Flipping America 204, Build Zoom

podcast 204 Build Zoom

Expected Air Date: 11/03/18

Opening

Build Zoom simplifies the process of finding and vetting local contractors for your projects.

Hello everyone! If you are listening to this on our broadcast date of November 3rd, I am right now teaching the FlipStarter Course in Atlanta, GA to 40 future real estate millionaires. We are already planning our next events and are considering opening up to a larger group – perhaps up to 100, but we are trying to be careful that we are still able to give every person in attendance individual attention and personalized strategies. 

Today we have some really interesting guests coming up Issi Romem and Jiyan Wei from BuildZoom will be joining us in a few minutes to talk about the BuildZoom platform. If you are on the hunt for a quality, previously vetted contractor, you want to stay tuned and listen to this interview with one of the top providers of contractor referrals online. Plus it’s been a few minutes since I’ve answered your questions on the air and we have some piling up. 

How to contact us

www.flippingamericanetwork.com

Facebook.com/flippingamericamedia

Twitter and Instagram @FlippingAmerica

YouTube: bit.ly/FlippingAmericaOnYouTube

Linkedin: bit.ly/FlippingAmericaOnLinkedIn

We now have a profile at houzz.com for what it’s worth. 

Call our National Comment Line: 404-369-1018, ext 1. Leave your message or your question. 

Announcements:

  • FlipStarter Nov 2-3, Atlanta, GA  
  • Lunch with me every Wednesday.
  • Flipping America App is in the app store. You can listen to the show, read the show notes, and the entire catalog of shows is now available to you. It’s a free download and there are no upsells or in-app purchases. Free to download, free to listen. Go ahead and give it a try and drop me a line and let me know what you think.
  • Want a quick analytical tool to tell you how strong a potential fix and flip deal is? Download the Property Grade app. You answer 10 simple questions about the property and the app instantly tells you what you can expect to make, your return on investment, your return on cash, and then the program gives the project a letter grade using the proprietary Flipping America Investment Property Grade algorithm.  

News!

Guest:  

Topic: Comment Line calls and Questions

Call 404-369-1018, press 1 and leave your message!

Emails:

questions@flippingamericnanetwork.com  Tell us where you’re from!

  • Jessica, Boulder, CO, “I’m having a hard time getting my contractor to listen to me. I think it’s because I’m young and female. I can’t do anything about that. But what can I do to make him do things the way I want?”
  • Janet, Atlanta, GA, “I have a rental property that has just gone vacant. I’m strapped for cash and it needs a couple thousand in work before I can rent it out again. Without the rent I can’t make the payment and without fixing it I can’t rent it. Do you have any suggestions?”
  • Eduardo, Phoenix, AZ, “I gave a contractor $9,000 to start a job. He came out and did some work but now wants $20,000 to continue. We got into an argument about it and he pulled his crew and refuses to come back until I pay him. He claims he has plenty of other clients and doesn’t need to put up with me. The total project is $35,000. He’s completed about $5,000 in work. What would you do?”

Motivational Thoughts for the day

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers

Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:16] America the show that teaches you how to make money in real estate wherever you are whatever your situation there is an opportunity for you flipping America is sponsored in part by American IRA

founded by investors for investors on the web at American Ira. Com.

And by Braswell Capital Solutions commercial lending made easy on the web at Braswell Capital solutions.com,

and now you’re sad flipping America guy Rodger Blankenship

hello everyone in good morning if you’re listening to this on our broadcast day till November 3rd 2018 I am right now teaching the flip starter course in Atlanta Georgia 2:40 or so Future Real Estate millionaires,

we are already planning our next events in are considering opening up to a larger group next time perhaps up to a hundred but we’re trying to be careful that we are still able to give every person in attendance the individual attention and personalize strategies that they come to expect from us

today on the show we have some really interesting guess coming up.

Is serum M & G on way from buildzoom will be joining us in a few minutes to talk about the buildzoom platform if you’re on the hunt for a quality previously vetted contractor.

[1:32] You want to stay tuned and listen to this interview,

which one of the top providers of contractor referrals online plus it’s been a few minutes since I’ve answered your questions on the air and we have some piling up

I’m going to get too many of your questions and so much more in just a few minutes hello everyone I am Roger Blankenship and I teach people how to make money in real estate and we started saying around here

we’re training the next generation of real estate millionaires will you be one.

[2:01] You can find us on the web at flipping America network.com you can also download the free app in the app store called flipping America and you can listen to every show that we’ve done is they’re all in there every show in the entire catalog this is show number,

204 as we’ve been at this for a year-and-a-half now 3 times a week coming to you Coast to Coast on AM FM stations and now we turned it into an app.

And all of our show notes are in the app it’s completely free there’s never an in-app charge or an up cell it’s always free and it’s all there for you.

To help you with your relationship was real estate know what you that beat I.

Strongly suggest that you do not drop what you’re doing and go start flipping houses like you see on TV it’s not as easy as they try to make it look it’s also not as

silly and it ain’t and some of them make it look it’s a serious business and if you have a serious mine for business and want to jump in fine we can help,

but even if you’re not going to do that we think that everyone should should have real estate.

[3:04] As a part of a balanced Investment Portfolio yes even you somehow get involved with real estate,

buy shares in a Reit get involved in a crowdfunding platform if you have more money get involved in a private Equity Fund invest in real estate we can certainly help you with that because we have one all right,

the flipping America net worth,

cam is a page that gives you a ton of resources about real estate real estate investing real estate news and Trends and stats and all kinds of things you can find us on Facebook at flipping America media,

you can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at flipping America we’re on Google Plus we’re on LinkedIn we’re on YouTube where everywhere you want to be and a few places you’re probably not even looking.

