Wesley Yates on VA Loan Strategy, House Hacking, Remote Investing, and Trusting Your Gut

Wesley D Yates (00:00)
would say be careful who you listen to. I would say more of my setbacks have been listening to the wrong people. If they are not participants in the game, it’s one of those where it’s become that red flag. My biggest setbacks that I’ve faced, I’ve got a guy that ran off with two and a half million dollars worth of my money. Not fun. Not fun. So be careful who you trust.

Scott Bursey (01:56)
Welcome back to the real estate pros podcast. are excited to introduce our next guest, Wesley Yates, the founder of the military and Patriots group. Wesley has a unique perspective on a vital segment of the market. Wesley. It’s fantastic to have you on the show.

Wesley D Yates (02:12)
Thank you, Scott.

Scott Bursey (02:13)
Before we dive in, please tell our audience what your mission is, where your career started, and where you want to take your mission.

Wesley D Yates (02:20)
So my mission is really about helping others along the way of aligning with their goals with my goals and finding people that are along that same journey so that you don’t have to travel alone. Kind of that mentality of if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with a good group. And really just trying to help each other through the challenges that are along the path of ending up where you want to be. Started back several years ago after I got out of the Marine Corps.

not knowing what I wanted to do next, ⁓ but still had that call of wanting to serve those around me and wanted to serve a bigger purpose than just my own, I would say my own selfish agenda. But ⁓ really just trying to find good people, learn constant thirst for knowledge, constant thirst for learning, ⁓ really pursuing comfort, contentness, and ultimately something that

I feel looking back I can be proud of telling my story when I’m on my deathbed.

Scott Bursey (03:20)
that is insightful. So what are some of the goals right now for maybe the next year, year and a half, some vision that you could share with us?

Wesley D Yates (03:29)
Yeah, so, you know, I started in real estate and I’ve since moved in launching businesses. I just launched a new company called CareOne United. It’s actually a behavioral health company that is going to serve those lower income families that are in need of ⁓ skills building, ⁓ resource, finding the right resources in their community. You know, we like to say we don’t just want to help the child, we want to help the environment the child is growing up in. ⁓

Put a lot of time into this, got a good group. So my goal is for this year is to see that going up. We’re spreading that across Texas. We’ve already opened our doors in Houston. We’ve already, we’ve just opened our doors in Fort Worth and Dallas and we expand. We look to expand into San Antonio, Austin and kind of really cover the majority of the populated side of Texas, I should say. So that’s probably going to take a lot of my time. I’ve got a few other endeavors that I’m looking to continuously expand. ⁓

So that’s really it. I’ve always got something that I’m growing, something that I’m starting and something that I’m hoping to get out of.

Scott Bursey (04:36)
That’s awesome. What sort of opportunities do you see in that respect?

Wesley D Yates (05:28)
you know, every time I roll into a new industry, I always take with the skills and the, and the experiences that I’ve left from the previous chapters of my life into a new, so it gives you a new perspective of what else is out there, what other strategies, what are the techniques, ⁓ just overall, how can you continuously expand the, you know, what tools and capabilities that you can possess? So, you know,

It’s been a lot of challenge. It’s very different than real estate. But a lot of the ways I approach real estate and specifically how to find your deals, how to vet people out, they’re still applying to this, but learning a few of the capabilities of how to work with insurance companies, how to work with government entities. I’m also turning that back around and spinning it to where it’s actually gonna benefit a new real estate endeavor. So I am looking at that right there where

Part of my job for the company is very much going to be finding housing, affordable housing. So you probably already know where I’m going with that. So I’m looking at maybe going back into buying multifamily where my tenants are also my clients. And I’ve already figured out how to work with that. know, cash vouchers, been looking at something for veterans, helping homeless veterans or struggling veterans as that is a big passion of mine. Something they, I believe it’s called the VASH program.

Ultimately, it’s the same as like Section 8 and cash vouchers, but through the VA and for veterans. ⁓ but I mean, my thing is, is if I can make money, not from the tenants, but because of serving the tenants, then that makes me feel a lot better about, you know, cashing the checks that I’m ultimately gaining and earning for myself.

