From a $12K House to Real Estate Success at Only 20 Years Old

Braden Alsman (00:00)
coming out of high school I had zero clue what I wanted to do with my life. I really just wanted to make a lot of money. So I I didn’t know what I wanted. ⁓ I was thinking something construction. So out of high school I actually went into a carpenter’s union pretty close to my town. And I was actually building scaffolding for about eight months.

the worst job I’ve ever had. I hated it so much. ⁓ but with that job it ⁓ it helped me save up a certain amount of money, which I used to purchase my first house ⁓ when I was eighteen. So I bought my first house cash for twelve thousand dollars and that was a a great deal that I actually bought.

Issa Hanna (02:12)
Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I have Braden Alsman somebody who at only 20 years old is quickly becoming the next American Real Estate mogul. Braden, welcome to the show.

Braden Alsman (02:27)
Hey, thanks for having me. Thanks for having me.

Issa Hanna (02:29)
I’m glad to have you, man. ⁓ you’re you’re truly remarkable. People your age ⁓ don’t have stuff figured out the way you do already. ⁓ so we talked a little bit earlier. ⁓ you you kind of ran down your day to days and what you’re kind of doing now. can you break it down for our viewers now?

Braden Alsman (02:46)
Yeah, sure. So I’m a Real Estate agent now. ⁓ previously been into wholesaling, but I also fix and flip homes on the side. So my day-to-day ⁓ typically looks like I’ll get to the office, I’ll do some lead generation. ⁓ every realtor knows that to stay busy you gotta lead in almost every day, ⁓ especially starting out. So

I get here, I lead in for about two hours. ⁓ then I try one thing I’m trying out right now, I’m trying to meet with somebody new at least two to three times per week for lunch. So whether that’s a contractor, ⁓ even if it’s a family member, someone that’ll eventually use me to buy or sell a house, ⁓ anything like that, just just to grow my network. ⁓ after that

I typically will do some sort of social media, ⁓ either planning out what I’m going to post or actually filming or editing. And then after that, around two o’clock, I’ll typically either have an appointment or I’ll try to learn something. So whether that’s reading a Real Estate book or going on any type of appointments with a buyer or seller.

Issa Hanna (03:59)
Wow. So in other words, you’re not just you didn’t just get your Real Estate license, post a couple TikToks. You got boots on the ground. you’re taking people out. and that’s something that really successful ⁓ Real Estate people do. It’s not what somebody can do for you, it’s what you could do for them. So he’s he’s taking people out ⁓ to lunch, you know, he’s putting himself out there on the radar.

and that is definitely the right move and that is why at only twenty years old, the moves you’re making are are are ⁓ you know, for people in your age group, it just doesn’t exist. so I I’d love to commend you on that. you’re putting the whole eight hours a day in to yourself and and when you do that, you can make a lot of money. ⁓ and and then with that, how’d you how’d you drum up the idea? How’d you you know, you’re only twenty, so just a few years ago you were in high school. Was this a lifelong

thing for you, like you were always planning it, or did you just like, hey, I should be a realtor?

Braden Alsman (04:56)
Yeah, that that’s a great question. ⁓ coming out of high school I had zero clue what I wanted to do with my life. I really just wanted to make a lot of money. So I I didn’t know what I wanted. ⁓ I was thinking something construction. So out of high school I actually went into a carpenter’s union pretty close to my town. And I was actually building scaffolding for about eight months.

the worst job I’ve ever had. I hated it so much. ⁓ but with that job it ⁓ it helped me save up a certain amount of money, which I used to purchase my first house ⁓ when I was eighteen. So I bought my first house cash for twelve thousand dollars and that was a a great deal that I actually bought. I almost got lucky and I’m grateful for that ’cause I was able to

Buy it for twelve thousand, clean it up, had a lot of junk inside the house. And then I listed it for sale by owner on Zillow and sold it for twenty-five thousand in nine days. so thankful to God for that, because not everybody gets that lucky on their first deal. And ⁓ after I got that check, because I had poured every single dollar in my bank account.

to buy that house and I got that check back. I think it was like twenty four thousand after closing costs and I was just hooked. I said I ha I gotta do it again.

Issa Hanna (07:08)
Yeah, man, that’s that’s usually how it goes. You get bit by the bug, we call it. And and the bug is usually one of them nice fat checks, you know. ⁓ and and I love that you said ⁓ you mentioned God, you know, you trusted in God, ⁓ and and and that’s how you do business, you know, not even just with your investing, ⁓ even in the way you deal with clients, you know. ⁓ it’s very ⁓ you have the utmost integrity.

very respectful and you do what’s best for your clients as a realtor. So I kind of want to shift to the Real Estate agent aspect. You got your license three months ago. You’ve already closed two deals. How’d you do that?

