The Everyday Millionaire Show
Ryan Greenberg and Nick Kalfas are two Maryland based business owners and investors. Ryan and Nick discuss topics such as basics of financial literacy, building businesses, investing, and real estate. This podcast is for people looking to achieve financial freedom.
The Everyday Millionaire Show
How Smart Investors Thrive When Markets Tighten (ft. Ryan Studner)
Real estate looks glamorous from the outside. Up close, the winners treat it like a craft and a job. We bring lender Ryan Studner into the studio at dawn to pressure‑test the strategies serious investors use right now: why new construction can beat heavy flips, how to keep capital moving while permits crawl, and what clean books reveal about “profits” that never existed.
Ryan opens the lender’s playbook—credit, liquidity, and experience—and shows how disciplined underwriting protects both borrowers and the broader private credit market.
If you want a practical, lender‑tested way to build and hold through uncertainty—avoiding hidden losses, appraisal traps, and timeline drift—this conversation lays out the moves. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s scaling, and leave a quick review with your biggest takeaway so we can dive deeper next time.
Welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Show with Ryan Greenberg and Nick Calvis. What's up guys? We are here. It's just before 6 a.m. We have a new sponsor for the podcast, Stuff Dog Supplements. They just sent us some pre-workout, some creatine. I've been taking this every day before the gym. About to do a about a mile and a quarter swim workout this morning and then chest and chest and biceps. This has always been a great pump for the last couple weeks. Hasn't been too jittery. A lot of pre-workouts I take gives me the jitters. This has been good. It's pretty tasty. I have the blue blue raspberry. It's definitely strong tasting, but it's pretty delicious. And then we have our creatine here as well. So I'm gonna take one scoop of the creatine with my pre-workout. Unflavored creatine. I like it better that way. If you uh looking for new supplements, try something out. Stuffed dog, they are local to Maryland. So they hooked us up and look forward to a long-term sponsorship with them. Alright guys, welcome back to another episode of the Everyday Millionaire Show here with Ryan Studner. I stuttered a little bit saying my own name. Ryan Studner. What's up, man?
SPEAKER_01:Doing well. How's everyone?
SPEAKER_02:I'm good. Chase, how are you? Living. Super busy this time of year. Yeah. Yeah, thanks for coming in. I was like, last minute, we were gonna meet anyway, and I was like, last minute, we have to get some content. Let's just have Studner on the podcast and see where we're at with uh I I th I feel like lenders have the best uh pulse on what's going on with the market and you know um investments overall. Um so what are you kind of what are you seeing recently?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, state of the market, right? So we're Chase and I were just talking a little bit before. Um things sort of even out, they tend to even out, right? So uh, you know, I'm operating our DC, Maryland, and Virginia office. So maybe things are a little slower on a certain part of town, but even in my case, like maybe DC's slower in the condo market, but boy, the new builds in Virginia are kind of picking up, right? And stuff like that. So there's always a little bit of uh, you know, micro versus macro conversation. Um overall, things have been pretty consistently growing for Renovo, but um, you know, I guess you have to talk about how granular you want to look into kind of the state of what market. Um, but uh kind of looking, I mean, part of why we were gonna sit down is like a year in review of 2025 and looking into 2026 and looking into 2026, I think there's a lot of opportunity um if you're looking in the right spots.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, uh that's kind of what uh we've been focusing, as you know, on the new construction stuff. And our strategy really has been like we want to be, you know, we're way buying way smaller things than like Ryan homes would be buying or like Lenar or any of those big big people, but it's not really something that like your regular everyday flipper can take down. So kind of like in this little niche of we find you know, we get the lot, we build it, and we have value there.
SPEAKER_01:And I feel like those houses are easier to sell pound for pound than like flips or older homes, easier to sell and and probably even easier to construct than like a heavy rehab of 100%. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I I was just explaining this uh in there where I was interviewing for our cleaning company, but I was explaining new builds versus flips, and I always explain it this way. It's kind of like a puzzle. Every flip you do is like a new puzzle, and you gotta figure out the pieces. Whereas like we new construction, we already have the master plan for the puzzle, so we know what we're doing. Yeah, um, and it I they are easier to sell from a real estate agent perspective as well, because people are looking for a finished product. If they're gonna pay five, six hundred thousand in Glen Burney, do they want a a house that was built in the 1990s and f and a flipper came in and did, and they don't know who cut corners, or do they want a two-year warranty? Yeah, like it's just it's it's an easier product to sell on the back end too.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, so that's what we've been focusing on. And um, I think part of the the problem with that, and I think I've kind of solved it, is like the time with the money out, how much time it takes. Yes. Because we're closing like Dorsey, for example, like we closed that luckily with some seller financing for the lot, but we've already excavated, dug foundation, poured footing walls, done all that shit, and we haven't gotten any money yet. Right. So, you know, the one that we just bought, Azalea, we're we put 80, so it was like 79 grand down for the lot and closing and everything, and we're basically just waiting until February to get like a building permit. Because that's how long it takes. Exactly. So the the cash holding is um a lot tougher. Tell me about it. Yeah, it's a little it's just a longer, it's just a longer product.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And then once you get into the cycle and the pipeline starts kind of kicking off the the draws, you know, you'll you'll get back there. But it's it's a longer uh time period towards that. Um, better result.
