Real Estate Underground

From 30 to 300 Units: The Power Of Systems To Buy Back Your Time and Prosper, with Andrew Freed

• Ed Mathews • Season 4 • Episode 134

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Unlock the secrets of real estate success with Andrew Freed of Freedom Management as he shares his transformative journey from a traditional career to becoming a thriving real estate investor. Inspired by "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrew chose to forge a new path towards financial freedom. Discover how he strategically invested in multifamily properties in Worcester, Massachusetts, leveraging home equity and the power of syndications to expand his portfolio from 30 to an impressive 300 units across three states.

Navigate the financial complexities of a burgeoning real estate business with Andrew as he discusses the pivotal role of hiring a controller. Learn about the crucial responsibilities involved, from crafting materials for investors to tracking key financial metrics like the global debt service coverage ratio. Andrew shares insights on managing multiple LLCs and commercial loans and emphasizes the importance of automating and delegating tasks. With a focus on key performance indicators such as revenue trends and vacancy rates, this episode is a masterclass in efficient property management.

Andrew also highlights the power of mentorship and learning from past mistakes in achieving success. The law of reciprocity, taking initiative, and building meaningful relationships are central themes, showcasing how these principles have propelled his career forward. Engage with Andrew as he shares how successful individuals consume information through books, podcasts, and masterminds, and how he himself is committed to offering educational content on investing through social media. Prepare for a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from Andrew Freed's real estate journey, and find out how you too can follow in his footsteps.

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Ed Mathews:

Greetings and salutations. Real Estate Undergrounders. It is Ed Mathews with the Real Estate Underground. Thank you so much for joining us today. So today we have Andrew Freed. He is with Freedom Management and actually we had his partner Zach on the show probably about six, eight months ago, and it was a great conversation. So, andrew, I've been really excited about meeting you as well and, as a fellow New Englander, I'm down here in Connecticut. Welcome to the show and thank you for your time today.

Andrew Freed:

I am absolutely excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Ed Mathews:

Yes, of course. So for those of you who don't follow the beard on Instagram, although you should, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Andrew Freed:

Who are you and what you do? So who am I and what I do? So it all goes back to when I was a child. I was conditioned to believe that the path to the American dream was getting a good education, getting a master's at a good school, getting a nice swanky conduit in a nice city, working at a prestigious institution. And that's what I sought throughout my entire twenties. I always sought to get a better education. I always sought the next high paying job and I essentially achieved this at 30. I had a six figure job. I worked at a prestigious institution, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where I was a grant manager over there and had a nice swanky condo in Boston. I essentially made it.

Andrew Freed:

But after reading Rich Dad, poor Dad during COVID, I came to the realization that I actually didn't make it at this particular rate. I'm going to have to retire 30, 40, 50 years at this savings rate. I and in Rick that port that they had all of these, they all these hints about real estate, and I was like, oh, what is this real estate thing? And then at that point I looked at my net worth, which about a quarter of a million dollars 80% of my net worth derived from this one bedroom condo I bought five years ago. It literally took me 10 years to save $50,000. And at that rate I knew financial freedom through the quote unquote American dream was absolutely unsustainable and not achievable and I really had to make a shift. So from that point on, during COVID, I HELOC my one bedroom condo for $200,000 in Boston and I decided to start house hacking.

Andrew Freed:

My original goal was to house hack 10 multifamilies in 10 years, have 30 units ride off into the wind. That's not how it turned out, but that's what was my dream. So I HELOC'd, I had $200,000 HELOC'd and I decided I want to go all in the multifamily. And there were really two big markets in my area that had a lot of multifamily. There was Worcester, massachusetts, and Brockton, massachusetts. And to put it in perspective, brockton produces the highest level of champion boxers, right, so it's a little rough. Ray Mancini, yep, exactly.

Andrew Freed:

So I actually decided to go out in Worcester where I literally uprooted my entire life. I knew nobody and I started house hacking properties in Worcester. So I house hacked about two properties there. I joined, I did some joint ventures on some commercial properties, split it 50, 50, a third with some investors or some partners, and then I made it up to around 30 units with my own money, through lines of credit, through borrowing, gets by 401k, through promissory notes, and I was straight out of cash. But I had all these amazing deals coming to me and at that point, that's when I discovered the power of OPM other people's money and from there I went from 30 units to 300 units in a matter of four years. So currently I'm a value-add investor. I own about 300 multifamily units around the Massachusetts, rhode Island and South Carolina markets Syndicator flipper, and I'm an investor focused agent. Yeah, that's more or less kind of my story in a nutshell.

