125 Closed Deals In 9 Different States

Dylan: Over 125 deals in nine different states before the age of 20.

Welcome to Real Estate Investing Secrets. We’re all looking for freedom and the opportunity to live better, more fulfilling lives, but most of us were trained our entire lives to work for someone else to chase their dreams. How can we use real estate investing as a vehicle to achieve financial freedom?

My life is dedicated to answering your real estate investing questions and helping you build an investing business that allows you to change your. And the world around you, and to enable you to turn your dreams of financial freedom into a reality. My name is Mike Hambright from FlipNerd.com, and your questions get answered here on the Real Estate Investing Secrets show.

Dylan: Hey, Greg, excited to see you on the show today,

Greg: Dylan, thanks for having me, buddy. Always a pleasure to be a guest.

Dylan: Of course, man. Listen, I am excited to be on the show with you. You’re one of my favorite people in real estate investing. Uh, we met, uh, probably four or five, maybe five years ago now, I would say.

Dylan: And, um, we were at an event together. I saw you having breakfast. I’m like, you know what? Let me go talk to this guy who I’ve seen on a few podcasts and was very famous at the age of 22 or 23. And um, you know, I dare say you’re one of my favorite people, like I said, in real estate investing.

Greg: Thank you, buddy.

Greg: I appreciate, I remember that we were in the, the hotel, uh, breakfast place in St. Louis. Uh, it was like raining out and yeah, . I, I think St. Louis is a shitty city, to be honest with you. I was excited to get outta there. Uh, I love the event, but that city was like, you know, it was like, I felt like I was in Beirut.

Greg: So, uh, , it was a good, good event. But, uh, you know, the Midwest is interesting to say the least given where I lived. Yeah. It

Dylan: was, listen, it was by far the, the nicest place in all of, uh, St. Louis. I believe. The hotel was

Greg: gorgeous. It was a gorgeous hotel. But the, the city of St. Louis, I understand why rent is, uh, 800 bucks a month.

Greg: It makes sense. . Exactly. You’re from St. Louis. I don’t give a.

Dylan: We stay. Yeah, listen, we still love you, so, so let me introduce the show. My name’s [00:02:00] Dylan Tanaka. I’m a hybrid investor, agent I’m com Metro Detroit. If you guys wanna learn about me, there’s a link to my site and show notes, but we’re not here to talk about me today.

Dylan: We’re here for the Real Estate Investing Secrets from the Flip Nerd Podcast Network. We’ve got over 1500 previous video and audio podcast. So if you’re not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe because you’re gonna hear a bunch of crazy, fun and cool stuff from all of our guests, but especially here today with my favorite.

Dylan: Greg Helbeck. So Greg, um, let’s talk about this really quick. So you’re a full-time real estate investor, right? What is in your pipeline right now?

Greg: Like revenue or deals?

Dylan: No. Like what kind of deals are you working on right now? Okay.

Greg: Right now we have 10 wholesale deals currently going on. Uh, I got. Three or four flips.

Greg: I’m just going like going off the cuff or I could pull up the spreadsheet. No, you don’t need to. That’s a couple rental couple. Uh, no one rental where I’m buying that I’m gonna just take down and. [00:03:00] Subject to property that is like in motion. It’s not like sealed yet, but we have pretty much a mixed bag of assignments, flips, and then some rental properties.

Greg: And then now with the market getting all squirrely, we’re starting to do a little bit of this creative finance stuff. By the way, a lot harder than these gurus make it seem. I’m just being blunt with you. I got nothing to sell yet. Like that shit’s hard. Um, you know, it works. I’m not saying it doesn’t work.

Greg: I don’t wanna be Debbie Downer, but like you. If you want someone to sell you house subject to, they got to be motivated anyway. Um, so we got a little bit of that stuff going on. But our bread and butter is really, we do about 60% of our businesses. We’re gonna go whole try to wholesale it, you know, the keyword there is try.

Greg: And after we do that, we’ll then go ahead and we’ll take some of the big ones down, like the deals that don’t need major work that we have big spreads on. I’ll just buy ’em and I’ll flip them. Or I’ll keep ’em as rentals. And, uh, I think it’s important to be able to have many tools in your tool belt. If you’re just a wholesaler, um, you’re gonna be in trouble.

Greg: I’m sorry to say that cuz there’s, there’s like, you know, there’s some deals where you might not be able to get inside or maybe the seller doesn’t want you to assign it or like there’s an opportunity to make money. But if you only have one tool in your tool belt, you should probably look into other exit strategies as well, just so you can make your marketing and sales efforts as efficient as.

Greg: You’ve got

Dylan: a saying, uh, that you don’t like the way that, uh, gurus smell, right? And I’ve got a saying like, you can’t be a one trick pony in this business. No. Uh, I don’t wanna brag, but I’ve been in the business a long time, unfortunately, as you can tell, from the gray hair, and I’ve gone through a lot of markets, right?

Dylan: They’re talking about a shift right now, whatever’s going on. But the reality is you’ve gotta have multiple different ways that you can take down a property, approach a property, speak with the seller, talk to banks, talk to other agents, investors, brokers, whatever it is. And, uh, and percent, like Greg said, being involved in all these different types of.

Dylan: That’s the best way to learn that stuff. So why don’t we unpack a little bit, we kind of foreshadowed in the beginning there, but why don’t we unpack you’re, you’re younger, you’re not as young as you used to be. None of us are. We talked about that earlier before we got on the show. But, um, so what, what led you to real estate investing initially?

Greg: So, yeah, as you said, I, I used to be like an actual young kid. Now I’m an adult with a beard who’s almost 30 years old, so I’m a glorified adult now. But when I started, I did not look like this, and I certainly wasn’t this age. So I was 20 years old. I was in college and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be successful, whatever that meant.

Greg: Um, I played hockey for a while and I wanted to play in the pros that didn’t work out. So after that didn’t work out. I was like, what am I gonna do next? So I was, uh, 20 and, no, it was 19, 19 or 20, and I was living with my parents in Mommy and Daddy’s basement. I had no overhead. And they said, you gotta go to college, son.

Greg: And I said, okay, sure. Uh, didn’t have great grades in high school, so I didn’t really get into many colleges. I wasn’t a deadbeat, but like I, I was getting like C pluses, you know, B minuses, you know, just kind of squeaking by. Uh, anyway, so I went to community college and I enrolled in Rockland Community College about 30 minutes outside of Manhattan.

Greg: and I kind of felt like a loser, Dylan, because I was like living with my parents. All my friends were like, at better colleges on paper, I was broke on the surface, didn’t have nothing really going on for me. Like, yo Greg’s in community college, he’s figuring it out. Uh, my son is in, you know, SUNY whatever, and they’re gonna be an engineer, like, whatever, accountant.

Greg: So I, I kind of looked like a looser on paper. . During that time, I started reading books on like self-improvement money, read, rich Dad, poor Dad, uh, read like this book called Elite Minds. I started learning about mindset and uh, I was like super young and I like never ever was a guy who reading like books.

