, we just hit the parking lot and now we’re making it super dirty and clean and, you know, not clean. And, obviously, that’s gonna happen over time but why speed up that process if you don’t need to. So, we would say …
Rod: The same thing we were just talking about on the interior.
Chris: Exactly. It’s the exact the same thing.
Rod: It same things on the exterior. This is exactly the same way. You know, like if you’re gonna paint the exterior, you’re certainly not going to, you know, replace the light fixtures on the exterior before you paint, you know.
Chris: Exactly.
Rod: Same, same, same. Alright, love it. Good, good, good, good. So, how often do you typically visit an asset? Talk about the communication process with your third party, do you use the same manager in the whole state or the same company or do you have different ones?
Chris: We have, we do it kind of by region. So we have kind of three regions we’re in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and the Carolinas and the Midwest. We’ll use one for each region. So Florida, yes. All the same manager.
Rod: Okay.
Chris: As far as visiting, we say, on average it’s every two or three months but sometimes we may go longer than others. We always try to use our trips to maximize, you know, the dollar. So when we go down we always try to time it with new deals we’re seeing or meeting investors or different vendors or clients, so it’s not just; hey, we’re going down to just check out the properties. It’s or maybe we wait an extra month and there’s a new deal we’re gonna go look at. We can tour as well. So instead of going down for one day to check out five deals we own, we’re going down for two or three days. We’re seeing our five deals. We’re meeting with all the staff and then, the extra couple days we’re meeting brokers, we’re meeting mortgage lenders, we’re meeting, we’re going to tour new properties, we’re meeting investors in the area so we’re really trying to maximize our time, you know, when we do make these trips.
Rod: Love it. Love it. That was a great insight and so, talk about what you look at when you walk a property on these visits and what sorts of things you might do, specific, to that asset. Not, you know, looking at other deals and relationship building but specific to that asset, what might you do? There’s something I’m looking for here. So …
Chris: In terms of a new property or our current?
Rod: No, no, no. Your one of your existing assets.
Chris: Yeah.
Rod: You’re gonna do, you’re gonna show up. You know, what sorts of things might you look at or examine when you’re on site?
Chris: Yeah. I’m gonna look over all for, you know, cleanliness is a big one for us. A lot of properties we buy, we buy stuff that just doesn’t prevent well so, we’re gonna look for, is there trash floating around? Is there things hanging out in the office? Is there, you know, tenants do they have, you know, crap hanging out on their balconies or in front of their doors and why isn’t that cleaned up so, that’s one of the big ones. We’re gonna make sure, you know, is the landscaping neat? Is the grass trimmed? The most, you know, once in a while, we’ll take a surprise trip but most the time they know we’re coming so, it doesn’t look good when you know I’m coming …
Rod: Right.
Chris: But there are the times that I’m not there so, if it’s not pristine when I’m there, there’s a bigger issue. We’ll also look at, we wanna examine, if we’re doing any upgrades for units, I wanna see the upgrades when I’m there. Make sure everything looks good, make sure, you know, if it’s new cabinets; make sure they’re straight and level, if they’re putting in a backsplash; make sure there’s no grout that’s out of line, if there’s paint; there’s no drips, there’s nothing on the floor, you know, make sure that if there is paint on the floor, why? Because it should have been painted first if there’s new flooring put in. So we’re gonna examine all the little, my new details, because, same reason, it should be pristine if they know I’m coming.
Rod: Yeah.
Chris: We’ll also look at, we’re usually going during the day, during a work week. We wanna make sure there’s not a lot of cars in the parking lot because people should be at work unless, obviously, some people work nights but by-and-large, 60, 80, 90% of people work during the day. So, if there’s a large amount of cars, I’m gonna, you know, I’m gonna bring that up with management and there could be good answer but it’s just something I’m gonna look for. You know, to make sure that all our amenities are working and functional and usable. I wanna make sure that the pool is open and clean if there is one or if it’s the right time, the year Florida, it’s almost always open so big-big thing. You know, to make sure that there’s no, you know, and no maintenance stuff lying around that anybody could trip on or hurt themselves with. I wanna make sure any materials are locked up. I wanna make sure that golf carts properly secured. Any, you know, hammers, nails, you know, anything is all properly stored. I also wanna make sure it’s neat because you don’t want things being unaccounted for and you’re spending money unnecessarily because they can’t find, you know, a fixture or things and if it’s properly, you know, stored and inventoried that shouldn’t be an issue. So, those are all the little things …
Rod: Good stuff. Good stuff.
