How To Get Started In Multifamily Investing

Play This Episode

0 Votes

Are you willing to go from being comfortable to uncomfortable to achieve success Ola Dantis recounts how he moved to the US with nothing but 180 in his pocket He started knowing nothing about real estate until he started paying attention and working hard to learn the ropes Since then he has amassed a portfolio of multifamily units and founded the syndication firm Dwellynn Ola tells us that it was not easy to get to where he is today but that staying laser-focused on his goals has helped him succeed Tune in and you ll surely be inspired by his story 00 01 – 09 45 From Having Nothing to Buying His First Property Ola looks back on his first time going to the United States Being invited on his first mastermind The importance of paying attention and taking advantage of available resources to learn How Ola was able to finance his first duplex Know about the FHA loan 09 46 – 13 41 Making the Move to Multifamily Building cash flow as a landlord How Ola took action and found a mentor Falling victim to the shiny object syndrome What Ola s business looks like today 13 42 – 20 10 Creating Impact While Still Being Profit-Minded The goal is not just senselessly accumulating wealth How Ola and his team are giving a house to a family in need mortgage-free through the 1HousePledge The strategies Dwellynn is currently doing to stay competitive Don t squeeze deals just for the sake of squeezing deals 20 11 – 22 07 Closing Segment Reach out to Ola Links Below Final Words Tweetable Quotes It was my first time in America and I was like it s beautiful down here I m not just saying it just cause I m just saying it but I just want folks that were born here that live here that have grown up here to just take a step back and appreciate what they have – Ola Dantis Get a mentor Get somebody that s done whatever you re trying to do I don t care if it s brain surgery or buying properties – Ola Dantis Make sure when you choose your path keep going on that path until you succeed Before you start to consider other paths make sure you succeed – Ola Dantis —————————————————————————– Connect with Ola Check out the Dwellynn website or type in investwithola com to be part of multifamily investment opportunities Follow him too on Instagram Facebook and Twitter Resources Mentioned Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney Jim Huling and Sean Covey Connect with me I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns Facebook LinkedIn Like subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts or whatever platform you listen on Thank you for tuning in Email me sam brickeninvestmentgroup com Want to read the full show notes of the episode Check it out below 00 00 00 Ola Dantis You leave money on the table because you re not trying to squeeze a deal just to squeeze a deal s sake right Because when you do that it s karma I believe in this stuff right Because when you try to squeeze a deal as a seller trying to sell a deal and squeeze everything you might end up buying a deal that isn t that is not good for your investors too 00 00 28 Sam Wilson Ola is the founder and CEO at Dwellynn a multifamily syndication firm Ola welcome to the show 00 00 37 Ola Dantis Thank you so much for having me Sam Appreciate it 00 00 40 Sam Wilson Pleasure is mine Three questions I ask every guest who comes to the show 90 seconds or less Where did you start Where are you now How d you get there 00 00 46 Ola Dantis Started with I m a duplex Right now got a bunch of units under my belt What was the last question 00 00 54 Sam Wilson Where did you start Where are you now How d you get there 00 00 57 Ola Dantis I got there by partnering being humble learning moving quickly taking action Is that like super-duper quick right It s like lightning speed 00 01 08 Sam Wilson I like it No Hey that s great That definitely puts the 90 seconds or less You know one of the things that you know kind of part of your story I think that we want to hear on this episode is really kind of maybe some backstory How long have you been here in the United States 00 01 24 Ola Dantis So been in the United States now I think probably about eight nine years at this point I ve done a a great lot of lived on three continents I love to say this because I think we all forget myself included in this beautiful country in the United States I ve lived on three continents and this is the best one 00 01 42 Sam Wilson That s awesome That is awesome So tell us your story I mean how how did you go You know really I think we when we talked off air you said you came to the US with nothing So how have you gone in nine years from nothing to now owning a ton of multifamily 00 01 59 Ola Dantis Yeah I like to tell the story the same way my wife would disagree and say well we didn t come with nothing She would say we came with like 180 I think we had when we got here Yeah So close to nothing but you know my wife basically was initially interning in Disney Florida Orlando and you know I came to the