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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Aubrey Kozer, a hard money lender and real estate investor based in Austin, Texas. Aubrey shares his journey into the world of real estate, discussing how he transitioned from a marketing role to becoming a loan officer and investor. He highlights the importance of liquidity in real estate investments, the significance of having a strong team, and the common misconceptions surrounding hard money lending. Aubrey also provides valuable tips for new investors and outlines his future goals in the real estate market.
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Aubrey Kozer (00:00)
Looking back in hindsight, I’m really glad that I had the amount of savings and liquidity set aside for my first deal that I did because the amount of capital out at first to get the project going, like the amount of money that the contractors expect and the amount of money you need for the materials, the amount of money to like really get the velocity that you want in order to like close quickly from start to finish. That amount of money was more than I thought.Michelle Kesil (01:59)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chat with, Aubrey Kozer, who is a hard money lender, as well as a real estate investor in the Austin area. So excited to have you here today, Aubrey.Aubrey Kozer (02:20)
Yeah, Michelle, thank you so much for having me. Looking forward to being part of the podcast. I’ve listened to some episodes and there’s been some great folks on the podcast with a lot of knowledge to share. hopefully someone will get some tidbits out of this from what I have in both avenues that I’m working on right now.Michelle Kesil (02:37)
Yeah, absolutely excited for you to share what you know. Let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your world yet, can you share what your main focus is these days?Aubrey Kozer (02:49)
Yeah, for sure. So, ⁓ a majority of my time is spent with my W-2. ⁓ I’m a part of a hard money, ⁓ nationwide lender that’s based out of Austin, Texas. So if you’re not familiar with hard money, I’d imagine most people are. We do, bridge financing for acquisitions that help people flip homes, do ground up construction and development. And then we also have like a long-term rental product. So my role right now is on the sales and finance side. ⁓⁓ I’m a loan officer helping connect our investors to our capital with like the right products so that they can scale ⁓ and then in my Freer time if you will I’m also actively using that product to be flipping homes here in Austin, Texas, so ⁓ If I’m not flinging and writing loans, I’m using loans to help Acquire properties and generate income in another way
Michelle Kesil (03:50)
Yeah, amazing. That is exciting. So how did you get started in investing? What did that look like?Aubrey Kozer (03:59)
Yeah. So the way that I got into ⁓ the real estate realm as a whole is actually like a pretty, it’s a pretty organic story. So I was in between jobs. had moved to Austin to kind of work in a marketing role and, ⁓ one job ended was in between things and I’m big into beach volleyball. Love that was coaching as kind of like a side passion of mine. And I was like, man, I really got to get back into the swing of things and get a, get abig girl job and, you know, paying my bills here cause Austin ain’t cheap. And, ⁓ one of the adults that I was coaching through this adult beach volleyball training program was like, you know, it sounds like you do need something steady. You should come apply for a job here. And I was like, what exactly do y’all do? And he like tried to describe it like a really high level, what hard money financing was, but
I didn’t grow up around investing. My parents are like incredibly risk adverse. like, you couldn’t find a person who knew less about real estate than probably I did when I started.
So he was like, just come interview and see what you think. So I walk in and I tell them a little bit about me and kind of my ⁓ educational background. I was a biomedical engineer and they were like, okay, that’s cool. She’s probably a little smart. And
I go through the interview process and they’re like, okay, you’re hired. I’m like, still don’t really know what exactly I’m hired for. ⁓ Find out it’s a sales role and we’re in real estate and we’re selling loans and you just kind of go through the training protocol.
And then before you know it, you’re making cold calls and I’m on the phone and they’re like, I got a property that I’m looking to get some equity out of. And I’m like, what do mean you already own it? Like truly not even understanding that you could like refinance a property. Like that is how green I was. ⁓ Fortunately that didn’t last very long. Cause I landed by truly accident, a big corporate account that like fell into my lap. I took the call and I got.
a ton of loan volume going at one time. And then I got incredibly well-versed in how a transaction was made, looked at so many appraisals, learned the ins and outs about our process, really got to see every transaction from start to finish at a few hundred times. So that closed the learning gap pretty quickly for me. And now I’m three years into this space and I can’t imagine not being in it any longer. I think that everyone should be involved in real estate in some way, or form, particularly in the investing realm.
