From IT to Real Estate Developer: How Olatunde Badmus Is Building Multifamily in Houston

Share via:

• Facebook
• X (Twitter)
• LinkedIn
• More

Subscribe via:

Show Summary

Olatunde Badmus, a real estate developer based in Houston, Texas, shares his inspiring journey from immigrating to the United States from Nigeria to building multifamily housing developments. Starting his career as an IT professional at companies like Walmart and Oracle, Olatunde leveraged his project management background to transition into real estate development.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Excel Estate’s Website
    • Olatunde Badmus on Instagram
    • Olatunde Badmus’ Phone Number: (313)209-1835
    • Olatunde Badmus on LinkedIn

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Olatunde (00:00)
  It’s not about just the money because when you talk about real estate with Alconzano, you know, there’s huge money in real estate. I said, well, it’s not about the money thoughts. It’s about the value. It’s about the fact that you want to solve a problem. And I’ll tell you, if you solve a problem, money comes with the money comes with you solving the problem. The issue is that sometimes people keep searching for money without solving problems.

  Quentin (01:56)
  Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest and I can give you a little bit about him, but I want you to hear things from his mouth. Very fascinating. Didn’t start out in real estate, but he’s in real estate doing a great job. And I am excited for us just to get a chance to peek through his lens. And so I want to introduce you all to Olatunde.

  Badness. Olatunde how you doing today, sir?

  Olatunde (02:27)
  ⁓ I’m doing great. Thank you for inviting me to the show. Yeah, thank you. This is this is awesome.

  Quentin (02:32)
  Absolutely.

  Well, listen, man, I’m so glad you’re here. And listen, I kind of want to dive in. I want you to tell the people what your main focus is, like what do you focus on now in real estate? Also, I want you to give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into real estate. I think people would love to know that. We love to hear about your journey. And then let them know geographically, where you are in the world. tell us what you’re doing now, the origin story and where you are. And so, Olatunde sir you have the floor, man.

  Olatunde (03:01)
  Awesome. Thank you. What am I doing now? Presently we’re building 10 units. We build multi-family units here in Houston, Texas. So we are actually in the process of building the unit. We just completed some units. We have some unit that is actually going on and then we’re about to break and we’re about to break another ground. We should be doing that, let’s say in three to four months, you know, trying to work around the permit. So it’s been pretty busy, you know, managing my

  managing my clients, managing my workers, but it’s been awesome. And the other part, how did I get into real estate? So I started my career as an IT professional. I’m an immigrant. I came from Nigeria to the US. I was done with my school. I got my job with Walmart as a senior technical program manager. And I moved from Walmart. went to Oracle where then I was also the Scrum Master and also an IT leader.

  Quentin (03:32)
  Yeah.

  Olatunde (03:56)
  And at that time I told myself, you know, I want to go into real estate. I love, I love real estate because I’ve been doing project management on that side. So I felt, know, my skills in project management will be of great value to what’s going on in the real estate development. That was our, you know, how to study, you know, real estate development. And I tell you, it’s, it’s been awesome. It’s been awesome because we’re not just building home, we’re solving problems. We’re solving critical problems and we are helping people.

  And I’m located here in Houston, Texas, you know, one of the best city in the United States.

  Quentin (04:32)
  I love it, man. Thank you for taking us on a journey. Immigrant from Nigeria, started off in IT in Walmart. ⁓ Project management, so you knew how to help people. You felt like that could translate very intricately when it comes to real estate. You’re a solving problem, and more important, you want to help people. And so this is beautiful, And I have a saying all the time that I say destiny has no wasted moments, right?

  Olatunde (05:01)
  Thanks.

  Quentin (05:01)
  And no matter what you go through in life, destiny prepares you and brings you to the moment where you are now. Right. And so I would love to know, sir, just throughout your journey from I.T., Walmart, now into real estate, what has destiny taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline? Has it taught you resolve, humility? Like, what is this journey in real estate taught you about you, Olatunde?

  Olatunde (05:08)
  Yes.

  Yeah, one of the thing really has taught me, you know, right from coming into the US into the IT, it has taught me to be flexible, very, flexible. The life is, you know, things keep moving that you have to be flexible and you have to learn to wear many hats. When I came into the US, the first hat I wore was a school was a student. And then I got into Walmart, I was wearing this hat as a IT professional. Now when I’m hot, as a, know,

  Quentin (06:22)
  Mm. Mm-hmm.

  Olatunde (06:44)
  as a real estate developer. So it has taught me this act of flexibility. Don’t be too, nothing is cast on stone. Like I tell people that life is dynamic, things keep happening and you just need to make sure, okay, I need to be flexible. When a new opportunity comes, a new challenges come, how do I take up this opportunity? How do I take up this challenge and to actually make myself a better person? So it’s taught me on how to navigate life with.

  flexibility and also, you know, embrace every opportunity and challenges that comes your way.

  Quentin (07:20)
  Yeah, I love that word flexibility, man. And thank you for saying that because what doesn’t bends break, right? So you got to be flexible. because if you don’t bend with it, you know, you can hurt something. You know what I mean? Yeah, so I hear you. So that’s a great word. I’m glad you dropped that nugget off, flexibility. And then, kind of tried, when you was talking, it made me think about adversity, right? I know all of us.

  Olatunde (07:34)
  Yep.

  Quentin (07:48)
  on our journey to success, we faced some type of adversity. So I would love to know in your journey, how have adversity looked for you and how did you overcome it?

  Olatunde (07:58)
  Okay. What I’m feeling adversity has done to me and I’m going to ride from life is I remember a time when I was working, know, long time ago, my company, you know, we got, we got laid off from company and I sat down. told myself that this, this is an adversity. This is a challenge. How do I have to turn this into a big success? So it has adversity as a retorts me that, you know, what’s life is not static things keep moving.

  that for every problem you go through, learn to see the good side of life. Yeah, because, and it has taught me that life is about perspective. Because the thing you’re going through, like, man, I’m gonna die. Someone else has gone through that thing and they’ve been able to come out with success. So when you have a better perspective about life, even when you’re going through some of the hardest season in your life, it gives you this perspective, you know what, it’s all gonna be good. And we’re all coming out strong. Yeah, and I tell my friends too.

  Quentin (08:29)
  Mmm.

  Olatunde (08:54)
  It’s all going to be good and we’re going to come out strong.

  Quentin (08:59)
  so well said because perspective is everything. Like you go where your mind think, right? Where your mind go, your body will follow. So if you can tell your mind, get your mind under control, what I call regulate your nervous system, because I’ve learning a lot about regulating my nervous system. Like if you can regulate and ground yourself, like you said, change your perspective, you’ll realize that, like you said, somebody has overcame what I’m facing right now.

  Olatunde (09:02)
  Yeah.

  of the year.

  Yes.

  Yes.

  Quentin (09:28)
  And so it’s

  not insurmountable right now. I just have not figured out the solution, but there is a solution to what I’m going through. And so I love that. And I love how you tell you say you tell your friends the same thing. That’s what I’m talking about. Absolutely. So tell me on a team day, like what’s your next real goal? What are you looking to solve a scale next, sir?

  Olatunde (09:41)
  Thank you.

  Okay, we’re trying to the next thing we’re doing before they started part of it, we’re going into 20 units. We’re going into 20 units. And also, we want to go into our apartment complex, we want to start building an apartment complex. So the first so the next one immediately is we’re going to 20 units, we already bought the land, the land is subdivided, we already working on the permits, as in three months, I’m going to start building. And the next big thing after then is we want to start building, you know,

  Quentin (09:54)
  Yeah.

  Olatunde (10:16)
  apartment complex, know, like 48 units, 60 units, we want to go into that because I believe, we need to take new challenges and for us to be a better version of ourselves, we need to aim high. We need to aim high. I tell my team, you know, we just started, we need to aim high. need to keep, know, take care of the challenges, see the next challenge as a big opportunity for you to stretch yourself and become a better version of you.

  Quentin (11:21)
  I love that aim high because if you ain’t aiming high, if you can aim at something that you can easily accomplish, what is that, right? mean, yeah. What’s in that? know, hey, look, my goal was to pick up this cup. Look, I did it. No. Let me see if I can pick up 10 cups at one time, right? Like, yeah, so I love it, man. I love it. I love how you keep saying we. You keep talking about your friends.

  Olatunde (11:29)
  No, not again.

  Quentin (11:50)
  Like you seem to me that you value relationships. So Alatumbe, I want to talk a little bit about that word relationship. How is, how do you see relationships and what you’re building? Is it important to you to have good business relationships, to have good partnerships? Like tell me your philosophy when it comes to relationship and what you do.

  Olatunde (11:54)
  Awesome.

  You know, someone said, I quite agree that you see your network is actually your networks. And you see, you really can’t grow beyond the circle of relationship you belong to. So a better thing I do, I want to make sure I’m in the ⁓ right relationship part time, business relationship, personal relationship. And I also want to ensure that people in my circle, as I’m moving up the ladder, they also moving as well. I share valuable information with them.

  And also for my mentors as well, for people up there, I also share valuable information with them. So I let them know, I’m not just your mentor. I’m not just here to take from you. I also want to be of benefit to you because, know, I believe, you know, one person cannot achieve all. We need to work as a team. We need to work as a team. a better way to work as a team is also make sure that you are a person of value. Anywhere I am, I want to make sure I’m a person of value. I’m always, you know, giving value to people.

  know, encouraging them, we can get this done. So I value relationship a lot. I value teamwork a lot. Yeah, it’s a part of me.

  Quentin (13:18)
  I love it. I have a saying where I say, healing happens in community. Like healing happens when you have an ecosystem, an environment where everybody can help each other. Because healing just means like to be made whole. And so when you have a community of people that’s making each other whole, how can you not win? I mean, it improves your mental health. It improves you financially, physically, when you are surrounded with people.

  Olatunde (13:23)
  Thank you.

  Correct.

  Thank

  Quentin (13:45)
  who had the common goal of helping each other. And so I hear you clearly, man, with that relationship, the community and culture is everything, Yeah. Yeah. So let me ask you this, Ella Tunde, is there anything or any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about?

  Olatunde (13:54)
  Awesome. Thank you.

  Quentin (14:04)
  Or is there any other words of, let’s say, inspiration, education, motivation that you would tell, that you would want to tell people? Like, I kind of just want to open up the floor. There’s something like on your mind or your heart that you feel like people need to know.

  Olatunde (14:16)
  Yeah, I think there are two things. The first thing I’ll talk about is, you before I talk the challenge, I want to talk about the part of personal development, because, know, besides real estate, I was going to tell people that in life, people need to set goals. And you need to find every way to actually make yourself like to make yourself a better version of who you are. And for example, I’m in real estate. I’m also an IT professional. I like I just published some books a while ago on AI.

  And I’m trying to draw this relationship between technology and real estate development. I’m also doing multiple things. So I tell people that in any field you find yourself, make sure you actually, part time, you’re developing yourself. You’re reading. You’re actually making research. The whole idea is that you want to make yourself an authority in that field. You want to make yourself a source of truth where you’ll be able to give valuable information to people part time.

  It’s not about just the money because when you talk about real estate with Alconzano, you know, there’s huge money in real estate. I said, well, it’s not about the money thoughts. It’s about the value. It’s about the fact that you want to solve a problem. And I’ll tell you, if you solve a problem, money comes with the money comes with you solving the problem. The issue is that sometimes people keep searching for money without solving problems.

  You understand? So it becomes a rat race. We just need money. We need money. But when we focus on this is the problem, how can I provide solution to this problem, money flows in the part of problems of us.

  Quentin (16:38)
  So well said. And I just hope people listen. I’m not going to try to over talk what you just said. I hope people really let that sink in what you just said, because it’s absolutely excellent. Absolutely excellent. Listen, man, if someone wanted to reach out to you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

  Olatunde (17:03)
  yes, they can reach me on my number is 313-209-1835. 313-209-1835. You can check me on LinkedIn, just type in Olatunde Badmus. You’re going to see me on LinkedIn. I’m also on Instagram. You can also see me there. You can ping me, ping me on LinkedIn. You want to collaborate with me. Yeah, please let’s get things done because I believe, know.

  The more we work as a team, the better I will become.

  Quentin (17:36)
  I love it, man. I love it. Well, listen, let me say three things to you, sir. First, thank you for your time because you could have been anywhere in the world, man, but you’re here. So thank you, man. I appreciate that. Secondly, thank you for your story, man. I put a premium on stories and I think stories have a way of planting seeds in people. They may, we may never see the growth of that seed planted, but your story planted a seed that people can draw from when they need to. So I believe your story was impactful. So definitely thank you for telling your story.

  Olatunde (17:40)
  Good. ⁓

  Quentin (18:05)
  And definitely, lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming through Olatunde.

  Olatunde (18:14)
  Thank you so much. Yeah. I know it’s a pleasure being on the spot cast and I I’ve gone through what you guys are doing. You guys are doing awesome job. You guys are doing awesome job. know, you guys are changing lives. ⁓ I’m grateful to be on this podcast and I know so many people have also been blessed. Once again, thank you for inviting me to your show.

  Quentin (18:34)
  Absolutely. Thank you for coming. So listen, y’all heard Olatunde? Definitely looking to show notes, get in contact with him. Get in contact with him definitely, because he got these eBooks out that he’s putting out, these books on AI. So get in contact with him. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Mr. Olatunde. So sir, thank you again. And everyone else, listen. Y’all have a fantastic day.

  Olatunde (18:58)
  Thank you.