The 29,000-Apartment Playbook for Financial Freedom with Janet LePage

Name: The 29,000-Apartment Playbook for Financial Freedom with Janet LePage
Uploaded: 2026-10-27T17:29:10+00:00
Duration: 33 min 17 s
Channel: The Real Estate Investing Club

00:05All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Investing Club. I hope

00:10you guys are having a great day, great week, wherever you are and whatever day it is for

00:15you. As always, it is Friday on the podcast, so we're bringing that good Friday energy

00:20to you. And man, it is nice and sunny here in Seattle, which is not two things that don't

00:26often go together, especially in October, but I'm taking it and I'm super excited because

00:30in two weekends is Halloween. We already got our kids Halloween outfits. My daughter wanted

00:36to be a bunny and our three month old son, we also got him a bunny outfit. So we got

00:42two

00:42little bunnies ready to go on our trick or treating. And so I'm stoked, but it's a good

00:47day for a second reason because we have Janet LePage with us on the show. Janet is a multifamily

00:53girl and she is in Vancouver, Canada. So same time zone. I love, I love that. She is from

01:00Western Wealth Capital. They have over 6.4 billion in transactions done with a big B. So a lot of

01:07experience to go into here. Janet, I'm excited to hop on, hop into it. Thanks for hopping on.

01:12Jane, thanks for having me.

01:14Absolutely. I told you before we got on to, we got here. In fact, you and I were about to

01:19go into your story, but I wanted to, I wanted to pause because it sounded good. So we've already

01:25started it, you and I, but let's take it back to the beginning and just tell me and everybody

01:30listening how you got started in real estate. How did I get started in real estate? Well,

01:35I was working full-time in a big corporate job. I had bought my first home out of university

01:39and I got a tax notice that showed the value of the house. And I actually had to call my

01:45mom.

01:45I was 23 and I said, mom, what's this number? And she said, oh, that's like the value of the

01:50house.

01:51And it had gone up since we bought it. And I thought, so you're saying these things make money.

01:56I literally had, I'm buying a house. I'm going to, you know, pay the mortgage for 30 years and then

02:01I'm going to own it. That was really my exposure to what this was. And so the idea that it

02:06went up

02:06blew my mind. Well, almost serendipitously, if you want to call that, Trump University,

02:14which if anyone remembers back, let's go back to 2008, was holding a two-day weekend conference in

02:22like a convention center. And I went, I got myself a binder that actually says Trump University.

02:29And, you know, you learn if anyone's ever been to one of those things, I remember it saying,

02:34if you pay off your mortgage every two weeks versus once a month, it takes five or seven years

02:39off of your payments. And I thought, wow, like that's something you can do. Well, at the end,

02:44I was one of those suckers that spent $16,000 on my credit card to get a coach. That's right,

02:51folks, in 2008. So I'm going to pause you real quick because that's interesting. So they were

02:57suggesting you pay down your mortgage. Well, you know how you can make a monthly payment of your

03:02mortgage, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you just change that payment cycle to every two weeks

03:08instead of once a month making, you know, many-year payments, you make two extra payments a year.

03:14Those two extra payments a year bring your amortization down by a number of years. It's a

03:19very small change to a very basic thing. That's interesting though, because the standard,

03:26you know, mortgage, 30-year mortgage on a house, the reason that you, that that is a good deal is

03:32because, it's because of the debt itself. I mean, the debt is what is, what, what, what brings the

03:38value. And so you don't want to pay it off. I mean, at least traditionally when we're talking about

03:43single family debt. But you're compounding, you're compounding interest, right, Gabe? So

03:47if you can make two additional payments on your, that's effectively what you end up doing is making

03:52two additional payments a year, two two-week payments a year. Then, then that is directly taken off

04:01of your principal balance. So you're paying less interest going forward. And that compound is

04:07material over 30 years. Ah, that's interesting. I would still push back on it though, because

04:12paying off a principal balance at like 5% interest, the question is, can you take that money and get

04:22more than 5% back? And that is absolutely yes. And so I, I, I would always, yeah, but I

04:30wasn't an

04:30investor at that point. I was just a homeowner. And if all you're doing is being a homeowner,

04:35the sooner you have no mortgage, that's what would be viewed as well. Okay. I was just, I was

04:42as a, as a real estate investor. Of course not. You take the most cheapest amount of interest. You

04:48can, you know, you can borrow against and, and, uh, invest it to gain more and then write off the

04:55interest. Of course, from a real estate investment perspective. But I went ahead, I got a coach and I

05:02spent a year having meetings on, you name it. It was, uh, mobile home parks to tax deeds to

05:09multifamily. And, and his perspective was everything's a deal, but what is that deal?

