Power Couple's Path to Real Estate Riches: Multifamily Success and Teamwork

In this episode of The WealthGenius Podcast, real estate investors Crystal Ireland and Andy Jean share their inspiring journey in multifamily real estate investing. They discuss their successful deals and the importance of believing in oneself, trusting the process, and getting comfortable with discomfort. The couple provides valuable advice for other real estate investors, especially those working together as partners, emphasizing the significance of finding and respecting each others roles, surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals, and taking decisive action. They recount their first successful deal, an 8-unit apartment building, and the key factors that led to its impressive growth in value. Tune in for actionable insights and motivation from this dynamic duo in the world of real estate investing

Inspired by Crystal & Andy's stories? You can connect with them on the following pages:

Crystal Ireland

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/crystalireland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crystal.ireland1

Andy Jean

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andy.jean.568632/

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Alfonso Cuadra, Andy Jean, Crystal Ireland, Carl Richards

Carl Richards  00:05

Welcome to The WealthGenius Podcast. The WealthGenius Podcast: strategies for multifamily real estate investing, mindset, community, success. The WealthGenius Podcast with your host, The Godfather of eal estate, Alfonso Cuadra, who has expansive experience in business and massive success as a real estate investor, The WealthGenius Podcast, let's dive in to today's episode.

Alfonso Cuadra  00:31

Crystal and Andy, I'm so happy to have you guys here. Woooh!

Crystal Ireland  00:36

Woohoo! 

Alfonso Cuadra  00:37

How do you feel?

Crystal Ireland  00:38

I feel so grateful to be here.

Alfonso Cuadra  00:42

I'm grateful, little Godfather's grateful. Every3body's grateful. You know, it's been a series of events, since we first met that now you're sitting right here in our offices in the penthouse, beautiful view. And it's definitely a story that should be shared. You know, I want to start by talking about where you guys are now. So what is your portfolio look like now? What is the real estate look like now? What are you guys doing currently?

Crystal Ireland  01:11

Currently, we're working on two properties in Brockville. We've been looking at many deals this year, we look at 100 units, 84 units, we're going big, and we're excited.

Andy Jean  01:25

We also have that eight unit in Brockville that we own and that we were able to purchase. So now we're trying to definitely concentrate in that market. We really like the Brockville market, so.

Alfonso Cuadra  01:38

Yeah, and Brockville is a beautiful place. I've always told everyone you know, anything along that 401 you're gonna see massive growth, right? Because cities are not shrinking, they're growing out, right? And you know, as these places become more dense, people are going to look for cheaper places to live. And you guys currently are looking at 10 units there right now or that's I think that's what you're saying that-

Andy Jean  02:01

Yes, it's a 10 unit that we're looking at, we just sent an offer. And at the same time the same realtor came out with another off market deal. Stick with that with that building-

Crystal Ireland  02:12

Side by side.

Andy Jean  02:13

-side by side. It's a sev- another seven units so.

Alfonso Cuadra  02:15

So let's go back to the beginning with this eight plex. Even though you've you've tried many things, your first deal was not your townhome or your condo, your first deal was an eight unit apartment building. Is that something that you would advise other people to do?

Andy Jean  02:34

Totally, totally. So we didn't even start by buying our own residence but that's the mentality we had before before we met you you know wanted to buy our first residence and since we got into to investing in multifamily, so we don't see it as important to go and buy our personal residence right away. So-

Alfonso Cuadra  02:54

So you're planning on building the portfolio-

Crystal Ireland  02:56

First.

Alfonso Cuadra  02:57

And then have the portfolio fund the personal residence. 

Crystal Ireland  03:00

Yeah.

Andy Jean  03:00

Exactly, exactly.

Alfonso Cuadra  03:01

So let's go through that eight plex. I mean, we say eight plex, like it's like, you know, it's just a eight plex. But to someone watching this potentially that like that would be the biggest deal that they could ever imagine doing, you know? And eight units. I remember when I had a single I went into a duplex that I converted into a triplex my next deal was a seven plex. And I couldn't sleep that night. Like I just just thinking about seven people are gonna giving me rent. It was surreal to me. I just was like, wow, seven apartments like that's just incredible. So, you know, don't forget that. I mean, for some people, that's a huge step. And it's for you guys, it's normal. It's like 84 units, 100 units. So you know, how did you find this deal?

Crystal Ireland  03:49

We found it on Kijiji actually off market and we did the deal directly with the seller.

