Anthony Metzger on Closing a $11M Deal with ZERO Real Estate Experience! – EP 230

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Anthony Metzger had never done a real estate deal in his life. He literally had ZERO experience, but after listening to a podcast about apartment syndication he knew he wanted to do something big.

So, he found a private equity firm that was actively syndicating deals, reached out to them, and asked how he could add value. Their answer was to find an apartment building that met their investment criteria. He spent the next year and a half educating himself, calling brokers, sourcing deals, underwriting deals, and making offers. 18 months later, he presented a deal to the syndication firm and they closed on it. 

This was his first deal ever, and it was a 218-unit apartment complex that they purchased for $11M! 

In my conversation with Anthony, you’ll learn exactly how he was able to make it happen, despite not having any credibility, leverage, or experience.

Key Takeaways with Anthony Metzger

  • How Anthony partnered with an active syndicator to close on a 218-unit deal—with no experience!
  • Building a relationship with a syndicator who has never heard of you.
  • The secret to Anthony’s success that anyone can model.
  • The power of the first deal—and why it’s so important to get your reps in!
  • How to add value to a property by reducing expenses. 
  • How to avoid looking like an amateur in front of brokers, and increase your credibility so they will take you seriously.
  • Questions you can ask brokers’ to control the conversation. 
  • A great tactic for increasing your deal flow. 
  • How you can get more practice analyzing deals.

Josh Cantwell Tweetables

“I just believed that if I kept at it, if I kept doing reps, eventually something would land, and it did.” - Anthony Metzger

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Josh Cantwell: So, hey guys, welcome back to Accelerated Real Estate Investor. I’m Josh Cantwell. I’m excited that you’re with me. Thank you so much to all of you who have left us ratings reviews, engage with us in our Facebook group, Accelerated Real Estate Investor. Don’t forget that you can register and grab a free membership in that Facebook group and share ideas with us any time. I’ve just been so honored always to be with you guys and to share everything that I can answer questions. We had a great webinar this past week with hundreds and hundreds of people on the line talking a little bit about raising capital and our automation software that we use to serve autoresponders to our passive investors. If you want to register to see some sample deals of ours and to see some of our investments, check out FreelandVentures.com/passive. There you can register for a free account. You can receive our information and also check out some of our deal flow.

 

Today, I have a special guest for you. His name is Anthony Metzger. Anthony is the owner/founder of FinancialBedrock.com. Anthony has an amazing story. He actually, after listening to podcasts on multifamily investing, decided that he wanted to become a syndicator. He had never done a real estate deal before in his life, either residential or commercial. Through the podcast, he found a private equity firm that was actively syndicating deals. He reached out. He signed up for their course. He attended their live events. He began and learned how to underwrite deals and sure enough, within 18 months, sourced and found his first multifamily deal. Now, this was not a small multifamily deal. It was a 218-unit that him and his partners ended up buying for roughly $12 million.

 

And so, on this podcast, you are going to hear from Anthony, number 1, about how he found and sourced this 218-unit apartment deal with zero experience. Number 2, you’re going to find the questions that Anthony asks a broker on their very first call, even though Anthony didn’t have a lot of experience, didn’t have a big balance sheet, never raised money before, how he was able to get deal flow from brokers with zero credibility. Number 3, you’re going to find how Anthony partnered with other sponsors who did have the balance sheet, the equity, the cash flow to be able to sponsor the loan and syndicate the deal. And you’re going to hear about what Anthony is up to now sourcing deals in his markets of Memphis and Little Rock, even though, again, Anthony still is a relatively new investor, Anthony has completely skipped over sourcing the small multifamily deals, the small residential deals, and even the small apartment deals. He’s gone right for the 200-plus apartment complex deals. And so, in this interview, especially for those of you that are brand new or new to intermediate, you’re going to love this interview on Accelerated Real Estate Investor with Anthony Metzger. Here we go.

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Josh Cantwell: So, Anthony, what’s going on, man? Thanks for joining me today on Accelerated Real Estate Investor. Thanks for coming out some time.

 

Anthony Metzger: Josh, I appreciate you inviting me on the show. I’ve been a big fan of yours, so it’s helped me a lot in my career as a syndicator. And I’m very honored and happy to be on your show.

