Housing Portfolios and Rentals With Mike Cantu #655

Bruce Norris is joined again this week by Mike Cantu. Mike wears a lot of hats in the real estate world. He's a wholesaler flipper and occasional builder and property manager of his own portfolio of well-selected rentals. He has trained other people, and after all this time is still a student.

In this segment, Bruce and Mike will discuss how he accomplished one of his biggest goals, what led him to own a rental portfolio, what events shaped the direction he went in his life with his work, Mic Blackwell and his influence on him, his daily morning routine to prepare him for the day, his biggest influencers as far as teachers, and much more all on the real estate radio show.

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.


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Real Estate Investing With Mike Cantu #654

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Mike Cantu. Mike wears a lot of hats in the real estate world. He's a wholesaler flipper and occasional builder and property manager of his own portfolio of well-selected rentals. He has trained other people, and after all this time is still a student.

In this segment, Bruce and Mike will discuss how an infomercial got him interested in real estate investing, his experience and time working with Mick Blackwell, his first jobs and how much he made compared to when he was an investor, how he learned discipline and dedication and how he carried it over, how early he showed signs of being an entrepreneur, and much more all on the real estate radio show.

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.


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Expert Investor Mike Cantu Joins Bruce Norris on the Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show #536

Bruce Norris is joined again this week by Mike Cantu. Mike has worn a lot of hats: real estate investor, entrepreneur, property manager, sometimes speaker, and full-time capitalist.

Bruce and Mike discuss what prepared him for the 2008 downturn, mobile home parks and how they differ from regular homes in terms of investment, his goals and whether they have changed over the years, what effect the downturn had on people's character, his experience with a promissory note, how he handles properties and how Bruce has adopted this, and much more on this week's Norris Group real estate radio show and podcast.

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Expert Investor Mike Cantu Joins Bruce Norris on the Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show #535

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Mike Cantu. He has worn a lot of hats: real estate investor, entrepreneur, property manager, speaker, and full-time capitalist.

Bruce and Mike discuss the different hats he wears, how he first got started as an entrepreneur, the reason many do not make it buying and selling homes themselves, how he first got started in real estate itself, his experience in dealing with big downturns, his most influential trainers, and much more on this week's Norris Group real estate radio show and podcast.

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Tony Alvarez and Mike Cantu Join Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #380

Bruce Norris is joined again this week by Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez. Mike is a real estate entrepreneur, property manager, wholesaler, builder, teacher, and mentor who has purchased a huge number of homes at a discount from people he talks to over the phone and rarely meets. Tony is a real estate entrepreneur, property manager, teacher, and mentor who mostly buys properties by creating relationships with agents who control a lot of inventory. Bruce, Tony, and Mike discuss their motivations for joining real estate, what determined one's success, the "how much is enough" rule, Bruce's and Tony's experiences in teaching their different assistants real estate, the upcoming Millionaire Maker, and much, much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

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Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez Join Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #379

Bruce Norris is joined this week by real estate entrepreneur, property manager, wholesaler, builder, teacher and mentor Mike Cantu.He has purchased a huge number of homes at a discount from people he talks to over the phone and rarely meets. Also on today’s show is Tony Alvarez, who is a real estate entrepreneur, property manager, teacher, and mentor who mostly buys properties by creating relationships with agents who control lots of inventory. Bruce, Tony, and Mike discuss what got them started in real estate, the turning points in their lives, the boxes in life people build and how this affects their lives, the past Millionaire Maker and what stood out, the upcoming Millionaire Maker, and much, much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

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Mike Cantu Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #361

Bruce Norris is joined again this week by Mike Cantu. Mike is an entrepreneur who made his fortune buying homes below market value. He would either hold them as rentals or flip them as profit. He also works out of his home and keeps everything simple. Bruce and Mike discuss the challenges and accomplishments throughout the year, the times when it is a good idea to not participate in the market, Nick Blackwell's impact on Mike's life, the number of people Mike flips homes to in a year, whether or not finding properties will be different in 2014, and much, much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.
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Mike Cantu Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #360

