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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, Jamie Ray shares his journey from a passion for real estate to establishing AK Management Group. He discusses the importance of mentorship, learning from mistakes in construction, and the significance of building a reliable team. Jamie emphasizes the value of diversifying investments and balancing a full-time job with real estate endeavors. He concludes with insights on creating a values-driven business and the importance of intentionality and integrity in achieving success.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Jamie Ray (00:00)
Thomas Edison has a very famous quote and it says that there is no substitution for hard work and I don’t think anything could be truer, more true, truer is my word. ⁓ I don’t think anything could be more true. What I would saydon’t think that there’s like this like magic sauce. You just, you have to be willing to sacrifice some things and put in the time, energy and effort it takes to be successful and control the outcomes.
Kristen (02:03)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Jamie Ray, who is the owner of AK Management Group. We’re going to talk about getting a business off the ground, how to transition something from a passion into a side hustle and potentially full-time job. So thanks so much for being here, Jamie.Jamie Ray (02:19)
I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me.Kristen (02:22)
So give us a little background on how you broke into the real estate industry. I know your company is fairly new.Jamie Ray (02:30)
Yeah, great question. how it really started was back in 2021 in my hometown, my grandmother owned a very big, large colonial home that was founded and built for the candle company that founded the town. And she actually unfortunately passed away, but we always loved the home. It was our childhood home. So it came up for sale, immediately flew out from Denver, Colorado, which is we lived at the time, flew out to Northeast Ohio.went looked at the home, had an amazing conversation with the realtor. You know, she’s showing us all these imperfections in the home. And I’m like, man, that dent in the wall is from my head when I was nine years old. Like, we’ll absolutely buy this house. I don’t think there was necessarily much of a plan for it. ⁓ I lived in Colorado. My sister lived in South Carolina. We bought the home together. And then we thought to ourselves, well, we could Airbnb it out as a way to just kind of cover the mortgage. So we did that. We invested in the house a little bit.
furnished it, fixed it up a little bit, and all of a sudden it really took off and it was booked all the time. We were getting really good ratings. Everyone really loved the whole home because of its historic value. And we had made the decision in 2024 to move back to Ohio. And I was like, man, you know, this Airbnb worked out really well. So when we moved back to the town, I realized I looked around and I was like, man, everybody loves it here. This the square Medina’s on HGTV. There’s a ton of events and festivals.
people really love living here and there’s this like really beautiful like vintage feel to the area. It just needs spruced up a little bit. So I decided I was like, you know what? I’m going to fix up one of these houses. I think I can buy it for X, know, fix it up for Y and then I think sell it for Z. ⁓ Went through that proof of concept. It worked out really, really well. I had an amazing partner I was able to kind of get involved with from like a hard money lending perspective. And he said, hey, let’s do this one.
house let’s figure it out let’s see if it works and it did and all of sudden it clicked I was like I could just rinse and repeat this over and over again and
really do something here. So we came up with a business plan ⁓ and you know at the end of the year hopefully we’ll have about 15 houses so I think that it’s something that has definitely gone well so far but it was not a dip your toe in moment that’s for sure. We put our big boy swim trunks in and cannonballed in.
Kristen (05:47)
Yeah, that’s amazing. I mean, that’s really high growth for one year and you know when you’re first starting out with it and you’re very lucky that the first time went well for you because I feel like that’s not always the case. So…Jamie Ray (05:59)
Well, I think there’s, Ithink there’s a piece of like being able to like control what you can control. And I had a mentor at one part, one point way early in my life that said, if things start right, they end right.
You know, we put a lot of thought and we put a lot of intentionality into what, like we weren’t like, you know, Hey, let’s just buy a house. Let’s see what we need to do. Like we consulted with people. had conversations with what we thought were the right folks that would help us mitigate what the risk is set, like risk involved would be. And then we accounted for that risk so that when the risk happened, which it did, it put us in an okay spot. Right? So we sort of worked backwards from what we thought houses would be worth at the end to get.
to a like, okay, this is what we can offer for this house and there’s nothing wrong if they don’t accept that offer. ⁓ We just got lucky. I mean, I would say we got lucky, but we were in the right place at the right time that they were willing to accept those offers.
Kristen (06:55)
Absolutely,and I think you hit on a good point with mentorship. think it’s such an important part about building something from the ground up. How did you go about finding people to connect with?
Jamie Ray (07:07)
So how it really worked for me was, you know, I had this idea. I consider myself pretty good at math and business savvy. So I looked at a way where I could enhance what, you know, my personal portfolio looked like at first. That’s where it began at first. And, you know, my iPhone must have just absolutely been listening to me because then someone came across my phone by the name of Tommy Har, who’s, ⁓ he has the real side of real estate. It’s a Columbus based mentorship program and you kind of master my community, if you will.And you know, the sales guy in me went, know what? I’m just going to call this guy. So, you know, I reached out to him, you know, got connected with him, went to, you know, a few of his events, spent some time with him. And I think that he’s been really impactful, especially in the beginning phases of it. You know, again, consulting with people, risk mitigation, and just making sure that you’ve got the right people in your corner that when you have questions, you can go, you have a resource to get an answer.
Kristen (08:07)
Absolutely, I mean it’s such a big part of it and you save a lot of money getting some mentorship along the way. As you’ve been kind of getting your footing, what’s something that maybe like a misstep early on that you were able to course correct?Jamie Ray (08:13)
Yes.I would say that one of the things we did incorrectly in the beginning was kind of, wasn’t necessarily the construction phase, but I think it was like the post construction phase. So I think that there was this avenue of like,
And I’ll open up that funnel. Construction in general. I think that in real estate investing, it’s really easy for people to think of, okay, well, if I can buy this, if I can buy the house for X and fix it up for Y, then it’ll be worth Z.
But unless you’re the one doing the work, unless you’re the, mean, if you’re like me and have a full-time job and you’re trying to run a second company, I don’t, you know, even if, mean, I don’t have, I got, I got three little kids. don’t, I don’t have the time to go spend another 40, 50 hours a week swinging a hammer and nor do I have the expertise that would.
That would warrant the outcomes that would warrant the after we have values that I would want so some of the things so going through construction and going through some of those mistakes of like I mean small things right like ⁓ we chose this backsplash because we thought it would look good we put this door here because we thought it would look good we didn’t put canned lights or we did put canned lights in these spaces but then we added cabinets so now it looks funny it’s like some of the design and architecture on the front end will really mitigate what the back end look
like and then even in on the back end when you’re done making sure things are all right. mean a really live example is we had someone who did a house it worked out really well ARV went fantastic but we what we had kind of forgot is that in four months of doing construction that we really hadn’t run the plumbing or anything so we turned it all back on after the tenant was already there well now I got a seven thousand dollar repair to bit to tear tear out and replace 20 feet of
pipe in the ground. So if I would have done the right things on the front end I might have been able to mitigate that. That was definitely a lesson learned.
Kristen (10:58)
Absolutely, I mean you can’t get out of it without stuff like that happening. ⁓ No, but I think that’s a good lesson for people. And when you’re working with contractors, what are your tips for kind of building the right team around you?Jamie Ray (11:11)
That’s actually a really fantastic question. speaking of Tommy Har, one of the last events that I went to him, I focused on the construction. know, he, everyone was asking questions about, know, what, you know, what can I buy this house for? And how do you get deals and how do get people to be under contract? like, man, you you should probably focus on the construction piece of it. So I think that the, mean, what we’ve really done is we’ve set just non-negotiable expectations in my full-time job. I ask people all the time, what are your three to five?non-negotiables in this. And I realized I should be asking people that. should be asking myself that. I should be asking that of other people to myself. Here my non-negotiables are, you we put paper down on new floors. My non-negotiables are, you you’re paid for work that’s done. My non-negotiables are that, hey, to work in this environment, you’re going to have to be paid in the rear. Invoices or your billable hours are due by Friday. They’ll be approved by Monday and payment will be sent out by Wednesday.
guys can get paid the next Friday and if you’re not willing to operate in that system, then it’s not going to be a fruitful engagement. And transparently I have in the very beginning, steered away from that against better judgment and it did burn me. So I’ve learned that lesson that it does need to work this way. And in the time that I have dug my heels into the ground and done it that way, it’s been successful. I’ve been able to control the outcome.