Greg: So I started reading these books and I realized like there was definitely like. Ways to be successful. And I started like dabbling in like stock trading and like I, you know, was into like the Wall Street thing for a while. Thought I wanted to be like a financial guy, um, going through college while this is going on.

Greg: So I started to actually get pretty good grades cuz I actually got my head outta my ass. and I started trying and I got really good grades in college, like would get less of my perfect scores on my test cuz I actually committed to it. Like in high school I just screwed off. But in college I was like, you know what?

Greg: Like I’m actually gonna like see if I can be a good student and started getting really good grades, um, doing really well in school, taking the hard classes. I ended up transferring to, uh, a, a SUNY school, another legitimate college at that point, uh, to get my four year degree. But I took the four year.

Greg: While I was living with my parents, I didn’t want to get in student loan debt. That was my whole rub. I was like, I don’t wanna get in student loan debt, so if you’re gonna make me get a Stu, cuz my parents weren’t rich. So I was like, if you’re gonna make me go take out student loans, I’m bailing from college cuz their parents paid for their college.

Greg: But back in the eighties it was cheap. So I said, if I can go to this school for three or four grand and live at home and sacrifice, would you be open to paying for it? And obviously they have the money for that. So they said, sure. So while all that’s happening, uh, listen

Dylan: already a negotiator, I don’t know even know if you 18.

Dylan: Oh, I don’t. He’s like 17. He’s negotiating with his mom and dad. Dude, I

Greg: don’t screw around cause I did not want to get in debt like that. I knew that was the enemy. I knew that was public enemy number one. So anyway, I, uh, while this was all happening, I went to a seminar on double closing wholesale deals.

Greg: Like it was a free guru seminar in Newberg, New York at the Ramada right off of 300. I know exactly where it is. I drive by it all the time. And, uh, this person was talking about how you can make money without any money. Like get rich quick basically. And I remember I was at the seminar. I looked behind me, I had my two friends with me.

Greg: I said, I don’t know what you idiots are gonna do, but I’m gonna sign up for this upsell. So they said it’s $2,000. They said you could take somebody for free, so why don’t we negotiate and see if we can get a three for one special. My one friend Kevin said, I’m not doing it. My friend Devin, who’s super successful now, said, I’ll do it with you.

Greg: So we went in 50, $50,000 each. Went to this next like seminar. Like three weeks later about like more details or whatever. Then they tried to pitch us into all this other bullshit. I only did the first upsell for the two grand. But the point is that got me started. That got me interested and motivated.

Greg: And I remember at that seminar, Dylan, in the first one I went to, I made the decision I was gonna be a real estate investor and be extremely successful that day in that freaking seminar room, like my decision was made, I was gonna be successful. So after I got out into the wild, It was really hard and I knew that it was gonna work, but it was going to take time and I need to put the effort in and I need to understand if this was easy, everybody would do it.

Greg: And then from then, like, I mean, I’ll just kind of stop at this point. That was how I got into the game. But um, yeah, I was super young and naive and had zero knowledge on anything at all and no experience and, um, not a lot of credibility, you know, and certainly not, uh, anything like it is now. So it was definitely difficult getting started for sure.

Greg: It was very, very, very difficult, uh, in New York too. Out of all states, probably the hardest state to operate in. So that didn’t, uh, help. I,

Dylan: I think what I’m hearing you say there is like, it all comes down to one thing I believe anyways. And, and I know that you’re, you’re very serious about this, and I want to get into, into some of your, your book stuff later.

Dylan: Yeah. Um, but mindset to me is, is everything. Like you and I aren’t gonna be, we’re, we’re not gonna beat Jordan or Gretzky or whoever, whoever that person is, right. One-on-one, because no matter what our mindset is, but we can definitely beat the old Greg or the old Dylan from five minutes ago when we change our mindset.

Dylan: So, Is there, is there like a, a book or a program or a thought process that people who are listening are watching that you can tell them right here in the beginning? Like when, in the beginning stages, how do you get to that place where, where you can learn how to shift your that mindset? So

Greg: there’s a book that I would say is more of a practical book.

Greg: It’s called The Compound Effect. Darren Hardy wrote the book and it basically just talks about small wins every day, add up to big results. That’s if you wanna like read the book or you can just listen to what I just said. It’s gonna get the same. Obviously he covers more details in there, but he, he really talks about the little things you do every day, for better or for worse.

Greg: That’s a big point. There are going to, to show results in the future, but it’s not gonna be right away. Like if you have a bad habit of eating fucking shitty food for five years, the first day you don’t feel bad, you don’t look any different. But then five years down the road you did the wrong thing for freaking, what’s that?

Greg: 60 months in a row, you’re gonna be fat as shit. Right? But on the opposite side of the spectrum, if you drink a gallon of water a day and you wanna lose weight or whatever, cause it’s gonna supplement you eating. Shitty food the first two weeks, you’re gonna be like, I don’t, I look the same, like, I look completely the same.

Greg: You know, I, I feel a little bit better, but I just look the same. If you compound that activity for 60 months, you’re gonna look like a, you know, a lot better than you probably do now. So, I knew that I had to be willing to invest my time at the time because really I didn’t have any money. So invest my time today.

Greg: To 1, 2, 3, 4 years down the road, have that start to pay off. Right? And I remember I would see all these like people being like, oh, I did my first deal. Oh, I made money in real estate. And at the time I didn’t. So like, I would kind of believe it was true from other people, but I didn’t have any, uh, track record myself, right?

Greg: So I kind of kept the belief going, like that flame going. But then once, um, once I did my first deal, I like kind of connected the dot. And then I knew that it was just a matter of time until I got some momentum and I was able to like actually grow real business and, and make some real.

Dylan: Yeah, so, so having that mindset is, is super important.

Dylan: Um, yeah. When did, when did you go from just having the mindset and, and thinking that you’re gonna do this to, to really like getting out there and networking and, and what do you think networking means to our, like a business like ours today?

Greg: It means, uh, well over 1.5 million in cash in my pocket. And I’m not, I’m saying that as a crazy statement cuz it’s true.

Greg: So here’s a good. Up until 2018, I was making, I don’t know, maybe a hundred grand. Like probably not barely even making like a scratch in the surface of six figures. You know, just get inch in my way there. Right? And this is, this is like two and a half years after I started, right? So like, it’s still like needed to, you know, keep getting better.

Greg: But I went to Investor Fuel, ironically. I went to Investor Fuel and I met this guy at this event. At the event, and he was living in Dallas. His name’s Jason. And I said, Hey man. I’m gonna start doing some marketing here in Texas cuz New York sucks and I’d love to work with you and we can make some money together.

Greg: And he was like, yeah man, that sounds like a plan. And like two weeks later I called him, we did a house. Made 15 grand and then a week later I called him, did another one, made 30 grand. We probably did, oh my God, 35, 40 deals together like where we both needed. And then every time, like the deals kept getting bigger and better, then we started saving and buying cash and flipping.

