Brian Baniqued is a seasoned real estate investor and developer. Brian shares insights into his illustrious real estate career which began in 1991, including his strategic prowess in multifamily properties and the importance of cash flow and investment management. Brian also delves into personal stories, detailing his journey moving from the Philippines to California at an early age, the significance of family, and balancing work with raising his daughter. He discusses the value of passive income, property management, and syndications, shedding light on the intricacies of real estate investments. Brian also gives a glimpse into his full life, which includes participating in American Ninja Warrior and engaging in Comic-Con cosplay with his daughter. The episode offers both practical investment advice and a heartfelt narrative on sustaining personal relationships while managing business success.
Brian Baniqued - Linkedin
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:32 Brian's Real Estate Journey Begins
02:33 Building a Real Estate Empire
04:14 Expanding Beyond California
06:59 Challenges and Strategies in Real Estate
08:30 Personal Background and Early Challenges
11:36 Developing Client Relationships
17:46 Balancing Work and Family Life
22:19 Maintaining Family Bonds Through Shared Interests
23:55 Exploring the World of Cosplay
25:19 Navigating Parenting in the Digital Age
28:11 Family Travels and Celebrations
31:16 Advice for Passive Real Estate Investors
37:53 Syndications and Partnership Models
42:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
So you're living from commission, from paycheck to
(00:02):
paycheck, you're a starvingcollege student.
and I found out like, there'snot always four plexes in
different areas, in Californiawhere I'm from the Bay area,
four unit buildings were apretty prevalent thing as well
as duplexes and triplexes.
but four units for me, it wasthe ticket, where I was like, I
found that I could buy a fourunit building with FHA.
(00:22):
And three and a half percentdown and I was like, oh I have
that And i'm like I could livein one unit and then I my rent's
always covered And then I havethree three other tenants paying
me rent And so i've always got alittle bit of something.
I don't got to rely on mycommissions, which was the
biggest pain point, right?
You could work on a transactionin real estate and then it would
fall apart and so when I gotreally good at closing very
(00:45):
difficult transactions,especially because now I'm not
worried about closing the dealbecause I've got passive cash
flow, right?
And so all of a sudden thatlittle paradigm shift of not
caring whether the deal closedor not, was all of a sudden all
the deals are closing
Speaker (01:42):
invested fathers today.
How are you?
I'm great, Kenny.
Thanks for having me on theshow.
Brian, we have not known eachother for very long.
we've met through LinkedIn.
you reached out to me, had heardthe show, I'd heard some, maybe
a reel or two, but I'm so gladyou did.
You have such an interestingstory.
I was gonna tell my audience,this guy's done a lot in the
real estate world.
(02:03):
In regards to developments,building, selling agent.
he has a daughter who I think isturning 20 in June.
Brian, excited to have you shareyour story and some lessons
learned along the way.
Go ahead and give us your, yourhigh level overview of who is
Brian Beniquin.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Okay.
Yeah, that's a great question.
most people know me from my realestate career, which I started
back in 1991 as a real estateagent in high school.
and I used it as a way to get myway through college.
By the time I finished college,around 1996, I started in 1991.
I had, Come a lot moreproficient and really good at
(02:40):
selling real estate, everythingfrom single family homes to more
to an emphasis on multifamily.
So started my own company in1998 and brought on 8 real
estate agents who ironicallywere.
Eight of my past clients who Ihad sold, apartment buildings to
and help them how to structurecash flowing entities to pay for
(03:03):
their mortgage and have cashflow.
and it was something that Ipracticed myself, right?
So I would sell clients,Multiple four unit buildings,
1030 and exchange them intolarger and larger buildings.
And then, of course, I wouldsell them a house under the
premise that this cash flowwould pay for the mortgage on
their house and then cover lifeexpects and life expenses, which
(03:25):
is precisely why a lot of themended up retiring or quitting
their jobs, getting their realestate license and working with
me when I started my office in1998 at.
The age of 25.
and so practicing what Ipreached, I went out and did the
same thing, saved up mycommissions each time, bought
apartment units, always madesure that they cash flowed.
(03:46):
And I worked out my littleformula between, the amount of
down payment.
The principal interest taxes,insurance expenses.
And I would, look at the cash oncash returns of how much I put
down and how much I would makeannually after all expenses,
which then of course later as I,progressed in, income generating
properties would look at debtservice, look at, capital
(04:08):
capitalization rates or caprates.
I'd look at gross rentmultiplier, but that wasn't my
big emphasis.
And.
it was a, something that Icarried on throughout my entire
career, just in as anentrepreneur, running a real
estate office, running amortgage company, running a
property management was alwaysabout making sure that my
expenses were covered and then,taking the cash flow from my
(04:29):
apartment buildings to justcreate a nice, stable
infrastructure.
so this whole premise of, Ofbuilding cash flow and net worth
through owning apartmentbuildings, turned in turned into
a great Vertically integratedbusiness because i'd have
clients who'd come i'd sell themapartment buildings i'd sell
(04:49):
them houses These clients wouldbecome my friends for multiple
decades in fact
Speaker 3 (04:55):
A
Speaker 2 (04:55):
lot of my clients have been my clients now for 25
26 plus years, some of theirkids when I saw them born are
actually working with me now is22 year olds you know, um nature
and I my career back in 2000took me in multiple directions,
right?
Because I had I started a realestate office Selling apartment
(05:17):
buildings and I'm buyingapartment buildings and as I'm
going out and looking for moreand more cash flow, I'm finding
that, and again, I'm maybe justfor the audience.
I'm California based in NorthernCalifornia.
So the majority of apartmentbuildings that I bought, and I
was fortunate enough to be ableto start buying these apartment
buildings in 1999, 2000, 2001.
(05:38):
We're really great cash flowingentities, but right around the
2002, 2003, 2004, our cap rateswould come down because our
values would go up, right?
Rents would continue to go up.
So I found myself and my clientsgoing out into different other
states.
we sprung, we started inCalifornia and platformed out
into Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas.
(06:01):
Florida, New York, Maine, andagain, along the way as I would
sell real estate in thesedifferent states, apartment
units, selling, taking myclients buildings in California
Selling them 10 30 whenexchanging them into larger and
larger buildings.
I found myself doing the samething.
So as I would go out and I wouldrepresent clients, I found
(06:22):
myself buying, 300 units inTexas, 86 units in Tennessee,
150 units in Maine, and.
Through my own experience ofbeing an owner, I, I got finally
in tune with all of the, theterminologies for cash flow, for
(06:42):
debt service, for cap rates.
And this is what segwayed mycareer into being a real estate
developer, right?
So right around 2004, which isone of the busiest times of my
life between 2000 and 2004.
I'm just running, multiplebusinesses.
I'm traveling all the time.
I started building propertiesfrom the ground up and we didn't
(07:07):
build apartments for rentbecause it was.
Too difficult to do that, itjust wouldn't pencil.
But building condominiums in2004, 2005 was very profitable,
right?
You'd build.
what looked like apartmentbuildings, but then you just get
separate a parcel of parcels foreach one and you'd sell them off
to individual homeowners.
(07:28):
and that was what we would call,creating condos.
my first project was a 64 unitcondo project and because I had
this infrastructure of brokersworking with me, we could find
good deals.
I had a pretty high net worth atthat time.
And so I would go out and I'dbuy the land, get it approved,
through the cities to, or whatwe call entitled, and then
(07:49):
building permit ready to buildcondos.
So the first project was 64units.
we, I was the developer on it.
I had my agents sell it all off,around, the early two thousands,
I also set up my own verticallyintegrated mortgage company.
So as we're selling off theseindividual units.
We're also doing the financingbehind it.
(08:09):
whenever I'd sell apartmentbuildings or attempt to exchange
them to other places, we wouldalso do the financing for the
acquisition on those as well asdo the representation.
So it, all of a sudden, my, mylife is very technical, but it's
one big algorithm.
you sell a property, you do theloan.
You're also at the same timedoing your own due diligence for
(08:30):
different locations throughoutthe, throughout California and
throughout the state.
As to where we could place ourmoney into these cash flowing
investments.
Speaker (08:41):
Brian, let me just do a quick, cause there's a lot that
you said, maybe I can unpackhalf the first half and then
maybe 2008 becomes the, likehalfway point or transition,
first off started at an earlyage.
25, where are you from?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So I'm originally from the Philippines
Speaker (08:57):
and
Speaker 2 (08:58):
came here to California.
And I grew up, I'm a CaliforniaBay area.
Native came here when I wasthree and a half years old.
Speaker (09:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
And this is where I call home, California.
Speaker (09:07):
No, I love it.
And, I'm over in South Carolina,so it's a different world all
the way over there.
But, I do have family.
I love California.
The, The entrepreneur, like I'mgoing to figure this out sort of
mentality early on.
You, bought your own units, kindof practice what you preach.
Like you said, as realtor,you're selling things to people,
but you're also buying things.
(09:28):
I know realtors who have neverpurchased anything, they've only
sold their whole lives and Idon't look down on them, but you
saw something different andrealized, Hey, I can learn how
this works and I'm making maybemaking money for other
investors.
I want to invest as well.
let me ask you this, the, I haveexperience in buying single
family homes, for the last sixyears and have learned enough of
(09:50):
what I more or less hate doingin regards to renovating and,
deal with certain problems.
What were some of the painpoints for you that forced the
different levels of upgrading,that you can remember any
stories of just I realized whenI, did this for the 10th time,
like I would no longer wanted todo this.
Anything stick out in your mindis like big obstacles or pain
points.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
What prompted me to start buying apartment buildings
and getting passive cashflowfrom rental properties was the
pain points of being a realestate agent, working my way
through college.
In 1991 through 1994, and thereason why it was such huge pain
points is financing back thenwas horrible.
you're looking at 10.
5 percent interest rates, 11percent interest rates, half the
(10:34):
deals you'd, put into escrowwould fall apart, right?
So you're living fromcommission, from paycheck to
paycheck, you're a starvingcollege student.
And So in, and I found out like,there's not always four plexes
in different areas, inCalifornia where I'm from the
Bay area, four unit buildingswere a pretty prevalent thing as
well as duplexes and triplexes.
but four units for me, it wasthe ticket, where I was like, I
(10:57):
found that I could buy a fourunit building with FHA.
