Our guest for today is a successful Real Estate Investor that started helpings others House Hack single-family homes before it got its name. She has gone from Teacher to managing nearly 300 multifamily assets from 1,000 + miles away and is the creator of the Podcast: Ask Me How I Know.
Let’s dive right in and learn from Julie Holly how we can get our mindset right!
[00:01 – 07:14] Opening Segment
- We introduce our guest, Julie Holly
- Spencer talks about his background
[07:15 – 27:39] Why The Switch From Teaching To Real Estate
- Julie talks about her background
- What’s their worst investing advice?
[27:40 – 33:03] Why Jump into Multifamily?
- Julie shares her rental experiences
- She talks about planning to get out of residential
- Discovering Podcasts and getting sucked in
- Personal responsibility and executing a plan
[33:04 – 38:24] What Does the Next Couple Years Hold?
- Hoping over to LinkedIn
- Helping and teaching about investing capital
- Network effect
[38:25 – 43:46] Closing Segment
Julie’s book recommendations:
Who Moved My Cheese Kid Edition
Connect with Julie! See the links below.
Final thoughts
Tweetable Quotes:
“Taking care of someone’s money is really almost like taking care of someone’s child, let’s be real.” – Julie Holly
“You don’t know when your card is up, so I have a little bit of YOLO in me because you don’t know when. So make every heartbeat count, enjoy every day and work hard, but enjoy it!” – Julie Holly
Resources Mentioned:
Go to her LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram pages to connect with Julie. Visit her Website, YouTube, and Podcast.
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Julie Holly
Anthony Vicino: [00:00:14] Hello and welcome to Multifamily Investing Made Simple, the podcast, it’s all about taking the complexity out of real estate investing so that you can start taking action. Today, I am your co-host, Anthony Ticino, joined as always by Dan.
Dan Krueger: [00:00:29] I got a new haircut. Krueger, that’s me. And we’re going to talk about it. We’re going to talk about the haircut.
Anthony Vicino: [00:00:35] It’s a sensitive subject, dear listener, at home or in the car or on the treadmill or elliptical, wherever you are right now. We have a very special guest for you. And I want you to know that we have been on the struggle bus with this episode, trying to record it. We’ve had some false starts, but this is going to be the one. And I have the feeling that it’s going to be the Mack daddy of all podcast episodes that we’ve ever done. We have with us today the one the only Julie Holly. Now, before I let her bust through the fourth wall, because I know she’s chomping at the bit, I’m going to read you her Bible. So, Julie, Holly helps people find their freedom through multifamily real estate investing so that they can live the life of their dreams. She’s invested in single-family homes house before it had main managed properties from one thousand miles away and possibly invested in nearly three hundred multifamily assets. Her Podcast Ask me how I know multifamily stories of struggles to success is designed to fuel the mind and soul through weekly interviews with industry leaders as well as weekly mindset episodes.
Anthony Vicino: [00:01:39] Now, the thing I like most about Julie besides that, she’s like a ball of positive energy that is all over social media is that Dan and I showed up late for our interview today and she called us on it. And so without further ado, Julie, Holly, you’re right.
Julie Holly: [00:01:54] Some people still call me Teacher Julie, since I have that parallel career in education and that teacher Jean, it just does not go away at all.
Anthony Vicino: [00:02:04] Yeah, you can’t turn it off. So are you still a teacher then, while you’re also doing all this real estate? You got single-family, house hacking, passively investing. I know you’re trying to transition to active investing on the multifamily front. Are you still teaching on top of all that?
Julie Holly: [00:02:19] You know, technically? Am I getting paid for it? No. My teaching is I am homeschooling two children, so that is what I am doing with the teaching sector, but it’s a full-time job, right? You know, there are these online-only schools that are really set up well. So that’s helping me out. And they’re growing a lot of independence and they’re learning. So it’s working out well. We’re making everything covid work for our family.
Anthony Vicino: [00:02:51] Very cool. So is teaching something that you transitioned away from to go full time into real estate or where are you on that journey? Because it sounds like maybe you stopped getting paid, you got out of the teaching gig and now you’ve been sucked back in. covid sucks you back in.
Julie Holly: [00:03:07] That’s hilarious. And you know what? We actually had a plan already to keep one of our kids home. He was going to middle school. So we already had this plan in place, like I was at a point with investing where it makes sense to let go of the W2 and transition. And it also made sense for our family. So, yeah, and I’ve gone in and out of teaching. So I had parallel careers between teaching and real estate, and it’s lent itself very well to the kind of ebbing and flowing with where life goes.
