Cliff Baker on Real Estate Cleanouts, Hoarder Homes, and Investor Success

Cliff Baker (00:00)
it doesn’t have to be perfect to start and it’s not going to be right. You don’t have a business until you have a customer who’s given you, you know, there’s a transaction,

until you really have that first customer, that’s when you’re really going to learn. So my, my advice would be, you know, just, just start.

Don’t wait for it to be perfect. Even if you don’t have a website, you don’t need you website for most industries like yeah Sure, you should have one but and work on getting that but if you have a client that wants your services or you have a client that you know, you could market to You know just start and then that person’s gonna turn into three and then they’re gonna tell three people that turns into nine and before you know it Yeah, you have a thriving business

Quentin (02:06)
Hello, everyone. Hello, hello, hello. How you doing? This is Q Edmonds, you know, and welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am excited to be with you today. And I know I say it all the time and I mean it. I’m excited and I’m excited about my guest. Listen, this guy, he has a niche service of helping out investors, helping out guys that do fix and flips. Like he’s an integral part of what needs to get done, right? We may not think about this part, but he’s integral in the part that needs to get done, right?

And so I’m excited for you to listen to what he has to say, learn from him, learn from his perspective, look at things through his lens. And so I’m excited to introduce you guys to Mr. Cliff Baker. How you doing today,

Cliff Baker (02:48)
Hello, sir. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Looking forward to this. Thank you so much.

Quentin (02:52)
Absolutely, man. I appreciate you being here. I’m excited to hear about what you do. I’m excited for our customers to get to peek through your lens. know? so, man, listen, I don’t want to belabor the time. I want to dive in. So hey, Cliff, man, bring people into your world, right? Like tell people, what are your main focus these days? And if you don’t mind, tell them what markets you operate in as well.

Cliff Baker (03:16)
Yeah, definitely. I’ll start with we’re in the Sacramento market. So we cover Placer County, Sacramento County and El Dorado County about a 50 mile radius. And yeah, we’re a junk approval business. We’ve been around a little while and we really focus on being a one stop solution for our realtors, property managers, real estate investors, apartment communities. And when an investor or a property manager needs to flip a house, whether that’s just a tenant refresh or they’re going to

put it back on the market. We come in and get all the stuff that doesn’t need to be there, know, the tenants, previous owner stuff, and we clear that out. Typically same day, next day, we’re in and out so you can actually get to work on what needs to happen.

Quentin (03:57)
Absolutely. love it, man. Now I know, you know, your industry can get crowded, right? Cause you have people who can just get a truck and just say, Hey, I can haul your stuff away. But you set yourself apart because you’re licensed to do this, right? You have a license. And I think that’s such a, that sets you apart. I correct?

Cliff Baker (04:17)
Yeah, so there’s a lot of companies that do what I do in this area, in this market and probably across the US. But yeah, I really want to look at their background as far as insurance and license, make sure they are licensed with whichever county. Every county is different, what they require. for us in particular, we hold a $2 million general liability, work rinse comp, commercial auto, the whole nine yards. It just gives our property managers peace of mind.

Some of our larger corporations, actually require it. But even our realtors sometimes, real estate investors, they don’t think about who are they having on the property. If something were to happen, God forbid, who’s covered that? So with us, that’s probably what sets us apart the most. I actually needed junk rule before I started my business. So I purchased a rental property and I completely gutted it.

You know, myself, my dad was a general contractor. we, you know, we ripped out all the flooring, everything, total refresh. And, um, you know, was calling around to different companies and, um, some people wouldn’t show up. Um, and so was like, you know, this might be something I can, you know, I can get into. So I started looking into that and kind of, you know, I really wanted to bring, you know, the reliability and professionalism to the industry. And, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s what sets me apart.

Quentin (06:19)
Yeah, man. I love it. I love it. You we was talking, of course, earlier. And I love it, man. You we’re at our own business, you know, trying to keep the, not having to worry about the franchise costs, right? Trying to keep the overhead low. And you guys have made, you know, incredible strides. Like you guys, y’all are in demand, right? You got, got like people, you know, really pounding at the door. And so I know it’s not always easy in this climate, always easy to do what you do.

So tell me what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smooth?

Cliff Baker (06:48)
You know, really, it’s just consistency. You know, one of my repeat clients, she’s a real estate investor, they have two or three flips going constantly. And you know, she told me the other day, she’s like, you know, what I appreciate about you is like, every time I call you, you can just come. She’s like, there’s not this like two week lag. You know, so it’s really building that rapport and, you know, that sense of community. You know, real estate or any market really.

whatever it is, you know, like your reputation travels fast in a good or a bad way. And for us, you know, it’s been in a good way. And I think that’s really what’s, what’s helped us.

