How to Become a Young Real Estate Developer: An Entrepreneur Story, Housing Joint Venture Investing Bootcamp Review

Interview Transcript

Richelle (00:04):

All right. Thank you so much, Kiyanna, for joining me today. I know you just finished your coursework of the bootcamp, so how about you just introduce yourself, let us know what brought you to us?

Kiyanna (00:20):

Yes, thanks for giving me this opportunity, again, I would like to say that. My name is Kiyanna. I’m from Columbus, Ohio. I’m 26 years old, and I was interested in investing in real estate, been through a lot of things, and just decided to go ahead and take this course, and I really, really overall enjoyed it.

Richelle (00:42):

Fabulous. Why were you interested in real estate? You’re 26 years old, you’re in the prime of your life, most 26 year olds have so many other things going on besides trying to figure out how to invest in real estate?

Kiyanna (00:54):

Yeah. For me it was very simple. I didn’t have a job until after college, so then I started working for my family. The job industry wasn’t something I was very familiar with, so when I did start working, I wanted to make a lot of money without a lot of time. List research and real estate is something that interests me, because I mean, once you get it going, you kind of free up your time and still get that cashflow. That was something that really was attractive to me, because I just like to have my own time. I like to move in my own beat. Those are some things that just drew me into real estate.

Richelle (01:34):

Nice. Nice. What would you say your real estate knowledge was at that time?

Kiyanna (01:41):

Prior to this course, I was just … I’ve never felt like actually came in contact with a mentor. I was just doing my own research, my own videos, looking at my own videos on YouTube. There’s a lot of content out there, but I didn’t … I kind of knew here and there, the broad things of real estate, but I didn’t go into depth and things as far as construction, property management, finance, and things of that sort. I kind of knew a little bit that I knew something about real estate, but after this course I realized I probably knew not even half.

Richelle (02:22):

What were you trying to accomplish? What were you looking for on YouTube? What was the goal?

Kiyanna (02:28):

To start, I started out trying to wholesale, so I’m just looking up different things and techniques and listening to all type of gurus, and then the more I researched and looked into real estate, the wealthy people are buying whole. I knew I didn’t want to flip because it’s just too time consuming. I was trying to wholesale, but I didn’t really understand the long-term financial plan and strategy needed to succeed in real estate over a long period of time.

Richelle (02:59):

Yeah. Yeah. So buying whole was just really was like, all right, let me just keep it simple. It’s not very complicated, fair enough, fair enough. I mean, like you said, there’s so much out there on YouTube and everything, what was still missing? Why weren’t you able to get it going on your own?

Kiyanna (03:20):

For me I think the biggest thing was just having that person that I can just talk to. Just having that person I can just text a quick question here and there. Because, I mean, you can DM someone you’ve seen on YouTube and they might not respond to things like that, so just having access to someone who has experience, someone who has that knowledge, and someone I can just go sit there in the living room and talk [crosstalk 00:03:50] watching a YouTube video and DM-ing them and things like that. So I was just missing that person, that official mentee/mentor. That was the biggest thing. I think I was just missing the confidence, because I kind of knew a little bit, but I didn’t know how much I really knew. Just the confidence, too, and the knowledge and the resources.

Richelle (04:17):

Perfect. I mean, you’re right. There’s so much confidence you get by, one, having more knowledge and having somebody in your corner, it’s like, “All right, you with me? Let’s go. We can go to the moon now.”

Kiyanna (04:28):

Yes. And I want to say another thing, too, is just listening to your guy’s personal stories. You give the good, you give the bad. I mean, that’s very encouraging just to hear those stories. You guys got a lot of experience and just to hear your mishaps and things of that sort, like there’s going to be some failures, there’s going to be some things that don’t go right, but there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel.

Richelle (04:58):

Absolutely. Why did you do it now? I mean, even with all that, you’re still 26. I mean like why not … Most people don’t wait until they found their life partner until they’re 30. Why did you decide to do it now? What was the impetus for it, if anything? I don’t know.

Kiyanna (05:17):

I think I started the course in April, so after … I graduated undergrad in 2016 then I went back 2018 and I finished up this May. Coming out of that, I knew I wanted to dive into real estate. I didn’t want to go looking for a job and things like that. I mean, I’ve kind of been looking at real estate for like the last two years, but never made any moves and things like that. I just knew now was I wanted to take the time out to really make real estate my full-time thing and just start building my portfolio from there. I mean, I just feel like if I’m not going to start now after I’ve been looking it up, reading into it, and doing that for two years, then when will I? Once my time freed up in school and everything, of course, with Corona, so that just gave me a lot of free time and the opportunity to do it. It’s now or never.

Richelle (06:20):

What’s up? I love it. I love it. Tell me, what does success look like? Where are we trying to go?

Kiyanna (06:28):

To me, I think success … Ultimately my goal is to have an apartment complex or a hotel.

Richelle (06:38):

Yes, yes.

Kiyanna (06:41):

Those are just two of the things that I would love to do. Just having a big portfolio of cashflow and units. I mean, I know he said cashflow, is not the game of the-

Richelle (06:55):

[crosstalk 00:06:55] I mean, it’s the life blood of your business, honestly.

Kiyanna (06:58):

But I think that’s success for me, just building a portfolio that is well-maintained, generates good customer service, just building a successful brand. Yeah, that’s what success looks like to me, and being in control of my time. I think that’s the biggest thing that I want to do is just be in control of my time and not have to feel like I got to clock in and do a certain amount of hours and things [inaudible 00:07:30]. Just building my portfolio over time and have successful cashflow in units and freeing up my time is success to me.

Richelle (07:42):

Love it, love it, love it. Before you were scouring YouTube and trying to piece together some different ideas, how would you describe your real estate investing knowledge now? How confident do you feel going forward with [inaudible 00:07:57] investment?

Kiyanna (08:00):

I feel 10 times … When I’m talking to people, I kind of feel like I know what I’m talking about and not just, “Oh, I’ve seen on YouTube …” I’m a lot more confident in going into these different aspects of real estate into depth is just makes me even more confident. Now, when I’m looking at houses, like when I’m with the realtor, probably like a week ago, I’m like, “Yeah, that needs to be fixed.” I just feel more confident when I speak. Even though I might not know them, but I sound like I know what I’m talking about.

Richelle (08:38):

And you do, I mean, you do. You’re out in the trenches and you know what you’re looking for, you know what I mean?

Kiyanna (08:44):

That’s the biggest thing, too. I think before I was just kind of looking here and there, everywhere, different avenues, join a wholesale one, do this one, do that, so now I’m kind of just narrowing my focus, and now I’m just 10 times more confident from when I first started the course.

Richelle (09:00):

Nice. I’m curious. What do you think is the main reason or reasons that makes you feel just so much more confident [crosstalk 00:00:09:09]?

Kiyanna (09:10):

I just think reviewing all the material from your point of view. I mean, you have a lot of experience, just reviewing all that material and hearing the stories and hearing things like that and the different deals you guys have done. That was really crazy to me. Just some of the numbers, you get your properties for. Now, when I’m searching, I’ll look at the price, I’m like, “I don’t have that,” but that’s really not the price. That’s just a number. Things like that helped me gain confidence. Now when I go and talk to people, I know this property is probably worth this, I can get it for this. I mean, understanding your purchasing power and things like that.

Richelle (09:52):

I love it, I love it. If you had to put it on a scale of 1 to 10, if a 1 was very low and a 10 is extremely high, what would you rate your real estate investing knowledge before versus today, on a scale of 1 to 10?

Kiyanna (10:07):

Before I would probably say it was maybe a 3 or 4.

Richelle (10:13):

Okay.

Kiyanna (10:15):

And now … I mean, of course I don’t know everything, but taking this course and everything, I would probably say an 8 or 9, because, I mean, if I’m speaking with the property manager, I know what I’m looking for. If I’m speaking with the construction person on site or about this or that, then I know what I’m looking for. I know how the conversation should go and things of that sort, so definitely, definitely way more knowledgeable than I was before I started the course, a 100%.

Richelle (10:49):

Nice, nice. Okay. You’ve mentioned the program a couple of times. Let’s go ahead and talk about it. We’re talking about the 8-week bootcamp, of course. You were already a 3, why did you join the bootcamp? What were you expecting to gain from it?

Kiyanna (11:06):

I was expecting to gain that in-depth knowledge, and what made me so attracted to you guys is you guys have a lot of experience. You guys aren’t just saying, “Do this.” You’re talking from experience on things you have done. That’s one of the things I think a lot of people will try to educate others on different topics and things like that with little to no experience. So that’s one thing that I really enjoy, just hearing, again, your stories and how you guys’ houses is falling into your lap and things of that sort.

Richelle (11:43):

Yeah. All of my horror stories. No problem.

Kiyanna (11:48):

That was very helpful.

Richelle (11:53):

Nice, nice. Tell us the truth, did it meet your expectations? What are your thoughts there?

Kiyanna (12:03):

Yes, honestly, it exceeded my expectations. I mean, just week by week, it’s really in-depth information. I mean, just the pace and the flow of how the course is set up, too, you start out slow and just getting the basics set in order, and looking at your net worth, and all that things. Then, because I mean, people say they want to invest and do this, but you have to have your financials right. That, and then talking about building your team and different things you need. I think the course is exceptional. I recommend it to anybody looking to get into real estate, anybody looking to get off the rat race and things like that. I think, I believe I got my money’s worth out of this.

Kiyanna (12:55):

I mean, and the crazy thing is, yeah, I completed my eight weeks, but I feel like I still haven’t even registered half of the information, because as I’m going through it, I’m not actively … Like the construction, I’m not actively doing construction, so once I come to that time where I’m actively doing the rehab, then I’ll go back and revisit it and pick up more things. I was very pleased with the course. I’m so happy I decided to enroll and go through with it. I enjoyed the people that’s in the group. They’re great. Love hearing everyone’s success stories and things like that. Seriously, this is the first mentoring course or anything I’ve ever, for real estate, put my money into. [Inaudible 00:13:45] like little wholesale courses and stuff like that, but I truly believe I got my money’s worth.

