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Navigating Real Estate Investing as a Busy Physician with Dr. Tom Lowe · Physicians and Properties

• 0:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: when I first started, it was all me trying, looking for deals on MLS, I look on investor lift, that's another decent place to look for deals.
• 0:08
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, but now as I buy more, people start to recognize that you're buying properties and people know that you're buying properties and, deals start coming to you the further you go along.
• 0:20
  Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast.
• 0:24
  The show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want.
• 0:33
  Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! Now, here's your host, Dr.
• 0:39
  Alex Schlo.
• 0:43
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Hello everyone.
• 0:44
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And welcome to another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast.
• 0:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So glad that you're here.
• 0:49
  Dr. Alex Schloe: This episode was so much fun to record.
• 0:51
  Dr. Alex Schloe: It was with my friend, Dr.
• 0:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Tom Lowe.
• 0:54
  Dr. Alex Schloe: He's a radiologist in a private practice in South Bend, Indiana.
• 0:57
  Dr. Alex Schloe: He's also married with two kids and he has just really taken off in his real estate journey.
• 1:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: This one is a fantastic episode.
• 1:05
  Dr. Alex Schloe: If you're looking for some tips for getting started, some guidance for beginners, particularly in single family rentals, and if you're a busy physician like Tom, and you're trying to figure out, Hey, how can I invest in real estate?
• 1:16
  Dr. Alex Schloe: How can I get started?
• 1:18
  Dr. Alex Schloe: This is the episode for you.
• 1:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We kind of go soup to nuts on how you can find deals, uh, and rehab these deals and turn them into fantastic rental properties and how you can do that while you're a busy physician.
• 1:30
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We talk about some other ways that can be beneficial from a time management perspective, and we talk a lot about the return on time.
• 1:37
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Basically.
• 1:38
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What is your time worth?
• 1:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What is each hour of your time worth?
• 1:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And how can you leverage that time to become more successful in real estate and spend more time with your family and doing things that you love.
• 1:50
  Dr. Alex Schloe: This was a really fun episode to record.
• 1:52
  Dr. Alex Schloe: If you gain some knowledge or some insight from this episode, please share this podcast with someone that you think will benefit from it.
• 1:58
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We really appreciate it.
• 2:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Without further ado, let's get started with this episode with Dr.
• 2:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Tom Lowe.
• 2:05
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Dr.
• 2:06
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Tom Lowe.
• 2:06
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Happy to have you on the podcast.
• 2:08
  Dr. Alex Schloe: How are things Going Absolutely.
• 2:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Thank you.
• 2:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Thanks for having me.
• 2:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 2:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Looking forward to it.
• 2:13
  Dr. Alex Schloe: thanks for waking up early on a Sunday morning to have this conversation.
• 2:17
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Really appreciate your time.
• 2:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Absolutely.
• 2:20
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yep.
• 2:20
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Thank you.
• 2:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Awesome.
• 2:22
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, if you don't mind, just kind of get started and get to know you a little bit.
• 2:25
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So if you don't mind, just kind of introducing yourself, that'd be fantastic.
• 2:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, sure.
• 2:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, my name is Tom Lowe.
• 2:31
  Dr. Tom Lowe: A physician, radiologist.
• 2:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I work in a private practice here in South Bend, Indiana.
• 2:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: let's see, I'm 35.
• 2:37
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And yeah, got into real estate about three years ago.
• 2:40
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, two kids and a wife.
• 2:41
  Dr. Tom Lowe: My wife's an anesthesiologist.
• 2:43
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So.
• 2:43
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Extremely busy.
• 2:44
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I know you are too.
• 2:45
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:46
  Dr. Alex Schloe: But what drew you guys to investing in real estate?
• 2:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, for me, I think it started with investing.
• 2:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: when I graduated residency, you start making money for the first time in your life.
• 2:55
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, I started, I'm like, well, what am I going to do with this money?
• 2:58
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, first things first, we paid off the loans.
• 3:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And then I started reading about investing, start on the white, the white coat investor.
• 3:04
  Dr. Tom Lowe: That's where I got my start.
• 3:06
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 3:06
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And then, from there, they talk about, diversification, right?
• 3:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: That's where I learned about diversification.
• 3:11
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So I was like, yeah, I got to jump into real estate.
• 3:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: you have the stocks, bonds, real estate.
• 3:16
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so I had hit all three.
• 3:18
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, that's when I decided, okay, I'm going to start looking at real estate investing and so that's how I got there.
• 3:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's cool.
• 3:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Has it been worthwhile for you to get into real estate?
• 3:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I definitely, yeah, it's been enjoyable.
• 3:30
  Dr. Tom Lowe: the returns so far have been good, I do expect to live through a downturn, but, yeah, so far it's definitely been worthwhile, I would say.
• 3:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 3:39
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 3:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What was that transition like for you?
• 3:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: coming out of residency and really start making money.
• 3:44
  Dr. Alex Schloe: As you said, what was that transition for you?
• 3:46
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Was it difficult?
• 3:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Did you kind of have that lifestyle creep that is a pretty evident, or at least feel the pressure of becoming a doctor now and attending and, now making good income?
• 3:57
  Dr. Tom Lowe: the lifestyle creeps always a problem, isn't it?
• 3:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I think I've fought it pretty well, but it was a big jump, right?
