969: Doing Million-Dollar Deals as a College Student – Realtor Andres Bustamante

Aaron Amuchastegui  00:32

Real Estate Rockstars. This is Aaron Amuchastegui. And today I’m super excited to get to interview Andreas Bustamante the honors is on the the Nino team in Austin, Texas with Keller Williams. But the cooler part about this is I understand I have had a few different kind of fun stories that we got to share. So he’s gonna tell you that he was a listener of the podcast for a really, really long time. And also, when I bought my house a little over a year ago, the and he was working with a guy said, hey, go drop off the keys, he came to drop off the keys, and I answered the door. And both of us were a little shell shocked that we had, that we had kind of known each other, but not so fun stories. And he’s crushing it as an agent out there. So he’s been an agent for five years, but in just the last two years has really blown up his business. He already has as much in contracts for 2021, pretty much as all of the sales that he did in 2020. So last year, we talked to him, I said, Hey, when you get to this, we’re gonna bring you on the show already first few months into the year. It’s like, Hey, I’m on pace to crush those numbers. Let’s get him on here. So hey, man, thanks for joining us

Andres Bustamante  01:37

here and I really appreciate the opportunity.

Aaron Amuchastegui  01:39

Yeah, so the so you got your license five years ago? When did you start listening to our podcast?

Andres Bustamante  01:44

So I started listening to the podcast about a year and a half ago when I graduated from college, and I didn’t really know if I wanted to do a W nine, W two sorry, or a 1099.

Aaron Amuchastegui  01:55

Yeah. started listening to any other good real estate agent podcasts out there you were listening to or is this your favorite?

Andres Bustamante  02:00

Of course, this is my number one.

Aaron Amuchastegui  02:03

That’s the only right answer. That’s a trick question.

Andres Bustamante  02:07

You’re about to cut the recording. I saw your finger right there.

Aaron Amuchastegui  02:10

Yeah, I was ready. So the so let’s so tell everybody about so you got your license five years ago, but I know your story is a little bit unique. What So tell us about that. Why did you get your license five years ago? What was your first year like?

Andres Bustamante  02:24

So I got my license five years ago, because I started University at the University of Texas at Austin when I was 19. And I really wanted a job so that my parents weren’t have to worry about paying for college or paying for any other of my expenses. I originally was going to be a lifeguard that my license had expired for that. So I decided to do real estate because it was online based on my own time. And also I can make as much money as I worked for. So if I worked hard, I would get enough money. So freshmen sophomore year, was getting the rose wrestle ropes as a leasing agent, junior year, through all the people that I had met, I was able to make a $1.1 million sale, that was amazing, opened my eyes to the big Commission’s that I could be getting. So that junior and senior year, I was actually able to pay for all of my college with the money I made from leasing agencies.

Aaron Amuchastegui  03:17

Good. So that’s so you sign up to view to become an agent, really, because you were looking for a job. You were like, hey, I need I need a job to pay my bills, what’s the job or I can make my own hours and like real estate came up. So you did that? And then mow? What’s it? What is the leasing agent? So when you became when you got licensed became a leasing agent for people that don’t know what that is? Tell him tell him what that is and what those sorts of commissions look like. Of course.

Andres Bustamante  03:43

So with UT Austin, there are about 50,000 students, and most of those students are renting apartments. So essentially, it’s like if someone’s looking for a home that instead to rent. So as a leasing agent, I would bring the clients to the apartment complex, the apartment complex would see that I brought them and usually in Austin West Campus, which is the area with all students are the apartment complexes pay about a 400 to $500 fee per bedroom. So if I did a four bedroom, two bathrooms I’d get around $2,000.

Aaron Amuchastegui  04:16

Okay, so the so how did you? How did you get those leads? So would you meet people in class and say, Hey, let me let me help you find an apartment or whatever,

Andres Bustamante  04:25

I would seriously just sit next to new people all the time in class because I love meeting new people and just start talking to them. And from there. Turns out, it’s like they did this I did that. And some someone that they knew or they themselves were looking for an apartment to rent. So through that, then through all of the organizations that I was in, I was in business attorney a social fraternity on the UT soccer team. And from there, it just started a snowball effect. That junior year I had so many clients and then referrals from those clients. That it was just amazing. And it opened my eyes to the power of real estate, the UT soccer team will have a lot more to talk about later with with some of that fun stuff. So I didn’t realize that as a leasing agent, you could get 2000 bucks a deal for it. Like, especially when you’re talking to students, like you’re sitting down meeting somebody in class, they’re like, Oh, yeah, me and my roommate are looking for a new apartment, you’re like, hey, let

Aaron Amuchastegui  05:20

me in. Let me represent you on that, or let me help you, you will get the deal done. That’s like 2000 bucks. That’s not bad.

