Buy Now, Win Later with Aaron Howell

Aaron Howell (00:00)
I think most investors regret is not investing or not buying that house 10 years ago. I had an investor show up. She has three sons.

And I think son number three is going to be coming to UVA soon. And she was like, yeah, we were thinking about buying something in 2019, but we didn’t. And I can tell you around here locally, you probably could have bought something in 2019 for half the price you could buy it for now.

Scott Bursey (02:00)
Hi everyone and welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey and today I’ve been joined by somebody that I’ve really been looking forward to speaking with. Aaron Howell in the residential real estate space. Aaron, welcome to the show.

Aaron Howell (02:17)
Thank you for having me, Scott.

Scott Bursey (02:20)
pleasure. So if you could give our viewers ⁓ the short version what’s been going on in your world here recently?

Aaron Howell (02:29)
Well, ⁓ I went to school for many years, just like your parents tell you. ⁓ I was a full-time pharmacist for about 18 years in community pharmacy. ⁓ Meantime, I’d picked up a couple of rental properties here. Initially by pure accident, I couldn’t sell my first property. So I became a landlord reluctantly. And ⁓ over time, the light bulb kind of clicked and I had one property here, a property there. ⁓

Left the pharmacy world ⁓ full-time in 2018 and then ⁓ all together in 2023. And I’ve been a full-time real estate agent for about the last three years.

Scott Bursey (03:10)
What would you say some of your strengths are right now, your biggest contributions to your field?

Aaron Howell (03:19)
⁓ as a realtor, I think some of the pharmacists translates over, ⁓ you know, pharmacy is very process driven. know, you’re trying not to hurt people. there’s a bit like a methodical assembly line process and being able to juggle multiple things at once. I think somewhere along the line that translates over to the real estate world and being a realtor, ⁓ because it, it’s controlled chaos, just instead of drugs, it’s houses.

So I think that’s been helpful.

Scott Bursey (03:52)
Yeah, a good analogy there, Aaron. And what markets are you concentrating on?

Aaron Howell (04:00)
I work as a builder in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. So I’ll journey 30, 45 minutes west into the Shenandoah Valley and 30, 45 minutes north and 30, 45 minutes east generally. Investing wise, pretty similar also. We’re trying to stay in the periphery of Charlottesville and looking for deals there.

Scott Bursey (04:25)
Is there any opportunities on the horizon something that you’re putting together? Maybe a plan of attack or a game plan some strategy if you will to capitalize coming up for you in the next six to twelve months

Aaron Howell (04:41)
Yeah, I’ve got a couple properties that have a good amount of equity. They’ve had tenants in them 24-7, 365 for years, and they’re coming vacant this summer. And I’ve been tempted to maybe take an older property that’s been a little bit more top heavy repair-wise and maybe do a 1031 down the road. But I haven’t made my mind up yet.

Scott Bursey (05:53)
hey that’s understandable. Anything that you’re looking at maybe improving coming up here the next time same time span you know six to twelve months something that you’re putting together some strategy to enhance your business.

Aaron Howell (06:11)
Yeah, I think ⁓ we have a coach at work. He can peer into your soul and tell you what you’ve been doing wrong. ⁓ And there’s also metrics too. Like they can look at metrics and say, hey, you’re not very good at this or hey, you need to be doing more of this. But I think for me, ⁓ getting more of a set routine, like, hey, from four to five o’clock, I’m going to do this and I’m going to put my phone on silent. And from

8 until 11, I’m going to do this and put my phone on silent and then not worry about the little stuff. That stuff is not important. Your email generally is a big distraction, I think becoming a more routine set.

Scott Bursey (06:53)
systematic it sounds like and I’m with you on that Aaron. Every operator I know has a moment where things got real you know maybe a deal went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast. Do you mind sharing one of those moments with us?

Aaron Howell (06:57)
Yes.

