WS790: Active Duty Time Management For Multi-Family Success with Hersh Rai & Nicholas Vu

What were you doing when you were 23? Hersh Rai and Nicholas Vu are exceptional examples of what you can achieve if you have a passion that you are willing to dedicate yourself to, no matter your age. They are fueled largely by one another, as well as by the inspiration they draw from their immigrant parents who overcame many hardships while building their lives in America. Hersh and Nicholas have both graduated from the US Naval Academy, are pursuing Master’s degrees at Purdue University, and are well on their way to completing their first deal as multifamily real estate investors.

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In this episode, we discuss the elements that Hersh and Nicholas believe are key to success, such as time management, open lines of communication, and utilizing technology to one’s full advantage. Hersh and Nicholas see failure as a learning opportunity and they openly discuss the reasons why their first few deals have been unsuccessful and how this has only left them feeling more confident about the success of completing the current one. The choices that they make are always driven by their deep desire to give back. We are excited to see what the future holds for this dynamic duo and once you’ve listened to this episode you’ll be rooting for them too!

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Hersh and Nicholas explain why they decided to get into real estate while in the process of obtaining Master’s degrees (and after graduating from the US Naval Academy). 
  • How their drive to give back guided their decision to choose to specialize in multifamily with the Veteran Pride Investment Group. 
  • The ways in which good time management have helped the team be much more efficient and effective. 
  • The importance of an open line of communication and working together as a team to get things done. 
  • Details regarding the current deal that Hersh and Nicholas are focused on at the moment. 
  • The sources they use to find the places that they want to invest in. 
  • Their passion and eagerness to learn has helped them move quickly up the ladder at Veteran Pride Investment Group, and their goal is to continue to climb.
  • The most challenging things they have experienced in the real estate world and their optimistic view of these uncompleted deals. 
  • Why going through a broker has worked out better for them than direct to seller deals. 
  • The importance of getting financial documents upfront, and having a lawyer. 
  • Always be prepared for a downturn; underwrite conservatively and run everything by investors that you trust.
  • The struggles that Hersh and Nicholas’s parents went through as immigrants have inspired the two men to make a name for themselves. 
  • Hersh and Nicholas highly recommend making exercise part of your daily routine. 
  • The benefits of utilizing the technology that is available for all elements of your workstream. 

[bctt tweet=”As members of the military ourselves, it kind of hurts us knowing that there are people like homeless veterans who just don’t have a place to live. And we kind of want to give back to the community in some way. — Nicholas Vu” username=”whitney_sewell”]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Hersh Rai on LinkedIn

Nicholas Vu on LinkedIn

Veteran Pride Investment Group

United States Naval Academy

Purdue University

Trello

ABD Brokers

Cashflow Cowboy

ListSource by CoreLogic

Active Duty Passive Income

Colby Bowers

Morning Brew

Robinhood Snacks

Slack

Meetup

Zoom

GroupMe

Tesla

About Hersh Rai

Hersh Rai is a Managing Partner of Veteran Pride Investment Group where he focuses on asset management, acquisitions, and investor relations. He also focuses on creating streamlined processes to create efficient operational flow through the use of technological solutions. In addition, Hersh is a co-host of the Multifamily Opportunities via Values, Education, and Socialization Meetup (MOVES) which is a virtual meetup that aims to teach people about multifamily investing. The show provides a platform for guest speakers to educate attendees on topics related to business and real estate investing. He hopes to use multifamily investing to inspire and serve others to achieve financial freedom and give back to his local community.

Beyond multifamily investing, Hersh is an active duty Naval Officer who specializes in Cryptologic Warfare. Currently, he is pursuing his Master’s degree at Purdue University in Computer and Information Technology. His research efforts are in support of the Department of Defense (DoD). Hersh holds a dual B.S. in Computer Science and Information Technology from the United States Naval Academy. He graduated in May 2019.