Andres Bustamante  05:27

It was amazing. And I it really helped me with my negotiation skills, talking to clients, talking to tenants, really helped expand kind of my, the real estate that I was looking to do. Once once I graduated, which was full time residential. In hindsight, this leasing for four years really helped me to know how to talk to people know how to negotiate and whatnot. So I was very thankful for that time. And I mean, it was great money as a part time student,

Aaron Amuchastegui  05:57

kid, what a story. So how much money did you make your first year, your second year doing it? Because this is I mean, it’s totally part time. So your full time student, but on the side, you’re showing these Did you remember how much you made your first year and your second? So first,

Andres Bustamante  06:09

and second years, I didn’t make much I was getting the hang of things. And my mindset wasn’t really the best mindset back then. So junior year, I made about 40k. And senior year, I made like 50k a

Aaron Amuchastegui  06:22

day, that’s crazy. As part part time doing leasing, so your first, so you got really good at it by the third year, and you’re like, holy cow, I’m making as much money. While I’m going to school as some of the people you went to school with, we’re gonna make, right some of the people you graduated with. They’re making 40 or 50 grand a year right now. And you were making that already. So what what would you have done different your first couple years? So I always ask people like, What do you wish you to know in your first year? It’s never really about, you know, this sort of a journey which you have such a cool journey of doing that. But what do you wish you would have known your first year, your second year? Or if somebody is like a freshman in college, they’re thinking about doing this? Like, what advice would you give them? I

Andres Bustamante  07:02

would definitely say to switch your mindset to maybe I’m not worthy of doing is because I’m too young. That that mindset of you know what I know my stuff. And I know that I am a resource so that people can get the best apartment complex possible based on their criteria. Like for me, it would have just been a mindset shift. Like it’s about the same on people are getting into luxury. It’s like, Am I worthy of doing this or not? As long as you’re that source, and the educator, feel like you can be successful in almost anything in real estate.

Aaron Amuchastegui  07:35

Yeah. So it sounds like you’re almost having some of your first couple years, you’re almost having that imposter syndrome, where you’re like, I don’t really want to tell people this or I don’t want to, like what if I’m wrong? What if I do a bad job, or I can’t believe I’m going to get paid? So it’s almost like not feeling worthy of getting the $2,000 paycheck. So instead of asking, you just did,

Andres Bustamante  07:54

yeah, I was like, 19, and taking families on tours, like kids, with their parents, students with their parents. And I was just like, Oh my gosh, yeah, like, yeah, way older than me.

Aaron Amuchastegui  08:05

You’re like, please trust me on this. Because the So did you tell people Hey, I’m new at this? I mean, do you work? Because they obviously knew you were young. So how did you? How did you get over that hump? Or where did they ever ask you like, hey, do

Andres Bustamante  08:18

you know what you’re doing? junior and senior year, nobody asked me because I knew right away what to expect. And also every apartment complex, I was very close with the property managers. So anyone that’s on their criteria, I could tell them their top three choices, and they would choose one of those three apartment complexes. So it’s really the confidence I grew way more confident myself. And people can see that.

Aaron Amuchastegui  08:43

Yeah. So you’ve empowered yourself with knowledge, like so the more the more you figure it out, the more though at the beginning your first year, you’re you’re giving them the best answers that you had. But you weren’t necessarily confident in your own answers by your junior year. You knew you were right. Like you knew that these were their three best. You got more confident with that? That’s 100% correct. Good. I can’t believe you paid for your college while you were going to college. Just doing leases on the side senior year. Yes. What a crazy thing to realize you can make 4050 grand a year just by meeting other students and doing that. So yeah, for new agents, especially like new college students thinking about doing this, like what a what a heck of a story in a way I’m sure some people are going to reach out to you and go like, hey, so I’m doing that now. What I do next, now, by your third or fourth year, you did a $1.1 million deal and all sudden you’re like holy cow. Now that’s a that’s a bigger jump. So instead of doing 10 Commission’s i’m doing i’m getting one, how did you make that transition? And then tell us how you went from doing that to the amount of volume that you now you’ve got 20 under contract and 2021 What was that? What were the next few years so

Andres Bustamante  09:49

trust me, when I got the referral for the sale. I called the person and I thought they were wanting to rent they told me Look my my budgets one to 3 million, and I was just like, okay, I acted confident like, you know, I was like, Hey, I do know what I can show you. Let me just get everything together. I didn’t even know what an HOA was when I was a junior. I think I was like 21. And I had no idea. But I did a lot of due diligence, and got my client to buy the property that you really love that. So got like a $30,000 check, which was amazing. And then from there, I didn’t do another sale until I graduated. And that’s when I met Diego Corzo. He’s been on this podcast, I believe, several times. Yeah. And I met him because I really needed a mentor. And I didn’t want to stay with housing scout. That was the leasing agency I was a part of. So I reached out to him, I cold called him. He told me Look, I’m busy. Call me next week. I think he didn’t expect me to call him that I call them back. And we talked about our goals and whatnot. And like two weeks later, I was on his team. So that was February of 2020. So last year, about a year ago.

Aaron Amuchastegui  11:06

Yeah. How did you first learn about Diego?

Andres Bustamante  11:09

I first learned about Diego because of your podcast and BiggerPockets podcast. Okay.

