← Real Estate Rookie
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- [00:00]
Ashley
Most rookies think the fastest way to financial freedom is through buying rental properties. But what if that's not actually true?
- [00:08]
Tony
Today's guest says you might be better off buying a small business first. And he's living proof it can work. He used his business to buy a retail plaza with $0 down, and now he's building wealth through both business and real estate.
- [00:22]
Ashley
We're sitting down with Tim Delaney, an entrepreneur and real estate investor from Buffalo, New York, who's showing us how to get creative with financing, build systems that give you your time back, and think outside the box when you're just getting started.
- [00:36]
Tony
If you've ever felt stuck because you don't have the cash or perfect credit to get into real estate, this episode is going to open your eyes to what's really possible. So let's jump in.
- [00:51]
Ashley
Tim, a lot of rookies think that they need a ton of money so saved or to have perfect credit to start investing in real estate. But you actually bought your first plaza, your commercial building for $0 down. Can you walk us through how you were able to pull that off and what rookies can learn from your approach?
- [01:10]
Tim Delaney
Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Look forward to sharing some info on that and other subjects. So my plaza was a purchase that I made after I had already purchased a business, which is what helped me with that plaza purchase. It was the plaza that my business was in. I had been operating there for about five years when the owner of the plaza approached me. Actually, I had been approaching him regularly, telling him I'd be happy to buy the plaza when he was ready to sell. He always said that he would never sell it. He was going to die with it because he wanted to avoid the capital gains. Until one year he kind of approached me and said, you know what, I'm ready to sell. I'm sick of it. I'm done with it. My son figured out a way I can avoid some of the capital gains. So I will sell it to you since you've been asking. And since he had seen my track record of paying rent on time every single month for five years, he said that he would be happy to finance the purchase of the plaza. He said the purchase price was a million dollars. He would finance 90% of that purchase price at a 6% interest rate for 20 years. I just needed to come up with the 10%. And so I said, sure, you know, definitely buy it. Not going to argue with you on the purchase price because that, you know, that seven figure magic number I knew was probably going to be a Sticking point in his head. But. But I did whittle him down on the interest rate down to 4%. And then I had to figure out where I was going to get the other 10% from. So I immediately kind of started going through my liquor store finances. I started going through other finances. I didn't have enough liquid cash laying around to pull that off. So I started, I went to my network and talked to some people and found another lender that was willing to lend me the other 10% at 5% for 25 years. So between the two, the 90% from the seller and 10% from another private lender, I was able to buy the whole plaza with nothing out of my pocket.
- [03:26]
Ashley
Okay, well, what an incredible start to this episode here with some creative financing. And I think that just really shows what you're able to do when you're leaving the bank out of the picture too, is you have those options to be able to do that 100%.
- [03:42]
Tim Delaney
A lot of times, if the bank was the one giving me 75 or 80%, which is what they usually kind of cap out at for real estate, they probably wouldn't have liked the fact that I went to a private lender for the other portion of that down payment because they wouldn't have trusted that I would be able to pay all of the debt service on the plaza every month. And it was tight. I wouldn't, don't necessarily recommend rookies or anybody going out there and buying real estate with 100 financing because the cash flow was definitely tight, especially in those first couple years, as, you know, repairs and capital expenses came up. And that's where the. Having the business came in handy, because the business was generating cash flow for me that I was able to lend to the entity that owned the plaza to handle some of those capital expenses. So that's where again, you know, buying 100% financed on the real estate isn't necessarily a great move for somebody just starting out without other sources of income. But it worked for me because I had a primary source of cash flow in the business.
- [04:47]
Tony
And Tim, I, you know, there's a few things you called out that I think are super important lessons for all of our rookie listeners. But I think the first one that stood out to me was just the, the follow up of going back to the seller over and over and over again, even after they said, I'm going to die with this property, of still continuing to, to put yourself in front of them and say, well, hey, I'm still an option for you. And lo and behold, One day they woke up and said, I actually don't want to keep this thing anymore. And who was the first person they thought of? It was Tim. And I think the. The lesson for a lot of our rookies that are listening is sometimes the best deals are the ones that take quite some time to really work. And I've shared this story in the Ricky podcast before, but when I. When I first started investing in real estate, this was back, gosh, maybe sent these mailers back in 2017 or maybe 2018, but I dropped a bunch of postcards into the mail in Shreveport in Louisiana, where I bought my first deal. And I got a call maybe two years ago from some guy that said, hey, you know, I got your postcard, you know, back in 2017. I wasn't ready to sell them, but I'm ready to sell now. And it's like you. You never know the timeline of someone or their life circumstances or how they change. So, Tim, I just want to thank, because I think you illustrate the importance of following up and how doing it over and over again can oftentimes lead to good results.
