Passive Real Estate for Doctors with Dr. Vanessa Peters

Full Transcript

Vanessa Peters  0:00  

That is a tricky term no passive income, because it can be interpreted several different ways. A lot of people think that owning a single family home is passive income. And it’s not.

Taylor  0:12  

Welcome to passive wealth strategies for busy professionals. I’m your host, thank you for tuning in today. Today, our guest is Dr. Vanessa Peters. Dr. Peters is a real estate investor, an active working doctor in San Diego. And our discussion is really around the financial and investing problems and opportunities that doctors have today. If you’re not a doctor, there’s still a lot to learn from this discussion, how to get into investing, when to find opportunities, how to get people on your team that are invested in your success, the great asset classes to invest in this is a very full discussion. 

And I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it. Once again, thank you for tuning in. And without any further ado, here’s the interview. Dr. Vanessa Peters, thank you for joining us on passive wealth strategies for busy professionals today.

Vanessa Peters  1:09  

Thank you, I’m so happy to be here.

Taylor  1:11  

I’m excited to have you, you have a great experience. We’re going to talk today about passive real estate investing for doctors a topic that we haven’t covered on the show yet. But to fill out your background a little bit and tell our listeners about where you’re coming from your experience. And you know, just fill that out for us and help us know where you’re coming from.

Vanessa Peters  1:32  

Yeah, absolutely be happy to. I, I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I was I think in 10th grade. Because my science teacher said you know, you’re really good at science, you should be a doctor. And I said, Well, okay, I have the choice of being a lawyer or a doctor. 

And so I thought, I’ll be a doctor because I like science better. I think I’d like people more than courtrooms and arguing. So it’s kind of funny, but at that I didn’t really you know, a lot of options out there. And now I know so many more things, I could have looked at what I chose. And I also thought that I would be my own boss, if I was a doctor, I didn’t want to have a boss. 

Little did I know that in the real world, doctors have bosses who so yeah, but I’ve enjoyed my medical career, I moved down from Canada to be a family physician in 2002, right out of residency, and I have been in the same clinic ever since then. So that was 17 years or so give or take. And it’s been great. I really enjoy it. But as I’ve got more experience and looked around at the finances and things like that, I started to realize that to get to where I wanted to go in life was going to take something a little bit different as gonna have to think out of the box. I, when I got my financial planner was probably 10 years ago. 

I told him kind of naively I’d like to retire when I’m 45. He laughed. And he said, Do you know how much money you’ll need to retire at age 45? And I was like, no. And he gave me some astronomical number. I think it was like, I don’t know $6 million, or something like that. And I my face fell. And I was like, Oh, crap, well, that’s not going to happen. I think I was in my early 30s at a time. And so I thought, Okay, well, I’m just gonna do my best, I probably won’t retire when I’m 45. Because I’m almost there. 

Now, I’m not there yet. But I will. I’ll save a lot, I’m going to pass my house. And I’m just going to save, save, save. And so I did, I saved half my income. And I put it into the 401k the profit sharing plan, I was fortunate enough to buy a single family home back in 2008. Which was was was a great was a great thing to do here in California. a realtor friend of mine suggested that I do that with some extra money I had from a bonus. And but that was all I was doing. I was I had a child I got busy, you know life got in the way and of investing just so I just put my nose to the grindstone and I was doing my best. 

When I looked up again, it was, you know, like 2017. And I said, Gosh, that house I bought up in Riverside County is doing really well. And I wish I had bought 10 of them. Maybe I should buy some, maybe I’ll buy some more real estate because my net worth is just not where the trajectory is more of a straight line. So where I think to get where I want to go, I need more of an exponential curve, I had more of a straight curve. And even though the, in the last 10 years, the stock market is doing well, it is performing well. Del even was investing a lot of money, it’s still kind of a straight line. 

And that was discouraging to me. So I felt like I wanted to get back into real estate. And another thing that happened i was i was on vacation with my family a couple of summers ago. And I just kind of got the feeling that I needed to be spending more time doing those things traveling, being with my family, I have one son, and realizing how fast the time goes by. And I was like, gosh, I need to create some way to do that without stressing myself out in terms financially, as a physician, and many doctors are in the same position as me. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. There’s doctors who are on a salary. 