And three and a half percentdown and I was like, oh I have
that And i'm like I could livein one unit and then I my rent's
always covered And then I havethree three other tenants paying
me rent And so i've always got alittle bit of something.
I don't got to rely on mycommissions, which was the
biggest pain point, right?
(11:17):
You could work on a transactionin real estate and then it would
fall apart and so when I gotreally good at closing very
difficult transactions,especially because now I'm not
worried about closing the dealbecause I've got passive cash
flow, right?
And so all of a sudden thatlittle paradigm shift of not
caring whether the deal closedor not, was all of a sudden all
(11:39):
the deals are closing and I'm,because I had so many problems
that I was dealing with from 91to 95 cause it was a very,
really difficult time in realestate.
Now we're going through anotherdifficult time in real estate
now.
Then that was it.
Speaker (11:53):
Yeah.
And you only know what so asyou're figuring things out.
Yeah.
High interest rates.
Oh, horrible time to buy.
it's too high of interest ratesor maybe normal interest rates.
I guess I've heard that, that,10, 10, 11%, that was normal.
Like I've heard higher, but, youcan get in
Speaker 2 (12:09):
prices were low.
Yes.
Because the interest rates wereso high.
The prices were so low and whenI look back, I didn't realize at
that time I was buyingproperties at 10 caps, 11 caps,
right?
Because nobody wanted them.
And so when I would sit thereand I first figured out, I was
like, Hey, this much down.
(12:30):
This much a month, my cash oncash is paid, so I bought a
fourplex, and all of a sudden Istart sharing this exact thing
with all my clients.
So instead of, when someonewould come to me and say, I,
they want to buy a house, I waslike, why don't you buy a
fourplex first?
And then we'll buy it.
And then you can buy a house inthree to six months, just like I
did, right?
you just, name of the cash.
(12:50):
And I just do the math for them,like this much down, I divvy up
their down payment money andsay, You could buy 3 percent
down with a fourplex, and thenbuy 5 percent down with a house,
and now you'll have a house infour units.
And so that, that worked reallywell for me, because it was a
pain point of starving.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And then trying to pay for your college, that all
of a sudden you're like, okay, Isolved my monthly thing, but
then all of a sudden I'm helpingother people do the same.
if you sell a house to a person,they usually don't sell their
house until three to five yearslater.
And so you're just constantlyreminding them you're there so
that they'll remember you.
for me, I would sell them twoproperties in one year within
(13:32):
six months, sometimes three.
And then they'd remember mebecause I'd always say, Hey,
don't get attached to your twofourplexes I sold you because
we'll sell them and we'll 1030and exchange them as something
bigger.
And I'll be here with you to,help you build your cashflow.
those it's funny because when Iwould say those things as a 24
year old 25 year old to people,right?
(13:54):
And that was a big pain pointfor me too, because I started
young and I'm Asian.
So I look young, right?
So I when I first got mylicense, I grew a mustache to
look older.
Nice.
And I wore a fake ring so thatpeople wouldn't ask me how old I
was, right?
And then if they'd ask, How oldare you?
(14:14):
And this, back then and I wouldbe, I'd be like, how old do I
look?
I'd be like, you look.
19.
Oh, thanks.
That's a great compliment.
I'm not even going to tell youhow old I am.
And so those are little painpoints.
But then after, after I soldthem property and then did them,
did the math for them, did thesecalculations for, for entry and
(14:34):
exit strategies, all of a suddenthey didn't care how old I was.
And they were like, okay, causewhenever they try to ask other
realtors, So they just got to meand I'd end up selling on
multiple properties.
And a lot of these guys ended upbecoming my, long time friends.
they, like I said, they were thefirst eight real estate agents
that came to work with me in myoffice when I started it
Speaker (14:55):
are
Speaker 2 (14:56):
still with me today.
years later.
Speaker (14:58):
That's amazing.
No, it was fun.
you were the authoritative guidefor them, even where if your age
was a problem, if they askedaround, other people weren't
doing it.
What I also think is genius is,these properties, you say three
to five years.
you're selling them investmentproperty.
(15:18):
he's don't get attached to itbecause we're just talking
numbers here.
And I can make you more moneylater when we 1031 these.
So the relationship is naturallytied to you where you don't have
to, send them a birthday cardevery year.
It's Oh, I got a question on howto do this.
And what about tax questionthis?
And, Is there any other dealsthat you see that we could sell
that, so that's really cool,Brian.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
that was the whole business model
Speaker 3 (15:42):
is
Speaker 2 (15:44):
they just became very reliant on me.
And then, we became closefriends and
Speaker 3 (15:48):
a
Speaker 2 (15:50):
lot of the clients.
And, they, then I startedturning them all to all my, on
to all my tax tips and, youknow, very complicated tax tips
as it turns out from,depreciation, accelerated
depreciation, but there were allthese great loopholes like
sometimes people, we'll talk,like you'll hear Trump talk
about these things like where,these write offs that you get as
a real estate developer, realestate owner, entrepreneur, and,
(16:13):
and, and some people will belike, we'll get mad.
And I'm like, and I'm like,that's, you shouldn't be mad.
That's what the law allows youto do.
And, it's not like you don't paytax.
It's just, you end up, you haveother expenses you're paying out
significantly, like propertytaxes and you're creating jobs,
but at the same time, you'recreating yourself tax shelters.
So this information that I wouldgive to people that I didn't
(16:34):
know back then I could chargefor it.
I was just making my real estatecommissions.
But.
A lot of times it was, it didn'tmatter because I would double
end the deals.
I have to 90 percent of thetime, so I'd make 6 percent and
I do the loan.
So I was making a significantamount of money to be able to
buy my own properties and createmy own cashflow.
And then I had agents and so Iwas getting a piece of their
(16:55):
action for a long time.
and this was before I wasfortunate enough to come into
real estate as a broker owning acompany, at a time when real
estate commissions were.
we're more closer to 60, 40 or70, 30 on the residential side.
Now you'll see, brokers liketaking a 500 fee in some cases,
(17:15):
right?
On the commercial side, fiveunits or more, running a real
estate office, you're stilltaking 20%, 25, 30 percent of
the deal.
So it still makes it worthwhile,but it's, it goes through its
cycles, right?
Yeah,
Speaker (17:29):
that's really cool, Brian.
and then you talked aboutbuilding those relationships
with those people for years.
you have to be the right person.
they always say real estate isa, as a team sport and it's a
relationship game, which I couldargue is any successful role is
a relationship business.
no one is able to do everythingby themselves, but I love that
you were able to incorporatethat culture.
and those relationships early onand see the fruits of your
(17:52):
labor.
it makes sense, right?
To keep up with these people andtreat them right.
And they treat you right.
And, really cool business model.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
it was some of the busiest times in my life between
2000 and 2007.
at that time I got married.
I'm still with my wife.
We're going to celebrate our25th year to this September.
And, when we grew the, thebusiness into two real estate
offices with 80 real estateagents, 40 alone officers, like
25 support staff.
(18:21):
And this was a time whereeverything was paper driven, And
so we, we'd have great bigparties every year, the office
was a very busy, place to bebecause back then we didn't have
zoom.
We'd all be in the same place.
Now, the office did have itsshare of, Politics and things of
that nature.
and, we had lots of young,attractive people all working
(18:42):
together so that the office hadits fair share of scandals.
But, thankfully my wife and I,stayed true to each other, yeah,
it made for interesting drama,but, look at looking back.
it's a it's a very differenttime comparing it to an office.
That's very zoom oriented.
Now, most of my agents don'tshow up to the office anymore.
(19:02):
we're, we're on zoom on email.
I'm fortunate enough to havebought the office complex that I
still have my office in.
I have a physical office, butthere's only four or five of us
to report in here now, whereaseveryone's on zoom and via
email.
but I've had that, I've beenable to, looking back,
experience all kinds of reallycool things over the, because of
(19:23):
this career in real estate andinvesting and, the travel that
goes along with it.
Speaker (19:27):
for sake of time, I'm going to shift the conversation,
but, we're going to probablyrevisit the business side of
life toward the end again.
you mentioned, you got marriedbetween what?
2000, 2007.
Your daughter's going to be 20.
So that means she was born Uh,2003, 2005.
Okay.
Okay.
and, a lot of the show,obviously podcast called the
(19:49):
invested fathers, I'm trying tobring on people to challenge the
mindset of, you gotta chooseit's your business or it's your
family, can you have both?
And there are obviously timesalong the way it gets hard and
it gets muddy and there'sseasons to just work, but share
with us some of the lessonslearned or.
(20:12):
the experience of having adaughter and trying to be
winning at home and at work.
And, what we can learn from yourstory on that.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
when my wife and I first got married in 2000, she
was from New York and we had along distance, romance.
And so she worked in the fashionindustry of New York, which
there is not a fashion industryin California.
So she came to work with me inthe office.
Now, from my perspective, thefirst five years before we had
our daughter, you know was awhirlwind of work in the office
(20:44):
But it was work hard play hardand my wife and I did lots of
traveling and partying and youknow We're a young couple,
right?
And I look back at that veryfondly now.
My wife is she's we should havespent more quality time together
at home, and so I, she's alwaysbeen there to remind me of that.
And so it's like trying tocreate that, like that balance
of working hard.
(21:05):
Like I'm naturally an A typepersonality.
And so I'm like, awesomely onthe go, especially back then in
hindsight, but trying to listento my wife to, To be, help keep
me more grounded, because Iwould always, take a step back
at first and go, okay, you'renot as great as you think, and
you can work on some things,right?
And so that, that kind of helpedkeep me grounded.
So by the time, we startedtrying to have our daughter and
(21:28):
finally had our daughter in2005, my, my wife had been there
with me in the office workinghand in hand for those first.
five years that after she hadher daughter, she decided to
take a step back and raise ourdaughter.
And so I'm here running two, twooffices, 80 agents, 40 loan
(21:50):
officers.
And, and right about that time,2006, 2007, it started to begin
to, really hit its peak andcrescendo just before everything
went to hell in a handbasket in2008.
Looking back, we all look atthat, we call it the Great
Recession.
And in fact, there was a moviecalled The Big Short.
(22:13):
Where I was like, Oh my God, Irelate to that movie so much
because I see so many of thoselocations and I remember I was
there.
I was working with LehmanBrothers on some deals you know,
that I hear that they've goneout of business.
And so I bring that into the.
