This is episode #425, and my guest today is Steve Bighaus.
Steve is an expert at using government backed loans like Fannie and Freddie for financing single family rental properties for investors like you and me. I’ve actually known Steve for several years, and with over 30 years of experience, his knowledge is invaluable.
Today we talk about financing your first 10 rental properties, and the pros and cons of different types of financing that might be available to you.
We also discuss the pros and cons of paying down debt quickly vs. staying highly leveraged, and where Steve thinks we’re at in this market cycle.
If you understand the power of building wealth with rental properties, get a pen and paper ready for this episode!
Please help me welcome Steve Bighaus to the show!

Highlights of this show

  • Meet Steve Bighaus, nationally recognized mortgage industry expert specializing in financing for real estate investors.
  • Learn what financing options you have for rental properties, and which ones make the most sense for you.
  • Join the discussion on how to get access to the funding you need to buy rental properties, and the importance of finding the right lending partner.
  • Learn more about where Steve thinks we’re at in this market cycle.

Resources and Links from this show:

Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

FlipNerd Show Transcript:

Mike:This is the flipnerd.com Expert Real Estate Investing Show, the show for real estate investors, whether you’re a veteran or brand new. I’m your host, Mike Hambright and each week I bring you a new expert guest that will share their knowledge and lessons with you. If you’re excited about real estate investing, believe in personal responsibility, and taking control of your life and financial destiny, you’re in the right place.
This is episode number 425. And my guest today is Steve Bighaus. Steve is an expert at using government back loans like Fannie and Freddie for financing single-family rental properties for investors like you and me. I’ve actually known Steve for several years. And with over 30 years of experience, his knowledge is really invaluable.
Today we’ll talk about financing your first 10 rental properties and the pros and cons of different types of financing that might be available to you. We’ll also discuss the pros and cons of paying down debt quickly versus staying highly levered, and where Steve thinks we’re at in this market cycle.
If you understand the power of building wealth with rental properties, get a pen and paper ready for this episode, you’re going to learn a lot. Please help me welcome Steve Bighaus to the show. Hey Steve, welcome to the show.
Steve: Thank you, Mike.
Mike: Yeah. I’m glad to have you back on.
Steve: That’s always a pleasure to be on the show.
Mike: Yeah, always good to see you. So, I’m excited to talk about this today because you and I, both near and dear to our hearts is a rental properties, building wealth with rental properties. And one of the biggest challenges that folks have to overcome always is the financing of those. And so, you are definitely our resident expert at that and excited to pick your brain and get some thoughts from you today.
Steve: Thank you. Yeah, it’s always been kind of a passion for me to help people out, you know, buying your investment properties. I mean, you know, let’s face it, there’s a comfort level, you know, when people are buying their primaries and second home, you know, the investment properties are the one that’s going to really make their money. So, it’s something that’s going to shape their future.
Mike: No doubt, no doubt. And it’s easy to look back and have hindsight, right? I mean, I have a decent sized rental portfolio, but I look back and say, “Man, why didn’t I 5 or 10X that?” because I could have I just, you know, fixed and flipped in wholesale and didn’t keep as many as I would like, what I could have. In hindsight, I wish I’d kept hundreds knowing what I know now over the past 10 years.
Steve: Yeah, I can appreciate that. I mean, I think we all look back and say, look at things that we could have done, always done better and maybe even definitely.
Mike: The interesting thing, and you’ve been doing this for a long time. And maybe I’m going to ask you to tell us a little more about yourself and introduce you to those that don’t know yet in a second. But maybe you could give some quick thoughts on those market cycles, right? The lessons that I’ve learned over the past 10 or 11 years here now we’re going through kind of one and a half or two market cycles. And so, is what I’m saying right now pretty typical of market cycles and people say that at the top of every market cycle like, “I wish I had done more?”
Steve: Of course, they do. I mean, every everybody. And everybody’s always looking and it’s sad. And of course, you know, a lot of people when they look to the future, and, you know, as far as the mortgage industry says, “Look at the past because the past is going to tell you what the industry is going to do.” It always runs in waves. And right now we’ve watched interest rates climb, house prices have gone up.
