0-30 Deals in a New Market

John Harcar (00:00.942)
All right, guys, welcome back to our show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and we’re here today with Malcolm Wallaker. And what we’re going to talk about, what he’s going to share is how he went from zero to 30 deals in an area with no sphere of influence. Guys, remember here at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, I mean, all real estate entrepreneurs, 2 to 5X your business. We do that by providing the tools and resources to help you build the business you want to build and live the life you want to live. Malcolm, welcome to our show.

Malcolm Wallaker (00:30.567)
Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.

John Harcar (00:33.282)
Yeah, man, I’m super excited to have you on here. I’m excited to learn about your journey and how you blew up so quick. But before we get into the weeds of all that, why don’t you tell our audience a little bit more about you, your background, kind of where you’re from and how you got here.

Malcolm Wallaker (00:48.167)
Yeah, so I grew up in southern Minnesota. I grew up, born and raised high school football player, loved sports, loved sports my whole life. Went to college in the Twin Cities at Bethel University. Down there I met my wife and she’s a few years older than me. So she wanted to live up in northern Minnesota and she had a job when I got out of college. I was…

John Harcar (01:02.061)
Hmm.

John Harcar (01:11.064)
Nice.

Malcolm Wallaker (01:13.423)
I was a little, as a broke college kid, I kinda had to follow her wherever she went. moved up to Northern Minnesota, know, try to figure out life after college and then ended up in real estate eventually. And that’s kinda the start of my story.

John Harcar (01:16.098)
Yeah.

John Harcar (01:29.166)
What were you doing before you got into real estate?

Malcolm Wallaker (01:32.487)
Yeah, I actually worked in the kind of the social services field a little bit. I worked, helped with case management with certain clients and stuff that was partnered with the county.

John Harcar (01:43.072)
Okay, is that what you went to school for?

Malcolm Wallaker (01:45.669)
Yeah, yeah, more or less everything. Yeah, was originally what was the plan and then I just kind of, took me into a different direction eventually when I still wanted to help people, but just in a different way.

John Harcar (01:56.686)
And what, where did real estate come into play? mean, because a lot of folks I talked to might’ve had real estate in their, you know, in their family. you know, they might’ve been exposed to it in early age. What, what turned you on to real estate?

Malcolm Wallaker (02:11.333)
Yeah, yeah. So I mean, really, you know, I kind of live by the principle, like, you know, no matter where others are in life, everybody needs a home. So I actually had some mentors and some some good friends of mine just kind of see that side of me and also just kind of seeing my personality. They were their buddies from church, you know, so they kind of knew a different side of me a little bit. I knew that I had all the best intentions for for others. And so

John Harcar (02:19.264)
Uh-huh.

John Harcar (02:33.272)
Yeah.

Malcolm Wallaker (02:39.693)
they really took the opportunity to sort of mentor me in, and yeah, mean, they’re no longer in the business in the same way anymore, but they’re actually purely on the investment side now. I’m no longer on the sales side, I, yeah, that’s how I first got my start, is really just people believing and seeing some potential in me.

John Harcar (02:52.214)
Okay. Okay.

John Harcar (03:00.558)
Okay, so you have these mentors that were already what flipping houses doing wholesale stuff like that?

Malcolm Wallaker (03:06.276)
Correct, yeah, flipping houses, turning fourplexes into remodeling fourplexes, very successful Airbnb business at the time. And I think now they’re gonna actually buy a resort here shortly.

John Harcar (03:19.724)
Well, OK. Well, sounds like their business is exploding. So did you offer to kind of like help them with their business? Because a lot of folks that go in and they don’t have that ability to get mentored by somebody right away. So what value did you bring to them to be able to have them in turn feed into you?

Malcolm Wallaker (03:39.091)
Yeah, so they had the opportunity to purchase kind of a smaller dying brokerage at the time. And they really just wanted to be able to the they really knew the process and everything were helpful with the mentorship and how to start my business. They just really wanted somebody that they knew they could trust and also knew that they didn’t have to worry as any sort of

sort of liability, you know, because that that can be a struggle in this industry, you know, with different people and different backgrounds and everything. So so they knew they could trust me. And so they made the move. And yeah, they ended up we ended up eventually going different directions. And now I’m with eXp Realty. But they are still good friends to this day.

John Harcar (04:10.413)
Yeah.

John Harcar (04:28.686)
Yeah, we have a member in our member in our group, Dylan Tanaka. He is with the XP’s in Detroit. But he he wrote a book about the I can’t remember the name of it, but it’s about being an investor in the realtor. So he’s a great resource for a lot of the folks that we have on here case. And now so you went over you opened up this business as a traditional agent, right? Just agent brokerage. OK, boutique brokerage, OK?