And they they have paid time off. But most of us, it’s called PTO, but it’s really up to or UTM unpaid time off. Because new, you get paid when you see patients. So they soften the blow, usually by having a rolling 12 average of what you earn, so that you don’t go on vacation, they get half a paycheck next month. But it It reduces your overall. And so you take time off, but you pay for it literally by not getting paid. And so I thought that there had to be a better way where I could have income coming in when I wasn’t working. So I had this realization like, gosh, you know, time is money. 

And if I keep working like I’m working, what’s the point? I’ll be old and gray before I can take time and do the grace and great things I want to do travel with my kids will be off to college and beyond. And, and then oh yeah, let’s go on a cruise or something. You know, that’s not how I want my life to go. So that’s what led me back to real estate. You know, I’ve always known that real estate was great. 

I read Rich Dad Poor Dad probably 15 years ago, but I wasn’t ready for it, then I was just starting on my career. And the idea of abandoning that and going over to the investor quadrant, you know, the business on it just wasn’t I just I couldn’t go there. I just became a doctor. And I and I get that you know, and then I read it. And I was like, gosh, this makes a lot of sense. Now. It’s I’d like to try it. 

So wanted to purchase real estate and realized pretty quickly that California was no market to buy in I I joined bigger pockets scoured the area, I was going to buy something, just anything, nothing would cash flow and started looking at estate as many California investors do. Going to meetups, everybody’s talking about investing turnkey properties out of state. That freaked me out, though, because I’m very conservative, and I don’t want to lose my money. And I definitely don’t want to be responsible for property across the country that I will really have any control over. 

I don’t have anybody there to watch it for a property manager who I may or may not trust. So that that was like, Okay, I’m like going down the list crossing things off the list. And when I was on bigger pockets, actually, I was researching, obsessing really, and saw something about syndications. And I thought, I saw it a couple times. And I kind of just brushed it off because that I wasn’t familiar, what’s that word? But I popped up again and again, I said, What is this? So I looked into it, and contacted someone who had posted several times and seemed knowledgeable about it. You know, as an as passive investor, I, you know, I said, Hey, I’d like to learn more about this, had a chat with him. 

And he told me how it worked, and the returns, and I said, You gotta be kidding me this, this is not, this can’t be real. This is this is too good to be true. He said, No, it’s real. And he showed me a deal. And I flew out to Dallas to check it out, walk the property met the property manager met the sponsor, got it got check, did a full background check, actually, criminal background check on the involved parties to make sure that my $50,000 wasn’t going to go into a black hole in the Caymans or something.

And so when I when I realized that this was this was for real. I said, I was all in, you know, I don’t do anything halfway.

I just like this is it. I know I’ve got it set up a self directed 401k transferred out as much as I could. And so I’ve been investing for the last couple of years, fully in syndications.

Taylor  9:08  

Wow. So a big history there a lot there. Thank you for filling us out, though I have here that you’ve invested also invested in commercial retail and self storage and manufacturing home parks, in addition to what you mentioned. So you’ve you’ve branched out in terms of the asset classes that you invest in. So I think that’s great. 

And before we started recording, you mentioned some of the specific problems that doctors have in the a financially, structurally, you mentioned about working hours and things, the number of hours worked and your discussion there about, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid? 

What are some other issues that they run into doctors specifically? And some of those things that are preventing them from becoming real estate investors? Typically?

Vanessa Peters  10:00  

Yeah, absolutely. There’s, there’s a lot of things. First of all, when we get out of school, we’re, we’re we’re behind the eight ball, you know, it we’re older, usually, in early 30s, you’ve got a large debt load. And you’re starting practice out, you’re usually started with a very good income right off the bat. 

So that’s good. But you’re, you’re just you’re battling with, okay, now I’m an attending, I’m a real doctor, whatever you want to call it, and maybe you’re married, maybe if that kids, but you start to feel that you need to live the part, I think that’s one of the biggest things that doctors do.

