You're listening to the Master Passive Income Podcast Network here with Breakthrough Investor where we help you break through that next level as an investor.

And with me today is William Palmer, real estate investor coach and the amazing co host of Breakthrough Investor.

Welcome to the Breakthrough Investor show where we guide you to financial freedom and and break barriers in your investing to give you the secrets to success.

And now, here are your hosts, Charles Rose Jr.

And William Armour.

William, what's up, buddy?

How you doing today?

I'm doing great, Charles.

Hope you're having a great day.

As always, super excited about today's podcast and having our guest on.

This guy started with absolutely Nothing, quit his W2 job and now has about 8 million, give or take a million, in real estate, invests in multifamily, and really, really is into creative financing.

So for all of you guys who are always trying to figure out how to get deals done, mainly I would say the answer is creative financing.

So really, really, really looking forward to hearing what he has to say about that.

Absolutely, man.

And I got the, you know, the blessing to be able to talk with him and meet with him in a mastermind that we're both in.

And you know, he just has a given personality, William.

He loved to help people.

You know, he's the go to guy.

So he reminds me of you in the master passive income community, you know, like that smart star student that you always go to for advice and encouragement.

So I'm just super excited to hear more of his story and for our listeners to hear his wisdom so that they can be a successful breakthrough through investor as well, man.

So I'm just going to go ahead and introduce him, William.

So let's, let's give it up for Phil Brooks.

Phil, what's up, brother?

How you doing, man?

I'm doing well, fellas.

Like I said, I'm honored to be on the show.

And that was an awesome intro just to give you your props on that one.

I appreciate it, man.

Yeah, man.

So.

So, Phil, man, I'm super excited to hear more of your story.

I know William is, and our audience is too.

So.

So tell us more about your investing journey and what initially made you decide to do it.

So I'm just going to start from the beginning.

I just like to tell people my story how I even got the idea to even think I could buy real estate, you know, so younger.

I come from a rough neighborhood.

I never thought making being a millionaire would come from owning real estate.

I thought it would be from sports.

And then another thing is my father was on drugs.

He lost everything.

He did have a business.

He lost everything.

And he turned to drugs.

So I used to be at my friend's house, and guess who used to show up?

My dad.

Because they parents sold drugs, right?

So I knew what I didn't want to be like.

And I kind of looked up the people who kind of had more than what I had, thinking that was the perfect route to go.

Fast forward a couple years down the line.

I ended up getting incarcerated for trying to be like the people I looked up to.

But.

And then I'm going to be totally even in my suffering, suffering state.

I was planning on coming home and doing the same thing because I did make a ton of money doing it.

And I had in my mindset that I'm going to come home and do the exact same thing.

So I used to read.

I still read a lot, but back then, I wasn't reading the right things.

I was reading things that King Benton books or the Goodfellas, things like that.

Because that was my mindset to one day the correctional officer.

I was about to be coming home probably a year later, right?

And he threw a book on my locker.

And I, like I said, I read a lot, but it was never the good stuff.

I was.

I looked at the book, I'm like, why would he throw this on my locker?

We never talked.

He only called me for visits.

He only called me if I had, you know, mail or something.

I just threw the book in my locker.

Till one day I ran out of things to read.

And I picked that book back up and it was Rich Dad, Poor dad, oh, my God.

It changed my way of thinking.

Now I'm reading all Robert Kiyosaki books.

I'm reading Think and Grow Rich.

I'm reading the Rich, Richest man of Babylon.

I'm reading all these different books because it triggers something in me.

It was like God said, here you go.

So now I'm having a conversation with that CEO, like that correction officer, like, why you throw that book on my locker?

And he said, I just knew you would read it.

You know, for some reason, he said, I just knew you would read it.

So now I'm having conversations.

Come to find out he was retiring.

He had seven tanning salons.

He had a bunch of real estate.

So now in my mind, I'm about to come home and buy a bunch of real estate.

And that's what I set out to do.

So fast forward, I came home, I never had a job before this.

And this is when I realized you get more out of Life when you do more than when you're getting paid for it, Right.

This is my first.

My first time actually realizing it, Right.

I was making $9 an hour.

First job, I was working at a warehouse.

