Entrepreneurship Has Helped Jamil Damji Endure the Ups and Downs

With more than two decades of real estate experience, Jamil Damji has built a career by doubling down as an entrpreneur and helping others through his mentoring and coaching programs.

Thanks for joining us for another episode of Flip The Switch. I’m Phil Sundoff from batch service, and today, our guest is the one and only Jamil Damgey. Jamil is a widely successful real estate wholesaler, over twenty years of industry experience. He’s also the co founder of Kegli, a nationally franchised real estate wholesaling outlet operating in over a hundred and eighty markets and counting. Jamila is committed to his expertise on his popular YouTube channel and in his Astro flipping group, which is a community of real estate wholesalers with more than four thousand active members now. Is that right?

Yeah. It’s it’s six.

Six thousand. You just said that. My apologies.

All good.

Welcome to the show, Jamil. Hi. So flip the switch. We learn about store various people, the moments that changed their careers, their personal lives. And so let’s start from the beginning with you, Jamil. Tell me how you got into real estate.

You know, it’s an interesting story. Right? I didn’t wake up one be like, I love real estate. It was really not how it happened.

Right? I initially was, supposed to be a physician. Like, that’s what, you know, I mean, Indian, and my parents were like, listen. You got two choices in life.

You’re gonna be a doctor, you’re gonna be a garbage collector. Which one you’re gonna do?

Oh, I thought lawyer was an option No.

No. No. I could have been a way better lawyer than a doctor, believe me. And I had asked. I was like, what about law? They’re like, nah, they don’t make enough money. So, you know, part of the thing that you deal with, especially in, you know, ethnicities, like, like, you know, Indians, they they’re very much actively involved in the decision making processes for their kids.

To the to the benefit and detriment of everybody. Right? And so I’m very appreciative of my family and my parents were making me an ambitious person. Like, I’ve always been ambitious, and I’ve was really worked hard and strived for success and whatever I did, but I didn’t get into medical school. And so I’m in this, like, really interest thing situation in life now where I’m in an unknown, you know, world now where I’m not gonna be a doctor anymore. So now what?

And This is your early twenties point.

Early twenties. Yeah. And I, I end up getting a phone call from a friend who knew somebody running a media company, and this company was, like, early, early, you know, early, two thousands, they were telling business is that, look, this internet thing is a real thing, and you’re gonna need to have an online presence. So they were selling these six page websites to companies, to get, you know, their online profiles established essentially. Right? And, they were struggling.

Like, they were not able to make sales because people were still advertising in the yellow pages like, it like, a website just wasn’t in the cards for a lot of businesses at the time.

They didn’t believe in it. Right? So, you know, here we are, I’m I come to this company. They’re like, we’re struggling in sales.

I said, okay. Well, I’m let me let me try. So I, you know, get the phone book, and I start calling industries at the letter a. And I’m, you know, a whole week, I’m killing it.

Right? I’m I sell more websites in a week than they did in an entire quarter. Right? That’s that’s how good I was at at those sales.

And, you know, I knew I had leverage. So I went to them and I asked, well, Give me fifty one percent of the company, because I’m obviously gonna be the person that’s gonna save this situation, and I need to have a stake in this. Otherwise, it’s not worth my time. Because I can’t do this commission thing.

It’s just not, not gonna work for me. And they were like, okay, well, yeah, we’re either gonna close the doors, or you’re gonna help save us. So do it. Wow.

And so, you know, I’m super happy about that. We start going. I’m rocking and rolling in the sales. And, you know, all of a sudden, we come to learn that the six hundred dollar website that we were selling for the six page six hundred dollar website actually cost seven hundred dollars to make.

And so I very quickly put us out of business. But the beautiful thing here, the long story of this all, how I get back to real estate is I was I was in proximity to my business partner at the time, he and his father were in real estate, and they were building these luxury duplexes where they’d take an old house, demolish it, build a luxury duplex and sell them off, and they were making like a hundred and sixty thousand dollars every time they’d complete a project.

And I overheard a conversation where they were going their P and L on a deal, and my mind was blown. I’m like, hundred and sixty thousand dollars on one deal. How do I get involved? And you know, the the regular barriers were immediately thrown at me.

Hey, do you have any money? No. Do you have any do you have any credit? No.

Do you have any you know, any other skills that we hold a real estate license? No. Okay. You can’t get involved.

Like, there’s nothing for you to do here. And they carried on in their conversation, and then they started, you know, lamenting that they just couldn’t find enough houses to demolish.

Right? And so then I’m like, wait. Wait. Wait. What do you mean? Like, houses to demolish?

You’re like, well, we are always looking for houses that are on a fifty foot lot that have r two zoning. They have to be in these types of neighborhoods.

And I’m like, cool. Thanks.

Next day, I’m out walking my dog. I actually live in one of these neighborhoods where this type of development is going on. I’m renting I walked by a house that I’d actually tried to rent a few months earlier, but, unfortunately, it was like two hundred dollars out of my budget. And so the rent sign was still on the lawn.

