
👉 Are you ready to strart your real estate journey: Visit RichDadREI.com Brent Daniels dives into the world of real estate with Connor Rueca, a young entrepreneur who started his journey at just 19 years old. From humble beginnings to managing a...
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Brent Daniels
This is the Rich dad radio show. The good news and bad news about flipping real estate. Here's your host, Brent Daniels. Welcome back to the Rich dad radio show where we're talking about the good news and the bad news about flipping real estate. I'm your host, Brent Daniels. Mr. TTP, Mr. Talk to People. And I am telling you this, if I can do this business, so can you. We've got an incredible conversation today with a young real estate entrepreneur that started his real estate journey at only 19 years old. And he is off and running, doing a tremendous amount of business every single year. So check this out. Welcome to the podcast. Conor Rueca. How are you?
Conor Rueca
I'm doing too good. Thank you, Brent.
Brent Daniels
Awesome. So let's get right into it. Last 12 months, how many real estate deals has your company done?
Conor Rueca
Our team has done 24 deals.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
We should have a couple more come in, but some of our attorneys don't want to move this late in the year. Yeah, sure, but we got 24 deals and it's, it's been our best year yet. It's our second year.
Brent Daniels
So what kind of deals are we talking about? Are we talking about wholesale deals? Are we flipping properties? Are these buy and hold properties? What kind of deals are these? 24 deals, break them down.
Conor Rueca
20 deals are wholesale.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
A lot of our deals getting sold novation way. So flat fee mls. Four of them. We took down ourselves, sold three of them lease options and one is on the market to. We just took it down. A lot of bad stuff happened to it. We were trying to flip it and then it's just back on the market and we're not going to make that much money. But it was a living.
Brent Daniels
What happened to the flip? What was going on?
Conor Rueca
This is a good one. Took it down. This seller actually bought our other property lease option.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
She gave us $45,000 non refundable down and we got a great deal. And we were, we just went to the Philippines. So it was just staying there and come back the Savannah or. I forgot which hurricane it was, but a hurricane hit right away. We were just not focusing on that property at all. We come in one week. Cause I was like bros, like, have we checked out this property on Executive Park Drive? No, let's send our agent in there. Mold everywhere. So that messed up the whole project. We went and we sent someone out to clean the mold. The guys took out the kitchen. So this is, I don't know, this is why we don't do flipping. And we're virtual. So this is In Georgia. We live in California, so. Got it there. We have a lack of eyes on the property at all times, so we're probably not going to do it again. But it's on the market. My dad is the private money lender on it, so there's no pressure or anything. So we're just going to wait until the new year when things start picking up and hopefully it sells for a higher price.
Brent Daniels
So let's talk about that. So you live in California, but are you doing all your deals in Georgia?
Conor Rueca
All deals came from Georgia and Tennessee this year.
Brent Daniels
Okay. Why are you doing it virtually and not in your backyard?
Conor Rueca
That's a really good question. I would say we got influenced to go virtual. So when I first started around two years ago, we did four deals in our backyard. Wonderful deals. But four deals in nine months. So it didn't really make sense. And we were still like single line, mojo line dialer. We didn't understand systems. We were throwing 800 bucks into marketing. So it's, it's, it's a big deal getting that much money. We made over like six figures.
Brent Daniels
But out of how much in marketing?
Conor Rueca
Like 600 bucks a month. $600 over nine months.
Brent Daniels
What were you spending 600 on?
Conor Rueca
Just list and dialer. It was just me cold calling.
Brent Daniels
So lists of distressed properties.
Conor Rueca
Yes.
Brent Daniels
Just to clarify for everybody, where did.
Conor Rueca
You pull those lists from at that time? It was batch leads.
Brent Daniels
Okay, so batchleads, IO. Right. And they have all the distressed property leads. What was your bread and butter for those lists?
Conor Rueca
So from what the deals came from, they were. We would toggle the age to 50 plus and then absentee owner.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
So that's tired. We call it retired. Retired landlord. That's what we called it.
Brent Daniels
Got it. So, yeah. The interesting thing about a lot of these resources, right, is you can combine the characteristics of the properties with the demographics of the owners, which is really cool. Which is what you're talking about, where you find, you know, properties that were built before 1990, and so they've got some wear and tear on them or they're just dated. Right. They need some refresh. They need renovations. And property owners that, that are older, that are looking to. Maybe they just don't want to put their efforts into these properties anymore and they don't live in these properties. So there's less of an emotional connection and, and more opportunity for investors to go in and invest and get a.
Conor Rueca
Return on those 100%.
Brent Daniels
Right. And so you were calling them.
Conor Rueca
I was just calling them.
Brent Daniels
You would call them yourself.
Conor Rueca
I was calling them myself at that time. That was, like, the first seven months. No money after seven months of joining.
Brent Daniels
Right. And so you. You're making these. When. When you first started making calls, did you have a background in making calls?
Conor Rueca
Zero background.
Brent Daniels
How did it feel the first time you started calling strangers and asking them if they want to sell their property?
Conor Rueca
How did it feel? Okay, this. I. I would say it would probably feel different for someone else. I put all my money into this.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
I didn't. I didn't. I couldn't feel anything, honestly. Like, I can't feel. I don't want to take these costs. No. All my money's in this. My back's against this wall. I'm living by myself right now. I'm paying my own rent. I'm still in school, and it just. I didn't really care about my feelings, to be honest.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So I just made the calls, and I would listen to Chad every single day.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
For those first seven months of making $0, I listened to Chad every single day. Kind of switched up on him when I started making money, because I was like, okay, I need to focus on this.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
Putting more things in, but just listening to the right people. And then I just replicated.
Brent Daniels
Yeah. For anybody that doesn't know, Chad is one of my acquisition managers. And on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in our mentorship group, he goes live making calls to the property owner so everybody can see what somebody that has literally made my company millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, sounds like. And so I always learn a lot faster if I could see somebody actually doing it. Right. Do you agree?
