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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ed Mathews (00:00):
Greetings and salutations.
Real Estate Undergrounders.
It's Ed Mathews with the RealEstate Underground.
Thank you so much for joiningus again today.
If you haven't already done so,please follow the show.
It helps us grow.
Also, please feel free to leavea comment.
That is something that it's howwe discover guests and a whole
bunch of other information.
I read every single quote orevery single comment, and I'm
(00:22):
looking forward to hearing fromyou.
So with me is Matthew Buchalski, and he is a multifamily
investor.
So, Matthew, welcome to theshow.
Thank you so much for your timetoday and that's really good to
see you, my friend Good to seeyou as well, Ed.
Thanks so much for having me onthe show.
Matt Buchalski (00:36):
I'm excited.
Ed Mathews (00:36):
Absolutely so, Texas , it's a tremendous market.
I want to hear about yourbusiness and actually you and I
share an interesting backgroundbecause we're both technology
guys and we're both in realestate.
So I am a former technology guyI like to say recovering and
you still like to sling thesoftware and services.
So God bless.
Matt Buchalski (00:56):
That's right.
The sales gene has been in myblood for almost 30 years now
and, as much as I want to leavethe business focus on real
estate, there's just somethingabout building sales
organizations that gets me outof bed and I know we'll talk
about that at some point.
But technology got me to Texas,and the last 10 and a half
years in Texas has been some ofthe most enjoyable in my life,
(01:18):
so I'm very thankful.
Ed Mathews (01:19):
Welcome to the show, Matt.
For those folks who haven'tdiscovered you, why don't you
lay out for us what you do for aliving and your company and all
that?
Matt Buchalski (01:29):
Yeah, so right now I am head of sales for
Ownwell.
I lead the team that is scalingour commercial real estate and
institutional investor propertytax appeal business.
I've been with the company nowfor six and a half months.
It's been an amazing rideworking for such a tech-first
and AI-driven hyperscale company.
I am an active multifamilyinvestor.
(01:51):
We have assets here in NorthTexas.
We have a concentration ofassets in Arlington, just a few
miles away from AT&T Stadium.
We have a concentration inRichardson and Garland, and then
we have a student asset that weown down in Waco, Texas, in the
Baylor bubble, and we justinvested in an RV storage
(02:14):
facility in Cleburne, which isSouth of Fort Worth, about a
year ago.
So that's interesting.
I'm literally surrounded by oneform of commercial real estate
or another for all of my wakingmoments of every day.
Ed Mathews (02:27):
Yeah, so it's interesting that guys like you
and me we go into real estate,and so I knew it drew me to it.
What drew you to the assetclass?
Matt Buchalski (02:36):
I used to run these fishing trips when I lived
in New Jersey.
We would go on these overnightcanyon tuna trips and one of the
guys who'd been on the trip acouple of years, he was always
on his phone when he was driving.
He almost crashed like ahundred times and it would scare
the crap out of me.
He was self-managing a 50single family portfolio on the
east end of Long Island from hiscell phone.
(02:57):
I was like bro, how do you dothat?
And he ran a mortgage companyand on that fishing trip he
explained the whole thing to me.
Long story short, he got meinto single family investing in
early 2016.
I bought my second.
That was in New York.
This was after I lived in Texas.
I bought my first one in NewYork, bought my second one in
Texas 90 days after that andthen it was like how do I do
(03:19):
more of this?
You run into this conundrumwhere every time you're buying
$100,000, $150,000, $200,000single family property by
yourself, you need to come tothe table with $50,000 to
$70,000 to close, plus whateverrepairs you're going to do.
Back then I didn't know how tolook for wholesale deals and all
kinds of stuff.
I was just buying stuff off theMLS and I said let me start
(03:41):
thinking about multifamily.
So eight months after that Ibought my first multifamily here
in Arlington and from thatpoint on I just got really
excited about value addopportunities that we'd ever
(04:02):
done.
The day we acquired it, somebodygot evicted, the brother-in-law
of the owner, who was theproperty manager, moved out, we
had a hoarder.
It was a disaster, but if therewas one deal we were going to
cut our teeth on, it was thatone.
Yeah, and sure enough, weexited with a 300% return on
that deal.
And from that point on it's allabout like how do you scale,
how do you take the capital thatyou have and put it into
(04:25):
vehicles that you can drive upthe valuation on, make cash flow
along the way?
Luckily, because of my W2, Inever had to rely on any of that
cash flow to pay bills andsurvive.
So all that money just wentinto another bank account and
then, when that bank account gotbig enough to buy something
else, we went out and boughtsomething else and it's just
(04:46):
this snowball.
I'm very grateful about thefact that I could say I have a
great job, I have a great career, but what that has afforded me
the ability to do is achieve thecompound effect of real estate
Up until I take my assetmanagement fees once a year.
Other than that, all of my cashflow gets reinvested and it's
(05:08):
snowballed significantly.
And it's just the classic story.
Compounding is real,compounding is very real.
And look, if I sold everythingtoday just from the equity that
I put in, if I didn't make aprofit, I just got my equity
back I probably wouldn't have towork anymore, and
congratulations on that.
Ed Mathews (05:25):
People always ask me why I left, and because I get
phone calls every once in awhile from an old boss or
something you have one of themyou and I used to work with as
well, and I'm not interested ingoing back, not because I didn't
love it, because I did.
I love the people, I love the.
Every day was different.
I loved all about that job.
The thing I didn't was 150nights a year on the road.
(05:47):
Yeah, and so having that timefreedom has been revolutionary
in my life and in my family'slives, and if you are good at it
, then hats off, because it's afun career and obviously a very
lucrative career.
But I saw real estate prettyearly on as an escape.
At that point I was probably inmy mid to late forties and
thought you know what?
My kids are starting to beteenagers and it's time that my
(06:08):
daughters have a dad.
That's in their face.
A lot Boys are going to startto come around and that's going
to be a thing, totally yeah, andbut that was my life choice and
it's but it's amazing when donewell like you have.
It is something that can be runas a side business, especially
when you have good partners, andalso the fact is that it's a
tremendous way to buildretirement capital so that you
(06:31):
live well now, but so you canlive really well when it comes
time to hang up the travel bagand go do something.
Matt Buchalski (06:40):
Totally, and it's funny you bring this up
Like your.
Timing is uncanny and this is.
We didn't prep for this at all.
But exactly what you just saidis something I've been spending
a lot of time thinking aboutlately, and it's time with
family.
Yeah, so a couple of weeks agoI was sitting on my son's little
league game he's 11.
And I looked over at my fianceand it was like a gorgeous night
(07:02):
.
He was all excited and theywere warming up and I said where
would you rather be right now?
For several years I was addictedto the Tim Ferris podcast long
form interviews, best of thebest in various categories,
right.
But there was something Timalways talked about, which was
this concept of lifestyle design, and a good buddy of mine,
(07:25):
vince Gethings, who had me at aspeaking engagement he would be
a great guest on the show, bythe way.
