The Property Perspective
From hidden gems to billion-dollar deals, this is The Property Perspective - where seasoned real estate pros reveal how they spot value others miss, and industry disruptors share the unconventional strategies reshaping real estate.
The Property Perspective
From Hockey Dreams to Real Estate Success: Greg Helbeck's Journey of Resilience and Innovation
Greg Helbeck, the driving force behind Velocity House Buyers, joins us to share his captivating journey from an aspiring hockey star to a real estate mogul. With tales of grand successes like a $350,000 profit in San Diego and lessons learned from setbacks, Greg's story is a testament to resilience and strategic risk-taking. He offers a behind-the-scenes look at navigating a challenging industry, from the high-cost, legally complex New York market to uncovering hidden gems in Texas properties with back taxes. This episode reveals how Greg transformed obstacles into opportunities, all while highlighting the importance of family support and giving back to those who've stood by him.
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00:00 - Hope (Announcement)
What happens when you scale too fast, hire the wrong people or trust the wrong agent. On this episode of the Property Perspective, Preston Zeller sits down with Greg Helbeck, owner of Velocity House Buyers, who shares the real, unfiltered stories behind his wins and losses in real estate From a $350,000 profit deal in San Diego to losing thousands on a property plagued with cat waste and septic issues. Greg holds nothing back as he reveals the lessons learned from a decade in the business, from hidden gems to billion-dollar deals. This is the Property Perspective, where seasoned real estate pros reveal how they spot value others miss and industry disruptors share the unconventional strategies reshaping real estate. Now here are your hosts.
00:47 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Hello everyone. My name is Preston Zeller. I'm the CGO of BatchService. I'm here with Greg Helbeck. He's the owner of Velocity House Buyers. Welcome, Greg, to the Property Perspective.
01:00
How are you doing, man?
01:01 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on. I was looking forward to this. I know we had to reschedule it. I think I was sick last week, so, uh or no, I had a conflict a couple of weeks ago. I was sick last week, so I'm glad we did it this week.
01:11 - Preston Zeller (Host)
All good, yeah, Um, looking forward to learn from your uh, your background and how you got into starting velocity house buyers. And why don't you just give the listeners a brief intro into just where you're at today and then we'll wind it back?
01:29 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Sure, so I'm a full-time, I've been a full-time investor for 10 years now. My main area of operating is New York, where I'm from. I also do business in Seattle, where I live, so I'm in two areas and a little bit in Delaware too, where my one of my guys lives my partner at least, in that market. So you know, primarily two to three markets. I don't recommend that honestly and I can explain why later on. But you know we did 45 transactions last year, like you know, 1.6 and gross profit, you know I think we netted I don't know 35% of that. So it's nothing crazy. But we've been consistently doing that for a while through wholesaling, rehabbing and then on the side I guess that's another.
02:23
The last four or five years really three or four years Um, you know, I've seen it really easy to get deals in marketing. I've seen it become really hard to get deals. I've seen kind of, you know, everything you could probably see over the course of a 10 year real estate run so far. So, um, it sounds weird but I do have a lot of experience. Uh, and I'm not that old, I'm 29. So I started this when I was 20. So it's crazy what happens over a decade.
02:48 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, well, you know, there's the I don't know if it's a saying, but it's just it's about the quality of the years of experience, not just the years of experience.
02:57 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
That's right. I run into bad realtors all the time who are awful trying to sell our flips and they said they've been doing this for 20 years. And I said to them, to their face, you've been doing this the wrong way for 20 years.
03:07 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Right, you could do something. Yeah, level of a year, one person. For 20 years
03:13 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Exactly, you've been doing the wrong thing for 20 years.
03:15
So, no, it's been a good, it's been a. It's just crazy to see, like, how different the business is now even compared to five years ago. Like we could get into that. Like it's crazy man.
03:28 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, I do want to get into that for sure, because you know just, there's technology change, economic changes, changes with buyers, I mean just all sorts of stuff. So let's wind it back a bit. I'm curious. You know parents and siblings, so what, what was the arrangement there for you?
03:49 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah, I grew up in a normal household situation with middle class parents and two siblings that are a little bit younger than me not much. You know we were not rich, we weren't poor middle class. Dad was a cop, mom was a teaching assistant, you know like really nice area. You know, I grew up in a really good part of New York where, you know it's like the suburbs of Manhattan, so, like you know, it's kind of like a shielded area, I would say. You know the ghetto was like 30 minutes away, so we were pretty protected there. You know, I didn't have I wasn't like causing trouble in school or anything Like I. You know I got okay grades.
04:19
I played hockey pretty competitively after college too and, you know, been a pretty good athlete, but I didn't have any like entrepreneurs in my family or anything like that. It was just, like you know, I didn't really know what I wanted to do after my. I was trying to play pro hockey and that didn't work out. So I had to kind of, you know, figure out what I was going to do and I ended up in community college, which, you know, on paper didn't look great compared to my peers, but you know I had a lot of time to think and you know I didn't spend any money on college because I was like practically free, um, cause I stayed at home. So I, you know, was trying to figure out how to make money and you know the people, you know real estate wasn't that popular back then and, like wholesaling really wasn't a known thing. So, you know, I started to hear about it, like you know, through the grapevine and, yeah, that's how I got into the business. It was actually a seminar from like I would listen to pie, I had like a little weed cutting job to put some money in my pocket and this was like, yeah, 20 years old. And then I heard through a podcast what wholesaling was it made sense to me. I was like, yeah, 20 years old. And then I heard through a podcast what wholesaling was it made sense to me. I was like, okay, that makes sense. And then my friend actually this is back when Snapchat just came out, an app where you send pictures and stuff and he sent me a picture of this postcard ironically, because I'm a big direct mail guy now, but he sent me a picture of a postcard that was like come to this free real estate seminar and, you know we'll teach you how to make money. And he just like definitely a digital picture of it. And I was like, all right.
05:51
So I went to the seminar with my two friends and they were talking about, you know, becoming successful. And you know I was already listening to this, like some of the rich dad, poor dad, stuff, like I was like kind of ingrained in that at that point and they were like basically what got me was they were like talking about you can double close on a house and use a buyer's money to fund your deal. And that was like that was like really like eye-opening, because they told me about assignments too and that made sense. But like you could, you could buy this house with someone else's money, uh, and you can make 20, 30, 40 grand. And I was like, holy shit, like, especially back then, that was a fuckload of money. Sorry for cursed here. We can edit that out, maybe, um, my show is explicit, but I don't know.
06:30 - Preston Zeller (Host)
I'm sorry that's all right, we'll mark this episode as explicit yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:33 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
So it was a ton of money, um, and I was like all right. So what ended up happening, long story short, is that the seminar was a pitch fest. This is the. The company actually, I think, got sued by the FTC a year ago. Yeah, it was like this Utah boiler room scam, bs thing and anyway, I didn't know what was going on. So they were like if you want to really learn how to get to the next level, you go pay $2,000 for this.
06:58
Another one in Yonkers, which is like 30 minutes down the road from where I was, and I looked at my two friends and I said guys, I don't know what you're doing, I'm going to sign up for this. And they said that you can take a friend for free. So basically we can split this. It's a thousand bucks each. Me and my one friend said no. My other friend said, yes, he's very successful now, ironically, in the business. And me and my friend went to the second seminar. They taught us a little bit more info enough to be dangerous and we got out of that seminar like a bull at a rodeo and I just started hitting the ground as two 20-year-old punks. No money, no experience, just a bunch of hustle. It was like me against the world, and that's how I eventually started to get the momentum to get to where I'm at today, which was very long time ago.