Kristen (12:41)
Absolutely, that’s really good advice. And so you’re kind of in a lot of different areas of real estate. So you’re building, you acquired a commercial unit, you’re in short term, long term. What would you say about diversifying like that? Is that a part of your strategy? Is that something that you really advocate for people to do?Jamie Ray (13:03)
Yeah, I would, you know, if I had an audience in front of me and I said, hey, if you really want to get into this, go all the way in and figure out what works for you, you know, and.what makes the most sense? Every house in theory should have that you purchase should have some sort of an exit strategy, right? And what makes the most sense and what makes maybe you the most profit, right? So, and that’s a really dynamic question that you have to ask yourself because, know, like what we’re doing, you know, we thought we were going to be fixing, you know, renovating houses and selling them. Well, then all of sudden we were like, well, wait a minute, if it cost me this to buy it and fix it up, but now all of sudden it’s worth all this money,
and I can offset that and make a few hundred bucks by renting them out.
Why would I get rid of the asset? long term, I would make way more money and I’d be able to hold the assets. Why would I do that? And I can control the market. we somehow, mean, we sort of organically gravitated towards that. then we’ve sold houses and we realized, I think that the process of buying a house, fixing it up and then putting it on the market and going through a lot of that rigmarole just…
wasn’t necessarily worth the hassle. And some of the reason that was because…
our market is so short in my market is so short in housing that we’re having no problem renting these houses to people. But people do have a problem being able to afford homes. for us, we were like, why would we even like, why would we sit on a house for 90 days and 30 to 60 to 90 days until it gets sold when someone’s knocking down our door to rent it three weeks before it’s done. So we’ve gravitated towards that, but we’ve we’ve flipped houses and sold them.
⁓ We’ve ⁓ invested in bought some commercial properties. And the idea was, is, in the first 12 months of doing this, let’s see what we’re good at. Let’s see what makes the most sense for us as a company to do. And then let’s make that decision, right? I don’t want, I didn’t want to be like, you know, we’re going to fix and flip houses. And then a year later, we hate it, but it had, we had kept some of those houses and rented them like we are.
Maybe
he would have liked it. We’ve never built a duplex before. We’re just now putting the slab down. That thing’s at ground level. Maybe I’ll love that process because it’s brand new.
Or maybe I’ll hate that process, you know, because it’s going to be, you know, I mean, because I’ve got to deal with contractors and subs and liens and maybe that’ll be a terrible experience and I’ll never want to do it again. So I think it’s like, let’s just go all in. Let’s, you know, and just let the chips fall where that throw it, go all in, right? Toss them all in and see where they fall.
Kristen (15:38)
Bye. ⁓I think it’s a really good strategy and I think a lot of people don’t really think of it like that and maybe they enter the investing world and they do flips and they hate it and they just say they hate investing, but there’s so many ways to be in the game. To kind of like shift gears a little bit, I’m sure there’s a lot of people listening who are either just starting out or wanting to start out and have a full-time job and are kind of scared to balance everything. How have you made it work?
Jamie Ray (17:11)
Thomas Edison has a very famous quote and it says that there is no substitution for hard work and I don’t think anything could be truer, more true, truer is my word. ⁓ I don’t think anything could be more true. What I would say and it’s a little ironic because I had this conversation with a young gentleman who goes to our church and I saw him at the coffee shop the other day and he was really struggling withwhat he wants to do in life, you know, and, and, know, as a profession, I’m an, as you know, as a day, day job profession, I’m an IT consultant and you know, I, have a good job. I enjoy my job. You know, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s something that I’m passionate about, but you know, I have a family of three kids, right? I mean, your, your passion, you know, sometimes needs to not necessarily take a back seat, but it needs to be in the right perspective. So for me,
I really had to make the conscious decision that, you know, and my wife will say this and it’s a really, it’s a good, bad or indifferent, probably leaning more towards the bad, but I’m an all in kind of guy. If I’m going to do something, I’m going, I will be the absolute best at it. I had a college coach that said, Hey, if you can be a garbage man for a living, I don’t care if you’re the best garbage man that there is, then I’m proud of you. And I think that that mentality really has resonated with me that when I decided I was going to do this, I said, I’m going to do this now.
It escalated faster than I necessarily anticipated it to, I’ve got, I consider myself having broad shoulders, figuratively speaking. And I thought to myself, well, this is going really well and this is going to provide a lifestyle long-term that I know is going to be what I want for me and my family. So it was a no-brainer. I’m happy to put in the work and the hours, the time, the energy, the effort, the blood, sweat, tears, all of that.
