Fix and Flip Investing Strategy: How Nii Nortey Finds Deals, Funds Rehabs, and Scales

Nii Nortey (00:00)
So I have a lenders that I use so like I use, Kiavi for instance, one of the top lenders What they do is I get a deal “hey, got a deal This is how much it’s worth I’m looking for funding” I send pictures to them and once the numbers make sense they approve it and

fund everything. Now with that, you need 10 % down payment I don’t use my own money.

Michelle Kesil (01:50)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host,

Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Nii Nortey, who is a real estate investor in the upstate New York area, focusing on fix and flips, buy and hold, and is also a real estate broker. So excited to have you here today, Nii.

Nii Nortey (02:11)
Thank you very much, sure it’s a pleasure

being on the

call today and I appreciate

it.

Michelle Kesil (02:16)
Of course, let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?

Nii Nortey (02:23)
So my main focus is buying and flipping properties and also. ⁓

buy and hold so a buy and flip and buy and hold now the determination for a buy and hold is if it will cash flow more than enough to pay for itself and also to make more than make at least 20 % after a cash flows now the determination for the flips is ⁓ if we’ll be able to make at least 50k profit margin so if you cannot make 50k or more profit margin within a short period of time then it has to fall within the flip side but if it

has to fall within the long-term hold but if we’re going to make at least 50k more after the rehab and everything is completed then it goes into the flip side so that’s how we determine if it’s a long-term hold or if it’s the short-term buy-in flip.

Michelle Kesil (03:11)
And how did you get started in real estate?

Nii Nortey (03:11)
So that’s it.

Long story, so that’s a good question actually. I was in medical school and then I was, you know, I was just like everybody. Sometimes you don’t even know what to do, how to do it then it’s tough to actually, sometimes it’s tough to actually figure out what to do. So was in medical school, I saw that the student loans was piling up, everything was going and ⁓ it was mostly like working, what do you call it?

The medical school is mostly like working all day long, studying school and all that stuff. So it was one time when I met this older gentleman who his name was Maurice and then he was in his seventies and what he said or the key thing that he said was, Hey, ⁓ he cannot lose much. he, he was like,

He could take ricks and then he would lose. But then if he loses, it’s going to go a long way to affect him. But with me, I could take ricks and if I, regardless of how much I lose today, I can recoup it within a short period of time because I was young. So that basically rang the lights in me. And that’s when I realized, okay, what can I do to actually see it? And lo and behold, it was one time where I fell off a roof and I just had to like analyze myself.

I could have passed away, but guess what? What exactly have I done with my life? So that’s when I put in my letter to basically kind of the medical school program and then now focus on actually something that would bring good.

Real estate was the number one key and I started with a lot of books, bigger pockets and everything. Then once I got those books, everything else became a story. I got my first auction property that is in Maryland at 17,000. Then I got the next one in Pennsylvania for cheaper, because I didn’t have the money. So I was using student loans and then also using credit cards. Then once I got enough money now and I was able to establish a niche, but those were all like in 2019, 2020.

during the COVID time. it was, I’d say it was a good time or a good market. So that’s how I began. And eventually today is just another story, just looking back. So hopefully that helps.

Michelle Kesil (06:00)
Yeah, amazing. And what do you feel have been the main keys that have allowed your business to grow and run successfully?

Nii Nortey (06:07)
The main key would be consistency. Consistency is a lot of times I just feel like I want to give up and then my very first property I had a squad around there.

Then with the squatter, he said he had to, he’s going to own the property within a short period of time. But I had hope and I had confidence that, hey, regardless of what he does, I own the building. So yeah, you could do anything and everything, but still I have to own the property. So the main key was I had the right people that has had the right attorney who basically helped me or guided me through the process. And I learned through the process. the next one was also consistency. Consistency was as much as all that was going on. was always following up. was always.

making sure that things are going the way they should be, the timelines are met. And today I use the same ⁓ rubric or routine that is from knowing how to serve notices, knowing how to affect somebody, knowing how to actually scale up. So all of these things that I learned or challenges that I learned that could have made me give up from the beginning. Today I use the same principles now that is the consistency, the systems in place, and also just follow it up to the project system.

regardless of how much it cost me. I think the main thing that has helped now is just making sure, like paying somebody to do the work quickly, then trying to do it myself, and then you know, end up, you the work being like maybe five or seven weeks later, instead of paying somebody to do it maybe a week or two. So that’s mostly what has helped in terms of the key breakthroughs.

