WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Purpose-Driven Investor, where we build more than portfolios, we build communities.
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I'm your host, Robert Howell, a real estate investor and founder of Define Communities.
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Each week we'll explore how purpose and profit connect through affordable housing, land home packages, and impact-driven investing.
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If you're a lender, land seller, or a partner who believes money should move with meaning, you're in the right place.
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Today's guest is Saheed.
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He's the founder of Independent Capital.
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And over the past six years, he built a really diverse real estate portfolio that includes single-family homes, burrs, small multifamily syndication, a mobile home park, and is now doing private lending, all while continuing to do his full-time job.
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So I think this is going to be a great story today and show you that proof you don't have to quit your job to be a really successful investor.
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In fact, maybe your career could be one of your biggest advantages.
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So appreciate you joining us today.
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Yeah, no, thanks for having me, Robert.
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All right, good deal.
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Well, let's start first with uh just getting to know each other and for the people that are listening.
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So we'll start at the beginning.
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Um tell us kind of where you're from, how you got started in your career, and then how you found real estate investing.
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That's a lot all packed in one question, but just give us the whole deal.
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It's a big question, so I'm a little long-winded.
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But uh, so I'm from Memphis, Tennessee.
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Uh so I'm from the South.
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And I went to Tennessee.
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I've been in Atlanta for Rocky Top.
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Yeah, go Rocky Top.
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Go bowls.
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Um and I've been in Atlanta for uh 10 years now.
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So I've been here since college, and I currently work in finance, so I work in kind of the private equity world on the lending side, which has been a great experience, and I can talk about that.
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But in terms of real estate, you know, my parents were always involved in real estate.
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They actually built a you know small portfolio of single family in Memphis.
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So I was always around it.
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I always kind of knew I wanted to do it, but interestingly enough, you know, they they did it with all cash back over while they worked as well.
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So they still work today.
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And that's they don't have a 401k, like that's their retirement.
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And, you know, apparently that was common back then because debt was so expensive and homes were cheaper.
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Um, but then I also learned about the power of debt, right?
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It can be tax-free returns, you know, it can be used as a tool to really fuel growth.
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And that's when I kind of knew I wanted to dig in.
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So that's when I got involved in real estate.
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I bought my first property in 2021.
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It was a duplex remote uh northwest Indiana.
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And then I built a small portfolio in Cleveland, I bought a mobile home park.
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Um, and it's been a great experience.
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Uh and then I've actually started to position more towards lending now.
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And I can talk about why I made that decision, especially with the W-2.
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Um, and that's been a great experience for me.
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Uh, and that's where I'm really focused today.
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So it's been awesome.
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That's great.
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Now um, you're focused on lending.
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Are you still buying assets also?
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You know, I I'm not really spending a lot of time.
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My time is scarce because I do have a pretty demanding job.
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So doing that, acquiring and lending and also being married, you know, you gotta you gotta put time everywhere.
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So uh I've I've put I've taken my foot off the brake for that.
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You know, I've I enjoy buying and I enjoy turning around properties, like seeing the end result.
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That's probably where my most of my passion is.
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But it takes a lot of work to build a portfolio, but also manage one, even if you got property management.
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Like I have 11 units and then I have an 11 lot mobile home park, and it's not that it takes all week, but it pulls you.
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And I realized pretty quickly I can't scale this with my job on my own, right?
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What a lot of people don't realize is like you probably need 60, 80, 100 homes to actually have a strong cash flowing income from real estate like that, from like 100%.
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Yeah, especially if they're levered up and you're doing burrs, which you're probably doing if you have a portfolio of that size.
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Um and that's a full-time job just to build, but also maintain.
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You can't do that on your own.
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So um it's so that's kind of why I got into lending.
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Uh because it was more passive, it's very profitable, it's consistent, it's secure, and I'm happy to talk about that.
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But um, so I'm I'm not really acquiring, I'm actually focusing on building income to replace my income, which lending is does really well.
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It's very scalable.
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And then I want to start buying again to mitigate my taxes, multiply my income, and then also build wealth over time.
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So those two will go hand in hand.
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So I just kind of reverse the order, which a lot of people I feel like start with buying real estate and then they realize hold on, I need a hundred of these.
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Like, okay, let me let me figure something else out first.
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Then I'll dude, I'd love that too.
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Because I mean, like you said, most people reverse it because it if you asked nine out of ten real estate investors would probably tell you that private lending is the end goal, right?
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Once you build up a large cash flow or large equity and you get to private lending last.
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But I love that you're you're really focused on that now first and then grow the assets later.
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Yeah, I I agree.
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Usually that is like people will sell their multifamily buildings and then do lending.
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Uh it's it's not always the easiest thing to do that in reverse.
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You obviously need capital.
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So I've I've been fortunate to have some capital, but also you don't need your own money, you can raise it as well.
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So you can definitely do it in the reverse order.
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But that's cool.
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So growing up, um, your parents had had rental properties.
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Were you were you in there, like middle school, high school, helping them fix things and working on stuff or helping them find properties?
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I mean, we were definitely working on them.
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There's six of us, all boys.
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So wow, yeah.
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They used to spread the work later, then yeah, it was borderline child labor, uh painting, cleaning up brush in the backyards, and it's a Memphis, rougher area.
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So, like, you know, doing turnovers, like replacing the carpet.
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It was it was kind of miserable on the weekends, I'm not gonna lie.
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But you got a lot, I got a lot out of it.
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I learned from it.
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I'm still not the handiest person in the world, but uh, it was definitely fun for them at least growing up.
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Yeah, Memphis is I I love Memphis, it's a good market.
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I I think I told you my mom is from Memphis and um her whole family's from Memphis, and my first two properties were in Memphis and Orange Mound, and um where the other one was, but I've sold those since and once I got into mobile home parts.
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But it's a good market for real estate investors to sell.
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Definitely a good market.
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Uh, it can be spotty.
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I mean, Orange Mound it's a pretty tough area if I'm pretty impossible.
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Yeah, 100%.
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Surprised you bought one there knowing it.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Well, I think I bought it for like twenty thousand dollars, you know.
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So hard to walk away from that.
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Yeah.
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All right.
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Well, so let's talk a bit about you know the idea of doing this with a job.
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So I think you know, on social media, that there's there's a dangerous message sometimes of like, hey, the goal is to quit your job as fast as possible.
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But you've done the opposite.
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You've continued to work while building your portfolio and then now getting into the lending.
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Talk about why you've done it that way.
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Yeah, I mean, I think when starting any business, right, there's a lot of risk.
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You know, even a real estate business, things can go wrong.
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Things do and will go wrong.
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And so I I kind of used my job as a safety net to explore the beginning of that process.
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Um, kind of it also funded all my investments, right?
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You can go and raise out, raise capital, but a lot of it I wanted to test out on my own.
