Thread: Success Story: GLC65

Awesome story Gus. Congrats on your success. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks guys, It was late last night, and it was the Johnnie Walker talking.

Originally Posted by PhxMJ

Thanks for posting the tough times -- shows that many who succeed have a tough road to travel.

But I have to agree with a prior poster, the details seem to be missing. Details that people here can learn from ... I understand that the avenue was apartment investing, but how exactly?

How did you get hooked into multi-unit investing? Did you just wake up and say "I'm going to do this?" Was it a friend? Book?
How was it financed since you filed bankruptcy?
How did you educate yourself on investing in multi-units?
How did you continue to roll-up in such a short period of time?
How did you property manage? Yourself? Others? Companies?
What problems did you encounter? Tenants? Managers?
What was your strategy? Force appreciate? Buy and hold? Cash flow?
How did you determine your strategy?

These are the types of things people want to know so they can learn, especially seeing you had to lift-yourself up from hard times.

Thanks for the story.

Cheers,
MJ

MJ,

I will explain it in sequences so there is no misunderstandings and it will give people time to absorb how I did it step by step.

I still reported to work on October 13, 1998 with scars and stiches all over my face to be told that I was not allowed in the Chicago Police Training Academy. I went straight to Bucktown, a Chicago borough, and started looking for a job. I eventually ran into an older gentleman by the name of Glen and literally begged him to take me on. He told me to go knocking door to door and ask people if they want to sell. My compensation was 5% of the gross profits on the purchase and flip of the home. I did what my scope of work was and excelled. You have to understand, that this was the true inner city, also known as the Ghetto. I impressed Glen so much that he asked me if I want to partner up with him and another friend of his named Tony and purchase a eight unit apartment building for $160K. I did not have any money but they will arrange everything. It was a dream come true for me. I would get a third of the property without investing any money as long as I ran it. Those two guys were smart and did not want nothing to do with the property because of the liability and wanted everything under my name. I agreed. Beggars cant be choosers and I had nothing to lose. I had mounting debts, and still owed Illinois Masonic Hospital`s trauma unit close to $50K in medical bills for my accident. Clsoing was set for December 1999. Glen and Tony somehow arranged to get me 100% financing through a mortgage broker. The way they did it was they have inflated the price to $200K and had me obtain a $160K loan. The property did appraise for $200K and the broker structured the deal which I obtained a $160K mortgage. Glen and Tony eventually backed out of the deal because they were at the building two weeks prior to closing and witnessed a shooting. They told me it was 100% all mine and wished me luck. Again, I was grateful that I will have my first building ever in my life. Did not care whether it was the Ghetto. All I knew I was going to make it work. At closing, due to tax credits and prorations, I got the building plus over $10K back. I could not believe it. It was like a major Christmas present.

I started work and went over to the property. The building came with a caretaker, Jose, who knew all the tenants. The average rent was $200.00 per month and only half the people were paying. I knew it was going to be an uphill challenge so I did not spend a penny of the money I got back and decided to use it as reserves. I ended out evicting most tenants and put a For Rent sign out and started renting. I got $600.00 per month for my first tenant and was averaging more than $800.00 for section 8 tenants. I bought chicken that was on sale at the grocery store and started barbecuing for the tenants to help me recruit good people. Whenever I had a prospect calling me and they wanted to make an appointment, I asked where they were and went to get them. If they qualified, I closed them on the spot. I have my lucky pickup truck and Jose and I went over to their place and starting packing their stuff and moving it to my building. I was a working machine. I sometimes crashed over in a vacant unit since I was so exhausted. I hit up local churches, grocery stores, and visited the downtown section 8 office and made alot of friends. Glen also had a few single family residences which was totally leverage out to the hilt and I ended up picking those up and turning them around and making it profitable. Nothing was going to stop me. I never met any friends and my life was this second chance in life that God gave me.

All of a sudden totally out of the blue, Jose, who is also a realtor, said two suburban women, sisters, wanted to purchase my property. I told him $400K or forget it. They actually purchased it for $400K and I had all of this cash I could not believe it. Never in my life did I ever score like I did. I ended up purchasing three more buildings down the street and repeated the process. I will continue this story at a later time. It will take a long time for me to finish my story, so lets take a break and see if you guys have some questions before I continue.

Thanks Perry for having me work this morning to type my autobiography.

GLC65 (Gus)

Thanks for sharing Gus. There are so many amazing stories out there and I'm glad we have a place like this to share. I'm sure your story, advice and wisdom will help out many of us on our way to success. Again, thanks for sharing.

Gus good to see you on here big buddy.

Gus has inspired me and helped me with many things including my first business. He's a great guy and deserves respect.

Gus - Great story!

There are many successful ways to get a start in the real estate business, but knocking on doors and working your ass off recruiting tenants day in and day out is certainly one of the most honorable...

I think if everyone had to start that way, there would be a lot fewer real estate investors in this world (probably me included!)...can't wait to hear more...

Originally Posted by JScott

Gus - Great story!

There are many successful ways to get a start in the real estate business, but knocking on doors and working your ass off recruiting tenants day in and day out is certainly one of the most honorable...

I think if everyone had to start that way, there would be a lot fewer real estate investors in this world (probably me included!)...can't wait to hear more...

I had no other way but to make it. I was almost 34 years old, my three kids and I got dumped by my wife and the mother of my kids, was pretty homeless and had my parents watching over my three kids. I could not get a regular job to make ends meet and just saw an opportunity to make something of myself.. My goal was to make everyday my best day. There really was no weekend for me. I had to pay a major premium for me to get a mortgage. The mortgage broker charged me 5% up front and the bank charged me an additional point. I remember an elderly gentleman, Ed Halloran, really had faith and belief in me. He was always supportive and was impressed at my work ethics. Unfortunately, he passed a few years ago but I always checked in with him and he always checked in with me. Even when he was semiretired, he would always work at a bank as a consultant and have me as his client. Fortunately, he witnessed me getting my first 424 unit, $26.5 Million apartment complex and was so proud of me. I sure miss the man and I could have not have done it without his help. I was always liked by elders because from my culture, Korean, I was always taught to respect elders and that is how I have treated Mr. Halloran as well as others. I was blessed with my bankers and my character (Not to seem arrogant) is what overcame my bad credit. I was always thought that if you brag, got takes it away from you. To this date, my daily driver is my 1999 GMC pickup truck with over 120,000 miles. I do not like being flashy and whenever I take my exotic cars out is during the weekends or when there is no traffic so I limit myself being conspicous. The reason I posted pictures of my cars is not to brag but people were thinking that I was a bullshitter and a wanna be so I posted a few of my cars. I must admit, I got a kick out of the youngsters getting a kick out of seeing my cars and motivating them to work harder to get the finer things in life. My heroes in life are the working class couple who works two minimum wage jobs so they can put food on the table and save the excess cash they make to educate their kids. My parents were such people. The first exotic/luxury cars I purchased was for my parents. It was a brand new Mercedes Benz S600. A couple of years later I purchased my father a brand new MB S550 for his Florida home. I would have lost sleep at night if I purchased the car for myself but seeing the smile on the old man`s face was worth every single penny and then some.

I will talk more about how I grew the way I did and the various risks that I took. I do not recommend anyone to take my route, and I will explain to you why in a later post.

I hope if my little story can help and motivate people in a rut, it is well worth me sharing my private life.

Best Regards to you All,

~ G

Originally Posted by dbaker89

Gus good to see you on here big buddy.

Gus has inspired me and helped me with many things including my first business. He's a great guy and deserves respect.

I have met Dan Baker through Ferrari Chat. I make a point never ever to lend anymoney to anyone anymore since I have never ever gotten paid back a dime from at least three dozen people that I have lent money too. I was so inspired with such a young, 18 year old who was a full time student, yet marketing on eBay his business. He started with a few hundred and took that money to $1,100.00. I told him, never meeting him, that I will lend him $3K interest free and take all the time in the world to pay me back. To be honest with you, I figured that money was gone and will never see it again but was surprised when Dan wired the full amount back last week. I told him to take out $300.00 and treat himself out for his high school graduation dinner but he refused and funded the whole amount. He reminds me of myself in treating my previous bankers like that. That is how I developed a trusting relationship with my bankers to overcome my crappy credit with a personal bankruptcy on my record.

Dan Baker will be someone in life. I have three teenagers, 18, 16, 14, and would be extremely proud if my kids had half of the principles Dan has. Good luck to you Dan and whatever you do, do it to the best of your abilities and dont worry about making it big. Have a mission, put it your best, AND money will be your report card.

Best,


~ G

Gus,

I told you that you are a person that touches the hearts of many people.

Give me a call tonight bud!

