Real Estate Agent Turned Developer: Building Homes With No Money Down

Oscar Figueroa (00:00)
Basically we’re building, you trying to build an empire, but we started one house at a time. So right w the first house that I ever built was an info lot. And an info lot just means that it’s a lot inside town next to homes that have already existed. I basically bought that lot on seller financing for 70,000. you know, I spent three years ⁓ in the trucking industry saving up that money to make that opportunity happen. And then I used a bunch of credit cards, a bunch of you know, personal loans.

To just basically be able to build the house and sell it. I sold it for like $80,000 for profit.

Issa Hanna (02:03)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I got somebody who’s build building his kingdom from the ground up. Oscar Figueroa. Oscar, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. How are you doing?

Oscar Figueroa (02:17)
No wall of though.

Issa Hanna (02:18)
doing good. I’m glad to have you man. So for people don’t know what I mean by ground up, inform what you what I’m talking about. What are you building from the ground up?

Oscar Figueroa (02:27)
Basically we’re building, you trying to build an empire, but we started one house at a time. So right w the first house that I ever built was an info lot. And an info lot just means that it’s a lot inside town next to homes that have already existed. I basically bought that lot on seller financing for 70,000. you know, I spent three years ⁓ in the trucking industry saving up that money to make that opportunity happen. And then I used a bunch of credit cards, a bunch of you know, personal loans.

To just basically be able to build the house and sell it. I sold it for like $80,000 for profit.

And then since then I’ve made a lot of connections, met a lot of people, learned a lot about a lot of land entitlement. Then, you know, so met one guy, he basically short ⁓ bought a house, had enough land to do two houses on the side and one on the right side. And then I saw that, you know, basically he got the lots for free because all he did was the engineer in the short plaid, and his margin on those three houses was insane. He made like half a million dollars on three houses.

Ever since then he’s kind of guided me. We’ve been hustling. And then the team has just gotten bigger and bigger. So as I find opportunities for him and he’s found opportunities for me, we also met one of the loan officers who works with us now. The loan officer ⁓ is basically ⁓ our financial anchor. He’s doing a hundred deals a year, so he has no time to like, you know, be helping in the business, but we get that. You know, he’s just kind of financing it. but he also is getting 30% of the development deals that that we’re picking up.

and then you know that lets me go out and then just kind of focus on, you know, putting pe building the business together. And then, you know, ⁓ I’ve been getting enough business in my commissions where like money is not really a problem, and we just keep rolling them into deals. Now we’ve met two more people who kind of see the vision, they understand credit lines, they understand money and they want to move around our speed. So now we added two additional GCs who are gonna actually be our credit lines.

and and and manage the builds while I go focus and find more developments, more opportunities.

Issa Hanna (04:19)
Nice man. Well, one thing that stuck out when we were speaking earlier is how you took your career as a as a real estate agent and was able to get the commission money, but then through construction was able to even make more money off of your buyer clients. Can you share a little bit more about that? How’d you get that idea?

Oscar Figueroa (05:23)
So basically, like the I started as a builder myself. I built my first house and I realized that I can make 80 grand. And I realized my okay, the realtor’s making 10 and 10 on each side, but the guy who sold my house double sided, and I was just like, well, if I just get my license, I can take care of that part. Like I just built the whole house. So it makes sense to just get my license. And I also like was pretty talkative and knew people. So I was just like, I figured I could always sell like four or five houses. ⁓ and then I started door knocking and then built my own personal house with the commissions that I was ⁓ cash.

With the commissions that I was coming in. I thought it was gonna take me like a year and a half to like have enough money to build that house. ⁓ in six months it was done. ⁓ and then ⁓ so yeah, and then I realized that okay, I’m familiar with all these parcels of land, people want these houses. The builders don’t even know builders build, but they don’t have taste. They don’t know what like what a good house is. So I just saw that gap and I’m like, I’m taking over this year. I started doing floor plans and my floor plans started selling better than than like hotcakes. So from there.