Conor Rueca
100%.
Brent Daniels
Yeah. Awesome. So why real estate? I mean, when did you know you wanted to build a real estate company?
Conor Rueca
This is a really good question. There's a story behind it. Can I share?
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
I didn't really want to do real estate. I just wanted to make a money online.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
Right. 19 years old, there's not much you could do. You could do drop shipping SaaS. You could do SMMA marketing. You do real estate. I come back from a trip from the Philippines, and in this Philippines trip, I was by myself 80% of the time. My whole family got Covid. I didn't get Covid. And there's no WI fi in the house except in the basement.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
I'm in the basement just researching. This is the last day. I'm like, all right, I need to get this together. I have, like, $8,000 in my bank account. I'm gonna invest myself. I'm Gonna start a business when I get back home. Come back home. What is the best way to get into real estate? All I knew was agents, right? Be an agent. Wholesaling, Flip houses, buy and hold, etc. I didn't understand what wholesaling was, so I just searched up how to wholesale. This is really good. It's gonna be funny. The first link that pops up. Wholesaling Inc. Nice. Click it.
Brent Daniels
That's it.
Conor Rueca
I don't understand what a funnel is, guys. I just put. Oh, you want a free script? Yeah, I do. Put in my phone number, 6i0 blah, blah. Email. Fifteen minutes later, Ryan Thornton, your closer, gives me a call.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
What's crazy? He just told me right now that is the only call he's ever made to a potential student.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Gives me a call, have a conversation. He tells me about you, what it looks like to invest into yourself and what wholesaling is. He explains it on the phone. I literally do not know what wholesaling is. I just Learned about it 15 minutes ago.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
He goes, connor, Bren Daniels is the Michael Jordan of coaching in wholesaling. He said that word for word. And I believed him. And that's why also, sales is very important if, you know, you can help the person close them, honestly. Right? I call my dad. Hey, dad, it's X price. It's Brent Daniels. You don't know him. It's wholesaling, real estate. Connor, what is it? I don't know. I just kind of butcher it. He's like, connor, just do it on YouTube. Just. Just do it on YouTube. And then I'll even pay for the investment into Bren Daniels mentorship.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Pretty bummed out. I call Ryan back and I like. I'm like, ryan, my dad said, no, but I'm gonna do it.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
And I just did it. I didn't want a real estate business. I literally just wanted a business. I wanted to count, to put myself against the wall. I wanted to take the risk. I just wanted to have fun with it. I knew I was going to be profitable.
Brent Daniels
Well, listen, I was told this by a really, really wealthy mentor of mine. When it comes to money, there's only three things you can do with it, right? You can spend it, you can save it, or you can risk it. That's it. I mean, that truly is. And people would say you can interchange risk with investment, right? Invest it. And that's kind of the sales term of it. And really, you know, probably what Ryan said or the way that you interpreted it, right? And. But that's it. When you risk it, you want to return. And so this business works for everybody. If you work. Right. If you work the process, if other people are doing it, so can you. Right. And so it's just making sure that you take that massive and perfect action every single day and do it. And like you said, you know, you put all your money into it. You know, there's. You know, when you have nothing left and the accounts at rock bottom, that's a strong foundation. You know what I mean? Absolutely incredible. What's the name of your company?
Conor Rueca
We are Capable House Buyers.
Brent Daniels
Capable House Buyers.
Conor Rueca
Yes.
Brent Daniels
Okay. Why'd you name it that?
Conor Rueca
Nothing special about the name. You know how, like, some people have, like, social media names, right? Or they're known for, like, their. Their Instagram handle.
Brent Daniels
Mm.
Conor Rueca
If you look at Connor, that's letter C. There's not that many adjectives that start with C. Can you name any adjectives that start with C?
Brent Daniels
No, I mean on the spot.
Conor Rueca
Yeah. It's hard. And I searched it up, and there's not that many.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
I just saw Capable. Sure. So it just came. Capable Connor. And then I eventually opened up the llc, became Capable House Buyers.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
And then it's cool, because all my brothers were a team. There's five of us. People call us capable brothers now. And, you know, it's. It's just a. It's reassurance that we are. We're extremely capable as a team.
Brent Daniels
And are you working with your brothers?
Conor Rueca
Yes, we are.
Brent Daniels
So how does that look?
Conor Rueca
It's very hard. I'll tell you this. We do a lot of deals. We enjoy the time together, but when we end up getting paid, it goes five ways.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
So that, in terms of that, it's really fun, though. Like, there's four of us brothers, one cousin, two on acquisition, two on disposition, one of us CEO leading everyone. And it's just easy because we all live together.
Brent Daniels
So is everybody pulling their. Their weight?
Conor Rueca
Everyone is pulling their weight.
Brent Daniels
We'll call them out right now, you know, publicly if they're not.
Conor Rueca
Yeah, no, because you have to.
Brent Daniels
I mean, listen, if it's getting split five ways, like, the. The way that I look at it, and I really discourage partnerships. I really do, because I think that most partnerships are you. You. You want to hang out with people so that you feel better, because entrepreneurship is really difficult. So we kind of cling on to somebody that is really positive and they bring some things to the table. But for the most part, you could hire that person down the line. And I really Encourage people to not get into partnerships, to just hire those roles as you go. If you do get into a partnerships, it should be one plus one can't equal two. One plus one has to equal ten. You know what I mean? And so there has to be, you know, maybe one person is finding the deals, the other person's raising a tremendous tre. Tremendous amount of funds to do fix and flips or buy and hold or whatever else, or they're really good at managing everybody and let you run in sales or whatever it is. But for the most part, you can hire partnerships, but you are going to do this as a family.
Conor Rueca
100%. Yeah, it's. I agree with that because I. I'll talk to people like, how do you work with your brothers?
