JF2366: Using Old-Fashioned Tactics to Find Buyers and Sellers with Frank Iglesias

From the music industry to IT, and then to real estate, Frank has always been fond of receiving education and learning something new. While working in IT, he picked up a few properties on the side. In 2011, he walked away from the corporate world and became a full-time investor.

Back then, he started by utilizing the power of tried and true methods of reaching people such as direct mail and networking. In 2020, people are still happy to share what they do in a casual conversation and get on the phone to discuss a deal, so old tricks do work when used properly. 

Frank Iglesias  Real Estate Background:

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Best Ever Tweet:

“Surround yourself with the best people you can afford” – Frank Iglesias.

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 Frank Iglesias. Frank, how are you doing today?

Frank Iglesias: I’m doing outstanding.

Theo Hicks: Great. That’s good to hear and thank you for joining us today. A little bit about Frank. He’s a full-time investor with 11 years of investing experience. His portfolio consists of several rentals and construction projects. He has also completed hundreds of deals as a wholesaler and a flipper. He is based in Atlanta, Georgia. His website is buyinvestmentassets.com. So Frank, do you mind telling us some more about your background and what you’re focused on today?

Frank Iglesias: Absolutely. Thank you for having me on the show, I just appreciate the opportunity to share my background. I was actually a music guy when I was younger, in high school, in college, and went to college for music… I thought I was going to rock the world on drums and that sort of thing. Then we realized that maybe that wasn’t the best avenue or the best chance of success, so when I left college and actually got into the IT industry. So for all intents and purposes, I was a computer geek for 15 years. I kept the music up on the side, so I did a lot with education. I’ve always been around the education aspect of whatever I’ve been involved in. Even in the IT space I did, along with the engineering that I got involved in, I was also a consultant, and when you’re a consultant there’s a lot of education involved. So that’s kind of been a consistent thread between those careers.

In a nutshell, I actually started getting bored with IT. We were part of a really great team, and it got to where the joke we had internally was if we do this much better, we’re going to automate ourselves out of a job. You hear that sometimes in the world today, and you’re like “Wait, that actually can happen”, and I realized the challenge was no longer there. Around that time, I’d actually picked up three or four properties by then, just while working my IT days. Like so many investors, I heard about Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I actually don’t even remember how I heard about it. I went to the seminar, of course, it got the bells and whistles turning in my head, and light bulbs going off… Once I left the IT industry, I really dove into real estate full-time. It has been quite a roller coaster since then. Certainly a journey and adventure, very different than corporate life. That’s how I got to today.

Theo Hicks: Perfect. Thanks for sharing that. How long ago was it that you left the IT world and started real estate investing full-time?

Frank Iglesias: At the end of this year, we’ll be at nine and a half years. It was the beginning of July of 2011. Right smack in the middle of the year we walked away from that world. Back then I had heard of Preston Ellie, and he was talking about preaching freedom. And I literally came home, and my children who were young at the time took LEGO blocks and they built the word freedom and put it on our mantle. It was a really cool experience as a dad.

Theo Hicks: Nice. So nine and a half years ago you left the IT world, and at that point you said you had three to four properties?

Frank Iglesias: Yeah, we had learned the wholesale a little bit, but primarily we were buy, fix and rent. It might have been five or six – I’d have to go back and look – that we had rented. Back then you could rent them and I had a full-time job so the banks like lending to you. You were the ideal person to give a mortgage to under great terms. That was in the middle of the crash, of course.

What was interesting was, as the market was crashing, I really didn’t understand it. I would hear that the stock market was crashing, because that would be what my corporate clan would talk about… But nobody really talked about the real estate market crash. I didn’t really start to understand that until once I was in it full-time. Up until then, it was “Oh, look. Oh look, we could buy houses, they are kind of cheap. This is cool.”

Theo Hicks: Yeah. So a lot of people I talked to who transition from working a full-time corporate job to real estate, they either have built up a portfolio so that they were generating enough cash flow to replace their corporate income and then they jump into it full-time… Or the second one is usually the case where they kind of just burn all the bridges and just jump into real estate, and they just figure it out. Which of those two categories do you fall into? Are you somewhere in between? Like, were those three to six properties giving you enough income that you felt comfortable leaving your job? Or was it less of a financial decision, more of like “I’ve got to get out of this IT world?”

