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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Kristen Knapp interviews Daniel Ilie, a realtor and investor from Southwest Florida. Daniel shares his journey into real estate, emphasizing the importance of investing for financial independence. He discusses the current market conditions in Southwest Florida, the significance of understanding investment numbers, and the lessons he’s learned from his experiences. Daniel also offers valuable advice for aspiring investors and outlines his future goals in the real estate industry.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Daniel Ilie (00:00)
And you know what I did? I bought another property. Which… Well, because the numbers were making sense for me, you know, at that time I was looking at the… I didn’t even know that there was… I just looked like, how much money I put in and how much money I was getting out. And I was happy, I was doing like a 12 % cash on cash return. Okay? So I’m like, if I would have a machine to put the money in one side and get more money…Kristen Knapp (00:06)
Why did you do that?Daniel Ilie (00:29)
And then this machine to just be better and better in like to increase in equity. I’m like, I would do that all the time.Kristen Knapp (02:10)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Daniel Ilie, who is an investor and realtor out of Southwest Florida. So thank you so much for being here, Daniel.Daniel Ilie (02:19)
No, thank you very much, Kristen, for having me. It’s an exciting time and I’m happy that I got your invitation.Kristen Knapp (02:26)
Yes, I’m excited to dive into the Southwest Florida market and your market predictions in general. I know that you really love helping other people get into the real estate industry.Daniel Ilie (02:39)
Absolutely, I mean like a lot of people in our country they I believe that Real estate is the path to wealth a path to you know becoming independent financially speaking and have that you know retirement passive income that I think everybody should want itKristen Knapp (02:57)
Absolutely. So how did you fall in love with this industry to begin with?Daniel Ilie (03:02)
⁓ you know, I’m kind of like a numbers guy. You know, I love math from the beginnings. You know, I have a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering. But, you know, moving fast forward on that idea, Carl came in, I was working as a server in a restaurant and one of my coworkers came in and he’s like, ⁓ hey, I just bought a property. This was in 2017.and I asked him more details about it, he said he bought it with 3 % down and I’m like, are you serious? You can do that in here. So then I looked into it, Googled and I saw an opportunity that I can own property ⁓ and then basically I moved in there ⁓ and I ended up actually renting that property just because you know, some things happen in my life but then
I was making at that first property $185 profit. Okay. But listen, so this is the funny thing. I have a friend that he never bought the property because he’s waiting for the market to crash. So I was new 2017 didn’t know anything about real estate. So, and I bought the property and then ended up with this one to rent it. And that’s when I saw this opportunity of, you know, rental income. So I was making $185 profit and my friend, comes in and he’s like, listen, man,
2018 is coming. The market’s going to crash. It’s cycle. Every 10 years, this is happening. I’m like, my God, what am going to do?
Daniel Ilie (04:38)
And you know what I did? I bought another property. Which… Well, because the numbers were making sense for me, you know, at that time I was looking at the… I didn’t even know that there was… I just looked like, how much money I put in and how much money I was getting out. And I was happy, I was doing like a 12 % cash on cash return. Okay? So I’m like, if I would have a machine to put the money in one side and get more money…Kristen Knapp (04:45)
Why did you do that?Daniel Ilie (05:08)
And then this machine to just be better and better in like to increase in equity. I’m like, I would do that all the time.So that’s what made me ⁓ bought by my second property, which my second property, by the way, was with 10 % interest rate. As the people say right now, my God, the interest rates are high. Listen, if you’re an investor and you want to invest in real estate, you know,
try to spend more time in the market besides, you know, time in the market. So I bought it with 10 % interest because that person wanted quick closing. I went to this private investor that lent me the money. Of course, he made money. I made money. Everybody was happy. You know, and moving a little bit more forward, then I had another conversation with another friend of mine and he’s after I got my real estate licensing. I told him what I did and he’s like, listen,
I want to do what you’re doing too. Can you help me? I was like, absolutely. I’m like, there’s so many properties and opportunities on the markets. Like I don’t have all the money to buy them. So I started sharing that knowledge that I kept getting and getting and getting. ⁓ And I’ve kind of created like a small group that are investors, you know, and every time they’re ready, they’re calling me like, Daniel, let’s find another property, which this happens, you know, this year, last year.
Every year, if you have the opportunity, I believe it’s time to invest right now, basically, because the more time you spend in the market. For me, for example, like if I look back on my first property, the first property was making $185. It got to the point where I was making $1,700 a month. The same property. I refinanced. There was a bunch of things that you can do during the…
Kristen Knapp (07:39)
Wow. Just from holding. Yeah.Daniel Ilie (07:48)
You just have to see the opportunity. And the best way to see that opportunity is, especially if you’re not dived in all the time in real estate, is to have an expert on your side, like, let’s say me, because I’m all the time in the real estate world and I see opportunities. And if I know somebody is ready to make that investment, I’m going to keep an eye on the market for him. And at the end of the day, the thing is this, the market, if the…actual numbers make sense, that’s a good investment. know, ⁓ like, let’s say what’s happening, like if a property that I bought, it’s going to depreciate. Nothing. You know, you’re still going to have the tenant in there. I haven’t had any issues in Southwest Florida acquiring a tenant and ⁓ I can tell you, it’s all about adjusting with the market and going with the flow.
