With over two and a half decades of robust construction and development expertise, Barry boasts a distinguished career. Overseeing a portfolio exceeding $500 million, he has been instrumental in steering the successful completion of diverse commercial real estate development projects. His focus extends across various domains, including land development and the construction of apartments, condominiums, flex space warehouses, single-family residences, and townhouses. Notably, Barry has recently spearheaded the design and construction of more than 2,500 apartment units, leaving an indelible mark on the landscapes of North and South Carolina.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Barry’s Insane Multifamily Background Before Joining The Warriors
- How Barry Transitioned Into Being An Operator
- Proper Due Diligence Of An Asset
- Developing a 150 Unit Over The Next Year and Half
- How To Get Over The Fear of The First Step
- The Correct Way To Network
- How To Figure Out What’s Important To You
- Who To Align Yourself With
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
00:00:00:00 – 00:00:19:16
Rod
Welcome back to multifamily rock stars. So as you guys know, this is where we interview people that are just flat out crushing it in this business. And we show you the inside scoop into how multifamily investors are creating massive success in their businesses and also in their lives. And as always, I’ve got my co-host who’s the director of a massive action team for the Warrior Group, BOND Mark Nagy.
00:00:19:18 – 00:00:20:17
Rod
Mark.
00:00:20:20 – 00:00:31:23
Mark
Good to be here for another one. I know we got the boot camp. This will probably go out after the boot camp, but. Right. Getting prepared, man. Thousand people coming next week in Orlando. So pumped then.
00:00:32:01 – 00:00:50:23
Rod
It’ll be a blast. Well, we’ve got a very interesting gentleman on today. He’s a warrior, kick ass warrior named Barry Copage and Berry. It’s kind of unique in that he came into the Warrior program with tremendous experience. I mean, he’s done hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate development for family offices, and I’m not going to steal his thunder.
00:00:50:23 – 00:01:06:22
Rod
But, you know, he’s he’s designed and constructed thousands of apartment units and so very excited to hear what he’s been up to since he joined the Warrior program and really why he joined to begin with with that incredible experience. So. Welcome to the show, brother. Good to see you, man.
00:01:06:23 – 00:01:09:12
Barry
Ron, it’s an honor and a privilege operation.
00:01:09:13 – 00:01:27:06
Rod
I’ll thank you for saying that. Well, listen, why don’t you do a much better job than I just did in talking about who you are and you know how you got into this exciting business. And and give us a little background because you’ve got, you know, very, very significant background in this business. So. So take it away, my friend.
00:01:27:07 – 00:01:52:22
Barry
I appreciate it. So I started in the trades when I was 17 years old. I started building houses when I was 24 years old. And so as you go through these things and you’re learning, you realize kind of what the rungs of the ladder or what was the next step. And I quickly, quickly realized when I was home builder, that the developer is the one that really makes the makes the cars.
00:01:53:00 – 00:02:24:14
Barry
So that was always a goal for me. How do I get there? And right about oh seven of eight series, I had just started. I did a 210 unit townhouse development. It was just on the cusp of feeling like I had touched the rung of the ladder that I wanted, right? And then came in and completed pretty well what we lost lives and which was a blessing, you know, because there was a lot of lessons learned there.
00:02:24:16 – 00:02:38:17
Barry
But, you know, I went to school after that, went to a get a formal education. I just had a major street education. All right. So. Right. And there just was not anything going on in our industry, you know, I mean, it was completely dead.
00:02:38:18 – 00:02:41:03
Rod
It was dead. It was dead. Yeah.
00:02:41:05 – 00:03:02:14
Barry
On the table that. So what? I went to school, got an accounting degree, an operations management degree, and had come to the conclusion that I was going to be done with the construction world, I was going to become an accountant and life was going to be peachy right to get through and graduate. And then I had to figure out in the midst of going to school, had we had our daughter.
00:03:02:16 – 00:03:21:21
Barry
So, you know, why do it easy, right? Do it while you’re trying to do everything at one time. And so, you know, I had a young, young child at home and a family. And how do you get how are you going to figure out grad school that doesn’t come? Right? So, yeah, So I started trying to took some time off to figure it out.
00:03:21:21 – 00:03:44:11
Barry
A friend of mine called me up and said, Hey, man, a friend of mine is from apartments and needs a superintendent to run his crews. You interested? I was like, uh, all right, I’ll do fell in love with it. You know, you get back on the job, smell the wood cutting, and, you know, is like that old girlfriend in high school.
00:03:44:11 – 00:03:46:01
Barry
You can never get over it.