05:15What does this look like? Does it need to have a low price? Does it need to have a JV

05:20partner? Do

05:21they need to have vendor take back? So it, everything in his perspective was a deal with

05:26the right terms. And that was always a foundational piece of like, always look at it. How can that make

05:33a deal? And, um, and from there, I, um, I wanted to be the largest mobile home park owner in

05:40the U S

05:41turns out I couldn't afford a mobile home park, but I found myself in Phoenix. You know, what I thought

05:48was the bottom of the market. I bought my first two rental homes. Uh, there you go. So that was

05:55really the start of my real estate career. The realtor that had sold me those homes. I got renters

06:00in there. I thought, Oh my gosh, look at me. I'm, I'm, you know, now I'm building the whole rental

06:04investment side. And, um, he had flipped a home and showed it, you know, showed me what he had done

06:10in Phoenix. And so I went back down, did my research. I needed $10,000 as the down payment to

06:15buy it off

06:16the auction steps. I didn't have $10,000. So when, uh, when was this again? What year? 2008.

06:22Oh, wow. 2008. So this was essentially when the crash was happening.

06:27Correct. And so I built a business plan, presented it to my dad. He said at the time I didn't

06:34have

06:34kids and he said, Jano play me crib. If you win, I will lend you $10,000 at 18%

06:41interest, which is how,

06:42what I was going to borrow the rest of the money to flip the house. 18%? This is a

06:47hard money.

06:4818% just right. The story gets better. Of course, somehow I won, you know, now that I'm a mother,

06:53I see it. He saw all the work and research I'd done about my first home on the auction steps

06:59and,

07:00uh, took seven days to fix it up and made $18,000, uh, 28 days later. And that became my,

07:09what became my next step into real estate. And over the next two years, I flipped 58 homes,

07:16uh, in just under two years off the auction steps in Phoenix.

07:21That's a, that's a good dad there. Cause he made you work for it by beating you,

07:25by beating him in crib. I'm curious to be, uh, if he lets you win at that game,

07:30but I guarantee now that I'm a parent, I mean, to see the work I put in, you know,

07:35and I had a plan, I mean, as a, what a great dad to a, be able to afford it,

07:41but B to support me,

07:43bet on me. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so you actually, so you got your start actually in single

07:48family, you were doing flips at some point you realized that wasn't the model that you wanted

07:52to pursue. You went off into multifamily. When did that, um, transition start? And then how,

07:58how did you really take it to where you are today? So, you know, I, in 2011, I bought my

08:06first

08:06apartment building, 23 units, just down the road from Arizona state university. Um, you know,

08:13one day I had bought three flip houses, um, in, you know, in the same day. So I had a

08:18real system.

08:19It had to be a certain number of blocks from, you know, a school, a certain number of blocks from

08:23a

08:23main road, uh, only $5,000 in renovations. I needed to put it back on the market within seven days.

08:29And because I could put it on the market for the same price as seven days, seven days, because it

08:34was just carpet appliance. It was a system gave it. It's funny. This is going to get into my next

08:39piece, which was a lesson. I didn't even realize I was creating. Um, but it was back on the market

08:45at the same price as a foreclosure next door. And so my average days on market was seven days

08:50because people were still buying. If you're a first time home buyer, you didn't have any issues.

08:55Um, and so they would just fly off the shelf. Well, I thought to myself one day I bought three

09:00house and I thought, what if I could like buy an apartment building? Like what if,

09:04what about think of how many doors you could get in one day? And so 26 days before my son

09:10was born,

09:10I wasn't even medically insured to go down to Phoenix. I closed on my first 23 unit apartment building.

09:17My feet were swollen. I was wearing Birkenstocks so that I could get into shoes. It was August and I

09:23am large and I ate a pickle and cheese sandwich with a lot of mayo. That's all I had in

09:28the house

09:28after work. Cause I worked full time thinking to myself, I am so rich. 23 apartment, 23 houses.