Aaron Amuchastegui  11:16

Yes, yeah. Diego has been on our on our podcast several times. So he got interviewed. As an agent. We’ve also had him as you guys that remember Diego, he was an agent that the family that house that I’m sitting in right now in Austin, Porter here to show me and my family, right, like 50 houses over a period of about a year we were from New every time. Every time they would come in, we’d fly in from out of state, he’d have to do all these hoops and all these jumping in. Finally it paid off. And luckily, the last house we bought was way more than those first houses. He spent so much so much effort. He’s obviously we’re gonna he is a hustler. So you’d heard of him on some podcasts, you’re like, Alright, this guy is also in Austin. And then you joined this team in February. And then a month later, he told you to come bring me the keys to my house and the and you didn’t realize

Andres Bustamante  12:05

I was fangirling. I was like, No, let’s open the door. And I see Aaron and I’m like, there’s no way this like the Aaron from Estate Rockstars The

Aaron Amuchastegui  12:15

What a funny smallworld moment. They’ve been listening for a long time. And then you put two and two together and that leave it at that moment. What was really cool. So right after that you reached out and you and he said said hey, you know I’m a listener of the podcast, I was there today can’t believe that we didn’t get to chat some more. And I said, I can’t wait until you get on the podcast. Let’s get your volume numbers up. And let’s get you on here. And then just this week, when you reached out, you’re like, Hey, here’s my, here’s where I’m at now. So 2020 you guys, did you know 25 sales? I think you said 16. Were by yourself. nine of them were with others that was frame points. team leads. So what’s it what is a team lead?

Andres Bustamante  12:55

So a team lead is when Diego or Victor essentially Hand me off one of their their leads that they have and I work with their clients.

Aaron Amuchastegui  13:05

Okay. So the and then right now, how many of you have under contract

Andres Bustamante  13:09

under contract? 20? under contract?

Aaron Amuchastegui  13:12

Wow. And mostly as a buyer’s agent or listing agent. So surprisingly, I’ve done all buyer’s agents. So you’ve got you’ve got 20 and escrow right now, as buyers in a market where every on every house is getting 20 offers on it. Right?

Andres Bustamante  13:28

Yeah. And it’s about really pivoting and just being smart about your strategies. When you’re looking to get an offer accepted.

Aaron Amuchastegui  13:34

That’s very important. What’s the average price the ones you have in escrow?

Andres Bustamante  13:37

The average price is about 350.

Aaron Amuchastegui  13:40

Okay, so you said that you’ve got so you’ve got 7 million under contract right now, you did 8 million, including your team leads in 2020 What’s your volume number gonna be by the end of 2021

Andres Bustamante  13:51

by the end of 2021, with all of the ones that I have under contract, so I bought six years ago. So right now with the 26.5 that’s the volume. My goal is to help 50 families I like saying help 50 families because I feel like the like the the perspective of it’s just about changing the words and whatnot. I’m a big believer in that. So helping 50 families as opposed to selling 50 homes. That’s my goal.

Aaron Amuchastegui  14:17

I love that just that mindset change you know, I’ve interviewed a few people over the last maybe six to nine months that I’ve kind of talked about that you know, being able to change the way change the words that you use that reflect on how many lives you’re changing, helping helping the families you know, really doing it helps that mindset shift helps helps you to work harder and get out of bed the the money stuff is nice, but sometimes there’s there’s some days are hard on real estate agents and I’ve heard money I’ve heard plenty and say hey, this is not worth the money, but maybe if you’re helping the families to real estate rockstars This is a commercial break from our biggest podcast sponsor we have right now rent ready It can be fun getting a new real estate deal. But it can be tough managing your properties after the fact, especially if you’re long distance investing or trying to manage multiple properties by yourself. That’s why we’re here to tell you about rent ready, really is a property management software that not only makes it easier to manage all your real estate deals from one platform, but they also have the best customer service support in the biz. They’re an all in one app that lets you easily manage properties, collect rent, lists, units, screen tenants, sign leases, all from your phone or computer. Imagine all of your real estate doors right in your pocket. How awesome is that? The best part is it’s so affordable one flat price for everything, unlimited properties, tenants and support with a real live human, and I have to add in there, that’s a new business model that not a lot of people are doing. There’s like this freemium model where people say, hey, you can try this, but as soon as you grow, it’s gonna cost you a lot of money, or they kind of punish you, when you get too many emails on your list or too many. They aren’t gonna punish you when you grow. They’re not going to charge you more when you get 10 2030 rentals, they’re just charge you the same when you have two or three as they will when you have 50 or 60. Do you have a nice fixed costs? All software all in one place? Check it out rent ready? arienne t r e vi.com. And if that’s not enough, rent rate is giving our listeners a special code you can use to get a whole year rent ready for just $54 us code AR o ck sta r 50 that Rockstar 50 instead of for rent raise annual plan at rent ready.com. Again, r e n t r e di.com with code Rockstar 50 to get rent ready for only $54.

Aaron Amuchastegui  16:45

So, how are you getting that many? How many like how many clients you have right now? So if you’ve got 20 in escrow? Are you writing offers on hundreds or hundreds of clients? Or do you have 30 clients and you’re just really good to get your offer accepted.

