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Building Wealth Without Lifestyle Inflation With Hoa Nguyen · The Academy Presents podcast

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Did you know that 90 % of the world's millionaires
0:05
invest in real estate? Well, I'm Angel with the
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Academy Presents Real Estate Investing Rocks,
0:11
and I'm here to help you if you want to go for
0:15
your piece of that pie. Are you new? Are you
0:19
new to this and you just don't know where to
0:20
start? It's okay. Are you someone that has invested
0:25
but you feel stuck, you feel like you've lost
0:27
momentum, you don't know where to really head
0:30
from here? Are you a seasoned real estate investor
0:33
who is doing great, but maybe you just want to
0:35
hone a few skills here and there? This is the
0:38
place for you. The Academy Presents Real Estate
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Investing Rocks podcast will connect you with
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industry experts so that you can save time, avoid
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costly mistakes, and begin living the life you've
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dreamed of all through real estate investing.
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You're already taking the first step. just by
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joining us here today. Hey guys, it's Angel with
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the Academy Presents Real Estate Investing Brock's.
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You are with us for the fall summit and this
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has been amazing. I say it I think every single
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time but these are my favorite six days of the
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year by far. I get to have amazing conversations
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with amazing experts in the space and then you
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get to hear all of their stories and all their
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experiences and all of their massive knowledge
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too and so that just makes this really amazing.
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So my friend here, Hua Wen, is going to be sharing
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a little bit about her story and we'll kind of
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chit chat about some other things, but I'm just
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excited to share her with y 'all. So, Hua, if
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you want to kind of give us a little bit about
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your background and maybe just how you got into
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real estate, maybe, and then we can move on to
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the other. Yeah. Hi, Angel. Thanks for having
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me on. So Jaime and I, our journey into real
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estate, you know, we're both eye doctors. So
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when we ventured into the world of real estate,
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we had a zero experience. So the birth of our
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little baby girl, her name's Athena. That was
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eight years ago. She just had a birthday. And
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really, that was why we decided, you know, we
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really want to figure out how to be more flexible
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with our schedule. And that was really the vehicle
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of trying to buy back our time. I mean, at this
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time, we already had two practices, we were busy
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working about 60 to 70 hours a week. And so we
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were really, really grinding. And so we just
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wanted to figure out and we didn't have diversified
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passive income, aside from the 401k and IRA.
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That was really all we had and then our practice.
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And so when we ventured into real estate, you
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know, we learned different programs, I mean,
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different podcasts, different books, like meetups,
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you name it, we were there. And so we were just
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trying to figure out different vehicles of real
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estate. And so we started off buying land. And,
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you know, funny enough, our real estate journey
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was overseas. And so we bought land overseas
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in Belize, and then we bought into a resort syndication.
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in Belize and then we did ground up construction
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built our custom home and we currently and then
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we Airbnb'd it and so that was kind of like a
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vacation home but then we Airbnb'd when we weren't
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there and then multifamily really started about
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five years ago and so that was when we started
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multifamily syndication and ever since we learned
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about that vehicle that was what we honed in
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on and focused and grew and started growing our
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portfolio in that avenue. And it's been a game
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changer. And so now I practice twice a month,
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you know. So freedom of time has been the biggest
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thing and biggest reward ever since we started
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our real estate journey with multifamily. And
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that's not like Jaime and I, like, we never take
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the lead on asset management. You know, there's
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a few projects where, you know, yeah, we get
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on the weekly calls, but somebody else is always
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the lead on the asset management because that's
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not our sweet spot. You know, we like to get
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out there. I mean, we go to a lot of networking
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conferences and meetups and, you know, so to
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speak and things. And so we enjoy, you know,
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that's a lane that I didn't think I would like
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as far as speaking out there in public. Um, but
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it's been a big vehicle of growth for us and
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I've really enjoyed it and allows us to travel,
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which we really love doing. It's kind of like,
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okay, I get to travel. I get to meet a lot of
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new people. And, um, so it's been that that's
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kind of my sweet spot is like, I love that space,
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the investor relations, getting out there, getting
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to know people. and then the underwriting aspect.