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Mike Cantu. Mike is an entrepreneur who made his fortune buying homes below market value. He would either hold them as rentals or flip them as profit. Bruce and Mike discuss his avid passion for reading up on real estate, his real estate and non-real estate goals for next year, the volume he expects to have going into 2014, the measurable progress both he and expert Jim Roane expect to see, the assignments he has on properties, the wise decisions people made during the 07-08 crisis, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.
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Mike Cantu, Tony Alvarez, and Rick Solis Join Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #300

For our 300th radio podcast, Bruce Norris is joined by three special guests: Rick Solis, Mike Cantu, and Tony Alvarez. Rick Solis is a very successful investor who flies a little bit below the radar. He is an appraiser, buys trust deeds, and buys properties. Tony Alvarez, who invented the radar, is the REO Mentor and is a very successful buyer and teacher. He works with buying and holding, buying and selling, does wholesaling, and buys currently out of the MLS. Mike Cantu is a very successful property buyer. He has been a developer, landlord, and trainer. He is specialized in talking to clients on the phone and never meeting a soul who he buys houses from. Bruce discusses with them home prices in the lower end markets as well as the varying cities, hedge funds, the competition in the market and private party deals Mike has put together, the mailers Rick sends out and the attitude of those receiving them, the difference today when promising returns, the inevitable price increases, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

In other news, the fifth annual I Survived Real Estate will be meeting on October 19 this year. The Norris Group would like to thank their gold and platinum sponsors for helping to make this event possible.

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Mike Cantu, Tony Alvarez, and Rick Solis Join Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #291

Today on the show are three special guests. Rick Solis is a very successful investor who flies a little bit below the radar. He is an appraiser, buys trust deeds, and buys properties.
Tony Alvarez, who invented the radar, is the REO Mentor and is a very successful buyer and teacher. He works with buying and holding, buying and selling, does wholesaling, and buys currently out of the MLS.
Mike Cantu is a very successful property buyer. He has been a developer, landlord, and trainer. He is specialized in talking to clients on the phone and never meeting a soul from whom he buys houses.
Bruce discusses with them the first time they were inspired to invest in real estate, how their children view real estate, the time they had their first good stretch of real estate, their toughest times in the job, their definition of wealthy, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast. 

In other news, the fifth annual I Survived Real Estate will be meeting on October 19 this year.  The Norris Group would like to thank their gold and platinum sponsors for helping to make this event possible. 


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Tony Alvarez and Mike Cantu Join Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #237

Bruce is joined once again this week by Tony Alvarez and Mike Cantu,  two of the most popular buyers and now trainers in California.  Bruce, Mike, and Tony discuss their different methodologies for buying and selling houses, people who were the biggest influences in Mike's life, how both of them were involved in the education side of real estate, how Bruce was the one who influenced Tony to keep going in the business, their advice for starting over when you have lost everything, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.


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Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez Join Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #236

Bruce is joined this week by Tony Alvarez and Mike Cantu.  Both names are household names in Southern California real estate investor buying.  Bruce, Mike, and Tony discuss how they got started in the business, negotiating in real estate, knowing what goals you want to have and keeping a record of them, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.


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Mike Cantu, Tony Alvarez, and Rick Solis #201

This week, The Norris Group celebrates its 201st episode and we're joined by Tony Alvarez, Mike Cantu, and Rick Solis. The four discuss the rental market, what the three like in a rental including square footage, bedrooms, and number of bathrooms, areas they all like and buy in, school districts, holding condos in the current California market, section 8, the current state of REO and shadow inventory, dealing with renters, and much more.

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Mike Cantu, Tony Alvarez, and Rick Solis #200

This week, The Norris Group celebrates its 200th episode! Thanks everyone for your continued support for our work. Our goal is always to provide the best information to help you in your California real estate business. This week, we have a special show featuring three of our favorite guests: Tony Alvarez, Mike Cantu, and Rick Solis. The four discuss what they would do if they could do it all over again, what they've been working on in the current market, and the different business models they all have. The three also talk about price and rent declines.

