From Tech to Tenancy: An Unexpected Journey to Real Estate Student Housing - Jeff Niemeier

Mr Announcer: 0:00

Property Patriot,you are cleared Hot.

0:02

Welcome to the aim high podcast.Today we have with us,Jeff Niemeyer,he's an accomplished entrepreneur,found his path to success through a crazy journey.Starting out on the corporate tech world.Jeff's life took a dramatic turn when he discovered Robert Kiyosaki's rich dad,poor dad,much like many,a real estate investor.From there.He went through running multiple businesses,legal battles,and finally found his calling in real estate.The owner of a16Plex,Jeff transitioned to student housing and hasn't looked back since.Sit tight as we uncover.Jeff's inspiring story,where we provide real estate investors with the tools to achieve generational wealth.Welcome to the Aim High Podcast.I'm your host,Bud Evans.

Bud Evans: 0:38

Good day everyone.This is Bud Evans,the Property Patriot.I am here today with Jeff Nemeyer.

Jeff Niemeier: 0:43

Jeff,how are you today?Hey,I'm outstanding.How about yourself?

Bud Evans: 0:46

Doing great,man.Doing great.Getting to meet new people having great conversation.It's all about that.Listen,I'm not gonna hold anything against you.I know you're an Iowa guy.I'm a Penn State guy.Once we get past that,we're all good.

Jeff Niemeier: 0:58

Yeah,we're in the same conference and you guys have a really good wrestling team and obviously Iowa's known for its wrestling,so I won't hold the fact that you were in the Air Force and I'm a Marine,so yeah.

Bud Evans: 1:08

Okay.Excellent.Great point.All right,this is the Aim High Podcast.Like I said,I am Bud Evans.I'm here today with Jeff Nemeyer.Jeff,it is a pleasure talking to you.Thank you very much for coming on today.Would you mind doing me a favor and give me a quick introduction?

Jeff Niemeier: 1:22

Sure.My name's Jeff Nemeyer and I host the Student of Money Podcast,and I have been an entrepreneur,business owner,real estate investor,and I'm big into personal development.Been doing that since2002.Started buying real estate in2005.Went into syndications around2011,and I currently now manage and operate a real estate fund.And by multi-family apartment complexes and single family homes.And

Bud Evans: 1:55

Jeff,how did you wind up in real estate?

Jeff Niemeier: 1:58

Great question because I didn't start in real estate.Actually started with a traditional technology business.So my background's in engineering,electrical engineering.After I graduated college,I went into it information technology.So as a Microsoft certified guy,I had Cisco certifications.I was in that corporate America.And someone actually introduced me to Robert Kiosaki and his,obviously his book Rich Dad,poor Dad back in early2000before Robert Kiosaki really blew up.And went to a couple of his events and Robert was obviously a real estate guy.I had a first cousin that was really heavy into real estate,so I always knew that real estate was out there and it was something I wanted to do.But I actually started with a traditional business back in2002.I left my job,went my burn the boats mentality where I.I was working on this business and actually what happened was,is my employer found out that I was gonna go out on my own and he essentially let me go,fired me when he found out about it.And,it was oh,I guess I really am doing this for sure now.And,the long story short is he actually,they sued me for a non-compete violation of my contract which,ended up getting thrown out and dismissed in court,but it took four years fighting my employer and it cost me thousands of dollars in legal fees.Because the reality is most employers do not like their employees.Doing something outside of their business,right?You're captive.They want your attention.And,when we went into depositions the president of the company basically said it was his duty as president of the company to pursue anyone that was going to go out and start their own business,whether it was competitive in nature or not,and which I found that was very interesting.So I,I ran my own business and,built up a customer base for about,I knew it was about a three to five year window.I ended up selling that to a venture capital firm and transitioned into my second company.I've done six of'em so far,and at that time I was signing a contract with a property owner.And he said,Hey,if I was to sell my property,you have gotta get a new a new contract with the new owner.And I said,oh,so you're actually looking at actively selling this property?And he said,yeah,I am.I says,would you mind if I gave you an offer to purchase it?And he says,that'd be great.And he was actually,he lived in Des Moines and I'm in Cedar Rapids,and the property was here in Cedar Rapids.It was a,16plex.I ended up raising$65,000for my friends and family network,and I bought$800,000of property with that65,000.And that that individual actually got me started.He did seller financing on that deal.And I only put10%down.That apartment building was450,000and I put45,000down.And like I said,all in all,I bought$800,000of property in that year and that kind of got me into real estate and it got me into,it was student housing.So I started out my real estate career with student housing at a local community college.Oh,