- [06:10]
Tim Delaney
Yeah, I mean, can you imagine how many houses you'd have in Shreveport if you had followed up on all those?
- [06:18]
Tony
I think the. The second thing, though, Tim, that jumped up out of me from your story was the. The multiple lenders. Obviously, it's great that you're able to negotiate the seller financing, but I think the seller was, from a tax perspective, really incentivized to go that route with you, so they could protect some of that or reduce some of their tax liability. But the finding of the multiple lenders.
- [06:37]
Tim Delaney
I started talking to family members. So the private lender is a family member, but they're making a good return and they're happy with that regular income because it pays better than the bonds that they probably would have been in their portfolio at this point.
- [06:52]
Ashley
So, Tim, for the people who don't really know you yet, can you give us the quick version of your journey? You mentioned you've done a couple flips. You have rentals. And. And how did you actually get started in this real estate journey?
- [07:03]
Tim Delaney
I bought my business in 2013, and then I thought, okay, now I have the cash to get into real estate. I thought it was cash first, then real estate. I've since learned it's real estate builds cash flow and wealth. So in 2018, I started listening heavily to BiggerPockets and other real estate podcasts. And really, you know, like I said, I just made my first offer on a Brrr property when the opportunity to buy the Plaza came along and went kind of deep on the plaza for that first year. From there, I found a partner that I had done some work with who's a general contractor. And that was the one piece of my skill set that was missing from being able to really execute a brrr strategy or fix and flip that I wanted to be able to do. So in March 2020, we bought our first flip. Uh, we closed on it. I remember it was March 20th. It was a Friday.
- [08:00]
Ashley
I was super chaotic started. I feel like that the day everything.
- [08:05]
Tim Delaney
Shut down, it was the. It was insane. The liquor store was absolutely crazy. I had to, like, sneak out the back door because I couldn't even get out the front door. It was so chaotic to get to the bank to send a wire to close on this house that we had had on a contract for a month and a half. And. And I remember talking to my partner. We're like, do we do this? Do we not like the world's falling apart? But luckily, we went through with it. We closed on that flip was successful, and then we decided to start burring. So since then, we've been burring houses and flipping a couple houses a year ever since.
- [08:41]
Ashley
And how many rentals do you have.
- [08:42]
Tim Delaney
Now in your portfolio, not including the Plaza? We're up to about 50 apartments that we've. That we've birred, and then we've flipped about four a year, and we've done two new builds from scratch.
- [08:55]
Tony
Tim, one question for me is you.
- [08:57]
Tim Delaney
You.
- [08:57]
Tony
You said something that was really insightful, but you said, I. I partnered with someone who was that missing piece for me. How did you find that person, and how did you know they were the right person to partner with? Because I. I think a lot of rookies feel that there's some part of investing where maybe they aren't super skilled. And I do think that partnerships are one of the best ways to go about filling that void. You know, Ash and I wrote the book on partnerships for bigger pockets. Like I said, we believe in the power of it, but there's a lot of fear for folks, of getting into the partnership with the wrong person. So how did you know that this was the right person to build your portfolio with?
- [09:29]
Tim Delaney
It's a great question. If you had asked me 10 years ago, I would have told you, not in a million years would I have ever had a partner in any type of business. So my thinking definitely evolved. And this was somebody. I'm very entrepreneurial. I chase a lot of shiny objects Back in 2015, I started a company that factors receivables. So what I do is buy good debt from people that need cash quickly. So my partner is a contractor by trade. He was doing at that time a lot of work for the city of Buffalo on emergency rehab programs where the city and some nonprofits would pay him to fix the roofs, redo the whole roof, windows sometimes, but mostly roofs, but they wouldn't pay him for like 60 to 90 days. And for a small contractor, that's a lot of time to wait to get paid because he had to go buy the material, he had to pay his employees. So I would buy the receivable, the invoice from the city, give him most of his cash up front and, and just charge a small fee when the city paid me and give him the rest of his money. So I had been working with him for a few years. I watched his work because I had to go evaluate and make sure that he was doing a good job to make sure I would actually get paid. So I knew he had quality workmanship, I knew that he was a good person. We would have occasional conversations about real estate. So we decided to do a flip together and we decided to do one flip together to see how it would go. We didn't go all gung ho, which I know other people make the mistake of sometimes of signing long term agreements and we're going to be best friends and married forever and ever. I knew it was a marriage. I knew that we wanted to make sure that we were going to work together. So we started with one flip and just one flip alone. No entities, no anything else to make sure that we, even though we had that long personal, you know, business relationship to make sure we could actually work together, we did a flip first and then we slowly started acquiring more and more properties.
