238: Paving a New Path for Real Estate Investment with Eric Shirley of Four Oaks Capital

Welcome to another episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast! In this episode, Caleb Talley, Jeff Amerine, and Matthew Ward talk with Eric Shirley, the Director of Acquisitions at Four Oaks Capital.  Eric began flipping houses in college before turning his focus towards multi-family complexes.  A year and a half ago, he teamed up with a few of his biggest competitors to form a superteam of sorts.  Caleb, Jeff, Matthew, and Eric talk about Four Oaks Capital’s three main pillars, educating investors to build trust, and which markets will be the next to get hot!  As always, thanks for tuning in!Shownotes (1:44) Introducing Eric Shirley (5:26) Purposefully partnering with investors (12:23) Implementing systems to keep the machine running (14:50) Predicting the next big market and what success looks like (23:37) Teaming up with your biggest competition (26:30) Anticipating challenges (29:10) Finding accredited investors (32:48) Advice for the younger self (35:10) Wrap up   Links Caleb Talley Jeff Amerine Matthew Ward Eric Shirley Four Oaks Capital   Diary of an Apartment Investor    Quotes “You could buy a house on a Friday.  Two weeks later after putting a little work into it, you can make 40, 50 grand.  It was my first taste of real estate.” (4:04)   “It was really just a product of need, knowing that what I was doing wasn’t going to fill my long-term goals, and that’s not the way I wanted to do it.  So just looking for a more efficient way.” (5:11)   “At this point, we look at 100-120 deals a month.  We’re submitting maybe 2 offers a month based on that deal flow.  So, we sift through a lot of less than ideal opportunities to find the diamond in the rough, but that’s our commitment to our investors to find those kinds of unicorns that still exist.” (7:12)   “That was probably our biggest learning curve was kind of the systemization and the process implementation, and creating those from scratch.  At the end of the day, I don’t want a business where I am the business.  I want a business where when I stop being the business, it continues to run like a well-oiled machine.  And those things don’t come without processes and procedures.” (12:52)   “I think for a lot of us that have had success in whatever facet of life, being self-aware enough to recognize where you’re weak is hard, and being able to not only recognize it, but then pass it off to someone else [who has that] strength, and having that trust and accountability.  That took some learning, and we had to make some pivots internally of certain folks that we thought were going to be a better fit [in one position]...turned out to be a better fit [in a different position].” (24:23)   “That’s where I think we really separate ourselves from the pack.  It’s never about us.  It’s always about our investors.  Everything we do is in the best interest of our investors, and I think that shines through our dialogue.” (26:16)   “I think it’s really imperative for folks like us to educate, to instill trust, and to deliver, so that when people see the benefits that real estate investing on a passive level can have, they have a trusted source to turn to.” (28:46)   Sponsored by Tiny Capital: https://www.tinycapital.com/ Tiny partners with founders to give them quick, straightforward exits that protect their team and culture. We’ll make an offer within a week, close the deal within a month, and keep your business operating for the long term.  Get in touch at tinycapital.com/startupjunkies, and we’ll let you know within a couple of days.