The Fastest Way to Make Money Investing in Real Estate with Zackary C. Boothe: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down the fastest way to make money investing in real estate. To drop these value bombs, we have brought Zachary Booth into EO Fire Studios. Just a few years ago, Zachary was a window cleaner, and although he achieved success with his window cleaning business, he always dreamt of being a real estate investor, and now he is. In today's financial, we'll talk about how personal financial success is not a destination progress gives fulfillment, how there is never a wrong time to invest in real estate, there are only bad deals, and how to take action.

0:40And you will see how you can get a ton of success from that and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Zachary and our sponsors. Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. visit franocity.com, that's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y.com to book a free consultation and start your franchising journey with expert guidance. Zach, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:18Thanks for having me, it's awesome to be here. You know, in response to that question, the first thing that comes to my mind is success, especially when it comes to financial and personal success with your family or anything else. It's not a destination. If there's not constant improvement, if you're not continually growing and pushing yourself, there's no fulfillment in life. There's no happiness. There's no self-respect or self-love. You know, having a lot of money is really not that important, but it's the progress that's important. So the whole idea of retirement, the whole idea of working to not work ever again, I don't think exists.

2:01I don't think that makes anybody happy or fulfills anybody. So retirement's a farce that the corporate world's indoctrinated or brainwashed all of us to believe is actually something to look forward to, but I don't believe in that at all. I think you are speaking to the right audience on this topic for sure. And Fire Nation, as I mentioned in the introduction, we're talking about the fastest way to make money investing in real estate. And a lot of our listeners are in business and maybe some of them want to try real estate as a side hustle, or maybe they just want to say, hey, let's just give this an absolute go.

2:34So if they were at square one and they wanted to get started in real estate investing, what would your recommendation be? What would your strategic advice be? Yeah. So I would suggest what's called real estate wholesaling. There's a lot of content on there. I have a podcast on it and so forth. There's a lot of guys that talk about it. Maybe some of the audience has heard of people like getting into real estate investing with no money down. You know, a lot of these gurus in the past, you know, getting houses for free kind of thing. I'm sure people have heard those things. And what they're talking about is real estate wholesaling.

3:09So the whole concept around real estate investing in general, and if you're an entrepreneur, you understand, to be successful in this, you have to start with a deeply discounted property. So it doesn't matter if you want to flip the house. It doesn't matter if you want to buy the house and hold it long term and get cash flow and passive income. You have to start with a super discounted property. So even if you start with a deeply discounted property and you want to flip it or you want to keep it as a rental, you're going to have other barriers. You're going to have to get down payments. You're going to have to get money.

3:37You're going to have to have your own cash. You're going to have to have credit. You're going to have to have a lot of things that may be a major barrier to you. And so my story is I was a broke window cleaner and I was trying to get into the world of real estate investing and those are the barriers I hit. So when I learned about real estate wholesaling, I understood that I could go out and do the marketing, do the hustle, work my butt off, which is something that I was capable of. I didn't have a lot of intelligence. I didn't have a lot of experience and I didn't have a lot of money, but I had the ability to work hard.

4:08And so I found deeply discounted properties and I passed on that opportunity to a different buy and hold investor for a large assignment fee. So when you, when you go to buy a piece of property, you have a buy and sell agreement between you and the seller, right? And you can have a paragraph in there that says you're allowed to assign that purchase contract to a different end buyer. So I could go to Sally and say, Sally, I'm going to buy your home for$100 ,000. I can go to Bob the Flipper and I say, Bob, what would you pay for this house? And he said, I'd pay$150 ,000 and you have it under contract with Sally for$100 ,000.

4:42Well, you can just sell that piece of paper for$50 ,000. No risk, no debt, none of that. You just get paid an assignment fee. And so I heard about that and I'm like, that's my entry. That's how I can get into real estate investing without having to take a ton of debt and a ton of risk when I don't know anything about real estate investing. And so I hired a coach and I went for it. And the first year, the first eight months, I made a little over a hundred grand. The next year, just shy of a half a million, the year after that 1.2 million by just selling purchase contracts. And the coolest part of all of that is being able to then cherry pick the best deals that come across your table.