Chris: To look for.
Rod: Yeah. Awesome. Now, I’ll add something. Do you spend any time looking at the competition?
Chris: Absolutely. Any time we go drive, part of the asset management is we’re continually doing rent surveys, every month at least, if not more frequently.
Rod: That’s what I was looking for. Good.
Chris: So, we’ll definitely go drive other properties because we coincide a lot of our trips with looking at new properties. A lot of times they’re in other areas so while we’re buying a new property, we’ll also tour other property so we toured for our existing assets as well as new acquisitions so we’re probably, you know, we own five properties in Jacksonville, Florida right now. If we went out there and we were, you know, going to check on our new ones, we’re probably driving another 10, 15 properties, both for rent surveys as well as new acquisitions.
Rod: Yeah. And guys, this is so critical because you need to know what your competition is doing.
Chris: Hundred percent.
Rod: Cuz you wanna outperform them. How well are their staff greeting their clients? What are, what have they done with their amenities? Are they, are they upgrading their amenities? What are their rents look like? You know, you gotta mystery shop them. You know, pretend you’re gonna rent or something to try to get into some of their units and check them out. It’s so critical. You’ll get so much insight by doing that. Awesome. That’s what I was looking for.
Chris: Yeah. Just to quickly touch on that too, because a lot of times our rent surveys will look online and the pictures are the best depiction of the properties, whether it’s the one you own or any property, best depiction is online, most likely. So going and actually seeing a property as it normally is gonna tell you a lot about what it actually is. Are they power washing a lot or do the properties just look dirty? Is it well? All the same things I pointed out for our properties, I’m gonna look at on other properties because, just because it looks great online, most people, especially, if they live in the area, are gonna go see it first. So, if they’re at, you know, a hundred bucks over and everything is perfect and my property’s not, that’s a big issue. If it’s, you know, the flipside if I’m like; hey, we seem a little bit high compared to this one but I drive on and issues crap everywhere. I’m going; okay, that makes more sense. So …
Rod: Right. Definitely.
Chris: I wanna look for those things as well.
Rod: Good, good, good. Okay. So, let’s get into some more personal stuff here now.
Chris: Sure.
Rod: Great, great, great Insights on asset management. I know you had a tremendous value there. So I really appreciate that. Like I said, it’s not a topic we get into as much as we should on the show. What do you think is the most challenging part of what you do right now?
Chris: I think the most challenging part is not pushing too much on upside that you sacrifice community and overworking your on-site staff, because all of our properties have on site. There’s something to be said for, you know, in Florida right now, I think we did a survey and our new leases versus our renewals there’s about a $75 difference. So you could add $75 if you just non-renewed everybody, but there’s something to be said for the reputation you’re gonna have of that property. So I think, there’s always a, you know, a balance on how much do you push? You know, how well, you know, any property could be a hundred percent occupied just drop your rents by 20 percent, but you’re never gonna do that obviously. So there’s a balancing act that there’s a fine line and you’re never gonna play it right but figuring out where that line is and getting close is definitely challenging …
Rod: Fantastic.
Chris: And it’s testing every property.
Rod: Fantastic answer. Fantastic answer. I think that’s probably one of the toughest things to deal with in this business is how far you push that envelope without, you know, losing community, like you said, without pissing a bunch of people off and without increasing vacancies, frankly.
Chris: Yeah. I’m sure.
Rod: So, you know, it, fantastic answer to that question. So what do you enjoy the most about this business?
Chris: I think the people aspect of it. I really enjoy meeting new people, speaking with new people, talking through properties. I think people get too caught up in the number side of properties and forget that, especially as you get to the larger stuff, if you’re at, you know, if you’re buying a 10, 20, 30-unit you probably don’t have on-site staff. But there’s a reason people focus on, like you mentioned earlier, these are many businesses basically, that’s why you need a business plan. Businesses are only as good as the people running them, so if you, do not pay attention to the people that are running your properties from the property managers to the on-site to the maintenance guys to the vendors to the regional managers to the owners of the property management to the asset managers to the owners of the companies you’re investing in, if you’re an investor. All those things matter. So, I think not enough people pay attention to the people actually running the deal and they get a little bit too caught up on the numbers.