I called the person, and I asked, would you be interested in selling your house instead of renting it? Cause it’s been for rent for, like, months and you haven’t been successful. Mhmm. Her answer was, of course, but it just has to be for the right price.

Asked how much is that price? She says three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So I run to the office, talk to my business partner, and I’m like, how much would your dad pay for this address?

And he looks at it. He’s like four hundred thousand all day.

Right? So now I’m like, how do I come up with three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to buy this house so that I can sell it to them for four hundred thousand dollars. My mind immediately went to being in the deal, not just, you know, brokeering it or connecting the dots, right? Like, I want it to participate.

And so I do what I know how to do, which is get into the yellow pages making phone calls, so I start calling attorneys, real estate attorneys. And this attorney David Steed, you know, never forget him. He answers the phone. He’s so fresh out of law school.

He has no secretary.

And he, you know, here’s my situation and says, oh, it’s easy. I’m like, okay. Well, what do you mean? He’s like, well, what you’re trying to do is call the skip transfer. That a term that they use for it in candidates.

I was gonna ask, because wholesaling even a It wasn’t a thing.

Yeah. He’s like, it’s called a skip transfer, and I’m like, okay. He’s like, so essentially what you’re gonna do is get a house under contract, and then you’re gonna sell your rights to buy the house to this other person for fifty thousand dollars.

And I was like, well, how do I do it? I’m gonna send you two contracts right now. We print them both out. One is gonna be the contract you used to purchase the house.

The other one’s gonna be the contract you used to sell the house. Everything has to line up the same. So the closing date, all of the terms, everything on the contracts have to be the same except the names. So in one, you’re gonna be the buyer on contract two, you’re gonna be the seller.

And it’s just really important that on your buyer name, you write Jamil Damji and or assignee.

And I was like, oh, okay.

Interesting.

So you you you sort of self discovered the whole process.

Big time.

Big time.

I was trying to figure out Bro, I thought I invented it.

It it wasn’t until I came to the United and I saw that you guys were doing this stuff like, you know, years decades is, you know, as long as I had been doing it Mhmm. That I realized, oh, this is a thing. You know, like, it’s a thing but but I’m living in this world where I can I invented wholesaling? Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

So I do really well, you know, for a few years and then know, the market crash happened and, you know, the story kinda took a turn. Interesting.

Well, in the presence of greatness, more godfathers of a wholesaling. You’re just in Canada.

Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yep. So so after that that happened, were were you pretty confident this is something that you could and repeat and do again? Or Yeah.

I I actually did rinse and repeat and do it over and over and over again. So, like, I I did that first deal. It worked you know, as easily as the attorney had said. It, like, the buyer really wanted to buy it. The seller really wanted to sell it. There was no hiccups through the process.

A few weeks after I delivered the contracts to the attorney, he calls me up and says I have a check for you, and I go pick up a forty seven thousand dollar and change cashier’s check. And it was a game changer for me. Bro, I was so nervous to cash that check. I folded it up and I put it in my wallet, and I held actually held on to it for four months until my friend was dude, that thing is going to expire. Did you have to cash it?

Did you just feel like it was like fraud? Like, it wasn’t No.

I was just like, I’ll never get this money again. Right? Like, I was like, I was I just got I got, you know, a little bit, I guess, lack mindseted about it. But, but here’s the beautiful thing.

As as soon as I did that one deal. I started banking up other opportunities. I started building a pipeline for myself. Mhmm.

And back then, the way I would do it is I would go to all the rental websites And I would call all the houses that were, you know, fit the description that could potentially be redevelopment plays.

Mhmm.

And I would just call them and I’d ask if they would wanna sell instead of renting.

Yeah.

And I got steady supplies of homes that way. And then I back then, people would advertise rentals in the newspaper, in the classified section of the newspaper. So every morning, I’d go get myself the newspaper. I’d go to the classified section.

I’d look at all the houses that were for sale or for and I would see if there were opportunities in the classifieds. Like, I I I immediately knew that this was a thing. And I started really doing well. So, you know, a few months after kinda creating a process for myself, I cashed that forty seven thousand dollar check.

You know, I a little bit of a better vehicle because my my car at the time was complete trash. And I, you know, now I’m now I’m off to the races. I’m I’m doing deal after deal after deal. Eventually, I graduate from single family to apartment buildings.

Mhmm. Because I I put it together that, okay, wherever there’s redevelopment, those people need properties to redevelop. Right? So then I was looking around at the city and I’m seeing all these condo conversions happening.

Right? People are taking old apartment buildings renovating them tape changing the title from one title to like thirty titles depending on how many units were in there, and then selling them off. Right? And so these developers always needed old apartment buildings to convert.

And so I found out what their criteria was. Their criteria was, hey, we want, you know, equal mix of one and twos. There needs to be at least fifty percent parking In order for us to get a condominium title made, there has to be at least fifty percent parking available for the units in there. And if you you can satisfy those things.

Right? They gotta be it’s gotta be in a good area. It’s gotta have fifty percent parking and an equal mix of ones and twos. If you can find buildings like that, put them under contract, we’ll buy them.

And so I start doing that. And it’s working. Now there’s a lot of self managed apartment buildings in alberta, where I was doing this, at that time, there were, like, there were more self managed apartment buildings than there weren’t. Right?

So I would just drive around the city all day looking at those little handwritten forensic signs on, like, you know, smaller apartment buildings, and then I would just call and the property manager would lead me to the owner or sometimes it was just the owner picking up the phone. Like, it was it was really easy. And I’d make a hundred grand on every one of those whole sale deals.

Wow.

And so, you know, I I go to I go from a place of, you know, being broke, essentially, to making a hundred thousand dollar pop every time I do a deal. And I amassed millions of dollars in a very short amount of time. I lost it all, but I did, a massive in a, you know, in a short amount of time.

So I Do you remember what you did in your first year when you were really, really doing I I probably made about a half a million dollars in my first year.

Wow.

And, maybe a little bit more. You know, I can’t I can’t really remember exactly. I wasn’t structured. I didn’t have a good accountant.

I wasn’t running P and Ls. I wasn’t operating like a business. I was just a hustler. Right?

Yep.

But I do know that over the year, I I it it equaled about twelve million bucks until until I lost it all. Yeah.

So, you know, we all know you’re really passionate about, coaching, real estate education today.

You’ve you’ve created a lot of successful students, multiplied well that way. But, you know, a lot of investors would have just kept their head down and and kept growing their business for them themselves personally.

At at what point did did the flip switch for you where you’re like, hey, I I I wanna help other people do this.

You know, it was really Brent Daniels who, you know, inspired me in the beginning to become more vocal. You know, prior to becoming social media known, I was very unknown. Right? Like, I liked being in the shadows.

I was so nervous just because I had lost all that money. I I wanted to be very private, and I was staying very private. But my success was starting to scream. Right?

People were no they were hearing my name. Kigli became a very big because I had done a really good job of of creating relationships and continuity for people to rely on that, you know, this company is really, really helpful for us in our wholesale process. So, like, there was a lot of good integrations that I was able to create, and Keegly starts humming. Right?

Like, it’s going. And then I start to realize I’m needed less and less and less and less and less and less because the company is doing what it’s supposed to do, which is run itself.

Mhmm.

And so you get to this point where you’re like, okay, now what do I do with myself?

Right? Like, I I’m I’m the wholesale business is operating without me. I I’m kinda like a free agent at this point. What do I what do I do?

And, you know, Brent, he invites me onto his podcast because, you know, he he was like, bro, that nobody in this business is doing what you do involving like, no one has ever created a wholesale business that is potentially sellable. You’re the only one. Right? So come onto my podcast and tell people it.

So I go on to Brent’s podcast and like five thousand people view it. But, my phone starts blowing up. Right? There are people who are like, Hey, dude, You know, I I teach me or, hey, bro, you can you help me sell this deal?

And so, like, it helps spike more volume. We start doing more wholesale deals and, like, I can see there’s a positive effect to it. Right? So then I think, well, if I get public and I talk more about what what we do, it’s gonna benefit Kegli.

But then I can also help people. I can show people what this is about. And if I I was able to do it, and I was, you know, not a real estate agent or trained in real estate. And I’d have no pedigree in the business.

So if I can do and that person can do it. And because at that time, when you looked at the coaching space, it was just full of, like, very unsavory people. Like people who were charging a hundred thousand dollars.

There’d be no support. There’d be, you know, they they would charge you a hundred grand to introduce you to a few hard money lenders. Essentially, like, that’s what it was. Right? They’re like, we can help you get financing.

Pay us a hundred thousand dollars, and I’ll help you get hundred percent on all of your transactions at eighteen percent. We know the guys, but you can’t get to them without us. You Google hard money lender, your city, and you’re gonna find hard money You don’t need to pay a hundred grand to anybody to get those connections.

It’s it’s really unfortunate how, a lot of the bad actors that were around in guess some still are today have had tarnished just the the industry of wholesaling.

Of course.

Of that experience people have had. Yeah.

Absolutely. And it was unfortunate that that happened to people And it’s it was the responsibility of the people that were on the come up at that point to change that narrative. Right? And that was something that Brent was always super passionate about well.

He thought, I just can’t keep watching people get ripped off. And so, you know, Brent was a coach at the time. He still is a coach. He’s a phenomenal guy.

Right? And and and Brent really he really convinced me like, dude, you know, change your profile picture on Instagram from an owl to your face.

Okay? Like, let’s let’s not be in the shadows anymore. Right? Because no no no eyebrow like three years, my profile picture on IG was an owl.

It was. It’s just I didn’t care. Right? So I start creating a, you know, a profile and I start being active on social and then COVID happens.

Right? And so now the world is shut down. And, you know, guys like me and you and anyone else who’s a go getter, I’m I’m at my house thinking, well, I gotta do something. And I gotta I gotta, like, make something.

