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Show Summary
In this conversation, Tim Bowman shares his journey from being a successful musician to achieving financial independence through real estate. He discusses the challenges he faced in the music industry, his first real estate deal, and how he scaled his investments to create generational wealth. Tim emphasizes the importance of mindset, location, and strategic planning in real estate, and he also highlights his mission to coach others, particularly musicians, on building wealth through property investment.
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Tim Bowman (00:00)
that I remember having this conversation going down to freeway. said, Lord, if you get me out of this, I will never depend on anybody else. That’s when I had that mindset change, you because it’s all about mindset. And a real estate agent came over our house not too long after that. He was trying to sell us a life insurance policy. And he said, you know what I do on the side? I invest in real estate. It’s good passive income. And that’s what you should do as a musician. I was saying, I don’t have any money and don’t know anything about real estate. And he said this, you don’t need any money.Dylan Silver (00:11)
Yeah.Tim Bowman (00:29)
and I’ll show you how to do it. And I would say about a month after that, we had our first two-family flat deal that was cash flowing. That’s how I got started in it.Dylan Silver (02:10)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Tim Bowman is a Billboard chart topper who leveraged his global music success into financial independence through real estate and now coaches people towards generational wealth. Tim, welcome to the show.Tim Bowman (02:27)
Thank you for having me. How are you?Dylan Silver (02:28)
It’s great to have you on, I’m doing well. I listen to a lot of the music and I’m very interested in talking about how that is joined in and synergistic with the real estate. Before we get to that though, how did you get into the real estate space?Tim Bowman (02:40)
Mm-hmm.What happened was I started at age 22. I was playing at one of the biggest gospel groups in the world at the time. I was young. I didn’t understand the music business. So I’m thinking, OK, I’m with the biggest group in the world. And I’m getting ready to make some money. But that’s not how the music business worked, because I was just a sideman. So that went on and went on and went on for a few years. And my wife and I, wanted to start a family. But we didn’t. You know, can’t bring a child in.
in the world we don’t have any money or anything like that or any way of making any money. So the psychological part of your dream not being what you thought it was, because I had made it to where I wanted to be, you know, and you can’t make any money. So after a while we got, we came off of tour and I was just psychologically wrecked. You know, I said, honey, we need to make some money. And I got so low mentally about our financial situation.
Dylan Silver (03:15)
Brain.Yeah.
Tim Bowman (03:40)
that I remember having this conversation going down to freeway. said, Lord, if you get me out of this, I will never depend on anybody else. That’s when I had that mindset change, you because it’s all about mindset. And a real estate agent came over our house not too long after that. He was trying to sell us a life insurance policy. And he said, you know what I do on the side? I invest in real estate. It’s good passive income. And that’s what you should do as a musician. I was saying, I don’t have any money and don’t know anything about real estate. And he said this, you don’t need any money.Dylan Silver (03:51)
Yeah.Tim Bowman (04:09)
and I’ll show you how to do it. And I would say about a month after that, we had our first two-family flat deal that was cash flowing. That’s how I got started in it.Dylan Silver (04:18)
I want to know about that deal. Let’s get a little granular, Tim, into that deal. So musician, touring, you’re thinking, okay, I got to make some money. Come across an agent. Agent says to you, you don’t need money to invest in real estate. I remember when I heard this, I said, well, how does that work? How could that possibly work? But I was instantly intrigued. Walk me through that first deal. How did you get it under contract? I mean a month is a pretty short time.Tim Bowman (04:30)
Exactly, right.Mm-hmm. So what happened was he said, let me talk to my real estate agent, the one that I use for my investments. A week later, he called and said she wants to meet you. I said, we don’t have any money. He said, just come and meet her. She asked us, could you scrape up $1,000? And she said, because I have a two family and this couple wants to do a land contract, a three-year land contract. I didn’t understand what that was at the time. There was no AI. There was no your Google.
It was none of that. What is that? And so we met her and she explained. And you know what? She was standing in front of the house telling us what was happening. I said, give us a week. We’ll scrape up this $1,000. We scraped up the $1,000. She worked out the deal with the couple that was selling because they had had it for like 30, 40 years. And like I said, it was a four month period from the time he said that. Then the week between
Dylan Silver (05:33)
it.Tim Bowman (05:41)
In another three weeks total, one month, we had two units that was cash flowing. And I’m looking at my wife, when those money orders came in, back then they were sending money orders in, know, they’d mail you money orders. I was like, baby, we making money in the real estate business. ⁓Dylan Silver (05:46)
I believe it.You said we’re really doing this that that That that first deal you got that proof of concept you’re also like, okay, I’m hooked now I want to get a little bit granular into that deal. Was it seller financing a thousand dollars? I mean to our audience who may think you know, how could you buy a home with a thousand dollars was these distressed sellers? Were they losing the home? What was the situation where they parted ways for a thousand?
