Ep41 How to Break into Real Estate: Lessons from Collyn Chipera

[00:00:00] I would tell myself to put myself in more uncomfortable situations more often because the times that I did put myself in uncomfortable situations is where I grew the most or met the people who I was supposed to meet, learn the information that I was supposed to know, and those information would have helped me a lot.

[00:00:16] 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.

[00:00:26] Welcome to the Investing in Iowa Show.

[00:00:29] This show is for go-doers, action-takers, and business owners.

[00:00:33] It's for people like you who are sick of Uncle Sam taking a huge bite of your apple.

[00:00:39] 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.

[00:00:45] You're in the right place.

[00:00:47] Hosted by Neil Timmins, an Iowa native who has been involved in over $300 million in real estate right here in Iowa.

[00:00:55] Recording in studio from West Des Moines.

[00:00:58] Here's your host, Neil Timmins.

[00:01:01] I've got Colin Chippera here on the show.

[00:01:03] Colin, welcome.

[00:01:04] Hi, Neil.

[00:01:05] Thanks for having me.

[00:01:05] I'm excited you're here.

[00:01:06] For the audience's sake, who are you?

[00:01:08] Where are you from?

[00:01:09] What do you do?

[00:01:10] So yeah, as you said, I'm Colin Chippera.

[00:01:13] I'm from a small town in Northeast Iowa, Fredericksburg, Iowa.

[00:01:17] I got my education at the University of Northern Iowa.

[00:01:21] I graduated in 2022 with degrees in finance and real estate.

[00:01:26] And now I'm living here in the Des Moines area.

[00:01:29] I work at Citus AMC.

[00:01:31] I work on the appraisal and consulting team, writing appraisals.

[00:01:34] And on the side you invest.

[00:01:35] On the side I invest.

[00:01:37] Yeah.

[00:01:37] And I really enjoy it.

[00:01:38] Take me a little before college.

[00:01:40] What attracted you to you and I?

[00:01:42] Yep.

[00:01:42] And then, of course, what attracted you to finance and real estate?

[00:01:45] Okay.

[00:01:45] So yeah, I mean, prior to going to college, I knew I kind of wanted to go to a four-year

[00:01:51] program.

[00:01:51] I wasn't exactly for sure what for, but to be honest, I wasn't the best at all in my

[00:01:57] algebra and math classes.

[00:01:59] But what I did like about it is when there was the story problems that had some real world,

[00:02:06] like you could apply real world things to it.

[00:02:08] Yeah.

[00:02:08] Whereas you're not just trying to imagine these things that...

[00:02:11] Anyways, so I was like...

[00:02:12] Yeah, there was more context for the applicability of the question.

[00:02:15] Right, right.

[00:02:16] So I was like, okay, well, that's like a lot of those have to deal with money.

[00:02:20] Like finance might be a good route to go.

[00:02:22] Yeah.

[00:02:22] So I mean, when you start in the college of business, your first year or two anyways is

[00:02:27] just like the general business classes anyways.

[00:02:30] So I was declared finance major going into UNI in 2018 and then started talking to my schedule

[00:02:38] person, forget the technical term for them.

[00:02:41] But she told me that I could add a double major real estate and it was only like four

[00:02:47] extra classes.

[00:02:47] And I was like, okay, well, that doesn't sound very hard.

[00:02:52] Real estate seems pretty cool.

[00:02:53] So I mean, sure, let's do it.

[00:02:56] Sure.

[00:02:56] And then I took my first real estate class.

[00:02:57] I'm like, all right, this is like super interesting.

[00:02:59] And then as I started taking more real estate classes, as I got in my junior and senior year,

[00:03:03] I was even more interested.

[00:03:05] I liked it more than the finance classes I was taking.

[00:03:07] So that's when I kind of knew like real estate was just more interesting.

[00:03:11] And that's kind of what got me to where I am today.

[00:03:14] Yeah.

[00:03:15] All right.

[00:03:15] So you come out of school and then land a job.

[00:03:19] Yeah.

[00:03:20] Yeah.

[00:03:20] So yeah.

[00:03:21] So it was an interesting story.

[00:03:22] I actually had was at a the career fair and talking to like a banker.

[00:03:30] There was one here in the Des Moines Metro that they're more like central US.

[00:03:35] And I was more focused on like commercial lending is where I thought maybe I would end up.

