www.MyersMethods.com 

Jerome’s Linked IN

Host Your Podcast for Free with Buzz Sprout  

Our Show Sponsor Sutter and Nugent Real Estate – Real Estate Excellence 

Music Courtesy of: fight by urmymuse (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/urmymuse/58696 Ft: Stefan Kartenberg, Kara Square

Speech Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  

Hey, this is wrong with my message calm and if you really want to learn how to level up your life, you should be listening to the time to shine today podcast with my friend Scott Ferguson. Time to shine today podcast squatted is Scott Ferguson and I got Episode 133. And it is with my really good friend Jerome Myers from Myers development group and one thing I tried my hand at commercial real estate before and I failed miserably just because I’ve been in the residential real estate for now 22 years and I tried commercial thinking I can’t be that much different. I’ll tell you what, it is different. And the Myers method is fantastic. What drome brings to the table and the knowledge nuggets he’s got about bout ready to drop on you here in a minute. You’re going to want to break out your notebooks, sit back and relax. So without further ado, here’s my really good friend Jerome Myers.

Unknown Speaker  1:02  

Hey time to shine today varsity squad it is Scott Ferguson and I got myself Mr. Jerome Myers here from the Myers development group. And sky is forgot more about investing in multifamily than I will even care to know and that’s why I brought him on to be able to educate you and level you up within the multi family multi unit. I mean, this guy his resume is sick, you need to go to Jerome Myers that co not calm that CO and just check out his story. And we’re going to dig into a little bit about that as well. He focuses on buying broken apartment, building businesses and using innovative thinking solid execution set strategies to optimize operational efficiency of this business. Currently, Mr. Meyers is asset manager for approximately 90 units and 90,000 square feet of office of workspace that’s some serious credentials, people and He’s not actively working on his personal portfolio he coaches other real estate investors on the Myers method of multi family investing and hang on to the end of this because not only is Mr. Byers going to drop some serious knowledge nuggets on you about investing in leveling up your life, but also he’s going to allow me to be an affiliate which I’ll be able to offer you his program and a pretty solid price. So, man, drum Come on, introduce yourself to the squad. And but first, what is your favorite color? Red Red. Love it because you took the red pill.

Unknown Speaker  2:36  

It’s not the red pill. Suck it man.

Unknown Speaker  2:39  

I love this. I love it. I’ve been waiting a while to get drawn out and he was introduced to me by somebody that I care a lot for. He’s a great guy that helps a lot of people out there and the squad has actually reached out to Jason Holzer. But, Joe, let’s get into the origins man. Let’s start from maybe college for two how you really started getting into the real estate investing please.

Unknown Speaker  3:00  

Yeah, man. So sophomore year, me and my buddy Darren are sitting on the stoop and we’re doing the math. I’m paying 395. I’ve got two roommates paying 395. Same things happening downstairs in his apartment. we multiplied it out across the complex and the man is making 700 grand a year. We never seen him and talk to him. Like what in the world is going on here? How do you do something like this? Right? Oh, you know, I’m the son of a soldier and a stay at home mom, my dad was in the Marines and he jumped over to the army. We didn’t have wealth discussions at the dining room table. It was just about hard work, doing good in your particular job. And then, you know, coming back home and being a good family person. So fast forward. I run through corporate America, engineering project management. My last role, I get the opportunity to build a $20 million division for a fortune 550 company. Right. I’m employee number two. We’ve got zero dollars built into the year 170 employees $6 million in prizes. It 20 million top line. And the reward for that is laying folks off Christmas Eve, Jerome. We’re going into the new year. We don’t need all the folks, somebody else can pick the people who are going to continue. But I recommend that you do it because you’ve got to still deliver the profits that then the next year. I promised myself I’d never do that again. But I spent Christmas to New Year’s figuring out who’s going to be on a team and who wasn’t going to be on the team moving forward. Fast forward to Thanksgiving, the next year. I get told the same thing, hey, we got to make some changes. And it’s that at that point, I decided I was going to be a corporate america dropout. So I dropped out, start knocking on the doors of banks go to about 10 of them. They all tell me no, you don’t have the appropriate experience to buy multifamily property. So what do you mean guys? I’ve got an engineering license. I’ve got an MBA, just $20 million business like surely that counts for something. He says you haven’t signed a loan on a multifamily property and executed My business plan so you don’t have the experience you need in order to be successful in this space. And so I started fixing flipping houses. Scott, you might know a little bit about that. Yeah, man. So we’re sitting on the stoop, this dude is really important in my world. And the guy pulls up and he says, Hey, man, let me check out your finishes. We’re getting ready to do one down the street. Why don’t I want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing and not one. And sure enough, we’re talking. He’s like, Hey, I’m thinking about buying this building. I was like, man, where are those down in church hill? I was like, I tried to buy that four or five months ago. He said a serious part. He said, Well, I’m gonna write off Ron, I said, Please don’t leave me out. Bring me in on the deal. You’re this. You’re the guy I’ve been looking for. Sure enough, he went and made that offer without me. He got rejected. He went to talk to one of my buddies who was a general contractor said, I need you to come in on this deal with me. He said, I’m only doing that deal is Jerome’s in the deal because he was talking to me about it four or five months ago. And so I got my first deal. And