 And it makes sense, because we’ve been sacrificing for so long, you know, at least 10 years of schooling, postgraduate, and you, you want to spend some money, you know, you’ve been living like a popper for so many years eating ramen. And so you, you’re like, Hey, I’m gonna buy that BMW, and I’m going to buy that nice house, because you’ve got the salary to afford it, and the banks will lend you the money. 

So that’s the first problem is if you’ve got 100 plus grand in debt, and then you take on a mortgage, car payment, then all of a sudden, these paychecks, which seemed really big, at the beginning, become very small. So you set yourself up for failure, I think that way, the lifestyle creep that goes along with it. And then the desire to maybe start out with a home. 

And then five years later, you want a bigger home, you know, because your friends are doing that, or your colleagues are doing that, or, or maybe it’s living closer to the coast, you know, like I’m in San Diego, and I live five minutes from my work. And I live in LA. Most of the doctors in my clinic, they live up on the coast, you know, and obviously, it’s way more expensive out there and great for them if they were able to buy it at a better price. But when I came, it wasn’t possible. 

So I think setting yourself up in terms of making sure that you earn more than you spend number one right there. Number two is that we get set up with our 401k and our profit sharing plan. And we listen to our financial advisors, and doctors are very good at learning and being educated. And so we are accustomed to that, okay, if I don’t know what to do, I’m going to ask an expert, and they’re going to tell me what to do. 

The problem is, as many of us knows that financial advisors are going to tell you their world view of how you should invest your money, which is in things that tend to make them money as well. And even if they don’t, then they might not be really that knowledgeable about other options, private placements and real estate investments and things like that. But they’re going to steer you in the direction of paper assets, like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. So and then the taxes, the taxes are a big problem. 

Especially on the coasts, like here, we pay a lot of tax. And so it’s hard to make money, it feels like you’re running on a treadmill faster and faster. And but the more money you make, the more you’re spending on taxes, and you don’t get enough tax breaks. And of course, the the old adage of buy a giant house with a giant mortgage, so you can get a tax break is very bad advice to don’t

Taylor  13:12  

Agreed. Yeah, that’s the advice that we’re being or doctors are being given by people who sell houses and who sell mortgages, probably. So establishing those that that the streams of passive income from your, from your perspective, as you’ve gone along and gotten more into the syndication world, walk us through that and teach us about, you know, your experiences there, and what caused you to branch out in terms of the assets that you’re investing in?

Vanessa Peters  13:44  

Yeah, I love the idea of passive income. And I think that is a tricky term, no passive income, because it can be interpreted several different ways. A lot of people think that owning a single family home is passive income. And it’s not a if you own a single family home and you have to manage it, then it’s not passive at all, if you have a property manager, it’s a little more passive, for sure. 

But you’re still ultimately completely responsible and liable. So if something goes wrong with that home, that could wipe out your profits for several years, if you need a new roof for something very expensive h back or something like that. So I don’t consider something passive when you might have to put extra money into it time or money. 

And so the key for me was to establish when it was truly passive, because I already have a job, I don’t want another, I don’t want another job of real estate. And so the key is that is keeping the the ultimate goal of making more time for my family. That is in myself, that is the biggest, the nugget that Okay, that’s the the target is more time and everything has to go through that lens. So if I say, gosh, you know, I could buy that four Plex here in town, it would be awesome. But what Wait, wait, wait, how much time am I going to spend? 

How much time is my husband gonna be spending. And you know, I actually tried to do that. And he next step, which was a good thing. That would be way more work and take us on a completely different path. So so when I started investing in, in passively in real estate, I’d get these little checks. 

And at first, it doesn’t seem like much because your preferred return might be 150 or $333, or something like that. And you’re like, well, I don’t need that money, I don’t understand really where this is going. 

But if you look at the big picture, and think about if I invest this much money on every six months or every year, and start flattering them like you would ladder, a CD kind of and then expect that at a five year hold, the money is going to start to come back to you know, and then it’s going to exponentially improve if you can reinvest all of your earnings. 

And that’s how I look at it is this passive income flow is it for me to spend, it’s to be real invested. But with the ultimate goal that when I decide to work less, if I go to say half time, or if I retire at some point, I’ll have that actually limited income.

