Episode 48: Turnkey Investing with Mid South Home Buyers

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:12:06
Nate Carver
If you've ever wondered about investment properties and how to get started in the investment world for single family residents, and maybe interested in some turnkey opportunities,

00:00:12:06 - 00:00:14:05
Nate Carver
as an investor, you're going to

00:00:14:05 - 00:00:15:10
Nate Carver
enjoy this podcast.

00:00:15:10 - 00:00:36:15
Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

00:00:37:12 - 00:00:39:23
Nate Carver
Hey, Matt. Hey, Terry. How are y'all doing today?

00:00:39:23 - 00:00:41:16
Matthew Vanhorn
Doing great. Thanks for having us, man.

00:00:41:16 - 00:00:43:04
Terry Kerr
Fantastic.

00:00:43:06 - 00:01:07:09
Nate Carver
It's good to talk to y'all. We are talking to Matt and Terri with Mid-South home buyers. Their website, Mid-South home buyers, dot com. And, Terri, I wanted to ask you right off. Tell me, where are you? How you got into this space with with investment properties way back in 2002? I'd love to try to build a background story for you.

00:01:07:11 - 00:01:08:04
Nate Carver
Sure, sure.

00:01:08:04 - 00:01:30:19
Matthew Vanhorn
It's, really happy accident. My wife and I had a newborn, and we wanted to keep our overhead low. And so, decided to, buy a fixer upper and move our family into it to keep a low house note and, fell into, you know, love with making ugly houses pretty and, Yeah, that's kind of how the business started.

00:01:30:19 - 00:01:46:09
Matthew Vanhorn
I told my wife I wanted to make a run at the business and, quit the best job of my life and, and roll the dice. And fortunately, it worked out, so, Yeah, man, it's been it's been a great run, and we really feel like we're just getting started.

00:01:46:11 - 00:01:56:15
Nate Carver
Nice. So, 2002. What what did the real estate landscape look like to you then versus today?

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Matthew Vanhorn
Well, what it looked like was, I would wake up every day and drive to real estate agents offices and pick up a paper list of foreclosures. Then I would open up a paper map book, and I would drive around and look at these houses, and then I would drive back to the real estate agents offices and make an offer on paper and write a check.

00:02:23:20 - 00:02:26:14
Matthew Vanhorn
And so it was like being a caveman.

00:02:26:16 - 00:02:51:11
Nate Carver
Oh my goodness. Yeah. Nowadays it's a click, click, click on your, you know, on your screen or even your phone and all that information's right there. Wow. Yeah. We I spend a lot of time at the courthouse going through documents manually. Yeah. Back in, I guess 12. Yeah. 2002. That was a lot of fun. It was, yeah.

00:02:51:15 - 00:03:17:16
Nate Carver
Well, I wanted to make sure I went bidding on a property or buying a second lein Right. So in in offering a turnkey investment opportunity. What? What brought that on for you? Honestly, the manual, labor intensive, time intensive part there in 2002. I'd like to kind of jump into that a little bit.

00:03:17:18 - 00:03:35:15
Matthew Vanhorn
Sure, sure. So in 2003, I ran into a grade school buddy of mine that I hadn't seen in ten years, and he had about ten rental properties under his belt. I only had a couple, and I was working on a couple more that I was going to keep. And he told me he wanted to buy them, and,

00:03:35:17 - 00:03:52:20
Matthew Vanhorn
And I was confused. I said, why would you buy these from me when you could go out and buy them yourself, fix them up, and rent them, and then. And then you'd save all the money, you know, that you're you're going to pay me. And he said, because I don't have enough time. And, you know, my wife wants me to spend more time with the family.

00:03:53:00 - 00:04:14:05
Matthew Vanhorn
And so I sold him these two houses, and I didn't make much profit. Margins were slim. And but but it was, it was, a, really breakthrough light bulb moment because I decided then I was going to start a business of passing, you know, bargains on the bargain hunters. And, you know, fast forward to today.

00:04:14:07 - 00:04:24:23
Matthew Vanhorn
Last year, we bought, rehabbed and sold 680 houses, in Memphis and in little Rock. And so we've we've been doing this, coming up on 25 years now.

00:04:25:00 - 00:04:30:09
Nate Carver
Yeah. Wow. And, Matt, how long have you been working with Terry now?

