How to Help Renters Become Homeowners With a Creative Real Estate Model

Adam “Zock” (00:00)
we find tenants for one reason or another that can’t qualify for a traditional mortgage. And we match them with investors or ourselves to actually give them like the equivalent of a pre-approval letter, like a rent to own pre-approval letter. They go shopping with an agent and pick any home listed for sale. Then we purchase it for them. They move in and then have one to five years to exercise their option to purchase it back.

Quentin (01:56)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be here today. This gentleman’s business, I think is really helping a lot of people, especially people that’s looking to home-own and maybe you’re not particularly ready to home-own just yet.

I think what he does gets you prepared, gives you the time to do it and literally shows you a clear path to home ownership. So I’m excited for him to talk about it. But more importantly, this gentleman says something that just stuck out. It stuck out so much that I wrote it down at the top of the page. He says leverage real estate to appreciate lives. He’s going to unpack that a little bit more, but I’m so excited to introduce you all to Mr. Adam.

Zach, Mr. Adam, how you doing today,

Adam “Zock” (02:54)
Life is good, appreciating every moment.

Quentin (02:56)
Hey, my man. I love it. I love it, Adam. Listen, sir, I’m the type, I like to dive right in. And so I want love for you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. I would love if you can give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got to the place where you are now. And then if you don’t mind, tell them a part of the world you’re in. People would love to know where people are geographically. So what you’re doing, your origin story, and where you are. Mr. Adam, sir, you have the floor.

Adam “Zock” (03:25)
Wonderful. Yeah. I feel like everyone has a unique model. ⁓ We found one

we find tenants for one reason or another that can’t qualify for a traditional mortgage. And we match them with investors or ourselves to actually give them like the equivalent of a pre-approval letter, like a rent to own pre-approval letter. They go shopping with an agent and pick any home listed for sale. Then we purchase it for them. They move in and then have one to five years to exercise their option to purchase it back.

So that is our focus. We do that either by buying the homes ourselves, by assigning them out to other people or getting other investors involved that might want to take down a deal. And we’ve gone through various evolutions to kind of land onto that niche where we’re closing on several homes a month using this model where we’ve done it about 125 times now across 35 states. But it didn’t start out that way. It started off just…

Quentin (04:22)
Ha ha ha.

Adam “Zock” (04:25)
You know, being a civil engineer, wanting to do a little bit more in life. And it started off with just that, you know, a single family home that I rented out some of the rooms to my buddies and realized that I, think us entrepreneurs and real estate investors are just wired differently. And I, and I just leaned into that, tried to do day trading, try to do stocks, try to do gambling and fantasy sports and all kinds of stuff. But real estate was the one that really stuck, flipped some houses.

And then we actually told college kids to go pick a home listed for sale and that we’ll buy it at the 1 % rule. So then we, you know, at the University of North Dakota, we did that a few times, but then they left after a year. So like, what if they didn’t leave? What if they actually bought it?

And that’s when we learned about this idea of lease with the option to purchase, which, you know, sometimes a lease purchase, lease option, contract for deed. There’s different kind of legal, you know, jargon around that, but it was, well,

I’m very bankable as a civil engineer. I can get debt financing at 80 % loan to value at the local bank, but my entrepreneurial friends can’t. And ironically, when I left my job, I couldn’t get a bank loan. so it’s like seeing both sides of the coin where it’s like, just because you have a W-2, you can typically get a bank loan relatively easily. So all we’re doing

is matchmaking the two for some version of like a hybrid home ownership where there’s shared appreciation. There’s a consensus on rent, credits, equity, and playing matchmaker on that for new acquisitions. ⁓ And we’ve sometimes even helped people fill just existing properties with people that eventually want to own. there’s some risks and gotchas and things that I’m happy to dive in more, but right now it’s sustaining the family. I’m in Fargo, North Dakota.

three young kids happily married for 10 plus years. And this was the dream 10 years ago when I was, when I was still an engineer and it was like, what would it look like if you had X amount of passive income and you were working from home and you didn’t have to show up? so a lot of appreciation, ⁓ for that. that’s where the motto came in of leveraging real estate to appreciate lives. It’s I really love the word leverage because I think there’s a lot of power in it.

appreciation for life and for others, but not just appreciating real estate. We’re doing it purposefully to lift up others, whether it’s helping tenants get into homes the right way and not being a gotcha landlord that takes their 10 or 20K and then turns and burns the property, along with helping investors get cashflow so that they might be able to achieve their own level of financial freedom.

Quentin (07:55)
Man, I love it. I mean, as you was talking, I was just jotting things down, writing things down. I love it. Thank you for taking us to the journey, letting us know where you are now. And some of the things that I wrote down, and I am intentionally going to reiterate some things to you because there’s a statement I want to make and I want to ask you a question. But I wrote down how you went through several evolutions.

⁓ I believe you said you did over 100 transactions in over 30 states. Did I hear that right? Civil engineers started off there, ⁓ tried day training, fantasy football, took college kids to go pick homes, you know, but you landed where you are now. 10 years married, three small kids, home equity partners. Again, I intentionally reiterate these things.

Because Adam, I have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning no matter what we go through in life, these moments build us to the people that we are now. And sometimes we found our passion, our purpose, and while we work and do things that we do, we found it in the moments, going through like, hey, this is why I do what I do. And I know my why. When I know who I am, I know what to do. And so obviously, you have came to this evolution.

Dream was 10 years ago. Now you’re living the dream. I would love to know, Adam, what has these moments taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience? Has it humbled you? Like, what is these moments throughout this journey taught you about you?

Adam “Zock” (09:39)
A lot of things. ⁓ So I’ll take that there. For any entrepreneur or real estate investor, like it’s the roller coaster. Darren Hardy wrote a great book, you know, in addition to the compound fact was the, you know, the entrepreneur roller coaster. Cause it’s like, great. We got a five star review, a tenant super happy. Okay. You two minutes later, a property, you know, insurance claim gets denied and you know, the tenant is, you know, throwing ⁓ a fit. And then of course you think that

We’re so good, right? In 2020, where everybody was making money and COVID and money was cheap and you’re like, this is super easy, right? And then you fast forward, you know, five years and interest rates are, you know, twice or triple what they previously were. And so, ⁓ I feel like you go through a lot of different evolutions, but I think you got to have, be really clear on what your most current one is. I think there’s, I think we evolve as, as humans. So like what I used to value the most had changed.

I still value growth, but that used to be my number one. The word growth was just like, I was like, I don’t care what it is, physically, emotionally, spiritually, business, if it’s not up and to the right, I’m stagnant and I’m losing. so that at that time in life served me very well. So there was that period of building and growing businesses and growing my family. so the word growth meant a lot. And now it’s like, okay, I don’t know if I need to grow as much. I still want to grow, but maybe impact.

or the word value means a lot more to me now. And admittedly, it was, I would say pretty selfish of me at the beginning because I just wanted $10,000 a month of passive cashflow so I didn’t have to go to the job. And that was, I could kind of wrap it around, oh, it’s for my family so that they get more time, which was partially true. But I also just, I think I wanted it. You read a little bit of Rich Dad Poor Dad, you can listen to podcasts like this, you can…

see what other people are doing. And so there was that, was probably the catalyst, which whether or not that was the healthy version, like that there was, there was that there was Tony Robbins, there’s audio books, there’s different things that just get you like fired up. Because I think most people get maybe excited about something, but are they going to be persistent and relentless in that pursuit of what they want? And so when I say we went through the different evolutions, like our

first property was a 1910 home that I thought I could fix and flip for 10 grand. And that got me like a window. Like it wasn’t, it wasn’t even close. And so it’s like, like there’s me and my wife in our six month old, painting this house in Grand Forks, North Dakota being like, all right, well, I guess we’re doing this because we couldn’t afford, you know, to hire things out. And so it’s like, well,

Had we not gone through that, had we not gone through our first eviction where the lady had chickens in the basement and I didn’t know how to screen someone, every single time, like, right, well, learn that. And you can learn so much by listening to other people and knowing what not to do. ⁓ I’m more of a learn by doing type person and you really don’t know until you seek your hands into it, because I think a lot of people can get in the paralysis by analysis. I always say that the hardest is zero to one.

going from zero to your first investment property, like that’s gotta be 70 % of the effort is like, man, what does it take? What’s the capital? Can I make the offers? Can I get the structure? And most people should just look at themselves and like what talents do they have? Do they know the market better? Do they know someone? Do they know something? Do they have deal flow? Do they have capital? Do they have the ability to get financing? And so it’s like, usually there’s something.

where someone’s like, I have a little bit of a unique, unfair advantage. And that’s usually what I would suggest people lean into. And that might discover the next thing and then the next thing.

Quentin (14:08)
So true. Thank you, man. Thank you for answering that question with so much thoughtfulness, self-awareness. And I love how you concluded. said somebody has something. And I think that’s why I asked the question. Because when you look through your life, I think you find your tool bag. You find your superpower. You find what you’re good at. And you just eloquently named this. There’s different facets that somebody’s good at. And I always joke around. say,

You know, everybody has a tool that they’re proficient in. Somebody is the drills. Somebody else is a hammer. Somebody else is spices. Somebody else is a spatula, right? Like we all have skill sets that we can bring to the table to emphasize where we’re trying to go. And so I think you just so eloquently said that. And I thank you again for answering that question. So much thoughtfulness. Home equity partners, man. What is the next real goal? What are you guys looking to solve a scale next, Adam?

Adam “Zock” (15:49)
Sure, our 10 year goal is a thousand lives impacted. And what that means is that we would have helped turn a thousand renters into homeowners. And there’s monetary and revenue goals and different things that we’re hitting to go along that. And so it’s finding the tenants, it’s finding the capital stack to be able to achieve that long-term goal. And so that’s what we’re doing is we’re…

Quentin (15:54)
Oof.

Yeah.

Adam “Zock” (16:16)
raising money, looking for debt, looking for equity, doing various different things, trying to find ways that we can better serve the tenants. How can we be more cost effective? But that’s kind of the long-term goal is there’s just people, whether it’s debt to income ratio, score, one version or another that is keeping them out. We just have a really unique service of being able to give people an option. ⁓ Right now, our current offer is like, all right, we’re more expensive than a bank, but we’ll give you at least an option.

And so if people have the capital or the down payment or some version of that, just, we’re a private equity firm. We’re not a mortgage company. And so we get to kind of make a little bit more of our own rules. And so that’s what Home Equity Partner does. And that’s where I also started up another company called Zegacy, where we got some venture backing, which is matchmaking the tenants and investors where we don’t own any of the real estate. We’re not a general partner into it. We’re just kind of playing matchmaker and tenants can sign up.

And investors can sign up and they can almost like date. They’re like, like you’re looking for a home in North Carolina. I’m interested in buying an investment property in North Carolina. Okay. If you pick out this home, what are you willing to pay in rent? What kind of option fee can you put down? And then we just kind of guide both parties into that lane. so if anyone’s ⁓ interested in that, you wouldn’t need to check out anything else. Of course we have deals and investment opportunities, but I would maybe encourage them just to reach out to their local agent or

loan officer and just say, Hey, is there anybody that couldn’t get a bank loan with you this week? And that’s how we started. It was just like, all right, how many agents and loan officers are denying people because of reasons X, Y, or Z? Not all of them you want to buy a home for, but I’m assuming that there’s a small portion that if you just reach out to agents and loan officers, like, everyone that you can’t, you know, get a pre-approval letter for, whether it’s an agent or a loan officer, like I’m interested.

Quentin (17:49)
Hmm.

Adam “Zock” (18:12)
in looking at, you making an introduction if they’re willing to, like, hey, I might consider buying them a house because, you know, maybe you can work the numbers where the risk to reward is calculated into a manner that, you know, doesn’t fit the bank’s boxes. We’ve done deals where people are putting down 60 grand on a $300,000 home. They have 60 grand, but they can’t get a bank loan because they don’t have two years of tax returns. And so their debt to income ratio doesn’t qualify them for the conventional loan. However,

If I’m an investor and someone’s putting down 60 grand on a $300,000 home, not that you wouldn’t need to do any more due diligence, but basically if you have a pulse and a name and a driver’s license and you can sign here, the risk adjusted return of that is relatively low. So then there’s different versions of what you could do with that. if someone’s interested in applying that model to their local backyard, of course, we can help with that or provide tenants or investors or different opportunities.

If investors want to do it themselves or tenants asking if this is available, that would just be one suggestion that people can do. Send a text to your favorite agent and just see what they say.

Quentin (19:21)
Yeah. Man, are as the more you talk, the more I’m just synthesizing. I mean, you actually said some of this, you know, verbatim, but just how much you are really in the business of helping people. I mean, you’re helping investors, you’re helping agents, helping tenants, helping future homeowners. Literally, you said a thousand lives impacted and you literally use that word impacted. So you understand the influence of what you’re doing and the impact of what you’re doing is really

having on people, having on, you know, and for me having in this space. So I’m going to absolutely love asking you this question, Adam. When you hear the word relationship, what comes to mind for you, Adam?

Adam “Zock” (20:07)
If I’m being honest, it’s the first thing that comes to mind is my relationship with my family. And so I was one of seven. My parents are one of 13 and one of eight. And so I have 51 first cousins. so when I, I, I, honestly can’t even say all of my cousins first names. Um, some people, you know, might have one cousin. Uh, and so when I think of relationships, it’s like, okay, who’s in my, who’s in my inner circle? It can be, you know, my relationship with myself and with.

Quentin (20:11)
Mmm.

Right.

Adam “Zock” (20:36)
God and what that looks like. But my first thing is like, all right, while here on earth, the relationship with my wife is number one. And so that’s what I think about. And so it’s like, okay, how do you ensure that your significant other is getting the better end of the deal? Just in terms of adding value and what that sort of relationship was. so I try to approach that into business relationships and other different sentiments. I’ll volunteer with Score, which is like… ⁓

It’s a bunch of retired people, but I’m by far the youngest person there. just, got help from them. It’s a free resource for entrepreneurs. And so I allocate some time a week just to helping entrepreneurs that are trying to get into real estate. You know, we’re all, you know, again, I, I can’t ethically even work with them. So it’s just, you know, again, just giving advice, ⁓ to, other people and volunteering. And so I’m, I got another quote on my wall that while here on earth, health and relationships will bring the most amount of happiness. And so.

If you don’t have your health, you pretty much the only thing that you’re wishing for and relationships are, are time after time, you interview people, the amount of healthy relationships that you have in your life directly coordinated to the amount of happiness that you have.

Quentin (21:50)
Man, you say so many things that resonate with me. And I gotta bring up the fact that most important relationship is with your wife. I think it was even my year, it was even 2024 or 2025. Adam, I literally said this, I think every morning. I actually have it in my calendar, it pops up on my screen and my phone. But I would say, and God is able to bless me abundantly so that in all things,

at all times having all that I need, I can abound in every good work. My number one job is to love my wife. I will say that every morning, meaning synthesize that statement, meaning God has given me the ability at any given time, always to be able to love my wife because that’s my number one job. So there is nothing that’s in front of me that will be able to stop me from loving my wife. When I’m cranky, I can love my

when I’m impatient.

When I feel lack of confidence, because sometimes as men, that’s a big thing, when you just don’t feel confident, sometimes you feel like you don’t have the necessary tool. It’s like, no, he’s blessed me abundantly that I have the tool to love my wife. Rather than be with my finances, rather than be with my hugs, than be in my presence. And so I love the fact that you said your number one relationship is to love your wife. And I, you know, I probably said this before, when you know who you are, you know what to do. Like when you know your why.

empowers everything. And I believe when you know your why, when you know what your center is, you can always use, and I’m literally using your saying, you can leverage everything to really appreciate your life, whether it’s real estate, whether it’s whatever. Everything falls in the line and you use every tool to leverage the life that you have. And so having today, we talk about real estate. So when you know who you are in every aspect of your life,

even within this real estate space, can leverage everything around you to really have a fulfilling and appreciative life.

Adam “Zock” (23:56)
It’s a great number one job. I agree.

Quentin (23:58)
Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah. ⁓ man, this is great, Adam. I’m trying to look at the time, I feel like I can talk to you so much more. I am going to ask this because I do feel, dare I say, led to ask, is there anything that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about? Is there any other words of like motivation, education, inspiration, like?

Did you come in here with something on your mind that you knew that we was need to hear? If you did, I just want to open up the floor so that you can bring that message to the people.

Adam “Zock” (24:35)
probably be there’d be two things, one’s tactical and then one’s mindset from like the tactical perspective. If you just go to Zegacy.com, I did a 45 minute webinar on all things like rent to own, both from the tenants perspective, the investors perspective, and it’s just a YouTube video that’s 45 minutes long. That’s just like, ⁓ here’s the ins and outs, where it’s done, pros and cons, an example deal. So I would say if someone wants to learn more about doing that, there’s just a good YouTube video there.

that people can check out. It’s right on the landing page. You don’t need an email or anything like that to get into it. I would suggest that just for people that might be interested in the technical aspects of how we’re doing things. And then the second one is a lot of times we’re looking for new information. But like myself, I sometimes need to just get reminded of the basics. So sometimes I don’t need new information. I just need to be reminded, like, all right.

What is a base hit look like? Is it going to bed at 9 p.m. so you can get up at 5 a.m. to get like your workout in and get stuff done? Is it making sure that you actually get 30 minutes of eye contact with your wife? Or are you measuring the amount of hours that you’re spending with the family? How much are you prioritizing health? Where it’s just like basic sleep, diet, exercise. Sometimes it doesn’t get, sometimes I think we over complicate things and we’re super busy.

And so this might just, my only maybe other advice is just, you know, I don’t know that you need a new strategy, although, you know, inspiration can be helpful. So make sure you don’t run into the shiny ball syndrome. But if this is like, Ooh, I think this is something I’m super excited about. Well, and you know, follow that energy and follow that passion. But a lot of times it’s, you know, it’s getting back to the basics of health and people and adding value to life.

Quentin (26:28)
I absolutely love it. Getting back to the basics. Hey, hey people, y’all can tell we love our wives. I’m not trying to turn this into a whole marriage podcast, but sometimes you don’t need new strategies. You just need a reminder, just a reminder just to connect. And I think connecting at home is a great way for you to be ready to go out and go in the world. So I am going tell you something my wife and I do to really slow things down with connect. We do something called the six second kiss. So before she go, I just kiss her for six seconds and it literally slowed things down.

It reminds us to connect. And so I think that was so great of Adam saying that sometimes you just need to be reminded. Sometimes you just need to be reminded of the little things. Getting sleep at night. mean, everything he just said. so, Adam, thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you so much, man, for coming through. 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,

Adam “Zock” (27:25)
Sure. LinkedIn is probably pretty easy. We’re just Adam and then Z-A-C-H. You’ll find me, I was a professional engineer, probably about the only one in Fargo, North Dakota, or an email, adam@zegacy or [email protected] are great ways to get a hold of me and just say, hey, heard you on this. Would love to hear what your basic one thing is just to get started on what you’re kind of being accountable for. And if there’s any way I’m always interested in opening up my network, who can I connect you with?

What are you looking to learn and do and happy to share that.

Quentin (27:58)
Absolutely. Adam, let me say three things to you, sir, and I say them sincerely. And I’ll be honest, I do say these probably every time, but I really mean what I’m about to say, okay? One, thank you for your time. You know, it’s not missed on me that you could be doing anything with your time. Yes, we love having you on the show, but we need you, we need people like you to talk to if we wouldn’t have a show.

Right, so thank you for your time. I’m not going to be arrogant and be like, yeah, you’re on the show. No, thank you for your time, man. I appreciate your time. Three kids and a wife, you be doing anything with your time. Thank you for your time. Secondly, thank you for your story, for your narrative. I put a premium on stories. I believe they have a way of hitting people right in the soul and planting a seed. And it can literally course correct their life. It can literally give them an idea and spark an idea that they did not have.

and it can really just be life changing for them. So thank you so much for your story. Lastly, thank you for your perspective, the way you think, your mindset, and bringing that perspective and that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you being on today, Adam.

Adam “Zock” (29:10)
You’re welcome. I feel like we made our own luck today.

Quentin (29:12)
Ooh, my man, this guy’s good. Listen, this guy’s good. Listen, y’all heard Adam. Please go into the show notes, connect with him, reach out to him. Definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re gonna continue to bring up great people like Mr. Adam. So sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.