Taylor  16:12  

So that’s my ultimate goal. You’re You’re it’s a snowball, you know, that Decker fantastic analogy. And if you’re not reinvesting the money, you’re taking chunks out of the snowball, whereas if you leave it on the snowball keeps going, then it’ll help you get to your goal when you want to get there.

Vanessa Peters  16:31  

Absolutely.

Taylor  16:32  

Yeah. So branching out from you said you, you started as a syndication investor in apartments in Dallas, but now you’re in all these other asset classes, you know, what, what drove you that drove you out of apartments, but what caused you to look into those other asset classes?

Vanessa Peters  16:52  

Well, I’m doing them concurrently, you know, I, I’ve been investing in mobile home parks are great, and I’m in a fun right now. And so the fund is multiple properties over multiple states, I love the idea of being in a couple of funds apart from the single asset place like one apartment building, because the fun provides diversification and safety. And it’s also usually a longer term hold. So you don’t feel like you’re needing to find deals as often. So the mobile home parks are in mostly the southern states, a lot in Arizona, Nevada, and a little more Eastern, but not usually in Florida, where they have hurricanes, preferably,

Taylor  17:32  

right.

Vanessa Peters  17:34  

But mobile home parks are great because they are not making any more of them. They’re not zoning for new mobile home parks. And they are low cost housing for the seniors mostly. And you can go in and buy it up a mom and pop mobile home park put it into a larger fund. And what they’re what the operators are doing is they’re taking 234 parks in an area and managing them with 100. 

With one resident manager, you can call it but they’re not going to have one per Park. And that allows them to have an economy in terms of cost. And they can make them look nicer raise the rents a little bit, they’re still very inexpensive. And as the senior population ages, they will be in very high demand. And since they’re sort of limited, nobody really likes them and wants them around. They can they’ll become more valuable over time. So that’s why I like mobile home parks for those reasons. I love self storage. 

I’m loving it even more lately. I feel like it’s excellent because it’s good in the market, you know right now because we all buy too much stuff and put it somewhere. And unfortunately, that’s that’s the way it is we have and then in the downturn, people unfortunately, if they have to move out of their home into a smaller place or an apartment, they still don’t want to get rid of their stuff. And so then they put it into storage. 

There’s no tenants, you know, there’s no people in in storage units. So they’re a little bit easier for maintenance. There’s not a lot of capital expenditures, when you buy one to flip it. It’s just a little bit of little bit of work. And the rates really like to buy those up and for a good profit. 

So usually you can slip on in three to five years for a very nice profit if you can get that they’re usually looking for 50,000 square feet and a certain percentage climate controlled. And the new develop the the ground up ones are looking really nice right now and they’re brand new at this point. I am invested in one that is a ground up development and does very well, also. So Self 

Storage is a nice place to look as multifamily heats up. I’m still investing in multifamily. I’m, you know, I just invested in one last month, though. But the deals are getting harder to find it I’m noticing that the as the cap rates go down the the the returns the hours are not 20% anymore. They’re coming down, though. It’s you know, investor expectations when they should

as the date and the cycle.

Taylor  20:09  

Yeah, absolutely. So that’s I haven’t invested in mobile home parks yet, but I have invested in multifamily, and they’ll storage and eat what you said about all of those great, but the mobile home parks specifically it is affordable housing, but they’re not building any more of it anywhere. And many of these parks are going away. So I guess get while the getting’s good if you can, definitely makes a lot of sense. I also see you’ve invested in commercial retail that’s that’s definitely a less common one. When I talked to syndication investors, what’s your experience here? And why did you get into that?

Vanessa Peters  20:48  

That’s an interesting story. Actually, I, I that was my first vacation investment. It was from 2012. And I did not know that it was syndication at the time. I, my financial advisor suggested that I had some extra money, and that I should put it into this investment that he said I was now qualified for. 

And I’m assuming he meant that I was accredited at that point. He didn’t explain to me what that was. And so I said, Okay, he said, the minimum 25 K, but I put some money in he said it would be 5% I think it was 5.25% return. And the explanation I got was that I would get that monthly, and then they would sell it in eight or so years. So I didn’t I didn’t know any better. And I there was no projections about what the what it would be at eight years. And he was still in it. I’m still in Actually, I invested in two before I stopped and the percentage has gone from 5.2525. Now it’s a 4.75. 

