On this episode Holly is joined by Sep. Sep has been investing for 6 years, while he has lived in Orange County his whole life he did not start investing in his backyard when he got his start. After being laid off he decided to take his life savings and invest it into stocks, which he also lost. He moved in with his parents while he got back on his feet and got another job. With worries about “what ifs” Sep picked up Rich Dad, Poor Dad and realized that he wanted to start investing and increasing his cash flow. It took him 2 years to get any cash flow with his investments. While 2 years was a long wait Sep was focused on long term cash flow and did not give up on his dreams of real estate investing. Sep said that when you are investing you often focus on the property but it is much more than that, it is about the team, the area, and the customer. You need to find your investor identity when you get into this business, he found out his identity early on with tenants that were less than desirable. He expected everything to be nice and easy with cash flow immediately but that is not always the case, you have to work hard for what want and know whom the customer is that you want to serve. Holly reminds us that we need to outfit our investments to the correct spec level for the customer you are serving, you need to keep in mind that a C level customer might be scared away by an A level kitchen upgrade, it is important to know your customer when you are flipping so that you do not spend more money or time than is necessary for the investment. Sep and Holly talk about their investor identity and how important it is to know what yours is. Your investor identity has to do with the team that you employ also. You need to find a management company that is best suited for all involved in the project. Most successful and stressful deal for Sep is a deal he did in San Antonio, Texas a 520-apartment complex that was structured with virtually no money down. This deal the seller wanted to get out as quickly as possible so it was an easy buy and was able to pull all equity out of it and increase the cash flow. Sep’s biggest lesson learned is that real estate investing is a business; once you treat it like a business it is more enjoyable, more fun and less stressful. If you have a system in place your team can send you exactly what you are looking for making your business more streamlined. Holly reminds us that we always need to be flexible and ready for change when the market demands it. Sep does not manage his properties and always hires management for his properties because he does not have a real estate license and he needs a management company this is able to take care of whatever needs to be done since his properties are out of state. Holly on the other hand manages all of her properties, it is more manageable for her because of the amount of properties that she owns and the relationships that she has with her tenants. You must weigh out if it is more financially beneficial to manage your own properties or hire a team to do it; sometimes it is hard to give up that control but that can also be a point of success or failure for the property. When looking for seller financed deals you must get to know the seller; what are their needs, wants and desires, and structuring the LOI based on that. You should be prepared to give multiple options to the seller because they will often turn you down. Sep uses Craigslist to look for his next deal. When trying to find emerging real estate markets look for markets that have markets with 200,00 or greater and job growth at least 2% for the last 2 years and population growth of 2% over the last 2 years. Education is the best investment you can give yourself when you are beginning in real estate investing, you want to educate yourself and surround yourself with those who are on the same journey as you. If you are interest