Context because right about thattime when my wife is at home
raising the daughter and workingOur time all these different
(22:34):
things are hitting us and sotrying to keep that work
balance, life schedule reallybecame a lot of acrobatics,
right?
Because you're trying to makesure you take the time to come
home, have dinner, spend timewith your daughter, at that
time, smartphones were justreally becoming a thing, right?
Everyone was still on yourlittle old dial phones and you
(22:55):
have your Palm Pilots.
And so there's, there was a lotof juggling, but, looking back
at it, I'm glad that I did andI'm glad that we stuck to it
because my wife and I, alwaysmaking the point to have come
home and have dinner with eachother.
Now, for me, when we had dinnerwith each other, at least twice
or three times a week, that wasa big deal, right?
or have breakfast every now andthen.
(23:16):
but looking back now in 2025,my, my daughter's going to be
20.
My wife and I are still togetherbecause we spent that time to
really, Pay attention to ourdaughter.
Pay attention to each other.
see each other at work.
my wife still continues to helpme, from home and sometimes in
the office to manage things.
but now things are a lotdifferent than they were back
(23:40):
when we, there was this hugeoffice, atmosphere.
And everyone saw each otherbecause we all physically met.
that whole dynamic has changed.
But, throughout it, we've beenable to roll with the punches
just because.
we've made that commitment tostay with each other and also to
raise our daughter and to giveher, good, strong Christian
values and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And if it wasn't for that work of trying to make that
happen, it would be really easyfor me to just neglect that and
just, make it all work.
and I've seen some of my friendsdo that.
to their detriment, right?
they end up in divorce, she getshalf, it's bitter, they're off
to their second marriage, andthat's one of those things
where, and again, it hasn't beenpretty, it hasn't been easy
(24:22):
every step of the way, right?
There's been lots of arguments,lots of talking, through things,
and at the end of the day, youjust kind Getting back together,
but it's been really great forour daughter And I because like
we always make a point as afamily to take multiple trips
like my I'm a huge nerd forexample and so one of the things
that kind of kept us togetherwas my daughter and I my wife
would go to a San Diego comiccon every year we dress up in
(24:44):
cosplay and all this kind ofstuff and so You know keeping
the whole physical fitness as amajor part of my life helped a
lot, too but it was also greatfor like You know wearing
cosplay outfits where you'retrying to look like a ripped
superhero, right?
And so Those being able to dothat being able to go to work
(25:05):
and play hard You know with mywife and my daughter in like
these kind of fun contexts alsokept things really cohesive in
the family So like my daughterand I we still And my wife won't
cause play with us, but she willmake that, being in the fashion
industry that, which is heroriginal job.
She's really cool at being ableto design great cause play
(25:26):
outfits for my daughter and I,and then be that cheerleader.
And so that's been a big pieceof how do we keep the family
together and travel and do nerdythings.
Speaker (25:36):
Yeah, okay, forgive me.
Cosplay.
I'm unfamiliar with the term.
I actually have some relativesin San Fran who are into Comic
Con as well.
They've dressed up as Batman andall sorts of other stuff.
What is cosplay?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So cosplay is dressing up.
Costume play?
Speaker (25:55):
Costume.
Costume.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
yeah.
So when you hear, we used tohear the word cosplay.
It's usually associated to nerdycomic book conventions where
people will Create their owncostumes and dress up as a
superhero or some character thatthey like and San Diego Comic
Con Hat is like a Mardi Gras ofYou know of the comic con world.
(26:21):
Yeah, so it's one big giganticparty, you know from Wednesday
to Sunday you'll see lots of alot of the actors would come out
for the movies that you see, andthen they throw parties and we'd
make a point to try to get intothese parties, and things like
that.
So
Speaker (26:36):
I love it.
No, that's great.
And there's, I feel like there'sjust a time for that.
There's a time when, your kidsaren't going to be with you
forever.
And, if you can join them.
In their own, exciting thingsthat they like doing.
It's the best.
we're in, I, my son is eightright now.
So we're into basketball, but,teaching them a turnaround spin
shot.
And seeing them do it in thegame, it just brings so much
(26:58):
joy.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
yeah,
Speaker (26:59):
really cool.
I actually would like to speak alittle more into, this stage of
life for you with your daughter,actually, specifically.
She's 20.
you're probably seeing, likeyou've said, life was dramatic
and full of people and all thatgood stuff back in the day with
zoom and other things and COVIDand what everything else it's
probably dramatically changed.
(27:21):
what are some things right nowthat you're intentionally trying
to do as a dad and as thisseason of life, just been.
Just all new to you in light ofher getting older, or is she,
staying home more or what is therole shifted to in the last,
year or two?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Oh, no, great, good question.
when she started high school,COVID had just started, so she
grew up in that zoom culture.
Now, before that, she's our onlydaughter.
So she's always gone with.
and I everywhere and we broughther into the office.
And so I've actually had hercome in and intern with my
(27:57):
business partner on the propertymanagement side.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
And so
Speaker 2 (28:00):
she's learned things.
I, now, I didn't want to cramdown real estate down the road,
giving her exposed to it to seeif that's something she wants to
do.
And cause then that way, youknow, it'll be more natural.
And so we've had that fortune ofbeing able to bring her in and
expose her to all these thingsand expose her to the different
people that work here.
So she's grown up seeing thedifferent brokers and agents
(28:23):
that work with me, the staffthat have worked with me, and
they've seen her grow up aswell.
And so our big thing has alwaysjust been, as a family to,
again, I come from a big family,whereas my, my, we just have one
daughter.
I'm like the oldest out of five.
So we always make a point to goto all our family gathering
events.
I'm fortunate enough to have my,my, my parents and my four other
(28:45):
siblings all within 10 minutesof me.
So we all just, settled in theBay area.
we, like we travel a lot, but,we were fortunate enough to be
in the, in California and in theBay area where we, the enjoyment
of travel is great, but for me,it's always good to come home.
And so I think that was also whythey.
They didn't, venture off abroad.
And we make a whole point tolike, see all her cousins and my
(29:08):
parents.
And then, now that she's goingthrough college and, going
through her general ed, she's,she's still, she still comes in.
Thankfully, because of the Zoomculture, we still get a lot
done.
It's just not as.
As, in the office as much.
and because, I've had all theseyears of experience that, I've
become pretty adept with thetechnology.
(29:29):
And so I'll be trying to passthat on to my daughter as well.
for her, we need to have to passit on.
It's that was the culture shegrew up in.
like she'll have, she actually,her best friends in Maryland,
and then she sees her like threeor four times a year, they'll go
to concerts together.
We'll go on trips, but these twoare always on zoom.
It's not like I grew up where Iwould go down to my buddy's
house.
(29:49):
Down the street,
Speaker 3 (29:50):
right?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
That was the thing.
and so here is that's been greatbecause when we do travel and we
do physically go out It's alwayssome kind of an event one of one
of my brokers who's been with mesince 2011 a single guy Finally
got him married off, right?
So he got married good lookingguy, but I mean he finally
settled down and so yeah, He andhis wife threw this big, huge
(30:15):
destination wedding toCartagena, Colombia.
And my daughter had just turned,19 at the time, she's going to
be 20 in June.
And we go out to Cartagena,Colombia for one of my broker's
weddings.
And she's it's a very festiveevent, right?
my, this, my, my associate, he,had a huge, it was the best
(30:36):
thing to describe it would belike a rave, right?
He has a music festival raid.
And my daughter's sitting there,with her parents, enjoying this
reception in a differentcountry, and she's seeing us
party, right?
She's seeing us, and it's areception, but, just because my,
my, the guy who's been with mefor a while, who's throwing this
(30:57):
wedding, he's, he's just intothe whole music festival scene,
very hip guy.
He and his wife look like.
the wedding party looked likesomething out of the bachelor,
right?
Beautiful wedding party.
And, so my, my, my daughter gotto interact with that and, and
see, and this was a guy whoshe's always seen grow up, as
(31:18):
this single broker, who, youknow, Highfalutin guy who's
with, who's been with her dad,since 2011 and, and, I, he, she
knows who he is and, but she'sable to experience all these
different, facets of life andsee people who've been with me
come full circle from, gettingmarried and still, and having
kids and things like that.
that's been a pretty goodinfluence on her to keep her
(31:39):
really grounded as well as keepus close to her.
Um, I see like how some otherparents, when their daughters
become teenagers, they becomereally rebellious.
They become really, Oh, I don'twant to hang out with my
parents.
We've had quite the oppositeexperience.
Thank goodness.
Speaker (31:55):
Oh, man, that's awesome.
No, I love that story.
I love she saw you party the wayyou put that, because I've sort
of realized over the last Idon't know, a few weeks, months,
a guy said to me, we see ourkids change so much physically,
they're babies and they'rewalking and they're talking and,
they just, it's every year is abig change.
And as parents, we're notnecessarily looking different,
(32:19):
but we're changing too, withdifferent things that, we're
learning and different stages oflife are getting older.
We got to work out a little bitmore, we, whatever it is, the
business is growing.
So we're adapting as well.
And.
It's such a beautiful story ofhow, Hey, as your daughter's
grown, she hasn't necessarilybeen repelled by your guys's,
staunch, whatever, that's mydad, they're embarrassing or
(32:39):
whatever you're bringing herwith you to the comic con.
You're she's seeing you dance.
there's a relationship that'sjust continuing to grow.
Even during those, harder yearsof teenagers and, she'll be 20
soon and all those key moments.
So Brian, thanks so much forsharing all that.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Oh, no problem.
No problem.
Speaker (32:57):
one of the questions I try to get in here, I don't
always have active real estateinvestors with me.
sometimes it's just a busyprofessional, salesmen, some
entrepreneurs to some degree,business owners.
But I love that you've saw thelight.
I think off camera, we weretalking about you, you studied
biology back in the day, what ashift in what you ended up
(33:17):
doing.
Some advice to passive investorsout there.
Cause I feel like that is, my,that's my target audience is
the, not necessarily the otheractive real estate investor.
It's the one who's just saying,Hey Kenny, I love your values.
I love what you're doing.
Real estate, maybe trying to getinto it.
Like even earlier on, I lovethat you broke down some things
more educationally, but, I'vegot to, I've got to think you've
(33:40):
worked with a lot of banks andprivate money lenders.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Lots of experience with banks and, and private
lenders.
Yes.
Speaker (33:46):
Yes.