And so basically it’s triple net, no leverage commercial retail. And these this is basically the staples, Tractor Supply Company, Petco, things like that. Now, you think it would be lucrative, but I think because they’re buying it without any leverage. Their margins are not good. So I’m hoping that they get out of it really soon, because I would love to have the capital to put into something more lucrative. So my experience within with industrial commercial is not something I would probably do again, and I don’t know that much about doing it in a leveraged fashion. So

Taylor  22:27  

interesting. So yeah, as a asset class from the year generally not a fan.

Vanessa Peters  22:34  

Well, not the way that I did it. And you know, the funny thing is, is when I learned about syndications, were recently and I was jumping in I was I kind of had this like, I swear I started reading the ppm, I was like, wait, I went back, I got all my paperwork from this previous one. And I looked at it and I’m like, Oh, my gosh, this is a syndication. So it wasn’t explained to me in that way. And I didn’t know but when I when you look over the ppm, it’s exactly the same with a 7030 split and all that kind of stuff.

Taylor  23:00  

That was you said, you say 2012. And you made that investment that I get that right. Okay, so I’m, I’m curious about, you know, I’m picturing Vanessa, as a doctor in 2012. You’re looking for investments, and your financial advisor presents this one. And it seems like if the correct me if I’m wrong, seems like if you knew then what you know, now you would not have invested in that deal. Am I wrong? Okay, you are correct.

Okay. Yeah, I’m correct. So, from that point front, from the point of Vanessa then made the decision to invest and Vanessa now would not make the decision to invest. What are they like the top couple of things that you the biggest game changers for you in terms of what you’ve learned, that have impacted the decision that you would make in that situation?

Vanessa Peters  23:51  

Well, if I look back to that the market at that time, there was phenomenal opportunities to do amazing things and multifamily 2012. I could have got went out and bought some single family homes. 

But you know, anything would have been better than what I did. I mean, in real estate, it just Unfortunately, that’s the way it is. But I would I didn’t know about multifamily syndications, because it wasn’t common to know it back then it isn’t common. Now most of the people I talked to have no idea what I’m talking about. And as you know, if it’s structured as a regulation, the five or six p have had a prior relationship with someone. 

So you know, who’s going to tell you about this stuff? If not, I mean, we don’t talk about money a lot, our friend, especially doctors, and so it’s not like we’re out there chatting about about these types of things and investments. And I wish I wish that someone had mentioned it to me at that time.

Now, I want to tell people about it.

Taylor  24:55  

Well, we’re telling people right now, we’re live streaming on Facebook, and we’ve had a total of two Well, people tuned in so far to the live stream, and then this whole, you know, go out to significantly more people than that in the future. I’m curious, you mentioned about the in that deal, there was not a projected exit valuation of time. And I guess that didn’t really it didn’t hit you too hard, I guess. What do you you know, where do you stand on that? Now? I mean, to me, that would be an enormous like, all right, well, how am I getting my money back? You know?

Vanessa Peters  25:31  

Right. Right. And I still, it’s still very vague. And I even went back and look at the current value of the shares. And it’s actually less than what I put in. So I’m a little bit concerned. And when you they’re not transparent, like we’re used to saying with sponsors, where, you know, you have the projected exit cap rate, and it’s all very clear, but this is the, you know, it’s just a different type of deal. And I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t recommend going in anything, if you don’t have that information, though, you know, live you live and learn.

Taylor  26:05  

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, ultimately, it sounds like you’re, you’re making up the difference anyway, by learning those lessons that you’ve mentioned earlier in the interview. Taxes are for doctors, I mean, doctors, generally you’re going to be at the highest tax rate tax bracket in the US at least, and then you’re living in California, that’s even worse with state taxes. So, you know, how have you found ways that doctors can invest and manage or reduce their tax bill, and obviously, we’re not getting specific taxation, or investment advice here. This is general information just to disclaim that, but But what have you found that works for doctors specifically?

Vanessa Peters  26:51  

Well, being knowledgeable about all of the tax vehicles that are open to you, if you have a high deductible insurance plan, you should be maxing out your HSA and, you know, obviously maximize your 401k those are no brainers. 

