Real Estate Pivots That Work: ADUs, Room Rentals, and More with Harley Robbins

Harley (00:00)

I have a friend who owns a four bedroom house, they added the fifth bedroom and they rent each room to travel nurses. And the cost, the overhead cost of that, I know they have to furnish it and they actually send a maid there every week to clean the common areas and stuff, but he’s pretty much doubled his net.

from the room sharing as opposed to just renting it out to a long-term family. So like I said, I’m an entrepreneur. We always have to adapt. You can’t cry about the situation, the laws, COVID comes, whatever the case may be. what you have to do is pivot. So you just have to look at it at an angle other people necessarily

Erika (02:13)

Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Harley Robbins, a real estate investor and agent who’s been crushing it in the market. Harley, thanks for being here.

Harley (02:28)

Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Erika (02:30)

So Harley, let’s dive in. For our audience who may not know you yet, give us the rundown. How did you get started in real estate and investing?

Harley (02:41)

Well, real estate was something I’ve always been interested in. I got my first house at 22 years old. It was just always a goal, but I actually started out in law enforcement. I worked for the California Department of Corrections for about 16 years. That’s where I kind of started. I started there at about 21 years old. However, my brother, my younger brother, he’s a little less than two years younger than me.

He started in real estate, but on the title side, he works for a title and escrow company. So us being close in age, I was always real estate adjacent. You know, lot of my mutual friends were lenders, agents, investors, even though I was in the law enforcement side, about 11 years ago is when I actually got licensed. And the reason I got licensed as a residential real estate agent is because I started to become active in investing and stuff. So yeah, that’s my journey. started, ⁓

getting interested in investing, became a residential agent because I was in it so much. And I actually, left the prison January 2nd of 2020. So I’ve been full-time investor, real estate entrepreneur for five and a half years now.

Erika (03:52)

Awesome. And what’s your main focus these days? Are there any particular markets you’re zeroing in on?

Harley (03:59)

Well, as an entrepreneur investor, just the name of the game is acquire assets. You know, if you read rich dad, poor dad, it’s, it’s acquire assets. The asset I’m obviously most comfortable with is real estate. So, uh, I always try to acquire properties and put them on the passive side as far as cashflow. The market has definitely changed, uh, before, you, if you go pre COVID or not even before that, you could typically put down.

You’re down payment on a property and cashflow right away. Things are kind of tied with the rate in the market. A lot of properties from the outside. It doesn’t make sense. So some people are getting out of real estate, but in my opinion, all you have to do is pivot. Okay. I live in California. I’m East of San Diego in the Imperial Valley, but California in general, from the outside on investing in California has a bad name because they’re not as landlord friendly. I have friends that invest in other States and

They stay away from California and it’s definitely a calm dealing with tenants here sometimes.

But one of the pros California has is they made it a lot easier to build an ADU. And for those of you who don’t know, an ADU is an accessory dwelling unit. So it’s an addition to the house or a detached studio. They have different names. Some people call them casitas, granny flats, junior ADU, but just for all intents and purposes, just the buildings of the ADU is in California.

they’ve eased up a lot on the policies and the process for it, like a lot. And so now our focus in California, you were playing the hand we’re dealt. So the hot thing in California right now is building ADUs or acquiring properties where you can build an ADU. And me as an investor, have a respectable portfolio. It’s not the best, but now instead of acquiring more, I’m backtracking, hey, what can I add?

Where in my portfolio can I add an ADU? How can I maximize what I already have? That’s what’s super hot in the market right now. That’s what’s making sense. And also instead of buying a property and just renting it out long-term, what we’re looking at now is room sharing. housing costs in California are exorbitant. We all know that. And the rents are exorbitant as well. Another way, I haven’t done it personally.

But another way investors are doing it is buying a house instead of renting out the house, they’re renting out each room. So for instance,

I have a friend who owns a four bedroom house, they added the fifth bedroom and they rent each room to travel nurses. And the cost, the overhead cost of that, I know they have to furnish it and they actually send a maid there every week to clean the common areas and stuff, but he’s pretty much doubled his net.

from the room sharing as opposed to just renting it out to a long-term family. So like I said, I’m an entrepreneur. We always have to adapt. You can’t cry about the situation, the laws, COVID comes, whatever the case may be. what you have to do is pivot. So you just have to look at it at an angle other people necessarily

So in my personal bubble, neck of the woods, right now I’m looking at ADUs and I’m looking at houses I can room share on.