So in your tenure of working 20plus years in real estate and
working with multiple passiveinvestors, what takeaways that
you could give?
Are there, words ofencouragement or, obstacles that
you've seen people say, ah, Iwant to invest, but this and how
(34:08):
you've.
Maybe help them get into it orsome things that, that passive
investors can look for to feelmore confident to get into real
estate.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
great question.
So one of the things that Ialways would do with each
investor is sit down with themand just lay out all the cards
on the table, look at how much.
money they're working with, whatkind of career they're currently
at, how much time they have todevote to owning real estate,
right?
And, one of the things I alwaysencourage them to do is buy
something with more units.
(34:37):
I have some clients, forexample, That when I would meet
them, they'd have lots of singlefamily homes
Speaker 3 (34:42):
that
Speaker 2 (34:42):
they bought and owned free and clear.
And I would just do this simplemath with them as to what kind
of return they're getting on thecurrent value versus the annual
income.
And I would sit down and givethem a lot of education first,
right?
So I would give them, what is agood real estate investment
based on a cap rate, based on adebt service?
What is debt service, right?
What does this mean to a lender?
what do these different types ofrecourse or non recourse loans
(35:06):
And then more importantly, justgive them a roadmap of here's
what you're looking for.
When we find this act quick.
and you're, when we go intocontract, I'm not going to
pressure you, but I wouldsuggest shoot first.
We could always ask questionslater because that's what we're
going to do during the duediligence period.
And we know in a contract, we'vealways got the opportunity to
(35:28):
get out if something is bad, butusually in real estate.
There's always a way to getaround the bad, and always
prepare them like it's notalways going to be immediately
passive.
This is not going to be mailboxmoney, right?
as I prepare them for theseexpectations, and then give
them, a strategy for gettinginto it, but then also, giving
(35:48):
them that bigger picture of theexit.
what is the end goal behindthis?
And that's something I'd alwaysask is what are you, why are you
doing this?
And if the goal is to, createsome passive cash flow, then
what does that mean to you?
What, how much money do you needto be able to, cover expenses?
And so I would just do sit thereand do well.
What are your current expensesnow, what are your expenses on a
(36:11):
house?
This is what I would do likeback in the day in the early in
the late 90s, right?
And so once we went through thatprocess, a lot of my clients or
investors would at least havesome, peace of mind where they
had a sequence of events andthings to follow so they could
check the box as opposed tobeing unknown.
(36:31):
And, when, and so they'd come tothat realization that, Hey, it's
not.
So much the interest ratebecause if you're going to a
private money lender, you mightbe paying hard money and it
might be much higher thannormal, but then you're looking
at the big picture.
is this a property that Iwouldn't be able to acquire?
under regular financing and if Itake it under a private money
(36:52):
lender where maybe it might be ahigher rate Why am I doing that
and what is my end goal so thatat some point I could get a
lower rate, right?
Like I you know So I'm just givethem that entry and exit
strategy depending on whateverthe asset class might be So in
some markets, I've been doingthis it's 34 years So I've seen
some markets where you know,you're going in with it, you
(37:12):
know a lot of risk And thensometimes it becomes more
turnkey and then of course itgets heated up and then you
know, The returns get less andyou always go through these
various cycles, right?
and so as I give them that bigpicture, that's one of the other
sequences or guides that I'llgive them so that way they know
what to expect and they can havea little bit more peace of mind.
(37:35):
And then also have that goalwhere they want to be at, where
they could, where it becomesmore passive.
Um, and also get making surethat they've got the proper
property management in place andand someone that they could
trust, unless they were gonna,do it all by themselves.
And I've had a mixture of both.
I've had some clients where theythey don't like 50 units and
(38:00):
they'd still want it to be theperson to go there and sweep the
floors.
in fact, we have some clientswhere we manage the property for
them, but they just like to showup to the property and just,
Speaker (38:11):
tinker.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
And then there's others who are just very passive
and are out traveling.
And so it's, you get thatmixture of both.
Speaker (38:19):
Yeah, no, that's fabulous.
I, I, you've seen it all.
It sounds I'm, like I said, sixyears in, you said 30 to 40
years.
And I just know firsthand as aactive real estate investor, it
has been very difficult tosometimes get these properties
renovated.
And I'm talking single familyhomes.
So there is a big shift thathappens.
I would actually say for theeasier, When you're buying
(38:42):
bigger, because you can dothings at scale, hire crews that
are more qualified and able tofix up, 10, plus units versus
I'm trying to find someone justto.
update the kitchen or, do thesethings.
really cool insights on that.
And you've been able to evenhelp other active investors get
(39:03):
in half active, half passivewith these other companies you
built.
And, I guess as a quickfollowup, would you say the ones
that are looking for, Hey, wantto be purely passive here, this
development project you'redoing, or, other types of like
syndications or group investing.
Has that been like the, fountainof living water or the golden
(39:24):
goose that you can say, Hey,here's a way to be a part owner
of this deal without, being thelandlord and managing these
things.
Have you had success with thatpitch?
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, we have, yeah.
We've, so we, you'resyndications, right?
Where.
I have had some clients go,listen, I don't want to own the
property.
Can I just invest with you as apassive investor?
And I have set up syndicationswhere I'll come on as the
general partner.
I'll take on individual limitedpartners.
Some are accredited investors,some are not.
(39:55):
And then long story short, whatwe're doing is we're aggregating
the cash for the down paymentand the closing cost to acquire
say like a 50 unit or a 20 unit.
And then we have again, entryand exit strategy.
Here's what you would can expectto make with this.
Pro rata share of the downpayment and your pro rata share
of the ownership and your prorata share of the distribution
(40:17):
and We'll have it underwrittenin such a way where they're not
having to worry about thecomplicated bank loan which
Usually because of my balancesheet and my experience i'm
getting preferential treatmenton interest rates and loans More
acquisitions and then they'rejust getting a paycheck Every
month or every quarter.
Now they, full disclosure,sometimes, buildings don't
(40:39):
always go good.
And, we might, go for a fewmonths without a distribution
because that, a turnover phaseor, Or value add phase before,
as we're repositioning abuilding, but regardless, at
least they're not having to, gothrough all the whole slings and
arrows and go on now they'll getdetailed reports on what's
happening before these thingsturn around.
(41:00):
And so that's been a prettysuccessful, thing for people who
just want to own passively.
I've also engaged that in someof my development deals.
Like when I first built the 64unit condo.
I didn't do it with all my ownmoney.
I was the person that stood upfor the construction loan, but I
raised the down payment from alot of my clients.
(41:23):
who I'd sold apartment buildingsto and built their portfolio.
And when I first did thatsyndication for limited partners
back in 2004, it was a timebefore the whole 501 C, regs
came in that allow you to, reachout and advertise.
And so you'd have to just dealonly with your, friends of
friends and people you knewdirectly,
Speaker 3 (41:45):
but
Speaker 2 (41:45):
same rules of engagement.
And so as that whole,Syndication and partnership
model has evolved.
Like you'll see like the likesof Grant Cardone who, go out and
raise capital publicly from aconcert, under reggae.
and then they'll use that to goout and buy invest.
we, I've not done anything tohis degree or his, his size.
(42:07):
I've kept it relatively modestin comparison, but I've had
that.
I'm fortunate being able tostart out a lot earlier, like I
did my first one in 2004, myfirst syndication, now I've
translated that into also justowning property and then
distributing passively, so thatwe're not yeah.
(42:27):
looking to have that big, hugedistribution.
Like when we did the firstpartnership in 2004 under that,
it was under the premise ofwe're going to buy this, we're
going to build it and we'regoing to sell it for a huge
profit.
And the funny thing is when Idid that first one and I look
back, we actually had a huge,like 69 percent return, 70
(42:47):
percent return.
And back then I was it was tooyoung and naive to know, Hey, I
didn't have to give out thatmuch distribution, but it was
really good because it set awrong expectation, on the third
one, and Oh my gosh, you onlygot a 20 percent return on this
one, but no, of course, at thatpoint, after a certain point,
people started realizing like,okay, Hey.
(43:07):
15, 18%, 20 percent returns oract, internal rates of return
are actually a good thing.
Really good.
but it was one of those learningcurves where, you know, where
you realize you knocked one outof the ballpark, but you didn't
know that you're not going tothe ballpark.
So by the next time you do, whatshould be a normal one, people
(43:28):
are like, Hey, what happened?
It's not as big as the last one,Yeah.
So those are different thingsthat, you know, I, that kind of
learned along the way and kindof pass on the investor.
So now I know how to Hey,there's, this is what we can
expect as the returns.
And, and you can, and again,we're comparing these returns.
So like other vehicles, how muchwould you make if you'd left
your money in a savings accountor in a money market or in a
(43:50):
mutual fund or in, differentstocks, what do you get?
And so that it was again, thatwhole education process of
getting people to understand thebenefits of real estate, where
you can make a cashflow, butget.
A write off versus if I'minvesting in stock and I sell a
piece of stock I have nothing toshelter that gain, right?
Tax at a higher rate and it iswhat it is Real estate gave us
(44:13):
that that really great benefitof having the cash having the
appreciation And havingsomething to shelter taxation
Speaker (44:22):
Beautifully said love it brian.
You're a wealth of knowledgeman.
We're out of time i'll just givemy audience a small teaser I
don't know if you have anythingposted on your linkedin or
whatnot, but he's also americanninja warrior man I know you did
competitions and whatnot inthere, you mentioned the cause,
cosplay with your shirt off andwhatnot.
(44:43):
So post this stuff up so ouraudience can
Speaker 2 (44:45):
check you out.
If not, if you Google my nameand hit images, you'll see a
whole bunch of those.
You'll see me here on, on themovie I produce, you'll see me,
you'll see me dressed up as aSpartan 300 warrior.
I love it, man.
there's enough images out there.
So you'll see them.
Speaker (45:05):
you are
Speaker 2 (45:06):
pretty unique.
So you can't, it's you'll go,Oh, that's the guy.
Speaker (45:08):
I love it.
That's right.
That's right.
Bye.
Brian Beniquid.
Brian, you are living a veryfull life, my friend.
Thank you so much for takingtime to share your journey with
us today and some of thosevalues.
My pleasure, Kenny, that youfocused on.
if our audience did want toconnect with you, for anything,
how would you
Speaker 2 (45:24):
direct them?
the easiest way is go to mywebsite, www.bcre.co at, so
Bravo, Charlie Romeo Echo.
