Milwaukee Real Estate Investing: How Out-of-State Investors Buy, Renovate & Sell

Kyle Ristow (00:00)
Yeah, definitely. So the biggest mistake is just people listen to all these gurus or there’s a reason, there’s a lot of classes for whatever reason, there’s some gurus that are like, you got to invest in Milwaukee and like Cleveland or like these specific cities and you have to follow this like exact formula and these exact numbers. And I’ve just seen so many people lose money on that. It’s like,

don’t just trust somebody else, like also do your research. Like, again, I want to be that resource, but also like verify what I’m saying too, and like ask somebody else or I’ll give you references upon references if you want. I’m not like, I’m all about collaboration over competition. I’ll give you all the realtors’ phone numbers if you really wanted to.

Cody Crabb (02:19)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Cody Crabb, and today I’m talking to Kyle Ristow, owner of Luxe Haven Real Estate Group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kyle helps real estate investors from around the country successfully buy, renovate, and sell properties by serving as their local boots on the ground partner. Today we’re going to be talking about building long-term investor relationships, navigating that Milwaukee market, and what it takes to scale a real estate business. Kyle, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

Kyle Ristow (02:47)
Yeah, I appreciate the invite.

Cody Crabb (02:48)
Yeah, happy to have you. Happy to have you. So you work with investors all over the country buying in Milwaukee. A couple questions. First of all, what does that look like? You know, how do you—what do you actually do for those investors? And on top of that, what makes Milwaukee so attractive? It sounds like you have no—no shortage of people getting in touch with you. So I’d love to hear what they’re seeing in—in that market.

Kyle Ristow (03:11)
Yeah, in Milwaukee, it’s just, I say this with a grain of salt, it’s very affordable compared to West Coast, East Coast, Southern areas. It really is. And just consistently, not just Milwaukee, like Kenosha, which is just about 30 minutes south of us, like Realtor.com, all these bigger, I guess, websites constantly state that we’re

top 10 hottest markets in the entire country. We’ve seen a lot of people moving up from Chicago into Wisconsin, and then they still work in Chicago. So a lot of people flooding to, not just Milwaukee, just in the Midwest in general that we’re seeing, mainly because it is more just affordable. But as far as investors go, that’s the number one reason why they wanna come here is not only just because it’s affordable, but the long-term

appreciation that is going to happen. It already has happened. We’ve seen some cities in Milwaukee area have doubled in the last five years, sometimes even tripled in the last five years. Yeah, out of state investors, even out of country investors, so people that have never even stepped foot in the United States are going to Milwaukee to invest just because of the long-term appreciation aspect.

Cody Crabb (04:36)
Hand picking it. Yeah, that’s—that’s pretty crazy. So—so and before—before we started, you kind of described Luxe Haven as a one-stop shop for investors. So what does that actually look like for—for an investor? Like from the moment they find a deal, where do you come in and what do you do?

Kyle Ristow (05:39)
Yeah, perfect. So I’m, I wear two different hats. I’m an investor, also a realtor, so Luxe Haven Real Estate Group manages or helps investors not only like buy properties or sell them, but we also help analyze the properties regarding rehab costs, regarding what they could sell for after repair value, holding fees. We help them run all those numbers. Majority of the time, like 90% of the time they don’t even buy the properties.

But when they do, I help manage them as a project manager, because they’re out of state. So I bring in contractors, manage it from A to Z. And then once it’s all ready, I then go through our listing process as a realtor and help them list that. Now, a lot of realtors can basically do the same thing, but they don’t have that investor experience, because I actually personally do it every single day. I personally buy deals. I personally do flips, personally do rentals.

