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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Shawn Bhakta, a seasoned real estate investor and coach. Shawn shares his journey from being an immigrant to becoming a successful real estate professional. He emphasizes the importance of mindset, clarity, and a strong purpose in achieving success in real estate. Shawn introduces his PURE strategy, which stands for Purpose, Understanding, Result, and Economics, as a framework for success. He discusses the challenges he faced during market downturns and the importance of building trust and relationships in business. Shawn’s ultimate goal is to help others grow and succeed in their real estate endeavors.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Shawn Bhakta (00:00)
Always put economics over ego and emotion because people get stuck in the ego. I’m doing 20, 20 years real estate, butQuentin (00:05)
Hmm.Shawn Bhakta (00:09)
But if they don’t get the ego out, they will lose right now because the market is changing. So economics over ego and emotion. that action you’re going to take will give that result.Quentin (00:14)
Yeah. Wow.Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And if you know me, you already know. I’m excited. I’m excited to be here. I say this a lot. know, my guests, they have a way of firing me up right before we come on. listen, I’m going tell you, I got a guest that cares, right? The knowledge that he’s going to give you is because he’s care. He cares about you becoming strong with your purpose. He cares about you establishing a long-term vision.
He’s a coach. Yes, he’s an investor. does fix and flips. But one thing for sure today, I know he’s going to try to, he’s going to challenge your mindset. He’s want to make sure that you have the right perspective so that you can stay in this for the long term. And so I am very, very excited to introduce you to Mr. Shawn Bhakta. How did I do with that last name? Bhakta. How did I do, sir?
Shawn Bhakta (02:49)
You did great. You did great. you know, there’s one of the few people get it, you know, great, right. And then thank you. Thank you for that.Quentin (02:56)
No, I appreciatethat. I believe in putting respect on people’s name because for me, you are owed a ton of respect because I know you’re gonna give something very, very valuable to people. Yeah, people may be meeting you for the first time, but you are very valuable and very strategic in experience of what you do. And so I’ll be honest, man, I kind of want to just dive in. I want you to take us into your world. Tell us what your main focus is these days.
If you want to tell us a little bit of how you got started, think that would be great too. And then also what markets you’re operating in as well. And so Mr. Shawn, sir, you got the floor, man.
Shawn Bhakta (03:35)
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Edmonds. So the way I started it, I started so let me give you little background. So I’m an immigrant here from India. came by myself, know, and my side of the family is still in India. So, you know, that’s the new land, new culture. And but this is the country of opportunity. So ⁓ I was I started, you know, before coming to Real Estate, I was in airlines, you know, engineering.But I saw the opportunity in real estate. So my initial pool was the opportunity in real estate But then I fell in with like how can we for investment real estate sales whatever we do the real estate is one of the basic needs of the people and This is the opportunity to also serve people. So that’s like a big why okay
Now I started as a salesperson. got my real estate license in the year 2000 and did all this from door knocking to open house to everything. Okay. And then 20 years back in 2005, you know, before the market crash couple of years back.
I started getting into the investment side and initially I did the pre-construction. If you remember, know, Mr. Edmonds, those days, like, you know, you put the down payment, six month, and then you sell it back with the profit. But then it’s always changes, you know. So then 2008 and nine.
actively with the investors, I started doing the fix and flip. And those days, you know, you can get a property for like a $50,000 single family home and then, know, repair, it was cheap and so, but it’s the same strategy, but it’s, you know, the prices are different, but it’s the same strategy. So that is kind of background. And I fell in love with how one, just the real estate sales and the investment goes together. And I think that the real estate investors has a huge
contribution to clean up the community, make the homes affordable for the people. So that is basically ⁓ my little journey.
Quentin (06:24)
Yeah, I love it and I love the use of the servitude. I think at the core of any sustainable business is servitude when you serve people. Because when you serve people, you have the mindset that I’m just not being greedy and just trying to make a profit. No, I really care about what it is that I’m doing because I know what I have, I’m built with integrity and I’m here to serve you. So yes, I’m going to benefit, but you are absolutely going to benefit.because I’m here to serve you. And so I absolutely love that you mentioned the word servitude. And I kind of want to go into like what has been some of the key strategies to keeping you and your business running smoothly and maybe even some strategies maybe that you want to share with other people about how they can improve on their mindset and their business strategies as well.
