How Jeremy Lack Turns Hotels Into Affordable Workforce Housing in Colorado

Jeremy Lack (00:00)
That’s a great question. ⁓ Looking back, ⁓ gosh, it’s taught me that you can only control you. And so that’s what you need to be focused on is controlling you and not be worried about this and that that you can’t control. ⁓ Instead of worrying about the news and what your neighbor’s doing and what this or that guy’s doing, you control you.

Like you’re referencing there really Proverbs 16 where you’ve got your step, you have your plan, but God is ordaining your steps is exactly what you’re saying.

Quentin (02:15)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest and I love, he’s all about that workforce housing. He’s all about the natural affordable housing. So I love it because we know affordable housing, that’s a big thing right now. So I love when I have someone on that’s going to talk this topic. And so I am so excited, elated.

Jeremy Lack (02:16)
I love you,

Quentin (02:43)
to introduce you all to Mr. Jeremy Lack. Mr. Jeremy, how you doing today,

Jeremy Lack (02:48)
Doing great. Good morning. Thank you so much for for having me.

Quentin (02:52)
Absolutely, man. So guys, thank you for your time, can’t, listen, I can’t do this episode without you. This episode would not be the same without you. So thank you for your time, And so listen.

Jeremy Lack (03:03)
Yeah, let me interrupt you and tell you that

yeah, your energy, like you can, can feel it in the podcast. I’ve been on a couple of others, ⁓ podcasts. They were okay. They’re fine, but it takes a talent to develop. have to develop it, you know, and I think you do a good job of that. So I feel I ought to just immediately felt really comfortable with you. So thank you.

Quentin (03:13)
Yeah.

Man, I really appreciate that. I take very seriously what I do. I’m intentional about what I do. And so thank you. The fact that you are picking up on my natural, authentic energy, I really, really appreciate that. So please know that means a lot to me. So I thank you for that, ⁓ But listen, not but and, because I accept everything you just said. So and, not negating nothing you just said. And I’m glad you’re here. And I’m the type to love to dive in.

So Mr. Jeremy, would love, man, for you to tell us what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story about how you got into the space that you’re in and then tell them what part of the world you’re in. People love to know where people are geographically. So what you’re up to, your origin story and where you are. Mr. Jeremy, sir, you have the floor.

Jeremy Lack (04:16)
Sounds good, thank you. ⁓ Well, what I’m up to is bringing more workforce housing or naturally affordable housing to Colorado. That’s my mission and purpose that I have. ⁓ I don’t know where to start exactly. To be brief here, I’ll just say we moved. I married a Coloradan. We moved here about 11 years ago and actually we fell on some pretty hard times. We separated, eventually divorced. I found myself living in

renting out ⁓ the smallest room of a house in one of the worst parts of town really didn’t have a lot of dignity. It wasn’t a great situation trying to pay the bills. ⁓ As I was traveling back and forth to Oklahoma visiting family, I passed through this little town called Raton, New Mexico.

I saw these old hotels there, motels, they they probably just needed to be scraped at this point, but. ⁓

those were available and I was thinking, someone could, if I could just rent out one of those, at least I’d have some dignity, right? And I could kind of pay the bills. So I had that in the back of my mind. Fast forward just a little bit further. I’m still spiraling downward in life. I end up before a judge because of a DUI. I didn’t follow up with my education courses.

Quentin (06:05)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Jeremy Lack (06:24)
They had every legal right actually to send me to jail and they sent me the paperwork saying so. And so I was there in a desperate situation and the the attorney, the prosecuting attorney, he was supposed to be representing the county and prosecuting me in this divine intervention moment of suddenly turned and prosecuted or was advocating for me.

Quentin (06:52)
Mmm. Mmm.

Jeremy Lack (06:52)
instead of prosecuting me to the judge.

And she’s like, hey, this guy is on his, he’s on his way. He’s going to get this stuff done, give him a little more time. And I just like the light from heaven, you know, just shown down on me. That with, with some other things turning around, you know, in a spiritual sense, some divine intervention, God opened my eyes and like made me realize I, cannot live like this. couldn’t have four kids, be divorced and just, you know, living this way.

Quentin (07:10)
Mmm!

Jeremy Lack (07:20)
And so from that time on, I determined like I’ve got to serve a greater purpose in my life than just messing around. So ⁓ in that same time period, the Lord opened my then divorced wife’s eyes to ⁓ reconcile our relationship with me, which was what I was trying to do too. And so I was like, you will not regret this if you give me another chance here. And she did, thankfully. And I just

I did what I had to do, send her little ⁓ time snaps of my breathalyzer every night from bed, say like, I’m not drinking, I’ve got this job, I’m doing all this stuff. ⁓ Fourth of July, 2020, we reconciled our marriage, we get married ⁓ up in the mountains in Colorado and family back altogether. And from that point, I decided, okay, what’s my purpose? What am I doing? How am I gonna make ⁓ a living for us and not just pay the bills, but actually thrive?

and achieve something great. so I thought about investing. saw, you you see these investors, the Warren Buffett types, are like, I just got to make a ton of money, work a ton of hours, put it in the S &P or whatever, and just wait till I’m retired and one day I’ll have money. And then that sounded like a horrible idea because I eventually found Robert Kiyosaki and found a different way to think about things with real estate.

you can leverage a huge asset with just a little bit and maybe no money sometimes. You can also force the appreciation is what I really liked about this tactic with real estate. On top of that, you got the tax advantages as well. then, so I went that direction. And so we saved some money, bought this little house up in the mountains to flip to be a…

Quentin (08:49)
Mm.

Jeremy Lack (09:14)
a short-term rental, we did a live-in flip of the house. And I was working my day job during the week. On the weekends, I come home and I’m working on the house. And by the end of that nine months or so, I was like, I’m, cannot, I’d have to do this a thousand more times to achieve my goals. It’s not gonna happen. So, ⁓ and in the middle of our time living there, the town changed their policy on short-term rentals. And they said, you can’t do it.

Quentin (09:28)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy Lack (09:40)
So we got out of that. I kind of got burned a little bit. I realized I learned my lesson and then had the aha moment of back in Riton, New Mexico. What about that? What about the hotels or motels that are sitting there doing nothing? And so that’s I thought maybe I can achieve my goals instead of doing it one house at a time. Maybe you do 50 to 100 units at a time

and you just do the same burr strategy only with a hotel. I thought this was my idea.

I thought I was a genius. turns out people have been doing this for a little while. I just didn’t know because I haven’t been in the industry. So thankfully I looked online. found this group who was giving a little workshop presentation in Las Vegas on this exact strategy. And there I met a guy named Alex Cartwright. I got connected with him. And that’s the guy who I mentioned to you previously. He served as a mentor to me. And he just showed me what the buy box should look like.

He taught me a lot of stuff about that side of it. Because one to four units in real estate is kind of a different animal from five and up. so he’s an economics professor, turned full-time ⁓ active real estate investor doing this strategy. ⁓ I went out there hard looking for deals, looking for deals, talking to lots of owners, ⁓ agents, everyone. Finally, found one a year ago here in Denver.

And he, cause I was looking all over the map and he told me, you know, people want to invest in Colorado and Denver. So why don’t you, you live there. That’s your advantage. Why don’t you focus on it? I said, that was very smart advice. I did it. Found this, this, uh, deal. I would consider a massive deal considering what I was looking for something that may be up to a million dollars. This thing was listed at 15 million. thought.

The number is, the underwriting works at 12 million maybe. So we got under contract for that. worked with, I brought it to Alex and his team because I knew they could execute on it. And I’m just going to be like the deal guy that found it. ⁓ They negotiated down to 9 million and it was, ⁓ is amazing deal. It’s really amazing. they’re closed on it. So that it took almost a year from that point to the closing. It’s a long process, but it’s a, it’s a 309.

Key Hotel in Denver. ⁓ It’s just a big holiday inn. It wasn’t this nasty distressed cockroach asset. It was amazing. I always think, would I want to live here? And I definitely would. You got views of the mountains. You got the views of the downtown Denver. It’s 11 stories high. It’s amazing. so I only was instrumental in the early goings, and then they took it from there, and then they closed on it and props to that group. We’re actually doing a

a site tour with a bunch of LPs tomorrow, actually. they’re not going to invest necessarily because that’s been done. But just to show more people what’s possible in this day and age of a housing crisis. No, people don’t have anywhere to live. They have to run out of room and pad split just to get by. Well, there’s other solutions. And this is just one of many. But adaptive reuse is what we would call this. Taking something that wasn’t

It was one use, then we’re changing it to a totally different use. ⁓ really Denver is, they’re already very keen on this. There’s a lot of things that have been repurposed from one use to another. They even have an office in the city of Denver has an office for ⁓ adaptive reuse to help you navigate ⁓ the channels and get through everything. ⁓

So now I’ve got that under my belt and it’s a really big one. I say under my belt. I played a very small part in it, but I’m a part of the team on executing on the deal. So ⁓ I’ve identified a couple more now here on the front range and places that are quickly appreciating and they’re just getting, people are being priced out and they just have nowhere to live. And so I just think if I can just focus on Colorado,

and doing this one thing for the next 25, 30 years, then I’ll have achieved something great, I think. And then along with achieving something great, there are financial rewards to it. I’m just focused on achieving the great thing and being a service to the community. So that’s an extremely long answer to a very short question for you. Yeah.

Quentin (14:47)
know

that I appreciate all of it. Listen, as you was talking, I was actively writing. You see your page is full. Your page is full, bro. And so please know I was actively listening.

Jeremy Lack (14:54)
No. Yeah.

Quentin (15:42)
know I enjoyed every last bit of it. Thank you for taking us through the journey. I am going to love asking you this question, right? So I’m actually going to say some things back to you. And then I’m going to ask you a question. Before I start that,

I mean, I’m glad you mentioned the Lord, man. The Bible teaches that the vision is for an appointed time. So I want you to hold on to that, because when I begrudge you to say what you said back to me, that Mexico, when God spoke to you, when he was driving through Mexico, that vision was for an appointed time. Right. And so you talked about, man, man, your story may get me emotional, man. So.

11 years, you moved, put a 11 years, you moved to Colorado, right? So I think, you know, that was 11 years ago. I should have put that, but I 11 years, moved to Colorado, went through a divorce. know, myself, I’ve been through a divorce. It’s hard, I hear you. You was renting out a room. You said your dignity was low. When I got divorced, I went back to my parents’ house in that basement, in my childhood basement. So I know what you’re talking about, dignity being low.

Jeremy Lack (16:52)
Mm-hmm.

Quentin (16:56)
And then man, you was passing through Mexico on a road trip, I believe back home. And you had an idea. You was looking, he was like, man, what if I can just rent these hotels that’s just sitting there? Man, you was facing jail time. And then it was like divine intervention, my brother, where they just start advocating for you. And you said, was like heaven shined down a light, man. And God just spoke to you. was like, four kids, like it’s time to get serious. And then man, your wife was like, man, let’s talk about reconciling.

And so, you started putting in the intentional work. Fourth of July, you got remarried. I got remarried the Fourth of July weekend myself. So not to my ex-wife, to my new wife, but I got that, the weekend of Fourth of July was mine too, And man, just, you came back to Mexico. That whole thing came full circle. was like, was for an appointed time. And so,

Jeremy Lack (17:34)
Whaaat? Okay. Okay.

Quentin (17:54)
This is what this is my statement, Mr. Jeremy. Now make this statement for every podcast. Destiny has no wasted moments. I’m going say it one more time. Destiny has no wasted moments. I’m going say it like this for you and I who talk about the Lord. We make our plans, but the Lord determines the outcome. All things are working together for our good. there is God doesn’t, he doesn’t waste moments.

Every moment is building us to the person that we are today. All the trials, all the hardships have been building to the person we are today. So Mr. Jeremy, I would love to know, sir, throughout the journey, the moments, what have they taught you about yourself? Have they taught you discipline? Has it taught you resilience? Has it taught you grace? Has it humbled you? Like what has the journey, the moments taught you about you?

Jeremy Lack (18:53)
That’s a great question. ⁓ Looking back, ⁓ gosh, it’s taught me that you can only control you. And so that’s what you need to be focused on is controlling you and not be worried about this and that that you can’t control. ⁓ Instead of worrying about the news and what your neighbor’s doing and what this or that guy’s doing, you control you.

Like you’re referencing there really Proverbs 16 where you’ve got your step, you have your plan, but God is ordaining your steps is exactly what you’re saying.

Looking back and the guy was talking to me about this just this last week and I totally agreed that in your life you see it as, I went this direction and now I’ll go that direction, up and down, zigging and zagging. And that’s what my story sounds like.

But in God’s mind, it’s a straight path. And I would never have created this path. would never have dreamed I’d be talking to you here today or being part of a big deal or doing anything I’ve done. But in God’s providence and his wisdom, he knows what it takes for a knucklehead like me to have his mind changed and become a better person and lead a life of.

purpose and serve other people. just takes some of us. takes a lot more. takes us going through a lot to, um, to be more appreciative, to have more resilience, to have more determination. If I hadn’t gone through all this, I would be very comfortable. I would be comfortable with a decent salary and just that’s it. I’m paying my bills. We’re having fun on the weekend and that’s my life. But after this, I’m like,

There’s got to be something greater and bigger that I’m doing. have the mind to do it. I can find smart people to help me accomplish it. And gosh, I think that’s, I think that’s what he’s taught me is like, all this has happened for reason exactly to your point and do not waste it. You cannot waste it. And I mean, I’m like 44 now, like I wasted so much time. Now you got to make up for lost time. Again, why I like real estate so much is that you can now make up for lost, even though it’s a, it’s a time game, but at the same time you can force appreciation.

You can instill ⁓ standards on an underperforming asset that are not there. And you force the standards, you can force the appreciation on it. And then the more units you do is the greater the multiplier is on the whole thing. So ⁓ yeah, you can’t waste time anymore. I didn’t have that sense of urgency 10, 11 years ago. I didn’t. I was cool just delivering pizzas or whatever.

That’s quite a question you ask, yeah.

Quentin (21:52)
Yeah,

listen, and I knew you can handle that question. I like to ask that question. So I’m gonna say, cause you and I, you’re like my brother from another mother. Like you like my long lost brother. I’m, I’m, I’m listen, I’m 44 as well. Like I’ll be 45 in December. And even though our stories are not identical, there’s a lot of parallels. And I asked that question because

Jeremy Lack (22:02)
Yeah.

Alright.

Quentin (22:19)
I want people to reflect on the journey. You said it perfectly, Jeremy. Like sometimes it seemed like we’re on a roller coaster, but honestly, this sometimes is the way life is designed for you because God literally designed us. There’s a part of our brain and I can’t, I know what it is, but it’s so hard to pronounce, but it literally does not grow unless you go through hardship.

and let you go through difficult times. So literally the difficult times, if you allow it to work, it grows your mind, it rewires your brain, it grows your capacity. And so the scripture that I alluded to as well, it says all things is working together for your good. Like if you allow it, God knows that this hard time, it’s gonna grow you mentally. It’s gonna rewire your brain so it changes your perspective when it comes to hardship.

Like, and I feel comfortable saying this to you because we talk the same language. The Bible even says Jesus learned obedience through suffering. Meaning like he learned that there was going to be a certain amount of suffering, but he was going to be obedient because he knew this is what God had ordained for him. So suffering is not something that we should think is a punishment. It’s literally there to help you grow.

As you learn how to suffer, you learn how to overcome and it literally changes you physically, physical, physically, I can get that word out. And so I thank you, man. I thank you for telling your story. I thank you for walking us through the journey because you are the epitome of what it looks like when we overcome trials and we let these things work for our good. So, man, I appreciate you telling your story, man. I really do. I really do.

Jeremy Lack (23:52)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

thank you for saying that. Yeah, and I totally agree with you that, you know, I think what we’re both saying now is, ⁓ you, if you believe that everything is happening for a specific purpose, now that changes everything. That changes how your day, every single day looks. Cause now instead of saying, I’m in this position right now and I’m annoyed at this and I’m annoyed at that, or I don’t, I’m not getting what I want fast enough.

Instead, you’re looking at it as, God has me in this place right now. And I have these people in my life and in my path right now for a specific purpose. And now your brain changes to why? What is the opportunity that I’m being given right now? I’ve got an opportunity to do this and that. And they’re all in my life for a reason. I’ve just got to change my mind to open up to receive what the possibilities are out there. don’t waste the moments that God’s given you.

Quentin (25:06)
waste the moments. don’t waste the moments. My last guest that I had, I’m going quote her. She says, everything you want, wants you. Everything you want, wants you. So don’t waste the moment. What God has designed for you is for you. what’s your desires, the desires that he’s placing in your heart, they want you as much as you want it. So don’t waste the moment. Don’t waste the moment. I got to ask, man. I know we kind of coming up on time, but I have to ask, what’s next for you, sir?

What’s your next goal? What are you looking to solve a scale next, Mr. Jeremy?

Jeremy Lack (25:40)
Yeah, so ⁓ most pressing is getting the message out so I can attract the right people. Because I’ve found that ⁓ attracting capital to your business deals, it’s more of a sorting game. You’re not going to convince people against their will to invest with you. you’re just getting the message out there so the right people can come along and get in on these deals to help us bring more housing to Colorado. That’s just what I say. It’s naturally affordable because

It doesn’t rely on government help in any way. We’re not looking for free money from the city or the state or federal. It’s naturally affordable because we’re such a large value add going from a hotel, which is a business, now to actual real estate that has value. As hotels, they typically lose value. That hotel we closed on recently, it was purchased for 15 million, maybe 10 or so years ago.

Got it for nine million. It lost six million. And as a real estate play, you’re the worst real estate investor. If you help someone for 10 years, it depreciates. But it’s not. That’s why hotels are not, the hospitality industry is not a real estate play. It’s a business. It’s a cashflow game. they got their money and now they’re out and now we need to use it for something else. So just getting the message out, attracting investors. The other thing is I just started classes.

to get my real estate license, because I’m seeing the value in just focusing on hotel ⁓ sales, getting to know the market, getting to know owners and help them ⁓ buy and sell. And that would, I think, long term help me out as well to be ⁓ adjacent to the industry I’m trying to do and be kind of a subject matter expert in the area. So that’s that I just started my first ⁓ class on that.

I’m excited about it and I think it’s going to serve the overall purpose very well. So that’s what I have going on.

Quentin (27:36)
⁓

Yeah, man, no doubt it’s gonna serve the purpose well. Listen, man, I literally could talk to you easily for another 30 minutes. It’s so many things that we could talk about. But listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

Jeremy Lack (27:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, LinkedIn is good. You can find me. You see my name there. Jeremy lack a Jeremy lack affordable housing. You can also the website so that the company name is Quanah Sphere Quanah Q U A N A H sphere dot com (quanahsphere.com). And then that’s my email is on there as well. And my phone number might you can get my phone number. It’s public. Just call me or text me. ⁓ If you if any of this resonated with any of you out there, I’m not like

coach that I’m charging anything. But if you have anything that you want to talk about regarding a hotel conversions, I can, I can give you some advice and just tell you what’s what I know. Um, and that may be helpful for you and that’s going to help your community wherever you are. And then maybe we collaborate on something in future. knows? Um, Quan, just really quickly, Quan, Quan Parker, he was the last great, um, Comanche leader.

They wouldn’t necessarily call him a chief at the time, but he led his people in the transition out from being the king of the plains to transition into the American culture. They could have fought to the bitter end. Instead, he transitioned them into the American life and helped preserve the people. The government gave him, where I’m from in Oklahoma, they gave him a plot of land and built him a house for doing that.

And once they gave him a house, he invited tribal members to come and they still had teepees at that time. And they came and he’s like, come have a place to live, live here with me. And so he transitioned that that’s what resonates with me transitioning from one thing to the next with the hotel and apartments, but also providing housing to people who desperately need it because they’re running out. just he saw the way the wind was blowing and he couldn’t necessarily stop it. And so let’s just make the best and.

Allow people a situation where they can thrive and that’s what he did for his people and that’s what I’m trying to do I’m trying to honor him and his message and or His his story in what I’m trying to do now. So that’s why the name Kwan is on there. Yeah

Quentin (30:05)
Thank you for that. I periodically ask people what’s the meaning behind the name. And so I’m glad you said that because that’s powerful. That really gives a mission to the purpose, ⁓ a mission statement to what you’re doing. And so thank you for sharing that, man. Thank you. ⁓ Jeremy, I want to say three things to you, sir, sincerely. One, thank you for your time.

Right. You could have been doing anything in the world, but you’re here with us. I value your time. So thank you. Thank you for coming and gracing us with your presence. Secondly, thank you for your story. Thank you for the gift of authenticity, the gift of integrity, the gift of vulnerability. And I say gift because you didn’t have to give these things to us, but you did. so stories, they have a way of planting in people’s heart, people’s souls, planting seeds.

We may never see the growth, but the seed is there and that seed can sprout up at any given time. I always say, especially when talking to people of faith, Jesus taught in parables. Stories are so powerful because they plant seeds in the imagination and the heart. So man, thank you for telling your story, sir. Thank you for planting seeds. Lastly, man, thank you for your mindset, the way you think. You have paid and cultivated this mindset with your experience, brother.

And you bought that mindset to this platform. so I, sir, I greatly appreciate you coming on today,

Jeremy Lack (31:34)
Well, thank you for having me for the invitation. Same for you. You got a lot of people you could be interviewing, so I appreciate the time in the platform that you’re providing. I also like your poster right behind you. I need to find me one exactly like that. Like there’s luck. Yeah, people say luck is it luck if you’re working really hard, you know?

Quentin (31:47)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So

this is my working definition of luck. It’s when preparation meets opportunity. That’s my working definition of luck. So it’s when you prep and opportunity happens and you merge the two together, that’s making your own luck. So that’s my working definition of luck. So I hear you. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Jeremy. He’s no denying his stories, no denying his impact.

Jeremy Lack (32:14)
Yep, yep, agreed. Perfect.

Quentin (32:23)
Please look up his information in the show notes, get in contact with him, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I promise you, they’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Jeremy. So sir, thank you again, And everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.