00:03:46:02 – 00:03:59:22
Rod
Uh huh, Right. What a great analogy. What a great Italian. I’ll tell you, I’ve never had more fun than when I’m actually on a jobsite swinging a hammer. I’m horrible at it, but I freakin love it. Yeah. So please continue, brother.
00:04:00:00 – 00:04:17:20
Barry
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, the whole environment just kind of bring me back in and then the pace of apartments, right in the scale of it. And I knew, I knew, you know, going through school, I realized what to do different. I wasn’t going to be in the for sale market again. I wanted to rent anything advertised again.
00:04:17:22 – 00:04:33:17
Barry
I just want to rent. I knew that I didn’t know how, but that’s what I wanted to do. And the other thing was scale. I got to know how to scale and just can’t do one day. Tuesdays had it. You know, the scaling is the key. So like I said, I had an understanding of what I should be doing.
00:04:33:20 – 00:04:56:01
Barry
I just needed to figure out how to get there. So, you know, So a friend. Oh, several thousand apartments, I think is almost 1500 apartments of rain. I was like, man, you know, all right, this is a good enough lesson. Now I need to take the next step. So the opportunity came up with the family office and hired all of them.
00:04:56:03 – 00:05:12:04
Barry
Quickly progressed from project manager all the way to head of construction. Wow. And with them, you know, with them, we did like, you know, we were averaging about 100 million at any given time in construction.
00:05:12:06 – 00:05:14:09
Rod
And new construction apartment complexes. Yes.
00:05:14:10 – 00:05:15:08
Barry
Yes. The ground up.
00:05:15:08 – 00:05:19:15
Rod
Where we’re at. Brother, where were you doing this? I forgot. I wanted to ask you that previously.
00:05:19:17 – 00:05:21:19
Barry
Coastal North and South Carolina.
00:05:21:21 – 00:05:22:23
Rod
Gotcha. Okay.
00:05:22:23 – 00:05:24:21
Barry
Go to Wellington. To Charleston.
00:05:24:21 – 00:05:27:06
Rod
Pretty much. Is that where you live? In the Carolinas?
00:05:27:07 – 00:05:28:23
Barry
I live in Wilmington, North Carolina.
00:05:29:01 – 00:05:36:13
Rod
Gotcha. Gadget. Okay. Please continue. So you went with this family office and you’re building hundreds of millions of dollars worth of apartment complexes. Then what?
00:05:36:14 – 00:05:59:02
Barry
Yeah. So, you know, in life was good, right? We had a great environment, a great team, great system running. And then I had some health issues and and had to end up having a kidney removed. Wow. And the family office was very good to me. They took care of me while I was out of I was out of work for four months.
00:05:59:04 – 00:06:17:12
Barry
When I realized I realized very quickly that I would have left my family in the lurch. I came close to dying while I was in the hospital, and I would let them in a lurch. And, you know, we weren’t doing bad, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be if I had to leave. Sure, sure. So I was like, Something’s got to change.
00:06:17:16 – 00:06:43:13
Barry
So we started all my healing process. I started watching podcasts as I got to just get my brain going again and get invigorated and find out all the pieces of that I need in order to create passive income. Right? I didn’t know necessarily what direction I want. I didn’t know I needed more passive income. Right? So and ironically, I found your podcast ironically.
00:06:43:18 – 00:06:48:19
Rod
And it was all downhill, all downhill from there, man. Shit. I’m sorry.
00:06:48:21 – 00:07:10:20
Barry
Bro. And so I just soak it up content, you know? And so I had a notebook while I was watching all these things. I was sitting there and taking all these notes books. I need to read, another other podcast I need to listen to and look at and, and, and I kept that book there. Well, you know, I’ll get back to work and in Life goes on.
00:07:10:22 – 00:07:31:23
Barry
And then December 20, 21, you had your first live event because we were living through COVID, right in Orlando. So I was like, you know what? I’ve been listening to Rod’s podcast. I’ve been listening to all these things. Here’s an opportunity to go to a live event, which was, you know, we were really excited just to go to the movies at that point.
00:07:31:23 – 00:07:34:14
Barry
Right. Because. Right, right, right, right.
00:07:34:14 – 00:07:45:17
Rod
And so now, you know, we got we got it. We got our next event next week. I don’t know if this is going to come out before or after. Like you say, it’s it’s Orlando. We got a thousand people scheduled again. Anyway, sorry to interrupt. Please continue.