Scott Bursey (07:13)
Absolutely and Wesley we can see the passion and this question has been on my mind since we booked you. With so many service members stationed overseas or far from home, know remote property management is often essential. What is one crucial often overlooked strategy that makes remote ownership successful for military investors?

Wesley D Yates (07:36)
I’ll be honest, communication is something that military members are very strong and it’s been into them of the old expression, inspect what you expect. ⁓ You know, a lot of that. Know the key components of what are in your business plan. And then really make sure you have someone that you can trust is gonna oversee those. No different than your team internally, your third party management is your team externally. Their vision, their mission, their principles should align.

with yours. If they don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish, how are they going to accomplish it for you? So it’s key even while you’re overseas ⁓ to have people, you know, there’s a good group out there, Active Duty Passive Income. I was a part of that group. They really help active duty members. And I’ve talked with a lot of my fellow brethren ⁓ in that are still active duty, you know, stationed, you know, across the country abroad, ⁓ still managing portfolios, still working with teams back here in the States and ⁓

doing a wide variety of real estate from wholesaling remotely to syndicating remotely. ⁓ I haven’t met anyone doing a flip remotely, but I’m gonna say it’s if you’ve got the right team and the right strategy, if COVID did any good thing for us, it gave everyone that warm and fuzzy, because they didn’t have the option of doing this virtual stuff. So opened up a lot of opportunities for that remote base investing.

Scott Bursey (09:00)
Absolutely, and looking at the current housing market, what specific real estate trend or emerging opportunity do you see that is uniquely beneficial for veterans and active duty personnel right now?

Wesley D Yates (09:47)
So there’s a lot of stuff out there that is unique to just what veterans have access to. We’re very open in understanding, I would say probably the most common one is your VA loan. We know that loan, it’s a great loan, but I don’t think a lot of people have understand how to maximize the capability of that VA loan. It’s not just one home, it’s a dollar amount. ⁓ So I highly encourage people to look into

If you are a veteran, ⁓ if you are active duty, look at what benefits you can have. There’s a gentleman, I don’t know if y’all ever discussed the strategy of house hacking, ⁓ but there’s a gentleman out there. He’s a Marine, I met him. ⁓ Actually talked to him back when he was still active duty. He’s since retired himself, but from the military and now he’s doing a great thing. But he just started with house hacking, bought a house on the VA loan, rented out the other rooms until he could afford the second home, rented.

you know, moved over to the second home and then just started renting the full thing and just kept doing that everywhere he got stationed, he would try to buy and build a nice little rental community. ⁓ So don’t, I would say, don’t look at your situation as just all the negatives. Look at your situations to find the opportunities. Cause I’ll tell you right now, your true success is going to be determined on the size of the problems that you can find a solution for. So look where no one else is looking.

Don’t necessarily ⁓ swim in the same direction everyone else is swimming. Sometimes find that path that is less taken, because that’s where the bigger opportunities tend to lie.

Scott Bursey (11:21)
Absolutely. And on that note, Wesley, the VA loan is an incredible benefit, but many potential buyers don’t fully understand its power for building wealth. What key piece of advice, I guess, do you give to a veteran who is considering using their VA loan for their first investment property?

Wesley D Yates (11:43)
I would say the best advice is don’t buy above your means. Even to this day with all the businesses that I own, all the portfolios that I’ve built, my wife and I still budget ourself based on passive income only. When I started moving to Fort Worth and really started getting going in real estate, ⁓ I made sure to do one thing right, and that was budget myself based on what I could afford on my guaranteed pay, which at the time was my disability pay.

So I’ve since kept that, it’s kept me humble and I continuously just roll 100 % of profits in leveraging net worth to continue to scale my portfolio of businesses and investment assets. So if I could give any one piece of advice, always buy below and live below your means.

Just because you can afford it, don’t mean you need to have it.

Scott Bursey (12:31)
Great advice.