07:48 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah. So I'm curious, you know just sports, right, A lot of people end up playing sports. You played hockey up until what End of high school?
07:57 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
or no. After I was like 19 when I stopped, so it was like junior hockey, so it was like between high school and college.
08:04 - Preston Zeller (Host)
It's pretty competitive yeah, I mean, was that, was that pretty formidable? And you know, forming your, you know mentality and hustle and work ethic or what? What would you say, yeah, that's a good question.
08:19 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
So it was actually the opposite. So what happened in hockey was I, I played hockey when I was really young like five, six, seven, eight, travel hockey. I was pretty good. And then at eight I didn't want to play it anymore For some reason. I just I was like not interested.
08:34
I wanted to skateboard and you know that was big back then and snowboard and I stopped playing hockey at like eight and then at age 14, I wanted to play hockey again and I had a big gap. I had a six, seven year gap where I didn't play at all, didn't get on the ice. So I had to get back into the game at age 14 and I had to play a lot of catch up and I was really motivated to make a comeback and I knew I had a lot of work cut out for me. So within not even a year I went from basically not playing hockey in five or six years, maybe seven, whatever the math is to make it in the varsity team as a sophomore, which was not easy to do. Making a travel team which was not like this was not easy shit.
09:17
So I put myself in a situation where I I made a lot of progress based on where I started, but I was always like one of the worst players on my team just because I had that huge gap of not playing. So I was playing third line, grinding it out you know it was a glue guy, you know playing fourth line, sometimes sitting on the bench or why and it pissed me the F off. I was freaking like like unhinged, basically, and I would get nasty with people and I would you know, bitch at the coach, nasty with people and I would you know, bitch at the coach. I was a nasty son of a bitch. Honestly, it was not good, it's getting in fights and I had this chip on my shoulder where, like, I sucked and I was like kind of like rebellious in hockey, at least not like not in public.
09:56
And that carried all the way it all came out.
09:58
Yeah, that carried all the way into junior where I was getting into bad situations. I was nasty, very angry person and I everyone thought I sucked and it was me against the world and I was like fuck these people, I'm going to prove them wrong. So once hockey ended like I just wasn't good enough to play in college that was the reality, that was the absolute facts and I stopped playing hockey. It was hard to do that because I had so much, you know, emotion invested in that and I had a huge advantage in real estate because I was so young and I already went through that garbage with hockey. So it was the opposite for me. It gave me a lot of leverage as a young kid in real estate with nothing to lose, because in hockey I was super old for my age. So I was like it was a pipe dream, complete pipe dream.
10:42
But then in real estate it was the complete opposite. Nobody was 20. Nobody was thinking like that, nobody could take a risk like that because, like they had a wife and kids, whatever. And I had none of that and I was living with my parents with zero overhead, except for my car payment, which was like 200 bucks a month. So I had a huge advantage and it was a completely different time. You know, real estate was a lot different back then. But that hockey gave me fuel to prove the people who doubted me that I was going to be successful in life. You know, it wasn't hockey ultimately, but it was in life and that was my fire for a while. And I've changed since then. I've gotten a lot more mellow. I don't do crazy shit like that anymore.
11:23 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Um, not fighting people in community hockey rinks?
11:26 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I still play. Actually I don't go, I don't get nasty.
11:28
Yeah, yeah, I, I'm still pretty good. Like you know, it's just men's league now, but you do it for it's for yeah, I don't, you can enjoy it. Not be like yeah, I'm not like that, Like I'm much more. I just play for fun on Fridays, yeah.
11:43 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, um. So this is around 2015, 2016, 10 years ago.
11:50 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah, this is, this is 2015. Yeah, and the 2015 September, okay.
11:55 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, so okay, you go to this, this uh seminar who ends up being uh kind of a scammy operation, but still telling you it works,
12:07 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I mean I'm a success story, right, so like I can't even say that it was like a lot of people lost, like because it was like the upsell after the one I went to was like, okay, 50 grand, yeah exactly, yeah, it was.
12:16
so that's where it gets a little, you know, dicey, but I I had no problem paying two thousand dollars. That's probably the best money I ever spent, honestly, because it's made me, like, you know, multi, multi, multi millions, right, like for years. So like I can say that, you know, I went there, I did what they said. It worked in New York out of all places, which is like the hardest market in the country, period end of story. And you know, it's just exactly what I needed at that age. Right, because I had my head on straight. You know, I got good grades in college, like I didn't screw around, I did really well because I tried to take these things I was learning in, like the books I was reading and like set goals and I was like, okay, well, my ultimate goal at the time was to move to San Diego, which I lived there for a while. And in order for me to move to San Diego, I need to graduate college. My parents will not let me leave the effing house until I graduate.
13:06
Get a four-year bachelor's degree. While I'm getting this bachelor's degree, I'm wholesaling some houses. I don't have a job. I don't need a job. I'm selling shit at garage sales if needed. You know what I mean. So and then I got into a situation in college where, like, I was in a really tough class and I buckled down and I got like freaking a pluses because I actually tried. And in high school that was like the opposite and you know I was like, oh, wow, like this is a universal principle I can be successful in whatever I put my mind to, as long as I take it seriously and have a good strategy. So it's interesting how everything kind of ties together.
13:38 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Um, yeah, and you know, and I think people at different points of their life they can buy a software product or into a community and then just by virtue of that, it's going to make them successful and it's like no, you still have to do stuff, you still have to do the work.
14:14 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah.
14:16 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Exactly yeah. So what you know? What was it? Walk me through your first deal. What was that? Like
14:24 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
That was brutal.
14:26
So I'll tell you the first deal and then the first dollar, because there's a difference. First dollar was from a mentor who I reached out to on the internet in my market. He had a house. He needed me to put a lockbox on and at this point I never made money in the business. Right, he said, put a lock box. And this house was like literally five minutes from my parents' house. I could practically walk there, go there, put a lock box on there. He wholesales it for 10 grand. He pays me, I think, a thousand bucks. I got a thousand bucks to put a lock box on a house and I was like that was pretty cool. And then the next deal. Well, that wasn't a deal, that was just a payment. But the actual first deal was with the same guy I put out banded signs in. This was in probably put them out in New Windsor.
15:11
But I ended up getting a lead in Poughkeepsie, which is a pretty popular city in the Hudson Valley. Lady called super motivated, just like what the guru said. She had her daughter living in there. I think there was like a boyfriend in there. He was a little sketchy. You know the whole typical situation. And I called the same guy who had me help him with a lockbox, his name's Dave, and he said I was like, hey, I have a deal. I don't know exactly what to do, but if you can bring a buyer, why don't we split it? And this is like this is a long time ago, man. And he's like, yeah, let's do. It Gets a buyer five grand. There you go.
15:47
And then you know started, you know, sporadically doing deals every couple months, and this is in New York where you got to get a lawyer. It's very expensive, it's a high barrier to entry market and at the time it wasn't as hard as it is now. So you know I was kind of scraping by. You know, every couple of months I would make 10 or 15 grand on a deal, you know it wasn't necessarily a business, but I could definitely survive at my parents' house.
16:15
Like I didn't have to worry about money necessarily, but I didn't have something that was like producing consistent revenue monthly that I can directly tie to some sort of activity or dollar. So like I wasn't like perpetually spending money on marketing. I didn't understand how to really work cold calling as an activity, like I just didn't know Right, so I was just kind of doing random shit and stumbling into deals, yeah.