We was manufacturing a protein powder.

But instead of going on break like everybody else, if things go down or we have any downtime, instead of going on break, I used to follow the maintenance guys and see with how to turn over if the machines went down, how to fix them to keep the line going to minimize downtime.

So guess what?

I learned that.

So they never had to come to my line.

I could have just been throwing scoops and lids on the bottle like everybody else and going to break.

But when our lines went down, I used to fix it.

Hurry up.

They never.

We never had to wait on maintenance, call them over.

And I used to keep the line going, keep the company, making money.

90 days later, I was promoted to a shift supervisor making 70 grand a year.

Never had a job in my life.

Wow.

That was the first time I realized you get more out of doing more, more than you getting paid for because somebody is watching.

Right?

Wow.

Oh, my gosh, dude, I'm getting, like, goosebumps here in your story.

Keep on going.

So another thing about that story is I used to talk to my dad, and he went cold turkey.

Never touched another drug in his life because he said I sounded different.

So he wanted to be different.

Wow.

You know, that's when I realized you could do whatever you put your mind to if you determined to do it, you know, Cold turkey.

He's preaching now.

Got his own church.

Never went back, you know, Man.

So, dude, just amen to that.

Thank God.

God is great, you know?

God is great.

Amen.

So that's when I first.

He's my he.

Only I.

I haven't.

I told this to a lot of people, and I need to tell it to him, but he's my hero.

That's when I realized, man, you could do anything you set your mind to doing.

At first, I used to be like, I don't want to be like him now, man.

I want to be like him.

He's something he wanted to do, and he put his mind to it, and then he did it, you know?

So it's so crazy how the mind can work, how things can turn around, how God can give you a different picture.

Definitely.

So getting without discarding that, how did you go from becoming shift manager, shift supervisor, to where you're at now?

What.

What was the transition point for that?

Because, yes, there had to be There, that had to happen somewhere.

Yeah.

So that same year when I got promoted, I got promoted 90 days later.

I was determined to buy one house a year for 10 years.

Get 10 houses, right?

So I went to the auction.

I bought two houses that year.

I saved up enough about two houses that year.

One burned down the same like two weeks later.

I had no insurance after I bought it from the auction, burned down to the ground, learning, wow.

It was discouraging as well too.

But the other one, as I said, my dad used to fix houses from the ground up.

He rehabbed.

He started rehabbing and stuff for me.

And then that one came profitable.

I ended up selling it.

But I got a little bit discouraged at one point and kind of would just work.

I got caught up in that used to that check, getting caught up in that nine to five, right.

But then I said, you know what, I need to get back into real estate.

I ended up selling the house, I ended up getting a mentor.

And my mentor told me, why buy one house a year when you could buy one building with 10 units in it?

So I already had switched my job.

I was making a little bit more a year and.

But I was working 12 hour shift and I used to do real estate.

When I got off, I used to work 6 to 6, 6pm to 6am and when I got off, I probably get a couple hours of sleep.

But then I was at real estate, then back to work.

And I used to be like, man, something got to change.

Then I got into a car accident.

I fell asleep at the wheel and I hit a pole.

And I said, no, what?

I'm not going back to work.

So I dove deep into multifamily.

I started joining all these different groups, the free groups, trying to find that, that group to help me learn more about multifamily.

And I ended up joining this group on accident, but it was a paid group.

And Charles, that's where I met Charles at.

He's in that group and it's called the deal room.

And when I got into the deal room, I started meeting people who was doing what I was wanting to do.

They was able to sign on debt, they was able to raise capital.

They was underwriting deals.

So I started paying for the group.

Once I realized it was a paid group, I started paying for it.

I dove deep into underwriting because I felt like if I know what a deal is, I could present it and I could get capital for it.

So I used to present my deal every week to the deal calling call.

And I got better when I Got comfortable and I got better with it.

I start submitting Lois, and then I use the Michael Jordan method if I can.

He wasn't known for how many shots he took.

He's only known for the ones he made.

So if I get a bunch of deals sent to me, build up these relationships and get enough deals sent to me from brokers, wholesalers, whatever, eventually one gonna pencil out, right?