And basically, you know, interest rates will stay that way for a while, then there’ll be another reason to lower the interest rates to get them to start another refinance boom. So, right now, you know, what we’re seeing in the industry is we’re seeing companies lay people off. We’re going to watch companies close their doors because, you know, they base their business around refi’s.
Mike: Oh lenders you’re talking about?
Steve: Yeah. And so, you’re going to see that. I mean, there was a local bank up here that laid hundred 150 people off. You know, their mortgage department. You’re going to see more of that. I mean, it’s just the way it is.
Mike: Right, right. Well, Steve, before we jump into this anymore. Why don’t you tell us more about your background and who you are for those that don’t know who you are?
Steve: Okay. Steve Bighaus, at Sierra Pacific Mortgage. I’ve been in the business, actually, this is my 30th year in the business. And so, I spent the first half of my career in banking. You know, I was working for a local bank here in Seattle as the vice president, running their real estate department, you know, started working with a group of investors back in, gee, the early 2000s. And so, they were buying stuff here local at the auctions. And it was a good . . . you know, I like doing it.
I like going to the auction, seeing the things that was going on. You know, unfortunately, back then, we all know that the, you know, the products, there was just a smorgasbord of products. Anybody can buy investment properties. You know, the Fannie and Freddie guidelines are about as loose as gooses on cash out.
So, you know, you saw a lot of people that made a lot of money but those same people that made a lot lost everything.
Mike:Yeah.
Steve:Yeah, so it’s been interesting to watch, you know, watch the industry changes. It’ll be interesting to see how some of the, you know, the easing up some of the Dodd-Frank rules how that’s going to affect the industry.
Mike: Absolutely.
Steve: You know, so I think it’s going to help the community bank world a lot, and that which is going to be good. You know, the mortgage side, I mean, let’s face it. Anytime you get the government involved in our business, you know, they have a tendency to go a little bit overboard on disclosures and timing and different things.
And so, you know, it’s just, you got to roll with the punches. I mean, you hear a lot of people complain about it, but it’s just part of the industry. You know, to stay in the industry you got to do it because we’re not in a position to drive the bus.
Mike: Yep, absolutely. And so, Steve, maybe let’s talk a little bit about your specialty because for a lot of folks that are listening right now, they’re very familiar with hard money lenders and local community banks. And your specialty is really using Fannie Mae and Fannie and Freddie money, government-backed money for rental properties. In fact, you finance.
Maybe you could give us some perspective over the type of volume that you do in a typical year, the number of loans that you help investors like me or people that have less than 10 finance rental properties actually use government financing, which the benefit of is that it’s generally subsidized by the government. So the rates are pretty good and you can lock them in for as much as 30 years. But maybe talk a little bit about that and give some perspective just for listeners as the type of volume that you do.
Steve: So, my myself and my team, we probably average at 400 plus loans a year for real estate investors. So, we stay pretty active as far as what we do. You know, currently, right now, I’m in 16 different markets. And typically I build my business where the investors are going. You know, some places they, you know, investors just don’t go from a variety of different reasons.
I’m still, you know, the thrust of my businesses is with the conventional financing, you know, so with the government back money. I probably I do, I would say probably 99.9% of my stuff, sell to Fannie because I just feel that Fannie’s a little bit better with the investors. So Freddie Mac’s still got it capped at six and their utilization of rental income is just slightly different. Fannie’s a little bit better. And so it’s a better vehicle for me.
Mike: Okay, okay. And let’s talk a little bit about using Fannie funds for real estate investors because a lot of people may not realize that they’re using community banks or they’re into hard money and they stay in the hard money even if it’s a rental for a while before they start to feel the pain of those big interest payments. But just maybe share a little bit about actually using Fannie money for people that don’t really know that’s even an option for rental properties.
Steve: Well, it is. And like I say, the rules with Fannie Mae are 10 finance properties per borrower. So, you know, there’s ways to capitalize on that, you know, so like if you’re a husband and wife, domestic partners or whatever way you can capitalize on it. So that’s always good vehicle to utilize, and it’s probably the cheapest money you’re going to get.
Yeah, if people are using . . . You know, and as long-term, so you can do it, you know, 30 years, 20, or 15. Whereas, you know, if you’re going to work for a . . . You know, if you’re going to go to like a local community man, they’ll probably do the amortization on maybe a 20, 25, or 30, but they’re typically going to have like a balloon on it, or a call because that can allow them to go back and reprice.
Mike: Rates adjust every three to five years or something?
Steve: Yeah. So, there’s always that interest rate risk exposure when you have something like that. So the government money is a good way to go. You know, sometimes people they don’t want to . . . you know, they get upset because of the documentation. And I just tell them, you know, it is what it is. Yeah, you want to get the money, you got to play the game. And, of course, when you’re working on the smaller loans, people automatically think, “Well, if it’s a $50,000 loan, it’s got to be really easy. It’s got to be just as . . . You know, it can be as complicated as a 500,” but it is.
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Steve: You know, if you’re going to work for a . . . You know, if you’re going to go to like a local community bank, they’ll probably do the amortization on maybe a 20, 25 or 30, but they’re typically going to have like a balloon on it or a call because that can allow them to go back and reprice.
Mike: Rates adjust every three to five years or something?
Steve: Yeah. So, there’s always that interest rate risk exposure when you have something like that. So the government money is a good way to go. You know, sometimes people they don’t want to . . . You know, they get upset because of the documentation. And I just tell them, you know, it is what it is.
Yeah, you want to get the money, you got to play the game. And, of course, when you’re working on the smaller loans, people automatically think, “Well, if it’s a $50,000 loan, it’s got to be really easy. It’s got to be just as . . . You know, it can be as complicated as a 500,” and but it is. There is no difference.
Mike: One of the things that I coach and mentor a lot of folks and have for many years, and one of the things that I tell them when they’re getting started, if they still have their corporate job, if part of their goal is to accumulate rentals, then I say, “Hey . . . ” because I know one of the challenges is when you . . . If you do like I do, and you quit your job and kind of cold turkey you just go into the real estate investing business, kind of burn your boats.
There’s some benefits to that for your business is that you burned the boats. Like there’s no turning back. But from a financing standpoint, then the problem was, you know, everybody wants two years tax returns if you’re self-employed. They want to see that history. And so, we kind of advise people . . . I’ve advised people that are students of ours to say, “Look,” maybe it’s their spouse, like, “don’t both quit your jobs,” like, “you need to show that history so that you can finance it,” and that’s what Fannie and Freddie are going to require. Right?
Steve: Yeah. There are some other alternatives if somebody does that. I mean, at least, you know, for a short period of time where they can utilize non-conforming sources for funding. Yeah, rates are going to be higher but it’s not going to slow them down as far as buying properties.
Mike: Right, right. See, maybe you can share some thoughts on one of the things that we were talking about before we started is using leverage, right? So, I think one of the benefits of using Fannie and Freddie and government money is that they generally are locking in your rates for 30 years, right?
Steve:Mm-hmm.
Mike:And like you said, nobody else does that. Nobody else does that or that I’m aware of. Not many, right? I’m not aware of anybody else. But it was interesting as a lender to hear you advocate for paying down debt.
So, a lot of times, lenders, you know, you benefit from refinancing loans and kind of keeping the loans going, but you’re more of an advocate of paying off debt. And we were discussing about how there’s really kind of two lines of thought, which is some people are in the class of, “I want to get my debt paid down on my rentals,” so that they’re paid off and they’re cash flowing better than ever at some point. And then there’s people that use this phrase kind of “lever it forever.” As long as you can get cheap financing, you can lock in a long-term rate, why would you ever pay that off quickly, right? So, let’s talk about that a little bit.
Steve: Well, I tell people I’m a meats and potatoes guy. Nothing fancy about what I do. And, you know, being an ex-banker, I’m a little on the conservative side. So, when I get people that are buying their investment properties, my thought is, is what you want to do, is you want to try and accelerate that payoff. Yeah, you know, the goal is to . . . You know, a lot of times 90% of the time people want to do it as retirement vehicle. And so, by the time they get 55 or 60, maybe they can retire early because they’ve got them paid off.
So if you’ve got a goal like that, then it’s doable, whereas . . . And I understand leverage because sometimes you can have a property where you got a ton of equity in there, maybe you can utilize that money to maybe buy another property or do something that would maybe improve your property, just whatever you do. You know, I’m a fan for that. But to just arbitrarily say, you know, refinance forever on every one of your properties, I’m not a big fan of that.
And, you know, part of the reason is, I use [inaudible 00:14:02] as example. You know, guy is going to retire at 65 or 66 whenever he’s going to retire. He has 10 property. They all got mortgages on it. So, instead of making $500, $600 a month, he’s making $100 because everything’s leveraged.
And then the other thing you got to be careful about when you’re . . . you know, with the refinances, the values run in waves. You know, right now, we’re in it up value. At some point in time, there’s going to be a correction. Values are going to either, you know, they’re going to stabilize. It could possibly go back down again. You’re a slave to appreciation, which I’m just not a big fan of because, you know, we saw how well that worked in the past with doing that type of thing.
But I think if person doesn’t wisely and selectively, you know, leveraging it can be done. But at the same time, you know, and I told you this earlier, people are buying properties in these markets, they’re paying as much for the house and what some people do for a car.
Mike:That’s right.
Steve:[inaudible 00:15:01] paid off five, and six, seven years, you know, you should look at the same thing.
Mike: Yeah. And you tend to focus on rental great markets too, right? So there’s lots of $60 to $100,000-type rental properties, so . . .
Steve: Right.
Mike: Yeah, it’s funny. You know, it’s interesting. I haven’t done a lot of this but you can actually . . . And this isn’t a Fannie and Freddie-type stuff but as a lender you’ll have some insights to this. If you have a lot of equity in your rentals or in other properties that you own, you can still pledge that as collateral for additional lending sometimes. Not necessarily in a government-backed thing but you don’t have to necessarily refinance them and pull the cash out. I know that with a couple my lender’s here I can pledge that as collateral towards other lines.
Steve: Absolutely, absolutely. And so, there’s a thing . . . whether the cross-collateralization, yeah, you see that a lot of like in SBA financing. Well, SBA financing, man, they reach out and get everything. But, yeah, that’s fairly common. And then there’s at a point in time and now once that gets paid off, you know, they’ll release it or you can request to have it released. And so, that’s when a really good community bank comes into play.
Mike: Yeah, and I found that with the same thing with community banks, local banks, they’re a little more flexible, right? The bigger the bank or if the government’s involved, there’s just getting to that decision maker is nearly impossible, right, or somebody that can say, “Oh, that makes logical sense. I’ll take that into consideration.” The government and big banks are like, “If it’s not on this form, it doesn’t matter pretty much.”
Steve: Right. That’s absolutely correct. And that’s the beauty about a community, man, because you can kind of think outside the box a little bit, not in a bad way where they’re going to get themselves in trouble, but they can see the bigger picture. Whereas, you know, with the larger institutions from that, it’s more of a, “Let’s fill in the boxes.”
Mike: Yeah, no doubt. I have a community bank here that I’ve financed a lot of my rentals through over the years, and I walk in, and the president sits to the left, and the guy that I deal with sits to the right. And, you know, they know who I am, they shake my hand. And sometimes I’ll tell them a situation that’s going on or have in the past, and they’re like, “Oh, we can talk through that,” because of the decision makers are right there, right? Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. And that’s good having that type of relationship. But I tell all my investors that, I say, “Find a good community bank or have them in your back pocket, because at some point in time, he’s going to come in handy.”
Mike: Yeah. Maybe you can share some thoughts on that very topic right now. So, I know in the last downturn, you know, ’06, ’07, a lot of lenders got wiped out, a lot of lenders went away, a lot of people’s financing went away, right? So, I got started in ’08, and, you know, the first thing that I started doing was calling banks, calling lenders. And a lot of them were like, “Well, why don’t you try us back in a couple of years,” or “he doesn’t work here anymore,” or “no, we don’t lend on real estate anymore.”
I think somebody once said, “That’s evil. We don’t do that anymore.” And so, I think the lesson learned for people that kind of went through that, and not so much me because I was just getting started. But people that lost everything or had their loans called and we’re really put in a pickle is that they had a really good relationship with a lender or maybe two. But the lesson they learned is, “Gosh, I need to have relationships with a whole bunch of lenders so that if this happens again, I probably have somebody inside of there that’s going to have my back.”
Steve: Yeah, I think that’s probably a pretty good idea. I mean, I’ll give you an extreme example. There was a guy here that I followed at the auctions back in the mid-2000s, and he was pretty aggressive. And he had at one point in time about 40 rentals around here but he lived on credit. And so, when the market went south, you know, what he does? He puts all the keys in a box, gives it to his assistant and say, “Take them back to the bank. I’m going to Bali for three months with my wife, so make sure it’s all cleaned up by the time I get back.” And, yeah.
Mike: That’s crazy.
Steve: So, that hurt that bank. I mean, getting 40 houses back. It was a fairly large savings bank here in the Northwest, and it cripples them for a period of time.
Mike: Wow. Well, what do you think we’re at in the market cycle? I mean, you’ve been through, you’ve been doing this for 30 years. So, where do you think we are right now? And where are we going? And, truthfully, if you can buy them right, is there ever a bad time? We know there’s good times and times that are not as good to buy rental properties. But if your vision is long term, buy and hold, you know, is there ever a bad time?
Steve: So, you know, well, I mean, you got started out in a good time.
Mike: Yeah, coincidentally, I just got lucky. I mean, you know, well, it wasn’t playing that way. It was just coincidental.
Steve: Yeah. I mean, a down market’s always an opportunity, even in an up market job there’s . . . you just got to be a little bit more selective. What I’m not seeing is I’m not seeing huge appreciation in the markets that I’m working in, you know, for the investment properties. You know, you get into some of the bigger cities like Atlanta, you know, you get to Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and that you’re watching prices go up a little or because there’s more demand.
They’re going to the primary stuff which is forcing the prices up. And some of the Midwest and Southern markets, you’re just not seeing quite . . . You know, they’ve only been fairly stable. They’ll see slight appreciation.
So, I still think that there’s a lot of opportunities out there for folks. I feel that there’s going to probably be somewhat of a market correction on pricing here pretty quick. I mean, I’m seeing some crazy stuff going on here in the Seattle market where, you know, people are starting those bidding wars again on houses and paying over the sales price just to get a house. That’s kind of been made.
Mike: Yeah, we see that in Dallas too. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. So, I think that’s going to be, you know, interest rate rise. I think we’re kind of at the top where we’re going to be at rates. You know, we’re probably at rates where they were five, six years ago, that’ll go on for a while. Everybody will, you know . . . They’ll buy properties because right now it’s a great market for selling your primaries. I mean, people are putting a for sale sign up, couple hours later it’s sold . . .
Mike: Yeah, no doubt.
Steve: . . . and it’s getting back to that. So, the market itself what it’ll do is it’ll create this people that need to refinance, and you’ll watch rates go back down again then it’ll started another refinance craze. And so, we see that, so that’s coming. You know, right now the refi’s are . . . they’re really going down because, you know, interest rates are higher right now. And so, it’s just kind of . . . It’s just a normal cycle. And you could go back and, you know, you can look at the cycles in the mortgage industry and you’ll see it’s just waves. You’re up one year, you’re down the next, that sort of thing.
Mike: Yeah. I think, you know, it depends on what everybody’s goals are. But if you’re getting into rentals, you should have at least a five-year horizon if not much longer than that before you sell, so hopefully you can ride out some of those storms. It’s right though. You’re right though. A lot of the markets you work in, we work in, as you know we have a turnkey business where we help investors find properties in other markets and partner with operators there to have somebody rent them. And that’s a for those of our listeners called passiverental.com, we’ll add a link down below.
But a lot of the markets, a lot of the best markets that we found, a lot of the best markets that you see, that you operate in, are the ones that don’t have a lot of appreciation, like Memphis and the Midwestern cities, southern cities where there’s not a lot of appreciation. But the good part of that is there’s not a lot of downsides either. It’s more of a get in and they’re cash-flowing now instead of get in and hope that in 10 years it appreciates.
Steve: Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely correct. Yeah. And, you know, I continue to follow the same with both Fannie and Freddie to see if there are any changes. But, you know, I know that at the very beginning, you talked about some things that maybe you were aware of that they’re trying to do, which is increase that number of financed property limit.
You know, like I said, when I started in the industry in 1988, it was 10 finance properties. And 30 years later, it’s still 10 finance properties, whether that’s going to change, you know, that’ll be wait to see. But I’ve heard it for the last five years they going to increase it. It still hasn’t happened.
So we’ll just wait and see what happens in that. And, you know, it’s going to be a challenge because, you know, the mindsets always been with both Fannie and Freddie. You know, once you get to this like this 10 or 6 at the credit count, they consider anything past that that you’re really a commercial borrower. You’re really like a full-time real estate investor and they’re not business people.
So, it’s going to be that changing that mindset that’s just going to force that. But, you know, as they continue to look at the investment properties as far as how well they perform, they’ll probably be a little bit more open to that, but time will tell. We’ll all wait and see.
Mike: Yeah, absolutely. So, talk a little bit, say, about what folks do if they’re building. We kind of advocate and I know I believe you do too is try to use the Fannie and Freddie-type money for your first 10 rentals if you can, because you’re getting the best rates and you get it locked in for a long time. After people are beyond 10 in finance properties, what do you advise? Where do they go from there?
Steve:Well, we’ve actually, you know, I partnered with the gentleman back on the East Coast, and he’s got some really good long-term rental programs where they can do like, you know, 30 years, or like a five year, seven-year, 10 years balloon on them. So, and that’s pretty standard, that’s what you’re going to see.
Now, you know, the rates are going to be higher. And, you know, with that type of product, they really look at . . . The criteria is a little bit different in that they’re really, really look at debt service, you know, it’s a property debt service. So, that’s the number one criteria. And then, they’re going to look at as far as like liquidation, as far as being number two, and then they’re going to look at the borrower last.
So, it’s a little bit different, where we flip that around, you know, with our side. And so, you know, that’s important. I, you know, work out an agreement where I can just refer people over to this guy and he can take care of them. You know, I’ll help compile some of the documentation for the client, get it settled [inaudible 00:24:57] so they can look at that. I think that’s an option, you know, for folks who wants to get to those 10. The other thing too is, if they’re partners, if you got to, if they’re married domestic partner, let’s explore those options to see if maybe we can turn that 10 into 20.
Mike: Yeah. I’ve heard you say that before. What makes that different? So, whether if you’re married, that you could have 10 each instead of 10 combined. And I’ve heard you say that in the past, where you’re like, let’s see if we can. What’s that determining factor?
Steve: Well, you know, basically what it is, you know, you don’t have to be married. I mean, you could be boyfriend and girlfriend. You can be domestic partner. You just have to have the ability to qualify individually. And when I talk about the qualification, you’ve got to be able to first cover any existing housing expense, and then cover any installment revolving debt that you have. So that’s just it. Now, in some cases, people are pretty . . . they’re good at it. So maybe the one spouse makes more than the other, so the one spouse takes out the financing on the primaries.
And so, that’s good. So, now all of a sudden, the other spouse doesn’t have that debt. Doesn’t have to worry about that, and that’s a change that Fannie made this year was that, you know, used to be that if you were on the mortgage or if you were on title, they counted that as an obligated debt. Well, now they’ve dropped the on title thing, so you can still be on title stage, still don’t consider that obligated debt anymore. So that was always a kind of a stopping point for some of the stuff.
Mike: Okay. So, your primary residence counts as one if you have it financed and then it’s supposed to obviously.
Steve: Right. And they’re only looking at financed properties. Now, and let me define financed property. You know, I get people that come back and say, “Well, they’re only looking for stuff with financed with either Fannie or Freddie,” and I say that’s not true. You know, they’ll look at commercial financing. They’ll look at private financing that’s financed with private, you know, Fannie and Freddie. I mean, if it’s on your tax returns and it’s got financing, they’re going to count it as a financed property irregardless [SP] of what the source is or the finance is.
Mike: Okay. Well, maybe tell us where folks can learn more about you. And I want to say that for folks that are listening, I’ve known Steve for years. He’s a helped create some . . . This is the third time he’s been on the show, actually 425 episodes and he’s created some content for us. We do some turnkey. We help sell some would call turnkey rental properties in other markets that are great rental markets around the country, and we send people to Steve. So, we’ve got a lot of experience working with Steve. He’s a great guy. If you’re looking . . .
We believe that owning rental properties is an awesome opportunity to build long-term wealth and kind of cement your retirement or start paving the way for that for sure. And if you need financing and if you don’t have a lot of finance properties yet, then government-back financing is the way to go because there’ll be a point where you outgrow that and you won’t have the opportunity to do it. So, your opportunity to do that really is early on. So, with that said, Steve, if folks wanted to reach out to you learn more about you, where do they go?
Steve:You know, they can go to my . . . They can send me an email. So, my email addresses it steve.bighaus. You spell the last name, B-I-G-H-A-U-S, @spmc.com, or they can just give me a call on my cell phone at 206-930-1801. Actually, I find that the clients calling me on a cell kind of get to know each other as far as what they want to do, kind of answer a lot of the questions that they might have, whether they’re entry-level, they’re a season investor as far as what our services can offer. I find, you know, those phone calls are absolutely invaluable.
Mike:That’s awesome, that’s awesome. Say the number one more time, Steve.
Steve:Area code 206-930-1801.
Mike:Okay. We’ll have this email address and phone number down in the show notes here if anybody didn’t catch that if you’re driving, if you’re listening to us and driving. But just tell . . . I don’t get anything for this. Just tell us Steve, you heard us talking on FlipNerd here and he’ll take good care of you, so Steve, appreciate you joining us today, my friend.
Steve:Thank you, Mike.
Mike:Always great to see. And I’m sure we’ll see you again. And by the way, Steve’s also a member of our mastermind Investor Fuel, which is just a really talented group of real estate investors and entrepreneurs. And so, Steve, any thoughts on being part of the Investor Fuel group? Can I ask you to give us a little plug about maybe what you get out of it and what you like about it?
Steve:Well, you know, I guess for my part is just, obviously, just the synergy being around a bunch of different people within the industry. It’s pretty amazing some of the things that people do, listeners, and, you know, you always learn. You can always pick up bits and pieces. You know, somebody’s got something that they’re doing is unique to them, that makes them different. I might look at ways of how that can incorporate that into my business. And of course, I’m always looking for opportunities as far as other markets and other lending opportunities.
Mike:Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Awesome. We’ll, Steve, thanks again for joining us. They definitely appreciate you, appreciate your time today.
Steve:Okay. Thanks, Mike. Take care.
Mike:Yeah, yeah. Hey, everybody. This is episode number 425 with Steve Bighaus. Some great little nuggets here if you’re looking to finance your rental properties, especially if you’re just getting started or you have less than 10. There’s a great opportunity if you qualify to get some government-back financing, which I’m not a . . . We won’t get into politics here. The government maybe they shouldn’t be involved in things like this, but when they are, they tend to subsidize it, which kind of works out in your favor usually.
But appreciate all of you guys for listening. Again, this is episode number 425. If you haven’t yet, please go out to Stitcher Radio, Google Play, wherever you listen to us at, iTunes, even YouTube, and subscribe and give us a positive rating. We appreciate your feedback. That’s the fuel that keeps me cranking out these episodes week after week. So, appreciate you guys. We’ll see you on the next one.
Steve:Thank you, Mike.
Mike:If you’re an active real estate investor already doing deals and looking to double or triple your business, you should consider joining the Investor Fuel Real Estate Investor Mastermind. We’re a small group of investors that share our best practices, tips, and tricks with one another in an effort to all win.
Real estate investing can be a lonely business for successful real estate investors but it doesn’t have to be. Investor Fuel members meet four times a year but we talk to each other 365 days a year. And we focus on improving the profitability of our businesses, improving the quality of our lives, that’s why we do this, right? And making an impact on those around us so we can truly leave a legacy.
We limit our membership to only one to two members per market, so everyone shares their knowledge, tips, and tricks openly and honestly. Our remembers includes some buying one to two houses a month up to some of the most respected investors and leaders in the real estate investing industry, some of which personally done over a thousand deals.
If you’d like to be considered for our invitation-only, world-class mastermind, please visit investorfuel.com to request your personal invitation. Our next meeting is coming up quickly. Go to investorfuel.com now to learn more.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the flipnerd.com Investing Show. If you’re not yet an elite member of FlipNerd, you’re missing out. We have tons of great training including a new detailed master class published each month and live training webinars with experts twice a month. Plus you’ll get access to all of our archives where we already have a growing library of master classes and other training videos.
Elite members also get membership in our incredible online mastermind group, where many of the top real estate investors from across the country, including many of the hundreds of guests I’ve had on the show in the past, are already members. Whether you’re brand new, looking to get started, or a veteran, you simply must join today. I promise you won’t be disappointed. To learn more or join today, please visit flipnerd.com/lab. That’s flipnerd.com/lab. See you on the next show.

 

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