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Show Summary
In this conversation, Percy discusses the critical importance of taking action in the pursuit of financial success, particularly in real estate. He reflects on his own experiences of hesitance and the realization that others who took risks were achieving their goals faster.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Percy (00:00)
⁓ in Texas ⁓ a law passed regarding memorandums. ⁓ So ⁓ there’s a couple of things that legally,A memorandum has to meet certain statutes, right? Set requirements within that statute. So, ⁓ one of them we were able to clear because the previous wholesaler didn’t submit earnest money to the previous title company. So, we were, you know, I spoke with the other writer, we spoke with the other title company, ⁓ and then the other writer was like, you know what? Yeah, I can clear that off.
John Harcar (00:28)
Okay.All right, hey guys, welcome back to the Texas Real Estate Pros podcast. Once again, I’m your host, John Harcar. We’re here today with Percy Yarleque. And what we’re gonna talk with Percy today is, mean, besides his journey about how he got into real estate and what really brought him to today, we’re gonna talk about something that I know I’ve had to deal with a lot and I hate it, but we’re gonna talk about kind of messy title situations. How Percy can overcome those and get the deals over to the finish line.
Percy man, welcome to our show.
Percy (02:48)
Hey John, how you doing? Thank you, thank you for having me.John Harcar (02:50)
Good, man.Yeah, no, awesome. Good conversation offline. ⁓ Title situations are a you know what, right? They’re always a pain. Nobody likes them. But it’s the best way, know, sometimes you can help people out through doing that. you know, before we talk about all that, you know, tell our audience a little bit more about you, kind of, you know, what got you into real estate, you know, what brought you up to today.
Percy (03:15)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. ⁓ I’m actually originally from the East Coast. I was born and raised in Peru, came to the States when I was 10, ⁓ and we originated in Virginia, DC area. ⁓That’s where most of my family is from. That’s where I’m from. That’s where I went to school, college. ⁓ So I kind of grew up and my mom was sort of what you could say an ⁓ inexperienced investor. ⁓ So she was an entrepreneur from, you know, from, she was a kid. So she was doing a lot of the buying holes, the buying sales back in
you know, before 2008 happened. So I kinda, you know, there was that bug, you know, that ⁓ I kinda saw. And in 2008, we just lost it all. You know, that boom happened. ⁓ My mom wasn’t really caught up with the times and how things were doing because everything was easy at that time. You know, you needed a loan, hey, know, right there. Yeah, didn’t matter. Right.
John Harcar (04:24)
Yeah, just have a pulse. Have a pulse thatyou’re good. Yeah. Are you approved? A million bucks? Sure!
Percy (04:29)
Right. ⁓Yeah, why not? Yeah, you paid off. I believe you. But yeah, so we lost it all in 08. ⁓ I graduated high school in 08. So I went to college. And then when I graduated college, since the time that I graduated high school all the way to college, we were renting. We were going from house to house and we were just paying rent.
John Harcar (04:35)
Yeah, I got you.Percy (05:43)
⁓ so fast forward graduated two thousand twelve twenty fourteen ⁓ i was already corporate i was i started in the government contract inside and then i moved into the private sector ⁓ doing cyber security so ⁓ i i’d leverage at that moment in time i’d leverage my my my money and my credit and i decided to buy a house ⁓ this is in Virginia ⁓I a half a million dollar home ⁓ and I gave it to my mom ⁓ at that point in time. I remember ⁓ I slept on the basement. It was a small room. I slept on the basement for a whole year because I wanted to save up so I could buy something for myself because I just needed to move out. I’ve always been that type of person to be independent and wanted to be alone on
John Harcar (06:20)
Wow.Percy (06:39)
⁓ So and I did you know that I lived there for a little over a year saved up bought myself a condo and Not even a year in that I have moved into my condo. I got a job offer here in Dallas ⁓John Harcar (06:55)
Okay.Percy (06:58)
And I didn’t want to leave home. But, you know, the way that I thought about it was like, you know what, I’m just going to use this as a resume builder. I’m going to come to Dallas for a year, go back to DC and work for the government, you know. So I had like all this. Right. So I had all like all these plans. And of course, I think, you know, I’m a believer. So I think that God has things put in place for a reason.John Harcar (07:09)
And how long ago was that?Yeah, amen.