About Nicholas Vu

Nicholas Vu is a Managing Partner of Veteran Pride Investment Group where he focuses on asset management, underwriting, and due diligence. He also focuses on inventing and identifying creative solutions to increase asset revenue. In addition, Nick is a co-host of the Multifamily Opportunities via Values, Education, and Socialization Meetup (MOVES) which is a virtual meetup that aims to teach people about multifamily investing. The show provides a platform for guest speakers to educate attendees on topics related to business and real estate investing. He hopes to best provide for his investors, partners, and tenants by creating transparent and trustful relationships. Through multifamily investing, Nick hopes to have a positive impact on the communities in the areas where he invests.

Beyond multifamily investing, Nick is an active duty Naval Officer who will be going to Pensacola, FL to attend flight school in pursuit of becoming a Navy Pilot. Currently, he is pursuing his Master’s degree at Purdue University in Mechanical Engineering. His research efforts are in support of the Department of Defense (DoD). Nick holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. He graduated in May 2019.

Full Transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Real Estate Syndication Show. Whether you are a seasoned investor or building a new real estate business, this is the show for you. Whitney Sewell talks to top experts in the business. Our goal is to help you master real estate syndication. 

And now your host, Whitney Sewell. 

[INTERVIEW]

[0:00:23.1] WS: This is your daily Real Estate Syndication Show. I’m your host, Whitney Sewell. Today, our guests are Hersh Rai and Nicholas Vu. Welcome to the show, guys.

[0:00:33.6] HR: Thanks so much for having us, Whitney. A pleasure to be here.

[0:00:36.1] NV: Thanks so much. I’m really glad to be here as well.

[0:00:38.4] WS: Hersh and Nicholas are managing partners of Veteran Pride Investment Group, a commercial real estate firm focused on market rate and affordable housing acquisitions. Both Hersh and Nick are graduates from the United States Naval Academy and are currently studying at Purdue University for their master’s degrees prior to operational service. They found their passion in commercial real estate due to aligned values with the Veteran Pride Investment Group mission through helping within communities via impact investing. Currently, the firm donates 20% of its profits to nationally recognized veteran and first responder charities.

Guys, welcome to the show. I just want to be the first to say thank you for your service, just very grateful for that. I understand the commitment that’s required to make that happen and look forward to hearing more about that, and just this transition and how you’re growing your real estate business, doing all these things at the same time. I know the listeners, getting into this business, everybody’s wondering how do I manage all these things? How do I make this happen? You all have a great testimony to juggling all those plates at the same time. But give us a little more about who you all are and what you’re up to right now and let’s dive into who you are and your business.

[0:01:49.5] HR: Sure. Thanks, Whitney, for having us. Pleasure to be here in your great show. And we’re really looking forward to a great conversation. So, I’m Hersh Rai. I am originally from India, but born and raised in New Hampshire for the past 22 years. I went to the Naval Academy, like you said, and I graduated as a cryptologic warfare officer in commission, now pursuing my Master’s in Computer and Information Technology. And while I’ve been at Purdue, I’ve had the opportunity to explore a lot of self-interested growth. And through that, I found real estate investing, specifically commercial multifamily, focusing on syndication and joint venture partnerships. And I’ve been able to establish a lot of great relationships and lifelong connections along the way. So, I’m really excited to share my story with you guys.

[0:02:30.8] NV: And I’m Nicholas Vu. I guess I was originally from Redondo Beach, California, which is a beach town just outside Los Angeles. And yeah, like Hersh, just similar to Hersh, I went to the Naval Academy, and now here at Purdue pursuing Master’s in Mechanical Engineering. Yeah, I guess as Hersh mentioned, we both kind of got interested in real estate because we had an interest in finance and stuff like that starting off. And as members of the military, we learned about the VA load and some of there benefits that we as military members have and it kind of got us a foot in the door into real estate, but it was until we kind of got exposed to commercial multifamily through the [inaudible 0:03:08.9] group and through other members in there, who kind of taught us that people like us can also invest in commercial multifamily. And we were really fortunate to find Veteran Pride Investment Group and be able to align ourselves with that mission and really dive headfirst into commercial multifamily. And now we have potentially deal under contract and we’re excited to get started in this business. And we’re really excited to really grow in this space and continue learning, honestly.