I gotta create. I gotta work. I’ve got I can’t just sit in the home and and rot. So I really wanted to, like, lose some weight that time.

And so I was like, well, I’m gonna take this opportunity to walk a lot. And so during COVID, I would go out on walks around my neighborhood. And bro, I would I’d end up being out there for like five, six hours a day, just walk I don’t I was like, I don’t know what it was about that, like, process and walking and just being outside, but it really helped me get through that whole quarantine thing.

Yeah.

And what it also did, it was it I was bored. Right? So while I was on my walks, I would go live on IG.

And I would people would ask me questions, and I would answer questions, and then I would make a post about something that I was doing in a business that was helpful. And I was explaining to people what we were doing to pivot during COVID and all of the things that we were doing, I was sharing online.

And lo and behold, I do that for six months during, you know, the first parts of COVID and I explode. Mhmm. Right? And so now PACE and I are are are both collaborating at a high level together.

And we decided to take what we’re doing, which was, you know, actively collaborating over feeling competitive to each helping each other as often as as as much as possible, which we still do today.

And really, like, you know, honoring the friendship over the competitiveness.

Right? And so this was a, you know, collaboration over competition has become cliche since, right? But at that time, it was almost it was counterintuitive. Everyone thought we were crazy for being like that and thinking that way. Right? There was a lot of scarcity thinking in the industry.

So him and I take show on the road. And, you know, batch was really early in its, in its business as well. And so we were promoting batch a lot, and we were, you know, helping our friends, Evo, Annie, Annie, SE, you know, promote their business. Meanwhile, PACE and I are traveling around the country, talking to people about how you can collaborate with one another and do better, have an additive effect instead of a subtractive effect to your life and business. And that pace in Jamille do America, tour, you know, it started with, like, eight people coming out to our first meetup. And today, if PACE and I go to a city, and, you know, we even just, like, light promote on our social media, Hey, we’re gonna be in, you know, LA today. Like, we, we did we did a pop up event on Venice Beach.

Not expecting anything. Right? Like, we didn’t we we thought it came maybe a couple hundred people would come out at most. Right? Like, it’ll be fun, hang out on the beach and then go home. Well, eleven hundred people stormed the beach.

Right? Like, the Sheriff’s Office came out.

Wow.

And came to PACE and I and we’re like, are you doing here? Do you have a permit and we didn’t? And we’re like, sorry. I mean, we just told people we’re gonna be here on social media and they all came out.

And then another guy from the sheriff’s office Hey, I know those guys. They’re cool, man. Leave them. They’re they’re not troublemakers.

They’re not even gonna be drinking on here. I think that guy’s a Mormon. Everything’s cool. Like, you know, and so And so the Sheriff’s Office was like, okay, here, you know, shut it down by eight o’clock, but, you know, enjoy the night.

Yeah.

And so we were like, wow, man, like, even the sheriff, like, even someone from the Sheriff’s Office knows who we are.

Like, that’s that’s pretty cool.

Yeah.

And they let us have our pop up on the beach and, you know, it was it was super fun. And, but that’s when I really saw, like, holy moly. Like, you know, from eight to, you know, eleven hundred people over just a couple of years of grassroots momentum building and and seeing what this the power of this community and collaboration really means in in like visual, in a visual result, like that. Right?

It was it was incredible. And it’s continuing to become incredible and continuing to show and prove that there is a tremendous amount of utility and being collaborative with people over looking at each other like we’re here to take from one another. Yeah. Yeah.

That’s awesome.

Give or sit back and just to, like, at the fact that you guys have sort of transformed how real estate acquisitions happens. I mean, this this hasn’t been around to the scale in the, you know, since the last five years or so.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, I I think one of the One of the symptoms of being an entrepreneur is this this incessant, like, obsession with moving the goalpost.

Mhmm.

And and continuing to grow and and being dissatisfied with where you are. I mean, man, it’s like there’s a it’s double edged sword. Right? Because, like, you if you look at where we’ve gotten and, like, you know, where we from where we came from, it it this is a fairy tale.

Right? It’s a a fairy tale. From relative obscurity, I will as a profile picture to a, you know, national television show and a national franchise and, you know, all of the things that have happened as a result, like, my goodness. Right?

Like, what a what a beautiful what a beautiful story. Right?

But that when you’re in it, like, you know, I’m I’m living in this current moment, right? And I what success is, and I’ve and I’ve experienced a lot of success, and I’m grateful for it, but I’m not satisfied because I’m still only forty five years old. Yeah. I still have a lot of energy left. I still have a lot of impact I wanna make, and I want to continue to create and grow and expand in and be more. Right?

So as as as tempting as it is to look back and say good job, Yeah.

I think we as entrepreneurs, we don’t do that enough. And because we don’t do that enough, there’s this like like, constant need to to do more. Yeah. And today, I I have to be honest, right? Because I’ve had some, you know, personal side effects of that mentality.

You know, I’m, a ten year marriage is about to end, which is, is pretty terrible. And, yeah, and it’s all good, dude. It’s, you know, it’s hard and it’s a struggle. And, you know, god bless my my wife. She’s a wonderful human being, and we’re gonna we’re we’re doing this with class and grace, and it’s it’s it’s really it’s really a growth thing for the two of us as well to do this with such kindness and love for each other, which is a really, like, rare thing to see when people split it up.

Yeah.

Great for your daughters too.

Yeah. Right? But when I look back at it now, I think, man, you know, I could’ve spent more time with my family. I could’ve been more involved in, like, but this is the symptoms of of entrepreneurship. Like, you kinda put your head down and you don’t you don’t pay attention to what’s happening around you, and then you get to a destination and you look and like half the people you started with her with you.

Yeah.

You know, or maybe none of them even.

Yeah.

And you’re like, oh, man, that’s that sucks.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. Well, let’s talk let’s talk about the the start of the journey, for for investors. You know, you’ve you’ve taught thousands of people, how to be investors, how to wholesale. Most of the people that are be watching this are gonna be new investors, or maybe looking for their first coach, from all the people that you worked with, what would you say is the most common mistake you see new investors make that they should be thinking about?

Well, think I think the most common would be that this this idea that you have to know it all perfectly before you take your first step like, take action. I think that’s really a cop out for a lot of people. Like, it’s uncomfortable trying something new. It’s uncomfortable to suck something.

Right? It’s just that’s just reality. And so when you have this idea that, okay, no. I’m I’m I’m I’m not gonna do I’m not gonna make that first phone call.

I’m not gonna pull that first list. I’m not going to, you know, try to get my first property under contract because I still don’t know this and I still don’t know this and I still don’t know that and I still don’t know that. Well, you know, you’ll never know it all. Right?

You’ll never know it all. There’s always something to learn and real estate. There’s always another place to go. There’s always a new modality or a new type of property or new thing that you can do, like co living right now is really popular with real estate investors and and rental people.

And so, you know, you don’t have to know it all.

Mhmm.

But if you give that as if you if you create that barrier for yourself, you will you’ll never start. I think the second thing that people do is because there’s so many options on what to do, they get confused.

Right? And, you know, Pei said something the other day that I think was really profound. He says, people muddy the water so you don’t know how deep it is. They think, and then they make it so that you need them to get through.

Right? And I think there’s a lot of people out there muddying the water for a lot of like really good people, you know, making it seem more complicated than it needs to be, making it harder than it needs to be, and confusing you to the point where you’re like, well, I guess I have, I I I might as well buy this or I might as well buy that or I might as well buy this. And then, you know, you’re thousands of dollars in and you’ve not even made phone call yet. Like, that’s a problem.

Mhmm. Right? So, you know, the shiny object syndrome, that’s that that to me is probably the second most disastrous thing that somebody can let themselves succumb to when they’re first getting started. I think you gotta get in, you gotta pick a direction, and you do really well in that direction before you start looking for other things.

And if you can be myopic, if you can put the blinders on and just say, no, sailing is what it is. I understand it. I I know how to comp. I know how to find buyers. I know how to talk to motivated sellers or real estate agents or whatever it is that I need to do to get a deal. And I’m just gonna do this for six months.

That’s all I’m gonna do. At the end of six months, take a look at what happens, and you’re gonna be wildly successful. But if you start and you’re like, okay, well, I’m gonna try a little bit of that, and now I’m gonna do a little sub two, now I’m gonna try innovation, I’m gonna, you know, and and I hear that because have somebody come on my call, and they’ll be like, Hey, man. So how do I wholesale a sub two novation?

And I’m like, bro.

What, you know, why are you complicating this?

Mhmm.

You know, first of all, you should never wholesale a sub two innovation ever because first, that’s sub two seller. They think you’re buying the house and they are giving you their credit, right? So unless the seller is okay with you assigning it, or you connect the seller and your buyer together, and there’s an agreement that there’s a, like, that they’re okay with it. That’s the only way that it’s okay and accept to assign that.

Right? Novations again, like going in and renovating a house that you don’t take title to is risky. Yeah. It’s super risky.

Right? So even on standing the inherent risks. Right? But, like, if you’re brand new, dude, if you’re never done a deal before, why the effort are you talking about wholesaling a sub two novation?

Yeah. New figure out how much percentage of ARV you need to write on a cash offer on a deal and give that offer and move on to the next house.

Yeah.

Yeah. That’s what you’re supposed to do. So You know, you can tell I get fired up by it because it’s just, again, it’s people muddying the water. It’s like, you see some, you know, some jerk off down there. It’s just like, oh, I see an opportunity to make some money from some let’s dump a bunch of dirt into the lake and make everybody confused.

And I mean, we we see the same thing, you know, over here all the time too. We got people that been, you know, in coaching or in the wholesale community for three, four, five, six months. They haven’t once picked up the phone themselves done a deal, but they’re worried about what VA company they need to hire. Yeah. Things like that.

Yeah.

So, you know, a timely question for you.

Obviously, the housing market is different than it was during the pandemic or three, five years ago. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. A lot of people asking, and we get this question too, is it a good time to become a real estate investor? Is it a good time to invest in real estate? What advice do you have for folks kinda currently on the sidelines having that debate or or questioning timing?

Well, I don’t think there’s ever a good or a bad time to get started. Right? I think the time to start is now regardless. Okay? But every market provides its own opportunities and its own excuses.

Right? So right now, the market has had its, you know, we’ve had high rates We have, fewer in fewer houses on inventory because of the lock in effect. Yep. People not wanting to sell their house because they got a two, three, four percent mortgage on it.

So inventory is tight, rates are high. There’s fewer buyers at the table, and that’s creating its own ecosystem. But look at that current ecosystem and find the opportunity in it. You don’t look at it and say, oh, it’s a bad time because rates are high and inventories low.

No, you say, okay, If rates are high and inventory is low, but there’s all these houses sitting on the MLS for ninety, you know, one hundred and twenty, one hundred and eighty days and not selling. There’s pain and motivation there. Right? Then then that means that we are in somewhat of a buyer’s market.

If we’re in a buyer’s market, go do what you do in a market, which is like steel houses.

Yeah.

Go get them at great prices. Go right. You know, go go give people offers that are indicative of the current market climate. Go do that because there’s an opportunity for you to do that right now.

Yep.

You’re gonna be able to get a house at that price when the market shifts again.

Right.

And then you’re gonna be looking at it and say, oh, well, rates are low now and there’s too many too much competition, and now I can’t get in.

So I wait for it to to change again. No. See? Cause you waited the first time, and then you it again, and you’re gonna wait the second time, and it’s always gonna be one or the other.

Yeah. Always always opportunity to capitalize on the ebbs and flows.

A hundred percent. So look at the current situation find how you can profit off of it now. Right? And that’s the game.

That’s how you that’s how you thrive in a up market. That’s how you thrive in a flat mark it. That’s how you thrive in a down market. Whatever it is, you look at it, you assess the variables, and then you find the opportunity based on the system that you’re in right now.

So is it is it fair to say and and, that with the current market conditions, you personally have shifted you and your businesses to more of an on on market acquisitions approach or how have you changed your business in the last year, a year and a half to to take advantage of the current market?

So, you know, agent outreach and on market, you know, offers and whatnot. Those have always been a very stable, you know, type of deal for us. Right? We have we have ventured into more direct to seller lately, which has been really nice, and we’re doing well with that.

So, you know, shout out to you guys and anyone else that’s involved in the direct to seller space as well. I know you guys are also batch leads is is is very available for on market deals for agent outreach. And so, you know, batch kind of is you know, all in one, a very good product for people to be able to, you know, come in and choose whichever lane they want to go in. But I think in act positions in general, you have to have a blended approach.

You can’t just look at it and say, okay, I’m only gonna do MLS offers or I’m only gonna do agent outreach or I’m only gonna do direct I’m only gonna do bandit signs or I’m only gonna do this. No. It’s never gonna work that way. You have to have a blend of different acquisition strategies.

And because you know that each of them are gonna do better in certain times, you can then pick and choose where you’re gonna have more resources and more energy in whatever market climate you’re in now. So to answer that question, right now, because there’s a, sellers who don’t know that the market has done what it’s done. Right? So going direct to homeowner right now, you’re gonna talk to a lot more people that are completely unaware of what’s happened in the market since the peak twenty twenty two.

They just saw that Doug and Susie’s house across the street sold in July of twenty twenty two for five hundred thousand dollars, and they want five hundred dollars. Yep. Right? But Doug and Susie’s house had a hundred thousand dollar remodel in it.

Doug and Susie sold their house at the height of the market. You’re not Doug and Susie. Yep. Okay.

Your house is a hoarder situation. You haven’t renovated your house ever. Right? There’s there’s feces all over the place in here.

Right? You’re not your house isn’t worth five hundred thousand. Right? So there is that, like, education that needs to happen that’s a little bit I’d say a little harder right now in the direct to seller space because those conversations of education have to happen before you get to the part of the do a transaction, whereas when you’re working with real estate agents, for the most part, not all of them, but for the most part, they’re pretty hip to what’s happening in the market.

They know that that the phone’s not ringing. And if the phone’s not ringing and they wanna make a commission and they need to sell this property, then a price adjustment to happen. And so they are easier to work with because they’re professionals in the business. Know what’s going on, and you can get price acceptance from the agent quicker than you can from a homeowner.

And so if, the advocate for the homeowner is saying, yeah, you know what? This three fifty offer is actually pretty good considering the phone hasn’t rang. And I did tell you guys that Doug and Susie’s house was completely remodeled. And that you were never gonna get five hundred k for your property.

I think this is at this three fifty offer is actually pretty damn good. You know, and then they either take it or they don’t.

Mhmm.

What so, Phoenix market is is a little bit unique, I a few other cities. But is there is there specific markets where you would recommend, not playing in right now or certain areas. And I I guess just, geographically, what are interesting places to you right now? What are ones that you’re trying to avoid? You know, where do you see opportunity?