00:04:30:11 - 00:04:54:23
Terry Kerr
Yes, I started with Terry back in 2012. Started just, Yeah, it's been a fun ride. Terry is building him amazing business here. And, yeah, it, I was one of the cave man even back there in 2012. We were doing a lot of things on paper. File folders, file cabinets, all of that. But it's been fun to grow with the business and watch how it's changed.

00:04:55:00 - 00:05:06:13
Terry Kerr
Since then, I think we're managing somewhere around 215 homes. Back then, and, we're blessed to be at, almost 50, 800 homes today. So it's been a fun ride.

00:05:06:15 - 00:05:33:07
Nate Carver
Wow. So I'm curious, so as, I've done, I flip the house, like, one at a time, and I've done a lot of labor, a lot of labor on them. When I'm curious as to when you figured out that you had something that you could duplicate and was sustainable, that or that you could actually multiply to the numbers that are y'all that y'all are doing now?

00:05:33:09 - 00:05:53:17
Matthew Vanhorn
It just was a little bit by a little bit. So as soon as, my buddy Steve bought a couple of houses from me, and I knew that he wanted more and he had friends that that wanted more houses. I knew that I couldn't swing the hammers anymore because I was the hammer swinger. Now, I wasn't doing electrical, Hvac, and roofing, but I was doing all the cosmetic stuff and some of the structural stuff.

00:05:53:22 - 00:06:15:23
Matthew Vanhorn
And so I immediately went out and hired the wrong people. And so that I learned how to hire the wrong people. And then I learned how to hire the right people. And then when it really took off is when I went out and I made seven offers, and, and one weekend and I was hoping that I would get one.

00:06:16:00 - 00:06:34:02
Matthew Vanhorn
And then if I got two, I'd figure out how to do two at one time. And I got five offers accepted, and I freaked out, but I didn't back out of any of the deals because I didn't want to ruin my relationship. With the with the real estate agents. And so, man, I just I just had to figure it out.

00:06:34:02 - 00:06:45:14
Matthew Vanhorn
And so I'm not sure if I slept much that year, but, but I was able to, to to figure out how to rehab, 4 or 5 houses at a time and, and never look back.

00:06:45:16 - 00:07:00:02
Nate Carver
Wow. Any, any key pioneering turnkey options that you've learned or implemented as a turnkey model that, that you are particularly excited about.

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Matthew Vanhorn
Matthew, what do you think?

00:07:02:16 - 00:07:29:18
Terry Kerr
Well, we are a truly turnkey option. So, one thing that I think sets us apart from a lot of other players in the industry is that we have a lot of great vertical integration now. Terry, operates here out of a very large, I think it's 45,000 square foot warehouse here. Which allows us to kind of have our private Home Depot here, which allows us to, service the management company.

00:07:29:18 - 00:07:55:09
Terry Kerr
Well, to service the rehabs. Well, and it's great for our investors because we're the same outfit renovating, and the same outfit. Who's maintaining your home? So if you have, a part, that needs to be replaced down the road. Well, we have it in stock here, in the warehouse here. And so that means we have an available, and that means we can get to our residents with speed, and deliver a high level of service to them.

00:07:55:11 - 00:08:07:02
Terry Kerr
Of course, like Terry said, it's been little by little. We didn't always have that in the early days, but I believe we've been operating with the warehouse now for about ten years, and it's been a real game changer for us.

00:08:07:04 - 00:08:15:02
Nate Carver
Wow. And tell in the States that you're operating out of, it's Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee.

00:08:15:04 - 00:08:35:18
Matthew Vanhorn
Tennessee and little Rock, Tennessee. And in Arkansas, where we are right now, Memphis in Little Rock. We just stuck our toe in Dallas. So we are in Texas. But right now we are just, kind of amassing, a bit of a, personal portfolio. Right now. So we're testing out Texas, on our own dime, if you will.

00:08:35:20 - 00:08:49:17
Matthew Vanhorn
But, all signs are pointing to. Yes. So, hopefully in 2026, some of your listeners will be able to see, some, some stuff from, from us for Texas, but like, like I say, we're, we're, we're, our own guinea pig right now.

00:08:49:19 - 00:08:51:02
Nate Carver
Yeah, right.

00:08:51:03 - 00:08:52:24
Terry Kerr
Are you located in McKinney, Nate?

00:08:53:01 - 00:09:17:21
Nate Carver
Yeah, I'm just north of McKinney, out in the country. It's, there's, there's definitely a solid rental market. You know, there's a lot of hot new homes going up left and right, too. I think, I think I'm thinking of the bedroom communities in and outside of, I don't know, within 45 minutes of downtown Dallas.

00:09:17:23 - 00:09:46:13
Nate Carver
There are a number of of communities that have rental. You know, I guess those those towns and cities, they just have a large rental population. Yeah. There's, a lot of opportunity, a lot of opportunity in the DFW area for investors. From the heart of downtown to, I don't know, maybe 60, 80 mile radius.

00:09:46:15 - 00:10:11:08
Nate Carver
In every direction, there's a property available or or a place that needs to be owned. Well, good for y'all. But, I would dfw I think there's a I think there's going to be a massive growth, growth for y'all, for sure. I just can't imagine it. I mean, it's it's a dynamite market.

00:10:11:10 - 00:10:19:24
Terry Kerr
Whatever. They're I think they talk about not not if, but when Dallas is going to go all the way north, basically to Oklahoma, there to the state line.

00:10:20:00 - 00:10:39:24
Nate Carver
Is that is true? There's highway 75, and then there's, Preston and both of those are, you know, ones a toll. And it's expanding north up to the river. And and then there's highway 75, but they're building out to be an interstate, which goes all the way into Oklahoma. And, you know, they can't do the work fast enough.

00:10:39:24 - 00:11:11:20
Nate Carver
But the, everything growth wise is following for DFW. You know, you're, you know, regardless, you know, whatever is happening nationally. Good or bad for housing, for real estate. Texas is its own powerhouse. And then if you look at major markets like DFW and DFW North specifically, it is it is, the billion trillion dollar mile, miracle.

00:11:11:20 - 00:11:36:07
Nate Carver
And all of it is just, you know, there's growth, there's industry, there's new, everything is new. So even the older towns that, you know, they preserve the downtowns and refurbish those, and then beyond that, they just, the infrastructure, I think like Salina, Texas, which as a kid was, I don't know, they used to have a six man football team.

00:11:36:08 - 00:12:01:15
Nate Carver
Well, now every every square, every lot of their entire city limits is is to be developed. It's on the it's to be developed in, but they've got all the infrastructure, for, you know, high speed internet and, you know, the works. And so they can handle the improvements, whereas some locations don't, don't necessarily have the infrastructure yet.

00:12:01:15 - 00:12:21:10
Nate Carver
And so anyway, that that's true of most of North Texas. So, yeah, lots of really cool opportunities coming up here. Yeah. So you're investors, they're moving in on this area, looking at acquiring properties. Y'all are going to y'all going to be very busy.

00:12:21:12 - 00:12:45:22
Terry Kerr
So for sure, one thing I like about DFW, is that you can see them putting the, the property tax dollars to work there, new roads going in everywhere. You know, the only thing that's a little tough for some of our investors is those property taxes in Texas are a little high compared to some other places. Which is why we really like our cash flow products, in little Rock and Memphis, little Rock.

00:12:45:24 - 00:13:05:02
Terry Kerr
I was looking at an estimate that says that the cost of living there is 16% below the national average. I saw a report that just came out from smart asset, that actually says that Memphis, Tennessee ranks number one as the most affordable city for a family of four. And so they did a basically a report.

00:13:05:02 - 00:13:30:22
Terry Kerr
If you have two income earners with two children, they actually ranked, Memphis, Tennessee as the number one most affordable city, in America. In that regard, because of the affordability, because the ratio of good jobs, you know, according to the, compared with the cost of living here. And so it's great for our renters. They they can enjoy a high quality of life and have affordability.

00:13:30:22 - 00:13:39:01
Terry Kerr
And it's great for our investors because they can enjoy, cash flow that's truly sustainable for their investments in the long run.

00:13:39:03 - 00:13:50:04
Nate Carver
Oh that's awesome. Tell me we mentioned a little bit about turnkey. What does turnkey look like for your investors. Sure. Can I buy you, sir?

00:13:50:06 - 00:14:08:14
Matthew Vanhorn
Yeah. So, a turnkey product for our investors, looks like. And we have a short waitlist. So we've been doing this for a long time, and there is, you know, a couple of months wait for someone who, decides that they, they want to buy from us, before they actually start seeing properties that are available to purchase.

