Breaking the Corporate Chains: Matt Ford's Entrepreneurial Journey to Real Estate

Do you ever find yourself pondering the notion of switching careers? Ever wondered if you have what it takes to transition from a corporate job to the entrepreneurial world? Today’s episode is for you! We had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Ford, a seasoned entrepreneur who skillfully navigated his career from the corporate world of Verizon Wireless, through the auto industry, and finally into real estate.

In our insightful conversation, Matt Ford generously delves into the nitty-gritty of his career journey, detailing how the quest for a balanced work-family life led him to entrepreneurship. He shares how he evolved from a 'hunter' to a 'farmer' in the real estate industry, and why he chose New Western - a company with an intriguing business model. Listen and learn as Matt enlightens us on how New Western caters to its diverse clientele to ensure that they meet their unique needs.

But that's not all! Matt also takes us through the process of reselling properties and the services offered by New Western Acquisitions. He shares how they manage to provide a clear and clean title to the end purchaser, and how they assist investors in finding properties matching their buy box. Wrapping up, Matt dishes out valuable investment property tips and how to get in touch with him and his company, New Western Acquisitions. Join us for an enlightening conversation with Matt Ford on his journey into entrepreneurship and get a peek into the world of real estate.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Guys, ryan Diment from Chasing Financial Freedom Podcast. I hope you guys are having a great day. Today on the podcast we have Matt Ford from New Western. We're going to get into some real estate. We're going to talk about his background in corporate America and finance and then talk a little bit about what he's doing currently. Today and recently, in the last several months, transitioned into this role. So for you guys out there that are realtors, loan officers, brokers, this would be a great conversation to have Matt. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. You're more than welcome. I know we just connected yesterday on LinkedIn and we had some good messages back and forth and I thought you know a great time to pop you on, since I had an open space. So thank you for that. But before we get into what you're doing with New Western, tell the listeners a little bit about who you are and we'll get into some rabbit holes, as I say.

Speaker 2: 1:12

So, briefly, I grew up in a small town and worked with my dad when he first started. He started a business long time and as I grew I started to realize what entrepreneurship was about and how owning your own business can be profitable and useful to your family being able to spend more time with them. So I learned from him how important that was. And then I went off on my own and started doing some corporate jobs. I went down the road of working at Verizon Wireless, which is a great company to work for, and taught me a lot about, you know, sales and marriage, my time and all those wonderful things that come with the corporate world and the training that you received from that.

Speaker 2: 2:01

And then eventually I got to the point where I had a family and I wanted to spend more time with them, and climbing the corporate ladder wasn't going to get me there. I kept in two places at once to make that decision. And then eventually I worked to car business, which gave me a little more freedom at that time. But what I found out is, if you're really going to be successful in that sales position, you're going to be there all the time for your extramarital inference. So eventually I transitioned out of that into real estate because I found that I can also own my own business, I can be in control of my time and I can still make the money that I want to make, so this is a good place for me.

Speaker 1: 2:45

When you were working for Verizon, were you working on the retail side, or what we don't want to revise?

Speaker 2: 2:51

Yep, I'm doing that with Verizon as a sales rep. I'll be working my way up into the management team right at the point where I was going to get my own store and start down that path of being a general manager. But I committed quite a bit of time and actually that December, right before I was promoted, I'd worked 28 of 30 days. I took Christmas and one other Sunday off in that month and I realized what a time commitment I would be. I'm a general manager. She was there more than I was and up there I was making great money and good things.

Speaker 2: 3:32

We helped to expand the growth of the store for that recognition company. They want to promote you and have you then train others to do that and I saw myself even more time to that job and away from the family that I was trying to raise.

Speaker 1: 3:52

That is got to be the most difficult position to be in is that for you to make more money, you've got to work more hours, and we'll get into the entrepreneurship stuff, because that's kind of process that people think that you need to have as an entrepreneur is the more hours you work, the more money you make. It's an inverse, so I mean that. So once you got out of Verizon, where did you go next?

Speaker 2: 4:13

I went into the automotive industry. A friend of mine was currently working there. He was telling me what time it was. The other side of corporate life is that you have to follow certain guidelines and be less free. Essentially, I couldn't be the person that I wanted to be, and the automotive industry allowed me to do that and press myself more freely there and I didn't have to worry about what was going to frustrate or upset a coworker because of something that I said. They're a little thicker skinned. I think In the auto industry they can handle a little bit more ribbing or what not. Look, I'm having that. Guys have a tendency to do so in the industry.

