Tony Alvarez is a well-heeled, seasoned, knowledgeable and successful Real Estate Investor, licensed Broker, Developer and Certified General Appraiser; and has lived and worked in the real estate business since 1981.
Tony has built, purchased, rehabbed, rented and sold hundreds of properties from vacant land to condos, single family residences, apartments and commercial properties and is well-versed in the risks and requirements for success inherent in different types of real estate investments.
Tony is also a sought-after speaker and has previously spoken at The Norris Group’s Multi-Millionaire Maker in 2005 and 2006, as well as other Real Estate Investment Clubs and events throughout Southern California and Nevada.
Episode Notes:
Narrator  This is The Norris Group’s real estate investor radio show the award-winning show dedicated to thought leaders shaping the real estate industry and local experts revealing their insider tips to succeed in an ever -changing real estate market hosted by author, investor, and hard money lender, Bruce Norris.Bruce Norris Â
Hi, thanks for joining us. My name is Bruce Norris and today our special guests once again is Tony Alvarez. Tony is a well heeled, seasoned, knowledgeable and successful real estate investor, licensed broker, developer, and certified general appraiser worked in real estate since 1981. Tony has built purchase rehabbed, rented and sold hundreds of properties from vacant land to condos, single family residences, apartments, and commercial properties, and is well versed in the risks and requirements for success inherent in different types of real estate investments. Tony is also a sought after speaker, and has previously spoken at The Norris group’s multi millionaire maker in 2005, and 2006, as well as many other real estate investment clubs and events throughout Southern California and Nevada. Tony, welcome back.
Tony Alvarez  It’s wonderful to see you, Bruce. It’s wonderful to be with you, man. I was getting tired just while you were reading all that stuff. I’m thinking man, all that stuff.
Bruce Norris  I liked the well heeled part that was your word, not mine.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah. I don’t know where that came from. But I remember at some point, I think I had something to do with that.
Bruce Norris  Ah, there you go. That’s, that’s why I emphasize that. I just thought well, there you go. I haven’t heard that ‘well heeled’, that’s a, that’s a modest statement. That’s cool. I kind of want to go back to because I, you know, one of the reasons you and I have connected, I think is we’ve, we approached human beings in honor in a way. In other words, I’ve noticed we’re gonna talk some of the stories but you and I probably don’t meet if you didn’t see something in me the first time that you saw me. And that was… Yeah, and that was interesting. Because if you think about what, what sequences would not have happened to both of our lives?
Tony Alvarez  Wow.
Bruce Norris  That’s a major, that’s a major thing.
Tony Alvarez  It’s beyond major. Now you put it that way. Yeah, you just, you just made my brain go. Like a real, a real of video just went back in time. Yeah, it’s actually, you know, without, without any flattering or anything in this statement, you impacted my life in ways that I cannot even begin to explain.
Bruce Norris  And I, and I appreciate that. And you know, and you in turn, have done that many times to, to groups. So, that’s what’s interesting from, from a seed that the odds of you first of all being in the audience.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah.
Bruce Norris  Your response to a question that was asked by somebody else. And then and then my response to it, set all of this stuff off. So, so, I happen to be speaking at an Apartment Owners Association, and you were in the audience.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah.
Bruce Norris  And after, after you get done somebody, you know, we’re doing some q&a. And I think somebody asked me something about commercial property.
Tony Alvarez  Well, yeah, it was, it was, it was interesting, because I actually went there, I had heard about you and I was concerned about me not knowing enough about market timing and stuff like that, because I had gotten hurt in the real estate market before I made a lot of money. And then I actually ended up going through bankruptcy and stuff like that. So, and it was pretty tough for me because I found myself in a position repeating what had been worked, what would have worked for me and I just kept doing more of it of course, as the market has changed, and now I’m digging a hole instead of doing anything else. So, I had heard about you and then I, I found out you were speaking at the Apartment Owners Association, which as you know, it’s not really riddled with single family guys, you know.
Bruce Norris  No.