US for the very first time and I m a window seat guy so I remember just kind of sitting in the plane I m looking down to Orlando and kind of looking at the suburbia and how you have all the lines of the houses and the houses that just all symmetrical and the palm trees they were just greenery 00 02 41 Ola Dantis And and it was just my first time in America and I was like oh Goodness It is beautiful down here I m just saying there s not just cause I m just saying it but I just want folks that were born here that live here that have grown up here to just take a step back and appreciate what they have right And I remember like coming down from the plane and I was like oh my goodness 00 03 01 Ola Dantis Like it is freaking beautiful in I m in America Like oh my God I think two years after that we moved to the United States well we moved to Baltimore Maryland That s a different story for another day but that was just kind of like my first taste of the United States So anyway we moved here my wife and I we lived in a few different cities but we kind of settled on Maryland 00 03 25 Ola Dantis And I remember shortly thereafter that you know my wife got a job and I got a job And then you know got plugged in into the American dream which is fantastic If you don t believe me try some other places where I ve lived You believe in pretty quickly it was a great dream We had jobs my wife had a job and she had a job 00 03 43 Ola Dantis So I remember kind of waking up going to work coming back home waking up traffic going to work come back home I was like geez I love this dream But there s I mean I mean there s gotta be something else I mean if I do this for the next 30 40 years that s pretty monotonous There s gotta be something else for me to do but I didn t know what that was 00 04 01 Ola Dantis At the time you know and so in the timeline this was like two years in America right The honeymoon phase And I d like to say it this way success never comes in a golden box with a red ribbon around it right So kind of when I was like pondering this thought like what do I have to do next 00 04 19 Ola Dantis Like I got a phone call from a friend of mine And he said Hey can you come to Dubai and meet me and help me with my business Now this is the part I m talking about So pay attention I could have said to my friend no not doing that I m not going to fly You know this was way before the pandemic way before Zoom way before you know so I did what every smart man does 00 04 41 Ola Dantis I spoke to my wife said Hey my friend called me as I asked me to meet him in Dubai And obviously now I know what that was a mastermind but at the time I didn t know what a mastermind was But anyway she said Hey why don t you guys you know Skype You know this was you know back then Skype or you know just do a video call or something Why do you have to go all the way there And I was like well I told my wife maybe I could learn something on this trip right Long story short I was on the plane to Dubai to meet my friend and my friend at the time what you know is based in the UK And he was kind of showing me what he was doing in the UK which was property investing right 00 05 18 Ola Dantis We call it real estate investing in America and kind of helped him in that You know we re just like in a very standard hotel nothing fancy just we were there for like three days masterminding on my friend s business and I kind of helped him kind of rehab his business you know help them out and I was like geez like this guy s doing really well in the UK 00 05 38 Ola Dantis On my way back on the plane I was like I think I can do this in America but I knew nothing about properties right So when I go back to America I went to my next best friend and said Hey Google what is real estate what is real estate right Did a lot of Googling 00 05 55 Ola Dantis I saw this website kept coming up biggerpockets com paid attention went to that you know website then I go plug into their podcast starting from the bottom literally from the very podcast listening to every single podcast This is how I got started Pay attention again anyone listening to this and then every guest kept saying you know when they ask them what s the book that you recommend 00 06 19 Ola Dantis Yeah like Rich Dad Poor Dad So now of course right Now I went to my second best friend Amazon Pay attention The reason I m saying this thing pay attention is those are the tricks Those are the acts They re very subtle They re nuanced but they re very important You don t know about anything go to Google You live in 2022 right You don t know how to do something go to Amazon Tons of books Literally millions maybe billions of books now right So you don t have any excuse right Came here with nothing So that s what I m mentioning I m not just telling you a story just to get long-winded 00 06 53 Ola Dantis I want people to pay attention right So got that book read that book and I made the connection to my wake up go to work do it again I was like oh my goodness this Robert Kiyosaki guy stole my idea and put it in the book This is exactly what I was wrestling with pondering So when I read that book it all made sense for me and two I think three months after reading that book I bought my first property in America 00 07 22 Ola Dantis This was at that time my wife my then-fiancee we re living in a luxury apartment Obviously I didn t know about cash flow then So I was the one paying cash flow you know but the good thing was I never cared about the trash days I never care about property taxes I never care about escrow Like what is an escrow 00 07 41 Ola Dantis I don t even know what an escrow is right But I moved from that comfortable position of living in a luxury apartment building to buying a duplex in the city where I have to worry about parking my car And now I was the landlord so I had to care about trash I have to know what property taxes meant I had to understand escrow 00 08 02 Ola Dantis I had to learn all these things but in that being uncomfortable brought new success for my wife and I right So we moved from a comfortable position to an uncomfortable position but the magic and beauty in being uncomfortable sort of veiled itself in new ways that you never ever imagined right So we bought this duplex right We are tenants upstairs So this is going from pain like you know 1500 a month in rent in this fancy luxury apartment to now pay next to nothing because we have tenants upstairs paying most of the mortgage 00 08 41 Sam Wilson Right So you you house hacked in a duplex 00 08 45 Ola Dantis Essentially essentially right Yeah 00 08 47 Sam Wilson That s awesome That s awesome Tell me how did you guys finance that first deal If you came over here with nothing and then suddenly thinking okay came here with nothing Yeah You guys may have both had jobs What was the financing I think I was just curious how that works 00 09 01 Ola Dantis Sam it s paying attention Hopefully just like a lot of folks listening to this How did you go from nothing to buying a property Good question Now remember my comment about this is the best continent This is one of many reasons You can buy a property in the United States with 3 down I don t care where you are in Idaho You re like it doesn t matter where you are In this country you need 3 down 3 5 to be precise The FHA loan for first-time homeowners in this great country That s what we use And this is available to everybody in this country 00 09 37 Sam Wilson Gotcha Right And because you were owner occupying it you were able to get the FHA three and a half percent down Got it Oh that s cool When did you make the jump to multifamily 00 09 47 Ola Dantis Yeah good question too So we my wife and I we bought this duplex We re living downstairs We are tenants paying You know and I remember you know getting back from work speaking to my wife you know doing what lovers do at night when you get back from work cooking and we got talking and I said Hey baby like I ve realized something 00 10 06 Ola Dantis My account just keeps growing and growing and growing because remember I was paying rent Now I m not Now I have all this money And she s like oh my goodness me too So now both of us we started kind of racking up just cash from this slight change from paying rent to collecting rent 00 10 25 Ola Dantis So we were like oh my goodness If we did five more of these I think it would be good Like literally if I more of them I think will be good So that s what kickstarted our journey into family right And so again during my research I found multifamily So started listening to another podcast as well And there was a guest that was on that podcast 00 10 52 Ola Dantis And at the end you know you know people say Hey you know how come people get connected with this guest How can we find find out more about you And the guest said Hey I m going to give out my number but of course nobody s going to call me That guy gives his number And obviously I wrote it down and guess what I called him and the guy was like um hello I was like well I m yeah Hi I m Mr Nobody Whatever you charge your students I could never afford it Again pay attention Success is never going to be like thrown in your face with cheerleaders screaming your name It could be a podcast and it could be just you writing down a number and making the call 00 11 30 Ola Dantis That s what success looks like right I think in our generation we have this like skewed version of what success should look like with the red Ferrari and the Rolex watch and all that stuff No that s far from what success should look like right So I made that call I knew I could never afford whatever that guy was offering 00 11 46 Ola Dantis But I asked and negotiated right And I got it So I started on that mentorship program So in case you re still wondering what s the hack here get a mentor Get a mentor get somebody that s done whatever you whatever you re trying to do I don t care if it s brain surgery or buying properties right Find someone that is doing what you re trying to do 00 12 08 Ola Dantis So I did that got into the multifamily cohort I know we ve you know in a group where guys were buying guys on girls buying apartment buildings I was in that group learning the ropes Learning the ropes And then I met another guy I said Hey guess what We can go flip a house down the road in Baltimore and make like 50 000 00 12 27 Ola Dantis Another hack shiny object syndrome Keep your focus be laser-focused But of course I didn t know this then So I said oh forget it s more family stuff is taking too long I want to buy today So I jumped ship I jumped ship and I went to flipping just a couple of homes Did not like it I hated flipping actually 00 12 50 Ola Dantis I was watching Joanna Gaines and Chip and they made it look so easy on HGTV So I thought I could do this I thought I could do this right So I did you know flipped a few houses made some money but definitely not what I wanted to do but as one of my favorite quotes in life there s always a price to pay And there are never ever any discounts You re going to have to pay the full price which I did because when I went flipping yes I made some money But by the time I go back with my cohort when I went back to multifamily and my you know my group you know guys that started you know with me and gals they were already buying a hundred unit apartment building they were buying mostly unit apartments 00 13 28 Ola Dantis I was like oh my goodness I was covered in dust on a flip this tiny house in Baltimore And you know I lost like a year or two just because of that shiny object syndrome So for anybody listening to this make sure when you choose your path keep going on that path until you succeed Before you start to consider other paths make sure you succeed 00 13 48 Ola Dantis Success looks like closing the deal buying a deal going through a full circle on that deal before you start jumping right I was able to redeem myself even though I did lose some years by partnering Another hack right This is not buying multifamily you know multi-million dollar assets in America or anywhere in the world 00 14 11 Ola Dantis It s not a one-man show okay You need a team of partners attorneys title folks brokers lenders It s just no child s play This is like serious business Okay So I had to partner with people that were doing it right by helping them on a deal Then that s how I got into my fourth multifamily deal 00 14 30 Sam Wilson That s awesome Choose your path and don t stray from it idea There s a book I m reading I should say just finished reading called The 4 Disciplines of Execution And it is the one thing they say that entrepreneurs no matter where you are in their journey that they all have struggled with is focus 00 14 50 Sam Wilson And they said the most successful people focus and they stay and they just stay in their lane and they don t wander out of it It s something that I m completely guilty of And I think a lot of us are where it s like oh Hey but we can do this and we can do that I heard somebody say it and I don t know where they picked it up but you know he who chases two rabbits catches none 00 15 09 Sam Wilson And there comes a time There comes a time I think in our businesses where once the people and the processes and the systems are operating without our input maybe then maybe then you could silo and build a different channel of business 00 15 21 Sam Wilson But until that one is functioning you know as a machine without your input it s probably not time to to add a second part or a second iteration of your business So that s really really cool What s your business look like today 00 15 34 Ola Dantis Yes So we re we re growing We ve got about 200 units last year This year 2022 for you know for those who might be listening to this in the future we ll look into buying 600 units 00 15 45 Ola Dantis Then we currently have a deal on the contract I was just telling Sam before you hit record that s keeping me super busy You know the goal here isn t just the senseless accumulation of wealth I think I like to mention that because I remember listening to podcasts when I was coming up and you get some guests and they re quite repulsive might be a strong word but you know but we this is not just get money get money and get money without really senselessly understanding what you re trying to do 00 16 15 Ola Dantis So for us at Dwellynn that s really huge for us We just not trying to just buy stuff and units and assets just for buying s sake And we ve been really strategic and being mindful of our impact on those we ll touch You know we touch constantly every day I got to mention that 00 16 33 Sam Wilson No no absolutely I m all for the accumulation of wealth right But it needs to be done strategically and for a reason I mean otherwise if you could I think if you accumulate wealth for wealth s sake it s pretty empty So yes that s really cool You guys are working on Dwellynn s 1HousePledge Can you tell me about that 00 16 52 Ola Dantis Yeah definitely That s a fantastic segue One of the biggest you know things that I feel like you know got us placed on our hearts here my