Andres Bustamante  16:59

So a lot of my clients have been house hacking clients, most of my clients are from the ages of like 20 to 30. Okay, I have helped. Obviously, I have helped families and whatnot, that my niche that I tailored my content to that I do on Instagram has really been house hackers. So a lot of them have been new builds, I believe about 16, or new builds, and the others are some high rises that are coming up. And one of them is a home that I just put under contract yesterday. So it’s been a lot about new builds, putting the earnest deposit, seeing the house appreciate and just taking advantage of also lender incentives and a lot of other things and new builds offer

Aaron Amuchastegui  17:39

that new builds are kind of some of the only game in town right now out here in the Austin area. Traditionally, they’re not in downtown Austin, traditionally, you’re 30 4050 miles away from the city core. And we but when you’re talking house hacking, you’re having somebody buy three or four bedroom house and then rent it out by the room where traditionally, let’s say you were gonna rent it for 2000 bucks before, if you’re not by the room, you can actually rent it for $3,000 per house, whereas it might not cash flow for a regular investor it cash flows for you. Right, exactly.

Andres Bustamante  18:10

And and you’re essentially taking away that rental that rent that you would be paying if you’re living in apartment. So it’s a huge step towards financial freedom, especially at a young age.

Aaron Amuchastegui  18:23

So what advice would you give people if they’re going to go try to buy a new home right now? So what what should they know? How is that process different when they’re buying a new home? Because it’s because the when you get a house in escrow while it’s under construction, you’re not going to actually get too close on that house for three months for now, right now in this market. By the time you close, it’s worth 20 grand more than it was before. What’s the story behind all that?

Andres Bustamante  18:45

Well, what I do, the advice that I’d offer is definitely to know what to expect in a market, study the market First of all, and then also know what your goal is, is it either appreciation or cash flow? For me it’s cash flow. So from that, knowing that it’s cash flow, I know what part of Austin to login, and I know that I’m gonna want a minimum of four beds, two and a half bathrooms. So right off the bat, you have to answer those questions. And then from there, it’s just a domino effect. The other questions get answered. For me it was cash flowing at least $200 leaving east of I 35. I found that home. I bought it last year for 280 6000. And now it’s worth about 385,000.

Aaron Amuchastegui  19:26

What are the what are the builder warranties? Like right now? Like what are the benefits of buying a new home,

Andres Bustamante  19:32

the builder warranties are doing as a one to 10. So it’s one year of craftsmanship. Let’s say that my doors in closing or my window doesn’t close. I can call the warranty company and they will fix that. Two years of age HVAC, plumbing and electricity and then 10 years of structure and roof. Then there’s also lender incentives. If you go with the builders preferred lender, there’s going to they’re going to give you about 2% towards closing costs and they might even throw Washington Under Phrygian.

Aaron Amuchastegui  20:01

Cool. So the so use their lender, you get a little bit of extra incentives on that process. You’ve got that warranty. And is that warranty any different if you are house hacking if you have renters in place?

Andres Bustamante  20:13

No, it’s not different at all. It’s as long as you go through them for the warranty, it won’t be void. But if you use someone else, then the builder voids that warranty.

Aaron Amuchastegui  20:23

Two builders pay the same commission.

Andres Bustamante  20:26

Some do still pay 3% Leonardo has started pay 2% if you bring them more than one person, they’ll pay 2.5 and then 3%

Aaron Amuchastegui  20:36

Oh, wow. So if you’re only doing one deal with them, they do too. But if you bring him three, they escalate the commission up to make you keep coming back. That’s that’s a pretty brilliant actually. I mean, I remember when the housing market was crashing we started paying like buyer agent Commission’s of like, 5% Yeah, did we were doing crazy stuff like in California in like 2007 2008 the market starting to fall, we’re dropping prices 10 or 20 grand. And we started going like hey, buyer’s agent commission. 5.6 points, we still couldn’t even sell them like

Andres Bustamante  21:05

2% Yeah, and there’s builders that are doing bids. Now, like Dr. Horton, they’ve done bids, and I’ve seen homes go for like 100,000 over ask.

Aaron Amuchastegui  21:15

I was gonna ask how the builder releases work during these hot times because in 2005 that was the last time I experienced a peak as a home builder. And we would release houses we’ve released six or seven at a time they would sell in that moment sometimes there’d be a lottery of signups Are you draw names out of the hat? And then a month later when your next seven houses were ready, you would do new pricing based on the market so right now it’s like the house is going up a lot. So the and and regular houses on the market there gets you know, we’re getting multiple offers or people are offering over asking so I was guessing the builder houses you never had to worry about over asking because they said here’s the price and here it is. But now just as competitive. Huh? Welcome to Austin. Yeah,

Andres Bustamante  21:56

no builders are ruthless. I mean 10 per every two weeks, and fully waive the appraisal. So let’s say the home’s going for 300,000 you bedroom and 50 you have to waive that appraisal, in case it doesn’t appraise the home doesn’t appraise that value. And you also have to put the earnest deposit of the difference from the original price and the bid price.

