Ep. 174 Frankie Herrera: Real Estate Success through Listening and Solving Problems

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 Listening vs Talking

When people do business, they are usually always talking and selling. Frankie Herrera, however, takes the opposite approach. Frankie’s strategy is to get in front of the investors and listen in order to understand the problem and then provide a solution that’s mutually beneficial.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE Q&A:

[13:55] Does Frankie have a specific formula to determine if the property is a good investment?

Frankie does not have a specific formula but instead looks at the big picture. Ultimately, it just has to make sense. Frankie likes to physically be there to see the property and the surrounding area to get a gut feeling as well as to see what the comps are saying.

[18:05] How does Frankie find the people he can help?

In 2014 he bought into a franchise called HomeVestors.  For advertising, they do mass mail marketing, TV spots, billboards, and pay-per-click — all on a very large schedule. There are 34 local franchises, and they pool their money together to be the “100 pound gorilla” in the room.

[24:05] How does Frankie acquire capital?

Frankie maintains very clean and understandable books/financials so that banks can look and easily see it’s a good investment. This really helps to get good size lines of credit. They leverage those lines of credit as well as their own money from their property management company.

[30:30] How is the market right now?

It’s hard to read the market so they do a lot of testing. They buy a lot of property and throw it out there wholesale to see how the investors are doing.

[33:20] Any advice for Newbies?

Pay attention and listen to absolutely everything that’s out there. Try to stay in a relatively safe place. Don’t feel like you have to shoot for a home run on your first one. Start hitting singles. Singles turn into doubles and triples, and then your home runs will come. Focus on one thing at a time. Be careful of the amount you will improve a property. You will not be living there, so don’t get wrapped up in too many improvements. Don’t over-improve the property.

 

About Our Guest

Our guest this week is Frankie Herrera. Frankie has a B.A. in Finance from the University of South Florida. He started his career as a project manager for Volunteers of America Florida in 2006 where he learned building construction. In 2009 he furthered his career by joining Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

In 2011 he started Partners Associated in Development by Herrera, LLC at HomeVestors – where his team has bought, rehabbed, rented, and sold over 300 properties.

In 2016, he opened up RealVest Florida, LLC – a boutique real estate brokerage. In 2017, he opened up Versant Managmeent Group, LLC – a property management group which manages properties for local investors.

 

Investor Resources

If you would like to contact Frankie Herrera, you can can reach him at directly at 813-944-3908 or 813-966-9734. Frankie can help you with you with questions about deals, the area, how things are going, looking for a house, property management, retail real estate and investments.

Ep. 114 Kurt Westfield: Apartment Investor Tough Lessons Lead to New Strategy

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multifamily investing and finding a strategy as an apartment investorAs real estate investors, sometimes what we think is a good investment strategy does not turn out quite as expected. While a single family investor may be able to stick to a strategy and adopt minimal changes, this is not usually the case for the apartment investor.

Your investment strategy should suit the deal you are making. It may become necessary to change your strategy in order to make a deal work.

While this may mean an extra headache in the short-term, a change in strategy could mean the difference between a successful investment and a failure.

Just ask Apartment Investor Kurt Westfiled

Kurt Westfield is the founder of WC Companies, an umbrella brand for his multi-service real estate investment firms.Listeners will remember Kurt’s last episode with us when he discussed his transition from single family investor to apartment investor.

This episode, we catch up with Kurt following his transition to apartment investor. He discusses how he found out early on in his career the importance of finding a winning strategy.

Apartment Investor: Finding a New Strategy

The Deal

  • 14 unit apartment building
  • In foreclosure
  • Expedited due diligence (7 days)
  • Intended to be 12 month, light fix-and-flip with capital expenses at $80-100k

The Issues

  • Tenants trashed complex
  • Property had suffered from neglect

Changing Strategy

  • Evicted all current tenants
  • Rehabbed entire property, inside and out
  • Structured leasing as condo-apartment type w/ one model unit completed while construction was ongoing
  • Created brand identity
  • Started community engagement activities

The Results

  • 3 1/2 year project, cap expenses at $400k
  • Property raised market rent 60% in area
  • Identified potential of revitalizing fringe market properties
  • Focused on developing branded communities rather than street addresses

Kurt is still an active apartment investor, looking for multifamily deals in Tampa and Jacksonville up to 50 units. To contact Kurt with a potential deal, email him at kurt@wccompanies.com.

For any other questions or to find out more about services offered by WC Companies, visit their website.