How to Build Your Own Real Estate Investing Team (From Scratch)

Real estate investing is a team sport. You can buy great rental properties in great neighborhoods and still fail—all because you don’t have the right people around you. Today, we’re showing you exactly how to build your real estate investing team from scratch. This is important for any investor, whether you’re buying in your own backyard or out-of-state, but it’s even more crucial when building a rental portfolio from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Every successful real estate business has at least four key players: an investor-friendly agent, a lender, a good contractor, and a property manager. And the truth is some of these people are much harder to find (and keep) than others. We’ll walk you through each role, their key responsibilities, and the exact steps for finding and vetting them. But there’s also a “secret” fifth member every investor should have in their corner. They’ll not only help you avoid silly mistakes but also make finding real estate deals, scaling your real estate portfolio, and achieving your investing goals that much easier! In This Episode We Cover The “core four” people every real estate investor needs on their team The secret (but crucial) fifth player you should have in your corner Three ways to find an investor-friendly agent in your market What to prioritize when vetting potential team members How to find great contractors (and keep them on board!) Why a high-quality property management company is so difficult to find And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠⁠t⁠t⁠ps://www⁠.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1313. 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?

  This is how to build your real estate investment team from scratch. You can buy the perfect rental property in the perfect area of town and still fail. Not because the numbers were off or the market changed, but simply because you didn't have the right people in your corner. Real estate investing is a team sport. You cannot do everything yourself and you probably don't want to either. Whether you're investing in your own backyard or thousands of miles away to stay in this game, you need people that you can actually trust. So today we're giving you a step-by-step blueprint for building your own real estate investment team from scratch. There are four core players every investor needs, plus an often overlooked fifth member that could give you the biggest benefit of all.

• 0:45Henry Washington?

  We've heard countless stories of investors getting burned by bad contractors or ripped off by property managers. But stick around and we'll show you exactly how to find the right people for the job, keep them and leverage their expertise to fast track to financial freedom.

• 1:04Henry Washington?

  What's going on everybody? I am Henry Washington and I'm here with my co-host Dave Meyer. Today we are talking about how to build the team that will help you be a successful real estate investor. We're going to go through the core four members of your team, the agent, the lender, the property manager, and the contractor, plus a bonus plus one. And we're going to talk about where you can find these people, how to evaluate these people, and how important we believe they truly are to your team. So, starting off with the agent. Now, we labeled it as agent, but what we really mean is investor-friendly real estate agent, because all of the things I'm relying on them to do require them to have an understanding

• 1:46Henry Washington?

  of how real estate investing works, not just buying and selling real estate in general. So you have some pretty good tips, in my opinion, on like how you determine if a real estate agent is a good investor-friendly real estate agent? You care to share?

• 2:04Dave Meyer?

  Yeah, I got all sorts of stuff that I've done in the past, but I think the frame of reference you should use when evaluating an agent is kind of simple. Do they know more than me about this market? Like, can they teach me something about real estate investing in this area that I don't know? And Henry and I have been investors for a long time. We have our own expertise, but I'm not an agent. I don't know what's selling at what price bands, how much people are selling, what the right bid strategy in certain neighborhoods are, what finishes or features that you should have to command the best resale price or the best rent. And so when I go to a market that I'm considering investing in,

• 2:48Dave Meyer?

  I try and ask like really open-ended questions at the beginning. Like I tell them a little bit about myself, say, I'm Dave, I do passive investing. I like these kinds of investments. Here's my budget. Here's the stuff I'm thinking about. Here are my priorities. What would you do if you were me? And I'd say 80% of them can't answer that question. Any good, experienced, investor-friendly agent will be like, okay, Dave, you're kind of similar to these three other clients I've worked with. They're succeeding in these neighborhoods with this asset class at this price point. And I think you could fit in there. Like that to me already gets me warm to those kinds of people. And I think that is like probably the most helpful screener question.

• 3:31Dave Meyer?

  After that, I ask like a lot of more logistical questions, but I'm really just trying to feel out like, can I be a better investor because they're on my team or not?

• 3:39Henry Washington?

  I'm just looking for like, do you have an understanding of A, what kind of exit strategy it is I'm talking about? And where within your market do you think that this would potentially work? Or if I tell you something about my buy box or about what I'm looking to do, like, I also want to hear, have you thought about maybe going over here after I've heard what you're thinking about, heard how you're wanting to make money? Because now you're putting your, your market expertise and you're marrying that with my buy box and my strategy and saying, hey, you might consider these areas of town as well.

• 4:13Dave Meyer?

  Once you do that though, and kind of assess their ability to get your mindset, there are some specific things that you should probably look for. Deal flow is high up there because anyone can look at the MLS, but a good investor-friendly agents will have either their own off-market deals and pocket listings, or will know someone who does direct-to-seller marketing and can arrange meetings, has networks with wholesalers. Like that kind of deal flow, super, super valuable because investing is competitive. And especially if you're investing out of state, like coming in as a new person and be like, I'm going to find great deals on the MLS from 10,000 miles away.

• 4:58Dave Meyer?

  Probably not, but your agent can. That's super important.

• 5:01Henry Washington?

  I also like putting this person first because if you find a good investor-friendly agent, they're typically going to have a solid network and they're a great place for you to build out the remainder of your team.

• 5:12Dave Meyer?

  Yeah.

• 5:12Henry Washington?

  Cause they should have lenders that are great on speed dial. They should know who the good property managers are in the market. They should have contractor relationships or know other investors with contractor relationships. So it's a great place to get started building your team.

• 5:25Dave Meyer?

  One last thing, because this one grinds my gears when agents can't do it. It's like, you got to understand what rent comps are too. Like that one is like, sometimes like, what's rent? And they're like, oh, let me ask someone. Come on, you got to at least have an idea. Give me a ballpark.

