Pete Russell: When he started posting about that the first few times, I was like, this guy is like, no. He's in MLM or he's trying to do whatever. And then after a while, I'll never forget, like like, as I was leaving walking out the door, scrolling through Facebook, he posted again. So I was like, I'm gonna call this guy. So I called him.
He picked up, and I probably hadn't talked to him in eight, ten years. And I'm like, it's like, man, you gotta tell me, like, what this is. So he's like, it's so cool. He's like, you can help people out, get these properties for cheap. They need a bunch of work, but you don't have to do any.
All you're doing is you're finding these, and then you're selling them off to the guys that are gonna flip them. And then he was like, what what the hook was is he's like, a lot of these are thirty days or less. Mhmm. And I was like, okay. That's interesting.
Speaker 1: Welcome, and thank you for joining us
Steve Trang: for today's episode of disruptors where millionaires are made. Today, we have Pete Russell with Velocity Advantage Capital. And Pete flew in from Charlotte, North Carolina to talk about how he went from wholesaling to funding $33,000,000 in deals in the last eighteen months. Now, guys, I'm gonna mission create a 100 millionaires. The information on this show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire in the next five to seven years.
You go take consistent action. You'll become one. And if you're already one of the millionaires from the show, please scan this QR code. Let us know so we can share your story. And if you're not there yet, but you want to get there a little bit faster, also scan that same QR code.
So maybe we can help you as well. And, before we jump in, if you wanna learn how real entrepreneurs are building real empires, make sure you hit that subscribe button because every week, we're gonna be sharing lessons that could help you create your first or your next million. And the show is brought to you by Objection Proof AI. If you're ready to turn your existing sales team into a self managing sales team, go to objectionproof.ai. By the time this show releases, our AI lead manager should be out there, so you might wanna go check that out.
You ready?
Pete: Let's do it.
Steve: Alright. So, question for you is, what first got you into real estate?
Pete: I was intrigued with real estate for years and years. Right? And on the investment side, but I never never touched it because I thought the misconception of you have to be a general contractor or you have to have a million dollars sitting ready to go. I was thinking fix and flip, that kind of thing. I didn't even really know that much about buy and hold.
I knew people had rentals, that sort of thing. Mhmm. So I went the route that probably most people do, and I didn't like it, is I went the agent route. Mhmm. I got my license.
Steve: Oh, you were a realtor?
Pete: As a realtor. Yeah. Probably did the least amount with my license as anybody I've ever known. Mhmm. I went I went and got it, and I was, like, gung ho and ready to go.
And and everybody's like, oh, go work for this this brokerage. Go work for this brokerage. So ended up hanging my hat with a a decent sized brokerage in Charlotte, North Carolina and didn't do anything for months. Right? Like, I was probably 24, 25 years old.
Mhmm. And they're like, tap into your network. And I was like, all my friends live at home with their parents, and they're playing video games in the basement. Like, nobody's gonna buy anything. Yeah.
So I I still was just like, let me get this figured out. Let me let me see, you know, how I can be the next million dollar listing guy, whatever. And I did, I think, two deals, no listings, just buyer side deals
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: In about twelve months. And I was like, I don't this is too slow. This is too boring. I've taken people on 50 properties, and they didn't wanna buy them. And they gave me all sorts of excuses.
I was like, this is not what I was looking for. So shelved that for a while and ended up going into a sales and marketing company. And but always in the back
Steve: because, I know, like, you're saying that you're looking at, like, real estate potentially in o nine. When were you actually, like, showing houses and so on?
Pete: I was showing houses in '20 I think I got my license in 2010. 2010. 2010. So from 2010 to later 2011.
Steve: Okay. So at that time, nothing's so hot.
Pete: Not doing
Steve: so hot. And then you get into you said a sales marketing company?
Pete: Sales and marketing company. Yeah. So did that. A ton of experience on the phone, which I think really, really helped me when I got into wholesaling. Mhmm.
Just talking to people all day long. And funny enough, randomly enough, it was for energy. Different markets, different states across the country Mhmm. You can pick your energy provider. So I went and worked for this massive sales and marketing company.
The department they put me in was energy. I was like, cool. Didn't know you could do that.
Steve: It's like an MLM?
Pete: No. No. No. No. It's a it's a pretty big company in Charlotte.
It's called Red Ventures.
Steve: Okay.
Pete: They call it, like, the Google of the East Coast kinda thing or whatever. They have this big campus and, like, cool. They suck you in. They have a basketball court, all this kinda stuff, even though you never get to play. Got it.
So went in, ended up working there, and just on the phone all the time, just talking to people, having conversations, just sometimes a 100 people a day. Mhmm. They plug you in. They had a a great system, great funnel. And we worked with different energy providers where it's like, hey.
Here's the package you can you can use if you work with us, if you get qualified. So they taught me a little bit about sales. And then just to the more people you talk to, something's gonna happen. Right? It's just a numbers game.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: So did that for a while. And while I was doing that, a friend of mine that I went to high school with, not super close friend or anything, somebody I hadn't talked to in years, he started posting on Facebook. I think it was Facebook live. It might not have been Facebook live back then, but he was posting on Facebook. Mhmm.
And he was talking about wholesaling, but I didn't know what it was. Right. Right? And he was again, I still had the concept of, and I was still had the idea of one day, I'd love to get on the investment side. Right?
That's big bucks. That's not taking people to houses. That's not dealing with all that kind of stuff. Not splitting $50.50 with my broker, that sort of thing for fees. So when he started posting about that the first few times, I was like, this guy is like, no.
Like, he he's he's in MLM or he's trying to do whatever. Right? And then after a while, I'll never forget. Like, one day leaving that job, like, as I was leaving walking out the door, scrolling through Facebook, he posted again.
Steve: Mhmm. So I
Pete: was like, I'm gonna call this guy. I'm gonna call him out on what he's got going on. Like, I'm I'm a pretty good reader of, like, if somebody's, like, BS meter or whatever. Yeah. So I called him, and he picked up.
And I probably hadn't talked to him in eight, ten years. Right? Number? He picked up right away. Yeah.
I had it I had it in there. Yeah. And I and I'm like I was like, man, you gotta tell me, like, what this is. Because he would give bits and pieces again, but to somebody that never done a deal or anything, you're just like, what exactly? You can't put two and two together.
So he's like, he talked to me the whole ride home, and then I sat in the driveway for probably another thirty minutes. And he was just like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. He's like, it's so cool. He's like, you can help people out. You get these properties for cheap.
They need a bunch of work, but you don't have to do anything. Mhmm. All you're doing is you're finding these, and then you're selling them off to the guys that are gonna flip them. Right. And then he was like, what what the hook was is he's like, a lot of these are thirty days or less.
Mhmm. And I was like, okay. That's interesting. Mhmm. So That
Steve: was the part that was most interesting to you, was the thirty days or less.
Pete: The time. The speed.
Steve: Yeah. It wasn't the margins. It wasn't keeping more of it. Yeah.
Pete: It was fast. The speed. The speed of it. Okay. Because he didn't he didn't really he threw some numbers out there, but I don't remember that being a a huge part of it.
Yeah. What what really hooked me with numbers wise is he's like, you have to come. He would hold a monthly, like, meetup. Right? It's like back of a steakhouse, like, nothing fancy, whatever.
And I was like, okay. I'll I'll come to one. So probably a month later, I I went to the first one, and we sat at this big long table. There's all these people there, people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, that sort of thing. You go in there.
And I got there kinda early, and people I was just sitting there didn't know anybody. But the different conversations, everybody's talking, and and then they start throwing around numbers.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And my ears are, like, perking up. I was like, okay. 20 here, 30 here. Somebody's mad that they made 15,000 instead of 20. I was like, okay.
This is really interesting. Right? And either everyone at this table is full of crap, and they're all in on it, and they're gonna ask me for $5,000 to join or, like, what's going on? Yeah. So from there, went to the meetup, hung out with him afterwards, talked to him about a little bit more.
And I was like, how do you get in? Like, how do you get started? Mhmm. And this is, again, this is probably almost ten, eleven years ago now. Yeah.
And he was like, you have to go online. Go to YouTube. Mhmm. Look up Sean Terry. He's like, Sean Terry flipped to freedom.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: That was, like, that was the OG, the Steve Godfather. The Godfather. Right? And so I was like, okay. Cool.
And so I I went that, and I He didn't
Steve: try to sell you anything. He just said, just go watch John Terry.
Pete: No. Because he was like, you can you can, like, hang out with me and go on some of these or whatever. And I'm like, dude. I have a I have a nine to five. Like, I have a job.
I can't do that. Like, what how how else can I learn? How else can I get started? Again, he's not he wasn't the best teacher or person, but he initiated me into it. Right?
He piqued my interest. One year's our direction. Yeah. Yeah. So, that was it.
From there, it was Sean Terry. It was putting out bandit signs.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: I was like, if I'm gonna do this, I'm just gonna I'm gonna run with it. I'm gonna give it a shot. And another guy I worked with at that sales and marketing company, he had heard about it a little bit before about wholesaling.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And him and I were were pretty good friends, and we took our breaks together and played, like, ping pong together on our breaks. And we just you know, like, what do you got going on this weekend? What's going on? And I was like, I actually went to this meetup last night. It was pretty interesting.
He's, like, oh, I've I've heard a whole sale. I just never did anything with it. Yeah. So we're both, like, hey. Do you wanna you wanna try it out?
Do you wanna do it together? Mhmm. So total fail forward, not knowing what the heck you're doing, just like, hey. Let's figure this out. So we're like, what's the cheapest way we could get started is, like, let's just buy some bandit signs and go out early in the morning and put them up.
And I like, looking back on it, it's funny because I was I was just like, what's the worst that's gonna happen? Right? Like, in my mind, I was like, if somebody calls off of this, it's gonna be either somebody just messing with me or maybe somebody actually wants to sell. Yeah. So we started putting out bandit signs, and then we also I think we, would leave little sticky notes on we'd drive for dollars, and we're like, that house looks abandoned.
Mhmm. So we're like, let's put a sticky note on there. Maybe the owner will come by or a neighbor will see it and wanna, like, give us information on it because they want it to be, like, flipped or whatever. Right? So that was the intro.
That's what got things started.
Steve: Mhmm. And how'd you get your first deal?
Pete: Oh, man. The first deal I actually closed or the first deal I got under contract?
Steve: First deal I got under contract and the first deal you closed.
Pete: Okay. First deal under contract was from a Banditsign. Mhmm. This guy called, and he's like, hey, man. I I have a family property.
