244. REAL DEAL: Creative Partnerships with Creative Financing (Part 2)

Summary

Real Estate Investing School Podcast - Episode 244 Summary

Title: REAL DEAL: Creative Partnerships with Creative Financing (Part 2)
Host: Brody Fawcett
Guest: Bridger
Release Date: March 13, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 244 of the Real Estate Investing School Podcast, host Brody Fawcett continues the discussion on creative partnerships and financing in real estate investing. This episode serves as a follow-up to the previous week's interview with Eric Gubler, focusing on Bridger's perspective and experiences in their joint real estate venture. The conversation delves into the specifics of their deal, the dynamics of their partnership, funding strategies, lessons learned, and actionable advice for aspiring real estate investors.

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Overview of the Deal

Recap of the Property Search and Acquisition

Bridger recounts the lengthy search for a suitable property alongside Eric, spanning approximately eight months. They eventually discover a five-bedroom, three-bathroom duplex in downtown St. George, priced at $443,000 after negotiations (Bridger, 03:37). Despite poor listing photos that obscured the property's true potential, Bridger was drawn to its spaciousness and ample parking on nearly an acre of land.

Key Features Identified Upon Inspection

Upon visiting the property, Bridger discovered several unlisted advantages:

• An additional bedroom that wasn't advertised due to the absence of a window.
• A separate electrical meter installed by the previous owner, an experienced contractor.
• The property’s split-level design with two distinct living areas shared via a common laundry space (01:08; 04:45).

Purchase Negotiations and Finalization

Initially listed at $460,000, the property did not appraise for the seller’s desired price. After negotiations, the purchase price was reduced to $443,000, saving Bridger and Eric approximately $20,000 (03:37). This price adjustment was crucial in making the deal financially viable.

Bridger (03:21): "Our goal was to rent it room by room. The parking and space were major draws."

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Partnership Dynamics

Bridger’s Motivation and Partnership with Eric

Bridger explains his drive to enter real estate investing was fueled by surrounding himself with successful individuals and consuming relevant content, including the Real Estate Investing School Podcast itself. His partnership with Eric was a strategic decision based on complementary strengths—Eric brought experience and tax history, while Bridger contributed ambition and hustle (05:58; 06:19).

Financial Contributions and Equity Sharing

Bridger invested $15,000 to $17,000 out of pocket, while Eric contributed no personal funds but provided critical resources such as tax history. They agreed to a 50/50 split of the property's equity:

Bridger (07:23): "Half a house is always better than nothing."

This arrangement was deemed fair given Eric's invaluable contributions beyond financial input.

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Funding the Deal

Bridger’s Funding Strategy

Bridger funded his portion of the investment through door-to-door sales, amassing the necessary capital without relying on traditional financing that requires extensive tax history. He emphasizes the importance of having some cash on hand and being proactive in generating funds:

Bridger (10:00): "I did door to door sales. I had a little bit of money in my pocket just from that."

Alternative Financing Methods

Brody highlights that there are numerous financing strategies available beyond traditional loans, especially for those lacking extensive tax histories. Bridger’s success underscores the viability of creative financing solutions in real estate investing.

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Lessons Learned

Importance of Due Diligence

One significant takeaway from Bridger’s experience is the necessity of thoroughly inspecting properties beyond their online listings. Misleading photos can obscure critical features, such as the additional kitchen in their duplex.

Maintaining Professional Boundaries

Bridger shares a cautionary tale about renting rooms to friends without formal lease agreements, leading to instability and financial strain. He advises separating personal relationships from business dealings to ensure professionalism and mitigate risks:

Bridger (13:32): "Do not help your friends."

Effective Communication and Relationship Building

A pivotal factor in finalizing their deal was Eric’s adept communication with the seller and real estate agent, securing seller credits that facilitated a better purchasing rate during a period of rising interest rates. This emphasizes the significance of maintaining strong, transparent relationships in real estate transactions (15:23).

