“As long as real estate continues to always be intriguing, challenging, and different. I’m here because I get bored easily. And there’s no one deal if you know, in any niche, that’s the same they’re just not and so that’s encouraging me to do my deals, I love it and passion for it still and on the coaching front and until and unless you coach is a tough one to maybe understand.” Chris Prefontaine is a Real Estate coach. He has a passion for not only owning investment real estate of his own but also coaching and teaching others how to do the same.

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How To Use Lease Options And Seller Carry Back To Win In Real Estate With Chris Prefontaine

Brett: 

Hey, I’m excited about our next guest. He is out of the great state of Rhode Island. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting them if you’ve never been there before. It’s a beautiful place. And he is a real estate coach. He has a passion for not only owning investment real estate of his own but also coaching and teaching others how to do the same. I want you to welcome to the show, Chris Prefontaine. Chris, hey, how are you doing?

Chris:

I’m awesome, Brett. Thanks for having me.

Brett:

Excellent. And Chris can be found at smart real estate coach.com. And for our listeners, would you please just start by giving me a little bit about your story, Chris, and your current focus?

Chris:

Sure. So at the risk of dating myself, I’ve been at this since ‘91. So 29 and a half years. I touched every bit of real estate bread, except maybe larger apartments probably only have been touched. And then after the lovely crash awaits, I call the debacle, avoid my book, I had to re-engineer the business. I didn’t know if I would get back into real estate. I was just beaten up. And so we said okay, what if we were to do this, we were to dive in? What are we going to do? So we just kind of set up some new rules. We said, okay, we’re not using banks, we’re not signing personally, that cracked me up. And so we buy everything now me, my son, my son in law, and in a small team, we buy everything on terms. And for us, that means owner financing and lease purchase primarily. And so we don’t wrestle with that I don’t stay up at night thinking about that. And while you know, the bank, the whole bank scenario. So it’s been a great run. And then most recently, with the course of the chaos with what’s going on with COVID, the banks are shutting down a lot of people, so they’re coming our way. And that’s a good thing that we can help so many people.

Brett:

Excellent. Yeah. So we’re gonna dive more into exactly that strategy and how you do it and how you help your students do the same. But before we go there, I’m curious, Chris, I want you to connect, I want you to pick yourself back as a teenager or as a kid, right? I think we’re all been given certain gifts in this life. I call them God-given gifts. And these gifts are used to be able to bless and help other people. So what is that one? One gift, Chris, that you believe you were given? And how does that help how you help people today?

Chris:

Cool question, I would say just the exposure, meaning because that shapes everyone’s exposure at a young age to let’s say, my father, my father’s contacts, just seeing that because he wasn’t in real estate. But he would build his buildings for his company, and I start to learn how the inner workings of that go. So I’d say exposure, for sure.

Brett:

Excellent. So just a dad or parents who gave you exposure to real estate and the industry and all of that together. And so it’s just kind of been in the blood, I have a similar story. And then I grew up with my dad. And as a contractor, he’s a contractor building houses from the ground up. And we’re in California and owning rentals. And so just be it’s almost like you just absorb the language of real estate of a businessperson of entrepreneurism, right of all of that when you’re inside of it. So that’s absolutely a gift I can relate to. So, Excellent. So when did you become fascinated and are obsessed with helping others achieve financial freedom? You mentioned the 2008 crash and how that kind of rocked and changed your world a bit, right? So walk us through maybe a little bit about that struggle. And then you know, I guess the rise, if you will, and then how you bring it together how you help people now?

