Creative Real Estate Investing Strategies to Flip Deals With None of Your Own Money

Ankur Puri (00:00)
But guess what? The reality hits and for a year I’m trying, learning, coaching. Nothing happens. Right? And then eventually I’m so down that I stopped looking at my backup. I’m literally down to $98.25. Can’t even go back home and ⁓ nowhere to go. And I’ve been trying to strategize and try to look at deals and see if there’s any way that I can do something. And then there was just one deal that I had ⁓ in which I was able to help the homeowner.

was able to help my investor and guess what? I made my first $10,000. Since then, in the first three years, I’ve netted over $1.2 million with none of my own money, flipped over 18 properties. So that’s my little story.

Quentin Edmonds (00:33)
Mmm.

Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. Super excited to be here today. I’m excited for you guys to learn about this gentleman’s journey. Now I’m not sure what he’s going to give you as much as he gave me, but I’m going tell you, if you want to see somebody turn the real estate thing around, this is your guy. And I believe, and I hope he’s going to tell us a little bit about that story that he told me, but he’s doing a fantastic job, has really grown his business. And what he’s about to do,

in the future, like the soon future. mean, like right around the corner future is absolutely amazing. And so I am so glad to introduce you all to Mr. Ankur Puri. Mr. Ankur how you doing today,

Ankur Puri (02:55)
Hey, thank you Quentin Thank you for having me on your show. I really appreciate the time. ⁓ Well, my name is Ankur Puri. I’m going to introduce myself a little bit. I’m based out of Toronto, Canada. I came here in 2010 on a student visa. I studied for two years, worked in a restaurant for a year, did not like it. ⁓ Quit my job and I always had a dream to do real estate. So I jumped right into it thinking I’m going to be a multimillionaire just like everybody else.

Quentin Edmonds (03:03)
What’s there?

Ankur Puri (03:21)
But guess what? The reality hits and for a year I’m trying, learning, coaching. Nothing happens. Right? And then eventually I’m so down that I stopped looking at my backup. I’m literally down to $98.25. Can’t even go back home and ⁓ nowhere to go. And I’ve been trying to strategize and try to look at deals and see if there’s any way that I can do something. And then there was just one deal that I had ⁓ in which I was able to help the homeowner.

was able to help my investor and guess what? I made my first $10,000. Since then, in the first three years, I’ve netted over $1.2 million with none of my own money, flipped over 18 properties. So that’s my little story.

Quentin Edmonds (03:54)
Mmm.

I love it, man. And thank you for telling the story. Cause I told him, I mean, I think you said what $98 and 25 cents. That’s what was in your account. And then you made your first $10,000. Then in your first three years, 1.2 million. And this is coming from India in 2010 on a student visa. Oh man, I absolutely love it. So Ankur, we will get more into the business, but I want to get more into you with those things you just gave me.

Ankur Puri (04:15)
What’s up?

Quentin Edmonds (04:34)
I say this probably once every podcast, Uncor, that destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning the moments in our destination, they matter. They have built up to the moments to where we are now. And so we borrow from the tough times. We borrow from the good times. We borrow from the times we might’ve been indecisive. Like all of these moments have kind of built to where we are now. So Uncor, I would love to know throughout your journey.

to where you are now in real estate. What has these moments taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience? Like what are these moments taught you,

Ankur Puri (05:57)
For sure. ⁓ See, right from the start, was one thing that was always in my head in credit that no matter what happens, you have to walk the right path. And there were times when I did ⁓ not have any money and of course my deals were failing. And you know, there are always two kinds of people in your head. And one is do this, the other guys don’t do this.

And now always have this where they were like, just do a part-time job, get something because I don’t have my parents here. I didn’t have nobody. I’m not living in someone’s basement for free. So yeah, I have all the costs because especially as an international student, it’s very expensive. but on the other side, I told myself, if I don’t do this right now is the time, right? If I don’t do the worst thing is what I’m going to fail. Guess what? It’s a blessed country. can still become a dishwasher and then I can still get my minimum wage. And I’m okay with that.

And that’s when I took the leap and did what I did. During my journey, what I have also understood is ⁓ sticking to your principles, making sure what you say is what you do, over-deliver, under-promise. Those are the things that will really help you in your business moving forward. Because no matter who it is that you talk to and no matter how much money anybody has,

The one thing that they really care about is not even the money, it’s about the person that they’re dealing with. It’s all about relationships, trust and integrity. And that’s what counts. mean, nowadays I have investors that they don’t even want to look at what I’m buying. And I’m like, you can’t do that. You have to go and see what I’m buying. They’re like, I don’t care what you buy. I’m like, what if I take your money and run away tomorrow, right? They were like, ⁓ I don’t care. They trust me so much that I feel.

way more obligated to make sure that I deliver even better than what I did before.

