All Forum Posts by: Ashton Levarek

Do you live where you work?

We often get asked if we invest (i.e. buy real estate) where we live.

The answer to that is a resounding NO. We live where we want to live and invest where it makes sense. That is the benefit of investing, theres no specific place you have to live to create passive income!

My J-O-B no longer dictates where I have to live. I live in Oregon and my Partner/brother @Chris Levarek lives in Arizona but we invest in North Carolina, Ohio, and, depending how negotiations go - soon Texas. 

But also - I invest where it makes sense, and that is usually not where I want to live (at least right now). Why? Because markets vary from city to city, and even block to block, plus tenant/landlord laws, price point, competition, etc.

And we're able to do this because we have built a team and partnered with other professionals that enable this style of investing. We've built a team of partners that know the market, the asset class, that are professionals, and most of all - that we trust.

Over the last two years our team has grown from just my brother and I to multiple brokers, lenders, contractors, property managers, executive assistants, interns, asset managers, and so on. But I realize that every team is different. 

So where are you investing these days? 

Who's on your team that allows you to invest in this manner? And who did I miss?

@Katie Miller

So I retired from Active Duty Air Force on 5 May 2020, so right in the middle of this thing. Super exciting, but certainly not the most stable time to retire. A lot of unknowns for sure. 

I joined the military at age 18 and retired after 21 years of service, which puts me right at 40 years old. I would have been eligible to retire from active duty at age 38 but I had a small break in service where I sold everything, and traveled the world for a year and a half, totally worth it and I look forward to doing it again soon. (Still take mini retirement trips every New Years to different locations around the world)

Why do I feel secure retiring in these uncertain times? 

Well first of all, I've been jumping out of planes, getting shot at, climbing mountains, driving through IED ridden landscapes and doing things way riskier than "retiring" for a large part of my life. And I loved it. Failure in my past endeavors was never an option, and it isn't an option now.  

Secondly people must understand that fear and risk are only projections of the mind related to imagined outcomes. In other words, uncertainty, fear, and risk are largely based on perception and mindset - i.e. its all in your head. Sure its a real thing but your worry about it is not. 

And lastly - My brother (@Chris Levarek) and I have been investing in Multifamily since 2018 and have quickly scaled our business from 0 to 42 units under management, with another 220 under contract. This Pandemic has unlocked more potential than people care to admit - you just have to be opportunistic. 

The Reality is that no matter the time in history there will always be risk and uncertainty in life, embrace it. Embrace the suck as we say in the military. Embrace it and move on. Accept the current situation and make a decision. This is all part of the adventure. Be the hero of your own movie. What would they do? Make a commitment to that outcome and accept nothing less than success. Failure is not an option, commit and take action daily. 

Hey @Brian Boodoosingh

Welcome to NC, there are some great markets there. My Brother and I partnered in 2018 an began buying small multifamily there (duplexs, quads) but quickly graduated to smaller commercial multifamily (13 units, 16 units) due to better economies of scale, loans, etc. 

But building a good team is absolutely crucial, I can recommend a great Property Manager if you need one. Our success in the Raleigh/Durham market (as well as the Fayettveille and more recently Columbus, OH markets) has only been possible through the team we have assembled in those markets, and that team is largely influenced by our PM on the ground. 

Let me know if I can help.

Should be fun! I'll buy the first round!

@Raymond Hooks All great questions and even better answers. 

Half the people here are worried about finding money and the other half are interested in preserving capital. Why not do both?

And I feel like the questions and criteria you're laying down are right out of a book for, oh I don't know, the Hands-Off Investor.... Maybe. Maybe not.

But keep up the due diligence and let me know what you find out. 

The money comes easy, but its the partnerships that matter in the long run. All the best. 

@Nick Liu

Love the 1031 exchange idea, or even a sales deferred trust, both great ways to defer taxes into a better/larger cash flowing asset. 

But as a fellow investor living in Oregon - I do not recommend investing in OR. The landlord laws on top of the returns and price point just do not make sense when compared to what you'll find in the South East or Midwest. Look at markets with positive Job, rent and Population growth as well as low unemployment. My 2 cents. 

Additionally, HELOCs are a great tool. And usually better than refinancing a home as the fees are better. And I say usually because right now things might be different with the lower mortgage rates, just need to do your research on that. And then weigh that against your current mortgage rate - is it worth it? But with a HELOC the fees are lower and you can typically get 80-100% loan to value for as low as 5%, although things may have changed due to the whole Covid response. Again, you'll have to check into that.

Hope that helps. 

@Christopher Smith

From one active duty Air Force Member to another, one multifamily investor to another - quit whining and suck it up butter cup. 

You're focusing on the wrong things. You're focusing on the "no's" and the hardships. Focus on the learning points. There are no such things as failures, merely opportunities to learn. Every no is an opportunity to understand drivers of human emotion and decision making. Write it down, document everything you fail at and why. Then do better next time. 

Study, Read, learn, repeat. 

Read Grant Cardone's books, study how to Invest in Real Estate with no and low money down from Brandon Turner, how to negotiate from Chris Voss, how to pick a market and Syndicate from Joe Fairless, how to build a brand and raise capital from Hunter Thompson and Matt Faircloth, how to Win Friends and Influence People from the book by the same name. 

Become the subject matter expert on some thing, know something so well that people want, no, they need you on their team. Good leaders and syndicators understand that "No one is smarter than all of us." - Jim Rohn. This simple fact is why good leaders look for special people to bring on the team. For example: Become so good at finding a deal in your market that when you do, someone will demand to partner with you.

This is exactly how we started - my brother (@Chris Levarek) and I started October 2018, BRRRRed 2 duplexes, then scaled up to small multifamily, and by April 2020 we had 43 cashflowing rentals under management and 220 units under contract. And we had partnered, borrowed, and syndicated every single one of those deals. 

 In closing, do something, take action, build your value, your brand, your network, etc. Don't rely on or blame others for not funding your passion or dream. Take action. Action builds experience, experience builds credibility and credibility creates potential.

"You are what you do, not what you say you'll do." - Carl Jung.

Now go find a deal and we'll bring the team and the money. Kidding.... but serious.

All the best and feel free to reach out if you have questions. 

@Noah Gregory - yes we actually have seen an increase in occupancy. At first we thought that we would have vacancies increase but we've actually had more tenants renew their leases and several new move ins over the last 45 days. We initially planned for an increase in vacancies based on the number of tenants that were planning on moving out, but instead we had an increase in renewals. People appear to appreciate clean and affordable housing, especially in a pandemic.

Benefits of good property management I suppose. But also, market selection. Our properties are in stable cashflow markets, meaning they're in markets that have a strong job market, or in other words the jobs in this area are not affected as much by the pandemic - i.e. government and military employees, section 8 tenants, and the tech industry employees (where everyone is working from home anyway). 

Congratulations @Mike Parelli, very cool, and thats definitely a great list of topics to focus on, I like all of those. Will have to check it out. Curious though, what made you start podcasting? What was the determining factor? Or is it all in the podcast? 

@William Tomp

What are you goals within real estate investing? What type of real estate? It seems like you have really narrowed down what you want in a partner but what do you want from real estate? Why are you doing this real estate thing? What do you want from life? What is your why, as some might call it?

It looks like you are in Phoenix, you should connect with my brother and partner @Chris Levarek - he/we invest and syndicate in the Multifamily space. But he's actually presented at a couple meet-ups there, and we are always looking for new partners.

No one is smarter than all of us. - Jim Rohn

Otherwise, best of luck.

Respectfully

Ashton