 

Josh Cantwell: Awesome, man. Good stuff. So, listen, I know we had a few minutes to prep for this. I’m excited to hear about your big 218-unit that you guys closed, but I’m always curious what my guests are up to right now, things that they’re working on, that they’re excited about in their kind of entrepreneurial journey or their investing journey. So, what do you have cooking?

 

Anthony Metzger: Sure. So, right now, at this very moment, actually, I just came back from a trip down to the markets that we usually do deals in, which is Little Rock and Memphis. And so, I just came back from a trip there with our investors. Our partners put a few offers in, actually got us into a deal while I was down there. So, I’m actually looking at that right now. That’s actually a 320-unit, which is a massive deal, 1980s construction straight property right next door to a mall. So, excited about looking at these deals, finding the next opportunity and closing on it, and continuing to grow myself, my partner as well, and my investor as well. And yeah, so that’s what I’m excited about right now.

 

Josh Cantwell: Nice. How about your personal life? Anything fun going on outside of business?

 

Anthony Metzger: So, I work for a family company. So, I do syndication real estate outside of those work hours, but I’m excited about a lot of things. My brother just had a baby. I have five weddings this year, which means more bachelor parties. And all that going on, too, in the personal life. So, very busy, got no time to get bored, but everything is going great.

 

Josh Cantwell: Good for you, man. Good for you. Yeah, good work on that. And hopefully, some of those deals will pan out for you. So, I know you’re from the Twin Cities.

 

Anthony Metzger: Yes.

 

Josh Cantwell: So, I’m curious just to hear about how you selected some of those markets and submarkets that you’re picking. What were some of the criteria maybe that you used? Could you have a JV partner down there that you knew was in the economics of those areas? What were your thoughts on why you picked Little Rock, Memphis, and some of those markets?

 

Anthony Metzger: Sure, yeah. So, when I first got into real estate, actually, the very first deal I ever did was a 218-unit. I never did single-family houses, duplexes, all that stuff, so.

 

Josh Cantwell: We’ll get you right for the big boy. I like it.

 

Anthony Metzger: Right. So, what I did when I got started in the real estate business was syndications, and I didn’t have any money. So, how can I do these deals and add value to somebody? And the way I found it was by finding a group that was currently doing deals and deciding that the way I could add value to them was by finding a deal that met their criteria and bringing it to them. And so, I found out where it was, they were doing deals. So, that’s how I found out. That’s how I decided to do deals down in the Southeast is because that’s where they wanted to do deals. So, I said, “Do you guys want to go? That’s where we’ll all go.” And that’s actually how I ended up down in that region.

 

Josh Cantwell: Nice. And how did you approach them? Like you didn’t really have a relationship with them before. You found a group that was already doing deals, that were doing deals in those markets. There’s a great cash flow in markets, by the way. We like the Midwest for sure and the South and the Southeast. Those fit the criteria where we would be looking as well, but I’m just curious how you approached them. Did you make a connection on social media? Was there an intermediary, a friend that connected to you? Were you at a conference? How did you make the initial connection with someone like that?

 

I think a lot of our audience that would be in a similar situation as you were, looking for how do I get in this business with not a lot maybe of extra money or credit, maybe not a huge balance sheet, and connecting with another active syndicate is a great way to do it, to add to your balance sheet and to kind of get your feet wet in getting the first deal, but to start with the 200-plus units, it’s a huge win right out of the gate. How did you make the initial connection? And how did you build the relationship?

 

Anthony Metzger: Right. So, I came across this group by listening to podcasts and I fell upon and got recommended to listen to their podcasts. Now, at this point in time, when I first heard their podcasts, I didn’t know what a syndication was. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t even know I wanted to be in real estate. I just started listening. And then, they, on their podcasts, made an offer. They say, “By the way, we’re syndicating deals. And if you find a deal that meets our criteria, we’re trying to buy more deals, bring it to us.” So, there was that call to action in that podcast. So, what I did immediately is I went right to their website, found out more about them. They had a little program for sale that I paid a thousand dollars for, and that actually taught you how to underwrite deals for them and it really showed you what it is they’re looking for.

 

And so, once I got into that, they actually held a live event. And that’s when I went to that live event and that’s when I made my introduction to them. It was a three-day event. So, there were coffee breaks, happy hours. I was able to, during those moments, go up, shake the guy’s hand, and meet his team, just “hey, I want to let you know I watched your program. Put me on your radar because I’m actively shopping and looking for deals to bring to you guys.”

 

Josh Cantwell: Nice.

 

Anthony Metzger: And so, that’s how I got introduced.

 

Josh Cantwell: So true, just kind of walking in the dirt. Just one step, one foot in front of the other. Heard about the opportunity, bought the course, attended the live event, made the relationship, and then got busy looking for deals that meet their criteria.

 

Anthony Metzger: Exactly. 100%.

 

Josh Cantwell: Good for you, man. Good for you. That’s fantastic because that’s exactly how it should be, right?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah.

 

Josh Cantwell: If somebody is new, somebody who’s interested, maybe can’t raise a couple million bucks yet or can’t sponsor a $10 million loan yet, I know all that’s in their future, maybe in your future, but just not in right out of the gate, maybe capable of doing that. So, it’s like, well, how do I do this now? Now, all of a sudden, it’s like, dude, I own a part of a 218-unit apartment building that really you founded a big, big part, big responsibility to pulling that deal together. So, if you go now, meet with other brokers, other wholesalers, commercial lenders, like you’ve got the ability to say, “Yep, I found this deal. We syndicated it together. It’s part of my portfolio.” Just fantastic stuff, man. Great for you. I’m so proud of you. That’s awesome stuff.

 

So, what did you do well? Like what happened in that process? Did you think like what would you tell somebody else that maybe is in the shoes that you were in? What did you think you did right? What are the things maybe that you would do differently that maybe would have made it go faster? What are some of the things that you thought, like, I did this right, I would do this again? I would do that right, I would do this again if I was a new person in your shoes.

 

Anthony Metzger: Right. Yeah. So, to rewind a bit. So, from the moment I bought that program to the moment we closed on that deal was 18 months, almost two years actually, if you round up. So, during that two years, I was just shopping for deals, analyzing deals on my own time, not being paid for this. This is stuff I was doing after work, after doing eight hours, actually waking up at 5:00 because I do 6 to 2. So, this is an 18-month period. And during that 18 months, I got close to an 88-unit, also out of the state. And that one didn’t end up working out simply because we couldn’t agree on the terms and the purchase agreement. And after going down there visiting, I felt like we’re going to close on this one. So then to go from, it was like going from being on a very high to something like just very, very sober, and…

 

Josh Cantwell: That’s square one.

 

Anthony Metzger: Right. And so, that moment there was like a moment where I almost quit. I almost decided, you know what? This isn’t going to work. There were just way too many moving parts for a deal to ever really work, but then I went back to my desk and I just did a little thinking and I was like, you know what? People are doing this, this group. What you got to look at is, am I better off today as far as getting closer to a deal after failing than before I failed? The answer is yeah. So, I actually made progress, even though I didn’t succeed on that deal because what happened was I got closer to the group that I brought the deal to. We had a lot more conversations. We were together. I went and shop the property. They told me what to look for, blah, blah, blah.

 

So, I actually made a relationship. So, I actually came out of that a lot better. However, yes, when I didn’t get it, it was a big hit. So, the secret, and this, I’m not the first one to say this, but the thing that’s really contributed to getting that first deal and the second deal and so on is not giving up because it is very discouraging. I actually get people that contact me, say, “Hey, I’ll bring you a deal.” And I actually welcome that. I just put an offer in on a 200-unit deal in Little Rock that somebody brought to me after hearing me on a podcast. So, I do deals with people, too. And the important thing is just don’t give up on it. At least for me, it ended up working. Yes, it took 18 months plus, but eventually, it ended up working out. And then once you cross that finish line, you have so much more leverage to doing your next deal, plus the power of the first deal.