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Advice for Aspiring Investors

Invest in Relationships and Networking

Bridger stresses the importance of building and nurturing relationships within the real estate community. Attending mastermind events and networking can lead to invaluable partnerships and opportunities:

Bridger (10:34): "Investing in your relationships... sets yourself up for success."

Be Transparent and Implement Systems

When utilizing platforms like Facebook Marketplace to rent out rooms, Bridger advises implementing formal systems such as lease agreements to maintain order and professionalism, avoiding reliance on informal arrangements with friends or acquaintances.

Seek Mentorship and Collaboration

For those lacking experience or resources, Bridger recommends seeking out mentors like Eric Gubler or connecting with dedicated real estate agents. Collaboration can bridge gaps in knowledge and financial capability, facilitating successful investments.

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Conclusion

Episode 244 of the Real Estate Investing School Podcast offers a deep dive into the practical aspects of creative partnerships and financing in real estate investing. Bridger’s firsthand account highlights the importance of perseverance, strategic partnerships, diligent property evaluation, and effective communication. His experiences provide valuable insights and actionable advice for both novice and seasoned investors seeking to navigate the complexities of the real estate market successfully.

Connect with Bridger: Follow Bridger on Instagram @bpretty6 to stay updated on his real estate journey and gain further insights.

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Notable Quotes:

• Bridger (03:37): "So about 20 grand cheaper than what we originally put under contract for."
• Bridger (07:23): "Half a house is always better than nothing."
• Bridger (10:00): "Just a little bit of cash and we made it happen in that aspect."
• Bridger (13:32): "Do not help your friends."
• Bridger (15:23): "The communication that he had with the seller and real estate agent was key."

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this summary are based on the podcast transcript provided and do not constitute financial advice. Always conduct your own research or consult with a professional before making investment decisions.

Transcript

[Bridger]

I still have the little notebook we wrote in the little dream Bigger, faster notebook writing. I will buy my first property this this year.

[Brody Fawcett]

What's up, guys? Welcome back to the Real Estate Investing School podcast. This is your host, Brody Fawcett, and this is a Real Deal episode. We're going to dive into another real estate deal. So if you guys missed it. Last week we interviewed Eric Gubler, and he talked about a deal where it was very interesting and unique and what's cool about this Real Deal today, with this being the other side of it, they both play different roles in this deal. And so you might be listening to this, you might find yourself, oh, yeah, I'm in Bridger's shoes. I want to go and do what Bridger did the way that he did it. Or you might find yourself saying, hey, I'm in Eric's shoes. I want to go do this the way that Eric did it. That resonates with me and where I'm at right now and my strengths. So you get to decide what that looks like after we dive in to Bridger side of the story, which is going to be super fun. So Bridger, give us a recap of the deal. Maybe like in. In your. Your words. If anyone's listening to last week's, they kind of have an idea already. Right, but tell us just a recap and give them an idea.

[Bridger]

Okay. So I was looking for a property with Eric. We're looking for about eight months, actually. It was a long time. We found this five bed, three bath, at least that's what it said on the listing. It didn't have great pictures. And I saw it, I sent it to Eric. He said, absolutely not. This is not a good deal. We're not doing this. And I said, let's go check it out. We're going to at least try because we've been going months. We're going to try this out. So we went and looked at it. Ended up being an extra bedroom already in there that wasn't listed because it didn't have a window in there. So that was a plus. And then we also saw that it had a separate electrical meter downstairs that the guy had installed. He was an old contractor. And there was. There was just a few things in there that we liked, also some stuff that we didn't like. But we ended up leaving there and kind of having a better understanding and it made a lot more sense for us after that. It's a duplex, so there was two different. Living area is more like a split level home. It's A shared laundry area.

[Brody Fawcett]

Did you know at the time, like, I mean, we touched on a little bit with Eric where. It didn't say any of that in the listing, but did you know or have an idea when you went and looked at it? There was a second kitchen.