[3:46] Okay if you’re not doing the whole online thing that’s fine with us you can send us a message by either email,

and I know that’s online but you can send us an email at questions at flipping America network.com or if you really don’t want to use computer at all you can

call us 404-3699

1018 extension +1-404-369-1018 extension 1 leave your messenger question and will you send your questions in either on the phone or two

questions at flipping America network.com.

[4:23] What were what we’re pledging is we’re going to answer every question that ever comes into the show and,

you know we’ve been able to do that so far we we plan to keep on asking them

we have thousands and thousands of listeners and we get a lot of questions we get some of the same questions every week and a lot of the questions will answer you know all

the show but

still we pick some from time to time even though there repeats to bring them on the show maybe it’s a little bit different Twist on something we’ve answered before but we like to do that because

we have new listeners joining us all the time and it’s good for you to hear n even if you’ve heard it before it’s good to have the repeat of the information so that’s fine alright

let’s send cover a little bit of the week.

[5:07] Music.

[5:13] Home sales are on the decline could this be the beginning of the end could it be the beginning of the next big crash could it be signs of a coming,

reversal in the real estate market know.

[5:26] The stats are the stats and CoreLogic is come out with a report saying that sales are down this was picked up by,

CNBC in several others and sales are down in California and the September numbers are 17 or close to,

18% down year-over-year and CNBC is not doing this but but some out there are,

warning this is the beginning of the next major reversal the next Real Estate meltdown everybody be careful everybody jump out well above us all right

here’s the thing folks it’s one report it’s one month okay let’s look at what happens next month

and keep in mind that you want to go back and listen to I don’t remember what show number it is but I’ll go back to somewhere around May or June of last year and I said then that by the end of 2018 the market was going to look more like a normal Market,

we would not continue to sustain the high level of sales.

And the prices in the coastal regions were talkin all of the West Coast and the East Coast from Washington DC,

all the way up to Boston we cannot continue to sustain the level of price increase that’s going on there because we have stretch beyond what people can afford and so when the prices go beyond what people can afford.

[6:46] This they sales will first slow down and then the people who are listing their homes and still need to sell will begin to drop

the price isn’t so we’ve been tracking the rate of price drop and we’ve been seeing an increase in the rate of price reductions and don’t be alarmed price reductions are a normal part of the real estate sales process

in a normal Market 3/4 of all listings sell for something a little less than the listing price the reason is obvious if you think about it

everybody that selling a property wants to get as much for it as they can and so many times they will push the upper envelope of the market and then they will settle,

it’s a it’s a form of negotiation or Price haggling whatever you want to call it.

Ask High did somebody make an offer low and meet somewhere in the middle and boom you let you know everybody’s happy all right.

And since the assumption is that the price that’s being asked is high people feel comfortable making a low offer now the last few years or last really

almost 40 months have seen something that’s rare in our history it has happened before but we have seen,

such a rush to buy homes and a lack of inventory that.

[8:00] You not only had to make a full price offer you may find yourself in a bidding war and offering something more than full price and then you got another dilemma because.

The house may not appraise for what you agreed to pay for it and so all of these things are providing different kind of pressures and two people who are relatively new in the business it’s

it’s something that they have never seen before and don’t know what to think about it however,

4 people who have jumped into this business in the last 3 years and trust me a lot of people have all right

if you’ve been in this business for only the last three years and now you’re seeing the market cooling everybody is biting their nails and shivering and oh my goodness,

and I’m thankful that you know our friend Diana olick and CNBC that they don’t respond the same way they’re just reporting the news and I appreciate,

and we’re going to continue to report it to but we have been saying for some time that a correction is needed.

And correction is going to happen because when people can’t afford the house they’re not going to buy the house and so someone else will reduce the price so they can get it sold

and next thing you know we have some prices coming down in the next thing you know we have the market cooling off in the next thing you know and I think it’s going to be maybe first quarter of 2019 we have a normal real estate market.

What is a normal real estate market a normal real estate market is one where you have about a three month supply of houses out there and what that means is.

[9:26] It’s going to take a little bit more of a of a process for you to sell your property investors listen up if you need to sell something you’re going to have to start.

Trying to call you. All you have to do is put a sign in the yard and it’s gone but.

That you know in the in the next 6 months or so you’re going to have to start trying and getting involved in some selling strategies,

is that terrible no it’s just me it just means that the opportunities are in a different direction and the difficulties are in somewhere else so right now the difficulty is finding it.

[10:00] And the opportunity is when you go to sell it later on the opportunities are going to be.

And the finding side and the difficulties may be coming down to sell it.

That’s when you have to do something unique in the property got to give it a while factor and you have to price it aggressively and you have to have it pricing strategy plan all the things that we have done over the years as we’ve been participating in Market Cycles in real estate

just keep in mind folks Whenever there is bad news in the in Economic and Business

terms there’s also good news somewhere else because it’s not all bad all the time there is an opportunity somewhere for someone if you’re paying attention and keeping your eyes open and looking for the opportunity.

