Author: Gary Boomershine

Taking his new interest in business seriously, Arun pursued an MBA from the University of California – San Diego Rady School of Management.

With clients contracting him to help with their marketing needs, Arun started a consulting business which he still runs today. 

Arun’s Experience In Real Estate Investing

Arun, who owns several rental properties, tells us he began investing long before joining RealEstateInvestor.com. While he is not interested in creative financing or buying homes to flip, he believes rental properties are a good way to maintain a passive income for his personal needs. Here’s what he shared on the subject.

I’m not an active investor. I’m not into the creative financing options or flipping homes, like many of my other team members do. I bought a couple of places and rented them out for cash flow.

What Arun Loves About Working At RealEstateInvestor.com

Working for a company with passionate visionaries is one of the best things about working at RealEstateInvestor.com according to Arun. The passion our visionaries have and share with their team is important to Arun, who appreciates that they are not only focused on how each person fits into their role within the company but whether they are happy doing so. 

We agree with Arun as this personal interest taken by leadership has proven that RealEstateInvestor.com is people-centric, part of our important company values. 

I love the passion we get from our visionaries Gary and Robert, and from the top down. Everybody is super interested in not only growing the business but cultivating the team. This doesn’t mean making sure everyone has a title. Instead, the goal is to make sure that each team member has a role and responsibilities that fit into the machine we are building, and that we are happy doing what we do. – Arun Srinivasan, Marketing Director at RealEstateInvestor.com shares.

An Interesting Marketing Tip From Arun…

When asked if Arun had marketing advice for our members, he told us to test ideas. Results are often unpredictable, but most ideas are worth testing. 

“Whatever ideas you want to roll out, test them. You never know until you see what people react to. Sometimes bad-looking ads perform better than professional looking ones.” Arun shares.

So there you have it… Sometimes those funny-looking ads with pictures that look like they were candidly taken with a cell phone actually outperform the professional ones. So if you ever run across one of our ads with a candid pic like Gary and Robert wrestling, you’ll have that extra insight on why we chose it.

Shawn made a few calls, participated in meetups, and networked in order to find connections with buyers who might be interested in fixer upper properties. However, funny enough, he ended up locating a buyer on the basketball court — a friend he would shoot hoops with. 

After closing on that first deal and making $10,000, Shawn was on his way and determined to keep going after this new dream of his.

That set me on the path. I realized ‘it works.’ I just needed to figure out a way to make it work for me. Shawn shared when talking about how he was successful at closing his first wholesale real estate deal while still working his full-time teaching job.

But, life has a way of interrupting well-made plans…

If anything, this year has taught us all that life has a way of mixing things up. 

For Shawn, this meant postponing his real estate investing career… For good reasons of course. 

In 2016, Shawn married his wife who’s also a teacher. From there they had many “firsts” together. They then moved to Delaware, where both of them took new teaching positions at a charter school. They even bought their first house together— a ‘fixer-upper’ that he and his wife renovated to make their home. And to top everything off, they welcomed their first child together in 2017, a son. 

When Business “Sputters Along.” 

Even though real estate investing wasn’t his priority at the time, it was always top of mind for Shawn. 

Once all of the new changes settled down some, Shawn said things fired up again later that year. Even though he was still teaching, he still found time and ways to locate properties and buyers. He placed ads, made cold calls, and kept lists. He sent out a few mailings when he had extra money, and managed to set up 2 deals that he closed in the early part of 2018. 

Despite the new deals, as Shawn put it, he “sputtered along” in his business. He didn’t have a strategy for marketing or follow-up, and without consistency, his results were low.

Around that same time, Shawn heard of RealEstateInvestor.com. He let us know during his interview that he kept his eye on us while trying to pursue investing on his own throughout the latter part of 2018.

After learning more about us at an event, and talking to our team, Shawn felt fairly confident that Realestateinvestor.com held the potential answer to his issue with consistency in his business. He also saw how our Managed Services would allow him to have the time freedom he desired and needed as a full-time teacher, a new husband, and a new dad. 

After mapping out how much our Managed Services would cost, the marketing budget he’d need to invest to get the leads to pay for it, and estimating the ROI he could achieve if sellers were screened and sent ready to book an appointment with him, Shawn was convinced that he needed to give us a shot. So he made a plan to sign on with us after he closed his next deal…

The Difference “Done For You” Makes…

Shawn’s “next deal” was a longer sales process than usual, taking one year from the initial conversation with the buyer to the point he was finally ready to sell. And soon after Shawn closed that deal, he became a Managed Services Member with us at RealEstateInvestor.com. 

Shawn shared with us that joining RealEstateInvestor.com in the middle of 2018 was one of the best decisions he ever made. Suddenly he had leads coming in and all he had to do was make the calls and close the deals. 

Having “done for you” services was a game changer for Shawn. No longer did he have to worry about marketing, finding sellers, cold-calling, inbound call answering, talking to tire kickers, getting hung up on, the list of benefits goes on…

I had the leads coming in. I had everything I needed. It was a matter of doing it at that point. And since my money was on the line every month, I had that built in accountability of consistently talking to sellers and closing deals to pay for it. And of course, making a profit was great. – Shawn shares in regards to our Managed Services Membership. 

Shawn admits that he never felt successful closing just one deal a year when he was doing the marketing and everything else on his own. But, ever since he came onboard with us, he’s been closing one deal per month! He even kept this pace during the close down earlier in 2020 due to Covid. 

Let’s See The Numbers!

We asked Shawn for a breakdown of what his deals looked like prior to joining our Managed Services. The numbers speak for themselves.

2014- Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and started driving for dollars. (No Deals)

2015- Closed his first deal in the Spring and made $10,000. (2 Deals)

2016- The year of his first — lots of life changes. (No Deals) 

2017- Fired business back up mid year, set up deals for 2018. (No Deals)

2018- Closed two deals early, and started working with a seller on a deal. (2 Deals)

January 2019 to June 2019- Closed that carry over deal. (1 Deal) 

June 2019- Shawn used that deal assignment fee to sign up with our Managed Services.

July 2019- December 2019- Closed 8 deals Using our Managed Services! (8 deals!) 