[00:03:39] So I was talking to some guys who had some opportunities there.

[00:03:43] And I had actually accepted a job as like a commercial lending trainee.

[00:03:47] And that's what I thought I was going to be doing.

[00:03:49] And then I got into my like my very final real estate class at UNI and the professor was awesome.

[00:03:57] And I just was like, I like really want to do this.

[00:04:00] And I don't know if I will get exposed to like this deep into real estate if I go this commercial lending route.

[00:04:06] So I opened back up my search and ran into a post on LinkedIn like recruiting for a new grad for I was actually at the same company I worked for now side of say MC in their commercial underwriting and due diligence group.

[00:04:25] And it was actually based out of Atlanta.

[00:04:26] And that's where I got the offer.

[00:04:28] And I worked in that group for seven months.

[00:04:32] But as soon as I accepted that job is a right when interest rates shot up.

[00:04:38] So all of the work that we thought or they thought our team was going to have, we didn't have because originations just completely died off.

[00:04:48] Right.

[00:04:48] So, I mean, I think in the seven months when I was there, we wrote or worked on maybe two deals.

[00:04:55] And I don't think a single one, I think both of them died.

[00:04:59] So, luckily, I had a great manager and she, I was always looking for stuff to do.

[00:05:05] Even when there wasn't things to do, I was like, hey, what can I do here?

[00:05:08] Or what's like personal development or professional development thing?

[00:05:11] Like, hey, can I go to the seminar?

[00:05:12] Can I like take this course?

[00:05:14] Like, what can I do?

[00:05:15] It's just kind of who I am.

[00:05:17] I'm always interested in learning more.

[00:05:19] And so she was like, would always stick up for me.

[00:05:22] And she was like, hey, like, we unfortunately, we don't have a position like this.

[00:05:26] Like, eventually the whole team went away.

[00:05:29] Our whole team there.

[00:05:30] I think there were like seven people.

[00:05:32] There's just doesn't exist anymore.

[00:05:34] But what she did help me do is she connected me with the right people in the firm that was able to find a new position for me.

[00:05:41] And it worked out really well just because the valuation side of Citus AMC is here based here in the Des Moines area.

[00:05:48] They have an office in West Des Moines on Jordan Creek Parkway.

[00:05:50] And so, I mean, I got an opportunity there, took it.

[00:05:54] And now my manager and a lot of my colleagues are here in Des Moines.

[00:05:58] So it's worked out well.

[00:06:00] So you shifted over from the DD side to the appraisal side.

[00:06:03] Yes.

[00:06:04] What's that world look like for you?

[00:06:06] I guess what's a day-to-day in your world?

[00:06:09] So day-to-day, I mean, oh, well, we're writing appraisals.

[00:06:16] But the day-to-day is, you know, that we have a whole list of assignments depending on the client.

[00:06:21] And depending on the client depends on the scope of work.

[00:06:24] And, you know, we'll just get the financials, the rent rolls, any other information, construction information, CapEx information, all the ins and outs, or at least all the ins and outs that the client can provide us.

[00:06:36] And we'll sift through that, sort it, see what we need to do there.

[00:06:40] I work in Argus, a DCF software, a lot.

[00:06:44] And that's where we're updating the models.

[00:06:46] We plug in rents, we plug in expenses, we apply investment rates, all that sort of thing.

[00:06:52] I work in that software a lot.

[00:06:54] And when I first started on the team, like I had minimal to none experience working in that software.

[00:06:59] And I've personally said pretty good at it now, but since I'm in it all day, every day, most of the time.

[00:07:04] So a lot of my day is market research, co-star, looking for sales comps, depending on the property type, rent comps, and just sifting that.

[00:07:14] It's a lot of data, a lot of data.

[00:07:15] And you, although you're based here in West Des Moines, you don't necessarily appraise properties in Iowa.

[00:07:22] Right. So actually I've only appraised one property in the state of Iowa. It wasn't even in the Des Moines metro.

[00:07:29] So yeah, I mean, it's all based on what our clients give us.

[00:07:33] And they're, so as far as asset types, like I cover them all from multifamily, industrial office, retail, self storage, hotel.

[00:07:43] I've even done a couple of data centers.

[00:07:45] Okay.

[00:07:46] So it makes it a little difficult to be like an expert in a certain like property type, but I've got my, I've got the basis of each property type.

[00:07:56] So as far as like Iowa, yeah, I've done, I think one report in Iowa and a lot of them are in like larger metros around the US.

[00:08:04] Are you mainly doing purchases or refinance?

[00:08:07] So that's another thing is we're doing like limited scope reports opposed to like a full scope appraisal report where it'd be, you know, some of these full scope appraisals might be 200, like a ton of pages.

[00:08:21] Whereas, you know, maybe I might be putting out a report that's 20 to, I don't know, maybe all the way up to 80 pages, just a lot shorter.

[00:08:28] And the reason for that is, is it may not be a purchase.

[00:08:31] It may not be a refinance.

[00:08:33] It may just be what we would call like a collateral valuation.

[00:08:36] So our client would have some sort of debt position and they would just want to know what the value is quarter to quarter to make like collateral monitoring, basically.

[00:08:45] When you say limiting the scope, give me an example of what a limited scope would look like.

[00:08:50] So maybe we just get like an updated budget, like say it's all right.

[00:08:55] It's the end of the year.

[00:08:56] It's one queue and they send us, for example, it might be say January, 2025.

[00:09:01] 2025, we may get the 2025 budget.

[00:09:04] Okay.

[00:09:04] And then we could incorporate that 2025 budget into our cash flows and then take a look at the market and look at, all right, what were our market rents set at?

[00:09:13] Do we need to make any adjustments there?

[00:09:15] Look at trends in that certain market and see like, hey, is this going to affect our property or our asset and kind of apply that to it?

[00:09:23] So it's a lot lighter touch.

[00:09:26] Whereas, you know, in a full scope, you may have to dig in a lot more than that.

[00:09:30] Sure.

[00:09:30] But yeah, basically they just want to make sure there isn't any big changes in the market.

[00:09:34] Through this year, 2024, have you see on the purchase side, have you seen cap rates move one direction or another inside of any of these asset classes as it relates to what these things are selling for given where today's interest rate?

[00:09:49] Yeah. So, I mean, the cap rates are up on every single property type and especially offices.

[00:09:55] As everyone knows, offices is a dog in today's market. And, you know, office, obviously, I mean, I can't, you know, I've been a lot of people who keep their hand on the market. Office just isn't performing the best.

[00:10:08] But yeah, cap rates are up on every single asset type. The conversation that appraisers have a lot and we talk about this quite often is the spread between what these properties are actually selling for.

[00:10:23] What's the actual cap rate or cap rate that we're seeing versus what some appraisals are coming in at? And there's still a spread between that. And basically, we just need to dive into it more like there has to be more data supporting is you might know, like the appraisals always usually lag.

[00:10:42] And the reason for that is you have to have support. You have to have the data to support these assumptions or these things that you come up with. And in order to have the data to support it, it's got to be out there.

[00:10:54] Right. So if something happens today, we might not know about it until, you know, next week or the following month. And to only have one data point to pin to, you need a couple more data points to support your decision. So that's why it lags a little bit. And then that also reinforces the little bit of spread between like the cap rate that you may see in an appraisal versus the cap rate you may actually see out there of what this property sold for.

[00:11:18] Hey, Iowa investors. This is Ava Baukamp, chief of staff at Legacy Impact Investors. Have you thought about adding real estate to your portfolio but don't have the time or desire to play landlord? At Legacy Impact Investors, we do the heavy lifting. Our team finds the deals, manages the properties and handles all the day to day operations. Our select group of qualified investors co-invest with us, gaining ownership equity without opening a tenant email or responding to a maintenance call. They just share in the income, appreciation and taxing.

[00:11:48] Tax benefits. These opportunities aren't for everyone. They are for qualified, accredited investors only. If you want to learn more, please visit LegacyImpactInvestors.com to apply.

[00:11:59] Where do you see or how do you see the appraisal business changing over a period of time with the use of AI, with anything that's taking place in the market? Maybe it's regulations all changing in the banking side. It seems like some of the things that you indicated on the limited scope side that it has you doing more work probably as a result of some of the regulations that take place on that side of things.

[00:12:26] Yeah, I guess just as far as changing in the appraisal world. So I don't have a ton of exposure. Like I've only been doing appraisals since actually when I moved from the underwriting side to the appraisal side.

[00:12:40] I started January 1st, 2023. So we're not quite, I haven't been exposed to like a long duration, I guess. So I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how it's evolved over time.