16:41
I'd put out banded signs every week, like consistently, but then that would only yield a certain amount of calls and I would hand write letters and that would get me a deal every now and then. But, like, these deals were New York deals that were taking three, four months to close. So it's like I might have gotten something, you know, in January, but it wouldn't have turned into money until April. So, you know, I had three months of no payday, and then I get a payday in April and then it's like OK, the next payday might not come till August, you know. So I had no overhead though, so it didn't matter
17:07 - Preston Zeller (Host)
How long would your bandit signs stay up?
17:10
do you ever get in trouble for that?
17:11 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
no, I would put them out on Fridays and take them out on Sundays. So I haven't. I haven't done it with science. Yeah, I'd put I wouldn't get. I would never get in trouble because I'd put them out when the building department would leave, right, and then I would take them out. Put them out when they left for the weekend and then I'd take them out like Sunday evening.
17:27
So you know we would get you know calls, usually on the weekends and then we'd get some bleed out from you know they wrote the number down but you know that got me six or seven deals like right off the bat, you know, within the first couple of years, which you know it was cool because those still work to this day. Um, obviously you got to work them hard, but you know, if you're new, like you, could spend three, 400 bucks on signs and then most likely get a deal within six months. Yeah, if you really want to, I mean I think there's easier you can just go on batch If you're really. You know, for being honest, now you could use like something like batch and basically get to those same sellers for, you know, 300 month.
18:01 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, yeah for sure. And that I mean that is you know, we were talking about this a little bit before the show. Just I mean that is you know, we were talking about this a little bit before the show just how technology has changed. Oh yeah, Skip tracing didn't exist.
18:13 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
You know podcasts weren't popular. CRMs were like there was like three main CRMs, like Salesforce Podio, like it wasn't. Like the data was like super scarce. Like you know, list source was the only thing around there was Rebo gateway list source and you know us leads list. You know, like that was it. There was nothing else. You know, like Instagram was not that popular, like it was so different, dude, it was so different Even 10 years ago
18:40 - Preston Zeller (Host)
it was like a art platform then, or something like that.
18:44 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah, right.
18:45
Here's what I didn't exist Like. Yeah, yeah, right, here's what I didn't exist like. Yeah, like there was no podcast, it was like Sean terry and matt Terrio podcast. Uh-huh, nerd, it was like there was like three pod.
18:56
It was crazy so yeah
18:59 - Preston Zeller (Host)
I'm curious, what were your parents like, kind of what were they like during this period?
19:04 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
they did not give me any pushback at all. No, they, they didn't. Okay, no, they didn't care. They knew I would work hard and they didn't. They didn't like you know, they weren't like. You know, making me breakfast every morning, being like you can do it, like they just wouldn't give me blowback. Yeah, they just wouldn't like give me pushback, they wouldn't. And if they gave me pushback I would just tell them to pound, like of course, but no, they never. They never gave me any flack. They were like they let me do my thing.
19:29
And when I started showing back up with some money, they were like, okay, like good for you and keep doing it. And then, you know, three years later, when I was like I'm moving to California, like my car's getting picked up next week, like they were like, oh shit, all right, Well with them, um, because they've seen 10 years of, you know, proven success, uh, but you know, in the yeah, they never gave me like any bs, like they were never like get a job, like they just didn't do that. Like they, because they know I, they saw me working. Like, if I was like talking about it and I was like sitting at home, like playing video games, like of course, they'd be like right, totally, totally different story. No, they never. They never gave me any. You said your mom was a teacher. She's a teacher assistant, she just helped, you know okay, not a football teacher got it.
20:15 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, so I mean they're very, you know, like. I mean your dad's a municipal worker, basically right yeah, retired.
20:23 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Well, he's retired, retired forever. So I mean, he's just chilling. I mean that, yeah, they, they did not. There was no negativity and even if there was, I wouldn't listen to them. But you know, they just never did that to me, like even in hockey. Like they would let me, you know, figure it out, they wouldn't let me quit, right, they would not let me quit, which is good, but they would not very good parents, you know they didn't really, you know, mess with me and they let me kind of stick, stay in my lane and, um, you know they're very supportive. You know they put me through hockey, which was expensive, and you know they fucking traveled all over the place with me and we went to Canada a bunch of times and I lived in Massachusetts, played hockey, like it was a big commitment. So, um, it's cool to be able to like pay them back now, like going and taking them on vacations and shit.
21:05 - Preston Zeller (Host)
So that's, that's you know, 10 years later, an amazing thing to be able to do, yeah. So okay, you're doing these initial deals and you finally start picking up momentum. Like why, why'd you pick up momentum?
21:21 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I got out of New York. So what happened? So this is this is what really changed the game for me. So I was doing, you know, a handful of houses a year in New York, like, and I was like at a huge disadvantage. Like I had no money really saved up, like I, you know maybe 10 grand, but you know, a typical deposit in New York is 10 grand. So, like I had no leverage in that market, like attorneys, I didn't know how, I had no idea how hard it was and I was getting good at getting leads. Like that was something I was and it was pretty good at talking to sellers. Like that was something I was like naturally good at.
21:56
And I was like, okay, the bottleneck here seems like New York is the problem. They're running into these attorney issues. I'm not well capitalized, I can't rehab, I can't close, I'm wholesaling, you know. Basically, you know, you know, dealing with one buyer, there's some a huge disadvantage. I'm like basically like a cash buyer, employee, right, one buyer and they're paying me whatever they want. You know, it's like not a good way to get rich, basically. And uh, I said, if I could do this in another market where there's no lawyers, um, that might be the reason, that might be the way out. That might be my ticket to to becoming really successful. Because you hear on these podcasts oh, it takes a while you got to get momentum. There's a hockey stick growth.
22:30
You read the book the Dip by Seth Goat and all that shit. Read it all. I was waiting for my breakthrough. I was working hard for a couple of years and I was waiting for my breakthrough. So I ended up and this is like straight up what I did, like nothing left behind here.
22:44
I looked at my deals that I did at that time and I noticed that most of the properties were vacant and they owed like back taxes, like there was. That was like the trending thing and I was like, well, what if I got a list in another area of all properties that were delinquent in taxes and I could find a way to find them become vacant Like cause you, there's software. You know, even before batch there was software that did that, like AccuSend. It was like you had to get it on a PC and it was a pain in the butt, but I figured it out, ended up getting this list in Dallas, Texas, and I just picked Dallas because it was big and I knew that people did deals there, so I pulled it out of my ass and I started cold calling these vacant homes that were delinquent in taxes. And this was before. Cold calling was the thing. This was like, you know, 2018, like no one was doing it.
23:27
Skip tracing just came out brand new using skip Genicom. You know like super like you know nothing. Really, I don't even think batch existed at this point. The batch came out in like I think, 2019. And so I started to run into these properties like every single week, seller would be like oh yeah, that was my mom's house. I I don't even know what I'm going to do with it Like I can't pay the taxes. And I was like all right, well, I'll give you like 10 grand and I'll pay the taxes.
23:56
So I was like locking these houses up in Texas for like insanely low prices, cause these people were just basically giving them away and no one else was calling them, cause there was no such thing as cold calling. Like I was the only one cold calling. So I started getting these houses locked up at super cheap prices, could barely use DocuSign and I'd had no idea how to sell them. I wasn't in that market, like. So I ended up finding a guy named Jason who I ended up forming a JV partnership with and he would go out there. He would walk the properties, he would sell them to his buyers, we would split the profits and, you know, I started pumping like two to three of these a month out for a couple of months in a row. And then at that point I started saving pretty much all that money. That was pure net to me, like at least my 50%. And then we started taking these down in cash Cause these were like 10, 15, $20,000 purchases each you know not a lot of money, cause I had all that money saved 15, $20,000 purchases each you know not a lot of money, cause I had all that money saved started now like doubling the money I had in the bank and I started like rolling that shit and I started doing like consistently two, three, four deals a month, completely virtually yes, I was netting half, but I was still only doing half the work and at that point I probably saved up like 85 to a hundred grand like in the bank, moved to San Diego and that's how I like got established in the business, basically Like that. That's like financially how I did it.
