This Corporate Pilot’s Flyin’ High in Real Estate
Meet Tyler Amburn. Tyler is a corporate pilot, a real estate investor, and the owner of Fast and Slow Investments, a real estate investment group based out of Dallas, Texas. He’s also been one of our amazing members here at RealEstateInvestor.com since 2017.
Tyler was nice enough to allow us to interview him recently for a member spotlight article. So, keep reading to learn how he got started in this industry, what he thinks about our products and services, and learn how he was able to save more than $3,000 a month by utilizing our REIgnyte Grow Platform to replace several of the peripheral services he was using to run his real estate business.
On The Wings Of… Real Estate?
While Tyler’s aviation career has and always will be his dream job, he knew he would also need to build a diversified revenue stream to provide for his family financially during the down cycles that often hit corporate and commercial pilots hard.
When making the decision of where that revenue would come from, Tyler made the smart decision to dive into real estate. He said it was a no brainer decision since most of the clients he flew from meeting to meeting, or vacation home to vacation home, all seemed to be in real estate themselves.
Being successful enough to afford a private pilot was a bonus selling point for real estate in Tyler’s opinion. It would be something he could look forward to in his future. With one caveat of course… Tyler wouldn’t need to hire a pilot to fly him around since he can fly himself. In fact, he’s already gotten to do just that! (More on this in a bit…)
After getting some advice from several real estate entrepreneurs, Tyler decided to pay for a real estate investor coaching course and dive into looking for homes to flip.
From Grassroots Start-Up To Needing Something More…
During our interview, Tyler reminisced about his “grassroots” marketing plan in the early days of building his real estate business. It included knocking on doors and sending handwritten letters to Dallas area property owners, where he and his wife, Jennifer, live.
The homemade approach worked right out of the gate because three short weeks later, while still grasping the industry, Tyler got his first deal. He jokes about how that deal came in a lot quicker than he thought it would. So much so that he had to quickly research a training video to learn how to fill out the offer form before presenting it to the seller that same day.
Despite learning on the fly in those early months, he tells us he made $25,000 on that first transaction that he ended up flipping. This set the foundation for his real estate investment business.
The first seller I helped said they called us because they could tell our letter was hand written. My wife penned all of those letters by hand. After that, we kept going with that marketing approach, hiring high school and college students to write letters to sellers by hand at $.50 a piece. Tyler reminisces.
Six months later, Tyler and Jennifer mastered the DIY marketing process with the help of their hired team members. But it didn’t take long to grow tired of managing their lists, their writers, and their supplies. That along with keeping up with all of the other elements that come with running a full time real estate business was wearing on both of them…
After welcoming their first child a few years back, all while Tyler was flying full time and running the real estate business, both he and his wife realized that something had to give.
We quickly realized that managing all the contractors and the supplies, plus the marketing… that wasn’t something we wanted to be in. We needed to outsource that part of the business – Tyler shares.
That’s when he saw an ad for our Managed Services here at RealEstateInvestor.com. After a little research on us, he made the call.
The Making Of A CEO.
Tyler still remembers his call with Julia Jordan, our Senior Director of Member Success here at RealEstateInvestor.com.
Julia, if this is as good as you make it sound, then this solves all my marketing problems because I’m tired of managing lists. I’m tired of managing supplies and all that jazz. So we signed up. Tyler shares about making the decision to outsource the $10 per hour marketing jobs to us through our Managed Services so he could focus on building his real estate business.
That first year when Tyler made the leap to owning his role as the CEO of his company, and outsourcing his marketing and lead generation to us here at RealEstateInvestor.com, he ended up closing 18 wholesale deals! This was back in 2017.
The following year with us, he closed fewer deals, but what excited him was that his annual revenue didn’t drop at all!
In fact, he was closing bigger and better deals, which also meant he was freed up to fly more often, and more importantly, spend more time with his family.
He credits this increase in deals and revenue to the support he received from our team.
Taking Us Under Their Wings…
One of the benefits of RealEstateInvestor.com’s Managed Services is having a team to back you up and help you grow. The way we see it here is that we’re only successful if our members are successful.