Unknown Speaker  6:02  

you units was at

Unknown Speaker  6:03  

drum 23 it was a one okay to seven by but by the way average rents about 695 and we touched everything in there sky. We did the roofs parking lot siding, took walls out on the first floor, these are townhome style units, you know new baths, new kitchens, all the things added up a bathroom on the first floor. And we get through that finish everything get at least up now we’re getting 1195 there. And for the people who do the math, you know, this a significant increase in the value of that problem. Oh my gosh, yes. You know, we’re still holding that. But you know, the thing that happened though, is after we closed because I was selected, as I said, manager, there’s a press release that came out from the broker. The brokers company that sold us the deal. And my phone started blowing up Scott. Guess who was calling

Unknown Speaker  6:57  

me guess the The bank,

Unknown Speaker  7:01  

the banks were caught.

Unknown Speaker  7:04  

had serious I checked the box. Yeah, I leveraged that and started buying deals here in Greensboro, North Carolina. We’ve been doing it ever since man. That’s,

Unknown Speaker  7:14  

that’s fantastic. Let me ask you something with you went and have an engineering degree, right? So you are smart. You’re as a realtor, you’re my worst nightmare because you’re going to read every frickin word in the contract. Right? in picking apart. But, and I say that, you know, affectionately, but what is your family thing? Do you have a degree, right? And you’re going and doing the real estate busting.

Unknown Speaker  7:38  

You’re crazy, right? You go to school, you go get a good job. You get married, you have two kids, and you get a white picket fence and the dog and you do that for two years and then you hope to live for five or 10 afterwards, right? What are you doing? it so it’s a different story, but it goes back to taking the red pill right you know For me was a documentary and it talks about, it shows you the two paths in life you can take, you can take the one that is kind of proven and steady and monotonous. So you can jump out of that thing and live life in truth and really pursue your dreams and your ambitious and make those a reality.

Unknown Speaker  8:18  

I love it. So

Unknown Speaker  8:20  

with it as a real estate investor, what do you think makes a great investor consistency, okay, because you’ll see that

Unknown Speaker  8:29  

because, you know, there’s a whole lot of people who get out here and they say they want to do this and they want to do that. But it’s the consistency in the vehicle, the ability to persist through the challenges that make all the difference, right? People are starting out on a endeavor adventure. They’ve got these kind of loose guidelines on what they’re supposed to do, but there’s nobody to stand over and say, Hey, is this deliver? Did you call that person? Did you follow up on that lead? Did you do all the things that you have to do in order to deliver But the result is usually based on you and your own effort. And most people aren’t disciplined enough to stay consistent,

Unknown Speaker  9:06  

right? They feel that that one maybe fail and then they just that whole right prefrontal cortex of their brain gets scared and then they, they stop, right. So what, then? But let’s put it this way, like okay, so if I’m out you offer Okay, how did you come to the realization that you want to start paying it forward and building a course to show others basically, basically to compete with you?

Unknown Speaker  9:33  

Yeah, well, I don’t really see it as competition. I can’t buy everything right. And the fact of the matter is the stuff that most people are going to buy coming in, I’m not looking at anyway, right. And then when they find something that is bigger than they can take down and they need some help, guess what they’re gonna call Scott.

Unknown Speaker  9:51  

Right? I’ll call called hold him Irish man. So if I’m out at a networking event here in South Florida, we’re allowed to do that a little bit. You Go out press some flash, you know, have a couple adult beverages and I’m talking to somebody who would be a what what kind of things would they say to me drum that would make them a good referral connection or someone that I might want to introduce to you.

Unknown Speaker  10:15  

Yeah, I think that people who are going to be successful this have some form of technical background or ransom business, right. When you introduced me, he said, I bribe broken apartment building businesses. This isn’t your traditional run of the mill where you’re buying a widget and I consider houses widgets, right? You buy the widget, you sell the widget for bigger profit. Here, you’re buying the building is attacked while you’re buying the business is attached to real estate. That’s what the bank likes to lend on. Right? And then you’re fixing that business, right? You’re increasing revenue, you’re decreasing expenses, that makes it worth more, and that’s when you make the equity play. The big difference between the single family and multi family stuff is this Single Family is based on the cells around you. The multifamily is based on how much money you can make the thing make. And so

Unknown Speaker  11:07  

capitalization rate, right?

Unknown Speaker  11:09  

Yeah, yeah, cap re is what you divide into. But that net operating income noi is the difference. And so you can, it’s really simple, though, it’s not easy, but it’s simple. You either increase the income and keep the expenses the same, or you keep the income the same, and decrease the expenses. Or you can do the best of both worlds where you increase the income, decrease the expenses, and then you get an explosion on the net operating income. And then when you divide it by that cap rate or the capitalization rate, that’s when you jump up that value. And the point, man, if I have something that’s a 10 cap, and I increase the value $100 per door, per month, right and well let’s make it $10,000 a year, and I divide it by that 10 cap. I’ve increased the value of the property by 100 grand Sure. Recently, income by $10,000. Right. And so when that number gets smaller, the amount that each dollar of income is worth jumps up even more. Wow, ask them really powerful piece of being in the multifamily space.

Unknown Speaker  12:14  

That’s literally the best explanation I’ve ever gotten for cap rates in how they can work towards the noi, the net operating income. So I appreciate that. Hey, let’s tell us about a fail you. It can’t be roses across the board. Tell us about one that sticks out to you the one that you’re like, Man that you could have made right, but you made the wrong decision.

Unknown Speaker  12:37  

Yeah, I mean, there’s so many right. Cast call multifamily missteps, so that people can learn about the mistakes of operators across the country because I’m tired of, you know, rainbows and sunshine all the time, right? They’re real mistakes that happen in the space. And so you know, my favorite mistake to talk about is when I modeled a project because Got to put this pro forma together, right? A model project, we’re buying a building for $840,000. I model the real estate taxes in that pro forma at $1,000. Okay, anybody? I mean, that’s what you pay on a single family home. Right? Right. thousand dollar building, right? The taxes were $10,000. And just like we talked about that cap rate being important when you’re increasing the net operating income. Well imagine if you’re $9,000 the wrong way in the net operating income, because you made a rounding error, you left out a zero on the number that you put in the pro forma, right. So there is I did that deal. There’s no way that I can make up that $9,000 gap that I had in the pro forma, because I’m not going to be able to increase the income by that much. Right. And I really think there’s that much in expenses that I can reduce. And so I just have to write it out. Is it terrible? No, I mean, that property makes over $100,000 a year so $10,000 isn’t that big of a deal right after the matter is, you know, I made that huge mistake. And it could have been if it was in a different property. You know, it could have something to show.

Unknown Speaker  14:12  

Right? Wow. Luckily you had that that little buffer there. So let’s talk about the hair a little bit, you know, I mean, he’s a handsome dude, if you’re watching on YouTube, it looks like he’s built like a brick. But like talk about the haircut. I heard a little bit of story about the hair. Like you said, your clean cut little hair was on your face with your eyebrows tell us about like growing up the hair being kind of like my Samson here,

Unknown Speaker  14:36  

man, Scott, I appreciate you doing your research man. I mean, the long story short is, you know, it was back in 2010. I was in a pretty deep hole. I didn’t really like my life. And it’s crazy because I was sound really ungrateful. You know, we just closed on a 6000 square foot house. I was in position to pretty much buy anything I wanted to buy. I was I thought I was pretty much killing it. And my day job, right? I had a brand new while she was about six months old, my first daughter, and but I was I was depressed, I was miserable. And it started asking questions like, what’s wrong? Why do I believe what I believe? And in that journey in that inner self work, I realized, like, there’s a whole lot of stuff I’m doing that I don’t actually believe I’m just doing it out of tradition. Perfect example, when somebody sneezes what are you supposed to say? blusher?

Unknown Speaker  15:28  

Why?

Unknown Speaker  15:30  

Because your heart stops, right?

Unknown Speaker  15:31  

It doesn’t live

Unknown Speaker  15:32  

through it.

Unknown Speaker  15:34  

Yeah, right. It but stop, right. That’s the oy cell and people just do it. And so now, you know, somebody sneezes, they may think they have coronavirus, but,

Unknown Speaker  15:44  

you know, right.

Unknown Speaker  15:46  

It’s just these traditions and practices. And so what I really wanted to do was get back to the core and challenge all of this stuff that I’ve been taught growing up, I call it programming we I got programmed up and then decide what I do. believed in what I didn’t believe in, then utilize those things to take my life to the next level. And so you know, I haven’t had a haircut in 10 years, man. And part of it was, I told myself that I couldn’t grow my hair because it wasn’t appropriate. But then I started peeling back the layers. I was like, Well, what isn’t appropriate about our Why should I have to do this? And so when I couldn’t find a profound reason why I needed to do that I made the shift. And it’s just an external signal to people that I meet that I’m defining the world in my own terms, and I’m going to live in that way.

Unknown Speaker  16:39  

Your pops me in a Marine, what do you think about it?

Unknown Speaker  16:42  

One day, he’s like, what are you doing? I said, I’m growing my hair. And he just kind of looked at me. And what was crazy though, is he’s got a lot of rebellion in him too. And those years where he couldn’t grow a beard. Now he’s got this great beer that he’s grown now. And so, you know, at the end of the day and I said, What are you doing? He said, Well, they told me for 20 plus years that I couldn’t grow a beard. I’m grown. Now.

Unknown Speaker  17:09  

I love it, man. So, hey, mind if I ask your age

Unknown Speaker  17:13  

37

Unknown Speaker  17:14  

Okay, sir. So you’ll remember who Marty McFly is, right? Yeah, the future. Okay, so let’s get in the DeLorean. Right. Let’s go back to the 22 year old drum. What kind of knowledge nuggets are you dropping on him? With the wisdom you have now? That will help maybe shorten his learning curve and level up a little quicker.

Unknown Speaker  17:38  

First, get aggressive on coaching, right? If every athlete has a coach, but if it’s not about athletics, it’s about performing at the highest level that you can absolutely perform it right right and so get locked in with the coach make them investment because that will speed up your curve. So much More than whatever will cost in cash today well that the exponential return on investment if you’ve got the right person and you’re willing to actually follow the guidance, I think the second thing I would say is go to multifamily now, right I, I was playing around with corporate america i was playing around while houses and you know, making sure that I had a nice home and cars and all this other stuff when I should have been investing in income producing assets so that it would be able to buy my freedom sooner.

Unknown Speaker  18:29  

Love that love it and he would probably listen to, you know, it’s like that time the 22 year old they’re like, just go for it just which is fine advice, but he’s like, get aggressive on coaching man hire a coach. I hired my first I’m almost 50 and I hired my first one at 25 and it’s made all the difference. I’ve had one even when I lost everything in Oh 70809 I still had a coach. I still made a way to find it because he helped me through it. So we talked a lot about the dash here, Jerome and the I want to know how you want your day. Remember that little line in between your, your incarnation date and your expiration date your life and death date? How do you want that? Remember maybe your life legacy or your epitaph? How do you want to be remembered?

Unknown Speaker  19:10  

Yeah, I want to be remembered as a lover of people, right? When we look around the world and all the stuff that’s happening, I think love fix at all, you want to be able to handle people with grace, you want to have be able to handle people with mercy. And I think those things in and of themselves fixed the vast majority of the problems in the world. And so if I can be a living example of that, and encourage other people to do, I think my time here will be well spent.

Unknown Speaker  19:36  

Love it. That’s fantastic. So

Unknown Speaker  19:40  

when someone comes to drum for to learn how to level up and get involved in the multifamily world, is there any good question that you wish they would ask you but never do?

Unknown Speaker  19:55  

What do I have to do in order to be successful? Okay. Everybody comes in thinking oh, well, success is guaranteed. And if I just write this check, or if I do this one thing, then it’s going to happen. And that’s not true. It’s a bunch of stacking. There’s a bunch of maneuvering. There’s a bunch of step steps forward and two steps back in order to get it. You got to get to and they don’t actually, question. So what

Unknown Speaker  20:22  

is the big the big thing that drone wants to accomplish? You know, before you know, you draw that last breath.

Unknown Speaker  20:30  

I’m going to free 100 people from work they’re not passionate about through multifamily investing.

Unknown Speaker  20:36  

100 people minimum. That’s the minimum got it. I love it, man. So

Unknown Speaker  20:43  

what are three things or let’s say person places or things, three things that drone can’t live without?

Unknown Speaker  20:51  

Oh, my kids. Let’s try one. My ladies number two in travels. Number three.

Unknown Speaker  21:02  

You know, I was asked, you know what, three things I would take to the Mars if I was the first colony. I was like one, my lady, Susan to my dog stitch and you know my furbabies on my furbies and three will be chicken wings because I’m a snob, dude. So it’s like, I need I need a good chicken wings. So I gotta take those three. But hey, so what is your definition of a life while live then drum

Unknown Speaker  21:27  

significance right, it’s your ability to positively impact the lives of the people around you. That’s opening doors forum is creating opportunities. It’s just helping them through tough spots. Like that’s the game.

Unknown Speaker  21:42  

Fantastic, man. I love that. I love the total go giver. Appreciate that. So as we wind things down here a little bit Jerome we’d like to do what’s called a leveling up lightning round five or six questions. I’m gonna ask you, you and I could talk for 1520 minutes on each one of them but you got five seconds, no explanations ready. Let’s do it. Here we go. What’s the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Unknown Speaker  22:05  

Your dream should be real.

Unknown Speaker  22:06  

Love it. Sure one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Unknown Speaker  22:11  

Running six miles in the morning. Wow,

Unknown Speaker  22:14  

awesome. That’s crazy. So not what you’re reading now. Not the flavor of the month you see out there. What is the one book that if I was to be like manager on the I’m not feeling it, you know and be like Fergie here read this.

Unknown Speaker  22:29  

You should be real.

Unknown Speaker  22:31  

That’s the book. It is. Okay, who’s that by me?

Unknown Speaker  22:36  

There’s a really well, man, that’ll be in the show notes people. Awesome. So what’s the most commonly used emoji when you text?

Unknown Speaker  22:47  

upside down smiley face

Unknown Speaker  22:49  

upside down smiley face. Not

Unknown Speaker  22:53  

wisdom wise, but age wise, like physical wise. What age would you be for the rest of your life?

