RG 232 – Stop Being Emotional About Your Investments w/ Ali Boone

Ali Boone is a former aerospace engineer and owner of Hipster Investments. She has facilitated over $18million in real estate sales in her first 5 years. Ali’s speciality is teaching about the power of passive investment and how to create a life by design. She started a turnkey rental property business that lets entrepreneurs earn passive income, Ali is location independent and she made her first dollar as a kid when she was paid by her parents to do daily reading.

Ali went to university for 2 years but only partied so she had a rethink and did a degree in being a pilot because her family were in the aerospace space. After her degree she realised that she couldn’t be anything else so she decided to major in engineering technology. Afterwards she couldn’t get a job without accreditation so she went into an engineering job.

Hipster Investments started as a side hustle while Ali was doing the engineering job, normally real estate is stuffy and intimidating and so Ali wanted to be a relaxed person in this industry. She chose the name because it makes people click on it when they wonder what it is – she received many more leads because of her name. The second benefit of the name is that she attracts the fun clients with open minds who she vibes with.

Ali knew when she started her engineering job that she wouldn’t be doing it forever, she wasn’t sure what the side hustle would be and then a real estate opportunity dropped into her lap. She did that deal and through it she met people in the industry – this was approximately 2011 and at the start of the turnkey boom. With turnkey all the hard work has been done for you so you just buy the finished product and have a rental property – Ali liked this because she didn’t have to lift a hammer. She made all her friends and family buy a turnkey property and she was sending so many people to her brokers that she got her license so that she could get the referral money. At this time she also became a writer for bigger pockets which really launched her. Over the last few years prices have done sky high which means that cashflow is lower but still possible.

Top tips

• Most important habit – Sleep
• Most influential person – Robert Kiyosaki
• Most important tool – email
• Contact – hipsterinvestments.com

Reed Goossens (00:00:00):

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Ali Boone (00:00:35):

I used to tell people I was a glorified matchmaker and I very quickly realized my second job was emotional support dog, because a lot of people buying turnkeys are brand new investors. They are fearful, and I’m just kind of a safe place. Like I, like I said, I’ll tell you like it is, I’ll absolutely help you through the whole process. And then even after you own the property, if it’s three years later and you have some challenge with your property, call me up and say, Hey, I don’t know what to do and I’ll help you. So that’s really what it’s become is it’s a very relationship based business is I’m just kind of matchmaking people together at no cost to the investor. So I’m a free service and, um, yeah, just really helping people in the turnkey space, because for, I know turnkeys for me, that’s so much that I want other people to be able to take advantage of them also because it is a really unique investing opportunity.

Reed Goossens (00:01:33):

Welcome to investing in the U S a podcast for real estate investors, business owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs looking to break into the U S market join Reed as he interviews go getters risk-takers and the best in the business about their journey towards financial freedom and the sheer joy of creating something from nothing

Reed Goossens (00:01:54):

Good. I get a ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another cracking edition of investing in the U S podcast from Los Angeles. I’m your host Reed. Goossens good as always every with us on the show. And I’m glad that you’ve all tuned into learn from my incredible guests and each and every one of them are the cream of the crop here in the United States. When it comes to real estate, investing, business, investing and entrepreneurship, each show, I try and tease out their incredible stories of how they have successfully created the businesses here in the U S how they’ve created financial freedom, massive amounts of cashflow, and ultimately create extraordinary lives for themselves and their families life by design. As I like to say, hopefully these guests will inspire all of my cracking listeners, which are you guys to get off the couch and go and take a massive amounts of action.

Reed Goossens (00:02:41):

If these guys can do it. So can you now, as you know, I’m all about sharing the knowledge with my loyal listeners, which is you guys, and there’s absolutely no BS on this show, just straight into the nuts and bolts. Now, if you do like this show, the easiest way to give back is to give us a review on iTunes and you can follow me on and Twitter by searching at Reed Goossens. You can find the show wherever you podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google play, but you can also find these episodes up on my YouTube channel. So head over to Reed goossens.com, click on the video link, and it will take you to the video recordings of these podcasts, where you can see my ugly mug, but the beautiful faces of my guests each and every week. All right. And I’ve had a me let’s get cracking into today’s

Speaker 4 (00:03:28):

Let’s the show of the pleasure of speaking with Allie boon. Allie’s a former aerospace engineer and the owner of hipster investments, a business that has facilitated over $18 million in real estate investment sales in its first five years. Her specialty is teaching people about the power of passive investing and how to use it towards creating a life by design and financial security. Allie started a turnkey rental property business that allows entrepreneurs and real estate investors to earn passive income by owning rental property properties from all over the country. And even as large as her result, real estate business has grown. She’s still very much location, independent. I’m pretty excited and pumped to have her on the show with me today to share her incredible knowledge, but enough about me. Let’s get her out here. I Allie, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?

Ali Boone (00:04:14):

Great. How about you? I think we’re sharing equal weather situations right now. Oddly rainy and dreary for LA.

Reed Goossens (00:04:20):

Exactly. Yeah. I was just saying in the green room, you are in Venice, just down the road from me. You’re in my backyard where I can’t believe we haven’t, we haven’t yet.

Ali Boone (00:04:28):

I feel like I could just like toss a little stone over and be like, Hey.

Reed Goossens (00:04:34):

Um, but Allie, I ask all my guests when they jumped on the show to rewind the clock and tell me how you made your first ever dollar as a kid.

Ali Boone (00:04:41):

Oh, the first ever dollar as a kid. Um, funny story. I actually think the first dollar I ever made was two. So there were two things about me as a kid. Number one, I hated making my bed. And number two, I hated reading. Um, one of those has changed since then. I’ll let you guess which one. Um, but, uh, so my, my parents, I almost started kind of a hustle of my mom wanted me to read like 30 minutes or an hour a day. Uh, and I wouldn’t do it. And so she started offered to pay me. And so I was like, okay. And I also want to make my bed. And she offered to start paying me like a dollar to make my bed. And I was like, okay. So I think my first official hustle was hustling my parents. But after that, after that, like, you know, when real, uh, you know, income and taxes and stuff come into play, I actually started out waiting tables. And I will tell you what I freaking loved waiting tables. I don’t know if it’d be the same today, but I loved it. So I was, uh, I guess I started when I was like 15 as a hostess and moved into table waiting. And you know, I’m not your typical, uh, entrepreneur, you know, hustle at age 10, but it worked for me.

Reed Goossens (00:05:52):

You bring up, uh, something very close to my heart. My parents cursed me by calling me read. Uh, I also, uh, uh, reading issues or lack there of interest, uh, in my senior years of high school. Definitely. It’s a sort of double down and now I love reading or at least I forced myself to read every day. But yeah, I think I was named off to Lou Reed, even though it’s on Ari. Ady had problems in my primary school, in remedial reading classes. Very funny that we both had the same, same issue.

Ali Boone (00:06:22):

Eventually some, I will talk more about my career, but my entrepreneurship and investing actually really kind of launched from reading. And so it turned out that whole time, I just needed to be reading business and finance and like self-growth books, you know, here I am trying to like read fiction and all that and then never worked. So I’ve got bookshelves full of all the books that kind of got me where I am today, but my parents later down the road, they were like, seriously, now you’re reading. I was like, I think it’s still a trigger point for them,

Reed Goossens (00:06:51):

But I also liked how you said you enjoyed waiting tables. I think it’s a great, it’s a great way to really appreciate the value of a dollar, like having to hustle be on your feet for eight, nine, 10 hours of a night. People being to you in the back with the, you know, the hot, you know, some grill and trying to just survive through the shift. And it’s a, I know whoever’s been in hospitality, myself included, um, it is a grind, but it definitely makes you appreciate that dollar and thus appreciate going to university. So you’d want to walk me through the, the whole aerospace engineering. What happened there? You went to school. I did. Structural engineering. Aerospace was a whole nother caliber of smart. So, um, so tell me, tell me, where’d you go and why did you love it?