00:07:45:22 – 00:08:06:05
Barry
Yeah, that’s great. Well, you know, and I think there was around 800 people at that event. Yeah. When. Right. Well, we went down there and and then so when I just I was like, you know, let’s see, let’s see what we can learn. So I went down there, got a VIP ticket. That’s the best seat in the house, right to go and listen.
00:08:06:05 – 00:08:23:20
Barry
So and then, you know, I was very impressed with all the whole, you know, you didn’t have just two people up there saying, oh, we learned apartments and we’re doing so good now. I mean, you have a person that the person that the person you know. And so that resonated with me was like, okay, there’s something here and there’s good knowledge here.
00:08:23:21 – 00:08:45:04
Barry
And being in the apartment business, all of the management pieces and everything that you were speaking of was right out the playbook, right? I mean, right. So, you know, I knew I was in the right place now and then. And then when Eric Upchurch came on stage, I really resonated with his message and him as a human being.
00:08:45:06 – 00:08:58:18
Barry
Steve Steve Breton was another one that I really resonated with. Yeah. So when it came time during, during the event to become a warrior, I got up, went to the back of the room and signed up. And where we go.
00:08:58:19 – 00:09:23:09
Rod
Nice, nice, nice, nice. Well, we’re glad to have your brother because you, you know that that’s the beautiful thing about the warrior community. As we bring all these different personalities and experiences, experience levels and, and, and different, you know, types of people into the group and, and, you know, a rising tide lifts all ships. And so you bring a wealth of knowledge on the on the construction side, the development side.
00:09:23:14 – 00:09:40:04
Rod
And you know we’ve got people that that work in other asset classes and have experience in other aspects of the business asset management, raising capital in a big way and just lots of other things. So let me ask you this very why did you join with all the experience that you have, why did you join?
00:09:40:06 – 00:10:00:05
Barry
Because it was for I saw the value in networking, right? I mean, again, I didn’t really know what to expect when I went to the event. Right. I didn’t realize there are going to be 800 people there. I had no idea it was a 5100 or 800. And like you say, and there was all walks of life in the room from every nationality, every trade, every whatever.
00:10:00:05 – 00:10:25:13
Barry
And it was phenomenal to be in a room and to have everybody being like minded, right? And everybody was very open to share knowledge or experiences or in the networking part to me really was attractive. So not only that, not only that, but just the content that you that you gave it that event. I mean, you threw out a pretty large playbook in two days, man.
00:10:25:14 – 00:10:26:11
Barry
I mean, is yeah.
00:10:26:16 – 00:10:28:10
Rod
Three days, three days.
00:10:28:12 – 00:10:29:15
Barry
Three days. I mean you could go.
00:10:29:15 – 00:10:30:13
Rod
On three days.
00:10:30:15 – 00:10:31:06
Barry
You know.
00:10:31:08 – 00:10:47:22
Rod
You know I could, buddy. No, no bad that third day. I’m dead, dude. By 4:00 Sunday. It’s game over, man. It’s. It’s frickin game over. Let me tell, you know, I. And it takes me a full week to recover. But. But thank you. Yes, I give it everything, man. I give you everything I possibly can and then some.
00:10:47:22 – 00:10:52:18
Rod
And that’s why I’m wiped out for typically ten days afterwards. But thank you.
00:10:52:20 – 00:11:08:11
Barry
Yeah. Just knowing. Just knowing the value of the content and the possibility of growing a network and and the syndication piece on how to raise money. Yeah, that was another big piece that I needed to, to be able to expand in scale.
00:11:08:15 – 00:11:25:18
Rod
I’m actually we got our warrior coaching call here in 30 minutes or 45 minutes and that’s what I’m training on this for those 2 hours is is raising capital it’s it’s it’s the is is this week happens to just happens to be this week’s topic on on on raising capital so yeah.
00:11:25:23 – 00:11:45:02
Mark
And I wanted to ask you about that what was that transition like from just being the contractor now to the investor and I mean actually running the deal? You know, was it easy? Did you just do the same thing? And what our I guess the the things that other team members have had to bring to the table that you needed to make that transition, though?
00:11:45:07 – 00:12:04:04
Barry
That’s a great question. Yeah. I mean, so you it’s very similar due diligence. You know we we had some existing units on the the first deal that we did. And so you want to do all the all the things that Rod talks about in the program, you know, you want to run through all the books and do it all.
00:12:04:04 – 00:12:31:19
Barry
Your unit walked and make a very thorough list and make sure that the asset is what it is, right that it functions and that it is truly what it is. So but then on the development side, we were we were fortunate enough that we were able to pick up the entitlements with the property. So we just had to clean up and make sure verify all those were in line so that when we when we were able to close that we could go to work.
