Episode 82 | Eric Oden | Military Millionaire Podcast

00-10:00

David:

Heeeeey! What’s up Military Millionaires?
Today is another episode co-hosted by Alex.
Please let me know down below if this is something you want to become a regular thing.

Today’s episode is with Eric Oden who has been a long-time follower on instagram.
He and I talked quite a bit and had a ton of success after he went from the Army.
He was in a Desert Storm, and then he’s been buying properties and more and more and more. He did eight flips last year, and for buy-and-hold, and he’s just growing, growing, growing in Mobile, Alabama.

This is an exciting episode and as always show notes are found at Frommilitarytomillionaire.com/podcast... Now relax and enjoy the show.

Intro:

You’re listening to the military millionaire podcast, a show about real estate investing for the working class. Stay tuned as we explore ways to help you improve your finances, build wealth through real estate and become a person that is worth knowing.

Sponsor:

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David:

Heeeeey, What’s up everybody? It’s Dave and Alex from the Military Millionaire podcast and I’m here with Eric Oden. He was an Army Desert Storm Vet he’s done.
That sounds like basically everything from flipping to some by and holes to I mean just a whole lot of different things and really we want to take him that quickly.

David:

So Eric and I have been talking back and forth on Instagram for a while and finally decided, it’s time to get my podcast. Eric, welcome to the show buddy.!

Eric:

Hey, good morning! Great to see you guys!

David:

Yeah! So ah, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Eric:

Well uhmm, yeah Desert Storm vet Vietnam. Desert Storm Vet Army Vet, and I’m from Mobile Alabama. I'm down on the Alabama Gulf Coast. A lot of people don't know that we actually have beaches but we do.
I did a lot of corporate sales jobs for years after getting out of the Army and eventually started wanting to take control of my own money and decisions, so I ventured out in a real state as a side hustle and then took the plunge and went full-time.

David

Was there any, was there any real estate experience you had while you're in, or did it come completely afterwards?

Eric:

You know, I had some accidentally and I didn't really appreciate the experience at the time when I got deployed, I had bought a house and I did the thing they told you not to do. I got married, it’s private, so you know, they said if they wanted you to have a wife that issued you one but we bought a house and I needed to rent it out while I was deployed. So I rented it out, and then when I got back when they were still renting it out.

So I actually had to go rent another house for my house was being rented out and I was turned off on it immediately ‘cuz I got a $35 bill from my property manager for replacing a spring on the screen door. And when I say it's spring on the screen door, I’m talking about your grandmother's screen door with an actual coil wire spring on it that’s 10 bucks. This is a rip-off!

And then I know it, then I got to the CPA, we did tax returns and there was like “Well you get to write off paying your own house.” That’s pretty cool. And that's the end of it. I moved back into that house and never thought about real estate again. So I didn't make the connection about how you can actually do this and make money, or scale it and you'll have holdings that are houses.

David:

I like that only because so many people that jumped on real estate like to hear about real estate, then like “I have to go all in” and I'm like, yeah, but I don't think that that's really the only way. There’s a lot of people, myself included, where you dabble in real estate and then you don't realize what it is ‘till years later. That's how I was.

I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” until it was 5, and I didn't know.
It’s like it sat there, and festered and it was stewing, but it didn't mean anything till 7:16 when

05:00- 09:59

David:
I was like, “hey, look, passive income”...You know, who knew?

And so I love this story because you give people the encouragement, that if it’s not working right now, it’s okay. You know, it’s a looong game, Real Estate.

Alex:

Right, and we didn't have the support group. Like, you know, like David's podcast back then to go, you know, it was hard to even relate to other people. It was still only the rich guy's head real estate or really older guys, you know, what a twenty-year-old private doesn't do that. And they're not running in those circles and you're not hanging out in the library to find one real estate book they have.

David:

It’s very true. Yeah, if you don't know that you need to look for it, you’re never going to find it.

Alex:

Yeah, the internet can really, I mean, I love the internet so much. It really brings people together. Just this podcast, of the two niches that overlap military and real estate, and you having people around the soundboard and just saying, you know, just how it's possible.

David can do it. I can do it, right if David can do it, freaking great!
Like if you know, it makes it seem very possible.

David:

I discovered in my last podcast that I can use him and it's a wonderful discovery. Most are just doing it for lip service.

Alex:

So alright, you got this house. So when and how did you finally, did it finally click?

Eric Oden:

Yeah, I was, I had started out, you know in Corporate America doing low in sales and service jobs, and then working my back, I realized I was never really going to be able to achieve some of the money goals I had straight to my W2. So I started some side hustles on my own. I did the eBay flips, and the garage sale digging like Gary B talks about a lot umm in this area you could you can maybe buy an RV trailer during the summer, and you can get ‘em really cheap but then waited till hunting season, and you can sell ‘em to some Hunter to make some more money. And then we started doing some cars and I was like “You know at some point I’m not going to go get a car lot, I’m gonna scale this up”.