Tim Bowman (05:59)
We’re really doing this.Exactly.
Exactly.
It was a thousand dollar deal and it was distra, I mean it was a, it was seller financing. Back then they called it land contract, pretty much the same thing. It was a land contract deal and they were getting rid of it because they had had it and they were like in their 70s and they had a lot of properties that they were getting rid of. And this was one, they wanted to steal cash flow on it, right? Because they were retired. instead of, you know, so they just worked out a deal with us. We give them a thousand dollars, pretty much like earn us money, money deposit, you know, let them know we were serious.
Dylan Silver (07:30)
Right.Yeah
Tim Bowman (07:39)
And we worked out a three year deal. And that’s how we got that first property. man, when we got those money orders, it was like, this is unbelievable.Dylan Silver (07:50)
I feel it now. It wasn’t my idea. Like I can feel it. Walk me through the next steps. I mean, I remember my first deal and I had a similar kind of realization. Wow, this is real. At that point, are you thinking, okay, how do I get more deals in the contract? Are you thinking, okay, maybe I got to parlay this deal into several more deals? Are you thinking, let me see how this plays out because I don’t want to take on too much risk. What was the thought process?Tim Bowman (08:17)
I’m the kind of person, when I see that it can work, and I’m like, okay, remember now, I’m coming from no money. Mentally, my mind has shifted. I need to make money because my mind said it went from, you know, almost just, I was in a bad place as to what I was thinking. And when this happened, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, you know what I’m saying? Three months later, after we saw that these checks, these money orders were coming in every month, three months later,Dylan Silver (08:40)
Right.Tim Bowman (08:46)
We did the same thing. We bought a thousand, with a thousand dollars down, we bought a four family unit. So it was in the same thing. Now after that I was hooked. I looked, I can remember the day when we got the four checks from the four family. That feeling, I still feel that way today. Cause I just love doing this. Yeah, that’s how we got started. $2,000.Dylan Silver (08:54)
Okay.you
Yeah.
I don’t know where we-
So you
have the, the, the was it a duplex the first deal?
Tim Bowman (09:15)
Duplex the first deal and Afford Family the second deal.Dylan Silver (09:18)
Duplex and the quadplex and you’re saying okay, I’ve got enough proof of of concept This is paying bills and getting money orders coming in at that at that point in time. I imagine it was a total shift I imagine you’re going ⁓ in your music career and now you have almost a renewed sense of enthusiasm because that stress is taking off and you’re looking at the real estate dealsTim Bowman (09:20)
Mm-hmm.Yes.
Yes.
Yes. What happened was it just felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders because the duplex paid the, ⁓ the upstairs unit paid the land contract and the lower unit paid our house note, my car note. Then we, three months later we got the fourplex and that’s that played the rent. So we got our car note and our rent is being paid.
by our passive income. now we’re able to save, right? And all the pressure that I had on the music was gone. All that was gone. If I travel, I travel. If I don’t, I don’t. Now, at this point, I was just a sideman. I hadn’t started my own career. But just the psychological ⁓ turn and the mental relief that I felt that we were making passive income at that level, yes.
Dylan Silver (10:33)
Did that, and I don’t know if there’s, because I haven’t spoken to too many musicians, I’ve had a couple on the show, but did any of the real estate knowledge, whether it’s contracts, whether it’s negotiations, whether it’s problem solving, did that assist in any way musically with the music business?Tim Bowman (10:51)
Now what happened was that ⁓ came into play down the road a little bit. But what happened was the way when I started my career and the way we make records is systematic. And that’s how I started using the music business systems that I had in place into how I was buying real estate. And I kind of really just honed in on foreclosed properties or distressed properties. So location, evaluation, and renovation.and put it on the market. Same thing with record, is this a good song, you record it, you mix it, and you market it. Yep, so I use that same system.
Dylan Silver (11:28)
This is the area of real estate that I came from. Before getting my real estate license in Texas, I was in the distressed space. I did everything. I would send out mailers, I would knock on doors, I would make calls, I would go to the auction. And at some point in time, I would say in the last six months a year where I was in Dallas, it became a little bit trickier to flip. And so I saw that that, that market shift happening. But I’ve heard great things about Detroit still. And we were talking before,Tim Bowman (11:46)
Mm-hmm.Yes.
Dylan Silver (11:57)
on the podcast how it’s it’s still hot. You’ve got great deals even on market. Walk me through what what’s the what’s the vibe like? What’s the market like in Detroit in the single family space?Tim Bowman (12:01)
Yes. Yes. Yes.In the single-family space is mainly where I deal. Now, I want to say about six months ago, I put a house on the market, a distressed property, went in, rehabbed it. And the key to rehabbing, I mean, when you want to sell, as far as I’m concerned, I look at only three-bedroom homes, brick homes in nice neighborhoods, because I look at it as a couple with two children, right? Four, so you got three bedrooms. Location.
