TLP15: Passive Investing in Value-Add Multifamily Real Estate with Travis Watts
Travis Watts is the Director of Investor Relations at Ashcroft Capital, a podcast host, and multifamily investor. Like most people, Travis Watts started in the real estate industry by investing in single-family homes. He thought he could handle a W-2 job and active investment at the same time. So, he did a bunch of fix-and-flips, vacation rentals, house hacking, and a lot of active real estate deals. But then, different challenges emerged, and by his sixth year, Travis got burned out. Thankfully, something happened in one of the meetups that he went to that became an eye-opener for him to shift to value-add multifamily investing.
Listen now to this episode to hear about Travis’ journey to success. His experiences in shifting from active to passive investing in value-add multifamily will surely help you in your own real estate journey.
Key Points from This Episode:
- Travis shares how his real estate investing journey started.
- He talks about one immediate decision he had to make that opened the door for him into real estate.
- Travis did a bunch of fix and flips, vacation rentals, house hacking and other active real estate deals while he was working in the oil industry.
- After six years of doing that, he got burned out and decided to join syndications instead.
- Most people start in single-family investments and it seems easy at the beginning. But they get burned out when challenges start to pop up like leaking roofs, tornadoes, bad tenants, and overdue loans.
- Travis talks about a meetup that became an eye-opener for him to shift to value-add multifamily investing.
- Travis advises on how to invest passively.
- Travis talks about reverse engineering. First, you start with a goal and then choose the kind of investment that would get you there.
- Don’t miss out on a deal because of analysis by paralysis.
- Travis explains how to add value to properties from different classes.
- Value-add is just adding value to both the property and the residents.
- Travis discusses the economies of scale built into the multifamily business model.
- Who does Travis give a shout-out to?
Tweetables:
“I always start with the end in mind. I’m always looking 5, 10, 15, 20 years out. I have different goals set for each of these points. And then I’m thinking, what kind of investment, in general, could get me to my goals?” [00:14:09]
“If you’re a busy professional, you know, if you’re career-driven and focused on other things, that’s awesome. You can still be in real estate and not have to worry about tenants, toilets, and termites.” [00:04:25]
“I’m a big proponent of ‘find a mentor’. You know, that’s my biggest thing. Find someone doing what it is you want to do successfully and pick their brain, pay for mentoring, do whatever you have to do to jump that hurdle. Because trying to figure it out on your own and reinvent the wheel is crazy and takes 10 times as long. So, don’t do that.” [00:26:32]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
About Travis Watts
I used to be an active investor who owned single-family homes (fix and flips, vacation rentals and buy and hold properties) until I burned out in 2015. My rental properties were taking up too much of my time; it felt more like a job rather than an investment. Today, I am a full-time PASSIVE multifamily apartment investor and the Director of Investor Relations at Ashcroft Capital. I dedicate my time to educating others who are looking to be more hands-off in real estate.
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