Greg: But like that one relationship, right, was a seven figure relationship, right? That catapulted me to get to the next level, to be able to have the reserves in the business and the experience from one relationship, from one event, right? So listen. Was it a good idea to go to fuel? Of course it was. However, if you don’t put yourself in an environment with people who are successful, You know, your family and friends, unless they’re entrepreneurs or salespeople are gonna be like, dude, you’re fucking crazy.

Greg: Like, why are you trying to go out and like get this house for like 50 cents on the dollar? Nobody’s ever gonna do that. The banks are greedy. Like, this is a scam. Like you, you, you gotta get yourself in an environment where people are doing what you want to do and you gotta find a way to provide value to them.

Greg: Right? And that’s not that hard to do because if you can share information that’s practical, that’s how you define adding value. Like I hear a lot of people

Dylan: like, oh dude, How do I tell

Greg: you? If you share information that is applicable that someone can listen to and then act on, you are providing value, right?

Greg: That is the definition of providing value. So you have to get yourself in a situation where maybe you gotta pay to be in that room. Maybe you earn your way in that room cuz you’re, you know, sought after. But you have to hang out with people who are doing what you want to do. Um, What do they say? A rising tide lifts all ships.

Greg: Mm-hmm. . And if you’re used to hanging out with your knucklehead buddies in high school who are picking their belly button lint and they’re like crapping on you and your goals, it’s just like walking through mud to try to get to the same destination. Like you can get there, but it’s just gonna take a lot longer.

Greg: Versus taking the bridge across the damn street, you know?

Dylan: Yeah, for sure. And I remember, so when I came to Fuel, you and I had already known each other. We met at, at John’s event. Yep. And I saw you there. And again, this is in 18, I don’t remember what month, but whatever it was, sometime in 2018, probably believe summer or something like that.

Dylan: Yeah. And you, and, and you and Jason, maybe it was August, you and Jason were doing, um, deals and like these guys were talking about. Yeah. So, and like things, everything’s always like evolving, but fuel is a little bit different, right. And, um, people are getting to know each other. And it was really like sixth, the sixth meeting now.

Dylan: Five, six years in. So some people have been together for a long time. There’s a good fraternity and sorority there, right? And they were like, yeah, this Greg guy, like he’s doing deals with this Jason dude. And like Greg doesn’t even live here and like he’s closing deals virtually. And I’m like, Because I’d been in the bus, I don’t know, 15 years.

Dylan: I’m like, virtually. I’m like, what are you talking about virtually? You know, like that was just like, especially being from the Midwest, being from Detroit, like that just wasn’t a normal thing to see. Not to say you couldn’t buy like a package of foreclosures in another state or whatever, but I’m like, how the heck is this thing working?

Dylan: So going back to mindset and being, you know, being a, I don’t know if you’re a true pioneer, but in my small circle, like you are one of the pioneers of virtual wholesaling or just doing virtual deals. So yeah. How are you able to overcome. Um, versus the whole, I’ve gotta just drive around my neighborhood and look for deals, you know, with

Greg: signs in the yard.

Greg: So, that’s a great question. So what, what ended up happening was, Before I started doing stuff virtually, I was living in New York and I was like basically tied to my location. Like I, I was in that market and I was living there, right? So like for me to go see a house, I would get in a car, drive there, waste my time, probably get a no and then go back home.

Greg: So I realized that number one, New York was a problem because these attorney’s room, and now it’s not a problem cuz it’s been doing it forever. But like at the time it was a major problem, right? There was all these objections and deposits and all this bullshit. I was like, basically I had two choices. I could take this problem and I could try it somewhere else, and if I had the same problem in the other area, I was the idiot.

Greg: But if I was right and I it was easier in another state, then that was a good idea. Right? And I’d give myself some, some credit. So I told myself, I said I need to put myself in a situation where I can do what I’m best at, which is negotiating and making leads happen. Like I’m good at marketing and sales.

Greg: That’s what I’ve always worked on. I’ve been doing it since I started. Right? I could do that from anywhere, right? I can get a list in any county, anywhere at any time and I can call it, right? So this what I’ll tell you step by step. What I did, cuz I was big on earlier, I wanna provide value. I got a list of people and I, I realized from the few deals I’ve done in New York, the best deals were always vacant properties that are tax delinquent where the owners were dead.

Greg: Right? And I look, I was like, oh my God, every good deal that I did was like, kind of this scenario, like it was a vacant property. They owed money and the owners were not alive. It was inherited. So I said, what if I can get a list of all these properties and just basically call? Just call those people. This is before any tech services ever existed.

Greg: This is before cold calling was popular list stackers were not. I was doing my own list stacking before that was even a thing, just because I just tried to connect the dots the best I could. I’m certainly, yeah. It was all

Dylan: on Excel back then with a bunch of

Greg: spreadsheets, right? Yeah. Like softwares and, yeah, so I ended up, taking a tax delinquent list in Dallas.

Greg: And I took it and I ran it through this software called Accu Zipp. And what it did was it told me all the, on that list, there was a certain percentage of these properties that were leak deemed vacant from the postal service. And then I was like, okay, so these are, now there’s, so let’s say the tax delinquent list had 5,000 names on it, outta those 5,000 names, like 250 of those 5,000 were vacant, taxed, and properties, right?

Greg: So then I would take that sublist and I would scrape. And then I would take the people on that list and I would filter to see who was dead against the Social Security Death Index, right through Skip tracing service. So then I would know so, and then outta those two 50, we apparently had like 60 that were like monsters.

Greg: So when I would call people, I was calling the heirs of a property that was vacant, which usually means it needed. They inherited the property and they owed money. So I was basically calling into a problem that someone didn’t know how to solve. So, and I would do it at all virtually, like it didn’t matter to me.

Greg: Cuz I was like, well, if I’m in New York or California or as Arizona, it doesn’t matter. So I was calling these people and most of the people were actually interested in selling because like they didn’t even know they could sell it. So what we would do is my system was like, I would negotiate, I’d say, okay, you owe X in taxes.

Greg: I can give you X amount of dollars on top of the taxes. Is that something you’d consider or Probably not. And they usually would take the offers because they really, it’s like found money for them. Yeah. It’s free money, it’s a windfall. We would get these properties for like nothing, and then I would send Jason out there to like go confirm that it’s not burned down.

Greg: And he would go out there, he would walk the property, he would deal with all the bullshit that I hate dealing with. And then we would either close on ’em in cash together. Cuz at that time I did it like six or seven or eight deals. I started saving some money. We and these, this is like $30,000 houses.

Greg: We’re not talking about Beverly Hills mansions. These are relatively cheap properties. Or we would wholesale them for massive assignment fees cuz I got ’em so cheap. And then he had all the buyers. So like I had to deal, I had. Once I got the deal, I had no involvement like whatsoever. I literally, I would split the deal, but I had zero involvement.

