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Show Summary
In this episode, Ashwin Abichandani shares his journey from military service and corporate roles to becoming a successful real estate agent and investor in Chicago. He discusses the importance of humility, resilience, and strategic thinking in real estate, along with practical advice for investors and agents.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Ashwin Abichandani (00:00)
I would say right now we have a lot of technology like we have AI, ChatGPT. We have a lot of books right now. We have lot of great websites to get information. So right now you have a lot of avenues or places to get information and data. No matter what you want, you’ll get it online, everything. But the main thing to understand is how do you analyze that data? What does that data mean to me? What is that I’m looking for?Quentin Edmonds (01:59)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. Have another fantastic guest and listen, he’s going to tell you about what it is that he do. And I’ve been talking to him and I know he’s going to give you some really, really good nuggets that you can take and use at your home. And so I’m really excited. And he had grace on me. So y’all don’t know me. I say first and last name. He had grace on me and so I can just call him by his first name. And I appreciate that. And so Mr. Ashwin.How you doing today, sir? How is your world going,
Ashwin Abichandani (02:31)
I’m doing good and thank you for inviting. I’m really excited to share my knowledge and expertise to help any new investors or anyone who’s looking to buy or sell a house or get into this field.Quentin Edmonds (02:43)
Absolutely. Well, man, I appreciate you. And listen, we like to dive right in. So I want you to tell the people what your main focus is, like what is it that you’re doing now, what you do. Also, if you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got started, how you got into the real estate space. And man, tell them where you are in the world geographically. So what you do, your origin story, and where you are. My friend, have the story. Thank you,Ashwin Abichandani (03:07)
Perfect.Thank you. Thank you again. So I’m a real estate agent right now working with Dorazio Real Estate. I’m also a general manager for a property management company, a BCG property management company, all in Chicago. Primarily my focus area is real estate sales, buying and selling, property management, as well as real estate investment. ⁓ Primarily I work with ⁓ military clients ⁓ using the V alone. Either they’re looking to buy a home for themselves or they’re looking for investment.
So the of the value add I bring to the table is I help them to buy and sell a house, but also provide them like the how to operate the property after you close like a business, what are the maintenance challenges you might have, you know, rather than just looking at the numbers, yeah, how do you run your properties as a business and build a rental portfolio? So that’s what I do right now in terms of origin. So I come from multiple background. And what I mean by that is I come…
My background is in engineering. I have MBA. I’m also from military background. I was part of US Army. And I’ve worked in different industry, oil and gas, financial sectors. So I was like everyone else, most of us, like in corporate world, doing a W2 job for more than 15 years. And then later I realized that real estate is what I enjoy the most, even if it’s not the best sometimes. And sometimes you’re questioning, but this is like the best place to be.
And as I already mentioned, I am located in Chicago, so I work and operate in Chicago. And when I say Chicago, meaning the Illinois state, a little bit outside Chicago, that’s I cover that. Thanks.
Quentin Edmonds (04:45)
Yeah.I love it, Ashwin, man. Thank you, sir. Thank you for your service, you know, to this country. So obviously that and thank you for the way you continue to serve others. That’s sir. I mean, that means a lot. It tells me a good, a good lot about your personality. And I was listening to you talk and I was writing things down, you know, engineer got your MBA, of course, U.S. Army. He was in the oil and gas business. And I bring, kind of reiterate those things.
Ashwin Abichandani (04:51)
Thank you.Thank you.
Quentin Edmonds (05:12)
Cause Ashwin, I have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? I it no matter what we go through in life, these moments make us who we are now. And we pick up different things along the way and they fortify who we are. So now you’re in real estate. You’re doing great. I would love to know what has these moments taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience, humility? Like what has it taught you about you?Ashwin Abichandani (06:23)
I think you kind of captured the most of the words, but I would say, ⁓ stay humble. End of the day, no matter where you come from, no matter where you go in your life, stay always humble. So that’s my primary thing. And I always look at my clients and I say, how can I add value to my clients? And I always tell them, look at your properties, whatever you buy as an investment. And I also understand the kind of the background they might be coming from. Just like me, people are coming from military background or they’re coming from the corporate world.So they have some hesitation, some education is required. So I provide them a lot of guidance and education to make them feel comfortable and kind of prep them for the next step in their life, the journey.
Quentin Edmonds (07:05)
I love it and I love how you say humility. Humbling yourself is one of the most powerful things that you can do, right? I tell people meekness is not weakness. Like when you humble yourself, you’re harnessing your ego, you’re harnessing your arrogance, you’re putting yourself in a place to say, I can learn, you know, I’m not the smartest person in the room all the time. So I love how you brought up humility, man. And I would love to know, as you was now, you know, there’s the journey to success and things doesn’t always go the way we want it to go.Ashwin Abichandani (07:18)
Yep.Right.
Quentin Edmonds (07:35)
So Ashwin, have you faced any adversity as you was building this real estate space that you’re in?Ashwin Abichandani (07:35)
Bye.Not many people might know, when I was having a W-2 job, I was trying to get into real estate and I was trying to find different ways how to get into real estate. The first time I started was doing through fix and flip. And that was a huge learning experience. And there were some deals where I made the money, some deals I lost, and I was literally upside down financially. And I was at like low point in my life, but I do have a really good support team thanks to
my military background and the group I had, could fall back or the real estate experts, look up them as a mentor and ask them like, what should I do? And they provided me not just like ⁓ just how to make more money, but more like a mental support, more like a mentor to kind of help me to come up, build my mindset to have a strong mind and like, hey, you have already done the worst, now is the time to grow. So keep moving forward. And I just put my head down and I kept moving, kept moving. And now I’m…
at the point where I can share experience and suggestions and my learnings with my clients and the audience as well.
Quentin Edmonds (08:44)
Yeah.Man, I absolutely love that. love how you said you’ve already done the work. And so the mindset is you’re doing the work. So now keep going because sometimes the work doesn’t just happen overnight. Like you got to continue to put in. And so a book that I’m finishing up is this book is called, ⁓ gradually then suddenly by Mark Batterson. Right. And so what you just said, remind me of the book because success happens in two ways, gradually, then suddenly.
Ashwin Abichandani (08:59)
Right.I’ll make a note.
Quentin Edmonds (09:15)
And so when you’re in that gradual state, you got to prepare your mindset because things sometimes trickle like the, the success. And you like, I know I’m doing this right. Like I’ve seen it work for everybody else. Why is that working for me? But it’s like all of a sudden, cause you to put in so much work out of nowhere, the contacts start to happen in all the resources seem to add up deal after deal, start to flow in. so sometimes there’s gradual and then sometimes there’s sudden. And so I’ve loved what you said.about, you know, sticking to what you’re doing to work, just stick to it. And I’m glad you had people to tell you that.
Ashwin Abichandani (09:49)
Yeah, and I just want to add, every morning I get up and I try to remind myself, some days are awesome, some days are I’m struggling as we are growing, as you said, suddenly or gradually. And I look at my name, my first name Ashwin, it ends with win. And I tell myself, at the end you will win, just keep moving forward. So I try to remind myself. That’s how.Quentin Edmonds (10:11)
You gotthe built-in system, you’re gonna win. You can look at your name, you’re gonna win. But no, that’s real, man. I you know, I have a saying where I say, you know, failure is just fertilizer. Failure is fertilizer. And Ashwin, if you know, and you probably do, you know anything about fertilizer, most of the time it’s actually like dung. it’s like, boom, makes the best fertilizer, right? So that means like sometimes the failure can be stinky.
Ashwin Abichandani (10:16)
Yes.Yes.
Yes.
Quentin Edmonds (11:15)
It can be messy. You don’t want to get it on you. You don’t want it nowhere near you. But the fact of the matter is if you allow yourself to be rooted in it, it’s going to give you nutrients that’s going to help you grow. It’s going to give you nutrients that make you humble, that makes you strong, that makes you confident. And so, man, I love it. I love everything that you’re saying. And I’m glad you’re showing people that’s listening. It’s not going to always be easy, but if you stick to it, you’re going to come out on that side. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Ashwin Abichandani (11:29)
Right.Absolutely, yep.
Quentin Edmonds (11:42)
So tell me man, what is your next real goal? What are you looking to solve at Scale Next, sir?Ashwin Abichandani (11:47)
So I myself invest ⁓ as a military and using the VA loan. I have a three unit right now as a portfolio and I’m looking to expand on that and collaborating with other ⁓ members or groups I’m involved with and work with them and brainstorm different ideas. So definitely looking to grow personally as well as looking forward to help some new clients this year to either buy the houses for themselves or help them to buy the next investment property.And also on the property management side, I’m more onto the systems and processes. So I’m always like working on it. So there are some new systems we are bringing in house to make it better and provide better service to our tenants, to our owners. So I’m really excited for that this year.
Quentin Edmonds (12:33)
I think you are the perfect person to ask this question. So I want to know a little bit about relationships. I would love to know if relationships are important to you. How do you go about, you know, creating them? I just feel like in the space that you’re in, the people that you’re helping, I feel like that you can give us a great perspective about relationships. So talk to me a little bit about that word for you.Ashwin Abichandani (12:57)
You know, in my space, real estate space, you meet people. People think about real estate as properties, buildings, but it’s actually a people business. know, it’s all about your people, network. Network is your network, as know, that saying is. So my primary focus is, even if I meet anyone who may not be buying real estate, I’m not like looking to sell everything, but provide value. How can I add value to them and build that relationship? You know, end of the day, many of my buyers ask me like, what are you?What’s your focus as an agent or what’s your focus? I said, yes, one is commission for sure. If somebody says no, then they’re not being truthful. But the second thing is I want you to have a really great experience working with me. So the next time someone asks you that, hey, do you have a good agent? And the first name should be alphabetically, that’s me, Ashwin, should come on your mind. So that’s where I thrive and that’s where I work hard for you as a client or anyone and provide value as much as I can.
And so relationship is, as I said, is very critical. Yeah.
Quentin Edmonds (13:59)
Yeah, I love it. You’re absolutelyright. Affidavitically, man, you had the top of it. Listen, I love that man. Listen, and use all of that to your advantage, Ashwin. Use all of that, man. I absolutely love that. Hey, listen, is there any topic that I have not asked that you want to talk about, or is there any other words of inspiration, education, motivation that you want to leave? I kind just want to open up the floor to maybe something that’s on your heart that you want to say.
Ashwin Abichandani (14:03)
Yeah..
I would say right now we have a lot of technology like we have AI, ChatGPT. We have a lot of books right now. We have lot of great websites to get information. So right now you have a lot of avenues or places to get information and data. No matter what you want, you’ll get it online, everything. But the main thing to understand is how do you analyze that data? What does that data mean to me? What is that I’m looking for?
Many people get hung up on
particular strategy or particular property type because someone, some guru or someone said that, hey, forget about everything, focus on multifamily, forget about everything, focus on ⁓ self-storage. What I tell my clients is that it’s all good, but you have to think from your perspective, ⁓ you know, do you have time? Do you have money? Do you have resources? What’s your life goal? And then come up with a strategy. There’s nothing like right or wrong strategy or right or wrong answer. It’s just what applies for you. And many times I have to like,
protect the clients from themselves for not taking steps where they might fail and they’re not ready for that. They don’t have enough time or energy. So maybe a real estate investment may not be the right strategy for now, maybe later. So you have to kind of understand that. And the other thing I tell people as a joke is like, I know you guys are using AI, you use ⁓ AI, but use Ashwin’s intelligence.
where I’ll give you the questions and then you go ahead and check and do your due diligence. Because I want every ⁓ client and investor, by the time they close on a property, to think like an investor, like myself as an agent, so they know what they’re getting into and ⁓ they can face the challenges, the risk, which is part of the any deal. So that’s what I wanted to emphasize on.
Quentin Edmonds (16:59)
I think it’s brilliant how you tell them, hey, check with me first, ask me, and then use AI as a tool. Because AI is just that, it’s a tool. It works off of what you feed it. And so you need to make sure you’re feeding it the right thing. You need to curate it. You need to create it. That way it’s giving you the right information. So I love that you’re telling me, hey, ask me that way you can use it as a tool. Because AI is tremendous. One thing it’s not going to do is replace the human element, right? It has to be fed something. And so.Ashwin Abichandani (17:08)
Right.Quentin Edmonds (17:28)
I love it, man. love everything you said, man. I absolutely do. Listen, Ashwin, man, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect to you, collaborate with you, hire you, get in contact with you, how do they go about doing this,Ashwin Abichandani (17:44)
So the best place to reach is just Google Dorazio Real Estate Chicago and go to the website. There’s a contact form, fill in your information and it has a section like, how did you hear about us? And just put my name and this podcast so I know and then I can get in touch with you or our team member can get in touch with you and we can have a conversation. Not a problem.Quentin Edmonds (18:05)
I love it.love it. Y’all, y’all see the name? It’s right there. Write it down. Because when you get prompted, put my man name in. He’s doing amazing things. And I’m so glad you’re here, man. I’m so glad what you’re doing and how you’re building it, the way you’re doing it. And so let me say three things to you. First, let me thank you for your time. Because time is our most precious commodity. You could have been anywhere in the world. Thank you for your time. Secondly, thank you for your story. I put a premium on people’s stories, like,
Ashwin Abichandani (18:15)
Thank you.Sure.
Quentin Edmonds (18:32)
Stories have a way of planting a seed in people. You may never see the growth, but the seed is there. And somebody come and water the seed, then before you know it, something grows. So please know that you planted seeds today with your story. So thank you so much for that. And lastly, thank you for your mindset, man. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I truly appreciate you being here today.Ashwin Abichandani (18:47)
Thank you.Yeah
Thank you. Thanks for inviting me. Thank you very much.
Quentin Edmonds (18:58)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Ashwin you got his story, you got the nuggets. He’s gave you resources. Look into the show notes, check him out, get in contact with him, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here. I keep telling you, we’re going to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Ashwin. So sir, thank you again so much. And everyone else, listen, y’all have a fantastic day.
