Jermaine, a real estate investor since 2005, manages a diverse portfolio with a focus on multi-family assets. As a licensed electrical engineer and Program Manager for NASA, he brings technical expertise to his investments. Currently a general partner in 34 units in Arkansas, owner of a 6-unit commercial property, and single-family residences in Maryland and Southern California, Jermaine actively expands his network with plans to double his unit count in the next 5 years. Passionate about STEM education, he envisions establishing a non-profit to support students excelling in STEM fields, while emphasizing the importance of broker relations and due diligence in multifamily investing.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Translating skills from NASA to Multifamily
- Jermaine’s Superpower In Multifamily
- What To Do (and look for) On a Due Diligence Walk
- Bringing A Professional With You During Due Diligence
- What To Look For In a Deal
- The Number 1 Way To Build Broker Relationships
- Creating Relationships With The Local Community
If you’d like to apply to the warrior program and do deals with other rockstars in this business: Text crush to 72345 and we’ll be speaking soon.
Full Transcript Below
00:00:49:19 – 00:01:07:17
Rod
Hi, my name is Rod Khleif and I’m the host of the Lifetime Cashflow to Real Estate Investing Podcast. And every week I interview multifamily rock stars. We talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the Like and subscribe button to get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out.
00:01:07:20 – 00:01:31:02
Rod
Let’s get to it. Welcome to the new version of multifamily rock stars. And I will tell you, because of the feedback we got from you guys and the fact that we’re always trying to make things better, every time we try to make things a little bit better, we’ve decided to make these episodes more about deep diving into our guests deals and give you more practical and actionable items to get started to do your first deal, especially if you’re new to multifamily.
00:01:31:02 – 00:01:39:15
Rod
Even if you’re not new, you’re going to get definitely get some insights from the people we have on this. This portion of our show now. And of course, I’ve got my co-host, Mark Nagy, with me here.
00:01:39:17 – 00:01:54:12
Mark
Hey, Rod. And as we talk about Deep Dive, especially today, we’ve kind of got a unique scenario to where we’ve got another partner that’s bringing a different perspective to a similar deal from Chris that we had on last week. So if you guys haven’t listened that episode, go back last Friday. Listen to Chris Moyer.
00:01:54:16 – 00:02:19:24
Rod
We’ve got Jermaine, Doug, Xavier, who’s a pretty fascinating guy because he works at NASCAR, which I did not know. He’s a licensed electrical engineer and program manager over at Nassau, which is frankly cool as hell to me. But he’s also a former VC contractor and business owner and just definitely knows the mechanical side of the business. And so what we’re going to do well, first of all, welcome, brother.
00:02:19:24 – 00:02:21:20
Rod
Welcome. It’s great to see you again, Rob.
00:02:21:20 – 00:02:26:09
Jermaine
Thank you for having me. Like I said, for many, it is an honor and a privilege to be here. I appreciate your time.
00:02:26:11 – 00:02:51:21
Rod
Thank you for that. Thank you for that. Well, listen, you know, I know you’ve you’ve you’ve done a lot. I mean, not just with Nassau, just also in real estate. And and so, you know, let’s talk about if you would kind of give us a little a little background on who you are, where you came from. You know, why real estate, I mean, you obviously Nassau doesn’t pay poorly, so you do well there, but you’re also doing real estate.
00:02:51:21 – 00:02:55:13
Rod
So maybe you can elaborate on that a little bit and just maybe bring us current.
00:02:55:15 – 00:03:20:02
Jermaine
I appreciate it. So I started off basically barely getting out of high school and I had to grind my way to an engineering degree. It was not easy. So I got my job first. Starting out at the Navy. I was electrical engineer for the Navy and I switched over to Nassau about ten years ago. And so we manage about 8.2 million square foot of of pretty high tech real estate, as you can imagine.
00:03:20:02 – 00:03:45:02
Jermaine
But it’s not just the glamor stuff. It’s all the way down to the roads and commodes and that’s really applicable to the multifamily. That’s been one of the highlights that I can bring from my professional life into multifamily to real estate is the ability to evaluate assets during the due diligence process. Now as far as investing in multifamily and looking in to change my portfolio in that, I do have a multifamily asset.
00:03:45:04 – 00:04:07:10
Jermaine
I own a six unit home asset out in Maryland on the eastern shore of Maryland, and I own that just myself and I have a partner on it and that’s really great. Got me started. But in order to scale, I really needed to look into the Warrior program in syndication. And the reason why I do it is I’m trying to get my ass, my, my financial assets from active to passive and generational wealth.
00:04:07:10 – 00:04:20:12
Jermaine
I’m sure other people have said that, but I come from a large family. I’m the youngest of six. And so all sisters, and I’m really the one that’s kind of pioneering this, getting this concept of generational wealth started.
00:04:20:14 – 00:04:48:01
Rod
Oh, that’s beautiful, brother. I love that. The fact that you’re taking care of your of your of your sisters, that’s very, very cool. And bringing this, you know, this knowledge base and and ultimately experience to to your families is a beautiful thing. So you know talk about your skill set elaborate more on on really what you bring to the table on a team because everybody that listens here has a superpower.
00:04:48:01 – 00:05:06:01
Rod
And you know when we do our events, I say stand up, meet some people, tell them what your superpowers and what you’re good at. And everybody has something, whether it’s communication, just being able to talk to other people, whether it’s sales ability, whether it’s analytics, whether it’s, you know, maybe some process experience. In your case, it’s much more technical, But talk about what you bring to the table.
00:05:06:03 – 00:05:32:19
Jermaine
So my superpower, I believe, is expertise in the due diligence process. So many people just don’t don’t have it. There’s certain types of systems and subsystems as far as electrical and plumbing. Some buildings have chiller systems, which quite frankly, I recommend people staying away from unless they have very specific knowledge. And I have reached back to every type of engineer or architect needed to help in that due diligence process.
00:05:32:24 – 00:05:49:08
Jermaine
Because sometimes you look at something and it could be something minor, it could be something major. And I think that’s that ability and the due diligence process has saved us to steal one of your lines, Rod Sometimes the best deal is a deal you don’t do. So finding the error in due diligence is invaluable to a to a team.
00:05:49:10 – 00:06:10:20
Rod
So so let’s let’s do it. Let’s go a little deeper. Okay. We’re going to also talk about the Creekside deal that you did with Chris and Mark actually invested in that we talked about last week. But let’s go deeper on what you do when you do your due diligence walks. Let’s talk about the different things you’re looking at and just assume so whoever’s listening doesn’t know anything about this.
00:06:10:20 – 00:06:18:24
Rod
Okay? So, so so, you know, let’s go pretty granular as to what you’re looking for when you do your due diligence walks in, evaluating an asset.
00:06:19:04 – 00:06:37:17
Jermaine
What I’m going to pick this up one is after you’ve already done the market research, you know, you’ve already looked at the age of the asset. So let’s let’s pretend all that’s done right. So there’s certain age groups of assets that have certain things you need to look for. For instance, if it’s got in the seventies, you might want to look for aluminum wiring.
00:06:37:19 – 00:07:04:03
Jermaine
If it’s built after the seventies, that’s okay. But there’s still different type of breaker types you want to look for. There We have 150 point due diligence checklist. So I have a drone that I use to inspect roofs and roof penetrations. I use a flare gun to look for heat buildup near connection points either throughout the breaker panel you look at can you can failures have signs right.
