Never Vacant: Eric Young’s Passive Income Strategy

Eric Young (00:00)
My specialty really is being able to partner with the government. That’s really my specialty because a lot of people worry about ⁓ it’s either funding or their property’s going vacant. But I’ve been able to learn a system and create a system by partnering with the government and then getting paid guaranteed consistent income every single month. So that’s really my specialty that kind of sets me apart from a lot of others.

Erika (01:59)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika And today I’m thrilled to be joined by someone that I’ve been looking forward to chat with, Eric Young. Eric, it’s so great to have you on the show today.

Eric Young (02:13)
Nice to be here, thank you.

Erika (02:14)
So let’s dive in Eric, for our listeners who aren’t that familiar with your world, give us the rundown. How did you get started in real estate and investing?

Eric Young (02:23)
So I got.

and started in real estate because I was like everybody else working for corporate America. I was a year in and eventually they decided, you know what, they wanted to make some changes and I was a part of that change and they decided to lay me off. Once they laid me off, that was the mind shift that I needed and having to take care of two kids and a wife, I decided, you know what, I don’t want to be so dependent on corporate America anymore and I started to get into real estate investing.

and I haven’t looked back since and I enjoy it. enjoy the ride and the best part about it is I like to teach others on how to do this too.

Erika (02:59)
That’s awesome, Eric. Was there a mentor or a key moment that shaped your success early on?

Eric Young (03:05)
There was a guy named Carlton Sheets and I used to go through him He was my one of my mentors when I first started out so he kind of gave me the vision or the very first steps and then I started to listen to a guy named Robert Kiyosaki rich dad poor dad a very popular book and I started to read that and that is what really did it for me and

started to learn a lot through him. So yeah, so those are some of my mentors. When I say my mentors, it was just somebody that I was able to contact and read their books, but I didn’t know them personally. So somebody that I learned from.

Erika (03:39)
for our listeners who are new to investing, how does your deal selection process work? What are you looking for in a good deal?

Eric Young (03:48)
What do I look for in good deal? Good question. I look for location. So I look for school districts. I’m looking for properties where, you know, grocery stores, malls. So it’s got to be a family or to oriented area. And as far as the deals, the numbers have to make sense. I look for properties that are anywhere from minor distress properties that need rehab to heavy rehab. Why?

because I’m buying them below market value. these are the type of things that I teach my students. But yeah, those are the type of properties I look for.

Erika (04:20)
And Eric, what kind of like tools or systems are you using to ⁓ manage your work and keep those deals running smoothly?

Eric Young (04:28)
⁓

I would say you need a good team. You need a good team. So contractors, realtors. One of my favorite software programs that I use is something called PropStream that helps me find deals. It helps me do my due diligence with them and just really research it to make sure before I decide whether it’s a good deal or not.

So a cell phone technology is very important nowadays and you’ve got a camera right there and I could take pictures of the property.

So these are just some of the tools that I use when I’m doing real estate.

Erika (05:46)
Yeah, awesome. Eric, I know from when we were chatting earlier and from the stuff that you filled out that you work with like residential real estate. Do you focus on fix and flips, rentals, a hybrid model and why?

Eric Young (06:01)
Good question. So the properties that I look for are single family houses, typically a three bedroom, two bath, and I’m dealing with either motivated sellers or I’m dealing with distressed properties. Why do I deal with these? Because I’m not buying in my market price. I’m getting that below market value. So in other words, when I sign on the dotted line, I’m already making money.

⁓ and then, ⁓ I turn around leverage using other people’s money to rent my properties out. So when I rent my properties out, specifically, rent them out to a low income housing section eight. And so I’m partnered with the government or I’m either deal doing also traveling nurses or insurance companies. So I do a different, different strategies, ⁓ to be able to rent my properties out. But I like the, the buy and hold strategies, what is termed as. So I’m holding my properties for longterm to build wealth.

get passive income every single month.

Erika (06:51)
That’s awesome. When it comes to the market, like what kind of trends do you see that you’re keeping a close eye on?

Eric Young (06:57)
What kind of trends am I looking for? I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really look at trends so much. I’m just looking at deals and as long as I have the right team around me, because they’re really experts at it and they’re all the time looking at deals, I go by the experts. that’s why it’s so important to have a team. Yeah, I’m looking at the market. I’m in the Texas market and I typically stay here.

I usually go by my team’s expertise.

Erika (08:00)
Tell us a little bit about your team. Who did you decide to work with? What was that process like for knowing that they were a good fit?

Eric Young (08:09)
Good question. So I found out early on, it’s so important to have a team. I try to do this by myself and it’s very, very difficult. It’s almost impossible. just to give an example, realtors, you got to have realtors on your team. For example, I would go to these real estate investment groups in my area.