So I started writing a lot, I started connecting a lot.

And that's when I got.

I'm underwriting four or five deals a day.

So now some starting to pencil.

I'm submitting the offer of what we could pay for it.

My first four deals, I had on the contract, fill out a contract doing due diligence.

It was like, man, so you gotta imagine my mind where I have no income coming in now, but I'm determined to find that next deal.

And what helped me was I thought, man, just last year, Phil, you ain't even know what a deal was.

At least you underwriting deals, you submitting offers meant that deal gonna come.

Consistency beat out, you know, a controversy, you know, so to stay consistent, you're going to eventually get that deal.

Because I was just living in the moment.

Yeah, well, you were, you were, you were consistent, but you were consistently making yourself uncomfortable to learn, Forcing yourself to learn is what it sounds like.

Was that.

How is that sound about right?

That's exactly right, William.

And I was very uncomfortable.

But I love what I was doing.

For some reason enjoyed it because it felt like I was just getting closer and closer day by day, you know?

Yeah.

So.

And Phil, you.

You mentioned you got discouraged.

Like, I mean, I've met so many people who've.

Who's given up when they went through a lot of the things you went through.

And then also too, like on your real estate journey, you had the four deals on the contract and they all fell apart.

Like, I didn't know that.

So sometimes you don't know what's behind people's story, William.

Like, you know, here it is, you know, a lot of people posting all these deals and, you know, getting deals on the contract, closing deals, but look at where you started.

So how did you overcome that?

Those moments when the deals fell apart?

Because I.

A lot of people are going to be listening to this podcast and maybe they're going through what you went through whilst trying to break through the next level.

What did you do to help you stay motivated and keep your head in the game?

Because I looked at it totally different.

Even though they fell apart, I looked at it like those wasn't the ones for me, you know, but God gave me the skills, he gave me the ability to know what a deal is.

And eventually I got enough deal flow.

I'm constantly underwriting deals.

So in my mind it's any day now, it's going to pencil out.

I'm going to that deal any day now.

And it was true.

So.

But what kept me going was the process.

Living in the process, not focusing on the results.

So another thing I heard, I heard a podcast by Ed Mylett during that time and the podcast was if you had to build a brick wall and you had no idea how to build a brick wall, but if you lay that brick precisely where it needs to go, then the next one is precisely where that goes, eventually you will have that wall.

So what it means is focus on laying the brick.

Eventually you will get the reward.

So focus on the process.

So that kept me going as well because I, like I said, I constantly read, I constantly look for self development things that are going to help me through.

And that was one of the things.

So I'm like, you know what, you got a deal, you, you, you got the opportunity.

Some people, they underwrite a deal and say it don't work and just say forget it.

Right.

But they didn't realize that they didn't even have a deal to underwrite just the day before that or they even have an opportunity that may can change their life or a relationship that may can change their life.

So I started looking at the process more than the results.

That's awesome.

That's powerful.

And so man, I feel like you're hitting on a lot of questions that we had.

Right.

William, with the mindset stuff already, but why don't.

So we know that you're good at creative financing and that is just, you know, creative financing is just, I know changed me and William's life.

Right.

You know, mostly in the single family space.

William has some mobile home parks as well.

But you know, a lot of times investors to get to a level where they maybe they don't have any money or they spend all the money or they feel like they don't have enough money and using creative financing is often one of the best ways to break into that next level.

So to talk about more how you use creative financing for your deals and what, what that process looks like.

Yeah.

So I'm one of the ones that had no money.

You know, my check came in and went out the door.

So I knew I had to find another way to be able to purchase it.

You know, if that was bringing in partners, anything.

But I knew I needed to find another way to make it work.

So like I said, I had mentors in single family and they taught me different ways to create a financing in a single family space.

So what I did was you never know what the seller needs.

Some don't need all that cash up front, right?

Some need cash flow and they don't want to do the work to get it to that, to that ability to be able to cash flow for them to get enough money coming up and then they don't want to manage the project.

So what I do is say hey, you want 2 million for this property, but 2 million is way too high with the rehab and things in that nature.

So I could get you 1.8, but I get you a down payment, you sell or finance the rest.

Usually 80%.

