Max Jimenez Shares How We’ve Contracted 9 Properties in Last 30 Days in Ultra Competitive Phoenix

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate to Disruptors. Today, we have Max Jimenez with Max Cash Offers, and he's here to share how we've locked up nine properties in the last thirty days in the super competitive market of Phoenix. If this is your first time tuning in, I am Steve Trang, broker and owner of Stunning Homes Realty, founder of the OfferFastHomes app, the only app you'll need for wholesaling. And I'm on a mission to create 100 millionaires.

So if that's something you're interested in, let's definitely connect on Instagram. If you're excited for today's show, please give me a wave. Give me a thumbs up. And as a friendly reminder, I do not charge a dime for this show. I don't make any money doing this.

So here's all I ask. This is what it costs for you to listen to this show. If you get value today, please tell a friend. You can share this episode right now, tag a friend below, or tell him your best takeaway later on. That way, we can all grow together.

And don't forget, this is a live show, so please post your questions for Max to answer. And before we get started, I'm just wanna add that I'm also super excited. You know, Max has been working behind the scenes while I'm over here doing the podcast. And Max is the one that's actually making the operation to run. So he's the reason why I'm not a no hug guru.

So you ready?

Max Jimenez: Let's do it, man.

Steve: Alright. So first question is, what got you into real estate?

Max: Good question. So I didn't what got me into real estate, I actually knew a friend of mine. This was years ago, probably, like, when o five, o six, you know, when the real estate boom was happening and houses were going like hotcakes. Right? So I I was working in an office, and the gentleman I was working for was doing credit repair.

And there was another office in there in that same, you know, location, and they were doing a lot of fix and flips. So I I befriended the gentleman who was the investor. So it was kinda cool to see that, but I never really got into it. So fast forward, couple, you know, couple years later, you know, I always wanted to do something in my life. I didn't know what.

I always had that entrepreneurial spirit. I mean, I could sit here and I can probably tell you all the things that I tried to start, all the businesses, handyman. I used to do yard sales, go buy, like, I would go and buy, what is it called? Bulk downtown, do yard sales. So I didn't know what to do.

So 2014, 2013 comes around 2014. You know, the market started to come back up. I reached out to that same friend, and I said, hey. You know, the market's starting to turn. You are you interested in getting back into real estate?

So this was late twenty fourteen. So he's like, you know what? Maybe. We'll see. You know, he gave me that old maybe and see what happens.

So he goes, start doing your research. So I did. And the funny thing was when I was doing my research, you know, I started looking on Craigslist. So I saw all these properties on Craigslist, and now I know who it was. These were wholesalers, which I didn't know at the time.

Steve: Right.

Max: So, you know, and doing my research, you know, trying to contact people, I would reach out to people. I would ask them. I was getting very frustrated. And my mother-in-law, I asked her, like, hey. Do you know any realtors or anything?

She's like, yeah. You can call call the realtor that sold us our house. So I called her, and the lady lives in Florida. She's not doing no more business. So you can see my frustration.

Like, you know what? I think this thing is not meant to be. So anyways, I called her, and, of course, she gave me a story like, hey. I'm not in the real estate business anymore. You know, I can't really help you because I asked her to see if she knew where I can contact to get deals, properties.

Mhmm. And, she goes, but look up a guy named Sean Terry, she said. And I was like, oh god. Who is this guy now? Now I gotta go look up somebody else.

Alright. So I didn't do it that night. You know, the next day, I went to work and stuff, and I got home, and I did. I googled it, you know, went to his website, downloaded his ebook, and I read it that night. And I said, what the heck is this?

Yeah. You can do what? You can do this. So what my first call was to my to my buddy is like, you know what? I found this guy.

He's saying you could do this. He's saying you could do that. And he's like, is he legit? So that's kinda how I got into, you know, per se into the real estate. You know, originally, it wasn't, like, something I was looking for.

Mhmm.

Steve: But it

Max: came about because of that friend. So then, you know, I started I started you know, obviously, Sean Terry here locally. It was in 2015, attended a couple of his meetups. October or right before his event in October 2015, that friend passed away. He died of a heart attack in September.

So it was really hard because we're gonna build the business together. You know? We were getting into it. So I kinda, you know, pushed through, went to the event, you know, at the 2015, which was in October. And from that, from the time I went to the event, man, I submerged myself.

I really took a deep dive into what wholesaling was, turned off a lot of the music for, like, six or five or six months straight. I mean, I pretty much dove into what the what wholesaling entailed and make sure that I got myself educated into the business. But then I got into too much education. Right? I wasn't taking enough action because it took me about eleven months to get my first deal, obviously.

Steve: Right.

Max: Meanwhile, I was still working, you know, still working doing plumbing construction because I just didn't know what to do. So I ended up just taking a construction job that I had there for about three and a half years. So

Steve: Right. Yeah. So then, when you quit let's talk about that story because you shared that with me. So you tried to quit. So you were making how much?

Max: I was making, like, $22 an hour.

Steve: And then the day you said, hey. I'm quitting.

Max: Yeah. So so, you know, obviously well, here's my plan. Right? Everybody that wants to do something in life, it's it's sometimes it's scary to take that jump. Right?

And sometimes, you know, you always wanna have that safety net. So me, I'm the type of person and, you know, my wife is watching. God bless her. Hi. I love you.

She's very understanding when I wanna do something, and she has a lot of confidence in me. So I so what I did was, hey. You know what? Instead of me taking this full jump, let me do let me let me put a safety net. I went to Craigslist and I saw your ad, which was, you know, I think it was, like, August 2018 or July or 2016.

Sorry. Yep. July 2016, called you, interview with you. And then so I went back and I told the the the owner of the company, which, you know, we were really cool with him. So I told him, hey, man.

You know what? I got a great opportunity in real estate. You know, I I I think I'm gonna take the jump. I can't let this pass. And he's like, why?

What's going on? You know, why do you wanna I mean, what can I do to keep you here? He's like, you're one of my best crews. And so I said, honestly, I don't know at this point. My mom's met up.

My mom's met my mind's made up. He's like, what if I give you $5 more an hour? And it was I mean, it's pretty, like for a person that's been working hourly wage, you know, for a very long time, that's pretty scary.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: Like, the guy hit me where he knew it was gonna hurt. So so now that wasn't that that wasn't the end. So I didn't tell him no so I wouldn't disrespect him there. So I said, you know what? Politely.

I said, let me think about it. Now I gotta drive home and sell this to my wife. Right? I gotta tell her that, hey. Hey, babe.

They just offer me $5 an hour. I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna tell them that I don't want it. So, anyways, that was that was, I had to sell my I had to basically, on my drive home, I had to figure out how to tell her that. Mhmm. And, you know, got home and, you know, obviously, I I told her what's going on, and she's like, well, what are you gonna do?

So we talked about it. We're good. Went back the next day, and, yeah, I told him no. And so that's how, you know, I think, two weeks later, I started with you. So Alright.

Steve: Yep. So then

Max: That was 2016, when I started with you in, August. Yeah. That was 2016.

Steve: So your first wholesale deal.

Max: So first wholesale deal was I was still doing marketing when I even when I came out with you, even when I was working. Mhmm. That's the thing. So all that 2016, I was doing a lot of marketing. I got pictures too as well.

They can go on my Facebook. I was writing letters on my kitchen table. I had my kids, put the letters in the envelopes, put the stamps on the letters. I had my son go out with me at night, you know, putting out bandit signs. So there was no excuse.

Right? Like, I knew that I need this is what I was gonna do, and this is what was gonna push me to the goals that I needed to get to. So so then when I came to work with you, I was still doing some of those things. But the but the deal came from a referral at my wife's job. Mhmm.

Because at that point, I was pretty confident. I was away from construction. I was already talking to a lot of people when I was, you know, in your, inside sales agent. Mhmm. So I told her, like, hey.

Make sure you tell everybody. I buy real estate. I hadn't bought one house in my life besides my personal residence. So the deal came through. It was, one of our coworkers.

