John Collins - The Best Down Payment Assistance Programs Real Estate Investors Need to Know | Real Estate Educators Podcast with Kevin Amolsch

Description

Can you really buy a house—or even a multifamily property—with little or no money out of pocket?

In this episode of the Real Estate Educators Podcast, Kevin Amolsch sits down with John Collins, who has spent nearly 40 years helping renters, first-time buyers, and investors use down payment assistance, grants, FHA loans, and creative financing to purchase real estate.

John shares how investors can help tenants become buyers, why interest rates matter less than getting the right purchase price, and how there are still programs offering tens—or even hundreds—of thousands of dollars in assistance.

If you have clients, tenants, or friends who think they need perfect credit or a huge down payment to buy a home, this episode will change the way you think.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Why the right purchase price matters more than the interest rate
01:07 Meet John Collins and his 38 years in real estate
04:20 How John built Own the Roof and teaches people about down payment assistance
08:07 What real estate looked like in the 1980s with 12–13% interest rates
10:28 Why investors should focus on their “entrance,” not their interest rate
13:10 How AI will change real estate and mortgages over the next 1–3 years
15:43 Why every agent and investor should choose a niche
17:26 How John gets 100+ people to his webinars
19:48 Why authenticity matters in marketing and lead generation
22:31 How to buy a duplex or fourplex with little money down
25:02 The best options for helping tenants become buyers
27:44 How Own the Roof finds grants and down payment assistance programs
30:18 Why most people don’t need perfect credit to buy a home
32:18 The best wealth-building strategy for Gen Z and first-time investors
34:08 Where to find John and his free resources

Connect with John Collins:
Website: OwnTheRoof.com
Email: John@OwnTheRoof.com

Learn more about Own the Roof and its free tools, webinars, and down payment assistance search portal.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
inbound traffic. So if I can take a renter from hopeless to possibly purchasing a home with just a couple thousand dollars out of pocket, to me, that just makes my day. I think a lot of people put too much weight on where the rates are, where in my mind, the money is to be made on your entrance, not on your entry rate. So you enter at the right price and hold for a certain period of time. I feel that's where you're going to make your money. That's where I think a lot of people get tripped up. They feel like they need perfect credit or they need to have a lot of money. And that's just not the case. I mean, the money is actually the part.
Speaker #1
We were in negotiations investing in real estate. They're winning. They're making money.
Speaker #2
What's up, everyone? Welcome to the Real Estate Educators Podcast, where we provide the education you can build on. I am your host, Kevin Amos. We are back with another episode. This is very unique. guys today. It's different than what we've done in the past, so I think you're going to get a lot of value out of it. We're loving doing this podcast. We're helping real estate investors and real estate educators. Are you out there building a portfolio or are you providing content to investors? This is the podcast for you. Super excited for this one. John Collins is joining us. 30, what'd you say? 38 years of experience. I think that might be a record on this podcast. almost four years of doing this. I don't know if I've had anyone almost four decades in. So really excited to get to know you a little bit and what you're doing out there. I know that your niche is helping people, tenants, first-time homebuyers, investors get into real estate with little or no money. Name of the company, Own the Roof. I love that name, by the way. Welcome to the show, John.
Speaker #0
Thank you very much, Kevin. I appreciate the introduction. So making me feel kind of old here. When you say 38 years, it just flies by to say the least. So gosh, I started in the business in 1987. So when I started, I was actually selling real estate, just exiting. Well, I was actually in college, but once I got the real estate bug, I exited, but enjoyed selling real estate for probably the first six years. And, you know, raising a family, selling real estate, not the easiest work-life balance even back then. So moved over to the mortgage world. So I spent, gosh, over 20 plus years in the mortgage world. I started out with a company that's now evolved into Rocket. So when I started there, there was like 30 people. When I left, there were a few thousand. So just great learning curve, a lot of education, stuff to learn along the way. From there, hung my own shingle with another gentleman, and we did more what evolved into hard money loans. That's what we do. Oh, really? Okay. So ran the course there and had some investors approach us about scaling that. And we said no, but they brought us into the title world. They wanted our credentials to open up a title company. That was just a great run because we focused on foreclosure attorneys setting up joint ventures in, you know, right around the bust. And that was all great until we found out a controller was dipping in the cookie jar. And it was just an incredibly hard fall. He was taking liberties and buying. things that he shouldn't be buying. And unfortunately it was a really hard spiral down and kind of took its toll financially, mentally, physically, all of those things. So but just great lessons to learn there. And then as I rebuilt, I realized, Hey, do I want to hit that treadmill hard again and build something back up for, you know, just chasing Benjamins like most of us do. decided that, you know, I really had a passion for teaching people about down payment assistance. So I made that pivot about 12 years ago and started doing webinars, teaching people how to buy with very little money out of pocket. So started out running ads on Craigslist from there to marketplace, and then finally found webinars about four years ago and love it. I mean, I'm actually doing a webinar this evening teaching people about it, but... What I learned was that I couldn't really connect as well as I would hope. So I actually embraced a coach out West to tighten up my messaging because I mean, getting bodies in the seats and on the webinars was the easy part, but getting people to convert. or build that trust or authority level. That was going to be done after I met a gentleman out West Coast by the name of Ted McGrath. I got to give him a lot of kudos for coaching me up on this. So spent 10 days training with him. And we decided that, hey, you need to write a couple of books for authority. You need to continue your webinars. And you need to start giving stuff away. Just give it away. You know, Ted's not bashful what he charges for courses and stuff. But for me, I'm at the station where, you know what, I want to give it away. If I give it away, it just rains on me so hard. And I continue to do that. So that's what prompted me to build the Own the Roof platform. And on that platform, I give away how to access over 2,500 down payment assistance and grant programs. Just go hit program search, enter a property address, and it'll tell you all the programs that are out there. We're actually building an app that should be launching in the next two weeks where somebody can just download the app. And in addition to that, they can hit our free publications, free courses, free things like that. So for me, it's all about that inbound traffic. So if I can take a renter from hopeless to possibly purchasing a home with just a couple thousand dollars out of pocket, to me, that just makes my day.
Speaker #2
There's a lot of directions we could take this, John. And I want to definitely get into the grants and how it will help our listeners. So our listeners own properties or they're out there buying properties. And, you know, I've had a conversation just recently with someone who's starting to liquidate. And they're thinking about just liquidating so that they can invest in a fund like what we offer because it's just passive. Right. And the rental properties is not passive, as we all know. So this might be a great way for people that are starting to liquidate properties to help. Oh, you know, maybe their buyers already living in the property, right? That's where I'm kind of where I'm going with that. But I want to go back to 1987 when you started because not that you're old, man, you're still super young, right? I mean, you were you were right out of the savings and loan when we had the escalated, you know, inflation and had the RTC and you had the high interest rates and. Some of the similarities, what we're seeing right now was happening when you started. So take me back to that time and those high interest rates and how that impacted you as you entered the business.