25:15
And then eventually I ended up going back into New York, cause I had a lot of money and experience and I was rehabbing at that point, like obviously a lot has changed, but initially, like going after these like vacant houses that were super distressed is how I was able to like get from like barely making money consistently to like okay every month I know we're making 30,000 like net in my pocket after we split and it was predictable because, like every six leads would turn into a deal, because they were super targeted leads and for a while it was a complete blue ocean and it was honestly like it was way easier back then.
25:49
But at the same time, like all the skills that I was building up over the last two and a half years up into that point really were, you know, helping me out because, like, I talked to a lot of owners and I understood how to, you know, negotiate with somebody and I knew what to look for with the distressed property, so, like I knew a title issues, like. So you know all those skills like compounded and they hit at the right time.
26:08 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah. So what were your biggest learnings during that time period? When you're, you're finding your way and you're in the Dallas area and, by the way, were you? You were buying these houses cash, eventually for 20 grand. Is that what you're saying?
26:24 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah.
26:24
And like 1240, right, cause we were going 20 each and we'd sell them for 80. So, like I started saving money up from these wholesales Cause we were making, like you know, 20 to $30,000 like per wholesale split. So I'd make 15 to 20 in my pocket, like you know, all in net, and you know you do that for three, four months and now you have, you know, 50 grand saved up. So now you can spend 20 on a house and then basically double your money. So you know we were just wholesailing and we weren't rehabbing them. But you know that's how I got established. But the thing that I learned from that is that I was very like you know, with my activities.
27:04
Up until that point I was very just, not strategic, I didn't have a system, I didn't have tracking, I didn't have anything. And then I remember reading a book, the One Thing, by Gary Keller, and he talked about, like you got to figure out what your one thing is and you got to do it for four hours a day and my one thing was finding leads and calling them. So I'd spend four hours a day, every day, looking for these distressed properties using AccuZip, using the tax delinquent list, and then I would spend another, you know two. So it was like two hours of research, two hours of calls, four hours combined a day. Did that every day, Monday to Saturday. So you know, when you compound a productive activity like that, you know you're going to get new leads every day, you're going to make more offers every day, you're going to get new contracts every week.
27:44
And I it was like a system. It was like, okay, if I spend four hours doing the activities that I know will move the needle, I will ultimately get leads from this, I will make offers from these leads and I will get deals every single week because I'm doing the right shit and I have everything tracked. Everything is like oh, made you know 45 calls today, found 10 new properties, made you know whatever three offers and I started consistently getting business because it was tracked and I was really intentional on the activities that actually moved the needle for me. But it took me two and a half years to learn that because when you're new and you don't have a mentor, you just don't know.
28:18
Yeah, you can get business cards and think you're productive, but you're not, so you know. It's just like you don't know what. You don't know until you do it, and I think I banged my head against the wall so many times I was like okay, like if I just spent four hours looking for deals every day, it would be impossible to not get deals.
28:38
And that's what I tell people now.
28:39
I'm like if you spend four hours a day looking for deals using batch, which is like literally everything's at your fingertips you will get deals. It is almost impossible to not get deals. You'd have to sabotage yourself to not get deals at that point.
28:52 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, uh, and I think you know the. The other part of that right Is like doing it over a period of time, right, cause sometimes people will do. I mean, are they going to four hours a day is a really solid level of commitment, but they'll do it for like a week, for like maybe an hour.
29:09
Yeah, they're out here and it's like Doesn't work and you just didn't reach out to enough people. I love what you said, though, about the business cards, because there's so many things that you can do. That's what I like to call working on work. Yeah, call working on work. It's not. It's not really things that are going to functionally do anything to make you more money in that moment. Right, like you said, let me get business cards.
29:37
Um, let me spend a ton of time designing my website, you know, whatever the case is,
29:42 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Stupid shit like that Getting your like site optimized, like you know yeah, there's time and a place for those things, and it's not a good use of your time, um so, especially in the beginning, like I, once I realized that this business was dependent upon offers from off market properties, I got quote, unquote got rich quick, right. Like obviously it wasn't quick, but I went from, and this is no joke. Like, obviously it wasn't quick, but I went from, and this is no joke. So this is in 2018. So in 2017, I probably filed a tax return with about $55,000 worth of income from real estate. That's I could pull it up to probably send it to you, but it's probably 55,000. And in 2018, at the end of the year, I filed a tax return of like 250 grand of income, right, because I did the right shit. So I made an extra 200 grand net because I realized I need to do the right things consistently and that will lead to revenue consistently and then I can grow my business.
30:42
And I didn't get too far ahead of myself. I didn't drink all the scaling Kool-Aid that everyone tries to chug and I tried to get really good at this business and making money consistently. And then, a couple of years later, I started like hiring a few people and I still don't have a big team, because I don't want a big team. So I've always been pretty intentional on what I want and I don't like to compare myself to others because ultimately that internally doesn't make you happy. But you know that's a different story for a different day.
31:15
It's good to be inspired by people if you want to go there, but I think in this business you know being around for 10 years I see a lot of people get into the business. They make some money, they try to scale their wholesaling operation or flipping business. You know same thing. They end up basically grossing more. They have all this turnover, they don't know how to run a team, which is not easy, and they end up netting less and they hate themselves and then they go back to being a smaller operator and they make more money. It's like this giant cycle of doom Cause this is a tough business to scale in the real estate because there's a lot of things out of your control that will screw up your revenue. But I've always just been really intentional on what I want, who am I working with and how can I make them successful. And you know that's worked well for us over the last, you know, five years.
32:09 - Preston Zeller (Host)
I think that's why in real estate they talk about the vanity. Metrics are employee count and your gross revenues.
32:19 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
They use sales volume.
32:21
They're like oh, we sold the house for 500 grand. Well, we had 500,000. No, you didn't. You probably made 40 on that, which is awesome. You made 40 grand. You didn't make 500 grand. Don't let your freaking balance sheet deceive you. Yeah, no, I mean.
32:36
I lost, but yeah
32:37 - Preston Zeller (Host)
I was an agent for a short time and I know the agents loved it.
32:41 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Oh, GCI, yeah their. Their sales volume always yeah.
32:46 - Preston Zeller (Host)
I did 5 million. I know all about volume, yeah, and you're like what does that mean?
32:51 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
The GCI, what are you netting? What are you paying? Uncle Sam, you buying rentals? Are you taking advantage of being a real estate professional? It's like you know you ask them those questions and they just go right in their cave.
33:01 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, um, so did you do. Were you doing much in San Diego then? Or
33:06 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
yeah, I did really well there actually I.
33:09
So what ended up happening was that Dallas Texas run lasted from like 2018 to 2021, you know it was. It was working well and then eventually the market shifted and everyone started cold calling and you know I basically ran out of prospects there, believe it or not, because there was only so many vacant, tax delinquent, distressed properties in one city, even though Dallas is huge, like there was, I pretty much like tapped it out, like I had like all the leads were already in my database Fort Worth too.