Cuz whether it’s you’re making passive income or you’ve bought an asset that you can pass along to your family, I think there’s just infinite potential and opportunity here.
Michelle Kesil (07:31)
Yeah, amazing. I love how you were just thrown into this world and made it work.Aubrey Kozer (07:34)
youYeah, I truly had no idea. I was a fish out of water at first, for sure.
Michelle Kesil (07:43)
I hear that. Awesome. And so how did you then create your own first investment? Like, did you learn from like your job or was that like a whole new world where you’re like having to start fresh again?Aubrey Kozer (07:59)
Yeah, um, a little bit of starting fresh because like you can see it, but until you’re like, I learned best by doing something. So I think once you like pull the trigger and you’re like, Oh, I have to wire like $70,000 to the title company. Here I go. You know, and then, Oh, this is what signing a closing package looks like. And Oh, we’re now at the house and we’re doing demo. I’m like, Oh, we didn’t expect there to be cast iron plumbing in the floor. You know, likeThere’s, there’s no substitute for just doing the thing. So it did start pretty green in the same way, but fortunately here at my W2 at House Max, ⁓ there was another loan officer that was incredibly well versed in new construction. She does a bunch of stuff in New Mexico. She also had been flipping homes in Austin. When she parted from the company, ⁓ I like jokingly set off the cuff, like, well, I’ve got some money I’d like to put to work. And I think you have the, the wherewithal. Like, what if we just partnered up?
up and she immediately took me up on that offer and she was like, well, I’m leaving and I’ve got to do something. So I’m going to go back to flipping homes. So it kind of just became this match made in heaven where I could learn from somebody who already had walked the walk like hundreds of times. And it gave me the peace of mind that I didn’t have to be on site every day, but I could still have all the benefits of like learning how the sauce is made for lack of better term. So, and obviously I’m only, I just got my fourth one under contract.
there’s still so much to learn and to grow in, but it happened in a really good organic way.
Michelle Kesil (09:35)
Awesome. What are some of like the main obstacles or challenges that you face that now looking back you can see the lesson on them?Aubrey Kozer (09:39)
ThankThanks.
⁓ That’s a good question. My first flip did go incredibly well. The construction went really quick. We did list during the holidays, which was a perceived challenge, but the product, I think, was so good that it moved really quickly. ⁓
Looking back in hindsight, I’m really glad that I had the amount of savings and liquidity set aside for my first deal that I did because the amount of capital out at first to get the project going, like the amount of money that the contractors expect and the amount of money you need for the materials, the amount of money to like really get the velocity that you want in order to like close quickly from start to finish. That amount of money was more than I thought.
And I’m glad that it’s money that I actually have.
because you know I look at loans all the time and sometimes investors are like barely meet the liquidity requirement and now being a practitioner it makes me a little nervous you know I’m like
What if the contractor’s like, want 50 % of the funds like today, you know, like, do you have it or is it going to slow down your project? like, in my instance, there was cast iron plumbing and we thought we were going to be able to tie in. It all needed replaced, you know? and if we didn’t have it allocated in our budget, I just would have been out 15 grand or whatever it was going to cost, you know? So I think the liquidity piece as ⁓ a challenge and like a cautionary tale, like it didn’t burn me in the
particular instance but it is something I’m going to be mindful of as I continue to scale and move from like one project to multiple at a time just keeping that in mind especially with an unpredictable market you know you don’t want to find yourself in a really tough spot that you got to crawl your way out of.
Michelle Kesil (12:09)
Definitely that makes a lot of sense and something to watch out for. What are some of the main keys that you feel make the biggest difference in allowing your business to be able to grow and to run smoothly?Aubrey Kozer (12:26)
I would really say that that’s talent on the team. I think if you’ve got the right people in the right seat on the bus, that allows you to stay in your zone of genius and like continue to grow the business effectively. So like with me picking a partner who knew the ins and outs of flipping, it ensured that I could stay locked in in my W-2, which makes me money in order to do the thing.and
like I needed to go to the project every day, jeopardize what I do here at HouseMax and like put kind of the whole operation at risk. So I think to really choose your team wisely and also I think being willing to pay and compensate that person for what they bring to the table. I mean…
I think with any business as you grow, it becomes like, my gosh, do I have enough money to hire said individual? Or like, what am I losing as I hire them? I think it’s more like you gotta think about the upside. What could they make you and what growth could you produce by having that person there as opposed to not having that person there? And what’s the opportunity cost if you don’t? So I think it comes back to personnel would be the biggest thing for me.
Michelle Kesil (13:35)
Yeah, absolutely. think that so often I hear that the people and the team are harder than the real estate itself.Aubrey Kozer (13:44)
Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you hear like a lot of force stories of like how it could slow down an operation and really make it harder for the whole group as opposed to easier. So I think it goes both ways.Michelle Kesil (13:58)
Yeah, totally. What are you most focusing on solving or scaling to next?Aubrey Kozer (14:08)
⁓ Solving and scaling. ⁓ This year in 2026, I had in my mind as a metric to do six flips for no other reason than I wanted to assign like a specific number to it. ⁓ I also want to do a true like BRRRR from start to finish. the, you know, buy, renovate, rent, refinance, repeat type system.in probably an outskirt of an Austin market, since prices might not support doing that fully like in the, you know, kind of major Metro, but certainly in the outskirts, you can, you can swing it. So I want to do that for a few reasons, like to try to use that as a tax strategy to have the appreciation to, you know,
really get a holistic look at investing and then obviously it’s an asset that you could potentially pass on if you hold it that long. So incorporating that and then…
The other side of my business with the lending, I really want to focus on high level operators ⁓ at higher loan amounts. ⁓ And that’s not to say that I won’t do deals that are smaller. I always say there’s no small loans. There’s only small actors. ⁓ But sometimes the… ⁓
the headaches that occur with a $100,000 loan, you see the same or maybe less with like a million dollar loan. So just kind of rethinking my business and rethinking about what I’m bringing to the team and why, and like what revenue looks like and who we’re working with and just trying to keep in mind, just like we talked about the team, know, like who am I bringing in and what’s the overall lift of loan and that individual as we bring them into HouseMax as a partner.
Michelle Kesil (16:33)
Yeah, definitely that’s important. And so when you’re doing lending, are there any sort of like common misconceptions that you have to clear up for the investors?Aubrey Kozer (16:47)
⁓ Yeah, that’s a really good question, Michelle. I think hard money kind of gets this like slightly predatory ⁓ connotation and I think some of that comes from like… ⁓Maybe even years before I started working in hard money, I think that there was some stuff that like rates at 12 or 14 % and like terms always changing. But I think this industry is evolving and evolving incredibly quick as like insurance companies and Wall Street gets involved and like big bank money also wants to participate that it’s becoming a bit more regulated. And honestly, I think that leverage is such a tool for investors that, you know, as they’re talking to me,
I’m
trying to explain that like cash is king and I’m like, you never know. Like it could be another COVID tomorrow. Like I would not want all of my money tied up in a single deal because you just never know. Like you might need that money. So to use somebody else’s leverage to have, you know, only 10 or 20 % in a deal to me, it feels a whole lot better than buying an asset. Let’s say here in Austin, for example, where $600,000 of my money is just sitting in his house until I’m done. So.
I think the misconception is that hard money is scary when in actuality taking out loans. was like, man, this was almost too easy. What’s the catch? there really isn’t as long as you’re making your payments and doing the things you’re supposed to be doing as a consumer. ⁓
you know, a holistic look at DSCR because I think people forget that you can do like this rental loan with us that like doesn’t report to your credit or they don’t even know that it exists. And that’s a huge value add to because people’s debt to income sometimes gets threatened by the number of properties that they’re taking out. So knowing that that’s a resource too is like, can be a bit eye opening to people. So those are kind of some of the common misconceptions. And I think just being really transparent about like what the fees are and why they’re there and like how we make money.
It makes everybody feel like they understand the process a little better. And just like anything, transparency really helps.
Michelle Kesil (18:56)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s important to get clear on numbers, how it works and having that transparency.Aubrey Kozer (19:05)
Yeah, definitely. I agree.Michelle Kesil (19:08)
Awesome. So what are maybe some tips you would give to, I mean, I know you’re also a newer investor, but maybe someone that’s like never done any investing.Aubrey Kozer (19:22)
Yeah.I would say, I think a good rule of thumb, if you’re looking to do something like a flip, you kind of want to have $30,000 for every $100,000 worth of a deal, I think is a good really safe metric to assume. So if you’re doing $100,000 purchase, you want to have like 30k set aside. If you’re doing like a $200,000 purchase, you want to have about 60k set aside. And again, that might be a little bit generous. But again, with like the con
contractors and like how much capital you have to have out the door for construction I’d rather put somebody in a really safe position than not. So if you’re new ⁓ just be thinking about that and if you’re like man I really don’t have that much money
It doesn’t take very much to find like private money, like your friends and your family who’ve always wanted to get into real estate. You’d be surprised sometimes, you know, they look at a deal and you might be able to explain the high level of why there’s an upside. They might give you money. Like at this point, it’s funny. I’ve had like people call from like other parts of the company saying like, or other parts of the country saying, Hey, I see what you’re doing with flips. Like I want to give you money. And that’s like, I’m not even that seasoned in this, but I appreciate the sentiment. So I feel like if I.
can do that then certainly like newer investors could also talk to you know parents, grandparents, sisters, siblings, ⁓ obviously in all safe way because you want it to work out for everybody. ⁓ But I don’t think you need that much liquidity in actuality you just need to be thoughtful about what’s the deal size, where you’re going to get it, and is it ready to go when the deal is ready to go.
Michelle Kesil (21:04)
Yeah, definitely. Thank you for those concrete numbers. I think that can be really helpful for people. Yeah, absolutely. So I know that you want to continue with the flips, but are there any other asset classes or investment strategies that you’re looking to get into?Aubrey Kozer (21:10)
Good. Thanks.That’s a good question. I think for now, I’m going to focus on single family asset class. That’s not to say that I don’t think there’s opportunity in the one to four space, and it seems very like.
Palpable and like I can understand it at the level that I’ve seen it be originated I just think that single-family strategy you can get to the same end ⁓ But again, like I don’t know what I don’t know. We’re only really like a one to eight unit shop here at house max So I only have like limited exposure I certainly know about like syndications and other like apartment deals and that’s not to say I would never say that never say never It’s more that like I want to continue
to refine this kind of one to four unit space first. ⁓ And particularly since I haven’t done anything in the rental space, I think just to have like some single families and assign, ⁓ you know, a property manager to it is probably the way that I’m going to approach it and see, you know, what kind of headaches exist, like how good is the PM and then scale from there and then maybe add like the duplexes, the triplexes. We’ll see. But for now, single family.
Rent-Sell will be the next asset class that I add on top of just the flipping that I’m doing in Austin.
Michelle Kesil (22:49)
Amazing, that’s exciting. Well, before we wrap up here, if somebody wants to reach out, connect, learn more about what you’re up to, where can people find you and connect with you?Aubrey Kozer (22:51)
Thanks.Yeah, I think I am on most major mainstream platforms. So you can find me on Instagram. It’s just my first and my last name. It’s Aubrey Kozer. Then you can find me on Housemax Funding is our online website where I work. I’ve got a direct line. I guess I can give it. It’s 737-355-9503. So if you just want to shoot me a text, if you’ve got some scenarios or even just one advice of like,
Hey, I’m thinking about doing this in the foreseeable future. ⁓ That would be a great place to start and you can also find me on LinkedIn.
Michelle Kesil (23:42)
Awesome. Well, appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.Aubrey Kozer (23:46)
Yeah, thank you for having me. Thanks for giving opportunities for up and coming investors to share what we’re learning and seeing. It’s a great platform and ⁓ we’re grateful to be a part and be a part of the learning story with everybody else.Michelle Kesil (23:59)
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Yeah. And for the listeners that are tuning in, if you got value, make sure you have subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Aubrey who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on the next episode.