Michelle Kesil (07:41)
Do you mean like paying contractors or what does your team structure look like?

Nii Nortey (07:45)
Yes, so paying contractors. I have a, so now, for now I have a team of contractors that I could reach out that are reliable. But then in the beginning, I had people who I paid them and they never show up. So it got to a point where I was like, guess what? This year I’m only paying people who would only show up. But then with time I’ve built that consistency where those who stayed, I basically kept them or I’ve been reaching out to them consistently. And those who did not stay or those who, you know, messed up things, I took it.

as a learning experience from not repeating it the next time. So that is what has helped. So now I have a team of people who do the rehab side or construction side. I have a team of people who do the you know, the hand electrician, programmers, architects, lawyers. So I have the team of different people who are stakeholders who actually help to scale up. So that’s what has been going on.

Michelle Kesil (08:38)
Awesome.

Yeah. And so your primary focus is fix and flips, correct?

Nii Nortey (08:45)
That is correct. My primary focus is fixing flips. Then once in the blue moon, I hold what you call it. I hold some forenters, especially if it’s at least four units up.

Michelle Kesil (08:57)
Yeah, and what has been some of the biggest obstacles or challenges ⁓ as you’ve been doing fix and flips?

Nii Nortey (09:05)
Now, so I think this one probably is, ⁓ we’ll go for everybody. So a lot of fix and flip dependent. A lot of times I’m doing three or four projects at a time. So ⁓ a lot of times it’s gonna be funding. if you, they’re more financer, if I get a lender who actually funds the whole deal and also is gonna pay for the rehab, that’s always good. But at that sometimes that I have.

that is private lenders, private lenders, they just give you the money and then you figure out your own financing to fix it up. Those sometimes become challenging, but overall there’s, do you call it?

If you do it very frequently, there are people, if you work with them for so long, they know who you are, so you’re able to basically just juggle it up and wait till the flip is done. So one of the main things that have been challenging would be sometimes it’s the financial side.

other times too, it’s just the timeline and ⁓ sometimes too, it’s just that if I go to a different city, what do you call it? The city stakeholders, like the permit inside sometimes take longer. So if you try to finish a project within three or maybe four weeks or six weeks, the most the permits inside time, it takes forever, which sometimes doesn’t help, especially if you’re working on a time constraint project. So that’s some of some of the big challenges that I’ve been facing.

Michelle Kesil (11:01)
Yeah. And what are some of the major lessons that you’ve learned that you could share with other investors?

Nii Nortey (11:11)
So the greatest lesson that I’ve learned is basically be consistent. So maybe sometimes working at nine to five, somebody who says, you know, it’s relaxing and then you get something, depending on what you’re doing. But one thing that I learned is if you don’t, there’s a lot of money to be made in real estate. And then if you don’t put yourself out there, you would never know. So one of the greatest trends that I do is I basically am consistent. My family also.

understands that this is the business that I’m doing and this is why I’m doing it. So we both have an agreement with each other so that this, I’m missing home or if I stay long hours out, basically because of work, they know that this is what is going on. So that is one thing that helps me and a family that understands me. The next one also is, ⁓ the next one also is just the consistency that is showing up when you say you’re going to show up and then not just.

giving up when things become difficult. Because there’s so many times that I wish I could have given up. But one key word that comes in is, if I don’t do it, no one else is going to do it for me. So guess what? Let me just get up, get it done, and then I can have a real estate. So that’s one thing that has helped so far.

Michelle Kesil (12:25)
And what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Nii Nortey (12:29)
So my target for the next five to 10 years is to be in the billion dollar status, that is. And I know it’s gonna take a lot of time to be in the billion dollar status. Right now the portfolio is about 280 million. So get into the billion, I know it’s gonna take a lot. So I always focus and target on the deals that leads me closer to the margin or the margin of profit that I’m looking for so that I don’t just take on any deal.

But then I only take on deals that will lead me closer to that price point. Now why it helps me is because I have that focus ⁓ or the target goal. It helps me a lot also to know what deals would work and what deals would not work. Trust me, there’s a lot of people who bring different deals. A lot of my wholesalers and other people that I know who bring deals every day. then…

My target is basically this is what I’m looking for. If it doesn’t fit the criteria that I’m not interested in. And also one of the bigger things that I see that was gonna help is basically a developmental area, bringing new developments. then bringing a new development, I’ve been studying it and I’m also been, have a few mentors who are also doing a similar thing and then I’m learning. So right now I’m say I’ve been in the learning stage and also try to figure out how to use creative financing.

to get to those places because the business that I do now is all creative finance and using other people’s money or PM. So that’s what I’ve been focusing on how to also do that in the developmental state that is from ground up development. So that is where I am now in this state when it comes to the greater.

Michelle Kesil (14:09)
Can you expand more on how you use creative financing?

Nii Nortey (14:14)
Yes, so creative finance and that’s so many, there a lot of it. So if I say creative finance and now every deal that I do, somebody will say quote unquote, like my money is not involved. I say my money is not involved. have lenders that I use. Am I allowed to mention a lender’s name or not?

Michelle Kesil (14:32)
sure.

Nii Nortey (15:14)
So I have a lenders that I use so like I use, Kiavi for instance, and they one of the top lenders and then what they do is and I have like a lender broker also who What they do is I get a deal or that I do is “hey, got a deal This is how much it’s worth I’m looking for funding” now they I would all I do is I send pictures to them and then they just approve it all once the numbers make sense they approve it and then the

fund everything. Now with that, key I’ve decided so you need 10 % down payment now with a 10 % down payment I don’t use my own money.

I go back to another person a private lender and say hey I’m looking for 10 % for 15 % 10 I’m looking for maybe 90 grand for 15 % in six months if you’re interested in doing it let’s do it or 10 % at 90,000 with 10 % interest in six months if you’re interested in doing it let’s do it

and then they

come up with the down payments and then I basically just acquired

a building and then with the lender also the

bigger bank lender they fund the rehab cost and they fund the they fund the rehab cost and then fund the food building also so in the end the closing cost is paid by someone else and then I basically just take the loan and then the bank function pays everything so let me just make it short maybe it’s just confusing

I basically go to a bank who funds the whole deal and then the bank usually needs a down payment. So now with that down payment, I go to another person who’s a private lender. I have a few physician friends. Hey, I need some money. They come in

with their money for the down payment and I just pay them a percentage. So after the whole deal is done, I’m just like a middleman moving money around and within, what do you call it? Three to six weeks.

We done with the deal. I pay the bank completely. If I have to go with the building, I refinance or I do a bear. But if I have to like, what do you call it? Flip it, I flip it. within, sometimes within three to six months the most, we out of the deal and everybody’s paid, case is closed. So I go in the deal with no money. Now there are other things too that I’ve done with what you call the subject to deals that I’ve done, which I have other renters, people who could not afford their mortgage. So.

somebody brought it to me. I have other private lenders also, so I do a lot of auction properties. So the auction, sometimes somebody leaves in the building, the regular lender will not want to fund it. So now I go to another private money lender also, who doesn’t care anything about who leaves in, all they care about is my word. I tell them the house is worth this amount, and this is what I want to do with it. After fixing and flipping it, it’s going to be worth.

X amount provided I pay them their interest, which is usually 12 % and then points for acquiring the loan. They don’t care about anything else. We get the deal within, what do you call it? five to six months, we out of the deal, they get paid, everybody get paid. Then I walk away with a profit. So that is how sometimes the creative financing works. Now, and a lot of times too, when we get a bill then that somebody is leaving in there, usually to me, it’s just one of the easiest things.

Because sometimes you can go for cash for keys. A lot of times it works, but it all depends on the type of individual that we dealing with. So we go out and hey, I could evict you. It’s going to cost an attorney half of what I’m going to give you. Or you could just take the cash that I’m going to pay the attorney. And then you move out within a certain amount of days. then I give them, mostly I give them 60 days. And every day that they move out, I give them another incentive, maybe $20 or up to $50 each day that they move out early.

And it’s always worth it. They move out within a month. The longest one that I had was like two months worth because they couldn’t find any place, but he ended up moving out within two months and I still gave them an incentive also for moving out for the cash for key. So that’s mostly has been the ways that I sell. So the creative finance was using other people’s money and also taking somebody out when, ⁓ taking somebody out to cash for key so that I could expedite the process and pay off the loan quickly.

