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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, Kristen interviews Linda Holtz, owner of M2RE, who shares her journey into real estate, the importance of building generational wealth, and the dynamics of working with a spouse in the industry. Linda discusses her investment strategies in the Texas market, the significance of networking, and valuable lessons learned along the way. She emphasizes the need for passion in real estate and offers insights on finding investors and building a brand.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Linda Holtz – M2RE (00:00)
Yeah so oh my gosh, that’s a great question. And I say that because I just changed my phone and I don’t know why it just so happened that when I was at the store, it took hours and I ended up striking conversation with this gentleman who asked me the same question. I will share what I told him. And I said, gentlemen, but he was probably in his mid 20s and he was like, you know, out of real estate, I’m trying to get into it. Like, like give me some tips. And so first of all, if I, if I could,Kristen (00:16)
I don’t think.Linda Holtz – M2RE (00:29)
could go back in time, wouldn’t change anything. I’m a big believer in the fact that…you are the person you are no matter if your business is real estate or whatever it is you are the person you are because of every experience that you went through whether good or bad so i’m always trying to stay grateful even when you know sometimes you go through challenging times right.
Kristen (02:20)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Linda Holtz, is the owner of M2RE. They syndicate apartment complexes out of Texas. I’m excited to get into it. Thanks for being here, Linda.Linda Holtz – M2RE (02:32)
Yes,thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here too.
Kristen (02:35)
Yeah, so youa very interesting background. Tell us how you got into the real estate industry to begin with.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (02:41)
Yes, that definitely goes back a long time. I have been in property management for 10 years now. ⁓ So originally I’m from another country, but when I first moved to America, I was in sales. And the way that I got into property management is because of that sales background. I guess I was good at people. And I entered a management company through being a customer service representative and then eventually moved up.the corporate ladder and then realize at some point that if I was going to manage other people’s properties, I might as well manage my own. So that’s how I got started.
Kristen (03:19)
Absolutely, I mean that’s such an exciting trajectory. And when you were doing this on your own, kind of what did that look like? Were you doing it part time at first? Did you jump in, you know, head first?Linda Holtz – M2RE (03:31)
Yes, I’ve always done it part time so far. ⁓ I know sometimes I try to make it look like it’s not and it seems like I do a good job at it because sometimes people are surprised that I still have a day job. ⁓ But yeah, I’ve always done it part time. think that’s one of the…Kristen (03:42)
and oneLinda Holtz – M2RE (03:48)
beautiful parts about real estate as well is that for me I’m definitely looking forward to the day that I’ll be able to say I’m done with the W2 life forever. ⁓ But then at the same time, while I’m not, it definitely allows me to do both. So it’s one of the great things I think about having a side hustle that doesn’t take over.Kristen (04:08)
Yeah, absolutely.And the stability of a W-2, it is very nice. So it’s nice to kind of have both worlds. ⁓ As you’re building this portfolio on the side, can you just talk about, you know, building generational wealth, building freedom for yourself? Like should anything happen to your W-2 job? Just kind of talk a little bit more about that.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (04:13)
Mm-hmm.Yes, I think it’s super important. Number one, to have a nest egg. Number two, not just a nest egg like in general, but also with things happen, right? Like I hear a lot of people, I deal with a lot of passive investors who sometimes invest from 401ks or life insurance policies. And it’s like, okay, that’s great. Like I’m glad you’re thinking about it and preparing yourself. But sometimes people invest in a 401k and then all of a sudden it’s 2008. All of a sudden it’s 2020. And I think that
it’s important to
develop other streams of income that don’t stop. And to me, that’s what I love about real estate is that everyone is always going to need a place to stay. So as long as you buy the right assets, you will always get a source of income. It’s not just building like a separate pot, if I can call it that, it’s building something that will keep on giving. And yeah, I think that’s the best part. And then the other part that maybe needs to be talked about more is the mental freedom, the mental freedom of knowing like, hey, I choose to have it.
I don’t need to be here. Now would it be easy to walk away? Maybe not at first, but I could if I wanted. I think it provides a lot of, it relieves a lot of stress.
Kristen (06:28)
Absolutely, Itotally agree. then so tell us more about ⁓ M2RE and kind of what you guys are investing in and kind of what that looks like.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (06:37)
Absolutely. So my husband and I founded M2RE two years ago. And the reason why is because it stands for married to real estate. And at the time we were three months newlywed and obviously we had been together a couple of years. We had invested together a couple of years, but we were ready to scale our portfolio to the next level. And so we decided to make a business out of it. So, you know, they always tell you if you’re going to start a business, you’re going to need to have an avatar and like clients that you go after and those clientsshould be who you are, you should help your former self. So we were like, well, who we are is newlyweds. And we definitely know how to talk to other newlyweds. So we decided to call the company Married to Real Estate.
Kristen (07:21)
I lovethat. like talk more about kind of working with your spouse. I know there’s probably challenges and there’s probably amazing upsides to it. Talk a little bit more about that.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (07:30)
Yeah, so would say one of the challenges is definitely to…Establish good boundaries because I have a tendency like I love real estate I could talk about it and go into houses all day every day doesn’t matter if it’s a high-rise building or if it’s a single-family home That’s falling apart that needs a gut rehab. I just love it So I think it’s very important when you work with whether it’s a spouse or relative or anybody that you share a roof with It’s important to say like hey, there’s some limits and there are times where we’re not allowed to talk about work So for example in my relation
we have dogs so when we’re walking the dogs nobody’s allowed to talk about work that’s one of the boundaries we have and then it’s you know sometimes we it gets to the point where it’s like hey we have enough to talk about that we have to have a separate meeting so you my husband that I like see every morning I will send you a calendar invite and it’s always fun when that happens ⁓ but I think that it goes down to having the right systems even when it’s again somebody that who lives under the same roof now of course the advantages ⁓
My partner is not going anywhere. I know that it’s a partnership for life. So it’s pretty nice in terms of knowing how supported you are on a day to day, especially when times get tough. Because as we all know, in real estate and entrepreneurship in general, times will get tough. So it’s nice to have that support.
Kristen (08:56)
Absolutely, and you have someone that you can fully trust.Linda Holtz – M2RE (08:59)
Yes, exactly. Because that’s a big thing too. I’ve heard a lot of people say, you know, partnership is like a marriage and you have to date first, you have to get to know the person. And of course we skip all of that because we had already done it before.Kristen (09:10)
Night.That’s
amazing. Well, I mean, that’s really exciting. And you you invest predominantly in the Texas market, which I think is a great market. Talk a little bit about that.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (09:22)
Yes, so we actually met in both of our careers because my husband worked in property management too. That’s been my full-time career for the last decade. And that’s also where we started investing is in the Midwest. We met in Chicago specifically. But then COVID happened and we decided, hey, maybe it’s our time to make a change. And we decided to go to Texas because that’s how much we were dedicated to our real estate business. And I thinkI’m like you. think that Texas is a great market for it I think that every market could be great as long as you find the right deals But
of course without getting too political It’s always a little easier when you’re on the landlord side to bleed to be in a red state versus a blue one, right? And and there’s also a lot of other advantages for example in terms of the weather here We were always used to dealing with snow and things like that that don’t happen in Texas now Obviously every market like I said could be great but that also means every market could have its
So we don’t have snow, but in Texas there’s hurricanes. I guess it’s a give and take of what you’re willing to take and willing to do. ⁓ But yeah, we love Texas. It’s definitely ⁓ an area that we have invested in, will continue to invest in. And it’s just about finding those right gems for sure.
Kristen (11:16)
Yeah, and walk us through kind of how you identify those.Linda Holtz – M2RE (11:20)
Yes, so for us, number one, we started, ⁓ our first property was a Triplex, and after that we had a couple of single family homes. And that’s really what drove us to invest in multi-families that we wanted to scale. So the first criteria that we have is that we try to go after anything that’s 60 units or more.And the logic behind it is pretty simple. Me being a property manager by day, I don’t want to be a property manager at night on my portfolio. So we try to go after assets that are big enough to warrant their own third party management company. That’s the first thing. And then of course, the second one, or I should say the other first thing is the market, which is Texas for us. After that, it’s really more a matter of… ⁓
Looking at deals and seeing what works or doesn’t work for us who we might partner with or not ⁓ But we definitely have a couple of other criteria for example. We don’t like anything that was built before 1980 We definitely prefer value at opportunities, but not always but it just helps to know that you’ll be able to create value and and and for some appreciation beyond just the regular market so anything that is Old but not too old that needs a little bit of
We love that.
