How Mark Carman Finds Real Estate Deals, Private Money, and Profits in California

Mark Carman (00:00)
The best deal ever was he says, so what do you need to start with? And I said, well, what do you got? He said, 400,000. I said, well, I could probably use a hundred. And then he says, well, what, what will I get back? And I said, well, in your savings account, you’re not gonna be in 1%. So how about if I give you like 8 %? And he said, how about Mike 11? So we agreed on 10%. Right.

Michelle Kesil (01:52)
Mark Carman who is a real estate investor since 2012 in the Sacramento area. So excited to have you here today,

Mark Carman (02:02)
Thanks, Michelle. My first podcast. I’m excited.

Michelle Kesil (02:07)
Excited to have you here as well. Let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?

Mark Carman (02:19)
Well, real estate investing is a main focus. A lot of aspects of real estate investing. I’ve done fixing flips, buying hold rentals, short-term rentals like Airbnb, vacation rentals, long-term rentals. I’ve done mostly residential, but I have some mixed properties that have residential commercial. I’ve done some wholesaling. I’ve done a lot in the last 13 or 14 years.

So anything real estate that I’d say my main focus would be fix and flip. But when you make money to avoid taxes, you want to spend money. So then I buy properties. And so I’ve got some real estate holdings as well.

Michelle Kesil (03:05)
Awesome and how did you get started as a real estate investor?

Mark Carman (03:11)
Well, I’ve been self-employed for over 45 years. After college, I had a degree in business. I got involved with printing sort of accidentally. I worked at a printing company a couple of years. And then after that, I thought, you know, I think I want to get out of the East Coast. That’s where I was born and raised. So I bought a van and drove to California. And I lived in my van. That was my first piece of real estate. Just kidding.

And then I bought my, I got involved with a printing company in California. And after a year, I thought I can do this. I’ll start my own printing company. So I started my own printing company, did that for probably 35 years or more. And at their great old age of 55, I thought, you know, I’m ready for something different.

So what does somebody do when you’re 55 and we’ve done the same thing for 35 or 40 years? ⁓ Well, my skill set was I was already fixing and flipping motorcycles, cars, horses. It didn’t matter. ⁓ I was buying stuff at a great price below market and repairing or training or whatever and selling.

So somebody said you should do real estate and this was back in 2012. You might recall the gurus would come around and they would do their workshops and they would have their events where they invite people over. I signed up a couple of those. I’m not going to mention names but I actually found one group that worked very well. They had a local presence as well as a national presence.

I signed up for a couple thousand dollars and within six months I did my first flip and made $65,000 net. And I thought, well, shoot, if I did this three or four times a year, that would definitely change my life. So I moved on from there and did more flips and made some money and bought some rentals and here I am.

Michelle Kesil (05:03)
Awesome. What would you say have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to grow and run successfully?

Mark Carman (06:00)
⁓ Well, I hear from some people, some of the people I work with, investors, some of them have a bad rap because they are always looking out for the seller’s interest. ⁓

I think our job is, you we’re professional problem solvers, right? So we need to come in and see what this property needs and what the situation is, but also look at the individual behind that property and find out what they need. And that’s normally one of my very first questions. It’s like, okay, so you want to sell this house near your, you have an issue, right? ⁓ What is your issue and how can I help you? Where do you want to go? ⁓

So actually solving the seller’s problem is going to develop a relationship of trust and get to the point where they’re going to want me to be the buyer, if I’m genuine with that. And I’ve had people actually hug me and love on me. Mark, nobody else would do what you did. We thank you so much. And I think that makes a big difference.

Michelle Kesil (07:12)
Yeah, absolutely. And how do you find the leads for the types of investing properties that you’re looking for?

Mark Carman (07:25)
I missed the very first part. said, how do I find the leads?

Michelle Kesil (07:28)
Yes, correct.

Mark Carman (07:31)
Well, that’s another thing that I think a lot of real estate investors maybe don’t get right. ⁓ I know a lot of guys are working off lists and off the internet and off mass mailings and off emails and they’re searching for leads where I search for people. So when I first started, my mentor said, Mark, if you talk to 30 people a day,

and tell them what you do and tell them how you can help them out. For example, hi, my name is Mark. I’m a real estate investor. What do you do? By the way, if you’d like to make some extra money, I’m looking for properties and I’m leveraging other people like yourself to help me find those properties. If you find me a property that I can make a good deal on, let’s just say I can make $100,000 on a property profit. Why would I hesitate to not give you $10,000?

Right there.

my deals actually come to me. I rarely make a cold call. I don’t knock on doors. don’t send out a work from list. I don’t like competition. So when people call me and say, hey, Mark, somebody told me about you, or I heard about you, or I saw your sign, or I saw your truck. You I have advertising, don’t get me wrong, but not really any paid advertising.

I’m a very warm market type person. I had one person who was actually a neighbor, so that’s a warm market. I knocked on his door because I heard he was in trouble with his property. And he said, you know, Mark, I knew you were an investor and I got postcards, I got phone calls, I got emails, but you’re the only guy that knocked on my door. And so how can you help me out? And of course, I got his deal and it worked out.

And that’s happened with perfect strangers too, just because I’m there. So, ⁓ so if I’m not there, I would ask you to be there. You might be a bird dog for me, right? Hey, now that you know what I do, you have one of these things here in your pocket. How many people do you know in this thing right here? Hundreds? So if you know what I do, now all your people here can potentially know what I do. And, and those, the phone will ring. So 30 people a day, just that one thing.

That’s nine people a month, 30 times 30. That’s 5,000 people in, say, six months. And 5,000 people have these. So there’s maybe 100,000 people that know what I did. That’s just the one, just one way. Yeah.

So I’m very much, yeah, get myself in front of people. Don’t sit behind the desk and do this on my computer all day. That’s just me when I’m old school.

Michelle Kesil (10:21)
Yeah, I think networking and relationships are everything.

Mark Carman (10:26)
Yeah. And we’ll see how this podcast digital networking thing works right here. Right. Yeah. I want to see if I get a lead on this, or maybe, maybe I can give somebody here a lead. Right.

Michelle Kesil (10:31)
Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. You’ll never know. And I know that when we were chatting before the podcast, you mentioned that a lot of people don’t believe that there’s deals in California. Can you expand on your opinion on that?

Mark Carman (11:31)
Yeah, I think there’s deals anywhere, anywhere. You just have to have to know. Or maybe not know where I don’t always know where to find them, but I know people know where to find them again, so it’s kind of expands upon what I just mentioned right about leveraging other people right? It’s like casting a net out for deals right? You cast a net out, but I can only cast one net on one person. But if I get 100 people to cast that net.

Now we’ve got 100 people out there fishing, right? So there are deals and I mean.

I get them everywhere. get leads everywhere. I even got some really good ones off the internet via MLS listing, which as we all know, everybody sees those deals, but I’m not sure how much time I may take on one particular deal, but I got a great one that just landed like two weeks ago. You I picked up 10 acres here in Northern California with a 2,700 square foot sign, three bedroom, three bath, good size house, two car garage, a barn and 10

acres. And I heard about this, I actually saw this listed for 475,000. For 10 acres? You can’t hardly buy a house in town in California for 475.

So I called to say, my gosh, how many people are going to call on this place? Got to be a lot of competition because it’s listed. Well, I called and they said, yeah, well, the the homeowner is in hot. She’s she’s dying and she doesn’t have a will or a trust. And her kids really want this to get sold before probate takes over. Right. So so I said, let me rush out there and have a look at it right now. So I went out there and come to find out ⁓ in one of the rooms, there was a bed.

with a blanket behind the bed covering up a wall. And when I pulled back the carpet behind the Wizard of Oz carpet thing there, there was some black mold. And I said, hmm, so the selling agent, said, how many people do you have looking at this? They said, well, at least 10. And they said, do you have some offers? Yes. Are they cash offers? No.

Well, I’m a cash offer. And by the way, if this is going to be a bank loan by somebody, they won’t be able to get a loan because there’s black mold in this house. And I sent her a picture and she said, oh my gosh. I said, I’m prepared to give you three 75 two hours, two hours later. And they took my offer 10 acres with a house on it for three 75. That’s easily going to be worth seven, $800,000. And I’m going less than a hundred thousand dollars into it. So deals are out there. You just have to have.

Many, I say everything works, nothing doesn’t. So try this. If it doesn’t work, try something else. If it doesn’t work, try something else. So our jobs as real estate investors, I think is to find three things, properties, people, and money. If you don’t have those, it’s going to be a little trickery. People, properties, and money.

And some days I would focus on money because it’s like, gosh, I got deals coming. I got to find money. But I’m always focusing on people because people can bring me all of that, right? People, properties and money.

Michelle Kesil (14:52)
Yeah. And so how do you find money?

Mark Carman (14:57)
from people. So I can go on and on with these stories. mean, literally, I had a homeless guy come to one of my projects. He said, I need work. Can I do something? I said, sure, clean out the garage. After he cleaned out the garage, he goes, how do I get to be a real estate investor? Most people would say, are you kidding me? And I said, well, it helps if you can network with people. It helps if you have money. And he goes, oh, I have money.

I said, well, why are you homeless? He goes, well, I have a drug and alcohol problem. So all my money is tied up in a trust. I said, well, what kind of money are we talking about? He said, $500,000. I said, do you have access to that money? Yes, with my brother’s permission, because he’s part of the trust too. So you never know whose people have money. I met a guy in a courtroom when I was evicting a tenant.

And he, we had a conversation and he says, and he says, I’m evicting somebody. What are you here for? He said, I’m evicting somebody. He goes, how long have you been doing this? I said, two or three years. I said, how long have you been doing this? goes, well, I’ve done it for 20 some years. I’m ready to retire. He was like in his mid seventies. And he, and he says, and I said, so do you have some properties? He says, yeah, I got three or four and they’re paid for free and clear. He goes, what do you have? And I said, I’ve got like 10, but I have loans on all of them. Cause I’m just starting out this

conversation went on for maybe five minutes he goes I think I’d like to work with you because I’m scaling down business but I have a little bit of money to work with and I and I said well what do you have and he goes I got $400,000 in a savings account I said why don’t we have lunch someday he invited me to his senior citizen hall

and we had a $6 spaghetti plate and we talked and we got to like each other, know each other. And I’ve worked with this guy now for 10 years.

The best deal ever was he says, so what do you need to start with? And I said, well, what do you got? He said, 400,000. I said, well, I could probably use a hundred. And then he says, well, what, what will I get back? And I said, well, in your savings account, you’re not gonna be in 1%. So how about if I give you like 8 %? And he said, how about Mike 11? So we agreed on 10%. Right.

So then I said, well,

$100,000, know, can I pay you the interest and the principal at the end when I get done with my flip? So let’s say six months or a year, I’ll give you back 110. He goes, well, with the right paperwork, that could work. And then I said, well, what if I kept that money for five years? Could I pay you back then? He said, with the right contract, that could work. He gave me $100,000 for five years with no payments.

In five years, I gave him back 150,000. It was secured by real estate with a promissory note, and the deed of trust would change when I went from one deal to the next. But anything is possible if you can communicate with people. And the more people you talk to, the more likely something could happen.

Michelle Kesil (18:36)
Yeah, amazing. think that’s super inspirational for people who are just starting out and maybe don’t have all of the finances set.

Mark Carman (18:46)
Yep. Our job is to meet people, right? What’s the saying? Our net worth is determined by our network.

If you don’t have any network, good luck. You’re do it all by yourself? Good luck.

Michelle Kesil (19:06)
Yeah, definitely. And so what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Mark Carman (19:14)
Oh, well, I mentioned a little something about my latest project, which is a challenge. you know, I would be happy to get any input if anybody has any ideas for me. I got a couple of good ideas today, but I did pick up a building recently. It’s a 3,500 square foot building, two story. It’s in a small little town in Northern California. I got it really cheap, 285,000. I’m going to put less than 100 into it. I’ve already done it.

And I thought there was five bedrooms in this building downstairs, two bathrooms in a kitchen and a laundry room and a storefront, a good sized storefront right out Main Street, USA. And I thought, what am going to put in this storefront? What kind of business would be here? Do I want to have a coffee shop or a pizza place or what?

And what kind of people am I going to put in this with five potentially people with five bedrooms? And then upstairs, I might duplicate the whole thing, which I did. So I have the same thing, five bedrooms upstairs, two bathrooms upstairs, a kitchen upstairs. All tonight, enough for 10 people for like room sharing or co-living, right? And so I thought, what can I put in storefront? And I thought.

I would, instead of having low income housing for 600 bucks a room or whatever, I’d rather get more like $1,200 a room, times 10 rooms, and have some maybe higher class people there. And what might those people look like? Oh, wait a minute. Maybe somebody like us that is just starting out, that wants to live with.

nine other people that are like minded and have a masterminds and collaborate and support each other and make each other accountable. And hey, what’s your goal? Hey, what’s my goal? Let’s help each other out, right? I actually had one person move in, the older woman, she’s 65 and her goal is to write books and to start a care facility, something like this building. And we’re still working on that maybe. ⁓

So I created an entrepreneur academy is what I was getting to, right? So I created this academy, I want to bring entrepreneurs. And this lady came in, she said, can I bring my 25 year old son? And I said, sure, what’s he going to do? She said, well, to be honest with you, he’s mentally deficient. He got an injury as a child. So he’s a little bit slow, but he’s a great guy. And I think being surrounded with positive people would be great for him. So I said, sure, let’s bring him in. So she moved in with him. I interviewed her and I said, how can we help you? She wants to write books.

She wants to do a facility like this for people like her son. So I asked her son, said, so Axel, what is it that you want to do? He goes, Mark, he’s pretty naive. He goes, I would like to get a driver’s license. I said, hmm, have you checked with the state of California? don’t know if that’s possible. We can look into that. And I said, well, you got to learn the area that you need to learn the rules of the road. Do you have a bicycle? He says, Mark, I never rode a bicycle.

I said, well, maybe that should be your first goal. Why don’t we make that your first goal? Let’s get you a bicycle and get you on the road if your mom is okay with it. And, you know, we’ll do some steps and work towards that driver’s license. So everybody’s goal is different, right? Some people want to be multimillionaire. Some guys want to ride bicycles and learn how to drive a car.

Michelle Kesil (22:25)
Yeah

Mark Carman (22:27)
I would love to get this entrepreneur. I’ve had it for about six months. I’ve got three people in there and I’m really trying to find a way to attract people to this small town and pay you know top dollar for not just a place to live. My motto, my slogan is live, learn and launch. Whatever it is that you want to do, we’re going to have quality people. I’ve got strict rules, no drugs, no alcohol, no overnight stays.

This isn’t a fraternity party. It’s the place to actually be and succeed. So that’s my latest and never heard of it. sure it’s been done somewhere, but I didn’t learn this from a podcast or online. So wish me luck.

Michelle Kesil (23:11)
Amazing. Wishing you all the luck.

Mark Carman (23:15)
Thank you.

Michelle Kesil (23:16)
Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing everything. And before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect and learn more about what you’re up to, where can people find you and connect with you?

Mark Carman (23:28)
Okay, well my email is r Robert. My legal name is Robert Mark Carman when I go by Mark. So R Mark Carman. [email protected] I’m so old school I’ve never had a website. I don’t have a website.

My phone number 916-220-3351 and I live up by Sacramento up in the foothills. So that’s where I am. So I’m happy to help anybody else with questions and ⁓ hopefully you can help me a little bit. That’s what we’re all here for.

Michelle Kesil (24:06)
Perfect. Well, I appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Mark Carman (24:11)
Of course. And I’ll be out watching some other guys on this podcast too, hopefully.

Michelle Kesil (24:18)
Awesome. And for the listeners tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Mark who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on our next episode.