I always knew that I wasn’t going to be one of those 9-5 guys. I wanted more out of life, and working for someone else was not going to give me the time or the money I needed to accomplish my goals.

I remember when I first told my father that I wanted to drop out of college after my freshman year. He wrote me a check for the remainder of the tuition he would have paid for my bachelor’s, and I immediately put it into my residential investments.

My first three properties were residential. One duplex, one fourplex, and one sixplex in Utah. After making some decent profits from these properties, I wanted to invest in a bigger market.

This led me to invest in a set of Las Vegas properties that could only be classified as Class D. What I learned from my time investing in these types of assets is that you can really limit yourself by going for a cheap property. The main problem with investing in these properties is that they are in the worst areas of the market, and they don’t provide you with any room to grow. But when I first started, I didn’t know any better. I had convinced myself that this was all I should be investing in since I didn’t have much in the way of seed money.

From the time I bought those properties to the day I sold them, it was a constant cycle of fixing up the units to get them rented, then within less than a year, the tenants would have it looking like I’d never put in any improvements.

After a while, I thought the best way to improve these homes was to take a more hands-on approach. Not my best decision! In particular, one night when I called down about a noise complaint, it escalated beyond my control and almost ended in fatal consequences. I guess you could say that this was the “Rock Bottom” of my investment career.

At this point, I made a decision. I was going to find a mentor who could help me get my investment strategy back on track. After going through dozens of investment seminars without any results, I finally came across a live event that made total sense. This was how I met J. Scott Scheel and the rest of the Commercial Academy team.

I immediately knew that this program was different. Scott asked that, prior to the event, we bring deals that we were working on. He wasn’t just giving you the base information on how Commercial Real Estate worked. He wanted to help you through the process while you were in the classroom. I brought information for a 48-unit apartment complex in Oklahoma. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to put the deal together, but I knew that I couldn’t keep investing the way I was.

Luckily, my deal was one that had been chosen for a live review during the event. After breaking down the operations, Scott went through different scenarios for ways that I could finance the purchase without overleveraging myself. This alone was invaluable and was a big step in the right direction.

Once I got back home, I started negotiating with the seller. After some back and forth, I was able to negotiate $700,000, which the seller carried back as a short-term note. I was able to raise the remaining $300,000 through the sale of those Las Vegas properties.

This was my first large apartment complex, and it was not an easy project by any means. Luckily, the low cost of acquisition and the seller financing would have helped mitigate my risk.

With the help of Scott and his team, we were able to take the occupancy from 60% to 92% in less than a year.

Two and a half years later, and some minor capital improvements, I was able to sell the property for $1.5 million $500K in profit!!!

Simply put, Scott and his team had taught me how to think bigger. The fact was that even though I was young, I could still invest in better markets and with better types of Commercial Property. By applying the different strategies that I’d learned through Scott, I’ve been able to create the life I wanted.

What’s great about the Commercial Academy and their mentorship programs is that they offer you ways to work around your personal situation. Just as long as you are willing to put in the work.

Thank You, Scott.

 

Meet the Author

Danny Newberry is a student of the Commercial Academy and J. Scott Scheel’s mentorship program.