Sleaze-free Real Estate Investing

If you’ve ever felt like your lack of cash is holding you back in your investing efforts, this two-part episode series is for you. In this series, Jeff explains the concept of the five currencies we have at our disposal in real estate investing. While we are usually totally focused on the one currency we are most familiar with—the currency of money—there are actually four more non-cash currencies we can harness to buy rental properties. In Part 2, Jeff explains how all five currencies are utilized in the process of real estate investing, how to focus on Relationship Currency—the infinite resource—and ultimately how to convert Relationship Currency into deals.

If you’ve ever felt like your lack of cash is holding you back in your investing efforts, this two-part episode series is for you. In this series, Jeff explains the concept of the five currencies we have at our disposal in real estate investing. While we are usually totally focused on the one currency we are most familiar with—the currency of money—there are actually four more non-cash currencies we can harness to buy rental properties. In Part 1, Jeff introduces the five currencies and helps you assess how much of each one you have to work with.

You may be involved in real estate investing because you love real estate, or because you’re actively building wealth. So it’s easy to think “I’m playing the real estate investing game.” But if we dig a little deeper, what specific game are you REALLY playing? Once you have tremendous clarity on what game you’re really playing, you also have tremendous clarity on something else: what games you are NOT playing. In this episode, Jeff discusses the critical importance of knowing exactly what game—within real estate investing—you are playing, so that you can focus on it, become the best in the world at it, and avoid playing all the other games you shouldn’t be playing that distract your focus and dilute your efforts.

As real estate investors, we tend to look at each deal and ask ourselves the question, “how can I do this deal with the resources I have?” And while that is a natural question to ask, it’s the wrong question—instead, we need to break that question into two separate questions: 1) is this a deal worth doing, and 2) if so, what resources do I need to do this deal? In this episode, Jeff talks about a powerful quote, and what it means to us Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs: “Don’t tell me what you have and what you can do with it; tell me what’s possible and what you need to achieve it.”

Lisa Sarullo is a newer real estate investor with incredible momentum! What is her secret? She’s using the power of relationship-based negotiation, and just keeps putting one foot in front of the next! In this episode, Jeff interviews his coaching client, and member of The DEALS Workshop, Lisa Sarullo. In this fun and inspiring conversation, Lisa and Jeff discuss how to “Solve The Person” when developing relationships with Sellers, how to do multiple deals with the same Seller, critical mindset shifts for success, how to be confident when you approach private money lenders, how to use relationship capital to do creative seller financing deals, and so much more.

We all know that focus is important in real estate investing. After all, if we don’t know what we want to buy and invest in, anything is a potential candidate--and we can’t be evaluating every single property! So we work hard to define our buying criteria, sometimes called our “buy box.” But while most people define their buy box simply based on qualitative criteria—location, property type, size, price, etc.—Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs have an additional element they consider: Negotiation Dynamic. In this episode, Jeff explains what Negotiation Dynamic is, and why it’s so important to include in your buy box buying criteria.

Let’s face it—real estate investors need to borrow money. And when we think about borrowing money, our default mindset is, “I need money, and the lenders have it, so I have to ask nicely to borrow it and jump through any hoops they require, because they have all the control.” But there’s an important and simple truth that lenders don’t like you to know: lenders need borrowers. In this episode, Jeff explains the critical mindset shift real estate investors need to make: believing that as a good borrower, you are valuable to the lender—and they need you just as much as you need them.

There are many sources of “information” in the real estate industry—for investors and agents alike. But while many of those sources teach and spread a similar message, there are a select few change agents in the industry who truly think differently. In this episode, Jeff interviews Justin Stoddart, author of The Upstream Model, and host of The Think Bigger Real Estate podcast. Justin is a long-time real estate professional who has a powerful message to share about how to think differently—and bigger—to make a difference and build a stronger business. In this conversation, Jeff and Justin discuss what it means to do uncomfortable things, how to stop living below your potential and how to harness the idea that your next client is someone else’s current client.

People embark on the journey to financial freedom because they want….financial freedom, of course! But is financial freedom actually the greatest reward of the whole journey? As Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, the answer is no—there is a greater reward: the person you become along the path to financial freedom. In this episode, Jeff describes the many different transformations you go through as you progress toward financial freedom, and explains how they will serve you well into the future, even if your financial freedom itself doesn’t last.

The path to financial freedom through real estate may not be a get-rich-quick path, but it is indeed a dependable and clear one that doesn’t have to be complicated. In this episode, Jeff interviews Michael Zuber, author of the popular real estate investing book, “One Rental at a Time.” Michael’s book has helped thousands of real estate investors to see a path to financial freedom through real estate, while holding down jobs and family responsibilities. In this conversation, Jeff and Michael discuss the concept of a “buy box” to focus your property search efforts, daily disciplines every real estate investor should follow, and so much more.