Brent Daniels
Right?
Conor Rueca
It's. You're probably not supposed to. We just make it work. We're extremely hard on each other, and we count on each other. We got no one else, but. But each other, right? We all have friends, but when it comes to us and during work hours, we're not brothers.
Brent Daniels
Got it?
Conor Rueca
We're not.
Brent Daniels
Where did you grow up?
Conor Rueca
I grew up in the Bay Area. Okay, do you want me. Do you want to tell. Want me to say, like, the upbringing and everything.
Brent Daniels
Well, how did it affect you? How did. Where you grow up? Like, was there something about that that made you want to be an entrepreneur? Is there something about where you grew up in that environment that you were like, okay, I see real estate exploding, especially in the Bay Area, right? And the cost and the values and the appreciation that you get in that area. I mean, I feel like growing up in Phoenix, we're the 48th state, right? So we've got this little brother mentality. We were. It's. It's. This very. Business is very encouraged here. Development's very encouraged here. And really, since the 50s and 60s, the whole Phoenix exploded. So we've seen all. A lot of the trades. A lot of the kids that we grew up with, their parents were contractors or they were in real estate or something like that. So I feel like it was kind of a natural path for me to follow. But what is it like growing up from. In San Francisco or the Bay Area?
Conor Rueca
I'm looking at your shirt. Rich dad, poor dad. I have a very similar story to that. Parents divorce at a young age. I have never had a room in any of those households, ever. I go to my mom's house, me and my four brothers, we're sleeping on a mattress in the living room. And they're doing fine. Right? They have a Daughter. So my sister would get the room, but we're not there full time. So we're sleeping in the living room in my dad's house. Divorce happens, we move into a house and then we move into an apartment. We've been here for like 12 years now. Two bedroom apartment. My dad takes the small room, me and my brothers take the master together.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
I kid you not. Four bunk beds. You walk into our room today. Four bunk beds still. That's why we're so close, though. We were forced to literally live next to each other, sleep next to each other within the 10 x 15 sq ft area. The room's bigger, but just like that's how the bunk beds are. And that led us to just be extremely close to each other, but also forced me to be outside. There's no alone space or there's no space where I can bring my friends over and hang out by the grace of God. All my friends, their parents, high level entrepreneurs, owning arcades, H vac businesses, car wholesaling dealership. Before I knew about real estate wholesaling, I was actually helping wholesale cars. I didn't know that was the name of it, but just the people that I was around, thankfully were amazing. And even those guys, it's not like we fell out. All of the, all of the kids that I would hang out with are all business people now alongside with me. So we were just blessed. And then my dad, so it had a huge impact. Massive impact. My dad, he's not poor, he's high level in the corporate ladder. He spent all his money on us. Right. Four children, four boys going to college. He would take us on amazing vacations. But we just came home to us. We just came home to a small place.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So it all worked so perfectly because I couldn't imagine if I had my own room and I got a girlfriend, my brother got his own room, they had a girlfriend. You know how it is. We're all going to be on our phones on FaceTime while, you know, it's late at night, no one is connecting. Right. So like when we, me and my brothers talk about it, we're like, was it good that my parents divorced? It was an ugly divorce, but we're so grateful for it because we had our own rooms when they were together.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
So now we're forced to be together. There was a time where we all had our girlfriends over eight people within fricking 10 x 15 sq ft area. It's awesome. That's why we're so close. But that's my foundation Very close to my brothers. Parents always took care of us. Amazing friends. And we all just audited each other's people around us. So someone comes into a friend group. Alec, Grant, Reed, Anthony. Anthony's my cousin. They all have to approve. There's no majority rule with us. It's literally like, if one doesn't approve, befriend him. Don't befriend him anymore.
Brent Daniels
But let me ask you this. I give you a million dollars right now in your account. Are you living in that room with all those brothers? Are you getting your own place?
Conor Rueca
Well, we have our own place now, right?
Brent Daniels
No, no. You.
Conor Rueca
Oh, me?
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
That's a good. That's a good question. I'm barely at the house anymore, at my dad's house anymore, so I think I do it just for that feeling, but I would. Yeah, 100%. We've been talking about it. We're like, guys, we all run the business together. We all take sales calls. I do not want to hear two people talking at once while I'm taking important sales call.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So we're like, next time we come back home, starting 2025, we're getting an Airbnb because we can. We can afford it. It's just like. We just come home, it's comfortable, and we're all literally, like, right there next to each other.
Brent Daniels
Got it. So when are you most productive then?
Conor Rueca
One of my most productive. The way that we work right now is we're all on Zoom.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
So when I jump on Zoom, I see all my four brothers. We see all of our vas. I love that. I can see everyone staying accountable. No one's on their phone. No one's really messing around. Everyone is focused, looking at their screen. Everyone's got a phone to their ear. That's when I'm most productive.
Brent Daniels
What are they doing?
Conor Rueca
Most of us are just taking sales calls. We're all just talking to property owners. Yep.
Brent Daniels
And are these property owners that you know or these property owners that you're reaching out to for the first time?
Conor Rueca
We used to do cold. If you're asking if we do cold calling, we used to do cold calling, but now it's all inbound. So it's familiarity because they click on a website that we have. But, yeah, it's. It's both.
Brent Daniels
Got it. So. But these are. You're doing. You're doing the discovery process, right? You're finding out what's going on with these property. Property owners, what's their timeline to sell their property? What's the condition of it what's their motivation? What price do they want? Right, the four pillars that we try to find out about every single property owner every time. Right, the four pillars. The listen, this is absolutely critical that people find these things out. Right. The condition of the property, timeline, motivation, price. And so when you're on Zoom, but you guys all live together, why are you guys on Zoom if you all live together?
Conor Rueca
Different rooms.
Brent Daniels
Got it. So you're on Zoom in and you're just all. It's just businesses. You guys are all doing individual tasks. You just are all accessible through Zoom.
Conor Rueca
Yeah.
Brent Daniels
And seeing each other and hanging out.
Conor Rueca
Exactly. We did Zoom because we would have our cold callers. We got up to eight cold callers. They were all in house.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So we created our culture through Zoom, making sure our cold callers, our follow up guys from the Philippines, we're all in sync and it just stayed that way. We don't have that many VAs anymore because we let them all go because we went ttp, ppc and that's been wonderful. But we just keep that culture because it's so strong.
Brent Daniels
Got it, got it. That makes sense. Okay, so what's the best advice a mentor has ever given you about real estate?
Conor Rueca
About real estate.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
I think you know this guy, he's amazing. Andrew Schlag. He told me, don't let your portfolio outgrow your personal development. I love that. Because there was a time where it was business, business, business. Pushed my girlfriend at the time out the way. Relationships, health, working out and it was good financially wise, but it was not great when I stepped out of business.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
So he said, focus on your personal development. They're all going to grow together. And I started to do that, got up £10, money started flowing. Brothers started to like me more because I'm the bad cop. I started the business, so I'm the bad cop. And that, that, that advice from Andrew was just amazing because it was perfect timing when he told me. And as you know, as you guys get to know me more, my family, we're all about quick implement, quick implementation. So I was able to implement it right away and it, it made, it made everything in my life more fruitful.
Brent Daniels
So when you're saying personal development, you're talking what, you're talking business, you're talking health, you're talking spiritual, you're talking, you know, relationships, social, whatever. Right, all of it.
Conor Rueca
Yeah. They have like tough though, so.
Brent Daniels
Because here's the thing, right.
Conor Rueca
It's so tough.
Brent Daniels
We talk about balance and balance is impossible as an Entrepreneur. I'm going to tell everybody right now, you want to get into real estate investing and entrepreneurship. There is no balance. There's only harmony. And that means what I mean by that. And, and that was some great advice that a mentor gave me because I was looking for this balance. But then all of a sudden I'd be up all night thinking about the business, thinking about things. I would be, you know, I would move things in my schedule to go on appointments, on really hot leads, right? I would, I would be obsessed with how do I, how do I make sure that I need less leads per deal and how do I get more out of every deal? And should I keep this property or should I flip this property, should I wholesale this property or should I do a different strategy like creative finance or something, right? And it's always going. It's always going. But that's a beautiful thing. That's a beautiful thing in my, I think it's, it's a superpower that, that anybody that wants to be an entrepreneur naturally has inside them. Batteries come included, fire in your belly, ready to go out there and serve the community, serve the marketplace. That's, that's the only way that we get paid or our income is equal to the amount of value we provide. That is the equation. And so we're always thinking about that. So the harmony comes from getting everybody in your life on board, right? Getting, getting your, making sure that you don't get unhealthy, making sure that your house doesn't get disgusting and you know what I mean? Make sure that, that you're, you're, you're still focused on doing amazing things as a, as an entrepreneur. But you don't, you don't exhaust your relationships, you don't exhaust yourself to the point where everything else falls apart. Part, that's the harmony of it and that's the trick because it's tough, especially in the beginning, especially, nobody's going to pay you for nothing. Nobody's going to just give you a handout. You got to earn all of it. And, and in that you earn all of it. But you also have to build skills to be able to earn. So during that skill building process, you're going through a lot of change and a lot of change is difficult. So I mean that, that's what you.
Conor Rueca
Were going through 100 and to bounce off you, when you do acquire those initial skills that is necessary to get a deal or two to start your business up, you can actually get lost in just thinking those are the only skills you needed right So I was kind of in that phase. We were like in some cold calling phase. Like we loved cold calling. We had a shit ton of money. Apologize if I could swear. We had a lot of money in our bank account. We should have went to ppc, we should have went to ppl, but we were just stuck in this phase and we were just burning, burning, burning. And it was just because I wasn't learning right. Personal development wise. So we can't get lost is what I'm trying to say. And what you're talking about is very good. I heard it from one of your speakers at your convention two years ago. If you're standing still two feet down, you're not moving. It's only when you get imbalanced and start moving forward is when you start going, doing things, making impact in the community. You have to be forward. And like even like when you take a step forward, if someone was to push you sideways, you literally fall. If you got two feet and you're static, you don't fall.
Brent Daniels
Yep.
Conor Rueca
So you have to go.
Brent Daniels
How old are you, Connor?
Conor Rueca
21.
Brent Daniels
21. And you started this when you were how old?
Conor Rueca
19.
Brent Daniels
19, absolutely. What's your favorite thing about real estate? Because you didn't even want to do it in the beginning. You were just looking for income. You were looking for something that you can do online or virtually with a phone and a computer. You come into the world you've been in for a bit. Right. You've been in two years now. What's your favorite thing about it?
Conor Rueca
I think you just said it. Being able to stay home. If you do it virtually. Right. You could actually do this from home. I. We could move to a different country and do this. Just have to work with time zones. That's one of my favorite things, just being able to be home, be with your loved ones, work on your own time, which I mean all times, work all times, but have your own schedule. That is really important to me because I used to be in school. I actually just finished school this last week.
Brent Daniels
Congratulations.
Conor Rueca
I actually graduated. I shouldn't have kept going, but I'm glad I did.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
So I was able to have that freedom location. That was amazing about real estate. I think the other thing that I like about real estate is just being like when you eventually start to own properties, being able to say you have a property is kind of cool. To be completely frank, I don't think I'll be in real estate forever.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
I love software, I love techie stuff, I love high ticket sales and stuff like that so it was just great that it was a vehicle that me and my brothers are going to use. That is just it. Oh, I just want to add this. It's a playground. Like, you know, real estate, you go through the craziest things. It's not like you're selling a software that it's going to do this and your client is going to succeed this way and they're going to stay using it and this is how we're going to grow. Real estate is like probates, pre foreclosure, beautiful smooth cash sale. There's just so many things to it. And I like to say that real estate is the hardest business. So the fact that we started in real estate, I think we're going to succeed in any other venture that we try.
Brent Daniels
Love it. Yeah, absolutely. So as you're going through the last two years, you realize that there's some people in business that you can really trust and some people that you can't trust. Right. How does somebody earn your trust?
Conor Rueca
Great question. Me and my brothers were very battle minded. So if we're trying to trust someone or someone's trying to join us, we're going to try to go to war with you and see how that comes out.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
Are you going to stick through with us? Is there going to be infringing? Is there going to be clashing of relationships? As long as we could do that in harmony successfully, it's always going to be ugly. But as long as we can still be fist bumping each other at the end of the race on whatever it is, it could be a deal, it could be a joint venture, it could just be a marketing play that we're doing together. That's how, that's how we.
Brent Daniels
What do you mean going to war? How do you see that?
Conor Rueca
What we've done personally in our business is partner up with a couple people and go and try a marketing channel together.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
And that can get really messy. For example, one that we're doing is we would hire cold callers. Someone else would pay for the dialer list. Cold callers. We knew how to manage cold callers, so we did that. We would manage them and we'd just do the deal together. We'll help through the sales process. They pay. If we need to close, we'll send them out because they're actually boots on the ground. And we'll test that out. It doesn't always have to be money wise. Right. It could literally just be a converse, a difficult conversation that we can have. If we can have a really good, difficult conversation together and just not know drastic emotions that can affect a relationship. That's fine. Me and my brothers were each other, were each other's keepers. So if they say green light, we'll just do it. We'll take a chance. I think we're super young. Everything's a playground for us. So like if you want to join us, freaking join us. We love working with people. We're actually trying to do 40% of our deals next year from joint venture and that's something that we've, we don't do. I think we only did three joint ventures this year. We should have done way more because we have the numbers. But we're gonna see that that's how I would say we have to go to war to get war together. I don't have too many case studies on that because I have them.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
My brothers are the ones that I go to war with. So next year, 2025, we're, that's, this is. That question is going to be tested a lot.
Brent Daniels
I love it. So let me ask you this. You talk about working with your brothers, you're talking about working from home. Are you an introvert or are you an extrovert?
Conor Rueca
I would say I'm an introvert, okay. Until I'm very comfortable or I'm around like minded people. Then I'll start talking my.
Brent Daniels
Yeah, but what about in business?
Conor Rueca
Extrovert.
Brent Daniels
Yeah. So how do you, how, how does that happen? How does, how does this self proclaimed, you know, natural introvert. Until you're comfortable, you're, you're never comfortable when you're initiating cold calls to property owners that have no idea who you are. Not even living in their state. You're not even going to meet these people. They're going to build, you're going to build relationships and trust with them over the phone. But you're an introvert because I get this all the time, right? Connor, I can't do real estate. I can't go out and be proactive. I'm an introvert. I got this label on me, right. People self label themselves all the time, right. Or people label you and whatever else, right. And so that, that really keeps them confined to this identity that, you know. Okay, well I'm an introvert so I can't reach out to strangers. So I'm going to just make sure that I save up enough money to have those strangers call me. Right. And that just doesn't work in this business. It just doesn't. You need to talk to people. Ttp. That's been our business model forever. Talk to people if you have conversations and make offers, you cannot lose in real estate. Right. So natural introvert. You're with your brothers, living in a room together. You. You love. Your favorite thing about this business is that you can do it from home. How do you break through that and build the skills of effectively communicating with property owners as an introvert?
Conor Rueca
I'm gonna answer this two ways, because there's a part of me inside of me that wants to say one thing, but I didn't definitely need to be articulate. What's telling me inside. What's telling me inside of me is you actually cannot have the feeling of being introverted.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Like, you just can't.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
Right. If you are ambitious, if you want what you see and you could see it and you know it's touchable, you just have to go get it. You can't double think. You just have to have imperfect action. Right. There's no feeling to it. You. When you're in business, you shouldn't have any type of. You're gonna have a lot of feelings, but you have to be able to control it to where the point where you can get the job done. And like you said, you're not gonna get paid for feeling introverted or being introverted. Right. The other way that I would say it is you have to put yourself in positions to learn new things. Right. When we're. When we're in a stage where we have to break through a ceiling. Right. The way that I see it, people think it's like a hindrance, but it's a. What do you call it? Oh, I totally forgot what it was called. But it's a ceiling. And the only way to break the ceiling is if you acquire new skills.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Right. So you're. When. When you say you're introverted, it's probably because you're not confident in your own competence. Right. So you have to learn the new skills, and you'll probably likely be confident while doing it. So you have to just keep learning every day, because if you learned every single day, you won't actually have that feeling of, like, I can't make a call. Oh, this is very hard. Like, one of the hardest calls in real estate is a price reduction. That's freaking hard. That's harder than getting the contract. Oh, by God. Right?
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
That is one of the most uncomfortable situ. Uncomfortable conversations you can put yourself in. When I did my first one, I was scared out of my mind. That's a big ask. We had to price reduce like $19,000 to get the deal done. But I did it scared with an introverted mind. But we still came out on top because I performed.
Brent Daniels
Yeah. Awesome. What's your. What's your favorite way of finding deals? Finding really great deals. What's your favorite marketing channel that you use to. To find great deals?
Conor Rueca
My favorite way is Inbound. And where we've been finding a lot of success is with an agency. Ttp. Inbound has been amazing. We've been doing that for around three, four months. If I would say, like, my favorite way is probably cold calling. I just like cold calling. I got like my first.
Brent Daniels
You're wild.
Conor Rueca
10 deals of cold calling.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
I used to like when I had first 100 deals. Exactly.
Brent Daniels
First probably 200 deals. Yeah.
Conor Rueca
When I got four deals and made six figures, I was talking to my friend who's been in the game for a while. He's like, why are you still making cold calls? And I'm like, dude, I actually kind of like it. Yeah, it's obviously a waste of time. If you're making that kind of money, you need to give it to someone else, pay 350 or 3 bucks. But I like cold calling. As you scale that, it doesn't get. It's not super sustainable unless you do it with an agency who can take care of it and lead it. But we, we liked it in house. We liked the employees, we liked the culture. They were Filipino, we're Filipino. We can connect that way. So, yeah, my favorite right now to date is Inbound.
Brent Daniels
Right.
Conor Rueca
PPL and ppc.
Brent Daniels
Yeah. Somebody filling out a website saying they want to sell their house now. And you get that text message and you call them right away and you're having that conversation. You're in. You're in their house in two hours, maybe 24 hours. It's the best. But if you don't have the budget for it, it's expensive, you know, to get a. When we say ppc, a lot of people don't understand that means pay per click. Basically you pay Google to show up at the top of search results. So when people search, sell my house fast, sell it for cash, sell it without an agent offer for my house, whatever. Our website pops up, they fill out the form, we get that lead, we make an appointment, we try to buy the house. And it is the best. But it's expensive. Here in Phoenix, it cost about. About $5,000 per deal to be able to do that. But we make 21,000. So the, the margins are fantastic with that. So let's break down a deal. I went through my 10 questions. I prepared the 10 questions. Fantastic. I know it's throwing a lot of deep stuff at you and really interesting stuff, but I wanted to know more about you. You're 21. You. Your. Your. The momentum that you're building is fantastic. I think that the skills that I've personally seen you grow the last couple years have been off the charts. Let's break down a deal. Let's get into the nitty gritty now. We got into the. The mindset. We got into the philosophy. We got into that stuff. Let's. Let's get into how do we actually get a deal. All right, so what deal do you want to break down? And let's. Let's tear it apart.
Conor Rueca
The most important deal of my life is the first one. Can we do the first one?
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Okay. Where do you want me to start? Marketing.
Brent Daniels
Yeah. How'd you find it?
Conor Rueca
Cold call.
Brent Daniels
Cold call. Okay. What list?
Conor Rueca
This was a driving for dollars list.
Brent Daniels
Driving for dollars. Yep.
Conor Rueca
This seller did not live in the property. Vacant. Property Vacant.
Brent Daniels
Love it.
Conor Rueca
For three months. This is big. Mark this on three months vacant. And I called him, wanted an offer right away. Right. He's probably tired of all the tire kickers people calling him. I didn't actually know it was vacant. I was horrible at qualifying. I couldn't even get the four pillars. He wanted an offer right away, and I did. Beginner wholesaler. Not knowing what to say, I kind of just pushed it off and ended it. Very scared out of my mind. I didn't talk to the guy for probably 21 days.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
I was scared. Very scared.
Brent Daniels
What were you scared of?
Conor Rueca
Scared to get yelled at again.
Brent Daniels
Okay.
Conor Rueca
Okay. I'm playing video games at home. Comfortable me. Something told me, call him. Call him right now. I call him. I didn't have an offer ready. He said, next time you call me, have an offer ready.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
I call him. He's like, you have an offer for me? Because I don't want to talk to you if you don't have an offer for me. And I said, good sir, I. I actually do have an offer for you today. I haven't even got the four pillars yet, guys. This is horrible. Don't do this. Get the four pillars first.
Brent Daniels
Yep.
Conor Rueca
And I just took Zillow, divided it by like 70 or times it by 70%. And I just gave that number. I said, I do have an offer for you. Because I said I would.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
And probably something that our team could do is $300,000 and this is the most important thing. He said, connor, I appreciate that very much. This house has been vacant for three months. I've gotten tons of calls. No one has given me an offer. This isn't like a hot part of Riverside county, like one of the best cities to buy a house in. It also is an acre lot. And a nice house. Condition is not well, but it's in a good area. Nice size, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, Wonderful area. This is why you guys cannot be scared of the phone calls, because a seller might be getting tons of people reaching them, but no one's giving an offer. So this was really important to me. And I was like, oh, shoot. I was like, okay, are we 300,000? Is that good? And he goes, I'll think about it. I respect you for getting me an offer. Why don't you come out when you come back in town? Because I told him I was not in town anymore. I had Chad call him because, guys, I didn't know how to wholesale. I didn't know how to do any type of conversation with the seller. Chad called him. Chad booked the appointment for me. I go in person and I'm doing everything you told me. Take a picture at everything, look at something kind of messed up and be like, okay, I'm gonna note that down. Yeah, just do the whole thing. Walk through, build report. The whole time, the wife was like, okay, are you guys. Are you gonna stop telling him your life story? So I was just winning when it comes to the report. Yeah, you.
Brent Daniels
His life story about how he seller.
Conor Rueca
How he went through, like, all 50 states through a motorhome or something like that. This is what's awesome. He said, run your numbers. And I said, I'm at 300. I just. I just said, the house is probably worth. I didn't even know. I didn't comp it or anything. Really ugly transaction of mine. But it's probably ARV 500, $600,000. I said, I'm at 300. He said, okay, can we hop on a call with four of my siblings? So I didn't know this. Yeah, five people on title sounds like your family. Yes.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So I end the. The appointment, I go back home, and first thing, guys, if you're in ttp, use the resources you have. I called Ryan this time. Well, I called Chad, and Chad was like, I can do an appointment with you, but I'm going to be at, like, a wedding. So I called Ryan. I said, ryan, can you do a zoom call with me with five errors and, like, try to close the sale with me and we do it. And Ryan's like, okay, Connor, I'm going to just let you take it. And I'm like, me take it? I. I literally just brought you on the call so you could take it.
Brent Daniels
Right?