Unknown Speaker  23:05  

I think I’d be 3737 Okay,

Unknown Speaker  23:07  

that was a great age too. It’s just you know what the market crashed when I was like 3738. So my mind was elsewhere like I always looked back to 32 because that’s when I was the most energetic. But so what is your favorite organization or charity you like to give your time and or money to?

Unknown Speaker  23:24  

Yeah, so my alma mater, North Carolina a&t State University, we set up a full scholarship for engineering student there. Awesome. Oh, fantastic. He does so into that.

Unknown Speaker  23:35  

Awesome. Last question. It’s a little bit harder. But what is the best decade of music 6070s 80s or 90s?

Unknown Speaker  23:43  

Gotta go with the 1990s

Unknown Speaker  23:44  

All right, he has such great transitional decade, man. Fantastic. So how can we find you drum?

Unknown Speaker  23:51  

Yeah, if you’re interested in learning more about multifamily investing specifically jump over to my methods calm and I’m on LinkedIn. And I’m the only drone Meyers in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Unknown Speaker  24:05  

Gotcha. So it’s Myers methods.com. And folks, we again, like I talked about earlier, maybe set up as an affiliate with Mr. Drum here to be able to because I believe in what he’s doing and he’s actually genuine, he’s a total go giver, wanting to impact lives. So don’t leave us with one last Knowledge Nugget that you want us to take the squad to take with them internalize and take action.

Unknown Speaker  24:31  

Yeah, for me, I’ll go back to the nugget I was given your dream should be real. And if you haven’t heard that before, now you’re accountable for it. So whatever that dream is that you put on the shelf and you let the world tell you You shouldn’t have you got to pull that thing down and make it a reality. There’s somebody that you haven’t met this counting on you to do what’s been put on your heart so that they can go do their thing. And so please don’t let them down because the world is counting on you.

Unknown Speaker  24:56  

Love it man in squad I don’t know about you, but I you Got a free free fr ee masterclass if you’re watching on YouTube, you can see the notes that I’m taking is just outrageous. You know, I do one day want to sit on the stoop. You know, I want to be invited to the stoop with Jerome, and whatnot. But this this guy has a persistence that doesn’t recognize failure, consistent and persistent, that didn’t recognize failure. He took the red pill, he got that 23 unit building. He had it at 16,000. He pushed it up to 27,004 85. That that is amazing what he did to really turn that building around. He wants you to, he wants to be able to guide you so you don’t have the multifamily missteps. Get out of your tradition, and if it’s not fitting you and it’s not fit what you’re feeling, then get out of it like Jerome did. He grew his hair out, he feels comfortable, he feels present. He feels in demand, you know, get aggressive about hiring a coach, I cannot say that enough. You know, he’s a lover of people, and he handles people with grace and mercy. You know, he would want you to ask yourself, What do you have to do to be successful. And when you’re asking yourself that remember that drome is out there wanting to free 100 people of mediocrity and have them level up. He wants to be significant impact lives in his dream should be real in my man. Thank you for coming on Jerome under the time to shine today. podcast. You’re fantastic. you level up your health, you level up your wealth. You’re a go giver. You’re part of our squad now, man, so you can’t go anywhere.

Unknown Speaker  26:26  

This is awesome. Scott, I appreciate the opportunity to share with you man.

Unknown Speaker  26:29  

Appreciate you brother. Talk soon. All right. Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of time to shine today podcast, probably brought to you by Southern Nugent real estate real estate excellence who can be reached at 561-249-7266 and online at www dot Sutter in nugent.com. If you’re a business owner or professional who would like to be interviewed on time to shine today, please visit time to shine today.com slash gust. If you liked this episode, please support Drive on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a link in the show notes to our website. Also there you will see a recommended resources. We hope that you will support our show by supporting them. If you like what you’ve been listening to, it’d be great if you could just give us a five star rating and tell your friends how to subscribe while you’re at it. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. And until next time, let’s level up it’s our time to shine.

DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products and resources  that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. In fact, I often times am able to negotiate a lower rate (or bonuses) not available elsewhere.

Plus, when you order through my link, it helps me to continue to offer you lots of free stuff.  Thank you in advance for your support