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At the beginning, Jaime and I were underwriting
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heavily. We get to know, we still enjoy that
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process, but now we've hired someone to do full
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-time underwriting where we only will look at
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it after it meets all the criteria where we can
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deep dive into it. And so we focus more on brokers
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and getting out there and just touring if something
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does meet the criteria. um but the asset management
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piece like the day -to -day and that like the
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details of like all you mentioned like yeah that's
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not our real house well it's not exactly my sweet
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spot either with properties 15 inch from the
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house so it kind of becomes our thing and and
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the thing is like when i had to go over there
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jason was still working in his w2 so jason was
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working in his w2 till the end of june so now
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if something happens he's probably going to go
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take care of it except for the two weeks when
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him and my daughter were like out of cell phone
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range and out of internet range that was I lovingly
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called that the burning it is it was not fun
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because it was like if it could go wrong it went
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wrong and so that was rough but other than that
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like we're on the weekly calls and we're we're
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the ones that get to go to the property the most
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because the rest of our GP team is out of state
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yeah Now that part I like. I love visiting all
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the properties just to see the befores and afters
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and what's going on and what's being done and
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like that part I love. Anything that I'm near
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here in DFW I'll visit because you know it's
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right by our place and then in Houston whenever
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we do a Houston you know visit we'll go drive
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by and visit all the properties. So that part
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I like to see as long as someone's running the
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details of the cafes and all that. Yeah I really
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don't get involved with the capex part unless
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they need like a connection or they need me to
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so we're a part of a really big residential group
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here too we've been investing on the residential
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side here for 15 years so we have a lot of connections
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on the residential side and if you know being
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in Wichita Falls not everybody wants to want
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to drive from DFW to do things with the property
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and so there'll be times when i'm reaching out
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to my residential friends i'm like hey who do
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you know that's a welder hey who do you know
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that can do this hey who do you know that can
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do this and Um, so I'll pass those on a lot of
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times, but that's just like a, this is who I
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found. Cause I, I've made the mistake of getting
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involved in that piece. And yeah, but you know,
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you said there's things that you don't know you
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don't like until you do them. Yeah. Um, I was
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on site for probably a week, week and a half
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working kind of in the middle of stuff, helping
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I found somebody to clean out a unit that was
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really gross. And so they had to like basically
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it's going to have to be gutted eventually, but
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like getting all the stuff out. And so I was
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there for that. And that was when that person
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was like getting in touch with me and I was like,
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wait, you don't get in touch with me. You get
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in touch with them. And I was like, oh, yeah,
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this is I don't like this part. And so. for me
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it was being so close to the property and getting
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I don't want to say like involved too much but
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my involvement was seen differently than it had
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been seen before yeah and so me and our regional
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had a conversation not not a bad one but it was
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just like hey I think I overstepped here I'm
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sorry you're better at this than I am can you
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please Well, and it was just, it was a weird
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time and she had a bunch going on and then Jason
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and Julianne were gone. And so I'm trying to
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take care of things that I can actually control
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because the other stuff that was out of my control
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was out of my control. And so I was trying to
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do the things that I could help with that I could
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control. And it passed the days while they were
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gone. Well, I cried in bed with the glass of
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wine. Yeah, but that was, I wouldn't have known.
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that that is not what I want to be involved in
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if I hadn't been there because I have friends
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that they love that they love going on site and
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they love helping with turnarounds and they love
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like seeing how the flooring goes together and
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they love being in there in it and I'm like I
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don't know that I will ever do that again if
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I have to I mean we're so close if something
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happened and we needed to go up there and paint
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a wall or do something Jason I would be there
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and do that, but it was I Don't call it drama,
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but it was just the the mix Yeah, and the phone
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calls and the conversations that I just didn't
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really want to have Because they weren't fun
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I like having fun conversations and like like
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you like I'm meeting people and talking to people
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and going places So long as I don't have to get
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on a plane I will drive 16 hours to get somewhere
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I know it's weird I know it's weird I'll get
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past it someday but um no I love that part that's
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fun to me like so much so that like we were talking
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to our coach and he's like why are you making
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Jason go to these events with you he doesn't
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want to go and you're taking away from underwriting
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and It was kind of in that moment that I realized
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that the fun I have in meeting people and networking
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is the same fun he has in his spreadsheets. And
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I'm like, that's so weird. He'd rather do that
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than meet a bunch of people, right? Yeah. So
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then it was like, I was going to networking events
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on my own. And I mean, that was fine too, but
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people are always asking, where's Jason? Oh,
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he's at home, probably sitting in front of his
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spreadsheets. right. That's okay. You know, people
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stick with what they enjoy because it's not fun
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for him or, you know, and it wouldn't divide
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and conquer. It's like, it's best if he's loves
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to do the underwriting side, let him focus in
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on that and you get out there and network. Right.
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So it's, yeah. Well, and it's, it comes from
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like, he's more introverted. I'm way extroverted.
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And so I think it's just overwhelming for him.
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Yeah. No, but that's, it works. You know, that's
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good. No, it doesn't. When we capital raise,
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it's actually really awesome because, you know,
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I had friends in the beginning that were like,
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you don't have to underwrite, you're never going
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to be able to raise capital. I was like, I don't
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know. I have no desire to learn that stuff. And
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it has really hurt us. We've, we've raised, we've
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raised the one time for our deal, but we raised
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a million dollars on our first deal. That's awesome.
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And people knew and people know they're like,
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Don't ask her for numbers. Don't do it. Go ask
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Jason. And if we're coming in close to, we're
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fixing to be raised or something, Jason will
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go with me to events because I can get the conversation
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started. And then when they turn the numbers,
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he's right there and can take over. And so it's
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really seamless and it works really well. I like
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it that way. You do what works for you. You know
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what's comfortable for you and why it's enjoyable
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because and that's it's a long -term play right
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and so and then you improve on that and over
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time you know over time as you hear Jason talk
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about the numbers naturally you will pick a lot
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of that up. I have unfortunately learned quite
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a bit from just hearing it over and over again
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um I mean I won't even I won't even play around.
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When we first got started, the thing that I knew
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and understood was the equity multiple. That
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was it. And that's of all the different KPI,
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that's probably the one that most people want
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to know the most. So even if you don't know all
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the details of things, you have to at least know
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that one. I mean, if you know that one, you can.
13:10
Like if you have an approximation of the whole,
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you have a pretty good idea of what you're going
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to be getting average per year. I mean, there's
13:16
things you can tell, you know, that your IRR
13:18
has to be like less than the average per year
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because you got the time value of money going
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on and there's different values going out each
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year. I mean, there's things that you can tell
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from it. I just couldn't get real specific. Yeah,
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that's okay. Yeah. So I mean, it worked out.
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And most people invest and you know, There's
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a few that are going to ask the detailed, very
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detailed numbers, but the majority of them honestly
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don't, you know. Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah,
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they don't. They might want to act like they
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want those numbers, but I think they're kind
13:54
of like me. And when they hear those numbers,
13:56
they're just numbers. Yeah. So, but I want to
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turn things around a little bit because one of
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the things that I like to focus on is. really
14:05
showing people who are paycheck to paycheck,
14:08
whether that's military, law enforcement, teachers,
14:12
that you can get into this without having a ton.
14:15
And I think you and Jaime have a really unique
14:18
take on that because y 'all didn't come here
14:22
with tons and tons of money. And I think that
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people see the end product, they see the highlight
14:30
reel, and they don't know what it took to get
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there. So do you mind sharing a little bit about
14:33
that? Oh yeah you know like you said so I'm actually
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I was born in the Philippines in the refugee
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camp you know and so my parents fled Vietnam
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and so I didn't come to the U .S. till I was
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about eight and a half years old and so our journey
14:51
was extremely rough because you know we moved
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around a lot. I was in Pennsylvania, Virginia,
14:59
I was in I don't know 13 different schools before
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we ended up going to New Orleans and then my
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dad got a little fishing boat and you know my
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mom her skill set was she she knew how to cook.
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because she never went to school, she doesn't
15:16
know how to drive, she doesn't speak English.
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And so, you know, we grew up in a little bitty
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trailer, $3 ,000 mobile home in New Orleans is
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where we grew up. And then it was a really rough
15:28
part of New Orleans, you know, not the New Orleans
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people know as the fun and like we lived in the
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projects. And so our upbringing was really tough
15:37
and my dad passed away at a young age. And so
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I started working by age 10 with my mom and we
15:43
wound up ending up buying this like little corner
15:46
convenience store in the project. And so I would
15:49
go to school and then go out and help my mom.
15:53
And here, my mom, like I said, she doesn't know
15:55
anything about speaking and stuff, but she could
15:57
make po' boys and make fried rice and just basic
15:59
things. And, you know, so I was like, you know,
16:03
little entrepreneur. I was like, I was doing,
16:06
I was working the cash register by age 10. I
16:09
was working the kitchen by age 10. And then Jaime,
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very similar immigrant story. You know, he came
16:15
to the, he's from Mexico and he came to the States
16:18
by age five. And like his parents, you know,
16:22
they've always like they lived in itty bitty,
16:25
um, one side of a duplex and there's a family
16:29
of five and three of them lived in like the three
16:33
siblings lived in one small itty bitty bedroom,
16:36
you know, probably a quarter size of my office
16:39
space here. And so they lived in that for 20
16:42
something years. Right. And so, um, and it's,
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it's So it's very low income and we went to school
16:50
and then, you know, so to the epitome of trying
16:53
to become a doctor, that's like, you think that's
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like, man, that's the American dream is like
16:59
becoming a doctor. We're first ones to go to
17:01
college and go becoming doctors in our family,
17:04
you know, but that journey as fancy and glamorous
17:08
as the title and the accolade of a doctor is
17:11
the reality of it is, I mean, we were living
17:16
like off of student loans, right? And coming
17:20
out of optometry school, we had $350 ,000 a student
17:25
loan debt. So it wasn't like we even came out
17:27
with like, we didn't have a little, we came out
17:30
with a big negative. And so at this point, like
17:34
our parents really can't help us. This is purely
17:36
living off a credit card debt and living off
17:40
of student loans. And so, our first journey of
17:44
like, okay, now we are doctors, we're going to
17:46
go work for someone else. And, you know, our
17:50
first paycheck, I was like, man, we were living
17:53
off of ramen noodles. Angel, when we moved here
17:56
to DFW, like we met 17 years ago. And Hyman,
18:00
I graduated, we literally had about $150 in our
18:04
bank account graduating. And we needed to wait
18:07
to our license for us to start working. And so
18:11
we moved into Arlington. The apartments that
18:13
we're purchasing, we were living in a C minus
18:16
apartment in a one bedroom. And, you know, so
18:20
even as doctors, we lived like students, you
18:23
know, and so we ate ramen, we lived extremely
18:27
frugal, because we knew we had big dreams. And
18:32
we knew that we wanted to really budget and have
18:36
our money work for us. And at that time, our
18:38
goal was just to become our own boss and buy
18:40
our practice. And so to live, even though we
18:45
started making six figures as doctors, we picked
18:49
up extra relief work. So we constantly worked
18:53
every Saturday and Sunday, and we did this for
18:56
years. you know, picking up extra relief work
18:59
so that we could start paying up our debt and
19:02
then having enough saved so we could buy that
19:04
first practice. And we lived in that one bedroom
19:07
C -class apartment even as doctors. Jaime today
19:11
still drives his 2004 Toyota Sequoia 350 ,000
19:18
miles. I kid you not, Angel. When people look
19:21
at us today and they're like, Jaime's still driving
19:24
that? I'm like, at this point of our journey,
19:27
We can buy any car we want, but we still have
19:31
that mentality of we don't have lifestyle inflation
19:34
where now we work on building assets. We work
19:38
on like, I mean, a vehicle, it's great. His Toyota
19:41
Sequoia does great. It has no problem. My vehicle
19:45
is like 14 years old, you know, and his is like
19:49
18 years old. And it gets us from A to B and
19:52
it's fine, you know? But, you know, some people,
19:55
they want the end result, but they don't know
19:59
the journey of what it took, like the hustling
20:02
and the grinding. And I mean, I've seen people
20:05
from all walks of life. The immigrant story that
20:08
Jaime and I share is very common. It's very common.
20:12
And it's because of those hardships. How we view
20:17
money is really different. You know, the value
20:21
of money. because we know the effort and hard
20:25
work and commitment it took to build that value,
20:28
we want to maximize that. And so, you know, we
20:32
do live life fully now because we have more time,
20:37
but like we don't spend lavishly even till this
20:41
day. Travels for us are experiences and memories
20:44
and so we we enjoy that process. But like we
20:49
don't have fancy stuff and we're but that's just
20:53
us because that for us doesn't fulfill us. For
20:56
me to donate like I have no problem with that
21:00
you know but to buy or gamble or do something
21:03
like that that was like oh my god that feel so
21:05
wasteful. So it's just a different view of it.
21:10
But it doesn't matter what walks of life, whatever
21:14
avenue. Like my mom, no formal education. And
21:21
like I said, but she wound up doing small little
21:24
businesses, six little small businesses in New
21:27
Orleans in order to take care of the three of
21:29
us as a single mom. And so it's doable. And she
21:35
was able to retire after we started working.
21:39
But I see it all the time now. And people even
21:42
in the world of investing, I was like, even if
21:44
you have a little bit, we were always saving
21:47
money on the side. to invest early on like even
21:51
if it was a little bit in the 401k when we were
21:53
working for someone else we always allocated
21:56
some money on the side where we have an emergency
21:59
fund where we have money savings and then now
22:02
of course we do more into the real estate world
22:04
but when you're first starting off you don't
22:06
have that kind of money. you know to get into
22:08
that space but we always knew like we're gonna
22:10
live like we're gonna live like students like
22:13
Jaime and I have lived for students for a long
22:15
time we know how to live the student's budget