THE Multifamily Mindset
“I think the mindset training was huge and me coming from sales too. I’m no stranger to rejection, so that helped in being able to continue to push forward.”
Welcome to the Next Level American Dream Podcast. We have a motivating guest for you today, but first please make sure you have subscribed, if you haven't already. We also love getting your feedback through likes, comments, ratings, and reviews. Today, Sean has a conversation with Eric Chadderon. Eric went from sales to single-family to multifamily and he shares with us today how his mindset allowed him to make these transitions. He has honed into his vision and team-building to create success for himself. Learn from some of the lessons he's made and see what you accomplished. If you found any value from today's episode, then please share it with a friend and help us grow.
Key Topics
Tell us about your background
What was your reasoning to switch careers from sales to real estate investing?
What was your transition like from single-family to multi-family?
You've seen relatively fast success in multifamily, what are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
How did those space your business today?
What does the American Dream mean to you?
Connect with Eric Chadderon:
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Abigail Thomson 00:01
Welcome to the next level American Dream podcast brought to you by Thomson Multifamily Group. Your hosts, Abigail and Sean will discuss how you can take your American dream to the next level through real estate investing, business practices, and personal development. Join us as we share our experiences as a father daughter duo who are trying to accomplish their goal of financial freedom. We hope you learn more about how to define and achieve your American dream. Here's another episode of Next Level American Dream.
Abigail Thomson 00:34
Welcome to the Next Level American Dream podcast. We have a motivating guest for you today. But first, please make sure you have subscribed if you have not already. We also love getting your feedback, likes, comments, ratings and reviews. Today Sean has a conversation with Eric Chadderdon on Eric went from sales to single family to multifamily. And today he shares with us how his mindset allowed him to make these transitions. He has honed into his vision in team building to create success for himself. Learn from some of the lessons he's made, and see what you can accomplish. If you found any value from today's episode, then please share it with a friend and help us grow. For more information on our sponsor. Visit thomsonmultifamilygroup.com to start taking your American dream to the next level through passive investing.
Sean Thomson 01:25
Hi, Eric, thanks for being on Next Level American Dream podcast. How you doing?
Eric Chadderon 01:29
I'm doing good. Sean, happy to be here. Thanks for having me as a guest today.
Sean Thomson 01:32
Great, great. We run into each other all the time at events and things like that. We always have great conversations. So I'm excited to have you on this show. I really appreciate you coming on and you're doing big things in multifamily right out the gate you've had some good success. So we'll talk all about those things. Let's start with kind of where you've come from your background a little bit and where you what you have going on today.
Eric Chadderon 01:50
Yeah, sure. So you know, I kind of grew up in and around real estate, you know, my family had single family and multifamily apartments growing up I didn't wasn't really as involved in them because I was just a kid wanting to play some sports and hang out with my buddies. But you know, I had a little bit of exposure. But you know, I came I you know, my career was in direct sales. I was in the direct sales space for about 12 years ran a solar company for a number of years as well. And you know, it was good, it was great. It taught me a ton about relationships how people were just connecting with people a lot which transitioned over to multifamily pretty well but you know, I after 12 years, I was ready for a new challenge. I was ready for something new something to spice it up a little bit and something to stretch me and just make me better and multifamily fell in my lap. So
Sean Thomson 02:38
So you Yes, sales is always a good career to transition to So other things because you can take sales skills and pretty much apply them in almost anything really right. So that's that's where you started was probably a really applicable to what you're doing today. Let's talk about sort of your transition from from your, your past job and going into multifamily. So I guess real estate was probably an easy connector, because you had a pass with your with your parents and your family that had been in real estate. Right. So it's kind of an easy thought process to get to multifamily.