Greg: It was once I got the property, it was like set it and forget it. I’d get a wire like five weeks later. So I started doing this like over and over and over and over and over again and I was like, holy shit. Like this is crazy. Like that idea of doing it in a different state actually works. And what happened, Dylan, and I’m kind of rambling here, but I’ll just kind of tell you how this came full circle is I realized after doing this for like a year and a half, There’s only so many properties in any city, even in Dallas, that is a massive MSA that are that distressed.

Greg: So after about 18 months of doing this, I realized that. There was only so many of these properties in the city of Dallas or in Fort or the Df W area, and most of them were either in my c r m or they couldn’t, they wouldn’t answer the phone or whatever the case was. And I kind of knew that this window of opportunity was gonna like, cuz I’d have to wait a couple years for another lump sum of these stress properties to, you know, become vacant, et cetera.

Greg: So I started to realize like, you know what I mean, this is really working out well now, but I think I’m gonna have to pivot because, you know, there’s only gonna be so many of these houses. Um, so at that point, you know, made a good amount of money and then I was able to move outta my house and move across the country and still do everything virtually.

Greg: But, um, I started actually reinvesting into like direct mail back in like New York where I actually knew the area really well and I, at the ti I, you know, I had money at that point to spend and I had a great team boots on the ground and we started building up our, our velocity business in New York. And that was back in 2018, 2019.

Greg: Long story,

Dylan: you know, No, it’s good, man. I mean, it goes back to mindset too, so, you know, you’re, um, God, unfortunately, like if I had a kid when I was 19, you’re young enough to be my kid, which I, you’re more mature than I am, and I wanna keep it that way. But the reality is, like, I, I look at at, at you and I’m like, all right, so Greg’s a young guy.

Dylan: You were, you were doing some like, I don’t know if you wanna call it contract work with John Martinez who was a famous sales trainer in our business. Right. And

Greg: our was That was a good idea too. That helped for sure.

Dylan: Oh yeah, we, and we can touch a little bit on that too. I’m not trying to give Yeah, talk about John too much glory cuz he always gets a lot of glory from me anyways.

Dylan: But he, um, so you are wise enough to get connected with John, however you put that bear trap out and he stepped in it. Right. And then, you know, you’re doing some stuff virtually, you’re getting into Masterminds. At that point, you were still a lot younger than you are now. I mean, especially percentage. Then you have kind of like the, the guts to like fly across country.

Dylan: You’re from somewhat upstate New York. You call it upstate or just like

Greg: you’re outside New New York City. It’s a New York City subs. I mean, it’s 45. You’re still, you’re

Dylan: still subs. Yeah. So you, so your subs, you, you have sucky weather like I do. Right. Your whole life. And you’re like, screw this man. I’m going to cal, I’m gonna California.

Dylan: I’m gonna go live in the, one of the most expensive zip codes in, you know, pretty much, you know, in, in the nation. And I’m going to flip houses virtually. And it’s like, it’s just a testament to mindset. But you saying, Hey, I’m gonna do this. The baby steps, like you said, the compound effect, right? It’s those, those small, um, wins and those, the, the ways you prove to yourself like, okay, I’m grown up enough to do this.

Dylan: Cuz there’s a lot of guys, no offense to you, uh, whatever they are, zals or whatever, you know, you guys can’t tie your shoes yet without your mom and dad helping you. And I hire some of those people, so I know it. It’s like, and Greg’s like taking over, you know, in your eyes and in my eyes. Like you’re taking over the world, um, doing things.

Dylan: Whoever thought you’d, you know, you never thought you’d be doing.

Greg: Yeah, seven years ago. It’s crazy. Seven years ago. Thank you for that. Yeah. I mean, man, it came down to like, I wanted to win, bro, and I wanted to do whatever it takes to win and like my version of winning might be different than someone else’s version of winning.

Greg: But I realized that once you have experience and it takes time to get experience, you can shortcut that by joining groups and whatnot and getting coaches. But I was like, Really this is, I had a clear outcome at the time. It was, I wanna move to California cuz I, all I knew and I listen, I still love New York.

Greg: I might eventually end up moving back there cuz it’s where I’m from. But like at the time I was like gutting to get outta there cuz it’s all I knew. And I’m like, the only way I’m able to get to this objective of moving to California is if I’m able to geographically remove myself from any business activity.

Greg: And I have to be able to do it on this computer here or on my phone. Because if I’m tied to my market, I can’t move. Right? Like if you own a plumbing business and you have to physically show up there to screw the pipes in, you gotta have an employee or else you’re not moving. Right? . So like I was like, that had to happen and in order for me to get there, I figured like a logical way to do it, even to combine it with like the problems I was having in the New York market earlier when I started was like if I could basically like get into a market that has nothing to do with my physical location, like Dallas, like I had no plans to ever move.

Greg: I was like, well, I can do business here and make money in Dallas. It doesn’t matter where I live. Cuz it’s like, I have no ties with Dallas whatsoever. So it was a smart idea, you know, to, to kind of pick a neutral market like that. And it’s crazy. I picked Dallas cause that’s like the most, one of the most competitive markets in the country, but I didn’t really know any better.

Greg: It, I didn’t really care. I was like, fuck it, I’m just gonna, you know, give it a shot. . But like, you know, it, it was just kind of like, let me test this out. And I think as an entrepreneur, a lesson that I’ve learned is you really never know if you’re gonna be right. Right? You have to just test stuff. Right.

Greg: Like, if you’re not willing to test stuff. You, you, you’re not gonna know what works. So I tested this Dallas thing and it worked out. And Dylan, there’s uh, dozens of stuff I’ve tested that didn’t work out, and that’s okay and that’s normal. But, um, Yeah, I just was so clear on what I, what I wanted to do at the time, which was move to California and have a virtual business.

Greg: And it, when I first came up with that idea, it seemed like it was crazy, but looking back on it now, like what I was doing like three years ago, I would like laugh at like, oh my God, I get one deal a month, two deal a month. That’s insane. Like we get that in a week now, you know, because we’ve grown, right?

Greg: Not because I’m special or you know, I’ve got some real. Spell. It’s just you just grow over time. And I always wanna focus on growth and like John Maxwell says, when you focus on growth, you just fall into the goals versus focusing on the goals and trying to like, you know, jam a round peg into a square hole, you know?

Dylan: Yeah. No, exactly. And you and I have a, a, a friend, you know, a similar friend, Michael Pinter. Who, uh, oh

Greg: my, he’s my uncle last time. Oh man. He’s, I gotta did the DNA 2 23 and Me thing. He might be related to Yeah, .

Dylan: He, he’s a super great guy and I always love spending time with him, but it’s like he and I have talked about you, and this is going back a little ways, but he’s like, you know this, you know how he talks, like he’s just, to me, he’s super New York, right?

Dylan: Because like, we’re just a lot different in Detroit than, than New York people. Very different you guys. And he’s just like, He’s like, you know this Greg guy, you know, he is like, he’s really gonna be something. He’s gonna do something, you know? And, and he’s like, I’m gonna do, we gotta start doing something together.