With my business, with my group, I should say, we have a profit sharing plan, that’s the only money I put into the into the stock market, because I have to, because they’d have a match that kind of thing that’s so you don’t want to turn away free money. But the rest of my money’s going into a self directed 401k. 

So that I can invest that in real estate. Apart from that, you know, there aren’t a lot of deductions for the employed W2 doctor out there. But I would recommend having a side gig of some kind, so that you can have an escort, that would be my number one piece of advice is to, to speak to a financial advisor or a team who is willing to work with you, and allow you to have a flow or entity. 

So that you can, I know we want we all work hard, but you can still have something on the side, that’s not your W2 income that will allow you to work as a consultant to do something on the side do something completely different from medicine at that, that floats your boat, you know, gives you some passion, so that you can have a business because being a business person is the way to save on taxes.

Taylor  28:09  

Absolutely. The tax code is written that way. In general, it’s written to favor business owners, rather than employees. And it just is what it is so interesting. Ok.

So we’ve talked previously about the blood of people that that come at doctors, new doctors, and doctors in general, you know, hey, invest in my thing, or I’ve got this great way for you to make money or any of those kinds of things is fairly, it seems a fairly unique experience for for doctors who are high income professionals, like pretty much once they’re out of school right away for the most part. So how you found you, what do you think about managing that and that experience? 

And how can doctors, new doctors, doctors are new to investing work around that are five, the the the actual gems out there the people that have more legitimate opportunities to invest in their to, you know, I don’t know, invest in my juice pyramid scheme or something like that.

Vanessa Peters  29:14  

Right, right.

I think we’re all afraid of like Ponzi schemes and multi level marketing and things like that. Yeah, and we shouldn’t be you know, you know, I think that you need to have trust, before anything else. 

So if someone comes to you with a, with a deal, you need to look at the not at the numbers, not at the deal, not the location. But first, you have to look at the team. And if they’re just some guy, that’s your friend knows, your cousin knows, and you know, they’ve got this great deal on assisted living and you’re going to make 50% a year, well, then you might want to be wary of that. 

The sponsor in my mind should have a track record that you can look at, they should have a website, you know, they should be out there, you’d have to look at their thought leadership platform. If they’re out there talking on podcasts and, you know, being visible in the community and providing value, then that provides me with some security, and then seeing what they’ve done in the past and making sure that they have made good decisions. So I feel like that helps a lot along with the criminal background for hurts to

Taylor  30:26  

great do the do the full criminal background check those other things. Right. Yeah. So we’re gonna take a quick break for our sponsor. OK, Vanessa, I got three questions. I asked every guest at the end of the show. Are you ready?

Vanessa Peters  30:43  

Ready?

Taylor  30:44  

Great. First, what is the best investment you’ve ever made?

Vanessa Peters  30:48  

That would be the single family home I bought in Riverside County in 2008. At that time, my realtor friends and out of Riverside County is that doing amazing, they’re gonna they’re gonna boom, I was like, Okay, I got $40,000 I found a short sale, single family home, which was nearly new, it was built like within the past three years, and it was worth two was to 25 short sale. And they it’s now worth 450. 

And the fact that I’ve had renters in there, ever since then, I’ve never had a problem with the renters, no major expenses, I calculated it out at 83% cash on cash, so so that one’s doing really well. And I still have it, I’ve leveraged it so that I can put some money into syndications. 

You know, got got a home equity line of credit. I’ve considered selling it, but it’s just like, so easy. Like, you know, I’m not, I think I’m just going to hang on to it. Until I have a problem until I have a problem with it renters or something. But right now, it’s a great investment. And I wish I had bought 10 of them. But anyway,

Taylor  31:54  

live and learn. You gotta strike while the iron is hot, I suppose. And while other people are freaking out there. Well, there’s blood in the water. Some kind of analogy like that. You have to go. What? What is the just out of curiosity? What does that rant on that place? I imagine California rents being exceptionally high. Just curious numbers.

Vanessa Peters  32:15  

That’s it? Yeah. The rent, the rent for the place should be 2200. But I am only charging 1800? Nine, because, because, because I raised it slowly. And they’re so nice. And I never have to drive out there and fix anything. And so you know, I you know, that the Brit to be empty for a few months would, you know, wipe out my income for the year? So you know, I’m okay with losing a couple hundred bucks a month on that for now?

Taylor  32:45  

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t even see it as losing necessarily, if you’re making the decision to keep it full with great tenants that pay on time and don’t break things don’t give you a headache, paired to the, let’s say the unknown, but the very real potential that you could get somebody new in there that just beat the crap out of the place. And it’s going to take you maybe a minute to find them anyway, or they’re going to call you more often. So you’re making a business decision effectively to keep your price at a certain level. And you know, sounds good, right?

Vanessa Peters  33:19  

value, my time valuing my time.

Taylor  33:21  

Yep. Perfect times times the most important, most important asset. On the other side of that, what is the worst investment you’ve ever made?

Vanessa Peters  33:30  

The the triple net retail commercial that we spoke about earlier is by far, because I had I think $210,000 in that investment, and I’m just waiting for it to come out. And I hope I get that back, you know? So.

Taylor  33:46  

Yeah. Wow. That’s that’s something. Definitely. Yeah, I don’t know. Best of luck with that. I hope we’ll keep in touch and I’ll let you know. Yeah. Lesson learned. Wow. on myself. favorite question here at the end of this show is the third question, what is the most important lesson you’ve learned in investing?

Vanessa Peters  34:07  

I would say that I think I’ve touched on some of it. But it’s real estate investing is a team sport. If you are going to go it alone, then you’ll struggle you know, bringing people who know more than you about it and, you know, leverage their knowledge. 

If you are going to be investing in syndications, the team is the most important thing. Don’t Don’t look at the location or the market, the submarket or the asset or the returns if you don’t, if you aren’t 100% sure about the sponsor and the team, you must have that first. And also, like I mentioned earlier, be crystal clear about what is passive real estate investing. Because if you want to take on a new job, and you’re passionate about real estate investing, then then go for it, you know, flip some houses, you know, do that thing. 

But I learned very quickly when I was looking to buy locally, that I can’t work and the hunting deals at the same time. My my realtor friend was pinging me every five minutes, you know, from the MLS with, here’s the deal, here’s the deal, here’s the deal, and I’m trying to check it out, and and run the numbers on bigger pockets with their calculator. 

And it took me about a week before I was like, Oh my gosh, I’m going to make a mistake at work. And you know, this is not a good idea. Because you really have to respect the limits of your time. And also, what is in your wheelhouse, you know, what is what are you good at. And for me making, making money is being a doctor. That’s what I that’s what I do well that, though I should leave the underwriting to people who know what they’re doing,

Taylor  35:47  

where can folks get in touch with you,

Vanessa Peters  35:51  

you can get in touch with me. My email is Vanessa at VMD investing.com. And My website is VM D investing.com. And I have a freebie for you there. I have my ebook, the roadmap to find it the roadmap to financial freedom with real estate, the busy professionals guide to achieving a six figure passive income in eight years. So it’s a quick ebook, I, I created a spreadsheet. 

Because I was curious. And I want to know what would happen if you invested 100 grand a year for 20 years. And so I went up to eight years in the book, but I do have the spreadsheet that you can also play with. So that’s a lot of fun.

Taylor  36:33  

Cool, well, that sounds like the perfect fit for our audience and listen to the reading that book that that, you know sounds like a very good use of time yet again, our most important asset is our time and sounds like a good way to use your time. So thank you for your time today. Vanessa, I’m I really appreciate all the lessons that you shared and the unique experience of coming from a medical background into real estate investing.

Vanessa Peters  36:58  

Thank you, I had a lot of fun,

Taylor  37:00  

me to everyone out there listening and everyone that tuned into the live stream. Thank you for participating today. I hope you’re enjoying passive wealth strategies for busy professionals. You are please leave us a rating and review on iTunes. That would be a big help. If you know someone that could use some passive income and some passive wealth generation in their life, the show with them, bring them into our tribe and hopefully we can help them get started on their way to financial freedom. Once again, thank you for tuning in. I hope you have a great rest of your day. And we’ll talk to you on the next one. Bye bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai