Wholesaling the Right Way: Legal Compliance in Pennsylvania, Bulletproof Systems, and JV Back-Office Support

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Stephen Franco shares his insights on navigating the real estate market, emphasizing the importance of education and mentorship. He discusses the challenges sellers face and the value of properties, even those that appear vacant or dilapidated. Franco also highlights the significance of avoiding common pitfalls in real estate transactions and the role of networking and resources in achieving success.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Stephen Franco’s Website
    • Stephen Franco’s Email: [email protected]
    • Stephen Franco’s Phone No: (570) 798-7051

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Stephen Franco (00:00)
  I always joke with people that a transaction Closing is like an aircraft sliding sideways without wheels into the target into the jetway It never goes right and you just got to bounce with it and say okay. Well this came up that came up I had one with a day of closing the lender

  Was my bio as a hotel and the lender called up and said yeah, we decided we don’t want to work with this guy like the day of closing We don’t want to work with this guy. It’s okay. Do I lose? I’ve had a couple grand into the deal So do I walk away from the couple man that I have the deal and to say okay look my rules whatever The buyer wanted some huge concession to stay in the deal. I said well, that’s not gonna happen So I end up buying the place and clipping it. Is it gonna be a home run of a flip? No, it’s pretty pretty much a single or a double

  Quentin (02:18)
  Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be with you today. I am excited about my ⁓ guest that’s here

  I’m excited about what this gentleman is doing. I’m excited about the way he run his business. I’m excited about the opportunities that he’s creating.

  to build community, to build common unity, to help people grow, to help people reach the goals that they have in place. And so I’m super excited for you guys to meet Mr. Steve Franco. Mr. Steve, how you doing today,

  Stephen Franco (02:53)
  Nice to meet you sir, how you doing? Pretty good, and you?

  Quentin (02:55)
  man, man, man, I’m doing good. I’ve been doing better. Hopefully this internet doesn’t give us problems, but we’re going to keep moving forward, man. But like I told the people, man, I’m super excited to have you here. I’m excited for you to take us into your world and tell us what you’re doing. So Mr. Steve, that’s what I want you to do, man. Take us into your world. Tell us the things that you’re focused on these days, even if you want to tell us maybe a little bit of how you got started. And also tell us what markets you’re operating in as well.

  Stephen Franco (03:22)
  Yeah, so I started a man came into real estate backwards I used to be a TV production and whatever and I picked up a warehouse out in Boston my brother 1990 something and Really kind of stayed out of real estate about two till about 2008 when I left finally left television and Started buying rental property out here in a little town in Scranton, Pennsylvania with for a complaint right after the crash It was a great time picking units up cheap started wholesaling without even know what it was

  Basically, pick up a tag, they’ll find somebody to pay more for it. And I was like, oh, there’s something that there’s a name for that. That’s cool. Ended up became an agent, became a broker. Um, and now I run a few different things. And really my passion is helping people grow in the industry, whether that be from joining my mastermind and joining my online communities and stuff or education, or joining my JV team, helping you people, you know, bring in wholesale deals or on market deals or whatever.

  As you may know, Pennsylvania, the law recently changed on wholesaling. need to be licensed for most of it. And so that’s kind of where I am now. There’s now time to grow all that. Growing the online community, giving people more tools so they don’t have to bumble along the way I did. And so you’re not going YouTube university and guessing who knows what they’re doing and not. And also when you have a deal, whether you bring it to my group or not, make sure you bring it to somebody who has the knowledge to help you walk it through.

  Quentin (04:32)
  Mm.

  Stephen Franco (05:33)
  Um, you know, one of the things we have is we have also a software toolkit. This is the software I run my business on. So even if you’re doing your own game, here’s how we run it. And you can pretty much use our software, use our tool side. So I’m really excited to help people grow in the industry. And yeah, more transactions are great. Also as a buyer, self storage, mobile home parks, multi-families, whatever, you know, very often I’ll pick up where somebody in my network will pick up the deals. like really exciting to see.

  people get in the game and try to help them guide and help them get past the stuff that I stumbled on for years.

  Quentin (06:07)
  Yeah. No, I love it, Mr. Steve. Listen, man, you said you bought your first property back in 19 or whatever, you know, you came back in the game in 2008. You know, when you was an agent, a broker, buyer, investor, you’re growing your mastermind, growing your community. Man, you have a lot going on, a wealth of different ways to help people.