Point well taken. Absolutely. The military and Patriots group does amazing work. Can you briefly share the core principle that guides your group’s approach to serving this community beyond your just your standard of real estate transactions, I guess.

Wesley D Yates (12:53)
Yeah, so we’ve moved beyond just just your real estate transactions. I would say the basis of it is is the key thing that I look at is does everybody win? Because the hardest thing in any transaction is your partnerships and your team. Once you have the right team, getting them back to that table to continue your winning streak is going to be easy if everybody wins. So that’s the thing I look at every based on two key principles. One,

Is there a return on my time? Whether it be knowledge, whether it be future opportunities or some type of monetary gain, then does everybody win? If those two answers to this of both of those are yes, then I know I’m gonna pursue that endeavor.

Scott Bursey (13:36)
That is wonderful. The win-win approach. Hey, I’m with you. Couldn’t agree anymore. What golden nugget or takeaway would you like to share for our listeners today?

Wesley D Yates (14:26)
⁓ Golden nuggets, would say be careful who you listen to. I would say more of my setbacks have been listening to the wrong people. If they are not participants in the game, it’s one of those where it’s become that red flag. My biggest setbacks that I’ve faced, I’ve got a guy that ran off with two and a half million dollars worth of my money. Not fun. Not fun. So be careful who you trust.

And if it doesn’t feel right, trust your gut. Because in this industry, and I’m telling you on that, just that one endeavor not to go too deep down that rabbit hole, I did every bit of due diligence on this person you could do down to I was tracking phones to see where they were driving. I mean, it was an extensive, but it’s not everything’s gonna be at the surface level. So you gotta trust your gut on it. Don’t let.

Don’t let facts always outweigh feelings. But don’t let feelings prevent you from finding opportunities either. So it’s that hard, like, well, what do you do? But if your gut is telling you something doesn’t add up, opportunities will keep coming. If you got an opportunity today, there’s an opportunity tomorrow. That is what set me back is I felt I had to jump on every opportunity. And sometimes I wish looking back. Now, granted, I learned a lot.

I’ve learned a lot more, far more from my failures and challenges than I ever did from my successes. But not everybody’s made it through their challenges. Not everybody’s made it through their pitfalls and their down, you know, their twisty turns. So be okay saying no. Follow your gut and don’t look back. Keep looking forward. Look for what’s right for you because…

you would be better off saying no and finding the right opportunity that truly is going to set you forward than saying yes to something just because it looks good on paper that’ll set you back years.

Scott Bursey (16:17)
Follow your instinct. Trust your gut. Point well taken.

Scott Bursey (16:21)
Wesley, we’ve covered a lot of ground here today and I know people are going to want to tap into your brain.

for the listeners who want to build with you or just follow the play-by-play of your journey. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Wesley D Yates (16:36)
I still keep my LinkedIn open for lot of business relationships. ⁓ I’ve kind of really turned towards following my path of passions of what is there. But I like to work with people that actually show. To me, initiative, it goes a long way. So if you’re willing to look for something and you’re willing to grind for it and earn it, then those are the people that I would be willing to speak with of how can I help make your dream a reality.

How can we work together? You know, a little bit of that venture capitalist role that I could play there, but truly wanting to share. So I’d say, yeah, find me on the LinkedIn. If you just looked up the Wesley D. Yates, I believe I shared that link to my LinkedIn page. That’s there. ⁓ I would say, don’t be offended if I don’t reply right away. I’ve got a lot on my plate, but happy. Send me a message. ⁓ Kind of share your story, share your ideas. I love to hear what other people out there are doing.

there’s an opportunity for us to collaborate and even if it’s nothing more than just to share a few of lessons learned from our path, happy to do that.

Scott Bursey (17:41)
and thank you for sharing your message today and for joining us today. Wesley, this has been a pleasure.

Wesley D Yates (17:48)
Thank you, Scott.

Scott Bursey (17:49)
And for our listeners who have found value in today’s episode, if you caught a vibe or found a gem in this particular episode, do us a favor, hit the subscribe button. We’ve got a heavy lineup of guests, just like Wesley, coming your way soon. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.