00:07:04:03 – 00:07:24:02
Jermaine
So if I’m going to look for an electrical one, Anderson, just imaginatively up here, it gives signs it’s typically heat. So I the heat gun that I use and then inspections for if there’s a lot of trees around, we will scope drains. We’ll take a statistical sample of the drains. If there’s 50 some units will take it will usually scope about ten of the drains.
00:07:24:02 – 00:07:48:16
Jermaine
And randomly if we find something, then we’ll do all of them. We look at seals. So seals are important, meaning seals around plumbing drains that usually give a pest entry. We look at phone foundations where the foundations meet the earth. That’s important. We look at the grading to make sure unless you’re there with one on a rainy day, it’s hard to tell sometimes when water problem can could happen.
00:07:48:16 – 00:08:09:01
Jermaine
So we look for water, which is a major problem both inside and outside the asset. And so really those are the major systems. Now, you can also look in the drywall and and those those systems. But to me, a drywall problem is not generally a huge problem. Another major system is age of fact. I have to be an h-back contractor.
00:08:09:03 – 00:08:35:08
Jermaine
So looking for deferred maintenance and the age of ACH systems is important. And you can notice that through vibrations in the system, dirty filters and coils. Most motors are sealed. You don’t need to oil them anymore, but you should look for sweating and freezing of the condensate lines outside Things leaning against the air conditioning systems we had on which we’ll talk about Creekside We had shingles that had fallen off some of the vertical piece.
00:08:35:10 – 00:09:00:15
Jermaine
Yeah, exactly. That had fallen down. And if you look at it exactly, go first. Where that unit is not level. There’s also water infiltration issue you can look at in the attic. So we look at each one of those in every unit during our due to diligence process. And if I find a problem, if I can’t figure it out myself, like I said, I have to reach back to, you know, mechanical, electrical, civil, civil, structural engineers and architects to help solve these problems.
00:09:00:17 – 00:09:18:00
Rod
Now, you just got a really technical review on due diligence, and I don’t want to scare you this is you know, he’s an expert in the things he just described. And I’m going to tell you that I’m not even and I’ve looked at thousands of units, you know, so. So, yeah, here’s what you do. What you don’t know.
00:09:18:00 – 00:09:36:06
Rod
You bring in experts for you bring in the HVAC contractor, the roofing contractor, which is what we did on the asset we’ve got under contract right now in San Antonio. You know, we brought in and snaked the drains. We brought in a plumber to look at the plumbing because they had a main leak, a main line leak, you know, And so I hadn’t heard about the floor gone.
00:09:36:06 – 00:09:55:02
Rod
That’s a new one for me. And I learn when I do these these podcast interviews sometimes. That’s a really cool idea there. And and so, you know, very great synopsis and you look for the negative drainage because, you know, if you’ve got water coming in under the foundation, you know you’re going to have you’re going to have cracking, you’re going to have all sorts of things pop up.
00:09:55:02 – 00:10:15:15
Rod
So, you know, I love that. I love that synopsis of your on site inspection. Now, of course, you know, you’re going to go in also when you do your due diligence and you’re going inspect the inside, you’re going to grade the condition of the different things like the floors, the the countertops, the cabinet fronts, the plumbing fixtures, the electrical fixtures and all that, all that stuff.
00:10:15:15 – 00:10:32:22
Rod
When you’re work because, you know, you may want to reposition and fix that stuff up. You were talking more about the major systems, but you know, you’re going to you’re going to go a little micro as well and you’re going to walk every single unit. And so, yeah, that was that was really good. Buddy, I really appreciate your given given all that insight.
00:10:32:23 – 00:10:55:02
Jermaine
No problem. You know, there’s one other piece I’d like to bring up, and so we do our due diligence process. When we’re doing that, we’re actually making an inventory of what needs to be replaced fixtures as as we’re walking through. And we have a list of energy efficiency and water saving fixtures. So a lot of times, for instance, there will be water will be paid by the owner in in our underwriting.
00:10:55:05 – 00:11:28:21
Jermaine
We can put a factor of savings in there that we anticipate savings after the changing of the fixtures. Another piece that a lot of worriers I think aren’t using is there’s a website called it’s called Aspire. And if you go there, they have a lot of rebates that are applicable for for each state. So it’s a little bit of work, but you can get rebates for window replacement C windows for H-Back system replacements and sometimes significantly, you know, we could save we’re looking to save between anywhere from 3 to $8000 right on our Creekside asset.
00:11:28:23 – 00:11:36:18
Jermaine
And I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you multiply that and scale it up like multifamily tends to do, it turns into real money. Very quickly.
00:11:36:18 – 00:11:50:02
Rod
I would ask you to do me a favor in case I forget. Will you please post that in the way of group for us? You know, we’ve got a Facebook group just for the Warriors and everybody’s in there always helping each other out. That is a great resource to to add to the warrior Facebook group. Thank you for that.
00:11:50:04 – 00:11:50:08
Rod
Yeah.
00:11:50:09 – 00:12:05:08
Mark
Now, that was going to be my biggest question to you, Germain. All those things that you just mentioned and you’re you clearly have a background in this. Was that why Chris partnered with you on this deal of you knowing all those things, or was it something else that you brought and you just happened to have that background as well?
00:12:05:11 – 00:12:23:22
Jermaine
So that’s an interesting question. So we were originally part of a bigger group and I think Chris and I work together because there’s very little overlap. The things that he’s good at, I’m kind of weaker on the things that I’m strong he’s weaker on, and I think it works out perfectly on. The one thing we do mesh is we’re both warriors and we both have a hell of a work ethic.
00:12:23:22 – 00:12:40:12
Jermaine
I think that’s really where we meet. So when you’re putting in putting together a team, I think just like rocks and if you’re missing something, go out and find it. And Chris and I are both we’re willing to, you know, add value to anybody, Give us a call. We’re not even if we’re not part of your group, you have a question.
00:12:40:12 – 00:12:42:21
Jermaine
Feel free to give me a call or email. I’d be happy to help.
00:12:42:21 – 00:12:47:24
Rod
Yeah, I appreciate that. Well, we’ll have you provide your email address at the end. I really appreciate that.
00:12:47:24 – 00:13:06:03
Mark
So what other skill set that I know you mentioned in your bio, Jermaine, was that you talked about and then we could deep dive on was relationships with brokers, you know, being consistent. You talked about closing all those sorts of things. And a very common question that I get is, okay, I don’t have any multifamily experience. How do I get my foot in the door with a broker?
00:13:06:09 – 00:13:16:20
Mark
What was your experience in when you first started talking to brokers and building that pipeline of brokers, and how did you get your foot in the door to, you know, get callbacks and build those relationships?
00:13:16:22 – 00:13:42:12
Jermaine
So I didn’t want to like over simplify the process, but I when I joined the work program, also sign up for the coaching. And during one of our coaching coaching sessions in our first 90 days, he pretty much laid it out for me on how to start and establish and maintain a broker relationship. So step one, he told me this to go on to like Krejci and just look in each area and you’ll start seeing the same brokers over and over.