Tony Alvarez  No, these are apartment guys and pretty sophisticated you know, and, and so I went through and I never forget it because I went there with a friend of mine who was, who was an Argentine guy who wasn’t really into real estate he didn’t understand why I’m you know, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go see some guy talk about real estate and, and I’m in the audience and it was a pretty good, it was a pretty good sized group and you were going on and on about the stuff with the market changes and you know all that stuff and then this out of nowhere in this huge and I never forget this guy in the kind of like in the middle of the room, going up and, and you stopped in the middle of your thing you said ‘yes?’ And the guy says, ‘I just have a question.’ He says he he stood up and he goes, ‘You know, you’ve been talking about real estate market and stuff and market changes but and you’re kind of a single family guy, we’re, we’re all apartment owners out here and how’s that going to affect us?’ And it honestly I, everybody resonated with that question. And I just looked at you and I thought, Oh my God, what’s this guy gonna do? You know, and I watched you for a second you hesitated for a minute, you kind of were thinking to yourself and you, and you did something that I never will ever forget. Because for as long as I’ve known you, I always know that after you do this little shift that you, that you did a physical shift of your body, and you kind of giggle to yourself that you kind of laughed a little bit to yourself, what’s going to come on you is going to be pretty important. So, I always get ready to listen, right? So, you do this push shifting and you say, ‘You know, I really don’t know. Can I continue with this presentation?’ and there was a, there was a little bit of laughter, you know, in the room. But we all I think realized in that moment, that Bruce Norris was a guy who was not going to be SS. I mean, because I realized as you did that, I in my mind, I thought I was racing, my mind was racing with a guy asked a question. And in all honesty, I kind of put myself in your shoes. And I was thinking, well, would I say, I would say that probably the same thing, and then go on to the next point, or, you know, I mean, there’s a lot of ways to shift to pivot off of that uncomfortable moment, you know.
Bruce Norris But yet, you know, one of the things that was, it’s nice, it’s not uncomfortable, because I don’t, I got taught not to loop. Looping is when you when you pretend you know, something that you don’t, I learned this, I’m going to tell the story, because it’s also important, because people need to understand, smart people set you up to see if you’ll tell the truth in uncomfortable situations, because they eliminate you the second they can’t trust you. There was there was a woman that was in, she was Jewish, and she was in a concentration camp, when she was like four years old, and that she survived it. She was the mayor of Corona. And she owned an electric company. And I, I just happened to walk through the door and asked if I could quote their work. And she reaches down and brings up a set of plans for a school that’s like a foot wide and had to weigh 30, 40 pounds. She, she plops it on the desk. And she rolls it to me, she said, I’d like you to just switch gear take off for me. I said Mrs. Spiegel, I said, if I looked at at it all year would not be able to do that. That is not what I know. She said, I’m so glad you said that young man, I can work with you. And she worked took me downstairs and ordered $5,000 and circuit breakers. And we did business for years. Had I looked and I told her wrong. So, that’s why it’s not uncomfortable because it became more comfortable just to tell the truth. And I think I said something like that’s not my, that’s not my expertise. And I was being honest. And it was the easiest thing. Partly and this is important, Tony because that decision was made years ago. It wasn’t made on the spot.
Tony Alvarez  That’s true. I do understand that. Yes, I do.
Bruce Norris  So, but that, that prompted you to come to the front. You and I talked after that.
Tony Alvarez  Well, yeah, because I, as I was saying when that happened I think I wasn’t the only one feeling the stress of that moment. Okay, I think everyone in that room kind of was hanging on. What okay, what’s this guy gonna say? And, and the way you responded, it was very, it was just a very honest retort that you gave in it. And we all felt, we all felt in that moment. I think that we all knew Bruce Norris. I mean, then that’s what I, I didn’t know you up until that moment, but when you did that, boom! I thought okay, I’m going to meet this guy because I know matter what I asked this guy, he’s going to tell me the, the truth whether I want to hear it or not, he’s going to, he’s going to find a way to let me know exactly what he sees. So, that was extremely valuable. And you know, you only have to be in business for a short time nevermind your own personal life as you’re growing up to realize that you know, when somebody’s willing to tell you the way it is, regardless of the consequences, that’s somebody who you want to have as a friend so so I did I went up to the stage and I was there and I never forget it because I was the only one waiting behind the door playing there. Well, I wanted to be the first one in line you know, to, to get to you and, and sure enough I wanted to meet you and and I want, I wanted to become friends with you which by the way, is something that happened very naturally because I never, I don’t recall ever not sitting down with you and discussing of course I’m discussing my stuff and I had my questions about this or that that I didn’t feel that I didn’t have your 100% of your attention and your interest and whatever was going on with me. So, and that, and that, and you know you can, I, you can see you know when you’re dealing with someone if they’re talking to you because they got like I was at a meeting last night okay, I was at a at an apartment, not, not Apartment Owners, at a real estate club meeting up here. And the attorney who was speaking were very nice guy. But, but his, his, he couldn’t wait to get out of that room. Okay, so I can tell you, you can sense it. You know, he’s like, ‘okay, okay. Yep. You got another question? Yeah.’ He was in a real hurry to kind of get the hell out of there, you know?
