Frank Lettiere is the Acquisitions Team Leader at Arrows Capital Group, a multifamily syndication team that offers every investor greater opportunities to maximize returns while prioritizing people. He comes from a finance background, having spent over a decade as a commodity options trader before transitioning to a software development role focusing on process automation.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Family/Work Balance
- Integrity vs. Courage
- First Time Deals
- Working With Experienced Operators
- Transitioning to Multifamily Full Time
- Being Overly Comfortable
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
Intro
Hi. My name is Rod Khleif, and I’m the host of “The Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing” podcast. And every week I interview Multifamily Rock Stars and we talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons to get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out. Let’s get to it.
Rod
Welcome back to Multifamily Rock Stars. Now, this is where we interview people that are crushing it in this business, and we show you guys the inside scoop into how multifamily investors are creating massive success not just in their businesses but in their lives. And as always, I’ve got my co-host, who’s the director of our massive action team for my warrior group, Mark Nagy on the call. Mark, what’s up, brother?
Mark
Man, happy to be here. It’s good seeing a familiar face here for our guests. A little over a year ago maybe, is when we first met. But if you’re back on the podcast here, it must mean things are going well. So it’s always good to see familiar faces again.
Rod
Yeah. So today we’ve got Frank Lettiere. And Frank comes from a finance background. He’s in 241 doors now, a couple of deals as a GP. Welcome to the show, brother.
Frank
Oh, thank you guys for having me. And yeah, you’re right, Mark. It was just over a year, and that conversation feels like a lifetime ago now. The amount of things that have changed in that time.
Rod
Wow. Love it. Well, why don’t you take a minute and just tell us a little bit about your background with a little more detail? You know, just a few minutes. Tell us where you came from, how you got to where you are now, and we’ll take it from there.
Frank
Sure. Sounds good. I am from Chicago, the southwest suburbs of Chicago, grew up here, live here now with my girlfriend. And we have two kids together, a six-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy. When I got out of– I went to College at the University of Illinois and got right into trading. I was a proprietary commodity options trader for ten to 12 years, worked on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. It was a really exciting job. I loved the job, love the team I was working with. But after, you know, however long there, the floors have kind of gone away now. Everything kind of went to computer screens and algorithmic trading and stuff like that. So I kind of shifted gears a little bit in my career, took some time off to go back to school, got some computer programming education, and I kind of got into the more like process automation and operations type side of the business for a little while. But once my kids started growing up a little bit, I kind of wanted to do something different, do something outside of it, kind of make some, you know, passive income, you know, if that was possible. And that’s what got me kind of looking into real estate. When I lived downtown Chicago, I had owned a, you know, small condo in a townhouse and, you know, just rented it out, but it was a very, very small situation. So when I got back into it, I was looking you know, to do that again. And I actually had a brother in law who went to one of your seminars, and he had told me, you know, hey, before you do that, you might want to check out what these guys got going on because it seems like the same thing that we’re kind of doing, but on a much grander scale. So I, you know, checked out the warrior group, checked out the program, had a call with Mark.
Rod
Did you come to a boot camp or did you just call based on that referral?
Frank
No, I called based on that referral because he did go to a boot camp.
Rod
I did one in Chicago, but it’s been a long time ago. I mean, pre-Covid and then some, but. Okay, very cool. Well, that’s nice to hear that. Okay. Please continue.
Frank
Yeah. So after I got off the call with Mark, like I said, things have very much changed for me since then. I mean, I kept my W2 job for a little while, but couldn’t really stop thinking about, you know, multifamily investing and how I could do more and how I could add my skill set to, you know, a team and stuff like that. So over the course of this last year, it’s kind of just been transitioning more and more towards multifamily. And now I’m at a point where, you know, that’s what I’m doing full time. So it’s been quite a journey.
Rod
No, and you’re on a team with another Warrior. Well, several Warriors, I believe, if I’m not mistaken, and a very successful team that’s growing and kicking butt. Well, awesome. What role do you play on that team? Because, you know, guys, those of you listening, you’ve heard me say that ad nauseam, but I want to say it again. There are lots of roles that people play in this business, and nobody can do it all. You know, people can get overwhelmed thinking, how am I going to do all this? The successful teams, everybody’s got their lane and they complement each other and they play to their strengths. So what is your role? Or if it’s defined yet? I assume you’ve been working on it. Okay.