Braden Alsman (07:46)
Yeah, so the two deals I have closed. ⁓ this is kind of my secret sauce. I don’t really tell everybody this, but I’m gonna share it today. So I have a cold caller that calls for me. ⁓ this helped me out a lot whenever I was wholesaling back last year, and that’s where I get majority of my leads. So these are people that wanna buy or sell their house. ⁓

that nobody else is talking to. I’m the first one to talk to So my cold call or calling a certain demographic of people in my area and I’m the first one to talk to You know, these people aren’t reaching out to to agents. You know, there’s there’s kinda in the back of their mind, like, Yeah, I’d sell my house or yeah, I’m getting ready to sell my house. ⁓ then I get to talk to first and

There’s actually a stat in the book I’m reading right now called The Rookie Real Estate Agent that seventy-five percent of people go with the first Real Estate agent that they talk to. And just trying to present myself the best I can. And I actually closed ⁓ they were two small deals. ⁓ one was an investment property to a guy that I actually had done business with before as a wholesaler. ⁓

Then another one was a vacant piece of land that I listed on the market and it it sold super quick ’cause we priced it right.

Issa Hanna (09:05)
I mean, ⁓ two deals, small or not, for somebody who’s just gotten their license three months ago, almost unheard of. Almost like what you’re doing right now at your age is unheard of. So ⁓ man, I want to applaud you on on just being ⁓ so smart, having such a blueprint, ⁓ you know, plan of attack and executing. ⁓ like I said before, you you’re it’s truly remarkable. ⁓ and with that.

Every investor, every realtor, everybody ⁓ kinda has like a a Real Estate nightmare almost or a time where stuffs went sideways and they had to pivot. do you care to share a a time like that with our viewers?

Braden Alsman (09:44)
Yeah, yeah. I have one story that comes to mind. So last year when I was wholesaling, I met this older man, I I believe he was about eighty years old. His name was Samuel Tandy. ⁓ one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. ⁓ he had three properties that he needed to sell ⁓ before he could retire. They were all run down. And as we were walking the properties, he told me he was like hey

Braden, you know, if I don’t sell these properties, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. And I was like, okay, like I can help you. So I got him a cash offer on the properties. ⁓ he accepted it. So I was actually showing some buyers the properties. Cause I do all my wholesaling locally. And ⁓ I was showing the buyers the properties and these properties were pretty rough.

And we’re going downstairs into the basement of this duplex that Samuel had. And one of my buyers jumps and screams and I’m like, What’s going on? And he said, There’s a snake. And I was like, my God. And I’m terrified of snakes myself.

And I I go down the stairs to the basement of this duplex and there’s a snake with its head in the wall. There’s a hole in the wall. And the snake is just poking its head out of the hole in the wall. And I had to take action. I I believe I got a hammer, but I I got rid of the snake.

Issa Hanna (11:40)
That that yeah, man, that is a crazy ⁓ story. I mean, I I ⁓ I was a realtor for many years. I’ve showed many houses, never once encountered that. And then ⁓ as as the representative, as the person selling the house, like you’re the one that has to kind of take action. Like you said, you can’t expect your buyers to do anything, you can’t run away. ⁓ so wow, what a what a crazy position to be in, man. That’s crazy. ⁓ so

How about let’s talk five years down the line. Where are we gonna see you, Braden?

Braden Alsman (12:12)
Hmm. That’s a good question. You see, I’ve thought about this. ⁓ I haven’t really decided where I wanna be. I know where I eventually wanna be. I wanna have fifty doors, whether that’s apartment buildings, ⁓ single family houses, probably apartment buildings, but I don’t own one yet, so I don’t know what’s gonna fit me best. ⁓

I’d like to be building houses. ⁓ but that’s another thing. I haven’t built a house yet, so I don’t know if I like that process. ⁓ that’s something we want to venture into next year, at least building one to see what I like the most. Because I’m kind of dipping my toes into every part of Real Estate right now. ⁓ we’ve done the wholesaling realtor now. I’ve done some fix and flips. so just trying to figure out

what I like the most and then put all my effort into that.

Issa Hanna (13:01)
What a great plan. ⁓ and and man, you’re you’re ⁓ wise beyond your years because you have so many plans. you’re also cautious, you know, you’re like, okay, I’m not really involved in the building and I’m gonna I’m gonna do one. I’m sure you’re gonna do it, you know, ⁓ really well. And then you’re gonna see if you like it, man. Well that’s amazing. In our in our industry, ⁓ if you don’t have a plan of attack, you’re just kinda circling going nowhere. So

When you have a vision and then you’re walking on that road towards that vision, that’s how you become successful in this industry. ⁓ and and with that, you’ve been able to meet so many people, cultivate such a network in such a short amount of time for people who are just starting out, just like you, that are maybe struggling to to master that aspect of ⁓ of Real Estate.

What advice would you have for them on on cultivating these relationships?

Braden Alsman (13:57)
Yeah, so my main advice would be to strictly add value. So if you’re wanting to meet with somebody and say they’re an investor, one thing that I can help investors with is find prop finding properties. ⁓ so I was meeting with a guy the other day and he likes to drive for dollars. Have you ever heard of that term before?

Issa Hanna (14:19)
no, and I’m sure a lot of our viewers haven’t, so we’re fine.

Braden Alsman (14:22)
Okay, yeah.

So basically that means you’re gonna drive around and look for vacant properties, properties that are run down, and then you can find the address and then find the person who owns it and then find their phone number and then you just call up and see if they want to sell it. Wow. So we were doing that the other day, and the guy was with great guy, his name’s Greg. He

didn’t know how to actually look up the address and then get their phone number. so basically what I did, I have a couple different websites that I use to where I can get the address of a home and find the phone number of the person who owns it within two minutes. so I was able to just add that value to him to where ⁓ he can just send me an address and I can send him a phone number in two minutes. And it’s really not much of a hassle to me.

But for him to have to maybe go to the PVA and ⁓ ask for the phone number that way, it saves him hours. And that adds so much value to where whenever he needs to sell a home, he’s gonna go to me, you know, because I added value to his life.

Issa Hanna (15:29)
Exactly. You’re making it easier for him to acquire properties and when you make it easy and accessible ⁓ for people to make money with you, they’re always gonna call you, you know. So ⁓ and then another thing that popped into my mind when we were talking, you mentioned the cold caller that gets you a lot of lease. Then you mentioned you have a few apps that you can you can pull somebody’s number from their from their address. So you’re obviously using

tech and AI to help your business. And a lot of Real Estate agents now ⁓ that are more experienced. Now now we’re talking to the more experienced one. They’ve been in the game for thirty years. ⁓ and and they’re not so tech savvy. How important is this new tech to our industry?

Braden Alsman (16:54)
It’s very important. ⁓ the old way of just sitting back and waiting for your phone to ring, it it doesn’t work anymore because ⁓ there’s so many Real Estate agents, ⁓ there’s so many investors that you have to be the first one there. That’s that’s what I really pride myself on is being the first person to to be thought of, whether that’s through marketing.

or if it’s the first person to actually talk to them, like my cold caller. ⁓ anyway, because I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier or not, but yeah, 75% of people will choose the first agent they talk to. So if you can be that first person there, ⁓ present yourself well and be trustworthy, you’re most likely going to get the business.

Issa Hanna (17:41)
A hundred percent. you gotta put yourself out into people’s fields of vision. ⁓ and then also a lot of people don’t know ⁓ realtors off the top of their heads, loan officers off the top of their head. So like Braden said, the seventy five percent of these people, ⁓ you know, if they’re thinking of selling a home, a realtor is a realtor to them. So if you could be the first one in their field of vision, like you said, they’re most likely going to choose you, especially ⁓

if you present yourself in in a professional ⁓ you know in a professional manner. ⁓ so man, Braden, I’m getting such good advice from you and you’re only 20 years old. It’s truly remarkable, man. ⁓ so if there are people wanted to get a hold of you, maybe they wanted to sell you their house, maybe they wanted to use your services because ⁓ you do have all this knowledge and you do hold yourself to the highest standard, where could they reach you?

Braden Alsman (18:35)
Yeah, so you can reach me on Facebook at Braden Alsman . That’s spelled B-R A D E N and then A L S M A N. Or you can reach me on Instagram @Alsmanestates and that’s just my last name, A L S M A N, and then Estates Like Real Estate.

Issa Hanna (18:54)
Beautiful man. ⁓ so if you guys are in the Kentucky area, ⁓ Evansville area, Owens Owensburg, is it? Owensburg, Kentucky. I’m sorry, Owensboro. ⁓ Beaver Dam, right? Beaver Dam, I did a little bit of research on you. I saw I I you know, I looked at your socials. so if you guys are in that area, make sure to call the brightest young mind, ⁓

Braden Alsman (19:08)
Sorry, yeah. Beaverdam too.

Issa Hanna (19:20)
in Real Estate today, ⁓ that I’ve talked to in in recent months. So Braden, thank you so much for coming on my show, man. I wanna invite you back on ⁓ later on down the line because I I you know, I’m curious if you’ll have me, you know.

Braden Alsman (19:35)
Of course. Of course. Any time. Anytime, brother.

Issa Hanna (19:38)
Thank

you so much, man. I enjoyed our conversation. ⁓ and to our viewers, if you guys enjoyed my conversation with Braden and want to hear more just like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that can bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the industry we all know and love. That’s Real Estate. Until next time, the Real Estate pros are out.