Malcolm Wallaker (04:35.959)
that sounds familiar.

Malcolm Wallaker (04:52.52)
Correct, yep, boutique brokerage.

John Harcar (04:56.076)
Where does real estate investing come into play in this?

Malcolm Wallaker (04:59.359)
Yes, so the big part of real estate investing has kind of gone into really my what’s been what’s been good is really how I’ve been able to start these relationships and help others get into that business. So they really mentored me into how I’ve been able to kind of get those deals and help those investors work with others and then how I’ve actually been able to use that for my own personal business with property management and

John Harcar (05:22.222)
Okay.

Malcolm Wallaker (05:28.914)
and really helping others get into the different resources and everything like that and finding those tenants and everything and how that really kind of started the, it helped both my personal and certain of residual income as well as building my sphere for the sales side as well.

John Harcar (05:47.246)
What do you think were some of the biggest challenges of you getting into real estate, obviously coming from social services or that type of background?

Malcolm Wallaker (05:56.563)
Yeah, I think, you you have you you get such empathy towards people, you know, and that’s in that I don’t think it’s I never want to lose that. That’s a big part of who I am as a person. But there does it does come to a time where it, you know, I realize that it’s it’s only a big deal if you make it a big deal. And I think just taking the. Recognizing that emotion is important, but also recognizing that how you carry yourself and everything can actually

being confident and maybe less emotional actually will help steer the process into an easier transition going forward.

John Harcar (06:36.814)
Yeah, I think it’s being a little more and maybe in a sense more resolute, but still with that empathetic side, right? That shows that we understand. So what other troubles or what other challenges have you come across as far as maybe working with investors, you know, trying to help them find their deals.

Malcolm Wallaker (06:53.17)
Yeah, so a big part of it is coming from not being from the area originally. I mean, just from a personal standpoint and just finding the business. You know, I’m not from the area, so I don’t have this fear. You know, I don’t have this way of kind of this way of really building interest and like entrust in people yet. So really what it took is just me doing kind of some of that dirty work.

a little bit that maybe those other agents, you what I mean by dirty work? mean as in like just that area that people don’t want to do. You know, the cold calling, the, you know, the calling the for sale by owners, you know.

John Harcar (07:26.414)
Yeah. Yeah. The one and $10 tasks.

Malcolm Wallaker (07:34.245)
Right, right. know, and honestly, it’s, you know, it’s from a very, very mutual benefit. One of my first investors that I ever was actually, he was trying to sell something on his home for sale by owner. And I mean, we’ve done multiple deals since then. I mean, I cold called him and I said, you know, I think I can really help you out. And I was able to sell his home for you. then I’ve him and I.

I’ve found three off-market deals in the last couple years for him that he’s been able to cashflow pretty well on.

John Harcar (08:08.408)
How are you finding the off-market deals? Are they being brought to you? Are they referrals or pocket listings from somebody else?

Malcolm Wallaker (08:14.51)
It’s just, no, mean, honestly, a lot of it comes from just starting that sphere with people that trust me. They know that I’m not, I’m gonna serve both their interests as well as, and I’m only gonna bring it if it’s gonna be a mutual.

A mutual benefit. Yep. Yep. So I mean, obviously when you get into that role where you’re representing both sides or you bring that opportunity, you know, that’s that’s my goal is for it to be a win-win on both sides. And I see that a lot with specifically where you see those, you know, situations where maybe just people are getting a little bit older and don’t want to deal with some of those rentals and don’t know how to effectively do that more hands off. So a lot of those kind of deals, that’s, you know, a lot of that comes from

John Harcar (08:34.264)
benefit.

John Harcar (08:53.55)
enough.

John Harcar (08:57.548)
Yep. Yep.

Malcolm Wallaker (09:03.291)
from church, just people know who I am. And it’s just, it doesn’t really, I like to be like, you I’m not like this walking billboard, you know, when there’s certain areas where I’m like, now I don’t wear my logo, I don’t wear anything like that, but people know what I do for a living, so they come to me. So I mean, it just got to that point where it’s just become so ingrained in who I am. And I think that’s the beauty of any investor having that in their back pocket is you want somebody

John Harcar (09:18.296)
Mm.

Yeah.

Malcolm Wallaker (09:32.216)
that’s just who they are. They post it on their social media, it’s on their business card, it’s just who they are. And having that in your back pocket I think is key, that somebody that’s just naturally doing the work without them even feeling like they’re working.

John Harcar (09:47.182)
Okay. Well, let’s, let’s, let’s take a little step back on that, right? You, you, you mentioned that, you know, it’s because you built a rapport, you built a relationship with people. title of this is no sphere. How do you do that? What are some of the key things that helped you be able to build rapport, build those relationships so people can and come to you?

Malcolm Wallaker (09:51.043)
Sure.

Malcolm Wallaker (10:10.713)
Yeah, so a big a big part of so if I were to start from square one, exactly where I went back and I mean, I tried a lot of things like a lot of agents, you know, there was a lot of money spent that didn’t need to be spent. There was a lot of time spent that didn’t need to be spent. where I probably got the most steam is and this is really any real estate agent or any investor that they looking to partner with a real estate agent.

John Harcar (10:26.744)
sure.

Malcolm Wallaker (10:39.521)
You can’t be afraid to call old expired listings, know, listings that maybe they were on Zillow or if an agent has software to look up the numbers. I mean, you go back and not all real estate agents are created equal. There, I call it being the rescuer. That was my role is that there’d be people.

John Harcar (10:46.691)
Yep.

John Harcar (10:57.4)
Yeah

Malcolm Wallaker (11:01.809)
Sorry, my camera cut off there. There’d be people where I’d be working. They were working with an agent that would use cell phone pictures, didn’t even give them an opportunity to clean their house, but they’re like, we got listed now, we got listed now, listing expired. And I come in and I say, two opportunities for you. I have buyers right here in my back pocket, or I can get you on this market and let’s get this professionally done.

John Harcar (11:16.59)
Yeah

Malcolm Wallaker (11:31.077)
And that just builds rapport.

John Harcar (11:33.336)
How did you find those buyers in your pocket?

Malcolm Wallaker (11:36.388)
Different softwares, know, I mean there’s just you know the fancy going on the county website, know and finding obviously being a real estate agent I was able to I have access to the MLS but I go on or you know, anybody can look off of Zillow and then if you were to pay a subscription to white pages you can go and Find their phone numbers. That’s probably the the cheapest

John Harcar (11:58.67)
Mm-hmm.

Malcolm Wallaker (12:01.304)
Might not be the most efficient way, but if you were to keep your spend down, that’s the way I would recommend doing it.

John Harcar (12:08.814)
What other ways can they, can you think someone can go out and find a buyer? Or have you find buyers besides, yeah.

Malcolm Wallaker (12:15.839)
man, I go find buyers. know, I, Facebook, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Facebook groups are big. mean, you’re gonna, and this is, and we’re talking like very like, you’re like starting bare bones, wanna spend as little money as possible, you know? So there’s gonna be a little bit more filtering than your average person. Or sorry, not your average person, but you’re a little more filtering than an established agent or somebody that’s grew up in an area.

John Harcar (12:19.63)
Well, I know how you found him besides doing what she said.

Malcolm Wallaker (12:44.222)
Facebook groups if you post you know just saying that you hey you’re looking for somebody that wants to partner You know it they’ll you know if you if you if you go in those larger groups You’re gonna get a lot of people contacting you A lot that don’t know what they’re doing, but there’s still going to be a lot that do And I would say too. mean for an investor side when you See an agent even if they were newer, but if they were willing to put themselves out there

John Harcar (12:56.322)
Mm-hmm.

Malcolm Wallaker (13:12.544)
like that, I mean that’s a big deal and I think there’s a lot of people that don’t have, that have maybe too much pride to do that. So even with the lack of experience, if somebody’s willing to put themselves out there and really put the work in, I think that’s more important honestly sometimes than experience.

John Harcar (13:19.106)
Right?

John Harcar (13:30.816)
yeah, mean sometimes actions Trump’s experience a lot. So what is your current business look like? mean, obviously you’re doing the traditional real estate. Do you own properties? Are you flipping or are you wholesaling? Are you doing any of that stuff on the investment side?

Malcolm Wallaker (13:46.613)
Yeah, so I would say I most of my time mostly on the sales side at this point. I grow my business with with, you know, the EXP model and everything like that. So I invest a lot more in people at this point, you know, and bring in others. That’s probably more of my maybe that’s like the the social services in me is that I just enjoy I enjoy working with people. So honestly, it’s like I receive income that way. And that’s kind of

That’s my rentals that I’ve kind of turned into. do some property management and everything, enough to stay in the game. I don’t know if that makes sense and just kind of like experience with idea of where rates are at and everything like that and resources out there. So I mean, it gives me kind of my money to invest in my other businesses, but.

John Harcar (14:31.063)
Sure.

Malcolm Wallaker (14:43.34)
My heart and passion is almost just working with the people and helping them find the deals almost on the investor side if anything that makes sense.

John Harcar (14:49.39)
I love it. Yeah, I know love it. How many properties do you manage?

Malcolm Wallaker (14:54.284)
gosh, yes.

two right now and then it’s gonna be four by the end of the year here. Yeah. Yeah, somebody else’s property. yep, so just, I own two properties but probably by the end of it this year we’re gonna be selling one here shortly, so.

John Harcar (15:02.318)
They’re nice. OK, and these are someone else’s properties and they’re not yours. And how many do you own?

John Harcar (15:16.716)
And then are you managing those or they have a property manager for those?

Malcolm Wallaker (15:19.623)
I manage them, but I mean, I manage them as hands-off as, you know, I hire everything out.

John Harcar (15:23.147)
Yeah, got it.

What are some of the mistakes that you think you’re seeing people make that are, know, maybe get trying to get into the business, buy properties, maybe start a property management company. mean, what are some mistakes you’re seeing around these things?

Malcolm Wallaker (15:40.97)
I mean, this could be a…

I think it’s just being realistic on what your time allows and where you are in life. You know, that’s kind of what it was for me because I was in that same. And what I mean by that is I think I think that, you know, there’s a point where you need to you need to go hard and you need like when you have that ability to go hard and you need to if that’s the way that you want to run your business, you figure it out and you decide this is how I’m going to run my business by this method.

And what I mean by that is there’s there’s certain other, know, depending on who you agree with there’s you know, Rich Dad, poor dad, there’s, you know, there’s Dave Ramsey to totally opposite side of the spectrum. And I’m, you know, I’m not like really gonna talk about which one, you know, there but I’ll say is I think people need to decide what the path are going to be. But when they’re wishy washy and everything like that, and they like want to do one way or the other, that’s I’ve seen that mistake happen a lot where they can’t decide what they’re how they’re going to run their business.

John Harcar (16:23.16)
Yeah.

Malcolm Wallaker (16:43.431)
And I think they really need to treat it like a business. It’s a business. It’s not just like a fun little investment thing. And that’s where the money flowing actually happens. It’s not from just the, yeah, we might do this as like a side hustle type thing. Cause you’re just going to end up with one property and it might feel like it cash flows nice, but then, know, when, yeah, exactly, exactly. And that’s the thing is like you’re breaking down the numbers and realizing. it’s like, I got a four and two year old and I don’t know how to swing a hammer.

John Harcar (16:56.439)
Right.

John Harcar (17:03.298)
Wait till something happens.

Malcolm Wallaker (17:13.032)
If I’m buying a property, I’m going to make sure that I have everything budgeted for that way for other people to take care of the maintenance and everything and any other expenses and people don’t, I don’t think really recognize what goes into that.

John Harcar (17:19.351)
Right.

John Harcar (17:24.254)
No, I don’t think they do either. mean, I had that same kind of situation. I had a property in Indiana. And yeah, I didn’t plan for some of that stuff, but you have to. Now, let’s talk a little bit about what our topic was, say, the zero to 30 deals, you know, with no no sphere. What are some of the main things you did to get to that 30? Like, what are some steps that you made that someone else can maybe listen to and say, hey, I can do that?

Malcolm Wallaker (17:34.203)
Okay.

Malcolm Wallaker (17:53.203)
So everything I did was very calculated. So if you want to go to what I touched on before for going like free to like look minimum low cost. So if we’re strictly from the sales standpoint and this is, you know, both investor and as a agent. So I’d start with the expired list. Start with the ones that look like they were the least marketed. Those were the ones.

John Harcar (18:16.014)
How do you know that?

Malcolm Wallaker (18:18.992)
Quality of picture, that’s the most obvious. You look in the description. I have the benefit of living in a small town. I can tell you, if I’m just being point blank honest, I know which agent’s gonna market better than the others. So if there’s certain agents in everything that do it, I know like, okay, I’m gonna cold call on that one, because I know that I could do a better job.

John Harcar (18:25.838)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (18:34.914)
Yeah, sure.

John Harcar (18:43.598)
Mm-hmm.

Malcolm Wallaker (18:45.136)
but also presenting yourself in that way and just like making that promise and then fulfilling that. You know, that’s the big deal, you know, be about it. I’d say, you know, if we go from there, I’d say, you know, the classic would be just creating some sort of touch plan with your personal sphere. Your sphere might be 10 people, but just know that you gotta make sure that you stay that meantime in that relationship and grow it quarterly, you know, and that’s.

John Harcar (18:50.638)
Yeah.

John Harcar (19:10.008)
Yeah.