Frank Iglesias: You know, it really was a little bit of both. We had some savings, we had a little bit of passive income, and we had done a few wholesale deals. Back then wholesale was still kind of new to us, so it was like, “Oh, look, I could just go do this and make five or 10 grand, or whatever.”

But I was bored in IT. I remember walking into my manager’s office and I said, “This is a fantastic place to work. Great job, great benefits, great opportunity, and I’m bored, so I know it’s time.” It wasn’t just time to leave the job, it was time to leave the industry. So it was definitely a mix of things. But you’re absolutely right, to your point.  You’re right, most people do the latter, they just dive in. I would actually add a third option and say they get fired. I know a couple of guys that just got let go and said “Forget it. I’m just going to stay fired and go for it.”

Theo Hicks: So after you had left your job, what was your first main focus in order to grow your real estate business?

Frank Iglesias: My focus for the first few years was heavy on wholesaling. We really focused really hard on that. I really had a good time, I did very well with that. I wish I had known how to scale, because that’s probably what I would’ve done. I would have done more of that in retrospect. But that was fun, that was really a lot of fun, just really diving into wholesaling. I learned from Lee Kearney how to do it, and to this day, I still use most of his techniques for wholesaling and it just works. So that’s been really nice. We still did some rehabbing though; we never not rehab it’s always just been a matter of to what degree.

Theo Hicks: Okay, do you want to go over some of those wholesaling tactics you talked about? Maybe kind of walk us through, from beginning to end. How you find the deals, and what type of thing you’re doing to get them under contract, negotiate the right price, and then how are you finding the buyers in the back end.

Frank Iglesias: Obviously, there are different techniques. Direct mail used to work really well back then, now it’s a little bit more of a different approach. But the one thing I would say that worked for buyers in particular and for sellers was just networking. Really telling everybody what you do.

When I say networking, I mean actually talking to them. Not texting them, not emailing them. Literally, picking up the phone, and talking to people. It’s so powerful. I feel like as technology has evolved, that still gets lost more and more. I don’t know, maybe people have other experiences, but I’ve never met someone that’s like, “Sure, I’d love to do $200,000 worth of business,” over text messaging. I just have not had that experience. It just always seems to go back to getting on the phone with people and just being real with them. People sense sincerity, people sense when you’re real with them. It’s just built into us as humans. So when I’m talking to other wholesalers or sellers, sometimes sellers will refer someone… There are so many people that you talk to you that will send you a great deal, just because they feel like they can do business with you, and same on the buyer side.

Just this year, as an example, someone wholesaled to us just a great deal, someone that I had spoken to and had a good conversation with several months ago. It’s been quite some time. He literally calls me out of the blue and sells me this wholesale deal. I couldn’t believe it, it was a unicorn deal, because the deal had 100 grand in equity. I’m like “Who wholesales me a deal with100 grand in equity?” I said that’s relation right there. Because my average email that comes from someone I don’t know doesn’t have those kinds of figures. And they made good money on it. They just negotiated an outstanding deal, and gave me an outstanding deal, and I’m like, “That’s all networking right there.”

Theo Hicks: I definitely understand the talking on the phone and networking. But kind of taking it just one step back, how do you know who to call, or how do you get the contact information? Who are these people you’re talking to? Give us an example. Are they wholesalers? So you’re finding out who the other wholesalers are and talking to them? Or is there another strategy you have?

Frank Iglesias: I always made it a point to talk to every wholesaler. A lot of people tend to write off new wholesalers. I love talking to them, because for every 10 new wholesalers you talk to, you’ll find one or two that are really, really eager to learn, and it’s great to connect with those people. So I always say, talk to all the wholesalers.

In all the years I’ve been doing this, the wholesale deals I get from people are not great deals, that’s never changed. That’s okay. Just keep talking to them, because you’re going to find the ones that do good, and they’re willing to learn, and they’ll start sending you deals more and more.

I just had someone from Chicago, send me one today. It actually looks pretty decent, so we’re going to look into that. But beyond that, how do you find them? Obviously, there are forums, you have Facebook, and all that. But really, the best place I like to go is into the public records. Because everybody talks, but when you go on public record, you can start seeing “Who’s closed 100 deals in 2020? Who closed 100 deals in 2019?” I’m just picking 100 as an arbitrary number. You can actually see it in the public record. I’m in Georgia, so it will actually sort, “Here’s who the biggest buyers are in descending or ascending order”, so I can see who they are. And what was interesting when I did this a few years ago, the biggest buyer in Atlanta right before the hedge funds came in, the biggest buyer in Georgia actually lived 10 minutes from me. If I told you his name, you’d probably know who it was. But a few years ago, he was the biggest buyer, and he bought hundreds of properties. I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I had no idea.”  I would have wholesaled him a few deals, nut I had no idea he was buying that much. What I have learned is a lot of the busiest people don’t tend to be out there, they tend to be much more quiet. That’s my experience.

Theo Hicks: Hm, interesting.

Frank Iglesias: Now again, a lot of this was pre-social media. Social media now has changed that dynamic a little bit, but it still seems to me that the people that do the most business, you don’t tend to hear about them a lot. But they’re in the public record and if you get in there, skip trace them, nowadays, you can skip trace companies so you can find these people. It’s pretty cool. Technology is making this business so much easier to find people. There’s a lot of people quite honestly that do like to be found when they sense that “Hey, this guy is real. This guy is sincere.”

Theo Hicks: Okay, Frank, what is your best real estate investing advice ever?

Frank Iglesias: My best advice ever? Well, if there’s one thing I can say I’ve learned, and there’s nothing revolutionary about it, but I’ll echo it because I would agree, is surrounding yourself with the best people you can afford. I can’t put into words how valuable that is. And having a coach. We’ve had some great experiences, but I will tell you that not having a coach at some specific points in our career, that’s cost us a lot of money that we could have had on the right side of the bank account. So I think to surrounding yourself with the best people and having a solid coach. I cannot emphasize that enough.

Theo Hicks: I think I might know the answer to this question, but answer it anyway, which is how do you find these people? How do you find your coach? How do you find the best people you can afford?

Frank Iglesias: Oh, it’s actually a good question. It’s not easy. I am a huge believer in the 80/20 rule. 20% of people do 80% of the business, that sort of thing. I would say 20% of the people are really good at what they do, and the other 80% – I don’t want to say they’re bad at what they do, but they’re not your top tier. I would even say, it’s probably more like 90/10 or 95/5.

I’ve just learned that really, really good people are really hard to find. It takes talking to a lot of people. Like many investors, I’ve seen no shortage of webinars, and ads, and that sort of thing. As an example, the builder I use for our new construction projects, we were building houses for five years before I found them. Once you have them, you’re like, “Oh, my gosh, where were you four years ago when I needed you?” But that’s okay. It’s part of the evolution.

So it takes a lot of talking and just really exploring a lot of avenues… Not just real estate avenues, I would even say look at other business avenues. Sometimes your best people may not be completely all about real estate.

For example, I’ve got a business coach, and we talked a little bit about real estate, but really, it’s more about this is how you run a business. When I hired him – it’s been over a year now that I’ve been with him – it’s completely changed how we look at our business. Things that, quite frankly I never heard in real estate circles, all of a sudden became very, very real. He’s got a different perspective on it.

So I’ve got a real estate coach, I’ve got a business coach, I’ve got a life coach… I think you need those specialists to help you — start with real estate because that’s what you’re doing, but then as your business grows, get that business coach. Make sure you get that life coach, so you don’t lose perspective on things, because things can get crazy in this business, as you know.

Theo Hicks: Alright Frank. Are you ready for the Best Ever lightning round?

Frank Iglesias: Best Ever lightning round. Sure.

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

Break: [00:17:12] – [00:17:52]

Theo Hicks: Okay Frank, the first question is, what is the Best Ever book you’ve recently read?

Frank Iglesias: I recently read, Think and Grow Rich again. I think that book is truly timeless. What I would say is don’t just read it, really apply it. When you really apply what Napoleon Hill is talking about, it will challenge you, but it really opens your eyes, especially if it’s not the first time you’re reading this. It gets more impactful every time I read it.

Theo Hicks: If you’ve ever lost money on a deal before, how much did you lose and what lesson did you learn?

