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Show Summary
In this conversation, Dean Barlow shares his journey in real estate, focusing on multifamily investments and the challenges he faces in building his portfolio. He emphasizes the importance of control, community impact, and the need to add value in networking. Dean discusses his goals of helping others and making a difference in people’s lives through real estate, while also addressing the practical challenges of managing investments and maintaining relationships with investors and tenants.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Dean Barlow (00:00)
And the first thing that always comes to mind when I ever talk about this is a shop vac. What does that mean? Shop vac, you go to Home Depot, you can buy a vacuum for a hundred bucks and it sucks up water or dirt, right? And because we’ve had water in our units, we’ve had floods. It’s like, everything’s going to be great. We’re going to buy this. We’re going to put a tenant in there. You get a phone call. Hey, there’s water. You’re like, crap shop vac So, so that from the beginning and the deal we just did the deal we just completed now years later, same thing, you know, the tenant moves out upstairs, turns off the heater. Winter time floods, top and bottom. You got to play GC. You got to try to figure this thing out and keep the existing tenants happy and the other units, ⁓ while not letting the deal die. It’s a simple business. The idea is easy.Q Edmonds (02:28)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. You already probably know what I’m going say. If you’ve been following me, I’m excited. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about the guest that’s here with me. One of my favorite words and he has demonstrated this this morning stick to it of this, right? We had some technical issues to get started, but this man has stuck to it. And this is why I’m excited about him.excited about his business. He has broken away from the big guys and he’s on the launching pad right now and so I’m super super excited about what he’s doing and I’m so honored to introduce you guys to Mr. Dean Barlow. Mr. Dean how you doing today sir?
Dean Barlow (03:13)
Good morning. How’s everybody doing?Q Edmonds (03:16)
Man, listen, listen, we doing good. I believe they doing good, but you and I have weathered just a little bit of a storm and we here, man. And I’m excited, man. And I’m excited for you to talk about your journey, to talk about where you came from and where you are now. And so if you don’t mind, know our listeners are just going to appreciate this, takeaway. And so, man, take us into your world. Tell us what you’re mainly focused on.Tell us what market you’re operating in. Just take us on a journey, of how you got to where you are, if you don’t mind. As much as you want to tell us, it’s as much as we would love to hear,
Dean Barlow (03:55)
Yeah, I appreciate it. I’m excited and I appreciate the opportunity and happy Friday everybody. So I’ve been on this real estate journey for a long time and been in with other operators. You know, I’ve brought sweat equity. I’ve brought the money. I’ve tried different options. We’ve done everything from mobile homes, single family.⁓ single units to now our main focus is multifamily. So, ⁓ been doing multifamily like SIP with the bigger operators for years now. And that is awesome. That still works. That’s still rolling. But then something happened. ⁓ my son was born, you know, and, and that got me thinking, you know, how do we control the deal?
what’s going to happen, you know, when we’re all grown up and we were looking back, you know, what do we have left that we can control? So that kind of sparked it.
And now I’ve started my own portfolio and my company is continuous cashflow. So we’ve just done a couple deals in that, ⁓ looking to pick up a couple more deals by the end of this year. And, and
We like to think big, but start small, right? Start where we can control it. It’s all about control. So ⁓ we’re talking four units, six units, 12 units. ⁓ Once that portfolio was built up, you see other operators do this. You you gather up some real estate, put it all together and package it up with a pretty bow on top and you trade it for something bigger and better. So that’s what they’ve done. ⁓
I’ve watched and emulated and taken notes and that’s what we’re going to do. So like you said, we’re on the launching pad. We’re still on the ground floor. We are bringing on investors at this point. So that’s kind of fun and exciting and something a little bit new for us. ⁓ I did actually co-author a book with Tyler Devereux, Cash Flowing Deals in Any Market. So that was a lot of fun. You can pick that up on Amazon. Number one bestseller on Amazon. ⁓
But yeah, so that’s in a nutshell really what it’s all about and what’s circling around the universe today. So.
Q Edmonds (07:22)
Man, I love it, Dean, bro. Thanks for the book plug. Like you just holding out on me. I’m gathering all this information. He was like, I’m gonna hit him with the big joker. Boom. But no, man, I appreciate you sharing, man. It’s nothing like ⁓ having a child that kind of changes your perspective and have you pivoted in the best way possible. how can I secure the future for my family, for my son, for my children?And so I get it, man. And I understand the motivation and the passion. ⁓ you know, it’s not always easy in this climate, I’m Gene, Dean. I know you know that, And so what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly?
Dean Barlow (08:07)
I would say attention, a little bit of attention, know, doing doing one podcast here and there, sending out emails, keeping the warm leads, talking to the people that we already know that are in the space and just staying relevant because we’re I think we’re all like little kids. It used to be that little kids had an attention span of a nap.Now I think adults, everybody across the board has a three second attention span. So what happened yesterday? Nobody knows. Nobody remembers anything from yesterday. So today is all that matters. And that’s kind of how I’ve been looking at it. Also, I like the saying of one pebble is not going to fill up the Grand Canyon. So if you did one podcast, if you sent out one message, if you talked to one group, that’s great.
you know, on the scale of things, that’s not the end all. So you got to keep it going. That’s kind of what I think.
Q Edmonds (09:14)
No, man, I absolutely love that one pebble is not going to fill up the Grand Canyon. And that’s a great mindset to have because we need to build our reps. We need to build our muscle. And the only way to do that is repetition, And so you are absolutely correct, brother. Now, listen, know, a lot of people, know, they’re at different parts of their journey. But what I like to do sometimes we focus so much on a success.that we really don’t appreciate the journey and the process. And so, you know, there are moments, you know, and I know you know this, when things get real, when maybe a deal goes sideways or a time when you have to pivot fast. And Dean, I was wondering, man, if you could share a moment that you had with us like that again, so that we can appreciate the journey, people that’s listening can appreciate the journey and the process.
Dean Barlow (10:09)
I wish I could, Q, but everything in life is perfect and it always goes as planned. just, ⁓ yeah. So from the beginning, actually, ⁓ there was issues, right?And the first thing that always comes to mind when I ever talk about this is a shop vac. What does that mean? Shop vac, you go to Home Depot, you can buy a vacuum for a hundred bucks and it sucks up water or dirt, right?
And because we’ve had water in our units, we’ve had floods. It’s like, everything’s going to be great. We’re going to buy this. We’re going to put a tenant in there. You get a phone call. Hey, there’s water. You’re like, crap shop vac So, so that from the beginning and the deal we just did the deal we just completed now years later, same thing, you know, the tenant moves out upstairs, turns off the heater. Winter time floods, top and bottom as we’re in acquisition mode, right? We’re about to pick this thing up.
So now we’re complete remodeled completely had to bring in contractors, never planned on that. So you got to try to repencil everything and you got to go in and play contractor. You got to play GC. You got to try to figure this thing out and keep the existing tenants happy and the other units, ⁓ while not letting the deal die. Yeah. Keeping the bank on the, on the line. So
And this is only because we’re using banks in the ground floor, right? don’t talk about the banks, they don’t use them because they now don’t have to. But if you look all the way to the very beginning of some of their deals, and this is what, I said, I’ve taken notes on a lot of these, been with them, know, been in their deals with them. they started where most people should start and can start, which is take your house, refinance, use that money wisely. And I think we have
something like seven trillion dollars or no, no, 30 trillion dollars in home equity sitting there wasting away today. Wow. So all that being said, you know, it’s not easy. Yeah,
it’s a simple business. The idea is easy.
But the actual work, if you’re not willing to be persistent and keep banging those phones and keep
your team online and keep everybody happy and positive. And you know, got brokers calling you and freaking out. Oh, the deal’s going to die. Something happened today’s Wednesday. It’s not Tuesday anymore. You’re like, yep, we’re still good. So a lot of it’s mindset. And like you said earlier, we got to stick to it. So I don’t know that anything has been easy, but it’s worth it.
Q Edmonds (13:39)
Man, Dean, sir, bro, thank you so much for your transparency. Thank you for your authenticity. Thank you for your honesty. ⁓ I can see why you’re going to be successful and you are successful. And I know, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re constantly moving and looking for bigger, especially, like you said, when you, you know, now that you have your son, but it’s no doubt that what your mindset, the things that you’re talking about is separate folks from the ones who just dabble.to the one who stay in it for the long term. And so I thank you and I thank you for that statistic, 30 trillion in home equity just sitting there. I mean, that should change the perspective right there and help strategize differently and go systems that can tap into that. Because if this is sitting there, let’s put it to use. And so thank you for putting that stat out, man.
Yeah, I gotta be honest, man. I gotta ask you, what are you most focused on solving next? Like, what’s the next real goal for you, Mr. Dean?
Dean Barlow (14:46)
So my goal, and I write them down every day, ⁓ because if I don’t, like I said, we have the attention span of a now as a generation. I can’t remember what happened 30 seconds ago. So every day I write my goals down. And the one that is most relevant to this question is I want to help people. I need it to be bigger than just myself. I need to leave a dent in the universe.Q Edmonds (15:09)
Mmm.Dean Barlow (15:57)
You know? Yeah. So what completes that? What makes that possible? And to me, it always circles back to what we’ve been working on for years. know, build some real estate, buy some real estate, put some folks in there, give them a home, give them somewhere that I’ve had people. Literally, this actually, this story always gets to me because I’ve had tenants show up.with two garbage bags and that is everything they own. And as they’re ready to sign the contract to move in, that’s they’re moving in. Like I’m here, this is my house. They’ve been, you know, without a home for who knows how long. And so that’s always stuck with me as like, we’re actually helping. We’re making a difference. It might be on a small scale today, but you know, once you see them go in and move in with their two garbage bags of stuff and they
Now, you know, a year later or something, they have a car and they have, you know, a few more things, a job and whatnot. Then it just all makes sense. It all is for a reason. And so that’s been my goal is to grow that, you know, turn that from one person to two person to 2 million people, you know.
Q Edmonds (17:19)
Yeah, No, man, I hear you and I know you said that story touches you and it’s interesting because that story also touches me. You know, my best friend, childhood best friend just went to his house warming just bought, you know, the second home, but this was the home where he was able to get land, you know, home, you know, a bigger home. And when I used to pick him up, when he used to come stay over my house when we younger, he would come with a trash bag. He didn’t even haveAnd he tells that story so much. said trash, know, trash bags can be triggering for him. Like when he see people moving and operating out of a trash bag, he’s triggering for him and it causes compassion in his heart. He’ll take people to Walmart or CIS and like, hey, know, let’s, let’s, you know, let me help you out. Let me, you know, do something for you all because he remember where he started. And so I might, you know, people don’t know you and I, we are kind of outlawed it.
outlawed that word small. And we do that humbly, not saying, despising where we coming from, but we’re changing the perspective, say this is the launching pad. You know, so when that’s listening, you know, no matter where you’re starting from, that’s your launching point. You’re launching from that point in the sky is limit. And so I hear you, man. And so when you talk about your goal is to help people, man, you know, you know, that’s your heart shining through and
And I appreciate you saying that. really, do. Yeah, man. And you know, we know the next move, it can either compound things or it can create total chaos depending on how we play it. But the one thing about the chaos, you can find the beauty in the chaos. And there’s only chaos until we bring order to it. Right. And so that’s why we say it’s the launching pad. It may seem chaotic, but once you keep putting your system in place, keeping your disciplines in place, keep showing up.
Dean Barlow (18:48)
Absolutely.Q Edmonds (19:14)
you take that chaos and you put it into the right perspective, you know? And so I love that you want to help people. kind of translates into my next question when it comes to you, because a lot of people, they’re listening and they’re either early in their journey or looking to level up. And I think they have benefit hearing from you about relationships. And we talked a little bit about network, right? So when it comes to building your relationships and growing your network, Mr. Dean, what’s made the biggest difference for you?Dean Barlow (19:41)
⁓ two words add value. Yeah. We’ve been in so many different networks and groups and, and, know, small from just local hometown, small five people to, 5,000 people, a lot of people. So every time I’m a part of that or, or get the opportunity to go in person, then it’s howQ Edmonds (19:47)
Hmm.Dean Barlow (20:11)
can add value to the people that I can make the most difference with, know? Two or three people that are not sure where they’re headed and just kinda checking it out, or you can go to the top and see how you can be a part of it and see how you can turn that thing around and be part of the movement. So I always am looking to add value to whoever it is that’s making the most difference so that we canjoin forces and make it even better. So that’s kind of, I think what makes the most difference.
Q Edmonds (20:49)
No, man, that makes all the difference. That’s key. Relationships is key. Add value, ⁓ common unity, know, community, like making sure we have that common unity. That’s everything, man. And you’re absolutely right. You know, add value. Any space that we go in, we want to add value to. We should leave something better than when we, you when we found it. And so I hear you, And again, that’s a perspective, right? And so I thank you for your perspective, man. I thank you.that you’re able to share this perspective with our viewers. This is very, very rich. so listen, man, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,
Dean Barlow (21:34)
Yep, ContinuousCashFlow.com, that’s our website. And Dean Barlow Real Estate on TikTok. Those are the best ways.Q Edmonds (21:43)
It is. Well, listen, y’all heard him. Mr. Dean Barlow, ⁓ sir, again, just want to take this time again, just to thank you, man. Thank you for your perspective. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your honesty, your transparency. We definitely need more people in this space that’s doing it the right way, just like you’re doing it. So again, thank you, man, for being here.Dean Barlow (22:03)
Yes, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.Q Edmonds (22:06)
Absolutely, absolutely now everyone else You’ve heard it. You’ve got the value out of this conversation You said we want to make sure that you are subscribed so you do not miss out on these very very valuable conversations And so again, Mr. Barlow. Thank you so much and to everyone else. We will see you on the next time.