Yeah, 100%.
Percy (07:27)
Yeah,so I decided to ⁓ move to Dallas. I automatically became a landlord at that point in time and when I moved to Dallas, actually prior to that, I was already researching on how can I do this better, right? How can I buy houses better or buy properties better instead of putting…
John Harcar (07:47)
Okay. Now when you say researchingit, like, were you looking into like courses? Were you just looking on, you know, YouTube U? What does that look like?
Percy (07:55)
Well,I actually, I joined a RIA back at home. And I think it was like probably the biggest RIA in that area. And I would go to their talks every week. I would listen to, you know, how other people were being successful. I heard about wholesaling, I heard about flipping.
And I knew at that point in time I didn’t want to do flips. It was just time consuming. There was a lot of money you had to put into the table. I just wanted something quick and easy that I can kind of put the rest of the time after my corporate to be able to get a little bit more money. And so I didn’t get to, funny enough, I didn’t get to do that over there. I bought, I remember buying my, I think I bought like 200 or 300 Bandit signs.
And they were sitting, and they’re still sitting in our garage. They’re still sitting in our garage back at home. I never, I think I only posted like, I don’t know, maybe like 10 of them. Well, at the time,
John Harcar (08:52)
Really?Why didn’t you pay someone to go put them up?
Well,
you’re new at the time, you Yeah. Yeah.
Percy (09:06)
I was brand new.This was 2016, 2015. And I was hearing people, hey, you gotta put in the work, right? You have to get your hands dirty. And I was trying to do it myself.
and quickly I found out that wasn’t for me. So I just kind of let it die or let it just sit there. And when I came to Dallas, I was already kind of familiar with the researching that I have done on what I wanted to do.
And funny enough, ⁓ and I always say this, God always puts the right people in the right times. And I went to my first networking event ⁓ in real estate and I met my…
titled my escrow officer at the time. made friends that were wholesaling at the time that I’m still friends with. ⁓ And it just kind of opened up doors. It opened up doors for me.
⁓ And that’s when I kind of started. I started in South Dallas, Fair Park area. At that time, houses were costing about…
30 to 40,000 ⁓ per property. So it was way easier to get into that realm than it was back at home when, you know, average prices were half a million. yeah, so, Absolutely, absolutely.
John Harcar (11:11)
Yeah, yeah, right. Big difference, a lot easier entry. mean, even the mindset of going aftera half a million versus a $40,000 property, it just makes it feel more easy. You know what I mean? It’s only 40 versus half a million.
Percy (11:26)
Yeah,exactly. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ And I think that was a big ⁓ step for me ⁓ because I’m…
Because I have an engineering background, so I overanalyze things. ⁓ And that was hindering my growth because I wanted to get things done in a certain way and I wanted to plan it out in a certain way so that I wouldn’t fail. Right, right, right. I think my biggest fear at that point in time was like, you know what, I don’t want to lose money. I don’t want to fail. And…
John Harcar (11:41)
Mmm.You wanted it perfect. Perfect never comes. Yeah, it doesn’t happen.
Percy (12:06)
now fast forward right ⁓ i’m 8 years into the game now that’s part of success you know that’s growthJohn Harcar (12:13)
Yeah, exactly.Losing is gaining, is winning.
Percy (12:16)
Yes, yes,I always I always say this, know, you don’t you don’t spell millionaire with that without a couple else, right? So That was at that point in time. I didn’t understand that ⁓ For me, it was like I don’t want to lose money. don’t lose money So I was I had plant a B and C set up and then while I was trying to do that
other people were ahead of me because they just took action. And I’m like, why these people, these people are successful, or at least they’re making money, and I’m still sitting here studying, going to networking events, going to RIA events, and I haven’t done a single deal.
So funny enough, ⁓ I don’t know if we are getting into the first deal, but I’ll tell you my very first deal, everything that could go wrong went wrong.
John Harcar (13:08)
Yeah, well, no, yeah, let’stalk about that. I always like to talk about the challenges that you happen to, yeah, tell me, tell me, let’s go.
Percy (13:13)
Yeah, soI started back in Virginia. The very first property that I put on the contract was in Maryland. And it was a big house. It was an older lady. I remember. Yay! I remember. Huh? Yes. Yay!
John Harcar (13:30)
⁓ man, I just see it already. I just see what’s gonna, what you’re glimping down, you know? What was the movie? What was the movie? Money Pit. Money Pit. Did you ever see that movie Money Pit? Yeah.Big house, tons of dough. Yeah.
Percy (13:43)
Yeah,yeah, I’m like, oh my God, I just hit, I’m like, yes, this is about to be a good deal. And I remember driving about an hour and a half from home to go look at the property, walk the property. The property was, I mean, going back now, now that I know a lot of things, it was a mess. It was probably over 100,000 worth of work. Yeah.
John Harcar (14:07)
Like what? Likewhat were the major things like full roof, full reno? I mean, what was the major stuff?
Percy (14:11)
⁓Yeah, so needed full roof foundation was shot You know in the East Coast we have basements so basement needed a lot of work to be done ⁓ The floors and the ceilings were had holes in them ⁓ It had shape lab instead of drywall ⁓ So it was just a lot, you know ⁓
John Harcar (14:36)
Yeah, there’s a 70s70s 70s build something like that.
Percy (14:40)
Exactly.I think this was the 30s. I think it was a 30s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so we, put it on the contract. I started marketing it, you know, people were interested, but then they go see it and they’re like, nah, man, you’re way off. And crazy enough, I thought, you know what? I’m already on the hook. How am I going to get out? I’m already on the contract.
John Harcar (14:44)
30s, wow, even further back. Well, Maryland, yeah, it’s probably way back.Percy (15:51)
I have put money into it, ⁓ how am I gonna get out? So I, thankfully enough, I was able to renegotiate, ⁓ but even me renegotiating, I was still wrong on the math. Like I was still in a high price range than what other investors were coming in. ⁓ And so thankfully, I finally, I think it was like after two months of like marketing and I found someone.He said he liked it. He put down earnest money. At that point, I think I only ⁓ asked for like 2,000 in earnest money. And we’re going through the process. And while we’re going through the process, the title company tells me, hey, this is not the owner. And I’m like, what do you mean it’s not the owner?
John Harcar (16:41)
What?Percy (16:43)
And what happened was that this lady had bought the house with her ⁓ dad a while back. Her dad passed away. And because of the laws in Maryland, ⁓ you don’t automatically get ⁓ full ownership. So ⁓ it wasn’t probated.John Harcar (17:04)
Sure, that can be probated.It
wasn’t probated.
Percy (17:09)
Yeah, so basically the title company’s attorney told her that, hey, unfortunately, even though he’s your dad, you’re not the full owner. So in order for you to become the full owner, you need to do this, this, and that. ⁓ And that was going through that probate situation. And…So there was a lot of that going on. There was a realtor in the mix as well in this scenario. ⁓ She was done with the seller. She didn’t wanna deal with it. So I’m battling both sides and then I’m following up with the buyer and the buyer’s like, hey, ⁓ my hard money lender said he can’t land on it. I was like, ⁓ my God, what do we do?
John Harcar (17:54)
Hmm.Percy (17:57)
So at that point in time, and I think that that one was a blessing in disguise ⁓ because when he told me that ⁓ he couldn’t close on it, he was under what it close on it.I found out about the ownership issue. I basically told her, hey, I can’t buy this. You’re not the owner. order for me to buy it, you have to go through these court proceedings and all of that. That’s gonna take a while. I probably wouldn’t be interested at that point in time. So my very first deal was me walking away with $1,000, which was the earnest money that the buyer had put down.