09:37And truthfully to this day, I don't think I've ever felt that level of wealth. Again, it was like this

09:43breakthrough in a feeling. Um, fast forward, I suppose. Um, uh, we've bought over 29,000 apartment

09:54units, um, 130 apartment buildings. And as a female founder, I bought the most number of apartment

10:00units in the history of the U S. Nice. That is quite the accolade and definitely something to be, uh,

10:06to be proud of, especially, you know, you know, my wife just went through, we have a three year old

10:11and then a three month old. So I know the whole pregnancy thing and closing on the last month of

10:16pregnancy is a feat in and of itself. That is, uh, that would be hard. Um, so that first, I

10:22want to

10:23go back to that first deal, not the first single family, but the first family you bought 2011. Um,

10:29how did you finance it? And it sounds like you already had quite a bit of experience in real

10:33estate. So I'm sure you went to, for bank lending was, it was a DSCR loan I'm assuming. And, uh,

10:38yes. So more about how you got that first one done. Funnily enough, the reason I found out about

10:43it, it was going to auction the next day. And obviously I, I couldn't borrow that money hard.

10:49And was that a, was that a broker or bank relationship that you found out about the deal

10:53through? It w it was listed on the trustee sale list. Okay. It was going to auction the next day.

10:58I found the bank that was doing it. It was a very small town. And then I old school found

11:05the vice

11:05president of the bank, believe it was like an Idaho or something. I can't recall. And I phoned him at

11:12home at eight o'clock at night. I told him who I was. And I said, I want to buy

11:16this. I will pay

11:18this amount for it, but I can't buy it tomorrow. But I promise you, I will put this under contract.

11:25I told him how I could do it. I was kind of making it up as I, I went, let's

11:30be completely honest. But

11:32he said, I don't know what I can do, but it may be on the list tomorrow. It may not.

11:36And it wasn't.

11:37And so I went ahead, I got traditional bank financing. Um, it wasn't, it was, it was a

11:44distressed sale, but it wasn't distressed and, um, just very traditional bank financing. Um,

11:50and bought the apartment building. Yeah. And that, that kind of, I don't want to, um,

11:56brush over your, the rest of your story. Cause there's a lot between that first and where you

12:00are today, but that does kind of take us to today because the environment right now, there is a lot

12:06of distress going on because of the financing that a lot of multifamily operators had taken on X number

12:11of years ago. Um, and so a lot of people are nervous about getting in, but this is also a

12:17good time

12:18in my opinion to get in because of the opportunities that are, that are coming up. And so, um, if

12:24you're,

12:24if you could sit down with yourself, you know, back at that point and, you know, they were here today

12:30in today's market, what would you, uh, what advice would you give them moving forward in, in terms of

12:36what is, uh, what opportunities are presented right now in 2026? Man, some of the great, you know,

12:42since, since that time, some of the greatest opportunities are going to be presented. Uh, are they being

12:48presented at this exact moment today? I think they're hard to find, but getting yourself educated

12:54over the next 18 months, there will be incredible opportunities where we're hitting a level of

12:59distress, um, that we've been talking about for a while. Uh, but it isn't, it isn't there yet. So

13:06what would my younger self say? My younger self would say, get to the facts and data. Let's just throw

13:12everything else out. Okay. I bought 23 units, three box from Arizona state university, one of the largest

13:19universities in the U S. So let's talk about anchors. Let's talk about location, right? That location

13:26isn't going anywhere. Number one, number two, I paid $53,000, maybe $52,000 a unit for a two bed,

13:36two bath condo. Now I want you to look right now. Cause we are actually back in much of that

13:44same

13:44stuff is what does it cost to build that? We're talking nails, land roof. It was at least double

13:52at that time. So that is what you're starting to see again today. Call it. It's called replacement value.