Bud Evans: 5:36

awesome.That's great man.And that's a great niche.Now let's go over that first deal.I know.Was that your,that

Jeff Niemeier: 5:43

wasn't your first deal,was it?My very first deal was actually a four bedroom,two bath house,which was student housing as well,that I bought six months earlier.And my very first fourplex,I actually still it today.My tenant.Couple months ago we had a city inspection,a housing inspection,and the tenant's would you ever sell me this house?And,I get asked that quite a lot and I was like,yeah,no,actually this is my very first rental property I'll never sell.That's one thing I don't do.I'm a buy and hold guy,cash flow investor.It,it was a,and I actually bought it.It was an empty lot.And a developer who was building this house,this cul-de-sac of15or16houses was building this house.And I bought it with,basically he showed me here's the plans to the house,and I think I bought it for$125,000.And I said this was in May.And I said,the goal is,I've already got four students that are renting this August.First,you have to have this house done August1st.I said I'll buy it,we'll get financing.I had to put a I think I put a thousand dollars down and I said it just has to be done on August1st,cuz I already have students scheduled to move in and they've already paid their deposit and one parent even paid for the entire year all up front.And all that money I used.To pay for the house.So when I went to the bank,I had the purchase agreement for the house and I had the lease from my four tenants already in hand.And and,then we had to figure out how to finance this thing.So I had ah,I got two months to figure out how to come up with the,I ended up only having to come up with,10%down payment.Cuz back in2006when I bought this,the bank was gonna do an80%first position and then they did a10%second position loan on that particular property.So I only had to come up with a few thousand dollars and I was able to do that on my own.Nice.So I said I still got that house.Midwest,these houses,it's,they don't appreciate too fast.But I think right now it appraises for about180,185,000,and I bought it for125.And I have cashed out of it a couple times.I've used it the,built up equity to buy more properties.So now on that cul-de-sac,I own six of the houses on this cul-de-sac of about10.So I just keep buying more and more.I actually just bought my neighbor house on it last December.And I actually ended up buying that at135,000.It appraised for1,160and then the city assessor called me and said,how'd you buy this house for135?We have it assessed at1805.So I,said,I'm just keep buying up all these properties on this cul-de-sac over time.And so everybody knows who I am.And they all know before they even get on the market.Hey,we need to ask Jeff.I've actually I'm in talks with another owner to buy another two on that exact same cul-de-sac.

Bud Evans: 8:56

Excellent.So it's not all syndication deals that you're,picking up these these student housing

Jeff Niemeier: 9:03

just cash cows,right?They're,cash cows.Student housing is definitely cash cows,they're a headache.But when I always,operate by that1%rule.Rent should always be1%of the purchase price.And I get a lot of people starting out saying,how do you find these deals?I can't find these deals.And student housing is one of those ways you can find those deals.Yeah,because student housing's very profitable and they typically pay a premium.You just have to be in the right markets and you have to be community colleges aren't as good as say,four year and graduate students are my favorites.So,I operate two portfolios.I op operate my personal portfolio that I'm a hundred percent owner on.That is my safe and secure retirement portfolio.And then I operate my syndications where I obviously have limited partners in and that I'm doing multi-family and I do large a hundred units or more in the multi-family.And I'm also getting into new construction and new development of zero lot line townhomes build to rent.So that's what we're doing.But with those,obviously those are part of the,fund.And in my syndications where I've gotta do K one s to the LPs and I'm not a,I'm they're the,that's where I have my partners and,those are my bigger deals.But I still pick up,I still pick up houses and I still pick up fourplexes and apexes for my own personal portfolio and grow that.And then I have bigger properties as well.

Bud Evans: 10:36

Excellent.So now we've gone through the first deal we saw you basically told us how you grew.Let's go over the nightmare property.Everybody's got the one,right?

Jeff Niemeier: 10:48

I do.I have multiple nightmare properties,but I decided to talk to you about.The deal that I actually lost and I lost investor money in that really changed how I was going to move forward and what I was going to do.So it was2012,2013there was a large340units,student housing,apartment complex.That I actually provided cable TV and internet to,so I was a vendor to them and was very familiar with them.And,I had bought in some other properties from this developer that developed it and he had sold it as a syndication.And there was27owners in this very large property scattered across the United States,and it was owned as a tick,which is a tenants in common.And the reason they do these syndications as a tick is so that all of these owners can1031exchange into this property.So you had27people across the United States,Florida,Texas.Only two of'em actually lived in my state that owned this property.And then there was a Property management company out of Texas that I won't name that,owned this property along with a portfolio of40of them across the United States,and they were going under,so what were they doing?They were taking the.The cash flow from this property to prop up and support these other ones.It was getting distressed and the,ownership tried to not take them out and they had a master lease.Long story short,I was helping them try to Fix this property and get this back.And since it was in my own backyard and I was very familiar with it,I had convinced all of these owners that they needed to go with me and do what's called a721exchange or a roll up,where you take all these you take all these tenants in common and you roll'em up into one limited partnership,where I was the general partner of.And then we were gonna go battle it out with this management company who would not leave the property and turn property management over to them.And I raised investors and this was they originally bought this property for26million back in2007,and they had a14million mortgage and they actually negotiated with the lender that you could buy the mortgage for this property for10million.And I had gone out and arranged bridge financing where I had to bring3million to the table.So I was doing a raise for3million and I got about halfway there and I fell short.But all was not lost.I found a reit real estate Investment trust that would also come in and bring the full10million and save the property,but we simply ran out of time because it was going to,it was going through foreclosure in court.And so we ended up losing that property in a foreclosure.And I when that happened,one,it crushed me to have to tell these other26owners who was in this property that they just lost their,not only did they lose their investment,but now the i r s was gonna knock on their door and tell them that this is,it's now time to pay taxes on all of this1031exchange roll up money.So then we're gonna get a huge phantom tax bill.Because debt that's forgiven is considered income.To them.Yeah.And,so these27investors and I feel bad and to this day,if I was to do that deal over again,I would completely save that deal because I know how to now,but back in2013,I didn't have the experience on taking down these big deals.And and I was nervous about it as well.And they were talking to there was a bunch of other,there's a company called Breakwater out in California that was fi trying to fix,these properties that were going under because in2012,2011,these commercial properties were all crashing.Because the residential market crashed and obviously2008,2009,and it took a few years after that for these commercial properties.So the good news is,I see the exact same thing happening today.These commercial properties are getting upside down as these interest rates tick up,and as these banks fail,and there's going to be a huge opportunity to get into these properties that end up being upside down and they're not going to be able to refinance.So that's one of the things that.My fund is positioning itself to do,is to come in and take over these properties that are gonna be upside down in the next three,four years.But when I lost that deal,I said never again will I lose a deal because I'm not able to raise enough money.And I think that is a fallacy that the syndication coaches talk about that if you have a smoking hot,really good deal that you're gonna find the money because that's just not simply true.At least it hasn't been true in my experience because I.People follow money follows the team and the management.They don't necessarily follow the deal,right?Yeah.So because in order for someone to invest with you,there's three things that have to happen.They have to know you.They have to like you and they have to trust you.So money follows management.They don't follow deals,if that makes sense.Yeah I've also noticed,

Bud Evans: 16:34

Jeff,that sometimes it's not necessarily the money,it's the time that you have to raise it.You run into anything like that?Obviously

Jeff Niemeier: 16:43

you have and we just talked about it.That's exactly right.Because so that reit,that REIT gave me a letter of intent,said,yep,we're bringing all10million.We're gonna leave you in as management.We're gonna roll these ticks up into our reit.They're all gonna get diversified into our REIT structure.It was an awesome deal,but we had about60days to get the deal done.And what happened was,is the REIT.The manager of the reek came back and said,I got that phone call that no one wants to get.Where he says we I've talked to the,my team and the lawyers basically told us we don't have enough time to get this done and to get the due diligence done.A deal like this typically takes six months.And it was less one of those things where they're pulling the plug on me.What am I gonna do now?I've already spent like a hundred thousand dollars,$200,000of investors'money in this deal,and we're going to lose it.We've got it all locked up and we're going to lose it.And,I think that's why.Two,what you're seeing a trend where people are moving more towards the blind pool fund model as opposed to the syndication model because they wanna make sure that you can raise that money ahead of time.So a lot of these large apartment complexes.They're,they,when you put the bids in,they're looking for letters of intent,and they wanna know who are you?Who,how are you getting your financing?Do you have a key principle?They want to know if you're for real.And that's a big deal when you're trying to bring down these big properties,is you have to show a history and you have to show the ability to close and that you can that,that you can close.So that's where coming with a fund where you already have the soft commitments and you already have these commitments ahead of time,you already have the money raised,and that's huge when you're putting offers in on these properties and when you're looking at these distressed properties that you can pick up for pennies on the dollar.Typically they're all cash transactions.And you come in all cash,stabilize it,and then refinance after money is king.Like they say,cash is king.You gotta be able to do it.Yeah.Yeah.So outside of that,what are you currently working on?So my big hot button is development.So as these interest rates are ticking up and as these properties they're not penciling out.Ken McElroy did a great video where he talked about pencils down.These deals just aren't penciling out and weren't working out.So we're waiting for them to get distressed.So I'm turning my attention into development.So I've interviewed multiple people on my podcast that are just killing it.Dustin Henderson from Mailbox Money and Sioux Falls.It's definitely somebody you guys want to talk to and take a look at.He's putting together some awesome102and100and200unit complexes in Sioux Falls,South Dakota,which wouldn't think is a real estate hotbed investing in the Midwest is definitely a great place.I talked to interviewed another great guy,Daryl High from High Property Management.They've got a thousand units that they've built and managed,and they've got800.It's in construction right now.Right here in the Cedar Rapids,Iowa City corridor.That's just exploding.And then I'm watching Des Moines a lot too.These bigger markets of half a million population or more.So I'm,big into development now.I'm talking to a lot of builders.Looking at who I'm gonna partner with.I want to get into zero lot line townhomes,build to rent model.So we're definitely researching that market.Awesome.

Bud Evans: 20:34

Talk to me a little bit about the Student

Jeff Niemeier: 20:35

Money Podcast.So a few years ago.Following that Robert Kiyosaki model.Were teaching,I forget how I started over20years ago and obviously been through the ringer,have a lot of experience.I'm53and I said,what's it like for a20year old just starting out?And just starting out in the real estate game that really doesn't know anything because who do you go to and where do you go?Back when I started,there was no,there was very few podcasts.You didn't have the internet.My first business was high speed internet because most people were dial up.So I started an I S P to bring high-speed internet to rural Iowa and the masses,and you didn't have the Facebooks and the YouTubes and the things like you do today.And the problem is,so you're going to these monthly real estate meetings,and I call that the drip,method.It's drip.Every month you gotta go to these meetings and,you'll eventually gain that experience.But I tell people,you really gotta find a mentor and a coach.So I decided,as well as I'm expanding my brand and network,that I'm going to start a podcast,I'm going to start a monthly real estate investing meetup right here in Cedar Rapids in eastern Iowa.And then I tour the Dubuque,the Quad Cities,Waterloo,Des Moines.All the major metropolitans in Eastern Iowa and even go to the Chicago real estate meetings to meet people and find out who are the people in these markets that are really knocking the ball out of the park and really doing the work that gets done.And because I want to be around like-minded people.So my tagline for Student of Money is to connect listeners like you to community of like-minded individuals to help you achieve your goals of financial freedom.Through entrepreneurship,real estate investing and personal development.So I really hit the personal development piece because I think that's something that.People miss in these real estate meetings.They'll have,they'll bring a speaker in,they'll bring a banker in,they'll bring a,an appraiser in.They'll bring in all these people that will talk about their niche.But I don't think people understand the power of real estate and talking about the different types of income and talking about how real estate is all about taxes and debt.And how do you pay zero taxes and how do you get in a lot of really good debt to create your wealth?And so I really try to hit home the education piece,talk about depreciation,and then I also find out a lot of these real estate people are flippers.Or they're not buy and hold long-term landlords,which is,they're they're getting killed on taxes.And I say it's okay that flipping houses is real estate investing,but it's really more of a real estate business.Yeah.Because you're paying typically short-term capital gains and you're paying ordinary income and you have to pay self self-employment tax.Which is fica,your social security and all that.So you know the,it's a totally different game when you're flipping houses or wholesaling or doing these other things that are technically real estate businesses,but that's not how you gain true wealth.Yeah.You gain true wealth by building a huge portfolio of real estate over a period of time That is passive income where you're paying zero income tax.So I try to say I want to be a student of money.And so I'm trying to teach people how to be a student of money and how to invest into long in,into real estate so that they can become financially free.Awesome.So let's

Bud Evans: 24:25

talk about the learning aspect of this,right?So what is one thing that you learned as your wealth increased?

Jeff Niemeier: 24:32

I learned a,lot ta like I said.It's taxes and debt.And,then being able to,how to handle it.I,just said this yesterday on a podcast that you,the personal development's really important too,because you have to grow into the person that you want to become.So wherever,whatever level you're at is a result of all of the work and all of the effort that you've put in up to this point.Everything that you've done in your history and your background,experience,and knowledge has gotten you to this point.So if you wanna go from here to here,you have to become a new person to be that.The same person can't go from this level to this level.You have to grow into that position and,so that personal development is huge.And personal development is honestly your best investment is you.Again,we go back to student of money.I want to be a student.I don't represent that I am the professor or the teacher or the instructor.I'm just maybe farther down the road than some people.But there's a lot of people that are further down the road than me.And I have a lot of mentors and I pay a lot of money to masterminds and mentorships and do a lot of traveling and do a lot of training because I am a constant learner.I'm a constant student.And then I wanna make sure that I am reaching back to people that are just getting started in real estate and trying to bring them along with me because I found some really motivated people.And I have a tendency to maybe talk too much at a high level,and I gotta remember that okay,they don't have the experience.I do.They may not understand what a syndication is,what a private placement is.How do you,use other people's money?How do you buy your first deal?How do you not use your money?How do you use other people's money,right?Because if you use your money,you'll quickly.Be outta money because you're constantly reinvested and you're gonna be fully deployed and that's going to slow your growth.So the best way to go full-time is to use other people's money.That's what we teach,that's what we talk about.And then how do you pay zero taxes?How do you go full-time in this?

Bud Evans: 26:51

Excellent,points.And that's,why I gravitate towards rental properties instead of flips.I do have some flips that pretty much now just to keep the contractors happy and busy,but yeah.They're the ones who make all the money and I wind up paying all the taxes on the flip.I don't understand.

Jeff Niemeier: 27:06

So well,yeah.Yeah.Developers develop,right?That's what they do.Yeah.Yes.And,so I just talked to a builder that I'm vetting to determine whether or not I'm,he might be a potential partner on moving forward.And he's done single family custom build,owner occupied homes,and he says,I do not have enough rentals.I have a very small portfolio.I need more depreciation to offset.All of my other active income,right?And,that's the game I play.So my wife,and this is the perfect scenario.I'm,considered a professional real estate investor.So I get to take all of that depreciation and offset not only my income.But I also offset my spouse's W2income and she works for the state of Iowa and she's,she makes a,she makes really good money for what she does.And then she also then has all of our healthcare and all of our benefit packages,but we pay really close to zero in taxes cuz all that depreciation on all my rental properties not only wipes out my income,but it also wipes out her income.And so that all that money that gets put into her that we pay in every quarterly or every pay period,that all comes back to us as a refund.And then that actually pays my col my kids'college tuition.Oh,and then by the way,we show very little gross income.So when we fill out the fsa,the federal financial aid,my kids get Pell Grants,they get all kinds of state awards and grant money.We get tons of money and this may upset a lot of people,but this is how the system works.Don't hate to fight game.We have a lot of cash,flow,but we don't have a lot of gross income,so therefore the government thinks that we don't have a lot of money,so therefore,All of our kids'tuition is essentially paid for,and that's just the way the system works.Awesome.Yeah,

Bud Evans: 29:08

man that's,exactly right.That's why we get into this Right.In order to,save on our taxes,but we're going to move into the storing four when you're ready.Are you a veteran or a first responder looking to get into real estate?struggling with not knowing how to start are afraid to get started or worse.You're listening to the world lie and tell you that a401k is all you're going to need when you're ready to retire.We'll go ahead and give me a follow on Instagram@bud.evans,where I show my followers,how to overcome the fear and knowledge barriers.And get to their financial freedom through rental properties.Follow@bud.evans on Instagram for more.This is the storing four,the same four questions that we ask every guest that can help someone achieve new heights when they're just starting out.So the first thing is,what do you use to keep yourself motivated?

Jeff Niemeier: 29:56

So my answer to this,and I've got my notes cuz we did this ahead of time was yeah guard your gates.You need to guard your gates.And I got this adv,a piece of advice from a mentor of mine.And when I say guard your gates,I mean guard your ears,guard your eyes,watch what you speak.You need to make sure that you're not junk in,junk out,right?You wanna have positive reinforcement all the time,which is why you need to be following a mentor.But if you go out to my vehicle and you take a look at what I call my mobile office,right?My truck you are gonna find all kinds of audio tapes.You're gonna find motivational personal development tapes.You're gonna find Robert Kiyosaki tapes.You're gonna find Earl Nightingale.You're gonna find.All of this personal and professional development audio tapes.And I don't listen to I don't watch drama and I don't Netflix,I don't do any of that.I'm constantly bombarding myself with positive and uplifting motivational and educational material,and that is how I stay focused and motivated.And then probably quarterly or so,I try to go to a national convention.To get around people like you that are like-minded individuals to refuel the gas tank.Perfect.Now,what is one

Bud Evans: 31:16

thing that you learned that completely

Jeff Niemeier: 31:18

changed your mindset?Don't work for money because money's honestly not that valuable.They print money.Yeah.And they just keep printing.And if you are trading your time for money at a job,which means that take a look at your language.You make$12an hour,you make$20an hour,you wanna make$50an hour,or my attorney or CPA charges me$150an hour.They are trading their time for money.Stop trading your time for money.Start being a business owner.Work for yourself,not for someone else.And learn to use delayed gratification,right?Start it up slow.Buy one property,buy two properties,and then learn to use delay gratification.Excellent.What tools do you use to keep yourself on track?This one kind of stumped me when I looked at this and I really had to think about this.And the,reality is,I'm a numbers guy.I manage by financials.So you know,your report carding school was your grades right?Your English,math all that fun stuff,but your adult report card,Is your FCO score,your personal financial statement,your income sheet,your balance sheet.That is how you are judged in society today and your your personal net worth.So the few months ago I found out the median net worth for someone in their fifties is like250to$270,000.And that's sad.And that's most of that's probably their primary residence,so I use my financial statements and that's what motivates me,and that's how I make decisions and that's how I stay focused,is I'm by the numbers and I make sure that I get a.And I talk about it to my advisors and we openly discuss it because there's three things that you typically don't talk about at the dinner table with your family,right?Politics,religion,and money.Yep.And if you are not talking to an advisor about your financial situation and money,then you know,how are you gonna ever get there?How are you ever gonna get to where you wanna be?So actually that's the one of the very first steps I do when I'm mentoring and I'm talking to.Young guys that are in their twenties on getting going.The very first thing I have them do is pull their financial statements where you can go to annual credit report.com and you can get three of them a year and you can pull your FCO score,you can use Credit Karma,and I say,let's take a look at your personal finances first,because if you're not good with money as you.Grow your portfolio and you start to get these loans on these properties,you're not gonna be good with that money either and,the banks are not gonna lend you money.So I've never had a bank ask me for my report card,but they do ask me almost quarterly,if not monthly,for my financial statement.I

Bud Evans: 34:23

had one of my students who I,and I loved the phrase,but the language was a little bit different,but she said,essentially,what makes you think.That when you're poor and you suck with money,that if you make money you'll be better.I was like and I'm paraphrasing that cuz there were a few expletives that she threw in

Jeff Niemeier: 34:41

there.I totally agree,and that's exactly why these lottery winners are typically bankrupt within a very short amount of time.That's how come N F L athletes are typically bankrupt within a short amount of time.And even this guy that won a billion dollars and he just bought this crazy mansion in California and I posted on Facebook,this guy's gonna be broken10years and we're gonna find out that he spent the whole,or he got.Ripped off by an investment that he would and they're like,oh,a billion dollars is so much money.How could you possibly ever spend any of that?And I'm like,it'll happen.It's just it is a,crazy amount of money,but if you don't learn on,how to control that there's the sharks will swim around you and they're gonna take your money.So when you're in this game you're,swimming with the sharks.There is no safety net.But that also means that there's no ceiling as well.Yeah.And that's the cool part and that's why I'm in it.Because when I take a job,you coming in when you say,oh,I gotta make50,000,I gotta make a hundred thousand a year,great.But that also means that there's a ceiling,right?So if you get rid of the floor,you also get rid of the ceiling.Yeah.And that's what you wanna do.Great point.

Bud Evans: 36:00

Now,last question.What is one thing that you would change if you had to start over?

Jeff Niemeier: 36:05

So the number one was is start early.Start earlier,right?So I started my first business when I was32.I wish I would've done it in my twenties,right?So when I get this,when is,now a good time to be an investor?Is now a good time to invest as well?The best time to invest was10years ago.The second best time is today.Start today.Start as soon as possible.So start early if you can.So these guys that are starting out in18,19,21,22,23they're gonna knock it out of the park because it it10years goes by quick and you'll be amazed at what happens in10years.And then the second part of that would be make sure you're working on your business and not in your business.Because I spent a long time spinning my wheels,moving sideways,just maintaining what I had and not actually growing.So I actually ended up having to downsize and I sold like this,the bottom half of my portfolio to get leaner and to reorganize everything so that I could actually grow beyond that.So I got stuck into property management.I got stuck into dealing with tenants and things like that.Life's too short.You can hire some of that stuff out and get that taken care of other ways.So start earlier and then work on your business,not in your business.Excellent points.

Bud Evans: 37:37

Hey,thank you very much,Jeff.I really appreciate it.I know you're busy and I appreciate your time.So thank

Jeff Niemeier: 37:44

you for,this.Yeah.And thank you for having me on.It's been great.I think we covered a lot,so

Bud Evans: 37:48

appreciate it.Oh yeah.Listen,anytime we can provide value,I'm all about it.So thank you very much for that and and for the nuggets of wisdom that you were dropping

Jeff Niemeier: 37:55

on us.Awesome.Thank you.Have a good day.Awesome.And

Bud Evans: 37:59

for those of you who are watching on YouTube or those of you who are listening on your favorite podcast platform until the next time we meet,this is Bud Evans,the Property Patriot,saying Aim.Hi.