Scaled Up Real Estate Investing

Mike: [00:00:00] Welcome to FlipNerd live discussions with and training from America’s very best real estate investing professionals. We meet lives twice a month to discuss what’s working now and get your questions answered. We broadcast live inside of a private online community, which you can join for free by visiting flipnerd.com/live.

Let’s start today’s. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the FlipNerd live show. Really excited to have you join us here today. Uh, and we are a hundred percent live. We’d love to answer your questions today. Uh, before we get started with our guests, Mr. Eric, Latshaw a good friend of mine. Who’s really scaled up an amazing business.

Our intention here is to grow an audience of folks that are professional investors. Uh, to where we can help you get to the next level. And if you happen to be watching this after the fact, while we’re not live anymore, we’re going to be hosting. These shows about twice a month typically. And so, um, to join us live, if you go to flipnerd.com/live, you can register, we’ll send you [00:01:00] notifications of the new show coming up and let you know, uh, when those are gonna happen.

We do broadcast live inside of our online. Groups. And there’s lots of other amazing activity inside of there as well. So it’s a register. Make sure you go to flipboard.com/live. Eric. What’s up my friend. How are you, man? Good. I’m good. Glad to have you here today.

Erik: Okay. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

And always, always good to hang out with you, man. Yeah, yeah.

Mike: We think out

here today. Yep. So, uh, what Eric, what I want to go over today is want to talk about really scaling up a business that you’ve scaled your business up pretty fast and pretty significantly, and just kind of want to go through, um, you know, some of the processes and some of the systems, processes, people, your team lead gen, we’re talking about this boat today, what it really takes to scale up a business.

So before we kind of get started, maybe just tell us a little bit about what your business looks like.

Erik: Sure. Um, [00:02:00] for me, my business today looks like a, myself. Uh, my COO, uh, we have a director of administration. We also have a administrative assistant. We have two acquisitions agents, one inside sales, acquisitions, agent, um, uh, disposition.

A lead man there and eight cold callers to texters, to outbound text guys. And, um, that’s it right now.

Mike: Yeah. That’s pretty significant. And what did, what did your business look like? Say, you know, 12 to 18 months ago, how has that channel just change at least in terms of the number of people that you have?

You know, probably.

Erik: Sorry, Anna director of construction. I forgot about that. Sorry, Brandon. [00:03:00]

Mike: It’s like, I want to thank some people, but you’re like, gosh, I don’t, even if I want to thank anybody cause I’m gonna leave some people out.

Erik: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Um, 18 months ago, my business looked like myself, uh, Kelsey, um, at lead manager and one acquisition.

Mike: Yeah. And you were doing a lot of the acquisitions yourself too, right? I mean, you were, you were working hard. Yeah.

Erik: About that time was, uh, pretty much a full blown transition to having him attend the appointments. Uh, but the first 12 months of our business, uh, was pretty much just three of us. And I was acquiring most of the properties myself.

So, uh, that six months was kind of the break-off of me attending every event.

Mike: Yep. And I know it’s hard just because you’re a member of investor fuel. You’re actually an investor machine. I surround myself with a [00:04:00] lot of people like you that have, uh, have grown their business pretty significantly. And I know it’s hard to go from being, you know, you, you, weren’t a solo preneur.

You had a small team, but I know it’s hard to scale because a lot of us. Hustling working hard, so much in the business. It’s hard to transition to managing people to do that for us, because we’re just kinda like move, let me, let me do it. Right. So let’s talk a little bit about that, that kind of the management side, maybe some of the mindset of shifting from a small business to a larger business.

So you can kind of step back and really be a business, you know, run it, be a CEO and, or be an owner to where you don’t have to be involved in every decision that gets made. Talk about the mindset kind of change you had to make to build.

Erik: Um, it’s still a struggle sometimes, but, um, you know, honestly it was the idea, um, some somewhat from, you know, talking to people in investor fuel, uh, that was something that 12 months into my business.

I was like, Hey, I don’t really have [00:05:00] anybody to talk to about this. So,

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Erik: Um, let me surround myself with people that are figuring this thing out. Um, I had been a part. Uh, of, you know, numerous companies. And I always said, you know, it’d be so much easier if I wasn’t making every decision that was going on, but at the same time, I didn’t want to let go of that because, you know, when you’re starting a business, a couple bad decisions, buying a property or doing something like that, and you feel like, oh my goodness, what’s going to happen.