Eric Chadderon 03:08
Yeah, so kind of how it started, John was my like I said, my family had apartment buildings as well to small ones out in Oregon, but kind of how it started was, you know, I saw how hard they were working. And they were managing them themselves fixing toilets, answering phone calls from tenants in the middle of the night, you know, shoveling snow, they were doing everything themselves without a third party property management company. Yeah. And you know, they're in their 60s. And so, you know, they were waking up at 6am, going into the apartments until nine, then going to their nine to five, and then going back to the apartments till about 7pm every night. And they were just killing themselves. And, you know, you talk about the American dream, and I just don't think that that's it. And so, you know, I knew there was a better way I set out to find that, and I did through multifamily and through syndication. And I just kind of wanted to prove to my family that there's a better way to do this. And, and one that's easier on them. So we did that. And now they've actually invested in my last two deals. So
Sean Thomson 04:08
new real estate was a good a good future business for you. But you wanted to find a path that was more successful or not necessarily more successful, but I guess less less arduous. Then like you said, Gavin go to the operation at six in the morning, things like that. So so your path, you want to make sure that you were on a path that was that was going to be more of a business path as opposed to just like a small investor path. So what was it that what was it that kind of made you decide to to chant transition? Careers in the beginning, was it just that you wanted to do more with with your, your, your finances, or what was it that one that made you change? Was you were you unhappy where you were or was it something you just wanted to aspire to be more?
Eric Chadderon 04:47
Sure, yeah, I know two things really. So the first one was my my parents, you know, like I said, they were killing themselves every single day and I just wanted them you know, like I said, they're in their 60s, and I just wanted them to finally relax. had worked hard their entire lives. And you know, hats off to them, because they did really well. But it was time for them to live a little bit, and not be waking up and not answering phone calls or fixing toilets and dealing with all that stuff. And so a part of the reason why I wanted to do this is I wanted to help get them retired. And, you know, that's, you know, that's why I was trying to get them invest in our deals, and they did. Now, you know, they've invested a significant amount into my last couple deals now. And they're going to be making about 230,000 bucks annually, completely passive without lifting a finger, just from their last two investments with me. So that, like I said, they invest a good amount. But so that was the first thing really to kind of set my parents free. But the second thing was, you know, at my previous job, I, I had seen a ton of success, you know, I used to run a solar company, and just before that, I was in direct sales for just a really long time. And after 12 years, and you kind of get to the point where you'll wake up, and you're either excited to go to work, or you're not. And you know, for any of the listeners listening, you know, if you guys are feeling that way where in your jobs to where you're waking up and not being excited to go to work, I'm telling you, there is a better way, and you just have to put yourself out there and find it and, you know, look for the people that are doing what you want. And, you know, surround yourself with people like that. And so that's what I did, you know, I wanted to get into the multifamily space. You know, I found this mastermind group called the multifamily mindset ran by Tyler, Deborah and Ryan really shout out to them. And I learned a ton. They are phenomenal mentors, coaches, and you know, I've learned the ins and outs to multifamily real estate investing because of that. But really, it was because I was waking up not excited. I felt like I had kind of hit a peak kind of hit my ceiling. And I felt like I wasn't really growing anymore. And for me when I'm learning and growing is when I'm happiest. And so I needed a new challenge. I needed something to stretch me a little bit more. And that's when I realized I needed to make a change.
Sean Thomson 07:03
Yeah, that's interesting. So your parents now are starting to see a different methodology for investing and you guys are doing deals together. That's that's phenomenal. That's so it's helping them get closer to their goals at the same time is also developing a business for you that you can then take to your future as well. Well, you heard about
Eric Chadderon 07:19
that is that they coolest part is they sold all their assets in Oregon, which is not a landlord friendly state, they sold all their assets in Oregon, and invested in my gills in Texas, and they actually bought a house down here in Texas as well. So now I don't have to live across the country from them. I get to live in the same city as them. And you know, further our relationship as a family. So they get to be here when I start a family. I just got engaged. And so we're gonna be starting a family and I want them there for it.
Sean Thomson 07:48
Yeah, that's awesome, actually. So yeah, they they were able to take so they put a lot of hard work, you know, blood sweat and tears into into accumulating their assets. They were able to take those assets, convert them into cash and invest in with you now in a completely passive manner. And so now they can kind of kick back and make money. You're making them money for them. So that way, yeah, they can they can still be in real estate investors get all the benefits of that, but they're not having to put in that 6am workday. Like you got it. We're before right. Yeah, that's fantastic. Actually, that's so they did they they're they're living here in Texas with you now.
