I Built a Real Estate Business That Replaced My High-Paying W2 (Here’s How)

Summary

Real Estate Rookie Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: I Built a Real Estate Business That Replaced My High-Paying W2 (Here’s How)
Hosts: Ashley Kerr & Tony J. Robinson
Guest: Steve Keery
Release Date: December 10, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Real Estate Rookie features Steve Keery, an investor who replaced his high-paying W2 job by building a real estate business—first in Australia, then in the U.S. Steve dives into how he found markets remotely, structured his first site-unseen deal (netting $250K), and successfully networked from the ground up after moving to the United States. His journey is a blueprint for rookies looking to start small, manage risk, and leverage data and networking for real estate success.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Starting in Real Estate: Overcoming Distance & Fear

• First Deal Was Site-Unseen: Steve lived in Sydney, one of the world’s least affordable cities, and realized investing locally wouldn’t work. He sought Australia’s best market using data, not proximity.

  • Data-Driven Market Selection ([00:53]–[01:47]):
    • Built spreadsheets on median income, demographic changes, infrastructure, and rental yields.
    • Interviewed local property managers to understand street-level realities and confirm details.
    • Relied on property reports and impartial third-party inspections for due diligence.
    • “I actually really think that I saw the property better than most people do because…I went really deep on the data.” – Steve Keery [01:47]

• Managing Fear:

  • Admits he was anxious about investing remotely but leaned on logic, research, and the willingness to make and learn from mistakes.
  • “I absolutely had the fear for sure…it was like a big investment, but I just did it anyway.” – Steve Keery [04:33]
  • Tony underscores the lesson: “Bravery isn't the absence of fear. It's doing it in spite of your fear.” – Tony J. Robinson [05:08]

2. Deep Dive: Market Analysis & Skills Transfer

• Analyzing Markets with Census and Rental Data ([06:40]–[08:05]):

  • Started with tools akin to Zillow (realestate.com) and census data.
  • Focused on growing, not already-hot areas, seeking upward-trending income and population.
  • Looked for neighboring pockets near high-growth areas.

• Background Advantage? ([08:18]):

  • Steve’s marketing background helped with data analysis, but he insists it’s replicable: “To the rookies listening…I think that it's not rocket science and you can do it.” – Steve Keery [08:18]
  • Encourages leveraging whatever skillset you have—marketing, networking, or analytics.

3. Beginning in a New Country: Building a U.S. Real Estate Network

• Arriving with Zero Contacts ([12:48]–[13:54]):

  • Attended local REIA meetups in New Orleans (NORIA) to start learning and connecting.
  • Bought his first U.S. property via a wholesaler, then learned the wholesaling model.

• Effective Networking Strategy:

  • “Just add value and be curious. Ask questions. Just really find out people do and just help where you can. Definitely don't be transactional; be the opposite of transactional.” – Steve Keery [19:54]
  • Leveraged his Australian accent for memorability (“I did become like, people started calling me Aussie Steve…might have even enhanced my accent slightly.” – Steve Keery [16:15]).

4. Transitioning to Wholesaling & Scaling the Business

• Wholesaling Defined ([17:42]):

  • “Wholesaling is really flipping a contract as opposed to flipping a house…you assign your rights to purchase that property to another investor and earn that spread.” – Steve Keery

• Building Buyer Lists ([18:40]):

  • Started at meetups, then expanded via BiggerPockets, Facebook groups, and collaborations with other wholesalers.
  • Joint ventures helped compensate for his knowledge gaps.

• First Major Breakthrough ([26:40]):

  • Spent a couple thousand per month in early marketing (texts, lists, mailers); took six months for the first wholesale deal, then three in the same week.
  • “All the work I'd done that six months started to come back because the follow up, the momentum, so once I did that, I started rolling.” – Steve Keery [27:25]

5. Tactical Insights: Analyzing, Financing, and Finding Deals

• The “Buy Box” & Wholesale Math ([21:04]–[22:32]):

  • Sought properties at 70% of ARV minus repairs (now closer to 65–60% due to market shifts).
  • Example: 100k ARV, 20k rehab → buyer wants for 50k, so wholesaler targets a lower price to extract a margin.

• Estimating Rehab Costs as a Rookie ([23:32]–[24:47]):

  • Relied on network estimates and rough formulas (e.g., 7.5% of ARV for miscellaneous).
  • “There's a difference between being a wholesaler and a rehabber…As a wholesaler…you just need to give enough of a budget.”

