Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 WIN OF THE WEEK: Closed Our Biggest Deal Ever and the Pipeline is Insane

We closed our biggest new development project to date this week. A scrape and build luxury duet with an exit ARV of $1.8 million dollars combined. That is pretty nuts. I mean two years ago I bought a 32 unit apartment complex for that same price. A 32 unit. Real estate is weird sometimes but location, location, location matters. That is the game.

On top of that we got the biggest project we have in our pipeline under contract. It is land that we are looking to build 9 townhome units on. It is around a $2.3 million dollar project with an ARV of around $3.3 million plus as well. Pretty crazy and this is only a few months into pivoting into development scaling focus. In our pipeline alone we are projected to have seven figure gross revenue in just like two to three months of focus. That is not a typo.

But here is the other win. Our 32 unit is finally fully leased and performing excellently and ready to list ASAP. I want to give a huge shout out here to Reeves Property Management. It is very very hard to find good property managers. We went through three of them on this deal alone and finally landed on Reeves and I wish we had them from the start. They fucking rock. If you are in NC or SC in the Charlotte or Rock Hill area, definitely reach out to them.

💨 WHIFF OF THE WEEK: I Hit a Wall and You Need to Know It's Okay to Break

I had a very very low day this past week. When it hit Friday and Saturday I just hit an absolute wall. I had no motivation. No happiness. Nothing. I just needed to check out and lay there. I think this was a combo of just being tired, a little burnt out from traveling and work and then just being in my own head. You know what, it is okay to feel that way. But you should try to catch it before it gets to that point and try to break up the path to it.

Here is what I did. I literally just shut everything down. I did not do any more work even though I had things to do. I just went for a run and then laid there and did nothing or barely anything for 24 hours. It was needed. I feel better now. But I need to ensure I do not get myself to that point again because it is not fair to everyone around me and especially Catelin.

Something us as entrepreneurs I think have to battle daily, weekly, and constantly is to separate yourself from work. Sometimes you can get so head down in it, it can actually negatively affect you. It can affect your relationships. It can affect your mood. It can affect your ability to make good decisions. So watch out for that.

🎯 TACTICAL TIP OF THE WEEK: The Assume Rule. Stop Assuming and Start Confirming.

I created a rule that I live by now and I call it the “Assume Rule”. Here it is. When you assume, you lose. So anytime you are assuming something that means you need to actually go confirm it immediately. Reach out to whoever you are assuming is taking care of it and make sure they are and make sure they understand it. This does not mean micromanage. It means anytime you have a thought of “did we do that?”, “hmm I assume xyz is taking care of it”, it means no, go ask. Send a message. Make a call. Confirm it.

Deals die because of assumptions. Fires happen because of assumptions. Balls get dropped because of assumptions. Assuming is a killer of momentum. Assuming is a killer of deals. Assuming is a killer of moving forward. So make it a rule. Stop assuming. Start confirming. The extra five minutes of confirmation will save you thousands of dollars and tons of headaches.

🔦 FROM THE FIELD: Understanding Zoning Workarounds and Playing the Subdivision Game

For the 9 unit townhome development we are building we have to be strategic about how to subdivide so we do not trigger a minor subdivision. A minor subdivision is a pain because it causes you to put in roads, streets, stormwater drains, curbs and all that stuff which becomes super expensive and would kill the deal. Trust me haha.

Some towns and cities have rules that if you subdivide side by side pieces of land you are the owner of, once you do it a certain amount of times it triggers that minor subdivision. You want to avoid that whenever you can. So what did we do? We worked with the seller. We had the seller subdivide one piece of the land first. Then if he did it again it would trigger the minor subdivision and we need three subdivisions total. So here is the creative move. We are now getting ownership of the land from him for no money down and 100 percent financing. That way when our name is on title and we complete the other two subdivisions we are good and we do not trigger the minor subdivision.

A lot of investing is understanding the workarounds with the zoning laws and the rules of the towns and the cities and the counties you work in. Keep that in mind. The rules are there but there are always creative ways around them if you know what to look for.

💰 Passive Investor Opportunities

We are continuing to move deals through the pipeline at Tide and Timber Ventures. If you have been curious about passive investing with our team, reach out. These opportunities fill fast and now is a solid time to have that conversation.

🐝 The Hive CLT Entrepreneurs Network 

The Hive community keeps growing. The conversations in that room actually move needles. We are building something special and if you are serious about your business and want to be around other builders, RSVP for our next event at https://jointhehive.co/

💬 FINAL WORD

This week showed me a few things. One, we are on the right path. The deals are getting bigger. The pipeline is getting stronger. The team is executing. The momentum is real. But two, and this is just as important, you have to take care of yourself while you are building. Burnout is real. Low moments are real. And it is okay to acknowledge them and take time to reset.

I hit a wall on Friday and Saturday and I needed that. I needed to stop. I needed to breathe. I needed to remember why I am building in the first place. And I did. Now I am back and ready to attack.

But here is what I also learned this week. Confirmation beats assumption every single time. The 9 unit deal works because we understood the zoning rules and we found a creative workaround. We did not assume we knew what to do. We confirmed. We asked questions. We worked with the seller. We found the path.

That is how you scale. You confirm instead of assume. You take care of yourself instead of burning out. You find creative solutions instead of following the normal path. You keep pushing but you also know when to stop and rest.

The $1.8 million dollar duet project closed. The 9 unit project is under contract. The 32 unit is fully leased. The revenue pipeline is 7 figures plus. That is what momentum looks like when you do it right. That is what scaling looks like when you understand the rules and you break them creatively.

Keep pushing. Keep confirming. Keep building. But remember to breathe too.

Grow or die.

Keep growing or die,