Alfonso Cuadra  03:54

Yeah. So you emailed the seller you called the seller.

Andy Jean  03:57

When I started, I was able to call the seller, and I also sent him a message to Kijiji, so he ended up replying to me and were able to get on the call together. And we set up a walkthrough. And since it was COVID He wasn't taking any walkthrough-

Crystal Ireland  04:15

Walkthroughs!

Andy Jean  04:15

-at all that property was on the market for probably five months or six months. He wasn't taking any walkthroughs so we were kind of the first walkthrough that he took.

Alfonso Cuadra  04:24

What made him trust you guys enough to do this walkthrough.

Crystal Ireland  04:30

I guess it was just like the relationship the- were very personable with him. And actually during that walkthrough, at first and we were doing the walkthrough together and then at the end like towards the end, I went into the backyard with the wife and then I just started building a relationship with her talking with her. We had our daughter with us on the walk through and then she was running around in the backyard playing with the owner's dog and we just started building a relationship and thankfully, because we ended up extending that deal for eight months.

Alfonso Cuadra  05:05

Yeah, well, you know, people that get into real estate, they think that it's very transactional. It's all about relationships, right? It's all about building rapport. Building, you know, that likability with your owners with your sellers rather, or any, any, any type of transaction that you want to do, things are going to move smoother, if it becomes about people, right? And people tend to forget that and you went there, you connected with the wife, but good move, bringing Pearly, because-

Andy Jean  05:34

I just want to share that there was actually another group that was there at the same time, that group had bought a four plex that they own. So they could have went with them knowing that they can close. And you know? But they told us is the relation they felt like they related with us the same way they started, they felt like we were them. So that's why they kind of like kind of went with us. And also like having Pearly being cute playing with the dog did help as well.

Alfonso Cuadra  06:02

Nice move. Nice move. So look, so you got this deal. You fund this deal, private seller, and you put it under contract. 

Crystal Ireland  06:02

Yeah.

Alfonso Cuadra  06:02

You have this deal under contract. What are you feeling at this moment? Do you feel like it's going to close? You know, because I know that you had other deals that didn't close? Right. And I feel sometimes, you know, in real estate, especially in multifamily. You know, there's that due diligence part of things.

Crystal Ireland  06:29

Yeah.

Alfonso Cuadra  06:29

And sometimes deals fall apart. And I feel that that's where a lot of people give up. Right? And so by this time, you had done a couple of deals, that didn't work out. And then now you're here. So what are you feeling? You got this deal under contract? How much is it under contract for? 

Crystal Ireland  06:48

930,000.

Alfonso Cuadra  06:48

930,000? So what are you feeling?

Crystal Ireland  06:52

Actually, we went through like a roller coaster of emotions. First, we were very excited. And then we go through like ups and downs, because you're not sure if you're going to be able to close on it or not. Or you're gonna get the terms that you want. There's all the negotiating. And they agreed to an agreement for sale at one point and towards the end and-

Alfonso Cuadra  07:13

And so let's back up there for- why did you feel that this deal needed an agreement for sale?

Crystal Ireland  07:18

Because in order to get the financing that we wanted, the rents were too low, so the net operating income was too low. And so we thought, if we could have a year to turn it around and get the rents up, then we can get the financing that we were looking for.

Andy Jean  07:35

And we could get closer to the price that the seller was looking at because he didn't want to bring down the price too much. So that's why that was one of the options that we brought to him and-

Alfonso Cuadra  07:45

That's the first initial deal that he accepted.

Andy Jean  07:48

He didn't even know what was an agreement for sale. So we kind of had to educate him about that. And he was actually shocked that he came back and accepted it. But he wanted to bring it to his lawyer. And that's the reason that document for sale didn't go forward.

Alfonso Cuadra  08:04

Yeah. So I find that a lot of people they bring things to their, I mean, lawyers and accountants are deal killers. Yeah, they will never say, go ahead and do it, you know? Cause it's a liability, right? Yeah. You know, in retrospect, maybe you should have said, "Look, your lawyer may not accept this, maybe go to another lawyer." But for whatever reason, he was spooked. But how long did that take?

Crystal Ireland  08:26

Their lawyer took two months to get back to us. Two months, and it was over the Christmas holidays. And they came back and they said, listen, our lawyers said no, so we're not comfortable moving forward with the agreement for sale. And they said we might need to put this back on the market. And I think our hearts sank because we like put eight months into this deal.

