Real Estate Investing in Los Angeles: Deals, Overleveraging Lessons, and Scaling a 10M Portfolio Fast

Jovon Yanez
I mean that’s kind of a loaded question, right? There’s never not enough deals. There’s never not enough deals. It’s just you gotta get out there and network. I have a big network, so I I don’t really even need a prospect anymore. I get sent on average five deals every day. Not saying all of them are good, but I mean if you’re if you’re underwriting five deals a day, I mean you’re gonna hit something that week. You know? So I mean, just I think the untapped potential is just really your network, grow your network.

Scott Bursey
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast, powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And today we have a guest who’s not just moving deals, he’s building a legacy. He’s bringing the feel of deep-rooted local expertise mixed with heavy hitting capital raising skills, the kind that turn markets upside down. We’re going to talk about how we scale two multimillion dollar businesses while honoring a three generation family history in the LA market. Strap in pros, because this is going to be a masterclass. Jovon, welcome to the show.

Jovon Yanez
Hey Scott, thanks for having me.

Scott Bursey
It is awesome to have you here, Jovon. And it’s the last name is Yanez. Jovon Yanez.

Jovon Yanez
Yep. Thank you.

Scott Bursey
And to help our listeners get up to speed, please give us the front row seat and how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Jovon Yanez
Yeah, so everything I do is related to real estate right now. I got into real estate as just a typical, you know, production agent. And that was never my goal. It was never, you know, there’s a big problem with just being in production. There’s there’s a running joke in the real estate industry where you never get invited to a realtor’s retirement party, only the funeral. And you know, I didn’t want to be, I didn’t want to be that.

So another reason why I focus on investments is because I want to do humanitarian work. And I you know, I there’s a lot of causes in in the world and in our nation that I want to be able to pour money into. So the the best way I know how to do that is to fund these initiatives and impact funds. And the the best way to do that is to invest in real estate. So you know, I do fix and flips. I I have three under construction right now that will be sold off by August. I have one novation going on right now. That’s in Larchmont Village. That will be a novation actually hitting the market, hopefully in October. That’s a million dollar renovation. So that’s a bigger one. And working on a couple bigger acquisitions, like a 230 unit development, low affordable housing project for the city of LA. And also an eighty six bed memory care facility.

Scott Bursey
That’s incredible. That really is. And what really caught my attention about you was the way that you’ve been able to combine a three-generational family legacy in Los Angeles with modern day scaling, acquiring over 10 million dollars in real estate in just two years while building, you know, a high performing real estate team. That level of growth, especially in the competitive market like LA, is exactly the kind of momentum we love highlighting here. Yes, and that is just awesome. And since your family has been a pillar in the LA community for three generations, I’m curious how have you leveraged those established local routes to gain an edge in the capital raising efforts that newcomers might be missing totally?

Jovon Yanez
Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if there’s like causation for me being local for, you know, three generations. My my I I didn’t grow up with any of my family owning homes. They I didn’t I do not come from like a wealthy family. There was no financial literacy taught, but they have been here three generations and I do hold strong roots to Northeast LA specifically. It’s where I grew up. I I’ve seen, you know, the the city change, for better and for worse.

But it just, you know, you have some pride when you have deep roots here. And I love my city. I love Southern California. I think it’s probably the one of the most beautiful places you could live. Weather’s great. We have, you know, fantastic restaurants, fantastic museums. Very hard to to beat that, you know. It’s funny watching all these things on the on the Europeans and Africans from around the world come over to the US for the World Cup. But like they’re just amazed, you know, just by like Walmart. And it’s like stuff we take for granted here in the US. Like they’re just amazed at like Longhorn Steakhouse. Like I I would never send somebody there, but they’re just like, my gosh, this is the best thing in the world.

And coming from, you know, the best nations in the world and arguably the best state in the world, never mind the politics, I mean, it’s hard not to take pride in that because it’s it’s hard not to be on fire for people wanting to plant roots here with, you know, real estate. You know, that’s that’s what has fueled a lot of my production. And as far as cap raising goes, I mean, if I’m talking to a hedge fund or PE firm, they like that I really know the market here. They like that I know all the sub markets here. They know where they know I know where best to allocate the capital.

Scott Bursey
Jovon, thank you for highlighting that. And you know, you’re growing so quickly. What type of friction points have you hit along the way?

Jovon Yanez
Yeah, a lot. A lot. I mean, I’m I I learned things super quickly. That’s just a part of my personality. But I mean, there’s been a lot of trial and error. Being over leveraged was probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned as being an investor. When you’re over leveraged, it’s not fun. I mean, you’re really counting every every dollar that leaves your bank account, you know. And when you’re over leveraged, your projects aren’t moving at the speed you need them to move out. Not only just want them to move out, but when you’re stuck in you know two, three bills and you’re paying twenty thousand dollars every month for that mortgage, it hurts.

So that was a lot of friction right there. You know, thank Jesus. I got out of it pretty clean. And so I’m I’m more disciplined now with the investments I take on. I’m more disciplined with capital deployment and allocation. As far as like training other people in the industry, I I honestly don’t have that down yet. When I kind of make it too easy for people, they always want to be babied, right? They they want me to give them the deals and it’s just like that’s not good for my bank account. And then, you know, real estate has a lot of turnover. So, you know, where where is that, where’s that line at? Like how like go out, like I’ll teach you how to fish, but you have to go and fish. Not just here’s the fish. And that’s the hardest part in real estate, I think, for a lot of people is how to get your book of business going.

Scott Bursey
I appreciate the transparency there. And with your team doing ten to twenty five deals a month, I’m curious to know where do you see the biggest untapped fuel in the Los Angeles and Riverside markets right now that other investors may be overlooking?

Jovon Yanez
I would say, I mean that’s kind of a loaded question, right? I there’s never a there’s never not enough deals. There’s never not enough deals. It’s just you gotta get out there and network. I have a big network, so I I don’t really even need a prospect anymore. I get sent on average five deals every day. Not saying all of them are good, but I mean if you’re if you’re underwriting five deals a day, I mean you’re gonna hit something that week. You know? So I mean, just I think the untapped potential is just really your network, grow your network.

Scott Bursey
Jovon, you hit it right on the head. Those relationships and building the network is so key. For you, what has made the biggest difference in that respect?

Jovon Yanez
I I networked relentlessly for the first three years I was in real estate. And it’s you know, there’s something to be said when when you’re at these networking events and you can talk educated to somebody and confidently with authority, it makes a big difference. People trust you and then they’ll they’ll give you a chance. You can’t just go in there unprepared and you know, just sound like you just rolled out of bed or like you have just zero clue, right? A track record does help also.

But more than that, I think if you could talk confidently and with authority to other investors and to other agents, they’re gonna trust you to move that deal for them or to invest in you also to trust you with their, you know, flips. Because some investors do need a good agent skill that will we’ll take care of them on the on the deployment side, on the disposition side, on the, you know, marketing side of the—

Scott Bursey
Great point, and I couldn’t agree more. People do business with folks that they know they like and they trust. That was spot on. You know, Jovon, the market landscape is shifting constantly. And I’d love to hear your take. What’s the single biggest external threat to your current business model? And what’s your defensive strategy, I guess, to kind of protect your investors from that risk?

Jovon Yanez
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I don’t really know what the biggest threat is to real estate investing right now. Obviously, I mean if war isn’t good and on a macroeconomic level, that’s not good for the interest rates. You know, interest rates are a tricky subject because me as an investor, I don’t really look at the interest rate too much. I mean, I’m used to paying 10% for my my monthly interest rate when I go into a project. But on the marketing side, on the sales side to, you know, Mr. and Mrs. New Homeowner, I mean, every single basis point counts, every fraction of that basis point counts to them.

If they’re if we’re at close to the sevens again, I mean that’s gonna turn down that’s that’s gonna shrink our buyer pool a lot. I don’t think we’ll get to the sevens again. I I do confidently think we will get somewhere to the low fives next year. I don’t think it’s gonna happen this year. They kind of already said it’s not gonna happen this year. And people were banking on it. I said always it’s gonna happen in twenty twenty seven.

Scott Bursey
That is some really good perspective. Thank you for that. And what’s your strategy on maintaining investor confidence when when the market gets choppy?

Jovon Yanez
Yeah, I mean we’ve been through that already, right? I mean, right after what was it 2023 to 2024? I mean, I I I had in in 2022, I I probably had about 12 qualified buyers. I had about five listings coming up, and almost overnight, I mean, they just disappeared. They were no longer approved for the amount that they were approved for. Interest rates were going up every single day. And that’s where I really made the switch to target-only investors.