Shawn Bhakta (07:17)
Yeah, definitely strategy is very important because ⁓ once we know our strategy, it’s kind of give us the right direction. So we are not like all over, know, exactly what market you want to serve in a single family home or condominium or fix and flip or buy and hold. So it gives you the clarity. Clarity is everything. Focus on clarity. So what I came up with a very simple formula. Please write it down. You know, you are watching here and this is going to help you.And I’m throwing you 25 years of experience and my goal is to cut down your time. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. So it’s called pure. Very easy word. P-U-R-E. So what the P means? P means you start always with your purpose. Why purpose? Because it’s not the money you’re going to make. It’s what are you going to do with that money? That like, know, is it going to what lifestyle is going to give it to you? You know, you want to help the community. You want to help like I always say that, you know,
your real goal on the money should be how much can I donate freely? Like if I can write a check, $100,000 like this after paying the bill, after paying me after. So that’s a huge goal. So have that kind of goal in your mind that, know, so the purpose basically, you helping if you have kids, you know, what do you want to do for the kids, you know, building that legacy, your parents, your family, yourself. OK.
and also the community. So that’s number one. So remember the P first and then just dig through that. This is your why. So the bigger the why, the bigger the money you’re going to make because that’s going to push you actually. So then it comes number two is the you is the understanding because again, the clarity. So you have to understand how the process works. So now on the fix and flip, I’m going to tell you two things, very important to know.
Quentin (08:59)
Yeah.Shawn Bhakta (09:15)
First part is the strategy of the understanding, and that is evergreen forever. And then the understanding the market, because that always change. So I’m going to give you little tips on that. Now, when it’s coming to understanding the strategy, how it goes, the process basically, the process is like there is a four part. Part number one is the acquisition of the property.And 90 % of your money you make in the acquisition, because if you don’t buy a property at right price, you’re not going to make money. So that is very important. The acquisition is so important. And no emotion here. It’s a number game. So after the acquisition, you get the property is the funding. Who is going to do the funding? So you have to have a structure, ⁓ name ⁓ your resources in place. Then number three is the repair, because
If you have a wrong repair people, can literally screw you up.
So you have to make sure you’re dealing with the honest people and you know, keep that in the budget. And number four is the marketing because fix and flip you have to, it’s a number game. It’s a, know, get and go, get and go. Okay. You don’t have to hold it. So you have to have a little strategy there. Who’s going to market the property so you don’t, you know, hold the property too long and then you don’t lose money.
Quentin (10:46)
Mmm.Thank you.
Shawn Bhakta (11:12)
So this is the four different steps. it’s important to understand because you have to see where you fit. You cannot do because I see people do a lot of mistake. They want to do everything. that’s why, don’t dream small. ⁓ Do what your strength is on this and then just go for it and do like a multiply that.Quentin (11:26)
Yeah.Yeah.
Shawn Bhakta (11:38)
And understanding the market is so important because it’s always changing. can tell you like two years back or three years back, prices are going up. So you buy a property, if the resale value is $500,000, when you sell it, it will give you $520,000. Now it’s opposite. So when you’re buying the property, you have to be very strategic on the number, very conservative. So understanding the market also very important. Also predict like a six month from now.And I’m going to give a little example right now is end of almost end of 2025. You know, we know 2026 the market will be better because interest is going to come down and so you have to act like that. So that’s the you part. R is the result. So I have the purpose. I have the understanding now what I’m looking for. This is the part the money comes like, am I do I want to make $50,000 a week, $100,000 a week? You can you can make your fortune like whatever your goal is or $10,000 a week doesn’t really matter.
Quentin (12:16)
Yeah.Shawn Bhakta (12:36)
Like it’s your goal, you can go slow and then go more. So that’s the number you will put because that’s the result. That’s the outcome you’re looking for. Because if you don’t know your outcome, you cannot put the action. Okay. And then the E is economics. And another thing to write it down, always put economics over ego and emotion.Quentin (12:43)
Thank you.Mmm.
Shawn Bhakta (12:57)
Always put economics over ego and emotion because people get stuck in the ego. I’m doing 20, 20 years real estate, butQuentin (13:01)
Hmm.Shawn Bhakta (13:06)
But if they don’t get the ego out, they will lose right now because the market is changing. So economics over ego and emotion. And what is economics? that action you’re going to take will give that result.Quentin (13:11)
Yeah. Wow.Shawn Bhakta (13:23)
So I want to make $50,000 a week. So what do I have to do? I have to maybe get one acquisition partner, one property. Whatever it is your goal, then you’re to take action on that.Quentin (13:23)
Mm.Shawn Bhakta (13:35)
and that’s the E is important like that’s the day to day. Make sense?Quentin (13:39)
Absolutely.Makes sense to me. So that peer strategy, purpose, understanding, result. And I think I heard you say economy or economics. Economics, economics, absolutely. Yes, I got you. Economics, Man, peer strategy, that’s, I mean, that’s very, very good. And that’s a very, very good strategy. And I’m so glad you shared it. And I think if people apply that,
Shawn Bhakta (13:49)
economics.Like your economics, my economics, your economics, individual economics.