Chris:

Yeah, sure. So It was painful. It was like I had like 23 or so properties or projects, you know, larger projects that in my mind naively were coming to fruition like an ATM. And we’re all set. When that crash happened, like literal lights, which one went off February of ‘08. I remember like it was yesterday, the banks came knocking, right I have signed a person, every single one of those deals, every single one of them either had bank loans or investor in bank loans. You know, we bought them conventionally, despite like many years before that being the business I just didn’t know about the terms world. So when values drop a third, sometimes two-thirds is a headache. So from February 08 to February 12. I spent full time, three-quarters of my time working those properties out foreclosure workout sale liquidation. That’s how long it took rebuilding credit, it was tough. And so after that is what I mentioned earlier when I said okay, what the heck are we going to do now. And that was a pivot to buying on terms weren’t doing a bank thing again, I mean, literally resetting my life, going from a two and a half million dollar home looking over the water to a one-bedroom apartment, my wife, I say, okay, let’s restart. And it was the best thing we ever did, in hindsight. And it was the best thing that ever happened in hindsight. So we started buying and selling just in the tri-state area here. And then right around I think was 2013-ish or 14, a gentleman, we have a war college here. I don’t know if you remember when you visited, but there’s a war College in Ireland. And a gentleman said to me, he called me and he said, I see what you’re doing for real estate around the area, I am going back to civilian life. I’m tired of three toys to Afghanistan, could you teach me that’s how that whole thing started. So then literally, I taught him hands-on because he was local that I wrote an Ebook to a little list and that grew. And now we have I don’t know, 90 or so what we call associates around North America doing deals with us. So we’re not about selling stuff. We’re about doing deals in the trenches with them. That’s a wide answer for a quick question.

Brett:

No, and it’s a great answer in this great context, right out of the pain and the struggle and the frustration, right? You are investing in what it is now you’re coaching and helping others right? And that’s essentially the beauty of mentors and coaches. And oftentimes, they just need to be a step or two ahead, right? And when you can help people breakthrough that either false belief, and or that limiting belief or and or that financial struggle, especially with real estate. I love how you partner with them, right? You’re like, hey, we’re going to be in on the deal with you. We’re not just going to teach it to you. We’re going to teach coaches and also put some skin in the game. So is that a fair summary?

Chris:

Yeah, it absents the skin in the game, because our deals don’t require cash. I mean, either some good deals that come our way where we could decide to do that and get more accurately sure. But by and large, it’s not necessarily mean literally, in our agreements as a $10 deposit built in to have a legit agreement. But yeah, you said something cool, though. Right? The headspace the mindset piece of that I forget how you referenced it. But that is huge because I can teach the same thing to everybody. That’s what we do. We have a core course, great. Why do some people do a deal in 42 days and some 365? It’s all between the ears, I think. And so it’s those if they’ll just stay with it. The only time you can mess it up is to quit right. We’ll just stay with it. We can show the pathway for sure.

Brett:

Love it. Yeah. So let’s dive into those actual deals now. So it looks like you’re asking the seller to carry and you’re doing some kind of lease option. So walk us through just an average deal that just closed recently and why the seller was selling, why are they willing to give the terms? How did you or one of your associates approach it and make a deal win-win for everybody?

Chris:

Sure. So I’ll go lease purchase for us. Because the owner financing is a different strategy, which is more lucrative. But just so everybody can grasp it for a new investor, this lease purchase is a nice way to start. Because if you’re not taking the deed, I’m going to someone like you as a seller. And as long as you can wait for your equity. If you have equity. If you can wait for it, you’re going to get the best price and you’re open to our lease purchase. And here’s how it works. Let’s just use some numbers. Let’s say, Brett, your house is 300 grand, we both agree it’s worth about 300. Let’s say you owe 250. So you have 50 grand, you weren’t able to sell on the open market, whether that was COVID, or whatever, you just didn’t sell it. So I come and say all right, as long as you can wait for that 50 you’re not like looking at redeploying that for your family tomorrow into another home, I will do this, I will install me what we call tenant-buyer needing time to get a loan, we will take over your underlying debt, meaning we’ll just make the payment on your behalf stays in your name deed stays in your name. At the end of the term, let’s use three years because of the capital gains issue there, then we will pay off your underlying debt that’s not 250 anymore, right? It’s lower. So we gain there and we will give you your 50 grand so long as you can wait you get your full 50,000 And towards the end of the term. And we went three ways. This is pretty cool from an investment standpoint. We got an upfront downpayment from our buyer that needs more time to go in that house. They need to credit repair or they need time to save more than any time, especially during COVID banks made up top. That’s one payday upfront non-refundable. On the second payday, I pay your underlying debt, I collect more from my buyer, every month, no leased vehicle. And then at the end, remember we have all that principal pay down in any markup, I might have put that home at 329 or, you know, some markup. So every deal for us the way I just described it as three paydays and every deal averages for us around 75 grand. So that’s a pretty significant deal over 123 to five years, depending on what your structure is.

Brett:

Well, let me see I got that, or at least let me try to try to bring that in. So you’re approaching somebody and said the house is worth $300,000. And if for some reason they need or want you to come in, to take over their debt. And basically, they keep the deed but you’re you’ve got the debt now and then you’re gonna pay that debt for three years. And at the end of that three years, do you have an option to purchase it? Or is there another person coming in? Walk us through that?

Chris:

Yeah, good question. So I have the right to purchase it with you the seller, but my right also gives me the right to sublet it. And so at the very end that buyer that needed time to enhance their credit or whatever, they’re closing directly with you.

Brett:

Good.  And the buyer is not the original owner, the buyer is somebody else.

Chris:

Yeah, the buyer someone else that I put in the house. We got right to sublet. Yeah, and then I get that mortgage ready. They close with you.

Brett:

Okay, excellent. And so the average deal in you didn’t put anything down to start right. Do you just assume the debt? Is that what it was the first time?

Chris:

So the word “assume” would imply that I went to the bank and signed up and got approved. Like you know what, we don’t do that we just make a payment for you.

Brett:

Got it. Okay, all right. And it’s you’re buying the option to purchase it at an agreed-upon price within three years yourself or somebody else. And but you In the meantime, we’ll make the payments. Now the debt is still in your name, Mr. Seller, the deed is still in your name. But we’re taking over that burden that’s on top of you right now for whatever financial hardship you might have. 

Chris:

100%. Spot them

Brett:

Okay. Excellent. So how do you find those? Those I mean, these expired listings, are these direct to seller mail marketing system? How are you finding those? And then what’s the typical motivation for that seller to do that for you, with you?

Chris:

Yeah, so three sources, primarily, expired listings you mentioned for sale by owner and for rent by owner. Those are three great sources now, who would maybe raise a hand? Oh, yeah, I need your help, or I want to do that. One, especially during COVID. They need debt relief. So that’s not a positive, right. That’s stress to second home debt relief, whatever it might be, too. They perhaps are in a great spot, but they couldn’t sell it and they want the best price. They’re not willing to lower the price. And they can wait over time. Three, unfortunately, what’s going on now would be a job loss, job change, you know, that type of thing. That’s ramping right now. That’s why people call it, that’s primarily the seller side who we deal with. It’s not always, I don’t want to make it. So it’s always stress either, Brett, I mean, some people are debt-free. They just go, Hey, I want my price. And I’ll wait. And there are tax ramifications there too.

Brett:

So what is your price? Help me understand. So you’re saying it’s $300,000 today, and they want to lock that in? versus it might be 253 years from now?

Chris:

Well, they could be right, there’s uncertainty now that could be taken out, man, I locked that in now, or they went on the market. And for whatever reason, as you know, expired listings, the best of markets is expired listings, functionality, price, overleveraged campaign, you know, whatever it might be. So they just wanted closure. A lot of humans want closure. About a third of the people we speak with will do terms, that’s a big number.

Brett:

They want closure to just thinking about the deal or having to sell or whatever. That’s what you’re saying, they don’t necessarily want to close. I mean, they could close the deal, but they least want closure on that. I know for a fact that $300,000 is the number whether it’s tomorrow or a year or up to three years from now, I know that right? So you’re saying.

Chris:

Right. 100%.

Brett:

Okay, but if it goes up to $400,000, you guys win, right? Is that how that would work?

Chris:

Well, the buyer we put in the home wins because we lock their price until we mark it up, and then we lock in it. So they want to sell it. So that buyer is acting like a real buyer. There’s no other mortgage yet.