Rod: Yeah.
Chris: So the people aspect for me is huge.
Rod: No, great answer and I will tell you, any business is nothing but two things: its people and systems.
Chris: Yeah.
Rod: And so, people is the biggest part of the equation. So great answer. Again, so, you know, you’re young and you’re gonna inspire some of the young listeners on the show here. What words of wisdom would you share with people that are listening, that want to get into this business, that are aspiring, that know they want more out of life, that know they deserve more out of life, maybe haven’t taken action yet, what would you say to them?
Chris: I think action is important with the proper knowledge and at a certain point, you’ve gotta be willing to take the risk because these are investments and there is a risk associated with it I. think also, a big thing, I see with a lot of younger people and I talked to a lot because we do a lot of local meetups every month and social media and media, things of that nature, is patience and practicality. A lot people wanna make, especially young people, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars today by investing in real estate because they’re on Instagram and they’re on YouTube and everybody’s flexing …
Rod: Right.
Chris: You click dating and as much as that’s nice and sexy it takes time. As anybody who’s been in this business for any amount of time, it takes a lot, a lot of time and effort. So it’s being patient as well as being practical. So I did a thing of the other day about; if you can build up your cash flow today, you know, 200 bucks a month but you do that over 5, 10 years, that 200 a month today, doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s probably not changing anybody’s life if anybody, but if you consistently do that every 2, 3, 5 years, in 30 years you’re gonna bill up a ton equity and a significantly larger cash flow. So, I think …
Rod: I tell people, I tell people from stage. Listen, this is not a get-rich-quick business but it is a become super freakin wealthy over time business
Chris: Absolutely.
Rod: Period. Yeah. So, awesome. So, what motivates you, buddy? You are obviously super driven and right away before we recorded, I asked you what your superpower was and if you were more analytical or more outgoing you said you’re a nice blend of both. You know, I was listening, I was listening, before you answer my question, I’m sorry, I wanna derail …
Chris: No, go for it.
Rod: I was listening to Tim Ferriss. His podcast, which I love, he was interviewing Charles Koch which is the super billionaire, one of the brothers just died and think they’re worth 40 billion apiece or some crazy number, and he said, he said that his secret to his success was focusing on his strengths and aligning for everything else and hiring and aligning for everything else. So, you know, you guys have heard me on the show talk about, you know, if you’re more analytical aligned with an outgoing person, if you’re more outgoing aligned with an analytical. Now you’re a great blend of both. So, but I just wanted to share that because it was on top of mind, but answering my question, what drives you, brother?
Chris: Yeah. I think freedom is a big one. I think people talk about financial freedom and they talk about they focus too much, again, on the numbers and the dollars and what’s my net worth and how am I making. I think the financial freedom aspect that nobody focuses on is it’s the freedom to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, how you want and I think that’s a large goal of mine. I think I also enjoy just the business aspect of it. Like I have no problem putting in 12-hour shifts because I enjoy it but I think getting to that stage in the process of getting to that stage is super enjoyable and being able to share that with other people is something I’ve definitely found very enjoyable in the last, you know, 3, 6, 12 months and, you know …
Rod: Good for you.
Chris: That is, you know, really rewarding in another …
Rod: I know you’re starting a podcast. What’s the name of it again?
Chris: It’s gonna be called The Real Estate Investing Experience.
Rod: The Real Estate Investing Experience. Awesome. So a little plug there and we’ll put all his contact information in the show notes. Thanks for being on the show, brother. You added a tremendous amount of value and really,you know, next time you’re in Sarasota since you’re in the region let’s grab, let’s grab a bite to eat or something cuz …
Chris: Yeah. Absolutely.
Rod: I enjoy continuing this relationship. Alright, my friend. Be well and we’ll talk soon.
Chris: Perfect. Thanks for having me on.
Rod: Alright, see you.
Hey thanks for watching. Please subscribe to my channel and if you listen to podcast join me on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to those podcasts just search for a Lifetime Cashflow to Real Estate Investing.