00:12:31:21 – 00:12:32:03
Barry
Right.
00:12:32:05 – 00:12:40:18
Rod
So so you actually you actually bought a property that had existing units and you, you, you built some more. Correct. Do you like doubled the size, if I recall.
00:12:40:21 – 00:12:58:10
Barry
Yes. Or you it was so as a student housing project, it was 24 units with 72 beds and we added two additional buildings identical to the other two and had another 72 beds. So now we’ve got 144 bit nice.
00:12:58:14 – 00:12:59:07
Rod
Nice night.
00:12:59:07 – 00:13:09:18
Mark
Was that a deal? Did you go looking for that in particular? Did it did it come to you? How do you even find a deal like that? It just kind of perfectly matched your skillset.
00:13:09:19 – 00:13:16:17
Barry
Well. Well, you know, it gets even more unique. The the fortunate thing was, is that I helped build the first two.
00:13:16:19 – 00:13:19:10
Rod
Oh, so no kidding. Wow.
00:13:19:12 – 00:13:20:05
Barry
So that’s.
00:13:20:10 – 00:13:21:06
Rod
Crazy.
00:13:21:08 – 00:13:27:11
Barry
I knew the ownership team and and we approached them and went from there.
00:13:27:14 – 00:13:33:15
Rod
Love it. Love it. So and now you’re developing another 150 units, is that correct?
00:13:33:17 – 00:13:55:09
Barry
Yeah, We’ve got we’ve got several projects coming down the line, some smaller ones we’ve got 125 unit is one of the the bigger ones in between. So yeah, we’ve roughly got a little over 150 units on the board over the next year and a half. Two years to build. Yeah. To build.
00:13:55:12 – 00:14:13:09
Rod
Ground out. Nice, nice, nice, nice. Well so let me ask you this. You’ve got a ton of experience, obviously, on the development side, on the construction side, extraordinary experience. But you know, you’re not unseasoned now on the whole investing side, you know, you bought that asset, you went and talked to the seller, you knew who the seller was.
00:14:13:09 – 00:14:22:03
Rod
This is really a a blessing. What advice would you have for for someone that you know knows they want to get into this business but hasn’t done anything yet.
00:14:22:05 – 00:14:24:06
Barry
Just go into your event, right?
00:14:24:12 – 00:14:30:16
Rod
Well, okay. Well, thank you for that. I’ll I’ll slip you a 20 for that one, but thank you. But yeah.
00:14:30:18 – 00:14:37:03
Barry
And I’ll say this if you’re brand new to it, Go, go, go to the event. If you’re thinking about it, just go. Because.
00:14:37:03 – 00:14:51:20
Rod
Yeah. And if events already gone by the way, guys, we’ve got. I do. I’ll have another virtual event January 6th and seventh. Okay. Two days. It packs everything into two days and, and it’s complete. So thank you for that. I appreciate that. Yeah.
00:14:51:21 – 00:15:23:07
Barry
Yeah. So I am. But quite honestly, that’s where you get the tip of the iceberg, right? That’s where you’re starting to get that information. That is good as good sound information. But the most maybe the more important piece of that is the networking. If you if you’re just new to it, you need to self educate and just drink out of a firehose, learn as much as you can, but then then try to get into a group of people like the Warrior group that I mean, we are we have an in-state chat group that we’re always talking back and forth.
00:15:23:07 – 00:15:36:00
Barry
We have, you know, all of the people that you meet. We’re constantly keeping in touch and seeing what’s going on in the marketplace. I mean, what you get yourself in that environment and around peers that are like minded, you will grow up. You will. Yeah.
00:15:36:05 – 00:15:55:09
Rod
If you’re interested in the warrior group, let me tell you how you check us out. You text the word crush to seven two, three, four or five and and that’s how you apply. And and we’ll check you out. You check us out. But, you know, that’s really that’s the starting point I’m going to tell you, if if you set up a call with us, you will leave that call better than when you got on it.
00:15:55:09 – 00:16:10:03
Rod
I can promise you that, because we’ll help you get lined out on your goals. And then if it’s not a fit, it’s not a fit. No worries. But if you if if it’s not or you don’t want to check out the way program, create that or find that in your local environment because you need it. It’s not just the knowledge.
00:16:10:03 – 00:16:18:03
Rod
In fact, I tell my new students it’s more important for you to meet other warriors than it is for you to learn the business. That’s how important the networking is. Would you agree with me on that?
