From $0 to over $23k In Monthly Cash Flow

Intro
Hi, my name is Rod Khleif, and I’m the host of “The Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing” podcast. And every week, I interview Multifamily Rock Stars and we talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons to get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out. Let’s get to it.

Rod
Welcome back to Multifamily Rock Stars. So, as you guys know, this is where we interview people that are flat out crushing it in this business and really in their lives as well. And we show you the inside scoop into how multifamily investors create massive success inside of their businesses. As always, I’ve got my co-host, who’s the director of our massive action team for our warrior group, on the call, Mark Nagy. Mark, what’s up, brother?

Mark
Not too much, Rod. I was sad that I missed our warrior event this past weekend. I heard it was a big success. Few hundred people there, right?

Rod
Yeah, we had over about 250 of our warriors. It was incredible. Just a lot of goodwill, a lot of training, a lot of deep dives on analysis. It was really amazing. But anyway, enough of that. We are excited to have Nathaniel and Valerie Kolwyck on the call today. And they’re warriors and they have, I don’t know, somewhere above 80 doors. But what’s really amazing is, you know, their cash flowing, like over 23,500 a month, 23,500 a month, which is just awesome. And they joined the warrior program in 2021. And they’re both on the call today, which is going to be a lot of fun. So welcome to the call, guys, or welcome to the show.

Valerie
Thanks.

Nathaniel
Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Rod and Mark, for having us on here.

Rod
Absolutely. Well, why don’t you take a minute and just tell us a little bit of your story, and yeah, just take it away. Give us a little background, a little bio, if you would.

Nathaniel
Yes. I’m Nathaniel Kolwyck. That’s my wife, Valerie. We got into the rental business, multifamily business about when we were 21 years old. What we did is we bought a single-family house. We actually fixed it up, sold it, made a little bit of money, and made about $20,000. So we’re like, well, hey, let’s try to do this if we can duplicate it. So we bought another house, moved into it or built another house, actually moved into it, sold it, and made a little bit of money. Me and my wife built and sold houses for about four or five years. We couldn’t actually at the time afford to actually have multiple houses. So what we did is we actually built a house and moved into it as soon as we sold it. Sometimes we sell it for– live in it for about 30 days to 60 days, and we’d have to move right back out.

Rod
Wow.

Nathaniel
So we actually did a pretty [inaudible] moving in and out. Finally, we were like, you know what? We’re tired of working. Let’s actually start getting building some cash flow. So what we did is we took our experience from use of building houses for spec houses of speculation to sell to actually wanting to build some rental units to get the cash flow building in. So what we did is we took the leap of faith and built one house, and rented it out. We were actually [inaudible] We’re actually living in this little 650 square foot house and rent out 1000 square foot houses. So we’re actually renting out nicer stuff than what we were living in. So we just built it on up for that. We built the momentum up and got it to where we’re at today.

Rod
Fantastic. You know, it’s funny, you just reminded me of something. I remember when I literally had, I don’t know, 300 or 400 properties and I was living in a 600 square foot, one-bedroom apartment, that I could live in for free because I had this balloon business where I put these cold air balloons on top of the roof that said move-in special for this apartment complex and they let me live for free if I put it up once a month. So, you know, listen, we do what we have to do to make it happen and very impressive story. You know guys, you have to make sacrifices to be a success in life and in business, and, you know, that wasn’t the end of the world. But look at where you are now. That’s awesome. Well, you know, I know that your model is kind of unique in that, you’re actually building to rent now and so I’d like to dig into that a little bit. First of all, are you a GC, or do you hire a GC or how do you actually put these deals together? You go out and find the land obviously but the actual construction and stuff. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Nathaniel
Yes, I do have my GC license, insured and bonded. So pretty much what I do is I go out and find the land, develop and put in some infrastructure in, get everything approved through DNR and everything, and I go hire out from there. I do subcontract everything that I do.

Rod
Right. Of course. Right. Got that. You’re not out there swinging a hammer. Okay, so you got your GC license, now, was that something you did just to do this, get licensed in that, or, you know, did you do it for, you know, employment or some other– was there another reason that you got the license? Just speak to that a little bit.

Nathaniel
Yeah, I got the license at– the first GCs that are hired I realized they were scraping off the top. I could actually do it probably better and do it better and faster if I learned it myself. So I went out and studied and got my GC license. So it was pretty just to do it all. That’s how I look at it.