Ali Boone (00:07:32):

Well, I’ll be honest. I don’t know that I even know that much about aerospace engineering, despite my degree, that would, uh, suggest that I do. So what would happen was I went to university for the first couple of years. Totally majored in partying. One-on-one like, I’d only remember most of that time. Um, and at some point my, uh, aviation was in my family a lot and there was a lot of talk of me becoming a pilot. And at some point I was like, Oh yeah, that sounds about like me. So there were two other universities who had professional pilot programs. I transferred into one of them to become a professional pilot. And it took me moving to that school and getting into that major. And I kind of sat back one day and I was like, wait a minute. If I have a degree in professional pilot, what if I ever not want to be a professional pilot?

Ali Boone (00:08:15):

Like all of a sudden it was super limiting. And at this point, you know, airlines paid bupkis to star and I was like, something about this, just isn’t quiet. Uh, and the major I was in was aerospace and they had different concentrations, right? So the professional pilot was one of them. And I kind of started looking around and I was like, well, you know, I could go get my pilot ratings elsewhere and major in something. So I have a little diversity and there was a, um, it was called engineering technology, which I later learned the difference between engineering and engineering technology, but I switched them back. Cause I, my, my mindset was, Oh, well, it’ll pay way more. It will be a lot more diverse and look better on my resume. And it’s gotta be the same thing as flying, right.

Ali Boone (00:08:58):

Not even a little bit. So I got that degree. It was my bachelor’s, but then it turned out to get an engineering job, but you probably know I needed an ABET accredited. I needed a degree from an accredited engineering school. And so I didn’t have my engineering technology. It wasn’t accredited. So the obvious choice was to go get a master’s degree at an accredited engineering school. Well picture that I walked in having basically no background, I had done engineering stuff and I had done a lot of math, but as you know, as an engineer engineering is like explaining things via math and I never really put those two things together. And so, so say my, uh, my grad degree in aerospace engineering was less than graceful would be putting it very nicely, but I, I snuck out with it,

Reed Goossens (00:09:46):

Finished the masters.

Ali Boone (00:09:48):

Yeah. I not gracefully, but I did. I actually failed out first with, but I only had like two classes in research lab. So I basically stood at their door and I was like, hi, hi, let me back in. Hi. And I just stood there and annoy them until they let me back in. They were like, Oh dear God. So they’ll let me back in. I graduated. And actually it was about, um, I actually got hired into my first aerospace engineering job. I’m pretty sure the semester before I graduated, um, the job I got hired into, they actually needed somebody who was a pilot because it turns out there’s not as much crossover between engineering and flying as one would have thought. So I was kind of a unique skillset. So they actually brought me on pretty quick to be a liaison between the engineers and the pilots. And so, yeah, I actually started that career path before I finished my master’s, but then I finished the master’s.

Reed Goossens (00:10:35):

Awesome. And do so can you fly, um, I guess not commercial, is it commercial? No. Um, private, uh, smaller planes. Yep.

Ali Boone (00:10:42):

I actually teach it, so I have a commercial pilot’s license, but, uh, that’s just the I’m allowed to be hired. Um, like I don’t fly commercial airlines. I’ve never had like a real flan job, but I teach it as like a fun side hustle, a lot of Santa Monica, which is super fun, although, um, you know, it’s yeah. It’s it’s well, and I mean, and actually it’s kind of a good thing to talk about because that’s part of what prompted me into where I am now is that I always loved flight instructing, but the pay, the pay is good, but the hours are terrible. And so I knew that I never wanted to be a flight instructor reliant on the income because I was afraid I would start resenting the job and the, the fun that I was having doing it. So I had it in my head. I was like, someday, I want a job where something else pays my bills and I can go do this for fun. So when I say it’s like a fun side hustle, that is very intentional because I’ve always wanted to keep it fun and never be dependent on the income. So that’s, that’s a lot of what kind of drove me forward after that.

Reed Goossens (00:11:41):

Interesting. I just got actually a friend of mine who flies for Hong Kong air. He had a layover here a couple of last year and we actually went out and Torrance airport and it was blowing a Gale over Palestinian. And this little plane was like taken off and I, you know, I’m, I’m tall, I’m six foot two. And my knees get hitting this little, no that the, the, um, uh, the steering wheel or who’s going to call it a steering wheel was up. And I’m like, I’ve got, I’m going to, I’m going to knock it and built the 1950s elevators off the plane. And then as we’re landing, it’s coming in and just like, just like, cause these things are so small compared to the big stuff. And it’s like, it was like a paper airplane trying to land just like on an angle. And last minute, boom, he is, he is like straightens it up. And I was like, okay, I’m not going to get that. Got a lot of aviation is in, in my family as well. The, uh, my, my cousin is actually a pilot for China, Eastern China Southern one of the Chinese and flew for Emirates. And my sister was a host and hostess for a little bit of time. So anyway, but, but, but enough about that, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of what you do. You have hipster investments. So tell me the name hipster. Where does that come from?

Ali Boone (00:12:53):

You know, I’ll be honest, I’m still self-conscious about that name. I’m not a hipster by any stretch of the imagination, hippie ish maybe, but you know, it’s funny with the hips. Oh, totally. Woo. Yeah. All about the woo. Um, you know, it’s so when I was, so my company, the, the job I was doing, it kind of started beforehand official company, right? Like it became a side hustle while I was doing my engineering job. And at some point I was like, wow, this is getting serious. I need to make it a company. So here came the time to figure out a company name. And, you know, there were just all these name possibilities, and this hipster investments just kept bringing it to my head. And I, when it would happen, I’d be like stupid and keep going. And like, think of all these kind of whatever names.

Ali Boone (00:13:36):

And it just kept ringing in my head. And I ran it by a couple of people and they’re like, no, like, why would you do that? And I was like, I don’t know either, but I will tell you what, the reason I decided to do it in the first place. And then there turned out to be another benefit. The reason I started doing it in the first place is like, as you probably know, in the real estate investing industry, it is a stuffy, intimidating industry. Like there is everyone on their, mom’s trying to tell you what you should be doing and how to do it. And all these companies that sound fancy. And then their total scams, like the whole thing is like mind blowing. Right. And what I did know, even before I knew the name is that I wanted to be a name and a face that people could just relax with.

Ali Boone (00:14:19):

Like I wanted to be a real person in an otherwise stuffy industry. And at that point I had started writing online and like, you know, I was my, I was getting a little bit more known at the time. And the thing about hipster, I was like, this could go very wrong if I do it wrong. But people are probably just going to click on it to be like, Oh, I’m like, what, what in the world? And I knew if they clicked on it and went to something really cheesy that, that wasn’t going to work at all. But if I can make a really legit company, it was going to trigger people to click on it. If, for no other reason to say what in the world could this be? And it worked because if you scroll through all these real estate company names and it’s like, I don’t care what someone’s last name is like, I don’t know what it means, but like you see something like hipster investments. That’s like, head-scratcher, I don’t know. But, so that was the intention with it. And I was like, well, here we go. I was like, wow.

Reed Goossens (00:15:12):

I like it. I, I I’m very much, uh, I’m in my mid early thirties, I should say, mid thirties, early thirties. And, um, yeah, I, I, I dress like this to go to work. If you don’t, can’t see me click, click on the YouTube channel and got a brick wall behind me. I love my flat whites. I’m very much a coffee snob. I just don’t have the money. Um, so yeah, no, I appreciate the woundedness as well, because it’s definitely something that can resonate and, and something that is ultimately a brand recognition that you’ve really leaned into. Right. You sorta said, Scott, I’m gonna, I like the fact that you were like, I want brand recognition. I want people to not feel stuffy around me or have to wear a suit and a tie. And I think,

Ali Boone (00:15:50):

And to that point, and kind of like what you’re saying about how you liked the name, what later ended up happening, which I was not expecting at all. I honestly think the name of the company has turned out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to the company. Because, you know, as an entrepreneur, you can’t work with everybody, right? And this, I mean, this kind of goes for life. You can’t please everybody. And so if I have a gigantic pool of people and I can’t work with everybody, I might as well work with the people who I kind of jive with and what I later figured out, you know, because I became a big writer in the real estate industry. And there were a lot of forums outside of the ones that I was writing for where I w I even, there was one that had a whole thread bashing me and my company.

Ali Boone (00:16:31):

And I was like, here, we can work with these people. I don’t know who they are, but it, it seen that prompted me to read more of the forums on that website. And I realized that there’s a whole slew of people that would hate everything about me and what I stand for and what I work with and whatever. And that’s perfectly fine. But what the name ended up doing is automatically filtering those people out. Because if you think hipster investments is the stupidest name on the planet, cool. Like you’re going to save me so much stress by not working with you. And, you know, a lot of people are totally neutral about it. They don’t care one way or another, but a lot of people love it. And the people who love it, those are my people. Cause it’s like, I’m not trying to do the norm.

Ali Boone (00:17:09):

I’m not trying to fit into like some status quo. Like it has become the biggest client filter because for me and my business, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it, but I send people to other companies. And if I send a bunch of, if I can cuss these, they’re going to get mad at me. So like, it became this cool client filter. It was not expecting. And the people I get to talk to and work with and hang out with, like, it has really made the company like, so that, you know, you said the branding, the branding has been huge and Nate and, and hipster, actually it is a pretty, um, accurate term because, you know, we, we kind of flip real estate on its head. We don’t do the normal stuff. We’re, we’re kind of rebels. We, you know, go against the quo.

Ali Boone (00:17:49):

So it attracts those people who would be interested in that versus like these super type, a just jerk off trying to like, you know, whatever they’re trying to do. And I’m learning, I’m not in this to, I I’m more about the relationships and the people than every single dollar. So that’s, it turned out really cool. Again, I’m still super self conscious about the name. Cause I’m like, seriously, it’s like seven or eight years later or eight, I don’t know, eight years later, I’m like, don’t really name a company that, but it has it, I honestly attribute most of the success of the business to that name because it just kind of set a tone of exactly what I was wanting.

Reed Goossens (00:18:30):

The big lesson here for me and for the, probably the audience is that you have to, you, you just said it, it’s more about all the relationships and people and people who you want to work with. If you’re going to do a business or start a business or create something from nothing, you’ve got to make it worthwhile and you got to make it fun. Right. And what’s the point of trying to pretend to be something you’re not. And if it, if it, if it resonates with you, um, if it’s, you know, from a branding point of view, then you do it because you are going to be able to, to your point, you’re going to be able to weed out a lot of who you just don’t want to work with. And I think that I say all the time is, um, are going to be able to have a beer with you and your business. And I can know from my backpacking days that I, I get pretty quick at like, seeing if we’re going to click within like the first 30 seconds of meeting. And so we’ll be able to determine like, okay, can we have a beer or not? If we can have a B and like, and I can tell I’ve got that filter on pretty quick, I’m like, get the hell out of here. We don’t need to do any patience

Ali Boone (00:19:22):

Critical. Like, I, I, um, as much as I preach against landlording and your own properties, I actually, I actually landlord property local to me now in Venice and it’s a duplex. So I have two tenants. And when I, when we bought the property a couple of years ago, I inherited a tenant in one unit, which was God awful. Um, but when I, when it came time to place tenants, replacer, and then placed people in the other one, I, I told, uh, my partners and then like my agent, I was like, listen, I have to talk to the people because like, I can look at their applications. I can, whatever, but I have to vibe with I’m with you. Like, if I can’t have not to say I’m going to have beers with my tenants. Cause I do have, you know, well, I lied, I’ve told I had beers, but you know, I’m not, I’m not naively trying to like, become really good friends with my tenants, but it is that like, can we sit down and chill and have, you know, a beer and one of the old tenants, one of the first, the first one I play, she was so cool.

Ali Boone (00:20:16):

Even my parents were in town one day and we all went over there and she gave us whiskey that she had imported from somewhere we’re sitting there, you know, just like it’s. So it’s the same thing where like, and I never ran like a criminal check on any of these people. Like I check their numbers, I check their whatever, but it’s so much about that conversation ability and yeah, like I am on landlord forums and all that kind of stuff. And I just hear what everyone’s going through. And I’m like, I mean, I just checked the vibe, but I’m not going to say that. Cause it’ll be like, wow, loser. I’m like fine. You keep checking the credit scores all you want to, whatever.

Reed Goossens (00:20:53):

So, so, so let’s get into what you do. You know, we spoke a little bit in the introduction. I said, um, turnkey investments. So where did you start out the business from? And you mentioned that you refer people. So how did you know that you had this business of referring people and did you start doing your own deals and trying to do your own turnkey investments? Um, where did it blossom from?

Ali Boone (00:21:13):

Yeah, pretty much. So I was in my corporate engineering job and from the first day I ever walked into that job, I was like, I got to get out of here. Like I knew. I was like, wow, I’m glad I just went through all that school in for to hate this and nothing. Um, and so towards the end of that career, I was, I had been researching everything. I was like, do I start a business? Do I invest in real estate? What, what do I do to get out of this nine to five type of thing? And I had some other thoughts, but this random real estate investment opportunity dropped in my inbox. I pursued it. It was not turnkeys. It was something totally different. But through, and I was like, well, while I still have my corporate job, I might as well start investing because I have a W2 paycheck, which means I qualify for financing.

Ali Boone (00:21:52):

Cause I’m not going to, if I leave this job. And so I was like, well, I’ll, I’ll just be smart with the money I have now while I have it. So I pursued that investment deal. And through that deal, I started meeting other people in the industry and that’s when turnkey. So this was around, this was in 2011, which means the crash had been going on for a year and a half, two years. Something like that. And turnkeys have been around for a long time. But that crash was really kind of when they, they, they boomed and they became a thing. And so these people that I met or were working with these things called turnkey rental properties, I’m like, I don’t know what that is. I wouldn’t really care, but whatever. And it turned out that the next big market they were going to work with turnkeys in was Atlanta and I’m from Atlanta.

Ali Boone (00:22:35):

And so I was like, Oh, well maybe I suddenly need to, like turnkeys told me more. And so again, I still had this mindset of, while I have a good paycheck, I might as well start investing. So I started buying turnkey rental properties for myself. And you know, all that people saw when they saw me doing this, they were like, wait a minute. What, what do you mean? You’re buying rental properties, first of all, 2200 miles away from where you live. And second, you’re not like rehabbing. You’re not wait, tell me more. Cause you know, I, if you’re anything like me, I grew up thinking like, Oh, you buy the distress part. You know, you, you find motivated sellers, you negotiate deals, you find the distress property, you rehab it and then you put tenants in it and then you become the landlord. And I’m like, that sounds terrible to me.

Ali Boone (00:23:18):

And that it sounded so terrible. It kept me out of real estate for a long time. But suddenly with turnkeys, all of those things are done for you. You’re just buying the finished product and then you have a cash line rental property. And so when people saw that I was buying casual and rental properties and I wasn’t swinging a single hammer, they’re like, please tell me what you’re doing. And so I just started telling people, my cousin bought one, my mom’s friend bought one. Um, and I was just so stinking excited. It was so fun for me was like shopping and, um, and it became addictive pretty quickly. And so it caught on so much that I was telling so many people about this, that some of the players that I was working with kind of said, listen, you know, you’re already sending a ton of people to us.

Ali Boone (00:23:58):

If you’ll go get your license, your real estate license, we can pay you referral fees. And in my head I was thinking, Oh, well that seems like easy fund side money to my corporate job. While I had tried to figure out my way and on my corporate job being, you know, pretty smart at the time I wasn’t putting two and two together of this was going to be my way out of corporate. And so I started doing that. I got my license and then I became a writer for bigger pockets, the website, and that just, it launched everything. And so I transitioned from being the, the buyer of turnkey properties, which is a pretty unique thing. Cause usually when people are trying to sell you things, they’re just selling them to you. I actually bought them. And so when I started all of this, I would tell everyone, I was like, listen, I’m not going to send you to any company that I haven’t either personally bought through myself or I trust so much. I would send my mother there. And I had someone say one time, which was good, Claire. They said, can I just clarify? How much do you like your mother?