Dan Krueger: [00:03:42] Yeah, it’s very cool now I’m curious. It sounds like what age group were you teaching when you’re actually a teacher?
Julie Holly: [00:03:52] Starting with the first, second, and third-grade students.
Dan Krueger: [00:03:56] Ok, nice. Now I’m curious, like how real estate kind of comes on your radar and how you know that that’s not the typical path that I hear from people as they went from teaching grade school to investing in multifamily assets.
Anthony Vicino: [00:04:13] And it’s not like that happens. It’s not like it was high school econ or something like I don’t even know. Do they teach real estate in high school these days? I doubt it actually would.
Julie Holly: [00:04:25] Yeah, you need to teach a lot more, but no, it’s not. But here’s the deal, is that I had a mom who was a teacher, and then I had a dad who was in real estate. I also had a grandfather who was in real estate. So I have all these like real estate people and then I have another parent. So I basically took both my parent’s careers and I was like the baby of the family, like, I don’t know, who do I want to please everybody. It really wasn’t like that. But I ended up taking on both professions at different times. I started out I graduated college early and started teaching in the public school at twenty-two. And I, I enjoyed it. I liked it. But after three. All of this, so I’m too scared to go into real estate, but that’s really what I want to do and I’m just going to jump in and do it. I’m single. I have the opportunity to do this. The worst thing I just thought, worst-case scenario, it’s just me losing out and it’s not going to affect anybody else. And I can get another job and figure things out. So I jumped in and went into residential real estate and kicked, but did really well and enjoyed it.
Julie Holly: [00:05:44] But it was well, if you go from the teacher world into residential real estate, it’s a different sort of person in that field. And I saw a lot of unethical things taking place. This is before the crash when if you could fog Ymir right, you would get a loan. And I saw a lot of really shady things taking place. And just like I called you guys, I’m being tardy this time around. But it’s like, how can you stand by? And, like, I can’t participate in that. Like, there’s no way I’m going to do something unethical. That’s my name and reputation. Right. So so it really just was creating this part of me where it was too much friction and I was young and did not know how to manage that. And I didn’t have the resources at that time. I mean, this is really super early 2000’s. So I mean, podcasts weren’t around. It wasn’t like I could just hop on to bigger pockets and find all of these awesome mentors that I could just listen to. So I was. YouTube was. I think it was, but it was still new.
Dan Krueger: [00:06:56] So if you wanted information on this, you were going and looking through the maybe the small handful of books that might have been written at that time, which at that point was probably what the Kolten Sheets type thing, where they’re pitching like the weekend millionaire. Those are probably the types of things you could find at that point, I’m guessing. Is that right?
Julie Holly: [00:07:15] I would imagine. What do you think, Anthony?
Anthony Vicino: [00:07:17] Well, yes, certainly nothing on multifamily, that is for sure. I think I don’t know, honestly. I had my eyes closed to all the twins. It was a crazy person. But it’s interesting. I’m wondering what was it? I might have missed this part. I might have, again, kind of blacked out. But did you was there a moment when you were teaching when you started thinking real estate? Because it sounds like you grew up your dad was in real estate. Was he a broker? Was he investing? And what was that transition like where you woke up one day and started thinking, hey, maybe I want to do real estate because it wasn’t like you were on social media and you saw your buddy house hacking or flipping a home or buying an apartment building? So, like, where did that inspiration come from?
Julie Holly: [00:08:02] I’ve always loved houses. And so my dad was a residential realtor, very successful, but he was not an investor. They tried to invest one time and it went very far south. They lost a ton and that was around the dot-com crash time. So I remember all of these ebbs and flows through the 80s and 90s. And I’m like, oh yeah, I know I live them. I remember them. I was very aware. I was nerdy and I was like a total nerdy sixth grader that was reading Architectural Digest with, like, your average kid in that regard. And so it was natural for me to enjoy houses. There’s construction around me. My dad had a background in construction management as well. And so all of this was just part of my life. And so I could see it and be around it. And I enjoyed it. I liked what my dad did and how he did it. I didn’t like the roller coaster part of real estate that I lived.
