It takes a brave soul to dare master the craft driven by inner passion be it art, music, and yes, even real estate investing. Inner passion can range from the desire for financial freedom, working for oneself, breaking free of an unhappy life, building wealth and anything else capable of lighting that fire. That courage to travel the nitty gritty roads of failure and uncertainty (especially in entrepreneurship) to get to the highway of success and abundance can sometimes take years to manifest, but the journey for Vee Le has been worthwhile. No, it wasn’t easy, sometimes it wasn’t even fun. But with her eye on the prize and a supportive mentorship she celebrates 5 years of balling in the real estate investment world with over 100 properties under her bling belt. Putting her heel forward, with REI Jedi master Eddie Gant by her side, this woman has become unstoppable in the world of real estate. The REBaller founder is sharing her ups and downs at the group’s 1-year anniversary. And guess who will join her? None other than Eddie Gant himself, racking up over 1,500 properties on his REI portfolio in 2 decades (imagine how many square feet that adds up to?!) The two of them share some tidbits on building wealth successfully, particularly to young and beginning real estate investors.
Rule #1
It’s easy to get caught up in labels, be it real estate flippers, wholesalers, lenders, rehabbers, the list goes on. They’re all great avenues to revenue and skills building, yes, but all follow one defining principle in business: being a business person. Details like paint, door knobs and ceiling fan brands are important to an extent. The main objective though, is to take it back to the art (and science) of business basics. Without knowing how to run your business profitably, the color pallets, crown molding and chandeliers aren’t going to pay your bills.
For starters, it’s CRITICAL to know how you’re going to consistently acquire your capital and finance your business. And if you aren’t a master of accounting or lacking one for your business, you’re dead on arrival to your first property investment.
“Your bank account can go up so high one day, and down the next because you’re rehabbing 5 properties,” Vee Le explains.
Say you’re in this common investor situation. Are you prepared with enough cash to continue moving forward? Did you account the time it would take for project completion and payment deadlines? This is the number one reason beginning investors fail. They start off with what they feel is a cushioned amount of cash to begin their dream million-dollar career only to get stuck on property number one because they ran out of liquidity.
“Pay attention to what matters,” Eddie Gant stresses to incoming investor newbies. “How much cash do you need in this business to do x number of houses in a month, and how will you stay afloat?”
Eddie’s seen so many young investors fail right off the bat because they aren’t watching their cash flow. Maybe they have money in properties but they can’t maneuver or operate because they let their liquidity go to zero. Learn how to project and manage the money like a baller at the next meetup.
Rule #2
Ask yourself if you are keeping it real when you consider whether you are flipping/selling the right property to the right client at the right time. Secondly, how are you doing this?
“Don’t cut corners,” Eddie strongly suggests to anyone in the investor game. You’re spending all this money to get these very expensive career moves to bear fruit, but you’re not going to water it with proper marketing? Chances are, you will sow a garden of failure. Even if you do have a limited budget for advertising, there are SO MANY cost-free opportunities with technology, there’s no excuse not to be an effective marketer. You just need to do the work and the research. Take networking events– they are so abundant that you can attend a meetup every single day of the week in any major Texas metroplex, not to mention free drinks and food at pretty much all of them! You meet great people, many of whom can lead you to your next deal. You can also take advantage of social media and the realtor networks out there. Do your homework and learn all aspects of your business to include educating yourself on the little things.
Rule #3
You don’t build a 100+ portfolio in 5 years by staying quiet. Even more so with a property list exceeding 1,500 deals. You do this by effective and persuasive storytelling. Sure, numbers make a lot of noise. But how does that translate for the desperate homeowner needing a buyer to get him out of a rut? A knack for empathy in these situations can very well be the factor that steals the thunder from any other competing investors. By the same token, you need to be able to gather your baller swagger when making your way into the bank with a multi-million dollar line of credit request. Can you convince them your story is worth dishing out the cash? Vee and Eddie say this can be a learned skill. A good mentor with a successful track record can help you refine your passion to succeed with some talk tips that can make you the investor you were meant to be.