Alfonso Cuadra  08:48

Eight months, it was it under contract?

Andy Jean  08:50

It was under contract.

Alfonso Cuadra  08:50

It was under contract. You discover that the numbers don't work the way they need to work for the financing. You come up with a solution and agreement for sale. They agree but they need legal counsel. That takes two months. Okay, because whatever the lawyer wasn't around, yeah, was busy, whatever. Now they come back two months later, and they're like, you know, we're gonna put it on the market because, you know, we need to sell this thing. Yeah. So what do you do?

Crystal Ireland  08:50

We call you.

Alfonso Cuadra  08:53

I know the story, but I'm doing it, I'm doing it for the benefit of the people watching here.

Andy Jean  09:27

We got a little bit creative. So he didn't let us know that because at first when we first started the deal, we asked him if he was able to get us some vacant unit. Yeah, so at first he didn't want to do anything about this. So he didn't want to get any vacancy to help the purchase of the property. But by that time, it let us know that there was one person that was leaving. So now the numbers are starting to look better and look better. So what we came out with said be able to close and be able to do it quick close. And but we'd need it at 880. And we had it at 930 when we told him that we need it at 880 and that was making the deal a little bit sweeter at that price.

Alfonso Cuadra  10:10

Yeah

Crystal Ireland  10:11

Yeah, we said we'd close cash. And- but if he gave us the price we wanted which was 880. And on the phone call, he said okay, we'll call you back tomorrow.

Alfonso Cuadra  10:22

What are you thinking at this point? 

Crystal Ireland  10:23

We're like, "Oh my God, please!"

Andy Jean  10:24

Our heart is beating. Our heart is going, there is a lot of emotion.

Alfonso Cuadra  10:24

Is he calling that- the same lawyer again, like what's this guy doing, right?

Crystal Ireland  10:32

We're stressing, we're sweating. 

Andy Jean  10:33

Because the- I know, we know that he's thinking about putting it back in the market. So-

Alfonso Cuadra  10:37

I remember this was at the height of the market.

Crystal Ireland  10:39

Yes it was!

Andy Jean  10:39

At the height of the market.

Crystal Ireland  10:41

Yeah, so like things were selling for, like 400,000 over asking. So we're like, we have no idea what's gonna happen. The phone rang 30 seconds later. And they said, "done."

Andy Jean  10:54

Yeah, so that's was- that was a moment. Like, it's probably one of the best moment I live like in terms of emotion. And-

Alfonso Cuadra  11:03

What are you guys doing at this point? Like, they call you ,they say "done!" And you hang up the phone, what are you doing?

Crystal Ireland  11:08

I think we were literally like jumping. Celebrating.

Andy Jean  11:12

Like jumping I-I was back in forth in my house jumping on the wall. I remember I can see it again. Like I was just going crazy. Texting her-

Alfonso Cuadra  11:22

It's like you won the Super Bowl!

Andy Jean  11:23

Yeah, exactly. I know. We won the Stanley Cup or the Super Bowl, like. 

Crystal Ireland  11:27

And then like-

Andy Jean  11:28

One of the greatest moment, our daughter is looking at us like-

Crystal Ireland  11:30

"What is going on?"

Andy Jean  11:31

"What is going on?" Like "this guys is going nuts."

Alfonso Cuadra  11:37

I love it.

Crystal Ireland  11:37

Yeah and then like after that settled, we're like, "Okay, oh, God. Now what? Now we got to get working."

Alfonso Cuadra  11:44

Yeah so what do you- what do you do now? What do you do now?

Crystal Ireland  11:47

So now we got on the phone with our mortgage broker, we're like, we need like, private money yesterday. Can you do it? And then we started raising.

Andy Jean  11:55

So, we started taking action. Right away-

Alfonso Cuadra  11:57

So what was the close, from the moment that they finally said, "done." When was the anticipated close? Like, when did you have to close the deal?

Crystal Ireland  12:05

Two weeks!

Alfonso Cuadra  12:06

Two weeks. And so within those two weeks, what are the things that you got to do? 

Crystal Ireland  12:07

Well, we had to incorporate it. So we had to get- call our lawyer and say, "Can you do this, like ASAP?" We had to call our mortgage broker and say like, "can you find us this, money? And he did." And- 

Andy Jean  12:23

We start rasing.

Crystal Ireland  12:23

And start raising and start calling people and like, "Okay, if you can't do you know somebody who can?" And just like, just hustle hard, and we did it in four days.

Alfonso Cuadra  12:33

Whoo. What do you like- that's not normal? No, honestly, the average person is probably going to think like, "Okay, you guys are maybe, like fudging the story a little bit." You know what I mean? Like, in four days, you raised his capital. So-

Andy Jean  12:49

But, but people doesn't see that, before we tried and like they don't see the work that went in it. Like, we had a lot of deal where we tried to raise and it didn't work out. So in that period, there was a lot of learning. We've learned a lot from those. And, you know, I remember even when we were going through raising I was asking Crystal to criticize me.

Crystal Ireland  13:11

Yeah.

Andy Jean  13:11

And you know how it is like, asking your wife to criticize. But I took it constructively. Sometimes it was hurting, but I never made anything about it I took it constructively. And every time we were getting better and better and better until that time, you know?

Alfonso Cuadra  13:27

Yeah.

Crystal Ireland  13:27

Yeah, there were a lot of work went into that. And we met with a lot of investors before then.

Alfonso Cuadra  13:32

Yeah. So you were already, were ready to go. Four days, you raise all the capital, what is the one thing that you can attribute that to?

Crystal Ireland  13:40

I would say-

Andy Jean  13:40

Urgency.

Crystal Ireland  13:41

-urgency.

Andy Jean  13:42

The urgency, I think it was the biggest-

Alfonso Cuadra  13:45

You know what, I'm a big believer in that, like, there's power in urgency, when you have to do something, you're gonna do it.

Andy Jean  13:52

You're gonna do it. I think it's-

Alfonso Cuadra  13:53

As long as you're ready for it, because it's like, you know, it's like an Olympic athlete, right? They trained for four years, right? And then on game day, now they have to dig deep and then perform. And you know, that training, all the four years training, that's what comes out that day. And so all of the deals, all of the deals that fell apart all of the pain, all of the crushed feelings and crushed souls, you know, not doing deals, and then all of a sudden, you got this one shot. Right? And you know, in four days, you structured that whole deal. And it's amazing, guys, congratulations. Thank you. So what's the outcome? How much is the deal worth now you bought it for 880? What's it worth now?

 Crystal Ireland  14:37

It's worth 1.6 million.

Alfonso Cuadra  14:40

What are you even saying to yourself right now? You know what I mean? That's like almost $800,000 in equity.

Andy Jean  14:44

In equity. Exactly. 

Alfonso Cuadra  14:46

Yeah, you guys are inspiring. I love the teamwork here. What is a piece of advice that you could offer people that are couples that are working together? Like that can't be easy. You know, I know, I know. I know firsthand, you know, because I work with my wife as well. So, you know, I know that we had to kind of create a groove. So what is the groove? Like, what- How do you guys work well, so well together?

Andy Jean  15:11

Yeah, it wasn't- when we started, we did bump heads a lot, because we're trying to pass on the door, both at the same time, you know, but what I would say would be one of my advice would be to each person find the roles, because when we did that, and start allocating roles, and I started respecting what she was doing without criticizing that was her role. And she did the same thing with me. Like, that's when we start like, blooming and flourishing.

Crystal Ireland  15:40

Yeah. And then you also divide the tasks, right?

Andy Jean  15:43

Yeah.

Crystal Ireland  15:43

So you can accomplish more. But if you're both, like, doing the same thing, at the same time, you're not getting as much done. And so you kind of figure out what each one's good at and what they're passionate about, and then kind of divide it that way.

Alfonso Cuadra  15:56

I love it. I know that a lot of people are inspired, especially couples, right? And that seems to be a challenge for whatever reason, right? Maybe no one's used to it, right? And especially like, you know, leaving your J-O-B's  where, of course, people can work together, but like they work in separate offices, or whatnot. But I think people could definitely resonate with that. So we want to leave people with some knowledge, some tips, some tangible things that they could do. So I want three tips each on real estate on, you know, whatever you think that the audience needs to hear. So I'll start with you Crystal.

Crystal Ireland  16:32

So I would say Believe. Believe in yourself, you can do it, it's possible. And I would say trust the process. I remember when we were getting anxious, and we would tell you, we want our first deal. We just want the first one. Just trust the process, you sometimes you can't see it, but you need to go through all these things, to get that first one to be ready. And if you go in too early, and you maybe you get your first building too early, maybe you won't succeed. So you got to be patient and trust the process, and get comfortable being uncomfortable. I know that everybody says that, but it's so true. That's how you grow. If you're not growing, you're stagnant and stagnant's no good.

