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Show Summary
In this episode of the Investor Fuel podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Michael Rebelo, a young entrepreneur making waves in the multifamily real estate sector. At just 19 years old, Michael shares his journey from learning about the stock market to managing over 150 units. He emphasizes the importance of networking, having a strong ‘why’, and overcoming challenges as a young investor. Michael also discusses misconceptions about needing money to start in real estate and offers strategies for building a valuable network. The conversation concludes with Michael’s insights on future goals and how to connect with him.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Michael Rebelo | EFCP (00:00)
That’s a fabulous question. When I first started, there’s still people that I know that are around the similar age that are also doing the same thing. if you were to start from my position, let’s say two years ago, you will be discouraged from the very beginning. You’ll have people that you are gonna network with that have been in the industry for 30, 40 years more. It’s like I am 19 or 18. What do I know? You’ve been on the planet longer than I have. Regardless of real estate, you know way more than me. But the best thing is,at least from their age. It’s very overwhelming. There’s a lot that’s going on with the real estate industry.
Michelle Kesil (02:09)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Investor Fuel podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. And today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chatting with, Michael Rebelo, who’s been making serious moves in the real estate investing space. He is quite young and just started his investing journey, but already has 150 units under management. So excited to have you here on the show today, Michael.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (02:38)
It’s pleasure. Thank you so much and shout out to the Real Estate Pros Podcast for giving me this opportunity. Thank you.Michelle Kesil (02:44)
Yes, of course. So let’s dive in first off for those that aren’t familiar with you and your world. Can you give the short version of what your main focus is?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (02:56)
Absolutely, so my name is Michael Rebela. I’m based out of Tucson, Arizona. My primary focus is multifamily real estateI’ve been an entrepreneur since I’m currently 19 years old right now. ⁓ I brought my mom into the business as well, she’s the reason why I’ve done this, she’s my why and my mission to retire her and now I got to bring awareness to middle America that there’s more than meets the eye and just the Wall Street investments, the 401k, the stock market and the CDs. I currently manage over 150 units out of the state of Texas and I’m looking to close more in the Midwest and also the Southwest as well.
Michelle Kesil (03:29)
Amazing. I would love to hear your story of how you got into this.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (03:34)
Absolutely happy to share. I’ll keep it the short version but I want to say two years ago When I was 17 while still a junior in high school, I was starting to learn about the stock market and entrepreneurship as well I was taking an elective with my business teacher like, know how to start a business how to invest in Wall Street I’ve always wanted to invest in you know I love the idea of putting your money to work keep your money and make sure your money makes money for you and There was one day where my mom came homeMichelle Kesil (03:37)
part.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (04:03)
And she was like, hey, ⁓ we need to have a sit down and we need to talk. So I’m like, okay, walk me through what happened. And she was telling me that her CDs, her parents IRAs, 401ks were not performing at the rate they should. They just were not keeping up. So I was like, okay, I’m learning about the stock market. Maybe we can invest somewhere in that. For about a month and a half, I started to day trade, going back and forth, staring at the Schwab network, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg all day long. And I made…pennies apparently was in my niche ⁓ field of expertise to say. So we started to have this little notebook that we’re starting to write down between commodities of oil, gold, silver, solar, small businesses. And we came across multifamily real estate with actually the mentorship program, the multifamily mindset. So July of 2023, we bit the bullet and we’re like, you know what, let’s just start seeing what we could do. ⁓ From then on, we were starting to move from Massachusetts where we were originally from to Tucson.
Just graduated high school,
18 years old, and now we’re finally fully fledged into business for about a year. We made our first partnership actually this past March on 152 units out of Tyler, Texas. We’re really happy about that and we’re actively underwriting and raising for opportunities out in the Midwest. ⁓ Again, based in Tucson, we’d love to invest and acquire in Tucson as well, but it was really a leap of faith to kind of take this path of one just.
movie, cross country, not sure what we’re doing to one, personal reasons and also our investment market. But also number two, what does the future hold for us for mom’s retirement, my future, my kid’s future, my peers future, ⁓ is multifamily real estate the answer? And so far, it’s been the answer. So that’s my story in a nutshell.
Michelle Kesil (06:36)
Amazing. I love that. That’s so incredible that you found this path for yourself. How did you get started in the multifamily world?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (06:49)
Great question. So I got started in the multifamily world by pretty much just trying to network as much as I could and trying to underwrite as much as I could. My biggest mistake that I’ll share is trying to get into a deal too early. And a lot of people actually got burned out with this method. ⁓ I will say one of my weaknesses is my own ego and my own pride because I would see people try to get into deals and they were able to get into deals, especially passively invest them. Like I don’t have that capital or that time right now. And then some of theseproperties would perform okay, but not to the standard that ⁓ I would see other people doing it that kind of waited longer have done their due diligence their homework So I’m like, okay, maybe there’s a reason behind it So I started to actively network whether it be people in Facebook communities ⁓ other students of mentorship programs via ⁓ multifamily mindset rock cleave re mentor, whatever it may be and I just started to grow my basis and not just investors but also general partners kind of picking their brain
Okay, how long have you been in the business? What mistakes have you done? How have you learned from them? And pretty much almost interviewing these people to go, okay, this is why I’m seeing this trending, this is what I can learn from, don’t do this, do this. This is you talk to a broker, talk about track records, lease ups. And I was starting to learn so much just from the network base that I was building. It wasn’t the information that was coming out of the books and the ⁓ networking programs. It was actually coming from the people.
So I got started in multifamily just by networking as much as I could and networking with those that made the mistakes, that have the experience, and me just sitting back and taking notes and listening and asking questions to go, okay, how did you construct your business? How did you start? Kind of like what you asked me, Michelle, how did you start in multifamily? And then the snowball effect just started going from there and boom, landed our first partnership.
Michelle Kesil (08:42)
incredible what has been like some of the key things that have helped keep this business running smoothly.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (08:53)
That’s an excellent question. So ⁓ I wish it was as smooth as it sounds, but it really isn’t. It’s very difficult business. ⁓ It’s not for the faint of heart. If it was easy, everyone could do it. But the one thing, the couple of things that helped me to keep this business on track, but not only that, my personal self, is the mission and my why. ⁓ I forget who said this. ⁓ I feel like it was a Russian philosopher, I could be wrong. ⁓ Any man that has a strong why can bear almost any how.Michelle Kesil (08:57)
short.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (09:22)
Forget the name, I’m now gonna rack my brains around that. But the reason why I bring that up is because my why and my mission is to help people like my mom figure out that you can retire at a point, not just some day, where it’s not a question mark. Retirement is no longer a question mark with multi-family. And that mission just helped keep my focus aligned and helped keep my values aligned to go, I’m in this business not just to make money, get the yacht, get the plant. No, it’s actually to teach people that there’s more than just.Wall Street and the fact that you don’t have to rely on your 401k as much you don’t to rely on your CDs your IRAs as much
every once in a while when I’d slip off that path where Some of my ego my lack of patience would take over my own ambitions would take over That mission will come back into my mind It would be like almost like this snap of reality that I’m like, okay now I’m back on track and it would keep me just on this straight line to get to the mission of
helping to retire my mom, helping to retire people just like her, and to bring awareness to Main Street and middle America that there’s more than meets the eye.
Michelle Kesil (11:03)
Yeah, absolutely, I love that. So what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (11:14)
⁓ that is a fabulous question. So I love multifamily. I love the basis of it, but I also want to get into the short-term rental space, such as like hotels and other things like that, maybe some resort investments. And the reason why I say that is because my mom used to travel across the country and I’ll kind of tag along. And I’m very familiar with hotels, the staff, how they work, different rates, amenities. And it’s very similar to the multifamily space. And that’s really what I want to delve in as well. ⁓ I also want to delve into a little bit of oil.and it’s very ambitious for somewhat of my age and my stature right now, but it’s almost, I’m taking a logistical standpoint from our TVs are made of oil, lipstick, eyeliner, computers, in fact the microphone I’m talking to, this is made out of oil as well. ⁓ I figured I would go on the basis of taking my mission with multifamily real estate to say this more and to put it into ⁓ hotel syndication, oil syndication to say why don’t you just invest in the everyday product like.
the that builds your microphone, the stuff that builds your phones essentially. We could tap into resources like that and the opportunities I present is like, hey, if you know me or someone that knows how to do multifamily, you cultivate those relationships, you can actually get into this industry, whether it be active or passive investing. But anyway, I won’t go on a tirade about that. But those are the opportunities I’m looking for and those are the opportunities I’m gonna be presenting in the future.
Michelle Kesil (12:41)
Yeah, that is amazing. sounds like some big and exciting goals. Is there a like particular reason that the hotel space is calling you? Like do you, yeah, do you have some interest in that for, I don’t know, like yeah, what’s the reasoning, I guess?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (13:03)
That’s a great question again. ⁓ What really attracts me to the hotel space is the fact that I’m most familiar with it. I never lived in an apartment but I have stayed in hotels for long extended periods of time whether it be traveling cross country or ⁓ just making trips for a month or two, wherever it be. And I’m very familiar with that, you know the lobbies, the breakfast, the staff, how they work, know if they’re understaffed or they’re overstaffed, stuff like that.It’s a system that I’m very familiar with and I figured if I could do it with multifamily real estate, I could do this with hotels. It’s no different. You need an onsite maintenance team or property management. You have a hundred hotel rooms, similar to apartments. You have amenities. You have lighting fixtures that need value add, whatever it may be. It’s almost like I’m white labeling the tasks and skills for multifamily and placing it to the short-term hotel rental industry.