SPEAKER_02:We we kind of we were gonna go back and forth. We were going back and forth between like, do we close the lot with you guys first and then you know, hold that, but it didn't make sense because the interest accrued over those time where we're not working just doesn't it doesn't make sense. So we have to you have to pay c basically have to pay cash for the lot.
SPEAKER_01:It would it wouldn't have made sense for you otherwise. Yeah. So no, it was the right call. Um and luckily we had uh Nick Placo on the case, he was yeah good in in recognizing.
SPEAKER_02:So it's uh you guys are like the perfect in-between between like institution and your your true like backyard uh hard money vendor.
SPEAKER_01:That's what we're going for, you know. Essentially, is like you know, the national pricing with your local presence. And you know, as long as you know, again, we were talking before, like we don't want to work with everyone, right? We're not just sitting there going, yeah, great, like look, a lot of stuff going down in Baltimore, you know, this summer. And I was guarding the gates. I was sitting there guarding the gates while everyone's, hey, I got six deals, I got eight deals, I got let's get it done. It's just like I looked at the state of all of it and I went, yeah, I mean, I understand why we're in this position because half of it is crap. Yeah, you know, and and maybe only a third of it was crap, but I was so guarded in in that moment of like, look, we care about delinquency rate in a big way. We care about sort of the longevity of you know how we're approaching things, the lending fundamentals. Like, we don't that's the institutional part of it, of like, yeah, like we have to stick by these things. And there, and there's a reason. It's not just because like it's a number on a piece of paper, it's kind of what makes the world go round, right? And so it's like we need these things to continue on and um you know, here for a long time, not just a good time, right?
SPEAKER_02:So we're that that's see you guys came in pretty pretty hot. I feel like so. When I first like when well, when we first got together, you were with a different company. Then when you switched, you were like the first boots on the ground here, right? What's your metric? How much have you put on the street since do you have that in your head?
SPEAKER_01:I do.
SPEAKER_02:So that was um So I feel like everybody, every like bigger investor at least gave you a shot. Like not everyone, but for sure. But yeah, no, a good bit of us.
SPEAKER_01:About 170 million is at the streets. Um since we've gotten Renovo started uh here in the DMV. And uh, you know, this year we we just surpassed our our hundred million mark for 2025. And uh, you know, we're thinking 2026 putting like 150 on on the, you know, as like a plan. Um and again, it's it's you it's really with an eye of kind of slow growth, you know, and and again, it's like working with you guys, it's easy, it's awesome. You know, we know that you're putting forth a great product, and that's gonna lead towards great numbers, which means we can kind of go get great money and continue having even better products and people and technology. And it's kind of that, you know, just as long as we kind of again make that world go round, it should benefit everyone involved. Um, so we're we're always just trying to make sure that like, yeah, we want to do a lot, and I'd rather do 200 million than 150 million, but I'd rather do 150 clean, right? Because that then we can get to 200 the next year. What is your delinquency rate? Like, what does that look like? 2.12%. I 2%.
SPEAKER_02:So just looked at I just looked at it, so it's uh 2% of that just means 2% of all only 2% of all your loans are people that didn't didn't pay their bill. That's actually pretty damn good, I feel like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For a big for a big uh the national average is like five to seven. And how many of those do you like how many foreclosures do you guys actually like end up going through? Very little, very few. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So what what happens in beforehand? Like, how does that work? You know, at 30 days, it's hey, you're in default. Um, let's not let it go further, you know, and continue the conversation and just try to make sure that that is an open dialogue, right? Like the more open the dialogue can be, the better it's gonna go. Right. Right. So, hey, gosh, it's you know, January one's creeping up, and I have this issue, and here's what it is, and here's why, and here's why I think I'm gonna be cool by Feb1. All right, we're we're having a conversation now, as opposed to like crickets not answering, don't know where they are, right? So, like there's just it's it's a human experience. And you know, we've you know, we're just talking before about like just like you can't just come in hot, right? There has to be a conversation in tact and and whatever the the situation is, and it's like it matters, it matters how that the rest of it's probably gonna go. So yeah. You think a lot of people are losing money on flips and stuff right now? I think there is. I think there's some people who you know are looking at it and saying, hey, I just gotta get out of here by any means. And if I gotta take a little, and and this is more volume, folks. I mean, if you have one going, you know, you do one a quarter or you whatever, like you're kind of not gonna be as easy to just go, all right, whatever, on to the next. Yeah. But for I think for a lot of the volume folks right now that are looking at it and saying, I I gotta get out of this curtain crop, and maybe I was off on my RVs by 10%, and you know.