5:20You know, I tell my students this all the time, keep the best and sell the rest. And so real estate wholesaling, I just got really long-winded there. But the best way to get started, in my opinion, is real estate wholesaling. Fire Nation, you have the ability to work hard. Yes, you might not have a ton of money right now. Yes, you may not have a ton of credit at this moment. Maybe you do if you're listening, but maybe you don't. But you do have the ability to work hard. You do have the ability to find opportunities. You do have the ability to bring those opportunities to the right people. And then you can start building a nest egg with what you have.

5:57And what do you have? Time and energy. What do most people with money not have? Time. So you're giving them something that they don't have, which is your time, your energy of getting out there, finding the right deals and bringing it to them. Now, I'm going to be honest. I mean, real estate is simply on fire at the time that you and I are talking. I mean, I live down here in Puerto Rico. Home values have double, triple, quadrupled. It's the same thing in a lot of other highly desirable locations because people are now finding out that they can live remote. So why do I live in this crappy place when I can literally live wherever I want to live and get the job done, still get paid, live remotely, work virtually, all these different things.

6:41So the basic question is, is now right here in this moment, a good time to be in real estate? I get this question a lot. It's like, oh, the market's too hot. You know, you can't find deeply discounted properties now. Or when the market crashes, oh, there's too many sellers. Like you can't flip houses, whatever it might be. And I'm going to say this, there is never, ever a bad time to invest in real estate. There's only bad deals, right? So, so many people buy a property for way too much and they lose their shorts, right? Or they buy a property and the market dips 10 % and they lose their shorts because they weren't planning on that, of course, and then they didn't get a good enough deal in the beginning.

7:22So one of the big limiting beliefs that people have is since the market's so hot and everyone understands that they can put their market on the MLS and sell it in a day and get way more than they ever paid for it two years ago, they don't think that people will sell it for a discount. And to be clear, before I got into this, I was a major skeptic of this process. I was very skeptical that you could buy properties 50, 40 cents on the dollar. I was a major, major skeptic myself. And I had something happen that changed my life. So I had a guy named Stan, Stan Nielsen. I was washing his windows. You know, I was a window cleaner forever.

8:05I was washing his windows. I had learned about wholesaling. I had learned about all this cool stuff, listened to podcasts and YouTube channels. And like I dove into this stuff and, uh, I found out he's a real estate developer, very wealthy guy. I'm cleaning this giant mansion. And I got talking to him at the end of like an hour and a half conversation of hearing a story. I said, man, if I could just get two rentals this year, that would be incredible. And this was back in 2016. And he said, Oh, that's very convenient. I got these two properties. I don't want to deal with them. I haven't collected rents in four months.

8:33I got these, you know, I got a couple of multimillion dollar developments that I'm dealing with and that's all I want to work. I'm not worried about these rentals. So if you'll take them, take them, I'll sell them to you for awesome discount. He did. I made well over a hundred thousand dollars buying them and reselling them to the tenants. And I was like, holy crap, it's possible, right? You can make an absolute fortune. And so what you're looking for everyone, the way you find deeply discounted properties, especially in a hot market like now is you're trying to find people that want a pawn shop for their house, right?

9:06People go to a pawn shop for the convenience factor. They know they could get more if they sold it on eBay or Craigslist and went through the hassles or Facebook marketplace or whatever else, right? There are people that understand they can get more money for their house if they list it with an agent. Your goal is to find people that are not down out on their luck. You're not taking advantage of people. You're very clear. You could make more money, Mr. Seller, Mrs. Seller, if you just fix it up and listed it. I can buy it now. Like, what are you wanting to do? So the people that will trade convenience for price are usually wealthy real estate investors that are done with their properties.

9:41They're tired landlords. They don't want to deal with them anymore, right? They're people that inherited mom's house and she was a hoarder and it's a mess and they, their sibling situation's a mess and they just want to be done. There's people that, um, you know, went through a divorce, people that, have a really bad house or just don't like working with real estate agents. They just don't care. They want to be done quickly. So I got long-winded again, but the whole concept behind this is finding people that want speed and convenience over price, finding people that want a pawn shop for a house.

