Mastering Note Investing with Jamie Bateman and Mark Monroe

Speaker 0

From adversity to abundance, hosted by entrepreneur and seasoned real estate investor, Jamie Bateman, is the ultimate guide for active and passive investors seeking clarity, mental fitness, and the confidence to make inspired decisions in the world of real estate. With a decade plus of investing experience across various niches and a background as a combat veteran, former army officer, and multimillion dollar mortgage note company owner, Jamie brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiring stories to each episode. Through weekly episodes featuring insightful interviews with industry leaders and solo explorations of mindset and strategy, listeners will uncover actionable advice and tips to overcome challenges and build lasting financial success. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting, from adversity to abundance is your road map to turning obstacles into opportunities and achieving financial freedom. 

Speaker 1

Welcome to another episode of Real Estate Power Play. This week, I'm your host, Mark Monroe. I'm excited to have Jamie on. We met Jamie at the DMV. We call I call it the seller financing note conference, but it's actually DMEs because, there's a lot of institutional investors there as well. And, you know, Jamie and I, we, met. We had some good conversations, and, you know, we're recording my podcast with Jamie today. Then afterwards, we'll jump over there. So just putting a lot of information out. Hey, Jamie. How are you doing? 

Speaker 2

I'm doing great, Mark. Yeah. This is this is exciting. I'm I'm excited to be here. I was happy to happy to meet you in person, and, yeah, I'm happy to do some collaboration, and, hopefully, the listeners get a little something out of it. 

Speaker 1

Right. Well, why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself, where you're at, where you're from, and your journey a little bit about your company and your background a little bit. 

Speaker 2

Sure. Yeah. I mean, I'm, in based in, outside of Baltimore, Maryland on the East Coast. You and I have chatted a little bit about that and, which is which is nice. I've got, a rental portfolio here, and then I've gotten more recently into mortgage note investing. I think we're gonna dive into that a little bit. But background wise, quite honestly, got out of college after having played, division three lacrosse and didn't quite know what I wanted to do. I won't I won't bore everyone with every detail of my background, but took a little bit of time to figure out really what I wanted to do. So I I I missed what I really missed about, college lacrosse and team sports in general was just being a part of something bigger than myself and serving, you know, a mission. So I joined the military, and did, eight years in the reserves. And within that time, I did, four years of active duty time, served in Iraq, and then, still didn't have a a clear picture of what I wanted to get into. Transitioned over to, the government. I worked for, the NSA for fourteen years. And during that time, I went part time. The last seven years, I was part time. And during that seven years, I started building my real estate businesses and got into single family, residential rental property investing, doing the BRRR method, rehabs, and holding, as many properties as possible. That was around well, I started that in twenty ten, but, around twenty fifteen is really that's when I went part time with my w two. And since then, I've really kind of grown the real estate side of things and eventually, about three years ago, quit my w two entirely and, have been much more focused on mortgage notes, which is is, similar to what you do, Mark. And, and so now I I certainly don't know everything, but I feel like I know a good bit about, you know, residential real estate investing, and and many of the different ways you can make make money, in that space. 

Speaker 1

So, you didn't really wanna stay with the government, As one of the government employee jobs. 