Speaker 5 (00:24:53):

I was like too shy. I like her very much.

Ali Boone (00:24:56):

So, um, you know, that became really the basis for this is this all started before it was a company. And so here I was suddenly everyone’s asking me because you know, like I said earlier, I was really trying to just be a casual face on the game. And so I wanted to be able to tell people, listen, my name’s Allie, I live in California. I bought these things. I really like, that’s it. That’s all I’m going to tell you. And I’ll tell you if you, you know, all I can tell you is that I like them. And so if you want to know more, I can tell it to you, whatever. And that was, that was really what started. This is, I just wanted to be a trustworthy person. Like if you, you know, I have people reach out to me sometimes and they’re like, Oh, what am I turn key?

Ali Boone (00:25:35):

I’m like, well, tell me about your situation. And then I’ll be the first to tell you, like, I don’t think it turnkeys for you. And that’s all I sell. Like I, I will sooner, you know, I I’ll, I’ll be quite honest with you and you know, and I’ve, I’ve kept that going for the eight years. However long we’ve been in business is I’m going to tell it to you like it is. And so that’s always been my stance and that’s how it all developed. Is it beak? It just absolutely took off to help people. So really what that translates into now is I help people buy a turnkey rental properties and that is finding the good companies to buy them from helping through the buying process. Being kind of, I used to tell people I was a glorified matchmaker and I very quickly realized my second job was emotional support dog because a lot of people buying turnkeys are brand new investors.

Ali Boone (00:26:21):

They they’re fearful and I’m just kind of a safe place. Like I, like I said, I’ll tell you like it is, I’ll absolutely help you through the whole process. And then even after you own the property, if it’s three years later and you’d have some challenges with your property, call me up and say, Hey, I don’t know what to do and I’ll help you. So that’s really what it’s become is it’s a very relationship based business is I’m just kind of matchmaking people together at no cost to the investor. So I’m a free service and, um, yeah, just really helping people in the turnkey space because for, I know it turnkeys for me, that’s so much that I want other people to be able to take advantage of. Um, also because it is a really unique investing opportunity.

Reed Goossens (00:26:59):

It is a great way to start and a lot of people do start there. And when I moved out to the United States in 2012, a lot of our international folks where were buying it, um, didn’t get a great name back in Australia because of all the sharks are in there does not better on bushes, definitely shocks in the turnkey space. And, um,

Ali Boone (00:27:17):

Actually in 2012, ha that was not an easy time. Yeah.

Reed Goossens (00:27:22):

I, I, yeah, I, I can imagine, but, but, but how has it evolved over time? Like how do you still be profitable in turnkey space when deals are getting thinner? Um, I know at least on the multi-family commercial side is getting thin. I’m surely in the tanky, which is just as, it’s probably a thousand more people or a thousand times more people involved because it’s such a lower barrier to entry. So how has that evolved in the last seven to eight years? And now we can talk a little bit and we’ll get into COVID-19 in a little bit, but how has it evolved for you in the business for sourcing good quality? What I call cracking deals to make sure they are worth their salt?

Ali Boone (00:27:55):

Well, I would say over, over like seven, eight years, um, it’s evolved in two different directions in a better direction and in a worse direction, the worst direction being just kind of, as you suggested prices have gone sky high compared to, you know, people reach out and they’re like, Hey, what were the numbers you got on your turnkeys when you first served mine? I was like, you don’t want to know, like, you know, like you would never get the returns that I got. So that’s the downside is back in 2009, 10, 11, and 1212, the end of 2012 is when the prices kind of started shifting a little bit, not dry. I remember I was in Atlanta at the end of 2012 and literally overnight, all the property prices went up $20,000. It was overnight, it was crazy. Um, and so the downside of turnkeys over the evolution is that they are more expensive now, which means your cashflow is going to be a lot lower.

Ali Boone (00:28:47):

You know, back in the day, I was able to do partnerships because the margins were so high, that it was easy to split them. That’s not as easy now. Um, the good news is you still can get positive cashflow, but it’s, you’re just the margins. Aren’t the same as it used to be on the good side of the evolution. Uh, kind of also what I alluded to is in those years when it was an absolute feeding frenzy, uh, like, I mean, hedge funds were buying like crazy, you know, the price to rent ratios or everybody wanted these properties. Well, that was incentive for any Joe blow to start their own turnkey company. So there were a lot of turnkey companies and most of those are non-existent today because they were so terrible. Like the I, when I started, um, my company, I was actually working a lot with international investors, Australia, uh, the UK Canadians.

Ali Boone (00:29:38):

And, um, I had a couple of like, what would do is I had brokers in those countries who them, and I would communicate, I would connect to them and get them all set up on the turnkeys. They would pitch the international investors. And that was a big thing back then, is that so many international investors were getting absolutely burned because the shady turnkey companies would know that they’re never going to come see the property and those investors weren’t doing property diligence at all. And so that it may turn keys, look a little sketchy because of how many people were getting away with doing that. The good side about that now is because it’s no longer a feeding frenzy. All of those, I don’t even want to call them shady because some of them weren’t even intensively shady. They just weren’t that good. The turnkey providers who withstood that whole time and are still around today are pretty good. Like, you know, there’s exceptions here and there where there’s still been a couple of catastrophes, but for the most part, the remaining turnkey companies who have been in business now for so long are pretty legit. Like it’s just easier to find a legit good, solid, reputable, turnkey company to work with. Whereas in, you know, nine, 10, 11, and 12, you know, you better have a team behind you because you have no idea, but you know, it was just, it was fast moving and it was hard hitting, but if that’s eased up a lot,

Reed Goossens (00:30:57):

This podcast is proudly sponsored by art or seo.com, online marketing for your business. Shouldn’t be a headache. And that’s why the guys over at ardour SEO have created a no hassle system that will increase your online traffic, increase your leads and generate predictable and reliable revenue. So what are you waiting for head over to art or seo.com and find out more that’s a R D O R S C o.com. Now back into the show, not going to, no, I can imagine for sure that, that, and I was sort of, I got my, I actually bought my first property. It wasn’t turnkey. It was a section eight rental in upstate New York. Um, but it’s sort of, a lot of people go down the turnkey path for me being the knowing that I wanted to always be the operator on, on my own ship. Uh, I didn’t, I wanted to go do it myself. And so, um, how has the volume of buyers changed over the years with the lower returns? Because surely it is lower. So as your business is, I wouldn’t say slowing down, is it evolving into different types of asset classes? Um, in terms of,

Ali Boone (00:32:00):

Yeah, it’s, um, it definitely slowed down for sure. Just because it’s not a feeding frenzy. Like there’s still tons of people blind. Um, one, you know, over time, because one of the things we’ve had to look at on the selling side is at what point are there not gonna really be any margins to support turnkeys. And that five years ago, six years ago, I was actually worried that there’d be no turnkeys to offer any more, depending on how everything went. And the reality hasn’t really panned out like that. Like there’s so a lot of markets that have completely solid cash flow. I mean, we’re talking like seven to 9% cap rates versus in 2011, when I started, it was like a 14 to 15 to 16% rate. So that’s just absurdly good. Seven to 9%, really isn’t bad at all. So there are still as opportunities, which has been nice.

Ali Boone (00:32:46):

There was, um, thoughts of looking into new construction, but new construction comes in with a whole different kind of, um, we’ve, we’re not ruling it out by any means, but we just haven’t found there’s a lot that can go a little wonky with new construction. Um, the, the biggest evolution with what I work with is there’s a, the short version of this is there’s the standard turnkey model. So you find a turnkey provider, you’ll look through their property and you’re like, I want that one. You put it under contract, they have done all the rehab work. They, everything is on their dime. They’ve done all the work. They get the tenant in the rehabs done. You do your due diligence, verify the property inspection, verify the tenants, you verify everything. And then you close on the property, which is really the first time you’re putting money into the deal.