Like, it's a mess. I don't wanna deal with it. Like, what's your process? And I was just like, man, like, this is crazy. Right?
A lot of people I called before, they're like, take down your sign, do whatever, blah blah blah. And we were, my former business partner and I at the time were, like, working, and we had a I think we just put, like, a Google number, Google Voice number. And we're getting calls, and we'd be like we'd, like, look back from our desk and get, like, someone's calling me. Or, like, like, have to log out real quick or use your break time and all that kind of stuff. So it was, like, exciting just to get a call.
Mhmm. So a guy called. He was, like, super motivated. Like, hey. Come on out, whatever.
So a couple days later on the weekend, I went over there, and I met him at the house, and it was, like, full of family, full of people. And he's just, like, walking me. I didn't know what to do. I was just like, hey. You just show me around.
Show me what's going on. Right? Like yeah. So he's showing me around, all this and everything like that. And then, we went and sat down in, like, the living room, and I'm like, so what do you wanna do?
And he's like, we need to sell it. I wanna sell it. And I was like, okay. What are you thinking? And he just dropped, like, this super low number.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Pete: I was like, okay. I was like, I I think that would work. I think that'd be good. Didn't take a contract with me.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: Didn't know what to do. And I left, and I called that guy, the the Facebook guy. I was like, hey, man. It went really well and everything like that. I was like, it's crazy.
I was like, I think I have a good deal. I was like, I don't even know, like, ARV on it or anything. I was super, super green. I was like, but this house is so cheap. There's no way.
He's like, cool. Did you get it signed? And I was like, no. And he's like, go back. He's like, take take go home, print a contract out, take it back to him.
So I called the guy back. I was like, I'll be back in twenty minutes, went over there. So he signed it, and then I was like, what do I do next? And then just just walking through the steps, figuring everything out. Well, we found out pretty quickly that he was not on the deed, not on the title, not any part of it.
He was just a family property that was probably in probate or something like that, and he was trying to sell it real quick and just get what he could for it. Mhmm. Because I eventually talked to some family members, and they're like, so and so has nothing to do with this. Tell us what to do. So so but it was it was a learning experience as someone called.
I went out. I walked it. I fumbled forward, all that kind of stuff. So that was just, like, kind of invigorating. Yeah.
So the first few, appointments, that sort of thing, didn't lead to anything. And then we I finally got one where great contract, had a buyer, everything was legit, and then this guy ghosted. He just The seller? The seller. And never forget, I went over to his house the night before closing.
He stopped talking to me probably two or three days before closing. Everything was fine and dandy. And I I had closing docs in my hand. I had a mobile notary on standby to sign everything like that. Went knocked on the door.
Music playing in the background. I could see the guy's shadow. He's, like, doing his thing, whatever. He just didn't answer. Right?
Like, he just ignored me, ignored me, ignored me. And that I think it was, like, a 25 k deal. And that would have been meant so much and, like, been such a thing, and I was just like I stayed there for probably an hour and knocking on the door, calling him everything, and he never this is before I knew about memorandums or, like, going after him, anything like that. Yeah. I think he ended up selling to somebody for, like, 5 k more.
Yeah. So another another gut punch. There were definitely I know some people's stories are like, oh, the first deal I did was, like, 6 figures within, like, two months, and that definitely definitely wasn't the case with this. So, eventually, the first deal that we actually did was probably five months in. Mhmm.
And a guy called, and he was just like, I'll stay in my house, dollars 60,000, and I hung up. And I was like, okay.
Steve: Would it be an address at least?
Pete: Right. So I called him back, and he was just like he gave me the address, hung up. He would just and I was he would just give me as little information as possible. And didn't really know what to do with it. Every time I called him, he didn't pick up.
But, like, once a week, he would call me, and he'd be like, hey. This is Sam, dollars 45,000, and just, like, hang up. Lo and behold, finally, I was like, Sam, Sam, Sam, like, I I have to get out to the house. I gotta see what's going on. He called because it was a rental property.
One of our bandit signs was on a telephone pole outside in the front yard. Mhmm. So it was like as clear as day, whatever. Every time
Steve: he went to the rental property. He saw it.
Pete: Right? So, we ended up I we we got a we lined it up where we got a bunch of buyers to come in. Mhmm. I learned by that point, like, the more people you put it in front of or whatever. And this guy was just, like, very transparent.
He was like, I don't care if it's you. I don't care who it is. Like, I gotta sell this thing. So I was standing out in the yard with him, talking to him while there's, like, 10 groups of buyers just going through this property. And I was like, this is crazy.
Like, you know? And we were talking, and I was like, I just something, like, told me is it probably in a Sean Terry course, whatever, is, like, always ask if they have another property. Mhmm. And so we were just talking everything like that, and I was like, Sam, do you happen to have any other houses? Right?
Like, I just we were just hanging out there, and he was like, yeah. I have two others, and I need to sell them before I move back to Vietnam. Like, I need to sell them fast. And I was just like, no way. So we closed on that one.
I think we made, like, 10 k. Mhmm. And then the other two were both, like, 20 ish. So I went from, like, heartbreak, heartbreak, knocking on some guy's door, opening an answer, thinking I'm making 25 k. And this this is probably, like, two months later.
Yeah. And then I and then we got those three. And then from there, I was just like, alright. This is cool.
Steve: Like that.
Pete: Yeah. So proof of concept. A 100%. Yeah.
Steve: You mentioned something earlier. What was the worst that can happen, putting out abandoned signs? Is that a prelude to something? Are we forbearing anything? Or for
Pete: No. No. We never like, we'd have people call and be upset or Angry. Just angry, but no no city fines, no anything like that. I think the idea was just, like, worst thing that's gonna happen is nobody calls these.
I just waste my time in the morning, that sort of thing. But it's cheap, cost a few $100 and just Yeah. You know, labor and just yourself going out there and doing it.
Steve: Okay. So then you do your first deal. You do three deals from one homeowner.
Pete: What is what do you do
Steve: after that? I mean, you quit your job, I imagine.
Pete: Eventually. I think it was about eight to ten months in where we so we took that money, and I would suggest this to anybody starting out. If you have if you have a good job, if it's paying the bills, if you don't have to, to take that leap to just quit and do it is a lot of pressure.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: Right? So everything that we did was self funded. You know, we weren't borrowing money from marketing or anything like that. It's just like, okay. Let's put it in there.
So once you start doing those deals, we're already making money to live. Right? Like, with the jobs we were at, they weren't amazing, but they were they were good jobs. They paid it off for everything. So we just took the money that we made, and we were just putting it back into, like, okay.
Now what do we do? So we went from bandit signs and putting sticky notes on doors to mailers. Like, mail pieces back then were the big thing. So started spending a couple grand a month on mailers. Once we realized that we're missing out on opportunity because we're sitting at these desks doing this marketing job, like, we're missing calls.
Right? Like, we're again, didn't have any VAs, didn't have any lead managers, anything like that. It was just the two of us. It got to a point after a while we did a few more deals where I was like, the more I sit here, the longer it's gonna take to really build this into something. Yeah.
So it was probably eight to ten months in, probably five to six deals where it was like, okay. I have plenty of money saved up now. We're making good money consistently. At some point, you have to take that leap. Mhmm.
So, business partner at the time was like his wife was like, hey. If you if you do these certain steps, then you can leave, and he wasn't there yet. Right? Like, paying off college debt, everything like that. And I was like, okay.
I'll I'll pay tribute. Like, I'll leave. Like, I'll I'll leave this nine to five and having to take breaks and PTO and all that kind of stuff. Like, I'll go do it. Mhmm.
So that was the move, and that was the jump. Once we had x amount of money saved up for marketing and it was consistent, we were just missing out on stuff.
Steve: One thing that's interesting to me is that you're considering that kinda like a marketing job, but you're on the phones all the time.
Pete: Yeah. Well, the comp the company was a sales and marketing company. I was on the sales side.
Steve: You were
Pete: on the sales I was sales floor. I was yeah. I was boiler room sales, talking to people, making stuff happen, following up, all that kind of stuff.
Steve: You were selling sales and marketing Yes. To other people?
Pete: Yes. Gotcha. Yeah.
Steve: Okay. Alright. So then, you quit your job. What happens after that?
Pete: Then it was full time just answering every single phone call, going on all the appointments possible, even if it didn't seem like a good lead, good deal, like, that sort of thing. I was just like, let's just let's chase down every lead. Let's go after anybody that reaches out to us. Yeah. Then I then we went to our first event, I think, was 20 say, probably 2017.
It started in 2016. It was Tom Kroll, Cody Hothine, Wholesaling Inc, Salt Lake City. Mhmm. And then just starting to go to events like that and learning, paying for some more education, and just seeing how we could just make it better. So it was just kinda like growth from there and just trying to to build it out as quick as possible.
Steve: Gotcha. Alright. So then, you quit your job, and you're going hard full time.
Pete: You
Steve: got a partner Mhmm. Who isn't allowed to quit. Mhmm. How long did that partnership remain?
Pete: For a while. Okay. Like, we were we were for a while. So, eventually, probably, I'd say less than a year after I quit, we had made enough money to, like, satisfy what needed to be satisfied, and then he was full time too.
Steve: Got it. Yeah. Okay. You guys still partners today?
Pete: No. Not for about eighteen months ago. We were just decided to do separate. Okay.
Steve: So it was good and healthy. Yeah. Until, you know, you had to change your focus.
Pete: Exactly. Yeah. Gotcha. Well, that's good.
Steve: Yeah. Usually, that's not how that works.
Pete: That's that's what we were told the whole time, the whole, like, seven, eight years we were together. Yeah.
Steve: That's great. Yeah. Alright. So then you sign up with Tom and Cody, who Tom has still not been in the show. Tom, if you're watching.
Still not been on the show. Cody's been on a couple of times. So what did you take away from Wholesaling Inc that helped you in your business?
Pete: Huge thing is massive imperfect action. Right? Like, I I I'd probably heard that before a few times, like I said, when I first started, but, those guys, especially Tom, just said that over and over again. He's like, you don't have to have a beautiful logo. You don't have to have a, you know, color scheme.
You don't have to have a website. You don't have to have all this stuff. You can do really well
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: With taking action and and talking to people as much as possible. Yeah. And then just the personal side of it, those guys were always on, like, personal development, and they're just super positive, great guys to to be around. That was the biggest thing is just, like, just keep going. Just, like, keep taking that action.