• 4:02
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean my wife's an anesthesiologist.
• 4:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I work in private practice rads so you go from making very little to quite a bit, right?
• 4:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: All of a sudden and we extra, maybe 20, 000 every month sometimes to invest and you got to figure out what to do with it and we've basically just gone, nearly 50, 50 stocks, real estate, and that's how we've done it.
• 4:21
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, it's worked out pretty well for us so far.
• 4:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 4:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 4:25
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Trying to, avoid the lifestyle creep is difficult.
• 4:28
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I laugh almost every time I pull into the parking lot.
• 4:30
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm a family med doc.
• 4:31
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So I make a little bit of money, but, family med doc in the air force.
• 4:34
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So that's even less.
• 4:35
  Dr. Alex Schloe: But, I pull into the clinic every day and I drive a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta and the pharmacy tech drives a brand new Tesla.
• 4:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And so it's really interesting.
• 4:43
  Dr. Alex Schloe: All the providers that work in the clinic, we all have like the crappiest cars.
• 4:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: It's, it's hilarious.
• 4:48
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, and, mine looks even crappier now.
• 4:50
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We just got a big hail storm yesterday.
• 4:52
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And so now I got a bunch of hail dings in it too.
• 4:54
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So, no, one's guessing that the docs driving the 2011, hail dinged up Volkswagen Jetta, but hey, that's not my priority
• 5:02
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, yeah,
• 5:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: that's awesome.
• 5:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Boys is the wife.
• 5:05
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Is she, on board invested in real estate as well?
• 5:08
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Do you guys kind of invest together?
• 5:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: slowly, but surely she's getting on board, it was definitely kind of me who brought it to the table and was like, hey, we should invest in real estate and she was certainly, skeptical at 1st.
• 5:20
  Dr. Tom Lowe: rightfully, so, it's like a radiologist, all of a sudden, dives into real estate investing and she was like, are you sure you want to do this?
• 5:26
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, we've been doing it for about 3 years and, she's come along, over the 3 years.
• 5:31
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And yeah, I think she had to see that it was, going to be successful before she was going to totally buy in.
• 5:37
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So yeah, she's on board now.
• 5:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's good.
• 5:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: yeah it took a little bit as well for me to get the wife on board.
• 5:43
  Dr. Alex Schloe: She's really big into design and photography and so forth.
• 5:46
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So that's the Airbnb pivot.
• 5:48
  Dr. Alex Schloe: A little bit was helpful for us because then she got to design the properties and photograph them.
• 5:52
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And she really enjoyed that as well.
• 5:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: But, having the spouse on board, invest in real estate is so helpful and important because then.
• 5:59
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, they're typically okay with doing things like this podcast on a Sunday morning, and those sorts of things as well.
• 6:04
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So it can be beneficial.
• 6:06
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What's the real estate portfolio look like for you guys right now?
• 6:08
  Dr. Alex Schloe: If you don't mind me asking.
• 6:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So right now we've got, five properties, it's, four single family homes and one duplex, so six units total.
• 6:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And I'm actually in the middle of doing a deal right now that kind of came to me, last week.
• 6:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: which is hopefully going to be subject to, which is a whole can of worms to get into I'm realizing, but, the returns on are potentially going to be great.
• 6:32
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So looking at my next 1 currently.
• 6:34
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 6:35
  Dr. Alex Schloe: that's awesome.
• 6:36
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What's, for folks who aren't familiar with subject to what's kind of the broad overview of subject to and finance creative financing?
• 6:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: All right.
• 6:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Bye.
• 6:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm just
• 6:42
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, and I'm learning to write, I'm delving into it currently, but subject to is.
• 6:48
  Dr. Tom Lowe: you're purchasing the home, subject to the mortgage.
• 6:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So essentially you just take over their mortgage payments and that's how you acquire the property, which is fantastic.
• 6:58
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Because, I'm looking at a zero money down situation.
• 7:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'm literally just going to take over his payments on his home.
• 7:05
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And he has currently his loan is set up as a 4.
• 7:08
  Dr. Tom Lowe: 5 percent interest rate.
• 7:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So yeah, so I'm really, yeah, excited about this one.
• 7:13
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Just to take that over and start making his payments and it's going to be a strong rental.
• 7:19
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 7:19
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 7:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Folks are listening.
• 7:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Pace Morby's all in that space and a great educator.
• 7:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, you can certainly learn a lot.
• 7:26
  Dr. Alex Schloe: he just came out with a book.
• 7:27
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What is it?
• 7:27
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Wealth without cash.
• 7:28
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I think, by him, that's all about creative financing.
• 7:31
  Dr. Alex Schloe: it's sitting on my bedside table.
• 7:32
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I need to read it.
• 7:33
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I know it's going to worsen my shiny object syndrome though.
• 7:35
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So I've been putting it off a little bit, but I've heard nothing but good things about that book and, and, and pay seems like a great guy.
• 7:42
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 7:42
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And I did the exact same thing.
• 7:43
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I bought wealth without cash probably three months ago, never touched it.
• 7:47
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And literally when this deal fell on my lap, I'm like, okay, I got to read it.
• 7:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, Friday I worked from three to 10 PM.
• 7:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So I woke up at 7 AM Friday and read pretty much the whole book, 7 AM to like 2 PM.
• 7:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Read the whole thing and yeah, and, and, and that's just how the deals have gone for me.