 

Josh Cantwell: Yeah, in our business, we call it getting reps, right? So, like I played a lot of sports in high school, I played college football. My partner played college football with me, and we were at football practice, which was 10 weeks of the regular season. Maybe we make the playoffs plus all the preseason. Frankly, from day one to the last day, we were on some of the same damn plays, the same darn freakin’ drills. It was a grinder, man, but it was getting reps, right? And you go into the gym. You’re bench pressing, squatting, all this other stuff, kind of doing the same thing. Still as a 45-year-old today, I still do a lot of the same reps in the gym, the same bench press, the same squats, the same leg press that I did when I was 15.

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah.

 

Josh Cantwell: 30 years, getting reps, right? Getting reps. So, for you, in the multifamily space, like going through one underwrite after another, making offers, writing LOIs, looking at purchase agreements, looking at how a deal can be syndicated, what’s the structure going to be, really kind of struck out on the first several, then almost had that 88-unit didn’t work out. I love your mindset that you said, “Look, I’m closer. I’m not going to quit now,” even though you’re tempted to quit. I would be too, but you’re one step closer to getting the next deal because you’re getting the reps. It’s like if you want to bench 300 pounds, you don’t just get on the bench and bench 300 pounds on day one. You might start with bench 150 pounds, bench 175, 200, and so on. To get to the point of 300, you’re like, oh my God, I did it, like amazing, amazing. Like just stick to it, patience. What was it like though, tell me, when you were almost about to quit? I’m curious to hear what your mindset was. You’re probably sitting at your desk, your head’s in your hands. Like, dude, I can’t. It’s almost been two years. It’s not going to happen. Like that self-doubt’s creeping in, Tell me about that moment.

 

Anthony Metzger: Sure. So, me, personally, I’ve always had this entrepreneurial spirit. Like, I really, really, really want to become rich and successful. And I’ve got this vision in my head the way I want to live out my life. And so, I really want to execute so that I can pull that off. And when I went back to my desk after that, after not getting that deal, I look, I go, okay, what else am I going to go do it? Because I’m not going to just okay, quit doing this, and then just whatever, go sit on the couch and not do anything. The question was if I don’t do this, what else am I going to go and pursue?

 

Josh Cantwell: Sure.

 

Anthony Metzger: And after already investing so much time and energy and building relationships and this, I go, had to pull the rug out under this. What I’ve done so far would be a shame, especially without something else to go chase right now. So, that’s really, I go, what do I have to lose? What else can I go do at this point in time? I mean, to quit, well, just for me, would be actually, just go do something else, pursue something else. I can find anything at the time like this is a proven business, a proven method. It’s not like I have to go invent the next computer or the next wheel or whatever. So, it’s like I just believe that if I keep doing this and keep up the reps, like you said, eventually, something would land and it did. So, yeah.

 

Josh Cantwell: Tell me a little more about the deal. Like how did you guys structure it? Like if you’re okay telling us, like what was the purchase price? So, like approximate numbers. Was there a CapEx budget? Were you guys are able to pump the rents from X to Z? What’s that all going to look like? What’s the stabilized value? What does the exit strategy look like? Is it a refi? Is it a sale? Tell me a little bit more about the mechanics of the actual deal.

 

Anthony Metzger: Sure. Yeah. So, the deal is 218 units. We paid 11.25 for it. That’s about 51 a door. So, we paid for that one. I’m a general partner on it with these guys. So, the GPs got 25% of it. Our investors got 75%. The returns average cash on cash, 9% to 11% is what we underwrote for. A five-year hold is what we’re doing on that one. Yeah, so value add, definitely, if there was an opportunity, go in there and raise the rents. That’s the most obvious value-add component to any deal. One great value-add component to a deal that a lot of people may not look at or consider is actually reducing expenses.

 

Sometimes, you get some of these owners that they tie in so much of their personal with the properties expenses and they just let things go and whatever, and they overspend on certain things because when we’re doing deals and renovating properties, we can leverage. See, that’s the nice thing about being part of a bigger team and a group is we can leverage, hey, we’re renovating this one. So, we’re going to pay, we’re going to buy 218 new sinks instead of the guy who’s going to go buy three. So, anyway, we can be more efficient. And this is our full-time jobs, well, most of the teams is, so we can do things better so we can manage better and be more efficient, but you can add value by reducing expenses.

 

For example, on this deal, the water bill was massive, and we didn’t know why, but we underwrote for it, and hey, this is the actual water bill. What we ended up doing is after we got the close on it, we had an inspector come in and we looked and we found a leak in the pipe on the property, patched that up, and then we put in water-efficient fixtures in the property. We saved 50% on the water bill. So, we just reduced our expenses right there. And then, at the end, with the exit in five years, that’s going to affect NOI, which is going to grow the NOI, blah, blah, blah, and then you can get more at the sale. So, yeah, it was pretty much kind of your typical syndication, I would say, yeah.

 

Josh Cantwell: Yeah, I love it. How did you position yourself, Anthony? A lot of people might be asking, listeners who are on kind of new to intermediate part of their journey, they might be saying, “Well, how did Anthony position himself? We’ve never done a deal before, not even a residential deal. Well, all of a sudden, he’s in there, he’s finding deals. How was he able to position himself, posture up with the broker or the seller?” So, part of it could be your partnership, your other GPs, you kind of leverage them. Tell us about that because some people are like, “There’s no way I could be doing a $12 million deal on my own. What can I learn from Anthony as far as the way that he postured up, the way that he presented himself?” Well, you gave himself credibility so they could even get in the game. How did you do that?

 

Anthony Metzger: Right. And the tricky thing with the first deal is I couldn’t actually leverage this group because they don’t want– there’s a lot of people out there like me listening to their podcasts, offering this deal break to us, and we’ll do it. So, I can’t just go out there and say, “Hey, I’m with this guy.” Well, that’s not technically true. And that group actually pretty much said, “Don’t go around using our name because you’re not part of our team until we do a deal and whatever.” So, like couldn’t leverage that, which is the toughest thing because nowadays, I get to leverage my partners. The fact that I got this property five miles down the road from the one I just may not run.

 

So, right now, that’s the power of doing your first deal is you get so much more leverage, but before then, so to answer your question, what I did to position myself with a broker when I bought that thousand-dollar program, in that program, they educated us on what I called the language of multifamily real estate syndication. So, I spoke that language fluently. I could talk about cap rates, I could talk about debt, I could talk about expenses, income opportunities. So, when I’m on the phone with a broker, I’m speaking the same language he’s speaking. I’m not asking. I know not to ask him a certain question that would make me look like I’m an amateur. So, I’m strategic with the questions I ask. I am educated. So, I know the language and the words I should be using, what questions I should be asking to make it look like I have more credibility.

 

And so, like on this deal to get more specific, I found this deal. It’s actually part of a portfolio. So, this is like 350 units, dissected the portfolio, found that one worked. This one did work for us, the other one didn’t. So, we pursued this one. And so, when I picked up the phone for the first time, well, first I sent an email inquiring about the deal, then scheduled the call. So, we hopped on the phone, like I tried as quickly as possible, start digging into the deal so we could– because the thing is, if I can start the conversation, we get rolling and start getting questions and answers going, it’s kind of awkward. Well, it’s like they didn’t really go back that way. It’s okay, okay, great, great, so.

 

Josh Cantwell: Wait, slow down. You’ve never done a deal before?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What have you done before? Like you know…

 

Josh Cantwell: Yeah. I love that approach.

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah. So, we kind of worked my way past that immediately just by firing off questions, talking about the deal. Now, don’t get me wrong, eventually, once you get closer, like when you got to send in an LOI and stuff, they’re going to ask for more specific stuff, but at that point, once we get that close by then I had brought the deal to the group and see if they’re interested. And then once you’re at that level, you can leverage them. So, it’s kind of like a bridge. I got to find a way to get to that point without having to leverage them, and the way to do that, to answer the question, is to be educated and speak the language and know what questions to ask, what not to ask, more importantly. So, yeah.

 

Josh Cantwell: Love it. So, like, a personal note, right? My wife is really good at asking questions. So, I always feel like she’s in control because the person who asks the question is in control. That’s part of sales psychology. So, if you get on the phone with the broker and you start peppering them with questions, you’re in control. So, instead of you jumping on the phone saying, “Hey, I’m Anthony Metzger. And I want to get involved in a deal, and what deals do you have?” I love your approach of saying this is a specific deal. You’ve maybe got their email broadcast or logged into the portal. A lot of these guys have a back-office portal. You could sign up or get the deal, get the offering memorandum, the rent roll, the T3, the T12, pull that stuff down, and then schedule up a call with the broker. Or vice versa, schedule up the call first and then talk about the deal, but soon as you get the deal details and ask questions, you’re in control, right?

