At House Money Media, our mission is to launch first generation real estate investors. Part of how we do this is through our podcast. Lauren Keen Aumond is the host of the podcast. She’s joined by co-hosts Alan Corey and Tom Brickman. We plan to start with the Real Estate is Easy interview segment, transition to an overview of one of our house money weekly newsletters, then Teatime with Tom. Here’s what we talked about this week.
Real Estate is Easy
We start by learning a bit about Alan Corey, who has been investing in real estate for 23 years. He solves all his financial problems through real estate. Alan has full ownership of 20 doors (units), and partial ownership in over 300 more. What’s his why? He’s not great with authority and only wanted to rely on himself. He makes real estate easy by building a great team around him. Alan goes by @realestatemaxi on Twitter.
Then, we learn about the second co-host, Tom Brickman. He’s a 40-year-old real estate investor who kicked his 9-5 at age 39. He lives in Dallas, TX. Tom’s rental portfolio of 23 doors is split between Dallas and Toledo, OH. What’s Tom’s why? Tom was tired of working at a movie theater, where he worked for 15 years. He wanted to build his own business. He makes real estate easy by building a reliable team through trial and error. Tom also gave us some back story on his Twitter name, The Frugal Gay (@thefrugalgay11).
Finally, we get over to me, Lauren! She’s @adultingiseasy on Twitter. Lauren and her husband live in the Tampa Bay area, with their portfolio being on the west coast of Florida. It’s 11 short-term rentals and 3 long-term rentals. We also got into the background of house Adulting Is Easy, which centers around her relationship with her much younger sister. The Adulting Is Easy podcast is personal finance centric, with a sprinkling of real estate content. Lauren’s excited to spearhead this podcast and the interviews with pros in the real estate space.
House Money Weekly
Our 3 hosts discussed house money weekly 102 for segment 2, which is all about having a real estate agent who is also an investor. Don’t just pick agents because they’re your friend, neighbor, good looking, or nice to your dog. Tom shared a strange story of how he met one of his agents – she was semi-trolling his online posts! He makes a good point that you don’t need to be loyal to a real estate agent. Lauren’s biggest tip for picking out agents who also invest is to discuss the numbers with them. Alan, who actually is an agent, says the best thing he ever does is talk people out of deals. Alan postulates about why most real estate agents don’t invest themselves: sporadic income, plus they are accustomed to looking at properties a certain way. Tom agrees that they have some of the same fears any first-time investors do.
Lastly, we talked about the best ways to find real estate agents: asking property managers, for example.
Sign up for our newsletter here.
Teatime with Tom
Tom had a hugely viral Tweet a few weeks ago about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), so we discussed them on this inaugural segment of Teatime with Tom. Lauren has a few ADUs: two cottages at the bed and breakfast they bought and moved into, as well as a camper. Alan has 3 duplexes with a detached duplex in the back, so those are pretty interesting ADUs. They dove into an off-the-shelf ADU being offered by Home Depot. The main things to think about are: 1) the legality and restrictions, 2) the additional costs (2-3x) to install and run utilities to these units, and 3) financing. A huge positive of these small ADUs is the potential to offer affordable housing. Fun fact we learned about Tom today: he owns a home that was purchased at the turn of the 20th century from a Sears catalog.
Thanks for listening, reading, and generally supporting House Money Media. Tune in next week for our interview with a lender, and some more shenanigans from your 3 hosts.
Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team
