Spend Less, Make More: Yung Trel’s Rehab-and-Hold Strategy for Building Cash-Flowing Rentals

Scott Bursey (00:00)
Over your career, what have you found to be of value with being around the right people? Has it helped you escalate your career?

Montrel Goodwin (00:09)
it seemed like the hardest times was when I didn’t have the right people around me, but I had to realize and distinguish between who was beneficial and who wasn’t, and who was gonna be there for the long run and who was gonna be there for the moment. And then once I figured that out, ’cause you know we all bump our heads sometimes, So once I figured that out I think I kinda won.

Scott Bursey (02:01)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast, powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. Glad you’re with us. And today we are

Thrilled to be joined by Montrel Goodwin, better known as Yung Trel, a pro serial entrepreneur based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Yung Trel has been making serious moves, mastering the rehab and hold strategy and building a solid foundation with his current portfolio of six family homes. Listeners expect a masterclass today on grit, scaling your real estate portfolio.

and navigating the specific challenges of the Baton Rouge market, amongst other markets. Yung Trel, welcome to the show.

Montrel Goodwin (02:43)
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Scott Bursey (02:44)
Let’s

chop it up, my friend. This is gonna be a lot of fun and to help our listeners get up to speed. Please give us the ninety second highlight reel of how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Montrel Goodwin (02:57)
it started by taking chances, man. So I found some properties I had interest in. I went in, I looked at them. I had negotiations on the numbers, they agreed to the numbers that I proposed and then it kind of took off from the

Scott Bursey (03:09)
That is an incredible start, Yung Trel. Thank you for walking us through that journey. What other markets besides Baton Rouge are you operating out of?

Montrel Goodwin (03:18)
I’m operating out of Houston, Miami and Louisiana.

Scott Bursey (03:21)
That’s outstanding. And Yung Trel, what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to leverage your serial entrepreneur mindset to transform distressed properties into cash flowing assets while keeping a hyper local focus. That’s not easy to do. And building off that, curious to know, how are you identifying your strengths when scouting for rehab projects in today’s competitive market?

Montrel Goodwin (03:47)
of course, it’s always spend less, make more. So I scale it by looking for the cheapest properties first. The out of pocket cost is gonna cost me to rehabilitate the property or renovate it, and then I kinda decide from there.

Scott Bursey (04:01)
Do you have a specific system? Do you drive for dollars or do you use a platform? How do you scout out your projects?

Montrel Goodwin (04:08)
by the price. I’m look definitely looking for the better buy. at all times. So I would just say by the price. If it sounds good and then I get there and the property is the value of what they want for it, I might give you what you want for it. If it’s worth it. But if I gotta do a little bit more than what I’m paying for it, then I don’t I don’t invest.

Scott Bursey (04:25)
Love that Yung Trel. And interested to hear from you. What do you consider the biggest weakness or bottleneck you’ve faced as you’ve scaled from your first home to your current portfolio of six?

Montrel Goodwin (04:38)
the permits. having try to figure out what a land stop it, cause different cities have different coordinates. So that was kind of like the hardest part of the real estate for me at first. Just the permit part.

Scott Bursey (04:50)
How have you adjusted your systems to overcome that specific hurdle?

Montrel Goodwin (05:42)
I had to do my research. You know knowledge is power, so I just had to do my research on what I was weak in, like you mentioned earlier. And then from there I just got stronger and where I was weaker.

Scott Bursey (05:52)
I love that honesty. And interested to hear this as well regarding opportunities, you know, that you’re currently seeing in Baton Rouge, amongst other locations as well. What are some opportunities that other investors just might be missing?

Montrel Goodwin (06:08)
well I have a youth outreach program and I have my own alkaline water as well. So to create, like I say, I am an artist and a rapper too. So I create my own my own little unit. And in this unit, if you don’t like the me as the artist with the product, because all of it is a product. the house is a product that you’re trying to sell.

With me selling alkaline water, the water is a product that I’m trying to sell. So that goes for athletes, football players, basketball players, soccer players, but I start in the schools. So I teach a fundraising with the Krispy Kreme Donut Fundraising program through Chase Foster Investments. I teach a financial literacy through credit repair and real estate investing.

And then, like I said, I had a little products, the soup Miss Suzy Chocolate Chip Cookies, the Alkaline Water, and then the clothing brand.

