Templar Real Estate Radio Show Transcripts 5-22-2021

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The following program was paid for by Templar Real Estate. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of the staff and management of WMTR.  As always, it is advisable to consult a professional before making a major decision.

It’s time now for the Templar Real Estate Talk Show. Here’s your host for the program, Joseph J. Zoppi.

Joseph J. Zoppi:
Hello. Welcome to the Templar Real Estate Talk Show. My name is Joseph J. Zoppi, a real estate investor, consumer advocate, author and managing partner of Templar Real Estate Enterprises. You can reach us at templarcashforhouses.com. That’s T-E-M-P-L-A-Rcashforhouses.com, that’s one word or you could call us at 973-240-8593. Again, that’s 973-240-8593 and we could answer any questions you may have or you could email us from our website as well to discuss any topics you want on the show or any other questions you may have.

For first-time listeners, my company is a real estate investment firm. We buy houses for cash, we purchase apartment buildings, we do joint ventures with other real estate investors, we loan money for rehabs and provide transactional and gap funding as well. We work with individuals that want to invest with us in single-family houses up to apartment buildings. We do not speculate and we’re very protective of our money and our investor’s money. I’m not a real estate agent and we’re not a brokerage but I have individuals on staff that are agents that could sell your house through the traditional Multiple Listing Service. This show’s going to go over everything there is about real estate, those things that impact real estate. We’ll talk about our rehabs, some of our investments, what went well, what did not go well and how we corrected those. We will talk about the economy and interest rates, we’ll discuss trends in the real estate market. Real estate is one of your biggest investments so it’s important you know as much as possible about it.

Everything I’m providing is my opinion and my experience, okay? I ask everyone to always do lots of research. Whatever you’re doing, always research it, research it on the internet, talk to people, get recommendations. As I always say in a couple of things, if you’re looking for articles or something on the internet, please understand the perspective of the author and what they want to convey. So, it’s going to be slanted usually in one way or another, an article so just be wary of that. Second thing is, is that if you’re asking for a recommendation from an individual, again, ask lots of questions because what one person might like, another one would not like, okay? That’s, very, very important and I say that every week and that’s extremely important. It’s the communication with the person, whatever service they’re providing you need to find that out and that’s very important. Communication is extremely, extremely important and that’s one of the foundations of who we are, is to ensure that we communicate properly, timely and at times, overcommunicate. 

One of the things with our business, you call us any time. You call me at 10:30 at night, I will pick up. I pick up all calls. If I’m not picking up, it’s either I didn’t hear the call or something like that but if I’m eating, I’ll pick up a call, it really doesn’t matter. So, if it goes to the answering service, the answering service will pass it on to someone within my staff but if you have my cell phone number or I have the calls going to my cell phone number, I always pick up and that’s just what I am, that’s how I do business and each person’s different, each business is different. I don’t take a break or anything like that, even though lately, after Easter, I have been taken like a half a day to three quarters of a day off during the week which has, I think, really helped me a lot and helped me rejuvenate and be even more productive which I’m really happy about. 

Also, I’d like to do a shout out to some of my listeners, Timmy from Cedar Grove Water Department, Paulette the famous crossing guard from Livingston, as well as Johnny T. I met Paulette for the first time this week and it was really great seeing her and I’ve spoken to her so many times and if you recall, I had been talking about this for a few weeks now, Paulette called me up and asked if I had an apartment available for her friend and her friend’s name is Angie, she’s from Ecuador. She has a son that’s eight years old and they live, I think, in Orange, an area that’s not too good and the son is afraid to go out and there’s just a lot of anxiety there and we found a place for her and we took her to the place. I had my partner take her to the place, the apartment in Caldwell and it was a nice place but the only issue is, is that Angie has a lease until the end of the year. So, right now we’re trying to figure out how we could get around that or we’ll see what we could do. She’s been there for a very long period of time. So, there are times when you have a relationship with a property owner and because you’ve been a good tenant, they’ll bend the rules and I I’m hoping that that will be the case and the landlord will let her out of the lease. 

So, we’re going to look at that and I’ll keep you posted. I’m hoping that we could do this. She does nails and she does it in Livingston. So, I think we should be able to figure out a bus route to take her from Caldwell to Livingston. So, we’ll have to work on that as well because she has a built up clientele of over like 12 years or something like that. So, that’s kind of important to her but also, within Caldwell, there’s a lot of stores and a lot of businesses. So, she could maybe augment some of her current work if she lost some of it, maybe with some other places in town and also, it would give her son a place to go for a really good education. They have great schools in the area and it’s just a great, great community. So, let’s keep our fingers crossed and some prayers on that one and we’ll continue to push through on that. Again, if you need to sell your house fast for cash, please give us a call and we could set up an appointment and then we could see what’s best for you. It might be just getting cash quickly or it might be with selling through the traditional Multiple Listing Service. We’re able to do a couple of different options and it’s really… you don’t want to force someone into a specific solution or remedy. We rather find out what their needs are and then move forward with it. 

We have one woman we’re working with her right now. She is a widower, her husband passed away not that long ago and she just wants to move out of her house and her grandson is the executor and we’re working with her and him and it’s a great experience that we’re able to do this. He’s a real estate agent in another state and he had recommended an all cash buyer and he also recommended looking on the internet for the Better Business Bureau and we have high ratings with that and A+, so it worked out really well and we’re going through with everything. One of the things, it was good, she has a really good attorney but as I always say, attorneys are not business people and couple of good things that he did is he requested a proof of funds and we always push on our individuals that want to sell to us to make sure that whoever they deal with, they have proof of funds. So, what we did is we have a bank account and show the money in it as well as our lines of credit and our lines of credit aren’t a boiler plate, we’ll say, letter from a hard money lender that says we’ll give the person money but it depends on all these different factors and that’s not the way it works with us. Our lines of credit are established based on our credit worthiness and how long we’ve been in business and how successful we’ve been and the one thing though, as I said, is that the attorney kicked back something that said that we don’t need an appraisal. 

So, the terms and conditions of our line of credit said that it needs an appraisal and he said it was a line of credit, you don’t need an appraisal, there’s no reason for it and that’s not necessarily the case. So, that’s where I’m saying is, is that just because an attorney says it, doesn’t mean it’s sound business advice per se. So, the terms and conditions set forth by our lines of credit is an appraisal and the reason for that is really simple; is that they’re giving us money, a line of credit so they want to validate that it’s not just a shell of a house and there’s nothing inside and if it’s worth… we’re saying it’s worth $300,000 and really it’s only a four walls and a roof. Well, they’re going to have some questions for us and that’s based on previous things that have gone on in the industry in terms of fraud and things like that. So, that’s very standard for them to take a look at it and just see that it’s a valid structure and it’s got plumbing and so on and so forth and what we said, it really has and so, we pushed back on the attorney on that and we said it’s not going to effect the purchase, whatever the appraisal is, the so-called appraisal, it’s not going to effect the purchase and then he was fine with that but again, like I said, just because the attorney says it, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good and sound business advice and he was flexible enough to understand that and say, okay, that’s fine and same thing with the executor, he understood it and we talked to him extensively on it, he said, yeah that makes sense but sometimes individuals just listen to the attorney and they’re very close-minded and they don’t have the experience, so they have to accept the attorney’s advice but sometimes it’s not always the best advice.

So, that’s very, very important. Last week I was talking about a couple of things in terms of when things go sideways and when you’re interviewing an individual, whether it’s in real estate or anything else is that is a very, very important question; is what happens when something goes wrong? What did you do as a result of that? So, I’m going to close out this session and that’s what I’m going to pick up with on our next session and I’ll go into more detail on it. Again, thank you very much. Again, you could reach us at templarcashforhouses.com or 973-240-8593 if you need to sell your house fast for cash or to list it. Also, Theresa Mara from Mara’s Italian Deli in Pinebrook still has additional 10% off on lunches and catering orders. You just have to use my name and talk to Theresa directly. Again, that’s the one in Pinebrook. There’s multiple Mara’s. It’s only the one in Pinebrook and that’s who I know and she’s a great person. Second thing, Basilico, great restaurant, it’s in Millburn and talk to Mario, he’s the consummate host and he’ll treat you well. So, I’m going to close out now and I’ll be back shortly. Thanks. 

