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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Jeff Zahn, who shares his journey in real estate, starting from single-family homes to multi-family properties. Jeff discusses the importance of mindset, the lessons learned from adversity, and the significance of building relationships in the real estate industry. He emphasizes the value of hands-on experience and learning by doing, while also outlining his future goals in real estate investment.
Resources and Links from this show:
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- Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
- Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
- Mike on Facebook
- Mike on Instagram
- Mike on LinkedIn
- Jeff Zahn’s Phone Number: (507) 384-7121
Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode
Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Quentin (00:01)
Yeah.Jeff (00:00)
Absolutely. Yeah, that’swhy, like, that’s my whole point is like, you know, I want to tell people, hey, are you real sure you want to do this? Right? Because a lot of the lot of the stuff you see is all, this is easy peasy, you know, it’s, you know, yeah, what about the Saturday mornings when you’re in a basement, you know, busting out concrete or you’re
You know, your house floods or right, something happens. People just leave, you know, now what are you going to do?
Quentin (02:06)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. I have someone here. Listen, I’m gonna tell you, he’s fantastic. He probably gonna put on the show that, you know, I’m not all that, I’m not all this, but no, this guy, he knows what he’s doing. He’s growing what he’s doing very wisely. He’s growing at a great pace. And we’re just gonna peek through his lens and we’re gonna allow him to drop some nuggets just about his experience.Because that’s the thing, all of us are different parts of this journey and we all are sharing and learning from each other. And so I’m excited for you all to get to know Mr. Jeff Zahn. Did I say that right, Zahn? Right, Mr. Jeff? Did I say that right, All right. Perfect. Perfect. Mr. Jeff, how you feeling, man?
Jeff (02:50)
Yep. Yeah, that’s good.I’m real good. Sun’s out. It’s warm in Minnesota, so it’s good.
Quentin (02:57)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s go. Let’sgo. I love it, man. I love it. Well, listen, Mr. Jeff, I want to dive in. I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days, like what you’re doing within real estate right now. Also, give us a little bit of an origin story, man, of kind of how you got into real estate. We love the hero’s journey. And then you already told us you went Minnesota, man. So tell us a little bit just about how you got started and what you’re doing today.
Jeff (03:26)
Yeah, I got started with single family houses. ⁓ I lived in them and fixed them. You know, and just ⁓ I would rent out, know, once I got done with part of it, I would rent out half the house to, you know, a guy that I would know or whatever a friend ⁓ and then finish finish fixing it. And then just move on to the next one, right. And then I would rent the whole house. ⁓once I moved out. And then a couple of years ago, decided that, you know, I need to do something with this. And so I decided to start moving ahead and learning how to do this. So ended up accidentally flipping the house and did a 1031 into a duplex property. And then last year I bought another property and it had a wide open basement. So I finished off the whole thing, made a duplex.
up and down. ⁓ So yeah, now I’m here.
Quentin (04:30)
Yeah, I love it, man. what, why real estate, man? You could have been a surfer. You could have been a professional bowler. You know, you could have been anything you wanted, right? And I’m just, being funny, right? But, but why real estate, man? Like what, what made the, when did you get bit by the bug? Like how did it happen?Jeff (04:49)
Yeah, I got got bit back in probably 2009, 2010, something like that. So I had bought my first house in 2009, I believe it was during the crash.And I just was like, dude, house prices will never be this low again in my lifetime. You know, I’m like, this is this is it. You got to go. And ⁓ in that time, then I read ⁓ Rich Dad Poor Dad. ⁓
Quentin (05:56)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.Yeah.
Jeff (06:07)
you know, saw the secret and just, you know, like things that I had never even thought of before, right, just got exposed to me and really changed my whole mindset about what I had been taught and what I thought. So I just, you know, I just always knew, like once I bought that house, I knew, okay, like,Quentin (06:09)
Mmm.Mm. Mm.
Jeff (06:36)
I don’t have any money. So that’s where right house hacking came from. And that was before that was even a thing. But I just was like, dude, I need I need to find a way to make some more money so I can afford to fix this house. Right. And and that was, you know, finding somebody who needed a place to stay, didn’t mind sharing, you know, the kitchen and the bathroom and living in a construction zone. And so I found those people and they started paying me.And I was like, wow, this is pretty amazing that, I don’t have a house payment, so that gives me money to fix it. And that’s pretty amazing. And so ever since then, it’s just kind of been rolling and learning more and more and more.
