JF2314: Jump In and Learn With John Evans

John works as a supply chain manager and a part-time investor. He has been investing for a little over a year and already has a portfolio of a duplex, a single-family, one flip, and two commercial properties. He shares today how he has recently started and why he quickly sought out an experienced mentor to help him through his first multi-family property.

John Evans Real Estate Background:

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Best Ever Tweet:

“Surround yourself with people who are doing it” – John Evans

TRANSCRIPTION

Theo Hicks: Hello, Best Ever listeners, and welcome to the best real estate investing advice ever show. I’m Theo Hicks, and today we’ll be speaking with John Evans. John, how are you doing today?

John Evans: I’m doing great, Theo. Thank you very much for this opportunity and having me on the show today.

Theo Hicks: Oh, no problem. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. A little bit about John – he works as a supply chain manager and as a part-time investor; he’s been investing for a year and a half, and his current portfolio is a duplex,  a single-family, two commercial properties, and he has done a flip. And he is currently partnering with a local investor and they’re looking to complete their first multifamily property, between 30 and 60 doors. He is based in Florence, South Carolina, and you can say hi to him at his email, which is john@bedrockinvestinggroup.net.

John, do you might telling us some more about your background and what you’re focused on today?

John Evans: Sure. Recently, I’ve just ended up partnering with a guy that basically — since I’m new to this, coming in and using leverage with him understanding and knowing the market. He is a realtor for the state [unintelligible [00:04:19].01] and also an appraiser, so he has some of the knowledge that I don’t have.

When I started really looking at doing this, I got on Bigger Pockets and a lot of good websites, obviously I used your guys’ website a lot, took the advice to learn for at least a year or so. I read a lot of books, educated myself, and then decided to partner with someone in the real estate space as a professional… And then also, we have recently just joined a mentorship with Robert Beardsley. So we’re doing that now, and I’ll tell you, that’s been a real big help for helping us understand really how to go about looking at the data and letting the data speak. I think it’s very important in this space – whenever you’re going out to raise the money, you definitely don’t wanna make a mistake with someone else’s money, including your own, because we’re gonna invest right beside our investors. So getting in that mentorship has been very key, and that’s what we’re doing right now.

We’ve also been kind of gearing up our social media presence, if you will. That was one thing that Rob has led us to do. You have to make sure you’re  telling people what you do, and the connections, and that’s been very important recently for our plan of action.

Theo Hicks: Perfect. So the local investor you’re partnered with, the realtor and the appraiser – the plan would be to buy a multifamily using other people’s money, correct? So you’re going to syndicate.

John Evans: That’s right.

Theo Hicks: Perfect. Okay. So let’s focus on that aspect of the business first. To start, how did you meet your partner?

John Evans: We’ve been friends for a while, we’ve met through some mutual friends. Our wives actually know each other as well.

Theo Hicks: And then how did the partnership come to be? Did you just one day ask him “Hey, I wanna do multifamily. Let’s partner up”? Or was it organic? Maybe walks us through how that happened.

John Evans: Sure, that’s a good question. He basically heard me talking about it one night; we were all together, and he had always wanted to buy an apartment complex on one campus, basically. So when you hear talking about an apartment complex, and then also doing syndications, and raising money to be able to help go and give someone else a return on their money – for someone who may not wanna actually be in the day-to-day operations of owning an apartment complex, that really intrigued him. He was like “You know, I’ve always wanted to do that.” So he said “Tell me what you know about it.”

I started explaining to him all the math, all the finance behind everything I’d learned, and then I started talking about Bigger Pockets. He didn’t know anything about that, so he started doing his own research. It was probably about a month after we initially talked about it, and he called me up and he said “Hey, let’s go out to dinner one night.” So we did. We had a quick meeting. We went out and we kind of discussed what our goals were and what we wanted to do, and then just kind of took from there.

Theo Hicks: What are the roles that you two are playing?

John Evans: It sounds like? Is he getting more of the money, and you’re gonna be more of the worker?

Theo Hicks: I actually do the finance underwriting piece, or the day-to-day process, or the day-to-day driven operations, and he’ll do more of the market type analysis, and then doing a lot of the research, finding the deals… It was kind of integrated; we both kind of play — not necessarily the same roles, because you can’t as you know, but he knows more the market side of things, and I know more of the finance and day-to-day operations types of things.

