The Best Time to Buy Real Estate | Cheryl Sturt on Creative Finance,Distressed Deals,Multifamily

Cheryl M. Sturt (00:00)
I like those because I’m buying a lot of them. And you can buy them for cash, right? Right now, I think is the time to buy, right? Whether it’s multifamily, single family, it’s totally the time to buy and to start getting a good deal. Multifamily can get better deals right now than single family, but single family’s on its way.

Dylan Silver (01:51)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Cheryl Sturt is a nationwide real estate investor and deal strategist. She invests across multiple asset classes using creative strategies, including wholesaling, wholesaling, buy and hold, seller financing, subject to and more. She has a background in high level corporate sales and brings strong negotiation, capital raising and execution into every deal she does. She focuses on structuring deals that actually produce cashflow.

not just transactions and works with operators who want to scale using creative financing. Cheryl, thanks for taking the time today.

Cheryl M. Sturt (02:25)
So of course, thank you. Glad to be here.

Dylan Silver (02:28)
Now, it’s great to have you here, Cheryl. Now, for folks who are looking at scaling using some of these creative strategies, what feedback would you have for them as they’re looking at growing and scaling in this space?

Cheryl M. Sturt (02:44)
So I love that because that, know, someone’s got to get started somehow, somewhere, right? And for me, I’d say the best thing that anyone can do is literally just go and take action. And coming from a perfectionist myself, that’s really, really hard because we like to know everything and have it right and perfect. But the market changes too fast. Everything changes too fast. You just have to go out there and do it. And I hate to say fall on your face or bang your head against the wall, but

That’s my advice is take action and go.

Dylan Silver (03:17)
Now, when you’re taking action, if we take the example of a single family home, what are some of those first steps on a granular level that people can take right now? We’re talking April 2026 to get their first property under contract.

Cheryl M. Sturt (03:35)
Get out there and talk to people. I have deals that literally fall in my lap on a daily basis just because I go out and I tell people what I do. And I can talk about some of the deals or whatever, but if people are new, it’s literally just go out and talk to someone. I had, my husband’s a dentist and I run his dental practice and I was interviewing someone recently ⁓ for the dental position for the front desk.

and they were moving from Texas back to Illinois. And I asked her, I said, you said you were only there a couple of years, what are you doing with your house? And that was literally a sale that I got. I bought her house or I was in the process of buying her house ⁓ just because I literally mentioned it. So if people go out and just specific action of you can go to networking groups, you can talk to the people you already know, just say, hey, I’m…

going to be buying houses and this is what I’m looking for and you’d be surprised where things come from.

Dylan Silver (04:38)
When do you decide to use, let’s say, seller financing versus subject to versus ⁓ traditional financing or some other financing strategy?

Cheryl M. Sturt (04:49)
That’s probably the most challenging part initially for someone to get going. And for me, I consider myself a problem solver. So when people bring me things that they can’t figure out themselves, I solve the problem. And that’s where the creative structures come in. If there’s a problem that you need to solve, it’s how can you make this work? What creative strategies can you do to get the outcome you’re looking for? And I really like where it’s a win for the seller, for me.

typically for the bank, if I’m taking it subject to, right, they’re keeping a performing note and also for someone that I’m putting in there, whether rent or seller financing on the way out so that it’s a win all the way around for everyone. So that’s one key. And the other one I would say is just having multiple exit strategies is really important.

Dylan Silver (05:39)
You never really know how these deals are going to matriculate and it’s often something that is in flux in flow if you will one thing that I’ve noticed is that something that could be a deal to to someone may be a headache and something that is really a Very difficult deal for someone else right walk me through that when someone brings you a hairy or thorny challenging deal

What’s that conversation like? And then what next steps do you take?

Cheryl M. Sturt (06:58)
Wow, there’s a lot in there, Dylan. So just like they say that if you go to a garage sale, that ⁓ one man’s garbage is another man’s gold, really. So that’s what it is. So when someone brings a challenging situation, and I’m working one right now, where ⁓ this is a title issue, so they couldn’t sell it any other way, I find that the more challenging the situation is,

the fewer people are willing to do it and the more appreciative that the seller is that you’re helping them, right? And so, and it takes longer, it’s also more profitable. So again, really, it really just depends, but this one I’ve been fighting for six months and it’s finally gonna come to a close. I got through all the title issues.

Dylan Silver (07:44)
those title issues can definitely be challenging. And I think that there’s specific wholesalers and investors who are the experts in their market on these title issues to the point where when other folks who are struggling to get these deals across the line, they’ll kind of say, okay, I know that this is a tricky deal. Let me reach out to Cheryl because I know that she has an expertise in getting through these types of issues. When we talk about title specifically,

Of course, there’s so much that can come up, but what’s an example of something that you’ve seen where it was really a hurdle for someone else, but you were able to get this deal across the line?

Cheryl M. Sturt (08:25)
Well, there’s a ton of them. So some people don’t like when there’s liens on there. I’ll buy the property with liens. I mean, really, a mortgage is just a lien, right? So subject to, and I’ve been able to settle some of those liens off to make the deal more profitable for me. They’ve been underwater where they’ve had to bring money to close if they were going to close it traditionally, right? And then even like this title issue that we were just talking about, it was a

an elderly gentleman that his wife passed away without a will years ago and they were past the probate period. This is in Texas. And then the errors was where it really got complicated because as if that wasn’t bad enough, ⁓ then it was, you know, there were three children and of the three, one of the children passed away.

Dylan Silver (09:18)
Mm.

Cheryl M. Sturt (09:18)
And then

that one, you had to find out if they were married or not married and if they had kids and then they did have a kid and that kid passed away. So then it’s like, where does it go and who has the right to sell? And it was a whole, it was a trail. It was fun.

Dylan Silver (09:29)
That’s right.

One of those things that I’ve noticed as a realtor in Texas, and I remember going through this and learning in real estate school, there’s several ways where these properties can be handed down, and I’m probably going to butcher it, but tenancy in common versus joint tenancy, And so you see, when people don’t have their ducks in a row and a property is going through probate, just how difficult this can be, because I’m sure you’ve seen this, Charles. Someone can be living in the home, think it’s their home, maybe the other…

relatives aren’t even really aware that they’re looking to sell it, well then when they do try to go sell it, now you’ve gotta get everyone on the same page, because even though that one person is occupying the home, they’re all legally entitled to a portion of the sale. So then now you’re like a triage coordinator, bringing everyone together, because these people weren’t even aware that this home was potentially going to sell, and now they’re like, wait, we want our piece of the pie as well, right?

Cheryl M. Sturt (11:02)
That’s exactly you described it perfectly. And that’s more common with multiple heirs of the same property. And it’s a question of who has the right to sell, who can sign it. But you’re exactly right. People live in there all the time. They don’t even know that they don’t own it because somebody had passed away.

Dylan Silver (11:21)
That’s one of the more complicated and confounding issues that I see. I’m a realtor in Texas, right? And so you’ll see this so often, I’m getting a call here, sorry about that. You’ll see this so often where people will be living in a property and then not aware that they don’t have full title to it. And so this becomes.

Cheryl M. Sturt (11:32)
You’re good.

Dylan Silver (11:42)
challenging and contentious because you’re thinking that you’re going to sell the property and now you’re realizing I’ve got to get my whole family on the same page and that’s where wholesalers become as much like a Triage coordinator and a family therapist on some level as you are an investor, right?

Cheryl M. Sturt (12:00)
Correct. It’s totally a counselor. And I’m a licensed agent only in the state of Illinois. I still invest across the country. I’m licensed in Illinois and it’s challenging here and anywhere, all of the different laws. But I was an investor long before I was an agent.

Dylan Silver (12:20)
Now, I do want to pivot a bit here, Cheryl, and ask you about scaling into some other segments of the real estate space. I know you’ve done deals across multiple. If we look specifically at, for instance, multifamily right now, I see this as a really interesting opportunity because there’s so much development that has happened over the last couple of years that you see that there’s some syndicators who may have really a brand new property, but the

Operators themselves may be in trouble, right? When variable rate debt has gone up and they may not be fully occupied. What are some of the deals that you’ve seen come across your desk and what’s the type of distress that these operators are under?

Cheryl M. Sturt (13:02)
Well, in the past couple of years, the biggest distress that they’re under is they had purchased properties years ago and their five to seven year plan is coming due now. And now the rates are higher, so they can’t refinance, they can’t qualify, they’re owing people money, they’re all underwater. So the cap rates got all screwed up for lack of a better description, right? On the property. a lot of those…

syndicators or operators are in trouble from how they had purchased the property with their original exit strategies.

I like those because I’m buying a lot of them. And you can buy them for cash, right? Right now, I think is the time to buy, right? Whether it’s multifamily, single family, it’s totally the time to buy and to start getting a good deal. Multifamily can get better deals right now than single family, but single family’s on its way.