So with all the drive time, I’d listen to podcasts and YouTube, and it’s like, “You know, why don’t I look at real estate at this point?”. I just kind of did the matrix, downloading all the windshield time, listening to people's podcasts and doing okay. I think I got the vernacular down. I think I understand some of the terms. Now I need to apply my daytime sales networking skills to help me get exposed and start doing some real things.

David:

It is amazing how a little bit of a merging like goes so far and technology really makes it possible. I myself underappreciate it sometimes, like you know, 20 years ago, there was no internet. Bored, we can go and just spend time talking with people who have already done it or make it seem possible. There was no Zillow where you can go analyze deals from across the country. There was no audible or podcast yet. Like 20 years, there wasn't Bluetooth in your car.

So my point is, with all this new technology, it’s like...it seems so prevalent now because we use them all the time and they're, they're almost mundane and how you know, they're everywhere. You don't think you can have it. It's like “dude if you're listening to Audible and listen to BiggerPockets. You listen to the millionaire military millionaire podcast, like a
a lot of that...a little of that goes a long way in terms of making you freaking deadly to making money.

Alex:

Yea, I think your environment, you know, is the next key then. So it's all available, but no one in your circle is in that mindset. You're not going to want to, you're not going to think to reach out for those kinds of resources.

David:

Absolutely, correct. And that's sometimes you just need a nudge, right? A little bit of a
nudge and the right networking can just be absolutely huge, and we've all got some pretty crazy stories about that, but I'd like to hear like through you since you got a touch on it.
How has networking really helped you out with building this real estate business?

Eric Oden:

Well, I think the key with networking is everyone's got to know what you do.
If you just broadcast enough of what you're doing with real estate, some of the deals will just come to you. Like I've actually been in an unrelated real estate setting where I said, “Hey, I'm, I'm looking to buy a rental” and somebody will go, “You know, I've got this house. We can rent it out for years...but I never really meant to rent it out. I couldn't sell it this time and I'm, I'm done with it, you know, do you want it?” and I'm like, “Well, let me see it. Let me check it out!”.

And then before you know it you've got an unintentional landlord unloading a house that he's become buddies with the tenant and he hasn't raised the rent. So you're paying off the current rent, but immediately if it's almost like a turnkey rental income Improvement.

10:00-14:59

Eric Oden:

You start treating it like a business to the point that that's how you pick up your subject to some people because they're like, “Hey understand the concept of getting money, but I don't want to go there and fix that toilet one more time”.

David:
It's amazing how you’re just telling the world what you do, and the right people find you.
I love that. I love that.
How do you use that to turn into one, know you do some flips as well, right? So what about contractors? Does networking help you find great contractors?

Eric Oden:

Oh, yeah, I mean I think contractors like a lot of things are going to be referrals.
I mean look at the whole business model of Angie's List or just any online reviews.
See if you go through areas, and uhh or anywhere you got other investors, you can start handling awesome names.

Typically, you know, they're not, everybody's, gonna be may be protective of their main
Guy. But if you don't do a pool in every flip, usually they basically share their pool guy referral or maybe their HVAC guy or something like that. I mean all folks will share it to an agreement, but those are the easiest kind of names to pick up for contractors. And then also when you pick up a contractor that way, they know the business model, they understand this is an investor, not a homeowner, so level of work, value, time schedules, pricing...You're not trying to introduce them to a new concept also.

Dave:

Yeah, I think that's a pretty, pretty wise way to state that cuz I know, you know when looking for contractors, it's a totally different mindset. So I have a friend who is a really, really good contractor. He's amazing, but I can't really use him because he is just way too high and, there's no way that we don't overlap because he does, you know, he's like the guy doing custom exterior, cedar work for like Bass Pro Resorts, Wendy's amazing, and he's rebuilding houses. They’re incredible.

But to use my other flip doesn't work, coz it’s either undercutting his employees a ton on their normal labor cost or I'm not a priority.

Alex:

Yeah, and I've even seen a problem between Section 8, rehabbers and then starting their home or mid-level flippers, you can't get them to transition, it's hard to get a contractor to do it if they're up, it's like having a finish carpenter. I had to go out there and, do, you know, roofing or or, framing they're just...It's hard for them to gear down and it's hard for them to gear up.

I'm having this problem now, my contractor, I love him to pieces. We got a partner.
But we mostly do listing rehab licenses for that. We do big rehabs, but we usually build bulletproof rentals. And now I'm trying to transition to the you know, big market flips, and the finished work is like “ I don’t have a guy who could do that, I don’t have a guy who can do this” or “I do, but you're not going to like them and this other thing”..Deliver the growing process and I love this because so much of those days is finding the right people for what you're trying to do, especially this turns into experience, you know, if you’re new, you're going to find a contractor who’s probably barely new.

You’re not gonna find like David said, like hey that guy, that really great contractor, is like yea, you can’t afford him and he’s not gonna screw around you ‘cuz you’re new… So finding the right people for you at the time, and the time you’re at, and the experience where you’re at or what you’re trying to build is incredibly important.

Eric Oden:

Yeah I call it fantasy football of contractors, it’s like “I got a pool guy, but now I need a plumber guy, but I need a plumber guy that will travel to this county, because where I’m at, we’re on Mobile Bay.. So Mobile county, Baldwin county that are separated by the bay, and whatever reason that seven mile bridge seems impassible for some people. So, you concentrate on those names to build your team.

David:

Is everything you do local to you?

Eric Oden:

Yes right now just in the two counties...That's the easiest thing right now for me to be manageable for me. I would see doing a large or maybe multi-family long-distance., but I think at this point our strength is right here in this area and there's too many opportunities for me to travel at this point.

David:

Gotcha! So you say, It works in your backyard, so go to the backyard.

Eric Oden:

Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, it's fun to think about how I'm going to go here and there and I'm a traveling to see this market, but at the same time, when you can flip in your own backyard, and you can get close to the 2% rule when you're buying holds in your backyard, it's hard to say to justify “Why move?”

Alex:

Yeah, for sure.

David:

Yeah, I agree.
So what does OPMI flip mean? There’s a white board behind you that says hashtag OPMI Flip.

Eric Oden:

That’s our hashtag that we use pretty consistently through all our social media. If you're trying to find us, it's easier just to say that, and you're going to link to us on Instagram or you're going to find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or something like that.

David:

What's it mean?

Eric Oden:

Oh, it stands for Oden Property Management and Investments..or money investments.

15:02-20:04

David:

Haha, which is ironically what I was going to say when I was rudely cut off by my co-host ...No, I'm just kidding.
I was going to ask about financing cuz I know you mentioned before we started recording that you've done some very unique financing, and I was thinking that's what the hashtag meant, but clearly I am wrong.

Eric Oden:

Nah, it’s just us trying to develop our brand, but on the financing, we try different things and you know what? Like my wife she's incredible, but she's like “Who in the world is going to let you sign over on their terms on a subject to, and give you the title?”

That sounds crazy.

And then I think back on my personal story, is I got foreclosed on when everyone else got foreclosed on in like 2010, and I was thinking “Man if somebody would come knock on my door, I mean I'd gladly be subject to this thing.”

David:

Interesting.

Eric Oden:

When you come from that, you realize, you know how much this can help somebody as long as you're not dealing with a scoundrel. It's like it totally makes sense. When you tell someone like “Hey you're done with this and you're behind on your mortgage.
I can get you out of this”..And you've done a good job of building a track record and reputation. That's the other reason we try to be on social media so people can find us easily and they're the real deal and they're actually going to take this house from from what it is to
what it needs to be and make it home again, you know, people will sign up for that.

So we've been able to do one flip to subject to, and also we have a current rental to subject to...We've also done on the finance side. I don't want to mention all this, but it’s kind of related. We had one owner financed from a landlord. The property had been in there 10 years and he sounds like he had checked on it and 10 years. It was his farthest away property and he was getting older and he didn't want to have to travel, you know, 35 miles every day to go check on the rehab.

So we made a deal, and he held a note… We talked it out and he was..he kind of wanted me to get started, so he held the note. He gave me a 3% interest.
I didn't own the first payment for 90 days and we flipped it in 84 days and he congratulated us on the work.

David:

Wow!

I just love that, and it’s related to what you said earlier about, you know, your wife thinking that some deal may be crazy and it's like, you know, everybody has their own individual life experience that tells them what normal is and what crazy is or whatnot. But you know, other people have other experiences, and what you think is crazy, and they think like you said “Hey, look I really need to get out of this house.I don't care about crazy. I need to get out of this house”..or whatever the case could be.

The other one that you said was like this guy, he didn't he couldn't do it, but he was excited to have you do it. So you'd be surprised how many people... Well you're not surprised, but
new people may be surprised how much you have the next guy will help you out.You know, it just worked out that way.

Eric oden:

The answer is “No” until you ask.

David:

Correct.

Eric Oden:

And the networking aspect to that is this landlord who financed it was “I'm trying to get this tribe. Was a friend of my friend's father at the hunting camp who told him he was saying about getting rid of it. So he told his son he told me.”

I mean, strictly, that said this is not real, this is not some wholesaler list. This is just making sure everybody knows what you do and how you do it, and protecting that brand of your track record.

David:

Yeah, if people know what you do and the big one is, you know, following through like if you go on social media to tell everybody you're a real estate investor, someone’s gonna bring you a deal and then you need to close, right?

Cuz you know if you can't close then you're just...yeah..

So when you go out there and say you’re a real estate investor and someone brings you a deal, and you close, your reputation in the community goes Stratosphere, people will bring you more deals.

Eric Oden:

Absolutely!
Real estate investing is tribal. I mean it. Everybody knows everybody at least in the core group of the Real Estate Investors. And you need to close, you need to make sure those wholesalers tell the other wholesalers, and they're all talking about.
It’s like “Oh, you came, you got it done”.

Alex:

100%!

David:

I’m writing that down. “Real estate is tribal”.

Alex:

Especially ‘coz it’s 1716.

So I was going to Las Vegas, and it’s gonna be hot, I'm going to get lost in the mix, I’m not gonna have the time to meet everybody, blah,blah, blah, blah... And I think within 8 months, I met the core 30, like hotshot real estate investors in Las Vegas. You meet everybody..

20:05-25:05

Alex:

Because, well first they'll hang out and secondly, you know, you said you’ll build relationships real quick. It’s like” Don’t go there on your mouth ‘coz everyone will talk, everyone will find out”...Then you show up and you deliver, everyone will find out as well.

David:

It's kind of like what we were talking about on one of our other Podcasts, Alex. And that is you going out and telling everybody Eric is very similar to what you're doing on social media, right? Because the game of content isn't so much like just “Hey, look at me talking about what I'm doing.”... It's you letting the world know what you do and you're bringing people into your circle, and it's very similar to what you're doing by just making sure that you tell everyone about real estate.

There's all these memes floating around about like so-and-so talking about football or whatever, me patiently waiting to tell them about how I invest in real estate. Like trying to let you know, and it’s true like I mean, and it's crazy some of the stuff that comes from just talking about it that you would never... who knows?

Eric Oden:

If your friends are not pulling you aside and go “Listen when you come over for the football party, you're coming over for the Iron Bowl party. Could you not bring up real estate?” and took it, that pull aside conversation, you're not talking about it enough.

Alex:

Oh, and to your point earlier about social media, I think it's important. You said something about you wanting people to know you’re real. I think the real big problem with social media right now is it's too easy. It just lends itself to fake so easily. You can go on there and you can repurpose somebody else's content and tell everybody how entrepreneur you are, and hustle, and success is like this, blah,blah,blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah…

It’s like, “Yeah, what have you done?” Right? And it doesn't have to be a superstar story, you just have to be like, are you real? Did you really buy this house and so more so I think social media, you spoiled it for me. It's more useful not Just as a marketing tool, but like “Hey, this is what I do”...And this is really really what I've done and here it is..And people are like “Oh wow, that’s the real deal”.. Or Eric is the real deal. And so people will gravitate towards that very strongly. So like you said, when you go public and you tell me what you do and you deliver it, and then you can do the same with social media.

David:

Whooooooooo!

We’ll be back with the show in just a minute, but I wanted to take a brief second and say that, look you are already obviously investing in yourself by listening this podcast, but if you can't figure out how to get past all that daunting crap that you just don't know how to sort
through and you're trying to get started in real estate investing and
you're just stuck?...I mean it happens to all of us. It's daunting.
You don't know what you don't know.
You don't know everything there is to know, and you don't know really where to find all the information. So that is why I created the real estate investing for beginners 0 to 1 course, which is solely designed to get you from “I want to invest in real estate” to “Holy crap.
I have a rental and it's cash flowing!”..And this course it’s not going to be anything super complicated that you won't be able to understand it. It’s just designed to teach you how to build a team, find Investments, finance investments, conduct your diligence, close on the investment, and then operate it so that you can enter the real estate investing world smoothly.

So if that sounds like something that interests you, definitely check out the link below and it's cheap as hell right now.

Alex:

Thanks for the shout out.

I don't know what I would do with all this, you know fancy co-hosting power if I didn't use it against you, hahahaha. All right, so how many deals did you do in 2019?

Eric Oden:

In ‘19, we did 12. Eight of them flips, 4 buy-and-holds. Those are acquisitions on those. We carried a couple over into the new year that are on the market now.

David:

8 flips. Is that more than you did in 2018?

Eric Oden:

It's probably double.

David:

Okay. It's okay. I love to see that. I also love to see it in the face of a playing market.

Eric Oden:

Yeah, we're trying to you know, now that we've done it and went and we have proof of concept, we're really working on systems now and going “Okay, where's our bread-and-butter?”
We've tasted this and we’ve tasted that. We tried higher end flipping like okay, now we see what goes on with that, and then we're really now getting back to what works. Run the place that work, as somebody said before you know, where we're going to go with the median house price 3,2 and some advice was given to me by the guy that got me started with my first deal. He says “Buy a neighborhood, stay in the neighborhood.”...Neighborhoods are proving somebody will live there over and over again. And that may sound like common sense. But you know it in our area, you can go rural really easily and you know, what's a great house when it’s out on a County Road?
Somebody wants that house, but you don't want to play the lottery, you know, you don't find…

25:06- 30:00

Eric Oden:

The one guy. You want to find a 90% of the market that wants to buy there.

David:

Yeah, I think that what you said is correct, but it sounds simple, but I think it bears repeating, often actually. It’s like you're buying houses to sell houses, not to own houses. It’s not a house collection business, the house sales business until I say like the end-user first.

Right? Your job is not to flip the house to make you feel good or to make you look pretty or whatever it's to deliver high-quality products to an end user.

And so the gig should be, to find the pool with the biggest end-users, hahaha. That has the easiest way umm, to purchase that and so have like you said three or two that's enough, the main part of time that everybody knows “Hey! look that was gonna sell”. Design it in a way that, you know that, that will sell, freakin flip and move on.

Eric Oden:

Right, yeah, we tried the “Hey, let's let's raise the ceiling and let's go with glass tiles and then, oh that's fun!” And it...But it's not so much fun to watch it sit on the market right now.

David:

Umm no.

Eric Oden:

The ones that we’re having so much success right now, we've done 5 in the same neighborhood.

So it's just proven like this is where we're marketing to now, you know, we just sent out 10,000 mailers yesterday and we're just gonna pound this one area, we're just gonna own it, this is going to be our office as far as we're concerned.

David:

Good for you, I love it! Doubling down where your numbers work, the whole a 80/20 idea.
And so true people get wrapped up in making the house look like an Instagram before and after picture, or you know, all kinds of crazy new trends you see online.

But, paying for a hood over a stove in your area might not be something that anybody cares about. Paying for, you know, it's like the people who put granite countertops on the northside of town where, you know, wooden countertops or whatever or a...

Eric Oden:

Mica!

David:

Yeah, there we go, for mica, It works fine, right?
Like why would you, why spend the extra tons of money if you're not getting anything back out of it, other than for the social media which might work?

Eric Oden:

Like for us, we use our realtors for advice for those markets, and we do branch out to different neighborhoods when the expectations are in and if you get the good realtors that can really partner and understand the concept, they'll steer you away from spending money you’re not gonna repeat. We were going to scrape the ceiling on a 2600 square foot house. We got to have smooth ceilings. And he said “Not in this neighborhood. It's the same money” and I'm like,”Oh my God, thank you. Thank you! Check that off the Box”.

That was a week's worth of work and thousands of dollars went right to the bottom line.

Alex:

Let me ask you ugly cuz I want to push back on that because some of the upgrades that I've done to my card flip I've done exactly what David said not to do. I didn't specifically for the gram and so I call this my “value-add now”, obviously a specific matter on my show.
So I don’t want to go in on the deal. I don’t wanna take a big time on that. So I had to ruin the deal to maybe over prove for what I called the value-add metric of social media.

Is there a value in saying “I'm going to design just as long as you can mix to make it profitable. Like where's the line, right? Let's make it a little bit nicer cuz I can afford to get something out of it.

Eric Oden:

Absolutely! I mean, I think you can sell the sizzle.
I think you find a balance where maybe it's not the entire house is HGTV, but maybe there is one facet to admit it. Maybe it's the master bath. Maybe it's the back deck BBQ, right, but I think you can do it. So you got that cherry on top, and have some fun in it, and have something that’s worth taking a picture of versus another room. Have fun with it, but you know your budget.

David:

I'm a huge fan of doing like the upgrade hack strategy David Greene talks about and I know that that's really not like. I don't know if that's really a coined phrase. But, where my theory is, if I have to replace something, if there's a more efficient or a nicer model for a decent price that I really only consider the difference in mica.

So for example,furnaces, the huge one have a 10-unit and, every time the furnace goes out cuz they're all 15-20 years old. So I knew when I bought it they were starting to go out. Every time I get closed out, my property managers like, “Hey I can replace it for eighteen
hundred bucks” and I’m like “Okay great”,how much for the high efficiency model?
Oh well, that's an extra two hundred bucks.
Okay, so for two hundred bucks, I can save, you know, an extra, $15 a month on my gas bill right? To me that's a huge killer move or whatever, but if I got to replace a light bulb, okay go with an LED, if I got to replace, and so I'd like to look at things like that when I do renovation, like if I have to replace the…

30:01-35:02

David:

Backsplash or something. Okay, well if it's only an extra ten bucks over whatever I have to pay for the, you know the normal one, damn straight, I'm going to go with the upgrade.

Eric Oden:

Well, as systems upgrade in a rental, yeah, I would look at it long term like that and go, “What's gonna attract a better tenant, get a better rate, but also be better for the structure itself?”.
Like for us, we're gonna make sure that all the bathroom exhaust was actually dug outside, and that the hood over the stove is gonna be vented to the outside, to get rid of some moisture in the creases out cuz that's an additional expense. But it's an investment property and it’s a benefit to the tenant but on a flip, you know, I might put nice light fixtures in there and really make it pop, but I can guarantee you I first went to Habitat for Humanity in water from the restore. I got one of their store's return since you know it so I'm going to get my value, but I'm also going to put a little cherry on top for it.

Alex:

Yeah, I find that blend.
It's like you might be one of them is like roofs. When you got to redo the roof with like get the 30 architecturals, those kind of things...

Eric Oden:

100%

Alex:

Always go for 450 bucks on a $5,000 roof. But man, it makes all the difference.

David:

Yeah, absolutely.
It's just figuring out where to add the value.

Alex:

Eric, what's your what's the 20/20 go from here to Flippin specifically.

Eric Oden:

20/20 goal for flipping really is being focused on one particular market on one particular house, and kind of like we were kind of going down as looking at it as the commodity and stop looking for the creative project and just take ugly ducklings and and make good homes for bucks...And rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

Alex:

Do you think that that's a, how do I say, do you think that that’s the journey that every real estate investor, or every business owner has to kind of go through when you’re new it's
really exciting, you have all these ideas and possibilities and then you started to get through it like “You know, I don't have to fall in love with every house to make some money”..And I don't mean that in a cynical way. I just mean like you what you know what works, what is what you're saying. Do you think that's kind of a common thing that people go through?

Eric Oden:

Yeah, yeah, I definitely do.
I know some very successful by and holds that are just basically swearing off flips because they don't want to get into any more creative designs, and in that whole process where they're playing the long game. You know, for us we’re flipping and that's how we know.
That's how we eat, that's how we buy groceries, that's also how we build capital, so we can invest in buying a house.

David:

Yeah, I did the opposite, I did buy and hold for a while now. And I was like “Ugh it’s boring. In my retirement set now, what should I do?” It's definitely a mix for all investors of the profitable versus the fun. I find it's amazing to m, the amount of investors I find who are completely free and reached all their goals a long time ago, and stick with it because it's just fun.

Eric Oden:

I like the you know, like what’s the importance of networking and finding your deals, but then you can also, when you get to those points where you're getting more systematic and it is becoming more routine, you network also to add to the book of the game, you know when
you meet with the newer guys and you try to give them some information cuz you try to remember how hard it was for you. And sometimes it even comes back to you immediately in a deal because then they’d get something they like that's too big for them or they need to JV or they just want a wholesale.

But you know, what I think the biggest aspect is just like I said, you just gotta reciprocate...The network’s benefitted you, you gotta benefit somebody else, gotta pay it forward.

Alex:

100%

David:

Yeah, that's awesome.
Alright, kinda wanna shift the gears a little bit. Before recording, we talked about family buying a little bit, and I would love to hear some of your thoughts on how to help your family buy into this crazy idea of real estate investing because I know that’s a struggle for a lot of people.

Eric Oden:

Yeah, absolutely.
Coming from a sales background and only getting to eat what you kill, you know, being a commission-based. I think it already lends itself to be entrepreneurial and in doing side hustles, but when you're going in a family that, you know they like the consistency or if that's the background you know. Their parents were always W2 long-term salary employee people one. The way you, the way you retire was put in a 401k, and you just want to work so, you know, you're like, “I think the best thing to do is, you got to have communication, you got to talk this out, you can't just surprise folks and get their buying and I would suggest this for anybody that's really doing their first deal.

Don't take on just a tiger of a project, do something simple the first one, so it doesn't, you know…

35:02-40:02

Eric Oden:

It doesn't sink your ship, you know, you don't want to get into something that could really damage your financial situation...But also something that you can get a win, you need to get some momentum behind you, and everybody has a good experience. So I would say, if you're going to take on a fixer upper, it needs to be a very life rehab and if it's a matter of pain if it's my eyes, maybe you get a home inspector.

And that would be mine. I tell you that's how I would baby step into it. Once you're committed,like us, we were looking to supplement for retirement. So I was like, “Okay job’s pretty good, but it's not going to quite get us where we need to, so let's go ahead and let’s do one flip, and ah, you know, free to, Great neighborhood, light rehab, I’ll tell you what, even though we're doing this for retirement, we're gonna shave 10% of the profits of this flip, and we’re gonna use it for a family vacation.”

The concept is, it's like we got a long time to grow, but we're going to get a little immediate, you know, just a little immediate trade out of it because also, if you got kids involved, nobody’s got patience. Somebody understands all that down the road stuff.

So we flip the first one we made, $18,000 to 1,800 bucks! And for us, we went on a little vacation. We went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and had a great family vacation. Everybody saw it’s like, because the kids were involved, I can't do anything when they can trash out the house.

So lay down with all this stinky nasty stuff and then thrown it into the truck and we're bringing all our donation stuff to Goodwill and all this and it's like, when I get to where we stood in Gatlinburg and watching the Taffy machine looking for bears, like “hey you guys helped pay for this trip”. Since the first time they actually participated in you know actually, contributing to the family. So this is why I long story short is, you want to do a light rehab, you want to have a win and, then have some kind of immediate reward that everybody shares in, and that's how you get things going.

David:

Did the people say yes? On the first time you asked?

Eric Oden:

As far as the sellers?

David:

No, friends and family.

Eric Oden:

No, no, it was, it was a bit of kicking and screaming.

David:

Well, and that's kind of what, I want to get out, because you know, people begin this weird
thing, where they're afraid to ask to get to know and I'm like, “Yeah”, but asking in itself is a talent, right? You're selling, essentially.

So, I just want to add like, you know, it takes a bit of process and sometimes, for me I had to win a few before anybody in my family would...my family knows me so I had to really prove myself before they would participate with me, but I want to like, yeah, you should be able to leverage your immediate family, but you have to prove it maybe sometimes more so than a stranger depending on your history. But the ask, you know, putting proposal together put a
deal together just asking is a process in itself, nut I'm glad that worked out for you.

Eric Oden:

Yeah, I mean you know the family, you got history with them, like they know you in a certain way, sometimes they just remember you, you know, they remember the high school you and that’s you. No matter what you do from there, like, “I've got a buddy!”
It’s my cpa, but when you look at it, it's like I can't believe people what, you know, give you money, including me! cuz I know you! but you know, here we all are.

Alex:

That's how everybody is...I moved away when I was 18. You people can’t really remember me when I was 18. They’re like “That guy, are you serious? Nah, I don’t think so”...And I think that’s just how it is, right?... I can’t believe that I pulled this off.

David:

Yea, I was a weird afro, stoner looking high school kid who was homeschooled and had like no social skills...running a podcast.

Alex:

So….

David:

So shut up. I'm going to unmute you before. Here we go. Alex is muted for the next few seconds until he decides he's going to play nice haha.

Alex:

Oh man haha, so Eric, what’s next?

Eric Oden:

What's next ,you know, we're going to focus on flips in the concentrated areas.
We are looking at multifamily deals. We start those conversations with a couple sellers that I think are going to happen. We actually had put a large mobile home park under contract but there were a lot of Park Townhomes that needed a lot of work anywhere.
It was...the part was overvalued, so we had to pull on that one after due diligence, but basically just increased not working and focused on the business.

My wife, she’s been handling all the social media and she's really stepped up her game.

40:03- 45:02

Eric Oden:

There it sits at some neat video production quality, so I’m just looking forward to it into a really neat year and just fine-tuning those systems and processes.

David:

Are you guys going to any conferences? real estate conferences?

Eric Oden:
Well we went to BiggerPockets last year, looking to go to New Orleans, that’s a 2 hour drive for us. So we'll probably go to that one. I was looking at doing a multi-family one, but I don't have any recommendations for any that I really want to go to but yeah..

David:
We can go to the Mid-Atlantic. That will be like New Jersey or something. Best ever conference, but that’s...best ever Conference in the multifamily conference, that's in like 12 days.

Eric Oden:

Right. Yeah, and I just don't know enough about the conferences to know what to get the value back. That's the thing. So, you know, I kind of wanted to know if I could do more local
networking or just meet with more folks that were doing it. I probably...that would be at the top of my list.

David:

Right on.
Well, there's a few questions. I always ask and one of them...If you want me to..If a youngster was to walk up to you and ask you for advice on real estate investing, what would be your best pointer?

Eric Oden:

I would say, you know, make sure your personal budget is in line and audit your circle, and make sure you got some guys that are motivated. You know, if it’s, like me it was so easy just to fall into that club rap scene. Everybody from the barracks pile up and go to city lights, I think it was our city limits out to Fortwood.

Have you heard about it?

Alex:

No, but you know, it's the same at every base right? I mean, I know what you're saying and I felt that same crap.

Eric Oden:

So yeah. Yeah. So I’ll tell you guys just find those groups. Obviously, it's easier to network now to find a motivated group of folks and and do that, you know, look at your classes that you can take on your off time and and find those people that you can get in line with and just educate yourself.
Read,read, read,podcast,audio..

Alex:

Yeah, I guarantee you that there's a guy or gal who's listening to this podcast at every military installation across the country, so if you're sitting here going “Oh I’m in such and such base and I need to find someone up here that wants to do this”. I guarantee you that the two people that need to find each other aren't on the same base that was on this show right now. Like so I said, on the internet you can find your people. So the guy that I like a lot, we don't want to go out spending our money on booze and girls, we want to buy some real estate. It's a lot easier to have that feedback mechanism.

Eric Oden:

And we were asking each other about the deals, like I have that thing go yesterday and yeah, I mean, you got something going I mean it was the same way when I was competing for promotions, there was another key for that me and him would like to know “Hey where you at?...Did you get that test done to get your scores to do this?”
You got to find these competent other guys. You know any iron sharpens iron.

David:

Yeah. Yeah, that's solid advice, I can get around those people and shameless
plug...You should just post in the Facebook group, and you'll be able to find those people.
So...

Alex:

I wonder if you could do, I wonder if you could get one of the interactive maps for your website. I have where you can get people to plug where they are and so you could then say “Hey if you come to my website”...It's like I find all the guys at the station to this base.
Can you make else’s circle?

Eric Oden:

I will find out, cuz that would be cool.
I'm gonna be like the off-brand BiggerPockets for military dudes.

David:

I bet you, yeah for sure, I bet you can sign up for U2…. Or at least it's a list!

Eric Oden:

Well, I think like, David if you take your group in like, Bill Allen takes his group and we really focus on a military meetup event, that could happen.

David:

We'll talk after the recording stuff…
Uh, what is one resource book course website that you would recommend anyone getting started in real estate investing?

Eric Oden:

Umm, well, I mean down and dirty basics that everybody could understand is, I probably look in Jay Scott's books on rehabbing houses and flipping houses just to get an understanding of what the numbers look like when it comes down to, you know actually dealing with sticks in the bricks.

Alex:

I’m named in the acknowledgments section of that book, by the way.

Eric Oden:

I'll get you to sign it next time I see you..

45:04-47:16

David:

The long pause there was a representative of how much everybody cares.

Alex:

Well, that's why I have to say no one cares.That's all I have to say.

David:

That's cool, man. I didn't actually know that I've got it sitting up here. I'm going to go look like cross that part of the book.

Alex:

It’s the second edition I think I’m in.

David:

Well I got the first edition,so you weren't good enough for the first edition.

Alex:

Or maybe the book wasn't good enough man to add.

David:

Awesome, awesome. Eric, where do people get a hold of you?

Eric Oden:

If they put in #OPMI flip, they can find us on any of the social media. It’s probably the best way to get a hold of me. Feel free to DM me if I can help you out or you know, you want to
bounce an idea off. I’ll be glad to do it.

David:

I really like the fact that your easiest way to contact you is with a hashtag.
Like that's cool. I have hashtags, but I'm not as good about it as that. That’s smart.

Alex:

I was gonna say the same thing. I do a lot of I have my own hashtag that I
kind of trend, but not like what you've done and I think it's a fantastic idea.

David:

Yea, that's really cool.
Smart, smart.

Eric Oden:

Thanks guys.

David:

Well Eric thanks for joining us today.
It’s been awesome.

Eric Oden:

Hey it’s been truly an honor and I really appreciate you letting, basically meet me on a first podcast. It’s a podcast like this, you know, I'll unpack some veterans like us to get together d and talk about some things like this that live on beyond our military careers.

David:

Absolutely.

Alex:

Oh, before we close the show, I just noticed that the clock behind you is 24 hour like a regular clock. I don't think I've ever seen that.

Eric Oden:

Isn’t it awesome? Yeah, I found that in a vintage shop.

Alex:

Yeah, that’s interesting.

Eric Oden:

Yeah, I wonder where it came from. Maybe it was at Nasa, who knows?

David:

Thank you for listening to another episode about my journey from military to millionaire.
If you liked it, be sure to visit frommilitarymillionaire.com/podcast to subscribe to future podcasts. While you're there, we'd love for you to rate the show, give us a review on iTunes. Now get out there and take action!