Bruce Norris  Right.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah. So, so, so yeah, that started a friendship with you both on a personal level and on a business level that, that has been probably you, you represent one of the greatest relationships in my life, really, because you had such an impact. I can honestly tell you that if it wasn’t for our meeting, and for the, the genuine interest that you took, every time we sat to speak about anything, that I would have probably made some pretty dumb decisions. You know.
Bruce Norris  I really appreciate that. Well, what you showed me, you know, that that day was, you know, a portfolio of rentals. That was really impressive. That’s, and I think that what, what was the year ’03? Was that ’03 or ’04?
Tony Alvarez  Yes. Yeah. Yeah, ’03 yeah. Oh, yeah. That was Yeah, yeah.
Bruce Norris  So, you were you were basically on the verge of selling everything to accomplish, you know, some, some goals that you had set. And that would, and that, in fact, would accomplish it. And, and I was, I happen to have 93 Lots. So, it’s funny, you had the urgency, and you had a finished product. And I had no urgency dragging my feet to build 93 houses, because it wasn’t time yet.
Tony Alvarez  Right. I was riddled with fear at the time, because when you come through, you know, when you work really hard, and I had worked really, really, really hard and paid the price for it, I started, you know, nothing, and I and I, and then you take a hit, you know, and you end up losing your stuff. And you end up making pizzas at Shakey’s pizza or something, you know, what I can, all I remember was a little orange tie, the orange hat made me look like Porky Pig, you know, and…
Bruce Norris  And worked, and walking home.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah, and walking home and walking to work, I didn’t even have a car at that, at that time. So, you know, to get back into it, to get whatever it is to get back into the business, whatever it took, and I was down and out for about a year. And then, and then, you know, put your heart into that and then do everything that’s involved in getting it, you know, and getting back up again. You live to a certain extent, I mean, it’s a large part of what what stays with you is the fear that I could be there again.
Bruce Norris  Yeah.
Tony Alvarez  What’s it at any moment, I could be seeing something and I’m not seeing it clearly. Or I’m not seeing all the components behind all of these factors that are forever changing in the marketplace. It’s not just about, you know, the buy low, sell high. When, where, what’s coming?
Bruce Norris  Well, one of the, one of the things that you had said to me, and I don’t know if you said it in that meeting, but certainly later I heard that, you know, you basically set a goal to have 10 free and clear properties. So, in other words, you just wanted to lock in safety for your financial future.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah.
Bruce Norris  At that point, you had done that, if you had, if you had this chance to sell what you wanted to sell, that was a done deal, you had already accomplished your goal, if you wanted to do it.
Tony Alvarez  I had accomplished my goal way before that meeting with you. And the way that it happened was that the initial part was working, I did it one house at a time kind of thing. And, and, and honestly, I got I blew past my goal without even realizing I had done it only because I got so good at, quite frankly, working and building relationships with people that could help me and I, but I built those relationships based on my performance because they knew, you know, like yourself to be very frank, I was unwilling, you know, after I came out of bankruptcy and went through and I had that experience. I had a time where I sat with myself and decided, okay, if I’m going to do this again, I’m going to change some things and, and part of that, to be very frank with you. Part of that decision making occurred on my walk home from the LA courthouse, I had to walk all the way to Burbank because they took my car in court, that the guy in the poor guy had been chasing me around to repossess my car for I don’t know how many months and the judge said, Mr. Alvarez, I’ll take your keys, please. Because the guy in the back over there has been looking for you for six months. And of course, oh, yeah, it was totally. And I said, Your Honor, how am I going to get home and he honestly don’t have those moments. He says, Mr. Alvarez, I don’t care if you walk home, which was exactly what I was going to have to do. But all of those things culminate in, in developing, you know, how am I going to do this now and I remember on the way home, I’m gonna, I’m not there’s a lot of things. I’m not going to do the same. And there’s a few things that I’m going to do and one of them was I’m not going to I’m not lying to anybody about anything. I’m not going to pretend about anything. I’m not going to, I have to catch myself. Because when you’re new, when you’re young, and you start out, you know, and you’re doing well, some of those things go to your head, you know, and you think it’s all about you, you think you’re the guy making it all happen, and then blah, blah, blah, and all that happy nonsense. And then, when the rug gets pulled out from under you, you realize, man, that it was luck. I was, I was riding on a cloud and luckier, working hard. But I think, I don’t know, I remember you said something some one time that you said, in an appreciating market, even a monkey to get wealthy or something like that, you know, I forget who it was something like that. And I remember thinking that is so accurate, you know, because all of us think we’re geniuses, you know, but I, I got past that 10 house mark without realizing I did it. And I was way beyond it. And then one night, I had a dream. And that’s how it all started. I had a dream I was because I carried the fear in me of losing it. And I had a dream that they would listen to this. Because to show you by imagination, there was an earthquake because I was in the Antelope Valley and you know, all runs right through it. So, in my dream, there was an earthquake. My house is all fell down, killed my tenants, and I was getting sued by but I woke up in the middle of the night, Bruce, my heart was beating in my chest.