[Bridger]

No, I didn't. The pictures were. Were subpar. Were subpar. And so we weren't able to exactly tell it. There was two separate kitchens. It kind of all was just blurry. It looked like it was taken on a Nikon. Like a Nikon phone. Those old ones.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah.

[Bridger]

People used to run around with. So we couldn't tell there was two different areas.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah. Interesting. So what made you. Aside from, hey, it's been eight months, let's just go look at this thing. What made you force him to go look at it?

[Bridger]

Number one, the area. It's a good area, downtown St. George. And there was a lot of houses that were a lot smaller that were selling for a lot of money that we had gone and seen. And they had broken water heater. And it was just a wreck. It was just a wreck. Every house we went and saw. And so this one had a lot of space. It was. It was 0.8 of an acre, and so almost an acre. It was tons of parking all the way around. And my. Our goal was to rent it room by room. Right. And so looking at the parking, we had street parking all the way around. And then in the driveway, there's a lot of concrete, a lot of space to park. And so that's what drew me to it in the first place, was just the size, the rooms and the space to park.

[Brody Fawcett]

Cool, man. I love it. That's awesome. So you guys went and looked at it, you checked it out. Obviously you ended up buying it. Eric kind of walked us through that process of, you know, there was a lot of stuff that you guys asked for, and they ended up covering it. And I think. What was the purchase price? 5 something.

[Bridger]

The purchase price was 443.

[Brody Fawcett]

443.

[Bridger]

So it was at 460. We got under contract. And then it didn't appraise for what the guy wanted to. We went back and forth and he wanted us to fill in, and we said we couldn't do it. Ended up getting it for 443.

[Brody Fawcett]

Cool.

[Bridger]

So about 20. 20 grand cheaper than what we originally put under contract for.

[Brody Fawcett]

Cool. Awesome. Awesome. Way cool. And I love that, like, just like, obviously in this series, we talk about how you found it, how you funded it and how you forced it, which is kind of the recipe for success, the recipe for a good deal. But you pull out all these nuggets, like, as you're going through this, there's all these little. Little pieces that you grab. And so right now, like, one of the things just focusing on and touching on and make sure people are picking up on is not everything is at face value. Meaning, like, if you see a listing and you look at it, even a description, and this could be for good or for bad. Right. Sometimes things look really, really good and you find out they're not as good as they look. And someone's really good at Photoshop or editing or whatever. But it also works on the flip side of that, right? Where you show up and you're like, okay, there's actually more to this than I. Than I thought. And that was kind of the case with you guys.

[Bridger]

100%. 100% that was the case.

[Brody Fawcett]

Cool. So you found out it was a duplex, which is huge. Huge. Because you can obviously get more rent, right. And separate them and then potentially add two more bedrooms, which you guys have done, which is also awesome. You didn't know that until you got there and you walked the property, right?

[Bridger]

Yeah. So we got there, walked the property, and that was our idea. We were kind of just figuring out which living area we wanted to convert into an extra bedroom, just because, based off the price, it was a good deal. But we knew that if we could, we had that extra bedroom already made. We kind of had to touch it up a little bit, and then we knew we were going to have to frame a wall to make that last bedroom, but once that was done, it would have seven beds.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah. Cool. Awesome. Love it. So we kind of have an idea, obviously, you know, a little bit on the numbers, how you guys funded that and why that made sense for you, why that made sense for Eric being able to get into it. A low down payment. But I want to touch on for you. I'm curious, like, Eric said, you're the driver behind a lot of this, right? This is your first property that you got. What. What was the driver behind all of that that made you want to get into real estate? And then also, like, why. Why did you see value in working with Eric as opposed to, like, oh, I'm just gonna eventually do this on my own.