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Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez #154

Bruce Norris is joined this week by California real estate investors Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez. The three discuss what they would do if they needed to start all over again after losing everything. They discuss how different strategies work for different people and personality types. Thank you Mike and Tony for your time. Happy holidays all.

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Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez #153

Bruce Norris is joined this week by California real estate investors Mike Cantu and Tony Alvarez which talk about how they got started, goals, and creating wealth. They also discuss early struggles in the business and how they got past downturns. Tony and Mike will be guests next week as well.

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California Investor Mike Cantu #109

Bruce Norris is joined once again this week by California investor and property manager expert, Mike Cantu.

Bruce asks about how Mike feels about the use of leverage in this market. Mike says leverage when buying at the right price is fine. Finding the long term leverage is the issue. It’s a challenge because banks want fully qualified and documented loans and stated income is out for investors. Bruce thinks this will change because they’ll have no choice but to open up to investors. It getting over the issue of investors being considered the “speculator” and everyone realizes we’re part of the solution.

Bruce asks Mike what his long term rental would look like. Mike goes into details exactly what he looks for in long term holds including structure and neighborhood. Mike and Bruce also talks about paying a little more for property that is premium. Both talk about neighborhoods and why he likes certain types.

Mike goes into a little more detail about renters and what he looks for when considering renting to a consumer. Mike goes over his job description concept. It’s truly unusual for the renters to hear what Mike has as expectations. Mike says a few people get offended by his direct questions but he ends up with some of the lowest turnover in the business.

If he and the renter make it to signing the rental agreement, he hopes that the renter forgets what he looks like because he never has to hear from them and visa versa. He rarely sees many of his tenants because of correct tenant selection.

Mike talks about liking to rent to blue collar workers. He loves tenants that fix things along the way and then sends him a receipt. Better to solve problems as they come up instead of letting them turn into big problems.

Bruce talks about questions Mike asks that are legal on the first meeting. He says humor and personality are important. Mike talks about things you can’t talk about as outlined in the Fair Housing Guidelines. You can’t not rent to people because of moral issues so be careful and understand what you’re getting into.

Bruce asks what the biggest surprise was that a renter ever gave Mike. Mike talks about a few good surprises and some bad experiences.

Bruce asks Mike about Section 8. Mike says he has mixed feelings about Section 8. Mike likes to be a little more independent. He has seen good and bad. The biggest issue comes with inspections. In his experience, houses don’t break themselves. People break houses and inspectors expect you to fix what renters break.

Bruce asks about rents and if he expects them to go down. Mike has seen his rental market get stronger as people move back to his area that had once gone to the high desert but have now foreclosed. He had a few vacancies but once they were fixed they were rented within 30 days. He says he’s even done a round of rent raises this year and no one has moved.

The biggest mistakes are buying the wrong house and overestimating rent. You can’t be way over on rent. Investors have to do their homework on the tenant and accepting a person check for deposit and first months rent is a huge mistake.

Bruce asks about who handles evictions. He’s been very unhappy with services and luckily he doesn’t have very many. He’s seriously thinking about taking them on himself again.

Mike does not use a property manager and he urges people to learn what it is that an investor is about to pay somebody else to do.

Mike talks to Bruce about the time it takes from an REO purchase to rehab to rental. Mike would like people to start doing houses one at a time and not try too many at once.

Mike is teaching his “Rental Properties and Management” seminar live for the first time February 21st in Riverside. This course is being presented by The Norris Group. Visit thenorrisgroup.com for more information. Next week, Ward Hanigan!

Mike Cantu is undoubtedly one of Southern California's best real estate investors and a long-time friend of The Norris Group.

Mike Cantu has been a full time real estate investor for over 25 years. This is round three of a down market for Mike. He runs a buy/sell operation, wholesales, and manages a rental property portfolio.

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California Investor Mike Cantu #108

Bruce Norris is joined this week by expert investor, Mike Cantu.