And it's a.co.
So it's just.co.
If you google my name and hitimages, you'll, you can.
You can find me through my realestate company.
you could also hit me up onLinkedIn.
(45:46):
A lot of people will find me onLinkedIn and DM me.
but, the easiest way to just gothrough my website, there's a
little consultation page thatyou could fill out and, one of
my assistant Mark or show whatwill probably retrieve the call
and set up a meeting orsomething like that.
Speaker (46:01):
Cool.
Brian, thanks for being on theinvested fathers today to all my
audience out there.
Invest wisely.
Thanks Brian.
Thanks for having me, Kenny.
So you're living from commission, from paycheck to
(00:02):
paycheck, you're a starvingcollege student.
and I found out like, there'snot always four plexes in
different areas, in Californiawhere I'm from the Bay area,
four unit buildings were apretty prevalent thing as well
as duplexes and triplexes.
but four units for me, it wasthe ticket, where I was like, I
found that I could buy a fourunit building with FHA.
(00:22):
And three and a half percentdown and I was like, oh I have
that And i'm like I could livein one unit and then I my rent's
always covered And then I havethree three other tenants paying
me rent And so i've always got alittle bit of something.
I don't got to rely on mycommissions, which was the
biggest pain point, right?
You could work on a transactionin real estate and then it would
fall apart and so when I gotreally good at closing very
(00:45):
difficult transactions,especially because now I'm not
worried about closing the dealbecause I've got passive cash
flow, right?
And so all of a sudden thatlittle paradigm shift of not
caring whether the deal closedor not, was all of a sudden all
the deals are closing
Speaker (01:42):
invested fathers today.
How are you?
I'm great, Kenny.
Thanks for having me on theshow.
Brian, we have not known eachother for very long.
we've met through LinkedIn.
you reached out to me, had heardthe show, I'd heard some, maybe
a reel or two, but I'm so gladyou did.
You have such an interestingstory.
I was gonna tell my audience,this guy's done a lot in the
real estate world.
(02:03):
In regards to developments,building, selling agent.
he has a daughter who I think isturning 20 in June.
Brian, excited to have you shareyour story and some lessons
learned along the way.
Go ahead and give us your, yourhigh level overview of who is
Brian Beniquin.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Okay.
Yeah, that's a great question.
most people know me from my realestate career, which I started
back in 1991 as a real estateagent in high school.
and I used it as a way to get myway through college.
By the time I finished college,around 1996, I started in 1991.
I had, Come a lot moreproficient and really good at
(02:40):
selling real estate, everythingfrom single family homes to more
to an emphasis on multifamily.
So started my own company in1998 and brought on 8 real
estate agents who ironicallywere.
Eight of my past clients who Ihad sold, apartment buildings to
and help them how to structurecash flowing entities to pay for
(03:03):
their mortgage and have cashflow.
and it was something that Ipracticed myself, right?
So I would sell clients,Multiple four unit buildings,
1030 and exchange them intolarger and larger buildings.
And then, of course, I wouldsell them a house under the
premise that this cash flowwould pay for the mortgage on
their house and then cover lifeexpects and life expenses, which
(03:25):
is precisely why a lot of themended up retiring or quitting
their jobs, getting their realestate license and working with
me when I started my office in1998 at.
The age of 25.
and so practicing what Ipreached, I went out and did the
same thing, saved up mycommissions each time, bought
apartment units, always madesure that they cash flowed.
(03:46):
And I worked out my littleformula between, the amount of
down payment.
The principal interest taxes,insurance expenses.
And I would, look at the cash oncash returns of how much I put
down and how much I would makeannually after all expenses,
which then of course later as I,progressed in, income generating
properties would look at debtservice, look at, capital
(04:08):
capitalization rates or caprates.
I'd look at gross rentmultiplier, but that wasn't my
big emphasis.
And.
it was a, something that Icarried on throughout my entire
career, just in as anentrepreneur, running a real
estate office, running amortgage company, running a
property management was alwaysabout making sure that my
expenses were covered and then,taking the cash flow from my
(04:29):
apartment buildings to justcreate a nice, stable
infrastructure.
so this whole premise of, Ofbuilding cash flow and net worth
through owning apartmentbuildings, turned in turned into
a great Vertically integratedbusiness because i'd have
clients who'd come i'd sell themapartment buildings i'd sell
(04:49):
them houses These clients wouldbecome my friends for multiple
decades in fact
Speaker 3 (04:55):
A
Speaker 2 (04:55):
lot of my clients have been my clients now for 25
26 plus years, some of theirkids when I saw them born are
actually working with me now is22 year olds you know, um nature
and I my career back in 2000took me in multiple directions,
right?
Because I had I started a realestate office Selling apartment
(05:17):
buildings and I'm buyingapartment buildings and as I'm
going out and looking for moreand more cash flow, I'm finding
that, and again, I'm maybe justfor the audience.
I'm California based in NorthernCalifornia.
So the majority of apartmentbuildings that I bought, and I
was fortunate enough to be ableto start buying these apartment
buildings in 1999, 2000, 2001.
(05:38):
We're really great cash flowingentities, but right around the
2002, 2003, 2004, our cap rateswould come down because our
values would go up, right?
Rents would continue to go up.
So I found myself and my clientsgoing out into different other
states.
we sprung, we started inCalifornia and platformed out
into Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas.
(06:01):
Florida, New York, Maine, andagain, along the way as I would
sell real estate in thesedifferent states, apartment
units, selling, taking myclients buildings in California
Selling them 10 30 whenexchanging them into larger and
larger buildings.
I found myself doing the samething.
So as I would go out and I wouldrepresent clients, I found
(06:22):
myself buying, 300 units inTexas, 86 units in Tennessee,
150 units in Maine, and.
Through my own experience ofbeing an owner, I, I got finally
in tune with all of the, theterminologies for cash flow, for
(06:42):
debt service, for cap rates.
And this is what segwayed mycareer into being a real estate
developer, right?
So right around 2004, which isone of the busiest times of my
life between 2000 and 2004.
I'm just running, multiplebusinesses.
I'm traveling all the time.
I started building propertiesfrom the ground up and we didn't
(07:07):
build apartments for rentbecause it was.
Too difficult to do that, itjust wouldn't pencil.
But building condominiums in2004, 2005 was very profitable,
right?
You'd build.
what looked like apartmentbuildings, but then you just get
separate a parcel of parcels foreach one and you'd sell them off
to individual homeowners.
(07:28):
and that was what we would call,creating condos.
my first project was a 64 unitcondo project and because I had
this infrastructure of brokersworking with me, we could find
good deals.
I had a pretty high net worth atthat time.
And so I would go out and I'dbuy the land, get it approved,
through the cities to, or whatwe call entitled, and then
(07:49):
building permit ready to buildcondos.
So the first project was 64units.
we, I was the developer on it.
I had my agents sell it all off,around, the early two thousands,
I also set up my own verticallyintegrated mortgage company.
So as we're selling off theseindividual units.
We're also doing the financingbehind it.
(08:09):
whenever I'd sell apartmentbuildings or attempt to exchange
them to other places, we wouldalso do the financing for the
acquisition on those as well asdo the representation.
So it, all of a sudden, my, mylife is very technical, but it's
one big algorithm.
you sell a property, you do theloan.
You're also at the same timedoing your own due diligence for
(08:30):
different locations throughoutthe, throughout California and
throughout the state.
As to where we could place ourmoney into these cash flowing
investments.
Speaker (08:41):
Brian, let me just do a quick, cause there's a lot that
you said, maybe I can unpackhalf the first half and then
maybe 2008 becomes the, likehalfway point or transition,
first off started at an earlyage.
25, where are you from?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So I'm originally from the Philippines
Speaker (08:57):
and
Speaker 2 (08:58):
came here to California.
And I grew up, I'm a CaliforniaBay area.
Native came here when I wasthree and a half years old.
Speaker (09:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
And this is where I call home, California.
Speaker (09:07):
No, I love it.
And, I'm over in South Carolina,so it's a different world all
the way over there.
But, I do have family.
I love California.
The, The entrepreneur, like I'mgoing to figure this out sort of
mentality early on.
You, bought your own units, kindof practice what you preach.
Like you said, as realtor,you're selling things to people,
but you're also buying things.
(09:28):
I know realtors who have neverpurchased anything, they've only
sold their whole lives and Idon't look down on them, but you
saw something different andrealized, Hey, I can learn how
this works and I'm making maybemaking money for other
investors.
I want to invest as well.
let me ask you this, the, I haveexperience in buying single
family homes, for the last sixyears and have learned enough of
(09:50):
what I more or less hate doingin regards to renovating and,
deal with certain problems.
What were some of the painpoints for you that forced the
different levels of upgrading,that you can remember any
stories of just I realized whenI, did this for the 10th time,
like I would no longer wanted todo this.
Anything stick out in your mindis like big obstacles or pain
points.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
What prompted me to start buying apartment buildings
and getting passive cashflowfrom rental properties was the
pain points of being a realestate agent, working my way
through college.
In 1991 through 1994, and thereason why it was such huge pain
points is financing back thenwas horrible.
you're looking at 10.
5 percent interest rates, 11percent interest rates, half the
(10:34):
deals you'd, put into escrowwould fall apart, right?
So you're living fromcommission, from paycheck to
paycheck, you're a starvingcollege student.
And So in, and I found out like,there's not always four plexes
in different areas, inCalifornia where I'm from the
Bay area, four unit buildingswere a pretty prevalent thing as
well as duplexes and triplexes.
but four units for me, it wasthe ticket, where I was like, I
(10:57):
found that I could buy a fourunit building with FHA.
And three and a half percentdown and I was like, oh I have
that And i'm like I could livein one unit and then I my rent's
always covered And then I havethree three other tenants paying
me rent And so i've always got alittle bit of something.
I don't got to rely on mycommissions, which was the
biggest pain point, right?
(11:17):
You could work on a transactionin real estate and then it would
fall apart and so when I gotreally good at closing very
difficult transactions,especially because now I'm not
worried about closing the dealbecause I've got passive cash
flow, right?
And so all of a sudden thatlittle paradigm shift of not
caring whether the deal closedor not, was all of a sudden all
(11:39):
the deals are closing and I'm,because I had so many problems
that I was dealing with from 91to 95 cause it was a very,
really difficult time in realestate.
