E13 From Police Officer to Real Estate Pro: Jason D'Amico's Journey

[0:00] This is the Wealthy Investor Show, where we don’t just talk about your wealth, we also talk about your holistic health. I’m your host, Matias. And I’m Erica. And this is The Wealthy Investor.

[0:15] Welcome back to The Wealthy Investor. This is recorded the day after Father’s Day, and so I just wanted to talk a little bit about being a dad and what the kids did for me this time, and just how rewarding it is to be a parent. If you’re not, I’m sorry if this is hard for you to hear. I know that could be a difficult thing, but it is my reality. We have three kids. We have a seven-year-old, a four-year-old, and an almost two-year-old. Next Sunday, he’ll turn two. So we actually had a little bit of a birthday party for the two-year-old because we’re going to be at a little music festival on his birthday. The only time we missed that music festival was because he was born, which was, you know, it was worth it.

[0:56] It was worth it. But my kids gave me some cards and some gifts. My eldest daughter apparently read all the cards, and she found this one and thought it was really, I mean, it’s really sweet. It just says, to the world, you are a dad, but to your family, you are the world. Super, super sweet. She also gave me a potted plant, which I could not find. Very sweet of her. My middle child was attracted to this card for some reason.

[1:26] Everything’s poop right now. But a poop card may not be the best card for your Father’s Day, but it’s a solid number two. Dad joke and all. But even better, she was attracted to a coffee mug for me. And it is my favorite kind of coffee mug because it’s got a wide base. I like when there’s some sturdiness to my coffee cup because we have dogs and kids that all jump around and knock things over. I’m often on the couch and it can just be a mess. So I do appreciate a good, sturdy coffee cup. Oh, I just sound so old saying that. Oh, my goodness. Oh, yeah. Anyway, so the coffee cup, I think she was attracted to because it’s kind of rainbowy. You can see. But it says low key thriving on it. And I think that is just so me.

[2:15] And so I’m so thankful for that coffee mug. She also gave my dad a bag of mini carrots, baby carrots for Father’s Day. She’s funny. But yeah, being a dad is just it’s great. I mean, I think there’s a stressful a lot of time. It’s very chaotic. I think embracing the chaos is a big theme that you just kind of have to get used to. You just kind of have to push through and just like accept that things won’t be perfect. Accept that things are going to be a mess and, you know, keep cleaning up. Keep keep going. But if you can just roll with it, it makes it a lot easier. I think if you have really high expectations for whether you want your house really clean, whether you want your evenings very peaceful or mornings very peaceful, it’s going to be a bad time.

[3:07] They often wake up, you know, ready for ready for a fight or ready for chaos. And it’s still a beautiful thing. I mean, seeing them grow and learn new things is amazing. Seeing how their personalities are there from very, very young and how they just kind of develop with them and to be being more of who they are. And yeah, just it’s interesting. You know, I think I was reminded somebody was talking about this other day. But, you know, our oldest is seven and it still seems like this just had her. She’s not that old. But in two years, it’s going to be halfway through her being in our household. You know, if she leaves at 18 to go to college or whatever. I mean, we’re almost halfway done with having her in our house.

[3:56] It’s just crazy how fast time flies. And, you know, we in this podcast here with Jason, we get into, you know, living life like it could be your last day, like having a very intentional life. And I think that, you know, family can you can just blink and it can be over with. And so just just a constant reminder, you know, if that’s a gratitude journal, if that’s some sort of habit tracking like I’m doing to kind of focus in on family regularly and making it a priority. It’s just so, so important because you could be so caught up in, you know, how great things will be in the future. If you can just get, you know, more business, you sell more, you get more rentals, you get flip more properties.

[4:37] You’re just going to be able to do everything that you’ve always wanted to do where you could you could be living your life as you go and enjoy the people around you as you go. I mean, we’ve all heard of the tragedies of, you know, kids dying or whatever. I’m not trying to get too dark here, but it’s just good to keep in mind to, you know, appreciate them every moment you can. So I know this isn’t going to come out on Father’s Day, but that’s my little plug for Father’s Day, you know, probably three weeks after it happened. But this guest, we can get into that now. The guest, Jason, is he is currently a realtor in California. He’s been an investor. He was in the police force and he was, you know, decided to get into the real estate world, kind of got into police after college.

[5:28] Before wife and then he got serious. It’s amazing how women can kind of make a man serious. At least that’s what happened to me. And I know that’s a very general statement, so don’t cancel me. But that’s what happened to me, too. And it sounded like this is what happened to Jason. You just kind of start taking life a little bit more seriously. I know Erica, one of her first tasks with me was to make me finish my degree because I walked without actually finishing my degree. I only had a couple credits. I didn’t want to do a whole semester for a couple credits. And, yeah, she got me to finish that, which I don’t use anymore anyway. But, yeah, I think we together are. I’m definitely a better person with my wife.

[6:09] And she motivates me. I think the family motivates me to be my best self. I think that if I was just alone, I don’t know what would happen. Maybe I would have eventually come to that realization that life needed to be seized, if you will, seize the day. At some point, being, you know, just maturing. Maybe after some maturity, I would have gotten to that point. But I think the wife and the family living for more than yourself has a big, big impact to that. So this has been a very family and relationship and kid-oriented intro. But please enjoy Jason. And we will catch you next week on The Wealthy Investor. And we’re back with The Wealthy Investor. We’re here with Jason D’Amico. Jason, you are a realtor and investor, but you didn’t start there.