00:13:42:12 – 00:13:58:14
Jermaine
I made a database of what brokers are in that market, so I wanted to work on. And then I went to the brokerage house and he told me will call the most senior guy his phone ringing all the time for the junior guy. He’s going to talk to you and spend some time with you on the phone. So I did that and I made a list and I started calling them.
00:13:58:14 – 00:14:16:21
Jermaine
And he says, the most important thing is when you get off the phone, know five things about them that have nothing to do with real estate. And it sounded silly to me at the time, but it is the secret sauce. It really is. So one of the brokers I talked to, we’re actually pretty good friends now. I ask him five things.
00:14:16:21 – 00:14:43:02
Jermaine
He’s into baseball, you know, he like the Nats, he ended up bringing me and inviting me to the Nats game skybox with a bunch of other brokers and we all talked in this. We chopped it up for nine innings. You know, we watched the ninth inning, but we network the whole other eight innings. And and I’ve got he’s also sent me an engineer to help with with proposals he sent me other brokers on different deals that had nothing to do with him it just part of the networking process.
00:14:43:02 – 00:14:53:24
Jermaine
So now I actually the broker relationship I have now was more of a maintenance thing than seeking out brokers because now they call me oftentimes to bring up deals.
00:14:54:00 – 00:15:04:03
Mark
Not to find out those five things that do you do you just ask them about their personal life? Do you friend them on social media and kind of dig into that a little bit? What’s what’s your strategy there?
00:15:04:06 – 00:15:24:24
Jermaine
Naturally, I’m kind of introvert and I that was interesting. That’s that’s exactly what I asked Matt, because. No, you just ask them and I asked them just a Aaron’s his name. Aaron What do you like do in your free time? We talked about baseball for 5 minutes and next thing you know, we started talking about his hobbies and I was like, he was basically like, I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping on on the phone.
00:15:24:24 – 00:15:44:10
Jermaine
I was like, Man, I got to go it it’s been 30 minutes. And I know that he doesn’t have any kids. He is getting married. He just got a new BMW, offers commissions and he likes baseball and he has an owner’s box that he uses. I mean, those are five things. Wow. Makes that it personalize it. You know, it makes the person instead of you’re just another person calling them, trying to get work done.
00:15:44:11 – 00:15:45:03
Jermaine
Brilliant.
00:15:45:03 – 00:15:56:04
Rod
I love that one. I love that a lot. So you’re you know, I know this. You had to work to become good at underwriting, but you’re pretty darn good at underwriting. Would you would that be an accurate statement?
00:15:56:06 – 00:16:14:01
Jermaine
So I would say everything I’ve I’m ever good at, I’ve always worked for. I don’t think anything has come natural to me. I I’ve piled it through. It took more than I it took me 13 math classes to become an engineer. I started at elementary algebra. You know, X plus two equals four all the way through multivariate calculus.
00:16:14:04 – 00:16:38:04
Jermaine
So it wasn’t like I started off, you know, turning off the calculus. And same way with underwriting, I had a six unit deal before I joined the Warrior program, and I have no idea. I accidentally picked a good deal because there’s so much that I didn’t know. You know, I didn’t know. I didn’t know. So I I’ve actually since then have under underwritten my own deal that our already owned, I was like, wow, this is an outstanding buy.
00:16:38:06 – 00:16:46:13
Jermaine
But I didn’t know at the time. So yes, I am, but I am pretty good on underwriting and I can certainly help and add value, but it didn’t come easy.
00:16:46:17 – 00:17:01:11
Mark
Now I do. Why did you do that coming from a six unit, That’s that’s more than maybe our average student who hasn’t done any multifamily. Right. That’s technically a commercial multifamily over five units. Why why did you even decide to do something like, you know, working with us and the Warrior group?
00:17:01:11 – 00:17:21:17
Jermaine
Because I wanted to scale my achievements. There’s only so much you can do. This is a team sport, and I didn’t have a team. I had me and people were calling me in the middle of the night for some toilets and and I didn’t understand the process of hiring property management. There’s a resource Rod has no interviews that you call to when you’re hiring a property manager.
00:17:21:19 – 00:17:39:17
Jermaine
I didn’t know how to select a business partner. There’s a checklist he has on the interviews and questions you go go through. You know, like he always says, they’re easy to get in and hard hard to get out of. You want to make sure you’re not in a business relationship with someone that doesn’t work well with you. This there’s there’s so many resources there I just didn’t have.
00:17:39:23 – 00:17:45:24
Jermaine
And I’m surprised it worked. I’m surprised I didn’t just go up in flames without all the information that I didn’t even know. I didn’t know.
00:17:46:01 – 00:17:57:02
Rod
Oh, that’s a great that’s a great answer. You know, I by the way, guys, if you’re interested in the Warrior program, text the word crush to seven two, three, four or five. It’s just in. Would you say it’s an extraordinary program? Germaine Oh.
00:17:57:04 – 00:17:59:13
Jermaine
Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for it. Definitely.
00:17:59:13 – 00:18:25:07
Rod
Okay, Well, thank you. So again, text crush 272, three, four, five, and we can help you crush it in this business. So let’s talk about that Creekside deal that you did with Chris we talked about last week. Really nice 3034 unit in Arkansas. Sounds like a screaming deal. You know, talk about some of the things you did because we talked about what he did talk about some of the things you did besides the due diligence.
00:18:25:07 – 00:18:32:18
Rod
I mean, you gave us incredible synopsis on the due diligence. What other things did you do there to to to bolster your chances for success there?
00:18:32:23 – 00:19:01:11
Jermaine
I worked with the contractors on setting up the budget for the capital improvements. I’m setting up the scope of the capital improvements. For instance, we originally had some windows we were going to replace, but we looked at and really okay with these windows are fine, we did some glass replacement and replacements instead. I met with roofing contractors, landscaping contractors to improve the curb appeal of the area and we got signage made and installed some new mulch beds and we really made inroads with the community.
00:19:01:16 – 00:19:24:02
Jermaine
That’s how we first started. So I personally was a law enforcement officer who lives right adjacent to the asset across the street. Two houses in name is Chris as well. I introduced myself personally. He gave me a cell phone number. There’s an issue, you call me, he’s looking out for the neighborhood. We also added value another multiple fronts.
00:19:24:02 – 00:19:45:08
Jermaine
So besides the CapEx, we engage with the local community leaders. So I spoke directly with the city council member. So that Creekside asset sits in Ward three of Searcy. His name is Donald Rainey. He was outstanding. He had nothing but great things to say about the direction the asset is. I drive by here every day going to work and I love what you guys are doing with the place.
00:19:45:10 – 00:20:03:11
Jermaine
We try to make it more inviting. We talk with the local utility company. We got all new LED lighting installed at the city’s expense and we’re just paying a flat rate for the electrical usage. We lit the outside of the asset front and back to make it look feel like home.
00:20:03:13 – 00:20:05:04
Rod
Safer, too. Yeah.
00:20:05:06 – 00:20:24:24
Jermaine
Absolutely. Absolutely. As a matter of fact, Donald Rainey, the city council member, he offered to do a ribbon cutting and got buying with the mayor. Once the bulk of our asset has has been completed and capital improvements are being completed. So I think they’re going to come out and do a community event. We’re going to have food and balloons and all of that.
00:20:25:05 – 00:20:27:00
Jermaine
So it’s been outstanding.
