NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

I found myself on stage in Denver, Colorado, on a morning in February 2017. I was speaking at the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Conference sponsored by Joe Fairless. His podcast has thousands of listeners, and he had gathered a few hundred investors to listen to speakers like myself share our advice. I had spent two days listening to speakers and panels giving their best advice, and I knew I was about to shake up the conversation.

I had come into the conference with an article in mind warning of the dangers in turnkey real estate. I decided to test the subject on my listeners. I started my talk off with a few light thank-yous and some remarks about what we had heard so far. I always have a few funny one-liners to engage with the crowd. Then I unleashed one line that quieted the room.

“A lot of investors are going to lose money buying turnkey real estate today.”

If I was trying to get everyone’s attention, it worked. The room grew quiet. There were a lot of puzzled looks. After all, I was the guy in the room that was supposed to explain how turnkey real estate worked. I was there to answer questions and clear up any misconceptions about what was the true definition of turnkey real estate—and that was exactly what I intended to do.

This was a conference with a lot of short talks, so I didn’t have any time to waste.

“Investors are going to lose money buying turnkey real estate today because they are buying the word turnkey without any thought of what that really means,” I explained. “In most cases the word is nothing more than a marketing term used to attract your interest. If you want to buy turnkey real estate safely, you have to follow a very specific outline of steps.”

I spent the next 30 minutes explaining what would become the Turnkey Safely System and how passive investors could follow its steps to safely buy property anywhere in the world from the comfort of their home. And I showed investors how to avoid companies using the word turnkey to market their properties when they didn’t own the properties, and when they didn’t do any work on the properties, or even offer qualified in-house management.

The audience was furiously taking notes, so I kept going.

I broke down the dangers of buying cheap properties for $50,000 that had thousands of dollars in deferred maintenance. I explained the dangers of buying properties from a turnkey company that had popped up just 12 months earlier after the owner had bought a few properties and suddenly wanted to “teach” other investors how to buy turnkey properties from him.

When I opened the floor to questions from the audience, I was hit with comment after comment about how unexpected it was to hear from someone in the turnkey industry advising against just jumping in with both feet. The audience was truly surprised that for once someone had told them that being passive about their passive investments would lose them money. They were really shocked to hear that in some cases, being told no was the greatest gift they could be given by someone in the real estate world.

Hopefully you can tell from this book how passionate I am about helping investors buy turnkey real estate safely. I didn’t have the help I needed when I first started investing, and I paid a steep price for it. As a result of my experience, I’ve made it my mission to be honest and up front with investors about the right and wrong ways to build your portfolio. I had a vision for my future, and I almost lost it all by making really bad investment decisions. This book is my attempt to help others avoid my mistakes so they can marry their vision with a safe, long-term turnkey investment strategy.

Anyone can buy turnkey real estate. All it takes is the knowledge to do it safely and the confidence to have high expectations and not settle for mediocre properties, renovations, and service.

When I finished my talk that morning, I concluded with a reminder to everyone in the audience. I explained that while some investors will lose money buying turnkey real estate, none of the folks in attendance needed to be on that list. No one reading this book has to either. There is a specific formula you can follow to protect your turnkey investments. A formula to help you raise your expectations and ask the right questions. You can put any turnkey company to the Turnkey Test and rest assured that if it passes, you can safely start building your portfolio.

This book is your own personal study guide. Learn from the lessons and stories I’ve shared. Follow the steps I’ve laid out, and get started building your own personal turnkey portfolio.

TIME FOR ACTION

You will never hear me tell investors that they need to get started building their portfolio today before they miss all the good deals. I simply don’t believe that to be true. However, there is no better time than today to get crystal clear on what your vision is for your future. There is no better time than today to start building your plan to get there.

Looking back at the 1,800 plus real estate investors we have worked with over the years, I know the power of small actions. The first steps you take as an investor to get started are the ones that will forever change your life.

You have always had the opportunity to invest in real estate, anywhere in the world. Now you have what you need to do it safely and passively.

Be brave, take action, and go do exactly what you’ve always wanted to do.

Become a real estate investor in the turnkey revolution.

Bring your future to life, one turnkey property at a time.