5 Game-Changing Real Estate Tips from Kansas Citys Chris Lengquist

Michael Stansbury (00:00.162)
Hello everybody and welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Mike Stansbury. Thanks for joining us today. We have Chris Lengquist out of Kansas City, the state of Kansas City and a lot of other places he’s operating of. Out of Chris, how are you sir?

Chris Lengquist (00:04.446)
You got it.

Chris Lengquist (00:24.849)
I’m doing great. Thank you very much.

Michael Stansbury (00:27.118)
Well, hey, thanks for being here. We’re going to get into your origin story and what you’re doing now to help people in the real estate marketplace. But first, we got to talk about Investor Fuel. At Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, 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. Chris, before we get into the meat and potatoes of what we’re doing now, tell me the origin story. What were you doing before maybe you pivoted into real estate?

Have you always been in real estate? What’s the hero’s journey there?

Chris Lengquist (01:01.429)
I’m not sure it was a hero’s journey at first. I was a serial entrepreneur who couldn’t figure out how to make money, you know, for years and years and years. And when I was 38 years old, I had lived in DC for 15 years.

and we had decided to move to Tulsa and I had been doing photography and working with real estate agents and a photography capacity. When I got to Tulsa, I found out people didn’t pay for photography the same way. And so I decided I’m gonna get my real estate license because none of those people were any brighter than I was. I know that was the ego, that was the whatever. So I got online, got my license inside of a week, hung it up with a broker and…

Frankly, I was coming to work every day but wasn’t getting a lot of traction. Did have a couple of sales, but then my broker came to me one day and says, hey, I got this townhouse out in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma that I’ll let you do all the work and pay you less than half the money. And I was like, I’m in, man. I’m just trying to make a living doing this kind of thing. So.

Michael Stansbury (01:44.399)
I just coming to work every day but wasn’t getting a lot of traction. Did have a couple of sales with my broker gave me one day and says, hey, I got this townhouse out in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, that I’ll let you do all the work and pay you less than half the money. I was like, I’m just trying to make a living doing this kind of thing. So I got that townhouse sold in a few weeks. And then like the month and half.

Chris Lengquist (02:06.579)
I got that townhouse sold in a few weeks and then like a month and a half later, I got a call from that seller again and he said, hey, I talked to Randy. He said, it was okay if I talk to you. I’ve got four more townhouses in there. If you’d like to sell those for me.

Michael Stansbury (02:16.885)
I had a second mind, didn’t know if he owned more than one or two houses. It never occurred to me, I just hadn’t been in that circle. Over the course of next two years, I sold 23 homes for that man. And every time I sold a home for him, I would have to take him his physical check to his office because he was a big banker.

Chris Lengquist (02:21.769)
I gotta tell you Mike, didn’t know you could own more than one or two houses. It never occurred to me. I just hadn’t been in that circle. And over the course of next two years, I sold 23 homes for that man. And every time I sold a home for him, I would have to take him his physical check to his office, because he was a big banker. And he would sit me down and he would teach me real estate investing. Because I just need an agent that understands real estate investing. And I got a free…

Michael Stansbury (02:41.598)
sent me out and he would teach me real estate investing because I just need an agent that understands real estate investing and I got a free education on how to work with real estate investors and make money along the way. Why he did that, I still don’t know to this day. It’s part of my journey now is I do a lot of education and I tend to settle a lot through education.

Chris Lengquist (02:51.703)
on how to work with real estate investors and make money along the way. Why he did that, I still don’t know to this day, but it’s part of my journey now is I do a lot of education. I tend to sell a lot through education. I get all of these things basically because I just educate, educate, educate the way he taught me.

Michael Stansbury (03:07.726)
So one of the things I think that is so interesting about that is you we don’t know what we don’t know you obviously we all operate sometimes out of our ego but you you had the curiosity to sit down with him and obviously he saw okay he’s paying attention he’s listening he’s executing and so he would I guess teach you as you were going down the

you know, path of getting things done for him and, you know, solving his problem, which obviously he wanted these properties sold. And so, you know, you take that, though you do the 23 deals and then what’s the next, you know, what’s the next iteration of Chris’s life in real estate? Cause you know, you’re doing a lot of things now that are different, but it seems like that was the foundation.

Chris Lengquist (04:01.673)
Well, that was the foundation that started all the way back in 2002. And about three years into my real estate career down there, I was doing good, making a name for myself. I was born and raised in Kansas City. And my mom was going through her third bout of breast cancer and we were driving back and forth. So I said, let’s go, let’s go home. And my wife agreed. So we packed up our family, moved up there. And I knew I was going to do real estate sales again.

Michael Stansbury (04:24.344)
Stay safe.

Chris Lengquist (04:26.965)
And I really am not cut out for the regular home buyers and sellers. I’m cut out for the math of real estate. Like, I don’t care what color the kitchen is, does the house make money? And so when I got to Kansas City, I looked around and I couldn’t find more than one, maybe two people that were specializing in investors in 2004. And so that’s what I started doing. And everybody told me I was crazy. There’s not a big enough market for it, but I just got to work with everything I’d been taught, everything I’ve been learning on my own.

Michael Stansbury (04:28.878)
for the regular home buyers and sellers. I’m cut out for the math of food list. I don’t care what the kitchen is, does the house make money? And so when I got to Kansas City, I looked around and I couldn’t find more than 182 people that were specializing in investors in 2004. And so that’s what I started doing. Everybody told me I was crazy. There’s not a big enough market for it. But I just got to work with everything I’ve been taught, everything I’ve been learning on my own.

Chris Lengquist (04:55.889)
and started marketing myself as that and Mike it just took off.

Michael Stansbury (04:56.174)
and started marketing myself as a hat and Mike had just took off.

Chris Lengquist (05:03.029)
Just as the Great Recession happened, I was making more money than I’d ever made in my life. And I took a 30 % hit like everybody else, but because I’m very conservative and hadn’t spent it all, I just reinvested it back to the business and kept talking about it. And I had a blog and it’s still out there. It’s bbqcapital.com. But I wrote on that blog every day from 2006 to 2015. 2006 was the Stone Age for blogging. And I probably still make six figures a year on Evergreen content.

Michael Stansbury (05:03.406)
Just as the Great Recession happened, I was making more money than I ever made in my life. I took it 30 % hit like everybody else, but because I’m very conservative and hadn’t spent at all, I just reinvested it back to the business and kept talking about it. I had love. It’s still out there. It’s lot. BBQ Capital.

How about that? Yeah, because you consistently put your head down and did the same thing every day and obviously there’s a listen between that time with all the iterations of what real estate was going through there’s a lot to talk about nationally and locally so

Chris Lengquist (05:33.053)
that people find me, contact us, and we go from there.

Michael Stansbury (05:52.143)
I love it that you took advantage of that. So a lot of folks that are similar to you, they just did it. It was part of their daily method of operation and it continues to pay off. It’s the YouTuber that starts out with no subscriber that continues to post even when nobody’s watching. It’s a testament to just being boring or consistent. I think it’s more consistent.

But that’s it. That’s what pays dividends is consistently investing in yourself every day doing the same thing and maybe doing it just a little bit better. So I love it. That makes me very happy that you put that effort into it and it’s still paying off. So tell us, fast forward to today, what are we doing today? How are you helping people in your local market but also

How are you helping other property managers or people that are in your field that want to level up?

Chris Lengquist (06:57.621)
So I’m 60 years old now. I’ve been doing this 25, 26 years, and I’m more excited about the future than I’ve ever been. Because here’s what I’ve come to understand.

Michael Stansbury (06:59.182)
60

Chris Lengquist (07:09.405)
While I may not be the most exciting teacher in the world, and I’m actually still teaching the same things I was teaching in 2006, but what I’m teaching, there is a constant new wave of people trying to figure out a way to secure their retirement worth having. There’s a new bunch of people that are looking at numbers and going, is that real or is that real? Who do I trust? Who do I believe in? And most of all,

Michael Stansbury (07:09.678)
While I may not be the most exciting team.

Michael Stansbury (07:16.686)
But what I’m teaching, there’s a constant new wave of people trying to figure out a way to secure their retirement worth having. There’s a new bunch of people that are looking at numbers and going, that real or is that real? Who do I trust? Who do I believe in? And most of all, the thing that I don’t want a real big push for right now is customer service. need to go to the client or customer, not just what’s good for your bottom dollar.

Chris Lengquist (07:34.929)
The thing that I want a real big push for right now is customer service for the good of the client or customer, not just what’s good for your bottom dollar. And that may sound hot pie in the sky or whatever, but here’s what I’ve learned over my life. If you serve people, you make all the money you want to make. Now you can do that through all the different ways of real estate investing or real estate sales. I hear a lot of creativeness on this podcast about how they get into investing because maybe they don’t have a lot of money to start with. For me, my ticket was the real estate license, right?