• Financing Burrs ([28:21]):

  • Steve initially used cash from his exited Aussie business, then recycled capital through DSCR loans.
  • Emphasizes unique advantages of U.S. real estate loans: “30 year fixed debt only exists in America…In Australia there's no fixed debt…” – Steve Keery [28:21]

6. Marketing & Sales Foundations

• Best Marketing Channel for Deals ([35:22]):
  • Sees most inbound leads via online (website, SEO, Google ads).
  • “But I will say this, that I actually think it's my sales process that is the key, not the lead source. Because I think all the lead sources work.” – Steve Keery [35:22]
  • Empathy and follow-up are vital—most deals close over time as sellers’ situations change (example: sudden property manager death accelerated one seller’s urgency) [36:20].

7. Staying Focused for the Long Term

• Niche Focus & Scaling ([39:04]):
  • “I see ourselves as being more regional and expanding further...But I will not stop because I built momentum and a brand and I'll continue going and I might add some things on top as we go, but I'll never change or pivot unless I really. Unless something forces me to.” – Steve Keery
  • Recommends rookies “just keep trying, keep going, don't stop, you know, before you get that success.” [27:25]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I actually really think that I saw the property better than most people do because I went really deep on the data." – Steve Keery [01:47]
• “Bravery isn't the absence of fear. It's doing it in spite of your fear.” – Tony J. Robinson [05:08]
• “The purpose of the first deal is to give you proof of concept, is to give you confidence that you can go out there and do your second deal.” – Tony J. Robinson [06:26]
• “Just add value and be curious…be the opposite of transactional.” – Steve Keery [19:54]
• "If you're good at marketing, you should always keep wholesaling in your repertoire.” – Steve Keery [39:04]
• “30 year fixed debt only exists in America, it does not exist in Australia and it does not exist anywhere else in the world.” – Steve Keery [28:21]

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Segment Timestamps

• [00:53] – Steve's first deal: site-unseen investing and market analysis
• [04:33] – How Steve managed the fear of remote investing
• [06:40] – Data sources and metrics for market analysis
• [09:43] – Distance of investment and never seeing the property
• [12:48] – Why and how Steve pivoted to U.S. investing
• [13:54] – First steps in networking in the U.S.
• [16:42] – Realizing wholesaling fit his skillset; strengths assessment for strategy fit
• [17:42] – Wholesaling explained for beginners
• [18:40] – How Steve built his buyers list and found deals
• [21:04] – Steve’s personal buy box and avoiding big rehabs
• [22:32] – Wholesale math: calculating offers and profits
• [23:32] – Estimating rehab costs with limited local knowledge
• [25:28] – Early marketing tactics and scaling up the business
• [26:40] – First deals took 6 months—then the momentum kicked in
• [28:21] – Financing strategies for burrs and U.S. lending advantages
• [35:22] – Best marketing channels; sales process is the differentiator
• [36:20] – Persistence: why follow-up wins deals
• [39:04] – Doubling down on wholesaling and regional expansion
• [40:04] – Where to find Steve and keep following his journey

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Final Thoughts & Takeaways

This episode is a rich, honest roadmap for rookie investors:

• You don’t need to invest locally or see every property—the numbers and team matter more.
• Fear is normal; success comes from acting through it and building momentum.
• Data analysis and networking are replicable skills that underpin success.
• Wholesaling leverages marketing and sales; align your strategy to your natural strengths.
• The U.S. real estate market offers unique financial tools—use them!
• Value creation and curiosity drive successful networking and deal flow.

Find Steve at: HomeBuyerLouisiana.com | LinkedIn: Stephen Keery

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking actionable steps and concrete inspiration for starting and scaling real estate ventures, no matter where you live.

Transcript

[Ashley Kerr]

Today's guest proves you don't need to live near your investment to make serious money in real estate. In fact, his very first deal was site unseen and it turned into a $250,000 profit.

[Tony J. Robinson]

And here's what's even crazier. He didn't just luck out. He used data, strategy and a strong team to make that deal work. So if you've ever said, man, I'd invest if I could just find the right market, then this episode is for you. Steve Keery joins us today to share how he's researched the right market, built a local team from scratch, and avoided the classic rookie pitfalls of long distance investing.

[Ashley Kerr]

This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast and I'm Ashley Kerr.

[Tony J. Robinson]

And I'm Tony J. Robinson. And with that, let's give a big warm welcome to Steve. Steve, thanks for joining us today, brother.

[Steve Keery]

Thanks so much. I'm really excited to be on the program.

[Ashley Kerr]

Steve, take us back to that very first deal. What gave you the confidence to get started?

[Steve Keery]

I mean, it took a lot of learning. Like, I was really into investing. I wanted to invest and I got around people that, that were investing. I joined a mentorship and I just decided I wanted to do it. But then I started to look at data. So, you know, I lived in Australia, I was in Sydney, it's the second least affordable city in the world based on income to price. So it was really, really expensive and not a good market to invest in. So I realized that I needed to find a better market. So I really learned how to, how to do that. And you know, I just searched for the best market in Australia. That was my goal. I didn't have a specific, you know, criteria being local or just what's the best market. And I set about doing that.