My first deal, the seller is financing 80%.

We broke 20% and now it's a purchase price at 1.8 that I mentioned and we pay.

That was your first?

Just the first one, yeah.

And running out the gate and the.

Seller get 4% interest for five years.

So what that do is with the interest payments and everything, he's going to get close to his 2 million mark plus until we we going to come in and renovate the place, get it all leased up and he's going to cash flow without having to do none of the work.

He just going to get a check every month, interest only, don't go towards the principal.

And then we give them a balloon payment in five years.

So he's like, okay, I get my purchase price eventually, right?

I don't got to do no work, but I get a check every month and I'm going to get a big check in a couple years down the line.

So it was a win win for everybody.

Wow, that's awesome man.

So how did you learn to do that method?

I mean so many people don't even think about that, right William?

Like a lot of people don't even think about doing it that way.

A lot of people think of just a traditional conventional loan.

Like how did you like think how did you create that strategy or utilize that strategy?

So it came from joining a mastermind years ago with single family and they were doing a lot of owner finance sub two creative finance deals.

And so it was basically getting in a room and getting around people who was doing this stuff, you know, learning from.

It's called that relationship equity, you know, you getting in the same rooms and people was willing to build you up a Lot of people think that, oh, people don't want to help you.

That's not true.

If you helpable and you willing to learn and willing to put in the work, I come to learn that people will help you in the heartbeat.

So all I did was get in a room, got around people, ask questions, and implemented it.

And then yes, my first time, I wasn't good at it.

So they're like, what?

I could answer some of the questions, but then I went back, I asked some same questions in my mastermind group or the people that I have met that was doing it, and they helped me out.

Then I went my next time, I could answer them questions more fluently.

So I got better and better by doing it.

And I was able to structure deals so differently because that's the first thing I'm going to do.

Even if we can get bank financing, I'm always trying to figure out a way to help the seller in different ways.

So I ask them what they need from the beginning instead of just assuming they just want a big lump of cash and they just want to walk away.

So, Phil, I always say that really real estate is 80% networking and relationship, 10% deal and 10% funding.

I'm just curious to know what you think about that number.

Is that about right or do I need to change some of those percentages?

Because that sounds kind of.

That sounds about.

Sounds about right, man.

That's 100% right.

When I say just being around people, how they poured into me, gave me that confidence and that ability to be able to go out and find these opportunities, knowing that if I found an opportunity that someone was signed on the debt, like sometimes you'd be like, where I'm gonna get this loan from?

How am I get this loan?

But you got people, them relationships that you built that 80% network that will, they'll help you.

Because at the end of the day, the thing I love about real, real estate is one arm, you getting pulled up the neck, the arm reaching down, pulling up the next person.

So that's why I love real estate so much, you know, because it's people helping people grow.

See, that's, that's, that's the mindset.

And I think that's really the key to successful investors is they're not selfish.

We're willing to share, we're willing to help people do their deals.

If they don't know how to do it, we'll help them do it if at all possible.

I mean, I've had guys where I was going to go in and Buy a house.

And I literally, just because of the time of year, couldn't even do the closing costs.

And I said, hey, this is a problem.

Want the house.

It's a great house.

Can't do it.

And they helped me out with that because of that communication, that relationship that was built.

And I mean, I think people in real estate particularly are just very, very giving people in general.

And sounds like you Most certainly are.

100% agree with that.

And I love it because people don't realize by giving, you get more out of it.

You know, you give yourself deposits by giving and you get to own it twice.

So if I learn something and I actually teach it, own it twice.

You know, I'm teaching myself as well as a constant reminder.

So it just, it's just wonderful.

I just love it.

That's amazing.

Yes.

So I'm, I'm still kind of like, you know, caught up here on the steel funding and finance.

And I think a lot of our audience, I mean, that's one of the biggest questions we get, William, from, you know, coaching or just speaking like, how am I going to get this money and funding?

And I remember, Phil, when we had, you know, a connect call early on, you had mentioned that, you know, you had, you just raised like $800,000 from, you know, sharing what you were doing on Facebook, like in one week.

I'm like, dude, this is just mind blowing, right, William, like $800,000.

And I know you've raised more than that.

I mean, because since you have 8 million in deals, you know, what is that?

What would that fundraising process look like if someone, you know, wants to get funding for a deal to maybe buy a larger property?

So for my first deal, I raised 950k.

It was, it was in two weeks, but wow.

It came from constant connections, you know, people I have talked to early on and said, phil, when you get an opportunity, send it my way.

But let me tell you the kicker of that.

I had to talk to 76 people in two weeks.

So I got 69 no's, 70 no's, because six people joined me on that deal.

But I was determined to get that deal closed.

So I didn't let the noise in my head like, man, can you really do this or not?

I really believe what I was doing and the opportunity that I was bringing to that person, that somebody was going to say yes and somebody was going to fund that deal.

And guess what?

That deal was closed.

We.

We bought it where it was, bringing only 6k in a month.

We bring it in over 20k now a month, you know.

Wow, that is just.

Wow, that's awesome.

From 60 to 20K?

Yeah.

Oh, man.

So, and, and so, and I'm curious to know.

So, so seven, you spoke to 76 people.

Six people said yes, 70 said no.

Now you doing all the deals.

Did any of those 70 later part?

The 70 said no.

Did some of them later partner up with you on.

On, you know, deals?

Oh, yes, yes.

And I didn't take offense to it, you know, because it was my first deal.

People work hard for their money, right.

So it's about performance.

It's about credibility.

Right.

So once I did do that first deal and I was able to come back, they was more willing to do it.

And it could have just been a bad timing for them at the time as well.

No offense.

It's business.

I just want to show you better than I could tell you.

So on my deals, I don't collect the acquisition fee.

I get equity, but I don't collect them acquisition fees because a lot of people do that acquisition fees, and that's what they work for.

They don't care about the deal.

They care about that fee.

They need to continue to get to pay their bills or whatever.

Right.

Or live their lifestyle.

So I base mine off performance.

I'm not going to take an acquisition fee.

I don't get paid unless you get paid.

Unless this business plan is executed, I don't get a dollar, you know, so once this property start cash flowing, guess what we are cash flow.

That's when I get paid because I executed that business plan that I'm so eager for you to invest in.

Yeah.

Taking care of other people's money more than your own.

And you guys think how hard that is.

No money coming in.

I still got a performing, though.

I got a deal.

Yeah, it is.

It just, it just made me more hungrier to make sure I did the right thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

And a lot of people don't look at it that way.

You know, some people, you know, do acquisition fees not to knock.

Knock them down for doing it, but I think the way, you know, the approach you take, Phil, I've always been amazed with it.

Like, you know, you take, you look, you look at the opportunities, right?

And there's a huge opportunity to do deals that way.

Even the way I remember you told me, you submit the loi is a letter of intent, which is pretty much an offer, right?

You do that before even talking to the broker.

You talk to the broker after a lot of people, William, they start the conversation with the broker and then they submit an offer.

So Phil, can you talk some more about that and like why you do that?

Because I think that's a good tip for people who wants to start submitting those multifamily offers.

Yes, yes.

So this is a little trick I learned.

So what I do, if I want to find a deal and I want to build that relationship, I won't say find a deal, I want to start that relationship with that broker to start getting more deals sent to me.

I go on LoopNet Crexi and I fill out the ca, whatever they want to get the financials and then I underwrite that deal.

And most of the time if it's on LoopNet, Crexi just most of the time sometimes you can find the deal on there, but most of the time it's overpriced.

That's why it's on there.

Because usually them off market deals get sent to people like me that already built that relationship with that broker and I underwrite it and I submit that first I don't call the broker and say hey, would they take this?

Because I'm not really doing it for the deal.

If the deal come in more it's a bonus but I'm really doing it for the relationship.

So when I submit that loi, I call them and then I say hey, hey Brian, I just submitted a LOI for the property you have in, let's say Kansas.

I know you want a 5 million but at the fully underwriting and analyzing this deal, I only can do 3.5 million.

If that's something that may work, I would love to move forward.

If not, please send me anything in that market to us because we looking to buy asap.

And the reason why most of the time I have worked is because I stood out.

I wasn't a tire kicker that not submitting the offer.