Frank
No. Yeah, pretty well defined. And I couldn’t agree with you anymore. Like I said, right before I had, you know, come on to your group and what you guys are doing and stuff with the warrior program, I was thinking about kind of just doing it on my own, getting a couple of small units and stuff, and it quickly becomes very, very overwhelming. So on my team right now, I like to focus on what I feel like my, you know, biggest skills are, which is the underwriting part of it with modeling and stuff. My background in modeling, you know, options and managing risk and trading and stuff like that lend very well to this. I actually have a lot of, you know, the old spreadsheets and stuff that I used to use. I kind of just use them now. But rather than the inputs being, you know, corn and soybean prices and stuff like that, it’s rent rolls and T12 and everything. So I’m kind of like underwriting acquisitions and as I mentioned, I kind of do like the operations part of it. You know, I know you mentioned a lot, but it’s all people and systems and I’m very, very into the systems part of it. How can we take a process, break it down, automate it as possible, make it simpler, make it clear. All that kind of stuff. So that’s kind of where I fit in.
Rod
That’s fantastic. And I will tell you that what Frank just said, every business is nothing but people and systems like he said. You get the right people, you put the right systems together. Success is inevitable and we’re always working on our systems as well. In fact, Mark and I and the whole team had a call this morning and one of the topics with our new COO was outlining all of our processes and procedures and then once we’ve got them all clearly outlined, then we work on them. You know, there’s a great book about this topic for businesses called “The EMyth Revisited” by a guy named Michael Gerber about how you take your business and you basically, McDonalized it. So anybody can step in and handle it. And the more you can automate, of course, the better as well. So, yeah, I’m really glad you brought that up.
Mark
When you were first getting started there, Frank, what were some of those like, aha moments that you had, you know, going from, you know, no doors all the way up to where you’re at now?
Frank
There’s been plenty of them, as you guys know. Hard to pinpoint the exact ones. I know in the very beginning, like I said, for me, going from– I was kind of coming out of a space where I was less a part of a team. I mean, I was a part of the team at my previous job, but I was getting to the point where for myself I was a little bit more siloed and I don’t mind that you know, myself. And it’s almost one of the reasons why when looking into real estate, I was going to try to do it myself. But it’s very, very early on, maybe even before you get into the first couple, you know, what do you call it, on the online course, like the first couple of tutorials and stuff like that.
Rod
The modules. Right. Modules.
Frank
Yeah. The modules. Right.
Rod
Yeah, right.
Frank
I can’t do it all. That’s for sure.
Rod
No. No.
Frank
I don’t know who could. So many different parts of the business. So that was one. To me, that was like you got to switch your thinking from how can I figure out all this stuff to how can I find the right people and team up with the right people and be aligned, you know, with the right people who have the same vision as I do, where I can bring certain skills.
Rod
And play to your strengths. Sorry I interrupted, buddy. And play to your strengths, which obviously you’re doing with that finance background. It’s fantastic. What did you struggle with initially? I mean, you talked about you know, we’ve got an awesome course that you were going through the modules as part of the Warrior program, and you saw you know that there are a lot of pieces to this, but any struggles or even any failures or setbacks that you had so far in your journey that might have, you know, positioned you for future success. Anything come to mind when I asked that question? I know I didn’t prepare you for that, but anything come to mind?
Frank
No, that’s good. It kind of goes into the aha moments anyways, because I love to learn. I love, like the modules, like you said, for the class, that is like I could do that all day. I wake up on a Saturday, I have nothing else to do and be very happy to learn something new like that. But the transitioning from the learning in a module or an online course to how that happens in reality was quite an aha moment and quite a difficult moment for me, really. As you guys know, in multifamily right now, it’s a very hot market pretty much everywhere. There’s a lot of competition. It’s not like you can just, you know, look at a couple of deals on LoopNet and, oh, yeah, this one is going to work out and all right. Do you know what I mean? A lot more goes into it than that. So that was kind of some of the struggles early on in the first, you know, few months, just going through the looking at a deal, underwriting a deal, saying, hey, maybe this could be the one. And then, you know, finding out that you’re 10% off of what–
Rod
Sharing it with the warriors and you’re like, what were you thinking? You know that right.
Frank
Exactly.
Rod
No, I get it. You know, that’s one of you know, the benefits of this, because, you know, you go with this alone. You got nobody looking over your shoulder to make sure you don’t make a mistake. Guys, even if you’re not interested in the Warrior program, not pushing it here. But you need to have a support group that you can re-lean on and bounce deals off of. People that aren’t going to say yes, do that deal to every deal. You want people to say no, you don’t want to do that deal. So again, you know, find people locally if you need to. But you’ve got to have people that you’re bouncing this stuff off of because there’s just way too many nuances. So let me ask you this. Off-topic for a minute. What do you think is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Frank
The best advice I’ve ever received.