13:59If I had to rebuild this, what would it cost? And if I'm at 30 and 40% below replacement

14:07cost,

14:07we haven't seen that. I mean, when I started to see that again, I was like, what am I back

14:11in 2016,

14:122015, some of the largest growth years I ever saw in real estate, um, from a profit perspective,

14:20that is critical. So, so start with your basic facts and data. What do I know I can get for

14:26rent on

14:27this? What do I know I can get for rent? Okay. Now I want you to drop that by a

14:32certain amount of

14:33percent. Like you have to, I always say to my team, you have a, think of a lemon tree. Don't

14:37squeeze

14:37all the lemons, half squeeze them, squeeze half of them. Right? So if you're wrong somewhere, you're

14:43going to be wrong somewhere, but you're going to be more right. And if you leave a few lemons on

14:49the

14:49tree, the ones that you missed, you still have juice. So those are really basic things. What's amazing

14:56about multifamily is there's not that many variables. It's like, okay, how many people are,

15:04you know, how worried am I that people want to live here at this rent amount? Okay. What if I

15:08dropped them in? How many more people? So it's really, it was a very basic facts and data. And so

15:13I'll tell you what's really quite funny is I kicked off the official Western wealth capital name

15:20in the beginning of 2014. So I had already bought, you know, I've been buying along. I wasn't going back

15:25to

15:25my corporate job and I went, this is what I'm really going to do. Well, my first, you know,

15:31I was buying deals at, Oh God, 52 a door, uh, 43 a door. This is in Phoenix. This is

15:42in Phoenix in

15:432014. Okay. In, in 2017, I bought a deal in Phoenix for 76 a door. And I thought, well, this

15:50one's the

15:50one I'm going to go belly up on. Like I really did it. I think what was really neat about

15:55me versus

15:56the folks that had gone through the crash is I wasn't carrying their baggage. So, so I got in late

16:02on that recovery. Many people were buying stuff that I paid 46 a door. They were paid, they had

16:07paid 27. So they had been at the bottom. I'm kind of in round two. And so there was gossip

16:13in that town

16:14at the time of the bigger players going, who's this girl from Canada. Did you hear what she paid?

16:20Yeah. And you know what? We sit around now and laugh about it. And they're like, God, you were

16:25right. We were wrong. They were carrying the fact that they had bought stuff at 27 a door

16:30and they lost sight me paying 42. Well, if you still just sit down facts, data, basics, replacement value,

16:38um, my competitors were jaded. And so I was, I was talked about in the town as being wrong and

16:45I was

16:46so right, but I, but I didn't carry that, that history. So if you're new, there's a blessing to

16:52that as well. Come with clear eyes and follow your facts and base data. This is a very basic thing.

17:00And now it is coming again. Yeah. But yeah, that, that goes, I mean, that speaks to the importance of

17:08understanding one, the fundamentals about where you're investing and then the fundamentals about

17:12where the economy is headed. Because, I mean, you're talking about 2017 and you bought something

17:17for 70 a door. I think 17 to 21 is when the hockey stick happened. And I'm sure those same

17:23units

17:23probably were valued at what? 150, 200, something crazy like that. Yeah. I know one of them transacted

17:30it at a two 30 a door. Yeah. Yeah. And, but that is because of where, where you're invests at

17:37what

17:37point in the hockey stick that you invested. And so it is extremely, it's very important to know where

17:44you are in the cycle and, and when you should be actually pulling the trigger. Um, like I personally

17:51feel like I actually, I'm not in multifamily, so I can't really speak to it, but, um, there's always

17:56deals out there to be had, but the, where the, where the, uh, the multifamily pricing has gone,

18:02um, makes the current in, well, the current environment is, I just, it just doesn't make

18:08sense. And so the only way to make a deal make sense is to get something like seller financing

18:12or to get a price that most, most buyers aren't willing to accept. Um, how are you actually

18:17transacting today or are you sitting on the sidelines just waiting for deals to happen?

18:22We are, you know, we have, we will close only a few deals this year. Um, at the peak

18:29of our buying, we were buying an apartment building every 12 and a half days, just to

18:33kind of put in perspective. Um, and you guys were financing, I'm assuming you were raising

18:38capital. This is a fund that you'd done. Correct. Yeah. Um, not a fund where all our, all our assets

18:44are individual. So it is a limited partnership, but it's all individual. Um, but what, what, um,

18:51um, we're, we're writing a lot of offers. So let's call it, you need to kiss a lot of frogs,

18:57period, hard stop. I don't care if you're in a high market, low market, anywhere writing offer

19:03after offer, um, because every once in a while someone accepts it. But second, by writing the

19:09offers, you're in the market. It's about education. It's about knowing this is what I was willing

19:15to pay. What did it sell for? Right. It's, it's understanding how big of a Delta you are off.