[0:03:36.1] WS: So, guys, why pursue a multifamily business right now when you all are on active duty, you’re working, and also pursuing your Master’s? I mean, you have so much going on. Why right now?

[0:03:47.9] HR: Sure. That’s a great question. So, we like to bring it back to August of 2019. Nick and I first stepped onto campus at Purdue and we realized that we had only class, I think I class twice a week, Nick had a class three times a week, if I’m not wrong, and we were just like, it’s a lot of time that we have to ourselves outside of the normal academy time. From waking up at 5:30, to sleeping at the wee hours of the morning before you have to wake up again and do it all over.

Being at Purdue, we really had the opportunity to explore other interests, like I said, and it allowed us to branch into other areas. Graduate school is very self-focused and self-directed. So, it’s what you make of your time is the best use of your time. Working on classes and doing your thesis, I’m not going to say it wasn’t as much work as the academy but there is a little bit more free time not having as many military obligations during the day. So, that allowed us the time and the energy and to build our knowledge into the business and to really identify what kind of area we want to focus on in real estate and to achieve financial literacy growth.

[0:04:47.7] NV: And to add onto that, we kind of realized the benefits of multifamily pretty early on, like how economies of scale could let you really grow your business a lot quicker and also honestly make a bigger impact because you mentioned the Veteran Pride Investment Group, they donate 20% of the profits back to charities. And as members of the military ourselves, it kind of hurts us knowing that there are people like homeless veterans who just don’t have a place to live. And we kind of want to give back to the community in some way, either through direct donations to these charities or by benefiting the community by improving the areas and even potentially provide housing for some of these places.

So, we found out that by aligning with this company, we could actually make bigger impacts with this little time we have here. So, we really liked multifamily because of those reasons.

[0:05:37.2] WS: Nice. We’re going to talk about like finding deals and getting a deal, like your current deal under contract a little bit, but speak to a little bit about just managing your time, and how to make that happen? And we’ll get into maybe deal sourcing a little bit while doing all these other things. But how do you manage your time? How do you all communicate? How do you know who’s doing what, things like that?

[0:05:55.4] NV: Yeah, definitely. So, honestly, Google Calendar and Trello have been super helpful. Just being able to – time block schedule because, yes, as Hersh mentioned, going from the Academy to here, there’s a lot more fluidity and flexibility. And honestly, kind of more rope to hang yourself with. So, there were some times early on when I just slept, like until 10 and stuff and didn’t really utilize my time to the best of its ability. So, I’ve learned to kind of block out certain times like, okay, this time is dedicated for real estate and this time is dedicated for my research. And then, okay, maybe night times has some meetings, reading some books, do that kind of stuff. So, I really learned how to kind of – honestly, people say time blocking, but really just getting your calendar out and finding which times of the days you have free to do what you need to do.

And with Trello, we’ve kind of started picking that up recently, but be able to find out each deal, see which stage it’s at and kind of allocate certain parts like, okay, this underwriting right now with me afterwards, if it’s current deal, for example, I’ll be contacting the broker and then while Hersh is going contacting ABD Brokers to get financing. So, we kind of have certain roles in our team that really help each other out. And from that kind of flow, I guess, we’re able to manage this best to our ability.

[0:07:14.4] HR: Yeah, I like to add onto that, Whitney, that our major concepts all boil down to time management, coming from a military school or military academy, you learn how to definitely effectively manage your time, whether it’s working on the weekends, while you’re over there and try to find the two-hour window to relax, or whether you have to power through your capstone, in order to get to the finish line before graduation over there.