00:16:18:03 – 00:16:19:23
Barry
Barry Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:16:19:23 – 00:16:44:05
Rod
Yeah. Yeah. So, so if again, if the live events past no worries, you know, you do the virtual event, but then you’ve got to create that, you know, that environment or find that environment in your local area where you can meet with other people in this business or help, you know, obviously check out the Warrior program. But but if not, then go do that, because that is really, you know, one of the biggest pieces.
00:16:44:07 – 00:16:48:07
Mark
And again, that’s text crest 272, three, four or five if you want to do that.
00:16:48:09 – 00:16:56:16
Rod
Yeah. Thank you. I should have said it twice. Crushed 272345. Yep. And we will help you frickin crush it, baby.
00:16:56:18 – 00:17:18:08
Barry
And Rob, I guess the third leg of that bar stool, right? Is, is, is something that you talk a lot about is the mindset. Yeah. Because, you know, learning something new that you may or may not have any idea of learning a new people, meeting new people, and then then trying to apply all of it is going to be a daunting task.
00:17:18:10 – 00:17:41:18
Barry
Yeah. So the mindset piece is trying to stay grounded and focus to your to your goals. Man, I can’t say enough about that. And I’m a pretty of task minded person and I still struggle with that every day myself, right? So, you know, you got to keep you got to keep your head in the game or this is not going to happen.
00:17:41:20 – 00:18:02:19
Rod
No. It’s why our students that’s why the Warriors are so successful. Barry. I mean, we’re pushing, I think somewhere between 170, 180,000 units. And I’ve been teaching for five years something I’m incredibly proud of. And and it’s mindset. That’s why that’s why, you know, that’s why my warriors push through fear. They push their limiting beliefs, they get uncomfortable, they make it happen no matter what, because we spend so much time on it.
00:18:02:19 – 00:18:26:09
Rod
At the boot camps, I spend a ton of time out at the boot camps and of course in the warrior training itself. And we’ve got high performance calls that that that are part of the training program, the Warrior program, to keep you focused on really what’s most important, which is which is all of those things, those soft skills, your courage, your ability to influence, you know, your relationships, your mission of purpose in life, you know, stuff that’s bigger than the real estate.
00:18:26:12 – 00:18:44:02
Rod
But frankly, it’s foundational. The real estate as well. And that’s that’s why, you know, a program like ours is so successful. And can you go do it elsewhere? Sure, go do it elsewhere. But the point is, you need both pieces. It’s not just the technical side. 80 to 90% of your success in anything is the mindset in the psychology.
00:18:44:07 – 00:18:48:20
Rod
You know, only 10 to 20% of the real estate stuff we talk about on the show here. So.
00:18:48:22 – 00:19:06:19
Mark
Well, Barry, speaking of mindset, I know you went through kind of a health thing, and I’m sure that added some urgency, right, to your mindset and man made you say, Hey, I want to do something for my family, I want to go faster. And that probably helped for people listening that obviously maybe haven’t gone through something like that.
00:19:06:21 – 00:19:17:23
Mark
What kind of questions would you recommend they maybe ask themselves to help them get in the right mindset to overcome that fear and start taking action outside of a health scare? Obviously.
00:19:18:01 – 00:19:33:13
Barry
I mean, that’s a great question. Well, yeah, yeah. And be thankful if you don’t have to go to that right in maybe a good maybe a good place to be is is to think that way. You know, if I were if I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow and wiped off the face of the earth, what would happen now?
00:19:33:18 – 00:19:53:06
Barry
Who are your loved ones? What were your goals? What would you want to do different if you didn’t have any more time? What would you do if you were told you only had so much time? So that’s going to boil down to what’s important. All right. Now you know what’s important? That’s the few. That’s the fuel that burns, right?
00:19:53:06 – 00:20:20:18
Barry
Yeah. So now, you know, whenever you get in your dips and you go through hard times, it’s your family, right? Is wanting to give them a better life or to do traveling or to give to, you know, if you’re, you know, to give the organizations or to give back to the community, you know, what are those things that are important to you that you would that you would do anything it would take to make your heart right?
00:20:20:20 – 00:20:23:04
Barry
And then that that’s where you start.
00:20:23:06 – 00:20:39:05
Rod
Oh, that’s beautiful, brother. I just interviewed somebody here in my studio named Steve Rosenberg. And I will tell you, I literally teared up after I asked this question. I asked him, you know, do you have any kids? And he just lost his 19 year old son six months ago. Okay. And I’m like, oh, geez, why did I ask that question?