Yeah, we’ve, um, I’ve got a six unit building in Pennsylvania, um, that we bought at a really good price. get an early 2019, um, you know, it cashflowed initially, um, you know, like a printing press over time. We’ve struggled kind of with management, uh, having a managed, um, we’ve had it, you know, we’re on our second manager and I think we’ve turned the corner, but, um, you know, we probably get another.

six months before I know for sure. That one is, you know, I’ve had to be pretty reactive. We’ve had some, some weird natural disasters. We had, we’ve had a sinkhole, twice on the property. ⁓ you know, the property manager emailed me yesterday and say, Hey, here’s a picture of the sinkhole. You know, we’re to put some gravel in. I’m like, Whoa, there’s probably a reason we have a sinkhole. We probably need to look at why we have the sinkhole first. And, ⁓ so it’s been, it’s been trying.

Scott Bursey (08:12)
Talk about pivoting fast on that one. Quick on your toes, you must be in your business. No question about that. Looking at your very business today, what tripwire or system have you built specifically to handle those sort of situations, Aaron?

Aaron Howell (08:32)
you know, I, you know, I was talking about like not paying attention to email earlier, but, ⁓ I think being reactive, I think some people, I know it’s me for sure. ⁓ I have a tendency to kind of like, you know, see that caller ID on the phone and go, it’s a property manager. Or you see the email come over from the property manager or, know, a partner in one of your investments. You’re like, ⁓ you know, what are they going to complain about today? I think just being responsive.

and on top of things ⁓ is helpful. I don’t want to talk to the property manager. Usually it’s a bad call, ⁓ but sometimes you have to.

Scott Bursey (09:13)
with the territory. So what’s the next real big goal for you? The bullseye, if you will, Aaron.

Aaron Howell (09:21)
I think for me it’s just expanding my realtor business. ⁓ and you know, I’ve got some work to do, but I had a really good year last year and I’ve progressed every year that I’ve been in the real estate or being, being a realtor. I just passed my broker exam for the state. ⁓ so that’s kind of like getting a, your master’s degree in, in real estate. But, ⁓ I think just expanding and, ⁓

you know, being able to kind of relax a little bit. I’ve spent so much energy trying to get out of orbit. know, the space shuttle uses 90 % of its fuel to get out of the orbit and then 10 % to get back home.

So I think just trying to take off and separate from gravity and being on cruise control.

Scott Bursey (10:42)
Absolutely.

Hey, I’m with you on that. Now I know a of our audiences either earlier in their career, their journey if you will, or looking to level up in some respect. And I think they benefit from hearing this from you. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Aaron Howell (11:08)
I think just getting out of the house and meeting people, has been the big thing. ⁓ when I started, ⁓ as a full-time realtor where I’m at now at Story House Real Estate, they have the thing, a thing called the greatness tracker. And part of that is, ⁓ what they call breaking bread. And that’ll be catching up with like an industry person. may not be, it’s not another realtor. It’s not necessarily clients all the time, but it’s, it’s a referral partner. ⁓ it’s a, you know, a lender.

or an insurance agent, or a good friend who’s sent you referrals before. I think just building that network of people you know, and lots of times people are like, hey, who do you like for insurance? Or who do you like for foundation repair? And you’re kind of having a group of people who you can refer to is helpful. But also too, in reciprocating the relationship, I’ve had lenders.

say, hey, I’ve got somebody that’s pre-approved, they need to buy an investment property. I know you can help them. So that’s been a big thing, just expanding my network.

Scott Bursey (12:14)
And on a little bit of a different note, if you were starting over today, let’s say with ⁓ 50k and like 10 years of experience, but zero portfolio, what would be the first ⁓ lead gen channel you’d turn on, Aaron?

Aaron Howell (12:35)
when you say Legion, what do you mean?

Scott Bursey (12:39)
That could

be AI in this world. It could be maybe Facebook groups, things of that variety. It could be, you know, local groups, but lead lead generation to acquire more business. What would be your your main focus in that respect in today’s world?

