"Inspired to Invest" Podcast

Create Abundance By Investing In Real Estate - And Yourself!

• Serena Holmes • Episode 73

Share episode

Allen Lomax's incredible journey from personal adversity to remarkable real estate success is nothing short of inspiring.

Welcome back to episode 73 of "Inspired To Invest". To watch rather than listen, click here.

Battling through dyslexia and self-acceptance, coping with a difficult marriage, and losing everything in the 2008 financial crisis, Allen's story is one of resilience and transformation. Join us as Alan takes us through his experiences, from his initial steps in real estate with single-family homes to the lucrative world of mobile home parks.

We explore how embracing one's true identity and confronting deep-seated issues can lead to not just personal healing but also professional triumph, offering a roadmap to financial freedom and abundant living.

Our conversation delves into the intricacies of passive real estate investing, punctuated by Allen's astute insights into the challenges and opportunities that abound in this field. 

We discuss the importance of understanding key investment indicators like population, income, and employment growth, which have been pivotal in Alan’s successful investments across the U.S. 

Additionally, Allen shares a remarkable case of transforming a troubled property, highlighting the profound impact of strategic investment and effective management. As we navigate the challenges of real estate investing, from economic cycles to the balance of community improvement with financial goals, 

Allen’s experiences serve as a guide to avoiding pitfalls and achieving sustained success.

To connect with Allen, go to @steedtalker or https://steedtalker.com/ on line. 

Thank you to Milena Cardinal from Cardinal Law for supporting this month’s episodes. To find out more about how her legal services can help you build your business and protect your assets, go to https://cardinallaw.ca.

“Inspired to Invest” is proud to support the Beyond Success Program, a not-for-profit financial literacy program for students, launched by More To Give & MAK Investments. Find out more at @more2give.ca.

Join us again on Nov. 20 to learn how to build a business and protect your assets with real estate law and structures!

Thank you for tuning into “Inspired To Invest”, hosted by @serenaholmesrealtor & remember, "when you invest in yourself, the sky's the limit!"

Support the show

Serena Holmes:

Welcome to the Inspire to Invest podcast, where we're sharing stories from real estate investors and how investing has changed their lives. This episode of Inspire to Invest has been brought to you by Cardinal Law. Hey everybody, welcome to Inspire to Invest. I have Alan Lomax here with me from Steed Talker Capital. He's joining us all the way from North Carolina today, so welcome. Alan has experience with fix and flips, apartment rentals, spec home development and mobile home parks, so he's very, very well diversified when it comes to real estate, and at the moment, he's also focusing on capital raising to empower others to find financial well-being and financial freedom through passive real estate investments. And he truly believes that it's never too late to find financial well-being and financial freedom through passive real estate investments. And he truly believes that it's never too late to find financial freedom and to live abundantly. So thank you so much for your time today.

Allen Lomax:

How are you? I'm doing great and it's so great to be with you today, Serena, and looking forward to the time with you today and your audience.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, absolutely. So obviously you do have a very diverse background when it comes to real estate.

Allen Lomax:

How did you get started in this field? Well, it is an interesting story, and it starts, I think, way back in the seventh grade. And I am sitting in front of the television with my family and on the screen comes this show, a special about homosexuality, and this is the first time I have heard the term homosexuality. And as I watch this and listen to this, All of the people being interviewed, their faces are smudged out and their identities are anonymous, and it hits me like a ton of rainbow bricks that these are the people that I am. And believe me, it was not rainbows and unicorns, it was more like Rocky's House of Horrors. And on top of that, I had dyslexia, and of course, it was undiagnosed. At that time, it wasn't even a condition that was recognized, and so I was labeled a slow learner throughout my school days. And now comes the schoolyard bullying. Comes the schoolyard bullying, and they assigned to me the nomenclature Susie. And so from this follows two decades of persistent depressive disorder.

Allen Lomax:

Somehow I graduate high school, I do go on to college, and my college career is as lackluster and I'm as it was in high school and I'm as directionless as a GPS with a dead battery. Somehow I managed to graduate, I get married, go from dead-end job to dead-end job. My wife, having more awareness than I had, ends the marriage. And this is some really dark days for me. I go into therapy and it's like a light switch. One day I'm blind. The next day I really can see.

Allen Lomax:

I go back to school, get my master's in counseling, become a university counselor, attain my PhD and really began to excel in life as a higher education leadership change agent. And while I'm doing that, I began to build my wealth through real estate investing. All is well and fine until 2008 financial crisis hits and I lose absolutely everything. My job is gone, the identity I built upon that job and my wealth through real estate investing is gone. And in those very, very, very dark days and they were very, very dark all of those shame trips, those guilt trips, all of that hits me like a ton of brick. And during those days I realized that I am still that seventh grade boy consumed with homophobic hatred and still feeling that intellectual inferiority complex.

Allen Lomax:

Well, through those times, I confront those core issues 20 years after I first went into counseling, studied counseling myself, I finally go back to the very core and I step out of the closet bigger than the Kardashians, and rightly label my reading, writing and math challenges as the dyslexia that it is, rather than intellectual inferiority. I embrace both my dyslexia and my fabulous gayness.

Allen Lomax:

And finally worthy of self-acceptance and worthy of wealth. I really began to build passive income and become the leader in education I always wanted to be and began to really help others to flourish likewise, and as far as the schoolyard bullies go, they can call me Susie all they want. It's a fine name and it's Saturday Night Live and as I live abundantly and flourish, I get the last laugh.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, that's amazing. I definitely wasn't expecting such a powerful story, but I think there's something to be said from that. I mentioned, obviously before we hopped on, that I was at a mastermind all weekend and one of the quotes that one of the speakers shared was the struggles that you're facing today is building the strength that you need for tomorrow. So I think that's a good way to encapsulate your story, just in terms of how you took those struggles and built upon them to be where you are today. And now obviously, you're sharing that knowledge so that other people can kind of build themselves up. Now, when you think back to real estate, obviously you kind of lightly touched on building your portfolio at the same time that you were a professor. So how exactly did you get started? Like, where? Where did you focus on first? And then, when 2008 happened, like, can you share a little bit more about what that portfolio looked like and and really like how you came out of that?

Allen Lomax:

Well, prior to 2008, I was doing like a lot of people do and I wouldn't recommend people starting this way, but it seems like a lot of people do. I was investing in single family homes and doing the fix up and then I was generally holding for long term rentals, but I was also doing fix and flip at that point in time and then I moved into small mobile home parks and was essentially kind of doing the same things with with fixing them up and holding them for rentals, and I think the reason that a lot of people do this well, there's a lot of glamour around this HGTV really glamorizes this purchase of single-family homes, fix and flip, and so on and so forth.

Serena Holmes:

And you can do it in no time.

Allen Lomax:

You can do it at no time and it's so much fun and it's so much glamour to it. Well there's two things about it it's high risk and it's not scalable, Particularly if you are a full time professional or entrepreneur. Do you really want a second job?

Serena Holmes:

Because that's what that really is and it was for me yeah, and that's extremely active, so don't take that on if you don't have the time.

Allen Lomax:

Exactly, and so 2008 hit and lost everything. I had a lot of time to think about what I was doing and what I really wanted to do, and I realized that it was a lot of work. And I still wanted to be engaged in education, and I did become employed again in that field and had a passion for it, still have a passion for it and love it, and I wanted to devote my time to that. So I'm going. Well, how can I do this and increase my wealth through real estate investing? And so I've found commercial real estate to be the way that you can invest passively and you can also scale it at the same time that you're investing passively.

Serena Holmes:

Now can you talk a little bit more about that, because I think when people hear the word commercial real estate, they may think of something like industrial or warehousing. I'm assuming that you might be alluding to multifamily, but maybe you can talk a little bit about how you discovered that and why you find that to be so beneficial as an investor, an investor.

Allen Lomax:

Well, primarily yes, that is what we do is invest in multifamily because, well, the reason we're doing it is there's an enormous housing shortage in the United States and people need housing, and so there's always going to be a demand for multifamily housing, for multifamily housing. It's also filled. You know, the housing aspect of it was what I was comfortable with as investing in single family homes. I know how to deal with tenants and toilets and trash, though I don't want to deal with that, and so that's why I deal with it passively. But the important thing if you are going to invest passively is you need to know the sponsors, and so that's what I have taken the time, effort and energy to do.

Allen Lomax:

I have a podcast. I have interviewed over 650 a podcast. I have interviewed over 650 successful investors in the field, and so I have built this huge portfolio of successful investors so that I can go to them with the capital not only my own capital, but the capital that I raise and invest with those who are doing the active part of it and active part of commercial real estate investing. Yes, it's extraordinarily active From acquisition to deal negotiations, to property management, to asset management, to taking these properties from from crack houses to communities where children can play in the playgrounds unsupervised. Is is a major challenge and a major task, and you need to have a team who's experienced and know exactly what they're doing in order to take those from trash to mansion.

Serena Holmes:

And just in terms of where you're investing. So I know in the States it just seems like you know people tend to cross state lines and invest all over, maybe a little bit more so than I see potentially here in Canada. So can you talk about where those properties are and if there's a sweet spot for you, just in terms of number of units or locations, based on landlord laws or affordability?

Allen Lomax:

Well, a lot of our investments are in the Southeast because of three reasons. What we look for in indicators are population growth, income growth and employment opportunity growth. So those are the three factors and so that's why we can cross state lines and we do, and we have invested in Texas and Pennsylvania and right now there's really a lot of opportunity in the Midwest, although we haven't yet invested there, but in the Kansas City area and Missouri areas it's growing really dramatically. So there's spots all over the place that we look at those three indicators of income growth, population growth and employment growth, and those are. If those things are going on there, then those are good communities to invest in. Generally speaking, we're investing in communities of 200,000 or more, and you'd ask about the unit size. We typically are looking for units of 50 units or more and the sweet spot is really 50 to about 150. So we go outside those parameters if the numbers are working correctly.

Serena Holmes:

Now I know that the price point would probably vary a little bit depending on the location, but what would you say? The average price point for like a 50 unit would be compared to, say, 150 unit a 50 unit would be compared to, say, 150 unit.

Allen Lomax:

Uh, the price point seemed to be around the 50 units, somewhere around the two to three to four million uh dollars, depending upon the the property itself and, of course, its location yeah and uh.

Allen Lomax:

The 150 units are anywhere from 10 to uh to 12 to 15 million or so, and of course, I mean we do extensive underwriting and even though it may be in a community with all three of those factors that are working for it, it may, on the surface, look like a very good value add. The underwriting is what is going to determine whether or not we're going to go into this, and we make tons of offers each and every year. 99% of them are not accepted because we stick to our numbers and we do not go into a deal until we know that we can make the projected numbers that we are looking for.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. Now, when you look back at your portfolio, or even, potentially, your career, what would you say is something that you're most proud of, or something that you think is your most successful investment?

Allen Lomax:

that you think is your most successful investment. Well, it was. It was a Murphy's Borough property there were it was basically a well-maintained property, but the owner of it the owner had built it, he'd owned it for something like 20, 22 years or so and had managed it himself and since he knew the property, he had a good maintenance team and so he was taking care of it. But he was doing weekly rentals on these properties and that's what was attracting all of these drug dealers and crackheads and and and there was no, really there was no particular reason for that because this particular property was in a very good neighborhood.

Allen Lomax:

All of the properties surrounding that were nice, middle-class properties and there was a university not far from it, workforce was excellent and so there really was no reason to be running this property like that. But for whatever reason, that's how he chose to run it. So the reason it was so successful is because, of course, we got it at a very good price and we were able to go into this property and, with just changing the management, we were able to convert this community from a drug community to a community where children were playing in the playgrounds unsupervised. And we were able to do that in a three-month period. That's astronomical to turn that kind of property around in that short a period of time. But it was because it was in a good neighborhood. It was well-maintained, properly, at least physically. We did some work to upgrade the exteriors, we put some gazebos and grilling things, we upgraded the playgrounds and what have you, but the apartments themselves were in pretty good shape.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, and I love that you're talking on that. I mean, here in Toronto they just actually passed a bylaw last week and they're calling it the run eviction bylaw. And you know, I think that there's we're in a more of a attendant friendly province which can be challenging for landlords and investors and I think sometimes they get a bad rap. You know they're taking people out on the premise of renovating to improve the value and raise the rents and yes, of course that is part of the goal. But you have to also keep in mind that this is literally cleaning up communities and improving things for a reason, so it's not necessarily just about the bottom line and this selfish desire to kind of increase the value. In that sense, I think you just shine a light on a really important point, which is you're actually making such a good increase in terms of turning it into maybe a disheveled or distressed building and surroundings to something where families can live and feel safe and things like that. So I think that's very important. But, on that note, we're going to take a really brief break forward from our sponsors and we'll be right back. Thanks again for following along with this episode of Inspired to Invest. In addition to real estate, investing and running my own brand experience agency for 18 years. I also published a book called the Accidental Entrepreneur in October of 2021. This is my story and it chronicles how I turned tragedy into triumph to embrace my destiny in entrepreneurship. If you're interested in picking up a copy, you can find the link at serenahomesrealtorcom and you can also find my link tree with all of the retailers in the details below. Thanks again for your support.

Serena Holmes:

Is it real estate investment? You're considering a gold mine or a landmine? Introducing propertycastio, the black magic of real estate investment analysis. Use propertycastio to analyze and underwrite real estate investment opportunities, unlock the potential of a property and share professional reports. Jordan McGregor is a commercial realtor and founder of PropertyCastio. He identified the need to simplify and streamline how properties are underwritten to help investors make better decisions and sound investments. Investors make better decisions and sound investments. Propertycastio is a best-in-class, purpose-built tool for real estate investment analysis. To find out more, go to PropertyCastio and to sign up, click the link in the show notes.

Serena Holmes:

Inspired to Invest is proud to support the Beyond Success program. In today's complex world, it's absolutely crucial for our youth to learn how to take charge of their financial future. We believe that every young person deserves access to accurate, practical financial information. Designed to bridge the gap, the Beyond Success program leverages a comprehensive educational boot camp to equip young minds with essential financial literacy skills. At Beyond Success, it's not just about teaching financial literacy it's also about fostering a foundation for a prosperous and empowered future. Join us Together, we can build a brighter financial future for the next generations. Join us Together, we can build a brighter financial future for the next generations.

Serena Holmes:

Hey everybody, welcome back to Inspire to Invest. I have Alan Lomax joining me today from Steed Talker Capital in North Carolina, and before the break we were talking about how he got into real estate investing and how he's now transitioned so he can offer some passive real estate investments to people so that they can find financial independence and freedom, and I guess one of the things that I want to know is what would you say is one of the craziest things that's happened to you as a real estate investor so far?

Allen Lomax:

One of the craziest things. Well, I mean, I just go back to 2008. That really truly was the most craziest thing that had happened to me. It was out of the blue. I didn't see 2008 coming, but it came like a tidal wave. I wasn't the only one who suffered from that, but it certainly has sharpened my perspective on not only being aware of what I'm doing as an investor, but being aware of the larger economy and world events and really staying on top of that, and so I don't ever want to be caught off guard like that ever again.

Allen Lomax:

But then also the other not only am I staying on top of those kinds of things, but I never put myself in the vulnerable position that I was in prior to 2008, which was essentially I was over leveraged to the max. I mean there are gurus out there that say I mean we use leverage. Leverage is an important part of real estate investing, but we use it wisely and we use it conservatively. There's so many gurus out there that say, just leverage to the max and that's fine as long as economies are going up. But economies are always, always going to crash and in our underwriting, we are prepared for the crash and we leverage planning for the crash. Whether it comes or not, we are ready for it.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, yeah, I think that's really important, and obviously there's different real estate cycles.

Serena Holmes:

I think right now we're in one of those circumstances and it's not maybe the crash, the way that 2008 was defined, but I feel like a lot of investors that are at least in my network are experiencing that right now because they did go in using other people's money and potentially, in some cases, raised debt instead of equity, so it's not sustainable.

Serena Holmes:

Now they're experiencing big drops in their portfolio values and things like that. They can't pull out the equity on a refi that they had expected. And then now there's these circumstances where they are letting down their passive investors and, in some instances, even going into insolvency proceedings and receiverships and things like that, and it is, you know, damaging to them, but it's devastating to their passive investors that could be losing their principles and in some cases, like you know, it could be their retirement savings and things like that. So I think it's something that you have to be very mindful of when you are an active investor, that you have to be a steward and be extremely responsible for the money that you are bringing in, and you have to try to just always plan for the worst case scenario and multiple exit strategies, just so that you are taking care of your investors and your portfolio.

Allen Lomax:

Absolutely, and yes, you're right, there are numerous capital calls going on because, like you said, people were relying upon debt rather than equity, and that is essentially what I was doing is over leveraging. If you're over leveraged, you're caught between a rock and a hard place and and you're going to hurt yourself, and if you have investors in there, you're going to hurt your investors.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, for sure. Now, in terms of educating yourself as a real estate investor, what would you say? Some of the best advice that you've received over the years?

Allen Lomax:

Okay, get a coach, join a mastermind uh and uh and build your network Uh, and it took me a long time to do all three of those, but those are critical.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, get where you want to go faster. Hopefully less mistakes. Uh, what would you say is one of the biggest lessons? I know you talked about not being over leveraged, but is there anything else that comes to mind when you think about?

Allen Lomax:

you know, just a really pivotal lesson that really transformed your business or your trajectory there are real estate investors out there and then there are other real estate investors, and I want to work with the real estate investors who have solid values. They live those values. Those values are part of their work life, their personal life and they have a stellar track record, and so you're not going to find those just willy-nilly. And there's lots of investors out there. There's a few who have all of those qualities that I'm looking for. So did that answer your question?

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, no, I think so, and I guess just to dive into that a little bit deeper. So there have been some people I've talked to in the last little while that talked about you know how their active investors or their working partners were not necessarily who they expected to be and maybe they overstated their experience or something like that. So I wanted to know what kind of due diligence that you would put into you know, if you're looking to find a GP to partner with and someone that will be that working partner when it comes to acquisition and management and things like that, just that you don't find yourself in a circumstance where you're a partner to somebody that doesn't know what they're doing doesn't know what they're doing.

Allen Lomax:

Well, my due diligence really comes from, uh, from conversations with these people and long-term relationships? Uh, it's not. I don't go into a partnership with anybody I just met yesterday. Uh, these are, uh are, long-term relationships, term relationships that I have been developing over the course of years and and I I stay away from from new investors I, you know I would like to to help new investors out, but it's not just my money that I'm putting into these deals. I'm bringing other investors to this, and so I want to know that I am working with a stellar team who has that track record, and it's easy to look at their track record and see what it is that they have or have not been doing. It's not as easy to know who they are as individuals. The only way you know that is to know them and have an ongoing relationship with them.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, no, that makes sense. Now, in terms of your portfolio, what would you say is next for you, like, do you think you've reached your financial freedom goal, or is there something that you're still aspiring to achieving?

Allen Lomax:

Well, I am still aspiring to grow and develop. I plan to add another thousand units to my portfolio within this next year and have been working on this for many, many years, but I plan to this year. The plan is to really establish the foundation that really is the namesake of my business, Detox Capital, which is a foundation that will support the education and development of an understanding of the equine experience from the equine themselves, rather than what the traditional horsemanship experiences have taught us over the centuries. So it's a big undertaking, but that's where we're moving within this coming year.

Serena Holmes:

Awesome. Now, when you look back, obviously this has been quite the journey for you. How would you say? Real estate investing has changed your life.

Allen Lomax:

Well, as an educator, and certainly even prior to actually going into higher education, I was really it was 38 years before I went back from. I was 38 years old when I went back from my master's degree, an adult. I was just going from job to job to job, living in poverty and just living from paycheck to paycheck. And going into higher education certainly that's not the highest paid profession in the world and so going into real estate and really actually looking at money and wealth from a totally and completely different perspective than I do as a higher education employee, it's a totally different mindset and it has taken me on a totally and completely different journey than it would have had. I stayed in higher education. Just many more education, just many more. You know, with wealth comes opportunities, and so there's just so many more opportunities to empower myself and to empower others that would never have come my way without that.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, no, I love that. So obviously the name of this podcast is inspired to invest, so I always like to ask my guests what's this particular quote that motivates or inspires them.

Allen Lomax:

Well, it is that. It is the quote that some people see life as it is and ask why I see things as they are and ask why not. So that's my favorite quote.

Serena Holmes:

I love that. Yeah, one of my favorites is we rise by lifting others, so I think that's something that's aligned with what you do in terms of sharing opportunities and giving people that chance to reap the benefits of real estate investing the way that you do For anyone that wants to connect to understand the opportunity that you may have available what's the best way for them to reach you?

Allen Lomax:

Well, the best way to do this is and I have a free gift for your audience today I develop relationships with professionals who desire to passionately engage in their calling and I empower them to create multiple streams of passive income so that, free of financial anxiety, they can make significant impacts that they really actually dream of making. And I have created a system, just like I've been talking about, that moves professionals from exchanging their time and money to financial independence and to multiple streams of income where they could spend more time with friends, family and have an abundant lifestyle and really passionately engage in the work of their calling to make the dynamic impacts that they desire to make for humanity and the planet. A strategic consultation. It's valued at $499.

Allen Lomax:

Your viewers and listeners can get a complimentary strategic session.

Allen Lomax:

It lasts about an hour to an hour and a half and during that session we'll clarify their vision, their values, what it is that is significant to them and what it is.

Allen Lomax:

What meaningful impact is it that they really want to make? And we'll talk about what are the obstacles that are preventing them from making that impact and, if they're interested, I'll share with them the blueprint to move them from exchanging their time and money to financial independence. And, like I said, it's complementary and we'll find out if our visions align which my vision is empowering professionals to engage in their calling and make the galactic impact they dream of making and if those visions align then maybe we can work together. And if there's a match there, that's great and wonderful. If there isn't, there's no big deal. We've just made friends with one another and maybe they can refer me to another individual or maybe they'll get back to me at a later date. So they can find that at Steed Talker the name of my company, steed the Horse Talker like I'm doing now, steedtalkercom forward slash strategy, and they can schedule a time for a strategy call.

Serena Holmes:

Perfect, so I'll include all of that in the show notes below. Of course, thank you for taking time out of your schedule to be here today and for anyone that is watching. Of course, thank you for your time. If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure that you like, follow and subscribe. Make sure you're also following along on social media at Inspired to Invest and remember, when you invest in yourself, the sky's the limit. Thanks again. Thanks again to Cardinal Law for bringing you this episode of Inspired to Invest. Thank you.