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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, Kristen Knapp interviews Art Wilson of Condor Equity, who shares his journey in the real estate industry, emphasizing the importance of building strong teams, navigating high-interest markets, and finding opportunities in adversity. Art discusses his philosophy on development, focusing on high-density areas and the significance of aligning with trustworthy partners. He also reflects on the lessons learned throughout his career and offers valuable advice for aspiring real estate professionals.
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Art Wilson (00:00)
I think it was Arnold Schwarzenegger he said when there’s blood in the streets There’s money to be made So if you look at the history of our country Anytime, there’s been a very ⁓ time of uncertainty. There’s always been opportunity,And that’s how ⁓ the universe works, right? You can’t have strength without struggle. You can’t have opportunity. You can’t grow anything without planting a seed. Tilling the earth is hard. So that being the case, ⁓ I look at vicarious times, as opportunity, You just have to source it out. You have to figure out, ⁓
If everybody’s afraid over here, then what are they gravitating to? Because there’s always gonna be opportunity to fix a problem, to create a space for a solution.
Kristen Knapp (02:26)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Art Wilson of Condor Equity. We’re gonna talk about thriving in high interest markets, finding equity in overlooked places, why a strong team is the ultimate investment. Thank you for being here Art.Art Wilson (02:40)
Hey, Kristen,how are you? Thank you for having us, having me.
Kristen Knapp (02:44)
Amazing. Well, you built a career that kind of spans a bunch of different aspects of the real estate industry. How did you fall in love with it in the beginning?Art Wilson (02:53)
You know, I had a mentor ⁓ back in my early 20s. He was in the mortgage business. And I kind of emulated him ⁓ from a distance for a while and realized that, ⁓ you know, real estate and the financial sectors, especially in real estate was something that I wanted to ⁓ make a pivot in my career and do. So I did that and started as a loan officer.⁓ in a ⁓ small mortgage shop actually went to work for him and About a year and a half later got my broker’s license and grew that Started my own mortgage company grew that from a two-man suite to about 45 loan officers six support staff and some great underwriters, so we did a bunch of ⁓ High ⁓ high yielding loans a lot of ⁓
First time homebuyer stuff things of that nature and then simultaneous to that I started to purchase and buy my own properties which got me into development
Kristen Knapp (04:00)
Amazing. And how did that feel to get into development? Did you just get the bug right away?Art Wilson (04:05)
You know, I just saw the earning potential in it. And then I’ve always worked in high density areas. I mean, even growing up, you know, I grew up in Seattle, so everything was high density there. You know, it’s kind of landlocked. So just understanding how you could repurpose different properties and renovate and things of that nature was just a really good creative side. ⁓ Create a way for me to explore, you know, the industry ⁓ by getting my feet wet with just.purchasing and rehabbing properties. And then that interest turned into ⁓ more multi-family development and projects on a larger scale. I had a great attorney and she kind of led me down the road from just flipping houses to really understanding the whole development process. Yeah. Yeah.
Kristen Knapp (04:56)
Right, right, that’s amazing. sowhen you were in the, you started out in lending and then you went into kind of more of a creative role, were you kind of figuring out what you liked in real estate or did you like a bunch of things and you were just kind of picking?
Art Wilson (05:12)
You know,out of college, ⁓ I had a crossbreed degree in architecture and engineering. So I’ve always been driven on the creative side of real estate, you know, without understanding, you know, the actual ins and outs of structuring a deal.
And then the other aspect of it was my godfather. ⁓ I went to work for him when I was 13.
In his barbecue restaurant and there was two things I learned how to do there It was one was cooked and the other one was how to put a pencil to a real estate deal because he was a developer at the time as well so ⁓ That that experience, you know stuck with me Throughout my career and then when I understood kind of where true wealth was being built ⁓ In real estate being one of the key factors of that. I really dove in deep ⁓
by using not only my relationships with the lending institutions that I had developed, but also with ⁓ the individuals that I was helping ⁓ fund some of their deals, right? So I got together with them and kind of learned the business. And then I was able to ⁓ get my minority ⁓ contractor’s license in Seattle. Because back then, ⁓
anything you did for the city partially had to be given to minority developers. So I was able to participate in that and got a couple of deals with the Seattle Housing Authority when they were doing their big redevelopment there. And, ⁓ you know, just kind of took it from there and then got into condo conversions, anything that was kind of repurposing an asset. ⁓
to make it better, to build it stronger, was kind of my philosophy behind real estate and that kind of turned into the deal matrix that I deal with, that I ⁓ implement now.
Kristen Knapp (07:53)
Yeah, and what was interesting about what you said, what was kind of the mindset shift when you were going from making money, having a job to actually building wealth? What is that difference in your mindset?Art Wilson (08:05)
You know, I really started to understand alignment, to be honest with you. ⁓ And I understood that I couldn’t do it by myself. going from just kind of being in control of everything and handling every aspect of a transaction or a deal, because I’d go and I’d either raise capital by myself or I, you know, secure the senior debt by myself. You know what I mean? I’d hire my own crews and things of that nature. Where ⁓ I realized in order to really go from ⁓being successful by doing deals and building wealth was the people that you surrounded yourself with. And having a similar mindset, number one, and number two, just having just the right attitude and the right emotional capacity ⁓ was just key to like not only getting through a deal, but long-term, long-term. ⁓
wealth creation through the relationships that you build. mean, it really starts there. It really doesn’t start with the financial aspect of it. It starts with number one, with your mindset. And then number two, the people that you surround yourself with is, I say, secondary as far as ⁓ importance when it comes to doing anything when it comes to wealth creation. And not just real estate, but anything, what you’re trying to do.
Kristen Knapp (09:58)
And I feel like that’s oftenthe hardest part of the job, surrounding yourself with like-minded people, trustworthy people. How do you, when you’re interacting with people, how do you make those bonds? I’m sure people see you as a very trustworthy person. How do you create that environment?
Art Wilson (10:02)
Yeah.Right.
You know, I really look for synergy. You know what I mean? You don’t really have it with everybody. But when you have it with individuals that you come in contact with and you have a similar task in mind, and you can get on the same page quickly, those are the type of relationships that you want to nourish and really invest in. And then that’s what I’ve been able to do pretty much over my life.
my 27 years in this business is build the proper relationships ⁓ to last through the difficult times when it comes to doing any type of project. Because real estate, it’s really not for the faint of heart. It takes everything out of you. It’s physical, it’s mental, it’s emotional, it’s spiritual because you got to pray through things sometimes. And then ultimately the relationships that you ⁓
are doing or building with the people that you’re doing business with, you know, they can get strained, they can get argumentative sometimes, but if they’re, if you’re aligned and you have the same goal ⁓ in mind, that’s when you can last the, the, through the adversity that you have to go through to really be successful and profitable in this business. And that comes with, that goes in hand in hand with the people that you get equity from too, you know.
all my investors that I do business with, we are aligned. You know what I mean? So I don’t have to, I don’t have to, can be 100 % transparent with them. You know what mean? I don’t have to hide the ball or anything like that because they know that because of the intangible things that we share, that I’m doing things in the best interest of making sure that all of us are winning. Yeah.
Kristen Knapp (12:05)
Right. And unfortunately,you kind of learn it from also dealing with people that you don’t want to work with and people who you disagree by. ⁓
Art Wilson (12:13)
Yeah, absolutely. know, absolutely.I don’t say I’ve ever been in a bad relationship because I’ve learned from all of them. But ⁓ even though some of them were very painful, very difficult, some of them, you know, I lost money because of other people’s greed and things of that nature. But at the end of the day, I became a stronger person, stronger businessman.
Kristen Knapp (12:19)
right.Art Wilson (12:36)
and able to navigate waters on a higher level because of those bad relationships versus the good ones. I think I’ve learned more from the bad relationships than the ones that were always completely aligned with me.Kristen Knapp (12:50)
Absolutely. And then shifting gears a little bit, I would love for you to just talk about your philosophy on development in today’s market.Art Wilson (13:00)
You know, one, you really have to have a deal matrix. You know what I mean? And you don’t really vary from that. And our business model with my company, we only do high density development. We do shovel ready dirt, meaning it has to be completely developed and ready to go vertical within 60 days. So it allows my architectural teamor ⁓ at acquisition I’m buying a project versus just dirt so that I can make sure that ⁓ I can stay in a specific timeline as far as completion when it comes to my product is concerned. Because we do do business with a lot of institutional buyers and you know a lot of times when they contract with us they need it done in a
a very specific amount of time because they have money that they have to allocate towards, you know, per quarter in investing and whatever. And so in order for me to keep those relationships, I look for specific deals and the individuals that are out there finding property for me, they know exactly what my deal matrix is. They know exactly how much I pay for property. And then, ⁓
And then I have a certain number as far as my deal matrix is concerned when it comes to the construction aspect of it. And that keeps my 33 % profit margin at a minimum. You know what mean? I mean, every deal I do, a minimum of 33 % is what we look for in profit, but that’s because we begin with the end in mind, right? So from the time we even look at a deal, whether or not we’re interested in purchasing it or not, we walk through our whole entire product,
entire
process to make sure that piece of dirt meets every single criteria, which is making sure it’s in the right area, the density is high, the impact is high. We do a lot of work in opportunity zones because it’s always in high density and high impact areas where opportunity zones is because the need is great, right?
So that’s kind of our deal matrix from a holistic standpoint. Obviously more goes into it, but that’s the whole thing. We buy the dirt right. It’s gotta be 60 days to go vertical, meaning starting the foundation within 60 days. It has to meet ⁓ our numbers when it comes to construction. And then typically we’ve already negotiated pre buyers on the back end of our product.
Kristen Knapp (16:14)
Thanks.Art Wilson (16:15)
Andif we haven’t ⁓ negotiated a back end buyer already, we know based off of the area that we’re building in, that the density is high enough so the demand isn’t affected whether or not ⁓ interest rates or.
who’s in office, all those things that usually drive markets where ⁓ people are looking more destination. Anything outside of downtown, ⁓ that’s kind of where we focus our attention. Anything where there’s property that’s landlocked or the value of the land is higher in that particular area.
than others is kind of where we always focus our attention. So that’s kind of how we, ⁓ you know, do our risk mitigation as far as, you know, making sure we’re in the right product at the right time ⁓ and, you know, keep our track record intact. ⁓
Kristen Knapp (17:11)
Yeah, and you did a good job of explaining all of that and kind of what you’re looking for. What are some immediate red flags, like things that you see in a lot of properties where it’s just absolutely not, we will not develop this land.Art Wilson (17:26)
⁓ As far as ⁓ what we won’t touch, know, we just ⁓ don’t really look at property that is in areas that are just up and coming, right? A lot of developers, a lot of like the big boys, they can create the market.Right? They can say, okay, we’re going to develop over here and we’re going to get all the big box players to come in and help us build out this area because this is where we want to build. You know, we’re more boutique when it comes to our development. So we have to be around where things are already established. And so we don’t look to create, recreate the market. We fit in to a portion of the market that’s already been created. If that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.
Kristen Knapp (18:15)
And that’s much less risk too. You’re already coming into a thrivingarea. ⁓
Art Wilson (18:19)
And then, know, and thenit’s really, it’s the formula is not hard. You know what I mean? It’s like every, every major city has a downtown core and then every, neighborhood around the downtown core are, it’s high density. And that’s kind of where everybody wants to live. Whether you’re, you know, 25 to 40, because it’s the lifestyle or it’s, you know, you’re in your.
you know, later on in life and you’re in your 50s and 60s and you’re downsizing from the family house to more of a convenient living situation. You know what I mean? That you move from the suburbs back into the city because because of convenience and because of lifestyle and wanting to be more active, especially, you know, the later later on in life where you’ve kind of worked to the point where it’s time for you to relax.
You see it a lot in major cities where, ⁓ you know, senior individuals are moving downtown just because, you know, they want to live again. You know, so you got two sides of the market, right? You got the ones that are just starting, then you have the ones that are, you know, almost in a celebratory situational situation, you know what mean, where they’re just ready to relax. The kids are off to college, ⁓ and they’re looking to recapture some of their youth. Yeah.
Kristen Knapp (19:39)
Right. And what wouldyou say to somebody who’s, I mean, you touched on it a little bit, but somebody who’s just afraid of the market, who just, you know, thinks it’s unpredictable, because there’s a lot of different things being said about the market right now. I would love to hear your perspective on the opportunity right now.
Art Wilson (19:56)
⁓ I can’t think of the quote. I can’t think of who said this quote ⁓ But the quote isI think it was Arnold Schwarzenegger to be honest with you But I think he said when there’s blood in the streets There’s money to be made Right. So if you look at the history of our country Anytime, there’s been a very ⁓ time of uncertainty. There’s always been opportunity, you know
And that’s how ⁓ the universe works, right? You can’t have strength without struggle. You can’t have opportunity. You can’t grow anything without planting a seed. Tilling the earth is hard. So that being the case, ⁓ I look at vicarious times, ⁓ whenever there’s vicarious times, as opportunity, right? You just have to source it out. You have to figure out, ⁓
If everybody’s afraid over here, then what are they gravitating to? Because there’s always gonna be opportunity to fix a problem, to create a space for a solution.
You know what I mean? So I’ve never really looked at down markets as ⁓ anything to really worry about. I look at them as opportunity. I just need to find the opportunity, right? And then in real estate,
Kristen Knapp (21:22)
Right?Art Wilson (21:24)
It’s easy to do if you just look at the market. Who’s still building and where? Where are home buyers still looking to buy? know what I mean? Because whether it’s a 5 % interest rate or a 7 % interest rate, if a homeowner is ready to buy, they’re going to buy. But the markets adjust and there’s opportunity where markets will adjust and you’ll be able to buy low.you know, versus being at the top of the market and having to compete with everybody else. So it’s all about alignment and being prepared and, you know, having a few coins in your pocket to be able to take advantage of the opportunities when they’re presented to you. So, you know, I don’t want to sound, you know, ⁓ you know, like I only drink Kool-Aid, but at the same time, you know what I mean? I do bake lemons in the lemonade. You know, that is definitely my philosophy.
Kristen Knapp (22:06)
Absolutely, it’s good to it.No, that’s great. I love hearing optimism about the market and positivity about the market. And to kind of wrap all this up, what would be a piece of advice that you wish you learned earlier in your career that you can share with us?
Art Wilson (22:24)
Yeah. Yeah.You know, some of the things that I’ve talked about, that I’ve actually had to make correction ⁓ or be prepared or get in alignment, all of those things that ⁓ kind of adversity teaches you. I wish I would have learned that those are the reasons behind the things that I was going through. So I could have navigated them faster ⁓ and cut my learning curve.
You know what mean? So that I could capitalize on the things that I see now. You know what I mean? Because the opportunities, mean, our economy is cyclical, right? So it’s gonna come around, it comes around and it comes around and it comes around. But a lot of times we’re in the same position that we were the last time the opportunity came around. So we can’t even take advantage of it again. So you missed it twice, right? So ⁓ if I were to tell my younger self something,
I would tell myself to have belief without fear. one, pay attention to my awareness. ⁓ know, faith is really big for me. ⁓ You know, all those, all those intangible universal traits that we have, really need to, or I would have wished I would have paid attention more, you know, to them or understood them more, not paid attention to them more, because I’ve always kind of been insightful about it, but you know,
Things get moving fast, you get caught up in circumstances, you really don’t really take the time to really navigate situations the way they should be and look for the lessons in them instead of ⁓ worried about the circumstances at the time.
Kristen Knapp (24:20)
I love it, that’s great advice. We’ll tell people where to find you.Art Wilson (24:22)
Yeah.You can find me on Instagram at ⁓ Adversity Millionaire. ⁓ On Instagram, ⁓ my LinkedIn is just Arthur Wilson, Condor Equity. ⁓ CondorEquity.com is our business website. ⁓ You also can, I’m writing a book right now about adversity, to be honest with you. It’s called Refined.
You can find that information at Refine9.com.
Kristen Knapp (24:54)
Yeah, give us a little logline of the book.Art Wilson (24:59)
⁓ well, it’s called refine the nine success principles of adversity. know, adversity happens to us for a reason. ⁓ as we were just talking about, and I believe that everything we go through, regardless of the pain level, it’s for either correction, preparation, alignment or a testimony so that you can help others. Right. And in every single thing that we go through, ⁓We have to understand duality. You know, can’t get one without the other. It’s just designed that way. know, adversity is applied to the earth because it applies to all mankind. There’s no way of escaping it. So you might as well make the mental mind shift to really understand how to navigate it and use it for your benefit. Turn it into equity.
Kristen Knapp (25:49)
Yeah. Amazing. Well, it sounds awesome. And everybody, please check out art on Instagram and learn more about the book and learn more about Contra Equity.Art Wilson (25:59)
Thank you, Kristen, for having me. I appreciate it.Kristen Knapp (26:01)
Thank you for being here and everybody we will see you back next time. Thank you so much for listening