[10:47] Now I know that doesn’t sound like the news that sounds like opinion but hey guess what this is an opinion show this is an education show this is a show

if you’re turned in and I appreciate it I’m glad that you are your tuned-in because you want to hear what I think about real estate having been involved in

thousand real estate track transactions personally in and watched many hundreds and perhaps thousands more go down.

And I appreciate the fact that you’re listening but look I want you to know that I’m not alone in thinking this Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller have you heard of The case-shiller Price Index yeah that’s Schiller here is a quote.

I don’t expect a sharp turn in the housing market.

Okay sugar acknowledges that a the market is slowing down but he is not fearful that we are facing a big downturn.

All right and that’s gratifying to me and I’m glad that you’re glad that the Nobel prize-winning Yale economist.

As the wisdom and insight to agree with your humble flipping America guy so what do we need what we need to continue.

I guess moving in the direction of a balanced Market is we need more inventory so I’m linking.

[12:05] Really out of curiosity more than anything else I’m liking you too in the show notes to a first look at for hot skyscrapers being built around

the country residential skyscrapers that may be interest you but the point is we need more inventory coming online and I’m going to say this again anyone out there that has the ability to build a starter home and make money

just get into the business because there’s a fortune awaiting you

if you can do this you will support you feel a real name because there’s a huge need for it all over the country hey will be back with buildzoom say to and you don’t want to miss this really good stuff straight ahead.

[12:43] Music.

[12:52] Have you ever seen one of those Fix and Flip TV shows and thought to yourself I could do that or even better I’d like to do that.

But there has to be a way to get started that’s what we will do for you at flip starter flip starter is our 8-hour course designed to give you all the information you need in order to get started in the business of fixing and flipping houses on Roger Blankenship.

The flipping America guy who is fixed and flipped more than 800 properties over the years.

I will share with you the tools I developed for use in my own business the strategies the management techniques and the systems are used to build a business that was flipping a hundred properties for year.

What would it feel like if you could quit your job and not only work for yourself but own a business that will ultimately provide you with more income and more free time.

[13:38] My goal is to train the next generation of real estate Millionaires and I want you to be one of them.

Find out more at flip starter event.com call Bennett and I attended Roger Blankenship split starter in April of 2018.

I thought it was amazing I put pages and pages of notes and I just want to recommend that you go to it because in my opinion,

information that he gets on contractors alone makes it worth the price but that’s not the only thing that he talks about I highly recommend that you attend his flip starter it’s worth every dime.

[14:14] Music.

[14:25] John way and I see Roman welcome to the show

great to see it you guys are with buildzoom and buildzoom. Com and I’ve been on your site this morning I’m impressed with what I’ve seen liking it a lot

I’ve tried a similar service with nothing but frustration and just kind of threw the whole thing out baby with the bathwater and when I saw that we had scheduled you

after the show I went looking and very pleased with that I’ve seen but before I give anything away.

Why don’t you tell us because you are the founder of buildzoom tell us in a nutshell what is Belgium.

[15:01] Yeah buildzoom is fundamentally a Marketplace for both Remodeling and Construction Services.

Now what makes it different than you know some similar similar platforms out there is it it’s it’s on an enormous amount of

information it’s something we called the construction graph so we descend built a system that goes in Aggregates and is constantly.

Revising and updating information from all the different licensing authorities across the United States.

[15:33] Contractor licensing authorities and then goes down to you know the county and City level where there’s usually a permitting or planning department.

Or both the Mini cases and Aggregates that information and the reason we want all this information as we want to map out the entire supply side of the Contracting industry,

so that when somebody comes to us and says hey look this is what I’m trying to do I’m trying to let you know to a big renovation on a 3000 square-foot sfr.

Will actually go through and using all that day that will be able to actually find you know the other people that they really should be working with.

This is a very impressive undertaking,

the fact that you have the the brains and the ability to put together it’s just kind of overwhelming to me because who knew that all of that I guess

maybe it’s not a surprise at all.

Information is available online but that you could develop the tools to aggregate all of that into one place I’m truly impressed so.

Is he what does the chief condiments for buildzoom do.

[16:39] So what were small company many hats and does a little bit of everything but the core of the role has been doing what I call a audience research,

writing things about construction and cities and housing real estate and writing it up and I’m going away to make sense to

I noticed my being and feeding it to the media reporters will take interest and want to cover it and that’s really a way of getting our name out there,

which is exactly how we found you.

We saw something you probably shouldn’t I said hey Helen get that guy and she contacted you and you brought G on end and I’m so glad you did because you know I mentioned I spend little time on a competitor’s website

I am

I was in a different city and doing a search for an HP AC contractor I was outside of Atlanta where I where I’m from and I was helping a friend.

We were trying to find a CAC contractor so we contacted a very well-known contractor referral website

and I don’t want to say anything about who it is because we don’t talk about people here on the show but we had to go through a brother convoluted registration process and then

when we got finished with that registration process it took us to the screen where we were basically looking at a search screen all over again,

we didn’t find the top 25 promise HVAC contractors we found nothing.

[18:03] And we couldn’t even find 25 HP AC contractors in that City much less the top 25 so is huge disappointment and instead we just you know went somewhere and.

I don’t even remember where we went and just started calling up people.

And we had no idea where they were any good or not and just doing the manually wedding thing but one of the things that impressed me about what you’re doing.

John is that you guys have a way of getting these contractors and giving them a score tell me a little bit about how you arrive at the scores.

