MB535: The 7-Step Blueprint to Financial Freedom Through Real Estate — With Michael Blank

So I remember start, when I started flipping houses in, like, 2009.

It was right after the recession and, you know, the...

there was a lot of REOs and... on the market.

But then the retail market in the Washington, D.C. area where I was, uh, really recovered very rapidly.

So I was like, "Gosh, I could buy some for 80,000, put 30,000 into it.

That...

So what am I? 110? And I can sell for, like, 150 to 180?" That was amazing.

That was an amazing opportunity that I wanted to take advantage of.

And I'd known about apartments all along because back in when I left my job in, like, 2006 or so, I actually took all kinds of seminars, including a commercial real estate investing, uh, class.

And I actually called on brokers for a minute in 2007 until I got very busy with the restaurants.

So I was familiar with apartment buildings.

I, in fact, I even analyzed some, uh, a whole bunch.

It's during that time that I developed the Syndicated Deal Analyzer, a very early version of that.

But the reason I'm telling you this stuff, I didn't actually buy my first apartment building on two thou- until 2011, right? So 2006 I le- I learned about it, and then five years went by until I actually bought my first apartment building.

It was a little bi- by accident.

It wasn't really s- part of my strategy.

And the question is, why not? And a little bit has to do with shiny objects, but the biggest issue really was one of comfort zone.

Like, I could not imagine myself buying an apartment building.

It was like this giant gap, and I always felt like, "Hey, you know, why don't I start small? Let's, uh, let's do some houses and, uh, and then we'll see where it goes." And, uh, that really is what, what held me back.

And I think the, the things that really my beliefs were, were wrong about certain things.

So I felt like single-family house investing was, um, a necessary step.

And then way too late, you know, two and a half, three years into it, I'm flipped almost three dozen houses.

I'm like, "Wait a minute, this is a lot of work." [laughs] Like, I didn't know why I didn't learn at the first house.

This is a lot of work.

Got a couple rentals, too, a couple I sold on lease options.

So I remember start, when I started flipping houses in, like, 2009.

It was right after the recession and, you know, the...

there was a lot of REOs and... on the market.

But then the retail market in the Washington, D.C. area where I was, uh, really recovered very rapidly.

So I was like, "Gosh, I could buy some for 80,000, put 30,000 into it.

That...

So what am I? 110? And I can sell for, like, 150 to 180?" That was amazing.

That was an amazing opportunity that I wanted to take advantage of.

And I'd known about apartments all along because back in when I left my job in, like, 2006 or so, I actually took all kinds of seminars, including a commercial real estate investing, uh, class.

And I actually called on brokers for a minute in 2007 until I got very busy with the restaurants.

So I was familiar with apartment buildings.

I, in fact, I even analyzed some, uh, a whole bunch.

It's during that time that I developed the Syndicated Deal Analyzer, a very early version of that.

But the reason I'm telling you this stuff, I didn't actually buy my first apartment building on two thou- until 2011, right? So 2006 I le- I learned about it, and then five years went by until I actually bought my first apartment building.

It was a little bi- by accident.

It wasn't really s- part of my strategy.

And the question is, why not? And a little bit has to do with shiny objects, but the biggest issue really was one of comfort zone.

Like, I could not imagine myself buying an apartment building.

It was like this giant gap, and I always felt like, "Hey, you know, why don't I start small? Let's, uh, let's do some houses and, uh, and then we'll see where it goes." And, uh, that really is what, what held me back.

And I think the, the things that really my beliefs were, were wrong about certain things.

So I felt like single-family house investing was, um, a necessary step.

And then way too late, you know, two and a half, three years into it, I'm flipped almost three dozen houses.

I'm like, "Wait a minute, this is a lot of work." [laughs] Like, I didn't know why I didn't learn at the first house.

This is a lot of work.

Got a couple rentals, too, a couple I sold on lease options.