[00:12:53] But what I can say about like the AI stuff is there's a lot of companies, banks, and just companies in general, aside from appraisal and banking, that just there's so much information out there that is just private and that companies want to make sure is protected.

[00:13:12] Data protection is huge. And so there are restrictions to using AI. And like a lot of times you can't, you just can't use AI or put any of this data in there because there's sensitive information that cannot be shared or they wouldn't even want the risk of that information being out there.

[00:13:28] So I think that will have some limitations to it. But there's also, I'm always told that appraisal is an art and a science in that I don't see AI taking over that side of the appraisal.

[00:13:43] I could see maybe the, maybe like in appraisal, there's a lot of templates where there's a lot of like just copy and paste, I guess.

[00:13:50] I wouldn't necessarily want to put it that way, but there's a lot of templates.

[00:13:54] And I think there could be a lot of like repetitive tasks taken over by AI, but that's in every industry.

[00:13:59] I hear you saying data aggregation.

[00:14:01] Yeah.

[00:14:02] The idea being you're pulling it out of whatever comes to all or wherever, wherever it may be.

[00:14:06] And you're aggregating that inside of, you know, Argus or some other system you're utilizing.

[00:14:11] Yeah.

[00:14:11] Yeah.

[00:14:11] No, that makes sense.

[00:14:12] Okay.

[00:14:13] I want to pivot.

[00:14:13] Let's go to the personal side of things.

[00:14:15] Okay.

[00:14:15] Tell me about the personal side and investing.

[00:14:18] Yeah.

[00:14:20] So I'm a rookie investor.

[00:14:21] That's the, this is my freshman year.

[00:14:23] Yeah.

[00:14:23] There you go.

[00:14:24] I just got started.

[00:14:25] So I've been wanting to be, I had an interest in real estate investing for probably since my

[00:14:32] freshman or sophomore year of college when my advisor told me about it a little bit.

[00:14:39] And then basically I started getting an interest in personal finance and, you know, making sure

[00:14:45] that those are all in check.

[00:14:47] And then I was like looking at, well, they always talk about multiple revenue streams and, well,

[00:14:53] okay, what can I wrap my head around that makes sense that could be a multiple, like another

[00:14:59] stream of revenue and real estate came up.

[00:15:01] And so I just started doing a little research.

[00:15:04] I read some articles, I read some articles, I read some articles, watched some videos, started

[00:15:07] listening to some podcasts.

[00:15:08] And I'm like, you know what, this, I think I really like this stuff.

[00:15:11] It seems really interesting.

[00:15:12] So that's kind of what got me interested in it.

[00:15:15] And then I just continued down the road more saying, you know, hey, I'm always, this is

[00:15:21] what I want to do.

[00:15:22] I want to do something like this, graduate college, get a job in it or in the industry.

[00:15:28] And then I started figuring out, well, how can I get started?

[00:15:31] And then I'm like talking to some people and they're like, go to meetups, do something

[00:15:36] like that.

[00:15:37] So I go on Facebook and look up like Des Moines meetup or real estate investment.

[00:15:42] And I found a group and they're like, hey, we're having a meeting this Tuesday.

[00:15:45] Right.

[00:15:45] Great.

[00:15:46] Let's go.

[00:15:47] So I went to it.

[00:15:48] I didn't know anybody going.

[00:15:50] I just knew the date and the time.

[00:15:52] Yeah.

[00:15:52] Showed up and introduced myself to like two or three people and listened to a speaker

[00:15:57] present.

[00:15:58] And I'm like, okay, I can keep doing this.

[00:16:01] This was really good.

[00:16:02] And there's just so much information to soak in.

[00:16:04] I was overwhelmed.

[00:16:05] But eventually I was just started to try and make a plan of like, how, how can, how can

[00:16:12] I get started?

[00:16:14] And what actually happened, which was awesome is when I started at Sidus AMC, there was

[00:16:22] a guy who is on my team who I started to talk to, get to know.

[00:16:28] And as I got to know him a little bit more, come to find out he runs a real estate investing

[00:16:33] company here in the Des Moines area.

[00:16:35] Cool.

[00:16:35] And eventually we'd hop on calls and I just, you know, start to pick his brain.

[00:16:40] And then after a while he started to notice like, man, this guy actually has quite a lot

[00:16:46] of interest in this kind of thing.