Julie Holly: [00:09:00] And so it wasn’t ever like this huge aha. I basically wanted to live a lot of different lives and I knew that in fourth grade I couldn’t I can’t do everything I want to do. I have not become an Air Force fighter pilot yet and that’s off the list. It’s not going to happen. Poor vision and I’m too old, but everything else I’ve been able to bring about into life and with real estate investing, it made so much sense. There was a slight aha moment when my grandparents, they took me there. They drove by this house and they said, oh, that’s where we’re going to live someday. And they lived in a very affluent part of their community and they had a nice house and we’re driving by this other house. I’m like, why would you move? Like, this is a beautiful house. And they explained and I think I was in middle school, they explained that they’re moving there to that house in the renting it out right now. They bought them because someday they’re going to be older. They’re going to need a single like they just had been thinking about it.
Julie Holly: [00:10:02] And so when it comes to that, like looking ahead type perspective, my grandparents had that. And so there was like that seed. So I had these different seeds and they just simply grew once you’re in a profession for any given time and you have an entrepreneurial spirit and you’re in the classroom, teaching kids like this is great. I’m ready to go to the next business. I’m ready. What’s next? I need something a little spicier. And so making that transition into real estate made a lot of sense to me. And again, it made sense because I was doing the risk and reward of, well, I’m single. I like, OK, I have a mortgage payment, but I’m single worst-case scenario. And that’s what gave me that courage to take that initial leap into the residential world, experience it. And then guess what? I tapped out real fat. I was like, OK, well, that was fun. And I could definite I knew I had proven to myself, I can make a real I can make a ton of money working in that space. But there are also there are all these other obstacles.
Julie Holly: [00:11:08] And so it’s a give and takes. So I decided I’m like, is the money worth it? Do I feel like I’m making an impact in that way? And making an impact is really important to me. So I simply said, you know, I’m ready to go back to the classroom. The school district welcomes me back, found a position for me, which is really great. I was in California at the time. And and and that just speaks to me, I really do well at whatever I do. I put my best into it and so they’re like, yeah, come on back, we’ll find a spot. And then we just as my husband and I, when we got married, we just kept the houses. We decided we want to live just a modest lifestyle. And now this is an interesting mindset shift. Right, and I think that there are a lot of people listening that will probably this will resonate. I’m going to just live a modest lifestyle. This is our philosophy. We’ll live off one income and then we’ll just be able to invest this other income if we have it or if we want to stay home with kids.
Julie Holly: [00:12:08] We have given ourselves some flexibility in breathing space. And as we move, we’ll just keep the homes. And moving is a common thing for people who have been in real estate. Right. So few years. And so, you know, just keep the homes that you’ve lived in and buy another one and just continue this process. BRRR, I wish I would have known about Broadway back then. That would have been really great. And I’m sure the people would have been doing this using the strategies for years. It just the education component for the mass people like us wasn’t available. However, that’s such a limiting belief system. It’s basically saying, well, I just have to live this poor life now so that I can live the life I want or be taking care of when I’m older. And as I’ve gone down this journey, it’s a matter of realizing, like now I can live a nice life now and I can impact people and have a huge impact on the quality of their housing for the residents in the community. Like, we can all live nice lives. There’s abundance out there. And so.
Anthony Vicino: [00:13:19] So I’m curious, then, what do you take with Dave Ramsey’s phrase that lives as nobody else does now so that you can live as nobody else can later?
Julie Holly: [00:13:29] So Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace University, I really want to go there. So it’s OK. I’m a graduate.
Anthony Vicino: [00:13:39] I, I want to go here because I have a feeling. I have a feeling. Once we open this can of worms with Julie, it’s going to get crazy. So I do want to go there because we have mixed feelings. We talked about it frequently about Dave Ramsey and there’s our boy, Uncle G, we could talk about him, too, if we want to get really sassy. But I’m curious because it sounds like the lawsuits up just, I don’t know, let’s get them all done at the same time. Actually, they can just be paying us. That was advertising for no news is bad news. So. So but. But you touched on something there I think is interesting when I think people use that cliche phrase or what Dave Ramsey says about living as nobody else does now. So you can live as nobody else can later. It’s with this idea that later you’ll be rich and to be living the Godi lifestyle, whereas what you’re talking about is very different and you’re talking about understanding like what does fulfillment look like for you? Like what does being satiated look like and then getting there and being happy there and not just trying to consume more and more and more for the sake of more and more and more. That about right.