Joseph J. Zoppi:
Hello, welcome back to the Templar Real Estate Talk Show. My name is Joseph J. Zoppi, managing partner of Templar Real Estate Enterprises. You can reach us at 973-240-8593 or templarcashforhouses.com. That’s T-E-M-P-L-A-Rcashforhouses.com. So, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. A lot of times I use my middle initial, especially on the radio show but on other occasions and long time ago, my father said, “Joe, make sure you use your middle initial because there’s a lot of Joe Zoppi’s floating around.” And there’s a lot from Newark and the surrounding areas and I’ve done that and that’s why I designate myself using that middle initial. Also, there’s an agent with the same name as me, real estate agent and so I want to distinguish myself from him as well. So, that’s the reason why you’ll hear my middle initial said and I just want to make sure that I’m me and not someone else and especially, if you look me up on the internet or anything else. So, it’s always… I try to always Joseph J. Zoppi. 

So, also, I was featured in Forbes. They had questions cause I’m on the Forbes real estate council, they had some questions posed to the council members on foreclosures and I was quoted in there with a bunch of other investors, some of them I specifically know so it’s really a small world. The one individual, Mike Hambright, he’s out of Texas and I belong to his mastermind and it’s a collection of approximately 150 real estate investors throughout the country, the top ones that do rehabs and we share our war stories and what’s going well, what’s not going well and they all help, we all help each other out. So, it’s a good group and I get a lot out of it and I think that’s one of the biggest things; is continued education, not just these things that you take online but true education and true learning and peer development, that’s really, really important and you become better at what you do as a result of that. I belong to another mastermind called Vestige and that one is really… I get a lot out of that. So, I have a lot of different individuals and from different industries, everything from the entertainment industry like where they’re doing parties and things like that, as well as financial tech firms and it’s a group of approximately 16 individuals and there’s… throughout the country and I’m based out of New York city.

So, almost everyone is out of New York city and again, we do a lot of development of ourselves and becoming better CEOs and better leaders and I think that’s really, really important and they challenge you on certain things. We have to hit certain goals that we want to hit personally as well as professionally and they’ll challenge us on how we’re doing, why we’re not getting there. So, it’s good because as a CEO and managing partner, there’s your peers but there’s no one above you and someone outside your sphere of influence and they push on you. It’s really a pretty powerful way of doing things and it really, really helps. So, I want to get back to when things go sideways. So, one of the key questions you should always ask anyone and I said, this last week is what happens if something goes sideways, something goes wrong? Now, if someone says, well, it’s never gone wrong. Well, they haven’t done enough work or they’re lying to you because if anybody at work and your job and so on and so forth, things go sideways all the time, things don’t work all the time. What do you do as a result of it? Every single business has things that do not go well and that’s very important but how you rise above that and address it, that’s the important thing and for someone to articulate back to you how that’s done and that’s very important. 

I said last week I had someone invest in business and the individual, I was like 26, 27, I invested a lot of money and that was… in that timeframe was, I saved a lot of money and I invested in this business, my partner took it and paid off his debt. I sued him or I was going to sue him and everyone said, no, you’re not going to win, you’re not going to win, you’re not going to win and the other thing I want to talk about is not accepting the word ‘no’. So, I didn’t accept ‘no’ and I kept pushing and pushing and pushing and I talked to my one attorney and he was head of the firm and I know him really well, great guy and what happened was, he said, “Who you should deal with is you should deal with one of his associates for this because he was better at doing that type stuff.” I said “Fine.” So, I started dealing with him and he was promising all this, we’re going to get this, we’re going to get it back. So, on and so forth and time just elapsed, elapsed, elapsed and I was getting bills but I wasn’t paying them and I had spoken to the… the guy I know that leads the law firm and I said, “Well, I’m not getting any results. I don’t know what’s going on.” He said, “No problem. You don’t have to pay yet.” And it just kept going and going and going and then I find out later that the attorney did nothing. 

So, I went crazy on that and I spoke to the head partner and he said… he apologized and everything and he said, “You don’t have to pay.” But I was very upset and it wasted a lot of time and I was really angry and what I learned from this is that I wanted to sue, not the firm but the attorney and I learned a valuable lesson at 27, 28 years old that the attorneys don’t sue other attorneys and I’ve learned that a couple times that they will not sue each other. I was calling people left and right and no one would sue him no matter how blatant it was and again, I don’t take no for an answer and I pursued it anyway and I had a complaint with the bar association and I showed him my phone records, every time I called them and how there was discrepancies in all the billings and everything else like that and they did say, “Yeah, there is a problem here.” But they disciplined him but he didn’t lose his license and it was egregious what he did, it was just downright lies but again, he didn’t lose his license but they said that any, for the next two years or three years, anyone that was going to go to him, he had to say that he was disciplined and so on and so forth.

Now, I don’t know if that ever happened but I was very, very tempted to have someone go there, pose as a potential client and then see if that was going to happen. So, I didn’t do that, I don’t know if I should have but I was very, very upset at that and I learned a lot of things about when things go sideways and who you can rely on, who you can’t rely on and it was just… there was a big learning experience but again, to continue with the statement where I wasn’t going to say no, or accept the word no, you’re not going to be able to pursue this or you’re not going to collect. I kept pushing on it and I was able to, as I said last week, do some type of creative type thing to… and again, it was all legal to put my former partner in a situation where the truth came out and as a result of that, I pursued, I used another attorney and I still use him to this day and he was able to get my money back and that’s the thing; the word ‘no’, never accept the word ‘no’. When we work and when we work here, if I’m doing something with an outside vendor or contractor, the word ‘no’ doesn’t exist. Now, where ‘no’ does exist for me is if the client wants to go with someone else and I don’t know, that’s just… that’s my line. 

I’m not going to push hard, we’re not… we don’t do hard sells, we don’t do that here. It’s that simple. If they say no, it’s no. If they say call us in a couple of weeks, then we’ll call in a couple of weeks but we don’t badger or anything else like that. That’s one thing we definitely don’t do. So, again, when someone says no, don’t accept the word no. I had a situation, not that long ago, a few weeks ago, it was 9 o’clock at night, still in the office, I wanted to get something to eat there was, locally, there’s a steak house locally, a nice one and I called up and the young person said, there’s no availability and this was about 10 after 9 and they close at 10 and I’m saying that doesn’t sound right. So, I took… I didn’t accept no for an answer and he said, originally, he said to me, he said, “Joe” or even used my name and he said, “I don’t think there’s any availability.” I said, “You don’t think?” And then he said, “No, there is no availability.” So, I said, “Okay.” And I continued to drive there, I walked in because I originally said, is there any tables available? He said “No.” I said, “What about at the bar?” He said “No.” And when I arrived, I just walked directly, in walked right past him, walked right to the bar and there was four seats open and behind me there was a table open and there was sufficient room between other individuals as well because when I sat down, there had been an individual there and it was still messy. 

So, when someone says no and it doesn’t sound right, just continue to pursue it. That’s very, very important. The other thing is, is that, I’m working with a family member that’s, right now, going to sell his house and he wants to get maximum dollars for it. So, I stopped by twice and we’re going to do a few things as a result of it to really max out where the money he could get on it and we’re just doing little things and there’s sometimes just little things you could do to really raise the value and catch that eye of [0:29:46] of buyer. So, we’re going to paint the outside door just black to let it pop, we’re going to paint the shutters black so it pops against the white vinyl siding, we’re going to put some black mulch, again, to make it pop against the greens, we’re going inside and we’re going to change the doors out, do some trims and paint two rooms, pull up two carpets in two rooms and just lightly sand the floors and that’s about it. It’ll cost him about $8,000, maybe $9,000 and we should be able to get… we’ll get that back plus another $20,000 on it. 

So, there’s certain things you can do and really drive home the price and take it to the next level and he had older doors that were brown and so we’re going to replace them with just regular white doors, the six panel doors and in the end, it’s going to look really fresh and he should be able to get what he wants for it. So, again, sometimes just a little bit of extra time and effort into doing certain things for your home and it’ll pay off. Unfortunately, I got to go and I got to cut this short. So, thank you very much. Again, you can reach us at 973-240-8593 or templarcashforhouses.com. See Theresa at Mara’s in Pinebrook or Mario in Millburn, its name… it’s Basilico. Again, thank you very much, God bless, take care and I’ll see you. I’ll talk to you next week. Bye. 

The preceding program was paid for by Templar Real Estate. The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the staff and management of WMTR. As always, it is advisable to consult a professional before making a major decision. 

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