Michael Stansbury (07:43.562)
South Top, I had this guy or whatever, here’s what I’ve learned over my life. If you serve a…

Michael Stansbury (07:52.463)
investing or real estate sales. I hear a lot of creativeness on this podcast about how they get into investing because maybe they don’t have lot of money to start with. For me, my ticket was the real estate license, right? And that’s just how I chose to do it. But at the end of the day, what I’m working on now is all of this AI and all of these automations because I told my teams and the people I work with, we’re going to double or triple it down.

Chris Lengquist (08:04.663)
That’s just how I chose to do it. But at the end of the day, what I’m working on now is all of this AI and all of these automations, because I’ve told my teams and the people I work with, we’re going to double and triple down on this because I want to be on the front foot. But make no mistake, if I catch you hiding behind technology, you will go the way of the people who didn’t adapt the technology. The technology is so that we can get further in front of our people and we can answer their questions before they ask.

Michael Stansbury (08:30.35)
Yeah, so that’s a really good so that’s how you’re filtering it for you and your team is hey AI is gonna be great

Chris Lengquist (08:34.583)
And if they do happen to reach out to us, by gosh, we better be available for them because that’s the world we live in now.

Michael Stansbury (08:47.682)
But it’s not, it doesn’t cloak us in who we are as human beings. It’s like at the end of the day, you know, the reason why we’re here and helping all these people is because they trust us, not in a bot. So I love that. And I love the fact that, you know, I think your qualifier is, I’m 60 years old, sir, you’re still young. You got a lot of time. I love that you’re excited about like, hey, you know, the next 10, 15, 20 years, specifically in real estate, because I like you.

I think that the one thing that I see and this is probably a common thread through a lot of entrepreneurs is just the optimism that we wake up with every day even if it doesn’t matter what vehicle that we’re in. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re a business owner and you’ve succeeded or you’ve been through a valley and come out of it and learn something and are keeping in that direction, I think you wake up with some optimism and there’s no excuse for people not to be.

we’ll have a level of optimism, especially with what’s coming down the pipe in the world of technology.

Chris Lengquist (09:53.309)
I love what Gary Keller said one time. He said, there may be a recession, but you don’t have to participate. that’s just, you know, I’ve been, this is my third recession because make no mistake, we are going to real estate recession as far as units go. And maybe we’re starting to come out of it. There’s some indicators that are starting to show that. But when you’ve been down 30 % sales for two and a half to three years, that’s why a lot of people are hurting right now in this business.

Michael Stansbury (10:16.501)
That’s my monopetor.

Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. I think the one thing that colors this industry so much is if you got in in 2021, 2022, you haven’t been through cycles. And so you don’t know the pain now, but you don’t know the pain in context. And the pain in context is, you know, did you read?

read through what happened in 2008, what happened in 1999 and 2000 and those things. What happened in 1981? And so we always lose that, especially the younger folks that come in this business. We as, I guess, the old guard need to help show them like, hey, this is part of the cyclical nature sometimes. You just gotta be better at what you do and endure it.

Chris Lengquist (10:58.952)
Absolutely.

Michael Stansbury (11:09.024)
and then have that same mantra that Gary talked about. I love Gary. Gary is somebody that just is, I love anything that’s going on in the world. He just has this other kind of view and you gotta really think about how he articulates it, but you don’t have to participate in a recession if you don’t want to. But most people do.

Chris Lengquist (11:29.587)
I made more money in the Great Recession than I had ever made in my life. I was disappointed when it started coming around. I started getting worried.

Michael Stansbury (11:38.037)
As somebody who buys distressed houses for a living, that’s what I do, is like, I don’t like when people are in distress, but I do like helping them solve problems. when there’s more problems to solve, I certainly do a lot more winning. So I understand the sentiment there. But tell me specifically, Chris, like tell me who you’re, you know, what are you, who are you coaching now? Who’s your avatar for somebody that maybe you.

mentor, coach, if you have a mastermind group tell us a little bit about that.

Chris Lengquist (12:10.793)
Well, so my latest venture is about six weeks ago, we started ramping up a YouTube page. So I’m just taking all those years of writing and putting them on video now. That’s at AdS or Realty. You can find it on there. The…

But who I’m mentoring is I work with property managers who are trying to figure out how to create a profitable property management company. And if you watch some of the investor websites out there, there’s people who love property management, people who really don’t like property management. I think one of the… Property management is an important piece of the puzzle. Whether you’re managing your own or managing somebody else’s, the crimp in the hourglass is always maintenance, right? But I think how people view what the asset

Michael Stansbury (12:32.896)
some of the investor websites.