• 8:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'm sure you've been the same way as a physician.
• 8:05
  Dr. Tom Lowe: You're, so busy and, you have to learn as you go, like most investors and find the time when you can to read about it.
• 8:12
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I didn't, I knew the premises of a subject to had no idea how to execute a subject to deal.
• 8:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so now I'm literally in the process of learning it as I'm doing this deal.
• 8:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, and that's just how I've had to do it.
• 8:25
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 8:26
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, that's cool.
• 8:27
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, and we're so lucky that we live in a time when there's so much information available and it can, we can quickly access it and, get into the brains of Pace Morby by reading his book and learn so much about this in a short period of time.
• 8:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, yeah, really cool.
• 8:41
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And what a cool way to get into a deal with no money down.
• 8:44
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So you're not tapping into, savings or anything else.
• 8:46
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, an incredible interest rate, at the time, that we're recording this in August.
• 8:51
  Dr. Alex Schloe: 2023, a 4.
• 8:52
  Dr. Alex Schloe: 5 percent interest rate would be a well welcomed surprise for me at this point.
• 8:56
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Right, right.
• 8:57
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yep.
• 8:58
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It's everything.
• 8:59
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 9:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: that's cool.
• 9:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: what's the deal look like?
• 9:01
  Dr. Alex Schloe: It's a single family house for you.
• 9:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 9:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Single family home.
• 9:04
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It's actually like an A class home, which, I tend to stay away from just because, as I mean, and here in Indiana, the prices are a little bit lower, obviously, than where you're at.
• 9:13
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So this.
• 9:13
  Dr. Tom Lowe: A class home, the purchase price would be around 350, and, the rents in my area, are strong, but, if you, if you're trying to get to the 1 percent rule, right, like 3, 500, it's just not realistic.
• 9:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So if I were to buy it within, 8 percent interest loan, it'd never work.
• 9:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But at 4.
• 9:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: 5%, yeah, purchase price 350, I'm looking at rent of about 2, 900.
• 9:35
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So I think, his total, his, his pity, his total payment right now is 21.
• 9:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: 50.
• 9:40
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, after you account for CapEx and vacancy and all that stuff, I mean, I'm looking at about 300 a month positive cash flow, hopefully is kind of what I'm thinking here.
• 9:50
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, without that interest rate, it would never work, right?
• 9:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: A way in that 300 per month is on no money down, which is, incredible.
• 9:57
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So infinite return for that, deal, which is amazing.
• 10:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, that's exciting.
• 10:01
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Going back to the start there for you.
• 10:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So for your first initial rental property, what was that like getting started the fears that you had, like just to walk us through that and like, how was it just getting that first deal done?
• 10:15
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 10:15
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Of course, it's always scary, right?
• 10:17
  Dr. Tom Lowe: delving into a space where you're pretty uneducated and, uncertain.
• 10:22
  Dr. Tom Lowe: and for doctors, I think what my problem was, and I think a lot of doctors struggle with is, is time.
• 10:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: most real estate investors I think they have time, but not money in, in positions.
• 10:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I think it's the opposite.
• 10:34
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Like we have the capital to invest, but just not the time.
• 10:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So it's hard not, you don't want to make mistakes.
• 10:40
  Dr. Tom Lowe: if you go too quickly, you can make mistakes.
• 10:42
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so I was pretty careful on the first one.
• 10:45
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I read about real estate for a year, certainly before ever buying.
• 10:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: The first property, podcasts, reading I'm on all the Facebook groups, I was there, present for a year before I, landed my first deal.
• 10:58
  Dr. Tom Lowe: My first deal came through Facebook.
• 11:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Actually, I was on the MLS, 24 7.
• 11:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I don't know if you start on MLS, but that's where I always look in, all those deals are, market price.
• 11:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Right?
• 11:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And you want to get a deal.
• 11:11
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So I, Found my first one on Facebook, which is like totally unconventional, right?
• 11:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But it's for sale by owner I bought it for 47, 000 off Facebook.
• 11:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: the properties out here are cheap,
• 11:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 11:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 11:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, I bought it for 47, 000 It's a two bed one bath Rental, this landlord his prior tenant just destroyed it and he was not looking to do, He's like I'm done, I'm getting out so I bought it for 47, 000 Put about, 30 grand into it.
• 11:39
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So put in about 77, 80 was kind of my all in, and it appraised for one 19.
• 11:46
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So yeah, I was in, so I did the, the bird, the refinance and the whole thing, money back out.
• 11:52
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, Facebook, man.
• 11:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean, it's rare.
• 11:54
  Dr. Tom Lowe: There's not a lot of good deals on Facebook, but I came across kind of a little bit of a gem, for sale by owner and it, and it worked out fine.
• 12:01
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah,
• 12:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: worked out great.
• 12:04
  Dr. Alex Schloe: For sure.
• 12:04
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And I'm sure you learned so much, doing that first deal and so much about the bird process as well.
• 12:10
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Is that how you guys continued to grow your portfolio was kind of burn these properties?
• 12:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: that was the intention, to burr and, that was our only burr, though, to this point, and I, the problem was that the rising interest rates just kept, I guess I missed out, right?
• 12:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: the next property, the interest rate rose by a whole percentage point, and I, At the time I was thinking, oh, it's too high, but then, of course, that industry just kept climbing and then I regretted not, pulling the money out of the next property.