Speaker 2: 4:58

I found out what a great way it was for me to commit last time you know the end day out of the business work in 9 to 9. And eventually you know also figured out that as a manager you are there all the time. You don't get away from the store as much as you did as a saleperson. So I moved into management and started realizing that this is a 9 to 9. And you know it's even more. You know I've been there as late as midnight trying to sell cars and act like deals as a manager, so I make things very conducive to trying to be a baseball game. Well, I realized that I really needed to get away from that. I have a day being spent generating income for somebody else to go on a vacation, so after watching my boss go on some great vacations, maybe I wanted to own my own business.

Speaker 1: 6:01

So you were working basically bell to bell in the auto industry. Did you start in sales and then work your way up into management?

Speaker 2: 6:09

Yeah, only one business that you know they generally hire from the outside. They tend to promote from within and I was found was you know as a person. If you start, you know, in records that had previously been held by you know tenants in that position, I have a tendency to, you know, recognize you pretty quickly that you're going to you know bet that they want to promote. So I, within two years, which is kind of well, generally it's about three years I did it in two. I was able to work my way up into a management position.

Speaker 2: 6:41

I started out in finance, so I transitioned from sales directly into finance, which is kind of half, you know guys go to the debt. The other half I worked out pretty well on the finance side of things and because of that and tendency to kind of ride towards the desk of a good finance manager, you'll spend good times the desk. You are going to come to you because you didn't miss something like payment structure or something along those lines being at the desk and being involved more. They eventually pushed me over to the desk side of things to try to, you know spite some of the you know myths and trips that people will take as they fall along the way so I miss out on that sale. And having somebody focused on both sides of the finance and sale side makes a big difference when we're at the desk.

Speaker 1: 7:43

So if you could give an end consumer a nugget or a tip when going in to buy a car, what would it be?

Speaker 2: 7:53

I would say to first of all never tell them the exact amount that your max payment really will be.

Speaker 2: 8:02

Obviously, you want to hold back a little bit on. You know what budget it looks like and what your affordability might be, because they're going to. Obviously their goal is to take you to that point and beyond. So under the price, the higher the payment, the more likely they are to have more profit in the deal. So always try to hold a little bit back on your side of things and room for that. You know and shouldn't that they're going to try to queue up into a higher payment.

Speaker 1: 8:31

I never understood why people start with negotiating the monthly payment. To this day I still don't. I mean, grew up in the industry. I really got exposure as a young kid, as my dad running 100 dealerships in Southern California and leasing, and really understanding the leasing product and how it worked. And every time someone would come in I need to have a $400 payment, I need a $300. Okay, we'll get you a $300 payment, not a problem. We'll work on the cap cost and work that deal from the other side. I mean no problem, like I guess. My question is when we are consumers and we're coming into a dealership, how do we best prepare ourselves to go through that negotiation process?

Speaker 2: 9:21

But that is the way to break a dealership is, first of all, know your numbers, know what you can truly afford, because at the end of the day, what you feel is a good deal is going to be different regardless, because everybody has a different opinion of what a good deal is and ultimately it's one that you're comfortable with as far as the car that you're getting and the payment that you're making. If that doesn't align, then you're not going to feel like you got a good deal, and being satisfied with a dealership is oftentimes partly due to the salesperson themselves, but also that you came to the dealership unprepared and you feel as if maybe you made decisions that you weren't prepared to make, and the only person that you can blame for that is yourself. Right, because it's on you to do due diligence to make sure you understand what really is an affordable payment and what really is the car that you're looking to purchase. You can be into a lot of different things if you're ill-prepared for what you're trying to actually do.

Speaker 1: 10:40

There could be a whole podcast just on buying cars with this conversation, because there's so many questions I can ask. So what started you down the path of wanting to get into real estate, and what in the auto industry basically said, other than it's a suck of time and you're working 12, 14, 18 hours a day, got you to say I want to be in real estate?

Speaker 2: 11:03

Well, just with you.

Speaker 2: 11:04

I had heard that you can make good money doing it as a wholesaler.

Speaker 2: 11:10

I heard that you could make good money doing it as a property user and a flip-flop or as to run them as they are to be made and held for long periods of time to have cash flow.

Speaker 2: 11:27

So there's a lot of advantages, different avenues that you could flexibly build the different options that I would have. As far as each area, each market has its own little niche of pockets and you know, be a hunter, I can be a farmer, you know work, those different aspects of the business, and it appeals to me from you know, an mentality of not being set to a certain income, not having to have a set day and schedule. You know get up a certain hour every day and go to the office and sit for a certain number of minutes and you know a certain predetermined check that my time is, you know, able to meet. I wish that if I only make, you know, a dollars that day, it is what it is. If I make a thousand dollars that day, it is what it is. It's based on the efforts that I put in and where I spend my time.