Rod
Wow. Good for you. Good for you. So when in 2021 did you join the Warrior program? Of course, we didn’t have live events in 2021. Was it a virtual event that you found out about us or just called from the podcast?

Nathaniel
Called from the podcast. I’ve listened to you probably for about two and a half, maybe three years, really listen to a lot of other podcasts, and you’re actually the one that has been through the thick and thin. So I really admired your whole entire story.

Rod
I appreciate that. Thank you. So, you know, tell me, if you look back, were there any, like epiphanies, as you were getting into this real estate thing, where you’re like, okay, now I get it, you know, or, you know, I should be doing it this way or just any aha moments, as it were. Does anything come to mind when I asked that question?

Nathaniel
Yes. Just wish I would have been bigger, faster. And the multifamily is the way to go. Single families are, you’re a lot more stretched.

Rod
Yes, it is. And they don’t cash flow as well. It’s the craziest thing. I always had a struggle figuring that out. But it’s the absolute truth. They do not cash flow as well. Like even a package of single-family houses does not cash flow as well as an apartment complex where everything’s the same and, you know, the logistics are easier, I believe for sure as well.

Nathaniel
100%

Mark
Well, that’s what I was going to ask. What do you guys think was the biggest driving factor? Was it just better commercial financing? Was it having it under one roof, easier management, scale, all the above? What was that driver that made you guys want to go bigger?

Nathaniel
Well, the bank that I financed everything through is a small community bank. So they went with me through when I was building all my spec houses. And then when I decided to start building my rental portfolio on the single-family, I was actually because I was the GC, I was building them cheaper than what they appraised for. So as long as they appraised for 20%– as long as I could build them for 20% of what they appraised for since they were new construction, they would actually go off of what the appraisal value was versus when you buy a used house, an older house, they go off the appraisal, and then you have to have 20% down. So I realized that you could actually build a new construction house, most of the time build it less than 20% down. And so I was able to build these mostly with hardly any money down.

Rod
No, that’s awesome. So, you know, do you guys have kids? I didn’t ask you in advance. Is it just the two of you or do you have children?

Nathaniel
Yeah, we have kids. We have an eleven-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.

Rod
Okay, well, that queues up my next question. I want to ask Valerie. So how effective has Nathaniel been in managing family time, home time, and I don’t know what– do you play a role in the actual business as well. And if so, let’s start there. If you play a role, let’s start there. What do you do? And then I want to talk about that work-life balance if you don’t mind.

Valerie
Well, so I’m the one that kind of study the market. I can figure out, like what rent should be as far as if it’s– in our area, a lot of places are very under rented. And so, I guess you could say we kind of set the market in our area. People watch us, and it has raised the value of a lot of properties, which is kind of cool watching that. Just the other day I saw a family that has a few rental homes, and I noticed it was under rented. The property was nice. So I reached out to them and said, hey, do you realize that you should be getting more? And they thank me later. So I really keep an eye on that. I like going through the process of, you know, making sure that everyone’s qualified. Different things like that. So that’s kind of where I stand. And I will say, Nathaniel, he is very good at managing his family time and business time. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s great at that.

Rod
Fantastic.

Nathaniel
From that book you [inaudible].

Rod
Yeah? Good. You know, I tell you, you know you guys, if you listen, if you haven’t listened to me before, that’s something I take very, very seriously in my own life and with my students that they pay attention to what’s most important. And it’s not often we have, you know, the spouse on the call. And so it’s kind of cool to have you here, Valerie, and you can see how supportive you are and the fact that you’re helping and you’re playing a role as well, which is very cool.

Mark
Well, for the people married out there, because we get a lot of the times, you know, people that are married, even if it’s just one person doing the business and one person is supportive, how important do you guys think it is that you know, couples are on the same page before they just go jumping into doing real estate?

Rod
Good question.

Valerie
Do you care if I answer that?

Nathaniel
Yes.

Valerie
I think it’s a very big deal because there have been moments even when Nathaniel first came to me about joining the Warrior program, I was very skeptical. I’m like, I don’t–you know, and I think that’s just part of being a woman here. Women are kind of setback. They have to have a little bit more facts, especially you know, it was a big jump for us. We were kind of in a hard time in our life. I didn’t know how we were going to pay for it. And so once I started digging into the information, I got it. I’m like, okay, I see. And when the wife is supporting the husband or the husband’s even supporting the wife, it’s a big deal. You can go a lot faster. You’re not fighting with each other as far as what goals you want to be at. Being open-minded is huge.