Kristen (12:36)
Yeah, that’s amazing. I mean, I know you guys have kind of worked in different parts of the real estate industry. What brings you to value add, multifamily? How did you kind of land on these spaces?Linda Holtz – M2RE (12:48)
Yeah. And that’s a great question. It really goes down to the fact that we syndicate those apartment buildings. And so therefore that means we bring on passive investors. So we want to create as much value and revenue and additional income as possible because our goal is we will find the building, we will fund it, we will close on it and we will manage it for you and eventually sell it. Our passive investors don’t have to do anything. Our only goal is to maximize their return. And when I say maximize their return,I don’t want to I want to clarify that like we don’t want to just give them more money just for the sake of making more money it has to be smart right it has to be done in a legal way in a smart way and in a way that makes sense for everybody involved but as long as we can do that that’s really our goal and that’s why we go through value add because that’s where you have the most meat on the bone to share at the end of the day with our investors
Kristen (13:43)
Definitely, that makes a lot of sense. And I know a big part about your business and how you’ve been able to scale is through networking. I would love for you to talk about kind of the importance of that.Linda Holtz – M2RE (13:55)
Yes, absolutely. So I will give a shout out to one of my former mentor. ⁓ So when we first got started multifamily specifically, my husband and I joined a mastermind and the goal for us was definitely, obviously we wanted to learn. But the goal for us was definitely to get to know the players in the space and be in that pool of players. And ⁓ one of my original mentors within that group told me very early on, you have to go to virtualMeetups obviously you have to go to in-person ones and you have to try and meet as many people in person as you can Ideally not always in real estate. That’s definitely a side tip that I will share is if you are in real estate ⁓ Try to go to meetups are not related to it where you can be the real estate person, right? ⁓
But being in Texas and wanting to maximize the amount of people we were exposed to, in Houston, the city is very spread out and it can easily be 30 minutes, one hour, an hour and a half to go anywhere.
And so because of that, very early on, I started going to virtual meetups of any kind, virtual events, to maximize access to people from all over the country to the point where eventually I was going to one of those meetups pretty regularly. And when the host got
busy with life and business, I offered him to take it over. So now my co-host and I, because there was another gentleman who had the same idea, we have had our own meetup that we host virtually for every week for the last year and a half, I want to say. Because that’s how important networking is to me and to my husband for sure.
Kristen (16:09)
Hmm.And how do you even find these virtual events and these in-person events?
Linda Holtz – M2RE (16:25)
Yeah, so funny you ask, Dad, because…It’s almost like you have to be in the know, but for me, ⁓ one of our company’s core values is transparency. For me, I’m an open book. You can ask me anything. I don’t think that we should ever try to hide secrets or anything like that. So it just so happened that this lady originally told me a couple of places to go to, and then from there you meet people who tell you, should also go to this one, you should also go to this one. And eventually I started having like my regulars, right? Like five or six or seven different calls.
that I go to on a weekly basis and then one person asked me and then another person asked me and then another person and so now it just turned out that I literally have this list and whenever somebody tells me hey I’m trying to get into multifamily or commercial real estate I tell them you need to network and here’s my list of all the calls I go to and I don’t go every single week but you need to go if you’re serious about growing like expanding your brand and getting to know the right people
Kristen (17:26)
I hope that’s amazing that you’ve put that together. And it’s cool that you were able to now do that on your end, facilitate community among people.Linda Holtz – M2RE (17:29)
Yeah!Absolutely, thank you.
