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Show Summary
In this conversation, Dylan Silver interviews Anthony Thomas, a Michigan-based realtor, who shares his journey into real estate, starting as an investor and transitioning into a realtor. They discuss the importance of education for first-time homebuyers, the unique opportunities in the Detroit real estate market, and strategies for new investors. Anthony emphasizes the significance of understanding the buying process and the potential for high returns in Detroit’s affordable market.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Anthony Thomas (00:00)
Everyone, it’s an influx of investors who deal in Detroit. The Detroit market in real estate as far as investing goes, it’s affordable and the cost are low to renovate. So a lot of them flock to this market because it’s higher rates of return on their investment.Dylan Silver (02:32)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest is a Michigan based realtor who works with buyers, sellers and investors. Please welcome Anthony Thomas. Anthony, welcome to the show.Anthony Thomas (02:49)
Thank you. Thank you, Dylan.Dylan Silver (02:52)
I always like to start off at the top, Anthony, by asking folks how they got into the real estate space.Anthony Thomas (03:00)
Well, it’s very, very funny how I got into it, how I got into real estate. I always loved the board game Monopoly. and I still…Dylan Silver (03:23)
That’s right.Anthony Thomas (03:24)
And I loved it so much. just kept me intrigued about realist, about owning property and selling and buying.Dylan Silver (03:45)
You know, for me, I have a similar experience, not necessarily with Monopoly, with the idea of real estate in general. And you can probably relate to this, Anthony, because I had done a Google search in 2023, which really reignited my passion about trying to get involved in real estate. I had a W-2 job, and in the Google search, came back that…Anthony Thomas (03:46)
happening.Dylan Silver (04:14)
Owning real estate was one of the biggest indicators of wealth and one of the best ways to build generational wealth. So I said, well, I don’t know anybody in the real estate space. Didn’t have any family or friends, but I got started actually working as an employee for a company. And here I am two years later and I love real estate, licensed, have done.about 20 deals as a wholesaler and have made lots and lots of connections. Where was the starting point for you, Anthony? Did you get started as a realtor? Did you get started as an investor? What was your first entry point into the real estate space?
Anthony Thomas (04:54)
I was an investor. I purchased a four unit family flatDetroit in 1997. That was my first investor.
invested the deal. After that, no good.
Dylan Silver (06:13)
As an investor, 1997,you, did you self-manage that property? Were you collecting rents yourself? Walk me through the management of that property.
Anthony Thomas (06:25)
I managed it. Actually, I did all of the rehab work.I never had done none of that in the past. None of it in the past, I just took it on as a project and it turned out great. I purchased it for about $70,000.
I put about maybe 10,000 into it and I was collecting $700 each.
Dylan Silver (07:17)
That’ll do it. That’ll make me fall in love with real estate too in 1997 at that. When you saw how successful that first deal was, four units, did you think, okay, I’m gonna go out and buy as many of these four units as I can?Anthony Thomas (07:22)
Yeah, yeah.Well, no, because then I was, you know, was like, I was kinda cash so draped after that. So I built it up some, some get cash and a little equity and I purchased a single family home.
after that. had it for about eight years. It was pretty good to me.
Dylan Silver (08:29)
Did you know at that point in time, so you got the quadplex, you got the single family, did you know that you were down the line maybe gonna consider being a realtor? Was that not a thought in your mind at that point?Anthony Thomas (08:41)
It wasn’t even a thought. How it came up about was my wife wanted to do it. I didn’t even want to be a realtor. So she, I was going to send her.to the class. And about a week before she actually went, she asked me to go as well. So I did. And I love it. It’s one of the best decisions I ever made.
Dylan Silver (09:41)
I want to ask you about that first year as an agent. Was the thought process that you were going to pivot and really dive head first into working with buyers, working with sellers, or were you thinking, know, I’m an investor first, I want to work with investors primarily?Anthony Thomas (09:58)
Well,initially I just did it to actually save on the closing cost of our projects. So after that, a couple of my friends were actively looking and I…
helped them out and I fell in love with the first time homebuyer.
Dylan Silver (11:13)
That space in particular is so important. I had another guest I mentioned to you before hopping on here. I feel like we need as many people as possible in that first time homebuyer space.Anthony Thomas (11:27)
Yes, because actually when I realized was how much people didn’t know about the buying process.Dylan Silver (11:45)
It’s right. mean when I when I think about it I can speak for myself before I was in the real estate space. Everyone’s first stop is where it’s to go look at a home or to go get in contact with the realtor. But the realtor is going to say you need you need funding you need lending right. You need financing. And so then it’s like well how do I even get started in this. And you know especially if you’re young and you may have good credit but you don’t have established credit and then you’ve got to have you’re looking at you’re like well how am going to getcome up with however much percent of the total cost of the home, it can be so overwhelming. In your experience, both as an investor and then working with first-time home buyers, what’s one maybe nugget of gold you would tell folks if they are looking at getting into their first home?
