How to Invest in Student Housing for Strong Cash Flow | Marci Surfas

Marci Surfas (00:00)
It’s we have a fifty percent shortage of student housing in the country, in the United States. ⁓ it’s a you know it’s it’s ⁓You know, the kids do not want to get ⁓ evicted during the school year, parents do not want to let their kids get evicted during the school year, right? So they’re they actually are great tenants. I mean, we you know, we have two-year leases, we have a two-year waiting list, ⁓ and it’s it’s been a great asset class for us. So ⁓ I think that just kind of just seeing what was happening in the market and and choosing to build the rental portfolio more but build it in a way that actually has strong cash flow.

Joseph Crooms (02:06)
Hey everyone, welcome to Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Joseph Crooms, and today I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with. Her name is Marci and ⁓ she’s gonna tell you her last name. But more than that, she’s gonna tell you about her business and she’s been making some serious moves what caught my interest when she mentioned something about student housing and real estate. So we’re gonna get into that and also ⁓ her general business. So hey, ⁓ Marci, say hello to everyone.

Marci Surfas (02:42)
Hello everybody, Marci Surfas with Veranda Homes, Veranda Capital.

Joseph Crooms (02:46)
I think our listeners are really going to take something away from you, how you’ve been approaching business, especially with that new doubling down, as we mentioned, on ⁓ that student housing. ⁓ you’re a former parent, so you understand that. ⁓ so before we dive into that though, so ⁓ for people who may not be familiar with your world, give us the short version with your main focus of these days and what markets are you operating.

Marci Surfas (03:15)
Okay, great. So ⁓ I have been investing for about in investing in operating for about seven years. So I started in this business when I was fifty. So you can start anytime, it’s never too late. ⁓ and really got into ⁓ action by doing luxury flips. So at first we were doing luxury flips in Southern California in Laguna Beach.

and we also had some luxury Airbnbs out in Palm Springs, out in the desert. So did that for a little bit, but then my kids had gone away to college, to Tulane University. Two of two of our three boys were at Tulane, and the housing was abysmal. It was ⁓ the off-campus housing was in terrible shape. And I ⁓ you know, being a ⁓ being being the mama bear was like I cannot in good faith leave my kids in these in these in these properties.

So we started buying properties and renovating them. We do specialize, so I’ve I’ve always specialized in historic homes and New Orleans has some amazing homes. So we buy big, beautiful, you know, mansion type houses and then we do not tear them down, we do not do any of those terrible things. ⁓ and we r renovate them, make them beautiful and then furnish them all the way down to the silverware so that parents aren’t having to deal with ⁓ you know, weird people coming to put furniture together and

You know, dealing with mattresses out on the sidewalk when when school gets out and all that all that stuff. So we started doing that and just having a great time with it. So we have been moving, we’re still ⁓ finishing up some flips that we have here in Southern California, getting those sold and really moving ⁓ strongly into more student housing and and and and expanding into other cities.

Joseph Crooms (04:53)
So let me ask you this question. Thank you for sharing that, Marci. how are you going about getting your customers now? Are are you how do you how do you market it ⁓ this new project that you’re doubling doubling down on?

Marci Surfas (05:05)
You mean

for student housing? How do we market it? Well really in ⁓ in a in in this segment of the market, which again we I’ve named luxury student housing because it’s it is different, you know, by being fully furnished and you know, we have ⁓ security cameras and ⁓ everything, you know, that you could want as a parent, ⁓ s you know, with your child away at school, especially in a in a you know, bigger city like New Orleans. We we do and we you know we we

they’re all on a group chat with us for the time that they’re that they live with us so they can reach us at any time. So the way that we market really is number one, so now we’ve been, you know, there for about four years plus. so the kids tend to pass down their houses to the next to the next, you know, group of friends that they have, you know, whether they’re in a sorority or sir or fraternity or something like that. But really our, you know, it’s really half and half. The students are our clients obviously, but the parents are are our clients as well.

Because the parents, you know, that’s who pays the rent, that’s who we have lots of communication with. ⁓ and we are really there to take care of their kids, give them a great experience while they’re away at school. So ⁓ we get you know, we tend to to work pretty closely with the parents as well. So those parents also tend to pass us down to their friends. If they know kids that are coming, you know, to the school next, they will they will oftentimes refer us to their friends.