And it just, don’t think that there’s like this like magic sauce. You just, you have to be willing to sacrifice some things and put in the time, energy and effort it takes to be successful and control the outcomes. And
if you do that.
Again, someone, another cheesy sort of analogy, but someone said it’s quite physically possible to fail if you give it 100%. And if you fail, then either you didn’t give it 100%, and if you tell yourself you’re giving it 100%, you didn’t, right, or you’re full of it, or you need to reevaluate what 100 % really looks like.
Kristen (19:44)
Well, I think that’s really good inspiration. So, you know, as you’re growing this business, it seems to be growing very quickly. How do you kind of balance it growing quickly and building thoughtfully? Or growing thoughtfully?Jamie Ray (19:59)
Yeah. Soone, so one of the things when we started the company, we, we, you know, if we had, if we had two words that were on the back of our t-shirts, right, it would be intentionality and integrity, right? Those are the pillars that the company sits on. And as we’ve grown and we’ve grown fast,
Thankfully, my background in IT consulting is quite literally helping people learn how to scale, do it quickly with processes and procedures in place. ⁓ definitely using that as to my benefit and advantage. But I think that’s one of the ways that I’ve done it. I’ve brought in people that have been impactful to me and the business in the short term and I know will be in the long term, right? They consult on projects. ⁓ They put SOWs together for me. ⁓
I have people who do our accounting and finance that are actually partners that I brought in as partners to this to just basically ensure that this would be something I would be able to put on my plate, right? The plate’s full, but I wanted more. So I knew that if I was going to do that, I had to bring in people around me to help scale this effectively.
Kristen (21:09)
Absolutely, no I think that’s a ⁓ good strategy ⁓ and kind of going back to the same conversation we were having about contractors, how are you finding these people around you? How are you kind of deciding what kind of company you want to build?Jamie Ray (21:28)
Yeah, to be, I I think first and foremost, we are absolutely a God-fearing family. I think we believe that God has put us in here on this earth for a reason, and I think that this has been a bit of a calling for us. So I think we… ⁓Obviously want to do all the things in the correct manner that are reflective of him, right? Through us and we’ve been we’ve been really fortunate to being involved with people who have been who have made it really easy to reflect that message to other people. ⁓ When we first started this, right? We gave three contract three contracting crews an opportunity, ⁓ you know, in kind of in almost two perfect order. One failed miserably. One did, you know, one did a good job and then one just sort of stood out. One of the reasons that they stood
out is that they were really a faith-based company. So once we got to know them a little bit more and get a little bit closer with them, we realized what morals and principles, integrity and intentionality pillars that they stood on, it made for a really good ⁓ partnership, which has led for us to be able to acquire that company, that construction remodeling company, so we can manage construction in-house and control the outcomes a little more.
Kristen (22:46)
Yeah, I think that’s great. know, actually sitting down and figuring out what you want the business to look like, what the moral pillars, the values, and finding people that align with that vision. think it’s totally, ⁓ it’s a game changer. So thank you so much. I think you’ve given so much good advice and insight and inspiration for people, you know, maybe at the beginning or middle or end of their journey. Thank you so much. So tell everybody where to find you and how to work with you.Jamie Ray (23:14)
Yeah, absolutely. So, Companies AK Management Group, can find us on Instagram, Facebook.how we love to work with people is we’re always open to doing some, ⁓ joint venture with people. ⁓ think that any way we can spread ourselves into the community and help people utilize those pillars that we put our company on, I think is absolutely impactful. So if you’d like to join venture on a project together, we’d be happy to, if you just have questions or, ⁓ any advice that I could potentially give you, I think, you know, I’ve got a soft place in my heart for, you know, the guy who’s got a full-time job, but also, you know,
also loves fixing and flipping houses and being part of the real estate game and using it as a driver and fuel for your investment, whether it be your investment portfolio or a lifestyle you’re trying to gain, I would be more than willing to get on a phone call, get on a Zoom call and talk through what that looks like. And I think really share what my journey has been because I think the journey has been pretty impactful and it can be for other people as well.
Kristen (24:15)
Amazing! Well, thank you so much for being here today.Jamie Ray (24:18)
Thankyou, Chris, and I really appreciate it. This was great. ⁓
Kristen (24:22)
Awesome, well thank you everyone for listening. Hope you learned a lot, got some inspiration for your own business and we will see you back next time. Bye.