Michael Stansbury (12:41.39)
Property management is an important piece of the puzzle. Whether you’re managing your own or managing somebody else’s, the crimp in the hourglass is always maintenance, right? But I think how people view what the asset is and what the tenants deserve from that asset really creates either a partnership or a conflict between property managers and the property owners.

Chris Lengquist (12:54.543)
is and what the tenants deserve from that asset really creates either a partnership or a conflict between property managers and property owners.

One of the things I do is I spend a great deal of time teaching property managers how to fire certain real estate investors. And, or, you know, because real estate investors can be right when they say, all the property manager does is collect rent, charge their thing, and they don’t do anything else. Okay, well, then you should fire them. But property managers should also fire investors who only want the return and won’t reinvest in the house. Like, it’s not my fault if I keep recommending painting and then eight years later you think you should have

Michael Stansbury (13:10.19)
But a great deal of time teaching property managers how to fire certain real estate investors. And, or, you know, because real estate investors can be right when they say, all the property manager does is collect rent, charge their thing, and they don’t do anything else, okay? Well, then you should fire them.

The property managers could also fire investors who only want their return and won’t reinvest in the house. It’s not my fault. I keep recommending it you, and eight years later you think you should have the same rent as everybody else in the neighborhood.

Chris Lengquist (13:38.765)
the same rents as everybody else in the neighborhood and that your eight-year-old carpet, your eight-year-old paint, your eight-year-old lawn, your eight, all this kind of stuff and then you want the same thing. We’re not seeing eye to eye and we have it for some time so it’s time for you to go. Maybe I’m oversimplifying that but it’s got to be a partnership and there’s plenty of ways to provide great housing for people to make a lot of money as a property manager and to make a lot of money as an investor and that’s

Michael Stansbury (13:47.951)
test up and then you want the same thing. We’re not seeing eye to eye. We have it for some time, so it’s time for you to go. Maybe I’m oversimplifying that, but it’s gotta be a partnership. And there’s plenty of ways to provide great housing for people to make a lot of money as a property manager and to make a lot of money as an investor. That’s, that may be that dream.

Chris Lengquist (14:08.668)
That may be that dream and dream, you know, what’s called Rome or the city, you know, the light on the top of the hill. But that’s what we’re working towards every single day.

Michael Stansbury (14:11.278)
So just to recap, you’re trying to create a culture between real estate investor and property manager where it’s more of a, I want to hear how you’re investing in real estate, what you’ve done in the past, but let me educate you on how the best manage this property going forward and what that entails from here.

maybe three to five years down the road. you like that old Stephen Covey line, are you beginning with the end in mind with a relationship? Yeah.

Chris Lengquist (14:47.637)
One of my favorite questions to ask people is, how is saving that money costing you more? Because oftentimes it is.

Michael Stansbury (14:50.84)
How is it?

Chris Lengquist (14:55.473)
If a tenant comes in, a prospective tenant comes in and sees that you don’t care about the property, why are they going to care about the property? And if the really good tenant sees that and says, I don’t want to live here. So it’s costing you money by not investing in your asset. That asset is appreciating 6, 8, 12 % over the last five years. Spend some money on it to keep it fresh.

Michael Stansbury (14:56.558)
out of respect to that content.

Michael Stansbury (15:04.142)
Right. I love it. And I think that the whole housing industry, if we had that type of mantra between property manager and real estate investor, I think we would, you know, the products, the product, the actual house would be better and the tenants.

So, you know, one of the things I can already kind of tell without even asking is that the quality of property obviously attracts the quality of tenant. I think the thing that, and I’ll ask you this question, compare a tenant application 10 years ago to what you can do now.

Chris Lengquist (15:55.093)
Yeah, tenants are under a lot of stress right now. And we manage at almost every price point.

And I don’t believe that the lowest price points have to be in the same condition as the highest price points, but it’s got to be at least as good or better than everything that’s around it. But the tenants today are under more financial stress. What is it? 40 % of the country has medical debt on their application. It’s crazy. And there’s just been so many more increases in their world. So…

Michael Stansbury (16:04.894)
price points have to be in the same condition as the highest price points but it’s got to be at least as good or better than everything that’s around it. But the tenants today are under more financial stress. is it? 40 % of the country has medical debt on their application and it’s crazy. And there’s just been so many more increases in their world.