00:20:27:00 – 00:20:43:23
Rod
Really love it. Let me tell you why that’s such a big deal, guys, because if you ever have a problem there that that requires cutting through some frickin red tape, which you find in any municipality and you’ve been and you’ve done that for the mayor, you’ve given them a PR opportunity. Oh, man, you’re off to the freakin races.
00:20:43:23 – 00:21:00:24
Rod
And I want to mention something else, too. And I know you probably got a follow up as well, Mark, but I do on the on the law enforcement side, that is frickin huge. If you’ve got a police officer that lives in or around your asset. The fact that you did that is just brilliant because talk about an incredible resource.
00:21:00:24 – 00:21:17:10
Rod
If you ever have a problem. I just just love it. And we try to do that. Well, actually, in our larger assets that we have, we try to have police officers actually live there. We give them discounted rent, sometimes free rent to to drive their police car home and maybe do a walk through the complex on a on a regular basis.
00:21:17:10 – 00:21:20:16
Rod
So love that you took the initiative to do that. Jermaine. That’s brilliant.
00:21:20:19 – 00:21:42:16
Mark
I wanted to touch on one thing here because you mentioned a bunch of different relationships from people in the community. And before I invested on this deal, I actually reached out to another warrior, Charlie Peters. We’ve had him on the podcast in the past, and I reached out to him because he’s done many deals in super small towns, a lot smaller than this deal, three or four or 5000 people population.
00:21:42:16 – 00:22:02:16
Mark
I asked him, Hey, I’m going to invest in this deal. What’s the biggest thing that I should be looking for as a concern? And his answer was vendors, contractors and relationships in that market. How did you guys go about building all those relationships with the vendors, the contractors? Was that something Chris had already? Did you have to reach out to people?
00:22:02:16 – 00:22:05:19
Mark
How did you go about doing that to have those relationships?
00:22:05:21 – 00:22:23:23
Jermaine
So we did a couple like a two pronged attack. So Chris had a me company that he has in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and he actually used that contractor things to set up our initial CapEx budget. So we had but we had a steady crew that we could use and he had some existing relationships. So by the way.
00:22:24:03 – 00:22:43:23
Rod
I may stop here for one set. Let me let me stop you for one second. Just if you don’t know what CapEx is, guys, it’s called capital expenditures. And those are the those are the main big items you’re going to do when you fix up a property HVAC units, you know, maybe do the redo the interiors flooring, blinds, fixtures, things of that nature.
00:22:43:23 – 00:22:49:22
Rod
So that’s CapEx. I’m sorry to interrupt you. I just wanted to make sure that they understood what CapEx meant. Germain, please continue.
00:22:49:24 – 00:23:14:04
Jermaine
I have, absolutely. So we did have some assets available, which I think is important to have boots on on the ground, which I guess is defined as someone who lives within 2 hours of the asset interest does. So after that, I was a contractor, so I can speak the contractor language and I set up some days of appointments and we got five proposals for each discipline that we needed.
00:23:14:04 – 00:23:34:15
Jermaine
And I met them personally and we walked through the scope and we walked through pricing so we could be sure that what we were expecting to get was what we got and how much it cost is what we expect at the end. So those are those are the two kind of avenues that we took. One was we, we got a hold of local chamber of commerce and we also went to the Better Business Bureau to find contractors.
00:23:34:18 – 00:23:37:05
Jermaine
And then we also leverage contractors we already knew in the area.
00:23:37:10 – 00:23:56:12
Rod
Love it. Love it. So what’s next for you, Jermaine? Let’s do it like this. What is your plan to achieve the financial success that you got into the Warrior program for that you got into real estate for in general, what talk about that plan because that’s a big piece of success in anything. You got to know what it is you want.
00:23:56:15 – 00:23:59:24
Rod
Otherwise, how the heck are you ever going to get it? So talk about your plan.
00:24:00:01 – 00:24:23:24
Jermaine
So I had a four year plan, very achievable to replace my W-2 job income with the rental income. I’m already ahead of the curve. So figure year one’s already behind me. So I have a now I say a very achievable three year plan to rent to place my income with with rent, with rental income, and then the next phase, I think, is to make it passive income, because I wouldn’t say real estate is passive at all.
00:24:23:24 – 00:24:52:21
Jermaine
It’s very active. We work at it every day. We’re working at hardly late nights, early mornings, so it’s definitely not a get rich quick scheme by any means. So I think the next phase is to really become a sponsor for deals and other people close the deal because I remember when I was trying to get my deal, it took me two years to get my first first deal and now I just want to help other people get that process because I can’t wait to get the sword back here behind my my wall.
00:24:52:23 – 00:24:55:17
Jermaine
So I’m really looking forward to helping other folks.
00:24:55:20 – 00:25:10:24
Rod
Oh, yeah. By the way, when you become a warrior and you get your first deal, you get a really cool sword in the mail from us and it’s a real freaking sword. I wish I had an example of it here. I don’t think I do. And you become a warrior of the sword and it’s like really a cool thing.
00:25:11:01 – 00:25:31:15
Rod
But yeah, so, so on that note you just mentioned, you know, having people bring you deals and stuff like that, that’s fantastic. Are you okay with listeners reaching out to you? And if they’ve got a question, we asked Chris this and he was he was good with you. Okay, so what is your email address that they can email you at, Buddy?
00:25:31:17 – 00:25:54:09
Jermaine
Okay. So my name is Jermaine, so J.R. email I n e and it’s asked ways to wealth equity dot com. That’s the website and the email address as well And if you go on there we have places you can like my calendar is right there and we have this virtual coffee link that you can meet 15 minute chat if you just have a question in view.
00:25:54:09 – 00:26:04:20
Jermaine
But by all means you can s email. I’m also available on all the social media platforms. Jermaine is Xavier. My last name is spelled x a v ICR and I’d be happy to talk to you.
00:26:05:01 – 00:26:05:16
Rod
Fantastic.
00:26:05:16 – 00:26:07:13
Mark
Appreciate you doing the value add.
00:26:07:15 – 00:26:26:23
Rod
Yeah, well, listen, I really appreciate you coming on and I can’t wait to have you on in a couple of years because I know it’ll be over a thousand units at that point and and you’ll have probably retired from your full time job, although I don’t know that I’d leave Nassau. But you know, that’s, that’s, that’s me saying that just because I think it’s so cool.
00:26:27:00 – 00:26:36:14
Rod
But listen, I appreciate you coming on, my friend, and I’m sure we’ll see you at the next Warrior event. And and and and and happy holidays to you and your host, buddy.
00:26:36:16 – 00:26:50:05
Jermaine
Thanks for coming holidays to you. Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you guys time. And I want to see you on stage one of these days. I want to get up there and tell my piece to my friend Warrior. That’s one of my one of my bucket list items to get out there and speak to the rest of the world.
00:26:50:05 – 00:27:09:05
Rod
And, you know, you know, it’ll happen. I mean, you just you just got interviewed on the largest commercial real estate podcast in the world. So the stage is anticlimactic, but we’ll make it happen. All right. Take care. Take care. Thanks, guys. All right. See? Bye. So one other quick thing. We encounter so many people that are frankly frustrated.