Julie Holly: [00:14:46] Yeah, that that is about right. So I’m going to go to Dave Ramsey first. Let’s let’s go. Let’s go there, Dave. OK, buckle up. Everybody is really right. I know. Hold on. Hands, feet, and objects in the car, please. So we were already my husband and I both had a very shared philosophy already on debt. Right. We’re like, we don’t want debt. We didn’t have credit card debt. We don’t invite that into our lives. And we had both had these experiences very early adulthood. We’re on our own. We had I think I had two thousand dollars of credit card debt and I thought I was going to die. I was mortified and I went to my parents. I’m like, oh, my gosh, I’ve made this horrible mistake. I had put college on my credit card. And so they bailed me out. I paid them back. And that was like my one taste of being in debt that I never wanted to relive again. And my husband had a very similar experience. So like five thousand dollars. And so we had already come into our relationship with this concept of money, of like, you know, just stay out of debt, pay your bills. But we did not see a mortgage as a debt. So we go to Financial Peace University. We’re sitting in there watching the videos with everybody else and they’re encumbered with a lot of debt. And we’re sitting here like, OK, well, we don’t have any debt.
Julie Holly: [00:16:09] And then he comes on saying, if you have a mortgage, you have debt and it’s bad. I’m like, OK, so, yeah. So we were I was taught about leverage and my dad did it. An extraordinary job teaching me about leverage. Like he would say, hey when I bought my first home, I bought it from him. It was trashed and I had to go in and do all the repairs on it. But he said, listen, you’re going to get into this house and you’re going to put this much money in. And he had to explain it to me. Oh, my. So many times. So he was so patient with me to get the explanation out there that, hey, on this say one hundred thousand. It was more than that. But on the one hundred thousand dollars, let’s say because you’re a first-time buyer, you have all these incentives, X, Y, Z, you’re coming into it with ten thousand dollars. You’ve got ten, ten percent skin in the game. That’s a 90 percent leverage. He was explaining this concept to me. I finally got it. So, you know, there’s a point to where and we touched on this before. We’re recording about being over-leveraged. Right. But he taught me that idea of being leverage. So I disagree with Dave Ramsey on that. I think he is serving his purpose really well with the concept of here’s how to get out of the situation you’re in.
Julie Holly: [00:17:26] If you have found if you find yourself in a situation where you’re encumbered with debt, that is frivolous debt, that is not an investment, that is not serving you well, then here’s how to get out. But his that mindset. No, you know what? My dad happened to drop dead five years ago. No, you don’t know when your card is up. So I do have a little bit of yolo in me because you don’t know when. So make every heartbeat count, enjoy every day, and work hard, but enjoy it!
Dan Krueger: [00:18:00] Yeah, that’s pretty much lines right up with our personal philosophy and how we kind of interpret and respond to the Dave Ramsey philosophy. And, you know, we’ve said on previous podcasts, which really pretty much aligns with what you said, is that he’s a great resource for the average consumer for wrapping their head around, you know, how to manage credit cards and consumer debt. And then it’s that piece where even the mortgage is lumped into, quote-unquote, bad, that that’s where we check out. Because to your point, you know, leverage is a great thing when used properly, but it’s a double-edged sword, right? Too much of it. It’s going to hurt you. But the right amount can be an incredibly powerful tool. So it’s that’s you know, we agree with you. He’s the right kind of resource for the right person at the right time in their life. But for the average investor, a lot of what he says specifically around mortgages could just be tossed out the window. And, you know, if you look at where inflation is at and where interest rates are at, the debt that you get on a single-family home these days in the three percent range or low 3s, if inflation goes above three percent, that that’s for inflation erodes the interest on the debt, on cash flow and assets. So the argument really falls apart, especially in these low-interest-rate environments.
Anthony Vicino: [00:19:17] To me, it’s like debt is like gasoline or rocket fuel, where if you don’t know how to use it, you’re just going around pouring it on everything. Yeah, that’s a really bad idea. Real bad idea. But if you put it in the right vehicle and you ignite it at the right time and you use it in the right proportions, suddenly you can use that fuel to go much further than you could go just on your own with your own two legs. So it’s not about the debt is evil. It’s not about the money is evil. It’s about the application of it and understanding. What’s it doing for you? At the end of the day? Are you using debt to supplement your lifestyle and to buy the things that you couldn’t afford otherwise? Well, that’s about U.S. debt. Are you using debt to purchase cash-generating assets that put money back into your pocket? That’s a good that’s good debt. So it’s all about the application.
Anthony Vicino: [00:20:09] And we kind of blew right through this part of the show. But I do want to I want to circle back to it now before we dive even deeper into your story. Julie, what is your dad investing advice? Because we’re already touching on the debt right now. And this is one of the things that a lot of people struggle with because you get so much information out there from both sides of the camp.
Anthony Vicino: [00:20:26] That’s good. That’s bad. That’s great. But what’s your bad investing advice? It doesn’t have to be around.