I just decided, well, why am I making the builder all the money? I have the money. I’m just gonna go ahead and just start taking the clients, find buying the lot, building the house. But now I don’t even have to build the house. I have my GC. One of these houses that we’re building, I’m basically picking up the lot on a contract, real estate contract. I’m not putting any money down. ⁓ the build the GC is gonna fund the build for myself. He’s getting paid on the back end. And basically, I’m gonna instead of just making ten thousand dollars on the commission side, I’m making like 40. And the clients are getting a better home for less money.

And everybody wins.

Issa Hanna (06:50)
Everybody wins when everybody’s making money and saving money, definitely. And that’s an issue carved out.

Oscar Figueroa (06:55)
I’m making forty thousand dollars on a build rather ⁓ and the clients trust me, we’re gonna execute their vision and they’re not gonna get this home with the c traditional track builder. A track builder’s never gonna give them the options that I give them.

Issa Hanna (07:07)
Exactly. And that’s why they’re choosing you right now. Well, it’s great in real estate. When things are going good, they’re going good. When things go bad though sometimes and every investor, including myself, has a real estate nightmare and had to overcome it. ⁓ do you mind sharing one? Yep.

Oscar Figueroa (07:23)
Yeah,

like for me, I overextend myself all the time. And cause I try to do everything and eat the world. But at the same time, it’s just like you gotta slow down and can’t try to chew everything by yourself. The other like when I was building my f my first house, I was just like, okay, I had $80,000 in commissions. I kind of knew all the expenses. And I was just like, but I also don’t know that that I’m gonna get busy. I might not have clients coming in, but I knew that I could get the money back out with the private investor. The the private investor or the private hard money bank.

was like two weeks, we’ll get you funded. And I was like, cool, I’ll do it. And then for some reason, they dragged it out for six weeks. And I was down to my last five hundred bucks to go from a hundred to thousands, a hundred grand in your in your account. And then it’s just like okay, I’m down to my five hundred bucks. I got no income coming in. This refi better hit So ⁓ yeah I like I go down to the wire with it sometimes. But ⁓ now ⁓ got a few hundred thousand in liquid I got I got a team around me the p the the lots are paid off.

So that’s gonna be our collateral. And I have the clients. So I’m processing the loans, the transaction on both sides, and I’m and I’m controlling the cost now too. So our but these next three houses that we build, I think we’re gonna make a hundred thousand dollars per house.

Issa Hanna (08:31)
Wow. And the confidence you have in yourself to be able to go down to only five hundred bucks but know you’re gonna make that money because you have the knowledge is is definitely a

Oscar Figueroa (08:40)
I

wasn’t sleeping. Yeah, I wasn’t sleeping. I was I was stressed out. I was just like, Jesus Christ, I might lose I might lose the house. But but it all worked out. ⁓ the the bank, the hard money bank gave me the money at the end of the day. And then I got then it, you know, 240 hits your account, lot gets paid off, and then now I’m just moving quicker and faster. ⁓ and then like I said, we’re gonna execute eight more build eight more builds. So there’s a million dollars that we can pick up over the next six months.

And then the development’s gonna start. And then if we keep our margins good, that’s 60 houses that I’m gonna make money on. So I’m going from, you know, so I’m going one thing after another. Then the 25 acres that we develop, that’s another 150 lots. So if you want these opportunities, they’re not gonna get handed to you. You gotta have the the guts to just grab them, hold on to your life. And if I go broke, I won’t go broke. It’s seven, you know, like I I I’ll figure it out. I I will go knock doors again and make commissions with bad credit.

Issa Hanna (09:33)
You’ve got the knowledge and and confidence and and like you said, guts to go out and try to get it. Now, ⁓ what does the future hold for you, Oscar? What do you what do you think you’re gonna be at in five years?

Oscar Figueroa (10:18)
I have some insane ideas. So here’s the thing. So I think that the world is just moving way too slow. And the only reason why people don’t get cut cut in into the investor side of a lot of things is because once they don’t have the financial education. And but I see, you know, the financial literacy of like the rest of the world of America or just, you know, the next generation rising, right? And then with technology, the like AI, I feel that we can start cutting in the little guy on these deals. So what I want to do is I want to start yeah out of to me, it doesn’t make sense the Mexicans.

do all the construction, but we don’t own it. So for me, what I want to do is for example, if the plumber has 250 grand, I want him to give me that as a credit line. I’ll give him equity in the entire development. So he’s making money on both the plumbing and ⁓ and and and equity on each house. And he funded me. I I do that with the plumber, electrician, HVAC, and let’s say another guy. Gotta raise the million dollars to go pick up a development on a takedown and they’re all getting equity now.

And I put and I picked up a development with a million dollars of none of my own deal, none of my own money. That’s why we picked up two or

Issa Hanna (11:20)
That’s beautiful, man. And and you’re and you’re using your your knowledge and and your connections to empower your own community. So I for sure applaud that, man.

Oscar Figueroa (11:28)
Yeah,

and and like here’s the thing, it’s just like all my subs, like they’ve known my me for years. Cause my dad’s been in the construction industry for like, you know, twenty years. He does kitchen cabinets. So that we’ve known them. And now that they see that like I’m growing fast, they’re like, this guy knows what he’s doing. And then, you know, I’ll give private private lessons. There’s a couple of guys that I’ll have whiteboards. So when if they want to learn about money, we’ll sit down and we’ll hammer this because I like education is gonna be a ⁓ a big part of this because

We can’t play the game if you don’t know how to move the pieces.

Issa Hanna (11:59)
Exactly. You’re playing chess, not checkers, right? Yeah. Definitely, definitely. And then your business relationships, your network, your sphere, people that you know, you’ve been able to A empower them and then B, you’ve been able to make so much money together where people just starting off and maybe getting some inspiration from your story. can you give them some advice on on how to get started cultivating these relationships?

Oscar Figueroa (12:25)
Well, that’s the thing. It’s just like I think the the the thing that was the most helpful was that I bought a lot in the development where ⁓ basically other builders were buying lots, right? And if you’re just around building and people building, like you’re gonna meet people that are ambitious. You don’t end up buying a lot and trying to build a house if you don’t have some sort of ambition. So the sub development, there was a bunch of people who were there. We all networked and we all kind of talked amongst ourselves.

I kinda understood it’s like, hey, this guy understands money or this guy’s old school. A lot of these Mexicans will buy a lot and build a house completely cash. They don’t understand credit and they’re scared of it. And I get it. ⁓ so you know, you kind of just f figure out where fit peop fit people where they kind of fit best. ⁓ and then just kind of go from there. ⁓ it’s not gonna happen overnight. I mean, it’s taken me like six years to like make all these connections and meet these people, but then also it’s just like it’s all just kind of hit and clicked all at once. That’s why I was just like, I’m going on all gas, no brakes.

Issa Hanna (13:19)
And then you also told me that you and your group of partners, you guys work together so well because you all understand each other’s role and then there’s no egos. can you shed some more light on that?

Oscar Figueroa (14:11)
Yeah, look, there’s no egos and we all know that everyone’s busy. Like the knowing my friend, he’s ⁓ or the guy who does the land entitlements, he runs a paint store. I see him running around like crazy. He’s and then, you know, we’ve all been so busy to the point where it’s just like it’s problem with, you know, our families, right? And I know that if he’s not contacting me back, he’s gonna get to me when he gets to me. You know? We’ll send him an email. He knows the responsibilities and he trusts me to make the decisions.

Or or or know when to go ask him Jose Siniga, even though he’s our financial anchor, he’s getting a percentage. There’s no need for him to be involved in this business right now. He’s doing a hundred loans and he’s the one kind of financing things. So there I if he speaks to us once a month, that’s not a problem with us. But he’s doing his job silently. ⁓ so and then because he does a hundred loans a year, that’s two loans a week. The amount of wasted conversations that you have to have with prospects, clients that lead to nothing to get to those numbers.

Yeah, I I admire that guy for his for for for the hard work. And you know, we just trust each other. Everybody understands that everybody involved is an adult.

Issa Hanna (15:15)
Definitely. And Jose, the the loan officer that you dealt with, you found him as your time as a realtor, correct?