Ed Mathews:

Okay, so you're busy, I am busy, yeah, good, it's better to be busy than bored, right? So you didn't want to have to box to acquire properties, manage properties and ultimately operate them. Huh, what was that? Sorry, you didn't want to have to box your way through your real estate journey, so you went to Worcester instead of Brockton, or didn't Brockton?

Andrew Freed:

Oh, yes, absolutely yeah. And I went to Worcester because Worcester has so many great market fundamentals Like, first of all, like 30 to 40% of the housing stock is multifamily, like it's way easier to buy a deal if there's a lot of that deal in that particular market. Additionally, it had a really great population growth. From 2015 to now, the population increased by 50% and they actually have the Red Sox minor league team called the Woossox Stadium, built the second most expensive stadium in that city and they moved the team there. So it has a lot of great market fundamentals that I just personally didn't see that Brockton had.

Ed Mathews:

Yeah, you took my talk at Red Sox. I missed them. And also Worcester's a pretty good college town too. There's probably what a dozen universities and colleges in the area.

Andrew Freed:

So Worcester is normally on the Redfin top market list all the time and, to your point, there's a lot of schools, there's a lot of schools, there's a lot of hospitals. Right, there's actually biotech jobs. It's very similar to Boston, like Boston, just at a very smaller scale. Boston has about, you know, 800,000 citizens. Worcester has about 250,000 citizens, but it's very similar to Boston market. I would compare it to for sure.

Ed Mathews:

Excellent, excellent, and so, although from an MSA perspective it doesn't necessarily follow Boston directly, there's enough geographical space there, right and so, like a two bedroom in Worcester is different than a two bedroom in Boston, You're exactly correct.

Andrew Freed:

So, as Boston is definitely a low cap rate market, probably a three, four cap rate right. And the more West you go from Boston, the more the cap rate expands, right, the more the cap rate expands equals more cashflow. The, the when, when, the when a cap rate uh constricts that means that there's more appreciation. So it's on a spectrum right. And in Worcester the cap rate around there is around six and a half to 8% and rents to your point are significantly cheaper. But you can get the units way cheaper as well, right. For comparison, one bed's in Worcester $1,400, $1,500. One bed's in Boston, two grand right, 2,200 bucks, right. So that kind of gives you a good indication of the difference. But also with that comes cheaper units.

Ed Mathews:

And so what was that aha moment when you realized it seemed like it was a sounded in your story. It was more of a process, but I'm just curious, what was that one moment where you're like I've got to get, I'm not going to get where I want to go working for someone else, I've got to branch out on my own and obviously, real estate is that vehicle, right.

Andrew Freed:

So it all stemmed from regret, right. It all stemmed from the fact that I always thought I'd get this next paying job, I'd make more money, I'd get this next paying job, I'd make more money, I'd get six figures, I would get this feeling of fulfillment. It never happened. It never happened and at a certain point I just decided, rather than seek the life I want to live, let me just escape in the video games and create the life I wanted to live in this 3D box.

Andrew Freed:

So that's exactly what I did, is I escaped very much in the video games and spent a lot of my twenties playing video games, and the aha moment was when I realized that, like, life is a video game. I put enough skill and effort into a certain task, like I can achieve anything I want. So taking that sort of discipline and mentality from a video game and putting it in my real life, and the thing I really poured myself into was real estate knowledge reading books, listening to podcasts, starting a real estate knowledge, reading books, listening to podcasts, starting a real estate meetup, becoming an investor focused agent, getting a mentor these are all steps that I took to enhance that skill. And now, today, my knowledge in regards to real estate is probably top 1%, because I put the time and effort into growing that skill, just like you do in a video game.

Ed Mathews:

Yeah, and a lot of 10,000 hours. It doesn't have to be 10,000 hours, but the law of 10,000 hours is a real thing, right? If you focus on one thing and learn everything you possibly can about that certain thing, you're going to become. You're going to suck at it at first, but over the course of months and years you're going to become an expert, right?

