On the show today we have a Portland area real estate baller, author, and podcaster Tucker Merrihew of TTM Development!
Listen on: iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play
Contact
Tucker’s LinkedIn
Show Links:
– The Real Dealz Podcast
– Portland Real Estate Podcast
– TTM Development Company
– Direct Mail Millions (FREE) – good for making money
– The Dirty Truth – The top 10 strangest, weirdest, etc. seller appointments
— They wrote all the weird stuff down, and created a fun book about it.
— You see some crazy stuff when you go on a lot of real estate appointments.
– Driving for Dollars App iOS / Android
Notes from the show
The Vantastic Life is…
– in Cookeville TN
Tucker just recorded a podcast on if you’re messing up your kids by doing all of this entrepreneur stuff.
He didn’t really have a lot of means when growing up. He had that hustle muscle when he was growing up because of not having much.
His grandfather had a business.
He went to college to play lacrosse and party 🙂
He had a job offer with Merrill Lynch but they retracted his offer because of a question about being in a social setting and spreading the word about the company.
You go to college to get a job, but he didn’t have a job, and thought maybe real estate was the way to go, so he got into the mortgage business.
At first it was about the money, but now he really loves real estate.
He went to a Robert Allen seminar and got excited.
The mortgage company said they would hire anybody, train you for two weeks, and then push you into the world to find mortgages.
They essentially took half of the commissions that they made.
Tucker stuck and didn’t wash out like most of the candidates.
Along the way he bought a house to like in and made $200k on it. At that time it was pretty hard to lose. Around 2005-2006…
Bought a duplex in Vancouver and did really well on that too. And also bought 6-7 rentals during that time.
He realized that he could make way more money as an investor than a mortgage broker, but of course that was right before the banking crash of the 2007-2009’s.
Around 2008 he wanted to go full bore into real estate investing by buying REO’s and short sales, and bidding at the auction.
These were fix and flips.
He escaped with only a couple deed in Lou’s during the market crash.
Julie
How is your business structured these days?
Tucker
It’s varied, and has been a moving target over the last 4-5 years.
They had this weird house that was like a rainbow that need 30 piers in the ground. And they said fuck it and tore it down to build ground up new construction.
They had never done new construction before, but made about $90k on that deal.
Julie
Talked about how these strange forks in the road can or could have really changed the trajectory of our lives.
Have you done deals in WA or do you stay in OR?
Tucker
We try to stay more local now, but have done some deals in WA.
Now all of our active marketing is local.
Julie
If you niche down you seem to get better deals than going broad with your marketing.
Do you do construction for anyone other than yourself?
Tucker
We don’t touch anything that has to do with an outside client. They would make real estate not be very fun for him.
They built the street of dreams in Portland last year.
Julie
Do you build town homes?
Tucker
Yes, and they’ve been very successful with them.
Although building right now is VERY expensive!
There was a dog food plant in Tuwaliton OR, and every Thursday the whole town would smell like dog food!
Julie
Do you have a quick and dirty formula that you use to benchmark a deal?
Straight over tackle deal…
Tucker
The best neighborhood to quantify that would be buy at $300-350k and sell at a million.
This was great until a bigger company came in and pushed the lots up to $500k.
Julie
What’s the minimum return? 20%…
Tucker
Yeah, 20%, but we have done some up to 30%.
He looks at is as a margin game, and they are a little more tactical.
Julie
Can you not beat the other guys on terms?
Tucker
No, we just do more direct to seller marketing to people who aren’t shopping us.
You need to find the opportunities where you’re not pitting money against money.
Julie
What are your price points?
Tucker
We are $750k to $1.5 million.
Julie
Will tax changes impact your buyer pool?
Tucker
We are starting to think about it.
We’ve had a 10% peak to trofe even though the realtors won’t admit it.
It had to happen.
Julie
Will we have a soft landing at 10%, hopefully…
Right now brokers are listing stuff wrong, and the brokers are going to affect the read, and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Do you have a market prediction?
Tucker
Agrees on the broker/agent thing. A lot of time the sellers are behind the times. The brokers are saying the market is great, but it’s softened.
Julie
A really really great question… ask the seller what they think about the market. Let them give you their knowledge on the current market. It will help you prepare better for your appointments.
Do you guys list your own stuff?
Tucker
We list ourself, and do it under the TTM brand.
The office manager/acquisitions is also the listing agent.
The DFA is essentially a mastermind where you can have real conversations about deals virtually. It’s been around 4 plus years, and has been great for him. And he’s met some amazing people in it.
They have monthly webinar trainings via Facebook live, including a members website. And they do an annual party where they bring everyone into OR and look at a bunch of deals.
Think daily interaction virtually and an annual event.
It’s for everything… builders, flippers, multi family, high end homes, small multi family, and all over the US.
Launchpad is more of an entry level program for people starting out in real estate investing. Steer clean of shiny ball syndrome.
Julie
We live off of direct mail, and use Tucker’s driving for dollars app.
I tell new investors to pull their own driving for dollars list. What do you do?
Tucker
We do 90% driving for dollars list, and slowly expand the area. This is due to the competition.
Their driver try’s to pull 200 new homes every time he goes out.
Julie
Do you have any system for this?
Tucker
I look at this as planting your flag in ground.
Once you’re in a neighborhood doing a project… you’re safe and can talk to other sellers. They now know your are the real deal.
They mail everyone around their projects a ton.
Julie
Do you use your own app?
Tucker
We do.
Julie
Do you guys… can you add parcel numbers on the app?
Tucker
We’ve been testing a new API that will allow TLO quality data (and other data points) to the app that will be implemented by the end of 2018.
Julie
It’s a no brainer to get the Tucker’s Driving for Dollars app!
Do you scrub your list once you pull it?
Tucker
Nah, we generally just mail and scrub as calls come in.
Julie
How much is your roll up list, and do you mail it all?
Tucker
No, we break it up into chunks, and try to do a 2-3 letter campaign before we leave them along for a while.
We have an in-house mailing shop with a handwriting machine.
He likes to play with his crazy hair brained ideas, and they have worked from time to time.
Julie
We are definitely the consistent ones.
Tucker
Totally, some are just long sales cycles.
Julie
Do you share any of these tips in the DFA?
Tucker
Yes, but we don’t layer ideas on students.
#1 marketing tip…
Be different and be often!
Open letter marketing mail house
Julie
What CRM do you use?
Tucker
They created their own CRM and use InfusionSoft for the education side of the business.
Julie
What can you guys do better?
Tucker
We can always build a better mouse trap. If the market levels out we would like to get better at building out their keeper list (aka rental houses) to avoid getting hit hard with taxes.
They want to make their app better at skip tracing.
Julie
What other podcasts to you like to listen to?
Tucker
CJ Mccollum of the Blazers Podcast
Short Story Long Podcast
Watches Ozark’s and House of Cards.
Julie
I like Mad Men
What do you like to do for fun?
Tucker
Plays basketball at least 2 times a week, as long as knees hold up. Great way to unwind the brain and not think about anything.
Loves to play golf and snowboard!
Julie
I’m headed to Whistler tomorrow with all the moms!
Tucker
Likes Whistler as well!
He also has two little kids and are a blast to hangout with!
Julie
Everybody needs to checkout all of Tucker’s stuff!!! His app (iOS / Android) is $19.95 and they take a loss on most of their members.
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