00:27:09:09 – 00:27:24:03
Rod
You know, they’re looking in the mirror and they’re frustrated that they haven’t been able to escape the rat race. They haven’t been able to build cash flow to the point where they’re able to have financial and time freedom with their families. You know, and maybe they see other people buying real estate and creating, you know, incredible cash flow.
00:27:24:06 – 00:27:47:00
Rod
And they think, well, it’s just scary. You know, buying apartments is intimidating. And I get it. See, that’s why we created our Warrior Mentorship program. There are coaching students and they’ve had extraordinary results. My students, I’ve been teaching about five years and upwards of 140,000 units now that we know of. Right. And we feel like it’s just getting going now, we’re looking to grow this group and really take it to the next level.
00:27:47:05 – 00:28:11:04
Rod
And I honestly believe that the greatest transfer of wealth could be upon us right now with this current economic environment. Everything’s going on sale. So we’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework, really like a blueprint or a map, literally step by step, and then they’re able to leverage our systems and our incredible network to raise money and equity, to find deals and close those deals and build partnerships really nationwide.
00:28:11:04 – 00:28:32:07
Rod
So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more in our incredible network and take advantage of the unbelievable opportunities that are upon us, you can apply to my Warrior Mentorship program by texting the word crush to seven two, three, four or five. Or you can go to mentor with Rod dot com. And what we’ll do is we’ll set up a call so you can check us out and we can check you out and see if it’s a fit.
00:28:32:13 – 00:47:37:07
Rod
Now, again, you can go to mentor with Broadcom or text the word crush to 723, four, five to apply and we will speak soon.
00:47:37:09 – 00:47:59:15
Rod
Welcome to the new version of multifamily rock stars. And I will tell you, because of the feedback we got from you guys and the fact that we’re always trying to make things better, every time we try to make things a little bit better, we’ve decided to make these episodes more about deep diving into our guests deals and give you more practical and actionable items to get started to do your first deal, especially if you’re new to multifamily.
00:47:59:15 – 00:48:08:03
Rod
Even if you’re not new, you’re going to get definitely get some insights from the people we have on this. This portion of our show now. And of course, I’ve got my co-host, Mark Nagy, with me here.
00:48:08:04 – 00:48:22:23
Mark
Hey, Rod. And as we talk about Deep Dive, especially today, we’ve kind of got a unique scenario, too, where we’ve got another partner that’s bringing a different perspective to a similar deal from Chris that we had on last week. So if you guys have been listening to that episode, go back last Friday, listen to Chris Moyer.
00:48:23:04 – 00:48:48:11
Rod
We’ve got Jermaine, Doug Xavier, who’s a pretty fascinating guy because he works at NASCAR, which I did not know. He’s a licensed electrical engineer and program manager over at Nassau, which is frankly cool as hell to me. But he’s also a former VC contractor and business owner and just definitely knows the mechanical side of the business. And so what we’re going to do well, first of all, welcome, brother.
00:48:48:11 – 00:48:50:07
Rod
Welcome. It’s great to see you again, Rob.
00:48:50:07 – 00:48:54:22
Jermaine
Thank you for having me. Like I said, for many, it is an honor and a privilege to be here. I appreciate your time.
00:48:54:24 – 00:49:20:08
Rod
Thank you for that. Thank you for that. Well, listen, you know, I know you’ve you’ve you’ve done a lot. I mean, not just with Nassau, just also in real estate. And and so, you know, let’s talk about if you would kind of give us a little a little background on who you are, where you came from. You know, why real estate, I mean, you obviously Nassau doesn’t pay poorly, so you do well there, but you’re also doing real estate.
00:49:20:08 – 00:49:24:01
Rod
So maybe you can elaborate on that a little bit and just maybe bring us current.
00:49:24:03 – 00:49:48:14
Jermaine
I appreciate it. So I started off basically barely getting out of high school and I had to grind my way to an engineering degree. It was not easy. So I got my job first starting out at the Navy as electrical engineer for the Navy, and I switched over to Nassau about ten years ago. And so we manage about 8.2 million square foot of of pretty high tech real estate, as you can imagine.
00:49:48:14 – 00:50:13:15
Jermaine
But it’s not just the glamorous stuff. It’s all the way down to the roads and commodes and that’s really applicable to the multifamily. That’s been one of the highlights that I can bring from my professional life into multifamily to real estate is the ability to evaluate assets during the due diligence process. Now as far as investing in multifamily and looking at to change my portfolio in that, I do have a multifamily asset.
00:50:13:17 – 00:50:35:22
Jermaine
I own a six unit asset out in Maryland on the Eastern Shore, Maryland, and I own that just myself and I have a partner on it and that’s really good. Got me started. But in order to scale, I really needed to look into the Warrior program in syndication. And the reason why I do it is I’m trying to get my ass, my fuck, my financial assets from active to passive and generational wealth.
00:50:35:22 – 00:50:48:24
Jermaine
I’m sure other people have had said that, but I come from a large family. I’m the youngest of six, and so all sisters and I’m really the one that’s kind of pioneering this, getting this concept of generational wealth started.
00:50:49:01 – 00:51:16:14
Rod
Oh, that’s beautiful, brother. I love that. The fact that you are taking care of your of your of your sisters, that’s very, very cool. And bringing this, you know, this knowledge base and and ultimately experience to to your families is a beautiful thing. So you know talk about your skill set elaborate more on really what you bring to the table on a team because everybody that listens here has a superpower.
00:51:16:14 – 00:51:32:16
Rod
And you know, when we do our events, I say stand up, meet some people, tell them what your superpower is and what you’re good at, and everybody has something, whether it’s communication, just being able to talk to other people, whether it’s sales ability, whether it’s analytics, whether it’s, you know, maybe some process experience. In your case, it’s much more technical.
00:51:32:16 – 00:51:34:14
Rod
But talk about what you bring to the table.
00:51:34:15 – 00:52:05:01
Jermaine
So my superpower, I believe, is expertise in the due diligence process. So many people just don’t don’t have it. There’s certain types of systems and subsystems as far as electrical and plumbing. You know, some buildings have chiller systems, which quite frankly, I recommend people staying away from unless they have very specific knowledge. And I have reached back to every type of engineer architect needed to help in that due diligence process, because sometimes you look at something and it could be something minor, it could be something major.
00:52:05:01 – 00:52:17:20
Jermaine
And I think that’s that ability and the due diligence process has saved us to steal one of your lines. Rod Sometimes the best deal is a deal you don’t do. So finding the error in due diligence is invaluable to the team.
00:52:17:22 – 00:52:39:06
Rod
So. So let’s let’s do it. Let’s go a little deeper. Okay. We’re going to also talk about the Creekside deal that you did with Chris and Mark actually invested in that we talked about last week. But let’s go deeper on what do when you do your due diligence walks, let’s talk about the different things you’re looking at and just assume so whoever is listening doesn’t know anything about this.
00:52:39:06 – 00:52:47:11
Rod
Okay. So, so so, you know, let’s go pretty granular as to what you’re looking for when you do your due diligence walks in, evaluating an asset.
00:52:47:16 – 00:53:06:04
Jermaine
What I’m going to pick this up one is after you’ve already done the market research, you know, you’ve already looked at the age of the asset. So let’s let’s pretend all that’s done right. So right, there’s certain age groups of assets that have certain things you need to look for. For instance, if it’s got in the seventies, you might want to look for aluminum wiring.