Ali Boone (00:33:29):

So you’re not paying for anything until you verify everything. A, I don’t know if I don’t want to call it a newer model, but a slightly different model of that, which is what we’re working with a lot now, because of where we are with the market is where it’s the same model. But instead of the turnkey provider buying the distress property, funding, the rehab and all that you are. So you’re combining the traditional value add model with the turnkey model. So you’re funding it just like as if you were going to the burn model by rehab rent, refi, repeat whatever the god-awful acronym is.

Speaker 5 (00:34:04):

Um, so

Ali Boone (00:34:06):

You’re combining that model with the turnkey model, that value add model. The big thing is that you, uh, once you put all that money into it, in theory, the property should be worth more than what you put into it, once the rehab and all that stuff. Whereas turnkeys, you’re basically paying market value, which is kind of the problem today because market value is pretty high.

Speaker 5 (00:34:25):

And also there’s no build up equity that you can do with the burn model, build that equity over time,

Ali Boone (00:34:31):

Turn yeah, the turnkey there’s nothing to improve, so you can’t really do anything. And so, uh, this revised model is the turnkey company is still doing all of the work for you. So you’re still pretty hands-off other than basic due diligence, but you’re funding it, uh, from the start. I don’t recommend it for brand new investors. Cause it’s just a lot riskier, right? Like if that guy takes your money and moves to the Caribbean, well, you know, like it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a little more aggressive, but there are a lot of benefits to it. It does require more capital upfront, but that’s a model that we’ve been working with a lot lately because the cap rates are translating into anywhere between like eight and 10%. I’ve seen a couple of Eleven’s, which is absurd. And, um, you’re also getting that force appreciation on the front end. So, but it is still in the turnkey realm because you’re hands off and you can live in California while you do it on the East coast. So that’s been the biggest evolution to, um, kind of make up for where we are in the market. And like, you know, what’s about to happen with the market. I don’t know if we hit crashed at us again, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what our future holds, but I’m putting a helmet on and I’m ready.

Reed Goossens (00:35:42):

Well, yeah, we’ll get into that in a little bit. But the, the, the, the seven to eight to 10 to 12% cap rates, what type of markets are you investing? I can only imagine being the experienced investor that I am, because I have bought, uh, in Syracuse New York, it was a 12% cap rate, but it also was section eight housing in a, in a, what I figured out very quickly was a ghetto for a white faced Australian boy, uh, realizing that we’re rubbing shoulders with, uh, something that they’ve never experienced before. So are you in the lower socioeconomic neighborhoods to get those types of capris?

Ali Boone (00:36:11):

One of the big things we really strive for is to make sure we’re not going too low. I think the lowest we’ll typically go is like C plus neighborhoods. So, uh, the higher cap rates, like the eight to 10 and 11 with the, with the alternate model, that’s all in Baltimore, Baltimore’s fantastic for cashflow. And those, those, I actually went, I was touring those properties couple of months ago or something. I was never in an area that I felt unsafe and Baltimore, especially if you get into an unsafe area, you’re in a really unsafe area. So they’re very strategic in where they’re buying. Um, I think those probably got us maybe still about C plus at the worst. Um, you know, there’s always going to be a trade off like that 11% cap rate might. I think one of them was even a triplex. And so like, if you get a triplex in Baltimore, you are increasing your risk because it’s a different kind of set of tenants and whatever.

Ali Boone (00:37:06):

And that might be why it’s an 11% cap rate versus if you get like a property and a B or B minus area or something, um, you might get, say the eight or 9%, but it’s that trade off. So, um, there are, most of the markets we work in are either in the Midwest or East coast, East coast, right now we’re doing that alternate model in Baltimore a little bit in Philly, but Philly is really kind of an appreciation play at this point. There’s not cashflow is not really there right now. And, uh, the biggest market we’ve been working on lately is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. That’s been really fun because it’s multifamily. They have multifamily, turnkeys, residential, you know, no more than four units. Um, and that’s just been kind of fun change of pace, Midwest, uh, we’ve did Chicago for awhile. There’s a lot of property tax drama there and among other things. So it’s not as big of a hotbed. Indianapolis has been going strong for years, Kansas city. Uh, we do a little bit in St. Louis, um, but pretty much all the turnkey because for a market to be a turnkey market, there has to be cashflow and you’re not going to get that on the West coast anywhere. So it’s really the Southeast East coast kind of strategically, not like Boston and New York anymore.

Reed Goossens (00:38:13):

What are you sort of, um, what’s the price, price per door that you’re buying these things? I could imagine that between

Ali Boone (00:38:20):

Under a thousand, the lowest we’ll work with, uh, I don’t know what the lowest we have right now, but the lowest I’ll work with is about 75,000. Um, and even that, like, I’m like if you have a couple extra dollars go up just a little, you know, like if I had a preference I’d not below 90, really? Because then again, you’re in this trade-off of when you go for the cheaper 75,000 for a freshly rehabbed house, says something, um,

Reed Goossens (00:38:46):

Put in 30 grand

Ali Boone (00:38:49):

Minus the location. You’re probably going to have a little bit more on the maintenance side. So, you know, it’s, it’s where your personal preference. I I’m a fan of no headaches. I want zero headaches. And so I’m willing to go up on the price a little bit more to get something that’ll hopefully attract slightly higher and tenants, little bit better neighborhood, but I’d say the hot spot with the turnkeys now about 75,000 to no more than about 150 occasionally there might be something a little bit more, but I, you know, really the sweet spot, like a hundred, I’d say 90 to 120 is going to be most of them. Um, which is great. You know, we live in California. You can’t even buy a toilet here for that. So it’s funny, like, wait, I get a whole house.

Reed Goossens (00:39:34):

Yeah. Well, that’s exactly what I thought when I first moved here. And it’s funny, you brought up Baltimore because one of the first rears that I went to was in New York, Korea, and we did a weekend educational tour in 2012 to Baltimore. My gosh, it was, uh, no wonder though, $15,000. I had ready, ready to write a checkbook. But when I rocked up these row houses were completely empty and it was like the re it was a stock reality of why this not being experienced. What a, what this sort of complete shutdown of a neighborhood looks like, like, how are you going to, if you were just going buy one of these $15,000 properties, how would the rest of the neighborhood, the rest of the street was completely empty. You’re not to

Ali Boone (00:40:14):

Like the, the provider I work with. They, first of all, they’ll never buy a $15,000 property, but yeah, Baltimore is totally different than, but even if you go to Baltimore now, and even Philadelphia, still with the row houses, you’ll still see a whole like chunk on a street that are completely condemned. And I asked them one time. I was like, well, why don’t you just like buy all of those up and so much about it is not even just the property itself, but like, if you buy one property on that, and this is where it turnkeys are a little bit advantageous, because you have people with buying power who could buy the whole street and fix the whole street, if you’re an individual investor. And you’re like, Oh, Hey, that property is only $15,000. And it looks like, you know, I could probably rehab a decent, well, if you’re now one of one livable property amongst like six abandoned decrepit properties, it’s not going to work.

Ali Boone (00:41:06):

And so even when I was just, I was out there a couple months ago or a month ago or something, and he was pointing some of those out even still, and they won’t, they won’t touch them, you know, and the, you know, 2012 Baltimore for sure would have had a lot of those, but there’s so much strategy that goes into, I mean, down to the street by street of which property, and, you know, even back in the day when turnkeys were really, I mean, my first turnkey was $55,000 and it was adorable, two stories, freshly rehab, cute little yellow house, even then I wouldn’t touch a $15,000 property with a 10 foot pole. And, you know, people see Detroit that are like, Oh, I can’t get a property for $15,000. I’m like, why do you think it’s $15,000?

