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Show Summary
In this conversation, Mike Villa shares his extensive experience in real estate investing, focusing on wholesaling, flipping, and short-term rentals. He discusses the real estate market in Utah, his acquisition strategies, and the importance of knowledge and connections in the industry. Mike emphasizes the significance of understanding seller motivations and the various financing options available. He also highlights the challenges and strategies involved in managing short-term rentals and balancing multiple business ventures.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Mike Villa (00:00)
Knowledge man, knowledge and connections, seriously. Because with the connections, I can build a team, I can train them, give them enough info to do their job, to do cold calling. We also do marketing, we do a lot of referral. I have a bigger presence in social media, so people send me stuff, people wanna work with me.So the connections and the knowledge brings the influence. Because of all the knowledge, I have the influence to have people wanna work with me and bring me deals. And because of the knowledge, we take advantage of the lead better so we don’t kill the lead,
Dylan Silver (02:04)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Mike Villa is an investor with experience flipping wholesaling in short-term rentals and construction. And he’s currently helping others get started in business and in real estate investing. You can also find him on Instagram at underscore Mike Villa. Mike, thanks for taking the time today.Mike Villa (02:27)
Thank you for the invite. Excited.Dylan Silver (02:28)
Absolutely,Absolutely. It’s great to have you on here. Where are you based out of, by the way? I didn’t ask you before hopping on here.
Mike Villa (02:35)
Lehigh Utah.Dylan Silver (02:37)
Lehigh, Utah, what’s the market like out in Lehigh, Utah? know very little about Utah, unfortunately.Mike Villa (02:43)
So Lehigh, you’re gonna see a lot of young families, you know, ⁓ there’s a lot of Mormons here. So a lot of young families with kids, which gives a life to the neighborhood. New construction, yes.Dylan Silver (02:56)
Absolutely.When we talk specifically about some of these markets, I mentioned I’m a Texas licensed realtor before hopping on here. Utah specifically is interesting because a lot of people may not recognize what Utah has to offer. Of course, you’ve got Salt Lake City. As an investor yourself, what type of deals are you looking at in Utah or are you looking at deals outside of Utah as well?
Mike Villa (03:22)
So we do wholesaling nationwide, but mainly focused in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Texas.and Colorado sometimes. But in Utah, it’s not a cash flowing estate, it’s more of an equity appreciation state. So we mostly find flips, good numbers for flips. There’s a lot of competition, but also we do a lot of sub, sub twos for rentals. Yes.
Dylan Silver (03:49)
Yep. When we talk specifically when wetalk specifically about flipping and I’m basing this off of my experience in Texas, it’s getting more challenging to be a flipper, especially when you’re competing with homes in Texas that are, you know, two hundred forty thousand dollars out the door that can be challenging brand new homes. Right. So what’s been your acquisition strategy over the last two years?
while there’s been more ground up construction really than we’ve seen in a while.
Mike Villa (05:07)
So.It’s the same process, right? So you talk to the person off market, you make sure you find someone that has a challenge that needs to sell fast. They don’t have the money usually to repair the house. So because of that, they’ll have to sell to an investor. And if you come to them as a wholesaler, then they’re saving on realtor fees and all these other fees because we pay for those and we give a cash offer. That’s our first thing. Cash offer, we justify.
how or why we’re giving and what we’re giving them, what’s our cost going to be and the risk we’re carrying. If it works, then we send the offer, get on the contract, and then we dispo it or we see if we keep it for ourselves to flip. And because we have a construction company, we have a good margin where we can keep them. But also the question is, do we want to stay longer in the deal or do just want to get rid of it?
If the cash offering doesn’t work, then we go into a creative financing option. And if that doesn’t work, we go into a, what is it called?
Novation strategy and if that doesn’t work well we have friends that are realtors and we just refer them to them if they have the time to just sit on the market to see if there’s any other investor that will offer more either because they have better margins because they do everything or maybe because they’re not experienced in running numbers and they’re excited because they watch some YouTube videos and they’ll just send it. Right.
Dylan Silver (06:29)
Sure, you’vegot experience, you you mentioned a number of different strategies, novation, know, sub two, you could refer it out. Based off of all those different segments, I’m imagining you’ve got some specific strengths that allow you to be active in those different segments. What do you attribute your success to? Is it, you know, being able to have the conversations? Is it being able to form teams? What do you see as your greatest asset in business?
Mike Villa (06:56)
Knowledge man, knowledge and connections, seriously. Because with the connections, I can build a team, I can train them, give them enough info to do their job, to do cold calling. We also do marketing, we do a lot of referral. I have a bigger presence in social media, so people send me stuff, people wanna work with me.So the connections and the knowledge brings the influence. Because of all the knowledge, I have the influence to have people wanna work with me and bring me deals. And because of the knowledge, we take advantage of the lead better so we don’t kill the lead,
Right.
Dylan Silver (07:29)
That’s right. You know how many times are folks only offeringone, you know, one option. Here’s a cash offer. They don’t even have an and or right. So I want to talk specifically, you know, if I’m a distress seller and I’m in I’m in Texas, right. And you’re reaching out to me. That conversation could go a number of different ways. Right. So you could make a cash offer, but you also have a couple of different options for folks. Walk me through what that might sound like with, you know, speaking with you or your team.
Mike Villa (07:55)
So I talked to you first, and I don’t like sounding like a salesperson. People are like, good morning, this is from this company. How are you, sir? First of all, I hate short, like, I hate small talk, it’s just weird to me. So I was trying to, like, I don’t say the company too much, I just go straight into, hey, Jeff, how’s it going? This is Mike. And I just stopped there so that like, this is Mike, Mike, everybody knows it’s a Mike.So he might think it’s a mic that he knows. So the walls are dropped. And then I’m like, hey, sorry. Sorry if I have the wrong number. I apologize, right? This is Jeff with this address, correct? Yes, this is. Awesome, hey, me and my team are looking to buy three more houses this year in, and then I mentioned the city where they’re in. We noticed your property. We’re very interested in buying cash.
We’re not realtors, no realtor fees. We pay for your closing costs and we just buy assets. Not sure if you’re interested at all. Have you thought about selling this year? And then they can be like, no, I’m not interested. Well, do know anyone that’s interested in selling? So we just buy straight from them? No, I’m not. Cool. And they’re like, yes, I’m interested. I thought about selling. And I’m like, well, when would you like to sell? Why have you thought about selling?
So the biggest thing right now is finding out the why. Because they’re gonna all say, I need money. Yes, we all need money. That’s why we, people have jobs, right? We’re gonna find out like, why do you need the money? And then go deeper into it because sometimes people, because of lack of knowledge, they think they want something and need something until you show them what really they need. So then we create the offer in a way.
structured but also pitched in a way where we focus on the pain. Why are they trying to sell? We give them that solution.
Dylan Silver (09:35)
What percentage, if you had to say, of the offers that you make are cash offers versus something else, whether it’s seller financing, you mentioned novation, referring it out to someone who could list the property potential.Mike Villa (10:22)
So we try about most of the offers and 98 % of them go straight to cash. But when I’m talking to them, depending on what they’re telling me, if I’m like, for sure this guy has time, he doesn’t have a rush and seems like he’s just so stuck with his price, like he’s already talking about his house, he’s so in love with it.We most likely will give him cash offer anyways, but start with, hey, I’m going to give you a cash offer, right? If it works for you, amazing. If it doesn’t, I have this other option. And then we throw a cash offer, but then we focus more into the sub two strategy. And we ask them, have you thought about becoming an investor yourself? Having cash flow? Do you care about having cash flow? Well, I’ve thought about it. I’m like, why you haven’t had rentals or anything like that?
Well, I hate landlording. hate, I’m like, well, what if I give you an offer where you get the benefits of a landlord without having to be the landlord and it’s secure? So you’re an investor now and we carry all that responsibility and maintenance and everything else with our interest too. ⁓ yeah, that sounds like a good thing. Then we come up with a creative strategy where we give them the cash flow and we carry everything else.
Dylan Silver (11:23)
Yeah, I mean, I think the way that you pitched it is definitely favorable towards another perspective because when you’re looking at it, well, okay, you want that much money, you’re gonna have to like hold the note and I’ve explained it to them that way, they’re gonna say, well, hold on, let me just give you cash. And they say, well, I can’t do that. So you’re looking at it from, hey, let’s make you the investor. Now it’s a collaborative approach between you and them.Mike Villa (11:48)
Exactly, you got to put them in your team and don’t sound like a salesperson too much before we’re about it, especially in Utah. There’s a lot of MLMs here. they’re in.Dylan Silver (11:54)
That’s right. That’s right. They don’t want someone come knocking on the door. ⁓You’re also active in the S.T.R. space, short-term rentals. ⁓ And this is something that I think a lot of people are interested in. They also see it a lot, you know, everywhere. And it’s one of these things. It’s very attractive, right? People would like to be an Airbnb host, for instance. What
makes a successful short term rental and then also what goes into managing an STR.
Mike Villa (12:24)
Location, huge. Size of the property, your decorations, and your pictures. And obviously your management. The location is huge. Because if you don’t have a good location and the size of the property, you’re to have an average set of vacancy rates. So make sure location is right. Make sure that there is areas around people come and visit or can at least go where it’s close or nearby.Good neighborhoods because there’s ghetto people, people breaking because I’ve had Airbnbs where people break into their cars or steal the packages. Then that can take your reviews. The location management is huge. You got to have automations. Otherwise it could become a full-time job.
Dylan Silver (12:56)
Yeah.Mike Villa (13:02)
make sure you don’t have a scarcity employee mindset where you want to do everything. I hate the whole thing of DIY, do it yourself. Yes, do it yourself when you have nothing to do to make money. And instead of watching Netflix, you can do it yourself so you can save money. But if you’re a business owner, you have to kill the mentality.You have to make sure your margins are enough where you can delegate and have people sell their time to you so you can be free to look for more deals. So that’s another one. Your management, make sure you manage right. You’re always paying attention. You have automations and you have people helping you. And that’s
Dylan Silver (13:37)
You when we talk specifically about systemsand not just doing it yourself, DIY, I think part of what’s interesting about short-term rentals is it seems like, anyone can become an Airbnb host, right? You can turn your current residence into a rental when you’re not there. And a lot of people do use it for that. I’ve heard many folks come on this show, talk about, I got this really as a ⁓ place where my family can go. But when we’re not there, we can…
Mike Villa (13:42)
Go.Dylan Silver (14:05)
We can put it out as a SDR. But on the flip side of that, you do have to like hosting, right? And you do have to like every bit of the changeover process and dealing with guests that come and go. You gotta have good communication, because as soon as your reviews go down, well, now your bookings are gonna go down, right? So being able to either really like that process or have someone else managing it for you is gonna be key to your success.Mike Villa (15:14)
Yes, exactly. And make sure, I I started cleaning them myself, but it’s not scalable. I got two and then I’m like, okay, this is a full-time job now, like a part-time. I don’t have time for any of other businesses because I’m worrying about cleaning. Then I decided to delegate it, delegate the cleaning, charge a little more, delegate it. Then I was able to scale to 10 RVs, short term rentals.Dylan Silver (15:38)
Yep.Mike Villa (15:38)
then still do my other businesses, but yes. ⁓Dylan Silver (15:41)
When we talk about scaling to 10, right? So you’ve got 10 STRs, you’re doing acquisitions, and then you’ve also got construction going as well. So now we’re active in several different segments. How are you managing these businesses? And then also too, is there any interweaving between them? Are these vertically integrated where you might make an offer and then you’ll have the construction company come out, maybe it becomes a short-term rental, right?Mike Villa (16:07)
So I started doing that, having all the businesses and having the circumference at the same time, but there is always a cap. There’s always gonna be a way where you either gonna hire a company to do it, to just manage it all yourself, or just get rid of them and then focus on what makes it more money. I got to the point where I didn’t wanna give it to a management company, but it was mainly because I don’t wanna think about it at all.I wanted to have zero thoughts. So I’m like, you know what? I will just sell them all. So I sold them all to members of my group, investors, that were starting to do their first deal. Because one of the things that I like is helping others get started and do things in business. Because this country needs people that have the guts to do businesses. Otherwise, we’re all going down. So I’m here to support, the Airbnbs to them.
Dylan Silver (16:42)
Yeah.Mike Villa (16:56)
So I can focus on wholesaling real estate, flipping and the construction more, which helps me get even more money. It’s more massive money versus passive. ⁓ So I had to do that. I was able to do both, but I could feel mentally that I, that was something holding me back. So you have to look at your businesses and then kill the one that’s holding you back to grow bigger.Dylan Silver (17:20)
Yeah, I mean, when we talk about being able to pivot, right, that’s key. Every investor that I’ve spoken with on this show has either had to pivot their business, you know, from one segment of real estate into an entirely different, or they’ve had to change their strategy. This could happen in the middle of a deal, right? And that’s what gives people longevity, makes people successful in this game. ⁓ We are actually coming up on time here though, Mike. Any new projects that you’re working on or how can our audience reach out to you or your team?Mike Villa (17:50)
New projects. We are, we just got a flip, new flip in another, in Murray. We’re gonna be starting that project. The profit’s gonna be insane. Not insane, but it’s gonna be better than the average. ⁓ And then just building my team, getting more contacts. We’re doing all their flips for all their investors. We’re gonna be starting about four more as well. We’re just gonna help the construction company.while doing the flipping company and then while still looking and doing wholesale deals. But mainly right now I’m focusing on the company’s getting bigger and being able to manage better so I can start putting people in. Because my goal is to be huge nationwide, which a lot of people have that goal, but I’m a maniac. So I’m sure I’m going to get there at some point. I hope I don’t die before that. How do you reach out to me? I’m happy to always work with you, give you some
advice or mentorship in a way and connect. You can go to Facebook or Instagram. Mike Villa, I got a suit on. You can always send me a DM and we can work together all the time. Because all my companies have branches where I can always help you somehow.
Dylan Silver (18:55)
Mike, thank you for your time today. Thank you so much for coming on the show.Mike Villa (18:59)
Thank you for the invite. Have a good one.