Yeah. Great question. So I think, you know, I I I believe that there is opportunity wherever there is Right?

So I just like to stick to metro areas. I like to look at, at parts of the country that have net positive operation. Right? So are people moving there or not?

Okay. If they’re moving there, why? Is there industry jobs? Like, what is it bringing people there.

Right? We saw that COVID had a, like, a redistribution of the population in the United States. There’s net migration changed the it changed the politics of states, right? Like you had so many people from California moving to Arizona that we actually went from a red to a blue state.

That’s a big thing when you’re talking about Arizona. Because Arizona is the gun toting, you know, cigarette smoking.

We are, n r a supporting Republican state. And then, year later, it’s not.

Right? So it’s like, okay. Well, That’s a huge that’s a huge shift. So being informed on migration patterns, I think it’s really important.

I think really any major metro where you have a population over five hundred thousand that you can see there’s a net positive migration in that region, I think it’s a great place to work. So you don’t have to be somebody who’s like, well, I, you know, I live in, this part of the south. Okay. Well, what’s the population like?

Or is there investor activity out there? Yes or no? Okay. Are you seeing that investor activity?

Cool. Then start there.

The places I’d stay away from are those rural markets. Right? Like, I I still, for the most part, you get and and I think one of the one of the reasons why, you know, a lot of paper click companies. Right?

They what people don’t realize is they’re like, they’ll hire this PPC company. They’ll say, hey, Here’s ten grand. Get me leads. Well, a lot of those leads are rural leads.

Yeah. Right? And, like, in markets that nobody’s looking to buy anything in. Right? So that type of lead isn’t gonna be good for you because who cares if you can get the house under contract if nobody wants to buy it?

Right? That’s just spinning your tires. That’s wasting time. So I think that being really, really aware of of the fact that there’s a reason why those leads are easy, but again, they’re not selling.

So why spend the money? Why spend the time?

So I stay out of rural areas. I’m I’m personally not doing anything in the commercial space right now. I I still think there’s a lot of vulnerability in the commercial real estate market. I think that with we haven’t seen the fall out of all of the bridge loans that aren’t going to be able to be refinanced here in the next little while for a lot of multifamily as well.

And so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to go pick up family right now. It doesn’t make sense for me to go into the commercial space right now. I’m still very heavily focused on single family, and I and I believe that I’m just gonna continue staying in that lane for quite some time because, you know, at the end of the day, single family is always going to be how we live here the United States. It’s going to overwhelmingly be how we live.

And so it’s important that you choose, like, a type of property or a type of of real estate class that you know very well that you can value value very easily and that you have relationships built in both from the broker standpoint and the buyer’s standpoint so that you can easily plug in no matter what time you’re doing you’re doing deals.

Yep. So growing, urban center, single family, where you have relationships.

That’s it.

That’s the money back. Okay. As we wrap up Jamil, one last kind of two part question for you.

And again, for those who who are considering be becoming an investor getting in the real estate space, what are some of the common characteristics that you see like, I’m I’m sure that you can when you know someone’s personality, you you know that they’re gonna make it or not. You have kind of a a a a sense. What are some of those personality traits that you know make a successful real estate investor. And part two to that question is what’s one thing that investors can do, start doing tomorrow to improve their business.

Okay. So first, characteristics that I think are indicative of success. First, be coachable. Right?

There’s nothing, and there’s no reason to seek help if when help comes, you don’t listen to it.

Mhmm.

It is frustrating. First and foremost, for the person who’s help you. Second, if you continue to, like, fight against that help, and if you’re like, no, well, I think I know it better, then why are you here? Yeah.

Why are you asking for assistance if what you’ve been doing isn’t working, then you need to give up the notion that you might know better. Right? And maybe you’re gonna have to take some education and some counsel from somebody to do better. So I think being coachable is really important.

I think that if you are a consistent person that that is going to win every day over motivation, because motivation are like farts. Bro, they come and go. Right? And it and it’s and it’s just the reality of it.

And if you’re gonna if you think that you can gas your business up and your life over motivation. Meaning, you watch a thirty second clip of a thirty second clip of Jim Carey, give a keynote at a graduation and now you’re gonna slay the day. Yeah. Bro, no.

That’s not going to get you up out of bed and doing it on the days that are hard. Right? You have to get so obsessed with being consistent that if you don’t show up for yourself on a given day that you like break to a degree. You’ve gotta be consistent because consistency and discipline will win over motivation every single time.

So be coachable, be consistent.

I think, you know, lastly, self awareness, like just radical honesty with your place in life, with your current mindset, with your current level of development, with your current on, like, actual finances, like, real self awareness is is such a lacking quality in our society because, you know, social media pushes you to, oftentimes, it pushes people to become in a authentic.

Right? Because they wanna give you, a glimpse into their life, but they don’t want you to judge them for what it really is. So they give you a glimpse of a fairy tale or a version of their life that they wish was. And so now you’re like watching people’s social media just to see that wow, this person looks successful and happy.

