15. Appriaser to 4 million dollars in real estate with none of his own money, overcoming limiting beliefs, and mastering ARVs | Josiah Smelser The Daily Real Estate Investor
Josiah and I became friends through Instagram-- as we quickly bonded over our mutual love of the late Rick Jarmin. I first found Rick after listening to Josiah's podcast-- the Daily Real Estate Investor. Then, I too was able to kindle a love connection -- as I learned that Josiah, and one of my own podcast guests-- David @diy_landlord --- have eerily similar background stories that include mission work and living in Africa. Who knew?! In terms of his journey into real estate, Josiah was able to raise and use private money to reach 4 million dollars of real estate, and 20 properties. We both love all the perks of 1-4 unit homes for achieving one's FI goals. He walks through how he started, at a big 4 accounting firm and hating life. From there, he became an appraiser which helped him learn the market and to estimate ARV like a pro. (getting ARV wrong is a big way to mess up a BRRRR!) A big hurdle for him, in the early days, was a lack of credit score. He reviews how he was able to get and maintain a high credit score using a line of credit. We reminisce about our Dave Ramsey roots, but share the conviction that credit scores do matter today. But what is irrelevant? Trying to achieve "number of doors" goals, instead of focusing on cash flow. He also loves the rental property debt snowball method, believing that 1-4 unit homes are the ideal retirement plans. We talk in-depth about a lot of topics, including self-limiting beliefs and mindset. He shares that Chris Gerber wrote one of his favorite books, called the E-myth Revisited where he talks about how you need to be working ON your business, and not IN your business. A lesson I have been working hard on in 2020 with all my outsourcing. He shares why he loves mortgage brokers, auto paying everything he can, and keeping no personal debt. I also would like to think Josiah played a role in my most recent, successful home appraisal for my house hack -- as I learned that you can supply your own comps in advance as well as a list of repairs and their associated costs. My appraiser seemed gitty when I told him I had two realtors assess the home, pull comps, and that I already had emailed all of them over to him in case it would help with the assessment of the home. I also provided him with a hard copy & emailed a copy of the repairs and changes I did to the property. Thanks, Josiah, my $310,000 appraised value on my house hack I bought (with private money) for $280,000 brought joy to my heart. Hope you guys enjoy the conversation as much as I did! Check Josiah out over at the Daily Real Estate Investor-- or on his new (second!) podcast-- Multifamily Mavericks. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdsguidetofi/support