Conor Rueca
He let me take it. And he was like, yeah, you lost him after like 45 minutes. There was like five people and they were all 70 years old.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Total different age difference. They're talking to a 19 year old. I probably have a squeaky voice. I'm not asking the right questions. And Ryan just took over and he. He did his work.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
We ended up blocking the deal at 335.
Brent Daniels
Awesome. And the. The house, was it dated condition? Was it totally beat up? Did it need a full renovation?
Conor Rueca
It needed a full renovation, but all.
Brent Daniels
Junk in the property or was it pretty clean? It just needed to be updated.
Conor Rueca
Needed to be updated. Everything out is a big lot. The roof was good, but everything needed to be updated. So I lock it up under contract. And this is like, oh, my goodness. I just got a property under contract. And also Ryan helped me. So I was like, yes. So I was like, it's got to be a good deal. And I just start setting appointments. I put a lockbox on it, went to the seller's house, grabbed the key, put a lockbox on the house. And then I just started to post in Facebook because I didn't know how to disposition. Hey, I have a house in this city. I'm doing a walkthrough this Saturday. Text me if you want to come. Like 45 people texted me. So following the Saturday, I think I have like six people walking that day. The first person that walks, he ends up buying the property. But he goes, connor, I'll give you 400,000 for this. And I'm like, I'm keeping my composure, trying to build a report with him. I'm trying to see, like, what type of person is he bullshit or is he actually serious? I walk other people. 380, 390, 400. And then I just called, I said, dude, someone like, wants to buy the house at your price. And he goes, trust me, I'll close it. I'll actually get it done. So I just assigned it like that same day after the first appointment. I don't know if that was great. Maybe I should have gotten a couple more buyers in. But it was $65,000. That would be an assignment fee that would go to me. I assign it, we open up, or I think escrow is already opened. I call title. They're like, Connor, good news. The assignment is good. They threw in their emd. This needs to go into probate, though. So I was like. So I walked the sellers through the whole probate process. I found them an attorney. And, guys, I've never talked to an attorney, so I was literally just searching up on Safari. Searching up on Chrome.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
Just talk to this person. Setting up appointments. So I did everything for these sellers, so I really believe I earned it. And waited, I think, four months, and then finally check it.
Brent Daniels
And it closed. And you made how much?
Conor Rueca
$65,000.
Brent Daniels
Come on, ring that victory bell. Just ring it.
Conor Rueca
Oh, like this?
Brent Daniels
Yeah. Oh. $65,000 at 19 years old. From one call?
Conor Rueca
Yeah.
Brent Daniels
I mean, obviously not one call total, but one. One call initiated the conversation. And then you're playing video games, you call them back, and then all of a sudden, you've got appointments, you're locking up this thing. You get them through probate. 65,000. How'd that feel?
Conor Rueca
It was crazy. My brother just graduated. He landed a job, and I was like, alec. Or the following week, I closed a $40,000 deal with an agent.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So it just all worked. Seven months, no deals, and then one week, six figures in the bank account. I said, alec, you're not going to work, bro.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
You're joining me. He's like, all right, let's do it.
Brent Daniels
Awesome.
Conor Rueca
So it started with us, too. And then now there's.
Brent Daniels
It's the best business.
Conor Rueca
It's the best.
Brent Daniels
It's the best business. Absolutely incredible. I mean, it's going to challenge you. It's going to. It's going to. It's going to stretch you to the limits, but it is so rewarding. And then. And then now you're rocking and rolling. You're doing 24 deals last year or this year, this last 12 months. And the momentum, the winds behind your sales. You know what I mean? You've got the momentum. So absolutely incredible. Awesome.
Conor Rueca
I can't believe it. It did start with you, Brent.
Brent Daniels
Yeah.
Conor Rueca
So I really appreciate you a lot because if I wasn't learning from you, I don't know how this would.
Brent Daniels
Listen, I could tell you everything. I could tell everybody what to do. Anybody can do this business. You're the one that actually took the action. You're the one that did the hard work, which was having the conversations, making the offers. So, you know, incredible. And you're 21. I mean, I can't imagine what the next five years looks like. Right. That's awesome. And you're getting into software.
Conor Rueca
Yeah.
Brent Daniels
And You're. And you're starting that with your brothers?
Conor Rueca
Yes.
Brent Daniels
What's that about?
Conor Rueca
So there's. There was five of us starting this year and five masculine leaders who love to, you know, be responsible. Too many people in the business.
Brent Daniels
Sure.
Conor Rueca
So I took a step out and I started to look at what other cool businesses align with real estate wholesaling. I found software. We paid, we overpaid for a CRM for us, and we ended up building that CRM through to what it was. And I was like, I could build this again. What's it called? It's called Closer Control.
Brent Daniels
Closer Control. How can people find it?
Conor Rueca
They could find it through my Instagram or they could just search up Closer control dot com.
Brent Daniels
Guys, we will put Connor's Instagram in the show notes so you can just click and go right to it and check it out if you're interested in that. And also reach out to Connor. Tell them, you know, congratulations. Tell them, you know, that you heard the story. If you're inspired by the story, if you've gone through a lot of the same, maybe some of the same situations that he has, or maybe you just want to do deals with Connor, go to his Instagram page and what just DM you. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for being on here.
Conor Rueca
Thank you for having me.
Brent Daniels
Give. Give some advice as we close this out to anybody starting this business. They've never. They've never liked. They heard this podcast. They watched us on the YouTube channel, and they're hearing you say ARV and TTP and you know, some of these other acronyms, and it doesn't quite make sense what it is. What would you do? What advice would you give them for them to go and take some action on achieving their dreams of being a real estate entrepreneur?
Conor Rueca
Good question. I would just tell them that you need to start today. The best time to plant that tree. The best time to start that business was yesterday. The best. The next best time is today. The worst time is tomorrow. Right.