Speaker 1: 12:33

So you transition out of the auto industry and you're into real estate now you're a realtor, so this is a whole different world or you have any type of experience with being an entrepreneur when you came to this spot Because I know for me, moving from corporate America to entrepreneurship the first time, I sucked when it came to pretty much managing my day. I was so used to running from meeting to meeting to where I didn't have those, so I had to then fill my time with income producing activities at the time I thought were, which they weren't. Oh, that was a struggle, my first try at entrepreneurship.

Speaker 2: 13:14

Yeah. So the business that you're working for has already established a clientele on and has already established a business model, and you're just a key component in that that. You're then building a role or a need for that business. When you're the owner of the business and you are the head honcho, like they say, you have to make all those decisions and you have to, you know, prioritize your time as to where you're going to spend it and what's going to be the most profitable for you that day in your business. So that is where I feel like I've accomplished a lot and it didn't really get me anywhere. There's other days where I feel like I know a whole lot, but I accomplished quite a bit. So I'm going to fall in your approach and your attitude towards it. I feel like you have a hunter and a little bit of a farmer and I'm probably going to do well in this business because you understand your planting seeds and your harvest those later.

Speaker 2: 14:14

A hunter also has the mentality that you know they're going to get what they want for today in order to feed themselves. So you know you do a little bit of both and over time we'll start to harvest just those and then along the way, you still need a little protein in your diet. So you're going to go out and hunt all that kind of out. You know there's every day you're going to spend activities doing those things that are going to benefit you but in short term and long run help to make you a successful long term agent that's able to withstand those for people buying or doing any transactions as low as you know to get through those harder times.

Speaker 1: 15:11

So what brought you to New Western? What drew you into a model or business? Because you could go to any other bridge pretty much if you wanted to. What were you into this? Because I know you talked a little bit earlier about wholesaling and then different things. To that extent, Talk a little bit more about what drove you to this position and why you're there.

Speaker 2: 15:36

So I feel like the biggest thing having a sustainable income is one that starts right away, and I don't know a lot of people that started in the traditional real estate market and industry where they have come to an industry that don't have a lot of contacts, they don't know a lot of people in that business. So a traditional real estate agent is going to be one who puts out their information, lets everybody know what they do, and then they kind of order people to call them that are interested in properties that they either have listed or bought, and they try to stay getting people to list their homes. So can't do that. So that tends to have a much longer cycle of getting to a sustainable living income, especially coming from the industry where that's instant money. I go out to a dealership and they're going to hire me, put me on the floor, I go out immediately, get a customer sell the car and I get paid that next Friday. So that's a pretty quick turnaround. And then $20,000 a month in advertisement to get that customer to walk through the door.

Speaker 2: 16:56

Being a business owner and having to go clientele now I'm the guy out trying to find those people to be able to sell too. So it's a little bit different in that aspect. We're going to spend a lot more time network with people to find active buyers. On top of that, and specifically to New Western and their business model, we sell properties to investors only. Generally they're going to be people that are directors, that have their own construction company, that are rehabbing properties to flip in order to make a profit. We'll deal directly with people that want to control of the rehab of an apartment or of an investment property that they're going to turn into a rental. So they don't want to buy something that's already turnkey colors are selected and they want to be able to have this faction of building something and doing work to it and then turning it into an income generating asset for them.

Speaker 2: 18:05

So I didn't both clientele, but generally those are people that less know what they're looking for and are not going to live in it, so it doesn't have to be perfect. For them it's an investment opportunity. So, on that opportunity and they do with what they came out of it, just like if you buy an ex-locument or anything else, you're going to flip it around and that's the idea. What I did is that, with people that do a high volume of transaction, they know what they want and they want to get in and out and be done, so they want to make it super easy the image that you do more often because they're trying to find people that are selling this product. I can deliver that to them in a short period of time. I have anywhere from six to nine deals every day that are available for them to shop through, and they didn't have to go find the market existing that I did.

Speaker 1: 19:13

So what makes New Western stand out from all the other brokerages? I know you guys are focused on investor clientele and also, I want to say it, home houses, that, or duplexes, or two to fours, whatever you want to call them that need some love and need some cap. I mean, really separates New Western in this case, because the market, we're really going to move 3.9 to 4.2 million houses this year nationwide and that means we're at 2007, 2008 levels, which is crappy, to say the least. But whatever, I mean, there's a closing to be had and there's always a deal to be found. So why New Western and why yourself?

Speaker 2: 19:57

So never. Reason why somebody would work with New Western is that they always have a stream of distressed properties that they can take full advantage of.