10:18Because if you can do that, it doesn't matter what the market's doing. If you're buying properties at 40, 50 cents on the dollar and the market crashes 10%, doesn't matter. No, you're going to be just fine. The problem is people get too hungry and too greedy and spend too much money. Fire Nation, so much gold here. And I think it's really good to go back to where we started here, which is there's really never a bad time to be in real estate. There are only bad deals. So think about that. No matter what the timing is, hey, it's all about, is it a great deal? Is it a good deal? Is it an okay deal?

10:52Or is it a bad deal? You need to be evaluating at all times. And we have some really important things for you to know, Fire Nation, when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Starting your own business can feel overwhelming. There's so much to consider and protecting your identity and privacy are top concerns. With Northwest Registered Agents, you get more privacy, more guidance, and more freedom to run your business from anywhere in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Northwest Registered Agent has It's been helping businesses launch and grow for nearly 30 years. If you want to build your business while keeping your personal information secure, Northwest is the partner you need.

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12:06Starting your own business can feel intimidating. Where do you start? How do you grow? When will you start generating revenue? All valid questions. If you love the idea of creating wealth and freedom, but you're not sure if starting from scratch is the way to go, then I'm excited to tell you about Frainocity. Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Their clients come from all walks of life, executive veterans, first-time buyers, and multi-unit investors, and their mission is simple, to remove the guesswork, reduce the risk, and help everyday people become business owners through franchising.

12:39Don't know anything about franchising? That's the beauty of it. Franocity provides personalized one-on-one coaching at no cost to you, and they have access to over 600 franchise brands. and Franocity doesn't just help you pick a franchise, they help you understand the business model, investment risk, scalability, and operational reality. Ready to explore business ownership through franchising? Visit Franocity.com, that's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y.com to book a free consultation and start your journey with expert guidance. Zach, we are back and you were able to get your start because you had the right coach.

13:14Talk about the importance of finding the right mentor. Oh man, it's everything. So yes, I coach. And what I'm about to say, some people might say, oh, you're just saying this because you're trying to recruit people to your program. And I'm going to say this. If you think that's why I'm sharing this, go find a different coach. Do not even look into my coaching program, right? Tom Kroll was my coach. He completely changed my life, right? He took me from a broke window cleaner to making over a million a year. Like, I will always be forever grateful for this man. He doesn't coach anymore. He sold out of his coaching business, or I'd say, go, go hire him.

13:51Right. But, um, there's, there's three things that I suggest when, when looking for a mentor, like if you want to get into anything, any industry, any, you know, any goal that you have, it's so important to have a coach. And, and these are the filters that I go through. I'm, I'm always hiring coaches, always having help to help me accomplish my goals in my businesses and in my personal life. So these are the three things I look for. First, I look at the person. Have they done? Are they currently doing exactly what I want to accomplish? Right. We always want to take advice from people that are done and doing what we're wanting to do.

14:26Right. Because they have a perspective that others don't. So that's the first filter. The second filter is have they been able to and have they consistently found the success for others that you're looking for? Right. Are they currently coaching? Because doing something yourself is a whole lot different than teaching someone else how to do it. You have to have the heart for it. It's a whole different person, right, that can teach and mentor and serve others at that high capacity. The last thing that I look at is, do I trust that person? Would I sit down and have a cup of coffee? Do I like that person?

15:02Do I really feel like he's there for his students or is it for his ego, right? Do I connect with that person? So that's the filter that I look at when I go to hire a coach. Fire Nation, it is critical to realize that you do not need to recreate the wheel. Almost every single person who I have talked to over the years who has found success has found the right mentor. All the way back to me in 2012 when I found my podcast coach, somebody who was where I wanted to be in about a year's time, and that was so critical. So Zach, we've talked about a lot of awesome stuff. I really want you to take this home for us with a bang.

15:43So share with us the key takeaway that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation today. Share how we can connect with you, learn more about your coaching program for those that are interested, and then we'll say goodbye. It's a long story, but I became a coach and it was not on purpose. I never had an intention to. I did a self-help journal that was all about helping others. And if you want to receive, you have to first give what you want. So I had a goal of making a million dollars back in 2018. And the self-help journal said I had to give away whatever I want to receive.

