Ola discuss how to get started in Multifamily Investing using the tricks and tips that he has helped grow the firm's portfolio. To sign up for the Dwellynn Deal List: go to dwellynn.com or InvestWithOla.com
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Transcript
Thank you so much for watching and listening for all this time. I think the Dwellynn show is almost three years now and just putting out content can be a lot and just seeing people here in the show week in, week out, people watching on Facebook and YouTube is just really humbling, right? So thank you so much for your continued support. I really appreciate you so, so much and we just want to say thank you.
But of course in order to get more people like you to be inspired and to listen to the show, you know, the best way is just to give us a five-star rating or review on iTunes. There’s obviously a link in the show notes below. So check that out. Go on iTunes. Give us a five-star review. That definitely helps to get the word out.
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So let’s jump right into the show. This is going to be a solo show. I always like to record a show at the beginning of the year just to kind of connect with our listenership. I like to interview people and kind of share their story. But sometimes I like to just come and share a little bit of my story or just my take on the year.
As we all know, 2020 has been a very, very fascinating year for all of us. A lot happened in that year. So as we’re coming to the New Year, year 2021, I definitely wanted to start the year to kind of update you guys on what has been going on in Dwellynn with me and my family and kind of what we’ve been up to basically.
So just that’s really the purpose of this episode is just to give a brief insight of what we’ve been up to in 2020 and really just what’s our plan for 2021. How do we kind of turn around coming out of a year like 2020? And hopefully we can kind of take off and do great things and hopefully altogether this year and help one another obviously.
If you know me and you know me well, you know, I’m really, really bullish on the Houston market. I’m really, really bullish on the asset class that we invest in, which is multifamily. Of course we’ve now been looking at other assets as well and other asset class like land and we’re really – we’ve been kind of thinking a little bit about mobile home packs but nothing yet. But multifamily continues to dominate especially right now. I mean you can say – you can also say industrial as well.
But right now with everything that’s going on, people are stuck at home. You know, places to live in have really become very important. So we really still like that asset class and, you know, this is kind of why I wanted to do this episode as well, right? To talk about how I got started in multifamily.
Of course it’s a way longer story so I’m going to condense this, like really, really condense this into a very short show. So for those of you who may haven’t heard my story, I’ve been on countless podcasts. So you can always just Google one and kind of hear the back story.
So this is going to be just kind of like the, you know, quick edition. So I just want to say go out. Google. Listen to some of my shows that I’ve actually been interviewed on on a podcast. But for almost three years now that I’ve been doing the Dwellynn Show, interviewing amazing guests, kind of listening to their story and obviously sharing their story with you guys, the single one question I have received the most is, “How do I get started? How can I get started in multifamily investing?” and that is such a loaded question.
Even when I go to conferences or I go to speak at all the events, this question just keeps coming back. What do I need to do to get started? So I thought hey, I will try to do a quick show. You know, why not just do a quick show where I can talk about how I got started in the game? And note, pay attention, I called it a game. You know, so for me frankly, the short answer is partnerships, right? Partnerships.
Commercial real estate invest in the dark side as we jokingly call it. It just requires a plethora of skills and talents that you can only get from a solid team, right? I usually tell people, you know, you can always go down the street and buy a property to flip, right? You know, with the least resistance.
I mean maybe the neighbor doesn’t want you to buy that house or whatever. You know, but that’s probably the most resistance you would get. But buying a commercial asset such as a multifamily building, it just takes a lot of grit, right? To take one down, right? And when I say take it down, you usually do that with a team of people and most importantly a broker, right?
Usually if you don’t know the brokers, they are basically seen as the gatekeepers between you and the sellers. This is what they do every single day is call people, sellers who own these buildings, right?
So of course you can try to go find this asset yourself. It’s just really a lot of work frankly. So what I’ve done is to reach out to brokers, build relationship with them and then when they have a deal that is similar to our acquisition criteria, then they send me that deal, right? Before they sell it out to what we call the market, right?
So Michael Becker says – you know, he has a classic line and he’s absolutely rad. You know, multifamily. It’s just kind of a very unfair game but that’s really true because if you don’t have access to these brokers, if you’re not in a relationship with these brokers, you just won’t be able to see the deals that they are sending out frankly.
