Are you looking to get into the real estate game, but don’t want to quit your day job? In this episode, Shane Brooks shares his story of how he made the move to multifamily while maintaining a W2. He discusses how self-education and building strong relationships with like-minded individuals were key steps in making his transition successful. Shane is a project engineer for a midstream company and a partner at Wild Oak Capital. With his strong technical background, he excels at multifamily underwriting, asset management, and project execution. [00:01] – [03:40] Utilizing Time More Efficiently
- Shane talks about his background and starting out with house hacking
- The changes brought about by the pandemic and how he scaled his knowledge in real estate
[03:41] – [08:47] Finding the Right Fit in Partnerships
- Shifting from the solopreneur mindset to the partnership mindset
- The precautions Shane and his partners took before making it official
- Here are some tips on how to find people to partner with
- What are you bringing to the table?
- Doing due diligence
[08:48] – [12:32] Balancing His W2 and His Business in the Long Term
- Why Shane wants to continue his W2
- How he is expanding his network and his knowledge
- This is what Shane is curious about in terms of investing and taking their business to the next level
[12:33] – [13:47] Closing Segment
- Reach out to Shane!
- Links Below
- Final Words
Tweetable Quotes
“We did a few things that I would definitely recommend to your listeners. We did kind of interviews with both Eric and our other partner… just to kind of make sure that our goals aligned, that we had kind of similar opportunities of what we were wanting to do.” – Shane Brooks
“If there’s someone that you’re really interested in… that you really want to learn from and maybe partner with or at least get into that circle, do your research to figure out what they need.” – Shane Brooks
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Connect with Shane Brooks directly at shane@wildoakcapital.com or (970)759-6039. You may also visit the Wild Oak Capital website and check out their podcast, The Real Estate Mindset. They would love to share their knowledge and expertise with you.
Resources Mentioned:
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
Connect with me:
I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.
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Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com
Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below:
Shane Brooks [00:00]
We typically try to sell our properties or investments in about three to five years. And so we’ve done that five times our iterations now, so very rare in our space. But it’s, like I said, follows the same footprint as what we do in the multifamily space, private equity-backed company, small, kind of nimble, where we all kind of wear a lot of different hats. And so I really liked that piece of it because it makes every single day different and exciting. But then there’s also keys that W2 to help support what my goals and dreams are for real estate. And so being able to do side by side for as long as possible is only going to help that and expand that even quicker.
Intro [00:35]
Welcome to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we’ll teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big.
Sam Wilson [00:46]
Shane Brooks is a Colorado native working in Houston as a project engineer for a midstream company while also running a syndication company focusing in Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma. Shane, welcome to the show.
Shane Brooks [00:58]
Appreciate you having me on Sam. Pleasure to be on.
Sam Wilson [01:00]
Hey, man, pleasure is mine three questions I asked every guest who com e on the show. Where did you start? Where are you now? How did you get there? Oh, before you answer that, it has to be 90 seconds or less.
Shane Brooks [01:08]
All right, I’ll try to make it quick. So yeah, I’m born and raised in Colorado, got an engineering degree from Fort Lewis College. I found out pretty quickly during college, I didn’t want to pay campus housing. And so I started the house hack right out of school and a little townhouse with my brother and girlfriend at the time, who’s now my wife. And so that’s really where I initially began and kind of always had that real estate bug. And now I’m 29 years old and married about three and a half years, living in Houston now, but a lot of my initial growth investing was in Durango and of a small mountain town area, and then into a syndication space where the one deal we have in a contract will put us at 152 units, about 15 and a half million dollars under assets under management, and then also a limited partner in about 494 units in Texas.
Sam Wilson [01:54]
That’s fantastic. Tell me about how have you balanced working a W2 job and also launching a syndication company? And I guess inside of that the follow-up question to that would be if you figured out early, you know, house hacking right out of school, why don’t you just stick with it?
Shane Brooks [02:08]
Yeah, so I’ll start with the first part. Coming out of school is I knew, I’ve always been a numbers guy, financial guy. And so I knew that that made a lot of sense. But I know a lot of the metrics behind real estate and how to actually run that properly. So looking back, there’s definitely some things I would have done differently, but at least got me into the space. And so educating myself, it really didn’t come till I would say early 2020, basically, right when the pandemic hit. It really kind of took off and started self-educating myself and scaling it that sense. So it’s been a lot of scaling here recently. But it’s all knowledge-based, and I would have done a lot of things differently if I could have. But in terms of balancing, I think part of it goes to the pandemic itself and somewhat of a blessing there. So we started a hybrid schedule with my W2 job. And then during the height of the pandemic, we were actually working from home for about six months, seven months. And so working from home, you don’t have that hour commute into town, you don’t have two-hour commute back. So you kind of get a lot more time efficiency. And with that, it’s like, well, I need something to fill my time and I don’t want to be watching TV, I immediately when I get done with the workday. So started just diving into real estate, more podcasts, reading that kind of book that I could to just fill my space and utilize that time more efficiently. So that’s really how it started. And we’re, like I said, we’re on a hybrid schedule. We’re doing Mondays and Fridays from home. And so I kind of taken advantage of that. And the times that I’m not in my W2 space, it’s all that efficiency goes right to real estate.
Sam Wilson [03:41]
Gotcha. How have you scaled this? You’re now a part of Wild Oak Capital. How did you discover your partners? How did you guys figure out who’s going to do what? How did that process happen?
Shane Brooks [03:52]
Yes. So it’s actually a pretty organic operation. My mindset was always going to do things quickly. On my own, I really didn’t have a partnership mindset to begin with. So I was doing a lot of off-market deals, looking at different creative ways to get into the space in Durango. So Durango is a fairly expensive market. So not something you can just go on the MLS and buy something on and not a lot of multifamily is that are just sitting out there. So I realized that small multifamily was my best option in town. And so I really started getting creative and just doing a lot of different transactions there. And which placed me in Durango, I think six or seven different times throughout that year, even though I was in Houston. So there was a real estate meetup here in town. And every time I was here, it was like that same day I was here. So I just made it a point to go see what everyone else was doing. Be a part of that meetup. And after I was kind of there for the three or four in a row, the host of that meetup, it was actually Eric Nelson, who’s my business partner now. He reached out, loved kind of my story, what I was kind of doing and selling, what I was proficient at, which is really the numbers underwriting deal sourcing that sort of thing. So he actually asked me to be kind of a contract person to help them get caught up on their underwriting, since they had just started him and another partner of ours a syndication space in Oklahoma. And so they were getting a few deals kind of in place, they built the broker relationships, but they couldn’t keep up with the inflow that was coming in, because they were still working their W2s as well. So that’s how I got at least hooked up with them, we realized really quickly that it was a great partnership. And so we created a group there and then actually brought our fourth partner on to kind of help with asset management processes and procedures, a lot of the back office kind of stuff to round out our group of four.
Sam Wilson [05:36]
That’s awesome. Talk to me about the contract underwriting side of things. You use those two words together. And I want to kind of hear maybe for our listeners, how you went into that initially, to add value to these guys, it doesn’t sound like you went into it with this idea that, hey, we’ll be partners someday.
Shane Brooks [05:51]
Yeah, I’m really looking at apartments, I never even had it in my mind was like, we could be part owner that we could be in this space. And so large multifamily space was never on my mind. But I knew what I was really good at. There’s almost like a weekly amount that my business partner Eric was willing to pay to kind of get help cut up into the space. And it was his idea, I didn’t reach out, kind of didn’t know what they were looking for exactly. But I kind of took it as an opportunity, is like I know enough in this space. It’s intrigued me. And I think I can really excel. And so I kind of just took that opportunity. This is more of a handshake contract basis. But like I said, it turned really quickly into something that we knew we could form down the road. And we took all the kind of same precautions. So we did a few things that I would definitely recommend to your listeners to is we did kind of interviews with both Eric and our other partner that was already in the group. So we did multiple interviews, just to kind of make sure that our goals aligned, that we had kind of similar opportunities of what we were wanting to do. But they also had our specifics that we were good at. And we can kind of piggyback of the other partners in the group. And then we actually did a small deal in Lubbock, Texas together, just as the three of us to really gauge how we operated together. And there was three duplexes, so wasn’t a huge burden on the capital side. But it really kind of helped put in place where each other was strong and proficient, where we wanted to focus and then helped us really solidify that we wanted to form a group together.
Sam Wilson [07:18]
That’s really cool. Yeah, I love the idea of starting small and really getting the kinks worked out, that’s certainly a valuable way to go about it. That’s an interesting way to get in, you know, I know that there’s contract underwriters out there, there are people that hey, you know, I get, you know, emails all the time, who said, hey, help out with underwriting for a fixed fee per deal? Or whatever it is, but bringing that skill set to the table? Is there anything else you would recommend that people do? If they are out trying to form a partnership? Or if they are looking at their skillset, saying, What can I bring to the table? What’s a good way to go out and really find other people to partner with?
Shane Brooks [07:52]
That’s a great question. And I think really just doing your due diligence. So if there’s someone that you’re really interested in, maybe their level above you, that you really want to learn from and maybe partner with, or at least get into that circle would be doing your research to figure out what they need. A lot of these operators, they may have an area that they’re lacking, or they may need help on, but they don’t maybe know it right off the top of their head. And they get asked that all the time, you’re going to hear that people get asked how can I add value to you, where the people that actually stand out is people that come to you and say, hey, I’ve been following you, I’ve seen some of the properties or projects you’ve been doing. This is where I think that you’re maybe lacking or this may be where I can kind of help in and take something off your plate. But if you do that initial research, show them that you’re committed, you’re going to be way more successful to kind of get into their loop and have them kind of get some feedback into whether that’s a partnership, or at least getting into that space to kind of breach their circle and see where they’re going at. That’d be the biggest part for me.
