How to Use Business Credit to Fund Real Estate Deals | Christian Baldwin

**Christian Baldwin (00:00)**

Cash is king, but credit is power. What most people don’t know is banks make money off interest, not about giving you money. So basically when it comes to that, you can have all the cash in the world, but you’re still not you’re still not allowed to buy certain things. They will still be able to turn you down because you don’t have the credit. And what I tell people now is even though you’re out of high school, even though you’re out of college, your credit report is your adult report card. So basically what that means is it’s how you are on paper and showing the bank that you have ability to maintain and actually be able to pay back and hold this money. So that goes out with credit age. It shows how long you’ve been in the game for and how long you can actually maintain certain funds.

**Issa Hanna (02:09)**

Welcome back to another episode of *The Real Estate Pros Show*. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I have Christian Baldwin here to share his knowledge with us. Christian, welcome to the show.

**Christian Baldwin (02:17)**

Thank you. It’s nice to have you. I really appreciate it. I’m I’m nervous, I can say that.

**Issa Hanna (02:24)**

You know what, man, don’t be nervous. You’re killing the real estate game and and you’re on this show for a reason. You’re also from my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. So you know we’re gonna have to take good care of you here. And and with that, you’re in the wholesale game, you’re in the flip game, right? You’re in you’re in Ohio. Can you kind of run down where your focus is nowadays, like today, and then a day-to-day in Christian’s world?

**Christian Baldwin (02:48)**

Right now my focus is is basically using the leverage of real estate to basically create wealth. And when I’m gonna create wealth, it’s more so help other people as well while doing it because you know it’s a lot of knowledge that’s not told because you know, a lot of people gatekeep, but I’m the one that’s gonna be able to tell you and basically share the knowledge as I’m doing it. So you’re gonna watch me do it, that way you can go ahead and repeat the process. So right now, we’re basically learning how to leverage these wholesale deals on a day-to-day basis. I’m talking to sellers, I’m seeing the problems, I’m being the solution. Once I’m solution, I can either choose to invest on a flip with you, you know, as other investors, sell to another investor, or go into myself by creating and leveraging OPM, which would be other people’s money, but in my interest it would be the bank because the bank has unlimited funding at a zero percent interest rate, that way you don’t gotta come out of pocket. We can go ahead and leverage that to be able to get on top and create what we all know as wealth.

**Issa Hanna (03:44)**

I love that man. And and that is true. And real estate is one of the only industries you could create. Generational wealth is an OPM, like you say, other people’s money, which is the bank’s money. And you’ve successfully done this multiple times. So you can teach people how to do this. All they gotta do is get a hold of you. And and one thing that I love that you said, it was a good saying. I didn’t tell you anything in our previous conversation that I was gonna use it on you, but you said cash is king, but credit is power. So can you can you explain to the viewers why you said that?

**Christian Baldwin (04:19)**

So I’m gonna break it down. I’m gonna break it down in the smoothest way possible. So cash is king, but credit is power. What most people don’t know is banks make money off interest, not about giving you money. So basically when it comes to that, you can have all the cash in the world, but you’re still not you’re still not allowed to buy certain things. They will still be able to turn you down because you don’t have the credit. And what I tell people now is even though you’re out of high school, even though you’re out of college, your credit report is your adult report card. So basically what that means is it’s how you are on paper and showing the bank that you have ability to maintain and actually be able to pay back and hold this money. So that goes out with credit age. It shows how long you’ve been in the game for and how long you can actually maintain certain funds. And when you have a good credit history, you can leverage that credit to obtain again zero zero percent interest products to actually get ahead because I’m sure everybody all know Amazon, Twitter, Elon Musk, Tesla, they just didn’t wake up millionaires. They use and leverage credit to actually get ahead. And that’s what I’m trying to teach you guys to be able to do that in the real estate industry.

**Issa Hanna (05:19)**

I I love that. And and one thing to the viewers at home, you guys, he says zero percent interest. That’s very important, right? Because interest is what eats your money away. So when you get an interest-free loan for a year to do your project, that’s beautiful. Christian’s figured out a way how to do that and done it successfully multiple times. So if your ears are perking up, at the end of this show, I’m gonna ask Christian to give us his info and you guys could contact him. But I wanna shift gears a little bit. I wanna get a little bit of history because you are a hero. You served in the military, you got out of the military, and then you took it to another level. So give us your history. Where how’d you get into the game?

**Christian Baldwin (06:49)**

So I served in the Air Force for a total of eight years, six years active, two years inactive, and this is my last year in inactive service come November twenty-sixth of twenty twenty-six. When I was getting out of my active service, I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I couldn’t really look for jobs and have an interview because of course I was still in the military, but I knew I was getting out. Come forth, I learned about wholesale real estate. Wholesale real estate was a game where you’re able to get into the real estate industry with zero to no money. And at that time, I didn’t have enough money to actually buy my first property. So what I did was I learned how to wholesale. Once I learned how to wholesale, I learned how to become the solution to people’s problems to basically get them out of, you know, pre-foreclosures or just any solution where they try to be a landlord and take care of that option for them. So once I learned the wholesale industry, I eventually and it was one of my goals to get into fix and flips. And I focused on that. But first I want to become the source of all the good deals. Well what I want to say, good deals. That way we can go ahead and leverage that. You know, what what we do, we remodel homes. Once we remodel those homes, we can go ahead and you know provide it for a new family, of course. So the wholesale game was basically my bread and butter to actually get into real estate. And of course, I was a little bit scared, and it’s a little bit scary because you know, wholesale and you gotta talk to random people that don’t know me from a can of paint. But I was able to make them my best friend and I was able to get the deal for them. That’s a win for them and also a win for me. That way we can both walk away happy.

**Issa Hanna (08:20)**

Exactly. When you make people money and you deal with them with the honesty, integrity like Christian does, it’s gonna be a lifelong partnership, you know. Everybody makes money, everybody’s happy. So I man, and then being a wholesaler, you learn a lot. Like you said, in our conversation earlier, you said you could walk through a house, you could smell something and know it’s wrong, you know, that doesn’t come naturally, that comes with experience. And then I want to shift into something else, you said. One of your strengths is you know how to source your own deals. You’re not waiting for other people to call you, hey, Christian, I got I got this house. You’re getting these deals, you’re finding these home sellers. So can you tell people how you’re able to do that?

**Christian Baldwin (09:05)**

So one I’m actually I wanna give out my marketing company just just because they’re one. They give me about three to five leads, hot three to five hot leads a day, DSVA. They basically help me to be able to call and I sit on the phone and I call these leads, these hot leads that’s basically ready to sell their homes and I make them an offer that nine times out of ten they can’t resist. Once I give them that offer, they’ll be able to basically go forward with the property. I get the property, they get the funds, and I’m able to have my own deals. When I have my own deals, it’s a lot easier for me to find them and actually walk through and like I told you before, I’m able to actually know what’s wrong with the house. I can see all the rehab. I can see the roof needs done. I can see I may need a new hot water tank. I can see I may need a new furnace or I may need some cosmetic updates just because I’ve been in the game so long. So I’m already ahead on that, where I know what the property takes, how much rehab it’s gonna take and how long it’s gonna take. And that’s just come with a lot of skills and experience and basically learning the wholesale industry. And I feel grateful to learn the wholesale industry because it helps out a lot and I’m able to help other people out just by going through and walking through a house with them as well.

**Issa Hanna (10:14)**

Definitely. And you know, you’re taking that natural progression from wholesaler to flipper, you know. And I see a lot of successful people, that’s the trajectory they take, you know, wholesaling, flipping, they have a few rental properties later on in life and it just keeps growing and growing. Eventually, I could see you doing new construction in 10 years, with the knowledge you have. So I’m loving this. And now I wanna ask you about something we all experience as investors, myself included. A real estate nightmare. Right. We all had to go through that fire one time. We all had to and what I say is we never lose, we learn, right? So can you give us your real estate nightmare?

**Christian Baldwin (11:32)**

My real estate nightmare was me trying to get into my first fix and flip, honestly. You know, I didn’t, it was my first one. I had a hard money lender. I didn’t know too much. I had to put down large large down payment. And I was trying to fix and flip the property, but you know, and that was my first time actually not knowing what I know now, how to know what’s going wrong with the house and what’s and what I need to touch up. I ended up fixing everything up, but I didn’t fix up the correct things that I was actually supposed to do to fix the flip the property up. And I had a tenant in there. It was actually a duplex. So I ended up losing out on the money and I got scared in the real estate game to where I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But so I still have the property as a rental. That was my very, my very first house, but I lost and it broke me down. So it made me scared to continue to be in real estate. And

**Issa Hanna (12:15)**

Which that

**Christian Baldwin (12:24)**

Being in real estate, you have to know that you’re gonna take a loss because this game has great rewards, but it’s also gonna come with losses. You can’t just expect that everything’s gonna be great on the good side of things because nothing’s ever good unless it has some bad to come with it. And I wasn’t ready for that at the time. So it took me a long time to gain that back, to gain that confidence back. But once I did, you know, I planned to take off from it. And now I’m doing another one. I’m doing another fix and flip and I’m gonna do plenty of more because I’m ready for that and I know what the game comes with.

**Issa Hanna (13:00)**

I love that man. It’s a very inspiring story. You know, a lot of people do get into the real estate game, they lose money, and they quickly retreat because they’re like, I you know, I’m an amateur. You know, it’s very intimidating real estate industry, but you got back on the horse with the knowledge you gained from from that loss, which like I said, it’s never a loss, it’s always a lesson. And now you’re taking it to the next level. So man, I like that. And speaking of taking it to the next level, five years from now, you know, we go hang out in somewhere in Cleveland. Where am I gonna see you at?

**Christian Baldwin (13:40)**

Five years from now, to be honest, five years from now, and this is my motto where I fix and flip three properties and I keep one. So I’ll have a portfolio, a well nice portfolio built out then. But five years from now, you’re gonna see me at a seminar. A seminar basically teaching everybody what not to do. Because my plan is to go through all the wrongdoings and all the hashtags to where I’m gonna tell you the right thing because I wanna see myself as a coach and a mentor. That way I can build you up and I can tell you what most people haven’t told you already. And I don’t want you to go through this game by yourself. This is not for you to come into the real estate industry and try to second guess everything. I’m gonna tell you exactly what’s told. That way you don’t have to go through everything that I went through. You don’t have to go through those the scares, the lack of confidence that I went through. We’re gonna do this together and we’re gonna speak at a seminar together. That way I could tell you about this exact moment. I could tell you exact about my exact past and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have more accomplishments going on from there. But that way I just wanna be able to help other people get to where I’m at today.

**Issa Hanna (14:49)**

And I love that. You’re giving back already. You’re not gatekeeping the secrets. You just want to see everybody do well. And that’s a good person, you know. That’s somebody who really, you know. I mean, when you gatekeep, when you have a secret to making money like you do, a lot of people gatekeep that. You know, the fact that you’re out here on our show, like, hey, contact me, I’ll tell you how I did it. Because you want people to do better for themselves is very, very inspiring and admirable. And, you know, I wouldn’t expect anything less from a guy like you and a guy from Cleveland, Ohio, right? Yes. So I want to now ask you your advice to my young viewers, right? Like you said, it’s really intimidating when you first get in the real estate world. You don’t know anybody. You gotta find a mentor. You gotta establish business relationships. You gotta grow the network.

**Christian Baldwin (15:30)**

Okay.

**Issa Hanna (15:40)**

Okay, give some advice on how to get the ball rolling and establish these relationships.

**Christian Baldwin (16:27)**

So what I can say is right now, relationships is everything. And if you don’t know or if you don’t know how to, what I would do is get out and start networking. And you may not know where to network, but I’m gonna tell you exactly what I do what I now know. I can say that where usually it’s a website and I’m gonna go tell you where to go to. It’s actually Eventbrite. Now if you go ahead and type in real estate, it have certain real estate meetings, you know, it would be some events, some webinars. That way you can kind of go in and introduce yourself. You know, go to certain houses, go through do walkthroughs. You know, that way you can kind of be seen in the industry. And then people will pick up like, hey, I seen that guy. Hey, I seen that girl. She was at the last house. She’s getting into real estate. That way you can go ahead and ask questions because the right people shouldn’t be afraid to tell you what is what you need to what you may need to know. You know, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there because that’s gonna be the most important. It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know because everybody can lift up one another to be able to get to the next level. Cause that’s the goal with we all have the same goal. Everybody wants to basically better themselves from last year. Nobody wants to be the same from last year. We all want to be different. So why not help each other? So go ahead, meet everybody, network, because it’s all gonna be told one day that, hey, I remember you from five years ago. You came so far. You know, and you’re gonna see that same person and they’re gonna walk past you and you might see them the next day. It’s all about networking. So I want you to network as with as many people as you can. And also while you’re networking, learn to build relationships up with the financial institutions as well, because the financial institutions is what’s gonna give you that stepping stool to be able to basically level up even faster and it’s gonna come quick. But as soon as we can wrap this up a little bit. I’m gonna actually tell you the exact process I used to be able to get funding and do my first successful fix and flip with no money out of my pocket.

**Issa Hanna (18:24)**

You want to tell us right now?

**Christian Baldwin (18:26)**

Of course. Okay. So this is what I know. And I’m gonna actually tell you it’s a free game right here to where certain financial institutions pull from specific credit bureaus. Okay. What you wanna do is have a perfect credit history on a personal side, to actually tell you what those structures are is a 680 credit score.

**Issa Hanna (18:37)**

Sure, yeah.

**Christian Baldwin (18:51)**

You want at least five to seven accounts with one account with a $2,500 credit card limit. You want zero to two hard inquiries because anything past two hard inquiries, you’ll be seen credit hungry to the financial institutions. You don’t want that. You want at least three years of credit age and you want a hundred percent perfect payment history, okay? Once you have that, you’re gonna go ahead and leverage your LLC and you’re gonna basically become a personal guarantor. Once you become a personal guarantor, you’re gonna basically get the funding from the bank. We’re gonna go just say Chase Bank. They pull from Experian, they offer two business products with one hard inquiry. Now that two business products can go up to 150,000 with 0% interest for 12 months. So that’s a free 150 for 12 months that you can get. But we’re not gonna say you’re gonna get the whole 150. Let’s say you get 75K, all right? Now, with that 75K, you’re gonna put up at least half of that to cover the monthly payments so that way you don’t fall behind. Okay. Now you got about 40K. You got around 40K to use to be able to go ahead and put that into a fix and flip property to cover the construction and also the loan that’s gonna be used to come from your private money lender and cover his payments to be able to purchase the property for you. So now you got a month and a half of no money out of pocket, a free fix and flip that’s gonna go on the market and sell to put money in your pockets, but also pay the bank back.

**Issa Hanna (20:12)**

You see this guys? This is why real estate will create you generational wealth and you can make it from what you got up here, the knowledge you got up here. And Christian’s over here just sharing knowledge with us that people don’t share usually. So make sure y’all took the notes, rewind this, listen to this multiple times because he literally gave you a blueprint of of how to do it. And I wanna thank you for for that, honestly, because it’s a very valuable piece of information. I think our young viewers are going to really take that. And now I want to give you the floor, right? If people wanted to get a hold of you, they wanted you to be their financial coach, they wanted to sell you a house, where could they reach you?

**Christian Baldwin (20:52)**

So you can actually reach me on my Instagram @too0fficial that’s T-O-O, the O at official. That’s gonna actually lead you to my page. Now, if you wanna go into that, I actually run my business. It’s called The Millionaire Secret. It’s in the back of me because I’m telling people what The Millionaire Secret is to be able to leverage and get to the next level. I have a website where you can actually schedule a free consultation with me. All consultations are free of charge because we are now a family once we lock in. And I don’t want you to go out and be thrown to the wolves because I’m gonna tell you everything to do to be successful. All right. So once you lock in, we have that free consultation call to figure about everything about your business, whether it’s real estate, whether it’s any other questions you may have about any entrepreneurship, I’m able to take you to the next level on our call that we’re gonna have face to face.

**Issa Hanna (21:39)**

I love that, man. So make sure you guys hit Christian up. He is one of the only people in the world that knows, you know, this trick inside and out. So make sure you guys check him out, go to Instagram, subscribe to him. Really good guy, really knowledgeable guy. Christian, I’d like to thank you so much for coming on the show, man. You really educated the masses. You know, you’re not a gatekeeper. And and we need more people like you in our industry, bro.

**Christian Baldwin (22:06)**

Thank you.

**Issa Hanna (22:07)**

Appreciate you coming on and to my viewers at home. If you guys enjoyed my conversation with Christian, want to see more like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that could bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry. Until next time.

The Real Estate Pros are out.