[00:16:47] So then he really started fielding my questions and taking my questions more seriously, I think.

[00:16:54] But anyways, I just want to give a huge shout out.

[00:16:56] His name is Jacob Mosqueda with Home Group Solution.

[00:16:59] Yeah, he was a big help in getting me started and answering any questions I may have about

[00:17:04] this kind of thing.

[00:17:05] I don't know if I would have had as much courage or trust in the process as he helped me through

[00:17:12] every single step in the questions I had.

[00:17:14] But anyways, I guess what happened is I set myself up financially, you know, graduate college,

[00:17:21] get a job, save my money.

[00:17:22] I'm pretty frugal and it put myself in a situation to where I could be able to get started.

[00:17:30] And so what happened is I was like, all right, let's find a house.

[00:17:34] And the whole idea is I was going to house hack it.

[00:17:37] And I mean, originally I was like, yeah, duplex sounds cool, but or a triplex or something

[00:17:42] like that.

[00:17:43] That sounds pretty cool or ideal.

[00:17:45] But when you look on the market, especially at the time I was looking, which not far from

[00:17:49] today, it was anything that was on the market sold right away or was very overpriced.

[00:17:57] So I was like, man, I don't think like I'm going to have to work really hard to get a duplex.

[00:18:02] And I don't have like, I don't think I have enough connections to like find the right duplex.

[00:18:06] I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

[00:18:07] I guess I'll just look at like a single family house and house hack it.

[00:18:10] That was my first approach.

[00:18:12] Yeah.

[00:18:13] And so what happened is I started looking at all these houses and I'm just like, man,

[00:18:16] I can't find a single family house in the price range that I would want.

[00:18:22] That just makes any sense.

[00:18:24] So then I was like, all right, well, if I want to make this work, I have to find a duplex

[00:18:28] or a triplex.

[00:18:29] Like that's the property that I have to find in order for the numbers to make sense.

[00:18:34] So that's what I did.

[00:18:35] I went to the Tuesday night meetup one of these times here, the Des Moines real estate meetup.

[00:18:42] And I started walking around.

[00:18:44] I said, Hey, I have everything that I need.

[00:18:46] I have my pre-approval.

[00:18:46] I have, I have everything set up.

[00:18:48] I just need the property.

[00:18:49] I need a seller who's willing to sell me the property.

[00:18:53] Yeah.

[00:18:53] And so I just started asking people and eventually came across a guy who was like, you know,

[00:18:59] I think I might, I might know a guy who has one.

[00:19:04] I was like, that's awesome.

[00:19:05] Like, he's like, here, shoot me an email and we'll get it set up.

[00:19:09] So next that night or the next morning, I shot him an email.

[00:19:12] I'm like, Hey, talk to you at the meetup.

[00:19:13] Like, what's the information?

[00:19:15] It's like, yeah, I'll pass it over.

[00:19:16] See, see what I can connect you to.

[00:19:18] And that's what happened.

[00:19:19] Like connected with this guy.

[00:19:21] He sent me over the details.

[00:19:22] He's like, yeah, here it is off market.

[00:19:24] Like I wasn't competing against anybody, but he was, you know, he was, you know, pretty firm on his price is what he said.

[00:19:30] Sure.

[00:19:30] So, but the numbers lined up and that, that's another thing that I wanted to touch on is a lot of conversation is about high interest rates.

[00:19:39] Right.

[00:19:39] And in my mind, as long as it pencils out, I don't care what the interest rate is.

[00:19:46] Well, the interest rate is part of the deal part.

[00:19:48] Yep.

[00:19:49] Right.

[00:19:49] It's an input to get the deal to work.

[00:19:51] Right.

[00:19:51] Right.

[00:19:51] It's just like the purchase price.

[00:19:54] Yep.

[00:19:54] It's an input.

[00:19:55] Yep.

[00:19:55] I think my mindset at that time and even still to this day was, you know, if I can make it work now, it's only going to get better.

[00:20:04] Sure.

[00:20:04] Like my property value is going to go up or so you would think as long as you hold it long.

[00:20:10] Right.

[00:20:11] The property value is going to go up.

[00:20:13] Rents are going to continue to go up.

[00:20:14] And if I can make it work today, I can refinance later and it will continue to make sense.

[00:20:19] So you went to, you got super engaged in this world of investing.

[00:20:23] You found the meetups, you wanted the meetups religiously, and then you just started talking to people.

[00:20:29] You started asking people, tell them why you want.

[00:20:30] And then one thing leads to another, you've got a property in your hands, a duplex here in town.

[00:20:36] And you close on that deal.

[00:20:38] And then what happens?

[00:20:39] So the duplex needed, so there was two tenants in place, but the seller knew that he was going to, or was looking to sell in the near future.

[00:20:51] So he structured the leases month to month, which is just makes it a lot easier for both the buyer and the seller.

[00:20:58] Right.

[00:20:58] So what I did, I was like, all right, well, my financing was contingent of me living in one side within a row.

[00:21:04] Right.

[00:21:05] Right.

[00:21:05] So I had to figure out which tenant I wanted to give the notice to.

[00:21:11] You mean keep?

[00:21:13] Yeah.

[00:21:13] That too.

[00:21:14] Yes.

[00:21:16] So, you know, I tried to talk to both the seller and just gauge my, like when I went to go tour the property, I tried to gauge like who I wanted to keep based on that.

[00:21:29] Sure.

[00:21:30] And some further conversations, found out one tenant, she kind of seemed like, you know, things were, she was packing some things up.

[00:21:38] Mm-hmm.

[00:21:38] And I was like, I don't know, she's planning on moving or what the plan is here.

[00:21:42] I mean, I was talking to the seller and he was like, well, I have another property with an opening.

[00:21:48] And the property that I bought as, you know, the bedrooms are upstairs and then there's a main level.

[00:21:53] And then in the basement, there's the laundry.

[00:21:55] Sure.

[00:21:55] And she was an older retired lady and she was looking to downsize a little bit.

[00:22:00] She's by herself.

[00:22:01] She doesn't want to have to go upstairs.

[00:22:02] She doesn't want the laundry in the basement.

[00:22:04] It's kind of more like a ranch style.

[00:22:07] And so that's what happened.

[00:22:09] I was like, well, if she's looking to move and downsize, if she's looking to stay in the area, let's like work something out here.

[00:22:18] Like if you have an opening and you like her as a tenant, like see, let's see if she would want to move into your opening.

[00:22:25] Right.

[00:22:25] That would fit what she wants to live in.

[00:22:27] Absolutely.

[00:22:28] And then also it'd benefit me because then it's not like I'm trying to try and apply someone out there.

[00:22:32] I'm not like, I don't want to be the bad guy.

[00:22:34] Right.

[00:22:35] Right.

[00:22:35] But anyways, so that's what happened.

[00:22:37] Came together.

[00:22:38] Yeah.

[00:22:38] That worked.

[00:22:39] It worked really smoothly because there was a lot of back and forth.

[00:22:42] I mentioned my friend Jacob, my coworker Jacob.

[00:22:45] I was on the phone with him a lot.

[00:22:47] Just learning a lot about like landlord and tenant rights and the correct way to operate.

[00:22:54] And make sure the notices are given in the correct manner and learning all the laws and regulations about that kind of stuff.

[00:23:01] And so I learned a lot in a short period of time.

[00:23:04] But yeah, that, so that was that.

[00:23:06] I closed on the property.

[00:23:07] I had to serve notice that same day.

[00:23:09] And then the other people were on a month to month lease and they wanted to stay.

[00:23:13] And so I got them on a year lease.

[00:23:16] And then I think she moved out, the lady in the other side, she ended up moving out.

[00:23:24] And then I had, so right now I was living in a, an apartment and my lease was up mid August.

[00:23:30] And I, my clothes was end of May.

[00:23:33] So I had some time.

[00:23:35] And so the day that she moved out, I got in there and I started my renovation.

[00:23:41] There was, it's an older unit.

[00:23:43] And it hadn't been updated probably since the early nineties, mid nineties.

[00:23:47] So it just needed like, everything was in good condition.

[00:23:51] It was just dated.

[00:23:52] Sure.

[00:23:52] So this summer I spent most all of my free time nights and weekends over there, painting, flooring, kitchen, bathroom, all sorts of stuff.

[00:24:04] Everything you're doing yourself.

[00:24:04] Yeah.

[00:24:05] And that, that was another thing is, you know, I'm getting started.

[00:24:07] You got to start somewhere.

[00:24:08] And in order for me to make it work, I did a lot of things myself, which saved me a ton of money.