Wow...great story! It's really a great pleasure to have yet another high caliber member of the community here (both financially and in terms of character). I'll be looking forward to reading each and every post or yours, and hearing the rest of your story.

One thing I would also like to say, though, is this: you seem like a very humble guy. I understand you don't like to show things off, but sometimes it's better if you do. When I see people driving an exotic car, it motivates me to achieve that level of wealth. Additionally, you'll also be looked upon as a great role model if people see that you're donating large sums of money. I would not look at that as trying to show off, but as challenging others to do the same.

Either way, I'm thrilled to have you here and thanks for being a role model for us youngsters!

Great story G .

I am an apartment person myself. We started a bit differently but the results seem to be on the same line. I have a few hundred units in Phoenix and Texas. I worked my ass off for the first few years to get the business started and then rested for a while.

I am back in the acquisition mode for a while.

Your success is inspiring and I am looking forward to learning your process.

We could use a few more apartment people on these forums. Welcome.

Originally Posted by SteveO

Great story G.

I am an apartment person myself. We started a bit differently but the results seem to be on the same line. I have a few hundred units in Phoenix and Texas. I worked my ass off for the first few years to get the business started and then rested for a while.

I am back in the acquisition mode for a while.

Your success is inspiring and I am looking forward to learning your process.

We could use a few more apartment people on these forums. Welcome.

Steve,

I am like you. I decided to take a break for a little while. My last acquisition was 366 unit apartment complex this past February, I have accumulated around 3,000 units and have taken alot of passes on some great deals that were coming my way. It is just my wife and I that is running the show and we have any partners. The only partnerships I believe in is short term; Purchase, rehab, and flip. Apartment complexes are primarily owned by REITs and since they are long term investments, I rather just remain small and not get too greedy and be happy with what I have. Fortunately every complex is cash flowing. All of my properties are in descent locations, all B or better and conditions are all B+ or better. I had the opportunity to be a big real estate guy if I accepted an offer to manage millions of dollars and do what I do best but I took a pass. After getting burned so many times, your risk level diminishes and as you age, you mature and realize the mistakes that you have made and do not want to go to the poor house. There were many people I have helped become multi millionaires, but unfortunately, a good percentage failed at the end. They lived well beyond their means and with money, they realized they totally lost their sense of morals and principles and greed and evil took over them. Some committed adultry and destroyed their families others went the wrong way and thought they could outwit their partners and their title took over their dumb heads. By no means do I know everything about real estate or life. I am 43 years old and still have alot to learn and by learning, I do not mean learning from multi billionaires. Money is important but is not everything in life. Money when used the right way, gives you the tools to accomplish certain tasks much easier but can be the roots of all evils. I do live in a fairly large home on thirty acres with multiple homes on my property. I do not have a housekeeper, mainly because I do not want my kids to be spoiled. My family of five do chores every Saturday on 20,000 plus square feet of living space. I do get professional cleaning crew once a quarter and window washers as well. Professional landscapers come twice a year and the lawn is mowed by my boys and I. My kids need to get a B average (3.0) for them to get privileges otherwise they are grounded. My thinking behind this is whatever you do, do it to the best of your abilities. I almost got straight As in high school but kids these days are different. THEY ARE LAZY. I will not purchase a car for them and if they need a ride, they need to know the value of fuel and they need to learn that nothing is for free. I preach to them that I will pay for their tuition, undergraduate, graduate, and/or professional but everything else they need to do it on their own. In the event if I pass, I will not give all my assets to my kids all at once. That is not loving them but corrupting them. I will explain some more if you guys want to hear but will stop now before I start boring you to death.

Best,

G

Gus,

Your stories are very inspirational and they are no where close to boring to me.

Thanks for sharing and please continue!

Originally Posted by Jakko

Gus,

Your stories are very inspirational and they are no where close to boring to me.

Thanks for sharing and please continue!

Thanks for the kind words.

GLC,

Your story is very inspirational as I plan to attain similar success one day through RE. I'm only working on my second deal right now (4unit) but to see what you have accomplished in such a short time gives me hope that I will soon be able to leave the 40hr work week behind and begin living life to the fullest.

The message I get from your postings is that there is a greater return from REI than just financial wealth. I look forward to the day when I will be able to give back to my family and community the way you have.



Take care,
j

I agree with the others Gus. I am impressed by your attitude with your success and with the raising of your kids. I have been checking in all day to see the next installment of your story. Thank you again for sharing.

++++speed