Quentin (07:21)
Yeah. Yeah. Nah, man, I love it, man. I appreciate it, man. And I love how you started talking about mindset. You know, we talk about mindset a lot here in this podcast because that’s the, you only go as far as your mind goes. And so I love the secret, rich dad, poor dad. Those are incredible things to read and you write, they will challenge you to think it’s a different way. And so Jeff, have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments, right?meaning no matter what we go through in life, along that destination, those moments make us who we are today. And so I would love to know, during your real estate journey, what has destiny taught you about yourself? Has it taught you to be more disciplined? Has it taught you to meditate? Like what has it taught you about you?
Jeff (08:11)
For me, it’s that everything comes to you exactly when it’s supposed to. And that’s kind of back to that secret. You might want something right now, but it doesn’t happen. And then you get frustrated. then all of sudden, six months down the road, just a little tweak of what you wanted happens.Quentin (08:17)
Woo!Jeff (08:35)
And it happened that way for a specific reason because you don’t know two years down the road that little thing that happened all of a now is something phenomenal. So that’s like that house that I mentioned that I accidentally flipped. Well, that taught me about 1031. And it taught me a lot about banking.Quentin (08:47)
Yeah. Yeah.Jeff (09:02)
Because at that time my banker was like, yeah, dude, I can’t do anything more for you. I can’t give you any more money right now. And then that’s where I learned that there’s even different types of bankers. I didn’t even know that, man. Like I just thought they all were the same. And so I had to find a new banker. had to, you know, learn about 1031, right? And then why?Quentin (09:16)
Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah.
Jeff (09:26)
that would even, why it would work if I would sell that house, then they would give me more money because of my debt to income ratio and all that. ⁓ So if that makes sense, right? Like that’s how ⁓ things work for me, right? It comes to you in a particular way for a particular reason.Quentin (09:38)
Yeah, total sense.Yeah. Man, so well said. My wife and I, we have a saying that say time takes time, right? And like sometimes time just takes time. Like you said, things sometimes happen when it’s supposed to happen
you can’t rush it. You just gotta let it sit in the incubator. You gotta let it, know, marinate, you know, you gotta let it gestate. Any kind of term you wanna use where the time just takes time. The soil just has to do its thing, the plantain.
All this stuff just has to happen. And sometimes spontaneous combustion, right? Like the moment the thing tips and it just makes sense to you. And so I love it, man. ⁓ I would love to ask you, have you faced any adversity as you was going through your process within real estate? You know, cause sometimes deals don’t go the way we want to. Sometimes we have to fast. So how has adversity looked for you and have you faced it and how have you overcame it?
Jeff (11:19)
⁓ That’s a long answer. ⁓ But I guess I feel like if you haven’t gone through adversity, I don’t know, you either got more money than I know about or you’re doing something way different than me because better at worst or whatever. But like I’m a hands on.Quentin (11:22)
Yeah.You
Jeff (11:40)
landlord, right? I’d stop by houses, I chat, I know the people that live at my places personally, because I only got a couple, right? And that’s my style. And they really appreciate that. So but that throws some wrenches, right? When they’re late on payments, right? They’re my friends, you know, and in a certain way. And so they’re late on payments, and then I’m too nice of a guy, right? Things like that. ButOther things are like weather, Like floods, fires. I mean, I’ve been through all of it, right? Tornadoes. ⁓ just, you know, once, once you decide you, you’re going down this path, you’ve got to do whatever you got to do. You can’t just give up. I mean, this is people’s lives we’re talking about, right? Like people, people’s lives are in these houses. So you can’t.
You can’t just leave the house, you know, busted up from a a tornado or whatever.
Quentin (12:46)
No, I love how you said, you when you decide to go all in, you got to keep going. And intentions, disruption follows intentions. When you make the intention that this is what I’m going to do, disruption comes, it tries to throw you off. I mean, that’s just how life comes, you know, different trials come to make you strong. And so once you set your intentions, disruption is going to come. But like you said, you got to keep going. You can’t leave the house busted. You know, this is your investment.You care about people, so you can’t just leave in any kind of way. And so no, I definitely get it, man.
Yeah.
