Getting Started in Real Estate with Seller-Financed and Off-Market Deals w/ Evan Phoenix

Evan

[00:00:00] Evan Phoenix: So I think that's an important thing to re recognize is ask, be comfortable asking for that. Yeah. One thing I I'd like to add is it wasn't like the first, that was the first deal I found and it ended up working out like that. It, it, I I've been probably talking to about 40 people before getting to this person and it took me probably about four or five months of just constantly, just B like reaching out to people, scouring the internet.

[00:00:23] And when, when you put in the work you get lucky. So that's exactly what. Luckily, he said, yes, 

[00:00:26] intro: you're listening to the real fi podcast where we discuss time, tested tricks, techniques, and strategies for pursuing financial independence today so that we can enjoy a better tomorrow, a better tomorrow financial independence.

 Isn't about getting rich quick. It's about cultivating a foundation to grow financially, mentally physic. And spiritually let's figure out how to kick the nine to five. Here are your hosts, Patrick and James. 

[00:00:53] Patrick Mcgrath: How's it going everybody. And welcome back to the real fi podcast. My name's Patrick McGrath and my co-host here is [00:01:00] James Ripon.

[00:01:01] How's it going, everybody. 

[00:01:02] James Rippeon: Good to have you back. 

[00:01:04] Patrick Mcgrath: So today we got a a great guest. Evan. I think he's gonna bring a lot to the table. So Evan, how's it going out 

[00:01:11] Evan Phoenix: there? Oh, it's doing great. Thank you for inviting me. I'm super excited. 

[00:01:16] Patrick Mcgrath: Great. Great. So as, as you guys know, the goal of the podcast is really to talk about financial independence and people on their journey to that.

[00:01:24] James, why don't you go ahead and get us started today with talking to 

[00:01:26] James Rippeon: Evan. Yeah. How's it going, Evan? Good to have you here, man. We're excited to jump into it. When we get into these conversations, it's always useful to have some context of the background of where people came up.

[00:01:37] How they got started. And it sounds from getting to talk to you a little bit earlier, that you have an interesting story from where you got started with your financial independence journey. So let's, let's take this conversation all the way back to your college days and where you got started with that at that time period.

[00:01:52] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. So I so I, growing up, I played basketball, so I got the privilege to play in college. And my freshman year I [00:02:00] got to meet this guy, his name's Greg Andrati. And he was actually a senior when I was a senior in high school. So we didn't get to play together, but he actually he, he, he was on the team at central Connecticut state.

[00:02:11] And while we were playing there, I, I went there for my first year. And after, playing there, everything like that, I decided to transfer after my first year, but I still kept in touch with him, followed him on social media. And at that point I was in between majors, didn't know what to do. And he put up a story one day and it was of his three unit apartment that he just bought.

[00:02:32] And he was house hacking it, running out the rest saying that he was living for free harped on bigger pockets, rich dad, poor, dead, all that. And it just clicked. And I was like, wow, I, I want to do that. And I don't know if he knows this, if he, if he even knows this, I'll have to send this to him afterwards.

[00:02:48] But but yeah, he, he's definitely the reason. Just attacked him with questions. Gave me the book. Rich dad, poor dad read that bigger pockets went on that. So yeah, so once I got to my [00:03:00] second college, which was here in Pennsylvania, I, I was just set on getting a deal. The only way I could do it was seller financing.

[00:03:07] I, I just went over all the, realtor.com, Zillow, all that. Funny enough, I found a duplex on Craigslist out of all places. And and I messaged the person. I said, Hey, do you want to sell your duplex seller financing? Luckily he said, yes with closing costs and everything, Erie, Pennsylvania is just the houses there are very affordable. So it was a duplex for about, I bought it for $65,000. Seller financing had to put 6,500 down. I had 6,700 in my bank account and yeah. And it was very nerve wracking, but it, it ended up working out and it led us to my wife and I, that is to be more comfortable.

[00:03:43] We moved back to Maryland actually bought a four unit and house act that so yeah. Feel your confidence in that. 

[00:03:50] James Rippeon: Did you and your wife buy that or? I don't know if she was your wife then, but did you and her buy that property together at that time or was that one just, you. 

[00:03:57] Evan Phoenix: We were, we were dating at the time and [00:04:00] and she was with me every step of the way.

[00:04:02] So I used my money, but yes, she, she was bar it the whole time, okay. Yeah. And 

[00:04:07] Patrick Mcgrath: was was she on board or did, did she think you were crazy? 

[00:04:11] Evan Phoenix: She was crazy, especially since the I only had 200 bucks after closing that was very hectic for us, but we got through it. Everything seemed to work out the first month, actually, the, the, one of the tents didn't pay me.

[00:04:22] And yeah, we, it was looking very south, but. We got in there, we maxed out a couple credit cards. We got everything rented, stabilized, got new tenants in there and it's our cash flow in about 500 bucks, about two 50 a door. And we were able to pay off the credit cards and get cash flow. And that was, that was honestly a turning point to.

[00:04:43] Realizing that real estate's very powerful. It sounds 

[00:04:45] James Rippeon: like you definitely had your ramen college experience with that first property. And that's awesome. You hear a lot of people making big sacrifices to get into their first deal, and it sounds like you pulled out the works. 200 bucks left over in your checking account.

[00:04:59] You had the credit [00:05:00] card, you had the convince, the significant other that you weren't gonna bankrupt your guys' futures. So it sounds like you really pulled out all the stops to make this one happen. 

[00:05:09] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. It honestly at the time, scary as anything, but I'm the type person jumps out the par the plane and then builds his parachute.

[00:05:15] So I just had to, I had to learn that way and, and that's just how I am. And luckily it worked out and for us, now our lives has changed because real estate investing just off of right now, we ended up selling that duplex, but we have a four unit now and that's, that's honestly changing our lives right now.

[00:05:30] So 

[00:05:31] Patrick Mcgrath: that's great. That's great. And I love the fact. You went out and were able to seller fi get seller financing on your first deal. Everybody seems to think that seller financing is the, the elusive golden nugget that you can never find, like who's gonna do that. and you went out and you got seller financing at 10% down with no closing costs basically, and, and made it happen.

[00:05:56] So to everyone out there who thinks that, you, you can't [00:06:00] get it done and you need a ton of money. That's a perfect example of just using your blood, sweat, and tears and, and finding. And making it work. So I think, I think that's great. 

[00:06:10] James Rippeon: I wanna point out that it was possible because Evan asked and you don't know if it's available unless you ask.

[00:06:16] Every time I'm working with clients, I, I put that on the tables. It doesn't hurt the ask, especially if it's in this market. If it's property, that's been sitting on the, on the market for an extended period of time you might have a motivated seller and that might be something that they'll be willing to give up.

[00:06:31] If they have a good position of equity. So I think that's an important thing to re recognize is ask, be comfortable asking for that. 

[00:06:38] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. One thing I I'd like to add is it wasn't like the first, that was the first deal I found and it ended up working out like that. It, it, I I've been probably talking to about 40 people before getting to this person and it took me probably about four or five months of just constantly, just B like reaching out to people, scouring the internet.

[00:06:56] And when, when you put in the work you get lucky. So that's [00:07:00] exactly what. 

[00:07:00] James Rippeon: How did you learn how to do the technical side of the seller financing deal? Did you have somebody that was helping you through that process? Were you working with an agent? Was it just you, or did you have an attorney or did you just go online and figure it out yourself?

[00:07:14] Evan Phoenix: Yep. So I watched a lot of YouTube videos actually went to the bigger pockets, asked on the forums and was able to get pretty much a clear detail on how to actually structure the seller financing deal. Also luckily for me, the seller was willing to help me. He had other investments that he wanted to focus on.

[00:07:31] And this one, I think he could tell that I was just young, eager, wanted to get my first property. And and, and I think that he liked that about me. So he, he actually, we went through his title company, no agents involved and. Yeah. And he, he was every step of the way telling me, Hey, you should do this. You should get insurance.