Oscar Figueroa (15:21)
Yeah, I met him through another person ⁓ who’s another realtor kind of brought me into my my office right now. And ⁓ basically we just me and him just kinda hit it off. We always kinda worked on stuff. And that’s the thing about like loan officers. Loan officers at the same time where they’re dealing with clients, they’re investing in relationships with realtors because of the realtors bring the business to them. So you know, when they see a young, hungry realtor who’s asking a ton of questions, who wants to be a better service, because at the end of the day, the information he gave me led me to be do better sales.

And you know, it was no once he saw that we put seven hustles under contract and it was like my month three, month four in, and that I was knocking doors, ⁓ coming, and then I would knock on the door, they would hit me with the scenario, and then I was like, I don’t know that. I’m gonna go ask Joseito about it tomorrow. So it was just, you know, this guy’s going out there knocking doors, he’s sending the mobile app so he knows that it wasn’t I’ll be sending the mobile app and he can show that the app was being shared at like six, seven in the at night in the winter at night.

And then ⁓ and then from there he just knew that that that I was gonna make it happen. And plus also like if I did twenty, thirty loans for with him alone, you know, he made it the for those loan officers that understand that, I mean, that’s a decent size of chunk for for for any any loan officer.

Issa Hanna (16:31)
definitely. And you guys are making beautiful business together, so along with your other partners. So I applaud y’all. Now, ⁓ Oscar, I wanna give you the floor. If people wanted to get a hold of you, ⁓ maybe to buy a house that you built, maybe represent them for real estate, maybe somebody in your community sees this and and they want to ask you a question because you love to help the community, ⁓ how could they get a hold of you? If they

Oscar Figueroa (16:55)
They

if they want to get a hold of me, my phone number is 509-491-8826. And then my email is [email protected] I would love to help. Like I said, I want to help the little guy out and I want to give people the information. I feel like the whole thing of like, you know, people keeping the secrets because they’re afraid that other people are gonna make money is stupid. Like it doesn’t make sense. Like I told Axel, it’s like Axel, the housing in the US.

The old the housing before the 1970s, it’s not gonna make it another hundred years. We have to replace the entire housing stock over the next hundred years, for more or for less. And the fact, and then also, and they’re like, well, if you teach everybody how to build houses, then there’s gonna be your competition. Yes, but have you seen the country, bro? Like there’s there’s enough work out here if you learn how to build a house that you can go tackle some of this infrastructure, the the repair some of the roads or bridges. Like there’s a ton of work out there.

Issa Hanna (17:48)
And those are for sure some opportunities I think you’re you’re already seeing on the horizon, huh?

Oscar Figueroa (17:53)
Yeah, that’s the thing. It’s just like, okay, well, if you can basically have enough money to move money and then at that point you’re buying the commercial land and you understand the needs of the community because the government’s not gonna step in and do it, then at that point, okay, then opportunities that are infinite.

Issa Hanna (18:07)
Definitely, and that’s the American dream. So Yeah. you can definitely build that. Well, Oscar, I appreciate you have or having you on, sharing your vast knowledge with us. One thing I want to ask you before I let you go. How old are you?

Oscar Figueroa (18:20)
30. I I started I got into real estate at 24 and for three years I just spent it in a semi planning, trying trying to like plan consuming knowledge, consuming podcasts, imagining what it would be like. And then when I had enough money to basically buy a lot and then ⁓ execute that, then I I kind of stayed with that. And it was funny because it was during that time in COVID when everybody was getting rich off crypto, and I was like,

That flop. Like I ain’t I it, you know, I I don’t believe in that I don’t know it. And it’s a you know, I never I just never I never felt comfortable with crypto. And ⁓ and I was just like, I’m just gonna focus on these skill sets. I don’t know how far it’ll go, but I know that I can trust that. The skill sets are never gonna leave me. A lot of these crypto guys right now, what else are they gonna do?

Issa Hanna (19:02)
Exactly. You’re building real life skills and real life houses at only thirty years old. I’m curious to see what you’re gonna be at forty years old, Oscar. Oscar, thank you so much for coming on. If you guys enjoyed my ⁓ a conversation with Oscar and want to see more like this, make sure to like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that could give us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry.