True Multifamily Justin Fraser

John Casmon joins True Multifamily to talk about the power of creating a business plan and constantly evaluating it to make sure you are making decisions based on, not just what you see at the property, but also what you see in the market. John also discusses the importance of forming strategic partnerships as you’re trying to scale your business.

Coming from corporate America, John spent 15 years in advertising and marketing for large brands like Nike, Coors Light, Mountain Dew, and General Motors. He then slowly started building up his own personal multifamily portfolio. Eventually, he began working with other investors, scaling into real estate full-time.

Last year, John did about $20 million worth of real estate in just 100 days – and he continues to grow and look for his next opportunity!

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:


John’s thought process around his decision to exit some of their assets
The power of partnerships and what the transition looks like
Dividing up roles and responsibilities
Forming strategic partnerships that play specific roles on the team
Building a business plan
The two layers of rental comps
Leveraging the feedback loop
Asset management from an operational perspective

Episode Highlights:

[05:14] The Power of Partnerships

If you don't have a lot of experience coming into real estate, it makes sense to align yourself with other people who are more experienced than you. Be open to becoming a part of the team instead of being the one in the driver’s seat. Additionally, it’s crucial to be able to develop those relationships and understand who you're partnering with initially.

It’s crucial to do deeper due diligence on the property, your business plan, and your partners. There are a lot of different ways you can structure things. Maybe you need to raise some capital for the deal or play some other roles in marketing or investor relations. Whatever that looks like, make sure you can deliver on those roles and tasks and that you're delivering for the overall deal.

[15:33] Building and Executing a Business Plan

An essential step in creating your business plan is to continually evaluate your interest rates, the current demand, or rent growth. Always be looking at these different factors and adjust accordingly. Look at what opportunities are there, your current rents, and your current occupancy. Look at what vacancies looked like over the last year.

Based on all that information, you can then start to figure out where there might be an opportunity and then from there formulate your business plan. It's all hypothesis until you go out and do it. You’ve got to go execute it and once the market responds, get some of that feedback and continue to adjust your business plan accordingly.

Resources Mentioned:

Casmon Capital

Podcast: Multifamily Insights

Real estate investor, author, and syndicator Matt Faircloth of the DeRosa Group joins Justin Fraser to talk about the challenges and triumphs of selling the DeRosa Capital 8, Douglas Square Apartments – from dwindling occupancy due to management’s poor communication with tenants, to refinancing the property twice, and ultimately, making the decision to sell the property making it a win-win situation for everyone involved. This property was a 4-year hold that they invested $2M in CapEx renovations and increased Net Operating Income (NOI) on the property by 8x.

Matt Faircloth is the co-founder and president of the DeRosa Group, a real estate investment company that specializes in buying and renovating residential and commercial properties. In this episode, Matt imparts some great insights into selling and buying a multifamily property and some important lessons from being on the seller's side of things.



Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:


2 main challenges prior to selling the DeRosa Capital 8, Douglas Square Apartments
Conversation tips with your tenants
Strong local presence in a management company
How they raised occupancy during COVID times
Using a broker with a big, national reach when selling a property
Buyer interview tips for multifamily



Episode Highlights:



Building Strong Local Presence as a Management Company

A lot of people buy real estate thinking that they can just pull out as much as they can out of it without putting stuff into it. When you’re looking to renovate a property to increase rent, don’t just email your tenants or put notices on the door saying their rents are going to go up or they can just move out, because that will certainly drop your occupancy rate. There’s definitely a better way of handling these conversations with tenants in a more humane way.



Using a National Brand Broker When Selling a Property

It's important for you to talk to all brokers when you go to buy a property. But when you go to sell, using a national brand is important because they have a deep mailing list and they know how to run a “multiple bids” scenario for you.



Buyer Interview Tips for Multifamily

There are things that are going to come up and you can't have a perfect property that you're going to retrade somebody – meaning renegotiate the price and renegotiate the terms. There are more next-level things that are going to happen and issues that may come up.

Now, good buyers have a nice contingency and construction budget. It pays to ask about their construction budget and their contingency because it's good to know that they're going to roll their sleeves up and renovate the place, and not just cross their arms and hope the cash flow comes in.

For buyers out there, make sure you have a healthy construction budget and a contingency of "just in case" money. That way, when you go to those interviews, it’s going to make that seller more comfortable knowing that you got a place to go for things that are unexpected.