[00:07:48] You should do all this. Luckily I, I, I had that for me. 

[00:07:53] James Rippeon: So 

[00:07:53] Patrick Mcgrath: you gave great why yeah. Why you should 

[00:07:56] Evan Phoenix: sell to you? Yeah. E exactly. Yeah. So I, [00:08:00] I, I basically, like I said, I was just. I told him that I was eager to get into real estate. I, I played for the university basketball and I told him that, look, I'm, I'm not gonna let this thing fail.

[00:08:10] I had a side business at the time doing wedding videography and I, I just, laid it out all out there saying that, look, this isn't gonna fail. You're gonna get your money every month. And luckily he, he believed in me.

[00:08:25] James Rippeon: So take us past that first duplex and kind of talk to us a little bit about, what you did after that and where your, your financial path 

[00:08:33] Evan Phoenix: progressed from. Yeah. So we, we actually moved back during the pandemic. That is my wife and I a fiance. At the time we moved back to Maryland where I grew up on the Eastern shore of Maryland.

[00:08:45] And we actually lived with my parents for about six months as we started our job. She's an occupational therapist and I got my real estate license and I I'm a real estate agent. I didn't do it because I thought it would help me in investments. I, I did it because I truly [00:09:00] love real estate. And that's what I wanted to do is sell real estate.

[00:09:02] But. It has helped extremely with whether just knowing the terms contracts, talking to people, just networking and yeah, it, it definitely has helped me a ton, but so we are working. We were trying to find a deal for a while. I was my, my wife wanted a single family house, but I just said, give me a couple months and I'm gonna find something.

[00:09:21] So after sending out hundreds and hundreds of mailers, everything. Nothing, no one got back to me. So I decided to just drive for dollars, go around neighborhoods. And there's this one community where I knew there was a four unit that I liked from seeing it a couple years prior, I went by and there was a for rent sign in it.

[00:09:39] And I drove by, I called the number and I said, Hey, I see that you have it for rent. Would you consider selling? And he said, yes. And I was, I was like, really? , I was shocked. I was like, are you serious? And he said, yes, he let's talk, let's meet in person. We met in person. He told me what he wanted.

[00:09:54] Luckily we got this thing. We, we purchased it at four 30 and the rents at [00:10:00] the time were 4,400. Right now they're at 49 or sorry, 5,900. So it, it turned out to be our best interest. He just didn't take care of the place mismanaged. And now we have it with property management. We felt most comfortable with that while living here now having to deal with the tenants it's worked out great for us and Yeah.

[00:10:19] And now, now we have a four unit that's cash flow, unbelievably. We bought it with, with FHA three and a half percent down. We refied after it's seven months. We weren't able to cash out refi, but it did appraise high enough so that we could we could just refi into conventional and then got a HeLOCK as well on that.

[00:10:37] Awesome. 

[00:10:37] James Rippeon: So you're currently in the position of maybe looking for your next deal after that four unit and taking that down are, do you think you're gonna try to do a similar thing. Trying to find something off market. 

[00:10:46] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. So we're, we're gonna try do it off market, especially in the market we're in today.

[00:10:50] It's, it's unbelievable. But there, there are a couple opportunities around here. I've sent out a ton of mailers, so we both have, and we've gotten back just nothing really sticks. We're [00:11:00] not gonna go buy a bad deal just to have a property. But. At the same time we're looking, we actually decide to expand our horizons and invest closer to my wife's area, which she grew up in Cincinnati.

[00:11:11] And we're gonna start looking in Northern Kentucky. We've been talking to agents and right now we're gonna look for another potential house hat or a, just a single family home that we. Live in it for a couple years, fix it up and then rent it when we get done. And then we're also gonna look at the same time for a multi-family Northern Kentucky.

[00:11:31] So we got two, two properties. We're look, we're in the market for right now. 

