How Mohamed Essaid went from $10/hr in 2017 to 5+ Million in Real Estate

Steve Trang: Everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. Today we've got Mohammed Assad with Moe Flips, and he flew in from Midland, Texas to talk about going from $10 an hour to $5,000,000 in 2021. Remarkable leap. If this is your first time tuning in, I'm Steve Trang, sales trainer.

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Mohamed Essaid: I'm super ready.

Steve: How are you

Mohamed: doing, Steve?

Steve: I'm doing great. Doing great.

Mohamed: Thanks for having me.

Steve: It was awesome to have you here.

Mohamed: Appreciate it, man.

Steve: So the first question is what got you into real estate?

Mohamed: Man, there's multiple reasons why I got into real estate. But the the main thing is, I I was I was born and raised in Libya, which is in North Africa. And, my dad pretty much owned real estate. And, he's always bought real estate and held real estate. So that was the first time I kinda got exposed to real estate growing up.

He had commercial properties. He had an apartment complex. So I kinda grew up seeing all that, but it didn't what he never talked to me about it. He never told me he'd get into real estate. It just it was in our life and I thought but I didn't get into real estate until December 2019 till a friend told me, hey, dude.

There's this thing called wholesaling. And then I looked it up on YouTube and you popped up and a lot of other guys popped up. So 2019? Yeah.

Steve: Man. Alright. So, growing up, you saw your dad in real estate?

Mohamed: Yes.

Steve: When did you guys when did you guys come to The States?

Mohamed: So, came to The States in 2007 when I was in middle school.

Steve: Okay. So, a, your English is pretty good. Yeah. So were you guys speaking English back there?

Mohamed: Not at all, man. So didn't speak any English. Came, and he literally dropped me off in a middle school that's public. He's like, no. We're not taking you to private school.

We're gonna take you to public school because you gotta meet the people. Because private school is always like people that are immigrants, people that are not from here. So he's like, no. You gotta, you know, meet people from here so that way your English gets better. He literally dropped me off, ESL class, all that good stuff.

Steve: In Texas?

Mohamed: In Texas. It was

Steve: in the

Mohamed: wood in the Woodlands, Texas, which is like north of, Houston. It was crazy, man. I was the shortest kid in class. Everybody's big here. Yeah.

You know, didn't speak any English. You know, I kinda grew up being always the new kid in school, so I kinda got used to it over the years. But it was awesome. The Woodlands was a really nice place. It's, you know, right now, it's back in the days, it was very low population, but now it's there's a lot of people living there.

But I loved living there. I would love I'll live there again if I had the chance to.

Steve: So what, and I I got a chance to visit The Woodlands when we were we did Wholesaling Live in, I wanna say, 2019. I wanna say that's when it was.

Mohamed: Nice.

Steve: What,

Mohamed: I

Steve: guess, is your dad in Texas, or your dad's still back in Libya?

Mohamed: My dad actually right now, is in Libya. Okay. So he, he visits. Right? He visits a lot, but he does business in Dubai.

He's in the oil and gas industry. And he used to work for ExxonMobil at that time. That's why we lived in the Woodlands because their headquarter was there. Okay.

Steve: So he didn't move here and he moved back.

Mohamed: Yeah. So what happened to

Steve: all his real estate?

Mohamed: Still there till today. Yeah. It's the real estate is still there. The commercial practice, they're rented out. The departments are still rented out.

It's still there.

Steve: So what was the career path for you if he wasn't talking to you about real estate?

Mohamed: So, I my dad has always started businesses on the side, but he also believed that you should always have, you know, a salary or, like, a w two income. And so and then you can start business on the side. So that was his mindset. So growing up, seeing him in oil and gas he wasn't an engineer, by the way. He used, he used to be the president of ExxonMobil in Libya.

So, he was on the business side. But he seeing you know, I saw he had money, so I was like, I need to get into this industry so I can make money like my pops. So that's how I got into it.

Steve: So he was Rich Dad and Poor Dad. He was doing the Both. The w two, making cash, or I mean, maybe not w two in Livia, but he was getting paid a job. Yeah. With salary.

Yeah. And he was doing the real estate thing on the side.

Mohamed: Exactly. And, you know, he a lot of the real estate that he has was actually inherited, and some of it, he bought. But, you know, like, he there's a story where he he he he went to school in Italy. He did a master's in Italy and, he was buying, like, satellite parts. He would back when satellites were really expensive, and he would send them back to Libya and sell them back and forth, and then he saved up 40,000.

And Libyan is probably, like, at that time, it was, like, three times that because the currency was much better than the US dollar, probably a $120,000 at that time. And he bought a piece of land, and this land now is worth, like, probably 1,000,000 plus.

Steve: Alright. So have you asked him? Because, you know, you said, like, the point is to go to get a regular job and then do this as a side hustle. But have you asked him why he didn't talk to you about real estate?

Mohamed: No. I've never asked him that question. Alright. That that's a good question, but I I will for sure ask him. But, yeah, he's always talked to me about, like, starting businesses.

Never real estate, but just starting the businesses on the side. Like, recently, he just sent me a a a an invoice. He's like, oh, I have a guy in Morocco that wants 441 laptops. Lewis and like, this was like yesterday. He's like, hey.

Can you find some laptops so we can ship 441 laptops? So my dad always comes up with ideas like this. Just randomly picks up the phone and tells me, hey. Let's make money off

Steve: of this. A d d too, probably. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I think that's awesome.

Right? And I and I kinda feel that. Like, the I've never said, like, I love real estate. I just I'm an entrepreneur. Just real estate just seemed to be the one that was the most attractive, at least had the lowest barrier to entry.

Mohamed: 100%.

Steve: So alright. You're you said twenty seventeen, 2019, someone handed you a book.

Mohamed: So, 2017 is when I graduated from college. 2019, December, is when I got laid off from the oil company I was working at at that time. We had a buyout. Nobody handed me a book. Somebody just told me about wholesaling, and I just looked it up.

Steve: Alright. So you graduated with degree. Mhmm. You do what you're supposed to do.

Mohamed: I did.

Steve: But you're making $10 an hour?

Mohamed: So, graduated in May 2017. Right? And then, at that time, I graduated petroleum engineering. The oil industry was horrible the day I graduated. The oil the I think the price was, like, $20.30 bucks, at that time, a barrel.

And there was no jobs. The industry was horrible. Right? So I worked as soon as I graduated, couldn't find a job, I worked as a valet driver. I had to make money, dude.

I had to pay the bills. So, worked as a valet driver at an apartment complex, like a luxury apartment complex. Just parking cars, you know, Lambos, Ferraris, all that stuff. And, was paid and paid $10 an hour plus tips. Mhmm.

At that time I didn't work in the oil industry because the economy hasn't picked up. And then in, late late twenty seventeen, the economy picked up. I went to a job fair and that's when I picked up my first oil and gas engineer job where, you know, at that time, you know, it was a lot of money. But, yeah, I'll make

Steve: Before you go there, I have a selfish question.

Mohamed: Tell me.

Steve: So I always wonder with, you know, the valet drivers. Right? Like, you're driving the nicest cars. Like, you don't no one valet is like the Toyota Corolla. Nothing against Toyota Corollas.

I'm just saying, like, no one valet is like Toyota Corolla. Right? So does that motivate the valid drivers, or is that, like, demoralizing, or, like, they just don't care?

Mohamed: Dude, for me, it was it was tough. It was tough. Right? Because you're graduating from college. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: You have this image. You're like, I'm gonna graduate. I'm gonna get this job. And then, like, you know, the industry is not well. So for me, it was more negative than positive, personally.

I'm sure for other guys So

Steve: it was a big self image drop.

Mohamed: 100%. It it's very humbling. It was it was definitely humbling because I never imagined myself working $10 an hour when I was going to college, you know, paying all that tuition.

Steve: Yeah. Well, usually, when you go to engineering, it's not to make $10 an hour. And I can share it personally. Right? Like, I when I graduated ASU in 2002, that's right it's right after 09:11 and the .com bust.

Yeah. Oh, there are no jobs. I'm gonna go get my master's degree. Yeah. Alright.

So alright. So you're making $10 an hour, and you eventually go to job fair, and you get a job and on oil rig.

Mohamed: Yes.

Steve: So you get to finally use your degree.

Mohamed: Finally.

Steve: Alright. So you went from $10 an hour to what?

Mohamed: I went from $10 an hour at that time. I believe it was either 75,000 or $80,000 a year Mhmm. Plus bonus. Yeah. Thank you.

I was it was like a 6 figure salary.