19:21We, you know, in, in a year where we'll buy 20 apartment buildings, we, we write, uh, you know,

19:29we underwrite 300 deals and write offers on 200. Now it, but those offers have, are not going to be

19:37accepted. They're, they're offers that if they were accepted, I would be like hot dang. Right.

19:42Um, there's also offers where I'm moving into a new city or a new area and I'm, I'm writing an

19:47offer because I'm educating myself on what's occurring. I am in the dance. I went to the

19:53dance and I am mingling. I am having a lot of dance partners and I'm getting a lot of no's.

19:59Like you have to be resilient in this market. I, you know, those inflatable kind of like, um,

20:06things they often happen like by a car, you know, car sales and then the wind comes and you fall

20:10down

20:11and then all of a sudden you're right back up again. Like I actually have, like, that is a

20:16vision I carry on my shoulders, like, and I'm back. Um, because that's the dance it's, it's, uh,

20:23it's the dance of being in it. So if you want, you know, if you are looking to invest on

20:29your own,

20:29you've got to kiss a lot of frogs and you've got to be active at the dance.

20:34Yeah. And that's one thing, especially when I got started, but I didn't, um, I didn't fully

20:39comprehend is the importance of volume, uh, in terms of getting deals. Like it, it takes so much

20:46more volume than you think it will take. Yeah. When I started, I thought, you know, I'm sending

20:50out, you know, two, two offers a week. Of course I'm going to get a deal soon, but it's just,

20:55it's nothing. The volume is 10 times more than you think it is in order to just get a little

21:00bit

21:00of progress. And that's something, especially when I talk to people who are new, um, I'm, and they,

21:05they get discouraged when they've sent, you know, five offers, 10 offers. And I'm like,

21:09that's nothing you need to, you need to 10 X that in order to, to get a deal that you

21:13feel

21:14or that is actually worth, um, moving on because they're really, you know, volume speaks and volume

21:19is what will actually get you the deals, a real deal. Um, and not something that will, uh, will

21:24bite you later on. Um, all right. Unfortunately, I just took a peek at the clock. We've already

21:29run the 20 minutes down. And so I have to push us into the quick question round.

21:35All right. It starts with education. It could be any form, could be a book you've read, movie,

21:39you've seen mentorship program. You've been a part of anything like that. I just need two

21:43recommendations, one for general life wisdom, and then one for real estate, real estate,

21:48the ABCs of real estate investing by Ken Malkeroy. It's just a basic building block. Just you've got

21:54to have core in your basics, uh, a personal one. Good to great by Jim Collins. It's about discipline,

22:01discipline, discipline. I, you know, I can't, when you said, um, uh, make a lot of offers, that's,

22:08that's discipline, right? That is going out and doing it over and over repeatability,

22:14create scalability. Yeah. Yeah. That, uh, I should read that one again. I read it a long time ago,

22:20but it was a really good book that, and, um, I think seven habits, uh, but I can't remember.

22:26Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was, that was another really good one that I read about the same time. Those are

22:32tired of hearing them, but they're classics. And I look at them like those are just basic things in

22:37your pocket. Got to read them. Yeah. All right. Moving us on to the next question. This is kind

22:43of already touched on this, but I'm going to, I'm going to ask it again. Um, this is for your

22:47younger

22:47self. Let's go back to the Janet who was just buying that first single family back when she was 23,

22:53go back to her, look her in the eye, give her one piece of advice moving forward.

22:58Bet on yourself first.

23:01Nice. I like that. Go give me one more layer down.

23:05Um, you're like to play big or even to have any success in this, you're going to get a lot

23:11of nose.

23:12You got to keep betting on yourself, have your thesis and just keep knocking on the door.

23:17Yeah. You know, be that, be that inflatable, um, thing by the car park. Um, but bet on yourself

23:25first because you are able, capable. And as long as you're willing to do the work and take the nose,

23:31you got this. And I would add, uh, don't expect other people to believe in you or it really,

23:38it's just, it's not other people's responsibility to believe in you. Um, you have to believe in yourself

23:43or to pump you up or to owe you anything. You're, you're there and, and you have to be,

23:49wouldn't bet on yourself. You have to be your biggest cheerleader. That's the only person there.

23:53Perfect. All right. Moving us on to the next question. This is about the U S it is a big

23:59place.

23:59There's a lot of opportunity out there. Give me the single Metro you're most excited about investing

24:04in today. Well, gosh. Uh, oh, that's tough. Um, I'm a, you know, we're the, uh, my hometown's Phoenix.