There’s a lot of different avenues to explore with time management, and you know, the failures, they’re not failures, they’re learning opportunities, which will help you structure how you move forward. And we’ve kept an open line of communication with our team, whether it be on a group chat, Google Drive is our lifeline. We use that coordinate a lot of different projects and tasks, as well as Trello. So, it’s using the technology that’s available to you, and trying to keep that open line of communication. If one of us can’t do something that day, then one of us will pick up the slack and try to make sure that we’re all doing our fair share to make sure that the deal is able to cross the finish line at the end of the day.

[0:08:12.1] WS: Well, speak about this current deal, maybe how you found it, how you’re doing some deal sourcing? 

[0:08:17.6] HR: The current deal we’re working on, it’s a small project over in Indianapolis, we actually got it from an off-market broker relationship that we have. Those guys are also similar to [inaudible 0:08:28:0], they’re 23, and they’re known as the Cashflow Cowboy, shout out to Zach and Justin for all the hard work you guys put in. They’re a great team and Nick and I built a relationship with them pre-COVID, just on some phone calls and we really got to know them, who they are, what they’re about. And they had said, “Hey, we have an off-market property coming to fruition here in Indianapolis in a great neighborhood, if I have to say.” We were able to go toward the asset, place an offer. And we were actually just got the accepted LOI yesterday. So, now we’re working on the project to go under contract here, hopefully by the end of the week.

So, that’s how we got that deal. But we do have a multitude of other deals that we have sourced direct to seller, and Nick, if you want to touch on those.

[0:09:10.0] NV: Sure. We got a lot [inaudible 0:09:11:0] deals, and we started off by doing a lot of cold calling. So, kind of just going through a list, numbers, and calling each and every single one of them and seeing if they’re interested in selling. I mean, there’s some direct mail marketing as well. And we found some success in that, we did go into contract for another property once but one fell through doing due diligence and had other issues as well. But we’re still optimistic about it because we’re trying to expand there through cold calling, not just to Indianapolis, but also markets like Memphis, Arkansas, and we have a few lists and places lined up that we’re interested in investing in.

[0:09:47.1] WS: Where do you find these lists?

[0:09:49.3] HR: The lists come from two places, Whitney. The first one is going to be ListSource, by CoreLogic. It’s a really great resource that a lot of different investors use and what we like to do is we like to put in our criteria, ListSource does a really great job of allowing you to put in 20 plus units, the vintage, is there a lien on the property or not? Is it owned outright? That’s one way we get our list.

The other one is just local tax assessor’s offices. You’d be surprised the amount of information that these tax assessor offices have and are willing to give you. Some of them might require you to pay, but for most of our [inaudible 0:10:22:0] , if you find the right person on the right day, they’re willing to share with you some information, whether it be on the tax structure, how they classify their properties. I mean, for example, where we are at school at Purdue, we did look at student housing for a while, we contacted the local tax assessor, and we said, “Hey, can you share us any apartment that’s over five units?” And they said, “Hey, we can do it based on 20 units, 30 units, 40 units.” And they were pretty accurate with their numbers and they were able to guide us through that process, and how we can pull this off their site. So, it all depends on finding the right person at the right time to be able to guide you through that process.

[0:10:56.7] WS: Tell us a little bit about just the relationship with say, the Veteran Pride Investment Group, how that works, as far as you all partnering with that group.

[0:11:05.4] NV: So, I guess, it kind of started off, honestly, like, almost a year ago to the day, honestly. So, as I mentioned, we’re active in the Active Duty Passive Income group, and we kind of found Veteran Pride Investing Group, kind of like on a whim, we found that the owner right now it’s Colby. We kind of just reached out to him and said, “Hey, we are young and eager to learn. We know you have a bunch of holdings, and we want to honestly, just to learn from you.” And from that relationship we built with him, we kind of started off as like underwriters and then by adding value to the team, honestly, he kind of saw that we have this passion and this eagerness to learn, he kind of like took us under his wing and started to teach us more and more about the business. And yeah, I guess we started off as like a junior underwriter but by adding value to the team, we kind of became full time members. We’re actually in talks right now to actually officially legally join the group, be part time owners of the company as well.