• 12:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But so the next probably I bought, all cash and just never completed that last step that refinance step.
• 12:43
  Dr. Tom Lowe: so I've only done 1 bird to this point, just because I haven't, I haven't done the last step on a couple of properties, the refinance.
• 12:50
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Hey, you're just waiting for it.
• 12:51
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, the rates are going to go back down at some point.
• 12:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I think, I don't think they're going to stick where they are now.
• 12:56
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 12:56
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, and then just how rapid the rates rose was just so difficult for folks.
• 13:01
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And yeah, we were in the middle of a deal as well.
• 13:02
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And we underwrote the deal at interest rate, I think of like 4.
• 13:06
  Dr. Alex Schloe: 5 at the time.
• 13:08
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And that was high at the time.
• 13:11
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And then by the time we did all the due diligence and everything else was on a commercial property, then we were looking at six and a half, 7%.
• 13:16
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And we're like this.
• 13:17
  Dr. Alex Schloe: This isn't going to work anymore.
• 13:18
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I just destroyed the cashflow for us.
• 13:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So it happens, and real estate's fluid and luckily it's cyclical.
• 13:23
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So it'll likely go back down in the future and you'll be in a great position to go ahead and, and burn them.
• 13:30
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I think the other thing too, I was thinking about with your story too, is I think a lot of times folks think they have to burn out or refinance out all the money they put into it in order for it to be a good deal.
• 13:39
  Dr. Alex Schloe: But I don't think that's necessarily the case, especially now, too, if you refinance and get a portion of your money out, that's still fantastic.
• 13:45
  Dr. Alex Schloe: You still have a cash flowing rental property.
• 13:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm sure.
• 13:47
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, it goes back to what we talked about, for doctors, too.
• 13:50
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean, for, I think for your common real estate investor, like to get to leave 10 grand in a deal can be devastating for your average person.
• 13:56
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But for a doctor, it's, you don't want to do it, but Hey, what?
• 13:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Like it's not as much money maybe to a physician as it would be.
• 14:04
  Dr. Tom Lowe: To someone else,
• 14:04
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, we're fortunate to have a little bit higher income potential than most, which is fantastic.
• 14:10
  Dr. Alex Schloe: For the first bird, what were some lessons that you learned with that?
• 14:13
  Dr. Alex Schloe: is that the first time really managing some contractors and service providers and so forth?
• 14:18
  Dr. Tom Lowe: it was, yeah, everybody talks about downfalls that they have, doing real estate and I've had plenty.
• 14:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I would say 1 area that I've gotten lucky on, is contractors.
• 14:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I've been so lucky in that, I've used two so far in like, they've been good, stand up people.
• 14:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: They've been honest.
• 14:34
  Dr. Tom Lowe: They did good work at a fair price.
• 14:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So that's what I got lucky about.
• 14:37
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'll say, my first burr, I think everybody, this may happen to you, but is things you didn't account for, in your initial, I was hoping to get away with, 25, 000 and, renovations and of course it came out to be a little over 30, and so.
• 14:52
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'm 7 grand over my initial estimate, we got into the house and, I always try to do my due diligence and check off, look at electric, look at foundation, all the major things.
• 15:02
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And of course, when I got in there, there was termite damage in the back wall that, of course, me as an untrained physician didn't recognize.
• 15:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So that was, I mean, luckily, it was only about an additional, like, 3 grand, thankfully, but.
• 15:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It didn't account for that.
• 15:15
  Dr. Tom Lowe: the HVAC broke first year.
• 15:18
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So it's a tiny house.
• 15:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I think I land about five grand, so, in unexpected, maybe, I looked at the HVAC, I think it was only 10 years old, but, completely unexpected.
• 15:27
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It just went out and, yeah, you just.
• 15:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: You encounter things that, you just got to take it in stride.
• 15:32
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So yeah, if I had a lesson, it'd be really get in there and do the checklist, and be careful about the major items, foundation, electric, HVAC, really take a look at all those major items, roof I would, I would even write it down.
• 15:46
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I've started bringing a new book out when I go to places and check it off for sure.
• 15:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Cause I can really change your, your whole, your whole deal.
• 15:54
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 15:55
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely.
• 15:55
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 15:55
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Having a contractor walk through the home as well as kind of another set of eyes can be beneficial and kind of give you an idea of what the renovation costs will look like.
• 16:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, we've had some home inspections that were done in the home inspection paperwork, and the inspector, Gave the home a, way better bill of health, than what it actually was.
• 16:13
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And one of the homes we bought was a short term rental in Georgia.
• 16:17
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, the inspection looked fantastic.
• 16:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And we go to this house the first day we close, this is our first time seeing it in person, actually.
• 16:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We, use a fantastic realtor out there who walked the property and we got multiple inspections.
• 16:29
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We had handyman go through all kinds of stuff and we, we walk in and there's just.
• 16:33
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Water standing water in the basement, and we're like, and there was no mention of any water damage in the past, but there was very clearly, like, there had been water damage multiple times beforehand.
• 16:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, you just never know what you're going to get into sometimes, but I think you make a great point.
• 16:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Really important to know the state of the capex expenditures and the big capex items because.
• 16:52
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Especially for single family homes to like, if the HVAC goes out and you're spending 5, 000 to fix that, that's probably close to your cash flow for the whole year.
• 17:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And so, really important to make sure that those things are in good shape getting into the home, or if you're renovating it, of course, but, but yeah, that can really eat into your cash flow.
• 17:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Definitely.
• 17:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Definitely.
• 17:10
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 17:11
  Dr. Alex Schloe: for sure.
• 17:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, that's awesome.
• 17:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: But I'm glad that was a successful deal for you.
• 17:15
  Dr. Alex Schloe: How easy was it then to get into the next deal on the next deal?
• 17:19
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Would you experience that snowball effect to the stack that we hear a lot about?
• 17:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 17:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Definitely.
• 17:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: definitely convinced my wife that, we could do another one.
• 17:27
  Dr. Tom Lowe: My poor wife, she gets bonuses every six months and, I take that and, put it in a real date that, I
• 17:32
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 17:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: feel bad for her, but, yeah, it, my wife bought in a little bit and, it seems like as time goes on, it gets maybe a little bit easier.
• 17:40
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 17:41
  Dr. Tom Lowe: particularly finding deals.
• 17:43
  Dr. Tom Lowe: when I first started, it was all me trying, looking for deals on MLS, I look on investor lift, that's another decent place to look for deals.
• 17:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, but now as I buy more, people start to recognize that you're buying properties and people know that you're buying properties and, deals start coming to you the further you go along.
• 18:02
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, that's how this last one came to us.
• 18:04
  Dr. Tom Lowe: One of the CRNAs and my wife's group is, leaving and, he's looking at selling his home and, but if he sells with commissions, he's going to lose about 15 grand.
• 18:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And of course, that's how the subject too came in.
• 18:16
  Dr. Tom Lowe: if I just take over his payments, he can, not lose any money.
• 18:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, and leave, so yeah, the deals, it does get easier, right?
• 18:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: That things start flowing to you.
• 18:26
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Used to get a little bit more comfortable with buying, with throwing that a hundred grand or whatever you're putting down, you get a little bit more comfortable with all that.
• 18:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So yeah, I've known, and I've bought.
• 18:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Let's see three deals in the last or two and looking at another one.
• 18:40
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So three deals basically in last six months.
• 18:44
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, so it does just to your point, and I went like a whole year without doing anything and then all of a sudden things just started rapidly.
• 18:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Progressing and, yeah, so definitely a snowball effect, I think.
• 18:54
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 18:55
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, Well, you did it right too.
• 18:56
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I mean, you spent plenty of time educating yourself and getting that education piece that probably made you feel more comfortable getting into that first deal and subsequent deals down the road.
• 19:05
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And I know, like you said, you've learned a lot through each deal, but now you're at the point where things are smooth for you and what you're looking for and you're just getting it done.
• 19:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So that's awesome.
• 19:14
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I think that the piece that trips a lot of people up is they get so focused on that education piece that they spend all their time.
• 19:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 19:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Going down the different rabbit holes of real estate education and asset classes.
• 19:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And they don't just take action.
• 19:26
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And you're a clear example that take an action, getting that first deal then leads to just quicker, quicker lead time to the next one and the next one.
• 19:33
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And the next one, it just continues stacking this deal.
• 19:35
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So, it's inspiring.
• 19:37
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Thanks for sharing that.
• 19:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, of course.
• 19:39
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 19:39
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Thank you.
• 19:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So the duplex, how'd you find that?
• 19:42
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 19:42
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, so I found that one on, investor lift and for anyone's not familiar, it's yeah, investor lift.
• 19:48
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And it's, it's pretty good.
• 19:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: it's where a lot of wholesalers go to put their deals.
• 19:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And that's where I found it.
• 19:54
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And yeah, believe it or not, I bought it sight unseen, which is a pretty big risk, but I will say, location was key.
• 20:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I live in South Bend, which is, Notre Dame, is kind of is the university here.
• 20:07
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And that's a hot area to buy properties.
• 20:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so it was right.
• 20:11
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Next to Notre Dame.
• 20:12
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So the purchase price was 78, 000.
• 20:15
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And I'm looking, my, my appraisal is I'm, I'm hoping to get 25 or 250, 000 for it.
• 20:21
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 20:21
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so, so, so that margin, between 78, 000 and 250, I felt comfortable buying it sight unseen, even though it was a wreck.
• 20:31
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It were decrepit.
• 20:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: the duplex that I bought, it had every single issue.
• 20:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 20:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: That you could imagine the electric, was knob and tube.
• 20:40
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So it had to be updated.
• 20:41
  Dr. Tom Lowe: it had foundational issues, which still to this day makes me nervous.
• 20:44
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, the margin was high enough, 78 to, to hopeful 250.
• 20:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'm like, okay, I'm just going to pull the trigger and buy this.
• 20:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, yeah, so.
• 20:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 20:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: How are the renovations going for that so far?
• 20:56
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It was a process, man.
• 20:57
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It took 6 months, the whole renovation.
• 21:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: and we're about 100 grand into it.
• 21:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: The whole thing had to be redone, from top to bottom.
• 21:06
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, my all in somewhere around, about.
• 21:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: 190 right now, currently, and so, yeah, and I'm hoping, the appraisal will come back to 50.
• 21:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'm going to, we just finished it last week, 6 months, there are renters in it, but the exterior had to be redone before I'm going to get this appraisal.