So that’s one of the first kind of major step is partnerships and partnerships with brokers, partnerships with other members of the team and that’s another – I guess that could be another podcast episode of just who consists of a team, right? Within this indication or we did a multifamily investing. You know, within a multifamily investing team essentially.
So I just kind of want to go back a little bit here to last year. Actually this time last year. So my wife was pregnant. Now we – our daughter, Temilola, she is two years old then. We were living in Baltimore, Maryland, right? But before then, we’ve been kind of contemplating moving to Texas. You know, just kind of to get closer to market of interest in Houston and just the great State of Texas. We really like Texas and we visited and obviously we buy here. So we had some assets already in Texas. So we’ve been really thinking of that for some time.
So pay attention. This is the sacrifice bit and, you know, I guess you can say uncertainty and maybe some might call it insanity actually. So just kind of packing up and moving down 1500 miles across country with a pregnant wife and a young child to do “real estate”.
So it just wasn’t real estate though, right? For us. You know, Martha and I also prefer the warm weather too. So I’m not sure if that’s a realistic criteria but was good enough for us to make that move when we did. So I had to basically just take the plunge. Move my family, move them down here to Houston to basically buy more property, right?
But while we were in Baltimore, Maryland, I’ve got to say we did really well as well, right? You know, we bought our first building in Baltimore. We still own that asset until today. It’s very close to Johns Hopkins University for those who know Johns Hopkins and, you know, we also did a few – you know, I did some flips in Baltimore as well.
So it wasn’t like things were bad. We actually really liked that city and we did well there. You know, but what was quite important for all this big move from Baltimore to Houston to happen, I had to get my wife’s buy-in, right? So I saw that dream. You know, I said I have to quit our bank job and come along on this journey with me to Houston, Texas so we can focus. You know, can really narrow in on this market and plant the Dwellynn flag really deep down in the great State of Texas. That was our plan in January 2020, right? When we moved from Maryland all the way to Texas is let’s go really, really deep, really, really focused on Houston, surrounding areas. Let’s do it.
So I moved here, had a ton of energy. I was really ready to dig in. I was so excited. Now we all know what happened. But basically we’ve been hearing about this novel virus causing pneumonia in people in Wuhan, China. But of course many of us here in the United States just didn’t think much of it, right? And went about our daily lives, right?
However in – I think it was in March 2020 when everybody knows what happens to Tom Hanks, right? He caught the virus. He got COVID-19 and the whole world just looked in horror as to what was going to happen to him because now we – we now know that this virus is in the United States, right?
So even though we looked in horror, thankfully Tom Hanks beat the virus. You know, like wow, just like in the movies, right? But not quite but he did anyway. So that kind of gave some relief but people were still a little bit worried.
So at this point though, many started to think if someone like Tom Hanks could get this virus, then this is getting serious, right? So I think governments around the world and just people generally started to take the virus a little bit seriously. Shortly thereafter, the lockdown started happening around the world and as I record this, they’re still at tier four lockdown in the UK for instance.
So look, I could easily say that I was a clairvoyant, that I could see all of this happening before. But I had no idea, right? That the whole world was going to go in lockdown when we were planning our move from Baltimore to Houston. But boy, it was perfect timing I got to say. I’m so glad we moved in January just before the lockdown and we were kind of I guess – no pun intended – but sheltered in place before the lockdown started happening. But that was I guess a plus for us. You know, because if we had waited a few more months, we would have kind of been still in Baltimore and that was not part of our plan, right?
You know, but anyway before the lockdown and before kind of the full-blown lockdown in the US in February of 2020, I was able to go to the Best Ever Conference hosted by Joe Fairless and this is one of the ways to find equity investors and partners is to go to these events, sometimes vendors, right? Is to go to these events such as conferences, meet-ups and things like that before the lockdown.
So this is – this was a two-day event and it was in the cold skiing mountains of Colorado and I’m not sure if you’ve been paying attention, but I like warmer climate. So, you know, this was not my cup of tea. But I show up to that conference pretty much every year and it’s not cheap either, right? I want to make sure I say that, right? These conferences are not cheap but I think that’s the point to make as well. I will come back to that.