That’s where our pivot is as opposed to buying, ⁓ even flipping or just long-term renting to maximize your money, your investing.

Erika (08:13)

Speaking of pivoting Harley, have you ever had a deal that went sideways, one that really tested your grit? Can you share one of those moments and how you navigated that?

Harley (08:24)

wow. I’ve had some crazy ones and I always joke because I used to work in a prison. mean, it’s a dangerous place. I saw some stuff, but I always joke because of the stuff I’ve seen on the real estate side. So I should have stayed in prison where it was safe. But I’ve had, I mean, obviously the divorces, I do a lot of divorces. Those can get really testy. ⁓

I got bit by a dog for the first time recently. I got bit by a pit bull. So just, yeah, I’ve actually, you know, in this process, I’ve actually got hurt more and been in more danger than actually being in a prison. It’s kind of ironic. It’s a funny story to tell, you know?

Erika (09:09)

So those stories, I’m assuming that’s on the end of being an agent. What about on the end of investing?

Harley (09:18)

And you know on the investing side you’re talking about Are you talking about danger as far as like danger or just like a deal went south like like money danger or physical danger? What are we looking at?

Erika (09:31)

Probably more related to money or you know, just if you’re doing like a renovation Probably not a dog bite

Harley (09:34)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. right now what we’re looking for, I’m, I’m a little reluctant personally. I know I have some, some friends and partners who were still active flipping. I’m a little, little hesitant flipping right now in my area because what I’m seeing as a residential agent, we don’t have a market collapse, but prices are softening.

We’re doing a lot of price corrections. It’s kind of.

Like imagine staircase staircaseing, but we’re going down. We’re dropping price a couple months dropping price I’m reluctant to get it on a project to fix and flip unless my margins are super high Because if your project takes an extra three months six months, could eat up profit Before when we were fixing a flipping if a project took an extra three months six months, you’re actually appreciating more So that’s something I’m real reluctant. I will still do a flip but it has to be

the risk has the risk factor has to be down. There can be a bunch of construction and the margins have to make sense. I’m going to reevaluate. I think we’re definitely going to see an interest rate cut. We’re eventually going to get it. It could be tomorrow, but definitely in 2026, they’re going to have to cut interest rates. That’s going to stabilize the housing market. Just on the price side, it’s going to give a lot more buyers buying power and that’s going to make the flips more safe.

I can adjust my margins right there. But yeah, right now, probably the rest of this calendar year, I’m really looking at those projects like they have to be quick with a big margin as far as fix and flip.

Erika (11:49)

Yeah. Going back to those ADUs, we have a lot of listeners who are new to real estate and investing. Do you have any tips on how to maximize that ADU?

Harley (12:01)

Well, number one, ⁓ you know, there has to be space on the property. Like I have a couple of properties. There’s no room to build. they’re kind of out, but you can build in California. You can build an ADU attached. So that’s attached to the main dwelling of the house and you could build a junior ADU. And I think a detached ADU, I think you build like three, three dwellings. And like I said, it all depends on the space, but a hack I’ve heard a contractor.

doing recently, he builds the, the attached ADU with the garage. So the garage is for the attached ADU. And as soon as it gets built, he goes in and Hey, we’re going to convert the garage to another unit. So there’s a lot of like loopholes you can do to just maximize the units for, for the one APN, the one parcel of property, but even adding, ⁓ just the one, just the two, that’s your cashflow right there. That makes that deal that didn’t make sense.

And, you know, also you’re getting your ROI on an ADU. It’s less than five years. So whatever the cost is to build it, you’re getting paid that back in rent in five years or less. Typically the ADU costs, they vary by county. So, you know, San Diego County, LA County, the counties in Northern California, your build costs is going to be different. And the price of the ADU and the property after the bill is going to vary as well.

But what I’m seeing is whatever you put up to build that ADU, for instance, if you pay a hundred thousand dollars to build that addition to your ADU, to the existing structure with as high as the rents are in California, you’re paying yourself back in four to five years. So you’re four and a half on all that rent is profit. So that’s, that’s just a lot safer bet. Then, you know, putting 25 % down, you’re not cash flowing as much. So.