Quentin (07:23)
Now, of course, man, I want you to take us a little deeper into your world. I don’t know. I can’t imagine some of the trials and hiccups that you hit, but I’m sure there is times when things kind of get real. Things kind of may go sideways, maybe a time when you had to pivot fast. Take us into your world. You have a story like that where you came in and you just was.

You had to expect the unexpected or maybe couldn’t even expect the unexpected, right? Like you got a story like that, Forrest Man?

Cliff Baker (07:51)
Yeah, I got a call. was sitting at home. It was probably nine or 10 o’clock at night. And I got a call from a frantic homeowner or possibly a renter. But and you know, she she wanted me to come right then. She’s like, hey, you know, I need to get my this home cleared out. I’m not sure if she was getting evicted or what the story was. But we ended up, you know, scheduling a time very early that next morning and got out there. And this house, it was complete.

quarter house, there was probably about a foot of just trash, food, feces. This was a earlier on in business. So it was kind one of my first encounters. So as a real estate investor, I know they see it a lot where they purchase houses that they’re hurting, right? The house just needs a So this was kind one of those situations we walked in, we’re like, okay, well, we had to suit up.

Quentin (08:33)
Yeah.

Cliff Baker (08:39)
Um, you know, get on full PP and just, just go to work and, um, but yeah, so it took a while, but you know, we took out, you know, essentially like two dumpsters out of this. It was actually a smaller, uh, smaller home. I don’t think it was like 900 square feet. So I don’t even know how they had so much. Uh, but you know, um, these properties that are hurting, you know, we can come in and really, um, you know, get it ready for you to start, you know, demoing or whatever you’re to do to make that property, you know, brand new home or brand new.

for that next person.

Quentin (09:09)
Absolutely.

So you alluded to this. I’m not sure if I heard you right, but there’s different attire depending on how bad the job is. Did I hear something like that? You kind of alluded to that?

Cliff Baker (09:19)
Yeah, I mean, you know, the biggest thing safety, right for you and myself, our employees and their families. So when we come into a situation, you know, that, you know, isn’t necessarily a clean home, I’ll call it, you know, we go into situations where, people just aren’t living, you know, the way that maybe you or I would.

So, yeah, so we have Tyvek suits that we put on. They’re disposable.

And then of course we wear gloves, masks, kind of that thing. Another hazard that we do run across is actually, some of these homes, there was people that were doing some sort of drugs. So we watch out for like needles and syringes and stuff like that. ⁓ Something that might hurt us as we’re clearing out these homes. yeah, it just depends. We want to make sure we stay safe and keep our people safe.

Quentin (10:42)
Absolutely, no, thank you, man. Again, thank you for taking us into your world, showing us the lens, through your perspective. Some people listening probably never thought about this angle of things. so, yeah, some people maybe on the end when they just come and see that, so shiny. Like, this is pretty. Look at the cabinets. at the counter. my God, this is wonderful. So again, man, I thank you for your unique lens. So let me ask you this,

What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? Like, what’s the next real goal for your business,

Cliff Baker (11:14)
Yeah. So, you know, I, enjoy helping people. So I do want to build a business where I can create jobs for somebody. and not only lower level jobs, but you know, operations manager, sales manager. So I really want to scale a business to where I can, help somebody else reach their goals, whether that’s buy a house or whatever that may be, for the employees. So that’s real important to me. ⁓ but right now where we’re really scaling is we’re adding new real estate investors, property managers.

and really focusing on our house cleanouts, our order cleanouts, our fix and flips. So that’s really where we’re doubling down right now. We can be that one stop solution for all of these types of clients. And yeah, so I think it really helps them because they’re not waiting around. As soon as a deal closes, sometimes they’re reaching out to me before it closes, say like, hey, I want you there on this date, we’re gonna close, I need it cleared out so we can get to work and get this thing back on the market.

And that’s where we’re able to be that solution for them.

Quentin (12:06)
Absolutely loving it, man. I mean, you’ve already, you know, high demand with, you know, people reaching out to you. But I love the fact that you forward thinking, you’re like, listen, we’re going to add investors that way as soon as, as soon as they need us, we’re right there. We can get moving and this thing can just keep generating and moving and moving and moving. So I love it, man. And, know, the next movie can either compound things or create chaos depending on how you play it. You know? And so, you know,

It seemed like you guys got everything in place, got the structure, the foundation in place. They say, hey, it’s time for us to make the next move. And I love it, So let me ask you this. A lot of people, listening. I don’t know where they are in their journey, right? They can be early in their journey. They can be looking to level up. But I think they have benefit hearing this from you. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what has made the biggest difference for you, Mr. Cliff?