Now we're going through anotherdifficult time in real estate
now.
Then that was it.
Speaker (11:53):
Yeah.
And you only know what so asyou're figuring things out.
Yeah.
High interest rates.
Oh, horrible time to buy.
it's too high of interest ratesor maybe normal interest rates.
I guess I've heard that, that,10, 10, 11%, that was normal.
Like I've heard higher, but, youcan get in
Speaker 2 (12:09):
prices were low.
Yes.
Because the interest rates wereso high.
The prices were so low and whenI look back, I didn't realize at
that time I was buyingproperties at 10 caps, 11 caps,
right?
Because nobody wanted them.
And so when I would sit thereand I first figured out, I was
like, Hey, this much down.
(12:30):
This much a month, my cash oncash is paid, so I bought a
fourplex, and all of a sudden Istart sharing this exact thing
with all my clients.
So instead of, when someonewould come to me and say, I,
they want to buy a house, I waslike, why don't you buy a
fourplex first?
And then we'll buy it.
And then you can buy a house inthree to six months, just like I
did, right?
you just, name of the cash.
(12:50):
And I just do the math for them,like this much down, I divvy up
their down payment money andsay, You could buy 3 percent
down with a fourplex, and thenbuy 5 percent down with a house,
and now you'll have a house infour units.
And so that, that worked reallywell for me, because it was a
pain point of starving.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And then trying to pay for your college, that all
of a sudden you're like, okay, Isolved my monthly thing, but
then all of a sudden I'm helpingother people do the same.
if you sell a house to a person,they usually don't sell their
house until three to five yearslater.
And so you're just constantlyreminding them you're there so
that they'll remember you.
for me, I would sell them twoproperties in one year within
(13:32):
six months, sometimes three.
And then they'd remember mebecause I'd always say, Hey,
don't get attached to your twofourplexes I sold you because
we'll sell them and we'll 1030and exchange them as something
bigger.
And I'll be here with you to,help you build your cashflow.
those it's funny because when Iwould say those things as a 24
year old 25 year old to people,right?
(13:54):
And that was a big pain pointfor me too, because I started
young and I'm Asian.
So I look young, right?
So I when I first got mylicense, I grew a mustache to
look older.
Nice.
And I wore a fake ring so thatpeople wouldn't ask me how old I
was, right?
And then if they'd ask, How oldare you?
(14:14):
And this, back then and I wouldbe, I'd be like, how old do I
look?
I'd be like, you look.
19.
Oh, thanks.
That's a great compliment.
I'm not even going to tell youhow old I am.
And so those are little painpoints.
But then after, after I soldthem property and then did them,
did the math for them, did thesecalculations for, for entry and
(14:34):
exit strategies, all of a suddenthey didn't care how old I was.
And they were like, okay, causewhenever they try to ask other
realtors, So they just got to meand I'd end up selling on
multiple properties.
And a lot of these guys ended upbecoming my, long time friends.
they, like I said, they were thefirst eight real estate agents
that came to work with me in myoffice when I started it
Speaker (14:55):
are
Speaker 2 (14:56):
still with me today.
years later.
Speaker (14:58):
That's amazing.
No, it was fun.
you were the authoritative guidefor them, even where if your age
was a problem, if they askedaround, other people weren't
doing it.
What I also think is genius is,these properties, you say three
to five years.
you're selling them investmentproperty.
(15:18):
he's don't get attached to itbecause we're just talking
numbers here.
And I can make you more moneylater when we 1031 these.
So the relationship is naturallytied to you where you don't have
to, send them a birthday cardevery year.
It's Oh, I got a question on howto do this.
And what about tax questionthis?
And, Is there any other dealsthat you see that we could sell
that, so that's really cool,Brian.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
that was the whole business model
Speaker 3 (15:42):
is
Speaker 2 (15:44):
they just became very reliant on me.
And then, we became closefriends and
Speaker 3 (15:48):
a
Speaker 2 (15:50):
lot of the clients.
And, they, then I startedturning them all to all my, on
to all my tax tips and, youknow, very complicated tax tips
as it turns out from,depreciation, accelerated
depreciation, but there were allthese great loopholes like
sometimes people, we'll talk,like you'll hear Trump talk
about these things like where,these write offs that you get as
a real estate developer, realestate owner, entrepreneur, and,
(16:13):
and, and some people will belike, we'll get mad.
And I'm like, and I'm like,that's, you shouldn't be mad.
That's what the law allows youto do.
And, it's not like you don't paytax.
It's just, you end up, you haveother expenses you're paying out
significantly, like propertytaxes and you're creating jobs,
but at the same time, you'recreating yourself tax shelters.
So this information that I wouldgive to people that I didn't
(16:34):
know back then I could chargefor it.
I was just making my real estatecommissions.
But.
A lot of times it was, it didn'tmatter because I would double
end the deals.
I have to 90 percent of thetime, so I'd make 6 percent and
I do the loan.
So I was making a significantamount of money to be able to
buy my own properties and createmy own cashflow.
And then I had agents and so Iwas getting a piece of their
(16:55):
action for a long time.
and this was before I wasfortunate enough to come into
real estate as a broker owning acompany, at a time when real
estate commissions were.
we're more closer to 60, 40 or70, 30 on the residential side.
Now you'll see, brokers liketaking a 500 fee in some cases,
(17:15):
right?
On the commercial side, fiveunits or more, running a real
estate office, you're stilltaking 20%, 25, 30 percent of
the deal.
So it still makes it worthwhile,but it's, it goes through its
cycles, right?
Yeah,
Speaker (17:29):
that's really cool, Brian.
and then you talked aboutbuilding those relationships
with those people for years.
you have to be the right person.
they always say real estate isa, as a team sport and it's a
relationship game, which I couldargue is any successful role is
a relationship business.
no one is able to do everythingby themselves, but I love that
you were able to incorporatethat culture.
and those relationships early onand see the fruits of your
(17:52):
labor.
it makes sense, right?
To keep up with these people andtreat them right.
And they treat you right.
And, really cool business model.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
it was some of the busiest times in my life between
2000 and 2007.
at that time I got married.
I'm still with my wife.
We're going to celebrate our25th year to this September.
And, when we grew the, thebusiness into two real estate
offices with 80 real estateagents, 40 alone officers, like
25 support staff.
(18:21):
And this was a time whereeverything was paper driven, And
so we, we'd have great bigparties every year, the office
was a very busy, place to bebecause back then we didn't have
zoom.
We'd all be in the same place.
Now, the office did have itsshare of, Politics and things of
that nature.
and, we had lots of young,attractive people all working
(18:42):
together so that the office hadits fair share of scandals.
But, thankfully my wife and I,stayed true to each other, yeah,
it made for interesting drama,but, look at looking back.
it's a it's a very differenttime comparing it to an office.
That's very zoom oriented.
Now, most of my agents don'tshow up to the office anymore.
(19:02):
we're, we're on zoom on email.
I'm fortunate enough to havebought the office complex that I
still have my office in.
I have a physical office, butthere's only four or five of us
to report in here now, whereaseveryone's on zoom and via
email.
but I've had that, I've beenable to, looking back,
experience all kinds of reallycool things over the, because of
(19:23):
this career in real estate andinvesting and, the travel that
goes along with it.
Speaker (19:27):
for sake of time, I'm going to shift the conversation,
but, we're going to probablyrevisit the business side of
life toward the end again.
you mentioned, you got marriedbetween what?
2000, 2007.
Your daughter's going to be 20.
So that means she was born Uh,2003, 2005.
Okay.
Okay.
and, a lot of the show,obviously podcast called the
(19:49):
invested fathers, I'm trying tobring on people to challenge the
mindset of, you gotta chooseit's your business or it's your
family, can you have both?
And there are obviously timesalong the way it gets hard and
it gets muddy and there'sseasons to just work, but share
with us some of the lessonslearned or.
(20:12):
the experience of having adaughter and trying to be
winning at home and at work.
And, what we can learn from yourstory on that.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
when my wife and I first got married in 2000, she
was from New York and we had along distance, romance.
And so she worked in the fashionindustry of New York, which
there is not a fashion industryin California.
So she came to work with me inthe office.
Now, from my perspective, thefirst five years before we had
our daughter, you know was awhirlwind of work in the office
(20:44):
But it was work hard play hardand my wife and I did lots of
traveling and partying and youknow We're a young couple,
right?
And I look back at that veryfondly now.
My wife is she's we should havespent more quality time together
at home, and so I, she's alwaysbeen there to remind me of that.
And so it's like trying tocreate that, like that balance
of working hard.
(21:05):
Like I'm naturally an A typepersonality.
And so I'm like, awesomely onthe go, especially back then in
hindsight, but trying to listento my wife to, To be, help keep
me more grounded, because Iwould always, take a step back
at first and go, okay, you'renot as great as you think, and
you can work on some things,right?
And so that, that kind of helpedkeep me grounded.
So by the time, we startedtrying to have our daughter and
(21:28):
finally had our daughter in2005, my, my wife had been there
with me in the office workinghand in hand for those first.
five years that after she hadher daughter, she decided to
take a step back and raise ourdaughter.
And so I'm here running two, twooffices, 80 agents, 40 loan
(21:50):
officers.
And, and right about that time,2006, 2007, it started to begin
to, really hit its peak andcrescendo just before everything
went to hell in a handbasket in2008.
Looking back, we all look atthat, we call it the Great
Recession.
And in fact, there was a moviecalled The Big Short.
(22:13):
Where I was like, Oh my God, Irelate to that movie so much
because I see so many of thoselocations and I remember I was
there.
I was working with LehmanBrothers on some deals you know,
that I hear that they've goneout of business.
And so I bring that into the.
Context because right about thattime when my wife is at home
raising the daughter and workingOur time all these different
(22:34):
things are hitting us and sotrying to keep that work
balance, life schedule reallybecame a lot of acrobatics,
right?
Because you're trying to makesure you take the time to come
home, have dinner, spend timewith your daughter, at that
time, smartphones were justreally becoming a thing, right?
Everyone was still on yourlittle old dial phones and you
(22:55):
have your Palm Pilots.
And so there's, there was a lotof juggling, but, looking back
at it, I'm glad that I did andI'm glad that we stuck to it
because my wife and I, alwaysmaking the point to have come
home and have dinner with eachother.
Now, for me, when we had dinnerwith each other, at least twice
or three times a week, that wasa big deal, right?
or have breakfast every now andthen.