Bruce Norris  Oh, my God.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah. And I was totally panicked. And all I thought of is liquidate it, just sell everything. Just, just just do it now, because what if this happens? What if something takes place? And then that’s when I had the I went seeking advice and, and we met thank God, because had I not met you see how long was I mean, had I not met you? I would have I would have head to the door. But as soon as possible, pay the taxes or whatever. And I didn’t want to do that. But I had a conversation with you after that, and I went to see you also at your office. Then you stopped with me, you looked at my stuff. And you came back and I thought you were gonna confirm my fears. I thought you were gonna say, Get out now. And you said it. And then forget it because it was I counted and I went home afterwards and I counted and it was 10 words that you said to me, you said something to the effect of I don’t think your area’s done yet. You know, and, and I was for a second I was in shock but I had such at that moment in time in our relationship. I had such a great respect for your knowledge and for for the way you saw things and then you went on to tell me about those lots that you’d bought. I was in Palmdale Lancaster and you were in Rosamond which I consider to be even a worst area.
Bruce Norris  It is, it is a horse area. You know, it’s what’s funny, you know, in the areas that you bought and Rosamond how many, how many years out of 20 years? Do you have a shot at making a big pile of money in Rosamond? Like two?
Tony Alvarez  Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Bruce Norris  It didn’t even pencil. I was dragging my feet in 2003. Because it wouldn’t pencil.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah.
Bruce Norris  And in 2005 when we sold them all it penciled great. And literally, we get done with the houses, the timeframe was so tight, that something started to happen to the market. And we had two escrows fall out at 280. And all of a sudden no one shows up at any open house. Now three months later, people were like literally showing up and fighting to get a reservation at a house that wasn’t complete yet. Now, we have nobody coming. So, we auction off. What was it? 280 house for 205. And a few years later, I think you bought one for under 40, so…
Tony Alvarez  Yes, no, absolutely. I was buying and I was so happy. I was out there because I remember people have to understand folks that are not familiar with this with this area. I mean, I mean, you don’t even get it. This doesn’t even come up on your GPS. Okay, you can drive through that place and blink and you’re right through Rosamond you don’t even know you passed it. I think there’s one offering.
Bruce Norris  One exit. Yeah, that’s right. One exit. And how many exits are after Rosamond? None for 40 miles.
Tony Alvarez  You get to Mojave.
Bruce Norris  Yeah, it’s the end of civilization, basically.
Tony Alvarez  Yes, yes. But, but I yeah, I we ended up buying I think we ended up we bought, I think after well after 2000, 2008, 2009 whatever the heck it was. We ended up buying some in the in the 40s. And we even bought some into a couple in the 30s. But, but we bought quite a few in there. And but, but you are right, the window that you had to liquidate in that market is it to really benefit.
Bruce Norris  It was as far as all that time. So, you can see you know, that’s why timing and charts and understanding how that mechanism works was really vital for that project because two years later, that wouldn’t work for a long time again, you know, if you had, if you had land in Rosamond right now it would work You know, probably two years ago, it might not have worked. So, that was your that’s your window. Only crazy times work in those areas. So, so, you decided to keep the pile of homes that you had. I remember getting this phone call. So, so you had a lot of homes. And so you asked me well, what month is the best month for me to sell houses? Yeah.
Tony Alvarez  It was a, was a blink of an eye. I mean… That really shows you the level of respect I had in your knowledge. I thought you should know the answer that question.
Bruce Norris  I thought it showed that you want to sell every house at the peak at the month. I said, I think you’ll be your own worst enemy. You’ll have too many houses. Anyway.
Tony Alvarez  No, I, it all, it all. And that was, those were, those were, that was a heck of a ride. Really. I mean, and, and going, going through all of that stuff was oh my goodness, yeah, there you go.
Bruce Norris  Shouldn’t your, if you’re the gateway to progress, shouldn’t you paint your sign like once every 20 years?
Tony Alvarez  It looks like somebody drives by and shoots at it.
Bruce Norris  That’s a funny sign.
