REI Network with Gavin Timms

Can the power of positivity really change your life and set you off into the career you were made for? Leo Valentino is the definition of a positive mindset. Originally a newbie Real Estate Investor, after a motivational video he created went viral on TikTok, he has transitioned to a career in personal branding.

I first met Leo at an event in Key West; he had this incredible energy and I truly believed he was going to do great things. Now it’s six months later and he's grown from zero followings on social media to a platform of almost a million.

Leo really has the heart of a hustler. He shares this really inspiring story of the why behind his motivation and his entrepreneurial endeavors since the 1st grade. Real Estate Investing is a hard gig. It’s truly not for everyone, Leo tried it and it set him out on a totally different path, but one he really feels passionate about.

Leo’s success up to this point is really due to his mindset, positivity, and excellent networking skills. If you’re at this point where you need the motivation to move forward in your business, or maybe you know someone who does, be sure to check out Leo Valentino and listen in on this episode because he has some great advice.

What’s Inside:

• The Power of Positivity
• The Power of Networking
• How to go from 0 to 900k+ on Social Media
• The importance of aligning with your career

 Mentioned In This Episode:

Leo Valentino (@leovalentino444) TikTok
coach.Chun - Leo Valentino - Instagram

With all of the marketing tools available today, it can be tough to narrow in on what’s going to work best for your business. It often comes down to time and money, both of which translate into more leads. It’s important to spend time thinking about where you are in your real estate journey and just how much you can commit to a marketing strategy. From there you can choose what fits and start building a foundation.

One key thing to remember is that whatever you focus on is what’s going to get you results, no matter which strategy you choose. I’m a big fan of cold calling and it’s always helped me generate leads. Cold calling is a great way to practice feeling comfortable on the phone and it’s free to do yourself. There will always be people out there saying that certain marketing strategies are outdated or don’t work, but if you’re seeing results from something, keep going.

If you’re just starting out and don’t have any money to spend on a marketing budget, the best thing you can do is start networking. Partnering with other people and working wholesalers can help you build solid relationships that will generate prospects and lead to deals down the road. The best advice is to just get started. I’ve made mistakes as I went along, but I don’t regret them because I was taking massive action. I learned along the way and so can you.

What’s Inside: 

• How to narrow in on your marketing strategy.
• What types of marketing are working today.
• Which marketing strategies to focus on if you don’t have money.
• The difference between reactive and proactive marketing.

Mentioned in this episode: 

REI Network on YouTube
Gavin on Instagram
Streetsmartinvestor.com
Batchleads.io/gavin
Propstreamgavin.com
Freedomsoft.com/gavin

I first met Lou Brown a few years ago. We’re in the same mastermind together and I got to hang out with him last week. He’s been in the industry for about 40 years and has been through several cycles with a lot of wisdom to share. Lou was first introduced to real estate as a kid when he found out a friend of his mother's was able to buy up properties to cover her own mortgage. It stuck with him, and he decided to learn as much as he could so he could do it himself. Through his own investing, he got his mother out of debt when he was only 19 years old.

Lou found a way to make some loopholes in the trust creation process work for him, which has helped him weather a lot of the downturns we’ve seen over the years. Today, he owns properties in 6 different states. After the 2008 crash, he flipped the script on his strategy and changed his business model to serve potential homebuyers who had bad credit or maybe not enough money for a traditional down payment. His program, Certified Affordable Housing Provider, offers a path to homeownership in the buyer’s home marker through a membership program, which also allows him to turn a profit immediately.

With such incredible resilience and the ability to stay above water throughout several economic downturns, Lou’s really quite an inspiration. He’s offering listeners a free copy of his book, “Doing Good While Doing Well”, through the link below, so make sure you check it out.

What’s Inside: 

• How Lou got into real estate at a young age.
• Ways to make trusts work for you in real estate.
• How flipping the script helped Lou stay afloat throughout cycles.
• Why it’s easier to sell to someone when you know what they want.

Mentioned in this episode: 

REI Network on YouTube
Gavin on Instagram
Streetsmartinvestor.com
Getdoinggoodbook.com
Certifiedaffordablehousingprovider.com

It has been a crazy 7 days and I’m back in my RV in Michigan as I recorded this. As a real estate investor, I have been busy with other things like being a mastermind, arranged an assisted living setup for my wife’s mother, premiered a new TV show with Pace and Jamil, and flew back. And with all the crazy 7 days behind me, I have some big takeaways, especially from the mastermind event.

The mastermind event I went to, despite the unforeseen flight delays, was a great basin of the biggest names in real estate. Almost everyone who’s anyone in the real estate industry was there. And in these masterminds, there are key presentations and then there’s networking. I love the presentations because I can always learn something new to implement to the way I do my coaching and real estate business or be reminded of things that I DON’T want to happen to my business.

Then, the good part and probably my most favorite part of the event comes – networking. While I believe that the presentations are great, I personally think the essence of these events is the networking opportunity. The breakout sessions, the mini dinners, and the random hallway conversations are really where the magic happens. I stress this all the time but networking is really the meat of this business. The more you build relationships with not only your clients but with other people in the industry as well, the more you have traction for deals. As they say, your network is your net worth.

So, then I fly into Phoenix after the mastermind and there I met so many YouTubers who have mind-blowing numbers. And while I didn’t get to speak to all of them, most of the ones I spoke with told me the same thing: they’ve been doing this for 5-6 years consistently before they started earning. They show up every day, year after year, and for them, it’s harder to go from 0 to 10k than it is to go from 10k to a million subscribers. It’s the same for real estate; you have to show up consistently to make anything out of it or be anyone in the business.

You have to be in it for the long haul, you have to be doing something every day and you have to be consistent. I’m talking about building a business that serves you; where you have a goal that the business fits and works around.

What’s Inside: 

• Learn things that you need to do and learn things that you DON’T want to do.
• Your network is your net worth. 
• Be consistent and show up every day. 
• Build a business that serves you. 

Mentioned in this episode: 

REI Network on YouTube
Gavin on Instagram

Robert Allen is considered by many, myself included, to be the real estate GOAT. He’s a bestselling author, a mastermind teacher, and a brilliant investor. That’s why I’m extremely excited to have Robert on the show today to talk about investing with little or no money down.

Robert has a lot of great advice to share when it comes to growing your business. We talk about how to model yourself after successful people, diversifying your cash flow, and different ways to track your progress. The key is to never stop growing; this can mean your growing business, or improving yourself.

Robert brings up a great point: if you don’t have resources, you have to be resourceful. Even better, though, you can use other people’s resources to help make deals. He talks all about how to take your personal, internal wealth (your drive, your communication skills, etc.) and use those to collaborate with others and make a profit. Then, you take that profit and grow it like a seed.

To learn more and get involved in our program yourself, go to REInetwork.com/join. And for a free copy of Robert’s book, go to RobertAllen.com.

What's Inside:

• If you want to be wealthy, model yourself after wealthy people.
• Track your net worth to track your progress.
• How to buy properties with little to no money down.
• Collaborate with like-minded people.

The ability to travel and work from the road is one of my favorite things about this business, but it's not always easy or smooth. It’s been a crazy week. Would you believe it if I told you I’ve had 5 different coaching calls in 5 different states in the last 7 days? It’s amazing. Today I’m in my RV in Michigan to talk about some crazy situations with the bank as we purchased our lake house and give you some advice I learned along the way.

So we were getting ready to close on our Michigan lake house when we ran into funding issues. I really thought I was prepared for any problems that might arise, but I did run into issues. Through this story, I’ve got advice for you that can help you avoid what happened to me.

Use a local bank. If your normal bank is located where you are buying your property, I highly recommend going through a local bank. They are smaller and can get things done quicker. As opposed to major companies like Chase or Wells Fargo, they’re great banks but they have so many clients things can move really slow.

Build Relationships. Being a people person and creating relationships with the people you’re working with goes a really long way. When you’re friendly and initiate that relationship, they are more inclined to go above and beyond to help you with anything.

Finally, be persistent. If you get a no, remember it's a no for that person only. There is almost always a way around. Be persistent, keep trying, keep calling. Stay on the phone until you get that person who can give you a yes.

I hope you found these tips and this story useful. I hope to hear from you on any platform about what you’re taking away from this show soon!

What’s Inside:

• The benefits of utilizing virtual business.
• On the road as a real estate investor.
• How I worked past funding issues on our Michigan lake house.
• Big tips for real estate investors.

I’m all about working on your business and not in your business, and the best way to do that is to build a solid real estate team to help you with your deals. So in today’s episode, I’m going to tell you exactly how to build out a great team to help you reach your goals.

The very first step should be hiring a virtual assistant. Once you have someone on board, start outsourcing your smaller tasks to them: things like notes, sending out contracts, and researching properties. The idea is to have your VA handle the small stuff so that you can focus on the things that make the money.

I’d also suggest getting what I call a “runner.” This is someone who can work on the ground in the area you are marketing in. They can do things like take pictures of a property or set up a lockbox on the door. The best thing is, they don’t need to have any experience at all.

After that, it’s time to look at hiring a dispo manager and an acquisitions manager. The order that you do this in depends on what your role currently is: are you comfortable on the phone, talking to sellers? Then you should handle acquisitions and hire someone for dispo first, and vice versa.

To learn more and get involved in our program yourself, go to REInetwork.com/join.

What’s Inside:

• You’re only as good as your team.
• Step one: hire a virtual assistant.
• Working in virtual markets? Hire a runner.
• What’s next: dispo or acquisition?

Don Costa, one of my co-hosts from Coffee With Closers Live and a real powerhouse in the industry, is here with us today to talk about how he got started in real estate investing, how he overcame a massive loss when the markets crashed in 2008, and how he rebuilt into one of the biggest investing businesses in the country.

For Don, the epiphany came when he hit rock bottom. He had to really take a hard look at how he was doing things, realize that there was a better way, and start over. He also realized that it was important to surround himself with like-minded people. Not only did they have valuable experience that he could learn from, but they helped keep him accountable and on track with his goals.

That’s what a good mastermind program should be. It should feel like a community, a place where you can bounce ideas off of people and get different perspectives on things. That’s why I created the REI Network.

To learn more and get involved in our program yourself, go to REInetwork.com/join.

What’s Inside:

• A discussion with industry giant Don Costa.
• Look at the big issues: don’t get lost in the pebbles.
• The importance of community.
• Why and how you should choose a mastermind program.

To succeed in the business of real estate marketing, you need two things: time and money. Well, today, I’m here to tell you that you can actually get started in this business without putting any money down at all. And I don’t just mean to buy the property: I mean no money spent on marketing either.

The best thing is, I know this technique works. It's how I got my start in real estate.

So, how does it work? Well, it all starts with networking. You’ve got to make connections with other investors and realtors, and build relationships with them. Start small, by focusing on just one or two people to work with.

The thing is, most investors don’t properly do their follow-up, which means they are leaving money on the table. 90% of your deals are going to come from good follow-up. So, once you have a good relationship with an investor, ask them if you can take some of their dead leads and follow up on them. If anything comes of the leads, you split the deal 50/50. All you need to do is be able to use a phone, and you can start making money.

Once you’ve done this a few times, you have the money to start taking the lead yourself and really growing your business into what you want it to be. I did exactly that, and now I’m traveling the country in an RV with my family, doing deals on the road, and having the time of my life.

To learn more and get involved in our program yourself, go to REInetwork.com/join.

What’s Inside:

• What if you’re just starting and have no money for marketing?
• The importance of networking with other investors.
• How to partner up on dead leads.
• How to grow into your own real estate business.

Hello everyone, I’m finally back at my home office and I’m really excited to be talking to you today about creative financing and lease-option deals.

It can be easy to hear the basics of creative finance and want to dive in right away. Passive income sounds great, right? But it’s important to make sure that you understand what you’re doing so you don’t get in over your head. Start with one strategy at a time!

Using real numbers, I show you how to negotiate with a non-motivated seller to knock a property from $140K down to 60K with a lease option. We’ll discuss how to feel the seller out, make the offer, and recover if the seller reacts poorly. Then, I show you how to suggest a creative deal that creates a win-win situation for both of you.

It’s also very important that you do not over-explain things. Don’t make it too complicated for the seller. I don’t even use language like “sandwich lease option” or “creative financing” when working things out with a seller. Instead, I like to say things like “What if we do something on terms and make some payments to you?” Keep things simple, and sellers will be more willing to work with you.

To learn more and get involved in our program yourself, go to REInetwork.com/join

What’s Inside:

• Lease options are great for passive income.
• Don’t get in over your head: learn one strategy at a time.
• How to feel out a seller and make an offer.
• Use simple language: “Can we do something on terms?”