[00:11:36] Patrick Mcgrath: That's great. That's, that's really great. And not only is, is your story. You. Just really great on how you went out and just did everything, but I've heard Brandon Turner and David Green say a thousand times over their 500 plus episodes.

[00:11:53] If you see a four rent sign, just call and ask and you're driving for dollars, sending out mailers, [00:12:00] everything, and you decided to pick up the phone and just do what they said. and you got yourself a deal. You found, you found something that, had the value there and have been able to make it a great opportunity.

[00:12:16] And I think with that I would really like to know kind of where, where that deal has put you on. Financial independence journey and give us an idea where you're at now and. What your plan is on building. I know you of touched based on, on Kentucky and Cincinnati, but, give us an idea of what the next three years look like, where you're at now and where you're looking to be.

[00:12:41] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. So we set a clear goal for each other for our investing goals and financial independence, and basically by 28, we would like to be at 50 units and that. That's not just going out there and buying units. We have a specific criteria. We want at least 250 per door of [00:13:00] cash flow after reserves maintenance.

[00:13:02] And then also we want at least the 15% cash on cash return. We're not gonna turn down something if it needs improvements, we like the value add better. Obviously so yeah, so that's our goals in our criteria. Right now it's put us in a position, this house hack we're, we're living in it right now.

[00:13:17] I'm in it right now. And we're, we're netting probably nine it's about $900 a month in cash flow that we're just saving. So everything that we're making from our jobs is pure putting it away and getting ready to invest it. So for the past, I'd say six months after the renovations and turning everything over, we've just been keeping everything.

[00:13:37] We just got married, so we did have an expense with that. But other than that, it's put us in a great position in a better position than any other situation. If we went to buy just a single family house or anything like that. So it's really has put us in a great position. I'd highly recommend it.

[00:13:51] And when we go and tell people what we're doing every single time, 90% of the time, they'll say, I wish I did. It it's really good to hear that after doing it and going through what [00:14:00] we did. 

[00:14:01] James Rippeon: Exactly. And the only thing holding you back is not getting started in the first place. And we think you're, you're definitely taking the steps in the right direction.

[00:14:08] Tell us a little bit about your goal and the specifics behind it. You have 50 doors by 20 28, 2 50 a door. How'd you come up with that number? Is there something meaningful behind that that you used to get there? Or is it just something that you felt might be an amount to provide a comfortable living.

[00:14:23] Evan Phoenix: Yeah, so basically where I came up with that is. I wanted to push myself, to, to do the best I can and same with my wife. And we thought that 50 units was an attainable goal, but it, as well as that, we thought it was a very hard goal as well. If you if we aim for that and we fall short and let's say we get the 30 doors, that's still gonna be a huge accomplishment for us.

[00:14:47] So it's always about pushing ourselves. And even if we fall short we're still ahead of where we were. I'll, I'll say Brandon Turner says Turner says it all the time. David Green as well. When you write things down your goals that [00:15:00] they, it, it, you're better off getting accomplishing them. We write down our goals.

[00:15:03] We, we go through 'em daily and and yeah, that's, that's what we're sticking to right now. We're super excited about it and I think expanding our markets to Northern Kentucky, to a little bit more affordable landlord friendly state, uh we're we're gonna be able to get that done. So 

[00:15:17] James Rippeon: I think with.

[00:15:19] And you're hitting on a lot of these points. I'm gonna bring it up with anyone's personal finance journey. There's a lot of roadblocks and speed bumps that you could come across. Most of the time, just in finding the right deals or finding money to fund those deals. But a lot of times it's with your significant other in your partner in that respect.

[00:15:36] Can you talk a little bit about how you work to get on the same page with your wife and maybe some of the things that you guys do on a consistent basis to review your personal finances and your goals and how you kind of work to keep on the same path moving forward and on the same page. 

[00:15:53] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. It, it wasn't easy at all getting started just so everyone knows.

[00:15:57] I grew up in a, frugal [00:16:00] family. It was me, my mom and my brother. And we lived in a small two bedroom warm bath apartment. And I think that upbringing and seeing my mom work hard, to support us when she'd be, we'd have a hot dinner and she'd ha be eating leftover cereal, I think it. Taught my brother and I, who pretty much our work ethic and our, our grind for that. And and my wife as well, she grew up in a frugal family. Going out and investing. 20 when we bought a first duplex, it was 21 years old. So when we went out and bought that, we didn't even tell any of our family.

[00:16:31] Obviously it was very difficult to get past. We had, we talked about it for a long time, but I basically just begged my wife to give me a chance. And if it doesn't work, then we don't have to do it. But if it does you'll see exactly what real estate can do for us and the. I would say that the first investment, the duplex really helped my wife consider doing a house hack because we, she was able to see how much money we were bringing in.

[00:16:57] She got to see the numbers of look after all our [00:17:00] expenses. We're still making five, $600 on this duplex. Imagine. And that was at $65,000. Imagine what we could do on this four unit, this $430,000. And luckily I was right. And she she's now understanding it. So after the proof of concept, she's really.

[00:17:18] Getting into it. And she's actually gonna become a real estate agent here shortly because of our investments and because she's actually taking interest to it as well. So it, it is been awesome. And we're just learning and growing together. Obviously we're not going to do anything extremely risky right now, but as long as we talk through it, it makes sense the numbers make sense and she can see everything she's gained for it.

[00:17:39] So 

[00:17:41] Patrick Mcgrath: do you guys go over. Your goals. I know you said you write 'em down daily. Do you guys review them on a weekly basis, monthly basis, quarterly basis. And how have they changed over the last year with the house hack? 

[00:17:58] Evan Phoenix: Exactly. Yeah. So [00:18:00] we what we do is usually this is the first year we started to do it, cuz we thought it was extremely important, but we did just a beginning of the year.

[00:18:09] Just goal setting dinner. And all we did is just went over what we wanted to accomplish. And we reviewed it at six months and basically our, our one goal was to pretty much turn over this property and make sure everything was good on this. And then we had another our other main goals. We, we usually stick to about three or four main goals and then the steps that we need to take in order to, to get them because we don't wanna put too many goals on our plate and be all over the place.

[00:18:34] In, in terms of this. It has changed because we just got married. We did want to go house hack again to do a three to four unit house hack. But since we just got married and we're thinking about family and, and short term goals right now, we actually are considering now a. The best of both worlds find a place that's, little, little bit outta shape and we can go in there, fix it up, move out in about three to five years and and rent [00:19:00] that out.

[00:19:00] Hopefully the market keeps going as it is, and it increases, but we're just taking calculated risks right now. And on a single family then, like I said, our goal was to have eight units by the end of this year, but it, it looks like we're gonna have probably closer to five or. 

[00:19:18] James Rippeon: So you made a couple comments that are making me bring this up.

[00:19:23] You're in it. You're a real estate agent. You're you're seeing the market. You're watching real estate come and go on a daily basis. Your wife's thinking about becoming an agent herself. Tell us what you think about this market right now as we're recording this it's mid-October 2021 things at least from my perspective, have.

[00:19:42] Different from what I've seen in the past, but why don't you tell us what you're seeing and maybe what you think the trends are gonna be? 

[00:19:48] Evan Phoenix: Yeah, so honestly, I, I just listened to a podcast the bigger pockets podcast and David Green hinted on this as well. And honestly, I'm leaning towards what he said, which is basically that.[00:20:00] 

[00:20:00] With all the money circulating right now and, businesses are doing really well. I think it's, it's only gonna be harder and harder to buy real estate. And I, I don't, it may correct. It, it, it may, Yeah, it may correct, but I, I don't think it's gonna be dropping anytime soon. The market is unbelievable right now.

[00:20:18] It has slowed down a little bit, but still, if a, if a decently priced home comes on, the market is gonna go in the first two, three days. So I have seen it slow down just a little bit, but at the same time, there's not much on the market. I think that has something to do. 

[00:20:33] James Rippeon: I'm always. So I'm a real estate agent myself as well.

