Ep38 Building Wealth Against the Odds: Brandon Danielson's Story

[00:00:00] Be pretty adaptive and just understand from a very high level, how does the income statement work? Or how does that look? And if I do this, what is my impact going to be? And from there, it's a risk reward.

[00:00:13] From cornfields to high rises, office to industrial, houses to hotels, and every other asset class in real estate, we cover the people, the projects, and the profit. Welcome to the Investing in Iowa Show.

[00:00:26] This show is for go-doers, action takers, and business owners. It's for people like you who are sick of Uncle Sam taking a huge bite of your apple.

[00:00:36] If you're looking to get ahead of what's taking place in Iowa, learn who is doing what and how you can get in on the action. You're in the right place.

[00:00:44] Hosted by Neil Timmins, an Iowa native who has been involved in over $300 million in real estate right here in Iowa.

[00:00:52] Recording in studio from West Des Moines, here's your host, Neil Timmins.

[00:00:58] I've got Brandon Danielson here on the show. Brandon, welcome.

[00:01:01] Thanks for having me.

[00:01:02] I'm excited you're here. See, for the audience's sake, who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?

[00:01:06] Yeah, I'm originally from a small town about 45 minutes southeast of Des Moines.

[00:01:11] Grew up there. Prior to that, growing up real early, bounced around a lot. Family, parents, drug addiction, homeless.

[00:01:22] Lived in a tent for a summer. Pretty remarkable.

[00:01:25] Ultimately, a small town in Iowa. I ended up going to Iowa State for undergrad and a master's in accounting.

[00:01:31] I got my CPA license, went into the public accounting route, and then on top of that, ended up going out to an ag-related company and was the controller there for a while.

[00:01:43] Left to go be a CFO for a home builder here in Des Moines.

[00:01:47] And ultimately, bad timing for that.

[00:01:51] Challenging.

[00:01:51] Market interest rates skyrocketed. This was right around 2022 where interest rates were 3%.

[00:01:57] And by the end of the year, they were 6%, 7%, if not higher.

[00:02:00] And then out of the blue, got a random call, and I'm actually back at the farm.

[00:02:04] The unique situation there.

[00:02:06] So, yeah.

[00:02:07] A little full cycle situation.

[00:02:09] Yeah, exactly.

[00:02:10] Yeah.

[00:02:11] And at the same time, you've done some real estate on the side, if you will.

[00:02:14] Yeah, exactly.

[00:02:15] I got started.

[00:02:16] I would say my true first investment property was in 2020.

[00:02:21] But prior to that, coming out of school, I didn't like the idea of renting.

[00:02:26] So, I bought a house and then rented all the rooms out to my friends.

[00:02:30] Oh, yeah.

[00:02:31] Yeah.

[00:02:31] The old house act.

[00:02:32] Yeah.

[00:02:33] Yeah.

[00:02:33] At this point, this is back in like 2015.

[00:02:35] I had no idea what this was.

[00:02:36] What it was is just paying the bills.

[00:02:38] Exactly.

[00:02:40] Somebody eventually named that.

[00:02:42] Right.

[00:02:42] Yeah.

[00:02:43] And exactly what it was.

[00:02:45] It was me and three of my buddies, 24, 25 at the time.

[00:02:49] And we're just trying to save a few extra bucks here.

[00:02:51] And I ultimately ended up selling that house and moved in with now my wife, but at the

[00:02:56] time, girlfriend.

[00:02:58] Yeah.

[00:02:58] And I look back over the four years that I owned that.

[00:03:03] And at most, my all-in living expenses were like 500 bucks because of my roommates.

[00:03:08] And so, that really helped because I came out of school with probably 50, 60 grand worth

[00:03:13] of student debt.

[00:03:14] So, that really helped push that down.

[00:03:16] Absolutely.

[00:03:16] I eventually paid that all off.

[00:03:19] But so, back to the actual investing.

[00:03:22] It's 2019.

[00:03:24] I'm getting the itch.

[00:03:25] I'm listening to the bigger pockets.

[00:03:26] Yeah.

[00:03:27] I'm doing all that stuff.

[00:03:28] And I'm at the farm first time and I'm thinking, okay, how do I get more income, supplement

[00:03:34] my income?

[00:03:35] I don't want to work until I'm 60, 65.

[00:03:38] So, I started looking at other avenues and stumbled, like I said, across bigger pockets.