You know, is my I’m going to be end up just hemorrhaging cash. And you know, a lot of businesses fail in those first couple of years just for that reason. Um, so. Making the decision to look at what I was doing to really deciding, to open a [00:07:00] business was the fact that I, I looked at what I had and what we were doing, and we were making money.

We were doing okay, but it wasn’t a business. It was a hustle. It was something that just involved. Constant commitment to the grind to making sure that everything ran through me, every decision that was being made in the business, um, ran through me. And that’s honestly in this business as, as anybody knows, almost a 24 hour a week job, um, 24 hour a day job and, uh, you know, seven days a week.

So I knew that I could not operate like that forever, uh, meet the goals or where I wanted to be eventually in my life. And. Being surrounded by people that were doing it. And I said, okay, well, here we go. The first thing that I need to do, which takes up most of my time is, is figuring out how to train somebody, to buy houses and buy them the right way.

Um, and put myself in a position where I could [00:08:00] operate in and operate and focus more on the business. So I hired an acquisitions agent and brought him in, he kind of stayed with me for three months and, uh, The biggest mind change from that was just enabling people to make mistakes and not be extremely scared, um, of what the result would be if people did make mistakes, um, and, and being able to recover and handle those things, if they happen and use them as learning and teaching points to become better.

Um, and once I brought him on, he was there alone for. Six months, um, eight months. And I said, okay, well, what’s actually, let’s actually go do this thing. So I brought people in one by one, I’m an administrative assistant next. And then we brought on lead manager. Outbound callers and different things like that.

And I said, okay, well now I have all this, all these people and the thing that I’m [00:09:00] worse, the worst status, um, I can tell these people what to do. I have a bunch of tribal knowledge in my head, but where are the processes and systems within this to really make it grow? Uh, so I said to her, but let’s bring in a CLO because I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m not going to spend the time to write all this stuff down.

So. Let’s bring in somebody that can actually do that. Right. And that, that’s kind of that wasn’t the beginning of, of it all. I brought him in. I said, Hey, man, I’m going to tell you everything. I think this and want this to look like. Um, and then what I think this business should look like, and I just need to work with you in putting it down on paper, bringing in all the positions.

Let’s build this board out of how we want this to work and. We’re going to put the processes and the systems in place. So no matter who comes in and who leaves and what happens, uh, we can plug and play and build a true business where I’m not the bottleneck of every decision. Um, let’s enable these people to make [00:10:00] decisions and go from there.

So that was the biggest mindset change. I’d say for me was truly. Enabling people to make decisions and not being a huge bottleneck to the business because when it all has to run through me, it’s the same job I had when I was acquiring the properties. Um, yeah, I just wasn’t at the appointment a

Mike: lot more overhead, right?

Erik: Yeah, exactly. A lot more overhead, um, a lot more deals that we had to get, but, you know, that was, that was the biggest mindset change for me was how, how can you trust people and enable people to make the right to see. And for me that was building processes and systems that we could fall back on when people made decisions and, um, trust that they were going.

Mike: Yeah. And talk a little about the, you know, you gotta, you gotta bet on yourself, you know, financially, right. As well as being able to execute it because in order to make it work, like, you know, some people, that’s why there’s a lot of folks that just kind of stay small and keep it all right there. They’re doing everything, [00:11:00] but it is a job.

It might be making really good money. Yeah. To be able to buy your time back. You have to not only pay people, you got to scale up your Legion systems and processes. There’s a lot of things, probably a bigger office. There’s a lot of things you have to pay for with no guarantee that there’ll be a return on that.

But unless you make that decision, you’re always going to be in a job, right?

Erik: Yeah. 100%. And, you know, I, I think as a small business, when you start that’s, one of the biggest fears is unless you’re sitting on a ton of capital, we didn’t use up a ton of really any hard money. So, um, you know, every decision that we made was a direct, you know, a direct effect of where our operational cash was and what we were doing and how that was going to work.