SPEAKER_00:I I think too, and I don't know, maybe you can advise um what you're seeing, but I think a lot of people are losing money and they don't even know they're losing money because they didn't have to come to the table with money at closing, right? So like if they put 10 or 15% down on their hard money and they're getting some money back, but they really overspent on their budget or the house took longer to sell, or you know, whatever that may be, and they still get a little bit of money back at the at closing because that was what they put down. Um, but maybe they're losing money in other ways that they don't even notice.
SPEAKER_01:Back to lending fundamentals. I I mean, I think this is what you're bringing up. So as this whole Baltimore thing's going down, people are going, hey, I'm I'm used to getting 100 up front, I'm getting 80% of the value on the back. That's what I get. Yeah. You're like, all right, is that a good business model? Like, no, it's not. You know, I mean, it just it isn't. Um because you know, it feels good in the moment to okay, great, I'm not bringing a dollar down, I'm getting a little clip on the back side, I'm keeping this rolling. Yeah, but like, what about when the show stops? Right? Or like, oh, you know, values came down 10%. And it's like, all right, well, that portfolio, it's is it almost underwater now? Right. Right? Like basically, you know, in that and it's like, yeah. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:I mean it is on um a lot of people are underwater in the sense, like what the house would actually sell for and what the appraised value is.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Real value, I gotta get rid of this today. Yeah. What's that real value towards what they owe? Uh most people are off. And I think that's where it's like, hey, sometimes you don't want to take it all out. Like, you know, I mean, having equity in your house is a good thing if you are a long-term real estate investor, because most people recognize that it's 10 years of like the home ownership kind of that's right past 10 years is when you're really collecting this value. Right. But like those 10 years are kind of a slog to to that, like, yeah, it's and it might be a little rough and this year might not be so good. But once we've gotten to that 10 years of paying off enough, and like that's where the real I mean, that's kind of what I'm doing right now.
SPEAKER_02:The houses that I bought back in 2016, 2017, I'm wrapping up into a big refinance to buy another, you know, another house rather than selling. I do have one list, Chase has one listed for sale that I would like 1031 um if we did end up selling it. But for the you know, for the most part, I just let the last eight years or whatever build me those equit that equity. And now I'm pulling it all out and buying a name of the game. Two two more houses. So um, yeah, so that I I definitely think that a lot of investors are not keeping their books clean.
SPEAKER_00:That's a and and the reason I brought that up is because I had an investor that I just sold a house for and she got money back at closing, but I don't think she realized the amount of money she really lost because she over she overspent on her construction budget by I think it was 40,000, and then her ARV went from 560 to 480. I mean that's that's a big margin if if depending on what you thought you were gonna make, right? So um, yeah, I just I mean she put down a lot of money too. So that again That's what I'm I'm I'm thinking like a lot of people just the books are easy, it's easy to project profit, but it's not easy to realize it um a lot of times.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah. I mean uh without Karen, I wouldn't have any idea if I was making money or not. And because you're just like so caught in the rat race, you know. If you don't have a bookkeeper and you're doing any kind of volume, you're messing up. Like you're definitely um that should be the first thing you do because when you talk to people like you know, you guys, like I have a whole list of shit that I gotta collect for and if the books are all fucked up, the the lenders will see that, the underwriters see that. That's red flags. Um so keeping that straight is like super what do you think, Ryan? Top top couple uh things.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I mean I I I think it's it's true, and I I think even you know, when we look at like a DSCR alone, right? It's a fairly new product, right? Seven years old, eight years old, whatever. Like it's not it's not I don't think it's fully understood, and I I think it kind of got out of hand um perhaps kind of fast. Like do we really think an individual should have like 10, 20, 30, 50 million in debt? I don't know. Yeah, like I don't I don't think I don't think so, actually. You know, like I think usually that's reserved for much larger institutions that are have a little more, you know, backing or whatever, but like if that person with these 10, 20 million of like DSCR loans goes bad, as we saw, like it goes really bad, and it can actually pull down a lot of good with it, a lot of goodwill, not just for a city, but like the private credit market in in total. Yeah, right. Like that's just a bad mark. Um, and so I think being careful with this awesome thing that is like it's actually kind of a remarkable product that's like, oh, this could allow people to really build this life that they didn't think was possible. You know, that that a bank wasn't gonna allow them to do, but they go like, no, no, no, I'm I know what I'm doing, I know how to buy it, I know how to renovate, I know how to manage. I just need this funding, right? Like I think it's it's huge, but I think it is getting reined in a little bit to an understanding of like, all right, we need this 1.2 ratio of income over expenses. All right, let's be honest. Like when people say they're you know that it's getting X amount of income, like in a X amount of expenses, to your point of like, I think there's losses that don't really, oh, my portfolio brings in$10,000 a month. Does it? Like, yeah, I know on paper it does, but like I don't think it would if I actually looked at all of your statements.