And the more people you get in front of and try to help and work with Mhmm. Things will work out.
Steve: What are some of the biggest challenges in your journey on on before the transition to what you do now, what are some of your biggest challenges?
Pete: Like, just the wholesaling side? Yeah.
Steve: Well A lot of people are listening right now. They're pretty heavy in in wholesaling. Yeah. Right? Not a lot of them.
Pete: Yeah. Things change. Right? Like, you can't do the same thing over and over and over again. Like, I've I've been around for a little while now.
And in in my cycle since I've been there, I've been we we started to do we started out in Charlotte, right, just local. And then the big thing for a while was to go virtual.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And you wanna blow it out of the water, and then you're like, oh, this works here. This is great. So we went into Dallas, went into Houston. It went well for a while. But even in there, those markets changed.
Like, they have storms. There's been hurricanes since we were there. And then, obviously, COVID hit, and that changed things. Everything's remote. So a a a big challenge or a big thing to say to anybody else out there is, like, you have to know that things are gonna change.
Like, even within my ten year nine, ten years, there's been cycles. Right now there's a lot of legislation and things like that coming out, so you have to be able to adapt. You can't just stick with one thing and be like, I'm good. I'm all I'm gonna do is this for the next three years, and I'm fine. Right.
Right? So that and I think, again, going back to the big thing was everybody was like scale. Once you get it going after a while, you're like, oh, I made a 100 a month. Why can't I make two, three, four, five, and eventually get to whatever? When you start to scale, it's a lot.
Mhmm. You gotta deal with more people.
Steve: You have
Pete: to weigh more overhead, and you have to you have to feed those people. Opportunely, you're responsible for that. I I went from being like, I'll do whatever it takes. I'll get up in the morning. I'll knock on doors.
I'll, you know, stand outside this guy's door for two hours until 10:00 at night until he doesn't come out, but other people may not have that dedication. Right? Nobody's ever gonna take your business most likely as serious as you. So taking that on from just being like, oh, this is cool. This is neat.
This is real to having other people come on board and, like, you have to be responsible. You have to train them. You have all of that. Like, it's a it's a whole different animal in itself.
Steve: So given this conversation so far, I suspect, could be completely off base, you might be more conservative in your approach. So instead of, like, balls to the wall, let's blow this thing out of the water. It's like, let's scale as responsibly as we can.
Pete: Right.
Steve: Is that accurate? Yeah. Okay. So then and looking at that, were you able to, like, head off a lot of those challenges, or did you find that, you got wrapped up in the same challenges as everybody else?
Speaker: I've got some big news, and you'll want to hear all of this because I'm gonna give you the best bonus ever at the end of this video. You all know that I've been providing sales training for six years now, and I've had the opportunity to to train hundreds of the best teams in the country and thousands of individuals as well. And they've all had wild success along the way, some of which you've even seen on this podcast. You also know Ian Ross, who has been coaching alongside me now for over two years. He's the biggest sales geek ever, and he's been training business owners and individual contributors ever since he started working here.
He even runs the Close My Sales podcast, but we had a problem. There was a lot of confusion. What is it exactly that we sell here? Is it disruptors training? Is it Steve Trane training?
Or is it closed more sales training? It's none of those. It is objection proof selling. Ian runs objection proof selling for business owners and individuals. I run objection proof selling for teams where I coach their entire team.
And to celebrate the rebrand, I want to give you something that I never would have thought been possible until recently. We've been training this AI bot for over a year now to score all of our sales calls internally. Every call we run, we have the bot review the call to Ian and mine exact standards for sales. We run every one of our our team members calls through the same exact AI bot, and now we're giving it to you for free. This bot will review your calls based on dozens and dozens of metrics.
It will tell you what you did well, what you can do better, again, by the standards of the objection proof selling formula. And if you want to use our bot for free, just head over to our website, objectionproof.ai. Again, objectionproof.ai. I want to emphasize here, you're getting access to our bot, which allows you to get better in sales for free so that you can make even more money now without having to spend another dollar. Go check it out now.
Pete: Well, I would say I would say now I've learned to slow down and Slow down. Be more selective than everything. But I was definitely I I think I was more conservative than a lot of people because I know, like, I've I've come up with, you know, a certain group where everyone again, they were going we're going to all the same events, all the same meetups. We were hanging out together. Scale was the word.
That was the hottest thing now. Years. Yeah. It was. It was just like you're doing it here.
Have you ever tried it virtually? Have you ever tried it whatever? Have you ever tried it? And all that kind of stuff. And you're like, well, I've done the hardest part.
Right? Like, I started. What what could go wrong? So, yeah, I was definitely I drank the Kool Aid on that a little bit. Mhmm.
I was just like, yeah. Let's go for it. Right? Because it's, you know, it's limitless. Like, what there's all these people that need help out there, and we're pretty good at it.
So let's figure it out. But I would say probably right around two years ago is when I was just like that's that's when my business partner and I moved eighteen months ago. We're just like, we've we've got really far. Like, we had a big team. We had wasn't massive, but we had about 12 people in house, bunch of VAs, and we're probably in six different markets.
Mhmm. And we had some we had really good months. You know? We had months where we got close to 30 deals in a month. We had big big, big months as far as, like, revenue and all that kind of stuff.
But we got to a point where we were both starting going different directions. He wanted to go after something else. I wanna do I wanna do something else. And I really was like, is this all worth it to have this big of a team and this much responsibility and this much head is this really what I wanna do, like, moving forward? So a lot of people talk about scale, but nobody talks about, if you wanna call it, descale or kinda like softening or bringing it down a little bit.
So that that's been an interesting piece to it as well.
Steve: Yeah. So we'll definitely talk about that. Okay. But before we talk about that, what were some of the biggest lessons biggest, humility lessons in that journey?
Pete: I think, again, knowing and realizing that nobody's gonna take it as serious as you. Mhmm. Right? Like, your own business. Like, people we we had people pretty bought in, and we had a a a good environment.
We had a strong environment. But a lot of times when you bring people on board, and and I understand because I've been on the employee side too. Like, they wanna maximize out what's best for them
Steve: Of course.
Pete: In a given situation. You can't you can't blame them. Right? But does that fit in with what is your vision? Does that fit in what's best for your company?
So having to deal with that, having to deal with people's personas, having to deal with people's, concepts and all that kind of stuff is really, really tough can be tough. Another thing is you can make $300,000 a month, but if your overhead is not too far off of that or at least half of that in just marketing and other things too. Cool. You had a big month, but what's your net? Right?
Everybody likes to talk in gross. Mhmm. But what are you actually bringing home? And then if you have a bad month and you're putting out all that money, how long can you sustain that? Right.
So those are big valuable lessons because to scale, you have to spend more money, and you have to go into unknown territory. And every market's a little bit different, and it's kinda like starting all over again. Right? So those were big, like, wake up moments and big, like, okay. This is this is pretty big money that you're talking about.
Steve: What was your most negative monthly member, like, on a p and l perspective?
Pete: Top of my head, I would probably say maybe, like, a $25.30 k loss Yeah. Month. Yeah. Luckily, nothing ever too too crazy and nothing too consistently bad. Yeah.
But, yeah, it's it's not fun. Again, when when you start and we started with just a little bit, and you start making money in twenty five, thirty, forty k profit months, and you're only putting a few grand in, you're like, this is really cool. But when you see a negative for the first time, and then it's just kind of like a gut punch. But I $20.25, 30 k probably. Gotcha.
Steve: Yeah. Only asking so Jesse Burrell was just here. He was like, his worst month was 300,000 negative. I was like, man, pretty negative month.
Pete: That's tough. Yeah. Yeah. No. That's that puts it in perspective.
Yeah.
Steve: I mean, they always have the savings and everything else, but it's like, man, like Right. Just looking at that number, like, you know, on on on the p and l's. That'd be crazy. Yeah. So then unscaling.
Right? I I or I guess descale. Right? I'm I'm looking at my Keurig. You know, I got this little thing that says, like, you know, it's been a while.
You gotta descale your carrier. Clean it up. Yeah. So descaling your your your business because you say at at at at at 12 people, right, at the company. Let's talk about two different things.
What was it like to unwind your business? And the second thing is what was it like to unwind your partnership?
Pete: Yeah. Unwind the business, it's interesting with that was once we kinda put it out there that we're really gonna if we're really gonna do this, we're gonna hold people more accountable, because we weren't always the best at KPIs. We weren't always the best at listing into calls. Right? We are the kind of guys that we were just like, if it's working, if if we get a lead, we'll close it.
Right? Like, we trust these guys. They're good. We're sitting in the office with them. We hear most of the stuff going on.
Mhmm. So that was definitely a thing that was not, taken care of like it should be.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: So once we did get serious about that, it's funny how people just kinda started leaving on their own.
Steve: Right? Self selecting.
Pete: Yeah. And so we didn't have to do it. It wasn't like we went in one day and we're like, hey, guys. We're we're not partners anymore. This is over with.
It was kinda like piece by piece, like, writing was on the wall, of, you know, this is this isn't just, like, fun and games anymore. This is like, hey. Are we really gonna make this work? Right? Everybody's gotta be held accountable.
So that kinda just, like, holistically, naturally, organically start happening. It was so, like, you just get a an email at, like, 10:00 at night with somebody just being like, hey. I really appreciate the opportunity, but, you know, I'm I'm just gonna look at to do something else now. And you're just like, that's interesting. And it just happened, like, every few weeks or whatever.
So it started to wind itself down like that.
Steve: And then to unwind. All you gotta do is just hold people accountable.
Pete: That's it. That's it. Yeah. And if they start doing really good, then you're like, maybe I shouldn't unwind. Like, maybe I'll just let them run it.
So so that kinda happened in that fashion, and it was just down to probably half. Mhmm. And then just kinda letting people know, like, hey. We're gonna do things a little bit different. Yeah.
And I have I the one person I've kept on board, she's just, like, amazing rock star. She was, like, our third hire. She's a transaction coordinator. Mhmm. And that's the thing I would tell anybody starting out new.
Like, if you wanna know my personal feeling and experience is, like, if you wanna know what your first hire should be, if you're decent at sales, if you're decent on the phone, that sort of thing, get a TC and try to get someone, like, in house there. Mhmm. Because she came in and she just, like, she took so much off my plate that allowed me to do other things. And to this day, like, she helps me run the transactional funding business. She's had her hand in over, placed 700 transactions, and I can trust her.
I'm I'm on this trip doing this now and everything like that. Mhmm. There's no question. Right? Like, she's just gonna handle it.