- [11:48]
Aaron
Rookie listeners, are you on the sidelines right now planning your first deal but not pulling the trigger? I get it. Making the leap into investing is hard at the best of times and right now it's paralyzing. Invest in real estate in this economy. What if you make the wrong deal? And how do you know who to trust? If you're ready to get unstuck and start building wealth through real estate, join us at bpcon this October. You'll leave with more clarity on your strategy, insights, insider knowledge to help you make the right move and relationships with people you can trust. It's time to get unstuck at BPCON. Get your tickets before they sell out@biggerpockets.com rookie conference. That's biggerpockets.com rookie conference what if I.
- [12:22]
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- [12:58]
Aaron
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- [13:33]
Ashley
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- [14:10]
Tony
All right, so we're back here with Tim Delaney. And Tim, you've said that you think buying small businesses might be a quicker path to wealth than real estate. Which is kind of a refreshing take for a lot of Rickies, right? But what does that actually look like in practice?
- [14:26]
Tim Delaney
I think that buying a small business can be very freeing for the right person. It generally can cash flow a lot better, a lot stronger from day one. Now, sometimes this might mean you are actually working the business in order to get that cash flow in the form of a paycheck and additional dividend income from the business, you know, extra cash flow that it kicks off on top of paying yourself. But for somebody that is really, you know, eager to get out of a job that they don't care for, that they don't like, or a lifestyle or hours that they don't like, buying a business can get you out of that situation much faster. Now, whether you're buying that job, like I said, with the W2 income from your own business, where you're also building equity and getting extra cash flow, or for some people, they are able to buy the business, you know, like a laundromat or something else that doesn't necessarily get them out of their day job, but kicks off extra cash flow. I've found, especially over the last couple years with the interest rate environment, that those business purchases are generating a little bit more cash flow than real estate. You know, not to say that real estate's a bad investment, obviously. I've still been doing that a lot over the last five years. But as a quicker path to financial independence, I think buying a small business is the way to go for a lot of people. As long as you have the right mindset and you're open to learning that business and managing it properly, it can generate more income quickly, more cash flow quickly, and build equity faster, since usually the loans are a shorter period of time, so you're paying them down faster.
- [16:09]
Ashley
And Tim, give us maybe a realistic example of a business that a rookie could start today while they're still working their 9 to 5. Are there any that, you know, you would recommend?
- [16:21]
Tim Delaney
Yeah, I'm not, because I'm not entirely sure. I'm sure there's a lot of options out there for side hustles on the business front starting, but for buying a business, I mean, if you want to, you know, if you love your W2 and you're just looking for a business that has cash flow, that can, that you can run while you're still working. Like I mentioned, laundromats are a good option for that. But really, any business that has enough revenue to pay a good manager can be a good option as well. That's, you know, it's something I see talked about a lot. Buying big enough where you can have the staff in place day one to run the business and then whether or not you want to jump in and help operate it day to day, or whether you want to keep your day job and just run it remotely as a passive business, that's up to you. But there are, there's really no end to the Possibilities of types of businesses out there from, you know, I just got off the phone with somebody that bought a tool rental and hydraulic repair business that she has a manager in place day one. He barely has to do any work, you know, from a showing up standpoint. And I've, you know, talked to other people that have bought McDonald's franchises because they're, they have the structure and the SOPs already in place where it makes it a little bit easier to jump in and kind of run things the way that the organization wants them run.
- [17:54]
Tony
Tim, how important is it if I want to buy a business, how important is it that I know the industry beforehand? Like you mentioned a tool, hydraulics business. Like, I don't even know what type of tools you're talking about, right. So would that be a good business for me to go and purchase knowing that I know nothing about the hydraulics industry? Or is it like, hey, it doesn't really matter if you know the, you know, sound business principles, you can be successful buying maybe any sort of small business.
- [18:22]
Tim Delaney
I think that's going to depend a lot on your personal interest in learning that industry. I think it's, you know, if you know zero about tools and have zero interest in tools and never want to learn what a hydraulic even is, that's probably not the right business for you. I bought a wine and liquor store. You know, a lot of people will say retail is not the way to go, and I don't necessarily disagree with that. Retail is a tough, very tough business. But I didn't, you know, I didn't know all there is to know about wine and liquor. I still don't, I'm still learning every single day about different, different things, different varieties, different winemaking methods. So I wouldn't limit your search just because you don't know about something. As long as you're interested in learning about it, that's, you know, and have the, have the knowledge base or have the resources to learn. So, you know, in the wine and liquor industry, I was lucky that the vendors are very incentivized to spend time teaching myself and staff because it helps them sell more product.
- [19:33]
Ashley
So.
- [19:33]
Tim Delaney
So, you know, in some businesses that might not be the case. Nobody might want to teach you. So I wouldn't. Yeah, I'd be open to anything as long as you are open to learning about it.
- [19:43]
Ashley
And I think one of the key points you made there is like looking for a business that maybe already has a manager in place where maybe it's somebody who's semi retired that is selling the Property and, or selling the business. And you can just kind of come in and, you know, not have to actually run the day to day. And that gives you more leeway to actually learn the business if there already is that key manager in place or there's enough revenue coming in and enough profit that you can easily pay to hire a manager to come and step in that has experience in that and you're still making money, you know, behind the scenes.
- [20:24]
Tim Delaney
Exactly. That's. I interviewed another guy recently who, he was my banker for years. He was a branch manager and then he was a business bank tanker. And he went and bought a company that makes road expanders, which are giant pieces of heavy truck, you know, equipment that adds extra asphalt onto the side of the road as it drives and packs it down so they make highways bigger. I don't think he had much everyday experience in making roads wider or the equipment that, that was used to make those. I, you know, I know for me, I never even heard of those machines.
- [21:02]
Ashley
Maybe there's a lot of construction on his window or something.
- [21:07]
Tim Delaney
Yeah, but he is, he took over as the, you know, president, CEO of that company and started running it from day one and did a great job. He's grown it and he's continues to grow it. So it's sometimes, you know, I think sometimes almost having too much knowledge can hold you back a little bit. The guy with the tool rental company was telling me that he, he's been approached by staff with ideas that were previously just shot down by the, the old owners because it wasn't their way. And he's like, why not? You know, let's give it a shot. You know, he doesn't know what. He doesn't know it, you know, it's worth a shot. So I wouldn't hold the lack of knowledge back from looking into it. As long as you're open to learning.
- [21:55]
Tony
Tim, not everyone's sitting on 50k for a down payment for a piece of real estate either, which I think is part of what makes buying a business maybe also more attractive because the options for seller financing are there. But you know, if someone does want to buy real estate and you did it creatively on your first deal, how can someone think, I guess more maybe creatively about income, about credit or about the skills they already have to get into real estate investing?
- [22:18]
Tim Delaney
Yeah, I think, I mean, you mentioned the word credit. I think that's the number one place that anybody should start is making sure your credit score is and your credit history is up to snuff. It needs to be good. That's when you're, whether you're dealing with a bank or dealing with private lenders or hard money lenders, it's one of the first questions that anybody's going to ask you is, you know, what does your credit look like? And they're going to pull it and they're going to look at it. So making sure that that is all clean and in good standing, definitely the best place to start. And in particular, if you don't have your own cash to put into the deal, you're going to need even better credit to show that you can do perform on the debt. The next thing is to save as much as you can. I know depending on your income source and your lifestyle, it can be tough for people, but that's kind of the, the next most important piece is to save whatever you can as soon as you can to have something to show. Like I said, I mean, there are ways to buy businesses with no money down. There are ways to buy real estate with no money down. And we'll all talk about them. But it is important that you have some cash set aside at some point, even if it's not to close the deal, it's to address something when it goes wrong. Because something will always go wrong, as we all know.
- [23:45]
Ashley
So Tim, you've talked about, you know, different ways that you've been able to purchase real estate with your lines of credit and other using your business income to buy the properties. What's one piece of advice you would give a rookie investor about building relationships with banks or with people in your network to actually make this come about? That you can actually find these creative, different types of lending, I would say.