Reed Goossens (00:41:44):

But to your point of like $75,000, all in for a turnkey for the provider to make it worth their while with all their labor costs of show that have to be picking it up for at least 10 or 15,000 bucks to make the profit on the back end of 75,000,

Ali Boone (00:41:58):

Honestly, uh, it completely depends on how much of a rehab they have to do, but there’s a couple of factors in it. First of all, the turnkey providers, um, now that I’ve been on the selling side for so many years, people think that the turnkey providers make Bukusi money per deal. And they really don’t like I’ve seen their margins be as small as like $5,000. And like, that’s not a lot when somebody, you know, they’re essentially flipping a house and they’re making $5,000, like, wow, okay. So that’s one thing is their margins, usually aren’t as high as people think they are. And second, the turnkey provider talk about buying power is you have to think about it. Like as in bulk, like if you go buy peanut butter at a grocery store versus peanut butter at Costco, what happens? Because when you buy in bulk, you get everything cheaper.

Ali Boone (00:42:42):

Well, the individual investors can’t, they don’t really have that buying power because it’s like, Oh, I’m going to go flip a house or, you know, whatever. And, but they have to pay if they go to home Depot for all the supplies, they don’t get any bulk discounts because they’re not doing bulk. The turnkey providers are. So, whereas, you know, flipping this particular house for an individual investor might cost this much money. It may cost half to two thirds of it for the turnkey provider, because they’re using the same paint, the same carpet, the same hardwoods, the same materials. So they get to buy everything in bulk. And because they’re moving so fast, they can, they’re really moving at bulk speed, which so they are putting, you know, it costs them a lot less to do the same thing that it would probably cost you to do so that, you know, there’s a couple of players in there for sure.

Ali Boone (00:43:30):

But ultimately just kind of a note on the price is that there’s a thing going around now. Like I think people have used the word, they say, like, you’re going to pay a premium for turnkeys premium actually means you’re going to pay about market value. It doesn’t mean pay a premium on top of market value, which is a big misconception going on right now. But to that point is the turnkey provider has to figure out the pricing because they can’t charge more than market value for the property. With some, some companies would argue that, but you know, when you’re talking about residential properties, you, it has to be in line with the market period. So if the company can’t get it for that much cheaper than market, they’re not going to, they can’t, you know, they, they have to be really strategic in that because, you know, that’s kind of a protection for you as the buyer is that, you know, if, if your property appraises $150,000, they can’t charge you 200,000 for it. So, you know, that’s part of the also, you know, when you’re keeping in mind of how they’re priced and everything and their margins and how this is all working, you could have some protection on your end just of how residential real estate works.

Reed Goossens (00:44:33):

Yeah, no, a hundred percent. And then on the other side is that it’s not, you, you’re probably investing in neighborhoods and areas that aren’t true, appreciation plays. Like you say, you know, it’s not a Venice or it’s not turning into a Philly, which I’ve also flipped houses in Philly back in the day. So I definitely have seen that the street by street, the block by block type of analogy. And it’s, you got to do go in there with your eyes wide open and understand what you’re buying. And I think the work with people like yourself are really important because you’re the folks who can help people point them in the right direction. Because as you said at the beginning, these are newbie guys and newbie guys can, no offense can be a little bit of a pain in the.

Ali Boone (00:45:12):

My, my company name has done a lot of filtering and say did all of the things,

Reed Goossens (00:45:18):

But yeah, but another thing is also if you can, and based on my experience with, because I’ve had a few smaller, really cheap properties, when I first moved to the United States or with my own cash, what I found was when I was able to get two, three, four in a little pool, I was able to diversify the risk. And that helped me. Um, you know, when I had a drive by shooting at one of my properties, which I did like back in the day, it was sort of just like, uh, but I figured it out on my own. And that’s, I guess there’s a message. And the lesson that I learned is like, you also got to look at what you’re buying and then how is that property management making money and how they placing tenants? And if you’re one and they’ve got a thousand other properties, are you the as big as, you know, are you attracting a lot of their attention? So having more properties will attract more of the attention will track that better staff will attract better tenants. So it’s all in scale. And so do you ever give any advice that people can buy more than one to try and do that because you get to diversify a little bit within that neighborhood?

Ali Boone (00:46:16):

Um, I think the most common question I get is they’re like, ah, I want to buy two properties. So, you know, I work with turnkey providers in various markets. I’m like, what do you want, Chicago, Baltimore? You know what, what’s your feeling? And they’re like, well, I have enough money to buy two. What do you recommend? And I say, you know, if you’re first starting, if I, if it were me personally and I had the money to buy two of them, I would buy one in one market from one provider and I’d buy another one in another market from another provider, give it six months or a year. See which one I like more, the best, or have the best luck with and then buy more of that. So, you know, that’s an advantage to the turnkey model is that you don’t have to just buy, because like, if you go do this all yourself and you go to Chicago for it, you’re going to build a team in Chicago.

Ali Boone (00:46:58):

Well, how are you going to expand into other markets with turnkeys because the teams are already set and everything’s done. I’ll be like, I’ll take one here. And I’ll take one here. And how about we take one over there? You know, you can do what, excuse me, do whatever you want. And so like, I do recommend that, like, and it goes both ways, like, yeah, buy one from every provider possible. But if you find a provider that you really jive with, and you’re really having a look with, stick with it, like go for it, like maybe wait until the market shifts and then change then, because getting, you know, turnkey providers, people think that because they’re hands-off and all those kinds of stuff that they should be perfect and they’re just not perfect. And, you know, I always say like, if there’s humans in the equation, there’s room for error.

Ali Boone (00:47:41):

So, because not everyone’s perfect, you know, turnkey providers. Aren’t perfect. So when you find one that you really jive with, you keep doing it, but you know what you say about the whole, like the numbers thing is huge in so many regards, like the more properties you have, the more you can afford, like in today’s time where we don’t know if people are going to pay rent. If I have 10 properties and two properties, don’t pay rent, you know, those kind of help balance each other out. But if I only have two properties and two properties don’t pay rent, you know, I’m going a lot bigger of a pickle. Um, so number of properties helps with risk, um, diversifying between property types, different markets helps with risk. And then even on the buying side, like you mentioned, if you’re one person in a thousand, you don’t really have a lot of leverage, but like if you work with a company like mine or any of my competitors for that matter, even if you’re only buying one property, you’re part of a bigger buying power.

Ali Boone (00:48:32):

Because those, you know, like if I say, Oh, I like this, um, XYZ turnkey company. And I send all these. If I send a hundred people to XYZ turnkey company, they should be pretty motivated and take care of my people. Because if they screw over one person, they could lose the whole a hundred people. Whereas if you, the one in a thousand person shows up on XYZ store and you’re like, I’ll take a property. They’re like, okay. You know? So in real estate, the more numbers you have, whether it’s your support system, whether it’s your number of properties, whether it’s how many materials you’re buying, whatever, like always, always helps.

Reed Goossens (00:49:07):

Exactly. I couldn’t couldn’t, I couldn’t agree more with you. Um, as we come to the end of the show, what are you, what are you seeing for yourself, both with hipster investments, but also personally as in 2020, um, what what’s what’s

Ali Boone (00:49:20):

Well, anything I thought I saw on 20 and 20 that I saw, I mean, the other day it said, uh, something like what 20, 20 ended up looking like, and this will slide, but it’s a kid going down a slide, but the slides that cheese grater like, Oh, so true. Um, you know, the company I’m really trying to work a lot with those newer model, just because it’s really, it’s fun and exciting. That’s my thing is like, I want things that are exciting because turnkeys, while they’re still fantastic, they’ve got a little bit stagnant just because, you know, like we talked about the prices have gone up and whatever. So this new model is really fun. I’ve been to Baltimore and Philly. Now a couple of times in the last three, four months to work with these guys, like it’s just fun and exciting. Um, so I’m trying to build that.