16:19If I wanted love, I gave love. If I want money, I give money. So I had to give away a million dollars that year. So I brought on 10 students and started teaching them what I had learned to make a half a million the year before. And the more I taught, the more I learned and the better I got at my business. and the more mistakes I found and holes I found in my business. You know, my coaches or my students started having massive success. You know, my very first student I brought on, Michael McLeish, he's actually now made over a million dollars from my program. And he texted me about a month and a half ago.

16:51Super awesome.

16:55Anyways, as I became a coach, I started finding people that were just like me. They were very skeptical, like they didn't understand how it was possible to make the kind of money they were very skeptical of coaches and mentors in the space like I was and they didn't believe that you could make 50 60 100 thousand dollars by finding a deeply discounted property and if you could you couldn't do it with integrity and and so I was up late one night like how do I show people what I learned how do I show people that this is a wholesome business that you're helping and serving these sellers and also getting paid a lot of money.

17:35And I was up late. I could not sleep because I was like, I have to solve this problem. And I came up with the idea that, well, what changed my mind? What changed my perspective? And I shared the story of Stan that I washed his windows. He was a wealthy guy and he gave me these deeply discounted properties. I made over a hundred grand. I was like, that changed everything for me, right? Seeing it happen changed it for me. and I wanted to give the same gift to my students and to anyone that wanted to find financial success through real estate investing. And so I was like, okay, well, I have to give people an over-the-shoulder look.

18:12I have to go find a Stan Nilsen. I have to find a wealthy guy, and he understands he's selling him at a discount, and show people what I do day-to-day in my wholesaling business so they believe that they can do it. And they can see Zach's no one special. Zach's this kind of goofy goober, you know, outdoorsman that, you know, wash windows for a decade. Like Zach's no one special. If he can do it, I can do it. And so I was like, okay, well let's do this. I took a thousand bucks. I flew to Tampa, Florida. I never been there. And I picked Tampa literally because it was warm and I was going in January.

18:44And, uh, plus there's plane tickets to, to, um, Brazil where my wife's from. And so she could go see her family wise there. So I fly to Tampa with a thousand bucks. And the goal was to make over 40 grand in 40 days doing real estate wholesaling and document day by day and have a film crew and share that content for free with others. And, um, so I want you guys to understand how possible it is, how much work it is. It's not easy, how much work it is, but how much financial success, um, can come from understanding this process and how, uh, real estate investing in general can change your life and more specifically real estate wholesaling and getting started in real estate investing.

19:25So I have that day by day challenge. I blew the goal completely out of the water. I was so grateful and I prayed before I went. I said, God, please allow me to find a Stan Nielsen. Please allow me to document an experience that can change lives. And day four, I called the wrong number, got ahold of this guy, got three purchase contracts on day four. If you're going to watch one day, at least watch day four. But it's life changing. And a ton of people that have been able to see the content have been inspired and taken action and made a ton of money just from the free content. And so, you know, the big giveaway, the big takeaway that I hope people get is they get to go watch this challenge and see exactly what it takes.

20:06And hopefully some of these people will take action on what they learn and what they see and have a ton of success from it. Fire Nation, a lot of takeaways from today. I hope that you do take action when you listen to something, when you hear something, if it strikes a chord, follow through. That's all you need to be making sure that you do in life is follow through. Zach, where does Fire Nation need to go to consume all this great content and check out this opportunity? Yeah. So if you go to DFD, stands for driving for dollars, dfdmastery.com forward slash fire, you guys can get full access to that day-by-day documentary.

20:46Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with ZB and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to eofire.com. Type Zach in the search bar and the show notes page will pop up with everything that we've been talking about here today. Best show notes in the biz. DFD, that is DFD, driving for dollars. mastery.com slash fire. Check that out. And Fire Nation, thank you for being here. And Zach, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with our listeners here today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

21:24Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Zach and Fire Nation. Over the past decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visit UncommonSuccessBook.com to order your copy today, and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side.

22:05Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Visit Franocity.com, that's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y.com to book a free consultation and start your franchising journey with expert guidance.