But of course, you know, during these conferences, you meet a mirage of people, you exchange a bunch of cards. It’s kind of like speed dating but you know you’re just kissing a ton of frogs and your prince or let’s say your charming princess is going to be one of them, right? You’re hoping that you’re going to find someone that you can partner with and work with. You know, anyways, as I continue kissing my way through the foyer of this hall, I bumped into someone actually. I bumped into a lady and we got talking, right? We kept talking for a little while and then she said, “Hey, I think I would like to introduce you to my husband. He’s somewhere around here as well.”
That night we actually went out for dinner. We had steak for dinner. We talked a lot about investing together. They really liked Houston anyway. They’ve always wanted to get into the Houston market. But of course, most people just like me, I took this with a grain of salt to go with my steak, believe it or not. I didn’t really make much of it, right?
But just that bump into her, that conference, for me has been the best bump ever in 2020 because we’re now partners, right? And we’re now actually investing together in Houston, right?
So you might go, wow, all I – what’s kind of the moral of the story? You know, for me there are a few things, right? You know, let’s just say five things. First is just to show up, right? You know, so when you have these events, conferences, go to it. Not right now because most part of the United States is still on a lockdown.
Some people are now starting to put together events. You know, obviously observing social distance. So just show up and even if they’re not in person, you can go. There’s a lot of virtual events now. Yes I do agree with some people when I say it’s not the same. But many people are finding ways to really leverage those virtual events and exchange cards and reach out to people after the event and have quick touch basis with them.
So just show up, right? Just show up. If you want to get started in multifamily, just show up, right? And then when you show up, stay open. Talk to everyone, right?
Remember my old kissing the frogs, right? So talk to everyone. Be humble. Listen. Ask questions. Talk less. Those are kind of the tricks that I use is try to know the other person, right? Because you might learn something you’ve never – you know, you never knew, right? So that’s what I do. I stay open. I talk to everyone.
Third, stay resilient and never give up, right? This almost sounds like cliché. But frankly, I think I was speaking to, you know, someone recently. I think a broker actually and he talked about the pyramid, right? The pyramid.
So you’ve got a lot of people at the bottom, right? You know, when you go to a kind of meet-up or you see people say, “I want to start real estate. I want to start wholesaling. I want to do this, I want to do that,” that’s kind of like the bottom, right? Of the pyramid. That’s where everybody is at, right? Everybody that wants to do something. I’m talking about how they actually want to do something, right?
So it’s never about that, right? It’s those that actually go a step farther in that pyramid and actually do something and to be very quantitative or should I say it’s maybe buying their first property, property number one, right?
So now you move up, right? You move up in that pyramid because you’ve actually done something, right? That something meaning one property, only about, and then you do two and then you move up again and then you do three and then you go larger, into larger asset. Now you’re a player, right?
So for you to be able to move up kind of the stack in that pyramid, you have to just have that grit of not giving up, right? I would joke with people sometimes. I will be like I want to quit every day but then I wake up the next day and I keep going, right?
I don’t know if it’s the meditation or my runs or my money walks or whatever but I keep going. I never give up, right? You know, my classic line is “I’m a beaver,” right? People talk about being the GOAT, you know, the greatest of all time. I’m a beaver, right? With the little two teeth in the front and I just keep nibbling on that oak tree. I don’t care if that oak tree is 500 years old. I’m going to take it down, right? And people are going to walk past that tree thinking, “Oh, such a cute beaver. What is that beaver doing? He’s just nibbling on that oak tree. He’s never going to take it down.”
But I will take that oak tree down. That’s me. That’s my beaver mentality, right? I’m that small but mighty. Nobody notices you by the oak tree because the oak tree is just towering over me but I’m a beaver and I just keep going at it.
So it’s that mentality of grit, of resiliency and never ever, ever giving up is what really takes you to that next level on that pyramid I mentioned.
Fourth, partnerships, right? Partnerships are everything, right? I’m literally – as I record this – in a deal that’s going to be closing very, very soon and you start to understand just the amount of people. It’s – I’ve closed on single family homes. I’ve closed on small duplexes or small multifamily. Nothing like doing a bigger deal. It’s just a lot more people. Especially right now you don’t even see anybody or you don’t go anywhere. So it’s all just 10, 12 people on an email chain and you’re trying to figure out if one of the attachments is for you and do you have to sign something.