The, the it was a condo up on 28th Avenue in Peoria. So This thing, they owned it for about three years, paying the mortgage on it, vacant. They had tore it up a year before to fix it up. But, yeah, they they weren't able to have the money. So, yeah, we got that deal, locked it up, and then, sold it, like, in two weeks.

That that first deal, made $11,200 on that one.

Steve: So let's walk through that. Right? So you started in '16. How long from when you're like, alright. I'm gonna start doing this till you locked up your first deal?

Max: So even though I went to the event on October 2015, right, Sean Terry's, I didn't really take a lot action. Again, I went into analysis process. Mhmm. Because I wanted to learn the business. Right?

I wanted to learn not so much perfection because you gotta take action in order for you to understand the ins and outs and the logistics of everything. But but, honestly, I really when I made my mind up to do it, I really wanted to learn listening to podcasts, books, everything. So I didn't really start taking action probably to about, I wanna say, like, February and March 2016. So you're talk and then the deal happened in October.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: So, well, that's a stretch of, like, ten months or something.

Steve: Right. And I think that's something that, you know, everyone here that's on the that's listening is that it's not you don't just turn flip a switch and it's easy.

Max: Yeah. Definitely not. You know, it's you're gonna go through a lot of tests. You're gonna have to you know, it's not easy,

Steve: honestly. So you took nine, ten months, and Carlos just posted something. You know? Six months, 2,400

Max: bandit signs.

Steve: Right. So, you know, sometimes it's darkest, right before dawn. Yeah.

Max: So I will say this. I did contract one property in in between, but I just I wasn't able to sell it. Yeah. So I had to cancel the contract. The of course, the seller was pretty pissed off at me.

And, but, you know, that actually and honestly, that was the only contract I ever canceled ever since. One contract only ever since I I've been doing this.

Steve: So we talk about Phoenix is the wholesale capital of the world, or if it's not top, it's definitely top three. Without a doubt, we're the guru capital of the world.

Max: Yeah. Definitely, man.

Steve: So how is our operation different than our local friends and competitors?

Max: Different. I think we're we like well, especially with me. Right? I'm big hands on coming from the work ethic, you know, that I've learned all through my childhood. Obviously, I'm really hands on with everybody.

Like, I wanna make sure our team is doing really well. I wanna make sure that we're that's probably somewhat of a separator from where people have, like, VAs. People have, tried to hire outsource a lot of stuff.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: So I think that's helped our business quite a bit because we're a lot we're big hands on with our acquisition guys. Right? They're in office. They come in. I mean, we have training every I mean, on Mondays, we have our our morning huddles.

You know, we have text group, like, what I respond to this person. So, but, you know, the thing that help that's helped us out a lot is that we we're big on self development. Yeah. I think that's the separator for us. You know, because we're we're we're sending text messages.

We're doing the ringless voice mails right. We're doing the, cold calling as well. You know, we're buying data just like everybody else. But I think for us, the the difference is the is the self development and investing in our sales training. Right.

Honestly, that's I think that's that's where we separate ourselves from everyone else. And, you know, appointments as well where most people aren't aren't going out to the appointments. And, honestly, it's helped us all out too in our spreads, which is great.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. So I think there's two things. Right? There's the, we're willing to go to the appointments Mhmm.

Physically, which is just Right. There's two different schools of thought. Right? You can do more virtually. Right.

Right. Yeah. But in this market, it's pretty competitive. So we we choose to go, in person. But the other thing too is we don't have VAs.

Max: Yeah. Correct.

Steve: Our front guys are the ones booking appointments and going to the appointments with you.

Max: Right. Yeah. Definitely.

Steve: So Willie Coleman wants to know how many text messages do you guys send a day?

Max: A day. So so right now, we ramped it up. I mean, we we're sending about so I would say a week, we're sending about 8,000 text messages Mhmm. About a a week. So whatever that comes from.

Steve: A thousand a day?

Max: Yeah. A little over a thousand a day.

Steve: We do primarily weekdays. Right?

Max: Yeah. Weekdays. That's it. Monday through Friday. We have a very unique system.

So we have templates that, you know, they're not auto reply, but our guys can answer on the fly. We pretty much dictate the conversation. We we we basically control not control, but we we make the conversation go to where we want it to go. Right. You know, to make sure that we're talking to either either we're gonna disqualify or qualify based off these the questions that we ask them.

Steve: Or orchestrating the conversation.

Max: Orchestrating the conversation. That's the word.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. And then, a great question here from our buddy, Donald Ross. What's up, Donald? What tool can you not live without?

Max: What tool can we not live without? That's a hard question, man. In this in this day and age with systems, I mean

Steve: say and and what's our best? What are we using for Podio?

Max: Well, beast mode CRM, obviously. Right? Yeah. Because you have to track. That that is a tool that you you you definitely need to have that CRM, and we use beast mode CRM.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: Without it, honestly, there's no way you could track your KPIs. You can't track your your leads. So, yeah, definitely, that that would be the the biggest one anyways. Yeah. Live without I mean, honestly, we need all of them, but Yeah.

The big one is that one. Yeah.

Steve: So how much of our business is wholesale? How much of it's flipping?

Max: I think wholesaling is, like, 90% right, I wanna say. Yeah. 95 maybe.

Steve: Definitely as percentage of profits. Definitely 95. Flipping sucks.

Max: Not a big not a we're not big big fix and flip. So We're

Steve: not good at flipping.

Max: We're not we're not that good. Even though in 2017, we did did quite a bit of fix and flips, but it was weird because we you know, it was all subbed out and stuff Yeah. You know, when I was on my own. But, yeah, I still didn't I'm not that good at fixing flipping, man.

Steve: So what does our organization look like today?

Max: So there's you and I, obviously. Right? And then we have, three acquisition guys, which is Miguel and then Ruben and Esther. Yeah. I think at one point, we were nine total.

Steve: We had nine callers for a minute.

Max: Yeah. Locally intern here locally, we had nine callers. Got a little crazy, obviously, you know, because you have to try to figure out, you know, make sure that they all have everything in hand and to be able to be successful. But narrowing it down now, I think it's it's it's gotten really it's a lot better because now we can focus on training, focus on, you know, make sure that the guys are follow everybody's following the process to a t, and it's it's been very good.

Steve: They're pouring our time into the right three people.

Max: And then, obviously, we have our title company, and then, you know, we have our transaction coordinator, which helps out a lot, man, with you. Yeah.

Steve: So we got so we got three dialers who are also on the phones handling the returns for the RVMs and the text messages.

Max: Correct.

Steve: And then you are basically acquisition and disposition.

Max: Yeah. In a way, this position's actually gotten a little simpler with the ratios that we built.

Steve: Yeah. We'll talk about that a little bit about our disposition process. Yep. Yep. So, Sejane Bhakta wants to know what's our most profitable lead source?

Max: As of right now, it's been, code violations. Yeah. Yeah. Code violations, I have to say, has as far as the most deals, no. But as far as the spreads, yes.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. So code violations, we get those through the city.

Max: Correct. Yeah. They go to city hall, and then, I think make sure if you're here in Phoenix, you go to city hall, you have to have the right change, 12:50 or else you're not gonna you're not gonna get the service. You have to have the exact same change.

Steve: Is there any specialty in our organization?

Max: Specialty? I don't understand that question.

Steve: Is there anything we specialize in? I think we just everything. Right? I mean, I would say including even we we

Max: download the entire counties. Yeah. So so yeah. I don't think there's no. There's not, honestly.

I mean, we've gotten quite a bit of deals from just a general list. Again, going back to the original question, like, what makes us different? I think it's all about our self development and sales training, honestly. You know, we can hit every list we want, and that's we can kinda we can dictate and, you know, make deals out of list that people wouldn't even, you know not make them, but let, deals happen from list that people wouldn't even touch.

Steve: Right. Yeah. And it's that where we're talking about sales is slight edge difference. Mhmm. So okay.