[Ashley Kerr]

Now you did your first deal site unseen. So explain that process of getting comfortable with being able to buy your first property without even seeing it.

[Steve Keery]

You know what, I actually really think that I saw the property better than most people do because I had a lot of friends that were in real estate and they thought I was crazy buy inside unseen because they're like, how do you know the local cafes and the hotspots. And they really had this thought that you need to see with your eyes. But not having my eyes, I went really deep on the data. So I built a spreadsheet of data. I narrowed down to properties, sorry, areas that had like a high enough yield. And I started to look at what's the median income, what's the change in median income? What are the demographics the home to our families live here is the median income moving. And when I started to zone in those areas, I looked at infrastructure in the areas and like, is there solid infrastructure? So I really had a very solid idea of why I was investing in that market. And it wasn't based on any gut not seen. It also wasn't that big a deal. So I, when I decided the area I wanted to invest in, I started interviewing local property managers and I would speak to the property managers to firstly figure out who I want to use. But as well, I was asking them, where are people buying? Where do I need to avoid? What sort of like bad bath counts do I need in this area? So I got a really clear understanding of what renters were looking for. And when I negotiated on deals, I started just based on numbers. I'd see a deal that I thought would meet my criteria, I would negotiate on the price and if they were open to that price, I would send my property manager to go do an inspection. Because they were impartial. Like, they would tell me the truth. They're like, will you be able to rent this? Are you going to have any issues? What's the market rent? You know, is there a cemetery across the road? You know, there's something wrong with that, with the property? And they would give me the real answers. And then when I went under contract, I would obviously get a professional property inspection done. So I had a full inspection report. I had clear visibility on the property. So to me, like I felt confident in the area, I felt comfortable on the property, I felt comfortable with the condition and I was good to go. And I never had, never had to see it.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Steve, everything you just laid out, I think makes a ton of sense logically. But oftentimes rookie investors don't make decisions simply based off of logic. There's often a lot of emotion involved in that decision making process as well. And while I think we would all agree what you said was very rational for people who are doing this for the first time, I think there's still fear around the unknown of I haven't been there before, I don't know it like I know my own backyard. And I, I guess what I'm trying to understand is, aside from the, the rational piece, did you have any of that fear? And if so, how did you overcome that to say, hey, we're still going to do this because the data makes sense?

[Steve Keery]

I mean, I absolutely had the fear for sure, it was like a big investment, but I just did it anyway. And you know, I guess, I guess I probably am rational, so I probably rationalize the fear. But. But my. I was prepared to make a mistake because to me, you know, I wanted to invest. I wanted to build a better future. So I was prepared to make some mistakes. I. I'd done a lot of research. I really felt like I'd minimized, like, the, the mistakes that I could get, but of course, I may get some, and I just. I just did it anyway, knowing that if I made mistakes, I'd learn from them and I'd be able to apply that to future investments.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah. Steve, three things I want to highlight really quickly. Number one, I love the. The concept of I just did it anyway. I've got three kids. My oldest is a teenager right now, and like, his whole life growing up, I always shared with him that bravery isn't the absence of fear. It's doing it in spite of your fear. Right. Despite your fear. And I think that's exactly what she laid out here. It's, it's. Hey, I do feel a little nervous about this, but the truth is, if we only do things that keep us comfortable and we never do anything that scares us a little bit, there's a good chance we're not going to achieve a whole heck of a lot in life either. So we've got to be able to find that tipping point of taking that step towards that fear when we know that it's in our best interest. And the second thing that you said was, you know, you were prepared to make some mistakes. And I think that is the absolute correct mindset that rookie investors need to have, that the purpose of the first deal is not to make you a millionaire. The purpose of the first deal is not to retire you from your day job. The purpose of the first deal is to give you proof of concept, is to give you confidence that you can go out there and do your second deal. And I think that when we can take off some of the monetary pressure around this first deal has to be a home run. It then allows us to do what you did where you can step into that fear because the risk is a little bit lower.

[Ashley Kerr]

Steve, when you decided to invest out of state, you had that foundation of, you know, knowing people in that market. But what were some of the. The data and the metrics that you looked like to actually analyze the market on paper?