So, it’s kind of a really, really cool for us starting off. That’s [inaudible 0:12:04.4] and honestly just by hustling, and by putting the effort in, we are able to learn more about the business and really become involved in the group.

[0:12:13.6] WS: So, you ultimately, you gained some mentorship, it sounds like a little bit, but then also probably other parts of the deal process that maybe you don’t have yet. Would that be accurate?

[0:12:25.3] HR: Yeah, I would definitely agree with that, Whitney. I would say, Colby brought us in as a mentorship role initially, and it was more of a learning opportunity to start out with, finding ways that we can add value to the business, whether it’s going to be deal sourcing, underwriting, capital raising, all the pillars that are involved with getting multifamily deals through the finish line, and then incorporating your business plan. But I would say that we are still learning, we’re definitely not experts in this field by any means. We still have to go through a full deal cycle, whether it be a syndication or joint venture, but we are continuously learning, educating ourselves, connecting with other investors who have been successful in the space, through ‘08 or even before then, and listening to a podcast such as yours, just getting the perspective and making sure that we’re able to hear multiple facets, whether it’s successes, failures, or everything in between. We’re just trying to make sure that we can get every single perspective so we don’t make the same mistakes, but we also could teach people on the way.

[0:13:21.2] WS: It’s awesome. We talk often on the show about having that mentorship or partners partnering, things like that, and how that just speeds your success up so much and gives you so much more confidence, because you have somebody in the ring with you that’s been there and done that, and has had to fight many battles ahead of you, so it gives you confidence. Guys, what’s really been the hardest part of this journey getting to this first deal?

[0:13:47.6] HR: Yeah, I can touch on that a little bit. I mean, the hardest part is seeing a great deal collapse. Like Nick said, we’ve had two properties now in Indianapolis that, one we put under due diligence, and one that we were pretty close to putting under contract that was over the span of five months, that property owner had just taken his time over the summer to spend with his family, which is very respectable, but at the end of the day, the price was risen about 25% and we weren’t able to come to terms. 

But I’d say the most frustrating thing for sure is just seeing a deal go through due diligence, and then you identify a lot of different problems with the property, this deal, this 39 unit that we’re talking about, it had a lot of deferred maintenance, typical slumlording is what you can call it and they’d owned it 28 years out right, but seeing that fall through after all that hard work was a little frustrating but we just said, “Okay. It’s a learning opportunity.” We learned a great deal through due diligence, meeting inspectors, meeting contractors, learning how to walk the units from our experienced team, and we just took that and said, “All right, we’re going to apply it to the next one.”

COVID has made it really tough, obviously. People are overpaying for a lot of properties, but we trusted our numbers and we hope that we found the right deal now with the one that we’re pursuing.

[0:15:04.0] WS: Why did that one fall through?

[0:15:05.4] NV: That one fell through because honestly, they were not really truthful about a lot of things. So, they’d say, “Oh, we replaced all the roofs recently, all these capex already taken care of.” But we’ve got a roof inspector out there who said we had to replace all the roofs. A lot of the foundation issues. This place didn’t even have gutters. So, definitely, just 28 years of neglect, I guess. The floors were caving in. And they just weren’t honest with us. They’d go, “Oh, we replaced all the HVAC systems a couple years ago.” But they definitely didn’t look like that.

[0:15:37.9] WS: Wow.

[0:15:37.4] NV: And it took them a lot of months to send us like all the financials, all the information that we needed. So, that ended up falling through, but again, we had a really good lawyer who protected us essentially, [inaudible 0:15:51:5], even after due diligence. So, it was really good for that case.