Tony Alvarez  It was, it was it was, it was a great time, it really was a great time in my business at that point in time, was pretty much on autopilot. I mean, I was very involved every single day up at five o’clock in the morning. And you know, I was at the job site by 6:37 o’clock. I visited every rehab job site. I mean, I was really involved in everything. So, I really enjoyed the heck out of it. But yeah, I was, I would, I would say that my mindset at the time, was desperation to liquidate so that I didn’t get hurt. I didn’t get caught at that point in the marketplace, where nobody wants to, wants to buy your stuff. And you said it, that’s why your words were so impactful. When I, you, we have a conversation and you said and I can’t remember, I think it was uh, you called me. And you said I think the conversation what was very brief, you said, ‘dump it all. Now.’ And, of course, this is three years later, okay, three years later, after my first initial meeting. And, and I of course, I’m up $3 million dollars. And then all I did was hold on to this stuff. I didn’t have to do another deal. It just all appreciated. You know, it’s all it was all in place, or whatever the heck you want to call it. But it was it was pandemonium. People were as a matter of fact, I sold houses. And I remember this because I remember feeling the pain of thinking I was selling too early in the ICL houses that people went on to resell and make like 30, 40 grand it means the houses I was selling for 300,000 that I paid 30 grand for and I’m licking my wounds over not picking up another 30 100 another 30,000
Bruce Norris  I’m surprised I didn’t get a call with a multiple 30 grand, I’m 51.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah. So, so, so, so I said my response to you when you said dump it. I said, Well, wait a second. We’re up quite a bit in the market still, is still soaring. Bruce, are you sure about this? You know, so in you said, Okay. I’ll let you listen to what I’m going to tell you. Answer this question. Would you rather sell your stuff to a euphoric market when everybody wants it? Or do you want to try selling it when no one’s going to want your stuff? And you brought me back to when I had actually experienced that in my past. And I said my only response to you was ‘Okay, thank you.’ I mean, you, you brought with with that question, you brought me right back to reality. My greed got kicked out the door. And I’m not going to tell you that it was easy because I would have you know, I would hear about and never forget, I ran into a woman at a grocery store that she was checking out and her daughter and they have bought a house from me and that she was reselling it. So, she thought you know, she’s had an investment now she’s gonna resell out. I’m flipping the house and making 35,000. And there was a part of me that went, dammit, I knew I shouldn’t sold.
Bruce Norris  That’s funny.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah, we liquidated everything as instructed. And Bruce, I mean, it was huge. Because my goal was $1 million. I want to 10 houses that were all going to be worth you know, I’m buying them in the 30s and 40s. And whatever, I bought a house for 15 grand one time and I’m, I’m going to liquidate and I’m going to I’m going to keep them till they’re worth, you know, $100,000 each, and they’ll be paid off in 10 years, right? And then I’m going to own and I’m going to be getting $1,000 rent for each house. My image will cost me about 20% Because I manage it myself. So, I’m going to net $8,000 a month that’s all I want it? I mean, I didn’t want, you talking to somebody who came from absolutely nothing financially? Right? I mean, my, we are born in Cuba, we came here with, I mean, I clean floors, I did all kinds of menial work my whole life. I was a high school dropout. It’s not like I’m looking to the future to say, Oh, I’m some, you know, I’m gonna, I’m gonna be doing this or that I’m gonna get this great paying job. I had to go back to school at night just to learn appraising and understand real estate at a more sophisticated level. But most of my stuff was just doing it, you know, just doing it on the street.
Bruce Norris  You know, it’s really interesting about the take on, so I sold, oops, what did I do?
Tony Alvarez  I don’t know, I’m here.
Bruce Norris  Alright, well, I gotta find out what I did wrong to make you disappear. Okay, there we go. That’s scary whenever I touch something. So, if I, if I talk to Tony, Tony Alvarez, or even have a discussion with myself, I want to sell everything. I you know, you talked to Mike Cantu who wants to keep everything.
Tony Alvarez  Right.
Bruce Norris  It didn’t it, it was a different type of inventory. It was part of his very long plan. So, you had the plan to keep stuff. But I think there was round two and round three that you had in your mind that that was playable again. Now, I want to your, you have a very smart business model. When you have the REO market, you make friends, and you are friends with the people that control the inventory. And you, and they trust you. It’s well learned. So, that’s, that’s like on automatic pilot. Tony, we have another one. We have another one.
Tony Alvarez  Right.