[18:34] Sure I’m so I alluded to the data previously and

that really kind of forms the platform through which everything is possible we we essentially what we want is when you come on in like let’s say in your example you want an HVAC contractor and that’s that you want them to do work on a

2500 square-foot sfr in a certain I don’t know in Marietta or something like that and.

We’ll start with a superset of all the licensed HVAC contractors or even eligible to do that type of work in the state.

[19:11] Well then start cutting it Down based off where we observe their permitted work to have taken place so we’re really looking for his folks who have a track record for doing

high quality permitted work in your area and what we want to do is establish a connection between you and and typically a few different options and you know I think.

As as the size of the project gets bigger we may want to put it out some more you got to create more diversity of option but,

that diversity of option is always going to be based off information hard information that were gathering from these public sources and then the second part is once you’re actually engaging with them were observing their behavior in our system

we’re looking at things like responsiveness you know your satisfaction are they meeting dates and the system is actually then,

using that information to determine the future whether or not it’s actually share our future opportunities with.

[20:08] So that’s that’s what of how the system fundamentally works.

Okay so I’m looking at your website over here and you guys there’s a number and some of the

the top rated ones have a number higher than a hundred now I can relate I think all of our audience members can relate to 100 you have to get a hundred on a test you done well but some of them have a little bit higher than a hundred how high does it go in.

How good is 100 or 102 or 103.

[20:39] Yeah sure I’m so it it becomes increasingly hard to increase the score past 100 but it it’s at the show

Dairy Queen after a hundred sort of gets increasingly harder so you know there’s folks who are just amazing and they may end up in the 130s and 140s,

but you know in general that’s pretty hard to do and what we try to do is is juxtaposed like that number with a percentage or percentile.

So not only did you get that number but you also get an understanding of where that ranks them in their sort of you know within their assertive.

[21:15] So like out of all HVAC contractors who do work in Marietta this score put some in the top X percent,

an escort is based on I don’t want you give away your secret sauce here but the score is based on what kind of things.

Yeah it’s a composite of number of different variables so really it’s it’s a composite of how long have the.

Bunch of the things that you would typically want to know like are they license how long have they been in business so they properly licensed and insured are they bonded in cases where they need to be bonded have they received you know a good feedback from

some folks that they’ve actually worked with and we actually use our data to validate whether or not there’s actually been.

Interaction this is what the issues with just letting people do like a 1 through 5 rating because maybe they called up a contract and the contractor didn’t call him back when they expected and they may give them a 1 out of 5.

Right or maybe they got into a contract with a contractor and then the contract to split with a downpayment and they’re going to give me one out of five.

[22:16] We actually look at those fun of Miley differently like.

That first one we might give him kind of slap on the wrist for that second one is egregious and it would sort of get the Scarlet Letter for that.

Well that’s good to know because I think one of the questions waiting in my queue you know we got questions from our listeners and one of the questions waiting in the queue is from someone who gave a contractor

down payment money,

and now they can’t find the contractor haven’t heard from him and you know we heard that we’ve all heard that more than once and happens and I guess people keep on falling for it

because it keeps on happening right but so if that happens with one of your people they’re basically kicked out.

[22:57] Yeah if we get so if somebody actually if we’re able to validate the day in fact hired this person and this person will like basically committed a crime I mean that’s a crime.

Right they will be blacklisted how far do you go to verify or find out while we use a permit,

that’s like the only way we can really verify that the actual business transaction took place unless you know so if it is essentially like associated with a permit or we associated with you no contract that were able to

unobserved.

Okay so it you not like hiring a private investigator to head out there to that town and find out what really like that sometimes.

[23:44] That might even to our margins

yeah probably would well I admire all of this that the ability to put this technology together like this this kind of stuff that in my brain I dream and and wish it would be possible and you guys have made it happy

and I can’t wait to share this because I know I’ve missed you before I’ve got a group here with 5,400 people in it in Atlanta,

either our investors are one of the investors this is staggering to me that there are that many people in Atlanta that

that want to be Real Estate Investors but there you have it and the

the common question I mean the most often asked question we get to the show or I get when I’m out speaking is how do I find a contractor and how can I know if it’s a good one.

And eat it it looks like you guys might have just nailed that right.

[24:34] So that’s that’s what we’ve been working you know countless hours and then actually spending a lot of investor dollars to kind of Salve because.

You know there are companies I think you looted to one earlier that actually there’s some companies are generating cash in the space right but no one’s really fundamentally saw this Market problem.

You look at like consumer Federation of America there’s like an annual survey up like vertical that receive the most complaints,

and a home improvement construction consistently received some of the worst marks year-over-year rear end you know that’s with some of these National platforms that we won’t name like having been around for you know decades.

[25:16] I could around sometimes and say that a lot of people become Real Estate Investors because

they lack the morals to become used car salesman and I think I’m going to add to that if you get really good at scamming people then you become a contractor,

Auto auto I think he’s actually typically number one on the list and then

is who I didn’t mean to leave you out this entire segment but when we come back from the break I am going to talk to you a bit more about what’s going on in the market and the kinds of things that you write about and.

You know get you to tell the story little bit about what’s happening with California real estate that’s in the news today I’m with Missy Roman and G on way from,

buildzoom and I’m Rodger Blankenship the show’s flipping America will be back in the MoMA.

[26:07] Music.

[26:28] Braswell Capital Solutions is the number one source for investor-friendly residential and commercial real estate loans across the u.s.

