Latest / REL Freedom Podcast / Tim Woodbridge - From Scrubs To 25 Mobile Home Parks

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Tim Woodbridge - From Scrubs To 25 Mobile Home Parks · REL Freedom Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love the fundamentals of the business.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love that we're providing a uh fundamental need of affordable housing.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we're the only non-subsidized affordable housing out there.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so like that need is always like ever, ever increasing, and there's a fixed uh amount of mobile home parks out there.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I I know the basics of supply and demand.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: And when there's a constricted supply and increasing demand, I know that that just makes sense.
• 0:30
  Mike Swenson: Welcome to the Real Freedom Show.
• 0:32
  Mike Swenson: We inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate.
• 0:37
  Mike Swenson: I'm your host, Mike Swenson.
• 0:39
  Mike Swenson: Let's get some real freedom together.
• 0:49
  Mike Swenson: Hello, everybody, welcome to another episode of Real Freedom Real Estate Leverage Freedom, where we talk about different ways that people are building time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate.
• 1:01
  Mike Swenson: I'm your host, Mike Swenson.
• 1:03
  Mike Swenson: If you want to get started on your real estate journey, check out our website freedom throughrealestate.com.
• 1:10
  Mike Swenson: It's where we put all of our content, educational pieces, podcast episodes, you name it, really with the goal to be able to inspire you to find your path in real estate because there's a lot of people doing a lot of cool things, and we want you to be a part of it.
• 1:23
  Mike Swenson: So go check that out.
• 1:24
  Mike Swenson: We love telling great stories, and we've got another awesome one today.
• 1:27
  Mike Swenson: I should say kind of a part two or even a part three story today.
• 1:31
  Mike Swenson: So we've got Tim Woodbridge on.
• 1:32
  Mike Swenson: Tim is the founder of WCG Investments.
• 1:35
  Mike Swenson: If the name sounds familiar, it's because he was on episode 267 a little over a year ago, talked about his investing and his journey, and then his business partner, Matias, was on episode 312.
• 1:47
  Mike Swenson: So if you want to go check out those episodes to learn more, you can.
• 1:50
  Mike Swenson: But Tim really uh got his start in mobile home park investing after leaving nursing, so did nursing and we'll talk about that transition.
• 1:58
  Mike Swenson: But leads WCG investments, 25 parks, 1,100 units, and 45 million dollars of assets under management.
• 2:06
  Mike Swenson: Those are kind of the quick stats as we're today, and probably by the time the episode goes live, it's gonna be more.
• 2:11
  Mike Swenson: So you just keep adding and adding and adding with the goal to be over 100 million by the end of 2026.
• 2:17
  Mike Swenson: So you're growing really fast.
• 2:19
  Mike Swenson: Excited to kind of hear the update on where you're at and and what you're focused on.
• 2:23
  Mike Swenson: So welcome to the show, Tim.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Good to see you again.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's been so long since we saw each other last weekend.
• 2:30
  Mike Swenson: So yeah, why don't you just quick for the folks you know that that don't know your story, give us the Cliff Notes version of of your background and mobile home parks and we'll we'll go from there.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, like you said, you know, I'm a retired nurse, but you know, seven years ago I didn't really know anything about real estate.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Read Rich Dad Poor Dad, listened to podcasts, read books, gotten local RIAs, and bought my first mobile home park in uh at the end of 2019.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So a little over six years ago.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Mobile home parks just grabbed me.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was excited about like uh the sticky tenants, the lower expense, the uh, you know, how it's providing uh a need for affordable housing.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's you know just a little bit different.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone was doing wholesaling, and I was like, Yeah, let's do mobile home parks.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds cool.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, I was excited about them.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it just led me, you know, led me into my first one, and then into my second and third, and now I have a team.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: We have 25 of them together, and uh I I love the fundamentals of the business.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love that we're providing a uh fundamental need of affordable housing.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we're the only non-subsidized affordable housing out there.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so like that need is always like ever, ever increasing, and there's a fixed uh amount of mobile home parks out there.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I I know the basics of supply and demand.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And when there's a constricted supply and increasing demand, I know that that just makes sense.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so yeah, man, it's it's a really cool asset class.