- [24:15]
Tim Delaney
To get out to as many real estate meetups as you can in your area. That, and I'm not the best at doing that myself. I'm not a great networker in those types of settings. But the more you get in rooms with people that might be potential lenders or partners or resources for you, the better off you're going to be. I met my private lender because of the first business that I actually looked into buying. Somebody connected us and said this guy might be willing to lend you money to buy a business. He wasn't, but we kept in touch. And so I guess that's the point is part of it is getting out there and meeting people, which I know can be tough for people because it's tough for me. But once you meet somebody, making sure that you're staying in touch with them on a regular basis, following up with them, sending them questions, sending them good questions about different things that you're looking at and just maintaining those relationships. Another piece of advice that I've always gotten was when you're talking to somebody new and having a conversation, ask them for one to three other people that you should be talking to about this issue or about something related to hopefully build your network in that. That way. With bankers, they, you know, some bankers are great. They like to spend time with. With new people. Some are just way too busy. So figuring that out, you know, not every banker is going to want to talk to you. But walking into different banks, sitting down with a specific deal that you're looking at and going through it with them can help show them that you're serious and help you understand their thought process for the future.
- [26:04]
Ashley
Tim, I think there's one thing that you're not telling everyone that you do at networking events or meetups or something is you bring something with you that brings people to you.
- [26:17]
Tim Delaney
I do, and that's my little. My little hack, which I guess can work for other people, is when I show up at certain events, I will always bring a very nice bottle of bourbon so that people want to come and talk to me. That's my selfish way of getting people to like me, is just to bring bourbon.
- [26:36]
Ashley
Yeah. And I've seen it firsthand. Work is you're sitting there, you just set it on the table, and people come over all interested, and you offer them a drink, and then you're. You're talking with them. Like, I think that is such a great idea.
- [26:48]
Tim Delaney
Yeah. And it. It doesn't have to be bourbon. It can be, you know, something else, I guess, you know, finding that unique thing that you can be the attraction.
- [26:55]
Tony
There's a. There's a book called how to Talk to Anyone. It's by this author named Leo Loun, I think is how you say her last name, but how to talk to anyone. And in that book, it just talks about, like, hey, how do you. How do you kind of break the ice? How do you get in a room full of people that maybe you don't know and still carry yourself confidently? And one of the things that she talks about in that book is exactly what you do, Tim, where you have something that's like a conversation starter? And for her, she said that she would wear, like, this large, like, beautiful pin, and I can't remember what the pin was, but people would always come to her and like, oh, like, what is your pin about? You know, and for you, Tim, it's bourbon. So for all the rookies that are listening, you know, like, what is the thing that you can bring into like bpcon where people kind of look at you and say, oh well, what is that? Or tell me more about that. But the, the other piece too, Tim, that I wanted to highlight, you talked about like asking the person you're talking to if there's anyone else that, that you should know. I saw this, this, this TikTok video where someone threw a party and the whole premise of the party was that I'm going to invite Tim. Tim can invite one additional person. The person that Tim has invited can invite one additional person. And you can do that up to six people. And that's the only way that you get invited is that, you know, it like plays out the idea of six degrees of separation but like in real life, in a party. So for all our Rickies that are listening, if you really wanted like a, a cool way to supercharge your networking, try and throw one of those parties where you invite someone and tell them they can each invite one additional person and you'd be surprised who might end up in the room with you.
- [28:31]
Ashley
That'd be a really cool thing to do at bpcon. It's like you meet someone the first day and you say, okay, they, they ask someone and you do that. So like, and then you have like a dinner the last night or something like that with those people.
- [28:45]
Tim Delaney
That's a great idea. And that to the wearing something in particular as well. I've, I have done that as well as Ashley's probably seen 90% of my days I am wearing a black polo shirt. I am very nondescript. I don't like standing out. But when I show up to certain events, I will wear a very bright Hawaiian shirt with Bill's helmets and logos embedded into it. So it not only draws attention because it's big and bold, but for people that have a connection to football or the Bills in particular, they're drawn to it and it can open the conversation.
- [29:18]
Tony
Well, Tim, I think most rookies getting back to the real estate investing side, I think most rookies imagine being a landlord always just means passive income. But we all know that's not necessarily the case. How did you learn to delegate and build systems so you could actually step back and enjoy the life you've built?
