Very long re-introduction for the new followers! - grew up to working class parents who each made no more than $25/hr (still some of the most incredibly hard working people though) - my two brothers (I’m the middle) and I all shared a room until we went to college - went to Univ of Tulsa for petroleum engineering (hated that we lived paycheck to paycheck growing up so googled the highest paying major and did that) - graduated 2019, accepted FT role in Houston at large o&g company (w/ $30k in student loans) - within a few months realize no way I can do that for 40 years (commuting, traffic, too tired when you get home to do much else) - search YouTube for “something” else (looked at dropshipping, tutoring, Uber, real estate) - no friends or family that own businesses or RE so began consuming large amounts of Biggerpockets content and set my sights on house hacking - April 2020 (23 at the time) close on a new construction duplex with 0% down loan (didn’t have any money) - Covid has hit, very tough to get it rented but got it done (rented it by the room instead) - Immediately realize there is not enough duplexes in Houston for the amount of the demand (took me 6 months of looking to close on one) - Put together a sh*tty presentation and began pitching investors in FB groups to invest w/ me - 40+ people tell me some version of “no” (rightfully so) - a 66 yr old doctor in NJ agrees to get on board (give him 85% of upside, no fees, give visibility into bank account) - close on first piece of land August 2020 - get two more investors from FB groups - (no idea what Im doing just winging everything) - only thing I felt confident in was the 25% margins (w/o leverage) - get up to 12 land parcels with 3 investors by early 2021 - first duplexes take about 50% longer than I estimated (why the he*l do I need a driveway permit before I can order my electric meters??) - mid construction on my first few is when I get more active on ReTwit - share what I’m working on and get a few more investors from here plus going to @REconveneLA - this is all on the side of my engineering job - leave engineering job to join an amazing start up (Jan 2022) in the resi lending space @build_Upright (currently raising $20MM debt fund w/ $14MM raised) - through 2022 and 2023 continue to rinse and repeat building mostly the same floorplans - currently finishing up duplexes 24 and 25 soon with 19 more in permitting + 3 townhomes under construction - closing on a small $140k revenue cleaning biz this month with @651Michael (follow him to keep up with that) I turned 27 in September my goal is to continue learning as much as I can over the next few years where building relationships > money at this point I’m hoping this pays off over the next 27 years as I sit here probably with less liquid cash then you reading this 🙂

POV: you’re a stimulation design engineer working on figuring out how to save a few % across the 50 $10M wells you’re company is drilling this year Additionally, you’ve come up with a master plan to make an extra few bucks by developing duplexes I’ll hire a GC so I can still work my W2 you think to your yourself 9:37am while you’re at your office in 5 Greenway Plaza you see 3 missed calls from the GC It’s probably nothing you think to yourself Phone lights up again with a text from the GC “Jefe, la policía están aquí y quieren hablar contigo” You don’t recall hearing about anything like this on the podcasts …

What my structural engineer designs my 2 story 800 sqft townhomes for

Whether a city actually wants housing is inversely proportional to their fees

Some people think this is hyperbole Guys, the in-lieu fee for Mountain View will be $118/sqft in FY27 This is just the in lieu and doesn’t cover - planning - building - capacity - public works - transportation - school You can build at $100-115/sqft all day in Houston

On almost every project in California I underwrite I could develop the same size home in Houston with the fees alone

In 2021/2022 everyone encouraged me to leave my W2 because I had 12 duplexes mid-development “Volume” is irrelevant It’s about how much equity you can deploy (thus fee generation) I left my W2 in June because I saw a path to deploy >$5M over the next 12 months Unless you have cash flow else where or a spouse with a solid job - it just doesn’t make sense and even then the fees generated are pre-tax If you have a partner, it’s more like $10M

We need to stop calling it IZ because it does the exact opposite of its name If you want housing to be somewhat affordable - do what Houston and Austin did and permit a sh*t ton of housing *quickly*

“This property is a developers dream!*” Resi agents describing a sh*tbox on a >7500 sqft lot *20’x400’ lot in the 100 yr flood zone with a utility easement and 36” oak tree in the front setback

My prayers of avoiding QBO have been answered

I had these loaded in the chamber in Houston Since there are 3+ attached units this gets treated as a 200 unit project - sprinklers - manhole for sewer - storm drain connections - etc We can absorb 1 but not all 3 The fix? Treat 3-4 unit projects also as residential

If you’re not already well-off but would like to be some day through an RE related business and just not sure how exactly to do so - this is for you In my particular case, I didn’t know anyone who made more than $20/hr so I came on twitter + YouTube to learn Learned an incredible amount through ReTwit and saw Reconvene as an opportunity to strengthen those online connections and ask off-the-record questions about how to build a business + long winded development specific questions I was 23 at the first conference, took PTO from my petroleum engineering gig at Oxy and put the whole thing on a 0% interest credit card Would do it again in a heartbeat

If you get the wrong planner with SDGE it can be devastating I submitted to SDGE for one of our 4 townhomes projects in ~March 2025 Had to bring in a separate consultant to design their portion ourselves because we just couldn’t get the guy to respond

Picking up a $25 desk my wife bought from FB marketplace Likely will spend about half that in gas This is marriage huh?

If you’re young-ish and on Twitter you can have multiple unofficial mentors where you can take advantage of incredible wisdom no matter your current situation (so long as you have access to WiFi)

For those unfamiliar how this works If you want to do a 4 lot subdivision in Palo Alto for example Let’s say 4 three bedroom units at 1600 sqft They will cost $1.1M to build and you must sell one of the homes for $700k Guess who needs to eat the $400k loss

Exit #44 yesterday The house hacker who bought this gets 4 brand new units with 2 bed 2.5 bath each unit for less than $200k/unit Not possible in any other top 10 city Not winning any design awards but I provide the buyer what they want (efficiently)

A few people I would have never met without ReTwit at my wedding a few weeks ago