Yeah. So she stayed around. She's the one person that I I still have from the old business, and I would say all day long, like transaction coordinator, that sort of thing. I hire a TC, and they will and she's she wears multiple hats. Like, she's gotten reductions from sellers.
Like, people love her and work with her. They tell tell me all the time. People try to steal her from me all the time, that sort of thing. So, but, yeah, that that was kinda it. It just happened organically, and then it got to that point where it was last January.
We had a really nice office space in a really cool part of Charlotte, but it was expensive. And we're like, there's only a few of us left now, and we're about to split ways. So we shut that down. And then from there, transitioned over. I still I still wholesale, but I only do it in Charlotte in my backyard.
Yeah. I still go on appointments. Right? Like, that I got away from that for a long time because during COVID, couldn't. And then everybody is like, oh, you can do everything virtually even in your own backyard.
And so you're like, oh, this is easy. But now now that I've started going on appointments and everything again, I I realize, like, how powerful that is. Yeah. Like, to go up, to show up, to put a a face to name, and so many people are like, oh, like, I feel so comfortable with you now, or, oh, you're not someone from out of town. I get people that call me from blah blah blah all the time.
So, I still do it there locally. It's a much smaller scale in operation. Mhmm. And then, again, the the main focus now is is is transactional funding.
Steve: So, Jimmy Vreeland, who's been on the show, and he's actually was somewhat regular on Pardon Disruption when we were running that show. He remarks, like, the the a lot of people that he talks to is, like, you know, what's your greatest strength? Like, culture. People love working here.
Pete: Mhmm.
Steve: What's your greatest weakness? Accountability. Yeah. There's a there's a pretty strong correlation, like
Pete: Right. Yeah.
Steve: We got a strong culture, but, also, we can't hold people accountable. Right? And so, like, how do we find a balance? So, and for me, like, that was the greatest challenge forever. Right?
Like, actually, you know, we talk about beginning of the show, like, building yourself, managing sales team. We use AI to do call reviews, and we use AI to help people hold themselves accountable. Like
Pete: Yeah. Making life way easier. I bet. Way easier. There's there's nothing to me more draining than listening to someone else's call.
Steve: Oh, yeah. Most good salespeople is exhausting.
Pete: I'll avoid it like the play. Even my own call, like, I'm not gonna listen to my own calls. Right? Let's be honest. But somebody else's, I I have so many times, I was like, I'm gonna sit here and listen.
And, like, the first ten, fifteen seconds go well, and I'm like, skip five minutes in. Skip whatever. Oh, that sounded pretty good. Whatever. Yeah.
Right? But there's just something about it where it's just like, I do not wanna listen to the call.
Steve: The greatest complaint I had from my team when I was doing call reviews was, like, in an hour, we'd never get past eight minutes. We'd never get past eight minutes into the call because you're constantly stopping and critiquing. Stop and critiquing, and it's like, well Right. Don't screw it up. Right.
We'll make it past eight minutes. Right. So, yeah, that was the the greatest complaint. So, like, the the the benefit the plus side of the tool that we have right now is that I'll actually review the whole call because it doesn't have to stop. Right.
That's awesome. I'll say, Pete, why'd you say that? Right.
Pete: What were you
Steve: what was your what was going through your mind
Pete: Right.
Steve: When you said that exactly? Right. Like, what part of our training was Right.
Pete: How many times have we talked about that? Yeah.
Steve: Right. So, thankfully, we have that.
Pete: That's awesome. As well.
Steve: And then scaling on the partnership. Right? Because, like, that's one of the hardest things. I mean, outside of your spouse, who you partner with is the most important person in your life. Yeah.
Right? And, you know, more often than not, you actually spend more waking hours with that person than your spouse.
Pete: Thousand percent.
Steve: So then talking about, like, having this conversation, what was that like?
Pete: It it very much so is. Like, it it's a partnership.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: Right? And you you go through doing something and building something up where both of you are like, yeah. Let's just give it our all and do our thing, and then it starts working. You have that bond.
Steve: Right?
Pete: And I I don't regret, like, having a partner at all. I don't I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't have the experience. I wouldn't have gotten to where I am without that. Like, it was both of us kinda pushing each other and and that sort of thing and, complimenting each other.
But, yeah, it's funny because it's I I feel like it's, like, an an actual, like, like, romantic relationship in the sense of, I think you both feel it for a while, or at least one of you does, and the other person may be like, oh, this is great. And you're like,
Steve: is it?
Pete: But I think with both of us for a while, we kinda felt it. And we would maybe, like, bring it up in in casual or in whatever and, like, drop little hints here, there, whatever, but never, like, had, like, sat down, like, hey. Let's talk through this and talk it out. So as it got closer to the time when we were, like, just both honest with each other, we had a couple conversations, like, kinda what ifs. Mhmm.
Right? Like, if we stop dating, is it okay if I go over here and do this? Can I still hang out with your group of friends even though we're not together anymore? But it was kinda feeling it out, sussing it out, and then eventually just it was, like, hey. Like, we pretty much when we're like, we're not we're gonna go all remote.
Like, we're not gonna do the office anymore. Kinda like that conversation is just like one time, I was just like, hey. Let's just talk. Mhmm. Like, do you really wanna keep doing this?
How much longer can you push? Like, obviously, you're getting into something else. I'm getting into something else. This has been great. This got us to where we are.
Mhmm. Made us a bunch of money to change both of our lives. But everything has its cycle, and we were kinda at that spot until the end of it. So once you have that conversation, you both feel really better about it. Yeah.
And it's just kinda like a relief. But it is a little weird too because you're spending all that time with that person. Like you said, like, especially him and I, like, when we started, 05:00 in the morning going out there doing that. Right? And then we sat not too far from each other at work.
And on our breaks, we had talked about that's it was our life because we were building it up and we're doing it together. So it is very much so like a relationship. But after a while, you just have to. It's gonna be awkward. It's gonna be tough.
It's gonna be hard. But, eventually, you just have that conversation. And then afterwards, you just feel like a big big weight and everything like that's been Yeah. So
Steve: Yeah. And because, I I mean, like, people are watching. You're gonna have to have this conversation.
Speaker: Not all
Steve: of them.
Pete: Right. At least half of them. At least. At least half of them. I mean, the whole time coming up, anyone I would talk to, they're like, you're in a partnership.
Right? Like, we'd go to events or we'd get some private one on one coaching, and they're like, are you sure you guys wanna do this? And every time afterwards, we're like, dude, like, we wouldn't be where we are. This is great. We love each other.
And then slowly but surely, it it kinda gets to a point. And a lot of people we talk to are like, yeah. I had a partnership for three, four, five years, whatever, and it's okay if it doesn't last. If it continues to, awesome. Great.
I think there are a few people out there that are partners and just crush it together. But, yeah, it was just like I would hear that, and I'd be like, I don't know. Like, whatever. And and then slowly but surely, it just start creeping up more and more, and you have to have that conversation. If not, then somebody one day just stops returning.
They ghost you. Right? Like, they stop returning your calls. They stop whatever, and then you have to scramble and figure everything out. So us having that conversation coming to an amicable agreement Mhmm.
Helped us kinda wind everything down with that.
Steve: Yeah. And it's just it's a season. Right? Like, you have this season together, and it's great when you look back. Yeah.
So before we talk about your thing, you know, I will say when I first got into real estate, there are two different thoughts I had, of which I've done either. First one's like, man, if I'm really successful, I can start buying multifamily properties.
Pete: Mhmm.
Steve: Or I can start buying commercial buildings. Right? Like, this is the thought. Like, if I'm if I'm successful in real estate
Pete: Right.
Steve: Here's the direction I can go. Or the other direction is, man, if I make a lot of money, I can't wait to be a hard money lender one day. Right. Right? Like, those are the two, like, visions I had, and I imagine some people else have also had.
Pete: Mhmm.
Steve: So what was your thought process in going down this road with transactional funding?
Pete: My thought process with that is it came out of necessity in wholesaling, and I had a terrible experience with it.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And it was just like an an light bulb moment where I was like I'll go back a little bit. Like, within wholesaling, I was always like, what else what else can I do here? Right? Like, I I can continue to do deals, make money, that sort of thing. I can you kinda do that for however long unless it totally gets phased out or whatever.
But I could continue to do this. This is great. But, like, I'm not I'm obviously not a KPI, not a data guy. Right? Like, I'm not bringing that to the table.
I like to help people, and and if anybody reaches out to me and they're like, hey. I have a question, situation, whatever. Like, I'm not a coach or anything, but I'll help anybody all day long and give them my experience in closing, you know, hundreds and hundreds of transactions. But I was always like, what am I gonna what what can I bring to the table? Because I'd go to these events, these meetups, and you've got, like, Carrot over here.
Mhmm. You've got Batch over here. You've got sub two and creative stuff over here. So it was always like, you know, one day, something's gonna hit. Right?
Like, some something for me and what I can bring to the table. Yeah. And we started doing double closings in 2020 when all of the the hedge fund, iBuyers, whatever you wanna call them, like, when they start buying stuff. And the markets we were in, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, those are, like Great markets. The biggest markets.
Right? So Only one you were missing was Phoenix. Only one I was missing Phoenix. And I stayed away from that because I didn't wanna spend all of that. I had my limits.
But, never done a double close. Always, you know, a few 100 transactions in, everything was an assignment. Right? And I had some blow up on me because they were big. I've I've had I have stories of people calling me at the attorney's office.
North Carolina is an attorney state Mhmm. On speaker phone, and the attorney's like, hey, Pete. And I'm like, what's up? He's like, we have a situation. And that person, the seller, saw the assignment fee.
Right? So and I've had buyers come back to me and be like, hey. You're making 40 k on this one. Why don't you give me a little bit of a a deal? I'm like, why do you care what I'm making?
Right? Or I've had a a deal later that, like, I saw that you made 50 k on it. I didn't say anything then, but, like, work with me a little bit now. So never done a double close. Always done assignments.
Whenever there was a big deal or anything like that, that whole day, stomachs in knots. I'm like, god. I hope this goes through. Right? And then when I started selling to the when we started selling to the high buyers, they were like, just to let you know.
Right? Like, if you make more than 15 k on a deal, I'm gonna send this to my boss. And even if it hits all of our numbers, they'll come back and they'll find something wrong with it. Mhmm. Right?
So they're like, you should probably double close it. And I was like, cool. Then I was like, what the hell is a double close? Like, what does that even mean? Like, how is that possible?
So I learned out, like, trial and error, like, what a double close is, what to do. Because we were making the, like, on those deals, like, we're making $40.50 k. Like, our average went way, way up because we could offer the sellers so much more Mhmm. Because these guys were buying stuff at ridiculous prices. So it it around 2020, we did our first few, and with that, it was just a terrible experience.
Like, I would go to hard money guys or I would go to private money guys, and they're like, we don't do this. We don't do this. But we can lock you in on, like, you know, if you wanna do a flip, if you wanna do whatever. Or if they wanted to do it, they were like, yeah. Cool.
I'll charge you, like, five or 6%, like, points. So I found some really local private money guys, like some OG guys in Charlotte. And they're like, I got you. I'll do it for, like, three or four points. I'm like, oh, this is cool.
Cost of doing business, I'm making 40 k, whatever. But then when we come around to it, I had guys go on hunting trips on the day of closing, like some good old boys. They're like, nope. Going out, boar hunting, whatever. Can't do it.
Right? I had guys on the golf course where they're like, oh, I'm on the twelfth hole. Like, I'll get you when I'm done. I'm like, six more holes. You probably got, like, two more hours.
Mhmm. Then I had guys that are like, oh, I didn't make it to the bank today. I'm like, it's $20.20 whatever. Like, you're going to the bank to send a wire. Mhmm.
So just tear like, you're the middleman. You're caught there. Everybody's mad at you. They're like, why aren't you closing? You know, that kind of thing.
And you're like, just give me a little more time. So I had a terrible experience, and I was just like, I can make this so much better. And if if I'm doing it and I'm not one of these massive, big nationwide wholesaling companies, how many of these deals are happening on a daily basis, and how can I do this as a wholesaler for wholesalers, make it super simple, the same process, because everyone I went to was a different process? So the same process every time, and then how can I do it where they'll I'm not crushing their fee, like, their assignment fee or what they're making to where they're like, these guys are great? They're easy to work with, and they don't charge an arm in a way.
Yeah. So, again, kind of a light bulb moment where I'm just like, I think I can be a much better product. Again, I'm not the data guy. I'm not the creative finance guy. I'm not the coach.
I'm not the whatever. But, like, this is what I could take back to the wholesaling space Mhmm. That's done so much for me and changed my life, and I can make it the best product possible from an investor to other investors, from a wholesaler to other wholesalers.
Steve: So before you go down further, which I like this mindset because, like, you know, we had Tim Harridge on the show with Turnus. Right? Like, he created our MoneyLender company for you know, buy floaters or floaters. Right.
Pete: Right?
Steve: So I like I like where you're going with this.
Pete: Sure.
Steve: Before we go further, what does double close mean?
Pete: Double closing is you have a contract with the seller Mhmm.
Steve: And
Pete: let's just use very simple terms for a 100,000. Mhmm. Right? And then you have a contract with a buyer. Let's say you killed it and you have it to them for 200,000.
Mhmm. Normal transaction for a wholesaler is to take that contract for 100 and assign it over to that end buyer for 200. Mhmm. Moment you're signing over, most buyer savvy buyer's gonna be like, I need to see your contract to see that it's legit. And by the way, like, just send it over to me.
I don't care. You can leave the price on there. You can redact it. You can do whatever. Right?
So you're assigning it over. In a double close, you're like, No, no, no. I have a contract directly with the seller and I have a contract with the buyer separate. Mhmm. Instead of assigning it over, I now can buy it and on the same day have everything lined up with title or attorney or whoever Mhmm.
Where I buy it for 100, and I turn around and I sell it to that end buyer for 200. The seller, there's no assignment fee on it, and you are the legit buyer. So that that gives you some clout there to actually be on there. And then when you sell it to the end buyer, that's a direct contract with them. You're the actual seller.
Mhmm. So instead of assigning it over, a double close is literally two closings in one day, and they they happen back to back. Simultaneous. Simultaneous.
Steve: Or at least as near as simultaneous.
Pete: Not near. Yeah. One's gotta record real quick, and then you turn around and sell it.
Steve: So question, for us, because in Arizona, we can wet fund.
Pete: Pass through.
Steve: Yeah. So I can take so when I do double close the reason why I don't double close is because I have to pay an extra title fee.
Pete: Yeah. Alright. Yeah. That's a
Steve: ground title fee, but, like, I could take the money from the 200 and fund a 100 Mhmm. In Arizona. Yeah. You guys
Pete: are the wild, wild West.
Steve: We are absolutely the wild, wild west. So talking about these in other states, like, you've been doing this for a while now. Mhmm. What are
Pete: the challenges?
Steve: Or, I guess, like, is it just outright restricted North Carolina and and surrounding areas on on doing, like, what pass through funding?
Pete: We used to be able to. So when I first started, you could do pass through funding and you could do blind HUDs.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: You could do a blind HUD where it was an assignment, but the HUD with the seller was one and the HUD with the end buyer was another one. Mhmm. That got outlawed. The bar took it away because it's attorney state, so they're like, no. And then they took away the pass through funding.
Steve: Ours in. So the attorney, I don't know if it's an association, but, yeah, the attorneys had a meeting, and they decided it's no longer allowed. Right. It wasn't like legislation. Like, the attorneys, like, we don't wanna do this anymore.
Pete: Right. Okay. Yeah. And then the then but you could still do pass through funding, and that probably stopped three or four years ago.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: So same thing. It's like, yeah. I'll just use the unbiased funds, whatever. Mhmm. And then I had multiple attorneys tell me, like, no.
They're cracking down on that. They think it's commingling. They think it's whatever. Right? So that's gone.
And I I talk to investors, wholesalers all the all the time now, different states. Like, every state's got something in the works or something, you know, different laws. Some of them are similar, some aren't. So I'm not gonna pretend to know which exactly each one is.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: But they tell me all the time, like, people reach out and they're like, oh, man. I gotta start double closing because same thing. Like, we used to do WET funding, pass through funding. Mhmm. They took it away.
Yeah. So that that is the the reason why I think with legislation with things coming down more and more, being able to double close is huge. Mhmm. Yeah. Not not an attorney, not a not anything like that.
So I'm not saying that I know everything or I'm saying, you know, like, I'm a lawyer. But a big a big piece of it is too is protecting that profit. Right? Like and a lot of people automatically think they're like, oh, the seller's gonna see them blow up. A lot of times in my I've had it happen once or twice.
But in my experience, the seller's just like they go in, they go sign, and they're like, show me how much money I'm walking away with, cash to seller. Okay. Cool, ma'am. I'll sign. Right?
But the end buyers are usually way more savvy, and those are the ones that I had issues with. And those are the ones that we had to, like, stop taking them off our list because they would come back to us, and they would complain about what they're paying. Even though they'll tell you all day long, like, oh, man. I hope you make as much as possible. I don't care.
Mhmm.
Steve: But
Pete: they were the ones where after a while, they were just like, hey, man. You made 40 k. You made 50. You made more than me by assigning this over to me and not having to put any work into it Mhmm. Than I did putting three or four months in it and then putting it on the market and whatever.
Right? So to cut all that out and to protect those fees, especially the larger ones, to not be sweating bullets on the day of closing, if you can't do wet funding or pass through funding, is to double close. Yeah.
Steve: Well, you know what's crazy? For us, the number was 50 k. Yeah. If I don't know you, 50. That's about the limit.
Yeah. Right? I'll push it. Right? And if you have a problem, like, you just get blacklisted.
Pete: Right.
Steve: If I do know you, it was a 100 k. If we're making more than a 100 k, we're for sure double closing. Yeah. Because we don't want it. So I mean, that happened, like, twice.
Right? Yeah. It's like, hey. Let's go ahead and just double close this one. I don't want any
Pete: Right.
Steve: No any problem. Right? Because, like, I think think one of those was, like, someone that sold that the wholesale to a hedge fund. It's like, you know, they made their 15. We made, like, a 120.
Everyone's happy. Right? But, like, hey. Let's go ahead and double close this one.
Pete: Let's keep it clean.
Steve: Yeah. And so, I guess, in that instance, that'd be a triple close because there was a hedge fund.
Pete: Yeah. We do we fund that we have those come to us sometimes too, which is wild. And people they everyone involved, like, the wholesalers involved know. And they're like, yeah. I'll use you too.
You know? Okay. Cool. That's great. So, yeah, I think I think the to keep it clean, to keep it simple, to you're not holding your breath at closing Mhmm.
Is to do that. And, again, with us making it as simple as possible and with on 90% of the stuff we fund is actually we charge less than 1% Yeah. Where it's just like a no brainer, Right? Where people even
Steve: So before we get to that Yeah. Right? Because I wanna kinda, talk about because your fees are crazy, and I told you that before we even got on the show. Yeah. So I wanna talk about the other reasons for this, like, why this is important.
Pete: Mhmm.
Steve: So you kinda, you know, touched on it a little bit, but, you know, just south of where you guys are, they passed a law. Mhmm. And, they're passing more and more laws. Yeah. I got my good friend, Joe Taylor.
He's out in Portland where, like, they now have a three day right of rescission. Or yeah. I think it's three days and, like, in, like, PA, it's, like, a thirty day right of rescission. Or it's I might be getting all mixed up. But there are rights of rescissions.
Right?
Pete: Right.
Steve: On these purchase contracts. And I think what it was I think in in Portland, someone needs to be licensed, right, in the transaction, which is Right. Nuts. Right. So going to this, other problems we're solving here is how we protect your profit.
So, like, yeah, there's a there's a there's a part about, like, you know, do we want the seller and how much we're making? And another part is, like, do we wanna know how much to buy do we want the buyers to know? But next thing is, like, you know, like, I don't wanna say necessarily the National Association of Realtors is getting involved, but there are other people that are concerned about how much money is being made. Of course. Let's talk about how it solves, like, how it solves that problem.
Speaker: If you're a real estate investor tired of using a clunky CRM, check out Karat CRM, previously known as investor fuse. Karat CRM's action based system makes it super easy to use, and it works especially well for acquisition teams with features like weighted lead routing and advanced KPIs. Or if you're a newer investor, they also have a lightweight version that's still powerful and doesn't break the bank. Plus, they rolled out new powerful AI tools like the autonomous lead manager that follows up for you. The Karat team makes switching super easy, and it plays well with all your other tools.
Whether you're running solo or have a large team, check it out and schedule a demo at carat.com/trang. That's trang.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, if we ever get to a point where you can't buy something and turn around and sell it for more, I think it's not just wholesalers that are in trouble. I think that's everything. Right? Like, any the people on Facebook Marketplace are gonna be in trouble, people at grocery store.