  And so what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly, Mr. Steve?

  Stephen Franco (06:40)
  I mean, honestly, I’m late to the game of building strong systems. And that’s the reason I’m offering mine now is because a lot of people kind of bumble along. I’ve got a notebook here and a spreadsheet there. Eventually that, hopefully you get too big for that, is bringing my curriculum down to it. But also it’s a matter of community visibility. And it’s also a matter of being someone that everyone in the community knows they can come to for a situation.

  Which is a very difficult thing to be nowadays because everyone’s a wholesale everyone’s a realtor everyone’s a what it’s a commodity game, which kind of always was But you got to set yourself apart by being okay. I need this Person for this situation and that’s the end result in any part of real estate. It’s about being a win-win You know, it’s great to say we’re buying We’re doing this wholesale deal making a lot of money, but is it helping the seller? It’s going to be a win for them a win for you and a win for the buyer That’s always what it has to be

  Being able to provide that solution that nobody else can see is really what’s critical.

  Quentin (07:40)
  No, love it being that solution to provide that critical piece that people need. hear you. That’s so big. And I love it. You put yourself in position to be that critical piece that they need. Now, I love the fact of you, the way your experience is, you’ve experienced a lot. And at this point ⁓ of the podcast, I’d like to talk about not necessarily just the success, like the shiny object at the end, but how do we kind of get to that success? Like, what was the process?

  to get into that success. And so I always ask the question, you know, to the operators, there are moments when things get real. There are moments when deals go sideways. There are times when you have to pivot fast. And so Mr. Steve, I was just wondering, is there a story that you can share with us that talked about that process, because you were successful, but that process to get into success, because there are times when things just wasn’t going the way you expected.

  Stephen Franco (08:36)
  I mean there there have been you know when I was just starting REIhomepage.com which is kind of now my like umbrella brand where I everything else underneath it You know right around the Colvin time and they shut down real estate in Pennsylvania You couldn’t go to a vacant house alone let alone with anybody forget some of the distancing you couldn’t enter a property and Along that same time, you know money got tight tenants weren’t able to pay their rent and know deals couldn’t happen Yada. you had to pivot around that

  Quentin (08:44)
  Yeah, yeah.

  Stephen Franco (09:05)
  The other so between that pressure which hopefully we never had that again, but also the reality that there is No deal that runs smoothly to the end.

  I always joke with people that a transaction Closing is like an aircraft sliding sideways without wheels into the target into the jetway It never goes right and you just got to bounce with it and say okay. Well this came up that came up I had one with a day of closing the lender

  Was my bio as a hotel and the lender called up and said yeah, we decided we don’t want to work with this guy like the day of closing We don’t want to work with this guy. It’s okay. Do I lose? I’ve had a couple grand into the deal So do I walk away from the couple man that I have the deal and to say okay look my rules whatever The buyer wanted some huge concession to stay in the deal. I said well, that’s not gonna happen So I end up buying the place and clipping it. Is it gonna be a home run of a flip? No, it’s pretty pretty much a single or a double

  but

  I’m going to come out with a property that’s worth what I am and do it a little more. It’s going to rent, it’s to make a little bit of money and in a few years I can sell it for something and make it out. Is that the right choice for everyone? No, it all depends on the situation. But being ready to do that, having the resources or the team to do that. So many different situations where something came up and you have to have someone experience enough. And this is what I do with my mentees and with my mastermind people.

  is let’s talk it through. Let’s get you through that situation. ⁓ And the most important thing that I tell my buyers and my sellers and everybody is raise the flag early. If you think something’s going to be coming, I got a call from one of my guys today. He’s, you know, he just missed his first mortgage payment. He’s like, oops, I got a problem. said, yeah, but you did the right thing. As soon as it went sideways, you call for help. Now let’s see how we can get you back on track or get you out of the property or something.

  So that is the key, is that’s what we teach to REI homepage, and that’s what my members and the mastermind and my JV partners are all doing, is how do we solve everybody’s problems? And that’s kind of where we fit in. The other quick story is that…

  Knowing when to so the other quick story was I had a seller we put her under contract She was desperate to sell super fast super fast and we gave her a pretty good price Even though we knew we could have gotten her for less didn’t want her too much We’re in closing preparing to close and we find out that she signed after she signed our deal with another buyer for a third of what we had her for and now we have two Sales contracts and they’re prosecuting they filed in court to get her to go with their deal

  Quentin (12:06)
  Mm.