[00:20:35] And I feel myself having two different conversations, depending on who I'm talking to. One's to the investor. Another conversation is to the first time home buyer or the single family, live-in home buyer because with the investor. You're taking with both, you're taking a long term perspective, hopefully, but with investor you're almost dollar cost averaging into your real estate experience.

[00:20:58] So it makes these [00:21:00] short term market cycles seem almost less relevant because hopefully, you're not gonna just buy one house and be done with it. You're gonna be buying. A year till you can start buying two to multifamily to scaling up. Are you having, first of all, do you work with investors or mostly with single family.

[00:21:17] And are you having those kind of conversations 

[00:21:19] Evan Phoenix: with them? Yes. So I'm working mainly with my my one investor is actually no basketball coach of mine. We found him an off market duplex in Easton on the Eastern shore here. He got into that and that's. It was a total gut, four bedroom, two bath, each side.

[00:21:34] It was a 4,000 square foot duplex. And right when he bought it two months after is when the lumber prices just shot up. So he, he went over budget probably about 75 to a hundred grand, but it, it still worked out because of the inflation and everything going on with this market. Yeah. So when talking with him, we're still trying to find properties that work and and as far as him and his worries or anything like that, he, he is [00:22:00] still at it and he's not scared at all.

[00:22:02] Real estate over 10 year periods always go, goes up. As long as you buy something, as long as you don't buy crazy overpriced, it, it usually turns out fine. 

[00:22:12] Patrick Mcgrath: And I, I think, I think right now, The difference between the retail investor or the retail, home buyer and the investor is really taking the emotion out of it.

[00:22:25] I think, I think us as investors, we look at the bones and see the potential of, of a property. We don't get emotionally attached cuz we're looking at it based on the numbers. And I think, we're go, I think right now we're seeing. There was a frenzy last year with, with the pandemic and everything else, and people wanting to move out into the country and, and all of that, that people were, people were jumping at the first thing.

[00:22:51] There was 2030 offers on every house, and right now, I can tell that it's slowed down because we have a property on the market right now. That's been on the market for two [00:23:00] weeks. It's. Priced right. And we've had a couple showings but we sold two other houses back in January and they had multiple offers the first day on the market.

[00:23:14] So I think that's kind of where, where that's at right now, but I've also noticed. Multi families, the price per unit has increased significantly. A year and a half ago, we were able to pick up a couple deals at, 70 to 75,000 a unit. And now everything we're looking at is 95 to $120,000 a unit with below market rents and needs work.

[00:23:40] So even the investors that have been holding onto their properties for 20 years now think that they can. Single family pricing on their, duplexes and plexes. Everybody thinks that the market's going up and there's a disconnect there, I think with, with the investor side of people who are selling.

[00:23:57] And I think that's gonna at tame down some but also, I, I [00:24:00] don't really think that the, with the supply and the demand of the, the housing market right now, I don't foresee us having a, having a significant. In the market. 

[00:24:08] James Rippeon: Okay. Definitely tend to agree with you too. I think one of the biggest considerations I pay attention to is how much money is just being pumped into our economy.

[00:24:18] And, I think, I think you're seeing rich valuations in, in a lot of assets, stocks real estate bonds. Crypto, every everything is going through the roof. When it comes down to investing, I think that you guys have hinted at this it's it comes down to buying smart and doing that can manage, manage risk.

[00:24:40] Patrick Mcgrath: Perfect. We'll get on here to the next one. So we've of went over your financial goals where you're at your, your journey up until this point. Looking, looking at that next three years of getting that single family, the next, the next house, possibly moving. Outta state and, and starting a [00:25:00] family, what do you see is gonna be the biggest obstacle for you to overcome, to, to get to your goal?

[00:25:07] With all that, whether it's time funding, all of that to get to that 50 units, what do you see as your 

[00:25:14] Evan Phoenix: biggest challenge? I think, I think just off of who I am and how I think. And, and obviously I'm, I, I only have a four unit as of right now, but but how I feel towards it is that I have a hard time.