A team is exactly what Tyler needed in early 2019 when his corporate pilot position was temporarily furloughed.
To Tyler, this meant that every penny brought in from his real estate investment business would need to count and cover more. This is when Tyler was able to see a different side of our business…
Tyler shared about how RealEstateInvestor.com founder Gary Boomershine consistently told members that if they needed help, all they had to do was ask him. So that’s exactly what Tyler did…
I went to Gary and said, Here I am… I need your help Tyler shares about going to Gary for help in growing his real estate business further, hoping to offset the lost revenue from his payroll as a corporate pilot.
Tyler wasn’t sure how or in what way Gary would help him above and beyond what was already being done by RealEstateInvestor.com. He was blown away by what happened next…
They’ve been so good to us at RealEstateInvestor.com. Gary and Julia and everyone there… They just took us under their wings. Gary was like, let me help you with some of these deals. We really want you guys to succeed. Tyler shared.
Gary took the time to talk through Tyler’s business goals with him, and even walked through his pending deals one by one, personally helping him negotiate better spreads from the sellers and buyers he was working with on some wholesale deals.
Tyler shared about one of the most impactful memories of this time being when Gary helped him with a complicated deal where an out of state seller was trying to help her in-laws sell their rental home to pay for her father-in-laws medical bills that had been piling up.
Throughout the course of several months, they had to figure out how to give the tenants notice to move, how to negotiate a power of attorney and a trust that was being challenged due to several medical conditions, and then they had to navigate the loss of her father-in-law during that waiting period.
It was an emotional mess and the seller had already been given the run around by another investor before she turned to Tyler to help pen the deal. But, both Gary and Tyler worked with her to help make it happen and negotiated a beneficial deal for all parties involved.
The seller was so grateful for their service that she offered to do a customer testimonial for Tyler’s business.
Gary recommended that Tyler take her up on the testimonial offer and suggested that he get on a plane to go film it, but Tyler had a different plan…
Tyler rented a plane and personally flew up to Kansas to meet the seller at the Title Company, making the closing easier for her.
Real Estate Investors Have The Opportunity To Make A Difference.
From Gary taking Tyler under his wings and helping him renegotiate and navigate a bigger deal, to Tyler sticking in there with the grieving seller and flying up to her state to finalize the deal… Both of these amazing real estate entrepreneurs are great examples of what it looks like to go above and beyond for customers. Something that real estate investors have the opportunity to do on a daily basis.
Tyler’s example with the seller in Kansas was also a great example of being patient with leads. You can’t assume that the deal isn’t going to happen if they don’t sell right away. Working with sellers is all about relationship selling, and that takes time. You can’t give up if a seller isn’t ready to move today, because they might be ready to move tomorrow or next month. Keep following up, being helpful, and it can pay off.
There’s so much value that a real estate investor can bring to the community. – Tyler Amburn shares.
Being in wholesale real estate hasn’t always been easy for Tyler. He recalls the ugly side of the business, having had doors slammed in his face before getting his message to homeowners facing foreclosure. But knowing he’s helping people has made investing as rewarding as it has been profitable.
Like with any sales career, there’s always the people who will talk trash to you. Tell you off, thinking you’re bottom feeders, scum of the earth, all because they don’t like that you called them or that they got your mailers. But it’s the people who you get to help avoid foreclosures, or bankruptcies, or offload a home of a loved one who passed away that makes all of the difference. We really are in this industry to help people. Sure, we want to make a healthy profit along the way. But, it’s the little things that we’re able to do for people that count. – Tyler shares.
Well said Tyler!
When You Can Be A Hero.
Not everyone opens up and tells you the entire situation they are in, but when they do, we might just get that opportunity to help a neighbor in our community. Tyler shares when noting a recent deal he made in Denton, Texas where an elderly homeowner admittedly she had no central heating unit.
During the inspection, Tyler realized that this elderly homeowner who was trying to sell her home due to financial concerns, was utilizing her stovetop on cold nights to provide her with heat. She was sleeping on a nearby couch in an effort to simply stay warm during the cold Texas nights.
With nights dipping below freezing on the regular, Tyler and his wife knew that stove wasn’t nearly enough to give her the warmth she needed. So they took it upon themselves to provide her with a space heater to get her through the cold nights until the closing of her home.
And that wasn’t all they did to help her…
This seller was trying to move into her daughter’s home to drastically cut her expenses back. When she requested an extended move out date of her existing home, Tyler dug a little deeper. He soon learned that her new home wouldn’t have a fenced-in yard, which would be a necessity for her in order to keep her dog safe from coyotes since it was out in the middle of the countryside. But, she couldn’t afford to build the fence until the sale was completed. Leaving her at a standstill.
As part of the deal, you always try to find what the issues are… Because they rarely tell you everything. So after you get down the road, there’s a roadblock… and oh, there’s another roadblock! – Tyler shares.
In this case, he had to dig deep to get to the real issue of why she was pushing her move out date further.
After understanding her problem, Tyler offered a solution and fronted her the money to build a fence at her daughter’s property. It was a win-win for everyone. The new owners were able to take occupancy immediately after closing, and the seller could safely move her pet into their new home.
Another great job Tyler!
Tyler is spot on about real estate investors having the opportunity to make a difference in their communities.
We Asked Tyler About What He Likes About Our Company…
RealEstateInvestor.com is different from other businesses out there…. Not everyone realizes that. And not all companies have the same philosophy. – Tyler shares, and continues by adding:
“RealEstateInvestor.com surrounds themselves with like-minded individuals. They’re good Christian people. There are a lot of gurus in this business, that are all about the hustle and the grind, but RealEstateInvestor.com provides support in many areas such as marketing and coaching, bringing even more value to their members. “
Thank you for the kind words Tyler!
Being different from many of the companies out there is a huge part of our corporate mission. Everyone on our team has a genuine heart to help real estate investors succeed in their businesses. We have many people working behind the scenes ready to help our members when they need it.
Does Tyler have any tips or recommendations for real estate investors?
Looking ahead at what this year might continue to bring with it, Tyler suggests that real estate investors start marketing more. Making connections and following up now will create relationships today that could turn into sales later.
Everyone is at a different point in the sales timeline. Some need more contact points before they are ready to sell. You have to have a system and process to follow up with them, and you should automate it with a platform like RealEstateInvestor.com’s Grow CRM… It’s taken me years to figure out that I was giving up way too early on my leads… You just never know where sellers are on the timeline, so automation is key.
According to Tyler, some sales cycles last a long time, noting he’s had some last several months. And with the current economic situation we are in, developing trust today is important down the road when prices drop and people are desperate to sell before they face foreclosures. Here’s what he shares about his prediction for the future market and how investors need to be prepared for it:
People will start fireselling their properties and then prices will likely drop. This makes investment profits greater for real estate investors who stay in the game, following up with their leads consistently and methodically.
We agree with Tyler. After all, historically this is a common occurrence when there’s events that shake the world and the economy.
Our REIgnyte Grow Platform makes the process of staying in touch with sellers easier for real estate investors.
It can even save investors a lot of their hard earned money…
Big Savings By Having A System That Does It All.
We’ll close Tyler’s spotlight article with the exciting news he shared with us. THIS was incredibly exciting for our team as this is one of the “why’s” behind what we do, and our future goals for our company.
By switching to RealEstateInvestor.com’s Grow Platform and Property List Manager from using multiple different peripheral vendors, I was able to save more than $3,000 per month! – Tyler shares enthusiastically.
Wowza!
That’s a savings of $36,000 a year!!! We were so surprised by this news that we actually waited a few months to share Tyler’s story. We wanted to make sure he calculated correctly, and it turns out he definitely did.
We asked Tyler if he would recommend our products and services to other real estate investors and here’s what he shared with us…
In today’s technology world, you don’t want to go to one site for one feature and link to another site for a different business need. That’s what makes REI the perfect platform. RealEstateInvestor.com is heads and shoulders over others… They really knocked it out of the park… They absolutely crushed it. – Tyler Amburn, Real Estate Investor, 3 Year Member With RealEstateInvestor.com.