00:53:06:06 – 00:53:32:16
Jermaine
If it’s built after the seventies, that’s okay. But there’s still different type of breaker types you want to look for. There We have 150 point due diligence checklist. So I have a drone that I use to inspect roofs and roof penetrations. I use a flare gun to look for heat build up near connection points either throughout the breaker panel, you look at Buchanan failures have signs, right?
00:53:32:16 – 00:53:52:15
Jermaine
So if I’m going to look for an electrical rum, it doesn’t just imaginatively appear. It gives signs. It’s typically heat. So I have a heat gun that I use and then inspection for. If there are a lot of trees around, we will scope drains. We’ll take a statistical sample of the drains. If there’s 50 some units will take and it will usually scope about ten of the drains.
00:53:52:15 – 00:54:17:04
Jermaine
And randomly if we find something, then we’ll do all of them. We look at seals. So seals are important, meaning seals around plumbing drains that usually give a pest entry. We look at phone foundations where the foundations meet the that’s important. We look at the grading to make sure unless you’re there one on a rainy day, it’s hard to tell sometimes when water probably couldn’t could happen.
00:54:17:04 – 00:54:42:12
Jermaine
So we look for water, which is a major problem both inside and outside the asset. So really those are the major systems. Now you can also look into drywall and and those those systems. But to me, a drywall problem is not generally a huge problem. Another major system is HVAC. I have to be at an age that contractor so looking for deferred maintenance and the age of like systems is important.
00:54:42:12 – 00:55:03:20
Jermaine
And you can notice that through vibrations in the system, dirty filters and coils. Most motors are sealed. You don’t need to oil them anymore, but you look for things sweating and freezing of the condensate lines outside, things leaning against the air conditioning systems we add on, which we’ll talk about each side. We had shingles that had fallen off some of the vertical piece.
00:55:03:22 – 00:55:29:02
Jermaine
Yeah, exactly. That had fallen down. And if you look at it exactly, go first. Where the unit is not level. There’s also water infiltration issue you can look at in the attic. So we look at each one of those in every unit during our due diligence process. And if I find a problem, if I can’t figure it out myself, like I said, I have to reach back to, you know, mechanical, electrical, civil, civil engineers and architects to help solve these problems.
00:55:29:04 – 00:55:46:11
Rod
Now, you just got a really technical review on due diligence, and I don’t want to scare you this is you know, he’s an expert in the things he just described. And I’m going to tell you that I’m not even and I’ve looked at thousands of units, you know, so. So, yeah, here’s what you do. What you don’t know.
00:55:46:11 – 00:56:01:21
Rod
You bring in experts for you bring in the HVAC contractor, the roofing contractor, which is what we did on the asset we’ve got under contract right now in San Antonio. You know, we brought in and snaked the drains and brought in a plumber to look at the plumbing because they had a main leak, a main line leak, you know.
00:56:01:21 – 00:56:23:13
Rod
And so I hadn’t heard about the Fluor gone. That’s a new one for me. And I learned when I do these these podcast interviews sometimes that’s a really cool idea there. And and so, you know, very great synopsis. And again, you look for the negative drainage because you know, if you’ve got water coming in under the foundation, you know you’re going to have you’re going to have cracking, you’re going to have all sorts of things pop up.
00:56:23:13 – 00:56:44:01
Rod
So, you know, I love that. I love that synopsis of your on site inspection. Now, of course, you know, you’re going to go in also when you do your due diligence and you’re going inspect the inside, you’re going to grade the condition of the different things like the floors, the the countertops, the cabinet fronts, the plumbing fixtures, the electrical fixtures and all that, all that stuff.
00:56:44:01 – 00:57:01:10
Rod
When you’re wet because, you know, you may want to reposition and fix that stuff up. You were talking more about the major systems. But again, are you going to you’re going to go a little micro as well and you’re going to walk every single unit. And so, yeah, that was that was really good. Buddy, I really appreciate your given given all that insight.
00:57:01:10 – 00:57:28:21
Jermaine
No problem. You know, there’s one other piece I like, like to bring up, and so we do our due diligence process. When we’re doing that, we’re actually making an inventory of what needs to be replaced fixtures as it as we’re walking through. And we have a list of energy efficiency and water saving fixtures. So a lot of times, for instance, will be water will be paid by the owner in in our on underwriting, we can put a factor of savings in there that we anticipate savings after the changing of the fixtures.
00:57:28:23 – 00:57:57:09
Jermaine
Another piece that a lot of worriers I think are aren’t using is there’s a website called it’s called Aspire. And if you go there, they have a lot of rebates that are applicable for for each state. So it’s a little bit of work, but you can get rebates for window replacement, see windows for H-Back system replacements and sometimes significant, you know, we could save we’re looking to save between anywhere from 3 to $8000 right on our freak Creekside asset.
00:57:57:11 – 00:58:05:06
Jermaine
And I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you multiply that and scale it up like multifamily tend to tend to do, it turns into real money Very quickly.
00:58:05:06 – 00:58:18:13
Rod
I would ask you to do me a favor in case I forget. Will you please post that in the way of group for us? You know, we’ve got a Facebook group just for the Warriors, and everybody’s in there always helping each other out. That is a great resource to to add to the warrior Facebook group. Thank you for that.
00:58:18:15 – 00:58:33:21
Mark
You know, that was going to be my biggest question to you, Jermaine. All those things that you just mentioned. And you’re you clearly have a background in this. Was that why Chris partnered with you on this deal of you knowing all those things, or was it something else that you brought? You just happened to have that background as well?
00:58:33:24 – 00:58:52:09
Jermaine
So that’s an interesting question. So we were originally part of a bigger group, and I think Chris and I work together because it’s very little overlap. The things that he’s good at, I’m kind of weaker on the things that I’m strong he’s weaker on, and I think it works out perfectly on. The one thing we do mesh is we’re both warriors and we both have a high level work ethic.
00:58:52:09 – 00:59:09:00
Jermaine
I think that’s really where we meet. So when you’re putting in putting together a team, I think just like right then if you’re missing something, go out and find it. And Chris and I are both we’re willing to, you know, add value to anybody, give us a call. We’re not even if we’re not part of your group, you have a question.
00:59:09:00 – 00:59:11:08
Jermaine
Feel free to give me a call or email. I’d be happy to help.
00:59:11:09 – 00:59:16:11
Rod
Yeah, I appreciate that. Well, we’ll have you provide your email address at the end. I really appreciate that.
00:59:16:11 – 00:59:34:15
Mark
So what other skill set that I know you mentioned in your bio, Jermaine, was that you talked about and then we could deep dive on was relationships with brokers, you know, being consistent. You talked about closing all those sorts of things. And a very common question that I get is, okay, I don’t have any multifamily experience. How do I get my foot in the door with a broker?
00:59:34:21 – 00:59:45:07
Mark
What was your experience in when you first started talking to brokers and building that pipeline of brokers, and how did you get your foot in the door to, you know, get callbacks and build those relationships?
00:59:45:09 – 01:00:10:24
Jermaine
So I didn’t want to like over simple simplify the process. But I when I joined the work program, I also signed up for the coaching. And during one of our coaching coaching sessions in our first 90 days, he pretty much laid it out for me on how to start and establish and maintain a broker relationship. So step one, he told me this to go on to like Prexy and just look in each area, you’ll start seeing the same brokers over and over.