And it’s almost, I guess the basis I’m putting it is almost a familiar ⁓ basis of hotels. To say I’m more familiar with it than I am with apartments, but apartments is kind of like what got me into the door with syndications and basically how to scale from there fore on. So multifamily is something I wanted to really put my eggs in one basket in, but it’s a very good place for me to start and kind of start white labeling some things into different industries.
Michelle Kesil (14:29)
Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like you’re taking your familiarity into your skill set, which is so powerful.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (14:38)
Absolutely.Michelle Kesil (14:40)
So how, like, at this age are you making all of this happen? Like, maybe there’s people that are in a similar age as you and they’re just like, how is this possible? Like, I don’t know where to start. I don’t have the money. Like, these common concerns that maybe people at this stage in life have. Like, what would you say?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (15:44)
That’s a fabulous question. When I first started, there’s still people that I know that are around the similar age that are also doing the same thing. if you were to start from my position, let’s say two years ago, you will be discouraged from the very beginning. You’ll have people that you are gonna network with that have been in the industry for 30, 40 years more. It’s like I am 19 or 18. What do I know? You’ve been on the planet longer than I have. Regardless of real estate, you know way more than me. But the best thing is,at least from their age. It’s very overwhelming. There’s a lot that’s going on with the real estate industry.
The Fed just cut by a quarter of a percent, but things I know, facts like that, almost like doing your own homework. When you’re starting out with something that’s of this scale, such as multifamily, just take it one step at a time. For example, research, what does cash on cash mean? What does the internal rate of return mean? ⁓ Multifamily versus Wall Street.
and just start to self-educate yourself. Try to network with people and just be honest and transparent, be yourself, and find your reason for actually starting a path like this. Whether it be multifamily or entrepreneurship, you have to understand that there’s a reason why you’re looking for more opportunities. You just have to identify it and turn it into that driving mission. Kind of like what you asked me a couple of minutes ago, like what’s driving you to stay on the path of multifamily or at least this business. And that’s really what I preach. If you have a strong why and a strong mission, if you can identify that and refine it,
then there’s pretty much not a whole lot that’s gonna stop you. You’re just gonna keep going forward like a crazy freight train. And that’s pretty much what the posture that I’ve taken. But for those that are starting out young, you will be discouraged. There will be the fact that you will understand that you have a lack of track record. ⁓ That’s a huge point. But if you can align yourself in networks and network with people that have the track record and start to learn from them and work with them, then you’ll start to not only that learn yourself, kind of connect.
you to their own track record and not only that close more deals and help them out too. If you can provide the value and the task at hand to complete them, then you’ll be able to get your foot in the door with lot more opportunities than you actually thought. So it’s like, what’s the phrase? Your network is your net worth. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. That’s the short version that I could give.
Michelle Kesil (18:00)
Okay.Yeah, totally. I definitely resonate with that statement that networking is so important, especially in this industry. So maybe like someone has the objection of, don’t have a lot of money right now. So real estate investing isn’t quote unquote possible. That’s their belief. What would you say to that person?
Michael Rebelo | EFCP (18:23)
Mm-hmm.That’s a great rebuttal actually. So usually what I say to people is that, yeah sure there’s the common myth or the common phrase that you don’t need money to start in a multifamily. Well you kind of do. You need a laptop, a phone, and wifi. And maybe a pen and paper. And that costs money, it’s not free. But besides that point, if you join these free Facebook groups and start commenting and start putting in your own value, maybe you’re doing wholesaling.
Maybe you could start something like that and just start to scale from there. There’s a lot of free Facebook communities out there. There’s people that you can follow on LinkedIn and you can connect with them one-on-one saying like, you hey, I’m just starting again to multifamily. I don’t know a whole lot. I know you’ve been in the business for two, three, four, five years, whatever it may be. I’d love to connect with you and kind of ask some questions and stay connected. And before you know it, you’re going to realize, wow, I’m talking to an operator and I actually don’t have to join a course.