And three questions I ask is, what is the neighborhood like? What is the block like? And what I live there. Because when you start talking about flipping, you want a have a house that you can get rid of real quick. You’re going, you do your due diligence. And I put this house on the market, and in two days it was sold. And I flipped I don’t know how many houses, and I’ve never had a house stay on the market more than two weeks.
Dylan Silver (13:27)
Woof!Now, there is obviously strategy there for that to be happening. I’m sure a lot of that is location like you mentioned, but when you’re looking at where to buy versus where not to buy, are you are you specific to, to say, hey, school district or area, or are you like thinking more along the lines of I want this to be in line with the nicest homes in the area? Is there a general strategy like that or is each?
Tim Bowman (13:38)
Yes.Dylan Silver (14:00)
Single family home unique as each deal unique.Tim Bowman (14:03)
Each deal is unique, but it’s mainly the area. This is a hot area everybody wants to live in because it’s nice, it’s safe, and all the properties are well kept. That is the baseline for me. If somebody say, I got a property for you up on the East side, and I ride up on the East side, and it’s a terrible neighborhood, I just keep going. I couldn’t do anything with that. I don’t care what the price is. I can’t do anything with that. I can’t rent it to who I want to rent it to. And nobody with any money wants to live in that area. So the criteria.Dylan Silver (14:20)
Yeah, you keep going.Thank
Tim Bowman (14:31)
base criteriais location, because I know I can move the property.
Dylan Silver (14:36)
I want to get granular on this. Maybe give away some of the gold here, Tim, but not all of it. Save some of it for students. I know you’re in coaching, right? If, if we’re in the Detroit area and I’m looking at distressed real estate and I’m in an area, I don’t know all the Detroit areas, but I’m in an area where you’re buying it, right? And I know, okay, this is my exit strategy. I’m going to flip. I’m going to flip it in less than 30 days, two weeks, right? And meaning it’s going to be on market for that long. ⁓Tim Bowman (14:40)
Yeah.Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Right.
Dylan Silver (15:03)
What is I know there’s going to be a spectrum here, but what’s the the general range of hey? I want to acquire the property between this and this price. I don’t want to go over this Also, is there a decade of home that you’re looking at standing above like hey? I won’t buy anything older than 1970 or something like thisTim Bowman (15:21)
That agequestion is a very good question because what happens is you start getting, and I didn’t notice when I first started doing this, okay, I got a good deal in a good neighborhood, but you go in there and the house was built back in the 30s, it’s a boiler, right? So now what are you going to do with a boiler? You got to tear that out, you got to open all the walls up and start putting forced air in. So I start saying that, and that’s an excellent question. I start saying, okay, I’m not buying any house. I don’t care where it is with a boiler in it because that’s just trouble.
And that’s a big ticket repair item. OK, so ⁓ that was number one. And the first part of your question was,
Dylan Silver (15:53)
Yep.First part of question is when we talk about distressed real estate in Detroit, I’m a little bit of a fish out of water. What’s the, the ballpark range of, hey, you want to be buying homes within this and this price for an exit of X?
Tim Bowman (16:12)
Right. So the way I look at that is I don’t put a percentage on it. I say the minimum deal I want to make sure, the amount of money I want to walk out of this deal is $25,000. That is the minimum. So that has everything to do with the, the base of location. What are the houses running? They’re running 150,000 in this area. I want the house for 75,000, 80,000. Because I know then I’ll go and do my due diligence and see how much the renovation is going to cost.And if I got it for $75,000 knowing it’s $150,000, I go in and put, we’ll say $25,000 if necessary, the least amount, then I know I got some real $50,000 to play with. So after everything is paid off, I can walk out there with a minimum of $45,000 in a 60-day period. That’s just the formula I use then.
Dylan Silver (17:41)
Detroit Real Estate. Hey,there’s gonna be more people now looking at the Detroit Real Estate after we gave them this gem. I do wanna ask you, I hear a lot of folks on this show, but also in other shows that I’ve listened to talk about doing this remote lead, you know out of your area or in other states. For my money’s worth, it’s challenging. I can’t imagine doing flips where I don’t have a…
knowledge of the area and in, in a very personal way. What’s your process and what’s your thoughts on on buying real estate to flip out of areas that you’re familiar with?
Tim Bowman (18:22)
My expertise is I need to see it. I just need to see it because I don’t know the area. I don’t know who I’m dealing with. If I can see it and by me being from where I grew up, I’m here. I know what areas are hot. I know where can make money. I don’t have to guess. I don’t need to say, well, I’m going to buy this property because I saw it on the internet. It could be in the middle of an industrial park. And I got the property for a good price, but I’m stuck with it.Dylan Silver (18:47)
Drain.Tim Bowman (18:51)
I know a deal of a guy, he bought a house, his plan was to make $60,000 on it. He got a good deal on it and he made the house look like a million dollars, but he couldn’t sell it because it was in a bad neighborhood. You know People that want that kind of money didn’t want to live there. So I need to put, just my strategy is I need to see it, I need to walk the block, the neighborhood before I put a dime in it because I need to know I can sell this property.Dylan Silver (19:05)
Yep, price out of the market.Tim Bowman (19:19)
Because I’m not worried about the renovations. I know they’re going to be on point. I just need to know I can sell it because people want to live in this particular area.Dylan Silver (19:29)
I want to pivot here Tim and ask you about coaching and I’m sure you get lots of people who know you for music but also real estate coming up to you asking you how to get involved and build generational wealth for themselves. When people are coming up to you is it from all different sources or is it from the music space or is it from people you’re meeting in real estate? How are folks reaching out to you generally?Tim Bowman (19:50)
Uh-huh.You know, it’s funny. A lot of people come up to me, because a lot of people know my music, right? I’ve just been blessed to have that kind of a career, and I’m thankful for that. So I’ll hear people say, I like your music. I saw your show. I like that. And I’ll have people come up to me and say, I see you have a course out. I want to get into real estate. But the way I got into teaching real estate was, the main thing was I want to help other musicians. I remember there was a time when I was on the road
And I grew up listening to this particular musician. He was just, I was a fan and I had a chance to meet him. This was back in the mid 80s. And when I met him, he was a nice guy, but he was destitute. After like 30 or 40 years in the game, he didn’t have any money. And it still hadn’t clicked yet that if I don’t do something, I’m going to be there. And you know, the more you’re in the business,
Dylan Silver (20:32)
Hmm.Yeah.
Tim Bowman (20:44)
you start to realize you hear the stories, the guys having a long career, then they end up with nothing. So I start teaching musicians. I was like, man, just get you, you don’t need 20 houses, get one or two. Just take some of the pressure, take some of the pressure off your music. So you you don’t wind up flying from Detroit to LA for $150, that kind of thing. Or how are you gonna, you know, pay your rent? Just get one or two rentals. And if you do it the right way, it will be passive. You don’t have to deal with it and more guys start listening.Dylan Silver (20:57)
Yeah.Tim Bowman (21:14)
And then it just became something else. Then I started talking to regular people. They would send other people to me. Just had nine to five jobs, just wanted some more income. So that’s how I got into coaching. Just trying to help people.Dylan Silver (21:24)
You know, it’s a beautiful thing becausethere’s so many people who are passionate about what it is that they do. We talk about teachers, you talk about civil service people in government, but so many times, especially ⁓ teachers, think, in particular, you might be teaching in an area where you can’t afford to live in, right? And so, you know, what can people do? And so I think there’s this huge need for a
Tim Bowman (21:32)
Yep.Dylan Silver (21:51)
people like yourself who folks can relate to. Hey, I’m a musician. I see what Tim’s doing, successful music career, but I also see he’s got real estate. I’m interested in that. I can bridge the gap there versus if, if I’m a musician, I don’t know another musician who’s doing the same thing. It might seem like maybe this isn’t for me. So the more people that we can have, who we can relate to on a personal level, hey, I see this person doing something that I’m doing, the more people we’re gonna get into real estate.Tim Bowman (22:07)
Thank you.Right. And that is the thing, because now, it started out with me just talking to musicians. But everybody, in my view, and I teach this to my students, have something. Because we live in a day and age now that you just never know. AI is here. AI is just having an effect on everything. But I always tell them AI is here. But what you think AI cannot do is put a roof over your head. You can’t.
Dylan Silver (22:45)
Yep.Tim Bowman (22:46)
And you can do thatDylan Silver (22:49)
It can’t be that.Tim Bowman (22:51)
because everybody needs to have a roof over their head, you know what I’m saying? And so I don’t care who it is, just get a passive income. If it’s only one or two, just to pay your house note, just to pay your car note, take that stress off of it. You know what I’m saying?Dylan Silver (22:54)
100%.We are coming up on time here Tim, where can folks go to reach out to you? Maybe they’re interested in real estate for themselves but not sure where to get started. How can folks can , contact with you?
Tim Bowman (23:17)
They can reach me at timbowman.com forward slash wealth building. And I’m on, and thanks for having me, man. I appreciate that.Dylan Silver (23:22)
Tim, thank you so much.Man, thank you for coming on the show today.
Tim Bowman (23:28)
Thank you.