We offer a variety of loan programs designed to meet the unique needs of Real Estate Investors

we provide fast reliable and Professional Services so that our clients clothes quickly in order to take advantage of great deals

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[26:59] Larry Lucas and I’m a student in Rogers.

Mentor program and I’m happy to say I’m working on my very first house we see this house deal dating.

[27:14] Maybe $70,000 in profit but flipping America mentoring program is the only one that includes.

Financing your dicks so the mentoring program does exactly what.

The contracts to do Rodger and Andrew and the other fellas in the team Tony have been super in providing oversight and guidance flipping America.

Has been the.

Vehicle that is allowing me to achieve my dreams and becoming a real estate investor.

[27:53] Music.

[28:17] I’m Rodger can you sissy he’s Gian and we are talking about buildzoom 8 platform that is going to help you

find a contractor and focus not just for residential there’s commercial contractors on here to some of you or listeners and you’re in the commercial space you got Apartments you got

all white manufacturing I know you you’re listening to the show and we’re talking real estate investing and these guys can help you find a contractor for your job.

How is he is an economist who is also a sounds like you’re also a publicist inocencia

you’re getting your you know you’re evangelizing on behalf of Bill Jim and getting a notice in the Publications and that sort of thing and you you told me that you spend little time commenting on the real estate market show

you know the news from California today is that the market is down 17%.

In the month of the month of October I’m sorry that goes back to September the September report.

Is down 17% year-over-year from last year in Los Angeles and the Bay Area is not looking so good either so what do you say to something like that are we in trouble.

[29:29] I don’t think we’re in trouble let me see if you think so monkey numbers are very volatile and when when you see decreases and sales on that order of magnitude.

Assume that things will look a lot better next month and things will even out of the.

Having said that we are approaching peak in our current housing cycle and we are due for a correction.

That’s bad news. The good news is that construction going to be much milder than the last one,

we’re not in a state of extreme relaxed lending the way we were before that the big housing Worker 2000.

Mine is much more responsible today perhaps even to responsible at this point.

We are going to see prices the decreasing or flapping out over the next 2-3 years.

[30:17] Mostly because houses are just become too unaffordable and and incomes need a bit of time to catch up.

Okay yeah it sounds like you’ve been listening to the flipping America show because we are in lockstep agree with my friend

we also in addition to sales we track foreclosure data and default rates and they’re at they’re still at historic lows and I myself as far as one way we find properties to buy we go to the foreclosure auctions to buy them the number of property showing up there at the auctions have been down for a couple years

and they’re not showing any signs of increasing the list it’s that you know that it’s going to be sold next month you’re in

Georgia very low very light so it’s not foreclosures I think you’re right what do you think is the impact of interest rates on all of this.

[31:07] I think interest rates are going to make it harder for people to buy the monthly payments will go up a defect is going to be milder.

What are the places where they have the biggest actors on people’s like good refinancing.

People who are locked into low interest rates from the last few years are going to have less and less of it and sent it to refinance and and you’re already seeing big drop,

in the number of people cashing out a refinance,

right well rather than refinance your house if you got equity in it now just take out a home equity line of credit or something if you if you really need cash for that Caribbean vacation not I’m kidding folks please don’t do that.

Okay so I guess you guys a little bit of a personal question okay is he you get to go first.

When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grow up.

As a high schooler I remember I used to draw lot in Matthews.

Was the culmination of it all and I love cities and I found it as an architecture student.

There’s an easier route to study cities and I already switched over to do in economics,

oh alright okay so yeah there is some connection are between economics and architecture but you’re one of the few people that I’ve had on the show that didn’t have superhero or,

professional sports athlete or something in there somewhere what about you g on.

I want to be a writer actually for a for a long time and actually.

[32:36] I remember a conversation about.

[32:41] 15 years ago I had it with a with a professional writer who kind of just told me to come out there the day today and the isolation involves with it and also told me a little bit about the economics of being author.

And those things kind of scared me scared me away from pursuing it as a career for fryson being an artist

alright well you know I ask that

that question out of curiosity but I’ve also found that most of the people that I have on my show in fact almost all of them are doing something radically different than they thought they would when they were dreaming about what they would do you later

and the point of that is that your future plans don’t it.

It’s not that your future plans don’t matter the point of it is when you see an opportunity in front of you it’s okay to adjust your course set your sails to flow in a different direction.

And,

our show concludes everyday with RMC Kathy Curtis saying keep your eyes open opportunities are everywhere so somewhere along the way,

for people to be able to connect with good contractors and you turn it around and created buildzoom you raise the I can’t imagine how much money you had to raise.

To get the technology and and the people to write the programming to tap into all of the state of that’s out there.

[34:00] But you know props to you I admire you in m.

Man I’m a fan because of what you been able to put together there but it isn’t what you set out to do so that’s why I asked the question.

[34:12] Innocent you are writing a story write it feels like that sometimes yeah.

Are you going to write the story of how I built buildzoom to multibillion-dollar business right I think what I liked about it was It was kind of afraid of back you have a kind of some

something in your head that serve lingering there and and you’re trying to codified and writing right so like I think,

difference here is you have something in your head and you’re trying to codify it through technology and you know why I just one big difference is it does take a lot more people and capital,

to make these platforms work then it does to It’s a Kind of Traitor book but I think there’s some similarities in those processes

well I can tell you the platform does work and I am really glad that we’re talking about I’m glad that we have found you and I’m glad that I took the time to just go check it out for myself because I wouldn’t believe.

