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Show Summary
In this conversation, Paul Rodriguez shares his insights on real estate, emphasizing the importance of understanding value and identifying opportunities in the market. He reflects on his early experiences, the lessons learned from failures, and how these shaped his approach to investing. Paul also discusses his commitment to serving his community and guiding the next generation in their financial journeys.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Paul Rodriguez (00:00)
I’ll be quite honest with you, putting up that kind of money, when you have to transact, transacting your first deal is you’re signing on.for your life, essentially. Like it’s almost as if you’re putting everything into this to include time and money. And it’s a hard proposition. It’s a hard step to take. But once you take that step, it kind of like, becomes easier. So the first step is always the hardest, but as you kind of grow in your, you know, in your financial journey, your wealth building journey,
it becomes easier and easier. It’s almost like when you’re lifting weights, you you might start at the bar if you’re doing, you know, flat bench. But if we revisit you in a year from now and you’re actually putting in the work and you’re making gains, you know, you’ve got a couple of plates on there.
Quentin (00:44)
Yeah. ⁓Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. And you know what I’m going say? I’m excited to be here. And you probably know what I’m going say next, too. Our guests have a way of firing me up. They have a way of getting me just excited about the conversation that you’re about to see us have. And today is no different. I’m talking to this man, and I love the way he thinks. I love the way his mind works.
He is someone that understands where the value rests. He is an analyst by trade and financial analyst. So his mind is meticulous. The way his mind works is meticulous. The way he analyzed deals and analyzed the money, it got to make sense. And he’s going to find where it makes sense. And if it don’t make sense, he disciplined enough to know, listen, we ain’t going to it. And so I am so excited to introduce you to Mr. Paul Rodriguez.
Mr. Paul, how you doing today,
Paul Rodriguez (03:22)
Thank you for the introduction, Mr. Quentin. I appreciate the time. It’s great to be on this platform with you and I look forward to this interview.Quentin (03:30)
Absolutely. Same here, So this is you to start, man. So I want to dive in with you to get to see things from your perspective through your lens. So take us into your world, man. Tell us what your main focus is these days. If you want to give us a little origin story of how you got to where you are, especially within real estate. And man, if you can tell us what markets you’re in, man.I would love to know that. I’m sure people would love to know that as well. So Mr. Paul, sir, you got the floor, man. It’s all yours.
Paul Rodriguez (04:03)
Okay, yeah, so Paul Rodriguez hail from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, currently residing in Tampa, Florida. I am a father of six kids, happily married, approaching 10 years of marriage in May this coming year. So that’s a huge, gonna be a huge milestone for us. I definitely am here to help.those that are on their journey into real estate or whatever investment class that you might be entering into. One of the things that I’ve found very, very ⁓ important or let’s just say a driving factor was not being the
nine to five, work till I’m 62, 65 guy. I had a long road in that space. I have 25 years of government experience as a financialist, Quentin just mentioned. So when it comes to numbers, especially from an acquisition perspective,
I am very fine tuned in that space. so, so I’m very, it, when, when we look at, when I look at specific properties or a specific ⁓ venture, the first thing I want to know is just like Quentin said, it doesn’t make dollars. Doesn’t make sense. So, so that isn’t the end all be all because there could be significant upside.
However, when you’re first starting as someone who you’re going to start somewhere, you’re going to start at square one, every person starts at ground zero.
I mean, unless you kind of an inheritance or whatever have you, that wasn’t me. So you’re going to start at ground zero. I think being…
a risk taker, but a calculated risk taker is something that anybody can employ. But at the root of it, when you get into this space, you have to have the courage. You have to have the wherewithal. You definitely have to have the mindset of I’m going to follow through no matter what. And if you can adopt those qualities,
over a period of time, there isn’t anything that you can’t achieve. And I think that’s one of the lessons, Quentin, I kind of want to get that message across for our audiences. You the mindset I really started with, we kind of discussed this, well, we didn’t discuss this earlier. The mindset is the start of everything. And where I adopted part of it was when I first started.