- [29:36]
Tim Delaney
I mean, it started in business for me when I bought the wine and liquor store. I knew from day one that I was going to be working a lot the first few years, but I knew that I didn't want to be working in the store 40, 50, 60 hours a week for my, the rest of my life. So I always approach new things with what do I need to do? What do, what should I do? What can I hand off to somebody as quickly as possible and not lose sleep over that item. I don't expect everything to be done perfectly right from the start when I hand something off. But I'm not going to be upset that it's not done perfectly. That's the kind of the mindset that I think you need to have when you're delegating is, you know what, it's not going to be perfect. It's not going to be done the way that I want to do it. And I am a pretty big control freak. But it's okay to let somebody else make mistakes to as long as it's not something that I have to do anymore. So, you know, creating systems and processes, one of the tricks that I do is when I hand something off to somebody, I show them how to do it, I explain my system, I ask them to document it themselves, how they're doing it, how I'm asking them to do it. So they'll create the Word document, you know, the Google, Google Doc. So it's shared and it's. We can share it with each other and we can share it with the next person that has to take over. And I tell them, all right, here's how it's done. You document it step by step and then you continue, you take ownership of that document and you continue to evolve it as systems change. You know, especially when you're using different software, little things change in the software over time, or you just, you know, the new person finds a better way to do something and it's like, okay, I did it your way. Here's the system and process that we did. But I figured out that I can cut the time down. If I do X, Y and Z instead of abc, then they'll update, I'll have them update the document and that's in place for the next person that's going to take that role on when they're done with it. But, you know, I think just the big thing is mindset, being willing to let things go that you shouldn't be doing anymore.
- [31:56]
Ashley
Tim, what are like some of the lessons you have learned or like the biggest mistakes you see maybe other people make when it comes to actually delegating or even just the leadership role of, okay, you've hired this person. What are some mistakes that are made for you as the leader and the one delegating.
- [32:15]
Tim Delaney
I just made a massive mistake a couple weeks ago with delegating and hiring. I brought on a new hire VA from the Philippines to help me. I recently launched a podcast, and I wanted to improve my social media around. Around that. Hired the guy. But I was also. I had travel planned already. I had a million other things going on in preparation for that travel, and I did not give him the attention and the time that was needed to get him up to speed on what I needed him to do. Complete failure on my part on the timeline of making that decision and bringing him on board. So it was a frustrating couple weeks for him and for me because from my perspective, he's not delivering on what I needed to be done. On his perspective, he wants to be doing a good job. He wants to, you know, he's happy. He's, you know, excited to start this, and he's got no direction and little oversight to start out with. So when you're making those decisions to delegate and. Or to hire, making sure that you've blocked off your calendar and that you're mentally and physically prepared to spend the time and energy to invest in that person, because it's not. It never goes as quickly as you'd like it to, but in the long run, you'll be happy once. Once you've invested in it.
- [33:46]
Tony
Tim, I'm kind of like, chuckling and nodding my head because I definitely experienced that same pain when we onboarded our first virtual assistant as well, and we actually hired three at one time. And it was just a complete, you know, an utter chaos and, and to no one's fault but my own. And your, Your point of making sure that you have the right amount of time to pour into them. Because sometimes you hire someone, you get frustrated, they're not doing a good job, but in reality, you just didn't set them up the right way. And you, as the, the people leader, have to understand that they are not actually the problem, but it's you. So I'm, I'm super glad that you. That you highlighted that. And I, I can definitely feel, feel, feel your pain when it comes to that.
- [34:26]
Tim Delaney
Yeah, 100%. It's, you know, that extreme ownership mentality, Jocko Willnick, that I've heard talked about and heard him talk about on podcasts.
- [34:35]
Ashley
It's.
- [34:36]
Tim Delaney
I'm not perfect at it, but I try it, try to take responsibility for everything. And it's. Especially when you're onboarding somebody, it's all your fault until, you know, until they've really gotten the education and still can't deliver. I think everybody, every, every entrepreneur that's tried with VAS has gone through that at some point. It's, you know, there's no perfect solution and other than just making sure you put in the time when you first do it.
- [35:04]
Tony
So far, Tim shared how he's built systems in his business to actually enjoy the freedom he was looking for. But what if you're already a landlord? So coming up, we'll dive into how owning a business can compliment or maybe even accelerate your real estate investing. Plus, there's one decision Tim says made the biggest difference in his journey. So don't go anywhere.