I mean, every the whole idea is to get something at one price and be able to turn around and sell it and make a profit. Mhmm. Right? So, yeah, there are there's a million there's, like, every state now is just, like, proposed legislation. But they have some in North Carolina right now that came out.
Like, it's it's just went through the house, but they're redrafting it. And luckily, there's a lot of investors there and everybody pushing back on it and try to change it. Because it it wasn't just you become a real estate agent. It was like you can't be a part of a transaction like this unless it's a primary residence. And it's like, how is anybody ever gonna flip a property?
Are you just gonna have property sitting all over the place just abandoned forever?
Steve: Was it You can The the positive you were gonna limit it?
Pete: Original wording was along those lines. A big piece of it was to go against, like, hedge funds and everything like that and try to limit it. But it when it first came out, like, the initial, like, drafts and stuff with it, it was, like, so strong. Whereas, like, every like, that's one of the fastest growing markets in the country. Mhmm.
Right? And the only reason that that happens with housing and everything is because you have people that will either buy old stuff or build new stuff. Mhmm. So it just came out real, real heavy, and obviously seems like it's pushed by by real estate like, realtors and that sort of thing. But back to, like, all these different states have all these different laws.
I mean, again, I I don't even know how many of them are true or not. I'm I'm with people on the phone all the time. They're like, hey, man. I'm using it because I don't wanna go get my license. And if I do an assignment, I have to get my license.
Yeah. Somebody reached out to me before and said there's a there's something in legislation that they're thinking about passing where if you do an assignment, every single assignment you have to do, you have to open a new LLC, something along those lines. Just some of it's rumor, some of it's real, some of it's whatever, but just, like, crazy stuff. And I'm like, well, again, I'm not in your market. I'm not an attorney.
I'm not saying 100%, but a lot of things, if you can just buy it and turn around and sell it Mhmm. If the title company is okay with it, if the attorney is okay with it, like, that's probably your move here. Yeah. So it, yeah, it it just it makes it so much cleaner, so much more straightforward if you can just say, yeah. Cool.
I'll buy it. You know, I'll buy it. And then you have everything lined up and you turn around and sell it. Mhmm. People tend to just, like, be like, okay.
It was a transaction, and then just move on and do the next thing. Yeah. But if you get involved with assignment fees and all that kind of stuff, especially if you're working with an agent and they say they're investor friendly, but the moment you're like, oh, I have this under contract, whatever, it just starts raising, like, all these red flags and all these issues where you're like, okay. Now I have to, like, talk them through it, and I hope they're investor friendly.
Steve: Yeah. And I think one of the other things too, you talk about, like, the language being really bad, and I think this isn't really stated enough, is that Right. Sure. You know, there's this, like, nemesis kinda, like, arch nemesis kinda, like, feeling between the realtors and the wholesalers. But, like, I don't think enough is said is that, like, the the people writing legislation are outright, for the most part, stupid.
Right? I was gonna use a different word. Friendly show. Yeah. Right?
But, like, they're grossly incompetent. Right. Like, they're the the the the, negative connotations thrown around on Twitter. Right? Don't go there.
It's a really dark place. But the theater kids. Right? Like Yeah. This is where they go for, like, a career.
Pete: Right. And
Steve: so you look at those, like, legislation, it's like, man, like, it's really heavy. It's like or they're just grossly incompetent. Yeah. And I don't think there's enough weight put behind, like, they could just be dumb. Yeah.
There's well, don't attribute necessarily the malice, but you can attribute to incompetence. And I think there's an element of that as well. Right. Right? Because, like, you you see some of these legislation, like, this doesn't make any sense.
Like, in what world? Like, even if we were trying to be a pro realtor, this doesn't even help the realtor. No. Like, how does this help anybody? Right?
Pete: What percentage of and I don't even know the number. What what percentage of transactions, maybe even in in Charlotte, North Carolina, are for owner occupant and how many of those are investment. Mhmm. Like, I don't I don't know if it's fifty fifty or what, but, again, one of the fastest growing cities year over year over year Mhmm. A lot of that stuff is not like I'm just putting somebody into it that's moving in from out of town or to their next location.
Mhmm. It's like even realtors are working with investors and builders and stuff like that. And if you have that stronger legislation come through and all that stops Mhmm. How do you not foresee that a little bit? Like, that's
Steve: an issue. Yeah. That's
Pete: a problem. Properties. Right. No. Exactly.
Yeah. So then even with affordable housing and everything like that, if you don't have a house if if investors aren't able to get more rentals and clean those up and and have those for people because it's cheaper than maybe a mortgage and that sort of thing, like, what's gonna happen? So they would it would get pushed through, and then six months later, they're like, oh, crap. We have a huge problem. Let us backtrack.
Steve: Have to live half an hour away now.
Pete: Right. Right?
Steve: Or outside the city, the Right.
Pete: The metro. Right. Yes. And then you're taking away from, yeah, all all of that. Thought all of that.
Steve: Thought all the way through. Right. Section eight. Right.
Pete: Yeah. Right? It's crazy.
Steve: So alright. So you saw a problem. Mhmm. You felt like you solved it for or you you solved it for yourself.
Pete: Mhmm.
Speaker: How did
Steve: you solve this problem for yourself? Because you didn't just start off like, I'm gonna be transactional funder.
Pete: Right.
Steve: I imagine step one was like, hey. I have to fund these deals. Right. What was that step?
Pete: Just reaching out to other wholesalers in Charlotte Mhmm. And being like, hey. Do you guys double close? Yeah. Right?
And most of them are like, yeah. Every once in a while or, oh, yeah. I sell them. Amherst or Opendoor or whatever. Yeah.
Like, we double close. Yeah. Who do you who do you use? That sort of thing. How was the process?
What do they charge? And majority of them were just like, it sucks, but I have to do it. Right? And then so I was like, what if like, I I was just self funding it at this point. I was like, how about on the next one, I'll fund it for you, and this is what I'll charge?
And they're like, okay. Deal. So So you didn't have to
Steve: raise any capital to go down this road?
Pete: It was it was self funded. Yeah. Yeah. So and I I would let them know too. I'm like, hey.
If you get over this amount, like, I'm not your guy. Right? Like, let's work on the smaller deals first. Right? And luckily in Charlotte and then, like, outskirts of Charlotte that you can get some pretty cheap stuff.
So just did a few of them and made sure that my my nonnegotiable from the beginning is, like, I will not send you any money as the investor. I've known you for a long time. But yeah. And then the other thing is I won't fund it until everybody has signed closing docs, both parties, and your in buyer's funds are in escrow. Mhmm.
Right? Because I don't wanna fund it, and then you're like, oh, we're let's fund the a b side, the first transaction with the seller on Friday, and then Monday, we'll do the other one. That guy that guy gets abducted by aliens. That guy just changes his mind overnight, and then now I just bought a property and not a lot of recourse. Right?
So just little obvious things that made sense. And then started putting together some just, like, some we have a confirmation process doc that's like, hey. This is the amount that I'm funding. This is my fee. This is what I'll get back.
Do you agree to that sign off on? Mhmm. And then, again, we're an attorney state, so the s the the paralegal is like, hey. I'm gonna send this money over, but I'm not gonna send it over until you do like, show me that everybody signed that kind of thing, confirmational process on there. Yeah.
Because, again, you're you're dealing with not just the investor, but you're dealing with the closing company. We all we all love a good escrow officer or a good paralegal, but we also know your transaction is just one of 50 for that day on the bigger Mhmm. The bigger title companies. Right? So funded a few of them, and it went over really well.
And then pretty quickly, word-of-mouth, like, other people were calling me. Mhmm. They're like, hey. Will you do will you fund this? Will you fund that?
Yeah. So it just it just it was like, oh, this is working. This is pretty good. Mhmm.
Steve: And
Pete: then it just kinda kinda took off from there. And then I I, again, just like, okay. This is happening in Charlotte. This is one it's a good market, but this is one market in one part of the country. How many of these things are happening nationwide?
Right. And what's the steps in process because you don't have to walk a property. You don't have to underwrite it. This isn't hard money. It's not like I need to know that market when the ARV really is.
Steve: Have to worry about taking it back.
Pete: Don't have to worry about taking it back. Yeah. So then just started dipping my toes into reaching out. Again, we're at one point in time, we're in five or six different markets.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: So I know investors, buyers, and stuff in those other markets, and then just reaching out to them and being like, hey. Would you do you double close? Same thing. Hey. This is my process.
Let me know the next one you have. I'll work with you
Steve: on it. Yeah. So, yeah, word-of-mouth is working for you. So you're you're you're building this business. No expenses.
I'm asking this question because I'm considering going down this road as well. Right? I shared that with you before. Yeah. You mentioned a moment ago how you do it for less 1%.
My question for you is why? And I say this because I've seen historically, it's about two. Mhmm. One and a half, maybe. If I know the guy and I have a relationship, it's one.
Yeah. Why did you go below one? Because, like, you know, typically, you offer why does someone work with you? It's either easy
Pete: Mhmm.
Steve: It's fast Mhmm. It's fun Mhmm. Or it's cheaper. Yeah. Those are, like, the reasons why people do business with other people.
Pete: Right.
Steve: It sounds like you do the easy part. It's what based off our conversation, and, you know, you know, Tom Kroll wanna connected us.
Pete: Mhmm.
Steve: Felipe saw that you were coming, with the 8020. He's like, you know, like, Pete's a good dude. Right? So it sounds like we got the easy part
Pete: Yeah.
Steve: Done. And fast is kinda like with it. Right? It's same day.
Pete: Yeah.
Steve: I don't know how fun it is to work with you having done a transaction deal with you before. But then the last part is price. Why are you focused on the fast, easy, and cheaper when you don't need to?
Pete: I wanna be the go to guy. Alright. I wanna make it such a no brainer Mhmm. Where people are like, he's great. It like, people like to work with people that they like.
Right? I think that's first and foremost. Even if I charge more of that sort of thing, they're like, hey. It's a straightforward process. I can click this link.
I get an intro email. All I have to do is connect them to the closing company. Mhmm. They take it from there. I think that's the one of the biggest things.
Another piece of it is a a product by an investor for an investor by a wholesaler for a wholesaler. Mhmm. And then the other the third piece of it is, at the end of the day, price. Right? Like, what are they gonna take home?
