Peter (00:02):
Hey, Hey everybody. Peter. Excellent here. And I’ve got one of my amazing partners, Eugene Faulkner on the earlier side, Eugene.
Eugene (00:11):
Hello everyone. Good. Good.
Peter (00:14):
You’re seeing, are you at home
Eugene (00:16):
Right now? Yes, I’m at home.
Peter (00:18):
Talk to me. Why you at home?
Eugene (00:20):
I’m at home because my wife is at work. She’s a nurse nurse practitioner and she had to go in to work today and I’m at home with the kids. I have twins five year old boy and a girl.
Peter (00:31):
Now, are you quarantine?
Eugene (00:33):
Yes.
Peter (00:34):
Okay. So, so are you, is, is your, are you not working right now or are you just literally just, this is your shift to be at home.
Eugene (00:42):
I’m not working right now. I’m all in with the real estate business and my life.
Peter (00:47):
I love it. I love it. I love it. Oh, it’s so yeah, man, I could spend an hour here with you. I mean, usually you’re just, I’m going to tell you, you are an inspiration, you know, 22 years ago, I started this business and um, for first three years I made zero money. Like it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s like totally legitimate to say that for the first three years I volunteered in real estate, but it wasn’t like one of those fulfilling real estate, you know, fulfilling, you know, volunteer jobs where you, you know, you just feel great about yourself. It was, it was like treachery. I mean, I lost everything I had. I made every mistake. I lost money on deals I was taken advantage of. So my point is you’re, you’re, uh, you’re a man after my own heart, meaning you you’re a long-term player, you know, you get it. So let, let’s start kind of in the beginning. Tell us a little bit about yourself. What’s your, uh, tell us about your background?
Eugene (01:40):
Well, I’ve been a chef for the past 14 years. I quit my job two years ago to start my real estate business, which I thought I can go in and do, um, pretty much on my own, but let me know that I need a team also with me. I had, um, pretty, um, some major setbacks going in. I did a rehab that didn’t work out so good. And, um, kind of set me on my family back far, you know, far along than what I really wanted to be. So I ended up, um, basically just doing my homework and finding you guys on YouTube and you and Julie seemed so compassionate about what you all do, Firewise as real estate business. And so I jumped all in. I let my wife know that this is where I want to be and just select programs I want to be in.
Peter (02:30):
Awesome. So talk to me a little bit about the rehab you try to do by yourself. Was it a disaster?
Eugene (02:38):
Yes. It was a D a disaster. Yes. I actually found it, um, from a wholesale that I ended up picking up from, from a hard money lender. And, um, I ended up going through them to get the property and the property, my realtor didn’t really know how to evaluate it and everything. He sat on the market for longer than what it’s supposed to. I ended up putting more in it than what I really was able to afford to put in it. So they kind of sent me back there and, um, yeah, it was just, uh, a headache from there on out.
Peter (03:14):
You know, I tell people, this is not a business that you want to learn as you go, is it
Eugene (03:22):
Definitely not?
Peter (03:23):
You know, you, you, I always tell people if you want to do like basket weaving, that’s a good business to learn as you go, you know, there’s other businesses that are just, you know, they’re more forgiving real estate and I’m sure you’ll agree with me. You could sneeze the wrong way and lose 10 grand. You know what I mean?
Eugene (03:38):
Exactly. And not even have to lose
Peter (03:42):
Well. And, and, and, and doesn’t, it seem like in the beginning when you’re trying to do this yourself, everybody, it seems like when you look back at it and it’s like, everybody takes advantage of you. You know what I mean?
Eugene (03:51):
I saw that all the way around the board from my realtor to my contractor and everything else in between. Unbelievable. But I’m very know I’m still here. I’m able to go,
Peter (04:02):
Well, you know, I tell people, and this is why for the first three years, I, I, I worked for nothing because in the first six months I actually lost like half a million dollars. And the way I described that is, um, um, everybody looked at me as a paycheck, right? Like they look at us as paycheck. The realtor looks at us as a commission paycheck. The rehabber looks at us as somebody that’ll make them more money than he’s supposed to deserve. You know what I mean? And that’s how I was for six months. I just, I was a paycheck to everybody in my world. You know what I mean? Yeah. No, I hear you. I hear you. Uh, okay. So then you start doing some due diligence. You did what I did. You realize that real estate works. We just weren’t doing it the right way. So you tell us how you found this, uh, YouTube. You said,
Eugene (04:47):
Yes. I found John, you too. What’s a whole bunch of other entrepreneurs out there. That’s pretty much doing the same thing, but you guys, it’s something that caught me different from you guys, you and Julianne. It seemed like I attached to whatever, you know, what, what I was trying to get from you guys. I felt, you know, from you all speaking and watching your webinars and YouTube. So, and then I reached out to you guys,
Peter (05:15):
You know, it’s interesting in today’s environment, when I ask people, how did you hear about us almost a hundred percent off social media, you know, Facebook, YouTube, you know, and, and all that. But the other thing I’m always curious about, because you can go to YouTube and there is like thousands of groups out there. I mean, we’re not the only people, you know, obviously, you know, because we, you know, from my end, I know what I’m doing. Okay. I don’t have to prove myself to anybody, but at the same time, I also know you can get on YouTube and you can get overwhelmed. So I’m always curious what specifically made you want to go with us to do this business with what was it I’m just curious about that.
Eugene (05:58):
I just felt the connection. I felt the straight talk from you and Judy, you know, you guys was no BS. It was like straight forward path. You know, um, either you’re gonna make this work or you’re going to fail. So, and with the backbone that I feel like I have with you guys, it’s a no brainer. It’s a no brainer. Plus plus, um, YouTube is like everyone I’ve known there is trying to sell the same product, but you also have to do your skip trace. So that’s why I feel like skip tracing comes in hand with everyone. That’s trying to sell a product called. So
Peter (06:33):
There’s no question. There’s no question. We feel like we, you know, we differentiate ourselves. Now the one thing I think if, you know, again, we talk about a ton, a ton of our office, but from me perspective, you know, you know, like, uh, my staff just loves you. They love, you know, you’re you, you’re, you’re positive. You know, all these good things, you follow instructions and all this, the biggest thing to me is you’re a long-term player. It’s kind of what we started off a couple of minutes ago. W what makes you a long-term player? Because I’ll be honest with you. I think that is the biggest reason why people never become successful in anything in life has nothing to do with real estate. It doesn’t have to do with anything. Just people have this very short-term view of how things need to be. Y I have no idea.
Peter (07:16):
You know, you take a guy that’s like 50 years old. He’s worked his whole life. He’s broke as ever. And that’s okay, but, oh my God, I’m going to try to be successful. I’m only going to give myself like two months and if I can be successful in two months, then I’m out. I just, I don’t get it. It’s like, it’s a lifetime to be broke, but just a very short period of time to try to be successful. What what’s, what is it about you? I mean, you got the long-term success. Gene. Tell me, what is it that inherited? Is it something you’ve been taught? Learned?
Eugene (07:46):
Well, when I got into this, I felt like there was no way going back. There was no way going back to my nine to five, you know, every day, getting up 5:00 AM getting off at 4:00 PM. You know, it was just backbreaking. And I felt like, have to make a way and no life, life expectations, you fall, but you got to get back up.
Peter (08:10):
You fall in love with no, I love it. I love it. You know, I think everyone that’s got a term vision, you know, we all have our own way of kind of saying it, but in the end, it’s, it’s exactly what you said. You know, we kind of put a wall behind us, you know, our backs against the wall. It’s like, I was the same way I wasn’t going back. I was not going back. I don’t care what, I don’t care what the price, I don’t care how long. I mean, it took me three years to really make my first dollar, but I didn’t care. I mean, I I’d say that would’ve taken another two or three years. I had nothing to go back to. You know what I mean? It’s, it’s kinda how I look at that now. Cool. I know I just wired you some money last week. We did a deal. Fantastic. Tell us specifically about that deal. How’d you find it?
Eugene (08:52):
After I started sending out direct mail and I got a caller, call me back from one of the letters that I sent out and said, I’m not actually selling a house, but I know when someone that is selling the house and then they give me the contact number and everything. And I went from there and initially they wanted one 10 for the property. So we negotiated back and forth and I ended up getting it down to 75. And so we went from there.
Peter (09:19):
Awesome. That is fricking awesome. That’s like a 40% discount. That’s fantastic. Now, you know, I think ultimately the, the, the big reason why I think people go with us is that we’re not just kind of an educational. It’s not that we do believe in education and training. We partner with people. I mean, I think that’s really, yeah, well, that’s exact correct. So tell, tell me a little bit about how did you know, how did the staff, how did that operation help you through this process of this deal?
Eugene (09:49):
Well, when I first got the deal, I was thinking that I was going to be able to rehab it, but then you all y’all explained to me that we’re going to go ahead and just wholesale it, because that’d be a better process for us going in and doing that, which I understand that because I’ve been roughly what you guys for almost about two years now. So I pretty much understand the concept of it and it’s a win-win situation for both of us. So
Peter (10:15):
That’s awesome. And thumbs up to you for, you know, you know, that’s the cool thing about you that, you know, you follow instructions. It’s amazing how many people like we’ve done thousands of deals and you’ll be shocked. How many people start working with us? And from day one, they tell us like what to do. You know what I mean? So I th well, that’s another key characteristic you have. You’re coachable. That’s a cool thing.
Eugene (10:36):
And another thing I’m not, I’m in it for the long haul I didn’t get in is to look for a, get rich, quick scheme or anything like that. No, I’m really dead catered to what I want to do in life. That’s awesome.
Peter (10:48):
That’s awesome. Um, what was our total, how much should we make on this deal?
Eugene (10:54):
Uh, between between 26, 7, 20 7,000 that we split.
Peter (10:57):
Okay, beautiful. Beautiful. You know, and, and, and well, think about this, you know, I mean, to some people that’s like their whole year salary, you know what I mean? Something, they go to work for 40 hours, you know, on a daily basis, on a weekly basis to make that kind of income. So that’s awesome. I’m so proud of you. You didn’t listen to, I’m so proud of just you being a partner. We got to get my I’m going to challenge you right now. I want you and I to always have between five and seven properties under contract. Okay. That’s the magic number in his business? Five to seven. We’ll consider a couple of fall in a couple of close, a couple of fallout, a couple fall in a couple of close, a couple of fallout. And then consistently we’re going to start doing deals literally on a monthly basis.
Peter (11:45):
So I’m going to, I’m going to personally help you. I want you to be more accountable to me. Okay. I want you to start technically, or I want, I want us to do, and it’s all about connecting with sellers. Know that and all this, but you, you are, you’re just, you know, you’re just, you’re not just an inspiration to so many people. I talk about way more than, you know, um, but your inspiration to our staff, I mean, this is what this, our staff is all about, about working with partners like you. And that’s what we’re all about. We’re a partner driven model. You know, we coach you, we mentor you guys, you know, we help them generate leads. We obviously provide the funding when it’s needed the construction and all this. Let’s get some more going, all right. Five to seven. That’s what I want. And let’s get some more checks, split. Okay. Sounds good. Eugene. You’re awesome. You’re absolutely awesome. A hundred percent. I know you are. I know, I love to do it.