I mean I’ve signed so many paperwork, it’s just unreal, right? So even if you are a rich Saudi prince and you want to get started in multifamily, you are going to need a team of a lot of people, right? We’ve been speaking to a lot of property managers, right? We have to interview them, get to know them, see if there’s a right fit. You know, so there’s just a lot of people, right?
Last, I guess bump into someone. Go bump into someone. Maybe not right now. That’s probably not the right time to touch or bump anyone. But go out there. Meet people, right? This business is not the one you do exclusively from behind your computer. This isn’t just how this works. You’ve got to go out. You’ve got to buy broker’s coffee, meet with your potential investors, tell people what you’re doing. This is how you get started, right?
So just kind of circle back a little bit, right? I’ve talked about bumping into my – you know, this lady at the conference. She introduced me to a husband and then we had steak. Then we talked about doing deals. Fast forward to now, we’ve together as a team just underwritten about a hundred deals. What about 700 million? Yes, we have these in our workspace for those who are curious.
We’ve basically gone through deals worth about $700 million. Isn’t that crazy? And we’re able to find our prince charming deal, right? So do you kind of see a pattern here, right? There’s a pattern. You go through 100 years to get one. You go through many people to find your right partners, right?
It’s the same exact thing. But as you’re going through it, don’t give up. Go through it. Keep on going. Get up, go, get up, go, do not stop. That is the simple trick to getting started in commercial real estate, specifically multifamily business and frankly anything you want to do in life, right? If you want to get something done that is worth doing, you need to do the work and you need to not stop doing it. It’s just as simple as that.
You know, but check this out. That I think I want to mention this as well. It’s just almost like a – it’s down to a science. So we moved, right? In January of last year to Houston from Baltimore and with everything that happened in the world, right? We were able to buy – I guess I want to say our first deal after we moved here, right? Exactly a year to the T, to the T, exactly one year after I moved.
So you just have to pay attention to those quantitative [0:21:34] [Indiscernible] I will call it. So there’s a method to the madness and this stuff works if you work it, right? So for those who are part of the Capri [Phonetic] deal and for investors listening to this, that you joined us, you trusted us to steward your capital, we really want to say thank you so much for investing with us on this deal. Thank you for following us on this journey on Capri. We really appreciate you and we really appreciate your partnership.
For others who are maybe thinking “What are you talking about? What deal are you talking about?” you’ve just never heard of our deal list, then you need to go to the Dwellynn website to sign up on the deal list, right? Go on the Dwellynn site.
When you go on the Dwellynn site, in about five to ten seconds, you get a pop-up asking for your email. Plug your email in there or just go to the “contact us” page and put your email so you can get not only deals but tips. You get to know a little bit more about our firm, what we are about, our values, what we do. You know, so go to Dwellynn.com, to drop your email or if you can find this easier to remember, InvestWithOla.com and just drop your email and then obviously we will reach out to you and send you more information about what we do and who we are
So as we’re wrapping this up, I just want to encourage you guys do not forget. Please go, go, go. Give us a written review on iTunes and also if you’re watching this, I guess for this episode, if you’re listening to this on YouTube, hit the “Subscribe” button below and the bell.
We’re trying to introduce something as well called the “Curious Investor”. So we’re thinking of doing a segment on the Dwellynn show where you can send us a question that you would like me to answer. So if you have any questions relating to real estate investing or just getting started or you’re a beginner or you don’t know what to do or just any open question, send it to hello@dwellynn.com and in the subject just put “Curious Investor” as the subject and just ask us any question you like.
You can also go to our Facebook page and just put “#curious investor” and just post a question on there or you can reach out to me as well on Instagram. Just search Ola Dantis on Instagram and just send me a question and just say this is for the “Curious Investor” segment or just basically just send us an email.
So looking forward to hearing from you. I wish you guys nothing but success and joy and peace and grace to you, your friends, your family this year in 2021. Go crush it, go crush it, go be a beaver.