Episode 28 - Build Your Wealth in Real Estate: A Real Estate Journey and Expert Advice
In this episode, we sit down with Matt Rody, an experienced real estate investor and builder, to discuss the intricacies of building DADUs (Detached Accessory Dwelling Units) in Tacoma, Washington. The conversation covers the importance of understanding local regulations, the benefits of building DADUs over larger multifamily units, and the significance of creating a trustworthy team to navigate real estate investments effectively.
TAKEAWAY 1: The Advantage of Building DADUs: Building DADUs can be a more efficient and cost-effective way to invest in real estate compared to larger multifamily units. DADUs offer quicker turnaround times, lower infrastructure costs, and the flexibility to build on existing properties without the extensive off-site improvements required for multifamily developments.
TAKEAWAY 2: he Importance of Local Knowledge and Relationships: Navigating the complexities of real estate development in Tacoma requires a deep understanding of local regulations and a strong relationship with city officials. Trust and communication with the city are essential, as they can lead to more favorable outcomes in the permitting and approval processes.
TAKEAWAY 3: Educating and Mentoring in Real Estate: Matt discusses the rewarding aspect of educating new investors and the impact it can have on their lives.
TRANSCRIPT
∎ Teaser / Highlighted Clip
[Matt Rody] (0:00 - 0:51)
You can go into a place and not know that there is like Tons of extra things that are going to cost more. Um, it depends on your property management company It depends on um who you're using it like we I ran all of our rentals for a long time I was a horrible landlord like horrible. I'll give myself like a D Score maybe an f at times because I did not kick people out I could fix the units I could do all this stuff and I was the landlord like I was doing all the maintenance myself Me and my guys and stuff like that because I was running them all I wrote my first rental agreement at 19 years old for my dad um And then we had an attorney to check it out And he was like that's fine because we based it off like four or five other investors This was before scanning and all that stuff.
So I was doing it by hand um But the the hard part is really knowing how to handle it as non um emotion
∎ Podcast Intro:
[Stephen Husted] (0:51 - 3:10)
Welcome to the breakthrough with Stephen Husted the show that takes you behind the scenes with successful entrepreneurs Real estate investors and other movers and shakers in the business world In each episode we'll sit down with our guests to explore their personal and professional journeys including the challenges they faced the breakthrough moments that propelled them to success and the strategies and the tactics They used to get there get inspired by new ideas and strategies and get to know our guests on a deeper level Join us for candid conversations powerful insights and plenty of breakthrough moments Please help us grow by subscribing and sharing the podcast and welcome to the show.
∎ Guest Introduction:
Hey there, it's stephen husted. Welcome to another episode of the breakthrough today We've got matt roddy with us matt's been in the real estate game for years, especially in the tacoma area He's built everything from apartments to daddoos detached accessory dwelling units and knows the ins and outs of property development in this episode We'll dive into matt's journey including how he got started in construction with his dad Transitioned to marketing and eventually found his niche in building daddoos. We'll discuss how new city regulations are opening up opportunities for investors and why tacoma Is becoming a hot spot for real estate development?
Matt shares some great tips on what to look for in a property the challenges of building new units And how to maximize your investment if you're into real estate or just curious about how to navigate the market This episode is packed with practical advice and insights Let's jump right in.
∎ Podcast Proper:
There you like that how that started? Oh, yeah, the time is sweet Yeah The countdown begins.
There we go Yeah, this is that's that's cool that's funny that you I I like when uh guys notice the melon I do I like and they always Yeah, they're super They're super cool. I i've told myself the day that I get sponsored by melon is the day.
[Matt Rody] (3:10 - 3:16)
I know that I made it made it forever Getting free hats every week. It's awesome Free hats.
[Stephen Husted] (3:16 - 4:18)
I just want come on just sponsor the podcast everybody. I want I want melon Is my sponsor? That's the first one.
Um Yeah, we'll see how that goes. Um Yeah, so that's cool. Thanks for jumping on.
I know this is this is like we'll call it round two um something we were talking about before we started Was we we had a chat with ann? And I said, hey, let's have a meeting together like a meeting greet with you and uh Make make it like a podcast, but it really wasn't the breakthrough podcast. It was just a little mini introduction that went really well um And after I got done After we got done I spoke to ann i'm like, all right.
Yeah, that's my guy. That's awesome. He's good Yeah, I already know I can get along with him and he's cool.
So That so i'm glad that you're able to uh jump back on today and maybe we can Chat some more and talk about life and what the heck you're doing out there in tacoma. Hey, i'm, sorry.
[Matt Rody] (4:18 - 4:34)
I didn't um Did did you know I was out there with ann I didn't until you after you left so Um, okay. I she she I saw the story i'm like, oh is he here? I texted her and she was like, oh no, he was here on wednesday.
I was like, oh, okay It was fine. I just was wondering I just saw it.
[Stephen Husted] (4:34 - 4:44)
I was like, oh he was here so Mm-hmm i'm, sorry, I was you know what I was going through a Property tour dopamine.
[Matt Rody] (4:44 - 4:51)
Oh, yeah I know how that is. I used to tour around all the time when I was major so Yeah, it was crazy.
[Stephen Husted] (4:51 - 6:16)
You know, I I flew in I had four days uh I went there last uh about a week ago on a sunday and I started off in redmond Kirkland bellevue, that was the first thing my my my one of my business partners has a house in uh, wooden So we started there And then I left sunday night came back went and I stayed in downtown seattle and kind of did some touristy stuff first, you know kind of just checked out things and you know went to the space needle and you know, check check things out and then started talking to some agents and checking out neighborhoods and I was just like Kind of blown away with everything that's going on in seattle. It's just So much development and not only is it cool development. It it just aesthetically looks good.
Maybe it's just what I like um completely different than what's going on in california to be honest with you, but You know, I think it's just a personal thing um but I saw the you know what's going on out there and I got even more excited when I started seeing the whole daddy plays out in seattle and Then then I left met up with ann and had a few hours with her But at that point I was just so much.
I was like brain overload and I was like, yeah, should I you know? Should I text matt? Should I get to the lunch?
I'm like No, i'm coming back. It's it's all good. I'm gonna see him soon here.
Anyways, we're fine.
[Matt Rody] (6:16 - 6:48)
You will see me soon it's uh, it is not a When you're when you're doing that first initial thing man, it takes I mean it's a big it's it's not a huge area here But it's big enough, you know, it's spread out. So yeah, you know, it's not quite the same as california where it's a little more dense, you know um, yeah, it's a little more spread so it takes a little longer, you know to get around here and learn the stuff and figure it out and yeah, I used to have a lot of outside, you know outside clients come in and we would show them around when I had a real estate team and stuff so Um, it was overwhelming.
[Stephen Husted] (6:48 - 6:57)
I didn't know you were you worked in real estate. So tell me that tell me that I didn't know about that until you just told me just recently when we before we got on this I was like Oh, let's talk about that.
[Matt Rody] (6:57 - 10:45)
So I I was um I was a builder growing up. I my dad made me go to college He said I couldn't work with him unless I went to college. So I went to udub got a business finance degree Helped run our company I was our superintendent for seven years and ran and learned all construction and then The recession hit and we could not have my brother and I on staff So in 2010, I went on my own and i've gotten my license a while back.
I'd sold a bunch by owner and Started a team I partnered with a gal that had showed me how to walk new construction when I was 19 Because I had run a housing development for my dad And um, but it was by owner so we didn't have we I wasn't an agent at that time But I learned how to sell at a young age ran a development for about five years and then um Got this team partnered up with her again, and we decided we'd build this team. So we called it washington home team and uh, it turned into We probably had like six seven agents at one point.
