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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Quentin Edmonds interviews Frank Nolan, a seasoned real estate investor with a background in the entertainment industry. Frank shares his journey from Hollywood to real estate, discussing the importance of integrity, understanding the fix and flip process, and the significance of building relationships in the industry. He also outlines his future goals of scaling up his projects and focusing on long-term investments. The conversation emphasizes the need for a solid understanding of construction and project management to succeed in real estate.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Frank Nolan (00:00)
Yeah, there’s been a couple of projects where I start digging in and I get to the point where was like, okay, floor’s not level or this is not right or something. And then the further in you dig, the more stuff you start finding. And I’ve had workers or whatever who will just try andcover stuff up and hope for the best. And I can’t work like that. If I see a problem, I would rather spend a little more, make a little less, but go in and fix the problem properly so that the end buyer gets a good house or property, whatever it is, and it doesn’t come back to bite me later. Because in the end, in this business,
you the only thing you really carry on is your integrity. And, you know, there’s plenty of fly by night contractors and shady fix and flippers and, you know, who will put lipstick on a pig and try and make a big profit and walk away. But in the end, you know, you only have your integrity. And if you want to be in the business long term, you’ve got to do stuff the right way.
Quentin (02:41)
Hello everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Quentin Edmonds. Super excited to be here today. And as you can probably see, know, this man is sitting on his back porch. has this beautiful backdrop and I’m excited to talk to him today. This guy’s done a little bit of everything and what I love, we’ve been talking, what I love about him, he’s very selective about the deals that he go after. He has, he knows what he want and he goes after what he wants. And so I’m so excited.for us to get a chance to hear things from his perspective and from his lens. So I would like to introduce everyone to you, Mr. Frank Nolan. Mr. Frank, how are you doing today?
Frank Nolan (03:20)
I’m doing well, thanks for having me.Quentin (03:22)
⁓ man, I am doing great. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for the scenery in the background is very tranquil and peaceful. It’s calming me. I don’t know how you feel, but it’s calming me just looking at your surroundings. And so I’m excited,Frank Nolan (03:37)
It turns him every day.That’s Catalina Island right there in the background. ⁓
Quentin (03:42)
See that? See that? Absolutely,man. It sounds like you’re living a dream, That’s what I want you to do. I would love for you to take the listeners into your world. You know, I would love for them to see things through your lens, from your perspective, from what it is that you do, things that you’re passionate about when it comes to real estate. And so if you don’t mind, do just that. Take us into your world. Tell us what your main focus is these days and what markets are you operating in?
Frank Nolan (03:47)
It’s a great spot.Mm-hmm.
Okay. ⁓ well, just to go back a little further before I got into real estate, I worked in the entertainment industry. ⁓ I do play guitar and I sing and, but, ⁓ you know, I worked a lot in movies doing sound and post-production work and, you know, in Hollywood it’s, they need everything yesterday. And so you work long hours, you know, can be fulfilling work, but in the end you get burnt out pretty quickly. So I switched gears about 12 years ago and.
you know, started getting more into the real estate side of it. And I’d had a ⁓ small multifamily property for about 10 years before that. And I thought, well, you know, this could be a ⁓ good vehicle to, you know, sort of switch into and make some money out of. And for years I had this like, be in my bonnet about building something and, a property that I had, I ended up doing an addition on myself and I, you I didn’t hire a contractor. just kind of.
learned how to do stuff and I actually hired people to do the work but I was basically the contractor. So I got a good know ground up construction you know for an addition on a house I got a good education in that basically and since then I’ve done several of them but you know I started getting into the fix and flip and you know realize that so many things can go wrong and so many things can cost you more than what you thought.
And, you know, so you really need to have a good understanding of everything that’s required, whether it be putting down a foundation, a flooring, walls, you know, everything that is needed in a house or in a construction project, you need to have a good basic understanding so that, you know, A, you don’t get taken advantage of by contractors and B, you can kind of work out, well, okay,
this place is going to need so much work and it’s going to need this and it’s going to need that how much it’s going to really cost me. And that’s where the money is made and knowing, you know, how to work out a project budget and make sure that, you know, you stay within that budget or if you do go over, you’ve got a contingency built in there so that you’re still going to make a profit because there’s nothing worse than spending, you know, three, six months or whatever.
fixing up a property to sell and with all being set as long as the market kind of stays where it was or goes up and then you don’t make any money. That’s a real bummer. That’s a waste of time. doing projects that you can work out and basically you’ve got to back end yourself in as most investors know, you have to start from the after repaired value and work your way back and then try and…
Quentin (07:24)
to.Frank Nolan (07:40)
get a property at a good price so that you can have a good profit there. Because even though, you know, like let’s say you make a hundred grand on a property that you’ve flipped, you’ve still got taxes and all that to take out of that. So if you don’t take all that into account, you could end up spending six months or more and basically working for minimum wage or less.Quentin (08:00)
Absolutely. So now I think so. You’ve been an agent, you’ve been the investor, and you’ve been the contractor. You’re like, listen, ⁓ this is why I know the deals that I want, because I’ve been boots on the ground. And so like you said, you’ve pretty much kind of done it all in a sense. So I know ⁓ that’s not especially easy in this climate. what is it that keeps?Kind of your machine running smoothly, your processes and your systems running smoothly.
Frank Nolan (08:32)
⁓ well, first off, don’t always, you know, and most, yeah. I mean, most people, most people probably understand that side of it, you know, because you have so many different moving parts that, you know, like if I don’t hire a contractor, if I’m my own contractor and I hire workers, then, you know, I have to make sure the workers are doing the job correctly. and.Quentin (08:39)
giving you the benefit of doubt, you know?Frank Nolan (09:01)
you know, if I hire a contractor, which I have done on occasions, then I’ve got to make sure the contractors making sure the workers get the job done properly. So, you know, you’re still, you’re still going to be involved if you just, you know, throw someone in there and walk away and hope that it’s going to be done by your date that you’re looking to get it done by and it’s done right. Chances are you’re going to run into some issues and, and problems, you know, so you’ve got to keep on top of it or have a good, ⁓know, manager, construction manager who knows all the ins and outs and can keep on top of stuff. And then you can just liaise with them. I’m not to that point yet. ⁓ You know, I hope to get to that point where I do have, I can hire someone to just, you know, go and manage a project for me and make sure that there’s, you know, being communicating well with a contractor and getting things done the right way and on budget.
Quentin (09:48)
Absolutely. And so you’ve mentioned, you you could pour money into this project, know, buy a building, it’s $100,000, but then you gotta wait for, you gotta make sure you got the taxes, so you don’t wanna pour too much money in and it be a losing deal. So I know you’re used to kind of managing, I guess I can say the risk, so balancing out. So this kind of brings me to my question. There’s moments when things get real, right?when something goes sideways, a time when you have to pivot fast. so do you have any stories like that at a time when you can remember you was in this thing and something kind of went off and you had to kind of pivot fast and adjust?
Frank Nolan (10:28)
⁓Yeah, there’s been a couple of projects where I start digging in and I get to the point where was like, okay, floor’s not level or this is not right or something. And then the further in you dig, the more stuff you start finding. And I’ve had workers or whatever who will just try and
cover stuff up and hope for the best. And I can’t work like that. If I see a problem, I would rather spend a little more, make a little less, but go in and fix the problem properly so that the end buyer gets a good house or property, whatever it is, and it doesn’t come back to bite me later. Because in the end, in this business,
you the only thing you really carry on is your integrity. And, you know, there’s plenty of fly by night contractors and shady fix and flippers and, you know, who will put lipstick on a pig and try and make a big profit and walk away. But in the end, you know, you only have your integrity. And if you want to be in the business long term, you’ve got to do stuff the right way.
Quentin (12:12)
I mean, you hit the nail on the head for me because as you was talking, all I could think was this is what kind of separates people from the ones that dabble, from the ones who was in it for the long term. And that’s the integrity. That’s the way, know, doing it the right way, making sure the customer and the clients are getting what they pay for. And so you are absolutely right. That’s the separating. Integrity is one of the key separating factors.Frank Nolan (12:25)
Yeah.Quentin (12:39)
of people who stick around for a long time. And so I definitely understand that for sure. So let me ask you this. no, please, yeah, continue. Yes, sir.Frank Nolan (12:45)
And on some deals, know,I was going to say, you know, on some deals when you, you know, the more you’ve done and the more, the more rehab you’ve done, whether, you know, cause a lot of people go in and they’ll rehab carpet paint, you know, a little, maybe put a new kitchen cabinets or something like that and it’s done. But you know, when you start moving walls and you start, you know, having to level a floor and, and, or you tear a house back to the studs or you do an addition to it, you kind of get a good idea of.
you know, what, when you see a place, what sort of issues you, you may come up with and, know, you kind of, in the end you develop that skill to be able to sort of like know in advance, well, in a worst case scenario, this could happen with this. And so you, you know, you budget for that and you, you know, you work accordingly. And if it isn’t as bad as what it was, well, then that’s a bonus. If it is as bad as it was, then you’ve prepared for it. And so you’re, you know,
you don’t have to do that immediate pivot kind of thing. You know that, okay, well, yeah, I expected that to happen. So that’s, think one of the big things is always expect the unexpected. ⁓ because if you don’t add it, you know, you get a curve ball thrown at you, you’ll get hit in the head pretty hard with it.
Quentin (14:38)
Absolutely, you’re absolutely right. If you ain’t ready for it, don’t say it coming. You can’t embrace the impact for sure. Absolutely. Well, listen, let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? What’s the next real goal for you?Frank Nolan (14:45)
Exactly.The next real goal is kind of going a lot bigger in a bigger way. I have some people that I’ve been talking with and working with, you know, and we’re looking at doing a lot bigger projects. So it’ll be, you know, raising more funds, doing a bigger turnaround projects and bigger long-term whole projects. You know, so the…
fix and flip sort of thing or wholesaling or whatever it brings in a few dollars and that sort of stuff but the long term is to get back into more of the long-term hold projects that are they may not be ⁓ like huge cap rates or anything like that but it’s long-term stability.
Quentin (15:38)
Absolutely nope makes total totalFrank Nolan (15:41)
Especially if can get themat a, you know, if you can get, you know, badly managed or run down large apartment complexes, RV parks, know, things that can be good long-term holes, but if you can get them at a right price when they’ve been run down or whatever and then put some money in, you know, put some capital in at the start to get it back up to a nice stage and then, you know, have them long-term rentals.
Quentin (16:08)
Absolutely. I love it, man. I love it. That’s big. I love the fact that you think about going big, doing things in a bigger way, more funnies, raising more funds, looking for those long-term hall projects. I absolutely love it. I think that’s a good pivot, a good next move. And we know that the next move can either compound things or create total chaos, depending on how we play it.But it sounds like to me, you are a person, again, that know what you want. You got your systems in place, and you’re going after it. And I’m absolutely loving this. No doubt in my mind that you’re going to reach those goals. Now, I know a lot of people that are listening to either early in their journey or starting to level up. And I think they’ll benefit from hearing this. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?
Frank Nolan (17:03)
Hmm beenjust being upfront and honest with people. If you’re starting out, there’s the old saying, fake it till you make it. But a lot of people that have been in the business for a long time, they can see through that. And you can fake it to a certain point, but I think you’ve still got to just be honest and upfront. If you need help with something or you need funding from people.
It’s all about the relationships, like you said, and building them in such a way that, you know, honesty and integrity is the foundation of it. That’ll take you a long way. And also, you know, when needing money for deals, I think a pivot for me is which for me was that I’m not asking for money. I’m offering people an investment opportunity.
Because there’s a lot of people out there with money and they don’t know how to do any of this stuff or they don’t want to do any of this stuff. They just want to put their money somewhere where it’s going to grow and they’re going to make some money from it. And when you can offer them an investment opportunity like that, that pays them well and whether they want to put it in for a long haul or a short term six to 12 month turnaround and make some money off that.
you’ve got to be upfront about what you’re doing and what you can do for them. You know, cause like the old saying, what’s in it for me, you know, it’s like, well, people are interested in what’s in it for them. And you know, if you can show that, you know, your investment opportunity is a good vehicle for them, then they’re more likely to invest with you. as long as, you know, if you haven’t done a lot of deals and you’re new coming into the business,
you can still offer an investment opportunity and say, well, you look, haven’t, I haven’t done a real lot of this, but here’s what I’ve done or here’s what I’m about to do. And if need be partner with someone who has done it and can, you know, help shepherd it through, and then people will be a lot more inclined to give you money.
Quentin (18:50)
Yeah.Yeah, no, absolutely. You’re absolutely right,
Frank Nolan (19:04)
And also there’s alsoa lot of hard money lenders and stuff like that where you can go to. But it’s going to cost you a bit and you’ve just got to factor that into the project.
Quentin (19:17)
No, you’re absolutely right, man. You can’t fake that relationships are everything in this space. Making the right connection, making the right partnerships go a very, very long way in this business for sure. And so you’re absolutely correct. ⁓ Yeah, Mr. Frank, so listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?Frank Nolan (19:29)
Yeah.They can shoot me an email. Probably the easiest one is fjnolan at yahoo.com.
Quentin (19:47)
There it is.Frank Nolan (19:48)
SoF is in Frank, J is in John, N-O-L-A-N at yahoo.com.
Quentin (19:51)
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, there it is. Listen, Mr. Frank Nolan, I just want to say thank you, sir. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your perspective, for your stories. Thank you for the beautiful view behind you. You know, this is great. I thank you for taking us into your world and allowing us to peek through your lens. And so it was a pleasure,Frank Nolan (19:59)
Hey, thank you, Quentin.All right.
Thank you, Quentin. was great to be here.
Quentin (20:14)
Absolutely.Yes, sir. And to everyone else, everyone else tuning in. Listen, if you found value from this, please make sure you are subscribed. You do not want to miss out on great conversations like we had today with Mr. Frank Nolan. So Mr. Frank, thank you again. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.
