Demystifying Real Estate Investment: Tips and Strategies with Tamar Hermes Ep. 120

Tamar Hermes: 00:00:00

The way that I coach women around real estate is supporting them to find the best type of investment that suits them and that fits the objectives that they have and fits the goals that they have. So that they can create a scenario that will have them moving forward in the direction that they are desiring.

Natasha Miller: 00:00:26

Welcome to FASCINATING ENTREPRENEURS. How do people end up becoming an entrepreneur? How do they scale and grow their businesses? How do they plan for profit? Are they in it for life? Are they building to exit? These, and a myriad of other topics will be discussed to pull back the veil on the wizardry of successful and FASCINATING ENTREPRENEURS. My book, RELENTLESS is now available everywhere books can be bought online, including Amazon and BarnesAndNoble.com, try your local indie bookstore too. And if they don't have it, they can order it. Just ask them. The reviews are streaming in and I'm so thankful for the positive feedback as well as hearing from people that my memoir has impacted them positively. It is not enough to be resilient. You have to be RELENTLESS. You can go to the relentless book.com for more information. Thank you so much. Tamar Hermes is a full-time real estate investor, coach, author, and founder of Wealth Building Concierge, guiding women to become financially free through real estate investing and creative non-traditional wealth building. We talk about how to start investing, where to look, and the various methods of investing in real estate. Now, let's get right into it.

Tamar Hermes: 00:01:53

Well, I am an investor full-time in real estate, and I work with women and support them to learn real estate investing and to build their wealth portfolio in ways that they feel empowered and in control so that they can learn true wealth building and generational wealth. And then when they send it off to other people, if they choose to hire anyone, they have a better idea about what is going on.

Natasha Miller: 00:02:24

Who is the perfect client for what you do to serve others? What kind of woman?

Tamar Hermes: 00:02:31

Yes, so the perfect client is someone that is making very good money or has a very large savings account and is very unclear about how their money is being invested, how it's working for them, whether or not they're actually. Building enough income to sustain the lifestyle that they want. If they decided they did not want to work and feels that they are ready to stop listening to everyone else, tell them the way it's supposed to be, and creating an understanding for themselves.

Natasha Miller: 00:03:12

So the way it's supposed to be often points to the stock market, right?

Tamar Hermes: 00:03:16

Correct.

Natasha Miller: 00:03:17

And so clarifying questions. How much is a tremendous amount of money as far as salary, and how much is a tremendous amount of savings? What do you need to really start investing in real estate?

Tamar Hermes: 00:03:31

So it's a really good question, and the truth is, is that there's a range of what you need. If you want to be an investor in real estate where you do none of the work, then you need to be able to have some money so that you can be the money person in the deal. If you don't have a lot of money, then you might be able to find the deal or do some of the work that needs to be done to execute the deal. So, Generally speaking, my clients have money, so they'll have anywhere from 100,000 to millions to invest. And the reason that a hundred thousand is often enough is because one, that generally is enough to get into some of the larger deals, and two is that we use. Leveraging the power of leveraging, which we cannot generally use in the stock market. You can use that once you have a lot of money, but most people are not leveraging their stock portfolio. So leveraging means that you're partnering with generally the bank. To give you the rest of the money. Maybe you put 20% down on your house and then the 80% is loaned from the bank.

Natasha Miller: 00:04:46

When you mentioned hundred thousand being enough to get in on some big deals, were you referring to syndication deals?

Tamar Hermes: 00:04:54

I was talking about syndication deals, although you could also buy a half a million dollar house if you put 20% down, you could do that and do it on your own. Certainly, you would wanna spend your very last bit of cash because things can go wrong and expenses occur with properties, but you could have many choices, which is part of the reason why, the way that I coach women around real estate is supporting them to find the best type of investment that suits them and that fits. The objectives that they have and fits the goals that they have so that they can create a scenario that will have them moving forward in the direction that they are desiring.

Natasha Miller: 00:05:46

What would you say in the last let's, I know things are so crazy right now, but in the last two years, the return on investment for real estate versus the stock market?

Tamar Hermes: 00:05:56

Well, last year a lot of people's portfolios are negative 20%, 30%, and I would say on a average in real estate would be more at a 5%, upwards of 20%, depending on the tax advantages, which are also another reason why real estate is really exciting. There's a lot more opportunity to take advantage of the tax codes.

