How Nick Landis Built a $2.1M House After Firing His GC

Nick Landis (00:00)
I called my lender and I said, I just fired my GC and the lender.

Kind of paused and goes, you fired your, your builder. goes, didn’t you tell me you’ve never built a house before? And they’re like, yeah, that’s true. And he goes, so what’s your plan? I said, honestly, I think I can do this. I’ve the only thing that I’ve not done before is pouring a foundation. Cause I’ve reframed houses. I’ve moved walls. I’ve done all of that stuff. Come to find out it’s way more difficult than just pouring foundation. It pushed me to the literal brink of the edge of

Ky finances to the edge of my sanity. To give you some type of an idea, we, the original construction budget for the house was 525,000. I was gonna build as nice a house I could for as inexpensive as I could and just get my feet wet and get out. And July, August, September, 2020, right about 50 % of the way done, the market is really shifting in my zip code towards high-end luxury. Like a very hard shift towards high-end luxury.

And stuff is going for three, four, 500,000 over asking price. And so we made a conscious decision to take a risk. And I in mid project, I switched it and decided to go super high end. And I had to cover all of the overage out of my personal account because the bank had only underwritten the loan for two 525,000 construction budget. wound up spending over $800,000 on the construction budget and

All of that money came out of my pocket. And it’s not like I had deep pockets at the time. I was just really doing well in my real estate business, sold almost $9 million that year and essentially lived on nothing for my personal and just put everything into the business. Anyway, long story short, we get under contract on this house. I put it on the market for 1.7 million and it would have been profitable at that price. And that was the top of the comp range when I listed it.

And we got five offers in five days and I sold to an all cash buyer for 2.1 million.

Erika (03:20)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Nick Landis. Nick, it’s so awesome to have you on the show today.

Nick Landis (03:31)
Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

Erika (03:32)
So let’s dive in Nick, for those who aren’t familiar with your role, give us the rundown. How did you get started in real estate and investing?

Nick Landis (03:40)
It’s a long story that I will do my best to keep short for your audience so I don’t bore anyone. I’m a third generation agent and I came to the business begrudgingly actually because I think in real estate there’s two sides of the business. There’s a sexy side which is showing houses and doing cool property tours and stuff like that and then there’s an actual J-O-B side that is what I saw growing up.

So I came to the business begrudgingly, but I did see the power of investing from my parents and from my grandparents. So I wanted to get involved in real estate investing. I bought my first house and did sort of a live in flip. And when we sold it, we made some good money. And I thought, okay, so let me get my license so I can represent myself in these transactions. So I got my license in 2015 and…

just started doing building and flipping basically at the same time. And in the last seven, eight years, I’ve done over two dozen flips and I’ve done seven builds from the ground up. So I feel like I have a really diverse set of experiences in the business. I’ve done real estate transactions, buy, sell, invest. I’ve built from the ground up. I’ve done land flips. I’ve done property flips.

Erika (05:37)
Wow, that’s a variety of things that you’ve done. Were there any rookie mistakes or big wins that shaped your approach early on?

Nick Landis (05:44)
⁓ definitely. Definitely. I think any real estate investor can probably relate. I’ve made tons of mistakes. like first perfect example, the first property that I bought in an LLC and was like, formed an LLC, I’m going to do this as a business. The first property that I bought was too big of a house. I bought it too far out of town. It was in a suburb called Elgin and I lived in Austin. So too big, too far out of town. I over-improved it.

And I just made all the mistakes, all of them. but you know, they, I learned from them. didn’t repeat any of those mistakes ever again. And to me, I think that’s part of this business. You’ve got to be really diligent about how you buy an asset because this is going to confuse some people and it confused me for years. So if this confuses you, you’re not alone, but

You really don’t make money when you sell something. You make it when you buy something. Because if you buy the asset at the right numbers, the exit always makes sense. But if you overpay, whether that’s because of the market being weird, like in 2021 and everything was elevated, or you didn’t get as good a deal as you should have gotten, or you made an emotional purchase, or if you overpay, then the exit’s not gonna make sense. But if you buy correctly, that’s where you make money.

So I learned that in spades.