[Bridger]

Yeah. So the driver, I think getting into real estate is. I'd always like to put myself around successful people, and I saw other people around me heading in that direction. I listened to the Real Estate Investing School Pod podcast. I listen to the bigger Pockets podcast.

[Brody Fawcett]

This podcast right here.

[Bridger]

That's this podcast.

[Brody Fawcett]

Podcast. Wow. Full circle moment.

[Bridger]

Knock my way on here, snuck my way on here. Just a plane ticket. And you're on.

[Brody Fawcett]

And you're on, dude.

[Bridger]

But. But, yeah. So I already had. I already had that head on my shoulders. And then I saw Eric. He was one of my buddies. We were working out together, and we were always talking about just what we were doing, and I told him to help me look for a house. I had actually learned from one of my buddies who you also know, Jake Ebert. He has. He had done this, and he kind of put the bug in my ear, and so I ended up partnering up with Eric. He has experience. He has tax history. He has all the things, basically, that I don't have. I basically just had the dream, a little hustle and the dream. And so we partnered up on it. We were able to use his tax history and get it done in that aspect.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah. Cool. So people that are listening that are like, wait, dude, Eric uses commission. Like, he's not living in the house. And you came up because how much cash were you out of pocket?

[Bridger]

I was about 15 to 17 grand out of pocket.

[Brody Fawcett]

Okay. So people are looking at that. Eric didn't spend any money. And you put 15 to 17k in into this thing, like, and you guys are splitting it 50. 50. How does that fair?

[Bridger]

It's fair because I have no opportunity. I think one thing everybody always says is, is half a house is always better than nothing. Right. Half a house is better than no house. And that's how I saw it, jumped on the opportunity, and just took action.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah. Cool, man. That's good. I think. I think a lot of times, like, you hear stuff like this or you hear stories, or you listen to a podcast or someone talk about a deal that they did, and it's easy to look at, like, oh, you started here when you put the offer in on the property and you ended, you know, to where you're at now, where you've been renting it out and collecting passive income from it. But a lot of times we overlook what probably actually got you here in the first place. And Jake Ebert. I'm just kidding. Jake is the. The middleman here. But no, it's. It's all the. All the mindset stuff, like, leading up to it. It's. It's all of the work that you put in, all of the extra time and energy, you know, like. Like investing in money, like investing in yourself. I know you've come to events that I've put On Right. That's how we kind of eventually got connected. But like that's the piece that think a lot of people don't see and all the work that you put into it and that led up to where you're at now.

[Bridger]

Yeah, and touching on that too. It wasn't like Eric and I's friendship just kind of happened overnight. He invited me to a mastermind event out in Nashville and so I paid the money when did the experience with him. And so we created that relationship through those experiences. He invited me, told me you were doing your mastermind. And so we went there and that was one of the goals. I remember I still have the little notebook we wrote in the little dream bigger, faster notebook or writing, I will buy my first property this, this year. So and, and yeah, so we got all those, all those goals done. But those were, those were sacrifices, right? Those are sacrifices. No one wants to go spend money for, for no reason, but doing it for reasons. Building relationships and being able to network and set those goals.

[Brody Fawcett]

Totally, dude. Yeah, that's, that's fun like that. I do like a one day goal setting event every year and it's, it's a blast. That. Yeah, I think that that's, that's the piece that people need to hear and need to work on now. And it's not just like, oh, I didn't find the property today. Well, what did you do today that's going to get you to. When you find the property, you know which one it is, you know how to pull the trigger on it, what to do next, all of those things. On this one, obviously we know what you're into it. We kind of know where you're, where you're cash flowing on it, which is super awesome. What's, what else do you want to tell us about this deal from your angle on it? Like if somebody's similar to your shoes where you were at a year ago, what would you tell them? Like, hey, I want to go do the same thing that you did, Bridger. Like, I want to get into real estate, but I don't have maybe as much money or I don't have the history of the tax income to be able to qualify. What's your advice?