Malcolm Wallaker (19:12.707)
That’s just you checking on your friends. That’s not trying to get a benefit of anything, but that’s gonna grow as well. Anything you spend money on needs to be strategic. You don’t throw money at the wall and hope it sticks. You’re always gonna get, as an investor or an agent, millions of people are gonna, don’t know, millions is little dramatic, but not that dramatic. You’re gonna get a bunch of phone calls from every software company in town telling you that they can give you a

John Harcar (19:16.536)
Sure.

John Harcar (19:40.542)
every shiny object.

Malcolm Wallaker (19:42.021)
Yeah, research any object. I always tell people, tell you what, I’ll hear you out, but I need hard data in my area that you have succeeded in. And if they can’t provide me that, I don’t take another call. Yeah, and there’s more and more and people can reach out to me and I’ll talk to that. I have kind of ways that I’ve hacked, even like Zillow, I’ve hacked like Zillow and using that in a much more cost effective way.

John Harcar (19:54.286)
No, that’s very valid.

Malcolm Wallaker (20:11.396)
You know, if people ever use the Premier Agent zip codes, my most effective one, I’ve purchased, spend $85 a month on it, probably gives me $10 million worth of, not 10 million, sorry, 10 deals worth of decent deals a year on. So I mean, it’s really just being very calculated in how you spend your money. And I think rather than throwing it at the wall, seeing what sticks.

John Harcar (20:38.286)
the spaghetti effect. Are you planning in the future on growing and getting bigger in the agent traditional side or are you going to be kind of maybe veering a little bit more of your time energy and resources to the investments?

Malcolm Wallaker (20:56.067)
You know, I think what I would like to do and and this is it’s both and From a personal standpoint how I grow and how it gets me up in the morning is is working with those agents And helping them what I’m kind of in that phase of with terms with investment and that’s kind of from I had talked about before is making sure I’m in the room with the right people is that I need to grow with somebody that

also has the same passion and work ethic as me. With that, because I know my limitations, and I think that I would encourage anybody else with any job, career, or anything like that, is just recognize your limitations and then find the people that can help balance that out.

John Harcar (21:43.33)
Yeah, I got to get you connected with Dylan Tanaka from Detroit. He would be a great, great resource. And we’re getting close on time here, but just for folks listening that might have something that could help you, what are a few things that you might need or maybe some obstacles or challenges you have in your business to get you ratcheted up another notch?

Malcolm Wallaker (21:46.698)
Yeah, no, I’d love that.

Malcolm Wallaker (22:07.617)
I think 100 % it’s all about, I had mentioned it before, I think it’s all about making sure you’re in the right room with the right people. You know, you’re talking about investors. If you’re in an investor group or if you’re in an investor partnership, making sure that they’re actually about it. You’re not putting in all the work. It’s sometimes even more important to have the work ethic and the passion than it is to have the experience and sometimes even the capital. Capital helps, but.

John Harcar (22:34.773)
Great.

Malcolm Wallaker (22:35.745)
But it’s really kind of when it’s easier to push people than it is to pull them. And so to find those people that you don’t mind challenging and you can discuss and cuss is what they call it. And that’s what the real state is too.

John Harcar (22:41.838)
Yeah.

John Harcar (22:50.19)
That’s new. Yeah.

No, that’s true. I haven’t heard the discuss and cuss before or cuss and discuss before, but that’s pretty cool. That does kind of sound like some of our conversations at our mastermind. If folks are up in your area, your neck of the woods, mean, if they’re not, and they just want to call you and pick your brain or get in touch with you, maybe they have a deal to partner on, maybe they just, I don’t know, they need your services somehow. How could they get in touch with you?

Malcolm Wallaker (23:20.48)
Yeah, absolutely. So the best way to get a hold me is honestly, like, I just put my personal cell phone out there. I don’t know if you’ll put that in there, but it’s 218. Oh, you’ll put it all in there? Okay. Yeah. Instagram, Facebook. I’m very active on there. So I mean, yeah, just messaging me in any way. I have a website. It’s just malcolmwallacher.com. And so there’s an account if you want, if people want to do a more personal, like a Zoom or personal meetup, I have a connection there as well. And so that’s best way to get connected.

John Harcar (23:27.17)
Yeah, we’ll on the show notes.

John Harcar (23:48.078)
Cool. Okay, and like I said, I’ll put all that in the show notes. Malcolm, thank you again for coming on here and sharing your knowledge, man. And guys, I hope everybody that’s out there listening took some good notes, got some nuggets out of there, and hope they enjoyed the show as much as I did. So, hope you enjoyed it. Have yourself a great afternoon. We’ll see you on the next one. Cheers.

Malcolm Wallaker (24:12.286)
Thank you.