Erika (07:03)
Yeah, yeah, and I know that you focus a lot on single family and like small multi-family. What’s drawn you to that niche specifically?

Nick Landis (07:12)
I think it’s relatable. was something that, you know, I would love to get into commercial someday because I think it’s really challenging in a really interesting and very diverse space. But it’s relatable for me because I wanted to own my own home as early as possible. That was always a dream of mine. flipping, you know, doing a couple, the first flip, the first live in flip was really kind of by accident, bought a house, fix it up the way we wanted it. And then when we sold it,

We were like, wow, this was profitable, like far more profitable than we expected it would be. So I just kind of fell into it.

Erika (07:44)
Yeah, that’s great, Nick. And within the single-family, small-multi-family group, are there any unique challenges or opportunities that you’re seeing with the market?

Nick Landis (07:56)
Yeah, so I think the challenges right now are definitely going to be market uncertainty. A lot of building materials come from other countries and I think it’s going to be really difficult for builders to, builders have really had a one, two punch over the last couple of years trying to number. So really over the last five years, if we look back, it’s been a really fascinatingly interesting time that I don’t think has another comparison in modern history to what the

what the industry is facing. You had an enormous change during COVID and supply chain issues, extreme price swings, the supply chain was the big one and then also labor shortages. So then you had that and then you had a whole bunch of builders getting into the business because 2020, 2021 were super profitable. And then 2022 interest rates started going up in March, which slipped the entire game on its head.

especially in cities like Austin, we were zooming during COVID. So the harder and faster you go up, the harder and faster you fall. So that’s been really devastating in our market here. And now with the current market and the current uncertainties, I think that’s, it’s like the third punch in a row. So COVID was bad, then the recovery from COVID is bad. And now with tariffs and prices that are going to go up super,

that have the ability to go up super quickly and relatively high. 25 % tariff is a big deal. Lots of builders, in fact, most builders build with margin that’s way less than 25%. And then when you layer on top of that, the potential for labor shortages and difficulties finding people for these jobs, because the industry does rely a lot on immigrant labor, it’s gonna, the future is very uncertain for a lot of builders. I think you’re gonna see a lot of builders go out of business in the next couple of years.

Erika (09:41)
That’s really interesting. For you, Nick, are there specific strategies or tools that you’re using to stay ahead of all of us?

Nick Landis (10:23)
You know, this is gonna sound so cliche, I apologize in advance, but AI has really changed the game. As I’m going back through my business, I got a little fractured with trying to serve too many masters during COVID because real estate business was doing really well. You know, my business has been referral only since 2017 and 2021 was an incredibly good time in my business.

but also my investment side was doing really well during COVID too. So I got a little bit fractured and was so busy and was still trying to build a team to help me scale that I didn’t spend enough time on process and building automation into my business. So that is what I am majorly focused on right now is rebuilding this from the ground up and focusing on AI and automation and making things easier for me.

easier for members of my team and easier for my clients.

Erika (11:18)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Nick, I’m sure you know how this goes. Every seasoned investor or agent has a story where a deal didn’t go as planned or a moment that tested their grit. Nick, do you have one of those moments and ⁓ how did you handle it?

Nick Landis (11:34)
Absolutely. I will tell you, I’ve had many of them, many, dozens probably. I will tell you my personal favorite because it was, it pushed me to the literal brink. My very first new build project that I ever constructed from the ground up, we bought the lot in March of 2020. And ⁓ actually we closed on it in February. And then obviously the whole world changed in March and it was…

My first new build ever. And I had hired a general contractor to do the project for me. And I was basically going to learn via him. I was going to watch how he handled the project and he was getting paid a nominal amount of money to basically teach me how to do this, this business, how to build a house. Cause I had done many, many flips, dozens of flips, but a new build is a different, is a totally different animal. And, ⁓

Because of COVID and because of the supply chain issues and labor shortages and everything that was a result of that market shift, he really was not able to dedicate as much time to my project. And I’m being very politically correct when I say that. He basically abandoned me. So I had to fire him, which as a 26 year old who’s taking a huge, actually that’s not even accurate. I got my license when I was 26. I was 30 by that point.

