- Dayna talks with her guests about investing in real estate with insight into ways to structure those purchases. Plus, information on the Beaumont Wine Classic sponsored by the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, everybody, it's your board. Gary la Vox of Rascal Flats Beaumont.
I made a lot of friends thereon the road. And one are
my friends that you need to meet, especially if you're selling your home,
is Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty. Her team is the real deal,
top shelf, next level, andshe makes it so easy, and I
like easy, and remember, sellyour home now, don't hesitate Simmons real
(00:29):
Estate. Well, hello, SoutheastTexas. I hope you're enjoying this wonderful,
beautiful, little bit warm day outthere. We certainly are here and
we have an exciting show for youtoday. We are going to be talking
about investing in real estate. Haveyou ever thought about investing in real estate?
(00:49):
One of the posts we had thisweek is that ninety percent of those
who are millionaires have invested in realestate. Real estate is a very good
investment, but you need to makea wise investment. So we're going to
talk through what that looks like andwhat are some of the steps you might
take if you wanted to do that. We also have on our show.
We have Gary small Felt and TerryPotter. They're here not only with the
(01:14):
Chamber, but Terry is with AmericanAir, Gary is with hib We are
going to be talking about the BeaumontWine Classic, So that's something you're not
gonna want to miss. In oneof our future segments, they're going to
talk about what is going on,where is it, and why you need
to be there, So tune inin the next few segments, we're going
to visit about that. And youknow how we always start the show is
(01:37):
how's the market. Well, I'mgoing to tell you the market is picking
up. The first quarter of ourreal estate market was a little bit bleak,
it was challenging, things were slower. Our inventory did start to go
up though, so that was ahuge positive note for all of us because
you know, it had been fora long time a very challenging inventory where
(01:59):
people were not able to find propertiesthat they needed or that they were looking
for in their price range. Soat this point we do have a wonderful
inventory if you're thinking about buying,and we are starting to see those buyers
out there deciding that now is thetime. You know, the Fed has
talked about about a month ago thatthey put on hold raising any interest rates.
(02:23):
So the thing that we think maybe coming in the next several months.
Is the possibility of those routes potentially, you know, I don't have
that crystal ball wish I did,but potentially going up here in the next
few months. So if you're thinking, you know, I think real estate
is a great investment, I thinkI want to get out of this apartment
(02:44):
or this rental I'm in and Iwant to purchase my own home. Now
is a great time because we dohave quite a bit of property out there.
We also have many of our sellersoffering incentives, a couple of our
builders offering incentives to allow you tobuy down that rate that gets you in
(03:05):
a much better position to be ableto have that monthly note closer to where
you want it with a property thatyou're looking for. So the bottom line
is you need to visit with areal estate agent and a lender to see
exactly what it looks like for youpersonally. Right now is at the right
time. We can't say without lookingat your situation. Our office is open,
(03:29):
you know, I tell you everyweek eight to eight Monday through Saturday,
one to eight on Sunday, youcan call even on the holiday.
We still have someone available to answerthose calls for you, and that number
is four O nine eight six sixeight three two six, which if you
don't have a pen and you can'tremember, just remember four O nine eight
(03:49):
six six Team. Because we area team brokerage. We're all working together
to make sure that we accomplish whatyou need for your goals. That you
have not only your goals, thosedreams of what you want to do and
what you're seeing for you in thefuture. So give us a call or
go to our website which is DanaSimmons real Estate dot com or if you
(04:09):
want to shorten that ds dot com. And we want to be able to
help you look into what is bestfor you. We want to guide you
through that process to help you makea wise decision. On the show today,
I have Katie Martin who is alisting agent for our team. And
so Katie, tell everyone. Iknow people have heard you before, but
(04:30):
you know there might be some whodon't know who you are is over here.
You've been doing this quite a while, so a lot of people know
your name, but those who haven'theard about you, tell them a little
bit about who you are. Yes, So I'm Katie Martin and I am
actually the listing agent for Dana Simmonsreal Estate, and the listing agent is
the one that puts everyone's homes onthe market. So we have our own
little team that we that's our numberone goal. So I'm married to a
(04:57):
wonderful husband of seventeen years, andwe did not get married when we were
twelve. You've been doing it,but it seems like you started real estate
when you were twelve, because I'vebeen doing this for almost twenty five years.
Twenty this August will be twenty fouryears completed. So yes, I
start when I was eighteen. Maybeeveryone shouldn't have trusted me at that point,
(05:19):
but now I have a lot ofexperience, exactly right. Yeah,
and I have two sweet girls,well mostly sweet girls. One is then
about to be a teenager in nextmonth, so just pray for our family.
Then they're done that and it comesout great. On the other side,
(05:39):
I'll just tell you it's a littlechallenge in between. Yes it is,
but they're great girls and I lovethem dearly. So and your husband
is yes, um, Robert Martinwith R. D. Martin Electric a
little plug in there, so ifyou need an electrician, they're a great
source of information and they do greatjob. We've used them. I actually
(06:01):
used them for years before Katie andI started working together. So his dad
started the company and Robert started ridingaround with him when he was twelve years
old and he got paid in GreatChina. Yeah, so he just worked
all day, eat lunch to eat. I think he probably could eat quite
a bit. Yeah. So alsowith us as Terry Potter, and Terry
(06:23):
is with American Air. But AmericanAir is your day job. You also
have volunteer for a lot of otherthings. So Terry, just talk a
little bit about all that you do. Okay, Well, first of all,
thanks for having me. And likeshe said, I am with American
Air Systems and American Air Systems hasbeen in business for forty years. We
(06:44):
are HVAC homestand by generators and wejust recently added a plumbing division. So
right now, as you can imagine, we're super busy, but we're here
to take care of Southeast Texas.So Lee and I have been married for
seven years, together for ten,so not very long. We just had
our first grand baby, so we'reextremely happy and he's a doll. So
(07:10):
we're expecting to have a couple ofmore. The other ones need to get
busy. That's what we keep tellingthem. When you said expecting a couple
of more, I thought maybe someonewas already, you know, pregnant or
something. No, No, you'rejust preparing way ahead. Yeah. Yeah,
they say they're trying. Oh okay, they're just not trying hard enough.
Well that's exciting though, Yeah,it is. It is. And
(07:31):
one of the other things that isexciting you guys, actually, American Air
also opened a new location not thatlong ago. Yes, we have a
location now in Lumberton, so Decemberfirst, and we're picking up business there
and Lumberton is exploding growing, yes, and so yeah, we're really excited.
(07:55):
Yeah. And the other thing thatyou do is that not only do
you work in American Air Systems,but you guys also have a program that
we're going to try to talk aboutat the very end. Talk just briefly
about that program that you have going. Yes, it's our community awareness program.
We started it five years ago.It was just something that Lee and
(08:15):
I created to give back to thisarea because they've been so good to us
for forty years. And we giveaway a complete HVAC system and we have
a committee of community leaders who theseare the guys and gals that review all
the nominations and sometimes there's over ahundred, so these guys are the ones
(08:39):
that choose the recipient of the system. So it's really great. We look
forward to it. And since thisyear is our five years, we're doing
something a little different. We're choosinga veteran, right, And so if
someone knows a veteran who's in needof a new air system, how would
(09:01):
they go about making application for that? Well, you can go to the
website and you'll see the veteran iconand you can do it that way.
You can nominate online, or youcan call our office four oh nine eight
four two twenty four zero two andanybody in the office they'll walk you through
the process. You can certainly comeinto the office on College our Lumberton and
(09:24):
be happy to help you walk throughthe application. Good. And I know
one of the keys of that isto make sure that those people who will
be reviewing it know the story.Yes, so when you nominate that person,
make sure that you're telling the storyabout why they should receive that air
conditioning system. That's very important.Yeah. Good. So also with this
(09:48):
is Gary Smallfeld and he's with HIBand we've all been going, Oh,
we love HB. So Gary,tell us how you got to southeast Texas,
because in the beginning we were talkingabout the fact that you're originally from
Kenosha, Wisconsin. That's correct.I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
I was working for a guy wholived on our street and he made the
(10:13):
trip to Texas and he moved tothe Woodlands. And he called me up
one February day and it was probablyabout seven below blistery coal yeah as wind
blowing, and he said, Gary, and needs some help because I worked
for him previously, and initially Ithought I would come down and probably spend
the summer, maybe a couple ofmonths. Well, the place that he
(10:37):
moved to was the Woodlands, andso I moved from Kenosha seven below factory
town at that time, into theWoodlands. And I was just in love.
I mean, in three days wewere on Lake Conro fishing. Wow.