Anthony Thomas (12:36)
educate yourself on the process before. Because people don’t actually realize the decision to purchase a home.It begins about a year in advance. You have to have your finances and your credit in order.
Because if you… Right.
Dylan Silver (13:12)
huge undertaking. mean,when people are looking at the aspects that can affect home ownership, one of the things they told us at our real estate school in Texas was, you know, don’t make any big purchases ⁓ before you’re closed on your home. And then even I think there might be even a grace period after that at you, or not a grace period, but a time period where you shouldn’t make big purchases afterwards, because you don’t even think about it. You think, yeah, I just bought that furniture, but you financed a furniture or you needed to have a bank balance in your bank and now that’s been affected by it. There’s so many different things can come up and especially now ⁓ post Dodd-Frank right and the the collapse of the 2008 time period it is more regulated and more challenging for especially ⁓ younger people to get into homes and so everything can really have an impact on it. I do want to pivot a bit here Anthony and ask you about ⁓
Anthony Thomas (13:43)
But.Dylan Silver (14:12)
Detroit real estate. I’m someone who’s worked with lot of investors. There seems to be actually quite a bit of interest from out-of-state investors in Detroit. And I have never done a deal myself in Detroit, but I’d really like to. What’s been your experience as an investor in Detroit?Anthony Thomas (14:34)
Everyone, it’s an influx of investors who deal in Detroit. The Detroit market in real estate as far as investing goes, it’s affordable and the cost are low to renovate. So a lot of them flock to this market because it’s higher rates of return on their investment.Dylan Silver (16:15)
It’s a huge deal. I’ve heard this from investors who invest in Detroit. I can’t verify it from my personal experience, not having done it myself. But I’ve heard that strategies that aren’t necessarily viable in other markets are still very much viable in Detroit. that oftentimes it’s some of these areas which can sometimes be overlooked or not as popular. You’ll still see a lot of… ⁓these more I would say traditional investing strategies working like buying things at 70 % of ARV minus repairs on the MLS for instance. It’d probably be very difficult for me to find a lot of those deals in Dallas which is the way I lived that recently but I was told from an investor that you can still sometimes run across those deals in Detroit. I do want to ask you maybe a granular question about investing in that area. Whenever you’re in cities
Anthony Thomas (17:06)
it.Okay.
Dylan Silver (17:14)
general there can be a lot of I would say trends you might see you might see a lot of people investing in fix and flip new construction short-term you know Airbnb but there’s risks with all of that rightWith the short term as a former resident of DFW Dallas-Fort Worth Metro, if you had an Airbnb in Dallas, I believe, you can no longer do short term rental, shorter than 30 days. So anybody with that kind of strategy had to pivot. Do you see there being one strategy that you would recommend to maybe newer investors if they’re looking for something to invest in in Detroit?
Anthony Thomas (17:54)
I would just ⁓ subdue them to to fix and flip because the Indie Detroit our tax rates are going high so they’re going up and it’s and if you do a buy in and say and holdyour taxes and insurance are those factors that diminishes or reduces your rate of return on a long term.
Dylan Silver (18:58)
That’s interesting to hear because you know, I believe it. I’ve heard of this from multiple people. know, there’s some strategy I can say for Texas for instance, there’s a lot of people who are drifting away from the fix and flip space because they’ve been burned or because they feel like it’s more difficult to find the deals they’ve bought too deep. But I’ve heard a lot of people tell me more than just a handful to look into Detroit’s right Metro Detroit areaa lot of these strategies are very much viable.
and well. So this is yet another testament that I should be looking at deals in Detroit. ⁓ Anthony, we are coming up on time here though. Where can folks go if maybe they’re in Michigan, maybe they’re in Metro Detroit, or maybe they’re outside of the state but would like to go and get in contact with you and maybe talk about a deal that they are interested in?
Anthony Thomas (19:50)
Well, company name is Thomas Realty Solutions LLC and we’re located in Detroit, Michigan and our email is, they can reach me at clanthony.realtor1.gmail.com.Dylan Silver (20:32)
Anthony, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.Anthony Thomas (20:36)
Thank you Dylan. I appreciate the invite.