Jeff (13:20)
Absolutely. Yeah, that’swhy, like, that’s my whole point is like, you know, I want to tell people, hey, are you real sure you want to do this? Right? Because a lot of the lot of the stuff you see is all, this is easy peasy, you know, it’s, you know, yeah, what about the Saturday mornings when you’re in a basement, you know, busting out concrete or you’re
You know, your house floods or right, something happens. People just leave, you know, now what are you going to do?
Quentin (13:56)
This is good, me ask you, what are you looking, what’s your next real goal? Like, what are you looking to solve a scale next? What’s next for you?Jeff (14:05)
I want like a fourplex. Nice brick outside, know, fourplex that would be that would be nice. I think I could handle that. ⁓ You know, I got a place that I got to get rid of here this summer. And, you know, the bankers that are smarter than me told me, hey, you should, you should get rid of that one and then move on up to the next. So ⁓Quentin (14:09)
Yeah.Come on, man.
Yeah. Got you.
Jeff (14:32)
Yeah, so I’d like to find some people that have ⁓ a fourplex, you know, maybe we could work out a deal and.Right, go up the ladder, single family, duplex, fourplex. We’ll see what happens after that.
Quentin (14:46)
on.I love it, man. Yes, sir. Absolutely love it. So I know you talked about, you know, now you know you have different bankers, right? And sometimes you just, you just mentioned like banker that’s smarter than you to say, okay, we might need to go ahead and sell this. And so I want to get your perspective on relationship building,
right? Relationship building within real estate is building relationships important. Have you built relationships like give me your perspective on relationship building.
real estate.
Jeff (15:58)
Yeah, I’m coming to find out that’s like the most important thing. ⁓ You know, you can you can watch all the podcasts and you can do everything. But going out there and doing it is the is the real deal and your relationships are the most important. I thought I had, you know, a lot of friends and I know a lot of people around the area I grew up here come to find out none of them are.you know, landlords, right? So none of them got a property to sell. None of them can give me any advice on, you know, what to do. ⁓ So yeah, so your relationships and especially within the sphere of being a real estate investor are huge. ⁓ Just just being able to learn from them and ask them questions.
So that’s one thing I’m working on this year too is trying to find new relationships.
Quentin (16:57)
Absolutely, man. love that. love that. Listen, Jeff, is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to hit on or is there any kind of inspiration, motivation or education you want to give the listeners? I would love to hear. So any topic that we have not talked about that I didn’t bring up, maybe forgot to, or is there any kind of word that you want to leave to people? I would love to hear,Jeff (17:26)
I would just say, I’m a big proponent of learning by doing. ⁓ I’m a firm believer in that if you’re a landlord, you need to be in there. I don’t believe in…you know, having a management company, obviously with bigger properties, that makes more sense. But, you know, small, small multifamilies, need to be in there, you need to know a little bit of DIY stuff, right? You need to understand how the systems in your house work, right? The plumbing, the heating, the air conditioning, all that the electrical. And then just, yeah, being a
a hands-on landlord, right? Stop and buy your property every couple of weeks. Hey, how are things going? Checking in on things, fixing things, right? Like to me, that’s what keeps your NLI and all that stuff up higher, right? You can charge more rent for a better product. And that’s what you’re creating is a product. So…
you know, when things are dilapidated, well, of course, you’re only getting 200 bucks a month for it because nobody wants to live there.
Quentin (18:45)
Yeah, yeah. No, so well said, man. Listen, Jeff, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,Jeff (19:00)
Yeah, I don’t have a lot of the social media stuff, but if they wanted to give me a call, 507-384-7121, just leave a message and I’ll get back to you.Quentin (19:18)
I love it, man. Well, listen, Jeff, I want to say three things to you. OK, first, I want to say thank you for your time because time is precious. You could have been doing anything today, but you’re here, man. So thank you for your time. Secondly, man, thank you for your story. Thank you for what I call the gift of your vulnerability, the gift of your transparency. Right. You did not have to share some of the things that you chose to share, but you did. And I know it greatly impacted people. So thank you for your story.Lastly, man, thank you for your perspective, for your mindset, the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I appreciate you.
All right, so listen, y’all hurry Jeff. You got the value. He dropped some nuggets. Definitely check him out. Look in his show notes, get in contact with him, collaborate with him, but also make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people. So Mr. Jeff, I want to say thank you again and to everyone else. Y’all have a fantastic day.
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