Speaker 2

Yeah. Well, you know, it's one of those where I mean, deep down, I'm I'm probably lean more, toward being more of a libertarian, but, I also felt the back then, certainly felt the the the drive to serve a purpose, and I I did like the mission at the time. You know, and, as you as you I don't wanna speak for any other civilians, but I started to get, a little more cynical over the years and probably ended ended up being not the best employee over over the fourteen years. I mean, I was I think I did a good job for most of that time, but then, I can tell a a quick story actually to answer your question, about why I left the government. Really what was it was the the straw that broke the the camel's back. I had a I had a ton of, you know, leave built up, a lot of annual leave and sick leave, a lot of time off that I could take, and I ended up, injuring myself. It's, I I ruptured my Achilles playing badminton. That's a story for another day. Not the most manly of of ways to rupture your Achilles, but I ended up being unable to drive for a little over, about two and a half months, three months, and, you know, I was away from work at during that time. So when I come back well, first off, the only phone call I got from my supervisors, at work was, hey, Jamie. Are you vaccinated? Because you need to be vaccinated to get inside the building. And I was like, yes. I am. And and thanks for asking how my recovery is going because this is, you know, fairly fairly difficult, rehab journey I'm on right here. So, didn't really, you know, didn't really feel the the the warm and fuzzies there, but eventually got went back to work, and my desk was nowhere to be found. I felt like I was on office space where they were gonna move me to the basement next. And, you know, I just again, I I hadn't been the the best employee for the prior year or two or so, but, definitely, I was just a number. And it just it just hit me that nobody I mean, I don't wanna say nobody cared, but it didn't matter if I left or not. And I just no longer felt the purpose was was there, and the the mission just wasn't calling me any longer. So, I knew it was time right there. And I literally literally put in my my notice that first day back after that three month hiatus and, haven't looked back. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. I mean, it sounds like that's majority majority of us go through that where a lot of people, you know, we're trained growing up, you know, Hey. Get a go to school, get an education, get a job, and be under, you know, under the government or some type of big corporation and work your way up in a management. I mean, I was in the real estate banking world for quite some time and then, you know, then I see people to get to my age now, you know, in my, you know, my fifties here and 

Speaker 2

Yeah. 

Speaker 1

Typically a lot of the and I actually, my banker, I had a great banker for God. I I think I worked with him for about eighteen years and you get to a certain level and they let people go Because they've been there and retirement, he still had another like seven years to go and it just kind of threw him out. And he did a great job building businesses, going out there. I mean, he busted his ass, but what happens is, you know, these companies, you know, because of the way our system in society set up is like now the insurance is higher and it's, they want to cut that. They don't want to say that, but we all know what's going on behind it. And yet like you, I'm, I'm identical to you. I'm a libertarian, you know, I'm about, you know, big government. I mean, government don't tell me what I can. I cannot do control. Don't steal my money through taxes, if you will. And let me live in my bubble. I know the corrupt on both sides, you know, in this just, but, 

Speaker 2

but 

Speaker 1

again, let's not get into politics. So I mean, we both are kind of same thing. That's kinda where we can kinda tell based off where we're at in our journey, where we're at because we just you have to take control of your own life. 

Speaker 2

And Right. And that's and, exactly, I don't mean to cut you off. That's that's exactly the the switch that I made mentally in twenty fifteen was exactly that. I was taking control of of I mean, I can't control everything, of course, but no one can control your entire destiny, you know, you know, that kind of thing. But I realized that this was Groundhog Day. My commute was was an hour and fifteen minutes at least each way, every day. And it was just like the same old thing every day, and it was just I I just realized there must be more to life than than this w two with this long commute and, you know, had the family and everything. And it's just like, there's gotta be more. So I started to make a mental shift. I stopped watching the news, and what I did was I started listening to podcasts. And I'm not just plugging podcast because we're on a podcast, but started listening to BiggerPockets, all these other real estate investing podcasts, and started reading books. And I started thinking, alright. Who do I know who is in my corner? Who who I can draw on or who's on my team? As opposed to, woe is me. My my life sucks. I have to do this stupid commute every day, and I I'm not gonna move up at you know, in the government or whatever. Instead of doing that, I just I I switched my mindset, and then I quickly went part time. And I did have the the the stability of health benefits for the next seven years, but I was able to then take some you know, you could say take some risks. We'd go out on my own and start doing the rental property investing. I'd I'd already started it before, but really lean into it, you know, much more at that point. But the biggest thing was taking control and taking ownership and just that that mindset piece, and that's really what moved me in that direction. 

Speaker 1

It really is. It is about the mindset, and we all go down that same journey. I mean, we all come, you know, we all come from some type of issues in a background as a childhood, whatever you want to call it. But right. You know, you, you can't be a victim. You have to take charge of your life. And then people that take victims, they're just held back and you just gotta move on, heal from whatever, from within, and And just kinda, it's all about the mindset and the mind shift. I mean, what makes we all have the same mind? What makes a difference between Mark Cuban and I don't know, people that are still working at the government or at McDonald's? I mean, what what's yes. There is a little bit of luck involved, but Sure. The mindset is you just keep moving forward. And I'm sure, you know, you and I talked about that at DME about that whole thing in on your podcast, like, what you talk about. Right? Exactly. 

Speaker 2

Yeah. And we'll get into that, you know, on my show. It's from adversity to abundance, and and it really is a lot about mindset. And I know you know you've overcome some health issues for sure and some other things we'll get into on that episode. But, and I'm not gonna go into depth too much on this at this point, but I've been through in the last few years some some real personal challenges as well, family issues and, some some mental health stuff with with a family member and just things that have really been very, very challenging. And I don't say that for anybody to feel bad for me. It's just we like you've said, we all go through struggles. And so when when those occur, what are you gonna do about it? You know, is is are you just gonna quit and just you know, and and, the the just the mindset piece is is critical for 

Speaker 1

sure. Now you said something that was and I wanna kinda go down that path a little bit. You know, you you took a step back and you kinda started watching podcast. You stopped being drawn towards the negativity of the news and everything, and you started listening to podcasts. But then you said you look for people that you know are in a certain corner. You know? Yes. Why did you go down that path and, you know, why were you starting to surround yourself with different people? 

Speaker 2

I think it was, well, you've I'm you know, I'm sure a lot of your listeners have heard the the the, the phrase that you are the average of the five people that you surround yourself with. I don't know if it it was that what I was if I was trying to do that intentionally or not, but I just instead of I just knew pointing to, you know, my weaknesses or the the, challenges I would have to overcome weren't that wasn't necessarily gonna gonna be be practical and beneficial to for, you know, my success. So what I knew was pointing to my strengths and the the people in my network who could help me and would support me and focusing on those those factors would be more helpful. Right? So, you know, so I started to give you more of a an example, some a couple of examples, I had worked for a title company. I didn't mention that before, but I'd worked for a title company for two years. I'd worked for a mortgage broker for six months or so. So I had learned a lot about title insurance and closings and things that you don't learn in school. Right? And so I I was I realized, you know what? I actually know a decent amount about how closings work and how real estate works and transactions at least. And then I realized, you know, my my father had been a real estate agent for decades at that point. And then I realized, you know, my brother had been a loan officer for decades as well. And so just started pointing to, you know, focusing on my own experiences that were positive and my own strengths and then others in my network that, you know, I could draw upon to to help me move forward and, you know, instead of just looking at the problems and and the my weaknesses. So that that was really helpful for me. 

Speaker 1

That's great. Yeah. I was leaning. And and like you said, you just wanna surround yourself with people that's gonna kinda lift you in that direction. So that's good about your journey aspect of it, where you come from. Now I wanna touch base a little bit, just touch base a little bit about your rentals, and then we'll definitely get into the notes where really the need of this is. So, you know, you're in Maryland and you did your rental portfolio, like, you know, that's one, you know, in the real estate world, that's one of the states that we're always like, oh, why do we, we gotta stay out away from, you know, the Nassau, landlord friendly states, if you will. So what tell somebody like somebody that is is thinking about doing business in one of those states or doing business in one of those states where some really good value of kinda helping them out. And if you have a tenant net paying or whatever the system may be, if you want, it's just touch base on that briefly. 

Speaker 2

I mean, initially, I was, we were self managing. I didn't have a property manager, which I I do recommend depending on your situation if you have time and really really depends. But I you know, we chose to self manage, and that saved some money. I had gone part time in twenty fifteen, so I had time to to actually do some of the rehab work and some of the the management tenant screening and the property management. So that really, allowed me to be hands on and really understand the numbers, understand the physical, you know, properties and that kind of thing. We were buying off the MLS, to be honest with you, and, you know, my my father is a good negotiator, and we weren't necessarily overpaying. We we some of the deals were were better than others, but I will say this, for your listener who may want to get into rental property investing. Real estate is very forgiving over the long term. So if you take a long term approach, you can overpay. I'm not saying you should try to overpay, right, or or sign up for a bad deal. But you can overpay, if you're willing to, you know, hold for the long term, and it and it should should work out okay for you. So there were a couple properties. In hindsight, maybe we paid more than we should have, but at the in the end of the day, rents continue to rise. Yes, some expenses have gone up, but, the numbers worked for us. So most of our deals were were good buys and, you know, the property values have skyrocketed since then. So for someone nowadays, whether if they're considering buying a rental in Maryland, one of the things we decided to do, and I would still personally recommend this, is staying out of Baltimore City. We decided to stay in Baltimore County only. So our rentals, they're not class a, but they're probably they're class b rentals. They're decent. They're solid, you know, mostly, townhomes with no HOAs. Quite honestly, ten years ago, the numbers were much easier to to make work than they are right now with real estate prices as well as mortgage rates. I mean, it's it's tough right now. I mean, I'm not gonna lie. But that's why we've continued to hold most of our properties. And and I I like our rental properties. It's a very it's a stable piece of my portfolio, and I don't spend a lot of time on it on them any longer because I do have a a, property manager. And we can get into how I've expanded into Florida rentals as well through note investing if you'd like. But to your point about Maryland, I have yet to have to evict a single tenant, and that is, you know, primarily maybe you could say some luck, but I think it's, one, we've stayed out of Baltimore City, and we don't do I haven't done section eight or any any of those, programs, and we do a good job screening our tenants. You can never be perfect, of course. Right? I've had to I've come close to I've had some issues where it was close to having to evict, but I haven't actually had to do it. So Maryland has worked out well for us. 

Speaker 1

It's great. So, I would just wanna talk. You screen I mean, it is key, screening tenants. Do you look for a certain, customer or renter, if you will, that's like, what type of job? And are they are your assets, like, single family homes, duplexes a little bit? And then the one that you getting ready to evict, what happened? You just kinda work something out with them? 

Speaker 2

Yeah. So, the the the homes are all all but one are, they're all single family, but they're they're townhouses. You you call them row homes, but they're really more like townhouses in in the county, in the Towson area, Baltimore County. No HOAs, though. That was a a misperception I had, you know, much younger when I was much younger was that, oh, I thought all townhouses must have an HOA. My dad was like, no. These, these that were built in the fifties and sixties, they never they don't have an HOA. These so you know? Because I didn't I kinda wanted to shy away from dealing with HOAs as well in general. So, they're older properties, but they're well built and, no HOA. And so tenant screening, we do look for six fifty credit score. There's certain other criteria, you know, income wise. Typically, you wanna see three times the the rent amount. And one of the other decisions I won't go into all the the criteria we we, look at, but one of the other decisions we made, which I like, I I'm we haven't changed our minds at all, is, I I decided to to accept pets. And people worry about the wear and tear on your property and that kind of thing, but pet owners stay considerably longer than those without pets. You know, so I I as as many of your listeners probably know, turnover is what kills you in rental property investing. And so if you can keep your tenants happy, keep them there, you can do well. And so with people with pets, yes, there might be some wear and tear on the property. They tend to stay longer, and and I don't care if there's a little wear and tear on the property if if there's not a turnover. 

Speaker 1

I totally agree, on that. The same. It's just, you I mean, sitting there getting a like you said, your whole a whole year's worth of profit can go out the door if you have a unit empty for one month and trying to get it ready. Sure. You're so much better keeping them there. So that's good. 

Speaker 2

Yeah. 

Speaker 1

So let's kinda go let's kinda move into like you said, now you did the rentals, and then you went into Florida rental, and then you kinda went into notes. So how kinda go down that path. How did that happen? 

Speaker 2

Yeah. So I got into notes in twenty eighteen. It really was that I just, I don't wanna say I was bored with rentals, but it just it was kind of the properties were all basically the same, and I kind of understood the process. You know? We we we're fixing up these properties and then refiing and taking some cash out and, finding a long term tenant. And it was working, but I just kinda wanted to do something else. I not not pivot away from rentals, but just add to my, you know, portfolio with a different asset class. And I was also looking for something you could do from anywhere, something that was a little more, quote, unquote, passive, and that's a whole separate topic as well. But I've stumble I think through BiggerPockets, the website, I stumbled on to tax liens and mortgage notes, and then there's a forum on BiggerPockets that combines those two even though they're they're pretty different. But, I compared those two, and I was drawn to mortgage notes. So I started doing mortgage note investing with, some JVs where I was the capital partner and, kind of looking over the shoulder of the more active, you know, operator. My first deal was with a guy named Chris Seveny, who's a very active mortgage note investor. We're friends now, and we've been business partners in the past. So I started in a more passive fashion, took took some courses and and that kind of thing, Started doing, joint ventures myself where I was the active, the operator, and doing selling partials. And then, I've started a nonperforming note fund with Chris. We ran that for three years, and now now I've, for the last three years, had the integrity income fund, which is more of a reperforming note fund. So I've really scaled the note side of things to quickly touch on the Florida property thing that, you know, we won't have time to do a full case study, but, on our website on labrador lending dot com, there's a it's also in our ebook. It walks through the case study of how we bought a nonperforming note and in Jacksonville, Florida, and that turned into, a rental property that I still own today. And it's one of the best performing deals I've ever had. I've never been to Jacksonville, by the way. And but I I didn't necessarily buy the note with the intention of acquiring a rental property. But when I looked at it, as we were nearing, we did a deed in lieu of foreclosure, so we didn't end up having to foreclose, but we got the property back. I was gonna sell the property, but just looking at the numbers, it just I just couldn't sell it. So I held on to it, and it's it's done great. I think it was twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. Maybe it's when we were doing kind of rehab and and getting it, so getting it ready to rent. So for the last five years, that's been a a quality rental for me. 

Speaker 1

That's awesome. That's and how did you come across that note? Like, kinda talk a little bit about that. Like, how do you come across these things and give a a little bit people a bit of an education. 

Speaker 2

Sure. That one was on paper stack dot com, which is an online, note platform and exchange that you can buy and sell and trade notes. And, we're 

Speaker 1

you like guys like to you like paper stock? You like Brent? 

Speaker 2

I I I let, I'm I'm pretty good Brent. Yeah. Brett Berkey. I'm pretty good friends with Brett and and Rick, and they're good guys for sure. I haven't used it as much recently, to be honest with you. But I I think well, I do use it for my own, for mentorship where I'm mentoring other newer note investors. It's a great platform to be able to expose yourself to notes if you're somewhat new to the the space to be able to, you know, see what notes might be trading for, to understand what, you know, due diligence might look like, and also the process of buying a note. There are a lot of steps involved. And so, I know that there are many experienced note investors who continue to use the site. I haven't used it recently. And, you know, to be honest, it it's a little bit slower of a transaction sometimes because it's so step by step, and you can't skip a step and kinda locks you into this step. And this is maybe maybe it's improved in this way. But that was I I didn't like I'm I'm a little impatient when it's like, alright. Let's get this get this done, and let's not that we're gonna ignore a step, but if I can knock out step eight while I'm waiting on you for step three, let's do it. Right? Well, no. It it lets it forces you to wait, and then you gotta wait on the other party. So I found it to be a little bit less, you know, speedy than I liked, but it is a great platform overall, and I think those guys are doing something something really good for the industry. 

Speaker 1

So what is it? Like a step by step? It takes them through like, somebody comes in and walks them through the step how to buy the prop the note? 

Speaker 2

Yes. So it it is a step by step. So it's like, okay. You know, it's either the the ball is either in the court of the buyer or the buyer or the seller, you know, to do the next step, whatever that is. It it may be, sign the purchase sale agreement. Right? And then you move on from, like, the the that phase to the next phase, which is, like, the due diligence phase. So so it might be the closing phase has a bunch of steps and then, you know, due diligence phase or yeah. I forget the names of the the phases, but either if you're the buyer and I'm the seller, one of us has a next step to do. And it really does help you understand the process, you know, of buying a note or selling a note, which is nice. 

Speaker 1

I I I've done some business. He's in my, my seller financing strategy program. But so it's kinda because he's trying to he's trying to do more of originating the notes on the seller financing side to bringing it to his platform. So he's good. He's he's a sharp sharp sharp guy, and they did a great job. 

Speaker 2

Absolutely. 

Speaker 1

So, anyways, how you bought that note on their platform. 

Speaker 2

Yes. 

Speaker 1

Is nice. And that's how you found it. Home Loan, right? 

Speaker 2

And it was, like, you know, I think some people, and and, you know, Florida is not quite as expensive or, from from a note buying standpoint. Some people, they'll will shy away from the judicial states, and that's a whole separate podcast episode. But, Florida, you know, a lot is is a state that some newer note buyers will shy away from because it can be expensive and long, a long process to foreclose if you have to. So if you're buying a nonperforming note, there's a good chance you're gonna need to foreclose. So I think I was able to get better pricing because a lot of the newer note investors, a lot of note investors in general, shy away from those states that are expensive and and time consuming to foreclose in. So I did get a a good deal, on the purchase. And, yeah, numbers wise, it turned out great because we ended up doing a deed in lieu. There was a lot more the the borrower the short version is that the borrower walked away without having a foreclosure to deal with foreclosure, and she also owed the property was underwater. So she walked away. It was a good deal for her. And then for us, it was it was a great deal as well because I bought it so well. And that's the thing. If you buy well with a nonperforming note this is different than a long term rental. But a nonperforming note, you do need to buy well because if you overpay for a nonperforming note, you're basically trying to exit that note typically, within one to two years. And if you overpay for that, you're kinda you're really putting yourself up against the wall there. Whereas if you don't overpay, you can make a couple mistakes here and there with the asset management, and you have a little more wiggle room, because there's still some some profit margin to play with. 

Speaker 1

Nice. So when you because I know you do this in your fund. Right? You buy nonperforming notes as well in your funds? 

Speaker 2

Yes. We do. 

Speaker 1

Yep. So what's your guide? Do you have a guideline? Like, what type of percentage, spread that you're looking for from the balance or the what do you guys look at that? Like, if somebody's listening now and they're interested about possibly, and we'll talk about how you can learn a little bit investing in the fund, what do you guys look at in your nonperforming funds? 

Speaker 2

Yeah. So most of our in our well, if we're buying a nonperforming in our fund, which we have done recently, we have probably, probably about twenty percent of the notes in our fund are nonperforming, and most of those were bought that way. And but we, we have a buy box, and, one of the things one of the criteria on that buy box is that we we don't go over seventy five percent investment to value. So that in short the short version is the amount we're paying for the note divided by the property value because that property value is absolutely critical in note investing, because that's that's your collateral. So, even if you don't exit through the property, that's in a very important, you know, number. So seventy five percent is the most that we would pay, and there are other factors. It may be sixty five percent in a certain situation if if there are other factors that push me that way. But, ITV or investment to value is seventy five percent max. 

Speaker 1

So that formula is you take you take with the the note amount, the original balance, or the purchasing balance? 

Speaker 2

Purchase price. So Okay. I don't I don't wanna say I don't care. I do care what the current balance is. There's but, really, it's how much am I putting into this deal right now. So if if the property is worth a hundred thousand dollars and the principal balance is ninety thousand dollars, I'm not willing to pay more than seventy five thousand dollars for that. Now there are many other variables that go into that for sure, but but that's that's kinda a a, you know, simple, example. 

Speaker 1

Got it. Okay. That's good. I I like that one a lot. Now in today's world, for your fun, where are you guys getting most of your you know, your do you buy tapes, or you buy one offs, or how were you like, tell us a little bit about your current model. 

Speaker 2

Yeah. So, in the in the income fund, I I wanted to set up something that was, you know, quote, unquote boring, for our investors and just passive income for our investors, and also that would be more reliable and predictable with a handful of nonperforming notes. So we we buy mostly reperforming notes in in my income fund, the Integrity Income Fund. And those reperforming notes, just the short definition is that they were nonperforming at some point. There there were delinquencies. There were some issues in the in the history of those those notes. So there is some higher default risk than a true performing note. Right? But there's also a higher yield that we can get. So we they they because they come with a slightly higher risk, they also come with higher yield. So where are we buying them? We we we will still look at PaperStat, but but, really, there's a handful of note brokers like Dave Polio, with the SN Servicing. Another really great way, another source of, notes is that our other note investors. So maybe bigger funds or even smaller funds or other other investors. If a fund is has a a closed ended term, pay attention to that fund. That fund may be closing just kind of, you know, if if if a fellow note investor is running a fund, for example, and their fund is about to close, I know when I had my three year fund, I had to sell off these notes. And so it's a little bit of pressure to to sell them, you know, at that time. So that's another great way. So note brokers, online exchanges, and other note investors, and I think other note investors is the one that gets overlooked pretty easily. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. That's, and that's kinda why you we went to the DME just to kinda network with other investors to buy be able to buy notes and sell notes and vice versa. 

Speaker 2

Exactly. I mean yes. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I also went because we do I do mentorship. I think you do mentorship as well. So we, you know, we and the the way that we serve our active note investors is through mentorship, and then we also have the the fund is for our passive accredited investors. But, yes, definitely DME and other events like that. I mean, it really is to answer your question more directly, it's about networking and relationships. And it it's I don't think that's ever gonna change even if Paperstack or a similar company totally democratizes, you know, the it makes it like the the New York Stock Exchange of notes. It's, I think, always gonna be a relationship game, and real estate is is very local. And so you can argue whether node investing is really real estate investing or not, but it's still a very local game. And I just don't think it's really ever gonna be truly a national game. Right? So those relationships and having boots on the ground and just making those connections in different Facebook groups, different, you know, online events, and then also in person events, like, we just went to that that can really pay off. 

Speaker 1

Oh, it's all about networking. You wanna surround yourself with, like, minded individuals. And quite frankly, I like to go to events sometimes where, you know, I wanna be the dumbest person in the room. Yeah. I wanna learn from them. You know? For sure. I always wanna constantly and that's kinda why I, like, for me, I don't really sell my notes. I like originating them. I like to hold on to them because I do like that passive income. 

Speaker 2

Right. 

Speaker 1

It's good to know and kinda help and kinda and the big thing out there for me on the origination side, I'm always trying to educate, educate because a lot of these notes aren't done correctly, especially in the seller financing side. 

Speaker 2

For sure. You know? So That's a great point. And I know, you know, like, Dave puts in Nathan, they've they've done some stuff on this as well. But as far as, you know, what is what makes for a good note note from a buyer's standpoint? Because I know a lot of these these people who originate notes don't always think, you know, what what am I gonna do with this if I need cash, you know, in two years? Maybe you'd you'd think you're gonna hold it forever, but life throws things at you. Maybe you decide you wanna sell it. Well, if it wasn't properly underwritten and you didn't, you know, do the docs correctly, you're not gonna get what you think you're gonna get for that note. So, why not do it correctly the first time, go through Dan Deppin, call the underwriter, somebody like that to make sure it's done correctly. Yes. So that's that's a critical piece. That that education is is definitely needed like you're like you talked about, like you're providing, Mark. 

Speaker 1

Oh, I I yeah. Definitely. We do we need to. And that's kinda why we're always out there just educating, Eugene, because we don't wanna destroy the industry of, you know, we're, you know, we've been in, I've been in it long enough where I've seen over the years, people do things and screw it up. And then here comes more regulations come down the pipeline and then we're controlled even more. So if we control ourselves and take care of ourselves, then we can kinda keep the regulators out of our hairs, and let's just do business ethically in the proper way of things. So so, Jamie, before we sign off, is there, I wanna, you know, talk a little bit about what you do you know, how people can reach you. And is there a question that I did not ask that I should have asked? 

Speaker 2

Oh, man. That's one of my questions too, in my in my on my show. Well, how people can reach me, labrador lending dot com. My email address is bateman james at labrador lending dot com. We do have solutions for both the active note investor who wants to learn more through mentorship, and we have resources and, you know, things like that. And then we also have for the accredited passive investor, the Integrity Income Fund. Man, I don't know. 

Speaker 1

Recovered quite a bit of it. 

Speaker 2

Yeah. We did. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. You I mean, it was really we squeezed a lot in in such a short period of time. We were all over the place with, you know, your background, and, you know, you you've done a lot in the last ten years. You know? 

Speaker 2

Yeah. I like to think so. I think a question, that we we just talked about the other night on a a broadcast, so I'll just throw it out there, is what what what would I have done differently? I think over the years, I would have relied on more focus. I didn't mention that I started a servicing company, ran that for three years, that a lot of lessons learned there. Other other things that, you know, within note investing even that I just I wish I'd stayed more focused and gotten really, really good at one thing, like, whether that's partials or joint ventures or, you know, first liens in these particular states, as opposed to I know a lot of entrepreneurs can suffer from the shiny object syndrome, and I think I did that where, you know, I can do this. I can do that. You know? And so I think just having more focus and and really getting good at one thing and then adding on to that, I I I would have done that better if I could go back. But, you know, life is full of lessons learned, and that's okay. 

Speaker 1

I think that's every real estate investor. They come in and they start like, oh, wow. I can make money this way? I can make money that way? There's so many ways to make money in real estate. You like you said, you gotta stay focused because I've seen people, and I'm sure you've seen it. They go down a path. They spend several months on it, educate themselves. Maybe they do a deal or maybe they don't even deal, then they're jumping and going to the other way. 

Speaker 2

Right. 

Speaker 1

Then they've been in the business for a year, and they haven't even made money in their real estate because they haven't mastered one transaction yet or strategy, if you will. 

Speaker 2

My my issue sorry. Yeah. My issue is I don't quit the other things. So I keep then I start just adding things when and that that makes me not as good at you know, I'm taking my eye off the ball on on the other thing that I I'm still doing, but not doing as well as I should be. So but, yeah, we can all, learn from that learn that lesson. 

Speaker 1

Right. Alright. Well, Jamie, thank you so much for coming on. I truly appreciate it. Anybody that's listening, to this episode, wherever you're listening or watching down below, you'll actually will have Jamie's all his, information. So he Jamie, if you could just say it one more time, but it also will be in your links wherever you're listening to it, YouTube, social media, wherever it may be. If you could say it one more time, Jamie, please. 

Speaker 2

Labrador lending dot com, and then I'll just throw out the podcast. It's at adversity to abundance dot com. It's the number two, adversity to abundance dot com that you're gonna be on here, Mark. So thank you so much, Mark. This is this is a blast. I've had a lot of fun, and I'm pretty sure your listeners are gonna get something out of this one. 

Speaker 1

This was definitely a great one. So alright, Jamie. Thank you guys so much. Again, thank you all for listening to Real Estate Power Play. If you like what you hear, please like, share, and, we will talk to you guys soon. Be well. 

Speaker 0

Thank you for joining us on From Adversity to Abundance. We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice to elevate your real estate journey. For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at w w w dot adversity to abundance dot com. If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a friend who could also benefit from our conversation. Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire.