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Show Summary
In this conversation, Arn Cenedella discusses his approach to attracting investors for real estate deals. He emphasizes the importance of building relationships through sharing personal experiences rather than hard selling. By engaging in casual conversations about his activities in real estate, he finds that interested individuals naturally express a desire to invest, creating a more organic and effective networking environment.
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Arn Cenedella (00:00)
And I think the other thing I would say with real estate,It’s a long term gain. think people have to start thinking about 10 to 15 year time horizon. If I start investing now and I buy one rental house a year, if you can do that for 10 years, trust me at the end of 10 years, your monthly income is going to be significantly higher and your net worth is going to be higher.
Quentin (00:10)
Hmm.Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And today is special. It’s special for me because of the guests that we have. They get to know them for a little bit. This young man has 48 years of experience in real estate. He’s a great team member, but also just a great team builder. Knows the Greenville, South Carolina local market very well.
Him and his team are very, very knowledgeable. He’s a broker and an investor. And I’m just excited for the journey that he’s going to take us on. When he tell us what it is he do and just give us just some of them years of experience that he had. So I really would, it’s my honor and my privilege to introduce you to Mr. Arn Cenedella Mr. Cenedella, how are you today?
Arn Cenedella (02:53)
Well,great. Well, thanks for the warm introduction. Appreciate it. Happy to be here and ⁓ look forward to having a nice chat with you.
Quentin (03:04)
Absolutely. Same here. This is part of the highlight of my day is when I get a chance to talk to people who bring just their experience, their unique way of looking at things to this podcast. so with you having this 48 years of experience, even just getting a little bit to talk to you and how your brain work, the way you able to synthesize things, I’m really excited about this podcast episode. soI want you to, let’s get started. want you to take us into your world. I want you to tell us what your main focus is these days. Mr. Arn, if you want to give us a little bit of an origin story about maybe how you got into real estate. We love origin stories. And so, sir, the floor is yours.
Arn Cenedella (03:48)
Yeah, thanks Q. So I have a pretty typical story, think. Born into a middle class American family out in the San Francisco Bay area. And of course, education was stressed and parents said, you know, work hard in school, do well in school, go to college to get a degree and that will kind of set you up. so…I did all of that and ended up with a master’s degree in chemistry of all things. But ⁓ it then occurred to me that really being a research scientist isn’t maybe what I wanted to do. And my dad had opened up a residential real estate brokerage business in Menlo Park, California, which is basically next to Palo Alto where Stanford is on the foothill of what was to become Silicon Valley.
at the age of 23 or 24, ⁓ started selling single family homes on the San Francisco peninsula, did that for about 35 years, started investing in single family rentals, both in the Bay Area and ⁓ in Austin, Texas and Charlottesville, Virginia, of all places. ⁓ And then about 11 years ago, and I moved to Greenville, South Carolina.
The San Francisco Bay area is a great place, of course, but we were ready for kind of a life transition. ⁓ Love living here in the Southeast, Greenville’s a great place. Kind of continued with the single family investing, did some flips, kind of a typical story about how most people get into real estate. ⁓ And then when COVID hit,
I had a phone call with a young local investor friend of mine, Mario Brown here in Greenville. ⁓ And we started talking about the impact of COVID on real estate and rents. And he turned me on to a podcast ⁓ about multifamily real estate. And I heard that kind of a light bulb went off in my head and ⁓
even though I’d done years of single family investing, honestly, I was kind of ready to try something new and the multifamily made a lot of sense to me. And so about five years ago, I formed Spark Investment Group and we now own maybe 10 multifamily properties, probably 400, 450 units.
in the Greenville market. And so I’m now what’s called a multifamily syndicator and sponsor. And so what I do is I work with individuals who understand the value of investing in real estate, but maybe don’t have the time, energy or desire or knowledge to deal with the expression is tenants, termites and toilets and managing real estate.
⁓ It’s like a full-time job. And so I work with people who want to invest in real estate and ⁓ I pool investors together. My partners and I go out and buy the property, operate the property, send our investors quarterly distributions. And then when we sell the property, we kind of split the profit. So it’s a way for people to get invested in real estate.
without maybe having some of the hassles of being a real estate owner. And that’s kind of my full-time focus now.
Quentin (08:28)
I love it. Thank you so much for taking us to the journey. Again, Bryce is sync. I love the way you deliver your message. So Bryce is sync. And here we are, you you in Greenville, South Carolina, you go some successful you and your partners together. Mr. Aron, I would love to know what are some of the key strategies that keep you running smoothly? Smoothly. Now this can be business strategies and even personal strategies.But obviously you found success. So what are some of the key strategies that power you alone?
Arn Cenedella (09:00)
Yeah, that’s a great question. ⁓ And I like that you broaden the question to ⁓ more than just business. And so I kind of have a morning routine, ⁓ which involves going down to the rec center, getting my workout in. I find if I start the day that way, ⁓My body kind of activates, my mind activates. It’s a great stress reliever. So I have a routine every morning. I get up and go to the rec center and that kind of gets my motor running. And then I kind of ride that energy ⁓ for the rest of the day. And I think we all kind of understand mental, emotional, intellectual, physical, it’s all interchanged and interwoven.
If you take care of your body, your emotional wellbeing and mental is gonna be better and vice versa. So I think it’s important for everybody to kind of have a self care regimen. It could be meditation, it could be yoga, it could be walking. Everybody’s gotta find their own jam. But I think building that into your day and kind of making it like a date like yourself.
something in your calendar that’s just as important as a property viewing or ⁓ an investor call and so on and so forth. So ⁓ appreciate that question. And then what I would say is in terms of real estate, local market knowledge is always the key. And you’ll hear people say, well, Dallas and Phoenix and Charlotte.
are great places to invest and maybe don’t invest in San Francisco or New York. And I’ve never really got that. When young investors ask me, what’s the best market to invest in? I tell them, it’s the market you know best, right? Because that local market knowledge, knowing what areas and proving where the cool coffee shops going in.
Quentin (11:50)
Mm.Arn Cenedella (11:59)
where people are fixing up houses and flipping them, ⁓ where some of the young people are moving, because generally when the young people move, areas improve, they bring education, they bring income and so forth. So local market knowledge ⁓ is key. And so wherever you’re at, you can find good investment opportunities. It’s just a matter of you have to know your market.We all understand within each of our communities, one side of the street could be great, the other side of the street could be a little rough. And there’s no way to know that looking at a map from 500 miles away. It’s kind of a street by street, block by block thing. And so as you know the market, you can identify undervalued properties and kind of take advantage of them. And then, ⁓
Quentin (12:35)
Talk.Arn Cenedella (12:58)
I’m a big believer in using fixed rate debt, don’t over leverage the property, have ample cash reserves, and buy property that you know how to operate. So I’ve been into the real estate business 48 years, butI’m not gonna go out and buy a thousand unit apartment community. It’s not what I know. It’s not what my expertise is. I started single family. Now we do 20, 30, 40 unit buildings. And so I think with investing like everything else, there’s kind of a systematic step-by-step of growing your ability and confidence and expertise.
And if you take the time to build your proper foundation, you’re going to prevent some painful mistakes, right? If you try to bite off more than you can chew, that’s when you put yourself in a dangerous situation. And I think the other thing I would say is, as an investor, I’ve made mistakes. If you’re going to be an investor, you’re not going to home runs every time you’re at the plate.
you are gonna make some mistakes. But I think the key is have them be small mistakes that you can survive and learn and become a bigger investor. And so I think if you start small, gain expertise and experience, you can kind of build your resume and over time start doing bigger and better projects.
And I think the other thing I would say with real estate,
It’s a long term gain. think people have to start thinking about 10 to 15 year time horizon. If I start investing now and I buy one rental house a year, if you can do that for 10 years, trust me at the end of 10 years, your monthly income is going to be significantly higher and your net worth is going to be higher.
Quentin (14:51)
Hmm.Arn Cenedella (15:51)
because I think the long-term trend for real estate is the values and the rents are going to go up over time. Albeit, occasionally there’s some down periods and we’re kind of in a down period now, but the long-term trajectory is up.Quentin (16:08)
Wow, Mr. Aron, like, ⁓ you’ve given us a lot to think about. And I’m so glad you started with some of your personal systems. I’m so glad you started there because systems follow us all of our life, right? We are a compound of our decisions, right? And so you started off with the personal, something about getting your mind together.Arn Cenedella (16:15)
youQuentin (16:36)
your spirit together, your body together. And then because you know who you are and you’ve got well in tune with who you are as a machine, right? As a body, as a person, that translated into your business. You put disciplines and systems in place. And I like, I say a saying all the time, when you know who you are, you know what to do. That’s something I picked up along the years. I strategically make sure I know who I am in my personal life, who I am in my business life.And when I know who I am, I know what to do. And you talked about being disciplined in your business. That way you don’t take on too much. You don’t step outside of the room of what your foundation can hold. And so I love everything you said. was so good. It was so succinct. And I really, really thank you for sharing. I really, really do.
Arn Cenedella (17:28)
Well, appreciate it. I’ll piggyback on what you’re saying about knowing who you are. ⁓ Real estate is very much a relationship business. ⁓ You’re in a certain market. You get to know the brokers, the lenders, the property managers, the other investors. And to the degree you’re authentic,which comes back to the idea of knowing who you are, to the degree you’re authentic, other people recognize that. And if they feel you’re authentic, then there’s a greater chance that kind of trust can build because they know who they’re dealing with and they can trust. So I think being authentic, and I kind of understand, I have a certain approach.
It’s not the only approach. It’s maybe not even the best approach. And my approach works for a certain number of people. And it may not work for other people, but I don’t worry about that. I do what I do. And the people who kind of appreciate that you attract, and so you attract.
partners, investors, other people to do business
Quentin (18:56)
youArn Cenedella (18:57)
with that align with you. And so I think being authentic as you go about building your real estate is important.So you brought up the idea of knowing who you are, and that kind of talks about being authentic, and real estate’s a relationship business. And so as you develop these relationships with brokers, investors, partners, you’re gonna be more successful if you’re authentic.
because then that’s how you build trust. I think kind of understanding who you are, being true to that, people will react positively to that. ⁓ Like I know if I’m talking to somebody and there seems to be something off, I’m probably not buying what they’re selling. So to the degree you can be true to yourself, that’s positive in your interactions with other people.
Quentin (19:57)
Absolutely.You know, they talk about the law of attraction and that’s a real thing. You know, I tell people all the time, attraction is just not saying, Mr. Aron is handsome. He looks good. That’s just not attractive. I mean, you are handsome guy, but that’s not the only attraction, right? Attraction is values, right? Attraction is when we talk, like how you make me feel. Are you paying attention to what I feel? Like, are you present when I talk? Like all of those things.
Arn Cenedella (20:16)
Yes.Quentin (20:23)
attract people to you. And so those are things that can attract you to the deal or those things that can like actually project you from the deal or turn you off from the deal. And so you’re absolutely right. When you use that word authenticity, that’s a huge, huge word that I try to keep in my vocabulary and in my dealings in my everyday life.Arn Cenedella (20:36)
Mmm.Yeah, and I think… ⁓
The thing about attraction, ⁓ there’s kind of the hard sell and there’s the soft sell. And in my experience, I found the soft sell works better. You’re just presenting an opportunity to somebody and show them the respect.
that they can figure it out on their own, whether it’s good for them or not, right? Where I think if somebody is pressuring, at least my initial reaction is, whoa, back up a little bit. so, ⁓ my business is attracting investors who will invest their capital in the deals I put together.
but it’s never a hard sell. It’s more about, hey, I buy apartments in Greenville or, you know, Joe may call up, hey, what are you doing Saturday? I go, well, I’m going down to Easley to look at a property. And so you just kind of share your life with them. And what will happen is those people who are interested, say in real estate or whatever it happens to be, they’re gonna go,
Hey Q, next time you find something, will you let me know? I’d like to invest. I’ve been thinking about investing in real estate, but I don’t know how and I don’t know how to go about it. But if you’re doing it and you’re finding good opportunities, please let me know so people will kind of self-identify. So you don’t have to sell hard, just share what you’re doing and then
the proper audience will respond to you and they’ll raise their hand and say, tell me more. And then at that point, you’re in a position where you can kind of educate people and flush it out as opposed to, hey, do you got $25,000 you can invest? That isn’t gonna work. just share what you’re doing.
Quentin (22:57)
Go. ⁓Arn Cenedella (23:05)
people who are interested will come to you and then you can have a deeper interaction and move it that way. So exactly right.Quentin (23:11)
I love it. See, that’s48 years of experience coming through. hear it loud and clear, So let me ask you this. What’s the next real goal? What are you looking to solve or scale next?
Arn Cenedella (23:16)
Yes.Yeah, it’s interesting and ⁓ this may be blasphemy. ⁓ I’ve never been a real goal setter and I realize that goes against the business coaching and this and that. ⁓
Quentin (23:34)
Mm-hmm.Arn Cenedella (23:50)
I have a fairly nice business now doing these multifamily syndications. We do two or three deals a year. I think people have invested maybe about $18 million with me. And so I don’t have any big desire to 10X that business and neither do my partners. So I think the thing is, is continue to do what we do.Continue to find good opportunities. And if that means we only buy one property next year, so be it. Maybe we buy four. We just kind of have to see how it goes. And then I think you can always improve on your systems to lessen some of the time commitments for you. So I would say,
there’s always prime activities and then there’s kind of secondary activities. And to the degree you can offload secondary activities, you’re gonna be ahead. And the other thing, when you have a team, each of my team members has a particular strength. And so in their area of expertise, they carry the ball.
I don’t have to get involved. I entrust them to do their part of the job. So find teammates and partners who have skills that are maybe a little bit different than you. ⁓ As we mentioned in our pre-discussion, I’m not a big detail guy. I don’t like getting bogged down in details. So I’m not a great property manager. I’m not a great project manager.
I go out, I’m the hunter, I find these properties, I talk to investors, I see the big picture, but I have teammates who take care of the details because the details are important. If you don’t take care of the details, the deal’s not gonna work. So I think the other thing, and we all kind of know this, for the activities we enjoy,
we have unlimited energy to do, right? The stuff we don’t like to do, I don’t have time or I’m too tired, blah, blah, blah. So to the degree you can play to your strengths, it makes the job more enjoyable. And surprisingly enough, you’re better doing the things you enjoy than the things you don’t enjoy. So kind of have an honest self-assessment. What are you really good at?
Quentin (26:12)
Yes, sir.Arn Cenedella (26:40)
and try to find a way to play to your strengths. Maybe it’s numbers, maybe it’s spreadsheets. My partner Dan is the spreadsheet whiz. It’s not for me, he handles it. So find people who have complimentary skillsets, play to your strengths, and you’ll enjoy what you do and you’re more effective.Quentin (27:00)
Absolutely.Quentin (27:01)
I appreciate what you said. You were spot on when you were talking about the relationship building. And one of the things you said, makes me think, you know, having putting people in place and giving them autonomy, right? Putting people in place that you trust, putting people in place that that will work well with your weaknesses and your weaknesses work well with their strength. And so I think that was an amazing message that you sent. And again, that’s that 48 years of experience that’s coming out.Because I talked to so many people and one of their bottlenecks is that they don’t know how to delegate. And so I love the fact that you’re partnering up with people that know what they’re doing and trust them that way that we could power the vision forward.
Arn Cenedella (27:43)
Yeah, and what I would say there is, ⁓ it’s kind of like dating and getting married. So take your time to get to know your partners before you get in too deep. know, maybe you do one deal and that’s it. It’s a one-off. If it doesn’t work, you move on by everybody’s friends. ⁓ But if it works, then you do another deal. And soQuentin (27:51)
Yeah.Arn Cenedella (28:13)
⁓ Be slow to, I think the expression is in business world, be slow to hire but quick to fire. And so I just think with partnerships, ⁓ there’s the integrity and character. Do you just enjoy each other’s company? Do you work well together? And the work ethic has to be similar. You can’t be busting your hump.Quentin (28:23)
Yeah.Arn Cenedella (28:42)
if your partner’s not putting forth the same effort. And all of this takes time to get to know. So like with my ⁓ business partner, Brian, I knew him for about five years before we did a deal together. He’s a property manager. So after a few years, I turned over a couple of my rentals to him. We developed a relationship. I saw how he handled my properties.So then when I went to multifamily, said, hey, Brian, I’m gonna go to multifamily, but I need somebody to run the properties for me. He was a little hesitant at first. He said, hey, I’m a single family guy. I’m doing good at this. I go, well, come on, Brian. Took me about a year of talking and looking at property and brought him on board. And then we added investor invest with us, Dan.
And as we started accumulating more property, kind of the bookkeeping and the accounting became more and more. And it’s not my thing. I can do it, but I don’t enjoy it. And Dan was kind of a CFO in his career. So again, we had a three or four year relationship. We built a friendship and he got to know Brian. And then we said, Hey, Dan, are you interested in joining? And he was, but
the partnership devolve kind of organically. It’s just like a friendship. You don’t become best friends with somebody after six months, maybe after a couple years, yes. ⁓ So be slow to partner, be open to it, but take your time and let the relationship build organically to make sure it works. Yeah.
Quentin (30:10)
Thank you.Absolutely. Listen, I love it. Listen,
I love you, Mr. Arn. I love everything you’re saying. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,
Arn Cenedella (30:44)
Yeah, appreciate that. So the name of the company Spark Investment Group website is investwithspark.com and I’m on social media, primarily LinkedIn and Facebook, either under my name, Arn Cenedella or under Spark Multifamily Investment Group. So happy to help anybody reach out, happy to have a conversation and that would be great.Quentin (31:12)
Listen, sir, I thank you so much. Thank you for your time, for your story. You are definitely what I expected, a wealth of knowledge, someone that just gave us nugget after nugget. And so I thank you so much for being here, giving us your time, your story and your perspective. I appreciate you, Mr. CenedellaArn Cenedella (31:29)
Thanks, Quentin. Pleasure being here and hopefully your listeners will get some value out of it. ⁓ so thank you much. Pleasure to meet you.Quentin (31:40)
Absolutely. listen, y’all heard him. I know y’all got the value out of this conversation. So please go ahead and make sure you are subscribed. We have amazing people that’s going to continue to come up just like Mr. Arn. So sir, I thank you again. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.