Eric Chadderon 08:24
Yeah. So they bought a house in North Houston. And they're not living there yet. It's I'm actually in it right now. But yeah, they Yeah, they're not living in it yet. They're moving in a few months down here. So yeah. And then my partners for DBS capital here are Breton, Megan Davenport, you've met them too. They're phenomenal. I, I proposed and got engaged to their daughter. So we are, you know, the definition of a family operation. I, you know, I'm working with my in laws. I have my parents investor as investors. You know, my, my fiance just got a real estate license. And you know, she'll probably transition and have a role in our company at some point. But when we begin to scale a little bit more, but yeah, things are trending in a really cool direction for us.
Sean Thomson 09:06
Yeah, that sounds phenomenal. Well, let's talk about so we've talked about you're leaving sales, because you're you were kind of unsatisfied there you've you've found a home in multifamily. And you're you're seeing some success very early on to you've rapidly moved up the ranks, I think you have a great team around you really is one of your strengths. So let's talk about what you've what you kind of how you got started in multifamily. And then why you think you've you've sort of found that success so quickly, and been able to, like you say scale your business pretty rapidly. What is it that that you think you started on the right path? I guess with the mind the masterminds and things like that, what is it that you think that made the difference for you? Yeah,
Eric Chadderon 09:44
no, that's a really good question. So a couple things. So first off, I started October last year, that was my first event that I went to jumped into this multifamily mindset and the foundation of that education platform is mindset. And I think that's a huge, huge component because you know, if If you look at the first eight months of my path in the multifamily space, it was not sunshine and rainbows by any means. It was challenging. And, you know, we submitted, we about for like eight straight months, it was failure after failure after loss after loss, you know, submitted loi eyes, we made best, we probably submitted 25 Ello eyes and got best and final on about seven of them and lost everyone. And so, you know, I think the mindset was training was is huge because and me coming from sales to you know, I'm, I'm no stranger to rejection. So that help them being able to continue to push forwards. But you know, after you know some of those deals when you underwrite them and do all the market research and evaluate, you vet the deal to make sure it fits in the numbers work for the investors, you know, some some of that can take weeks, you know, especially when you're just starting out, you can't vet a deal very quickly, you know, sometimes it takes multiple weeks to really make sure and then as you get better, you can you can vet them pretty quick, you know, we, if we would have stopped or quit after the sixth LOI or seven, the 60 out of 61, then we wouldn't have gotten the LOI accepted on the seventh or eighth. And so I think mindset is huge. And then two, I think it's I guess there are three things two is my team, you know, with Brett and Megan, over there, they're phenomenal. And the cool thing about our team is one, we're family. And so we have a passion to build a family legacy together. And there's no question to that at all. You know, I was a little hesitant to work in my in laws, because I didn't want to screw it up, right. And I'm about to marry their daughter, and we put family first. But you know, so we tested the waters for you know, a couple months and everything worked out perfect. And we work together, you know, incredibly well. And so the cool thing about our team is Brett Megan, I have completely different skills. You know, Brett is a numbers guru. He's phenomenal with spreadsheets, and he's our underwriter and he does acquisitions broker relationships, Megan has construction and asset management experience already. So that kind of fit right into where she plays. And she also does it all. She's, she's a woman of many talents. And then I come from a sales background. So I, you know, I have a, you know, a past history of just building relationships with people and understanding people. And so therefore, I take care of Investor Relations and capital raising, and I do a lot of social media and content creation as well. And so between us three, you know, we're really able to tackle, you know, a lot of the roles that this business has to, you know, has to tackle. So, it's really cool working with people that you trust, and that have a work ethic just as much as you'd so I would say, having a strong team around you, I would say between those first two. And then the last thing I would say is surrounding yourself with people that are doing what you want to do mentors, you know, grabbing a mentor grabbing a coach. And, you know, I got that through our mastermind group. But, you know, we have our sponsors on our deal that we just closed, which is 144 units. And then also Tyler and Ryan have been phenomenal throughout our journey. But so you know, you rewind to October last year, we had zero units, you know, a year later, we've now closed on our second deal totaling 368 units.