Speaker 2: 20:08

If you're buying something that someone else has already rehabbed and fixed up, that means that they are looking to make a profit and you have room, more room, more profit, availability as an investor if you're the one that control the rehab, if you're the one in control the sales price and you're the one in control the realtor that is offering your property for resale, so all points where you show money, if you're sessions not only both with the entry level price of the home but also with the negotiations with your general contractors and also with the agent that's selling the property. So in you know one to 3% that you could make back just in those negotiations. If more profit for you saves you time, the person who's going to do this with me doesn't have time to go out and actually find the properties that we're finding. They're not available in MLS.

Speaker 1: 21:15

So New Western doesn't list on the MLS at all.

Speaker 2: 21:19

We actually do list our products on the MLS. Generally, that is going to be where we have found the property. If it goes back on the MLS, it's most likely that we found it there to begin with. So essentially we're going to be listed as the selling broker, as it's under contract. So that works.

Speaker 1: 21:42

Yeah, so how? The best way I can draw this out is comparing New Western with wholesalers, because you guys are doing something similar, but you guys are licensed first and they're not licensed for the investors and the other people that are listening that would be interested in this. What are the nuances or differences? And then talk about some costs. Compare a wholesale deal to a New Western deal.

Speaker 2: 22:14

Okay. So generally with the wholesale deal, you're dealing with someone who has nothing in it other than they are there for the transaction. They located the property, they've marked it up and then they're offering it to you at a higher dollar value than what they had contracted it for. Essentially right, that's the whole spread would be yeah, yeah, and they make that spread and that's their difference. Little is $250 to $1,000. So BPA3 is being offered at an undervalued market price and they're going to have a little bit of money. I actually same thing.

Speaker 2: 22:53

The difference is what we do is we actually purchase the property and then we resell it in that manner so that you are receiving a clear and equitable title, because the biggest reason why most people fall through a deal on a wholesale deal and don't actually get to closing is because they find out or in discovery they find out that there was an issue with the title.

Speaker 2: 23:19

There's back taxes, there's something old, it's sold. Yet we work through all of those things and deliver a clear and marketable title to you as the end purchaser, and you've already established your purchase price before we ever get to all of that. So the advantage for you is that you're going to receive a property that's clean, clear, you can start working on it immediately and that adds to your bottom line because you don't have a construction crew sitting on the side for 14 days waiting for a title to clear to make sure that you're actually going to put 50 grand in rehab into it and you don't want to get started down. I know the greedy is actually you, that's the number one reason you get with us.

Speaker 1: 24:06

Can we go back to that transaction and talk about it? So let's go. You have an example you have a house let's call it $100,000 house and you have a acquisition agent on the New Western side that works with the homeowner or home seller to put it under contract. So that contract then is going to then you go into more coffee this morning it's a slow day, man Then you will actually list that on the MLS at that point in that stage of the process. Okay, thanks, thank you. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.

Speaker 2: 24:43

So it depends on how we receive the property as to what method or services we use to resell the property. If it is currently on the MLS, there may not be listed on the MLS, depending on the type of property it is, if it's vacant or if it's currently over occupied. It's all going to vary according to that. What I will do is oftentimes we have a database of investors with emails and phone numbers. So the first thing I'm going to do once I have a property to sell is I'm going to contact all of my contacts first, so I immediately send out the property and let everybody know that it's on my shortlist. Hey, this is in your area, this is in your buy box. That box is essentially in that the investor has told us they're looking for to make purchases in. So they zone whether it's a zip code or a couple of streets to market. They're area that they want to shop in. And then also, they generally tell us what they're looking for as far as if it's a 3-1 or if it's a 3-2 or if they're looking for only multiplex properties in that area. So I have a list of people, because of the relationships with these people over time, to know what they're looking for so I'm able to then reach out to those folks to let them know hey, I've got a property. It's listed at 100,000.

Speaker 2: 26:19

We're looking at closing costs in this neighborhood, whatever that structure may look like. There may be a more occupied situation and they need to be in the home for 20 more days after you take delivery. So we're negotiating there an extra two grand back to you to compensate you for that time you're not able to get in there and do the repairs. There may be a renter in there that's under contract until 2024. All of those things are going to vary, but we're going to have all of that vetted out and worked out before you make your offer on the property. So you're going into that with knowledge prior to the transaction. You're not giving somebody a promise of $500, you know gold money and then find out later that there's an issue with it and you lose your $500.