So as a 30 year old who’s taking this massive swing at something he’s never done before and a huge financial risk, I had to fire the guy who was basically the guarantee to get me across the finish line.

I called my lender and I said, I just fired my GC and the lender.

kind of paused and goes, you fired your, your builder. goes, didn’t you tell me you’ve never built a house before? And they’re like, yeah, that’s true. And he goes, so what’s your plan? I said, honestly, I think I can do this. I’ve the only thing that I’ve not done before is pouring a foundation. Cause I’ve reframed houses. I’ve moved walls. I’ve done all of that stuff. Come to find out it’s way more difficult than just pouring foundation. It pushed me to the literal brink of the edge of

my finances to the edge of my sanity. To give you some type of an idea, we,

the original construction budget for the house was 525,000. I was gonna build as nice a house I could for as inexpensive as I could and just get my feet wet and get out. And July, August, September, 2020, right about 50 % of the way done, the market is really shifting in my zip code towards high-end luxury. Like a very hard shift towards high-end luxury.

And stuff is going for three, four, 500,000 over asking price. And so we made a conscious decision to take a risk. And I in mid project, I switched it and decided to go super high end. And I had to cover all of the overage out of my personal account because the bank had only underwritten the loan for two 525,000 construction budget. wound up spending over $800,000 on the construction budget and

All of that money came out of my pocket. And it’s not like I had deep pockets at the time. I was just really doing well in my real estate business, sold almost $9 million that year and essentially lived on nothing for my personal and just put everything into the business. Anyway, long story short, we get under contract on this house. I put it on the market for 1.7 million and it would have been profitable at that price. And that was the top of the comp range when I listed it.

And we got five offers in five days and I sold to an all cash buyer for 2.1 million.

So $400,000 over the asking price. And when I tell you that it was the hardest thing that’s ever happened to me, we went under contract in May, the house didn’t close until July 21st. At this point, my mortgage payment is 16 grand a month that I’m covering personally.

Um, I had to pay an extension fee because we went past the original 12 month bill date. Uh, we wound up being at like 15 months, which for custom 2,800 square foot house on my first go was still really good, but we went over the original loan period. So that cost me another $50,000. Um, so when it closed, I had $8,000 to my name. I wouldn’t have been able to make any, it closed July 21st of 2021 or 22nd.

And I would not have been able to make any of my payments on anything August 1st. So I was eight days away from missing everything. And it was the coolest, it was just the coolest, hardest, most wild ride.

Erika (16:44)
Wow, you’re not kidding. What for you was probably the biggest takeaway going through that?

Nick Landis (16:49)
That you can do anything you put your mind to. That you can do absolutely anything you can put your mind to, because I never, I never, not even once, and I’m not sitting here saying I’m some amazing guru who never self-doubts. That happens too. But I never self-doubted that I could get this project done. Never. There was never an ounce of self-doubt. I knew when I fired the general contractor that I was gonna make it work.

Erika (17:12)
think I have heard a story quite like that. Yeah.

Nick Landis (17:12)
Failure wasn’t an option. Failure was.

I’ve got so many stories like that. The first deal from my real estate career is also gobsmackingly cool like that. I just have, I’ve done a lot of really interesting transactions.

Erika (17:27)
Yeah, yeah. I do want to pivot and talk a little bit about community within real estate and investing, Nick. What would you say for you has been some of the biggest game changers in terms of building relationships in this industry?

Nick Landis (17:35)
Definitely.

Yeah, I think the biggest one is treating people on the other side of the transaction like your friend. Um, and you know, a lot of people will look at that and say, well, my job is to be a fiduciary to my client and get them the best deal that I can. And I think some people think that means beating the other agent on the other side of the deal over the head. And if you want to be an agent for any period of tenure that

is not going to be a good strategy long term. You may help one or two clients win, but you’re going to help every successive client after that lose because you’re going to get a reputation in the industry for being the agent that does fill in the blank. And I’d never wanted to be that person. and again, I want to make sure that I say, I have not been perfect in every transaction. I’m a human being. I’m not perfect, but I try to follow

the platinum rule, which is I try to teach, I try to treat people the way that they want to be treated. Because I know that I want to be in this business for two, three more decades and that I want to have a reputation when somebody sees my name on the other end of a contract, they have an expectation of what type of professionalism is going to be present through the transaction.