  So.

  Mm.

  Stephen Franco (12:24)
  They didn’t even know we existed.

  Quentin (12:24)
  Mm. Mm.

  Stephen Franco (12:26)
  And so we had to jump in and we had to sort of back them off, work out a deal with them, yada yada yada. And then we completed our deal next week, but we had to have the skill to jump in there, explain to them how they shouldn’t have gotten involved. They didn’t know we were there, so they didn’t do anything wrong. But we needed to get them out of the way, work with her, work out a compensation to make it worth what we had to go through, for what we had to go through in doing it, and what we had to compensate them.

  Quentin (12:44)
  Yeah.

  Stephen Franco (12:54)
  But you never know what’s going to come up. And so you always have to be ready. It all comes down to having a good team behind you or a good director. That’s kind of, I look at it being the chief engineer. I’ll get you through whatever your situation is.

  Quentin (13:07)
  See, man, see, that’s the type of wisdom, that’s the type of experience that I’m talking about. And I so appreciate you sharing. What you are showing is the difference between people that just dabble in the game and the difference between those that’s in it for the long term. You’ve been able to solve a problem. I actually wrote down what you said. You said, how do we solve everyone’s problem? I mean, with that mindset, know, the sky’s the limit. And so I can see why when turbulent times come.

  you find a way to get through it because you’re the chief engineer and you’re pushing it through and pushing the game plan forth. And you got systems, let me say you late to the game and building systems, but I can clearly hear there are systems in place that push you through the hard times. So Mr. Steve, man, thank you so much for sharing that perspective. It was really, really awesome. So let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving next? What’s the next real goal for you, Mr. Steve?

  Stephen Franco (14:01)
  I mean, really for me right now is kind of growing the teams. And by me, for me, the teams are the wholesalebroker.com. We are prepared to be the back office for any wholesale around the country. What do you need? You transaction coordinating, you need a JV, you need a mentor, you need software, whatever you need. The asset master line, which is sort of my online community, growing the members there. Same kind of thing. How can we collectively add value?

  How can our three live trainings a week, you know, for a few hundred dollars a year, how can three live trainings a week help you? And growing for us, the deal flow, what I call the front end of the funnel, the wide end of the funnel. You know, more people to bring us more deals that are ready to close. We have the capacity to close more, but right now everyone’s a wholesaler, everyone’s a real estate education guru, everyone’s whatever, and it’s hard to set yourself apart.

  But I know there are people out there who know how to find deals with people in their communities, self-storage facilities they might know of, or mobile home park owners, or regular wholesale deals on the sale and multifamily level. So for us, it’s all about making the front of the funnel busier so that as things process out, we still all have enough deal flow on the back end. And it’s important to also understand that you should not, if you’re looking for someone to work with, nothing should be done verbally.

  I’m actually thinking right now I have to send out a commitment check to someone. Everything we do is in writing. If tell us you want to work with us, it’s in writing. Because anyone says, I promise I’ll get you on the backside. Not that they don’t mean to, but it’s hard to make that be real. So we are looking to expand the front end of our funnel in all cases, basically. More team members, more mentees, more JV partners.

  and more people we can help and then more states. Right now we’re in Pennsylvania, a little bit of Ohio, a little bit of surrounding states. That’s for the residential and multifamily. Sell storage and larger commercial would go a little further. But we’re ready for anyone across the country for deals anywhere across the country. As long as the person we’re working with knows the area, I’m down for it. I am not a fan of totally virtual wholesale. I don’t know anything about Port Onco Ohio, so I’m gonna go sell Port Onco Ohio. I don’t think that works.

  Quentin (16:55)
  I love it, man. I love the way you talking. I love you kind of walk me into my next question about connecting with people and building relationships and kind of growing your network. Right. So I want to ask you this, man, when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you, Mr. Steve?

