Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing

Real estate investing is a critical part of a diversified portfolio. And while most Americans have easy access to stocks and bonds, most don't know where to go to find private real estate deals. That’s what inspired Founder and CEO Jilliene Helman to create Realty Mogul, a crowdfunding platform committed to democratizing real estate. Jilliene’s background in banking exposed her to brokers, real estate lenders and trust officers, giving her a 360-degree view of wealth management—and a comprehensive understanding of the real estate market. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Jilliene joins Garrett and me to discuss the challenges she faced early on in building Realty Mogul and describe what inspired her to persevere through 103 coffee meetings before she found a backer! Jilliene explains how the Realty Mogul marketplace differs from traditional syndication and explores the pros and cons of investing in individual deals versus real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the site. Listen in for Jilliene’s thoughtful outlook on the current real estate market and get her advice for investing in the right opportunities during an economic downturn. For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session326/

What does the future of real estate look like? If you ask Ryan Pineda, the future of real estate is digital. And he sees the potential to build multiple billion-dollar businesses that solve many of the problems we face—on the blockchain. Ryan began his real estate career in 2010, and since then, he’s flipped hundreds of single-family homes, purchased hundreds of rentals and founded six multimillion-dollar businesses in the space. In 2020, he went all-in on social media and amassed 1.5M followers teaching people how to build wealth and achieve financial freedom. Ryan is also working on a new NFT project called Tykes, a community for the pioneers of digital real estate. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Ryan joins Garrett Lynch to discuss his SOP for starting a new business and describe what makes his real estate companies so resilient. Ryan shares the worst-case scenario thinking that helps him identify single points of failure and explains how removing yourself from day-to-day operations and cross-training your people mitigates risk. Listen in for insight into the issues the blockchain can solve for real estate investors and learn how to be part of Ryan’s new NFT project and digital real estate mastermind! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session325/

Growing a successful real estate business means growing a solid team. But many entrepreneur-investors struggle with hiring and don’t spend enough time developing key leadership skills. So, what makes for a successful leader in the multifamily business? How do you decide what to delegate, communicate the vision for your business and help the people on your team excel? Known as the CEO Whisperer, Cameron Herold is Founder of the COO Alliance and Second in Command Podcast, a coaching practice and training platform that helps C-suite leaders double their revenue in three years or less. Cameron is well-known for engineering 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s growth from $2M to $106M in revenue in just six years as COO. He is also the bestselling author of Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool for Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Cameron joins cohost Garrett Lynch and me to explain what makes a successful leader, describing how a vivid vision helps leaders focus on the right opportunities and communicate with their team. Cameron shares the activity inventory he uses to help leaders learn to delegate, challenging us to offload anything that’s outside our genius and free up our time for revenue-generating activities. Listen in for Cameron’s insight on creating personal development plans for the individuals on your investing team and learn his FOCUS x FAITH x EFFORT formula for success! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session324/

Are you struggling to do your first real estate deal? Is there an aspect of the multifamily business that’s taking a long time to master on your own? What if you stopped asking HOW and started asking WHO? Who is already good at this? And can they teach me? Sam Kwak is one half of the real estate duo and YouTube sensation known as The Kwak Brothers. Based in Chicago, Sam and his brother Daniel hold a portfolio worth just over $4.5M. Beyond investing in multifamily, Sam leverages his background in marketing and technology to help property managers automate their business. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Sam joins host Garrett Lynch to explain how volunteering to work for free with a local investor served as a shortcut to his success. Sam describes how he leverages an online platform to raise money for real estate deals, discussing why the focus of his content has changed and how hiring a high-level consultant grew his YouTube channel from 108K to 260K subscribers in just four months. Listen in for Sam’s insight on navigating challenges in a business partnership and learn how to accelerate your real estate career by investing in a mentor or coach—and then applying that knowledge to get further, faster! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session323/

When was the last time you reviewed your due diligence process? Too many real estate investors are so eager to do a deal that they cut corners on due diligence and hope for the best. But a robust due diligence checklist is essential to your success. Jake Harris uses his superpower of methodically sorting through data to make real-world decisions on real estate, and his private equity firm has acquired more than $200M in assets in the last five years alone. Jake is extremely detail-oriented in conducting due diligence, and he shares that expertise in his new book, Catching Knives: A Guide to Investing in Distressed Commercial Real Estate. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Jake joins cohost Garrett Lynch and me to discuss how he hit rock bottom during the recession and describe his transition from single family flips to commercial real estate. Jake explores how to use deep knowledge of a given real estate market to your advantage and explains how due diligence can uncover significant downside risk in a commercial deal. Listen in for Jake’s no-stone-unturned approach to due diligence and learn how to decide when a deal is worth the risk—and when to walk away. For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session322/

Most new multifamily investors focus on deal flow. We know that capital flow is important, but we figure we can rely on friends and family to fund our first few deals. But eventually, the money runs out. So, if you want to scale a real estate business, you’ve got to grow your sphere of potential investors. And the easiest way to do that is through an online thought leadership platform. Brian Wagers raised capital for his first 361 units simply by talking to people one-on-one. And then he realized that to achieve scale, he needed to pay more attention to marketing. Brian is Founder of Wagers Capital, a real estate investing firm with $4.1M in multifamily assets. To date, Brian has built a portfolio of 447 units in his home state of Arkansas and another 125 in Texas. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Brian joins cohost Garrett Lynch and me to share the steps he took to get into multifamily and explain how live events helped him see the possibilities of growing a multimillion-dollar portfolio. Brian walks us through the steps he took to build an online thought leadership platform, describing how his social media presence and podcast appearances attract new investors to Wagers Capital. Listen in to understand how Brian leveraged my Platform Builders Workshop to build out his marketing systems and learn how to scale YOUR syndication business by focusing on deal flow and capital flow at the same time! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session321/

Why would a real estate investor want to share content on social media? Yes, we can build relationships with other investors and raise capital without Instagram or YouTube. But social platforms help us maintain those real-life connections and make tens of thousands of others! So, how can we use social media to crush it in real estate? Lili Thompson was playing with the Harlem Globetrotters when COVID hit. Stuck at home with nothing to do, Lili learned about wholesaling and decided to try it—and document the process on social media. Today, Lili is one of the rising stars in the real estate space, and she has 148K subscribers on YouTube. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Lili joins cohost Garrett Lynch and me to discuss how she benefits from sharing her real estate journey on YouTube, describing the connections she’s made with other beginners and experienced investors alike. Lili offers insight into how she built an audience on social media and explains why it’s important to produce content consistently. Listen in to understand why Lili is shifting into the multifamily space (using my Syndicated Deal Analyzer) and take the first steps to creating a thought leadership platform of your own, no matter where you are in your real estate journey! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session320/

What’s stopping you from doing your first multifamily deal? Whatever your perceived weakness may be, you can overcome it and achieve the same kind of success in commercial real estate that you’ve had in other areas of your life. English is Jonathan Wei’s second language and he’s a quiet, introverted guy. And yet, he’s raised millions of dollars for real estate syndication deals. What’s his secret? Jonathan serves as Cofounder and CEO of Greystone Capital Group, a commercial real estate firm that focuses on multifamily and self-storage assets. He left a successful career as a CPA to become a full-time investor, quitting his job in February 2022. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Jonathan joins cohost Garrett Lynch and me to share his fears around raising capital, explaining how he got comfortable talking to brokers and investors with the help of a mentor. Jonathan discusses how the connections he made at Deal Maker Live led to JV partnerships that helped him build a portfolio of 500 multifamily units and another 500 in self-storage. Listen in for Jonathan’s insight on overcoming limiting beliefs by leveraging prior personal and professional successes—and applying the same work ethic to real estate! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session319/

Before you invest with a multifamily operator, it’s important to understand their track record. To know that they’ve got experience overcoming obstacles and making a deal work. Prior to joining our team at Nighthawk Equity, podcast cohost Garrett Lynch owned and operated a class D real estate portfolio on the south side of Chicago. And learned how to solve problems on a life-or-death level in the process. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Garrett is flying solo, discussing how he acquired 300 properties in six months and describing some of the challenges he faced managing assets in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Garrett shares his experience owning and operating a 381-unit, class D apartment building in Memphis, walking us through the steps he took to end gang violence onsite and increase occupancy to 90%. Listen in for Garrett’s insight around the pros and cons of investing in class D properties and find out what he learned about problem-solving in a high-stakes situation that he brings to the team at Nighthawk! For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session318/

A 2017 Forbes headline reads, ‘Median Wealth of Black and Latino Families Could Hit Zero by the Middle of the Century.’ That hit home for Puerto Rican-born Duamel Vellon. And he’s made it his mission to raise awareness in his community, making multifamily investors out of his friends and peers. Duamel Vellon is Cofounder of Ten15 Capital, a multifamily investment firm with assets in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. A former engineer in the theme park industry, Duamel quit his job in December of 2021 to be a full-time investor, and he currently manages a 203-unit portfolio. On this episode of Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing, Duamel joins cohost Garrett Lynch and me to share the ‘chess versus checkers’ mindset that helped him transition from flipping to multifamily. Duamel describes his grassroots approach to raising capital, discussing how he grows his network and educates potential investors before he has a live deal. Listen in for insight on Duamel’s mission to serve the Black and Latino communities and learn his uncommon strategy for ensuring regular deal flow. For full episode show notes visit: http://www.themichaelblank.com/session317/