He's very much a proponent ofthat too.
He goes to Italy for a fewweeks and he brings his Starlink
and works from there.
It doesn't matter because he'sjust on call.
But I went through a divorcefive plus years ago.
At the time of that divorce, Ihad to make a decision Was I
(07:46):
going to dig my heels in to be adad that was there and present
for my kids.
Or was I going to go choose the150 nights a year traveling and
on the road?
Right, and I chose the kidsbecause my dad wasn't there for
me when I was a kid.
I will never put my kidsthrough that too.
It's tough enough on the kids.
(08:07):
I didn't want them to gothrough that kind of trauma and
not have a dad around.
I made a choice at that pointto be around for the kids all
the time when I had them.
There were maybe one or twoexceptions a year, but when it's
my possession time with thekids, I'm home and I'm home and
I'm working, but I'm present,and at a certain time of the day
(08:30):
I fold down the laptop and I gobe with my kids.
Yeah, and everything that'sbecome my North star.
So, as I have pursuedopportunities, as I have looked
at the next start of my career,if I look at investment
properties, that's my North star.
I could go be a CRO somewhereand spend 150, 180 nights a year
(08:54):
on the road, but I don't wantto give up the time with my
family, seeing my kids beingthere for the baseball games and
the tournaments and all thatstuff.
That's really what hits me here, and no amount of money is
going to take that away.
So real estate becomes theadditional vehicle to that
mission and it affords me theflexibility to say I don't need
(09:15):
to go chase an extra howevermany hundreds of thousand
dollars a year, because I havethis other thing that's just
brewing every day and I'm payingsomeone else to take care of it
and I'm managing managers,which is what I do in my W2.
So it's a transferable skill,right.
I hold them accountable to KPIs, they report back and it just.
It makes my life work and Icouldn't like.
(09:37):
Right now I think my life isprobably in the best state of
equilibrium that it's ever beenin Wow, Congratulations.
Ed Mathews (09:44):
It's rare in my old industry your industry is that.
I mean you've got road warriorsand it's a hard life and, like
I said, I wasn't very good at it, as you are, in terms of
balancing it and so, but it's.
I tell people all the time whenI find out that they are just
had a child or about to have achild, I tell them the exact
same thing, which is it isliterally the best thing you'll
(10:04):
ever do in your life.
It's really gratifying, Likeyesterday, for instance, the
assistant to the assistant coachat my daughter's high school
and I get to watch her and herteammates play softball at a
pretty high level and it'sthat's my happy place.
I love you know that.
Or if my daughter, who's downat Temple in Philly, needs a
(10:25):
dinner out because she's beeneating ramen for the last eight
weeks, me shooting down therefor her to go look at a property
is no problem and we go to anice Italian restaurant and she
has fun and I get to look at hersmiling face for a couple hours
.
Matt Buchalski (10:39):
Exactly, and I think there's a lot of folks out
there that are striving towardsthe full-blown version of
financial freedom, and I thinkthat's a good end goal.
Investing in real estate, ifdone the right way, gives you
that cushion right, so thatyou're not necessarily worried
about making every meeting.
You can afford that little bitof latitude along the way Right.
(10:59):
It doesn't necessarily need tobe from zero to a hundred 60, 70
, 80% of the way there and it'svery flexible and accommodating
as well.
Ed Mathews (11:07):
Yeah, and I'm sure your limited partners also
appreciate that, because thefolks that we work with here,
they're always asked why can't Ido this?
Well, you can't and I'll gladlyshow you how.
But then they realize, wow,it's actually a lot of work.
I'd rather invest with anoperator that you know, they
know and trust, as opposed tospending the hours that guys
like you and me spend eithermanaging the managers or
(11:27):
managing the properties directlyare managing the properties
directly, but it's aninteresting blend of being
deliberate with your time, right, yeah, so tell me about your
buy box these days.
What does it look like?
Matt Buchalski (11:42):
Yeah, so we've definitely shifted it over the
last couple of years.
Right now I'd say it's 80sproduct or newer, 70 to 150
doors.
We would prefer to stay in theareas where we have
concentrations of other assets,just from an economies of scale
perspective, but we're also opento other cities around the
Metroplex.
I think the biggest thing forus is my partners and I.
(12:06):
We're all family guys, so weinvest in neighborhoods where we
don't mind taking the kids on aSaturday afternoon.
If we need to check onsomething, that rules out
certain areas and maybe thoseare for other people but not for
us.
We started out investing in moreheavy value-added properties.
We acquired 34 units in 2021and we put almost a million
(12:27):
dollars CapEx into those twodeals right next door to each
other.
Right?
So 30 grand a door.
We wouldn't even look at thatdeal now.
Just, the market has become sodifferent that we're looking for
probably rent upside and maybea little bit of occupancy and
more of an operational upsidethan a heavy value add, because
right now it's taking longer tofill up vacant units.
(12:49):
Rent growth just isn't there,so we'd rather walk into
something that's probably alittle closer to the finish line
rather than completelydownfield from it.
Ed Mathews (12:58):
Yeah, and construction costs are still
super expensive these days.
Matt Buchalski (13:01):
The tariff situation is certainly impacting
lumber costs and other materialcosts and so yeah, I think the
tariffs on top of what we'vejust gone through are inflation
Again not a political thing, butjust puts icing on the world
kind of cake.
We were buying two and a halfton HVACs in 21, 22 for 3,500
bucks a piece install.
(13:21):
Those same HVACs now are 47,4,800, or were a few months ago.
I don't know how much they'regoing to be now.
Ed Mathews (13:28):
Yeah, probably another 10 to Exactly Depending
on where they're built.
Okay, and the other thing I'mreally interested in is OwnWell,
so tell me about that business.
Matt Buchalski (13:38):
So I get excited every time I talk about the
company.
Five-year-old company startedin California, moved to Austin,
called Dan Pace.
Our CEO worked in a billionairefamily office and was
completely immersed by how therich were able to find ways to
save on taxes.
He linked up with Joseph, ourCTO, who's a PhD in computer
(14:02):
science.
They said how do we make thisscalable?
Do it for hundreds of thousandsor millions of people and do it
in such a way where wedifferentiate ourselves?
So they've built the tech-firstAI-driven tax appeal platform.
The company's grown like a weedover the last couple of years.
We're tracking extremely nicelyfor 2025.
Already.
We did 350,000 appeals lastyear in seven states, mostly in
(14:26):
Texas, and we're gearing up todo somewhere between 800,000 and
a million appeals this year.
Lots of automation, the mostamazing technology,
infrastructure and machinelearning capabilities I've seen
of any tech companies I've evenworked at or sold product for,
and the company brought me on toscale out the commercial real
estate business.
So I get to talk to commercialowners every day talking about
(14:50):
their 2024 year in review, whatwe could do to save them money
on their property taxes in 2025.
And I just love being part ofthis community and scaling
businesses.
It's what I've done for thelast 20 years, and the fact that
they get to do it inside anindustry that I'm super
passionate with and connected tois very fulfilling to me, all
the better.