[00:03:43] And then 2020, COVID happened.

[00:03:45] And we found a house, got it under contract, no inspection.

[00:03:50] We're just, we're doing this thing.

[00:03:51] And in the meantime, my girlfriend, now my fiance, we can remodel and plan for a wedding

[00:03:58] during COVID and all this stuff.

[00:04:00] And my background, like I said, I'm a numbers guy.

[00:04:04] Like I don't pound nails.

[00:04:05] I don't do any of that stuff.

[00:04:07] But she convinced me that we should do the remodel.

[00:04:11] So, that entire summer, I'd get off work.

[00:04:14] Friday, I'd go there for an hour or two.

[00:04:17] Saturday morning, I'd get up at 5 a.m., go to the property, work until 5 p.m., do it

[00:04:22] again on Sunday, fixing this place up.

[00:04:24] That was my summer, which turned out great that it was COVID because there was nothing

[00:04:28] else going on.

[00:04:29] Right.

[00:04:29] But during that whole process, I realized I absolutely hated doing the work.

[00:04:35] Yep.

[00:04:35] And we finally got the house on the market and falls in and out of contract.

[00:04:41] It was a weird layout and I'm not moving walls.

[00:04:44] Right.

[00:04:44] I'm doing the bare minimum.

[00:04:46] Yeah.

[00:04:46] And so, we finally get under contract and the buyer decides we're going to do a sewer scope.

[00:04:53] And I'm like, ah, great.

[00:04:54] Comes back Orangeburg.

[00:04:56] Orangeburg.

[00:04:56] And there's another like 12 grand that as I'm a new investor, I have no idea what I'm doing.

[00:05:01] That basically ate up almost all the profits.

[00:05:04] But with that whole process, I did conventional financing, call it a hard money or a private

[00:05:13] money loan to help with the rehab.

[00:05:15] And we saw the full thing come through and it was about a 10 month from the time we bought

[00:05:20] to the time we actually-

[00:05:21] Full cycle.

[00:05:22] Yeah.

[00:05:22] So, that was my first deal and really getting into real estate investing.

[00:05:27] What did you learn through that whole process?

[00:05:29] Like I said, doing the work was not for me.

[00:05:32] Yep.

[00:05:33] And trying to, there were a few things that I did contract out and trying to navigate scheduling

[00:05:41] contractors.

[00:05:42] And you probably know just as well as I do, they say they're going to be there on Wednesday.

[00:05:46] It's Monday of the following week and they still haven't been there and you just get frustrated.

[00:05:50] And I think the old saying is they say they'd be there on Wednesday.

[00:05:53] They just didn't tell you which Wednesday.

[00:05:55] That was an experience in itself.

[00:05:57] And prior to that, I didn't really have much exposure to how does that whole process work.

[00:06:02] But overall, it was a good learning experience.

[00:06:06] I knew I wanted to continue, but I had to find other avenues.

[00:06:10] So, I wasn't the one painting and-

[00:06:12] That's right.

[00:06:13] Working Saturdays and Sundays.

[00:06:15] Yep.

[00:06:15] And trying to put a house back together that I have no idea.

[00:06:18] I didn't take trade school, any of that type of stuff.

[00:06:21] Right.

[00:06:21] Yeah.

[00:06:23] That's, yes.

[00:06:24] Oftentimes, you guys get out there and either work through that process and learn one way

[00:06:29] or another how to do it, either hands-on or if you're like me, you couldn't do it from

[00:06:34] the get-go.

[00:06:35] So, you got to figure out whether it's shortcomings or it's an opportunity down a different path.

[00:06:41] Right?

[00:06:41] Because you got to become an expertise in something.

[00:06:44] And so, you eventually move on to another property.

[00:06:47] Right?

[00:06:47] Yep.

[00:06:48] Yeah.

[00:06:48] What was that like?

[00:06:49] Yeah.

[00:06:49] So, the next one was a unique deal.

[00:06:52] It was a house and a duplex all in one parcel on the south side.

[00:06:57] And the intent was to renovate the duplex and do a little bit on the house and hold long-term

[00:07:04] with a cash-out refi.

[00:07:07] And we renovate.

[00:07:08] Takes way longer than it should.

[00:07:10] Same store or contractor.

[00:07:13] Same contractor a couple different times.

[00:07:15] But ultimately, we got it stabilized.

[00:07:18] I was able to do a cash-out refi.

[00:07:20] It wasn't 100%, but I was like, sweet, man.

[00:07:23] I just got 25, 30 grand back.

[00:07:24] I'm ready to go buy my next house.

[00:07:26] And I was like, this is pretty cool.

[00:07:27] Yeah.

[00:07:27] And so, got it stabilized.

[00:07:30] Did the cash-out refi.

[00:07:32] And ultimately, used those funds to deploy to another house.

[00:07:36] Yeah.

[00:07:36] But I'll go back to that second house duplex.

[00:07:40] And ultimately, what I decided to...

[00:07:43] I ended up selling it.

[00:07:45] And the reason why that I decided to sell it was, okay, I'm making pretty decent money

[00:07:51] at my job.

[00:07:52] And there was...

[00:07:53] And shame on me.

[00:07:54] I'm self-managing and I'm putting in tenants.

[00:07:57] And one guy, one of the tenants is, hey, you want to swing by Wendy's?

[00:08:02] I can pay you rent.

[00:08:04] And I'm like, okay, I guess that's fine.

[00:08:07] And I get into the Wendy's drive-thru and where you're getting ready to place your order.

[00:08:11] They're like, oh, what do you want?

[00:08:12] And I was like, actually, I need to talk to someone who needs to pay me rent.

[00:08:14] And they're like, oh, yeah, just follow around.

[00:08:16] And at that point, I'm like, what am I doing for $600, $700?

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[00:09:02] Rent's in a Frosty, man.

[00:09:04] That's what you're doing.

[00:09:05] Well, see, the thing is, I didn't order a Frosty.

[00:09:07] All I did was go through and pick up rent.

[00:09:09] And at that point, I was like, man, I was ready to move some funds and go on to my next deal.

[00:09:17] So ultimately, I ended up letting that one go.

[00:09:20] From the cash out refi, I turned that into a pretty big project for myself

[00:09:26] that probably was a little over my head into a triplex that was in Windsor Heights.

[00:09:34] And that was a six-figure rehab.

[00:09:37] Wow.

[00:09:37] And this is my third project, right?

[00:09:40] And I'm just like, we're going to do it.

[00:09:42] Yeah.

[00:09:42] And at this point, my wife, or at the time, fiance, she saw that I was like,

[00:09:48] I'm determined.

[00:09:49] I'm going to keep doing this.

[00:09:51] And we're going to make it work.

[00:09:52] And we start the renovation and city gets involved.

[00:09:58] And they say, you need to add a sprinkler system if you want to be a triplex.

[00:10:03] And I was like...

[00:10:03] Dear heavens.

[00:10:04] And I'm like, that doesn't sound...

[00:10:06] Correct.

[00:10:07] That doesn't sound legit.

[00:10:08] Ultimately, what we ended up doing was a duplex.

[00:10:12] And it's a weird main floor split.

[00:10:15] And then the basement was a unit.

[00:10:17] But the basement unit went above...

[00:10:21] It wasn't tied to the unit that was directly above it.

[00:10:24] So it was...

[00:10:25] Yeah.

[00:10:25] So you turned a triplex into a duplex.

[00:10:27] Yeah.

[00:10:28] And with a wonky layout.

[00:10:29] Yeah.

[00:10:30] So you got a Frankenstein.

[00:10:31] Yeah.

[00:10:31] Okay.

[00:10:32] Yeah.

[00:10:33] And so we bought that probably November of 21.

[00:10:39] And renovations were probably done June or July of 22.

[00:10:46] Okay.

[00:10:46] It took a while.

[00:10:48] Sure.

[00:10:48] Same contractor and ultimately decided to go a different route after this investment.

[00:10:56] But got it stabilized.

[00:10:59] I put my mom in the basement.

[00:11:00] And I've already shared my story a little bit.

[00:11:03] And that was a learning experience in itself.

[00:11:06] So mom in the basement and I Airbnb out the top two units.

[00:11:11] And great cash flow from the top two units.

[00:11:14] And for a lack of a better word, my mom was living for free.

[00:11:17] Which created some weird, unique dynamic between myself and my mom.

[00:11:23] And because there was probably 10 years there that I probably only saw her four or five times.

[00:11:27] Wow.

[00:11:28] And she needed a place to live.

[00:11:30] And I was like, you can live in the basement.

[00:11:31] We'll see how this goes.

[00:11:32] Yeah.

[00:11:32] Middle child syndrome.

[00:11:33] Okay.

[00:11:34] But so she's living in the basement, doing the best that she can help manage, which she still actually helps me manage it now.

[00:11:41] But ultimately, I actually just sold that property not too long ago, probably in the last six, seven months.

[00:11:49] Yeah.

[00:11:49] Mainly just because there wasn't much more upside to be had and the weird dynamic with my mom.

[00:11:55] Can create some unique challenges.

[00:11:57] Yeah.

[00:11:58] Dealing with family in your rental places.

[00:12:00] Exactly.

[00:12:01] Yeah.

[00:12:01] We sold that one.

[00:12:02] But there were three other deals in between acquiring and selling that one.

[00:12:07] In total, I've done seven.

[00:12:09] We can go through all seven if you want, or do you tell me?

[00:12:12] It sounds like, walk me, just you hit me at the high level.

[00:12:15] Of all seven, how many, where are you at today?

[00:12:18] Did you end up flipping?

[00:12:19] Meaning have you sold them all or have you kept any of them to date?

[00:12:22] To date, on my seventh one, I acquired five duplexes all in one.

[00:12:28] We still own those.

[00:12:29] We just bought those here two, three months ago.

[00:12:33] And we're in the process of, we just renovated one, increased rents, 400 bucks.

[00:12:39] Ow.

[00:12:39] Yeah.

[00:12:40] Severely under rent.

[00:12:42] And the hope is, it's twofold.

[00:12:45] Slowly increase rents, people stay.

[00:12:49] Yep.

[00:12:49] Or you just bite the bull and you're like, nope, we're going to...

[00:12:52] Because everybody's on month to month.

[00:12:53] You're like, you're out.

[00:12:54] Yep.

[00:12:55] Spend 15, 20 grand fixing this thing up.

[00:12:57] And then...

[00:12:58] 400 bucks more.

[00:12:59] Exactly.

[00:12:59] So it's one of those, I think we're going to do it over a year or two, slowly get them

[00:13:05] more to market.

[00:13:06] And one of the tenants has been there since 1980.

[00:13:09] Wow.

[00:13:10] Yeah.

[00:13:11] Unbelievable.

[00:13:12] Unbelievable.

[00:13:13] And I've actually never been in the unit.

[00:13:15] I saw a video of it.

[00:13:17] Looks like it's been since 1980.

[00:13:19] Yeah.

[00:13:19] So that one's, that's going to be a full 20 grand fix it up.

[00:13:22] Yeah.

[00:13:23] Yeah.

[00:13:23] Yeah.

[00:13:24] Is the plan then to keep those?

[00:13:26] The plan is to, as of now, knock on wood, I say that on all the other ones, but I've

[00:13:32] sold all of them.

[00:13:32] Yeah.

[00:13:33] Is to keep and they're all individually parceled.

[00:13:37] If I want to, I can offload one here or there.

[00:13:39] Sure.

[00:13:40] What's nice about it is they're all right next to each other.

[00:13:44] And ideally we'll keep, we'll cash out refinance in about a year or two.

[00:13:49] And that'll be my next use of funds to go fund something else.

[00:13:53] Yeah.

[00:13:53] Sounds like you keep, have rolled the dollars forward, have flipped these properties, continue

[00:13:58] to accumulate profit and then just deploy it into the next one.

[00:14:02] And they keep getting a little bigger and bigger.

[00:14:03] Exactly.

[00:14:04] Yeah.

[00:14:04] Exactly.

[00:14:05] And then that's been the approach to date.

[00:14:07] I have yet to take a dollar out of this whole situation and just keep rolling it.

[00:14:12] And either between flips, cash out, refis, we've always just deployed into the next deal.

[00:14:18] Yeah.

[00:14:19] So what's your goal?

[00:14:20] What are you, five, 10 years from now, where do you want to be?

[00:14:23] What's the big, what's the big thing you're after?

[00:14:25] Yeah.

[00:14:26] Gosh.

[00:14:26] If you were to tell me, if you were to ask me that question about two years ago, prior

[00:14:30] to going back to the farm, I would have told you a different answer.

[00:14:33] Yeah.

[00:14:33] Two years ago would have been, okay, we need to make this be my actual act and my actual

[00:14:38] income.

[00:14:39] Yeah.

[00:14:40] Now it doesn't need to be my income at all.

[00:14:43] Right.

[00:14:43] And unless things go sideways, but I don't think they will.

[00:14:46] Goal next five, 10 years, I would say relatively high W-2 is buy another six, seven unit deal

[00:14:56] every single year.

[00:14:57] Yeah.

[00:14:57] And okay.

[00:14:58] So 10 years from now, not even 45 yet.

[00:15:02] And now you got close to $10 million under management.

[00:15:07] Yeah.

[00:15:07] And say that's probably three, 4 million of actual equity after payments.

[00:15:12] Sure.

[00:15:13] Maybe I can semi-retire and go mow the yards if I want to.

[00:15:17] That's the goal now.

[00:15:18] Yeah.

[00:15:18] Who knows if we stay down that path or not, but it's been fun so far.

[00:15:23] Are you managing the portfolio today?

[00:15:26] I am.

[00:15:27] Yeah.

[00:15:27] Yeah.

[00:15:27] That's created some unique challenges because I have a pretty intensive drill, but luckily

[00:15:34] I live about an hour away.

[00:15:36] So I got some windshield time to get a lot of phone calls made.

[00:15:40] And I didn't want to dump this on to a property manager saying, no, we're going to renovate

[00:15:45] and turn them over.

[00:15:46] So I think once these five get stabilized and I can get three or four more of these renovated,

[00:15:53] we'll pass it off to our property manager and it'll be hands off at that point and quote

[00:15:57] unquote mailbox money.

[00:15:59] Yeah.

[00:16:00] What systems have you implemented today to help you manage these things?

[00:16:04] Or are you going to Wendy's every month and collecting rent?

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:07] From a, let's call it admin bookkeeping.

[00:16:10] I do all that.

[00:16:11] Again, my day job is I'm an accountant.

[00:16:13] Right.

[00:16:13] So that's easy.

[00:16:14] So I do all that.

[00:16:16] I use rent ready for kind of long-term rent payments.

[00:16:20] And then if any sort of maintenance type requests, I go through that.

[00:16:25] And twofold, I go back to my mom a little bit.

[00:16:27] She's got a lot of connections through property management where she's been for the last 15,

[00:16:32] 20 years.

[00:16:33] That if I need something repaired, I just call her and say, hey, mom, figure this out.

[00:16:38] So it's been good that way.

[00:16:41] But then I've also found in the last four years, some contractors that I trust.

[00:16:47] There's times where the last flip, I think I went there four times.

[00:16:51] Yeah.

[00:16:52] And you're just like, these guys, they actually know what they're doing.

[00:16:54] Yep.

[00:16:55] I trust them, everything that they do.

[00:16:56] And I joke around with them that when I first found them, they're just starting a business

[00:17:00] pretty cheap.

[00:17:02] And now they've grown these last three, four years.

[00:17:04] And I joke with them saying, I'm not going to be able to forward you much longer because

[00:17:08] you're actually like a legitimate business now.

[00:17:10] So at some point, I'm going to bite the bullet.

[00:17:13] But at the same time, it's stress-free.

[00:17:14] So there's a little bit of, there's some return there on that, that I don't have to worry about

[00:17:18] this or think about it for the time being.

[00:17:20] It's a unique balance, is it not?

[00:17:21] Yeah.

[00:17:21] But contractor creep is a real thing.

[00:17:23] It is.

[00:17:24] Yeah.

[00:17:25] When you get comfortable, they know you're comfortable.

[00:17:27] All of a sudden, those prices start to move up.

[00:17:29] Yeah, we've seen and experienced the same thing, which means you go bit them.

[00:17:33] And occasionally, you definitely don't give them a job and you make sure they know they

[00:17:36] did.

[00:17:37] If you're a house clipper, execute the burst strategy or do double closings and are in

[00:17:41] need of money.

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[00:18:10] Yeah.

[00:18:10] Yeah.

[00:18:11] It's been fun.

[00:18:12] Other processes that I have in place.

[00:18:14] So I still, I sold that triplex, but I'm still managing it.

[00:18:17] No.

[00:18:18] From an Airbnb standpoint.

[00:18:19] That thing is outside of running to the store to get some K-cups or whatever.

[00:18:25] That thing's all automated.

[00:18:26] Automated and you check in, automated messaging.

[00:18:29] You don't do anything, right?

[00:18:31] And you almost feel bad charging a management fee and you're like, gosh, you're going to

[00:18:36] pay me, call it a thousand bucks a month.

[00:18:37] And I spent maybe three hours on this month, which is great.

[00:18:41] So, yeah.

[00:18:42] That's a nice little, that's a nice little side gig there.

[00:18:45] Yeah.

[00:18:45] Yeah.

[00:18:45] It's good.

[00:18:46] But at the same time, there has been some challenges that, you know, who knows if it's

[00:18:52] actually worth it or not.

[00:18:53] Instances come up on those short-term things.

[00:18:55] Yeah.

[00:18:55] Yeah.

[00:18:56] And with them being, again, they're right next to each other.

[00:19:00] I've had two parties now, like full-blown on parties.

[00:19:05] Yeah.

[00:19:06] And shame on me, but for the most part, my phone's on silent overnight.

[00:19:10] I wake up to us and the other guest is furious.

[00:19:12] People are throwing parties and what I've realized is you can't let a local book this

[00:19:19] thing.

[00:19:20] Book it.

[00:19:20] Yeah.

[00:19:21] So, that's been a little bit of a learning curve there.

[00:19:24] That's interesting.

[00:19:25] We've got a handful of short-term rentals as well.

[00:19:29] And I'm just going off memory how many times a local would has booked it.

[00:19:34] And I think it's only been in the instance of like fire damage, water damage, some sort

[00:19:40] of contractor issue, but otherwise, that's interesting.

[00:19:43] We've never had a local even book.

[00:19:44] And that makes total sense what you just said.

[00:19:48] Yeah.

[00:19:49] And at first, I didn't even think about it.

[00:19:51] And you get them checked in, that sort of thing.

[00:19:53] And they got a decent-

[00:19:55] They look normal.

[00:19:56] They look normal.

[00:19:57] They got a decent review profile.

[00:19:59] But who rents a house for three nights down the street, right?

[00:20:02] Exactly.

[00:20:02] Essentially.

[00:20:03] Yeah.

[00:20:03] That doesn't-

[00:20:04] Yeah.

[00:20:05] Oh, and especially the locals same day bookings.

[00:20:09] Those stay away.

[00:20:10] Wow.

[00:20:11] Yeah.

[00:20:11] Yeah.

[00:20:12] Yeah.

[00:20:12] Bad news.

[00:20:13] That's a fantastic tip.

[00:20:15] How did your training, your formal training in the accounting side, how has that helped

[00:20:20] you applied to real estate?

[00:20:23] Yeah.

[00:20:23] I would say it's twofold.

[00:20:24] So, I've been very selective in my career working for, I would say, very successful entrepreneurs

[00:20:33] in whatever industry that may be.

[00:20:36] In college, I got a pretty sweet college job managing or doing the accounting for probably

[00:20:43] one of the largest restaurants in the state of Iowa.

[00:20:45] And coming out of college, went into public accounting, worked under a partner that I would

[00:20:51] say is probably within that firm, worldwide recognized.

[00:20:55] And I basically only worked for him.

[00:20:58] And then going out to the farm, it's just been another completely mind-boggling situation

[00:21:04] there.

[00:21:04] Always working for these entrepreneurs on how they think and just being able to, the way

[00:21:11] they look at numbers and whatever problem they may see, be able to solve it just like

[00:21:16] that.

[00:21:16] How does that relate to accounting?

[00:21:18] I got to be able to be pretty adaptive and just understand from a very high level, how

[00:21:24] does the income statement work?

[00:21:26] Or how does that look?

[00:21:28] And if I do this, what is my impact going to be?

[00:21:31] And from there, it's a risk-reward.

[00:21:33] Yeah.

[00:21:34] Yeah.

[00:21:35] How did growing up the way you did, how has that benefited you professionally?

[00:21:43] Gosh, tenfold.

[00:21:44] And I sit there and I say where I grew up as a child and whatnot.

[00:21:50] And I would say it gave me the drive, love my parents, but it gave me the drive to never

[00:21:57] experience that situation again.

[00:22:00] And to make sure that my family and all that, they never have to go through that.

[00:22:04] School came easy to me and I wouldn't have to study and I could go get an A, B, it didn't

[00:22:09] matter.

[00:22:10] So that was always a blessing because sometimes I didn't know where my food was going to come

[00:22:13] that night.

[00:22:14] You're focused on other things.

[00:22:15] But I would say growing up the way I did, it's had a huge impact on always striving to

[00:22:21] be better, create a lasting legacy for my family and generations to come.

[00:22:27] Yeah.

[00:22:27] Yeah.

[00:22:28] Incredible.

[00:22:28] For you, why Iowa?

[00:22:30] You could do what you do anywhere, plenty of choices, but as you're here, what keeps you

[00:22:34] here?

[00:22:40] My family moved back to Iowa, started out in Davenport and then moved to a small town.

[00:22:45] And at first, getting out of high school, that sort of thing, it's like, why not go

[00:22:49] somewhere else?

[00:22:50] I ended up going to Iowa State.

[00:22:51] Audience may not be able to see, but I was actually an invited walk-on for football.

[00:22:56] But look at me, I'm 160 pounds.

[00:22:59] So clearly that didn't work out.

[00:23:00] And then from there, it's landed in, okay, I got a job in Des Moines right out of school,

[00:23:06] just stayed and loved my wife to death.

[00:23:09] Met her, we're in Altoona now, but met her.

[00:23:12] She's born, raised Altoona outside of two years of her life.

[00:23:15] She's only ever lived in Altoona.

[00:23:17] We're not leaving Altoona anytime soon.

[00:23:19] And she's a teacher.

[00:23:21] So if she wants to stick with the IPERS plan, she's stuck in Iowa.

[00:23:25] As we look, the greater Des Moines metro, what a great place.

[00:23:29] To truly grow up and have a nice career and a good living.

[00:23:34] There's tremendous things going on here.

[00:23:36] There's a lot about that.

[00:23:38] Brendan, you ready for the final three questions?

[00:23:39] Sure.

[00:23:40] If you had one piece of advice for your 20-year-old self, what would it be?

[00:23:44] Gosh, man, I was still in school.

[00:23:49] And one piece of advice.

[00:23:50] I think I would still say at that point, I didn't know I was going to go into public

[00:23:55] accounting or real estate or any of that.

[00:23:57] Sure.

[00:23:58] I would say just continue on the path that you had of, okay, I'm only going to work for

[00:24:02] certain individuals.

[00:24:04] And don't give up because I know what it looks like to live in a tent.

[00:24:07] I know what it looks like to try and figure out where your next meal is going to be.

[00:24:11] Two books that changed your life.

[00:24:13] Gosh, I wish I read more.

[00:24:15] I'm going to switch that to two podcasts or books.

[00:24:19] Yeah.

[00:24:19] I really enjoy in the memoir, but Shoe Dog by Phil Knight.

[00:24:25] Sure.

[00:24:25] Yeah.

[00:24:26] And just seeing that story develop over.

[00:24:29] Incredible.

[00:24:29] Absolutely incredible.

[00:24:30] Yeah.

[00:24:31] So I would say that one's had a pretty big impact.

[00:24:34] And then I'm going to scapegoat a little bit here.

[00:24:37] I would say probably more of just the bigger pockets podcast, if you will, to really get

[00:24:44] started.

[00:24:45] I listen to a lot of those.

[00:24:46] Again, I drive an hour each way to work.

[00:24:48] So you could get through a lot of those.

[00:24:51] And those kind of gave me, okay, numbers guy, how does this actually work?

[00:24:55] Once I see the numbers, I can see how that works out pretty quick.

[00:24:58] But there's so many different things.

[00:25:00] House hacking.

[00:25:00] Again, that wasn't a term back in 2015.

[00:25:03] But oh gosh, people actually do this.

[00:25:05] And just hearing inspirational stories from that side, then so many people that grew up

[00:25:12] similar type situations and their drive, they always end up on the podcast and you just

[00:25:18] get into who knows if that stuff's fully true or not.

[00:25:22] But hearing their drive and their success and you're just like, gosh darn it, I'm going

[00:25:25] to do this.

[00:25:26] And so both of those are inspirational.

[00:25:30] I feel night and we sell shoes out of his car.

[00:25:32] Correct.

[00:25:32] And then name your investor that made it on various podcasts making a difference.

[00:25:38] Yeah.

[00:25:38] The number of those is practically unlimited, right?

[00:25:41] Yeah.

[00:25:42] Because we live in a fantastic country and real estate, it's opportunity for anybody who

[00:25:47] wants to go seize it.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:49] All right.

[00:25:49] If you were cast away on an island for a year, you can only get three pieces of data about

[00:25:54] your business each and every month.

[00:25:56] What three things must you know?

[00:25:58] Gosh, business.

[00:26:00] Three things that I must know.

[00:26:02] I've automated the Airbnb piece.

[00:26:04] So tell me, did I make any money that month?

[00:26:07] There's one.

[00:26:08] The next one, back to the duplexes.

[00:26:11] Are they full?

[00:26:12] They occupied?

[00:26:13] Did I have a major fire?

[00:26:14] Tell me if I did.

[00:26:15] Otherwise, they're going to cash flow.

[00:26:16] And the third piece, I would probably go with, gosh, are the books in line, right?

[00:26:24] Can I account for everything?

[00:26:25] So.

[00:26:26] That's terrific.

[00:26:27] Brandon, I've asked lots of questions.

[00:26:29] What's one question I did not ask that I should have asked?

[00:26:33] Gosh.

[00:26:35] I don't know.

[00:26:36] You've asked a lot of good questions.

[00:26:37] I've shared my story.

[00:26:39] It's been fun.

[00:26:40] I think you.

[00:26:41] Any kids yet?

[00:26:41] So he's almost two.

[00:26:44] Okay.

[00:26:44] Yeah.

[00:26:45] He's almost two.

[00:26:46] He's a lot of fun.

[00:26:47] The big game this weekend.

[00:26:49] Got a picture this morning of him wearing an Iowa State jersey, a little football.

[00:26:53] He's ready for it.

[00:26:54] I feel bad for him.

[00:26:55] He's a Cyclone fan and he doesn't have a choice.

[00:26:59] How bad the Cyclones are, he doesn't have a choice.

[00:27:01] Yeah.

[00:27:01] It's terrific.

[00:27:02] My dad played at Iowa State and so I grew up going to games.

[00:27:05] Okay.

[00:27:06] Non-stop and football for sure.

[00:27:08] We'd occasionally go to a basketball game.

[00:27:10] Man, it is.

[00:27:11] It's fun.

[00:27:12] Fun.

[00:27:12] You grew up in the state.

[00:27:13] You got a lot.

[00:27:14] But with three schools, you got a team to choose for or to choose for one way or another.

[00:27:20] Yeah.

[00:27:20] And this is the first year we didn't buy season tickets just because last year he's only one

[00:27:27] year old.

[00:27:27] Yeah.

[00:27:28] We went to the Iowa State game, left at halftime because we're like, you know what?

[00:27:32] We'd actually rather be at home with the little guy.

[00:27:35] Sure.

[00:27:36] And I think it just goes to say priorities change and I would rather hang out with my family

[00:27:41] than 60,000 other random drunk idiots.

[00:27:44] It's fun to see him grow up and you'll go through different, as all of us do, different seasons

[00:27:49] of life with the kids' age.

[00:27:51] And before you know it, you'll be back in the stadium, I'm sure.

[00:27:54] Yeah.

[00:27:54] Yeah.

[00:27:55] My guess is probably about another 10 years or so.

[00:27:59] We'll be back to season tickets.

[00:28:01] Yeah.

[00:28:01] That's terrific.

[00:28:02] I say for people who want to find you, they want to follow you, they want to connect with

[00:28:06] you.

[00:28:06] Where can they go?

[00:28:07] What should they do?

[00:28:08] Yeah.

[00:28:08] I'm on LinkedIn.

[00:28:09] I'm on Instagram.

[00:28:10] On my Instagram, it's mostly real estate.

[00:28:13] I don't post often, but mostly real estate, but I'll throw in some dad type humor or just

[00:28:18] life type stuff going on and then Facebook.

[00:28:21] So yeah.

[00:28:22] Links are below in the show notes.

[00:28:23] Brandon, you've got quite an inspirational story and you've got a lot to share and I

[00:28:26] can't wait to have you back on to track your progress as things develop over the

[00:28:30] period of years.

[00:28:30] So I sincerely appreciate you being here.

[00:28:32] Yeah, no, I appreciate it.

[00:28:33] And thanks for having me.

[00:28:34] You bet.

[00:28:34] Thanks for listening.

[00:28:36] If you're enjoying the show, may I ask a favor of you?

[00:28:38] Naturally subscribe.

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[00:28:45] Does a lot for us here at the show.

[00:28:47] And I appreciate reading your thoughts.

[00:28:50] Great guests make for a great show.

[00:28:52] If you know of another Island who would be a great guest or you yourself have interest

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[00:29:05] And if you want to connect with me one-on-one go legacy impact investors.com.

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[00:29:18] next time, keep investing in Iowa.