From Foreclosures to Gas Stations & Shopping Centers | Real Estate Investing Strategy Breakdown

Mike Byrus (00:00)
Yeah. So the average sale is usually about 16 months to two years from start to finish. That’s from once you’ve located the property and started reaching out to the homeowners or working with the court systems. From that day one, the average is about 16 months, we’ll say. So from there, we move on to working with the court systems or the homeowners in terms of what the actual situations are, because day to day they’re always different.

very just like transition transaction sales of single families are different, these are just as different by day to day. So in terms of trying to manage my time efficiently, the goal is to try and find out what these people are looking for and try and solve their problems on a faster timeframe.

Michelle Tack (01:19)
Welcome everybody to Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Michelle Tack, your podcast leader, and I have a wonderful operator today. His name is Mike Byrus. one of the things that I’m particularly thrilled about in terms of having Mike on, that he has d been doing his own investing for 15 years.

He also is an agent and he is also looking to transition all of that eventually into doing you know larger scalable investment. So with that, Mike, can you describe what you are focused on today for those that may not know about you know the length of your deals and what markets you serve.

Mike Byrus (02:07)
Sure. I’m in the North Carolina market. I am a foreclosure specialist who works with investors and collecting small assets in terms of single family duplexes.

Michelle Tack (02:17)
And can you talk about how you operate in terms of how do you go about the day to day to make sure that you’re operationally efficient in the fact that it’s a long sales cycle sometimes or a long process. Can you talk to that a little bit, please?

Mike Byrus (02:39)
Yeah. So the average sale is usually about 16 months to two years from start to finish. That’s from once you’ve located the property and started reaching out to the homeowners or working with the court systems. From that day one, the average is about 16 months, we’ll say. So from there, we move on to working with the court systems or the homeowners in terms of what the actual situations are, because day to day they’re always different.

very just like transition transaction sales of single families are different, these are just as different by day to day. So in terms of trying to manage my time efficiently, the goal is to try and find out what these people are looking for and try and solve their problems on a faster timeframe.

Michelle Tack (03:24)
Mike, how do you figure out what your ideal customer profile is for that foreclosure? do you have parameters for that? Can you talk about that a little bit?

Mike Byrus (04:21)
Yes, there are some parameters in terms of how much we’re spending and how long it takes for us to get that money back. That’s usually the equation we we try to work with. And our investors, my investors, have specific time frames on how long they want that money to sit out and return. So that’s usually the start point for if I’m taking on investors or not. That’s where it all starts. Then the condition of the property is a major factor.

So these can be super distressed where nobody’s even living in them, or somebody could still be living in them and it’s just a tax deed issue.

Michelle Tack (04:53)
Yep. Y I know that you specialize in the Carolinas, I believe. Is it North Carolina and South Carolina or North Carolina? How do you find these properties before someone else does or af you know, how do you do this so that, you know, there’s a continuing flow of these properties that you’re searching out?

Mike Byrus (04:59)
North North Carolina.

So the business model started during COVID. COVID, there was a massive relinquishing to the market here in North Carolina. Well, it wasn’t just here in North Carolina, but where I am, there was a massive opening of foreclosures that opened to the market. Specifically here in this state, there’s only a few law firms that take care of those foreclosures. Okay. So the inventories are available. They’re not as easy to find. So I started working personally with some of these law firms.

And that’s how the relationships have grown in that that sense.

Michelle Tack (05:45)
Let’s let’s talk about relationships. You and I talked about having a network. whether that starts out with family funds or something else. Can you talk to how your network has grown? I know that I was sort of impressed that you’re, you know, you you did things on behalf of your family initially. Can you speak to that that whole network piece a little bit?

Mike Byrus (06:04)
Sure. I will say I looked for investors and I’ll tell you the hardest investors to land were my parents. They were the hardest ones to get some money out of to do this, but they saw what I was doing and they they believed in it because they were real estate people themselves. So they invested, they allowed me to use their money to start the business. Once I gave them their returns, they were able to just start consistently recycle that same fund.

Once I gained the traction during COVID from using that funds, I was able to have a nice enough inventory to where I was able to advertise it and unload it to investors.

Michelle Tack (06:40)
Great. I know that you have future sites, you know, opportunities year out. Can you share with us what you what your aspirations are for the future, what you want to actualize?

Mike Byrus (07:29)
Sure. So I plan to grow this portfolio to a si a decent size and I’m hoping to leverage it for a lot larger of a market to be into. I’m in a single family market right now. So I’m I’m hoping to go into a larger commercial aspect.

Michelle Tack (07:44)
Can you describe for the listeners that maybe you know, b maybe investors, what have you, and may want to reach out to you, like what defines a commercial size for you? We know what commercial property is, obviously, but a commercial size.

Mike Byrus (07:57)
Sure. So I was looking to acquire gas stations and shopping centres.

Michelle Tack (08:00)
wow. Interesting. Why w what made you want to do those?

Mike Byrus (08:04)
I’ve I’ve worked with people who investors who have owned gas stations. I’ve seen the numbers from previous careers of how gas stations operate and I I’ve always had a fascination with gas stations and shopping centers.

Michelle Tack (08:18)
And what time period are you trying to, you know, acquire some of that property? What are what sites do you have on doing that?

Mike Byrus (08:26)
I’m hoping to make the move within the next two years. I’m hoping to start leveraging the portfolio and really start getting into the commercial sector within the next two years.

Michelle Tack (08:36)
That’s wonderful. You know, you have a variety of things that you’re looking at. You’re looking at doing more commercial, you’ve got your SFRs, you’ve got some of your own investments. can you talk about a deal as things grow and expand in real estate? You know, things get more complicated by nature, like in any business. Can you describe maybe a time when a deal or situation starting to move sideways or south on you?

And that perhaps you needed to pivot quickly and adjust, whether you salvaged the deal or not, but those learning lessons that came out of that experience, if possibly, you know, in the last couple of years.

Mike Byrus (10:02)
Yes. So the one the one benefit to the foreclosure business is a good portion of that time in acquiring the deal, there’s not too much money exchanged. So the banks or or whoever is holding the property separate from the act the previous homeowner or the existing one. So I had to learn to

Be more concise and specifically learning what is going on in these situations because like I said, they’re so different. And I can give you an example. Yeah. I’m working on we have the property now and we’ve gotten through the foreclosure process, but

Michelle Tack (10:34)
I’d love to hear.

Mike Byrus (10:40)
I realize that sometimes it’s it’s better in the beginning to sometimes you might just have to pay more money to just get some of these deals done faster so you can get the ball rolling. And specifically with this one client we had, she the foreclosure process started and she believed she had the chance to get out of it. Somehow she thought she could raise the money and get out of the foreclosure. You know, she was right there at.

pre-foreclosure turning into foreclosure. So once that starts, you’ve got like a year almost to like start working to save your butt. She thought she could handle it herself. And I realized I didn’t do that well of portraying to her the downsides if she makes a mistake at this point of the game. Mm-hmm. And that’s where I started getting more personal with my clients and customers because I’m realizing these are families that are in dire and distress need. So

I’m explaining to them and understanding that you guys are in a financial distress as well, not just your home. And what I’m trying to do here, not just buy your house, is also segue you into a situation where it’s not going to be more detrimental than what you’re already existing in. A lot of these people, like their credit is shot. They start going into bankruptcies and down paths like that. I can actually avoid those for a lot of people. They just don’t know it.

They just aren’t aware of what’s out there and how to avoid that. So I had to learn in my model to start being more expressive, even about my situation’s personal life, so they can understand that this isn’t the only way out to go down this path. And they can still acquire a new home after this. It’s not the end of the world. So I learned real quick that I needed to be more expressive in explaining to some of these clients the actual downsides of what comes after.

you’ve left this foreclosure, not just getting them through the process so we can acquire the property. The business model had to change to where I had to more involve myself so that I can help them transition better to the next property and not just leave them there at the end of the foreclosure.

Michelle Tack (12:45)
Has that helped your business attract more clients because you’re ch you are, you know, speaking from truth, or help me understand how that may have changed your business a little bit or the level of stress perhaps?

Mike Byrus (13:01)
Yeah, it’s it’s up the stress because then they start bringing a little more of all their problems. Yeah. So that comes with it. But like I said, I’ve seen this go through with some of my family members, and I understood that there wasn’t just the issues of getting the foreclosure process done. It was everything after that. So for me, it became more valuable in learning how to transition them into a next step more comfortably for their next phase of life.

Michelle Tack (13:19)
Yeah.

That’s awesome. You’ve been a wonderful guest. I know that you had shared earlier that you may be looking for investment funds or you’re open to you know chatting with others. So before we close, can you give your contact information? whatever you want to give, but if it’s an email, please after you say it, spell it out so people can write it down. Okay.

Mike Byrus (13:32)
Yeah, my name is Mike Byrus. My phone number is 919-417-3030. my email address is [email protected]. First name initial as in Michael. Last name, B as in Boy, Y R U S I N C at Gmail.com.

Michelle Tack (14:11)
You know, we really appreciate your specificity, the learning lessons, and continued success, Mike. I’m sure you’re gonna do great. And for those who have l listened today, our subscribers, continue to tune in. We’ve got other great content like Mike has pr prepared and shared today. And for those that may not be subscribers, we’re here to work with you.

Looking forward to hearing about further success, Mike, down the road. Thank you.