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So I use that money to buy real estate, to purchase, to do lending.
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So it's been helpful in um maybe building the foundation for me.
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And I think that's important, right?
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I agree.
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I mean, I know a lot of people who say, leave your job, like just commit and it's gonna work.
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But I know a lot of people where it hasn't worked.
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I know people where it has worked, but they went through a serious dip before it worked out for them, right?
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Into debt and they they found their way out, but it's just hard.
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So that security provides me some peace.
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You know, it's not for everybody, but I think the ability to reinvest that income, especially once you figure it out.
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Now I'm just reinvesting all my my money from my job into my business, and that compounds over time, right?
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If you know the power of compound interest, a small amount of money in 30 years can be worth a million dollars.
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So if you continue to do that, you're only setting yourself up.
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So I think waiting as long as you can to do both, like obviously there's a limit where you can't, and then that's probably the time to make that transition, but you shouldn't just jump right away.
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You should definitely uh build the infrastructure, test the investment thesis and get comfortable and then jump because it's always gonna take longer than you think to ramp in any business.
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Yeah, 100%.
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What do you think the biggest advantage of having your job uh has given you in your own real estate uh journey?
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Oh man, just cash flow, peace of mind, and cash flow to buy and build.
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Uh and for debt too.
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If you're borrowing money or if people are even investing in you, they take a lot of comfort in knowing, oh, he's doing really well personally.
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It's gonna be really hard for him to lose.
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And also there's some protection, it just it puts people at peace, honestly.
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So it makes it a lot easier just to grow capital.
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Yeah, I love that.
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And I when I have these conversations with people about, hey, I want to get into real estate, I always tell them, like, hey, your job's really not holding you back.
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It actually probably is funding your future freedom.
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I imagine you'd probably agree with that, right?
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Yeah, especially starting out.
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I mean, it's it's a great way to get started.
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Again, I there's probably an inflection point when it maybe makes sense to transition, but uh definitely starting out 100%.
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That's great.
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Well, cool.
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Well, let's um let's talk about lending, and I want to spend some time over lending, uh and talk about how you got into lending um and where you've learned how to be a lender.
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Yeah.
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So again, how kind of how I got into lending, you know, I started to build a portfolio, uh, and very quickly I realized like this is taking a lot of time, and I'm not even at massive scale yet.
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I'm not making a ton of cash flow.
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Money keeps being pulled for catbacks for repairs.
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And I work probably 60 to 80 hours a week in my W 2.
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So it's it's it's a demanding job.
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It's not like a 48-hour week job.
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So it can be done, but I realized that's not the way I'm gonna be able to replace or replicate that income.
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So I I realized I either needed to find a partner or find a new strategy.
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And that's when I found lending.
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You know, I I did that just through networking, going to events, talking to people on Facebook, and I got really eager and I jumped in probably a little too fast.
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So my first loan I did was a gap, uh second lane loan.
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I don't know if you're familiar.
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Um very risky.
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You know, you're behind the first lane, so you're not priority.
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And usually you're doing that because the borrower doesn't want to bring any money to close, so they have no skin in the game.
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I was eager, I didn't really understand the risk, and I essentially lost all my money on that deal.
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It was my first loan, and it wasn't a small amount of money.
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And you know, now I hear like four out of five of those second lien deals actually fail.
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It's not uncommon.
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Yeah, it's pretty high uh for the reasons I mentioned.
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Um and in that moment, I was kind of like, I don't even want to look do another loan.
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Like, this is miserable.
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It's not miserable.
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And I kind of asked myself, you could walk away now, just write it off, don't tell anybody this happened, you know, hide the shame, or you could lean into it and realize what did you do wrong, right?
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Can you learn from it?
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And so I chose the latter.
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And since then, you know, I've only done first lane loans, I don't do second lien anymore, and it's been a great experience.
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Um, I've done 35 plus deals.
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Um, over three years, a lot of that I've been scaling, so more recent, and it's been a great experience.
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Um, I can talk about why I like lending, but it's the main reason coming back was it's very passive relative to acquiring and building a portfolio.
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And that fits my lifestyle.
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Again, working at my job from a W-2 perspective.
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I can work five hours a week on it and make you know a couple hundred grand a year if you have enough capital.
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Like it doesn't require a lot once you figure it out.
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You have to build it, but once you do, it's pretty streamlined.
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That's huge.
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And do you talk about where you lend?
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Because I'm sure there's people that are going to be listening here about you know that that have deals that are coming up.
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Um, so talk about where you lend and what kind of assets that you lend on.
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Yeah, so I'm in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
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I've done some Cleveland in the past, but I'm actually moving out of the Cleveland, Ohio market.
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Um, so I'm really focused on the South and the Southeast.
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I've done mainly single family, small multi in the past, like anywhere between $100,000 to $150,000 loan size.
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Um, but more lately, I've actually been leaning into the land home package uh market.
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You know, I actually learned about it from people and really from you at that one mastermind we were at.
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Uh kind of my eyes.
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And the reason I'm leaning into that is, you know, it seems to be kind of a misunderstood market.
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There's a massive disconnect between supply and demand.
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So it's a little more blue ocean, in my view, versus like single family.
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So there's a lot of demand.
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Uh, you can get a good yield.
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And because there's that disconnect, you know, you can get pretty good terms.
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Like loan to value is much lower than you would see on a single family.
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It's also consistent.
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Um, the model to do that is like the same forever deal almost with some caveats, right?
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You're not opening the floors, you're not opening the walls and finding mold, old electrical, you know, you're buying land, you're scraping it, you're putting a home down, and you're graveling the road and putting in a septic.
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Um, I'm simplifying that.
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But and when you can do that, you kind of really mitigate the risk, which with lending, risk management is one-on-one.
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So, like if you can have high consistency into what the project's gonna require, you can like lower your risk overall.
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So that that's why I like it.
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Um, and that's why I've been more focused on it lately.
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That's huge.
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Yeah.
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So we're gonna be Saheed's the the land home go-to guy.
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Yeah, give me a call.
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All right, let's go.
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Um, do you service your own loans or do you have a servicer that services them?
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I service my own loans, you know.
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Okay.
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Um, yeah, I service my own loans.
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A lot of it's my money.
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I do have a lot of it is investor capital too.
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You know, I'm still scaling there.
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I don't have like a $20 million portfolio.
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That's that's that's set in the goals.
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It's written on the wall somewhere.
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Uh, but you know, it's it's been a good experience.
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And as I scale, maybe that's something I would take on.
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But again, you don't really need to.
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Um, I know people who manage a $40 million loan portfolio and it's just two people.
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Like it's definitely doable doable and coming back to it can be a pretty passive investment.
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That's huge.
00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:16.799
What's your as you think about your goal a year from now, three years from now, on a lending side, what have you thought about that far out?