What what makes sense? So I wanna make it as a no brainer as possible, as much of a no brainer, solution as possible. And my thing is everybody else does it for one and a half. Everybody else does it for 1%.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: But if I put out there and I tell people I will fund your deal, again, this is probably 90 to 95% of what I fund, for less than 1%, I think that's the last piece to the puzzle where people are like, that's crazy. Yeah. Let me reach out. Let me give them a call. Let me see how it goes.
Now I feel like if I offered that, but I had a crappy process or I was a jerk or I didn't follow through, I could offer it a half a percent and people wouldn't do it. Right? But that was the piece to the puzzle where I'm like, let me make this as appetizing and as appealing as possible. Mhmm. And with what I do as well too is it's it's a volume.
It's a volume business. Yeah. Right? Like, nobody's gonna get rich at on funding one or two deals once a month or something like that. And I think that's why a lot of the private money, hard money guys are like, I don't wanna touch that.
I don't wanna deal with that. What's your return on it? Mhmm. And I'm like, no. It's it's the velocity of it, and it's the rinse repeat of the process.
Yeah. Right? So my goal was to get as many people on board and continue to do that Mhmm. As quickly as possible. And that was the piece to it.
And then my goal is now to do as many of them as possible within within a day, within a week, within a month. Mhmm. And be the the go to for it.
Steve: Yeah. Because I'm thinking as far as the business model goes. Like, your costs are the same no matter what. Mhmm. Right?
Like, you only borrow the money when you need it if you have a fund. Right? So only using the money when you need it. So unless you're paying that money no matter what, I guess, like, right now, because what did we say here? 33,000,000 in the last eighteen months.
I imagine you don't carry 33,000,000 in your bank account at all times. No. No. No. Right?
So then you have to have access to some other capital as well. So your business model right now, is it a hybrid? There are some people that you pay interest all the time. Other people are gonna pay interest when you when when you're using it. Accurate?
Pete: No. Actually, right now, it it was self funded, and then I pulled together private money where I have it set up like a privately it's almost like a fund. Mhmm. But it's just like this is this is the amount that I have access to. Mhmm.
And this is the return that I have set up for you every single month. And I give them a little bit on the upside on every deal that I do
Steve: as well. So then no matter what, you have to pay them. So your cost is your cost. Mhmm. But it doesn't go up or down then, really, based on so, so your only fixed cost then is people Mhmm.
And then your borrowing costs, which is what you're arbitraging. Right. You're wholesaling money.
Pete: Right.
Steve: Right? Yeah. And so then with that, I guess, you tell me making it up in volume versus margin. If you do more deals at let's just say, I don't know what the rates are. What's what's your typical rate?
Pete: For what I what I charge? For transaction fund. Three quarters of a point. So point seven five. And I have a admin fee.
Steve: Yeah. So you're saying, basically, from your perspective, you'll be able to bring in more revenue and profits to the company at point seven five with good service and everything else Mhmm. Versus shooting for one is the is the business model. Right. Gotcha.
Right. Okay. Who coached you through that? The or was that just a thought process? The model?
Pete: Yeah. No one in particular. Yeah. No. It was just kind of thought concept, having a couple conversations
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And then just, honestly, just putting it out there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Steve: And I'm only asking this because I know, like I said, you know, kinda, like, playing with this idea Yeah. Haven't gone down on but for me, it was
Pete: like, yeah.
Steve: It was 1% all day.
Pete: Yeah. That's the bare minimum. Right?
Steve: It was never gonna be less. Like, if it was less than one, it's like, I don't even wanna, like
Pete: Right.
Steve: Open up the banking app. Right. Right. Right. For less than 1%.
Pete: You don't wanna get off the golf course or not go to your hunting trip. Well, because 100%.
Steve: You don't have to worry about me going golfing or hunting.
Pete: Like, that's
Steve: the one thing I'll like, I'm gonna be behind a computer or something. Yeah. But, yeah, I think just like because even though the risk isn't high, there's still some risk. Sure. There's unless you're meeting with every single buyer and seller, like, you hear these crazy stories.
Right? Like, the one that we had Tim here, he was on a show. Like, it was like he they wired, like, 650 or something like that. And it was just, like, this long con. Right?
Like, eight months or six months right into it.
Pete: Yeah.
Steve: And, like, everything looked legit. And, I think it was either, like, it wasn't a real title company or whatever, but it it looked a law of super long Yeah. Con. But, you know, multiple 6 figures is worth doing the long con for somebody. Sure.
Right? So, like, it's not, like, purely without Ezra. So Yeah. So then, I guess, for for that model then, like, what are your concerns running your business? I'm filming this video for the man himself, mister Ian Ross.
The guy crush is the guy's the best person in sales. Seen. I've invested elsewhere, and I haven't got the same results. I've gone from being a setter, making 5 k a month, to being a hybrid role, making 11 k a month, to now be four months down the line from 5 k to on a closing opportunity, inbound, full calendar with the best opportunity, the best offer in my space. OTE is around 20 k a month from month two.
So I've gone from 5 k to 20 k. If that's not a return on your investment, I don't know what
Pete: it is, man.
Steve: If you're a salesperson, you don't invest in sales training, you're gonna get left behind because your job is to be better at sales, and sales training directly makes you want money.
Speaker 3: If you like what you just heard and would like similar types of success, text close to 33777, and we'll see if you qualify to join objection proof selling. We're taking good sales reps, and we're making them objection proof.
Pete: I think something that we pay the most attention to is, like you're saying, with wires Mhmm. With fraud. The biggest thing is that that wiring information. So at first, I would just double, triple check. Right?
Like, calling them on the phone, verifying, giving them a little bit of time, calling them back. Like, I I probably got so many eye rolls on the other side where, like, we just had this conversation ten minutes ago. Mhmm.
Steve: Because I
Pete: would hope to get somebody else on that team to answer and do that. But then I found out about, certify ID, which you go on there, which a lot of type of companies and everybody use, where it's a it's third party, and you enter everything into a system. And then you send it over to them, and they have to verify and go through a process.
Speaker: What is that?
Pete: It's called certify ID. Mhmm. So I have my wiring instructions that anytime I'm working with somebody, a closing company, title company for the first time, I send them I'm like, okay. To verify wiring, I'm not gonna send you an email. I'm not gonna call you.
I'm not gonna do anything like that. I'm gonna send it through what I use, and it's called certify ID. So it goes in there. I go on to certify. I say, who's a representative on your team that will answer some personal information?
Right? And they're like, oh, you know, Tommy will. He's great. Whatever. Or he's the manager.
He's the the head attorney. Mhmm. So I put their information in there, and I send it over to them, their name, their their phone number, and everything. And it will go to them, and they'll get a they'll get a call or they'll get a link, and they have to go through. And it's it's super it's like filling out for, like, a credit card.
It's gonna be like, hey. In 2002, what color was the Jeep Wrangler that you owned? And what county have you lived in? And then then you go in and you verify those things, and then it gives you my wiring information. And then you have to do it on the flip side where you have to put in yours, and you have to they have to verify some things, and it comes back to us.
So that way, it's insured. So that's a big piece of it is the wiring information and to go through that process.
Steve: Is that a newer thing? I've never heard of that before.
Pete: I think they've been out for a little while. Have they? Yeah. And I I reached out to them because I found out about it through working through a title company. And they're like, hey.
Let's just verify this way instead of you calling me five times.
Steve: And I
Pete: was like, this is cool. And I called them, and they're like, you're too small. I won't deal with you. And I was like, I hear you, but look how many transactions I've done this last month. And then they're like, let's get on a phone call.
Alright. So it's not cheap. It's expensive, but that's a big piece of it is to have that insured and taken care of that sort of thing. That's that's the biggest thing is you just can't mess around with wires. Right?
It's not a credit card. You can't call call on my Amex and say, I didn't make that. And they're like, oh, okay. Cool. Here's the money back.
Mhmm. So It's the Amex. No. Not at all. So that that's a huge, huge piece of it is that wiring information.
And then I think the biggest stop gate for us as well is, like, we will not fund it until everybody signed, and then we have verification that the end buyer's funds are in escrow. Again, there's there could eventually be somebody out there that could calm the whole thing and and do it that way. And we've had some people, like, where, the original conversations wasn't somebody with a thick accent. It wasn't somebody on a shaky cell phone service. It was like, this person seems legit.
They got stop gated at the certified ID where they're like, hey. This information is actually coming from a bank overseas. Did you know that? Mhmm.
Steve: Right?
Pete: And they reached out to us, so they're really, really good. So we've definitely had some people test the waters and whatnot. Right? And then so with our process, we just don't deviate from that. People ask us all the time.
They're like, oh, man. I've sold to this guy, you know, 10 properties in the last six months, but he just can't do it back to back. And I'm like, sorry. I can't fund your deal. Mhmm.
Right? Because the moment you let up on that is the moment something happens.
Steve: Seems like the way it always is.
Pete: Right. The the moment you're like, you know what? I I like working with you. And and people tell me, like, charge me two points. Charge me three points.
And I'm like, at this point, it's not about that. I don't care about an extra point or whatever if I lose $300,000 or something. Right? So those those are the big things. And it there are times because we fund bigger deals too.
We fund stuff over 1,000,000. And with those, we just go into deep, like, investigation mode with title company, with what's going on. We'll call them from different numbers. We'll call different numbers online than the than the wholesaler gave us. We really start digging it.
Yeah. So there's there's steps in measurement. Like you said, nothing's ever a 100 percent, like, foolproof. But knock on wood, you know, it's because of what we have set in place or anything like that. We haven't had an issue.
When I when I first started and I didn't have all that stuff going on, I funded a deal. It was a cheap deal. It was probably, like, $30.40 k. And the attorney was not investor friendly. Like, this guy was just like, oh, I don't know.
I'm doing this for a friend. Whatever. So the deal closed, double closed. Everything went fine. Right?
But then when they sent the money back, I told them five or six times. I sent them my wiring information. I verified it over the phone. The paralegal sent everything back to the wholesaler. The his profit, my original 35 k, whatever it was, my fee.
And luckily, the the wholesaler called me, and he's like, I think we have a situation. I'm like, what's going on? He's like, I just made way more than I was supposed to. He was super cool about it. He like, the the attorney apologized, all that good stuff.
So luckily, that happened early, small deal, whatever. But that was just part of the process of us. Like, I have to have all this in writing. Yeah. Right?
Like, I have to have if that that ever happens again, I can go back and be like, you signed on this. You also verified the wiring instruction. You didn't send it there. Well, at least now it's insured. And then also if I were to take you to court, there's all this here.