And I after right then I washooked. Yeah. So you weren't
born a Texan, but you gothere as quick as you could. Yeah.
(11:01):
And so now now you manage thelocal HIB here in Beaumont, right,
Yeah, HIB has been so goodto me. I really don't deserve
the treatment that I get over there. It's fantastic. I've run about five
stores for HB down in Angleton,clear Lake, Pasadena. I opened the
Baytown store when I was brand newand now over to the third highest volume
(11:26):
store in the in the Houston division. Yeah, and you were talking about
maybe some some potential renovations coming inin a year or two. Yeah.
I really appreciate everybody being patient withus. UM. The store was built
in six September of O six anduh we um. There's new refrigeration guidelines
(11:48):
that the company the country is expectingand UM in twenty twenty five. So
we didn't make it the twenty twentyfour cut, but we did make the
twenty twenty five cut, and you'regonna see some really amazing things happen in
that store. We're gonna move thefrozen food to the front. Most folks
like to shop their frozen food last. Yeah, so it stays nice and
cold. We're going to open upthe wine department, open up the fresh
(12:11):
side quite a bit, and sowe're going to do some moving around.
So if you'll be patient with usduring that twenty twenty five split. It's
exciting too though, see new thingshappening, better for things happening. We're
going to do some initial touch upwithin the next several weeks. Actually,
you'll see those old from six thoseblue walls, red walls, green walls
(12:35):
come down to a nice even beautifulshade of gray and a new sign package.
So all that's happening with the nextcouple of weeks. Well, we
love upgrades in our business, soyou know, love that you're upgrading that
store. So we have an excitingshow. You guys have heard just a
little taste of some of the thingsthat we're going to talk about. So
(12:56):
when we come back though, I'mgonna have David L. June is the
small business development Officer at First FinancialBank, and he's going to be talking
about investing investment properties. He doesall different types of small business loans to
help you invest and grow your portfolio. So we're going to talk to David
(13:16):
here shortly, and then we're goingto talk about how you can use that
to invest in real estate as well. And then coming up the Beaumont Wine
classic, You're not gonna want tomiss it. Don't go away, come
right back. Would you need tosell your home. No one makes it
easier than Dana Simmons of Dana SimmonsReally sell your homes Simmons Realestate. Welcome
(13:43):
back. This is Dana Simmons withthe Dana Simmons Show, and we have
so much in this jam packed hour. We have lots to talk to you
about. But before we get intotalking about investing in real estate and what
that looks like if you're an investor, we first want to talk to the
very own mister portinacious, David laJune, who is a small business development
(14:07):
officer at First Financial Bank. Davidor you on the line, Yes,
ma'am, happy, happy July fourthweekend. We're so excited to have you
on the phone. Um, David. And when I thought about doing this,
and I was thinking about the youknow, the topic of investment,
I thought the most important part toget to first is to visit about what
(14:31):
that looks like financially and the optionsthat people can take if they're thinking that's
the way they want to move theirinvestment. So they have a little bit
of capital, they have some money, they're ready to invest, but they
don't want to pay cash for theentire purchase there are some things they want
to do. So David, theycall you, and I know this is
(14:52):
generic and it's going to be veryspecific to every person, but what are
some of the options that you gothrough with them on if they're thinking about
making real estate part of their portfolio. Yeah, yeah, a great question.
Like first of all, I alwayslove to tell them to go sit
and visit with your commercial lender,Go visit with them at their bank,
(15:16):
or go visit for lunch and bringa few items. So all lenders would
want to see a few years oftax returns. That would be if you
have an LLC a business tax return, or if you follow it just under
your personal name. And then everybodywants and needs to see a personal financial
statement. Sounds like a big term, but all it is is your personal
(15:39):
assets, your assets versus liabilities.If they come to my office, we
fill it out in five minutes andthen that gives them a gives the lender
a great start on where to startwith and what's your short term and long
term goal. And then there's allkinds of options out there. One of
my favorite options for a commercial realestate person or somebody that's trying to get
(16:03):
into rental Airbnb flips is to setup a revolving line of credit on a
commercial piece of property they are owned. So let's say they own a piece
of property at Avenue A one hundredand it's worth around one hundred thousand dollars
on the market. A commercial lender, if the cash flow is correct and
(16:27):
you show you can support the loan, will lend you eighty percent of that
value. So they will set youup with an eighty thousand dollars line of
credit. Okay. What that doesfor that investor gives them liquid cash of
eighty thousand dollars, so they getit all set up pre Dana finds them
(16:48):
this beautiful, cute little airbn Airbnbhouse in Mid County. They call me
up. I'll tell them they haveavailable eighty thousand dollars in cash. That
could be on a two hundred thousanddollars house. That could be one hundred
and sixty on a DUPLEXI could bethree hundred thousand dollars. But it gives
that investor instinct cash and say,hey, I've got a cash offer for
(17:11):
this cute little Airbnb that I wantto do in Mid County. That's my
favorite way to do it. Yeah, and that is one of the ways
too. I think that's really goodon flip. So if you've got that
line of credit, it allows youto purchase that flip, do the remodel,
and then once you sell that flip, it gives you the opportunity to
(17:33):
pay that credit line of credit offand then there it is again right there
for you to be able to utilizeit anyway that you need it. But
I think what you said, David, as you were talking through this is
come sit down in my office andtalk to me. I think that is
key. And one of the thingsabout First Financial that they have is they
do have commercial lenders all over SoutheastTexas in different offices. You have an
(17:57):
office actually your office is in MidCounty. Then there's an office in Beaumont,
there's an office in Lumberton, there'san office invider in Mauriceville. I
mean anywhere in Southeast Texas there's alocal First Financial bank with a local commercial
lender there to sit and visit becauseat that point you can talk through all
(18:18):
those things and help them personally.It's kind of like what we do to
see is it right for you oris it not right for you? Yes,
and it just then you have thatrelationship and then not. Let's say
you have a relator and you havea banker that you can throw some things
around too, and go, youknow, does it work well? Check
(18:38):
with Dana is the market is itlook like a goodbye? Go back with
David. Let's look at the interestrates. And people today are scared of
these interistrates. I tell them,if it's the right purchase in the right
location and the cash flow fits,we can always refinance that rental property two
(18:59):
years down the road. It seeksmonths down the road when the rates change.
I absolutely agree that that's exactly right. You got to look at is
it the right fit? And honestly, you are seeing some of those deals
right now. There are some opportunitiesout there to be able to do that
purchase even if it's a little bitof a higher interest rate, because the
cash flow does still work. Andwhat you said, David is critical when
(19:22):
you talk about relationship. It's buildingthat relationship with your lender and with your
real estate agent that you can trustboth sides that they're not just trying to
sell you, but they're trying tolook at is this going to work for
you or not? Now? Ialways look at it as a long term
partnership. Right, you know,some people come to me, we get
(19:42):
pre approved, we have a twohundred thousand dollars line of credit, we
have whatever. We might not makea deal for two years, right,
it just might not work out.We communicate, we talk all the time,
and then when it happens, it'susually the right one. It makes
everybody feels warm and fuzzy about it. Yeah, and so David, if
someone is wanting to get in touchwith you and visit with you about options
(20:06):
and opportunities, and really, youdon't just do real estate investing. You
do all kinds of investments for forpeople who are looking to invest in different
things. So how would they getin touch with you? I tell everybody
you know at First Financial Bank,our cell phone is the connection, because
you know, I'm at the lakeright now and join this beautiful weather.
(20:29):
But I've talked to two clients thismorning. I mean you you just never
know. And we we put ourbusiness too. We love small business owners,
We love little individuals that are gettingout into it. So it's a
cell phone. My cell phone isfour zero nine seven one nine eight three
eight five. I always tell themlead me a text, leave me a
(20:52):
message. I usually call back withinten minutes. Well, David, thank
you so much. I appreciate thatyou said I When I ask you about
doing this today, you were like, well, I'm going to be out
of town, but let me callin. I want to be a part.
And that is that attitude that Ilove. That you always are wanting
to help people, and even whenyou're out of town, even when you're
on vacation, you're still engaged andready to jump up and assist. So
(21:18):
thank you so much, and Ihope you have a great rest of your
holiday. And if anyone needs moreinformation about David and his cell phone,
we have that as well, sowe're happy to pass that along to you
if you missed it whenever he wason the air. So thank you,
David, appreciate you. Hey,thank you. You'll have a great Fourth
of July, and buy a housefrom Dana. She's the best. Thank
(21:40):
you so much. Well, alsowith me is Katie Martin. And in
our next segment, or I'll tellyou what in our last segment, because
in our next segment, we're goingto talk a little bit about the Beaumont
Wine Classic and what's going on withthat, and then after that we're going
to get into talking about we havenot only assisted people buying that investment property,
but Katie and I are both realestate investors. We're not trying to
(22:04):
sell you on something we don't absolutelybelieve in and personally have a stake in.
So we want to have you callin with any questions that you may
have about if you should get intothis and what that takes. We're also
super excited if you want to justsit down and have a conversation. I
had someone at the chamber last weeksay, Hey, I think I do
(22:25):
want to get into this. Canwe can we have coffee and just kind
of talk through what that looks like. And I'm like, absolutely. If
it's not right for you, Idon't want you to do it. If
it is, it's a great wayto build wealth. So when we come
back, though, we're going totalk Beaumont Wine Classic with Gary and Terry.
So don't go away. This isthe Dana Simmons Show. Would you
need to sell your home? Noone makes it easier than Dana Simmons of
(22:48):
Danas Simmons Really sell your home.Don't hesitate Simmons Real Estate Welcome back.
This is Dana Simmons with the DanaSimmons Show, and we have an exciting
show today. We just we're ableto visit with David Lejune, who is
the small Business Development officer over atFirst Financial Bank, talking about investing in
(23:14):
real estate, and he is acommercial lender there in the Mid County branch
at First Financial Bank, and hewas saying, come in, sit talk
to me. Let's see if it'sright for you and how we can work
things out. And so if you'rethinking about that, that's your first step.
Get with a commercial lender. Letthem look at your situation and see
if investing in real estate on aninvestment side is good for you. And
(23:37):
here a little bit, Katie Martinand I are going to be talking about
how we got into doing that andsome of the tips and tricks maybe that
we can share with you. Butfirst we want to make sure we talk
with Terry Potter and Gary Smallfeldt.They are here going to share with you
a little bit about the Greater BeaumontChamber of Commerce Wine Classic. We are
super excited about that. Terry,tell everyone a little bit about what is
(24:02):
the Beaumont Wine Classic. Well,it is just another great event created by
the Greater Beaumont Chamber and it isthe first annual Wine Classic, and that
This is going to take place onAugust twenty fifth at the Event Center Downtown.
Doors open at six thirty and I'mgonna let Gary talk about all the
(24:26):
wine details. But UM tickets areseventy five dollars for individual tickets. You
can get a table for eight hundredfor a table of eight. Um.
Some fun aspects. There will bea costume contest. Already bought my costume,
Dana. Yep, so it's theRoaring Twenties. She did not tell
(24:48):
me about this and she signed meup first. Yeah, sabotage. Yes,
you got to get a costume now, okay. So yeah, So
the theme of the night is RoaringTwenties. Jimmy Simmons and Friends will be
entertainment. And if you've never heardhim, it's going to be such a
treat. He's wonderful. What else, Oh, we're gonna have two local
(25:11):
chifts of going to join us thatnight. They've got a menu prepared that
is off the chart. We haveJosh Moore with Crave Moore and we have
Ray Gross from the Beaumont country club. So it's gonna be a fun night.
It's very reasonable. It's gonna bea lot of fun. Yeah.
(25:33):
Yeah, And I think Ray isactually from the Texas Star Bar and Grill.
Yes, he is. That isthe name of their restaurant. Yeah,
Texas Star Bar and Grill. I'vehad his food there before, and
let me say it's delicious. Hedoes a great job. I've never I've
never had any of Josh's but listen, I'm super excited about him. I've
heard lots of great things. Sonot only delicious wine, but some delicious
(25:57):
food prepared by wonderful chefs. JimmySimmons and his friends playing in the background,
and then a costume contest. Thenwe have delicious wine. So Gary,
talk a little bit about what theplan is on the wine side of
things. Sure. The event isgoing to take place on August twenty five.
(26:18):
August twenty five at the event Center, and hib is the number one
wine retailer in the state of Texas. Wow. Yeah, it's a really
kind of an amazing fact since consideringwhere a grocery store. Yeah, at
the event that night, there willbe over two hundred people, two hundred
guests. We'll have fifteen tables setup around the edge. Each of these
(26:41):
tables has several samples to choose fromand one hundred twenty five different wines is
what we're tentatively scheduling for folks totry. Another really really fun event that
we're going to put on. It'scalled the Court draw where you can put
(27:02):
your name in for the drawing andyou pull out a cork and whatever number
is on that cork, you getthat bottle of wine. And so we're
going to do another hundred bottles likethat. That's awesome. Yeah, it
would be a really really fun event. I know when Steve at the Chamber
approached me on it, he tookme to lunch and started laying it out
(27:22):
and I was just thrilled to bea part of it. Yeah, I
love that too. I love thatwe're the inaugural Wine Classic. You can
beat you two can be a partof that. We have had so much
activity on that, so many peoplewanting to be a part. So if
that sounds like something you're interested inagain, Friday, August twenty fifth,
(27:42):
it's six thirty to ten pm atthe Event Center. I mean, that's
a beautiful location. It's a greatnight out. It's you don't have to
dress up. Okay, Katie,you don't have to dress up, but
there will be a costume contest andit's a Roaring twenties. So I'm gonna
tell you I'm typically not the dressup kind, but I'm all in on
(28:06):
this, so I'm excited. I'mgoing to be in my Roaring twenties.
I even got the shoes to gowith it, so I'm you know,
Amazon can be your friends sometimes ifyou need to find something that you don't
know where to find it. SoI hope that you guys will join us.
And I want to make sure haveI missed anything? Terry? Do
you want to talk about some ofthe people that are sponsoring it? Yes,
(28:27):
I was gonna add that events likethis, of course without sponsors,
it wouldn't be possible. And soI do want to give Dana Simmons a
shout out. They are our presentingsponsor. We really appreciate that. And
Gary HB is our wine sponsor,and we had G and G Enterprise is
(28:48):
they sponsored the wine bag, sowhen you arrive the night of, you'll
get your commemorative wine glass and yourwine bag. So yeah, all the
things and you know, we justsay our sponsors so much again, it
just wouldn't be possible. And soyou're you're going to take away some some
nice gifts, so it's not onlycoming and enjoying the event, but you'll
(29:11):
have a wine bag and some wineglasses. And I haven't told my mom
yet about this thing, but she'sgonna be so excited. She is our
wine connoisseur of the family. Soit's there a way to sign up beforehand
or just come come at the door. Yes, um, well, I
really feel like there will be notickets and tables left, so be on
the safe side. I'd call thechamber to reserve your table and your tickets
(29:36):
and that numbers four oh nine eightthree eight six, five eight one.
And as for Mike Simpson, hecan hook you up and get what you
need. I think you Mike,can you go online as well? And
I'm to go online. They wereworking on that and that should be complete.
Yeah, so you can go onlineand um and do that. But
Mike's happy to talk to you who'llexplain all about about it as well.
(30:00):
He's a great source of information andresources. So if you have any questions
about that, you can call TerryTerry is at American Air Services, or
you can call my office, oryou can call the chamber, and we're
happy to give you more information aboutthat if you like. So thank you
guys for being here to talk aboutthat and kind of give us a heads
(30:22):
up as to what's going on.Anything else we need to add that I'm
missing about this event. Just said. Hib is very excited to partner with
Dana Simmons Dana Simmons Reality, sowe're excited that you let us be a
part of it. Of course,we're gonna have some of our favorite wines
there. There's a Fasio cake,Bread's chamiss Our, number one selling wine
(30:45):
in the store. There's a Bogela down a Napa belly quilt that I
think folks will really enjoy. Ilove the idea that we get to taste
them. You know. While mymom is really good and knows everything about
wine, so I usually call herand Camus is one one that she mentions
often. But this isn't a greatopportunity to be able to go and say,
(31:07):
hey, I want to I wantto try a few to see if
I like it or not. Sowhat a great event if you want to
try it, you know, justsee if it's something that you would enjoy
or not. And a phenomenal networkingopportunity. Yeah, don't forget that.
I think that's one of the thingsthat the Chamber does so well is that
it does give us opportunity to interactwith other business owners at when we may
(31:32):
not otherwise. So come relax,enjoy, have a great time, and
network. Thanks for bringing that up. Gary. When we come back,
we're going to talk more about investingin real estate. So if you have
a question, give us a callKatie, and I'd love to answer it
for you. Four zero nine eightnine six five five eight four is the
telephone number you can call here forKovi I. So don't go away,
(31:56):
We're going to come right back.This is the Dana Simmons Show. Would
you need to sell your home?No one makes it easier than Dana Simmons
of Dana Simmons Really sell your home, Go Hesitate Simmons Realistate. Welcome back.