Rod
That’s beautiful. And that’s so important. In fact, that’s one of the things we dig into at my boot camps is, you know, we talk about this and we talk about people that have you know, had to deal with a spouse that wasn’t supportive and how they got through it. And we give examples of that. And I know that’s really helpful to people that, you know, may have someone at home that’s fearful you know, and afraid of possibility or you know, really afraid of loss in most cases, afraid of failing. And you have to push through that to create that life you deserve. So let me ask you this. You know, you know that we have a lot of listeners like you were that hadn’t started yet, really gone crazy with this yet or, you know, maybe done a couple of houses, haven’t done any multifamily yet, know they want more out of life, but haven’t taken action. You know, what words of wisdom would you share with aspiring commercial real estate investors?

Nathaniel
Well, anybody can do it. The thing about myself personally, growing up, I was actually an LD, a learning disability. I was in a class of–I was in a smaller class, had to have my test read to me. So confidence is the key. The one thing that you gave me, your program gave me was the confidence. I had to jump first before I was able to get the confidence. But the one thing I’ve learned, anybody can do this. If you build yourself a team around you, anybody. Take it from me. I can barely read and write if you want to look at it. That’s why I always tell all my team members when they’re like, man, I wish I could be like, you. I’m like, you have no idea what the struggle is I went through. But if you actually knew what I was in the elementary school, a lot of teachers would probably think I’d be in prison or jail or something just because of where I went. But anybody can do this, that I promise you, and I can be there to support it. Anybody can do it.

Rod
Love it. What a great answer, buddy. I actually struggled as well. I was in a special class for math. Believe it or not, I still don’t love math. That’s why I partner with, you know, the people I partner with, the CPA, and just super analytical partners. So, yeah.

Mark
So tell us about some of those mindset shifts then that you guys have had to go through over the years to get to where you’re at today.

Rod
Yeah. Especially under your circumstances, because you probably had a lot of apprehensions getting into, you know, anything technical. Right? With that, you know, perceived disability. And I want to say in quotation marks, perceived, you know. So how did you get through that? Yeah.

Nathaniel
My personality is a fight or flight. I’m the fighter, so I’m a big John Maxwell fan. You know, sometimes we win and sometimes we learn, so we never fail as long as we keep pushing. So I have no problem failing because I’m also a Robert Kiyosaki person about, you know, A work for C’s and B’s work for the government. Because of my schooling, I’m used to failing just the way it is. I got D’s and F’s. So in everyday life, I wasn’t scared to take risks. You know this is a risky business. But because I wasn’t scared to take risks, I pushed through it. If I failed, I didn’t fail. I actually just pushed even harder to get through every wall I came to, I blew through it like a buffalo is what I believe. So the mind shift, switch shift is actually proving to myself that I can do it. What about yours, Valerie?

Valerie
I’m just happy to see that he has the confidence to do this now. I’ve always believed in him and it’s a big deal seeing how far he is. So, I don’t know [inaudible]

Rod
That’s beautiful. That’s absolutely beautiful. That support is– I mean, you’re unstoppable when you have support like that. You know, and again, those of you listening that may not have that support, you know what I hear the most often is just kind of a subtle education process between one spouse and the other. Just letting them see what’s possible and, you know, maybe have them suffer through a little bit of my podcast, for example, or, you know, maybe do my goal setting workshop together. I did that on January 1st this year, and January 2nd the year before. And I think in the first year before, I do it every year. And this last one was really professionally done with music. So, you know you can– if you DM me on any social channel, I’ll get you the link to that. It’s got a downloadable guide and, you know I think it’s so important to also get aligned on your goals. Do you guys agree with me to just make sure you’re headed in the same direction? Yeah?

Nathaniel
100%. Yes.

Valerie
Yes.

Rod
Okay. Yeah. So that process when you do those goals together is very, very powerful. You do them separately, but then you compare notes. Very, very powerful. So let me ask you this. You know, talk about a setback or, you know, sometimes you got your butt kicked in the real estate business. I know, you know, like everybody gets their butt kicked throughout life. And you had your school experience. Me too. I remember my dad writing me a letter because I was getting all D’s in junior high school, he’s really worried about me because he didn’t live with me. I just remember that. I wish I still had that damn thing. But, so I struggled as well, so that resonates with me. But talk about a real estate related seminar that you may have had and, you know, a learning experience.