Honestly, this deal that we’re getting off a broker is just a breath of fresh air because we knew the sellers and the brokers very well, so kind of that relationship, we’ve got a trust that we’ve built with them. They’ve been super responsive to us and yeah, honestly, this has been a lot, this experience has been a lot better than direct to seller. I guess, pros and cons of direct to seller is you don’t have that intermediary, and you kind of have to trust their word on a lot of things. And I guess, again, like with mom and pop shops, they might not have the best accounting and information up front. We had to sit in a hotel room with all utility bills, and like month-to-month statements and break down and push maker on T12, and to really verify what they actually because we just didn’t trust them.

[0:16:43.6] WS: What a great learning experience right there. Wow. I mean, I think that really paid you all so much moving forward. In the moment it’s so frustrating, right? But that broker relation is so important and can provide so much value. I know you can find deals sometimes, maybe get them cheaper without going through a broker potentially. But however, most of our deals have been through brokers and I don’t know where we’d have been without some of those relationships. So, yeah, they helped that seller kind of get prepared, right mentally, for what’s about to happen. We need these documents. We need this information. So, that can be handed to you, the buyer. But tell us what would you have done different now on that deal and now that you know what you know?

[0:17:23.1] HR: That deal is very, very unique. Those sellers were not as sophisticated. Nick and I actually had a chance to go look at the property prior to putting it under contract. What we saw was a land of opportunity, when we first visited. We weren’t able to go see any of the inside of the units and Nick and I, having six months of experience, but not actually having the experience of going through a deal, we assessed it, and we thought it was pretty good. But I would say definitely be more demanding up front about trying to get the right financial documents to actually underwrite before you put something under contract. I think, just like Nick said, there’s a lot of different discrepancies that happened with this ownership. And I mean, they gave us a rent roll on the back of a napkin. That’s no lie. He basically went to his car, and he brought it out and he said, “Here’s my rent roll.” And we said, “Okay, great. We’ll be in touch.”

So, I think it’s just keeping a clear line of communication open and using a lawyer from the get go, we had used a lawyer to the PSA process, but I would even say to maintain communication for any direct to seller relationship. It’s important to have a good attorney who’s going to be in your backcourt to really solidify, what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and what can get you to the finish line.

[0:18:31.8] WS: How do you all prepare for a potential downturn?

[0:18:34.8] NV: Rob once said, we underwrite as if there’s always going to be a downturn. So, we usually increase cap rates, assuming it’s going to be expanding. We increase vacancies, especially during like renovations, and honestly, rent bumps have been slowed down for the first couple years. Definitely, there’s a potential for a downturn, especially with the volatility of things like coronavirus and elections and stuff like that. I mean, everyone says they underwrite conservatively, I guess that’s the one we count for that. 

The other is that we have a pretty good communication with their investors and what they want, and the criteria that they need. So, we kind of work with them, see the business plan and kind of work with our product managers, investors, and everyone to find the best course moving forward.

[0:19:20.6] HR: The other thing I would add, Whitney, real quick, is that any deal that does meet our initial underwriting criteria, we immediately bring it to a trusted investor in the market or our in-market team, whether it be our property manager, or our experienced attorney, especially in Indianapolis. We’re able to walk through and say, “Hey, is this realistic? What do you think this can be?” Because they are on the headline, on the front lines right now, dealing with COVID, dealing with collections, rent issues, maintenance issues. They are the ones who are really getting into the nitty and gritty of things. So, hearing their perspective and saying, “Okay, maybe a $50 rent bump from years one and two is not possible, but let’s do it over two years at $25 a year. That’s a little bit more doable in the current market.

So, just verifying and being able to backtrack with your team is super important, especially for your in-market team.

[0:20:08.5] WS: Guys, I believe anyone that’s successful in this business has a high level of self-discipline. How did you all gain such a high level of self-discipline?

