Subscribe via:
Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews AK Babers, a prominent real estate investor and founder of AKB Realty Group and Manifest Equity. They discuss AK’s focus on community-driven solutions to bridge the wealth gap through real estate education, the importance of understanding the market, and the challenges faced by investors. AK shares insights on leveraging technology, particularly AI, in real estate, and emphasizes the need for community engagement and education, especially for seniors dealing with probate issues. The conversation also touches on investment strategies, the significance of automation in business growth, and AK’s future goals for expanding his outreach and educational efforts.
Resources and Links from this show:
-
Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode
Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
AK Babers (00:00)
main keys. That’s very important. ⁓ actually tomorrow I’m teaching a AI class in real estate to some realtors. So I would say one of the main keys is, ⁓ being able to understand your market and what the access that we have to technology is kind of strange to say that considering we always been on this upward thing with technology, right? But now it’s kind of straight up and down, right? With ⁓ AI and chat GBT, but the power to harness knowledge and tounderstand what your true target audience is, ⁓ the power of understanding what that market is, you know what what market you are you can do very detailed things now that’s almost scary. But I would tell you right now, even 80 to 90 % of the agents still don’t know how to extract that information, you know, so that’s very important. So, yeah.
Michelle Kesil (02:26)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil and today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to connecting with, AK Babers, who has been making serious moves as an investor and founder of AKB Realty Group and Manifest Equity, so excited to have you on the show today.AK Babers (02:50)
Thank you, thank you, thankMichelle Kesil (02:51)
Awesome. I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re using community-focused solutions to help close the wealth gap through real estate and education. So excited to dive in with you.AK Babers (03:07)
Okay, awesome, cool. Let’s get it.Michelle Kesil (03:08)
Yeah,let’s get it. First off, for those not familiar with you and your world, can you share what your main focus is?
AK Babers (03:19)
Okay, I’m AK Babers ⁓ of AKB Realty Group. We’re a team out of Houston, Texas with Brooks and Davis Real Estate firm. ⁓ We focus on helping first time buyers get into homes, understanding, breaking down and making ⁓ home ⁓ ownership bite-size educational for people and understandable. So there’s a lot of fear in the market right now. A lot of people don’t really understand what’s going on.⁓ One thing we kind of specialize in is just sitting down with you, making sure you understand the process. So right now we kind of enter into, we deal with some renters. We like to get some renters in our pipeline, working with those. During that time, while we’re going from lease to lease to lease, we can talk about a little bit of education. And by that point, they’ll be ready to be full time buyers.
Michelle Kesil (04:13)
Awesome. And are you working with investors as well or just the first time buyers?AK Babers (04:21)
No, we work with everyone. We definitely work with investors. Here in Houston, it’s kind of a hotbed of investing. We’re one of the hot cities right now. So everybody wants to invest. Everybody wants to build from the ground up. Everybody wants to on the duplex. know what mean? Right now, the…House hack is a popular thing out here. just, just a lot of times fear that people don’t truly understand what they’re getting into. Yes, it is a great opportunity to become an investor, but it’s also a lot of debt involved as well. So you got to understand what you’re dealing with, what the market is and what the market is about to be, right? Cause we’re going through a lot of change right now, unforeseen change. So you don’t know what’s going on, right?
Michelle Kesil (05:04)
Yeah, what would you share to those people that are maybe just getting started in their journey? Like what do they need to look out for?AK Babers (06:01)
What to look out for in an investment journey, correct? Know your numbers. Know what you’re doing. know, I think a lot of us investors that’s out here, we’re starting to see a lot of properties that starting to the market or sit on the market or have completed, right? You know, you can definitely tell when somebody got in over their head and understand what all this stuff on the news got to do with, you know.Michelle Kesil (06:05)
Sure, yeah.AK Babers (06:26)
I would say probably 10, 15 years ago, the news mattered, but it didn’t matter as much as now because now we’re talking tears, extra taxes on things and the price of lumber yesterday. mean, yesterday wasn’t today’s price, right? You know what mean? So just the cost of the dollars difference in lumber could make a big difference when you add it up over the whole stint of trying to build a house. know, ⁓ I think a lot of people still want to build in Houston, still want to build a house.I think for new time investors kind of time to throttle back Look back into maybe flipping or buying and holding you know I mean ⁓ do something that’s pre-existent definitely don’t get into something that’s over your head just because it’s sexy on social media
Michelle Kesil (07:11)
Yeah, absolutely, that is important. What have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to grow and to run smoothly?AK Babers (07:20)
⁓main keys. That’s very important. ⁓ actually tomorrow I’m teaching a AI class in real estate to some realtors. So I would say one of the main keys is, ⁓ being able to understand your market and what the access that we have to technology is kind of strange to say that considering we always been on this upward thing with technology, right? But now it’s kind of straight up and down, right? With ⁓ AI and chat GBT, but the power to harness knowledge and to
understand what your true target audience is, ⁓ the power of understanding what that market is, you know what what market you are you can do very detailed things now that’s almost scary. But I would tell you right now, even 80 to 90 % of the agents still don’t know how to extract that information, you know, so that’s very important. So, yeah.
branding and technology has been it.
Michelle Kesil (08:18)
Yeah, totally.So, I know you mentioned that you are really community-based. What does that mean for you?
AK Babers (08:27)
Community base I am a I’m actually a Texas Alexa elected official here in Houston area and our local water district my district ⁓ People in Texas know exactly what I’m talking about but involved in that and that kind of gives me aWhat I would like to say is this of responsibility to my community, right? Because I got a budget, balanced budgets, sure safe drinking water, you know what mean? All those type of things like that.
but also through our other business that is called Manifest Equity, where we deal with probate, right? So I don’t know if a lot of people really, you know, us in America, we really don’t look at probate like a problem until it’s become a problem, right? Because we never really had to deal with it unless we have somebody next to us where you got to get all your dead family member affairs together and make it make sense, right? And if you’re in a family of just
Dysfunctional or you got people over here and people fighting over there that makes that very complicated and taxing on the On that person I got deal with and most of time that person is our seniors, right? So our seniors are the ones that dealing with their dead loved ones or it’s a Family member or son or heir that got to deal with that stuff and it’s just all of sudden BAM mama did now BAM I got to deal with this but what about my kids and soccer and all this
other stuff. So you got to juggle a lot of things and lot of emotions at that time. And if you don’t know how to handle it, it could pretty much drag a family down. Right. You know what mean? So I think that’s very important to the community to kind of keep family structure and to keep family assets in the family. You know, yes, I am an investor, but yes, we all agree that sometimes wholesalers take a little too much off the top, right? Or they don’t necessarily give the equity back into the community, right? Because
because
a lot of times the community don’t know or aren’t aware of that equity or how to tap into that equity, right? It might be an old abandoned house, but they don’t know how to put value into that house, right? They might have enough money, cash, that they could put value into that house and then be able to pull the equity out and move on and do what they gotta do.
A lot of people don’t know that in these communities, you know? So it’s a lot of people, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a race thing, it’s definitely a money thing, right?
hedge funds and everything else coming in, buying up houses, pennies on a dollar because people don’t understand what they’re getting into and they signed these deals. So we just try to educate, you know what I mean? We go out to AARP groups and senior groups and let them know what it is. We actually talked them about a couple months ago. People, I guess most investors probably think they’re strange, but we taught them how to keep their house, right? You know what mean? There’s certain tools and then Texas and probably the states too, where you can
How a Todd how you can protect your house with any necessarily got to go through probate and can go into the next set of errors cleaner and and and cheaper You know, I mean, so we just have a by doing that But also what that let us know that I mean let the community know is that we’re a trusted member, right? So if you got another family member that’s dealing with this they necessarily can’t hold on to the house or maybe everybody shouldn’t hold on to the house, right because some situations if you give a
a distressed house over to a loved one that’s just been living there rent free for 30, I just say 15 years and all of sudden the roof leaking and everything else and I gotta pay taxes. That house is more of a burden to him than anything. It might be worth you to spend to cash out at $50,000 and give it to that family member so they can live another life and start all over instead of dealing with the pitfalls of this house.
So that’s how we help the community.
Michelle Kesil (12:54)
Yeah,amazing. How does this tie into your investment projects?
AK Babers (13:00)
⁓ Because like I say everybody can’t keep them right everybody can’t keep them so ⁓We were able to take these properties. I want to say take them, but we was able to purchase these properties at a fair market value. Right. And then I could give them over to as far as if I can take it down and hold it, I will. But if not, I could pass it on to my other friends, investors, or another thing we try to do is help veterans. Right. I want to help veterans understand the power of investing and using that disability money that you got to turn that
into doors, right? So that’s another thing that we want to try to do as well. So that’s how, that’s how I kind of, like I told you, it turns into a lead generation source.
Michelle Kesil (13:47)
Awesome. And what are… What was that?AK Babers (13:49)
that’s not so predatory.I say turning into lead generation source that’s not so predatory.
Michelle Kesil (13:55)
Mm-hmm.Mm-hmm. Yeah. That’s a really good way to do it.
How are you, like I know you mentioned that you’re educating people, is this one of the trainings that you’re focused on?
AK Babers (14:06)
⁓ yes. Yes, of course when we’re going to the senior communities, that’s pretty much what it is. It’s training. They may look at it as a savior, but it’s more of a training deal because I tell them that this don’t stop. This communication don’t stop. We got to this communication again. Next time we got to have it with your heirs present and maybe with your family present or invite us over to your house so we can talk to everybody at the same time. Right. So that becomes educational andJust working with my other real tipeers, know, there’s opportunities to kind of speak to them, talk to them and make some money training them as well, right? So just train them on things that we did, like we’re doing the AI course right now. So a lot of agents that don’t know, a lot of people that don’t know nothing about AI. So just how to talk to it and get that detailed information that I was talking about earlier.
Michelle Kesil (14:58)
Yeah, absolutely. What are some of the goals that you have for where your business is heading?AK Babers (15:45)
⁓ More and more and more. You know, we got to do our business planning for next year, but ⁓ it’s definitely more. So I don’t know what that number, I don’t like putting false numbers out there just yet, but I want to work on it. But we definitely striving to do more. know the economy kind of sucks, but pivoting, you know what mean? That’s one reason we work with renters now.Just pivoting, Renters gonna move more than buyers and sellers might move in the next five years, you know? So.
be able to diversify the income sources, you know, through the trainings, through the investments, through the, I really think we really gonna lean into a lot more AI trainings, take those into those communities as well, those senior communities, because even though don’t think seniors can be quick with technology sometimes, but I think this technology is so easy that it probably solve a lot of, start solving a lot of their problems.
They just know how to prompt and communicate with it. So, just diversify our lead generation sources.
Michelle Kesil (16:54)
Sure. And are there specific investing strategies that you are working with?AK Babers (16:59)
⁓ Right now for us, it’s just buying and holding and trying to, you know, I just turned, well you don’t know, but just turned 50 in March, so ⁓ I try to be a little greedy right now. You I think there’s phases in life for every investor, every point of their life, for every situation that they’re dealing with. So ⁓ I know a lot of people in my circles, they’re like, you need to be building, you need to be building. I’m like…just wanna kinda go slow and build my portfolio right now. Get through these hard times and see what’s coming out the other side and then we can do all those other things. But I’m trying to prepare for, and they said retirement, but retirement.
Michelle Kesil (17:43)
Sure,makes sense.
Awesome. When it comes to business growth, whether that’s through networking or relationship building or other systems that you have, what are some things that have made the biggest difference for you?
AK Babers (17:59)
just say systems, just all type of systems, ⁓ artificial intelligence systems, ⁓ CRM systems, organization, trying to be more organized and the automation, I would say that automation, automation is probably the biggest thing. It’s too easy not to automate nowadays.Michelle Kesil (18:25)
Yeah, totally.So.
AK Babers (18:26)
I seesome of your automation tools and I thought that was pretty cool.
Michelle Kesil (18:31)
Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot thatwe can leverage with that right now.
AK Babers (18:35)
Mm.Michelle Kesil (18:36)
How did you get started with investing?AK Babers (18:38)
I think it’s just my family. Even though my family are not like big time real estate investors, they’ve always, I guess since the moment they moved to Houston, they was all about home ownership. ⁓ My dad has owned a couple of properties and as I got older and stopped wanting to deal with corporate America, just found out it might be an easier way to go than dealing with corporate America.I like the freedom and the flexibility of it.
Michelle Kesil (19:11)
Yeah. What are some of the challenges that you’ve experienced through investing and how did you overcome them?AK Babers (19:20)
Whew, managing contractors. How did I come, how did I, I don’t know. I haven’t figured that one out yet. But I would say through systems and documentation makes it a lot easier, right? ⁓Michelle Kesil (19:24)
Right.AK Babers (19:41)
One thing after you get screwed over one time is kind of easier to kind of fix it the next time right so So I I like to put contracts out I put contracts out some people form some people say ain’t nobody gonna sign them I think it’s enough people out there hungry right now that somebody will sign them and understand that this is a mutual thing I just want to make sure I get what I get so you can get what you get and we can be on the same page and we can lead this relationship to go on thebuild bigger and better things, right? ⁓ And just understanding new contracts, right? You get your contractor that you know, after you do the contract, you may not need to do it again, but I still highly suggest to keep doing it, right? Keep doing it, cause now y’all understand how you do the work, but then dealing with those new contractors and what, and building that relationship, right? It’s always.
You always lose money right there. Because you’re not on the same page and not understanding. But I’ve learned that detailed scopes of work help out, right? ⁓ Outlining everything to the T as much as possible. It may sound anal, but it’ll save you a lot of headaches and late night phone calls and early morning cursing outs and everything else. documentation.
Michelle Kesil (20:59)
Yeah, absolutely that’s important part of this world.So the way that you educate people, are you teaching people online or is this just in your local community?
AK Babers (21:11)
Right now ⁓ my local community, know, if you follow my social media I try to do a lot on there as wellBut people don’t gravitate to that, know, on social media. If you do something silly, then everybody want to like you. But if you tell somebody educational, they just kind of laugh at it. I they don’t even pay attention to it. But it’s local community work. We’re going to start doing more webinars and things like that now that we have the platform for it. So we plan on doing more of that in 2026. And it’s easier and quicker, right? It’s easier and quicker, right?
Michelle Kesil (21:46)
Awesome.Absolutely. Yeah, so before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, and learn more, where can people find you?
AK Babers (21:58)
Okay, I’m pretty easy to find. I think I’ve done a good job of building my Google presence on as far as Houston. I’m the only AK Babers in the Houston area as far as real estate, social media. You can find me Mr. Get your keys, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. I think even TikTok, but I might be doing some embarrassing things on TikTok. So don’t necessarily go look for me on that.Michelle Kesil (22:26)
Okay.Awesome. Well, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. Thank you for being here.
AK Babers (22:34)
Thank you.Michelle Kesil (22:34)
And for the listeners tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations with operators like AK who are building real businesses. We’ll see you on our next episode.
