Podcast Episode 141 Transcript

Episode 141: Building A Lasting Legacy From A Young Age with Jeffrey Donis

are you ready to bring your real estate
game to the next level my name is James
Prendamano I'm the CEO and founder of
Prereal and over the past 25 years I've
closed over a billion dollars in
transactional real estate each week I'm
meeting with outstanding investors High
performing individuals and Visionaries
operating in the real estate space these
are the people that are actually out
there in the real estate game right now
getting it done this podcast aims at
bringing anyone
this is the Prereal podcast
welcome to the Prereal podcast we're
joined today Folks by Jeffrey Donis
he's the managing partner at Donis
Investment Group we're just chatting
offline about the market and what we're
seeing out there and some of the
opportunities and challenges Jeffrey
thank you so much for taking the time
and joining us today of course I
appreciate you having me on James the
pleasure I think we connected on
Instagram is that right yes sir yeah I
appreciate you reaching out man it's a
pleasure to be here I'm really excited
to see how I can add value to your
audience
I'm wondering what your journey has been
like have you found the community to be
ingratiating and yeah yeah I know I've
been a part of thankfully and
um you know I've been fortunate to have
been a part of multiple different
Mastermind groups at various different
uh I guess niches and kind of parts of
my journey um it's been amazing every
step of the way and I continue to look
for more groups to join but everyone's
been you know accepting us with open
arms and by us I work with my two
brothers so I have a twin brother and an
older brother
um and we're young we're uh obviously
hungry but in regards to our background
we don't necessarily come from money and
things like that so when we go into
these groups a lot of people might be
intimidated if they come from a similar
background or have similar limiting
beliefs that they've had to overcome it
can be kind of difficult to jump into
this space knowing where you come from
but for us it's really been a lot easier
to do that when there's so many people
looking to help and as a young person it
seems like all the other people are
looking to pour into us so it's been
nothing but uh blessings clearly you're
young you're energetic I love it
um
was it family was it the older brother
that led you down the path of real
estate where did the the passion come
from initially
yeah so I love that question it's like
the passion itself
um that's the difference for me that's a
different I can give you a different
answer for that than how we got into it
so if you don't mind I'll give you the
first the first part in regards to how
we got into it my older brother was the
first one to come across wholesaling and
he found it on
um YouTube he was just watching The
Breakfast Club one day while he was in
his college dorm room uh have you heard
of the show sure yeah and a guy named
Mark Whitten was on talking about
wholesaling and Mark Mark is a he's an
African-American guy comes from a low
income background and that attracted and
kind of was it something that my brother
can relate to where Hispanic uh we come
from a low income background single
mother so we were like okay well this
individual on this TV is making a lot of
money and he's excuse pointing at the
screen saying if you're out there and
you know you come from nothing and you
want to make a lot of money or be
successful and build a Life by Design
This is a business that you can do
because I can do it
um so my brother started looking into it
he told us about it um and the first
book my brother read was that poor dad
he kept telling us you have to read this
book I didn't read it until I went to
Guatemala for the first time with my
whole family that's what my mom is from
as I mentioned and when I got there I
realized the humble beginnings that my
mom comes from and she wasn't I used to
think she was exaggerating because she'd
always give us these crazy stories about
her having to walk for water and her
having to take care of all her siblings
and having to heat up water if she
wanted to like take a shower because
there's no hot water and then I went
there and I had to do all those things
and I was like wow okay she wasn't lying
and this is actually legit and I was
taking everything out of here for
granted even though she was telling me
that it's hard to actually understand
what she's saying until you're in her
shoes right so came back and after that
point we were like no more paralysis
analysis we're going to take action so
um we all got into it at the same time
but my brother learned about it first
now and it runs to the passion I grew up
playing soccer I've always been
competitive
um and I used to play at a pretty high
level so I'm the kind of person that
like like you said we both already I'm
assuming you have the same same exact
trait where you just have a lot of
energy I love to win I like to to see
progress every single day that's why I'm
an entrepreneur I love the idea of
winning
um and then just trying to like go
towards my absolute best potential every
single day that's really what drives me
um I don't know what it is and it's hard
to put like a word on it but I have lies
like my goal is to retire my mother
that's the first thing
um so that really does drive me but if I
were to say like truly where my passion
comes from there's just something inside
that's like a burning desire to be great
in all aspects of life that and a factor
and an external reflection of that is
through my business yeah so let's talk
about the portfolio the goal I believe
is a thousand units by 21 is that
correct
well it's interesting that you bring
that up because I don't know exactly
when yeah did you hear about my goal
because it kind of reminded me I we had
a thousand uh last month
thank you thank you good stuff pretty
funny that you say that because I must
have put that somewhere you see I write
things down all the time we do all
homework before we get here so yeah I'm
glad that that happened man awesome
thank you I turned 21 in September so I
definitely appreciate that um in regards
to the portfolio we uh we're co-sponsors
on those deals so I've been four deals
in the Southeast that we closed on
alongside our partners and a little over
a thousand and we're under contract on
our our fifth deal that we we've sourced
ourselves these are all multi-family
deals 100 plus units uh we target BC
class properties
um personally we'll Source deals out of
Atlanta and North Carolina uh and on the
coast sponsorship side we've
co-sponsored deals in Atlanta
Jacksonville Florida and Waco Texas
um so I it's been awesome and I credit
it to first and foremost God but also we
have some awesome
um team members that uh We've leveraged
their experience and they've given us
the opportunity to partner with them so
definitely a lot of mentors that have
helped us get to this point so uh is it
the goal for your group your brothers to
become the lead sponsor on deals is that
where you're headed or are you very
comfortable uh in the more passive of
it
great question so on this deal we have
under contract which um I'm not going to
say any other information on it but uh
we we do um you're learning quick baby
yeah no no no just to kind of get like
to be transparent but transparent where
it's like not crossing any lines right
yeah we definitely are running lead on
this one we found it ourselves we're
obviously bringing on Partners to help
us with key key roles like asset
management and we're going to partner on
the asset management we're going to do
the asset management ourselves but we
understand that it's awesome and the
amazing thing about this space is you
can leverage other people for everything
so we're having a partner that has more
experience than us that's going to help
us with the asset management and we also
have a partner that's going to be at KP
so certain rules like that that maybe we
couldn't do by ourselves we're
leveraging other people to do that in
exchange
um for you know equity in the deal and
all that so they're definitely getting
value out of it and so are we how did
you land where you landed essentially
yeah so
um we live in North Carolina so I would
I would first and foremost say it's
geographically geographically it makes
the most sense to go to the markets that
we're in so I live here in Raleigh
Durham the Raleigh Durham area which is
why we look here we look in Greensboro
North Carolina and Charlotte and then
also Atlanta is a market that we're in
and it's only six hours from my house
it's an amazing market and we were
already co-sponsors on a deal there so
that's why we chose those markets uh
also at the end of the day it's where
you're getting deal flow right so my
brother was just getting deal flow out
of Atlanta and North Carolina is where
we want to be because we love North
Carolina one it's an amazing Market too
we live here we grew up here too like my
brother went to school at UNCG which is
like 45 minutes from where we live my
twin brother went to Chapel Hill so we
grew up all around this area we know the
market very well since we grew up here
um I grew up playing soccer in North
Carolina so I travel all these places
growing up and now I get to look for
apartments there which is pretty cool
that's why I love the market of exactly
where we are but that's how we landed on
those as the cycle chain changes do you
think that those secondary markets are
going to continue to see growth
oh I do I think it depends on where
you're asking so why I can only speak on
the market that I I am involved in
um so Atlanta and then North Carolina we
honestly look in mainly primary markets
like Charlotte Raleigh Durham and
Atlanta and they might I guess you're
out it's all subjective in regards to
primary but in my opinion those are
primary
um and those are we're still continuing
to see increase in population uh I don't
see why people would stop
um look at the uh in in population
growth in regards to Atlanta
specifically uh that's continuing to go
up there was an article that came out
last week that it was uh ridiculous
numbers in regards to the amount that it
was increasing I don't remember the
exact number I want to say around 18 but
those are numbers that we I still expect
it to continue seeing I do I think
Atlanta's not in like a New York in
regards to
um where those markets are at right it's
very very far from that so I do think
people will still continue to move there
and also people follow the jobs right so
as Jobs continue to move into these
certain markets I do expect to see the
same population uh people that are
looking and it may like slow down a
little bit
um as these things start to like fizzle
out and the dust starts to settle but I
do think things like covid happened and
that's why we saw that increase and
people coming from New York down to the
southeast as curve it goes away maybe
people start to move back
um but at the end of the day these are
amazing places to live in comparison to
New York it's a lot more affordable and
at the end that's where jobs are going a
lot of these big companies are like like
Tesla for example they're moving to
Texas away from California so these are
things that I do expect to continue
happening where we're headed into
um what I believe is going to be a
significant amount of time of continued
right raising interest rates so I'm
curious
um how does that impact the investment
strategy for your team uh both in the
short and long term
yeah so short term in regards to how we
approach deals uh we're obviously a
little bit more picky so we've honed in
on the criteria in regards to what deals
we're looking for so vintage wise
um you know we in the past we were open
to doing 60 deals
um you know properties built in the
1960s now we're very very uh keen on
1975 and newer
um for various reasons which we can get
into in regards to the class we're
looking for C plus closer to B minus
um properties in great locations either
a markets or B plus areas
um and also in regards to markets we've
honed in as I already spoke about just
on Atlanta and Justin North Carolina
because we're very confident in those
areas especially during these uncertain
times when it comes down to the
financing aspect of it uh we have I do
leverage and uh kind of love having this
awesome sponsorship team around me
because they have a lot more experience