00:20:39:05 – 00:20:59:23
Rod
But it led into something which was incredibly powerful. And he told me that because he had done what you’re talking about, Barry gone out there and created a life for himself where he could spend time with his son. This son, they did everything together. They rode motorcycles together. They went to Egypt, they went jumped out, they drove with sharks.
00:21:00:01 – 00:21:21:11
Rod
And he’s got a foundation that’s live like jet live like jet Dawg that talks about what this kid did. And I just donated $1,000 to it literally 30 minutes ago. But I was so moved by the story. But but the point is, he was able to do that because he had created that it life. So he had those memories and we talked about this.
00:21:21:15 – 00:21:38:11
Rod
Could you imagine how it would have been if you’d been focused like I was on freaking working and not spending enough time with my kids, the regret that you would have. But he has. He has those memories. And I’m sorry. It’s fresh in my mind because literally he just left 45 minutes ago, so I wanted to bring it up.
00:21:38:12 – 00:22:02:12
Barry
That’s a great that’s a great point, Rob, because I’ve been guilty of that myself right before I’m before my daughter was born. And that was a great thing. That was one of the best takeaways I had from the series. And given the reset, I think it was time I reset period with you focus on really what matters, but you’re always busy, you’re always doing something, but none of it mattered because it all went away.
00:22:02:14 – 00:22:34:07
Barry
Right? Right. So, so when my daughter came around that, you know, I wasn’t working seven days a week, Right? You know, I don’t work seven days a week now. You got to do something, get it done. But, you know, the focus is on trying to spend time with the family, you know, And like you say, if you don’t if you don’t make these changes and get off the hamster wheel right, you won’t have the ability to do that, to take the time like the gentleman that you just spoke about, the memories and experiences are everything, right?
00:22:34:07 – 00:22:53:15
Rod
It’s so what life’s about. Married life is about the memories. I mean, you know, he said he was at the funeral and nobody talked about how many businesses he owned or how much money he made. He talked about the things they did. Yeah, I was it was a really powerful segment that was really emotional for me. And I can’t even I mean, there’s no words for that type of a situation.
00:22:53:15 – 00:22:56:17
Rod
It just it’s it’s unthinkable. But yeah.
00:22:56:19 – 00:23:16:14
Mark
So what were the missing pieces then for you, Barry? Obviously, you’re kind of doing the same thing. Still new construction, but now, again, you’re obviously owning running the deal. What did you need from your team? Was it just money and the management side? And now you’re doing the construction. What did you need from other team members to just help you bridge that gap.
00:23:16:16 – 00:23:17:18
Rod
If anything?
00:23:17:19 – 00:23:38:22
Barry
Yeah. Yeah. No, no. So at the end of the day, it always takes a team like you say. You say this all the time. It’s a team sport. By God it is a team sport, right? So if you find the right people to, to be associated with. I was very fortunate to do that, to do this project with some fellow warriors that we just made a phenomenal team.
00:23:39:00 – 00:23:53:02
Rod
They’re they’re, they’re extraordinary warriors by the way. I mean, they’re top shelf. I mean, you got the cream of the crop and we’ve got extraordinary we’ve got 1200 kick ass warriors. Well, these are like in the top two or 300 of those because they’re they’re extraordinary. Yeah.
00:23:53:04 – 00:24:12:03
Barry
And we all came from different backgrounds. We all had the same mentality, the same drive, the same in a family values. So we clicked in very many ways and that helped with the partnership. But the main thing from the business side of it that I took away from it is I had never done a syndication before. These guys had done several.
00:24:12:05 – 00:24:30:23
Barry
So it was very comforting to know that I was just kind of walk through this process and, you know, you learn it and we all had a learning curve to even do that. But I feel like it was a lot less of a curve because I had people that already walked that walk, right? So yeah, that was that was huge to me.
00:24:30:23 – 00:24:53:02
Barry
And so that was kind of they kind of walked me into it and then I helped walk them out of it by getting the project done. So we all we all very much did our own parts and pieces and it took the whole team to make it work, love it, love it, and just the reach on the teamwork piece, you know, student housing is very, very, very schedule.
00:24:53:04 – 00:25:13:13
Barry
Or if you don’t meet the moving day, you’ve loved it. The game is a right. So we had a very tight schedule. So with the team, we had a phenomenal team to put a good deal together. We structured it right and then we put a phenomenal build team together. And I’m not saying that because I was a part of it.