Ali Boone (00:50:04):

Always trying to look into new markets, have new offerings for people, me personally, um, but still related to real estate. I am, I actually have all sorts of papers over here. I’m about 90 to 95% done with my first book. And it is, thank you. I have one last round of the read through at one more time and dear God, any edits past that, like I, you know, it’s the last ditch effort. Um, but formatting some like it should be, I’m hoping it will be out like actually purchasable in the next month, two months at the very most just cause I’m not very smart on that process. Um, what’s it called? It is called not your, how to guide to real estate investing. So it’s new. No, I’ve, I’ve, uh, God bless them. I

Reed Goossens (00:50:57):

Have been involved with,

Ali Boone (00:50:59):

Uh, I’ve been involved with BP since 2000 and early 12. I have like 170, 180 articles I’ve written for them. I’ve always been active on the website. Um, but outside of that, I there’s, um, they’re a great starting point, but I ha I, I know what you’re saying. Yeah. It’s, uh, I, I guess my, my most objective kind of beef with it is because there’s so much information on there now. I feel like it can get people in trouble, um, because there’s no checks and balances about who’s talking, right? Like this guy’s like, Oh, here’s everything you need to know about flipping. We don’t know who this guy is like, you know? And so there’s, I, I get a little itchy about that. Um, but no, I’m not involved with them, uh, on the book, but it’s not your, how to guide to real estate investing in life lessons for hacking your mind before you hack your wallet.

Ali Boone (00:51:47):

The idea of it. Yeah. It’s like a, um, well, what it says, not your how to guide it is a, it’s a mindset book. You know, like I know when I got into real estate, there were so many things conceptually that I didn’t understand. Like if you go look into real estate investing, it’s like, here’s how you fill the property. Here’s how you wholesale. Here’s how you be a landlord, but nobody ever talks about what I like to think of kind of like the prerequisites to all that. Like, what exactly are you wanting to accomplish? Cause people are like, I’m going to wholesale. I’m like, did you want a second job? Or like, you know, they’re, they don’t, they’re only doing it because that’s what everyone says they should be doing. So that’s what this book is really kind of intending is like to give you all of that background mindset information.

Ali Boone (00:52:28):

Um, you know, what’s the difference in investing versus working people don’t realize when you get into an investment strategy, how much work it might take, um, stuff like that. So I’m super excited about it. I’m hoping to put one out on the coattails of that, uh, not your house, you got the rental properties, just cause I’ve, I’ve written so much about rental properties anyways, like give a big breakdown to rental properties, but this first one, so the life lessons part, you know, all of the lessons, the things that are talked about in it could be transferred to real life in my opinion, you know? So, um, yeah, so I’m super excited about that. So as soon as that comes out, I’ll let you know and we’ll get, but we’ll do another show and I’ll,

Reed Goossens (00:53:05):

What’s your book. We’ll do a book swap, I’ve got two books you can have. Uh, and, and, and, uh, my only advice is, uh, um, perfect is the, is what is it that the root of evil or whatever it is like, perfect is as good. It’s the 80 20 rule. Like, just get it done. I’m sure it’s going to be great. Get it out there.

Ali Boone (00:53:20):

No, I it’s so funny. Cause I was watching, uh, I literally have a sheet of paper here somewhere. Um, I was watching shark tank the other night and it was either, uh, Robert Hirsch evac or Mark Cuban. I think it was Mark Cuban that said, he told one of the entrepreneurs per uh, perfection is the, The, uh, something to grow. They literally have it written here somewhere because I like every time I try and start getting a little perfectionist on this book, it’s like, hang out. I’m like, wait, but this one more edit

Reed Goossens (00:53:56):

In my, my only advice to it is all is that, and you, you probably have a different following than I do and you probably bigger and better than I am, but it’s not the one book or one pitch is not going to change your world. Right. Is like your first deal. Your first deal is not going to change your world. It’s the deal that you do. It’s going to change your world. So think of it like a turnkey and that you all 12 of them before you actually got to, you know, like your mass, uh, portfolio of books and publishing. So

Ali Boone (00:54:21):

Yeah. And to that point so much with my book coming out is talking about is exactly that is like, you know, what’s the balance of having enough education to get started without completely collapsing yourself versus getting into analysis paralysis where you’re not actually doing a deal. Like how do you decide when’s the time to try something because real estate investing is it’s on the job training. Like you can only learn so much. And then the rest of everything you’re going to know. And I use an analogy in it, which I learned when I was flying. My dad was there.

Reed Goossens (00:54:50):

Oh, I’m going to tell you my analogy after you tell me all about that. Okay.

Ali Boone (00:54:53):

Uh, my dad was a pilot. So when I was in flight school and we’d talk about that stuff all the time. And he made a comment. I think this was just a couple of years ago. He was saying how, you know, if you go to get an airline pilot job, that you have to have a certain number of flying hours to qualify. And why is that? Because flight training, as my dad called it, he said, flight training is meant to teach you how not to kill yourself. Everything else you’re going to learn is you have to learn as it’s happening. Like it’s on the job. And that’s why airlines require flight hours because they assume if you’ve had a certain number of flight hours, you’ve learned all that extra stuff. Like you can only learn so much in flight school. It’s exactly the same as real estate is you’ve got to learn enough to not kill yourself, but assume that, you know, it’s not going to be perfect from the get go. And if you’re waiting until it’s going to be never going to happen. So I’ve got chapters in there about like failure, which you know, concept of failure and you know, like, how do you decide when to get started? What do you do? What do you do when you completely screw it up? And you’ll lose everything, you know, like stuff like that. So actually sound like.

Reed Goossens (00:55:53):

But my, my analogy is, um, it’s like some of them, I’m a big into fitness and it’s like, you don’t lose weight by reading about it. You actually got to go through the fricking, you got to go and get on the treadmill and it’s going to suck for the first six months, but it becomes part of your DNA, but you don’t learn about it. You don’t learn, you don’t get ripped or you don’t get to the, the goal that you want to be physically by reading about consistently read about your events. You’ve got your beds, you’ve got to go in the gym and do the hard work.

Ali Boone (00:56:21):

But anyway, it’s

Reed Goossens (00:56:24):

All, it’s all home, home workouts,

Ali Boone (00:56:27):

Which translates for me to not working out. I’m like,

Reed Goossens (00:56:31):

Um, but Ellie, at the end of every show, I like to dive into the top five investing tips really get into it. Yep. So what the number one question, the first question is what is a daily habit? You practice to keep on track towards your goals?

Ali Boone (00:56:48):

Oh, um, I’m trying to find that out now. You know, it’s funny because we’re in quarantine and I’m like, I am so unstructured. Like I don’t know that I could be operating less efficiently right now. Um,

Reed Goossens (00:57:05):

You do, if COVID-19 to one side, what, is there anything that you do in the mornings or you read, you take some quiet time, you go for a run. Is there anything that you do to help you sort of just center yourself?

Ali Boone (00:57:14):

So a funny story, I was actually interviewed, I can’t remember if it was like business insider or something last year. And I basically what I called came out of the, um, soap opera closet. And so it was this whole article about how sometimes, you know what, I wake up because I have my own schedule. I wake up and I’m just like, I’m not really feeling. And I ended up watching an episode of my soap opera instead. Everyone’s like, wait, you watch soap operas. I’m like, obviously, um, but now, um, for me, and this is something I’ve been looking at for myself because I have so many friends, I can set their whole schedule and like, what’s their, you know, do they meditate for 10 minutes? Like, what’s their thing. And I am such a go with the flow person. Like if I don’t have an internal drive driving me, I don’t do it.

Ali Boone (00:57:59):

Like, I’m not very self-disciplined. And so, you know, with this book, it’s been a total roller coaster of like, I don’t want to touch it. Okay. I really want to do it. And it, you know, it’s learning to kind of like, yeah. And I think it’s important to say that, you know, if people are thinking about getting into real estate, like not, you know, you might be a lot more disciplined than I am, but really finding the thing that actually does drive you. So for me, it’s almost to the far extreme because then I don’t get a whole lot done either. But, um, you know, finding that thing, that’s going to pull you forward versus forcing yourself to, Oh, well, I’m going to do this at two o’clock and four o’clock and you know, so, um, I’d say the most important thing that I do is I am huge on sleep. I go to bed and when my body wants to go to bed and I wake up when it wants to wake up, if I start telling it, when it’s going to wake up, I get really unproductive, just cause I’m like groggy and full on night owl type of, you know, so I’m actually a really bad person to give any advice, do everything opposite from what I do on daily productivity. Don’t follow me on that one

Reed Goossens (00:59:08):

Question. Number two is who is the most influential person in your career to date?