2020- Shawn has averaged at least 1 deal a month even during the pandemic. (Estimated to close 12 deals by year end, including 1 rental and 1 seller financed deal.) 

You have to want it. – Shawn Kostoff shares about real estate.

What sets Shawn apart from many other people who decided to try real estate investing is that he has the drive and dedication to make wholesaling a success. These are two things that are consistent key success indicators that we see in our members, as well as others outside of our services in the industry.

Here’s what Shawn shared about this:

Everyone says they want to be their own boss, but then when it happens, you’re the only one holding yourself accountable. 

And according to Shawn, you don’t need a fancy title or even a website to be a real estate investor. It simply comes down to doing the work. 

Shawn Weighs In On His Predictions Of The Future Market…

Shawn and his wife live in Delaware, where the market is still going strong. According to him, properties in need of fixing up are going quickly once they hit the market, where they frequently have multiple offers. 

The market here is still super-hot. There’s a low supply of properties right now, and a high demand for them.  Shawn shares in regards to what he’s seeing in the market right now during the late summer months in Delaware.

Shawn recognizes that the market could change quickly especially for people who are currently taking advantage of unemployment benefits. Once that runs out, Shawn predicts there could be an oversupply of properties as people begin selling their homes. 

Today, however, that’s not the situation. 

Does Shawn have plans to pivot his strategy as the market changes?

The short answer is “yes.” 

Shawn tells us he will continue wholesaling and will consider ‘buy and hold’ properties as the market shifts. He also told us he has a network of private investors and will look at creative financing options as well. 

We are playing out several scenarios… trying to decide if it makes sense to buy cheap and rent, or continue wholesaling. I’ll steer away from fix and flip properties. I’m more of a fast nickel or slow dime investor. – Shawn Kostoff shares his investment strategy as the market changes. 

What Does Shawn Love About Our Managed Services?

We asked Shawn what’s his favorite thing about our services. 

Emphatically, Shawn said,“it works.” 

Your Managed Services have been a saving grace for my business. – Shawn Kostoff shares on having RealEstateInvestor.com support. 

Having done all the legwork himself in the past, Shawn has an appreciation for the behind the scenes tasks that our team does to get the real leads into investor hands. 

Without having to worry about direct mailings or software, Shawn can focus on talking to sellers and finding more deals to close. 

I love how hands off the day-to-day aspect of it is. I don’t have to worry about the backend stuff or about pulling lists. I don’t have to worry about mailing postcards or letters. I don’t have to worry about technology or the software part of it. RealEstateInvestor.com’s Managed Services allows me to do the important stuff… The stuff that I actually want to do. I want to talk to the sellers and close deals. That was the biggest thing holding me back before. Now it’s game on. – Real Estate Investor Shawn Kostoff shares.

The RealEstateInvestor.com Difference And Advice From Shawn.

While Shawn recommends new investors jump in and become Managed Service Members since he knows it works, he also cautions investors to be prepared to do the work. Here’s what he says: 

It’s not an easy, get-rich-quick thing. People aren’t throwing their houses at you at huge discounts. But it’s not complicated, either. If you follow the steps, do the work, and are consistent, you’ll have success.

Shawn noted how he had gone into the membership thinking he would only talk to our team leaders about how his business was doing once every few months here at RealEstateInvestor.com. 

But, that isn’t the way we do things. After all, we only have success if our members succeed. 

Shawn tells us that RealEstateInvestor.com really over delivered, boasting how he talks to his team lead more frequently than once a quarter for account reviews. In fact, they jump on calls, review numbers, and he gets the answers he needs as often as he needs. 

Our Member Success Directors are real estate investors themselves, and they’re always willing to give advice, tips, and they’re ready to share what’s working in other areas around the country. If they don’t have an answer, they keep going until they find it. 

Ultimately, everyone on our team truly cares about helping our members succeed. 

This sometimes even means turning down prospective members if they’re misinformed about what we offer, or if we can see that they won’t succeed with us. Typically this is if someone is looking for easy money, and not willing to put in the work. 

We don’t offer any false illusions or get rich quick schemes here. After all, the last thing we want is to have someone sign on as a member, close zero deals while using our services because they aren’t working them, waste their money, and then be mad at us. We’re very honest and forthright when it comes to that, and those are some of the many things that Shawn appreciates about our services. 

They really care. I’m super happy with the services. – Shawn shared when closing our interview call. 

Finding Financial Independence Is In Shawn’s Future.

When Shawn’s not teaching or working on his real estate business he loves playing outdoors with his two children and spending time with his wife. 

What does the future look like for Shawn and his young family? 

Shawn and his wife, who are both teachers with a growing young family have a goal to be financially independent. If Shawn can maintain one deal per month, they think they can reach their goal in the next few years. 

Next year, Shawn says he expects to double his marketing budget and double his profits as well. This goal if hit would allow him to become a full-time real estate investor. From there, the sky’s the limit for Shawn and his family! And, with two children and a third child on the way, Shawn hopes to spend more time with his family, which looks very feasible at this point. 

Shawn’s Future Is Bright, We Think Yours Will Be Too!

We want to thank Shawn for allowing us to put him in the spotlight this month. We have no doubt that he’ll reach his goal of financial independence and we plan to help him reach that goal of becoming a full-time real estate investor sooner rather than later. 

If you’re interested in learning more about our products and services that can grow with you as your real estate business grows, we would love to start the conversation. We invite you to click on the bright green “Get Started” button at the top right corner here on our website. This will prompt us to set up a meeting with you and one of our member success team members can help you determine if our products or services are a good fit for helping you grow your business.

I love doing this job. It has never become monotonous for me. – Shimpy shares.

While we do have an office in New Delhi, India where Shimpy lives, her position allows her to work remotely from home like many people are doing this year. And with a 12½-hour time difference to the United States Pacific time zone, Shimpy often works well into the evening making working from home a huge workplace perk for her.

Learning More About Shimpy Gaur…

As a child, Shimpy wanted to be a doctor when she grew up because she wanted to help people, but as she progressed further along in her studies she ended up falling in love with numbers. 

Opting to study accounting instead of science, Shimpy has been doing what she loves, helping people, and more specifically, RealEstateInvestor.com members. 

I love helping people. I love talking to them. – She shares.