33:34
Yeah, the whole area Dallas, fort Worth, McKinney, the whole thing you know did well in Fort Worth too. You know that's similar Metro. So while that was happening, I started writing on the wall and I'm like, okay, you know I'm going to have to either go into Houston or San Antonio or you know figures do marketing in Dallas. And I didn't really want to do paid marketing in Dallas, cause I knew that was a very like saturated area for like mailers. So I ended up pivoting like this is so this. A lot of this stuff happened at the same time.
34:01
So, like 2018, pretty much only did Dallas 2019. I was making money in Dallas and I realized I was like, okay, if I take five grand a month and start mailing in New York, I have money now, I have experience, I can close on houses, I have all the things I did not have when I started in 2015. So I was like, okay, if I can do postcards profitably in New York, I can still run it from San Diego because I have people in New York who can go to the houses for me. So I started doing direct mail in like New York in 2019, like you know, at scale. You know started with like five grand a month and it was absolutely insane. It was like you know. Every time we could send a mailer out, we'd get like two deals guaranteed and we would you're more targeted.
34:40
No one was doing it.
34:41
There was no competition, there was zero people mailing. It was just like me mailing, it was just like me you're doing, uh, the handwritten letters or postcards, no, we were just sending like ugly postcards out, like just like nothing crazy, but nobody was mailing and nobody. The people who were mailing weren't like spending the kind of money I was spending, which was only five grand, which wasn't even a lot back then.
34:59 - Preston Zeller (Host)
that is crazy because no one was doing it. No, my cost was two grand. Yeah, mailers have been think popular for quite some time. Not in New York Now it sounds like New York, it wasn't at the time. I grew up in SoCal and I remember I started getting in a bit in wholesaling in 2010, 2011, with my dad and it was being used in Cali a lot at that time. So it's interesting that in New York-.
35:29 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
New York. No one was doing it.
35:31 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, that's weird Okay so yeah go ahead.
35:35 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Started doing that, started buying properties in New York, wholesaling them, and then I would buy them and I discovered the wholesailing model and even the light rehab model, because I do big, big, big rehabs now, but at the time I was like 25 K budget max kind of rehabber.
35:50
So I remember, like in 2019, I did my first like six figure net deal in New York and it was, ironically, a vacant house that was inherited right Surprise, surprise that one I actually found from calling Um. But I had a goal I set and at the time it was like I want to make a hundred net on a deal because that's insane, and I heard people did it before. A hundred net on a deal because that's insane and I heard people did it before. And I picked an area Rockland County where I'm basically the county next to where I grew up and I knew that the properties there were more expensive. And I found a house and I ended up buying it, putting 25 grand into it, selling it, made 101 grand net and I was like holy shit, that's wild. I just made like five times. I just made basically five wholesale deals on one deal. And I started building up my skill sets to where I was not a wholesaler anymore, I was a buyer and I could wholesale the house. If it made sense, I could buy the house, I could rent the house. So at that point, you know, I started doing a lot more business in New York.
36:46
The Texas thing was kind of slowing down come 2020, 2021. But in San Diego to get to your original question I was afraid to do deals there for a while because I was making a good amount of money in Texas and New York and everyone told me San Diego is impossible, it's so hard, which it is like being a chicken for two years on my buddy. I went to lunch with my buddy and he was telling me the spreads he was making and he was in uh, he was in like the Inland empire, the LA Inland empire area, and I'm like Jesus, I'm like if this guy can do this, I can do it in San Diego and I had friends San Diego making money. So I started to do text text message marketing out there, cause I was scared to spend money in mail, cause I never.
37:26
It's like San Diego is so hard. So ended up starting doing like launch control, texting and uh, made some money wholesale Like I made like 70 grand on like my first wholesale deal, no 40, so 40,000, my first wholesale in it was in a spring Valley, California, um. And then I did a big one for 55,000 and then one for 70,000. And then I found this house from a wholesaler that I bought. I made like 135,000. And then, you know, I started to do like you know, three to four deals a year in San Diego, like while I was living there, and then my best deal there was 350,000 right before I left and it was ironically from a vacant house with tax delinquent that I cold called and they basically gave me this house for practically 10 cents on the dollar because they didn't want to take it through probate. And I was like, yeah, I can take this through probate and I ended up buying it. It was a complete unicorn, but that was. That was actually last year.
38:19 - Preston Zeller (Host)
So walk us through that deal Cause a big one. Yeah, I think people listening are going to be.
38:24 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah, I'll tell you about it, and this is all, I'll send the HUD out, like this is, all you know, factual. You know, this is real, real stuff. So what ended up happening was back when I was telling you in the beginning, Dallas, Texas, I'd find these tax delinquent lists, I would flag them for vacant and I would call those owners. They were on stacked lists, right, everyone knows about list stacking. Now I was doing that in San Diego, but there was way less people in San Diego who were like ultimately distressed because the houses are worth more money, the owners are savvier. It's a different market, different demographic.
38:54
So I, I would, I would kind of do this every now and then. I would like look and I'd see some leads and I'd call them and I'd get it here and there I'd get a deal from it. But I, I was calling this through this list. This was, you know, this was 2023. I got the lead but it closed last year and I ran into an owner and he was like, yeah, that was my sister's property. Um, you know it's sitting there vacant. Uh, we don't want to be bothered with it, we're just going to let it go back to the County and like it's very rare.
39:21
Someone says that in San Diego it's so no-transcript for you to sign a quick claim deed. But you cannot do that in California. You have to take it through probate. Like there's no way around that Cause I knew the business, I knew that market at this point. And he talks to the sisters and he comes, calls me back. He says Greg, I spoke with my sisters, if you deal with all the bullshit, I will sell you this property for 275. And I didn't even make him an offer. He just literally told me I knew it was worth like 650, 700. It was ultimately sold it for more. But I was like, okay, that works and I locked it up.
40:16
And in California, just because you have a house under contract and if it hasn't gone through probate yet it's not a valid contract, it's like basically fake. So he takes it. So he takes it. I hire the attorney, she goes, opens up probate. This guy's getting slammed with calls, texts, everyone and their brother wants his property, true to his word. He basically sends everybody the voicemail, sticks to his word, honors the fake contract. Basically that wasn't even binding. Until he has the letters of administration, he ends up selling me the property. I get my private lender to fund the deal. I pay 275 for it plus a $10,000 legal fee for the probate. I ended up putting about $25 into it and sold it for $750 in like a weekend.
40:56 - Preston Zeller (Host)
And what was that timeframe for the probate process?
41:00 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Probate took about two, three months. It was about a three month probate, 90 days.
41:05 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Between the time you call this guy and you sell it, it's what? Five, six months?
41:10 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Got the lead in August and got paid in February, September, October, November, September. Six months, it was a six month. By the time, the lead came in like hi, I'm Bob, I would be open to the offer to like hey, Greg, we're sending you the wire right now for your proceeds. I got the lead in August and I got the wire in February of last year, so six months.
41:33 - Preston Zeller (Host)
So I you know why I wanted to hone in on that is because I think people hear that. Maybe people hear it who you know are less experienced and they go. That's what I want and they want that to be their first deal.
41:41 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
That's the only one I've done like that, and I've been in this business for 10 years, right.
41:44 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Exactly so like it doesn't happen every day you're going to hit a grand slam, but you're going to get a lot more singles and doubles and that kind of stuff, and you know that's our baseball analogy.