Aaron Amuchastegui  22:18

Do that’s a trip. That’s the insane That is insane. I mean, the market is insane everywhere. So do you have any in escrow right now that aren’t new construction? Well,

Andres Bustamante  22:30

what a what a high rise downtown be considered. And

Aaron Amuchastegui  22:35

it’s something that they is one of those things he hasn’t

Andres Bustamante  22:37

been finished yet.

Aaron Amuchastegui  22:39

Okay. So it’s so it’s all new construction. So everything you have going on right now you’ve got a high

Andres Bustamante  22:42

rise yesterday actually under contract for free home. Very close to downtown. That was yesterday. Just got into escrow. So that’s one cool if not a new bill.

Aaron Amuchastegui  22:55

Tell me about So tell me about the high rise. What was that

Andres Bustamante  22:58

the high rates? What is that a high rise was one of my really good friends from UT. He reached out because I post a lot of stories on social media. That’s kind of like like number one way to get clients post a lot on social media. He let me know he’s like Andres, I love your content. I’d like you to help me find a high rise. We’re looking for plenty of high rises. We did plenty of tours. We found a high rise that is very interesting concept that’s called an A TiVo. And this high rise. They do an Airbnb concept. Usually condos don’t allow Airbnb s, but this condo is zoned as a hotel. So they do allow Airbnb ease while you’re living there as an owner occupant. So let’s say my buddy leaves for two weeks, the condo than a TiVo, they will take care of everything that has to do with Airbnb. Once my buddy comes back, it’s an owner occupant again, it’s a concept that can either be great or could might be shitty, you know, like, I don’t really know how it’s gonna go. And I told him, it’s important to set the right expectations. I told him, this could potentially be a home run, or maybe not. He wanted to go for it. So we put it under contract for like 925,000.

Aaron Amuchastegui  24:09

What a concept having a condo project that’s like the timeshares that you can do where people like hey, that you could buy the timeshare and come stay here for two or three weeks. Or when you’re out of town, we’ll just rent it out for you. And so the so that’s it’s being able to do an Airbnb without the management that really could turn out to be a cool next level kind of hybrid sort of property when they do that. So what about the one you got in escrow yesterday? How did you get your offer accepted on a house? Like were there multiple offers on it? Where you first Did you? Did you sell the kid? What did you do?

Andres Bustamante  24:43

This one beautiful home in the 78704 zip code. That’s right below downtown. The home was listed for 2.2 2 million. And for me it’s very important build rapport with the agent. Once my client lets me know it Like a home, I will give the agent a call and let them know kind of our situation. And then in a market like Austin is very important to be like, you know what, at what price point are we considered competitive? And then I feel like I’ve heard this a lot, but just be quiet. Instead of kind of telling the agent things that they just don’t want to hear. You just have to be quiet, ask the question and be quiet. So I really listened to the agent, build great rapport, we ended up getting the home for 2.16 5 million, there had been a cash offer, they decided to not follow through with that cash offer. So we’re the only bid beautiful house. And thankfully, we didn’t have to compete, which was pretty surprising. Maybe it was due to the price point that in Austin, you’d expect plenty of competition for almost any home.

Aaron Amuchastegui  25:47

There’s cool. There’s a few cool pieces in that. So I said Daniel Del Rio, we interviewed him a few weeks ago when we had the four superstars on here talking about getting your offer accepted. And he talked about some of that he talked about like the building rapport and then asking the question, and then shutting your mouth, like waiting for the answer, letting them talk because as salespeople it’s really easy for us to keep going, like I get uncomfortable. If there’s quiet if I ask a question, it’s quiet, I get uncomfortable. I want to start talking like that’s why I can do podcast interviews. Yeah. The even when I’m asking questions, I say too much so. So $2.2 million house, there’s a couple things that people might be shocked that it didn’t sell for over asking that there wasn’t multiple offers on it that you actually got it for below asking, even though there were other people on there. How long was that one on the market?

Andres Bustamante  26:32

About 44 days? Okay, so

Aaron Amuchastegui  26:35

you knew. So So part of that was it had been on the market for a little bit. So you felt like hey, we can we can ask how do you not as

Andres Bustamante  26:42

an a VA loan, so that is pretty rare. If you’re competing against other offers, adding a VA loan is very strict process. So thankfully, I was able to get this one for my clients with even with a VA loan.

Aaron Amuchastegui  26:59

Me by you calling the agent, you probably say I mean, you can save your clients 40 grand, or maybe 100 grand, right? by calling the agent and getting a getting a Hey, what ballpark Do we need to be in? Now you found out Alright, we need to be in that 2.16 with 2.16 will be competitive, let’s do it. The I mean, you saved him 40 grand, maybe saved him $100,000 that simple phone call. Now not every house is that big of a swing. But it really goes down to right now building rapport with those agents making sure that you make the phone calls and not assuming that you’re going to lose out, you know, right away like it doesn’t.

Andres Bustamante  27:32

That’s that’s so important. I remember when I was cold calling, I don’t cold call anymore. But when I was cold calling, my mindset was really, oh, I’m gonna I’m going to bother these people. And I don’t want to do this. But when the mindset shift to like, you know, what if I don’t help them out, an agent that doesn’t really know what they’re doing is gonna help them out. And they listed this and they really want to sell. That’s when that mindset shift really helped me to to be better at cold calling.