Ed Mathews (15:10):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about the
interesting thing that I find alot of early stage new-ish
investors is when they go to buysomething, their underwriting
forgets that property taxes willabsolutely go up on the next
assessment because you're buyingit at a premium right.
Even if it's not a premium tothe market, it's a premium over
(15:31):
what it was assessed at a yearor two, three years ago, and I
know in Texas in particular,that's been a very big challenge
.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about?
Matt Buchalski (15:39):
that, yeah, you're absolutely right.
When I underwrite a deal and Iunderwrite all the deals that
our teams invest in two or threeyears ago I would know that
Tarrant County is averaging 88or 90% of the purchase price
times the mills rate for thetaxes In 2023, that entire deck
shuffled, and almost everycounty in Texas, at least the
(16:02):
ones that we invested in, wentup to 100% of the purchase price
year one.
But when you start to dig intotax code, you can find ways to
mitigate that.
Assets under $5 million, youmay have a circuit breaker be
able to apply where your taxgrowth gets capped.
So if your purchase price ismore than 20% of the last
assessment, your tax growthwould be capped at 20% year over
(16:26):
year.
And so it's important to reallyunderstand the nuances because,
as your single biggest expenseon the T-12, if you can get a 5%
or 10% fluctuation in propertytaxes and you understand how to
do it and how to forecast on it,that could mean the difference
between you walking away from a90% deal or doing the 100% deal,
and so there's a lot of nuanceswith it.
(16:49):
From a county perspective, andprior to joining Ownwell, I
worked with one of the largebrand name firms and what I
found was, after doing someanalysis, is there was a lot of,
there was a lot of kind ofmedian or average taking into
account and any sort ofdeviation there based on the
(17:10):
freshness and the accuracy ofthe data would make a material
difference.
And I think that's what ownwell does, really interesting
and really well and at scale.
So, like you just, taxassessments in Texas came out a
week ago.
We've already analyzed threeplus million properties across
eight or nine counties tounderstand what happened with
(17:30):
assessments last year.
I don't think there's any othercompany that can keep pace with
that, and that hence is the AIcomponent.
I assume yeah the machinelearning and the AI component,
the databases and the access todata that we've built is unreal,
and I could go to one of ouranalysts right now and ask him
or her a question aboutassessments year over year,
(17:51):
which counties are seeing themost growth, so on and so forth,
and within 10 minutes I'd havethe answer to that and we'd be
able to make business decisionsfor the company and our
customers on how they're able toforecast their taxes for this
year.
Ed Mathews (18:03):
Explains why you've tripled the size of your client
base, or at least yourtransaction base, over the last
year.
Exactly, it's a huge need,right?
You look at expenses and thetwo lines that are the most
expensive are your propertytaxes and probably your
insurance, right, right, we'vefelt the sting of this ourselves
.
Matt Buchalski (18:19):
When you're in a market cycle like we're in and
your number one and number twobiggest expenses are completely
uncontrollable, going throughthe roof, and then you have
flattening rent growth or, insome cases, even declining rent
growth because you have tons ofnew supply coming in, you have
to go into defensive mode.
Every choice you make and everydecision that you make and
(18:40):
every action you take has to bein the best interest of growing
your NOI.
And I was just talking to ahigh-ranking executive, one of
the big mastermind groups, downhere a couple of weeks ago and
he's changing everything All ofhis utility providers, new trash
company, new propertymanagement team because the
market's just demanding changeright now and what worked two
(19:03):
years ago may not be working now.
I think you were seeing this atthe owner level or syndicator
level the difference betweenmarketers and operators but
we're also seeing this even atthe property management company
level.
Two years ago, when everybodyhad COVID cash throwing around
and everybody could afford theextra two, three $400 a month
rent increases, in some cases itdidn't matter because there was
(19:26):
so much demand.
But now the purse strings aretightening and the economy's in
a different place.
Right, you can't count on thatkind of leasing velocity, so you
got to take other actions andthe amount of change and the
amount of innovation, I thinkthat this part of the market
cycle is going to expose andencourage.
I think it's going to changethe business going forward.
Ed Mathews (19:45):
I couldn't agree more.
It's creating a disciplinethat's required.
I come from the procurementworld, so my brain is wired to
source everything every yearanyway.
But I find that a lot our peersdon't, and for the exact reason
you were just saying is thatthings were good.
So let's ride the wave.
And now that wave is coming toshore and gets expensive quick,
(20:06):
exactly All right.
So let's get into the finalfive.
I'm always interested in seeinghow your brain works.
Let's talk about purpose first.
We talked about it in the earlystages of this conversation,
but I'd like you to drill downeven further in terms of what
gets you out of bed on Mondaymornings, I think at a life
level my purpose is to makeeverything and everyone I touch
(20:27):
into a better version ofthemselves through interacting
with me.
Matt Buchalski (20:30):
How can I raise and nurture my kids and expose
them to things so that when theygrow up they can have a better
life than I did, right?
How can I do that with myfiance?
And how do we keep each otherin check?
What's the impact that I canmake on developing and coaching
my team so that they are bettertoday than they were yesterday
and they'll be better againtomorrow?
And when they look back on ourtime together they can say those
(20:53):
years that we spent together inthe trenches were some of the
most transformative, empoweringin their life.
And then the companies that Ihave been privileged to work at.
How can I bring a little bit ofMatt Buchowski and either from
an energy or motivation orphilosophical strategy, sales
execution perspectives I love?
What gets me out of bed isknowing that I've had an
(21:16):
opportunity to put a thumbprinton the things around me and my
sphere of influence, and thatthey're better because of it.
Awesome.
Ed Mathews (21:23):
And the thing that I'm always interested in is I
love hearing about how you gotyour start and the mentors that
you've been blessed with overthe years, and so I'm curious
what was the best advice youever got and who gave it to you?
Matt Buchalski (21:38):
There's been so much in my career and some of it
has been very well-timed, butI'll tell you I think some of
the most disciplined things thatI've learned in my life that I
still think about today and I'mthinking about a specific
comment right now I worked in abutcher shop in New Rochelle,
new York, when I was a teenagerand I probably shouldn't have
been working there because backin the day they were like
(21:59):
working papers and you weresupposed to be around sharp
things when you were working asa 15-year-old.
But he was always veryconcerned about my safety.
I loved this guy.
He was a father figure to meand he used to say all the time
first right, then quick.
Don't worry about doing thingsfast until you know how to do
them right.
(22:24):
And I've seen this time and timeagain in sales, especially the
last six or seven years, as youhave these kind of sales
automation platforms growinglike weeds inside of sales
organizations where you thinkyou can just put a contact into
this perfect email cadence andit's going to do all the work
for you, but if you're nothaving the right inputs up front
, you're just doing a bunch ofbad stuff.
I wish everybody just thoughtabout this concept of first then
(22:45):
quick Figure out how to do itthe best that you can and then
figure out how to scale it thebest that you can and then
figure out how to scale it anddoing it the right way.