00:14:08:16 - 00:14:25:12
Matthew Vanhorn
But, they can go to our website at Midsouth Home buyers.com and click on Available Properties and see all the stuff that's currently under contract to purchase, which will give them an idea of what they will end up seeing. In a couple of months when they when they get to the top of the list, if you will.

00:14:25:14 - 00:14:47:15
Matthew Vanhorn
But what that looks like is, they start to see properties. They decide which property they want to purchase. They let us know what that is. And then we introduce them to a mortgage broker, as a matter of fact, a couple of three weeks before they get to the top of the list. We introduce them to mortgage brokers.

00:14:47:15 - 00:15:07:15
Matthew Vanhorn
If they don't have them. And we would love to be able to talk to you, obviously, about being one of those mortgage brokers. But, so from a turnkey standpoint, it's not just that we serve them up with a completely renovated home where we also manage the home, make the repairs, and just send them a check every month.

00:15:07:15 - 00:15:34:19
Matthew Vanhorn
But it's also that we're going to introduce them to the mortgage brokers with the best rates, the lowest fees, and the best customer service, and hook them up with the closing attorneys that have, you know, the best customer service, the lowest fees, really, at every single touch point. Homeowners insurance. You name it. We have we line that up systematically to make it just a breeze, from from beginning to end.

00:15:34:21 - 00:15:42:06
Nate Carver
Wow. Do you see, new construction becoming a bigger part of your turnkey portfolio, or. We do. Okay.

00:15:42:08 - 00:16:06:15
Matthew Vanhorn
Yeah, we do, and it is. So last year, I mentioned we did 680 houses, and I'm going to say about 150 of those, were new construction. And we're going to continue to buy and renovate every home that becomes available in the markets where we work, where the numbers make sense. But we're constrained on how many of of those properties we can find that makes sense.

00:16:06:15 - 00:16:20:21
Matthew Vanhorn
So while we'll continue to do those rehabs, we'll be able to supplement, the, the, the need and the demand from our repeat buyers by supplementing with, the new construction product.

00:16:20:23 - 00:16:42:20
Nate Carver
Nice. I'm, I'm assume that maybe there's a new investor or a not so sophisticated investor that's listening. And they may not know what a DCR loan is. It's the debt service coverage ratio. Loan. The best way I know how to explain it is you take your your projected rent. Divide that by the loan amount.

00:16:42:20 - 00:16:54:04
Nate Carver
And as long as that number is one or greater, the the lender will write that loan. That's the fundamental truth of that loan. But what are you seeing on the ground with your investors, with the DCR?

00:16:54:06 - 00:17:14:12
Matthew Vanhorn
They love the DCR product. And what we're selling definitely, matches that description. Our new construction houses are very popular with the DCR. The interest rates are favorable. We have got an interest rate buy down program here, in the house that they're able to get 5.85, by doing, their own buy down.

00:17:14:12 - 00:17:20:00
Matthew Vanhorn
And with our, contribution. We're getting that two, five and a quarter.

00:17:20:02 - 00:17:34:09
Nate Carver
Oh, excellent. And it's fantastic. Did you, do you deal with, I guess all the way up to four door? Like triplexes and quads and duplexes. Are you still. Are you you still have a preference there?

00:17:34:11 - 00:18:00:04
Matthew Vanhorn
We focus on single family with some duplexes. Quads are not really popular. They're not a bunch of quads around. In Memphis, in little Rock. Like, I know there are other, major cities, but in Memphis, we're focused on single family, and on duplexes, and there really aren't even a whole heck of a lot of duplexes, out there, like, you know, maybe 5% duplexes, but the majority single family.

00:18:00:05 - 00:18:24:23
Nate Carver
Okay, good. It's, It's interesting. I just recently asked. I just closed two loans back to back for veteran active duty soldiers. And they both did new construction. Duplexes. And, it was like. It was it was a I don't get to do those very often for violence anyway, but a VA construction loan, everybody usually passes on that.

00:18:25:00 - 00:18:55:15
Nate Carver
But I did it and, it was, I did a back to back, and they were. I thought they were great loans. And I've got another investor that does, he does does one a year, roughly a little bit more than a year. But he does one build. Anyway, I was just curious. So tell me, let's see, what do you have, like, target, minimums for investors, their gains, the return on their investment.

00:18:55:17 - 00:19:07:19
Nate Carver
Are you are you looking there? Is that something that is that y'all are concerned on or the investors coming to? And you say, hey, I want to I want to get an investment property. This is what I want it to be. It's for the ROI goes.

00:19:07:21 - 00:19:33:17
Terry Kerr
Yeah. The beautiful thing is our website at Midsouth homebuyers.com. It's designed to be very educational. And so our investors or anyone can go on our website and they can read, the, the information that we have. And we also have calculators, there on the site where investors are coached on how to do their own due diligence. And they're also able to use the calculators there on the site to project their returns.

00:19:33:17 - 00:20:03:16
Terry Kerr
In terms of, ROI, whether that be leveraged ROI, whether that be, the IRR based on a cash purchase, whether they are, just however they choose to buy it, whether they're putting 20% down, 25% down. You know, we have investors with different strategies as far as that goes. And so a lot of information there. And Nate, I'm just I'm curious what what loan products are you seeing that investors are finding useful in today's market?

00:20:03:18 - 00:20:38:02
Nate Carver
So right now, as you know, probably in the last six months, I'd say the DSR took off, as being the number one program, because they can get on, they can get into the property based on the property, not necessarily not necessarily their own personal finances, and that income ratios and all that. A caveat that some investors like to see or some lenders like to see some past performance.

00:20:38:04 - 00:21:11:24
Nate Carver
But those I've, I've seen quite a bit of, of, pretty broad expectation of what that past performance looks like. Whether they've got current management skill sets or if they've got a portfolio of, real estate. Right. So I've seen different requirements. I've got several investors in house and they all have different minimum standards. Right. So DSR definitely, for the ones you can stomach putting down, or want to put down a larger, a larger amount.

00:21:12:01 - 00:21:38:20
Nate Carver
Conventional the conventional route for an investment property. I've seen that for secondary. Where an investor. Yeah. For an investment property. Those are my number. My one. And to third VA, when a veteran figures out or learns or actively sold or learns that they can actually buy a multifamily as their primary if they're going to live in one of the behind one of the doors, they can buy up to a four doors.

00:21:38:22 - 00:22:23:14
Nate Carver
And, you know, those are wonderful because it's a different set of rules. But you're able to include those income that projected income on a VA loan. And the really nice thing with what y'all are doing is we're a brand new investor or a veteran or actor that's looking to invest the lender or the VA is going to require a, management company to, to take care of the rent and for turnkey, for turnkey, if you're overseas coming back to the States, I'm like, this would be a super easy way to work through y'all to have the entire, the entire, from finding a home all the way through to,

00:22:23:16 - 00:22:49:08
Nate Carver
you know, to rents, taking care of and, and not have to have that extra burden of trying to land, you know, find the right property and all all the all the all the other things that go along with it. So, yeah, those are my those are the three loans that I write the most. You know, every every one of them, every investor I've talked to, you know, they got their own specific like, or their sweet spot or what they're looking for.

00:22:49:08 - 00:23:10:11
Nate Carver
I think about my folks down in Florida on on 38. They're investment properties. They're looking for stuff that they can do. You know Airbnbs. You know, it's totally different. It's $1 million properties. And so that's a unique deal also. So what are you what are y'all seeing you did this year. But what else are y'all seeing.

00:23:10:13 - 00:23:35:05
Matthew Vanhorn
You know, mostly doctors. We're also, seeing a lot of folks who are wanting to do ten, 30 ones, these days. So, we do, a heck of a lot of ten, 30 ones with folks. And then, also real quick just to kind of piggyback on what you were saying about, you know, some folks that are, you know, buying, like, say, a duplex or a quad and living in one, one side of it.

00:23:35:07 - 00:23:57:10
Matthew Vanhorn
Man, what a great strategy that is. And, I think some of your, listeners, might appreciate, the tack that Matthew has taken, and getting started when he, when he was getting started, in his rental portfolio, of of taking advantage of the, the, the low, Fannie and Freddie interest rates and all.

00:23:57:10 - 00:24:00:23
Matthew Vanhorn
But, Matthew, you want to share how you got started in your investment journey?

00:24:01:00 - 00:24:36:07
Terry Kerr
Oh, sure. Yes. The the first, smart thing I did and I didn't know a smart at the time was, taking a job with, Terry Carr here at Mid-South homebuyers. So I got to learn the ropes of real estate here. And some advice that he gave me early on. Was to the best way he knew to, build wealth quickly was to buy a property and move into that property and live there for a year and then move out of that property, and, and hold on to it and rent it out and just keep rinsing and repeating.

00:24:36:07 - 00:24:59:14
Terry Kerr
And so I did that, four times until it drove my wife crazy. But I was able to pull it off four times. Moving, to a new home, being able to just put, man, that first one, I think I got it 3.5% down, with an FHA loan. But then subsequently, you know, I was only had to put 5% down to get into those homes.

00:24:59:16 - 00:25:10:19
Terry Kerr
Which is a heck of a lot easier than 20% down, especially especially back then, because when you're just first getting started, man, that first one is by far the hardest one to do. And so.

00:25:10:19 - 00:25:11:09
Nate Carver
Yeah.

00:25:11:11 - 00:25:16:12
Terry Kerr
Man, saving every penny until you can do that would you. Then it compounds.

00:25:16:14 - 00:25:24:07
Nate Carver
Would you qualify that first home as a starter home or.

00:25:24:09 - 00:25:43:15
Terry Kerr
So for me I was, I was first of all, I'm lucky to live in Memphis, Tennessee, where, property man, the numbers just make sense from, like, a cash flow perspective. So what I moved into, even though it was the most that I could afford. Man, it turned out to be a perfect rental property.

00:25:43:17 - 00:25:44:15
Nate Carver
Right.

00:25:44:17 - 00:26:05:05
Terry Kerr
You know, and and many of the neighborhoods are here so that in that way, I'm lucky to be in this market. But. And so the first one I didn't necessarily do on on purpose, but then afterward, the second, the third home, I really tried to make sure that I moved into a home that would make a great rental on the other side of that.

00:26:05:07 - 00:26:26:19
Terry Kerr
And so, and it's kind of cool because my wife and I were able to move into a, kind of a smaller three bedroom, one bathroom home, before we had children, you know, and it it's it, you know, it's a little bit of a small home. But it got us into, a nice neighborhood, and it's a nice kind of small rental, which we love.

00:26:26:19 - 00:26:52:05
Terry Kerr
Small rentals here. At Mid-South, because, as you know, investor costs. The biggest thing is turnover a lot of times. Right. So, on a smaller home, those costs are smaller. The price of entry for a renter is lower. And so the turnover times are shorter. And so these smaller homes make great rentals. And, you know, we only needed to live there for, a year, a year and a half.

00:26:52:05 - 00:26:58:14
Terry Kerr
And then we were on to the next. So it worked with our lifestyle. And now it's a great cash flow. And rental property.

00:26:58:16 - 00:26:59:09
Nate Carver
Yeah. And the cool.

00:26:59:09 - 00:27:22:23
Matthew Vanhorn
Thing. Like what? What Matthew was saying. I'm sorry, Nate, is that not only did that, he just have to, only have to put down 3% or 5% instead of 20. He also got a better interest rate because it's an owner occupied, owner occupied interest rate. So, you know, to your listeners out there that are that are just getting started and don't mind moving, every year or two.

00:27:22:24 - 00:27:42:00
Matthew Vanhorn
Man, what a great strategy to be able to get in for. Maybe not no money down, but about as cheap as you can get into it for. And then by the time Matthew got to the point to where he was like on number four, some, some time had passed and appreciation, had happened, and then all of a sudden he found that he had equity in these properties.

00:27:42:00 - 00:28:11:01
Matthew Vanhorn
Right. And then you can then you can start to leverage some of that equity with home equity lines of credit. That's right. So anyway, I know that were a rental, a rental, company, a turnkey outfit. And of course, we want to work with your with your listeners. But, like Matthew, as mentioned earlier, you know, our website is dedicated to educating folks on how to get rolling in this business and how to, you know, do turnkey or rental in any market.

00:28:11:01 - 00:28:37:06
Matthew Vanhorn
So we hope that they go to our website and check out the, 19 investor, Fatal investor mistakes and just kind of learn from a lot of the mistakes that we made when we were getting, started in the business. And then also a lot of the mistakes that we have heard from our investors that are recurring themes, and, you know, try to try to learn from our Cantonese and, and other investors getting these there.

00:28:37:08 - 00:28:47:22
Nate Carver
Oh, wow. I'm curious, Matt, how how far along have you purchased your dream home yet? Or we still move that?

00:28:47:24 - 00:29:10:04
Terry Kerr
I mean, I'm in a good spot now, you know? And listen, I, I understand that I was lucky, you know, to get started back in, 2015, you know, back before, inflation did its thing that it did, you know, in, in Covid times, but, you know, real estate on a ten year timeline is pretty much undefeated.