 

The broker might have 40 years of experience, might have a lot more going on, like understand a lot more than you do. And maybe you’re just kind of like faking it till you make it, but if you’re asking questions, you’re in control. So, my audience needs to remember that. That’s a very key thing that Anthony did well, and I would highly recommend that you guys do is have these questions. Anthony, let me ask you that specific question. What are maybe just two or three questions that you like to ask in that initial interview about a deal? What are some things that you want to know right away, the way you can actually take control of the conversation?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah, well, one way to kind of impress or show that you know what you’re talking about when you’re asking questions is ask very specific questions about the deal to show that you’ve analyzed it. For example, you get on a phone, and this might not be the first question you ask, but to show that you know what you’re doing, say, “Hey, look, I like this deal I saw. I’m projecting that we could raise the rates. I agree with you. You could raise the rents $100. Now, I see that the units with washer dryer hookups are getting a premium. Do all the units have washer dryer hookups?” Now, see, a question like that shows that you look at the rent while you saw that some do have it, the others you’re not quite sure. Ones that do have it have a premium.

 

Anyway, so it shows that you’re really diving deep into it and that you know what you’re looking for and the right question. Yeah, that’s just like a very specific thing, but yeah, I mean, to get right in, actually, I just got a call with a broker yesterday who just sent me an off-market deal, and I had some questions right away, like what is the call for offers was one of the first questions so I have an idea of that. Is there going to be a new updated rent roll any time soon? We have the one from last month. Do we have one from this month because I can see that’s the pro forma sell comping in the rent roll last month and I want to see if that’s continuing into this month?

 

Again, back with the washer dryer hookups, what kind of cap rate are we looking at? What kind of cap rate would this property look like if it was fully stabilized and achieving its pro forma? What kind of cap rates are you seeing for this product fully stabilized? Stuff like that is immediately, they’re going to start answering those questions. They’re not going to say, “Okay, great, thank you for those questions. Send me over proof of funds.” No. They’re going to start answering that, then you can start a dialog. I’d like to get personal, I don’t know, just create a relationship with your conversation as opposed to just being so cold and robotic showing being nervous.

 

Yes, but I do want to go back real quickly. What you said was very important, which is getting on these brokers’ mailing lists so you don’t need to like– so what I did, how I got this deal sent to me, I’m on an automatic list. I went to Newmark Knight Frank’s website, a huge, massive brokerage firm across the country. I went on there and signed up to be on their mailing list for multifamily deals, did that with all the big ones, Cushman. I did that with Berkadia. I did that with Marcus & Millichap. So, I’m getting deals every single day in my inbox. Anyone can do this. So, you can go and start getting the deal flow, and then the nice thing is you can get the numbers and analyze this deal before you get on the phone. And that’s something you want to do which is key. So, you want to be able to have the script and be prepared for that phone conversation with this broker. The way you do that is by having a look at the deal before just calling them and asking for that deal because if you just call them and ask for the deal, then they’re going to immediately start, “What do you have?”

 

Josh Cantwell: Yeah, start with the stuff that they already have that’s on the market that has an offering memorandum, possibly go for offers. It’s usually in their back-office portal. All the ones you mentioned, plus CBRE, Colliers International, Newmark, all the big boys, Cushman for sure, all those, Marcus & Millichap, going in, finding the local broker, go into the website, finding where you can log in to their investor portal. You’ve got to fill out some information. They usually have like six to ten, sometimes 15 questions, depending on who it is, who you are, what you do, that kind of stuff, but it becomes a basic username and password, log in, and see what kind of stuff they have in their offering memorandums.

 

My CFO this morning says I get all these email broadcasts because he signed up. And my CFO is not the one actively buying properties, that’s me and my business partners, but he’s like, I’m on all these lists. I didn’t even know he had signed up on their portals, but he did. So, that’s an easy way for any investor, new, intermediate, or advanced, just to see more deal flow. I love it, Anthony. The other thing I would highly recommend, too, is ask the broker if they were the buyer, what would be the value-add improvements that they would do?

 

Anthony Metzger: Sure, yep.

 

Josh Cantwell: Right. Because now, not only is the broker having to talk, you’re in control because you’re asking the question, but now, they’re going to kind of throw up with their business plan, like, what’s the business plan? They’re going to start to try to sell the deal instead of you selling yourself to them on why you’re capable of taking the deal down, they’re going to start to sell the deal to you. And again, if you’re the buyer, now, you’ve become the buyer and now, you’re in control, right? So, control comes from, I’m the buyer, sell me the deal. And also, I’m the one asking questions. Now, I have two forms of control. So, they’re not going to start asking me, again, send me your proof of funds. That’s ultimately the question we’re trying to avoid when we’re new to intermediate is send me your proof of funds stuff. So, Anthony, let’s pivot now to kind of your start. When you first got go and never did a deal, you’re looking back, now, what were some initial challenges, maybe some roadblocks, even mental roadblocks that you had, some initial challenges that you had to overcome doing this first deal and just getting in the business?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah. So, the big challenge for me was getting to, once I bought that program is learning how it is to analyze deals. Again, I came out from zero to immediately starting to learn how to analyze 100-unit deals. So, I had to learn all of that. I never came from a background of that. So I had to, what is a cap rate? Okay, Google it. So, I just took a long time to start understanding this. Now, I will give somebody a great piece of advice that is once you start out like me and just getting started. So, this is for the guy who hasn’t done his first deal or the girl who hasn’t done her first deal. What I did was– I knew I wanted to be in those markets down there. So, what I didn’t want to do is the very first deals I look at and talk to brokers about are the ones in the market I want to shop because I know I’m going to mess up when I call somebody for the first time or the tenth time. Because I’m in a learning phase, I know I’m going to mess up, I know I’m going to ask dumb questions, I know I’m going to get hung up on, I know I’m going to get asked for proof of funds for. So, I don’t want to do that in the market that I know I want to grow in, like I know my future is going to be in this market.

 

So, what I did is I started shopping deals in markets I knew I wasn’t going to do deals in. For example, like Boston or New York or out east where I know that we just won’t find a deal that meets our criteria. So, what I did is I would start analyzing deals just to practice the new calculator that I got to analyze deals, which is a big, huge, complicated thing. So, to practice and get more comfortable with it, I would analyze pretty much any deal, even if I knew it probably wouldn’t work, then to practice getting on the phone with brokers, I would call brokers about deals and markets I know I’m not going to be in. So that way when I do mess up, I don’t want to mess up with the only few brokers down in this market that I know I’m going to have to deal with in the future. So, I started doing it with brokers and markets I figure I probably won’t ever do a deal in. So, that’s a nice little piece of advice for somebody that wants to get out there and practice. They make that phone call where they know they’re going to not do well. So, go practice it off on a different market.

 

Josh Cantwell: Love it. Love it. Anthony, what do you see your business going from here?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yes. So, actually, believe it or not, I’m actually fairly fresh at this business. I just got my website up recently, FinancialBedrock.com. Actually, if you go there right now, you can download the free sample deal package on that 218-unit deal. So, you can kind of see the numbers, see the business plan. It’s obviously not an active deal anymore, so you can download it for free and just see what a deal looks like that we’re doing. So, yeah, I got the website up. Now, I’m going to start becoming more of a capital raiser. I want to bring capital to these deals that we’re doing. I’m definitely a deal analyzer. That’s my primary position. The way I bring value to people, I can look at deals really well. I’m looking at a 320-unit right now. I just got something I need to last night off-market. So, that’s where I’m at right now. To grow it, just keep doing more deals, do it with more people, more partners, raise more money, yeah.

 

Josh Cantwell: So, Anthony, let’s do this, let’s finish up the interview with our final five, five quick questions, five quick answers, fire off as fast as you can. You ready?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yes.

 

Josh Cantwell: Alright, here we go. So, your favorite way to find deals?

 

Anthony Metzger: Brokers and sending direct mail letters to owners.

 

Josh Cantwell: Got it. Favorite way to find capital or to fill up your capital stack, make relationships with money?