Speaker #0
You know, in the 80s, late 80s, early 90s, I mean, interest rates, 12, 13 percent. I mean, that was just the norm. We didn't know any better. So the fact that people talked about interest rates, you know, diving the way that they did. I mean, I was blessed where. Hey, I jumped into the mortgage world when interest rates were 11% and I watched them slide. And, you know, we weren't bashful. I mean, we churned our customers and we kept riding that wave all the way down. I think when I exited the industry, it was like the fives. And then I was back in real estate when it finally went down to, you know, that I think I'm sitting right at like maybe two and a half percent interest rate. I mean... For people to think that that's going to happen again, I think you're mistaken. I don't think we're ever going to see things quite that low. I mean, think about it. Two and a half percent with the inflation rate, it's free money. So I don't think we're going to see that again. Can we get down to fives? I think that's possible. But I think a lot of people put too much weight on where the rates are, where in my mind, the money is to be made on your entrance, not on your interest rate. So you enter at the right price and hold for a certain period of time. I feel that's where you're going to make your money. So if you want to be one of the masses and time things with an interest rate standpoint, you're just going to get bogged down in the system. So buy when the price is right and refinance when you can. But as far as the experience level and where things are going, man, it's just crazy times the way AI is entering things. and what's going on right now. And I feel like, I don't know about most investors, most of the investors that I work with, I mean, they're the guys just wrenching on houses all day. I mean, they're just, you know, they have great, they've amassed great portfolios, and I have the utmost respect for them. And just like you said, they're writing, they're writing the ship right now. They're going, hey, my kids don't want to go out and chase and change a water heater on a Sunday night. So they don't want anything to do with their portfolio. So they are liquidating. And in my money, in my mind, the smart money is liquidating. And they're looking for sound investments that can get them that 5% every year. That's all they're chasing. So if you're, it sounds like that's something that's up your alley. I'd like to certainly talk to you about that later.
Speaker #2
I mean, we could go anything you want to say, but I was just like, you went through what we read about in textbooks. Okay. And so I'm just thinking, what value can I extract from that experience to help our listener? Because look, people think that it's tough out there right now and it's nowhere near what it was in the past. It's actually quite easy to transact business right now. But the general feeling is it's not. So is there any piece of advice based on your experience, someone that is trying to focus on the entrance right now? Sure.
Speaker #0
Absolutely. No, great question. So for me, all about technology. I look back in the 80s when we were looking at houses and books, for God's sakes, and scheduling appointments, picking up keys. Our sandbox was the town I lived in and the surrounding towns around it. We didn't have the technology. Now I can sell homes anywhere. It's absolutely crazy. And the way that AI is now entering the space, huge shifts on the horizon. So if you're not embracing that, I think you're going to get left in the dust very quickly. So I look at, you know, just some of the things in the news recently, when you look at, you know, Redfin. And you look at the relationships that they're carving out in the real estate community. I mean, who would have thought? I mean, brilliant move from a mortgage standpoint. So you are, in my mind, going to see the biggest change in real estate and real estate finance in the next, it could be 12 months, but next one to three years. And I feel like the vast majority of the people do not see it coming. So when I see companies like Rocket plump down a half a billion dollars in AI development, I mean, those guys don't put that money down to lose. They are going to win. And I feel like they are going to not only push button, get mortgage, it's going to be pushed button by a house. And they're going to go after all those vanilla deals out there. And those margins are going to get compressed. So. If there's any agents out there, I would tell you now is the time to specialize. Whether you want to chase whatever, divorce attorneys, foreclosures, probates, down payment, you name it. Pick a niche, specialize, give education, and build a very strong pillar for your business. So that would be my two cents in the future.
Speaker #2
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Speaker #1
that's pinefinancialgroup.com.
Speaker #2
Okay, quickly tell me about your success with podcasts. So you said you learned a lot from it. It was easy for you to get people to show up, which is quite different than what most people say. It's usually easier to convert than to get them to show up in the first place. So how have you had so much success with this?
Speaker #0
Well, I started doing them about four years ago, right, heck, it was just after COVID, actually it was during COVID, when I found a company out of Toronto to build a network for me to do webinars. I mean, I knew that video was the place to be. But the fact that I could have a stage for it now, they were building webinars for people to do first time home buyer webinars. And I mean, we know those are kind of a dime a dozen in my mind. But if you can do a webinar hitting pain points and market to those demographics, huge. That's when I got the you get the cost per seat down. So my webinars, you know, I might if I throw out a $500 ad spend, I'll have 100 people sign up. And then the numbers are very predictable from there. So, but you've got to be able to, you've got to hit that pain point. Now, if I'm doing down payment assistance webinars and I'm giving away free money, a lot of, you can imagine people want to hear about that.
Speaker #2
So if you have your niche and you can identify the pain that you solve and you just push on that pain, that's what I'm hearing. And this is how this is your pain that you're feeling. And this is how I solve it. Show up and I'll teach you how I solve it, basically.
Speaker #0
Exactly. Yeah. And be authentic. I mean, that's the one thing people want. They want authenticity. And I will tell you, the gentleman out west was someone that really helped me mend the messaging. So I found myself, actually, it was a year ago today. I was doing a webinar. I had, it's crazy. I thought, Hey, I'll throw some extra money at it. I got a thousand people sign up and this is just here in my small little sandbox in Southeastern Michigan. So at 400 people sign up, 150 people show up and you can imagine my team's running hard after that. So, but I was like, Hey, if I can get that many, what am I missing? So in my, as fate would have it, I mean, obviously the algorithms know when to put stuff in front of us. And, invested in the gentleman out West and we really tightened up my messaging. That was the key. So that messaging really taught me to lead with authenticity. And that was sharing the message and sharing the pain of someone embezzling in your companies and the pain of watching a company go down. And, you know, those battle scars, I kind of swept under a rug for many years. So that trip out West not only helped me message better, it was probably therapy I probably should have had after it all went down. That's great. Yeah. So anyway, so I find I'm a lot happier man after doing it. And I feel like people can resonate more with someone that's had the battle scars and is willing to admit it. And I feel like I'm maybe a little bit more approachable for it. especially since I tend to pander to underserved communities. And those underserved communities, they're like, hey, who's this middle-aged white guy? Can I trust him? Is he a snake oil? So now I just keep it real, and I'm a happier man for it, and I resonate with the people more, and the referrals just flow right in as a result.
Speaker #2
That's fantastic. I'm going to have to look up Ted McGrath after this because you're speaking super highly of him. Obviously, he provides a tremendous amount of value. So I'm going to look him up right after I hang up with you. But let's get into what we could do to help our listener here. Now, we have a real estate investor base, and there is buying opportunities out there. And that would increase if you have less money out of your pocket, right? There's more options if I'm not coming out of pocket with so much money. So tell me a story of one of your clients that you've helped that maybe bought a duplex or a three unit or a fourplex where they could house hack that and they haven't. They didn't have to have this giant down payment.
Speaker #0
Right. So that tends to be a little bit more tricky. So if it's a seasoned investor, it becomes a little bit more tricky from the standpoint that you have to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify for probably 95% of these programs. Okay. So there are some great house hacks for multifamily, where I've got someone right now that is tapping into one in New York. $200,000 in down payment assistance for a four unit building that purchase price is about a million, but he's getting $200,000 and the rents out there are not cheap. So that being the case, the three units that he's able to rent out actually cover more than cover the mortgage payment. And we take that and piggybacked it with a cost seg study. He's getting an incredible right off his first year. So that's probably the best house hack for investors that I know of with regards to want to be investors, of course. If you're an existing investor, I still think FHA, as much as people don't like it, I think it's a great way to go with minimal out-of-pocket. And the fact that they allow some concessions on the table if you need repairs, the 203ks are a nice way to tie into it. I feel like 203ks are not nearly as cumbersome as they used to be. I used to swear against them. They were just a god awful nightmare. But lately, they've kind of upped their game a little bit.
Speaker #2
Yeah, and there's other rehab loans out there. I think Fannie and Freddie, each of them both offer one as well. But the 203k is the most popular. And those are, to clarify for the listener, those are homeowner or owner-occupied loans also. But I think what John's saying is it's... if you've already bought a house before, you could still use those programs and buy a fourplex and move into one unit. So that would still be effective if you just have to live in the property. All right. So what about the liquidating? How do you help someone like tenants? So I do a lot of rent to own on my rental properties because it makes it easy to manage. But they don't always do what they're supposed to do to come up with a down payment or, you know. get qualified for that loan. And so I ended up not selling it to them. And that's not the intent here. So how can we work with you or your, your company to help us with that?
Speaker #0
So I like the, I mean, I love the rent to own model. I mean, obviously I feel like when people have that additional skin in the game, it from a investor standpoint, obviously a lot easier to manage for you. But with regards to turning them into possible purchasers. We really want to dive down to where it's located. There are a lot of municipal programs that are out there that don't have credit score restrictions. Okay. So, so for example, I've Detroit area, we have a $25,000 down payment assistance program that comes around on an annual basis, no credit score requirements. So if I take that and use that on an FHA loan where you know, a lot of people don't realize that FHA technically does not have a credit score requirement. Most companies have overlays where they won't take below a 580, but there are quite a few lenders out there that will do FHA all the way down. They advertise down to 500, but I find that most of them cut off at like 520 or 540. So that covers probably a good 90% of the people. That being the case, you can use grants for your down payment, get you that, because those go off at a 90 LTV. So you need to get a 90 LTV or lower in order to break that 580 barrier on, you know, most perceived FHA lenders. So when you start getting below the 90 LTV credit scores below a 580, it plays a lot better. So that's how I'm able to plug in renters. that have a hard time getting across the finish line. Now, the other ways of doing it are little gifts of equity. If we need to increase the LTVs better, if they've got some skin in the game from a rent-to-own situation, and you can apply that as a gift of equity, there's a lot of different ways to push that. Those are conversations that are better had one-on-one because we're coloring right up to the lines on some of those.
Speaker #2
Yeah, and I think it really depends on how the rent-to-own is drafted. Is the rent-to-own, is any credits that you're giving them every month going towards the purchase price and it's being counted as a down payment or a deposit? Or is it just lowering the purchase price? So I think the way you structure your agreement on the front end would probably help John or John's team when it actually comes time to exercise. So it seems like getting in touch with you earlier is better. Now, yours, your Own the Roof is more like a, let's see if I understand this right, it's more like a website, almost like a portal. And if I have a property, I just go in there and put in the address and it gives me information that I could use. Can you just describe a little bit more clearly what exactly this is?
Speaker #0
Sure. So it's kind of an all-encompassing portal where I just throw all the educational content out there. I mean, you can register for my webinars there. You could do a program search. where you just enter a property address. It'll tell you how many programs are available for that property for grants and down payment assistance. The more information you enter, the better the data you're gonna get. So it's not uncommon to enter pretty much any address. You're probably gonna stumble across at least 10 to 15 programs. I know I just did one in LA and it spit out 45 programs. So. won up to $160,000 in DPA money in Los Angeles. So it's not bashful with the amount of things that it kicks out. But I find that education is really what pushes people the rest of the way. So that's why I offer the courses, the publications, whatever it takes to get people comfortable with it and get them to believe that they don't have to have perfection. That's where I think a lot of people get tripped up. They feel like they need perfect credit or they need to have a lot of money. And that's just not the case. I mean, the money is actually the easy part. And the credit, you know, you give somebody a few months and we can usually get their credit where it needs to be. So that's why I do credit repair webinars for people on a monthly basis, just teaching them how to get their scores up 60 points in 60 days, because I find that's the trigger. you know if i can get somebody up to that 580 there you know there's a lot of doors that open up
Speaker #2
That's like just a lot of great content here. So it's all, that's all of that is on the website, the webinars to attend and all of this,
Speaker #0
right? You could actually, a lot of it's sitting out on YouTube, own the roof. A lot of previous live, you know, webinars that I have out sitting out there or just go to my webinar and register. So, and I think we've got probably a good 20 hours of recordings right now going through my book for the credit, the down payment. No Down Payment, No Problem is my book for that. And then there's a credit repair book. There's probably another six hours there. And then for those of you that want to get into the weeds, I go over how we structure those transactions. Oddly enough, a lot of the money that's sitting out there is sitting at regional banks right now that have to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act. So now is the time of year where they're pushing their money to the streets to comply. So now is the time of year where you can start stacking grants and programs and gift programs with a lot of the regional banks.
Speaker #2
I have heard that some municipalities will offer money even to investors for like historic houses or, you know, to restore certain blocks or neighborhoods. Have you seen that?