Cliff Baker (12:58)
You know, really getting out in your community, you know, there’s all kinds of organizations, you know, for us, we’re a member of the local chamber of commerce. You know, we recently had a chance to connect with some of the realtor, realtor associations. So Placer County realtor association where we’re getting involved with, you know, more recently we’ve been reaching out to like schools and whatnot, just trying to get involved with some of their fundraisers. But yeah, I mean,

you know, every business is a relationship business, regardless what it is, right? So it’s really about building that sense of community, being there to help people out when they’re in a pinch. So that’s really been, you know, what we’ve been focused on and really, you know, if you can build a name around yourself that’s, you know, well respected in these different communities, depending on what you’re aiming for, you know, I think that will speak volume.

Quentin (14:36)
Absolutely. Absolutely love it, man. Relationships are everything in the space. I believe I heard you mention your dad was in the space too, so I know you learned a lot from him. And I love it, man. And I just want to take a little moment now to see, if it’s any kind of inspiration or encouragement or just, you know, just any kind of words of wisdom maybe you want to give to, you know, entrepreneurs or people that’s in your space or investors like.

I like to open up the floor, especially when I’m talking to somebody who has a great perspective like you have, to maybe just glean some type of inspiration for the audience. So hopefully that’s not putting too much on the spot, but I would love, man, if there’s anything you want to speak from the heart to the audience, I would love to hear, man.

Cliff Baker (15:18)
Yeah, I was actually just in a, there’s a local chamber group that there’s a few business owners. We get together and we just kind of discuss challenges that we’re having at the time. And there was somebody who was just starting up a business and I can tell she was eager. She was learning. She was just kind of going through the steps to get her business off the ground. And, you know, one thing that she was talking that I noticed that she was learning, learning, learning, right? A lot of, we would kind of go down that YouTube university sometimes and we’re just kind of taking all this information and reading books. We’re learning, learning, learning. We’re going to watch a podcast, all that.

⁓ so one thing I would say, especially for people that are maybe starting out in their journey is, you know,

it doesn’t have to be perfect to start and it’s not going to be right. You don’t have a business until you have a customer who’s given you, you know, there’s a transaction, right? You can have the LLC, you can have the website, you can have the Facebook, all that. But until you really have that first customer, that’s when you’re really going to learn. So my, my advice would be, you know, just, just start.

And don’t wait for it to be perfect. Because what I was telling this individual on this little round table that I was part of is that one customer is going to tell three other customers on how great you did. And that wouldn’t happen unless you just start. even if you don’t think you have all those boxes checked, obviously there’s legal things you got to get checked. But outside of that.

Don’t wait for it to be perfect. Even if you don’t have a website, you don’t need you website for most industries like yeah Sure, you should have one but and work on getting that but if you have a client that wants your services or you have a client that you know, you could market to You know just start and then that person’s gonna turn into three and then they’re gonna tell three people that turns into nine and before you know it Yeah, you have a thriving business

Quentin (16:57)
Absolutely, love it, man. Thank you. Thank you for that word. I hear you, man. I hear what you’re saying and what I’m just picking up from you. One, you want to make sure people are educated. You want to help people. You want to connect with people. And for me, man, that’s why I know your business is going to thrive, man. And it is thriving. It’s going to continue to thrive. You want to find the investors that you want. You’re to be able to make these connections that you’re looking for. And your name is going to continue to be synonymous with success.

Mr. Cliff, I thank you, man. I thank you so much for your inspiration, your insight. And so before we wrap, man, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate with you, maybe they’re in Sacramento, like, hey, we need to hire this person. We need to hire Cliff and his crew. What’s the best way for them to reach out to you,

Cliff Baker (17:42)
Yeah, I’m all over ⁓ Facebook and Instagram just at Clifford’s junk removal. Clifford’sjunkremoval.com or you can reach me personally at 916-232-3588.

Quentin (17:50)
But again, sir, I thank you so much for your time. I thank you for your perspective. I thank you for the way you’re doing business, the way you’re growing. We need more people like you in this space. So Mr. Cliff, thank you so much again for being with us today.

Cliff Baker (18:03)
Thank you.

Quentin (18:04)
No problem, man. Listen, for those, you’re tuning in, right? And you’re here, you keep coming back, but you’re not subscribed. Why are you not subscribed? Listen, if you like, and to those that are subscribed, you know, okay, we appreciate you. But for those that’s not, listen, you want to be subscribed, you do not want to miss out on the conversations that we are having. People are coming with their unique lens, with their expertise to the business. And some of them shocking stories that we never kind of would have thought of. So Cliff, again, I thank you, sir, for being here today.

And for the rest of you that’s tuning in, we will see you on the next time.