00:29:10:04 - 00:29:19:08
Terry Kerr
So that's why. Yeah, regardless of the market, you know man man, get started today and you're ten years from now self will thank you.

00:29:19:10 - 00:29:46:24
Nate Carver
Yeah. You know over the however long they've been almost probably over 100 years now they've been tracking real estate market. There's only been seven downturns. And every year after that seven or in every, every following a year, it's recovered. And so and more than recovered. So it's like when's the best time to buy a house now.

00:29:47:01 - 00:30:10:12
Nate Carver
It's always now. Tell me in the last. So in the 20, almost 25 years now, I'd like to hear, like, a memorable, story with one of the all's investors, maybe a rags to riches experience or, you know, that they they came to you all. They had one or no properties. And now they, you know, now they own.

00:30:10:14 - 00:30:13:18
Nate Carver
Now they're real estate moguls or so.

00:30:13:18 - 00:30:32:22
Matthew Vanhorn
Matthew. Before he was our sales director, he started off as our leasing agent, and then he became our property manager for many, many years. So Matthew has worked directly, with our investors more than I have. So I'll leave that one to him. But, but there are a lot of them. That's for sure.

00:30:32:24 - 00:30:59:04
Terry Kerr
Yeah. I think one, really cool one that comes to mind right away, is, Robert Helms son. Oh, yeah. Right. Because he, had this goal of getting his first, investment property, by the age of 18. And so, man, he he, he came out here, did his due diligence, came to one of our, investor tours here.

00:30:59:07 - 00:31:21:17
Terry Kerr
We do, monthly tours here where we show, the warehouse. We, we, showcase the the team. That makes it happen here. We show the properties in various stages of the rehab, and, like, like we said, we just really tried to educate, our potential investors as much as we can. And, man, he just.

00:31:21:17 - 00:31:39:21
Terry Kerr
He just dug in and and just soaked up all of, all of the learning here and, happy to say he got he got his first home, I think is either the day before or a couple of days before turning 19. Wow. It was just a really cool thing. Yeah, he was able to do that.

00:31:39:23 - 00:32:03:11
Matthew Vanhorn
And so, yeah, he was a disciplined young man and, you know, been saving money, for a long time. And just, pulled the trigger to make it. It made it happen. But he was the youngest investor that we'd ever sold to, and, and his, his father, Robert Helms, who, is the founder of, the Real Estate Guys radio show, was,

00:32:03:13 - 00:32:07:21
Matthew Vanhorn
Yeah, he he, he bought from us, and that was that was that was a heck of a win.

00:32:07:23 - 00:32:24:18
Nate Carver
Wow. Well, you touched on that. 819 fire. The youngest I've ever helped was 24, and I was real proud of that. But 19. I can't imagine what his future is going to look like financial. If he just, you know, he stays. Stick to it.

00:32:24:20 - 00:32:43:06
Matthew Vanhorn
Dude. It's it's going to be crazy. And you know, he was disciplined. He saved money, you know. And and that's one thing that I'll say about Matthew. You know, he said you know he's lucky and and boy I don't I don't discount it. I know he was lucky. We've been very lucky here at Mid-South. But you put in the hard work and you stay disciplined.

00:32:43:08 - 00:33:01:15
Matthew Vanhorn
And you keep your eyes open and, you know, the chances of getting lucky. You know, it happens more often. And so, Yeah, I mean, I know that, Nate, that, you know, that discipline is a big, a big part of the deal, and saving money and protecting your credit and your debt to income ratio and all that kind of, kind of good thing.

00:33:01:15 - 00:33:11:16
Matthew Vanhorn
But, that is a recurring theme that we see, with our investors is the ability to be disciplined and be savers.

00:33:11:18 - 00:33:34:17
Nate Carver
Wow. And I was going to ask you you touched on it, with that story. You don't have to live in the same state to be an investor if you want to live wherever you live, if you want to invest in Memphis or DFW, y'all can facilitate that. And, man, that's awesome. Well, let's, we're going to we're about to run out of time.

00:33:34:17 - 00:33:55:06
Nate Carver
I'll try to keep these things to drive time. In the DFW market. Right. So about 30 minute drive. Okay. Tell me, what are the best ways for someone that wants to reach out to get started with y'all on a turnkey solution for investment properties? How can they reach you guys?