Kristen Knapp (08:43)
Definitely, and I knowthat you’re really excited about the Southwest Florida market right now. I would love for you to talk about that specific opportunity.
Daniel Ilie (08:51)
It’s the best opportunity. We had a long stretch of nine months where sellers, they just keep hearing on TV, my God, Southwest Florida, my God, the inventory is so high, my goodness, Cape Coral became from the best market to the worst market. You know, that’s what they’re hearing. And what does that do? The sellers, they become a little bit panicked, which they think about, what if, what if I’m not gonna make it?And they, everybody that owns a property, owned a property for the past three, four years, they have gained equity that they don’t want to lose. So right now I’ve seen transactions that I negotiated for my buyers, which they had a great, great price on it. So I believe it’s a good opportunity right now to look for that investment property or
You know that you’re looking at some interest rates lower next year, but you can negotiate yourself the best deal right now until all the other buyers wake up and be like, wait a second, interest rates went down. It’s like, I’m going to buy a property and there’s about, I think, five million of these people just waiting, waiting to just jump in. Not don’t naturally. speak.
Kristen Knapp (09:53)
AllYeah, I think you bring up a good point where there’s no perfect market. It’s either high interest rates or there’s a lot of competition. So we’re at kind of a sweet spot right now, as you said, where things can actually really open up for people if the numbers make sense. When you’re looking at the numbers making sense, as you’ve said, what numbers do you even look at? How did you even know when you were starting out how to organize yourself?
Daniel Ilie (11:08)
So I got to the point where I have a very detailed spreadsheet where I been of course this got developed throughout my career just because I start gaining more knowledge and that’s what I do even right now. You know I study and I learn a lot but this spreadsheet basically I put the number the purchase price the money that I put in and then we do a rental analysis of the area.we do a worst case scenario and a best case scenario. based on those numbers, you ⁓ will do really well. You have to keep in mind also the worst case scenario, which ⁓ that’s basically where we start from. If that sustains the property and the investment, that’s a good investment because rentals, if you go throughout the whole history of United States of America, you’ll see they just keep…
climbing and climbing and climbing and I believe that’s related to the inflation which people they just brought that into the attation the past two years but inflation’s been on the whole globe between 2 and 5 percent all the time you know
Kristen Knapp (12:23)
Yeah,absolutely. And you also have additional knowledge because you’re a realtor as well. When did that journey start for you?
Daniel Ilie (12:32)
Well, that’s the thing. The realtor started at my third property when basically I was trying to negotiate for myself. I thought I’m the best negotiator and I was true. Because I did negotiate really good deals and from that moment when I did get my real estate license, I started helping people around me and ⁓I believe people recognized me as a valuable assets for them. That’s why they’re keep coming back. And I always believe that being basically on top of your knowledge, on top of your service and providing value to the clients, they will basically come back. And of course, if you think this further down, you’re looking at like the…
vehicle that will take that person into a better life. So I’m part of the biggest purchase problem they did in their entire life. I’m part of their memories if they’re buying a ⁓ single family home or like a prime residence. ⁓ And I’m part of their lives. What’s more rewarding than, you for me, it’s to do good in this world is something that I put out. It comes back to me. And that’s why I want to put more good in the world.
for me to get more good too, you know, it’s a cycle. But ⁓ that’s how I started, you know, I discovered that I’m a people’s person after working in 10 years in hospitality. So I believe that by providing my knowledge and sharing this with everybody that wants to make that move towards becoming an investor, towards gaining that passive income, it’s beneficial for myself and my soul as well.
Kristen Knapp (14:23)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s so gratifying on both ends to just help people. You help people in the investing world get started, and then you help people land their dream home and build some equity as well. With the investing side, I think a lot of people might look at you and be like, oh, I’m jealous of what he’s built. Can you talk about maybe some times that weren’t so pretty, like maybe a mistake that happened that you had to overcome and you learned from?Daniel Ilie (15:31)
To be honest, I’m not sure exactly if I can have any so far so you know knock on wood how they say so far everything’s been good even if the The market has decreased a little bit as far as rentals Maybe the only thing that I can think right now as a mistake is that I didn’t adapt my mindset so working in the industry So this is what happenedKristen Knapp (15:41)
Yeah.Daniel Ilie (16:01)
2023 and 2024, I had a rental property rented for 2750. Okay. So man, what else can we do? That was the highest on the market that I had. After that, even as a real estate agent and as an investor, I knew that the market softened, you know, and I looked around and my opinion was to drop the price directly to 2300, 2400, but I didn’t do it because you know,It’s one of those things you have to listen to your real estate agents not do what they do So I didn’t listen to my real estate agent, which was me telling me myself that hey, you need to drop that price I’m like, no, I’m the landlord and I want to get close to that because that’s how I was used to well I discovered three months later That I had it vacant for three months and I managed to rent it for 2200 which that opened up my
Kristen Knapp (16:46)
Right, right.Daniel Ilie (17:00)
eyes better and I’m like wow what was I thinking what was I thinking because I could have just rented three months ago with 23 2400 if I would have just decreased the price right away you know and then looking much back further down like three years ago I was renting for 1850 and then it jumped to 2750 of course that that was not normal you know so now looking backKristen Knapp (17:13)
Right.Yeah.