Julie Holly: [00:20:33] You know, I’m going to go back to since the economy is in that portion of the cycle, I’m going to go back to two thousand eight. And what I saw as when I was in residential real estate and I see it happening again. So my husband is a residential realtor right now, and that’s what he’s he’s done for almost 13 years, very successfully. And so I guess I still have my hands on those trenches.
Julie Holly: [00:20:58] And I just think across the board, in residential and in multifamily, we see people overpaying, overpaying for assets instead of being. And there’s there is a. I have to be careful because there are strategies in overpaying, right, so right now with multifamily, there are a lot of family offices or different organizations that are seeing what’s happening with the economy. And they’re being strategic. They’re like, well, it’s better for us to overpay and Parker or hard capital here in this hard asset. And so they’re putting a hedge up so they know they know what they’re doing. The people I’m talking to about overpaying are the newer investors that are overpaying just because they want to get their first deal. And the homeowners that I just want to have my house have this next house and they’re overpaying and oftentimes they’re becoming encumbered and they’re going to lose it all just because they weren’t patient and self-controlled and willing to say, I can wait. And then if people wait, it’s going to get really good. Lots of opportunities. I would say that’s my number one piece of advice. Never overpay. Yeah.
Anthony Vicino: [00:22:14] And I think what you’re talking about there with people going out and buying things and knowing it’s a hedge to putting on a hedge, you know, that’s they’re overpaying because they understand their desired outcome and their capacity to weather the storm. And so their expectation is I only need two percent return. I just need to be able to park my money here and have an inflationary hedge. Most people that are overpaying, most new investors, they’re not doing that. They’re going into these saying, I’m going to pay for this and I’m going to be optimistic in my unit. Turns out renovations, my expenses, and I’m therefore going to be able to generate these incredible returns.
Anthony Vicino: [00:22:49] It’s really hard to generate incredible returns if you’re overpaying this full stop.
Julie Holly: [00:22:57] Yeah, and I would say to those to such people, you fire yourself and that’s, you know, do you want to fire yourself from a job, from doing something that you absolutely love that could be having a powerful impact? Like just be patient. Wait, it’s worth it.
Anthony Vicino: [00:23:14] So that kind of flies in the face of what some people and I cut you off there again. You started to breathe. I knew you were going to drop. And I said, I know you’re sick, but we’ll get back to you in a second. But I’ll actually go for it.
Anthony Vicino: [00:23:25] Go for it, because I just literally forgot what I was going to say.
Dan Krueger: [00:23:27] Oh, good timing. Well, I was mostly going to kind of just double down on the point that the Gelu is making about newer investors overpaying. And I think it’s overpainted is really just it’s kind of a subjective thing, really. And so really, I think overpaint is a product of something that Anthony mentioned, which is being too optimistic with their assumptions. And, you know, anti-narrative we talk about all the time, we like to underwrite our deals for the worst-case scenario. And I’ve seen across the border in Brunsdon. Yeah. Have seen this all over the place. And I was so curious to peek at other people’s underwriting the assumptions that people are making about just the macroeconomic environment that they’re going to be in and how capable they are of executing these business plans is frankly a little scary. And then you combine that with the over-leverage that some people are doing these days. It’s a little tougher to do than multifamily. But, you know, to your point, back in the early 2000s, you know, you could borrow one hundred two hundred ten percent of the value of a property. If you combine leverage with overly optimistic assumptions about the future, a small little correction or just one little miss on any of those components is going to put you underwater. So, you know, the I guess the point I want to make is, you know, overpaying is subjective. It’s really tough to tell whether someone’s overpaying or not. But really, the good way to look at your underwriting to see if it’s on par is just to do some sensitivity analysis and see how your deal performs in the worst-case scenario, the likely cause, and then the best case because I think a lot of people spend all their time looking at the best-case scenario and they don’t look at the downside risk.
Anthony Vicino: [00:25:07] I want to harp on this for a second because of a lot of underwriting that I’m seeing from really new investors. And it’s I think we do a disservice to people when they’re new in their first starting out and you hear things like, hey, just get that first deal allowed, the first guy to get the flywheel going and then people misunderstand that to think any deal and you’ve just got to get any deal. And that’s enough to get going. But one of the things I see frequently is people. And Dan, you’re touching on this, overestimating what they’re capable of executing. Like, think about the first time you tried to ride a bicycle. You suck at it. So what makes you think that you’re going to be able to go into your first apartment syndication if you’re operating it or even just managing a property management team and you’re going to be able to go in there and operate at these rule of thumb margins that you see and your reading books about some of these other operators. So when you see like you should be able like a good operator could run property at about a 40 percent expense ratio, you’re not a good operator. You’re going to fall off that bicycle. You better budget for 60 just to be safe.
Dan Krueger: [00:26:03] That’s probably a good sports analogy here. I’m not the guy to make it. I don’t know anything about sports, but there’s got to be some sort of baseball batting average. And I’m setting you up here, Anthony, or something.
Dan Krueger: [00:26:13] I got I’m not a sports car either. I live with a bicycle. I’ll stick with the bicycle, like,
Julie Holly: [00:26:18] OK, I will be a contrarian for just one smidge. And that is I think there are a lot of people that enter the multifamily. And they have some years of experience where maybe they’ve been.
Julie Holly: [00:26:38] You know, maybe they have been running operations for a company, or if you have somebody like that on your GP, there are some instances where I think people’s backgrounds might lend themselves to either being overly optimistic, like, well, I have done this in this career. And so I have every reason to believe that I can be successful here as well. And that could be a double-edged sword.
Anthony Vicino: [00:27:01] Yeah, and that’s totally legit.
Anthony Vicino: [00:27:04] And I talk about this about when you’re first transitioning, let’s say, into apartments, applications for big multifamily properties, your track record, and other endeavors make a big difference, like if you come from an operations background and working with teams and managing teams. The analogy I would use there is if you’re already really good at writing the unicycle, you could probably hop on a bicycle, put it up. Right. So what’s the I don’t know why I’m on the bicycle kick right now. I just am just come along with me on this journey. But like, if you have that related experience, that can play a really large, large role as well.
Dan Krueger: [00:27:40] Yeah, definitely. I’m curious, you know, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about your early experience getting into residential and some of the smaller single-family stuff. You know, from your bio, it sounds like you’ve definitely transitioned into maybe not all multifamily, but that sounds like it’s a major component. I’m curious, what made you make the transition from doing it? Sounds like you did at least one house back. We’ve got some small residential stuff here. Why? Why jump into multifamily?
Julie Holly: [00:28:10] We had residential in two different states. So we had lived in California. We lived in Denver, Colorado. And so it was just a matter of consolidating and just a lot of naivety. I mean, it’s it’s just horrific to look back because we didn’t have any mentors in our life. We did. And we were told that we were kind of foolhardy for having rentals and such.
Julie Holly: [00:28:35] You know, people discourage us. So we were already swimming upstream, forging our own path. And we decided we said, let’s get out of residential. There’s got to be a better way. But we don’t know what. And maybe we’ll just sell really high because we believe that we were selling at the high point and maybe we can sell high and just reinvest that money when the economy shifts. And I got really antsy because I’m a little bit of an active person. And so I’m like, honey, I need to start investing again. I can’t handle this because I was managing the property. So I need to I need something else to do. I’m a mom. I’m teaching in a public school. I need more to do. Please. Seriously, that is how I felt about it. And that’s when I discovered podcasts and bigger pockets.
Julie Holly: [00:29:26] And I just went on this full-on discovery mode and just sucked in all the information. Heard Monique Hahm talk on bigger pockets about real estate syndication. And she was the first woman I heard on bigger pockets. So that was huge for me. And then to hear syndication and her experiences, it just completely it was almost I tell people that it’s my residential or my real estate testimony that just ha moment of the whole. My gosh, this is my path. This makes one hundred percent sense to me.
Dan Krueger: [00:30:02] What about it was like the, you know, the exciting piece, you know, it sounds like you had a very strong response to this, slightly different but very similar business models. I am curious what in particular really got you excited? Because there’s a lot there that it could be wondering what yours is.
Julie Holly: [00:30:21] Yeah, it made sense, that whole concept as she dispelled the one roof one her ten doors. You’ve got a vacancy. No problem. The concept of a business plan. But more than that, she was explaining know I could see the impact that could be made. So that’s where my head went. And I really believe in impacting communities and providing great housing for residents. So I could see all of the components and I could see, oh, I don’t have to do all of this. I can partner up with some other people and share these. And I could I can just take on a couple of these roles and be a rockstar at that and let other people shine. So I had to get to that point in life. Also, personal growth of letting me be on a team and let me just let everybody shine and everyone do their very best. And it was so exciting to me.
Dan Krueger: [00:31:18] Yeah. It’s one of the best features of some of these, you know, larger deals when their syndicate is is you get to just pick and choose what you actually like to do and then, you know. Kind of own the fact that you maybe don’t need to do everything for me, it was a huge ego thing. In my first deal, I was adamant about being 100 percent owner. It was all my money was all me. Everything was me, me, me, me, me. And then I was kind of thinking about all these other large successful organizations that have, you know, that everyone loves Nike, Apple, you name it. No one discounts these guys running these things because they had teammates that helped them along the way. And this business model is so conducive to teaming up with people so that you could just focus on your strengths and let other people take care of the stuff that you find less interesting. So I think that’s huge for us, at least for myself. It was really the valuation model in multifamily where you’re not quite as much of the whim of the market. You’ve got so much more control over the assets. So there are all these things that are fantastic. Well, multifamily. But it’s always interesting to see what gets other people excited.
Julie Holly: [00:32:28] Yeah. And I will definitely double down on that because I don’t like being at the whim of something else. And I love like we can force appreciation, we can be in the driver’s seat. It doesn’t matter what’s taking place. To some extent, there are external factors that shut down, for instance. But I think we can we can achieve our goal. We can have a plan and we can execute that plan successfully. It’s all on us. And I like personal responsibility. Yes, either win or lose based on your merits, not on. Oh, well, that person didn’t bring the TPS reports in, so sorry.
Dan Krueger: [00:33:04] Yeah, I love it. We’ll let on all those things and that’s fantastic. And I’m sorry we’re going to pop in or something there.
Anthony Vicino: [00:33:13] I was about to share my story, but then I realized everybody already knows it, so they know how I feel about the valuations. I don’t need to harp on that one too much more. They get it like it’s powerful.
Anthony Vicino: [00:33:23] But I’m curious, like, as I’m thinking here, like, what’s the next couple of years old for you guys? You’re transitioning from that passive to that active. What’s where are you focusing?
Anthony Vicino: [00:33:32] What’s your goals and how are you getting there? Because you’re I feel like you have been everywhere in the last year or so, maybe less than a year. I don’t know when I when you first came on my radar, but you’re everywhere now. Like, what is she building? What’s your goal?
Julie Holly: [00:33:47] What’s she going back? Right. I know the last six months have been really fun. A ton of fun. I hopped over onto LinkedIn, actually. I guess that’s more than six months now. Probably. I think in August I hopped over there and just drank the Kool-Aid. I absolutely love that space. And I am everywhere and I know what I’m building. So for me, I really feel an intense urge to help people like me unearth that. Like, listen, you can invest in apartments, it’s at your fingertips. You don’t need to be like me.
Julie Holly: [00:34:23] You don’t have to wait all the years to figure it out. And I can teach and show you how. And that’s where the teacher part of me comes out. And I’ve been developing just different teaching tools. Well, all that to say I just want to worry about people’s investing capital. Like, let’s just take a picture for one and put it over here. It’s not going to hurt you. It will help you. And let me just help you make these small changes in your life so that you can see this bigger impact. Right. So I’m all about raising capital. I’m all about to let me help you find learn how to use your money in this powerful way. So for me, being out there is really important, and getting to know a lot of different people is important. For one, raising the capital into knowing who the players are in the space. Because as much as I really like to have a Pollyanna perspective on things and say, you know, rainbows and unicorns, the people are good, there are some operators that could use some growth. And so I want to make sure that I’m wide-eyed about who’s a great person to partner up with and park capital with and who should I maybe steer clear of until they come to that growth moment,
Dan Krueger: [00:35:34] Very nicely put. And I think that’s kind of a beautiful way to tie everything together because it seems like you’ve kind of come full circle. Do you found a way to marry these two passions that you have and really just focus on the pieces of each that you enjoy? So you still get the fulfillment of educating people and having that light bulb turn on for them, where you can connect the dots and show them how they can have control over something that they’ve never understood. So you get your teacher fix and then you get to be still in the real estate business, which is focusing on the pieces that you really enjoy, which is I think I guess where you’re from the south, you just kind of came full circle and created this perfect little niche for yourself.
Julie Holly: [00:36:20] So I would say absolutely. Dan, you nailed it perfectly. Exactly. And I’ve only realized that probably for the last eight months of how intertwined there. I mean, I knew that components were there, but the more I’m on this path, I see how married the two are and it’s becoming. And that’s probably why it’s I’m very particular. I really like to do things well, ethics, and taking care of people.
Julie Holly: [00:36:45] I mean, taking care of someone’s money is really almost like taking care and teaching someone’s child let’s be real. You’re right. So the responsibilities, other huge responsibility, but being able to educate parents and adults, that will have a more profound effect than my time in the classroom.