[00:24:14] Sure.

[00:24:14] It's also like, I feel like it's going to pay off as far as like learning how to do a lot of these things.

[00:24:19] Cause my whole long-term plan is to obtain more rental properties.

[00:24:24] And while I can, and I'm still small, I do a lot of the maintenance stuff myself.

[00:24:29] And that's going to allow me to know what I'm doing.

[00:24:31] So if you're a house clipper, execute the burst strategy or do double closings and are in need of money.

[00:24:38] Little Guy Loans is your go-to lender here in the Des Moines area.

[00:24:42] Time is money.

[00:24:43] Loan approvals in 24 hours.

[00:24:45] Closings in five days.

[00:24:47] Little Guy Loans was founded by Neil Timmons, an investor just like you.

[00:24:52] Since he has been in over 10,000 homes in Des Moines, there's never an appraisal.

[00:24:57] Houses, multifamily and commercial property loans up to 1 million.

[00:25:02] Check out www.littleguyloans.com.

[00:25:05] It's a long process.

[00:25:06] There's a lot of learning and, but it was, I mean, there was also a lot of fun things too.

[00:25:11] So.

[00:25:12] It sounds like you've learned a lot.

[00:25:14] Now you're, now you've moved in.

[00:25:15] You're situated in it.

[00:25:16] Yep.

[00:25:16] I moved in and, you know, things are going smooth.

[00:25:19] The renovations, like all the big stuff is taken care of.

[00:25:22] There's just little, little things here and there that I'm updating in my, in my free time.

[00:25:26] But I mean, all the big stuff's taken care of.

[00:25:28] As you look forward to next year, 2025, what are you most excited about?

[00:25:31] Next year, my goal and what I'm looking forward to is buying another duplex.

[00:25:36] Yeah.

[00:25:37] So, I mean, that's what I'm most looking forward to.

[00:25:40] But also as far as like a non-personal, like just the work side, I'm working towards getting

[00:25:45] my, my state license for appraisal.

[00:25:48] And then beyond the state license is MAI designation, which there's some classes and, and things

[00:25:54] that you need to take and pass in order to receive that designation.

[00:25:58] So, you know, my day to day at work, I'm working on receiving more designations and credentials

[00:26:03] there along with growing my portfolio on the side.

[00:26:07] Yeah.

[00:26:07] For you, why Iowa?

[00:26:08] What keeps you here?

[00:26:09] You could do what you do anywhere.

[00:26:11] I mean, you, you certainly can work the day job.

[00:26:13] Yeah.

[00:26:13] Probably.

[00:26:15] What keeps you here?

[00:26:16] Uh, so, I mean, I was just born and raised in small town, Northeast Iowa.

[00:26:21] I remember talking to my friends in college actually saying like, cause they were saying,

[00:26:25] oh, I'm going to go down to Des Moines after I graduate.

[00:26:27] Like there, a lot of them were from around the Des Moines area.

[00:26:30] And I was just like, yeah, there's no way that I'm going to go to Des Moines.

[00:26:33] It's way too big.

[00:26:34] Like I'm from a town of a thousand people.

[00:26:36] I was just like, Des Moines way too big.

[00:26:38] There's no way that I'm going to be able to go down there.

[00:26:40] So I guess my roots family and all my friends are now in Des Moines and an opportunity

[00:26:45] brought me to Des Moines and I love Iowa.

[00:26:48] There's a lot like contrary to maybe popular belief.

[00:26:51] There's a lot, a lot of things to do here and a lot of things to enjoy.

[00:26:54] I love Iowa.

[00:26:56] Colin, you ready for the final three questions?

[00:26:57] Let's do it.

[00:26:58] If you had one piece of advice for your 20 year old self, yeah, I chuckled because that's

[00:27:03] not been a year.

[00:27:05] What would it be?

[00:27:08] So my 20 year old self, I think at that point in time, I would just want to

[00:27:15] tell myself that it's not rocket science.

[00:27:17] I always thought there was some special formula or you have to have so much figured out in order

[00:27:24] to get started.

[00:27:25] And the reality is you don't.

[00:27:28] And I don't want people to take that as like, you don't have to do your research, but it truly

[00:27:34] isn't rocket science.

[00:27:35] And if you want to know something, the information is out there.

[00:27:39] The people are out there.

[00:27:41] You just have to put in the work to find the people, find the information.

[00:27:47] And for me, that was fun.

[00:27:48] So it's like, oh, like, I don't know this information.

[00:27:50] Let's go.

[00:27:51] Let's go find it out.

[00:27:52] Connecting with different people in the industry or have similar interests to you.

[00:27:56] I mean, I would have told myself it's not rocket science.

[00:27:59] Also, I would have put myself in more uncomfortable situations.

[00:28:03] I think for a while there, I took things like, oh, that that's scary or how that makes me

[00:28:09] uncomfortable.

[00:28:09] I don't want to go do that.

[00:28:11] And I think I would tell myself to put myself in more uncomfortable situations more often

[00:28:16] because the times that I did put myself in uncomfortable situations is where I grew the

[00:28:20] most or met the people who I was supposed to meet, learned the information that I was supposed

[00:28:26] to know.

[00:28:27] And I think those two pieces of information would have helped me a lot if I would have done

[00:28:31] that a little earlier.

[00:28:32] Two books that changed your life.

[00:28:34] So I'm not a huge book guy, but I have one book that I do like that really opened my mind

[00:28:42] to some of the different ways to acquire or finance real estate.

[00:28:47] And it was called Investing in Real Estate with No and Low Money Down by Brandon Turner.

[00:28:52] And that leads into another recommendation I would have is podcasts.

[00:28:57] So instead of books, I'm more of a podcast guy.

[00:29:00] Sure.

[00:29:00] And it's The Bigger Pockets.

[00:29:01] I got that book recommendation from a podcast on Bigger Pockets.

[00:29:05] And for some new people out there, they have The Bigger Pockets podcast, but they have

[00:29:09] The Bigger Pockets.

[00:29:10] It's like the rookie.

[00:29:12] Let's see.

[00:29:13] The Real Estate Rookie Show is what it's called, and it's hosted by Bigger Pockets.

[00:29:17] And they have a lot more entry-level talking points.

[00:29:20] And so I just dove into those and learned a lot of information.

[00:29:25] But yeah, I guess those are some things that I would definitely look into if you have that

[00:29:32] resources.

[00:29:32] Yeah, for sure.

[00:29:33] If you were cast away on an island for a year, you can only get three pieces of data about

[00:29:37] your business each and every month.

[00:29:39] What three things must you know?

[00:29:41] I would want to know, one, if my tenants are taken care of, two, if the rent is paid,

[00:29:50] and three, if my bills are paid.

[00:29:53] Keep it really simple there.

[00:29:55] But I mean, really, that's the gist of it.

[00:29:57] The big three pieces of data that I personally would want to know are those three things there.

[00:30:02] Call us.

[00:30:02] Bigger conversation.

[00:30:03] For people, they want to find you.

[00:30:04] They want to follow you.

[00:30:05] They want to connect with you.

[00:30:06] Where can they go?

[00:30:07] What should they do?

[00:30:07] Oh, connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook.

[00:30:11] The best is probably going to be LinkedIn.

[00:30:14] Just Colin Chippera on there.

[00:30:15] And yeah, feel free to reach out with any questions.

[00:30:19] I'm open to talking to anybody, anyone who's new and interested in real estate, real estate

[00:30:24] investing.

[00:30:25] I absolutely love it and would love to connect.

[00:30:27] Links below in the show notes to connect with Colin.

[00:30:30] I appreciate you being here.

[00:30:31] Thanks, Neil.

[00:30:32] Thanks for listening.

[00:30:33] If you're enjoying the show, may I ask a favor of you?

[00:30:36] Naturally, subscribe so you never miss an episode.

[00:30:39] But would you rate and leave an honest written review on Apple Podcasts?

[00:30:43] It does a lot for us here at the show, and I appreciate reading your thoughts.

[00:30:47] Great guests make for a great show.

[00:30:49] If you know of another Iowan who would be a great guest, or you yourself have interest

[00:30:54] in being a guest, well, get on our radar.

[00:30:57] Visit Investing in Iowa to fill out an application or recommend a guest.

[00:31:02] And if you want to connect with me one-on-one, go LegacyImpactInvestors.com.

[00:31:08] Click on the Invest With Us button in the top right corner.

[00:31:11] And there, you can pick a time for the two of us to get on the calendar and connect.

[00:31:15] Until next time, keep investing in Iowa.