[0:20:15.9] NV: Just a lot from our upbringing. I guess, even starting at childhood, I come from a first-generation American family. My dad went through the Vietnam War as a refugee and I came here by luck honestly, and to see him going from not knowing any English to where he is today, seeing how, his hard work inspired me as a young kid to really make a name for myself. And then on the military background, went to Naval Academy, we we’re kind of, they forced discipline on you too, like you start off as a little [inaudible 0:20:45.5] where you run around and get yelled at for getting little things wrong. So, kind of instilling discipline in a different way, kind of like the military standards. And then, I guess, now, we get discipline by a mixture of pushing ourselves. Hersh is actually my roommate as well and we get see each other every day.

So, I get to push him, he pushes me for doing things like, “Hey, have you done this yet?” And just the fact that we have a good partnership, we could bounce ideas off each other and really help each other out, which I think is really helpful in this business as well.

[0:21:19.8] HR: Yeah, and for me, personally, same thing. I was born in India, but you know, moved here when I was four months old, and hearing my parents’ story, especially my father’s when he moved to the United States with $50 in his pocket, and tried to make a name for himself, to the successes that him and my mom have reached today are just tremendous to see. Growing up, they always said, “Don’t take any opportunity for granted. You are in a place where you don’t have to walk maybe 50 miles to school every day, or you don’t have to go through a lot of hardships that people face in those third world developing countries, such as India, Vietnam, wherever it may be.” We’re just extremely thankful for the opportunities that we’ve been presented and being able to give back and serve.

I know, Nick and I are very passionate about that, that’s why we chose to go to the academy and developing our military discipline there, as you know, Whitney, thank you for your service as well, we appreciate it. That is what really set the tone, I think, moving the momentum forward into graduate school. Having that grounded outlook on opportunity perspective, being in the military has really solidified our position to be able to be self-disciplined, and to continue doing what we’re doing on top of graduate school and moving on to an active duty career.

[0:22:26.7] WS: Give me a daily habit that you all have that you’re disciplined about doing that’s helped you achieve success up to this point.

[0:22:33.4] HR: For me, it’s two things. One, I read the Morning Brew and Robinhood Snacks every day, it’s just a really great way for me to get started with my day, getting a apolitical view of what’s happening in the world, whether it’s the economic cycle, market trends, or just the general outlook of domestic news in the United States. And the other thing I would say is, working out, finding a time to really get active and making sure that you’re able to clear your mind and step away from the world that is virtual now, whether it’s your phone, whether it’s your computer, whether it’s your tablet, whatever people are using nowadays to communicate, it’s important that you aren’t sedentary all day. You’ll find in a lot of jobs now that people are sitting around and doing their thing on their computer, and then they go to their kitchen, get some food, they come back to their desk working from home, and that’s the extent of how far they go. But I would just say, getting active for 30 to 60 minutes a day and trying to keep yourself energized through working out is something that I definitely take into account.

[0:23:30.7] NV: As for me, I wake up every day and I have a dog to take care. It kind of motivates me to wake up, I guess, and do something because I have a pretty high active, high energy dog, that Hersh understands. A dog it’s just a full of energy, essentially. You kind of wake up, burn off that energy either through a run or on the lazy days just throw a ball around and really have a time alone just outside and just enjoy my dog, honestly. I guess, I’m also in a long-distance relationship. So, every morning it’s her nighttime. So, when she finishes at work so I got like a nice little phone call in the morning and then kind of get ready for the day. Look at my quick calendar, see what needs to get done and get a cup of coffee and start working on a little checklist I needed to do. I rely back on my time blocks. Okay, so this time, like this morning, I do this thing and then in the afternoon, I got to go to the lab and run a boiling experiment for eight hours or something and then come back, maybe have a meeting or something like that.

So, really, just things like a little morning routine, then maybe hopefully get a workout later in the day as well, and once I get back, I guess have different meetings. We have weekly meetings with our team, maybe even more often than that so get ready for this as well.

[0:24:46.5] WS: What’s a way you all recently improved your business that we can apply hours?