Steve: And I kinda, like, you know, kinda make this joke, but, in Houston, it seems like everyone works in the oil industry. Everyone is in the oil field, oil whatever. Right? And, and it and I love, you know, the Houston people because that's actually our number one audience. If you look at, our, iTunes stats, our YouTube stats, our Spotify stats, Houston's actually our number one Really?

Audience. So I love I love the Houston guys. I just always find it fascinating. It seems like everyone in Houston is in oil. It is.

So alright. So you you work there. You're doing your you're doing your nine to five thing, And you're It

Mohamed: wasn't even nine to five. Mhmm. It was not.

Steve: What was it?

Mohamed: It was in the oil field. So it was twelve hour shifts. Okay. So it was two weeks on, one week off. Yeah.

So you either do day shift or night shift, and they kinda swap you back and forth.

Steve: But this whole time, you were you thinking about real estate or you're just like, I'm I'm an oil guy. I'm good to go. I I'm using my degree, and I'm happy.

Mohamed: At that time, I, my my I always use my my dad as somebody, like, that's a role model for me. So, he he he already started his entrepreneurial journey in oil and gas, and he's doing well. Right? So at that time, I was like, I wanna get field experience, and I want to gain as much experience as I can in the field because the office jobs you don't really gain the real experience of oil and gas. And I want to start my own business in oil and gas.

Real estate was not a thing for me at all at that time. Mhmm. So that was my thought of going That's your focus. Yeah. That was

Steve: my focus. And then you got bought out? Or

Mohamed: Yeah. So worked for this company for a couple years and then, we got bought out by another company that just kinda took over and just they'd handpicked their guys and the people that they didn't want. They didn't even know most of us. They just threw us through the trash pretty much.

Steve: Okay. So how was that experience?

Mohamed: It was insane, dude. I literally saw, like, 55 year old men, like, I'm not even joking, crying. I was I think at that time, I was I was in, I was, like, 25. Mhmm. So there was guys that had kids.

There were guys that had, you know, kids that were they had to pay their tuition. They had a mortgage. They had all that. They were telling me dude like that while they were, getting laid off, like they came and had a mass layoff. It was a room full of people.

Like hey guys, you know what's going on. Like they literally said it like that. You know what's gonna happen. You already know. You've been hearing the rumors.

Like, we have to let you go. And there was a bunch of people crying, literally guys. And it was, like, the whole industry, there's not a whole lot of females. It's mainly guys because, I don't know why, but, that's the case. But, you know, they were crying, oh, how am I gonna pay my, kid's tuition?

And at that moment right there, when I saw that and I was like, oh, what what if I'm 55 years old, right, and I'm in that position? I just don't wanna be in this industry. I need to figure out either one, I need to start my own business or two, I need to get into an industry like tech or something like that that's more stable that's I'm not gonna have this every five to ten years where I get laid off.

Steve: Yeah. But I think this is so critical because we see so many people like, I want a regular job. I want something that's safe. I want something that's stable. And I don't believe there's such a thing as any safe and stable job, even in tech.

Right? I I don't believe that there's any stable job, and that's why, like, I'm so passionate about entrepreneurship. Right? So you guys have witnessed it firsthand way closer than I get to witness it. You know?

I I knew a bunch of people, like, at Intel. I know a bunch of people got laid off, But they always laid off, like, the older people. They never laid off the cheap, young people like us. Right? So I never got to meet anyone or know anyone that got laid off.

So you got to see it firsthand. And I think that's so powerful to get to be able to witness firsthand because I think that's what people would kinda need to see to take the leap of faith to chase entrepreneurship.

Mohamed: 100%. I mean, the that moment, it kinda made me realize that I'm just not that valuable. Like, I'm not that valuable to them. So why should I continue on this path, try to, you know, keep going on this w two and work for somebody? I just felt like I wasn't valuable.

So I was like, my next move, it's either it's gonna be somewhere where I feel valuable. They can't let me go because I'm just so important to the to the to the company or whatever it is. And at that moment, I didn't think of real estate right away. It kind of I got laid off. I've been working there for a couple years.

I'm pretty good. I don't I'm not a spender. I don't spend a lot of money, so I had money saved up. So when I got into real estate after that, right, realized what wholesaling is. I had money.

Right? So I actually was marketing. I wasn't like trying to do it the cheap way. I actually sent off thousands of dollars of mailers. And I was able to get my deal, my first deal probably it started started marketing in January, got my first deal in April.

Steve: Yeah.

Mohamed: But to me that's pretty quick three months. Right. Because I hear people say sometimes a year and I hear other guys that say hey, it took me like a month. I'm like that's pretty cool dude but that doesn't happen very often.

Steve: That's not normal. Yeah. Well, I think that is really key to right? You're saying, like, you didn't feel value. Because we had Ryan Wymer.

He was on a show, you know. And he was he's in San Diego Wholesales in in Boise. But he said, like, it wasn't even, like, getting me laid off. It was, like, I got Passover promotion again. You know?

Like, I'm I'm the one that's providing the most value to the company. I got Passover again because you're you wanna hook up your buddy.

Mohamed: Exactly.

Steve: So you see, like, the value working at a corporation doesn't know that doesn't necessarily make sense. Alright. So you get laid off. This is the 2018 or 2019?

Mohamed: 2019. It was, like, around my birthday.

Steve: The 2019. Yeah. So 2020, you're all in in wholesaling.

Mohamed: Yeah. So Who told

Steve: you who was the one that told you about wholesaling?

Mohamed: It was one of my buddies. His name is Nader. Actually, he's one of my competitors. He's gonna watch this. He's gonna laugh.

Yeah. He's one of my competitors in town. But, he's

Steve: just gonna have a wholesale check just for free just to say thank you.

Mohamed: Dude, I probably should. Right? So he tells me about it. He tells me about, like, hey, dude, like wholesaling. I'm like and I had a friend.

Right? So there's another guy that really helped me a lot too. His name is Abraham. And, he's he's in Austin, Texas. So he was already doing the business.

So check this out. I already, let me think because now it feels like forever ago, but, I was going to my buddy Abraham in Austin. He was already flipping houses. He was working for his brother. His brother had a, you know, I think he had a fund for 40 mil or something like that and they were buying crazy.

Right? And, they were big. They've been doing it for a long time. They kind of dominated Austin for a little bit. They even dominated Houston at one point.

So he worked for his brother and they were flipping a bunch of houses. So I called him up. I was like dude, I want to get into this industry. So they could just come stay with my house and we'll go to seller appointments. So before I even started marketing, I already went to seller appointments.

I already saw the Sandler method, how he kind of pitched that and how he's like a consultant. He's not I already had an idea of how and I I actually led some appointments. Like I actually went and, talked to the seller and he would let me lead the appointment. So before I even started spending money on marketing, I already knew what was going on. I already knew what was what was up.

I already knew the industry. Kinda not in and out, but most more than the usual person when they first start. Yeah.

Steve: And that kinda goes to your point because I think one of the things you wrote down was like buying real estate friends fast.

Mohamed: Yes.

Steve: Alright.

Mohamed: You have to. I feel like a lot of guys when they first start their entrepreneurial journey, they, they don't realize how important partnerships are. Mhmm. Like partnerships are very important. I feel like, you know, a lot of guys they try they try to keep everything to themselves.

I mean would you rather be to own a business that makes a $100,000 a year and own a 100% of it or own a business that's worth a $100,000,000 Mhmm. You know, that brings in a $100,000,000 a year and own 50% of it. It's just it's a no brainer. So I feel like that's what stops a lot of guys from growing because they're not okay with sharing the cake. Mhmm.

And, and that's really what kinda that's really it's no secret. I feel like a lot of guys' secret to success is partnerships.

Steve: Right.

Mohamed: And that's has been my journey, honestly. It's good partnerships.

Steve: So you go to you start connecting. You you already got your friends in the space, and you start marketing. And right off the bat, you're spending money Mhmm. Because you have money saved up. Mhmm.

So tell me about how you got your first deal.

Mohamed: Oh, man. It it's a crazy one. So mailers, absentee, older lady. So it was an inheritance as well. So it was like a bunch of, like, signs of distress altogether.

Lived in Pennsylvania. She, inherited property from her sister who passed away. Sister didn't have kids, so she just passed on to her sister's shadow on her will and literally called me and it was in the middle of nowhere. And if you guys Google this, it's in Pleasanton Farms. Like it's in the middle of nowhere.

There's I just I don't wholesale there. It's just there's no demand. There's not a population there. So, she calls me up and she's like, I want to sell. And I was like, where's your property?

And she's like, it's, 123 Main Street. So I look it up and it's in the middle of nowhere. I was like, I don't want this. And she

Steve: But you will do it.

Mohamed: Yeah. So I in the beginning when, you know, you don't know. You know what I'm saying? I'm sure you've done this thing. So, I wasn't, like, targeting as as good as I am right now.

I'm not good I wasn't that good at data. Right? So in the beginning it was just kind of like shows a zip code that was so big. This zip code included like an area in the city and also an area in the country. So it's like a it's 79766 zip code.

I still remember it now. But, like, I want to sell it was a half a mobile home, half a house. They added on to the mobile home or they added on to the house. I don't know which one, is the case, but she's like, I I don't want to deal with it. I don't want it.

She hasn't seen the house in years. Her sister passed away, but she left the house and she was taking care of her in Pennsylvania and the house was in Odessa. And she's like, I don't want to deal with this property. So I was like, I can't I can't buy this property. It's not good.

I literally told her. She's like, just let's put a number on it and take it off my hands. So I I threw $500 at her, and, she counted at a thousand. And I I I was like, my wife, I it just to me, it was crazy because, like, I'd never done this before and Mhmm. I was told always do 76 65% of ARV minus repairs, but this deal just was not attractive for me.

She wanted me to buy it and I really didn't want to buy it. So she counted it a thousand. I sent her. It took forever to sign it because she didn't have a computer. I had to hire a mobile notary to go and get her to sign it and then she can send it back to me because she didn't have a computer.

Anyways, so sent it back, closed on it, obviously because I had the money, thousand bucks. The cost to clean up the property was 2,500. It was more than the purchase price. Mhmm. Put it on the MLS, sold it to a guy for $55,000.

Steve: 55,000.

Mohamed: 55,000. It's a

Steve: pretty good first deal.

Mohamed: And $40,000 of it was cashed, and $15,000 of it was, financed. I I he still pays me till today.

Steve: Yeah. That was a pretty good first deal.

Mohamed: It was a pretty good first deal.

Steve: Yeah. Alright. So that was the first group. That was the first deal.

Mohamed: First deal.

Steve: How about, your next deal?

Mohamed: My next deal was

Steve: Hang on before we do that. So you're a reluctant buyer. See, we talked about Sandler.

Mohamed: Yeah.

Steve: Right. You're a reluctant buyer. Yeah. The very first house I bought, I was like, I don't wanna buy your house. Like, no.

You're buying like, please buy my house. Like, I don't wanna buy your house. And she and they closed me just like this lady closed you. Yeah. And that's like our selling process now is intentionally designed from the closest, but you're accidentally doing, the the the Sandler method.

Mohamed: Exactly. I mean, the Sandler method is crazy. If anybody's not utilizing, they're definitely losing out on some deals. Yeah. Because, the Sandler method is what I utilize.

Yeah. It's no secret. Anybody can buy that and, you know, learn it. But,

Steve: So alright. So your second deal?

Mohamed: My second deal, I I I didn't do as good as I wanted to. It was that Oh,

Steve: your expectations are all screwed up.

Mohamed: Dude, I thought every deal was gonna be 55,000 after that, and it wasn't the case at all. It ruined me. Yeah. So, after that, I I, in my head I was like, man, I'm gonna be a millionaire in, like, two months. Mhmm.

You know? And so, that was the expectation. It wasn't good at all. I I didn't adjust my spendings. I still didn't spend a lot.

I reinvested everything into marketing so I didn't go crazy. Like some guys might, I know some guys that went crazy on after the first deal. It was a divorce deal. A lady guy was he he was cheating on her. She wanted a divorce.

Called me up. I think I put it under contract for 50,000. And, the buyer, he gave me an offer for 55, and I didn't even negotiate. I was like, deal. Right away.

And I I eat myself up about it till today because I didn't negotiate. It was just exciting. I was like, oh, 5,000. Great. Like it was I I I in my head I was like I don't think this deal is that great.

I don't know why this guy is buying it from me. The house looks like crap. Why is he buying it for $55? I wouldn't even buy it for a thousand. Mhmm.

So that was my kind of what I was thinking. That's why I let it go for so cheap.

Steve: You got it in your own way.

Mohamed: Yeah. So now today, that house, I could easily sell it for like 90 with Yeah. Like the network we have.

Steve: So at this time, are you in Houston?

Mohamed: This time, I'm in all over West Texas. Okay. I'm in multiple markets, but I'm all over West Texas. My strategy is, I stay away from big cities. The because just my cost per lead, my cost per contract, my cost per close is just gonna go up.

Okay. I try to stick to, it doesn't matter where it is. Right? It could be anywhere in the country. I try to stick to somewhere where it has a minimum of a 100,000 people population.

It has to have because I we there needs to be demand. If we wanna our exit strategy is always to flip it. Our second plan is to wholesale it. So if if my second plan doesn't work, that's not a market where I wanna be in. So it has a it needs to have a 100,000 people living there.

So that way, in case we wholesale it, we can we actually have demand for investors to buy.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So first deal, grand slam. Second deal, okay. Okay.

Any challenges in your first full year?

Mohamed: Challenges, man. I started right after COVID. Mhmm. I I noticed COVID affected it. They didn't wanna let us in in their houses a lot of times.

They they wanted us to buy sight unseen. I wasn't experienced enough to do that at that moment. Like, right now I could buy a house sight unseen all day every day with pictures. But as long as the numbers there's enough margins. At that time, I was not I was never gonna do that.

Right.

Steve: I was

Mohamed: like, I'm gonna go broke. I'm gonna lose money. I'm never doing that. I need to see everything. I need to walk it with a contractor, do all that stuff.

So that was the biggest challenge just because people weren't weren't weren't letting us in. And the guys that were more experienced were still buying because, you know, they had experience and they they could buy it sight and seen.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So, COVID was a challenge. How did you fix it?

Mohamed: It it I really didn't fix it. It just fixed itself.

Steve: But I mean, you didn't take the whole year off after that.

Mohamed: I didn't. I never stopped marketing. Right.

Steve: So what was your What was your work around? How did you deal with that situation where people didn't want you in the house?

Mohamed: Just tried to convince them. So like at times, at that time, we were like, oh, let's FaceTime. Like, can we FaceTime? And a lot of them were older. To be honest with you, the best deals I ever get were from older folks.

Steve: Of course.

Mohamed: So they they were FaceTimed. Sometimes they would leave the house Mhmm. And then we would walk in while by ourselves so that way they can keep space. Right? And we would walk in, I'll take pictures, boom boom boom, and then I'll get out.

So that was like the biggest thing that I did, but a lot of them weren't comfortable with us just being in the house by ourself and without them.

Steve: So you just didn't close those deals?

Mohamed: We ended up closing. I feel like a lot of those deals later on when things kinda settled down.

Steve: Okay. Well, this is Texas. So I kinda make the joke. Right? Texas, Florida, and Arizona, the COVID never really happened.

So, like, how many months was this a challenge for you?

Mohamed: I would say once the summer hit, the summer, it just changed. A lot of them at that time were thinking

Steve: From March to June? We're talking like a momentary blip that was a that was a challenge?

Mohamed: Yes. It it I wouldn't say it was a whole year. Because when the summer hit, a lot of people were starting to learn what COVID is, and they were already talking about vaccine. It wasn't anytime soon. But, hey, when this when it's warm outside, when it's hot outside, COVID disappears.

You remember at that time when they were saying that?

Steve: Yeah. We didn't know what we were talking about.

Mohamed: Yeah. So they're like, oh, it doesn't exist during the summer. So a lot of them were believing that. I, and and a lot of them were getting used to it. They're like, oh, we can wear the mask.

They would ask me, hey. Do you have COVID? Do you have COVID? And we'd say, no. I promise I don't.

I promise that. And then we'd go see it.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. So what other challenges did you face in your first full year?

Mohamed: First full year. So raising money. So I I I didn't have a lot of money. So Okay.

Steve: Yeah. Because you're talking about you're flipping. Mhmm. And there's not a lot of people that are just jumping right into flipping. Yeah.

Usually, you wholesale, and as you have more capital, you start flipping.

Mohamed: Yeah. So, partnerships. Right? Partner up with the right person. Partner up with the right people.

I'm not by myself. I have I have a partner, Craig, and I have, Lee who's oversees all the construction.

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: He's he's the master at just detail. He knows what looks good and what looks bad, and he knows how to do everything. So, partner up with those guys, and, that brought in experience. That brought in capital, and I was what I was bringing into the table is the deals.

Steve: Got it.

Mohamed: And then I was learning the process and helping manage the contractors along the way. So I was shadowing. I was learning. I was shadowing Lee for a long time. He he he knew how to do everything.

Like, he Yeah. Nobody can do drywall like he can. And so learn the construction side very quickly, jumped the boats from wholesaling to flipping pretty fast.

