There’s Always Deals: How Real Estate Investors Find Opportunities in Any Market

STUART GETHNER (00:00)
You know, Scott, I’ll say it this way, and I’m not sure what part of the country you’re listening to at this exact moment, but there’s always deals. There’s always deals. There’s somebody today that has to sell their property to go help a loved one somewhere else. There’s someone today that, where their grandma passed away, and the kids live in another state, and it just happened. And so there’s always deals. So when I hear people say, the market, the interest rate, there’s no deals out there.

I always joke, let’s just go put those people in a corner and you and I will go out and we’ll go find some deals. So there’s always deals.

Scott Bursey (02:05)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host Scott Bursey.
Today we’re injecting true high octane knowledge straight into your real estate investing journey. We have a guest who brings the purest fuel when it comes to investor training and execution. He’s the architect behind scalable success, helping investors go from confused to competent with clear strategies. Get ready to streamline your business because Stuart Gethner of Gethner education and consulting is about to show us how to build a better portfolio. Stuart,

Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast.

STUART GETHNER (02:42)
Hey, Scotty, I’m really glad to be here. I see you in my feed when I’m on my phone, so I feel like we’re old friends.

Scott Bursey (02:48)
And it is just excellent having you now in the studio, Stuart. For our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please tell us, how did your journey begin and where’s your focus now?

STUART GETHNER (03:04)
So in my previous life, I’m a pharmacist, and I used to own pharmacies here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. And I would dabble in real estate, a little bit here, a little bit there, buying a single family residence, knowing that, in my opinion, long-term wealth is created by investing in real estate. And in 2012, I had a chance to sell my pharmacies. I had three. And I’ve been investing in real estate now full-time. So being here today, I think I have a lot of wisdom and experience, both in business and in real estate.

Scott Bursey (03:32)
concur and that’s ⁓ a really inspiring start to it. What really caught my attention about you was the way that you’ve been able to systemize the path to financial independence for so many investors. You you turn complexity into a clear checklist and that’s a massive win for our pros.

STUART GETHNER (03:53)
Well, thank you. And here’s how I look at it. And when I work with my clients, I say things like, it’s like riding a bike. I’m not sure the last time you rode a two-wheeled bicycle, but if I brought one out and brought you to the parking lot out here,

in about five, 10 minutes, I bet you’ll have you zipping him down side of the parking lot. once we learn the skills, the skills don’t change. What may change are things like the color of the appliances, what type of flooring you’re going to use. But the concepts behind investing, they’ve stayed the…

the test through time.

Scott Bursey (05:11)
spot on. Let’s move into our rapid fire segment now, where we break down the market from your expert vantage point. What is the single biggest advantage for working with a specialized real estate consultant in your view, Stuart?

STUART GETHNER (05:27)
Well, ⁓ that’s a great question. And I always like to say, you never get hit by the bus you see coming. And I’ve been doing this for a while. So I’ve seen a lot of buses come and go. So my job, when you work with me and you work with any consultant, I would believe, in real estate investing, is they probably already know the next step or two of what you need to be doing and some of the pitfalls to watch out for.

Scott Bursey (05:47)
That external perspective is priceless. And we need to know this from you. What common error did new clients make when attempting to scale their portfolio?

STUART GETHNER (05:59)
⁓ I would always say the math, not understanding either the marketplace. ⁓ I think another one is betting on the come. One of the things that I like to preach in business, especially in the real estate business, is we make our money when we buy. So we have to buy right. And it’s important because if the market tends to correct itself, we’re still out of harm’s way. making sure we understand the math, being in the path of progress when we buy property or whatever we’re buying in real estate.

as well as understanding some of the pitfalls that go, challenges that might come along.

Scott Bursey (06:30)
Sure, the math plays a huge role. What about speed and execution?

STUART GETHNER (06:34)
Well, just like riding the bike. I think when you’re in my parking lot, you’re probably going to ride slow a little bit because you want to be cautious and careful. But I think we all know if you ride too slow on a bicycle, you’re going to fall off. So if you move too slow in real estate, you’re going to miss out on some opportunities. So for me, my goal when I work with my clients, especially when they’re starting, is to get them to start writing offers. If I get you to write offers, so that means you’ve evaluated it properly. You understand if you’re flipping, you understand what’s needed to be done on that property.

If you’re wholesaling, you left yourself a big enough margin, and if you’re going to be buying and holding, then you understand what the rent rolls are and some of the challenges that come along with that. with those things, I think would create a good opportunity for beginning investor.

Scott Bursey (07:17)
ago if someone’s listening to this and they’re thinking hey this is someone I’d like to partner with or learn from what do you want them to know about your business first?

STUART GETHNER (07:27)
That’s a great question. So what I like to say is that if you work with me and my team, you’re working with me. So I don’t have someone that I pawn you off for or books and tapes in the back of the room that I need you to listen to. You work directly with me. And I think that has value. There’s a place for what we call YouTube University. It certainly does educate. There’s a lot of quality content that’s on there. Some not so quality, so you kind of have to differentiate.

But I find when people get stuck, they’d like to have someone kind of holding their hand, working shoulder by shoulder,

so they gain the confidence. And you had mentioned that in your opening, gain the clarity and then the confidence. Because again, once you’ve figured out the math and how to do it, you can scale it.

Scott Bursey (08:46)
That personal touch is just pure fire, Stuart. No question about that. And let’s shift gears just a little bit. What do you feel is your biggest opportunity right now in the market?

STUART GETHNER (08:56)
Well, and that’s another great question. I can’t control what’s going on in the marketplace. Can’t control the interest rates, can’t control inflation. Those things are out of my control. So back to my concept of making money when you buy, I’m in Arizona, I’m with Property and Investments, I’m in Ohio, I’m in Illinois, doing some work in Florida. And finding those opportunities that make sense from a non-emotional standpoint.

I think that’s where lot of folks get hung up at the beginning is it’s an emotional because it’s very challenging. But after you’ve gotten so many offers rejected, you don’t really take it personal anymore.

Scott Bursey (09:34)
if you could kind of fill us in on some short-term strategy and some long-term strategy.

STUART GETHNER (09:41)
So from a long-term strategy, can honestly say investing in real estate is not get rich quick It’s not but it is get rich slow So if we’re to put the time in and have the discipline to be able to whether you’re flipping wholesaling Whatever that looks like right if you just if you look at the long game instead of what but you know We get a lot of folks that come in and they they need money right away. And so that becomes a challenge for them

And as far as the short game, would just say participating, ⁓ networking, meeting people that have done it before. I still do this. I still go out there and expand what I call my professional network. I was at the gym this morning talking to a gentleman in the locker room and made another connection for maybe a potential investor, someone that I didn’t know. And so ⁓ short game, networking, meeting people, long game, look into the big picture.

Scott Bursey (10:34)
Absolutely, those relationships are so, so critical and then that vision is so, so very important. What is one simple, I guess, daily habit that sets your most successful consulting clients apart?

STUART GETHNER (10:51)
Not getting discouraged, especially if you’re just starting. It’s so easy to get discouraged. You know, I just had a client that they tied up 13 units in Indiana and they had the inspection done and there were some challenges with the property and they went back to the seller and said, you know, if you’ll give me a discount or help correct these challenges, we’ll continue to buy. And the seller said, you know what, go pound sand, I’ll fix these myself and I’ll come to the marketplace at a higher price.

And they were discouraged, right? They were sad. And I spoke to them yesterday, and they told me, well, we had a pity party, and the pity party’s over, and we’re out there writing offers again, and we think we got another duplex tied up. So getting discouraged is challenging, because we work so hard, and we put the time in to evaluate, and even if we’re using AI or Excel templates, we’re still out there talking to people, doing what we can to find deals the best we can.

You know, are we looking for a needle in a haystack? Yeah, we’re looking for a needle in a haystack. So we got to keep looking until we find what we need and write offers that make sense to us.

Scott Bursey (11:58)
Stuart, are you involved in any real estate groups,

groups, networking groups, anything of that nature?

STUART GETHNER (12:44)
Yeah, you know, I host my own. We call it the Wednesday nightclub. We meet here and online. And I wanted to do something where I could bring value to the community. whenever you attend one of my events, whether it’s online or in person, there’s no sales pitch. There’s no go to the back of the room and you get a $500 discount today for signing up. I just want to educate. And I’ve learned this. I’m a big Tony Robbins fan. I’ve learned this from Tony that when you educate people,

There’s a segment of people that will come up to you afterward that want to work with you, a segment of people that’ll take the information and go do it on their own, and then there’s a segment of people who are just not interested or can’t figure out what to do. So if people want to work with me, I’m available. We’re all busy. I don’t have to chase anybody. But certainly, my goal is to provide education. I think I’m pretty good at that, and I enjoy it. And that’s how I attract investors and clients.

Scott Bursey (13:36)
Awesome Stuart and you’ve given us a lot of high octane already here today but is there any more pure gold any advice that you could provide for our listeners?

STUART GETHNER (13:46)
You know, Scott, I’ll say it this way, and I’m not sure what part of the country you’re listening to at this exact moment, but there’s always deals. There’s always deals. There’s somebody today that has to sell their property to go help a loved one somewhere else. There’s someone today that, where their grandma passed away, and the kids live in another state, and it just happened. And so there’s always deals. So when I hear people say, the market, the interest rate, there’s no deals out there.

I always joke, let’s just go put those people in a corner and you and I will go out and we’ll go find some deals. So there’s always deals.

Scott Bursey (14:19)
Stewart, this has been an incredibly valuable session. Thank you for sharing your systems and your strategies with us. And for those of our listeners that would like to follow your journey or maybe even collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

STUART GETHNER (14:35)
Well, certainly my name’s on the screen. And so if you go to myname.com, www.stuartgethner.com, that’s one way. And my email is Stuart@StuartGethner ([email protected]). And believe it or not, I actually answer my phone. So our phone number is 480-443-4500. 480-443-4500. And I’d like to think I’m accessible. know, Scott, in the old days, when you and I were kids, know, hey, I tried to get a hold of you. I couldn’t get a hold of you. But in today’s world, man, it’s…

with texting and email and this and that, we can get ahold of each other. So I’m accessible.

Scott Bursey (15:10)
Awesome, awesome. Stuart, thank you for joining us today.

STUART GETHNER (15:14)
God, it’s a pleasure. I’m a big fan. So to be here, it’s my pleasure and my honor. Thanks for having me.

Scott Bursey (15:20)
And to our listeners, appreciate each and every one of you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ve got exceptional guests, just like Stuart Gethner, who are making huge moves in the market. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.