We asked Shimpy where she sees herself in five years and she shared that she sees herself working and growing with our company. With a genuine desire to grow her skillset and her career, she’s eager to take on more responsibilities as she continues to learn and grow in her career at RealEstateInvestor.com. 

Since many of our team members are real estate investors themselves, we asked Shimpy if she’s had the opportunity to learn real estate investing and if she plans to utilize that knowledge in the New Delhi marketplace where she lives. 

Shimpy let us know that there are a lot of differences between the U.S. Market and the market in India, but she’s still taking advantage of all she’s learning about real estate. Here’s what she shared on that:

Everything I’ve learned about real estate I learned from working at RealEstateInvestor.com and with our members. The training and what y’all do for members is unlike what we have here in our market. I feel like it’s definitely given me the opportunity to learn a skill set I wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere. I hope that one day Munish and I will be able to build some investments here in the future as well.

Sometimes getting involved in family business pays off…

Family is a big part of our “Why” behind what we do at RealEstateInvestor.com, and to Shimpy it’s equally as important. That’s why working beside her husband Munish Gaur, our Member Success Director, was a special opportunity for this couple. 

While Shimpy and Munish have been REI colleagues for two years since he onboarded with us, they’re not new to working at the same company together. In fact, that’s exactly how they met 13+ years ago when they worked together for a different company. Riding in the same carpool and working together gave them time to build a friendship and as Shimpy put it, they were quite “impressed with each other.” 

How did this couple end up dating you might ask? 

Well, that’s a funny story…

Shimpy had mentioned Munish a few times around her family throughout the course of them working together. Enough so that her mom decided the two would need a bit of a push… 

With a desire to see her daughter happy and settled down, Shimpy’s mother, and personal matchmaker so it seems, secretly searched Shimpy’s phone contacts to get Munish’s phone number unbeknownst to Shimpy. Her mom later contacted Munish to make a behind the scenes introduction, and the rest became history.

Shimpy shared that she should have known something was going on with the strange question Munish asked her one day when carpooling to work while they were still “just friends” and co-workers.

Munish had asked her if he should get her mother a gift if they ever met in person. This of course confused Shimpy briefly, but Munish quickly realized what he let slip and swiftly changed the subject. 

It wasn’t until later that Shimpy learned about her mother intervening. Turns out, her mom had spoken to Munish multiple times and the family had even met with him and interviewed him well before Munish even asked Shimpy on their first date! 

The interview went well of course! 

More in love with each other today than when they first got married thirteen years ago, both Munish and Shimpy are grateful for her mother’s secret matchmaking.

Everything happens for a good reason.  Shimpy shares the exact same sentiment that her husband shared with us during his team spotlight interview.

Shimpy considers herself fortunate to have found a partner with similar interests as hers and one her family adores. She jokes how her family might even love Munish more than they love her. (We doubt that!)

Becoming new parents on the brink of a major pandemic…

During our interview Shimpy shared about becoming a new mom on the brink of a major pandemic. 

Going back to her belief that everything happens for a good reason, Shimpy went into labor with her daughter a month early, which also happened to be a month before New Delhi issued COVID-19 Stay At Home orders. 

While delivering a baby early was a little scary and quite a big surprise, she was grateful that her family got to meet her daughter, whom they affectionately call Cookie, at the hospital before the lockdown began. 

What does Shimpy like to do in her spare time?

Shimpy, who has an energetic personality, loves to travel and is grateful Munish loves it as much as she does. She joked that they would not have lasted together if he did not. 

For Shimpy, travel is also about learning the culture.

We love, love, love to travel! We don’t go on a vacation and rush it. We can’t cover a new city or state in a short amount of time, so we stay there for a month or several weeks at a time. That’s one of the best things about both being able to work remote from anywhere in the world. – Shimpy says. 

When traveling, Shimpy says her laptop is always nearby. They prefer to spend a few weeks at a destination spot when they travel, opting to rent an Airbnb from other real estate investors around the world. This gives them the opportunity to truly experience the culture and enjoy their destination as well as keep on top of their work.

Shrimpy’s favorite destination is Macau, which is considered the Las Vegas of Asia. She admits that both she and Munish enjoy gambling and playing the slot machines, so when they travel to Macau they barely use their hotel room, opting to spend as much time in the casinos as they can. 

Fortunately, lady luck is on their side because Shimpy and Munish have yet to walk away from a casino in the red, something that doesn’t happen much here in the states. With winnings every time, it’s no wonder this lucky couple loves to hit the casinos! 

Besides traveling, Shimpy loves spending time with her family. With so many of their extended family members living nearby, celebrating holidays and special occasions together often turns into great celebrations that can last for days at times. From weddings that span across multiple days, to holidays and celebrations that draw captivated crowds from all over the world, Shimpy said that people know how to celebrate life in India. 

Speaking of celebrations, Shimpy shared with us about the Raksha Bandhan celebration that took place a few weeks ago, a celebration that celebrates the bond of family, and the bond between brother and sister. During the festivities, the sisters in the family tie a band around their brother’s wrist, and the brother takes an oath to always support her whenever she’s in need. 

This year marked Shimpy and Munish’s first celebration of this festival with their daughter Cookie. While they’re saddened that they didn’t get to experience the festival in it’s normal liveliness due to the coronavirus restrictions, their family still made the most of it. They even ordered a special traditional Indian dress and a tiara for Cookie to wear during their family celebration. They all looked quite stunning! 

“Dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep.” —Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (The 11th President of India) 

We’ll close this spotlight article by sharing Shimpy’s favorite quote. This is a quote that Shimpy said she has followed in her day to day life consistently since 2010. Here’s what this daily mantra that Shimpy lives by means to her personally. 

“This mantra speaks to me as I read it as having a goal in life that drives you towards achieving something meaningful. Something that makes an impact. I am passionate about my work and having a life where I am valued for what I do, while also having a wonderful life with my family at home. I have this on the top of my head all the time as it’s a mantra and goal that keeps driving me forward. I have literally followed this in my day to day life since 2010.” 

Thank you Shimpy! 

Thank you Shimpy for taking the time to open up and allowing us to spotlight you as one of our valuable tenured team members. We’re fortunate to have you as part of our team!

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.