Quentin Edmonds (07:43)
I love it, man. You said so many things that I’m going to build on later, but I love your perspective. I love how you say, know, about the character of delivering what it is that you said you’re going to deliver and don’t over deliver, right? Like, don’t, you know, if anything, you know, be able to under promise and over deliver, but just don’t try to deliver, say something you can’t deliver it. So that’s what I’m pretty much trying to say. I love it, What are some of the strategies

that you picked up business-wise that really helped you turn things around.

Ankur Puri (08:14)
See, that’s a good thing that you actually just hit the nail there because I am a strategic related investor. So what I really do is in each deal, I come up with different strategies that we can do to make more money. I’ll give you a small example. I did one property over here not that far from Toronto and the mortgage on the property was around 130,000 or so. And I got that property for 111. Now you might ask how that even possible because

Quentin Edmonds (08:39)
Mmm. Mmm.

Ankur Puri (08:42)
If you know how the law works, you can always make sure works in your favor. So there were two mortgages on that. One was, of course, from the lender. The other one was from the government. And the way the government loans work is that if the property values go higher and when you sell, you’ve got to give them a percentage. But the other clause also says that if the property goes for less than what it’s worth or what the mortgage is, then they’re going to write off that particular mortgage.

So I had the appraisal done, it came to 110 or 111. Well, guess what? I get that 20,000. I don’t have to spend that 20,000 extra and I’m able to get the property for cheap. And at the same time, I was able to help the person who was selling me the property to get a new place because I helped her to find another place, negotiate on her behalf and got that place to her 30,000 cheaper than where it was listed. So you see, it’s not about just me making money, it’s about

Quentin Edmonds (09:36)
Yeah.

Ankur Puri (09:38)
strategizing and understanding what the seller really wants and is there anything that I can do to make that happen. Something similar happened with my other deal where the seller already had a better offer than what I was offering. And I told him, listen, I don’t want to take someone else’s bread and butter. You know what? It’s okay. Just go ahead, take the deal. Cause I can offer you that, but I can offer you a lot more than, you know, just the money part. And you won’t believe you were sitting from one o’clock in afternoon until 9 p.m. Right. And I was

Quentin Edmonds (09:44)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mmm.

Ankur Puri (10:06)
We were just chit chatting. We became good friends. Eventually he called the guy and he told him, hey, I don’t want your offer. going to, I’m going to, you know, take your paperwork. I’m just going to tear it off. And he’s like, why, what are you getting? And he’s like, yeah, I’m getting, well, I think they were offering them probably a three 50, I think. And I think he had an offer of three 70. And he was like, yeah, I’m getting a three 50. He’s like, are you nuts? I’m giving you 20,000 more. Why do you want to not take my offer? He’s like, no, it’s none of your business.

reason that he did that, because I was able to, again, to get him a property that he wanted and give him a second mortgage on that property so he can own that property, the bigger one that he wanted, right? Because it’s about what do they want and how I can help them. in whole ordeal, I was able to get the property cheap. I was able to make money on the ⁓ second mortgage that I gave him. And then we were able to renovate for a very good price and make profit on the end as well.

So there lot of different strategies I use. I would also do vendor take backs where, you know, I’ll give them some money upfront to invent a take back so they get money every month. Eventually we do it. So there are so many strategies that we use in every deal. And the reason to do that is because it’s not one way to skin the cat. There’s so many ways that you can do that. You know, we get renovation rebate over here in Canada. So when you’re renovating, if you do certain things, you get money from the government, guess what?

That’s another 10, $15,000 going back into the deal. So why not? So then just, if you know what you were looking for, it will always get more out of the same deal. So that’s how I normally strategize my deals.

Quentin Edmonds (12:16)
See, I love it. And I think the way that you help people, I think it has a lot to do with your moments in Destiny. Like where you started out and like where you are now, like you having to go through your journey and the way you was able to go through some, you know, some difficulties and some transitions. I think that gives you the lens to really be able to help people when they’re going through their difficulties and their transitions as well. And so I love it, man. I love your, what I call a servant’s heart. And I think it…

the foundation of any sustainable business is servitude. That’s what I just strongly believe. And so for you just to sit with people, really build rapport with people, to me, it’s just showing your servant’s heart. yeah. ⁓ So man, what’s your next real goal? What are you looking to solve at Scale Next,

Ankur Puri (13:01)
So this is where I’m heading to now. ⁓ I am doing much larger deals now, ⁓ which is close to 100 mil, 50, 70 mil. And these ones are international deals that I’m looking at, ⁓ which are very high upside. ⁓ Like I was saying, there was one deal I’m looking at in Dubai right now, where we are getting a building in one of the best areas in Dubai. ⁓ And this one is…

way below market, the appraised value for this particular deal is $180 million ⁓ and we are getting it for $120 The only thing that we really have to do is sever all the titles in the building and just sell them individually. You don’t have to do any renovations. So I’m looking at those kind of deals. There’s another one in the similar lines, not that far from this property as well.

So, and I’m looking for ⁓ strategic capital partners who would be interested in being a part of this particular amazing deal that’s coming in my coming my way.

Quentin (14:02)
I love it. I love what you’re about to do. I love the international piece that you’re about to add, the component. Let me ask you this, because you mentioned relationships. And so I want to get your perspective on relationship building.

within real estate, within the industry. I want to know your perspective. Has relationship served you well? How do you go about building relationships? Talk to me a little bit about relationships.

Ankur Puri (14:24)
So, honestly, in my business, relationship is the key, especially because I’m not from here. So for me, I didn’t really know anybody when I started real estate. And ⁓ the way it works for me is you have 24 hours, right? In the day, you have enough time to spend on certain things. So rather than going and meeting everybody and talking about stuff that doesn’t matter, I would rather spend the time meeting people who are worth it.

and they see the worth in me. And then eventually what happens is we built our relationships. When you see people in let’s say the same group or let’s say in the same meetup or something like that, you tend to understand what someone’s looking for and then you bring that on the table for them and say, would you like to be a part of this with me? I knew that you were looking, let’s someone says, you know, I got 200,000, I’m gonna flip a property, great.

If I get something within that range, I can say, I got something for 150, maybe 25 reno. Would you be interested in something like that? And then that’s how we build relationships. And more so the way it works for me is that I want to make sure that if I tell them something, it is going to happen. Otherwise, I would just not open my mouth. That’s the key for me. So that’s why, like I said before, I would under promise and over deliver because I think that just works way better.

Because sometimes if you say you’re going to make 100,000 and they make 95, they may not be happy, as happy, right? But if I tell them you’re going to make 80 and they make 100, they’re going to be on top of the moon. So I look at the things in that perspective. And that’s what they like you to do, because they know that no matter what, that I’m somebody who’s going to make sure that they can sleep OK at night. And that’s the kind of relationship I built with them.

And it’s funny that I just remembered there was a deal that came to my investors desk through somebody else. And he was asking me questions too. Should I do this? I said, see, I don’t know the deal. I don’t know what’s going on. If you feel it’s right, go ahead. I’m not going to tell you do it or not do it because it’s not my deal, right? I cannot do that. And he’s like, okay. He said, okay, I don’t want to do it. I said, okay. And then after a week, the same deal came to me because I got in touch with the same seller.

And I told him, hey, do you want to do this? I got this deal and this is what it is. He’s like, yeah, if you’re doing it, I’m on it. I don’t care what the numbers are. I said, but you just had the deal a week ago and you said, no, why you want to do it now? He goes like, because you are involved in it. That’s why. And then it realized, then that what made me realize is, know, what’s really important is the relationship that you build, the trust that you have built. And that goes a very long way. So that’s why I really believe in relationships, 100%.

Quentin (17:02)
Ankur man, I absolutely love the way you look at things. love the way the lens in which you do business, the way you build relationships, the way you help people, the way you create space for people within this thing called real estate. I really do. I love the way you’re going about this, sir. Listen, Ankur, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

Ankur Puri (17:31)
Sure, as well they can go to my website which is www.ankurpuri.com That’s a n k u r p u r i.com You can send me an email at [email protected] as well Or just go to my website send me a message either way it comes straight to me And if you are an integrated investor who is looking to make really good money in real estate and is open to ⁓ deals outside Internationally then please reach out

because we are looking at much bigger things right now.

Quentin (18:03)
Well, sir, let me say three things to you sincerely. Thank you for your time. You could have been anywhere in the world, you know, doing it and doing something, but you chose to spend time with us. So thank you for that. Secondly, thank you for your story, man. Thank you for what I call the gift of your transparency and your vulnerability, man. I believe stories have a way of planting seeds in people that will help them course correct, change their perspective. And so thank you for your story. Lastly, thank you for your perspective.

the way you think, your mindset, and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming through today,

Ankur Puri (18:35)
Well, thank you so much for having on your show. I really appreciate that you’re doing that because you know what? It was me long time ago looking at these podcasts and trying to understand and trying to get the courage to do something and you know, it really helps. So I think you’re doing a great job by actually taking the time from your personal life to do this and help other people. So I really, really do appreciate it.

Quentin (18:57)
I appreciate that, So listen, y’all heard Mr. Ankur . Look in the show notes, get in contact with him, especially you that’s ready to do these international investments, get in contact with him and definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Ankur . So thank you. Thank you again, sir. I really appreciate you and everyone else. Y’all have a fantastic day.