377 | Perseverance, Patriotism, & Turning Profit in Real Estate💸 with Venkat Avasarala

Nov 13

[00:00:00]

Venkat Avasarala: Money doesn't motivate me anymore.

It used to very early in my career. Yeah. Now I do things because I can and I want to

Of course, it's hard right now to do, buy anything, to build anything. And that is exactly why you do it. Because if it's easy, everybody would do it. Everybody's doing it. Thank God. It's so hard. Thank God. It should be even harder.

Right? So then you can apply yourself, your perseverance, your teamwork, you get stuff done and that, that's how you get margin.

Chaz Wolfe: If you had bad credit and only $20 to your name, how would you start over?

Chaz Wolfe: What's up everybody. Chaz Wolf gathering, the King's podcast. I'm your host coming back to you. I got a King, a King, a King today on the stage. Ben Kat, Ava Sarala, my brother. How are we doing? Dude, I rocked that name, didn't I? [00:01:00] I've only said it 32 times here before we hit the record button. Thanks for being patient with me, making me sound good.

Oh, just such a wonderful guest. You, sir,~ uh,~ are a king in in the definition. ~Um, ~I'm excited for this conversation. In fact, for the listener, I know you're gonna be listening to this live, but we are going to pull in some questions that I pulled from some social media engagement earlier today, actually even live.

Currently, I've got some new questions coming in. And so I'm anxious to give those to you, Venkat, but tell us what kind of business that you got going, man.

Venkat Avasarala: ~Um, ~my company Striker Properties,~ uh,~ we are based in Dallas, Texas. Plano, actually, a suburb of Dallas. And we are a real estate investment company. ~Uh, ~we started out doing value add apartments.

So what that means is we take these older apartments built in 60s, 70s, 80s. And then we go in there, we acquire them, we do renovations, both exterior and interior. And then we hold the property for a little while for cash flow, and when the time is right, we sell it for profit. ~Uh, ~we do this with our investors.

And,~ uh,~ till date we did [00:02:00] about 3, 500 units. And,~ uh,~ mostly in Dallas, but I have some properties in Phoenix and Denver too. ~Um, ~we are mostly pulled out of that business, but lately our focus has been developing Class A apartments. Right? I mean, ~uh, ~luxury apartments in very affluent areas. Of the FW and Austin.

So that's what's keeping us busy these days.

Chaz Wolfe: I love your humility in all of that. The very small slide. There are 3500 units and I know that you've got darn near that amount under development right now. And so just all of that is super exciting. There's a lot of moving pieces to that, which I'm sure I'll be able to kind of strategically get in there and learn some of the ways that you think, but tell us, tell us why, why real estate, why multifamily, why class a now?

I mean, those are some practical questions, but really what I'm looking for is that deep seated. Why does Venkat do this every

Venkat Avasarala: day? Yeah. So, you know, I came to the United States from India back in 2002 to pursue my master's in electrical engineering. ~Uh, ~so I went [00:03:00] to. Rocket City, Alabama,~ uh,~ Huntsville, Alabama.

That's where the Apollo program was, whole thing was put together, under Bon Bron, and then,~ uh,~ you know, we did the moon missions and all that. That kind of gravitated me towards that particular city. So, after that,~ um,~ you know, most of our, Entry level electrical engineering jobs. They ended up in South Asia.

I mean, I came here, but the jobs went there. And I was like, what do I do? Yeah, so ended up in I. T. Worked 14 years in corporate I. T. ~Uh, ~but early on in my career, one of these days,~ um,~ you know, I was, I was just showing up for my work,~ uh,~ for my I. T. job here in Dallas. And,~ uh,~ so just like every day I was just walking to the,~ um,~ office building.

And then I started to see these,~ um,~ fire,~ um,~ that those fire people there,~ um,~ and then,~ uh,~ emergency services, ambulances, all that. And as I walked towards the building, I started hearing screams and all that. And as I entered the building, I saw people lying right on flat and they're crying. I said, okay, what happened?

Right? So they were laying off people. That's what's happening there. So they were laying off [00:04:00] 300 people there and replacing it with much younger crowd. And the reason why they are crying is they are working on some. Old technology, mainframe technology, which was being used in seventies. Wow. That particular company is using those systems from seventies all the way into two thousands.

And these people who are losing their job, nobody would hire them. ~Uh, ~yeah, they didn't

Chaz Wolfe: know anything.

Venkat Avasarala: Right. So they were just Like in distress. And then it just, I never seen anything like that. And my dad growing up,~ um,~ you know, he was a,~ uh,~ civil servant, right? So he was working for government and never had to worry about,~ uh,~ losing job.

I don't know how it even feels like, right? Yeah. So that just shook me, right? That just shook me. And I promised myself that, look, that's not going to happen to me, right? That's, I will never let that happen to me. And then that kind of lit a fire for me to look for those opportunities. Until then I was just I was happy with what I was doing,~ um,~ and then wasn't thinking anything else, thinking in my mind that jobs forever, it's, it's always going to be there for me kind of thing.

Then we went into [00:05:00] 2008 and you know what happened, right? Yeah. That kind of,~ uh,~ and enriched my belief that I got to take care of my future. So then I was looking for some passive income opportunities because I'm not going to walk away from my job. I need my job. But,~ uh,~ I had some capital saved up living below my means and okay, how do I put my capital to work?

And work towards financial freedom. And I started with single family, like 99 percent of the people. And I acquired about 20 single family properties. ~Um, ~and I was pretty content. By 2015, I'm pulling 10, 000 cash flow, net cash flow, after maintenance, PIDI. And I say, you know what? I'm okay. You know, I'm okay.

Even if me and my wife were to lose our jobs, you know, we're not going to cut down Netflix, which is I like Netflix at that time, at least,~ uh,~ and I'm going to pay the mortgage and all that. Right. I don't have to downsize my standard of living. Right. Yeah, really content. But then again, you get bored, right?

I mean, you, you've been doing this, you've been managing your job and running 20 properties and,~ uh,~ Okay. They said no more, [00:06:00] no more loans for me. Right. Because what happened is before rescission, there was no limit on how many loans Fannie and Freddie would give you. But after rescission, after 2008 rescission, they said that, look, 20, 20 is what you're going to get.

You're not going to get anything more. So I can see, yeah, well for them it is. Because that's what happened. A lot of people in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Florida, the people who created most of this distress is landlords, right? I mean, it's not the people who actually live in the homes, but it's the landlords. So anyway, so I was just researching, okay, what else can I do to continue this, this journey?

Because I, I'm already on the way, right? I'm, I'm all primed and ready to go kind of thing. And I don't want this lack of. Fannie Mae loans stopped me from doing it. And then suddenly I fell into this,~ uh,~ multifamily world, right? So then that is where you network and you learn from other people and all that.

And my first property was a very humble hundred unit C class property built in sixties in a small town called Norman, Oklahoma. [00:07:00] And the reason why I went to Norman is because I didn't have any experience in multifamily world, right? In apartment world, nobody would sell me one. Even though I live in Plano, they said that.

Look, you're an unproven quantity for us, right? That's right. So I give it six months, continue to look for a property in Dallas, but the, I am not winning anything, right? So then I said, look, we can do this forever or, and may or may not be successful at this, but, or let's in the interest of time, let's step outside of our DFW, DFW is high profile market, right?

So let's go to a smaller market, kill it there, come back. Show that and win a deal. And that's just exactly what I did. My second deal was in Phoenix, Arizona, which is a very hot market right now, but back in 2016, not so much compared to Dallas. So I showed those two case studies that look, I know what I'm doing.

I can buy the property. I can raise the money, arrange the debt and successfully operate it. Once I have that resume and then I bought 3, 000 units in BFW. So that is how I [00:08:00] surmounted that issue,~ uh,~ rather than just. Keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, right?

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, super practical.

Well, so you've given us a little bit of the story also as well, just a little bit of the backdrop, which I love. And so thankful, thank you for sharing that. The, I guess the, the, the deep seated piece, it's actually, it sounds like it grew. Like over the course of time, you were, you know, like, okay, content until the fire was lit.

And then you were okay. And lit or okay. And content until the fire was lit again. What do you think? Kind of, you know, maybe understanding the same kind of ebbs and flows here is that you've been kind of like through this and then you expanded and you went through that and then you expanded. What's what's the fire right now after all of the success that you've had?

Venkat Avasarala: ~Uh, ~so I'm at a point where,~ um,~ I'm very primed. Like, let me put it this way. So when you. Or going through a highway, right? ~Uh, ~you're just entering into the highway and you have to hit the pedal, right? To catch up with the flow of the traffic. You're coming from 30 miles and now you have to catch up to 70, [00:09:00] right?

At least our Texas highways, right? So once you hit 70,~ uh,~ you know, we could, they'll give us another 5 over, right? So let's say I want to go to 75. But once you get to 75 miles, you don't have to keep pressing the pedal very hard. You have to press a little bit. So what I'm saying is like, once you find that momentum, That momentum will just carry you.

It's not like every day I wake up and say, You know what? I want to do that. I want to do this kind of thing. Because you signed up for all these things. Now it's your duty to see it through. Right? Let's say, now I'm building apartments. It's a four year ordeal. So the fire was lit way back when, right? Today.

~Um, ~so now we started this project. So now we get focused much more procedural, right? Okay. How do I complete this project? How can I do it on time on budget? Right. How do I keep my investors updated? So that kind of thing. Right. Yeah. So. What I always try to do spend most of the time, at least two hours a day, I read, I read and not books and that,~ uh,~ I read about industry, [00:10:00] what the big boys are doing in this industry,~ uh,~ what the news is, what's the,~ uh,~ I'm put a lot of focus on macro macroeconomics, right?

If you do not understand macroeconomics, you don't know what you're doing here, right? So you have to understand it and reasonably able to predict what is going to come so that you are not surprised every single time. Yeah, that's good. ~Um, ~so right now my thing is to provide a shareholder value right for my investors.

~Um, ~and,~ uh,~ it became very hard with the interest rates growing. So now my next thing is, okay, how do, what, what does the future look like? What I did two years back, if I keep doing that, I won't be successful. Not very much anyway, right? So what do I do right now with today's conditions to be successful in the future?

So that is what actually drives me. It's the journey that gives me

Chaz Wolfe: pleasure. Yeah, well, I agree with you. I think that you're right. It's always the like, where are we going today,~ uh,~ to get kind of dial that down into literally today it's, you know, ending of Q3 2023 rates have gone up. There can continue to [00:11:00] go up at least as from what we understand.

~Um, ~you know, it's squeezing multifamily and maybe even commercial real estate. And there's,~ uh, uh, ~one camp that's doom and gloom. And then there's another camp that's like licking their chops and they can't wait. Where, where do you find yourself and why?

Venkat Avasarala: Somewhere in the middle there. And the reason is this look in 2008, in 2009, February, I thought America was over.

Every day I came to home from work, turn on the TV, Glenn Beck used to show up. With a small chart and a stencil and then he used to say that look, I mean, this is what happening. I mean, we are over. We're done. We're it's there's no tomorrow. I don't know why he did but I believed all that, right? I just believed I was so young in investing.

I was 29 at the time and I didn't know any better and I believed it. Yeah. ~Uh, ~it was very convincing. Right. Somebody is not convincing, cannot be all right. So I thought that it's over. America's domination is over at the time. China and India was doing very [00:12:00] well. Even Russia for that matter. That's when the bricks concept came out.