SPEAKER_00:Or I have this lease agreement that's for$1,800, but really they don't have a lease agreement that's for$1,800.
SPEAKER_01:Well, so we go off of market rents for for that purpose, right? Like it's end of day. I mean, if I rent something out to you because you're my friend at two grand, and like you know, whatever, like you just can't, you know, it's like no market rents are eighteen hundred, like we gotta go buy it. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_02:So that's can we touch on what what exactly happened in like the whole Baltimore DSCR thing?
SPEAKER_01:Because I kind of like read it but kind of just glanced over it because I wasn't really like Cliff Notes is basically a group that took on a ton of loans on six, seven hundred properties is kind of what I've heard. Um that one single group of people, like a group of investors, and took on like you know, somewhere in the hundred and sixty million plus of you know, I mean it were sort of huge numbers. Um or basically buy the thing, maybe do work, maybe not do work, get these refines with appraisers that were just maybe in on it, right? And given these huge values, maybe even sending pictures of properties that weren't that property, um, and extracting full value and just hitting it. And then all of a sudden then not paying their bills and going like, Yeah, we don't care what you do at these properties, uh and it's like we got our money. Yeah. Um Jesus. I mean But that's like criminal. That's for sure. I mean you're talking like high level criminal um activity.
SPEAKER_02:So racketeering almost. I mean I don't know. I never know what racketeering means. But honestly, I hear it a lot. It's I mean it's definite it's it's definite uh fraudulent behavior.
SPEAKER_01:Organized if it's a group, right? So I would assume that it's fraudulent behavior beyond belief. You know, I mean in a huge way, and I'm I'm sure there's tons of repercussions to come, but it took down a lot of lenders who had a ton of exposure. Who and not only those lenders who had a ton of exposure to this uh to this sponsor, but even note buyers of those folks who all went, hey, wait a minute, something's happening in Baltimore City. We're not touching any of it right now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:We're private, we're direct, we understood what was happening. Um, candidly we had given this group a few loans until kind of we actually were like, all right, we see actually what's going down here, and like, no, thank you no more. And um, so we we weren't really hurt by it. Yeah. Um, so it uh it was a you know, obviously a horrible situation that it was, but like we were kind of bubblegum shrimp with the boat um as you know the storm cleared and we're like sitting there going, all right, well now all these people want loans and we're able to give them, and then all of a sudden we saw sort of I was like, Oh, I can see why there's some problems going on out here. Like this is all trash. Like, oh, eight vacant properties? You want me to transfer appraisal? Nobody's gonna buy that debt, like nobody's gonna buy that shitty debt.
SPEAKER_00:No. I mean, it almost feels like an 08, 09 type uh I mean not on a micro scale. Yeah, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:Like you basically just wrote a bunch of a concentrated, yeah, a concentrated version where it, you know, this one DSCR product essentially, I think got out of hand, right? Where it's like you have a few different companies that were just so starved to have originations that they said, I don't, you know, I'm not really looking, I don't really because like those values don't make sense. Right. Yeah, but not but like not by a little, you know, it's like those that values don't make sense by a lot. And like for us, we do with CDA, which is to like a number comes in, like I have a third party number. If they're 10% off, red flag, like we hold on, why like so? I mean, hey, on a 200 property, like so you could be at you know 185, no one cares, right? It's like like past that, I don't know, there's something here.
SPEAKER_02:We should talk about it. Yeah, that that I think um is is a huge problem for investors that get into it and then need to like liquidate, they take out what they were given at the appraised value and then assume that that's what they're gonna get. And I mean, just with the ones that I'm buying next to the ones that Chase and I own, like the appraiser one two, I'm paying one point oh five. We're paying 150 less than what the appraised value, like what the Which is probably the actual value, yeah. Right, which is because you know that, yeah. Value. That's my value. Yes, no, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Hopefully your appraiser at Renovo thinks the same. Yeah. But yeah, so like I I feel like you know, knowing that um, and for that one, like I'm coming to the table with like$300,000 or something like that. So, you know, make I think making people go back to those, like making 25%, 30% the norm, I think is like probably a healthy thing for the market overall.
SPEAKER_01:Same thing with rates, kind of in the same kind of conversation. Like people are like, well, can't wait till it gets back to three, and it's like it's not. Yeah, yeah. So like you should start to really understand kind of this horizon um as the norm. And like, yeah, if it drops, and you know, we're in the sixes for pretty much everything right now, from like a you know, right? It's like, all right, it could drop in the fives. I don't think anyone thinks that's crazy, but I don't think we should expect anything more. Um and you shouldn't be basing your investing on a potential rate drop. Or like people who call me every time the Fed drops their rates and goes like my rate's lower, right? And I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna have to put a I just need to put together a video. Maybe this is it. Hey everyone. Uh the Fed drops their rates, the five-year treasury goes up. Yeah. This is what happens, happens every time by like five to twelve bips, and it's because it's a predictive market, and like those were already baked in. Predictions.