David Goggins on the Joe Rogan show. Man, that guy is a beast and I still follow him. ⁓ But he kind of triggered this ability to tap into what is it, how can I overcome this challenge? ⁓ so that challenge, the challenge for me was getting out of the nine to five, staking and…
sitting in traffic for 45 minutes on the way to traffic an hour coming back and saying to myself, you know what, that’s a probably a good piece. That’s a pretty good piece of property right there. I bet you that thing makes a lot of money because there people going in and out. I myself have gone in there gassed up or whatever. So so that was that was the mindset was the was the origin. ⁓ And then the the the.
the noting of what that opportunity looks like was the next step. Of course, I had to put some things into action as far as research, understanding what the market demographics are. So what does that look like? Okay, the demographics are the community that this specific gas station served.
had a population of over 4,500 ⁓ homes, right, where each home had a median income of $85,000. So that right there was essentially helping that gas station that I looked at on my way home from my nine to five said to me was, can support, it’s supported by this community, right? There’s a lot of…
Quentin (09:39)
Hmm.Paul Rodriguez (09:41)
competition in this area, but that one right there, that one backs up right to a community. That’s a pretty good find. I wonder if it’s for sale. And so that’s where it started. That’s where the journey started for me. And it culminated with me ultimately approaching the owner, asking what the details were. I had zero gas station experience.⁓ But again, the mentality was, I’ll find a way. My wife has retail experience. I have numbers experience and acquisition experience. We’re going to couple those two things together and figure it out. And that’s what we did.
Quentin (10:15)
Woo!Man, I love it. Oh man, you’re a great storyteller. I’m saying that I’m I’m watching the picture as you talk. I’m just watching it all unfold. And I love how you brought in your wife at the end. I love how you brought in your partnership. You know the numbers, she has retail experience. Y’all build the empire together. I absolutely, absolutely love that man. And I know, I want to pick your brain a little bit when it comes to strategies, right?
You’ve talked about some of the strategies that you’ve put into place, like you’ve been analytical, but I want to talk about business strategies and personal strategies. Are there strategies that govern your life that kind of makes you kind of find your target and go towards it? Like what are the strategies that keeps you motivated, keeps you passionate, that keeps you going towards the target or the goal or the prize?
Paul Rodriguez (11:47)
So the strategies that keep me motivated are…Looking at the landscape that we currently reside in and understanding that affordability is now the buzzword, Houses are unaffordable. I live in a Tampa market and ⁓ average home price is somewhere in the 450, 450K range in Tampa Hillsborough County proper. ⁓
Quentin (12:03)
Hmm.Paul Rodriguez (12:19)
I have a 25 year old daughter who just graduated. She can’t afford a $450,000 mortgage. So there’s some issues there and I’m not the guy to solve those issues, right? However, I look at how can I put my immediate unit in a spacethat allows them to level up beyond their earning, the traditional earning potential, which is where they’re at right now, what’s required for them to live independently and get to that point. So when I think about a strategic motivator, and we were in the kitchen table yesterday, and I kind of broached the subject about
what the next three years looks like from Paul’s perspective, ⁓ hoping I would kind of like engage some conversation from their perspective. They didn’t really, they didn’t bite, but the point is I gave them my plan and they know I’m a man of action. So they understood this is Paul’s plan. Now, I want them to kind of understand that, hey,
Quentin (13:19)
Yeah, they ain’t bite.Paul Rodriguez (13:38)
You’re gonna need to do things non-traditionally just to get to square one. Because the way we used to do things, if you wanna live in this space, Tampa specifically, ⁓ won’t work. Not these days. You could have got away with the seven pre-COVID. Man, I tell you what, Florida.Quentin (14:02)
man.Paul Rodriguez (14:04)
Boy, let me tell you, everybody from up north came down to Florida. was like, woo, you ain’t got COVID, all right. I’ll buy that, I’ll buy that, I’ll buy that, I’ll buy that. House prices shot up. So now they’re floating this idea of a 50 year mortgage. Terrible idea. You’re gonna pay double the interest over the life of the loan. Who carries a loan to entirety, Maybe 15 % of the people who own mortgages now, you’re right.Quentin (14:07)
more.Hmm
Paul Rodriguez (14:29)
most people refinance. But the trade off ⁓ is we’re gonna see some interesting times over the next couple of years. But I say all that to say, you asked me about my strategy to really get my unit, my kids to a point where they’re completely independent. I want them to go beyond that, right?Quentin (14:49)
Love it.Paul Rodriguez (14:55)
So let’s get them here. And then once they see, this works, just keep employing it. Rinse, rinse, rinse, wash, repeat. So that’s kind of Paul’s, know, how I’m wired and I’m a service guy, right? It’s ingrained in me to provide a financial service, cause that’s the part.that I’ve done so long, right? That’s a part of Paul that he’s employed so long is to provide a service. So I’m serving my community, I’m serving my kids, I’m serving my wife, I’m serving Jesus, right? And so what we’re trying to do from my perspective is say, you can do this. I wish 24-year-old Paul had the courage. He didn’t quite understand. He took some bumps, right?