And I think if we all thoughtabout that and did it on a
regular basis, we'd be betterfor it, without a doubt,
especially in this industry.
Ed Mathews (22:59):
right, that's right.
So, speaking of doing theopposite of that advice going
fast, you tend to make mistakes.
I fundamentally believe thatmistakes are a good thing and
that's where you learn.
I think you learn a lot morefrom stubbing your toe than the
successes over the course of alifetime.
I'm curious about a mistakethat you've made that had a lot
of influence on you, and how didyou recover?
(23:21):
How'd you rethink it?
Matt Buchalski (23:21):
When I first moved to Texas.
It really exposed a lot ofthings in my marriage at the
time and put a lot of pressureon us and created some addiction
problems in my home.
For a long time I thought thatmoving to Texas from New York
(23:42):
was the worst mistake I evermade and ultimately led to a
divorce from my ex-wife.
Those are some very dark yearsand ultimately led a divorce
from my ex-wife.
Those are some very dark yearsand I always questioned whether
move A was the right move and ifI had put my family in jeopardy
for the career opportunity thatI came down to Texas to pursue.
But you know what?
The night is always darkestbefore the dawn and what I
(24:06):
learned going through that isthat I had not only the
emotional depth to overcomethose challenges and the
emotional strength to be the oneto make the move and dissolve
the marriage, and determinationto keep my family in check and
my kids and I together.
But, man, it's been a frigginggreat ride since right, I've
(24:27):
fallen in love and gettingmarried to my fiance here in
three months, two months.
Whenever everybody hears this,my kids are striving, my
businesses are striving.
You may think you've made amistake and sometimes we make
terrible mistakes that we can'tcome back from.
I'm lucky to say I don't thinkI've had to go through any of
that before, but sometimes, whenyou think you've made a mistake
(24:56):
, it's actually a test to see ifyou have the endurance to
overcome it, and so myencouragement would be when you
think you've made a mistake,don't give up.
Find ways to course correct,find the hair that was on that
mistake and just cut the hairoff and move on.
Ed Mathews (25:06):
That's good advice, and I'm glad you're on the other
side of that.
Matt Buchalski (25:08):
Very much on the other side of that.
You asked me how I was doingwhen we got on the call.
People ask me how I'm doing andI say never better Every day.
There's a big differencebetween answering that question
with oh, not bad, everybodyassumes that it should be bad,
and when it's not bad it's good.
But like I truly live my lifeevery day with, my life is never
(25:29):
better.
My children are healthy, myfiance is healthy, my soon to be
stepdaughter is healthy, I workwith amazing people, business
is good and I have an amazingsphere of influence, and you
just got to fall back on thatevery day and be super grateful
for it and tell everybody thatyou're appreciative of.
Ed Mathews (25:44):
Yeah, absolutely All right.
So I'm interested in how yousharpen the saw One.
What's the book on yournightstand, either physically or
virtually, and who are youpaying attention to these days?
You mentioned Tim.
Matt Buchalski (25:58):
So I'm an audible junkie.
I just finished a book aboutraising teenage girls called
Untangled, which was great, andright now I've dove into when
Pride Still Mattered, which wasa biography on Vince Lombardi.
I'm about three chapters intothat right now.
I grew up in Brooklyn,Sheepshead Bay.
I used to go fishing inSheepshead Bay when I was a kid
(26:18):
Huge Italian influence.
I think.
I'm at the point right nowwhere he went on one date.
He went to Fordham UniversityAt the time it was an all-boys
school Finally got a date andhis first date ended up being
his last date.
He married her and stayedmarried to her for his entire
life.
Yep, so we haven't even gotteninto really his coaching yet.
But starting his footballcareer I love stories.
(26:40):
I started in New York becauseI'm from there and I didn't go
into the book knowing that, butit's just instant relation.
Ed Mathews (26:45):
Yeah, that's great.
So what does success mean inyour life?
How do you define it?
Matt Buchalski (26:50):
Success in life comes down to when you catch
somebody in the hall or you havelunch with someone after a long
time and they tell you workingwith you or working for you was
the best time in my career.
That's how I know I've beensuccessful.
Again, going back to my NorthStar, what I said earlier not
necessarily in the moment,because that never happens with
(27:10):
leadership or very rarelyhappens in leadership right,
Finding out that you had athumbprint, I had a thumbprint
on someone's life.
That, to me, is success.
I have a young lady that workedfor me 10 years ago when I first
moved to Texas.
She was six months out ofcollege, a total newbie.
She was all over the place,coming into work late, like put
(27:32):
her shoes on as she walked inthe door and, yeah, I took her
under my wing and since thenshe's had jobs in Chicago.
Back to Dallas.
She now works at salesforcecom.
She crushed her quota last year.
She's doing amazing.
She's one of the top reps inNew York City and she tells me
(27:54):
all the time she wouldn't bethere if it weren't for me,
Regardless of what my bankaccount looks like, regardless
of the cars, the house, theinvestment properties, etc.
When I have tangible proof thatthe passion that I have for
developing people and being atrue servant leader ended up
making someone's life better.
I know that I'm successful.
Ed Mathews (28:08):
I've really enjoyed this conversation.
I've enjoyed getting to knowyou and I'm curious how do you
spend your time when you're notin real estate world or working
for OwnWell?
Matt Buchalski (28:25):
Yeah, I'm at the gym every day, religiously.
If I don't get to the gym,something is terribly wrong.
I think right now I'm probably35 or 40 days in a row.
I love to stay fit and it'sgood for me from a stress and
mental clarity perspective, andoutside of that I love to cook
Delectable things, elegant thing.
I'm trying to stay fit and bejacked and tanned for the
audience, it's just man.
I bought a big green egg a fewyears ago.
(28:46):
I absolutely love cooking withthat thing.
I'm on a sous vide kick rightnow.
The sous vide machine's on thestove.
Pretty much every weekend, myfiance and I will open a bottle
of wine, turn some tunes on andjust have our own little date
night, making something in thekitchen and eating something and
watching TV and just chillingout together.
But those are the moments thatI look to create in life.
Ed Mathews (29:06):
It's great.
So, Matt, if somebody wants toreach out to you with regard to
the services you provide atOwnWell or want to learn more
about your real estate investingbusiness, what's the best way
to do that?
So?
Matt Buchalski (29:17):
thanks, ed.
You can find me on LinkedIn,matt Buchelski.
I'm on LinkedIn multiple timesa day, checking in and engaging
with my audience and the peoplethat I follow.
Checking in and engaging withmy audience and the people that
I follow.
You can email me on propertytax related questions at matt@
ownwell.
com, and if you're interested intalking multifamily real estate
(29:40):
or investing, you can hit me upat
Ed Mathews (29:43):
Awesome, matt Puchowski.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
It's great to see it, andcontinued success.
Matt Buchalski (29:48):
Thank, you, Ed.
Thank you so much for thisopportunity.
I hope it was valuable for youraudience.
Greetings and salutations.
Real Estate Undergrounders.
It's Ed Mathews with the RealEstate Underground.
Thank you so much for joiningus again today.
If you haven't already done so,please follow the show.
It helps us grow.
Also, please feel free to leavea comment.
That is something that it's howwe discover guests and a whole
bunch of other information.
I read every single quote orevery single comment, and I'm
(00:22):
looking forward to hearing fromyou.
So with me is Matthew Buchalski, and he is a multifamily
investor.
So, Matthew, welcome to theshow.
Thank you so much for your timetoday and that's really good to
see you, my friend Good to seeyou as well, Ed.
Thanks so much for having me onthe show.
Matt Buchalski (00:36):
I'm excited.
Ed Mathews (00:36):
Absolutely so, Texas , it's a tremendous market.
I want to hear about yourbusiness and actually you and I
share an interesting backgroundbecause we're both technology
guys and we're both in realestate.
So I am a former technology guyI like to say recovering and
you still like to sling thesoftware and services.
So God bless.
Matt Buchalski (00:56):
That's right.
The sales gene has been in myblood for almost 30 years now
and, as much as I want to leavethe business focus on real
estate, there's just somethingabout building sales
organizations that gets me outof bed and I know we'll talk
about that at some point.
But technology got me to Texas,and the last 10 and a half
years in Texas has been some ofthe most enjoyable in my life,
(01:18):
so I'm very thankful.
Ed Mathews (01:19):
Welcome to the show, Matt.
For those folks who haven'tdiscovered you, why don't you
lay out for us what you do for aliving and your company and all
that?
Matt Buchalski (01:29):
Yeah, so right now I am head of sales for
Ownwell.
I lead the team that is scalingour commercial real estate and
institutional investor propertytax appeal business.
I've been with the company nowfor six and a half months.
It's been an amazing rideworking for such a tech-first
and AI-driven hyperscale company.
I am an active multifamilyinvestor.
(01:51):
We have assets here in NorthTexas.
We have a concentration ofassets in Arlington, just a few
miles away from AT&T Stadium.
We have a concentration inRichardson and Garland, and then
we have a student asset that weown down in Waco, Texas, in the
Baylor bubble, and we justinvested in an RV storage
(02:14):
facility in Cleburne, which isSouth of Fort Worth, about a
year ago.
So that's interesting.
I'm literally surrounded by oneform of commercial real estate
or another for all of my wakingmoments of every day.
Ed Mathews (02:27):
Yeah, so it's interesting that guys like you
and me we go into real estate,and so I knew it drew me to it.
What drew you to the assetclass?
Matt Buchalski (02:36):
I used to run these fishing trips when I lived
in New Jersey.
We would go on these overnightcanyon tuna trips and one of the
guys who'd been on the trip acouple of years, he was always
on his phone when he was driving.
He almost crashed like ahundred times and it would scare
the crap out of me.
He was self-managing a 50single family portfolio on the
east end of Long Island from hiscell phone.
(02:57):
I was like bro, how do you dothat?
And he ran a mortgage companyand on that fishing trip he
explained the whole thing to me.
Long story short, he got meinto single family investing in
early 2016.
I bought my second.
That was in New York.
This was after I lived in Texas.
I bought my first one in NewYork, bought my second one in
Texas 90 days after that andthen it was like how do I do
(03:19):
more of this?
You run into this conundrumwhere every time you're buying
$100,000, $150,000, $200,000single family property by
yourself, you need to come tothe table with $50,000 to
$70,000 to close, plus whateverrepairs you're going to do.
Back then I didn't know how tolook for wholesale deals and all
kinds of stuff.
I was just buying stuff off theMLS and I said let me start
(03:41):
thinking about multifamily.
So eight months after that Ibought my first multifamily here
in Arlington and from thatpoint on I just got really
excited about value addopportunities that we'd ever
(04:02):
done.
The day we acquired it, somebodygot evicted, the brother-in-law
of the owner, who was theproperty manager, moved out, we
had a hoarder.
It was a disaster, but if therewas one deal we were going to
cut our teeth on, it was thatone.
Yeah, and sure enough, weexited with a 300% return on
that deal.
And from that point on it's allabout like how do you scale,
how do you take the capital thatyou have and put it into
(04:25):
vehicles that you can drive upthe valuation on, make cash flow
along the way?
Luckily, because of my W2, Inever had to rely on any of that
cash flow to pay bills andsurvive.
So all that money just wentinto another bank account and
then, when that bank account gotbig enough to buy something
else, we went out and boughtsomething else and it's just
(04:46):
this snowball.
I'm very grateful about thefact that I could say I have a
great job, I have a great career, but what that has afforded me
the ability to do is achieve thecompound effect of real estate
Up until I take my assetmanagement fees once a year.
Other than that, all of my cashflow gets reinvested and it's
(05:08):
snowballed significantly.
And it's just the classic story.
Compounding is real,compounding is very real.
And look, if I sold everythingtoday just from the equity that
I put in, if I didn't make aprofit, I just got my equity
back I probably wouldn't have towork anymore, and
congratulations on that.
Ed Mathews (05:25):
People always ask me why I left, and because I get
phone calls every once in awhile from an old boss or
something you have one of themyou and I used to work with as
well, and I'm not interested ingoing back, not because I didn't
love it, because I did.
I love the people, I love the.
Every day was different.
I loved all about that job.
The thing I didn't was 150nights a year on the road.
(05:47):
Yeah, and so having that timefreedom has been revolutionary
in my life and in my family'slives, and if you are good at it
, then hats off, because it's afun career and obviously a very
lucrative career.
But I saw real estate prettyearly on as an escape.
At that point I was probably inmy mid to late forties and
thought you know what?
My kids are starting to beteenagers and it's time that my
(06:08):
daughters have a dad.
That's in their face.
A lot Boys are going to startto come around and that's going
to be a thing, totally yeah, andbut that was my life choice and
it's but it's amazing when donewell like you have.
It is something that can be runas a side business, especially
when you have good partners, andalso the fact is that it's a
tremendous way to buildretirement capital so that you
(06:31):
live well now, but so you canlive really well when it comes
time to hang up the travel bagand go do something.
Matt Buchalski (06:40):
Totally, and it's funny you bring this up
Like your.
Timing is uncanny and this is.
We didn't prep for this at all.
But exactly what you just saidis something I've been spending
a lot of time thinking aboutlately, and it's time with
family.
Yeah, so a couple of weeks agoI was sitting on my son's little
league game he's 11.
And I looked over at my fianceand it was like a gorgeous night
(07:02):
.
He was all excited and theywere warming up and I said where
would you rather be right now?
For several years I was addictedto the Tim Ferris podcast long
form interviews, best of thebest in various categories,
right.
But there was something Timalways talked about, which was
this concept of lifestyle design, and a good buddy of mine,
(07:25):
vince Gethings, who had me at aspeaking engagement he would be
a great guest on the show, bythe way.