And that’s what taught me a lot about investing, is just working purely with investors because they didn’t really care about the interest rates. They cared about, hey, this is a six-figure flip. Even if you miss, even if your numbers are off by five percent, you’re still gonna make money. You know, it was still a healthy enough market to where we could find these deals and especially in a high interest rate environment where there’s not a lot of other buyers or investors competing for the same deal, it gets a little easier on acquisition. You can get a little less aggressive with your offers. And that’s what I was good at. I was good at, you know, hey, the seller wants seven hundred for this. I’m gonna try to get it for you at six fifty. For you, Mr. Investor, is that a great deal? Yeah, if you get it at six fifty, I’ll do that all day.

So that’s what I was great at. I mean, finding you know, we you you talk about, you know, shifting markets, right? High interest rates, focus on investors, focus on acquisitions, because those opportunities are gonna be easier to find. A lot of people are gonna exit the industry in those high interest rate markets. Right now I think we’re at a fair interest rate, and I I still see a lot of people leaving the industry, back to whatever industry they were at before. So again, there’s a lot of there’s a lot more room right now for people to make a play. I don’t know if that answers your question or not, but—

Scott Bursey
It makes perfect sense. And on that note, Jovon, what is some of your short term strategy and some long term strategy that you could share with our pros?

Jovon Yanez
Yeah, on the short term strategy, it’s just a regular fix and flip, right? You know, you can get in and out within four months. So you turn over projects every four months. You could do three to four of those a year. If your numbers are correct, you’re at a fifteen percent ROI, you can make, you know, a hundred to three hundred thousand dollars. On the long term, you know, when we’re talking about legacy building, you do need a buy and hold. And for me, that came down to short-term rentals in other markets like Nashville or Florida. I do want to acquire some apartment buildings and I’m focusing more on like the South region of America, Kentucky, Alabama, places like that. I think it makes a lot of sense there because you know, I’ve seen some deals out there, seven doors for like $750,000. Well, if I’m charging a thousand dollars a door, I’m almost out of one percent. So that that that deal makes sense all day.

I think multifamily in California has changed a lot over the last five to ten years. And a lot of these older investors that I talked to, you know, they’re 60, 70 years old, they have a lot of doors in LA and surrounding, and they’ve built a ton of wealth off of them. And, you know, they are, you know, them and their family are coasting right now, but we can’t use their same model in today’s market. Our price points for multifamily in LA are just way too high. You have to already be wealthy to play here. And that’s why I’m looking out of state for some of these lower price points and you know, small cash flow. So when we’re looking at legacy building, that all comes down to cash flow, right? Also, what I’m doing with the senior care facilities right now, those are really great opportunities.

Scott Bursey
Jovon, thank you for that excellent breakdown. And you have really given us some great words of wisdom, some great advice today. But is there any additional words of wisdom or advice that you can leave with our listeners?

Jovon Yanez
Yeah, of course. Learn your craft. I mean, if you want to be in real estate, be disciplined. And I don’t mean like be disciplined with your time, but be disciplined with your worldly vision of real estate. Learn learn how to underwrite something properly, right? Learn what’s the what what is how do I get to a cap rate? How do how do I figure out a construction budget? How do I figure out how long a lease up is gonna take? How do I figure out the different zoning laws in this specific county or if something can be rezoned? Right? Look into what the city’s looking for when trying to get something entitled.

This stuff is gonna teach you a lot. And sure, you’re not gonna make money off of it right away, but I guarantee you, you just need that one person who has like 50 million dollars who wants to do something crazy. And when you talk to them and you tell them, like, I know how to do X, Y, and Z. Give me a shot, you’ll be surprised how far that goes.

Scott Bursey
Jovon, it sounds like educating yourself and then implementing that education is what you’re telling our listeners.

Jovon Yanez
Exactly.

Scott Bursey
And that is some great words of wisdom. If our listeners wanted to keep this conversation going and stay in your lane, you know, collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to plug into your pipeline and reach you directly?

Jovon Yanez
Yeah, you could text me. I mean, just Google my name, you’ll find my number pretty easily. And I’m on Instagram @thejovonyanez, J-O-V-O-N-Y-A-N-E-Z. I just believe there’s only one of me on there, so I’m pretty easy to be reached. I I like to say like if I was trying to hide, I I would have a really hard time trying to hide. Yeah.

Scott Bursey
Awesome. Thank you for joining us today, Jovon. This has been really a good conversation.

Jovon Yanez
Thank you Scott.

Scott Bursey
And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests, just like Jovon Yanez who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.