 

Anthony Metzger: Networking, traveling, and just letting people know what it is I’m up to and then conversing with them from there.

 

Josh Cantwell: Got it. What do you think is the best piece of advice, could be financial advice, could be leadership advice, personal advice that you’ve ever received?

 

Anthony Metzger: Invest in yourself self, self-development courses on your own. And I do audiobooks, but just keep doing self-development audiobooks.

 

Josh Cantwell: Yeah, I have a great recommendation, by the way. I’m in the middle of a book right now called Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty. I’m a huge fan of Jay Shetty. He is the number one health and wellness podcast in the world. And his book, Think Like a Monk came out last year. I just dug into it. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal book so highly recommend that. I’m about three-quarters of the way through it. You should check it out, Anthony, as well as the rest of our audience. Think about that one.

 

Anthony, what’s your favorite way to think and decompress? You obviously have a regular day job, family business, plus you’re doing syndications at night. You’re obviously busy. Sometimes, you just got to get away from your business to think about what the heck is going on? What’s the next step for you in your journey? How do you get away from the business?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yes. So, one of my favorite things actually, Saturday mornings when I don’t have to go into the day job, I go and get a big tall coffee, I get my truck, and I just go for a nice hour-and-a-half drive around this beautiful lake out west of the Twin Cities. I’ll just put out a podcast and audiobook or sometimes, just some good music, and I just cruise with a nice coffee first thing in the morning. It just freshens the mind. I love that. I love one chill time.

 

Josh Cantwell: Love it. Love it. Yeah, it’s a great way to decompress, get away from the business. That’s often when I get my best ideas is when I’m not thinking at all.

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah, exactly.

 

Josh Cantwell: Anthony, your last question, who do you think may be the biggest leader in your life, the biggest mentor in your life that you’ve ever had? Again, personal, business-wise, entrepreneurship, who do you think has had the biggest impact? And why?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yes. So, I would have to point obviously to my dad who’s been great to me and the current business partners I have right now, Matt Brawner, who’s a guy actually, you should probably have on your show if you haven’t already, Drew Whitson, Andrew Kniffin, these guys, but then I go to audiobooks and podcasts. Right now, there’s a guy named Mark Evans DM. He’s got a podcast that’s phenomenal and he’s got great books. I’ve never met him, but his content to me is just so amazing that I consider him a mentor of mine, even though he doesn’t know me. I’ve never met him personally, but through his content, I consider that mentorship. And he’s got phenomenal podcasts and content.

 

Josh Cantwell: Nice. I love it. Anthony, listen, you mentioned your website earlier. Why don’t we wrap up here? Why don’t you tell us again your website for people to download that sample deal packet and where people can connect with you?

 

Anthony Metzger: Yeah, FinancialBedrock.com is my website. It’s got my contact on there. Definitely, feel free to reach out to me, shoot me an email, give me a call. Like I said, I had a guy bring me a deal after hearing me on a podcast. We put a full asking offer on that deal, 200 units, also down in Little Rock. We’re waiting to hear back, but you never know what’s in the wall from these conversations. So, definitely, reach out, check on the website, yep.

 

Josh Cantwell: Awesome stuff. Anthony, listen, thank you so much for carving out some time today. Man, I had a blast interviewing you. Thanks for joining us today on Accelerated Real Estate Investor.

 

Anthony Metzger: Josh, I appreciate you. I appreciate everything you’re doing, all the content you’re putting out is phenomenal. So, keep it up. And thank you so much for having me on the show.

 

Josh Cantwell: You got it.

 

[CLOSING]

 

Josh Cantwell: Well, there you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Anthony Metzger Thank you so much for engaging with us in this podcast. We appreciate all of your feedback, your ratings, and reviews. Don’t forget to go to FreelandVentures.com/passive to register for your free account to see some of our past deals, all of our documents, paperwork, and how we underwrote and reviewed those properties. If you feel compelled, also, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts, wherever you get your videos, make sure you subscribe so you never miss another episode. Thank you so much for engaging with me today. I always love being on this podcast to bring you as much value as I can. Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll talk to you soon. Take care.


[END]

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” - Josh Cantwell

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” - Josh Cantwell

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