[7:02] You were a police officer. Is that correct? Yes, that’s correct. All right, cool. What area are you in? San Jose, California. So the Bay Area. Okay. Awesome. I mean, that’s a hot market, I would imagine. Super hot. Yes. Nothing conventional happens here. Nothing kind of national trends you won’t really see here. It’s kind of its own bubble, like Silicon Valley. Yeah. Very competitive, but also really fun to work in. I can imagine that’s also kind of… I mean, do you look at historical trends, data trends, as far as like, how have we fared in other recessions or other times like that, since you just said it follows a different trend? I mean, that could also be a little bit challenging to work through.

[7:46] I mean, to have any kind of certainty going forward. No, as far as sales. Yeah, 100%. I’ve lived in a few different states. So over my real estate journey, I would see things in different states or different regions of the country that when I would keep in touch with my kind of people back here or what was going on, you just wouldn’t see like an even keel. It was more… As opposed to a national market, it was very more micro markets. We definitely have a bit of a… We’ve been a bit more recession-proof here in Virginia, in my area in Virginia, than some other areas. We fared pretty well. But I mean, we definitely still have followed like the overall trend. We know we might just be a little bit above or whatever.

[8:27] So that’s interesting. How long have you been in that area? So born and raised here. Okay. So my whole life. I left for college. I did a little stint in the Midwest. And then my family, we did another about a year and a half in the South. So in Tennessee. Okay. And then we most recently came back for the past about a year or so. So we’ve been around kind of seeing some different places and we’re ultimately here now. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about your journey getting into real estate and like what got you started in law enforcement and then what brought you into real estate. Yeah, absolutely. So kind of going back, like I said, born and raised in California, my dad was a cop, believe it or not.

[9:09] So a second generation, but I didn’t grow up wanting to do that. It wasn’t like I’m three years old. I saw my dad. I wanted to be a cop, like nothing like that. It was just, that’s what he did. And just like, it was kind of like a job, like anything else. And looking back and doing it, something I noticed, and I’ve told him this is he never brought it home. He never brought anything home. Yeah. It was very like, he goes to work, comes home at whatever time. And it was just like, that’s dad. That was it. And then going through, I did just under 12 years as a policeman. And it is a challenging job where if you’re not conscious of that and aware, you can bring it home and not always a great thing, especially with the family.

[9:56] Is that like bringing it home? What do you mean by that? Is that stress? I mean, like I know you could have trauma on the, in the field. I mean, like what’s, what’s that all look like? Yeah, a hundred percent. So a few different things to look at that. So physio, there’s a lot of science on physiological stress on the body and what it does. So if you can imagine just driving around in a car, you’re just driving in a beautiful neighborhood. It’s sunny. You’re pretty stagnant as far as like heart rate and all that kind of stuff. And then you’ll hear something on the radio and then your heart rate and everything will spike. Okay. Like significantly and cortisol and all those hormones will start being released, but you’re just driving.

[10:36] And then you, you go from just this, like, you’re always kind of in a heightened state, like of alertness, but as you’re just driving along, something hits up and boom, you’re here. Now you’re super elevated. You respond to whatever you’re responding to handle that. And then you’ll drop back down. And that can happen like 10, 12 times a day. Oh, that’s really fascinating. So like, I mean, it could be, I would imagine there’s a, no matter what the call is, there’s some sort of response. I mean, like, you know, it doesn’t have to be like an active shooter or something really crazy. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And you’re, you know, you’re trained to, doesn’t matter what you’re going to, anything can switch or turn, you know, a different route extremely quickly.

[11:17] So you’re always going into everything, you know, unfortunately like, okay, what’s the worst thing that can happen here and just being safe and, and all that kind of stuff. That’s interesting. What, just not to get into this too deep, but like what strategies are there to kind of help combat that or to, to deregulate or how, how do you handle? Yeah. So my dad’s day, so he’s like early 1970s cop. There wasn’t a lot, like I said, not a lot of science behind that. It was very like taboo to talk about it, taboo to even like any of that. It was just like, you deal with it, man. And yeah. And that, but that was just the times. Now with like, just with science and like a lot of it kind of comes from like the military and then it kind of trickles down.

[11:58] Hey, what happens to the body now? This kind of things. And how do we combat that? The biggest thing they gave us was fitness was, was something that can help flush out, you know, cause you’ll, you’ll, you’ll, like I said, your heart rate will spike. All these hormones will dump into your bloodstream. And the best way to kind of scrub that out or get rid of it was exercise. So they went after the shift or ideally. Ideally that doesn’t like always happen. So just kind of period. So like, like I would, I was always a before shift kind of guy. Cause you can’t really count on, count on that. But if ideally in a perfect, perfect world, yes. Like 20 minutes after you’re done before you go home to kind of flush out the system.

[12:42] And, and that was something that can kind of, because if you think if here’s baseline and you’re here most of the day to get back, like, it takes a while to get back down. And sometimes it can take a couple of days to even re-regulate and then you’re going back. So yeah, fitness was the biggest thing they pushed on us. That makes complete sense to me. I, I, you know, just being in a real state, like I can have stressful days, of course. I mean, we, we can be, you know, going crazy in a day and definitely my favorite time to work out would be kind of the way to end my day. Cause I feel like I come home, I’m with my kids. I’m like, I’m just, yeah, regulated. I’m, I’m back to kind of like a really good level.