Steve: So for people that are watching and they wanna get into flipping sooner Mhmm. Partner up with someone that's actively flipping and bringing the deals?

Mohamed: Yeah. Partner up with somebody that's not, that has the money, has the experience in construction. But not only that, but they are not interested in finding the deals. Mhmm. That's not of interest to them.

So you us as wholesalers, we're really good at finding the deals. So when you find somebody and you just fill a gap in what their long term or short term goal is, You just make it easier for them, and you make it easier for yourself. So you provide value in both ways. So in this situation, they they, you know, he wasn't interested in finding the deals. He didn't know how.

He didn't wanna learn. He already had a business on the side that was making him a lot of money. He just didn't have the time for us. He's like, let's just partner up and put our heads together, and let's make this thing happen. And it just exploded from there.

Steve: What kind of partnership did you guys create?

Mohamed: So it's, it's kind of a JV. Alright? So, like, we would put both our LLCs in, in in the we both our LLCs would own it. That and that's how it started. Right?

And then, it's kinda changing. Like, we have constant meetings. Like, I would say every other month, we already talk about things and the partnership just keeps changing, keeps growing, and we change things every time we meet. So, that that's another tip, honestly, for a lot of guys because, a lot of people, I feel like, partner up with people too quickly. That's something I didn't do.

I kinda I didn't get in bed with them. I didn't, like, start an LLC and both our names on it went, like, let's JV. Let's test the waters. Let's see how this is going. Maybe tomorrow we'll hate each other.

You know? Let's let's make sure that we actually get along. And, I'm not trying to get everybody. Go partner up with whoever you find, the first person you find. You know, make sure you, you know, you you ask around about them and stuff like that.

But once once everything checks and the personalities kinda click and they're both hardworking and they both work well together, then just partner up. There's nothing wrong with partner up and splitting the cake.

Steve: Gotcha. So you're the fifty fifty?

Mohamed: Yes.

Steve: Alright. So you find the deals. You guys close on it together. Mhmm. And then he's doing all the work.

Mohamed: So so we we have, full time project manager. Mhmm. And then our contractors do all the work. So we kinda manage together. I kinda manage the, sales side and the VAs and marketing and all that stuff, and he helps manage with the construction side.

So that way and then, right now, it's we've been doing it for long enough to where we don't have to be there all the time. I like to be there because but, you know, we're not there all the time. So it kinda we have contractors we've been working with for for over a year. We trust them. They trust us.

They know the payment process. Like, hey. They reach out to our bookkeeper with an invoice. Bookkeeper kinda sends us, you know, a request to approve, and then they and and just kinda automated a little bit. Not 100%, but a little bit automated.

Steve: Got it. So how are you guys flipping all over West Texas?

Mohamed: So, Midland, Odessa, I I have, there's San Angelo, which is, like, I would say, like, an hour thirty minutes. I'm I'm all over West Texas. And the flipping side, it's mainly Midland Odessa. We got something going on in San Angelo. We got multifamily right now.

Steve: Flipping is close to you?

Mohamed: Yes. Flipping is close to you.

Steve: Wholesale the rest of West Texas.

Mohamed: Wholesale because just by being active in the Midland Odessa area, it brings in a lot of deals. Right? There's a lot of, wholesalers that hear about us. They know about us. So they send deals.

They're like, hey, can you find us can you find us a buyer? Do you want a JV with us? So that kinda forced me into getting into other areas because I'm just not gonna pass on money like that.

Steve: Got it.

Mohamed: So that so it kinda expanded from there because, like, Lubbock is, like, like, a couple hours north. San Angelo is, like, a couple hours east. So it's like and plus Midland, well, this is not a big town.

Steve: Right.

Mohamed: It's it's very small. Right? It's not like here where I don't know what the population is here, but there, it's like

Steve: About five, six million here.

Mohamed: It's like a little bit over a 100,000 people. So, it just we have to in order to grow and do more volume, make more money, you have to touch on the other cities that are around you.

Steve: Okay. So you are actively wholesaling. It's just that people send you deals. You're actively wholesaling all of those other markets.

Mohamed: Yes. 100%. Actively wholesaling, San Angelo right now. I have a flip with a friend there. Actively wholesaling all over.

But I we also cherry pick. Right? I don't bring the bad deals to our flipping company. Mhmm. I don't bring in the okay deals to our flipping company.

We have to get the juicy deals out. The ones that just not juicy enough, we just wholesale. My exit strategy is always to flip. That's always what I wanna do. But if it's not juicy enough, it's never gonna go to flipping.

How do

Steve: you define juicy enough?

Mohamed: How do I find juicy enough?

Steve: You define?

Mohamed: So it has to be there has to be, like, it's not based off of percentage. It's more based off of like, if I'm not if I'm making less than $25,000 on a flip, I'm not doing it.

Steve: Got it.

Mohamed: I'm just not gonna do it. It's too much work.

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: There's too many moving parts to to it. It's just not worth it. And, you know, as you grow and you as you do more deals, you realize, you know, wholesaling as I I as I flip more houses, I realize wholesaling is, like, the best thing ever, honestly, because, yes, you make less money per deal, but the the the amount of hours that it takes to to do a flip from start to finish, if you just add those hours up and took those hours and put them into wholesaling, there's no way in in the world that you would make less money in wholesaling. You would make way more money. Mhmm.

Because it's, you know, the hours you have talking back and forth with the contractor, talking back and forth with the bookkeeper, talking back and forth with the realtor, talking back and forth with the title company and just, you know, the the deal falling through because of inspection, the appraiser's the appraised too low. All these things, right, where you don't have to deal with any of that in wholesaling.

Steve: Yeah. I mean, you're definitely I mean, I'm convinced. Right? Like, that's the reason why we wholesale more than we flip.

Mohamed: Yeah. So So that's that's why you're doing better than me.

Steve: I wouldn't go that far. So alright. So you're doing how many projects at a time?

Mohamed: Right now, we got, six that just went on the market. 23 active flips right now.

Steve: 23 active flips are now. So, for last year, we're talking about doing 5,000,000. That's all in 2021?

Mohamed: So we own 5,000,000 worth of real estate.

Steve: Own 5,000,000 worth of real estate. Gotcha. Okay. So how many wholesales, how many flips last year?

Mohamed: Last year? So majority was flips. Mhmm. The majority was flips last year. The year 2021, I would say, about one third wholesale, two thirds flips, just to make it easy numbers.

Mhmm. And, a lot of the wholesales, they came from Davies, a lot of them.

Steve: Gotcha.

Mohamed: So that's that's kinda what I target is, that's I have a meetup, that we host. 600 plus people are part of the meetup. Mhmm. We try to work with wholesalers, walk them through everything from a to z, try to cherry pick the ones that you see something in them and, you know, you can tell they want they want this and just kinda help them out. And and just kinda, Instagram too.

And, like, I I recently started TikTok literally, like, a couple months ago. It went from, like, zero followers to, like, 37,000 followers Mhmm. In two months. So I've been able to, like, get people, like, hey, dude. Like, can you help me out on this?

So that that's been a big help. That's something I've been slacking on, the first couple years in business is social media. I'm starting to realize this after I see what you're doing, after I see what Ryan Pineda, Max all these guys, you know, Max Maxwell, what they're doing, I'm just like and then Pace Pace Morby, I'm part of substitute too. So, when he talked about how many deals he could just buy from his Instagram, I'm like, dude, I have to freaking spend a bunch of money to get that many deals.

Steve: Yep.

Mohamed: So definitely need to get in that space.

Steve: Yeah. Alright. So then, I guess, you're doing 23 in process right now. Like, tell me, like, what is it that you've learned to be able to do that many? Because, I mean, some people, you know, don't wanna do even 23 flips in a year.

You got 23 going on right now. Yeah. So what are the process involved to

Mohamed: get that I think 23 flips, 23 projects.

Steve: Right? Make a project.

Mohamed: There's two builds. There's one that's gonna be a development for, a mobile home park, and the rest are flips. Usually, we've gone up to 30 flips at a time Mhmm. At some point. We just kinda it's it's kind of a constant toxic relationship with contractors.

Higher fire, higher fire. And so we we have to test them out and then we constantly go up and then go down and flip. Mhmm. Because we're having to bump into so many bad contractors. And when you're doing things in volume, you just there's no way around it.

We try to go off of word-of-mouth and, like, referrals and what people tell us, but they're we just can't avoid it for some reason. So, the biggest thing is don't what I learned in this process, honestly, is when you when you hire a contractor to flip a house, never ever ever ever give a down payment in your life.

Steve: Yeah.

Mohamed: I don't care how good they are. I don't care how bad they are. I don't I don't care how professional they look. Never ever give a down payment. That's something that, we lost, I think, like, $70,000 last year because of if I just listen to that sentence right there, that's one thing I

Steve: really What's a down payment?

Mohamed: Like, like, what I meant, like like, to give them a deposit. Like, you know, let's say the project's $50,000. Like, they asked for a down payment of 10,000. Right? So, like, hey.

Like, to start the project. Or, you know, the project is 30. They asked for, you know, 5,000. We've had guys where, I don't wanna say names, but a contractor came to us. Right?

He started out a house for us, and, he did very well. He did very well. He gained our trust. We trusted this guy. I mean, he was a master scammer.

And then he picked up a couple other houses and then at some point he reached the three houses at one time for us with his crews. And then he came to us and he's like, man, I gotta pay my guys. I got something coming up with my sister. I have to pay for her hospital or something like that. Can I get like a a deposit or like a upfront payment before I start the project?

We didn't do that, anything like that before. But he he already did some flips. We didn't wanna lose him. We wanted to help him out. So we just gave him $20 on each one and 20 something thousand on each one, and he just disappeared.

So ever since then, I changed that.

Steve: I I still still in town? Do you do you see him?

Mohamed: Yeah. I yeah. I still see him. There's we're working on something, I guess, for sure. Because we found like, on Facebook, we had some contractors send us screenshots of how he got 20,000 or something like that from another lady and how he scammed this other guy for another money.

So he's been doing it for a lot of people. And believe me, Steve, if you met this guy, you would like him. He's so good at just getting people like, he's a people person. And when you when you meet somebody like that, like, maybe this is gonna this is gonna be my next, you know, partner in the next business venture that I start, in my next construction company. And that's kinda the relationship we had.

Like, we trusted him so much. Not only me, but my partners as well.

Steve: So you guys were potentially partnering up with him to start another business as a as a contractor before he violated that trust. Like, that was in your mind. You were It

Mohamed: was in my mind because he was so good at finding cheap labor.

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: I was like, what if we partner up with this dude? Right? It was in my head. Like, I we've it's even we we we even verbally expressed it. So, vocally expressed it.

But, so that was in our brain because he could find people that were really cheap. I don't then they were really good at their job. Right? And so we're like, this guy could be, like, a good ad to it could be a good addition to our company. Like, this guy could help us go to the next level because we were having trouble finding cheap labor, finding people that are affordable that do stuff at high quality where it sells really easily.

Steve: Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. So what l what other things can you do to properly manage contractors?

Mohamed: So when you draft up a contract with a contractor, right, you have to prior to starting the job, you have to point out when let's say they finish the roof, they get paid this much. They finish the, you know, demo, they get paid this much. They put in the windows, they get paid this much. They finish the framing, they get paid this much. Clearly saying how much they're gonna get paid, not based off of a week because some of them wanna get paid weekly.

Like, hey, dude. I wanna get paid every Friday. That doesn't work because if you go there, sit there for a whole week and you don't do anything, that just that doesn't work out. So based off task, that that's the only way it could be done. That's the only way you could scale this business without losing money is if you truly do it based off task, not based off of the hours that they spend there.

PACE always says this, eat what you kill. Eat what you kill. Mhmm. So that's that that that that's the kind of mentality we have.

Steve: So let's pretend I'm a contractor. Right? Like, I came by you, out referral. Right?

Mohamed: I've never met an Asian contractor before.

Steve: I've seen some in California, but only in California. Alright. But let's just pretend. Okay. Right?

I'm I'm a contractor. Come highly qualified, highly recommended. You see my work. But I think, Moe, I can't start without something like you gotta pay for materials. What do you say?

Mohamed: Oh, we pay for materials.

Steve: Okay. So then you gotta pay like, I I need some money to get started. Yeah. And what what are you gonna tell me?

Mohamed: Before I even have a conversation, I always kinda lead. As soon as somebody calls me, it's like, I wanna start I'm like, let me tell you how we work. Mhmm. Let me tell you how we do business. There are things that we will never do.

They are not negotiable. It will never happen. Just don't even dream about it. We don't give down payments, and we don't pay every week. We pay by task.

And that usually pushes away a lot of people. Mhmm. And I'm okay with that. I I'm okay with it pushing up away a lot of people. But it has to be clearly I I have to tell them that very clearly in the beginning.

That's the only way it will happen. And, immediately, they say, oh, that won't work for me. And I'm like, okay. Thank you. If you change your mind, just reach back out to me.

And I've had guys change their mind because it it does get contractors are constantly chasing jobs. And it gets to the point sometimes where they're tired of chasing jobs.

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: So they're like, oh, if I can get with this guy, he has a bunch of houses, I don't have to ever look for a job again. Right. So they see that value in us. And so we tell them, like, dude, we can shaft up a contract. You know where my office is.

Like, I'm not living at the back of my truck, you know. Like, do you know where we're at? Most people in town know where who we are. So that when I usually express that, they're okay with it.

Steve: Alright. So you said here are two nonnegotiables. We don't pay upfront Mhmm. And we don't pay per week. We pay for, milestones.

Mohamed: Exactly. And sometimes they get paid multiple times a week. Right? The sometimes it works in their favor because if they knock out two things in one week, they get paid twice a week. So to me, it doesn't matter how often they get paid.

It just matters to me what how much they get done.

Steve: Yeah. And I think it's so important too because, like, we have contractors, right, that I mean, I love it when they don't bill me till the end. Right?

Mohamed: Yeah. There's some

Steve: That's the best way.

Mohamed: They have they have to have deep pockets, though.

Steve: Oh, got deep pockets, but they run real businesses.

Mohamed: Yeah.

Steve: Right? I mean, like, we just spent 50,000 remodeling this whole place, and they start us, I mean, an invoice. Right? They just finished last week. They haven't sent an invoice.

Like, that's awesome. Right?

Mohamed: Yeah.

Steve: They've been doing this work for see, we started in December. So They're big companies. Months. Right?

Mohamed: I love

Steve: it as as a consumer.

Mohamed: Right? 100%.

Steve: So, but I think, you know, there are a lot of contractors get a bad rep. And I kinda think that part of it is I try to explain this to other other people. Right? Like, I I understand you're frustrated with the contractor. Right?

They're not running this business. They're not they might be slow. They might be disorganized. But here's the thing. Like, most business owners are a mess.

Right? Wholesalers, flippers, realtors. Every industry is a disaster in some capacity. And 8080% of every industry like, in every industry, 80% of the people are are morons. Right?

Mohamed: 100%.

Steve: So, like, I think, like, these industries or the contractors get a really bad rep. But how much is it? Because, a, they might not be good business owners, but, b, we're always trying to find the cheapest. And the cheapest

Mohamed: Is not always the greatest.

Steve: Is not gonna be the best business owners.

Mohamed: Yeah.

Steve: Right? So I think we kinda set ourselves up for failure as well.

Mohamed: So another thing, like, if I get a deal, for example, and it's a solid deal, and there's enough room to hire somebody that's expensive, I always do that. Mhmm. Where the deals are a little bit more tight, we hire somebody, you know, that's cheaper. Because it just when we hire somebody more expensive, it just makes the job way easier for us. We're way more hands off.

You know, we don't have to worry about it as much. So

Steve: The budget is a little shorter.

Mohamed: Yes. And and and not only that, there are specific contractors that we use for specific things. Mhmm. Like, if it's a big job, I'm not gonna use somebody that has been doing it for a couple years. I wanna use somebody that's been doing it for ten plus years.

Steve: Yeah.

Mohamed: So, just kinda clearly figuring out what your contractors are good at, that will help you scale for sure.

Steve: Gotcha. Alright. So we're gonna jump into the questions here from everyone that's asking. Before we do that, you guys, if you need help with your business, send me a DM on Instagram. Just DM me the word help, and you'll be able to talk to someone on my team to see if there's a way that we can help you guys.

So, on Instagram, I'm I'm gonna butcher this. Ajir and the Raven, how did you fund your first deal?

Mohamed: How did I fund my first deal? My first deal was thousand bucks. So, I mean, just bought it cash. But Probably,

Steve: how did you find your first flip?

Mohamed: My first flip was, a 120 k purchase. We sold it for $2.66 after putting 40 k into it. Private money. All of it. From a to z.

Didn't have any my own money into it.

Steve: Got it. And then buy or sell with Desiree on Instagram, what is your buy box?

Mohamed: My buy box is that's interesting. I pretty much buy everything as as long as there is some data showing that I could sell it for a specific amount. Like, if if I can't find comps, nothing show me like, I would buy anything and everything. Right? But if there's no nothing that shows me that, hey, like, I could sell this house for x amount of dollars, I'm not gonna buy it because there's no physical proof that tells me that, hey.

I'm gonna make money on this deal.

Steve: But So as long as you have an end number

Mohamed: Mhmm.

Steve: And you could buy it where you profit Mhmm. That's your buy box.

Mohamed: Yes. 100%.

Steve: Simple enough. But this gotta be like a so is it is it all of West Texas? Or

Mohamed: Yeah. I mean, I I would buy it. Personally, if somebody brought me a deal that could make me money, I would buy anywhere. I I because I, I'm savvy enough to figure out who's in the market to partner up with them and just buy together.

Steve: Well, you're I mean, Tristan looks like he drove you here.

Mohamed: Yeah. Tristan.

Steve: Yeah. So if Tristan say, hey. I got a deal for 50%, put it by AirVie in Phoenix.

Mohamed: Oh, dude. I would Let's go. I would first of all, I would hit you up first because because you're a nice guy. But, yeah. 100% buy it.

Steve: Cool. And then, same thing from Desiree is how much of a marketing budget did you implement when you started?

Mohamed: $3. Per month

Steve: or just $3 at Per month. Per month.

Mohamed: On just on mailers. That's what I started out. It just, started out with mailers then, like, actual letters, not postcards. And, the, the call rate was a lot lower than postcards, but the leads were coming in were a lot cleaner. They were a lot more serious.

For some reason when I don't know why, but it just the deals weren't like, hey. Take me off your list. Not many of them were like that. Where with postcards, it's like a bunch of them are take me off your list. You know?

Steve: Yeah. So on another question from Desiree is, when you're new to wholesaling, where can we find, contractors?

Mohamed: The best thing to do, and, honestly, if I could go back in time and do this, is probably if you have any investors that are already doing real estate Mhmm. Some of them don't. They're not flipping anything right now, and they have somebody in their phone that so I would call every investor that you know Mhmm. If you have some, and ask them about their good contractors. And the nice ones will generally send you a number.

Steve: Gotcha. And then, Sean Baxter, do you keep any of your deals?

Mohamed: Yes. Some of them. Right now, we have, one that, you know, multifamily 48 unit under contract that I'm planning to keep. Where at? In Odessa.

Steve: And how'd you get that deal?

Mohamed: I think it was postcards. Yeah. It was postcards.

Steve: Got it. That was a pretty good deal. Yeah. And, hey, when he saw my asking anybody and everybody, he literally was asking me for money before we show the show started. So he's not kidding when he says he's looking for money and the relationships and everything else.

And I think that's smart. Right? He absolutely should. Who is the best wholesaling mentor that you can recommend?

Mohamed: Best wholesaling mentor that I could recommend? Definitely Pace Morby.

Steve: Gotcha.

Mohamed: And Steve Trane.

Steve: That's a good answer. Where is the best mobile home park located?

Mohamed: The best mobile home park?

Steve: Mhmm. That's an interesting question. I I don't know if you're comfortable answering this, but if you were to buy a whole mobile home park, where would you buy it?

Mohamed: I've, there's this market. I know a guy that does a lot of mobile home parks in Louisiana. It's an oil town as well. For some reason, I'm all I always like oil towns.

Steve: Tell me about Chris Grady? Because he's buying he's buying a bunch of those.

Mohamed: Because there's a lot of mobile. I would say look at the state of Louisiana. I I don't know the city's name exactly, but it's a French name. I remember that.

Steve: Gotcha. And then, how much should newer wholesalers be spending on mentorship in the first year?

Mohamed: It just depends how much money you have. I mean, I I spent a lot of money on mentorships my first year. I and I I would still do it again. You know, I think there's a lot of good mentorships out there. Mhmm.

I I don't think you should put a cap on it. I don't think you should spend more than a $100. But if you have the money for it, I mean, usually, you know, you get what you should pay for. If you're joining a mastermind for a $100,000 a year, then it's you're definitely gonna get value out of it. But, the mentorships that I see out there, they're around 7,500 to 10,000, the ones that I know of.

Steve: So you mentioned that you've, spent a bunch of mentorship. So what have you signed up for?

Mohamed: So I I I got into a program, early on, like, literally my first month and spent $30,000. It was a tight deal where,

Steve: you know that's how about the ones that you would invest in again if you were starting over.

Mohamed: Like mentorships? Mhmm. I would definitely invest in sub two Yeah. Again, if I if I if it would it expired, if they'd call me tomorrow and they're like, hey. We can't be a part of this.

Yeah. I would cry for a little bit, but I would definitely join again.

Steve: Gotcha. Any other mentorship along the way that if you're brand new, you would sign up for again?

Mohamed: Dude, I I heard a lot. I'm not part of your, sales program, but, I heard a lot of good things about it. Because you I know you implement the Sandler method in your business. So, because, like, I've seen how you do your videos and how, like, you set the expectations early on. I'm very big on that.

Like, when you go to a seller appointment, tell them that they can't say no.

Steve: Right.

Mohamed: Right? In a nice way. You can frame it in a million different ways. You can make it your own, but just pretty much tell them they can't say no. Either they say yes

Steve: Or Or they can't say think about it. They can say no.

Mohamed: They can't say no. I can't think about it. Yeah. But, they can't they can't say no. I can't think about it.

But they they if they say yes or even if they say no, they have to tell you why. Like, try to figure out a way what's stopping them. Right? And trying to try to put yourself in your shoes and not to be too salesy and act as a consultant. Mhmm.

So, just because of that, honestly, I would recommend yours because, it's once I started doing that, I felt like because they would call me and they would tell me, hey, dude. This guy offered me this much. What do you think I should do? And I'm just like, in my head, don't take it. Take mine.

But, you know, no. I think he could get better. I think he could, you know And then a lot of times, you know, sometimes we don't even buy those deals. We just advise them because sometimes they want too much and, we end up referring it to a realtor or something like that. But, yeah, just kinda put yourself as a consultant and just tell them, no.

I can't they can't say I can't, I wanna think about it. Because Right. There's always a reason. Right? Like, there's either a number that they want because they wanna put it on another house for a down payment.

There's always something. Like, they have, like, a bill coming up. They have they're behind on taxes. Like, for the IRS, they wanna pay them, like, a certain amount. There's always something in the back of their head they're thinking about.

The whole point of this conversation is to figure out what are they thinking about. And sometimes, you you know, some people are more open to telling you what they're thinking about, but you just have to build rapport and, like, just kinda have a good relationship so that way they can be open with you.

Steve: Absolutely. So Kenneth Husbands on YouTube. How do I get a hold of you if I have a deal in Detroit?

Mohamed: Moe flips, m o e flips, on Instagram.

Steve: And Kareena on Instagram, would you raise my money on a deal as a buyer or pay for mentorship or coaching?

Mohamed: Would I rather spend money on a deal as a buyer? Mhmm.

Steve: Would you rather spend money on or probably a better way to ask this. Would you rather spend money on marketing or spend money on a mentorship if you were in probably if you're newer in the business?

Mohamed: I I I wouldn't just jump into wholesaling or real estate without reading something. Mhmm. Don't, like, read too much because they're like, just read get a couple books, watch maybe, you know, like, a few couple weeks worth of videos and just jump straight into it. And just when you find something that challenging, just reach out to somebody that's already doing deals and just kinda get partner up on, you know, sharing the cake. Like I always say, just share the cake.

You'll end up making more money on the long run.

Steve: Yeah. You know, we're talking about mentorship. This is kinda a total tangent. Right? Like, I got my haircut this morning, and the lady that cut my hair is, is a realtor.

Really? And we're talking about real estate. It's like, whatever. You know? And we're killing time.

And she's like, yeah. But now's a terrible time to flip. I'm like, yes. Yes. It is.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, why would I even flip right now? It sounds terrible. Sounds horrible.

But the value, right, of having the right mentor because I was asking her, like, okay. Well, like, that's whose team are you on? What brokerage are you at? And I'm hearing these things, like, man, like, it sucks that you work on that guy's team. Did you

Mohamed: just try to recruit her for your brokerage?

Steve: No. Because she's part time. She's cutting hair. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong with, like, having a side hustle, but

Mohamed: Yeah.

Steve: If you have a full time gig, just not qualified to work with us. Yeah. Right? So, I guess a follow-up question from Green is, what value do students get out of mentorship programs?

Mohamed: Sales, sale sales skills. I feel like, you know, you can't there's some things you can't teach, and there's some things you teach. I I truly believe sales is one of those things that you can teach Mhmm. As long as somebody's disciplined.

Steve: Right.

Mohamed: It doesn't matter, like, if you come from I I thought I would be the worst salesperson in the world. Most people actually around me thought I would be too. But I come to realize after doing it for a little bit, it's it's you can teach anybody how to be sales. So I feel like sales skills is one thing. You know, the legality of things, the contracts and all that, these are things you can Google.

They're not that hard to find. You know, you can find find a contract. You can find a video. But I feel like the sales skills Mhmm. Is is definitely what I would look for in in a mentorship.

Steve: Gotcha. And then Jeff Ramos on YouTube. Is now still a good time to buy and flip properties in Southern California or LA considering how high the prices are?

Mohamed: I'm I'm not in that market. However, I really think there every market you can figure out a way to make money. And Southern California has there's a lot of demand for people buying. So as long as people are buying, I'm sure you can find a good deal out there. You just gotta find somebody that would rather have the convenience over the money.

And that's where your goal is gonna be.

Steve: And I have three great friends, you know, in San Diego, in Orange County, in LA, and they're murdering it in each of those respective markets. Right? Three different people I know in three different markets, they're murdering it. So, yes. I I would say that you guys can still keep going.

Your IG handle again?

Mohamed: Moe flips, m o e flips.

Steve: So Tristan wants to know who are the key players on your team?

Mohamed: So key players, I have mainly VAs. Right? I I had so many bad hires. Right? I've gone through that.

You know? So after doing it for a little bit, realized that I really need to invest a lot of time and training into my VAs. Because I feel like my VAs, I can trust them. They won't backstab me. They're not here.

Like, how are they gonna hurt me? You know, like, a lot I'm not I'm not opposed to hiring people that are local. It just in my experience, it wasn't that great. Mhmm. Because you there's nothing wrong with creating your own competition.

I don't care about competition. I love competition. But it's the time you invest, you hire them, and you invest year, two, three training them, you know, and then I just it's you feel like that that all that time is wasted. And that that if you spend that same time doing deals, you would make millions of dollars. So I'd rather find it it's gonna be tough, right, finding a good VA with good English.

They're very motivated. They will be on time all the time. But I feel like once you find the right one, and that's what I do, is, I hire VAs and I train them really well and I spend a lot of time with them. They they they can close deals on the phone without being there. I mean, a lot of times, sometimes they put them under contract for too high.

Mhmm. Right? Because they're not there. There is some type of surprise there. Project manager will see it, let me know, and then we'll renegotiate.

If we can't, then we can just drop it. That's what option period is for. But, I feel like you could literally I feel like anybody I mean, there's so many different ways to hire VAs because I feel like the most the the biggest reason why people don't hire VAs because they don't know how to find VAs. There's so many different websites out there that you can reach, you know, and find VA's.

Steve: Which one do you like?

Mohamed: I personally hire them like, I don't deal with a third party. I deal directly with them. Like, I I look up virtualstaff.ph. You know, the all the websites like that that you can put up. Like, it's like Indeed and and stuff like that.

And you just, I'll put up, like, if I wanna hire a cold caller, I'll be like, you know, telemarketer real estate blah blah blah. Cold caller real estate blah blah blah. You know, customer service real estate blah blah blah. And then I would have so many different, you know, people apply and then we just kinda vet them based off of their experience and just kinda put them all on a Zoom, interview all of them at the same time, try to figure out who's gonna show and you have to kinda you can't hire one and it will be a success. You have to hire, like, five.

Maybe one will be good.

Steve: Yeah. Desiree's follow-up question. What online system are you using to find your deals?

Mohamed: So, I use a lot, but the biggest one is BatchLeads. The biggest one is BatchLeads. If you I'm an affiliate with them, so, I I I love using BatchLeads. It's just been a game changer for us because, you can do so much so many things in one place.

Steve: And Green wants to know how do you build trust with your potential business partners?

Mohamed: Experiences. Going through things, like having bad things happen to your properties and just seeing how they react. Mhmm. Just kinda reading body language. And, you know, when you're put in tough situations, just how do you react?

Like, do you freak out or do you just calm down and just think about it, you know?

Steve: We never answer the phone.

Mohamed: There you go. That that one is a big one too. Like, are they are they going are, are they, like, constantly going out and not focusing on the business and they're just

Steve: Yeah.

Mohamed: Spending business money. Like, there's some clear ones. But definitely, like, for me, it's, like, are they involved? Are they present?

Steve: Well, I like that. Because I think, like, you know, I can't remember who said I think it was Martin Luther King was that, you know, it's not, like, the good times that define us. Right? It's, like, the tough times that reveals our character.

Mohamed: 100%.

Steve: And so, like, I had this one it just seems like everyone in this particular industry, mortgages like, whenever something goes south, like their mom's in the hospital. I was like, how many times can your mom be in the hospital? Right?

Mohamed: Exactly. Right?

Steve: It's ridiculous.

Mohamed: It's insane. Or, like, they had COVID. That one is a big one. I have COVID. They've had had, like, like, five COVIDs in the past week.

Steve: Maybe they should probably get, vaccinated. Yeah. So Michael Kennedy, do you market through PPC or Facebook ads? No. And how do we find a reputable title company?

Mohamed: I I've gotten every single one of them from a friend. I have never had to go go out and find some, but I know how to find some because, I tried to do it before in a, like, a in a in a different market, but I never worked with them or anything. But for me, it was the easiest way was to Google and just cold call a bunch of them. That's that's and it worked.

Steve: What's your biggest struggle right now?

Mohamed: Biggest struggle? That's a good question. My biggest struggle is probably balancing.

Steve: What does that mean?

Mohamed: Like, work life with personal life. I feel like that's that's a big struggle because I don't find this work, like, real estate as a job. Like, I I would do this every day. Like, I don't I don't see it as a job. Like, I love doing this stuff.

So, there's I feel like I mixed them up pretty well. Like, I I just there's no balance. You know? I I I feel like I work more than the average person for sure.

Steve: Okay. So is that a struggle then? Or are you just, like are are you comparing yourself to someone else? Or do you feel like there's a problem with your I feel

Mohamed: like I feel like it's hard not to compare yourself to somebody else. Of course. Who's your role model? Right?

Steve: Right.

Mohamed: Who do you wanna be? Like, who who who how who am I gonna be in ten years or twenty years from now? Like, who's that person? Like and I'm trying to shape myself to be that person, and I'm trying to build myself to be that person slowly. But, I wanna get to the point where, you know you know, like, you know, it's it's it's I wanna have a big company.

Like, I wanna have a billion dollars worth of real estate. Like, how do I get there? I need more people. My struggle is, like you know, there's so many different things that I struggle with. Right?

Like, stress, for example, at work. I feel like I stress out a lot. You know, there's small things in here happen and it just it's a bunch of things at once and you just stress out and you're like, I don't wanna do this anymore. And I have those days. Right?

Steve: So what do you do to get your mental state back?

Mohamed: I I take a vacation. I just I'll be like, I'm I'm I'm dipping out for a couple days.

Steve: I'll Hopefully, but after the problem's been solved. I'm not in the middle of it.

Mohamed: So, like, a lot of times, the problem is not like, hey. Like, you have to solve it right now.

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: You know

Steve: what I mean?

Mohamed: Gotcha. So, like, I could solve it in, like, a couple days. Let me just get out of here and just kinda de stress, come back, and just figure out a way to solve. Yeah. So, a lot of times, that's what I do.

I just get out of town.

Steve: And, how do you stay motivated?

Mohamed: It's hard not to nowadays, man. Like, there's so many people that I see, and I follow you're one of them, real estate guys that I see what they're doing. I'm I'm impressed with what they're doing.

Steve: I'm like,

Mohamed: yeah, I wanna reach that point. You know, and so for me, it's just strictly following people that I feel like are successful and just kinda watching what they're doing. And a lot of it is free. A lot of it is free. They a lot of them explain what they're doing.

Mhmm. And and and that's how I stay motivated. I just

Steve: crazy times. I wish I had this when I was growing up. Yeah. How do you measure success?

Mohamed: Happiness. I feel like success and happiness come together. It's not based off of money. I I didn't even get into real estate because of money. I actually got into real estate because I wanted something stable, and I wanted to be free.

I I didn't want to have to be homeless. It wasn't for money at all. Like, till today, yeah, like, we'll we love making money. We love money, but it's the business when it first started, it was because of freedom. I just wanted to be free and pay my bills.

Steve: Here's an interesting question here from, Rich Cascio is, what who do you credit for your success?

Mohamed: Who do I credit for my success? My parents, for sure. My my dad and my mom. Like, my mom was, the she's, you know, she's a wonderful person, very honest. No.

We'd never heard a fly. So I get that from her. My dad is a little bit like, he went to the army, so he's he's a he's a very aggressive person, like, with business, with, you know, he when, he he I grew up like him owning businesses. Right? When he walked in, like, he we had he had a bakery one time and a restaurant right next to it and a commercial property that was just rented out for appliances.

And then, when he walks in to the, restaurant and the guys that are working there, if they are not working literally, like, they they would find something to do. They would act like they're working right away. So, I feel like I balance both personalities and I'm just kinda right in the middle.

Steve: Gotcha. What would you consider to be your superpower?

Mohamed: Putting a and b together. Like, making, like, if I feel like I I connect people real well. Like, if somebody came to me, sometimes they don't even come to me. Sometimes they just, explain something. They're like, hey, dude.

I don't know what how how I'm gonna get this happen. And I just give them a somebody's phone number. And, like, I feel like I've always been that person where, like, you know, I try to connect a and b and make them succeed together. And just kinda be the connector. And just put people together and and just enjoy it.

Steve: Awesome. What's the greatest lesson that you've learned?

Mohamed: Greatest lesson I've ever learned in business? Certainly, for me in business, like, the greatest lesson I've ever learned, was there's no such thing as, like, completely automated delegated. Like like, I feel like a lot of people, they're like, oh, my business, like and you see them on Instagram, TikTok. My business, a 100% automated delegated. Right?

I don't have to do anything. Right? There's no such thing. I just there there's no such thing. So eating yourself up in the background because you're constantly working, and you're like, oh, why is my business not 100% automated delegated?

I I don't think there's a such thing as automated. They're like, actually, I don't want it to be because I enjoy this stuff. But, the biggest lesson I've ever learned is to not compare yourself with people. Just kinda focus. Because I feel like my first few months in business, that's what I did.

I constantly, like, oh, I do this guy's guy's first deal in, like, a month. And I got my first deal in, like, four months. And I'm constantly, like, comparing myself to other people, and it doesn't make me happy.

Steve: Mhmm.

Mohamed: Where right now, it's like, hey, I know what I'm satisfied with. I know what I the kind of lifestyle I want. I wanna make this much money so I can live this lifestyle. That's what I do. And taking things really easy, not trying to rush things.

Growing in business too fast is not always a good thing. I've had times where we exploded in months and just kinda took over a bunch of properties way more than what we're doing right now and just kinda slowed down a little bit. And that that time that you take in order to slow down costs you money, costs you a lot of time. So just grow organically and just slow.

Steve: Yeah. And then is there a favorite best or most interesting failure?

Mohamed: Like, I I mentioned a little just a second ago about the contractor. I feel like it the way we just restructured how we pay our people is just it it it just kept us safe. Like, I've had guys where, right now, they quit on me. There's no stress.

Steve: Yeah.

Mohamed: I didn't give them a whole bunch of money.

Steve: You don't have to pay someone else to redo the work?

Mohamed: Exactly. Like, I I don't have to I'm not negative into the project. I'm not losing money. So it's like it's just it was a it was a no brainer. Now that I do it right now, I'm like, why the hell did I not it's such common sense.

Steve: It is. And we've had, April Molina on the show talk about it. We've had Danny Crowell on the show talk about it. I think you're the third person to mention, like, don't pay your contractors up front. Yeah.

They will disappear on you. 100%. What book have you gifted more than any other?

Mohamed: I haven't booked gifted a lot of books, but I gifted traction.

Steve: Got it. What do you like about the traction book?

Mohamed: I've never ever read a book from first page to last page till today. I've never done it. I've always picked chapters that I felt like, hey, like, I need to read this, but the other ones I don't. I've just been a lazy person with that, like, with reading books. I never read a book from oh, start from what I liked about it is that, just the or, like, how you can organize your corporation.

Like, just starting to look at it as, like, a business. Not like, hey, dude. Like, I just wanna make this much money, but you want to be able to leave, like, a legacy when you when you leave this world. Like, you want to be able if you if I took myself out of the business, I'm easily replaceable with somebody else.

Steve: Yeah. We're gonna be doing a compilation of, like, the list of, like, the top books from all the different podcast episodes. We're about 200 episodes in. Interaction, I think, is number one. If that, what number one is definitely top three.

And then don't feel bad, right, if you don't, like, read the whole book. So, like, I wrote I've written a couple books now. And, like, one of the things that was kinda discouraging is, like, just knowing, like, hey, they're gonna read the book and whatever sucks. Right? But the what I learned was that 20% of people that or only 20% of the people that buy your book will actually read it.

Yeah. Right? It's just crazy. Yeah.

Mohamed: It is.

Steve: And the ones that read it, even then, like, only a handful will actually read past they'll read the back cover, they'll read the intro, and they'll reach after one, And then most of them will fall off after that. So, like, don't feel bad because that's actually normal. Maybe you're just the first person to admit it out loud. Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe. So, I'm gonna make a few quick announcements, and then I wanna leave, the listeners with your final thoughts. Guys, if you got value today, please like, subscribe, share, comment. It really helps us. We are trying to reach more people.

We are genuinely trying to create a 100 millionaires. The more people we reach, the more we can accomplish our mission. You know? So please help us reach more people. And then we do have our Discord.

Like I said, we're gonna be doing a a private AMA in the Discord group. So, check it out, if you guys are interested in that. And then we do have our sales master class. If you guys are interested in our sales master class, literally, everything we talk about, how we help hundreds of people every single month close a higher percentage of their appointments at deeper margins. If that's something that you think would be valuable to you, check out our sales master class.

And then next week, we got my good buddy, Tim Brotz, coming on the show. I've been harassing him forever, so he's finally coming out. He's done thousands of doors and apartments. So if you guys are everything about multifamily, Tim Bratz is your guy. Alright.

So what are some last thoughts I wanna leave everyone with?

Mohamed: The biggest thing for me, right, like, I I I I swear to god, I remember it like today. When I first, found out about wholesaling and I found out about you, I think I watched the Max Maxwell video and then, saw, like, maybe three years ago, he got on your show and, and then, like, started watching your videos and how, like, you asked specific questions. I I really think, like, honestly, I truly believe this, that if somebody were to watch your podcast and they actually take action just based off of the information in the podcast, I really think there's no way that person is not gonna be a millionaire. Because I remember watching your like, when I never had a deal before. And it it was insane because, like, dude, these guys are doing so many things.

Like, I I wanna be that person one day. Yeah. And I don't wanna be on on Steve Trang's podcast one day. But, yeah, it's it's it's crazy, man. It just feels like yesterday, but it hasn't even been a long time ago.

But when I first started, I took, you know, like, don't be not to be afraid to put in the extra work. Like, when I was working, you know, two weeks one week off on the oil field, we were doing twelve hour shifts. But it was like a two hour drive there, two hour back because it's in the middle of the desert. So I kinda took that shift, twelve hour shift, and I was like, this is what I'm gonna do in real estate. And I literally dug a hole and put myself in it and became just super antisocial.

Didn't communicate with anybody for a couple years. And I was like, all I'm gonna do is just work and I'm gonna treat it like the oil field. That's how I'm gonna treat real estate. I'm just gonna work from the morning till the night and I'm gonna do it every day consistently. And and that's the only way you can do it is to grow something, you know, to grow something that's meaningful.

It just takes time and it takes a lot of hours. So I that that's that's what I wanted to leave everybody with. It's just, honestly, if they if they follow your podcast, there's no way they're not gonna be a millionaire.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. We have actually you know, one of our, people in our mentorship program, Thomas Heil. I don't know if you know him. But he talks about the same thing.

Like, so many people are trying to do so many different things. But if you would just go deep, right, just like you're talking about in the oil field. Right? If you just go deep, just keep drilling, things spot. And way more success than trying to have oil fields everywhere.

Mohamed: A 100%. And a lot of guys, like, what they try to do, they're like, oh, I wanna hold rentals. I wanna be a wholesaler. I wanna flip. I wanna do novation agreements.

I wanna do sub two. I wanna do wraps. I wanna do all these things. Right? But just pick one.

Stick to it for just a year or a couple years. Just stick to it and, like, make it just huge. Right? And then just after you've become really, really experienced in that one thing, and then just kinda slowly scale into the other parts. Because it's just to me, at least, I feel like there's there's probably a a bunch of other people that are more smarter than me that can do multiple things at once.

For me, I have to do one thing at a time. Mhmm. And just focus on that. And for me, that was flipping. Yeah.

It was flipping out.

Steve: That's awesome. So it's a really important message. If someone wants to get a hold of you, how would they do that?

Mohamed: On Instagram, MoFlips.

Steve: Alright. So there you go. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it.

Thank you guys for watching.

Mohamed: Shout out to Steve Train. That was on. Jump on the Steve Train. We real estate disrupt