[Steve Keery]

Yeah, so I, I used a lot of census data. So Australia has pretty good data like that. So I, I started with, we have, like, realestate.com which is like a Zillow Realtor. So I Would I pulled that to figure out the yields like the rental returns and that eliminated, eliminated like a lot of areas based on the yields. And, and so I, I made the list smaller. But then with the census data I really pulled out the median incomes, the income quartiles, like what quartile are they earning incoming. But I, I went back a few years. So what I was actually looking for was the change, right? I was, I wasn't looking for the best market, I was looking for the market that was changing. I would also look at the growth that the, the prop. That the areas had had. What I did probably different to what most rookies would do was I wasn't looking for the areas that had grown a lot because my belief was when they've grown a lot, like you've sort of missed that. And I was looking for growth. So I was looking for areas that had really good fundamentals so that it showed to me the incomes are growing, the population's growing, there's infrastructure. Like it looked good, but it hasn't grown significantly. And then once I limited that down, I looked in the areas around them. So I found some pockets where it looked good. On paper it hadn't really grown, but the areas around it had actually grown nicely. So to me that was a clear buy signal that the market was, was coming up in that area and that, that was really a lot of the data I pulled.

[Ashley Kerr]

Did you have any experience in the past like pulling data or metrics or analytics? What has been like your, your career up to this point that did you have any advantage?

[Steve Keery]

I mean maybe, I mean not, I mean I'm a, I'm a marketer so like I had a, I had a tech business so I ran marketing and sales. So you know, I was sort of comfortable looking at data and analyzing things from a marketing perspective. So I might have had that advantage. I had a lot of data scientists and people around me. I wasn't that person. But like I've seen how they operate, so that might have helped. But to be honest, I don't think I needed that. I did join a group, you know, of people that were doing the same thing. So in Australia, this lady, Margaret Lomas, she, she was a good teacher there, one of the biggest ones in Australia and she had a group of. So we, we joined and we all like were looking at our own markets and discussing. So that gave us a bit of confidence too. So I mean I, I am pretty comfortable with data, but I don't think you need to be. I think to the rookies listening. I think that it's, it's not rocket scientists and you can do it.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah. And I think too the fact that you had a marketing background we get all the time people saying like I don't have a job that can, you know, help me in real estate. I don't have any kind of advantage or opportunity opportunity. But you know you're, you're marketing your property, you're marketing yourself to, to find leads to, to buy properties and see.

[Tony J. Robinson]

If I, I just want to get a sense because it wasn't in your backyard and obviously I'll show is a big place. How far was this property from where you were living? Like was it a, you know, a two hour drive? Was it a, you know, six hour flight? Just ballpark how far away was it?

[Steve Keery]

Yeah, it'd be pretty significant. I mean it'd be a full days of travel, you know, a couple hour flight. It's a different stays in Queensland. I lived in Sydney, New South Wales as a whole different state. It was a far away away and I, by the way I sold it about two years ago. I'd never seen it. I still, I still, I never, I made, I made a lot of money on it. I managed it. I've never seen it in my life.

[Ashley Kerr]

We're going to take a short break but when we come back, Steve actually started to make some investments in the US So we're going to start and touch on that when we could be right back.

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[Ashley Kerr]

We are here with Steve who started out investing in Australia. So Steve, what made you pivot to investing in the us?

[Steve Keery]

Well, I did move here, so I bought six rentals in Australia and I moved. I moved to New Orleans, came here for a vacation and fell in love and decided to stay here. So I had left my old business in Australia and I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do next. And I did want to do more real estate. I'd sort of got in the bag. I'd loved it. So I looked around and decided that I wanted to do real estate as a professional. What I think I did in Australia was I was definitely a rookie. You know, I didn't have any advantage. I was retail investing and looking for like where the market was growing and I decided because I moved here I'm going to actually become an expert in my market and become a professional investor and focus more on buying with making money on the buy as opposed to relying on the market to, to, to make that money.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Steve, so you come from an entirely different country with, I'm assuming, no, no contacts, no resources. The community that you're a part of in Australia is no longer here with you in the States. So what do you do first to, to start building this actual business that you're looking to build on?

[Steve Keery]

The first step was I went to the local Riyadh, we had Noria here, New Orleans Real Estate Investors Association. So I went to that to actually start to say what's going on in this market? Like, what's happening? I started to meet some investors and that sort of got my head around it. So that was really my start because I did, I knew nobody. My, my whole family's from Australia. The first person we met here was our Airbnb host because we had an Airbnb when we first came. So like literally zero network. So starting with arrears and meetups was how I started to build that network. And through, through Noria, I did a little. I actually bought a deal off a wholesaler, okay. To get my Visa to move into Australia, I needed to invest in a property. So I bought a dealer for wholesaler. And I wanted to learn what wholesalers did. I didn't know what that was. I don't think we had them in Australia or didn't know about them, if they existed. So I wanted to learn what a wholesaler did. And I did a course through the Real Estate Investors association on wholesaling. And when I learned what wholesaling was, I realized that I ran sales and marketing for my company. And I'm like, wow. And we were a two sided marketplace. And wholesaling to me was a two sided marketplace with sellers and buyers and marketing. I'm like, that's my skill set. So I realized that, you know, I could do wholesaling in this market to buy my own deals and to really add value in a way I wasn't doing in Australia.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Steve, I, I want to dig a little bit deeper into your transition into wholesaling, but before we even get there, you glossed over, I think, something that a lot of rookies struggle with you. You casually said, I went to the ria, met this person, you know, made some connections. But as someone who's brand new to a country, no connections, no friends, you walk into that Ria, there's, I don't know, 50, 100 people, however big three is like, who do you walk up to first? What are you saying to people like, how are you breaking the Ice to actually start building some of these connections.

