The first real estate check I got was for $1500, and in some ways it still feels like the biggest check I’ve ever gotten because it was proof that wholesaling works. It was such a massive win for my mindset and it gave me the courage to keep pushing forward as I built my investing business.

Cornelius has had some big wins in the last 7 weeks with 2 houses under contract and 2 more in escrow, but it wasn’t always like this for him. Both he and his wife have full-time jobs, plus a new baby, and sometimes it’s hard for him to consistently work on his business.

The way we teach our students about wholesaling totally works for anyone, especially for those in the nine-to-five grind. You’re going to be inspired by how creative Cornelius has been able to get once he had a solid system in place.

If you’re struggling to be consistent or you need some help creating a system, you need to remember that if you don’t change, then you won’t get different results. Set up a call today to see if we’d be a good fit to get your real estate business on the road to success.

Watch the Episode:

What’s Inside:

  • How Cornelius used a Facebook group to find an investing partner.
  • If you’re still holding down a day job, it can sometimes be hard to work consistently in your real estate business.
  • How do you know if you have a VA problem or a marketing problem?

Gavin: Hey, guys, how are you doing, Gavin Timms with REI Network. I am back here with one of my awesome clients. I want to introduce him here in just a second, just before I do. If you haven’t already made sure you go and get my downloads. I got some free downloads for if you go to REINetwork.com/downloads, REINetwork.com/downloads. ‘ve got a contract there that you can use a few real estate if you want my cold call script that me and my clients use, you can get that possibly cheap. If you’re on the move about taking notes, you can take a picture of that and send it into a VA to keep you out of the car and to make sure you go and check them out, OK? Right. Awesome. So let me introduce my next guest. Cornelius, how are you doing? 

Cornelius: How are you? Thanks for having me. 

Gavin: No, no, thank you for coming on. I appreciate it. I know we’ve been working together now for quite a while and we’re going to come into that. So just before we get going and just tell people kind of a little bit about you, where you live and what you’re doing? And let’s start with that. 

Cornelius: Sounds good. I live in Southern California, Ventura County, to be exact, about an hour north L.A., my still working day job. I work just in evaluation for the Department of Defense. So my nine to five job, my wife and I got introduced to real estate maybe five or six years ago. We’ve done one flip down here was pretty successful. But for those who don’t know, it’s a huge seller’s market. So hard to find deals, if not impossible. So we kind of stopped marketing here maybe three or four years ago. And ever since then, I just been trying to find my way. I’m born and raised in Southern California, so I love doing everything I can here, but eventually got to see no matter what we tried, we’re spending a bunch of money on marketing and not showing much progress. So that’s how I found or came across you and Joe. But once I started talking to you guys saw that maybe I’d have more success if I started looking out of state. 

Gavin: Yeah, absolutely. OK, so let’s look at that, because when we originally started working together, I remember all kind of early conversations that everyone teach is obviously starting your back yard. Right, because you can be a little more hands on. You can go and see properties. You can, you know, if you want to buy a slip and all these things. But you’re in a super competitive market. And what I look for is wins. Right. I want you to have a win and make money as quickly as possible so then you can build on that. OK, and I know we originally started, I think, doing looking at the lease option in California, kind of staying away from wholesaling. 

Gavin: And like a lot of people, when we create a plan, I always have backup plans right in my head. Now, I don’t always even tell my clients the plan, but I’m always like, cool. If these things happen that we’re saying, then we can execute and we can get results. But if it doesn’t happen, then we need to adjust because we can’t keep trying to do the same thing and expect the same result. And I think full time job, newborn baby. So congrats, you know, at the time and you’re going through all this, you know, your wife’s working and you’re working and it’s just a lot, right? It was a lot. And I felt and I’ll let you speak, but we wasn’t really getting the traction. Would that be fair? 

Cornelius: Yes. A lot of it was inconsistency on my part. So one day or one week I’d be good at talking to sellers, making offers. Next week I wouldn’t have any time for it. I do travel sometimes for work, and that makes it even worse. So I think part of it was lack of time on my part. And like you’re saying, the market to over here as well. 

Gavin: Yeah, no, absolutely. And know, I’m going to ask you some questions about this because I kind of think I remember everything I know. I kind of just freaked you out when I come out with something that you’ve told me months ago and I remember it and you were like, I probably remember that. It’s weird. I know. But I just remember I know what everyone’s doing and it’s crazy. So we do you doing this. And I remember I was having a conversation and several months ago, I don’t know, maybe it was September, October time. And we were like, well, what can I be doing differently? Because if we’re getting that, if we’re not being consistent, we’re not going to get results. OK, and I think, as you’ve just said, that’s what was happening. So the idea was my model is virtual and on the business and not in the business of parliament. People working on the systems get the Legion coming in and then you can monitor that, maintain it. And that’s kind of what the plan that we came up with. So you saw what happened then. So what did what did we do? 

Cornelius: I think the first step, if I recall my memory, is not like yours, but I think the first step was to find a partner. And I believe you suggested, look, in a market that’s more that the prices are more conducive to rental property. So I think I looked on Facebook groups or whatnot, maybe bigger pockets and try to find people that look like they were actually doing deals, not just talking about it and can’t remember how many I reached out to. But I actually found a partner who was in one of Joe’s. I think that’s the simple lease option group. So I reached out to him and got him on the phone. Once we conversed on Facebook for a while. And so I thought it was something that could be a win-win for both of us. And once I thought it would be a good connection between me and him that I got with you and started setting up the VA, started pulling a list for absentee owners and started the marketing. 

Gavin: Yeah, absolutely. OK, so we went to that model, Oklahoma’s one, and then obviously we did another one at the back end of the year. Well, literally about six weeks ago now. Right. We started the other one in Michigan. So we got this going. We got the VA’s. We got the list. We started the process. You found the other person again that needed something that you have. Right. Because what you have is what I have because I could put it in place for you. Right, in terms of the leads. And I knew that if you can just at the time that you have even if it’s 30 minutes an hour a day and you’re just managing the process, then you can make money. If the people on the ground are going to be doing that job right and they need you and you need them. And if you can do that collaboration, that partnership, then you can make things happen. So we did that. So how’s it looked since this has been in place in place since we started? 

Cornelius: Since we’ve started we’ve done one wholesale deal in Oklahoma. We closed two in Michigan. And we have two more properties in escrow right now from the same seller. So I think those are set to close within the next week or two. So within the next week or two, I would have done four in Michigan and one in Oklahoma. 

Gavin: And we started we started to market seven, seven 1/2 weeks ago and in Michigan. Right. So in seven and a half weeks, you’ve closed was it three, though, or two? 

Cornelius: Close two and two more in escrow. 

Gavin: In seven weeks, which is impressive. Right. So people say can I get results in 30 days?Well, yes, because you did. Right. We asked to come together as the whole thing. You can’t, you have to be brilliant again at the basic things. If you can, you’re going to get results. So I think I don’t know if that’s going to come across, but giving you a clap, if you could have that, guys, because I know I have my mike on and stuff, but that’s awesome. That’s a massive win. Right? Because when we spoke, I was like on Volks. I was like, oh, yeah, we got to inclosing. And they haven’t closed at the time. Right. If you remember that conversation and I’m like, this is awesome, but let’s not get too carried away and not close them, but it’s still great. So how did that what is the if you don’t mind sharing Annandale’s that you’ve done and what’s the money like on these ones that have closed? Let’s not talk about what’s closing for not what the ones I know you closed three here in the last couple of weeks. You got three checks on. What did they look like that? 

Cornelius: The one in Oklahoma, was the smallest. My partner said he wasn’t able to find a buyer for the price your buddy was. So after I split, my check was I want to say twenty four hundred. I’m the first one in and Michigan was for four thousand. Then the second one was for thirty-five hundred. 