Rod
And it could be life advice, it could be relationship advice, or it could be business advice. In this show, we cover all the bases.
Frank
Yeah. Right. I don’t know if this goes to advice, but it is a saying that I’ve kind of been living by recently that I read that it sticks with me. So it’s the only thing that comes to my mind. Courage over comfort.
Rod
I love it.
Frank
Kind of like the idea of integrity. I don’t know if it’s advice as much as when I break down almost every decision that I make like you said, real estate, life, how I eat, how I, you know, deal with my kids and stuff. If I think it breaks it down to like, am I really carrying myself with integrity? Am I choosing courage over just doing the easy thing? That’s kind of, I don’t know, kind of like a guiding light for me.
Rod
I love it. Well, those are two different things, courage and integrity. But I will tell you, let’s talk about courage for a minute. You know, I’ve got a sign on my wall right here. It says “Comfort Kills”. It’s literally right on the wall right here. That’s a Grant Cardoneism, you know. But the bottom line is and you guys have heard me say it before, the life you want, that incredible life of your dreams is just on the other side of comfort. So there’s one thing. Now, integrity, in fact, we just talked about this, Mark and I just talked about it this morning. Right. We brought this up in our meeting because we went through our core values for the company, which we do occasionally, and I need to do more regularly. But our number one core value is integrity. We do what’s right, even if it hurts. And guys, that’s how you need to operate in life. I can’t think of a more important core value to implement. And certainly in this business, because it’s a small business, you think it’s a big business, but it’s not. It’s a very small world, actually. And if you screw somebody around, it gets out there, it gets out there fast, it moves quickly. So, you know, you’ve got to do what’s right. You should do it anyway. But the bottom line is, if you don’t, you aren’t going to last in this business.
Mark
Speaking of courage. Yeah. Obviously, one of the biggest things we want to talk about here is leaving your job. You know, it’s been a little over a year as a warrior, and you’ve already left your job going full time, which is on the quicker side. Right. Sometimes people take a little bit longer to get out and leave their job or retire, whatever you want to call it.
Rod
I thought he said he didn’t. I thought you didn’t. Did you leave the job, Frank?
Frank
Yeah, I actually left the job in September.
Rod
Oh, I missed that. I’m sorry I interrupted. I missed that. I thought you said you hadn’t left the job. Okay. Sorry. I was going to try to correct you, Mark, but sorry I wasn’t listening. Please continue your thought about leaving the job. Yeah. Wow.
Mark
Yeah. What were some of those factors or maybe questions you ask yourself before you decided to do that and go into real estate full time?
Frank
Well, that is an interesting question for me personally, because if you know me and you know my background, I really didn’t take the same approach that I take normally. I mean, if you ever ask me about leaving a job or quitting a job before I do put it into a spreadsheet.
Rod
You’re an analytical guy, so I know exactly where you’re going with this. Okay.
Mark
Is it a numbers thing then?
Frank
It was not a numbers thing, and it was hard for me to overcome. And it was hard, you know like you just mentioned courage or kind of stepping out over your skis as a way that I kind of think of it and someone that I know that says it like that.
Rod
That’s great.
Frank
But it really came down to the people and the vision. Like I said, have really changed quite a bit in a year. The people that I’m working with, I enjoy working with every day. I truly believe in what they can bring to what we’re trying to do. I truly believe that we’re all aligned. And I do think that the more that we’re all committed, the greater the things that we are going to accomplish. So I kind of had to look past the numbers a little bit and take a little bit of a shot. And so far, you know, it’s been going very well. Whether it went well or not, I wouldn’t go back and change the decision either way. I feel like it was the right thing to do.
Mark
So what was that like then? Like doing this business alongside other people that have already done deals and done it before you? What was that like versus if you had just done it on your own?
Frank
The increase in confidence level is tremendous. As I was saying before, you know, I could sit in a room and work with a spreadsheet, and probably in any industry out there could probably figure out you know, what’s going on and stuff. But for me, the part that would have been very difficult would have been, you know, going and doing due diligence, you know, at a property that we’re looking at. I don’t really know what I’m looking at or what I’m looking for. You know, talking about a renovation plan and how we’re going to come up with a budget and the timelines and stuff that’s something you know, would have taken me more than a year to figure out on my own. So the thing that coming to a group and being around other people who had experience, gave me the confidence to say I’m going to go out and do my job and do it very well, and I’m going to rely on these people who can do that part of it you know very well based on their experience and all that.
Rod
Love it.
Frank
So it’s a tremendous level-up type thing for me.
Rod
Yeah. You’ve got some awesome people on your team. Lauren is incredible. And I will tell you that we facilitate those connections in the warrior group. In fact, we’ve got our Warrior only event coming up on April 1st and 2nd, and we have about 250 warriors there. We’ll have breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. It’s just an incredible way to connect. By the way, guys, if you’re interested in the warrior program, text the word, if you want to apply, you text the word “CRUSH” to “72345” so we can help you crush it in this business. We probably should come up with a better word. I love that word actually, screw it. We’ll keep it. “CRUSH” to “72345”. But regardless of whether you, you know, apply to join our program or not, if you’re going to do this business, get around people that are doing it. Get around people that can look over your shoulder and fill up the gaps where you’re not as strong. Like Frank was talking about here. You’re a rock star in the analytical space, and it sounds like in the op space as well. But, you know, you want to be around people that shore up those gaps. And those are the truth. Myself and Scott. You know, Scott loves spreadsheets and the analytics and all that. Me, I don’t. I won’t dog them, but I don’t like them. And so, you know, you do what you enjoy. So let me ask you this. What are some words of advice that you would give to someone that may be like you? I got to tell you, I’m impressed that you move forward on the skis and quit the job, although I don’t recommend it. But you did it. You had a support system. You had the team, the warrior team you were in on. But by the way, guys, I get this question all the time. Should I quit my job and do this full-time? And I always say no, unless you’ve got a cushion that’ll support you because if fear pops up because you don’t have an income right away, fear is paralyzing. And if you’re paralyzed, you’re not going to do anything. Most people I would say no to, but the fact that you’ve successfully done it is impressive. But, back to my question. What would you say to someone like you, analytical, that needs to check off every fringed box normally before you make a decision, you didn’t with this last thing we’re talking about here. But normally, you would. What would you say to them about thinking about this business?
Frank
Well, thinking about this business, I would say to, you know, play to your strengths, as you said before. What I found when I first joined the Warrior group, I was very, very happily surprised to find that most people, and I guess it shouldn’t be surprising don’t want to deal with the spreadsheets. Most of the conversations that I had with other warriors when I was saying this was my background and I just love underwriting these deals and building models, they were like, hey, you know, we should partner up because I’d love to send you a deal and you can model it and get back to me because I’ll do all the other stuff. So if you’re analytical like me, you know, I felt like I was in hiding. I had a lot of very easy conversations early on by staying in my lane and sticking to that skill set.
Rod
That is great advice. I’m so glad you said that because you’re right. I mean, that’s fantastic advice. And the people that are analytical in the warrior group quickly get into teams. So now let’s talk for a minute about the ones that aren’t like me. What would you say to them about the business?
Frank
Find someone like me.
Rod
Just in general. Not necessarily the warrior group. Just in general about the business. What advice would you give somebody who just hasn’t pushed forward on their skis, like you said, or taken the jump? I’m just curious what your thoughts are for somebody like that.
Frank
Well, you know, as you mentioned before, I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone. You know, everyone has to make their own decision and be, you know, comfortable in what they’re doing with their life and all that kind of stuff.
Rod
Well, you’re talking about quitting the job. I’m talking about just thinking about the business and has not taken the step to get into the business.
Frank
Oh, like the initial step.
Rod
Just hasn’t done anything except listening to the podcast. That’s what I mean. No. Okay.
Frank
Like taking action versus just learning about it.
Rod
That’s what I’m looking.
Frank
Okay. I see what you’re saying. Well, I mean what I would say to anyone like that or anyone who is, you know, learning about anything in life, multifamily real estate or anything else. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t really do much for you. I talked to a ton of people who read a lot about working out and read a lot about nutrition. And, you know, if they don’t actually change what they’re doing, it’s not going to do anything for your life. So what I would say is find some action that you can take. The smallest action, you know, possible, but get in. You know, meet with someone, go to a meetup, look into a, you know, mentorship program, because those are the people who they have the experience, they’ve been through before and they’ve talked with and dealt with people who are in your exact shoes. So I guess just take the smallest action that you can to get yourself moving forward and create that momentum would be my advice.
Rod
Great advice. Yeah, great advice. By the way, guys, and this will air before then. We’ve got a two-day virtual boot camp coming up. And if you DM me, I’ll get you in for $97. I don’t sell anything at these boot camps. It’s just a total of 16 to 18 hours of training. Nothing being sold. Kind of a duh if you’re interested in this business. So DM me on any social channel and I’ll get you the code to come for $97. The price is up from that now, but I’ll hook you up if you’re interested.
Mark
By the way, I love that advice because of the analytics side of the team, because a question that I get all the time from most, you know, regular people is like, well, I don’t have the money. I don’t have the skill set. What value can I add to a team? And so you’re taking that analytics and then bringing that into a team. It’s so good to hear for people that may be using that as an excuse to not jump into multifamily. I don’t have the money. I don’t have the experience. Well, that doesn’t matter. So for you, what’s next, Frank? What are you excited about right now for in multifamily, in, you know 2022?
Frank
Excited about a lot of things. This team that I’m on now, like I said, every day, it really doesn’t feel like work. It is very exciting, specifically what we’re trying to do on the acquisitions team. It’s just expanding, you know what I mean? Continue to acquire properties, but continue to build out our systems to be that much more efficient, that much more effective. We’re building into a kind of like a direct to sell our system to be a little bit better, which is something that, you know, Rod, your program does a very good job of outlining in detailing, and we’re trying to kind of take that and take our strengths and kind of, you know, build our own and everything.
Rod
Fantastic.
Frank
So we have a lot of stuff, you know, on the horizon that again, when you take a step back and you say what you’re excited about, tons of things from a longer term perspective, and then each day I can kind of dive into something that excites me because I know I’m taking those steps to get to those bigger goals.
Rod
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yes. I can see the excitement, buddy, and the freedom that you’re feeling really at the early stages of this career for yourself. I can see it on your face that you’re really loving life right now. You know, let me ask you this, what if anything, have you had to sacrifice or give up on this short window of journey that you’ve been on real estate wise?
Frank
That’s a good question. You have to sacrifice some time, or at least I had to prioritize some time. I wouldn’t even say sacrifice, but you got to get your priorities in line and understand what is most important to you. I don’t watch as much TV now as I did before. Is that a sacrifice? I think a lot of people would say yes. It doesn’t feel like one to me anymore, because what I’m doing is more important, you know, to my vision and my goals and all that kind of stuff.
Rod
How about time with the family? How are you doing that?
Frank
I haven’t had a sacrifice because working from home, you know, and being able to do everything that we do here, I’m a very big fan of, like, time blocking and stuff. So I set up my week. I set up my time that I’m doing work, and I also set up my time that I am disconnected from work, not getting any slack messages, and just hanging out with my kids and my family so we have a pretty good balance of that.
Rod
Fantastic. Fantastic. That’s something I push really hard in the warrior program as well. I know you know that. So I love it. Well, listen, brother, I appreciate you coming on. You’ve added tremendous value and it’s great to see how successful you guys are doing and I appreciate it. I don’t know if you’re going to make the warrior event or not, but if you’re there we’ll see you there. If not, we’ll see at the next live event.
Frank
Yeah, I believe so. Thank you very much for everything. Thanks for having me on here. Thanks for everything you guys put out. You know what the warrior program and everything. Like I said, you know, a year ago or a year and a half ago or whatever, everything was a lot different for me. So I really appreciate everything that you’ve done to get me where I am today.
Rod
Absolutely. My pleasure.
Mark
Thanks, Frank.
Rod
All right, buddy. See you later.
Outro
Rod, I know a lot of our listeners are wanting to take their multifamily investing business to the next level. Now, I know you’ve been hard at work helping our warrior students do just that using our “ACT” methodology which is Awareness, Close, and Transform. Can you explain to the listeners how they can get our help?
Rod
You bet. Guys, we’ve been going nonstop for three years building an amazing community of like-minded people and our coaching students which we call our warriors, have had extraordinary results. They’ve purchased thousands and thousands of units and last year we did over 1000 units with our students and we’re looking to grow this group and take it to the next level. We’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework that’s really step by step and then leverage our systems and network to raise equity. To find and close deals and to build partnerships nationwide. Now, our warrior community is finding success in any market cycle. So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more of our incredible network and take advantage of the incredible opportunities that are coming very soon, apply to work with us at “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345” and we’ll set up a call so you can check us out and we can check you out. That’s “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345”.