Speaker #0
You know, I haven't. So I'd have to look into that.
Speaker #2
Okay. Yeah. And I've never used any of that. I've used grants for down payments and I've used grants for property rehab, but I've always lived in the property. So that probably made it much easier.
Speaker #0
I would think so.
Speaker #2
And there's a lot out there for like first responders and military and all that sort of thing too. So that's probably all on the website.
Speaker #0
It is. So it's just a function of how much information you want to give. And then that's the better the data that comes out. So it's, it's. especially in today's world where everybody's guarded with their information. I find that it's just better to lead with as much educational content and let people kind of navigate their way. And, you know, at first when I decided to build it, I was like, hey, let's just let's we'll try to figure out some up charges to it. And then truth be told, just better to give it away. And it comes back tenfold that way.
Speaker #2
You're going to agree more. I'll tell you what, my business really took off when I started teaching classes and doing it. Back then it was seminars, but now a lot of them is webinars.
Speaker #1
But yeah,
Speaker #2
when you add value and they go out and they implement what you taught them and they make money or accomplish a goal, oh my gosh, that's going to be a lifelong client. And then they're going to tell their friends and their friends. So yeah, if you're out there looking to grow your business, business and you're able to add value, hit those pain points, right, John? Oh, absolutely. And solve those. That's really where you're going to find some tremendous benefit. So here's what I'm going to do now. I'm going to go through my notes that I took because I learned a lot on this episode. So I'm going to go through my notes and you tell me what I'm missing, anything you would like to add. And then I would love it if you give us a final piece of advice, something that from your 38 years of experience. And then obviously we need to get your contact information. So I did take quite a bit of notes here. But the first one was after we got through your story and how you went from selling real estate to the lending and then title and now you're doing this. You said webinars is probably your best lead gen tool that you've used. And you really started getting the conversion rates up after meeting with Ted McGrath. And I just wrote Ted McGrath webinars. So I'm going to Google that. You have to have giveaways. So you loaded up your website with giveaways. And I assume you're trying to capture email addresses with those giveaways. Sure. And continue to add value to them and then hopefully convert them to whatever it is, however you monetize that. You may never see low rates again. We talked a little bit about the economy and your experience back in the 80s. Don't expect lower rates. It's more about the entrance into the market than your entrance rate. I like interest rate. I really like how you said that, John. And I want that to sink into the listeners. You're not going to necessarily get the ideal interest rate maybe ever. You're always going to want a lower rate. But getting into the market and getting your portfolio going is super important. Even now, there is still deals like the one you heard about up in New York. smart money is liquidating. So that contradicts what I just said, but I do see that if you have a portfolio and you're getting a little bit tired, liquidate and get into more of a passive investment. Embrace AI. This is the piece of advice that you said you really want the listener to hear. Embrace AI. You might have a one to three year window. And if you're not embracing it, you're probably going to fall behind. Outside of that, specialize, find a niche and specialize in that niche and then hit the pain points and solve the pain points. That's how you make money.
Speaker #0
Look at FHA for tenants. I didn't know this, actually. I did think there was a credit score limit on those. I thought it was 560. So you're saying if you're at 90% loan-to-value or less, that goes away. That is tremendously valuable. That's a golden nugget for this episode. So you can get down payment assistance with no credit requirements and an FHA loan with no credit requirements. That's a fantastic way to convert tenants to buyers. So that's what I wrote down. Did I miss anything?
Speaker #1
Nope, you got it.
Speaker #0
That was good. Okay.
Speaker #1
Yeah.
Speaker #0
So what's a final piece of advice for our listener? They're out there trying to grow wealth.
Speaker #1
Boy, if I had a do-over, I would probably push the Gen Ys and the Gen Zs. I feel like we've got a couple of generations that are missing out on a home ownership and wealth building opportunities. So I find that when I start talking to that demographic, first of all, I can't. They look, they see gray hair and they run. They don't want anything to do with me. And I get that. So, but I also find them trying to, they have a better quality of life than I had at that age. No question. But I don't mean that in a condescending way. I mean that they know how to strike a balance. Okay. Where I was raised to, you're all in, just do it. And. So I feel like they manage life better that way. But I feel like half of them want to buy and they can't because they don't have the money or the credit. And the other half can, but they don't want the responsibility of home ownership. But when I have the conversation with them that, hey, you're missing out on wealth building opportunities and you may not be able to retire at that age of 50 that they think is retirement age now. you if you're able to instead pivot and go through the pain of maybe engaging with a multi-unit property with zero down and you don't have to tell the other people you're the owner give it to a management company to run for you okay that i think is the nugget if i had to do over before i was married i would go back go into the area that i may not want to raise my family in Buy that one to four unit because it might be a little bit more affordable and it probably qualifies for more money. Run the table on that. Do a cost seg to offset my income for the foreseeable future. And then after, you know, three, four or five years, exit that rinse and repeat. So that's what I would do. I feel like if I had a do over, that's where I would be starting and then build the wealth from there.
Speaker #0
I love that. And. You know, if you move into something, it's not a neighborhood you like, and you live there for two years and move out of it, you can keep that forever. Or you could sell it tax-free, right? So there's a lot of advantages to doing what you're suggesting. So great final piece of advice here. How do we get a hold of you?
Speaker #1
So my website, OwnTheRoof.com. You reach me through email is great. John at OwnTheRoof.com. But just through the website, you'll get my contact information. You can book a call with me. I try to make myself as accessible as possible. If you have any friends or family that are thinking of purchasing or looking for those DPA monies, have them hit up one of my webinars. So it's all right there on my website.
Speaker #0
Yes. Gosh, free money. That's an hour. I'm assuming they're an hour webinar. That's an hour worth spending for sure.
Speaker #1
Right. So what we do is just give people the best practices, you know, how to tap into them. We'll throw a few samples up. Hey, this property qualifies for these programs. I mean, these are huge dollar amounts. I mean, people don't realize some of these underserved communities, and they're not as underserved as you think they are. I'm talking like New York. Long Island, I found one a couple days ago, $350,000. L.A., I mentioned that, $160,000. Miami right now, $200,000. And I always wonder why. Where does this money come from? But when you think about... especially in Miami, all the international money that's pouring in and the gentrification that's happening as a result, they need to put that money just to keep people in place. So just crazy amounts of money out there. So I always tell people, hey, just check out my app. It's pretty easy. And if you need any help with it, always happy here. Happy to help.
Speaker #0
John, I really appreciate it. I know you're a busy guy. You're probably preparing for your webinar. now or maybe you already have it down you don't need to prepare anymore but i know you got a lot of things on your plate you still appreciate it for the last 40 minutes or 30 minutes here so really appreciate your time oh thank you kevin it's been a delight
Speaker #1
Or pass Crosby and Soon.
Speaker #0
I'm sure they will. I'm sure it will. And for the listener, you have lots of options when you're listening to podcasts and you chose to listen to the Real Estate Educators podcast. And for that, I am so incredibly grateful. If you like what you heard, if you got some value, reach out to John. And don't forget, five-star reviews, share it with a friend. And I hope you make this day a great one.
Speaker #1
I really hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. If you did, please be sure to follow and leave a five-star review. Oh, yeah. And tell a friend.

Description

Can you really buy a house—or even a multifamily property—with little or no money out of pocket?

If you have clients, tenants, or friends who think they need perfect credit or a huge down payment to buy a home, this episode will change the way you think.

Connect with John Collins:
Website: OwnTheRoof.com
Email: John@OwnTheRoof.com

Learn more about Own the Roof and its free tools, webinars, and down payment assistance search portal.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
inbound traffic. So if I can take a renter from hopeless to possibly purchasing a home with just a couple thousand dollars out of pocket, to me, that just makes my day. I think a lot of people put too much weight on where the rates are, where in my mind, the money is to be made on your entrance, not on your entry rate. So you enter at the right price and hold for a certain period of time. I feel that's where you're going to make your money. That's where I think a lot of people get tripped up. They feel like they need perfect credit or they need to have a lot of money. And that's just not the case. I mean, the money is actually the part.
Speaker #1
We were in negotiations investing in real estate. They're winning. They're making money.
Speaker #2
What's up, everyone? Welcome to the Real Estate Educators Podcast, where we provide the education you can build on. I am your host, Kevin Amos. We are back with another episode. This is very unique. guys today. It's different than what we've done in the past, so I think you're going to get a lot of value out of it. We're loving doing this podcast. We're helping real estate investors and real estate educators. Are you out there building a portfolio or are you providing content to investors? This is the podcast for you. Super excited for this one. John Collins is joining us. 30, what'd you say? 38 years of experience. I think that might be a record on this podcast. almost four years of doing this. I don't know if I've had anyone almost four decades in. So really excited to get to know you a little bit and what you're doing out there. I know that your niche is helping people, tenants, first-time homebuyers, investors get into real estate with little or no money. Name of the company, Own the Roof. I love that name, by the way. Welcome to the show, John.
Speaker #0
Thank you very much, Kevin. I appreciate the introduction. So making me feel kind of old here. When you say 38 years, it just flies by to say the least. So gosh, I started in the business in 1987. So when I started, I was actually selling real estate, just exiting. Well, I was actually in college, but once I got the real estate bug, I exited, but enjoyed selling real estate for probably the first six years. And, you know, raising a family, selling real estate, not the easiest work-life balance even back then. So moved over to the mortgage world. So I spent, gosh, over 20 plus years in the mortgage world. I started out with a company that's now evolved into Rocket. So when I started there, there was like 30 people. When I left, there were a few thousand. So just great learning curve, a lot of education, stuff to learn along the way. From there, hung my own shingle with another gentleman, and we did more what evolved into hard money loans. That's what we do. Oh, really? Okay. So ran the course there and had some investors approach us about scaling that. And we said no, but they brought us into the title world. They wanted our credentials to open up a title company. That was just a great run because we focused on foreclosure attorneys setting up joint ventures in, you know, right around the bust. And that was all great until we found out a controller was dipping in the cookie jar. And it was just an incredibly hard fall. He was taking liberties and buying. things that he shouldn't be buying. And unfortunately it was a really hard spiral down and kind of took its toll financially, mentally, physically, all of those things. So but just great lessons to learn there. And then as I rebuilt, I realized, Hey, do I want to hit that treadmill hard again and build something back up for, you know, just chasing Benjamins like most of us do. decided that, you know, I really had a passion for teaching people about down payment assistance. So I made that pivot about 12 years ago and started doing webinars, teaching people how to buy with very little money out of pocket. So started out running ads on Craigslist from there to marketplace, and then finally found webinars about four years ago and love it. I mean, I'm actually doing a webinar this evening teaching people about it, but... What I learned was that I couldn't really connect as well as I would hope. So I actually embraced a coach out West to tighten up my messaging because I mean, getting bodies in the seats and on the webinars was the easy part, but getting people to convert. or build that trust or authority level. That was going to be done after I met a gentleman out West Coast by the name of Ted McGrath. I got to give him a lot of kudos for coaching me up on this. So spent 10 days training with him. And we decided that, hey, you need to write a couple of books for authority. You need to continue your webinars. And you need to start giving stuff away. Just give it away. You know, Ted's not bashful what he charges for courses and stuff. But for me, I'm at the station where, you know what, I want to give it away. If I give it away, it just rains on me so hard. And I continue to do that. So that's what prompted me to build the Own the Roof platform. And on that platform, I give away how to access over 2,500 down payment assistance and grant programs. Just go hit program search, enter a property address, and it'll tell you all the programs that are out there. We're actually building an app that should be launching in the next two weeks where somebody can just download the app. And in addition to that, they can hit our free publications, free courses, free things like that. So for me, it's all about that inbound traffic. So if I can take a renter from hopeless to possibly purchasing a home with just a couple thousand dollars out of pocket, to me, that just makes my day.
Speaker #2
There's a lot of directions we could take this, John. And I want to definitely get into the grants and how it will help our listeners. So our listeners own properties or they're out there buying properties. And, you know, I've had a conversation just recently with someone who's starting to liquidate. And they're thinking about just liquidating so that they can invest in a fund like what we offer because it's just passive. Right. And the rental properties is not passive, as we all know. So this might be a great way for people that are starting to liquidate properties to help. Oh, you know, maybe their buyers already living in the property, right? That's where I'm kind of where I'm going with that. But I want to go back to 1987 when you started because not that you're old, man, you're still super young, right? I mean, you were you were right out of the savings and loan when we had the escalated, you know, inflation and had the RTC and you had the high interest rates and. Some of the similarities, what we're seeing right now was happening when you started. So take me back to that time and those high interest rates and how that impacted you as you entered the business.
Speaker #0
You know, in the 80s, late 80s, early 90s, I mean, interest rates, 12, 13 percent. I mean, that was just the norm. We didn't know any better. So the fact that people talked about interest rates, you know, diving the way that they did. I mean, I was blessed where. Hey, I jumped into the mortgage world when interest rates were 11% and I watched them slide. And, you know, we weren't bashful. I mean, we churned our customers and we kept riding that wave all the way down. I think when I exited the industry, it was like the fives. And then I was back in real estate when it finally went down to, you know, that I think I'm sitting right at like maybe two and a half percent interest rate. I mean... For people to think that that's going to happen again, I think you're mistaken. I don't think we're ever going to see things quite that low. I mean, think about it. Two and a half percent with the inflation rate, it's free money. So I don't think we're going to see that again. Can we get down to fives? I think that's possible. But I think a lot of people put too much weight on where the rates are, where in my mind, the money is to be made on your entrance, not on your interest rate. So you enter at the right price and hold for a certain period of time. I feel that's where you're going to make your money. So if you want to be one of the masses and time things with an interest rate standpoint, you're just going to get bogged down in the system. So buy when the price is right and refinance when you can. But as far as the experience level and where things are going, man, it's just crazy times the way AI is entering things. and what's going on right now. And I feel like, I don't know about most investors, most of the investors that I work with, I mean, they're the guys just wrenching on houses all day. I mean, they're just, you know, they have great, they've amassed great portfolios, and I have the utmost respect for them. And just like you said, they're writing, they're writing the ship right now. They're going, hey, my kids don't want to go out and chase and change a water heater on a Sunday night. So they don't want anything to do with their portfolio. So they are liquidating. And in my money, in my mind, the smart money is liquidating. And they're looking for sound investments that can get them that 5% every year. That's all they're chasing. So if you're, it sounds like that's something that's up your alley. I'd like to certainly talk to you about that later.
Speaker #2
I mean, we could go anything you want to say, but I was just like, you went through what we read about in textbooks. Okay. And so I'm just thinking, what value can I extract from that experience to help our listener? Because look, people think that it's tough out there right now and it's nowhere near what it was in the past. It's actually quite easy to transact business right now. But the general feeling is it's not. So is there any piece of advice based on your experience, someone that is trying to focus on the entrance right now? Sure.
Speaker #0
Absolutely. No, great question. So for me, all about technology. I look back in the 80s when we were looking at houses and books, for God's sakes, and scheduling appointments, picking up keys. Our sandbox was the town I lived in and the surrounding towns around it. We didn't have the technology. Now I can sell homes anywhere. It's absolutely crazy. And the way that AI is now entering the space, huge shifts on the horizon. So if you're not embracing that, I think you're going to get left in the dust very quickly. So I look at, you know, just some of the things in the news recently, when you look at, you know, Redfin. And you look at the relationships that they're carving out in the real estate community. I mean, who would have thought? I mean, brilliant move from a mortgage standpoint. So you are, in my mind, going to see the biggest change in real estate and real estate finance in the next, it could be 12 months, but next one to three years. And I feel like the vast majority of the people do not see it coming. So when I see companies like Rocket plump down a half a billion dollars in AI development, I mean, those guys don't put that money down to lose. They are going to win. And I feel like they are going to not only push button, get mortgage, it's going to be pushed button by a house. And they're going to go after all those vanilla deals out there. And those margins are going to get compressed. So. If there's any agents out there, I would tell you now is the time to specialize. Whether you want to chase whatever, divorce attorneys, foreclosures, probates, down payment, you name it. Pick a niche, specialize, give education, and build a very strong pillar for your business. So that would be my two cents in the future.
Speaker #2
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Speaker #1
that's pinefinancialgroup.com.
Speaker #2
Okay, quickly tell me about your success with podcasts. So you said you learned a lot from it. It was easy for you to get people to show up, which is quite different than what most people say. It's usually easier to convert than to get them to show up in the first place. So how have you had so much success with this?
Speaker #0
Well, I started doing them about four years ago, right, heck, it was just after COVID, actually it was during COVID, when I found a company out of Toronto to build a network for me to do webinars. I mean, I knew that video was the place to be. But the fact that I could have a stage for it now, they were building webinars for people to do first time home buyer webinars. And I mean, we know those are kind of a dime a dozen in my mind. But if you can do a webinar hitting pain points and market to those demographics, huge. That's when I got the you get the cost per seat down. So my webinars, you know, I might if I throw out a $500 ad spend, I'll have 100 people sign up. And then the numbers are very predictable from there. So, but you've got to be able to, you've got to hit that pain point. Now, if I'm doing down payment assistance webinars and I'm giving away free money, a lot of, you can imagine people want to hear about that.
Speaker #2
So if you have your niche and you can identify the pain that you solve and you just push on that pain, that's what I'm hearing. And this is how this is your pain that you're feeling. And this is how I solve it. Show up and I'll teach you how I solve it, basically.
Speaker #0
Exactly. Yeah. And be authentic. I mean, that's the one thing people want. They want authenticity. And I will tell you, the gentleman out west was someone that really helped me mend the messaging. So I found myself, actually, it was a year ago today. I was doing a webinar. I had, it's crazy. I thought, Hey, I'll throw some extra money at it. I got a thousand people sign up and this is just here in my small little sandbox in Southeastern Michigan. So at 400 people sign up, 150 people show up and you can imagine my team's running hard after that. So, but I was like, Hey, if I can get that many, what am I missing? So in my, as fate would have it, I mean, obviously the algorithms know when to put stuff in front of us. And, invested in the gentleman out West and we really tightened up my messaging. That was the key. So that messaging really taught me to lead with authenticity. And that was sharing the message and sharing the pain of someone embezzling in your companies and the pain of watching a company go down. And, you know, those battle scars, I kind of swept under a rug for many years. So that trip out West not only helped me message better, it was probably therapy I probably should have had after it all went down. That's great. Yeah. So anyway, so I find I'm a lot happier man after doing it. And I feel like people can resonate more with someone that's had the battle scars and is willing to admit it. And I feel like I'm maybe a little bit more approachable for it. especially since I tend to pander to underserved communities. And those underserved communities, they're like, hey, who's this middle-aged white guy? Can I trust him? Is he a snake oil? So now I just keep it real, and I'm a happier man for it, and I resonate with the people more, and the referrals just flow right in as a result.
Speaker #2
That's fantastic. I'm going to have to look up Ted McGrath after this because you're speaking super highly of him. Obviously, he provides a tremendous amount of value. So I'm going to look him up right after I hang up with you. But let's get into what we could do to help our listener here. Now, we have a real estate investor base, and there is buying opportunities out there. And that would increase if you have less money out of your pocket, right? There's more options if I'm not coming out of pocket with so much money. So tell me a story of one of your clients that you've helped that maybe bought a duplex or a three unit or a fourplex where they could house hack that and they haven't. They didn't have to have this giant down payment.