41:53
So, um, but and but. Again, people, I think, have these sort of uh, delusions about what, what is really going to happen and the consistency. You know, like you were even saying, pointing out that the guy said, hey, I'll do it, and it's like, okay, well, you know, it's not a real transfer of ownership during the probate process. You know, knowing those nuances, you just figure it out by having done the deals. I mean, yes, you could, and nowadays it's kind of crazy because you put this stuff into like chatgpt and yeah, it is crazy yeah but um you know and but you know that I'm kind of curious on, and we can riff on that a little bit too.
42:38
But, um, again, I appreciate you sharing that. But also, uh, you know, I'm curious if that's come up for you at all. Where you know people hear about you, know the big deal and they go oh man, you know great. How do I, how do I just replicate that you know? Yeah, If you could replicate that every day of the week, why would you?
42:57 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah, exactly. Well, listen, here's the thing with that Number one. The whole time that deal was in limbo, like you know, in probate, like until I once I owned the house, I was like I was like, oh shit, this is actually going to go down. I didn't even think it would sell for seven 50, but it sold for seven 50. I thought it was something like 700, six, 50. I knew it was going to be a fucking monster.
43:17
But while the thing was in contract with the probate, I did not think the deal was going to work out. I wouldn't have been disappointed because I'm like, hey, it is what it is, it's real estate, like that's the business. So I had the right attitude while I was in contract because I didn't want to be let down and devastated if it something didn't work out, because in California it has to appraise. Somehow the attorney got the thing appraised for 275. I don't know what the f she did, great attorney. But you know it worked out. I thought that was going to kill the deal. Whatever, you know, I still would have bought it. I would have obviously could have paid a lot more for the house. The guy didn't care.
43:51
Um, but the reality with that, if you're absolute, if you're every day you're doing something, you're spending money on marketing, you're making calls, you're, you know, reaching out to wholesalers, whatever. You're going to get good deals like that every two to five years like a home run. That's like a complete needle mover, like wow, that is insane. But you're also going to get your six figure spread deals, like we do those consistently, like six figure net deals are consistent for us because we rehab, we know our markets, we're inexpensive areas, so those are much more common. A hundred grand, 105 grand. You know that that's a fairly normal thing for us. You know we'll do three or five of those a year net.
44:29
But then most of our deals are like I'll do rehabs and make 20 grand sometimes Right, and that's obviously not advisable but it is what it is. You know, sometimes that happens. But most of our properties if we're doing an assignment of contract, we're making 20 to 30 grand. If we're doing a buy and close on the house, and you know, however we want to rehab it, we rehab, whether we're hotel it or do a full rehab, you know 30 to 50 grand Right, and that's great. You know that's definitely. You know pay the bills but you know I have overhead. You know I have, you know, team members. You know I got marketing and you know we're still profitable. But that's the reality of most of our deals is like you know we're doing base hit deals. You know we're not hitting these home runs and when we get them, we love them and we're excited about them. But you know I'm not, you know, basing my whole business off of home runs because we don't, we can't control when those come in, right?
45:19
I had a wholesaler. I bought a house from a wholesaler in Seattle here where I live, and he made one hundred and sixteen thousand dollar assignment fee for me. I paid him 116. It was a smoking deal. He gave me the property. He made a rip of an assignment fee and I bought it.
45:34
He didn't even know what he fricking had, because I fricking closed on it, cleaned it out and made 94. So it's like he could have just done that Right. He would have made you know 200 grand Right.
45:59
But you know he was happy making 116 grand, which who wouldn't be Right? And I is. I know the areas that I operate in very well, very, very well. Like I'm not one of these nationwide guys getting deals on a Monday in Oklahoma and on a Tuesday in New Jersey. Like I know it's in Seattle or if it's in New York, I know exactly what I pay for the house. I can beat out other people, most likely because you know we can do innovation or whatever, but I know the areas very well and we're able to like the biggest thing in real estate, besides the sales and marketing, which is important, is understanding how do you maximize a deal, cause deals are harder to get now, right In 2018, it was a lot easier, but now you got to really know what you're doing.
46:41
I can maximize a deal to the best of its ability because of my experience and knowledge of the local market. So, like, for example, I see a lot of people make this mistake where they run into a really good deal. They wholesale it for 119 grand or whatever the heck it was, but they could have literally bought the house and made 200. And now they would have made basically double their income on the same property that at the end of the year, when you look back, you're like shit, I should have bought that house. So you got to know when to really maximize a house and when to wholesale it.
47:17
And usually the houses that I wholesale nowadays are complete junkers. They're junkers, I don't want them. I don't want the property. It's not a good rehab, it's not a good rental, it's a want them. I don't want the property. It's not a good rehab, it's not a good rental, it's a tight deal. I know someone will buy it, but I don't get involved in the tight deals. So wholesaling is almost just like our like, you know, I guess like offshoot on deals that we don't want to take on because we like to take on projects. So, and I've pivoted that was not my business even two years ago Right, I've pivoted a lot because the market's changed.
47:49 - Preston Zeller (Host)
So what's one of your lost stories? Or like here oh worst.
47:55 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Oh God, I got a million of them. Dude, how long you got here.
47:58 - Preston Zeller (Host)
What's the one that comes to mind? Where you're like, I'll tell you.
48:01 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I'm going to tell you two of them, because both of them were really stupid and they resulted in losing not hundreds of thousands, right Like knock on wood, no, but no enough money to get me in and more of the stress. So the first deal, that was an absolute flop and I'll tell you why it was a flop and I'll as I'm telling you the story. It was a. It was a four unit building in the area that I grew up in in orange County, new York, which is the suburbs of Manhattan, and on paper cause I was like getting burned out in the single family business. I was like listen to these apartment guys and I was like, oh shit, like you know, f single family houses. It's like, you know, little leagues compared to the big leagues. So I ended up finding this deal and it was a four unit building, mixed use. There was one store, three apartments, so it was like a commercial building.
48:43
I ended up meeting the owner there Once again, like nobody was cold calling, no one's cold calling, like zero competition. Meet this guy out of the property and he's like, yeah, I'll sell these property. I was going to offer him like I forget the number, but he like started at a lower number than what I was going to offer him and I was like, oh shit. I'm like, yeah, let's do it, man. So I ended up getting this deal under contract. My attorney was like. My attorney was like, hey, dude, this is a smoking price. I'm like, yeah, I know, dude, I know I'm a genius, you know I'm going to be the next.
49:11
You know fucking land Baron of orange County and at the time I had a couple of rentals, like nothing crazy, like maybe three rentals, you know. So, um, I'm like, all right, I'm going to buy this thing, I, I'm going to get the financing for it. So I couldn't get financing for this property. I couldn't get. Banks Wouldn't touch it. It was mixed use. Three hard money lenders told me to go fly kite. I didn't want to raise private money because I didn't understand the asset. I didn't want to put someone else's capital at risk in that thing. Find a hard money lender this was a lending one out of Florida. They did me the loan. They were like all right, we'll do it. I'm like, all right, cool, so we find fund. Think I'm a genius. I'm like then there's a corner building you know I own the parking lot next door. Like I think I'm the fucking coolest kid in town by this thing and it's built in 19,. I think it's built in 1910 or 1920. So it's super old and it backs up to this Creek and there's no septic. Sorry, there's no septic tank. There's a? No, sorry, there is a septic tank but there's no leach field. So the septic drains into the Creek and it has a special permit from the state in order to do that Cause normally you know if it's on a septic it's gotta have a leach field, it's got to have a drain system, the whole thing. So this thing has, like the special state permit I knew nothing about, um end up, you know, blowing by it, don't even care about it. So we get this thing.
50:30
I start rehabbing it. Now I'm like doing this like commercial rehab. I think I'm like the smartest kid in town. We got all these apartments are, you know, getting renovated the store. I'm like I need to get the store rented. If we don't rent the store, we're in trouble. So I hire a commercial realtor Like I think I'm like the cool, I think I'm the smartest person in the world at this point.
50:46
I hired a commercial realtor zero comps, no data on what this is going to rent for. It's like a shitty storefront and it's on this busy ass road but there's no other commercial near it. It's just there's a shitload of cars going by. It Loud, old build. This building would rock if, like a car goes by. So we can't get a tenant for the store. After about three months no, two months I go okay, this store is not going to be able to get rented. This is a glorified triplex. At this point this is a glorified triplex. So I tell the commercial realtor I'm like, hey, man, I don't think we can rent this. You know, just cancel the listing for the. You know, for the unit.
51:26
And I'm going to have to pivot. So I called my main realtor up. I go Edwin got to sell this thing. This is a glorified triplex. Put it on the market. Nobody wants it.
51:41
Like, oh shit, didn't see that coming. So then he goes Greg, why don't we rent the three apartments out that you just rehabbed? We'll get some income, we'll stop the bleeding a little bit and we'll sell it with tenants inside. I said, okay, that's fair. So I'm thinking worst case scenario thank God I had enough money to where I could pay off the hard money guy if I really needed to, and I own it cash. And then it's like, fuck it is, it's better than nothing. So that was like I knew I couldn't have gotten slaughtered on it because I had enough money to pay the loan off. Then I would own this building cash and it would have been terrible. But anyway, get tenants inside this property. And now we got three tenants paying pretty good rent for these, these apartments, because they're renovated and we throw it on the market for sale at that point started getting traction.
52:24
So as we're negotiating, the tenants all start getting sick at the same time and I'm like why are they getting sick? Like is there something wrong with the building and so one tenant got so upset with me she like was going. I didn't want her to sue me while I'm trying to sell this thing. So I told her. I said, listen, I'm going to give you all your money back and you can get out of here, and you can, you're going to live for free. Like you live for free for a month. I give her all her money back. She gets out. Get the tenant up. So the tenant downstairs is still in there. She's, she's cool now. She's not no longer sick. I get a mold guy in there. There's no mold, so I knew that was not going to be a huge liability. Tenant upstairs keeps getting sick in the other apartment and I'm like what the fuck?
53:07
Why are they getting sick? Like what the F is going on? So at this point I'm going back and forth from New York to California and now I'm here for the holidays in New York and I'm like physically like local to this property. Now I show up there and cause they called me Cause I was like the de facto manager and they were like it smells so bad in here, Greg it manager, and they were like it smells so bad in here, Greg, it smells so bad. And I'm like, I'm like I don't, okay, let me come over, I go over there. It smells terrible in this property. I'm like. And now, while this is all happening, I have a buyer for 450 at a loss, but I'm still have a buyer, so I'm at least getting out of this thing. That's a 10 K loss.
53:51
So they keep getting sick upstairs. The building smells terrible. I hired a guy in like a hazmat suit to basically come over. I gave the guy money for a turkey sandwich and he went and got lunch while we like Haz matted this property out, and he got the smell out for like two days and then ended up uh, he ended up texting me cause this was like the top floor unit and attic was on the same level. It just was like on another wall the old owner left like four bags, or sorry, the old tenant left four bags of cat shit stewing up in the attic. So that's what got them sick. It was like just basically like breathing and yeah, so I could have gotten like the tenant before all your other tenants before because it was vacant when I bought.
54:23
It had that so that solved one problem, but then ultimately the septic was screwed up thing I was telling you, and the whole house just smelled like shit, like literally fecal matter, like whole thing, and then I couldn't figure out how to fix it. So then I ended up getting this company to fricking. Change this. One little knob on the thing and it obviously went away. I sold it, lost 10 grand and ran out of there with my tail between my legs. I thought I was going to get sued. I thought I was going to lose 50 grand and this is over what a year period or what.
54:55
Not even it was six months, it was like six months of torture, yeah. So this whole time you're probably just second guessing like what I was bugging out? Yeah, cause I was. I was, I didn't know, I didn't understand what was going on. So I had, like super ignorant in that situation and I I was a rookie landlord too at the time, cause I only had like two or three properties besides that one, so I was like holy and I just wanted to sell, I just want to get out, and I had a good cash offer at a loss, but still, like you know, it was cutting your losses at that point, yeah, so the lesson there is buy what you know, and if you're going to venture into something else, you should probably partner up with somebody who's done it before.
55:34 - Preston Zeller (Host)
That's a great point.
55:36 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
If you want, I can tell you the next one, and then it's up to you. Buddy, it's your show.
55:39 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, I know I want to hear the next one. Then we'll shift a bit to where you're at today.
55:45 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Cool. So the last one. The other one is basic. This is this is an easier story realtor, and so I'm going to start the story out with. It is my fault. I made all of these choices and ultimately the buck stops with me. So I'm I don't want to sound like I'm the guy pointing fingers, cause I will be blaming people on the story, but I ultimately made these choices to get myself in this position. So I'm going to start with that, so I don't look like a complete tooth fairy. But so this, really, this realtor I have a huge issue with I'm not going to mention his name Like we got big beef brought me. This house in the Delaware suburbs is in Pennsylvania, but it's in the suburbs of Delaware, and he's like yo, this is a good flip, and I was looking for flips at the time there. I was like I want flip there.
56:30 - Preston Zeller (Host)
What year is this? This is last year.
56:33 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
This was last year, no, two years ago now, because 2025, 2023. Yeah, 2023. But it's really like practically last year, like right. So he brings me the house and Brett, who's my acquisitions guy, is my partner in Delaware. So we split those deals 50-50. And this was his second ever flip.
56:52
And I said, Brett, this guy brought us this house. I'd love to drop his name, but I won't and I said, listen, it's a tight deal. You know, if you want to do this with me 50-50, more than happy to do it with you. We have to put down like this much money to get the hard money loan and it's a tight deal, right, tight deal. It's listed on the MLS and I'm going off of what jackass is telling me, right? So I don't know this market too well. And he's like let's do it, let's do it, bro. Here we go, all right, cool. So this is a tight deal. So if we cannot get this rehab done at this number and it doesn't sell at that number, we will lose money and he goes don't worry, bro, it's a great area for flat flats. I want to fucking strangle this guy Like to this day. I would love to get in a fight with this guy Anyway.
57:44
So we go under contract, we offer, I think, 5k below list and I don't like buying listed houses for this reason, because everyone's seen it already. It's like getting tossed around. Get in the contract, I put it down to deposit like a decent deposit and then in this area you have to do a sewer scope in order to close. That's like special to this Pennsylvania city. So it's right near Philly and I'm like, okay, whatever, pay for the sewer scope, the sewer scope fails, right. So logically you would think, okay, I bought the property, I went into the contract based on X, we do the sewer scope, it fails. Now we have Y. You would assume you'd be able to renegotiate.
58:21
So I tell this realtor I say listen, the sewer failed, this is a big expense. This is a big expense. This is probably $7,000. Like, and it's that's really what it costs to have this happen before many times. California, you know whatever, um, he goes, don't worry bro. Uh, cause this guy had commission, he just wanted to get paid Cause he's an absolute pig. And he's like, don't worry, I know a local plumber who can do it for two grand. I'm like you're telling me you can get this guy to fix this sewer for 2000, when it normally costs seven. I didn't know what I didn't know. I believe this jackass. I don't have an inspection period because he didn't advise me to do that which I should have done because it was on the market.
59:01
It's a listed property. That's very common.