Airbnbs even, I’ve done subject to, novations, owner financing, anything, any way there is to sell a property I’ve personally done before. So then I have, I don’t just talk about it. I do it. I practice what I preach. So then these investors have a lot more confidence in myself. And I offer just a ton of free resources. So like I said, I analyze properties. I get investors just text me an address. “Hey, what do you think I could sell this for? How much do you think it would rent or cost to renovate?” Send them the numbers and I don’t get paid for that. A lot of times they don’t even buy it or list it with me, or if they do buy it they will list with me, but with that being said they have to buy it first and sometimes when they buy it it’s a rental so I don’t get the listing on the back end, but it’s just a free resource for all these investors.

Cody Crabb (07:24)
That’s interesting because I feel like a lot of people would say, you know, don’t—don’t provide the free stuff. You know, you gotta make sure you’re—you’re getting paid for stuff. So what is your philosophy on that? I mean, what—what is it that makes you feel like that’s a good idea?

Kyle Ristow (07:37)
Well, number one, I want to pay it forward. So I have a lot of mentors that got me to where I am today and learned a lot from a lot of great people that have given me this knowledge for free. So I’m one, paying it forward, but two, it’s number one way, like most realtors, like 75% don’t even sell a house every single year. And at the end of the day, you just got to get your foot in the door and there’s no better way to get your foot in the door, unless you’re providing something worth the value,

especially for free. And my job is just providing as much value as physically possible because I know down the road I’m gonna get deals out of it, whether that’s from that client or referrals from it, or even just good reviews. And when they’re out and about and someone talks about selling a house, “You gotta work with Kyle because he’s just a good person.” And honestly, in real estate, it’s one of the most, I guess, in the realtor aspect of things, it’s one of the most untrustworthy

occupations there are, just like how like politicians or whatever.

Cody Crabb (08:39)
Lawyers and yeah, it’s like on the list of mechanics. Yeah, it’s like on the list, yeah.

Kyle Ristow (08:44)
It’s easily top five. So how can I stand out and how can you do a lot of deals every single year as a realtor is literally just being a good person, being honest, and you’re instantly like the top 5% of all realtors. So I’m just here to provide value and I know it will come back to me. If you believe in karma, that’s the exact thing.

Cody Crabb (09:07)
Yeah, I love that. And in fact, that is so—that is so in line with like my life philosophy. Like I’m—I—I pride myself on being a particularly patient and like nice person in just kind of my daily, you know, but I—the—I use the example of like at a restaurant, right? The food takes an extra long time. The staff is like so worried I’m gonna—be angry at them because that’s their normal response. And me just being like, “That’s fine. It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it.” They’re like so relieved. I will get

ten times better service than anyone else because of that attitude. And it—that—I think that just that philosophy in life will get you so much—for like the—my—I—the—I also have said this before on the podcast. My—my mom’s mechanic, right? He could tell her anything. He could—would—she would believe anything he said. But the fact that he’s like, “Don’t—you don’t need to take your car in right now. You’re fine. Just go home. Like I checked it, you’re good, just go home.” And the fact that he does that, like, I’m never gonna go anywhere else. I go there now too, because

it’s that—when you get that reputation, that’s—that’s huge. The—the re—the relationships are what matters. So what are some other ways that—go ahead, no.

Kyle Ristow (10:46)
Milwaukee is all relationship based. So that’s why I’m trying to provide as much value. We call it “Smallwaukee.” And if you screw over one person, you’re never going to do a deal ever again in the state. So I’m just trying to keep providing value, being a good person and keep that reputation up. And that’s just going to come back tenfold.

Cody Crabb (11:07)
What are some other ways that you’ve kind of maintained relationships, other than kind of priding yourself on honesty and things? I’d love to hear if there’s like any strategies or—or things that you’ve done that have really ended up paying off for you.

Kyle Ristow (11:18)
Yeah, it’s extremely simple, just being responsive for one. Even if I’m in an appointment or I’m doing something else, I’m just like, “Hey, I’ll call you right back,” instead of let it simmer for like four or five hours. Did he get this or did he not? I don’t know. I don’t leave people hanging. I try to respond within one hour at the very latest, that’s my goal every single time. Obviously that’s not feasible a lot of times, but that’s my goal. It’s just being super quick to respond. The honesty aspect, of course, but

I really, to keep these relationships going is I guess another aspect of what I add value to is I want to be that resource for everybody that comes to—not just for real estate, but also like, “Hey, where should I go out to dinner tonight?” or like, “What’s fun to do this weekend?” or something like that. I want to be that guy, ’cause I was born and raised in Milwaukee and know everything about Milwaukee like the back of my hand and know

what’s going on 24/7. I want to be that resource and just be a fun guy at the end of the day. And there’s many other things that I do, like go golfing or go out to dinners or just stuff like that, but just constantly providing, providing value and helping out others. And even if it doesn’t mean I’m not going to get a paycheck right then and there, it doesn’t matter, just provide value.

Cody Crabb (12:41)
Yeah, I always—it’s kind of like kindness equity, right? Like you may not be getting—you may not—it may not pay off right now. It’s kind of like marketing, right? Like you can—you’re—you’re not always gonna get the exact amount of clicks and sales and stuff from one source, but the fact that you’re kind of putting money into it, it’s—it’s gonna pay off. You mentioned providing value a few times, and that’s obviously a big part of your business now. On the flip side, you’ve been involved in a lot of transactions as both a realtor and an investor.

I would be curious to know, you know, when you see people getting into investing, especially because you work with so many out-of-state investors, what mistakes do you typically see investors make when they’re working with you?

Kyle Ristow (13:22)
Yeah, definitely. So the biggest mistake is just people listen to all these gurus or there’s a reason, there’s a lot of classes for whatever reason, there’s some gurus that are like, you got to invest in Milwaukee and like Cleveland or like these specific cities and you have to follow this like exact formula and these exact numbers. And I’ve just seen so many people lose money on that. It’s like,

don’t just trust somebody else, like also do your research. Like, again, I want to be that resource, but also like verify what I’m saying too, and like ask somebody else or I’ll give you references upon references if you want. I’m not like, I’m all about collaboration over competition. I’ll give you all the realtors’ phone numbers if you really wanted to.

It’s again, just doing your own research and getting as many

heads together or opinions together as possible to really just learn about the area and the numbers in of itself. But I also see a lot of investors just going way too overboard real quick. I’m all about like burning the boats and just going all in, that’s perfectly fine. But I’m more so talking about if you’re flipping properties and whatnot, everyone thinks you got to

do a whole house renovation, $60K, $100K, so on and so forth. I’m just in a flip right now, $10K, two weeks in and out and we’re done. We just painted, cleaned it up, junked it out, pest control, that’s it. There’s not much, it really can be so simple. People just tend to make it super complicated. And at the end of the day, make it as simple as possible. Just give me a call,

“Hey, how can I start in this market?” There’s a bunch of Facebook groups, again, Smallwaukee, go join these Facebook groups and you will get deals over and over and over and over sent to you. But the biggest, outside of like renovating properties too much, I think the biggest issue is people buying—it all revolves around what you’re buying your property for. Because if you buy it too high, you’re

you’re basically screwed from the get-go. You have to be super conservative, especially if you’re starting in a different market that you’ve never been a part of, like be super conservative. And if you’re wanting to do flips, like that number is like at least 70% of ARV minus repairs, maybe even try 65% of ARV minus repairs. And then I can help with those repair costs and then the ARV, but then just do your—your own research and your own numbers on top of that as well. But

be super conservative with the first one. And then once you get your feet wet, learn the market a little bit more, then you can be more aggressive, like 75% or sometimes even 80% of ARV minus repairs. That’s what I buy right now. But I know the areas extremely well. And sometimes I even go higher. It just depends on the property and the price point of it too.

Cody Crabb (17:08)
Yeah, I think something that comes up over and over on this podcast is like if you don’t know—if you don’t know the area, if you don’t know your market, like don’t try to—don’t—don’t try to pretend you do. Like, I think that what you bring to the table is really valuable for people because like you’re kind of the stand-in for people when they’re—when they don’t know the market, it sounds like. And so you wanna be the—you wanna be the Milwaukee guy,

which—which like, I mean, it sounds like you certainly are. I mean, I—I—I grew up in Salt Lake City. I know this area, like I know what neighborhoods one mile down the road you should never buy in. And you know, it’s even though you would never know that from looking at it. And so yeah, it’s—it’s good to know. So one thing I’d love to know is, I’d love to know like, you’ve kind of—you’ve said these—you’ve used the phrase wearing multiple hats.

You wear the realtor hat, you wear the investor hat, among others, but those are the two main ones. And it seems like one—the one side of each of those informs the other one greatly in what you’re able to do. So how has that kind of benefited you on either side as a realtor and an investor?

Kyle Ristow (18:20)
Yeah, it’s amazing. All I have to do is get in front of a seller and I offer every single way there is to sell your house. I can buy it from you, I can sell it for you conventionally, or we could go through all these different creative financing solutions. It just opened up a lot more revenue streams. I’m not pigeonholing myself into, “I’m just a realtor, I just sell real estate and you can make commissions.” That’s great

for a lot of people, but I wanted to personally like take that money and put it somewhere. And since I’m studying real estate every single day, might as well put it into real estate, because I know it. If I put it in the stocks or anything else, I always lose money. I always have to go to that professional, give them that money and then to invest it and then I’ll make some money. I’m only focused on real estate and real estate only. And again, with being a realtor, when I first started,

started doing a lot of sales, learning my market, learning the area, even though I was from here, I still needed to know, like, I had a lot of learning, I should say, I had a lot of learning to do regarding our area and our market, where to buy, where not to buy, also just like how much everything costs, rental rates, so much that went into it. And it also just helped my conversations as a realtor, like I was already talking to investors anyways, because they wanted to see like

where the market’s going to go or where it stands right now. And I’m like, if I’m already talking to these investors, why not make them like clients, and like I’m providing them value anyways, might as well, like one, do it myself so that I can actually like really know what I’m talking about.

Cody Crabb (20:01)
It’s almost like you’re your own lead magnet for both sides at the same time.

Kyle Ristow (20:05)
Exactly.

So many leads come in with just, “Hey, I want to sell my house.” And a lot of them turn into flips that I do or rental properties that I buy, or they just turn into the normal conventional sale, or they turn into properties that other investors that I know purchase.

Cody Crabb (20:27)
Go for the—yeah. Yeah, that network is probably really—it grows faster, I suppose, because you have the kind of both—both ends, too. So the—for—for someone who’s just getting started, you know, let’s jump back. It sounds like you’ve—you’ve kind of found your niche and things are working great right now. But jump back to a couple of years before that where you were kind of still finding your footing. You know, what is something that you wish you’d understood

at that point that you can maybe share with our—our newer investors listening?

Kyle Ristow (20:56)
Yeah, for sure. When I was early in my career, I was just always talking to as many people as possible, trying to find mentors, figuring out what their biggest issues were, pain points were, and I would just try to be that solution or help them fix it, or just be a runner and just, again, provide a lot of free value in exchange for knowledge at that point. But I also…

I would not necessarily study that much. I know it just like, “Hey, here’s a deal, go buy this deal.” And it’s an investor, but the property is like on market in a super hot area. There’s like 20 offers in and the investor’s like, “Why are you sending this to me?” So it was a learning curve, but also like, I should have known that I should have studied a little bit more. I should have gone deeper into like what truly they’re looking for and their needs.

But yeah, as far as like a new investor in just any market, even if it’s the market that you live in, number one thing, and this goes with anything in life is go find somebody that achieved what you want to achieve and then be a garbage disposal is what I just describe it. Take everything, all their garbage off of their plate that they don’t want to do. Like for me, I don’t want to run out and put a lock box on the door or change out the sign rider on the listing side.

But I know a lot of younger, brand new agents that will gladly do it. And then they just call me, text me, email me, whatever, just with questions that I help them answer. That’s how you get started in any market, even your own. Find somebody that—that you—you want to achieve. Take care of everything that they don’t want to do. And then you will get knowledge and mentorship from it and mix in just absolute hard work.

I work hopefully easily 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and then a lot of the weekends. Like when I first got into real estate, it was easy over a hundred hours a week and I would barely sleep. So now it’s about 80 hours. And I do like 10 times the amount of business, but I also like hired assistants and was able to scale. But yeah, when I first started, that was—I’m going to keep—I could keep talking, but this is the last thing I’ll finish up with is I lived with—

Cody Crabb (23:10)
This—this—we’re wanting you—from you. Like this is the whole point of having you on. So no worries. No, you’re doing great. Yeah.

Kyle Ristow (23:16)
I just lived above my means like every year up until probably last year. Now I’m trying to live below my means. That when I first started in real estate, it was just like, when you sell a house, you could get a good big paycheck right then and there, but you might not see another paycheck for another four or five, six months.

Cody Crabb (23:38)
Yeah, you see—

a—you see a five-figure paycheck when you’re—when you’re on—you’re on the young side, that’s gonna really burn a hole in your pocket, I suppose.

Kyle Ristow (23:45)
Exactly, because you don’t get it on a weekly basis or bi-weekly. You don’t know when your next page—you basically wake up unemployed every single day and you have to go out and earn that business and find that business and fight for that business. That’s why 75% of realtors don’t sell a house every single year, because they don’t have that work ethic. And honestly, to be in the top 1% of realtors or just any investors, you only have to do like 10, 15 deals a year. The bar is very…

low, but it’s also like, I think the stigma to get into real estate investing or being a realtor, whatever the case may be, so, if everyone thinks it’s so easy, because HGTV or whatever the case may be, it’s gonna kick you down, try to keep you down. It’s a rough business, but it’s very lucrative. You make very little money and do a lot of work at the beginning.

Cody Crabb (24:27)
Yeah.

Kyle Ristow (24:42)
I always say it’s like an exponential chart. It’s like, here’s the amount of work I’m doing. Here’s the money I’m making, but eventually it’ll go like this. And like I’m 25 right now. I could retire by the time I’m 30 easily. If I wanted to, I’ll probably work until I die. But with real estate, like I’m starting to be like right in this middle spot, but like for seven years I got right in, right out of high school, just like a hundred hours a week, just constant making nothing. Then…

Cody Crabb (25:09)
It’s almost like you do the same amount of hours when you put it all together, but you just front-loaded it. You did all the work up front instead of having to do it for the consistent eight, nine to five forever. So—yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, this has been really awesome. Thanks so much for giving us some of your insight and your experience. For someone listening who wants to connect with you or learn more about investing in Milwaukee, what’s the best way to reach you?

Kyle Ristow (25:33)
My phone number on my website, phone number is 414-426-9964, or you type in Luxe Haven, or Luxe Haven, Wisconsin, Luxe Haven Real Estate Group, realtors in Milwaukee. Normally I’m in the top. I have ads that go out. So if I type in realtors, so I’m doing right now, realtors in Milwaukee, I’m number four today. Sometimes I’m usually in top four. So you’ll see Luxe Haven Real Estate Group.

There’s one in like—I think Luxe Haven Realty or something in Dubai. That’s not me. I’m in Milwaukee.

Cody Crabb (26:05)
They’re

like, “Wow, he didn’t even bring up the Dubai thing. That’s amazing. Just Milwaukee.” Yeah. Cool. Well, thank you so—again, thank you so much for your time today. Listeners, thanks so much for joining us. You as well. If you liked what you heard today, make sure you don’t miss the next episode. Kyle, it’s been a pleasure and we’ll catch you next time.

Kyle Ristow (26:08)
Exactly.

Yeah, thanks, Cody. OK, take care. You too.