So that’s how it mostly works. Hopefully it makes sense.

Michelle Kesil (19:24)
Great, thanks for sharing.

And how do you find the deals for the flips? Is there a specific lead process you use?

Nii Nortey (19:34)
⁓ The flips I’ve always used different ways. So there are different opportunities. So I joined a lot of real estate, those real estate investor groups. like Facebook has a lot of them. ⁓ I joined those and I also have people who just reach out to me by word of mouth. Another way also is I have people who,

Attorneys and you know these different stakeholders like today for instance I spoke to you had two deals that came from different attorneys because those people were going through foreclosure So they asked if I could help so I have deals from attorneys, but a lot of my a lot of the deals that I do come from there ⁓

MLS MLS is multiple listing site that is on the you know, the agent website So a lot of them come from the MLS and I set it up for a certain price range in a certain location So the moment those buildings come up or price range comes within that target that I’m looking for I get an alert immediately So once I get that alert immediately the next thing that I do is I jump on the same day I go see the building if it’s worth ⁓ If it’s worth more than maybe if I see that there’s a hundred thousand dollar profit

to be made, after the rehab and everything, what I do is I put in, maybe let me give an example. So they listed one building that is worth 390. They listed it for 210. Then the moment they listed it for 210, that same day I went in there and it was just the foundation work that needed to be done. But I had a team that does that. We do that every day.

I just went in and I offered $250. Now we’re offering the $250. I knew that I was going to beat every competition and I offered at what you call as is, no inspections, 10,000 unrefundable deposit, 30 day close and we could do sooner the title comes in. And then also I just make it that, hey, are we willing to work with the seller? So those are some of the aggressive offers that I make. So once I make that and then I’m, you know, I know that it mostly comes up with

Multiple auction offers or multiple offer and multiple offers so you know final invest but already I knew that This is the out worth of the house. So I’m already giving I’m putting my force, you know I’m putting my best offer in the first day that I saw the deal so I don’t go back and forth like playing I just know this is how much it’s worth and this is how much I’m going to offer for it why because of you know, the number that I really want to get out of it and at times to work on the MLS to IC deals and then

Michelle Kesil (21:39)
you

Nii Nortey (21:53)
Maybe the price margin or the profit margin was not enough. So I offer all the offer what it’s worth. And then, you know, I move on from that. I don’t care if they say multiple offers like this is how much I think it’s worth. I’m gonna give you, I’m gonna do any and everything just to, you know, get to that price point. If I get to that price point to take my offer, sure. But if you don’t take my offer, there’s always a deal on the table. There’s always a deal that comes up. So, but I, don’t kill myself for deals. I mostly just focus on.

the numbers once the numbers make sense, offer what I think makes sense and I move from there. So I get the deals from the MLS a lot. Then I get it from auction and some of the auctions

that I use, don’t go, I never go to in-person auctions. mostly do auction.com, zoom.com.

service link.com. So those are the three nationwide websites that I use. Then once I get them also I move on and the last people that I use is attorneys, other brokers who reach out to me directly if I want to do a cash deal because the condition

the building cannot be marketable or it cannot be sold on a regular market and then wholesalers who actually reach out to me and maybe once in a blue moon I see Craigslist or Facebook market investor group and then I get the deal so I’m always all over the place looking for deals that’s what I say

Michelle Kesil (23:12)
Amazing. Thank you for sharing.

Okay, well before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you?

Nii Nortey (23:21)
You can find the first is will probably be on tiktok. So I usually respond to messages that I have. It’s @nii.nortey1 that is NII that is Nancy India India NII dot Nancy Oscar Romeo Tango Echo Yankee NOR TEY1

on TikTok, you can find me there or you can just email me n-o-r-t-e-y-h-o-m-e-s at gmail.com. I’m always available to discuss deals, so I’ll also walk you through if you need it.

Michelle Kesil (23:58)
We’ll appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Nii Nortey (24:02)
It’s a pleasure talking to you and thank you very much for making time to speak to me today.

Michelle Kesil (24:06)
And for those tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Nii who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on our next episode.