Bruce Norris  Now, but when you got rid of them, what did how did you reward them? When you saw…
Tony Alvarez  At the time, as you know, when the market is soaring, right? And it’s in, It’s pandemonium. Everyone’s all the buyers are made. It’s a seller’s market. What’s, what’s the thing that everyone, all the sellers, the typical mom and pop sellers and stuff, they’re looking to pay as little commission as they possibly can. And they don’t want to pay anything if they can, you know, that’s where, you know, help you sell. And all those things came out at the time, right? Almost house for 1%. And all this nonsense. Okay? So, my deal was, here’s a property I’m paying $30,000 for right at the time, right? And the 30 35,000, I’m going to spend five to 10 grand to fix this this place up, and then I’m going to be selling it and now it’s $300,000. Do, you know, the mind gonna worry about what I’m going to pay a commission for, no, I wanted to pay a full commission. And that was the deal that I made with the agents, if you bring me a deal, if you bring me a deal. And they were, and the people I work with, understood, because I trained them without really saying that out loud. I worked with them carefully. And some of them were knowledgeable Don Anderson, one of my best friend brokers, he didn’t need me to teach him anything, if anything, the only thing he learned from me was when we would go to sell, he was always wanting to sell it lower than what I knew I could get for that house. And one day he finally admitted to me, he said, ‘You know, I realized that this is your income. And I need to respect your opinion on this stuff. Because, you know, I’m looking at selling, selling real estate sounds great, you know, and I’m looking for the number that’s going to bring the most buyers, and to you every penny counts, right?’ So, so, but that’s that you develop? How do you develop friendships, you know, you develop it by both parties understanding each other. I understood a lot about him, right? He, he valued his family. He valued what he did for work, he valued his knowledge, right? So, I wanted him to know that I respected that I valued that. So, I said to him, when you bring me a deal, I can tell you a couple of things. Number one, if Tony gets off his chair, to go look at a piece of property, he wants to own that piece of property. If it’s interesting enough for me to do that, I want to own that I’m not going to go out to look around and walk around and say, Oh, no, you know, I think I’ll I’m not going to make an offer on this, I’m going to make an offer. And if I make an offer and it gets accepted, I’m owning that thing. Even if I find a dead body buried underneath it, okay, I’m committed. So, he knew that he didn’t have to worry if we got to the offer stage and it was accepted. It’s a done deal. I’m not going to cancel escrow on him midway or when he’s going to find out I don’t have the money or you know, also when I go to sell it, whether it’s a month from now, or 10 years from now, it’s going right back to him. If he’s no longer working in the business, he needs to refer me to who he wants to give that commission to. And I’m paying a full 6% or whatever the commission is at the time. That’s his call, not mine. And why is because in my mind, he was as much an owner of that inventory as I was. He brought it to me because he had confidence in me. And I understand that because over time I got to learn what his fears were, right. If I don’t do that rehab correctly, right if I don’t take care of things if I’m just, you know, making it like lipstick on a pig, they call it right. And I’m not really taking care of, of issues. It got to the point Bruce and I just had this conversation with someone up here recently. I said, Yeah, because they said, What is the biggest thing that you ever gave as a guarantee or anything to someone? You know? I said, I remember one time I had a person I sold a house to and I got and it was one of Don’s deals, Don Anderson’s deal, Don called me said, ‘Hey, we got a problem.’ It was it was raining like crazy. And it was in the fall in El Valley. And this guy had sold the house to who was a veteran. He got some leaks on his roof. And we had done a roof cert and all that kind of stuff. I said, ‘Why are you calling me?’ So, while we tried to call the guy did the roof, sir. He’s not responding. I said, Okay. He said, Tony, you got to, you got to, you got to take care of this. I said, don’t worry about it, Don. Give me the guy’s address. I’ll go by and talk to them see what needs to be. I’m thinking we’re going to repair this roof. And I go to this guy’s house. When I knock on the door. It’s pouring cats and dogs, okay. And in the Antelope Valley, whenever it rains brother, it rains like a flood. She opens the door, the wife opens the door. She’s laughing hysterically. And she goes, ‘Excuse me, I can’t, I can we help you?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m here to, I sold you this house’ and I look, her husband’s in the back, I can see him running around with pots and pans.
Bruce Norris  Oh no.
Tony Alvarez  It’s not a leak….water coming in, I felt so embarrassed. You know, the end result is we ended up putting him up and they’re laughing about it. They weren’t. They’re not looking to kill me, right? They couldn’t believe it. We put them up in a hotel, we pay for everything. I reroofed his house for years after that, that man would come to our office and bring his friends and say that’s the guy six months after because we told them the house in the summer time and this happened in the Fall Winter. He said he repaired my roof. When he didn’t have to do that. He could have just said hey, we got a roof surge and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you find a note. And I told the story before if I didn’t know what I was gonna get so many referrals from people as a result of redoing the roofs, I would have done more of them, even if I would have been drilling those holes myself just to have to repair the roof. But well…
Bruce Norris  I don’t want people to miss one of the more important things is Don Anderson was around in the next phase.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah.