Quentin (14:09)
I think they can get some really, really good, I want to say results, but it will help them with their lining up their target, lining up their strategy, pushing them towards the goal that they ultimately want to achieve. And so that’s why I love that period because I mean, that really requires you to take ownership of your why, to take ownership of your purpose, of your drive. And so I love it. Yeah, I love that. And so listen, so why are we talking about mindset?Shawn Bhakta (14:17)
Cut it.Harder.
Yes.
Quentin (14:38)
I love that you are challenging people’s mindset. So of course, everybody sees the results, see the success. They see the end story, but sometimes they don’t see the journey to the success. Right. And so there are moments when things get real, when deals go sideways, moments when you have to pivot fast. And so Mr. Shawn, has there been moments as you were building where you had to pivot fast, maybe, you know,Shawn Bhakta (14:41)
Yes.Quentin (15:07)
things got real and went sideways and you had to kind of re-center yourself. Like, are there moments like that that you can talk to us about?Shawn Bhakta (15:56)
Oh yeah, I can give a couple of examples so you really understand what happened. So in 2007, you know that 2008 the market crashed, okay? So before that we are doing the pre-construction and we have, know, in South, deep South, you know, in Miami-Dade County, we got a couple of properties pre-construction and I see, we, everyone knows the bubble is going to burst. And I had some other friends also investing there.and I had to get out of, you know, I had to sell it. And you won’t believe it, one of my property I sold just for $5,000 profit, just $5,000, okay? But I did profit. So I got out and everybody said, oh, why did you sell it? You know, this is temporary. And guess what? All my friends who had property there, those property went down to 30, 40 % of the value. They all lost money.
So because it’s the right decision at the right time because that’s very, important. learned from there and my pride on that also, I didn’t lose money even though I only made $5,000 profit, but I did make a profit. So many times what we say, the garbage hit the fence. So that’s in the right way of word.
You have to be prepared because when you have a big why like you want to do some things for you know some bigger purpose you will stick to it because market will change you know people are going to cheat you you know maybe your contractor going to cheat you you know it happened with me multiple times in a different but I never went down because I took it as a as a learning and I made it better for the next step and
went bigger and bigger and bigger because I’m learning from that. I’m not complaining that something happened to me. Because any big, even billionaires, multimillionaires, if you read their lifestyle, you’ll see that our business style, they always have that. People cheated on them, people on the money and all that stuff. that’s a part of life. So that’s why you have to work on right people and whoever you feel like at that point. then keep the track.
So yeah, it happened, know, it will happen. Market will change something out of the coronavirus, you know, like out of control. Then the interest rate high and out of control. It will happen. my two, you know, suggestion on that one is be prepared for that, you know, have your mindset ready. And that way you do the bigger purpose. And number two, always invest in yourself. Learn from other people. Don’t let the shit head your head, you know, your head that
I know it all. That’s the day your downfall going to start. Have that learning attitude, student attitude. Learn from everyone. Learn from ⁓ all different directions.
Quentin (18:46)
Yeah, no, I love it. Again, you’re giving people the mindset like things are going to happen. I don’t even think I’ve talked to somebody that directly said like, listen, somebody may cheat you. Somebody may take advantage of you get over. Unfortunately, there are people like that that’s in the industry, that’s in the business, but you can’t let that stop you or stall you. so again, Mr. Shawn, man, I love the fact that you are helping people, you know, to have the right mindset.as they journey within this real estate space. And so listen, let me ask you, know, your business is successful. You got a team, you’re coaching. Like what’s the next real goal for you? What are you planning on scaling or solving next? What’s the real goal for you, Mr. Shawn?