So then we talk about finding deals. So we talked about we talked about co violations. What are the other lead sources that we like?

Max: So we do co violation, tax default, and then we have pre foreclosure, obviously. And then we have, absentee owners as well and then high equity. High equity is just a, like, a general list. Yeah. So yeah.

Steve: And then we also have that blanket list.

Max: Yeah. The blanket list.

Steve: Just everybody. I'm sorry. If you live in Maricopa County, I'm sorry.

Max: Yeah. If you if you live in Maricopa County, you're you and it's funny because so, you know, I'll meet with Jesse and Evo, and then they'll play, like, our RVM. Annie will. She's like, you're sending me I keep getting your RVMs.

Steve: See, I keep getting Jared's. I get freaking, hi. This is Alex. Okay. So then pulling data.

Where are we pulling data from?

Max: So we were we were pulling so we were pulling most of our data from, like, property radar. Mhmm. I think we pulled the smallest from lessors, Monsoon, which has tax records here locally, Reebo Gateway. But when we, we partnered up with Jesse, right, on buying that, you know, buying that general list

Steve: Yeah.

Max: So we we, we didn't pull we haven't pulled data from any source lately, but, evil is actually coming out with a data source. So if if you guys know evil, reach out to him. So he's he's coming out with his own data source, which is gonna have vacants, preforeclosures, unknown equity. So if anybody's looking for a list. So Yeah.

I think we just pulled three lists from there. So we're getting the numbers back today.

Steve: My favorite category on that list was seniors that have two level two level houses.

Max: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: That's Come on, Evo. That's where we pulled data. Where were we skip tracing?

Max: We use batch batch skip tracing. Right. Yeah.

Steve: So, guys, make sure you put RED for your code to get the the best pricing.

Max: Yep.

Steve: Alright. So we're talking about that. So KPI. So, Daniel Perito wants to know what are the KPIs that we track.

Max: That's it's a lot of them. Right? I think, you know, we've just added more too as well. Yeah. It's quite a bit, but our general is, dial attempts, conversations.

That's for a cold calling side conversations. And then, I think the one is I think what is it? Contacts. So valid times, contacts, conversations, and then appointments, face to face. That's on our cold call side.

Steve: First face to face. Initial face to face.

Max: Yeah. I mean and I think we have a large list. I I would have to go in and look at it. It's pretty long.

Steve: Yeah. So there's initial face to face, and then there's contracts, leads, and then we have, cost per lead.

Max: Yeah. Cost per lead.

Steve: Leads per transaction. And so those those are very high level Mhmm. List.

Max: Well, we use Traction too as well to keep track. So

Steve: Yeah. So Traction, if you guys haven't read the book Traction, it's an amazing book. And then we use Traction Tools. It's a software that's approved by Traction. Mhmm.

So, Max and I, we have our Monday, our our level 10 meeting every Monday morning. Okay. So buyers list. So disposition. So this is an interesting topic because a couple of people, have actually reached out to me.

It's like, you never talk about this position on the show. Which I should because I own freaking app. Anyhow, our disposition process is kind of funny. So, let's talk about a, the ideal process and then b, what actually happens.

Max: So, the ideal process is, you know, you lock up the contract, you know, obviously open up escrow and then we would put in the app. Mhmm. And then what we do is we reach out to, like, our top 10 buyers Yeah. By phone, text, or whatever. We give it a couple of days.

If none of them responds, typically, we'll reach out to Keely, you know, for them to blast it out.

Steve: The biggest disposition.

Max: Yeah. Correct. I'm

Steve: already in town.

Max: If you guys are in town and you got properties, you can move, reach out to Keeley. You know, they're pretty good about moving properties. What's been happening lately with these last nine deals, I before I even put them on I haven't put any of those deals in our app, because they've been selling through people reaching out through Instagram, which is crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

So that one on Friday, it was even sold before I even got done with it. As soon as I posted the walk through video, I had three people reach out. One of them already had the earnest money, in hand.

Steve: Right.

Max: So yeah.

Steve: So if you guys are in wholesale and you guys are not on Instagram, you guys are definitely leaving money on the table. So

Max: So here's what I would say, though, for that because it sounds real simple. Right? Like, just record it. So you have to I I know I don't have the most followers, but I have the right followers. Yeah.

And that's what matters.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: You know Quality. Yeah. Quality followers. And so I that didn't happen overnight. Right?

And so those followers that I have, even though it's not in the thousands, those are I'm happy with those followers I have because those are the ones that are looking at my stuff. Those are the ones that are making, you know, their buyers, they're buying. And, obviously, our friend, Pace, he's he's he's he's our number one buyer. Yeah. Yeah.

So and we got Ramon as well too, but we've have we've had other people reach out to us through the app, through Instagram. So you're we haven't even used the Offer Fast app.

Steve: And so, yeah, if people is like, send me your deals. It's like, no. You gotta follow Max on Instagram. That's what we're sending. That's we're selling our stories on Instagram stories right now.

So Yeah. Definitely follow Max Jimenez Max Jimenez ERA or just Max Jimenez? Max

Max: ERA. Yeah.

Steve: So Pace wants to know appointments, one or two people?

Max: Two. Yeah. Yeah. Why? So two people is good.

We found out that you can so what we do is before we go to the appointment, we do a a a pre appointment plan. Right? Mhmm. Like, here's what you're gonna say. Here's what I'm gonna say so we can bounce off ideas.

And then and then we say you're gonna take the lead. Right? We talk about it. So once we go up, show up to the property so you because usually, Miguel is or or Nestor or Ruben are the ones booking the appointment. Mhmm.

So they're the one they're the point of contact, but they while they're contacting them, they're they're they're they're edifying, which would be me. Right? The acquisition guy. Oh, Max is my partner. He's gonna come.

You know, he always goes out to the appointment with me. So if you guys if you have VAs or whatever, you know, you have VAs or people that are cold calling but you have acquisitions, you want them to edify your acquisition guy. You want them to tell him, like, he's gonna show up. He's gonna talk to you about this, certain things. So we go out, white two people, we go out and we, you know, we can bounce off.

So if he's talking to that person and and the seller is saying something to him, then I can catch and I'm ready to to basically answer that question. If the seller's talking to me, I'll look at Miguel, Ruben, or Nestor, and then they they they'll think about what to say next. So it always helps out to bounce out ideas. I wouldn't recommend three people because now it looks like you're gonna jump them.

Steve: I just realized that, you know, we talked about the lead sources, but we haven't talked about the channels. So the, we talk about RVMs. Mhmm. So RVMs, text blasting, and cold calling.

Max: Yeah. Correct.

Steve: Those are our three primary.

Max: Yep. Three primary.

Steve: Okay. So, cold calling. What program are we using for cold calling?

Max: So right now, we're using call tools. So, you know, that's the program that we're currently using, CallTools with, Chase. He's the one that hooked us up and set us up on it.

Steve: And then as far as skip not skip tracing, RVMs?

Max: RVM, we're using, batch voice leads. Yeah. So we're using, that's another program from Jesse and, Ivo. So we're using that one.

Steve: And then for text blasting?

Max: So text blasting, we've we're we're testing a program right now, that we've been using. It's a little expensive, obviously, right, TextMagic. But Yeah. I will say this is, I talked to yesterday. They are working on something, and I think they're able to set some people on on some temp on a temporary program until they get theirs out.

But we we've been using TextMagic. We like it as an app, but I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to them. It'll be a lot cheaper than what we're paying.

Steve: Yeah. We're definitely paying more, but the cool things we have in there is, they can text within the app. Mhmm.

Max: There's another one.

Steve: And then we've got the templates in there. So Correct.

Max: We already know. To, like, 30 templates. So

Steve: So there's only, like, a handful of questions you're gonna get. Yeah. So you just pick one of the templates.

Max: Yeah. It's always so yeah. That's a very good point. So most people get confused, but it's always the same. They're looking for that same answer.

They just word it differently. Yeah. So the templates help us to kinda, like, you know, gear gear that. Is that the real question that you're asking? Yep.

Yep. Yep.

Steve: Yeah. And one of my favorite responses, one of our favorite templates in there is, so you you're text blasting, you know, 8,000 people a week. Yeah. You're gonna get some people, like, I don't know you. You're you're you're just texting.

I don't know you're for real. Right. Right. Right. And then you ask, well, what do you need to see?

Max: Yeah. So we say, yeah. So fair enough. I know this text is out of the blue. Just out of curiosity, what would you need to see to feel comfortable with that?

I'm a legitimate buyer.

Steve: And then the typical answer, proof of funds, blah blah blah.

Max: And you say? And then we say, sounds great. Fair enough. If I once I provide that information, what happens next?

Steve: Yeah. And so I think that's great because for us, the challenge that I've always had is that I'm so eager to please and satisfy that I was like, oh, you need proof of funds. You need this and that. Let me go ahead and send you these three things, and you email it to them and

Max: then silence. Yeah. Correct. So you're just wasting your time.

Steve: So Right. So you're doing extra work for less, less returns. So, what we have for our text blast is let's pretend I do these these things, you get these things, you're satisfied, what happens next?

Max: What happens next? Yeah.

Steve: We just skip that whole thing.

Max: Yeah. Exactly. And and so sometimes they're like, well, we can talk. So when they say that, like because sometimes they'll do a simple reply, then we'll talk. Mhmm.

Oh, great. So let's get on. Let's, I'm gonna have my acquisition guy call you and or when can I have my when would be a great time to have the acquisition guy call you? Yeah. So we don't go until, like, okay.

What's your email so we can send it? We wanna get them on the phone to see if they're truly motivated. Yeah.

Steve: So even wants to know what you're doing to still look like you're in your twenties?

Max: Actually, I I I took a screenshot of that question. I sent it to my wife. She started laughing. I don't do anything, man. I just actually, I don't drink.

I don't stay up late. I don't I don't drink any alcohol, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Steve: Brian Apples, one of our one of our buddies as well wants to know what's the biggest impacting of working or partnering up with me?

Max: That's a good question. So most people think that, you know, partnering up with somebody, it's gonna automatically be like a hit. Right? Mhmm. And then, you know, especially, you have a lot of, a presence, you know, with the with the podcast and stuff.

So a lot of people think it's it's like, oh, man. He's got it easier. You know what I mean? I don't know. I I might be thinking too much, but, the impact is, like, growth.

Right? Like, we we help each other out. Yep. Like, honestly, you know, develop, you know, if we if there's questions that I have, I've grown a lot in the last year, obviously, you know, from you know, you've been coming a mentor to me, and I've learned a lot. And I think we kinda bounce off each other ideas, and we both have grown in that way.

You know? Yeah. Yeah. So So

Steve: So I think the big thing, Brian, is that, our I hate partnerships overall. I mean, that's just you you guys have heard me say that multiple times.

Max: Right.

Steve: But with Max, you know, we're we complement each other really well.

Max: You

Steve: know? My strengths, maybe, you know, something that Max is missing. And, likewise Yeah. My weaknesses, Max covers him up. Yeah.

So when we talk about the other question Pritos has is, what took us from two to four months to to nine?

Max: Honestly, man, he knows. He's been in the class. I mean, you know, it's, development. You know? Sales.

You have to stick with the the the development, the sales process. You know? I think that's been a game changer for us because we were still doing the same things. We were still sending out texts. We were still cold calling.

We were still, basically, RBM, dropping RBM's. We were still doing the same things. But what changed that took us from there to to where we're at now, it it really is the self development, the sales you know, a new sales process, implementing it, getting the team to buy into it. That's a big part because you as a leader, you as as the main guy can buy into that process. But if your team doesn't buy into it, then there's no use.

So that's what's been really the change is our whole culture has now evolved around that sales training Right. That we do.

Steve: So Well, they follow it. And so I think, you know, the guys obviously are are very, very big fan of you. You know, they love it. Yeah. And I think one of the, one of my favorite books, was Good Leaders Ask Great Questions by John Maxwell.

Mhmm. And the three questions you have to be able to answer in the affirmative is, do you care about me? Yeah. Can I trust you? And, will you do what's best for me

Max: Yeah.

Steve: When I'm not looking,

Max: when

Steve: I'm not around?

Max: Yeah. And I

Steve: think wholeheartedly, all our guys can answer 100% in the affirmative.

Max: So so here's the thing, like, you know and this is not to something that I always strive for is everybody that comes around me, whether they're with us for for a long time, whether they're they've been around me, I always try to make sure that everybody leaves better. Mhmm. That's one of the things that I strive for. And anybody that's been part of our team in the past or that comes around me, I always if I could leave if they could leave a little bit better than when they came than when they came or when they came with us or whatever or came around me, I'm I'm, like, a 100% satisfied, man. That's where I get my, like, satisfaction.

Like, man. Alright. Look. He's doing really good. At least I didn't ruin that person.

Steve: It's like Dave Ramsey said, heart of a servant.

Max: Yeah. Correct.

Steve: Right? You wanna find a heart heart of a teacher, heart of a servant.

Max: Yep. Yep.

Steve: Brian Sammons wants to know what percentage of our leads are coming from RVM, cold calling, and text blast.

Max: I think, RBMs are low right now. I think RVM and I don't know the exact percentages, but I can tell you that text and and cold calling are pretty hand in hand right now. Yeah. Yeah. RBM, for some reason, has slowed down.

I think that has to do with everybody doing the the calls. Everybody's doing RBM. Yeah. So we're we we we were getting a lot of we're getting quite a bit of leads in the beginning of the year, and then all of a sudden, it started to dry up a little bit. So but texting and cold called has been the best.

Steve: Yep. Pace wants to know if you had a time machine, would you go back and do over?

Max: Wow. That's a very crazy question. And actually, I was thinking about this, like, I I don't know I don't know what I would go back to over. It's a hard question to ask on the spot. Right?

Obviously, we go through life for different reasons. Right? I mean, my upbringing was not the best. You know, grew up very poor. You know, went to nine different schools.

Yeah. From first grade to to ninth grade. I mean, honestly, in high school was the only time that I went through, you know, to ninth and tenth grade. But even then, I was already ditching school. I was doing this.

So, you know, I don't know if I would have not went through the experience if I would be here right now. Honestly, you know, when I turned 16 and 17, stuff. So

Steve: Oh, really?

Max: That would be probably one thing that I would probably try to figure out. Yeah. To so from when I was 16 all the way up to, like, 19 before I met my wife, dude, I was I was lost. Like, I would stay up for, like, three, four days. I mean, I was yeah.

I was pretty bad. I was pretty bad. If that would be the one thing, probably that. But, you know, it goes back to your upbringing. Right?

You know, my mom let me do whatever I want. I mean, you know, I was out. I was dude, I would I would come home midnight. You know, I was 14 coming home and at midnight, 01:00. So, again, you know, I didn't have really a stable, stable house to, you know.

Steve: So why were you offended? My comment the other day.

Max: Yeah. So, I mean, that would probably be the only thing I would change, you know, that just because that kinda put me behind. But here's the thing though. Even though I was in that situation Yeah. My cousin who owns a a flooring business, so he it was crazy because I hated working for him because, you know, he so he was my cousin outside of work, but when we go to work, it was like he put the whip.

But that's where I learned my work ethic from, from my cousin working those four or five years. He's like, you know what? You're not doing crap in school. You're going to work. So I did floor covering.

So but even then through that time so I never really I got never really got like, sold anything or got into gangs. Actually, it was always hard work, but I did get heavy into using drugs, and it was pretty bad. But yeah, man. That's why you don't drink? That's why.

That's part of it. Yeah. And, you know, when I met my wife, I was pretty rough. So so I'm kind of blessed to have my wife and and but that would be the only thing I think that I would wanna change just to see what the outcome would be of that. Yep.

Steve: Daryl Banks wants to know what is in the text message.

Max: What is, like, the first initial initial text. You know, that's one that's a great question because people always think it's something special. Right? Like, what are you saying? And honestly, it's not.

It's like, hey, Steve. This is Max. We're buying a couple more houses in the area. You wouldn't consider selling 123 Main Street in Phoenix. It's simple as that.

Yep. Yeah. There's no there's no magic language. There's no, like, perfect word that you could say. It's either it it's that.

And if they're if they're if they're a lead that's gonna sell to you, they're gonna respond. You know, if even if they're not, they're still gonna respond like, no. Thank you, f u, whatever. You know, you're gonna get those responses. But as far as the initial message, there's no, like, special special words that you can put

Steve: on there. I think it's everything after the initial text message.

Max: Everything after. Correct. Yeah.

Steve: Ismael Lopez wants to know what how do you know if someone's the right fit bringing on to the team?

Max: That is a great question. I think they have to fit your culture, and they have to fit what your, what what the you're, going back to what I was saying earlier, everybody has to buy in in what you're doing. You know, that's the thing. You know, they have to fit your culture and then buy in in what you're doing to be able to make it work and for them to be able to succeed. Granted, you know, not everybody stays with you, but those that that that wanna grow and and we're pretty blessed right now to have these guys that we have now.

Steve: Awesome dudes.

Max: Yeah. Great awesome dude. They bought into the culture. They bought into the, you know, into what we're doing. So, hopefully, you know, cross our fingers Yeah.

You know, that they stay with us for a while. So

Steve: Alright. Culture fit is a really important thing. Yeah. So, Ismael, like, I've taken a lot of personal development, and one of the, things that Darren Hardy talks about a lot is culture. So, if you wanna have, like, you know, the hardest workers, leaders gotta be a hard worker.

Max: Yeah. Exactly.

Steve: If you want the leader if you want everyone to be personally developed, leaders gotta be personally developed. If you want the people to be good at sales, leaders gotta be good at sales. So you just have to be the best version of yourself. And if you are, then you attract other people that wanna hang around.

Max: Yeah. And I can add something to that too. So one of the things that I do with our team right now is that I'm not perfect. Right? And I don't know everything.

And I don't ever try to act like I know everything. Because what happens is I'm still I'm a learner at heart, so I'm always learning. I'm always developing. But what you know, if I if I don't know something, I'm not gonna act like I know it. You know?

And I tell them, like, hey, guys. I don't know everything. So, you know, don't expect me to have all the answers, but I'll I'll for sure find it. Right? So yep.

Steve: And then Ramon wants to know where do you see MCO in two years?

Max: Good question. I think you and I kinda talked about this. Right? Mhmm. Where do I see MCO in two years?

Obviously, we wanna so here's here's here's what I wanna be what what I wanna see and what what we want MCO to be at. A consist consistency. Right? Everybody can knock off, you know, these big deals. Everybody can knock off, you know, one big, you know, check.

I wanna have a I want MCO to be a consistent, machine to where it's we're pumping out those nine to 10 deals. And we're gonna do it here locally, honestly, man. That's our goal, to be here locally. We're not looking to expand right now. We're not looking to go into other markets.

I think as we get better, I think we're gonna be pretty good. So that's kind of I want to see that consistency. We want to be consistent always. Right? We don't want to come on to this podcast and be like, oh, we're we did nine deals and the next month is like we only did two or one.

So that in two year I mean, I know two years far. I don't know. Do you have something out of that?

Steve: I will say we had our guys they were able to do three to four deals consistently. Yeah. And they can live the lives that they wanna live out. That's pretty much it. Right.

Correct. So that's the it's the serving, those around you.

Max: So yeah. And that's the other thing too, give back. Right? Like, help people and because I know when I first started, you know, I I would reach out to people and they would help out. So Mhmm.

Steve: Yeah. And there are those that don't.

Max: There are those that don't. I agree.

Steve: So Willie wants to know how are we building out the team right now?

Max: I think we have the team pretty much built. Right? Yeah. I don't think we're looking to add anybody else. The only thing I could say that we could add is, like, a a leads manager.

Yeah. That's one thing when my my problem is that because lead is the data is the bloodline of your of your of of your business. Right? So I pretty much handle that right now, you know, doing the leads and everything. So I'm very, like, picky man on who who would do that.

But we have our guys that we have right now, I think they're I don't know I don't know if adding one person would be somewhat of a slows down a little bit, but I'm pretty happy where we're at. Maybe at a leads manager. That's about it. Yeah.

Steve: And so I would say that people are finding us, and they're asking to join us. So Mhmm. You just gotta be real, and you gotta let everyone know your story. Right? So you gotta be on Instagram.

You gotta be on Facebook.

Max: I see what I see. So he said, how do you how does he build this team out?

Steve: How do you find people? Yeah.

Max: Oh, okay. So most of our guys so Ruben came to the meetup. Right? Mhmm. And he'd already had been following us on, Instagram.

Mhmm. Miguel, I think, also came to the meetup as well too. Right? So meetups are good, and I think, Daniel reached out to me through Instagram when he was with us. Daniel was a killer, man.

He's a sniper. Shout out to Daniel if you're watching, man. He went out and, opened up his dealership. I know that was his, like, dream since he was 18. So Yeah.

But he reached out through Instagram. So they're they're all over. The the thing is that you have to give them a chance and at the same time, be able to provide that value for them to grow, to see if they develop into that position.

Steve: Yeah. So And Nestor came as a referral

Max: Oh, yeah. Nestor. From Peter Right.

Steve: Who came their meetup.

Max: Correct. And make sure that you, hire full time, please.

Steve: Yeah. We made that mistake. Edgar Rios wants to know, do you use

Max: Lead Source to get leads?

Steve: Lead Source? Mhmm.

Max: We've used it in the past, but, yeah. No. We have.

Steve: And, Rosara, no. We don't hire VAs outside of the country.

Max: No. No VAs. We did that early twenty eighteen. It was pretty rare. Rough.

Yeah. We

Steve: They were really good when they listened, when they followed instructions.

Max: Yeah. That was that was that was our biggest problem with our VAs. Maybe we had the wrong ones. I don't know. But Yeah.

You know, I was even involved with them, training them, doing the script. But then the next day, you go back to listen to their court. It's like, ah, you're pulling your hair out. Like, what happened? Yeah.

Steve: So Ruben asked this on our Facebook page.

Max: Yeah.

Steve: How did we end up being business partners? So why don't you go ahead and tell your side of the story, and I'll tell them the truth.

Max: Sure. So, going back to what I was saying about, you know, coming to work with you in August. I was there for three months, and then I got my first wholesale deal. And then I came to you. I was like, I'm gone.

Steve face drive. He's like, what? Yeah. I was his best. I yeah.

What is it? ISA. ISA.

Steve: So Inside sales agent.

Max: Inside sales agent. So I was killing it on the phones. So I got my first deal, and I told Steve I'm I'm gonna do this full time. So thank you for the opportunity. So went through that whole year, did a lot of, business in 2017, with a local cash buyer.

Basically, you know, we did a lot of flips. So the whole selling side kinda went down a little bit. We did a couple of flips. And then so starting early twenty eighteen, I started to go out on my own. It was weird how it happened.

I was at a Starbucks getting ready to prepare to to, you know, my my game plan to start going on my own completely. And then you call me. I think you call me. You're like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't know.

I'm not just sitting here at Starbucks, and you say you wanna go to lunch.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: So then that's when we went to, Oregonos or whatever it was.

Steve: We met.

Max: Yeah. So, February, right, or something like that?

Steve: Yeah. I I don't know exactly when. I know we we firmed up our our partnership a year ago Yeah. Correct. Correct.

Month. Correct. So, Max was an ISA. So you guys know I own a brokerage, and I got a real estate team. And we've run a pretty, successful traditional real estate, business.

We've done, over a 100 transactions through the last four years.

Max: Yeah.

Steve: And so we were hiring an inside sales agent, and Max replied to our Craigslist ad, brought him in, did the meeting, and, convinced them to work with me. He's like, yeah. I just gotta make sure this makes sense. Gotta go quit my job. Yeah.

And so I was like, okay. Well, I guess that's not not gonna work out.

Max: So just quick tip. So when I called the the, the number Uh-huh. This is how this is how I got Steve to call me. I said, hey. I just I'm just looking for an opportunity.

If I don't work out in thirty days, you can fire me. And then I I could swear you call me, like, five minutes later.

Steve: So Max had to go figure out, and that's when he had to quit. And, you know, he had to convince his wife that it made sense to work with me as an avenue to build his business, and I was already wholesaling, at that time. So, Max came on, and he he was calling, my pay per click leads, the stressed sellers.

Max: Yeah.

Steve: And so he was getting not only calling, buyer leads, but also calling motivated seller leads, which is what we work with now.

Max: Mhmm.

Steve: And, so after about three months, got your first deal

Max: Yeah.

Steve: And then you went off on your own. And we just kept in touch. And Right. On Facebook, predominantly, I could see what Max is doing. He could see what I'm doing.

Max: Yeah.

Steve: And I just reached out to him. I said, look. You're doing this. I'm doing this. Why don't we just join forces?

And about a month and a half of negotiations later, we partnered up

Max: Yep.

Steve: April 2018.

Max: Yeah. The rest is history, man. Man. We're here.

Steve: Richard Naurua wants to know how many call how many call call leads to a deal?

Max: I don't have all the KPIs in front of us.

Steve: Well, I did. So I pulled it.

Max: Okay. Okay.

Steve: So the big thing is we qualify leads probably differently or maybe not differently. But our Well, try this qualify. Right? Yeah. What's the qual how do we determine the lead?

Max: So the way we so the way we determine if it's a lead or not is, obviously, there's the four pillars. Right? So we're looking for pain, either pain or motivation, time frame and price. Price is always the last thing. Yeah.

So we wanna make sure that they have the the pain. Is there is there enough pain there for us to for them to even consider our solution or do we need to refer them? Maybe they're thinking more like, you know, traditional or something. Sometimes you don't see the pain. There's motivation.

Like, some people just wanna have that, you know, that set date to close. They wanna have that that that that, what is it called? For sure. You know what I mean? Like Certainty.

Certainty. Yeah. That's the word. And so those are the things that we look for. We have certain questions that we ask, obviously, to make sure that's that's those they fit into that.

So that's and if if they do, then it becomes a lead. We we go for the appointment. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So and so to answer your question, right, if we got seven people that fit those criteria or willing to meet with us, we'll close one in seven. Mhmm. It'd be nicer if it was a higher percentage, but one in seven.

Max: Right.

Steve: It's what we'll take. So what markets are you in? Phoenix. That's it.

Max: That's it. Phoenix. No plans on expanding. We're not going you know, we're not gonna go to any markets. We've thought about it before, but, yeah, no.

Steve: Yeah. And so there's this constant distraction. And we have a lot of friends throughout the country who are asking us to, like, hey, you know, move over here. Or, they reach out to us, like, hey, you know, I'll be your boots on the ground. And then it's just no thanks.

We don't need any more, distractions.

Max: Yep. Exactly.

Steve: So Pace wants to know, why do we use Magnus Title?

Max: Because they're the best, Pace. Come on. Yeah. Get

Steve: it together, Pace. If Carey can handle our deals and can carry and can handle Keeley's deals, then this should be good enough for most other wholesalers.

Max: Actually, we've never had one well, because of them, anyways, because of Magnus Title. We've never had an issue. Yeah. I mean, obviously, every deal has their own issue. But Oh,

Steve: lots of headache.

Max: Yeah. But but any issues because of the title company, we've had zero. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: And then Edgar wants to know how much do we all spend in leads, slash skip tracing a month?

Max: We run pretty lean. I think we're we're a little bit over, like, 4,500 or something.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's really low. I mean, we're spending, call tools is under a $100 a week.

We're spending was it 300, a week?

Max: 350, I think, a week on text.

Steve: On text?

Max: Yeah. And RBM is, like, another $250.

Steve: Right. So not not that much, guys.

Max: Yeah. Again and so that's that's the great thing about you know, I keep saying this, that the the different differentiator is the is the sales training and buying into the culture, the guys all in into believing into what, you know, what we're training them with and and how and and they're applying it too, you know, to the t. And they ask a lot of questions, you know. So that's why our conversion rate's pretty, you know, it's pretty good.

Steve: Yep. And then I saw a question this morning, in the Go Giver group, which is run by Brandon Simmons. This is the best mastermind, in my opinion. Virtual or in person for wholesaling or seller appointments?

Max: So virtual, you're able to do a lot more. So right? If you're looking for volume, probably virtual would be it's a good way to go. Mhmm. And I think I was having a conversation with somebody about this on on your on the last meetup.

And so but I think your spreads are are a little less than if you go belly belly if you go to the appointment. So we found out. And it's it's quite a big difference, like, almost 10 to $12 difference. Yeah. So I prefer face to face, you know, because of that.

Steve: Yeah. So for

Max: going out to the appointment.

Steve: And I think it's just two different schools of thought. You know? If you're in multiple states, virtual is awesome.

Max: Right. Oh, yeah. You have to. I mean Right. Yeah.

Exactly.

Steve: But for us, we're we're happy in Phoenix. And I think the other thing we talked about is the guys are doing virtual, like, getting the lowest hanging fruit, and they're just outspending us, which is totally fine.

Max: Yeah. No. That's fine.

Steve: We're happy getting the second lowest hanging fruit.

Max: So what virtual does so I'll tell you I'll share the story of the appointment that we went to. So we had a lead, and we could have probably locked it up on the phone. The guy was I think he wanted $1.85 at the time. So we were like, look. We don't know if we can do the $1.85.

Let us come out to the property. You know, obviously, we went out to the property, and we ended up getting it for, like, $25,000 less Mhmm. When we went out to the property. That's a big difference when you're talking about a wholesale deal, you know, because that could include, you know, your either some repairs for the end buyer or adjustments or, what do you call it? You know, your your your fee.

Mhmm. You know? So you go from from making a $56,000 fee to now a a $1,213,000 dollar assignment fee. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: And if you guys are doing it virtually in town, we apologize. If you're calling them after we've gone through there, we set some landmines behind us.

Max: Yeah. So that's the I'm glad you brought that up. So Friday, the the the deal we got Friday, which I don't think you accounted for, but Miguel got anyways, he did the appointment. We went out. The guy the the the seller had two two more appointments after us.

But we built so good rapport with him. You know, we listened to what he wanted, you know, what he wanted to accomplish, what his goals was. And so it was weird because so we even showed him the contract. Like, he this guy was fidgety and and nervous. And here's the contract.

Here's what it says. And, you know, and so he went to his phone. He was doing something. Then he goes, you know what? I just canceled the other two people that were coming after you.

Steve: Right.

Max: I said, oh, okay. Great.

Steve: Alright. The landmines the landmines are huge. Yeah. And then, Rosero wants to know, as a broker, are you okay with agents being wholesaler? 100%.

I I don't treat our agents as agents. I treat them as business owners. Jesse Burrell wants to know how important is surrounding yourself with the right people.

Max: Very important. That's a mistake I did when I first started, you know, because here's here's what happens, and it happens to all of us. Right? I've never had a business background. I've never was around people with money.

Mhmm. You know, my perception of money was always like, turn off the lights or, you know, hey. You know, don't leave the light on or, you know, are you gonna finish that? Or, you know, things like that. So coming into the business world, that's what holds a lot of people back is the mindset.

Right? It's a mistake that I did when I first started. I didn't network fast enough. I didn't network enough or fast enough. So when you get into the business, I know you have to be very careful now.

Nowadays is a little different than when I got into it in 2015 because there's

Steve: A lot

Max: easier now. Yeah. So you have to reach out, especially start local. Like, reach out to your local guys. Find out who the real players are.