Bruce Norris  Of downturn?
Tony Alvarez  Yes.
Bruce Norris  So, what you did had another life?
Tony Alvarez  Oh, absolutely.
Bruce Norris  Completely. So, it wasn’t necessarily why you did it. But that agent learned a lot about you when you did the first four or five dozen houses.
Tony Alvarez  Right.
Bruce Norris  And now, when he starts touching 500 of those houses, Toni Alvarez deserves the first call.
Tony Alvarez  And I want you to know that it’s very true. I love gardening stuff and stuff like that, you know, in plants, they have things that are annuals or perennials, right. Some of though and I never can remember which is which, but one of them dies out. And that’s it. You gotta go buy a new one and plant it. And another one looks like it’s dead. Right? And then when the springtime comes, it blooms again, it comes out and it’s a whole other plant. And over time, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, right? In relationships with those brokers and those agents was exactly the same. It didn’t die out when the market changed. If anything, and I stayed in touch with a lot of folks, some people left some people moved on that they changed their jobs or whatever. But those relationships flourished over time. And and they were, it paid off in the next market. I told you that in the downturn, we experienced that hit in the Antelope Valley in 2006. And so we kept our office open. We, we kept looking for stuff. But really, the market was declining. And it was like where do you when’s this going to stop? You know, we jumped back in as really active buyers in, in 2008. And I went straight back to those same brokers and agents and it was a love relationship where I’m walking in. I’m getting hugged. Hallelujah. We thought you left. I said no, because the worst thing I told Donald time was he’s not thinking about retiring. What are you talking about? I’m thinking about I’m thinking about ganging it up, you know, I’ve done all, I’ve done. Well, you know, and it was in excess of at the time, it was in excess of $10 million dollars. I mean, come on, you know, for the kid from Cuba, who came over here I was a million dollars to me was a huge amount of money. And something to look forward to in here. I mean, it was, it’s been it was the greatest ride ever. And I didn’t crash and burn any of those relationships. I didn’t end it. I mean, the 2008 we got right back in the marketplace, started buying again and rolled that market up again. Did it again. I even bought some of the same exact houses that I had bought with 30, I’m not lying, not lying.
Bruce Norris  Yep. Yeah. I know.
Tony Alvarez  And they can go look, people can look this stuff up. Evergreen properties, I bought houses for 30s sold them for 300,000. Then bought it again for $40,000. It was, it was, I mean Sabrina used to laugh at me she can’t be this easy. And I say, Well, you know what, it just seems easy. Because we’re so familiar with the area, we’re so connected with the same brokers. It seems like it’s easy, it makes it seem like it’s it’s a no brainer. I said, but believe me that took years of hard work and dedication and making, really making a commitment to myself that I would conduct myself in a certain way.
Bruce Norris  But really, realized the two disciplines that made that possible. You had to have the willingness to sell, when everything was crazy, and you did have that thought it could get crazier and I could make more, but you discipline yourself. But you also had the discipline to buy this stuff again. When a lot of people I even the 300 grand house sell it’s 45 There wasn’t a lot of crowd going after that yet because there was so much fear in the market.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah, no, that’s a very good point. And let me just clear one thing up. My first purchase in the Antelope Valley was for $68,000. These are houses I had bought in the 30s keep in mind, the market was going down still, it was still declining. I remember that conversation with Sabrina, Sabrina, my assistant for many years I was nervous. She had already learned how to buy and so it kind of forced her to get into it. And and I had said to her this time around, you’re gonna pull the trigger on a lot of these deals. ‘Oh, I can’t do this. I don’t ,you’re crazy. I can’t do what you do.’ I said, okay, yeah, we’ll figure, we’ll see how poorly you do. She did fabulous. In the first house. I paid 68 grand, she told me I was nuts. She said what do you bind that house and that house by the by the way ended up being a legal non conforming. It was it was a single family on a lot that the city had changed the zoning in the middle of between 2006 and 2008. They had rezoned it to commercial, I couldn’t even get a loan on that house. From a bank. I didn’t even know that at the time. I want you to know I bought that house all cash, right? So, in that moment in time, you couldn’t get financing. Nobody would touch you. And my credit was excellent. I had literally millions of dollars in the bank.
Bruce Norris  Yeah. I remember you were borrowing, you were borrowing from us because you couldn’t get a credit, line of credit.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah, I remember going into at the time it was Mission Bank, in Mojave bank, George Nagy, who had been a really good good friend for many years. And I went I said, George, I gotta, I gotta set this up. I gotta need some money. I’m fine like crazy. We can’t touch it. Tony, you’re an investor. That’s a swear word around here. You see, we can’t we can’t do anything. I said, Are you joking?
Bruce Norris  I remember you because you, while you had sort of sold all your rental properties, which was income, and turned it into this gigantic pile of cash. So, the first comment was, well, you don’t have any income. So, I recall you by him. You only reason I remember this is because we were involved in the loan stuff. So, you bought 30 houses and created yourself $30,000 a month income went back to him. And he said it has to be on two years, but tax returns. There’ll always be a place for private money. That’s what I thought.
Tony Alvarez  Yeah, the you know, it was funny, but that was like a one step at a time I go back, they reject me for one reasonm I go back, they reject me for another reason. But I tell you what I did, okay. Here’s, I said, I would say to him, and they have a little coffee machine in the front, they would put coffee and sometimes they’d have like a muffin or something, you know, and I would always go in, grab a cup of like a Keurig machine, you know, grab a cup of coffee, and get myself a muffin or something and go in and say, ‘hey, I want to see George’, ‘what would you here last week, Tony?’ ‘Yeah, I’m here to see him again.’ And he and he’d see me and he starts shaking his head. He’s a lovely, lovely guy, right? He’d say, ‘didn’t I tell you we’re not doing those loans?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know. And I’m gonna be here next week again.’ He said, ‘Why are you putting yourself through this?’ I said, ‘because George is going to come a moment when you are going to be doing those loans. And I want to be the guy first in line for that deal.’ And he laughed. Okay. So, I don’t know six months a year, whatever the heck it was goes by my cell phone rings. I looked down and it’s George and, I opened it up I say ‘yes’. ‘Tony, I need you to come by and see me today.’ I said ‘did things change?’ He goes ‘Let’s talk in person.’ I said ‘I knew it. I knew it.’ And they went on to do a tremendous amount of deals for me and then and then they got bought out by Mission Bank and Mission bank and my relationship with them was so wonderful. That up here in the Oregon where I’m doing business now. When I first came up here I had, I had a bit of a head bucking session with one of the lenders here it was, it was just a mistake that they that they made. And I was complaining about it. That’s the kind of relationship I have with the guys now that down at Mission bank, I was, I was talking to them, and I said, I can’t believe that put me through. And you know what their response was, you know, we’re gonna have, we’re gonna have a meeting and see if we don’t open a branch up there and handle your stuff. Now, that’s, you can’t get any better. Of course, I said, No, that’s not you know, I mean, are you pulling my leg? He said, No, we’re thinking about expanding. And he said, It would be great. If you know, you were doing all your deals to start with. And, you know, we’ll, we’ll connect up there. And I said, No, I don’t want that responsibility. God forbid, you know, but, but yeah, it’s been, it’s been a great, great experience. And, and it’s basically using those, those same kind of those same kind of moves, where, yes, I’m motivated by a little dream, that seems a little now, right. But I look back, but it was huge to me then. And it was really more about analyzing my own behavior, my own, my own, how I conduct myself, you know, my own actions, and making sure that when I deal with other people that I care about the level of their success, I’ve always said as much as my own. And, and I was able to embody that in my decisions, I was really able to bring that to life. And I did not want to be involved in any other type of decision-making, I refuse to do it. Just like I would always tell people that I find cooperation in business affairs a lot better than, than a competitive mindset. In competition, I have nothing against competition. It’s a real mindset, and it’s part of what we do. But I want to get from competition to cooperation as fast as I can, you know, and I would always, if I found myself in a difficult situation where there’s another business person in me and we’re fighting for the same thing or whatever, whatever, you know, I would say why don’t we just partner up bro and I’m not a big partner guy I want you to know, I’m, I’m a Lone Rider, you know, and like, do my own thing because I want to be able to have the freedom to make those decisions without having to look at somebody else and then worry about do they see things the same way do we have any principles really. So, but I would rather do that then you know, call up, you know call the attorney and start butting heads over this or that I’m that’s something we know,so.
Narrator  For more information on hard money, loans and upcoming events with The Norris Group, check out thenorrisgroup.com. For information on passive investing with trust deeds, visit tngtrustdeeds.com.
Aaron Norris  The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669. For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.