So I identify myself as a real buyer because when you come to these million dollar deals, a lot of people not even submit an offer, you know.

And when a broker got an offer in his hand, that's better leverage to go back to a seller and show them that at least he's getting offers.

So I already stood out by underwriting the deal and submitting the offer.

And most of the time, you know, they send me more stuff even if that one didn't work out because at least they identify me as a buyer instead of someone who trying to get their financials and post it all over the Internet and get someone else to buy it.

That's a, that's an awesome strategy.

I don't hear a lot of people doing it.

And brokers, you know, what I've learned is that they want you to submit an offer even if it it's low, so they can get feedback, right.

And provide feedback to the buyer where the market is.

So that's you're actually adding value to them by doing that, you know, versus seeing it as a low ball offer.

So at the risk of asking a very like no duh kind of question, but somebody may not know the answer to this, where are you finding these brokers?

Are you just going right on crexi and if it's a listing agent or are you doing something else to find the brokers to send you off market stuff?

Most of the time I go on, you know, you know, the major MLS markets, multifamily.

That's crazy lunet and things of that nature.

I do get a lot that reach out because I do a lot of marketing.

Facebook, Instagram and stuff.

I'm putting myself out there about buying multifamily.

So I do get a lot that reach out to me as well.

And plus I have other brokers introduce me to other brokers that's in their market, say, hey, you looking in this market as well?

Let me introduce you to such and such.

He's in that market for our company.

Then other brokers have done it for well as well, for different companies as well.

Awesome.

That's awesome, man.

Man, this has been awesome, man.

Like, and this.

There's so much wisdom you have, Phil.

And you know, if we put draw out all of this wisdom will probably take days to get it all out.

But is there anything we missed on this episode and this recording maybe that could help our audience become a successful breakthrough investor like you?

So another thing is if you want to be in multifamily and submit offers and underwriting deals, don't underwrite a deal and not submit the offer.

A lot of people do that because they play, oh, it's overpriced, they're going to think I'm low balling them, blah, blah, blah.

And as you said before, Charles, it's giving them that feedback.

Right?

But another thing is you never know what's happening in a seller life that might come up later down the line.

And if they got that loi in hand, guess what?

They gonna go to back to that.

If something was to come up, they gonna be like, all right, if this person still want to buy it, I would take that price now.

Because never know what made it came up later on down the line, this happened to me twice.

You know, two different deals.

We submitted offers months ago, and they didn't accept it, but now they back accidentally.

We want to still buy it.

I just got to say this.

For any listeners that are listening to that, the absolute gold that just came out of Phil's mouth is unreal.

Don't underwrite a deal without submitting an offer.

Everybody think about that.

That is amazing.

Yeah, that.

That's so.

I mean, this.

This really, like.

I mean, that's.

And that's really, like, a mindset thing that people have, like a barrier, like, you know, feeling like they said they're doing a lowball offer, and sometimes it's even fair, too.

Right.

How many times William, you've seen, you know, you know, William coaches in real estate, so how many times you seen William students, you know, afraid to submit the offer?

Absolutely.

And I mean, I'm right there with them.

Like, you think about for yourself, Charles.

When you started out, even now, you look at a really big deal, and you're like, oh, boy, here we.

And so, I mean, I can.

I can definitely understand that and definitely connect with that myself.

So that's.

That's a normal part of this.

Exactly.

It is a normal part of the process.

And, you know, it's.

It's.

But.

But it's what you do with that fear that matters, right, Phil?

Yes, it's what you do with that fear.

So.

But this is awesome, man.

Well, Phil, I know that our audience will get some.

Some gold and some great tips out of all these things you've been saying.

If someone wants to reach out to you, someone wants to connect with you more online, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you on Facebook?

Is this Philbrooks on Instagram?

Is Philbrooks.

I am H I L B R O O K S and I'm on LinkedIn.

I'm on TikTok.

I'm on Twitter.

Same thing.

Phil Brooks.

So if they reach out to me, I would love to connect and see how I can help.

Awesome.

Well, Phil, thank you so much for coming on the show and looking forward to connecting with you again soon, man.

Sounds good to me, Charles.

And thank you, guys.

Thanks, William.