That’s just buying a separate property. So the ADU is just putting us over You know getting that cash flow to actually make the deal make sense and it’s it’s way better return on investment the money you’re putting on you know, just the hard part is you have to Acquire the property with the space to build or if you have those existing properties So that’s that’s where it’s at right now

Erika (14:24)

Yeah, yeah. Our listeners who are newer are also trying to network, you know, build relationships. What for you has helped kind of move the needle as far as that goes?

Harley (14:40)

Well, every January I’ve been investing probably 20 years, but I’ve been a real estate agent for 11. But every January I reevaluate my business. I reevaluate my goals, how did I do? What do I have to change? New Year’s Eve’s coming, we all do it, but I’m really particular about evaluating my business, trying to be objective.

So this past year I had to take a hard look and sit and look at my business. I said, what are my strengths and what are my weaknesses?

And everybody knows their strengths, right? Like I know my strengths. I’m good at talking to people. connect with people. People trust me, which they should. You know, I’m a man of my word. I’m also very creative. If a deal gets kind of weird or we have to think outside of the box to make stuff happen, I’m very good at that. I also have a long list of just contractors, contacts, people that can do work. But that’s the easy part, right? The easy part is I do this good or I do that good.

But I had to take a hard look, what are my weaknesses? So I can say, you know, objectively, my weakness was social media. I didn’t really have an online presence. just wasn’t as good on social media as other investors or even real estate agents. So that’s something I had to attack. I actually joined a team. I joined EXP where the team helped me and compliments me on help me with that. And then also just networking with people.

In the past, you know, when you go to school, they teach you, Hey, you know, when you take a test, no cheating, don’t ask your friends, your partners for anything. You take that test and you have to pass it. So I think the education system kind of molds us, you know, a certain way, but in the investing world, it’s definitely a team sport. If I have a test problem and you know, problem number seven is giving me problems. I bring in friends now, right? That’s the power of networking. We all have our strengths. We have our weaknesses and just.

collaborating in general. And that’s why I was, ⁓ I was very pleased to be part of this podcast and, you talk to you and connect and talk to whoever’s listening. But if you’re an entrepreneur right now, definitely team up, definitely collaborate. Just one relationship can change everything can change your whole course in investing. But I made that decision in January. And along the way, I just made good friends. I mean, if I don’t invest in them, I made some real good buddies just were like minded people, but

I definitely have a team now and I’m not as reluctant to partner up on a deal. It’s better to have partners on a deal. They share responsibility. They share ideas. They share the financing part as opposed to going on your own, get stressed out, all this going sideways. You have nobody to lean on, nobody to call. know, don’t try to be the tough guy and just do everything yourself. ⁓ so that’s been my strength this year and it’s, it’s just opened a lot of doors and really compounded just my investing.

opportunities, knowledge, access to income, everything. This year has been a big year for me, 2025. was a key part of it, networking.

Erika (18:22)

Awesome. Harley, you had mentioned being a part of EXP. How has being a part of them shaped your approach to real estate as an agent and then also with your investments?

Harley (18:37)

It really comes back down to networking. So when I started, I had a really good mentor. So my first broker, I was his first hire. So he really took me under his wing. We had a small office at that time. It was the right place for me because I had that one-on-one mentorship training as far as doing the deals, doing the business, all that. Um, there was some office politics I didn’t like. So I ended up going on my own and I was with big block realty, which

They’re a brokerage, but they basically let you do your own thing. They’re there for support. But I was successful on my own, after being on my own for a while, I missed some of the aspects on being a team. ⁓ So I reached out to some friends at eXp and like I said, the team I’m on and the resources I have, they compliment my weaknesses. And what I do like about it too is the strengths I do have, I can help other eXp agents, but definitely that… ⁓

brokerage is good, just the revenue share. give you actual support. Some brokerages have, you know, a 30 minute mastermind. You log in. It’s the same thing. Wake up, take a cold shower and go get them, call, call the leads. EXP actually gives you stuff you can sink your teeth into as far as tactics for the real estate market, in addition to the mindset stuff. So there’s just, it’s opened a lot of doors as well, but I feel that I am fortunate to bring in my strengths to help those other agents that are helping me.

But like it all comes back down to networking, but eXp has opened a lot of doors. But like I said, I think it started just with that January promise to myself to, hey, network, team up. So it’s just blossomed from there.

Erika (20:21)

That’s great. Speaking of opening doors, what do you see next on the horizon? What big goal are you chasing?

Harley (20:30)

So currently my portfolio consists of ⁓ it’s residential. have all two bedroom, one baths. They’re duplexes, three flexes. have a fourplex. ⁓ My next big goal is to get probably into assisted living. That’s a big jump though. don’t just go, something residential real estate is not basic, but I feel I’ve mastered it. That’s probably my next goal is open an assisted living facility or maybe go a real big apartment complex, but that’s something

Like I said, I’m adjacent to, I’m looking at it and ⁓ just getting ready to make that jump. Or I was even looking at an RV park.

Erika (21:08)

So those seem pretty different from each other. What has caught your eye about each of those?

Harley (21:15)

The assisted living, is, but it isn’t. You’re still a property owner. You still have your overhead with the property. It’s just a matter of adding that element of staff. The thing that really excites me about it is we have a lot of baby boomers who, there’s people retiring every day. There’s people retiring every day. And for example, there’s people in their 60s who are retired and they have parents in their 80s.

parents in their 90s and these facilities, ⁓ you know, it’s somewhere where somebody can take care of mom and dad, but I can go visit them, see them, and I can enjoy my retirement. And also ⁓ it’s not just for the elderly. There’s ⁓ children with disabilities, there’s adult children with autism, with Down syndrome, special needs, like that, which I learned because my wife works with special needs children. there’s…

These children, their parents have been taking care of them all their childhood, but now the parents are getting older. They’re retired, but their children who need that needs their adults now. So it’s just, it’s, it’s assisted living. You know, it’s somewhere where their, basic needs are met, their housing. They can still go visit them. They can take them from the facility, but it’s that, day in day out care, you know, it makes it easier. But as far as the population turning older, there’s, there’s people.

hitting that retirement age every day. There’s people hitting that elder elderly age every day. So the demographic is there to make some money with the assisted living. But what I like is you can, you can buy a nice piece of real estate, make it assisted living friendly as far as, you know, adding extra rooms, ⁓ you know, adding ramps and stuff like that for disability. And you can run that assist living business. And then later on, if you build it, you can keep the cashflow.

You can sell the assisted living business or later on, if you dissolve that business, somehow relocated, you can sell that building. You know, imagine buying a real nice house, you know, running a business out of it for 10 years, 15 years, then just selling just the appreciation on the house, convert it back and sell that business on the side. it’s just, it just opens up a lot more opportunities as far as that, but it just adds that business element. Not only do you have to know.

Real estate, appreciation, overhead, running it like that. You also have to learn the aspects of the business. That’s what I’m currently learning about right now.

Erika (23:43)

Yeah, awesome. That was really interesting and eye-opening. Harley, before we let you go, if someone wants to connect with you, maybe talk about deals, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Harley (23:57)

Best way would be to sit me on my email. check my email every day. My email is harley underscore robbins at Yahoo. So it’s H A R L E Y underscore R O B B I N S at yahoo.com. And I love to talk. I talk too much. Sometimes I got to pull the reins on it. Cause once I get going, especially about something I’m really interested in, like real estate, like investing, you know, I get excited and I talk a lot. So I love talking to people. I’ve been talking to and mentoring. ⁓

lot of young people and I tell them, there’s no stupid questions asked. Let’s talk about it. And I love pushing people, getting them that first jump into investing. I love people when they call and I have friends too, they’ll call me and pick my brain. Hey, I’m thinking about this. What do you see from your point of view? You know, and they call me and sometimes, you know, on the reciprocal and I call them, Hey, I’m thinking about adding an ADU, but then I can sell this, you know, whatever the case may be. And just having that entrepreneur set of eyes.

give you that second opinion. Because not everybody’s an entrepreneur. Not everybody has that, I guess, mindset for it. So it’s good to connect, like I said. But yeah, give me an email. It doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or a seasoned investor. I can help. We can put our heads together. I can just kind of introduce you to the process. It doesn’t matter your experience level. But definitely, email would be the best way to reach me.

Erika (25:21)

Harley, you picked the perfect place to talk a lot. I love hearing your passion about real estate. You gave our listeners lots of great advice and things to think about today.

Harley (25:31)

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Erika (25:34)

For everyone tuning in, if you love this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more conversations like this one with heavy hitters like Harley Robins who are building impressive real estate empires. We’ll see you on the next episode.