John Harcar (18:42)
Right.Percy (18:42)
⁓But I’ve learned a ton. I’ve learned so much since then. Just for leopard, like that deal where everything could go wrong went wrong. That was a blessing in disguise. know, that shaped me and that built me to continue on moving, you know, moving forward.
John Harcar (18:45)
Yeah.Well, it… No, go ahead, I’m sorry.
Yeah. Yeah.
And it sounds like a lot of your knowledge experience comes from, know, just kind of being in the fire, right? You know, going through it and doing it. I mean, it sounds like, you know, by joining Ria’s and stuff, you kind of sought out others with some knowledge, but it just seems like you kind of just dove in. I mean, I guess for you, what really helped you on the mindset piece, right? To get off of that analysis paralysis and just, you know, get, get moving, right? Cause some people, no matter how hard they try,
You know, and they might try for like a day or two until it really beats them up and they really get that call from that seller or feedback from that seller. So like for you, how did you be able to get it? You know, get off the bench, get into game, but more importantly, stay in the game and keep driving.
Percy (19:43)
Yeah.I think for me was ⁓ my family’s background. ⁓ So most of my family from my mom’s side, ⁓ they were all street vendors. ⁓ When I was a kid, I was a street vendor myself back in Peru. And my mom had this mindset of
John Harcar (20:11)
Okay.Percy (20:23)
we’re just gonna do it, you know? Whatever happens, happens, but if you don’t start, you never know. ⁓ And I think just going back to that mentality of not being comfortable. I mean, I had a good job, had a good role, I was making good money, but I feel like there was something missing, right? There was something missing for me, and I think it was that passion. ⁓And I think what I can say now that I’m good at ⁓ is me being put in the fire and like there’s no exit. Yeah, there’s no exit, right? At least we think there is no exit. ⁓ But me, I performed well under pressure. ⁓ And I think that’s what kind of helped me mental, in the mental sense to keep going.
John Harcar (21:05)
being uncomfortable.Right. That’s awesome.
Okay. So let’s talk about where you’re at with your business now. So you are in Dallas. ⁓ What is your main exit strategy? How big is your team? You know, where are you? What are you focusing on?
Percy (21:27)
Yeah.So right now we service ⁓ all of the state when it comes to wholesaling. ⁓ We flip in the Metroplex, ⁓ probably an hour radius, an hour and a half radius from the airport. And our rentals ⁓ is mostly secondary tertiary markets. ⁓
just because we prefer cash flow and the Metroplex is a little bit harder to get that. ⁓ But right now, my team is really composed of three people. ⁓ I have a cold caller, have, or a marketer. She does a couple of things for me. I have a lead manager, who’s my follow-up. ⁓ And I have my EA, who’s my admin. ⁓ And ⁓ well, I can add, you know, my
John Harcar (22:22)
Right.Percy (22:28)
contractor, you know, for our flips. But that’s really it, you know, I don’t have a big team. Now, because of, you know, the systems and the processes that I have, I’m able to focus more on profit than volume, which is what I care for at the end of the day. So yeah. Yeah.John Harcar (22:45)
There you go.Quality over quantity. I love it. No,
and it seems like that’s been a trend in the past year, almost two years, right? People are just trying to scale back, be more lean. And that’s, you know, and that’s kind of one thing that we focus on in our mastermind lately is like, hey, it’s being more efficient as opposed to growing this, like you said, massive team, right? That was back in the day, really cool. And that showed success. Now it’s really not. So real quick, because we only got a few more minutes. ⁓
Percy (23:05)
Yeah. Yeah.Yeah.
John Harcar (23:17)
Let’s talk about what our kind of thing was at the beginning of messy title situations, right? I’ve dealt with a lot to where I’ve had air situations. I’ve had lean situations. I’ve had, mean, just so many different issues. You know, one, you know, with Medicare, it leans and stuff. how do you or what, how did you learn how to really deal with these situations with the title company and get them to the finish line?Percy (23:21)
Yeah.Have a good night.
Yeah, so honestly everything has been trial by fire, right? So everything has been me working up on the deal, seeing what, I think one of the biggest things that I finally understood is that the title company is really only a messenger for the underwriter.
John Harcar (23:45)
Mm-hmm.Yeah, very middleman, that’s
all.
Percy (24:01)
Yeah, and I think me understanding that piece of who actually makes that decision is being able to understand what’s the, okay, so how to measure risk, right? Because at the end of the day, that’s what the underwriter wants. ⁓ And depending on different underwriters, I was able to kind of understand what they’re looking for. ⁓ But…John Harcar (24:19)
Mm-hmm.Percy (24:28)
More than anything, I was able to tap in with other investors that are in this niche. It’s just messy titles. ⁓ They’ve dealt with a lot more stuff than what I’ve done. So I’ve been able to tap in with those type of people. ⁓ Just recently, ⁓ we closed on one of our flips that we bought with two memos in place. Yeah.John Harcar (24:52)
Okay, two memorandums already on it.Percy (24:54)
Yeah, were two memos were already in place. One was from April of last year. The other one was from like December of last year. No one could close on it because the title company, what they would request at the end of the day is like, hey, you need to get a release from the person that filed a But what a lot of people didn’t understand is that, so just recently,John Harcar (25:14)
Right, right, right.Percy (25:22)
⁓ in Texas ⁓ a law passed regarding memorandums. ⁓ So ⁓ there’s a couple of things that legally,A memorandum has to meet certain statutes, right? Set requirements within that statute. So, ⁓ one of them we were able to clear because the previous wholesaler didn’t submit earnest money to the previous title company. So, we were, you know, I spoke with the other writer, we spoke with the other title company, ⁓ and then the other writer was like, you know what? Yeah, I can clear that off.
John Harcar (25:50)
Okay.Percy (26:00)
And then the second one,We were able to, there were two things that we were able to do, but we followed up with one which was the easier one. ⁓ The entity name had forfeited on the Secretary of State website. So we sent over a screenshot of that. ⁓
John Harcar (26:15)
HmmPercy (26:21)
⁓ Of the Secretary of State website to the underwriter the underwriter looked at ⁓ the contract and then he was able to you know clear that off The other part that we or the other option that we were able to do is that because of this knowledge has passed ⁓ Basically a seller is able to release ⁓ or able to file a release ⁓ because nowJohn Harcar (26:45)
Hmm, okay. Wow.Percy (26:49)
in order to file a memorandum, the seller has to sign off on that memorandum. So if there is no signature from the seller, you can kind of clear that off as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.John Harcar (26:59)
Clear that off. Wow. Guys take notes. Good nuggets. Ding, ding, ding, ding. that’sawesome, man. So yeah. And I think that, know, with the, with the title situations, you know, it’s there, they’re great deals, but a lot of people just don’t want to deal with it, you know? And it’s like, you know, it’s a shame because yes, it takes a little bit more work guys. We do have to work a little bit, but the payoff is so much better.
Percy (27:18)
Yeah.Absolutely.
John Harcar (27:23)
⁓ Well,Percy (27:23)
Absolutely.John Harcar (27:24)
we’re at a time here. Percy, I appreciate you coming on here and sharing all this, man. I mean, there’s other stuff I got written down. I didn’t even ask you yet that we could have talked probably like 30 minutes. ⁓ If there’s anybody out here that’s in the, you know, in the Texas market that might want to connect with you, you know, whatever you said might have resonated. How do they get in touch?Percy (27:35)
Yeah.Yeah, you can follow us. ⁓ You can follow my business page on Instagram, which is ⁓ Yarleque Investments. You can follow me personally. It’s p underscore buys underscore houses. ⁓ I’m in all platforms, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. ⁓ Or you can give me a call. 469-251-2148. ⁓
John Harcar (28:08)
Beautiful. All right, guys. And we’ll puta lot of that stuff down in the show notes. I hope you guys enjoyed it, man. I hope you took some notes. He dropped a lot of good nuggets if you listened. Percy, man, appreciate you sharing all that. Guys, I enjoyed it. Hope you did. See you on the next one. Cheers.
Percy (28:25)
Thank you.