And when I went to these investment groups, that’s where I was finding contractors. Contractors are important too, because I don’t work on my properties. I don’t do any rehab on them. I don’t. I hire contractors. these are the type of people you need to have on your team.

and being able to network with people, that’s so important. those are the people’s, those are the main ones. Realtors you need to have on your team to help you find deals and contractors, and you need lenders or private investors, not private investors to get your funding for your deals. So these things are important.

Erika (08:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And with your experience, Eric, I’m sure you’ve had a moment or two, maybe a deal went sideways or you had to pivot fast. Mind sharing one of those moments from your journey and what you learned from that?

Eric Young (09:15)
Alright, good question. ⁓ actually had a situation where I was already maybe this happened in 2020 and it wasn’t that I had to pivot. It was that ⁓ I was working in corporate America. COVID had hit. I was very gravely sick and I wasn’t able to actually. You know, actually do anything so I was.

in my house right here in this room and I was quarantined and it really put a reality on life like life is short but I was glad that I had this passive income coming in and even though when I was working at Corporate America and had my houses it just let me know I was doing the right thing making money passively even though I still wasn’t working at my corporate America job so that really hit home for me that I’m I was able to still be with my family but in quarantine here and still make income and not worry about my corporate America job so that was

really a learning lesson. So I’d already been in the real estate and that was great.

Erika (10:08)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So Eric, as I’m sure you’re familiar with, you know, on the podcast, we care about relationships and networking, because that’s the backbone of the business. For you, what’s made the biggest difference with building those relationships and growing your network?

Eric Young (10:25)
what kind of connections I made in the industry. I just made sure that I was with like-minded people. I made sure that I was with groups, people that could inspire me, that I can learn from, that were doing what I wanted to do. So that was really important, networking. So I learned from a lot of people and I have a lot of people in my, to help me out along the way, give me motivation, encouragement and learn from. So that’s what was important for me.

Erika (11:33)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Eric, what do you see as the next big goal for you and what steps are you taking to get there?

Eric Young (11:40)
Good question. Next big goals for me definitely I want to expand and be able to reach more people and you know be able to teach people about you know this systems and what I’ve learned in the real estate game after 20 plus years.

So what steps am I taking? That’s why I’m on different social media platforms. I’m on TikTok, I’m on YouTube, Facebook, and I go live and I just teach people daily. I go on live and teach in them and then also I teach in Zoom workshops. So I reach a lot of people, but I want to reach more because I know people need this information and a lot of people want this information and learning about real estate.

Erika (12:15)
Yeah, that’s really exciting. Eric, what would you say sets yourself apart from other educators in the industry?

Eric Young (12:21)
⁓ I definitely have been told that I mean they could see I’m honest and that I’m very transparent and actually when I’m teaching my when I go live I actually show my deals I actually show my deals

So I’m not just a talking head, I’m actually walking you through the process and actually showing it. A lot of people are not really teaching, so to speak, but I feel like I’m actually doing a master class doing my social media lives, which are free. So being able to educate people in that way and actually showing my deals and being real and transparent, it sets me apart.

Erika (12:52)
That’s awesome. And then also when it comes to that education, what would you say is like your specialty within that? what do you want to show people more than anything?

Eric Young (13:02)
My specialty really is being able to partner with the government. That’s really my specialty because a lot of people worry about ⁓ it’s either funding

or their property’s going vacant. But I’ve been able to learn a system and create a system by partnering with the government and then getting paid guaranteed consistent income every single month. So that’s really my specialty that kind of sets me apart from a lot of others.

Erika (13:33)
That’s awesome. And if someone is new to real estate and investing and wants to get involved in that aspect, what kind of advice would you give them?

Eric Young (13:41)
Definitely get as much information as you can first. That’s one of the mistakes I made is I went out here and I thought I can figure it out myself. It’s not as easy. doesn’t work like that. You can use a lot of money and lot of time. So information is key. That’s what you have to do, whether it’s through myself or through somebody else. Make sure you get all the information that you can or as much information as you can before you go out there and do this.

Erika (14:06)
All right, Eric, before we wrap up, if someone wants to reach out, collaborate, or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to connect with you?

Eric Young (14:14)
The best way to get in contact with me, can, my TikTok is ericyoung at ey, the real estate investor.

Erika (14:22)
Awesome. Eric, I appreciate your time and all your insights. Thanks for being here.

Eric Young (14:27)
Alright, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Erika (14:29)
For those of you tuning in, if you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators like Eric who are out there building fantastic real estate empires. We’ll see you on the next episode.