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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Jerry Ruffin, a real estate transactional engineer. Jerry shares insights into his role, which involves acquiring properties, funding them, and determining exit strategies. He emphasizes the importance of community and teamwork in real estate, discusses the challenges investors face, and highlights his future projects, including a significant 91-unit development. Jerry also offers valuable advice on networking, analyzing deals, and maintaining a positive mindset in the industry.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Jerry Ruffin (00:00)
Yes, and there’s a couple here’s one Analyze 100 not 98 not 72 not 35. I said 100 whatever strategy you want to learn how to do you want to be a buy and hold investor a fix and flipper ora note buyer, whatever it is, whatever strategy you want to do, I’m going to do some wholesaling. All right. Here’s the first thing you do. Analyze 100 wholesale deals before you buy your first one. If you do that, I’m guaranteeing you you’re going to buy the property at the right price. The challenge that new investors have is they don’t know how to run the numbers.
Quentin (02:23)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m super excited to be here. I’m excited about my guest. Listen, I’m gonna try to give you his words, right? Because I can’t tie this guy down just to just one thing. This gentleman is a real estate transactional engineer. I’m gonna let him explain what that is, but I’m gonna tell you right now, man has got no stuff.That’s what it means. And I’m excited to be able for him to take you into his world, to see through his lens. I think I know this will be a valuable episode. And so I’d like to introduce you guys to Mr. Jerry Ruffin. Mr. Jerry, can I call you JR? Do I have the privilege?
Jerry Ruffin (03:11)
Hey, the people that know me, that’s what they call me, JR.Quentin (03:14)
okay, so here he is, man. Listen,Mr. JR, Mr. Jerry Ruffin, I do wanna make sure I put some respect on his name. How you doing today,
Jerry Ruffin (03:23)
I am doing fantastic, my brother. Thank you for inviting me on to share with your guests. ⁓ I’m excited to be here, my brother. Yes.Quentin (03:32)
Yeah, man. Listen, I’m excited to haveyou. Just getting to know you, I cannot wait for the audience just to get your perspective, get to see things from your lens and what you do. so listen, I want your voice to be the predominant voice on this episode. So let’s dive in, man. I want you to take people into your world, right? Take people into your world, people that’s not familiar with you. Let them know what your main focus are, and then also maybe what markets you’re operating in.
Jerry Ruffin (03:50)
Dabin. Transactical Engineering.Okay, cool. Well, let’s start off with the markets. ⁓ Markets, I’m in Detroit and Illinois right now, right? I’m living here in Michigan, Detroit, but I want to do real estate all over the nation. I’m open to deals all 50 states.
You asked what is transactional engineer? A transactional, a real estate transactional engineer consists of three components. That is acquiring properties, how to fund those properties, and then what is your exit strategy? If you learn those three, the more strategies you know how to do,
the more opportunities going to come your way, right? The different strategies matches up with the funding. So you might be thinking, I don’t do real estate because I don’t have the money. It is actually the transaction that brings you the money. Once you’re able to put it together, the funding come running at you. And you mean, well, what do you mean Jerry? Well, let’s say you’re using private.
Right? And a retirement account. Right? One thing about a retirement account, you don’t have to pay monthly. Right? You can negotiate, hey, can I pay you once the deal is done? Right? So there’s different ways to fund different real estate transactions. Right? And then once you get it funded, what do you plan on doing with it once it’s nice and pretty? Are you flipping it? Are you a tenant in there, and hold? Right?
Are you turning into a short-term rental? You guys may know of it as Airbnb, right? But the strategy is called short-term rental, right? Then you have midterm rentals where people stay a little bit longer, right? ⁓ So, transactional engineer stows three components, acquisition, funding, and exit strategy. And that’s what I consider myself, a real estate transactional engineer.
Quentin (06:59)
Man, man, y’all heard it right? I’ve made so well explain, man, I love how you talked about putting the strategy together for the transaction. I absolutely love that. And I know, you you have different ways of putting a strategy together for different transactions. And I know sometimes that’s not especially always easy in this climate. So what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly?Jerry Ruffin (07:25)
⁓I would definitely say is community, right? Real estate is a team sport, right? I’m not saying that you can’t do this journey all by yourself because you can, right? However, I just want you to know that you can go faster and further if you go with a team, right? And as you just asked me earlier, what markets would I like to invest in? If I’m here in Detroit, but I want to invest in Florida, I’m gonna need some
I’m gonna need a team member. I’m gonna need some boots on the ground, right? And so, ⁓ the more you build your team
The more opportunities are going to come your way. It’s just that simple. It’s the numbers game. If you put out more offers, then guess what? One of them is going to get accepted. But I find that most people don’t put out offers. I want to do some real estate. Well, how many offers have you put out in the last month? two.