So honestly, I believe that our better days are behind us. It's old. Well, but that's not how it turned out. Right, right. So we need to have some confidence in this country. Right. Right. Of course, I mean, problems comes and goes and all that, but fundamentally we are doing something right, right? That's what got us here.

So then I changed my mind is like, whenever, like, even if now, if you go to LinkedIn, right, I'm there a bunch of people that, Oh my God, it's over. We are spending too much. That's all true. Don't talk as if it's like doom and gloom, like it's over, we're America, right? So we'll always figure out a way. So I'm not so much saying about the president or anything, but our institutions, right?

Our resilience, right? Heck, we, we went to world wars, right? I mean, we delivered peace to the world two times in a much big way and we were nothing before world war two. So everything has to start with what you're working with. We are working in a best [00:13:00] possible country ever. Ever, right? So have some confidence on the, on the country, right?

That will survive this. So, then comes to, yes, interstates. All that is all good. But interest rate is something that you have to deal with, right? That's right. So that's why, you know, I only build apartments now. So I sold most of my portfolio in the peak of the market September 2021 because I saw the writing on the wall.

Because one thing which is not working in our country is the wealth inequality, right? ~Um, ~so what's happened is when the printed so much money and left it, guess where all that money went? That all money went to the top 20%. The investors,~ um,~ You know, white collar workers and all that. Right. But the bottom 40 to 60 percent they got a one time boost shot in their arm.

They got money in their hand. They went spending this and that. It was all fun. But now it's over. Just stop sending that money. Right. So that but now they have to deal with inflation. Right? Printing all that money costs inflation, but it's hitting like crazy this bottom [00:14:00] 60 percent people. And for you and me, Chaz, like, you know, when we go to groceries, you know, eggs used to be 4 a dozen, now it's 8.

You know what? We're just pissed, right? I mean, but that's okay. We'll get it, right? It's not like we're gonna, we're gonna come back with our next. There's a mother out there who's thinking, okay, what else can I cut so that I can still give two eggs a day to my kid, not one. And when she cannot figure it out, she'll only come with eggs enough to feed him one.

That's actually happening. Yeah. Right. So now I, I'm trying to choose, okay, who I want to serve, right? So if you want to do something like NGO, nonprofit, that's a different thing, but this is for profit business. And this is where, for my investors, right? They are trusting me and giving me their order money, their nest egg, so to speak.

And now I have, I'm a, for all purposes, a for profit business. So I choose to serve the top 20, 40 percent of the. ~Um, ~of the economy, but not of the society and not the bottom 60%. So that was the realization I had in September of 2021, and I sold most of [00:15:00] my portfolio. These are BNC properties, right? So workforce housing and all that.

So I got out of it. I got out of it because that is the area right now, which is just some, some distress started to come in and that's struggling. If you see the top 40%, it's okay. It's okay. Right. The last properties in nice areas, even the properties built in 2000 and above in the last 20 years, they're doing okay.

If not spectacular, right? Yeah. So that's one thing. And that's why I'm building in class a apartments in this rich neighborhoods, because a lot changed in the last 10, 15 years, right? In the way our, our country is,~ uh,~ back in seventies and eighties, our household size used to be like three and a half or something per household.

Right now it's trending one and a half. People are not getting married like they used to. Even if they're getting married, they're getting married late. ~Uh, ~single motherhood is on the rise. And some people choosing to not having kids. So, it, a lot of change, a lot of change is happening. And now, just to add to [00:16:00] that,~ uh,~ an entry level home, people used to be able to buy with

three times to four times the income and it's like seven, eight, 10 times. Yeah, it's a lot. Put it all together. What is it? What is it? What are we getting to? They got to live in an apartment. There you go. So you have to rent, right? If you make a really good money and you don't want to,~ uh,~ responsibility of upkeeper for home, you might go rent in a home or a nice BTR product, built to rent product or whatever.

But for the vast majority, these people make good money. But they don't have a down payment or They just don't want to mess with it. Especially the young crowd. They like this flexibility. So they're all hitting apartments. We are becoming a nation of renters and I'm right there with my shell to provide the product at the right price at the right location for these people to come live in and thrive there with a lot of amenities.

Yeah, that's what my job is. And in process, create profits for my investors.

Chaz Wolfe: Of course. Yeah. I think the insights there on the macros I think is great. Also your insights on 2008 is, you know. [00:17:00] Chilling a little bit. ~Um, ~especially as, as an immigrant, as someone who, you know, not that much longer before that wasn't living in America for you to have what I heard, such patriotism, such belief in what we're doing, this, this thing called America, this thing called the Republic.

~Um, ~it makes me think of just, even this morning I had my, my kids before they started their school downstairs with,~ uh,~ with my wife. You know, we'd look out the window and, and I got American flag out there and we're, we're saying the pledge of allegiance and it's like that flag. Okay. Just a piece of cloth.

Fine. But what it means is everything you just said. It's like, no, like this is America. As long as that thing is up flying, Venkat is right. And, and we can go figure it out. Right. What do you think gave you, I mean, obviously that, that moment in 2008 where you're like, Oh my gosh. And you believe the wrong things and then you saw it kind of play out.

That's, that was the practical piece. But what do you think on the inside has given you the [00:18:00] courage to go? Know what? America really does have it. I've I've got a lot of money behind this belief. Also, where does that actually come from? You think?

Venkat Avasarala: So then that is when you talk about, you know how they say that history repeats, it doesn't quite repeat, but it definitely rhymes, right?

So then I started talking to old timers, right? People with a lot of gray hair, war wounds and all that. And what they said is what I was saying earlier, right? America always comes back. We'll figure it out, right? So they kind of instilled that confidence in me. Like, look, this happened before, right? The crazy 70s with crazy inflation, right?

~Uh, ~the war wars, that war, Korean war,~ uh,~ Vietnam war, a lot happened here, right? So, but we always survive, right? So we always survived. So basically they started making me think. These issues that we have, let's say right now, what the issue is, inflation and interest rates. Back in 2008, it was severe job losses, right?

But when I talked to these old [00:19:00] timers, right? They kind of shifted my mind from being afraid to look opportunity, right? If everything is good, everything is priced to the brim. What excites you to buy it at that time, right? So the idea in the business is buy lower, sell higher, right? I mean, that's the basic.

So why are you not Right? Where you're not excited about all these opportunities.

Yeah. Completely 180 mind shift. And that is why I'm not afraid right now with these,~ uh,~ with this inflation and all. This is right

Chaz Wolfe: now. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. I hear you saying that you're not sitting up on a throne blissfully, just, Oh, we're going to be fine.

I hear you paying attention, taking note, but also digging into the note, which is even going back further to the old timers that you're talking about and going, okay, well, what's the actual strategy here? It's not like doom and gloom isn't coming. It's, this is a cyclical event. This people are people. And how do we win during this time?

I love what you said there. I love, thank God it's hard. Thank God it's hard because then everybody [00:20:00] would just be doing it, which is basically what happened the last, probably what, three, five years. Everybody was doing real estate, right? Exactly. Exactly. You didn't have to be anybody or know anything. You just got started in real estate and made money.

And so I think that you're right. It'll weed out,~ uh,~ not only just real estate, but just, you know, the online space, the, the, you know, the, the, the tech space, like all the, the people who. Just got started and have no perseverance, which is really what you're the, the deep seated principle you're talking about is that we'll just got to persist through it.

It doesn't matter how hard it gets. In fact, we kind of get a little bit excited when it gets hard, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What do you think right now during the current state that we're in, that you're thinking about, or better yet, if someone was on the other side of the table from you and they're an investor wondering if.

You and your company and your types of decisions and your types of investments are good for them. What questions are they asking or what questions should they be asking?

Venkat Avasarala: ~Um, ~so one of the challenges we have in this multifamily [00:21:00] is like single family. Most people understand how it works, right? Because they themselves probably be doing that.

Multifamily is a little different. The loan that we bring on these multifamily is different. The strategies are different. The operations are very different. So. I spent quite a bit of time whenever, let's say, I try to go raise money, right? ~Um, ~usually what you see is you prepare a deck, you mail it in and say, okay, if you want to sign up there, wire the money, do the paperwork, right?

I don't, I do a little differently from day one, right? ~Um, ~I explain what we are getting into so that people are come walking into this wide open. Hey, every investment has risks, right? Who would have seen this interest rate? You know, the way they went and even look at the banks, right? I mean, look, Bank of America Chase, all these big banks are holding hundreds of billion dollars of losses on their balance sheet because they bought 10 year treasury is at 0.

65, 0. 75. Right now it's 450. So that's about 80 percent loss, right? Every dollar they spend buying this bond, [00:22:00] there is no loss if you, if they hold it for the full 10 years, but you know, so what I'm trying to say is like, there's no smart person in this country. Everybody was. Doof into thinking that these,~ uh,~ interest rates are here to stay, but they were not.

Right? So, ~um, ~a lot of complexity in this thing. So what I do is like I invite them into the webinar, explain them. ~Uh, ~I take a good two hours of their time,~ uh,~ and sometimes three hours. And believe it or not, 50% of the people still stay on after three hours. I try not to do it. I try to give everything on the front end, so, Whenever it's enough for you to make a decision, you can drop off, but the others will stay.

But I believe in actually giving a lot of information. I wish I can do more like create content and all that to educate my investors. ~Uh, ~but right now to answer your question, what they're asking is how the future is looking like, right? I mean, is this a good time? Because look in 2021, you have no idea. I mean, you put in a deal there by afternoon, it used to get filled.

We used to raise like five, six, seven, eight, 10 million. Like it's nothing. People were [00:23:00] throwing money at you from every which direction, but right now, if you see,~ uh,~ not so easy, right? I mean, people are like hesitation. Oh, you know, are we getting the recession or not? But this is what I tell them that look, we got independence in 1776.

250 years later, around 2008 area, that 250 years is what it took to print 7 trillion. Our money supply, M2 money supply, was 7 trillion at the Great Recession. Fast forward another 15 years, we tripled it. It's 22 trillion right now. So that is what caused the asset inflation. That is why a single family home entry level home used to be 120, 000.

Right now it doesn't exist. And the entry level home is half a million dollars. That is why that is the only reason, nothing else. And we have favorable demographics. We have nice immigration,~ uh,~ decent fertility rate, especially among immigrants and all that. So creates the demand there. But expansion, rapid [00:24:00] expansion of the money supply is what has happened.

It's what got us here with the asset level, asset appreciation. So if you understand this, right, if you do, because it's like, I mean, we tripled our money supply, but our population is not triple as of 2008. It's not,~ uh,~ we don't have three times more homes or assets in this country, more or less the same.

It's just the money supply went up. So all that money find its way into the assets. It's increasing the value. So if that is right, okay, what, how does the future look like? Like we, our GDP is 25 trillion and we just breached 33 trillion public debt. And that's not even counting all that,~ uh,~ entitlements, right?

That unfunded entitlements,~ um,~ soon,~ uh,~ the, it's going to, we're going to bring less social security money than we have to pay out. All these days it was different. So it's, things are compounding, putting pressure on the,~ uh,~ pressure on the treasury. So, I believe that soon, they'll start the money printer again.

I mean, and you [00:25:00] think that, oh, America is printing all the money, but again, look at China, our number two. Their GDP is 125 trillion yuan, not dollars, yuan. And then they printed 280 trillion dollars in money. So, Their money supply is 2. 4 times their GDP. Ours, our money supply is 22 trillion, our GDP is 25 trillion.

We are only 80%. Our money supply is only 80 percent of the GDP. So what that means, our velocity of money is much harder there. So what I'm trying to say is like, you know, we're not the horrible...

Chaz Wolfe: We're gonna be okay. No, no, no. We're like

Venkat Avasarala: way better than China financially, right? So you have to understand this to...

Imagine how the future will look like. So soon they will start printing money again. And when they print money, that money is going to find out into assets. And then assets will continue to appreciate. Single family will be like a distant dream for a lot of people. You cannot [00:26:00] reduce this cost now. If you own a home, it's half a million dollars in a decent neighborhood, right?

Right. This is how the future looks like. So whatever you're going to do today, let's say if I'm building something, I'm building when construction costs have leveled off right now. Wait until they cut their first interest rate and you see how the construction costs and the land prices spike again. This is the time to build it.

And then, when I, whatever I'm starting this year, I cannot deliver for next two, two years or so, right? Right. So I'm delivering into 25 and 26, and construction starts have dropped, both in single family, multifamily, and everything. Oh yeah. So there won't be anything to buy in 25, 26. Yep,

Chaz Wolfe: except for what you're building.

[00:27:00]

Venkat Avasarala: So this is what you have to look, right? I mean, unless you understand the macro, look at the metrics and everything, you cannot have a reasonable idea on how 25 and 26 is going to look like, [00:28:00] right? You can always have the hopium or wishful thinking, but no, I'm not doing any of those things. This is like a calculator.

~Um, ~you know, it's, it's a calculation on how 25 and 26 is going to look like looking at how the finances of our treasury and how the supply is working and all that. So this is what I tell my best. This is why I'm doing what I'm doing and I'm not losing sleep.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I think it not only just makes sense, but,~ um,~ just hearing you be calculated,~ um,~ a lot of entrepreneurs aren't, and I think it's actually probably been one of.

You know, if I had to like distill down all of the great advice we've had with 400 plus episodes is to be calculated or well planned. Think and Grow Rich says that you can, you can conceive an idea, but then you have to follow it with a plan. Obviously, then by action, but this calculated plan, ~um... ~It has to be.

And so, ~uh, ~I'm all in on calculation and being precise. That's what I hearing you say is that I've done the work of going back in time. I've done the work of studying the current [00:29:00] metrics, whether that's my metrics in my business and, or the economy that affect my business. ~Um, ~and when I talked to, I've got, we've got a,~ um,~ we've got a major developer in our actually he's, he's in your Metro.

You guys need to know each other. So if you don't, I'm going to connect you guys, but he's in our mastermind group. And when I talk with him offline. Away from just the kind of general business building stuff. These are the types of conversations that we have. It's, it's always just a different level of think.

And,~ uh,~ you know, again, someone's doing hundreds of millions of dollars. It's like, I'm responsible for a lot of people. And so, you know, I don't know what you think about this is a little bit of a play on words here, but that weight of the crown, if you will, as a King, like what that really means is that I'm responsible for so many other people.

Right.

Venkat Avasarala: Yeah. And, and, and, you know, I was worried sick, man. ~Uh, ~honestly,~ um,~ during 2020, as soon as the COVID hit and they said that you cannot evict people, a lot of people took advantage of [00:30:00] it and I understand why I did. Look, I'm not saying I'm better than them. If I were them, I would do the same, right? So they didn't pay rent and I still have to spend all the expenses, right?

My payroll, my taxes, my insurance, everything stays the same. But a bunch of people decided, you know, In the workforce housing, not to pay rent because there's no evictions, right? For a long time. Yeah, I had a hell of a horrible time because I was scared. I was scared,~ uh,~ where I would lose my investors money at the time.

~Uh, ~it is what 56 million was invested in portfolio at the time, just equity, right? Not the whole thing. Right. I was looking at that number, 56 million. You know what? I got to figure out a way to come out of this. Okay. And return the investors, their money and the profit back. Right? That's right. And thank God government stepped in in 2021 and made us whole.

And I existed at the top of the market, September 2021. Because March 2022 is when they started raising interest rates, right? I didn't predict interest rates, but what I [00:31:00] have clearly seen is that how vulnerable that lower end of the society is. And then I said, look, I cannot keep my investors in this. So I pulled out in September 2021 and gave everybody's money back with profit.

No cash calls, nothing. You know, felt like a million bucks after that. Sure. So I'm a lot smarter after that. Right. I'm a lot smarter after a life changing event like that. So but right now, you know, once you know, have a fair idea on how future is going to look like. ~Um, ~look, I'm not saying that I know exactly what's going to happen and all that, but I have a fair idea.

~Uh, ~you know, I can put two and two together and start to see where it's going. Right. Yeah. So the future is not that bleak. You know, like, like everybody's trying to make it look like,~ um,~ so I'm very confident about our resiliency of this country and of our multifamily sector, the household formations. And also I'm not building these properties in Timbuktu.

I'm building Frisco, which is like Frisco downtown to be exact. Right? I mean, on Main Street. [00:32:00] We'll be around, right? Yeah, Salina. The growth rate is 20 percent per year population growth, right? I mean, it's a very affluent entry level home is 600, 000 and I'm building there for 200, 000 a door, right? So I'll be okay.

And then Austin I'm building couple of properties one in Brown Brook one in Kyle either side of the North side of the 20 miles north of downtown 20 miles south of downtown right on Highway 35, right? So I'll be okay As long as you are building in Places which are affluent and where you cannot compete with homes.

You cannot build,~ um,~ somewhere. The home value is to, you know, median home value is to 50, 000 and you spend 200. You know what? You won't win that battle. I want to build where the home median home value is 500, 600. So that there's a big spread between me and that single family home. Right? Yeah. So that is what I'm doing in,~ um,~ in major metros, affluent neighborhoods.

~Uh, ~no headache with crime and all that clean, clean, clean properties [00:33:00] that an institution will buy from you. So those are the kind of properties that I'm focusing and I'm, I'm very,~ uh, uh, ~confident that we'll be okay.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I love the confidence. ~Um, ~I love the plan. You can clearly tell that,~ uh,~ you, you are calculated and so, ~uh, ~we'll leave it at that.

~Um, ~I'm going to go to social media here and I want to know. ~Um, ~I've already asked a couple of the questions, believe it or not, about the environment and the,~ uh, uh, ~investor sitting on the other side of the table. One question here. If you had bad credit and only 20 to your name, how would you start over?

In essence, probably is the question. What

Venkat Avasarala: I would do is first, I'll take a piece of paper and write down my strengths. And be honest about it and write down the weaknesses, right? Definitely. So, like, ~uh, ~Warren Buffet said that spend that 20 on yourself, right? First, you have to get better,~ uh,~ so that you are useful to somebody.

Obviously, you don't have,~ uh,~ credit or the capital to get started with your own business, right? So, obviously, you have to go work for somebody. And look,~ um,~ they [00:34:00] make it look like this 95 is some horrible thing and no, it's not, you know, this is like, I always see these jobs as a, like an apprentice. Right? I get to experiment on somebody's under somebody's guidance, right?

Learn under somebody and still get paid for it. Capital formation so that I can do something else with my money. Oh, my God, that's a hell of a deal. So don't see this nine to five thing as some bad thing. Thank God I got my job. I worked 14 years for corporate America for the likes of bank of America, PepsiCo and all that.

And you have no idea the soft skills, the pitch analysis,~ uh,~ you know, dealing with complexity. Yeah, a lot of people in as soon as they see complexity, their brain gets fried and they set it aside because it hurts literally on the brain for the complexity. But then again, once you are exposed to so much complexity on my day job, right for so many years, I'll take it with ease.

That's a skill. That's a soft skill. You're primed for success working for these companies, [00:35:00] right? So what I would say is like, try to improve yourself on where you're lacking and be useful for somebody so that, and say that, look,~ um,~ I'll work for you. Let me work for you and learn the skill set there. And then obviously how to fix the credit without credit.

I mean, it's just, I'm not saying it's impossible, but it becomes extra, extra needlessly extra hard. Yeah. Anything, right? So you have to fix the credit and I'm sure there are a ton of solutions there. But go work for somebody, be useful for them, be a fly on the wall, wherever it is possible. Go network, right?

You got to talk to people. You got to talk to, especially I love talking to,~ um,~ you know, old timers, right? Because nothing is happening right now, which haven't already happened, right? So they'll give you a lot of perspective. Yeah. So. You know, getting to the club, right? I mean, now it's so much easy back when in 2006 or seven, when I was starting, we used to have an odd meet up here and there, there's no Facebook groups, there's no LinkedIn groups or nothing, right?

I mean, we are pretty much on our [00:36:00] own. You just picked up the

Chaz Wolfe: phone. Yeah. Anything

Venkat Avasarala: that you have to learn, somebody had to teach it to you, right? Ignorance is a choice, right? You're living in a golden era of information right now. So that's what I would say, you know, go,~ um,~ Add value to somebody, work for them,~ um,~ and then learn skills.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Would you say that this applies, like how, how, how long does this apply? Cause I'm thinking of the guy rather than 20 and no credit, the guy that's got 5, 000 and, you know, halfway good credit, or the guy that's got, you know, maybe 50, 000 and okay credit, or the guy that's got 250, 000 and great credit.

Like where in the scale does someone start investing on their own or maybe with a guy like you?

Venkat Avasarala: No, 200, 000 is,~ um,~ is something that you would need in order to free flow where you don't have to worry about it is my personal opinion. There's no hard and fast number to that. But I always find that when I was starting back in 2007, yeah, that's, that's kind of [00:37:00] the number I had.

But then again, conditions were a lot easier back then compared to now. But then again, now we have a lot, many opportunities too. Let me give you an example, right? Real estate doesn't have to be the only way, right? I mean, Andrew Carnegie back in 1920 said that real estate makes 90 percent of the millionaires.

So, it's great if you can do real estate, but it doesn't have to be real estate, right? Right now, these young people, right, they're doing dropshipping, they're bringing a product, completely branding it, selling it, everything. I don't know if it's true or not, but when you see these TikTok videos and all that, where people stop and say that, okay, what do you do for a living?

How much did you make last year? Some young people say that, look, I made 10 million last year, right? I mean, they cannot all be lying, right? Yeah. Let's

Chaz Wolfe: say nine out of 10 of them are, and the one that isn't.

Venkat Avasarala: Yeah. So it makes me think. Am I in the right business? Right? So there are so many different ways to be successful and real estate is not the only way real [00:38:00] estate is capital intensive.

So either you have the money or you find a capital partner, right? So somebody who's having a very good 9 to 5 job makes half a million dollars every year, but doesn't have any time to do anything. Yeah, go find who that is and say that, look, let's do it together. You put the capital. And I put my, you know, my work and then we'll be successful together.

You can certainly do that like that in real estate, but don't tether yourself only to real estate. There are, trust me, there are so many ways to make money right now. Making money is easy, right? Yeah. The young people are just. Just killing it out there. Influencing is one of them. Dropshipping, importing products from China and branding them and selling them.

It's just so many different ways to do it. But as long as you're committed to success, right? As long as you're committed to success and not believe in this get rich quick seams, right? I mean, it has to do with whatever you're getting. Otherwise, you'll always be trying to find... You know, ~uh, ~what's the next [00:39:00] thing and provide value, right?

I mean, whatever you do, provide value to the society, right? You do a useful thing. And then now, man, franchises. My God, franchises have just taken over, especially since 2020. And I, myself, is looking at a pain management system where,~ um,~ there's a new way on how you can help people with the joint pains and things like that.

So franchising is another thing, another way to... But don't get into a situation where... The business cannot run without you. Then that's the end of it. Yeah. Manager managed business.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. You don't want to have a bunch of side hustles. What I didn't hear you say is that you're giving up real estate and your portfolio of massive properties, but you, it is, it is, I mean whether it's FOMO or the grass is greener on the other side, I think the biggest thing I just heard you say, which isn't practical at all, but it's real, which is you as an unbelievably successful real estate investor, Someone who's not only done well himself, but has made [00:40:00] tons of money for other people also is watching a tick tock going, I wonder if I'm in the right business, that right there is just the power of influence and, and, and social media.

I didn't hear you say that night you started drumming up a plan on how you could start learning how to drop

Venkat Avasarala: ship, you know, I'm happy with where I am, but what I'm saying, but the point is young people often complain that look, you started when you did. And things were easy. Right? My first home, single family home was a foreclosure,~ um,~ built in the nineties.

I bought it for 50, 50, 000, man. That was, that was like a steal, right? I mean, I didn't know it was a steal. I was scared as, as it was a lot back then. You know, mortgage was a very bad word at the time, right? Nobody wants to do anything with the home or back. Yeah. 2008 all the way to 2011. 2012 is when the, actually the shift happened, right?

But I was buying through that, right? So it was not that easy as people think, because you, we were [00:41:00] scared. We were just scared every time you buy something, but we did it anyway, right? Yeah. So what I was going to say, what I was trying to say is that, look,~ um,~ there, yeah, the real estate cost is high right now, but then again,~ um,~ you have so many, so much, Building a network.

You know how hard it was to assemble 200 people in a room back then? Now, a Facebook post. You can literally bring that many people into it. And that network has power, right? That network has so much power. So a lot of other things are much easier as well. Raising money became a lot easier. Back then, you're just calling.

You're just calling. No credibility. Nothing. You're just Just calling, right? Yeah. But now, I mean, you put together a webinar and just, you, you raised $10 million in an hour. Yeah.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. That power,~ um,~ I, I, you gave several examples there, and so I'm thankful for that. The same, similar questions have come up even around this podcast.

Like I don't currently have any sponsors for the show. I'm sure that at some point we will. ~Uh, ~this has not been the focus. The focus has been shaking [00:42:00] hands with guys like Venkat because. I don't know what's going to come of the relationship between you and I ideally that there's something, but maybe there's a relationship that I need to connect you to, which then later brings me value.

I don't know. ~Um, ~but the network, the spider web of shaking hands and adding value. Those are the two things that I heard you say, shake hands and add value. And when you do that, also, I would add maybe a third piece in there. You said it as well, but Just genuinely doing it. Not necessarily out of like, okay, what can I get from Venkat today?

While he's on my podcast? It's like, well, no, I'm just going to have him on. We're going to talk. We're going to add value together to the listener. I'm gonna add value to him through the show. And then somewhere down the line, I now have an incredible contact in my network. Maybe we do a deal together or something, you know?

Venkat Avasarala: Yeah, absolutely. Look, we cannot think in a quick pro quo way. A relationship is everything people like to do business with the. People that trust and like, and likeability is also very important. And you know why? Because let's say you and I do a deal. I'm [00:43:00] sure you'll mess up something. You're human. That's right.

It can happen to me. I can mess up something. But can you find it in your heart to forgive me and vice versa? And I'm more inclined to do that when I like you or you like me. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. It's very important, right? Of course, be straightforward and everything, but,~ uh,~ you know, some people just like go with the flow and,~ uh,~ doesn't pay attention to like, you know, being likable, right?

Obviously, competency is number one, right? Not likability, but the close number two is definitely likability. All things equal. I want to work with that guy because I like him. Yeah. Yeah.

Chaz Wolfe: Thinking of a rich calls it a pleasing personality as one of the success principles. You know, you've mentioned Andrew Carnegie, obviously Napoleon Hill studied under him.

And so it's a, it's a success principle that that is known. All right. I'm going to pull out one more question here from a social media post here. We've gotten actually, believe it or not, I've asked you several of these, Ooh, we'll end with this one. This one's good. What question [00:44:00] have I not asked or what question?

I mean, you've been on some of the podcasts. If I'm success oriented, I'm a person that wants to level up. I've been successful. Let's just take Chaz as an example. I'm successful. I have multiple companies. I have several pieces of real estate. I have a successful podcast. I have a successful mastermind. And I'm grateful for those things, but I'm not done.

Like you said earlier, I'm still, I'm still on the journey, baby. Let's go. What question haven't I personally asked you, or collectively, as people who have asked questions of you, what are we not asking that you would want to share with us, or that you need to give to the next person coming up, if

Venkat Avasarala: that makes sense?

So, one thing what I would say is, like, you know, in this country, we are capitalist country, and for a good reason, but somehow we just lose track of time in the context of life, and we sometimes forget. To stop and smell roses, we don't know when we already

Chaz Wolfe: [00:45:00] roses have a smell.

Venkat Avasarala: So what I'm saying is, is I'm saying is like, we should know when we've been already because,~ um,~ unfortunately, you know, our life is very, you know, ~uh, ~finite and if you look at convert it into weekends, like I'm 43 and let's say our country's,~ uh,~ life expectancies. 3076, it actually dropped after COVID, right?

So I probably have another, let's be generous and give 30, 30 years and we have, so 1500 odd weekends. That's all I got left on this planet. Seriously, that's it. No more or less. If you look at it that way. So what I'm saying is yes, work hard, be successful and all that. But as you go through the journey, things have to get simpler.

You have to pull yourself ever so slightly out of the business. And at some point, the businesses have to run themselves so that you have time for your health. Number one health. What's it all for if you don't have health? And we know for a fact stress [00:46:00] kills people. Stress is number one killer of the people, right?

It reduces our life expectancy. Look it up. It's something called telomeres, which is in our DNA. They go down, down, down, down with stress and to the point where the cell cannot replicate and we age and die, right? So, but as long as you're in the grind, There is stress. So you are running out of time. Yeah.

Faster. The more stress you take. And I understand why we have to take stress and all that, but at some point you have to pull yourself slowly back. So plan your exit is all I'm saying, not necessarily from business, but from day to day business where you have good health, low stress and that kind of thing.

A lot of people, they just don't, they just keep going there to keep going at it. Hey, why not? Kind of thing. Yeah. So that is that. That is my my I, I am planning my exit. from day to day. Right now I'm fully involved in my business on day to day business, but give I'm 43 now, let's say by 50 or some decent year.

I want to be out of my day to day businesses [00:47:00] still run by themselves. I have a bunch of asset managers reporting up to me like you heard four hour work week. ~Uh, ~that's where I want to get at some point. And ~um, ~yeah, that is what I would say. That is, that is how you have to plan exit. This is for somebody who's already in a business that Yeah, you know, I have to

Chaz Wolfe: think about, yeah, I mean, I think a lot of listeners, I'm sure, you know, chasing the tail in essence is what you were kind of just getting it and they never get out of the, that race because they never spend the time to do so.

You gave a clear picture there. I want them to hear, I want them to just hit the pause button and go back 45 seconds because what you just said has someone. Who's uber successful already is that you still consider yourself in the day to day. Now I'm sure that if we took a look at your portfolio in comparison to someone who's getting started, you have a whole team in place.

And so it's like, okay, well, is he really in the day to day? I'm sure it's a little different, but I love that you considered your attention. And that's really what it is. It's, it's the attention. And,~ um,~ and that's what it takes to be successful. [00:48:00] You can work yourself out, but really to be able to achieve the targets that you're looking for by 50, because you're still on the grind.

You very much said that I'm still very much in this thing. We're building this sucker. We got stuff going on. And,~ uh,~ and I think that that's well beyond a number or a certain dollar amount that we've made. You're, you're in it for the game now and for the, and for the journey.

Venkat Avasarala: Absolutely. Yeah. Money doesn't motivate me anymore.

It used to very early in my career. Yeah. Now I do things because I can and I want to . Yeah, it's powerful.

Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~okay. Well, you've been incredible. ~Um, ~I want to give the listener a chance to be able to. connect with you. How can they find you if they're,~ um, uh, ~interested in investing or if they're in the DFW area, they want to connect, how can they

Venkat Avasarala: find you?

So they can,~ um,~ visit my website,~ um,~ at striker properties, S T R Y K E R properties. com. Or they can drop me an email at a Vincat, V as in Victor, E N K A T at striker prop. com. And you can just Google me. I mean, there are a bunch of,~ uh,~ [00:49:00] ways to get, get in touch

Chaz Wolfe: with. Yep. I,~ uh,~ that's a, that's an easy answer.

I often give that when I'm on a show as well. ~Uh, ~just go to Google, type in Chaz Wolf, or in this case, Venkat. I'm sure that,~ uh,~ they're...

Venkat Avasarala: LinkedIn, Facebook, I mean, you know, pick

Chaz Wolfe: your way. You're there. Well, you have been generous with your time here today,~ uh,~ as, as valuable as a commodity as that is. And you described,~ uh,~ thank you for giving it to us, giving us your knowledge, your experience.

And your courage, man, you lived through 2008. You didn't just live, you made strategic moves and you've seen it happen. And the, the excitement that you have for your future,~ um,~ knowing the industry that you're in and what you've been through,~ um,~ I think every single listener here today should be, what'd you say at the beginning?

I got a fire lit in me. Is that's kind of how I feel right now. Let's go. Vincat blessings to you, your family, your business. Thanks for being here.

Venkat Avasarala: Thank you, sir. Thanks for having me.

[00:50:00] [00:51:00]

Hey there, Kings and Queens! Get ready to level up because we've got the real estate master, Venkat Avasarala joining us. As the Founder of Stryker Properties, Venkat is changing the game by generating passive income for over a thousand investors. And let me tell you, this isn't your grandpa's real estate—think luxury apartment communities and game-changing mixed-use developments in skyrocketing markets like DFW, Austin, Denver, and Phoenix. This guy oversees it all, from site selection to investor relations, and delivers an astonishing 23% average annualized returns! Buckle up because this episode is a deep dive into macroeconomics, the critical art of understanding and predicting market trends. Plus, Venkat gives us the lowdown on American resilience and why this is the best country to be an entrepreneur. You'll get first-hand insights into spotting golden opportunities in real estate and how to seize them. If you're on a journey toward mastering self, emotional intelligence, and discipline in the pursuit of an exceptional life, this episode is a ringer!

Venkat Avasarala:

Internal: https://podmatch.com/guestdetail/1690424905287x531548429765879900

Website: https://strykerproperties.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Strykerprop

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/venkat-avasarala-stryker/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIu48cWcM3n9SJYDdBbNOyQ

Email: venkat@strykerprop.com

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