In this video, the speakers into the journey of a real estate investor who went from $0 to $1.3 million with their first multifamily deal.
In this rollercoaster ride, he will uncover the secrets, strategies, and challenges that they faced to achieve this remarkable success.
From finding the right property, negotiating deals, and managing tenants, this video has it all.
Whether you’re a seasoned real estate investor or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable insights that you won’t want to miss.
Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to our channel for more inspiring stories and informative content.
Transcript:
Chris Bounds 00:00
How did you make that transition to your first multifamily deal? And I don’t know if maybe that’s the first if you’ll have the same first deal or what? But ultimately making that step closer on your first deal, what did that look like how
Cody Laughlin 00:14
that happened? He’s got a great story on his almost first deal. All right, almost for sure. Let’s do it. Thanks, bro. Yeah, no, you know, I made the transition to multifamily in 2019. And for anybody that’s familiar with multifamily, you know, you have to have three things experience net worth and liquidity. Well, I had none. Right, I had nothing substantial of either that to to build a multifamily business on. So I started from nothing. And just like everybody else, I started, you know, immersing myself in education, podcasts, books, and going to different local meetups and what just trying to figure out a path a direction, and I started discovering who the industry influences were, and following the framework about you know, how to build out your network, how to build out your database, building relationships, and then what are the other key components in your business that you need to be successful in multifamily. And through that, I actually joined a much smaller mentorship program, kind of early 2019.
And I met a connection there a friend who I’m still friends with today, but a connection there a guy based out of Dallas, and, you know, go get or, you know, just had this fiery spirit, like I did was very motivated. And we started building relationship, and through just continued conversation, you know, it was discovered that he actually was working on a deal. They were under loi, and he reached out to me and said, Hey, I know you’re looking to get started, do you want to come in and help raise some equity for this deal? And, you know, we we can all benefit together? And I was gung ho, I was like, yes, absolutely. Sign me up. And it was a small commit, like, $300,000 what they needed me to bring, right. And so I started laughable
Chris Bounds 01:55
now, in the deals you’re doing,
Cody Laughlin 01:59
it is and what’s even What’s even more laughable now is to make that long story very short, is I ended up converting $0 Out of my qubit on that race, and it was the most devastating moment for me, I was like, Oh, my God, like, I can’t do this business, I’m never going to be successful, like, nobody’s going to want to work with me if I share their story. And it was just really one of those low points very early on in the business. But once I got past that, and, you know, reflected on what had went wrong, or what what did I miss, it was very evident to me that I still had so much more growth, to go, you know, so much more learning to do. And it was, in hindsight, it was one of the best experiences I ever could experience. Because, you know, from there, it really got me discipline and honed in on just the the exact things that we needed to put in place to really make this a scalable business.
And then I coincidental time, again, that John Bryan, and, you know, Brian, coming into, we’re all following that same framework, that same vision, that same step. And so it was really just a plug and play, we were all following the same influencers. And now, you fast forward, we spent about Brian, I don’t know, eight, I’d say almost 18 months, 1418 months in total, before getting into that, really that first opportunity where we co sponsored with another experienced operator, and we raised equity for that. And then we brought 1.2 $1.3 million that deal on our first raise, and it was a 506 C raise, you know, and but it was all of that work in between that first opportunity 2018 to that deal, and putting in this infrastructure in place, that really allowed us to maximize that opportunity on that first one. So
Chris Bounds 03:47
yeah, people usually, I mean, they they see the end result, they don’t see the foundation laid prior to that, on the 300,000. On reflecting back on that, knowing what you know, now, what do you think went wrong and not not able to convert? I mean, there’s always folks that say, Hey, I’m good. And then circumstances or you know, they just change their mind. But what do you think really went wrong and why you weren’t able to convert for 300,000 it first
Cody Laughlin 04:14
off started with my own fundamental education, I just flat out was lacking enough fundamental education to be able to speak in an articulate manner that would draw in investors to a deal. And just like most investors, I started out with my very close network, my friends, and that I knew that were interested in real estate, but, you know, they never had experienced investing in real estate and particularly in a syndication. And here it is, I was trying to educate on the fly.
And I was trying to present an opportunity to these potential investors that they had no idea what they were even looking at, and I couldn’t, I couldn’t articulate because I didn’t have the experience. I didn’t have the knowledge. And so in hindsight, Number one, it boiled down to a lack of education and number two, it boiled down to the lack of experience both on my end and the investors in. And so that that really taught me the importance of education is what it is. Everybody knows you need to continue your education but really taught me the importance of really getting more specific about and targeted and intentful about who your investor avatar is.