So you got to, well you don’t have to, but if you want to be a successful real estate investor, right, that’s what it consists of making offers.
Quentin (08:47)
Absolutely. Nah, man, again, great, you gotta be putting out the office. You gotta be putting on the work. You gotta be put, you know, people say, and I think it’s true, and I know it to be true, you can’t go to a refrigerator and get something out that you ain’t put in. So you gotta put in the work if you wanna get out this success. So I absolutely hear you on that, man. So let me ask you this, you know, I know, you’ve seen a lot of different things in your journey.Jerry Ruffin (08:56)
Cheers.Quentin (09:16)
And so I know, you know, there’s moments when things get real, but maybe a day will go sideways or a time when you have to pivot fast. You mind sharing any of the stories that you have for that about a situation like that?Jerry Ruffin (09:31)
Sure, the power of the pivot is what we call it. So in real estate, I don’t care whether you are a newbie, I’ve never done any deals, I just learned this thing, whether you’re intermediate, hey, I done a few deals here and there, or if you’re a veteran, I done did multiple deals, I’ve been in real estate for 20, 30 years. I hear that all the time. ⁓Quentin (09:57)
Yeah.Jerry Ruffin (09:59)
Itdoesn’t matter where you are in your journey. There are going to be challenges. There are going to be people that you block in the deal, you get the deal on the contract, and then they’re going to get into their feelings. Well, I love this house and I grew up in it and the price isn’t right. So now you got to figure out, OK.
Like, you know, you gonna get to the closing table when somebody gonna bag out on you. Like, what? Are you kidding me? Right. So there’s gonna be challenges in real estate. I want to say real estate is the industry that the misconception is. Hmm. It’s easy. There’s nothing in real estate that’s easy.
Quentin (11:02)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.Ha
Jerry Ruffin (11:21)
Simple once you learn the process Right as you do in the repetition I I didn’t did my four-fifths and flip in the in the in the whole 12 months, right? I’m on my fifth starting next year, right? The more you do them the simpler it becomes But don’t get get it twisted. It’s not easy is not put this in the microwave Tomorrow, I’m a millionaire. It just doesn’t work that way wrongwasn’t built in a day. so real estate is about building as you go, taking baby steps, learning the process.
Quentin (12:04)
That’s brilliant because that kind of advice sets good. If people take it and run with it, it can set people up for the long term. It can set you up from just dabbling in it, and it can really set you up to looking for that long-term success. And so I thank you for sharing that perspective and that advice because people need to hear it, especially from coming from somebody like you with the success that you have and will continue to have.And so with that being said, talking about success and future success, let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? What’s the next real goal for you?
Jerry Ruffin (12:36)
Thank you.my next, real goal, I guess I would say is, ⁓ I’ve been working on a, ⁓ a new construction, ⁓ opportunity with, ⁓ someone, ⁓ which is a,
My big, I would say my biggest project is a 91 unit is proposed a 91 unit mix storefronts with apartments in downtown Fenton, Michigan. so that, you know, $46 million deal, right? And so it’s, like I said, by far the biggest transaction that I’m involved with. And
I’m, you know, I’m looking forward to breaking ground ⁓ here coming ⁓ soon. we like, I’m ⁓ excited about it. I’m learning, right? ⁓ There are challenges that I face, big challenges, right? ⁓ You know, obviously in the commercial world and the commercial space is totally different from, you know, residential investing.
So, you know, the funding, the financing, you know, the team that you need, you know what I’m saying, or something of this magnitude, you know, is a great learning experience. And so, yeah, that project is what I’m looking to, you know, kind of like Gawker as my biggest project, right?
Quentin (14:21)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, absolutely. No, man, that’s big. That’s big, especially when you already got stuff in place. You already got the, you know, the notes, you already got ⁓ short term rental. And now you’re talking about this 91 unit complex, $46 million deal. That’s huge, man. And I know you know the next move, it can either compound things or create total chaos depending on how you play it, right? But you, my friend,
as you so eloquently said early, and hopefully I can regurgitate it, is that it’s the system for the transaction. And it’s no doubt in my mind that you got the right system to be able to do that transaction. And I’m just looking forward to hearing about the success when it comes through and when you get it all taken care of. And so I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you for sharing that. Now I’m going to ask you this because you talked about, you put up buzzwords that I love, like community and the right people. So I think
Well, this is what I know. People that’s listening to this, they’re either early in their journey or they look at their level up. And I know they would benefit hearing from you when it comes to building relationships and growing your network. What’s made the biggest difference for you?
Jerry Ruffin (16:18)
I would venture to say that when I first got to this community, I answered a roadside sign that said, real estate investor seeks trainee. And it said earn while you learn. So me being a taxicab, triple-A tow truck driver, I was intrigued.I can earn while I learn because I don’t know how to do any real estate, right? So when I got to this community, it was such a red carpet rollout. Hey, what do you what do you what do you know? ⁓ I know that I don’t know how to spell real estate. So so I I what do I do? Where do I start? So the the the communities
Quentin (17:09)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.Jerry Ruffin (17:15)
⁓ aspect of this thing was larger to me than the Education was because I was like well wait if I’m gonna have people hold my hand and walk me through hey Jerry Don’t make that mistake. I did that and it cost me that to me was priceless and for the simple fact that a lot of them Didn’t have you know this like, you knowQuentin (17:41)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah.Jerry Ruffin (17:42)
You know what I’m saying? So it was like, I’mgetting this help from people that we don’t normally get help from. Like, you know what I’m saying? So it was really, really a blessing, man. And man, I’m so proud of this community and I share it with them every single day. You know, tonight I do what’s called the Real Estate Investor Study Hive.
And this is tonight my topic is tax strategies and entity structure. So all of my new people who are running out, ⁓ I went and set up my LLC. Well, if you’re doing fix and flip, LLC might not be the best entity to have your business in, right? But we don’t know what we don’t know, right? And so.
Quentin (18:35)
ThankJerry Ruffin (18:38)
You know, I definitely will invite you and whomever else, you know, come and hang out with me and learn some new stuff. But we, ⁓ yeah, so our community is, is filled with a lot of different, ⁓ investors who learn their own niche. We have young lady doing mobile homes and you know, again, my strategy is seller finance notes. And for investors out there don’t know what that is, seller finance notes.Quentin (18:42)
Absolutely.Jerry Ruffin (19:07)
is the best real estate strategy. What Solar Finance notes is, is simply you purchasing money every month. You just purchasing that monthly payment that’s tied to the property. You don’t own the property, it’s just the simple, I buy that monthly payment and that monthly payment hit my account every month. If it don’t hit my account, then I…reach out to the owner and then we discuss, should we lower the payment and extend the years of payments? Right? So best strategy, y’all, you gotta learn that. So get with me later or whatever, you know, get with Quentin, get on his squad, cause Quentin’s squad got me here, y’all. ⁓ pardon the puny, man, I love Quentin.
Quentin (19:43)
Hmm. Yep.Yeah, Yeah, come on now. Yeah,
yeah. No, I love, man. Listen, we close the rapid, but you keep dropping nuggets, man. So I am going to ask this question. It wasn’t necessarily a planned question, but when I’m talking to people like you, I love to kind of think about this question here and position it like this. Is there any other words?
or anything that’s been kind of on your heart or your mind that you feel like the listeners should know? It could be a word of inspiration, education, advice. Like, you know, this audience, they’re from different walks when it comes to real estate. You know, you have positioned yourself where I’d rather do different things. Is there any advice you feel like on your heart that you feel like the listeners could benefit from?
Jerry Ruffin (20:43)
Yes, and there’s a couple here’s one Analyze 100 not 98 not 72 not 35. I said 100 whatever strategy you want to learn how to do you want to be a buy and hold investor a fix and flipper ora note buyer, whatever it is, whatever strategy you want to do, I’m going to do some wholesaling. All right. Here’s the first thing you do. Analyze 100 wholesale deals before you buy your first one. If you do that, I’m guaranteeing you you’re going to buy the property at the right price. The challenge that new investors have is they don’t know how to run the numbers.
Some even forget to add their profit in how do you do that? Right there run the numbers and don’t add their profit in there right so ⁓ That would be my very first ⁓ bit of advice, you know the more deals that you analyze You’re going to get to the point where as you can start doing cowboy math. well, what is the repair cost? Okay, my holding cost is going to be this
This is my profit you can break it down to the number and really really see what it is that you What it is that you’re purchasing and what profit that you can make from it, right? That’s the important part secondly, I I like to share with people that Whatever you’re carrying around if if you have a cup of coffee someone bumps into you
You know, one might say the reason why you spilled that is because somebody bumped into you, right? However, what ever’s in that cup, whatever’s in that cup is gonna spill, right? So make sure what’s in your cup. Hopefully is some kindness, is some love, is some caring, some empathy, right? But if you have fear, if you have hate,
Quentin (22:59)
Come on.Jerry Ruffin (23:02)
If you have doubt, if you have misconceptions, that’s what’s gonna spill out of your cup. So make sure what you’re filling in your cup is something much of a blessing that can help and share others, right? So real estate is a journey, man. So you don’t have to take this journey all alone. Link up with Quentin, get with the team, and get on the team that’s talking about.Quentin (23:29)
youJerry Ruffin (23:31)
How many of us is living around people who aren’t having these kind of conversations? They’re not talking about the future They’re talking about the past in the dark and the alligators in the water, right? You got to surround yourself with the people who are gonna help push you right your net worth your bank account is You look at your bank account Look at the five people around you and noticeDang, they bank account look the same as mine’s. Right? You wanna have that network of people who you are looking up to, who inspires you, right? Who are naysayin’ everything. ⁓ that, yeah, that. The reason why they ain’t doin’ real estate, and everybody is a real estate investor whether you like it or not. If you live in a home, you payin’ some rent, you got a roof over your head, you are a real estate investor.
Quentin (24:27)
investment.Jerry Ruffin (24:29)
It’s just, you investing for someone else or are you investing for yourself? Right? And so that’s what the community is all about. Helping people invest on their own, right? Investing to build them something. Kind of take away their trading time for money. Right? So there’s only four currencies on earth. Time, knowledge, relationship, and money. You notice I said money last?wealthy people trade their money for their time.
That’s why they own the golf course. Hey guys, it’s the first of the month. I just get all my rents Those people are working hard to pay me my rent, right? Let’s do another 18 holes, right? So they’re trading their money For their time Time is the most important asset, right? When you sit in there on that deathbed, you’re not thinking about no money You’re thinking about all the relationships you made
or should have built and did better, right? You know, and just, man, it’s a lot, but I’m sorry.
Quentin (25:45)
Yeah, yeah. No, man, don’t even be sorry. This is what I he was goingto do, man. I knew he was going to drop the nuggets in them gems. So I appreciate you, man. Thank you. Thank you so much. Speaking of teams, man, listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,
Jerry Ruffin (26:09)
⁓ You can catch me at ⁓ ruffingerry at gmail so if anybody want to just shoot me an email right and let me know you know kind of what it is that they want to do right ⁓ and I do a podcast every Sunday as well my really my podcast is called the juice show podcast and you have been juicedQuentin (26:27)
Tell him about it,Jerry Ruffin (26:38)
But yeah, so this is my podcast. I sit here and do my podcast every Sunday. And what we do on our podcast is we invite students on, successful students, to share their story. And I also invite those practitioner instructors. So I have instructors on, like, telling us about the fix and flips or apartment buildings, whatever kind of real estate you want to do, right? So I have a marketing company that helps people get into real estate. And so…Yeah, you guys can reach out to me at ⁓ ruffinjerry. So everybody know David ruffin the singer and no relations But did Ruffin Jerry at gmail just shoot me a email. Hey Jerry ⁓ can I check out the community or can I come to your podcast? Like I said tonight, I’m doing that tax and legal and entity structure So if you guys want to set that up
Quentin (27:14)
Yeah, bro, uh-huh, uh-huh.Yeah.
Jerry Ruffin (27:36)
I’m going give Quentin all my information. So if anybody, you know, reach out, connect with me, I’m definitely available. He will have my information for you guys available. Okay.Quentin (27:39)
Yeah.I love it. Man, Mr. Jerry, sir, thank you so much, man. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your story. Thank you for your perspective. Man, we just need more people like you in this space that’s going it the right way. So, sir, I appreciate you for being here today, man.
Jerry Ruffin (28:07)
Amen. just want to thank you for allowing me to come and share my experience, my little journey, right? It’s such a big huge world guys, right? So, you know, come on, be a part of this thing. Quentin has laid out a platform that would allow you to grow. Don’t be afraid to step into yourself guys, right? Get on off the fence. Cool.Quentin (28:16)
Yeah.So well said, so well said. So y’all heard him, y’all heard it. And now I’m going to say this to you audience. You got value from this. You heard the nuggets. So make sure you’re subscribed. You do not want to miss out on these amazing conversations. So Mr. Jerry, thank you, sir. And to everyone else, we will see you on it next time.
