Skip to content
Home Blog Real Estate Rookie Podcast

Balancing 8 Properties with a Full-Time Career and Family with “Property Pastor” Marsay Winder

Real Estate Rookie Podcast
47 min read
Balancing 8 Properties with a Full-Time Career and Family with “Property Pastor” Marsay Winder

We all have the same 24 hours per day… so be like Marsay Winder and make the most of them!

He calls himself the “Property Pastor,” and he owns 8 properties (24 units) in the Virginia Beach, VA area. Marsay juggles his business with his family life and a full-time career in manufacturing, so landlording systems are a must – and he breaks them down for us in this episode.

You’ll also hear about his MVP mentor, how he avoids time-wasting distractions, and the books and resources that helped him build a formidable portfolio in just 3 years.

Enjoy this one… and if you’re getting value out of the content here, please do us a favor and give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 30 seconds, and it really helps us climb the rankings and spread the gospel of financial independence through real estate investing!

Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.

Listen to the Podcast Here

Read the Transcript Here

Ashley:
This is Real Estate Rookie show number 28.

Marsay:
Folks are really afraid of real estate in some regards, but I think it’s a forgiving business. I mean, ultimately, even if you’re upside down on a property, if you pay down debt over time, that property will ultimately cash flow.

Ashley:
My name is Ashley Kehr, and I am here with my co-host, Felipe Mejia. How are you, Felipe? I have some really exciting news to tell you. I can’t rip on you right away today.

Felipe:
Oh my gosh, I was going to guess, but I don’t know. Tell me, what’s up?

Ashley:
So, I’m refinancing two properties, and the one property has a loan on it at 7.3%. So, I’m refinancing out of that and then including a property that I had purchased in cash. And my new interest rate, it’s a commercial loan, and it’s amortized over 25 years, it’s only a five year fixed though, 3.03%.

Felipe:
Wow. So, you just doubled.

Ashley:
Can you believe that?

Felipe:
So, you just cut your interest in half, which means your cash flow is going through the roof for the next five years, and now you have five years to figure it out. I think this is awesome because a lot of people will not take a deal because like, “Oh, it’s at 7% or 6%, and I don’t want to do it.” I mean, you have time to refinance out later, you can figure it out.

Ashley:
Right. And it was still cash flowing at that 7%.

Felipe:
Exactly.

Ashley:
Yeah. So, now it’s just even more cash flow. So, that was really exciting today. I went and I-

Felipe:
So, you’re buying a Tesla with all the extra?

Ashley:
No. Actually, I already got a house under contract-

Felipe:
Nice.

Ashley:
I’m going to use that money for… Yeah, so, I went and picked up… I went to my attorney’s office, picked up the refinance cheque this morning, in the deposit, and yeah-

Felipe:
I love it.

Ashley:
It was super exciting day.

Felipe:
Your assets are buying more assets-

Ashley:
I know.

Felipe:
And that’s the power of real estate. You reinvest that money, you keep buying, and then that’s how you just continue to buy rental properties. But we are not here to talk about Ashley’s refinance today, we are going to be talking to Marsay today. He’s a pastor, he’s got a full time job as an engineer, if I’m not mistaken. He is a landlord-

Ashley:
A family.

Felipe:
He’s got a family. I mean, he’s wearing tons of hats. But he’s doing it and he’s crushing it. And he talks about the systems that he’s put in place on how to build a real estate business while wearing all of these hats.

Ashley:
Yeah. He does a great job of explaining how he has the mindset to do all of this stuff too, and really goes into detail as to how you have to think, and what you have to sacrifice, and what you have to go through to become successful. He talks about not working in your business and transitioning to working on your business. And he’s slowly moving towards hiring a property management company.

Felipe:
It’s interesting because he also talks about a crazy story about a tenant who joined his church, and then stopped paying rent. But I won’t tell you all about it, you guys have to go in and listen. Marsay, welcome to the show, man, we’re super excited to have you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you do, all that?

Marsay:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, firstly, thank you guys for having me on the show, it’s an honor and truly a privilege to be with you guys today. I am a… You know I go by the name of the Property Pastor. My name is Marsay Winder. People always ask me, why do I go by that name? The reason is that I’m an actual pastor. I pastor a church here in Hampton, Virginia, we are located close to Virginia Beach, and we call it the Seven Cities area, the 757 zip code… Area code, whatever. And I’ve been investing since about 2017. Kind of grew up around construction. My dad is a general contractor. So, my summers were really spent on job sites, cleaning up trash, anything he could put me on, I kind of did.
And fast forward, 20 years or so, and really, I got exposed to real estate through my dad. And as he was doing different projects, he started acquiring a few properties, and it really just kind of stuck. Now, I went to school, I was a college athlete, played at North Carolina A&T State University, and then went into corporate America. So, I’m currently an engineering manager at a manufacturing company around here. And in 2017, I bought my first property.
So, for me, real estate was kind of one of those things to jump into, I kind of knew some of the inner workings and just fell in love with it. So, I’ve been at it since 2017, and, yeah, I mean, that’s where I’m at. So, I split my time between being a pastor, a dad, I work a full time job, and I invest in real estate. That’s kind of where I’m at.

Felipe:
What is your portfolio look like now, Marsay? How many units do you have, doors, all that?

Marsay:
So, I just acquired my eighth property last week. I mean, that was a duplex, so I think I’m up to about 24 doors, so to speak. So, I’ve got a mix… My first property was a quad, and I’ve got a few… Actually, I started with a college rental, that’s another nightmare. So, I converted that over to do something else. Yeah, I’ve got about 24 doors spread across eight properties right now.

Ashley:
That’s great. Since 2017, that’s really good growth.

Marsay:
Yeah. You feel like you’re not doing much when you’re… 10X Rule by Grant Cardone, but still, it’s a decent start. I’ve tried to… COVID this year has kind of slowed down my goals, but we still have been investing during this time.

Felipe:
Marsay, you’re saying, the 10X Rule and all that, I hear these rules all the time, the 2% rule, the 1% rule, the [bur 00:05:28], I hear all of these rules. People started asking me like, “Hey, Felipe, what rule do you use? And I’m like, “Well, first of all, I don’t use a rule. It’s what’s Felipe’s goal this year or going forward? Or, what am I working on right now? It’s interesting that you’re like, “Oh, my 10 extra, but COVID…” Or during this time, we’ve had to slow down a little bit, but you’re still crushing it. Since 2017, you have 20 Plus… I mean, that’s great. I think you’re doing amazing.
And everyone that always asks me about these rules, or what calculator I should use, I say, “Look, BiggerPockets has the best calculators I think anywhere in town.” Just go on the website biggerpockets/calculators, so you-

Marsay:
Just go, yeah.

Felipe:
Yeah, absolutely. But always use the metric at the end of the day of, what’s your personal goal? Why are you doing this? Why is this good for yourself? And use that metric. Is it cash flow? Is it equity? What is that for you? So, I always tell people on that.

Marsay:
Yeah. And I think that’s key because one of the things I tell folks to ask me, I’m like, “Hey…” It’s kind of like when you go to a store, right? When you go and you got an outfit, you can’t just buy off the rack, you got to try it on. You’ve got to get to that place of, “Hey, this is what works for me. This is what works in my market. This is what helps me to achieve my goals.” Because comparison, it could be great, but it can also be terrible. If you’re like, “Hey, I got to be like this guy, like this gal, you’re going to drive yourself crazy. You got to find what works for you in your market. I think that’s key.

Ashley:
Marsay, are you doing anything besides buy and hold? Have you done any flips? Or do you plan on doing any kind of other real estate investment strategy?

Marsay:
Interesting, you should ask that, where I’m at in my market, there’s not a ton of inventory, so there’s a lot of flippers, where I’m at. And the single family game is huge. So, I’m actually reaching out to some of my wholesalers, I’m like, “Hey, I’m thinking about doing a flip in the next six months, or next year.” So, I have not done any flips quite yet, but because I’ve got so much experience in construction field, it’s kind of a decent fit. One of my mentors, he’s a pretty heavy flipper, so that’s something that I’m probably going to be taken on in the next year or so.

Felipe:
Yeah. I feel like that happens a lot more, Marsay. People end up starting with just single family homes or multifamily, and then get into either wholesaling or flipping. And I wonder if that happens because you tend to just kind of master your craft. So, you want to get to the next one or the next… What’s the next hustle that I can do in real estate? So, I feel like that’s normal. I mean, that just happens.

Marsay:
Yeah. And that light bulb kind of went off for me a few months ago because it was like, okay, I’m buying homes, I kind of know this model, I’m just kind of rinse and repeat. But it’s kind of a [inaudible 00:08:02] growth, I guess, it’s kind of like you go through this acquisition, get a property ready to go, and turn it back around. And I think the more deals I’ve done, I’m starting to attract other people from private money, or people who want to do JV deals. And it kind of… Like you said, it has that natural progression of, hey, I can do a little bit more, I can kind of take on some more bandwidth. I think it has to be like a phase growth. If you try to do it all on day one, it’s just way too much. Because that was one thing that was really an eye opener for me.
When I started, everything I was reading, the podcast I was listening to was like, “Hey, just do this one thing, master this one thing.” And I didn’t realize that, hey, that one thing was time bound. Because after a while, you kind of master it, and you can now kind of expand your bandwidth a little bit.

Ashley:
That’s such a great point. And a lot of people say, “Stay in your lane. What you’re good at, get focused on that.” And once you are focused on that, and you have… Like you said, it’s a machine, you can just do it in your sleep. Once you have that down, then go focus on the other thing. Because when you have 10 different things going on, it’s very hard to maximize your time on just one, or make one super efficient when you have all these other things going on. And I know this from personal experience.

Marsay:
[crosstalk 00:09:17].

Ashley:
In the past year, I’ve been really trying to focus down and work on one thing, and then, it actually gets me excited to finish that one thing, because then I know I get to go on to that next shiny object, that next deal, that next different revenue.

Marsay:
Yeah. And I don’t know about you guys, but I get bored after a while. I mean-

Ashley:
Yeah, exactly.

Marsay:
[crosstalk 00:09:35] I mean, if I go on vacation, my family likes to just do nothing on vacation. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes we go on vacation and we’re doing nothing, and I get stir crazy at day two, and like, I got to do something. So, I think I run into the same thing with real estate, I got to take on a new challenge.

Ashley:
Yeah. And just learning about how to do that new investment strategy or that new business is always so exciting and fun.

Marsay:
Absolutely.

Ashley:
So, your family, how did you bring up real estate to your wife? What did that conversation look like?

Felipe:
I’m already a pastor, I’m already a full time working… Let’s just go ahead and add this, we got kids-

Marsay:
Let’s just add one more thing [crosstalk 00:10:10]. So, it’s a funny thing because… And I didn’t go into this in the beginning, but my dad being a contractor, he built his own house himself. And then, when I came back to the area, he’s like, “Hey, if you want to move back home, I got a piece of land for you in the front, you can build your house, I’ll help you.” So, we took about three and a half years and built my house. And it was literally, nights and weekends, and we kind of have a running joke in my house, my middle daughter, I didn’t really know her that good because every night I was over there working at the house. I’m framing, [inaudible 00:10:42] PVC lines, and did all this plumbing, and all this kind of stuff. And over time, she’s like, “You’re always gone.” And then, when this came up, she was like, “Well, I guess that’s his new project.”
But I try to tell her is a method to that madness. We’ll get to that place of financial freedom, we’re going to escape the rat race. So, she kind of has her eyes set on that date where she can hopefully, one day, maybe stop working and see me not so busy. But yeah, when bringing it up to her, she’s always kind of been supportive. She’s like, “Okay, I believe in you. And I know you’re going to work at it until you get it.” So, that’s been helpful. But yeah, she’s like, “All right, what’s Marsay working on today?” A lot of people say, “This guy is just a dreamer, he always wants to work on something different.”

Felipe:
I like that. And I think sometimes, Marsay, I think people don’t see the sacrifice as real estate investors that we have to do. I remember talking to my wife before we started heavily investing in real estate, and it’s like… We just had our firstborn, my son, Armando, you can see him here in the background. But it was like, “Hey, babe, I know that he won’t remember the first two or three years maybe of his life, so why don’t I just hustle as hard as I can for these next two years, going on maybe his third year, and then we’ll really slow it down after that.” And we’ve done that, right? We did as much as we could in two and a half, three years. And like you said, right now during COVID, we’ve really slowed down, and I’ve really been able to enjoy my son.
But I had to sacrifice those two years. And as a dad, that’s really hard, because you might be out there grinding it out, but I know in your heart of hearts, Marsay, you were thinking of your family while you were out there on those nights and weekends. Man, it was like that struggle. So, just to our listeners, I want you to know that if you’re out there doing it, it gets better, and we’re with you. We’ve all gone through that. Our kids are here, but we have to be working to give them a better future. And it’s always like that constant pull.

Ashley:
A lot of people always say, your kids are only young ones, but they’re also only in their teens, they’re only eight or nine, they’re only that age once too. And for me, this is one thing Felipe and I agree upon. Is we would rather work hard when our kids are younger so that when they are older and can do stuff, we can spend all that time with them.

Felipe:
Right. Yeah, [inaudible 00:12:47] do that.

Marsay:
There’s a quality time and there’s quantity time too, and what I found in my journey is, we try to steal moments. And what I mean by that is, when we’re super busy or I’m working on a project, I’ll grab one of my kids and take them with me. If we’re not in a spot where… Kind of a hectic construction site… I mean, my kids actually, have helped me film YouTube videos before, they’ve made bandit signs for me. Yeah, exactly, you get the… I mean, we’ve done so much together with limited time. I think those are the things that I’ve realized that they really kind of grab hold of and remember, because that’s what I remember when I was growing up with my dad.
I remember him taking me on job sites and my feet couldn’t touch the ground from the back of the pickup truck. But I was with him. Like you said, I mean, get into that place of, you’re grinding during those times but you can still… It’s not all [inaudible 00:13:34] I guess is the big point of it. You can still steal time and create those memories too.

Felipe:
All right, Pastor Marsay, we’re not going to do a family intervention, right? You are definitely a pastor, lol, Look at that, we went completely different from real estate.

Marsay:
I’m going to take that hat back off.

Felipe:
Yeah, let’s put on the real estate hat back on. No, I’m kidding, I love it. I think family is part of real estate and you cannot separate the two. So, I think it’s great. All right. So, let’s move on though. Marsay, do you have a rookie deal for us that you want to bring, that you can talk about, deep dive? Give us first a 30,000 foot view of how it all worked out, and we’ll just kind of sit back and let you take it over.

Marsay:
Yeah. So, I mean, I do a lot of stuff kind of in the creative space. I think I want to talk maybe… First I’ll talk through my very first deal that I ever did. And that was actually a deal that was brought to me by a wholesaler. So, before I did a deal, I really took kind of that six to nine months of just learning, just watching every… Checking out every video I could watch, listening to every podcast I could listen to, reading every book I could read. But when I was ready to pull the trigger, a [inaudible 00:14:32] came up. And it was a part of a local RIA group, and it was only 65 grand. So, I was like, “Wow, that’s great for a quad.” But it needed a lot of work.
So, I took that deal, paid the wholesale fees or whatever, I took on the property, and it was basically… Three of the four units were occupied. So, I took that opportunity to go ahead and rehab or renovate one of the units. So, we put I think about 15 or so grand into one of the units, really modernized it, new flooring, new bathroom, I mean, just made it really shine. And then, we went out and did new windows and new vinyl siding across the whole project. So, we were able to kind of do some forced appreciation on that deal. We took the project knowing the rents were about 1730, I think, and today we’re up to about 2300. So, we were able to really raise our rents over time, do some forced appreciation, and start to convert our tenant base over.
So, that project was a… When I look back, I’m like, “Man, I probably shouldn’t have done that for my first deal.” But I was glad I jumped into it and I kind of got that experience, because through it, we had different maintenance headaches, because it was an older house. So, sometimes when folks just looking at the sticker price, you’re like, “Man, this house has a great price on it, but you don’t realize how much extra maintenance you’re going to have, things that have been in defer things, things that are going to break, and stuff like that.” So, that very first deal was kind of a… I don’t know, [inaudible 00:15:54] because we kind of renovated one unit, we put brand new siding on it, and basically, refinanced it out. Because it was a cash deal. And just refinanced it out. And basically, when it’s all said and done, we’re cash flowing pretty good on that one.
That was my first foray into real estate. And probably the last deal, the one I just closed on last week, I used creative financing to acquire it. And that was actually a lease option purchase. So, what I did with that property… It’s a duplex, and another investor friend of mine, he wants to focus on wholesaling, so he was like, “Hey, man, I got to get out of this house. I’m tired of it.” So, we work it out, basically, we set up an option fee. Five years from now, I’ll pay him out, I’m getting all of the equity pay down over time. And after five years, whatever we have left on the principal, that’s what I’ll buy it for.
So, that was a pretty good deal because it was a low barrier to entry. And it’s got a… I’m going to pretty much be getting all of my money back in year one. But yeah, those are two that I’ve done, probably first deal and then last deal, and then there’s all the stuff in the middle.

Ashley:
Yeah, well, let’s dive into that first deal. So, one thing you said there was, it wasn’t the best deal for you to go into on your first one, but you have no regrets. And I think that that is something I hear a lot from investors, is that they don’t regret their first deal. We had J. Scott on here on an episode and his first flip was awful. They had to turn into a rental and he’s like, “But I don’t regret it.” Because that got them started, that got them going. And so, I want everyone to make sure that… Just know your first deal is not always going to be perfect, it’s not going to be a home run, but don’t let that discourage you. And keep going and keep trying.

Marsay:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we tend to have this fear of failure, but at the end of the day, you got to fail. I mean, you just got to go, you got to do it. Folks are really afraid of real estate in some regards, but I think it’s a forgiving business. I mean, ultimately, even if you’re upside down on a property, if you pay down debt over time, that property will ultimately cash flow. So, getting to that place of, hey, yeah, it’s a lot to take on, but it’s kind of like, hey, the water is fine, just go ahead and jump in.

Ashley:
And you said that your runs had increased. So, since 2017, they increased what? What was it? Almost $400?

Marsay:
Actually a little bit more. We started at… When we acquired, I think we were about 17 something, and we just did a rent increase, and we’re up to 23 right now. So, we got a pretty good bump.

Ashley:
Do you think that rent increase … Was that more because you put that rehab value into it and built that equity, or was it because of the market too, [inaudible 00:18:28] the rental increases in the area?

Marsay:
A little bit of both, when I took the property on, I mean… Because I do like to get properties from tired landlords, and I find that some of the properties I acquire, they haven’t had a rental increase in five years, 10 years, or whatever that looks like, and it’s kind of a double edged sword, right? Because if you’re getting a tenant who… I’m not crazy about inheriting tenants because they come with bad habits, but at the end of the day, a lot of that came and we put brand new vinyl siding on it. We put brand new windows. People were getting a lot of savings in the winter. I mean, we were really showing improvement to the property, showing that we want to really upgrade this. Because when we purchased it, I took my kids out to it and they told me, they were like, “Dad, this looks like a haunted house.” But we got it up and running the way it needed to be.

Ashley:
So, when you talked about raising your rents, how do you approach your tenants with a rent increase? Especially since it was such a huge amount, did you do it on a scale very gradually? How did you work that with them?

Marsay:
Yeah. So, whenever I raise rents, I do it incrementally. And what I try to do is actually show the value that we’re bringing to the property. When people can actually see what’s taking place, they see new windows going in, they see the property just being beautified, and kind of showing what that long range vision is. So, we try to… Talk about framing, right? We try to frame what that’s going to look like over time. And we basically kind of say, “Okay, here’s where things are, here’s where we want to be in a few years.” And we kind of give them up front, so that way they know what they’re going to be dealing with.
So, I try not to hit them with, “Hey, we’re going to raise your rent 200 dollars.” That typically doesn’t work. So, for us, is very much incremental. And if I’ve got a tenant that’s been paying for a long time, I kind of value that tenant. If they can make the income and things like that, they’ve got a good history, we won’t actually keep them. So, for me, it’s more of an incremental process. But at the same time, we’re trying to show that value of that.

Felipe:
I like that because, Marsay, I think a lot of times people are scared to raise rents, which is why you find landlords that have a property for five years, that they’ve never raised the rent. So, Marsay, can you tell us a little bit about that mindset of why you’re okay with raising rents, and potentially losing a tenant, right? Because that happens. So, I want to hear from you, what’s your mindset on that? And then, I’ll ask Ashley, and we’ll speak on it as well. But I mean, what do you do?

Marsay:
So, my mindset really is, I think, a tenant… You’ve got to screen tenants really well. And I think this is not the last good tenant that is on the face of the earth. So, people always need a place to live. And for me, what I try to do is match market rent. And really, for me, I don’t want to be at the top end of the spectrum, I want to kind of be in that medium point where folks are going to get value, right? But at the same time, I can’t give away all of my profits out of fear of keeping a tenant. So, I would rather get somebody out there who’s grossly under paying, maybe they’re paying consistently, but if they were going to be much higher… That market rent, and they couldn’t pay it, then, in my mind, that’s not really a good tenant.
For me, it’s really just a matter of… It’s kind of pull the band aid off, sometimes you have to pull the band aid off, you have to recognize that if you have a good product in your unit, then somebody else wants it. We marketed a duplex last week and I think in a week we had 50 plus people apply for it, and I’m like, “Wow, there are other fish in the sea.” It’s kind of like dating, you’re scared to make the breakup, but you just need to go ahead and do it because there’s other fish out there. So, for me, that’s the way I look at it.

Felipe:
And an AC is going to break, a refrigerator is going to go out, those prices aren’t going down, right? Maintenance cost is going up, just like rent is going up, just like everything else is going up. I don’t have that fear of raising rents, because like you said, when you know you have a great product, if someone’s not paying you for that value, then they’re just wasting your time. And we all know that’s the biggest asset we have.

Marsay:
Absolutely.

Ashley:
Let’s talk about your… So, you’re self managing these properties, what systems do you have in place to do this? What does your screening for tenants look like, your application process? How are you collecting rent? Are you using any software? Can you dive into that for us, please?

Marsay:
So, I a combination of Cozy… Some of my tenants are… They don’t have accounts and stuff like that, so I basically use money order systems with envelopes, and I’ll mail them with QuickBooks invoice, and they mail it back to me and all that kind of stuff. And I just [crosstalk 00:22:34].

Ashley:
Wait, they don’t drive around on the Sunday after the 1st, and go and pick them up [inaudible 00:22:43].

Marsay:
Oh-oh [crosstalk 00:22:46] Felipe.

Felipe:
So, now I have to butt in, and now Ashley has taken this a whole different way. No, I’m just kidding. Actually, to kind of speak on that, I’ve hired someone that has taken over that.

Ashley:
Yay.

Felipe:
So, it feels really great. It feels really, really awesome.

Ashley:
One thing off the list that I can criticize you for.

Felipe:
There you go.

Ashley:
Okay, go ahead, Marsay.

Marsay:
When I bought that first quad… So, I’m at a place in my business, I’m actually bringing on a new property management company right now for… So, they’re trying to take over portions of my portfolio. And my experience has been a little bit unique. So, the first quad that I purchased, it had a, quote, unquote, property manager, he wasn’t official, he just kind of came with the property. He’s like, “Hey, I want to stay on.” So, what I did was… I really used that experience to kind of learn property management. But he didn’t really know, he was kind of almost like an employee, right? So, he would go and collect, he would go and set up all of the maintenance stuff that I needed. So, he was kind of my hands and feet. But a lot of the times, I was having to instruct him on what I wanted to be done.
When it came to evictions, I was like, “Hey, you got to go in the courthouse, you got to do this.” So, for me, it was kind of like a hybrid between self managing and having a property manager. But I’m glad for that experience because I learned so much. But one of the first things that… Kind of funny story, when I brought the property, and I was interviewing him, I’m like, “So what do you do?” And he’s like, “Well, I go and I pick the rents up.” And that was pretty much all he did. And I was like, “Hey, well, I’m not taking cash, so we’re going to go to this new system.” And I said, “If you don’t do more, you’re pretty much out of a job. I’ll basically replaced you in five minutes.”
So, we got to the place of just kind of building this new system. Brandon Turner has got a fantastic book on property management. There’s a guy named Mike Butler, I think, his book is Landlording on Autopilot. That’s a pretty good one. So, I just kind of use some of those things to kind of build in. But here now, I’m actually transitioning out to a formalized company, because I need to really focus on working on my business and not working in it. It’s kind of where I’m at right now.

Ashley:
I love that right there. And that’s something that hit me this past year, and I just switched to property management to this past February. It was like a huge weight taken off my shoulders.

Marsay:
I mean, it’s so weird because… And I think when we start talking about… Like the [inaudible 00:24:59], right? That’s a good book because it kind of just goes through, do you own a business? [inaudible 00:25:03] do you really own a job? And there’s stuff that I can do, right? I mean, I can pick up a hammer, I can pick up a drill, I can fix pretty much anything that needs to be fixed. But is that time better serve somewhere else? And that’s something that I have to constantly pull myself out of, and say, “All right, just let the maintenance guy fix it.” And work on the next deal.

Felipe:
Yeah, I got a friend here in Nashville, Tennessee, who I’m helping with a property, and he’s doing like me where he’s renting the basement and the upstairs separately, whatever. The other day, he goes, “Hey, I bought a paint sprayer, I’m going to spray the whole house. I’m going to paint it.” And I was like, “Okay, that’s awesome. How long do you think that’s going to take you?” And he’s like, “Well, I think it’s going to take me this long.” And I’m like… Okay, so I got Victor the Painter, he’s famous now on BiggerPockets, he’s my painter. I’ve had him since I was 17 years old. Anyways, so Victor the Painter. I’m like, “Okay. So, my guy, Victor can do it in three days, and he’s going to charge you this amount. So, that means that you have three days to make this amount of money. Can you do it?” And he’s like, “Oh, yeah.”
And I’m like, “Okay, so you want to spend twice that long painting your house that you’ve never done, or you’re going to have a professional do it and you can go make that money doing something that you love.” Which is whatever his job is, right? And it just clicked.
Now, that makes sense to us, but I feel like sometimes… I’m even a victim of this sometimes, I get a call from a tenant, and they’re like, “Hey, there’s an issue with this.” I’m like, “Oh, I know how to fix that. I’ve fixed that 100 times.” But I’m like, “Okay, I got to drive out there, I got to drive back, I got to deal with the tenant, I got to fix the issue, it’s going to take me three hours. Or I can pay someone to do it, and I can find a deal that’s going to cover that cost for 20 years from now.” So, I tend to tell people like, “Hey, just make sure that you’re using your time wisely.”

Marsay:
Yeah. And I run through that same thing. I mean, I get into that a lot where, yeah, I can go fix it, or I can just call my maintenance guy and have him go do it. And sometimes, he charges me more than I want, so I’m kind of torn. But at the end of the day, like you said, are you working on your business, are you working in it?

Felipe:
Exactly.

Ashley:
What would be one or two pieces of advice you can give someone who’s maybe thinking of switching over the property management, or even just their maintenance, they’re thinking of getting that first system in place? What’s something that they can use, or do to start working on that and moving forward?

Marsay:
Well, first, to me, I think a big piece of it is, what is your time worth? And kind of to piggyback on what Felipe said, it’s basically, if I take this job and my maintenance guy can do it in two hours, and he’s going to charge me this much, how much am I worth? It might take me twice as long. So, I think the first step is really to kind of put that threshold in to say, “What is my time worth? Is it better to serve somewhere else?” I mean, then I think the other piece is really kind of making some decisions on where you’re trying to go, right? Because if you are going to spend all your time and don’t build systems, it is absolutely going to stifle your growth, right? You’re not going to be the force to multiply yourself because you’re going to be working in it, and all those times, then the tenants are going to call you more and more, and more and more things are going to break.
What I’ve noticed is every time I go over there, if it’s one call, it’s that one call and is these other four things? And I’m like, “Well, you just called about this one thing.” So, I put in systems even to say, “Okay, you got to pull out a maintenance request, you got to fill out this form.” And that nips a lot of stuff in a bud even right there because people are… They just don’t want to fill out all the paperwork, but-

Ashley:
How are they filling out that form, is that software, or Google Forms?

Marsay:
Most of my folks… We just leave a stack of them in the units, and then they’ll just take a picture of it and just send it in. Sometimes, they can email stuff as well, but some of the tenants are… Some of them might be older, not as savvy with technology. So, you can do stuff through Cozy, but for the most part, a lot of our folks are just taking a picture of a form. They fill it out, they might send it in with their rent payment, or they might send a picture of it. They just call and they say, “Hey, I need this fixed.” We always push back and say, “Hey, can you fill out a form for that?” Because we want in a document. We just kind of spin it like, yeah, we want to make sure that we keep track of where we’re sending people, and all that kind of stuff.

Ashley:
And are they texting your personal phone, or do you have a different number set up for them to contact, or they contact the property manager from the one unit?

Marsay:
I use Google Voice contacts. Yes, and my property manager, he gets most of the calls, he just disseminates them. But I do have a Google Voice number that I use as well. But I never give out my personal number, because you just get… Folks call you all sorts of times at night, and all that kind of stuff.

Ashley:
That’s what I used to use too, the Google Voice number when I self manage. And I was able to… If I was going in a town and I didn’t want to have to take calls or anything like that, I could transfer the Google Voice number to someone else’s phone that had the app, and it’s really nice for that flexibility. And also, I would know when it was a tenant calling because it was my company name coming up. So yeah, Google Voice, highly recommend for anyone that is taking their own tenant calls or really has any kind of business that you can connect it right to your cell phone, but it’s a whole different number. And you can transfer it, set a separate voicemail.
Here is me again, ripping on Felipe, forever, he used to have a moving company, and I think it was just last month. I think… When did you stop doing it? Maybe January, December, Felipe? And just last month, your finally changed [inaudible 00:30:09]. Yeah. So, I did say the moving company.

Felipe:
I just hadn’t even changed my voicemail. Marsay, I did have a question for you, though. Earlier you were talking about the deal that you had found and how you worked that out. I’m going to loop that around a little bit. Can you tell us how you built that [inaudible 00:30:28] rapport with that person to sell you that home? Because we all know real estate is emotion as much as we’re taught that it’s not, it is. I don’t care what a guru tells you, real estate is emotional. I’m emotional about all of my properties, and it’s really hard to not make that emotional decision. So, how did you build that rapport with them? Give us that little story.

Marsay:
Yeah, so, I mean, rapport is everything. I’m actually kind of at a phase right now where I’m really digging into negotiation books and understanding the psychology of what goes on. But building rapport for me… And I’ll use the example of a quad I just purchased earlier this year. So, basically, I’m dealing with a guy who’s 80 years old, and he’s got one property, it’s free and clear. And actually, I reached out to him through DealMachine, you get a postcard with picture of the property and whatnot. And he gets it, then he calls me up and say, “Hey, I got a picture of my house and let’s talk about it.” So, I go meet him and whatnot, and just kind of making conversation, figuring out what his interests are, figuring out how long he’s been living in the area. Come to find out his church… I knew people that went there.
And he had another person who was trying to buy the house from him as well, and it just kind of worked out that over time, we built rapport, we got to know each other. And we had some few things to change with the deal, with lending when COVID first hit, and I was like, “Hey, I need to structure a little bit differently.” And I think without that rapport, without knowing one another, without actually trying to, I guess not necessarily haggle, but help, trying to find a solution with each other, he was a lot more flexible now working with me. So, I was able to acquire that property probably, just on relationship alone. So, that rapport is critical.

Felipe:
So, the pastor card works, right Do I need a-

Marsay:
It does work. Yeah, it does work. And I think at the end of the day, it’s really about finding that commonality. Because most people want maximum dollar for the house, you want to pay the lowest amount for the house possible. But then, kind of finding common interests in folks that you both know, or experiences that you both had, you kind of introduce that personal factor. And then, when things do change, or you need to kind of be flexible, then they’re a lot more likely to do it. And that’s what I found.

Felipe:
I agree. I agree, Marsay. Building that relationship with somebody is important. I feel like a lot of times, people will just say, “Hey, I want to buy your house, this amount,” whatever, work out the deal what’s best for them, but forget that there’s another person on the other side of that conversation. And if you can find a common ground, then let’s make a situation where we both win. It’s not about taking over somebody or whatever the case may be. Marsay, I do know that there’s a story about one of your tenants joining your church, and I’m going to dig into that, because that’s going to be my favorite. Please tell us about that.

Marsay:
Yeah, that was just a nightmare. So, this is going back to… I want to say it was probably my second deal as a duplex, and this is where I have my quote, unquote property manager go out and they’re showing the unit. And whenever that guy would tell me, he said, “Hey, I got a really good feeling about this one,” that was usually a sign that this is not going to turn out well.
So, he met a couple and he told them… And they were about to get married, and this, that, and the third, he’s like, “Well, yeah, the owner is a pastor.” And just in the course of conversation, I guess they found out where my church was, they came and they visited. And we’re talking to them afterwards, and I’m like, “God, please don’t let them join this church.” And I’ve never prayed that prayer, but that day, I was praying that prayer, “Please don’t let them join this church.”
So, lo and behold, they’re like, “Yeah, we really love it here, we want to join.” And I’m like, “Well, have you considered… Have you checked out other places, make sure you…” I’m trying not to steer them away, but I’m like, “Just make sure you check around, make sure that’s the right thing that you want to do.” So, they joined the church, and lo and behold, about two months in, they stopped paying their rent, this, that and the third, and then we got to have the talk. So, I always send the property manager out first, he’s talking with them, they’re falling behind, we try to work with them, make a payment plan, this, that, and the third, and it just wasn’t working.
I said, “Hey, guys, listen, we’re kind of at a conflict of interest. And really, if you were not members of this church, and you’ve rented this unit, it wouldn’t be a problem. Or, if you move somewhere else, and had the same problem, the church could help you.” I said, “But the problem you run into is that if the church helps you, they’re actually paying me.” So, it just turned into a big conflict of interest, and we really value that as a church, and I value that as a pastor, but it was just a nightmare. And from there on, every time I talk to my property guy, I’m like, “Listen…” And I just interviewed a new property manager, I’m like, “Hey, no matter what, don’t tell anybody that I’m a pastor.” Because people-

Felipe:
No matter what.

Marsay:
No matter what. I mean, because unfortunately, people do play on that, and I think that’s what happened with this couple. And yeah, I lost a lot of money behind that one. It was an expensive seminar.

Ashley:
And what ended up happening? Did you have to go through a full eviction with them?

Marsay:
So, with them, they actually just left. We didn’t have to do… Sometimes, I do cash for keys with people, but they actually… Once we kind of put the whole threat of eviction in front of them, they just kind of left. And probably, a month after we had that conversation, they moved on. So, we were able to just turn the unit back over. But it was a nightmare.

Ashley:
Do they leave you church too?

Marsay:
Yes, they were like, “You threw us out of the church.” And they talked bad about us. I had to sit our leadership team down, and say, “Hey, this is what’s coming, guys. Just so you know, you’re probably going to hear some stuff from this couple.” And I had to give them the backstory, so they kind of understood. But yeah, I was like, “Ah.” It was bad.

Felipe:
That’s definitely where I would have been, like, “Yeah, I need to stop working in my business and just start working on my business.” That’s a perfect example of situations where if you’re in the nitty gritty still after you’ve built the system, those are the plugs that you got to cover up quickly or your [inaudible 00:36:02] is going to [inaudible 00:36:03] You know what I’m saying? So, that’s definitely a tough situation there. Your leadership took it well, I’m assuming.

Marsay:
They did. Yeah. I mean, they knew my character, they know who I am as a person, so they were like, “Yeah, we get it.” And they had kind of worked with a couple too, so they kind of understood. So, you just got to consider the source. They were fine with it. A lot of the members were like, “Hey, what happened to so and so?” And we were like, “Yeah, let’s talk about something else.” Yes. That was definitely one that will always stick with me.

Ashley:
Well, since we just heard your tenant horror story, let’s hear about someone who has actually made your real estate investing better. We call this section, the-

Felipe:
MVP.

Audience:
MVP.

Felipe:
MVP. MVP.

Audience:
MVP. MVP.

Ashley:
And this is where you tell us about the most valuable player on your team. So, who is someone that has guided you through real estate investing, has helped you buy deals, who is that person?

Marsay:
Yeah, this is probably like a shared one, right? I can’t really say I’ve got one person, I’d say probably, basically three people are critical so far. And that’s been the folks who helped bring me deals. So, I’ve got some different wholesalers I work with, I mean, my first deal came through a wholesaler, and they’re constantly looking for what I need. So, they really help me out a lot. And then, outside of that, I’d probably say one of my mentors, a guy named Chris Haskins, he’s pretty big in this area, but he has helped me tremendously, just kind of stretching what I believe I can do. He really pushed me to say, “Hey, man, you got to get on YouTube, you got to start your channel, you got to start documenting your journey.” And even through that, I was encouraged to apply for this podcast.
So, people just kind of pushing to say, “Hey, you can do a lot more than you think you can do, in spite of everything you got going on.” So, those folks have really kind of just stretched me to my capacity. And then, obviously, my wife. I talked about her at the beginning, but she… When we were engaged, I was like, “If I decided to move to Alaska, I think she would go with me.” She’s just kind of that helper, just like, “Hey, I believe in you. I’m cheering for you. I got you.”
And it’s a family affair. Because you’re trying to do and you got somebody criticizing the whole time… When I was building my house, it took three and a half years, right? I mean, nights, weekends, after work. And if she was complaining the whole time, I’d probably still be building it now. But those folks are really instrumental to my journey so far, and have just made a huge impact on me.

Felipe:
Marsay, what would you say is the biggest hurdle mentally, that investors have to get over to take the plunge in real estate? And kind of like you said, your MVP is your wife, the people that are bringing you deals, right? So, for someone that’s trying to first get started in real estate and doesn’t have that MVP yet, how does that happen? How do you build those relationships? How do you do that?

Marsay:
So, what I’ve run into from a lot of people is just the… And I think it kind of depends on your personality type. I mean, I’m an engineer by trade, right? So, I went to school, got an engineering degree, I work as an engineering manager now. So, for me, I want to analyze everything, and I want to know [inaudible 00:39:06] “Okay, what’s the cash on cash? What’s the ROI?” And I want to know all of these numbers, and I’m just digging in the deals. Well, at end of the day, if you’re meeting your metrics, just go for the deal, right? I mean, sometimes you want this perfect deal, and at the end of the day, it’s kind of like drafting a team, right? You know you want to build a team around something, but sometimes you got to take the best player available.
So, you can take five years looking for a deal and be sitting in the same place you started at. So, I think getting to that place of like, hey, I’m going to share my goals and my dreams with somebody that is going to hold me accountable to them. I started telling people, I’m like, “Hey, guys, I’m going to do this. I’m going after real estate, I’m going to buy properties.” And if they laughed, if they support it, it really didn’t matter. But after a while, those same people, they’re giving me referrals, those same people, they’re sending stuff my way, they got a real estate question, they send everybody to me.
So, I think at the end of the day, it’s really getting over your analysis paralysis, and then the other piece of it is making up your mind that, hey, by this time next year, my first deal is going to be done, and really sharing that with people that can hold you accountable for it.

Felipe:
I think also, part of it is, it’s okay to hit a base hit, it’s okay to get to first or second base, right? They’re not all going to be home runs, they’re all going to give us lessons, and that’s okay. And when you get home runs, celebrate those W’s. But it’s really important to know that base hits are okay, right? We see all these podcasts or YouTube videos where people are buying Lambos with their first flip, and that’s fine and all. But a quick 10 $20,000 flip is fine, a cash flow of two, 300 bucks in certain areas, that’s okay.
And it’s about taking action and learning the processes that it takes to be successful. Because if you can’t manage $100 cash flow, you’re not going to be able to manage $100,000, you’re not going to-

Marsay:
Absolutely.

Felipe:
So, it’s about building that process, building those systems to where you have the availability to manage that. So, great MVP.

Marsay:
That’s a great point. I mean, I talked about the first quad I bought, and that thing is a cash flow cow. I mean, it appraised [inaudible 00:41:07], and my mortgage payment is low and my rents are high. So, I’ve got a very nice spread. But then, I started to buy more properties, and I’m expecting them all to be that way. And that wasn’t the case. So, I had to make up my mind, I’m like, “Okay, am I going to buy a deal every three, four years? Or am I going to do three deals a year?” For me, I wanted to do three deals a year. So, I think it’s important, like you said, to really celebrate those wins, because if you don’t, you kind of beat yourself up throughout that whole comparison game.

Felipe:
Agreed.

Ashley:
We usually do at the end of this a bunch of random questions. So, we’re going to ask you four of them today. But the first question I want to ask kind of just relates to what you just said. How have you celebrated your wins? Have you guys done anything special after you’ve gotten these deals?

Marsay:
Okay. Good question. We usually kind of go and just have a big family meal. My wife’s like, “You bought another house?” I’m like, “Yeah.” And it’s funny because me and my kids like to play the Kiyosaki game, the Cashflow board game, so they get it, right? They understand it like, “Oh dad, we got more cash flow, we can get out of our rat race sooner.” And my wife’s like, “Ah, we got another house.” She’s happy about it, but she’s like, “But did you just buy a house?” But we like to celebrate, we’ll go out and have a nice meal. We just kind of use just… This is another reason to just kind of go hang out and have fun together. But yeah, we usually just kind of celebrate that way. Kind of like a raise on the job is the way I look at it.

Ashley:
Yeah.

Felipe:
Absolutely. That’s a great way to look at it. And I think a lot of people do forget to celebrate the W’s, they get so caught up in deals and buying and purchasing… I’m part of that too. But I do feel like we should take the time every now and then to just sit back and celebrate that W, because like you said, we’ve given ourselves a raise.

Ashley:
Just to acknowledge it. Even if it is just sitting down for a meal, acknowledging that this meal is for this win, and talking about it.

Marsay:
Absolutely.

Ashley:
And I love that you involve your kids.

Marsay:
Yeah. I kind of get that dopamine rush every time I close a deal. I’m like, “Oh, wow, this is more cash flow, I’m happy.” So, for me, it’s that celebration in itself, and everybody else is looking at me like, “Why are you so excited?”

Felipe:
Nope. I still get butterflies every time. I do not get the dopamine rush. I get butterflies, I’m freaking out, I got to fill it with tenants. The moment I close, I’m running back to the property tenant to make sure… No, I don’t get that, bro, I get butterflies.

Marsay:
That’s not your experience at all.

Felipe:
No, not at all.

Marsay:
Nerve wracking moment.

Ashley:
Yeah. It’s better than going on a date with a girl for the first time, the butterflies are [crosstalk 00:43:28].

Felipe:
Yeah, absolutely. [inaudible 00:43:30] To me, it’s… Yeah, no, I get butterflies. I’m freaking out. I’m like, “Am I going to do the wrong thing?” It’s crazy. All right. So, my question, Marsay, my question would be, if you could have a drink with anyone dead or alive, what would it be, and what would you talk about?

Marsay:
Good question. I would probably want to meet with Martin Luther King. I mean, he’s someone… And we actually share the same birthday. So, I’ve just always loved his passion, his inspiration. So, he’s not necessarily on the business side, but this guy was an avid reader. I look at… We live in a distracted age right now, so to actually be a reader and a scholar is kind of abnormal, because we got videos everywhere, we got Netflix we can watch, all those kinds of thing. So, I would just want to just sit down and pick his brain and say, “How did you design a movement like this? How did you cast a vision? How did you get all these people to rally around something before things went viral, before-”

Ashley:
Before social media.

Marsay:
Yeah, I mean, just to have that word of mouth power, it just blows my mind. So, that’s somebody I would really want to sit down with. And probably, on the business side, Steve Jobs, for sure, because he’s a… Everybody wants to meet him one day.

Felipe:
Oh, yeah.

Ashley:
Yeah. So, you mentioned that you like to read and you already gave us a couple of great books, and we’re going to put those in the show notes too, at biggerpockets.com/rookie28, we’ll link all the books. So, is there any other books you wanted to share with us, that you recommend?

Marsay:
Everybody always… They jump on Rich Dad Poor Dad, you always hear that, right? But actually, my favorite Kiyosaki book is… I prefer Cashflow Quadrant, because I think it’s a little bit more analytical and it kind of just breaks down the four quadrants. And for me, one of the things I’ve noticed… My dad’s an entrepreneur, but one of the things I noticed at a young age, and one of the reasons that I didn’t really jump into the same business was, when he left the job, work kind of stopped. He had a few crews that will work for him and stuff like that, but actually, having those systems, and being able to kind of build and have something that’s working while you’re sleeping, quadrant really kind of helped me in those rounds. Because I really spent probably 10 years kind of on the sidelines of working in corporate America, really just saying, “Okay, I make a great wage.”
And then, I started noticing, I was like, “Man, I only get two, three weeks off a year. That’s not very good.” So, I really started to kind of shift my focus in jumping in. But I think Cashflow Quadrant is a great one. I really like the book What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cashflow and Other Measures. I think it’s like Frank Gallinelli, I believe his name is. So, he really kind of breaks into the analytics of cash on cash return, he gets way deep. If you want to learn about internal rate of return and all that kind of stuff that I never use, he’s got that kind of stuff in here as well. But I think that’s a good book because it really just gave me a good foundation… Understand some of the calculations right?
I mean, I use the BiggerPockets calculators, but I think it’s important to understand the numbers that actually kind of go behind it. And then, I say also, probably a book that I just finished it, I’m just in love with, I’m probably going to read it three or four more times, is a negotiation book by Chris Voss, it’s called Never Split the Difference.

Felipe:
I love that book.

Ashley:
When you said before you were learning negotiation, I was thinking, there’s a book here for you to [crosstalk 00:46:46].

Marsay:
That’s one thing I’ve really kind of challenged myself with this year, because I’ve started doing more off-market stuff. I’ve actually started sending out direct mail, I’ve started doing driving-for-dollars through DealMachine. I’ve actually closed a deal through pretty much turnkey on my own, nobody brought me to deal, it wasn’t in MLS. But there’s a lot of soft skills that you have to build.
So, anything on negotiation I’m just really passionate about right now, just trying to get to that level of mastery to really understand those things. Because I’m an analytic, right? So, for me, I’m thinking, hey, the numbers make sense. I mean, I offered a guy a deal once, and the numbers made perfect sense. And he was like, “No.” And I just didn’t understand the emotional attachment that he had. Well, if I could do it all over, I would have used some of the principles I learned in these books, so.

