SPEAKER_01 0:00

Having a partner who has complementary skill sets, that's necessary. It was not in asset management or acquisitions and multifamily. When you deal with commercial real estate and large multifamily deals, it's a high yeah, y you are competing in the major leagues. NFL and and MLB. This is the major leagues of commercial real estate. So you have to have the best of the best on the team and having a partner with complementary skill sets in those areas that I was did not have the background in was necessary.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

I think for you know newer investors, they think, and I went through this process when you buy your first apartment complex, you have that like I made it moment. But then it's a lot of hard work after that. You know, you got you guys have grown to enormous size, but to grow bigger, you have to stay after it and you know have the right mindset.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

I'd say the growth, well, with all growth, there's challenges, and you know, we can talk about challenges and things that haven't gone right and what I do about them. But as far as the growth, the growth points, superchargers, I uh if you want to call it that, one is the interview-based podcast like you're doing. I did it daily, and it was seven days a week, and then an episode would release every single day seven days a week. It was about building the relationships with those interview guests, and it was about the lessons that I learned through those interviews.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

So you guys have scaled to enormous size. I mean, you're at like 14,000 apartment units. That's a lot. What's the mindset like right now? You know, is it one deal at a time, or you know, we have some deals to have.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Welcome to the Carson's Quarter.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

All right, I'm sitting here with Mr. Joe Fairless with uh Ashcroft Capital and the best ever brand uh real estate. Uh, just to have a little chat about how he's gotten to where he's at, his journey and all that. Um, Joe, how are you doing? Hey, doing well. Looking forward to the conversation, Carson. Absolutely. Um, so you guys have 2.7 billion under management, about 14,000 doors. Um, I know it didn't all start there. Um you grew up in uh Texas, right? That's right. Yep, Fort Worth. And then uh was it off to Texas Tech? Was that your first choice?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Uh no, I went to Blyn Junior College in Brenham, Texas. I wanted to um walk on to their football team and I did not make the team. Uh so then I went to Mary Harden Baylor. Uh you're familiar with Mary Hardin Baylor. I see the Baylor uh certificate uh uh the um diploma. Yeah. So Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, Texas. Uh uh and I played uh Division III football uh there, but I was on the JV team of a division three school, so I realized that the NFL was not in the cards for me. So then after that I went to Texas Tech. I got to give you props for trying now.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

It's every guy's agree. Either to be in the NFL or play major league baseball. It's one of the two. Um so did you go straight into real estate after college, or was it like most other people where you started a corporate job and hated it? Because everybody 90% of people hate their corporate job. A few like it, but most people don't.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So I did not start in real estate. Uh my advert my major at Texas Tech was advertising, and I wanted to go compete with the best of the best in advertising, so I went from New from Lubbock, Texas to New York City right out of college. I graduated in late May, and my first day was June 1st on Madison Avenue in New York City, and I lived in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, which at the time was um uh busiest police precinct in all the five boroughs. So it was it was a tough area at the time to to live in. And I lived there for a year, and then I lived in East Village uh for nine years while I was in New York uh and I was working in advertising uh and then eventually, as you mentioned, um I didn't hate it, but I was unfulfilled by what I was doing. Yeah and so then I turned to real estate.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Sometimes it's not hate, they're just like I want more or ready for something else. You get you just get tired of it. Um are you still in the New York area?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

No, I moved to Cincinnati, so my first large deal was so I I bought um while in New York, and while I had my full-time job, yeah, I kept my living expenses really low for New York City purposes or standards. I would be made fun of by my friends because I was living like a college kid, even though I was five, six, seven years removed from college. I had a two-bedroom apartment, but I always had a roommate and they're usually from Craigslist, and there was no living room, there's just a kitchen and a bathroom and a hallway, and no air conditioning, which New York City gets really hot in the summer. Um so I kept my living expenses really low and I saved money as I became, you know, my first job I was making$30,000 in New York City. Um so I I uh saved money as I climbed a corporate ladder, and uh as I climbed the corporate ladder, I eventually became the youngest vice president of a New York City ad agency on Wall Street, and I just kept saving money, and then I put my money into a house in Duncanville, Texas. You're familiar with Duncanville, south of Dallas. Yeah. I bought it for$76,000 in 2009, and then the next year I bought a house in Lake Worth, uh part of Fort Worth, and then a next year in Arlington, uh, where you're from, and then another um another following year in another area of Fort Worth. So I um yeah, I bought four homes, and my buddies, while I had my full-time job, were saying, Well, how are you doing this? And uh so I eventually started teaching a class on how I was doing it. I did that on the in the evenings and on the weekends. And yeah, I eventually had someone who came to the class. He was a former boss of mine. He said, This is interesting, these single family homes, but if you ever do something larger, let me know. And so I realized that I had some investors and I needed to find the deal, and that first large deal ended being in Cincinnati.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Wow. I think I read that it what was it, a million-dollar multifamily deal was your first deal?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Uh first large deal uh was a master lease with option to purchase. Uh we that was uh raised a little over a million dollars, uh eight hundred and forty-three thousand from twelve different investors, and then uh the brokers put in their commission and and had some people in that deal, and so in total it's like one point two million dollar raise. Wow. So that was the financial raise asset obviously. Yeah, so it was um uh worth around uh I think six million or so when when we entered into the agreement.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Awesome, man. So after that, I mean that basically just kind of opened the floodgates, then you're full-time focused on multifamily at that point and um move forward. You've done a lot. There's a lot to cover here. You have a huge newsletter with forty-six thousand subscribers. You do the best ever conference, which I just saw pictures with you and several other people I know um in Salt Lake City. You gotta come to that next year. I need to come to that. I was actually about I asked Brian Briscoe about that, and I was gonna fly out there last minute because I have a airline credit, and then I just have some uh family stuff with health of my grandfather and stuff, so I decided to stay here, but I'm gonna make it out. Um so what was like your transition point the biggest thing? Was it do you feel like it was the podcast or the the events that opened you up to where you've been able to raise so much money and be so successful?

SPEAKER_01 8:05

I mean, I I'd say the growth well, with all growth there's challenges, and you know, we can talk about challenges and things that haven't haven't gone right in you know what what I do about them. Um but as far as the growth, the growth points, I'd say there's two two major growth growth um superchargers, I uh if you want to call it that. One is the interview-based podcast like you're doing, where yeah, uh I did it daily and it was seven days a week. Uh I did it, you know, it's yeah, for the first like 2,000 days. So I didn't interview someone every day. I would do nine interviews on a Thursday, and then that would that would cover me for the week and then a couple days buffer, and then I would just do that. Wow. And then an episode would release every single day, seven days a week. And it doesn't matter if anyone's listening at to be at the beginning, because it was about building the relationships with those interview guests, interview guests, and it was about the lessons that I learned through those interviews. And um then the other thing that helped the growth was partnership. Uh having a partner who has complimentary complementary skill sets, uh, that's necessary. And um you heard what my background is, and it was not in asset management or acquisitions and multifamily, uh, but I partnered with someone who did have that background and is an expert in in those areas. And you know, when you deal with commercial real estate and large multifamily deals, it's it's a high, yeah, you you are competing in the major leagues. You know, we talked about earlier, yeah, NFL and and MLB. I mean that this is the major leagues of commercial real estate, so you have to have the best of the best on the team and and having a partner with complimentary skill sets uh in those areas that I was was did not have the background in was necessary.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

I think that's a pretty critical point that you're making because most people don't realize from the outside looking in, it's really hard to like operate, manage the assets, know what to do, but also to build the relationships necessary to raise the capital. So you almost need somebody that's you know, full-time building relationships, telling your company's story while the others, you know, out looking for the assets and you know, having I don't know, that there's the acquisition side that's really tough, you know, to find the right deal without getting into the wrong deal and having the knowledge and all that. So I think that's really important to surround yourself with the right people. But so how do you you did you just go from the podcast straight into doing the conferences and all that?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Was that I I the podcast was started approximately in 2013, and we just did our had our 10th 10th 10-year anniversary for the the conference, so that means that was started in 2016. So it's about three years uh after starting the podcast that we did our our first best ever conference, and we've done that now, as I mentioned, for 10 years running. And you know, ask if you talk to Brian after he uh went to the conference, I I guarantee you he has glowing things to say about his experience and most more importantly the people who attended the conference. Yeah and you know, the high quality, the three characteristics I've always noticed, because when you when you have a podcast and you have a conference for the first time, you don't know who's out there listening, right? It's a podcast. Uh so I was you know holding my breath like the first year, hey, who's gonna attend this thing? It was uh it three qualities. They are experienced commercial real estate investors, they are humble, and they want to be helpful. And that's the type of community that you'll find with the best ever community, the best ever conference. And you mentioned, yeah, we have 46,000 email subscribers with a 20% open rate plus uh because they're they're people who know what they what they want, and it's it's they they want to be helpful to others, so it's a it's a great sense of community.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

What was your mindset like when you started that event? I'm about to do my first event and it's gonna be local. And it uh we we only did we're doing smaller venue and we're gonna kind of travel a little bit around this region, but it's kind of like when you start something like that, like you said, you're like, okay, who's gonna show up? Was there ever there's gotta be a little sense of doubt, like what am I doing here? You know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Absolutely. And that doesn't that doesn't go away even in year ten. It's you have it down to a system, and thankfully we have some team members that have been on board for a while and know how to do it, but every year presents its unique challenges. Uh you know, COVID aside, which would was clearly a big challenge, but you know, you've got uh market downturns in commercial real estate, and when the market is has a downturn, you're not gonna have as many people who uh are in the business. And uh yeah, when you're hosting a conference, uh that's that's uh a relevant data point to to consider. Um so it's it's uh I I uh the one thing that is a constant is um our approach to how we bring on speakers and who we bring on. Uh you won't find generally you won't find people on our uh at our conference speaking who are hitting the speaker circuit uh regularly. It's people who aren't as well known but come from a different world of of a higher level of you know commercial real estate. Uh and those are the lessons. Those are people that we can learn a lot from as entrepreneurs, you know, building our own commercial real estate businesses. Uh we we we want to get away from what's typically discussed and what's typically um um you know uh conversation typical conversations that uh you'll find on the uh a normal speaker circuit. We want uh a little bit elevated uh and and that's something that we've been intentional about.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

I think your uh newsletter is a little bit more data driven. It seems kind of next level. I actually looked at uh setting up a booth at one of your conferences several years ago. But I got on your newsletter somehow, but you're very insightful with your data and stuff like that. So it seems like that kind of next level of data digging. I think one of your speakers I'm connected to, I'll follow him regularly, Justin Spiller. Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah. I was just he's a tall guy, isn't he?

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I I just had a call with him a couple days ago. Yeah, he's in Ohio and he hit his company won the uh best ever conference pitch slam, where he he he presented his his fund, his multifamily fund to a panel of judges along with 13 other groups that presented their op investment opportunity and it was Shark Tank style and he ended up winning the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm I'm connected to him. I'm gonna reach out to him and see if he wants to come on the podcast. But uh what was Ash Patel involved?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Uh yeah, he was one of the judges, and he's a good friend of mine. Is he funny in person? He he's a lot of fun. He is a lot of fun in person. He is a he he is he seems funny online, so I've never met him in person. I I would say he has a heart of gold. He cares. Uh he just wants to be helpful. And that's something him and his wife, um, and their whole family, they just are just big-hearted people who who want to be helpful.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, I used to see his post all the time. I always thought he was pretty funny, but then I said, I haven't seen your post in like three weeks, dude. Like it wasn't long ago. Once you reach a certain amount of followers, you start getting blurred. Like I there's some friends I barely see their post anymore, but anyway, I always thought he kind of came across as a little bit humorous. Yeah, oh he is.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

You know, I tell I like he tells good stories. He tells real good stories.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah. It seems like he has good investments too. Um, so when you started your podcast, um, what was that like? You know, that I mean 2012-13 era wasn't really a huge podcast time.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

I mean No, I I used you're right, uh I used Entrepreneur on Fire as a template. Uh they were doing daily interviews, and uh I just learned from how they were doing it, and that's the m the model I use for real estate investing. Uh I had to teach myself how to uh edit a podcast. I taught myself Audacity and then you know posting it on the website, um, which I had no technical back background or expertise, uh promoting it. I I'd I'd finding the guests, letting the guests know the interview went live and make the whole thing. I it was it was all me to start, and then slowly I brought on different people to help me out. At the beginning, I had um uh I traded services uh or I bartered, I should say, with um an audio um editing company. Uh I said, if if we can promote your business on my podcast, will you edit my episodes and we'll do this for a couple months? And if it's you know a good use of your time and mine uh and you know your time and and the add ad exposure for for you, then we'll do it. If not, then we'll find something else. And yeah. Yeah, I was very scrappy uh starting out.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

That's good though. Did you were you nervous about starting it, or were you like this is something I have to do?

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I I definitely was not definitely wasn't nervous. Uh I I so I I didn't it wasn't daily to start, and then I I realized that I didn't know if it was a good use of my time or not. Uh so I made a commitment to do it daily for two and a half months. And then uh if I got a sponsor by then, then that would help me pay for uh the the um editing and make life more sane, and I did. I ended up getting a sponsor, cozy.co, which I think's been bought a couple times over since then. I don't think is around anymore, maybe it is, but they were they were my first sponsor for two thousand dollars, and that covered the costs of you know the editing, and uh that I remember getting that checked and just being just glowing ear to ear because we made it. That's right, we made it.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, I don't know if I I wasn't really nervous, but I you know how you go into this thought process of like, okay, who are the guests gonna be? What are you gonna call it? And you're just going, and I and I and I've written a book, so I know how hard it can be. Like you're like, okay, what's the title gonna be? And I said, I'm not gonna make this like my book. And I just messaged this guy on uh LinkedIn, I was like, hey, I'm starting a podcast. The more I think about it, the less likely I'm gonna do it. I said, I'm gonna set it up. Can you be my first guest? And I just went. I I just you know, I said, I gotta start, and it's not gonna be perfect. And it was just a little awkward, like first one had all these questions written down, and I'm kind of I don't know, it's just weird. And then I just kind of went with it. Now the guests are if it's a newer guest, I'll try and do questions in advance with them. But somebody that's a veteran like you that's been around and done a ton of podcasts, obviously, you know, I we just jump on here and talk. So I don't want them to feel nervous about like, hey, I'm not gonna come on here and grill you and hammer you with like I got you questions or something like that. But go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yeah, yeah, I I'd say it's um you know it's definitely a worthy venture to do that if you are um building a brand, uh, to have some sort of I call it a thought leadership platform that's interview-based. If it's interview-based, then you're able to bring in new people, learn from them, and ask them selfishly the questions that you want to know, but then also they when they share that episode, then it helps you gain new, new uh listeners as a result of them sharing. So it's it's a win win across the board versus just a podcast where you're you're talking to yourself and it's a monologue.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah. So you guys have scaled to enormous size. I mean, y you're at like fourteen thousand apartments. units. That's that's that's a lot. Is there ever a point where you said I finally made it or are you still, you know, in it fighting every day and you know how's it what's the mindset like right now?

SPEAKER_01 22:13

You know, is it one deal at a time or you know Yeah well I mean right now we focused on we're focused on our current portfolio uh as we we always are our current our current deals and those investors in those deals. We have some deals that have uh floating interest rate loans were bought at the peak of the market. We've sold a couple deals for losses and yeah it's learning from those the the those experiences and knowing you know what what you would at hindsight 2020 but then how do you apply those lessons for for future for future deals and uh most importantly what can you do on those current deals. So that's that's the focus and that that will always be the focus.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

And then I think for you know newer investors they think and I went through this process when you buy your first apartment complex you have that like I made it moment but then it's a lot of hard work after that you know it's it's just the beginning and you're gonna have many other acquisitions after that. So after that it's a whole new set of obstacles you're going through and um you know you've got you guys have grown to enormous size but to grow bigger you have to stay after it and you know have the right mindset learn from your mistakes regardless of your size you know that's right whether you whether you own 10 single family properties or a million multifamily you know you're you still have to have the same mindset that's right as well. Going forward what are you guys looking for?

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Are you looking at uh class A or yeah we are class class A deals uh maybe class B ultimately we're looking any deal that we do will have some any deal that we buy will have some sort of distress component whether it's the the operational distress or or the capital stack uh there's there's got to be some sort of you know component there where there's motivated sellers uh and you know we we've purchased direct from a lender already we bought a deal um got favorable financing from the lender uh uh because of you know they had they had taken it back from the operator and you know we'll just continue to you know focus on first and foremost as I mentioned our current portfolio but then uh be opportunistic with other deals uh that our investors can benefit from yeah I most people don't understand like even a class A if it's really poorly managed there's a lot of upside in it you know the cap rate means something but if the management sucks you can come in there and you know up occupancy and do a lot of things to turn it around um what what's uh I know you can what's a good way for people to reach out to you in your website and all that well if if you're looking at uh passive investments you can um look at what we you know look do more of a research on us at ashcroftcapital.com if you're an operator and looking at you know learning more about the operations or attending the best ever conference um or um you know just different different uh courses uh for uh learning commercial real estate you can go to bestevercre.com and that's where that newsletter that you mentioned uh I mean it's a free free to get on the newsletter I recommend everyone get on the newsletter it's very valuable uh best ever cr episode it's it's very insightful they're not sitting there trying to pitch you every 10 seconds on a deal it's very informative educational content in their newsletter so and I read it quite frequently um I appreciate you coming on he also has a book out there um published so anyway um Joe I appreciate you coming on and all that and you know we'll be in touch and great having you on thank you enjoy the conversation Carson yeah absolutely thank you