- [35:22]
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- [35:57]
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- [37:10]
Aaron
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- [37:50]
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- [38:36]
Tony
All right, and we're back here with Tim. So, Tim, for someone who's already a landlord or an investor, how can owning a small business complement or even accelerate what they're building in real estate?
- [38:47]
Tim Delaney
So I think one of the key things for me is that having this business that is mine, that is generating cash flow for me, it puts me in a different position than somebody that's just starting out in real estate that is kind of very eager to get that cash flow from the real estate that we all hear about when we're, you know, first getting into real estate. You hear about this cash flow, you hear how, how it's going to change your life and how it's, how great it's going to be having already owned, owning a business that's generating my cash flow that's building equity for me over time. I wasn't as in a desperate, for lack of better word, position of needing to get as much cash flow out of real estate from the very beginning. So it was. It allowed me to make decisions of buying certain brrr properties that may not kick off a massive amount of cash flow early on, but they're building equity over time. And so I'm not trying to suck out every penny every day. I'm allowed. I'm allowing that equity to build. I'm making repair and capex decisions that will only improve the properties over time. The other big way that it has helped is access to lines of credit. So it's, you know, having the business established, paying down my initial loans to buy the business allowed me to open up business lines of credit with various banks that I can use that cash to lend to my flipping entities or to my real estate entities that can reduce the amount of interest that I have to pay to a private lender or just in a very simple, you know, when making offers on properties, sometimes if that cash is available in the line of credit, I can use those statements as proof of funds so I don't have to go to a bank or go to my private lender and ask them for letters showing that I have the funds available to close when work. Because we make quote unquote cash offers, which essentially just means that we're not going to rely on a bank to close the deal. So the sellers want to see that we have those funds available. So by showing them my business lines of credit, it lends credibility to the fact that I am a serious investor and I have cash available.
- [41:16]
Ashley
Tim, before we wrap up here, the last question I have for you is what's one decision that you made early on that you think genuinely had the biggest impact on getting where you are today?
- [41:28]
Tim Delaney
Buying my wine and liquor store. It's the way it has changed my cash flow perspective, the way it has changed my net worth, my equity and my lifestyle. Most importantly, giving me the freedom to invest in other other things, other businesses. Real estate has really just opened so many doors for me that I would do it again in a heartbeat or any other kind of similar small business that I would have gotten my hands on at that time period.
- [42:04]
Ashley
Tim, I guess real quick to just kind of like follow up on that. Like, is it achievable for someone else to buy a wine and liquor store? Like, if they're like, you know what, that sounds great. I want to do the same Start like how much money did you need to have to do that?
- [42:19]
Tim Delaney
Yeah, I think it's attainable for everybody. I mean, the purchase price of that wine and liquor store was less than the median home income or the median home price in the United States right now. We originally went under contract for $200,000 for the business plus inventory, which inventory was supposed to be 150,000. So we'll call it 350 purchase price, but, but it was only 100,000 when we at closing. So for $300,000, I bought a business that generated enough cash flow for me to live on day one plus started building equity. The bank gave me about 80%. I think it actually was closer to 85% of the purchase price by the time because the inventory was lower than we thought. The sellers gave me close to 10% of the purchase price and I had prepared to go into it with about 10% of the purchase price. So it's definitely doable. You know, again, that 35 to $50,000 of cash saved up is not, you know, I know it's not a small amount for a lot of people in today's day and age. It's, it's takes some work to get there. But, but I worked, I just kept saving and saving in my early career so that I had cash available to make a move like that.
- [43:47]
Ashley
Well, after that we're gonna have to Bring back the BiggerPockets business podcast now that Tim's turned everyone on hiding a business instead. Yeah, Tim, thank you so much for sharing the numbers on that too. I think it really shows like, okay, if this is something you're serious about what it could look like for you. So Tim, where can people reach out to you? You mentioned a new podcast. Where can they find that?
- [44:10]
Tim Delaney
The new podcast is called Business Buying for Financial Independence. It's on all the podcast players. I hang out on Instagram and threads more recently a lot more at Tim T. Delaney and I have a website@powerofbiz.
- [44:27]
Ashley
Biz.Com well Tim, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciated you taking the time to share your journey and give some advice to our rookie listeners. I'm Ashley, he's Tony and we'll see you guys on the next episode.
- [44:56]
Aaron
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