[13:21] And so that’s, I know I’m not facing the same kind of situations in real estate. No, but I, I mean, yeah, I do it. It is a, I mean, everything I’ve heard, like you’re a therapist, you’re a life coach, you’re a financial planner, like all that kind of stuff is the truest thing ever. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s, yeah, that’s true. And, but it’s, it’s a great, it’s such a great strategy. I mean, I think I have a ton of like, I think, I think we just need exercise, right? We need like to put ourselves through some sort of hardship. I think we need our, like to, you know, push our bodies, right? Cause if everything is designed to make things easier, you know, like we want a more comfortable car. We want a car that we want a garage so we don’t have to get into heat or the snow, you know, in between walking to our house, that’s climate controlled to the car.

[14:05] So, I mean, I feel like cold exposure, saunas, hard exercise are all things that like we try to avoid in our society, but it’s really what makes our brains right. It makes our mental health right. 100%. So now let’s get into real estate. So you, you decided to get into real estate then? Yeah. So, so like I said, go through college, kind of athlete, very, very, just kind of focused on that all through, I was blessed to get a scholarship. That’s how I ended up out in the Midwest playing football. Okay. I get to maybe my junior year and now I’m starting to see, okay, I’m about to graduate. I should probably think about what I’m going to do after this because up until that point, I’m just like playing ball, you know, I’m going to get a degree and that’s really it.

[14:52] Um, so very simplified. I go on a ride along with one of my, my buddies and, uh, not all ride alongs are created equal where you go jump in with a, with a cop for, for the, for the shift. And mine was just off the hook. I had so much fun. I was like silly, like, all right, I’m doing this because this is, you know, team sport. It was, it’s very team oriented. You’re outside challenging all the things. So I do that start when I’m about when I’m like 24. Okay. So again, I’m young, I’m single straight out of college. I don’t even look at my paycheck. I’m just like, yeah, it’s coming in, you know, pension, you know, cause you pay into your pension and stuff like that. I don’t even think about that.

[15:37] It’s just like, I’m having so much fun every day. I don’t think about my finance. I just know like, Hey, I have enough to come in every day or come in every month. That’s really it. Yeah. I remember that. Yeah. Saying that’s your college for me. Yeah. But then, you know, as you get older, you get married. There’s a time where, okay, I need to start thinking about, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re responsible. You’re thinking about someone more than yourself, essentially. Right. So kind of, so now kind of fast forward a few years. Oh, so the first, my first real estate deal is I leave for college. I come back, police Academy, all the things. My mom, God bless her. Wouldn’t let me rent an apartment with my friends.

[16:22] She’s like, no, no, no, no. You stay here. You save up for a down payment and you buy something and then you go live in that. And that’s what you’re going to do. Essentially. That’s awesome. Yeah. So I did that. I saved up 60 grand, bought a $300,000 condo, little one bedroom, one bath, 700 square feet. And I moved into it. And that was probably 2015 or so. And so moved into that. And again, now that I’m just doing my thing, going to work, paying the bills, that’s it. So meet my wife. She moves in with me. And we have like a very, I remember this moment like vividly, like, you know, because we were talking about the future. We’re talking about getting married, all these things. And I’m like, in that world, unfortunately, it is capped.

[17:12] Like you can only, you can only work some hours in the day and you can only make so much money. Sure. So when we were talking about like our future and how we’re going to make more money, I just remembered talking to her one day. And I’m probably 26 or something like that. And I’m like, hey, should we try and like make more money? And like, maybe we’ll live here in the big house. And I kind of all like the more material things that are just like fun to talk about. And she’s like, well, how are you going to do that? I go, I don’t know. But figure it out. Do you want to go? Like, let’s go for it. And so at that point, I start like diving down like more personal development, you know, books, podcasts, like that kind of.

[17:49] That’s where my mind’s kind of starting to switch as opposed to just me having fun and doing my thing every night. And, you know, how do I, you know, help create this big life for my family? Yeah. So, so yeah, so kind of keep pushing, start reading some books. Oh, sorry. And I knew I liked real estate. I’m like, okay, like my grandpa’s got a kind of cool story. My grandpa came over from work, Italian heritage, came over from Italy, kind of like, you know, mid like 1950s ish, you know, on the boat, like that whole thing. And essentially, we had a family farm in town, which we live in a big city now. But back in the day, it was a farm. And slowly over time, he developed that farm into first a grocery store, then a butcher shop.

[18:33] And then today it’s a, it’s a shopping center. It’s like a 12 unit shopping center with like a Chevron and a 7-Eleven. And so I’m like, okay, like my grandpa’s, yeah, my grandpa’s an inspiring figure in my life. I have this condo, the real estate, that shopping center still in the family. Okay. You know, a couple of generations later, he’s, you know, he’s since passed. Okay. I’m going to go down like the real estate route. I think that’d be cool. And so I started learning about that. Was there a pivotal book or a podcast you listened to that really pushed you further down that rabbit hole? A hundred percent. So at the same time, I’m just kind of reading everything. I wasn’t a big reader growing up, but I had some friends that were into it.

[19:14] And so actually the first book I read was How to Win Friends and Influence People. Hey, that’s me. That’s so sorry. Yes. Yes. So that was the first, but that was more for work. I was like, okay, like I need to learn, like be a better communicator and all those kinds of things. So that was the first book I read. And I’m like, okay, I can apply this to my life and use this at work. And so that, and I was like, you know, this information is in a book for 10 bucks or whatever. What else can you learn? Right. What else can you learn? So the next one, just classic was Rich Dad, Poor Dad came across, turned across the desk. And that one was like, blew my mind. I never thought about anything like that or that, you know, kind of way of thinking.

[20:03] And yeah, that was probably the biggest one to, to, to change the way I thought and, and kind of how we, we did things going forward. That’s awesome.

[20:39] And I, you know, I have, I lived in Germany for a year. It’s a very combative kind of conversation culture. And, and yeah. And so like, I think the, you know, avoiding the sharp angle, that kind of stuff, just things that I really needed to practice and got a lot better at minor relationship skills. So it’s a great book. And then I don’t know how many times the Rich Dad, Poor Dad has come up on this podcast, like whether or not it’s the one that the people like say I need to, that’s my favorite one. Almost everybody said that was probably the one that got me started. Yeah. It’s wild. And, you know, I knew guys that read it like early 2000s or late nineties, whenever it came out. And, you know, I didn’t stumble across it until probably like 2016, 2017, something like that.

[21:22] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Same, but awesome. So, okay. So you’re reading the books, listening to podcasts. Do you just jump right in or what, where do you do? So I jump in. So at this time we lived in the condo for probably, I don’t know, three or four years. We were able to save enough to buy another place. So now I have a rental, which is the condo I originally bought. And then our primary house, which is like a, you know, three to 2000 square feet, like normal single family house. Yeah. And so I’m like, okay, like kind of looking at the condo, like what I bought it for, what it’s worth, what, you know, what we can sell it for, things like that. And I’m looking at house, this, and I’m like, oh, I stumbled across Grant Cardone as well.

[22:10] And he’s talking, you know, like, cause renting a house, like, like for me growing up was just like something we didn’t do. It was just like, no, no, you like save up, you buy a house and that’s kind of it. Right. So I heard him talk about renting and investing and this and that, especially like, you know, at a younger age. So I’m like, what if I sold my house? I sold the condo. We rent a house and then all that money I was going to get from it, we invested.

[22:41] What was your wife at the time or a girlfriend? Married. Yes. Wife at the time. What’s your thing about that? She, God bless her. She’s the most supportive human, you know, ever. And I would be nowhere without her. She’s my rock. A hundred percent. And just like, I’ve come to her with a lot of ideas over the years. And it’s always like, yeah, sounds good. Let’s do it. Always. Never have to like, like persuade or convince or anything like that. It’s just like, kind of like give my speech and okay, let’s do it. She does have some conditions sometimes. Sure. So for that one, I literally go to her one day. I said, Hey, thoughts on selling everything, renting, and then investing, investing our money.

[23:24] And we were living a little, like kind of like in a suburb of San Jose, like a smaller city, just like 20 minutes away. And there’s a nicer, like kind of more fluent area that we’ve always really liked. It’s called Los Gatos. And she’s like, okay, I’m down, but we have to move to Los Gatos if we’re going to rent. And I was like, all right, deal. So, so yeah, so we essentially sell everything. I do a 1031 exchange on the rental. Yeah. And so we, yeah, we sell our primary, we sell, we get into a rental. Then we, we go ahead with the rental or with the condo, start the exchange process and then start looking for. So at the time I was looking for an apartment building. So I, I kind of did some math.

[24:09] I’m like, okay, like I can sell the house for this. I can exchange some money on the, my investment, my rental here. And I could probably buy like a 16, maybe 18 unit, Texas, Florida, something like that. Okay. Yeah. And so that was my plan. I mean, that makes sense. Like, was it, was it going to overall cashflow better than what you were wishing you were in? Oh, a hundred percent. I’m cash flowing like 200 bucks a month on this rental, which is cool. Like I ended up doubling my money. I bought it for 300. We sold it for just under six in probably four years. Okay. So yeah. So in a couple hundred bucks, I didn’t spend, you know, that just went to, you know, maintenance and whatever. Right. And then I’m kind of looking at some, you know, apartments.

[24:55] I’m like, all right, we can probably get in a couple thousand dollars a month, you know, conservatively kind of range, maybe three, $4,000 a month cashflow. Like that’s cool. You know, it’ll essentially pay for a rent. And that was, you know, start like rich, poor, that’s not having it all pay for your bills. Right. Right. So I’m sure as you know, as you know, there’s a time clock on an exchange, 45 minutes. So we get into that. I start making offers on, we go out to Reno, Nevada. We look at like a 10 unit out there. I make an offer on a, like a 16 unit in Dallas. I make an offer on like an 18 unit in like just North of Tampa. And this is like 2021, like early 2021. Oh, wow. Yeah. So COVID, market’s hot.

[25:41] Things are just going way over. Yeah. And we keep getting beat. But it was a good learning lesson because I learned kind of like the commercial game. And it’s very different than the single family game. You get financing later. There’s long due diligence periods, things like that. Yeah. So we get to, I don’t know, day 40 of 45. And I haven’t found anything. And in hindsight, like if we didn’t get the exchange, like what happens? We pay some taxes and we move on. Like, but I had this, like, I’m going to do it. I’m going to move this money. Yeah. And so I meet my now teammate.

[26:22] His name’s Aaron Derbacher. And we, we, we essentially, he’s a family friend and we were going to all these weddings together. So like, I’m seeing the same guy at these weddings. He’s a realtor. He’s very like networking. And he’s just always working the crowd and like, very likable guy. And I’m like, oh yeah, Aaron, he’s a realtor. We see him in all these weddings. Let me call him. So I get his number. I’m like, hey dude, I’m five days out. I need some help. He’s like, what are you doing? Tells me all these things. And he’s like, okay, I’ll call you back. Calls me back like two hours later. He goes, meet me at this address, which was, you know, in San Jose. And we pull up and it’s like grandma’s house.

[27:01] It’s like dumpy, distressed, like original condition, pink tile, grandma’s house. Yeah. It’s like, we’re going to flip this thing. And I go, we’re going to do what? He goes, we’re going to flip this house. So we’ll move the money here. We’ll flip it. And then you want to hold it as a rental. You want to sell it later. Airbnb, like we’ll figure out that later. But, you know, we’ll figure out that later. I’m like, dude, I don’t know how to flip a house. And he’s like, I got the contractors. I got the lenders. I got all this stuff. Just do what I tell you. And just, you know, blind faith. I’m like, all right, let’s do it. That’s awesome. Does that work out? It works out great. Yeah. So wife’s super involved.

[27:43] She was able to, she just designed the whole thing. So she’s up on Instagram all night. Like, I want to do this kitchen. I want to do that bathroom and this and that. And I just managed like the boys and the contractors and all that kind of stuff. And we had a ton of fun. I’m bringing them lunch, you know, once a week. And, and yeah. And that, and how fast, how fast did it go? The flip? 45 days was about what it took. So got in a real cosmetic. So just like bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms, all those kinds of things. And then got it out. Yeah. Did it have, what, what kind of profit did you get on that? So we bought that one for one three and sold it for one eight. Okay. And put about 150 into it.

[28:28] Okay. So we did really well. That’s awesome. In a really quick amount of time. Yeah. Those are different numbers than around here. Grandma’s house would not sell for that. Grandma’s house? Like 1800 square feet? Wild. 1.3 million, right? That’s what you’re saying? That’s to get in. That was to get in. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s like maybe 250, depending here. Wild. Yeah. Super. Yeah. No. And again, I’ve lived in different states. I’ve lived in Tennessee. I’ve lived in Kansas. It’s, it’s just different. Our median sales price is about 350. What’s, what were you all at? I think we just hit 2 million. Wow. That’s wild. Yeah. And the cash, to play, play with that game, like the cash you’d have to have.

[29:08] And, and, you know, that’s, that’s a whole different program. Yeah. Wild. Yeah. So like I said, it’s just a different market. It is just, there’s a lot of, a lot of tech, a lot of tech money here. A lot of tech guys here that do really well. Sure. Not to get too far ahead, but you know, make majority of my open houses. Now the first person that walks in works at NVIDIA. Every single time. Hey, what’s up? What’s your name? You work around here? Oh, I work at NVIDIA. I’m like, yeah, you do.

[29:40] AI helped them get in a little bit faster. Those guys are all buying houses right now. God bless them. Like, so. Yeah, they’re doing well. So, okay. So is that that around that time you got your license or is that like, was the writing on the wall at that point? It’s like, this is what I need to do. A law enforcement officer at that point? Yeah. So I’m still a cop. So I’m still working, you know, so I’m still working as a cop. And then on the side, we’re doing these flips. So I kind of catch that bug. We end up doing four more the next essentially like year or so. And those all go well. Not, that was like our biggest one. It was the first one. God, you know. It’s always nice when that works out that way.

[30:18] I was like, I’m so good at this. Like. Same thing happened to me. Yep. So we, we do a few more, we do well. And then the first rate hike hits, whatever that was like May, 2022 or something like that. Yeah. We’re in one at the time. We’re about a week out from listing it. And the first rate hike hits. And we were, again, we were very used to, uh, goes live on a Thursday. We’ll do open houses that weekend, Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. We’ll do an offer deadline and eight offers. And then boom, it’s done. Yep. But we were very used to that. So same strategy. First rate hike hits. Offer due date comes. No offers. Zero. I’m like, uh-oh. And we’re, we have hard money at the time and interest only pay, interest only loans.

[31:13] And at the time, like no way is, is that house going to rent for the, my monthly payments. Which you need. Yeah. So we’re a little nervous, but no big deal. It ends up selling within a week. Thank God. And we get out of that one. But it left me a little like, okay, maybe, you know, maybe this is cyclical flipping. Maybe, you know, I need to kind of learn some more. And, you know, cause I’m not, it’s such a small scale. We’re just doing one at a time. So maybe this, maybe I need to kind of pivot into a different strategy when the market kind of does things like that. Sure. And at that time I learned what wholesaling is. Okay. So I go down that route for another year. Okay. Yeah. So. Was that successful?

[31:58] I mean, that, that can be a hard thing to get into. So often the thing that people want to get into at the beginning, but they don’t realize it is, it’s not easy. No, a hundred percent. Yeah. No. So I did it backwards. So I started flipping and then I started wholesaling because it’s usually the other way around. Right. Right. So kind of just how I am, I, I’m like, okay, I don’t know what I don’t know. I’m very, how do I say this? Kind of humble in you’re the expert. I’m going to like get close to you and figure in and listen to you. So I figured I learned what wholesaling is and I’m like, okay, let me find a coach. Like, let me, or like a mentor or something. Yeah. And just how, you know, God works in mysterious ways, this, this guy just keeps popping up on like my Instagram and my YouTube.

[32:45] And then I’m watching A&E and he’s got a show on A&E. And I don’t know if you know Jamil Damji. Oh, heard of him, but yeah, not well. So he’s an investor out of Arizona. Also has a coaching show on A&E. He has a coaching company or a community, shall I say, and a mentorship program. And just kind of like, it just keeps kind of popping up. It’s essentially a wholesaling investing group that you, you know, coaching community, kind of all the things. And, you know, again, go to my, and it’s not, they’re not cheap, you know, it’s several thousand, you know, several thousand dollars, but it’s, you know, lifetime, you know, access and all that kind of stuff. And I go to my wife and I’m like, Hey, new, it’s like going to college.

[33:29] Like, Hey, you know, can I spend a little bit of money and, you know, join this, join this thing. She’s like, yeah, a hundred percent. So yeah. And that, you know, that’s essentially what changed my life was I go down the, we stopped flipping. I go, you know, it comes with a course, weekly calls. You jump on a call with Jamil and you’re just like, like me and you like, Hey dude, this is what I’m doing. This is what I’m trying to do. You know, Hey, I suggest this. I’m in this deal. It’s getting weird, you know, help, help a brother out. And he, that guy will go five hours on a coaching call with like two breaks. And the biggest thing with him is if you’re talking, he is like, you’re the only thing in the world.

[34:14] Like the focus that guy will give you and the, you know, decades of experience that he has is, is unbelievable. Awesome. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So is he doing stuff with pace now? Is that the same guy? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yep. So yeah, his community calls Astro flipping was, was the group. So, so it has whole, and it has that model, like we talked about. So it has like, Hey, kind of stars, a wholesaler, built some capital, get into flips. There’s a whole, you know, how to comp, how to do all these things. And then essentially it’s like you’re buying holds, creative finance, like that kind of stuff. Okay, cool. Yeah. And so I’m like, okay, let me just start like wholesaling some deals and see kind of how that works.

[34:58] And so, and I’m doing it virtually. So I’m living in California. I’m anticipating to move to Tennessee. So I get with a guy that is in the community. He’s local realtor in Nashville and kind of like, Hey, this is, you know, you want to kind of team, you don’t want to team up and like kind of do deals together. You know, nothing like, like, like, like formal partnership, but just like deal by deal basis kind of thing. Sure. And he was already experienced. He’s like, yeah, dude, I’ll just kind of show you how we do things out here and let’s do some deals. And so I think we do like 25 deals last year together. Oh, wow. Yeah. So that was all through. We do, we had some like bigger months, some slower months, but I think our biggest month, maybe we did six deals in a month.

[35:42] And then kind of average was two or three. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think that’s a, something that people definitely need to understand too, is like, that’s such a shortcut is to get coaching, to get some sort of like mentorship. You know, when I got into real estate sales, you know, teaming up with people or, or helping a top producer as much as I could, I was never salaried or anything like that, but that just like do what they do. Yes. They figured it out. They’re doing well. They’re killing it in your market. There’s a reason for that. So like, you know, that’s, that’s invaluable. And in my circumstance, I was getting paid to do hourly work and, and, and help this, you know, person who couldn’t do everything.

[36:26] And I mean, but it’s the, to pay somebody to learn that kind of stuff, definitely, it can definitely be worth it. So that’s cool. It’s a great life lesson for anybody looking to get into it. A hundred percent. I would say, I just want real quick, I don’t, and I would curious about, you know, if you’re an active realtor, like, would you wholesale in that same market? A hundred percent. Do you think there’s, for me, it feels like there’s a little bit of a, could be a conflict. Explain to me why there, why not? And why you would? Well, I, so why I would say was essentially the model was you would represent yourself. You’re the investor. So you’re the principal. And then you’re going to represent your company, your LLC on the, on the transaction.

[37:15] So, and I think it’s just, I think we get very like stuck in exit strategies. Like, Hey, this is how you do things. It’s very traditional. And anything else is just kind of, cause I do get it. It is kind of, it’s just, it’s just different. It’s a little unorthodox if you haven’t kind of gone down that route. But, you know, if you’re able to perform at the end of the day and close the deal, I think that’s kind of all that matters. It’s a win for the, for the, the sellers. Yeah. I think that maybe it’s also different depending on the market. Like, I think that in my market, we’re small enough that it could, it could easily, it could, it could cause a little bit of confusion as to, as to what you’re actually doing.

[37:58] If you’re a realtor or if you’re an investor or an reputation and that kind of stuff, if somebody ever felt like, not that anybody’s trying to take advantage of anybody, but like if ever, if ever that was spun a different way, but yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think it’s a mindset shift. It’s, you know, every book those people are probably reading. It’s like, you don’t need money to get into real estate, right? You don’t need your own money because private money, you can raise money, all the things. And it’s just essentially putting your investor hat on. It’s like, okay, because kind of the model that was taught to me is if you’re going to like, you’re going to learn how to comp first and, and, and determine value.

[38:37] So a, so yeah. Cause I think that’s where you get into the, if you’re out there, like locking up deals, like way over where it’s supposed to be. And you don’t really know what you’re doing and all that kind of stuff. Yes. I think that’s where it cannot be good, but. I guess, let me, let me just say it out. Say what I’m, what I’m thinking about it. Like, so let’s say if, if you’re getting a wholesale deal under contract as a wholesaler, that deal would probably net the seller more if it was on the open market. I know that not always it, it can’t always perform or they don’t always have the luxury of waiting that long or doing everything that needs to get on the market. But that’s where I think there’s a conflict.

[39:14] I think there could be a conflict for a realtor who is actively pursuing or actively representing their client’s best interests. If they then wholesale a deal at under market value, when they could list it and get market value for it or, or closer, you know, if it needs a lot of work, their circumstances, it would probably still sell for more on the open market. That’s, that’s where I’m like, I don’t know if mixing those two, if you’re really serious about being a realtor is, is wise in your own market, especially. Sure. But I guess, I mean, I would ask you like, how many investors do you come across that are like, don’t send me on market deals. I only want to look at off market deals. No, I mean that, yeah, definitely.

[39:54] There’s people that want both. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a whole, at least like kind of where I’m at, that’s, there’s a whole pool of that where they’re just like, I wouldn’t even look at it if it’s on the market. You said it to me for this. So. That’s interesting. Yeah. So I don’t know. So now are you, and these are houses that, you know, need cash solutions are usually not financeable. There’s no banks going to touch it because you know, whatever. So you do need your, your, your, your cash. Yeah. And there’s a special, yeah, there’s definitely a special, like it does take a special niche too. And, and, and there’s definitely value in the wholesaler finding or having those lists of investors to, to sell to and be able to perform in, you know, two weeks if needed, et cetera.

[40:34] So that don’t get me wrong. I get it, but I think that it could get a bit murky if you’re really serious. I mean, if you’re an investor first, that’s your priority and you have a license to help you do your deals or whatever, a little bit on the side. I think that’s different than like being like, you know, really you’re, you’re a realtor that I think it’s something to be cautious about. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause we’ll go in, you know, on our own deals, our own flips. It’s like, Hey, we’ll, we’ll get it under contracts, small due diligence, you know, three, four days. We’ll go in there and the foundation’s just trashed and like, Hey, not something we want to take on. So do we cancel with the realtor or do we assign this over to one of our investor buddies and we close the deal?

[41:13] It’s over. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Yeah. That definitely. And I, and again, like there’s often times, I mean, like those people that are often desperate to sell, they have some real need to get this product moved. And it’s, you know, it’s, you take a lot on a lot of risk as an investor to take on these projects. And so like, it’s gotta be, there’s gotta be meat on the bone to make it worthwhile. Nobody’s going to do the flip, put all the money and take all the risk. And then it’s just going to be like what they have in it is what it’s worth. That doesn’t make sense. A hundred percent. And, and I think that that’s, you gotta be clear to the person that’s selling that that’s just the reality of it.

[41:53] Like you’re in this situation, I’m sorry. And this is the best option we can give you because nobody’s going to take it on, take all the risk for free, essentially. Yeah. A hundred percent. Cool. Yeah. So now, so that’s, are you actively selling a residential as well as a realtor, or are you primarily focused on doing deals as an investor? Yeah. How’s that play out for you? Yeah. So essentially like timing wise, how it worked out where we’re back in California, December of this last year. And I’m kind of going through, I, well, let me kind of back up a little bit. So that same realtor that brought me grandma’s house way back when he’s on a team here in the Bay area, like four guys, two bosses and a great admin staff of, you know, transaction coordinators and project managers and just an awesome team.

[42:42] So he’s kind of seeing what I’m doing. Like, he’s like, okay, you’re wholesaling this and that. We’re kind of, my wife has a business that was out here that’s going really, really well. So we’re like, okay, does it make more sense for us to be in California? Kind of for that. I’m a little more virtual, so I can kind of work wherever. And he’s like, Hey, if you’re, you know, coming back, you know, check out, get your license, check out the brokerage. We have a great team, just kind of like that whole thing. So I do what I do best and I go on a ride along. So I’m like, Hey dude, let me ride with you for a week and see what it’s like. And I’m like, so they, there’s like the main brokerage and then the team I’m on the team now, but time there’s, they’re offsite.

[43:24] They have their own office, like away from the brokerage. Then we do go to the brokerage for like sales means and stuff like that. And like I said, just the team is awesome. Like social media manager, tons of admin staff, transaction coordinators, like I said. So like every, it’s just, it’s such a team effort on every deal. Okay, cool. Handyman contractors, like all the things. And the bosses are great. Like, like good leaders that, you know, I, like I look up to and like want to, want to be taught from and led from, you know, led by. Yeah. And all that kind of stuff. So I’m like, all right, I’ll get my license. We’ll make the move back. So yeah, so it works out where December of this last year, I’m kind of going through the courses and all that.

[44:10] Take my test in January, like end of January, and then jump on the end of the brokerage kind of late January. And then just like you said, my, that the, my realtor, my teammate now he’s, you know, the number two realtor in our brokerage and one of the top guys around. So I’m like, just gonna, and I’m so good to me, just like, you know, every, you know, kind of supportive way to make my transition and my, you know, my time there like really, really successful. So just been, just been focusing on the retail side now, kind of learning that game. Yeah, sure. Yeah. But do you want to get back into the investment world? That’s awesome. I mean, I think that’s a, almost a fundamental law. Like, I can’t say that for sure, but like what I was trying to get at is that the, the generosity, the, the abundance that sounds like this guy has for, he’s not going to kind of, you know, scared that you’re going to come take over his business.

[45:05] You know, that just seems to overflow and, and, and cause people to be the top producers, like the, to, to, to be the successful people and people are attracted to it. And then there’s a couple of reasons for it. I think one, when you’re learning, if you’re just intimidated and threatened by everybody that’s ahead of you and you’re just like, you know, nagging them, you’re like, you’re like, you’re take tearing them down because you’re threatened by them. You’re never going to learn anything from them. They’re never going to want to be around you. They’re not going to want to help you at all. So having that abundant mindset, I think really is, is key to, to getting ahead in this world. I mean, it doesn’t have to be in the best thing in real estate.

[45:40] I feel like that’s just a fundamental truth. A hundred percent. But yeah. So would you still say that the, the rich dad or, or which, which, which book would you say is your current favorite? And would you, would you put one of those as the, your top four? Do you have any others? So I go through phases and kind of like, okay, I really liked this guy for a while. So Kiyosaki’s, I kind of went through a bunch of his books and I’m like, oh yeah, just kind of devouring all that kind of stuff. You know, I really like these days is Patrick, but David. Really? Oh my Lord. You’re going to love this. All right. Patrick, but David. What’s he write? He writes a first one’s called your next five moves. Okay.

[46:22] So it’s business relate. It’s business kind of base book, but it’s got a lot of life into it. Essentially he, he kind of compares life and business to like the game of chess and grand master chess players know their next, I think it’s 15 moves in advance. Right. He kind of like, we break it down into your next five moves, but yeah, it’s like essentially like blending life and business and being strategic through, okay, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that. That’s fantastic. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Cause that’s exactly what I’ve been all about is, is similar, like a vision, vivid vision for your life and business and everything.

[47:03] Nope. Nope.

[47:09] All right. Dog, dog bark interruption there. I guess it’s not going to end. Come on. Stop it. Well, I was just saying that the, the whole like vivid vision thing with, it’s a similar concept where you’re basically just kind of looking to the future where you want to be in five years, where you want to be in three years and kind of what steps there are to get there and breaking that down. And I feel like that’s like, it seems like a lot of work, like, and this may not be exactly how, what he talks about, but it seems like a lot of work when you just look at it, but it’s, it’s just intentional living. Like, it’s just, you know, like we are here, we don’t know how long we’re here for. And if we’re just focused on our business to start, but we know we’re, we might miss out on our kids growing up, or, you know, we might miss out on, you know, our family or we might get divorced.

[47:53] Like it’s, it’s like it, if you want a great life, it takes work. I mean, you got to be intentional about it. And I think a lot of people, or I think it’s very easy to get caught up just like, and you said your day to day, you know, your job or your business, your family, your kids and all that kind of stuff, which is, which is fine. But if you don’t take the time to think about, Hey, you know, where am I at now? Where do I want to go? Do I want to go like way farther? Where does my potential end? Have I reached my potential? Probably not. And how can I get there and see like, like where my potential is? So, yeah. And it’s not that you have to like strive to be a billionaire or, you know, like strive to want to live in Hawaii or, you know, somewhere really cool.

[48:42] Like it’s, it’s, it’s going to be different for everybody. But like, I think if you’re not intentionally pursuing your life, then you’re going to, it’s going to get by, it’s going to go by you. Classic. Are you ever getting to stoicism? Oh, sure. Yeah. I’ve, I’ve, I haven’t read a lot of books on that, but, but I’m kind of familiar. I think, you know, I think with the concept and stuff. Yeah. That’s just memento mori. Like, remember you two will die. It’s like such a like dark thing, but it’s so true. Like live, live your life. Like you don’t know when it’s going to end. So a hundred percent. Social media. Is there a great place to, where are you at? Where do you want people to follow you if they want to reach out or.

[49:18] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So Instagram is probably the best, the best platform for me. It’s a Jason Banassi D’Amico. So it’s my first and last name and then middle name is Banassi. Okay. And we’ll link that so people can find you there. Cool. Yeah. No, this has been a great conversation. Yeah, absolutely. We will have to keep in touch and wish you the best success with the new team and the investing from here on out. Absolutely. Well, really, really appreciate you having me. And again, anytime, you know, would love to get on chat again. Cool. Awesome.

[49:53] Thanks for listening to the Wealthy Investor Podcast, where we talk about wealth and holistic health. If you enjoy our content, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and hear new episodes every Thursday. If you really like our content, you can follow us on social media at The Wealthy Investor, wealthy spelled W-E-L-L-T-H-Y. Thank you. Thank you.