Quentin (15:31)
Mm.Paul Rodriguez (15:48)
because I took some L’s to learn that, but I didn’t take a catastrophic L. So that helped to, again, calculated risk. But that’s my strategy as far as where is the next step and how do we get our generation that’s coming up to this level and above.Quentin (16:49)
Yeah, man, it was fun asking you that question because so many of our strategies, personal wise and business wise, they’re kind of parallel to each other. I say this a lot on a podcast. One of the statements that have carried me through my life and continue to carry me is that when you know who you are, you know what to do. When you know what your why is.You know how to navigate business. You know what your why going to be in business. You know what your why is going to be in personal. And as you kept layering your story, you made sure your wife was mentioned. As you kept layering your story, you made sure your kids was mentioned. Like you are part of me, a person that know their why. And your why pushes you business wise and pushes you personally. You already know you’re an analyst.
Paul Rodriguez (17:16)
Yes.Quentin (17:43)
but you know you are a service guy. You know that you are the rock of your family, right? You know that you have to serve your family before you serve anybody else. Like all of these things come through. That’s why for me, it was very fun asking you that question about your strategies because I knew that you would approach that in a way that wouldn’t just focus on, oh, you know, the numbers, the X’s O’s, which of course you’re that guy, so we know that. But you knew the strategy is that and.so much bigger than that as well. So I appreciate you answering that question, So listen, man, you talked about goals. They didn’t bite, but listen, I’m going to bite. I want to know what’s the next real goal for you, man. Like where are we going? What’s the next real goal for you,
Paul Rodriguez (18:13)
Right, right.So the things that I mentioned was we’re in the early stages of preparing what we learned throughout the pre-acquisition, the acquisition, the operation, and the exit of that gas station, right? ⁓ And what not to do.
what to do.
operations versus real estate to completely different things. Same industry, gas contracts, right? Non-gas contracts, right? So there’s a lot in this mind that I want to get out to the community and make sure they understand
It can be done and it’s not that expensive. It’s a lot of hustle, but it’s not that expensive. And if you kind of have a timeline, because there is a timeline, I’ll tell you this. I’ll give you this quick nugget on the book. The sustainability over a long period of time is extremely low.
because you burn out. But the point is there’s a lot of money to be made and it’s a great capital builder for someone who wants to level themselves up. so that’s one of the things that’s on the horizon. We don’t have a release date yet because we’re…
We’re still in the early stages of kind of putting that together, putting the concepts together and layering that ⁓ into the book. ⁓ And so that’s what’s on the horizon for me ⁓ right now. I’m sorry, in the 26, probably in the middle, the late 26 space. On the front end. ⁓
Quentin (20:10)
Yeah. Yeah.Paul Rodriguez (20:31)
We are in the late, late stages of entering or closing on a 180 unit property in the Southeast region. And so that has huge potential for our company. We’re extremely excited of what that’s going to provide for us. That’s another kind of.layer of validation that what we’re doing is the right thing and we’re moving in the right direction and we’re trying to pull people in so that they understand that, hey, there’s more ways than just putting your money in the market or working the nine to five to help your wealth grow at the same time reduce your tax burden. So that’s the strategy.
All the tools are out there for us. It’s just a matter of you use it. And the sad part is…
people kind of don’t. that’s, it’s a shame because you got gray hair. you know, you and I, probably 90s babies, we didn’t have all this information. I know if I had some semblance of what kind of content our kids have nowadays, wow. I have no idea what life would look like.