Julie Holly: [00:37:06] If you can have parents that are or families, adults, whoever they are, if they are not stressed out about their finances, they are going to be a better human being. I don’t think anyone will argue with that. And so if I can impact adults in this capacity, then their stress is reduced and they’re going to be better members of our society. I think we could all agree that would be a great thing.
Dan Krueger: [00:37:29] I feel like that’s a new kind of leverage you’re educating, but just with leverage and now you’re kind of like, you know, I don’t know how to phrase this, Anthony, you’re the writer. You take this thought and make it sound good. OK, I’m trying to say. Right. This is some kind of, like, confusing leverage your ear instead of just going to a classroom of 20 kids. Right. You’re educating all these parents that assist them in creating a better household for their kids because they’re happier and they’re not worried about money. So it’s there’s some kind of leverage talking about you. Good for you.
Anthony Vicino: [00:37:58] Yeah. You’re talking about, like network effects there. We’re impacting one person who has a network of one hundred people that they are then able to impact. So like a parent is a really great one because let’s say they have the average of two and a half children, then, you know, that’s impacting those two and a half. Which then they have each won five friends, so now that 15 friends of the network effect say they start to sprawl really quickly, but we are coming up to the end of the show. But before we let you go, Julie, we need your book recommendation.
Julie Holly: [00:38:26] All right, my book recommendation, since everybody else reads the Purple Book, but Julie is there, it’s always a we don’t talk about the book, but I have an alternative book that is absolutely fantastic. It is called The Richest Man in Babylon. It’s a classic. It’s classic, it’s a short read. But I think it serves a very similar purpose as that other book which will not be named. And in doing that, there is also a kid’s version of this book. That’s pictures with it. That’s what I need. I like characters who moved my cheese. The kid’s version is amazing. That’s all there is. Yeah, I get that.
Dan Krueger: [00:39:07] I’m going to get that for not for myself. It’s going to be a gift for my daughter. I’m not sure what age range it’s for. She’s only five weeks old right now, but I’m going to partner with books and that I feel like that one’s perfect for.
Julie Holly: [00:39:20] It sounds like you need to read the book yourself. I do. I do. At least check it out before I give it the title sold into it.
Anthony Vicino: [00:39:29] And then have you never read Who Moved My Cheese? No, no.
Julie Holly: [00:39:33] Oh, God. It’s brilliant. But there’s a kid’s version. Is that what you’re saying? Forget it. I think it’s so fine.
Julie Holly: [00:39:42] It’s interesting. Yeah. I have to say, I read it once a year.
Anthony Vicino: [00:39:46] I think you were the first person on our show to recommend a children’s book, but I love it. That’s going to be checking that out.
Julie Holly: [00:39:53] So I did recommend The Richest Man in Babylon also, which is not a children’s book not to rewrite. Forgot about that one. This one’s going in the books with Who Moved My Cheese Children’s version and Martin Bhabhi. Yep. Yeah, both books are fantastic.
Anthony Vicino: [00:40:10] I’d highly recommend them. I haven’t read the children’s version of either of them, but the richest man in Babylon.
Anthony Vicino: [00:40:15] Such a quick, easy read I’d recommend just read re brushing up on it every couple of years. Just make sure that you haven’t dulled your blade because I think the foundational things they say last the longest, they never got style.
Dan Krueger: [00:40:29] So those classic books are like all you need, like the stuff that was written one hundred years ago, like just cover those and you’re probably going to get everything that you need, in my opinion. Exactly what recommendations? I love it. Yeah.
Anthony Vicino: [00:40:41] So, Julie, we can let you out of the cage. Now you’re free to go about your world and enjoy your life, but we would appreciate it if you let everybody know where they can get a hold of you.
Julie Holly: [00:40:52] I would love for everybody to go check out three keys investments, dot com, it’s a fabulous place. There are free goodies and I’m so excited that it’s going to have a facelift that will be finished up here shortly.
Julie Holly: [00:41:07] And also check out my podcast, ask me how I know it’s similar. It’s conversational style. But on Mondays, I relate to a mindset episode and it’s a great way to launch your week with intention and purpose and it will challenge you.
Anthony Vicino: [00:41:22] If we’re not being challenged, then we’re not growing and like the sharks who drowned when they stopped swimming forward, we humans, we drowned when we stopped growing.
Anthony Vicino: [00:41:30] So that’s my deep pontifications for the evening. And I appreciate every single one of you who has stopped in and joined us for this episode.
Anthony Vicino: [00:41:39] We will catch you next week.