[Bridger]

Find Eric Gubler. DM Eric Guble. No, but seriously, I think there's a bunch of people that reach out to me, reach out to Eric Gubler. There's a bunch of different people that are able to help you get in that, get in that position or connect you with the right people. Right. If you know a Real estate agent that's, that's looking to invest in something. If you yourself want to become a real estate agent, sell a couple houses, make a little bit of money. The way I funded it, I, I did door to door sales. So I had a little bit of money in my pocket just from that. No tax history, nothing else, just. Just a little bit of cash and we made it happen in that aspect. So you just need to have a little hustle and then make connections with people.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah. Love it, dude. Yeah. And there's so many, so many ways to do things now. I feel like back in the day and when I came, you know, from like the door to door space too, it was like two years of tax history. Like, now there are so many ways and strategies. We're just talking about one of them right now. Right. But there's a lot of other ways to finance properties without having two years of tax history. And a lot of them, like, make a ton of sense. And so, I mean, I, even today, like, I'll use some of those avenues even though I don't have to, because it makes sense for certain scenarios, situations. But to your point of reach out to me, reach out to Eric, Like, I'm like, yeah, it's a great, great piece of advice. Take advice from somebody who's done it. Like, you're in that spot where you kind of went through that for a second. And so if someone is listening 100%, if they're like, oh, I want to go do that, or how did you go do that? It's not just going to take you there from listening to a podcast and then trying to go out and execute. It doesn't work like that. Right. It's actually okay, what are all the pieces? How can I give myself the best shot at making this happen? What do I need to know?

[Bridger]

And then diving in 100%. And I think the, one of the biggest parts of that is just remembering to invest in your relationships by me investing in my relationship with Eric, investing in my relationship with you, and just, and just being willing to put myself out there a little bit. That builds trust there. So now Eric trusts me to be able to go in on a house with me, and now you trust me to be able to come out here and work or do different things. Right. I think that's a big part of setting yourself up for success.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah. We were talking about deal the other day and I wasn't even telling, like, you as I was giving. I wasn't saying like, hey, like, there Might be an opportunity here for you or anything like that. I was just saying that, yeah, there's a piece of this that I'll probably bring somebody on in on. And you're like, yeah, that's, that's me. And I'm like, yeah, maybe let's. Let's talk about it. But like, to your point, that's you're putting yourself in that scenario, in that situation, and it's like, let's make it happen, you know, so huge. There anything else, like any. Anything else that. Any piece of advice that you would leave people with on a deal like this, as far as, like, what's worked for you?

[Bridger]

As far as what's worked.

[Brody Fawcett]

Just.

[Bridger]

Just being very transparent. Facebook Marketplace. As far as running my rooms out, Facebook Marketplace works. A lot of times. It's not your best friends. A lot of people think you can just go in there, buy a house. Your best friends are going to want to live with you. And that's one of the biggest mistakes I made was thinking that I had some friends of friends come in. They lived in there for a little bit. My rooms weren't ready. They came in, didn't sign lease agreements, and so they're in there for a month or over a month or whatever, and then they leave. No lease agreements, whatever. You're like, oh, sorry, it's not going to work out. That's one of the biggest things and one of the biggest lessons that I learned is not. Especially when you're doing things with your house hack or with your real estate investing, it's hard to do people favors. And so that's one of the big. That's one of the big things that I took for that is I'll be very careful in the future as far as who you want to do favors for and, and keeping your relationships and your business separated a little bit.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah. Yeah. It's so good. Yeah, I made the same mistake my first house and one. One of my buddies got married, left mid semester and he had, he had like, had a fridge there. We had a couple fridges in the house. And he's like, hey, dude, it's all good, man. You can keep my fridge. And I'm like, wait, what about rent? He's like, just keep my fridge. And it's like, well, your fridge is worth like a hundred bucks and rent's this much and I need to find somebody. It's tough to do mid semester anyhow.