01:00:10:24 – 01:00:25:10
Jermaine
I made a database of what brokers are in that market, so I wanted to work on. And then I went to the brokerage house and he told me, You’ll call the most senior guy. Just phone ringing all the time, all the junior guy. He’s going to talk to you and spend some time with you on the phone. So I did that.
01:00:25:10 – 01:00:44:06
Jermaine
I made a list and I started calling them. And he says, the most important thing is when you get off the phone, know five things about them, have nothing to do with real estate. And it sounded silly to me at the time, but it is the secret sauce. It really is. So one of the brokers I talked to, we’re actually pretty good friends now.
01:00:44:08 – 01:01:11:14
Jermaine
I ask those five things. He’s into baseball, you know, He, like the Nats, he ended up bringing in inviting me to the Nats game skybox with a bunch of other brokers and we all talked in this. We chopped it up for nine innings. You know, we watched the ninth inning, but we networks the whole other eight innings and and I’ve got he’s also sent me an engineer to help with the proposals he sent me other brokers different deals that had nothing to do with him it’s just part of the networking process.
01:01:11:14 – 01:01:22:11
Jermaine
So now I actually the broker relationship I have now was more of a maintenance thing than seeking out brokers because now they call me oftentimes to bring up the deals.
01:01:22:12 – 01:01:32:16
Mark
Now to find out those five things, the do you do, you just ask them about their personal life. Do you friend them on social media and kind of dig into that a little bit? What’s what’s your strategy there?
01:01:32:19 – 01:01:48:10
Jermaine
Naturally, I’m kind of an introvert and I that was interesting. That’s that’s exactly what I asked, man, because no, you just ask them and I asked them just a Aaron’s his name. Aaron What do you like do in your free time? We talked about baseball for 5 minutes, and next thing you know, we started talking about his hobbies.
01:01:48:12 – 01:02:04:02
Jermaine
And I was like, he was basically like, I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping on on the phone. I was like, Man, I got to go. It’s been 30 minutes. And I know that he doesn’t have any kids. He is getting married. He just got any BMW office commissions. He likes baseball and he has an owner’s box that he uses.
01:02:04:02 – 01:02:13:15
Jermaine
I mean, those are five things. Wow. It makes that it personalize it. You know, it makes the person instead of you’re just another person calling them, trying to get work done. Brilliant.
01:02:13:15 – 01:02:24:16
Rod
I love that one. I love that a lot. So you’re you know, I know this. You had to work to become good at underwriting, but you’re pretty darn good at underwriting. Would you would that be an accurate statement?
01:02:24:18 – 01:02:42:13
Jermaine
So I would say everything I am ever good at, I’ve always worked for. I don’t think anything has come natural to me. I I’ve piled it through. It took more than I. It took me 13 math classes to become an engineer. I started at elementary algebra. You know, X plus two equals four all the way through multivariate calculus.
01:02:42:16 – 01:03:04:10
Jermaine
So it wasn’t like I started off, you know, starting off with calculus. And same way with underwriting. I had a six unit deal before I joined the Warrior program, and I have no idea. I accidentally picked a good deal because there’s so much that I didn’t know. You know, I didn’t know, I didn’t know. So I I’ve actually since then have under underwritten my own deal that are already owned.
01:03:04:11 – 01:03:15:00
Jermaine
I was like, Wow, this is an outstanding buy. But I didn’t know at the time. So yes, I am, but I am pretty good on underwriting and I can certainly help and add value. But it didn’t come easy.
01:03:15:04 – 01:03:29:23
Mark
Now I do. Why did you do that coming from a six unit, That’s that’s more than maybe our average student who hasn’t done any multifamily. Right. That’s technically a commercial multifamily over five units. Why why did you even decide to do something like, you know, working with us and the Warrior group?
01:03:29:23 – 01:03:50:05
Jermaine
Because I wanted to scale my achievements. There’s only so much you can do. This is a team sport, and I didn’t have a team. I had me and people were calling me in the middle of the night for some toilets and and I didn’t understand the process of hiring property management. There’s a resource Rod has interviews that you call to when you’re hiring a property manager.
01:03:50:07 – 01:04:08:10
Jermaine
I didn’t know how to select a business partner. There’s a checklist. He has on the interviews and questions you go go through. You know, like he always says, they’re easy to get in and hard hard to get out of. You want to make sure you’re not in a business relationship with someone that doesn’t work well with you. This there’s there’s so many resources there I just didn’t have.
01:04:08:12 – 01:04:14:11
Jermaine
And I’m surprised it worked. I’m surprised I didn’t just go up in flames without all the information that I didn’t even know. I didn’t know.
01:04:14:13 – 01:04:25:15
Rod
Oh, that’s a great that’s a great answer. You know, I by the way, guys, if you’re interested in the Warrior program, text the word crush to seven two, three, four or five. It’s just an would you say it’s an extraordinary program, Jermaine?
01:04:25:17 – 01:04:27:24
Jermaine
Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Stephanie.
01:04:27:24 – 01:04:53:19
Rod
Okay. Well, thank you so, too. Again, text crush 272, three, four, five. And we can help you crush it in this business. So let’s talk about that Creekside deal that you did with Chris we talked about last week really nice 3034 unit in Arkansas. Sounds like a screaming deal. You know, talk about some of the things you did because we talked about what he did talk about some of the things you do besides the due diligence.
01:04:53:19 – 01:05:01:05
Rod
I mean, you gave us incredible synopsis on the due diligence. What other things did you do there to to to bolster your chances for success there?
01:05:01:10 – 01:05:23:19
Jermaine
I worked with the contractors on setting up the budget for the capital improvements. I’m setting up the scope of the capital improvements. For instance, we originally had some windows we were going to replace, but we looked at and really okay with these windows are fine, we did some glass replacement and replacements instead. I met with roofing contractors, landscaping contractors to improve the curb appeal of the area.
01:05:23:21 – 01:05:44:11
Jermaine
Now we got signage made and installed some new mulch beds and we really made inroads with the community. That’s how we first started. So I personally was a law enforcement officer who lives right adjacent to the asset across the street. Two houses in name is Chris as well, and introduced myself personally, He gave me a cell phone number.
01:05:44:13 – 01:06:09:00
Jermaine
There’s an issue. Oh, you call me. He’s looking out for the neighborhood. We also added value. Another multiple fronts. So besides the CapEx, we engage with the local community leaders. So I spoke directly with the city council member. So that Creekside asset in Ward three of Searcy, his name is Donald Rainey. He was outstanding. He had nothing but great things to say about the direction the asset he is.
01:06:09:00 – 01:06:31:23
Jermaine
I drive by here every day going to work and I love what you guys are doing with the place. We try to make it more inviting. We talk with the local utility company. We got all new LED lighting installed at the city’s expense, so we’re just paying a flat rate for the electrical usage. We lit the outside of the asset front and back to make it look feel like home.
01:06:32:00 – 01:06:33:16
Rod
Safer, too. Yeah.
01:06:33:18 – 01:06:53:11
Jermaine
Absolutely. Absolutely. As a matter of fact, Donald Rainey, the city council member, he offered to do a ribbon cutting and got buying with the mayor. Once the bulk of our asset has has been completed and capital improvements have been completed. So they’re going to come out and do a community event. We’re going to have food and balloons and all that.