Bruce starts by asking Mike what he did before real estate. Mike talks about his background in professional skate boarding. Mike moved from being a skate boarder to a very young start in real estate. Bruce says in the 1980s the interest rates were not that great so was curious why Mike liked real estate. Mike Cantu talks about an info commercial that changed his life and how he started.

Bruce asks Mike about his education and why he is such a supporter of education since he’s already so successful in the business.

Mike talks about his long-term plan. He’s really built as a buy and hold guy. Mike talks about his overall strategies and his mentors.

Bruce asks about the difference between a “B” and “C” neighborhoods and how Mike chooses which properties he’s interested in holding. Bruce and Mike talks about how important being able to purchase below market was to his business.

Bruce asks Mike if he thinks 2009 will be the best buy and hold opportunity we’ve ever seen. Mike thinks that this year will be a great year. Prices for houses are very low in some areas and rents are still relatively high.

Bruce asks Mike where he’s buying his properties and how long it’s taken for some of the properties he’s buying to close. They discuss the extraordinary price declines. Mike says he’s still contacting people directly but not as much. He says 2/3 of sellers are still in denial of what’s happened in the market.

Mike and Bruce discuss about carrying paper to have deals make sense. Mike says he did that he did that in the 80s and 90s but not as much recently.

Bruce asks Mike if he had to do something over in 2006 what would it be. Mike says take a two year vacation! It was a lot of work for sometimes little results.

Bruce and Mike talk about different strategies and how it changes the outlook on what real estate is going to be for different investors. Mike has a large portfolio of rentals and he knew prices were going to fall. Mike has a different philosophy. He wasn’t too interested in leveraging them all to the hilt. Mike says he saw leveraging work for some and others it was their downfall.

Mike talks about each of his houses and having a job description for each one. Mike doesn’t plan to touch any of these. Sometimes people feel it’s sometimes unsophisticated but “unlocking equity” has its own risks and Mike says he’s very clear on what his portfolio does. He heard horrible stories of people’s lifetime of work being wiped out by being too risky.

Mike discusses his two piles of houses and his goal for each pile. Bruce asks how he thinks people can get back on their feet if they have lost everything. He says go back to the basics.

Bruce asks about his calmness level over the past few years as the market has tanked. Mike says he planned for this and knew it was coming. He went through it before and was determined not to make the same mistakes. Bruce said he was glad to go through the 90s. Going through the pain makes you learn some important lessons. Going through the 90s for both Mike and Bruce gave them a very different outlook and respect for down markets and they’ve done things very different this year.

Mike is teaching his Rental and Property Management Seminar for the first time in conjunction with The Norris Group coming up February 21st. More information available at thenorrisgroup.com.

Mike Cantu is undoubtedly one of Southern California's best real estate investors and a long-time friend of The Norris Group.

Mike Cantu has been a full time real estate investor for over 25 years. This is round three of a down market for Mike. He runs a buy/sell operation, wholesales, and manages a rental property portfolio.

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Mike Cantu #40

Bruce is joined once again my Mike Cantu. In this interview, Mike talks about his plans for this cycle, how people without great wealth can participate in this cycle, why attitude is everything, working with Realtors, Mike’s criteria for properties, favorite target rentals, auctions, his long-term strategy, rentals in a down market, and how Mike does not use property managers.

Mike Cantu is undoubtedly one of Southern California's best real estate investors and a long-time friend of The Norris Group. Mike Cantu, 46 years old, has been a full time Real Estate Investor for over 25 years. This is round three of a down market for him. Mike runs a Buy/Sell operation, wholesales, and manages a rental property portfolio.
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Mike Cantu #39

Bruce is joined by one of California’s most savvy and experienced real estate investors, Mike Cantu. Bruce and Mike talk about how Mike got started, how Mike survived the last downturn, how he learned the business, how tough times can show you what you’re really made of, how this downturn is different, what common problems he sees investors dealing with, what makes him go into un-own mode, where deals will come from in this market, and if holding has ultimately been more profitable in the long-term.

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