And, um, we, it was a decision of like, Hey, I sounds super scary, but if we, if we planned and did this correctly, um, it should work. So, you know, [00:12:00] that, that was a lot of that decision was as we took on those, those costs and took on those bills, we were very, you know, our ticket, we articulated where that money was going to be spent.

Um, There was a strategy in place. We tried our best to follow the detailed strategy that we put in place so that we weren’t overspending and putting ourselves in a tough predicament. But at the same time, it was scary. At times there was months where, you know, you’re paying everybody’s bills and your finances, aren’t the same.

And you’re not making as much money because you have a lot of overhead. But, um, it’s, it’s not an overnight thing. It takes a little bit of time and you gotta believe. In yourself that you built this and you did it. And, um, the way you put it in place, it’s going to work and over time and you start to see the return.

Mike: Yeah. Maybe you could talk a little about kind of the importance of kind of culture. Uh, core [00:13:00] values, things like that in your business, because I think you always had core values, right? It’s not like you didn’t have values, uh, but they were more in your mind of just like hard work, you know, a lot, a lot of things that kind of defined you, but then as you start to bring people in, especially in W2 employees, right?

Like they have, they care more about the workplace. You’re like, you know, I know that you’re like me, you. We’ll do whatever it takes to be successful. Right. So, but not everybody is willing to do that when it’s not their business. And so I think, uh, you know, a lot of us have had to adjust to create a place that people will actually love to work out versus you’re, you’re just, you’re, you know, I know, I know you, you’re more money motivated.

Right. And you want to build something. Right. But, and some people are still money motivated, but um, that cultural piece, you know, it means a lot to them. So talk a little about the shifts you had to.

Erik: Sure. Um, so I would say for me, when I first left, uh, The fireplace. I was an acquisitions agent I was doing.[00:14:00]

And I, I knew what it took. I was money motivated. There was nothing that I wouldn’t have given up to go get another deal. But the fact of the matter is those individuals are usually eventually going to go start your own business. Cause they’re, you know, they’re gonna, they’re willing to put in the hours, they’re willing to grind.

They’re willing to do those things. Uh, And for me, when we made the transition, I looked at it and I said, you know, people don’t want to work like that. People don’t want to give up vacations. People don’t want to give, um, you know, 70, 80 hours a week, uh, to somebody else because they got kids, they got families, they got things that they want to do.

Um, so that was like really one of the first things that I, I really focused on. This is. Eh, you know, I’m part of the millennial generation, I guess 36. Well, I’ll be 36 here. And, um, that the people that are younger than me, or even are even less motivated sometimes for that hard work grinding type [00:15:00] of mentality.

And it shows up in just the statistics of how long people stay at jobs in comparison. The generation before myself and then the generations now, I mean, it’s a two to two year window I think is the average job. And before it was like 13, it was, it was crazy. Um, and we’ve talked about that a lot. So, you know, for me it was, Hey, how do we, how do we create a place where it’s not feeling like you’re just beat up every day and, and you, you got a whip on your back and pushing you to.

Grind through everything, um, and enjoy having some fun. And, and while working hard, enjoying it, enjoying where you come to work, making people fit and making decisions as you hire people, to make sure they fit in with the other individuals that are working hard and enjoying the culture. Um, some people have.

You know, goals are money. Some people’s are time off. Some people [00:16:00] is just having a culture and a place to work that they love. Um, and that was really, my goal was, Hey, let’s make hard work fun. Um, so we try to do a lot of team building activities. We try to have some fun, we do some different things. Like we got rained out two weeks ago, but you know, we were doing a mystery, uh, Uh, detective type thing that we were going to be going through a York city, New York city with our, with our team, there was we’re in groups of five and we’re going to go solve a mystery and see who can do it first and working together kind like, uh, a long, long escape room type setup, and just build it, building that, uh, that culture, where everyone can rely on each other, have a good time trust each other, um, is, you know, extremely important.

To being able to grow because, um, people need to be able, you want to keep people, I mean, the more you lose, the more [00:17:00] turnover you have, it’s still a hard transition. Yeah.

Mike: Uh, so let’s talk a little bit about kind of systems and processes. Just, uh, we don’t have to get into specifics on what systems and processes, but, uh, talk a little bit about. The, uh, systems and processes you need to use, or you’ve kind of had to adapt without specific ones. Just the fact that you needed those in place

so that we might’ve lost you for a second there, Mike, I can’t hear you. Can you hear me?

Erik: I can’t hear you.

Mike: The beauty of a live to go on, live on shows guy. So we’ll, uh, give Eric a second to get back here. Now, if you guys are, uh, [00:18:00] watching us live right now, uh, you know, make sure you get in your questions so that we can get some of those questions answered. And that’s one of the beauties of joining us live. So there’s pros and cons in life.

Can you hear me, Eric? I don’t know what happened there.

Erik: Yeah.

Mike: Yeah, all good, but it’s just the problem. The pros and cons of going of doing these things live is a pros are we can interact and get questions from folks that are listening. Cons are there’s AB issues. Stuff like that, that you can’t edit out live.

So no big deal. So talk a little about the processes without getting into specific systems and processes just, you’ve had to put a lot of things in place and it’s not even, it’s probably often better to have less systems or less, you know, certainly software and stuff like that because you have to roll it across a lot of people.

Right. And so if you have like 20 different. Stuck together with scotch tape and bubblegum. It gets hard sometimes, but that’s how a lot of us at least started. Right. So just talk about kind of the role that’s played in being able to have a team that can [00:19:00] communicate and function seamlessly without necessarily having to all sit in the same room at the same time.

Erik: Yeah. Um, so that’s obviously extremely important and a lot of times based on, you know, what our business is, that there’s only a couple of people that are truly in the office. You know, every day, all day. So, um, knowing what the left hand and the right hand are doing at all times, and being able to navigate that, um, and making sure that, you know, an acquisition gets over to dispositions and those types of things, um, and with the right information and people are communicating, uh, is extremely important.

So, you know, for me, we, we decided on a CRM that everybody could work out of. Uh, we then use it, you know, one other object. Where we set our goals and things as well for that quarter, which we go over on a weekly basis. Uh, but for us communication all goes through our CRM. Everybody’s in there. Um, we [00:20:00] do, we have it set up where you can chatter.

Obviously we have group text messages and group emails as well, just like anybody else, but we like anything that’s going on within these deals to be through our CRM so that we can. Um, a very good understanding of what’s happening. Um, and everyone’s set up on that. So we, we communicate through the chatter or talking, or it’s pretty much an instant messenger through the sales.

Um, as soon as CRM and then from there at the end of each day, we have an end of day report, which I’ve built in literally. Questions for each individual position. Um, the kind of give me an overview of what went on that day, what happened that day? Um, things that they might need help with challenges, obstacles, successes, um, that they’ve had within their day.

Um, and that’s what they do right before they check out for the day. So I get that anywhere between, you know, five. 9:00 PM depending on, on that individual’s day and what [00:21:00] appointments or things they have going on. Um, but that gives me a really good update and anybody can see that, so they can kind of see what each other’s doing, what happened that day.

If there was a struggle of somebody who wasn’t communicating well via text message or phone call, maybe they had a book day and, you know, four or five appointments. So, um, for us being able to know what each other’s doing, how your day’s going, what challenges you’re facing, and also what successes you’re having has been.

Instrumental and us being able to be successful on that side of it from the original lead to, you know, selling that property on the backend. Huge for us.

Mike: Yep. Yep. Awesome. So let’s talk about lead gen, obviously, to be able to scale your business at all. Obviously you can start to add staff on that’s going to cost you money, uh, but in order to grow your business, right, you’ve got to grow your revenue.

You got to grow your profits to be able to afford all those things. Uh, and a big part of that investment is typically lead gen. So talk about, um, Some of the lessons you’ve learned over time, about how to [00:22:00] scale that up. I know you’re doing some different things now. You’ve got a bunch of cold callers and things like that, but just talk about the importance of kind of betting on advertising, because it is an investment and there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get a return.

Right. And there’s up and down months. Uh, but just talk about the mindset to be able and willing to invest in advertising because that’s the kind of the fuel that feeds the whole thing. Right.

Erik: Um, without leads without, you know, opportunities to get out there and buying properties or whatever, it may be really don’t have a business.

Um, so, you know, for me it’s might be different than some, but I’m just like, Hey, if it could possibly make us money, let’s spend the money. Um, and that took, that took some growth on my, my side as well. Um, basically. The fact that there’s different type of different types of marketing, different types of lead gen.

Some is, you know, direct to sell or some is a. Pointed lead generation where, Hey, this is what we’re doing. This is what is expected. This is [00:23:00] where, you know, how, how much we should get back based on if you could run it on national averages or, you know, what you’ve seen in the past on what you’ve spent. Um, and then some of it’s more of a branding, making sure that people are noticing your company and how that then feeds back into your direct marketing with, you know, with what you’re doing.

Um, I’m I’m one. That is pretty much, if there’s any way that we can touch someone, let’s figure out a way to do it. Uh, we might not be throwing the same amount of dollars and cents in everything for sure. Um, a lot of that’s based on. You know, long-term our ROI and what, what it looked like over time. Um, but lead generation is something that you continuously have to watch and pivot and make decisions.

And, you know, if you’re seeing a higher influx on, in one area than another that’s direct marketing to a seller, sometimes it’s a, you know, a transitioning of some funds that into [00:24:00] that way and pull them back on another, but always committed. Uh, to making sure that you have the ability to reach as many people as possible.

Um, I like to have as many outlets and possibilities to find leads as possible. And, you know, with that entirely. W with that direct marketing to sellers, we need to add some, some branding and some, some different ways that we can make sure that that direct marketing to the seller has the ability to make almost a double impact, because they’re used to seeing that brand and who we are in different places.

That, when they get that postcard or phone call or different or text message or whatever it may be or TV commercial, um, it drives them either to our website or to our phones. And, you know, we have the opportunities to be able to.

Mike: Yep. You know, and you got to stick with stuff for a too, right? I mean, you have ups and downs.

There’s things that’ll work really well for you for a month or a couple months. And then all of a sudden it doesn’t work that great. And something [00:25:00] else that wasn’t working well before it takes off. And I think a lot of real estate investors, like, you know, guys, like you are playing the long game, right?

So you, if something’s not working, you try to figure out how to tweak it versus just cut it off. And I think a lot of people stopped short and they’re just like, I tried that. Which for them might be, I tried it for a month or a week or something and they just stopped doing it, but they, you know, they didn’t really try it as well as they have.

You have to kind of have the fortitude to ride the ups and downs a little bit more than, uh, certainly than what you did. Let’s say even a year, a year, 18 months, Sure.

Erik: A hundred percent. And you know, I think as you start adding marketing tools and different things like that, or different ways of marketing people, Google analytics to BBC, to commercials, to radio, to billboards, whatever, whatever it is, you do postcards.

All the different ways, outbound calls, outbound text, and all the different ways that you can reach individuals. Um, I think a minimum of 90 days is, is needed, but I would say most [00:26:00] cases, um, you know, a six month period or to 12 months, depending on what marketing strategy you’re choosing is the only way you’re going to be able to really.

Real data, uh, to make decisions, to make decisions. Um, and you know, some things work in different markets better than others. So there’s times where, you know, you might want to be a little lighter on one thing than the other, but definitely long-term game is, is very important in marketing strategies and, um, to be able to.

Make the best decisions for you, your company and, and what opportunities are created by those marketing strategies.

Mike: Yeah, for sure. And I I’m the, uh, I guess this could probably be acquisitions and dispositions, but talk a little about, obviously I know you do a lot of innovations, a lot of creative finance things like.

The importance, even in this market for, especially in this market, I should say, um, of the importance of having some other tools in your tool belt from a creative standpoint, whether it’s acquisitions or dispositions, like the [00:27:00] talk about the importance of that that’s been on your business.

Erik: Oh, it’s huge.

Um, I would say honestly, being able to. Be a one-stop shop for a lot of individuals gives us so much opportunity that, you know, maybe somebody that’s just wholesaling or just, you know, rehabbing or whatever it may be, um, with focused on one exit strategy. Really limits you. Um, so being able to be a little bit creative with ways that we can acquire a home or dispositions at home has been, you know, a large part of our success.

Um, you know, when someone calls in to talk with us or we reach out to somebody, uh, we have, every lead is an opportunity. If it’s, you know, if it’s a wholesale property, a fix and flip, but you know, to. A novation to even somebody that, you know, we’re dealing with. Help them in any [00:28:00] way in a cash transaction or a novation or whatever it may be.

But even taking that lead and listing that property for return on, you know, what would cost us one contractor, you know, maybe our PPC budget for the month. So, you know, being able to capitalize and monetize every opportunity that you have and not having to turn things away. Is just, uh, I mean, a tug, it gives you so much more reach and so many more, uh, conversations with sellers that you can actually be a solutions provider to what their needs are.

Um, instead of just attacking each individual lead with the same strategy and.

Mike: Yeah, for sure. So Eric any other advice you’d give to people that are listening right now that, um, are, you know, you’re, you’re a high volume guy now, but not that long ago you were, you know, doing a few deals here and there.

Like we talked about a lot of things here, but anything that we haven’t covered today, any kind of guidance you could give, if you met somebody in the elevator essentially and said, Hey, I’ve got like one minute to tell you, uh, the [00:29:00] best advice I could give you in the next minute. Like, what would that be for somebody that is already doing deals that wants to sell.

Erik: Um, I fully commit, uh, that that would be the, that would be the thing. And I think that goes for anything in life. Um, if you want to get somewhere, you have to. Uh, I even said this at, you know, our meetup is you got to lead with, with faith, not fear. Um, there’s a lot of things and being, you know, progressive and, and getting to where you want to be and where you set your goals are that are scary.

Um, and there’s not going to be fun to do, and there’s going to be some pain and some growing pains that are involved in it. And, um, some uncertainties, but, you know, if, if you really want to get after it, you have to. You know, facing yourself that you can do, you can overcome. So whatever that is, you know, w wherever you want to get is, is a fully committed approach, um, to every opportunity that.

[00:30:00] Then you want to cease. Um, and if the goal was to, you know, have 20 people and buy 30 houses a month, uh, what does that cost? What does that look like? Build that plan and commit to it, um, and commit, commit every day and every hour until you get there, um, that you can to, to being successful. So that’s kind of where if I had one thing to tell people, as they’re growing.

Wherever you want to be fully committed to it. It’s going to be scary. There’s going to be challenges, but just have faith that you can, you can do it and you can make it through and be willing to sacrifice and, and give it yourself to be there because it’s going to hurt sometimes. But, uh, it’s the commitment and the struggle is what makes you know, the glory on the backend and the success on the back end.

Even a lot more fun and stories to tell your friends and family and kids and, uh, where you want to be.

Mike: That’s great, man. Yeah, it’s so true. Uh, you know, they said it was easy, but it’s never easy right now. I think there’s so many entrepreneurs in the real estate space. [00:31:00] Obviously I’ve seen a ton of women.

You have to have people that, you know, thought it was easy. They got in either, never did a deal, did a few deals here and there, whatever, but they, uh, they. They weren’t fully committed. Right? They tried it. I tried, it didn’t work. It was hard. So I’m just going to stick with, uh, where I’m sick with webs, stick with my job, or I’m going to do that easier thing or whatever, even though it doesn’t have as much upside potential, just the potential pain or the perceived pain of getting over that hump was too much.

I mean, I think there’s so many folks these days that want to be able to pop up here. Or write a check and have all their dreams come true. And, uh, you just can’t get there without stepping through a bunch of, uh, a bunch of bear traps and get a bunch of arrow wounds in your back along the way, right?

Erik: Yeah.

100%. There is no overnight, overnight to station in most cases, you know? Uh, it’s, it’s tough. It’s brutal. And it’s going to hurt sometimes. Just like you said, you’re going to catch a few errors in your back. It’s going to be. Bruised and [00:32:00] beaten and, um, you gotta have the will and the, the willpower and the strength and the commitment to just keep trudging along.

Um, and if you truly believe in it and believe in yourself, great things will happen.

Mike: That’s great. Hey, we, we do have one, one question that just popped in here. Pull this one up, if you don’t mind, um, how much of any of a decrease in lead flow have you seen in 2022? It’s a long question. You can see it here.

Have you kind of, have you seen a decrease in your lead flow in 2022? I know you’ve got a lot of moving parts with your lead generation, so it’s not like you’ve been consistent, so you, it’s easier to, um, compare apples to apples, but what are your thoughts on.

Erik: Sure. Um, you know, I wouldn’t, it’s kind of back and forth.

I wouldn’t say there’s, there was a about 30 days where we had a decreased in a lot of lead flow, but again, um, it’s kind of bounced back. February was [00:33:00] February, March area was a little bit slow for about a month. Um, I would say that direct mail for me has not been. As responses. Uh, as it, as it was, but I think that just ebbs and flows.

I don’t think anybody can figure it out. That’s the one, that’s the one thing I ask everybody a million times, like, Hey, does anybody know why mail changes? And they’re like, no, but it’s bad right now. And it’ll be good in six months, but.

Mike: Somebody’s pulling levers somewhere to like, say let’s slow it down.

Let’s speed it up. Right. But, you know, I know I just happen to know some of your details. Cause we work with you in a, an investor machine that, you know, you’ve had times where it wasn’t going great. And then you got your most profitable deal ever from it. Right. Or something like that. So, so you got to just keep playing the game because one deal in this business could, could make or break your year.

One big deal for sure. You know,

Erik: 100% and you know, obviously. I would say with the hot market on that same question is that [00:34:00] I do think a lot of sellers are late to the party. Um, they, they, you know, the market was hot 18 months ago, 12 months ago. Um, and as the market’s gotten hot and they keep hearing about, oh, friends sold their house for this much over asking, um, there, they definitely are leaning into the hot market and in values, I would say.

Um, but at the same time, you know, Still deals to be bought. There’s still leads out there. Um, you know, outbound has been great for us. And, you know, it’s a, it’s a commitment to continuing, continuing to generate leads, um, and taking every opportunity that we have. And that’s the other side of it. Like if there’s less leads, that means we just have to monetize and do better and capitalizing on, on every opportunity that we have to be, because we don’t have the option of, uh, Letting leads fall through the cracks, um, because when there’s less or less opportunities, we need to make sure that we have different strategies and different ways [00:35:00] to exit with that seller and communicate through, you know, the whole thing, the whole thing.

Yeah.

Mike: Awesome. Great stuff, Eric. So if folks wanted to connect with you somehow, w where should they.

Erik: Uh, you can find me on Facebook, Eric Latchell um, you can see, I am taking a little break right now, but, uh,

Mike: before we started recording, you’re taking a social media break, but you’ll I have a feeling you’ll be back eventually.

Erik: Yes, I will be. Uh, you can find me on Instagram at Eric lateral. Or you can find me on Facebook, Eric Latchell and if you really have questions or whatever it may be, um, I’ll throw my number out there. You can. Well, you’re welcome to shoot me a text, uh, 7 1 7 7 7 9 8 7 5 4. Right now for the next 45 days, that’s going to be probably the best way.

That’s the way to reach me. I have a company operating my social media right now, and you can always look at honest home solutions we ever own either an Instagram page and Facebook page as well. So anything that you guys need, please, don’t hesitate to reach out. I love to [00:36:00] chat about this. This is what I love.

So I’m available. Well, thanks

Mike: for sharing your story and your insights there that today, buddy.

Erik: Yeah, my thanks. Always a pleasure hanging out and chatting with you and I appreciate you having me on this. And I I’m happy. I, you can’t see it, but I have a very, very similar American flag behind me as well. So I was, I was loving to set up, but anyway, man, you have a great one and I truly appreciate it.

Mike: Yeah, thanks for being here, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us today. Again, if you’re watching this after the fact, and you want to get your questions answered, just go to flipper.com/live, and you can register that effectively is going to give you access to all of our live shows, uh, going forward. You can see that coming up once to make sure that you don’t miss them.

So I appreciate you a bunch. Thanks for joining us today. Go to flipper.com/live to register for our next show and ultimately to see the rerun of this one as well. So, Eric, thanks again, my friend. Thank you. Take care, everybody have a great day. Thanks for joining me on today’s. FlipNerd live [00:37:00] to get access to our upcoming interviews with experts and get your questions answered and join our free online community.

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