Scott Bursey (06:56)
Slanting more towards your single family home portfolio, are you looking to expand into other neighborhoods or double down on your current zones?

Montrel Goodwin (07:05)
I I try to stay where my market’s at. You know what I’m saying? ‘Cause like I said, the water might be the reason why I’m in California and I might find a property that I like in Cali. So now that turns into a distribution location for the water or whatever it may be, something for the music or a meeting house or depending on, the structure of the business in that state.

Scott Bursey (07:24)
And it would be great to understand what specific threats or market risks are you most cautious about right now?

Montrel Goodwin (07:33)
But now that I didn’t got to where I’m at, it just taking chances. Like it’s hard to take chances now. You feel me? whenever I had to take the chance on me, it was easy. But now it’s kinda hard to take chances.

Scott Bursey (07:45)
And wondering about the time management side of things, how are you balancing your other entrepreneur ventures with an active management of your real estate portfolio?

Montrel Goodwin (07:56)
I mix it all up. Like I said, I might be in California for the water. Or I might be speaking at a school with the donuts. And then now I’m speaking real estate to you. So it all kind of work hand in hand, you know what I’m saying?

Scott Bursey (08:08)
Do you have a core team supporting you or Yung Trel, Are you currently hands on with every aspect?

Montrel Goodwin (08:15)
predominantly hands-on. I try to stay hands-on. That way I’m actually active amongst what I have going on, in the center of it all. So I would say I’m more hands-on.

it’s a better way to communicate. When I’m able to just pick up your phone and Yeah, man, what’s up, investor?

Scott Bursey (09:11)
Over your career, what have you found to be of value with being around the right people? Has it helped you escalate your career?

Montrel Goodwin (09:21)
yeah. it seemed like the hardest times was when I didn’t have the right people around me, but I had to realize and distinguish between who was beneficial and who wasn’t, and who was gonna be there for the long run and who was gonna be there for the moment. And then once I figured that out, ’cause you know we all bump our heads sometimes, So once I figured that out I think I kinda won.

Scott Bursey (09:42)
Are you looking to scale from six single family properties and to reach ten and then fifteen and so on?

Montrel Goodwin (09:50)
I’m always looking to expand, Cause the more markets, the more profit I come about with me having, more than one product outside of the real that’s why I’m always looking to expand. that’s how I move. If I had a property in this city, then I could put the water there. I could put the donuts there because I have real estate in the area it is where the product is. So it’s kind of like I use the real estate as my center of product placement.

Scott Bursey (10:13)
And what sort of strategy are you using, Yung Trel, in order to scale?

Montrel Goodwin (10:19)
I put the money where the money needs to go. if I find why not spend money where you’re gonna be guaranteed to make money back? It don’t necessarily have to be the amount you put in, but if you profit, gradually it’ll grow because it profited first, before you took a loss. So you’re gonna both be more focused on profiting off the investment once you do profit off of it, which makes you comfortable with investing.

Scott Bursey (10:41)
And expanding on that a little bit, Yung Trel, how rewarding has it been to put together that single family home portfolio?

Montrel Goodwin (10:49)
it was a journey, man, because like I said, that was that’s what that was it was happening while I had to figure out who was supposed to be around me. So the everything else was, the financial stability was there, My stability, it was just the team I had around me that I had to restructure to get to where I had to get to.

Scott Bursey (11:07)
Well thank you for dropping that knowledge for our listeners. And Yung Trel, you have dropped a tremendous amount of good knowledge for our listeners today, but is there any additional golden nugget or two that you could leave with our listeners?

Montrel Goodwin (11:21)
Invest in something. That would be the second, the number one thing would be to invest in yourself. That’s probably like the number one. If somebody asked me for advice, that would be the first thing I would tell them. Invest in yourself. Early.

Scott Bursey (11:32)
And that is powerful. Thank you for that, Yung Trel. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Montrel Goodwin (11:44)
can reach me on social media at Instagram @YungTrel225, Facebook Montrel Goodwin, and TikTok @YungTrel225.

Scott Bursey (11:54)
Yung Trel, thank you so much for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros podcast.

Montrel Goodwin (11:58)
Thank you. You’re welcome. Appreciate the opportunity.

Scott Bursey (12:01)
It has been a pleasure, my friend. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. we’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests, just like Montrel Goodwin, known as Yung Trel, 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.