[Steve Keery]

I mean, the thing you'll find about, about real estate people is they're really friendly. Like if you go to those rios, these people want to help you. So, you know, I found I just was going up to people and saying, like, what do you do? Like, how does that work? I was just being really curious about what they were doing. And I found that most of these people wanted to tell you they. And when they found out you're new to the country, that you knew to investing, like they want to help you.

[Ashley Kerr]

I mean, you got the Australian accent. Who's not going to be drawn to a guy with an Australian accent?

[Steve Keery]

The Aussie accent helped the Aussie accent. It's funny because like it was a disadvantage being Australian for like trying to deal with sellers because like I was like, you know, I obviously wasn't from here, I would mess up street names. But I did become like, people started calling me Aussie Steve. So like I realized that like it was a disadvantage, but it's also an advantage, right? So I definitely played up the Australian side. Might have even enhanced my accent slightly, dropped a few more get a, a few more get A's. And I normally would have.

[Tony J. Robinson]

So Steve, you say, hey, I'm learning about this thing called wholesaling, which wasn't a thing where you were coming from in Australia, but there was this matching of skills and abilities. And I think for all of our Rickies that are listening, even if you're not, maybe in the, in the exact same position as Steve, the lesson to be learned here is that Steve saw an opportunity within real estate investing that was a natural fit to his current skills and abilities, like what he already knew and what he was already good at. And I think all of us should be doing that self assessment to see or to ask ourselves what strategy aligns best with. With what I'm actually already good at. You know, I joke, you know, me and actually joke all the time that she would make a terrible wholesaler because she hates talking to people and knocking on doors and cold calling people, right? So like you got to know where your strengths and your abilities lie. So Steve, once you found out about wholesaling and I guess for, for maybe folks that aren't familiar with that phrase, just define it for us first, like what does it actually mean to wholesale? And then once you decided if that was the right strategy for you, how did you actually get started?

[Steve Keery]

So, so wholesaling is really flipping a contract as opposed to flipping a house. So if you're marketing for distressed sellers, you will negotiate a price based on what you know someone will pay for it. You get the contract to purchase that property, but instead of actually buying the property, you assign your rights to purchase that property to another investor and you can assign them at a higher amount and therefore you earn that spread. So it's really good. Or if you're good at marketing and good at talking to sellers like, like that, that's how you can find deals. And on the other side, people like Ashley, I'm guessing then people that like they want deals, they want to renovate, but they're not good at the marketing and sales. So you really form that function for people. Yeah.

[Ashley Kerr]

Steve, when you started doing this, was it just through the meetups that you started to build your buyers list and your lead list? Like how did you actually find buyers that would want to buy the properties? That.

[Steve Keery]

Yeah, I mean the meetups were a big part of it. And then like through the meetups, like going further, I went through bigger pockets. I make connections through bigger pockets, the Facebook groups, many ways I, I made friends with other wholesalers who had lists as well. So it can be quite good. When you're getting your first deals, you can joint venture with them so they can actually help you like understand the right numbers and they can help you move that deal. So it's a combination of all of those things.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Steve, just from what you shared so far, you seem like someone who's really nailed the process of building your network. And I think Ashley and I both have benefited tremendously from the people that are in our network. What are just for all the rickies that are listening, what is your advice? To become good at networking. And I don't want it to sound like transactional, like hey, I'm just networking for the sake of like my own personal benefit. But I do think that building a network can be a win win situation for both parties. So if our, you know, if you were to give me like a 30 second crash course on how to effectively network because you talked about, hey, you know, I found the first property that I bought founded about wholesaling. I built my list all through the connections that you made. That is a skill set. So 30 second crash course. How can someone replicate what you've done in building your network?

[Steve Keery]

I mean I think, I think just add value and be curious like asking questions. Just really find out people do and just help where you can definitely don't be transactionals, like be the oper opposite of transactional. I really read the book when I Came here the go giver, if you've read that book. But it's about just adding value. If you add value into the universe, it just comes back to you. It's not like I'll help you because I'm happy to help you, not because you need me something in return, but if I start, if you do that often enough, things come back in return and it may not be from the person you helped. So I really, and I think because I came here not knowing anyone, I had to just like I had no network. I wasn't much of a networker in Australia. It's not a natural thing that I'm. That wasn't my skill but because I knew no one, I just like I was trying to make friends, I was trying to find out. So my advice is just to like, just, just help if you can like offer to help them and do something, you know, without asking for anything in return and just ask them questions, go deeper, understand what they're doing, why they're doing it, and they're generally happy to answer that.

[Ashley Kerr]

Now in this market, New Orleans your tell us what your buy box looked like. What kind of deals were you going after?

[Steve Keery]

So I mean for me personally, I mean I bought a lot of birds so I, but, but I, so I had, I have my wholesaler view and then I have the deals I buy myself. The advantage of being a wholesaler is that I have a very wide net. You know, I can pretty much close any deal in now in South Louisiana I can pretty much close any deal if it's priced right. And price right when I first started was like 70% of the after repair value minus repairs was what a buyer would buy a deal for. So if I could get a contract cheaper than that I could, I had a big enough buy, at least I could move any deal. The market softened and it's more like 65% and in some parts of New Orleans particularly it's 60% of the arb. So that's my broad buy box. So I'm able to like market but the ones I like. So again my skill is sales and marketing, not renovating. So the deals that I liked were the ones that were priced right like that but didn't require a big rehab because I don't want to fix a foundation I don't want to do, I don't want to pull permits. So when I found deals that were priced right but had a renovation I could handle, I bought those myself and did the burr and anything else I wholesaled to my network.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Steve I want to go back to the whole 70% to 60% of ARV. Just like give us an example of what the math like that would actually look like. Say the home, you know, the ARV, the after repair value is 100k. Back us into the, the numbers you would need for that to be a good wholesale deal.

[Steve Keery]

Yep. So if, if the after repair value is going to be 100k, the buyers want to buy it at 70 of that value minus repairs. So 70 of 100k would be 70k. And let's say there's a 20k rehab budget, so they're going to want to buy it for 70k minus 20 would be 50k. So 50k is going to be the price that the buyer is going to want to buy it for. And if I'm wholesaling, I'm going to want to make an assignment fee. Right. So if I get a contract for 50k, I'm not going to make any money. So I'm going to want to get it for 45k or 40k or whatever I can negotiate, I'm going to try to negotiate something a bit lower so that I can make a spread in that deal.

[Tony J. Robinson]

One follow up question to that, if I'm new to wholesaling, because there are people in our audience who I think are interested in that as a strategy. But I think where a lot of new aspiring wholesalers and just real estate investors in general struggle is estimating those rehab costs. So for you, Steve, when you came to New Orleans again, new city, new country, how did you go about understanding what those rehab costs were going to potentially be?

[Steve Keery]

I'm catching a theme for myself before I even answer because it was asking people, it was, it was the network and it was the rias I did get. I got with the buyers and I asked them their rehab costs. I started to learn what they were using and that, that's really like what does it cost for a kitchen, what does it cost for a roof? My tip though is as a, there's a difference between being a wholesaler and a rehabber. When you're a rehabber, you're going to have a very itemized, very specific budget based on exactly what you're going to do. Now when you're a wholesaler, all the buyers are going to do different things. So you're not, you're not trying to estimate to the dollar because, because one person's going to do high and one person's going to do low end. Right. You just need to give enough of a budget. So if it needs a kitchen, re used to need to make sure there's just some money for kitchen renovation. So what I tend to do is we have a formula that's like, we put like, I think it's like 7 1/2% of the arb is like stuff. Just straight away, that's stuff. And then we just add up big items, right? So it needs a roof. We have a number for a roof. We have a number for kitchen, we have a number for a bathroom for ac. So we just, we, we just do the big ticket items, but we don't count like, you know.

Just small little items. Trim, you know, PowerPoints, you don't get any of that. So, but just asking around, I got a fair enough number and I realized that most of the time it worked for my buyers.

[Ashley Kerr]

Now, Steve, how much money did you have to invest into this wholesaling business? Are you sending out mailers? Do you have any kind of software that you're using that you are paying for? We've seen it on both ends of the spectrum where somebody is handwriting letters, doing all their free research off of, you know, gis mapping websites. And then we've seen the other extreme where they're spending $20,000 a month on marketing to get these deals. What did that look like for you?

