Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All about the habit.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: You don't want to be the pand. I don't want to be average. I just want to persevere. I just want to go and do it, man. I got to make it happen.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: I'm Steve Seymour with the Investors Agents podcast. Today I've got Zach Cinata on the podcast here. Zach, did I say your last name right?
[00:00:23] Speaker B: You did, yeah.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: All right. Yeah.
So, Zach, you don't go to the gym, do you?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Not really. I'm trying to get into it.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Yeah. I think you should start lifting.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: I've been told that a lot, man. Yeah, I'm trying.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: I had to break the ice with that one. And then we'll just get it out of the way. I'm pretty sure you got hit in the nose with a board recently.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: I did, yeah. I didn't get in a fight. I'm too nice.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: So what happened? Are you out renovating properties?
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Yeah, so I, I'm in the house, especially like in the beginning, you know, with demo, get everything lined up a lot. So I, I, I was just kind of honestly moving some wood out of my truck into the dumpster, and I think I just bought myself in the face.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: All right.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Didn't realize it. Looked in the mirror, I was like, great, I'm bleeding.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Well, I told Zach I'm tired and I'm like, not looking forward to being on the podcast here, and he's got a busted nose. But we're doing it anyway.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Yeah, we get it done.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: It's commitment. All right, Zach, so what, how'd you get started in real estate investing? What got you interested?
[00:01:16] Speaker B: So I started out as an elo, and that's kind of when I kind of got the knowledge, background knowledge for, you know, real estate, obviously. Loans, mortgages, stuff like that. You doing comps, looking at anything like that, rental properties. And then I basically read Rich Dad, Poor dad, and I was like, crap, I gotta do this, man. So I bought.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: My first book's been mentioned on almost every single one of my episodes.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Everyone I talked to honestly says that's how they started. And I remember reading a line in it and Robert Kiyosaki says, I want you to think about your life after this book and before it. And it's like it really actually is that way. That's what kick started it.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: All right, so you read Rich Dad, Poor dad, and then what was your next steps?
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Next step was I pretty much just started looking at properties that were cash flowing, and I found a duplex that had some good cash flow, bought that Duplex ended up buying another one that was pretty good cash flow as a four unit quad. And I bought that. And then I was looking just at other opportunities and someone said, you should go on bigger pockets and look at people to network with in your area. So that's when I saw Rob Lawrence's meetup and I gave him a call and I was like, hey, man, I saw he was the only person with a real estate investor meetup, so. The one you used to run.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Yep, the dig, yeah.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: And I was like, hey, man, can I just show up to your meetup? And he was like, I'm doing a. I'm at my flip right now if you want to come check it out. And I was like, all right. So I called up my fiance, Morgan, and I was like, hey, I'm going to this random guy I met online's house. Like, if I don't come back, here's the address.
So. And then I met Rob and I just started kind of getting in there with him and he was showing me some stuff that he was doing. And we did our first transaction together on like a flip that I ended up moving into to access the equity to pretty much, you know, steamroll through a bunch of other properties and use that capital.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: That's what I love about this investor community.
It's something that I noticed from getting licensed in 2006 and then being part of the realtor community versus the investor community. And the investor community just seemed so open about what they were doing and how to help and just get people started. So that's awesome that Rob did that. He's such a great asset to learn from.
Fast forward. You join the Rob Lawrence team full swing. You know, you got license this year, right?
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Last year. Last year, last December. So I'm going on a year. I just passed my anniversary, like, actually, what is it, the 15th today?
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Today's the 13th.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Okay. So my Friday, the 13th. I think my anniversary is the 15th. I think something like that.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: I don't know, but I'm about so a year. And you had a pretty decent year in sales too?
[00:04:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I'm going to hit a little over 25 transactions.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Over 25 transactions in your first year while you're doing investments?
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah, I did about four properties this year.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: That's really impressive.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: I mean, that's nothing to sneeze at. What would you attribute that success to?
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Definitely coming into it, having some knowledge from like the real estate and the investing kind of, you know, I already had done, you know, a couple Flips before I got licensed. And really I was like, going through the transaction took long because it was a HUD home foreclosure. You know how those can be a process. And I was like, I'm just going to get licensed. And I was like, rob, can I join your team? And he was like, yeah, man, sure. So.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Background knowledge and what had you want to join his team? Just his ability to, like his openness and willingness to help right off the bat and then his display of the investment knowledge. What really drew you to the team?
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. Rob, you know, Rob's knowledge. Rob himself, you know, has become a really good friend of mine. And I think I just wanted to get into a different side of, you know, the real estate game. Being a loan officer and how that was and the challenges with the rates going up, everything kind of just dipped down for me. And I said that I liked being at least the thought of me was, I like the agent side better because it seems like, number one, there's more pay because you're getting, let's say, whatever percent off of the full purchase price. And when you're doing a loan, it's never 100%.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: And then you're also getting shopped nonstop with rates. And it's like, oh, well, I'm getting beat by 1/8 of a rate here. Percent, whatever, back and forth. And with an agent, if you're just doing a good job as an agent, of course, and they like you, I think you're pretty much in the, in the clear. You know, it's not like you're really getting shopped on rate and price and all this stuff.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: And people see the value more.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Working with you.
All right, so big picture, the intention of this podcast is to transform the human mindset from scarcity and lack to abundance and wealth, specifically around having conversations around real estate investing. And one thing, you know, a lot of people get stuck with just getting started, getting their feet wet. And for someone that's had so much success so quickly, what would you. What would advice would you give to someone that's kind of on the fence or they want to get started? Maybe they've looked at some properties, but they're. They're kind of tire kicking. They're not really fully committed and they're not taking action.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: So definitely, like back to kind of what skyrocketed. My success was pretty much mentorship. You know what I mean? I had great mentorship with my investing career and real estate career. So that it's a huge piece of it. And you Know, feeling comfortable. And that mentorship helped me feel comfortable to do, you know, to get everything done. So when I got my first property to basically flip with Rob, it was because I had the confidence in Rob to help me out with, you know, knowing contractors, because I didn't really know anyone, and then what work would need to be done and how much that work would cost and the confidence in the. After renovated value that all my work was going to be for nothing and I was going to lose money and of course, buying it at the right price. So with all that in place and feeling confident in that process, that's kind of what, you know, took me to a new level. So I think if you can find someone to put your confidence in, that has been there and done that. Rob was in a real estate agent, but not just an agent, an investor who has done properties before. So I think you need that combination in order to feel confident in that. Not just a realtor throwing properties at you, trying to get a transaction and get paid.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a big thing. Having someone in your corner that's been there, done that, that you can trust, that it's going to guide you. So what other things, what other challenges had you had to overcome to take the action, to get in motion? And what have been the biggest challenges this year for you?
[00:07:55] Speaker B: This year, I would say this year the biggest challenges have just been getting through the processes and getting them a lot smoother. So really like dealing with different contractors and finding who works well with me, you know, and I think it's. Most of the work is pretty straightforward. As, you know, when you're doing a property, sometimes you have things to figure out and stuff, but it's pretty much, for the most part, cut and dry. I think the people that you're dealing with are the difference in making it smooth and not smooth. So I think the biggest challenge was.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: You want to share a little challenge, a little story around one of them. I can feel it. I can feel it. Feel some therapy comment here.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, let's. Let me.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: We'll remove any names to not bash anyone.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: But give us. Give us some. Give us some examples of what having the wrong. I don't want to say the wrong person, but not the best person.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: Not the best person. So with not the best person. For example, I was doing.
I did one in Ardmore, and it was a twin, which I'm very familiar with in Ardmore. So I was like, I can handle this with my eyes closed, roughing into the stack to add two Bathrooms, stack pipe crumbles on me because it's one of those old cast irons. I'm like, whatever. We just got to roll through it. But then we're doing the stack pipe, and in the basement, we didn't replace it because it was kind of concreted into the basement, but there was a hole in it, and I said, let's just patch up the hole with, like, JB Weld or something, right?
So when I'm finalizing, you know, getting all the water running towards the tail end of the flip, getting ready to put on the, you know, mls, I'm running water through, and I can see that there's a little bit of water leaking in the basement by this hole. And I'm like, what the hell's going on? They concreted over it to put the, you know, put it back in there and cover it up. So I pull off the, you know, the concrete, and then I see that under the concrete is a plastic bag over the hole, and that's why it's leaking. So my plumber that I had in there had put a plastic bag over my.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Like a shopping bag, like an Acme bag.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: You know, it was a little bit better grade plastic bag. It was a contractor bag, but still wasn't good enough. All right, so get a plumber that doesn't use plastic bags to patch your plumbing. That's a really strong tip. You should.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Did you hire him again?
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Of course not.
So things like that happen.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: At least you learned your lesson.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: There you go. Well, all right. So you've had a couple challenges, but you overcame them. I mean, you had a very successful year.
You told us a little bit about how you got started, where you are now. Where are you taking this thing, Zach? What's your goals?
[00:10:34] Speaker B: That's kind of my next thing I'm trying to really think about, because the more I learned, the more I see just so much opportunity. You know, like, you were talking about that abundance mindset. I think there's so much money to be made out there, and I'm trying to find out kind of like the best route I want to take or the. The way that I would want to do it the most, because I just think there's so much you can really do. It's like, I'm just.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: The sky's the limit.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: We're in an amazing industry.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Yeah. It's insane. It's, you know, cracking the tip of the iceberg right now for me, I think. And there's just so much you can do, and you Know, I really, I can just keep rolling, you know, flipping properties, holding some, getting rentals set up. Like I'm going to rent out the current place I'm in, in Ardmore now, which is going to have some good cash flow. So probably just continue on the roll, maybe look into something like, you know, multi unit properties or anything like that. But that's something I would love to talk with you more about and see where I can kind of take my career.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I think the key is just like you said at the beginning, like always finding that mentor that has been where you want to go to, you know, someone that you can rely on for trusted advice. And it's, it's good to explore different options because there is really so many avenues to go in the real estate investing realm and most people don't realize that there's, you know, you can go into different asset classes, you could go onto the paper side of the business. You can get into syndications and funds and, you know, raising capital. There's, there's so many things and you have to discover your unique strengths. So everything you're doing now you can look back on in the years and say, these were all my training. This is all my training for where I am now.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: And you see that just like hiring the wrong person, you know, now, you know, to manage people and maybe do a little more due diligence on their competency. So, Zach, I appreciate you being on today. I want to just open up the conversation for you to kind of leave leave the listeners with, you know, any last words of wisdom that you have or suggestions for them.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say if, like, you're interested in real estate investing, you're just trying to get started, take action. You know, I'm always pretty action oriented. I'll just kind of jump into it and figure it out. And, you know, I know I've talked to you about it. Like when I bought you a property, you're just like, get under contract, you know. So I think just kind of taking that action, even if you don't know exactly what you're doing and figuring it out as you go has a lot of power and just kind of, just kind of jump into it, you know, don't be stupid about it. But to a certain extent, you kind of just have to take that leap. And I think if you can get the confidence with your, the right team, right mentorship behind you, you can figure it out.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: You know, don't be scared for doing these podcasts. It seems like the same conversation with different people in, at least in the. In read rich dad, poor dad, surround yourself with good people and take action. You know, that's. That's the message that I hear all the time. So I'm super excited to see where you. Where you take things, because I see. I see major acceleration with Zach. I mean, from watching a lot of people talking about things and trying different things. Zach's a doer. He's getting stuff done. He's taking a lot of action. He's crushing it. So keep going, and really looking forward to see where you take this.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Awesome, man. Thank you so much.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Yeah, thanks for being on.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Of course.
