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Show Summary
In this episode of the Investor Fuel Podcast, host Leo Wehdeking speaks with Matt Iverson, a seasoned real estate professional with over 15 years of experience. Matt shares insights into his focus on multifamily real estate, the importance of building relationships, and navigating market challenges. He emphasizes the significance of problem-solving in real estate and discusses his approach to scaling his business while maintaining a disciplined strategy. The conversation also highlights the power of networking and transparency in investor relations, providing valuable lessons for both new and experienced investors.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Matt Iverson (00:00)
Our last acquisition,right about the time that the interest rates were starting to had just finished ticking up.
a lot of our investors started pulling back on that deal and weren’t sure if they wanted to invest.
We just had to lean in and show them that we actually were de-risking the deal
luckily all the investors came through at the end. We got a great deal and everyone’s getting their monthly checks.
real estate is really just a game of problem solving. And that’s what you have to be good at.
Leo Wehdeking (00:22)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Leo Wehdeking, and today I am joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with, Matt Iverson, ⁓ who’s been making serious moves in the real estate industry. ⁓ Matt, glad to have you here, man.
Matt Iverson (02:16)
Leo, I’m excited to be here. Appreciate you inviting me on.Leo Wehdeking (02:19)
Thank you, thank you, excellent. Matt, I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’ve been approaching the real estate business nowadays. So let’s dive in, all right? And for people who may not be familiar with your world, all right? Can you give us a short version on what’s your main focus these days?Matt Iverson (02:30)
You bet.You bet. Well, my main focus right now is actually buying multifamily real estate. I’ve been in the real estate industry literally my entire life. I grew up in it. grew
family outings were usually spent walking construction jobs. ⁓ would, in our family, we used to joke that we’d come home from college and have to call in advance and ask my parents where they were living, because we would constantly buy and sell and fix and flip and develop new homes.
So, but right now we’re focusing on buying multifamily assets in a couple of key markets and in growing our portfolio doing that.
Leo Wehdeking (03:17)
That’s good. And what markets are you operating in right now?Matt Iverson (03:23)
So we’re predominantly operating in Phoenix. ⁓ I think there’s a lot of growth there. Anytime you look at real estate, you look at population growth, you look at income growth, you look at job opportunities. And Phoenix is one of those markets that has floated to the top for all those. ⁓ Right now, we are looking for opportunities. There’s a lot of distress in the business. think a lot of people are.shying away from it because of distress, we’re kind of leaning in on it and ⁓ trying to find some of those deals. But Phoenix is a great market. I do have lot of contacts in Dallas as well, so we’re looking there. I live in Colorado, so we’re looking there as well. So just nice little triangle.
Leo Wehdeking (03:59)
All right, love it, love it man. Loveit. Matt, something that really caught my attention ⁓ about you is the way that you’ve been able to create your business, your portfolio. Can you be a little bit more specific on how you’ve been successful in having more than 3 billion transactions across
Matt Iverson (04:21)
You bet.Leo Wehdeking (04:28)
I don’t know how many years did it take you to do that over 15 years? All right.Matt Iverson (04:30)
Over 15 years. Yeah.Yeah. So, ⁓ mean, we’ve always been a of a grassroots company. don’t, we really, ⁓ people laugh. I’ve never been on Facebook. I’ve never been on social media. I’ve really never done a lot of that. a lot of our business is built off of referrals and repeat.
So we’re high customer service. We pride ourselves on being highly knowledgeable, especially in the brokerage side. People trust us, period.
been in the business, we’ve been in the industry for decades, literally decades. My family’s done it. I’m partners with my brother and my mom now.
⁓ And so we’ve really built our business based on a couple of principles is customer service, being really knowledgeable and understanding what people need. I’m taking all those skills into the multifamily as well. And so we’re working with lot of our client database to start buying ⁓ more commercial assets that, yeah, exactly. So, yeah.
Leo Wehdeking (06:14)
more commercial assets. Alright, alright. Now,are you looking to buy commercial assets ⁓ only in Arizona where you are right now or you can work around the country?
Matt Iverson (06:27)
I can work around the country. I am a boots on the ground real estate guy. That’s all I do. I’m real estate guy through and through. I do, I’m very much boots on the ground. So I try to stay in markets where I can get to relativelyCause anytime I look at a project, I have to walk it. I have to see the neighborhood. I try to get the feel of what’s going on around the project as much as anything. So.
Leo Wehdeking (06:52)
Yeah, exactly.And Matt, can you share with us what’s been the key to keep that machine running smoothly for over 15 years?
Matt Iverson (07:05)
Yeah, it’s relationships. ⁓ People trust you. You have to build relationships. It has to start right there. ⁓ And when people trust you and you do a good job, you tend to get referrals. ⁓ You know, our client database is pretty robust and we, I mean, we get, I’d say half a dozen referrals from past clients weekly ⁓ asking for help and looking to invest as well as looking to buy property in our markets.So really it’s all real estate or relationship based.