Joseph Crooms (06:25)
Very good, thank you. What is the market value of these homes that you’re looking at? How and how many ⁓ can they ⁓ hold on a

Marci Surfas (06:34)
Yeah, typically they

they these are single family homes, so they’re usually between four and eight bedrooms, something like that. ⁓ and the market value is everywhere from eight hundred thousand to one one and a half million typically, one point five.

Joseph Crooms (06:47)
Good. Let me ⁓ ask you this. ⁓ so the climate and that you that you made the pivot and ⁓ how how soon did you notice that this may affect your marketing and what did you do?

Marci Surfas (07:49)
When you mean you mean the the real estate climate in general? Okay, right. We talked about this a little bit before. So ⁓ really we started seeing a slowing in the market for flipping ⁓ really strongly. I mean, yes, it had been a little bit slow, you know, based on various things, but really slowed down, at least in Southern California. We really slowed down last spring, ⁓ right when tariffs got announced.

Joseph Crooms (07:52)
Yeah, and

Marci Surfas (08:12)
I think it really had an effect on consumer confidence. And then there’s been a few other things that happened in the last year that have been a little challenging. So even though most of our buyers were cash our are cash buyers, consumer confidence has a big ⁓ effect on luxury homes, on the luxury housing market. So ⁓ so we really started noticing that. So definitely stopped buying. So we’re not buying any more properties to flip.

⁓ and which is hard because I love I love construction. I love flipping properties. It’s really fun. But really, I heard a a great ⁓ there’s a a big name in in the business who said we’re not home builders, we’re home sellers. Okay, we are bu we’re doing these things to sell them. We’re not we’re not just doing it because it’s fun to do construction. So ⁓ if you’re in a market or in a in an environment or a climate where all of where the buyers have really slowed down quite a bit and when you’re dealing with this price point.

It’s a very big carry when you especially when you have a lot of them at the same time. So we do have a private equity fund and we have lots of investors and all of that. But so that has been ⁓ that was something that we, you know, really made a conscious decision to stop, you know, stop buying. So we’re not buying any more of those. ⁓ and I would say that the thing that

really always caught my attention was I go I go to a lot of events, I speak at I speak at a lot of events, I’m l I’m on lots of podcasts, but I’ll when I’m at an event and there are ⁓ different like capital partners or people talking about ⁓ you know what the when they say what do you do, you can say, you know, when I say a couple things, I say I do, I do student housing and I do, I do luxury flips.

the really their attention is always on the student housing. Like that’s what’s interesting to people because they know that that is ⁓ it’s a great asset class, right?

It’s we have a fifty percent shortage of student housing in the country, in the United States. ⁓ it’s a you know it’s it’s ⁓

You know, the kids do not want to get ⁓ evicted during the school year, parents do not want to let their kids get evicted during the school year, right? So they’re they actually are great tenants. I mean, we you know, we have two-year leases, we have a two-year waiting list, ⁓ and it’s it’s been a great asset class for us. So ⁓ I think that just kind of just seeing what was happening in the market and and

choosing to build the rental portfolio more but build it in a way that actually has strong cash flow.

So in that in this case we really needed to do some al alternative asset classes like student housing. So that’s what we’ve chosen is student housing.

Joseph Crooms (10:32)
Thank you for sharing that. So on on on your past business that you used to do before you got, how has that helped shaped you and mold you into being a a a proactive person, not not being afraid of the challenges that are before you? But tell us a little bit about how you got into real estate.

Marci Surfas (10:50)
So yeah, so I was so I worked so so I’ve kind of been around real estate my whole life. So my dad is a real estate attorney, so litigator, so grew up around all kinds of real estate title and banking and all that kind of that topic. worked at a mortgage company. Like I said, I worked for a big mortgage broker when I was ⁓ in college and just out of college. And then ⁓ you know, did a few different things, had w you know, was in I was in ⁓ computer sales for a while and then

really stayed and stayed home and raised my kids, did all the, you know, kind of ⁓ some part time stuff and

you know, a lot of school things. I built a school, I built a middle school. So I was the G C on that project. That’s probably how I really got into building, is I raised all the money, I raised two million dollars and then built a school for kids with ADHD in ⁓ in Irvine in here in ⁓ it i in Orange County. ⁓ and so that was fun. That was probably my biggest that was my biggest, you know, construction job ⁓ to that point. And then became a real estate agent. So I became an agent on ⁓ one of the biggest

real estate teams in the country. So very prolific. Our team would do ⁓ close to a billion dollars a year, just our little team ⁓ in ⁓ Newport Beach. So that gave me a lot of insight just being on that team that was, you know, again, super prolific and dealing with high net worth clients and dealing with ⁓ with luxury properties. So ⁓ got really into ⁓ real estate, really doing that and and you know watching markets and

⁓ watching the sales cycle and ha you know, had a great sales manager there that we had some great training from. So that really prepared me and then I do love to move and remodel houses myself. So my husband and I have had thirty two houses in twenty six years of marriage. So yeah, so I I dragged that poor man around all over the place. So we would, you know, buy a house, remodel it and then and then somebody would beg us to buy it. So that’s probably how the whole

the whole thing kind of started. But I do have, you know, a pretty deep background and I do understand real estate, which I think is important, ⁓ that you really understand, you know, what happens in an escrow and, you know

you know, things about the market and, you know, with the ability I I am on ⁓ Ryan Sirhant’s ⁓ California team. So I joined Sirhant ⁓ this this last spring or just this spring in April and that’s been super amazing. So I have access to the MLS and I have you know, there’s it’s important to really know real estate if this is gonna be your your main business. You really need to know it.

Joseph Crooms (13:14)
What caught my attention was y ⁓ n the fact that you mentioned that but also relationships are very important and especially in this climate. What’s been keeping your machine running smoothly?

Marci Surfas (14:01)
As far as relationships go or just in general?

Joseph Crooms (14:05)
And and and and and also tiding and, you know, because it’s a skill level. So how did you devi define, hey, building these strong links ’cause you got builders, you got investors, you got flippers home, so yeah. How tell me some skills that you that you apply in that.

Marci Surfas (14:21)
Yeah.

Yeah. Well, number one, this is not for the faint of heart, right? This is real estate see people try to act like it’s passive and it’s easy. It’s only passive and easy if you’re like a limited partner and you just gave money and that’s it. And then you’re, you know, retired in Spain and you’re just getting mailbox money. That’s the only time it’s passive and easy. It is not, you know, it’s a it’s a it’s a I call it a full body, full contact sport.

real estate, you know, when you’re especially when you’re the operator. So I think that ⁓ having good having a great team, now that doesn’t mean that the team has to work for me full time, but my team includes a great escrow officer, a great title company, great ⁓ title officer, ⁓ a great real estate. I have real estate agents that I work with that bring me deals before they go on the market, or they just do a great job, you know, selling my properties.

⁓ obviously my construction crew is amazing. So I have a crew in New Orleans and I have a crew in Orange County. So building your team is super, super important, even again, even if they’re not physically working for you. ⁓ and relationships are super important with with with our investors. You know, a lot of the investors have become some of my best friends. ⁓ and you know, that goes both ways because being a female in this business.

you know, you you do tend to you know, the our relationships are really important to us. And so when we have things like a downturn in the market, you know, we can we can tend to take that harder than ⁓ than others might. ⁓ but you know, it’s kind of one of those things where I’m I’m super loyal. I’m always looking for capital partners that are gonna be in it to win it with me for the long term. Okay, not shiny new object, don’t

Don’t do one deal with me and then ⁓ you know, just move on to the next. Like I’m really, I really want to do have a long term relationship with my with my capital partners ⁓ so that we can weather storms together, but you know, so that we, as Warren Buffett says, so that we win a lot more than we lose, right? and so that, you know, just building that trust and that loyalty is super important.

Joseph Crooms (16:19)
Can you share with us, Marci, what a conversation with a new investor partner that what what would that conversation be like? How do you

Marci Surfas (16:30)
Yeah. I Yeah, I think it’s important to ⁓ to understand what their goals are for investing, right? You wanna make sure too, real estate is one thing that I have that I’ve really learned because, you know, I’ve I’ve ⁓ I’ve been in some some really big capital raising masterminds and I’ve done, you know, all kinds of work on this in this in this subject. And we’ve raised about I’ve raised probably what you know, well over like ten million dollars and

And it’s been, you know, it’s it’s it’s been I love that because I’m I love I love people and I love partnering and and all of that stuff. But it is really important that you understand and that you’re and that you’re very clear that, you know, for for us we’ve moved to only working with accredited investors, number one. because not because I’m, you know, ⁓ being elitist or anything like that. It’s just that I want to make sure that ⁓ that ⁓

they are a little bit more experienced probably and that they really understand, you know, the risks that come along with with investing in real estate. ⁓ and so I really do talk to them quite a bit about, you know, is this your first time that you’re investing in real estate? If if they are if it is, that’s fine too. ⁓ and you know, what are your expectations? ⁓ and do you understand the difference between equity and debt? You know, this is not a loan, you know, those types of things. Those are the things that are really important when we’re out raising money is to make sure that

⁓ that we are ⁓ explaining all of the different risk factors and that we are ⁓ really vetting the people that we are taking money from. So because all money is not good money, I say this all the time to my classes that I teach, because you know I do teach a couple of of programs as well. And we need to we do need to be really careful. It’s really the vetting goes both ways. So they need to vet you, make sure ’cause it’s really not about the deal, it’s about the operator. Because a great deal can go south depending on market conditions, right?

like what happened in multifamily in the last couple of years with, you know, the bridge loans expiring and rate, you know, rate locks expiring and all that stuff. ⁓ it’s really about the operator and you’re investing with an operator really more than you’re just investing in the deal. ⁓ but also ⁓ again, the vetting needs to be equally rigorous in both directions.

Joseph Crooms (19:25)
Just real briefly, let’s talk about that educational piece that you that you have a venture in. What is your curriculum that you main mainly focus on to your students and why?

Marci Surfas (19:36)
Okay, so we do I have two different programs. One is called flipping millions. It does not mean you need to be flipping million dollar houses. It means really what we’re talking about is scaling, right? Scaling in real estate. So that you’re you’re at some point you’re probably in at hitting a million dollar mark of of properties that you flipped or you know, something like that. So you can still be a beginner, but you maybe you’re in an expensive market, or you really want to do that thing where you’re paying for speed, where you’re learning from the best and you’re learning all the best practices and how to really do this business correctly.

So we go through everything for that class, we go through everything from acquisitions, you know, underwriting, scope of work, construction, construction management, lending, finance, creative finance, all the way through to, you know, taxes, insurance, ⁓ and then getting to the end to staging and selling the property.

and then we end that with a super fun retreat. We do a two-day ⁓ in-person retreat here in Southern California. So they fly in from all over the country and we do that together, and it’s really amazing. ⁓ and so that’s one, and that really takes you through the whole life cycle. And then my other class is called Six Weeks to Six Figures, and that is a six-week program. ⁓ and that really is focused on raising capital compliantly and legally, ⁓ so that you ⁓ make sure that you’re keeping out of trouble, that you’re

you know, being a great fiduciary ⁓ and that you are also really understanding ⁓

underwriting how much money it’s really gonna take to do a project and then how you pay yourself. You know, I teach them about fee structures and all the things that that GPs know that you know a lot of people when they first get into this business just don’t understand. So we go through that and I have created some pretty amazing ⁓ women, ⁓ female capital raisers that are killing it. ⁓ you know, with their own funds and, you know, syndications and all kinds of stuff set up. So it’s really fun.

Joseph Crooms (21:24)
So you beat me to the punch because I was asking I was gonna about to ask you, ⁓ how many women are being attracted to to your program? But you answered that very good. Yeah. Lots. I I can see from your that is your passion that you want to give back. And so you’re giving back mostly to women, making them feel comfortable in the industry. I would I be correct in assuming that?

Marci Surfas (21:47)
Absolutely, yes. This this tends to be a very male dominated industry. ⁓ you know, you can go to a conference and there can be like four women and two hundred men at the conference, especially, you know, ⁓ for definitely in real estate in general, definitely in

you know, lar for larger syndications, or if you go to like a multifamily event or something like that. And then if the and if you go to any kind of a capital raising event, it’s all dominated by men. So I love bringing women along this journey and teaching them, you know, all the things. So yes, that’s it’s that’s that’s definitely it’s definitely the best part of my day for sure, is when we have class time.

Joseph Crooms (22:21)
Well, that’s great. This I it’s it’s really a pleasure meeting someone that’s passionate about giving back. Now, here’s a tough one for you, Marci. You may not, but now every operator and we spoke about being a operator. I know there’s a moment where things got real. Maybe a field that went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast. Do you mind sharing one of those moments with us?

Marci Surfas (22:44)
Absolutely. Let’s see. I’m I’m in some right now. So I’m I’m living some real deal stuff at the moment. so really it’s about ⁓ time you know time on the market. So I had a couple different things happen at the same time. ⁓ so some some things kind of converge. Number one, again, had five houses at the same time under construction. Number two

the market really shifted. So everything really slowed down quite a bit. So that my my sales, the ones that were on the market, took much longer to sell than than I than than I had planned for. And number three, we had a we had, which is a risk factor in my in my fund, but I I gotta tell you, a lot of times we put risk factors in, but we don’t actually think they’re gonna happen. The risk factor in my fund was a a difference in basically, you know, permitting and the and the local

environment ⁓ of the city for permitting. So we’ve got a we’ve got a really cool program in California which is ⁓ for ADUs to be approved. And that’s supposed to be a maximum of 60 days. That’s the law by by the state. ⁓ Laguna Beach decided that they were just going to ignore that and they just welcomed everyone to sue them instead and they just refused to approve those. So it took nine and ten months for nine and ten months for for three different projects that I had ⁓ going at the time. So you know at a very big clip per

month, that’s a really big that’s a really big hit. So those were super challenging. ⁓ and so those I I definitely learned, you know, what it really did is, you know, we’ve I actually moved. So I’ve moved down to ⁓ to San Diego, which is a great city that’s super ⁓ developer friendly but in a good way. It’s not like they’re making everything

ugly, you know, everything’s beautiful here still. La Jolla is a beautiful place. but just much more ⁓ business friendly and ⁓ you know, Laguna Beach would rather have a house falling in on itself that looks like, you know, homeless people, you know, live in it and it’s about to, you know, literally disintegrate. They would rather have that sit there than have anybody fix it. So and I was very I was very well known for never, I know I never tore them down, I never

added stories. I, you know, I always kept them very like historically correct. And even that wasn’t enough. So I think what we learn sometimes is you can keep h bashing your head against the wall, you know, as as long as you want, but sometimes things just aren’t going to change. And in this case they actually got worse. You know, Laguna Beach was notorious for being really challenging and permitting. So they got a lot worse. They had a big change of change in their staff and ⁓ it’s it’s been super, super brutal. So the thing to do in that case is take a step back, figure out

what the next logical step is. And for us it was changing, changing the cities that we city that we are operating in. So we will go back to development ⁓ as soon as we do some of our other get get these other ones, last ones sold, you know, start to expand our student housing ⁓ portfolio, and then we’ll get back into development down here in San Diego.

Joseph Crooms (25:43)
That’s the kind of stuff that people don’t talk about enough. And honestly, it’s what separates folks who have just dabble from the ones that say long term. Let me ask you this. What do you focus on solving or scaling next? You sort of touched on it, but can you elaborate a little more?

Marci Surfas (26:03)
Do you mean on for student housing or for development?

Joseph Crooms (26:06)
And and development. P probably we have time.

Marci Surfas (26:08)
Yeah, absolutely. So student housing again, we are researching those markets. We have really nailed the basically the the the model that we have at Tulane. ⁓ and so we’re gonna copy that model and do it in other comparable at comparable universities. So we’re looking for that right now. If anybody’s listening and you are an agent or you know of a great ⁓ other town, please let me know. ⁓ we’d be happy to come and and partner with you on some stuff or work with you.

⁓ and ⁓ so we’re we’re definitely expanding and doing that. and then as far as being you know moving to a new city, when you’re a developer and you’re and you move to a new city, when you’re an experienced developer, obviously, you know, you have to you have to ⁓ you know meet all the people and join all the groups. And so I’ve you know joined a bunch of the meetups now and they’re amazing down here. Like the meetups down here are are really, really have been fun. So meeting a lot of new people at the meetups, joining the Facebook groups here in San Diego.

really digging in, meeting architects, meeting, you know, finding things out at the city level, talking to my lenders who have a ton of ⁓ of developers here in San Diego about what they’re doing. ⁓ and San Diego has, you know, amazing programs for they they they love a the ADU programs and they love affordable housing. They love all those types of things. So really digging into that ⁓ and ⁓ starting to, you know, every day look when you’re in real estate, you know, every morning

what you’re what you’re supposed to do and what you need to do is whether you’re a real estate agent or your real estate developer is you get on that hot sheet every single morning. You open your computer and it you know if you’re not if you don’t have access to the MLS like I do, get on and you know have your alert sent with Zillow and you know ha and Redfin and whatever. Like you need to know your market like the back of your hand. 1000%. You need to watch houses that you’re interested in, see how long they take to sell, ⁓ so that you have that, you know, that that knowledge is super critical to being successful.

Joseph Crooms (28:02)
Marci, let me ask you this. How are you tying AI into your business?

Marci Surfas (28:08)
Yeah, I we love AI. So my husband is a tech CEO, so he was in video games and then he’s done some other things. So he he by default has to help me because ⁓ because we’re in the same house and I’m so busy. So he he takes on a bunch of the stuff kind of behind the scenes ⁓ when he’s not doing his way more what he thinks is way more fun, which is his his software business. But we ⁓ he’s really implemented AI quite a bit for our accounting. So ⁓ you know

Accounting in real estate is can be a nightmare. It is a nightmare. I’m just gonna say it’s a nightmare. everyone knows this. Everyone knows that QuickBooks was not made for real estate, everyone knows all the things, you know, that we we try and we suffer with. ⁓ so he’s been really involved with he’s he’s we’ve been really using AI a lot for accounting, number one. ⁓ I’ve been using AI quite a bit for my business, for my coaching business. That’s been really, really fun just for, you know.

I mean it’s just incredible. Like the you know, the you can have an idea and you know, women at my age were up in the middle of the night quite a bit. So me and my me and my AI ⁓ friends can, you know, really get a lot of things accomplished. ⁓ just by, you know, just on my phone, you know, d you know, ⁓ you know, I can even I can upload this podcast, you know, to my to my AI project that’s about, you know, ⁓ about that part of my business and really, you know, create some amazing

teachings and some amazing, you know, posts and you know, all kinds of things like that. So that is has been really, really interesting and really fun. It’s definitely made life a lot easier. And then we do, you know, my actually my son, one of my sons, I have three sons, one of my sons is in is at NYU. He’s getting his masters, he went to Tulane and then now he’s at NYU getting his master’s in real estate development at NYU. And he’s created an app called Flip Target. And so Flip Target is all AI based.

And it’s finding the best flips in your market that you know, according to all of the different things that they’ve set up. So that’s, you know, there there are a million ways to use AI in real estate, for sure.

Joseph Crooms (30:08)
⁓ first for sure and I know you must be proud of him. Very proud. This just how innovative ⁓ that’s big, especially when the things that you got the education, you got the investing in place. And your next move can either compound things or create chaos, depending on how you plan. All right. So now I know a lot of people listening are either early in their journey or looking to level up and I think they’re benefiting from hearing this.

Marci Surfas (30:11)
Very proud, yes.

Joseph Crooms (30:36)
When it comes to building relationships, growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference to you?

Marci Surfas (30:43)
I would say attending events, live events, attending live events is incredibly important. Like you have to get out there. You can’t do this business by hiding in your house. You know, you have to get out there. People need to know who you are and what you do. Who you are and what you do and where you do it.

Right. They need to know that so that either if they’re an agent, they can bring you great deals off market. Or ⁓ if they are somebody that wants to invest, you know, that they know, like and trust you because you’re out there, you’re meeting people, you’re talking to people, they get to know, you know, if you have integrity, it’s about your reputation, like all those things. So ⁓ you know, getting out there and being in front of people is really, really important. So

Go to the meetups in your local area. Join your REIA. You know, join do all of those things. ⁓ if if they’re not, even if they’re not in person, get on the online ones, right? ⁓ invest in yourself. If you want to do this, you everyone can figure this out on your own, but if you want to do this faster, I had I’ve had a ton of coaching myself that I’ve invested in. Invest in yourself, get a mentor.

Do a coach do coaching programs, do all of that stuff. That’s super, super important if you want to get there faster. And ⁓ and then again, just like you know, social media, you know, the Facebook groups, all of that stuff. But and I also say like one of the things is, you know, there’s a very there’s a free resource when you’re in real estate that’s super important to do. And that is if you’re in if we’re if we’re talking about single family homes, go to open houses, okay, on the weekends. Like this is something you should be doing and you should consider at work.

And you should schedule it in and you should go. Bring your kids, bring your husband, bring your dog, whatever. Go to open houses. It’s really important that you get to know neighborhoods, that you get to know agents, that you get to know other developers, you know, see what see what’s happening there.

Like that is the only time you’re gonna get into that house unless you make friends with that person and go to their house for dinner, which you’re probably not going to. That’s the only time you’re gonna see the inside of that house is the time that it’s on the market. So go. Go inside the house. Go see what other people are doing. Go see what other people like. Go see what the problems are in a particular neighborhood. You know, you the reason it’s hard and I always I always recommend that people invest in their backyard first, is you need to know about those invisible boundaries. You need to know when something’s on the wrong side of the track or when there’s a

⁓ you know, a a hoarder house next door or, you know, some huge issue, you know, you cannot just buy things off the internet and expect for that to to be a winning formula all the time. It’s just not. So you need to really get out there and really know the markets that you are going to operate in. So that’s the best way to do it.

Joseph Crooms (33:17)
⁓ Marci, that was valuable. That that piece there was really valuable information. who would have thought about going to an open house? And then you explain why. that’s so important. So you can’t fake that. Relationships are everything in space, in the space. All right, before we wrap up, Marci, if if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more.

Marci Surfas (33:26)
Just yeah, right. Just go through analysis, yeah.

Joseph Crooms (33:43)
and what you’re doing, what’s the best way to reach you? Say it twice.

Marci Surfas (33:47)
Okay, the best way to reach me is I do have a website. It’s marcisurfas.com So that’s M-A-R-C-I-S-U-R-F-A-S dot com. Or you can go to my one of my two companies. One is Veranda Homes, so verandahomes.com and Verandacapital, verandacapital.com. And then I’m everywhere on social media under Marci Surfas.

Joseph Crooms (34:07)
So Marci you know some people are fumbling, they’re trying to get the pens ⁓ say one more time for us.

Marci Surfas (34:10)
⁓

Yeah, absolutely. So Marci Surfas. So ⁓ you can just get me at Marci M A R C I at verandahomes.com. So V-E-R-A-N-D-A-H-O-M-E-S. So [email protected] Or you can go to one of my websites. So marcisurfas.com is one.

Veranda Homes, if you want to see some of our recent projects, some of our beautiful houses. So verandahomes.com. And then Veranda Capital is really where we talk about our investment opportunities. And you can get me on any any one of those. ⁓ there’s a contact form there, or you can just DM me on ⁓ at LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, all the places. I’m everywhere.

Joseph Crooms (34:51)
Perfect. Well listen, I appreciate the time, your story, your perspective and your psychology on how you approach the things. we need more people and space ⁓ who are doing the right thing. Thanks again for being here, Marci. So ⁓ as I mentioned that there was something that we really wanted to offer you and for and so we want to thank you for tuning in. So if you got ⁓ any value from this, excuse me, I gotta plug this commercial in

Make sure you subscribe. We got more conversations coming with operators just like Marci Surfas. Who’s who’s out there ⁓ building real businesses? We’ll see you at the next episode. We’re gonna sh share Marci with Marci, something that we have just for her, but we want her to say so long to you also. Marci, say goodbye and talk to him soon.

Marci Surfas (35:27)
Surfas. Yep, Surfas.

All right, thank you so much for having me and hope to talk to you all soon.