Is multifamily real estate better than single family real estate?

Here’s some of the topics we covered:

• Getting educated in multifamily
• The importance of time management
• Overcoming fear
• Job progression vs personal growth
• Leadership
• Competence breeds confidence
• Finding your why
• The value of your peer group
• Comfort kills dreams

To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com

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Full Transcript Below:

Rod: Welcome back to Multifamily 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 and how multifamily investors are creating massive success, not just in their businesses but also in their lives. As always, I’ve got my co-host, who’s the director of our massive action team for our warrior group. Mark Nagy on the call. Mark, what’s going on, brother? What’s happening?

Mark: Man, I’m really excited for today’s call just because– our guest, I remember enrolling him a little while back. He’s crushing it, getting into some more deals, building his business. And I’m excited to see where he’s at and you know, we’ll hopefully meet each other not virtually soon in Orlando in December and get back to that.

Rod: Oh, yeah. So we’ve got Eyal Ohana, and Eyal actually lives in my backyard here. So he’s been over to my house. We’ve had coffee together, and he’s a super nice guy. He’s in over 1100 doors as a GP and an LP, and he’s in some of our deals, actually as an LP. Now he’s actually a general partner in this latest deal we did in San Antonio. So welcome to the show, brother. It’s good to see you. Good to have you here.

Eyal: Rod. Mark, thank you very much for having me. It really is an honor. Rod, all I got to say about yourself is another way you feel about Tony Robbins, is the way I feel about you.

Rod: That’s kind of you, brother. That’s kind of you. Why don’t you take a minute and talk a little bit about your background? You know, I know you’ve been in accounting for 20 years, but just talk a little bit about that. Why and how you got into real estate, and we’ll just take it from there.

Eyal: Yeah. So my background is an Accountant. Obviously a tax guy. I worked 15 years in New York City, then branched out on my own. I’ve been on my own ever since–we want to say since 2013, probably the best decision I ever made, to be honest with you. And again, I have always loved real estate. Obviously, being an accountant and seeing people’s taxes, I see how they accumulated wealth, mostly through real estate. I own a single-family, I had headaches with those. To be honest with you. And stumbled upon your podcast. And since then, trying to educate myself about multifamily.

Rod: Love it. You know you get to see the inside scoop on people’s, you know, finances. Okay. I mean, to a level that nobody else gets to see. And you saw how many– you know, people that were making money and building wealth and building their fortunes and creating legacy wealth through real estate. So, you know, it’s awesome to have that behind-the-scenes insight you know, from someone like yourself. So let me ask you this. Was there an epiphany in all this that started this for you? Was there, like, okay, I’ve had enough, or was there any one thing, or was it just a cumulative seeing it over and over again that caused you to get started?

Eyal: I think it was mostly seeing it over and over again. I mean, thank God I’ve been successful. So it wasn’t bad. I don’t have a bad choice A. Let’s put it that way. So, I have always loved multifamily. I always saw myself retiring that way. I never saw myself retiring as an Accountant just because of the small firm that I was in, we had an older gentleman who always wore the big boy pants. Thought, who it was to went to a seminar, and obviously they kind of hand them his ass to be honest with you. Basically, they told him, listen, the older you get, the more you diminish your own asset, your client is just as old as you, passing away. What has you, there’s got to be an exit strategy to this game, and thinking about that a lot? That kind of made me, make the switch, try to obviously bring this while I’m still young, cultivate this and hopefully sell out my practice at one point.

Rod: Yeah. Nice.

Mark: So how do you think that experience you know, with numbers and obviously working with people? How has that helped you translate over into the multifamily business?

Eyal: I have always been a people person. I love that aspect of it. Believe it or not, dealing with numbers, you thought I would gravitate to the analysis portion of it. I really gravitate to the people portion of it. So like helping Rod, the latest deal, obviously raising some funds. I feel like that’s my niche, to be honest.

Rod: Well, yeah, you’ve done a really great job and you’ve helped you know, behind the scenes as well with the due diligence work that we’re doing and CapEx evaluation that we’re doing. But you’ve killed it with you know, bringing investors to the deal. You know, and those of you who don’t know, I’ve purchased well over 2300 doors with deals that were brought to us from Warriors, Warriors invested in them like Eyal. It became–you know, Eyal is now a GP in this deal with us. He’s the general partner in it. And we’re certainly going to do more deals together because he’s been a delight to work with. And so, you know, that just goes to show you how this business is a team sport and how it’s all about who you know and you network with and you build alliances with. But let me ask you this Eyal, what words of wisdom would you share with you know, listeners that are thinking about this business that haven’t taken action yet, that you know, they know they want to do this and they haven’t pulled the trigger for whatever reason, maybe analysis paralysis. What would you tell them about you know, with what you know so far?

Eyal: I think the best thing that I could recommend to them is obviously to get educated. We’re in a place right now where the market is on fire. Very hard to find deals. This is definitely the time to buckle down and just get educated. If you have to drive a half-hour, 45 minutes, just put on a podcast, you learn a lot. Very valuable lessons there.

Rod: Thank you. Yeah. By the way, guys, you know, we’ve got our Orlando Bootcamp coming up. We’re going to be live again on December 3rd, 4th, and 5th, you know. And I will tell you, I’ve had thousands of people come to my events, and the only complaint I’ve ever gotten is the room’s too cold or you know if it is and the food sucked at the hotel. But that’s it. You know, we go through every aspect of this business for three full days. It’s not a big sales pitch. Sure. I’ll talk about the Warrior group for about 30 minutes, but that’s it.

Eyal: Speaking about that. Obviously, we come fresh off the Warrior Group, which was just an amazing event.

Rod: Well, you came to our Warrior Only events, which we have here in Sarasota.

Eyal: Correct.

Rod: And we’re going to have another one of those at the end of March. So we have those every year, a couple of times a year. We’re just warriors get together and network, because this business is all about your network. You’ve got to build a team, you’ve got to find you know, people to align with. I mean, I know you’re in a 36 unit JV with another warrior right now, a recent deal. You just did. We do these Warrior Only events–

Mark: I’m not going to name drop, but we just had a coach and a student who said they made $3 million on a land deal purely because we put together that live event and because they met each other and networked in person, and they just did a $3 million profit land deal recently.

Rod: That’s right. That’s right.

Mark: That’s the power of getting together in person.

Rod: Right. We do the two-day Warrior Only event, and we do deep dives on deal analysis and area analysis and that’s kind of what we do. But it’s more about networking. Let me ask you this now you’re getting rolling on this. Have you had to make any sacrifices so far? I mean, you’ve got a family, you know, you’ve got your core job. You know, it’s not all you know, the cash paychecks. You’ve got to actually buckle down. So can you speak to sacrifice at all and how you manage that?

Eyal: Yeah. Basically, when Covid hit, obviously back in, I would want to say in March 2020, am I correct about that?

Rod: Yeah, exactly.

Eyal: Basically, we took our whole family. So it’s me, my wife and four girls. That’s why I’m bored, by the way.

Rod: That’s a lot of estrogens. Just saying.

Mark: Helped with your people skills a lot.

Eyal: My practice is still in Staten Island, New York. We lived in Jersey at the time and physically packed up everybody and moved them out here to Sarasota. Number one is to be closer to you guys yourself, and Robert because I feel like I will gain a lot more experience that way. And number two, just because Florida was always our end goal, it just came much faster than we expected.

Rod: Yeah. Well, listen, if not now when right? It was one of my dad’s famous lines. If not now, when? Love it.

Mark: Well, time. That’s actually something I know we were just talking about, which I know you’re still kind of working on. May be struggling with if you want to use that word. But as a business owner and a family man, someone with kids, you know, that’s a lot of the people that we talk to that have families and businesses and things like that. How do you find the time to also do multifamily? Can you give any tips on people that might be in the same position?

Eyal: I’m an early riser. So I like the morning time. I get a lot done before the phone rings. I find a lot of time that way. Between the hours of I want to say, 12:00 to 03:30 PM, I become an Uber driver, getting my girls back and forth from school. That’s always fine.

Rod: I was going to say. There’s no way you’re doing it. Okay.

Eyal: You know, obviously, three of them are teenagers. They all have activities going on in school, and we try to obviously accommodate and take into as much as possible. Of course. Then, of course, late-night, you know, we got to sit by the computer and hopefully catch up on stuff that I missed. If it’s podcasts if it’s underwriting. And now, obviously, I’m committed to as of October, I’m committed to obviously reach out to more Warriors and obviously getting into more groups. That way I keep my education going.

Rod: Yeah. And your options open. You have so many deals you know when you’re aligning with other warriors and groups inside the warrior group. You know, I tell my warriors, the most successful Warriors I’ve got are the ones that are most connected. And you took it to heart, which is why you’re in all these deals.

Eyal: I must say, it’s amazing, though, Rod, because number one, obviously a warrior group is just amazing. But to get that first deal done, even as a passive investor, just opens up so many more doors, it’s unimaginable. And as far as the GP deal in Sedona right now, just to be on those calls, lessons that you cannot pay for. Let’s put it that way.

Rod: That’s the San Antonio deal he’s talking about that you’re a GP on? Yeah. No. I mean, you just get all the behind-the-scenes stuff and you know, even our passive investors you know, we do education. We did an educational webinar about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that happened in the deal, and they loved it. We had all of our investors on that deal. Let me ask you this. You know, you’re analytical because you’re a CPA, I mean, goes with the territory. Okay. How did you get over the fear of doing this business when you first got started? Because a lot of analytical people really struggle with that. Now, you’re kind of an anomaly because I think you’re more outgoing than you are analytical, which is really unusual for a CPA. But anyway, can you speak to fear for a minute?

Eyal: That’s the funny part about myself. To be honest with you. Even when I met with Robert, I had coffee with Robert a couple of times already. And basically, I can’t say better than I bet on the jockey compared to the horse. So I meet people. I feel like I could read them very well, and I just follow them. There’s nothing else besides that. I’m the one to basically put my money up first before I would even worry about the analytical part of it. So I jump in hands first, and I actually find myself doing a better job at that because then it gets me more motivated to learn about the asset and learn about the group and not worry about the money aspect of it.

Mark: So what do you think your initial thought process was, or shifting point that made you say, hey, I guess I want to you know, get a mentor, somebody to push me in doing this. What was your shifting point to do that versus just you know, continue being successful as a CPA?

Eyal: I mean, like anybody else again, I started with single-family. I had one on the island. We had a couple of them in PA, and I was always getting frustrated. You know, everybody always tells you this hope and a dream that they can’t live up to. They offer you that 16, 18% cash on cash returns. By the time we do the math and everything that breaks between you getting the rent payment, you’re averaging about 7%. I don’t care what nobody says, and that’s in a good day, you’re averaging 7%. So it got to that point where my last Philly deal that we did, I kind of did a fire sale, got rid of that property, stumbled on Rod’s podcasts. Listened, ever since. And that was my jumping point to just jump into multifamily, not take any more of those chances.

Rod: Yeah. Thank you. You know, what’s the most profound thing you think you’ve learned you know, this year in the warrior program? If there’s anything that jumps out at you or you know, that’s kind of really kind of an open-ended question. But what will help you improve you know, for next year? Because we’re getting near the end of the year.

Eyal: I mean, I definitely learned that obviously everybody in that warrior group is just there to help, no matter what you need, they’ll help you out. The groups that they have– these groups have been run since– I’ve been the warrior group maybe three years going, and you just ask somebody to let you in the group and they have no problem with that. They want everybody to excel.

Rod: What he’s talking about, guys, is we’ve got lots of little subgroups inside the warrior groups. Accountability groups, underwriting groups, little mini masterminds. So that’s what he’s referencing there. Well, let me ask you this. Do you think that there’s a particular type of person that’s best suited for this business? Do you have any thoughts on that? Do you think there’s a particular type?

Eyal: As I said, I’m outgoing. So I just don’t see that. I just see that somebody that gets very frustrated with what they’re doing, wants a better life for themselves and their family, and I just want to roll up their sleeves and learn. That’s basically it is what I feel. I always say that you know, we always ask, like, you always take a step back and you ask why the W-2 employees compared to self-employed people. And I feel like a lot of that is that people get too comfortable and are not willing to go out of their wheelhouse. If people were actually taking a step back– because I have family that has W-2 jobs. And the way I see the progress, to be honest, is just going from one job to the next. I just don’t see that as a path. You know, if you really love what you’re doing, then you should progress in your own job. It tells me that they don’t like what they’re doing. They’re chasing the money and that’s like a hamster on a wheel, right? You’re always going to chase that money. It’s never going to come that easy.

Rod: No. I mean, you know, we obviously love talking about the warrior group on these calls just because it’s turned into this incredible ecosystem that I’m so freaking proud of. I believe now they’ve exceeded 46,000 doors that we know of, that they own, and it just keeps going. It’s probably closer to 50 grand, honestly. There are so many that we don’t even hear about anymore. But by the way, guys, if you are interested in the warrior program, text the word “CRUSH” to “72345” so we can help you crush it in this business. Like we’ve helped hundreds of other people again, that’s “CRUSH” to “72345”. Are there any roadblocks that you think a newbie in the business should keep an eye out for? Any warning flags that you want to kind of throw out there?

Eyal: Good question.

Rod: I know you aren’t ready for it. Just do the best you can.

Eyal: I was not. But roadblock. So again, I would basically say, as I said before, just get educated, make sure that you’re seeing like-kind people. You guys just hit on the head. The hardest part I guess that I was having is number one, being an accountant. For some reason, we like to wear big boy pants. So I got to be more team-oriented. And number two, just surround yourself with, like, one kind of people. And that’s the hardest part. And I feel like the best move that will make to Florida is that we could be open and not be surrounded by family that wants to keep you there. And obviously not that it’s a bad thing, but they want to keep you grounded.

Mark: I’ll be a little more specific on that if I could. If someone’s listening thinking, hey, maybe I’ll start with that single-family or a Duplex or even a quadplex. And then you know, later on, once I get more comfortable, I’ll start to do multifamily then. If they’re thinking that way, what would you tell them?

Eyal: From experience, I would tell them to just go right into multifamily. The reason being is again, we’ve been to a single-family. It’s another job, to be honest with you. I mean, invest as a passive investor if you want. You will have nothing to do with it. You just put in your money and you’ll get better returns than you would in a single-family. So just little by little, get educated. If you want to create a job for yourself, if you have the time, then go single family, you’ll get comfortable. But sometimes that comfort level keeps you grounded. It doesn’t let you progress. So just be careful, that’s all.

Rod: Yeah. So anybody that listens to this podcast is a leader. And right now the world needs leaders more than ever before. And I will tell you this you know, one of the things as a leader, you’ve just got to be so careful what content you’re consuming. But don’t get me started on the freaking fake news and the politics right now. Stand guard in your mind. Bring in the good stuff. Okay, but let me ask you a question, Eyal. What is one characteristic that you believe every leadership possesses?

Eyal: I think inspiration. I got inspired by you, Rod. I mean, I was never looking for this. I just stumbled on it. You inspired me because of your high energy and all the good things you have to say about everybody else. And I’ve been through that. Like I said, in my 15 years of experience as an accountant, I’ve been with the boss that, don’t get me wrong, he was my mentor or my brother. But it seemed like when I was going to surpass him, that’s when everything went astray. So I do believe that you want to inspire and obviously help people grow.

Rod: Thank you for that. You know, actually, that allows me to give a little coaching piece here because guys in this business or any business, you’ve got to learn to love it or love it right out of the gate. And if you don’t love it right out of the gate, you learn to love it because here’s the thing, especially with multifamily real estate, and you can learn to love it. I mean, I tell my students you know, equate it to hunting for buried treasure. If you get frustrated because you’re looking at so many deals, they’re asking too much money. You’re hunting for buried treasure. You’re not going to be able to find that on the first pass. You can learn to love it. But if you can’t learn to love it, for God’s sakes, do something else. Here’s why. Because this business is a team sport. You’ve got to be able to you know, communicate, and build relationships. And people want to be around people that they can tell are passionate about what they’re talking about. And that passion comes from loving what it is that you’re doing. Okay. That love is just so critical. And of course, when you love what you do, work is play, right? You never work another day in your life. And so thank you for the kind words. I wasn’t looking for that. But you know, it gives me an opportunity to talk about that because you know, I tell people, build your competence first, for God’s sake, come see us in Orlando. If you’re not you know, already signed up for that, build your competence first, and that will equate to your confidence. But then you’ll be able to influence people. But a part of that influence is passion. You’ve got to love it as well. And so that’s just such a critical piece.

Mark: Real quick on that, you know, for people listening. You heard Eyal say, hey, I’m doing underwriting you know, late at night when you got four girls at home and you’re doing these things late at night on the weekends. And if you don’t know what your inspiration is and why you’re doing it, it’s very easy to just fall away from that. Right. And for those people listening that make multiple six figures, even seven figures, you got to find that. You got to find your why? Your inspiration. Because it’s really easy to just sit on that the rest of your life and not reach your fullest potential because your inspiration was just six figures or seven figures or what other people told you you should be successful with not going into your own brain and looking at, okay, what is my own inspiration? What do I want to accomplish in this life? And I think that’s a huge part of it.

Rod: Yeah. And let me circle back to something you said Eyal, about your previous boss. You said that once you started being successful, he felt threatened, I think, really or jealous or something. And, guys, I was just talking about this. I got interviewed on another podcast and they asked me what I thought my three biggest secrets to success were and one of them was peer group. Okay, you need to be around people that are thriving, that is pushing you and holding you accountable and excited about your progress and your success. And that’s why I like the warrior group is a great example of that. When somebody does a deal or they get their website done or they go look at a property, they’re posting it in our private Facebook group, and everybody is congratulating them, excited about it because you want to be around people that aren’t afraid of your success. Most people will default to their peer group as people they go to school with or they work with, like in your KCL. And you’re not proactively– what you have, obviously, by joining the warrior group. But you’ve got to proactively choose your peers because I’m going to tell you, show me your three friends. I’ll show you who you are, period. Okay. So you want to be around people that expect more, that want more, and that aren’t going to be jealous or afraid or intimidated by your success or your desire for success. And even maybe sometimes it’s their love for you, which is probably the case with that guy. He loves you. He didn’t want to lose you. He sees that you’re growing beyond him. So you’ve got to be so proactive about who you hang out with. But you agree with me Eyal?

Eyal: 100%. And that’s what actually made me go on my own. To be honest. I’m going to circle back to that question that you asked me about speed bumps. And I’m going to say I feel like a lot of people have a speed bump because they get too comfortable. To be honest. They get too comfortable in life. They get married, they have their kid. It’s just a routine. They become robots. And if you can step away from that comfort level, as my quote says on my phone, is you know, what does it say. I’m sorry.

Rod: I’ll tell you a quote.

Eyal: “Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear”.

Rod: That’s right. On the side of fear. And on the other side of comfort, too. You could say comfort as the last word there. Tony Robbins has got a great quote, “The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of discomfort you can live with”. Okay. And I will tell you if you sit and think about every amazing thing you’ve ever done in your life and you look back on it, you’ll recognize that you got a little uncomfortable to do it, that you have to push yourself a little bit. And I know that’s the case with me. Well, listen, brother, it’s great to see your happy, smiling face. And I know I’ll see you again soon. Mark, good to see you, brother. Appreciate you sharing some wisdom, Eyal. And appreciate you being on my friend.

Eyal: Guys, thank you very much. I could cross this off the bucket list.

Rod: All right. Take care, buddy. See you later.