You made it work good job so where do you go from here let me ask you this way,

in terms of coverage of the United States are you where you want to be or are you still expanding are you in all the markets where are you and where do you see yourself going.

[35:21] Well,

just a real quick I’ll get to that just I do want to say that there was there’s another founder his name is David Peterson and there’s like an entire team of people here including a z that have really made it work,

you know I don’t want to create a perception that this is somehow been like some like individual effort or anything like that like it really it really hasn’t it’s been it’s been a lot of other people,

involve time Gathering Together can build something like this for one individual to do it

regionality because we because our data platform essentially compiles information across the country,

you know we have actual insight into every license Contracting entity in the United States and,

we also Aggregate and make sense of all the building permit Taylor and so there’s north of 160 million building permits and in the database that then get reconciled to the Contracting really mapped out like the supply side.

And so you know we have people from all over the country, it kind of coming to use the information and use the service.

But you know I think it is certainly it certainly I I think we left the top 10 metropolitan areas account for about.

[36:39] One third of all the demands and then the top 25 account for about 50% of all the demand

the way we think about regionalization as we look for markets where you we haven’t activated all the Contracting entities me to activate to kind of make sure to fulfill demand proper.

So that’s kind of jet it’s it’s a weird way to think about things from outside of the marketplace standpoint but because of the data that’s how we we could have evolved to think about things.

Okay and so what are you do to make people aware of you.

[37:14] So there’s actually right now that’s not like we were focused because there’s,

you know there’s this year there’s going to be over North a 3 billion dollars worth of Contracting projects that are taking place all over the country on our platform.

Really what we’re trying to do is make sure that there’s consistent fulfillment there right like we want to make sure that everybody has a good,

experience week we have the information to connect the dots but we want to make sure that we’re connecting the dots like 100% of the time,

and then we’re going to actually think more so about okay let’s go and and make sure everyone in in America knows about this thing cuz it weird open the floodgates now and we don’t have the entire entire supply-side activated.

[38:00] Appropriate less than optimal experience that being said you know I think shows like yours with like really big audiences of people who are really kind of.

In the space and I think I think you showed your show’s audience probably represents a lot of like what we would consider power users are really great ways for us to kind of kind of evolves in the present time

okay so you don’t mind me spread the word.

[38:26] Why are we we love that she’s looking at what we just have to I’m just saying we’re not going to go spend $160 next year after that.

All right is he.

I want to throw question at you or we just got a couple minutes left I get questions all the time from people from the Bay Area and from LA and a little bit from the New York City area saying you know price points are such that it’s just too risky for me to invest in Fix and Flip properties right here in my area

where should I go how would you answer that question about the Bay Area I’d say if you have a patient’s wait cuz prices will.

Real accident in the coming years and you might you might have a new set of opportunities with pop up when that happens aside from that lower price points.

Are likely to be found in the outer suburbs or even beyond what you think of is the Bay Area think tops place is Georgia Central Valley or the Eastern fringes of the Bay Area.

Start place to look would be neighborhoods that are training over age-wise areas tend to have been built up at the same time and have kind of a similar age structure and a neighborhood age together they’re our neighbors that are now in the process of training over housing

happy belated passed away or move out and and young people come in and those are rice with opportunities right with opportunities to to be renovated.

[39:53] Okay good word good inside John parting shot somebody out there listening is thinking about doing a startup you’ve done to start up what would you say to them.

[40:07] Are they I wonder if their Millennial seems to want to do startups I don’t I have probably was.

I was in my I guess early 30s when I just kind of really fell to a market problem personally.

And it has some ideas on a solution and then happen to have a partner who was also really interested then Market problem to work with I think it’s hard to just.

Do a startup I think it’s

it may it’s a favorite but I think in response to you know a personal experience or in response to something a problem you perceive that you know you also have a lot of clarity or at least a great hypothesis behind a solution that’s usually the start that.

I think that’s a better starting point then you know just trying to conjure conjure a concept out of nowhere good good that’s good gentleman.

Very insightful thank you so much for taking time from your schedule today to spend with us and hear it flipping America and we look forward to continuing the conversation some point in the near future.

Thank you.

[41:13] Music.

[41:19] We did a one-day flip starter in Chattanooga Tennessee and low and behold one of my old College friends came out to the event his name is Peter Faulkner and here’s what he had to say about the event.

[41:32] Peter Faulkner here I send it a one day flip starter training session led by Roger Blankenship and I was amazed to see what has happened in Rogers Lie from the last.

Plus years flipping over 800 house.

[41:47] Music.

[42:17] You never know what’s around the corner but you can be confident that you’ll be ready for whatever comes your way Legal Shield and ID shield look out for you so you can get back to living water,

LegalShield is a prepaid legal service for individuals

businesses for low monthly rates you get comprehensive legal coverage law firm of professionals and provide advice whenever you need it.

Protect it for a number of legal issues and assistance with common legal need just go to Rodger b helps. Com right now to sign up that’s Rodger V.

Dot-com Legal Shield protection for every part of life.

[43:03] Music.

[43:21] All right Jessica weird we’ve been holding on to your question for a couple of weeks now I’m sorry it’s taking so long to get to this and

if you know already that we went ahead and answered your question didn’t want to make you wait but

I want to get this out here on the air Jessica from Boulder Colorado rights and says I am having a hard time getting my contractor to listen to me I think it’s because I’m young and female

I can’t do anything about that but what can I do to make him do things the way I want.