Aaron Amuchastegui  27:58

Yeah. So let’s do some fire round questions, then what was the what’s the number one way you survived 2020

Andres Bustamante  28:04

like the number one way I survived 2020 was really being an educator. I educated a lot of my people, a lot of the people that follow me on Instagram, and breaking those limiting beliefs that my age, I’m 24 that a lot of people think you can’t buy a house at that age. So I posted my story a lot on social media. A lot of my leasing clients had followed me as well. So those past four years as a leasing agent really helped me. And I mean, educating people. Once I bought my home, a lot of my friends were like, dude, can I do it as well? And I’d educate them. And a lot of my friends that were at UT have bought and it’s just been amazing seeing what they’ve been doing with house hacking.

Aaron Amuchastegui  28:47

right cuz you even though you’ve been an agent for five years, really your first big year

Andres Bustamante  28:52

was 2020. March. Yeah, I started full time, March 2020.

Aaron Amuchastegui  28:57

She started full time, March 2020, then COVID shuts the world down. We have a ton of we have a ton of listeners out there, that the the rest of 2020 they had a really, really rough year and having somebody be able to start during that time and still be successful. So you said one one of your biggest secrets was was just education, using social media, educating people getting out there that got you more leads that had people come to you.

Andres Bustamante  29:23

I also think one thing that maybe not a lot of people take into account that for me is the most important thing has been my morning routine. The Miracle Morning by you know how Elrod I’m a huge, huge Hello, Colorado fan. I read that book. And it really changed my life. Like the morning routine for me was something that I needed because in order to be the best possible educator source of information for people, I needed to be at peace with myself quote unquote. And it also had to be like some inner inner development that I needed before I could go and help other people out. So the morning routine for me, it’s probably been the most important thing that I’ve changed ever Ever since I started as a full time agent,

Aaron Amuchastegui  30:02

do that’s awesome. I love how the same thing, how’s a great, great friend of mine now, but at first time I got to meet him, I got to tell him, Hey, your book changed my life man. Like back in 2013, my businesses kind of failed because I was in a market where it was now too competitive. I went from lots of money to zero. And I was like trying to get climb my way back out of that. I read the Miracle Morning, started using that doing that all the time. So I mean, I will say, say it right now, anybody listening out there that is having a slump, or has been having a slump the last three months, the last six months, don’t quite know how to make it happen right now. Go by house book, by the Miracle Morning, read that book, apply that for 60 days, and I guarantee you’ll see big, big changes. I’m glad that you brought that up because that is one of the things right now that I think is a is a secret, like a secret of our life has been so weird the last year and having again, mindset and like it’s tough to stay motivated. It’s tough to like, get up and do things when you’re when you’re also like living Groundhog’s Day. So what’s about like, Is there any big lesson you learned over the past year, and that can be personal that can be that can be about real estate that can be about the world, the economy, anything,

Andres Bustamante  31:11

something big that I learned is that I love this quote. And it’s really like a mindset type of quote, that might sound a little corny, but it’s true. So it’s really your your, your state of life is nothing other than your state of mind. And I’ve been practicing so much on mindset. And it really is whatever you’re thinking inside of your head will be your life. So one thing is well, I read a book called Extreme Ownership. And I know some situations can be crazy with COVID, and whatnot. And I really believe though it’s about taking Extreme Ownership COVID is happening. But there’s always a way to pivot. And make sure that you’re getting about the same business, if not more, if you’re just knowing that, Okay, I’m going to take Extreme Ownership, and everything comes down to me at the end of the day.

Aaron Amuchastegui  31:59

Yeah, I like that Extreme Ownership, that is a focusing on what you can control kind of goes into Extreme Ownership to during during times when it’s really when life is really crazy. Being able to say like, Hey, I’m responsible for this part of it. And this is the part that I can change. And this is what I can’t even if it’s just mindset, or even if it’s just going Hey, I’m just not going to watch the news today. Because that part is too depressing. So how about as we look forward to 2021, first quarter is almost over. You’re crushing it right now. Like I mean, you’re on pace to do 80 transactions this year, your goal is to do 50. Dude, I super hope you get like 80 or 100. And really blow yourself out of the water. It’s getting harder and harder with how competitive the markets getting. But what do you think your number one way to succeed during 2021 is going to be when you look at your your goals right now? Like how are you going to hit your goals? What are you going to what are you gonna be doing? What’s your trick?

Andres Bustamante  32:51

So for me, it’s really it’s really been being on podcasts and people reaching out through that. Also just the things that I put up on Instagram, I also have a blog post that I write on. And like I said, I educate people. So I believe from that referral based is going to be huge. Most of our blog, all of our business in the near team is referral based. We’ve never paid Zillow, we’ve never paid Facebook ads or anything. We helped about 150 plus families this past year, and thankfully, got number one team in our market center, all referral base. So it’s just a testament to doing a great job. And from there people trusting you, which is the most important thing in real estate. And from there just helping people achieve their goals. So I really think referrals and sphere of influence will still be the main ways that I could potentially reach my goal of 50 families helped 50 plus families.