[00:25:30] Using private lending. When I shouldn't at all I, I, I really need to take the step and actually use it, especially with a value add opportunity. So that, that alone is something that I'm gonna struggle with. And then also investing outta state this, this has been a huge step for us. Not something we would do.

[00:25:48] We would rather have build. Empire around here, but with the prices and everything, it just makes more sense to, to go to a different area and we really wanted to target Northern Kentucky. So yeah, so moving forward, it would [00:26:00] probably just be finding off market deals in other states where it makes sense and and, and getting raising capital or, or partnering.

[00:26:07] So 

[00:26:09] Patrick Mcgrath: those two are exactly where I'm at as well. I think private money, it feels. It feels really weird talking to someone and asking them to invest tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the good part is you have proof of concept. You've done two deals that have been successful.

[00:26:27] The market, you're an agent. So you do have that credibility and I'm in the same boat right now. Thinking about doing out. In investing because I've sent out mailers and everything else in the area that I'm at. And I just haven't been able to get, get to that next deal. So those are two things that I'm trying to overcome as well.

[00:26:50] So I think we can chat offline about different ways to to make that happen. And then let's see. We're gonna have to edit this part out. 

[00:26:59] Evan Phoenix: all [00:27:00] good. All 

[00:27:01] Patrick Mcgrath: good. I was hoping James was gonna go down to the big picture. All right. Hey, 

[00:27:05] James Rippeon: we're going to the big picture now. We're gonna keep it nice and informal. We can have bloopers and podcasts. It's fine. So exactly. I trying to come up with that with a name for this part, other podcasts have.

[00:27:16] Fun, cool names to the last thing. We're just gonna knock this out and see what happens. We're gonna call it the big picture. So what do you, what do you say to the person that is starting their, their financial journey? What is the one thing that they need to do to get started to get themselves off of.

[00:27:31] Square 

[00:27:31] Evan Phoenix: one. So the the thing that I would say to them is live how others won't now, so you can live how others can't later. And that's something I I've first seen that quote, me and my wife saw it together. And it just, it was a light bulb that clicked. And we were like, Exactly right. We've been, it was right mid of renovating our four unit and, we're running the struggles we had to turnover, evict people, and literally that quote got us through because it's [00:28:00] gonna pay off in the end.

[00:28:01] You just have to sacrifice now. So I think sacrifice is a huge bit of real estate investing, especially when you come, not from a lot of money when you don't have a ton of money to invest and or knowledge. So I, I, I think that's definitely something I would say to them. 

[00:28:16] James Rippeon: That's literally my favorite quote ever.

[00:28:18] I've, I've heard a different iteration of it. One, I just wrote it down, do what others want today. So you can do what they cannot tomorrow to same exact thing. It's all about sacrificing your media gratification. And that's why we're all three of us are on this call right now because we see the benefit to that.

[00:28:36] We see the benefit to having patient. Doing this real estate game and investing in your financial future. And I think that you and your wife can connect over. That is super valuable. So that's awesome. 

[00:28:49] Patrick Mcgrath: Yeah, exactly. I, I love that one too. So that's, that's perfect. Cuz I was really hoping you were gonna go with something along those lines, but didn't, didn't really have an idea of where that was going.

[00:28:58] So I love that [00:29:00] kind of going with the, with the same theme. I know you've already mentioned a book before, but has there. Any books, podcasts, resources, anything besides bigger pocket or rich dad, poor dad. Cause you've already mentioned those two that have really shaped your, real estate journey or, or your financial independence mind that you think other people would, would maybe 

[00:29:20] Evan Phoenix: benefit from.

[00:29:21] Yeah, I think I mean I listen to a ton of podcasts the real estate guys being one of them. And I, I. I listen to a ton of those, but I think honestly, the biggest thing for me that I found the most value out of is actually networking and talking to other people that are either a couple steps ahead of me, way ahead of me or even people right at my level.