Richelle (13:52):

Thank you. That’s awesome. That’s great news.

Kiyanna (13:54):

And I haven’t even looked on the JV site for all the extra content.

Richelle (14:00):

[inaudible 00:14:00] There’s a lot of unique stuff.

Kiyanna (14:01):

It’s definitely great. It’s definitely great. And I want to say that you guys do not short change your customers because I mean, anytime a question, anything you guys are there, ready to answer. I mean, you’re doing calls. Most of the times our weekly meetings go more than the hour. I mean, it’s just great. It’s just great.

Richelle (14:29):

Love.

Kiyanna (14:29):

Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Richelle (14:30):

Nice. If you could have just one thing, was there anything in particular that stood out more so than anything else? I’m just kind of curious there.

Kiyanna (14:44):

For me, personally, I think the biggest subject that I was unaware of coming into the course was the construction. Breaking that down, I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed the whole course, but for me, I gained a lot of information there that I … Construction and property management is two things that people don’t necessarily really take into consideration when looking into real estate. Those are the two things that I probably had the least knowledge about, but I really enjoyed that. Just the different videos and the actual live walkthroughs and the scopes of work and then the contracts for construction and property management was very helpful. I mean, and that’s the great thing too, about your courses, you actually give the contracts and things that you do. People give out these courses and do that, but they’re not showing you the actual paperwork and the step-by-step things that you did. You guys really just laid it out like we were your newborns.

Richelle (15:49):

Here’s my little bitty [inaudible 00:00:15:51].

Kiyanna (15:51):

So that’s great.

Richelle (15:56):

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. I mean, you touched on it a couple of times, but let’s be honest, this is a high-ticket purchase. It was an investment how do you feel about what you paid compared to the value that you received?

Kiyanna (16:11):

Honestly, I feel like you guys could go up on the prices, because I mean, what you’re getting from the course, and not even just … So the course, I mean, I think if you’re looking to scale and build big, you can build it off of this course. I mean, it’s giving you all the foundation. Once you sign up for this course, you won’t need to pay for anything else and get additional information anywhere else because you guys cover it all. Then I think what puts the icing on the cake is you have access to you guys all the time, so you can always send a call, a text, and things of that sort. That was very, very beneficial.

Richelle (16:53):

Nice. I mean, now that you’re on the other side, what kind of people do you think would benefit most from going through the course? Who do you think would be of most benefit for this experience?

Kiyanna (17:08):

I think people that are looking to build their net worth and not put as much time as they’re looking to be successful. I think this course would be very helpful for young professionals that really don’t know what to do with their funds or how to invest, or anybody that’s just looking to simply get into real estate, simply be an investor in real estate. I think this course is helpful for anybody looking to gain valuable and sustainable knowledge and accurate knowledge about real estate, whether you’re looking to invest, whether you’re looking to rent, whether you’re looking to own, I just think it’s very helpful, helpful knowledge. I think someone that’s just looking for success, this is a great course, especially if they’re looking for success in real estate. I mean, I wouldn’t look nowhere else.

Kiyanna (18:13):

I like that it’s assessable. You can just pull it up on your phone, go through the weeks on your phone, on your laptop, Zoom call reminder every week, those things are really helpful. I mean, overall, honestly, I really enjoyed the course and I got my money’s worth and I do not regret taking it. Anybody that talks about real estate, I’m like, “Look, I got this course [inaudible 00:18:40]. They’re great. Husband and wife got so much experience …” I recommend it to anybody that’s looking to be successful in real estate and really gain knowledge in the key aspects of real estate and things that you’re going to be making your money or losing their money on.

Richelle (18:59):

Well, Kiyanna, I got to tell you that it has been an absolute pleasure to watch you grow from timid but excited, to empowered and “Look, what about this deal and what about this deal?” I mean, you have exceeded our expectations bringing deals so early on, not prematurely, but just really applying the knowledge very practically. I mean, like, “Hey I took my criteria and this is what I think like, can we review it?” That has just been an absolute pleasure. I mean, it has just warmed our heart and we’re just so happy to be on your team. Is there anything else that you’d like to add before we sign off?

Kiyanna (19:39):

Sign up guys, take the course.

Richelle (19:43):

All right. Sounds good. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. Congratulations. At this point, you are an official graduate, but as you know, we don’t kick you out. You’re more than welcome to come back any time, please stay. Please do. We can’t wait to hear about your first investment and your 15th investment and just be along with you every step of the way. Thank you so, so much and we’ll see you soon. We’ll see you on next week’s call.

Kiyanna (20:10):

Yes, no problem. Thank you.

Richelle (20:14):

All right. See you later.