Kristen (17:37)
Yeah, and so talk about, you know, as you’re building this business now, what would be something that you wish you learned earlier on that you can share with us today?Linda Holtz – M2RE (17:49)
Something that I wasn’t doing or that I would have changed.Kristen (17:56)
just somethingyou wish you learned a little earlier maybe like a mistake that you learned from something like that.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (18:02)
so oh my gosh, that’s a great question. And I say that because I just changed my phone and I don’t know why it just so happened that when I was at the store, it took hours and I ended up striking conversation with this gentleman who asked me the same question. I will share what I told him. And I said, gentlemen, but he was probably in his mid 20s and he was like, you know, out of real estate, I’m trying to get into it. Like, like give me some tips. And so first of all, if I, if I could,Kristen (18:18)
I don’t think.Linda Holtz – M2RE (18:32)
could go back in time, wouldn’t change anything. I’m a big believer in the fact that…you are the person you are no matter if your business is real estate or whatever it is you are the person you are because of every experience that you went through whether good or bad so i’m always trying to stay grateful even when you know sometimes you go through challenging times
um but that being said when he asked me what is a tip that you would give somebody who’s starting now my best tip was to my two best tips were two things number one something that i always tell my passive investors and i think it applies to active people as well is ask yourself what
what do you like to do? What do you genuinely enjoy learning about, doing, you know, doing some research on, talking to people about, because times will be tough. It doesn’t matter what you do in what space. Sometimes challenges are gonna come up. And if you’re not passionate, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, it will be that much harder to hang on. It will be that much easier to give up. And I’m not saying that, you know, if you love it, you’ll never give up.
be too easy. But I do think that this is where it starts. It’s like asking yourself, hey, how much time and energy am I willing to put on this thing? ⁓ Because depending on the answer, then you can see if you want to move forward or not. And then the second tip, if you’re going to be specifically in multifamily,
For me, would say my best advice is learn early on how to raise capital legally and compliantly and with investors’ best interests at heart. Because if you can do that, you will never run out of deals. People always say, if you find a good deal, you’ll find the money. And it’s like, actually, if you have the money, you will always find a deal. But you have to make sure that you find the money legally and that you always remember this is people’s hard-earned money and you cannot play games with it. You always have to be careful.
not to lose it.
Kristen (20:27)
Definitely and what are your best tips for finding investors?Linda Holtz – M2RE (20:32)
So for me, I’m big on LinkedIn. That’s where I built my whole brand. I’m always there every day of the week, sometimes on weekends. ⁓ So I’m a big supporter of social media, but again, you have to find a social media that works for you. I’m not huge on Facebook. I’m not huge on Instagram. I don’t really do X. I don’t even have a TikTok. So I picked LinkedIn for a number of reasons, and maybe that’s a topic for another episode. ⁓ But yeah, I think that it’s important todecide, okay, this is what I want to do. This is who I’m after. This is the time and energy that I’m willing to put into. And then once you choose one, once you have a lane, then stick to it, right? And so for me, that’s LinkedIn.
Kristen (21:15)
It’s amazing. Yeah, needed these simple free tools that can really make a difference for you.Linda Holtz – M2RE (21:21)
Yes, definitely. And sorry if you can hear my dogs. I don’t know why they’re going crazy.Kristen (21:24)
Okay, okay. Well,this has been awesome. Thank you so much for all of the advice and takeaways here. Tell everyone where to find you and where to find M2RE.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (21:34)
Yes, ⁓ so my name Linda Holtz. Like I said, I’m on LinkedIn every day, so feel free to find me there. M2RE, so on Facebook and Instagram, we’re Married 2 Real Estate. M2RETX is our handle. And our website is married2realestate.com. So it’s married, number two, realestate.com.Kristen (21:54)
I lovewhat? Well, thank you so much for being here, Linda.
Linda Holtz – M2RE (21:57)
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on and yeah, it was a great experience. So I’m excited. I’m excited to re-watch it.Kristen (22:02)
Yeah. Oh my god, you were amazing. I’msure everyone had so many takeaways and good inspiration. So thank you to everyone who did listen. Definitely check out Linda. Check out Married to Real Estate. Seems like there’s a lot of value that you can get from her. So we will see you back next time. Bye.