wife and I and our team at Dwellynn is to you know donate a house mortgage-free to somewhere in the world Hopefully we you know the first project will be somewhere in America Of course people go oh my goodness You know how the heck do you do that 00 17 15 Ola Dantis That s why it s a pledge We don t know exactly how yet but we re traveling to make sure that we can do that mindfully of course again This is not going to be a 1 million mansion somewhere in Calabasas and California obviously but that s kind of something that we re trying to achieve 00 17 32 Sam Wilson That s really really cool I look forward look forward to following you on that Tell us about I mean multifamily you know we have this discussion a lot It s a tough time right now to find opportunities that pencil And if you guys are looking to buy 600 units what do you feel like your strategy is that gives you an edge over everybody else that s out there buying right now 00 17 52 Ola Dantis Just being conservative a hundred percent That s not a massive competitive edge You know for any of those who are in multifamily well that s kind of the number one thing because of the current climate cap rate compressing NOI growth is being challenged specifically with the inflation 00 18 14 Ola Dantis In our economy right now the gas prices kind of really I m hurting the purses of those visitors of our tenants right So really being aware of what s going on in the market So I think another way that we ve been different is really working our relationships in the market Getting super super focused with our brokers with exactly what we re looking for the kind of returns that the equity that we re deploying is looking for trying to get the off off off off off markets from a seller that is not just trying to squeeze a deal I read a book one of the richest you know billionaires Jorge Perez real estate developer in Miami And he started with nothing too and I need to said something it s like in the deal he leaves money on the table right He leaves money on the table Now for anybody who has been in business you know Sam you know myself at first thought you re like what the heck does that mean Like why would you do that Sounds stupid But what he was basically saying is you leave money on the table because you re not trying to squeeze a deal just to squeeze a deal s sake right 00 19 24 Ola Dantis Because when you do that it s karma I believe in this stuff right Because when you try to squeeze a deal as a seller trying to sell a deal and squeeze everything you might end up buying a deal that is not good for your investors too So that s kind of our philosophy We re not trying to squeeze every deal as a seller and as a buyer 00 19 43 Sam Wilson I love it I love it That kind of goes back to the don t get rich for rich s sake philosophy It s like Hey we re you know and all that kind of ties into an ethos that goes okay we re not squeezing deals 00 19 54 Sam Wilson We re not squeezing sellers We re not squeezing as a buyer It is placing tenants not squeezing tenants It is but you still being focused or profit-minded I mean you have to be 00 20 03 Ola Dantis Yeah yeah Extremely profit-minded I can guarantee you that 00 20 06 Sam Wilson Right Right Yeah There is certainly a unique a unique balance there Ola I ve loved learning about what it is that you re doing where you come from the story of you know coming to the United States with 180 bucks in your pocket I think that s a story that for those of us that grew up here and just watching the economic-political landscape the regulatory landscape for us it s it s really disheartening It s like oh my gosh this is not working out well And then the rest of the world comes over and is like Hey you have no idea what it is 00 20 38 Ola Dantis Yeah there s like gold on the streets 00 20 40 Sam Wilson On the streets Right And so so yeah that s a it s always refreshing to hear that the American dream is still alive Can still be carried out by people coming over and making it happen 00 20 53 Sam Wilson So thanks for sharing all your story with us today How you guys are finding deals discomfort your advice on choosing paths finding a mentor Yeah just staying focused So yeah certainly love it If our listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about you what is the best way to do that 00 21 07 Ola Dantis Yeah Thank you so much Sam If you re watching this on YouTube it s right there Should I say investwithola com That s investwithola O-L-A com That will redirect you to the Dwellynn website and yeah if you re also on Instagram as much as I feel like I am lately you know hit me up on Instagram Ola Dantis There s just one of me You can never miss me or wherever else you are online I m pretty ubiquitous online So yeah you can find me anywhere 00 21 33 Sam Wilson Awesome Yeah we ll make sure we include all that information there in the show notes Ola thanks again for your time today I certainly appreciate it 00 21 40 Ola Dantis Appreciate it Thanks so much Sam Click here to visit this podcast episode