Dylan: I’m gonna do a podcast with him. And you guys have been, this is years ago, he told me. And then I don’t know if it’s a regular, regular thing. Oh, it’s a regular thing, dude, I see you guys every, every week. Is it Monday? We’re hammering. We’re

Greg: we’re, we’re doing a show. We’re doing, yeah. We have a lot of shows we produce, we still produce shows.

Greg: One of my best friends, a lot of my best friends are in Long Island, which is hilarious. Maybe that’s where I’ll end up, you know, but they’re all in Long Island, . But, Yeah, I mean, him and I like we connected and thank you for the comment. Um, we connected at a John seminar in San Diego, ironically. And he was like, I’m from New York.

Greg: And I said, where are you from? He’s like, oh, I’m from Nassau County. I’m like, oh, I’m from the Hudson Valley. It’s like not that far away. And we just became good friends and we’ve, we’ve actually done deals together. Like Michael’s had properties in my market where we’ve, we’ve done deals and made money together, which is funny.

Greg: Um, I didn’t know that. That’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, you know, he’s became a good friend of mine. I think us New Yorkers are so different than everyone else. Even though I might not live there full-time now, it’s just a different atmosphere and a different attitude. And even if I’m living in California for six months outta the year, which I do for tax purposes, but um, you know, You can’t take the New York out of a New York guy.

Greg: Like it’s just, it’s just like, it’s in your blood almost. Maybe Detroit’s the same way, or Chicago or whatever, but, um, I get along with the New York guys. That’s, those are definitely my

Dylan: people. Yeah, it’s funny, the first, first few times I really ventured out and, uh, Probably in the last decade. Not, not before.

Dylan: Cause I didn’t pay as much of attention, uh, attention. But like, I was talking to one guy, I’m like, where are you from? And I’m like, you’re not from like the South, or like, you know, the co like the, the south, southern coast or like Florida. And he’s like, I’m from Chicago. I’m like, oh, no wonder I get along with you.

Dylan: I’m like, we’re kind of the same way. You know what I mean? And like, we’re a little bit, we’re a little bit meaner. Uh, we’re a little bit quicker. We’ve definitely speak faster. And like you told a story, I don’t remember how it all went. I don’t know if it was somebody in Texas or Oklahoma and I think somebody was like, you.

Dylan: Something about how fast you were talking or your New York accent or, oh yeah. They don’t like something like that. No.

Greg: They’re like, it made you feel uncomfortable. Cause I’m a fast talk. Like, I, we actually just lost a deal a couple weeks ago. My acquisitions guy was, was, was kind of doing like a, a, a post dead deal diagnosis and, uh, He was like, yeah, man, because I usually, he’ll get the deal and then if there’s like legal questions, even though I’m not an attorney, I can answer them.

Greg: Right. Without giving legal advice, obviously. But, uh, he was like, he was like, yeah, that guy Greg was just a fast fucking talker from New York. And I’m like, that’s the, I get it. I can work on it, but like, that’s who I am. Like, it’s hard for me to change. Yeah. My personality,

Dylan: like I’m, I don’t even see you as that fast of a talker, to be honest.

Dylan: But I, well, I know this guy was down

Greg: a snail, I guess, you know, but. I’ll tell you what, actually let me share. This is actually a reality in this business. I’m gonna, I, this is a side note, but I really think the listeners will get value from this. This just happened like two weeks ago. We got a good lead cuz we also buy in Delaware, right?

Greg: That’s the state that where my acquisitions guy lives, so it makes sense to buy there too. We got a lead smoke and hot motivated bunch of competition. He goes on the appointment, builds amazing rapport, separates himself from everyone else. They take the offer. So we get, and the Chris Voss says this, yes is nothing without.

Greg: We get the offer accepted. Now the guy’s got legal questions, so then he calls the de facto attorney. Just kidding, Greg. And I’m going through the document with this guy to complete, complete the agreement, not sign the contract. Little dip, little nugget there. Um, and we’re going through the thing, line by line.

Greg: And at the end I could have had him sign. And I could have called him the next day and said, I need lockbox access. However, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. So I told him, I said, listen, because the property’s vacant and we, you wanna close in three weeks, we’re gonna need to have reasonable access via lockbox in order to get our contractors in there to get the right bids.

Greg: To get the right jobs. So the day we close the guys there with the dumpster and we’re getting this thing cleaned out. He went awol. He was like, lockbox, lockbox, lockbox. He made it seem like I was from Al-Qaeda and I. I get why you’re upset. I’m so sorry. This is our process. And I had to get Brett on the phone cuz he, I didn’t know how to deal with a guy cuz like, he didn’t know me.

Greg: I was like the big bad bank, you know? And, and, and Brett’s the guy, his best friend. So we get Brett on the phone, he’s talking to the seller. We had to actually end the call. We had to say, listen, we gotta talk amongst ourselves and get back to you. So we almost like the seller does for you. Right? But it was reversed and I told Brett, I said, listen dude, if this guy’s not willing to put a, and this was a pretty good deal too, but it wasn’t a good enough deal to where I would take it site unseen.

Greg: I said, in order for us to move forward, I need access to this property or else we can’t do what we need to do for this house. Cuz we were trying to wholesale it or maybe rehab it ourselves, but we needed contractors to go in there no matter what I said. I think the guy’s still gonna take our offer cuz he really likes you.

Greg: But if he’s not willing to at least mail you the key and have, you have the key to go over there strategically, you know, maybe three times a week to show contractors and buyers the property, we gotta walk away. Cuz then it’s just gonna be a big waste of time and he’s gonna have the wrong expectations.

Greg: He ultimately sold to a competitor of ours and that was fine. We knew that was gonna be an outcome, but the key here is we were willing to walk away from that deal that probably would’ve made us 30 grand. Because we’re not gonna compromise our systems and our processes in the way that we do business.

Greg: And a big, the lesson here is that when you’re brand new, it’s hard to do that cuz you need the money and you want the money. And I get it. I’ve been there. But once you get some establishment and you have enough deals and revenue coming in, you need to be able to walk away from deals that aren’t going to meet your criteria.

Greg: And you, you need to be able to walk away from sellers who have the wrong expectations because the deal will fall apart when you’re in escrow. I’m telling you right now. . So you need to be willing to compromise, not compromise your values, your systems, and your procedures. So that was a lesson that probably cost me 30 grand.

Greg: The lead cost me 300 bucks. But the point is, once you get enough leads, I guess maybe we could transition to that. You can set yourself up to where you have options, right? And you don’t need to buy every house, right? You don’t need to do that. You can buy the houses that make sense, and you can walk away from the deals that don’t make sense.

Greg: Or you can walk away from the deals where the sellers are gonna be unreasonable because it’s probably gonna blow up anyway, you know? It’s a big deal. It’s a big deal. Yeah. Nobody likes to talk about that either.

Dylan: No. And the harder it is in the, in the front end, it’s gonna be harder later. And the only thing you could do different, which I can Monday morning quarterback anything and you already know.

Dylan: Yeah. Sometimes you gotta bring that stuff up early and, and often and like I teach my acquisition guys, like from like the first second, we get serious. Let them know that we’re gonna have a lockbox on here because. It’s our asset now, even though we don’t own it. We’re gonna watch the pipes. We’re gonna watch any thievery.

Dylan: I don’t, I don’t work just in the city of Detroit. I’m working in suburbs where there’s three, four, $500,000 homes. But if they don’t bring that up right away, it’s just like selling the add-ons, right? You wanna sell the The undercoding on the, on the TransAm or whatever. You better tell ’em before they even get in the car.

Dylan: If you don’t get the undercoating. I don’t think this thing’s even gonna drive off the lot. You know? That’s when you gotta turn into a New York salesman. We should. .

Greg: That was a mistake we made actually.

Dylan: Yeah. And And you don’t know if that, he might’ve said no right out of the gate. Cuz some of those guys are weird.

Dylan: We have a lot of engineers in metro Detroit. Right. And they’re very nitpicky about things and I’m just like, I don’t need you. If you wanna do business, that’s cool. Find somebody else. They try to do business, somebody else, they under promise they are overpromise, underdeliver. It never happens and you’re totally right.

Dylan: So that’s great advice for the listeners and watchers. Um, Greg has negoti. Whether it was, uh, positively or negatively, thousands of contracts. Right. And oh my God. And hundreds of them have have closed. And you’ve helped a lot of people for free. You know, I’m sure if I texted you and I was like, Hey, I’m in this situation.

Dylan: You might not take four hours on it, but you’re like, You know, record something and go try this because you just never know. And sometimes it’s like a chessboard or I talk about like, playing pool. You gotta look at things from different angles, like billiard pool, right? And, and you never know what you’re gonna see if you, if you walk around the other side of the table.

Dylan: And real sales, you know, the, the art of real sales for the most part is kind of lost. We know that because of the digital age. But, uh, if you can talk to people, , you got a lot better chance of doing

Greg: business. That’s true. Oh, a hundred percent, man. A hundred percent. And it’s all about just. Being in a situation where you don’t, like, you wanna buy the house, but you don’t need to buy the house.

Greg: And that was my big rub when I first started, is I, I knew that the system and I worked with John and he taught me all the right things to say, but I still had a needy mindset and I still needed to get the deal right and it would screw up my process. So once I started realizing that, The deals will come, you know, because we’re doing enough marketing and, and you know, this, that, and the other.

Greg: I started approaching every deal where like, listen, I want this to work out, but if it doesn’t work out, I’m willing to walk away. And that allowed me to, to, you know, before I hired somebody, like really, like sell the right way, right? And, and go through the process the way it needs to be done versus trying to like force things, right?

Greg: And like force sellers to do business with you and it just never works out, you know? Um, but. Yeah. I mean it’s, it’s, it’s important. I think it’s, it’s, if you’re listening and you’re brand new, it might be hard to relate, but once you have some experience and you stick around this business long enough, you go back and listen to this again, you’ll be like, oh, that’s so true, man.

Greg: Oh my gosh. That’s like a man. I’ve had that happen so many times, and you know, it never works out when the seller’s not a hundred percent on board, you know? Yeah. And

Dylan: Greg’s dropping tons of wisdom in this, in this podcast, in this episode. So you guys can listen to this for the next decade. Sales never changes.

Dylan: It really does gotta make it evergreen, right? You know, ab Absolutely. And there, so there’s two things. We’re coming clo close to the end, but not yet. But I wanna bring up two things before I forget Greg. So number one. Sure. You’re kind of famous for your book reviews, right? So if am

Greg: way that is, I will give myself credit.

Greg: That has definitely gotten me some notoriety on the internet.

Dylan: No, for for sure it has. So, so if you guys aren’t following Greg, we’ll have all the links in the bottom of the, you know, show notes and all that. Don’t worry about that now, but make sure that you pay attention to his book reviews because he’s so crazy about books.

Dylan: He’ll review them maybe sometimes three and four times. I’m like, this guy’s talked about this book five times, but it’s because you’ve fall in love with those books and they literally can change our lives. So, so why don’t you give us like an a minute or two, like your shortlist of like must read books.

Dylan: I don’t care if, if people are new or if they’ve been in the business a hundred years. What are, what are your must read books?

Greg: So you gotta read the compound effects. You need to read principles, so compound effects. Darren Hardy principles, Ray Dalio. You should read Rich Dad Poor Dad, even though there’s no tactical instruction there.

Greg: It’s a mindset book. But that’s a good book to kind of shift your paradigm about money you need to read, uh, think and Grow Rich at least once. That’s a tough book to read, but it’s really good. Um, you need to read a sales book called Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. Um, those are my staple books that you need to read.

Greg: Um, if you wanna read those, you gotta read. If you have some more kind of like, you know, if you want to learn more real estate stuff, there’s a book called The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller. Phenomenal book. Uh, there’s another book by Gary Keller called The One Thing That Really Teaches You about Focus and how to, um, how to find the one thing that matters and, and.

Greg: The one thing that by doing it, everything else is easier or unnecessary. It’s really a book about leverage. There’s another marketing book that is really good called 80 20 Sales and Marketing Guy named Perry Marshall wrote that book and he really talks about how to think about marketing and sales in a strategic way to be efficient and effective.

Greg: And, uh, I’ve read that book probably 10 times, Dylan and,

Dylan: uh, he’s, he’s a Dan Kennedy student. You know that p Oh yeah.

Greg: Oh, you just dropped the D word. So you, the godfather. You gotta be reading No BS Direct marketing. Dan Kennedy, no. BS Wealth Attraction. Dan Kennedy, magnetic Magnetic Marketing. Dan Kennedy.

Greg: Oh,

Dylan: Dan Kennedy. Ultimate Sales letter. You can go on and on and on. The

Greg: sales letter. Um, oh, what’s the one I love? It’s called No BS Time Management for

Dylan: us. Oh yeah. The Time Vampires. When I read that, I was like, I can’t believe I let all these people from my meetup group call me. This is like a years ago.

Greg: My God. I was like, oh, tough to, yeah. I’m tough to get a hold of, not like a dick, but I’m. If someone’s hitting me up, like right now my phone’s on do not disturb. I’m just looking at it. I got five missed calls since we’ve done our show. Yeah,

Dylan: I live on Do Not Disturb.

Greg: Yeah, I got a bunch him text messages I haven’t answered.

Greg: Not because I’m a jerk, but it’s like I’ll answer them in the order of importance. Right? It’s like I owe nobody a response unless they’re a paid client and they’re paying me like serious cheddar. Um, not because I’m a jerk, but it’s like you have to look at your time as an entrepreneur. Like it is the ultimate commodity.

Greg: You can’t get time back, especially on a 20 hour day. So, you know, I look at my messages, Dylan, like just to go on a time management rant, like, Like, I’m looking at the messages now. One of ’em I can answer whenever the other one has zero urgency. The other one, pretty much no urgency. Um, another like, like all these messages, like, I’m gonna get back to these guys later on because there’s no need

Greg: If the escrow officer says, Hey Greg, uh, we got a problem with title, uh, you gotta gimme a call.

Dylan: I’m, yeah, I’m, I’m calling, I’m calling them first. Otherwise you do it from the hot tub. Greg is also famous for his hot tub, lives on Instagram and uh, and other silly things.

Greg: Yes, that’s true with the, the glorified chest hair that I just shaved that I had some.

Greg: Yeah, there you go. Chest flow going. Um, but you know, you gotta understand time, man. That’s another thing that I don’t think people really, it’s tough and it’s, it, it, it was tough for me and still is not easy. , understanding how to protect your time and not, uh, go have your whole day go by with stupid crap that doesn’t move the.

Greg: You

Dylan: know? Yeah. You know, a book you can add. I’m sure you’ve read, or you, you certainly know, A Shift by Gary Keller, so I’ve never read that. I should check it out. Yeah. If you read it, you’re like, it’s exactly, eh, close to what’s happening right now and minus the foreclosures. But it’s the, it’s the mindset, which I, I don’t know if you’re gonna get a lot from it, but it helps me, like impart wisdom to the, to the newer, younger people in the business who I deal with, or I, you know, I, I gotta check that book out now you got me for it, man.

Dylan: Super duper simple. But you’re gonna be like, oh, and it gives you some good ratios that if you go back and, and like Google them, it’s like, okay, this is when it’s a seller’s market, this is when it’s a buyer’s market and it kind of helps us to sound more intelligent. Speaking with private lenders or like talking more about real business, not, not necessarily just podcasts and info marketing and all that other stuff, but it’s pretty good.

Dylan: Super simple. Um, but again, like principled, you know what I mean? So I like that one. Um, and your buddy, Chris Voss, just brought out another book for real estate agents too, which I read in like two days. You right now, it’s so good. The favorite of the school, the chapters. Man, I’m so annoyed. I’m like, I ha I never buy physical books anymore.

Dylan: Not in person anyways. And I’m like trying to order it and I’m like, so yesterday I’m like, let me buy the thing on Kindle. That’s what I got on my iPad. Right, right. I read it on, on my iPad app, but I read the whole thing and I was like, this is pretty strong. You know? I mean, it’s all tactical empathy. It’s

Greg: a really good book.

Greg: I, he’s got another one coming out, I think next year. Like a, like official negotiation, like Black Swan Limited book. Cool. Yeah. Um, anything Chris Voss puts out, you gotta consume that guy is the, I actually met him. I’ve hit out him on my podcast. He’s a nice guy. I’ve, I’ve hung out with him. He’s a super chill guy.

Greg: Very humble, not a jerk. Uh, and practices what he preaches, you know, he’s a real cool

Dylan: dude, Chris, and, and he’s got game. Mr. Voss, if you’re watching, we all. I see it. We see what’s going on here ig. So, um, so Greg, that brings us to your podcast. So Greg’s been running a podcast that I was a, I was a, um, an early, uh, guest on and it was called Pave the Way, but recently we’ve had a switch, right?

Dylan: So, so you changed the name from Pave the Way to the Real Estate Investing Fast Track. You’ve had some phenomenal guests. Why don’t you talk a little bit about your podcast and like why you do it.

Greg: So I was drunk in Hawaii and, uh, really drunk actually at probably seven or eight. My ties trying to pick up tricks.

Greg: Full transparency here, that didn’t work out. But I was talking with my friend Devin, and I’m, I’m an op, you know, what you see on this podcast is what I am like, I’m very just straight up, like I’m very blunt. So that was going on in Hawaii and I was talking to my friend Devin, who actually went to the real estate [00:41:00] seminar.

Greg: and we, at the time, we, we were doing all right and I said, man, we know a lot of stuff that we’ve learned just by osmosis and I wanna share it. I feel like people my age could benefit from this, and I wanna start a show. And when I got back from Hawaii, uh, I was like, I’m gonna start hitting my friends up.

Greg: At that time, I built a respectable network and I said, why don’t we record a podcast that I’m gonna start putting ’em out once I get like 10 or 15 podcasts recorded. So I started recording. Um, didn’t know what the name was gonna be. And then I said, well, I’m maybe paving the way for younger people to, uh, to, to, to have success.

Greg: So I named the show, paved The Way Podcast. I thought it was a decent name, but once we started getting marketing consultants involved and stuff, the message to Market Match was a little janky. So I said the, the, this podcast consultant was like, dude, you should rename this like a real estate show cuz you’re basically making real estate content.

Greg: And I said, that’s a good idea. So me and my assistant brain, And we came up with the real estate investing fast track, just as a catchy name to rename our show, right? So it’s all the same content, you know, a formerly known a [00:42:00] K a, whatever you wanna call Pav Way podcast. But that podcast is my version of trying to give back, right in a free way.

Greg: Where I interview people like you and other successful investors who I know and and other entrepreneurs who might be, you know, high level. And I ask them, you know, what do they do to get to where they’re at? You know, how have they had success? What have they done? What are they doing in their real estate business?

Greg: How do you negotiate, well, how do you communicate better? Like, I try to really crack the, the, the code and give people really what they need to hear in order to have success. And um, you know, since then we’ve done some trainings and whatnot, but it’s really. Always been a way to, to selfishly interview people who I might wanna speak to.

Greg: I might, who I might not have the opportunity to speak to unless I had a podcast. . And uh, like I say, unless you’re putting out like controversial crap, like Andrew Tate in some of these knuckleheads, like a podcast is only gonna do good, right? If you’re generally putting out like content that’s not gonna like edge people, that’s not my thing.

Greg: Um, you’re only gonna benefit from a podcast. It’s not gonna have any downside, right? Unless you’re talking about [00:43:00] crazy shit, which we don’t talk about. . Um, so I’ve found that it’s opened up a lot of doors. Uh, it’s been able to give me some credibility, you know, beyond the real estate stuff because like when you have a podcast, even though anyone can make a podcast, it’s a level of social proof and credibility that consumers see.

Greg: And if you’re just Rick Jones without a podcast, you can still be successful. But if you’re Rick Jones with a platform, it gives you some added credibility and it it gives you some. Um, so I’ve, I’ve really enjoyed it, Dylan, and I’m continuing, I’m gonna continue to do it, you

Dylan: know? Yeah. There’s, there’s a lot of psychological proof and I can’t go into all the science cuz I’m not that smart.

Dylan: But there’s something about, you know, like when we hear somebody speak, it’s different than just watching them. And yes, of course belly to belly is the ultimate. But in today’s fast-paced world, like if you’re driving your Tesla down the PCH or whatever you guys do in in California, and you’re listening to Dylan every single week on Monday at 8:00 AM and you’re like, man, this guy Dylan, he’s dropping, you know, he’s dropping bombs.

Dylan: I love this podcast. When we do meet at an event, you’re like, man, I listen to your [00:44:00] podcast. It’s a crazy

Greg: celebrity. You have a

Dylan: celebrity effect, man. Like, I’m like, Greg, wait a minute. You’re doing deals in nine states. I’m, I just do a podcast. Yeah, but you’re like, man, remember when you said this? And it’s like that.

Dylan: That stuff happens and people really love it. You and I have met some. I don’t know how famous, famous in real life, I don’t hang out with Muhammad Ali or whatever, but we’ve met in our business some of the more famous people. Right. And when you give them a compliment like that, they’re like, Wow, you actually listen cuz most people are like, Hey Greg, I got a deal for, hey, could you come and do this?

Dylan: Can you do this for me? Can you do that for me? Instead, they’re just like, Hey man, I appreciate this, this was cool. And they look at me and like, guys like Adrian and guys like, um, Trevor and, and even Handbright and John, like when I first met them I would compliment them, but it was honest and I was like, Hey, yep, I heard you say this or I watched this or read this thing that you wrote.

Dylan: And they’re just like, oh really? Where everybody else is kind of either too shy or they’re trying to like work ’em to, you know, to have them pitch themselves. They have an angle, they have some sort of a scheme. Yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting. I’m, I’m not an guy. Wanna

Greg: guy hear a funny podcast store? You wanna hear a funny, uh, yeah, for sure.

Greg: This is a good one. Um, I was in Florida last summer. Might have been partying, but who knows? And uh, I was at this bar watching a hockey game, uh, . And I was going to the bathroom and this guy came up to me and was like, Hey, are you Greg Halbeck? And I like turned around and I’m like, yes. And he’s like, I watched your YouTube video with this other.

Greg: That’s crazy. I’m meeting you in person and I’m like a knucklehead, like no name. And he is like, this is insane. I can’t believe I’m meeting you here at this bar. And I’m like, yeah, man. Like, nice to meet you. How you doing? And it was like, shook his

Dylan: hand without washing. It was super

Greg: weird. Yeah. And I was like, all right man, I’m gonna go take a leak, you know?

Greg: And uh, you know, and it was just like, it opened my eyes and I’m like, you never, the point of that is you never know who’s watching. And ironically, at that same bar, like 20 minutes later, I was hanging out with all these people. And this guy was like, oh yeah, you know, I, my dad lends money to this guy in Long Island.

Greg: And I’m like, oh, who is that guy? And he’s, oh, so-and-so I go, so-and-so’s one of my best friends. And I’m texting him a picture. I’m like, dude, I’m with this guy. He’s like, holy crap. That’s crazy. So you never know who’s out there, right? Yeah. And it’s a small world, even though there’s a lot of people in America there.

Greg: It’s a small world, right? It’s small circle. Gotta do the right thing. You gotta be congruent and transparent. Like as some people I’ve. Who I saw online and then I met them in person and like I thought they were affiliated with Al-Qaeda. I’m like, oh my god, this person’s a total jerk. . And it’s like, you know, you gotta be congruent, you gotta be consistent.

Greg: And it, it comes off like when people see that you are on the internet and you’re the same in person, it adds to that credibility cuz people know you’re genuine. You have key here, you have good intentions, you’re not a jerk. That’s really important, especially if you’re an internet.

Dylan: Yeah, there’s nothing better for me than when I do go to an event and somebody’s like, Hey, I met this guy from Metro Detroit, blah, blah, blah.

Dylan: And he was telling me he knows you and you know what I mean? Like, and it’s all positive stuff. And I’m like, cause our business is so small. I tell these stories. Like I, if Greg was, was hosing his private lenders, which he would never do , I would know about it within days. Right? Within days. Because it, it just sweeps across seriously.

Dylan: It sweeps across the nation. Like,

Greg: it’s

Dylan: like the Covid virus dude. It just goes global. Oh, it does. And, and I was just a million dollar meeting and like, um, and you were there, right, Greg? At Million. I think you were there, right? Or no? No, no. So you were there the next, anyways, so I’m at million dollar meeting and this guy’s like, oh, you’re from Detroit?

Dylan: I’m like, yeah. And he’s like, do you know this guy and this guy? I’m like, yeah. And he’s like, I’m suing him. I’m like, cool. I’m like, good to know. I’m like, yeah, hey. I’m like, wanna have a beer ? You know? Yeah. I’m suing him because bad news travels fast. So like, yes, again, the whole. , you know, be hanging out at masterminds of people who are positive guys like Greg, maybe myself, I’ll pet myself in the back, but like this is.

Dylan: Changes that mindset for regular people and they get into our world and they’re like, Greg’s bought more houses than his, I dare say, than his whole family combined. Right. And, and he’s, he doesn’t care. He is not bragging about it, but it’s like, yeah, when he was 15, that wasn’t even a thought probably. Yeah.

Dylan: You know, pretty soon, like these YouTube kids are gonna be flipping houses at 10 in their parents’ names. But, but in all reality, like that’s what mindset can do for you. And like, I know Greg like down. I don’t know if you’re a mindset guy, but in my head, like you’re a mindset guy. You’re not like a wholesale guy, a house flipper or whatever.

Dylan: Like you’re a mindset guy because you can do anything. I mean, like we know that, right? So it might not be in real estate five years from now, you know, like, man, Andrew says real estate might not be the thing. It might be the thing that gets you to the thing. So, oh yeah, I’ve heard that. Yeah, absolutely. So, so my last question for you.

Dylan: Oh, a hundred. So my last question for you today is if there’s anything that the FlipNerd Podcast audience can do for Greg Hellbeck? Yeah, what would it be?

Greg: Um, check out my show Real Estate Investing Fast Track. Follow me on Instagram at g grego underscore 37. And if you want a free, uh, freebie on like the top five direct mail mistakes I have made, which cost me a lot of money to, that’s an understatement.

Greg: Go to direct mail class.com and I’ll give you my free. On the top five fatal direct mistake, direct mail mistakes I have made that you don’t have to make, so you can be more successful if you wanna do direct mail marketing. Beautiful

Dylan: man. Uh, we’ll have links to all that stuff in the show. If you guys, whether you’re listening or watching, if you go to flip nerd.com and go to the shows, you can scroll down on this episode, go into the show notes.

Dylan: We take all the notes so you don’t have to, and all that information will be down there. You guys will be able to find Greg. You guys can learn about me, you can subscribe to the show, and we would love for you to do that. So, Greg, do you have any last.

Greg: I think my, my last words for your audience would be, you gotta commit to this business.

Greg: And if you commit to this business and you’re in it for the long haul and you know it’s gonna be hard, but you’re accepting that and you’re willing to go through the gauntlet, it can change your life. Simple as that,

Dylan: man. Greg, we appreciate you having on the show, and this is Dylan Tanaka for Real Estate Investing Secrets.

Dylan: We’ll see you on the next show.

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