How important is networking for successful Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs? Very important in fact. Yet the word “networking” can conjure up certain negative connotations and mental images of awkward conversations and pointless business card exchanges…and can discourage people (including your host, Jeff) from doing it. In this episode, Jeff interviews Brian Trippe—a real estate investor, educator and connector—about the importance of developing strategic networking skills. Brian is the author of the books “Nothing’s For Sale” and “The ROI of Life,” and is an expert networker and connector. In this fun conversation, Brian explains what good networking really is, how valuable it can be, and provides several resources and book recommendations for mastering the art of networking.

When we look at a property, and we see the same thing everyone else sees….that’s a problem. But when we look at a property, and we see something DIFFERENT, and we have a bigger vision than others, all sorts of opportunity arises! In this episode, Jeff talks about the importance of being identify the hidden treasures in a deal, and how those hidden treasures can create much better deals for Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneur buyers. Jeff also gives several examples of different types of hidden treasures to learn to look for.

Does achieving financial freedom through real estate require grinding, hard work and hustle? Not necessarily. In this episode, Jeff interviews Dion McNeeley, a self-proclaimed lazy investor—who has achieved financing independence! In this conversation, Dion tells his story about how we went from significant bad debt to financial independence through real estate investing, while maintaining a job he loves. Jeff and Dion discuss what it means to be successful as a “lazy” real estate investor, what Dion looks for in a deal, and explains how we gets tenants to ASK for a rent increase!

Usually when we embark on something new, we want to be able to see and understand the entire path ahead of us, before we even get started. But entrepreneurship doesn’t always work that way! In this episode, Jeff discusses how we must BELIEVE that the path will appear as we move forward in our real estate endeavors. From the big picture questions like “how will I achieve success as a real estate entrepreneur?” to the deal-by-deal questions of “how will this transaction come together?” we must embrace an attitude of belief that we will figure out the next steps on the journey only by moving forward along that path.

Negotiation—whether in real estate or life in general—is all about creating agreement. But often times, when we share our ideas with another person (like the Seller of a piece of real estate), they don’t accept our ideas, and we fail to get agreement. But there’s one idea that a Seller will ALWAYS accept: the one they came up with! In this episode, Jeff discusses the power of helping others come to the conclusions you want them to, so that you can reach more agreement in your Seller negotiations.

What if you could simply make the decision that you would never have a bad day again—no matter what? In this inspiring interview, host Jeff interviews successful real estate investor and podcast host Jeffrey Holst. Jeffrey brings a perspective to life and real estate that is one-of-a-kind, and extremely thoughtful. In this conversation, Jeffrey and Jeff discuss a wide range of topics, from the keys to having a successful real estate partnership, to how to have “radical responsibility,” and how to decide to give up having bad days.

If you want to reach your goals—whether in your real estate business, or your life—there’s one major key: you need to “arrive before you depart.” In this episode, Jeff shares the philosophy of “Arrival Before Departure,” a principle taught by Greg Pinneo (the guest in episode 100). Jeff explains that you have to be able to see yourself as the person capable of accomplishing something, before you can ever actually accomplish it. He shares many examples from his own personal life about how this principal is applied to help achieve goals, both large and small.

Common real estate investing advice says, “if you want to buy more properties, you need to analyze more deals and make more offers.” While that may seem to make sense on the surface to mainstream investors, we Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs see it very differently. In this episode, Jeff explains why entrepreneurs don’t believe in “finding” deals, but instead believe in “creating” deals, and why analyzing deals in spreadsheets should only come much later in the process, after truly understanding the Seller. Lastly, Jeff shares what real estate entrepreneurs SHOULD be focused on: talking to more Sellers.

When we think about what creates stress and anxiety in our lives and businesses, it usually all comes down to “problems.” But, problems can also carry with them the seed of equivalent opportunities—if we can learn to rewire our perspective. In this episode, Jeff shares how the problems we experience in real estate negotiations and deals can actually turn into some of the greatest improvements to our deals. After listening to this episode, you may even find yourself being thankful for the problems you encounter.

People often ask, “what’s your response rate on your direct mail marketing to Sellers?” It seems like a simple question, but the answer is not as simple as one might think. The counterintuitive truth is this: good marketing is hard to measure. In this episode, Jeff explains what good marketing is—and what it is designed to accomplish—and explains that good marketing should be difficult to track because it is relational in nature, not transactional.