Erika (18:57)
Yeah, absolutely. That makes so much sense. Nick, what do you see next on the horizon for you when it comes to real estate and investing?

Nick Landis (19:06)
You know, I, um, little bit of a vulnerable moment here. I lost a lot of, um, property in the last couple of years. I was building four houses and flipping a downtown condo about $6 million in property that I gave back to the bank in 2024. Um, it just became unsustainable. I bought a lot of that property. when that garden villa house that I mentioned sold, it was

⁓ 900 Garden Villa Court. That house sold for 2.1 million and then I took a ton of money away from that transaction, made a lot of money, far more than I expected. And because, and it was a one-off because we got $400,000 more than the asking price. And that was only because of COVID. So, but I never took a paycheck from my business up to that point. And for at least a year or two after, never really took a paycheck.

I put all of my money back into my business. So,

I want to, I was really involved at a really intimate level with everything that I did. You could call me a control freak. That would be, that would be accurate. But I think the lesson that I’ve learned from the last couple of years and the lesson that I learned giving away six, giving $6 million worth of houses back to the bank was really tough because a lot of time and energy.

You know, I had $35,000 worth of mortgage payments for over 18 months that were into those properties, plus down payment money, plus I had a team of five at my peak, helping me with flips and builds. I lost a ton of money. And I think it’s because I was too involved and didn’t delegate enough. Because if I had been out there getting bigger business, if I had been out there finding another custom build or another flip to buy, instead of getting bogged down in the day-to-day details, I would have made more money.

and I would not have been in a situation that I was in. So this painful experience over the last couple of years with giving all this back and kind of having to start from the ground up has been actually a huge blessing in disguise because it’s changed the entire way that I want to attack owning a business, running a business. And that is, I know I’m going to have to work really hard and lots of hours for the first couple of years, but I’m

going to build it intentionally so that all these processes are in place where I can hand it off to somebody else. And then it just becomes about replication because it works in any business. So my eventual goal is I wanna own a percentage of a hundred companies instead of a hundred percent of one company. And what I mean by that is I wanna do a vertically integrated real estate company. I wanna own…

a percentage of a business in every step of the building process so that I can offer a bespoke experience to my clients. Like, hey, I own a percentage of this business. The way that it operates is based on how I operate. So you’re gonna have a good communication experience. You’re going to have guarantees that certain deadlines will be made. Otherwise, there’s gonna be financial.

Like I just want to own 100 % of the process, but I want to own only like 10 to 15%. So what I’m focused on is finding those trades that want to build a business with me, like an HVAC company that’s willing to give me 10 % of their business if I help them grow it and show them how these processes and procedures can make them more profitable. And I want to be vertically integrated so that every step of the process is a company that we own.

So there’s no difficulty with people showing up or liens or any of this kind of stuff because it’s all me. So that’s where I’m going. And I wanna be a better business owner. I was a really good…

builder and flipper, but I was not such a great business owner because I was, I was doing things that were out of what I’m really good at is big picture and macro. So I need to hire people that are better than me at the micro so that I can leverage my time and my assets as much as possible. And that’s what I’m focused on.

Erika (23:05)
Yeah, yeah, that that’s exciting, Nick. Before we let you go, if someone listening today wants to connect with you, maybe collaborate, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Nick Landis (23:15)
Yeah, so I’m on Instagram, Kronos, which is spelled like the Greek God. So K-R-O-N-O-S Kronos Realty Group. I’m on Facebook as Nicholas Landis, or you can text me or call me at 512-788-6991.

Erika (23:32)
Thanks so much for dropping all your knowledge today, sharing your story and your journey. I’m still just thinking about that first deal. mean, with all the determination and grit that you had with that man, just like with what you’re talking about for like the future, I’m excited for you.

Nick Landis (23:49)
Thank you so much. Yeah, that deal was trial by fire. It was good. Showed me what I was capable of.

Erika (23:54)
Yeah, absolutely. For everyone tuning in, if you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more conversations coming up with heavy hitters like Nick, who are building incredible real estate businesses. We’ll see you on the next episode.