[Steve Keery]

Yeah, so, I mean, you definitely. It's going to take money or time, one or the other. Like, I know some gurus will tell you how it's just simple and easy and the like. But it's wholesaling. To me, it's simple. Like losing weight is simple, right? Because you know how to lose weight. You eat less calories than, than you burn. You go to the gym every day and you'll, you'll look great. And some people sell wholesaling, it's so easy. And you just, you can make money. It's like, yeah, you can, but you got to put in work. You need to do the reps. So it can be hard in that sense. So what am I spending? Yeah, when I first started, I did mail, I did some texting and I did some driving for dollars. But that was spending time and money. Now I do have a company. So we have like, there's six of us here. I have two acquisition people. I have a head of growth and operations. I have a disposition people. So, you know, I have a payroll now. We do a lot of marketing. We do cold calling, we do online marketing. So I've definitely stepped that up. But I went step by step. I didn't start with this operation I've grown slowly over the last couple of years.

[Ashley Kerr]

Yeah, ballpark, when you first started, what were, what were you spending just starting out?

[Steve Keery]

I wasn't spending that much. I was really, I was buying a few lists and I was texting, so it's buying list texting and some direct mail. So I was spending probably a couple grand a month and it did take a little time. So I, it took me six months to close my first wholesale deal. And but the interesting thing was I was working hard at it and, and I got my first, second and third in the same week.

[Ashley Kerr]

Wow. You know, but that is like a common theme that we hear is that like it can take up to a year to actually get your first deal, but once you build that momentum and it takes that time, it takes the patience, it takes the investment, you know, you're paying six months, a couple thousand dollars each month, you know, that can quickly add up if you're not getting a deal.

[Steve Keery]

Yeah. And I think the important point I want to make on that is it wasn't that I finally figured out what I was doing in the six month. Like it was, it wasn't that I started doing it right. It was all the work I'd done that six months started to come back because the follow up, the momentum, so, so once I did that, I started rolling. You know, we'd now done over 220 wholesale deals and the momentum rolled. But it took, it took a lot of confidence to keep going. Right. Like it took a lot of believing in myself and, and, but I did and it works. So to all the rookies out there, like in whatever you're doing, whether it's wholesaling, investing, I would say just keep trying, keep going, don't, don't stop, you know, before you get that success.

[Ashley Kerr]

Now Steve, when you're doing the burrs for yourself, how are you financing these deals? How are you purchasing the properties, how are you paying for the rehab on them and then what kind of loan are you using to refinance out of them?

[Steve Keery]

So I was lucky enough to be able to buy my first ones with cash because I did have a company in Australia, we actually ended up listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, so, so that was helpful. And I was able to buy my first couple with the cash from selling my shares. What I did was I purchased with cash and, but then I did do DCSR loan on the back end and put 30 year fixed debt on it on the refinance. And then I took that money and bought another property. You know, the classic recycling. Lots of people. You don't need to have the cash. Just I'm sure not all the rookies have the cash. You definitely don't need that. It works just as well getting hard money loan to take down the property and then to use the same sort of DCSR loan to refinance. But I love the Burrs. Something that maybe a lot of your listeners don't might take for granted is the fact that 30 year fixed debt only exists in America, it does not exist in Australia and it does not exist anywhere else in the world. In Australia there's no fixed debt you can fix like three to five years max. So the fact that you can fix a loan for 30 years in a in a place that has like inflation etc, it's such a solid thing. So that's why I really am a big fan of the Burr and and I think a lot of Americans don't realize what a great opportunity it is.

[Tony J. Robinson]

For them Steve, I want to get into the actual tactical side of how you're finding deals today. Because you you mentioned not too long ago that before you were doing it at 70% of ARV. Now you're down to like 65 or 60%, which means it's getting harder to find good deals. So I want to break down your exact process for finding good deals today and we'll do that right after a word from today's show sponsors.

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All right, we're.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Back here with Steven. We just covered his journey from Australia, coming to New Orleans, building out this wholesaling business. But Steve, the thing that a lot of real estate investors are struggling with especially today is finding good deals. I think it's, it's even harder right now because there are a lot of sellers who are stuck on prices from like two years ago. There are a lot of people who don't want to sell because they don't want to trade into a higher interest rate.

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[Tony J. Robinson]

They're to 3% that I want to sell and land at a, at a 6 or 7%. So it's just getting harder to find good deals. So you talked earlier about your process. You're sending out marketing, sending out mailing. What have you found to be your best marketing channel today for finding those off market deals?

[Steve Keery]

So my best marketing channel is online. You know, I get, I have a strong brand now because I've been doing it a while. So I get a lot of people coming through my website. You know, they'll find me through SEO, you know, paid advertising. So definitely that's my best lead source. But I will say this, that I actually think it's my sales process that is the key, not the lead source. Because I think all the lead sources work. I know lots of people that do bandit signs that work, texting, mail. I don't think it's like there's a silver bullet of the lead source. But what is important is when you get that lead, what experience does a seller have? So we are very honed in, in how we have a conversation with our sellers and we try to help them first. We're caring, right? We're empathetic. We'll have a conversation. And the truth is, a lot of the time they don't like your offer, you know, because it is hard, right? And the truth is the market has changed and the sellers haven't always realized that. So you need to be able to make an offer that is the right price that they're probably not going to like. And you need to be able to make that offer, still be nice about it, be firm about it, but just make that offer and keep rapport. Because a deal doesn't always come on that first call. We will call them back and we will stay in contact with them. And you know, ultimately the deals often come over time. We talk about. There's often a transition like I'll give you a story that I think really typifies this because I once had this deal on, I think it was like a five plex I was working on. The seller had lived out of state. He wanted to sell. He was sick of managing it. But we, we. The price was close, but he, we just couldn't agree on the price. And he had, he had a property manager was looking after the property and we sort of left it at that. I stayed in contact, but then one night I woke up and he literally called me at 2am in the morning. Like. Like, why. Why would he call me at 2am in the morning? Like we. But I called him back the next day and what had happened was his property manager who was looking after the property, he died. So to him that was like. He was. He was like, he wanted to sell, he didn't like it, but he had a level of comfort straight away. That level of comfort just disappeared. And he felt helpless. He's out in a different state. So we then put the deal together. And what I will say is this, transitions happen all the time. You know, it doesn't need to be as extreme as someone dying. It can be an AC blowing out. It can be something that happens. So if you just make your offers, be nice, build rapport, stay in contact, the deals end up coming to you over time, regardless of where that lead initially came from.

[Tony J. Robinson]

I want to go a little bit deeper into your sales process, Steve, but just circling back to the lead source. I appreciate you sharing that all the different lead sources can work if you execute them correctly. But you Said that your website, paid advertising is working really well for you. A few questions around the paid ads. One, are you running these ads yourself or have you outsourced this to some sort of agency? And then which platform have you found to be best? Are you doing Facebook, you know, Instagram? Are you doing Google search? All of them. How are you actually divvying up your, your budget between the different platforms?

[Steve Keery]

Google search would be the best. I have gone in between getting agencies and doing it myself. We currently have an agency doing it, so. So that's been really good. I also get a lot of SEOs, a lot of like, organic listings. I do that myself. You know, having, you know, how to run a tech business in Australia. I have a very good sense of, of that. So, so that, that I run myself. And that works very well too.

[Ashley Kerr]

So, Steve, before we wrap up here, what is next for you? Is it to continue to do burrs, some wholesaling, or are you making a pivot into something else?

[Steve Keery]

No, I definitely stick in my lane and I think that's actually important. I think I see people switch too often and even when it comes to wholesaling, a lot of people want to start in wholesaling and graduate to something else. I would say if you're good at wholesaling, if that's like something, if you're good at marketing, you should always keep wholesaling in your repertoire because it allows you to keep spending money on marketing and pick the deals that work for you. So I'm doubling down. I'm trying to grow my reach. You know, we started in greater New Orleans. We expanded to Baton Rouge and the Lafayette and the, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I see ourselves as being more regional and expanding further than that, further than that. And at the same time just picking the birds that work for me, picking properties that work for me. But I will not stop because I built momentum and a brand and I'll continue going and I might add some things on top as we go, but I'll never change or pivot unless I really. Unless something forces me to.

[Ashley Kerr]

Well, Steve, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it. Can you let everyone know where they can reach out to you and find out more information about your journey?

[Steve Keery]

Yeah, absolutely. You can, you can check us out. HomeBuyerLouisiana.com is my website. You can go and check that out. You can also find me on LinkedIn. Stephen Kiri. I guess check this the show notes because it's not that easy to spell.

[Ashley Kerr]

Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the time and giving us this little master class inside of your business. Thank you so much. I'm Ashley, he's Tony and we'll see you guys on the next episode of Real Estate Rookie.

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[Tony J. Robinson]

Hey rookies, if you're watching this, we want you to apply to be a guest on the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. That's right, Ashley and I are looking for amazing stories just like yours to be a part of our Real Estate Rookie Podcast. Now look, you don't need to be an expert. You don't need to have done thousands of deals. Even if you've done one deal, your story could help inspire the next listener.

[Ashley Kerr]

As a rookie investor. Especially if you just got your first deal. It is all fresh in your minds and you are the best person to tell your story. Give your experience on how you got it done to help someone else get their first deal.

[Tony J. Robinson]

So head over to biggerpockets.com guest if you want to be a part of our show again, that's biggerpockets.com/guest and we'd love to have you on.

[Steve Keery]

Sa.