• 5:43Henry Washington?

  They have access to the data. I mean, they have access, just like they have access to run sales comps. So a good resource, not a lot of people are using. But in the same vein as access to data, I like that my agent helps me keep a pulse on what's really happening. So being able to understand that, yes, we have 3,000 homes listed for sale right now, but for our area, we need somewhere close to somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 homes on the market to satisfy the demand. Meaning we're still at a place where if it's listed and it looks good and it's priced right, it's probably going to sell.

• 6:23Henry Washington?

  The other metrics I like that my agent helps me with is number of showings it takes to typically get an offer.

• 6:31Dave Meyer?

  I love that metric. You taught me that metric. It's such a good one.

• 6:34Henry Washington?

  Yes, it gives me a little more peace of mind than just average days on market. I feel like I have more control over that metric. If I know on average nine showings equals an offer, now I'm thinking, well, what can I do with my listing that will increase the amount of showings that I can get? Cause the more showings that I can get gets me more offers, right? It's just a math problem.

• 6:55Dave Meyer?

  Like, do you just track that yourself or your agent does?

• 6:58Henry Washington?

  Yeah, my agent tracks it, yeah.

• 7:00Dave Meyer?

  That's awesome. What about other things? Are there any like red flags with agents that you have?

• 7:06Henry Washington?

  Yes, uh, I'm a big communication person. So I need an agent who's willing to communicate with me in the way I need to be communicated with. So I like to dictate that on the front side. If you don't answer the phone or don't call me back within a reasonable timeframe, it's, it's not going to work for me. The amount of business that I am potentially sending to this agent is a big deal.

• 7:30Dave Meyer?

  You just eliminated 98% of agents from possible teammate status.

• 7:36Henry Washington?

  So I just dictate that on the front side. Like if I'm going to work with somebody, like I say, hey, this is how I need communication. If you can't communicate like this, I totally get it. You run your business the way you feel like you need to run it, which just probably aren't a good fit. So like upfront communication style conversations are hugely important to me. What about you?

• 7:54Dave Meyer?

  I got some red flags.

• 7:56Henry Washington?

  I bet you do.

• 7:57Dave Meyer?

  One is the overly optimistic appreciation number. That to me signals you probably work more with primary residence buyers, which is totally fine. But like the, hey, just buy this and you'll build equity over time and it'll appreciate and it's a great investment. Like, that's not good enough. And then the second one, maybe it's more of a green flag if they do it right. But it kind of bothers me when a agent sends me a deal and hasn't done any analysis themselves. Right? It's like, oh, here's a property. I'm like, well, fuck, I could have looked that up too.

• 8:38Henry Washington?

  Why?

• 8:39Dave Meyer?

  Yeah, like what do you like about it? Like sell it to me a little bit, not in an overly optimistic way, but why should I spend my time looking into this deal? What about it is good? What caught your eye as the agent that separates this from something else? So if you can't do that, I guess that's a red flag also.

• 8:58Henry Washington?

  You want an agent who's put some thought into what it is that they think you need. And so they're trying to deliver what they think you need, not just, hey, let me send you this. And if you're interested, I'll make a check.

• 9:10Dave Meyer?

  Yep, there's an agent I've been talking to in Chicago does a great job of this. Every week she sends out a list. She looks at every on-market deal that comes on, every new listing, and evaluates them all for cash flow and opportunity and value add, and sends out a list of all the good ones that week. I'm like, that's a great agent. That's a great investor-friendly agent. I will double check all those numbers. I will check the neighborhoods, but like you have spent time thinking like an investor on every property that came out this week, and now you're making it easy for every one of your clients. That's a good agent.

• 9:43Henry Washington?

  All right, so before we move on to our next team member, Dave, where do you think a good place to find investor-friendly agents is?

• 9:53Dave Meyer?

  I got two. First, biggerpockets.com slash agent. We can connect you with an agent for free. Really great investor-friendly agents there. Second one, I don't know if I've even told you about this yet, but at BPCon, we're doing a team-building networking event this year. It's gonna be really fun. We're gonna do like a regional thing where we're gonna get like property managers, lenders, agents, and investors all in one room. And then we're gonna break it up by different individual areas.

• 10:21Henry Washington?

  So you're gonna like build teams in the room?

• 10:23Dave Meyer?

  Yes, building teams in the room. It's gonna be super fun at BPCon this year. So if you want to come to BPCon, tickets are still available. Go to biggerpockets.com/conference and check those out, or biggerpockets.com/agent. But these are free.

• 10:36Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 10:37Dave Meyer?

  Ways to build your team, to interact, to meet a couple. That, we should have mentioned that too. Talk to a couple, no matter what, even if you love the first one. Go talk to three or four, get a sense of different people's personalities and flavors. So those are great ways.

• 10:49Henry Washington?

  Biggerpockets.com/agent for the agent finder? Awesome. How do I know it's awesome? Cause I actually used it when we did the first Cash Flow Roadshow to find an investor-friendly agent in the markets we were going to to help show us properties. It worked like a charm. I had investor-friendly agents calling me immediately. Second place, title companies, underused resource. Call a title company. Title companies close real estate transactions all day. They know exactly who the investor-friendly agents are, because they see them at the closing table, selling deals, or helping investors buy deals. Ask them if they have any investor-friendly agent recommendations. I guarantee you they do. Good job. 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.

• 11:34Henry Washington?

  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. 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

• 12:15Henry Washington?

  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.

• 12:47Dave Meyer?

  Most investors only think about insurance when something goes wrong. A tenant injury, storm damage, loss of rent. Then suddenly, the cheapest policy doesn't feel like the best one anymore. That's why a lot of BiggerPockets investors use steadily for landlord insurance designed specifically for rental properties. Whether you own one property or a growing portfolio, they make it simple to get covered properly. And BiggerPockets Pro members get an extra 5% off their landlord insurance premiums. Visit biggerpockets.com/landlordinsurance to get a quote today.

• 13:21Henry Washington?

  Quick word about a new pro perk you'll want to know about. Aven. If you're a homeowner, there's a good chance you're sitting on equity that you're not using. The problem is tapping into that usually means a cash-out refi, a traditional second mortgage, or weeks of paperwork just to get approved. Aven built something different. It's a credit card, but it's backed by your home equity. So you get a lot of the rate benefits of a HELOC with the flexibility of a card you can use anywhere. Rates are typically well below a standard credit card. Approval is fast and mostly online, and you can use it for anything. A renovation, paying down high-interest debt, or just have more breathing room in your budget. And if you're a BiggerPockets Pro member, there's an extra reason to check it out. Get approved for the Aven card and you'll get a $400 statement credit after spending

• 14:05Henry Washington?

  $400 on your Aven card. Enough to cover your entire annual Pro membership. Head over to aven.com/biggerpockets to see if you qualify. Aven Financial, NMLS #2042345. Cards issued pursuant to license from Visa USA, Inc. by Coastal Community Bank. NMLS #462289. Member FDIC. Equal housing lender. Subject to approval. Terms apply. Visit aven.com for details.

• 14:26Speaker 02

  The action's on the court. And as the official beer sponsor of the NBA, Michelob Ultra is getting fans closer to the game with a chance to win courtside seats, merch, and more. Visit michelobultra.com/courtside to enter. Michelob Ultra Courtside, 26 to 27. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21+. Begins on October 1st, 2026 and ends on June 30th, 2027. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details.

• 14:57Henry Washington?

  All right, moving on to the next team member we're gonna cover, which is the lender. This is the money. I think most people think this is the most important team member, but that's just probably because they don't know where they're gonna find the money to buy these deals. I think the lender is the least important team member. There's literally lenders everywhere. Open your door.

• 15:15Dave Meyer?

  Sorry lenders.

• 15:16Henry Washington?

  Open your door, walk outside, you'll find a bank. They probably want to lend you money, as long as your deal's decent. But it is important, because you need the money. And there are so many different types of loans.

• 15:27Dave Meyer?

  Yep.

• 15:27Henry Washington?

  And I think where investors screw up is they don't understand the different nuances of what different loan products provide and how to marry the loan product to the deal that they're buying is where people struggle.

• 15:43Dave Meyer?

  We talk about quote-unquote lenders, and sometimes you are actually interfacing with the person whose money it is. A lot of times as an investor, you're actually talking to a broker who is just arranging the loan for you. The money is coming from somewhere else. So it's a lot more about the personal relationship and their ability to walk you through products, because they're not really the lender at the end of the day. They're kind of a concierge, helping you find the right product. And so if they're not good at that, they're not worth anything. So like, that's where I really concentrate my time.

• 16:16Henry Washington?

  The things that you need to think about when you're looking for a lender to help you to be on your team is understand your financial situation. How much cash do you have available to put towards buying a property? Different loans have different down payment requirements, they have different fees, they have different interest rates. So you need to understand like, what's your cash position? And how much of that cash are you gonna allocate towards putting down onto a property? That's gonna differentiate which type of loan you might use. And then just understand the different parts of the underwriting that a lender does. So the more you understand about the different parts of underwriting, the more educated conversations

• 17:01Henry Washington?

  you can have, and the more you can, the more you can start to understand like the language of the lender and what they're saying. So go and learn what amortization means and what the different amortization periods are. 30 years, 25 years, 20 years are very typical. Go and study interest rates. Know what they are and what loans tend to have what interest rates.

• 17:24Dave Meyer?

  It is not the lender's job to explain that to you. They, they probably will try, but like, as an investor, it is your job to know how loans work.

• 17:33Henry Washington?

  Yes.

• 17:34Dave Meyer?

  And number two, and I might piss some people off here, it is also not the lender's job to make sure you are lendable. That is your job. So like, the other thing about lenders is like, every conversation with lenders is gonna go great if you have money and good credit, like, and good deals. Like, it's gonna be easy.

• 17:53Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 17:53Dave Meyer?

  That's the thing, honestly, to focus on, because then finding a lender, once you got that, is no problem.

• 17:58Henry Washington?

  Absolutely. Every lender will want to lend to you if you've got some money in the bank, you've got good credit, and you're buying a phenomenal real estate deal. That is the best way to find money for your deals, for sure.

• 18:08Dave Meyer?

  And that is in your control. Like, I'm not saying everyone has a ton of capital, but I'm saying like, going for a loan that you have money for. So that doesn't mean you have to have a million dollars in the bank. But if you're gonna go for a house hack, do you have 10% so you can cover closing costs and everything? If so, that conversation's gonna be easy. Like, that's not gonna be a problem. If you go in there and like, I have no money, how do I buy real estate? You might not like the lender, because they're gonna probably give you some hard truths about your prospects of buying a deal. So I, I think a lot of people think lenders are superheroes, and it's like, if you have the right pitch, you'll get the loan. It's like, it's pretty rigid. They have criteria, they have standards.

• 18:51Dave Meyer?

  And yes, there are fringe cases where you could shop around from different things, but finding good deals, being credible, having a track record, those are the best things you can do.

• 19:00Henry Washington?

  And when selecting a lender, the things that I'm looking for are communication and customer service. I think this gets very confused, and I think lenders are some of the people that get confused about this. And that is that your lender is the service provider. You are the customer. And oftentimes, we as the borrower, treat the lender as if they're doing us a favor and that we need to jump through

• 19:29Dave Meyer?

  That's such a good point.

• 19:29Henry Washington?

  All of these hoops and do whatever they say, so that they may please give us some monies, so that we may go buy a

• 19:36Dave Meyer?

  They knight you.

• 19:37Henry Washington?

  Yes, right. And it gets very confused, because they, they, yeah, they hold the dollars, and you think, I need the dollars, so I'll do whatever they ask. That is not the way this relationship works. You are the prize.

• 19:49Dave Meyer?

  Oh, thanks, man.

• 19:51Henry Washington?

  You're very welcome. Especially if you are buying a good deal and you have a decent credit score, right? Like, they want your business.

• 20:00Dave Meyer?

  Yep.

• 20:01Henry Washington?

  So try to find a lender who is willing to communicate with you and help you understand your loan. So yes, we do want you to understand a lot of these things going into it, but if you're talking to a lender and they seem like they're bothered by having to explain these things to you, like you're wasting their time, like they don't, like you're not a customer.

• 20:19Dave Meyer?

  Move on.

• 20:20Henry Washington?

  Move on. They're everywhere. You want one that is, it sounds like they want to work with you, they're trying to explain things to you, they seem like they want your business. Great. And then again, communication style. They need to communicate with you the way you want to be communicated with. If those two boxes are checked, and they're willing to explain their loan products, and you're smart enough or have enough, done enough research to understand what types of loan makes sense for the deal that you're buying, I think you can find yourself a lender, no sweat. Literally, not a problem. And lastly, if you want to find a lender, recommendations from other investors are always a great place to start, as well as, again, a title company. What are they doing all day? They are closing real estate transactions. They are literally reading through lender mortgage stocks on a daily.

• 21:02Henry Washington?

  They know who good lenders are, they know who bad lenders are, they know which ones they never want to work with, they know which ones have good interest rates. Great place to start, talking to a title company about what lenders are lending in the area. Now we're moving on to the illustrious property manager, which is a very important team member, but it's not just a team member you can hire and then set it and forget it. This is somebody who's going to be operating your business alongside you. And I feel like this is where investors lose a ton of money. They hire a property manager and then everything just happens inside of this black box. They don't know what's going on. And then all of a sudden they look at their P and L at the end of the year and they're like, I didn't make any money. Well, you didn't manage your property manager.

• 21:46Dave Meyer?

  Yeah, I have, I think I have just two pieces of advice here. The first one is how big are they and how important are you to them? And I know this sounds a little bit weird.

• 21:56Henry Washington?

  No, this is important.

• 21:57Dave Meyer?

  It is, right? It's like, I've worked with large property managers and I'm a small fish to them. And then they rightfully spend all their time on their big clients. If I was them, I'd do the same thing. I don't begrudge them for that, but that doesn't work for me. So I need to find a property manager who I am important to. And that usually means a small to midsize boutique, sometimes family run, sometimes new property manager trying to get up and running. And that comes with trade offs. You know, they probably don't have an admin staff, you know, there's, there's trade offs to that. But for me, that is maybe the most important thing.

• 22:39Dave Meyer?

  Because managing your property manager is super important and setting clear expectations is important. And if it's a giant company and you're like, I actually want to do it this way. And they're like, yeah, you have like six units with us. This other person is 600 unit, we're doing it their way.

• 22:55Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 22:55Dave Meyer?

  It's a little bit different. The second thing is sharing a philosophy about property management. I know you and I have talked about this a lot, but I am a long-term investor. I think a lot about maintaining my properties, being proactive about maintenance, being proactive about tenant satisfaction, being proactive about communication. And if they can't do those things, I am out, hard out. Because to me, the hardest thing to find in a property manager is proactive maintenance and proactive tenant satisfaction.

• 23:32Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 23:32Dave Meyer?

  Someone who thinks ahead and says, that's going to break. I need to fix it now before it becomes a problem. It's a hard thing to do when you're managing a ton of units. I totally get that as it is a hard thing to do, even when I self-manage, it's a hard thing to do. But having someone who is trying to do that at least, and they'll miss things, but like trying to do that, super important. Same thing about tenants, listening to them, realizing, understanding if they're satisfied or not satisfied in the unit. If they're not trying to come up with a solution, because I want to keep tenants and I want a property manager who cares deeply about the tenant experience and that they're happy in their home.

• 24:10Henry Washington?

  Yes.

• 24:10Dave Meyer?

  Like that to me is like so, so important. And when I talk to property managers about that and say that to them, they're like, I love that. But every owner is the opposite of that, which was interesting for me to hear. Cause I kind of assumed people are more like that, but those are kind of like deal breakers for me.

• 24:28Henry Washington?

  No, I think that's great. I've, I've told you before, one of the reasons I really liked my property manager and selected them is because when they talked to me about their business, they never referred to the tenants as tenants. They always referred to them as residents. They wanted them to enjoy living in their residence. They weren't, I feel like there's always this negative connotation sometimes with the word tenant. Like somehow you're less than because you're renting.

• 24:54Dave Meyer?

  I hate that.

• 24:55Henry Washington?

  Absolutely. It's, it's, it should be no negative connotation around it. We don't have a business without them. And so I like the way that they just kind of set the tone with even how they refer to the tenants of the residents within the business. I thought that was great.

• 25:08Dave Meyer?

  Totally.

• 25:09Henry Washington?

  Good property managers are hard to find. It's going to be a challenge to find them. You're probably going to go through two or three of them before you find one you really like. And then that may not even last forever. Right?

• 25:20Dave Meyer?

  Yeah.

• 25:20Henry Washington?

  So the high level things that I'm looking for are how are you incentivized? Are you incentivized for the wrong things or the right things? In other words, a lot of property managers say that we keep all the late fees.

• 25:33Dave Meyer?

  Oh, no, no, no.

• 25:34Henry Washington?

  That tells me that you're incentivized for people to pay late. Cause if they pay late, there's additional fee and then you keep that fee.

• 25:41Dave Meyer?

  Yes.

• 25:41Henry Washington?

  So that's not, that's not how I want my business to be set up. I don't want you getting paid more when my tenants pay late. That's absurd.

• 25:53Dave Meyer?

  A hundred percent. And like a good property owner, manager, landlord, whatever, if someone's late, you should have a conversation with them. Why are you late? Figure something out. If you're making money off the late fee, you're probably going to let it go for 10 days and be like, all right, I made some money, which just puts the tenant in a bigger hole. Late fees are not a revenue stream. It is a, it is not a revenue stream. That sucks. I don't like that.

• 26:18Henry Washington?

  And the same thing with turnover, right? So this is a nuanced thing. This is why you have to ask your property manager how they make their money or what dollar from your tenants goes to who? For a turnover, if you have a property manager who gets paid more money every time they lease somebody up.

• 26:41Dave Meyer?

  Yep.

• 26:42Henry Washington?

  Then they're never incentivized to help you have long-term tenants.

• 26:48Dave Meyer?

  Hundred percent.

• 26:48Henry Washington?

  Because they don't make an additional lease up fee when a tenant moves out. So in other words, your property manager is incentivized to turn tenants out of your unit. And tenant turns are the biggest cash flow killer there is.

• 27:03Dave Meyer?

  Probably because property managers charging one month rent to lease up a unit is the worst deal in all of real estate. It's so bad. It's, I mean, you can find ways around it, but I hate that. But you're so right. You're incentivizing them to have turnover every year. They make more money than keeping tenants. It's terrible. You can't have that. And I, I've found better property managers will have a renewal bonus where they get a little bit of payment for keeping it. Love that. I will pay you to create mutual benefit.

• 27:35Henry Washington?

  Yes.

• 27:36Dave Meyer?

  You get money, I win because the tenant stays. The tenant wins because they're staying in a unit they like. You win, you'll get a bonus and you also don't have to manage a turn. Like let's incentivize that behavior.

• 27:48Henry Washington?

  Yes. You want property managers who are incentivized for things that are positive things for you. If you win, they win, right? So they're incentivized to help your business to run more effectively. That's the scenario that you want, not the opposite.

• 28:04Dave Meyer?

  Incentive alignment with all of your team members is, is just so important.

• 28:09Henry Washington?

  If you hire a property manager, you've evaluated them, you think they're good and you trust them, let them do their job.

• 28:16Dave Meyer?

  Give them a leash.

• 28:16Henry Washington?

  Get out of the way.

• 28:18Dave Meyer?

  It's a hard job.

• 28:19Henry Washington?

  Trying to, stop trying to bring in your guy to go do all the little fixes because it's going to save you 20 or 30 bucks here or there. Let them hire their people. They can get them in there faster. They can get the unit turned faster. Yeah, it might cost you a hundred to 200 bucks more than if you hired your guy, but they're going to be done in three days and your guy hasn't showed up yet.

• 28:39Dave Meyer?

  Put yourself in their shoes. Just imagine I'm the property manager and Henry hired me and he's like, I trust you, Dave, to manage my units. And then every time I do something, you get second guessed on it just to, to save it. And it's going to totally disrupt my entire process and the thing that I do for all of my units, which might be 300 units and Henry's are 30 of them. That's not a trusting relationship. Like the trust has to go both ways. And if they aren't meeting your expectations, that's a different story. But like, you have to know that by hiring a third party, you are not going to have the most efficient cost structure ever. And that's okay. That's kind of the point of hiring someone else is you're, you're hiring it out.

• 29:20Henry Washington?

  All right, we've got more team members that we want to discuss, but we're going to jump into those team members right after the break.

• 29:26Dave Meyer?

  You know, when I first started sharing my real estate journeys online, I didn't have a website. I had a spreadsheet, an Instagram account and no idea how they'd ever connect. I remember thinking a real website was going to cost me thousands of dollars and take a developer weeks to build. So I kept putting it off. Then I found Hostinger. I typed in what I wanted, a site to show off my deals, share my story and capture leads. And their AI builder had a working version live in minutes. No code, no designer, no developer needed. And it didn't stop at launch. Once my site was live, Hostinger's AI agent helped me figure out what to try next.

• 30:05Dave Meyer?

  Acting like a built-in team of specialists for SEO, website copy, email marketing and more. Domain, website, email, marketing. One Hostinger account covers it all. So you're not stitching together five subscriptions or wondering if they even talk to each other. Plans start at just $3 a month, so you can begin at your own pace and build from there. Hostinger builds your vision step by step. Create your website today. Go to hostinger.com/realestate and use code REALESTATE for 10% off now.

• 30:38Henry Washington?

  Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability and it all starts with a great deal from your local Toyota dealer. Make a smart buy on an all-wheel drive Camry, Corolla Cross, or get a Corolla sedan packed with the latest features, advanced tech and head turning style. Take a test drive in two of Toyota's most popular SUVs, the spacious, family-friendly Grand Highlander and adventure-ready RAV4. And with so many hybrid and plug-in hybrid models available across the lineup, plus efficient all-electrics like the BZ, BZ Woodland and all-wheel drive CHR, you can drive your way and skip the pump. And long after you leave the lot, your Toyota keeps delivering with legendary resale value built on a reputation for quality and reliability.

• 31:23Henry Washington?

  So when it's time for your next Toyota, you could trade in for more from a great deal today to a great value tomorrow. A Toyota is right for you. Shop toyota.com for deals and details or stop by your local Toyota dealer today. Toyota, let's go places.

• 31:38Dave Meyer?

  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 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

• 32:20Dave Meyer?

  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. Investing in real estate has always been smart, but it hasn't always been simple. Now it's both, thanks to the Fundrise Flagship Fund. The Fundrise Flagship Fund launched more than five years ago with a mission of delivering low-fee access to blue-chip private market real estate. Today, the Fundrise Flagship Fund has grown to manage more than $1 billion of real estate on behalf of hundreds of thousands of investors, making it one

• 33:03Dave Meyer?

  of the largest funds of its kind. For those who believe real estate has an important role to play in their portfolio strategy, the Fundrise Flagship Fund has positioned itself as both a simple and a smart option. Whether you're starting with $10 or $10,000, the Fundrise Flagship Fund makes adding real estate's unique potential for both passive income and consistent growth. Just visit fundrise.com/pockets to make your first investment today. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fundrise Flagship Fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the fund's prospectus at fundrise.com/flagship. This is a paid advertisement.

• 33:47Speaker 02

  The action's on the court, and as the official beer sponsor of the NBA, Michelob Ultra is getting fans closer to the game with a chance to win courtside seats, merch, and more. Visit michelobultra.com/courtside to enter. Michelob Ultra Courtside, 26 to 27. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21+. Begins on October 1st, 2026, and ends on June 30th, 2027. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details.

• 34:19Henry Washington?

  All right, we're back on the BiggerPockets Podcast. Dave and I are talking about building your team. All right, here we go. This is the one. This is the one where people struggle. This is the one that I wish I knew more about before I got started. Good contractors are hard to find. Contractors can be hard to keep. Again, it's this relationship you have to manage over time. There are literally thousands upon thousands of dollars tied to these things. And here's my general take. A lot of contractors are good wrench turners and not necessarily the best business people. And I think that that's where a lot of the hang-up comes in. So with contractors, where have you had the biggest struggle?

• 35:04Dave Meyer?

  I have had struggles with contractors all over the board.

• 35:08Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 35:09Dave Meyer?

  But I think that the thing that really breaks down is when there are unclear expectations of scope, I think is like probably the biggest thing. Where like you think you've communicated something clearly, the contractor agrees on a price and a timeline, but there's some disconnect

• 35:27Henry Washington?

  Yes.

• 35:27Dave Meyer?

  between what the contractor thinks is going on to what you think is going on, and then everything just melts from there. Like, once that happens, everything falls apart because you're pissed because things are late and it's costing more. The contractor's pissed. It's like, I did what you said. And like, I'm sure there's mutual blame there, but like, that's, that's where I feel like the challenge is.

• 35:47Henry Washington?

  Absolutely. That's 100% where my head was. It is expectation versus reality. And I've just learned the hard way over time that you truly have to document as much as humanly possible. If it is a brand-new contractor relationship and you are new to investing, like, get as much down on paper as you can. Because when you're brand-new, you don't know what you don't know in terms of managing a renovation and expectations on what you think you're supposed to get delivered at the end of a project versus what that contractor thinks they're supposed to deliver to you. So like, you kind of have to go overboard for your first couple of projects in terms of like, over-communicating to your contractor

• 36:32Henry Washington?

  about what work you think needs to be done. And so, the way I typically handle this is I will write out a scope of work, and oftentimes I'll say, hey, I got a budget of X. Now, I may not be telling them all of the budget that I have because I don't want them to use it all, but your contractor should have some guide rails around what money you have to spend on this project.

• 36:53Dave Meyer?

  100%, yeah.

• 36:54Henry Washington?

  Right.

• 36:54Dave Meyer?

  But I agree with you. Don't say it all, but...

• 36:56Henry Washington?

  So if I've given them a budget, and I've given them at least a high-level scope of work, oftentimes what I ask of my contractor is to say, hey, this is the budget that I have. This is the scope that I have. Help me understand what I'm missing through the details of this. Because I could say, yeah, I want to spend, you know, $5,000 on drywall. They're gonna know, well, Henry, I looked at this house. It's 2,000 square feet and every room needs new drywall. This isn't even close to enough. And so, all the little nuanced things that I'm not thinking about, like, that's where I need them to help me with the bid. And so, if you're brand-new, I'd give them a high-level scope of work,

• 37:39Henry Washington?

  and then you give them the budget and the guide rails, and then say, what is it that I'm missing in this scope of work in order to get this done? That's just going to help you understand how to write better scopes of work in the future, but it opens that line of communication between you and your contractor.

• 37:54Dave Meyer?

  And do you use this to like, evaluate people when you're selecting them? Like, you're giving the full scope of work to people before you hire them?

• 38:02Henry Washington?

  Yes, that is a secret I learned as a newer investor. Because what was happening was, I was inviting contractors out to look at a property and a project, and I'd talk to them a little bit on the phone about it, but then they'd get there, and I had, I'd either have one of two things. They'd get there and they'd go, this is way more than I'm comfortable doing. And then they're upset because I wasted their time, and then I still had to go get into the contractor out there. Or they'd come out and it'd be the opposite. They'd say, this isn't enough. Like, this is too small of a job. I'd have to charge you too much for me to make this worth my while.

• 38:36Dave Meyer?

  Yep, yes, exactly.

• 38:37Henry Washington?

  And so, from now, I do a high-level scope of work. I don't get down to the details. I'm not counting screws and nails. I'm just saying, room by room. In this room, paint floors, trim. In the kitchen, new countertops, backsplash, and light fixtures. And like, super-high level, room by room, what I'm wanting to do. And then I send that up front and say, hey, I got a project 123 Main Street. Here's the high-level scope. Would you be willing to come bid this job? So that way, they can look at the scope of work and be like, yeah, this is absolutely something I'd be comfortable doing, or no, I don't want to touch this with a 10-foot pole, or this is too tiny for me, I'm too busy. And then you save yourself a lot of time on the front end.

• 39:17Dave Meyer?

  Yep, absolutely. That's great advice for how, how to select them.

• 39:21Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 39:22Dave Meyer?

  I gotta drop some, some hard truth on the audience here, though, about finding contractors. There's no trick. There's no secret.

• 39:31Henry Washington?

  There's no trick.

• 39:32Dave Meyer?

  There's no secret. There's no secret to doing it.

• 39:34Henry Washington?

  You're gonna fall on your face, guys. Sorry.

• 39:36Dave Meyer?

  There's no magic bullet. This is just part of the job where you grind. And sometimes I feel like, we talk a lot about systems and process on the show, as we should, it's super-important, but there are some areas of the business where you just got to put in some effort, and finding contractors is just one of those areas. It's a, it's 100% a relationship game. James has given good tips about, he pulls over on the side of the road when he sees people, you know, that's, that's great. But ultimately, it's about managing a relationship. And then

• 40:06Henry Washington?

  Yes.

• 40:07Dave Meyer?

  Honestly, the best way to find a good contractor is find one, and then they'll know all the other good contractors.

• 40:12Henry Washington?

  Yeah.

• 40:13Dave Meyer?

  So when you find one, treat them like gold. Pay them on time. I tip contractors sometimes, depending on the situation, but if they do an exceptional job, I tip them. Then they pick up my phone the next time. Then when I say, hey, do you know a plumber? They're like, yeah, I know a great plumber. And I'll tell them that you tipped me. So they're gonna call you. You know, like, don't nickel and dime a great contractor. Like, that's the game. And it's similar to property manager. It's similar to deal flow. This is a lifelong thing. It's part of the journey of financial independence and real estate investing. It just, if you, if you're unwilling to do this, you're, like, go buy turnkey properties and invest passively. Like, this is just part of being an active investor.

• 40:55Henry Washington?

  And it's not just finding them, it's keeping them. And one of the best ways to keep them, you're right, is pay them a fair wage for what they're doing and pay them quickly. The sooner you pay them, the better. Because then they'll prioritize your jobs and your phone calls if they know, when Henry calls, he's gonna have work, and I'm gonna get paid as soon as that work is done. Right? Versus, somebody else is gonna call, they'll do the work, and then they're chasing them for three or four weeks trying to get paid. And then you have to manage that contractor relationship going forward. Because oftentimes, what happens with me is I'll have a good one. They're doing good work. I'm paying them for them. And then by job three to five, I start to notice

• 41:35Dave Meyer?

  Yep.

• 41:36Henry Washington?

  Costs for the same thing are creeping up. They're just creeping up a little bit, price over price. I think there's just, it's sometimes

• 41:45Dave Meyer?

  It just happens.

• 41:46Henry Washington?

  It just happens. They see that, hey, they think, you know, you're the guy with the money. You gladly paid me $3,000 for this portion of a job last job. It's $3,500 this time. You didn't see it. Maybe it's $4,000 the next time. You gotta keep an eye on those things as to what they're charging and why. So for me, it's just communication. Like, I'll never tell a contractor, hey, I'm not paying you that for this. I'll say, hey, I saw you charged $8,000 for flooring in this house. And two houses ago, you did one very similar square footage, same flooring, and it was about six grand. What was the difference between those two? Right? And they're either gonna tell me a difference that makes sense, or they're gonna make something up, or they're gonna say, hey, I'll adjust that price. That's as deep as I get.

• 42:30Henry Washington?

  I'm not like, oh, you're trying to gouge me on my prices. I'm not gonna work with you anymore. Adjust the price and let's keep it moving. If not, then I'll find somebody else to go to the flooring. But you gotta pay attention to those things. So I'm telling you, I've had contractors, when they, when they started working with me, they were driving the F-150 and by job five, I was like, where'd you get that F-350 from?

• 42:48Dave Meyer?

  You.

• 42:51Henry Washington?

  This is my truck.

• 42:55Henry Washington?

  In all seriousness, just keep an eye on the bids, track it, ask questions. It's not rude to question a bid. If your contractor makes you feel like you're a butthole for asking them about the bid, you need to move on.

• 43:10Dave Meyer?

  This is just, you'll learn. Just don't be afraid. I think that's the kind of thing. It's like, it can be intimidating. Contractors know their business. So like, when you're first starting, you're probably gonna come at a disadvantage of knowledge about what things should cost. The only way to get better at that is volume. Just take some reps, talk to 20 of them, talk to five plumbers, talk to five HVAC people. You will start to understand what the true value is. And talk to other investors and what they pay for things. Like that, that's how you really start to understand what the real value is. And whether you're willing to pay a little up for higher service, or better timing, or better communication. You wanna go the budget route with caution. But just like, that's, that's how you really learn. And you just, you gotta do it.

• 43:53Henry Washington?

  Err on the side of over-communication always. And then keep all of your bids, whether you go with that contractor or not. Cause every contractor bid is data to help you get smarter about how to even understand what kind of work a property needs and how much it's gonna cost. So if I were you, I'd keep all your property bids, I'd load them into Claude or ChatGPT and have it break each section down and try to give you like a cost per square foot for every trade. And just keep that as a running, uh, data set that you have. So that when you get more contractor bids, you can kind of just compare it to the other ones and say, hey, in comparison to the contractor bids I've given you in the past, does this seem high? Does it seem low for paint? Does it seem high for interior

• 44:37Henry Washington?

  paint? Does it seem low for flooring? Does it seem high for flooring? If you're keeping track of all those bids, AI can help you better understand not just how to evaluate what a rehab costs, but to validate a contractor's bid.

• 44:49Dave Meyer?

  Great advice. I like that a lot.

• 44:51Henry Washington?

  All right. Before we wrap this one up and give them the, the final bonus, where do you like to find contractors? For me, I found my best contractors, my, the best contractor relationships I've found is literally through other investors recommending good contractors and through driving for dumpsters, finding people on, like I found roofers and plumbers and cabinet guys just going to jobs and talking to them and seeing if they do work on the side. Those are the two places I've found the best relationships.

• 45:18Dave Meyer?

  For sure. Yeah. That and agents. Agents have helped me.

• 45:22Henry Washington?

  Yes.

• 45:22Dave Meyer?

  Again, networking is by far the best way to do it.

• 45:25Henry Washington?

  The other way I've found good relationships is by asking the guys at the pro desk at like Home Depot or Lowe's, which, which contractors they enjoy working with the most, and they'll, they'll have some good recommendations for you.

• 45:36Dave Meyer?

  All right. This has been a long episode, but should we do the bonus?

• 45:40Henry Washington?

  Yeah, let's do the bonus. What you got?

• 45:42Dave Meyer?

  All right. I just, I'll say this quickly. I just think finding people in your own area that can help you, give you feedback, maybe even give you contractors, deal flow. So important. I'm gonna give you a little bit of advice about this. I think the ideal mentor or person you should target is two years ahead of you in your investing journey. I think a lot of times, people reach out to me all the time, want mentorship, wanna go grab a beer, talk about deals. I like doing that stuff. But if you're brand new, my frame of reference, not because I don't wanna help, I just like can't help you that much. Like I, I, I am doing different things in my career at this point. And I am not the best person.

• 46:26Dave Meyer?

  But someone who just did their first house hack, or just did their first BRR and are moving on to their second one, that's someone where you can offer mutual benefit. And those are the relationships that are most valuable is where you can help each other. Like, I wanna help someone, and then maybe they send me a deal. They tell me about a great contractor that they work with. You know, something like that. I'm not asking for that upfront, but you want to be close to this person in terms of your goals, your stage of investing. You don't wanna shoot the moon. And I think, I think a lot of people miss that. And the best way to do that, real estate meetups, I would say, and biggerpockets.com. Go to biggerpockets.com. We have millions of people on there that are trying to do this. Meetups,

• 47:08Dave Meyer?

  BPCon, that kind of stuff. Go find someone you vibe with. It doesn't have to be the perfect person, just someone you enjoy talking about real estate with. That's gonna be super valuable.

• 47:16Henry Washington?

  You know, I'd call them almost an accountability partner. Cause then the help that Dave's asking for just kind of comes naturally. If you meet an investor, you vibe with them, you're doing similar things, maybe they're a little bit ahead of you, maybe they are a little bit ahead of you, but they still have some experience.

• 47:30Dave Meyer?

  Yeah.

• 47:30Henry Washington?

  Just say, hey, once a month, let's hop on a call, let's talk about what we're working on, 30 minutes, and move on. Just establish that relationship. And then in those conversations, that's when you can say, get that feedback. Hey, I looked at A, B, and C or one, two, three. What do you think about this? The relationship that you have with other active investors can literally save you so much money.

• 47:50Dave Meyer?

  Hundred percent.

• 47:51Henry Washington?

  And just having someone with a different set of eyeballs, look at your deal, or listen to what your strategy is going to be, because they maybe have done something similarly, or they know somebody that's done something similarly, and what went well and what didn't go well. Like, this can be a lonely business, cause a lot of your friends don't do this. You need some investor friends, accountability partners, that can give you a temperature check on deals, or strategy, or maybe help you stick to your goals. Cause sometimes, I'll find something that could be totally profitable, but would derail me from my goals or strategy, which are there because they're leading me towards a lifestyle that I want real estate to provide me, and not just chasing the shiny object or the quick dollar over

• 48:34Henry Washington?

  here, even though it might make me money. Is it the best use of my time? Is it getting me where I wanna go? Like, I need the people that can tell me those things.

• 48:41Dave Meyer?

  It also just makes it more fun. Like, real estate investing should be fun. It's, and as Henry said, it's lonely. Having a buddy who does real estate with you makes it all more fun. And like, the whole thing in real estate is how long can you stay in the game? And if you can make it fun, you can stay in the game a whole lot longer. So find a way to make it fun. It doesn't have to be all your friends. I, you've probably heard me rant about how I hate that thing about your network is your net worth, and you should only have friends who are rich. I hate that. But have some friends who are investors. Like, I think it's helpful to have that part of your peer group and find people you like. It's great. It's, it's some of the more rewarding relationships I have in my life. I've met through people in real estate. It's great.

• 49:23Henry Washington?

  That's very true. Present company included.

• 49:26Dave Meyer?

  Oh, yes. Best friends forever.

• 49:31Henry Washington?

  All right. Well, Dave, thank you so much for chit chatting with me about building a team. Hopefully you guys found good value in this. These are all team members that Dave and I have hired, fired, and hired again. So hopefully you can learn from our experience and go out and don't be intimidated by this. This is all something that you, if you're gonna be successful, you're gonna do it anyway. So hopefully this will help you do it more effectively and efficiently. Thank you so much, Dave, for sharing your inputs. And thank you so much, everybody, for listening. And we'll see you on the next episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast.

• 50:08Speaker 03

  Hey, Bose here. When your next track starts, listen for the decisions that the artist makes. The vocal pushed right up front. The bass that waits half a beat. That sample from a seventies underground gem. Every choice deliberate. With Bose, you'll hear it all. Your music deserves Bose.

• 50:34Speaker 02

  The Viori Core Short moves with you.

• 50:38Speaker 02

  With everyday versatility and classic athletic fit.

• 50:43Speaker 02

  It's the one short for everything your day brings. Invest in your happiness and get 20% off your first purchase at Viori.com/420. That's V U O R I dot com slash K O R E two zero. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.