And

Again, where the creative financing I think really comes in, I have quite a few of the multifamily that I don’t have to syndicate. I can JV or I have the seller finance it to me or I take them subject to if they have decent mortgages, right, that aren’t coming due. I take them subject to the mortgage and they work out really, really well. So I think creative financing is going to be really important now and in the distant or not so distant future.

because all of the foreclosures I think are coming. The same thing, people purchased all the single family a couple years back and it was, they purchased them too high. The rates for mortgages were low, they purchased them high. Now the taxes are being reassessed. The insurance has gone up, as you know, nationwide 20 % at a minimum. And in places like Florida, you can’t even get insurance all the time unless it’s a Florida one. And people can no longer afford their mortgages. So.

I think buying right now and creative finance are going to be two of the best things you can do regardless of the asset class or location.

Dylan Silver (15:03)
When you’re looking at these multifamily deals that are underwater and their debt is coming due, what are those conversations like? And are the lenders essentially having to bite the bullet on some level? Are they being made whole? What do those deals look like? How are those structured?

Cheryl M. Sturt (16:04)
So you’re right, there’s all different ways. Some of them are not being made whole. Some of them are short sales. At least they get to get out. The conversation typically is where are you at

what are you gonna do? How are you gonna get out? How are you gonna make your investors whole? How are you going to make yourself whole? How are you going to make the lender whole? And often they don’t know.

or they don’t have a plan, and they’re like, that’s what you’re here for. Okay, great. This is the best way that we can go about doing that. But you have to be in the business, and the way I like to look is you have to really be there to help and to serve. And as you see with me, I really like to solve the problem. I want to make everybody win. So I don’t go in personally with any preconceived notions. I just want to find out all the information that I can so that we can make educated decisions on how we buy and how we…

help them sell. But my goal is to try to make everybody whole because that’s just important to me.

Dylan Silver (17:08)
How important is it for folks to be able to look at different deal structures and different asset classes, versus niching down into one specifically? Do you think that it’s very important to be able to review deals from single family up to multi-family?

especially when markets are changing or is it maybe more important especially for folks who are maybe getting into the business or building to focus on one niche specifically?

Cheryl M. Sturt (17:39)
That’s a great question. People go back and forth all the time with me on that because you can consider me, some people say scattered and they say the riches are in the niches, right? And you should, you know, there’s people that are like, I’m only value B and, you know, B class and vintage these and, you know, this location and whatever. And I’m not, I think if you’re starting out and that is the key, if you’re starting out, you need to master one asset class, one strategy, one

location, one, everything. So you really know what you’re doing before you move on. I started in wholesaling and I only wholesaled and only in the area. I didn’t know any better. Right. And then it was after I wholesaled and I was quite successful. Then I was trying fix and flip and then I moved into it. So I didn’t do this all at once, but now I have all of the strategies. And so I can allow a problem to come in from any location, any situation and solve it.

I wouldn’t start that way.

Dylan Silver (18:39)
Now once you get that brand recognition, people are reaching out to you. We were talking in the green room, the deals end up finding you and you don’t have to go out and hunt for these deals as much because people know that you have a track record, you’ve closed than other deals before and when they have a thorny deal that you’re the person that they can reach out to to help them make sense of it.

Cheryl M. Sturt (19:03)
Correct, that’s kind of how it’s gone just between my track record and, I mean, I’ve been doing this a long time and continuing to go out and tell people what I do. So like I said before, just taking action and going out, networking with more people, talking to more people, and it spreads the word and they come to me. So I’ll often tell wholesalers or agents like yourself, ⁓ hey, do you ever have those deals that

you can’t list, that you can’t short sale, that you can’t wholesale, you know, depending on who you are. And they’ll be like, yeah, I’m like, well, if you are spending money for marketing, wouldn’t you like to monetize those leads? Send them my way. I’ll pay you a referral fee. I’ll get it solved. It’ll make you look good. And so then they just show up.

Dylan Silver (19:56)
The leads start coming in. That’s the best leads, the inbound ones, right? We are coming up on time here, Cheryl. Any new projects that you’re working on and then as well, what’s the best way for folks to reach out to you?

Cheryl M. Sturt (20:09)
New projects. Well, I new properties that are mine every day. I did recently just launch a program through Single Family Queen where I’m training people to do what I do and I partner with them on their deals because I find people get stuck. So that’s my newest, latest, greatest ⁓ invention. I train them how to market and how to bring in the sellers. And then we go through and I take

care of it. work with the seller with them on the line so they can learn and then I’ll structure the deal and close it and we share profits. How cool is that?

Dylan Silver (20:48)
I think that’s fantastic and a great way for folks to get the kind of mentorship they need without just doing it on their own. Cheryl, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for taking the time.

Cheryl M. Sturt (21:00)
Of course, thanks for having me, I appreciate it.