We had like 16 and we were like that's not gonna work This is just too many people Um, but we were selling we got up to over we got up to about 200 one year Um sells during the recession time. Um, you know in like 2012 right when it was starting to peak out, you know Um, and so I was doing I I failed at at it to tell you the truth um the team side because I ended up giving most my real estate My own pipeline to my agents Um, which was probably the biggest failure that I could do as an agent was get out of the actual day-to-day, right? And I was just mentoring.
I was mentoring this person that person Um guiding them teaching them how to do it taking them through houses, you know, just doing all the scripts I wrote all of our strips a lot of them took them from buffini or this and that and would change them up and Do a lot of lead generation. We were generating. I mean one month.
I think we generated I was doing craigslist I was hammering craigslist like we were beasts on craigslist. I probably one month. I think I got like 5 000 leads off craigslist so We were just that's crazy abusing craigslist Uh, not gonna lie.
I had bought, you know, like 600 pictures of houses, you know, like Uncopyrighted pictures and just made tons of ads and I was in control of that every day I would keep the ads rolling and stuff. So I was our lead generator and It was it was crazy. But uh, yeah got into that and then I went into marketing after that Um that that came apart, uh, my partner.
She lost her husband randomly two weeks after retirement Made her go crazy And I didn't want to do anymore. I sort of lost my love for it Um, the team side was not what I wanted to do per se, um And uh, so I got out and did a marketing company helped a friend and that sort of went a little bit crazy itself Uh, but I learned kind of about marketing. We were doing facebook ads google ads doing a lot of stuff around the nation um went to mexico city wants to do stuff with a client down there and um learned a lot and then um What year was that that was in 2016 through 2000 about 20 we ran that and in 2019 we we were working with a um collision center down in uh, where was that that was in tennessee, they had 13 locations we were doing marketing for them and I had this random idea in like 2020 or 18 19. Hey, we should we should do a collision center, man They're sort of anti-cyclical they're opposite of real estate, you know, so when real estate goes down they stay consistent And that's what we'd seen during the recession.
It was like, oh my gosh, everything's falling out of the sky, you know um, which no if you've been in real estate since 2012 No one knows what a down market. I mean even now this market is not even down, you know, um Exactly.
[Stephen Husted] (10:45 - 10:48)
Yeah It's like that.
[Matt Rody] (10:48 - 12:47)
There's emotions involved, right? Um, but it was down 2008 9 10 11 um Big time He thought he was gonna keep on going, you know He just it is what it is. You just have to put your head down and the ones that come out of that were Really did have done well now, you know, like extremely well Um, I have one guy that did it on his own Uh, i'll say his name mike renard.
He uh, he was one of my first guys I coached for a long time for like maybe a year and a half And he Just a couple years ago sold like over a hundred with just him and another person on his team, you know I mean that's kind of you know But he had to go through that fire of stuff, you know early on and it was it was fun watching that But anyway, so I got in the marketing then we decided to build this collision center as a family So I got back with my dad which was really my goal because I love working with my family Because that's my brother my dad and I And so I built this collision center was like 26 000 square feet and it got me in and my dad was like hey you know, they he got a letter in the mail from tacoma and they said We want you to Or he was like you you should look into this because we're opening up our code to do these dadus on investor properties They've changed the code. They've changed the setbacks.
They've changed all this stuff and i'm building this building going dad Leave me alone. I'm working i'm going hardcore, but about four months in I was finishing up that building and I went Holy cow This is amazing, so I started with real estate, you know, really on my own that was on my own I got away from my dad for about nine years and it was probably the best growing experience for me i've ever had in my life because it I had no dad to back me up. Nothing.
It was just me and uh, whoever I was partnered with I learned a lot about partnerships That was interesting. Um Uh, uh, yeah, so yeah, so so that then I got into the dadu thing and you know Did three the first year six the second year 21 the yeah last year now We're just on our way now this year. We're building 17 right now.
[Stephen Husted] (12:47 - 12:53)
So It's it's moving along What did your let's let's talk about what your dad does.
[Matt Rody] (12:54 - 26:31)
Yeah My dad is a civil engineer. Um, he is a type a personality to the nth degree Um, if you do disc tests from tony robbins, he's a high knee high c he's like this little Crazy unicorn personality and uh, he socially can be as goofy as it comes Um, he's one of the smartest people i've ever met in my life. He's he's like iq.
I think genius and um, he's He knows groundwork probably just as good or better than anybody in the city to come on He's been doing that kind of stuff forever. He is uh He was a fun dad growing up. He always did good stuff for us.
He's a he's a very um He never showed anger, you know, he was like a calm guy all the time my mom a little bit different on the other side, but uh They they've been married. They're almost they're 50 years. I think this year.
I think they're 50 years this year next year. Um, i'm married and um He has been a businessman in this area since he was young. We were underground construction Construction company at first so we did all Civil type work.
So that's why his dad pushed him to be a civil engineer he he thrived at it and um so he had a surveying company and all that stuff under off of a um umbrella of underground construction and they did big stuff they had a uh, 1000 excavator like it was one of the biggest track hoes on the west coast for in the 80s and Um, so I was around big equipment all my life growing up and then he started supplementing because we were a public company So we were we were labor union We're a union company and my grandpa was always scared of doing private work for not getting paid or whatever So my grandpa sort of lived in fear Well, my dad wanted to go into the private sector because there was way more money there and um, so he started supplementing by Developing properties and that was in the 70s and uh in the 80s right there And then he just continually did more and more in 2000. He said enough of underground construction I'm gonna go full time and that's when he built his first apartment complex Um, there's 31 units with a partner, um Ever since he's been building apartments houses. He's done hundreds of homes around here infill lots Um, I really yeah, I probably superintended I've been to 200, you know, 100 100 units 150 units maybe uh over my time, um I don't know exactly how many but uh, my brother's at a time too And we just built them over time, you know, just little You know, we have a house and a house and we got the lot in the middle and we're buying the house subdividing a lot you know segregating, um doing um, mini short plats Doing uh boundary line revisions all that kind of stuff just to make an extra lot on a property We used to be able to do variances like this And make them the right square footage. Um now you can only do straight lines.
Um Uh, but uh back in the day it was sort of fun because you could do all kinds of stuff We were one of the first people to do rcx. So they have x zoning in tacoma And it's a very uh, non Uh, it's a zero lot line type build And we were one of the first In all of the tacoma in the 90s. I was wearing I played basketball.
I'm six foot seven and uh I was wearing like the most gangster big giant clothing at 19 went over and knocked on this door with this dilapidated sign Talked to this lady for that was in her 80s for about 30 minutes And we ended up getting one of the first properties of rcx there. Um, she sold her family sold it to us and We built them and we didn't even build them together because you can you can can you know, you can um Build them as townhouses. We didn't understand that yet.
This code was so brand new It was like that year had come out and so we built them separately, but only like three feet apart and um We didn't maximize the lot at all. We could have built a whole nother unit didn't know And so yeah, we went through that and so we've learned just as we've gone and my dad's always been a part of Delaware the city so we've been involved in the city of tacoma Like uh the planning department and stuff my dad's known some of those people there for 30 years and he's always had a good relationship with them and so our family is very old school in the way of I have a lot of family members around here because we moved here in the 20s 1920s And so our reputation is bigger than our family.
So it's about Making a name for my other family that are chiropractors or these people over here or whatever. It's keeping this solid name All the time so my dad's always kept that reputation our underground construction company was Known for our quality and our character and we've never missed paying a sub ever since the 1940s when we started that company um, and that's sort of our name is is Quality now. We haven't been with the general public forever with construction.
We've always been doing it in-house So in 2021 was the first time i'd started building for other people Um interesting, you know public, um, usually we build spec and then sell um And um, we've built apartments and we do those a lot of it's for depreciation purposes You know you go into all the finances of it. Um, it's you know, there's a lot of Good things about apartments a lot of bad things about apartments, you know You have to you have to look at each investment and and look at it from different angles. So, um, yes What are the good and bad?
What are the good and bad? Oh, I know the good Three uh, it's it's depends on what you know of construction. You can go into a place and not know that there's like Tons of extra things that are going to cost more.
Um, it depends on your property management company It depends on um who you're using it like we I ran all of our rentals for a long time I was a horrible landlord like horrible. I'll give myself like a D Score maybe an f at times because I did not kick people out I could fix the units I could do all this stuff and I was the landlord like I was doing all the maintenance myself Me and my guys and stuff like that because I was running them all I wrote my first rental agreement at 19 years old for my dad um And then we had an attorney to check it out and he was like that's fine because we based it off like four or five Other investors this was before scanning and all that stuff. So I was doing it by hand. Um But the the hard part is really knowing how to handle it as non um emotion Um rentals are an emotional game if you own them yourselves a lot of times And I always tell people get a property management company.
Just do it. Um, It takes all the emotion out and they're handling that part. You're paying a fee.
So negotiate the fee. That's what you can do, right? That's a good business person negotiating that fee but you will save so much money if you have a property management company and then Checking out your property management company knows how to market.
Um I was marketing so I taught our property management company how to use facebook marketplace and how to use facebook and how to pay for ads and How to do instagram at you know, those kind of things that a lot of the people around here Look at we're in a tech area, you know um You gotta be at the forefront of that tech to a degree and you have to have a budget for marketing. I mean Rentals are about marketing. It's about doing it and having enough people so you can pick the right one You know you want in a short, you know in a in a in a house You know a regular house you want someone there for a long time because that's what saves you the money, you know And you make a lot more money in apartments.
Um, you are looking for the same thing, but you're going to have that turnover You just know it. Um, and so it's really knowing the product like we build our dad use With lvp floors, you know, you're doing quartz countertops. You're doing box plywood cabinets.
No particle board You're doing everything that's easy to maintain and will last a very long time right and can last through multiple tenants Um, and that's how we build our apartments. I built our dhu company off of how we build apartments and and that kind of stuff um But but apartments you come in and You really have to look at like people want to get into building new for apartments. Okay um I hear it all the time because I get asked to build them for people and Even the new legislation in in washington, it's called hb 1110.
Okay, it covers a whole new era of multifamily And i'm going to get into this because i'm going to go into the dad use and why did you use? Yeah, let's do it um, the 1110 is really Good in its own right because we're in an urban area, right? Tacoma is an urban area It can work really well seattle.
It's worked well in seattle bellevue those kind of places these these multifamily um townhouse style Specifically the micro units are a whole different talk i'd get into that different but uh, if we're talking like regular residential Townhouses, okay, you build six of them on a property the cost of doing that is so Extremely high right now with inflation as it's gone because it's gone up about 25 percent in construction field over the last few years And it's literally affect us all. I mean electricians are so much more than they were three years ago Uh plumbers are way more.
Uh, all their material is like a hundred percent over what it was, you know Um, I know our national is 3.1, right? um in our construction, we saw like a 25 increase on some stuff in one month, you know during Post covid, you know in or you know like 2021. So it was just crazy.
I couldn't even keep up with it I was losing like five to ten percent on my deals every single time because it takes 10 months to build a dabu from start to finish um But multifamily has a lot of infrastructure cost. Um, you have to do storm you have to do Uh all the off-site improvements you have to do parking they make you do You usually have to like have a filter vault for your water for your storm side There's a lot of things that cost a lot of money and you can be into it for two hundred three hundred thousand um, they now like up in seattle have to be really careful because They'll make you redo the water line because a lot of their old water lines are just trash from like early 1900s and they're Falling apart. And so as soon as you get a multifamily piece and you're like, yeah, i'm gonna build six units Oh, it's going to cost five hundred thousand dollars just an infrastructure cost Um, well that can sway a whole unit a whole project from being worth it because now you're into each unit 200 000 for both buying it tearing down a house probably and then putting all this extra money in per unit to make it work and um So I i'm always telling people like you have to look at the cost of everything first of all, you have to have that money for that that down payment for that that It's way more. So now let's take a dadu you come into a dadu They let you match pretty much the style house or whatever um I think they're going to change a lot of the new code down here in tacoma is going to make you do a little more Storm and a little more stuff So there is going to be some more expense there, but it's not going to be extreme. Um, But I can build a dadu for Fraction of the work that it takes to do a multifamily because feasibility for multifamily can take A year and a half to two years you could be sitting there and working on that It's for a very long time.
So your money's tied up you have let's say a million dollars tied up for a house and a lot Okay, and you just sit there you rent that house out So you get a little money while you're waiting and then you're going to tear it down and um So so there is some there's some caveat there of something. Um, but the reality is is you're talking Probably three three and a half year project almost everywhere now in the city's coma, especially if you're a person using a gc okay, if you don't get the right gc that knows the city knows that municipality like I don't build in seattle because I don't know seattle. I don't want to pretend to tell you steven Hey, let's do seattle No, because I could sit there and tell you stuff and that would be a lie.
I'm not the professional in seattle I know other guys I could refer you to um, and i've been asked to franchise i'm like what? but I'm, like, okay, we'll think about that in time But it's it's really but dhus are so simply simple based They cost a lot less and they're a lot quicker turnaround and if you can get an investment and do Take that same amount of money and put it in multiple projects And have these dhus and do one or two of them because you're going to be able to do two of them at times Too up university place is already allowed too.
I don't know if ann took you through up Um, but up is a good area as well in the tacoma area It's an offshoot of tacoma here. And um, you know, there's some really good ones. Uh, and and you Don't have to do All the road improvements you have to do nothing for off off site Which is everything when you do new every single time you have to do off site every single time curb gutter sidewalks You may have to do a transfer for your power because most of it's underground now.
Um You do not have to do underground power for dhus. You can still go overhead, especially if it's not an alley You don't have to do a lot of storm. A lot of times if you're impervious is not too big.
Um You you just have Tons of cost savings I can tie my sewer into the side sewer of the existing house And all i'm doing is going off your water meter doing a shut off for each house read it real Connecting the existing house and then going around the house bringing the new water line We just make we upsize them we go to three quarters of an inch and it got tons of water flow in tacoma So you never have to worry about water flow people are always worried about water flow I'm like we have to do you know backflow valves half the time because there's so much water flow in tacoma So we haven't we haven't had a problem with water flow yet.
Um Usually that's just because it galvanized piping, you know, it's shrinking as we go. So You know that there's a lot of different Differences so there there's some stuff. What questions do you have off that?
[Stephen Husted] (26:33 - 28:38)
That's crazy too many it seems like to me The big picture what I was seeing is like i'd just rather take on three to five dadu projects And just if I can find the properties that make sense and everything can you know? That's the other you know scenario is just finding property the inventory is low but I uh when I was with ann I think we were about I don't know 30 minutes in the car. We started at her house and We were just cruising around to different projects, you know, like but it seems like ann scored a lot of good deals, you know, whether it's land to build and you know, I saw the project that Uh, you guys are working on, uh with her daughter Saw that one um That it was funny.
We were driving down the street. Oh, that's a cute house. She's like, oh we flipped that one That's so cute.
I'm like, okay Yeah, and and oh and then we did drive by some of your uh finished projects She showed me some yeah, I got video. Okay, there you go yeah, so I I when I got done, you know, i'm just excited to get going now it's just about finding the deals and You know ann's been really good at uh, managing expectations As well, what does that mean? Like well, um she knows Look if it's the right if it's a has an alley access.
It's a corner lot, you know i'm not gonna sit there and play a game of You know, should we buy it? Should we not you know analysis progress? I I don't play that if I see it and I trust my team whether that's Talking to ann and she says yeah go for it or it's calling you and you say yes.
No brainer. Let's do this We're doing it. It's that simple.
Like I don't i'm not gonna say never waste time. Um It's just now just figuring out Where those properties are, you know, I I don't understand Tacoma's market compared to like seattle's as far as inventory. Um at the moment It's pretty low.
[Matt Rody] (28:38 - 32:44)
It's low here too in california So you kind of have to you know, be patient but be ready to go you do there's one I mean just for example, there's been a few in up university place and they have had um, because they changed their code december 11th to the new so 1137 is the code that was uh, it was it was a I can't remember the name of house bill 1137 from the state. Okay, they made it so that every Place in an urban area has to abide by their new statutes by june of 2025 okay That includes all of the west coast pretty much of washington outside of when you get super south Um, but every single municipality in our area is going to have to do this by june of 2025 University placed it in december of 2023 Uh tacoma is about to change it here. Hopefully in july august of this year Um, and then you're going to have lakewood some other ones that are open that are actually decent areas For investors to buy because right now like if you went to pierce county unincorporated person You can't do it non-inherent to buy But there's a ton of good lots that have sewer and different things like that that are going to be open to And available just as much as tacoma would be okay, they might actually be more advantageous we don't know yet um I gotta see what they do with their code because each municipality gets to choose their own code Um, but university place, uh, just i'm going to give you an example. I mean we're developing Uh, i'm actually not going to build on i'm designing them for a friend of mine because they are builders themselves But they're really close friends.
I don't usually do that, but i'm doing it for them. He's one of my best friends and um We're developing two Dads the house is in the middle and then we're doing a dadu dadu. Okay Well, he bought the whole place for 500 Up is one of the highest per capita rates of houses like the cost of houses is the value is the highest in that area In north tacoma, okay in our area here um And so they're going to get these two They're going to build these things for probably about 300 each, you know, they're going to be a thousand square feet Um, they're going to be ramblers they're making them ramblers so that anybody can get in them One we can add a garage on two. Um in up you have a little different rule So you can add a garage plus have a thousand square foot unit.
So it's gonna be really nice Um, cool. So let's say they're both into it for 300 000. Well, those are worth 575 Over there in up.
I mean that a brand new place, you know, you're used is very different than brand new right now in this market you know, um new is In what way in what way no just more appealing doesn't have to come in and do anything to it People know remodel costs a lot now, you know what I mean? And and that remodel costs like for you as an investor coming in i'm gonna if i'm your agent I'm steering you towards if I can finding properties that are semi already done. Okay, like the house the existing house Because it just saves you so much money, you know, um You know, you can spend a 50 000 more to have that semi remodeled house And you don't have to touch it that's worth some money, you know Um because having to get the subs and running that and all that stuff of remodel Is is some of the most annoying work that you can do, you know, where new is very easy.
It's simple It's bare ground. I just go and build it's nothing Yeah, you know what you're getting yourself exactly from point and I know that yeah, you're gonna have a good product Um where remodel it just you can get in there and go. Oh man, it's gonna be 40 000 for this It ends up being 65 and you're just like this sucked it's put my numbers off and Now i'm not making as much and i'm annoyed So that's the thing that i'm always careful with I was a bad agent because I did not sell very well I would always talk people out of the property saying there's something better Because i'm a judge of I mean I used to have all investor clients. That's all I had pretty much And I would sell 40 a year on my own before I ever had a team Um just doing on the side while I was a superintendent And I loved it because I but it was during the recession, you know, there was millions of houses to look at, you know, so It was a different time then this is a totally different beast now
[Stephen Husted] (32:45 - 32:57)
Yeah Well back then it's almost like you could go out on a given weekend and look at you know 10 to 15 houses and try to have to figure out which one's going to be the best one to go for it was
[Matt Rody] (32:57 - 34:01)
And you would just go well, I don't want to short sell because I know that's going to take three months I'm going to do the bank owned one and i'll close it in 20 12 days, you know, it didn't matter, you know, I don't know and like I can see six house for sale signs in a You know two square blocks, you know, it would be insane.
I mean I would I was superintendent and so from Job to job as i'm going to run my subs I would stop at like three houses along the way That i'd looked at on the mls at 5 30 in the morning and I go Oh, i'm gonna stop at that one that one that one that's gonna be on my way from this job to this job So I could do it all throughout my day because I was doing it for my dad, too I was his agent, you know, so I helped these guys find stuff and they loved working It's like an except i've done. I was a superintendent, you know, so I knew literally Oh my gosh, this beam right here is totally structural.
Um We can't move that one in this house. That's not structural at all. There's trusses we can take out this whole wall It won't matter it doesn't affect anything, you know That was the part that I had a lot of fun with with my guys that I worked with back then Because it was we've just called that stuff out
[Stephen Husted] (34:02 - 34:46)
Yeah, it's interesting I think I've noticed, you know over the years of You know becoming a mostly a full-time real estate investor It really makes you a better agent. Uh when helping buyers and sellers It it does and it's in a very And I I didn't expect it to happen like that. You know, I just got into real estate investing and You know wanted to create wealth.
I want to reduce my taxes and all the things that I you know started to learn about But then I started it started translating as like, you know a strength when you know Having a new buyer get referred to me and our new seller and how we structure How they're going to move their cash and what they're going to do afterwards and like I don't know It really opened up a lot of doors
[Matt Rody] (34:47 - 35:23)
You're just you just know things That most agents that have never done an investment you become like You go up in the top 20 percent of all agents instantly when you've done an investment Because you go through that hard knocks, right? There's no there's no.
Oh, yeah magic ball. I mean you're doing remodels I've seen you you're doing an add-on you're doing different things right now Those are hard. They're not easy little projects, you know And there's a lot of decisions in those you know What I mean once you get into you're like I didn't know there was 85 decisions for this project.
Oh Wow, it's just as easy as I saw on hgtv. What is it?
[Stephen Husted] (35:23 - 40:37)
What? Oh I know. How about that?
Yeah, that's and that is the truth seriously But yesterday I was on we had a zoom call with my contractor and the designer and my contractor He's a good friend of mine. Super cool guy Very much similar to you. Honestly personality wise like the energy there and I and that's why we just gravitated to each other and uh he He took the job and then he called me up and he's like Hey, dude, i'm i'm hiring a designer for you It's on me.
Like I want you to do really good on this project. I want you know, this is our first one together We're gonna nail this one. Okay, cool So he hired her and basically what she's doing is she's doing the kitchen and the master bathroom Like that's the you know, and I know why he didn't he didn't we have We oh, no, i'm, sorry Uh kitchen master bathroom and the powder right those three Then we have another jack and jill but that's off the list and I found that out yesterday we're going through things and she's sewing the designs and different, you know layouts of the of the kitchen and you know different, uh, island like Ways we're gonna tweak out the island like a basic island But now we're looking at one that's got like an island with uh, like a bench seating type at the end of it So we're kind of gravitating towards that But after it afterwards i'm like hey, we haven't talked about the jack and jill. He's like Oh, no, he left that out.
I'm just focusing on this i'm like, okay cool, but she had a laundry list of you know she did the presentation and by Nine o'clock at night. She's like I need answers she's ready to go i'm like Okay, and it's like that's one project then, you know, I have other projects that are finishing that now i'm you know, so It's um Yeah, but it definitely prepares you to deal with Buyers and sellers like it all translates into that um You know interesting enough that project that you saw online uh That seller is a partner in it. Oh, wow she's Yeah, it's a crazy story.
So She I grew up with her and uh she moved to arizona and she Doesn't really make that much money um, maybe has been bad with money, you know over her lifetime and she Saw a video on facebook of me talking about property management She reached out to me and uh wanted to have to say hey look, you know, I I inherited a house in willow glen Childhood home we have a tenant in there. They pay this and you know The house is paid paid off and you know, we got we're getting hammered on property taxes And you know, she's like I don't know what to do I'm, like I would sell it immediately like I think you need to take that money and start to invest and you know And it it was like it's been really interesting because it's like this really interesting test I put things out to her and I said that you know, here's my experience i'm gonna give you options Let's see what you pick And I came back to her I said you can sell this house off market to A flipper or builder and you'll you know, you're gonna get it's gonna be under market, but you'll get a quick close You don't have to do anything you can uh Potentially be a partner in it And you can learn how to flip a house and go this direction Or we could we could put it on the market And you're gonna sell it at market and you're gonna know exactly what you're gonna get and you can move on with your cash I don't need you to tell me right now Give me a call back. She called me back Following day.
She's like I want number two I want to be a part of it and i'm like cool, but the really cool thing about her and it's just been really awesome to watch her growth is She's taking all my advice and then she's doing the things too. Like hey, I want you to watch podcasts I want you to get into youtube like she wants to become an investor and she is putting in all the effort and i've mentored a few uh New investors over the last year that just come to me through like instagram or referrals and She's taking it on a whole nother level like and she sees it she gets the big picture She's excited and gosh, what a great feeling it is To watch her grow so cool. And then it and then it really leads into Something I told and you know, i've had a checker pass, you know I was a drug addict For you know from teenage all the way to the 35, you know Been there done that And you know, I turned my life around, you know, and I think that it really goes to you know other people out there that it you can Be a drug addict and get clean and and Go another direction. You could be an alcoholic.
You could whatever your issues are you can you can grow from that And this is what i'm watching with her in real time and it's just been really cool So, yeah, she's she's a part of this this this process and uh, she's actually gonna be one of uh ann's clients really That is so cool.
[Matt Rody] (40:37 - 42:41)
I mean the the gonna be one of your clients too well, and I i'm just You know, I I never expected to do you know when I talked with my dad I was like, hey, maybe we'll do 10 a year, you know And uh, that would be great because it gives us some stability It allows us to do because we do our own investing right? We do we're building a 48 unit apartment complex in university place right now And and we're going to be building some stuff in puyallup and we have we have you know Probably about three years worth of apartments to build right now for us. We don't try to go big We don't try to go crazy.
Um We sometimes have equity partners. Sometimes we do them on our own, you know, but uh When you're when the name of the game for all of it, which I love this part of it the most is Educating right and that's what you're doing. You're educating someone that there's nothing That I I did not I I knew i'd go ahead with educating when I started this okay, um, but I didn't expect um How enjoyable it would be to just educate?
It's not i'm not making money off teaching I've taught probably almost 2 000 people already about this like at different local stuff here in washington in tacoma puyallup area but It's it's what I love. I love talking about it sharing I get a lot of people I take a lot of my time is just giving people advice for free and just helping them out because I feel like that's what the name of the game is people don't have a chance and Um, there's a lot of stuff online I need to be better with my social presence of like youtube or doing some kind of podcast and talking about stuff But I love this stuff. This is what I enjoy Is sharing with someone that is open to investing they want to grow they want to do that stuff and um And that's what you're doing.
I mean, that's what you're doing with her and and those kind of things will Change the trajectory of her life forever. I mean you're you're literally making an imprint on a human that will Totally change their the rest of their life and how many people will she affect? It's like discipleship concept of a christian side that I grow Yeah, just worship is what that is And it's taking a few mentoring them and then letting them go and spread that same message, right?
And it's beautiful. It's just beautiful. It's so fun.
[Stephen Husted] (42:41 - 45:08)
It's so rewarding It has to do with just that enjoyment of being with people Yeah, I I fully agree and I didn't know so, you know, i've been an agent since 2000, okay and Um, but my background is pretty creative like i've been a hairdresser too. Okay Since since the early 90s So hairdresser and that's how I got into real estate I don't want to tell I know I tell this story before on on other podcasts But that's how I got into real estate was from being a hairdresser behind the chair helping uh engineer guys Go look at properties and you know They're fixer uppers or remodeling and they bring me because they think i'm like the creative one and I can figure it out So I would and I'd be like, oh, yeah Knock that wall out and you know, we can do this and this and this and then they're like cool i'm like, oh I got an agent for you and you know, I would refer them out and so that's kind of how I got so it's always been a creative background like I used to dj too and so you know the one thing that I Just had a really really hard and I I still do as long as i'm doing it my way but I couldn't get behind real estate marketing that was going on back in like two, you know, the the kind of Low just listed just sold and look at me and all that's this really I didn't work good for me. I'm just not that kind of I'm, not that kind of agent.
Um, and I just say that i'm really bad at sales like that But once I started understanding marketing When it came to social media and like instagram and and just bringing value and and telling stories and My experience and stuff like that and what i'm doing and just kind of packaging it up that way Then it was like full Full gear to move forward because there's much i'm giving value and and it and it showed, you know Look what karen, you know saw a video on property management, right? and there she calls me, you know, like It's like and that that felt way more and and it continues that way people call all the time or you know text me and ask questions and probably need to get better at um, you know building out a community and you know taking more mentees under me and you know, and I think that's a little bit of the I'd call the limiting beliefs like oh i'm probably not good enough but even though everybody else is like dude, you're really good and like you need to like You need to lean into this more Like they're the universe is telling me I just have to follow what the universe is kind of yeah
[Matt Rody] (45:09 - 47:36)
Yeah, I mean that's it. I mean i've done the same thing and I we all have our limiting beliefs, right? and and that's just part of the deal of humanity we we go through those ups and downs and I uh i've done the same and then you only have so much time like I have 11 and a 13 year old so In my stage where i'm at as a dad, it's like very involved.
I coach I do a lot of things like that. I'm Training with my kids they play both play basketball. They're both going to be giants My my daughter's almost five and my son's almost five eight and he's 11, you know, so it's it's just you You fit with whatever you can in but it's just helping people.
I think that's the biggest thing for me is giving back it's just always making going forward with gratitude and then you win in the end, you know, um but going back to some of the stuff that we were talking about is the dads are By far in my opinion The best opportunity we've ever had in real estate um They're they're filling a need they're not ugly like in the way like mine are not always pretty like you may not like everything I do because I am an investor to the heat to the teeth. Um, I know what do you mean by that?
Well, what do you mean? So let's say let's take a modern house versus like a very basic Craftsman style. Okay Craftsman style is going to be a lot cheaper from a standpoint of building a lot of times than a modern Okay, just from the product the different things and when it's on an alley in the back of a house and you're in tacoma you might get a few thousand more for the modern but you may not you might not get hardly anything because it's based on square footage and it's based on these things and if I can build something a little more reasonable for my client and they can sell it for the same price at 565 and the modern where we go for 565 who cares I go with more of a basic style They're not I wouldn't say any of my I have done a couple really nice ones But then they start getting pretty expensive right and and I try to keep my stuff I have a big one that I do that's like a little over 300, but everything else is under 300 and Um, that's a pretty good price point anywhere in the city of tacoma because you can't buy anything like that At all and you're getting the land with the house so You're literally into it for under 300 usually, you know for a for a especially a single story or something like that I know I don't I have nothing over like 270 275. So, um I told you and what's that get let's uh, let's back that up a little bit.
[Stephen Husted] (47:36 - 48:07)
Um, so For those who don't know this whole daddy play or an adu play that's what's going to be going on California is basically you're buying the house and essentially The land in the backyard is free you then are you're you're taking that land you're building a daddy or an adu and you got You got your permits maybe a survey you you're in it for about what? 30 to 40 on on on that scenario and then you're building At like 250.
[Matt Rody] (48:08 - 1:00:04)
Is that no so like for me I'm different than other guys. So I might only need you because we built so much of our own forever by ourselves um When I say like so let's take for example, my average is a 750 square foot rambler Okay, no garage just a 750 square foot unit. So going off a 750 square foot Rambler in Tacoma is going to be around 250 000 when I say 250 000 So there's three things that a lot of times I don't cover in the price and it depends on the site.
Okay, it's the water line The sewer and underground electrical. I can't see those when I walk into the site. Okay I can't see exactly now the water line a lot of times I include in the price because Water lines are the same.
They're i'm coming off the water meter. I'm putting two shut offs I'm reattaching the existing house and i'm going around the yard If it's a nice yard, i'm always going to do cost plus if it's a grass I just include in the price So the water is sort of included because I know How much those costs they're about the same every single time for me as a as a general But sewer is different every single one you just cannot compare them there One might be 10 feet deep one might be three feet deep one might have fall one might not have fall Okay um If we don't have fall to the sewer line and we have to go uphill you have to do a grinder pump Those are 10 000 without thinking you just have to that's what they cost. Um So i'll do cost plus on that and then underground It's really hard to know exactly what the power is going to be because you have to wait till you do an application Um, and I do a one bid, okay So I just do a bid right off the bat, but i'm all inclusive when I say 250 000 That's design. That's permits That's the whole building.
That's tax And you'll have probably like two cost plus items or and then I have a general package how I do it I do an investor package. That's my standard package. Okay, that's a fiberglass shower.
It's not tile. It's quartz countertops It's box plywood cabinets. It's lvp 4n.
It's a split system Now our prices are going to increase a little bit because they just passed the stupid energy code Um, so now we're going to have to do outside insulation r5 foam board with it sealed and you're going to have to do R61 insulation in the in the in the attic instead of r49 Um, I don't know exactly what's on the floor I think they're upping the r value in the floor a little bit and then you're going to have um Eight energy credit points you have to hit instead of five So I don't know if we're going to have to add an erv system, which is a fresh air return I don't know exactly what's going to happen there, but those things could add another let's say five thousand dollars Okay, so let's say it's 255 You might be charged for the sewer if I can do it on site and it's close by that might be a couple grand Okay, and then let's say the underground you have to underground the power that's going to be about three or four grand or five grand Maybe you're gonna be all in for let's say around two or sixty thousand. Okay, that's all over the whole thing That's everything there's no like hidden stuff. It's just it And then what does the timeline look like usually to get one from beginning to end?
Usually it's about two two plus like about two two and a half months for design That's architectural structural getting all the design going through Um, and that's from the time of of of contract So as soon as I get the contract signed we start the clock and that's about two two and a half months And then it's about two and a half to three months for permits usually Um a lot of times I can get them in six weeks, but sometimes it can be delayed They had one summer where they had four people on maternity or paternity leave all at one time So they were way delayed. Of course.
Yeah, naturally everybody had their babies at the same time and then And then um, it's about five months for construction at the max. Uh, like I did ann's garage conversion in I think the whole thing took like five months from the inception all the way through because it was garage conversion. Um, And it was super fast.
I mean it went it was like the perfect storm So that was the fastest one i've ever done is like five months, which was and uh Great way to start off the the work with and Oh, yeah, but but but the normal new construction one is about a 10 month process from start to finish If i'm too busy and I will tell people i'm i'm i'm an open book I'm, not like sort of sort of hiding things I'll say it's 11 months because we may be so busy that I have to do that my my designer She is awesome. Her name's elisa she um had a baby last year that has Massive reflux issues and still being fed through a feeding tube.
That was three months premature I have to be generous with her. I have to be gracious I mean, she only has so much time and if I have to use an architect Architects take way longer. Okay, so, um, then I if I do my architect I have to add like two and a half months to it, you know, because they can take right now architects are so slow um Comparatively doing it in-house and I know I can control everything with my employee Um, i'm trying to hire another designer right now.
Um just to have two part-times. Um, because I let them work from home uh, they're they get a lot of freedom and it's pretty Well paying job for working for me and I give a i'm not a micromanager So they my elisa loves it because she's been able to work, you know, really part-time doing a full-time work Um because she has she can focus so well at her house I pay her the same I pay her salary so Um, it's been pretty good. But that's where my time frames are is about 10 months.
Um, okay And I can customize them. So like I am doing them in-house So I have a lot of plans i'll use as a base fluff and then i'll go from there Um, and I think they're going to take away all the design guide issues once the new code comes out Which is going to allow us to do Modern or something whether it's a craftsman house. I can do a modern dad.
You I can do whatever Um, because I do think that's gonna come um The biggest thing is the height requirements right now. They limit us and that's what kills me right now from doing something a little cooler Is the is the height though? We are yeah, we're only allowed 20 feet if you have a garage underneath um And and they make you do this daylight plane issue.
Um How do I explain this on a podcast? Um, so you have a straight up line. That's 15 feet high.
Okay, and then they do a 45 degree Line over here and it's on the it's on cad Okay, and they go it up against your plan of your house your vertical plans and if your eve touches this It has to move back from that like about it You know, it's right it has to be right there at this angle of 45 Which makes you go further away from the property line. So as it gets taller, they don't want to shadow in the next floor property It's asinine interesting asinine It's the most annoying rule known to humankind And I think they're going to take it away. But right now if I have a two-story unit I pretty much I have a normal five foot setback.
I have to go It pretty much brings it to nine feet. So it adds four more feet So we waste a lot of space on the lot and that's on both sides So that's why we usually have to do a gable roof Um, you can do flat but flat gets way more, you know, you're spending more for a flat roof or metal or something like that So we're trying to keep them reasonable, you know I I do I try to really keep them reasonable because you have a lot of resale here now I will say and this is hurting me, I guess Seattle has more value in the houses laws aren't okay.
You have a much bigger pool of investors though. You're competing Far greater in seattle than you are in tacoma with dad use right now Like there are I am doing the most of anyone in tacoma right now I know by permits and i've talked to the city so many times They're like you're doing more than everybody combined. Okay, fine.
That's great. It doesn't matter but seattle is much more competitive Okay, so you can find those things but you really need to know the market. I know guys that do them up there and flip them Um, and there is some good numbers there, but you're putting in twice as much money, you know, so, you know It's a give and take but I know you can make a good amount on the end, you know um down here, I think it's I think as soon as they pass this code and they make it a little more Usable, I think this is going to be about the same numbers from a profit standpoint as you'd have up there. Um, But until that's condoed until we can condo which we'll get into i'm sure but the condoing side is going to make these worthwhile you know, um and uh, but if they can take out that Set it back, you know where that where that daylight plane is It's a huge rule that's so annoying, um, they're thinking of Um making the rule to be sfr.
So sfr stands for single family residence so the single family residence code is like A lot of times 25 to 30 feet. Okay height if we can get that right now We're at an average of 20 if we have a garage if it's not a garage and you just do two-story with living space living space it's 18 feet it's almost impossible to do two-story with 18 feet and so It's just they they make it a little bit difficult still and I think we're getting real close to making it a lot more Functional up just changed their stuff and they have some really weird. I'm not going to get into the code there but um, we're able to do two on some of those nicer lots and um That place I mean those things are going to be worth a lot I bet you those houses will be worth like I said 550 to 600 000 and if they're building them for 300 there's some good value there, you know um, but yeah And you can build two on a lot. Yeah, so even in tacoma, we're not sure what the lot requirement will be Um, like you p you mean the size you can't build you unless it's 9 000 square foot lot Okay.
Okay. Um, and if you you know, you and I will go over you know Actual requirements on a different talk, you know, maybe when you're up here or something I'll actually show you those because meeting you and showing you on a computer is much easier So you actually understand all the stuff and it's doesn't take actually that long takes me about an hour I showed and everything in about an hour So you'll be very educated once I can get you on a computer and we do you know that stuff um, and then you will feel comfortable, I mean I could show you the I I use all public stuff. I'm not using some proprietary item. I'm using dart map, which is the city of tomah's mapping software um, very easy and in pierce county for university place, so um But anyways, yeah there you will be able to do two They'll all be this whole area will be non-interoccupied So that's why it's going to open it up to everywhere here by june of 2025.
And that's when I think for even you I I I think some of these dad use they're going to just be houses to a degree And they're going to be throughout the whole county And there's places all over you could go. It's just going to open up the world To us being able to those first people that invest in this It's going to be No brainer probably for about two years. I think I think there's going to be a two-year window and then it's going to get pre-saturated Um, usually it's about two to three years here Tacoma is definitely behind seattle by about five six years um in everything um, especially the county or the city municipalities the the the the City councils and stuff and um, and we are the ugly stepchild a lot of times just so you know uh Oh, no, i've heard there's a lot of good down here from an investment standpoint And that's what I think we're all looking for right is those deals. There's going to be a less educated buyer down here a lot of times um You have less money down here comparatively to seattle and those are the things I look at is being living here all my life You know, um and being in competition with seattle sort of it's really not a competition It's more just uh, they look down at us and that's the way it is.
So, um Yeah, that's all I heard about was Oh, are they gonna take you to hilltop?
[Stephen Husted] (1:00:04 - 1:00:19)
Yeah, hilltop's actually really nice now. I mean, it's not like that I told they had to tell my take me to hilltop. So she takes me through that i'm like I love when people say that i'm like look I I bought my first investment property in East detroit.
Oh, I I think i'm all good.
[Matt Rody] (1:00:19 - 1:01:14)
I think everything's just fine If you went in the 90s, you know late 80s early 90s, we wouldn't be buying a hilltop We wouldn't even drive through there, you know, it just wouldn't be but it's nothing the same anymore I mean, it's like it's a nicer area. There's like if you go over to one side of it, it's Super nice. It's no different than north.
Tacoma. It's just the hilltop Quote-unquote. Yeah, you know name.
Um, but it's it's totally changed. So But yeah, there's it's gonna be cool. I don't know exactly all the rules are gonna be Um, they're supposed to release the rules The new code I think in the next month And then we'll be able to prepare like I have a whole list of people waiting to build once the code comes out and changes Um, they just didn't want to do it yet.
They wanted to wait I probably have like 12 15 people that are probably gonna build right after I go um, or want to get going so
[Stephen Husted] (1:01:15 - 1:01:19)
What's the biggest data you can build at the moment thousand square feet footprint
[Matt Rody] (1:01:19 - 1:08:20)
So you have footprint and then you have actual square footage and there's three different rules that they Calculate how you can do your square footage and i'll tell you those 85 percent of the square footage 85 percent of the footprint or 15 percent of the lot square footage. Okay, and it's the smallest of those three So most the time we're based on the footprint of the house Or the lot square footage If that makes sense the square footage if you have a two-story throws it off and you're never gonna get that usually So people will be like, oh even the city messes up. I had a person Calling me.
I met with a gal yesterday and she's like, well, I can build a 999 square feet I was like, no, you can't your lot 6000 you can build 900 square feet I don't know who you talked to but they were wrong and and the city planners still space out on all three rules and combining them and making sure that you're doing the right one, but Um, so you're looking usually I mean like an ideal one is like 1250 square foot house footprint Not not a two-story a one-story.
Um, so the base is for about 1250. The lot is about 7 000 Um, you're gonna get be able to go up to a thousand square feet all day long and the biggest bang for your buck For dadu's is doing a two-story you do a because you can match the garage in tacoma um at and and and let me just Explain this real quickly your entry Add a two-story and the landing and then the staircase below Counts towards the square footage. So your footprint ends up being about 965 You have to about 45 square feet or 40 square feet down below That counts for that.
So your footprint's going to be about let's say 960 square feet. Okay, but you get this giant garage downstairs. That's Huge.
Okay And you you put the utility, you know, you put your washer dryer down there your Water heater that kind of stuff and then upstairs you can make you know Really a nice one is a two-bedroom one or two bath Um, a lot of times we'll do a one bathroom with like double sinks or something like that And they are really nice now. This is under the radar. Um You can put another bathroom downstairs after the fact potentially Um, i'm not going to talk about that but uh, it makes it a very large place and because it's on sewer it shouldn't even matter um Because the only time that that would not work and I would never tell anybody is uh When you have septic you don't you never want to add anything with a septic Unless you're adding a bonus room or something like that Um because it's it's not going to work when you sell the appraiser will call that out and you won't Have the value of that the same way So on sewer it doesn't matter like you could have 30 bathrooms and 14 bedrooms and still gonna be the same with a four-inch sewer line coming out of your house, so um But that's where you get the biggest bang because you get this huge garage so at the end you get a two-car garage with this nice place and They're you know, and I you know I'm building those the the stock part of it with the two-story with the two-bedroom one bath for about Three I think my total is 307 i've built probably about nine of them now and um They're really nice because i've built about 30. I think I've built 32 now And i'm building 17 more so i'll be almost to 50 after probably june july Um, so i'm learning, you know, I I think after about 10 you get to know what you're feeling But then you really get into the depths of how the lots work So I can go to a lot now and pretty much know all the caveats that are going to be good or bad on a property um But yeah, like whenever I say prices though steven, it's always all in i'm not giving Uh, most of the guys will do tax separate or this separate or that separate. I I try to do them You know if it makes common sense and i'm sitting out there and i'm looking at the sewer and it's going to the alley And I know I can defer it around and make it easy.
I'm not going to charge from the sewer. It's just It's like they'll be there Then my guy will only probably charge me a little bit and i'm like, why would I charge my client? I'm not i'm trying to make a you know I charge usually 25 30 30 that's my usual markup.
So i'm not crazy or anything like that. I'm not doing something nuts or They're small so you're going to charge a little bit more like if I do a custom bigger house I'm usually 15 or something But on these ones to make them worth it. I have to do that and that's my overhead property I don't put a lot.
I don't put hardly I put like In my little bid sheet that I have personally, I put usually like 3 000 bucks in for superintending Um, that's the only thing I do and then everything else is in my overhead which is in that 25 to 30 Yeah, that's good now we just got to get in to find some properties for oh, yeah Well, that's that will happen. I mean there's been there's been some really good ones I mean my my dad is a freak this way because of his good old ocd civil engineering person He's he's probably Every morning he usually is sending me some kind of lot that he sees on redfin because he's not an agent Um, he's been tempted to get his license just because he loves looking at houses and going in them and he's 69 And he has all the time in the world. He golfs and works with us a little bit for a week my brother and I and then he Yeah, he travels usually once a month somewhere for about you know, four to You know days to a week with a buddy or something like that. They go golfing.
My dad's an avid golfer. I think he's like a I think he's 11 or 12 handicapped right now. So he's pretty good and That's awesome He loves doing this the looking he so he sees them because it was an engineering because he was a drafter He can draft them up real fast.
So still do them by hand Um and draft up. Okay, matt would this work? So i've been teaching him the code too because he wants to get really good at it because we're actually here's here's something We're selling an apartment so we can do dads That's how much we're advantageous.
We we we know From our apartment complex now, we're builders. So we make the money off building the apartment. Okay?
um We're not looking for That long term we could hold some which we will hold some but most of the time we're looking at long-term capital gains and then dumping it because That money's better used when you're a builder to go rebuild because you make your money on the land originally when you buy it Right knowing what we're doing. No, we haven't our knowledge as a gc um And so we're selling an apartment and uh, we're going to take it and do the adus. That's what we're going to do.
So Um, and there is enough to go around there is it's it's not easy right now, but there There are a lot of decent ones. Um And and you know, you you may want to talk to ann and say hey I want to I want to start with university place because our code's already changed Um, you can condo those. I'm gonna bring that up to her.
I'll bring that up Yeah, and if you come out here and you're seeing me I mean I could take you around the same as her like I had a team for We had a team for six years till 2016. Yeah, 2001. No five years.
I had my team. I mean I trained probably like 60 agents during that time and then I coached a bunch of people And um, so I I used to be an agent for you know I've sold over a thousand homes on my team and stuff between myself personally So i've done enough real estate in my life.
[Stephen Husted] (1:08:20 - 1:08:22)
I think you know how to drive someone around and show.
[Matt Rody] (1:08:22 - 1:11:07)
Yeah I mean because I can show you the business the building stuff too and take you through a couple that are in construction That's what I would do. So uh, but that's that you key area is going to be really beneficial until tacoma gets going and then Then all of it starts and then by next june I'm, not kidding. This whole area is going to just be a little little gold mine for a while It may end up lasting for five years, you know Um, it just depends on what the competition and some of these guys I I think we're keeping like my prices are pretty Fair to lower than some of the guys.
I don't know anybody that's much cheaper than I am and I wouldn't say cheap it's more just a Common sense price I guess I could say it as you know, I mean I sure there's guys that can do it for less um It's just dependent on how they do it and how their system is, you know, um, they may take three four or five months more um Um, but right now I know there's nobody that's really any different than me in price, um, they might just be a little bit more but um Because I try to keep that and be fair, you know always it's it's not about You know you go with what the market does. So we'll see what happens.
There's more competition I know a couple seattle guys have tried to come in and they don't know the city very well So they take way longer and that time is what kills They got that learning curve and and the learning curve doesn't change it's your relationship with the city and that takes years um, i've talked to the city guys like Hundreds of times now, you know, and so a lot of them are our friends now I look at the city as my team, right? We have to be on the same team for our client because That's what it is. It's a it's a team concept and that really does Speak well down the road when I have an issue that comes up I don't always win because code is code, right?
But they will work around things Uh traffic is one of them They they want to always take approaches out from the front yard if you don't have a garage And then put it in the alley. Okay with the dadu whatever and have your parking in the alley. Well One of them actually three of them.
I've gotten this done Ricky is the guy with the traffic and so i'll have ricky and we'll have a chat with him and stuff like that and he's Passed him by and not made us take out the approaches three different times now So it doesn't mean that it's not going to happen but we do have a little bit of Say as our team because we've been doing it and they know we do good work and work Quality and when they do when when you build that trust with the city You do get a little bit of special treatment and it's um Not saying that they're cheating anything but they they do based off how easy their lives are with the people that they work with so
[Stephen Husted] (1:11:09 - 1:11:40)
Yeah Well, i'll we'll definitely get together the next time I come out there for sure.
I like I said, I don't know I was on a dopamine hit of overload of properties and stuff and I just had to get After it was ann I was like, all right I'm driving back to seattle and then I had to meet with I had to meet with somebody else and then I was like, okay I'm just gonna chill and do tour stuff. So but it was it was a good trip It's easy to get to seattle and tacoma, you know to fly in from california. That's good Where can the audience find you?
[Matt Rody] (1:11:40 - 1:12:34)
Um, the easiest is uh instagram at tacoma d-a-d-u t-a-c-o-m-a-d-a-d-u Um, I I you know, i'm pretty easy. I have my phone number all over the place I tie it to my personal account matthew roadie Um, and i'm just who I am then you can see my family who we are as a you know as a as a You know, i'm a normal guy. I have a family.
I have a wife and two kids and been married for 18 years and um I love the lord and I try to live by that not not Putting a fish on my card, but uh, you know by the quality of conversation We can have and the integrity of just doing good construction. Um and try to be a good communicator I think that's the biggest thing in life in general is like you're a good communicator. That's what makes you Who you are and uh, yeah trying to always do that.
But yeah, tacoma d-a-d-u on instagram is probably the easiest Yeah, and i'll i'll link it in the show notes.
[Stephen Husted] (1:12:34 - 1:13:34)
Uh, I appreciate you jumping on and obviously this is not the We're just we're talking on a podcast, but we're just having a conversation, but we're gonna be working together So it's kind of a cool thing. It's almost like and and that is honestly we can end it on that That's kind that's the power of having a podcast, you know, i've had people go You make money you having a podcast like, you know the time you put into it and I go I make relationships with the podcast That's the big the big key, you know, that's how I met and it's how I met you Um, and I and that that's the part that's been really powerful And it's really cool just to you know, have you know, here are people's Backstories and what they do.
It's just a great thing and I appreciate you you know being willing to jump on which which I think is a A big thing. I don't think every contractor is willing to do that I don't think any not everybody's willing to jump on a podcast or do social media for their business So, you know kudos for you For for doing that, you know, like it's cool. I think it's a privilege.
[Matt Rody] (1:13:34 - 1:14:31)
I I I love it I I look forward to this kind of stuff because It's education, right? We're we're we're our goal isn't to like My goal my goal. I don't I think you're the same and we're not here to make billions of dollars on stuff We're here to educate and if if we align right if we're in alignment Then we can do work together right and then everybody can make money on each other, right?
Because that's the whole goal is yeah, we're we're why is it what we do, right? we're good stewards of what we do and we're trying to pass that on to other people and I appreciate I love it. I love talking and I love you know, helping you go through a process because I think that's That's important and I think you will invest in seattle.
I think you're going to go some north and I want you to have something to go by so that you have something to judge, you know um Yeah, and and that's important. I I want you know, there are a lot of guys that try to scam out there. So Uh, I know a couple i've been through it I've been through it.
[Stephen Husted] (1:14:31 - 1:15:10)
I tell those stories too, you know, and that's you know, that's part of you know building Like and it's super sweet. I get a good vibe from her you as well, uh this you know, i'm i'm Hope hopefully getting better at creating my teams, you know, I I I think that i've over the years You know put a little too much trust in people like I I see the good I've been burned, you know, I get it it happens. So but I feel good about tacoma and I feel good about seattle There's there's room for both and that's how i'm going to treat this moving forward.
So I appreciate you jumping on today We'll be in touch. Yeah, i'll be in tacoma. But uh, yes, we'll we'll talk again.
[Matt Rody] (1:15:10 - 1:15:14)
Awesome Well, thank you so much for the opportunity Yeah, all right, buddy.
[Stephen Husted] (1:15:14 - 1:15:43)
Talk to you soon
∎ Podcast Outro:
Thank you for tuning into our show where we hope you found inspiration and gained valuable insights If you enjoyed this conversation and want to stay updated on our latest episodes Be sure to subscribe to our podcast and share it with others who might benefit from it We appreciate your support and look forward to bringing you more candid conversations and breakthrough moments in the future Until next time take care and keep exploring new ideas and strategies