I kind of took the fast and easier route of joining a course, or a mentorship program, just to one, have the information at hand, but also have the network at hand as well. But there’s a lot of free resources that you can use, but you just have to do the digging yourself. Like before you connect with someone, how long have they been in the business? Is there someone I could potentially connect with? What are their values? Are they in the same industry as me? Like if you want to get into multifamily right at the get-go, don’t connect with someone that’s in the hotel short-term industry.
that’s not really gonna get you to where you wanna be. So for those that don’t have money, there’s a lot of free options in order to get you to the point where you can use your money or raise money for these projects, go, okay, now that I have the capital, how can I put it to work for either my knowledge or to put it towards the mission or the business? So that’s the ⁓ easiest way that I could put it if you don’t have any money to start out with multifamily, either via GP or LP, active or passive.
⁓ There’s always these free routes that you can start with to build that solid foundation that you can build upon later.
Michelle Kesil (20:32)
Yeah, amazing. That is such a valuable insight. I think that people can implement that and yeah, start taking some action towards their goals.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (20:45)
Absolutely, 100%. And if I could also add on to that too, when it comes to goals and values, try to find people that you can network with and kind of connect with them that have very similar goals and values to you. Because you already resonate with them on a one-to-one basis. You may not have already connected with them, but let’s say you have a broker that’s out of Tucson that’s very family driven. And maybe you’re very family driven. Then there you go. You already have a common basis point. You haven’t even met the person yet.Michelle Kesil (20:48)
Sure.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (21:14)
Maybe they’re into sports, maybe you are too. Okay, perfect, now you have a common ground to start talking. And it’s a perfect, you can start to have conversations that segue into maybe a partnership or talk about business to say like, you hey, I also realize you’re in the multifamily industry. I’m trying to get into it myself. I don’t know a whole lot. I would love to stay in touch, something like that. So when it comes to goals, figure out who you wanna connect with, figure out what your values are and start to align yourself with people that match that criteria.Michelle Kesil (21:44)
Yeah, absolutely. That’s so important. What are some things that have made the biggest difference for you when it comes to growing your network and expanding like that business relationship portfolio that you have?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (22:00)
So the biggest way I could scale my network, and not only that, just to get my foot in the door with more opportunities, is two things. One is in-person networking. I love to in-person network. I’m very old-fashioned. If you give me a phone book and a rotary phone, I know how to do it. But besides that, ⁓ when it comes to in-person networking, you can shake someone’s hand. You can give them a hug. You can sit down and have coffee with them. It’s very genuine. Like with the screen, ⁓ you feel more safe. You feel like you want to just…It’s alright, keep it casual. But when you’re sitting down at a table, if you’re at a conference with them in person, you can see, okay, is this a genuine human or is this someone that really doesn’t care? That really just doesn’t want to work with me, they want to sell me something. You can get those vibes when you’re in person. Secondly, ⁓ is be a connector of people. Let’s say that person you connect with in person is investing in the state of Ohio, maybe Columbus or Cleveland, let’s say.
And you know someone that’s also doing the same, but they’re trying to look for people. Connect those people. think Hunter Thompson has a similar mindset like this to where if you could be a connecter of people, you can also expand your network almost passively where it’s like, you hey, so-and-so referred me to you. yeah, I just talked to so-and-so. And you can expand your network ⁓ to a point where you can start just connecting people and six degrees of separation. You never know who you’re gonna meet and you never know who knows who.
So that’s really what I’d like to do. I know that you’re providing value to not just that person, but also their network to say, hey, I know someone that’s investing in the state of Ohio, wherever you want, whatever location or whatever field of expertise. Do you mind if I connect you with them? Yeah, sure, go on ahead. So those are the two things that really helped me expand my network, but also the opportunities that come to my desk is in-person networking, all these events and conferences, even though there may be small niche events, whether it be at a…
bar or restaurant or golf course or these large scale conferences. But number two, ⁓ be that connector of people. the ⁓ almost like the platform to get into different networks.
Michelle Kesil (24:07)
That is so valuable. Thank you for sharing that. So before we wrap up here, if people want to reach out, connect, collaborate, learn more from you, where can they find you?Michael Rebelo | EFCP (24:11)
OfAbsolutely, so you can find me at www.everforwardcapitalpartners.com. It’s actually my background as well. ⁓ You can also find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, ⁓ Michael Rebelo, or Ever Forward Capital Partners as well. Or you could give me a text or a call at 774-264-3392. Happy to connect, happy to help, and provide value in any way I can.
Michelle Kesil (24:44)
I really appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. Thank you for being here.Michael Rebelo | EFCP (24:52)
Of course, Michelle, was a pleasure. Thank you so much and shout out to the Real Estate Pros podcast. This was great. Thank you for your time.Michelle Kesil (24:59)
course, my pleasure. And for those listeners tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure that you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators just like Michael who are building real businesses and we’ll see you all on our next episode.