Frank Iglesias: Oh, my. Yes, I’ve definitely lost money on a deal before. I think that’s an experience. No one wants to lose money on a deal, but we also learn a lot when we go through tough experiences. We lost over $100,000 on a rehab. The biggest lesson I learned from that was – I worked with a designer who also did project management at the time. She was an excellent designer, by the way; she was absolutely excellent. It was kind of a trust a little too much, but not enough verification… And that design thing can get away from you. It totally got away from us. We actually had a house design, and in a nutshell, once the design came back, she literally said it’s ugly. I kid you not, it was that simple. It’s ugly. So she really wasn’t excited about it. And the market was appreciating at the time.

Instead of just doing it, because ugly houses sell every day too, everything doesn’t have to be the Taj Mahal… We actually ended up delaying the whole project, changed it to a pretty house. By the time we built the pretty house, it was more complicated. And it was a nicer house, but more [unintelligible [00:19:31].26] way over budget. At the end of the day, we lost 100 grand. Whereas if we built the ugly house, we would have made money. It was crazy.

Theo Hicks: And then on the flip side, what’s the Best Ever deal you’ve done?

Frank Iglesias: I think my favorite deal I’ve ever done, that’s the best – because some of the ones I bought back in the early days of 2009, 2010, there was nothing glamorous about them, but I held them. In fact, we sold one earlier this year that we owned for nine years. For nine years we created 150,000 in equity, and we were able to do a 1031 exchange into something better. So when I look at all the other deals I’ve done, I’m like, that to me is the best deal. I just had a handful of those; buy and hold, build that equity, because it’s really nice what it can turn out. Now, of course, you want to make sure in a market where that can happen, and across Atlanta has been that market. But that’s what I would say.

Theo Hicks: What is the Best Ever way you’d like to give back?

Frank Iglesias: I have a background in education, I’ve always been involved to some degree, and I enjoy teaching real estate, I enjoy speaking, I can do the hype thing and be excited, but also when I share, at a lot of meetings, I like to just get real with people. Because a lot of people again, just want the sincerity, “Hey, what really happens. This is not HGTV. There’s a lot of real work that goes into this.” Nothing wrong with HGTV, by the way, but there’s just a lot you don’t see. So when a new person is coming in particular, they really want to know what’s happening. Or if you have someone that got involved and they got burned, they still want to do real estate, they’re excited about it, but they really don’t like the feeling of being burned, “Can you help me?”

So I love sharing in those types of situations in particular, because it really allows you to connect with people, you feel their pain, they understand that you understand them…  And it gives them a lot of confidence, a lot of hope, and really restores their, “Yes, I can do this.” That’s really rewarding.

Theo Hicks: And then lastly, what’s the Best Ever place to reach you?

Frank Iglesias: The best place to reach me – you can email me, it’s frank@workingwithhouses.com. Or you can call our office at (678) 408 2228. Those are the best ways. You can message me on Facebook as well, or Instagram, but email and phone are definitely much more likely to get me.

Theo Hicks: Awesome, Frank. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and providing us with your Best Ever advice. We focused a lot on wholesaling, but I think most of the things we talked about, if not all of them, can be applied to any real estate niche.

At first, we talked about you leaving your job, and the two options, and you added the third option, for people to leave their jobs, which is they have enough money to leave their job, they burn the bridge, or they get fired. So you were the got bored with what you were doing at your work and jumped into real estate full-time.

And then those timeless universal tactics that you talked about for wholesaling was networking, so talking to everyone you know about what you’re doing, and then actually talking to them on the phone, as opposed to just text or email or social media, things like that. Making sure you’re honest, you’re real because people can sense that. Making sure you’re talking to everyone, not just the established guy, but also the newbies, just because you might find that one out of 10 person who ends up being a real go-getter and brings a lot of business.

Then you talked more tactically specifically about wholesaling and finding buyers, like just go into the public record and seeing who’s closed on the deals, find the biggest buyers and skip trace them. And then your best ever advice was to surround yourself with the best people you can afford and having a coach. You kind of talked about how you start off with a real estate coach, but eventually when you find a specialist for business, and then a life coach as well. And you did mention that it’s really hard to find these best people. But just like you mentioned him with networking, you’ve got to talk to a lot of people. Then something I really liked was that you don’t necessarily have to just focus on talking to real estate people, because some other business might also be a good fit for you, whether they be a mentor, or a partner, or someone that’s going to work with you.

So a lot of solid advice was given in this episode. We really appreciate it, Frank, and thanks for coming on. Best Ever listeners, as always, thank you for listening. Have a Best Ever day, and we’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Frank Iglesias: Thank you.

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