than I do my partner has over 25 years
worth of experience and over a billion
assets under management so although I
haven't personally been to that many
cycles I know he has obviously he's been
alive a lot longer than I have so
fortunately he's been able to survive
these cycles and learn a lot of lessons
and valuable lessons from them so we do
leverage that in regards to the types of
debt we're looking at the deal is is
obviously going to depend on the deal so
a lot of people in the space that I
looked up to are pushing for you know
anyone in their audience to get fixed
rate debt or long term
um so that way you know we don't know
what's going to happen with interest
rates no one does but in regards to the
fed and the predictions of them
continuing to rise a rate or increase
interest rates if you have fixed rate
debt obviously that will protect you
from that now my only concern with that
is if you fix a you know if you're
locked into a high interest rate today
and let's say you're planning on being
into that debt for 10 years or let's say
six years whatever your business plan is
um now you have no chance of it coming
back down let's say it's six percent
right now and you're 10. let's see
you're two in two years that fed the
drops rates back down to three percent
or four percent
um you're kind of out of luck right like
you can't go back down if you're fixed
so that's the only thing and prepayment
penalties are obviously very expensive
to sell any earlier so
for us word we're not necessarily
opposed to doing bridge that or fixed
rates it in long-term debt it just
depends on the deal certain deals like
value ad plays it has to mean a certain
DC uh that service coverage ratio for
that to even be considered for long-term
proven agency debt so if the deal just
doesn't make sense in regards to going
with the fixed rate debt then we're not
actually opposed to doing bridge that as
long as we're confident in the market
and we are buying the property at a low
enough price where we can calculate uh
rate caps and all that and obviously we
do want the three three-year bridge loan
with a plus one plus one option to
extend in the case that we're not able
to get that uh refinance year three
let's say that's your business plan for
that then we have the option to extend
if need be now obviously the property
has to be performing
um to be able to qualify for that
extension but that's the goal right for
the property to perform I love it it
sounds like you've got a hell of a
vision and a hell of a goal here
um and I have no doubt that you're going
to hit your marks man I love the energy
uh you have a an interesting uh book
it's a free ebook on the site
um how to not go bankrupt uh five
mistakes that new investors make could
you spend a couple of minutes on that
for the audience and tell them where
they can find it
yeah for sure so uh my my brother was
the one that made it to a credit card
you know tall of his hard work um
putting that together for you all but
it's pretty much just a list of mistakes
that a lot of passive investors make now
when you're looking at an investment
opportunity a lot of times some of these
sponsors may not be doing a great job of
just educating you on all the risks um
and maybe you're new to it right so you
don't understand all the questions you
should ask are there certain things that
in pitfalls you'd like to avoid then
this would be a great resource for you
you can go to
www.donisinvestmentgroup.com backslash
Playbook and you spell my last name
d-o-n-i-s so it's Donna's Playbook sorry
donna'sinvestmentgroup.com Playbook
Jeff what's the
what does success look like for you is
there an Ultimate Finish Line what does
that look like
yeah so I I think
um success is is it's something that
like Matthew McConaughey who is someone
that is like in the Hollywood scene he
once said at a Grammy uh he was giving
his Grammy speech acceptance speech he
said my dream the dream person and the
person I look up to is the person I'll
be coming 10 years so every every time I
win an award or every year that changes
and that person is still 10 years away
all the time and for me that's really
the way I look at it so I honestly don't
think I'll ever meet all of my goals um
and as we spoke before my initial goal
for 21 was a thousand units and I I knew
this was going to happen like I had
Manifest this just in regards to like me
writing it down every single day I was
like I have a feeling like this is going
to happen a lot sooner I had no idea how
that was gonna happen by the way like
when you write these goals down it's
just just you write it down because you
think it's crazy that's what you know
people like Grant Cardone don't tell you to
do it write it down as crazy as it is
and it happens so much faster I'm like
okay what's the next crazy thing that I
could write down right because it seems
to work so
um and for me it's always going to be
further and further but right now the
first step is to retire my mom
um we want to do that the right way with
passive income not active income active
income is money that you make for
putting your time in but we want to take
that money that we make putting the time
in and then invest that into our own
Investments and other Investments that
will produce passive income so that way
it's something that's uh it's it's uh I
guess scalable and we do it correctly
where we're not necessarily just burning
the money and it's it's something that
can only Roll and Roll and can last
forever so we want to do that first Jeff
I I wish you all the best in the world
where where's the best place for people
to learn more about you and to contact
you
yeah so feel free to visit our website
at
www.donisinvestmentgroup.com check out
our podcast the real estate Monopoly on
all podcast aggregators you can find me
on LinkedIn and Instagram at Jeffrey
Donis and then on our uh brother's
account it's Donis Brothers on LinkedIn
I'm sorry Tick Tock YouTube Facebook
Twitter and then Instagram as well
uh again nothing but the best
congratulations on the success
congratulations on hitting your goal
Jeffrey Donis everybody check them out
the Donis Investment Group as always all
the links are below and everybody please
stay safe