[Bridger]

Exactly. But your friends aren't thinking that. Your friends aren't thinking that when it goes through their head. They don't have a mortgage to pay, they don't care about you, so they're just in and out. So even if you want to do someone a favor, rethink it, put systems in place and then attack whatever you're trying to go at. Do not help your friends.

[Brody Fawcett]

Whatever you do, don't help your friends. No, no, that's good advice, Honestly, great advice. And yeah, I mean, on top of that, I think that it's just cool to see what you're going to do in the future and how this is, like, set you up and given you a ton of confidence and now you have a property versus, like, sitting back and waiting and being like, oh, once I do one more year, then I can take the average of the last two years, then I'll be able to qualify for something. And it's. It's wild because I deal with this all the time and it's just this fixed, fixed way of thinking. And at the end of the day, you don't know what you don't know. So understand that. But people aren't willing to understand that they don't know what they don't know. And so in their mind, it's like, no, I can't do real estate because I don't have, like, the lender said, no, said, I can't do that. And so it just comes down to there's always a way to get it done. And hopefully by now, if you're tuning to the show, you really realize that you understand that we preach it. There's always a way to make it happen. Always, always, always. Doesn't matter. Your scenario, doesn't matter. Your situation. And this is another example of that. So any other ways that you force this deal that we haven't talked about with Eric or with you, that, that you want to share or touch on a big piece.

[Bridger]

I just want to give a shout out to Eric. The communication that he had with the seller and real estate agent was key. I would not have. We would not have been able to do the deal if it were not for the connection and the relationship and the constant communication that Eric Gubler had with the real estate agent and the seller, who also happened to be the husband of the real estate agent. Eric was able to talk it down and get us some seller credits that we wouldn't have had that was able to buy down our rate. That was right when rates were spiking and the guy wanted to pull out. Eric said, give it a couple days, and I was a little more antsy about it. I Was like, we need to call him. We need to do this, we need to do that. And he just said, wait a couple days. And I learned from the wise. I learned from the wise on that one, and it worked out perfectly. A couple days later, he cooled off. He was a little hot. That was when the appraisal came back and he cooled off. We got the deal done. He said, all right, we can do it. Eric said, we'll give you a. We'll give you a seller credit back. It was like seven grand or something. Didn't do a ton for us, but. But it meant a lot to him. And he was like, all right, I appreciate you guys. And to this day, he's our neighbor. He owns the four plus next door, so we use his lawnmower, his tools, everything in there. He's like, hey, come on over, guys. You can use whatever you want. And that's all because Eric made that. Made that relationship with him.

[Brody Fawcett]

Yeah, Maybe he'll sell that 4 plex to you later on.

[Bridger]

That's what I told him. That's. I still have it in my notes.

[Brody Fawcett]

There you go, dude. And then this could be. We. We need to send this clip to Eric, and it's going to be advertising for him for the future Googler podcast. Yeah, yeah, no, not the podcast. With his. With his real estate services. So did he pay you to say that? That's the real question.

[Bridger]

He might have. He might have. He told me he's going to shave my head if I didn't say that.

[Brody Fawcett]

You know what? It's pretty close to shave, so you're good. But. But, yeah, dude, speaking of, like, wisdom and learning from your elders, you're. You're about to learn a lot more, and you're about to realize, like, your place in life for being out here. So just get used to my way or the highway, so. I'm just kidding. Well, much love, dude. Appreciate you guys tuning in. And go follow Bridger. Go connect with Bridger. What's the best place to do that?

[Bridger]

It'd just be Instagram. If you want to follow me on Instagram @bpretty6, you can shoot me a DM there and we'll talk.

[Brody Fawcett]

Is that be pretty or P R E T T Y B P U.

[Bridger]

R D Y. Brock Purdy's my cousin. Shout out, Brock Purdy. Shout out. San Francisco 49ers. Super bowl next year.

[Brody Fawcett]

Let's go. Thanks, guys.