How a 23-Year-Old Realtor Bought His First Multifamily Investment Property

Dylan Onorevole (00:00)
First year I think I made maybe three grand and I sold like two houses. It was under a million. It was bad. But I was grinding, I was calling, I was making the relationships and this year I’m gonna do about fifteen million in sales and I’m gonna make probably a little over two hundred fifty thousand dollars this year.

Joseph Crooms (01:49)
Hey everyone, welcome to *Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast*. We are here today with Dylan.

I’m Joseph Crooms. I am your host. I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking to share time with. His name is Dylan. I’m not gonna try, but I’m gonna try on his last name. I know, Dylan, I’m gonna try your last name, Onorevole Onorevole

Dylan Onorevole (02:14)
Close, close. Onorevole, Onorevole. No one gets it their first try, so I don’t take offense.

Joseph Crooms (02:18)
Onorevole.

Coach me through and you can see I need to go back to school. Do it. Say hello to everyone.

Dylan Onorevole (02:30)
What’s going on everyone? Joseph, thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it.

Joseph Crooms (02:33)
It’s my pleasure. I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’ve been approaching the real estate end. And so we were talking and you were saying how you’re watching the market shift. Can you explain what you meant by that?

Dylan Onorevole (02:50)
Yeah, so I’m a twenty-three-year-old realtor and I’ve been doing I’ve been in the business for three years. And I always wanted to to become a real estate investor and I just did about you know six months ago. I bought my first multifamily and I I’ve also been involved in a couple of flips, partnered. And what I’ve noticed is whenever there’s a shift in the market, you don’t want to be too transactional because there’s no predictable income. So

I’ve been trying to find different avenues. Obviously, having rental properties and having cash flow is great, but trying to find different businesses that are verticals within the real estate space that are more predictable where you don’t have to wait on the transactions. Because in New Jersey, right now, you know, hitting a peak summer market, it gets a little bit slower. People are going on vacation, they’re going down the shore by you, Joseph. And you know, people are getting away from the mountains where I’m in. So

So they, you know, people aren’t shopping for homes, people aren’t looking to sell their house. I I have like five people that are looking to sell in the fall, so it just slows down a little

Joseph Crooms (03:56)
What have you been doing to capitalize on that scenario that you just shared with me? You know, what are you doing about that?

Dylan Onorevole (04:05)
Totally. I I’m finding a lot more on market deals and I’m just building relationships. The relationships that you build right now are is going to be the business for the for Q4 and Q1 of next year. And when you are constantly talking with with potential sellers or or anyone that, you know, even houses that are on the market right now, they could be

You know, they could be sitting and sellers are a little bit more desperate. So you can get you can get a deal that’s even on market.

Joseph Crooms (04:36)
What have you—when you made this this transition, and congratulations, six months ago or how were you doing in the real estate business and what did you say I’m ready?

Dylan Onorevole (04:46)
Thank you.

That’s a great question. I so I’ve been wanting to get into real estate investing ever since I got my license. That’s the whole reason I even got my license. But of course, you need money to to invest in real estate. you know, I know that there’s some some strategic ways, but I also needed to have some knowledge too. So I got into residential sales and I was continuously reading *Rich Dad Poor Dad* by Robert Kiyosaki. And when I

When I was reading that book, I was like, all right, save as much money as I can from all the from all the commission that I make in in these sales. And then the second that I find a deal, have the money there waiting for you and then and jump on it.

Joseph Crooms (06:25)
So let me ask you this question, Dylan. When you realize I’m ready now, what was it that got that that you did prior to getting yourself ready? And when did you say financially, mentally, I’m ready?

Dylan Onorevole (06:43)
Totally. So when I got my real estate salesperson license, I was obsessed with the book *Rich Dad Poor Dad* by Robert Kiyosaki. And just getting into investing was the was the main thing that I wanted to do. And I was reading this book. I knew I needed money in order to in order to invest in real estate. Of course, depending on the deal, now I now I have a little bit more knowledge of creative financing. But when you when I got into real estate, I started selling as many houses as I could, saving all my commission.

And just started looking out for a deal. I was cold calling multifamily absentee owners and I had I actually had a lot of great conversations. I have some people in the in the follow-up campaign right now to to potentially sell to me in the future. And but I actually found my my multifamily that I bought on market. It was during one of the crazy New Jersey snowstorms. No one was going out to see the house.

I saw it the first day it was on the market, put an offer in a little under asking price immediately and I got it accepted.

Joseph Crooms (07:50)
So when—so when you started six months ago, what is your volume monthly now?

Dylan Onorevole (07:58)
My volume right now is is based on my is based on my real estate—my sales right now. So I don’t that’s my main my main business. I close about a little over a million a month. So I’ve closed almost seven million this year so far. And and that’s been the main thing. And when I am just doing this, I had to unfortunately put a lot down in that one in that first purchase because I was

a new investor and so I had to put twenty five percent down, which took a lot of that nest egg out. So I can’t can’t be playing ball as much as I want to right now. But I am I’m you know, I’m I’m still continuously on the prowl. I’m looking for for more deals all the time.

Joseph Crooms (08:45)
That seven million was it your commission and and how would you pan it out now that you’re an investor now? So what would you say in real estate, what is your volume or what is that revenue number like?

Dylan Onorevole (08:59)
Yeah, totally. The revenue, the revenue that’s that’s sales. That’s that’s total volume. So seven million, I I usually make about two and a half percent per commission. And so what whatever that is, I think it’s like a it’s like a hundred something. So I made like a hundred and something thousand so far in the in the first half of the year and just saving up as much as I can. I’ve been doing you know, when you when you are continuously prospecting for for deals for yourself.

Like I was in the beginning, and they don’t pan out, but you still can follow up with them. Whenever you find a deal, the deal can finance itself. So I go to someone who is either another real estate investor that I know and say, Hey, here’s this distressed duplex. Let me sell it to you. And then you kind of are like almost a wholesaler in that position. Or you say, Hey, this is this deal. I have a hard money guy.

I know I just bought this other place and I’m still kind of renovating that other one right now. But help me figure out a way to to buy this myself. I have I’m I’m negotiating right now with with one seller to to make that happen, but so I—I’ll—we’ll see how that goes.

Joseph Crooms (10:50)
So when you started your business, so now that you’re six months in, what would you say, all right, on my business end, where do you see yourself are you surprised about how much you’re making a month and where do you see yourself in a year from now?

Dylan Onorevole (11:07)
Mm, great question. I would I I I’m a little surprised at what at what I’m making a month. It’s you know, it’s been it’s been going really good. but I would say from from the future tense, I I just see myself doubling down. There’s—there’s no ex—there’s no excuse. I want to buy as many houses as I as I can within the next—within the next ten years. but it’s it’s all based on relationships.

The way that I make commission as a real estate agent is by getting people who know me, like me, trust me to transact in real estate. And that’s that’s the main that’s the main business model. And then the more that I keep doing that, the more I can pro—the more I am prospecting for for sellers off market of of multifamilies. I usually like to target the the small, the small multifamily and that way you know, I’m the cash flow is little bit better. And then I, you know, I just I just keep

keep rolling there. So in in a year from now I wanna I wanna close probably about twenty five million in sales and buy another two flips and then and then one other multifamily within the next year.

Joseph Crooms (12:16)
And what size is your multifamily now? A triplex. So that is like three, three, three, three homes in it.

Dylan Onorevole (12:19)
It’s a triplex.

Yep. So it’s three units. It was a if they’re all stacked on top of each other, which I don’t necessarily like that you get less rent in that in that case. I wanna look for side by side next. But I they’re both, you know, they’re they’re solid, they’re solid homes. I got great tenants in there and yeah, I’m I’m I’m really grateful to to have that place.

Joseph Crooms (12:47)
You know, Dylan, you’re a dynamic young man. I I love what you’re doing, young man. You’re just twenty-three. So first of all, some people that may not know nothing about your business, what’s your how do you explain what markets you’re in, your market that you’re in?

Dylan Onorevole (13:03)
Yeah. So northern New Jersey is very competitive. Every single person thinks that their house is worth ten times what it actually is worth. And which makes it really hard for for the the com you know when you’re putting in com competitive offers. Even on the on the on market side, with when you’re representing clients, they’re they’re putting in offers and it’s like they gotta waive the appraisal, they gotta waive part of the inspection.

It gets very difficult to to to make money. And that’s why the transaction basis is kind of tough, especially in in real estate. But for the off market side, whenever you’re putting these, you know, putting these offers out to get to to these sellers, you really have to have to have knowledge. And this is where like legitimate sales comes in. You you have to be able to pitch it in a way where saying, Hey, I’m a licensed realtor, I can probably get you more money on the market, but

When we’re on the market, these buyers are going to ask you for X, Y, and Z credits and repairs when if I were to buy it off market, I wouldn’t do that. That’s why I’m that’s why I’m offering you a low price. So that’s that’s kind of where I I’ve been seeing it. It’s really high right now. There’s it’s still a seller’s market in New Jersey compared to the rest of the world the rest of the country, but yeah.

Joseph Crooms (14:21)
Why do you say it’s it’s still a seller’s market in New Jersey?

Dylan Onorevole (14:26)
I think it’s because it’s so close to New York and you know Philly and there’s so many jobs and a lot of pe you know, a lot of people make good money in in New Jersey. Plus I you know, I lived in I lived in Maryland, I lived in South Carolina a little bit, and the the difference in lifestyle in New Jersey, it’s so like go, go, go, fast, fast. Compared in the South, you know, you’re a little bit more like chill, people are way more relaxed.

But the hustle and bustle in in northern New Jersey I think creates the environment for the real estate market to be the exact same way.

Joseph Crooms (15:44)
Do you plan on branching out to other parts of New Jersey and probably operating other states?

Dylan Onorevole (15:51)
It’s great it’s a great question. I’ve been I’ve been kind of teetering on the on the the PA border because I’m on like the far northwest side of New Jersey. So I see places like East Stroudsburg that that would be really a a great area to invest. You got the school, you got the downtown, and it’s cheaper. So the only thing is right now, I just don’t know if I have the the mental and actual bandwidth.

to be investing out of state where I can’t really manage it myself. I don’t have the contractors out there, type of thing.

Joseph Crooms (16:27)
Talking about contractors, have you built what’s been the difference on your sales side and now you’re an investor? And I guess they do they sort of sort of come together pretty much the the same business. And I guess my question is, what relationships have you been building with property managers?

Dylan Onorevole (16:45)
Yeah. So yeah, in New Jersey, in northern New Jersey, I haven’t really experienced many property managers, and that’s honestly why I’m considering starting a business with being a property manager. But what I’ve noticed is I’m renovating this first house myself, and honestly not a good idea. I’ve done a couple flips before, I partnered on a couple flips with contractors.

And I’d rather be the deal finder, being behind the computer and on the phone. And it’s just where I specialize in. And being having trustworthy contractors and net—networking with trustworthy contractors is crucial, but make sure that you’re making a good big enough spread in the deal to where you can pay the top, top quality people to help you renovate the house.

Joseph Crooms (17:33)
So, Dylan, thank you for sharing that. What’s been the key to keeping both of your sales and now your managing, what’s been the key to keeping your machine running smoothly?

Dylan Onorevole (17:44)
Totally. It’s it’s time blocking. Time blocking a hundred percent. You have to I have time blocks from eight AM to six PM every day. And if I miss out on a second, it starts to get all over the place. So I have to be sitting down at my desk, eight AM, making sure that I’m sending emails for my my real estate spot, my real estate business, and then

keeping that and I have a whole bunch I have a whole in-depth CRM through GoHighLevel that does a whole whole back end follow up campaign and appointment reach outs and and all that sort of stuff. But it’s really based on the systems. And if you don’t have the systems down, you don’t really have a business.

Joseph Crooms (18:26)
Do you have your systems where it supports your investment in and but it also it also supports your sales in for your I guess your your traditional did you start your own real estate company there also or are you working for someone else?

Dylan Onorevole (18:44)
Yeah, so I’m working with the brokerage. I have my own LLC within the brokerage and it’s all independently. But I have a big system for that. I have a big database and I have follow up campaigns for that system. And that usually tends to funnel into any investment opportunities that I get. And but I have yet to

kind of branch off and make them two separate things. I’m I’m almost wondering if I should or not. I think I honestly think I’m just gonna keep it in one lane because there’s so many ways to make money or or at least put your face out there as a real estate agent. And when you do that, you’re a real estate agent, people will call a real estate agent over calling an investor, I think

Joseph Crooms (19:30)
Gotcha. So Dylan, let me ask you this question. So when you started real estate what three years ago, am I correct? Yeah. So in your first year, what was your volume and now in sales, now what is your volume?

Dylan Onorevole (19:40)
Three years, yep.

Yeah. Yeah. First year I think I’ve made like I think I made maybe three grand and I sold like two houses. It was under a million. It was bad. But I was grinding, I was calling, I was making the relationships and this year I’m gonna do about fifteen million in sales and I’m gonna make probably a little over two hundred fifty thousand dollars this year.

Joseph Crooms (20:12)
And that is that and how would that translate monthly for you?

Dylan Onorevole (20:17)
You know, monthly it’s hit or miss. I’m a big baseball guy and the MLB has a hundred and sixty-two games a year and Aaron Judge is gonna be injured for for the month of June, but he had a really good April. So, that’s kind of the way that the transaction business kinda goes. So I had a phenomenal start to the year and what I’m seeing is now this kind of summer hump is

is slowing transactions down, which is my entrepreneurial brain kind of thinking of what other ways can I make money besides being strictly transaction based.

Joseph Crooms (20:54)
Makes sense. Makes sense. Alright, so we’re getting to the why. but I must ask you this question. Can you think of a moment when you had to pivot fast? ‘Cause every operator has a bad deal. Yeah. But it’s one that you can share with us when you just had to pivot very quickly.

Dylan Onorevole (21:12)
Yeah. I feel like there’s been so many. I have to pick one. I was—when I first got started, I had this rental listing. And it was representing a landlord that I was trying to mentor. Like I was trying to be his like mentee. And he gave me this rental listing.

I was told, a lot of when you’re representing a lot of landlords is I’m kind of getting into the property management. Tenants are not very either, you know, not loyal or trustworthy. Whenever they say they’re gonna come through, they don’t come through. Usually, not no slander against that, obviously. But if you’re gonna be showing a rental and you have tenants, you gotta have systems in place because they’re gonna,

just flake on you if you don’t call them or text them to confirm. So I told him that we had someone that saw the house because it was sitting on the market for a little bit. They saw they didn’t come. They flaked on me. And I was like, my gosh, this guy is like gonna kill me. I kind of told them that they were he was like these tenants were very interested and he was like asking me about it. So I was like,

I gotta figure out some way. So I I went on my Instagram and I just DM’d everyone that I knew and I was like, Yo, I have this rental. Please find someone for me. I’ll throw you like a hundred bucks. And then in like a week we got someone. We got someone to submit an application.

Joseph Crooms (22:35)
Pivoting fast. I love it. All right.

About to wind things down. You can’t fake relationships and everything else. So alright before we wrap if someone wanted to reach out to you Dylan connect with you maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing what’s the best way to reach out you can give your podcast everything you can just announce it all right here.

Dylan Onorevole (22:54)
Yeah, awesome. I appreciate that. I have a podcast called *The More Smarter Show*. We interview business owners and we kind of talk about business. And then my socials are Dylan Onorevole long last name, NJ. So anyone, anyone who wants to reach out there, be happy to chat.

Joseph Crooms (23:11)
One more time because somebody was looking for a pen or shaking their head and saying, wait, I didn’t write this down. Or give it to us one more time, Dylan.

Dylan Onorevole (23:18)
Yeah, absolutely. So it’s called *The More Smarter Show* is my podcast, and my social is @DylanOnorevoleNJ.

Joseph Crooms (23:28)
And how would they reach you for business?

Dylan Onorevole (23:30)
And for business, if you want to reach out to me, [email protected]. That’s my email. And or you could shoot me a text, (201) 841-7540. I’m looking to do any real estate transactions in northern New Jersey. If you want to partner on a flip, more than happy to. And if you’re looking to sell a multifamily, I’m your man.

Let’s do a deal.

Joseph Crooms (23:55)
Perfect. Well listen, Dylan, I appreciate your story, your perspective, and all all that you’re you’re you’re going to do. You’re you’re going to do dynamic things, young man. We need more people in the spaces who are doing the right things, the right way. Thank you again for being here, Dylan. And for those of you tuning in, I know you got value today. Make sure you subscribe, and we got more conversations coming from operators just like

Dylan Onorevole (24:13)
Awesome, Joseph. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Joseph Crooms (24:25)
Dylan, Dylan, say your last name one more time for them. Dylan Onorevole. See, I had it. He’s out there doing real business, helping real people, and we’ll see you on our next episode of *Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Pros Podcast*.

Dylan Onorevole (24:28)
Onorevole.