(23:16):
but looking back now in 2025,my, my daughter's going to be
20.
My wife and I are still togetherbecause we spent that time to
really, Pay attention to ourdaughter.
Pay attention to each other.
see each other at work.
my wife still continues to helpme, from home and sometimes in
the office to manage things.
but now things are a lotdifferent than they were back
(23:40):
when we, there was this hugeoffice, atmosphere.
And everyone saw each otherbecause we all physically met.
that whole dynamic has changed.
But, throughout it, we've beenable to roll with the punches
just because.
we've made that commitment tostay with each other and also to
raise our daughter and to giveher, good, strong Christian
values and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And if it wasn't for that work of trying to make that
happen, it would be really easyfor me to just neglect that and
just, make it all work.
and I've seen some of my friendsdo that.
to their detriment, right?
they end up in divorce, she getshalf, it's bitter, they're off
to their second marriage, andthat's one of those things
where, and again, it hasn't beenpretty, it hasn't been easy
(24:22):
every step of the way, right?
There's been lots of arguments,lots of talking, through things,
and at the end of the day, youjust kind Getting back together,
but it's been really great forour daughter And I because like
we always make a point as afamily to take multiple trips
like my I'm a huge nerd forexample and so one of the things
that kind of kept us togetherwas my daughter and I my wife
would go to a San Diego comiccon every year we dress up in
(24:44):
cosplay and all this kind ofstuff and so You know keeping
the whole physical fitness as amajor part of my life helped a
lot, too but it was also greatfor like You know wearing
cosplay outfits where you'retrying to look like a ripped
superhero, right?
And so Those being able to dothat being able to go to work
(25:05):
and play hard You know with mywife and my daughter in like
these kind of fun contexts alsokept things really cohesive in
the family So like my daughterand I we still And my wife won't
cause play with us, but she willmake that, being in the fashion
industry that, which is heroriginal job.
She's really cool at being ableto design great cause play
(25:26):
outfits for my daughter and I,and then be that cheerleader.
And so that's been a big pieceof how do we keep the family
together and travel and do nerdythings.
Speaker (25:36):
Yeah, okay, forgive me.
Cosplay.
I'm unfamiliar with the term.
I actually have some relativesin San Fran who are into Comic
Con as well.
They've dressed up as Batman andall sorts of other stuff.
What is cosplay?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So cosplay is dressing up.
Costume play?
Speaker (25:55):
Costume.
Costume.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
yeah.
So when you hear, we used tohear the word cosplay.
It's usually associated to nerdycomic book conventions where
people will Create their owncostumes and dress up as a
superhero or some character thatthey like and San Diego Comic
Con Hat is like a Mardi Gras ofYou know of the comic con world.
(26:21):
Yeah, so it's one big giganticparty, you know from Wednesday
to Sunday you'll see lots of alot of the actors would come out
for the movies that you see, andthen they throw parties and we'd
make a point to try to get intothese parties, and things like
that.
So
Speaker (26:36):
I love it.
No, that's great.
And there's, I feel like there'sjust a time for that.
There's a time when, your kidsaren't going to be with you
forever.
And, if you can join them.
In their own, exciting thingsthat they like doing.
It's the best.
we're in, I, my son is eightright now.
So we're into basketball, but,teaching them a turnaround spin
shot.
And seeing them do it in thegame, it just brings so much
(26:58):
joy.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
yeah,
Speaker (26:59):
really cool.
I actually would like to speak alittle more into, this stage of
life for you with your daughter,actually, specifically.
She's 20.
you're probably seeing, likeyou've said, life was dramatic
and full of people and all thatgood stuff back in the day with
zoom and other things and COVIDand what everything else it's
probably dramatically changed.
(27:21):
what are some things right nowthat you're intentionally trying
to do as a dad and as thisseason of life, just been.
Just all new to you in light ofher getting older, or is she,
staying home more or what is therole shifted to in the last,
year or two?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Oh, no, great, good question.
when she started high school,COVID had just started, so she
grew up in that zoom culture.
Now, before that, she's our onlydaughter.
So she's always gone with.
and I everywhere and we broughther into the office.
And so I've actually had hercome in and intern with my
(27:57):
business partner on the propertymanagement side.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
And so
Speaker 2 (28:00):
she's learned things.
I, now, I didn't want to cramdown real estate down the road,
giving her exposed to it to seeif that's something she wants to
do.
And cause then that way, youknow, it'll be more natural.
And so we've had that fortune ofbeing able to bring her in and
expose her to all these thingsand expose her to the different
people that work here.
So she's grown up seeing thedifferent brokers and agents
(28:23):
that work with me, the staffthat have worked with me, and
they've seen her grow up aswell.
And so our big thing has alwaysjust been, as a family to,
again, I come from a big family,whereas my, my, we just have one
daughter.
I'm like the oldest out of five.
So we always make a point to goto all our family gathering
events.
I'm fortunate enough to have my,my, my parents and my four other
(28:45):
siblings all within 10 minutesof me.
So we all just, settled in theBay area.
we, like we travel a lot, but,we were fortunate enough to be
in the, in California and in theBay area where we, the enjoyment
of travel is great, but for me,it's always good to come home.
And so I think that was also whythey.
They didn't, venture off abroad.
And we make a whole point tolike, see all her cousins and my
(29:08):
parents.
And then, now that she's goingthrough college and, going
through her general ed, she's,she's still, she still comes in.
Thankfully, because of the Zoomculture, we still get a lot
done.
It's just not as.
As, in the office as much.
and because, I've had all theseyears of experience that, I've
become pretty adept with thetechnology.
(29:29):
And so I'll be trying to passthat on to my daughter as well.
for her, we need to have to passit on.
It's that was the culture shegrew up in.
like she'll have, she actually,her best friends in Maryland,
and then she sees her like threeor four times a year, they'll go
to concerts together.
We'll go on trips, but these twoare always on zoom.
It's not like I grew up where Iwould go down to my buddy's
house.
(29:49):
Down the street,
Speaker 3 (29:50):
right?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
That was the thing.
and so here is that's been greatbecause when we do travel and we
do physically go out It's alwayssome kind of an event one of one
of my brokers who's been with mesince 2011 a single guy Finally
got him married off, right?
So he got married good lookingguy, but I mean he finally
settled down and so yeah, He andhis wife threw this big, huge
(30:15):
destination wedding toCartagena, Colombia.
And my daughter had just turned,19 at the time, she's going to
be 20 in June.
And we go out to Cartagena,Colombia for one of my broker's
weddings.
And she's it's a very festiveevent, right?
my, this, my, my associate, he,had a huge, it was the best
(30:36):
thing to describe it would belike a rave, right?
He has a music festival raid.
And my daughter's sitting there,with her parents, enjoying this
reception in a differentcountry, and she's seeing us
party, right?
She's seeing us, and it's areception, but, just because my,
my, the guy who's been with mefor a while, who's throwing this
(30:57):
wedding, he's, he's just intothe whole music festival scene,
very hip guy.
He and his wife look like.
the wedding party looked likesomething out of the bachelor,
right?
Beautiful wedding party.
And, so my, my, my daughter gotto interact with that and, and
see, and this was a guy whoshe's always seen grow up, as
(31:18):
this single broker, who, youknow, Highfalutin guy who's
with, who's been with her dad,since 2011 and, and, I, he, she
knows who he is and, but she'sable to experience all these
different, facets of life andsee people who've been with me
come full circle from, gettingmarried and still, and having
kids and things like that.
that's been a pretty goodinfluence on her to keep her
(31:39):
really grounded as well as keepus close to her.
Um, I see like how some otherparents, when their daughters
become teenagers, they becomereally rebellious.
They become really, Oh, I don'twant to hang out with my
parents.
We've had quite the oppositeexperience.
Thank goodness.
Speaker (31:55):
Oh, man, that's awesome.
No, I love that story.
I love she saw you party the wayyou put that, because I've sort
of realized over the last Idon't know, a few weeks, months,
a guy said to me, we see ourkids change so much physically,
they're babies and they'rewalking and they're talking and,
they just, it's every year is abig change.
And as parents, we're notnecessarily looking different,
(32:19):
but we're changing too, withdifferent things that, we're
learning and different stages oflife are getting older.
We got to work out a little bitmore, we, whatever it is, the
business is growing.
So we're adapting as well.
And.
It's such a beautiful story ofhow, Hey, as your daughter's
grown, she hasn't necessarilybeen repelled by your guys's,
staunch, whatever, that's mydad, they're embarrassing or
(32:39):
whatever you're bringing herwith you to the comic con.
You're she's seeing you dance.
there's a relationship that'sjust continuing to grow.
Even during those, harder yearsof teenagers and, she'll be 20
soon and all those key moments.
So Brian, thanks so much forsharing all that.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Oh, no problem.
No problem.
Speaker (32:57):
one of the questions I try to get in here, I don't
always have active real estateinvestors with me.
sometimes it's just a busyprofessional, salesmen, some
entrepreneurs to some degree,business owners.
But I love that you've saw thelight.
I think off camera, we weretalking about you, you studied
biology back in the day, what ashift in what you ended up
(33:17):
doing.
Some advice to passive investorsout there.
Cause I feel like that is, my,that's my target audience is
the, not necessarily the otheractive real estate investor.
It's the one who's just saying,Hey Kenny, I love your values.
I love what you're doing.
Real estate, maybe trying to getinto it.
Like even earlier on, I lovethat you broke down some things
more educationally, but, I'vegot to, I've got to think you've
(33:40):
worked with a lot of banks andprivate money lenders.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Lots of experience with banks and, and private
lenders.
Yes.
Speaker (33:46):
Yes.
So in your tenure of working 20plus years in real estate and
working with multiple passiveinvestors, what takeaways that
you could give?
Are there, words ofencouragement or, obstacles that
you've seen people say, ah, Iwant to invest, but this and how
(34:08):
you've.
Maybe help them get into it orsome things that, that passive
investors can look for to feelmore confident to get into real
estate.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
great question.
So one of the things that Ialways would do with each
investor is sit down with themand just lay out all the cards
on the table, look at how much.
money they're working with, whatkind of career they're currently
at, how much time they have todevote to owning real estate,
right?
And, one of the things I alwaysencourage them to do is buy
something with more units.
(34:37):
I have some clients, forexample, That when I would meet
them, they'd have lots of singlefamily homes
Speaker 3 (34:42):
that
Speaker 2 (34:42):
they bought and owned free and clear.
And I would just do this simplemath with them as to what kind
of return they're getting on thecurrent value versus the annual
income.
And I would sit down and givethem a lot of education first,
right?
So I would give them, what is agood real estate investment
based on a cap rate, based on adebt service?
What is debt service, right?
What does this mean to a lender?
what do these different types ofrecourse or non recourse loans
(35:06):
And then more importantly, justgive them a roadmap of here's
what you're looking for.
When we find this act quick.
and you're, when we go intocontract, I'm not going to
pressure you, but I wouldsuggest shoot first.
We could always ask questionslater because that's what we're
going to do during the duediligence period.
And we know in a contract, we'vealways got the opportunity to
(35:28):
get out if something is bad, butusually in real estate.
There's always a way to getaround the bad, and always
prepare them like it's notalways going to be immediately
passive.
This is not going to be mailboxmoney, right?
as I prepare them for theseexpectations, and then give
them, a strategy for gettinginto it, but then also, giving
(35:48):
them that bigger picture of theexit.
what is the end goal behindthis?
And that's something I'd alwaysask is what are you, why are you
doing this?
And if the goal is to, createsome passive cash flow, then
what does that mean to you?
What, how much money do you needto be able to, cover expenses?
And so I would just do sit thereand do well.
What are your current expensesnow, what are your expenses on a
(36:11):
house?
This is what I would do likeback in the day in the early in
the late 90s, right?
And so once we went through thatprocess, a lot of my clients or
investors would at least havesome, peace of mind where they
had a sequence of events andthings to follow so they could
check the box as opposed tobeing unknown.
(36:31):
And, when, and so they'd come tothat realization that, Hey, it's
not.
So much the interest ratebecause if you're going to a
private money lender, you mightbe paying hard money and it
might be much higher thannormal, but then you're looking
at the big picture.
is this a property that Iwouldn't be able to acquire?
under regular financing and if Itake it under a private money
(36:52):
lender where maybe it might be ahigher rate Why am I doing that
and what is my end goal so thatat some point I could get a
lower rate, right?
Like I you know So I'm just givethem that entry and exit
strategy depending on whateverthe asset class might be So in
some markets, I've been doingthis it's 34 years So I've seen
some markets where you know,you're going in with it, you
(37:12):
know a lot of risk And thensometimes it becomes more
turnkey and then of course itgets heated up and then you
know, The returns get less andyou always go through these
various cycles, right?
and so as I give them that bigpicture, that's one of the other
sequences or guides that I'llgive them so that way they know
what to expect and they can havea little bit more peace of mind.
(37:35):
And then also have that goalwhere they want to be at, where
they could, where it becomesmore passive.
Um, and also get making surethat they've got the proper
property management in place andand someone that they could
trust, unless they were gonna,do it all by themselves.
And I've had a mixture of both.
I've had some clients where theythey don't like 50 units and
(38:00):
they'd still want it to be theperson to go there and sweep the
floors.
in fact, we have some clientswhere we manage the property for
them, but they just like to showup to the property and just,
Speaker (38:11):
tinker.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
And then there's others who are just very passive
and are out traveling.
And so it's, you get thatmixture of both.
Speaker (38:19):
Yeah, no, that's fabulous.
I, I, you've seen it all.
It sounds I'm, like I said, sixyears in, you said 30 to 40
years.
And I just know firsthand as aactive real estate investor, it
has been very difficult tosometimes get these properties
renovated.
And I'm talking single familyhomes.
So there is a big shift thathappens.
I would actually say for theeasier, When you're buying
(38:42):
bigger, because you can dothings at scale, hire crews that
are more qualified and able tofix up, 10, plus units versus
I'm trying to find someone justto.
update the kitchen or, do thesethings.
really cool insights on that.
And you've been able to evenhelp other active investors get
(39:03):
in half active, half passivewith these other companies you
built.
And, I guess as a quickfollowup, would you say the ones
that are looking for, Hey, wantto be purely passive here, this
development project you'redoing, or, other types of like
syndications or group investing.
Has that been like the, fountainof living water or the golden
(39:24):
goose that you can say, Hey,here's a way to be a part owner
of this deal without, being thelandlord and managing these
things.
Have you had success with thatpitch?
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, we have, yeah.
We've, so we, you'resyndications, right?
Where.
I have had some clients go,listen, I don't want to own the
property.
Can I just invest with you as apassive investor?
And I have set up syndicationswhere I'll come on as the
general partner.
I'll take on individual limitedpartners.
Some are accredited investors,some are not.
(39:55):
And then long story short, whatwe're doing is we're aggregating
the cash for the down paymentand the closing cost to acquire
say like a 50 unit or a 20 unit.
And then we have again, entryand exit strategy.
Here's what you would can expectto make with this.
Pro rata share of the downpayment and your pro rata share
of the ownership and your prorata share of the distribution
(40:17):
and We'll have it underwrittenin such a way where they're not
having to worry about thecomplicated bank loan which
Usually because of my balancesheet and my experience i'm
getting preferential treatmenton interest rates and loans More
acquisitions and then they'rejust getting a paycheck Every
month or every quarter.
Now they, full disclosure,sometimes, buildings don't
(40:39):
always go good.
And, we might, go for a fewmonths without a distribution
because that, a turnover phaseor, Or value add phase before,
as we're repositioning abuilding, but regardless, at
least they're not having to, gothrough all the whole slings and
arrows and go on now they'll getdetailed reports on what's
happening before these thingsturn around.
(41:00):
And so that's been a prettysuccessful, thing for people who
just want to own passively.
I've also engaged that in someof my development deals.
Like when I first built the 64unit condo.
I didn't do it with all my ownmoney.
I was the person that stood upfor the construction loan, but I
raised the down payment from alot of my clients.
(41:23):
who I'd sold apartment buildingsto and built their portfolio.
And when I first did thatsyndication for limited partners
back in 2004, it was a timebefore the whole 501 C, regs
came in that allow you to, reachout and advertise.
And so you'd have to just dealonly with your, friends of
friends and people you knewdirectly,
Speaker 3 (41:45):
but
Speaker 2 (41:45):
same rules of engagement.
And so as that whole,Syndication and partnership
model has evolved.
Like you'll see like the likesof Grant Cardone who, go out and
raise capital publicly from aconcert, under reggae.
and then they'll use that to goout and buy invest.
we, I've not done anything tohis degree or his, his size.
(42:07):
I've kept it relatively modestin comparison, but I've had
that.
I'm fortunate being able tostart out a lot earlier, like I
did my first one in 2004, myfirst syndication, now I've
translated that into also justowning property and then
distributing passively, so thatwe're not yeah.
(42:27):
looking to have that big, hugedistribution.
Like when we did the firstpartnership in 2004 under that,
it was under the premise ofwe're going to buy this, we're
going to build it and we'regoing to sell it for a huge
profit.
And the funny thing is when Idid that first one and I look
back, we actually had a huge,like 69 percent return, 70
(42:47):
percent return.
And back then I was it was tooyoung and naive to know, Hey, I
didn't have to give out thatmuch distribution, but it was
really good because it set awrong expectation, on the third
one, and Oh my gosh, you onlygot a 20 percent return on this
one, but no, of course, at thatpoint, after a certain point,
people started realizing like,okay, Hey.
(43:07):
15, 18%, 20 percent returns oract, internal rates of return
are actually a good thing.
Really good.
but it was one of those learningcurves where, you know, where
you realize you knocked one outof the ballpark, but you didn't
know that you're not going tothe ballpark.
So by the next time you do, whatshould be a normal one, people
(43:28):
are like, Hey, what happened?
It's not as big as the last one,Yeah.
So those are different thingsthat, you know, I, that kind of
learned along the way and kindof pass on the investor.
So now I know how to Hey,there's, this is what we can
expect as the returns.
And, and you can, and again,we're comparing these returns.
So like other vehicles, how muchwould you make if you'd left
your money in a savings accountor in a money market or in a
(43:50):
mutual fund or in, differentstocks, what do you get?
And so that it was again, thatwhole education process of
getting people to understand thebenefits of real estate, where
you can make a cashflow, butget.
A write off versus if I'minvesting in stock and I sell a
piece of stock I have nothing toshelter that gain, right?
Tax at a higher rate and it iswhat it is Real estate gave us
(44:13):
that that really great benefitof having the cash having the
appreciation And havingsomething to shelter taxation
Speaker (44:22):
Beautifully said love it brian.
You're a wealth of knowledgeman.
We're out of time i'll just givemy audience a small teaser I
don't know if you have anythingposted on your linkedin or
whatnot, but he's also americanninja warrior man I know you did
competitions and whatnot inthere, you mentioned the cause,
cosplay with your shirt off andwhatnot.
(44:43):
So post this stuff up so ouraudience can
Speaker 2 (44:45):
check you out.
If not, if you Google my nameand hit images, you'll see a
whole bunch of those.
You'll see me here on, on themovie I produce, you'll see me,
you'll see me dressed up as aSpartan 300 warrior.
I love it, man.
there's enough images out there.
So you'll see them.
Speaker (45:05):
you are
Speaker 2 (45:06):
pretty unique.
So you can't, it's you'll go,Oh, that's the guy.
Speaker (45:08):
I love it.
That's right.
That's right.
Bye.
Brian Beniquid.
Brian, you are living a veryfull life, my friend.
Thank you so much for takingtime to share your journey with
us today and some of thosevalues.
My pleasure, Kenny, that youfocused on.
if our audience did want toconnect with you, for anything,
how would you
Speaker 2 (45:24):
direct them?
the easiest way is go to mywebsite, www.bcre.co at, so
Bravo, Charlie Romeo Echo.
And it's a.co.
So it's just.co.
If you google my name and hitimages, you'll, you can.
You can find me through my realestate company.
you could also hit me up onLinkedIn.
(45:46):
A lot of people will find me onLinkedIn and DM me.
but, the easiest way to just gothrough my website, there's a
little consultation page thatyou could fill out and, one of
my assistant Mark or show whatwill probably retrieve the call
and set up a meeting orsomething like that.
Speaker (46:01):
Cool.
Brian, thanks for being on theinvested fathers today to all my
audience out there.
Invest wisely.
Thanks Brian.
Thanks for having me, Kenny.
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