How Relationships Build Real Wealth in Real Estate Investing | Coach J’s Best Advice

Coach J. (00:00)
⁓ Pretty much, know, things are still in a shift process right now and people are finding that ⁓ you have to be more creative in the way that you find deals and you do deals. So I really like that people have become more open to seller financing and creative financing to help

more people get involved. I think that now is a really good time

Michelle Kesil (02:07)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Coach J, who is a buy and hold investor, property manager, and mentor. So excited to have you here today.

Coach J. (02:26)
Excited to be

here today.

Michelle Kesil (02:29)
rates. So for those not yet familiar with your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?

Coach J. (02:37)
At this time, my main focus is being a coach and consultant for people who are looking to get into real estate and or investors who have a larger inventory. And they may need some boutique services, some gaps filled with their business that could range from filling construction crews, having a backup because as we all know, things happen.

unexpectedly. having that, having ⁓ additional resources available to them and their team making calls in terms of connecting with other ⁓ investors and construction professionals that they need, ⁓ as well as specified resources within the region or area that they are acquiring properties.

Michelle Kesil (03:37)
Awesome. And which markets do you work in?

Coach J. (03:40)
So I

am in Ohio actually, and ⁓ I am working with people in Northeast Ohio mostly. I do some work as well for the central Ohio area.

Michelle Kesil (03:57)
Okay, so you are local to Ohio and do you operate in other markets or states as well?

Coach J. (04:05)
I’m not licensed outside of Ohio. However, when it comes to just doing consultant or sharing resources, obviously I can do that for instance, if it was just information for someone new starting out and they wanted to see what next steps to take, I can provide that information to them, absolutely. But when it comes to certain services, I am not able to practice outside of my license area.

Michelle Kesil (04:33)
And what would you say have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to grow and run smoothly?

Coach J. (05:33)
Some keys to growing and running smoothly would really come down to establishing good relationships with other professionals because that’s going to determine how you’re able to get jobs done. If you have gotten a deal and obviously you need a team working with you to do specific rehab and repair requests.

establishing relationships with even the police in your area is a good thing. And it’s something that a lot of people overlook, but I tell people, you know, staying in contact with local officials and ⁓ in the area where you are making connections with local businesses and other professionals can help you when you are doing a rehab. People will look out for you. People will keep in touch with you.

make referrals for you. So just establishing some really solid relationships are the best thing that anyone can do in this business.

Michelle Kesil (06:38)
Yeah, absolutely. And so how did you get started as an investor?

Coach J. (06:44)
It was kind of a

fluke that I started because I inherited a property. ⁓ And at the time I was just really young and didn’t know much about real estate investment. ⁓ So I had to rely on a family member to really take over and help me with that. But that’s how I actually started. And it just sparked interest in me. And after college,

because I actually have a whole other professional existence besides real estate. ⁓ So after college, I also had some experiences that gave me opportunities where I wanted to pursue my professionalism in real estate, which led to me getting a license and then also continuing to acquire properties. ⁓ That was, you know, just kind of the fluke.

way that I ended up in real estate. But what I saw was that I was really good at coordinating. I was really good at making calls, going to meetings in person, networking with people, and making those connections. And that’s what I encourage other people to do as well.

Michelle Kesil (08:01)
Yeah amazing and so what is your current investing journey look like?

Coach J. (08:08)
Currently,

⁓ I had a little slowdown of momentum in my personal journey to acquiring more inventory due to a family matter. So I kind of lost momentum at one point, I was doing deal after deal. ⁓ But right now I’m working with someone who is helping me to make my next investment. ⁓ And it looks like we’re going to collaborate on that.

⁓ for a duplex unit. So just jumping back in, this is real life. There’s a glamorous side to real estate and there’s a not so glamorous side. And sometimes things happen to where you may be doing well, having some positive, whether it’s buy and hold or just turnover flips. And then you hit a stall and you have to just deal with life as it comes.

But I definitely can attest to pick it back up as soon as you can because losing that momentum, people are quick to forget about you. So you want to jump back in as soon as possible. And that’s why to start ⁓ the next project, I ended up collaborating with another investor because that’ll help build that momentum back up and get us moving forward.

with other opportunities to do flips. So I’m excited about that and looking forward to it.

Michelle Kesil (09:44)
Amazing. And what about the flips are you looking forward to?

Coach J. (09:50)
⁓ So

what I wanted to do was go from single-family homes because that was really the area that I dealt in mostly was just single-family homes. But I’m excited to continue my journey with building ⁓ and getting into multi-family homes now.

Michelle Kesil (10:45)
Awesome. And so what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Coach J. (10:54)
Again,

with the multifamily opportunities, ⁓ you you go from perhaps this duplex to ⁓ depending on what the relationship and connection is next. I would hope to a apartment, that’s my ideal goal, is to go to an apartment complex and work on that and begin to scale from there. That’s kind of a divergent way.

⁓ that I’m taking to get into multifamily. And I would like to stay with that primarily. ⁓ But hey, know, single family is a wonderful opportunity. And it also, with the other side of my life where I have another business, I work with ⁓ individuals with disabilities as well. And so my hope is to be able to create either a

group of single family homes or a multi-family unit to where I can house individuals with disabilities and ⁓ help support them that way and kind of bring those two worlds together. That’s my vision.

Michelle Kesil (12:10)
Amazing. That’s a beautiful way to be in service.

Coach J. (12:14)
Yeah, absolutely.

Michelle Kesil (12:18)
what has been one of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned in your real estate journey.

Coach J. (12:28)
tell you a I can’t say you know the biggest lesson is what I said before which is just staying connected establishing relationship but as a quick story ⁓ that was a huge lesson and it cost me a lot of money actually but that’s how you I mean that’s how people learn too is when you find yourself in a situation ⁓ where you’ve gotten burned

by a contractor for lack of a better term because that comes with this world, right? We all know that. That was a big lesson for me because it was earlier on and I was a little too trusting. I come from a helping background. So I have a tendency to want to help people or trust people at face value. And I quickly learned that

When it comes to real estate, you definitely have to make sure that your I’s are dotted, your T’s are crossed, and that the people you’re working with, ⁓ you go through the vetting process to make sure that they are who they say they are. So with that, I had a roofer on one of my flips that just ended up being ⁓ kind of a pain and ⁓ upon doing

peeling back the layers and finding out some more information, I found out that his ability to get permits, he didn’t renew. And so he was actually expired and he had flashed me the permit, but I didn’t sit down and read through it. That’s just me being honest. And that was a big lesson for me because…

you sometimes people do things and not be honest and you just have to make sure that you go through all that, all those steps. I ended up losing about $8,000 dealing with that person in the end. But again, that was a one and done. That did not happen to me again because I absolutely learned that lesson.

Michelle Kesil (14:43)
Yeah, definitely I can imagine that. After those type of experiences, you learn so much about what not to do.

Coach J. (15:31)
Yes, for sure, for sure. I also learned that if I can add just really quickly, I also learned that as an investor, you can contact the city. Just like, for instance, if an investor ⁓ was not to pay a contractor, they can actually put a lien on that property. They can go through the process to do that. Well,

Michelle Kesil (15:34)
Yeah, go ahead. Sure.

Coach J. (15:58)
As an investor, you can make contact to, in theory, put a lien on their permit ability to get permits because of the fact that they ⁓ did not follow through on their end and keep the contract as they had promised. So that may not be the case in every state, but I know in Ohio, you can go to whatever county has issued

their permit and you can notify them that this contractor broke the terms of your contract, did not finish the work. And there’s a consequence and there’s a hole that they can put on their ability to get permits. That was something else that I learned besides the financial aspect.

Michelle Kesil (16:50)
Yeah, that’s so helpful to know.

Coach J. (16:54)
for sure.

Michelle Kesil (16:56)
What would you say your biggest goals are right now?

Coach J. (17:02)
My biggest goals, ⁓ as I said, is to regain that momentum after taking a little break and ⁓ also to just have a successful experience with this duplex and continue to build relationships with new contractors. ⁓ Again, I really want to get into the multifamily space in a larger capacity so that I can then bring in

the other aspect that I just mentioned before, which is being able to provide housing for those with disabilities and be of service to them in that way as well. What I do is kind of reverse engineer and plot out the goals that I have. I suggest that highly to anyone that is asking for advice or seeking coaching or mentoring. ⁓

Write down that goal that you have in terms of what you want to build in real estate and then reverse engineer it and start going through what do I need in order to accomplish this next phase. ⁓ For me, like I said, I have another person that I am collaborating with and we’re going to work together to get the best contractors in place and get this accomplished within our timeframe. But what I want to do beyond that.

You know, I’m just really looking forward to being able to see that come to fruition.

Michelle Kesil (18:36)
Absolutely. And what does the coaching portion of your business look like?

Coach J. (18:44)
Primarily what I do outside of real estate is a lifestyle, life coaching for individuals who are looking to accomplish their professional and personal goals, whether that be with life skills or whether that be professionally in their business or if they’re in a corporate structure, I can work with teams on skills like

you know, executive functioning skills, communication skills, strategies to reach that next level that they’re looking for. And when it comes to real estate, I can also do that being a licensed professional. So I can, you know, support and mentor other individuals as a coach. That’s not the formal format of my coaching because it has more to do with what I mentioned before.

but that is a service being a licensed person that I can provide to individuals as well if they need it.

Michelle Kesil (19:50)
Yeah, amazing to help people in that way.

Coach J. (19:56)
Again, it’s great coming from that helping background. That’s just what I do.

Michelle Kesil (19:57)
Bye.

Yeah, awesome. And so what would you say are some of the things that you are looking forward to in the real estate industry?

Coach J. (20:15)
⁓ Pretty much, know, things are still in a shift process right now and people are finding that ⁓ you have to be more creative in the way that you find deals and you do deals. So I really like that people have become more open to seller financing and creative financing to help

more people get involved. I think that now is a really good time for those who take the time to get the education that they need.

there’s more opportunities. mean, even on the side formally where when it comes to financing, if you’re looking for formal financing, not private, which is different, for some people, their credit score has been a barrier. And even that has

gone down to 580. ⁓ That’s an important thing for some people because it removes some barriers. You had to, you know, find other avenues to get into real estate if you were a person who had, who didn’t have a lot of capital at your exposure ⁓ or at your disposal. So this is a good time because it really opens the doors for some people who maybe have dreamed of doing it, but they just didn’t.

have the opportunity because of those limitations and boundaries that were in place before. ⁓ I also know that, you know, because the economy is changing as well, ⁓ fortunately for some, unfortunately for others, there are individuals who are in positions where they’re financially strained and taxed and they need more investors who are willing to take on properties for them.

and get them out of a situation that was causing them distress. So ⁓ again, this time, you know, for some people has been very lucrative and presented a lot of new opportunities for people who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to get into real estate.

Michelle Kesil (22:30)
Yeah, amazing. Thank you for sharing that. Well, yeah, go ahead, sorry.

Coach J. (22:38)
No,

I just said absolutely. you know, the biggest thing for me is that ⁓ I have a helper’s heart and I want to be of service to other people as well. Obviously being in real estate, I like money just like the next person, but truly I come from an authentic and genuine place and I like to help people. ⁓ And what I cannot help them with, I’m very, very skilled in coordinating relationship and connection with other people.

And that’s where I find the most benefit.

Michelle Kesil (23:11)
beautiful. Well, before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you?

Coach J. (23:20)
People can find me on Instagram at Empowerment Alli, E-M-P-O-W-E-R-M-E-N-T-A-L-L-I, and also on Facebook at Empowerment Alliance International.

Michelle Kesil (23:35)
Perfect. Appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Coach J. (23:40)
Thank you for having me on. I really enjoy talking to you.

Michelle Kesil (23:45)
My pleasure. And for those tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Coach J who build real businesses. We’ll see you on our next episode.