Brent Daniels
Love it. Connor, best of luck with everything. Thanks for being on here, brother.
Conor Rueca
Thank you.
Brent Daniels
See ya. Thank you for listening to this podcast episode. If you are interested in taking your real estate journey to the next level, I encourage you to go to richdadrei.com rich dadrei.com and look at joining our incredible community. Until next time, I love you guys. See you soon. Thanks for listening to Rich Dad Radio, the good news and bad news about flipping real estate, hosted by Brent Daniels. To learn more, go to richdad.com don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Podcast Episode Summary
Title: Teen Investor Closes $65K Deal – No Experience Needed!
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Podcast: Rich Dad Radio Show: In-Your-Face Advice on Investing, Personal Finance, & Starting a Business
Host: Brent Daniels
Guest: Conor Rueca
In this compelling episode of The Rich Dad Radio Show, host Brent Daniels welcomes Conor Rueca, a young and dynamic real estate entrepreneur who embarked on his real estate journey at the age of 19. Conor shares his inspiring story of closing a $65,000 deal with no prior experience, offering invaluable insights into the world of real estate investing, personal development, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Brent Daniels opens the conversation by highlighting Conor's impressive performance over the past year, where Conor and his team successfully closed 24 real estate deals in their second year of operation (01:00). He inquires about the nature of these deals, to which Conor explains that 20 were wholesale deals, and the remaining were various forms of property transactions, including lease options and flippings (01:24).
Conor Rueca provides a candid recount of his beginnings, detailing how he transitioned from aspiring to make money online to immersing himself in real estate after a pivotal experience during a trip to the Philippines. Faced with limited resources and a desire to start a business, Conor decided to invest in real estate wholesaling after encountering Wholesaling Inc online and receiving guidance from Ryan Thornton (07:06 - 09:43).
Conor elaborates on the operational strategies of his company, Capable House Buyers, a venture he co-founded with his four brothers. Living in California, the team focuses their deals in Georgia and Tennessee, operating virtually to scale their business efficiently (02:00 - 03:18). They utilize tools like BatchLeads for distressed property leads, targeting retired landlords and absentee owners to maximize their investment returns (04:00 - 05:22).
The team employs a structured approach to cold calling, initially handled solely by Conor, who admits to having no background in making sales calls (05:29 - 06:25). They relied heavily on mentorship, particularly from Chad, one of Brent’s acquisition managers, who provided live demonstrations of effective cold calling techniques (06:15).
A significant portion of the discussion centers around the personal development and resilience required in real estate investing. Conor shares a pivotal piece of advice from his mentor, Andrew Schlag: "Don't let your portfolio outgrow your personal development" (21:27). This guidance helped Conor balance his business ambitions with personal relationships and health, leading to overall success and stronger team dynamics.
Conor also addresses his own journey of overcoming introversion to excel in sales, emphasizing that ambition and continuous learning are key to breaking through personal barriers (33:32 - 34:48). He recounts his first major deal—a $65,000 assignment fee from a property purchased below market value—and how mentorship from Brent and Ryan was crucial in navigating this complex transaction (38:51 - 46:39).
Conor takes the listeners through the step-by-step process of his first major deal, highlighting the importance of persistence and adaptability:
This deal not only marked a significant financial milestone for Conor but also solidified his confidence and commitment to real estate investing.
Throughout the episode, Brent Daniels and Conor Rueca share several key insights for aspiring real estate investors:
Take Immediate Action: Conor emphasizes the importance of starting today, likening it to the proverb: "The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The next best time is today. The worst time is tomorrow." (50:20).
Embrace Personal Development: Balancing business growth with personal development ensures sustainable success and prevents burnout (21:27 - 25:13).
Leverage Mentorship: Seeking guidance from experienced mentors can accelerate learning and help navigate complex transactions (06:15 - 09:43).
Build a Strong Team: Working closely with family members or trusted partners fosters a supportive environment and enhances business performance (11:03 - 13:45).
Adapt and Innovate: Transitioning to inbound marketing and utilizing modern tools like PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns can significantly improve lead generation and deal flow (36:02 - 37:16).
Conor delves into his personal growth journey, discussing how he overcame his introverted nature to thrive in the highly social realm of real estate sales (31:27 - 33:50). He advocates for acquiring new skills and pushing beyond comfort zones to break through personal barriers and achieve success. Conor underscores that entrepreneurial endeavors require a proactive mindset, where imperfect action often trumps hesitation (33:32 - 35:48).
Looking ahead, Conor reveals plans to expand their business model by 40% through joint ventures in the coming year. Additionally, he introduces Closer Control, a CRM software developed in-house to streamline their operations and enhance efficiency. This venture into software development demonstrates Conor's versatility and ambition to innovate within the real estate landscape (48:34 - 49:16).
As the episode wraps up, Brent and Conor reflect on the journey and the lessons learned. Conor's final advice to newcomers in the real estate business is to take immediate action, emphasizing that delaying only postpones success (50:20). The episode serves as an inspiring testament to the power of determination, mentorship, and continuous personal and professional development in achieving financial freedom and entrepreneurial success.
Brent Daniels: "When it comes to money, there's only three things you can do with it: spend it, save it, or risk it." (09:19)
Conor Rueca: "Don't let your portfolio outgrow your personal development." (21:35)
Conor Rueca: "If you are ambitious, if you want what you see and you can see it and you know it's touchable, you just have to go get it." (33:50)
Conor Rueca: "The best time to plant that tree was yesterday. The next best time is today. The worst time is tomorrow." (50:20)
For listeners inspired by Conor's journey and interested in taking their real estate ventures to the next level, Brent Daniels encourages visiting richdadrei.com to join the Rich Dad community. Additionally, Conor's Closer Control CRM can be explored at closercontrol.com, and listeners are invited to connect with Conor through his Instagram.
Thank you for tuning into this episode of The Rich Dad Radio Show. Don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!