I manage my current duplex as well, and he’s actually managed his portfolio in the past also.

Theo Hicks: Did you break up those duties based off of who was better at what, basically? That’s what it sounds like.

John Evans: Exactly. We talked about what we both thought we’d be good at. I have more of an engineering/operations background from the manufacturing sector, and he’s always owned his own business, so he kind of has a good mix of knowing real estate mentor, and also knowing how to operate a business.

I have an MBA, and majored in finance as well, so I kind of have the numbers side of the game, but I also don’t mind getting my hands dirty, doing the day-to-day operations as well.

Theo Hicks: So you mentioned that one of the things that your mentor focuses on is the data, so I’m assuming that means understanding how to underwrite the deals. So without getting into too much detail, because underwriting is a very complicated process, maybe tell us what’s the number one or the top few things that I should be looking at when it comes to data when I’m underwriting an apartment deal.

John Evans: You wanna look at definitely the return on investment for your investors, especially if you’re raising money. As far as before you even start underwriting, you wanna look at neighborhoods, you wanna look at demographics, you wanna look at the rents history of that area, and also crime rates; we look at that. We kind of have a five-step process.

Then once you go into the underwriting, you wanna load your data – we use his software. So it’s really good – you go and plug all your numbers in, and then you get an output. So you wanna go look at that output and see if the deal actually makes sense. Is there gonna be enough meat on the bone there to actually raise the money from someone else in order to give them the right returns? So it’ll give them a good picture of what they’re gonna make on their money; it’s one of the biggest things we look at.

Theo Hicks: You said there’s a five-step process… So step one was looking at the market. Step two was loading the data, and step three was looking at the output. What are the other two steps?

John Evans: So then we look at — if the deal makes sense, we go into submitting an LOI. That would be the next step. And then after that, if that offer comes back and it’s accepted, we go straight into due diligence pretty quickly. So that would be the next step.

Theo Hicks: And then the other thing that you mentioned  — well, you didn’t really mention this, but for raising the capital for these deals… So you guys are actively looking for a deal. Do you have some verbal commitments from investors already, and that’s how you determine the size of deal you can take down, or is the plan to get the deal first and then leverage that deal to raise capital?

John Evans: We have friends and family currently. There’s a group of around four people that we do know, that have a lot of interest in what we’re doing and they wanna place some money. Basically, they’re kind of done with the stock market and the volatility.

So when we started going and talking to them about what we were doing, they were very interested in it. Two out of the four definitely said they wanna do it. So we have friends and family, and then those two, and then two more potential already.

Theo Hicks: So you said family and friends, and then you’ve got the group of people that want to invest, that are differentiated from the family and friends… So how did you meet these people? Or how did they learn about your business?

John Evans: Knowing them from our local area, we approached them and told them what we were doing. And then we knew their background as well from being around us in the area… But once we approached them and laid out what we were doing, they were in.

Theo Hicks: And something else you mentioned – you’ve been focusing on the social media presence. Maybe walks us through that – that types of things you’re doing, what works, what doesn’t work, and what’s the ultimate purpose of the social media presence.

John Evans: Yeah, so usually, using Facebook it’s putting yourself out there. But first it was — and it still is a little bit – it kind of gets you out of your comfort zone. So it’s kind of challenging… I like it because it’s a challenge, and it makes me think… So meeting new people, creating a network is the main reason we’re using it right now, and just meeting a lot of people that’s actually doing this; surrounding yourself with the ones that are doing it, so you can learn more.

I really use it as a two-sided type deal, because I’m adding value to someone else, and I’m looking for the value they’re adding to me as well. I always go into our conversation with someone that I meet on, say, LinkedIn, because I’ve had some success in meeting a lot of syndicators on LinkedIn, and also some passive investors, which – I utilize that to be able to find out what are they looking for, what do they want out of a return from someone that’s actually syndicating and pulling them into their deal.

Theo Hicks: What types of things are you doing on LinkedIn and Facebook to add value to other people?

John Evans: One, for Facebook it’s posting non-traditional type thoughts. What I often find – I’ve had a few people that reached out to me lately – is they’re in the traditional mindset; go to school, get a job, all the good stuff that the Rich Dad, Poor Dad tells us that we should think differently; it kind of change our  mindset, which is one way that I was able to obtain the mindset to go out and try to do something non-traditional, so to speak.

I’m posting things that are non-traditional; I’m trying to get them thinking of a different way, and also adding value by doing like  a Thursday book recommendation based around investing, based around real estate, and then also the Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book – that type of stuff, that maybe someone that I know in my network that wants to do this, but they’ve never really studied it and they don’t really know about all of the tools and tricks that are out there in order to do some of this.

Theo Hicks: Alright John, what is your best real estate investing advice ever?

John Evans: Surround yourself with people that are doing it. When I first started, my banker owned real estate, my attorney owned real estate, down to the guy that I used to go in and fix the air conditioners in our units if they ever go out – he actually owns real estate; my CPA owns real estate. Interview people, find out what they’re doing, find out how much they know about this stuff, because you can gain a lot of value from those individuals, and they’re always willing to help you is what I’ve found.

Theo Hicks: Alright, John, are you ready for the Best Ever Lightning Round?

John Evans: Absolutely.

Theo Hicks: Alright. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

Break: [00:13:01].10] to [00:13:51].06]

Theo Hicks: Okay John, so you mentioned you did the Thursday Book Recommendation, so this should be a pretty easy answer… What’s the Best Ever book you’ve recently read, or recommended? Either one.

John Evans: Absolutely, Theo. The Go Giver is my go-to. That book has changed my life. It’s by Bob Burg and John David Mann. The Go Giver book.

Theo Hicks: If your business were to collapse today, what would you do next?

John Evans: Start another business, always. There’s a  lot of opportunity out there, a lot of things that are being done today that you can go in and make better, and I believe that’s exactly what I would do. I’d follow the same path and start another business.

Theo Hicks: What is the best ever deal you’ve done?

John Evans: I’d say the duplex that I currently own in the portfolio. I’m right at about 27% ROI on that one, and it cashflows $280/door.

Theo Hicks: If you’ve lost money on any deals, how much money have you lost and what lessons did you learn?

John Evans: I haven’t lost any money. That’s rule number one, don’t lose money.

Theo Hicks: What is the best ever way you like to give back?

John Evans: Going to community events that’s for a good purpose, that align with our purpose and our way. And then another thing we really like to do – and a lot of this is silent – I love to give back to feeding the hungry. That’s one of my purposes; it really touches home.

Theo Hicks: And then lastly, what is the best ever place to reach you?

John Evans: You can reach me at John@bedrockinvestmentgroup.net. Also, I always like to give out my cell. It’s 843-858-1274. I’m also on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Theo Hicks: On LinkedIn and Facebook it’s just your name, John Evans?

John Evans: That’s correct.

Theo Hicks: Alright, John, thank you for joining me and walking us through your journey and what you’re focused on today. We talked about partners and how your business partner is someone you had known for a while. They’re a realtor and appraiser, and have a lot more knowledge than you, and you were able to get them on board with your multifamily plan by being educated and really telling him what you plan on doing, your knowledge about apartments or raising money, and then you mentioned that the duties were split up based off of your strengths. Some of those are overlapping, whereas some of the stuff is only done by you, or only done by him. He’s more of a marketing guy, and you’re more of the underwriting, number cruncher.

You talked about your five-step for underwriting deals, analyzing the market, looking at things like demographic, rents, crime rates, loading that data into a customized cashflow calculator which you got from your mentor, analyzing the output, and the important number to look at would be the ROI to the people who are investing, and making sure that it reaches their investment goals. And then step four was making an LOI, step five would be the due diligence.

You talked about raising money, how most of it is family and friends, plus a group of people that you’d met in the past, you approached them, told them what you were doing, and at least two of them are very interested in investing.

We talked about your social media presence and how you use Facebook and LinkedIn to not only add value to other people through things like posting your non-traditional thoughts, getting people thinking in a different way, different types of themes to post, like your Thursday book recommendation, but you’re also using it to add value to yourself, to educate yourself by meeting with apartment syndicators, meeting with passive investors and seeing what they want… And then this kind of links into your best ever advice, which is to surround yourself with people who are already doing what you’re doing. So in your case, surrounding yourself with other syndicators who have raised money for apartment deals in the past.

John, I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. Best Ever listeners, as always, thank you for listening. Have a best ever day, and we’ll talk to you tomorrow.

John Evans: Thank  you, Theo.

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