Stop Buying Rentals and Start Buying Rental Portfolios (Scale Much Faster)

If you want financial freedom faster, you need to stop buying rentals and start buying rental portfolios. Most people have never thought about it. Instead, they slowly build their rental portfolio to 10 or (at the most) 20 units. And while we love the slow-and-steady approach, Jose Martinez is doing something much more—buying 10+ unit portfolios in a single transaction. He only needed a few “deals” to reach financial freedom. No risky creative financing or buying a bunch of $50K houses in the middle of nowhere. Jose’s portfolio rakes in steady rent, and now he’s a full-time real estate investor. And he did it all in just four years—starting in 2022. Two secrets helped him do this so quickly: the right mentor and the right financing. A lucky run-in at the gym changed Jose’s entire life forever, but you don’t need luck to use his financing strategy. This often-overlooked strategy has allowed Jose to use equity from other properties to buy bigger deals, often putting down less than 5%! If Jose could do it, starting with no experience, speaking no English, and being new to the U. S., why can’t you? In This Episode We Cover How to reach financial freedom much faster by buying rental portfolios (not single rentals) The genius financing strategy Jose uses that only small, local banks offer Why you need to stop waiting and start investing (don’t get stuck!) The key to finding a mentor who will help you scale significantly faster How to use your rentals’ equity to buy more rental properties and put way less down And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1240 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Henry Washington?

  If you want financial freedom faster, you need to stop buying rentals and start buying rental portfolios. Imagine if instead of buying two rental properties, you could buy 10 at a time. How quickly could you replace your income then? Jose Martinez did it in just four years without any experience, special skills, or creative financing. Using a special type of loan that only small banks provide, Jose was able to buy 28 units in only two deals with less than 5% down. Now he's replaced his income and is full-time in real estate. He went from waiter who spoke no English to owning over 50 rental units. His source for deals? A mentor landlord who showed him the ropes and sold him the properties. Your path to scaling is probably closer than you think, and so is financial freedom.

• 0:51Henry Washington?

  What's going on, everybody? I'm Henry Washington, and today on the podcast, we have an investor story with Jose Martinez from Albany, Georgia. Jose is going to tell us how he went from waiting tables to owning more than 50 rental units in only four years. So let's bring him on. Mr. Jose Martinez, how are you, buddy?

• 1:08Speaker 01

  I'm doing good. How about you, Mr. Henry?

• 1:10Henry Washington?

  Great, man. I appreciate you being here. I just wanted to start with a little bit about your background. So tell us how you got into this real estate thing.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  So I came from the Dominican Republic. That was like probably 11 years ago. I used to play baseball, so that's how I got to the States. I came here, no English. I didn't know basically anybody. I came directly to a city where I live now. But I was always curious of learning and listening podcasts like this, like you guys put out there, which is gold for me and free on top of that. But anyway, so 2022, I bought my first Quaplex.

• 1:46Henry Washington?

  Okay.

• 1:47Speaker 01

  And from there, man, I just started going.

• 1:50Henry Washington?

  What city are you in?

• 1:51Speaker 01

  So I'm actually in Albany, Georgia right now.

• 1:54Henry Washington?

  Albany, Georgia. So you come from Dominican Republic to play baseball. You don't know English.

• 1:59Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:59Henry Washington?

  You play some baseball, you pick up the language, and then you're like, hey, this real estate thing sounds interesting and you. And you decide to start with a quadplex. So tell us about that deal. Uh, where did you, where'd you just find the quadplex to pick up?

• 2:13Speaker 01

  Man, I was watching videos from you guys. You know, that, that box start going in your head. Like if you buy this many units, you had to make sure it's, it's a real cash flow. It's not cash flow. But on my end, being a hundred percent honest, I didn't know anything I was doing when I got a quadplex.

• 2:30Henry Washington?

  Okay.

• 2:31Speaker 01

  I didn't know anything about interest rate. I didn't know anything about who was my tenants in there. I mean, I just got in it and my first experience doing an ambition was my first deal. So as soon as I got that deal, I had to do an ambition and I learned with that, that really, when you put your hands on it, it's right. Really, when you start learning, I mean, you, you'll never be ready if you wait, really.

• 2:52Henry Washington?

  Okay. So you bought this quadplex. How much did you pay for it?

• 2:55Speaker 01

  So at the time it was around $330,000. The quadplex needed some work. Bought it without even having any contractors. I didn't know anything about fixing or anything like that. That's correct.

• 3:08Henry Washington?

  Okay. And how much, how much money did you end up having to spend on fixing that thing up?

• 3:12Speaker 01

  I spent right around $20,000 fixing this quadplex, making it look better as far as appearance, getting the tenant out, getting the unit ready. It was around that, that much money I spent.

• 3:23Henry Washington?

  So you paid 330, you got about $20,000 into it. So you're all in at 350. How much were the rents?

• 3:30Speaker 01

  So at the time the rents were like 450. So I bought a value add without even knowing I had a value add. So really it's crazy because so far that's been one of my best deals.

• 3:43Henry Washington?

  Okay. What's it renting for?

• 3:44Speaker 01

  So right now it's 1195 each unit.

• 3:47Henry Washington?

  I mean, that's pretty good. You're all in for 350. You've got $4,800 a month coming in. That sounds like positive cash flow to me. And you bought that deal on the market, albeit it was back in 2022. But still, there's still great deals on the market people can find today. Tell us how you financed that deal. What kind of loan did you get?

• 4:05Speaker 01

  So I did a regular conventional loan. I put, it was like 15% down. I think I got on that, on that property. For me it was like a lot of money at the time because I was like, It really empty, you know, had to go to my bank accounting here, there, pull some money from everywhere. But I was able to buy it and it was fifteen percent now.

• 4:25Henry Washington?

  You spent about twenty grand on a renovation. Now, did you end up doing some of that work yourself or did you hire it out? How was the process of getting that renovated?

• 4:34Speaker 01

  I was there with my wife was helping me cleaning. So yeah, that was, yes. Then I got some friend of mine, I got some construction knowledge. And hey, man, I need you here. I need to, you know, help me out to do this toilet. You just gotta teach me. I want to learn how to do this. And it really was, like I said, was a bless because I was able to get help from close people to actually do some things out. That's why I end up spending less money.

• 5:01Henry Washington?

  Okay, yeah, because I was gonna say twenty grand seems like not a ton of money to renovate a four unit. But if you're doing a lot of the work yourself and you're calling in favors from friends and paying them in pizza and beer, I guess you can get it, you can get it done a little bit faster and a little bit cheaper. Okay, well, it sounds like you went through the real estate investor ringer on your first deal, found something, hustled, put in the sweat equity, put the money down. I mean, that's a solid, I mean, it sounds like a solid base hit or a double. You're making great cash flow right now. So how did you transition from that deal into your next deal?

• 5:33Speaker 01

  So from there, it took me a while because I bought real estate just for buying real estate. I was like, like I say, oh, let me see what it is like. So I wasn't even counting on the money that was coming in from the properties. So I was just collecting rents, keeping a little cash flow and just, you know, paying the loan. But then, like I say, everything happened for a reason. I remember I started going to the gym five AM. For some reason, I said, you know what? I want to go to the gym early in the morning. And I remember at the sauna, I met a guy. So this guy owns over a hundred and fifty properties and we were just talking. I was like, man, you know, that's interesting.

• 6:15Speaker 01

  And the thing is that eventually I see some properties that come on the market. This guy is selling basically his whole portfolio. And I called him and I'm like, hey, so are you selling properties right now? And he was like, yeah, yeah. Um, and I'm, I wanna buy a duplex. I told him. He said, like, no, you don't need to buy a duplex. Buy ten or fifteen houses from me. And, you know, and I'm like, there is no way I can do that, you know? So basically, he kinda walked me through. He wanted to sell. I wanted to buy. And he walked me through the process. And man, I ended up buying ten houses. That was my second deal. So I was at fourteen doors.

• 6:52Henry Washington?

  Okay, so you bought ten doors from this guy. How did the process go? How much did you end up paying for him? And like, that's a lot of money. So how did you finance ten deals?

• 7:01Speaker 01

  So basically, when I got into state that I, like I mentioned, I played baseball. I went to a school here. I left the school and then I opened a restaurant. So I started doing some restaurant business. So at the time, I had like two or three running. But I basically just started saving money. I mean, I didn't know what to do with money. So I just started saving money, saving money. I didn't buy the nice cars. I would just save money, save money, save money. Because eventually, uh, I knew something would come out where I wanted to park it. Um, the restaurant business was good, but I don't think that was gonna be where I would put my legacy, you know?

• 7:38Henry Washington?

  Okay, post-baseball, you opened a restaurant and it's doing so well that you end up opening two more?

• 7:43Speaker 01

  Yes, so I started doing a couple of more in the city. Yeah, that's correct. I used to be a waiter. So I worked as a waiter in a Mexican restaurant for a while.

• 7:51Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  So I learned the business in there. Then I opened, like I said, the first restaurant bar, kinda sports bar type of places. And I had three at the time. And, and yeah, I just tried to save money and, and do real estate.

• 8:06Henry Washington?

  Man, well, that's impressive in itself, because the restaurant business is a hard business to get into. You, you, you got into the restaurant business and, and found success, which is tough to do. So you, you pivot this into real estate. So what did the, what did the finance structure look like? Did you buy them all individually? Or was it like, did you buy it with one loan as a package?

• 8:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was one loan. It was a package deal. The way how things went there, this guy, which I call it, he's like my mentor in real estate. He introduced me to the bank. He was like, hey, you'll need to meet this guy. He got something. You'll need to talk with him. So I had a meeting, you know, I didn't know banks were like that where you you can sit on a table, talk with the president. Okay, tell me what you do here. So it feel like an interview to a point.

• 8:51Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 8:52Speaker 01

  I was feeling like, oh, my God, I'm not getting a job or getting a loan. They asked me a lot of questions and um I figured that all they wanted to know was that I was serious about this and that I knew what I was doing at the time.

• 9:04Henry Washington?

  Okay, so what was the purchase price for the ten properties?

• 9:07Speaker 01

  One point four million, something like that.

• 9:10Henry Washington?

  Okay, one point four million. You got a loan from the bank. How much down did they require?

• 9:14Speaker 01

  I put twenty percent down.

• 9:16Henry Washington?

  Now, that's a big chunk of change and you had all that saved up from the restaurant business.

• 9:20Speaker 01

  And every time I put a percent down, like it's like on zero, I went back to zero. It'd be like, oh, my God, it's back to zero, back to zero.

• 9:27Henry Washington?

  Okay, and did these properties need any work?

• 9:30Speaker 01

  No, they were all occupied. They didn't have any property management company. It was the landlord running it himself, like all these properties. So he took great care of it. And um yeah, man, I mean, they were all rent. They were all bringing rent uh in and I just needed to kind of raise rents uh to to match the return that I was looking for.

• 9:49Henry Washington?

  And at this point, you had four units, but now all of a sudden you're sitting at fourteen units. Are these properties, were you managing them yourself? Did you have property management?

• 9:58Speaker 01

  So I was managing then we along with my wife. So, yeah, we were back and forth. Uh hey, what what this money that you spend like, what are you crazy? You spend? Yes, we went through all that. And because uh in the beginning, I wanted each property to look like my house. Like, I was like, all right, we gotta get in, we gotta bring everybody. So then I started learning, you know, I had to get this property. That doesn't mean that they had to be on bad shape, but you know, there is rental materials that you buy based on, okay, which toilet should I get? Which light feature should I get? So um yeah, I was spending a lot of money. I wasn't making no cash flow at all in the beginning.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  But then I learned, okay, this is what I need to do. Uh like I said, I was handling then um myself along with my wife. And we end up learning about this rental software to actually uh manage there now.

• 10:55Speaker 01

  And yeah, I mean, makes my life easier to being able to collect rents through there.

• 11:00Henry Washington?

  Are you self-managing still to this day?

• 11:02Speaker 01

  So I have some help now, but yeah, I'm on day-to-day basis. You know, I'm still around. Yeah.

• 11:08Henry Washington?

  All right. I've got a couple more questions for Jose about the mentor relationship that brought him 10 doors. We'll get to that right after the break. As a real estate investor, the last thing I want to do or have time for is to play accountant, banker and debt collector. But that's what I was doing every weekend, flipping between a bunch of apps, bank statements and receipts, trying to sort it all out by property and figure out who's late on rent. Then I found Baseline and it takes all that off my plate. It's BiggerPockets' official banking platform that automatically sorts my transactions. It matches receipts and collects rent for every property. My tax prep's done and my weekends are mine again. Plus, I'm saving a ton of money on banking fees and apps I don't need anymore. Get a hundred dollar bonus when you sign up today at baseline.com/bp.

• 11:54Dave Meyer?

  Summer bookings sound great until someone slips by the pool, gets hurt on your dock or damages your property during a long holiday weekend. A lot of short-term rental investors don't realize their standard policy may leave gaps when it comes to short-term rental activity. That's why investors use Steadily. They offer landlord insurance built for real estate investors, including short-term rentals. And if you're a BiggerPockets Pro member, you'll also get 5% off your landlord insurance premiums. Visit biggerpockets.com/landlordinsurance to learn more.

• 12:26Henry Washington?

  Here's a strategy that most W2 employees have never heard of. Normally, if you want to write off a rental property against your regular income, you need real estate professional status. That means tracking hundreds of hours a year. Rent to Retirement just launched a program that skips all of that. It's called the STR loophole tenant placement program. Here's how it works. You buy one of Rent to Retirement's Class A new construction investment properties. You set up an Airbnb listing and self-manage it for the remainder of the year. Rent to Retirement then rents the home as a short-term rental to establish it as an STR for the year. No furnishing required, making this the easy button to Save five or six figures in taxes this year.

• 13:08Henry Washington?

  And because you're the sole manager, there's no hourly minimum to meet. That lets you use a cost segregation study to accelerate the depreciation and potentially write off over $100,000 against your income, even on your first rental. Add in cash back up to 13% of the home price, which exceeds $60,000 on some properties. With this massive cash back incentives, investors are seeing total returns up to 126%. New construction, A-class properties, and inventory is limited. Learn more at biggerpockets.com/retirement or text REI to 33777. Again, text REI to 33777.

• 13:50Dave Meyer?

  I just booked a backpacking trip through Olympic National Park. Two nights out on the trail, no cell service, nothing to do but eat trail mix and stare at mountains I'll never get tired of. That's the whole appeal. But while I'm off-grid, my place doesn't need to sit empty. I can list my space on Airbnb and make a little extra income while I'm away. And with Airbnb's co-host network, I could partner with a vetted local co-host to help take care of the details, from guest communications to onsite support, so I can fully unplug and enjoy my time out in the backcountry. If you've got upcoming travel plans, you can find a co-host at Airbnb.com/host.

• 14:32Speaker 03

  This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18 plus.

• 15:01Henry Washington?

  All right, we're back with Jose Martinez on the BiggerPockets Podcast. Jose, so you have a mentor, he sells you 10 properties. What was next? Did you continue to buy more properties? Or did you continue to foster this mentor relationship? Or was it kind of a one deal and done thing?

• 15:17Speaker 01

  No, so we kept talking on my end. I was the lucky guy that he wanted to sell his properties to and help me through the process, you know? So yeah, basically just got a lot of questions every day, even today's day are calling for a lot. So after that deal, I bought 18 more properties.

• 15:38Henry Washington?

  18?

• 15:39Speaker 01

  That's correct.

• 15:39Henry Washington?

  From the same guy?

• 15:41Speaker 01

  Correct, yes.

• 15:42Henry Washington?

  He sold you 10 properties. You're happy with those properties, but it wasn't like he sold you 10 properties and fell off the face of the earth. You continue to foster a mentor mentee relationship. So you, you, you could call this guy for anything you needed help with. And he was, he was explaining to you and teaching you how to manage the properties and run a real estate business, it sounds like.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  Absolutely, absolutely. The biggest thing I learned while I was doing that with him is to run this as a business, you know? It's not just buying all one property, you get rents here or there. So understanding that this is a business, just like a restaurant, sports bar business type. So understanding that, he helped me put that mentality on me. And then we put a deal package together again and I purchased 18 more properties.

• 16:29Henry Washington?

  Okay, before we jump into the 18 more properties, I do want to touch on that because it does sound like, you know, to the average person listening, that maybe this guy just wanted to offload a bunch of properties to somebody who was new. But I want people to understand like true mentorship relationships are the best when there is mutual benefit. I think a lot of new people want to find a mentor. But they don't think they have anything of value to add, or they just expect someone to pour into them and they don't have to give anything in return. And those aren't true relationships. Now, occasionally you'll find somebody who wants to give, give, give to you and you can just take, take, take.

• 17:14Henry Washington?

  But a real relationship is give and take both ways. And so it sounds to me like in this relationship, yes, there was value for him because he sold you properties. Right?

• 17:26Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 17:26Henry Washington?

  But there was a lot of value for you, not just because you were able to build your portfolio, but now you had a mentor you could call on for any questions you had.

• 17:36Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 17:37Henry Washington?

  That's a true relationship. And I'm not saying you gotta go buy properties from someone for them to mentor you, but I do want people to think about what value can I bring to somebody? Maybe I can go do work for them. Maybe you can babysit their kids. Like, there's a million things that you can do. It doesn't have to be real estate related, but try to lead with value. That's super cool, man. So how much time passed between when you bought the 10 units and when you were buying the 18?

• 17:58Speaker 01

  It went like a year or so after. So basically it took me a while because, you know, that was a big thing to.

• 18:07Henry Washington?

  It's a big chunk of change.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  Yes. And, uh, but remember, and this is when it comes to mentor part. This guy sat down with me and say, look, when you bought these 10 properties from me, this is how much equity you got here. And I was like, what? Is that all the money I have? Yes. So that means that now I understood what type of deal I got. Because it wasn't that he gave them away for me, but he could have charged me way more. And I realized that whenever I went in, we did some appraisals on these properties. So I was like, oh my goodness. Okay, so now I was able to buy my 18 houses a year after using my 10 houses.

• 18:51Henry Washington?

  Okay.

• 18:52Speaker 01

  That I purchased from him before. So I use cross collateralization.

• 18:56Henry Washington?

  So to summarize, you bought the 10 units, but the guy didn't try to take advantage of you. He bought, he sold you the units at a, at a fair price that allowed you to walk into some equity on these properties. So when the opportunity arose to buy the package of 17 houses, you use what's called cross collateralization. So for those of you who are listening, cross collateralization is where you pledge equity. From existing properties and you use that equity as your down payment essentially for the other properties. So because the seventeen properties had equity in them, the bank basically gave you a loan and you pledged some of that equity. In other words, they put a second mortgage on some of those other properties to allow you to have access to the funds that you would

• 19:41Henry Washington?

  need as the down payment. So were you able to get into the seventeen units without having to touch any of your own personal cash?

• 19:48Speaker 01

  I had to put really little amount. It was around forty thousand dollars, something like that I had to put. Again, like we go back to budgeting it right. We're talking about a year after. It wasn't even like two, three, four, five years. A year after, we redo appraisals and this come to, you know, to have no equity to buy this eighteen more properties. And at the time, I didn't even know that I could do that.

• 20:13Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 20:14Speaker 01

  That I could actually, you know, use those properties to buy other properties. So this guy sat me down and was like, hey, look, this how much money you have? Keep growing and buy more properties, even if it's not from me. That's what you say. Just you gotta keep growing and growing. And that's how I did it.

• 20:30Henry Washington?

  Yeah. Cross collateralization is one of the, one of the cool tools that small local banks have at their disposal. Now, not every local community bank will utilize cross collateralization. You have to call community banks and talk to them and ask them, are you willing to cross collateralize or are you willing to let me pledge equity in an existing property? So this only works if you own real estate that only has a first mortgage on it. So if you've got real estate with equity, either it's paid off or you have only one mortgage on it. If you're interested in this, you can call local community banks. You want banks that have

• 21:11Henry Washington?

  under four billion in assets. Those banks can be a lot more nimble than some of these big banks. But the key to this strategy is exactly what Jose said, is you have to buy a good deal because you're using leverage, you're using borrowed money.

• 21:28Henry Washington?

  As a down payment. So if you use borrowed money and buy a bad deal, well, now you've got a first and a second mortgage that you can't pay back and it can put you in financial strain very quickly. So you only want to do this when you know you are buying phenomenal deals that also have a ton of equity in them.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  That's correct. That's correct. And also, uh, what you mentioned regarding the banks, I went to a lot of banks and they told me no. To for a lot of banks told me they couldn't do it. It was too much risk. But going to the right community bank will will help you your investor life a lot. Every bank is a different business. Every bank has different regulations. So, um, just get to know, uh, you community banks and that can change your life for good.

• 22:13Henry Washington?

  Yeah, man. That's that's a phenomenal point. You're absolutely right. Sometimes you'll talk to banks and it can be very discouraging when they tell you no. Um, sometimes it has to do with you. Maybe they don't like you, your credit score or your, your, your, your current portfolio. Sometimes that's nothing to do with you, uh, but it still sucks to hear no. But some keys to being able to find a bank that does do what you want to do is first and foremost, ask the bank what kind of assets they like to lend on. Some local community banks love lending on large multifamily. Some love lending on smaller, single family. It's really going to depend on the bank and where their focus is at the time.

• 22:52Henry Washington?

  If you have a good deal in the asset class that they like to lend to, it's a lot more likely that they'll want to work with you. B, warm introductions are always better than cold introductions, right? So Jose had a warm introduction. He had somebody who had a relationship at that bank introduce him to the lender. That's always going to help you in terms of favorability than just reaching out cold. A great tip, if you want a warm introduction to banks, is to go to your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary Club meetings. Uh, you can go to Rotary Clubs, I think, as a guest, if you get someone there to to bring you with them. It's a member or you can go to the Chamber of Commerce meetings. I think you can go as a guest off the street if you want to.

• 23:35Henry Washington?

  But typically, bank, community bank presidents and commercial lenders are members of local chambers of commerce. And so if you join the local Chamber of Commerce, just being a part of that Chamber of Commerce is your warm introduction. So those are, those are some tips to help you start to find those relationships if you don't have that mentor who can introduce you. All right, we've got to take another short break. We'll be right back talking with Jose Martinez about how he was able to purchase another 18 units right after the break.

• 24:08Dave Meyer?

  For my wife's birthday, I wanted to make her a new website for her landscape design business. So I researched a lot of different options. I tried out a couple, but honestly, it was really overwhelming. It was pretty time consuming and still the site wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. Then I tried Hostinger and everything was super simple. I asked Hostinger's AI to build a clean site for her business and it had a working version up in minutes, no coding or designer needed. Plus, its AI agent helps with SEO, website copy and email marketing after launch. You get domain, website, email, all in one account. And right now you can get Black Friday and Cyber Monday pricing through December 14th.

• 24:53Dave Meyer?

  So snag Hostinger's services at their lowest prices before the sale ends. Create your website today for just $1.99. Go to hostinger.com/realestate and use code REALESTATE for an additional 10% off Black Friday and Cyber Monday pricing. I just booked a ski trip to Park City and I've already got the whole thing planned out. Five days, first tracks every morning before the crowds show up. My knees reminding me I'm not 25 anymore by the second run. And an embarrassing number of overpriced burritos at the lodge. I don't even care. This is the trip I look forward to all year. But here's the part I actually appreciate. The practical side of my brain kicking in is that my place doesn't have to just sit

• 25:37Dave Meyer?

  there empty the whole time I'm away. I can list my space on Airbnb and bring in a little extra income while I'm out getting humbled on a mountain. And with the co-host network, I'm not the one handling all of it. You can partner with a vetted local co-host who can create your listing, manage reservations, message guests and even handle the styling. So I get to fully focus on my trip and my place is still working for me the whole time. Find a co-host at airbnb.com/host.

• 26:08Speaker 03

  This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18 plus.

• 26:34Speaker 04

  Born from the intensity of a night in the eternal city. Introducing Born in Roma Fragrances by Valentino. Feminine perfume Donna Born in Roma features juicy black currant, central jasmine, soft cashmerin, and warm vanilla. Masculine leaning but unisex Womo has notes of fresh violet leaf, aromatic sage, green vetiver, and mineral salt. Shop holiday gifts at Macy's.com.

• 27:05Speaker 05

  Stay cozy and look cool with up to 60% off cold weather gear at Nordstrom Rack. Save on cashmere, outerwear, boots, and more from brands like Ugg, Vince, Kohan, and Hunter. Join the Nordy Club for free to unlock exclusive discounts, shop clearance and new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite Rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you Rack.

• 27:35Henry Washington?

  All right, we're back with Jose Martinez, man. Jose, what a great story of growing your business and your portfolio to go from a quadplex to then adding 10 units and then adding another 18 units and leveraging community banks and leveraging cross collateralization to help you get creative about the financing so that you were able to acquire these properties. Where has that led you? Where is your portfolio sitting right now? About how many units?

• 28:01Speaker 01

  So right now I have 51 units.

• 28:03Henry Washington?

  51 units, that's incredible. So you started in 2022, four years ago, and now you're sitting at 51 units. But you did transition away from a successful restaurant business into this real estate business. So now that you own 51 units, are you glad that you moved away? Has it been beneficial? Is the money similar?

• 28:24Speaker 01

  Well, 100%, I can tell you, like, I leave strictly from real estate and my wife is happier because I don't have to be.

• 28:33Henry Washington?

  That's a win in itself.

• 28:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, so yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, it's been a bless. Um, I have been able to be home and see my, my girls growing. I got two girls.

• 28:44Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 28:44Speaker 01

  And uh, that's for me is, you know, is the win right there. Being able to uh, stay here with the family. Um, and you know, being able to see them every day is and support my lifestyle, of course.

• 28:56Henry Washington?

  Man, congratulations. Restaurant industry, now full-time real estate investor. And I like that you talked about how it's afforded you the ability to spend more time with your wife and with your children. Uh, maybe you could talk to us a little bit about what other benefits or what else is uh, real estate allows you to be able to do for your community?

• 29:16Speaker 01

  Man, it's a lot of deals out there still and I'm doing my best to try to pull my knowledge into, you know, my community, uh, which is the Spanish community that we really don't understand uh, how many opportunities are in the States right now. Um, I tell everybody, this is the best country of the world because there is a lot of opportunities out there. So I'm, I've been blessed and known to, you know, learn from things like you guys do, but now I'm pouring that into them, translating that into them. And I have some uh, people on that have bought like duplexes, quadplexes.

• 29:54Speaker 01

  So just for me, that that's a win too. I mean, being able to pour that into, into the people that I know and see them growing as well.

• 30:02Henry Washington?

  Yeah. Here's what I love about this, man. It's, it's kind of a full circle thing and, and, and you are doing this the right way. So I often tell people, when you're looking for a mentor, one of the best ways to attract a mentor is to, is to try to find a way to be a mentor. I think a lot of people want a mentor and then maybe they find one and they get help, but I think our responsibility. After you gain the information, you act on it and it starts to be beneficial for you. It's to you to be willing to do that for somebody else, right? That's what creates the best kind of symbiotic relationship in the investor community. And the investor community is just amazing already.

• 30:47Henry Washington?

  Like, and we've talked about this a million times on the show, but like, real estate investing is one of the weirdest industries in terms of like, people will just help you, they'll just give you information. People don't really hoard information, they're not scared to create, you know, competition amongst themselves, people will share information. And if we want real estate investor communities to continue to operate like that, we have to be willing to give once we get from somebody else. So I love that you're taking what you've learned. And now you're helping people who probably just don't have access to the information or don't understand that this is something that they can do. And now you're being a beacon for them to invest in, in being a blessing to your community, man.

• 31:30Henry Washington?

  So, so that's amazing, man. Thank you very much.

• 31:33Speaker 01

  I think also to add there, Henry, is also being hungry enough to actually go after, after the knowledge that you are missing, like, understanding that, okay, if Jose, Henry did it, like, what, what's the line that I need to follow, you know? You don't need to go exactly like you did or I did it, but it's a lot of options out there. You guys put the best content every single week. I mean, you, you go through that and that alone, that can definitely change your life for good. For me, without any doubt, man, I mean, BiggerPaket helped me a lot. I mean, this is more than half of my knowledge come from here on four years.

• 32:17Speaker 01

  And my other knowledge comes from my mentor, of course. But when I go and sit down and ask questions, it's because you guys talk about, okay, community lending, how do you handle a situation? So I go, hey, so I read about this, how does this work? You know, and you mentor will also see you doing your own researches and being hungry about it. So for me, this podcast has changed a lot of life and I'm one of those too.

• 32:42Henry Washington?

  Oh, man, that's, that's great to hear, man. It's always, it's always awesome to kind of see the impacts or the positive impacts you're having on people. So we, A, we appreciate the kind words, but we also appreciate the value that you're bringing. To your community. And before we get out of here, I was like, is there any plans for the future? What's next, man?

• 33:00Speaker 01

  So I'm doing, uh, flippings as well on the side. So I got that like a separate business from what I'm doing. So I kinda, I'm, I'm, I'm want to learn more about developing to. So I'm really just, I'm in love with real estate.

• 33:16Speaker 01

  I mean, I, I started with one and I just kept going, kept going. And now, I mean, I really enjoy to, you know, fix a house, rent it or sell it. So I really, I'm, I'm, I love it. I mean, this is, this is life for me.

• 33:29Henry Washington?

  I love it too, man. You got the bug. I do the same thing. I'm doing my first new development this year. So.

• 33:33Speaker 01

  Wow. Nice.

• 33:35Henry Washington?

  Well, thank you so much, Jose, for joining us and sharing your inspiring story. Thank you so much to you, the listeners for tuning in. We hope you got some great value for this episode and we'll see you on the next show of the BiggerPockets Podcast. And if you found this story with Jose inspiring, go ahead and check out another episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast, episode 1231. That's my interview with investor Neil Whitney from just a few weeks ago. That's episode 1231.

• 34:01Speaker 06

  When you shop Kroger delivery, you can expect the savings you love and fresh groceries delivered right to your door. From delicious produce to everyday essentials, enjoy the convenience of delivery and the trusted selection you've come to know from Kroger. Because bringing you fresh, quality groceries is what we do best. Right now, enjoy free delivery on orders of $50 or more with your digital coupon. Restrictions apply. See site for details. Kroger, fresh for everyone.

• 34:31Speaker 07

  When you spend enough time around great companies, you notice that the best ones treat trust as a growth strategy, not a box to check. Vanta helps companies build and prove trust from day one. Its Agentic Trust Platform connects compliance, risk, and trust at enterprise scale. Vanta delivers a 526% return on investment over three years and pays for itself in just three months. Learn why over 16,000 of the fastest growing companies use Vanta at vanta.com.