Hi, I’m Dave Dinkel and today we’re interviewing Anu who’s one of our exceptional students who has been on the program about three years. And when I first interviewed Anu for the Mentoring Program she was carrying a baby. And since then she has had another baby. So she’s a full time Mom but she also works a full time job which she happens to like very much. She loves her job. She has done very well at it and she has done extraordinary well in real estate investing. Tell us about your experience when you came and interviewed for me in Mentoring Program.

Anu: OK. So, I came to know Dave through a common friend of ours. And then I was obviously very skeptical about what to expect and what it is and what is the real estate investing. I have no clue. So I met with Dave a couple of times and just get a feel for what they do and what it is and what real estate investing.

Actually, we started thinking about real estate investing when we wanted to buy our first home. And then I went by Dave’s office a couple of times.  I was talking to him, what they are doing, what it is and what is the Mentoring Program. And then we thought about it for a couple months before we actually signed up for the program. And then we decided to do it because that’s the– after talking to Dave, I was very confident that even though we have no experience in real estate, we can do really well because the way he is talking, the way he’s going to mentor and the things like that.

So we were really comfortable and we signed up for the Mentoring Program. And we never looked back. He was even helping us before we signed up his Mentoring Program, honestly. So I did learn something about real estate before signing the Mentoring Program making offers and stuff. He helped with pre mentoring guide. I guess we then been doing deals since then.

Dave Dinkel: Mm-hmm. And you’ve been doing great deals. You started with not a lot of money. And the idea was let’s wholesale for as long as we can to make some money and that worked out very well for you. On your wholesaling, I know I’m putting you on the spot a little bit, but what do you think your average profit was on your wholesale deals.

Anu: We made good deals over 20 and on average I guess like 10 grand.

Dave Dinkel: About 10 or 15 maybe?

Anu: Yeah, 10 to 15, yeah.

Dave Dinkel: So you actually decided into about 10 or so deals that you’re going to start keeping some rental properties.

Anu: Yes. We were only wholesaling the first year and then after that, we were thinking of– even then I guess second or third triplex, remember? We were wholesaling I guess we made like 19 or 20K. And then Dave and I looked at it first and Dave was saying, “Oh, maybe are you comfortable keeping it?” “No, we are not comfortable keeping it.  We wanted to wholesale everything.” And then we actually, while we got a feel for the wholesaling we were doing very well and then we were keeping, or started keeping some rental properties.

Dave Dinkel: Now, you were buying houses in like 30% cap rate because of market conditions but you did rehab them.  You still have any of those?

Anu: Oh yeah, we have 11 properties like them.

Dave Dinkel: OK. You got ahead of me. You’re doing more than I thought you were doing, even great. But those triplexes what– after rehabs and all, do you know what your cap rate is on those? What the yield is?

Anu: I guess we are making like 20%.

Dave Dinkel: Oh, still about 20%, which is a great place to put money.

Anu: Yeah.

Dave Dinkel: Did you refi any of those? Cash out or how did you do that?

Anu: We did refi one of the– we have one of the rental properties and using the– I guess pri– we’re using a…

Dave Dinkel: Private money lender?

Anu: Private money lender. Yeah, we got like 6.25…

Dave Dinkel: Uh-huh.

Anu: …on the loan and but we still I guess making money on it.

Dave Dinkel: Yeah, I’m sure. Besides that though, you started to do rehabbing.

Anu: Yes.

Dave Dinkel: How many rehabs have you completed roughly?

Anu: We completedjust over 40 deals.

Dave Dinkel: How many rehabs out of that?

Anu: I guess maybe 20?

Dave Dinkel: Oh, OK. I didn’t realize–I’m way behind. I haven’t talked to you guys enough. But that’s super.

Anu: Yeah. We did…

Dave Dinkel: But you obviously like rehabbing.

Anu: Yeah, rehabbing is a lot of work, don’t get me wrong. Wholesaling is the best and we love wholesaling honestly because– but rehabbing also working out well for us because we work full time and we have full time jobs and we are so busy with the kids and everything. So the properties we have, we rehab, we do expect to have a greater return. So it’s not like we are rehabbing every property but the properties we do rehab.

Dave Dinkel: Yeah, you have a little niche because now, when you go into bid on a property, you can actually keep it if you want to.

Anu: Yes.

Dave Dinkel: So you can keep it and rehab it. So it’s not, you don’t have to wholesale it. You try and wholesale first and if you can’t get what you want for it then you go ahead for rehab it.

Anu: Yes.

Dave Dinkel: Now here’s one thing a lot of people don’t understand. When you get a property under contract then you know you’re going to renegotiate the price. Even if the agent is telling you, you cannot in the contract or the addendum from whoever it happens to be the REO, the REO bank, they tell you, “You cannot negotiate.” You do it anyway.

Anu: Yeah. We have nothing to lose really asking.

Dave Dinkel: What’s the most you’ve gotten as a discount because you went back and did it?  Now you had one house that was vandalized after you had it. But aside from that, what’s about the most of the discount that you’ve gotten.

Anu: We got recently on a 1/1 $19,500.

Dave Dinkel: 19,000 but typically you’re going to get $2,500 to $5,000 on it?

Anu: Yes. So we do even renegotiate, we were just wholesaling the other day.  I think I will– I keep on going, going so until the last week that is.

Dave Dinkel: OK. How did the Mentoring Program really help if you’re going to say to some other people who are thinking about it? Oh by the way, we’re standing in one of their rehabs that has just been completed.  You can still smell paint and we’re just walking through and showing them some little tune ups that the cleaning people need to do more than anything else. Now, you guys don’t do the rehab yourselves.  You’re not down here on weekends patching and painting.  You have crews that do that for you now.

Anu: Right. Exactly.

Dave Dinkel: So, what would you say to somebody that’s thinking about getting in the Mentoring Program?

Anu: I guess this is the best thing that happened to us. Without Dave and Nan, we would not be doing the real estate business that’s for sure. So they walked us from zero to where we are right now. And even though we finished our Mentoring Program we talk to them everyday. And then when we have any questions, we email them, call them. They are ready to help people so they want people to be successful. And they take pride in their student’s success. So they are genuinely here to help people.

So I guess– I know there are a lot of other real estate programs out there that promise sky and then they want to charge you a lot of fees and everything. But Dave and Nan are not like that. That I can tell for sure although I did not take any other Mentoring Programs besides Dave. So he had, he knows– he can work with you individually and he can tailor it a little bit to what you need to do to be successful based on your situation. Obviously, our situation is dependent on other people’s situations. I highly recommend talking to Dave one-on-one and to explore the mentoring program. And I think this is one of the best decisions you will be making. And I always tell that you guys should do it forever. And don’t stop doing the mentoring program and take care of yourselves so you can mentor other people and help them to be successful.

Dave Dinkel: I want to put you on the spot once more.  What would you tell somebody that’s looking to get into real estate that they need to do to keep them in the program? I mean I’m sort of going up to the idea they have to be persistent and stick to it. You didn’t get a deal in your first week.

Anu: No. No, so actually when I started my Mentoring Program in April 2010, Dave gave me some information and some ideas so I was making some offers and remember that duplex we got in…

Dave Dinkel: Big extra lot on the side.

Anu: Yeah.

Dave Dinkel: You still have that?

Anu: Yeah, we still have that but the other duplex.  We got them out in Venice the same week I was Taking Mentoring and that was– that has so many issues which I didn’t know how to inspect the property.

Dave Dinkel: Oh that’s the one with the hole that went to the septic tank that you can walk into almost.

Anu: Yeah. So, I guess.

Dave Dinkel: We wholesaled that though.

Anu: That we wholesaled that.

Dave Dinkel: Yeah.

Anu: That one with the termites, the duplex with the termites…

Dave Dinkel: It’s holding the place together.

Anu: Yes. So I would– we were so happy, “Oh we’re going to get our first deal” and that was not a deal but still we keep on doing.  I guess persistence is the key.  Don’t stop it, if you stop it then you’re back. It’s hard to get back after so many rejections and so many negative emails you get from Realtors® and investors, “Oh no, this is so low. What are you thinking? Are you crazy to send me this now? Whatever.” And some Realtors® are even bullying people and they use this I guess bullying techniques to get you pay more and no inspection.  “Oh no, seller will not allow you.  You’re going to lose your…”

So, if you are not sure about something, talk to Dave or Nan. They are very resourceful and they are very helpful. They’re here to help you and I guess don’t be scared that you’ll be losing something. You always have a safety net of Dave and Nan.

Dave Dinkel: OK, closing, I just want to say to you I’m very proud of you.

Anu: Thank you.

Dave Dinkel: You’re truly an exceptional student and you’ve persisted, stuck to it and you did extraordinarily well. So thanks for the interview.

Anu: OK. Thank you Dave of course, we are very grateful for you and Nan for being our mentors and OK, don’t lose the opportunity to take the Mentoring Program. If I have to tell you something I guess that’s it.

Dave Dinkel: Thank you.

To learn more about my real estate investing coaching program and mentoring, click here https://davedinkel.com/mentoring-program/ or click below.