He's very much a proponent ofthat too.
He goes to Italy for a fewweeks and he brings his Starlink
and works from there.
It doesn't matter because he'sjust on call.
But I went through a divorcefive plus years ago.
At the time of that divorce, Ihad to make a decision Was I
(07:46):
going to dig my heels in to be adad that was there and present
for my kids.
Or was I going to go choose the150 nights a year traveling and
on the road?
Right, and I chose the kidsbecause my dad wasn't there for
me when I was a kid.
I will never put my kidsthrough that too.
It's tough enough on the kids.
(08:07):
I didn't want them to gothrough that kind of trauma and
not have a dad around.
I made a choice at that pointto be around for the kids all
the time when I had them.
There were maybe one or twoexceptions a year, but when it's
my possession time with thekids, I'm home and I'm home and
I'm working, but I'm present,and at a certain time of the day
(08:30):
I fold down the laptop and I gobe with my kids.
Yeah, and everything that'sbecome my North star.
So, as I have pursuedopportunities, as I have looked
at the next start of my career,if I look at investment
properties, that's my North star.
I could go be a CRO somewhereand spend 150, 180 nights a year
(08:54):
on the road, but I don't wantto give up the time with my
family, seeing my kids beingthere for the baseball games and
the tournaments and all thatstuff.
That's really what hits me here, and no amount of money is
going to take that away.
So real estate becomes theadditional vehicle to that
mission and it affords me theflexibility to say I don't need
(09:15):
to go chase an extra howevermany hundreds of thousand
dollars a year, because I havethis other thing that's just
brewing every day and I'm payingsomeone else to take care of it
and I'm managing managers,which is what I do in my W2.
So it's a transferable skill,right.
I hold them accountable to KPIs, they report back and it just.
It makes my life work and Icouldn't like.
(09:37):
Right now I think my life isprobably in the best state of
equilibrium that it's ever beenin Wow, Congratulations.
Ed Mathews (09:44):
It's rare in my old industry your industry is that.
I mean you've got road warriorsand it's a hard life and, like
I said, I wasn't very good at it, as you are, in terms of
balancing it and so, but it's.
I tell people all the time whenI find out that they are just
had a child or about to have achild, I tell them the exact
same thing, which is it isliterally the best thing you'll
(10:04):
ever do in your life.
It's really gratifying, Likeyesterday, for instance, the
assistant to the assistant coachat my daughter's high school
and I get to watch her and herteammates play softball at a
pretty high level and it'sthat's my happy place.
I love you know that.
Or if my daughter, who's downat Temple in Philly, needs a
(10:25):
dinner out because she's beeneating ramen for the last eight
weeks, me shooting down therefor her to go look at a property
is no problem and we go to anice Italian restaurant and she
has fun and I get to look at hersmiling face for a couple hours
.
Matt Buchalski (10:39):
Exactly, and I think there's a lot of folks out
there that are striving towardsthe full-blown version of
financial freedom, and I thinkthat's a good end goal.
Investing in real estate, ifdone the right way, gives you
that cushion right, so thatyou're not necessarily worried
about making every meeting.
You can afford that little bitof latitude along the way Right.
(10:59):
It doesn't necessarily need tobe from zero to a hundred 60, 70
, 80% of the way there and it'svery flexible and accommodating
as well.
Ed Mathews (11:07):
Yeah, and I'm sure your limited partners also
appreciate that, because thefolks that we work with here,
they're always asked why can't Ido this?
Well, you can't and I'll gladlyshow you how.
But then they realize, wow,it's actually a lot of work.
I'd rather invest with anoperator that you know, they
know and trust, as opposed tospending the hours that guys
like you and me spend eithermanaging the managers or
(11:27):
managing the properties directlyare managing the properties
directly, but it's aninteresting blend of being
deliberate with your time, right, yeah, so tell me about your
buy box these days.
What does it look like?
Matt Buchalski (11:42):
Yeah, so we've definitely shifted it over the
last couple of years.
Right now I'd say it's 80sproduct or newer, 70 to 150
doors.
We would prefer to stay in theareas where we have
concentrations of other assets,just from an economies of scale
perspective, but we're also opento other cities around the
Metroplex.
I think the biggest thing forus is my partners and I.
(12:06):
We're all family guys, so weinvest in neighborhoods where we
don't mind taking the kids on aSaturday afternoon.
If we need to check onsomething, that rules out
certain areas and maybe thoseare for other people but not for
us.
We started out investing in moreheavy value-added properties.
We acquired 34 units in 2021and we put almost a million
(12:27):
dollars CapEx into those twodeals right next door to each
other.
Right?
So 30 grand a door.
We wouldn't even look at thatdeal now.
Just, the market has become sodifferent that we're looking for
probably rent upside and maybea little bit of occupancy and
more of an operational upsidethan a heavy value add, because
right now it's taking longer tofill up vacant units.
(12:49):
Rent growth just isn't there,so we'd rather walk into
something that's probably alittle closer to the finish line
rather than completelydownfield from it.
Ed Mathews (12:58):
Yeah, and construction costs are still
super expensive these days.
Matt Buchalski (13:01):
The tariff situation is certainly impacting
lumber costs and other materialcosts and so yeah, I think the
tariffs on top of what we'vejust gone through are inflation
Again not a political thing, butjust puts icing on the world
kind of cake.
We were buying two and a halfton HVACs in 21, 22 for 3,500
bucks a piece install.
(13:21):
Those same HVACs now are 47,4,800, or were a few months ago.
I don't know how much they'regoing to be now.
Ed Mathews (13:28):
Yeah, probably another 10 to Exactly Depending
on where they're built.
Okay, and the other thing I'mreally interested in is OwnWell,
so tell me about that business.
Matt Buchalski (13:38):
So I get excited every time I talk about the
company.
Five-year-old company startedin California, moved to Austin,
called Dan Pace.
Our CEO worked in a billionairefamily office and was
completely immersed by how therich were able to find ways to
save on taxes.
He linked up with Joseph, ourCTO, who's a PhD in computer
(14:02):
science.
They said how do we make thisscalable?
Do it for hundreds of thousandsor millions of people and do it
in such a way where wedifferentiate ourselves?
So they've built the tech-firstAI-driven tax appeal platform.
The company's grown like a weedover the last couple of years.
We're tracking extremely nicelyfor 2025.
Already.
We did 350,000 appeals lastyear in seven states, mostly in
(14:26):
Texas, and we're gearing up todo somewhere between 800,000 and
a million appeals this year.
Lots of automation, the mostamazing technology,
infrastructure and machinelearning capabilities I've seen
of any tech companies I've evenworked at or sold product for,
and the company brought me on toscale out the commercial real
estate business.
So I get to talk to commercialowners every day talking about
(14:50):
their 2024 year in review, whatwe could do to save them money
on their property taxes in 2025.
And I just love being part ofthis community and scaling
businesses.
It's what I've done for thelast 20 years, and the fact that
they get to do it inside anindustry that I'm super
passionate with and connected tois very fulfilling to me, all
the better.
