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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Ricardo Tettmann, a successful real estate entrepreneur who transitioned from the IT industry to house flipping. Ricardo shares his journey, emphasizing the importance of hands-on experience and education in real estate. He discusses his plans to scale his business and launch a training program to help others enter the industry, highlighting the value of practical knowledge and mentorship.
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Ricardo Tettmann (00:00)
I want to add a little bit, thank you, you know, like since I took all those steps to learn from the back in the beginning, the other house that I have done until today, thanks God, I never lost a dollar in one of those houses. Because with the experience that I had, it made me so confident in knowing the process that I never lost any money, even with my first house.Micah Johnson (01:49)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Ricardo Tettmann, who’s been making some serious moves in real estate since 2016. Ricardo, welcome in man, glad to have you.Ricardo Tettmann (02:02)
thank you. Thank you for having me here today. I’m glad to be here.Micah Johnson (02:06)
Absolutely, ma’am. I’m excited. I’ve enjoyed our pre-recording conversation we were having and I’m pumped for our listeners to get to hear not just your journey through real estate, but how you’ve just leveraged experience into creating valuable companies, man. I think it’s awesome. So let’s dive in there. For people who may not know you yet, what’s your main focus right now and what markets you operate in?Ricardo Tettmann (02:27)
So my main focus right now is just to scale the house flipping business that I started like last year. I’m over here in Texas and now I’m expanding to Oklahoma. I’m just testing one of the small cities close to the borderline of Texas.Micah Johnson (02:41)
Okay, so you got a fix and flip company open now for the last year. Take us back. What led you to where you are today and having this company open?Ricardo Tettmann (02:50)
Well, like, you know, back 2016, I was on the IT industry, working for some large carops. And then I decided that’s not what I want to do for life. And so I took it, spoke to my wife. She’s very incentive person. And yeah, she made me understand that this was going to be like a goal thing. And then I took serious what she said. And then five years later, we became so successful in the hard and handyman business that I did it.And then we scale the company for like a few million dollars a year. then now last year decided to start flipping houses because that was into my heart since 2016 when I was one of those events that really saved investors here in Dallas, Texas.
Micah Johnson (03:34)
Now you heard about real estate investing and even read the Little Purple Bible a long time ago, back in 2006, right? So you knew you were into this, but it took some time for you to get there. And then you started with a handyman business. Why handyman? Why did you start there?Ricardo Tettmann (03:52)
So yeah, you’re right. Back in 2016, I read the book, I reached that point, which kind of like spiked in my mind, you know, the flipping business, but I was not ready back then. So time went by and in 2016, I went to a different event. It was a flipping, fixing flip business shoot. And I said, I need to start this. But I didn’t have no knowledge. I did not know what to do. It was an IT industry. I was in restaurant industry. And then I said, you know, I think to start right, I need to start from the beginning. So I decided to be a handyman.Just since being a handyman, could start doing those small, tiny projects that could save me a long run doing all my projects. So instead of to be hiring everybody on a project, I would do some part of myself.
Micah Johnson (04:31)
Yeah.Man, okay, so the handyman business was intentional to learn how to do the flipping business. If you’re listening and watching out there, you hear me say this all the time, education is the most important step. And there are ways to get a great education in real estate while still making money. Before you have to lean on the investment part to pay for you. Now we all wanna get there, make the offer, get the flip, make that money and get going. However, like you realized,
There’s a lot of steps before that, like the things you need to know how to do. How, how did that training and building that other business, how was that beneficial to what you’re creating now?
Ricardo Tettmann (06:03)
⁓ I mean, it’s hard to line up because it was so much experience. did it because I did it with hands on and it wasn’t only just class online. Actually, I went out there in the field. then so nowadays, like since last year when they started flipping houses, I can flip houses like, you know, faster than many, many people they start in their business. Now we’ve been doing for the year, but they never done anything related to real estate before.So I have access to a lot of people, a lot of crews, a lot of money and stuff like
Micah Johnson (06:30)
Right.Well, you understood the process first. You got how it worked. And then you just started to add the part in where you were the one buying the house. You got to do a few steps before you were showing up and doing the work, man. But it’s knowing how to do those steps after that give you the right to sit at that table. Because
Ricardo Tettmann (06:44)
Correct.Micah Johnson (06:55)
If you don’t know, now you’re just gambling. mean, there’s always risks with investment, but there’s a reason that we don’t use gambling and investing in real estate. It doesn’t have to be that. And the ones that are quote gambling are the ones that aren’t learning. You’re not taking that time to understand. And heck, look what else it did. Like don’t overlook the fact that you turn that into a multi-million dollar.revenue generating business even of itself. So you literally went to learn one other thing, turn it into this successful company. I mean, in terms of confidence and understanding and belief in yourself that you can do it with another kind of company, man, you’re kind of flying on cloud nine, I believe.
Ricardo Tettmann (07:34)
I want to add a little bit, thank you, you know, like since I took all those steps to learn from the back in the beginning, the other house that I have done until today, thanks God, I never lost a dollar in one of those houses. Because with the experience that I had, it made me so confident in knowing the process that I never lost any money, even with my first house.Micah Johnson (07:53)
Let me answer this, how often or how close are you on your rehab estimates on the houses you’re buying now?Ricardo Tettmann (08:01)
In fact, you’re not gonna believe, man. I get in the house with the experience that I have, within 15 minutes, I can pinpoint exactly how much am I gonna cost. Let’s say my, I would say like 5 % or less. You know, every single house.Micah Johnson (08:18)
Andthat’s a superpower in real estate. Understanding how much it’s going to cost to fix it is what either makes it a deal or doesn’t make it a deal. Right there is where I see the new folks struggle for the longest is understanding how much it actually costs to do the work and know it when you know it in a way like you do, which is line item by line item. At this point, you’ve done everything through the house. You’ve owned a company that did everything through the house.
when you can just walk through and see it, that’s a superpower, man. A lot of folks would pay a lot of money to understand how to do that because it’s only earned. You don’t get to, you can’t just study a spreadsheet and learn that.
You have to walk through a ton of houses with your spreadsheet, understanding, okay, that’s what that looks like. That’s this amount of cost. That’s this amount of cost. And there’s no way to do it except by reps, tons of them. So it’s an earned position, man. Love that.
Ricardo Tettmann (09:24)
I want to add onething here. You know I took the long route. I took the street university. I called it street university. I went to do that on my own. It costs way more money than pay someone that’s already been there. They know the ins and outs. So if people ask me what they should do, I say pay someone that’s in there or been there because it will make you run faster and more precise on your earnings. If you try to do on your own, you’re going to commit.
Micah Johnson (09:50)
thing yet.Ricardo Tettmann (09:53)
commit a lot of mistakes.Micah Johnson (10:29)
Yeah, absolutely, man. Real estate’s team sport, especially for the owners, right? Everybody’s got blind spots. I know a lot of different business owners and they’re all good at certain things and not good at other things. And it’s understanding that for themselves and plugging into groups like you’re talking about being a part of people who are actively training and learning because real estate doesn’t stop. can’t just stop learning and still keep doing real estate.I mean, it’s one of the keys to if you’re gonna learn from somebody, they are doing it. It’s an active thing. Because if they’re teaching you a technique that they did and don’t do anymore, chances are it doesn’t work. There’s something about it that needed to be updated because that’s how fast the system moves and you gotta be plugged into it. And what I’ve learned is the best in the business do. They surround themselves with those people. They buy that information because…
Will you step in every pothole? No. But you can avoid stepping in most if you’ll just surround yourself and it’s mass amounts of time and mass amounts of money that you end up saving. Right? I’ve said that to people like, you know, I just don’t want to do that. I don’t want to pay that cost. Well, you know how much you’re saving, but you have no idea how much you’re losing. And that’s the, that’s the difference in them is.
the same way that your time was invested and your money into learning how to build, learning how to do all the things you’ve done, that money to those groups is the same thing. It’s an investment and you got to get in there and work them to make it pay you back.
So what are you excited about for 2026, Ricardo? What’s the big thing for you this year?
Ricardo Tettmann (12:11)
⁓ man, my excitement is two things. It just scale this business to go like, you know, take to 20 houses plus. And then also, can I tell about the training thing? Okay. And then now we’re about in about a month to start like a small training center for people that really want to start on the industry. We’re to have like a basic residential maintenance services for people thatMicah Johnson (12:24)
Sure.Ricardo Tettmann (12:39)
doesn’t have no idea how to repair new things in the house and guide them to become an investor on a real estate later as a flipper. Because if you take this course, you get the basics, how to become a handyman, how to do handyman work, you can save thousands of dollars on your own project. then later, if this is something they’re looking for to invest in a real estate, they will have a better idea on how to do it and what will cost them because they already hadThe hands on.
Micah Johnson (13:10)
Yeah, they’re learning. I love the project. We’ll dig into it a little bit more because out of the gate, one thing I love is when someone opens a door and then opens a door in their own life and then leaves it open behind them and builds builds away for other people to get through it too, which is how I see what you’re talking about building. You went and did this yourself. I didn’t know. So I taught myself and now I’m going to build a way for others to learn where upfront it’s not that it’s just teaching you toFlip houses, you teach them how to earn money. You literally can go earn money. You can market yourself. Home repair is one of the number one things people spend money on. And if it’s a thing that you qualify to do, you can market yourself. You can go get start getting paid then. Like that’s one thing I love about real estate is it’s paid experience if you figure out how to do it right. How can you work in the industry to teach you the industry? And then if you end up wanting to…
Ricardo Tettmann (14:00)
Mm-hmm.Micah Johnson (14:06)
invest in it later. Awesome. If you knew it out of the gate, awesome. But it’s like, man, I think it’s super powerful. what’s the overall plan? How many different courses are you trying to teach? You’re teaching them how to market themselves to what else going into the training?Ricardo Tettmann (14:20)
We’re gonna have a three level, basic, the entry level, we’re gonna have the mid eight levels and then we’re gonna have the advanced. So basically the base will be how to do texture painting, basic electrical, basic plumbing, some mill work, so the basic stuff. Then for those that want to scale up the business, then we’re gonna be teaching them how to start up the company, how to open NLCs, how to do your bookkeeping, how to do that stuff. And then if they wanna go to the advanced class, which is like to becomenot only hands-on but becoming investors that’s where we’re going to have the flipping classes say hey Noah now you learned how to do a lot of those handy works now you know how to open your LLC you know how to do bookkeeping you know how to do your spreadsheets so now come with us now we’re going to go to do some flipping with us it’s like hands-on you know it’s not only talking over the you know some video
Micah Johnson (15:10)
Yeah.Ricardo Tettmann (15:14)
Now we will get them by the hand and put there in the field and show them how we do the work.Micah Johnson (16:00)
Man, that’s powerful. It’s a powerful mission. I love that. When is that kicking off? When will the first class open up?Ricardo Tettmann (16:06)
We’re looking to April 1st.Micah Johnson (16:09)
Okay, okay. So it won’t be long after this. ⁓ You’re gonna be coming up on it here soon. Now, how are folks finding it? Who is it that you’re marketing to and how do you get signed up?Ricardo Tettmann (16:13)
Nope.Right now it’ll be very easy. Just go to my Instagram. We’re going to start posting some ads now in about a week. So my Instagram is at Ricardo, R-I-C-A-R-D-O, Tettmann, T-E-T-T-M-A-N-N. And then you’ll find me there. You’re going to see my face on my picture and then just say hi and then we’re going to start sending you information.
Micah Johnson (16:44)
Love that, man, love that. Appreciate you sharing that. So if you’re listening or watching in out there, make sure you follow Ricardo, check out his Instagram link. We’ll have that in the show notes below. Ricardo, man, I appreciate you being here with us today. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us. I love your story, man. I think we need more folks out there doing the kind of work that you’re doing, building it right and showing others how to do it along the way. So again, thank you.If you’re listening and watching in, got value out of today’s episode, please like this episode, share it with someone else you think get value out of as well. As always, please don’t forget to subscribe. We appreciate every single one of you that follows along with us out there. We have more conversations coming up with operators just like Ricardo, who are out there building real businesses in the industry. Thanks again for joining us. We’ll see you all in the next episode.