[0:24:49.3] HR: I would say, streamlining and utilizing technology to the best of its ability. A lot of people are caught up in the email meltdown, is what I like to call it. Everyone is emailing every single thing and they expect you to keep track of, “Okay, you need to contact this group over here, we have a meeting with this potential partnership over here, we have an investor meeting on this day.” I wanted to say that it’s extremely important to make sure you utilize your calendar, have a clear line of communication, whether it be via iMessage, group chat, GroupMe, WhatsApp, but then also using a software Slack or Trello, where you’re able to keep track of the business day-to-day operations. Whether it’s looking at, “Okay, who’s taking the forefront on the lending side of this deal? Who’s taking the forefront on getting the, getting property management and setting the walkthroughs on this deal?”

So, I would just say, streamlining your technology use and making sure that you’re able to utilize technology to the best of its offerings, is what I would say.

[0:25:48.7] WS: What’s your best source for meeting new investors right now?

[0:25:51.3] NV: Probably LinkedIn for sure. LinkedIn, Zoom, and meetup.com.

[0:25:55.8] HR: Yeah, LinkedIn, Zoom, and meetup.com, as well as Nick and I have a little bit of a unique perspective, just because coming from the Naval Academy, we had a lot of buddies, from high school, or wherever that we had met in our past, in our previous years, that are now doing things in normal W-2s. We have friends who are working on Wall Street. We have friends who are doing big tech over in Austin and Tesla. So, getting to meet them, learning what they’re doing, and potentially teaching them about multifamily. They are busy working professionals now, it’s hard to say that as a 23-year-old saying that my friends are like that. But we’ve all grown so it’s also about tapping into our own networks and preparing for people who are making or who might want to invest liquid in cash in a forefront. So, I would say that as well.

[0:26:41.6] WS: How do you all like to give back?

[0:26:43.4] NV: We mentioned the company. We donate a portion back to charities. Hersh can answer the part of that.

[0:26:51.0] HR: So, any community that I grew up in or I live in, I really believe in the impact of giving back to that community. So, when I came to Purdue initially, I immediately, I have an affinity towards healthcare. My mom is associated with healthcare and medicine. I have a lot of family members who are as well and I decided, hey, I want to go volunteer at the local hospital for three to six hours a week, just to give my time back to a community that’s given me the opportunity to educate myself and better myself.

So, I worked in the ER for three to six hours a week pre-COVID. They aren’t letting anyone and now, if you’re not a licensed hospital employee, but working in the emergency room for three to six hours a week, taking care of patients, assisting the staff, the nurses, the doctors, the MAs and whoever else might be there is definitely a very, very humbling thing to see and being able to give back to the community is super important to us.

[0:27:41.5] WS: Awesome. Guys, thank you all for sharing the way you gave back and grateful for just giving back today and helping us to think through and realize how you all have even gotten to this first deal. But even going through a deal that didn’t make it as well, and it seems, I know at the time, so disappointing. But it sounds like, I just think you all learned so much, it’s going to help you all in the future. I know it’s hard to see that right now, probably, but no doubt. I know my first deal was the worst and I always think that that helped us so much. It was like our own university, I call it. But it helped us so much moving forward and I think that deal will do the same for you all, but grateful to have met you all. Thank you again for your service and just your time with us today. Tell the listeners how they can get in touch with you and learn more about you.

[0:28:23.0] NV: You can reach us out on LinkedIn. Look into Nicholas Vu. There are other ones maybe, look up Navy or Purdue as well, but you’ll be able to find me there.

[0:28:32.4] HR: Yeah, for me, it’s Hersh Rai, it will be in the show notes. I’m the Hersh Rai on LinkedIn, so shouldn’t have any problem finding me. If you can’t find Nick, just go through all my connections, you’ll find him.

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[0:28:43.1] WS: Don’t go yet, thank you for listening to today’s episode. I would love it if you would go to iTunes right now and leave a rating and written review. I want to hear your feedback. It makes a big difference in getting the podcast out there. You can also go to the Real Estate Syndication Show on Facebook so you can connect with me and we can also receive feedback and your questions there that you want me to answer on the show. 

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[OUTRO]

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