As a kid, I heard the phrase “save for a rainy day,” every time I wanted to spend my allowance on candy. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in hearing this common statement, and boy oh boy were those adults right….

But the truth of the matter is that Americans have more debt and less cash reserves today than ever in our history. 

According to studies, only 40% of Americans can afford a $1,000 emergency, and 78% of us live paycheck to paycheck. With over $14 trillion in consumer debt, it’s no wonder that many Americans have little or no cash reserves.

The recent pandemic crisis reinforced the need for Americans, and businesses, to have cash reserves for these “rainy days.”

Financial experts have recommended having a savings of at least three, and preferably, six months on hand. This would allow you to pay bills and afford your mortgage should you lose your job unexpectedly.

The same holds true for businesses…

According to a 2016 study by JP Morgan Chase, only half of all small businesses hold cash reserves to support them for 27 days. With the recent economic situation, 21% of these businesses would fail without some sort of government relief.

Is Your Business Able To Weather An Economic Storm?

As a real estate investor, you may not think cash reserves are necessary or even possible. After all, real estate is a cash-intensive investment. To purchase properties, you need cash. Any cash on hand is utilized for the next investment. 

Even with no-cash down deals, properties may need to be repaired or upgraded which will require the cash you have. Seems virtually impossible to have reserves. But having a financial strategy that includes a cash reserve is critical for times like these.

Many real estate investors have the mindset that their investments are separate from each other. In reality, they should see themselves as a Real Estate Investment Company with a portfolio of properties. And like all companies, real estate investment firms, need cash and cash equivalents to be sustainable during tough economic times.

Experts suggest having 5-10% of your assets in cash or cash equivalents. As your portfolio grows, your risk will be diluted by being spread across more properties. Your cash percentage could then drop slightly, though you should aim to cover basic expenses for a period of three to six months.

If you’re having trouble building this type of emergency fund, then I highly recommend you shift your real estate investment strategy to wholesaling. Wholesaling is a strategy we love here at RealEstateInvestor.com since it mitigates your risk as an investor, and the barrier to entry is much less than purchasing a property outright. 

We help real estate investors build successful and sustainable businesses around wholesaling all the time. 

Don’t take my word for it, read their stories here: 

How REIgnyte Managed Services Helped This Couple Scale from 2 Deals to 23 Deals in 7 Months. 

Real Estate Opportunities Explode For Young Investors: How RealEstateInvestor.com Helped This 21 Year Old Launch A Successful Real Estate Investing Business Around Wholesaling.

By working a wholesaling strategy, you can set aside a percentage of each deal to build up the cash reserves necessary to be prepared for economic storms. 

But first, let’s finish talking about building your cash reserves…

Where Should You Start When Trying To Build Cash Reserves?

So now that you understand the importance of building cash reserves, where do you start?

The idea of starting from nothing can seem daunting. Saving can be difficult for many people. To be successful, you must be willing to defer gratification.

What does that mean?

It means you don’t buy that sports car or take that exotic island vacation. Resist the temptation to reward yourself and learn to live frugally. 

Imagine your employer gave you a $5,000 raise. If you were living a comfortable lifestyle before this pay increase, there’s no need to change anything. Skip the expensive jewelry and designer suits. Save your extra earnings and you’ll be on your way to having cash reserves.

If you don’t have any savings today, you must first start with an emergency fund. Save $1,000 to $2,000. Then pay off bad debt such as high-interest credit cards that drain your income each month and give you nothing in return. 

Lastly, start saving and investing. Once you have some cash saved, consider investing in money markets or other cash equivalents that you can liquidate quickly when needed, yet still earn you a small return. 

If financial freedom is a top priority for you….

Financial Freedom is incredibly important to me, and as such, I always advocate real estate investors building their emergency funds first before starting to invest in real estate. 

When it comes to putting the cash into building your business, there’s no getting around the need to invest in things like marketing, lead generation, and the systems and services you need to operate your business wisely. 

But, remember being cash poor at the beginning of your investment career is expected, but it should not be a permanent way of life.

Recognize that establishing cash reserves may take time. But you need to be proactive with your financial decisions and follow your business plan

If you do this and act wisely, soon you will have the reserves needed for that next rainy day.

Seems hard to believe the global economy could be shut down overnight…Yet it happened.

There’s no wonder then why people are speculating about how the future will look when it comes to anything related to the housing market. We recently weighed in on this in our article titled— Should You Invest In Real Estate Post Coronavirus? 

Today, we want to look at what the future of the ibuyer movement looks like after Covid-19, and how this will impact real estate agents and investors alike. 

Let’s dive in…

The Growing iBuyer Movement

When iBuying companies like Redfin and Zillow ceased purchasing homes a few months back, we weren’t surprised. Suddenly they had excess inventory on hand and the market had fewer buyers. Home sales took a downturn. So did home listings. Consumer confidence had fallen to the lowest level since 2011, according to Fannie Mae.

Even though iBuyers represented a small portion of the real-estate market, that share has been growing steadily over the past several years. 

While some real estate authorities perceive the iBuyer movement to be negative, we prefer to look at it as a tide shifter. Especially when it comes to the perceived value of below market cash offers. 

With the rise of the iBuyer movement, homeowners have been becoming steadily more receptive to the value that instant cash offers provides them with over that of a traditional listing. 

There are many benefits to taking a below market cash offer, including flexible moving terms, a guaranteed sale, not having to make necessary repairs, and not having to maintain a show-ready home during the selling period—or during a pandemic—to name just a few.

Sound familiar? 

If these benefits ring a bell or if they sound familiar it’s because these are the same benefits that real estate investors like us have been offering sellers for years. The iBuyer movement is simply making this more recognized on a broader scale, bringing many of the traditional sellers into the fold, whereas real estate investors typically are in the business of helping sellers in need.

With that all said, the coronavirus pandemic is still hanging around, and talks of second and third waves remain in the headlines. While it’s still a bit shaky for many, people are still moving and that means the iBuyers are back in play.

iBuying Firm’s Return To The Market In Time For The Summer.

It’s the summer and the buying and selling season has already restarted despite the ever-shifting societal climate. Alongside it, the big iBuyer firms have resumed their programs. Which is a reminder that if you’re not in the game right now, you need to jump back in asap. 