Ed Mathews (15:10):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about the
interesting thing that I find alot of early stage new-ish
investors is when they go to buysomething, their underwriting
forgets that property taxes willabsolutely go up on the next
assessment because you're buyingit at a premium right.
Even if it's not a premium tothe market, it's a premium over
(15:31):
what it was assessed at a yearor two, three years ago, and I
know in Texas in particular,that's been a very big challenge
.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about?
Matt Buchalski (15:39):
that, yeah, you're absolutely right.
When I underwrite a deal and Iunderwrite all the deals that
our teams invest in two or threeyears ago I would know that
Tarrant County is averaging 88or 90% of the purchase price
times the mills rate for thetaxes In 2023, that entire deck
shuffled, and almost everycounty in Texas, at least the
(16:02):
ones that we invested in, wentup to 100% of the purchase price
year one.
But when you start to dig intotax code, you can find ways to
mitigate that.
Assets under $5 million, youmay have a circuit breaker be
able to apply where your taxgrowth gets capped.
So if your purchase price ismore than 20% of the last
assessment, your tax growthwould be capped at 20% year over
(16:26):
year.
And so it's important to reallyunderstand the nuances because,
as your single biggest expenseon the T-12, if you can get a 5%
or 10% fluctuation in propertytaxes and you understand how to
do it and how to forecast on it,that could mean the difference
between you walking away from a90% deal or doing the 100% deal,
and so there's a lot of nuanceswith it.
(16:49):
From a county perspective, andprior to joining Ownwell, I
worked with one of the largebrand name firms and what I
found was, after doing someanalysis, is there was a lot of,
there was a lot of kind ofmedian or average taking into
account and any sort ofdeviation there based on the
(17:10):
freshness and the accuracy ofthe data would make a material
difference.
And I think that's what ownwell does, really interesting
and really well and at scale.
So, like you just, taxassessments in Texas came out a
week ago.
We've already analyzed threeplus million properties across
eight or nine counties tounderstand what happened with
(17:30):
assessments last year.
I don't think there's any othercompany that can keep pace with
that, and that hence is the AIcomponent.
I assume yeah the machinelearning and the AI component,
the databases and the access todata that we've built is unreal,
and I could go to one of ouranalysts right now and ask him
or her a question aboutassessments year over year,
(17:51):
which counties are seeing themost growth, so on and so forth,
and within 10 minutes I'd havethe answer to that and we'd be
able to make business decisionsfor the company and our
customers on how they're able toforecast their taxes for this
year.
Ed Mathews (18:03):
Explains why you've tripled the size of your client
base, or at least yourtransaction base, over the last
year.
Exactly, it's a huge need,right?
You look at expenses and thetwo lines that are the most
expensive are your propertytaxes and probably your
insurance, right, right, we'vefelt the sting of this ourselves
.
Matt Buchalski (18:19):
When you're in a market cycle like we're in and
your number one and number twobiggest expenses are completely
uncontrollable, going throughthe roof, and then you have
flattening rent growth or, insome cases, even declining rent
growth because you have tons ofnew supply coming in, you have
to go into defensive mode.
Every choice you make and everydecision that you make and
(18:40):
every action you take has to bein the best interest of growing
your NOI.
And I was just talking to ahigh-ranking executive, one of
the big mastermind groups, downhere a couple of weeks ago and
he's changing everything All ofhis utility providers, new trash
company, new propertymanagement team because the
market's just demanding changeright now and what worked two
(19:03):
years ago may not be working now.
I think you were seeing this atthe owner level or syndicator
level the difference betweenmarketers and operators but
we're also seeing this even atthe property management company
level.
Two years ago, when everybodyhad COVID cash throwing around
and everybody could afford theextra two, three $400 a month
rent increases, in some cases itdidn't matter because there was
(19:26):
so much demand.
But now the purse strings aretightening and the economy's in
a different place.
Right, you can't count on thatkind of leasing velocity, so you
got to take other actions andthe amount of change and the
amount of innovation, I thinkthat this part of the market
cycle is going to expose andencourage.
I think it's going to changethe business going forward.
Ed Mathews (19:45):
I couldn't agree more.
It's creating a disciplinethat's required.
I come from the procurementworld, so my brain is wired to
source everything every yearanyway.
But I find that a lot our peersdon't, and for the exact reason
you were just saying is thatthings were good.
So let's ride the wave.
And now that wave is coming toshore and gets expensive quick,
(20:06):
exactly All right.
So let's get into the finalfive.
I'm always interested in seeinghow your brain works.
Let's talk about purpose first.
We talked about it in the earlystages of this conversation,
but I'd like you to drill downeven further in terms of what
gets you out of bed on Mondaymornings, I think at a life
level my purpose is to makeeverything and everyone I touch
(20:27):
into a better version ofthemselves through interacting
with me.
Matt Buchalski (20:30):
How can I raise and nurture my kids and expose
them to things so that when theygrow up they can have a better
life than I did, right?
How can I do that with myfiance?
And how do we keep each otherin check?
What's the impact that I canmake on developing and coaching
my team so that they are bettertoday than they were yesterday
and they'll be better againtomorrow?
And when they look back on ourtime together they can say those
(20:53):
years that we spent together inthe trenches were some of the
most transformative, empoweringin their life.
And then the companies that Ihave been privileged to work at.
How can I bring a little bit ofMatt Buchowski and either from
an energy or motivation orphilosophical strategy, sales
execution perspectives I love?
What gets me out of bed isknowing that I've had an
(21:16):
opportunity to put a thumbprinton the things around me and my
sphere of influence, and thatthey're better because of it.
Awesome.
Ed Mathews (21:23):
And the thing that I'm always interested in is I
love hearing about how you gotyour start and the mentors that
you've been blessed with overthe years, and so I'm curious
what was the best advice youever got and who gave it to you?
Matt Buchalski (21:38):
There's been so much in my career and some of it
has been very well-timed, butI'll tell you I think some of
the most disciplined things thatI've learned in my life that I
still think about today and I'mthinking about a specific
comment right now I worked in abutcher shop in New Rochelle,
new York, when I was a teenagerand I probably shouldn't have
been working there because backin the day they were like
(21:59):
working papers and you weresupposed to be around sharp
things when you were working asa 15-year-old.
But he was always veryconcerned about my safety.
I loved this guy.
He was a father figure to meand he used to say all the time
first right, then quick.
Don't worry about doing thingsfast until you know how to do
them right.
(22:24):
And I've seen this time and timeagain in sales, especially the
last six or seven years, as youhave these kind of sales
automation platforms growinglike weeds inside of sales
organizations where you thinkyou can just put a contact into
this perfect email cadence andit's going to do all the work
for you, but if you're nothaving the right inputs up front
, you're just doing a bunch ofbad stuff.
I wish everybody just thoughtabout this concept of first then
(22:45):
quick Figure out how to do itthe best that you can and then
figure out how to scale it thebest that you can and then
figure out how to scale it anddoing it the right way.