  Stephen Franco (17:15)
  I mean, really this podcast thing, which, which, which is, is one of my first ones. I’m hoping this is really the next step is to get me out of the fish bowl. Cause the reality is I’m in a very small tertiary market. I’m one of probably 30 substantial, 30 wholesalers, maybe 10 of which was substantial. And some of them are bigger than I am. There’s only so many people can get the fish bowl. So getting out there and becoming more visible and also

  You know, love it or hate it, I’m the guy that talked about Pennsylvania’s new wholesale law and how you had to comply to it. I was visible on that. Didn’t make, not everybody became a friend because of it, but you know, I’m visible in terms of having the knowledge and having that be the way it is. I’m starting to go and speak at more events and going, we’ll go to listen at more events, go and see how different markets work.

  Actually, I’m going down about two weeks to St. Augustine, Florida to ⁓ present and work with one of the largest mastermind cell storage groups in the country. ⁓ So like present as well as learn from both ways, it’s kind of an open mastermind. ⁓ So like, it’s really a matter of getting visible to different groups and different types of groups. You you might be a wholesaler and that may be all you know, but you got to go and interface with some buyers and some institutional buyers and investor buyers. know, we got to know how the…

  other know how your clients run their numbers. How does that work? Because if you’re saying, well, I got it for 150, I want 30 grand, so it’s worth 180. Well, is it? How are you based on that?

  Quentin (18:50)
  Yeah.

  Man, this is, I’m telling you, I wish you could see my notepad. I’m taking so many notes on what you’re saying. You’re dropping some incredible nuggets, giving some incredible value. And so I really thank you. I thank you for taking time out. I thank you for walking us through, letting us peek through your lens and see things through your expertise and experience. Mrs. listen, I’ll be honest with you. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you,

  Maybe collaborate and learn more about what you’re doing. What’s the best way for them to reach you,

  Stephen Franco (19:30)
  So best thing, it’d be my phone number, 570-798-7051. Texts are always better than calls, but either one. ⁓ My email is [email protected]. And really reihomepage.com is kind of where most of my stuff is up there. We’re just rebuilding that website so we haven’t really gotten it off the ground. ⁓ I mean, it’s there, but we’re adding some stuff to it. And basically, the thing that, so reihomepage.com,

  Gorilla real estate spells like the animal is my brokerage firm, but everything’s under rei home page calm or 570 798 7051 or Steve at good people good homes.com You can also see me on tik-tok Facebook all the different others and socials. I’m actually starting to grow that end of it a lot and You know one of the things that we’re pushing, you know or off launching now is the asset mastermind not to make this an ad but

  I wanted to, first of all, get into education without trying to compete with people saying, ⁓ $40,000. No, 500 bucks a year. And I’m on three hours a week live and you have 24-7 online access, yada yada. That way somebody can say, well, that’s not a lot to be getting three hours of education a week, having someone to balance my deals off of. You want a JV, great. You want to use our software, great. We can talk about all that. But really helping people not make the mistakes that I did, helping people not bumble through it. And also, being there to double check it. And I’m telling you, I’ve been in this business a long time. I came very close to wiring four million dollars for transactional loan because everything look correct. Started studying the airs of business policy for the title company because their a little too much of a hurry. They want it done the same day. And I’m staring at. you know, their policy and the text just didn’t match up.

  come to find out they had whited out somebody else’s title company, put their own name in there, they weren’t even a licensed title company. Facts of a wire transfer folks are once it’s gone, it’s gone. So being able to help people avoid those, you know, some pitfalls, being able to help people recognize the opportunity, just because a building is vacant, empty and falling down doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. So anytime you want to reach out, definitely here. I’d love to do more Podcast with you or whatever else you need.

  Quentin (21:57)
  Absolutely. ⁓ Listen, I appreciate you so much. I appreciate you coming through with your expertise, with your story, with your perspective. I do thank you for letting people know how they can get in contact with you so that they can go buy into the different things you’re doing to help people. so it didn’t come off as an ad or not. This is what we’re here for, to connect people with the resources that they need. And I see you as an incredible resource in this real estate space.

  Thank you so much, Mr. Steve. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your time, for your story. This was awesome.

  Stephen Franco (22:29)
  Thank you for having me, man. Appreciate it.

  Quentin (22:31)
  Absolutely. So listen, you got the value. You cannot tell me people you did not get the value out of this conversation. So please make sure you are subscribed. You do not want to miss out on future valuable conversations that we’re going to continue to have. So again, thank you, Mr. Steve. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time. All right.