SPEAKER_02:Prediction markets, like poly market, um, has this. I was listening to some freaking YouTube video this morning um about who the next Fed chair is gonna be. Because I think that will ultimately have a like that'll be probably like 2027 outlook on like because it comes, he comes in mid next year, and then 2027 will have a big I think I think 2027 is gonna be a big year for real estate because I feel like the Fed is gonna drop. That's what you know. Gonna get towards election years. That's what, yeah, it's like you know, we're coming up on election years. I mean, we I think they want to see house. I feel like we are also, we could talk about this uh because you you're in other markets, like there are other markets around the country that have gotten completely like flattened.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Like I know some places in Florida where the builders are literally just giving away products or like buying down their rates to three percent or whatever. Like the builders can't sell them, like they've way overbuilt.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and I think one of the lessons that I've heard from some of you know our other guys in other areas is like if the land's free, it's crap. Right? Like, just don't you can't think that you could just go to spots like, oh, I bought these lots for 10 grand and like you know, I'm gonna put houses here and it's just gonna be great. And it's like it's probably not. And there's like no one to be there to begin with, no one wants to be there anyway. So there is a certain like call like uh drive to you qualify. Like if you're going out on the highways and just like keep going and going and going in areas like Texas, wherever you just like go to the next Isaac, and like it just keeps going out. There's a certain point where it's like it's actually it doesn't matter how much it was or what's just no one no one wants it. Nobody wants it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I think people coming back to work too, that had a big thing to do with a lot of people are like, oh, I could work from home forever. Move to like like our buddy Eddie just moved, he just like lived wherever, like Florida, here, wherever. And then finally, like his company's like, you gotta come back to the office. Yeah, like I think a lot of companies are like, we're not getting shit done at all with all these people working from home.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and it's at all levels. I mean, my brother is like a partner at a DC law firm, like they he has to be back too. Like he for many summers or for winters was like going out in Florida, you know, he and his wife, and like it's like, yeah, I gotta be here now, you know. And so I and it makes sense. And I don't know, I I don't know if it's like puts me in a camp, but like I I agree. Like, I think being in office and I think having just some of that energy, I I do think it multiplies.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we were just talking about it for a real estate team, but like having everybody belly to belly, collaboration, the ideas. While granted, there are side conversations that might take 30 minutes and work might not get done. But just the fact that, like, hey, someone seeing something now inspires somebody else, and those ideas just they can expand, right? So, like I I just I'm a big proponent of like yo, like team meetings, we need to be in the office. You guys gotta be belly to belly, or we're just it you just never get that connection either, right? Oh, 100%.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we're we're in 40 different markets. We get together as much as possible. We get together in Chicago every September, or Renovo Palooza. Um we just got together, um, about 20 of us in Dallas for like a you know, kind of loan officer retreat and going over some best practices and goal setting and you know, these types of things where I mean, some real killers where like all of a sudden, you know, you are the average of the five people you spend the time. Like you get around some of these these folks who are, you know, doing in our Boston office 400 million of revenue a year, right? We're just like, I didn't even think that was like, you know, I just told you I'm like, all right, maybe, you know, 150 would be great. Like, oh, that's that's possible. I didn't know that was okay, got it. And like, what are you doing? What are some of the practices you're taking? Like, and how long did that take, right? So, like, there's a lot of things you want to take, and and you only get that in person. Yeah. I went up in August to to his office just to sit there in his presence for two days. It's like, what's going on? Like, let me find out what you're doing that I could potentially do that might make my business better. And I think that's the collaboration that really works well with Renovo is that like everyone is trying to, you know, prop each other up. And I mean, as a collective, the goal for next year is five billion of lending. So, you know, that's a good number. Yeah, bees. B's. I like the bees.
SPEAKER_00:So speaking of bees, the Powerball, get your Powerball ticket. Powerball. Uh that is the fastest way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_02:Um that is the fastest way. We should go get some Powerball tickets. All right, we're gonna cut this podcast short. Yeah, we're gonna get one on the way. Um I'll send that as part of my Renovo task list of my Powerball tickets for the underwriters. Just so they have to. Send a few to closing. Yeah, send a few. Um cool. Yeah, so the uh there was another, I feel like you you mentioned to me that you guys were coming out with a new product, like specifically for new construction.
SPEAKER_01:For builders, yeah, this the Builder Pro product. And it's it's geared towards, again, people who are doing you know, at least five a year, but like, you know, even another step at like 10 a year of like, yeah, I this is my business, right? Because it was sort of like uh an offshoot of our standard flip pro product, but it was like once we got to the new construction, you know, maybe you're getting 70% on the land, 100% on your, you know, on your construction, 85% of total costs. Like all right, what if we could stretch that? What if it could be 90% of total cost? Like that's probably a huge deal, you know, for for a builder. And like talk about the the amount of cost that goes towards these things and the timeline of it. So there's a thought of like, hey, if there could be a specific specialized product that's more geared towards the actual like true builder, and even like the infill type guy. Um you know, so that that uh you know we've we've rolled out and you know, again, it's there's more in North Carolina, there's more and whatever. So like kind of you start in those spots, see how it's going, and then it's like, all right, this this works. This is we can scale this. People on the back end, the capital markets, they like it, you know. So um then you roll with it.
SPEAKER_02:That's what we we got a bunch of them that we're gonna do this year. We we just closed on another one um last week and under contract on another. So I think we got like five or six in the works right now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you guys are humming. Well, and and that's the big like Ryan was mentioning earlier, that's the big play. Like these new constructions, they can absolutely drain you. And if the more you guys can make the numbers make sense, the more we can do. And with a guy like Ryan on the construction piece of it and the builder, that's that's the important part to have because now we can really dial our numbers in. And we know we're gonna hit our timelines because if we don't, he's got equity, right? Like, you know, you hire a builder and they don't have any equity in it, and it's like, oh, I think we'll be there.
SPEAKER_02:In a market like this, too, there's just not enough room to be an investor and then hire a builder for this kind of process. I think you're right. Like that's just that that doesn't exist. Like, I'm not going to make my margins as a GC on that. It's either one or the other. You're either going to make the GC is gonna make money or the investor is gonna make money. Correct. That's not both. It's an active piece, it's an active job. It's not like some passive investment that you're just gonna, you know, call and collect on.
SPEAKER_01:Um, it is a I mean, we have full-time people that are like, Yeah, but you've built that team that I mean that that doesn't have like say that like it's I don't know, you're sort of saying like, oh yeah, like you know, it's easy, like it's you know, but like it was e you know, you've gotten to that point. Like it it took a lot of iterations to get the right team. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And sort of the way I mean I don't want to say it's easy, but like I think people with with like renovations in general, like when you get into like a big like demo reno, that becomes difficult. 100% and like sometimes unsolvable problems with new construction, it's just a different type of variation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, like you were saying with the puzzle, right? I mean, and you so you have the I mean, and I think even backing up one step more, like talking about the team, right? Like you've put all of these things into place, and it's like I've always described it like you know, this this game's like a uh chair with four legs, right? And it's like finance, acquisition, construction, and management, which can obviously include like you know, sales and brokerage and whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um but if you think about it, like if you kick out one leg on a chair, the chair is compromised. It's going, you know, so it doesn't it doesn't matter which leg, right? But it's like so basically if you take whether it's like I can't buy anything, well then I don't care if you have the best money in the world and the best construction team, whatever, right? So it's like it doesn't matter which one you picked, it kills everything else. Right. So the fact that you've built this vertical team of things that it's like, all right, we all know we're handling, we handle it well. You know, I mean it's it's extremely impressive. Like, like you're saying, I I do have this sort of eye on the market, and I do get to I mean, kind of peek in and like know who's real and who isn't and whatever, like there are not ten of you guys. Right. Right. Like that it's there's not, you know, I there's not a hundred of like there's not a hundred kick-ass people in this market. There aren't. Yeah, no, I I believe a hundred is a lot. Right, you know what I mean? Like, like it's like there's like truly elite investors who know what they're doing, they've built it up, they've you know, it's credit, it's liquidity, it's experience, like your lenders' dreams rather than going just going, like, yeah, I mean, great, let's roll. Then there's sort of like a lot of people who want to do that, who think it looks really cool, but it's so hard and so much hard work, and it's like, you know, uh it's it's an active job.
SPEAKER_02:We were talking about this the other day, like I forget where I was at, but like, oh, it was at um Studio A staging's dinner, like a client, you know, they had they do a dinner every year with their bigger clients or whatever. And um I forget what the fuck was I just gonna say? I totally just blanked.
SPEAKER_00:You were talking about the um how it's an active job flipping.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were talking, and somebody was like, uh Ross, who was on this podcast, Ross Nakum with S and he was like, Oh, you guys are like, you know, crushing it like we were talking about investing. I'm like, well, I'm crushing it at my job. Like it's not I wouldn't call this in what I'm doing investing. Like I am, it is in in a way investing, but it is a it is my full-time job and many other people's full-time job that I'm responsible for to get it to get it done. It's not like I'm putting money in and then taking money out at the end. Like I'm fucking in the literally like walking there on the job sites, making sure that things are getting done.
SPEAKER_01:Um we love Ross uh over at Renovo. I mean, he's he's uh he does a really good job too. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and and still running the Maryland store and all that. Yeah, that's cool. So cool.
SPEAKER_02:That Baltimore in the Box shout out to Baltimore the Box. Um I've sent a bunch of stuff through them. Um yeah, he's good people, but any like we were just talking, and like, you know, it's not the the the real investors that I feel like um are doing most of the volume, like they would call it a job. And it is. It is a job.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and if you don't approach it like that, right? I mean, I was watching uh I I love this documentary. It's an Eagles documentary, like the not like the football team, like the band. The band. Uh, and it's like a four-hour documentary, you know, I think it was on Showtime or something back in the day, and it was like it was so good. But um, one of the things was is they're like, yeah, you know, as we started off, it was just like partying and being rock stars, um, until uh they got this apartment. I think it was Glenn Fry or whatever, and it was on top of Jackson Brown lived below. And he was like, I would just wake up and I would just hear Jackson Brown from the start of the day, you know, like normal timing. He'd wake my ass up, like, you know, I'm partying on it, and you just get up and I would hear him play the first few keys over and over and over again. Then you play the first verse over and over and over again, and then like finally he had a perfect song. And like, and then I started working with him and I started to realize like, oh, this is a job. Like, this is just like anything else. Like, if we want to be for real and great and like kind of do these things, set goals, hit them, attain whatever, whatever your industry is, like, you can't just be like a rock star. Like, you this is our job, yeah. Um, and that like changed the way they thought about going about their business. And it's like, yeah, like I give loans, like whatever. Like, you can, you know, whatever it all is, like, I'm creating relationships, but I give, you know, we we give loans end a day.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I have that's a job. I have to wake up, I have to have a plan, I have to know who's the right person to spend time with, you know, you know, g be a partner for. Like, if I just kind of wake up and figure out what the day's got in store for me, I'm cooked.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I just I feel like there's just a lot of people that see the sexiness of real estate investing, and they have their regular full-time job, and they're thinking that they're gonna come in and start just making you know all this money, and it's just it's just not doesn't it just doesn't happen that way.
SPEAKER_01:There are perks to it. If you do well in this, it can be great and you can have fun and you can buy your time in a way. Like I think that's what we're all sort of trying to do, right? Is is gain our time back. But it's so much hard work to get there. I mean, we just talked about rental portfolio paying off after 10 years. Ten years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's it's a gr it's uh I will say though, like it does go kind of fast too. Because I like I like look back and I'm like, damn, we've been almost running this business for 10 years. Like that's it's kind of a long time, but it feels like it's just like blinked by. So working hard. We um we set the numbers this morning. I was on the call with my CPA. We set our uh like goals to hit ten million in revenue this year. Um I said that let's think last year on the podcast, like around this time, what our goal was this year. We currently cash basis between the two companies hit nine point four. So we're close. Close. Close. Um, I won't close another half million, but we're like we're almost at that ten million mark after we started in 2016, we started buying houses, started 2017, we started doing like property management construction. So what is that eight, nine, eight, nine years now? Wow. It's been a while.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you don't get rich overnight. And no, and like you said, I mean, investing in real estate. The the other part to it is like you can start off by hiring a contractor and having a GC and being a little more hands-off, but you still have to have the legs to your chair. And if you don't have the acquisitions team, the sales team, the finance piece, right? Like everything just becomes more challenging. And then, you know, even as agents, the same thing. I can't just wake up and be like, hmm, wonder who's gonna call me to sell their house today. It doesn't work like that, you know. And there's so many agents out there, and it that that's how they live their life, and that's okay if that's how you want to live. You're just not you're not gonna sell, you know, 12 million in volume this year, you know? And and so it is a job, and investing is the same damn way. And we're running two different companies, but we still take time and we're investing. And and do you think the engineers just send those planes over to Renovo? Or do you think the the engineer sends it over to 84 Lumber to get the the the um takeoff? No, that's not how that works. We have to do all of the back end.
SPEAKER_01:That's right.
SPEAKER_00:And um, so I mean, there's there's systems, there's processes, there's development, it's a whole thing. And new construction is a different game, yeah, um, than flipping, but once you figure out that puzzle, I think it makes it a little easier too. So, but yeah, it's it's a job in and of itself.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, there's people who want to make that jump too from flipping to new construction, and like they're like, Oh, I've heard it's easier, and it's like, well, it won't be for you. Yeah, you know, not right now, like you should you should be with the builder for on your first one, like you should that's what I'm doing, right?
SPEAKER_00:So, like you know for me, Ryan's developing and and building Annapolis, and I'm watching.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And now with this Glenn Bernie lot, I'm gonna be the main point of contact, and I'm developing and I'm reaching out to the trades, right? And so, like, that's the firsthand experience, and now I can kind of say I'm a builder, but like we're using some of his people, and I'm using different trades, and like you're learning that process hands-on, um, and while I have somebody who's a master at it guiding us through it.
SPEAKER_02:What's nice too is like we're doing that one on mansion that you guys are funding. Yeah, um, that I'm doing for Brett, who basically I became a partner on that business because they didn't have any building experience. And Brett has done all of the like I've just told him how to do it, pay the impact fees, get the you know, get the permits, get the grading permit, get this, get the bonds. And I haven't had to take much of my own time because he's a partner on that like entity. And I can multi that's like how I like multiplied my time. If I can like if Chase and Brett can both like handle from start to finish, because that's the thing with new builds, it's like you're really just managing groups of contractors, like on a timeline. On a timeline. Yeah, and that's that's all that you you know, you set an expectation with them, they hit the expectation. If they don't, they they're fired and the next guy comes in. It's not it's like it's very cut and you know, cut and dry. So that I I feel like uh if I can get a couple of people to do that, and we can stay in this nice little slot of like one to five, like Hall Street was a big was a big hall. Um, like one to five units at a time is like a nice little sweet spot that we're hitting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. And that's I mean, honestly, it's it's funny as you're saying that. I'm like, you're actually talking about my business right now, too. Like that's a same way with it's like it's just just continued growth and writing adding the right people who all of a sudden just like I mean, I'm sitting here doing a podcast with you, like my phone is blowing up. Yeah, I'm not concerned though, because I have a great team, and I know that like things are getting handled, and you know, we're continuing to add to that team and continue to add great people, and it's like again, you you kind of you you're building for this this growth, but like you don't it's not like you you need it, right? Like you it it comes naturally, that's just part of the process, right? As like you just you do what you say, say what you do, like you know, as long as you have this execution and and you know, great expectation setting, and you know, everyone kind of works together, you know, things tend to work out. I mean, I this guy in November we were talking to, he he mentioned something like you know, if two people want to do business together, the details rarely matter. And I think I've been thinking about that a lot the last month because like when I think about all the great relationships that we do have with everyone we work with, I'm like, yeah, yeah, that that checks out, right? Like they're good, we're good, we know we're gonna get there. There's probably gonna be a bump or two because this is a tough business that always has little nuances, and we're gonna like because we want to do business together, we're gonna figure it out, yeah, right. And so, like, it's um, and you've seen it the other way too, where all of a sudden you're like, what the hell is going on right now? Like, where what are we actually fighting about here? You know? Um, so and and you know you're not gonna do business together. Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So overall though, we got a positive outlook while we close this up. We got a positive outlook on the next you know, 12 months. We think rates are probably pretty stable.
SPEAKER_01:Stable, even a touchdown, maybe.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe that's kind of what I was that's in my head envisioning, just a kind of a plateau, and you know, you sell what what sells, we rent what we need to rent, and that's kind of been been our yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, if we underwrite to today's number for the next year, and it happens to go down, beautiful. If it stays, it stays, right? So I think that's like the prudent way to think about it.
SPEAKER_02:Cool. Well, uh, before we close, I don't I don't have anything else to announce besides Sub Dog Supplements, is one of our sponsors. We're a real estate podcast, but we're sponsored by Sub Dog Supplements because we are also Iron Man. Exactly. That's what I was thinking. So um you can check out their our code is millionaire, you get 10% off. They have non this is high stim, which is like high stim, that like caffeine hittingly get you going, yeah. That gets you going. The non-STEM and then creatine. So check them out. The guy's local Maryland firefighter, actually, full-time firefighter, and got this content is hilarious, too. And yeah, and he's got hilarious content. So check out SUPDOG, um, Renovo Financial for your DSCR hard money. Um, what I mean, what should people think of before they come to you? Like, are you looking for a specific like do you have a client?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, definitely. I mean, look, we we work with professionals. We don't, you know, we're not kind of your newbie shop or you know, not necessarily the um, you know, we we look for three things, right? To break it down. It's like it's credit, it looks it's liquidity, and experience. And certain jobs are gonna require different emphasis on those three things. New construction experience, extremely important here, right? Or as opposed to like whatever. So um DSCR experience, not so important, right? Um credit's gonna be more important there, right? So you but those three things, if you've got good credit, you've got a few bucks in the bank, you've done this before, and you know what you're talking about, and if you've done this before, I think having a conversation with us, understanding our products, understanding our process, it's probably gonna work out. So um cool.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So check out ru what is it, Ryan at is it r Studner? What's what's your email? Or how do I get in touch with you guys?
SPEAKER_01:Email is rstudner at renovofinancial.com. Um I'm on Instagram Ryan Studner, Facebook Ryan Studner. Hit him up. Link you below. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And we'll link them, we'll link him in there. Cool. All right, guys.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks.