Andrew Freed:

Yeah so so.

Ed Mathews:

So walk me through. You know your growth was really fast, right. Going from zero to 30 is a big jump, and then 30 to 300 is a gigantic jump. So I'm curious about how you did that from a systems perspective.

Andrew Freed:

Really good question. It all came down to trust, right. When I first started building my real estate portfolio, it all came down to me being a one-man army. I did the bookkeeping, I did the leasing, I did literally everything from A to find somebody who was a superstar in some tasks I hated to do and I was a superstar in some tasks they hated to do, and we combined forces. And when I did that, the exponential growth was visible. It was very visible and I went from 10 to 30 units very quickly and then, at that point, after you learn how to use partnerships, that's when I really discovered the power of utilizing other people's money and that's when my path zoomed up. So that was the progression of how this exponential growth happened.

Andrew Freed:

From a systems perspective, the way I really create systems, the way I really create teams, is I ask myself what takes the most energy from me every single day, right, and I slowly, systematically work down that list and either eliminate, create a system, create a process or hire to take that responsibility off of my plate.

Andrew Freed:

So first started with social media right. Bookkeeping, managing my email right. Then it expanded to hiring property managers to take tenant communications. It expanded to getting a project manager on our team to help with renovations. It expanded to get an operations manager to help us with all of our multiple systems like Appfolio, like Smartsheet for project management, like Google Drive for managing our documentation. So it was a cascading effect that all started with principles in a book I like to call Buy Back your Time that really shines a light on how to really systematize your time and more or less buy it back. That was my ultimate goal was buy back my time because, to your point, like growing that level of a portfolio all by myself was absolutely unsustainable and I would have completely burned out.

Ed Mathews:

Yeah, and you require sleep right and a light.

Andrew Freed:

Yes, I hope yeah.

Ed Mathews:

So walk me through the Buy Back your Life. I'm not actually familiar with that book. Do you remember the author?

Andrew Freed:

Buy Back your Time. I think I have it right over here Buy Back.

Ed Mathews:

Your.

Andrew Freed:

Time, dan Martell.

Ed Mathews:

Oh, I know, Dan Martell, I had not read that book. All right, well, that's on the list now.

Andrew Freed:

Because he walks you through systematically. You first start with an admin assistant and then you work your way down through these different roles and then, when you go through all the roles, at the end of it you're very much probably going to be working two to three hours a day. So it's a really good roadmap on how to buy back your time. And, at the end of the day, why do we get into real estate? People say all the time I want financial freedom. That's not why you get into real estate. You want your time, you want your time right, and this book creates a roadmap on how to give you that time back.

Ed Mathews:

I love it. That is definitely on my list next. So, as you're building these systems, as you're hiring your team. So I heard you say admin assistant was one of the first people you hired.

Andrew Freed:

So my team really looks like this. We got an operations manager on top. She helps manage all of our systems right Our app folio for rent collection content and management Smartsheet for project management. We very much use it as a dashboard for our company, for quick links for people to get their job done. We use Google Drive to manage the documentation. She helps with that process and she helps create new systems that we need. And then from her we have a bookkeeper that rolls down from her and then on the maintenance side, we have two property managers that help manage the portfolio, take tenant inquiries, get units listed. We have a listing agent, a leasing agent as well, and then we have two maintenance techs that help manage and stabilize our portfolio. And then, underneath that layer, that's where we have our virtual assistant. So we have our admin administrative assistant virtual assistant. We have our social media virtual assistant, which is absolutely needed. If you're trying to build real estate, you have to create a brand. It's number one priority, for sure. We have a bookkeeper virtual assistant and then we have a tenant communications virtual assistant. We also just hired a controller in Columbia, which is really cool. We hired this guy. Listen to this. We hired this guy, economics degree from Purdue, mba from Washington University, but virtual assistant. He actually moved back to Columbia so we got him through a virtual assistant agency and we're only paying him like $3,500 a month. Wow, and he's level person, right, right. And then we also have an administrative assistant.

Andrew Freed:

But I think the common thread throughout building my team is keeping overhead low. So literally half of my team are virtual assistants. Right, my operations managers in Ireland. Right, my C-suite controllers in Columbia. All my VAs are in the Philippines. Right, my operations managers in Ireland. Right, my C-suite controllers in Colombia. All my VAs are in the Philippines. Right, and I told you about those maintenance techs. Right, all their time is billed back to the LLC when they do work at that particular property. So if you build a team, you build it smart and you figure out ways to keep your overhead low. That's really how you build a successful business, in my opinion.

Ed Mathews:

I couldn't agree more. So I'm interested in the controller piece, because where my company is, we're getting to that point as well, and so how did you decide that it was time? Obviously, there's bookkeeping and making sure that the money's coming in, and you've got property managers to make sure that you're collecting everything that's owed, bookkeepers paying the bills, so that part I get right. A controller is a different entity, right? Or a different role, and so let's talk to you about two things. One is what does that controller do for you and how did you decide you were ready for that person?

Andrew Freed:

So I think it goes back to that book. I told you about buy back your time, right? Yeah, I pretty much eliminated most of my day-to-day, most of the responsibilities that require day-to-day input, like tenant management, tenant communications, things like that. The things that I'm working on now are getting deals under contract, writing offers, putting loan request packages together for a bank so we can get multiple term fees, putting loan request packages together for banks so we can get multiple term fees. Putting appraisal packages together, putting investor packages together.

Andrew Freed:

Speaking, it's like things that I'm working on are very much tasks that this person, that we want this person to focus on right.

Andrew Freed:

So we want this person to help create materials for investors, for lenders, for appraisers, to ensure the business plan moves according to plan. We also want this person to track our global debt service coverage ratio across our portfolio, because a lot of these are commercial loans and we're required to have, at least for most of them, a 1.2 debt service coverage ratio right. Manage our reconciliation right, like we self-manage. But 175 doors. So there's a lot of billbacks associated with that PM billbacks, maintenance tax billbacks people get bonuses for getting units listed right. There's a lot of sort of billbacks that we have to ensure are done correctly, as well as just looking at keeping a close eye on our profit and loss statements and our balance sheets across our portfolio, because we are upwards of 25, 30 LLCs with multiple properties under them. It's a large demand and we need multiple eyes on that to really make sure that everything's going in accordance with how we want our portfolio to be managed. Okay.

Ed Mathews:

All right, wow, that's really impressive. And was it you do something similar? You alluded to it earlier that we do here, and that is, I call it, what's stressing it out? The things that either I don't like doing, I'm not good at, or stuff that is just stressing somebody on the team out. First thing we do is look at it and say, okay, can we automate it, can we outsource it, can we delegate it to someone else, meaning that we do need to hire somebody and we go through that process on a quarterly basis. And we go through that process on a quarterly basis and, slowly but surely, a we get to document all of our systems, create and document our systems. But also it's one of the guiding forces behind okay, at what point does it make sense to invest in technology? At what point does it make sense to bring somebody else on? And we're a heavy user of virtual assistants as well. In fact, we have an agency here for other real estate investors as well.

Ed Mathews:

But it's interesting that the process you go through time and time again. As I interview executives like yourself, it's interesting how many of them understand that this is a team game and you can use technology as a force multiplier, but you still need human beings to keep the trains running on time, and being very clear and deliberate about their roles is a path to success. And, honestly, man, I couldn't agree more with the premise of your initial premise, which, around W2, life is a good life, right, if not everybody is made out to be an entrepreneur, it doesn't make you less or more, it just is right. And being an entrepreneur is hard and having people working for you is difficult as well. Right, it's a lot of stress.

Ed Mathews:

You got payroll to make a lot of moving parts that, yeah, you don't own them but day to day, but you control them, you manage them, and the fact that you've taken such a thoughtful approach to your business is really impressive. So I'm curious about a controller like a controller, in my mind, one of the things that they own are operational and financial key performance indicators, kpis, and so I'm curious about the KPIs that you pay attention to in your business. For instance, I heard you say that you track very closely your debt service coverage ratio, which is really smart, but I'm also curious about the health of your portfolio itself. What are some of the things that you pay attention to from an operating perspective that tell you, yep, this building's going the right way, or hey, we've got to make some changes because it's going sideways on us, right?

Andrew Freed:

Yeah, all really good questions, and that's another that's going to be. Another role of this controller is to keep track of the KPIs. That have a ready dashboard right. But when it comes to tracking KPIs, it all comes down to watching the revenue Is it doing, Is it increasing, Is it decreasing? Watching your expenses Is it increasing, Is it decreasing? How much money is coming into your business? How much money are you pushing out of your business? It all comes down to those, right.

Andrew Freed:

So, to your point, what are some things that we would like to keep track of, Like your global debt service coverage ratio or the trending debt service coverage ratio, right. So if a property is trending upwards, it's trending stable and it's above 1.2, that's not concerning to me. But if I see a property's debt service coverage ratio trending downward, that's concerning to me. Or cash is king, right. So we like to have all of our projects have at least six month pity in the operating account, right. That's another indicator that would be concerning to me if we had low balances across our portfolio. Right.

Andrew Freed:

Vacancy right. How quickly do we get units rented? Like, on average, we get eight to 10 vacancies a month, right. If we're not renting eight units every month. What happens? Those vacancies build up until we're going to get an insurmountable amount of vacancies and our business is going to be in trouble. Build up until we're going to get an insurmountable amount of vacancies and our business is going to be in trouble, right. So filling those vacancies quickly with good tenants is very important to keep the business moving forward, right. So those are some indicators that we like to keep track of with our business.

Ed Mathews:

So six months, pity. So pity is principal interest taxes and insurance. Yes, correct, okay. So for those of us out there keeping track of acronyms, that's what Andrew meant. And so six months, that's really interesting. So have you always carried six months, or is that a new revelation? Like we didn't, you know? And the reason I ask is we used to carry three and then COVID happened and we did the exact same thing that you do now, which is we extended everything to six months.

Andrew Freed:

Yeah, to your point. That's the goal right. When you're doing value add royalty, that might not be there initially, the goal is to pay them, but you want to leave six months. Pity, because it's like what if it'd be unitary? And what if you're needing unitary? If you have three months, you're going to have to fill the account up. We've investors in these deals. We can't be asking them for money. We got to make sure that these properties self-sustain themselves and even at times me and my partner will throw in money in the operating account just in the short term, just to keep it moving forward, to make the business bank come to fruition. So I think six months is imperative, especially when you're buying kind of B, c class properties, which we're buying, that are on the older side. Maybe you're talking new construction, maybe it's a different equation that you've utilized.

Ed Mathews:

Yeah, no, In all candor, there were times where we were putting in money as well just to keep it moving, and I got tired of doing that. And then COVID came along and we thought you know what we're going to, as we're, because we flip houses as well as we flip houses, we're not going to take that capital, we're going to put that back into the business and use that to create a better reserve, a six month reserve. So that's what we did, but but yeah, it's, it's really interesting. I want to talk with you about other people's money and then I want to get into the final five. So, other people's money how do you raise money these days? How did you share it and how do you raise today?

Andrew Freed:

So the way I started was I thankfully got on the bigger pockets podcast. The way I started was I thankfully got on the BiggerPockets podcast the Rookie podcast a couple of years ago. Right, yeah, and thankfully my podcast was pretty successful. So right after that podcast happened, somebody who I was at a mastermind with a local real estate mastermind brought me a 69-unit portfolio in New Bedford Massachusetts. It was a great deal. We were getting up to about $80,000 a door when doors in New Bedford Massachusetts trade between 100 and 120,000. It made sense all day. The only problem was this guy didn't have the money to close it, but he saw me in the bigger pockets podcast.

Andrew Freed:

I was building a reputation as a, a known multifamily investor, and when he thought of who can raise the capital for that deal, he thought of me. So that's when he contacted me to raise money for the deal me and my partner Zach. And that was what was that? That was 2021. No, that was yeah. So August 2022 is when we closed. So it was about March. May 2022 is when we started raising capital from investors. So that was our first capital raise. We had to raise about $1.8 million. We went about that in very manual way.

Andrew Freed:

The manual way we did it was I just made a list of 300 people that I thought might consider investing, and every single day I reached out to three people for a month, for a couple months, and that's how I went about doing it, and we raised about $1.1 million. We came a little bit short so at that point that's why it's really important to have mentors in your life, because my mentor is a syndicator. My mentor owns 500 units, so at that point we're running into issues. What did I do? I simply called my mentor and he raised the remainder right.

Andrew Freed:

Obviously, we had to give equity away for that, but I'd rather have something of something than 100% of nothing, and that's absolutely. But that deal allowed the floodgates for us to start raising money for more deals. So at that point we just started getting deals under contract. We got the formula down, created a CRM, did a monthly newsletter we provide value to people, went to, started speaking at meetups, started just trying to provide value, not trying to sell anybody anything, just simply trying to provide value. And then, when good deals happen, we simply send it out to our network and our CRM and things pretty kind of were funded pretty easily.

Ed Mathews:

Excellent. Yeah, it's amazing how, when create those relationships and you're smart enough to nurture them and you and I agree on on how to do it as well I think that if you help enough, you educate enough people. If you help them understand how you got to where you got, some of them will take that information and go okay, I'm going to go do this myself. Awesome, that's great. But a lot of them will say you know what that sounds like a lot and I want to play, I want to participate, but I want to work with somebody who knows how to do this inside and out, rather than do it on my own. And that's where someone like you or another investor who's raising money that's that is a valuable resource in their world, right, so that's fantastic.

Ed Mathews:

Okay, so let's get to the final five and we're going to start to land this plane, so to speak. So I'm always curious about motivation and what gets you out of bed on Monday morning. So finish the sentence. For me, my purpose is to provide value to the world Very simple and very profound. I love that, and obviously you've been doing this for a while and you've been doing it very profound. I love that, and obviously you've been doing this for a while and you've been doing very successfully. We've all had mentors and I'm curious about the folks who have affected you and given you advice. What's the best advice you ever got and who gave?

Andrew Freed:

it to you. I think this just goes back to providing value In this world. The more value you provide, the more the world will provide back. And it's really important when providing value, expect nothing in return, because if you have that expectation, that makes it very much a transactional type of situation when you want a relationship right. Going back to that point, that was the best advice I've absolutely heard and it's completely served me time and time again. I'll just give you a quick example Me, when I found my mentor was hosting meetups all over Massachusetts, but he wanted to open up a meetup in Worcester, one of the second largest city in mass.

Andrew Freed:

He had a virtual meetup. He was asking does anybody have any ideas for venues? There were literally 50 people on the call. That weekend I literally went to five different places, got pricing, got videos, got the manager information. I put in a nice sexy Google drive, sent it right over to him and he's like wow, I've been asking for this for eight months. Nobody did this. Do you want to be my first guest speaker? I was like, absolutely, I'd love to. And then from there I actually ended up hosting a meetup under his brand.

Andrew Freed:

I brought him value in the form of bringing up his brand and then I became an investor-focused agent, brought him value in the form of commissions. Right yeah, started partnering with deals. I partnered with him on a couple of deals. I just went out of my way to provide this guy value, expecting nothing in return. But at a certain point, when you're bringing somebody tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions like this, guy's obviously got to pick up my phone call if I have questions, wouldn't you? If I brought you $100,000, wouldn't you be picking up my call all the time? I would. So it's just a simple concept of reciprocity that I think a lot of people don't really take into account when it comes to finding a mentor or just seeking help in general.

Ed Mathews:

It's a really important point you just made in that people like you and people like your mentor are really busy. And would you, would me, would I, would your mentor like to help everybody? Yeah, that's, we would, but there's a finite amount of time and we have a business to run and we have families and lives and we do carve out time to help people, but it can't be that, can't be the job, and so one of the ways that really successful people figure out okay, who am I going to help are the ones who are law of reciprocity, as you said. It's a real thing, right, and the folks that are bringing me value are the first phone calls I return, either in the morning or at the end of the day.

Ed Mathews:

Right, it's an easy pecking order and I'm going to try and get to everybody, but most days I don't. But I start with the folks that bring me value every day, right, worth, yeah, absolutely Okay. So I'm also curious about I think I personally think that mistakes are a good thing and that you learn your most important lessons from mistakes, not from successes. So I'm curious about a mistake you made, what was one of the bigger mistakes you've ever made, and how did you recover?

Andrew Freed:

The biggest mistake I've made, I would say, is I'm not acting on my dreams sooner. Like I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, I always wanted to go after my dreams. At the end of the day, I was simply scared. I was simply scared of the repercussions and was scared of taking the leap and and the thing that really my biggest mistake was waiting 10 years, when I'm in the workforce, to actually go after my dreams. So I guess my to your point, what was my biggest mistake? Waiting and not taking action.

Ed Mathews:

Yeah, and it's a common refrain, right, it's so. Many people come at this, myself included. I read Rich Dad, poor Dad in 2008. It fundamentally changed my worldview and it took me three years to pull the trigger on my first deal, and it had everything to do with fear. And so it's interesting and it's a very common issue with. We're human right. We crave certainty, and the unknown scares the living crap out of most of us.

Andrew Freed:

Yeah, it's funny because the more successful people I run across, the more I realize how many inner, how much inner demons they conquered before they sought their success. Right, because when you go in the unknown, you really have to look in the mirror and be comfortable with yourself as well as your past. Right, I see so many people living their past self and that's holding their future self back 100%.

Ed Mathews:

Okay, so readers almost universally tend to be or leaders tend to be readers, right, and so I'm curious about how you take in information, whether that's through books, either physical or virtual, or conferences or podcasts. How do you take in information? And also, who are you paying attention to? These days? We're already talking about Dan Martell, but who else?

Andrew Freed:

How do I take in information? All the above? I'm part of Masterminds. I'm part of GoBundance, which is a mastermind. I host local real estate meetups. I go to meetups, I learn, I make connections through those. Listen to podcasts nonstop. I love Mark Zuber One Renter at a Time, really good economics insight. I love Ken McElroy. Listen to Ken McElroy, obviously. Brandon Turner is the only theater in my heart Helped me get started in this game. Those are some sources that I listen to. And then books. I'm a voracious reader, for sure. I like to buy back your time, but I'm very much in a lot of personal development as well. So it could be Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Really good book, even things that are not business related, like the Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. It's the deep look inside yourself or Think Like a Monk. I think that's Jay Shetty which kind of it makes you think how am I taking information and how am I reacting to the world? Right, yeah, those are some sources that kind of drive me forward.

Ed Mathews:

Excellent. Final question, then, is about success. Finish this sentence. For me, success means what to you?

Andrew Freed:

Success means that more people like me and want to work with me. At the end of the day, your success is directly correlated to how many people like you and want to work with you. Say, for example, if Elon Musk wanted to work with me, there's a good reason I'd be a multimillionaire, if not a billionaire. So it's really important to cultivate those relationships, but also have a very high level of integrity and ethics where somebody does want to work with you day in and day out, even during the ups but also the downs, and know that you will do your best to push this ball forward and to get it right Right on.

Ed Mathews:

Awesome. All right, andrew. Hey, I've really enjoyed this conversation. You have built a really impressive business and it has everything to do with your hard work and your character Congratulations. So, when you're not talking about real estate or buying properties, what do you like to do for fun?

Andrew Freed:

Oh man. So for the first three years of my endeavor I was a and I still am workaholic. That resulted in never traveling, just head by head down grinding. But now I really enjoy traveling. So this year alone I've been to Miami, I've been to Italy, I've been to Portland. Where else did I go? I went to Mexico, Cancun. So I love, absolutely love traveling, being out in nature I think you're getting the goods in the woods, going hiking. I love that. I do enjoy some yoga. I absolutely just love, like personal development, trying to be the best version of myself every single day, and that might be me doing the miracle morning, that could be me reading, that could be me going to conferences, that can be me participating in masterminds. But I absolutely love just growing into a new version of myself every single day, excellent, excellent, and so, as an observer, you're killing it.

Ed Mathews:

So congratulations. So, idriff, if somebody wants to learn more about you or your business, what is the best way to get ahold of you?

Andrew Freed:

They can simply follow me on social, at Investor Freed on Instagram or Andrew Freed on LinkedIn and Facebook, and I am very active. I put out free educational content. I think I have over 150 tips on how to invest, so definitely check me out. I always try to provide as much value as possible Awesome.

Ed Mathews:

Andrew Freed. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's really good to see you and continue good fortune. Thanks, Ed, I appreciate you having me.

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Ed Mathews - Clark St Capital

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