Sam Wilson [08:48]
Got it. Man. That’s absolutely fantastic. Let’s talk about your W2, how long are you going to work that? And what’s the long-term plan?
Shane Brooks [08:55]
Yes, I’ve been at my W2 for about eight years, actually the same company I got with right out of college, and great company, I mean, love everything that I do there. And so that’s really why I’ve run both of these side by side for so long. And plan to continue that. It’s a great company that actually acts very similar to a syndication in the real estate game. So we do the same type of process, we’ll go into kind of an underdeveloped area, and really build these midstream assets, operate them, get them stabilized, staff them and then we’ll operate for a while until we put them on the market to sell. And so we typically try to sell our properties or investments in about three to five years. And so we’ve done that five times our iterations now, so very rare in our space. But it’s, like I said, follows the same footprint as what we do in the multifamily space, private equity-backed company, small, kind of nimble, where we all kind of wear a lot of different hats. And so I really liked that piece of it because it makes every single day different and exciting. But then there’s also keys that W2 to help support what my goals and dreams are for real estate. And so being able to do side by side for as long as possible is only going to help that and expand that even quicker.
Sam Wilson [10:04]
As a limited partner, how have you gone and found the people that you wanted to invest with yourself?
Shane Brooks [10:09]
Yeah, so a couple of ways would be podcasts and meetups or conferences. And so I listened to a lot of different podcasts. And if there’s a guest that kind of comes on that I connect with, maybe they’ve got a similar story, or maybe they’re doing a little bit bigger deals in my area, there’s one of my focuses is being in Houston, I wanted to find an operator that was very transparent, I wanted to see what they were kind of doing being allowed maybe on the properties, being a little more involved as a limited partner, and not just to invest as a limited partner, but to also take their knowledge and be able to apply that to our business to make our syndication company even better. So I really wanted to focus on someone local that I could visit, and then someone that was transparent and open about what they’re doing. So we can share and kind of hands our business as well. So a couple of those from podcast, I’ve reached out, obviously, they always leave their contact information. And I would say 95% of the time, you’re gonna get a response. If you reach out to someone on a podcast.
Sam Wilson [11:08]
That’s for sure. That’s a great tip, there’s so at the end of this, obviously, you get a chance to leave your contact info. And usually people give you a direct way, a direct line on a podcast says, Hey, this is exactly if you want to get straight to me, here’s how you do it, which I think is really cool way to do things. Tell me something you’re curious about right now.
Shane Brooks [11:25]
Yeah. So curious, on my end is really some of the larger deals, that larger value add multifamily complexes in some of these Texas markets that are outside of your main cities. And so right now, our focus has really been about 30 units, 125 units for various different reasons, but really wanting to break into that next larger space. And so that’s, our curiosity is really peaked so far there to really understand some of the nuances that are different from the smaller complexes and to the larger, and some of the challenges we overcome to be able to take some of those projects down. So I try not to get object syndrome, because you could go down that path really quick. But right now, I think, at least on a focus level, that’s where our curiosity lies.
Sam Wilson [12:08]
Fantastic. What’s the book you’re reading right now?
Shane Brooks [12:10]
Lot of different books, we actually have a little kind of book club in our group just to make sure keep us accountable for always kind of expanding. But Raising Capital by Hunter Thompson is one that we’re focusing on right now as capital is a huge part of this business. And that book is an amazing book. Obstacles is The Way as another one, which huge mindset piece. So those are two probably currently that we’re focused on.
Sam Wilson [12:33]
Love it. I love the book club inside your little group that’s always learning. Absolutely critical to success. So fantastic, Shane, I’ve enjoyed this. Thanks for taking the time to come on today. If our listeners want to get in touch with you, or learn more about you, what is the best way to do that?
Shane Brooks [12:47]
Our group is called Wild Oak Capital, but we also have a podcast as well. The Real Estate Mindset, we focus a lot on mindset. And then big part of our business is education. We love to teach and kind of bring that knowledge to others. No charge at all. On our end, we just we love talking about real estate, so anything that we can share, we would love to do so. So wildoakcapital.com is our website you can reach me directly at shane@wildoakcapital.com, or even on my cell at 970-759-6039. And we’d love to connect with any of your listeners and help out in any way we can.
Sam Wilson [13:18]
Thanks, Shane. Have a great day.
Shane Brooks [13:19]
Thanks, Sam.
Sam Wilson [13:21]
Hey, thanks for listening to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Podcast. If you can do me a favor and subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, whatever platform it is you use to listen, if you can do that for us, that would be a fantastic help to the show. It helps us both attract new listeners as well as rank higher on those directories so appreciate you listening. Thanks so much and hope to catch you on the next episode.