There’s no guarantee when it comes to the speed of economic recovery in our nation, but we do see signs that Americans are re-entering the housing market. Buyer demand is on the rise and with inventory levels down 25% year-after-year, many real estate entrepreneurs, including the big iBuyers are ready to take a risk again. 

While listings are down, buyer inquiries are still going strong despite the coronavirus sticking around. In fact, buyers now have more online tools than ever to help them tour homes, making the starting point easier than ever before. And since the big firms are back in play, that’s further proof that buyer demand is likely going to continue it’s rise…

What’s Driving Housing Demand Right Now? 

Owning a home has been the American dream since well before the iconic jingle, “baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie.” Many people aspire to homeownership, but not everyone can afford it. The recent pandemic and rise in unemployment may make ownership unattainable especially for those most impacted.

Experts agree there has already been an affordability issue. Markets like New York and San Francisco are expensive, making ownership virtually impossible for the working class.

As a result, we have already seen a movement out of major cities.

Besides consumer wariness about living in close quarters, the coronavirus outbreak has seen an acceptance in employees working-from-home.

Employers that previously refused this flexibility were forced into allowing it when offices were shut down. Now they are seeing productivity from employees without having to lease office space. If employers continue to allow staff to work-from-home, employees will no longer need to live in expensive cities and pay premium prices for housing.

With people moving to less expensive markets, housing demand will increase.

What about secondary markets like vacation rentals?

This market has already been significantly impacted. We talk about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on vacation rental owners in this article here.

In short, the vacation rental market was largely built on the ability for owners to have someone else pay their mortgage(s). Websites like Airbnb and VRBO put renters in touch with owners, making ownership desirable. But when travel halted, investors without reserves to weather the storm, were immediately affected. These owners may be looking to liquidate. They could easily look to iBuying websites to help them unload properties fast.

Does this mean that iBuying websites will be more popular post pandemic?

With fewer in-person interactions, you could reasonably assume iBuying options would become more popular than the traditional selling process. But according to some experts and some of the recent moves by big iBuying Firms, that may not be the case…

While homeowners may be more anxious to sell, especially if they were financially impacted by the pandemic, offers from iBuying firms may not be as high as in the past. This might make those lower offers less appealing to sellers under normal circumstances, unless they have a personal need to move out quickly. 

In this case, iBuyer Firms could be looking at fewer sellers overall, especially if they were targeting the average homeowner. 

This doesn’t mean they’re in trouble though. Like most big businesses, they have an uncanny way of adapting to new market changes…

How The Big iBuyers Are Adapting To A Post Coronavirus Market.

Companies are in business to make a profit. If the market poses a risk to investors who plan to resell quickly, these projected costs will need to be calculated into their offer.

According to Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, homeowners could see lower offers from iBuying firms. Planning for a greater margin of error than the pre-coronavirus era is necessary, and iBuyers will be more cautious. It’s one thing to take a loss on a single home but having hundreds of properties in the same market could be financially detrimental.

But, lower offers aren’t the only expected change…

These iBuying firms may be more selective in what they opt to purchase as well. 

Properties with extensive repair needs may be passed up. Structural problems, asbestos, or mold could take months to be fixed before the property could be resold. This not only adds costs for maintenance, but leaves the iBuyer firm vulnerable to the market when the property is finally ready to be listed. This is not a risk iBuying firms will likely be willing to take moving forward.

That’s not all… 

There’s another significant move that some of the biggest iBuyers are making in this post pandemic marketplace…

Two Big iBuyers Launched Traditional Brokerage Listing Services…

While many iBuyers are shifting their strategies and instituting new features in this ever changing marketplace, two of the biggest iBuying firms launched traditional brokerage listing services recently. This has been a pretty lowkey move and a telling sign of what’s in store…

While it hasn’t gained a whole lot of attention, both Offerpad and Opendoor launched their own traditional brokerage listing services recently. 

You might be wondering why these big firms would take the traditional route…

By taking measures to merge their digital services with a traditional service, these big iBuying firms are able to cover even more ground in the real estate marketplace. And now that they can make any of the moves that traditional real estate brokers can make, their competitive advantage is only going to keep on growing. 

What does this mean to you? 

More Than Ever, Real Estate Agents Need To Compete Or Be Eaten Alive By These Mega iBuyers…

We’ve seen it happen time and time again. From big box stores to online mega retailers, the road to growing and dominating a competitive marketplace can become a battlefield. But you don’t have to be a casualty of war when it comes to playing the real estate game. 

How do small businesses and individual entrepreneurs maintain footing when the giants start paving over everyone in their way? 

They fight back. In this case, they stay relevant and stay ahead of the curve. 

That Means You Need To Adapt Your Strategy.

As iBuyers move into the traditional world, real estate agents are going to have to fight even harder for their share of the marketplace. Our Managed Service solution can help you stay ahead of the curve. 

We’ve helped real estate brokers and agents build and manage their iBuying businesses without having to sacrifice their time or their traditional business model. In fact, we can even help realtors get more qualified traditional leads in the door. 

Our solutions can enhance your business, give you diversified revenue and massive leverage, and help you find freedom in your business. All without having to hire a single person. 

Sounds too good to be true? Let us prove it.

More than ever you have to stay one step ahead and keep your eyes open to opportunities. We’ve helped powerhouse real estate agents and brokers like Erik Hatch of Hatch Realty and Jeff Cohn of kwELITE with their iBuying platforms. And we want to help you. 

Learn, Take Action, Adapt, and Succeed. 

If you want to learn more about the iBuyer movement and the value of adding a “done for you” iBuyer platform to your real estate business, we invite youto read this interview with Erik Hatch about offering sellers a first class selling experience, and this interview with Jeff Cohn on why real estate agents should be in the business of offering solutions. 

At the end of the day…

The big iBuyer firms are in full swing AND they’re adapting.

Munish also credits his wife with introducing him to RealEstateInvestor.com when a position opened that was the perfect fit for him. After several lengthy interviews, including an hour long interview with founder Gary Boomershine, the team agreed with Shimpy, Munish was a perfect fit.

An offer was made and the rest is history. 

Life Of A Team Member Working With RealEstateInvestor.com

Working with like-minded individuals is important to Munish who is just one member of the RealEstateInvestor.com team located in India. Though there is an office in New Delhi, Munish mostly works from home. It allows him to be more productive and has given him the flexibility to spend extra time with family, including his newborn daughter that he affectionately calls Cookie.

Being part of a team is critical, according to Munish who is responsible for escalation and client retention. He admits to spending considerable time each day on calls with his team. Munish feels it is important to connect with people. He’s managed teams of up to 100 associates, so you could say he’s a bit of a “people person.”

Everybody has a story. – Munish Gaur shares about why he loves helping people. 

Teams composed of people with different backgrounds teach us many things. Everyone is different. They are different types of people with different cultures, and even different kinds of food. This diversity helps individuals learn and see other viewpoints. Munish finds this fascinating and part of why he loves working with our company.

There’s a lot that one can learn from working in teams. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and diverse cultures. If we keep our ears and eyes open, we can actually learn and be a better self. – Munish Gaur shares about the importance of diversity in company culture.

What Munish Wishes Every Real Estate Investor Knew…

Relying on your RealEstateInvestor.com team to help you learn and grow your business is key. However, according to Munish, not all members take advantage of all of the tools offered.

Training is one of the things that Munish believes sets RealEstateInvestor.com apart from many of the other companies on the market today. This includes the free training we provide on our Real Estate Investor Facebook Page, in our REI Beacon Facebook Group, and through our REI Huddle Podcast.

With the ability to have free access to so many resources, including experts who are making 7-figures in real estate today, in this market, real estate entrepreneurs have the keys to growing faster, better, and smarter businesses easily accessible at their fingertips.

The Importance Of Attending Live Webinars and Training Events.

Munish is actually our behind the scenes guy on all of our live training webinars that we offer, so he sees the value being shared consistently during these events. He pointed out that while many of our free training webinars and Q&A’s are recorded for convenience, nothing beats being on the webinar live.

This is something he’s very passionate about, especially when it comes to our Members Only training events. These are recorded and always uploaded inside our members’ portals, but he feels like real estate entrepreneurs should utilize the live training sessions much more often than they do.

People have paid for this program and they should be attending the live session and asking live questions to get the most out of it… Though they can listen to a recording later in many cases, nothing beats the live sessions. – Munish Gaur

Entrepreneurs Can Benefit From Their Peers.

Besides being able to ask questions to experts during our live calls and webinars, members have an opportunity to share their experiences with the team and learn from other members’ stories, too. The more members actively participating, the more fruitful for all parties. Think Mastermind or Meetup Groups, but on an even more close knit level. There’s so much that we can learn from our peers around the nation who are using the same tools and services to find success in their businesses.

Not only are performance or tech coaches there to teach, they are there to share situations… I could share something or the person that actually lived that situation, could… and help each other. That’s how it should work. That they help each other. The more people we have, the merrier.– Munish Gaur

Munish stressed the importance of learning from one another’s experiences and would like to see members make the most out of the program, and the many benefits we have to offer real estate investors and agents.

Curiosity and Wonder Are Top Tier Strengths We Look For In Our Team Members.

Munish was exposed to all kinds of processes during his career, from development of technology as part of IT teams to how people used the software created. He did rigorous testing on platforms and enjoyed seeing how backend coding done in one corner of the world could handle worldwide transactions.

His experience opened positions and projects where he worked directly with various levels of management and executive personnel.

You can talk to anybody if you know what you need to ask. – Munish Gaur

Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Munish admits to being as curious as a child and asking many questions throughout his entire life. As a project manager, he spoke with executive level managers regularly. It gave him a solid foundation to ask questions regardless of who he was talking to.

I asked the right questions at the right time. It’s a habit. It doesn’t matter who you are sitting with… CEO or an agent, if you need to ask questions, you should. – Munish Gaur shared.

Munish is a great example of having curiosity and wonder, two of the values we very much look for when it comes to seeking members to join our innovative team at RealEstateInvestor.com.

The Importance Of Service And Having A Willingness To Help.

This holds true with RealEstateInvestor.com as well. Members are encouraged to ask questions, to explore, and to learn.

To Munish, it doesn’t matter who you are speaking with. What matters is that you understand the individual’s situation and help as best as you can. That’s what RealEstateInvestor.com is all about. Helping each other find success faster and easier.

We need to understand what their situation is and then help them as best we can. That’s our motto and is the kind of value our CEO’s have clearly demonstrated for this organization. – Munish Gaur

The Value of Learning From Other Cultures And Building Lifelong Experiences.

While Munish has a master’s degree in Human Resources, he credits his life experiences as further expanding his education.

Munish claims that having had the opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia, has also brought learning experiences. He credits a year long trip to England when he was 25 years old as being an eye-opener.

I thought I had doubled my 25 years of life experience with the kind of exposure I got (during that one year in the U.K.)… If you just observe, you see… how people live in a different country or even different city… It’s interesting how people think differently in different countries. – Munish Gaur shared excitedly and earnestly when talking about learning from different people and cultures. 

A Culture Of Fun and Family.

Two values we care about at RealEstateInvestor.com is having fun and prioritizing family and friends. We want this not only for our team members, but for our members too. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to streamline processes and take more of the little jobs off real estate entrepreneurs plates. That way they can do less work and spend more time enjoying life.

We asked Munish about his life in New Delhi and what he enjoyed doing for fun…

When not working, Munish and his wife enjoy traveling and trying new cuisines. So far, his favorite place is England. He found Edinburgh to be peaceful and green and he loved the culture and history he found there.

Munish and his wife celebrated a new year in a new country for the past several years until recently when his wife was expecting. Munish and his wife, Shimpy, welcomed a daughter earlier this year, a month sooner than originally expected.

A couple weeks after his daughter’s birth, the Covid-19 pandemic happened, and their city was put on lockdown. He feels grateful to have had his daughter a month early to where his family was able to see her before the lockdown began.

Everything happens for a reason. That’s the kind of faith I believe in. – Munish Gaur shares about the birth of his daughter during an unprecedented time for the entire world. 

Even after spending more than 100 days in his home with his wife and newborn baby girl, Munish says he feels loved and blessed. Everything worked out. They were fortunate to enjoy family time with their newborn who they named Aadriti, which means ray of light.