Mhmm. But, again, the wholesaler was like, hey. He just went back and and wired it and sent it back over and that sort of thing. Yeah. So
Steve: So what does this business look like? Because you have you know, on the on the wholesale side, you got acquisitions, dispositions, lead managers, transaction coordinators. What does this business model look like?
Pete: It's lean and mean right now. Mhmm. It's myself. Like, literally, right now, if people go to the website and call the number, it's not my personal number, but it rings through to me. And I talk I talk to people all the time, and halfway through the conversation, they're like, how are you involved?
And I'm like, oh, I'm the owner founder. And they're like, oh, no way. Mhmm. So it's myself and then my, coordinator that I brought with me from the old business, Andrea. She handles the the day to day with the deals, making sure everything's lined up and good to go.
And then I just recently started doing some cold outreach. Mhmm. Just reaching out to people. I I hired a group to reach out to title companies, closing companies, and and people on LinkedIn Mhmm. To other wholesalers and stuff like that.
And I've never done cold outreach before. To me, that's, like, going back to bandit signs. Mhmm. But it works. Like, we're funding, like, a $2,200,000 deal from that.
Mhmm. Somebody reaching out. We have good relationships with title companies because of that. I've only been doing that for, like, a month, a month and a half. And that that's it.
Right now, it's it's super small. Like, we we can handle a lot of volume because it's the same process every single time. And our biggest thing and, again, it's just like you introduce us. You submit your request once you have a contract with a seller and a buyer, and then you as the wholesaler can go back to what you're doing and focusing on your next deals, whatever. We'll work with that title company.
Yeah. Because most of these deals get pushed. Like, nothing closes on time. Right? So we don't have to bug you and say, hey, Steve.
Why isn't your deal closing? Hey, Steve. What's going on? Hey. We saw that the amount's changed or whatever now.
Right? It's all of those updates and everything happened through title. So that's what Andrea is the coordinator handles too. Yeah. Now as we get bigger, we'll have to bring people on that can do the back and forth.
That'll be the first piece of it. Mhmm.
Steve: But
Pete: right now, it's just it's really just the two of us handling majority of everything.
Steve: Yeah. And if someone wanted to work with you guys, what would that how would how would they connect with you?
Pete: They could reach out to me. Yeah. Yeah. They could reach out to me in like, through social media, that kind of thing. Just look me up on Instagram, message me, that sort of thing.
Because I I think it is something in the near future. And that is something with with my experience before in in descaling. Mhmm. One thing I can do now is be very, very, very picky about who we work with and who's on the team. Right?
So, yeah, bringing someone on board is is gonna be something necessary, but I will say I will be very, like, analytical and very, like, are you a good fit? Not just are you smart, not just are you work hard, do you work hard, but do you fit in? Are you someone that I wanna interact with and talk to and Mhmm. And do business with every single day?
Steve: Yeah. Gotcha. No website?
Pete: Yeah. We do. It's velocityadvantagecapital.com.
Steve: There you go. Super simple. Yep. Make sure you guys put in disruptors. If you guys go use that from here.
Speaker: Let's see here.
Steve: Is there anything that we missed? One thing you put in here is don't take things personal. Yeah. What's that about?
Pete: That is, so one of my favorite books is The Four Agreements. Mhmm. It's super simple quick book. The four agreements are be impeccable with your word. So so say what you mean to say, and don't use your word against others.
Like, don't go around slandering and just being negative, that sort of thing. The second agreement is don't take things personally. And for me, before wholesaling, early stages of wholesaling, if if anything went wrong, it was because I did something wrong. Mhmm. If I didn't get a deal, if I didn't get the car I wanted to get, if if I didn't get a promotion, if anything happened, right, it was just like, it's because it's me, not because that's the way the world works and you don't get everything you want all the time.
And, hey. Sometimes people take things out on units, their own personal thing. Like, I would just take everything so so personal.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And it's fine to reflect and look inward and be like, how could I do that better? Like, that's totally fine. Right? Like, none of us are, like, perfect. But that second that second agreement of don't take things personal once I realize, like, hey.
You can put your best foot forward, and sometimes things just don't work out, but that shouldn't stop you from from keeping going. Right? So don't take it so personal. And then the other one is of the agreements is don't make assumptions. And in that, that's huge in wholesaling because if you hop on a call and someone starts saying something and you just assume like it's a bad lead, or they're never gonna sell for 60% of of ARV or whatever it is.
Right? If you if you make those assumptions and within that, it's if you don't ask questions, don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to almost look dumb.
Steve: Mhmm. Right?
Pete: If you don't know what's going on, don't be assumptive and be like, that's not for me or they're smarter than me or whatever it could be. Just be okay with not knowing, but asking questions.
Steve: Right.
Pete: And the last one is do your best in everything. Your your best every day is gonna be different. Like, today, you might have set a PR and deadlifts. Right? Working out, whatever.
Right? Or run your fastest mile. Tomorrow, you could be at home sick with the flu. Your best today when you're sitting PRs is not gonna be the best tomorrow when you're sick in bed. Mhmm.
But you can at least put your best foot forward, your best effort in those situations. So those are the four agreements. And the the second one to me is, like, has been a big, big, big, big game changer for me.
Steve: Can you think of a challenging scenario recently where that's really shine through?
Pete: Recently for don't take things personally. I I mean, again, I'm still still in the battlefield with wholesaling.
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And I have a deal right now that I know I walked it, last week. Everything went fine. I know it's a 6 figure deal. Definitely gonna double close it. Like, the seller's super communicative.
It was like, I wanna sell this thing now. They said everything you're supposed to say. I told them, I'm like, this place needs a lot, whatever. And she's like, you just tell me, you know, like, let's move forward on it. And she threw out a crazy number.
I was like, bam, bingo. I cannot get her back on the phone for the life of me. The only thing she'll do right now is text. Right? And then in my head again, it's not bad to reflect and be like, how could I approach this differently?
What what could be how could I get this deal? But recently, it started creeping back in. It's like, you did this wrong. You did that wrong. But if I step back, I don't take it personally.
I have no idea what she's going through. Mhmm. I don't know if she really wants to sell, but her phone died. I don't know if she really wants to sell, but there's a family member in her ear. I don't know if she's just busy like I've had happen before.
In a week from now, she's gonna sign. Mhmm. And then I'm on to the 6 figure deal. Right? So don't take it personal.
Just do what you're supposed to do and just continue to follow-up. But it's it's nothing that I've done personally
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: That is keeping her from signing the agreement. Yeah. Right? So just just go through the process, do the steps. Gotcha.
Steve: How does your business look how does your life and business look like now now that you're sounds like a 100% transactional funder versus when you're a 100% wholesaler?
Pete: I would say in the last eighteen months, I've slowed kinda slowed everything down
Steve: Mhmm.
Pete: And been more intentional about what I wanna do and and how I wanna do it. Before, I was always in just like, hey. I'll I'll make this deal happen. I'll take that deal. I'll do a $5,000 deal.
Yeah. I'd love to do a $50,000 deal or a $100,000 deal, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep the business going because you have that big team. You have that overhead. You need to make payroll. You need to make things happen.
Since then, and that was part of the reason of descaling, is to be like, what do I really wanna do? What do I wanna go after? And how do I wanna do it? And who do I wanna do that with? Yeah.
So that's what's changed with before. It's just like whatever it takes. Right? And that's fine. That's like a season.
That's whatever. But now it's like, what do I really wanna do? And then and I also set standards for on wholesaling deals, like, now this is a Tom Kroll thing. He's like, you need to set a marker and do not go underneath that. And he's like, your business will change.
So my thing is if it's not a deal where I'm very confident that we'll make 25 k or more on the wholesaling side, then I won't touch it. I'll let it go. Yeah. Right? And then sure enough, like, my per deal averages kept going up, up, up.
Steve: For sure.
Pete: And the smaller ones are always the tougher ones too. Those are the ones that you're, like, fighting for and Mhmm. People there's airs and all these people going on and stuff like that. But the usually, the big deals are, like, the no brainers where they're like, I'm just done with it. Just do what you gotta do.
Get me paid. Right? So just being more intentional, slowing things down, and really trying to go after what what I'm really, like, passionate about, what I'm into, and that's why there's the transition too into the transactional funding and working with other investors and the wholesalers. Mhmm. So that's been a a big, big thing over the last twelve to eighteen months.
Gotcha.
Steve: I want you to think about some last thoughts you wanna leave all the listeners with.
Pete: Okay.
Steve: Guys, if you guys got value out of the show, please hit that subscribe button. Share this so that we can reach more people and create more millionaires, for you. Last thoughts you wanna leave all the listeners with.
Pete: Everything that you want is most likely on the other side of a difficult conversation. Every talking to to sellers, getting out of your comfort zone, starting in wholesaling, getting a deal done, knocking on a door, putting out a bandit sign. I've learned through wholesaling, through starting a business, through scaling, through descaling, everything you want or you can get almost anything you want is on the other side of a difficult I would say, in this case, of a difficult conversation. Yeah. Because that's all it is with, like, acquisitions and everything, right, is is talking, is listening, is having a conversation, is being able to help somebody through a difficult situation.
But a lot of people are intimidated by it, and they don't wanna pick up the phone. They don't wanna make calls because they don't know what to do exactly maybe, or it's gonna be really awkward. Like, you're talking about someone's house. You're talking about, you know, the biggest purchase, biggest asset of their life. It can be a difficult conversation.
Yeah. But once you get more comfortable with that, once you get better at having those conversations, it just opens up so many more doors.
Steve: Yeah. Again, if someone wants to connect with you, do business with you, how can they best get a hold get a hold of you?
Pete: They can find me on Instagram or Facebook. Just look up Peter Russell. Peter Russell. On there. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. So it's, what was it? And you probably are tired of this joke, but when Tom sent that text, it's like, Russell Peters.
Pete: All the time. It's fading out a little bit more now because he's not as prevalent. Yeah. But I would I would get it, like, if I make a reservation in a restaurant or anything like that, they're like, you don't look like the act the comedian or whatever. I'm like, yeah.
I'm not. Or I just or I just say, yeah. I just say, yeah. Well, no. I'm his backup arm, his stand in.
Right? Camera. But yeah.
Steve: So Awesome. Appreciate it. Thank you very much for coming on. Yeah. Thank you guys for watching.
We'll see you guys next time.
Pete: Good job, dude. Cool. Appreciate it.
Steve: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah. Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.