This is Dana Simmons and I amjoined today by Katie Martin, who
(32:21):
is the listing really the listing agent, the listing agent for Dana Simmons real
Estate. And so she and Iare here to talk a little bit about
investing in real estate, though that'sthe top of a topic of conversation.
We've had David Lejune, who isa commercial lender with First Financial Bank,
talking a little bit about how toget started in that. But also with
(32:42):
this was Gary Smallfelt and Terry Potter, who have given us a little insight
into the very first the Beaumont WineClassic that's going to be Friday, August
twenty five. It's an event youare not gonna want to mess and our
team as well as h B andG and G Construction have all agreed to
sponsor that, and we're super excitedand looking forward to seeing our community out
(33:06):
there. And if you have anyquestions about that, you're welcome to call
the Chamber and they can get youconnected, or you can call my office
and I can do the same.So but before we finish out our time
today, we have a little bitmore time to talk about investing in real
estate. If you have a questionand you want us to answer it,
call four O nine eight nine tosix five five eight four, and Katie
(33:27):
and I are going to do ourbest to do that. So we talked
a little bit earlier with David leJune, and he kind of gave us
insight into how to get started.Sit down and talk to your commercial lender,
come up with a plan on howyou would finance that property, and
then get connected with your real estateagent. And so Katie, you and
I both have done that in thepast, and let's talk a little bit
(33:52):
about how did you first get startedin investing in real estate? Well,
I feel like my contribution to thisconversation is going to be what not to
do? Okay, well, becauseI mean, there are times that it's
there are mistakes made, and sothis is what a seasoned investor is.
That's someone who has made mistakes andso talking to a real estate agent who's
(34:14):
done that and understand some of thepitfalls so that it doesn't happen. While
that's another key point though, isthat every investment has some risk, and
so it's trying to minimize that riskis what we want to try to do
to assist you. But what tomorrowbrings, Like I talked about my crystal
ball earlier, it's broken, andso what's going to happen in the next
(34:36):
six months we don't know, butwe can base it on what we've known
in the past, and what wecan see, especially in the timeframe that
we've owned real estate or that we'vebeen in real estate, is over the
past almost thirty years, real estate, especially in Southeast Texas, has just
gone up and up and up.I remember years ago, Ken and I
said, you know, one daywe might want to own a property in
(34:59):
the hill country, but we're goingto wait for it to go down.
We're gonna wait till twenty twenty onefor it to go down. And let
me just say, not only hasit not gone down, it is it's
exploded. And so in a lotof markets, that's what is happening,
and what continues to happen, isthat real estate continues to go up.
(35:21):
Even here. You know, Iremember and you remember when we first started
new construction properties, where new constructionhomes were less than one hundred dollars a
square foot. Now you're doing nineeight, yeah, ninety eight dollars,
ninety five to ninety eight dollars squarefoot. Now they're two hundred dollars a
square foot. Houses that you couldbuy for eighty thousand dollars or now over
two hundred thousand dollars. So whenwe say investing in real estate, you've
(35:45):
got to look at the whole picture, and a lot of times it's a
long term play. It's not ashort term. And some of those mistakes
that you're probably talking about are thosethat were sometimes flips. Right. Well,
I think that's a lot of thingsreally, So for me personally,
just picking the right lender is soimportant. It is. Yeah. The
(36:08):
first time we did this kind ofis a is a multi families. We
bought eleven properties in one year.We used a big, huge bank and
which was okay because the market wasfine. But then at the end when
the markets not so fine, theycall in all your notes. Yeah,
(36:29):
and there's no conversation about it.It's just here. It is, it's
due. There's the key that Davidtalked about, having that relationship with your
banker. Having a relationship with someonehere locally makes the difference. And we
talk about it on just a residentialif you're purchasing the difference between, you
know, using a big name personwho you never meet them or know them,
(36:51):
they're living out of the state andgiving you a loan versus using someone
here who's local that you can connectwith on a face to face basis right,
and they know what our market istoo, right. I Mean we
talk about the real estate side ofit, but they know what's happening with
economics and all that other stuff too. So choosing the right bank is important
also for me personally, set someboundaries for yourself, because when you go
(37:15):
into this you're gung ho, You'reall in. You're like, how many
properties can I buy? It makesyou make bad decisions on locations because that's
the one thing you cannot ever changeis location, right, And for me,
I see potential in every single houseI've ever walked into my whole entire
life, which is a lot ofthem. Yeah, so just seeing potential
(37:37):
in it doesn't make it a goodinvestment for you. So you really have
to set those boundaries, like howmany can I really afford per year?
Or if if I have to replacethis roof in five years, what's that
going to look like? For otherproperties? And it may mean I have
to step back from something that couldbe a good investment potential just because it's
not in a good fit for meright now. Yeah, Slow and steady
(38:00):
wins the race, and that's oneof the things that you know, not
buying you know, a ten inone year, which which some people do
and they do very well, butit's more of a challenge whenever you do
it that way. Um. Acouple of things that you and I've done,
We've done flips, yes, whichthat's my favorite, and that sometimes
is a little bit of a riskbecause it depends on which sometimes even after
(38:20):
an inspection, there are things thatcome up. There's always things that come
that you didn't see and that noone could see, honestly, and so
you've got to have that contingency thereto make sure that in the midst of
that you're not going to end upin the hole or you have a freeze
or a hurricane or that's right,all those things that happening. Yeah.
Uh. The other the other typeof investment that you and I both have
(38:42):
done is just a long term rental. Yes, So that is a more
of a long term play, andit's not making a fortune every single month.
It's planning on it, Like forme, I'm planning on it being
my retirement one day, right,So when people are paying every month,
it's building equity, but it's alsobuilding equity through the prices going up,
right, And there's tax advantages toit as well, right, I want
(39:06):
to talk to your CPA about there'sa lot of things out there that people
don't realize can deduct you know,from your tax taxes at the end of
the year that can also be ofhelp. Yes. The other thing that
you and I both have done isan airbnb. Yeah, that's my favorite.
Two. Yeah, so I gota lot of favorite I really like
that. I mean it's a lotof fun because you interact with people who
(39:29):
are not from our area. Right, But it's understanding all the things that
go with that. Yes, forme, the boundary with that, we
only have one right now because whatI wanted to do. Part of my
goal for that was I have twolittle girls, as I said before,
but their job is to help uscleaning, right, So we are the
cleaning crew after everyone. They makethirty dollars if they clean from start to
(39:53):
finish and help us. And it'sa way for them to make money because
I'm not buying lululum and pants.I'm not going to do it. So
you've got to make your own money. Something'll teach us responsibility, great responsibility
that with wanting those things and beingable to earn those things. It takes
a little bit of work to dothat. So that was one of the
(40:14):
reasons that we chose to do anairbnb. And they have respect for other
people's homes, right, they gointo them. The other thing that you
and I love about that too,is it really benefits our clients. Yes.
I mean, how many times havewe had a customer who was either
um needing to start work immediately,families still trying to sell their house somewhere
(40:35):
else, they've relocated to the area, they need something short term they don't
want to be in a hotel,or they couldn't close on time or write
something happened and it gives us theopportunity. Yeah, Or you have one
that just stayed in yours because theseller couldn't be out of their house in
time, and so that buyer wasable to stay in your airbnb because they
(40:57):
they had sold their house and we'rerelocating here. Yeah. And depending on
which site you use, it's veryuser friendly. I mean they have it
down, you know the schedule,you can communicate with people without giving your
cell phone a lot safer, theyhave insurance. I mean I found it
to be really great. Yeah,I've We've enjoyed it a lot. And
(41:17):
while there are risks that come withit. I've had one that the uh
there was a little bit of damagethat was done to it, and in
the website there are ways to fileon that, but it's not easy.
It's just like anytime you file onany kind of insurance, it can be
a little challenging. So it's aboutweighing the risk and the reward. And
(41:39):
just like Katie said, do youhave the time needed to be able to
do that? And so we couldspend an entire show talking on this,
and if you do, we talkabout it every day. But if you
are thinking, you know, I'dlike more information about that, please give
us a call four nine eight sixsix eight three two six and we can
set an appointment to sit down andvisit with you about that. But I
(42:01):
just want to say thank you toDavid Lejune who called in while he's on
vacation with First Financial Bank to kindof give us some information about that.
Thank you to Katie Martin who shareda little bit about her personal experience and
investing. Thank you to Terry Potterand Gary Smallfeldt for visiting with us about
the Beaumont Wine Classic that is comingAugust twenty fifth, six thirty to ten
(42:23):
at the event Center, and weappreciate you joining us today. Listen next
week. We'll be right here onko v I five sixty am at noon.
This is Dana Simmons with the DanaSimmons Show. See you next week.
Hey, everybody, it's your board. Gary la Vox of Rascal Flats Beaumont.
I made a lot of friends thereon the road. And one are
my friends that you need to meet, especially if you're selling your home,
is Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty. Her team is the real deal,
top shelf, next level, andshe makes it so easy, and I
like easy, and remember, sellyour home now, don't hesitate Simmons real
(00:29):
Estate. Well, hello, SoutheastTexas. I hope you're enjoying this wonderful,
beautiful, little bit warm day outthere. We certainly are here and
we have an exciting show for youtoday. We are going to be talking
about investing in real estate. Haveyou ever thought about investing in real estate?
(00:49):
One of the posts we had thisweek is that ninety percent of those
who are millionaires have invested in realestate. Real estate is a very good
investment, but you need to makea wise investment. So we're going to
talk through what that looks like andwhat are some of the steps you might
take if you wanted to do that. We also have on our show.
We have Gary small Felt and TerryPotter. They're here not only with the
(01:14):
Chamber, but Terry is with AmericanAir, Gary is with hib We are
going to be talking about the BeaumontWine Classic, So that's something you're not
gonna want to miss. In oneof our future segments, they're going to
talk about what is going on,where is it, and why you need
to be there, So tune inin the next few segments, we're going
to visit about that. And youknow how we always start the show is
(01:37):
how's the market. Well, I'mgoing to tell you the market is picking
up. The first quarter of ourreal estate market was a little bit bleak,
it was challenging, things were slower. Our inventory did start to go
up though, so that was ahuge positive note for all of us because
you know, it had been fora long time a very challenging inventory where
(01:59):
people were not able to find propertiesthat they needed or that they were looking
for in their price range. Soat this point we do have a wonderful
inventory if you're thinking about buying,and we are starting to see those buyers
out there deciding that now is thetime. You know, the Fed has
talked about about a month ago thatthey put on hold raising any interest rates.
(02:23):
So the thing that we think maybe coming in the next several months.
Is the possibility of those routes potentially, you know, I don't have
that crystal ball wish I did,but potentially going up here in the next
few months. So if you're thinking, you know, I think real estate
is a great investment, I thinkI want to get out of this apartment
(02:44):
or this rental I'm in and Iwant to purchase my own home. Now
is a great time because we dohave quite a bit of property out there.
We also have many of our sellersoffering incentives, a couple of our
builders offering incentives to allow you tobuy down that rate that gets you in
(03:05):
a much better position to be ableto have that monthly note closer to where
you want it with a property thatyou're looking for. So the bottom line
is you need to visit with areal estate agent and a lender to see
exactly what it looks like for youpersonally. Right now is at the right
time. We can't say without lookingat your situation. Our office is open,
(03:29):
you know, I tell you everyweek eight to eight Monday through Saturday,
one to eight on Sunday, youcan call even on the holiday.
We still have someone available to answerthose calls for you, and that number
is four O nine eight six sixeight three two six, which if you
don't have a pen and you can'tremember, just remember four O nine eight
(03:49):
six six Team. Because we area team brokerage. We're all working together
to make sure that we accomplish whatyou need for your goals. That you
have not only your goals, thosedreams of what you want to do and
what you're seeing for you in thefuture. So give us a call or
go to our website which is DanaSimmons real Estate dot com or if you
(04:09):
want to shorten that ds dot com. And we want to be able to
help you look into what is bestfor you. We want to guide you
through that process to help you makea wise decision. On the show today,
I have Katie Martin who is alisting agent for our team. And
so Katie, tell everyone. Iknow people have heard you before, but
(04:30):
you know there might be some whodon't know who you are is over here.
You've been doing this quite a while, so a lot of people know
your name, but those who haven'theard about you, tell them a little
bit about who you are. Yes, So I'm Katie Martin and I am
actually the listing agent for Dana Simmonsreal Estate, and the listing agent is
the one that puts everyone's homes onthe market. So we have our own
little team that we that's our numberone goal. So I'm married to a
(04:57):
wonderful husband of seventeen years, andwe did not get married when we were
twelve. You've been doing it,but it seems like you started real estate
when you were twelve, because I'vebeen doing this for almost twenty five years.
Twenty this August will be twenty fouryears completed. So yes, I
start when I was eighteen. Maybeeveryone shouldn't have trusted me at that point,
(05:19):
but now I have a lot ofexperience, exactly right. Yeah,
and I have two sweet girls,well mostly sweet girls. One is then
about to be a teenager in nextmonth, so just pray for our family.
Then they're done that and it comesout great. On the other side,
(05:39):
I'll just tell you it's a littlechallenge in between. Yes it is,
but they're great girls and I lovethem dearly. So and your husband
is yes, um, Robert Martinwith R. D. Martin Electric a
little plug in there, so ifyou need an electrician, they're a great
source of information and they do greatjob. We've used them. I actually
(06:01):
used them for years before Katie andI started working together. So his dad
started the company and Robert started ridingaround with him when he was twelve years
old and he got paid in GreatChina. Yeah, so he just worked
all day, eat lunch to eat. I think he probably could eat quite
a bit. Yeah. So alsowith us as Terry Potter, and Terry
(06:23):
is with American Air. But AmericanAir is your day job. You also
have volunteer for a lot of otherthings. So Terry, just talk a
little bit about all that you do. Okay, Well, first of all,
thanks for having me. And likeshe said, I am with American
Air Systems and American Air Systems hasbeen in business for forty years. We
(06:44):
are HVAC homestand by generators and wejust recently added a plumbing division. So
right now, as you can imagine, we're super busy, but we're here
to take care of Southeast Texas.So Lee and I have been married for
seven years, together for ten,so not very long. We just had
our first grand baby, so we'reextremely happy and he's a doll. So
(07:10):
we're expecting to have a couple ofmore. The other ones need to get
busy. That's what we keep tellingthem. When you said expecting a couple
of more, I thought maybe someonewas already, you know, pregnant or
something. No, No, you'rejust preparing way ahead. Yeah. Yeah,
they say they're trying. Oh okay, they're just not trying hard enough.
Well that's exciting though, Yeah,it is. It is. And
(07:31):
one of the other things that isexciting you guys, actually, American Air
also opened a new location not thatlong ago. Yes, we have a
location now in Lumberton, so Decemberfirst, and we're picking up business there
and Lumberton is exploding growing, yes, and so yeah, we're really excited.
(07:55):
Yeah. And the other thing thatyou do is that not only do
you work in American Air Systems,but you guys also have a program that
we're going to try to talk aboutat the very end. Talk just briefly
about that program that you have going. Yes, it's our community awareness program.
We started it five years ago.It was just something that Lee and
(08:15):
I created to give back to thisarea because they've been so good to us
for forty years. And we giveaway a complete HVAC system and we have
a committee of community leaders who theseare the guys and gals that review all
the nominations and sometimes there's over ahundred, so these guys are the ones
(08:39):
that choose the recipient of the system. So it's really great. We look
forward to it. And since thisyear is our five years, we're doing
something a little different. We're choosinga veteran, right, And so if
someone knows a veteran who's in needof a new air system, how would
(09:01):
they go about making application for that? Well, you can go to the
website and you'll see the veteran iconand you can do it that way.
You can nominate online, or youcan call our office four oh nine eight
four two twenty four zero two andanybody in the office they'll walk you through
the process. You can certainly comeinto the office on College our Lumberton and
(09:24):
be happy to help you walk throughthe application. Good. And I know
one of the keys of that isto make sure that those people who will
be reviewing it know the story.Yes, so when you nominate that person,
make sure that you're telling the storyabout why they should receive that air
conditioning system. That's very important.Yeah. Good. So also with this
(09:48):
is Gary Smallfeld and he's with HIBand we've all been going, Oh,
we love HB. So Gary,tell us how you got to southeast Texas,
because in the beginning we were talkingabout the fact that you're originally from
Kenosha, Wisconsin. That's correct.I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
I was working for a guy wholived on our street and he made the
(10:13):
trip to Texas and he moved tothe Woodlands. And he called me up
one February day and it was probablyabout seven below blistery coal yeah as wind
blowing, and he said, Gary, and needs some help because I worked
for him previously, and initially Ithought I would come down and probably spend
the summer, maybe a couple ofmonths. Well, the place that he
(10:37):
moved to was the Woodlands, andso I moved from Kenosha seven below factory
town at that time, into theWoodlands. And I was just in love.
I mean, in three days wewere on Lake Conro fishing. Wow.
And I after right then I washooked. Yeah. So you weren't
born a Texan, but you gothere as quick as you could. Yeah.
(11:01):
And so now now you manage thelocal HIB here in Beaumont, right,
Yeah, HIB has been so goodto me. I really don't deserve
the treatment that I get over there. It's fantastic. I've run about five
stores for HB down in Angleton,clear Lake, Pasadena. I opened the
Baytown store when I was brand newand now over to the third highest volume
(11:26):
store in the in the Houston division. Yeah, and you were talking about
maybe some some potential renovations coming inin a year or two. Yeah.
I really appreciate everybody being patient withus. UM. The store was built
in six September of O six anduh we um. There's new refrigeration guidelines
(11:48):
that the company the country is expectingand UM in twenty twenty five. So
we didn't make it the twenty twentyfour cut, but we did make the
twenty twenty five cut, and you'regonna see some really amazing things happen in
that store. We're gonna move thefrozen food to the front. Most folks
like to shop their frozen food last. Yeah, so it stays nice and
cold. We're going to open upthe wine department, open up the fresh
(12:11):
side quite a bit, and sowe're going to do some moving around.
So if you'll be patient with usduring that twenty twenty five split. It's
exciting too though, see new thingshappening, better for things happening. We're
going to do some initial touch upwithin the next several weeks. Actually,
you'll see those old from six thoseblue walls, red walls, green walls
(12:35):
come down to a nice even beautifulshade of gray and a new sign package.
So all that's happening with the nextcouple of weeks. Well, we
love upgrades in our business, soyou know, love that you're upgrading that
store. So we have an excitingshow. You guys have heard just a
little taste of some of the thingsthat we're going to talk about. So
(12:56):
when we come back though, I'mgonna have David L. June is the
small business development Officer at First FinancialBank, and he's going to be talking
about investing investment properties. He doesall different types of small business loans to
help you invest and grow your portfolio. So we're going to talk to David
(13:16):
here shortly, and then we're goingto talk about how you can use that
to invest in real estate as well. And then coming up the Beaumont Wine
classic, You're not gonna want tomiss it. Don't go away, come
right back. Would you need tosell your home. No one makes it
easier than Dana Simmons of Dana SimmonsReally sell your homes Simmons Realestate. Welcome
(13:43):
back. This is Dana Simmons withthe Dana Simmons Show, and we have
so much in this jam packed hour. We have lots to talk to you
about. But before we get intotalking about investing in real estate and what
that looks like if you're an investor, we first want to talk to the
very own mister portinacious, David laJune, who is a small business development
(14:07):
officer at First Financial Bank. Davidor you on the line, Yes,
ma'am, happy, happy July fourthweekend. We're so excited to have you
on the phone. Um, David. And when I thought about doing this,
and I was thinking about the youknow, the topic of investment,
I thought the most important part toget to first is to visit about what
(14:31):
that looks like financially and the optionsthat people can take if they're thinking that's
the way they want to move theirinvestment. So they have a little bit
of capital, they have some money, they're ready to invest, but they
don't want to pay cash for theentire purchase there are some things they want
to do. So David, theycall you, and I know this is
(14:52):
generic and it's going to be veryspecific to every person, but what are
some of the options that you gothrough with them on if they're thinking about
making real estate part of their portfolio. Yeah, yeah, a great question.
Like first of all, I alwayslove to tell them to go sit
and visit with your commercial lender,Go visit with them at their bank,
(15:16):
or go visit for lunch and bringa few items. So all lenders would
want to see a few years oftax returns. That would be if you
have an LLC a business tax return, or if you follow it just under
your personal name. And then everybodywants and needs to see a personal financial
statement. Sounds like a big term, but all it is is your personal
(15:39):
assets, your assets versus liabilities.If they come to my office, we
fill it out in five minutes andthen that gives them a gives the lender
a great start on where to startwith and what's your short term and long
term goal. And then there's allkinds of options out there. One of
my favorite options for a commercial realestate person or somebody that's trying to get
(16:03):
into rental Airbnb flips is to setup a revolving line of credit on a
commercial piece of property they are owned. So let's say they own a piece
of property at Avenue A one hundredand it's worth around one hundred thousand dollars
on the market. A commercial lender, if the cash flow is correct and
(16:27):
you show you can support the loan, will lend you eighty percent of that
value. So they will set youup with an eighty thousand dollars line of
credit. Okay. What that doesfor that investor gives them liquid cash of
eighty thousand dollars, so they getit all set up pre Dana finds them
(16:48):
this beautiful, cute little airbn Airbnbhouse in Mid County. They call me
up. I'll tell them they haveavailable eighty thousand dollars in cash. That
could be on a two hundred thousanddollars house. That could be one hundred
and sixty on a DUPLEXI could bethree hundred thousand dollars. But it gives
that investor instinct cash and say,hey, I've got a cash offer for
(17:11):
this cute little Airbnb that I wantto do in Mid County. That's my
favorite way to do it. Yeah, and that is one of the ways
too. I think that's really goodon flip. So if you've got that
line of credit, it allows youto purchase that flip, do the remodel,
and then once you sell that flip, it gives you the opportunity to
(17:33):
pay that credit line of credit offand then there it is again right there
for you to be able to utilizeit anyway that you need it. But
I think what you said, David, as you were talking through this is
come sit down in my office andtalk to me. I think that is
key. And one of the thingsabout First Financial that they have is they
do have commercial lenders all over SoutheastTexas in different offices. You have an
(17:57):
office actually your office is in MidCounty. Then there's an office in Beaumont,
there's an office in Lumberton, there'san office invider in Mauriceville. I
mean anywhere in Southeast Texas there's alocal First Financial bank with a local commercial
lender there to sit and visit becauseat that point you can talk through all
(18:18):
those things and help them personally.It's kind of like what we do to
see is it right for you oris it not right for you? Yes,
and it just then you have thatrelationship and then not. Let's say
you have a relator and you havea banker that you can throw some things
around too, and go, youknow, does it work well? Check
(18:38):
with Dana is the market is itlook like a goodbye? Go back with
David. Let's look at the interestrates. And people today are scared of
these interistrates. I tell them,if it's the right purchase in the right
location and the cash flow fits,we can always refinance that rental property two
(18:59):
years down the road. It seeksmonths down the road when the rates change.
I absolutely agree that that's exactly right. You got to look at is
it the right fit? And honestly, you are seeing some of those deals
right now. There are some opportunitiesout there to be able to do that
purchase even if it's a little bitof a higher interest rate, because the
cash flow does still work. Andwhat you said, David is critical when
(19:22):
you talk about relationship. It's buildingthat relationship with your lender and with your
real estate agent that you can trustboth sides that they're not just trying to
sell you, but they're trying tolook at is this going to work for
you or not? Now? Ialways look at it as a long term
partnership. Right, you know,some people come to me, we get
(19:42):
pre approved, we have a twohundred thousand dollars line of credit, we
have whatever. We might not makea deal for two years, right,
it just might not work out.We communicate, we talk all the time,
and then when it happens, it'susually the right one. It makes
everybody feels warm and fuzzy about it. Yeah, and so David, if
someone is wanting to get in touchwith you and visit with you about options
(20:06):
and opportunities, and really, youdon't just do real estate investing. You
do all kinds of investments for forpeople who are looking to invest in different
things. So how would they getin touch with you? I tell everybody
you know at First Financial Bank,our cell phone is the connection, because
you know, I'm at the lakeright now and join this beautiful weather.
(20:29):
But I've talked to two clients thismorning. I mean you you just never
know. And we we put ourbusiness too. We love small business owners,
We love little individuals that are gettingout into it. So it's a
cell phone. My cell phone isfour zero nine seven one nine eight three
eight five. I always tell themlead me a text, leave me a
(20:52):
message. I usually call back withinten minutes. Well, David, thank
you so much. I appreciate thatyou said I When I ask you about
doing this today, you were like, well, I'm going to be out
of town, but let me callin. I want to be a part.
And that is that attitude that Ilove. That you always are wanting
to help people, and even whenyou're out of town, even when you're
on vacation, you're still engaged andready to jump up and assist. So
(21:18):
thank you so much, and Ihope you have a great rest of your
holiday. And if anyone needs moreinformation about David and his cell phone,
we have that as well, sowe're happy to pass that along to you
if you missed it whenever he wason the air. So thank you,
David, appreciate you. Hey,thank you. You'll have a great Fourth
of July, and buy a housefrom Dana. She's the best. Thank
(21:40):
you so much. Well, alsowith me is Katie Martin. And in
our next segment, or I'll tellyou what in our last segment, because
in our next segment, we're goingto talk a little bit about the Beaumont
Wine Classic and what's going on withthat, and then after that we're going
to get into talking about we havenot only assisted people buying that investment property,
but Katie and I are both realestate investors. We're not trying to
(22:04):
sell you on something we don't absolutelybelieve in and personally have a stake in.
So we want to have you callin with any questions that you may
have about if you should get intothis and what that takes. We're also
super excited if you want to justsit down and have a conversation. I
had someone at the chamber last weeksay, Hey, I think I do
(22:25):
want to get into this. Canwe can we have coffee and just kind
of talk through what that looks like. And I'm like, absolutely. If
it's not right for you, Idon't want you to do it. If
it is, it's a great wayto build wealth. So when we come
back, though, we're going totalk Beaumont Wine Classic with Gary and Terry.
So don't go away. This isthe Dana Simmons Show. Would you
need to sell your home? Noone makes it easier than Dana Simmons of
(22:48):
Danas Simmons Really sell your home.Don't hesitate Simmons Real Estate Welcome back.
This is Dana Simmons with the DanaSimmons Show, and we have an exciting
show today. We just we're ableto visit with David Lejune, who is
the small Business Development officer over atFirst Financial Bank, talking about investing in
(23:14):
real estate, and he is acommercial lender there in the Mid County branch
at First Financial Bank, and hewas saying, come in, sit talk
to me. Let's see if it'sright for you and how we can work
things out. And so if you'rethinking about that, that's your first step.
Get with a commercial lender. Letthem look at your situation and see
if investing in real estate on aninvestment side is good for you. And
(23:37):
here a little bit, Katie Martinand I are going to be talking about
how we got into doing that andsome of the tips and tricks maybe that
we can share with you. Butfirst we want to make sure we talk
with Terry Potter and Gary Smallfeldt.They are here going to share with you
a little bit about the Greater BeaumontChamber of Commerce Wine Classic. We are
super excited about that. Terry,tell everyone a little bit about what is
(24:02):
the Beaumont Wine Classic. Well,it is just another great event created by
the Greater Beaumont Chamber and it isthe first annual Wine Classic, and that
This is going to take place onAugust twenty fifth at the Event Center Downtown.
Doors open at six thirty and I'mgonna let Gary talk about all the
(24:26):
wine details. But UM tickets areseventy five dollars for individual tickets. You
can get a table for eight hundredfor a table of eight. Um.
Some fun aspects. There will bea costume contest. Already bought my costume,
Dana. Yep, so it's theRoaring Twenties. She did not tell
(24:48):
me about this and she signed meup first. Yeah, sabotage. Yes,
you got to get a costume now, okay. So yeah, So
the theme of the night is RoaringTwenties. Jimmy Simmons and Friends will be
entertainment. And if you've never heardhim, it's going to be such a
treat. He's wonderful. What else, Oh, we're gonna have two local
(25:11):
chifts of going to join us thatnight. They've got a menu prepared that
is off the chart. We haveJosh Moore with Crave Moore and we have
Ray Gross from the Beaumont country club. So it's gonna be a fun night.
It's very reasonable. It's gonna bea lot of fun. Yeah.
(25:33):
Yeah, And I think Ray isactually from the Texas Star Bar and Grill.
Yes, he is. That isthe name of their restaurant. Yeah,
Texas Star Bar and Grill. I'vehad his food there before, and
let me say it's delicious. Hedoes a great job. I've never I've
never had any of Josh's but listen, I'm super excited about him. I've
heard lots of great things. Sonot only delicious wine, but some delicious
(25:57):
food prepared by wonderful chefs. JimmySimmons and his friends playing in the background,
and then a costume contest. Thenwe have delicious wine. So Gary,
talk a little bit about what theplan is on the wine side of
things. Sure. The event isgoing to take place on August twenty five.
(26:18):
August twenty five at the event Center, and hib is the number one
wine retailer in the state of Texas. Wow. Yeah, it's a really
kind of an amazing fact since consideringwhere a grocery store. Yeah, at
the event that night, there willbe over two hundred people, two hundred
guests. We'll have fifteen tables setup around the edge. Each of these
(26:41):
tables has several samples to choose fromand one hundred twenty five different wines is
what we're tentatively scheduling for folks totry. Another really really fun event that
we're going to put on. It'scalled the Court draw where you can put
(27:02):
your name in for the drawing andyou pull out a cork and whatever number
is on that cork, you getthat bottle of wine. And so we're
going to do another hundred bottles likethat. That's awesome. Yeah, it
would be a really really fun event. I know when Steve at the Chamber
approached me on it, he tookme to lunch and started laying it out
(27:22):
and I was just thrilled to bea part of it. Yeah, I
love that too. I love thatwe're the inaugural Wine Classic. You can
beat you two can be a partof that. We have had so much
activity on that, so many peoplewanting to be a part. So if
that sounds like something you're interested inagain, Friday, August twenty fifth,
(27:42):
it's six thirty to ten pm atthe Event Center. I mean, that's
a beautiful location. It's a greatnight out. It's you don't have to
dress up. Okay, Katie,you don't have to dress up, but
there will be a costume contest andit's a Roaring twenties. So I'm gonna
tell you I'm typically not the dressup kind, but I'm all in on
(28:06):
this, so I'm excited. I'mgoing to be in my Roaring twenties.
I even got the shoes to gowith it, so I'm you know,
Amazon can be your friends sometimes ifyou need to find something that you don't
know where to find it. SoI hope that you guys will join us.
And I want to make sure haveI missed anything? Terry? Do
you want to talk about some ofthe people that are sponsoring it? Yes,
(28:27):
I was gonna add that events likethis, of course without sponsors,
it wouldn't be possible. And soI do want to give Dana Simmons a
shout out. They are our presentingsponsor. We really appreciate that. And
Gary HB is our wine sponsor,and we had G and G Enterprise is
(28:48):
they sponsored the wine bag, sowhen you arrive the night of, you'll
get your commemorative wine glass and yourwine bag. So yeah, all the
things and you know, we justsay our sponsors so much again, it
just wouldn't be possible. And soyou're you're going to take away some some
nice gifts, so it's not onlycoming and enjoying the event, but you'll
(29:11):
have a wine bag and some wineglasses. And I haven't told my mom
yet about this thing, but she'sgonna be so excited. She is our
wine connoisseur of the family. Soit's there a way to sign up beforehand
or just come come at the door. Yes, um, well, I
really feel like there will be notickets and tables left, so be on
the safe side. I'd call thechamber to reserve your table and your tickets
(29:36):
and that numbers four oh nine eightthree eight six, five eight one.
And as for Mike Simpson, hecan hook you up and get what you
need. I think you Mike,can you go online as well? And
I'm to go online. They wereworking on that and that should be complete.
Yeah, so you can go onlineand um and do that. But
Mike's happy to talk to you who'llexplain all about about it as well.
(30:00):
He's a great source of information andresources. So if you have any questions
about that, you can call TerryTerry is at American Air Services, or
you can call my office, oryou can call the chamber, and we're
happy to give you more information aboutthat if you like. So thank you
guys for being here to talk aboutthat and kind of give us a heads
(30:22):
up as to what's going on.Anything else we need to add that I'm
missing about this event. Just said. Hib is very excited to partner with
Dana Simmons Dana Simmons Reality, sowe're excited that you let us be a
part of it. Of course,we're gonna have some of our favorite wines
there. There's a Fasio cake,Bread's chamiss Our, number one selling wine
(30:45):
in the store. There's a Bogela down a Napa belly quilt that I
think folks will really enjoy. Ilove the idea that we get to taste
them. You know. While mymom is really good and knows everything about
wine, so I usually call herand Camus is one one that she mentions
often. But this isn't a greatopportunity to be able to go and say,
(31:07):
hey, I want to I wantto try a few to see if
I like it or not. Sowhat a great event if you want to
try it, you know, justsee if it's something that you would enjoy
or not. And a phenomenal networkingopportunity. Yeah, don't forget that.
I think that's one of the thingsthat the Chamber does so well is that
it does give us opportunity to interactwith other business owners at when we may
(31:32):
not otherwise. So come relax,enjoy, have a great time, and
network. Thanks for bringing that up. Gary. When we come back,
we're going to talk more about investingin real estate. So if you have
a question, give us a callKatie, and I'd love to answer it
for you. Four zero nine eightnine six five five eight four is the
telephone number you can call here forKovi I. So don't go away,
(31:56):
We're going to come right back.This is the Dana Simmons Show. Would
you need to sell your home?No one makes it easier than Dana Simmons
of Dana Simmons Really sell your home, Go Hesitate Simmons Realistate. Welcome back.
This is Dana Simmons and I amjoined today by Katie Martin, who
(32:21):
is the listing really the listing agent, the listing agent for Dana Simmons real
Estate. And so she and Iare here to talk a little bit about
investing in real estate, though that'sthe top of a topic of conversation.
We've had David Lejune, who isa commercial lender with First Financial Bank,
talking a little bit about how toget started in that. But also with
(32:42):
this was Gary Smallfelt and Terry Potter, who have given us a little insight
into the very first the Beaumont WineClassic that's going to be Friday, August
twenty five. It's an event youare not gonna want to mess and our
team as well as h B andG and G Construction have all agreed to
sponsor that, and we're super excitedand looking forward to seeing our community out
(33:06):
there. And if you have anyquestions about that, you're welcome to call
the Chamber and they can get youconnected, or you can call my office
and I can do the same.So but before we finish out our time
today, we have a little bitmore time to talk about investing in real
estate. If you have a questionand you want us to answer it,
call four O nine eight nine tosix five five eight four, and Katie
(33:27):
and I are going to do ourbest to do that. So we talked
a little bit earlier with David leJune, and he kind of gave us
insight into how to get started.Sit down and talk to your commercial lender,
come up with a plan on howyou would finance that property, and
then get connected with your real estateagent. And so Katie, you and
I both have done that in thepast, and let's talk a little bit
(33:52):
about how did you first get startedin investing in real estate? Well,
I feel like my contribution to thisconversation is going to be what not to
do? Okay, well, becauseI mean, there are times that it's
there are mistakes made, and sothis is what a seasoned investor is.
That's someone who has made mistakes andso talking to a real estate agent who's
(34:14):
done that and understand some of thepitfalls so that it doesn't happen. While
that's another key point though, isthat every investment has some risk, and
so it's trying to minimize that riskis what we want to try to do
to assist you. But what tomorrowbrings, Like I talked about my crystal
ball earlier, it's broken, andso what's going to happen in the next
(34:36):
six months we don't know, butwe can base it on what we've known
in the past, and what wecan see, especially in the timeframe that
we've owned real estate or that we'vebeen in real estate, is over the
past almost thirty years, real estate, especially in Southeast Texas, has just
gone up and up and up.I remember years ago, Ken and I
said, you know, one daywe might want to own a property in
(34:59):
the hill country, but we're goingto wait for it to go down.
We're gonna wait till twenty twenty onefor it to go down. And let
me just say, not only hasit not gone down, it is it's
exploded. And so in a lotof markets, that's what is happening,
and what continues to happen, isthat real estate continues to go up.
(35:21):
Even here. You know, Iremember and you remember when we first started
new construction properties, where new constructionhomes were less than one hundred dollars a
square foot. Now you're doing nineeight, yeah, ninety eight dollars,
ninety five to ninety eight dollars squarefoot. Now they're two hundred dollars a
square foot. Houses that you couldbuy for eighty thousand dollars or now over
two hundred thousand dollars. So whenwe say investing in real estate, you've
(35:45):
got to look at the whole picture, and a lot of times it's a
long term play. It's not ashort term. And some of those mistakes
that you're probably talking about are thosethat were sometimes flips. Right. Well,
I think that's a lot of thingsreally, So for me personally,
just picking the right lender is soimportant. It is. Yeah. The
(36:08):
first time we did this kind ofis a is a multi families. We
bought eleven properties in one year.We used a big, huge bank and
which was okay because the market wasfine. But then at the end when
the markets not so fine, theycall in all your notes. Yeah,
(36:29):
and there's no conversation about it.It's just here. It is, it's
due. There's the key that Davidtalked about, having that relationship with your
banker. Having a relationship with someonehere locally makes the difference. And we
talk about it on just a residentialif you're purchasing the difference between, you
know, using a big name personwho you never meet them or know them,
(36:51):
they're living out of the state andgiving you a loan versus using someone
here who's local that you can connectwith on a face to face basis right,
and they know what our market istoo, right. I Mean we
talk about the real estate side ofit, but they know what's happening with
economics and all that other stuff too. So choosing the right bank is important
also for me personally, set someboundaries for yourself, because when you go
(37:15):
into this you're gung ho, You'reall in. You're like, how many
properties can I buy? It makesyou make bad decisions on locations because that's
the one thing you cannot ever changeis location, right, And for me,
I see potential in every single houseI've ever walked into my whole entire
life, which is a lot ofthem. Yeah, so just seeing potential
(37:37):
in it doesn't make it a goodinvestment for you. So you really have
to set those boundaries, like howmany can I really afford per year?
Or if if I have to replacethis roof in five years, what's that
going to look like? For otherproperties? And it may mean I have
to step back from something that couldbe a good investment potential just because it's
not in a good fit for meright now. Yeah, Slow and steady
(38:00):
wins the race, and that's oneof the things that you know, not
buying you know, a ten inone year, which which some people do
and they do very well, butit's more of a challenge whenever you do
it that way. Um. Acouple of things that you and I've done,
We've done flips, yes, whichthat's my favorite, and that sometimes
is a little bit of a riskbecause it depends on which sometimes even after
(38:20):
an inspection, there are things thatcome up. There's always things that come
that you didn't see and that noone could see, honestly, and so
you've got to have that contingency thereto make sure that in the midst of
that you're not going to end upin the hole or you have a freeze
or a hurricane or that's right,all those things that happening. Yeah.
Uh. The other the other typeof investment that you and I both have
(38:42):
done is just a long term rental. Yes, So that is a more
of a long term play, andit's not making a fortune every single month.
It's planning on it, Like forme, I'm planning on it being
my retirement one day, right,So when people are paying every month,
it's building equity, but it's alsobuilding equity through the prices going up,
right, And there's tax advantages toit as well, right, I want
(39:06):
to talk to your CPA about there'sa lot of things out there that people
don't realize can deduct you know,from your tax taxes at the end of
the year that can also be ofhelp. Yes. The other thing that
you and I both have done isan airbnb. Yeah, that's my favorite.
Two. Yeah, so I gota lot of favorite I really like
that. I mean it's a lotof fun because you interact with people who
(39:29):
are not from our area. Right, But it's understanding all the things that
go with that. Yes, forme, the boundary with that, we
only have one right now because whatI wanted to do. Part of my
goal for that was I have twolittle girls, as I said before,
but their job is to help uscleaning, right, So we are the
cleaning crew after everyone. They makethirty dollars if they clean from start to
(39:53):
finish and help us. And it'sa way for them to make money because
I'm not buying lululum and pants.I'm not going to do it. So
you've got to make your own money. Something'll teach us responsibility, great responsibility
that with wanting those things and beingable to earn those things. It takes
a little bit of work to dothat. So that was one of the
(40:14):
reasons that we chose to do anairbnb. And they have respect for other
people's homes, right, they gointo them. The other thing that you
and I love about that too,is it really benefits our clients. Yes.
I mean, how many times havewe had a customer who was either
um needing to start work immediately,families still trying to sell their house somewhere
(40:35):
else, they've relocated to the area, they need something short term they don't
want to be in a hotel,or they couldn't close on time or write
something happened and it gives us theopportunity. Yeah, Or you have one
that just stayed in yours because theseller couldn't be out of their house in
time, and so that buyer wasable to stay in your airbnb because they
(40:57):
they had sold their house and we'rerelocating here. Yeah. And depending on
which site you use, it's veryuser friendly. I mean they have it
down, you know the schedule,you can communicate with people without giving your
cell phone a lot safer, theyhave insurance. I mean I found it
to be really great. Yeah,I've We've enjoyed it a lot. And
(41:17):
while there are risks that come withit. I've had one that the uh
there was a little bit of damagethat was done to it, and in
the website there are ways to fileon that, but it's not easy.
It's just like anytime you file onany kind of insurance, it can be
a little challenging. So it's aboutweighing the risk and the reward. And
(41:39):
just like Katie said, do youhave the time needed to be able to
do that? And so we couldspend an entire show talking on this,
and if you do, we talkabout it every day. But if you
are thinking, you know, I'dlike more information about that, please give
us a call four nine eight sixsix eight three two six and we can
set an appointment to sit down andvisit with you about that. But I
(42:01):
just want to say thank you toDavid Lejune who called in while he's on
vacation with First Financial Bank to kindof give us some information about that.
Thank you to Katie Martin who shareda little bit about her personal experience and
investing. Thank you to Terry Potterand Gary Smallfeldt for visiting with us about
the Beaumont Wine Classic that is comingAugust twenty fifth, six thirty to ten
(42:23):
at the event Center, and weappreciate you joining us today. Listen next
week. We'll be right here onko v I five sixty am at noon.
This is Dana Simmons with the DanaSimmons Show. See you next week.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.