59:04 - Preston Zeller (Host)
It's common anywhere.
59:05 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
So I said let's go, let's go buck wild, close on this thing. Get a hard money loan. I've done that many times so I'm familiar with that. We've got to put down 10% plus paid cash for the rehab. So we're out whatever. We get a contractor in there who's not a great, not a horrible contractor but not a great contractor, like a C player at best, puts together a choppy rehab Property looks terrible.
59:32
The realtor is more interested in going to the beach than trying to sell this house. So while this is going on he botched another flip we had on the sale end. I fired him off that job and said you're a disgrace to this market and this community. I said I'm a man of my word. So I told you I'll give you the Glenn Oldman listing, but it pains me to have to do that so he gets fired off. This other listing that we ultimately sold with another realtor and made a ton of money on this guy. The realtor I'm talking about now screwed up that deal and I fired him because he's horrible, but I still gave him the listing for this house that he brought me Cause.
01:00:07
Like I, I stick to my word. So I said Liam, you got to put on a good. I just mentioned his name. Whatever I said, you got to put on a good performance on this house because it's a tight deal, we need to sell it. He doesn't even pay attention to the rehab. Brett lives like an hour away. He never goes there, which you know. We don't really quit rehabs to begin with because we have a good team usually. So the guy finishes the rehab, he sends me pictures, I pay the contractor, the final, you know draw, and then Liam goes there.
01:00:35
We can blare his name out there's so many Liams out there, but he ends up going there and he doesn't pay attention to details and this house is like pieced together, like super choppy and like the appliances aren't plugged in, like everything is like all screwed up. So he doesn't even call that out, he's just like what's listed? So he lists the property. I think it was Labor Day weekend, which is like terrible time to sell a house goes to the beach, no open houses. And I'm like, oh my God, like this is not going to work out. We've listed at 220, which is super cheap and nobody wants it. And then I look at the comps and I'm like this is really like a 200 house. I don't think it's a 220 house. Completely no open houses, no marketing, no proactiveness. I'm all the way out in California. So like there's nothing I can do in this situation. Brett's like an hour away. He's like pissed, so we end up. You know it sits on the market for like a month. There's zero offers. It looks like crap. I told Liam. I said listen, you're done, you're done, done, done, done, done, done, done. Give me the unconditional release, never call me again.
01:01:35
I call up another realtor who actually sells homes in this community. I said can you please tell me what this house will sell for. She said 200,000. She said you got to put five into it an extra five. I said do you have someone for that? She says yes, so get this done, sell it for 200 in a weekend, lose 20,000. Brett loses 10. I lose 10. Okay, and we said never again will we do a deal like that. And it's not even the money that sucks losing money. But it was the absolute brain damage of a poor team and poor execution and not knowing a local market resulted in that loss. So we avoid those like the plague nowadays.
01:02:21 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, thanks for running that down. I mean, I think you know, something I come back to often just in my head is just like I think everything ultimately is a people problem. It's always a people problem, and so if you can you know, the better you get it. You know, vetting your people and working with the right people and making the right relationships and all that kind of stuff just saves you so much heartache. Communication, obviously.
01:02:48 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
And going back to common sense, like sewer fails, cancel the contract, renegotiate, like there were so many things that I could have done on that deal to prevent the collateral damage.
01:02:57 - Preston Zeller (Host)
And the first thing.
01:02:58 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I should have just said no to it, right yeah. But, yeah, the collateral damage.
01:03:01
And the first thing I should have just said no to it, right, yeah. But yeah, you know, I just was. So. People get so deal. You know, antsy, they just want to do anything to do a deal and in this case I wanted more flips. In that area I broke my rules, I looked past the obvious and I worked with a bad agent, and if you're a flipper you need a really good agent on your team. That makes breaks you, quite frankly For sure. And you know, now I'm very happy that happened, because now I will not make that mistake again. So it's like I'm almost pumped that that happened, because I learned from that experience and we don't do that anymore. So that's how it goes sometimes.
01:03:35 - Preston Zeller (Host)
So what do you? I know you talked about your YouTube channel maybe touch on that and then just kind of like what your goals are. You know next, you know whatever three, five years, however you want to, however far you want to go.
01:03:48 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
So our goal I mean. So I do have a YouTube channel and a podcast. I put out, you know, a couple videos a week. We do some interviews once in a while. You know maybe one or two a month.
01:03:56
I just try to share with people. You know, almost like this podcast, we did like stuff that I've learned that you know comes from 10 years of experience, that you can, you know, listen to or watch, and it can really help save you some time, because I always do a deal breakdown. So I share real properties. Sometimes I give the address out. If it's not like super confidential, I'll talk about the deal like an actual, like recent deal, not like something from 2022, you know. So I share those. I share lessons that I have just learned from the street that you know you would not read it in a textbook like promised, like this is like this is like in the street, one-on-one lesson. So that's the YouTube and the podcast really been growing. It would be getting a lot more views. It's been awesome, really proud of that. And then you know Lena, who works with me. She puts together, she puts together a great product, so that's awesome.
01:04:41
And then, regarding our business listen, I want to keep growing our business consistently. I want to keep getting better at what we're doing. I want to keep maximizing our deals and being better at making more with less not necessarily scaling volume units. And you know, I want to eventually start to get into new construction. I'm doing a rehab right now. That's not new construction but close to new construction, at least from the inside standpoint. So I eventually want to get into that. But right now, with our core business, I want to just keep optimizing it before we ever decide to expand it.
01:05:15 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Yeah, that's a good call, Cool. Any last remaining thoughts maybe that you haven't shared that you wanted to for people listening.
01:05:27 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
Yeah, I think that if you are getting, you're going to get into this business the cheat code, the real cheat code. This is like if you're new and you're listening to this, if you want to bring value to somebody and have a fast track, you should just get good at getting leads and getting potential deals and find somebody in your local market who you can line up with and JV the first five or 10 deals with.
01:05:51
If you do that, I promise you it's like getting on the fast pass at Disney World. Skip the line, because I have new investors. Bring me deals all the time and I'm happy to work with them, whether I buy it from them, if they're a wholesaler or if we wholesale it together. But it's the easiest way to find success without banging your head into the wall. I would tell you to do that. I would tell you to do that because someone who's experienced, who's busy, will always take the time to feel the phone call from a potential partner, whether you're new or not new, it doesn't matter, but that's how you bring value to the market.
01:06:27
So if you're new, I would recommend you get good at bringing value, which is bringing potential opportunities. Leads you know cause, like, for example let's say, someone's new and I promise I'll shut up in a minute, I can talk forever is you get a batch subscription right? You have all this data at your fingertips like hundreds of millions of records. You get really good at finding these, like targeted distress leads on batch that someone who's busy like me does not want to do because we got business to run. You bring those opportunities to an experienced person that they would have never had without you. That's a match made in heaven, because now you guys can do business together and you're going to learn so much just by JV and your deals or just selling them to that guy, whatever, um you're going to learn about all the deals.
01:07:12
How does it work? How does title work? You know how does the escrow work, you know. So that's what I would tell new people. It's like just align with somebody and bring them value, and value in this case, is leads, and I'm telling you that'll really help you get the fast track.
01:07:28 - Preston Zeller (Host)
Awesome. Well, thanks, Greg. I appreciate your time today and it's good to learn from you. Got some funny stories, man. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
01:07:35 - Greg Helbeck (Guest)
I was just scratching the surface. I appreciate it, man. That was a lot of fun. I don't talk this much on interviews, but you cracked me open.
01:07:43 - Hope (Announcement)
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