Felipe:
Marsay, we’ve talked a lot about mindset, about MVPs, deals, analysis, we’ve talked a lot about a lot. Let’s give our audience two or three thoughts from you, that would best help them get started in real estate. So, that’s my question. What are your top three to get started in real estate?

Marsay:
Yeah. So, for me, to get started, figure out what you’re good at, right? And I think you got to know your skill set. And I think when it comes to the things that you don’t know how to do, you got two options. You can either go and hire those out, you can go find somebody who does Know how to do them, or you can learn how to do them yourself. So, I think kind of just taking a good inventory of where you are, and finding somebody else who’s already doing it. So, I think it’s important to really kind of take a self-assessment, realizing what your strengths, your weaknesses, your opportunities, where your gaps are. Where am I? Where do I need to grow at? And then, develop a plan to fill those gaps.
Other thing is to really know your market. So, if you’re going to invest in your back door, understand what numbers work there. Because you’re going to listen to podcasts, you’re going to read all these things, you’re going to say, “Okay, 1% Rule.” And you’re going to start running numbers, and you can’t meet it. You’re like, “What do I do now? Do I just give up on real estate and investing?” I think you need to really understand your market, and in doing that, surround yourself with other people who are already doing it. That’s one thing I love about real estate is, it’s not like we’re all inventors. We are going in and literally taking a system that somebody else has used already, been successful at, applying principles, right?
So, I think partnering up with people, forming those networks, relationships, get involved in your local RIA group. If you got another investor who’s doing what you want to do, ask him, can you ride along with them? Can you go see their portfolio? Can you help them? Can you add value to them? Don’t just go up to them and say, “Hey, I want you to mentor me for the next six months.” But you need to add value, right? You need me to paint? You need me to cut the grass? I’m here to be that for you. I’m working with a young guy now, and he said, “Hey, I just want to learn.” And he does that for me. He actually goes out with me and helps to film YouTube, film videos for my channel. He does edit for me, and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it’s a great benefit to me because I can sit back and do things that I need to do.
So, I think really, getting to that place of recognizing your gaps, kind of building that network, and then, on top of that, share your goals with somebody, right? And I think you got to write them down, you got to review them every day, but you need to kind of put it out there.
And don’t be afraid to fail, right? Because at the end of the day, we are afraid, we don’t want… Everybody’s going to laugh at us, “We told you you shouldn’t do it.” Right? But you just got to go, right? You just got to go. And when you go, you’re going to feel so much better when it’s all done. You finally pull that first deal, you get that first, either from a flip or your cash flow cheque, or whatever, that is very satisfying and gratifying that you can build on to the future, so.

Felipe:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Just even as hosts on BiggerPockets, we get a lot of DMs from people saying, “Hey, I’d love to mentor from you, I’d love to learn, or I’d love to do all this.” But then, we tend to… Like, “Okay, well, I don’t know what job I have for you.” Right? Instead of someone coming and just saying, “Hey, I want to do this for you to help you out, and I want to learn from what you’re doing.” And that would just be I think, a lot easier.
So, Marsay, those are some wise words, thanks for that. Definitely, add value to the person you want to learn from. Find that person at an RIA meeting in your local area, and just add value to them, and that’s going to be the best way. Find a problem that they have, solve it, and then they’re going to definitely want to give back to you.

Ashley:
Yeah, those are some great tips and advice that you gave, and I hope that everyone really listens to that and takes action to get started. But, Marsay, where can people find more information about you if there… I know a lot of people are going to want to reach out to you after the show, so where can they connect with you?

Marsay:
Yes. So, I’m active on BiggerPockets, and I’ve got a profile. My name is pretty unique, so I should be easy to find. But I also go by the Property Pastor. So, I do have a YouTube channel that I record and post to pretty much on a weekly basis. So, you can find me on YouTube. I’m also on Facebook. So, I’m on pretty much the different social media channels. And if you just search for the Property Pastor, you’ll find me. And then, if you search for me on BiggerPockets, you can find me by name. So, I try to stay pretty active and connecting with people and talking, and I like to network. I’m not a super extrovert but I do like to talk to people, their experiences, and partner with folks on different things. So, yeah, just feel free to reach out. I’m looking forward to connecting with more folks.

Ashley:
That’s awesome. And you can find Marsay in the Facebook group too, the BiggerPockets Facebook group, just search Real Estate Rookie and you can connect to him through there. And then, we will link his YouTube channel too in the show notes at biggerpockets/rookie28. But thank you so much for coming on the show today. We really appreciate it.

Marsay:
Absolutely. I really appreciate hanging out with you guys and making the connection, and being able to talk and share. And even hearing you guys’ experiences just… I think we all have value to build with one another, and that’s the good part about having this connected network. So, thank you all for having me, it’s been a true pleasure, I’ve really enjoyed myself, and yeah, I’m looking forward to doing more.

Felipe:
Thanks, Marsay.

Ashley:
Yeah, and congratulations on your success.

Felipe:
Talk to you later.

Ashley:
I’m excited to see when you hit that fine number.

Marsay:
Absolutely. Appreciate it.

Ashley:
Okay. Well, I’m Ashley @wealthfromrentals, and he’s Felipe @felipemejiaiei. Thanks for listening and we’ll be back next Wednesday.

Watch the Podcast Here

This Show Sponsored By

FundriseFundrise is an investment platform designed to make real estate investing simpler, smarter, and easier. With investments in more than 300 properties, collectively worth more than $4.9 billion, Fundrise is revolutionizing the way you invest in real estate, giving you the opportunity to own a professionally managed portfolio of high quality private real estate. And with their easy-to-use website and mobile app, you can track your performance and watch as properties across the country are acquired, improved, and operated via dynamic asset updates — giving you all the benefits of owning real estate, without the hassle of managing it.

Visit fundrise.com/biggerpockets to have your first 3 months of advisory fees waived.

Simplisafe NewSimpliSafe was designed to be easy to use while protecting your whole home 24/7. Order online with the click of a button. Open the box, place the sensors, plug it in, and your home is protected around the clock. SimpliSafe was named “best overall home security of 2020” by U.S. and World Report.

Head to simplisafe.com/rookie and get free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee.

In This Episode We Cover:

  • Working on his properties on nights and weekends while working full-time
  • Going big on his first deal: a 4-unit building bought from a wholesaler
  • Buying from tired landlords
  • How to frame a rent increase with tenants
  • Using Cozy and QuickBooks to manage his rentals
  • Hiring a property management company
  • How to successfully approach a real estate mentor
  • Involving his kids in his real estate investing business
  • What happened when his tenant joined his church, then stopped paying rent
  • And SO much more!

Links from the Show

Rookie Deal

  • Quad Unit
  • Purchase Price: $160,000
  • Upfront Cost: $12,000
  • Potential Rental income: $2,200/month

Marsay’s MVPs

  • His wholesalers, network contacts, and realtors

Books Mentioned in this Show:

Connect with Marsay:

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.