Meanwhile, you know, the cars rented, the, you know, none of that was real. And this person after they make that post feels like a complete dirtbag because it’s not real. Right? And so you’ve you’ve you’ve got you really have to be self aware aware about who you are and what drives you so that when you are in a situation and in a position to strike, that you know your actual blind spots.

Yeah.

Because you go into battle and you don’t know where you’re weak, that’s where you’re gonna get killed. Like, that’s where you’ll that’s where you’ll fold because you didn’t admit to yourself there was a weakness there.

But if you are self aware enough to know where you’re weak, you can strengthen those parts either through discipline and strengthening yourself or bringing in people that can fill in that that gap of strength that you may have or a vulnerability or a weakness that you may have in business or whatever that is, you install somebody there with characteristics that will strengthen you up there, and now you’re stronger individual because you’ve got the appropriate support. But you’ve gotta be self aware enough to know where you’re weak in order for you to fix that.

And it reminds me a lot of professional MMA fighters who constantly swap out their coaching staff because they, you know, figure out, you know, where where their weakness is and then bring in someone new you know, help sharpen that that area.

So last question, Jamil, what’s one thing viewers can start doing tomorrow, to improve their business?

One thing.

Well, sir, there was a second part to the last one I wanna get to. Sorry. Can you repeat the second part to the last question? Cause I wanna let Let me answer that.

It was, oh, the the qualities, in Yeah.

I think I got that. Okay. So what is something that people can do to tomorrow to get started in their business. I mean, I think you need to make a decision. Let’s let’s let’s really, really get back to that aspect of the mental aspect of what we do, it drives the car.

It drives the car. So make a decision. Make a decision that you are binding yourself to. Like, form a contract with yourself that you will not breach and make that decision to say to yourself that I am going to disrupt the path that I’ve been living in because nothing will change until I change. Nothing will be different until I’m different. So when you make that decision, think you set into effect a domino effect of of a on an energetic level, on a on a soul level, on a on a, you know, personal level, you’ve you’ve committed that you are looking for and seeking change.

You make that decision.

Guess what happens?

The first step on what to do illuminates its for you.

Mhmm. It always does. We the the the beautiful thing about this life we live is that none of us know the path. None of us the path, but some of us just start walking.

Yep. Right? And then because we started walking, the next step illuminated, and then we continue walking, and the next step illuminated, and then the next step illuminated. And then you’re gonna say, wait, Jamille, that step had a landmine in it.

Yeah. But I needed that landmine in order to get to the next step. So what do you think? Do you think that the game of life isn’t going to be full of snakes and ladders?

Of course, it is. And I’m gonna go ten steps forward, and I’m gonna go steps back, and I’m gonna go five steps forward, and I’m gonna go nine steps back. But at the end of the game, I’ll have made it. Yep.

And there’s gonna be times where I’m and there’s gonna be times where I’m taking an l, and there’s gonna be all of these things. There is no perfect record.

There is no perfect record in life you are going to get beat up. You are going to lose, but you have to be okay with that. Otherwise, just, you know, if if you are if you are unable to deal with loss. If you are unable to deal with, the not having a, like, you know, a win every day.

Then if that’s not okay for you, then honestly, just stay at your nine five.

Just just stay comfortable. You’ll be happier. You will be happier if if you choose comfort over growth, then choose comfort and do it wholeheartedly and stop presenting it and stop blaming your wife and stop blaming your husband and stop blaming the market and stop blaming everything. Go to your f and job and enjoy it nine to five. Clock in, clock out, come home, enjoy your family. Do that. Do that to its list and enjoy yourself.

But you made that choice and live with it and be happy about it. But if that is not going to suffice for you. If comfort is not what you’re choosing, if you choose growth, if you choose expansion, if you choose to create, then then make that choice, make that decision in your mind, and look for that first step because that first little block is going to illuminate.

And away you go, That’s great advice.

Jamil, really appreciate your time today, and thanks for sharing some of your flip to switch moments. For those listening, who are interested in maybe being part of your community or some of your education. Where’s the best place to find you?

You can check out my YouTube channel. I think, you know, just coming in and joining Astro flipping may not be the right move. I think, come learn from me, come see if I resonate with you. Understand if my personality, the way that I teach my style, if that’s something that resonates with you.

And if it does, then by all means, you know, go to, go astral flipping dot com and book a call with people on my team. Happy to have you be a part of the community. I dedicate my life to that community. My goodness.

I am on coaching calls in that community all the time. I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours being there for them. And that gives me purpose. Yeah.

It’s what I do. And so, I’d love for you to be a part of that if it is, something that you have a desire to to do if financial freedom and success is not yours at the moment, but you know that it could be. I might be the guy to help you get there. And if I’m not Good luck to you.

And if I am, I’ll see you then.

No engineers personally, I can I can vouch for him? He does care about his people. So I I encourage you guys to check it out. Thank you again, Jamil, and, thanks for joining this episode of Flip to Switch.

Have a good one, everyone. Later.