Quentin (21:43)
Yeah.name.
Paul Rodriguez (21:58)
but it would probably be drastically different. I say all that to say, I want, and this goes back to the kids. So they’re there, right? Let’s get their feet wet. How did you do that, dad?Let me walk you through the steps, son. Let me walk you through the steps, daughter. And so having those conversations so that we can kind of create that generational mindset, they talk about generational wealth, I talk about generational mindset. Because if we instill that into them, this is how it can be done, guess what’s gonna happen? They’re gonna pass that down. So that’s my, you mentioned why?
Quentin (22:23)
Yeah, general mindset.Paul Rodriguez (22:39)
That’s a hard why. So that’s what’s on the horizon for 26. That’s what’s happening right now. And I’m excited about all of it. Now, it’s not roses and peaches and cream, right? There’s a lot of work that goes into this. There’s a lot of studying. There’s a lot of anxiety.Quentin (22:53)
Yeah.Yeah.
Paul Rodriguez (23:06)
I’ll be quite honest with you, putting up that kind of money, when you have to transact, transacting your first deal is you’re signing on.for your life, essentially. Like it’s almost as if you’re putting everything into this to include time and money. And it’s a hard proposition. It’s a hard step to take. But once you take that step, it kind of like, becomes easier. So the first step is always the hardest, but as you kind of grow in your, you know, in your financial journey, your wealth building journey,
it becomes easier and easier. It’s almost like when you’re lifting weights, you you might start at the bar if you’re doing, you know, flat bench. But if we revisit you in a year from now and you’re actually putting in the work and you’re making gains, you know, you’ve got a couple of plates on there.
Quentin (23:50)
Yeah. ⁓Paul Rodriguez (24:00)
So it’s a, it’s the same, it’s the same concept, different type of environment, right? It’s different industry, but same concept.Quentin (24:09)
Yeah, man, you said so much, so many valuable things that you’ve dropped, man. There’s a saying, an old proverb that says a good man leaves a legacy for his children’s children, right? Not just his children, but his children’s children. And the true legacy is leaving the mindset, is leaving a legacy of a way for your community, your tribe. I can’t remember how you said it, butThose that you, yeah, your community, right? Leaving a legacy and a culture of mindset, of thinking, thinking when it comes to legacy. Because if you get them to think the right way, they’ll go, they’ll find a way to make the money. So it’s not just about leaving the money. The richness is about leaving them the legacy of mindset because they’ll find a way to make the money if they know how to think, you know? And so this has been so
Paul Rodriguez (24:56)
Yes.Yes. Yes.
Quentin (25:02)
Refreshing man. I appreciate you. I knew this was gonna be a good episode the more that we talked. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, how can they get in contact with you, Mr. Paul?Paul Rodriguez (25:17)
So the way to reach out to me specifically would be through paulathershey-capital.com. That’s our financial arm where we offer DSCR loans, ground up capital, ⁓ fix and flips. Our focus is really on DSCR. So that’s where we kind of primarily spend our energy. ⁓So that’s a way to contact us. You can also look on our website. It’s hershey-capital.com And so those are the two primary ways we’re on social, on Facebook, Hershey Capital. And so those are ways to kind of reach out to us. And if there’s ever any questions, concerns about how do I purchase property, do assist.
We have some consult work that we do for clients who might be looking to purchase a multifamily property. ⁓ And so we try to help those folks that are maybe getting into the business or seasoned investors that have industry knowledge and maybe a collection of properties already. So it ranges from the beginner to the seasoned investor. And as I mentioned earlier, my
my service kind of nature is in that space. So I’m here to serve the community and I’m hoping that your audience sees this and they reach out to us and we can connect and get them into the next venture. Because the hardest step is the first step. All right, Quentin, is that good?
Quentin (26:59)
step. Listen man,man absolutely listen y’all, y’all heard Mr. Paul, he didn’t drop the nuggets, he didn’t give you his contact information so definitely get in contact with him. But then also definitely make sure you’re subscribed. Listen you do not want to miss out on the amazing people that we continue to bring up just like Mr. Paul. And so Mr. Paul I thank you again man and to everyone else we will see you on the next time.