Find out who, you know, who who are who's the ones doing the real deals. And, you know, and if people have a problem with you asking them questions about, you know, whether they're doing deals or not, then you walk away from them right away. Yeah. But going back to Jesse's question, I mean, in the last twelve months, honestly, that's what's really changed our business and really changed my myself to just surrounding yourself with the people who are smarter than you, people who who who know a lot more than you, you know, just because they're gonna help you. You you how is it?

There's no stupid questions. There's only stupid people. Right? So that's the thing is that you you wanna be done for a little bit, not forever. And so and I'm a follower of that.

You know? I put myself in there first because I didn't do this quick enough, you know? And and that goes back to our perception, our mindset, you know, growing up again. Dude, I had no stability. I mean, going to nine different schools all through my elementary years and, you know, growing up in the situation I did, you know, I didn't know anything about that.

I just knew I wanted to be something. I wanted to do something and and so but it took a while. But, yeah, your network is very important. You know? Now we can pick up the phone and, again, you know, we're selling our properties on Instagram just from those people, you know?

Yeah. They're very grateful for those people. I mean, Jesse, he he's helped us out a lot, you know, in our business. Him and Evo and Annie, I mean, they've been a very, important, crucial part, you know, of helping us systemize.

Steve: They sped up our

Max: Yeah. Sped us our process. So it's very important for those that are starting out, network with those locally that are there locally with you as fast as you can and weed out the flakes right away.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: Yeah. So that's that was what I would recommend. Very important.

Steve: And just to add to that, what, I've talked to Jesse offline about this is that things are great today, but it can change instantly.

Max: Mhmm. And

Steve: it's really important to be surrounding yourself with the right people who are gonna figure it out.

Max: Right. Correct. No. Definitely.

Steve: And then Ramon wants to know, what's the weirdest thing you found inside a distressed home?

Max: The weirdest thing I found inside a distressed home? I can't say a dead body, but dead cats, man. Holy smokes. Yeah. We bought one.

I think it was early twenty eighteen before I partnered up with you. Mhmm. And so I walk up to the appointment, and the guy sent outside. And and this this is a big this guy was I mean, he was huge. You know?

I I was so I woke up. I didn't know what's going on. So he's outside, and I'm like, hey. How you doing? I presented myself, and he's like, oh, I'm doing great.

He goes, the house is right there if you wanna go look at him. I'm like, this does not sound good. Door open, back door open. And so, as soon as I start walking up to the house, I get this stench, man, of cats. I mean, cat pee, everything.

I was like, I before I went in the door, I looked back at him. I'm like, are you sure I can he's like, yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Look at it.

I'll wait for you out here. So I walk in, and the first thing and then when I walk into the house, dead cat on my left side. I'm like, oh. So I walked in. I pulled my shirt over my nose, and I started going.

I you know, and he had it was two bedroom house with the one one bathroom. One of the rooms was closed with a TV blasting. Like, it was loud. Oh, and he told me before I went in, don't go in that last room on your left. I was like, I'm good.

I won't go into it. So then I walked the house. I opened up the back door, and there was a dead cat on a chair. There was a dead cat on my left side. Yeah.

It was horrible, man. I don't know if I was gonna say interesting, but that was that was the worst house I ever walked into. I don't think our buddy Pace would have been able to survive that house because I think he's allergic to cats. I

Steve: think he would have found a way. If there's money involved, his would have found a way.

Max: Roughly. Yeah. He would have sent his his crew.

Steve: What is the greatest attribute that you that we see in each other? So I'll start with you.

Max: Always pushing to get better. Right? Yeah. I think that's one of the things that I admire from you, obviously, is is is you we're all you're always finding ways how we can get better, including with our training, sales training. I mean, your leadership skills as well too has helped us a lot.

And Yeah. Even to this day, I mean, you know, we still as we us, our team and myself, we still consult, like, what should we do here. Right?

Steve: Right.

Max: Yeah. So that's the biggest attribute I see. You're always looking how to get better and self develop because I think you and I spoke about this when we first met was we were big both on self development. Yeah.

Steve: Absolutely. So and you

Max: were light years ahead of me. So even till this day, I still that's the one thing I see. Yeah.

Steve: I got no problem spending on personal development. And for us, for me so when I started with Max, there are a couple of attributes I liked a lot. But there was one that always stuck out was that it was driving for dollars. So Max would drive for dollars, see a house, and forget sending a postcard, forget skip tracing. Okay.

So, Max would just get out and knock on the door. Yeah. And then on property radar, he can see what their other address was.

Max: Yeah.

Steve: And then he would drive to that house.

Max: Yeah.

Steve: So when you talk about taking action, that's taking action. Right? There's no skip tracing. There's no this or that. It's Yeah.

House looks like crap. I'm gonna knock on the door. Oh, they didn't open. Let me find their other address. They're gonna knock on that door.

Yeah. That's that's commitment.

Max: Yeah. And and one of the things too, we we call them, like, on the spot. So even, like, some of the apps now, they skip trace for you.

Steve: Right.

Max: And some people I don't I don't understand. Like, you're there in front of the house. Call them. They might be ten minutes down the road. Hey.

I'm gonna be there right now. You never know that. We didn't have I didn't have that when I was door knocking back, you know, where property radar, but those numbers were like, you know

Steve: Those numbers are junk.

Max: Yeah. They're junk, but I still call them. When knocking the door or you know what? I would knock on the neighbor's door too.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: That that would help, like because most neighbors honestly don't wanna see that type of property because they attract crack you know, they attract, druggies, they attract squatters. So we would say, hey. If you can help us find the owner, we'll clean it up for you, and we'll make sure that, you know, if a nice family moves in there. So they're more than happy to help you. But, yeah, definitely gotta take that action, man.

Steve: Yeah. So is that is that bulldog in this is is is one of the best person traits I see. And, Max, Briscoe wants to know whether our people are licensed. So two out of three.

Max: Yeah. Two out of three are licensed.

Steve: Dave McLennan wants to know what formula do we

Max: use to buy at? So that's, so we try to stick with, like, 75% ARV minus repairs. Sometimes depending on the house, if it's a newer house, we'll we'll be a little more lenient on the 75%, either go higher or something. Mhmm. Depending on condition too, you know, we'll buy it a little higher.

But we're always that's our starting point, 75% minus repairs. And then, and then, you know, obviously, we we we don't we don't stick that rule to every house. We look at every house individually, and that's where we start. Does this make sense to go this route? Okay.

Let's adjust. Like, we don't have, like, that that's not our concrete for everything. Mhmm. And that thing that's what's helped us out a lot too make sure that we look at every property as an individual. We look at every party individually, and and we start there with our approach, but then we adjust as soon as we start finding out, like, other little details about it.

Steve: Right. And we'll ask our our our peers. Right? We got a lot of competition slash friends in the market. It's like, hey.

You know, we're going to this one. Where do you see this one at? Yeah.

Max: Correct. Or what

Steve: do you think someone will pay for this? Yeah. So we talked about marketing expenses. What about our total monthly overhead?

Max: Well, I mean, we're at Sunny Homes office. I mean, that's something you might be able

Steve: to answer. Yeah. We don't really have a lot of, so the nice thing is that, me personally, already have a couple other businesses going. So we just leverage those resources. So Yeah.

Able to use the TC from my team, able to use the Office from my team Yeah. Electricity and all that. So that helps a lot. Yep. Any valuable resources?

We already talked about the tools. Is there anything else that we've missed? Valuable resources?

Max: Not really, man. I mean, there's a lot of information out there.

Steve: There's a lot of information. So we got sales training. So the sales we've got the grand master, Brad Ferguson.

Max: Oh, yeah.

Steve: Alright. So he's our sales coach. Yep. Our Syncy. We got I would say our network.

You know, we've we're surrounded by the best in the business. Mhmm. And it was cool. You weren't able to make it to Dallas, but, man, I would say hanging out with Pace, Jamil, Evo, Annie, Jesse, Bryant, like, it's just crazy. So our network is a great resource.