Aaron Amuchastegui  33:49

Yeah, I saw the picture. You guys all hold your trophies for biggest team market center. Diego sent me a text I was super, super stoked for all of you guys, especially in such a busy market center to huge market center to do so well, like you said, without ads, so you were making a whole bunch of content on Instagram. Plus, you have a blog, you know, so as you’re out there sharing it, you’re trying to create this kind of evergreen content. Now when you do that, are you the authority on how to buy a house? Are you an authority on how to do the hacks the house hacks or what or is it everything real estate that you share?

Andres Bustamante  34:24

Everything real estate, I mean, I share many, many tips, maybe on house hacking whenever I’m doing a final walk. I have a coach to Tom Ferry, actually Patrick ferry and he’s been he’s been amazing. He’s my coach. And he Him and do korzo really taught me that it’s not really about the end product, but the whole process through which you want to educate people because sometimes I would just post on all clothing that people really want to see look, getting into escrow. What does that mean? option period, and then the inspection and then the appraisal. They want to see the whole process. So I started doing that and that’s when everything really started picking up. Because I remember in hindsight, when I was starting to get clients, I didn’t want to cold call. But I knew that whenever I’m scared of anything I need to face it head on. So I was like, You know what, let me cold call, I cold call for a bit didn’t hot like it. So I had a shift. And that shift really was sphere of influence, Instagram, and funny enough podcasts. Because with podcasts, I would I remember I wrote like, two or two paragraphs, and I would change it every time. Because I would send that to podcast and be like, this is why you should have me on your podcast. Yeah. And that’s how I got my first podcast. And then from there, I became better the first podcast, I was so nervous, I think it was, it wasn’t the best podcast. And if I listened to it, I would just laugh at it that I got better. And from there just started picking up because I was reaching out to people on your podcast as well actually Real Estate Rockstars. I remember reaching out to about five or seven people, and really wanting to educate myself on how to become the best agent. So this was like march of when I started. And I just cold call them I know, I remember I called Danny Burgess. And we’re really good friends now. I call it was like dude, love your podcast? What do you recommend for an agent that’s starting? Yeah, it was insane. That’s how I would get educated as well as with my mentors.

Aaron Amuchastegui  36:26

listeners, you got to hear that. Right. So he listened to people on the podcast at the end of it. Everybody says this is how you get a hold of me. He actually would get a hold of the people and say, hey here, people, here’s my story. How can you help me a year later, you’re absolutely crushing it. And you’re on here, especially really in your second year of being an active agent that’s buying and selling properties. Right now. It’s your buyer’s agent for everything. So what a cool, cool stories to be able to push that through to as you get there. So you know, what is you have any like favorite technologies you guys are using right now.

Andres Bustamante  37:01

As in like real estate related, like

Aaron Amuchastegui  37:03

it could be an app, it could be a Google Calendar, like it could be

Andres Bustamante  37:06

here, Google Calendar person, and then also journaling. I know it’s not an app, but the full focus journal by Michael Hyatt. I that’s like my Bible. I do all my affirmations there. my morning routine is there, I scribe there. I love it. Michael Hyatt journal full focus really helps me focus. It’s a great asset. For me.

Aaron Amuchastegui  37:28

That’s awesome. That’s a great piece of technology. And I want to jump back to one of the things that you said on when you were making that content. You said it’s not just about the finished product. It’s about the whole process. And so agents out there, if you are struggling to build up that social media and figure out what to share, or do your first story or your first post or anything, they just sharing the process like hey, I’m here with the home inspector, and this is what we’re doing. Hey, you know, I’m here doing the final walkthrough here. I’m putting blue tape out for the construction walkthrough right now. Like just everything along there sharing all the steps along the way people get excited. I think you probably also build authority that way, and then they’re like, oh, then your friend that you went to school with years ago says, hey, you’re an agent, I can see that you’re really good at this. You’re teaching me about the process. I’m comfortable with you as an agent. Let me have you be my agent. So any predictions for the real estate market for 2021? So the Do you think house? Do you think prices are going to keep going up? You think they’re gonna crash and go down? I think we’re going to run out of houses

Andres Bustamante  38:26

with what Ilan Musk said about Austin and then just Tesla. They haven’t even finished a Giga factory. Oracle announced that their HQ is here in Austin. I don’t really think there’s anything slowing Austin down. Not obviously that speculation. The market is showing that it won’t be slowing down though in the near future. I seriously think that homes have been appreciating like 20% over the past year. And it’s really very much so in a year or two. Are you going to be looking at the home prices right now and regretting not buying given that you have the money obviously, but that’s how I would see it.

Aaron Amuchastegui  39:01

Dude, I had the craziest thing happened this week. So I have a I bought a house at auction a year while 18 months ago.

Andres Bustamante  39:08

Oh, I love your book, by the way.

Aaron Amuchastegui  39:10

The Thank you. The I bought a house at auction in Hays County out here in Buda, just South Austin for 175,000 bucks. 18 months ago, we at the time I asked open door for an offer open door gave me an offer of like 210 something like that. I didn’t take it. We kept it as a rental. So we still own it open door sent me an email three days ago. We figure out what this amount was. And I totally didn’t ask them for it right if I’m ready for the amount. Yeah. So the so I get an email March 25. That was when they said it expired. So it was on March 19th. I have not asked for this. They said hi amvic the housing market is heating up and based on recent trends, you’re open to our preliminary offer for your house on kings Ridge has been updated. Click here your new offer price $404,100. So 18 months later, the they their offer went from like 210 to 15 to 404 100. And in beauty almost almost twice what they offered me 18 months ago.

Andres Bustamante  40:19

He put into perspective Buda, for the people that don’t know is pretty far away from downtown. Oh,

Aaron Amuchastegui  40:24

yeah, it is not. Yeah, absolutely. It’s not premium. I couldn’t believe so open doors back trying now that they’re either going to get hurt because of doing crazy stuff like this. But I tell you what, I had not thought about selling that house. I had a renter in there. I had no, I hadn’t been thinking it. I got the offer that said, Hey, this is how much we’d offer you. I’m like, I’m thinking I’m thinking about it. I’m like, Whoa, I should sell that house. I should sell a house right now. Can I do Can I ask? Can I pay the tenant to leave? So maybe that’s gonna be a hack out there just for I was going to share this on the state of the market. But something fun today just because you kind of realized no the area to his agents, maybe we should just start sending people offers that says, you know, we everyone gets the letters that say, hey, do you want to sell your house? Hey, do you want to sell your house? What if we get some clients where you start blind offering people and saying, Hey, we will pay you $404,000 for your house? I have a buyer that’s ready to close next month. Here is your offer in hand. Can I tell you what I did? I No, I did not want to deal with open door. I did not want to sell them that property. And now I got that I got that email. And that price jumped out to me so hard. I’m like, Oh, my gosh, I should sell them. My house. so crazy, crazy stuff. So. So you said prices are going up 20% every year? It’s in some places. I mean, that’s a silly, silly amount that they wanted to do. That

Andres Bustamante  41:42

city of Austin has been about 22.5. Yeah, maybe it was around 21%.

Aaron Amuchastegui  41:48

We have less than a month of inventory right now in Austin. So last thing. So what so I asked you before, like, what advice would you have given yourself that you wish you’d known at the beginning? now part of that was maybe different industries. So if you’re going to be talking to agents that are going to be buyer’s agents or seller’s agents in their first year, does your advice change on what you what what you would tell a first year agent?

Andres Bustamante  42:11

Well, I think for me, it would be if I wouldn’t, if I could go back, it would really very much. So be narrowed down to two ways of getting clients and also really know who your target audiences, because you don’t want to be all over the place. Whenever I’m on Instagram, my target audience are people that are between 20 and 30 years old, that are going to be house hacking. From there, everything will spread. But it’s very important to have your avatar and you tailor all of your content towards that person. And from there, you’ll be seeing with consistency, you’ll be seeing a lot of results.

Aaron Amuchastegui  42:50

The this has been a great interview man, I am so pumped that you got to come on the show, as all of you listeners you need to know I mean, you’ve I’m sure you’ve heard me say it before. But my favorite people to interview are people that started listening to this podcast when they were new. And now they’re crushing it. I also love interviewing people that are taking it to the next level, we’ve got so many different types of people that get that would come in and listen. And so if you’ve been around a year, you’re getting those tips for there. If you’ve gone from, you know, 20 units and you’re trying to get to 50, well, then we’re also going to be able to teach you about some of that stuff. But I love getting to have listeners come on the show and get to get interviewed. So if you’re a listener, and you’ve been listening for a while and you think Now is your time to be interviewed, be sure to reach out to me on Instagram, just like Andreas did. So we can get him out here again. It was so fun to get to meet you in person. We get to chat on social media now all the time. But for the people now that want to find you they want to come follow you on social they want to call you they want to email you what’s the best way you want them to get ahold of you.

Andres Bustamante  43:51

So Facebook Andres Bustamante, or you can do Instagram, which is what I use the most. It’s a MDR Yes, be USTA TX, undress booster, TX. Cool.

Aaron Amuchastegui  44:05

And then you also I think you’re gonna send me something over for the toolbox, right for

Andres Bustamante  44:09

the toolbox. So it’s really about house hacking and breaking that down for if anybody has any clients with house hacking, or if anyone’s looking to house hack, and then also determining your house hacking strategy, which is probably the most important thing. Awesome, those are the two articles.

Aaron Amuchastegui  44:25

Cool. So that’s like I said, that’ll be included in our in our toolbox. Anyone that’s looking for that, you know, every guest that we bring on here, they provide something of value that they use in their business that you can use in yours to get that go to heibon Digital comm click toolbox link at the top. Get a copy of that reach out to this guy. He definitely knows what he’s doing and he can’t wait for you to reach out. Thanks again for coming on the show. Man. This was awesome Real Estate Rockstars Thanks for listening.