01:06:53:17 – 01:06:56:07
Jermaine
So it’s been standing, really love it.
01:06:56:07 – 01:07:13:23
Rod
Let me tell you why that’s such a big deal, guys, because if you ever have a problem there that that requires cutting through some freakin red tape, what you find in any municipality and you’ve been and you’ve done that for the mayor, you’ve given them a PR opportunity. Oh, man, you’re off to the freakin races. And I want to mention something else, too.
01:07:13:23 – 01:07:31:20
Rod
And I know you probably got a follow up as well, Mark, but I do on the on the law enforcement side, that is frickin huge. If you’ve got a police officer that lives in or around your asset. The fact that you did that is just brilliant because talk about an incredible resource. If you ever have a problem. I just just love it.
01:07:31:20 – 01:07:48:04
Rod
And we try to do that. Well, actually, in our larger assets that we have, we try to have police officers actually live there. We give them discounted rent, sometimes free rent, to to drive their police car home and maybe do a walk through the complex on a on a regular basis. So love that you took the initiative to do that.
01:07:48:04 – 01:07:49:04
Rod
Jermaine. That’s brilliant.
01:07:49:06 – 01:08:11:03
Mark
I wanted to touch on one thing here because you mentioned a bunch of different relationships from people in the community. And before I invested on this deal, I actually reached out to another warrior, Charlie Peters. We’ve had him on the podcast in the past, and I reached out to him because he’s done many deals in super small towns, a lot smaller than this deal, three or four or 5000 people population.
01:08:11:03 – 01:08:31:02
Mark
I asked him, Hey, I’m going to invest in this deal. What’s the biggest thing that I should be looking for as a concern? And his answer was vendors, contractors and relationships in that market. How did you guys go about building all those relationships with the vendors, the contractors? Was that something Chris had already? Did you have to reach out to people?
01:08:31:02 – 01:08:34:06
Mark
How did you go about doing that to have those relationships?
01:08:34:08 – 01:08:52:10
Jermaine
So we did a couple like a two pronged attack. So Chris had a maintenance company that he has in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and he actually used that contractor to set up our initial CapEx budget. So we have we had a steady crew we could use and he had some existing relationships. So, by the way.
01:08:52:15 – 01:09:12:10
Rod
I may stop here for one set. Let me let me stop you for one second. Just if you don’t know what CapEx is, guys, it’s called capital expenditures. And those are the those are the main big items you’re going to do when you fix up a property, HVAC units. You know, maybe do this to redo the interiors flooring, blinds, fixtures, things of that nature.
01:09:12:10 – 01:09:18:10
Rod
So that’s CapEx. I’m sorry to interrupt you. I just wanted to make sure that they understood what CapEx meant. Germain, please continue.
01:09:18:11 – 01:09:42:16
Jermaine
ABS Absolutely. So we did have some assets available, which I think is important to have boots on on the ground, which I guess is defined as someone who lives within 2 hours of the asset interest does. So after that, I was a contractor, so I can speak the contractor language and I set up two days of appointments. Then we got five proposals for each discipline that we needed.
01:09:42:16 – 01:10:03:03
Jermaine
And I met them personally and we walked through the scope and we walked through pricing so we could be sure that what we were expecting to get was what we got and how much it cost is what we expected at the end. So those are those are the two kind of avenues that we took. One was we we got a hold of local chamber of commerce and we also went through the Better Business Bureau to find contractors.
01:10:03:06 – 01:10:05:17
Jermaine
And then we also leverage contractors we already knew in the area.
01:10:05:22 – 01:10:24:24
Rod
Love it, love it. So what’s next for you, Jermaine? In fact, let’s do it like this. What is your plan to achieve the financial success that you got into the Warrior program for that you got into real estate for in general? What talk about that plan because that’s a big piece of success in anything. You got to know what it is you want.
01:10:25:02 – 01:10:28:11
Rod
Other was how the heck are you ever going to get it? So talk about your plan.
01:10:28:13 – 01:10:52:10
Jermaine
So I had a four year plan, very achievable to replace my W-2 job income with the rental income. I’m already ahead of the curve. So for a year, one’s already behind me. So I have a now I say a very achievable three year plan to rent to place my income with with rent, with rental income. And then the next phase, I think, is to make it passive income, because I wouldn’t say real estate is passive at all.
01:10:52:10 – 01:11:21:08
Jermaine
It’s very active. We work at it every day. We’re working at hardly late nights, early mornings, so it’s definitely not a get rich quick scheme by any means. So I think the next phase is to really put become a sponsor for deals and other people close the deal because I remember when I was trying to get my deal, it took me two years to get my first first deal and now I just want to help other people get that process because I can’t wait to get the sort of back here behind my on my wall.
01:11:21:10 – 01:11:24:04
Jermaine
So I’m really looking forward to helping other folks.
01:11:24:06 – 01:11:39:10
Rod
Oh, yeah. By the way, when you become a warrior and you get your first deal, you get a really cool sword in the mail from us and it’s a real freaking sword. I wish I had an example of it here. I don’t think I do. And you become a warrior of the sword and it’s like really a cool thing.
01:11:39:12 – 01:12:00:02
Rod
But yeah, so, so on that note you just mentioned, know having people bring you deals and stuff like that, that’s fantastic. Are you okay with listeners reaching out to you? And if they’ve got a question, we ask Chris and he was he was good with. Yeah. Okay. So what is your email address that they can email you at Buddy.
01:12:00:04 – 01:12:22:20
Jermaine
Okay. So my name is Jermaine. So J.R. a I and it’s and ways to wealth equity dot com that’s the website and the email address as well and if you go on there we have place where you can look my calendar is right there and we have this virtual coffee link that you can meet 15 minute chat if you just have a question for you.
01:12:22:20 – 01:12:33:07
Jermaine
But by all means you can this email. I’m also available on all the social media platforms. Jermaine Xavier. My last name is spelled x a v ICR and I’d be happy to talk to you.
01:12:33:12 – 01:12:34:03
Rod
Fantastic.
01:12:34:03 – 01:12:36:01
Mark
Appreciate you doing the value add.
01:12:36:03 – 01:12:55:10
Rod
Yeah, well, listen, I really appreciate you coming on and I can’t wait to have you on in a couple of years because I know it’ll be over a thousand units at that point and and you’ll have probably retired from your full time job, although I don’t know that I’d leave Nassau. But you know, that’s, that’s, that’s me saying that just because I think it’s so cool.
01:12:55:12 – 01:13:05:16
Rod
But listen, I appreciate you coming on, my friend, and I’m sure we’ll see you at the next Warrior event. And, uh. And and, and, and holidays to you and your host, buddy. Thanks for coming.
01:13:05:16 – 01:13:18:16
Jermaine
Holidays to you. Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you guys time. And I want to see you on stage one of these days. I want to get up there and tell my face to I’ve been the brand warrior. That’s one of my it’s one of my bucket list items to get out there and speak the rest of the world.
01:13:18:16 – 01:13:32:16
Rod
About, you know, you know, it’ll happen. I mean, you just you just got interviewed on the largest commercial real estate podcast in the world. So the stage is anticlimactic, but we’ll make it happen. All right. Take care. Take care, guys. All right, say, everybody.