24:13We did have done the largest number of transactions. There's a few other cities that I like. I, um,

24:18Dallas, I like Atlanta. Uh, but the thing is, is be an expert in your city. Why do I say

24:24Phoenix?

24:24I had had some big adjustments, but I will also, I know the facts and data. I know the corners.

24:29I know

24:30the deals. Half of it is knowing all of that stuff above anything else. Be an expert at the macro

24:37and then the micro neighborhood in there. That is where you're going to get those deals. So hence

24:42my hometown first Phoenix. Yeah. Yeah. I, the, the, the deals that I've been

24:47bitten the worst on are the deals where I invested in the area that I, I was just investing in

24:52the cap

24:52rate essentially. And I was not investing. I didn't know the specific corner that I was, um,

24:57I was investing in. And so knowing there, I mean, there's so much we said, um, for investing in

25:02your backyard. It's, uh, you know, knowing, knowing where you're investing has, it's a huge

25:07competitive advantage. Um, it's funny though, because Phoenix is the Metro that, you know,

25:13your episode 700 something. And so we've talked to a lot of investors and Phoenix is the one that

25:18keeps coming up again and again as metros that, uh, investors don't want to invest in because it's

25:23so up and down there. It's, it's just bipolar. It goes, the prices go way up and then way down

25:29and then way up. Um, I'm curious what your take on that is. Uh, it's been a huge adjustment. You

25:35know what? Historically sure after the, after the crash of 08, but became a city. I mean, it is

25:40nothing like what it used to be. It's one of the fastest growing cities. It's got massive tech,

25:46tech hub, um, sports, like, like it's got an infrastructure. You know, when I look at like,

25:51what is the underlying economy? It has been a transformation, um, above most other cities.

25:58It was, and that's why it became a feeding frenzy and there's been a rent adjustment. So

26:03when you're talking about which places had a big hit, Austin, um, you know, you think of the

26:09Charlotte, uh, Tennessee, but those are also going to be some great rebounds. It was so frothy there.

26:16Everybody wanted to be there. So, so don't forget that that reset has occurred, but you still have

26:22immigration and it had some of the largest supply. So again, you've got to get into an expertise of

26:28all of, you know, of all of those, uh, layers. I, I, I love the contrarian of that because the

26:34underlying metrics, um, if all you do is follow headline news, you're missing it. You've got to

26:41become an expert. All right. Moves us to the next question. This is about finding deals.

26:47It all starts with getting in contact with the seller and pen in that purchase agreement. So

26:51what is your favorite way to generate leads and find new deals?

26:57Relationships. Um, again and again, ours are just repeat relationships. That's how we find them.

27:02Um, but when did I start when no one knew this lady from Canada with a baby on the front,

27:07maybe on the back, you email, you call, uh, even with our investment partners, large institutions,

27:14um, even though I know, say they're on the sidelines right now, we still keep sending them

27:18deals because we're continually talking to keep our education together, um, on what's occurring.

27:25So it's, it's, it's emails, it's phone calls. It's like, Hey, I saw this article. I thought of you.

27:31Um, people pick who's front of mind, you know, and whether you're a broker or an investor looking

27:37to invest with somebody, it's, it's often, it's like, who did I just hear from? Um, you've got

27:43to show up continuously, be front of mind. Relationships matter. Relationships matter.

27:49Perfect. Well, there was a freeze there for a second, but yes, a hundred percent agree

27:53relationships. There's, there's just, especially in real estate law in all of business, but in real

27:58estate, there is nothing that can replace it. And I like how you mentioned recency. And that's

28:03one thing that is, uh, I've kind of come to realize and how important it is the, the recency

28:09in which you've had the conversation with whoever it is, because even if you have a strong relationship

28:14with someone, um, they, whoever is top of mind at the moment that they're, you know, moving

28:20a deal across their desk, that is the person that they're going to, uh, they're going to reach

28:24out to. And even if you have a stronger relationship than Bob over there, if Bob talked to

28:28them most recently, then, uh, he's probably going to come up in their mind first. Um,

28:33so that's why it's so important to just keep, uh, you know, keep reaching out, keep talking

28:37to people, keep making friends. And that's why real estate is so much fun because it is

28:40a, uh, you know, it's a business of relationships. It's a business of reaching out and, uh, and

28:45talking to people, um, moves us to the second to last question. This is about lessons learned.