Daniel Ilie (17:29)
from 1850, it ⁓ raised to 2200, which that’s something more normal. And I think from this moment, it’s gonna be that trend going up normally, whatever it’s aligned, I believe with the inflation, because always inflation was a huge factor in investing.Kristen Knapp (17:39)
Yeah.Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that’s a good point. I think there’s a lot of bargaining involved as you’re building a portfolio and especially renting to tenants where you have to consider a lot of different factors rather than just what’s going to make you the most money. So I think that that’s kind of a very challenging part of it where you have to have like a give and take and kind of compromise on some stuff as well.
Daniel Ilie (18:15)
Yeah.Kristen Knapp (18:15)
Yeah, so tell us about where you’re at today and the future of your investing business, where you’re looking to take it.Daniel Ilie (18:26)
Right now I’m in Naples, Florida. Just kidding. I’m not good at jokes, but I’m good at real estate investing so far. So right now I’m let’s say in a quarter in my objective. My objective is to retire rather early. I would like to, if not semi-retire by 47, which that gives me about ⁓ eight years left.So I believe it’s enough time to get me to that point where I’m gonna be happily retired or semi-retired. So right now I’m in a quarter in that objective. I got eight more years good to go. So let’s go. Let’s do it.
Kristen Knapp (19:09)
Amazing.And you you’ve given some good advice on different opportunities in the market and just the market in general and how to approach it. What is some advice that you wish you learned a little earlier in your career that you could share with everybody?
Daniel Ilie (19:24)
⁓ I would have invested man as soon as I could if I could have you know, but that’s the thing Investing in real estate. It’s not for everybody You know, it’s not like you’re looking there on the other side and say that’s guy doing it I’m gonna do it too. You can do it It’s simple to do it But in the same time you have to be open to be open to others people’s suggestions. I’m on aAll the time, not sure if you’re familiar with the bigger pockets, which is a great, great resource for investors. So I can learn from other investors as well. And also, ⁓ that’s amazing. If you’re not coachable, and maybe coachable, it’s a little bit too rough, but if you don’t listen, you know, you don’t try to basically take the advice, make from the other people mistakes, you might fail. You know, it’s like what?
⁓ That’s not the objective. There’s always that risk. So basically, number one is if you can invest the sooner the better. You know, and what I meant that this is not for everybody just because some other family dynamics, they’re different. So first of all, before you even get into investment, just if you want, you can talk to me, see if this is the right thing for you.
Kristen Knapp (20:32)
Yeah.Daniel Ilie (20:49)
and I can be open and you know making suggestions moving that.Kristen Knapp (20:54)
Amazing. So thank you so much for giving people that advice and being available. So tell people where exactly they can find you.Daniel Ilie (21:04)
So I’m do business from Cape Coral to Marco Island. I’m a people’s person, let’s say like that. So I have chosen my niche to be people so I can make them grow with me. I’m in Naples, Florida. My physical address is in North Naples and my phone number is 239-249-0063. I am very responsive and text type refer.So if you ever have any questions or ⁓ any questions related of investing of course, or you’re in a transaction and you don’t know what to do, give me a call, I can give you my two cents and hopefully that brings value into your life.
Kristen Knapp (21:46)
saying, well, thank you so much, Daniel. I really appreciate all the insight you’ve been able to share today.Daniel Ilie (21:52)
Thank you. Thank you so much for inviting me again.Kristen Knapp (21:54)
Awesome, andyes, and everybody please check out Daniel. Take advantage of that, you have the number. And thank you so much for listening. You wanna add something?
Daniel Ilie (22:03)
You know,I also have an Instagram story. I know that’s something that I forgot to mention. I should do it right away. It’s real r e a l underscore Naples. And you can find me on Instagram. I give a lot of good value in there. So follow me, I guess. Thank you once more.
Kristen Knapp (22:06)
Yes, yeah, I give the inspiration. What?amazing.
Yes, everybody follow Daniel and thank you so much for listening. Hope you learned a lot and we will see you back next time. Bye.
Daniel Ilie (22:30)
Bye.
