Small Axe Podcast: Multifamily Real Estate | Buy Buildings, Build Empires

Join Nico Salgado as he sits down with real estate investor Caleb Johnson in this episode of Small Axe Podcast! Caleb shares his journey into the world of real estate investing, starting at a young age and building his way up to owning 50+ unit apartment buildings. He provides valuable insights into finding and underwriting multifamily property deals, as well as the challenges of raising equity and putting money on the line. Listen in as he shares his strategies for sourcing deals and expanding his business across multiple states. 

Here's a breakdown of what to expect in this episode: Caleb's experience in finding and underwriting his first multifamily property deal The importance of hard work and persistence in succeeding in the real estate business Understanding the challenges of a market before entering it Caleb's approach to sourcing deals through Propstream and direct outreach The use of Active Campaign and Instagram ads for marketing and lead generation And so much more!

About Caleb Johnson:  Caleb Johnson is a real estate investor based in Phoenix, Arizona. He started investing when he was 19 years old, and he owns Red Sea Capital, which operates in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and is expanding to Texas. He focuses on 50+ unit apartment buildings, which he says are easier to manage due to economies of scale. Caleb emphasizes the importance of hard work and persistence in succeeding in the real estate business, and he advises that one should understand the challenges of a market before entering it. He currently works in asset management and engages in capital raising, but he has delegated the latter to others who specialize in it.

Check Caleb Johnson on...

Website: https://redseacapitalgroup.com/ Email: [email protected]     LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-johnson-7b7300205/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-trial-to-triumph/id1640592078

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456, Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Nic and Jamie Cooper, Nic saw the power of cash-flowing assets with his single-family rentals but was ready to scale. He sold his remaining single-family rentals in San Diego and got Jamie on board to reinvest in real-estate on a larger scale.

About Nic and Jamie Cooper:

Together they purchased a 24 unit apartment complex in Ohio to create passive income.  In the first year they optimized systems and as a result, more than doubled the property's value!  They saw first-hand the power of multifamily real-estate investing as an opportunity to create passive income and build wealth for their family.

Check Nic and Jamie Cooper on...

Website: https://www.hudsonbluemf.com/what-we-do

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Bill Waters, is a Founder at Mid Florida Insurance Professionals. Bill Waters has generations of knowledge in the Florida insurance business.

About Bill Waters:

He has been involved personally since 1987 and has seen it all. Today, he focuses on helping his clients navigate the challenging insurance environment in Florida.

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Francesca Apostolou, is a Multi Family Real Estate Investor at Niveau Partners. Francesca is from Westchester County, NY. Where she lives with her husband and two beautiful children. Francesca has been a school teacher for 24 years.

About Francesca Apostolou:

Francesca and her husband Jim realized the power of real estate after purchasing their first home, rehabbing and leveraging it to acquire their first investment property. Francesca is currently partnered in over 250 units and actively looking to acquire properties in the southeast. Her goal is to educate and help others learn how they can create passive income through real estate investing. She enjoys spending time with her family,  traveling, the beach, and lending a helping hand.

Check Francesca Apostolou on...

Website - https://niveaupartners.com/

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Fernando Angelucci, is a Senior Managing Partner at Self Storage Syndicated Equities. By the age of 30, Fernando Angelucci has built a portfolio of over $200,000,000 in self-storage assets across the country within the last 4 years.

About Fernando Angelucci:

Fernando diversified his investments between purchasing existing cash-flowing assets, building ground-up, class A, REIT grade facilities, and utilizing adaptive reuse conversions of big box retail stores into premium self-storage. In addition to his own acquisitions, Fernando provides other self-storage investors access to off-market facilities at drastic discounts, capital for strategic partnerships, and opportunities for passive investors to participate in self-storage syndications.

Check Fernando Angelucci on...

Website - https://ssse.com

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Thomas Aellis, is a Vice President at Romantique Double Diamond Limousines. Learning to earn money became a part of my life at a young age. Things I wanted I needed to work hard for which made me appreciate those things more in life.  Growing up in New York is about always playing the hustle and bustle of a busy life. So even at 13 I wanted to do more.

About Thomas Aellis:

Learning to earn money became a part of my life at a young age. Things I wanted I needed to work hard for which made me appreciate those things more in life.  Growing up in New York is about always playing the hustle and bustle of a busy life. So even at 13 I wanted to do more. I started working at a limousine company on the weekends cleaning cars and that 2 week fill-in position turned into 30 years later owning my own business of over 30 vehicles from buses and stretch limousines to classic and modern day Rolls Royces. 

Then 2020 hit and we experienced this thing called Covid. Well, we all already  know what New York did to its business owners during this covid period. In the blink of an eye what I have built over the last 30 years was basically turned off like a light switch. In 2012 we experienced hurricane Sandy which demolished half of our fleet at one of our locations.  Here we were able to control this situation and we navigated back to our normal self with the help of our insurance company and other networks, but this covid thing was different.  We had no control over this.  We couldn’t operate vehicles because of no indoor events.  Our business was basically built off of indoor events like weddings, proms etc.  There is no way to pivot in a business like this. Virtual Limousine Rides?   

As we now come out of the covid period I basically have told myself I will never let myself be that vulnerable again and limit myself to one sole source of income and/or focus.  So I started the journey with studying real estate. I got my sales license here in New York and did over 3 million in sales my first year. I wanted to actually be more involved in real estate though. Yea having your license is great but are you truly in real estate or are you just part of the transaction? 

I don’t want to be just part of the transaction!

So I went and became part of a mentorship program. My mentor played a big role in this part of pivoting my life. We started zoom calls every other week and it was going smooth.  I wanted to learn as much as I could.  After a few months I had my first duplex under contract and this is where my journey really began. I knew I wanted to scale my real estate business so I started to look into different programs that I could run parallel with my mentor. This is when I came across Jake and Gino.  From the start I got the warm community feeling and something that resonates a lot with me is family. They treated everyone like family. Today I am in the program a few months, I have 2 properties and I am truly focused on building my education and network to grow and be able to replace W-2 income solely with passive income.

What gives me the drive to stay on course and build my real estate portfolio is my goal to create a legacy that my daughters will be able to carry on. Being able to build something that you can teach your children and their children is something truly amazing. Having 3 daughters has put a whole different perspective in my life. I am truly blessed to have an amazing wife and 3 beautiful daughters to take on this journey with me.

Check Thomas Aellis on...

Email -  [email protected]

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Neal Bawa, is a technologist who is universally known in the real estate circles as the Mad Scientist of Multifamily. Besides being one of the most in-demand speakers in commercial real estate, Neal is a data guru, a process freak, and an outsourcing expert.

About Neal Bawa:

Neal treats his $1+ billion-dollar multifamily portfolio as an ongoing experiment in efficiency and optimization. The Mad Scientist lives by two mantras. His first mantra is that: We can only manage what we can measure. His second mantra is that: Data beats gut feel by a million miles. These mantras and a dozen other disruptive beliefs drive profit for his 800+ investors. Neal loves public speaking and is an energetic and humorous speaker. He also serves as CEO at Multifamily University, an apartment investing education company. He is a top-rated, in demand presenter at conferences and events across the country. Over 5,000 students attend his multifamily seminar series each year and hundreds attend his Apartment Magic Bootcamps. Tens of thousands listen to his podcast appearances and he has been featured in over 150 top rated podcasts and radio shows. Neal’s asset management and revenue optimization techniques for multifamily are considered unique in the industry.

Check Neal Bawa on...

Email -  [email protected]

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, David Frasz, is a Director and commercial loan originator for a top nationwide CRE lender. He is responsible for relationship management and originating commercial loans across all asset types with a specialty in direct originations of multifamily financing including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA/HUD, and bridge loans.

About David Frasz:

David is acutely focused on building strong relationships with clients and helping them achieve their investment goals with a white-glove financing experience.

With nearly a decade of experience in multifamily finance, David has built a reputation for client service and for his track record which demonstrates his ability to close even the most difficult loan transactions, even those that competitors and counterparts suggest are impossible.

David’s skills were sharpened in is early career role as an underwriter where he underwrote more than $1 billion in closed loans and oversaw the underwriting of more than $9 billion in transaction screening volume. Prior to real estate, David held various positions at State Street and J.P. Morgan after he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Managerial Economics from Union College in Schenectady, NY.

Check David Frasz on...

Email -  [email protected]

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Join Nico Salgado and his special guest, Mark Dowsett, is a full-time property manager and co-owner of Real Property Management Instant Equity in Tampa along with Instant Equity Solutions, a local syndication firm. Estate market.

About Mark Dowsett:

Mark moved to Tampa without knowing anyone and despite this, has worked diligently building the Tampa office to over 300 rental units in less than 6 years. He now focuses on multifamily investing, growing and managing new and existing client portfolios, and extending the Instant Equity sphere to additional markets.

Check Mark Dowsett on...

Website - https://instantequitysolutions.com & https://www.rpminstantequitytampa.com

Email -  [email protected] 

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

About Nico Salgado:

Nico has a BS in Business Marketing and Management and a minor in Economics. He also holds a Master's degree in Spanish Language Education and spent the past 18 years as a Spanish teacher while investing in real estate. Apart from teaching and investing in real estate, Nico is an entrepreneur, coach, mentor, and leader. He is an avid surfer, woodworker, traveler, and extremely proud father. Nico began investing in real estate in 2012 with a single-family development project and has since transitioned into multifamily. He is currently a GP in 194 units valued at over $10MM. He hosts a biweekly meet-up group titled the Multifamily Investors Network NY. Nico also hosts the Small Axe podcast where he interviews industry leaders in multifamily, and he believes “it only takes a small axe to build a lasting empire”.

Connect with Nico Salgado!

Website: www.smallaxecommunities.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicosalgado456,

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-axe-podcast/id1528971543

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosalgado456/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edqbvXc6JCXuSg2lbSJeD

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicosalgado1753

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B08K4T9YTH

Email: [email protected]