Aaron Howell (13:01)
I think Google, probably Google pay-per-click is a good, mechanism. ⁓ there are definitely some lead gen companies. ⁓ I’ve used real geeks before to generate leads. but, ⁓ I think Google pay-per-click probably would be where I would spend my money first. But, ⁓ I, I, you know, I swear by the warm business, you know, like relationships that I’ve built referrals, you know, those are transactionally percentage wise, those are a lot higher than cold leads.

But if I have money to spend, it’d be probably Google Pay Per Click.

Scott Bursey (13:38)
What’s your view on AI now? It’s such a huge, huge portion of, in everybody’s mind really, as far as business is concerned. Interested to know your views on AI, Aaron?

Aaron Howell (13:54)
Well, ⁓ I think you could probably be scared of it or ⁓ try to duck your head in the sand to ignore it, but I think it’s coming. I think we’re going to have to embrace it. And it definitely makes life easier if you can know how to use it. I mean, I’ll get 170 page HOA PDF and I’ll download it to chat GPT and say, hey, can you find the building regulations?

in here or hey can you see if these tenants or these buyers can have chickens and that thing you know in 45 seconds will spit out like no you can’t have chickens or yeah you have to have a house that’s bigger than 2500 square feet so you know I can spend an hour trying to read through that and find it or you know let chap gpt do it but I think that’s probably even just the tip of the iceberg I think there’s a lot of things

that we don’t even know yet.

Scott Bursey (14:55)
Are you prepared to embrace it and ⁓ to maybe incorporate it more into your business?

Aaron Howell (15:44)
Yeah, I think so. ⁓ You know, we have our CRM has a an AI aspect now. We partner with a company called Place at our office and they have a platform called Brivity. So there’s an AI aspect to that and then we’ll have people call in kind of after hours and the AI bot will chat with them and you ask them what they’re looking for. And I think in theory is it’s going to hand it off to us.

But sometimes it’s 2 a.m. so there’s nobody awake. But it’ll keep people kind of warm. ⁓ so it’s already, I think every CRM is starting to incorporate AI into their platforms.

Scott Bursey (16:30)
Yes, thank you for elaborating on that. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience today regarding your business?

Aaron Howell (16:38)
⁓ No, think, you know, my transition from pharmacy to real estate, you’ve to be willing to take some chances. I try to coach people like first time home buyers. I’m like, if you have the desire to become an investor down the road, buy somewhere to live for yourself. Now you can get into the house easier. You know, maybe you buy it with a value add aspect in mind.

And you can take an ad, you know, finished living space in the basement. If you have a way to get out, you know, through the basement door. If you can separate laundry, you know, or change, you know, have two electrical boxes and water meters. But, ⁓ you know,

I think most investors regret is not investing or not buying that house 10 years ago. I had an investor show up. She has three sons.

And I think son number three is going to be coming to UVA soon. And she was like, yeah, we were thinking about buying something in 2019, but we didn’t. And I can tell you around here locally, you probably could have bought something in 2019 for half the price you could buy it for now.

So trying to coach her, hey, your big regret is not buying something in 2019, well, it’s 2026 now.

get something for him to live in so you’re not paying tuition, well, you’re not paying rent to a landlord while he’s here for three or four years.

Scott Bursey (18:10)
Those are some sensational words. Thank you for sharing that. All right, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Aaron Howell (18:24)
Yeah, my phone number, work phone number is 434-216-0433. I feel like I say that a thousand times per week as I’m calling and leaving messages. Or [email protected]. And probably the two easiest ways to catch up with me.

Scott Bursey (18:46)
Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, and definitely your perspective. We need more people in this space who are doing it the right way. Thanks again for being here.

Aaron Howell (18:57)
Thanks for having me. Have a great day.

Scott Bursey (19:00)
And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Aaron, who are out there building real businesses. We’ll see you in the next episode, everybody.