And I think if we all thoughtabout that and did it on a
regular basis, we'd be betterfor it, without a doubt,
especially in this industry.
Ed Mathews (22:59):
right, that's right.
So, speaking of doing theopposite of that advice going
fast, you tend to make mistakes.
I fundamentally believe thatmistakes are a good thing and
that's where you learn.
I think you learn a lot morefrom stubbing your toe than the
successes over the course of alifetime.
I'm curious about a mistakethat you've made that had a lot
of influence on you, and how didyou recover?
(23:21):
How'd you rethink it?
Matt Buchalski (23:21):
When I first moved to Texas.
It really exposed a lot ofthings in my marriage at the
time and put a lot of pressureon us and created some addiction
problems in my home.
For a long time I thought thatmoving to Texas from New York
(23:42):
was the worst mistake I evermade and ultimately led to a
divorce from my ex-wife.
Those are some very dark yearsand ultimately led a divorce
from my ex-wife.
Those are some very dark yearsand I always questioned whether
move A was the right move and ifI had put my family in jeopardy
for the career opportunity thatI came down to Texas to pursue.
But you know what?
The night is always darkestbefore the dawn and what I
(24:06):
learned going through that isthat I had not only the
emotional depth to overcomethose challenges and the
emotional strength to be the oneto make the move and dissolve
the marriage, and determinationto keep my family in check and
my kids and I together.
But, man, it's been a frigginggreat ride since right, I've
(24:27):
fallen in love and gettingmarried to my fiance here in
three months, two months.
Whenever everybody hears this,my kids are striving, my
businesses are striving.
You may think you've made amistake and sometimes we make
terrible mistakes that we can'tcome back from.
I'm lucky to say I don't thinkI've had to go through any of
that before, but sometimes, whenyou think you've made a mistake
(24:56):
, it's actually a test to see ifyou have the endurance to
overcome it, and so myencouragement would be when you
think you've made a mistake,don't give up.
Find ways to course correct,find the hair that was on that
mistake and just cut the hairoff and move on.
Ed Mathews (25:06):
That's good advice, and I'm glad you're on the other
side of that.
Matt Buchalski (25:08):
Very much on the other side of that.
You asked me how I was doingwhen we got on the call.
People ask me how I'm doing andI say never better Every day.
There's a big differencebetween answering that question
with oh, not bad, everybodyassumes that it should be bad,
and when it's not bad it's good.
But like I truly live my lifeevery day with, my life is never
(25:29):
better.
My children are healthy, myfiance is healthy, my soon to be
stepdaughter is healthy, I workwith amazing people, business
is good and I have an amazingsphere of influence, and you
just got to fall back on thatevery day and be super grateful
for it and tell everybody thatyou're appreciative of.
Ed Mathews (25:44):
Yeah, absolutely All right.
So I'm interested in how yousharpen the saw One.
What's the book on yournightstand, either physically or
virtually, and who are youpaying attention to these days?
You mentioned Tim.
Matt Buchalski (25:58):
So I'm an audible junkie.
I just finished a book aboutraising teenage girls called
Untangled, which was great, andright now I've dove into when
Pride Still Mattered, which wasa biography on Vince Lombardi.
I'm about three chapters intothat right now.
I grew up in Brooklyn,Sheepshead Bay.
I used to go fishing inSheepshead Bay when I was a kid
(26:18):
Huge Italian influence.
I think.
I'm at the point right nowwhere he went on one date.
He went to Fordham UniversityAt the time it was an all-boys
school Finally got a date andhis first date ended up being
his last date.
He married her and stayedmarried to her for his entire
life.
Yep, so we haven't even gotteninto really his coaching yet.
But starting his footballcareer I love stories.
(26:40):
I started in New York becauseI'm from there and I didn't go
into the book knowing that, butit's just instant relation.
Ed Mathews (26:45):
Yeah, that's great.
So what does success mean inyour life?
How do you define it?
Matt Buchalski (26:50):
Success in life comes down to when you catch
somebody in the hall or you havelunch with someone after a long
time and they tell you workingwith you or working for you was
the best time in my career.
That's how I know I've beensuccessful.
Again, going back to my NorthStar, what I said earlier not
necessarily in the moment,because that never happens with
(27:10):
leadership or very rarelyhappens in leadership right,
Finding out that you had athumbprint, I had a thumbprint
on someone's life.
That, to me, is success.
I have a young lady that workedfor me 10 years ago when I first
moved to Texas.
She was six months out ofcollege, a total newbie.
She was all over the place,coming into work late, like put
(27:32):
her shoes on as she walked inthe door and, yeah, I took her
under my wing and since thenshe's had jobs in Chicago.
Back to Dallas.
She now works at salesforcecom.
She crushed her quota last year.
She's doing amazing.
She's one of the top reps inNew York City and she tells me
(27:54):
all the time she wouldn't bethere if it weren't for me,
Regardless of what my bankaccount looks like, regardless
of the cars, the house, theinvestment properties, etc.
When I have tangible proof thatthe passion that I have for
developing people and being atrue servant leader ended up
making someone's life better.
I know that I'm successful.
Ed Mathews (28:08):
I've really enjoyed this conversation.
I've enjoyed getting to knowyou and I'm curious how do you
spend your time when you're notin real estate world or working
for OwnWell?
Matt Buchalski (28:25):
Yeah, I'm at the gym every day, religiously.
If I don't get to the gym,something is terribly wrong.
I think right now I'm probably35 or 40 days in a row.
I love to stay fit and it'sgood for me from a stress and
mental clarity perspective, andoutside of that I love to cook
Delectable things, elegant thing.
I'm trying to stay fit and bejacked and tanned for the
audience, it's just man.
I bought a big green egg a fewyears ago.
(28:46):
I absolutely love cooking withthat thing.
I'm on a sous vide kick rightnow.
The sous vide machine's on thestove.
Pretty much every weekend, myfiance and I will open a bottle
of wine, turn some tunes on andjust have our own little date
night, making something in thekitchen and eating something and
watching TV and just chillingout together.
But those are the moments thatI look to create in life.
Ed Mathews (29:06):
It's great.
So, Matt, if somebody wants toreach out to you with regard to
the services you provide atOwnWell or want to learn more
about your real estate investingbusiness, what's the best way
to do that?
So?
Matt Buchalski (29:17):
thanks, ed.
You can find me on LinkedIn,matt Buchelski.
I'm on LinkedIn multiple timesa day, checking in and engaging
with my audience and the peoplethat I follow.
Checking in and engaging withmy audience and the people that
I follow.
You can email me on propertytax related questions at matt@
ownwell.
com, and if you're interested intalking multifamily real estate
(29:40):
or investing, you can hit me upat
Ed Mathews (29:43):
Awesome, matt Puchowski.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
It's great to see it, andcontinued success.
Matt Buchalski (29:48):
Thank, you, Ed.
Thank you so much for thisopportunity.
I hope it was valuable for youraudience.
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