00:25:13:13 – 00:25:33:21
Barry
I’m saying that because from the person that was helping us clean the units and sweep the forward and the layout all the way to the team, so every human being on our team to make that happen. We built that project in 141 days. Wow. The plumbing in the ground to the time we turned out 141 days. You can’t.
00:25:34:01 – 00:25:49:20
Barry
There’s very few teams that can do that. And I don’t know if I could do it again. I just know that I had the right team that right. And if it wasn’t for everybody on our team, it wouldn’t happen. So, you know, going back to your comment, you’ve got to surround yourself with the right people. You can do.
00:25:49:20 – 00:25:57:10
Barry
You can move mountains with the right people, you know, And so that is probably the biggest takeaway I can give you today is that we need to find the right thing.
00:25:57:13 – 00:26:14:07
Rod
You know, I want to circle back to to motivation for a minute because, you know, I just want to flag something You said, You know, you had that life changing moment. We almost lost your life and you’re thinking, you know, I’ve got you. I’ve got my baby girl, I’ve got my wife. And what happens if if I am gone?
00:26:14:09 – 00:26:22:19
Rod
What? How do they you know, you know, which is beautiful, That that’s that’s your motivation. And how old is your girl now?
00:26:22:21 – 00:26:35:11
Barry
She this is a we will be missing your bootcamp because of her birthday. You should have called me and said, reschedule the right date. Oh, yeah. She’s getting ready to turn 12 years old.
00:26:35:13 – 00:26:49:06
Rod
Oh, my goodness. That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. So obviously that’s the why. Yes, that’s the way it’s that baby girl. Yes. Love it. So. So you’re building are you building more student housing or multifamily or both?
00:26:49:08 – 00:26:53:05
Barry
Now, there is the upcoming project. We have a market rate.
00:26:53:07 – 00:27:14:19
Rod
Market rate. Gotcha. Gotcha. So what’s been the most challenging part of this transition for you? Okay. Like you transitioned into our Warrior program, you’re around some extraordinary people. You really are. I mean, there’s no question the group is extraordinary. But but, but what has been the most challenging? And I also want to ask you, what’s been the most rewarding?
00:27:14:21 – 00:27:20:21
Barry
Ooh, high challenge. I mean, any of these projects are going to come with income, all kinds of.
00:27:20:21 – 00:27:24:21
Rod
Lots of lots of hair, lots of challenges. Yeah. Okay.
00:27:24:23 – 00:27:35:16
Barry
You know, I guess the the the most part that I’m grateful for is that we were able to preplan and get around those things. And again, it comes back to the team or I’m.
00:27:35:16 – 00:27:51:00
Rod
Blessed because, you know, I got I got to say, I got to say something to you, buddy. It speaks to who you are. All all you’ve done. You haven’t taken a credit for this. All you’ve done is given credit to your team, which speaks to why you were such an incredible manager and leader and still are on the construction side.
00:27:51:00 – 00:28:00:03
Rod
I just have to salute you, brother, because that that that’s that’s obvious. That’s that’s that that’s the case. So, you know, I appreciate that.
00:28:00:05 – 00:28:10:08
Barry
But yeah I think those are the challenges is just, you know just acclimating right. Yeah, sure. Just truly pushing through fear.
00:28:10:11 – 00:28:16:22
Rod
Pushing through the fear. I got to raise $1,000,000, 2 million, whatever it is. You know, it’s a little scary at first The first time, right?
00:28:16:22 – 00:28:36:11
Barry
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, again, Is it my team? My team have asked me, how is it different for you this time? I think they’re always trying to me to tell this big rosy story. And I said, you know, guys is not please don’t take it as I’m not being appreciative of this opportunity. But. Right. It is no different than any other job.
00:28:36:11 – 00:28:38:09
Barry
We got to get it done. Yeah.
00:28:38:11 – 00:28:43:07
Rod
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was the most rewarding? What was the most rewarding part?
00:28:43:09 – 00:28:56:15
Barry
This is the most rewarding part is, um, we had a couple of hurdles right at the very end, and we had the CEO, and I turn the keys over 30 minutes before the first person moved in.
00:28:56:17 – 00:29:07:13
Rod
Now, holy cow. By the way, the CEO is the certificate of occupancy, guys. That’s what you need to be able to allow somebody to move in. Holy cow. 30 minutes. Good God, that’s cutting it close.
00:29:07:15 – 00:29:23:08
Barry
Wow. So I love it to know that I had that piece of paper in my hand. I drove back over to the project and to start seeing the kids unpack in their cars and everybody looked so happy. And that was it. It was worth it. All right.
00:29:23:10 – 00:29:45:03
Rod
You know, I want to I want to I we’re nearing the end, but I want to ask you something because you are obviously extra and area building a team. And this is a team sport. So what sort of people do you align your with, align yourself with to be a success in this business? Talk about that first, just a minute before we cut loose here.
00:29:45:03 – 00:29:58:23
Rod
You know, how do you know? What do you look for in team members? How do you gauge them? How do you line them out? And then how do you hold them accountable? I know that’s a lot. That’s a big freaking question, but.
00:29:59:00 – 00:30:21:09
Barry
Some it’s a process like anything else, just like any other relationship, right? It’s kind of like an interview process. You’re talking and you’re asking different questions and and you’re trying to find out what makes them tick, what makes them drive? Do they have drive? Do they have the grit? And that’s usually what draws me is the grit and drive.
00:30:21:11 – 00:30:39:23
Barry
Yeah, because as long as you have grit and drive, you can kind of fix about anything else. Right? But is when is when you have everything else and you just want to quit and the person quits and they just become more dead weight that that’s no good. So. Right. I think that’s the biggest part is just who and who they are as a person.
00:30:39:23 – 00:31:00:03
Barry
And then trying to I try to listen to what they say and understand what their strong points are. So, you know, what were they better at? Were they good at what they seemed very knowledgeable about? So whether it’s a trade person or another business associate, you know, what can they bring to the table and how can we complement each other?
00:31:00:05 – 00:31:23:23
Barry
Right. That that’s kind of the ranking for me, I guess is more natural because I’m rooting through vendors and doing all that all the time. Right? So it’s a constant process for me. But if you’ve never done it before, you’re getting into it. That’s the kind of thing you know, It’s kind of like dating, right? You just need to ask questions, know what it is that you want or need, but also what can you give them to help them to?
00:31:24:01 – 00:31:26:10
Barry
It’s a give and take situation.
00:31:26:12 – 00:31:37:22
Rod
Hmm. Nice. Nice, nice, nice. Well, with what you know now, if you went back and talked to your 20 year old self, would you do anything differently?
00:31:38:00 – 00:32:01:00
Barry
Man, that’s a great question, right? You know, and I’ve often thought about thought about that, right. Especially when the downturn happened. And I had advantage of time or, you know, to take the time to reflect and think about those things that I would like to sell regularly. Do that now right? It’s always like a post mortem. You know, what can we do better?
00:32:01:00 – 00:32:04:10
Rod
How can we read post mortem? Good way to describe it.
00:32:04:12 – 00:32:32:13
Barry
So you know, yeah, I do that on every project and I kind of do that in my own life, you know, working this much time as past. What can you do different? And I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I’d like different outcomes. Yes, I think everybody would. But I don’t know that you know, I don’t know that I would go back and change anything because what you don’t know what the one thing was that might have made you stronger or gave you the knowledge that you need or that I haven’t even used yet.
00:32:32:17 – 00:32:56:08
Barry
Right. Yeah. So if you don’t go through trials and tribulations and you don’t go through growing periods, that’s where you get your strength. That’s it, your knowledge base, that’s it. So yeah, so you know, you’ve got to go through those things. If anybody averages walked into this business and just not to clean out of the part and never has a problem and makes a ton of money and goes live on the beach for the rest of life, God bless you.
00:32:56:08 – 00:33:01:14
Rod
And they and they right away on their unicorn. Okay. Yes. Yeah, It does not happen.
00:33:01:16 – 00:33:07:20
Rod
Yes, I don’t I don’t know that I honestly probably wouldn’t change a thing because I. Okay. Okay. Very happy with where I’m at today.
00:33:07:20 – 00:33:25:08
Rod
So yeah, you know, I kind of feel the same way, even though, you know, God, I was dumb enough to buy 2000 houses instead of 2000 apartment complexes, But, you know, if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have the knowledge base that I have now. I wouldn’t have the experiences, the the stresses, the the failures and all these things that we learn from.
00:33:25:09 – 00:33:42:02
Rod
So I like your answer. Well, listen, brother, I really appreciate you coming on the show and hopefully we’ll see you at the at the Warrior event in November in Phenix. And I hope hopefully you’ll be you’ll make that. And it’s because that’s not going to be your daughter’s birthday. But you got a pretty good excuse for missing next week.
00:33:42:04 – 00:33:47:03
Barry
You know, I will miss next week, but I’m already booked and ready to go for November and looking forward to it.
00:33:47:08 – 00:33:52:23
Rod
Awesome. Awesome. Well, it’s great to see you, brother. You take care, Marc, later, but.
