Insider Secrets Podcast Episode #94

 Guest: Mandy McAllister

 

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Guest Bio:

Episode 94 guest Mandy McAllister

Mandy McAllister is a multifamily real estate investor, mindset ninja, eternal learner, coach, and dot connector. She has a Master’s Degree in Economics, began her professional career at the Chicago Board of the trade before transitioning to Medical Device Sales. After many years of “chasing commission,” she has made it her mission to secure financial freedom for her family and others through syndications and coaching individuals to realize their personal potential.

Her real estate expertise includes repositioning underperforming assets to increase cash flow and value. Her portfolio is currently comprised of 353 doors, primarily B- class workforce housing.  Mandy has found success in college towns with student housing as well as urban centers. Her passion is to help others define their path to financial freedom especially women through her platform, Aspiring Women Achieving More. She is most proud to be mama to her hilarious 5-year-old son Duncan who, coincidentally, wants to be a real estate investor when he grows up.

SHOWNOTES

Key Takeaways

I feel like the more you show up as yourself in any situation, the more juice you squeeze out of life.

When I was 19 years old, the seed of must be real estate investor was planted.

As interest rates tick up, just because of math, the cap rates are going to have to tick up. So values will have to drop as we have an increase in lending.

If people are going to be moving to Indiana from Illinois, that’s where I want to own my assets.

You only get about a 65 or 70% loan to value instead of an 80 that you might get in another program.

The people that are computer programmers, sales reps, end up in a B and A class asset.

I would always have trouble keeping track of when appointments were, so pushing people to my Calendly.

If you think that you don’t make enough money to afford help with what you’re doing, I’m here to tell you that Upwork will help you find a virtual assistant for very very little money.

Standout Quotes

“I started off as a broker’s assistant. I helped guys fill orders from investors. And then after a number of years of that, I went upstairs to trade.” – Mandy

“My favorite type of an asset is one that I can own a larger chunk of that we can own it for a longer-term with really good low rate non-recourse steps.”- Mandy

“I’m pretty good at math, but I’m not as good as a computer. So it seemed pretty clear that things were going to go electronic” – Mandy

“The largest collection in the housing market ever was what, 8 to 10%. Like you can lose eight to 10% in stock on Tuesday” – Mandy

“When you talk about safety, that whole safe investment, it’s inherently not safe, traditionally it’s not safe. There’s a risk involved and when people put their money into an asset, they could lose” – Mike

“A big reason that I choose multifamily is because you buy a stock low and hook to sell high. You do the same with real estate, but you get the tax benefits. You get the mortgage paid down, you get the cash flow associated with it. So you’re earning in so many different ways that cash flow kind of becomes like a defensive mechanism in many ways” – Mandy

“I’m considering tertiary markets because that’s where I’m getting a cap that makes sense” – Mandy

“What I’m looking for is a good long-term growth market where I’m going to get some cash flow out of right now, and I’m going to hold for the long term because I’m going to be paying back that mortgage with way cheaper dollars here in the future” – Mandy

“Google full focus planner. I think about in order to call today a success, what are the three things that have to happen? I accomplish so much more in days because I put that 20 minutes of thought in, and it’s this planner that kind of helps me do that” – Mandy

Timeline

[00:39] Intro to show and today’s guest, Mandy McAllister.

[03:13] One word that describes Mandy personally and professionally.

[03:53] Mandy’s background and how she got into real estate.

[04:48] Planted the seed of must be real estate investor at 19, didn’t buy anything with the express purpose of investment until I was 35

[12:00] Going right into small multi-units.

[14:15] Explaining cap rates.

[17:04] Talking about a loan to value.

[18:09] Mandy talks about the whole process around buying the next property.

[20:34] The states Mandy likes for investing in multifamily.

[21:48] How do you make high stake decisions?

[24:15] What can you do with a B class asset and how do you increase value?

[26:08] Mandy’s three favorite technology platforms.

[31:53] Mandy’s Insider Secret.

[32:38] Favorite tourist attraction.

[34:06] Favorite restaurant of Mandy.

Contact

Website: mandymcallister.com

TRANSCRIPT

Kristen: [00:00:00] Welcome to this edition of Insider Secrets, the weekly podcast that turns real estate investing goals into reality. Each show we interview guests who are seasoned real estate professionals, actively closing and managing real estate deals. Mike is the founder of My Core Intentions and would like to help you make your real estate investing dreams a reality.

Mike coaches you to buy investment real estate, creating short-term cash flow and long-term wealth. Your host and real estate coach, Mike Morawski has more than 30 years of real estate investing and property management experience. Here’s your host, Mike.

Mike: Hey everybody. Welcome today to this episode of Insider Secrets and you are going to be surprised today. I’m joined today by Mandy McAllister. Hey Mandy, why don’t you say hi and let our listeners know a couple of things they’re going to hear inside today.

Mandy: Hi Mike. I could not be more excited to get to be part of this [00:01:00] today. So the things that we talked about that I think that listeners might be most interested in, chasing debt and how there’s the right type of debt in my opinion, and how you can what got you here? Won’t get you there. And also this idea of showing up for yourself because no one is going to do it for you.

Mike: Absolutely. Hey, and you want to hear the rest of this, you’re going to have to chime in inside. See you guys inside.

 Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is Mike, your host of Insider Secrets and you are in for a treat today. No doubt about that. I finally get to meet somebody that I’ve been wanting to meet for a long time. Hey Mandy, say hi to everybody.

Mandy: Oh hi.

Mike: I caught you off guard. Listen, I’m glad that you’re here today. Listeners. I just want you to know, remember what your intentions are. Okay. Did you wake up this morning, what are you thinking about? What are you working on? What is your focus? And you look into do the rest of the year. So we’ll talk about that a little bit, but I’m really excited about our guest [00:02:00] today.

So if you have a chance run out to where you get your social media fix, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Follow us, like us, love us, subscribe to us, subscribe to the channel on YouTube, get all the current information. Not just from me, but from our guests too.

So let me dig right in. I’m joined today by Mandy McAllister. She’s a multifamily real estate investor with a ninja mindset. I can’t wait to take into that today. An internal learner, coach, a connector. Her passion is to help others define their path and financial freedom through syndications, coaching, and her platform aspiring women achieving more. Mandy, welcome to the show. I’m so excited you are here.

Mandy: Hi, Mike. I could not be more thrilled. Yeah. We have tons of friends in common. This is a long time coming.

Mike: I know, for the last several months. And one of our friends, Kevin, my partner, friend of yours, I asked him I think probably six months ago to connect us and [00:03:00] he never did. And we finally got here, so that was good. Hey, listen, so one question I ask all my guests at the beginning of the show is in one word and you can’t use ninja. One word what best describes you personally and professionally?

Mandy: I think enthusiastic. I feel like the more you show up as yourself in any situation, the more juice you squeeze out of life. So I like being excited about everything.

Mike: Contagious too, isn’t it? You show up enthusiastic and you give that to somebody else. And that whole relationship conversation kind of goes in that direction. I like that. Mandy, I have to tell you, I think you’re going to be like number 95 on Insider Secrets and I don’t think anybody’s ever said enthusiastic.

Hey, talk a little bit about your backstory and how you got into this crazy business, and what attracted you to real estate, multifamily?

Mandy: Sure. So I grew up on a farm, so like owning hard assets, not investing in the [00:04:00] stock market. It was really the nature of how I grew up. And then when I was in undergrad I remember a conversation with a friend who was explaining that her dad bought the house that she was living in and that she was renting the rooms to her friends, her roommates, and I thought, oh my God, you get to keep that money.

That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard in my life. So that’s when I was 19 years old, the seed of must be a real estate investor was planted. And then, after undergrad, I did a master’s in economics. And masters in economics, plus dad is a farmer, plus Chicago equals board of trades. So I worked there for a number of years and it turned out that, seeing guys lose millions in a flash of an eye that kind of reaffirmed my love of hard assets.

It took a lot of time to get over myself. So planted the seed of must be real estate investor at 19. Didn’t buy anything with the express purpose of investment until I was 35. But in ramping, I’m 41 [00:05:00] now and I’ve been able to leave my day job because of multi-family.

Mike: So were you a trader or were you a runner or what did you do at the board of trade?

Mandy: Both. I started off as a broker’s assistant. I helped guys fill orders from investors. And then after a number of years of that, I went upstairs to trade. Cause it seemed pretty obvious in like 2004, that, I’m pretty good at math, but I’m not as good as a computer. So it seemed pretty clear that things were going to go electronic. So I tried to make that move and was a trader at a prop firm. And it was me and 180 dudes in a room like silently clicking mouses, and it didn’t agree with my personality, so I left like a year in and ended up in medical sales for the bulk of my career.

Mike: Oh, wow. Interesting. And in a Chicago market or another market or?

Mandy: In Chicago? Yeah.

Mike: Okay. All right. So you’ve been here it’s interesting. I’ll never forget my ex-wife worked for a guy in the soybean pit. This is just a crazy [00:06:00] story. And I remember she came home from work one day and just like in tears, hysterical, totally broken. She screwed up a million dollars trade and there was like a million-dollar loss and went back the next day and the guy doubled his money. Just that whole plan that’s way too much. I gamble I multi-family on real estate, I take some speculations, but that’s way out of the box for me gambling.

Mandy: And if you look at the safe investment, that is the stock market, right? Like the largest collection in the housing market ever was what, eight to 10% ish. Like you can lose eight to 10% in a stock on Tuesday. Like, why is that the safe one? And the thing that we’re doing, that’s completely insured if it burns to the ground, that’s the unsafe thing.

Mike: Yeah. I agree. And there’s a whole story behind that, when you talk about safety, that whole safe investment. It’s inherently not safe, traditionally it’s not safe. There’s a risk [00:07:00] involved and when people put their money into an asset, they could lose.

Mandy: You look for stuff that has like an asymmetrical risk-return. But that’s another, I know I’m preaching to the choir, but a big reason that I choose multifamily is because you buy a stock low and hook to sell high. You do the same with real estate, but you get the tax benefits. You get the mortgage paid down, you get the cash flow associated with it. So you’re earning in so many different ways that cash flow kind of becomes like a defensive mechanism in many ways.

Mike: Told you we wouldn’t stick to the script so.

Mandy: I know.

Mike: Today’s market, you’re buying high and selling even higher.

Mandy: Yeah.

Mike: Let’s just go there for a minute. What are you looking at right now market-wise, right? So cap rates are so compressed, the market is so high, your estimation, I know where I drew a line in the sand. Where do you think we’re at?

Mandy: I’m looking number one in this overall growth stuff. So to put my economist hat back on if you look at the amount of [00:08:00] money we printed over the course of the last two years, it’s 8X. Like Google, if you haven’t looked at the money supply M one, the Fred Raft, it goes for a while and it freaking hockey sticks. It’s ridiculous. It’s eight X what we had in the economy in terms of number of dollars.

When Biden’s talking about, oh yeah, there’s inflation. No, like you should’ve seen this coming because you’ve printed so much more. So what I’m looking for is a good long-term growth market where I’m going to get some cash flow out of right now, and I’m going to hold for the long term because I’m going to be paying back that mortgage with way cheaper dollars here in the future. So I feel like right now, the play for me is the mortgage is as much of an asset as the cash-flowing asset itself, if not more.

Mike: Okay. What’s interesting, right? We’re living in a time and a space where we printed more money than ever in a shorter period of time than ever, and we owe more money than ever as a country. And it’s interesting. So now when you start to [00:09:00] look at them, trying to backpedal now and, raise interest rates and inflation come into play, what’s the hedge against the inflation?

Mandy: Debt. Long-term debt.

Mike: You said that, but I wanted you to say clearer.

Mandy: If I could be a billion dollars in debt in this non-recourse long-term Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, government-backed incredible debt. It’s six ways to Sunday, your risk mitigated. If you’re locked into this debt if you have a cash-flowing asset, right? So if I could be a billion dollars in debt, which I’m chasing. I would do that right now if I could.

Mike: Okay. So let’s be clear though. We’re not talking credit card debt.

Mandy: Correct.

Mike: We’re not talking buying a Bentley, but we’re talking oh, you have one. I saw that smile. Just kidding. We’re talking productive debt, so real estate assets.

Mandy: Beyond productive debt, if you are newer to this multifamily game and you [00:10:00] don’t know about agency debt, either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac investment grade, invest in debt vehicles, Google the Freddie Mac small balance loan program. That’s the easier one to get into. And that debt is longer term. So the last loan I did was 15 years, eight years of it was interest only a 3.2% rate. And it’s non-recourse. So what that means is I’m not personally liable if everything hits the fan and I can prove that I didn’t commit any bad boy closets.

Mike: And that loan, and I’m a little bitter on that loan, but that loan program works really well till two weeks before closing. And they say, oh, we don’t like your asset all of a sudden. After you have a commitment because they ran out of money. So that happened in October last year, we’re closing it, we got told that after we had a verbal commitment and a written term sheet saying we don’t like the deal. Freddie doesn’t like the deal on the SPL.

And I thought it was us, [00:11:00] but the next morning I go to a mastermind meeting that I’m in and there’s four other multifamily people. And they all say Freddy kicked my loan last night. All the way you realize they ran out of money.

Mandy: Yeah, exactly. So the way that works and it was surprising to me the first time I learned that there’s X number of dollars that they can lend out on a calendar year and that when it runs out. So they have a lot more in 2022 than they have in subsequent years because, they printed all this money, they gotta put it somewhere. It doesn’t actually become an economy until it gets lent. So they need to lend it out. If you are buying an asset, that’s way less likely, it’s way less of a risk. That thing that happened to you in January, February, March than it is an October, November, December.

Mike: Yeah. It’s a big deal and it’s a great loan program. It really is a great loan program. So I want to just back up for a minute. You were in medical sales, what attracted you to the real estate market and how did you wind up going from there into real estate, starting to syndicate deals? And let me just one second. I’m sorry. Did you go right into the [00:12:00] multifamily business?

Mandy: Small multis. My wheelhouse, I would say is small multi’s four to 50 units. I played in the larger stuff. I’ve done syndications, but for my investing purposes, I like these longer-term holes. And you don’t see a ton of syndications that are yoked for that longer-term 15-year type hole. The bulk of my transactions have been joint venture where it’s me and a few people and we intend to hold for the long term.

So the first thing that I bought was a four-unit. And it was by a college. It made a ton of cents. I was scared to death, Mike, to pay $120,000 for a fourplex in 2016 if you can imagine it. So I didn’t die after I bought that fourplex and it cash flowed like a thousand dollars a month, almost a thousand dollars a month. So I was bitten by the bug. I realized, oh my God, this is just a math equation.

I have however much hitting my checking account every month because of my job, if I rack up enough multifamily that I [00:13:00] own larger proportions of, then that will soon exceed what’s hitting my bank account for my committed 40 to 80 hours a week. So that’s when I really dug in and doubled down on my efforts to in multifamily.

Mike: Got it. I gotta laugh about this because we talk about pricing and cap rates and, you just mentioned cap rates at, what did you say cap rates were at?

Mandy: I’d say Indianapolis is about a four capfour-cap market now.

Mike: Yep. What’s interesting is we know a little bit about my history. When I started back in the multifamily space, my friend said to me, if I can find anything north of a five cap, and I thought five caps, I bought 4,000 apartments at a 13 cap. Are you kidding me? So the disparity between time zones right over time. And now if I can touch anything above of four, I’m happy. Most of the time underwriting today is three-ish. So it’s nuts [00:14:00] and it’s all market-dependent. So let’s talk about Indy, right?

Mandy: Yeah. But it’s also the spread. It’s the Delta between how much you can borrow money at and how much the cap rate will return you.

Mike: Lot of new listeners on the call listening to this. So explain that.

Mandy: Yeah, you got it. So cap rate is basically what percentage could you return on your money? Could you get paid on your money if you don’t have a loan on the property? So if I could earn 4% on my money not having a loan and it costs me the call it 3% to borrow that money. There’s a difference of a 1% between that cap rate, what I earn, and three-point, whatever that it costs. That one point that’s basically the cream that I cashflow earn. So as interest rates tick up, just because of math, the cap rates are going to have to tick up. So values will have to drop as we have an increase in lending.

Mike: Where does that leave the [00:15:00] new borrower going into multifamily, who, maybe has never done any real estate borrowing or investing before. Where does that whole scenario lead them?

Mandy: So if you’re looking to do a transaction now, and this is just the mindset that I take on. The cap rates are ridiculous. The market is ridiculously hot. There’s so much capital chasing deals, right? There’s 10 31 exchanges that are way overpaying because it’s preferential to not have to pay the government and they can weigh overpaid for an asset. That sucks. We can all agree that sucks, right? Those are things that are against us as investors.

However, what do we have going for us? We have going for us, it’s not just in my lifetime, the lowest interest rates that have ever been seen, that I’ve ever seen. It’s every buddy’s lifetime. These are the lowest interest rates that have ever been available ever in the history of everything. So in my opinion, you lock things down for the long-term, knowing that [00:16:00] inflation is going to take care of the cash flow of Delta.

If you get enough if you’re making some money and your break-even point that you know that you’re not going to have to pay out of pocket for a deal. It’s going to take care of itself because you have this locked-in fixed rate for a longer-term with that loan. So I feel like if you chase the debt as the primary piece of the asset, that will inform a really great future.

Mike: So talk about loan to value. You’re saying chase the debt. And that’s very contrary to some other people that are out there that say eliminate your debt, right? Because I’ve always believed productive debt. You should probably have a loan on real estate and probably a loan on a car, but other stuff is really unproductive. But there’s people that teach, eliminate the debt completely. You’re seeing chase the debt. Talk about loan to value around that though. [00:17:00]

Mandy: Yeah. I feel like I was a Dave Ramsey disciple, Mike.

Mike: I wasn’t going there, but.

Mandy: I will. And I think that he’s great. I think that he really serves a purpose for the people that need him. But the thing is what got you here won’t get you there. If you have a negative net worth, if you have a ton of student debt, if you’re working to dig your way out of a hole, the very best possible thing you can do is a Dave Ramsey type program.

But once you get a net worth of, I don’t know, in the positive up to maybe half a million dollars, at that point in order to grow that well, what got you here won’t get you there. So if you want to grow that wealth being debt-free will not get you there. It’s like saying, I have a toothache and an ankle ache, right? Will Oragel fix my ankle ache? No, with a different problem. So you got to apply the right solution to the right problem.

Mike: It’d be an interesting thing to try though, little Oragel on your ankle.

Mandy: I don’t know where I came up with that.

Mike: Hey, I knew we were [00:18:00] going to have fun today. So listen. How are you looking at markets and deals today? So what’s your whole process around picking the property, the next property to buy?

Mandy: It’s all growth-oriented growth-oriented. So I live in a state of Illinois and I don’t love the way our government does things. And I see a complete mass Exodus. If you look at the census, the state, I saw some statistics and I don’t want to butcher it, but the census this year in the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois has shrunk for the first time, since the world wars, right?

So people are voting with their feet and post COVID Illinois lost more people than any other state, except for New York. You hear a lot about the exodus of California, Illinois was worse the year after COVID. So I actively sold entirely my portfolio in Illinois and in buying in more where populations are growing, because what I need for long-term rentals is long-term renters.

And if people are going to be moving to Indiana from Illinois, that’s where I want to own my assets. That plus, if I [00:19:00] feel like we’ve seen when things go wrong, like Illinois now has been spending every dollar of every new tax that we come up with. And if they end up having to pay the Piper, what are they going to do? They’re going to come after the man, the rich guy who owns the property, and Jack up their property taxes. That’s just my opinion of one of the routes that they’ll go as a state.

So I sold everything here. I’m going to states that are growing that are landlord-friendly and I’m considering tertiary markets because that’s where I’m getting a cap that makes sense. I have to allow for borrowing fewer dollars in those tertiary markets, because those great loan programs that I was talking about, they don’t allow the maximum borrowing potential. You only get about a 65 or 70% loan to value instead of an 80 that you might get in another program. I’m looking in tertiary markets that might be growing.

Mike: What’s interesting is one of the best deals I ever owned was in Connersville, Indiana 35 miles outside of Indianapolis tertiary [00:20:00] market cornfield. One of the best cashflowing deals I ever owned. But I was on a Marcus Millichap webinar just within the last 40 days here, 50 days here. The vice-president from Goldman Sachs was on and she said, Don’t lose sight of the tertiary markets right now. She said that those tertiary markets are going to provide cash flow for those assets to offset the inflationary direction that we’re heading in.

Mandy: You just gotta do that in a state that’s growing.

Mike: Yeah. So what states do you like?

Mandy: I love Indiana. And the way that I invest primarily is I owned in joint venture. So I want to be able to get there and back by dinner, I’m a single mom of a, he’ll be six next week almost six years old, six years old. So I want to be down and back by dinner if I have meetings or to check out deals if I need to. So Indianapolis and the surrounding tertiary markets are my primary focus. I also really love [00:21:00] Louisville, Kentucky. Cause I like how Kentucky does stuff too.

Mike: Okay. All right. Interesting. See, I think everybody looks at things a little bit differently. You know what I mean? I want to be where, Hey, I read a report last week that’s at Sarasota in Bradington, Florida. We’ll see this year 38% rank growth. Now listen, 38% is a big number, but if they hit 12?

Mandy: You are wrong by half.

Mike: You are right, it’s wrong by half. So that’s 16. We’re in a market where you got inflation going on, you got people that there’s speculation, I think there’s gonna be some uncertainty job-wise, income-wise in a lot of pockets. How do you make smart decisions or how do you make high stake decisions?

Mandy: So in purchasing my first kind of larger deal. I was operating in like the four to 10 unit space for a number of years. And then in 2020, did my first [00:22:00] 50 unit in joint venture with a Fannie Mae loan. So I got that great debt that I’ve been talking about for the first time. And that took like I was scared to death again because it’s a much larger asset and it was during COVID times. So the rules of the lending were changing the amount of reserves that we needed to kind of backup savings account that they were requiring was changing and increasing pretty substantially. What we ended up doing was I did this kind of worst-case scenario on it. And this is one of I say, mindset ninja. Like how can I change my outlook on things to completely change the way I look at it? So what I did is I looked at the absolute worst-case scenario. Okay. We can keep this going so long as we don’t have a negative cash flow on the month that we’re able to pay on all of our bills.

So that we had a economic vacancy breakeven point. That means what percentage of the people who are in our building cannot pay us before we start losing money. And it was like a [00:23:00] 43% economic vacancy that we could sustain before we started losing money. So then I realized, oh, Hey, there’s different jobs are sticking around and some jobs are really unemployable right now during COVID. So what I did is I got all the applications for the tenants that we had in that building that we would be inheriting. And I did a pile of manicurists. That’s an at-risk job. Oh, police officer, not an at-risk job. Computer programmer, not an at-risk job. Do you know, and went on and saw that there were five people who had at-risk jobs. And we knew that we would be able to sustain moving forward 95% payment of rent.

So I also think that type of to further that thought a little more, the type of people who lost their jobs in COVID, the manicures, the bartenders, the types of jobs that fall into that category kind of end up in a C class asset end up renting a C class type asset. The people that are computer programmers, sales reps, they end up in a B and [00:24:00] A class asset. So that really informed that right now I’m looking for more B-class assets because I think it insulates me with the type of jobs that the tenants end up having.

Mike: That’s interesting, I was going to go there. What type of asset do you like? So when you talk about B, is that more than workforce housing from. What do you think, traditionally what can you do with that asset? How do you increase value?

Mandy: So the assets that I’ve done most recently ended up they’ve looked like A class assets. They’re really well rehabbed, and they’re either a brand new, really good rehab or I bought from a developer. And the developer didn’t do, they didn’t do a bunch of amenities. So it would be considered a B class type workforce housing asset rather than an A. The way that we’ve been adding value is if you buy from a developer, for instance, this last asset that we did, units were renting out at 85 cents a square foot. We knew that the [00:25:00] developer didn’t push rents cause it was renting out during COVID and they just needed to get it full in order to sell it. We knew the comparable units were renting for a dollar for a square foot.

So our business plan was managed better. The first one that we did in September of 2020, that 53 and I was talking about the managed better was a ratio utility billing, like a bill back of utilities to tenants. It was just implementing kind of run-of-the-mill stuff, knowing that we didn’t need a ton of tweaking to increase that value because we were sitting on it long term, for the cashflowcash flow.

Mike: But here’s what I know about value is that just this conversation we’ve had, people are going to want to co-pack and rewind and listen, because there’s so many nuggets. Listen, I got to go to the ninja question. Where’d that come from?

Mandy: And somebody called me that. We were workshopping a problem that somebody had and the way that we routed it, we just looked at it differently and she called me a Mindset Ninja, I’m like, that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard. I’m using it.[00:26:00]

Mike: That’s awesome. Hey, technology, what do you like technology-wise? Tell me your three favorite platforms.

Mandy: So I take a lot of meetings and my calendar, especially when I had my day job, six months ago now was able to leave my day job. But especially this was a side hustle of mine, I would always have trouble keeping track of when appointments were, so pushing people to my Calendly.

If you haven’t used Calendly, it’s a free resource that runs your calendar. And if you do pay for it, it’s really affordable, maybe 10 bucks a month and it can help you book appointments when are convenient for you so that your day runs better. So much of this stuff, technology-wise that’s helped me is managing my day and having a system in place in order to do it. Another one in that same vein is, it’s old-school technology. It looks like a hymnal, doesn’t it? It’s the full focus planner.

Mike: Spoken like a good church girl.

Mandy: A Lutheran girl, [00:27:00] right? So basically, Google full focus planner, but it makes me sit down and with my coffee every morning, I think about in order to call today a success, what are the three things that have to happen? And just putting that 20 minutes of thought into my day before my day starts. And it’s usually, while I’m focusing my kids eat his fruit loops and I’m having my coffee that I’m thinking these things through. I accomplish so much more in days because I put that 20 minutes thought in, and it’s this planner that kind of helps me do that.

And I’ll say upwork.com, if you think that you don’t make enough money to afford help with what you’re doing, I’m here to tell you that Upwork will help you find a virtual assistant for very very little money. For instance, the virtual assistant that I have, Wendy is outstanding. And I pay her $5 an hour, which is a really incredible living in the Philippines where she’s at. And she takes care of all my social media stuff. A lot of wrote tasks that will slip through the cracks if I didn’t have her. So thanks, Wendy. [00:28:00]

Mike: That’s what I have that I got found Diana on Upwork too.

Mandy: Did you?

Mike: I haven’t had the best luck with virtual overseas assistance and Kevin, and I can probably tell you a whole bunch of stories about that. But so now I have somebody who’s here in the states, but I found her on Upwork. And I said to her today, actually, and this is funny because you brought this all up, but I said, Hey, who’s this appointment? She goes, Oh, man, they must’ve scheduled. Oh yeah. She had me go to her calendar, and schedule this.

Mandy: See.

Mike: Cause you know, I use a Calendly too, but it’s through my platform. So it’s funny. It’s all called leverage, right? How do we leverage ourselves so that we can be a little bit more effective, a little bit time productive, so good for you. Insider Secrets, the name of this show, right?

Like I said, you’re going to be like episode 95, which I’m really excited about because hundred is a big one. For somebody stay consistent on these podcasts and meet up and you have a meetup talk about your meetup a little bit.

Mandy: I do. I [00:29:00] run a meetup with your business partner Kevin Dougan and my business partner in many joint ventures, Brian Koch, and Dorfer out of Chicago. We folded it under the multifamily masters brand name. We’ve largely been operating virtually since COVID, but that’s meant that we’ve had some pretty incredible guests. Neil boa is joining us soon, you are going to be joining us in April. It’s every second second Tuesday of the month. I got to think that through at 7:00 PM central our presentation, and then some networking after.

Mike: It’s awesome because I always tell people, and especially if you’re a new listener to Insider Secrets right now, go get as much information as you can. And these meetup groups, these REI groups, they’re awesome for content, right? Because somebody like yourself, who’s got a ton of experience been doing this for a while. You bring somebody else on, I always say if I’m the smartest guy in the room, I’m in the wrong room, so I want to make sure that a different room all the time.

Mandy: I want to say one more thing about that too. I talked about being [00:30:00] 19 to 35 that I hadn’t bought anything because I was too nervous. Cause I’m just some little girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing, and these are such big deals that they’re incredible. I remember sitting outside of a pizza joint where a networking event was going to be going on. And then I sat out there for 20 minutes and I drove away because I was too nervous to go in. Because little Mandy isn’t going to know anything.

But I’m here to tell you that if you’re too nervous to join us, I think women do this, maybe even a little bit more than men, because the act as if Jean than me, men have women don’t necessarily. So I’m here to tell you, challenge yourself. There are so many people in real estate investing who want to lift each other up. Lift other people, new people up. So you will find someone that will be able to help you. You just have to show up for yourself. Don’t be Mandy in her car, go in the frigging joint, show up at something, zoom, show up for yourself.

Mike: Well spoken. So I have a coaching client that he said, if I get into these conversations, how am I going to answer these questions with people? [00:31:00] And I said, look, just step out of your comfort zone. So like he comes back the next week. He goes, man, this was easy. He goes, nobody asked me anything that I thought they were going to ask me. So what you said is so true, right? Cause we have these preconceived notions that we think, oh man, they’re going to catch me.

They’re going to ask me something that I don’t know, how do I answer? How do I respond? It’s that inner voice. And I think as a coach, and I know you do some coaching too, but as a coach you really have to try and help your people get through that, and eliminate the drunk monkey is what I learned a long time ago, right? The monkey that sits on your shoulder goes, you can’t do this.

Mandy: He’s a jerk that drunk monkey. Yeah. And I feel the moment that you realize that no one really knows or is any better or is any smarter or is anything more than you that you can figure things out, you start showing up for yourself more and more, so it’s all momentum.

Mike: Yeah. Showing up for yourself. I love that. Insider secrets any deep secrets that you want to share?

Mandy: I’ll tell you, I’m a little bit of a [00:32:00] contrarian in many ways. Like I do these longer-term deals. I do some syndications, but largely it’s in these B class type assets that meet the criteria. So friends and family can join in when they don’t have a big cheque to stroke. But my favorite type of an asset is one that I can own a larger chunk of that we can own it for a longer-term with really good low rate non-recourse steps. That is the thing I’m chasing. Cause I think it sets up future generations.

Mike: Yeah, absolutely. Well-spoken. All right. Let’s slow down, shift gears a little bit. Three bonus round questions. Favorite tourist attraction?

Mandy: I realized like two years ago, Mike, that these bucket list things that you’ve got, you only get one life. So like I’m just planning these bucket lists situations now. So I don’t know. I love a vacation where, I’ve got a margarita, my toes in the sand. So I’d say the beach is probably my absolute favorite.

Whatever thing is on your bucket [00:33:00] list, if you put it on a calendar, it’s real. For instance, I’ve always wanted to go on an RV trip with my kiddo and family. So we planned it and we’re going to rent an RV and we just know where we’re going to go now. And I love that idea of having memories for my kiddo.

Mike: Cool, awesome. How about best book you’ve ever read?

Mandy: Number one. I am dyslexic. So I always thought oh, I hate reading. No, it’s just cause I don’t, I mix things up. So I found audible and I started listening to hundred books a year. So my current favorite is “The Art Of The Impossible”.

The reason I love that is because it’s so actionable. There’s a lot of times that you hear, conjecture and ideas and, I used to be poor and now I’m rich, like this art of the impossible is super actionable. Basically, the way things get done, the way things evolve is by being in a flow. And there’s actionable ideas of how to get yourself into a flow.

Mike: Nice. Awesome. [00:34:00] Well-spoken. And then last thing favorite restaurant, favorite food. However, you want to place that.

Mandy: I am such a creature of habit. I am such a little farm girl. But my six-year, almost six-year-old loves to take me on dates to Pinera. So we always have tomato soup of Pinera.

Mike: Oh my gosh. Tell him, you might want to try Tofano’s.

Mandy: Okay. You got it.

Mike: Mandy, this has been awesome. Your energy is contagious. I’m glad we finally had an opportunity to connect and get to know each other a little bit, looking forward to building a relationship and seeing how we might be able to do something for each other. And how I can add some value to your business and your network.

Tell people how they can get ahold of you if they have interest in your meetup or you, or what you’re doing. Play with you in the sandbox.

Mandy: Awesome. The very best way to get a hold of me. It’s the catch-all for all of the things that I’m doing. Good Fortune Capital my investing arm. Aspiring Women Achieving More the women’s group that I helped [00:35:00] found. It’s mandymcallister.com.

Mike: And we’ll have all that in the show notes. Mandy, today has been a pleasure. Honored to finally meet you and look forward to catching up soon. Hey, everybody. Welcome, glad that you were here and listened in on this today. I know you’re going to want to rewind this a few times and take in some more of these nuggets. And we will be back again next week. Thanks.

Kristen: Thank you, Mike, and thank you for joining us for another great episode of Insider Secrets. As always, Insider Secrets is brought to you by My Core Intentions. Wherever you hang out on social media, you will find Mike and My Core Intentions, please and follow us to get the most up-to-date real estate investing trends.

Visit mycoreintentions.com, where you can get expert coaching on all things, real estate investing, and property management. If you’re looking to become an expert, Mike’s coaching will help you scale your real estate investment business. We’re looking forward to having you back again next week for more [00:36:00] Insider Secrets.