00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:23.519
Um, or just kind of just been naturally evolving and you know, you're you're here and you want to loan more money.
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.159
Yeah, no, I'd say it's been naturally evolving, like historically.
00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:30.559
Uh this year I've really leaned into it.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.559
Um, I doubled my portfolio size, raising capital.
00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:38.799
I'm at like 1.5 to 2 million today.
00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:46.480
And I want to get to three by the end of the year and probably double that next year is the goal.
00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:51.120
And with that, you know, that should be a substantial amount of income.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:56.799
And then once I've built the income, I'll probably pivot back to buying assets, right?
00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:12.559
Coming back to using depreciation to offset all that income, multiply it, and then also that's going to build wealth, compound wealth in the future via real estate is kind of the strategy, which I think you do something similar, Robert, if I'm not mistaken.
00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:13.359
Yeah, for sure.
00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:14.720
With mobile home parks.
00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:22.480
Um, so I bought I bought a bunch of mobile home parts 2021 to 2024, didn't pay many taxes, which was great.
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:26.480
2025, I didn't buy as many, uh, so I paid more taxes.
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:31.279
So I'm back to buying uh we got several mobile home parks under contract right now.
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:38.720
And um trying to trying to reduce the taxes as much as possible, but at the same time not being cash poor.
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:47.599
That's the balance is you can depreciate and do cost segregations, but you still have to have equity into the asset, right?
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:48.640
For most of them.
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:55.519
And you want to make sure that equity doesn't outweigh the uh tax savings, right?
00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.279
And that's that's where I got to 2020, 2021, 2024.
00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.480
I own a bunch of mobile home parts, but I never had any cash.
00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:09.759
And so trying to trying to build that cash back up and balance, but balance tax because it's it's no fun paying the government.
00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.960
Yeah, I mean it's that's the story of real estate, right?
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.599
Asset rich, uh cash poor.
00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.079
So I like lending, it's cash rich.
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.240
That's funny what my wife, yeah.
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:31.839
My wife sometimes says she's like, you know, one day it'll be like, oh, we're gonna buy a beach house and we're gonna live on the ocean, and then next day it's like we're moving to the mobile home park, you know?
00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.079
So you never know.
00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.119
Um well cool.
00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:45.599
So uh you mentioned that you you have raised some outside capital, and maybe there's there's people listening that that have capital and want to invest in a fund.
00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:53.599
Is it a fund that you're um you're utilizing and bringing in third-party investors, like private, private money type people?
00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:56.000
Or uh how's that structured?
00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.200
Uh it's a it's a servicer model, so it's not a fund model.
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:04.559
Like a fund model has a lot of like regulatory SEC requirements, but a servicer model.
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:08.960
So essentially you would be put, if someone was interested, they would let me know.
00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.039
I would send them a deal and like, oh, this is a good deal.
00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:12.480
We would talk through it.
00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:30.160
And then I'll be like, okay, we work with title, draft up the documents, and they would be directly placed onto the promissory note, the personal guarantee, um, and the mortgage, uh, along with my money, if they didn't have enough money, like they don't have to bring the full amount of money to do the work.
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:34.799
Um, so you can get in for a smaller balance, which a lot of people like.
00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:41.839
But the benefit of that versus the fund model is you're actually have full visibility into where your money's going, right?
00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:47.519
You're you're wiring it directly to title, you're not wiring it to me, which I think a lot of people take comfort in that.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:50.240
But the fund model, you you're betting on the operator, right?
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:57.680
You're sending them the money and you're hoping to do what they say they're gonna do, but they know exactly where their money's going, and then it's hands-off.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.119
All the those approved, like I want to do this one, send the money.
00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:12.640
I'm gonna manage the borrower, I'm gonna manage the legal, I'm gonna manage the uh interest payments, and they're gonna get their payment every month, first of the month, uh, mailbox money.
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:16.480
And then when it pays off, it sells, it goes directly from title back to them.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:20.079
So the money's secure, uh, directly linked to it.
00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:27.519
And that's really I found the way investors want to do it because they have a lot more comfort than just sending them money to some money.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:28.319
Yeah.
00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.359
That's huge.
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:38.799
And it's nice to know that hey, maybe you don't have enough money if you're an investor, you don't have enough money for an entire deal, but you want to still be involved because there's a lot of people out there like that.
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.160
They could partner with you and you all could share in the deal.
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:43.279
I think that's smart.
00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:44.160
Yeah, 100%.
00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:58.319
And it also helps people get a little more comfort of like testing it out instead of like doing a $200,000 loan, like you know, $30,000, see if they like it, and then they can rant from there or or decide it's not for them, you know.
00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.160
Everyone's got a different taste.
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:01.920
Yeah, that's great.
00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:02.640
All right.
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:07.200
Well, um, let's let's go back to uh advice for people with jobs.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:15.599
Um, and you kind of touched on this already, but imagine there's somebody listening, maybe a teacher or an engineer, maybe they work in healthcare.
00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.279
Um, they want to invest, but they think they need to quit first.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:20.960
Reality is they don't.
00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:26.960
What would you tell them in terms of taking that first step into real estate while keeping their job?
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.599
Man, I would say partnership.
00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:35.359
I mean, as someone like there's a lot of ways you can bring value to a deal, right?
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.640
Capital, time, like management of the deal, sourcing the deal.
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.920
And that doesn't have to be all done by one person.
00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:47.519
You know, as someone with a W 2, you can likely bring capital.
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:52.640
You can probably even bring some management from your computer late night or over the weekend, right?
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:57.359
You're probably not out there cold calling, sourcing the deal, or even boots on the ground.
00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.680
So partnership is probably the best.
00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:01.200
Way to do it with a W-2.
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:08.079
I personally know people who have W-2s with massive rental portfolios, like hundreds of units.
00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.920
So it can be done.
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.559
And just you got to make sure it's someone you trust.
00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:20.480
But I I would say partnership, building a team, or outsourcing whatever you can and just knowing what your value is and bringing that to the table.
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:21.519
Love it.
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.559
That's awesome.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:26.079
And 100% agree with that because everybody has a strength, right?
00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:29.279
But there's all you have weaknesses too.
00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:33.839
I mean, one of those strength is having a job, but also you know, your time is limited.
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:38.880
So partner together uh with someone that can match uh what you need.
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:54.079
So with that being said, if we broke it if we broke it down, um if you had to tell them, hey, here's one thing that you should go do this month in order to move towards financial freedom through real estate or through lending, what would that one thing be?
00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:14.319
Man, I would say going to a networking event or joining um leadership in like something you're interested in, mobile home parks, lending, what um multifamily, Burr, like and like an I would say an intimate one, not like a 40-person one, right?
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:24.720
Like go and just start talking to people because everyone's always looking for capital or something that they're missing, and you'd be surprised what you could find.
00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:30.559
So I I would say that, and I I do think there's a lot of value in mentorships, even if they're paid.