Ali Boone (00:59:13):

Ooh, to date? Uh, can I give two quick answers? I would say a real person than a not real person. Uh, the not real, who is a real person, uh, all day long, Robert Kiyosaki’s teachings have been such a driver. Obviously my entire mindset, everything changed the first time I ever read rich dad, poor dad as it does for most people. But I really, I read so many of his books and I know that my investing and my business success would not be there if it weren’t for so many of the things I read in his books, like even small things, like just little zingers that changed everything for me. So that’s like the person I don’t know. And then person, I do know, uh, he’s really how I kind of started in this whole business. He was in the turnkey space. He was whatever, but he was living the lifestyle that I wanted, which was sleeping.

Ali Boone (01:00:01):

And when I want travel, when I want, like he was exuding this lifestyle and I kept looking at him, I was like, what are you doing? Like I needed to take advice from him. And he ended up being my mentor for the first, uh, I mean, he’s still around, but for the first five years or so of my business, he was critical because I couldn’t ask, like, you know, my parents are smart and successful and whatever, but they, it was a very different scenario. Like I couldn’t, they were like, you should definitely go back to your corporate job. And I’m like, that’s not at all what I’m looking for, but thank you. But this guy was it. So he really became a critical mentor because it wasn’t just on the logistic side, it was a sanity side. Like I lost my sanity. I can’t tell you how many times with entrepreneurship and everything. Cause it’s crazy town. Um, and he, because he had been there, he was able to reel me back. So personal mentor, author mentor, for sure.

Reed Goossens (01:00:51):

Love it. Love it. Question number three is what is the most influential tool in your real estate business? And when I say tool, it could be a phone, it could be a journal or could it be a software that you use that you just can’t, you can’t not run your business without it. So what, what is that number one tool.

Ali Boone (01:01:07):

Mine is kind of email. I email with everybody. Um, I would say just online in general because my whole business is based online. You know, I was a writer or am a writer, all of that was online and it really speaks to the location, independent situation because all I have to do is I can travel anywhere in the world. As long as I have my laptop, I can still work. And so, you know, online because my company is so network-based, that’s how I meet everybody. Like, you know, if, if the internet wasn’t around and I had to meet people at, you know, events or whatever, like I’m not going to meet that many people, but the internet is just such a frickin, like the mother load of resources. Cause I get to meet so many people. It’s how I connect with the seller. Like everything I do is on the internet. So, and as much as I sometimes kind of hate the internet, I hate to even like attribute everything to it and give it that many props. But it’s kind of true too.

Reed Goossens (01:02:01):

That’s awesome. I love it. Uh, question number four is in one sentence, what has been the biggest failure in your career? And once you learn from that failure,

Ali Boone (01:02:12):

Um, I’ve always said one set answer for this. I’m like, has that changed recently? Like, um, I’ll, I’ll stick with the, uh, the original, uh, it’s probably been the most costly failure was that very first deal that I said I had pursued before turnkeys was a, don’t want to have pre-construction development, uh, investment in Nicaragua, the third world country. And it was, this was no small deal. This was a Wyndham hotels was in on it. Jack Nicklaus golf course design was in on it. This was huge. And I was like, I was like, this sounds like a scam, but I ended up pursuing it. I went, I went to Nicaragua so many times, like it was all legit, but as so many developer stories go, all of a sudden the money disappeared before anything ever got built. So my very first intentional real estate investment was $40,000.

Ali Boone (01:03:08):

And to this day I’ve never seen a penny of it, but you know, the important thing in that is supposedly I’m going to, but I can’t tell you how many years later that is now, um, is, you know, that was my, that was right out of the gate, $40,000 down the toilet. And most people that would be that’s like, yeah, and I wanted it. I was like, screw it real estate. This is terrible. But it, it, it took that too. It made every, it made me realize what was important and that $40,000 basically led to every it’s why I have everything I have. So it’s like, you know, it’s reframing the perspective. Like I talked about in the book, it talks a lot about failure of like, yeah, losing $40,000, totally blows an, but you know, what does that, then, you know, how do you navigate that and how do you make that work? How do you get your $40,000 worth, even if you don’t see that actual money. So that was, that was the biggest one. And I think it had the extra zing on it just because it was literally the first one right out of the gate. And that’s, that’s why I’m sticking with that one because I think it’s so important for people to understand that, you know, when those things happen, it’s about going forward, persevering,

Reed Goossens (01:04:16):

Get dusting off the knees and getting back on the horse. And I love it. Exactly. Final question is where can people reach you to continue the conversation they want to be in your sphere? Where do they go?

Ali Boone (01:04:31):

So, uh, I set something up for you guys or for your, your folks. Um, let me double check. So if they go to, I set up a link, um, hipster investments.com/invest U S uh, I put an offer on there. So I’ve had a turnkey rental properties, ebook, uh, I’ve been selling it for years. It’s currently for sale for 1499. I put it on there for you guys to be able to get it free. Um, so if you’re interested in turnkeys,

Reed Goossens (01:05:00):

Uh,

Ali Boone (01:05:00):

Invest us. So I N V E S T U S. Um, so you can get the ebook for free. It’s normally 14, 1499, but also on that page, you can have, you can get all of my contact information, reach out. Like if you haven’t figured out already, I’m a people person. I love connecting with people, even if it’s just to say hi, tell me you heard me on the podcast. Um, yeah. So go that, uh, get the free ebook reach out. You know, it’s got all my social media email, all that kind of stuff.

Reed Goossens (01:05:28):

I love it. Love it. Well, ally, I want to thank you for coming on the show today. I want to reflect a few things that I took away from today’s show, I think is first and foremost is your energy love it. It’s very, very, it comes through I, but what I really like is you’re leaning into your brand recognition from the other hipster investments. And it’s so important when you are creating a brand for yourself to try and weed out as much, um, subconscious BS from people like just throw the name and you have been able to do that. It’s nearly a marketing thing that you’re not gonna, you’re not gonna deal with people you don’t want to deal with because of the name of the, of the company, which is super important when you come in to think of a name. And so you’re able to pigeonhole yourself into people who you only want to work with. And hopefully that is opened up so many more doors because people don’t respect you for that, right? Because you say, well, I’m doubled down on this name and screw you. And I don’t care.

Ali Boone (01:06:15):

I think I’ve said that exactly. Like, do you hear me say that somewhere? That sounds like me,

Reed Goossens (01:06:20):

But, but I think there’s also, it’s a client filter. And I think what the most important thing that I took away from today is that it’s more about the relationships and the people when creating a brand and creating a business that is that you want to do business with. And we spoke about, you know, my, my, my litmus test is the beer. Um, but yours was, you know, trying to connect with people. And, and I think having that at the fundamental core of any business is super, super important and will make sure that your business is here for the longevity, right. It won’t just be a flash in the pan. Like some of those, uh, turnkey invest, uh, the key investment companies that were in 2012 that screwed over a lot of international folks. But, um, did I leave anything out?

Ali Boone (01:06:55):

No, I, you know, that last part, you said, it’s really the difference between transactional relationships and long-term relationships. So the more transactional companies try and get, or you try and get, or, you know, when it’s about every dollar and like, how can I get the most like it, and it can be hard sometimes because I’m not transactional about it, you know, staying in it for the long haul. It can be tough. Cause I, I know I lose out on some money sometimes for sure. Especially when I really need it. And I’m like, Oh, but you know, it’s, that is a huge thing. No, I, I love your summary points and they’re all very true.

Reed Goossens (01:07:25):

Well, thank you very much. And thank you for dropping by enjoy the rest of your week and we’ll catch up very, very soon. Awesome. Well, they have another cracking episode jampacked with some incredible advice from Allie. Please make sure you do get over to her website, which is hipster investments.com forward slash invest us and click on the download link for the ebook. I want to thank you again for taking some time out of the day to tune in, to continue to grow your financial IQ about real estate investing was that’s what we’re all about here on this show. I’m going to do it all again next week. So be bold, be brave. And remember you got a good life,

Speaker 4 (01:07:57):

Correct?