• 4:03
  Mike Swenson: I know for me, you know, being in the multifamily side, um, I've always felt less comfortable with things like commercial or industrial warehouse and things like that.
• 4:12
  Mike Swenson: Because I was like, with housing, there's at least a need for people to live, you know, as the economy changes.
• 4:18
  Mike Swenson: But yeah, to your to your point, mobile home parks, yeah, there's not a lot of mobile new mobile home construction that's happening, or really any.
• 4:25
  Mike Swenson: And so you you've got a a great niche and a great opportunity to capitalize on that.
• 4:30
  Mike Swenson: Because I always like to talk about you know, that leap going from nothing to something, taking that first big risk.
• 4:37
  Mike Swenson: So maybe just quick your first deal.
• 4:39
  Mike Swenson: How did you find it?
• 4:40
  Mike Swenson: How did it come about?
• 4:41
  Mike Swenson: And then being able to say, yeah, this is the one that I'm ready to push the chips into the middle on and start my learning curve on.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Start my learning curve, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's there's always a learning curve.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Even today, I'm always learning new stuff.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: But when I heard about mobile home parks, it was on the Bigger Pockets podcast that Frank Rolf was talking to Brandon Turner uh about why he likes mobile home parks.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, you know, check out mobile homeparkstore.com.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I went on and I saw a mobile home park that was a little over an hour from where I lived in in Charleston, South Carolina.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I just reached out to this person, and uh it was it was scary, like everything about that was scary because it was also brand new.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I called him and and he he didn't he didn't answer, so I sent a text, you know, I'm not sure if I'm the right person.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: My name's Tim.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm interested in the park.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: He gives me a call back and it's scary.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know uh he was just a guy.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's just a guy who wanted to sell his property.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's it, nothing crazy.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And after that conversation, you know, he said, come on up to check out the park.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I drove to the middle of what was, you know, nowhere to me, uh, because I was relatively new to Charleston.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so I went up there and uh met with him and you know, him and his brother.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: They both met me there, and yeah, I think I told a little bit of this story uh this weekend.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know, I'm 5'6, they're both probably six foot, six, two, could have been a hundred feet.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's taller than me, but it was scary.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the middle of nowhere.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in this new place where and just two like random older guys, and uh who knows, but I I know that the whole time uh I was anxious about things, but I I just went with it.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I went with my anxiety and I I recognized it and I I just kept moving forward, and so yeah, um, you know, he wanted one price.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I did some rudimentary underrating, I offered a lot less, and he said, No, no, I can't do anything less than this, which was kind of in the middle.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Okay, if I get you that, can will you sell it to me for it?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Yes.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and then I just figured out how to do that.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't know and I'm kind of like, I'm going to do it, and then I'm gonna figure out how to do it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like I knew, okay, like I I don't know all the exact details of it, but I knew if I got into the game, then the first one would lead to the next one.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I knew that.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I you know, uh uh got a bank loan, talked to a bank, I talked to like 20 banks, and they all said no, but this uh finally I told the seller I can't find funding.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Hey, I grew up with this guy who's a vice president of a local bank.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Let me talk to him, see if he's interested.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And he did, you know, he set up a meeting and uh the banker's interested, and so he lent on it and he, you know, gave us a 70% loan.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, while I was making the offer to the seller, I asked if he would finance the whole thing, and he said no, but he said he'd finance$50,000 of it.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I called him and I said, Will you still do that?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, he's a man of his word.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: He said yes, and so he did it.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, so you know, there was a little Delta that uh I partnered up with someone that I met at the local RIA, and he brought in 25 grand.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I brought in like 6,200 in closing costs, and we closed it.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I I had an idea of what I wanted to do.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I knew that this park was it had uh 10 of 36 units occupied.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: I knew we had to bring in more homes.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know how, but I I had a direction of where I wanted to go, and so I I just let that you know followed that direction um with everything.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, that that got me in the game.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: And again, you know, for everyone who's new, it's all scary, and that's okay.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with being anxious or being a little scared of things.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like everyone is at first, it's how you deal with that, you know.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for me, it works to recognize that fear and then move forward with that fear, uh, instead of trying to either pretend I don't have it or, you know, uh wishing that I didn't have it, because neither of those has worked for me.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's always uh recognizing and moving with the fear that has worked best for me.
• 9:28
  Mike Swenson: Well, it's it's funny because you know, I grew up, I guess my my background before I got into multifamily was on a residential real estate team.
• 9:36
  Mike Swenson: Well, on the admin side.
• 9:38
  Mike Swenson: And you know, when when we're working with residential clients, it's like, well, you've got to get all your ducks in a row so that you're ready to write your offer because it might be multiple offers and you're competing.
• 9:49
  Mike Swenson: So you've got to have everything nice and polished and clean and ready to go before the offer.
• 9:54
  Mike Swenson: And I remember on our first multifamily, I talked with a mentor of mine at the time, and she said, Mike, you got to get it under contract and then figure it out.
• 10:03
  Mike Swenson: And I was like, What?
• 10:04
  Mike Swenson: It just tipped everything upside down from what I had learned for the last however many years.
• 10:08
  Mike Swenson: And I was like, just get it under contract and figure it out.
• 10:10
  Mike Swenson: How's that work?
• 10:11
  Mike Swenson: And and she's like, Yeah, because once it's under contract, it's yours, and at least you have the the rights to it, because otherwise, yeah, they could you know sell it to somebody else or find another buyer, and so that just changed my whole thinking.
• 10:24
  Mike Swenson: And then I remember I was just talking with somebody today about it's so crazy to think we now knowing we can find the funding for it and raise the funds before it closes, and because it's a good deal, and people will invest with us because it's a good deal, but it just it's just totally different thinking than you know going into that with with the background of of residential sales, and you just gotta figure it out and find that find that right person that's willing to work with you and kind of work through that stuff.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I agree.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd say even more so than just having like a good deal now is that you've got uh experience, you have deals under your belt.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's a lot easier after you've done it for a little bit, and you know, you can have proof.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like, look, this is this is what I've done.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh not everything's perfect, but like at least you have experience.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if something goes sideways, like you are a much more dependable bet than like the new person with just a good deal.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, I I often tell new people also, you know, get on a team of of uh people who are doing the stuff you want to do because that you know everyone says find a good deal and then the capital will come.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like kind of, kind of, because it'll come to me, it'll come to you.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: It might not come to that same deal, might not come to someone who is just starting out.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: So work with that person, you know, get on their team, bring them that deal to that team, take it down, and then you have the experience, and then that means a whole lot more because just because you have a good deal, you can mess it up in operations.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: You're like if you're new, you have no operations systems, so you are the higher risk.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, yeah, that's that's a a tangent on operations that you and I could talk about forever, I'm sure.
• 12:25
  Mike Swenson: Well, and I was gonna say too, you think is a good deal on your first deal, may not look like a good deal, you know, five deals later because you've learned through some of those challenges of yeah, maybe that wasn't as good of a deal as I thought that it was.
• 12:38
  Mike Swenson: So thinking about today now, because I I do want to touch on, you know, as you're scaling, talk a little bit about, okay, so we we talked about the first deal, but right now you guys are really in a key spot where you've you've done a lot of deals, you've worked together, you've built an investor database, you're building out your operations.
• 12:56
  Mike Swenson: So really highlight kind of where you're at today as somebody that you know just yes, seven years ago didn't know what much about what real estate and what it is, and now you're scaling a very large, very professional mobile home park company.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Since last year, we've really we've really uh honed in operations.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So like that's why I was like, oh, we could talk about it forever, because um, you know, I I pay attention to markets, I pay attention to the you know, the uh uh uh much, much, you know, bigger scale than just real estate.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what's the economy doing?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's the overall economy doing?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: What's the world?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a global economy, all that stuff.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I need to keep an ear to the ground to make sure that we are steering the company in in the right direction.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, stuff is getting uh more and more tight and more and more difficult and and just more and more.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean, I'm I'm big into you know, cycles and stuff like that, you know, Ray Dalio and and and similar people.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of see the writing on the wall where the economy getting worse and worse.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, no matter what people say, I mean, prices are inflating and and you know, whatever.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and by people, I mean, like no matter what politicians say, because politicians are gonna be politicians no matter what side, right?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so anyway, uh with the potential of the economy getting worse, I know how important it's gonna be to have operations really, really dialed in.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like this isn't something where, okay, you know, the economy is going great, and I don't have to do anything.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we can just kind of float by because that's what happens.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think the people who are gonna survive the next five years in real estate uh are the ones who have uh their systems dialed in, who have their operations dialed in.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, I'm I'm very, very proud to be working with Matias because he is such a rock star when it comes to that stuff.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he has really helped to build out, like before him, you know, I was doing in-house management, property management.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's just what I did out of necessity, but he has helped to really, really elevate it and make it very professional.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and even further, so we're working with a uh person who I knew before uh who did some asset management with open door capital.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's now working on our team.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: So again, it's heavily, heavily focused on the operations and making sure that we're going line by line on everything and making sure we're maximizing everything because we owe it to our investors to make sure that every little bit in our portfolio is just humming as best as it can be.
• 16:00
  Mike Swenson: When you talk about operations, um, for people that maybe aren't familiar with mobile home parks, like what are the key things that um you're thinking about or focused on as you look, taking something from you know this value to this value?
• 16:14
  Mike Swenson: Um walk us through that.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it it all starts with you know the business plan.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh we have you know our underwritten business plan and kind of like this is this is what we're going to do.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, we're we're very conservative with that first business plan uh that we present to investors.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so like you know, are we increasing rents when we should be?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are we increasing occupancy when we should be?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Are we decreasing expenses when we should be?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know we have that in-house property management company, so we're making sure we're hitting KPMs.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're making sure our collections are where they need to be.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you know, now that we have um the higher level asset manager too, that is taking some of the pressure from Matias, and like so they're um working together um to really like hone that in.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so we do.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: We have like uh uh once every two weeks to once a month where we're going line by line on uh the profit and loss statements and making sure how can we maximize this?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: How are we doing in compared to how we thought we were gonna be doing?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: How are we doing, you know, how are we doing in compared to the proof formula?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and when things aren't going as they should be, which is really realistic, stuff happens, you know.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how can we turn things around?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: How can we make them better than the projections we had?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we didn't collect that much, like as much as we thought we were gonna do.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, are we at least like um cutting down on the expenses to make sure our NOI stays pretty in line?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that's you know, we have one property right now that's not doing as well as we uh initially thought we were gonna be doing.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we thought that our uh we're gonna have much higher occupancy and and we don't, and it's just reality.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: But are we able to cut down expenses so we're still in line with that NOI so we can get our investors the returns that we had projected?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and yes, so it is, you know, there's nothing on autopilot right now.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh making sure that we are very, very uh uh in the weeds of paying attention to everything that's happening with properties.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So they're thriving.
• 18:48
  Mike Swenson: I think about it as you know, like you you pick up, you know, park park number one and you're doing the best you can with what you know at park number one.
• 18:56
  Mike Swenson: Well, now you're at you know, park 25, you're able to take learnings of park 25 and reapply it back to now.
• 19:04
  Mike Swenson: I guess I don't know if you still own the first park or not, but you're able to then reapply it back to what you've done in the past.
• 19:10
  Mike Swenson: And so now you've got this portfolio that's going to continue to get more and more efficient over time and produce better and better results because you're at number 25 learnings and execution, being able to bring it back to you know what what you know now versus what you knew back when you got the first one.
• 19:28
  Mike Swenson: Are you looking to get started or scale in real estate investing but don't know your next step?
• 19:32
  Mike Swenson: Are you overwhelmed thinking about finding deals, analyzing deals, doing due diligence, and managing properties on top of it?
• 19:39
  Mike Swenson: Go ahead and push the easy button and invest with us.
• 19:42
  Mike Swenson: Real estate investing is what we do full time.
• 19:44
  Mike Swenson: We've done dozens of deals with hundreds of doors.
• 19:47
  Mike Swenson: We have the knowledge and experience to handpick the best deals that most investors can't find.
• 19:52
  Mike Swenson: We've got large off-market deals all the time where you can hopefully find returns and economies of scale that you just can't find on your own.
• 19:58
  Mike Swenson: The best thing is it's 100% passive to you for less capital than you've put down trying to acquire a property on your own.
• 20:05
  Mike Swenson: Don't let this year go by where you don't make the leap, add to your portfolio, or you just did an analysis by paralysis.
• 20:12
  Mike Swenson: To find out more, visit freedom throughrealestate.com and click on invest.
• 20:17
  Mike Swenson: You can book a call and learn more there.
• 20:19
  Mike Swenson: So get to scaling your portfolio now with us by your side.
• 20:22
  Mike Swenson: That's freedomthroughrealestate.com and click on invest.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: We'll always be learning, we'll always be finding better ways to do stuff.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll always be dialing things in um to maximize efficiency in them.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, at the same time, we're not losing touch with uh these are people who need affordable housing.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, sure, you know, some people would be like, oh, well, your occupancy is down, everyone's in a month-to-month.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you just increase rent on everyone to make up for it?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, but like we know we're in we're we're serving uh affordable housing tenants, you know.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's we're we're not uh in the business of getting rich by making people's lives worse.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so again, that's why we're really focused on making things uh maximizing things while also making places nice uh uh communities nicer places to live.
• 21:24
  Mike Swenson: I always tell people at at some point, usually when I'm you know doing the the webinar or something like that, or you know, having conversations with investors, I say, look, there is the human component to this as well.
• 21:36
  Mike Swenson: So when we talk about, you know, for us on multifamily fix up units, raise rent, you know, increasing laundry revenue and garage revenue and pet fees and that, it's like the plan isn't to just come in and you know fee people to death, but the plan is is you know, like we understand the human element of this where great tenants are doing a great doing a don't cause problems.
• 21:58
  Mike Swenson: We want to make sure that the There, right?
• 22:00
  Mike Swenson: It's not just coming in and now we're just going to jack up fees and rents so that we can make our bottom line, but it's doing that with care and candor with the people that are living there, which is the most important because if you're making the people happy, they're going to want to continue to live there.
• 22:15
  Mike Swenson: And obviously, if we can provide better management and better services, we could do that at hopefully a higher rate.
• 22:22
  Mike Swenson: But yeah, it's not just coming in, you know, like uh, you know, you just would anticipate where we just raise rents and and jack up all these fees and then everybody gets upset.
• 22:32
  Mike Swenson: Like we we understand there's the the human component to this piece.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I mean, you know, I talked about reducing expenses, and that doesn't mean like becoming a slumlord and not doing anything.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: It it means like going line by line and seeing what what are what's being used and what can like how can we save while not making this a worse place to live for tenants.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it is, you know, that and that's how we do it is going line by line and seeing that.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I mean, sure, we could do like all this all these things, but uh again, yeah, we don't want to be on the front page of the news.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to be school lords, it's not our style.
• 23:11
  Mike Swenson: Now, talk a little bit about as you're building and growing your team, the roles and the responsibilities.
• 23:17
  Mike Swenson: Like you had mentioned, you know, Matias and and his skill set is very different than yours, but um, talk about who you have and kind of how you're breaking things up.
• 23:25
  Mike Swenson: And then, two, just because you know, I I got a chance to hear you talk this weekend, you're talking about branding and marketing and and telling the story and things like that, which is obviously really important as you guys continue to to grow.
• 23:38
  Mike Swenson: So, talk about yeah, the the roles and the responsibilities and breaking out who's doing what so that you guys are providing maximum value to everybody.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I lead acquisitions, I don't underwrite because I'm not great at it, but I lead like the acquisitions arm.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Matias leads the operations arm, uh Vinny leads our investor relations arm.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, there's different people in like underneath and doing different things.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, that's that's that's you know, pretty much everyone is doing what they're best at.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So like Vinny has that like soft skill of just really really being able to talk with people and understand their needs and like uh make sure that our investors are being taken care of like very, very well.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I love the hunt.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I love to hunt for deals, I love acquisitions.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's just excites me.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Matias loves uh uh you know, all the things that are needed from operations, all the the systems and SOPs and all that good stuff.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's our company right now.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: We are you know hiring a uh a fractional CFO to you know elevate our business even further.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and yeah, it's interesting, I guess, how uh business changes as you get bigger and how I remember reading books and being like, okay, that sounds sweet, but it it didn't apply to me at the time.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but now you know all all the those those books that I read about uh businesses and and proper uh proper roles and whatnot, like it's applies more and more as I go on.
• 25:26
  Mike Swenson: Well, and I think too, the the best way that I heard this is I remember hearing this on a Bigger Pockets podcast where when they talk about education and and being open to the messages, you know, thinking about it from like a college level.
• 25:39
  Mike Swenson: Like if I'm a freshman in college, I can understand things at a freshman and college level.
• 25:44
  Mike Swenson: But if I'm a senior in college, you know, or a 400-level course, I at a 100 level, I can't understand a 400-level course until I get to the 400 level.
• 25:54
  Mike Swenson: And so it's kind of like you guys are now continuing to level up.
• 25:57
  Mike Swenson: And so the things that might have just gone over your head two, three, four years ago, now you have a spot to be able to catch them and apply them because yeah, it was a little bit more probably survival back in the day versus now it's your the focus is really on thriving and providing a great quality product and getting better and more efficient.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and a lot of us uh a lot of my time now is um also spent uh looking for family offices and fund managers and you know um uh uh bigger bigger check sizes, basically.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we're good at what we do, and like let's do it on bigger scale um for uh uh those those those types of investors.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, like so you know, you mentioned branding, and and and that that is it's a big part of it.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was talking with um, we have a new VA who's gonna be uh helping us with all of our branding and you know, uh Instagram and LinkedIn, all that stuff.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and so it is, it's just putting your voice out there and it's you know, shouting into the abyss.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think I've heard people talk about this, which it makes me laugh, but it it's a hundred percent true.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're just talking about something, and then uh, you know, we've just done it enough that I have seen people uh uh you know, they'll schedule a call and say, Hey, I want to invest$100,000.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen you uh, you know, that you're consistently you're you're you like we uh so all three, me and Matias and Vinny, we're all doing our voice uh in these these things so people can see like we don't BS, we're we're who we are, um, and we're we're consistent about it.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and yeah, uh it's crazy how much of a difference that makes.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just it's if you're looking at any kind of business, you need what what do you need?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: You need marketing, you need sales, and you need operations and finance, right?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: So nowadays, uh for us, uh marketing is a ton of uh uh social media, a ton of branding, a ton of stuff like that, and making sure that that what we're doing is cohesive.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, like it's not just, oh, what's our budget spend?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: How how much dollars can we throw at this?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, no, let's do this calculated, let's do this in a smart way, because just throwing money uh doesn't work uh probably like it used to.
• 28:41
  Mike Swenson: Yeah, it feels like probably the early days it's throw everything at a wall and see what sticks, right?
• 28:45
  Mike Swenson: We've got the shotgun method, and now hopefully you're taking a little bit more attention, you know, to figure out maybe more of a sniper type method of strategic shots at what you're doing versus just throwing spaghetti at a wall because uh you you don't know back then, right?
• 29:00
  Mike Swenson: And there's nothing wrong with it.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with it.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like throwing spaghetti is much better than doing nothing.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, as we go, uh WCG is just more uh sniper, like you said.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 29:13
  Mike Swenson: You know, you mentioned 45 million right now, looking to hopefully be at 100 by the end of the year.
• 29:18
  Mike Swenson: Um, what are some other goals or or things that you have as you look towards the next you know, two, three, five years?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I mean the the bigger goal is hitting 250 million by the end of 2028.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, numbers are just numbers, they're just a lot of zeros.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, I to make it make sense to me, um, I you know did some kind of putting numbers together and like what does this actually mean?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: What what what's a real life um uh uh scenario there?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: So 250 million gives us uh the ability to provide affordable housing to uh roughly 10,000 people.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: So like stuff like that, uh, you know, making the difference, uh making a positive difference in the lives of 10,000 people is like super meaningful to me.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh on the other end, it's roughly a thousand investments, so not investors, but like individual investments.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: It could be, you know, one person having multiple um or one group having multiple investments, but you know, uh continuing to make these people who are investing with us um more and more money and feel like they're making these smart investments in this uh necessary asset class.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I I remember I was talking to a mindset coach of mine, and uh uh you know uh I was like, oh, like what if, what if this bad stuff happens?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Don't don't think of it like that.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, what if the good stuff happens?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: So what if instead of worst case scenario, you say, Hey, uh what if this person invests 50,000 with me, and then he gets great returns, and then he continues investing with us and continues investing with us, and then I uh, you know, we have the ability to make meaningful differences in this person's life because of what we've done, because of their investments, and they trusted us with money.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like stuff like that excites me.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, we're making amazing uh differences in the lives of our tenants, but I also, you know, we also want to make amazing differences in the lives of all our investors.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, man, leaving leaving the world better than uh where we found it.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's what I like.
• 31:42
  Mike Swenson: Yeah, it's fun to see how things have grown and and I love having you you know back on and share and and having Matias on and sharing his perspective because you get to see it from a couple of different angles.
• 31:52
  Mike Swenson: You guys are are doing some great things and growing really quickly and really excited to see how that takes off.
• 31:58
  Mike Swenson: And you know, for somebody like me that's a couple steps behind in the journey, you get to kind of see how that grows.
• 32:03
  Mike Swenson: And yeah, super exciting, you know, Tim.
• 32:05
  Mike Swenson: Thank you so much for for coming on and sharing.
• 32:07
  Mike Swenson: For people that want to reach out to you, learn more, connect with you.
• 32:10
  Mike Swenson: How can they do that?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: You can go to wccginvestments.com.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: You can book a call with us.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's more for like investors, for family offices, for fund managers, anything like that, if you're interested in investing.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or you know, you're interested in learning more about what investing in mobile home parks um looks like.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: We do everything we can to like, you know, give everything.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have a lead magnet that just says like this is what mobile home park investing is in comparison with these other asset classes.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is why we like it.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, um, you know, that's the best place to book a call uh for all of the people who are wanting to go down the path of mobile home park investing.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: They want to, they see what I'm doing, they want to be like me.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm always down to help the people who are three to five years, you know, prior to where I am in my journey.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, reach out on Facebook, reach out on Instagram, you know.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I have a free course that I'm more than happy to give to anyone who's interested in this asset class uh that says the goods and the bads and all that that fun stuff and you know how they could get started themselves.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm that's it's Tim.woodbridge on Instagram and then Tim.woodbridge.54, I think, on Facebook.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not hard to get a hold of.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I'm happy to talk to people and help in any way I can.
• 33:32
  Mike Swenson: Well, thank you so much, Tim, for coming on and sharing.
• 33:34
  Mike Swenson: Really appreciate it and uh fun to see where you've grown and excited to see where you guys continue to grow.