00:33:55:08 - 00:34:20:20
Terry Kerr
Sure. So, we'd love for you to visit our website at Midsouth homebuyers.com. You can reach out to us via email. That's invest at Mid-South homebuyers.com. You can give us a call at (900) 130-6900 nine. Or you can come on one of our monthly investor tours. We have one coming up on November 13th and November 14th.

00:34:20:21 - 00:34:41:07
Terry Kerr
So November 13th, we're touring little Rock and November 14th we're touring Memphis. You can come to one city or you can come to, both. We'd love to have you there. If it doesn't work out for November, you can go on to our website and see a, list of upcoming tour dates. I'm not sure if we put out the 2026 dates just yet.

00:34:41:09 - 00:34:43:16
Terry Kerr
But those will be coming soon.

00:34:43:18 - 00:35:08:14
Matthew Vanhorn
Okay. And then one thing I'll say, Nate, is, I'm going to say that, like, only like 95 per, well, only about 5% of our, investor buyer friends do we ever get to meet, we want to meet everyone. But we understand you know, folks are busy and they don't have time to visit. So, like, 95% of the folks that we work with, we we don't ever get a chance to meet them in person.

00:35:08:19 - 00:35:28:02
Matthew Vanhorn
And we would love to meet some of your listeners in person to the tune that, if they end up working with us, if they'll come visit with us, you know, we'll contribute 500 bucks towards their, towards our closing cost, because we know, you know, that when folks, get a chance to visit and meet, there's a lot of benefit there.

00:35:28:02 - 00:35:46:22
Matthew Vanhorn
So, we we incentivize folks, if they would, you know, take some time. Come learn a little bit. And if you decide to even invest in your own market, we really believe that we'll be able to, you know, present some good educational stuff, for, for your folks that want to invest in any market.

00:35:46:24 - 00:36:15:18
Nate Carver
Well, that's awesome. So, if you're looking to invest and need a turnkey solution because you're successful and you're or you, I just think of how busy I am. I don't have time to swing a hammer. You know, I don't. Otherwise if I'm doing it, I'm not working it. So y'all have y'all provide that opportunity? In little Rock, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee, DFW, Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas.

00:36:15:20 - 00:36:37:15
Nate Carver
Investors, if you're looking for a solution to help build your portfolio, reach out to Matthew. Mid-South Home buyers.com. I'll put the links down below. Last question. Is there anything I should have asked y'all that I didn't?

00:36:37:17 - 00:37:03:07
Terry Kerr
You did. A you did a great job, Nate. It's definitely been it's definitely been good. Having the conversation with you for sure. You know, the only thing that I will just add, you know, having spent, 13 years on the property management side, is that man, it's it's our renters that drive the returns. And we're here as a management team, to provide the highest quality of life that we can to our renters.

00:37:03:09 - 00:37:24:07
Terry Kerr
The service that we provide, I think, is really where the rubber meets the road here. Because the fast service, and the the true respect and value that we give to our renters, that leads to their satisfaction. And their satisfaction leads to them staying, with us for an average of a four year residence day.

00:37:24:09 - 00:37:58:01
Terry Kerr
Which is really crucial to, our investors returns. Besides us just loving to do the right thing for our renters. And so if you're looking for, a turnkey investment elsewhere, make sure you ask, plenty of questions about the management team, because I feel that the management is maybe, maybe the most important thing, aside from simply, your own goals, as an investor, a great operator, can help an average investment turn into a great investment.

00:37:58:03 - 00:38:06:00
Terry Kerr
A bad operator can turn, even a great investment into a bad one. And so management really is where the rubber meets the road.

00:38:06:02 - 00:38:23:13
Matthew Vanhorn
Absolutely. And, on the website, there's a, due diligence, section that lists, a bunch of questions that, folks should be asking of their property managers, or turnkey providers that will help them do, their own, due diligence and underwrite the deal.

00:38:23:13 - 00:38:35:04
Nate Carver
Wow. All right, there you have it, folks. Midsouth homebuyers.com. Nate Carver, your favorite merch guy. I own this episode of Between Two Doors. That's a wrap. Thanks, guys.

00:38:35:04 - 00:38:35:18
Matthew Vanhorn
Thank you.

00:38:35:24 - 00:38:36:17
Terry Kerr
Thank you. Nate.

00:38:45:21 - 00:38:53:23
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