Resources Mentioned:

DeRosa Group

Matt Faircloth

High school business teacher Dan Sheeks joins True Multifamily to talk about his latest book, First to a Million: A Teenager’s Guide to Achieving Early Financial Independence. The book is written for young people where he introduces the idea that you don't have to work till you're 65.

Teaching the basics of investing such as passive income and real estate investing, Dan offers various options for building wealth and achieving early financial independence. Dan also shares the 4 mechanisms that lead to early financial independence, which has nothing to do with being rich.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:


About the book and its target readers
Why you should tell the American Dream to eff off
Why financial independence has nothing to do with being rich
How to achieve early financial independence

Episode Highlights:

Why You Should Tell The American Dream to Eff Off

The book challenges the typical mindset of Americans and what society has told us that we have to do. The typical American Dream is to graduate college, get a good job, get married, have 2.3 kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. You work till you're 65 then you can retire and live a good life. There's nothing wrong with that path. It has worked for millions of people, and it's a very noble way to live. But there are also other options that don't require you to work until you're 65.

Why Financial Independence Has Nothing to Do With Being Rich

The overall happiness of someone starts declining after you get past that point "having enough plus a little extra" because there are a lot of responsibilities that go with it. Financial independence is not about owning private jets, five houses, going on the most expensive vacations at five-star resorts.

Financial independence is having enough plus a little extra – so that you are doing and enjoying everything that makes you happy in life. And so, the main benefit is getting your time back or the option to spend your time as you would choose, versus having to go to work five days a week, 40 hours or 60 hours a week until you're 65. Then you could use that extra time to engage in the things that make you happy.

How to Achieve Early Financial Independence

Dan recommends doing the 4 mechanisms that lead to earning early financial independence: earn more, spend less, save the difference, and invest your savings wisely. Track your income and expenses. If you're saving 30%  to 50% of your income automatically every month, you reach early financial independence. And the first step to being able to do that is to know what's coming in and what's coming out.

Resources Mentioned:

SheeksFreaks LLC

Book: First to a Million

Episode 54 with Dan Sheeks

Real estate investor Avery Carl of The Short Term Shop and The Mortgage Shop joins True Multifamily to talk about her book, Short-Term Rental, Long-Term Wealth: Your Guide to Analyzing, Buying, and Managing Vacation Properties. Avery went from owning nothing to a hundred doors within 5 years. Thanks to short-term rentals that have heavier cashflows and are easier to finance, Avery grew her portfolio more quickly than she would have otherwise with traditional single-family long-terms. Today, Avery shares all the buts and bolts when it comes to buying and managing short-term rentals and vacation properties. 



Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

- The birth of The Short Term Shop 

- Understanding the regulations around short-term rentals

- Metro markets vs. vacation markets

- Multifamily vs. short-term

- Managing short-term rentals



Episode Highlights:

Steps in Starting Your Short-Term Rental Business

When you're thinking of buying a short-term rental, first go to the city codes or city planning zoning department, which every city has, and check their regulations on short-term rentals. Then pick a house that tourists of that area have come to expect. If it’s a mountain area, pick a nice cabin, and if it’s in a beach area, then pick a nice beach house. 

Metro Markets vs. Vacation Markets

Metro markets are the big fly-to vacation, tourism-dependent markets. These are expensive markets that people save all year to go to like Mexico, Hawaii, or Aspen. 

The regional drivable markets are vacation markets that are also tourism-dependent where there are not a lot of jobs outside of tourism. These are areas where the majority of the people who go there are driving, not flying. Because they're accessible and affordable, they're the most recession-resistant.

Metro markets are going to have more types of travelers, whether for business or family vacation or needing a temporary place to stay while they're in between primary homes. Whereas vacation markets are strictly vacationers.

Multifamily vs. Short-Term

Multifamily is easily laid out in a spreadsheet and the rent is the same every month for a year or longer, depending on how your leases are. And so, everything fits nicely into a spreadsheet. Whereas short-term rentals are more of a range because the income over the course of a year is more dependent on the manager than it is the property itself. 



Resources Mentioned:

The Short Term Shop

Short-Term Rental, Long-Term Wealth

The Cashflow Ninja himself, M.C. Laubscher, joins True Multifamily to talk about all the ways he cashflows and the ways he teaches other people to cash flow. M.C. is passionate about helping producers and creators create, protect, and multiply their wealth and achieve financial freedom.

Being a former sports league player, M.C.  initially had the mindset that there was no life after sports. But reading Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad totally changed his context of how he viewed money, wealth, and investing. He then bought his first rental property and the rest is history!

M.C. is the creator and the host of the popular and top-rated business and investing podcast, Cashflow Ninja and a brand new podcast, Cashflow Investing Secrets. M.C. is also the President of Producers Wealth, a wealth creation firm helping clients in 50 states implement holistic wealth creation strategies.



Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

- His transition from sports to investing

- A mindset shift from scarcity to abundance

- Growing partnerships and relationships

- Strategies for building your platform

- Creating the 21 Best Cashflow Niches book

- A breakdown of the aligned cashflow strategy

- Doing a human capital statement



Episode Highlights:

Ways to Build Your Wealth

Shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance. When you know you can’t compete with the big people in your niche, find the right people in the right asset classes. Partner with them to get access to the best deals. Otherwise, if you’re going to compete with them, you're never going to be able to participate in those deals.

Diversify. Look to other asset classes such as agriculture to expand your cash flow portfolio. There are so many different ways people are creating wealth and there are certain strategies, frameworks, and models that can be applied to many different asset classes and niches. And there's no one way to do it.



Growing Partnerships and Relationships

Figure out what people are working on or looking for and how you can help them. Ask them what they're excited about. Then you can now step back to figure out how you can add value to them and help them achieve their objectives and outcomes. Now, just because you don't have necessarily real estate knowledge, there might be a different skill set or different capability that you can bring to them



Aligned Cashflow Strategy


Cash creation
Cash capture (the piece a lot of people miss!) - positioning capital effectively and efficiently
Cashflow creation- collateralizing and deploying it into assets that's producing more capital for you and cash flows such as real estate, and get you great tax benefits
Protection through asset protection and estate planning



Create a Human Capital Statement

A human capital statement is where you look at yourself as an asset as well as your skill sets, your relationships, your capabilities. Because even if they take away every single cent you have but you have those, you'll make it back much quicker. And so, learn a skill and figure out how you could use your skills to then create value for folks in the marketplace.



Resources Mentioned:

Cashflow Ninja

Cashflow Investing Secrets

The 21 Best Cashflow Niches Book

Producers Wealth

Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad

Real estate investment coach Edna Keep joins True Multifamily to talk about the value of working with a coach as well as how she ended up with 50 doors in 18 months and an $800,000 net worth increase in the books after signing up for a year-long mentorship with Robert Kiyosaki.

As the creator of the 90 Days to 5K Mastermind Program, Edna empowers real people to build real wealth, buy their next property, and scale their businesses. Edna gave up a $250k income as a financial advisor to do this full-time so she can be by your side to show you how to do the same thing, every step of the way. Today, Edna shares the strategy behind the program and some inspiring success stories from the people she worked with.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:


How she got from single family into the multifamily space
The power of working with a coach
Why you need to have a system in place
Seeing challenges and opportunities in different markets
How she’s organizing things through her managing partners
Getting to the right mindset

Episode Highlights:

The Power of Working with a Coach and Following a System

Having a coach helps you get past a lot of your fears, especially when it relates to money and the things that could go wrong.  Having somebody to hold your hand and walk you through that process is very powerful.

There are lots of resources out there – Facebook Lives, books, and mini-courses – and you can use any of those. But if you don't have a system to follow, you're going to be all over the map and you won’t get anything done.

In the same way that there are so many ways to invest in real estate. But you have to pick one way, master it, and then learn all kinds of things from there. Otherwise, if you're all over the map, you're never going to get anywhere.

Getting to the Right Mindset

We've got to have a mindset that we just have to get through those challenges to get to the opportunity. Where people fall down is thinking, anywhere in life, that they're not going to have challenges. But there's going to be more challenges the more we grow and the bigger we get.

We need to grow mentally to be able to handle challenges and come out as a winner on the other side. And if you haven't had any challenges, you're not even growing as a person. Hence, challenges are put in front of us so that we can grow and get better. As Jim Rohn says, "Don't wish for less challenges, just wish you were better to handle them."

Resources Mentioned:

www.ednakeep.com