Speaker #0
Right. So that tends to be a little bit more tricky. So if it's a seasoned investor, it becomes a little bit more tricky from the standpoint that you have to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify for probably 95% of these programs. Okay. So there are some great house hacks for multifamily, where I've got someone right now that is tapping into one in New York. $200,000 in down payment assistance for a four unit building that purchase price is about a million, but he's getting $200,000 and the rents out there are not cheap. So that being the case, the three units that he's able to rent out actually cover more than cover the mortgage payment. And we take that and piggybacked it with a cost seg study. He's getting an incredible right off his first year. So that's probably the best house hack for investors that I know of with regards to want to be investors, of course. If you're an existing investor, I still think FHA, as much as people don't like it, I think it's a great way to go with minimal out-of-pocket. And the fact that they allow some concessions on the table if you need repairs, the 203ks are a nice way to tie into it. I feel like 203ks are not nearly as cumbersome as they used to be. I used to swear against them. They were just a god awful nightmare. But lately, they've kind of upped their game a little bit.
Speaker #2
Yeah, and there's other rehab loans out there. I think Fannie and Freddie, each of them both offer one as well. But the 203k is the most popular. And those are, to clarify for the listener, those are homeowner or owner-occupied loans also. But I think what John's saying is it's... if you've already bought a house before, you could still use those programs and buy a fourplex and move into one unit. So that would still be effective if you just have to live in the property. All right. So what about the liquidating? How do you help someone like tenants? So I do a lot of rent to own on my rental properties because it makes it easy to manage. But they don't always do what they're supposed to do to come up with a down payment or, you know. get qualified for that loan. And so I ended up not selling it to them. And that's not the intent here. So how can we work with you or your, your company to help us with that?
Speaker #0
So I like the, I mean, I love the rent to own model. I mean, obviously I feel like when people have that additional skin in the game, it from a investor standpoint, obviously a lot easier to manage for you. But with regards to turning them into possible purchasers. We really want to dive down to where it's located. There are a lot of municipal programs that are out there that don't have credit score restrictions. Okay. So, so for example, I've Detroit area, we have a $25,000 down payment assistance program that comes around on an annual basis, no credit score requirements. So if I take that and use that on an FHA loan where you know, a lot of people don't realize that FHA technically does not have a credit score requirement. Most companies have overlays where they won't take below a 580, but there are quite a few lenders out there that will do FHA all the way down. They advertise down to 500, but I find that most of them cut off at like 520 or 540. So that covers probably a good 90% of the people. That being the case, you can use grants for your down payment, get you that, because those go off at a 90 LTV. So you need to get a 90 LTV or lower in order to break that 580 barrier on, you know, most perceived FHA lenders. So when you start getting below the 90 LTV credit scores below a 580, it plays a lot better. So that's how I'm able to plug in renters. that have a hard time getting across the finish line. Now, the other ways of doing it are little gifts of equity. If we need to increase the LTVs better, if they've got some skin in the game from a rent-to-own situation, and you can apply that as a gift of equity, there's a lot of different ways to push that. Those are conversations that are better had one-on-one because we're coloring right up to the lines on some of those.
Speaker #2
Yeah, and I think it really depends on how the rent-to-own is drafted. Is the rent-to-own, is any credits that you're giving them every month going towards the purchase price and it's being counted as a down payment or a deposit? Or is it just lowering the purchase price? So I think the way you structure your agreement on the front end would probably help John or John's team when it actually comes time to exercise. So it seems like getting in touch with you earlier is better. Now, yours, your Own the Roof is more like a, let's see if I understand this right, it's more like a website, almost like a portal. And if I have a property, I just go in there and put in the address and it gives me information that I could use. Can you just describe a little bit more clearly what exactly this is?
Speaker #0
Sure. So it's kind of an all-encompassing portal where I just throw all the educational content out there. I mean, you can register for my webinars there. You could do a program search. where you just enter a property address. It'll tell you how many programs are available for that property for grants and down payment assistance. The more information you enter, the better the data you're gonna get. So it's not uncommon to enter pretty much any address. You're probably gonna stumble across at least 10 to 15 programs. I know I just did one in LA and it spit out 45 programs. So. won up to $160,000 in DPA money in Los Angeles. So it's not bashful with the amount of things that it kicks out. But I find that education is really what pushes people the rest of the way. So that's why I offer the courses, the publications, whatever it takes to get people comfortable with it and get them to believe that they don't have to have perfection. That's where I think a lot of people get tripped up. They feel like they need perfect credit or they need to have a lot of money. And that's just not the case. I mean, the money is actually the easy part. And the credit, you know, you give somebody a few months and we can usually get their credit where it needs to be. So that's why I do credit repair webinars for people on a monthly basis, just teaching them how to get their scores up 60 points in 60 days, because I find that's the trigger. you know if i can get somebody up to that 580 there you know there's a lot of doors that open up
Speaker #2
That's like just a lot of great content here. So it's all, that's all of that is on the website, the webinars to attend and all of this,
Speaker #0
right? You could actually, a lot of it's sitting out on YouTube, own the roof. A lot of previous live, you know, webinars that I have out sitting out there or just go to my webinar and register. So, and I think we've got probably a good 20 hours of recordings right now going through my book for the credit, the down payment. No Down Payment, No Problem is my book for that. And then there's a credit repair book. There's probably another six hours there. And then for those of you that want to get into the weeds, I go over how we structure those transactions. Oddly enough, a lot of the money that's sitting out there is sitting at regional banks right now that have to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act. So now is the time of year where they're pushing their money to the streets to comply. So now is the time of year where you can start stacking grants and programs and gift programs with a lot of the regional banks.
Speaker #2
I have heard that some municipalities will offer money even to investors for like historic houses or, you know, to restore certain blocks or neighborhoods. Have you seen that?
Speaker #0
You know, I haven't. So I'd have to look into that.
Speaker #2
Okay. Yeah. And I've never used any of that. I've used grants for down payments and I've used grants for property rehab, but I've always lived in the property. So that probably made it much easier.
Speaker #0
I would think so.
Speaker #2
And there's a lot out there for like first responders and military and all that sort of thing too. So that's probably all on the website.
Speaker #0
It is. So it's just a function of how much information you want to give. And then that's the better the data that comes out. So it's, it's. especially in today's world where everybody's guarded with their information. I find that it's just better to lead with as much educational content and let people kind of navigate their way. And, you know, at first when I decided to build it, I was like, hey, let's just let's we'll try to figure out some up charges to it. And then truth be told, just better to give it away. And it comes back tenfold that way.
Speaker #2
You're going to agree more. I'll tell you what, my business really took off when I started teaching classes and doing it. Back then it was seminars, but now a lot of them is webinars.
Speaker #1
But yeah,
Speaker #2
when you add value and they go out and they implement what you taught them and they make money or accomplish a goal, oh my gosh, that's going to be a lifelong client. And then they're going to tell their friends and their friends. So yeah, if you're out there looking to grow your business, business and you're able to add value, hit those pain points, right, John? Oh, absolutely. And solve those. That's really where you're going to find some tremendous benefit. So here's what I'm going to do now. I'm going to go through my notes that I took because I learned a lot on this episode. So I'm going to go through my notes and you tell me what I'm missing, anything you would like to add. And then I would love it if you give us a final piece of advice, something that from your 38 years of experience. And then obviously we need to get your contact information. So I did take quite a bit of notes here. But the first one was after we got through your story and how you went from selling real estate to the lending and then title and now you're doing this. You said webinars is probably your best lead gen tool that you've used. And you really started getting the conversion rates up after meeting with Ted McGrath. And I just wrote Ted McGrath webinars. So I'm going to Google that. You have to have giveaways. So you loaded up your website with giveaways. And I assume you're trying to capture email addresses with those giveaways. Sure. And continue to add value to them and then hopefully convert them to whatever it is, however you monetize that. You may never see low rates again. We talked a little bit about the economy and your experience back in the 80s. Don't expect lower rates. It's more about the entrance into the market than your entrance rate. I like interest rate. I really like how you said that, John. And I want that to sink into the listeners. You're not going to necessarily get the ideal interest rate maybe ever. You're always going to want a lower rate. But getting into the market and getting your portfolio going is super important. Even now, there is still deals like the one you heard about up in New York. smart money is liquidating. So that contradicts what I just said, but I do see that if you have a portfolio and you're getting a little bit tired, liquidate and get into more of a passive investment. Embrace AI. This is the piece of advice that you said you really want the listener to hear. Embrace AI. You might have a one to three year window. And if you're not embracing it, you're probably going to fall behind. Outside of that, specialize, find a niche and specialize in that niche and then hit the pain points and solve the pain points. That's how you make money.
Speaker #0
Look at FHA for tenants. I didn't know this, actually. I did think there was a credit score limit on those. I thought it was 560. So you're saying if you're at 90% loan-to-value or less, that goes away. That is tremendously valuable. That's a golden nugget for this episode. So you can get down payment assistance with no credit requirements and an FHA loan with no credit requirements. That's a fantastic way to convert tenants to buyers. So that's what I wrote down. Did I miss anything?
Speaker #1
Nope, you got it.
Speaker #0
That was good. Okay.
Speaker #1
Yeah.
Speaker #0
So what's a final piece of advice for our listener? They're out there trying to grow wealth.
Speaker #1
Boy, if I had a do-over, I would probably push the Gen Ys and the Gen Zs. I feel like we've got a couple of generations that are missing out on a home ownership and wealth building opportunities. So I find that when I start talking to that demographic, first of all, I can't. They look, they see gray hair and they run. They don't want anything to do with me. And I get that. So, but I also find them trying to, they have a better quality of life than I had at that age. No question. But I don't mean that in a condescending way. I mean that they know how to strike a balance. Okay. Where I was raised to, you're all in, just do it. And. So I feel like they manage life better that way. But I feel like half of them want to buy and they can't because they don't have the money or the credit. And the other half can, but they don't want the responsibility of home ownership. But when I have the conversation with them that, hey, you're missing out on wealth building opportunities and you may not be able to retire at that age of 50 that they think is retirement age now. you if you're able to instead pivot and go through the pain of maybe engaging with a multi-unit property with zero down and you don't have to tell the other people you're the owner give it to a management company to run for you okay that i think is the nugget if i had to do over before i was married i would go back go into the area that i may not want to raise my family in Buy that one to four unit because it might be a little bit more affordable and it probably qualifies for more money. Run the table on that. Do a cost seg to offset my income for the foreseeable future. And then after, you know, three, four or five years, exit that rinse and repeat. So that's what I would do. I feel like if I had a do over, that's where I would be starting and then build the wealth from there.
Speaker #0
I love that. And. You know, if you move into something, it's not a neighborhood you like, and you live there for two years and move out of it, you can keep that forever. Or you could sell it tax-free, right? So there's a lot of advantages to doing what you're suggesting. So great final piece of advice here. How do we get a hold of you?
Speaker #1
So my website, OwnTheRoof.com. You reach me through email is great. John at OwnTheRoof.com. But just through the website, you'll get my contact information. You can book a call with me. I try to make myself as accessible as possible. If you have any friends or family that are thinking of purchasing or looking for those DPA monies, have them hit up one of my webinars. So it's all right there on my website.
Speaker #0
Yes. Gosh, free money. That's an hour. I'm assuming they're an hour webinar. That's an hour worth spending for sure.
Speaker #1
Right. So what we do is just give people the best practices, you know, how to tap into them. We'll throw a few samples up. Hey, this property qualifies for these programs. I mean, these are huge dollar amounts. I mean, people don't realize some of these underserved communities, and they're not as underserved as you think they are. I'm talking like New York. Long Island, I found one a couple days ago, $350,000. L.A., I mentioned that, $160,000. Miami right now, $200,000. And I always wonder why. Where does this money come from? But when you think about... especially in Miami, all the international money that's pouring in and the gentrification that's happening as a result, they need to put that money just to keep people in place. So just crazy amounts of money out there. So I always tell people, hey, just check out my app. It's pretty easy. And if you need any help with it, always happy here. Happy to help.
Speaker #0
John, I really appreciate it. I know you're a busy guy. You're probably preparing for your webinar. now or maybe you already have it down you don't need to prepare anymore but i know you got a lot of things on your plate you still appreciate it for the last 40 minutes or 30 minutes here so really appreciate your time oh thank you kevin it's been a delight
Speaker #1
Or pass Crosby and Soon.
Speaker #0
I'm sure they will. I'm sure it will. And for the listener, you have lots of options when you're listening to podcasts and you chose to listen to the Real Estate Educators podcast. And for that, I am so incredibly grateful. If you like what you heard, if you got some value, reach out to John. And don't forget, five-star reviews, share it with a friend. And I hope you make this day a great one.
Speaker #1
I really hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. If you did, please be sure to follow and leave a five-star review. Oh, yeah. And tell a friend.

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