Transform Your Family Life: Real Estate Investing in the St. Louis Market

Michael Stansbury (00:01.186)
Hello everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Mike Stansbury and today all the way for me from St. Louis, I think the Cardinals are on a 10 game win streak or something like that. Bill Broker, Bill how are you sir?

Bill Broeker (00:19.766)
I’m doing great. How are you?

Michael Stansbury (00:30.016)
Excellent sir, excellent and thanks for coming on. We’re gonna get into your origin story and have a lot of fun with you today but first we’re gonna talk to you about Investor Fuel. At Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, and real estate entrepreneurs 2 to 5X their businesses to allow them to build the businesses they’ve always wanted and allow them to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. Bill, what is the origin story in real estate? What’s your background? Tell me how you get started in this. What’s the yellow brick road for you?

Bill Broeker (00:48.022)
If we go back to the beginning, you know, I started off in the trades just like a lot of guys did. You know, I started off as a shingler in the trades and my father and I started a very successful roofing business we had for a long time. And that allowed me essentially to start flipping farms. I did that back in the day when you can make good money doing that. Then 2008 hit and that changed everything. I’m sure you’ve been around for a few years. You know the drill.

We got out of the roof of business and I eventually went to work for people in a real estate business and kind of learned this business from the inside out. What to do, what not to do. So that’s the origin of me. You know, my partner and I split off on our own. We started our own thing about three months ago and we’re getting ready to close on our first flip tomorrow. So, yeah.

Michael Stansbury (01:41.45)
All right, as a partnership, that’s pretty awesome. So tell me a little about flipping farms, because you know what’s great about real estate is when somebody says, yeah, I’m in real estate, it could just mean a whole host of things. And one of those things is land and flipping farms. Kind of give me a story about maybe your first farm or maybe a creative deal that you did.

Bill Broeker (01:54.87)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Broeker (02:00.469)
My first farm was in Appanoose County, Iowa. It’s 160 acres, the first one we ever flipped. Back then you can go to the auction and buy them. That’s where you got your deals. Go in, it’s just like flipping a house. You go in, clean things up, structure. If you’re a hunter, if you know that world, you would set it up for a deer hunter. Or if it’s something that could be made and for as more valuable and tillable.

You would convert things over from CRP grasses to tillable and raise the value. within, back in the day, within three to six months, you can make easy 300 bucks an acre on a farm. And that was about the time outdoor television was taken off. And everything changed after that.

Michael Stansbury (02:44.993)
Now what did that change in the market for those people who weren’t running around or maybe not know about farms? What did that change?

Bill Broeker (02:50.261)
It drove value through the roof. mean, there’s pieces of ground right now that I look every once in a while, look them up and see what the worst just out of curiosity stuff I bought for six, seven, 800 bucks an acres now, four to 5,000. And we’re talking 20 years time.

Michael Stansbury (03:05.005)
How about that?

Michael Stansbury (03:09.709)
And what drove this was outdoor advertisement.

Bill Broeker (03:13.043)
Yeah, the hunting industry really, really drove that, you know, plus ag has always been strong. There hasn’t been a real downturn in ag in 25 years. So, and there’s a lot of competition in that arena right now. Yeah. Yeah. So that, that market is faded away. If you can find a deal on a farm, you’re very lucky guy.

Michael Stansbury (03:15.309)
Hunting industry, okay, gotcha, yep.

Michael Stansbury (03:21.249)
Yes.

Michael Stansbury (03:29.109)
Yeah, we need the land to grow the vegetables and the food and for the pigs and for the cows and and the chickens.

Michael Stansbury (03:42.111)
Right. And what’s interesting about St. Louis and your market, so you’ve got Iowa right to the, is that to the north of it? To the north, yep, north and then Illinois to the east. And so you got all those possibilities there. Memphis is kind of like that where we have Mississippi right to the south and Arkansas. And we can get into Missouri a little bit, but not too much, because it’s just a little north of us. you know, you had the roofing company.

Bill Broeker (03:42.515)
Yeah, they’re just not there anymore.

Bill Broeker (03:50.185)
Yes, sir. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Bill Broeker (04:01.043)
Yeah. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (04:12.125)
and you’re in the trades, so you worked for the investors. What was, you you worked for, I guess, Riots, and then you worked for maybe individual investors. Kind of tell me what the day-to-day life was like for Bill and his team for real estate investors.

Bill Broeker (04:25.685)
The read I worked for, I headed up the estimating and the inspections to make sure they would pass for, we have what’s called the occupancy inspection here in St. Louis. It’s not privy to a lot of markets, but we’re the unfortunate market that gets hammered with that. My job was to tell them what rehabs cost, what they needed to fix it, if they needed to keep it, or to buy a property. I was the guy that went in and said, yeah, this is good to buy.

It was a lot of fun, but know, things come and go, better opportunities come and you move on. Then I went to work for a guy here that advertised on TV. buy houses and you know, you know, you know the deal. I was promised something and it wasn’t that when I got there. So it was a totally different.

Michael Stansbury (05:13.431)
Did he promise you a piece of the action when they sold?

Bill Broeker (05:17.109)
You know bonuses yeah, never seen one Yeah, yeah, so but you know that’s his business model. We’ll let him keep doing this thing and Best of luck to him, you know so

Michael Stansbury (05:18.955)
Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (05:29.045)
Right. Yeah, okay, and so now you’re doing flips on your own. me about this deal that you got and tell me about the exit strategy. What’s that look like, Bill?

Bill Broeker (05:42.752)
We got two exit strategies. This deal is up in fluorescent and I’m sure you got listeners that are in St. Louis. They know that’s the hottest market township to buy in St. Louis far as rentals or flips right now. Right now we’re planning on.

Michael Stansbury (05:57.613)
What’s driving the market there in that town?

Bill Broeker (06:01.531)
It’s been hot for 15 years. 15 years ago, you could have bought a house for 25 grand, that same house in the same shape is well in the low hundreds. So it’s just demand. It’s a good rental area. It’s C to maybe high D areas. And most of it, there’s some B in there in certain sections, but it’s just a great area for rentals.

Michael Stansbury (06:04.743)
wow, okay.

Bill Broeker (06:28.989)
It’s very heavily populated. think the city of Florissant alone is like 60,000. But if you’re familiar with St. Louis, it’s full of probably 200 little townships like that. So it has, you know, in the landing row, but they have a high MSA.

Michael Stansbury (06:33.559)
Okay.

Michael Stansbury (06:40.141)
Okay, yep. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (06:47.159)
So it’s in there and how did you procure the deal? you get it from a wholesaler or did you guys procure it yourself?

Bill Broeker (06:52.501)
It was an off-market pocket listing from an agent. Internet’s not everything. You got to work your agents too.

Michael Stansbury (06:56.215)
Yeah, I gotta love it.

Michael Stansbury (07:02.155)
Yeah, talk about that nugget. Why is it important to have relationships with agents? mean, obviously, you just have the fruit of it right there, but yeah, what do you do to maintain those relationships? yeah, tell me what that looks like in your world, Bill.

Bill Broeker (07:19.489)
We bump into a lot of them at meetups or we’ll see they have a listing. We just reach out to them, start a conversation. Because a lot of these guys are newer agents and they go through the training. They know what to do in a retail house, but a house that doesn’t need work, they’re lost. So we’ve gotten a few of them conditioned to start bringing us leads that way. Hey, I got a guy I can bring this to that can help me move it. So.

And if you’re savvy, just let him keep both sides of the deal. Who cares? You got the real winning prize there in the end. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (07:51.118)
Yeah, that’s a way to do it, Bill. That’s a great nugget because one of the things that I always tell people is, relationship with realtors, realtors want to get paid and you have to have the attitude that they don’t get paid enough, like when you’re talking to them, so that they will bring you those deals. And so like, they want the low hanging fruit. They want the listing, they don’t have to do a lot of work to it, they don’t have to tell the person to do the carpet to, but if they get one of those really trashed out deals or, you know,

Bill Broeker (08:13.386)
Right.

Michael Stansbury (08:19.723)
with a, there’s a lot of value add because of, they’ve just not taken care of the property for a while, you’re a solution to their problem. They say, hey, we need to talk to this person directly and you need to, I find that when realtors drive, you let them drive the whole conversation as long as you tell them, and I do this, I don’t know if you do this, but if we get this, you’ll keep all the commission and then if I do list it, I’ll list it to you, I’ll list it at a discount.

It’ll be this percentage, but you’ll get to list it as well. And I find that that carrot has driven a lot of good deals my way, is letting them not only get at the back end, but they get the listing as well.

Bill Broeker (09:01.333)
Yeah, and it builds loyalty. My dad used to say, most people are about as loyal as their paychecks, and that’s the truth. You keep the money flowing, you’re going to have people that want to work with you. And you build friendships along the way too. That just takes time. You’ve got to build the trust.

Michael Stansbury (09:15.436)
Right.

Michael Stansbury (09:20.973)
Yep, and reciprocation is one of those things where sometimes even though you may have your license, I may have license, that’s not what I do for a living. You said it earlier, the bigger piece of the pie is when you flip the property or turnkey or however you want to disbow the property, but if you have a good relationship with a realtor, maybe you’re sending people her way, their way when you’ve got deals that don’t fit your buy box and that feeds the fire.

Bill Broeker (09:35.05)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Broeker (09:48.799)
Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (09:48.946)
of, I gotta find Bill a deal because he’s just taking great care of me. And then they talked to their realtor friends and they’re like, well, I wanna give Bill deals too and help him out and see what he can do for me.

Bill Broeker (10:00.581)
And exactly what you said is starting to happen. It takes time. know, they’re going to ignore you most of the time the first couple calls or emails. But if you’re fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with them and just be you and be open and honest and tell them exactly what your intentions are, they’ll open up to you.

Michael Stansbury (10:22.657)
Yeah. So Bill, it’s exciting that you’re doing this flip. so what other markets do you So you mentioned smaller townships. I’m familiar with St. Louis only because I think my mother and father grew up there. My mother grew up on the hill and I think my dad grew up near Chaminade High School. Is that near Kirkwood? Where is that near?

Bill Broeker (10:38.143)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Broeker (10:43.347)
Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s what we call it is Kirkwood area Kirkwood Webster roads. Yeah

Michael Stansbury (10:47.957)
Okay, gotcha. Yeah, how are those markets? How’s the Hill? How’s Kirkwood?

Bill Broeker (10:52.245)
The hill far as the city of St. Louis, I would encourage everybody to watch documentary about the hill. You’ll find out what it’s really about. Okay. It’s one of the most protected neighborhoods in St. Louis. It’s very desirable. If you can find a good property there and you do a good job in a rehab, you’re going to make a killing.

Michael Stansbury (11:02.219)
Right.

Michael Stansbury (11:12.929)
Yeah, my grandfather was the mayor, was the unofficial mayor of the hill. He was the postman. So it’s a walking route there. So he walked from, he walked the whole subdivision and knew everybody. And it’s St. Ambrose Church. Are you familiar with that church? Yep. So St. Ambrose right in the middle. He did, he retired and then he did tours of the hill. And then my uncle, Joey, his son, when my

Bill Broeker (11:22.932)
Yeah.

Bill Broeker (11:32.044)
yeah, yeah.

Michael Stansbury (11:42.049)
Grandfather Past did tours of the hill as well and they always started at St. Ambrose and ended around there and it was super cool. That little town, that little city, inside of city, has got so much rich history and it’s super cool, you’re exactly right. What are your favorite parts of the hill or favorite restaurants to go to?

Bill Broeker (12:03.477)
man, a lot of them are closing. That’s the sad part. They’re getting old and passing away, you know? I don’t get down. I avoid the city like a plague. I live in the country, you know? I go there, do my business and come home and listen to Cricket’s Chirp, you know? Tony’s downhill is always good.

Michael Stansbury (12:07.755)
Yeah, cause the families are… Yep.

Michael Stansbury (12:20.533)
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Broeker (12:26.697)
That’s, know, there’s a new restaurant, newer called Carnivore that’s got good steak down there. It’s your traditional Italian, you know. And I’ve got some friends that have family that have little like deli shops and there’s all kinds of that stuff down there. You can’t get bad food on the hill. If you do, there’s something wrong with you. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (12:31.02)
Okay.

Michael Stansbury (12:45.933)
There’s something wrong with you. You must not like Italian food or Italian people or something. Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a wonderful place. It’s a really, it’s changed so much because I’ve been going there, you know, ever since I was a kid. there’s, you know, the, the new builds that they’ve done and, now they’ve got some multifamily apartments. In fact, my, my aunt’s live in a, apartment, in on the hill now. And I think close by the.

Bill Broeker (12:50.249)
it.

Michael Stansbury (13:15.917)
San Ambrose Church, but it still maintains that, you know, the hill culture, which is excellent, which is kind of sad. It’s really cool that this little city has maintained this kind of hegemony of being Italian. And it’s interesting that we don’t have more of that in different cultures. I remember my aunts and uncles talking about

Bill Broeker (13:19.829)
Uh-huh.

Bill Broeker (13:33.279)
Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (13:45.645)
some people from what was the that it was one of the eastern bloc countries but they they had a they had a hill to themselves as well back in the 40s and 50s but then I guess it just wasn’t maintained and I forget what it was it was some country I can’t pronounce

Bill Broeker (14:03.603)
Yeah, it’s a you if you’re there around dark there’ll be people out walking their dogs and we’re in st. This is st. Louis City. That’s how safe the hill is. They don’t allow to riffraff in so. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (14:11.307)
Right? Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (14:17.803)
Yeah, that’s pretty good stuff. Well, Bill, what are you going to be doing? So once you get this flip done, is the goal to become full-time fix and flipper? What’s the vision for your life at this point?

Bill Broeker (14:30.997)
We’re going to fix and flip this cash flow. I mean, if you’re looking at it from a business standpoint, we’ll do some wholesale, but it’s buy and hold. It’s the stuff that’s going to really truly build enough money where I can retire and not work until I’m 70 years old. that’s the long-term vision. Pretty much the same as everybody else, but we’ve got short-term goals. I don’t need to be the biggest, baddest real estate investor in the country.

Michael Stansbury (14:45.729)
Right. Yeah. That’s the dream. Yeah.

Bill Broeker (14:58.163)
I need my little piece of the pie or I’m happy and I’m good.

Michael Stansbury (15:01.483)
Yeah. Well, Bill, what else are you doing? Are you still doing some construction and some things for other investors as well while you’re doing this? are you putting that to side? Or what’s your daily method of operation look like?

Bill Broeker (15:14.099)
Well, I will, I still help guys that need rehab numbers. They’ll come to me and want stuff like that. We’ll help them out with that. As far as construction for anybody else, we’re not doing that. So yeah, the previous employer I worked for, that was part of his business model. And that was difficult. That’s a road I don’t think I want to travel because you deal with a lot of people that know nothing. And it was tough doing that. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (15:41.303)
Yeah, that’s gotta be frustrating. So have you had a coach or have you been part of a mastermind in real estate that has had a good effect on your ability to be a better investor? What does that look like for you, Bill?

Bill Broeker (15:56.97)
Yeah, my partner teamed up with a coach that’s helped tremendously, especially on his side because he doesn’t, you know, he’s got a lot of experience, but he hasn’t been in it for decades like I have, you know. It really is the little nuances they teach you that you got to pay attention to that will really explode your business. Things that you may have thought of, but they’ll look at it at a different angle and say, do this instead, changes everything.

So getting the right person on your team, I think is critical, and especially in today’s highly competitive market.

Michael Stansbury (16:34.721)
Yeah, I’d say I agree with that is having somebody to either look at the way you’re doing business and maybe they’re a little further down the road from you and they can see obstacles that you can’t see or they can see things that you can’t see and help you tweak. That’s a really good nugget bill. So the dream is to obviously cash flow and have enough money to retire. You’re gonna stay in St. Louis, St. Louis home forever.

Bill Broeker (17:02.259)
No, no, I am moving to northern Missouri to the family farm. I’m gone, buddy. I’ll come down here for weddings and funerals.

Michael Stansbury (17:07.807)
Okay.

Michael Stansbury (17:12.685)
So is that farm an active farm or what do we do on the farm?

Bill Broeker (17:16.501)
Yeah, yeah, it’s a mix of everything. It’s row crop, you know, it’s a hunting farm mainly that’s got a lot of row crop. we actually, we bought this farm in the 90s, late 90s. And it’s increased in value like 25 fold since we bought it.

Michael Stansbury (17:36.909)
How about that? Yeah, and it’s the family farm bill? Yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, so what does your family look like? What does that look like? What’s bill after work, what does that look like?

Bill Broeker (17:39.849)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Broeker (17:49.482)
Well, I spent a lot, I got a six year old. So I, I’ve been called the grandpa already many times. So, you know, my wife and I, we got married later in life, you know, went to Dominican with two and came back with three. on the honeymoon, we came back with, she was pregnant. So yeah, but I spent a lot of time doing stuff with my boy. You know, we

Michael Stansbury (17:54.732)
Ha

Michael Stansbury (18:03.799)
How about that?

Bill Broeker (18:13.269)
I’m teaching him a work ethic. think that’s important for kids. You know, to get out, you know, he’s only six, but he still does stuff with dad. And he wants to do stuff, which is good. You know, I don’t want my kid to be a iPad kid, you know.

Michael Stansbury (18:16.321)
Yes, yeah.

Michael Stansbury (18:27.787)
Yeah, yes, so good. That’s beautiful. So he’s hanging around you, he’s doing what you’re doing. As early you can do that, that’s a beautiful thing.

Bill Broeker (18:36.617)
Yeah, the only downside to that was time to come in. It’s a fight to get him to come in, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (18:41.293)
I want to stay out and work longer. Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, Bill, where can people find you? Where yet on all the socials that people can watch what you’re doing as far as your flips and some of the construction things? Tell me about that. What does that look like,

Bill Broeker (18:56.949)
You can, the easiest place to find us is Titan Investment Group on Facebook. We’ve got our page set up there. That’s the easiest, best shoot me a message. I mean, I’m always looking to network with people, always looking for lenders, always looking for deals. And I’m always looking to move a wholesale deal now and then. So yeah, so.

Michael Stansbury (19:03.286)
Okay.

Michael Stansbury (19:16.631)
Yes sir, beautiful, I like it. So folks, look for them on Facebook, it’s Titan Investments, Titan Investment Group, look for Bill Broker there. Bill, thank you for being a part of the Real Estate Pros podcast. Guys, the information about Bill will be in the show notes, so if you know some deals in St. Louis, send them his way, or he may be somebody to be good on your list as well to sell to.

Bill Broeker (19:24.371)
The Titan Investment Group.

Michael Stansbury (19:43.754)
and to buy from. So Bill, thanks for being a part of the program.

Bill Broeker (19:46.773)
Thanks for having me on, I appreciate it. You too.

Michael Stansbury (19:48.526)
Alright, Serge, you have a good one. And guys, have a great one and see you next time on the Real Estate Pros Podcast.