Sean Thomson 13:07
Yeah, that's huge. That's, that's, that's a really rapid progress. You know, it's taken us a little longer. I'm, I'm not in the same boat that you're in. But we also have a family business, you know, my wife, my daughter work or my partners in the business, we have another partner that's outside of our family, but he's, you know, he's a good partner to us. And so I think that team that you have around you, especially in your situation, you have so many people that have such high levels, that you've been able to find success really quickly. I think that's I think that's just from the outside looking into your business and knowing it a little bit, I think that's been a really good thing for you. And of course, you've got a good foundation, like you said, you found some mastermind early on you that laid the foundation for where you wanted to go. I think that's that was a good plan as well. So it sounds like you guys are going to continue to have that that level of success, I would think really. So let's talk about let's talk about some of the lessons. So you've kind of this because you've had this rapid growth, and you've had this, this, this, this sort of timeline of of success. I'm sure you've kind of learned some things that hey, maybe we should have done that, or we made some mistakes here. Or there. There's some things that you're like, boy, we I'm glad we did that, but we never gonna do that, again, kind of things.
Eric Chadderon 14:13
Oh, man, there there is. There's no shortage of lessons that I've learned throughout this first year. You know, one of the biggest things I can tell you right away that I wish I would have been doing in the beginning. I wish I would have been building my investor base and capital raising from the very getgo not after we got a deal that that is one of the things and so, you know, I was able to raise two and a half million on the first deal, which is a 224 unit deal. And, you know, that was from family, friends, you know, families and friends and a couple other sources. But, you know, after that I was tapped out on that. And so we had to start completely fresh on the New Deal. And it's kind of cool. What they say is you know, once you get your first deal, they say it comes pretty quick after that. And we found that to be perfectly true because 10 days after we closed on the first one. We got the LOI accepted on the second one which is really exciting. But also, we had this fear about us, right? Because we're like, Okay, we have no investor base to build from. So not only do we have to build our investor base, we also have to capital raise at the same time. And so, you know, there was a lot of challenges, you know, and on that, that was the first full raise a to z that we did, you know, on our own. And, you know, the first little bit went pretty well, I think we got up to a million bucks, pretty quick total raise was 7.3. But then, you know, for a good solid two or three weeks, I think it was like two and a half, three weeks, I don't know if we even raised one penny. And so it was just, you know, I was definitely spinning my wheels, you know, feeling like I was hitting my head against the wall. But, you know, the cool thing is, is you lean on your team, yeah, reach out to people you trust and that you know, or have more experience, and you you'll learn, and you'll be a sponge, you put yourself out there, and it's okay to not be an expert, in every single part of this business yet you can learn it, you can learn as you go to. And so a lot of people, they have analysis paralysis, you hear that? And, you know, I feel like if you just wait till you're perfect at all this stuff, then you'll probably never take action.
Sean Thomson 16:09
So, yeah, it's never gonna happen to you get to that level. Right. Right. So yeah, capital raising is, is it's a very stressful, challenging part of what we do. For us. It's been it was, you know, same thing, we had that same experience. And so it's something that we've tried to overcome and conquer. Are you so at this point in your business? Are you sort of working more on the capital raising side? Are you still are you still actively hunting for deals kind of where are you in that status at this point?
Eric Chadderon 16:37
Yeah, you know, for us, we, you know, still, you know, pretty new at this stuff, right? We're 13 months in, we've closed two deals, two big ones, we're extremely proud of ourselves for that, you know, us, you know, it being our first two deals, we wanted to 100% make sure that those two deals are handled with care, taken care of properly, especially, you know, for the investors, also, considering my parents have invested in both of them. So, you know, we just want to take extra care of them, make sure that everything, the transition was really smooth, make sure the raise is finished properly. And they did. And so now that we've closed on those two, and now our investor base is built substantially. And so we're still building it constantly. But now that it's built up so much, we feel comfortable opening the gates again. And so we've started to pursue more deals, you know, we'll see if we put another loi and before end of year 2021, that'd be great. If we found a good deal by then. But, you know, we're ready to hit 2022 with a bang. And, you know, our, our goal is to do between four and six deals next year, we started with 12 to our first year, and I think four to six would be a pretty solid amount for for next year.
Sean Thomson 17:41
And I think the other thing about the team that you have is that you can do you can you can compartmentalize the roles that you have. So you can have someone who is still focused on operations and making sure that properties that you do have under under operation or management are functioning and all that's going well, you can focus on making sure the investors are taken care of in that process as well. And then you still have someone that can go out and kind of look for opportunities for new properties at the same time, right? Because you have that the strengths in your, in your in your operations, you can do all of it pretty pretty easily. Right?
Eric Chadderon 18:14
Yeah. So when we, when we get to the point where, you know, we can go find us seven to $15 million raise pretty easily, then, you know, right after we get a deal, we'll, we'll start looking for the next deal right away, you know, we're not quite there. But I do think that will come in the near future, probably six to 12 more months. And I think we'll be able to continue doing deal after deal. But in the meantime, you know, we'll we'll get a deal. We'll put all the eggs in that basket, make sure the deal closes properly and then start looking. But yeah, we do our in our tripod, we do cover you know, pretty much every part of the business which is really cool. Our team is very diverse.
Sean Thomson 18:50
Yeah, what are some of the things you're what are some of the things you're doing now in your business state that moving forward that you're that you're excited about?
Eric Chadderon 18:57
You know, we're we're just putting more systems in place, you know, treating it like a true true business and actually beginning to scale it you know, we've been looking into virtual assistants for different things but really, you know, we're we're having a team little retreat, we're gonna get an Airbnb talk about our goals and our, you know, put timelines on them and really get things down like, like a real business would write. So we're excited for those things. We're excited for the momentum that we've created recently. You know, just being on more podcasts like yourself next year, Megan and I are going to start one of our own so I might have to pick your brain on that to run a good podcast because you do a dang good job and then so we're gonna start one of our own probably in January is when we'll start doing some of those but we've got a lot of stuff we're excited about. We've recently been featured in some articles just some momentum. I think the momentum is is building and we feel it, and we're just excited to act on it.
Sean Thomson 19:53
Yeah, yeah, you can you guys definitely have that energy of of success going on right now for sure. So I asked this question. Everybody, it's you know, the podcast is called next little American dream. And so I always want to ask, you know, kind of what do you what do you feel is your American dream? And? And what is it that's kind of helped you a one or two things? Maybe that's helped you take that to the next level? Like, what are you? What are you doing today or in the past that's made you made, it's up, it's possible for you to be as successful as you have towards getting your American dream. So what is it? And then what are you doing to make it possible?
Eric Chadderon 20:24
Yeah, so So for me, if I think of my perfect American dream, you know, I'm in a pretty unique spot right now, where, you know, I just got engaged, we're planning a wedding while doing this business, and while giving attention to my fiance, and we want to start a family right away. And so those are really exciting times. And so for me, it is of utmost importance to be present during all of those special moments. And so for me, you know, I just had my family moved from Oregon to Texas, my fiance's parents live 30 minutes away from me already. So and her sister and her brother live in town, my parents are going to live close by so for me, I'm really on the path of living it. But you know, we're on the verge of some really exciting things. But for me, the main thing is making sure that I get time with my family, you know, I've been a workhorse my whole life. And, you know, I used to only travel home once or twice a year for Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I didn't get a ton of family time. And so, you know, I would like to prioritize that. And I think that through this business, it'll allow me to, if we get to the point, we're starting to scale a little bit more, get to the four to six deal, you know, I think, you know, per year, I think that's going to really allow me to spend some time with my family and be present when we have kids. And during all the, you know, the first steps and all that stuff, you know, the first words, and that's really to me what I want to be around for, I don't want to miss that stuff. So, and I think as far as what I'm doing, it's all the stuff that has led up to this point, and all the things I learned from sales and my mindset, you know, the training from multifamily mindset on, you know, the mindset Porter part of it as well, learning to persevere push through tough times, think all of that has helped prepare me, you know, for these moments, and like I said, we could have quit after the sixth or seventh LOI. And, you know, I'm sure glad that we didn't and, you know, I hope if anyone's listening, I hope they hear this message. Because a lot of the times I feel like some people quit right before they're about to see the success. And, you know, right when we submitted that sixth one, I you know, there's no way in heck, I would have told you, oh, yeah, a month from now, we're gonna get this next one. You know, that wasn't my mindset at the time. But, you know, we had the confidence to keep pushing and hope for the best. And it did.
Sean Thomson 22:38
Yeah, and that's awesome that you have identified what you want in your personal side of your life. And you're, you're building a business that's, that's sort of affording you that that that personal side success, right, and that I think a lot of people, that's ideal for me, people talk to me about, well, how I live my life and stuff. And it's hard to it's complicated to talk about, because my life and my business are all kind of one thing. Right? My business serves a purpose in my life, really, it's not the other way around. And so I think that you're kind of on that path as well. And I'm a lot older than you. So
Eric Chadderon 23:12
what's your about my age? Right? Yeah,
Sean Thomson 23:15
I came to these realizations at a later point in life. And it's great to see that you have these things at a young age, so that you know what, you know, your 40s and 50s are going to look like for you is going to be amazing, right? So but I think that's that's a critical part of doing these things on your own is that you have to have that focal point of family or freedom or whatever it is that you're trying to achieve. And then and then creating a business. That's, that's letting you do that. That's great. Great plan. So let's talk about how can people reach out to you guys, I mean, you're looking for investors all the time, you're looking for connections in the industry, you're, you're working as a coach now with with the mastermind that you mentioned to me earlier, so how can people reach out to you if they want to kind of get involved in what you guys have going on?
Eric Chadderon 23:57
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Always, you know, obviously always looking for people that want to partner up and team up on deals and invest in our deals. Right now we have you know, more deal flow than we know what to do with and so and you know, having investing partners will always help us do more and will always provide healthy returns. But as far as reaching out, I'm on all the social media platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, we have, you know, tick tock accounts even I don't run them but you know, LinkedIn, Facebook primarily is what I typically use, or what a lot of people do, you can reach out here to eric@gibbycapital.com, send me an email whenever I'm more than happy to jump on a zoom call, and just connect with other like minded people at any time. We already do that multiple times per week with people in the mastermind group. We're part of new students, new new investors coming through the industry and then also just run over to our website, www.gibbycapital.com you know, go check us out. Learn more about us and our offerings.
Sean Thomson 24:53
Yeah, well, it's been it's been great to meet you in person at a few events and talk to you a little bit and But I watched you guys on social and I kind of watch your progress. And you and I talk every now and then. And it's been great to watch you guys have the success you've had so rapidly, I can tell that it's because of where you started and the team that you've built. And and the fact that you guys have a vision for what you want your futures to look like, you kind of have a very clear path and you've done the things that you need to do to make that possible. So it's been great to watch you guys. And I look forward to connecting and maybe doing some business down the road with you guys for sure.
Eric Chadderon 25:25
Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, we're just trying to keep up with you, Sean.
Sean Thomson 25:28
Yeah. I wish I was doing as well as you guys, but Well, I appreciate you coming on the show. It was it was great to talk to you and maybe hopefully some some people heard some things that they can take with them down the road. And I appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing you soon. Okay.
Eric Chadderon 25:42
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Sean Thomson 25:44
All right. Talk to you later.
Abigail Thomson 25:45
Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level American Dream. If you would like to learn more about what we talked about today. Want to contact the team directly or interested in passively investing and being a part of our deal room? Head over to our website at www.thomsonmultifamilygroup.com. Before you go please leave a review your comments help us create more episodes for you to enjoy.