Alfonso Cuadra  17:17

In fact, I would say if you're not growing, you're dying. 

Andy Jean  17:20

Yeah. Totally.

Crystal Ireland  17:22

Yeah 100%.

Alfonso Cuadra  17:22

Yeah, I love that.

Andy Jean  17:24

Yeah, for me, I would say find yourself like a mentor. That is where you want to go, you know, so that would be my first advice. Second one, I would say, to surround yourself with better people, you know, like I was, I had to change my circle, I had to change my peers, I had to change my circle of influence to be where I am today.

Alfonso Cuadra  17:46

What do you think people have a hard time changing that circle? Like, I know what it's like, you know, I grew up, you know, with my friends, and everyone is, you know, doing all kinds of things and like, I wanted to hang out or you know what I mean? Like, it's fun, right? It's like, oh, let's watch the game on Tuesday, the family event, the barbecues, the this and the that, the play dates. Like why is it so hard for people to, to break out of those habits of, you know, changing their peers? Because it's clear, you change your peers, you change your life? Why is it so hard for people?

Crystal Ireland  18:18

Comfort.

Andy Jean  18:19

Comfort, attatchmenr, you know? Probably criticism, scared of criticism.

Alfonso Cuadra  18:25

Judgment.

Andy Jean  18:25

Judgment. Yeah.

Alfonso Cuadra  18:26

They think that people are gonna think that you think you're too good for them. 

Andy Jean  18:31

Not too, not too far.

Andy Jean  18:31

Exactly.

Alfonso Cuadra  18:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In Spanish we have it's called "Creido". Right? It's like Mr. Big Shot, you know, like, "sellout" kind of thing. You know what I mean? And it definitely did a big impact on me growing up, because I was afraid to leave my friends behind. I was afraid to leave anybody behind. I didn't want to leave anybody behind. And I thought, you know, if I was going to be successful, I just bring everybody with me. But you can't carry people on your back. You know, how fast can you run with a person on your back? 

Alfonso Cuadra  18:40

What about two? What about three?

Andy Jean  19:03

You ain't moving.

Alfonso Cuadra  19:04

I used to roll with a crew of 20 people you know what I mean? Like and so it's either they're coming or they're not coming, you know? And so I agree.

Andy Jean  19:14

Yeah, yeah.

Alfonso Cuadra  19:16

Last tip!

Andy Jean  19:17

Take action. Like take action. 

Alfonso Cuadra  19:20

Yeah. 

Andy Jean  19:21

A lot of people they go and they get knowledge, you know, but they don't put the action.

Alfonso Cuadra  19:27

Yeah.

Andy Jean  19:27

And they don't see the result and it's the action that will bring you the result. 

Alfonso Cuadra  19:31

Yeah.

Andy Jean  19:32

And also I would say, the third one I would say is take action.

Alfonso Cuadra  19:35

Yeah. I love it, guys. I've been inspired by so many people, books, quotes, proverbs, sayings. What's the quote that inspired you the most?

Crystal Ireland  19:49

The one that inspired me the most I don't know. But the one right now that I'm trying to adapt is "Become the person you want to be now." That's the one for me right now. It's resonating with me. I'm constantly thinking about it. And just being that person, I want to be the one that I see in the future. I need to be her right now. And so I try to embody that every day. And I will just become her.

Alfonso Cuadra  20:15

All right. 

Andy Jean  20:16

Yes. For me, it's one that kind of I've heard a wise man said that once and it helped me with my decision making. He said, "When nothing changes, nothing changes. But when one thing changes, everything changes." You know, so be able to take good decisions.

Alfonso Cuadra  20:35

Wooooh! Crystal, you guys were nervous. 

Crystal Ireland  20:38

Uh, a little yeah.

Alfonso Cuadra  20:40

Yeah. But now this is went by like this. You guys are so inspiring. I love you to death.

Andy Jean  20:46

Same here, man.

Alfonso Cuadra  20:47

You guys are amazing people. You're helping a lot of people. And you're inspiring a lot of people keep doing what you're doing. And Alfonso loves you and Alfonso loves you, and we're gonna see you guys at the top. Woooh!

Carl Richards  21:01

Thanks for listening to The WealthGenius Podcast. If you have a question or comment about something you heard today, reach out to The Godfather via social media or email him anytime all that information is in the show notes. And of course, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of The WealthGenius Podcast, the WealthGenius Podcast. Until next time, see you at the top!