Speaker 1: 27:14

So you guys, so you, as New Western is going, you're going to enter into a buy-sell agreement with the seller, then you guys are going to go out and market the property to your investor group. And then this and I'm going to try to simplify this and you can correct me if I'm wrong you guys are more than likely going to do a transactional close or an ABC close at title.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Yeah, it's generally a double close. So, okay, the person, the end user or the investor that buys the property, you know we close to them what those costs are and the upright will give them an estimate and then they'll get a final seller's disclosure and through the whole breakdown of what the cost will be. But I am that's title fees and everything included. So, as your example said before, $100,000 purchase price probably going to attack $100. So the cost of that property and $100,000. Now, keeping in mind also that this probably has $50,000 and maybe even $75,000 in repairs and still need to go into that home to make it the $350,000 house that you want to sell later, right.

Speaker 1: 28:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:39

Another thing is that you know my properties come with a after repair value and an estimate on what the repairs would be, because we know the property.

Speaker 2: 28:50

We've already walked the property, we've already looked through all of the repairs that we think should be done to the property and we give you an estimate upright so that you are aware of that before. So you don't even have to walk the property. You've already received information on comps as far as what the actual after repair value sold would be similar ones in that neighborhood, just like a normal real estate agent would do for a listing. We're going to give you that information upfront. We also give you our estimation of repairs. So if we think it needs a new roof or needs windows or it's a full gut, you know it's burned out and needs to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. We tell you all that information upfront and I also send you typically in the neighborhood of about 30 boat oves so that you can virtually walk the property whatever you make an offer, and that's all sent to you via email and it's available on adembrickaplacecom website. I'll upload that.

Speaker 1: 29:49

So, as we wrap this up, two more questions and we'll let us and then we'll give people your contact info is how does New Western make money in this transaction? I know you're talking about an ABC closing. I'm guessing there's fees somewhere. So what was typically looking like for the investors out there listening to this conversation? Yeah, probably.

Speaker 2: 30:11

So we do not charge a commission. You know charge a just fees for New Western. Our money is made in the negotiation of the price right. So if you're buying that for 100,000, the likelihood is we bought it Period.

Speaker 1: 30:30

So can you couple really quick when you say bought it. So are you guys coming in? And I'm not trying to do trade secrets, I'm just trying to figure out the price, to figure out how this would fill listener. So I'm guessing you guys came in with some type of cash offer with a contingency on it to be able to have the first-writer fusel to purchase it.

Speaker 2: 30:50

Correct. Yes, exactly. So we negotiated with the seller of the distruby a set price that we would pay for that property, assuming that we were able to resell it, got it. Occasionally, we started getting offers that are significantly less, and then the market is determining that there's either more that needs to be repaired on the property or they think that the property is off. So what we do in that case is we can renegotiate and try to close it at that price If you're willing to move. We would prefer, obviously, to try to list the initial price and sell it at that listing price.

Speaker 1: 31:39

Okay, so that makes it clean. So one other question, the ABC closing. Are you guys using transactional funding or are you guys just literally going from the A to the B to the C and your title company allows you to do that? Because I've heard both in Indiana, Because we do business in Indiana, I do business with titles where I will sometimes do closings and they require to have funds from A to B and B to C. Some don't.

Speaker 2: 32:08

As of right now, it's my understanding that we do not do transactional closes, so I'm not doing the funding from A to B. Most often all of our purchases are cash, so we buy the property, do a cash transaction and then when we sell the property, we generally sell it for cash. We do allow either the lending. We use our own lenders, foremost just because we already have established relationships with them. They understand our closing process and what we're trying to accomplish. And then also we try to have a tendency to use our own titling companies as well, because they are used to our high volume, high speed transactions. Typically, I can have a property if you find interest in it, I can close within five days Pretty unheard of, except for in the cash business.

Speaker 1: 33:06

That's awesome. So, as we plan this, where is the best place that people can get a hold of you that are looking to buy investment properties?

Speaker 2: 33:15

So, quite simply, I have a website that is newwesterncom backslash agent, backslash Matthew dashboard. That is my agent page. You can also find me on all the social media. So I'm on Facebook as Matthew Ford at New Western, on Instagram with the same, and I have me on X or Twitter. I'm on LinkedIn. You can find just by searching Matthew Ford at New Western in a Google search bar. You should see my picture show up along with any of my social media attachments.

Speaker 1: 33:54

Cool. I will also put a text information in the show notes so everyone knows how to get a hold of you. So, sir, thank you so much for coming on the show. Love the conversation, love your history, out there, as I say, shucking and jiving like the rest of us, and you're trying to change it. And you're getting in when everyone's getting out, and that makes you smart, because there's blood in the street. You're going to, unfortunately, take advantage of it.

Speaker 2: 34:21

I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for wanting me to come out and talk with friends on the podcast. Thank you, you're welcome.