← Real Estate Rookie
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- [00:00]
Ashley Kerr
Hey, rookies. Mortgage rates are falling, but the uncertainty of the economy is slowing real estate sales. Opportunity is still here, but getting specific with your strategy is key to finding a good deal.
- [00:13]
Tony J. Robinson
Our guest today built a major cash.
- [00:15]
Jamie Banks
Flowing real estate business in just two years with more growth opportunities on the horizon.
- [00:20]
Tony J. Robinson
Using her superpower of networking, she assembled.
- [00:22]
Jamie Banks
The right financial partners and formed a specific roadmap to reach financial freedom.
- [00:27]
Tony J. Robinson
Get ready to take notes.
- [00:28]
Jamie Banks
There's a lot to learn in today's episode.
- [00:35]
Ashley Kerr
This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast and I'm Ashley Kerr.
- [00:38]
Jamie Banks
And I'm Tony J. Robinson. And welcome to the show. Jamie. Thank you for joining us today.
- [00:42]
Guest
Thanks so much for having me.
- [00:43]
Ashley Kerr
Jamie, you have so many amazing stories that we're going to get into, but first, could you walk us through on a high level, your journey from that first property in Philadelphia to your current portfolio of four, four properties in just two years?
- [00:57]
Guest
Sure. So I bought my first Investment property in January 2023, closed on it mid January, and a few days later actually got my first arbitrage a few doors down. So became hooked a little and then from there realized that I had a primary residence that I wasn't house hacking and so I needed to do that as well. So I got kind of a few rentals fairly quickly. I ended up giving up my arbitrage, but that bought another property in New Orleans, which I think we'll kind of touch on later as an mtr. And then late last year bought a property in a new market in Indiana which I kind of did a lot of research on and really found like which market in the US Works best for my strategy. And so that one's been a lot of fun as well. So really went from Philly to a few different other markets, but. But I'm currently utilizing the MTR strategy for all four.
- [01:58]
Ashley Kerr
Well, Jamie, I can already tell we're gonna learn a lot of different things from you, from market selection, deal analysis, strategy choice. But you use the word arbitrage. Can you explain what arbitrage is and how you implemented that into your real estate investing journey?
- [02:13]
Guest
Sure. So arbitrage is essentially renting an apartment or house and then subleasing it or renting it out at a higher rate to another. And so essentially I worked at the time in commercial real estate and did a lot of research in the multifamily industry. And so my first property was in Philadelphia and I knew and brought it in January, I think, which I mentioned and I knew in January in Philadelphia, properties have a lot of vacancy because it's cold. And because no one wants to move to Philadelphia in January. And so I kind of essentially door knocked, but they were large apartment building, so I guess apartment knocked and just went building to building, told them I plan to rent to tribal medical professionals, corporate professionals, and basically just went around to different buildings until one told me yes. And so from there I had kind of like quick numbers on what I thought I could rent it out for. Because at this time I'm still furnishing the one I just bought, so I don't really know my rates yet. And got a small studio apartment, but was in a great area in Philly, which I'll just say area and location in Philly is very important and so is garage, garage parking. And so having those amenities really just kind of helped me, you know, really be able to make the most out of that arbitrage.
- [03:35]
Jamie Banks
So Jamie, I mean first, just super impressive on your end, I think, to, to go door knocking to all these different apartments. Did you, did you have a background in like door to door sales or like, like what gave you the confidence to just kind of go out there and start hitting the pavement in that way?
- [03:50]
Guest
No, not at all. I think my confidence was more so of like understanding the numbers. And I will say I did some kind of like insider research and had access to CoStar, which for those who don't know is a huge like commercial real estate marketplace. You can pull vacancy rates, occupancy rates, rental rates for all types of commercial real estate assets. And so I could basically pull the numbers for the, the vacancy rate for different apartment buildings and was able to see like the one I ended up or the few that I ended up kind of targeting first were like fairly new build and had like under 40% occupancy. And so coming to them saying, hey, I'm willing to sign a 12 month lease or a 14 month lease or I'm willing to move in tomorrow, you know, and just using different negotiation tactics helped me get in. Actually when I first went, I asked for six months of free rent and they came back at four. I didn't know I was going to get any, but you know, I was like six months. And they kind of kind of talked among themselves and I was like, well, four works. And so it's just once like having the four months obviously really helped my numbers. And so once just it was time to kind of renew that the rate. The numbers no longer worked. But you know, it was definitely great while it lasted.
- [05:05]
Ashley Kerr
I'm starting to rethink my life choices. Maybe I need to go and find new development and negotiate three months of rent and just every year move to a new development and only pay for it for half the year.
- [05:17]
Guest
I had kind of insider information, and I knew from, like, we would do, like, originally commercial loans, we did a lot of preferred equity, which was kind of like, you know, second position senior debt to, like, large multifamily. And like, developers, they're just trying to get, you know, basically people in there so they can refinance and develop something else. So I cannot use that to my advantage.
- [05:37]
Ashley Kerr
I'm so impressed by how you were taking all this information to use it to your advantage to create a strategy for yourself.
- [05:44]
Guest
Thank you.
- [05:45]
Jamie Banks
Yeah, And I love the idea of, like, different leverage points in negotiation. Like, you know, hey, I'll. I'll move in tomorrow. I think that's a really, really unique strategy to kind of get them to. To kind of play nice with you. So you start to build your portfolio and just kind of walks through the 30,000 view again. So you buy a property, you get the arbitrage, you exit the arbitrage. What exactly does the current portfolio look like today? And what all markets are you currently in?
- [06:10]
Guest
Yes, so I am currently in four different markets. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is like, where my first property that I bought was. Also, the arbitrage that I've since exited is I have a property right outside of D.C. in Northern Virginia that was a house hack, but I recently moved out of and turned into a whole home mtr. Also have a MTR in New Orleans, Louisiana. And then my newest one is right outside of Indianapolis, Indiana.
- [06:42]
Jamie Banks
Now, something you mentioned, because I'm just curious how this plays into the story, but you said that you. You worked in preferred equity or private equity. Was that your day job, working in that or what was that. What was that line of work? Exactly?
- [06:54]
Guest
Yeah, so it was my day job. And so essentially, like, when I would say, like, interest rates started to increase, even I would say, like, the end of 2022, like before, I would say, like, you know, residential investors started kind of seeing the pain points in commercial real estate. You know, 1% increase on a $40 million property is a lot. And so then there was a deal that I worked on where the bank, about a week before closing, said instead of lending at 70, 75% LTV, or loan to loan to value, which meant, you know, basically it was 25% of equity that had to be raised in the deal, they would only lend at 50%. And I think that deal was maybe 50 million and so they're asking us to come up with an additional 25 million or what is that, like over $10 million in a week. And so basically my company I was working for at the time really started doing preferred equity, which essentially was coming in as equity, but it was a second kind of a secondary lean. So like, I think the same way, like people might use private money and like a residential deal, we would come in and offer a really high rate. The last deal that I originated in 2023, before I left my W2 was at 15%. And you know, obviously interest rates kept going up from there. And so it was more flexible because we weren't a bank, you know, it, I think, definitely helped me kind of catapult into where I am today and how I look at different investments.
- [08:30]
Ashley Kerr
And when you transitioned out of your W2 job, you took on co hosting, is that correct?
- [08:35]
Guest
Yes.
- [08:36]
Ashley Kerr
Yeah. So tell us why you started that business and how that's going.
- [08:40]
Guest
I started the co hosting business right when I finished, when I quit my job because to be honest, I didn't think of how am I going to earn active income. And so as all investors know, you might have amazing cash flow, I would say, which I do have great steady cash flow, but, you know, one hot water heater or one month of vacancy can take that away. And so I started co hosting as a way to see which markets and kind of test out different markets that I would want to invest in. Because while arbitrage is a generally low cost way to get into like a midterm rental, it's not free. Right. You still have to do, you know, pay security, deposits first, sometimes last month's rent. And there's still, you know, an initial investment required where co hosting I actually got paid to set up in different markets. And so that was the way how I grew my active income. I was a another thing. I was able to qualify for real estate professional status, which is, you know, definitely a key and a really a game changer, like to me and my husband's like wealth building strategy. And also I was able to see that I don't love managing midterm rentals in a lot of different markets. And so I did that for about a year, had a team of VAs who was pretty much doing most of it. But I like to do. And I learned this from my W2 days, an annual review of just how is the business doing? You know, what is my. How is my time best spent? How is each investment doing? And my co hosting properties were netting me a few Hundred where I have and we'll talk about a little later in my portfolio nets me a few thousand, you know, on average per property. And so I saw that for me, it was best used for my time to stop co hosting and focus on raising private money, which is something I already started doing to grow my portfolio because then from there I was able to cash flow more. And it's also less stress because I'm answering to myself versus someone else. And then also I'm able to, you know, benefit from the tax strategies as well. So pivoted from that, I think for me, it's funny, I kind of consider it an internship, even though it was, you know, my full business. But I think for me, in order to see if I want to do something, I have to do it kind of, you know, at scale and, you know, test my, you know, test it out. And so it was definitely great to show me markets that are good and markets that are bad for MTR and then also help me identify, you know, what makes the best midterm market.
- [11:07]
Jamie Banks
Yeah, well, Jimmy, you seem like just like a complete hustler, you know, to, to go from, hey, I'm going to do this deal, I'm going to do this arbitrage. I'm knocking on the doors now. You're setting up the co hosting business and I think far and above and beyond, just like the skills and the strategies we'll talk about today. I hope one of the things that the rookies take away is that you just have, like a very strong bias for action. And I'm sure that's, that's helped lead to a lot of your success. So we want to hear more, Jamie, about your investment strategy and kind of how it evolved.
- [11:35]
Tony J. Robinson
And I hear you've got like a.
- [11:36]
Jamie Banks
Little bit of a superpower when it comes to networking. So we want to break that down as well. But first, we're going to take a quick break to hear a word from today's show.
- [11:42]
Tony J. Robinson
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- [13:58]
Jamie Banks
The show with Jamie. So, Jamie, I hear that one of your superpowers is your ability to, to network. So can you share with us how you networked your way into finding some of these money partners, some of these financial partners to help you fuel your growth? Because I think for a lot of rookies that are listening, the biggest challenge is where am I going to get the funds? Maybe after my first deal or my second deal to keep scaling. And it sounds like you solved that, solved that problem. So what is the secret? How can I network to find all these folks that have the capital?
- [14:24]
Guest
Yeah, I would say one, it really goes from knowing your investment strategy and so for me, knowing that for my investment strategy I need private money for three to five years, which isn't typical. But knowing this, I'm able to kind of back into okay, now who is my ideal lender? Right? The same way you have an ideal tenant, you might have an ideal property, a buy box. I like having kind of my ideal lender. And for me that's personally someone who worked a W2 job that they left and they still might be, you know, W2 now, but really they have money but not time. And I like to work with people who have as it left there, a prior W2 job because generally they have funds in a 401k or IRA or another investment vehicle that can be transferred to a self directed IRA. And self directed IRAs allow, basically it allows you to self direct the investment to anything. So you can self direct it to Tony because he needs 10 bucks or you can self direct it to me or you know, you can self direct it to four different things. And so I've seen that those lenders are more flexible with a three to five year term because it's retire retirement money that they can't touch anyway. And so with that I would go to real estate investment meetups, conferences and I'm really looking for that specific person and then also to just sharing my journey on social media. Like one of my like repeat lenders has actually been from social media and we've never met in person but we've, you know, talked. She was actually a client of mine with some of the services I offer. She came to me to learn more about midterm rentals, realized that she doesn't have time for it and you know, then decided to invest with me.
- [16:13]
Jamie Banks
Jimmy, you said that one of the other places that you've gone is like to local meetups and I think that's just so accessible for most rookies because not everyone's going to want to hop in front of, you know, the camera and make content for social, which I get. But the meetup is something or the local events or the big conferences, those are things that are accessible to everyone. So you said that you had an idea of who you wanted to go after or who I shouldn't say go after who you wanted to connect with but like once you found those folks, like what were you actually saying to open up that dialogue? Like how do you go from hey, we're strangers meeting at this meetup to hey, you're now potentially funding a deal that I've got?
- [16:48]
Guest
Yeah, I think there's like Kind of key words that now that I've, you know, raised a lot of money that, like, I hear, and it usually gets like, oh, I've always wanted to invest in real estate, but. And usually the but is time, right? Or it could be, oh, but I only have, you know, $25,000 and I'm in California, which is not going to go really far. And so hearing those things that they're interested in real estate, I always just let them know that there's ways to invest in real estate without actually, you know, being the landlord. And I was like. And doing all the hard work like I do. And so then if they, you know, engage in the conversation, then I'll just start to let them know that, like, with my last investment, you know, I worked with someone who lended the money and who was the bank who got a fixed return. And then, you know, I'm able to operate the property and I take on the risk where the lender gets a fixed return. And I explained to them, you know, a lot of times, obviously, it depends. It's different if we're at a meetup where we might only have a few minutes versus a conference where we can kind of step aside. But my goal was always to have, like, a separate conversation because I like to have at least like, three different contact methods before, like, working with someone and starting to negotiate rates. Because even though this person isn't a debt partner, not an equity partner who you're, you know, but maybe talking to continuously, you still are a partner and you're still partnering and you don't want someone and you want to understand. It's like, are they gonna, you know, ask for the money back? Is this their last 50,000? Because you definitely don't want that. And so I think just kind of asking questions, but also just, you know, sometimes I'll even bring up, oh, you know, I worked with someone who know was kind of like you and, you know, lended this money and just kind of giving the example. And when someone starts asking questions, I think that's when you can really just say, hey, well, let's, you know, schedule a call. No pressure to talk about it. And I've also started doing, like, webinars where I just. I call them how to passively invest in real estate. And I don't just talk about investing with me. I'll talk about how to invest in REITs, how to invest in reefs and different investment avenues. And then obviously, I want them to investment with me. But I think just even having those webinars that are like low pressure and just telling someone, hey, like if you want to learn more, just come to my webinar, you know, no pressure. I think people sometimes like that better than hopping on one on a one to one call where they are kind of scathed, you know, nervous to be sold to. That's kind of a low pressure way to get the information without having to, you know, talk one on one.
- [19:19]
Ashley Kerr
Now, Jamie, it seems like you've pretty much stuck to your niche of medium term rentals. What about your locations? You mentioned a couple different cities. What is kind of like your geographical niche of where you actually want to invest in?
- [19:34]
Guest
That's a great question because I'm all over the US right now. Don't recommend that, by the way, Indiana. So I will say that like I'm someone, I think Tony said before, I take a quick action. But. And I think part of that is deciding when it's time to pivot. And so like with Philadelphia bought in Philly, two weeks later, the market started regulating short term rentals and essentially if the property wasn't owner occupied, it couldn't be a short term rental. And so overnight I'm a kind of a data nerd. So I track different data points because for midterm rentals there aren't the same. It's not the same data out there that it is for, you know, short term rentals. There's no air DNA and things like that. And so overnight I track the percentage of properties on like the OTAs, the online travel agencies, which are Airbnb, VRBO, that are MTRs or that have a 30 plus day minimum. And so that number like overnight went from 12% to 30%, which if you look at 30%, that's one in every three properties on Airbnb is a midterm rental. And like one in every three travelers is not a midterm traveler to Philly. Right. There's definitely going to be more short term demand. And so things like that have showed me, okay, it's time to pivot. I shouldn't keep buying in this market, even though if my property is doing great, it's definitely time to look at a new market. And so for me, I'm looking at Indiana right now, mostly for I've done a lot of research on different markets, especially since I think, I'm sure I'm not scared to go to different markets, but it's been like one having like solid. I like having medical demand. So that's from hospitals, that's from, you know, travel. Medical professionals can Be a MTR tenant. Not my usually ideal MTR tenant because my properties are like up to four bedrooms, so they typically needed something smaller. But even if there's hospitals that have surgery centers and things like that, you'll have travelers who need to come in the area for long periods of time for, let's say, medical reasons. Also, I like to have education. So this is schools, right? Universities. I've housed everything from. I housed a couple who were professors at UPenn in Pennsylvania and Philly, and they were from the UK who, you know, you never think that teachers and professors come from different countries. So I like having that education demand because no matter what, you're always going to have your midterm traveler from students. And then third, I like to have a strong corporate demand. Corporate is usually where the most money is. And so I chose Indiana. Basically, I chose Indiana because I went to Indianapolis to a meetup and told everyone what I wanted to do, and they just started like shouting markets. And like, oh, go to this place. And some places like, no, that's all corn fields. And so, you know, I heard all these markets and I was there for a week by myself, rented a car and I drove to all these markets. Like, if I drove to the market, I remember one market I got there and I'm like, there's no way. I just passed it because it was like one or two houses. Like, I don't think they'll need to get out. But you know, some markets I went and went to the Chamber of Commerce, Commerce went to the city planning and zoning department to learn, like, what does the city have? And so the city that I invested in, it's in Boon County, Indiana. Basically, I learned that Eli Lilly is investing $4.5 billion in the small town. Meta just committed 800 million to this small town. But another thing is, which I think is like key for MTR operators and even STR operators is it's near Indianapolis, so it's 30 minutes outside of Indianapolis, which means I can still hire Indianapolis laborers. Because when I was co hosting, there was times I was in markets that were small but so small that the labor pool was so small. So if that one cleaner decides she's not working today, well, you can't get your property cleaned. And so for me, it checked all the boxes and then I just started making offers and then ended up getting something a few months later. But I think for me, kind of like all those, you know, aspects of demand, and especially when there's, you know, one kind of huge demand, like the Market I invested in, there are construction workers who, at the construction project, like that's going on now, where Eli Lilly invested is going on through beginning of 2028, which means there's going to be construction crews needing housing through 2028. And it took me about three weeks to get a construction crew. And they just keep extending and extending and extending because they're finding work, they have housing. And so it's a win, win. And so I'm trying to buy more there.
- [24:23]
Jamie Banks
You know, Jamie, I just want to, you know, you're saying it's so common and collected, but you're, you're, you're describing a massive amount of effort. You just said, I went and I spent a week in this market that I was thinking about investing into. I went to this meetup, I drove around, I like did all of this research beforehand and I think it's so easy to sensationalize the end result of, hey, you're at X dollars in cash flow per month with these many properties. But then we overlook everything that you just said about the work that you put into it. So I know, I keep harping on the same fact, but I think it's so important for Ricky to understand that like the work that you put into it directly indicates the kind of results you're going to get. And like, I'm just like super impressed by, by how much work you put into it. But I do have one follow up question. How the heck did you know about Meta and about Eli Lilly coming into this small town? You said Bloomfield, Indiana. Never heard of it before. So how did you get that inside scoop?
- [25:17]
Guest
Her name is Jennifer. I don't think she listens to this, but she is my contact with the city and planning department. So the first time I'm driving through, I stop in and this is before I even knew I was going to invest, like here. And I just go in and just tell her, hey, I'm an investor, like I like working with businesses who need housing. And she was like, well, did you know that at the time I think Eli Lilly was only, only but investing 2 billion. And she's like investing 2 billion and there's construction workers sleeping in their car. And I was like, really? Tell me more. And so she's telling me all about it and then we exchange emails and I will say like, I do email Jennifer at least once a month, sometimes once a week just to kind of keep that contact. I go usually at once every three months. I think especially it's a small town where showing my face is really Important and it really like building trust and everything's with vendors has helped by being there and then so just keeping that connection. She tells me everything. Like when it went from 2 billion to 4.5 billion, she just sent me an email. She was like, hey Jamie, I know you're interested in this. So I wanted to see this article. So now she just feeds me all the information. But it really was like laying the groundwork and letting her know. And I think not a lot of people go in anymore, you know, like a lot of people call and so I think just me going and I went basically three times in like a six month span. And I would say a lot of people who look like me who are going in to, you know, a small cornfield town in Indiana to ask about real estate. And so that helps me in my favor where I'm, I stick out. And so that's helped. Like people remember me. Like even I go to the same bakery. Like they're like, hey, you love the blueberry muffin last time, try this one. And so I really like, I now that I really know like I want to invest in this town, I see the opportunities in this town. You know, I'm trying to find off market leads in this town. So I drove for dollars one time, I was there. And so just talking to people, getting out, walking downtown, I have to use air quotes because like I'm from a large city where you know, I can't really call it a downtown, but it's about a block each, you know, side. But just really like planning roots in the park, you know, in that area. Like I've had even my neighbors like will do like my shoveling and stuff for snow and won't let me pay them I think because I've came out and brought them blueberry muffins. So just I realized like stuff like that goes a long way where in markets like New Orleans, like made the mistake of not making those connections beforehand. And so it's much harder to operate. So just trying to do it, you know, better this time.
- [27:57]
Ashley Kerr
One other great way to find out about what's going on in a city is going to the city website and reading the planning board meeting minutes. Like it's so boring, but it's actually so interesting. You will see so many things in there as to like what's upcoming on the agenda for the next meeting that maybe you actually want to attend because it's something that could affect your business or whatever. But that's another good way if for some reason you can't actually physically get to the town to, to walk into the the town hall there to meet the clerk.
- [28:28]
Guest
That's another great tip.
- [28:30]
Ashley Kerr
Okay, we're gonna take a short ad break real quick, but when we come back, I definitely want to hear about this New Orleans property and how it's not as easy to manage as the one you have in Indiana. We'll be right back.
- [28:50]
Tony J. Robinson
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- [31:18]
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- [32:13]
Ashley Kerr
Okay, welcome back from our break. So tell us about the New Orleans property and it has not gone as you has hoped. Can you tell us that story and maybe some key things you learned from that deal specifically?
- [32:26]
Guest
My New Orleans property is definitely my hardest to manage and breaks even barely sometimes most months. No, this property I will say I bought creatively and being completely honest, I looked at oh I'm buying my first creative deal with not a lot down and the terms were great, you know, and I looked at that and how I was acquiring it favorably more than like the MTR rates in the area and just you know, some of the things that I've done in other markets and so definitely pay the price for that. It was vacant for nine months last year, so felt the pain, you know a lot but learned a lot as well. I think just about like one, you know, making sure that like you're doing research in the market. And so in Philly, Philadelphia is a, you know, I think Philadelphia has a connotation that most people know but New Orleans doesn't always have that same connotation but can be a much harder market operated. And so the property where I bought is about seven minutes from the French Quarter and Bourbon street where you know like the party is but it's you know, a few minutes in the wrong direction and so definitely should have sent someone out to do Like a sweep of the area and walk behind the property, walk a few blocks and go to the grocery store and just see of like, you know, what is the neighborhood like, you know. Also I have done a great job with other markets of building business to business relationships and running outside of like Airbnb and like, you know, other direct platforms and building my own relationships where frankly this property isn't in an area where like businesses will want their employees or clients to live. I've had great success now that I've listed mostly on Airbnb and lowered my rate a ton. But it took, you know, some hard lessons on, you know, going for a lower rate just to break even. And then also we've got hit with our insurance went up about 150% since buying, taxes doubled. And so, you know, the numbers are just squeezed. So, you know, I definitely learned more about like what even if you're able to acquire the property at $0 down, you know, you still want to do the same analysis you would if you were putting a million dollars down. Because at the end of the day, the property management, the reserves and all of the, you know, the continuous asset management of the deal can really make or break you.
- [34:57]
Ashley Kerr
So Jamie, why haven't you sold the property? Can you kind of break down like what your plan is with the property and why you didn't just offload it?