Chris Lengquist (16:27.987)
My fiduciary duty is to the owners, but my customers are the tenants. the more we can work with tenants, the better off we can be. But there’s more fraud in tenancy right now. People will apply and they’ll get turned down and then they’ll challenge it on their credit card. And then I get billed back for telling them that they didn’t qualify for the home. Then they say it’s fraud. I just think that there’s a lot more desperation out there than there used to be 10 years ago.

Michael Stansbury (16:28.206)
My fiduciary duty is to be the owners, but my customers are the tenants. the more we can work with tenants, the better off we can be. But there’s more fraud in tenancy right now.

Chris Lengquist (16:57.215)
fake references and everything. So protect yourself as best you can.

Michael Stansbury (16:57.386)
Yes, yep Yeah, we’re seeing the same things and on my market my market is Memphis by the way and

I do have a bone to pick with you about your name about barbecue that you had earlier. But we won’t go into Kansas City versus Memphis. That’s a good descriptor. I’ll take that. Across the board, I talk to people in our market all the time and they’re dealing with the most innovative.

Chris Lengquist (17:13.769)
We’re the Comstock noble of barbecue men.

Michael Stansbury (17:29.422)
tenant applications they’ve ever seen, even with all the technology that they have. I have a guy in my market that is a great property manager and he just told me about like, dude, I got burnt. Like I actually can’t believe that I got one pulled over on me. I thought I knew all the tricks. I didn’t. And so it is pretty wild. It’s just very, very different out there. So Chris, let me ask you this. Where can people find out more about you about

your blog, your YouTube channel, kind of speak to that for a minute if somebody wants to get in touch with you. Hey, I’m in property management, I’m struggling, I may need a coach, where can they find you at?

Chris Lengquist (18:07.241)
Well, I’m at AdAstraReality.com, A-D-A-S-T-R-A, realty.com. And if you go to YouTube, you can find it by just at AdAstraReality.com. And those are basically the two best sources to reach me. I’ve got other websites out there. I’ve got other ventures out there, but they all lead back to there. They all lead back to that email. And…

Again, I know it sounds pie in the sky, but I’ve had mentors like Phil and Jeff in my life and they poured into me and I never sent a single nickel their way.

Michael Stansbury (18:31.948)
sounds pie in the sky but I’ve had mentors like Phil and

Michael Stansbury (18:45.038)
My money’s fine, I mean I’m not flying around on private G2s or anything along those lines, but I’m at a stage in my life where not only do I want to run the best property management this week that we’re capable of running, but I also want to make sure that other people have the same pathway forward to their G2s based on the experience I’ve gained. And if it’s not for you, that’s great. There are a lot smarter people than me out there. I’m just a college dropout that read a few books, listened to a few people, and then just did the work.

Chris Lengquist (18:45.737)
My money’s fine. mean, I’m not flying around on private G2s or anything along those lines, but I’m at a stage in my life where not only do I want to run the best property management that we’re capable of running, but I also want to make sure that other people have the same pathway forward should they choose to do so. Based on the experience I’ve gained, and if it’s not for you, that’s great. There are a lot smarter people than me out there. I’m just a college dropout that read a few books and listened to a few people and then just did the work.

Michael Stansbury (19:15.086)
So, but I’m just offering the experience from where I came from. Well folks, that is some great stuff from Chris Lingwist out of Kansas City. Thank you Chris for being on the Real Estate Pros Podcast. Folks, all the information that Chris talked about will be in the show notes below, so feel free to go over there, go to his stuff and reach out to him if you feel like, hey, I’d love to be coach, mentor, and consume some of his content. Folks, thanks again for being and watching the Real Estate Pros Podcast. Chris, any final words, sir?

Chris Lengquist (19:15.671)
But I’m just offering the experience that from where I came from.

Chris Lengquist (19:45.173)
I would just say thank you for the work you’re doing. I discovered you guys, I love listening to the different perspectives out there and sometimes they make me think, oh yeah, maybe I could, so keep up the good work.

Michael Stansbury (19:48.853)
I love listening

Michael Stansbury (19:56.865)
Alright, thank you Chris. Folks, thanks again for watching the Real Estate Pros Podcast. See you next time.

Chris Lengquist (20:01.887)
Thank you.