Brett:

Okay, all right, got it. And so they’re happy because instead, I guess you’re also not only trying to get the leads here, but you’re also working on the leads with the buyer over here, the buyers right. And so then you’re trying to you’re kind of semi brokering the deal with no agents involved, right?

Chris:

All kinds I’m managing those two together in what we call a sandwich lease me being in the middle. The way we can do that non-licensed, very important is with that lease-purchase Just option recorded on titles, actually on the title.

Brett:

Actually on the title. Okay, awesome. Well, you can see why you need to coach there, right? Because even me being in the industry for an industry being commercial real estate, you know, multifamily, it’s another dialect, right? All of these are little dialects inside of this real estate language, right. And then there’s residential, there’s commercial, even in a commercial, there’s multifamily, there’s retail, there’s industrial, and then even in the deferred sales, trust, installment sales, space, there’s lease options, which is even another form of dialogue. So this is why you need so unlike Chris, again, you can find Chris at smart real estate coach calm. So Chris, walk us through maybe the average student who’s coming in, right, what are they looking for? And what are you providing and walk us through how that works?

Chris:

Sure. So pre COVID, this is a little change that happened recently. But pre COVID are mainly I haven’t thought in the people we were tracking were people like, like family businesses, because we’re big on family. And our culture is so sick of the corporate rat race. And so they didn’t have much experience, but they wanted to see a pathway to eventually get out of the corporate rat race, we just put out seventh person full time in real estate. So they came in maybe a year or two ago and said, give me a plan. So we just had a seventh guy give his nose, it’s cool, a couple. Third, they are in real estate, and they’re frustrated. And this is I don’t have that particular shirt on today. But our theme is to bridge the gap. And that is all these programs that are out there, as you probably know that they are great markers, but they don’t do anything to get deals done. So we’re big on bridging that gap between, okay, I took a course, I went to a seminar and I can do a deal. That’s what we’re into, we track it, we have metrics for time to first deal and that’s what we’re working on. So that said frustrated investor that says, look, I bought everything and I can’t do deals like show me how to do this. That’s a weird attractive thing. 

Brett:

Love it. It was good.

Chris:

It looks different now because people are bombarded with flying and we don’t have a job. So we’re getting a lot of that now people just flocking into real estate and in particular our niche because it’s driving right now.

Brett:

Yeah, love it. So first of all, congratulations to the seventh person working full time in real estate. It’s like listening to Dave Ramsey’s debt-free scream he called the Chris Prefontaine. What would we call it the job? Free scream, right. corporate job free scream. I don’t know what that might be. I don’t know. But then the second bridge, bridge the gap, right? doing a deal. Right? Making it reality versus Yeah, just taking the course and getting the head knowledge but not having the application. Is that a fair summary?

Chris:

Yeah.

Brett:

That’s awesome. Okay, so cool. So with that, what’s the biggest limiting belief? You know, we talked, we touched on this a little bit, but what would you say? If someone’s listening and they’re in the nine to five, or they’re even in real estate, they’re a realtor themselves. They’ve always wanted to get into investment real estate. They, you know, what’s that one biggest limiting belief that you have to help people overcome?

Chris:

I’d say certainly, they can’t, I can’t. That’s a common one in any business. But the other one is just managing expectations too. Because again, too much stuff out there touting you can do this is million dollars tomorrow by business and so mismanaging that leads to frustration and just misbelief it sounds nice both of those things combined.

Brett:

Excellent. So after building your net worth and helping countless investors do the same with real estate and I’m curious, what’s the top one or two pieces of wisdom to help others build more real estate wealth?

Chris:

You know, I this would be for any business the way you phrase that this is how I answer I think it could be for any business, not just real estate niches and that would be your kind of alluded to earlier one, like finding a niche because as initiative initiatives as you said, find a niche you can get behind like you enjoy thinking to get behind your passion. But then number two, find someone that you also alluded to that is in the trenches, maybe a few steps ahead of you because especially what just went on you can’t be following a system or someone that’s not current you get yourself in trouble things change too quickly in real estate. And once you find that person you can align with that I mean values and everything to and that’s not just a profit structure. And then third, put the blinders on. This is tough for three years. It doesn’t mean doesn’t take you three years to do it means if you commit for three years you’ll be willing to stick it out through the ups and downs and you will have a phenomenal experience if you do those three steps absent that you’re just gonna have frustration in my opinion. 

Brett:

I love that yeah. So find a niche you can believe in and you’re excited about and then find someone you align not only with the niche who’s done it and has a track record but also you align with the values and that that is there as well and alas, just put your blinders on just stay dead center. Focus on that for three years ups and downs. And you will have success. I’m curious, how did you figure that system out? Like, Where did you? What did you get that from?

Chris:

Well, I thought this was about a year ago, I’m thinking, God, okay, what happened in Hawaii. And what happened was one of the times in the early 90s. So it’s twice out of like four or five curveballs, storm economic cycles to beat me up. And so I said, why, in? To my surprise, I vomited because I should have known this. I didn’t have a mentor or someone to go to, and go, hey, what, what, how do I pivot? Yeah, what’s going on? Why did I get here? You know, I didn’t have that. And I said, Well, how stupid is that? So now I know it waters it down. But if you’re my coach, and I see something coming up, or I see COVID, I call you and go, what do we do? You’ve been through this five times. I mean, that’s, that’s what made me think of that three-step model, it’s logical. If you want to open a restaurant, go do the same thing. Simple.

Brett:

It’s simple, right? But sometimes when you’re in it, it’s like, it’s hard to see those blind spots. I’m reading a new book. And he talks about exactly that, like and one of the quotes he uses, which I think is so powerful as he goes, I had to learn the art of trading, being right, with trading with what was true, okay. And it’s something along those lines, right, I had to train myself to trade the joy of being right with the joy of what’s true, right?  And those are where the blind spots are at. And he goes as a part of that I had to surround myself with people that are good, meaning, you know, solid values that maybe have disagreements with me, and I want to invite them into my world, so they can help me see the blind spots that I can’t see, right. Rather than thinking that I’m going to do it all myself or be, I can figure it out myself. No, just exchange that joy over there for this joy, and you’ll be much more successful. I can’t help but think about also for three years, maybe it’s the 10,000 hours, right? You know, how do you get to 10,000 hours? Well, you spend 10,000 hours, but how are you going to do that? Well, it might take three years to do that. I know commercial real estate and Marcus and Millichap where I started selling multifamily properties. It took me a good two years. I mean, we were 50, 60 hours a week, right? And this is the best training and you know, I call it the Navy SEAL training for multifamily brokerage. And it was amazing. But it took and I was pretty young, and I had to go through it. But once I broke through it, it helped propel everything else in my career. So I appreciate you sharing that. Any other thoughts on what I just said? Or in summary?

Chris:

One came to mind just that. And it was when you talk about sharing thoughts and whatnot in that book. Unfortunately, success is a rotten teacher, right? That’s what happened to me and oh, I got it. I don’t need a coach. This is cool. Everything’s great. So it’s rotten teacher, what you have to have, especially examples are rampant right now with what just happened to everybody in the world. And that is someone that went through at least two storms if not three stones being something big. So like, for me, it was two or three market cycles, but it was also my son, you know, having an accident going into a coma It was 911 is all things that hit us while we were in business. Okay, so you figure out how to weather that and pivot, you know, it’s tough. But that’s not the success.

Brett:

Absolutely. Well, so well said. Thank you for that. So are you ready for Archie? Before we go there? I also want to tie in the capital gains tax portion of the podcast here. Okay, so you’re doing all these deals, a lot of our listeners are doing deals, you know, different parts of the industries, you know, commercial real estate, it could be flipping houses all of these different things. So, but the biggest, one of the biggest challenges is capital gains tax, right? 30 to 50% of their game with the depreciation recapture, especially if it’s short term versus long term. So walk us through that biggest challenge for you. And then how you’ve been able to structure deals where you’re either deferring or capital gains taxes. And or what is your strategy moving forward? So you don’t just get completely wiped out?

Chris:

Yeah, so the piece that I mentioned earlier to you with the short term capital gains and flipping and the flippers can relate to this. We simply do all our deals like the earliest you ever cash on a deal is two years. So we’re never in that one year piece. We never do short term things. Now as far as the longer term, many of our properties are, this is for a seller to know too many of our properties are owner financing, where we will hold the paper for the buyer or the seller hold the paper for us when they’re debt-free. And we are making monthly principal payments only and this can be five years four years of building we bought as a 20-year bill deal. That’s my building from my own offices. We didn’t go to a bank. So it pushes the can down the road, spreads it out. A lot of owners love it. Like that guy said to me, I do not want to be cashed out because our gains do not catch me early. So he’s given us a 20-year note. So it’s good for the seller. No, no for the investors to know that there’s room to do that.  

Brett:

Wait a second. I want to dive in a little bit more. So are you making interest-only payments with a balloon due in 22 to minimize that, or is it interest in principle what kind of amortization schedule? 

Chris:

It’s principal only this is why that’s a whole deal we do this we didn’t get to this very lucrative like six figure deals every time it did we look for a free and clear property. They don’t have a mortgage. So franchise savvy, they’re easy to deal with, frankly. And we structure principle only monthly payments with a balloon in the future.

Brett:

Okay, so let’s walk through that and say it’s a million-dollar deal. And buy what’s the interest rate? And, and what’s the payment? Walk us through how that would work, right?

Chris:

Close that. So you came to New England. So we did one on Cape Cod, it’s up on a bluff overlooking the water, the great example. She was a realtor that sold to us, we bought it for 950. And we make monthly principal payments of 20 $500. There is no interest. So 30,000 a year comes off of principle, we structured a four-year deal recently extended it, it was two or three more years, my son was active down but so it’s a six or a seven-year deal. So do the math six-year deal. We just brought $180,000 down in principle, it’s a great recession hedge, it’s a great way to do our deals where we put a buyer in there that needs time. And that’s why you can create six-figure deals on these things all day long, long as you get at least three or four-year terms.

Brett:

Okay, so make sure you understand that because this is so new to me with no interest. So from I’m trying to think from the seller’s perspective, I get it from you guys I believe, right? But why would the seller do no interest? In other words, if they just sold it? Now they’d have to pay the tax right? And then they go get interested in what you’re saying is no, don’t sell it. So for you’re not deferring that you’re not going to pay the tax. And we’re going to defer it for 10 years and then do a balloon payment, at which point you’ll pay the tax. But in the meantime, you received 20 $500 a month. So what am I connecting those dots for me?

Chris:

Couple things. Yeah, a couple of things come to mind in no particular order priority wise. One is if they couldn’t sell like they expired, for example, this woman’s a relative she couldn’t sell it on her own. So with COVID here, jumbo loans, a tough we just took a buyer for a $1.3 million house for the student in Colorado, he saw the house before COVID, he has 760 credit, this is why a seller will jump he couldn’t get along, they kicked it out last minute because it COVID they wanted like two and a half years or something crazy. So he came to us after we put an agreement and said I see what you’re doing, you’re kind of my pathway, I can get financing, I need more time to get reserves together. So we’re gonna put that deal together, the seller is tickled pink, he couldn’t sell it. So that’s why he’d go to it. This guy’s a smart entrepreneur, too. He’s got several properties. So that’s one reason another reason is just they want their price. And some of this is ego-driven like I want my number, I’ll wait, they just can’t have that comp go through that, you know, low that debt-free, they got the number in mind. So they’ll take it over time and get to their number. Amazingly, I got a third of the properties in the United States a debt free third. So you go fish in that pond for a while. There are some great people there. Now, I’m not saying you’re gonna get three of these a month, we probably pick up a deal like the six-figure deals, multiple six, we pick up like one every third sometimes every other month within our community and ourselves. But you don’t need more than that, giving you that kind of profit. Most people don’t.

Brett:

Yeah, that makes sense. So how are you qualifying these leads as they’re coming in? Are they? Because I imagine you know, a lot of them aren’t going to work, right. So how do you quickly know, get them down the funnel? Where it is, you know, a good solid deal?

Chris:

Yeah, it comes down to will the seller wait? And how long relative to the price example? Could we have paid instead of 950? Could we have paid 965 for all the payments for that house on the water? If she gave us an extra year or two in the term knowing that it’s all going to the principal? Sure. So as long as we can see that the principal pays down over time, we have enough time in the term. I don’t care about the price. So it doesn’t it’s not hard to justify.

Brett:

Yeah, that makes sense. And the timing and the once again, what’s the timing on that note that was for?

Chris:

The owner is proud of me and we don’t do less than forever we start with that. And then during the years, we might work in what we call it a payday for what it means that we’re pushing that deal out even further and pick up more profit. We might incentivize and we might call you and say hey, we owe you 200,000 at the end of this balloon, we can prepay some of that now if you extend it things like that we do that a lot.

Brett:

Beautiful, love it. Excellent. Well, that is a crash course and our financing and lease options and as you know, you don’t want to be doing this on your own for the first time. So you want to hire a coach like Chris Prefontaine at a smart real estate coach to teach you how to do this. And walk you through so you’re not getting any landmines here. That being said, Chris, are you ready for the lightning round?

Chris:

Yeah, fire away.

Brett:

All right, knowing what you know. Now, Chris, if you go back to your 25-year-old self, what’s the one Golden Nugget, you would make sure you would do or not.

Chris:

I would actually sleep, eat, immerse myself in that three-step formula that I gave because I didn’t, obviously twice, and it cost me a whole big bunch.

Brett:

Right, which is to find your niche, right? That you can believe in a niche or a niche that you can believe in, find someone you can align with who is in that niche already. And closing deals or doing those types of things, and also align with your values and put your blinders on for three years, stay focused, get those 10,000 hours in as fast as you can. Question number two, what is the one book you recommend or have gifted the most in the past year?

Chris:

The hard things about the hard things I think were the name of it. And I’m sorry, I can’t think of his name. But it’ll come right up on Amazon, it was just more our style and blunt to the point isn’t going to happen. Here’s how you deal with it.

Brett:

Got it. Very direct communication, the hard things about the hard things straight to the point. I love that. Give me a digital or mobile resource you recommend for your business.

Chris:

We use Slack for internal communication, you want one more broad for the students, we use slack. It’s the best thing we’ve done as a community for our students. By Friday, they get to communicate amongst themselves nonstop.

Brett:

Excellent. Slack, love it. We use that too. We love that. Favorite leadership quote or theme and you try to live by?

Chris:

The theme is the Vern Harnish kind of scaling up model, we blocked a group called elite entrepreneurs. And that’s all they teach. And I credit all our scaling in the last three or four years. I met them in 17 to three years. They teach rhythm, meeting rhythm, value, mission, purpose, and it’s changed our business. 

Brett:

And I say that one more time. What’s the website?

Chris:

Elite Entrepreneurs.

Brett:

Elite entrepreneurs. Excellent. Yeah. What are you curious about right now?

Chris:

Well, I’m super curious. What way the market will turn almost monthly, but in the next six to nine months coming out of them or staying in the COVID crisis? Because I just sent out a video this morning to our community, they said there’s one thing for certain: the billing is that nobody knows. So I’m curious what’s gonna happen?

Our culture is so sick of the corporate rat race. And so they didn't have much experience, but they wanted to see a pathway to eventually get out of the corporate rat race, we just put out seventh person full time in real estate. Click To Tweet

I think everyone is right. Well said, this is our last question, then we’ll remind our listeners where they can find you. But after all, your success, Chris. After all the folks you’ve coached all the people you’ve helped get financially free with real estate and or job free? How do you stay centered in your values, right? And how do you stay encouraged to reach for new heights?

Chris:

Centered values are a group effort because as a team, we kind of establish those and so we, directly and indirectly, hold each other accountable to those like symbols a decision comes across that blade, someone knee jerk reaction is quick, and they go that doesn’t allow for values. So it’s like a self-check. And then the family, my wife, I do that as well. So constantly it’s like built-in accountability is the answer, accountability with others? And then staying the course was that the other one?

Brett:

Yes, they encouraged you to reach new heights like you can’t miss all these goals. You make all this money, yada yada yada. How do you stay encouraged to keep you know, what keeps you driven to keep doing more and reach for new heights or new goals?

Chris:

Yeah, so two things, as long as real estate continues to always be intriguing, challenging, and different. I’m here, because I get bored easily. And there’s no one deal if you know, in any niche, that’s the same they’re just not and so that’s encouraging me to do my deals, I love it and passion for it still and on the coaching front and until and unless you coach is a tough one to maybe understand. But to see like in the case of the seventh person going full time, and families in tears over the progress and like hey, I don’t apply anymore because COVID these are real stories. That keeps me going back to teach him like I get a new student. I’m like, okay, well how quickly you can get you doing deals. It’s just again, a coach as you have got it and then people don’t coach go. Yeah, but why would you coach so that’s what keeps me going just to see that success going from A to B. They never did it before.

Brett:

Love it. Yeah. The transformation in their lives in their mindsets in their finances, right? And what can it mean for their family? Absolutely, can appreciate that. Well, I want to thank you and for being on the show. Can you remind our listeners one more time where they can find you?

Chris:

You can go to smart real estatecoach.com and then as I promised you at the beginning we can give them the book. We don’t ship with COVID now but they get electronic. Just go to free.srecbook.com. This is gonna say they heard us on your show. That’s all. 

Brett:

Excellent. So you have mentioned the show. Go there. Well, thanks, Chris, for sharing your gifts, that gift, your talents, your wisdom and so much more with us. This lasts 45 minutes. We appreciate that so much. And I want to encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing. Keep blessing others and keep making a difference for people to be financially free job free when it comes to real estate investing. And with that, I want to thank our listeners for listening to another episode of the capital gains tax solutions podcast. As always, we believe the highest net worth individuals and those who helped them struggle with clarifying their capital gains tax deferral options, not having a clear plan is the enemy and using a proven tax deferral strategy, such as the deferred sales trust, such as a seller carryback lease options is the best way for you to grow your wealth and go to capital gains tax solutions.com if you need help clarifying those options. If you’re selling a business, real estate, or other highly appreciated asset and schedule your free time with us right now, please also share a rate review and subscribe. We appreciate the support. And with that, we wish everyone a great day.

Important Links:

• Chris Prefontaine
• estatecoach.com
• free.srecbook.com
• elite entrepreneurs

About Chris Prefontaine

If you’re serious about making money in the real estate investment business, then you can’t afford to miss this complimentary webinar! GET INSTANT ACCESS : www.3Paydays.com

I have had multiple careers within the real estate industry spanning more than 25 years. During the 1990’s, I built more than 100 single-family homes. From ’94-2000, I owned a Realty Executives franchise in Massachusetts, before selling my company to Coldwell Banker.

Today, our family-owned business in Newport, RI still buys 4 to 10 properties per month via lease-purchases and owner financing. We have engineered more than $75 million in transactions.

I am passionate about continuing education and helping others grow their real estate investing business to its full potential. This compelled me to begin sharing my strategies and insight with others who want to build wealth outside their core business. I have coached more than 30,000 people throughout the U.S. and Canada during the last 17 years.

When I meet a new student or partner, I often find they are frustrated with the hours of hard work they’ve invested is not producing wealth outside the business. They feel trapped and ready to give up. They crave straightforward and proven strategies they can apply quickly to get off the never-ending treadmill.

Worse yet, most of my students previously purchased “training programs” from other so-called “experts” and never received an ounce of support from the “guru.”

My approach is different.

I teach and mentor how to apply the principles of success I use every day in building my business. Most importantly, I love working in the trenches alongside our partners; getting my hands dirty and showing them how to avoid mistakes and where they can succeed.

In addition to working with me one-on-one, our partners also benefit from the collective strength and wisdom of my entire team. We are a family-owned business so our partners get all of our expertise — not just mine, and that creates powerful results.

 

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