28:51Not every deal we get into goes the way we expect it. In fact, pretty much every time something

28:57goes wrong. And that's when we get to learn a lesson. So what was the deal that went a

29:00little bit sideways for you? And then what was the lesson you pulled from it?

29:05Um, I mean, what lesson haven't you found, right? You're just a feather in the cap. Um,

29:11I believe actually you hit it. And, and I would say that is such a core one. You have to

29:17know

29:17your micro area all the way down to where you're investing. Can't buy it on a cap rate or somebody

29:23has something, honestly, a mile difference in a town can take you from a place that people want

29:29to live to a place that they don't. Um, the, it is, it is in the micro knowledge and then

29:36getting

29:36it all the way from a good deal. You like the macro economics, but it is being an expert at

29:42that

29:42level. Anytime I've had a slip, it's been a mess from like that, that is just so critical. Hence

29:49why our investment strategy has always been, um, a lot of apartment buildings in select cities,

29:55right? So you are basically your own market comp, your own knowing of what's going on.

30:01Yeah. Yeah. And I, I'm going to add to that and I've hit this on so many episodes. I, I

30:05just

30:06keep wanting to repeat it because my biggest lesson was exactly that. Like the very, you know,

30:11we bought a self-storage facility in, in downtown Lubbock, literally two blocks from Texas tech,

30:16like one of the big, you know, a university and it, but the problem was it was one street off

30:22from where the good area was. And that one street was put it into a bad area. And we, we

30:29kept getting

30:29broken into, we kept, you know, it was just a nightmare. And that's why it is, I always want

30:34to hone it, you know, keep hammering it with people that are investing that are new. You need to

30:39be ultra confident in the, the, the street, the corner that you're investing on, because that

30:46it could be right next door to a good area. But if it's not in that good area, then it,

30:51it doesn't matter. You'll still, you know, you're still going to have issues.

30:55Don't compromise. Like you get in love with deals and then you're like, you know,

30:59was that street so bad? Yeah, it is. Like you have to be so rigorously firm. It is never fun

31:05to walk away from a deal. It's not fun. You're, you're into it. You want to buy it. And you

31:09have

31:10to be the discipline of no, trust me later and later you'll be like, thank God I said

31:15no, because you're living, you're living. It's not fun not to hit your metrics. It's

31:20not fun to have a failed investment. So it is discipline of no.

31:25Yeah. Yeah. And that's what, that is why I bought that deal is because the metrics were

31:30so good. There was like double digit growth in the area. It was right across from, like

31:34there's so many things worked, but that street it was, you know, I, and I even, you know,

31:39there were signs that that one street over, um, was not the street to be investing in.

31:44And, but I was so honed in on the metrics. And so you need to, like you said, you need

31:49to be so diligent in, in, um, and, and uncompromising in your, in your underwriting and your due

31:55diligence. Um, all right, moves us to the last question. This is for the listeners. You've

32:01given us a lot to think about. I'm sure people want to reach out, get in contact with you.

32:05Is it a two parter? Where can they find you? And then what can they expect when they

32:09reach out? Uh, you can find us at westernwealthcapital.com, uh, or on LinkedIn. Um, there's, um, much

32:18education information. If you're specific, um, you can actually meet with our, you know, our

32:23team from there, but, um, many people reach out via LinkedIn and say, I'm looking for this. Can,

32:29you know, can you help? Um, but we have the ability for you to set a meeting and, and inquire.

32:34We are multifamily investment specialists. Perfect. I'll put that link in the show notes.

32:40So if you guys want to reach out, all you got to do is click that little more in the

32:43description.

32:43It'll pull down that full description in there. You can find Janet's links.

32:48Thank you, Gabe. All right. Yeah.

32:50Weekend. That wraps it up. Thank you very much for hopping on the show. And for everybody who is

32:55here with us today, thank you guys for hopping on. You are the reason we do this. So if you

32:59guys have

32:59any questions, reach out to me, Gabe at the real estate investing club.com. If you guys want to

33:03support the show, just leave us a comment, review, anything like that. Other than that,

33:07I hope you guys have a great week. Keep rocking real estate. And I look forward to seeing you on

33:12the next episode.

The 29,000-Apartment Playbook for Financial Freedom with Janet LePage

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