Nathaniel
I mean, in 2018, when I took a leap of faith and actually went 100% into real estate full time, I did not realize how money works with bankers and realized all of it. So we built a couple of projects that I kind of underbid on myself and it cost me a lot of money. It took me down. So I had to have a meeting with my banker and actually make myself look bad in front of him. So I had to let him know, hey, I underbid on some of these jobs. I need a couple more thousand of dollars. It wasn’t just a couple of– a lot more than that. So that was my real-life seminar, the biggest learning curve, because not only did I quit my job full time where I had a little bit of a cushion of income coming in, it was sucking away from me every single minute, every check I was writing. So that was my big learning curve.

Rod
That’s humble pie. But, you know, I will tell you, you know, your bankers appreciate that when you’re completely transparent and get ahead of something like that. So, you know, it’s when you hide and don’t tell them and let things go, that things really get ugly. And so, you know, although they may not have liked it at the moment, I promise you, you know, that ultimately enhances that relationship for sure.

Mark
So I want to shift to a particular deal that I saw you guys did in the warrior group that I know you acquired, that it was direct to seller. You guys mentioned that you talked to the seller, and the seller didn’t reach out until I think you said a year later, a long time. What has been your guys’ mindset on follow-up and persistence?

Rod
Yeah. How did that deal come together? Just give us a little background on it? Yeah, great.

Nathaniel
Yeah. So back in December 2020, we bought a 26-unit apartment complex. The complex that you’re talking about is an eight-unit apartment complex that actually is in the same role as every– is in the same plot of ground as all the rest of them. But for some reason, this particular eight-unit got pushed out of the properties and somebody actually bought this one little eight-unit property. So when I first bought the 26-unit, I reached out to the couple and knew they were elderly, asked if they were willing to sell it, and they said no, not at this time. So pretty much I check back every– probably about every quarter, every three months if they’re willing to sell it. And finally, persistence has it, they finally had a bad spur where people aren’t paying payments and work, keeping the property clean like they wanted. And they reached out to us and wanted us to ask if we would buy it.

Mark
So they feel a little pain, finally.

Nathaniel
Finally, a little pain. Yes, sir.

Rod
Nice. And did you do that with other warriors? Did you guys just take that down yourself? I don’t recall.

Nathaniel
We did take it down by ourselves.

Rod
Fantastic. By the way, guys, you know, you’ve heard us mention the warrior program. If you have an interest in applying to our warrior program, text the word “CRUSH” to “72345” and we use that word so we can help you crush it in this business. Our warriors are just killing it. Like we were mentioning, we had our warrior-only event here in Sarasota. 250 of our students was just incredible. If you go on any social channel, you can see some of the pictures, but, yeah, if you want to apply and there’s an application process, I mean, we want to make sure you’re a fit for us. And then, of course, you can make sure we’re a fit for you. Again, just text the word “CRUSH” to “72345”.

Mark
And as a random side note on that, by the way. Just real quick, my team and I, you know, we were talking about spouses earlier. Even if the Warrior program isn’t the right thing, we can certainly help you and your spouse get on the right page, because sometimes you don’t know where to start with that conversation, even though they’re your husband, wife, whatever. You may not know what to say. And so, you know, we have some good tools that can help you guys start that conversation with your spouse and help you guys get on the same page regardless. So I just thought I’d throw that out there.

Rod
No, fantastic. Yeah, fantastic. You know, have there been any– well, let me ask you this question. Why do you think some people fail or give up in this business? If you have any thoughts about that.

Nathaniel
They fail or give up, it’s more of a–I think it’s a confidence issue. They fight or flight. They run into an issue. They think that– they run into an issue instead of actually fighting through it because, you know, in the real estate business, you always come up with issues. So instead of actually going through it and actually finding through it, they believe in quitting. So I think it’s 100% mind shift.

Rod
Yeah, agreed.

Valerie
Well, I can say something, too. I think the support system, even that we’ve had with the Warrior group being able to pick up the phone and call anybody that we’ve met through the– going to the boot camp, a lot of people have been where you are. So being able to have other people that you can ask, you know because everybody has been through something that we’ve been through already. So, you know, having each other is a big deal, too.

Nathaniel
100%.