Shawn Bhakta (19:17)
Yes.You know, that is a great question. You my goal, you know, other than my growth, you I want to grow people like people here who are, cause that’s my success. You know, my, my like right now, you know, in my real estate team, I think I believe I have 12 or 13, you know, employees and I’m, and I’m very proud that I’m supporting that 12, 13 families, uh, you know, and that’s my success. My success is not like, how much just I make for myself. Of course that is a part of the success, but when I, someone watching here,
And if I can help them grow, can take that monkey, know, drunk monkey out of their head, you know, achieve this is the country of opportunity, you know, America and stop the company, get that thing out of the door, go for the opportunity and grow yourself. So that is my real success that because when I grow somebody, I grow automatically. So and that is my real, like, you know, if I can can help 100,000 people.
to be stable on their business, have the right mindset. And that is my real goal to, you know, growth goal for myself.
Quentin (20:37)
Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Yeah. When you grow people, it actually becomes part of your legacy. And I don’t mean that like like self aggrandizing. I just mean that the more people you touch, the more lives you change, the more like you, who you are as a person, integrity, serving people, your core values, those things begin to be injected in other people and it grows who you are. Right. And so, and when you can look and see how you have affected somebody else, I mean,Shawn Bhakta (21:01)
Yes.Quentin (21:07)
That is, that’s a reward in itself. so, and, and I actually, I kind of want to stay here because one of your goals is to grow people. So I kind of want to talk about relationships for a little bit, because it seems like relationships are important to you because you want to grow people. So let’s talk about that. Like when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you.Shawn Bhakta (21:10)
Yeah, that is that 100 %So network is everything. Network is your network. That is like a golden. What happened? Never. Doesn’t matter what you have been writing in contractors. So of course the contract says, whatever contract you do, but your word. Never break your word. You give somebody word, you keep it. I will die, but I will not break my word. That’s 100 % because I had in the past before I had to…
⁓ you know, like get out of a business partnership because my partner didn’t respect giving the award to the investor. I’m like, no, I can’t do that because I’m looking for long term, you know, and I stick to that. You know, it’s a little bit painful, but you know what, the rewards are like overwhelming reward you get to keep the award to.
to have that trust. So my thing is there’s so many people here because we can make so much money from this business. They don’t keep their word. They get selfish. But that’s the opportunity also. Because if you, Edmonds, you are selfless, you are truthful, guess what? You have the superpower right here because 99 other are not doing it. So I’ll tell you, my friend, whoever you’re watching, always keep that trust with the people.
Quentin (22:38)
Bye.I love it, man. Always keep the trust. They say trust is built in drops and lost in buckets. So it’s built in drops. But man, once you lose trust, just, that whole thing that you’ve been just dropping in, just tilting over and it’s all gone. And so I love how you talk about trust, man. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Listen, this has been incredible. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing,
Shawn Bhakta (22:53)
Right. Yes.Enjoy.
Quentin (23:15)
Mrs. Shawn, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,Shawn Bhakta (23:18)
So the best waythey can DM me, you know, at Shawn Bhakta. You can get me on the YouTube, my YouTube channel. You can see my plaque here, the 100,000 subscriber plaque here. So, yeah, you can catch me on the YouTube. That’s my personal channel. On the Instagram, you you can do also. You Google me Shawn Bhakta, you know, like that’s like, my last name is a little bit uncommon. So you’ll find it. Find me actually. So.
Quentin (23:31)
Let’s go.Shawn Bhakta (23:47)
DM me, know, the numbers are there, all the websites, call me, text me, you know, I’m available, you know, I’ll reach out to you immediately. Also, you know, when you’re watching this, comment here, comment in this and I’m going to personally reach out to you.Quentin (23:53)
Yeah, absolutely.Well, there he is. Listen, I told y’all that he was going to challenge our mindset and you have definitely done that today, Mr. Shawn. And so, sir, I thank you, man. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your story. Thank you for the pure strategy. Thank you for your perspective. Just thank you for being authentic in a way that you serve people. This has been great. So I appreciate you coming on to that.
Shawn Bhakta (24:25)
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. And I really appreciate it because I know your podcast is one of the top podcasts in Real Estate Investments. And I really appreciate the value you providing to our audience. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.Quentin (24:40)
No, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. You know, we can’t do it without people like you. And so thank you again. ⁓ And so listen, audience, listen, viewers, you got the value. Listen, he just gave us a great endorsement. You know, you’re going to continue to get incredible content. So please make sure you’re subscribed. That way, when the alert goes off that we are here and a new show is dropping, you just come in and get more content and more value. So Mr. Bhakta, thank you again, sir. Really appreciate you. And to everyone else.Shawn Bhakta (25:10)
Yeah, I’m going to give a last message. Last message. This is just for you, my friend, whoever you’re watching. Remember, my friend, always, always believe in yourself because you can and you