Leo Wehdeking (07:32)
All right, so.Yeah, actually, I believe that relationships are everything. Not only in the real estate ⁓ area, but in any area of your life. You need to have good relationships for whatever you need. Now, Matt, I know that every operator has a moment where things got real. Okay, maybe a deal that went sideways or a time that you had to pivot real fast. Do you mind sharing?
Matt Iverson (08:06)
Mm-hmm.Leo Wehdeking (08:07)
one of those moments.Matt Iverson (08:09)
Yeah, well, mean, solast acquisition, ~ we were making that acquisition actually right about the time that the interest rates were starting to had just finished ticking up. And so there was a lot of uncertainty in the market. And a lot of our investors started pulling back on that deal and weren’t sure if they wanted to invest. ~ were scared about what’s going to come down the pike. And so we, myself and the team I worked with, again, that team was all based off of relationships. ⁓
and we just had to lean in and show them that we actually were de-risking the deal even in spite of all the hikes in interest rates. And luckily all the investors came through at the end. We got a great deal and everyone’s getting their monthly checks.
Leo Wehdeking (08:52)
Wow, wow, that was pretty good, man, that you were able to do that, you know, to overcome that situation. Actually, a lot of people, don’t like to talk about that kind of stuff enough. ⁓ And honestly, for me, that’s what separates the folks who just dabble from the ones who stay in the game the long term. All right. Now, let me…Matt Iverson (09:03)
Mm-hmm.Yep. Yeah. And I would
even say based on that, sorry, I’ll finish the thought. ⁓ So I’d say real estate is really just a game of problem solving. And that’s what you have to be good at.
Leo Wehdeking (09:18)
No, no, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. You’re finished.correct.
Matt Iverson (09:26)
have to just see it because you can’t predict everything and you have to be good at solvingthat’s what we’ve been good at in the brokerage side is what we’re good at when we do investments and we go in and we solve problems and we make them successful.
Leo Wehdeking (09:39)
Yeah, and look, most of these problems, they come up as you go. Am I right? So you need to be fast and quick to solve them while you go. Because there’s no time to look back, only to go further. It’s not about staying in a placeMatt Iverson (09:46)
Yep. Yep.Yep.
Yep, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
Leo Wehdeking (10:35)
to fix a problem. For an example, I remember a friend of mine, he does fix and flip.Matt Iverson (10:37)
Yep.Mm-hmm.
Leo Wehdeking (10:43)
and he got into this property he bought it for a really good price but as soon as he started fixing it a lot of issues came in he needed to you know to to remodel a lot of things that he he didn’t have in mind so instead of trying to solve the problem what he did was okay i’m gonnaMatt Iverson (10:56)
Yep.Leo Wehdeking (11:09)
I’m not going to care about expenses, I’ll deal with that later. I just want to finish this house. No matter what it costs me, want to see it finished. And once he finished it, he was lucky enough to have two clients already retired looking for a single floor home.Matt Iverson (11:14)
Yeah.Yep.
Yep.
Sure. huh.
Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Yep.
Leo Wehdeking (11:36)
You know, which which was the one that he was remodeling and actuallythey started like making ⁓ Bits among the two among the two of them. So he ended up having ⁓ He invested a lot of money in the house in the property, but he ended up You know like making money out of it. So it was actually Yeah, it was yeah it was because because of the word of mouth
Matt Iverson (11:45)
Yep. Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. It was based off his relationships, right? He was able to go back to his relationships. Yep, exactly. Yep.
Leo Wehdeking (12:06)
It was becauseMatt Iverson (12:06)
Yep.Leo Wehdeking (12:06)
of that. Now let me ask you something. ⁓ What are you most focused on today? On solving or scaling?Matt Iverson (12:17)
So right now I’m scaling. we’ve had a handful of acquisitions over the last 18 months and they’ve been successful. We’ve really learned a lot through them. And my investor database has been pretty excited. And so right now we’re looking to scale. So we’re looking for more investors. We’re looking for partners. We’re looking for properties more than anything. So we’re really excited to scale. We’re a pretty disciplined company when it comes to scaling. It’s not a volume game for us.one really, really great deal than 12 average deals in a year. So we’re pretty staunch in our underwriting. We’re really location strict. ⁓ again, I’ve been in the real estate business my whole life. And a bad location doesn’t solve anything. A bad house in a great location, you can make it work. A great house in a bad location, it’s still a bad deal.
Leo Wehdeking (13:01)
Yeah.You can make it work exactly. It’s still a thing. Correct.
Yeah.
Matt Iverson (13:14)
Yep. Yeah. And same goes for multifamily. It’s having grown up in the real estate brokerage. You learn the dynamics of housing and it’s the same mindset when you go into buying multifamily. you’re offering…a place for somebody to call home. And that’s what we do as brokers. We’re trying to help people find a home. Well, if we own apartments, we’re offering someone a place to call home. they want to have to live there, it has to be safe, it has to be well maintained, it has to be taken care of, have to have great amenities. And typically happy tenants are happy investors. So.
Leo Wehdeking (13:39)
Exactly.Correct, correct man. Hey, that’s
actually great. And especially when you already got all that experience in place. More than 15 years with a bunch of deals done. You know, that’s very good. Now, I know that a lot of people listening are earlier in their game ⁓ or they’re pretty much trying to level up, you know, with everything that is going on with the market. And I think they will benefit from hearing this. ⁓
Matt Iverson (13:58)
Mm-hmm.Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Leo Wehdeking (14:20)
Now I know that you said it earlier, but not in this particular scenario. When it comes about building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?Matt Iverson (14:26)
Yep.Mm-hmm. Yeah.
So the biggest difference, and I’ll tell this to anybody, I tell it my kids all the time, is you have to talk to people. There’s this saying that you should learn from mistakes, they just don’t always have to be your own. ⁓
Leo Wehdeking (14:43)
Correct.Matt Iverson (14:49)
And so you have to talk to people. So when I was launching this, I spent a lot of time talking to my clientele and they’re all very, very successful business men and women. And so I would ask them,know, how does this work? What do you know, what should I do here? What am I looking for as I’m moving in? And lot of those same people became investors because they saw that I was, I was proactively learning and that’s what they were interested in. They, they, they want to see somebody who’s actually learning and growing.
⁓ If you’re new in it, partnering with people is a big deal. I did that my first three deals. partnered with a couple operators that had significantly more experience than I did and just built my portfolio up with them a little bit. And then my investors like that. They’re like, hey, we like that you’re partnering with people. ⁓ so it’s, ⁓ you know, working with someone with a lot of experience is a good way to get started. Don’t don’t real estate is too risky, too big, too much going on to try to just
Bootstrap it and do it on your own you can some people have but I you know if you could work work with somebody else It’s a good thing. I you know, I’d rather be successful with a 20 % share then lose a hundred percent of something so
Leo Wehdeking (16:28)
Yeah.Exactly, exactly. Yeah, there’s an old proverb that it says the highway or the path it’s made to be walked by two. Okay, so ⁓ yeah, I believe that that’s something you cannot fake when you start building up relationships with people. know, sometimes they’re more experienced than you. Sometimes they reach out to you because you’re more experienced. In your case, ⁓ whoever wants to reach out to you is going to reach out to you because you’re more experienced, you know. ⁓
Matt Iverson (16:44)
Yep, exactly. Yep.Yep. Yep.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Leo Wehdeking (17:06)
And vice versa. I’m pretty sure that if you do not know something, you’re going to reach out to maybe one of your family members who is actual expertise on the topic. All right, Matt.Matt Iverson (17:18)
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, and I builtup a good network around it and I look at a deal and I have people in the markets I’m looking that also are big operators ⁓ And I call them and ask them their advice. So ⁓ They I have everyone review it. The other thing is is relationships, especially when it comes to working with investors ⁓ is transparency ⁓ where I don’t
hide anything. Everyone gets to look at the books. They get to see the underwriting. They get to see the P &Ls. All my investors see everything. It’s great because some of those guys have a lot of experience and I’ve had a couple investors point out a few things. We made some changes and adjustments to our underwriting based on their input and they liked it and ended up investing.
Leo Wehdeking (18:03)
Cool, cool. ⁓Well, Matt,
that was actually pretty cool, Now, before we wrap up, if someone wanted to reach out to you or connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what is the best way for them to reach you?
Matt Iverson (18:19)
Yep.Yeah, so the I’d say start with my email. ⁓ And ⁓ the other thing is is probably go to my website. I do have a couple of ⁓ contact points there.
Join my investor club. It’s a good way. I put out a lot of education. I believe in education So if you join my investor club off my website, you’ll get all my emails I do a lot of data a lot of market updates a lot of industry updates I just I love educating myself as well as everybody else So but my emails is also I’ve had people email me all the time and I’ll try to get back to you right away
Leo Wehdeking (18:56)
perfect man. Listen, I appreciate your time, your story and your perspective. We need more people in this space who are doing it the right way. So thanks again for being on the show Matt. And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’re subscribed. Okay, we got more conversations coming with operators just like Matt who are out there doing real business. We’ll see you on the next episode guys.Matt Iverson (19:01)
You bet.You bet. Thanks, Lou. I appreciate it.