Gavin: OK, so ten thousand total. OK, so ten thousand now in the space of six, seven weeks and you’re only running the process right. You’re in terms of, did you talk to any of the sellers? 

Cornelius: Not a single one. Didn’t talk to the sellers. Don’t know where the sellers are located. 

Gavin: OK, genius. Right. This is why I love this model and this is exactly the way that I’m set up. And the multiple markets that I do is because if you can make after your marketing costs for me, my business is about 40 percent. All right. But this works for the person that is in the nine to five. Right. And that does all that’s got family or busy or wants to travel or whatever they want to do. And here’s why. Because if you can continue to do this consistently and make that money, you can then go full time. And then if you want to change things up and start being on the phone yourself because you have all this time, then you can or you can open up more markets if you need. Right. So I think everyone watching that’s what they need to understand, is that they don’t have to do everything on their own, because when you go alone, the problems happen because things don’t get done. And it’s not for the matter of you not trying, OK? I mean, you had all the intentions canniness, right, to do what we originally planned to make the calls, to make the offers, to do all that things. But life happens. Life gets in the way. So if you don’t change like we did, then we won’t get results. OK, so that’s awesome. So what’s the plan? What are we just talking about, like moving forward? I know we’re kind of on to it and we’ve done a few tweaks. Just let’s talk about that. Regarding the market, Oklahoma and what we’re doing with the VA is to kind of see if anything’s going to change and how we’re monitoring that right now. 

Cornelius: We’re getting quite a few more leads in the Michigan market than we are in Oklahoma. So in order to figure out if it’s the market itself or if there’s something going on with maybe the VAs in a way we’re talking on the phone, we’re going to switch the VAs around. So the one who was calling Oklahoma is now going to be calling Michigan and vice versa. That way we can get some more data. See, like I was saying. If it’s the market or maybe something going on with the VA. 

Gavin: Absolutely. So we just put that in place. We’re going to be able to run the numbers. And here’s the thing. Well, what would we do? If you’re listening to this? Hold on. What if it isn’t a VA problem and it is a marketing problem? What do you need to do? You need to do more marketing. Right. Because the problem is, is that convenience is getting double, if not triple the amount of leads in Michigan at the same cost than Oklahoma. Right. So we need to, and as you look at competitive markets. And Oklahoma is becoming more and more competitive because you’ve got people from Dallas, Houston going virtual is the next day over into their markets. Right. So that’s why you’ll see. And I think maybe a lot more people market and it’s just like a California market and one VA isn’t going to do it. You might need five or six of them to get the traction you need and obviously be able to make them bigger spreads. Right. 

Gavin: So that’s what we’re looking at. Also, we’re early in that partnership and you’ve had, again, success, you’ve done three, well, two deals at least, with two more in closing in seven weeks. So which is brilliant. And now looking at obviously, if you’re splitting 50 50, you’ve done an eight thousand dollar, you’ve done a seven and a half thousand dollar or thereabouts on line two. And if we can now get that up to 10 and maybe a bit more, we might be able to get you into the five sixes for your portion. Right, because the checks that you got is just yours. That’s not the whole thing. Right. So just to clarify for everyone else, then, that’s not that nobody’s asked to split it. Now, that is the split. So they were on eight thousand dollar deals and things like that. So awesome. Anything else that I mean, what would you, let me ask you this. What would you tell people kind of starting off like through your experiences, like if someone came to you and said, well, I want to invest in what should I do? I mean, what would you tell them? 

Cornelius: I must speak from my California side, so I’m going to speak to all the California folks out there. Like I said in the beginning, I love California, born and raised. I wanted to make it work here, but I think looking back on it, you have to do what makes the most sense. So I always thought virtual wholesaling VAs were for experts. People have been doing it, people who have tons of money. But I think it’s the exact opposite. Like you were alluding to, Gavin, if you don’t have the time, you don’t have the knowledge of a market. Someone who has acknowledged like I said, I went on Facebook. Obviously there’s some risk that they’re not honorable. But do your due diligence, ask the right questions, and then put that virtual assistant in place to do the stuff consistently that you think you’re going to do, but don’t end up doing after all. 

Gavin: No, absolutely. But that’s how you outsource, right. And get deals done to make money in the investment side, because once you get out of the, you know, your nine to five or whatever your long-term goal is, you can then go into deeper and you can then bring your knowledge back into California to get you kind of seasoned and ready to understand what it takes from a marketing aspect of work in these leads to then obviously do deals locally because it’s a different ballgame. I mean, I do deals in Maui. The way that I would teach is I have to adapt for higher market. Right. And that’s why I work with everyone individually, because if you’re in California or you’re in Michigan or you’re doing this or you’re virtually and you’re not and you want Fletch, you want buy and hold, all these things are different. So when I work with individual, it’s all about you creating what you want vision wise and then building this business around you. So we get results. No one’s the same. Right? So we’ll do that. If you decide that you want to go back into California, the plan will be slightly different than the one we have for Midwest market. 

Cornelius: That’s funny. You mention that actually mentioned to one of my someone reached out to me on Facebook and they’re part of a different group. And I said, the one thing I enjoy about working with you, Gavin, is you seem to tailor it to the person, to the market, whereas other groups may take one size fits all and just say, do this marketing, do this and do that and not even care about what market you’re in or if it works there. So I do appreciate you being willing to be flexible and guide people down the right path according to what their goals are and where they’re looking to build. 

Gavin: And I appreciate that. Yeah, and it’s just I’ll give you an example, I’ve worked the Phoenix market. Right. I would never and this is mean you can’t do deals in Phoenix, but I know some of the best top investors market in Phoenix. So a VA for three or four hours a day, cold calling isn’t going to cut it. And I know that because I’ve been there. You need to have volume to create and generate the leads there. Right. Or you need to do creative finance. You need to do things differently for that market. Your dollars will go further in other markets. So, yeah. So I appreciate that. Let me I want to ask you another question, obviously, and I want you to be honest. I know you will be. How is it been like in terms of my response and the way that I am and works? I think a lot of like coaching programs and stuff sometimes got a bad rep like no one was there. No one answers. No one gets back to me, you know, and obviously I feel that I do get back. Well, what do you think? From what? You’ve done with other programs before and what you see, how is that how do you think that’s a good thing, kind of what we offer on that level? I’m just curious to see what you what you think on that, I think is a great thing. 

Cornelius: And I think one time I even asked you how much time you spend answering people, because I could see that ticking up a lot of some day. So you get back to me, obviously, sometimes it’s not right away, but you have your life as well. But I don’t think there’s ever been an instance where you haven’t gotten back to me and help me out or gave me the answer that I was looking for. So it’s been awesome, awesome experience. I’m really surprised and impressed how good has been. 

Gavin: I appreciate it. Yeah. And normally we have a it’s normally twenty within twenty-four hours. Right. And because sometimes I’m on that too much and that’s my downfall, I always tell everyone I’m only going to be on that once a day and you have to wait to the next day and then before hour, I’m like ten boxes in and it’s just crazy. 

Cornelius: I try not to bug you too much because I know you’re busy, so I don’t know. 

Gavin: The end of the day. If we’re getting results, that’s what I’m in for. Right. I get the kick out of if I can take someone from Cal in a virtual market and get results, OK, then I’ve done my job. And that means more than a deal that I can do. And that’s just the truth. Right, because that that’s why I do what I do. And that’s what I do with every client the same, you know, and we have to whatever it is, I have people that work full time and there some people part time. And you’ve just got to get the right system on the right plan together to give you the best chance of making this happen. So. Well, I appreciate it. So anything else? You know, I appreciate you getting on and kind of sharing this because I think people like light bulbs are going to be going off. Right. That’s me. I mean, that’s me working a nine to five and I can’t get any traction. And that’s why I would design this program with the systems helping you settle in the market from A to Z to try and get results for anything else that you want to share before we get done. 

Cornelius: I think that’s about it. I know you kind of hit or hinted at it, but once you get the systems in place, it’s pretty much just follow your playbook. Don’t have to reinvent the wheel and have the virtual assistants make your calls, follow the scripts you guys created and have the partner on the ground do the rest of it. There’s one of the modules you guys created and it had a split of what you should be doing with the partner should be doing so. That’s what I try to implement it. Obviously, you’re not going to be an expert at it. It’s not going to be perfect. I try to understand that going into it. So I like to say I don’t worry about step D and E, until I get steps A and B done. So like I say, it’s a work in progress, but we’re making good progress at this point and just keep perfecting it. 

Gavin: Absolutely. But you’re getting results, right? Which is the it’s the best client for me. Like you don’t give me what ifs and seventeen bots. Right. You just say, OK, I’m just going to do that and then you do it and then you’ll you’ll be building. Right. You don’t have all the answers yet when you’re on that step of you’re making money while you’re learning OK. And then you’ll be doing more business and going to more markets, whatever you choose to do. So I appreciate you. 

Cornelius: Sorry, I think I told you when I got the first check was a little bit smaller, but I said, hey, at is a proof of concept and that gives you confidence that it works 100 hundred percent. 

Gavin: I mean fifteen hundred bucks is my first. And it was still probably the biggest one to date in terms of, in terms of from a mindset standpoint, from a self-belief standpoint, that this actually works standpoint, that I can do this virtual, that I can do what everyone else said, that I wouldn’t be able to do all these things at that first check go in. And that’s why I said, I don’t care if it’s 500 bucks, if I don’t go through the process, get the win and build on it. And you’ve done that. Twenty-four on the box. Yeah, it’s not ideal. Yeah, it’s not as much as you want. It is a start. And then what happens. You then get two more. Now you’ve got two more and now you’ve got the momentum. So all of a sudden now you’ve got let’s say fifteen, seventeen grand whatever, when these others close, whatever it’s going to be. And you’re not building on momentum. And how many of them do you need. Only working on the business, not in the business. You’re not talking to sellers. Let’s not forget this. You’re not talking to buyers. Right. You’re talking with your team. You’re maintaining the process and you’re getting results. And people you might say, well, I need to make sixty thousand dollars a year and I can leave my job. People watching this, maybe it’s one hundred thousand. Maybe it’s more because everyone’s at different stages, but that’s what you can do. 

Gavin: So, yeah. I appreciate you, Cornelius, so thank you for jumping on. And I think people are going to get inspired from this. That’s why I wanted you to do it. I asked you to do this and I don’t put anything in your mouth, but I was like, hey, can you come and share your story? Because even if people don’t work with me, it doesn’t matter. They’re going to go. Well, if he if you can do it, then they can do it. And that’s the same for me. If I can do it, anyone can. So I appreciate it. And guys, if you are interested in where can we go to REInetwork.com, I actually want to give you another one. INeedSystems.com, OK? I need systems dot com. Go and apply there, OK. And we’ll get on the phone for good fit will move forward. And if not then then we will. Conatus, thank you, sir. I’m going to look forward to all the rest of your success stories and any other final words before we’re done. 

Cornelius: Thanks, Gavin. Thanks for having me on. If anyone has questions for me, feel free to shoot them my way and I’ll be happy to help you guys out. 

Gavin: Yeah, I appreciate. OK, well, we can put that in the notes as well. We can drop Cornelius’s email, something like that that I’ll get from him and you’ll be able to do that. So I appreciate you, but I will talk to you all soon. Guys, thank you so much and have a great night. 

 

Cornelius: Thank you. Bye.

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