Everything has fallen in the right place at the right time. We were lucky to have her at the right time. – Munish Gaur shares again. 

Munish is a doting father and husband, and he’s looking forward to traveling again soon, and this time sharing those experiences with his daughter, as well.

What’s Munish’s Favorite Thing About Working At RealEstateInvestor.com? (Besides Working With His Wife!)

Without hesitation, Munish told us he loves the culture and the people at RealEstateInvestor.com who are now more like an extended family. With only 24 hours in a day and 8 of them asleep, on average, Munish indicated he spends more time with coworkers like most people in careers do.

(You) interact with them much more than you actually do with your family. They become your second family. – Munish Gaur shares.

One of Munish’s favorite experiences was when our founder Gary Boomershine and our CFO Wayne Jarrett visited the team in India and went on many adventures together. He’s looking forward to the next trip and is grateful to be part of a community that values all of their talented team members across the world.

Being part of a global community with RealEstateInvestor.com.

Munish said that nothing beats interacting with your team and sharing experiences to understand where they are coming from. While the lingo may change, you are not just sharing words, you are also sharing emotions.

Love the people you work with and it will be fun! – Munish Gaur

Munish… we couldn’t agree more! We’re grateful to have such an amazing team in India, and an awesome team member like Munish… And of course his wife Shimpy too! (Her story will be coming soon!) 

To say Gary Boomershine, founder of RealEstateInvestor.com, is passionate about real estate is an understatement. We were fortunate enough to talk with him today about his predictions for the future of the real estate market and the seven-year cycle.

Is now the time to buy?

It’s a question Gary has heard hundreds of times. Before responding with a simple yes or no, Gary noted fundamentals to consider when making a purchase decision. The old “keep it simple” adage is not new to real estate and is a concept Gary recommends when it comes to investing in real estate. 

It’s as simple as this: You want to buy low, sell high, and not lose your investor’s money. – Gary Boomershine shares.

When considering a real estate purchase from an investment or wholesale standpoint, Gary warns not to fall in love with the property. Instead, fall in love with the cash flow. 

He suggests keeping in mind the three buckets of cash: 

1. Cash Now 
2. Cash Flow
3. Cash Later 

The “Cash Now” Bucket

Many investors think there is only one bucket, Cash Now, which is the immediate or short-term return on your investment. 

Common examples of Cash Now deals include wholesaling and house flipping which is buying, fixing, and selling a home for a profit. “Cash Now” refers to the transactional profit that’s made during a quick turnaround investment deal.

Cash Now deals are great. They can be lucrative, but as a one-time transaction payout, this is really just a JOB investors do. There’s no long term revenue associated with this bucket. – Gary shares.

Cash Now deals are one of the most common strategies that real estate investors employ in today’s market. But Gary strongly recommends that real estate investors not focus on this cash bucket alone. Instead, they should ALWAYS be looking at the other cash buckets to diversify the revenue they bring in. 

 “A lot of real estate investors think there’s just one bucket, the Cash Now bucket. They’re always thinking, ‘How can I make a quick transaction and a quick buck?’ That mindset drastically limits the deals they could be getting if they simply kept their eyes open to all three buckets of cash.” 

The “Cash Flow” Bucket

Cash Flow applies to rentals and the income the investor will receive on a regular basis. But Cash Flow can also be private lending which is an area he recommends when growing your business in this kind of market.

The “Cash Later” Bucket

Cash Later is the appreciation and tax advantages investors get on the property, not to mention the renter paying down the mortgage. 

Of course, everyone must live somewhere. If you are looking to purchase a home you will live in, or one you will rent out, which Gary refers to as a “buy and hold” investment, he recommends that you always look for a quality property. Not just any property that comes along in the right price range.

He also recommends that Investors plan to upgrade their “buy and hold” portfolio as well. This adds value to their investment long term. 

Investors should also be prepared to keep “cash later” investment deals for some time, if they wish to get a return. Gary explains why:

“Real estate is a finance and leverage game and it’s a long term play. It’s easy to be shortsighted just thinking about making a quick buck today, sacrificing the real advantages of real estate for long term wealth and its tax benefits.”

Overdue For A Downward Turn…

Gary suggests the market is due—actually, well overdue—for a downward turn. In fact, he predicted this long before COVID-19 came around… He’s been talking about this on nearly every podcast and interview he’s been on for the past two years! 

Historically, we’ve seen similar patterns, or cycles, that impact our economy and the real estate market every seven years or so, bringing with it a euphoric stage where massive transfers of wealth occur. 

This includes the mortgage crisis in 2008 and the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which both had significant impacts on the stock market. In 1994, there was the bond market crisis, and in 1987, we had Black Monday. All of which occurred seven years apart and date back almost 100 years. 

With these past economic examples, Gary has been predicting what he calls a “Boogeyman Event” and the next downturn, for several years. This cycle is far different from the natural order of supply and demand. It’s preceded by what many people call the “euphoric stage,” which is the final stage of the real estate market before the downturn. 

Gary explains his prediction and the euphoric stage well in his quote below.

It’s happened every seven years… Each downturn seems to have similar beginning catalytic events and similar end cycles. This creates what many people call the ‘euphoric stage.’ The euphoric stage is actually the final stage of the real estate market before the downturn occurs. It’s when everyone starts talking about real estate— The barber, the hairdresser… You can’t lose. It’s when the late night tv guys selling: “How To Get Rich In Real Estate,” start popping up everywhere. During this stage it’s a sellers market with over bidding on houses going on everywhere, which is when people start talking about real estate left and right. And it’s during the actual downturn or shortly after that massive transformations of wealth occur. This has happened consistently in an uncanny rhythm. So I had no doubt that we were overdue for what I call a “Boogeyman Event,” to start the cycle all over again. I’ve been telling real estate investors to be preparing for something like this for a while now. 2020 might have been a few years late, but here we are. – Gary Boomershine, RealEstateInvestor.com

The Boogeyman Is Here… So, What Should Real Estate Investors Expect?

At an almost twelve-year high, real estate investors should be prepared for a change, according to Gary who believes the next 6-9 months will be fairly the same as today. But investors should expect a drop in the next 24 months, with hefty decreases in some areas of the country of 20%. Here’s what he shared:

“We’re still seeing money out there… However, I foresee a drop in real estate in the next 24 months. Some markets, what I call the “linear markets,” will probably see more of a 5-8% drop similar to 2008. These are usually rural or middle parts of the country like Alabama, Oklahoma, Ohio, etc. Other areas might get hit much harder. Hot areas like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Hawaii, etc. might end up seeing drops upwards into the 25-30%+ range.” 

Today, we are seeing record high rates of unemployment. With people out of work, the inability for them to pay their mortgage will continue to rise as well. According to Gary, 25% of mortgage holders have less than one month’s savings. 

Inevitably, this will lead to a foreclosure boom. With more properties flooding the market and sellers desperate to unload properties they can’t afford, prices will drop. Investors with cash or creative buying power will be able to get great deals, while also helping sellers avoid financial disasters such as foreclosures. 

Mortgage holders aren’t the only group affected. Investors will also feel the impact according to Gary, who tells us that 53% of people living in rental properties have less than $500 in their savings account.

Landlords will need to sell because people won’t pay their rent. – Gary shares.

When renters cannot pay their rent, landlords suffer unless they have reserves to fall back on, and many do not… This leads to the snowball effect that we’ve seen repeat in the same cycle over the past 100 years. 

History is a great predictor of the future.  –Gary answers when asked how he came about his predictions earlier than most.

Many landlords bought late when real estate was peaking. In recent years, 50% of the single-family properties purchased were done by investors using them for rental purposes, not to live in themselves. 

These landlords who once weren’t interested in selling their properties are now having a change of heart, according to Gary, who noted their willingness to sell at a lower price than they would have entertained in the past. 

“There are burnt out landlords who were not interested in selling before. Now they are… Investors are going back to their old leads who said no to selling earlier and are finding sellers interested again. All the more reason why follow-up is gold during times like this.” 

This will present opportunities in the market, as Gary predicts these drops will be followed by massive appreciation. History agrees with him…

The biggest transformation of wealth will happen during these downturns. It happened every time before, and it will no doubt happen again. – Gary shares.

Gary suggests holding onto the properties you have now, citing incredible gains are coming. He gave an example of a property in the San Francisco Bay area that is worth $3 million today. In ten years, he predicts, it will be worth $10 million. A deal that’s definitely not too shabby! 

How is Gary so confident about this?

It’s simple economics… Hyper-inflation. With the amount of money that has been added to the economy recently, massive inflation is inevitable. And with that comes higher prices for everything from basic essentials like milk and cheese, to hard assets like real estate. 

In a hyper-inflation scenario, people will want to have hard assets. The middle class will disappear. Those who own real estate will be part of the wealthy. It has happened in other countries, and Gary expects it to happen here adding:

“Real estate is a long term game.”

What Should Real Estate Investors Be Doing Today?

Gary, who said they are already seeing a shift to buying remotely and creatively, compared today’s market to a tsunami. 

“People shouldn’t get caught watching the water recede rapidly at the shoreline thinking ‘Wow, look at the fish left on the beach!’ Instead, they need to get moving fast.” 

Instead, he recommends that investors stay one step ahead, thinking ahead and asking themselves, “Where do I want to be right now? On the shore or on higher ground?”

When it comes to what real estate investors need to be doing right now, Gary’s answer is in his “Three P’s.” 

Gary Boomershine’s 3 P’s: 

1. Protect what you have. 
2. Pivot to take advantage of the new market.
3. Profit. 

He expands on this a little further:

“Whatever you do, don’t sit idle. Take advantage of the situation and prepare for the future. Now is not a time to be sitting on the sidelines… Right now is a good time to step in and figure out what you’re doing and where you’re going.”

Right now real estate investors are doubling up on their marketing and going back to their old leads. This is the perfect time to learn how to buy and sell property remotely. 

This Virtual Wholesaling concept has seen an increase in recent months as investors began working from home. The market expands greatly when you work virtually. Investors like Gary can live in San Francisco and purchase properties in Dallas or Atlanta.

Gary also mentions that he’s seeing a massive shift to buying creatively. And by creatively, he means people are turning to private lending. Owners are willing to help finance some or all of the property because they want the income stream. 

“Buying creatively is going to keep growing in popularity since there’s a lot of opportunity there right now. Especially as owners look for additional revenue opportunities, and as they become increasingly concerned about the amount of taxes they will have to pay, capital gains, and so on. Some people are even worried about their money being safe in banks long term, making creative financing more appealing.” 

Real Estate, Monopoly, And An Uncertain Future…

While Gary considers himself a conservative investor, he cautions buyers not to wait too long before jumping back into the market. But, no one knows what the future holds. There could be a second wave, or even a third, fourth, or fifth wave, which is why he recommends having a safety net. Here’s what he shares…

“If you’re planning to buy today, ask yourself, can you afford it? If the answer is yes, can you still afford it if your job changes? For investors looking to purchase a rental unit, ask yourself if you can afford the property if your vacancy rate soars to 60%. If you can break even at that rate, buy the property. Be wise, use your best judgement, and think ahead.” 

Gary also referred to an old salesmen quote that says: 

“Good salespeople know what to go after. Great salespeople know what to walk away from.”

If you want to play the real estate game, then remember that it’s just like playing Monopoly. You can have all the real estate, but if you can’t pay the mortgage, you’ll have to turn your cards over, leverage them, and sell them for pennies on the dollar. Nobody wants to have to do that. – Gary Boomershine, RealEstateInvestor.com

At the end of the day, the future is no doubt uncertain. But one thing is for sure… 

There are incredible opportunities available in this market and more to come. And thanks to Gary sharing his wisdom with us, we know what to look out for, how to be prepared, and how to make the most of it. 

This is an absolutely fantastic time to be in real estate investing. For real estate investors who are already in the game, right now is all about making the right moves that will help you survive and thrive in this new market. – Gary Boomershine 

Ready To Learn More? 

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can survive and thrive as a real estate investor in a Post-Coronavirus world, we recommend that you check out this other article that dives deeper into this topic here:

https://realestateinvestor.com/articles/should-you-invest-in-real-estate-post-coronavirus/