Rod
Yeah, I love it. Love it. So let’s talk about leadership for a minute, because I know you’re a leader, and I would love to get your thoughts on leadership. So tell me, what do you think is a quality that every leader should have? Talked about that for a minute? Because in this business you know, you end up building a team. You end up leading a team very often. And so, you know, Nathaniel, what are some qualities that you feel like a leader should have?

Nathaniel
My biggest one is integrity.

Rod
Yeah.

Nathaniel
Always telling the truth.

Rod
It’s my number one, too. Yeah. It’s actually in our core values, at my company. We have the acronym FAMILY, and every letter stands for one. And the I is integrity. Although that was at the top of the list, we couldn’t– with the word family have it at the top of the list. But that was the first one we all agreed on. Does anything else come to mind when it relates to leadership qualities? I’m putting you on the spot. I know I am. Well, let me help. Okay. I think, you know, when you’re in it, it’s hard to kind of step outside of it and look at– you know, look at it. And I think a big one is vision. Okay. I think you have to have a vision and get people behind that vision, and that’s a big one and be able to communicate well enough, you know, have enough emotional IQ and the communication skills to be able to communicate that vision and rally people behind it. And then, you know, when everybody’s rowing in the same direction, you’re freaking unstoppable. Was there any question I haven’t asked that you wish I had? Let me ask that.

Nathaniel
Not really.

Rod
Okay.

Mark
I have one more for you, which is on that topic. Right. The last thing, you know, you guys talk about your why, getting uncomfortable you know that– of why people quit. What is your guys’ big why? What’s the driver to get all this cash flow that maybe having a job or a business you know, couldn’t get you guys?

Nathaniel
We’re big on family and family support. So I grew up in a household where my dad busted his butt for our family. Really busted his butt. Worked six hours, six days a week, 12, 14 hours days. I grew up in a house where I did have almost everything. If I wanted something, he did buy it for us. But the one thing I didn’t have was my father. And then when he was there, he was so stressed and so that he took it out on his family. He loved us very dearly. It’s why he did what he did, but he didn’t–he just couldn’t spend a lot of good family time. So when me and my wife first got married, we’d been together since we were 14, so we had always been talking about goals. When we actually have a broader family, I didn’t want to live the same life that my dad lived with time. So we decided to let’s go out and try to hustle right now while we’re young to create some cash flow so we can live like nobody else and have good family time. So that’s what I’m fighting for. Every day when I’m getting sick in the shower, knowing I’m fixing to go fight the war of everyday life, I have a picture of my family. I look at it every day.

Rod
That’s beautiful, man. I love it. Love it. And I’ll tell you, that resonated with me in a big way, which is why I spend so much time on it with the warriors is, you know, don’t lose sight of what’s most important on this journey to be successful. Because, you know, the example I give is, you know, we’ve been taught to achieve, achieve, achieve to be happy. Well, it’s much better to happily achieve. And if you’re spending time with the people that matter, you’re happily achieving and giving back. I use it as an example for charity as well. Well, listen, I really appreciate you guys coming on today. It’s been a lot of fun. And Valerie, I’m so glad you got to join us. And it’s a pleasure to hear a little bit of your story and looking forward to seeing you guys at the next event. I know the next one that we’re having is in Denver in July. We’re anticipating 1000 people. By the way, guys, if you have not registered for that, it’s super early bird pricing and it’s like ridiculously reasonable $197 for three days of training with no sales pitch. So it’s kind of a no-brainer. Anyway, guys, it’s been a pleasure. We’ll talk soon. Okay.

Mark
Thanks, guys.

Nathaniel
Our pleasure.

Rod
All right. Thanks.

Outro
Rob, I know a lot of our listeners are wanting to take their multifamily investing business to the next level. Now, I know you’ve been hard at work helping our warrior students do just that using our “ACT” methodology which is Awareness, Close, and Transform. Can you explain to the listeners how they can get our help?

Rod
You bet. Guys, we’ve been going nonstop for three years building an amazing community of like-minded people. And our coaching students which we call our Warriors have had extraordinary results. They’ve purchased thousands and thousands of units and last year we did over 1000 units with our students. And we’re looking to grow this group and take it to the next level. We’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework that’s really step by step and then leverage our systems and network to raise equity, to find and close deals, and to build partnerships nationwide. Now, our warrior community is finding success in any market cycle. So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more of our incredible network and take advantage of the incredible opportunities that are coming very soon, apply to work with us at “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345” and we’ll set up a call so you can check us out and we can check you out. That’s “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345”.