• 21:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, yeah, it was a process, man, 6 months, but my contractor, he's a great guy.
• 21:27
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Does good work.
• 21:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Not very timely, timeliness isn't his thing, but I think all contractors suffer from that.
• 21:34
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, I'm within the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to get it appraised.
• 21:38
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's exciting.
• 21:39
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What's, is this the same contractor team that you used for the first house?
• 21:42
  Dr. Tom Lowe: no, it's a different guy, and actually what's weird is, my first contractor was fine.
• 21:45
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, but this, this guy kind of came into my life.
• 21:48
  Dr. Tom Lowe: He painted our primary home.
• 21:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, so my next contractor, I've used him, he was, his pricing was a little bit, a little bit better.
• 21:54
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So it was a little bit of a rip jumping to a new contractor just for better pricing.
• 21:58
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, he's been fantastic.
• 22:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, yeah, if you're looking for contractors, I mean, the referrals are key and I would recommend going to the local, like Rhea, I mean, that's the best way to find a contractor, for a good price.
• 22:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: going, you can't do the standard, go to Lowe's and get their contractors because they're just so wildly expensive.
• 22:17
  Dr. Tom Lowe: my parents redid their bathroom and, they live in a nice house, A class home and they redid their, 400 square foot bathroom or even less, probably, 200 square foot bathroom, and it was 50, 000, you
• 22:27
  Dr. Alex Schloe: wow.
• 22:28
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 22:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, that's the difference, my contractor, I guarantee if he went down there and did that bathroom, he'd do a good job.
• 22:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I bet you'd charge 12 grand.
• 22:35
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 22:36
  Dr. Alex Schloe: It's worth shopping around and getting some different quotes.
• 22:38
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's for sure.
• 22:39
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, once you find a good contractor, treating them like gold and holding on to them because, there's such a valuable asset to have.
• 22:45
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So it sounds like you've gotten lucky a couple of times now with contractors.
• 22:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yes, yeah, literally I always say that, cause everybody tells their horror stories of contractors and I've been lucky.
• 22:55
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Good.
• 22:56
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, I hope the luck continues.
• 22:58
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 22:58
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Go Irish too.
• 22:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Exactly.
• 22:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: That's what it is.
• 23:00
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 23:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 23:01
  Dr. Alex Schloe: that's awesome.
• 23:02
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So South bend, it's a big cashflow market.
• 23:04
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I think from what I've read, I'm not too familiar with Indiana, but I know, Midwest tends to be a more of a cashflow play.
• 23:10
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Do you have any specific numbers that you're looking at for a deal or kind of what's, what's your buy box look like?
• 23:15
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm sure it's very deal dependent, but
• 23:18
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, no, yeah, you nailed it on the head.
• 23:20
  Dr. Tom Lowe: South Bend's pretty much a cash flow market.
• 23:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Not to say that there's no appreciation here because there is, it's just not like you're, California, right?
• 23:28
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But, yeah, I mean, if I'm looking at a deal, and again, I've analyzed so many deals that you get better at it and, you can, now I'm at the point where I know my market well enough that, I can just look at a purchase price and, if I know the area, I know the rent and I can know almost instantly if it's a good deal, just cause I've been in my area, perusing for so long.
• 23:48
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But, I always use the 1 percent rule, right off the bat.
• 23:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And I know that's like fading quickly.
• 23:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Right.
• 23:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: With the.
• 23:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Interest rates changing and whatnot.
• 23:56
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, I mean, 1 percent immediately, if it's a purchase price of, 200, 000, I'm going to look, can I get 2000, and if, if the rent is 1200, you, you, you immediately know, no, not going to work.
• 24:07
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 24:07
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And luckily, in South Bend, Indiana, the cash flow, it is the 2nd highest, rent to price kind of ratio in Indiana, behind Indianapolis.
• 24:16
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 24:16
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And you would never expect it.
• 24:18
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean, when I first started investing in real estate, I thought no way would I invest in, in South Bend, Indiana.
• 24:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But oddly enough, I mean, it's a hot market.
• 24:26
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And I don't know if you listen to bigger pockets, but, every once in a while, they'll talk about South Bend, as being a cashflow market.
• 24:31
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so weirdly my own backyard was a pretty hot area to invest in.
• 24:38
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 24:38
  Dr. Alex Schloe: have you looked in other areas or looked out of the state to invest or you just focus in solely on South Bend?
• 24:44
  Dr. Tom Lowe: right now I'm focusing solely on, on my local market.
• 24:46
  Dr. Tom Lowe: would love to expand, geographically at some point.
• 24:50
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But I've had some success here and so I'm, I'm just going to stay for now.
• 24:54
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I, when I first started, I didn't even think of looking locally, which is, ironic, I was looking everywhere.
• 24:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I will first start in Indianapolis, then Cincinnati and kind of moved to multiple, multiple cities and looking around and then.
• 25:05
  Dr. Tom Lowe: my, friend's a realtor and he was, like, Hey, there's some decent homes here in South Bend.
• 25:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I'm like, Oh, okay.
• 25:11
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So I look and I'm like, dang, like, why wasn't I looking here all along?
• 25:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But I was just, I was ignorant to it,
• 25:17
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, that's awesome.
• 25:18
  Dr. Alex Schloe: it's so great to have such a good market right in your backyard and, certainly probably make some things easier for you and just the ability to know immediately is this a good deal or not is such a huge game changer for folks.