00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:40.960
I know there's like a stigma sometimes on the gurus, and there's some bad ones out there, but as long as you like look at referrals and do the diligence up front and make sure it's legit.
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.880
Like I've never not done a mentorship and not gotten my money back tenfold.
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.799
Um, so as long as you are intentional about it, you can join a mentorship and just show up and then that's it.
00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:52.160
But you have to be intentional as well.
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.960
You have to be like, okay, I'm gonna do the homework, I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna follow up, I'm gonna network with the people in here.
00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:58.880
And that's that's how you get value.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:00.240
Love it.
00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:01.119
That's great.
00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:05.759
All right, so let's conclude here with some rapid fire questions for you.
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:06.960
Um, let's see here.
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.119
I've got three or four of those.
00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:13.359
Um what's your favorite investment that you've ever made?
00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:15.440
Uh my mobile home park.
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:17.920
I mean, hands down, best ROI.
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:20.880
Turn, I mean, it was a huge value ad.
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:24.960
So if you would ask me when I bought it for a year, I probably said it was my most hated.
00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:33.200
Uh but turnkey to own home, cash flow, one call a month, maybe most profitable investment by far.
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:35.279
Mob mobile home parks.
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:35.839
Let's go.
00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.640
All right, what's your favorite business book?
00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:47.359
Uh I mean, I don't honestly don't read a lot, uh, but if I had to pick my favorite book, it'd probably be Atomic Habits.
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.960
Um so I think you can get a lot of things out of that.
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:54.960
Like small things over time compound to big things.
00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:57.359
It's not just money, that's even your actions.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.799
So yeah.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.480
Yeah, that's cool.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:08.880
Um, it may remind me, I I I can't remember exactly what he said, but I was watching a video from Ed Mallet on Instagram yesterday.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:15.440
Um, and he talked about that as like small things over and over again end up being big things later.
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:20.319
Um I think that's that's so true for people in a W 2 because you don't have a lot of time.
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:24.799
So like you don't it's just small things every other night or over the weekend over time.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:26.319
Like that's how I got started.
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.960
Like so that's great.
00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:31.200
All right, last uh rapid fire here.
00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:34.720
What's one daily habit that has helped you succeed?
00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:40.720
Oh man, I I can be bad at it, uh, if I'm being totally honest, but it's journaling.
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:44.079
Um, I don't know if you've heard of the intentional journal.
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:49.039
Uh it's a bigger product, uh bigger pockets product, but I'm I think there's a lot of them out there.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:26:06.319
But essentially you have a three-month goal that feeds into your yearly and your five-year, and then you break it down all the way into weekly and daily habits and action items like KPIs, and you journal every morning, every night, and at the end of the week.
00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.160
And it's all about reflection what worked, what didn't work.
00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:16.000
And every time I've done it, I've seen so much progress towards my goals because it holds you accountable.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.160
You become intentional, right?
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:22.240
So that is something I think a lot of people overlook.
00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.720
It sounds cheesy, but it it really does have an impact.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:31.440
I think if you write down your goals, you're way more likely to achieve them than just talking about them.
00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:32.400
Yeah, 100%.
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:38.799
I'm part of Dan Martell's group, and um he's got five daily non-negotiables that he encourages people to do.
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:42.240
One of those is reviewing your goals three times a day.
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:51.599
Um, and just that, you know, top of mind refresh every three times a day pushes you towards okay, am I doing the things today to achieve those goals?
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:52.160
Yeah.
00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:54.319
I mean, so you do that every every day?
00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.480
I'm I'm kind of like you with the journaling.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:58.319
I I mean that's the intent, right?
00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:01.119
But um I I don't do it every day.
00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:01.759
I need to.
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:03.599
Didn't mean to call you out there.
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:04.720
Come on out.
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:05.680
All right.
00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:08.000
Well, hey, I really appreciate you coming on.
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:18.319
Uh this has been really great because I think your your story really encourages people that financial freedom isn't about necessarily quitting a job or making a huge leap.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:30.160
It's about making those smart decisions consistently day in and day out, and those small decisions add up, uh, and smart decisions add up over time into big things.
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.319
Um, so really, really great.
00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.000
I appreciate you joining.
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.200
Where can people reach you if they want to connect with you?
00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:40.640
Uh Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.279
Um, so my name's Said Zarshness.
00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:46.640
I think my Instagram handle is sai.j.z.
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.039
Uh, but I'm I'm on all three of those platforms.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:53.039
You can message me, even if you just have questions about lending or real estate.
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.680
I'm always happy to talk about my experiences.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:57.599
So sweet.
00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:58.240
All right.
00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.960
Well, appreciate everybody joining, listening.
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:08.160
If you got value, make sure you hit the subscribe here, share it with somebody who's trying to build wealth, maybe without quitting their job.
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:12.559
Um, and thanks for listening to the purpose-driven investor podcast.
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:14.079
We'll see you next time.
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.480
Thanks for listening to the Purpose Driven Investor.
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:25.359
If today's episode sparked an idea or inspired you to make an impact, connect with me at howellandsons.com.
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:33.599
Join our community of purpose driven investors who are helping families find stable homes while building real returns.
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.960
Because when we invest with purpose, everyone wins.
00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:09.599
Welcome to the Purpose-Driven Investor, where we build more than portfolios, we build communities.
00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:14.640
I'm your host, Robert Howell, a real estate investor and founder of Define Communities.
00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:22.640
Each week we'll explore how purpose and profit connect through affordable housing, land home packages, and impact-driven investing.
00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:29.920
If you're a lender, land seller, or a partner who believes money should move with meaning, you're in the right place.
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:45.920
Today's guest is Saheed.
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:48.799
He's the founder of Independent Capital.
00:00:48.799 --> 00:01:06.000
And over the past six years, he built a really diverse real estate portfolio that includes single-family homes, burrs, small multifamily syndication, a mobile home park, and is now doing private lending, all while continuing to do his full-time job.
00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:14.560
So I think this is going to be a great story today and show you that proof you don't have to quit your job to be a really successful investor.
00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:18.480
In fact, maybe your career could be one of your biggest advantages.
00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:20.719
So appreciate you joining us today.
00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:23.040
Yeah, no, thanks for having me, Robert.
00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:24.319
All right, good deal.
00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:30.239
Well, let's start first with uh just getting to know each other and for the people that are listening.
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:32.239
So we'll start at the beginning.
00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:40.159
Um tell us kind of where you're from, how you got started in your career, and then how you found real estate investing.
00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:43.599
That's a lot all packed in one question, but just give us the whole deal.
00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:47.040
It's a big question, so I'm a little long-winded.
00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.120
But uh, so I'm from Memphis, Tennessee.
00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.560
Uh so I'm from the South.
00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:52.400
And I went to Tennessee.
00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:54.640
I've been in Atlanta for Rocky Top.
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:55.760
Yeah, go Rocky Top.
00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:56.719
Go bowls.
00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:01.120
Um and I've been in Atlanta for uh 10 years now.
00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:11.280
So I've been here since college, and I currently work in finance, so I work in kind of the private equity world on the lending side, which has been a great experience, and I can talk about that.
00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:16.400
But in terms of real estate, you know, my parents were always involved in real estate.
00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:20.879
They actually built a you know small portfolio of single family in Memphis.
00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:22.400
So I was always around it.
00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:29.759
I always kind of knew I wanted to do it, but interestingly enough, you know, they they did it with all cash back over while they worked as well.
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:30.879
So they still work today.
00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:34.319
And that's they don't have a 401k, like that's their retirement.
00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:39.680
And, you know, apparently that was common back then because debt was so expensive and homes were cheaper.
00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:43.199
Um, but then I also learned about the power of debt, right?
00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:50.479
It can be tax-free returns, you know, it can be used as a tool to really fuel growth.
00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:52.719
And that's when I kind of knew I wanted to dig in.
00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.199
So that's when I got involved in real estate.
00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.680
I bought my first property in 2021.
00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:01.199
It was a duplex remote uh northwest Indiana.
00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:05.520
And then I built a small portfolio in Cleveland, I bought a mobile home park.
00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.240
Um, and it's been a great experience.
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.639
Uh and then I've actually started to position more towards lending now.
00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:17.120
And I can talk about why I made that decision, especially with the W-2.
00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:20.240
Um, and that's been a great experience for me.
00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.159
Uh, and that's where I'm really focused today.
00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:23.759
So it's been awesome.
00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:24.960
That's great.
00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:27.120
Now um, you're focused on lending.
00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:29.599
Are you still buying assets also?
00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:33.199
You know, I I'm not really spending a lot of time.
00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.800
My time is scarce because I do have a pretty demanding job.
00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:43.120
So doing that, acquiring and lending and also being married, you know, you gotta you gotta put time everywhere.
00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:47.280
So uh I've I've put I've taken my foot off the brake for that.
00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:52.800
You know, I've I enjoy buying and I enjoy turning around properties, like seeing the end result.
00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:54.960
That's probably where my most of my passion is.
00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:01.599
But it takes a lot of work to build a portfolio, but also manage one, even if you got property management.
00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:08.240
Like I have 11 units and then I have an 11 lot mobile home park, and it's not that it takes all week, but it pulls you.
00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:14.879
And I realized pretty quickly I can't scale this with my job on my own, right?
00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:26.879
What a lot of people don't realize is like you probably need 60, 80, 100 homes to actually have a strong cash flowing income from real estate like that, from like 100%.
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:32.399
Yeah, especially if they're levered up and you're doing burrs, which you're probably doing if you have a portfolio of that size.
00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:36.720
Um and that's a full-time job just to build, but also maintain.
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.000
You can't do that on your own.
00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:44.000
So um it's so that's kind of why I got into lending.
00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:50.160
Uh because it was more passive, it's very profitable, it's consistent, it's secure, and I'm happy to talk about that.
00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:59.600
But um, so I'm I'm not really acquiring, I'm actually focusing on building income to replace my income, which lending is does really well.
00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:01.040
It's very scalable.
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:07.439
And then I want to start buying again to mitigate my taxes, multiply my income, and then also build wealth over time.
00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:08.800
So those two will go hand in hand.
00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:16.319
So I just kind of reverse the order, which a lot of people I feel like start with buying real estate and then they realize hold on, I need a hundred of these.
00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:18.639
Like, okay, let me let me figure something else out first.
00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.399
Then I'll dude, I'd love that too.
00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:30.480
Because I mean, like you said, most people reverse it because it if you asked nine out of ten real estate investors would probably tell you that private lending is the end goal, right?
00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:37.519
Once you build up a large cash flow or large equity and you get to private lending last.
00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:44.399
But I love that you're you're really focused on that now first and then grow the assets later.
00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:45.920
Yeah, I I agree.
00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:50.800
Usually that is like people will sell their multifamily buildings and then do lending.
00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:53.920
Uh it's it's not always the easiest thing to do that in reverse.
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:55.279
You obviously need capital.
00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.160
So I've I've been fortunate to have some capital, but also you don't need your own money, you can raise it as well.
00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:02.319
So you can definitely do it in the reverse order.
00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:03.279
But that's cool.
00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:07.360
So growing up, um, your parents had had rental properties.
00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:16.240
Were you were you in there, like middle school, high school, helping them fix things and working on stuff or helping them find properties?
00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:18.240
I mean, we were definitely working on them.
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:19.920
There's six of us, all boys.
00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:21.199
So wow, yeah.
00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:32.079
They used to spread the work later, then yeah, it was borderline child labor, uh painting, cleaning up brush in the backyards, and it's a Memphis, rougher area.
00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:36.879
So, like, you know, doing turnovers, like replacing the carpet.
00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:39.519
It was it was kind of miserable on the weekends, I'm not gonna lie.
00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.040
But you got a lot, I got a lot out of it.
00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:41.920
I learned from it.
00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:47.519
I'm still not the handiest person in the world, but uh, it was definitely fun for them at least growing up.
00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:50.240
Yeah, Memphis is I I love Memphis, it's a good market.
00:06:50.240 --> 00:07:06.079
I I think I told you my mom is from Memphis and um her whole family's from Memphis, and my first two properties were in Memphis and Orange Mound, and um where the other one was, but I've sold those since and once I got into mobile home parts.
00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.720
But it's a good market for real estate investors to sell.
00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:10.079
Definitely a good market.
00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:11.279
Uh, it can be spotty.
00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.040
I mean, Orange Mound it's a pretty tough area if I'm pretty impossible.
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:16.319
Yeah, 100%.
00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.560
Surprised you bought one there knowing it.
00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:19.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:23.199
Well, I think I bought it for like twenty thousand dollars, you know.
00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:24.879
So hard to walk away from that.
00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:25.360
Yeah.
00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:26.399
All right.
00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:31.600
Well, so let's talk a bit about you know the idea of doing this with a job.
00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:39.680
So I think you know, on social media, that there's there's a dangerous message sometimes of like, hey, the goal is to quit your job as fast as possible.
00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:41.279
But you've done the opposite.
00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.480
You've continued to work while building your portfolio and then now getting into the lending.
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.480
Talk about why you've done it that way.
00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.000
Yeah, I mean, I think when starting any business, right, there's a lot of risk.
00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.560
You know, even a real estate business, things can go wrong.
00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:58.160
Things do and will go wrong.
00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:04.000
And so I I kind of used my job as a safety net to explore the beginning of that process.
00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.680
Um, kind of it also funded all my investments, right?
00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:12.480
You can go and raise out, raise capital, but a lot of it I wanted to test out on my own.
00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:17.040
So I use that money to buy real estate, to purchase, to do lending.
00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:20.160
So it's been helpful in um maybe building the foundation for me.
00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.079
And I think that's important, right?
00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:23.040
I agree.
00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:28.079
I mean, I know a lot of people who say, leave your job, like just commit and it's gonna work.
00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:30.879
But I know a lot of people where it hasn't worked.
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:36.960
I know people where it has worked, but they went through a serious dip before it worked out for them, right?
00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:40.720
Into debt and they they found their way out, but it's just hard.
00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.360
So that security provides me some peace.
00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:49.120
You know, it's not for everybody, but I think the ability to reinvest that income, especially once you figure it out.
00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:55.200
Now I'm just reinvesting all my my money from my job into my business, and that compounds over time, right?
00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:59.519
If you know the power of compound interest, a small amount of money in 30 years can be worth a million dollars.
00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:02.960
So if you continue to do that, you're only setting yourself up.
00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:14.080
So I think waiting as long as you can to do both, like obviously there's a limit where you can't, and then that's probably the time to make that transition, but you shouldn't just jump right away.
00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:25.360
You should definitely uh build the infrastructure, test the investment thesis and get comfortable and then jump because it's always gonna take longer than you think to ramp in any business.
00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:26.879
Yeah, 100%.
00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:33.200
What do you think the biggest advantage of having your job uh has given you in your own real estate uh journey?
00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:38.080
Oh man, just cash flow, peace of mind, and cash flow to buy and build.
00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.240
Uh and for debt too.
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:47.440
If you're borrowing money or if people are even investing in you, they take a lot of comfort in knowing, oh, he's doing really well personally.
00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.919
It's gonna be really hard for him to lose.
00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:53.279
And also there's some protection, it just it puts people at peace, honestly.
00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.240
So it makes it a lot easier just to grow capital.
00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:57.759
Yeah, I love that.
00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:05.679
And I when I have these conversations with people about, hey, I want to get into real estate, I always tell them, like, hey, your job's really not holding you back.
00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:08.960
It actually probably is funding your future freedom.
00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:11.279
I imagine you'd probably agree with that, right?
00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:13.039
Yeah, especially starting out.
00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.120
I mean, it's it's a great way to get started.
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:22.320
Again, I there's probably an inflection point when it maybe makes sense to transition, but uh definitely starting out 100%.
00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.720
That's great.
00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:25.600
Well, cool.
00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:41.120
Well, let's um let's talk about lending, and I want to spend some time over lending, uh and talk about how you got into lending um and where you've learned how to be a lender.
00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:42.960
Yeah.
00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:53.840
So again, how kind of how I got into lending, you know, I started to build a portfolio, uh, and very quickly I realized like this is taking a lot of time, and I'm not even at massive scale yet.
00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:55.279
I'm not making a ton of cash flow.
00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:58.240
Money keeps being pulled for catbacks for repairs.
00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.840
And I work probably 60 to 80 hours a week in my W 2.
00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:03.759
So it's it's it's a demanding job.
00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:05.840
It's not like a 48-hour week job.
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:12.720
So it can be done, but I realized that's not the way I'm gonna be able to replace or replicate that income.
00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:17.759
So I I realized I either needed to find a partner or find a new strategy.
00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:19.519
And that's when I found lending.
00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:29.840
You know, I I did that just through networking, going to events, talking to people on Facebook, and I got really eager and I jumped in probably a little too fast.
00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:35.120
So my first loan I did was a gap, uh second lane loan.
00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:36.480
I don't know if you're familiar.
00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:39.519
Um very risky.
00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:42.480
You know, you're behind the first lane, so you're not priority.
00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:47.519
And usually you're doing that because the borrower doesn't want to bring any money to close, so they have no skin in the game.
00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:53.360
I was eager, I didn't really understand the risk, and I essentially lost all my money on that deal.
00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:57.679
It was my first loan, and it wasn't a small amount of money.
00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:03.039
And you know, now I hear like four out of five of those second lien deals actually fail.
00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:04.000
It's not uncommon.
00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.120
Yeah, it's pretty high uh for the reasons I mentioned.
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:13.360
Um and in that moment, I was kind of like, I don't even want to look do another loan.
00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:14.320
Like, this is miserable.
00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:15.440
It's not miserable.
00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:29.519
And I kind of asked myself, you could walk away now, just write it off, don't tell anybody this happened, you know, hide the shame, or you could lean into it and realize what did you do wrong, right?
00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:30.879
Can you learn from it?
00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:33.360
And so I chose the latter.
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:39.840
And since then, you know, I've only done first lane loans, I don't do second lien anymore, and it's been a great experience.
00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.879
Um, I've done 35 plus deals.
00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:50.399
Um, over three years, a lot of that I've been scaling, so more recent, and it's been a great experience.
00:12:50.399 --> 00:13:01.600
Um, I can talk about why I like lending, but it's the main reason coming back was it's very passive relative to acquiring and building a portfolio.
00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.120
And that fits my lifestyle.
00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.240
Again, working at my job from a W-2 perspective.
00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:12.720
I can work five hours a week on it and make you know a couple hundred grand a year if you have enough capital.
00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:15.120
Like it doesn't require a lot once you figure it out.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.240
You have to build it, but once you do, it's pretty streamlined.
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:19.360
That's huge.
00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.399
And do you talk about where you lend?
00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:28.080
Because I'm sure there's people that are going to be listening here about you know that that have deals that are coming up.
00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:32.720
Um, so talk about where you lend and what kind of assets that you lend on.
00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:36.879
Yeah, so I'm in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:41.120
I've done some Cleveland in the past, but I'm actually moving out of the Cleveland, Ohio market.
00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:44.879
Um, so I'm really focused on the South and the Southeast.
00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:52.639
I've done mainly single family, small multi in the past, like anywhere between $100,000 to $150,000 loan size.
00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:58.399
Um, but more lately, I've actually been leaning into the land home package uh market.
00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:03.759
You know, I actually learned about it from people and really from you at that one mastermind we were at.
00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:05.919
Uh kind of my eyes.
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:13.039
And the reason I'm leaning into that is, you know, it seems to be kind of a misunderstood market.
00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.720
There's a massive disconnect between supply and demand.
00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:21.519
So it's a little more blue ocean, in my view, versus like single family.
00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:23.519
So there's a lot of demand.
00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.360
Uh, you can get a good yield.
00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:29.200
And because there's that disconnect, you know, you can get pretty good terms.
00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.799
Like loan to value is much lower than you would see on a single family.
00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:34.320
It's also consistent.
00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:42.000
Um, the model to do that is like the same forever deal almost with some caveats, right?
00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:54.080
You're not opening the floors, you're not opening the walls and finding mold, old electrical, you know, you're buying land, you're scraping it, you're putting a home down, and you're graveling the road and putting in a septic.
00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.000
Um, I'm simplifying that.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:04.559
But and when you can do that, you kind of really mitigate the risk, which with lending, risk management is one-on-one.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:12.799
So, like if you can have high consistency into what the project's gonna require, you can like lower your risk overall.
00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:14.000
So that that's why I like it.
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.639
Um, and that's why I've been more focused on it lately.
00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:18.480
That's huge.
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:18.879
Yeah.
00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:23.440
So we're gonna be Saheed's the the land home go-to guy.
00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.279
Yeah, give me a call.
00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:26.720
All right, let's go.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:30.879
Um, do you service your own loans or do you have a servicer that services them?
00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:32.879
I service my own loans, you know.
00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:33.440
Okay.
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.840
Um, yeah, I service my own loans.
00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:37.279
A lot of it's my money.
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.840
I do have a lot of it is investor capital too.
00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.679
You know, I'm still scaling there.
00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.320
I don't have like a $20 million portfolio.
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:45.759
That's that's that's set in the goals.
00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.120
It's written on the wall somewhere.
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:49.919
Uh, but you know, it's it's been a good experience.
00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:52.559
And as I scale, maybe that's something I would take on.
00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.799
But again, you don't really need to.
00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:59.919
Um, I know people who manage a $40 million loan portfolio and it's just two people.
00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:06.799
Like it's definitely doable doable and coming back to it can be a pretty passive investment.
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:08.240
That's huge.
00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:16.799
What's your as you think about your goal a year from now, three years from now, on a lending side, what have you thought about that far out?
00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:23.519
Um, or just kind of just been naturally evolving and you know, you're you're here and you want to loan more money.
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.159
Yeah, no, I'd say it's been naturally evolving, like historically.
00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:30.559
Uh this year I've really leaned into it.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.559
Um, I doubled my portfolio size, raising capital.
00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:38.799
I'm at like 1.5 to 2 million today.
00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:46.480
And I want to get to three by the end of the year and probably double that next year is the goal.
00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:51.120
And with that, you know, that should be a substantial amount of income.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:56.799
And then once I've built the income, I'll probably pivot back to buying assets, right?
00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:12.559
Coming back to using depreciation to offset all that income, multiply it, and then also that's going to build wealth, compound wealth in the future via real estate is kind of the strategy, which I think you do something similar, Robert, if I'm not mistaken.
00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:13.359
Yeah, for sure.
00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:14.720
With mobile home parks.
00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:22.480
Um, so I bought I bought a bunch of mobile home parts 2021 to 2024, didn't pay many taxes, which was great.
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:26.480
2025, I didn't buy as many, uh, so I paid more taxes.
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:31.279
So I'm back to buying uh we got several mobile home parks under contract right now.
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:38.720
And um trying to trying to reduce the taxes as much as possible, but at the same time not being cash poor.
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:47.599
That's the balance is you can depreciate and do cost segregations, but you still have to have equity into the asset, right?
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:48.640
For most of them.
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:55.519
And you want to make sure that equity doesn't outweigh the uh tax savings, right?
00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.279
And that's that's where I got to 2020, 2021, 2024.
00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.480
I own a bunch of mobile home parts, but I never had any cash.
00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:09.759
And so trying to trying to build that cash back up and balance, but balance tax because it's it's no fun paying the government.
00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.960
Yeah, I mean it's that's the story of real estate, right?
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.599
Asset rich, uh cash poor.
00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.079
So I like lending, it's cash rich.
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.240
That's funny what my wife, yeah.
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:31.839
My wife sometimes says she's like, you know, one day it'll be like, oh, we're gonna buy a beach house and we're gonna live on the ocean, and then next day it's like we're moving to the mobile home park, you know?
00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.079
So you never know.
00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.119
Um well cool.
00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:45.599
So uh you mentioned that you you have raised some outside capital, and maybe there's there's people listening that that have capital and want to invest in a fund.
00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:53.599
Is it a fund that you're um you're utilizing and bringing in third-party investors, like private, private money type people?
00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:56.000
Or uh how's that structured?
00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.200
Uh it's a it's a servicer model, so it's not a fund model.
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:04.559
Like a fund model has a lot of like regulatory SEC requirements, but a servicer model.
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:08.960
So essentially you would be put, if someone was interested, they would let me know.
00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.039
I would send them a deal and like, oh, this is a good deal.
00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:12.480
We would talk through it.
00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:30.160
And then I'll be like, okay, we work with title, draft up the documents, and they would be directly placed onto the promissory note, the personal guarantee, um, and the mortgage, uh, along with my money, if they didn't have enough money, like they don't have to bring the full amount of money to do the work.
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:34.799
Um, so you can get in for a smaller balance, which a lot of people like.
00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:41.839
But the benefit of that versus the fund model is you're actually have full visibility into where your money's going, right?
00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:47.519
You're you're wiring it directly to title, you're not wiring it to me, which I think a lot of people take comfort in that.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:50.240
But the fund model, you you're betting on the operator, right?
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:57.680
You're sending them the money and you're hoping to do what they say they're gonna do, but they know exactly where their money's going, and then it's hands-off.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.119
All the those approved, like I want to do this one, send the money.
00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:12.640
I'm gonna manage the borrower, I'm gonna manage the legal, I'm gonna manage the uh interest payments, and they're gonna get their payment every month, first of the month, uh, mailbox money.
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:16.480
And then when it pays off, it sells, it goes directly from title back to them.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:20.079
So the money's secure, uh, directly linked to it.
00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:27.519
And that's really I found the way investors want to do it because they have a lot more comfort than just sending them money to some money.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:28.319
Yeah.
00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.359
That's huge.
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:38.799
And it's nice to know that hey, maybe you don't have enough money if you're an investor, you don't have enough money for an entire deal, but you want to still be involved because there's a lot of people out there like that.
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.160
They could partner with you and you all could share in the deal.
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:43.279
I think that's smart.
00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:44.160
Yeah, 100%.
00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:58.319
And it also helps people get a little more comfort of like testing it out instead of like doing a $200,000 loan, like you know, $30,000, see if they like it, and then they can rant from there or or decide it's not for them, you know.
00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.160
Everyone's got a different taste.
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:01.920
Yeah, that's great.
00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:02.640
All right.
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:07.200
Well, um, let's let's go back to uh advice for people with jobs.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:15.599
Um, and you kind of touched on this already, but imagine there's somebody listening, maybe a teacher or an engineer, maybe they work in healthcare.
00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.279
Um, they want to invest, but they think they need to quit first.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:20.960
Reality is they don't.
00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:26.960
What would you tell them in terms of taking that first step into real estate while keeping their job?
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.599
Man, I would say partnership.
00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:35.359
I mean, as someone like there's a lot of ways you can bring value to a deal, right?
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.640
Capital, time, like management of the deal, sourcing the deal.
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.920
And that doesn't have to be all done by one person.
00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:47.519
You know, as someone with a W 2, you can likely bring capital.
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:52.640
You can probably even bring some management from your computer late night or over the weekend, right?
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:57.359
You're probably not out there cold calling, sourcing the deal, or even boots on the ground.
00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.680
So partnership is probably the best.
00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:01.200
Way to do it with a W-2.
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:08.079
I personally know people who have W-2s with massive rental portfolios, like hundreds of units.
00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.920
So it can be done.
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.559
And just you got to make sure it's someone you trust.
00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:20.480
But I I would say partnership, building a team, or outsourcing whatever you can and just knowing what your value is and bringing that to the table.
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:21.519
Love it.
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.559
That's awesome.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:26.079
And 100% agree with that because everybody has a strength, right?
00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:29.279
But there's all you have weaknesses too.
00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:33.839
I mean, one of those strength is having a job, but also you know, your time is limited.
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:38.880
So partner together uh with someone that can match uh what you need.
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:54.079
So with that being said, if we broke it if we broke it down, um if you had to tell them, hey, here's one thing that you should go do this month in order to move towards financial freedom through real estate or through lending, what would that one thing be?
00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:14.319
Man, I would say going to a networking event or joining um leadership in like something you're interested in, mobile home parks, lending, what um multifamily, Burr, like and like an I would say an intimate one, not like a 40-person one, right?
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:24.720
Like go and just start talking to people because everyone's always looking for capital or something that they're missing, and you'd be surprised what you could find.
00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:30.559
So I I would say that, and I I do think there's a lot of value in mentorships, even if they're paid.
00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:40.960
I know there's like a stigma sometimes on the gurus, and there's some bad ones out there, but as long as you like look at referrals and do the diligence up front and make sure it's legit.
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.880
Like I've never not done a mentorship and not gotten my money back tenfold.
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.799
Um, so as long as you are intentional about it, you can join a mentorship and just show up and then that's it.
00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:52.160
But you have to be intentional as well.
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.960
You have to be like, okay, I'm gonna do the homework, I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna follow up, I'm gonna network with the people in here.
00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:58.880
And that's that's how you get value.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:00.240
Love it.
00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:01.119
That's great.
00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:05.759
All right, so let's conclude here with some rapid fire questions for you.
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:06.960
Um, let's see here.
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.119
I've got three or four of those.
00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:13.359
Um what's your favorite investment that you've ever made?
00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:15.440
Uh my mobile home park.
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:17.920
I mean, hands down, best ROI.
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:20.880
Turn, I mean, it was a huge value ad.
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:24.960
So if you would ask me when I bought it for a year, I probably said it was my most hated.
00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:33.200
Uh but turnkey to own home, cash flow, one call a month, maybe most profitable investment by far.
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:35.279
Mob mobile home parks.
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:35.839
Let's go.
00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.640
All right, what's your favorite business book?
00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:47.359
Uh I mean, I don't honestly don't read a lot, uh, but if I had to pick my favorite book, it'd probably be Atomic Habits.
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.960
Um so I think you can get a lot of things out of that.
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:54.960
Like small things over time compound to big things.
00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:57.359
It's not just money, that's even your actions.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.799
So yeah.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.480
Yeah, that's cool.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:08.880
Um, it may remind me, I I I can't remember exactly what he said, but I was watching a video from Ed Mallet on Instagram yesterday.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:15.440
Um, and he talked about that as like small things over and over again end up being big things later.
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:20.319
Um I think that's that's so true for people in a W 2 because you don't have a lot of time.
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:24.799
So like you don't it's just small things every other night or over the weekend over time.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:26.319
Like that's how I got started.
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.960
Like so that's great.
00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:31.200
All right, last uh rapid fire here.
00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:34.720
What's one daily habit that has helped you succeed?
00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:40.720
Oh man, I I can be bad at it, uh, if I'm being totally honest, but it's journaling.
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:44.079
Um, I don't know if you've heard of the intentional journal.
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:49.039
Uh it's a bigger product, uh bigger pockets product, but I'm I think there's a lot of them out there.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:26:06.319
But essentially you have a three-month goal that feeds into your yearly and your five-year, and then you break it down all the way into weekly and daily habits and action items like KPIs, and you journal every morning, every night, and at the end of the week.
00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.160
And it's all about reflection what worked, what didn't work.
00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:16.000
And every time I've done it, I've seen so much progress towards my goals because it holds you accountable.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.160
You become intentional, right?
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:22.240
So that is something I think a lot of people overlook.
00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.720
It sounds cheesy, but it it really does have an impact.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:31.440
I think if you write down your goals, you're way more likely to achieve them than just talking about them.
00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:32.400
Yeah, 100%.
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:38.799
I'm part of Dan Martell's group, and um he's got five daily non-negotiables that he encourages people to do.
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:42.240
One of those is reviewing your goals three times a day.
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:51.599
Um, and just that, you know, top of mind refresh every three times a day pushes you towards okay, am I doing the things today to achieve those goals?
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:52.160
Yeah.
00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:54.319
I mean, so you do that every every day?
00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.480
I'm I'm kind of like you with the journaling.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:58.319
I I mean that's the intent, right?
00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:01.119
But um I I don't do it every day.
00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:01.759
I need to.
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:03.599
Didn't mean to call you out there.
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:04.720
Come on out.
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:05.680
All right.
00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:08.000
Well, hey, I really appreciate you coming on.
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:18.319
Uh this has been really great because I think your your story really encourages people that financial freedom isn't about necessarily quitting a job or making a huge leap.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:30.160
It's about making those smart decisions consistently day in and day out, and those small decisions add up, uh, and smart decisions add up over time into big things.
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.319
Um, so really, really great.
00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.000
I appreciate you joining.
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.200
Where can people reach you if they want to connect with you?
00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:40.640
Uh Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.279
Um, so my name's Said Zarshness.
00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:46.640
I think my Instagram handle is sai.j.z.
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.039
Uh, but I'm I'm on all three of those platforms.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:53.039
You can message me, even if you just have questions about lending or real estate.
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.680
I'm always happy to talk about my experiences.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:57.599
So sweet.
00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:58.240
All right.
00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.960
Well, appreciate everybody joining, listening.
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:08.160
If you got value, make sure you hit the subscribe here, share it with somebody who's trying to build wealth, maybe without quitting their job.
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:12.559
Um, and thanks for listening to the purpose-driven investor podcast.
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:14.079
We'll see you next time.
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.480
Thanks for listening to the Purpose Driven Investor.
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:25.359
If today's episode sparked an idea or inspired you to make an impact, connect with me at howellandsons.com.
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:33.599
Join our community of purpose driven investors who are helping families find stable homes while building real returns.
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.960
Because when we invest with purpose, everyone wins.