Natasha Miller: 00:06:26

Yes, our government really subsidizes and encourages, Americans to invest in real estate. But the only people that really know that are fill in the blank; educated and already wealthy people.

Tamar Hermes: 00:06:42

Correct. And that's part of the mold that I'm wanting to break. Having women be involved. There's obviously a lot more women that are entrepreneurs now that are making great money and still, there are a lot of women that don't understand investing and especially real estate, and there's a lot of men also that don't understand it. So it really goes around. Most people that are making really good money are not being able to utilize the best strategies because they just don't have the knowledge.

Natasha Miller: 00:07:17

Would you take money out of the stock market in order to invest in real estate with what you have learned? Up until today in your life.

Tamar Hermes: 00:07:27

Well, I can only say that I have taken money out of the stock market with what I've learned.

Natasha Miller: 00:07:32

Yeah.

Tamar Hermes: 00:07:32

I don't like being in situations where I have very little control. There's already a lot of variables that we cannot control in this world, and one of the huge ones is having all your money in a stock market where the government's pulling strings and the stock market is pulling strings and it can really affect your numbers, so I'm not totally opposed to the stock market. I think that there's a place for it, and I think that sometimes people have great advisors that really support them and it may be a good place for them, but to have all your money in the stock market is not something that I personally think is recommended.

Natasha Miller: 00:08:17

Let's get back to you and your business and your origin story. I already know a little bit about this, but I'd like you to retell how you even got started in real estate investing. What was the impetus?

Tamar Hermes: 00:08:32

So I started when I was an executive in television and I realized that I had a great job, but that if I left my job, I would have no income. And so in order to mitigate that issue, I looked at how do. You earn money and get rid of your bottom line, and the most expensive thing you're ever gonna spend is rent. So if you wanna get rid of that, you need to look at owning and having tenants. And that's what I did and that, and that's how it started. Yeah. Walk us through your first deal. You found a place how? Well, this was over 20 years ago, and I found a place just by calling a realtor and looking around. What really helped was that I knew what area I wanted to live in at the time I worked at ABC and it was in a really cool area in Los Angeles, and so I knew I wanted to live close to where I worked and that made it easier to hone in, and I just started looking at places. And then the, of course, the hardest part is actually saying, "Okay, I'm gonna do it." And crossing the finish line, looking at the numbers. And really, they're really quite simple. And that's another thing I love about real estate is we're taught that it's so complex and it's so easy to lose money. And I think on the contrary, I think it's a lot harder to lose money than the stock market because I can see the numbers. I know that. My mortgage is a certain amount. My property tax is a certain amount. My insurance is a certain amount, my utilities are a certain amount, and then after that everything left over is profit. And so it's pretty simple equation as long as you pay your bills. That's your property. Are you a published author? Have you always thought you had a book inside of you? Have other people told you you've got to write a book? If so, I highly suggest you work with us at Poignant Press. We can help you write, figure out the best publishing path, and market your book to a bestseller status. Go to poignant press.com. That's P-O-I-G-N-A-N-T-press.com.

Natasha Miller: 00:10:49

So back then, in that first endeavor, were you covering all expenses by your roommate's contribution, or did you also contribute?

Tamar Hermes: 00:10:59

I did contribute, and I think that there were definitely ways in which I might have purchased and not had to contribute, and at the time I didn't know those ways and so, we have to walk through step by step to learn, and that's exactly what I did. So of course the next deals got a little better and got a little better. And then more mistakes as I grew and still making mistakes today. And that's all part of it because we're never gonna achieve anything great, anything worth doing if it's really easy and it just wouldn't be that gratifying either. Ultimately.

Natasha Miller: 00:11:40

Yeah, those lessons and mistakes are actually education, right.

Tamar Hermes: 00:11:43

Their education in their life, and they teach us to be resilient. And they teach us also about our relationship with money too, because money's so integral to our survival and to how we feel about ourselves and really ties so heavily into our whole experience of life because it's our exchange for goods and services, for our ability to do anything in the world and and we need a certain amount of it to eat and to have shelter. And so I do think that it gets very muddled in terms of how we define it, how attached we are to it. And I think the more that we can make money move, and that goes for business too, you'll. End up making a lot more when you start to make bolder choices, educated choices. Yeah. Which still may not work out, but at least bolder choices.

Natasha Miller: 00:12:38

At what point, did you really start using your investment prowess and creating a full-fledged business. And you're probably still growing and still discovering what you're going to become, hopefully, because that's the fun in life. But at what point and what are all of the offerings that you have?

Tamar Hermes: 00:12:58

So probably around seven years ago I realized that I was a poor kid that never thought I'd have any money and I wasn't a poor kid that didn't have any money anymore. And at a certain point you are looking for different things than. How to survive and how to afford the vacations every year. And for me it was about how am I going to stand in the world and who am I gonna be and what do I wanna contribute? Back to your first question. And so, I always said to myself, I really wanna stand for something. And I remembered being a little girl and sitting in my room being really scared about not having money and not really understanding why I couldn't do certain things and being worried about my life. And I remembered that disempowering feeling. And it was more, I felt because I was a girl, I just felt even more disempowered. Cause I just didn't feel that acknowledged. And from there, I really started to connect the dots, realizing that I could help women and I could help them with money. And now I have a coaching group where I help women invest in real estate, learn how to grow wealth. And then I also have a high net worth group that is a multi seven figure group of women. Where we really work on higher level strategies of wealth building, move really quickly and have a lot of fun in the process and in both groups. I'm always bringing in experts from my network and utilizing my own skills and strategizing with clients to ensure that they are moving the needle forward and that they're feeling better about where they are at. Because most of the time when women come to me, they know they have a certain amount of money, but they just don't feel like they have a sense of where it's all going. And a lot of times also because money can be uncomfortable in terms of maybe. You could have a business partner that isn't quite giving you the share that you're supposed to have, or an opportunity in real estate that didn't go well. So there's all kinds of scenarios. I'm thinking of different scenarios with different clients, some with myself, and it all comes down to. Addressing those situations and moving forward with them. A lot of times we don't deal with trust. I mean, how many people every day pass away with all kinds of money and all the properties go to probate and families are fighting, and there's all kinds of situations that aren't dealt with around money that if we just had a peer group where we address these situations and work together and learn from experts that have been vetted, then we have a better chance of making sure we're taken care of and we're taking care of the people that we love or the causes we love.

Natasha Miller: 00:15:49

I was thinking about my own real estate investing and I liken it to this. I've never had a tattoo, but I hear once you get one tattoo, you kind of need to get another and then another. And you know, I am definitely someone that grew up with. No money. No money at no financial education. People owned their homes and my family to an extent, but nobody was investing further than that. And once you get your toe wet and you have some success, right? It's a little bit intoxicating to. You know, consider this deal. I was down in Palm Springs last weekend. A broker was like, yeah, I have this really cool 52 room Palm Springs hotel that we're buying for 2.2 million to turn into short term rentals. I'm like, 2.2, I'll take it. Right? Because to me now I know what it actually would take to make that investment and it's not as abominable as it seemed like before. So do you see that happening with both yourself and your clients?

Tamar Hermes: 00:16:55

I do. And then I also see all the questions and all the variables that need to be addressed in order to see whether or not that deal would work. And a lot of deals look really good until you look at the reality of them and you really look at the risk. Cause there is risk in real estate, you can lose money. And so it is important to really weigh out all the variables. And I do think that it is addicting, although while I have more than one property, I don't have more than one tattoo. I only got one tattoo in Thailand and that's it. I don't think I'll ever get another one. And the guy the, it was a Buddhist monk and he hammered the tattoo into my back cuz it was an old fashioned way and it was just, I was in the moment, I wasn't even, I wasn't drinking, I wasn't under the influence of anything. I was just kind of in the mode of the spirit and the incredible experience.

Natasha Miller: 00:17:51

That's amazing. I need to see that the next time I see you. Okay, so now let's talk about the structure of your business and your team. You are doing deals for yourself. You're also coaching women, one-on-one, but in the two groups as well. So how do you manage all of that?

Tamar Hermes: 00:18:09

It can be challenging, just like the life of any entrepreneur. I do get help. I do have bookkeepers, CPAs, I have in ea. I have. People that help me with some social media and I'm constantly hiring and growing and pivoting and, and also one of the best ways to manage too is to take off of your plate the things where you're getting distracted. So somebody once had said, some coach once said to me, have a not to-do list. So there's are sometimes things that come onto the list where they kind of get on the not to-do list right now. And that keeps it calmer. And I think the older and more sophisticated you get as a business owner, the more you realize that not to-do list is really the key to your success.

Natasha Miller: 00:18:55

Yeah, that parking lot list. I have one. And you know what? It keeps me engaged because I know for sure once I finish a project or I get to a milestone, I'm never gonna be bored because I've got this back list of to do ideas. So I love that.

Tamar Hermes: 00:19:11

Yeah, that's great. I love that.

Natasha Miller: 00:19:13

You had said CPAs. Do you have more than one?

Tamar Hermes: 00:19:17

So I have a CPA team, and on that team, they're up to around, Five CPAs that get on a call with me, just double checking. And within that there's bookkeepers and there's different financial people that I have on my payroll at times, tax strategists. And I'm a member of masterminds like when we met at Genius Network. And so there's all kinds of places where I am exploring and learning and meeting people.

Natasha Miller: 00:19:50

So as of today, what are you really focusing on to grow the business for the rest of this year? What is a strategy that you're like, this is it, I'm focusing on this, I'm putting the other things on the parking lot.

Tamar Hermes: 00:20:05

Well, the first thing is, as far as real estate goes, I have, Project with a partner where we're doing a lot of prefabs, which means modular homes. And so those are the main focus of my active investing for the rest of the year. And so when other deals come along, like if somebody said, do you wanna pick up this deal? Unless it was a smoking hot deal, I have a couple that have come across that I've kind of engaging in, but for the most part it's a no. And then as for my work, it's pretty streamlined in terms of who I serve. I don't really go out of the realm too much. So more can come into the structure. So like if you were to join the group coaching program, you would join that group that's already in place. So it's not like I have to create a new group each time, or a new content or a new subject. We're all. Working on a similar trajectory and even though everyone has different projects in there and finds that project through the financial assessment that I off, I'll do an hour financial assessment with every new client. Then from there they're really able to forge ahead and take action.

Natasha Miller: 00:21:14

And how do you, and where do you source your potential clients for coaching and such?

Tamar Hermes: 00:21:20

So clients come from everywhere. A lot of them are word of mouth and sometimes it's just over time from have been been on podcasts from my book, the Millionaires Mentality, and I am, one of the things you asked me, another rock that I'm working on this year is to start my podcast. So I do have some strategies in place right now working with specialists that helps. Hone in on the podcast message and all of that. So that's in the works and should be done by the end of the year.

Natasha Miller: 00:21:49

Great. And lastly, you have two kids, right?

Tamar Hermes: 00:21:53

Well, I have, yes, I have two. And then, uh, my stepdaughter from my husband's practice wife.

Natasha Miller: 00:21:58

So you have three. You have three kids. Oh my gosh, I love that. Are they interested and do you train them on these ideas so that then they go out into the world and they're much more educated and knowledgeable and ready to pull the trigger if they're interested?

Tamar Hermes: 00:22:14

That is such a good question. And my son just gave me a Mother's Day card that says, strong, confident, empowered mothers raise strong, confident, empowered kids. So I think that even though my kids aren't directly involved right now, in real estate and in investing. They have a very good sense of money. They have very good feelings around earning and they're able to earn. And I am working on my son. I'm hoping my son will take over the portfolio and I'm always trying to teach him. And he hasn't. He's 17, so he hasn't quite gotten the bug yet, but I am working on that. He's my hope. Cause my, my other daughter wants to be a doctor. And then the other one, my stepdaughter is a musician. So I don't think that's gonna happen.

Natasha Miller: 00:23:03

You never know though.

Tamar Hermes: 00:23:04

You, you never know.

Natasha Miller: 00:23:04

Never Once they get a taste of it.

Tamar Hermes: 00:23:07

You know how those musicians are.

Natasha Miller: 00:23:08

I know. Hey, listen fast recovering. For more information, go to the show notes where you're listening to this podcast. Want to know more about me, go to my website, NatashaMiller.com. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you loved the show. If you did, please subscribe. Also, if you haven't done so yet, please leave a review where you're listening to this podcast now. I'm Natasha Miller. And you've been listening to FASCINATING ENTREPRENEURS.