• 25:29
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So that's awesome.
• 25:30
  Dr. Alex Schloe: what's the real estate kind of end goal for you or what do you think is next for you from a real estate perspective?
• 25:35
  Dr. Tom Lowe: gosh, end goal, man.
• 25:37
  Dr. Tom Lowe: cause I'm 35, you're a young guy too, so like kind of think what, what the end goal is, way out there and it's, I don't know, I'm just going to keep going and keep plugging along.
• 25:46
  Dr. Tom Lowe: you always hear these like stories of people owning, 500 units or a thousand, like sounds awesome.
• 25:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I don't know if I'll ever get there, odds are against me for sure, but just the plan for now is just to keep, keep acquiring steady, but surely, I'm going to keep working obviously as a private practice brand for at least 10, 15 more years, at least, and just keep acquiring.
• 26:07
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, if I'm lucky, what I would love to happen would be, Do 50 50 something like, work part time as a rad and part time, spend half my time doing real estate investing.
• 26:15
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean, that would, that would be great.
• 26:16
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But, it's hard to know what where your success will be over the next 10, 15 years.
• 26:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 26:22
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, you're crushing it already too.
• 26:23
  Dr. Alex Schloe: In a short time, short timeline, short timeframe.
• 26:26
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So I think, I think you're going to get there sooner than you think,
• 26:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: you.
• 26:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah,
• 26:29
  Dr. Alex Schloe: to, yeah.
• 26:30
  Dr. Alex Schloe: As well, as long as the wife keeps making some good bonuses though, so,
• 26:34
  Dr. Tom Lowe: that's where it's at, man.
• 26:35
  Dr. Tom Lowe: You got to find a
• 26:35
  Dr. Alex Schloe: yeah,
• 26:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: You can feel all for money.
• 26:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 26:38
  Dr. Alex Schloe: there you go.
• 26:39
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome.
• 26:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Good deal.
• 26:40
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, Yeah.
• 26:41
  Dr. Alex Schloe: You think you're going to stick with a single family and in small multifamily, or you think at some point you'll make a change and jump into more commercial?
• 26:48
  Dr. Alex Schloe: What's the thought process on that?
• 26:49
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 26:51
  Dr. Tom Lowe: to do, multi larger multifamily and and commercially, even I just haven't found it yet.
• 26:57
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Honestly, I've found something that works.
• 26:59
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And so I'm kind of going for a theme ahead with with that.
• 27:02
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 27:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But, I'm hoping that my, real estate career will, guide me to larger multifamily.
• 27:08
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean, I think that's everybody's, kind of goal.
• 27:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: You'd love to own a 12 unit, 20 unit, So yes, I'm eventually that would be, be my goal, but, I'm just kind of learning as I go and trying to climb higher each year,
• 27:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 27:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, right now It's working for you for sure.
• 27:22
  Dr. Alex Schloe: You got a good thing going.
• 27:24
  Dr. Alex Schloe: How do you balance being a radiologist, having two kids, being married?
• 27:28
  Dr. Alex Schloe: how do you find time to invest in real estate?
• 27:30
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It's tough, man, because I'm definitely, full time or full time plus, right?
• 27:34
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I mean, prior practice is so busy.
• 27:36
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But, I'm pretty lucky in that as a radiologist, I can kind of leverage that that time, I sit in front of computer all day.
• 27:43
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Right?
• 27:44
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, I don't do a lot of my real estate at work, but if I have to, I can, right?
• 27:48
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I can send email.
• 27:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I can make phone calls when I have to, all those little issues that might come up.
• 27:53
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I can handle.
• 27:55
  Dr. Tom Lowe: one of my good friends is a neurosurgeon, here in South Bend and he always like, he likes to hear about like the real estate and the real estate investing and I'm like, don't do it, man.
• 28:03
  Dr. Tom Lowe: like you can't be in the, not that he couldn't do it, but to be in an OR, like you're, you're less accessible, So that, that's one way, my job allows me thankfully to, maximize, that leverage.
• 28:12
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, with the kids, one thing I like about, real estate is that it kind of shows them me, they see me working, they see me investing, and they're kind of learning in the background.
• 28:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I've got two boys, they're six and three.
• 28:26
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And my oldest, he will mock my real estate investing all the time.
• 28:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: he calls it real estates.
• 28:30
  Dr. Tom Lowe: He puts an S on the end, but he's like, are you buying more real estates?
• 28:35
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And I'm like, man, I'm going to, but they'll come with me to the properties.
• 28:38
  Dr. Tom Lowe: They'll see the properties.
• 28:39
  Dr. Tom Lowe: They see me working, every once in a blue moon, I'll actually try to fix something in one of my properties, so they see that.
• 28:45
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So, it definitely bleeds into your personal life, but for me, as I'm sure you, it's a hobby.
• 28:50
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, that's how I manage it, it is my hobby,
• 28:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, completely agree.
• 28:54
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, it's really cool, too.
• 28:55
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm sure for the boys to see you working in the business side of things as well.
• 29:00
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And they're going to pick up so much from you over the years that who knows?
• 29:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Maybe they'll take over the low empire, the low real estate empire at some point in the future, or at least learn the value of hard work and, property management side of things and so, forth as well.
• 29:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, and see how things run.
• 29:14
  Dr. Alex Schloe: That can be Really beneficial.
• 29:16
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Do you guys manage these properties on your own or do you have a property manager who runs them for you?
• 29:21
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, so, so we have an Airbnb locally.
• 29:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: That's kind of attached to Notre Dame.
• 29:25
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Notre Dame's, an Airbnb market.
• 29:27
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, so I do manage that.
• 29:29
  Dr. Tom Lowe: it's kind of hit or miss and whether or not I would recommend someone managing their own Airbnb, the, This is one thing I struggle with that all physicians, I think, have to look at is, time management.
• 29:39
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Like, is it worth my time to manage this Airbnb when I make, good money per hour?
• 29:44
  Dr. Tom Lowe: As a radiologist, and I struggle with that kind of frequently, it's like, is this really worth my time?
• 29:49
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But yeah, so I do manage the Airbnb, the long term rentals, the 2 that are up and running currently, are managed by my, property manager.
• 29:58
  Dr. Tom Lowe: I do have a local property manager that I have, for a physician, I probably recommend property management.
• 30:05
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Pretty much most physicians, just just because that time trade off, I think your average everyday investor to pay, to 250, 200 a month to a property manager, maybe a little bit, more for them than they should spend.
• 30:17
  Dr. Tom Lowe: but for us.
• 30:19
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Physicians, I would typically recommend property management, but
• 30:22
  Dr. Alex Schloe: yeah, the return on time is so important and something I'm learning all the time too.
• 30:27
  Dr. Alex Schloe: yeah, and it's helpful, I think, to figure out, yeah, what is your hourly rate, if you will, or what is your time worth?
• 30:32
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And then think about all those tasks that you're doing that someone else could do for way cheaper.
• 30:36
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm a super frugal person, and I'm still working on that.
• 30:39
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And, it took a, Long time for me just to like, be willing to just let someone mow my lawn, I'm like, I don't want to pay 25 bucks to a kid down the street to mow the lawn.
• 30:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: I can just do it myself, but it's not worth my time at all.
• 30:49
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And it's not worth the hour of time loss that I don't get with my son and with my wife.
• 30:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And so, once I realized that that was kind of a big mindset shift for me.
• 30:57
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And so, Yeah, if it's not a good return on time for me, then I'm totally fine with giving that to someone else to do.
• 31:03
  Dr. Alex Schloe: And I think that is helpful to help you scale your business as well, but also.
• 31:07
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So important for your family life as well.
• 31:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, definitely.
• 31:10
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Agreed.
• 31:11
  Dr. Alex Schloe: for sure.
• 31:12
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, that's awesome.
• 31:13
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, cool.
• 31:13
  Dr. Alex Schloe: So it sounds like you got a lot of things in the works at this point.
• 31:16
  Dr. Alex Schloe: You got the subject to deal to get wrapped up.
• 31:18
  Dr. Alex Schloe: You got the appraisal coming up with a duplex, a lot of exciting things coming up.
• 31:21
  Dr. Alex Schloe: It sounds like in the next few months.
• 31:23
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, definitely.
• 31:24
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yep.
• 31:25
  Dr. Alex Schloe: It's awesome, man, excited for you.
• 31:27
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, before we wrap things up here, where can people get ahold of you?, they want to reach out and learn more.
• 31:32
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah, I'm on Facebook, just Tom Lowe, L O W E, and, Instagram.
• 31:37
  Dr. Tom Lowe: My Instagram handle is, T and then P as in Paul and Lowe, L O W E 88, T P Lowe 88.
• 31:45
  Dr. Tom Lowe: So that's where people can reach out to me.
• 31:47
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Awesome.
• 31:48
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 31:48
  Dr. Alex Schloe: We'll put those links in the show notes there and, definitely encourage folks to reach out to you.
• 31:53
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, is there anything, any parting shots that you have before we wrap things up?
• 31:56
  Dr. Tom Lowe: yeah, I think for physicians, since that's our kind of audience, just taking the dive, you got to take a stab at it.
• 32:01
  Dr. Tom Lowe: one of my good friends, he's like, he said, you just got to take, get in the ring at some point, is how he described it.
• 32:07
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, it's true.
• 32:08
  Dr. Tom Lowe: You do.
• 32:08
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It's scary.
• 32:09
  Dr. Tom Lowe: But, once you take that leap, it gets easier.
• 32:12
  Dr. Tom Lowe: And, I look at it as like climbing a mountain.
• 32:14
  Dr. Tom Lowe: It's kind of cliche, but it really is, you just one day at a time, and you just take it in stride.
• 32:19
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah.
• 32:19
  Dr. Alex Schloe: absolutely.
• 32:20
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Then you look back and you're like, holy cow, I'm already at the peak or look how far I've climbed, in this journey, which, which is so awesome.
• 32:26
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, excited to follow along with your journey.
• 32:29
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Thanks again for your time and coming on the show.
• 32:31
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Really appreciate it.
• 32:32
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Yeah.
• 32:32
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Thank you, Alex.
• 32:33
  Dr. Tom Lowe: Thanks for having me.
• 32:34
  Dr. Alex Schloe: absolutely.
• 32:34
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Well, with that, it's been Dr.
• 32:36
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Tom Lowe and Dr.
• 32:36
  Dr. Alex Schloe: Alex Shloe with another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast, signing off.