- [35:05]
Guest
Great question. So we definitely did try. We basically had a list of for sale and rent the MTR essentially at the same time just to see whatever one kind of bit first. We found an MTR tenant first and that person has been there a long period of time. And now that I know the pricing which was just a lot, lot lower because New Orleans is another market that's experienced short term rental regulations. And so it's just been really squeezed. Me and my, I have a partner on this one and we actually did do kind of an analysis on like should we sell it? And right now we would lose a good amount because we the seller financed a part of it at 0% interest, but we would have to pay the seller back upon sale. And so right now, even if it stays at the same like price that we bought it at, just like where we at in the loan cycle, the seller owned it for 10 years. We're getting a lot of principal paid out down. And so right now it's breaking even. I think last month it cash flowed 115, but the month before that might have been negative 300. But the fact that it's breaking even, we haven't put any money into it in a few months. We are, you know, decided just to hold on at least for another year. But another thing too, it's funny that there's other benefits of real estate because one last year in 2024, I, I wouldn't have been able to get my reps or real estate professional status without the property. A vacant property takes all your time, all of it. And so that's helped because my, the other properties were doing great. My virtual assistants do most of the management and so I didn't. I probably wouldn't have been able to claim rep status. Another thing is New Orleans is my favorite city in the US and so getting to go and use it, you know, as a business expense, of course, you know, every. Everything is a business expense. But, you know, that's another benefit. And so it's definitely something that we're going to offload as soon as it financially makes sense.
- [37:04]
Ashley Kerr
Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that because I think it's a great example of when somebody gets into that situation is maybe there's more options than just like fire Sal, let's get rid of the property and move on, where that sometimes may be the best option. But it's important to compare and look at all the different options that you have when a property is not performing as expected. And in your case, you're being optimistic and looking at the other benefits that you are receiving still from this property. And those outweigh taking the loss of selling the property now as is.
- [37:41]
Jamie Banks
Well, Jamie, you know, there's always ups and downs and I, like Ash said, I think we appreciate you sharing that, but it sounds like you're also eyeing a transition over to, to commercial real estate. So what, I guess what is the strategy there? What's the plan there? Maybe even before that, like, what's the motivation? Seems like you're doing pretty well with your midterm rentals. Like why. Why jump over to commercial real estate?
- [38:01]
Guest
Yeah, so we didn't talk as much about like my I. What is. We did by past and being in commercial real estate. And so I just like that's what I did right out of college and oh, it's funny because I feel like I've really learned a lot about single family that you know, but with mid with like multifamily and I've underwrote like businesses as well, it's a bit easier for me to analyze just because that's what I was taught. And then also I, I definitely want to grow my midterm portfolio. My Goal cash flow is 10,000amonth. Right now it's four properties. I'm at 6,000amonth, more than halfway there. Yeah, it's really three properties because one again it, you know, it doesn't really count. But I definitely want to buy more cash flowing midterms to get to that 10,000amonth. But then I see commercial real estate as more of wealth building. Like my goal has been cash flow with, you know, most of my property, especially since, you know, I'm doing this full time. And so I see commercial as being something just fun, different. I like, you know, commercial. I think there's different strategies that you can implement in commercial. And before leaving my job, I was managing their whole commercial, their multi family portfolio. It was about 14,000 commercial units spread throughout like 22 markets. And we would just do, we would do things in, in different markets like installing smart chart like, like EV chargers and just I would see how it would impact NOI in our valuation because at that role we we re underwrote properties and redid the valuation every three months. And so I've just seen like the power of commercial real estate and how small changes to other income, small ways to cut expenses can really like catapult the noi which goes to the valuation which goes, you know, to your wealth. And so it's definitely not something I'm going to do this year, you know, unless, you know, someone brings me a great deal. But it's something I'm still learning. You know, multi family and I've done mixed use as well is what I'm comfortable with. But I'm just looking into different asset classes. Like I've looked into like boutique motels and hotels or self storage or and I do have a bit shiny object syndrome. So now I'm just kind of looking at the feasibility of different commercial assets to see, you know, what might be next in the next few years.
- [40:31]
Ashley Kerr
Well, Jamie, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciated you taking the time to come onto the show and to share your journey and your learning experiences. Could you let everyone know where they can find out more information about you?
- [40:45]
Guest
Sure. And thank you so much for having me. I'm most active on Instagram. It's Jamie Banks. So my first and last name real estate and yeah, you can follow along my journey there.
- [40:57]
Ashley Kerr
Awesome. Thank you so much. I'm Ashley and he's Tony and we'll see you guys on the next episode of Real Estate.
- [41:04]
Tony J. Robinson
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