[00:29:43] And, and what, I, I can always get value from people that, less than four units as well. I, I'm still new at this, but networking has been huge. Patrick. I know we, we met up and, and that was a great experience. Just being able to see, look like there's two people that are doing it right now, and it gave my wife and I, huge [00:30:00] confidence since to get to the level that you're you and your wife are at right now.

[00:30:04] Networking, I would say is, is just huge, but the, the book that did get me started was rich dad, poor dad. And I'm also brushing up right now on the David Green's out-of-state investing book right now. Cuz we're gonna try and do that. 

[00:30:17] Patrick Mcgrath: Great books. Yeah, I've read both of them. And I actually just listened to rich dad, poor dad again about a month ago, just because it is, it is such a good one.

[00:30:27] I. Once you read that if, if your life doesn't change or your thought process, doesn't change. It just, it's never going to yeah. 

[00:30:34] Evan Phoenix: You're, you're dense at 

[00:30:34] James Rippeon: that point. Exactly. You can't be helped. And we also touched on this last one a little bit, we'll have another stab at it. Maybe you can give us a little, slightly different answer other than having 50 units by 2028.

[00:30:47] Where are you gonna be on your F financial independence journey? In five years, how's this gonna change as you're moving towards those goals? 

[00:30:54] Evan Phoenix: Yeah we're always gonna live below our means for the most part we don't wanna live a [00:31:00] luxurious lifestyle. We just want to have time. And that's the biggest thing, honestly, for us as we start our family, we both are extremely huge family people.

[00:31:08] And like I said, growing up with just my mom and my brother, it taught us really close knit, how to be a family. My biggest thing is that I just wanna be there for my kids. And whenever they have, not have to miss anything outta their lives, so I can have the passive income to, to miss a big meeting in real estate if I need it.

[00:31:26] And just, just have that time freedom, 

[00:31:27] Patrick Mcgrath: You'd be really surprised, but I think a lot of people out there think people that are real estate investors and people that are going towards financial freedom are really money focused and. Almost everyone that I talk to that's in the space all value time, way more than money, but realize that money is gonna be able is gonna be the asset that is able to buy back their time.

[00:31:54] And that's, that's so important. And I think once, once people are really in the game and [00:32:00] understand that it becomes a huge thing. I think that's what we're all vying. Is is our time. And yeah, that, that's wonderful. 

[00:32:06] James Rippeon: I think a true test of what somebody's in it for would be to ask them, would you rather switch places with Warren buffet or be who you are now, a younger person, would you rather just have that money or do you want the time to be 20 years old with your life to look forward to So that's exactly it right there.

[00:32:25] Well, Evan, it was great talking to you, man. Where can people get in touch with you if they wanna reach out and connect with you on your life journey in real estate and financial independence? 

[00:32:34] Evan Phoenix: Yeah, my wife and I just started Instagram at chasing underscore rentals and we're gonna be posting a lot of things from there right now.

[00:32:41] We just have our four unit on there, but as we buy and grow, we're gonna be we're. We're going to be growing our Instagram, hopefully and putting a lot more up there. So that that's, that's that's what we're doing. We're trying to be like the rental property couple. So yeah, they put out 

[00:32:55] James Rippeon: some good stuff every now and then.

[00:32:57] Evan Phoenix: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:32:58] Patrick Mcgrath: Hey, we try, we try [00:33:00] everybody go ahead and give Evan and his wife a follow. It sounds like they got some great stuff coming down the pipeline in the next year, if not sooner, and follow a rental property, couple. James 

[00:33:14] James Rippeon: and you can gimme a James underscore Ripon, and it sounds like I need a cooler Instagram handle to get people directed to, but we'll figure that out later, you can gimme a James underscore Ripon.

[00:33:25] Patrick Mcgrath: There you go. Everybody appreciate the time. And we will talk to you next time. See guys, 

[00:33:31] outro: thank you for listening to the real fi podcast where you learn from the investors that have lived, the hard lessons for you to connect with us during your pursuit of financial independence. Be sure to join our community by following us on Instagram or emailing us info@therealfi.com

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