Quitting your full-time job to pursue real estate can be scary. But real estate investor Calvin Chin knew he had to make that leap. Previously working a high-paying tech sales job, he is now engaged in buying multifamily properties and helping other beginner real estate investors through his Zen Coast University. Find out in today’s episode about Calvin’s real estate journey and what drove him to get to where he is now.
You’d think having a high-paying job would be enough. But Calvin wanted to find his purpose and have an impact on the world. He enjoyed working for Oracle selling HRIS software, but he knew he was just trading his time for money.
His then-girlfriend dragged him to attend a conference which later changed his life. From there, he realized how much real estate made sense. Compared to starting your own business, real estate was less risky, can be done by the average person, and had many ways for anyone to make money.
So in 2015, he decided to get into real estate investing. For Calvin, real estate was a vehicle to be able to live the life he wanted to live.
The first house Calvin bought was his own personal place that he’d planned to house hack. He knew he needed to get his own finances right first by lowering his expenses and increasing his income.
Calvin bought the 1 bedroom, 1 den condominium, which had a mortgage of $2,000. He rented it out to a couple of hackers for $1,200. From that property, Calvin would net $800 a month.
Then Calvin moved to get into out-of-state real estate investing. At that time, he had a fear brought by thinking about what could go wrong. But he realized that by understanding where the fear comes from, he’d be able to accept it and move forward.
His motto this year is to “feel comfortable getting uncomfortable”. The way Calvin sees it, there would always be new fears that come up as he scales up. But if something doesn’t scare you even a little bit, then it isn’t worth it.
Everyone has limiting beliefs. What matters is being able to take action because there is a ton of free information out there that anyone can get.
Like everyone starting out, Calvin dealt with imposter syndrome during his first year or two. He was trying to figure out his identity after previously being the tech sales guy. Making the switch had made him question who he truly is.
What helped Calvin was tricking his subconscious into thinking that he is already the person he wanted to be. Call it dressing for the job you want. But by doing this, he was able to start seeking out the opportunities that got him to where he is now.
Calvin bought single-family homes in Texas, Dallas, and San Antonio. His portfolio reached 20+ units. But then after spending 6 months on a BRRR project that ended up cashflowing for only $100, he started to think about how many single-family houses he would need to get to where he wanted to be.
He realized that he needed to get into multifamily to get a better chance of reaching his dreams. So by surrounding himself with people who were already doing it, Calvin gained the confidence to do it.
His first multifamily had him cash flowing for $3,000 and he had put in the same amount of effort he had been putting into single-family homes.
When it came to finding deals, Calvin relied on his network and relationships with his brokers. To build those relationships, he made sure to have a 48 hour response time and gave feedback on why he can or cannot do the deal.
This showed brokers that first, he respected their time and didn’t want to waste it. Second, he gave them the impression that he is someone who could execute and close on a deal.
Doing the due diligence when analyzing his commercial deals is all about verifying information. At the end of the day, you want to know what the real income of a property actually is.
So what Calvin does is he verifies the data indicated in the pro forma statements to make sure he got all his ducks in a row. Calvin wants to know what his net operating income will be, how much the renovation will cost, how much he can raise rents, etc.
He does this because he is focused on stabilization. Usually, Calvin uses a recourse or bridge loan to purchase the property with a 20% down payment. Then later he will refinance with a non-recourse loan that doesn’t have prepayment penalties. The end goal is to get his money back in a year.
Calvin makes sure he starts his day by building the right habits. By 8 am, he gets into a call with his team and spends half of the day working on the investment side of his business. Then he’ll move to message people such as his brokers. Later, he’ll move to work at his Zen Coast University where he talks to his students and coaches.
His day ends with 3 hours devoted to himself and spending quality time with his fiance, real estate investor Jennie Lok.
Working with a girlfriend, fiance, or wife is very different from a business partner or working with a close friend. Calvin found that communication or sometimes even over-communication is needed.
Luckily, in the 6 ½, almost 7 years he’s been together with his fiance, they’ve never had many huge arguments. Both of them have been pretty level-headed. Calvin maintains that they follow a rule that if something wouldn’t matter in 5 years, then they won’t dwell on it for more than 5 minutes.
Since we all make mistakes, Calvin advises partners to talk it out and share each other’s side because both need to remember that they’re working towards the same thing.
Calvin started Zen Coast University with his fiance to help people and enable them to reach their dreams. Real estate investing enabled them to fill their cup, so now, they want to give back.
Since they had done so well in real estate, they considered it their gift, their superpower that they’ll now use to make their impact. Calvin shares that there’s no greater feeling than seeing the transformation in people.
Their idea for the university is to teach people to create passive income to generate passive impact. They promote and encourage the community and have everyone help and support each other.
The way Calvin sees it, you never know where deals can come from, so as long as you show up as a genuine authentic person then the universe will take care of other things.
Calvin’s goal for each of his students is to be able to affirm who they are and at the end of 6 months, be confident and empowered to take action.
To those interested in joining Zen Coast University, know that the ideal student for them is someone who wants to do this and give back. Calvin is a big believer in karma. He believes that what you put out there is what you get back.
So Calvin wants to know your ‘why’ or reason for wanting to get into real estate. Those who just want to be filthy, stinking rich would not be aligned with what they’re teaching.
Calvin wants his students to understand that it’s about filling their own cup first so they can give back later
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