Max: Yeah. Definitely. I agree with that, man, that you're again, going back, I think Jesse asked this earlier, but, yeah, the network has made it's night and day, dude, like, honestly. Yeah.

Steve: We wouldn't be where we are right now going

Max: for them. And and you, you know, one of the things most people are again, going back to your beliefs and which how you grew up, you gotta break those beliefs and reach out to people. They're most willing to help you more than none. You know? They're willing to reach out.

The one thing is that you can't do is, like, hey. Let me pick your brain. You gotta provide some type of value. Right? You gotta figure out how can you know, if you're gonna if you're gonna build your network, it's not just about give me, but, you know, how do we provide value to that person as well.

You know?

Steve: Yep. Yeah. So we were talking about Podio, tools, systems. What will we do if the market dips?

Max: Make lower offers.

Steve: Yeah.

Max: Not too worried about that. We just keep trucking.

Steve: What is your why?

Max: My why? Great question. And I think you and I had talked about this before. Obviously obviously, my family and my wife. Right?

That's that's pretty much always there. But my bigger why is for me, I'm I'm I'm a person that likes to live. I wanna get to a point where I live life on my terms. Right? Mhmm.

Convenience, you know, do what I want when I want. You know what I mean? Because growing up, obviously, it was always like, no. You can't do that. No.

We can't afford that. No. You can't. You know, you can't do that. Like, there was a lot of restrictions growing up.

Mhmm. So it's not saying that the money's my wife, but the convenience of being able because I'm a big giver, and sometimes that affects me. My wife's like I like to see people be blessed

Steve: for

Max: actually, I get more happier when other people are blessed when I buy them something or I give to them. So I'm a big giver. So that's one of my why's is that that the convenience and being able to live life on my terms, you know, not have to worry about those things ever. And and and now passing that on to my kids. Yeah.

That's that's my big why. Yeah. Awesome.

Steve: What's your biggest struggle right now?

Max: Biggest struggle right now, I think since we're growing, we're scaling, obviously. It's always that struggle whether do we bring another person on, do we bring you know what I mean? It's always trying to figure it's not so much it's a little bit of a struggle because you got a good thing going, but yet in order to scale, you gotta disrupt that a little bit.

Steve: Mhmm.

Max: So that's I I know you and I haven't really talked about this, but I know that we got, like, big goals and stuff, but that's kind of, like, the struggle. How do we how do we make that next step, you know, to that ten and twelve or whatever Mhmm. Without disrupting too much what we got now? So that's kind of been a little bit thinking about that. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. And then what is your superpower?

Max: My work ethic, man. Honestly.

Steve: I agree.

Max: Yeah. I don't think, you know, I've always had to work for everything hard. I told you when my cousin is the one that instilled in me. When I would I would dude, he was the best cousin ever at work. We show up to work, like, I didn't know who the heck this guy was.

I'm like, dang it. We're what hap we just got off the truck. What happened? But, yeah, definitely my work ethic, man. That is my superpower.

Awesome.

Steve: Jay Tober wants to know what advice you'd give it to an acquisition rep who's looking to go from one to two deals a month to closing four to five deals a month.

Max: If you're not doing it already, I would say, you know, develop your sales skills, man. Develop your because because you can ramp up your marketing. You can ramp up your text messaging, your cold calling. But if those leads that are coming in and you don't and and you're not getting better, you know, at conversion, you're not getting better at closing those leads or or converting those leads into deals. What's gonna happen is you're just gonna get frustrated, you know.

And, like, you know, that's that's really what I could say to, you know, for that, honestly. So develop, you know, grow your your I mean, get into develop your sales skills and and get into some actual training. Because you could find a lot of stuff on Instagram. You could find a lot of stuff on YouTube. But until you actually invest some money, which I've never done, honestly, even until, you know, we got into, sales training with Brad.

You know? So that's been, like, the most I've ever invested in my in in myself. But, honestly, that's it's been night and day. Yeah. So that's, I think, where it's gonna take that you know, take you from two to four to whatever you wanna be at.

Yeah.

Steve: So I'm gonna do a shameless plug right here, Jay. So we're actually doing a workshop, next month, so May 25. If you guys are interested in checking out the workshop, we're gonna basically give our blueprint for what our business is doing. You gotta text disruptor workshop to 345345. Disruptor, one word.

Workshop, one word. Disruptor workshop, the 345345. And we're gonna show you all the sales training that we've gone through as well as every single system that we have in place so that when you guys leave, you have no excuse but to dominate when you get back. Next question is, what is your favorite best or most interesting failure?

Max: Best and most interesting failure. I think I would man, I don't know if I have a best and most interest in failure, but, I actually almost did quit, at one point, like, from, you know, doing the real estate. But, actually, my wife actually was the one that checked

Steve: me. Yeah.

Max: And and the part where I quit is during that time when I went to the event, October 2015. Uh-huh. You know, doing all that all that reading, all the podcast, and I'm like, nothing's happening, man. Mhmm. So but she saw how much time I was investing in this thing.

She would even get frustrated because we're in the car and I'm listening to podcasts. So I was like, you know what? I'm not getting deals, this and that. And she's like, you know what? You've invested so much time.

She's like, don't don't quit now. Like, you know, you're already all in. Yeah. So and then she kind of reminded me of my friend that passed away that that that that month before, you know, that we were gonna go to the event. So Yep.

Yeah.

Steve: And that was Flip to Freedom that you went to. Yeah.

Max: Flip to Freedom. Sean Terry's Flip

Steve: Flip to Freedom. Yep. He's a legend. He's supposed to be we're we're we're playing Instagram tag. Trying to figure out when he's gonna be on the show.

What book have you gifted more than any other?

Max: Currently, we've gifted the, Can't Teach Your K to Ride, bike bicycle art seminar.

Steve: Can't Teach Your K to Ride a Bike in a Seminar. Yeah. Yeah. Huge book. Huge book.

Max: But the one I do recommend right now is, Prospect. Prospect the Salary.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. And then is there any lasting message that you wanna leave the listeners with?

Max: Yeah. So one of the things that I've learned, you know, what I've learned from where I was at before you and I partnered up is that, you know, it takes a long time to build a business. You know? The thing about this business is that there's zero cost to entry besides your time and then maybe some, you know, a little bit of marketing. Right?

Mhmm. You go buy a franchise that's like $250,000. Right? You might not have to pay all in, but you gotta at least have half or whatever it is. So it's easier to quit in this business.

And the only thing I can say is, like, you have to stay persistent. You gotta put I posted this the other day on my Facebook. You gotta put the blinders on in your head down. A lot of times we get caught up, like, seeing these people. They're doing they're doing this.

They're doing that. And what happens what I've learned is that not to compare yourself to not to compare your situation right now to where those where they are right now currently because you have no idea what happened in that background. You have no idea if they were funded, if they had the money. But that that's always been a a thing of mine. Like, I've never looked at what the other person I admire.

I'm like, wow. That's great. But then I get focused and get back to, you know, what is my like, you have to figure out what your business structure is and what your angle is gonna be, not based off what they're doing, but your what you're what you wanna do and what you wanna accomplish. Yeah. And you gotta be persistent, man.

You can't give up. You know? It takes a long time to build a business.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Sage advice. Yeah. So guys, we're gonna end it there.

So, definitely, if you guys are interested in the workshop, text this webto workshop to 345345. Also, if you guys want a copy of our assignment contract, text assignment 345345. And then we got next week coming in from Houston, Derek Acuff flipping a house on Instagram. Cool. So that's gonna be fun.

We got to hang out with him back in Dallas. And if you guys need help getting ARV or closing your deals in Phoenix, please reach reach out to Max on Instagram. What's your handle again?

Max: It's, Maxi Menes underscore e r a. So Maxi Menes underscore era.

Steve: There you go. And And again, guys, if you like the show, please share this episode right now because a rising tide does lift all boats. Thank you guys for listening, and Cool. Thank you. That's awesome.

Yep.