Alright that’s that feels a little bit like a loaded question because I know that we live in a society where everybody believes that somebody is out to hurt them and we have you know when I was a kid.

We said things like sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt.

And that’s how our parents taught us to deal with people who wanted to call us names and and make fun of us and teases and so forth and eventually we realized as We Grew Older that a sure sign of maturity is that you don’t let other people control you by what they say in that sort of thing,

but you know our society has changed and I don’t mean to get off on a rant,

but everybody now has it looks like they’ve got their feelings wearing out on their sleeve somewhere and all they need is someone else to say something,

the wrong word or look at them the wrong way and suddenly go out forget the sticks and stones may break my bones but names will cause mass chaos and people.

[44:48] Screaming in the streets and panic I don’t get it I don’t understand I don’t know why everybody is so so thin-skinned and so looking out for someone else doing them harm so Jessica I don’t know you and I and I haven’t talked to you.

And I would like the opportunity that if you want to call into the number and let’s talk but here’s something I want to ask you about.

I’m in Carson these days everybody you know the word is not for you no names will never hurt me names have been replaced by something called a trigger okay

so in our never-ending quest to find more precise ways of expressing ourselves sticks and stones may break my bones but triggers are going to cause mass chaos

anyway.

We’re really got off on a rant there didn’t I so Jessica let’s talk and hear Zayre’s what I want to suggest you it’s it’s possible that your contractor is a jerk.

[45:44] It’s also possible that he knows some things that you don’t.

[45:49] And it’s possible that he’s not listening to you it’s also possible that you’re not listening to him.

[45:56] Okay just I just want to make sure that there’s a two-way street going on here I’ve been at this for 15 years I have personally fixed,

hundreds and hundreds of houses I actually did the work myself in the first houses and I closely supervised many of the others.

And still.

I get into a house eat after we get off this show today I’m going to a house and I’m going to listen to what a contractor says and I’m going to.

Listen with respect because this is what these guys do

all day long everyday things are changing materials change things are invented their new products their new strategies and sometimes what I want to do is Impractical for the project.

[46:43] And that’s the reality Jessica I hope that you will see is it could be that the contractor knows a few more things about this and you do.

[46:53] And I get from the tone of the email.

You think that he is convinced that he knows more things about the project than you do but you know what Jessica.

He’s probably right what I have found in dealing with contractors I’m in you know.

[47:09] I don’t know the contractor haven’t talked to him if you want to get them to call them will talk to them too but.

[47:14] No not really how to I don’t want to spend time hope that but it could be that the contractor is a know-it-all.

And some contractors are know-it-alls just like some Real Estate Investors I’ve met at that could be.

[47:28] I can’t fix that and I can’t help you get older and and and you don’t want to be you know naughty now so,

you’re young and female and you’re right you can’t do anything about that but what you can do is work to build a relationship based on respect at least hear the contractor out.

Tell him what you want and ask him to explain in ways that you can understand why you can’t get what you want and in the end.

Here’s your something that happens a lot I see this all the time people get into these houses that they want to flip and they have this

artistic are almost over romanticized idea about how they want to fix the house up they watch Maybe This Old House one of my favorite TV shows and they watched

put a lot of Art and effort into these houses and they want to do something that will be kind of like a legacy that.

They’ll be able to look at later on so I did that and that’s great that’s fine but,

that’s not what this business is about this business is about fixing everything that’s broken doing the right thing

making the structure sound and then putting in a couple of wild features that will make it sell.

[48:47] The end it’s not your house this project is not your legacy this is a product.

That you are producing with the hope that you will sell it and when you sell it you wanted in order to sell it you want to give it the most Mass Appeal you know I’m a big fan of motorcycles and I’m going to give you an illustration here.

[49:11] I like motorcycles and I like,

poppers and I like bikes that are highly stylized and painted and I love to look at them in a list things usually a pain to ride but

I like to look at all of the fancy paint jobs in and the style in the ideas that people have for modifying their

rides it’s all fantastic and then I’ll get one of the news

stories about the motorcycle industry that a major manufacturer say Honda is coming out with a new design of a motorcycle and we’re all excited seeing in the unveiling happens in you know what it looks like another mass produced motorcycle that come to need a lot of customization to truly look cool it just doesn’t really look all that cool,

you know why they do that they do that because they’ve got a lot of people

that they want to sell that motorcycle to and what looks cool to me may look stupid to the guy standing right next to me so they don’t want to get out there on a limb trying to you know get extreme with their design for.

Read a one particular segment even if that segment is say 10% of the motorcycle riding population they’ve got to appeal to more than 10% so Jessica this is what I would like for you to do

I would like for you to start with your contractor by listening to him.

[50:28] And then ask him when you got to talk to him about this summer sooner or later you got to find different contractor but ask him to listen to you.

And explain to you adult to adult why you can’t do what you want and what what he may say to you is what you’re asking.

Probably just doesn’t make sense.

It probably cost too much or maybe it’s impractical is sometimes there are just design issues you know most things about.

Property can be changed except for the location of a property but some things come at just too high of a price.

[51:04] So I don’t know how I sure hope that I’ve helped you Jessica you know I I’m your friend I’m here to help you.

And I want to encourage you but I want to encourage you first buy toughening up a little bit,

and get them contractors face and insist that he speak to you as an adult and explain why you can’t get what you want and then when he gives you an explanation either accept it.

Or move on and find a different contractor.

[51:33] Janet from Atlanta Georgia I have a rental property that is just gone vacant I’m strapped for cash and it needs a couple thousand and work before I can rent it out again without the rent I can’t make the payment and without fixing it I can’t rent it do you have any suggestions.

Yes Janet I do believe it or not I have been in this exact situation before.

It was years ago but I’ve been there done that and I’ve made every mistake in the book and and I’ve learned the hard way some things to do but here’s what you need to do Janet first of all.

You need to put it out there on Craigslist as a fixer upper.

And let someone waive you can waive the security deposit in exchange for doing some work to fix it up.

[52:21] Find a contractor who needs a place to live.

There are plenty of them believe it or not there are plenty of broke handyman they can fix things but they don’t manage their money well you know maybe they’ve got other issues and problems and debts and then things like that Nate

they just need a place to live and they’re they’re willing to move in and fix it now.

The problem with this is you make it somebody that two professors to be a handyman who really isn’t all that good at it and it is not going to help you got to be careful when you’re doing something like this and try to get them as much as you can,

do you have to also have to watch what’s going on don’t get behind on your payments and definitely don’t let the bank at the house back.

You don’t want the foreclosure on your credit all right so.

Handyman special is certainly an opportunity another possibility is to bring in a partner but when you bring in a partner you it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to make them whole anytime soon so they’ve got to be in it for the long term.

You know unless you can come up with another source of of income that’s going to allow you to buy them back out.

[53:24] Then you can also look if your current in your credit’s pretty good you can look at the equity you have in your house and maybe thinking about doing a refi but I’m not

in a big advocate for that because all you’re doing is well ain’t know if you got 50% loan to value didn’t definitely refinance it

but if you’re right around 65 or 70% and you’re going to take it up to 80 while you’re just going to find yourself in this situation again so.

The other thing that I would suggest that you do Janet is,

in a week we’ve already been in touch with you and I would encourage you to sell the property as a fixer-upper to the handyman using the contract for deed

also known as the installment land contract and we’re going to do some more talking about that we’re going to devote half of the show to it one of these days.

[54:17] Eduardo from Phoenix Arizona says I gave a contractor $9,000 to start a job he came out and did some work and now wants 20,000 to continue.

We got into an argument about it and he pulled his crew and refuses to come back until I pay him he claims he has plenty of other clients and doesn’t need to

put up with me the total project is $35,000 he’s completed about $5,000 in work what would you do okay well.

[54:45] I’m not sure Eduardo how your contract spells this out but definitely I wouldn’t give the man any more money.

[54:54] Because once we give enough money to start a job we’re not giving them anything else until we’ve seen that much work done but also.

[55:03] We only pay for completed work once the initial get started amount is put out there,

most likely you have a contractor here who has cash flow issues and has subs to pay from other jobs and most likely.

You give him the $20,000 and it’s not going to get spent on your job.

It’s going to get spent pay in the subs for a previous job and then he hopes that a future job he’ll get the money this is the game that he’s running is not really maybe he is but probably not he’s probably not.

Trying to scam you but this is how he manages his cash flow I personally find it distasteful.

I don’t know that it’s illegal but it’s definitely not a way to run your business that

meets approval with me and so when I find a contractor that does this I don’t hire him in the first place if I could if I can find out ahead of time but definitely I don’t continue with them,

you’re out $4,000 it looks like you could get a lawyer to sue them.

And you would spend a lot more than four to get your four and even if you win good luck collecting so,

the at this point what I would do is I have a lawyer standing by through Legal Shield and I would send him a demand letter based on the terms of the contract and.

[56:27] You know do a lot of threatening but it’s mostly a bluff

and I’m just me I’m saying this right on National radio in any of the contractors that work for me know it I’m probably not going to want to spend the money to

sue them but they know this anyway they know how this game works better than you do particularly if they’re this kind of person okay.

He claims he has plenty of clients and does need to put up with you well maybe he’s bluffing but if you have termination.

Clauses in your contract make sure that you abide by all of the termination Plaza Cinema demand and writing and do this and then terminate him go over and change the locks on the on the door,

you can’t keep the stools yeah because you haven’t won anything in court.

If they’ve got tools and so forth in the house got to let him come get him but get him out of there change the locks and just move on as quickly as I can,

hopefully you built enough margin into this project that this 4000 as painful as it is and as difficult as it is hopefully that’s not going to take,

project into a loss it’s just going to mean $4,000 less profit to you.

[57:39] And I would like to say lesson learned however.

I do understand that weirdo and look man my heart is with you it is tough to always know.

And and and if I had said here it if I could sit here and say I had a hundred percent success rate in the way I heard contractors maybe I wouldn’t be a sympathetic but man I am so sad that it was you because we try our best,

devet them and we still ended up getting some doozies from time to time.

[58:12] Alright that music means we’re out of time Al in Las Vegas Chris and Milwaukee will get to you next time thanks for tuning in and will talk to you very.

[58:21] Music.

[58:50] I love this quote of the day even if you are on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there that’s from Will Rogers.

And this quote is brought to you by the foundation for Renewal working together with communities across this country of ours to bring lasting life change find them on the web at renewal fund. Net.

And your contribution in any amount just texted ductable and very much appreciated see you soon folks keep your eyes.

[59:17] Music.

[59:31] You’ve been listening to flipping America real estate investing for everyone if you have any questions about real estate send them two questions at flipping America network.com,

listen three times a week on stations across the country or on the flipping America app free in the App Store,

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