Hello everyone and Welcome to another

episode of Selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

Greenville, South Carolina, I'm your host

as always Stan Mccune realtor here in the

Greenville area you can find all of my

contact information in the show notes if

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you use me as your realtor at some point

hopefully in your lifetime here in

Greenville today I'm very excited to

have a real estate investor in the

Greenville area on the show to have a

great conversation this has been in

the works for a little for a

little bit it's been the works for a

minute and a lot of that is just

it's just my fault I've just been so

busy but I have Willie Coleman here

on the show Willie is maybe the Maybe

started in real estate investing younger

than anyone else in Greenville I don't

know anyone else that started earlier he

started at the age of

15 and is now still very young

22 years old which blows my mind because

I've been I mean I've known Willie

since pre-pandemic for sure so you

would have been I mean like a teenager

when we first met but I didn't know that

right right you you held you held

yourself a lot to a much higher

standard than a standard 17 18y

old but Willie yeah before I let

Willie have the mic as it were I

just want to say that he really knows

real estate when you're working with

other Real Estate Investors and me as

both an agent and an investor it becomes

apparent pretty quickly if people

actually know what they're doing and it

became very quickly that Willie does

know what he's doing despite his

his smile and charm he's a pretty

ruthless negotiator as well I'll say

but whether flipping houses

building new construction owning Airbnb

properties

wholesaling whatever game respects

game Willie has done it all and so

yeah Willie thanks for coming on the

show I really appreciate it man Stan

well first off thank you for having me

I'm pumped to be here

we got to keep doing these Greenville

podcasts it's like we got everything

else growing so let's grow this side too

so I'm excited to keep it in the in the

in the city if you if you'd have it and

ab thanks for having me yeah yeah Willie

for those of you that don't know

Willie was recently on the cash compound

podcast with local Legend JD do I

have I don't know JD super well but

we overlapped at College and so he

was he did a lot for Bob Jones

University when he was there he's done a

lot for the City of Greenville as well

great I mean I don't know how much hype

stuff he's doing but he's like the

ultimate hype man to me like even

sorry what was that no yeah you're right

I mean he's like gille's mascot at this

point right yeah just when I hear his

voice I just get hyped it doesn't matter

what he's talking about yeah but

but on that show if you guys want to

listen to the cash compound he and

Willie had a great conversation where

Willie goes into a lot of more detail

than what we're going to cover in this

episode as to how he got into real

estate investing that being said I don't

want people to be kind of Flying Blind

as they're hearing this so if you could

give us kind of a reader digest version

of how you got into real estate

investing at a young age and kind of

what that looked like absolutely

absolutely so long story short I was

always the kid um that never really

finished into the crowd you know I

grew up as a homeschooled kid

my parents in the military so kind of

been all over the world my parents

my parents my brother was born in Japan

I ended up being born in New Mexico blah

blah blah and when it comes to real

estate how I kind of got into this field

like I said I was homeschooled and at

the age of probably I want to say 13

years old my parents ended up getting

into a partnership with Real Estate

Investors at the time my parents my Mom

she was has a really good design eye my

Dad used to build houses back home in

Alabama and they were really

just trying to figure out what was next

in their life and they said you know

what they saw I shoot TV let's try to

flip a house so they ended up doing a

partnership well me being homeschooled

you know after I was done my work my mom

was like Hey look you're gonna get to

work so lovingly

right you know not force anything but

so I decided to go to work with my

parents parents and after I was

almost school every pretty much

every other day when they would buy a

house I'd be the guy to do a

landscape their you know their

demolition I would also take it a

like you know most of these property

that they're buying they are you know

not the best looking properties but

there's some things you can salvage so I

would literally Salvage like any of the

appliances in these properties any of

the Cabinetry I would Salvage the

toiletry work and I take the stuff

out carefully instead of just knocking

it out take it out carefully and at 13

if my contractor is listening to us

listen carefully buddy listen

carefully I'm just

kidding this is a way to increase your

your your Revenue that's right but

I would literally just put this stuff on

offer up and Craigslist and I kid you not

I mean at 13 14 years old on top of what

my parents are paying me to do

Demolition and Landscape I'm making

probably $2 to $3,000 a month just from

selling appliances old appliances and

Cabinetry and just whatever made sense I

could sell I mean I remember listening

like a purple tub one time just random

stuff I mean you you'd be surprised what

people will buy from you and I've had

some experience with Facebook

Marketplace so I don't know if I could

be surprised at this point yeah there

are very few now but yeah man I

mean so I just always kind of

have that entrepreneur mindset of like

look you don't have to go the

traditional route there's opportunity

in everything you look at and so I would

do this stuff for my parents fast

forward a few years going

throughout the time still doing

demolition landscape and then I would

evolved so I started doing Electrical

Plumbing Roofing I mean I literally

can build a house I know the process and

I've done many many parts of the process

to make it happen and so as we go along

that process I'm 15 at the time I they

take me along they bring me to a Korea

meeting or meeting in our area

it's called Korea and go to the this

meeting I hear the concept of whaling

real estate and my ears kind of

peak because these people are talking

about the concept of finding a

discounted property getting under

contract not needing per se cash to

close on it and just assigning your

rights to that contract to the end buyer

so in other words in my head I'm like

h I'm pretty good at like finding

something that's not that great and then

finding somebody that wants it one's

man's trash another man's treasure type

of thing and you know being the

entrepreneur mindset of you know

figuring stuff out right A lot of times

you know you hear a concept and it's

such a big concept it's like you know we

we get all these things in our head let

me hit on that in a second let me

slow down a little bit but anyway

basically learned the concept of host

selling I started LLC with my brother

because you can't buy a house at 15

years old or sign a contract for one so

I started LLC with my brother he was I

think 19 or 20 at the time and both

went on the LLC and I basically just

started you know doing the work I just

the people at this meeting were

saying how you can find houses you can

find them do sending letters and bandit

signs and cold calling all this stuff

and I picked a strategy and I said hey

I can do this I can talk to somebody and

so I started I started cold calling

people and at the age of 15 I ended

up doing my first deal we made a

stupid amount of money and by the

time I was 15 to 18 years old I think I

hotel probably 60 to 70 property

something like that yep and was like

yeah was like you know what this is it

I'm not going to college this is it this

is what I'm doing started buying and all

types of other crazy stuff I'm sure

we're going to get into here in a minute

and yeah that's kind of how I started

and by just doing the work I don't know

if I don't know if I've ever told you

this but I actually got in as a

wholesaler as well originally but I

hated wholesaling it was it like the

way you were describing that it utilized

your skill sets it was the opposite for

me it was like no this is not utilizing

my skill sets well I'm not a cold

I'm not that type of person and

so that's why I've kind of found my

spot in the retail side of

things yeah but what was

that like getting into it from a really

young age I mean did you

actually enjoy the work or did you just

enjoy the money were there times you

resented it you know what what was that

like just you know those teenage years

yeah good question man

I feel like this I feel like at the time

did I enjoy the work I just was addicted

to the hustle I was addicted to making

it happen you know growing up a

homeschool kid you know I didn't have

the distractions I didn't have you know

whether that may be you know going

to a party or going to you know getting

into relationships or whatever that

might be they weren't there for me so

all it was in my life was you know

schoolwork and outside of that it's like

what's my hobby what do you do in your

free time and you know whether it's

my parents being in the military or

exactly where it comes from I have a

there's something in me that I don't

want to do anything halfway and I

don't want to not use my god-given gift

and I feel like you know at that time

what I saw my goding gift was just

the ability to just make

stuff happen and whether that was me

being the guy to physically swing the

hammer to take the cabinets down or

you know planning bushes or whatever I

did have some sort of satisfaction in

that but of course yeah the reward of

making money was great and being able to

make money at such a young age you

know to me that was a god-given talent

you know and of course like anybody I

mean I was not you know I did not

enjoy doing that work by any means

for the majority of the time but I did

enjoy the results and learning how to

work smarter so again starting as a demo

guy then evolving and saying hey why

am I destroying these cabinets why won't

I Salvage these and make some money on

so I think I like the process and

how I was evolving I think that's what I

kind of fell in love with was just

evolving and how do I start working

smarter here and not just working

harder to make more and so I love that

process and in the transition from

working with my parents and doing their

properties to actually becoming a

full-time wholesaler going on to buying

properties etc the the pathway I

think that's continued in my life even

today is just loving getting better and

evolving and really creating something

and so I love the work do I love it

every day no but I do love the end in

mind and the end in mind is whatever the

goal is at the time so again if it's

host owning a property it's it's solving

a problem for that seller and then it's

of course getting an assignment fee so I

start there you know and everything else

in between that's going to a property 15

times that's oh you going to contract it

fell through and that's the

process and so honestly you know I don't

you know even to this day I do not love

what I do but I do love the end of

mind which is one day this thing is

running on the goal is autopilot you

know true business to me is something

that runs with you or without you and

that's what drives me every day and

God's given me the ability to be able to

talk to people and the ability to

put it the pieces together and so I

love the process do I love every part

of the process no anybody that says they

do they're probably fluffing a little

bit I know a lot of Real Estate

Investors and they get bloodied in this

business like they it

can chew you up and spit you out if

you're if you're not careful the ability

ility to eat crap six days a week and

maybe the ability to eat caviar the

7eventh is what we're going for but to

to keep going for 30 40 50 days at a

time and just keep waiting for that

caviar day that's the

thing man that's right so

have you ever come close to burnout do

you feel like oh yeah I

think you know I'm actually in the

process you know of reading a book

called The Gap in the game by Dan

Sullivan

and that book really goes into detail of

how we psychologically need to

approach life in general but also

business in terms of you know burnout

right burnout or you know enjoying the

process right so although you know we

all know the end result whether that's

to get you know get the deal closed get

the assignment fee whatever whatever the

end result is we know we're striving for

that but it you got to enjoy the process

too otherwise you're going to burn out

out and so for me I'm still you know

I don't have it all figured out I'm

still kind of figuring out the

day-to-day of what's keeping you

know showing up every day to find the

next deal or etc and I'm still you

know definitely looking for whe whether

you call that purpose or whether you

call it whatever definitely looking

for it but the reality is I have found I

always think about the alternative right

I say well what's the alternative you

know for me right I you went to

high school didn't go to college you

know didn't have anything of the

traditional sense of an of you know of

a pathway or a fallback per se

right like hey if this doesn't work out

I'll just go X, Y, and Z no for me it's

like if this doesn't work out I'm

starting at literally z00 Z yep and so

for me you know what sort of motivate

motivates me a lot is like well just

think about oh my God if all this was

going tomorrow okay how would that

make you feel or if I you know just

simple things right Power electric Wi-Fi

just being thankful for what we have you

know that really gets me Juiced up

you know and it's just like sure people

don't really we in America especially we

take for granted just the basic

necessities and so I'm a big foodie

right I like to eat you know the reality

is I don't I don't do much but I like so

I'm driven by eating good and

traveling and so you know I've got to be

able to eat sushi at least you know a

couple times a week so it's like all

right that motivates me but yeah

man it's interesting it's like starting

with the thought process of yeah just

going to be gone tomorrow so let's let's

make sure we secure this and still have

it so let's keep going you know that's

kind of learn yeah yeah so when I was in

high school I was pretty busy you

know I was actually homeschooled

through seventh grade but then after

that I went to a Christian School I

stayed busy I played a lot of sports

I started working before anyone else in

my class did about the same age that you

did except I started in the

restaurant business making like minimum

wage eventually by the end of my time

in high school I was kind of in a

managerial role but I was working

like 60 hours a week during 60 70

hours a week during the summer and I

might make you

know again back then I might make7 or

$800 in a week you know working that

much so I'm curious if you mind

sharing like what were you

bankrolling back then and in those high

school years I mean dude I was probably

doing again two to three th000 a month

at you know 14 15 years old yeah

that's amazing by the by the end of high

school what was that up to by the

time you're like 17 18 yeah by the end

of high school I mean our company our

company was making and again the

whelling company at the time we hadn't

started acquiring Properties or anything

like that I mean we were I think we

did when I was

17 we did over

700k in Revenue that year amazing and

again that's why I'm like going to

college yeah you're you're not gonna

you're not gonna get a better education

than that yeah dude you're gonna lose

money if you go to college so I was like

okay yeah yeah in comparison to that

absolutely now did what did your friends

think I mean I know that you said

you didn't have a lot of friends

which I think you were probably

downplaying things cuz I was

homeschooled I you know it's not the

same obviously but you know you have

some friends so I mean what did what

they I ended up playing golf and did

I played Sports and stuff for

local high school and of course

yeah you got so I'll put it this way

I have acquaintances right I have

people I know a friend I have my

mother the reality is the reality is you

know I think

we're on a whole different wavelength

right you're talking to guys that you

know are worried about oh yeah like

we're going to this party or we you know

we're doing this or like we're trying to

plan out like whatever it's like we're

not even on the same thought process

right so the conversation honestly

wasn't even had like if I talk about

yeah like I'm working with the seller

right now and you know we're figuring

out you know how to make sure he doesn't

go into foreclosure and on the 18th and

this on the other like it's just like

the action wasn't even had just a reality

they knew you know from their

perspective it was like oh yeah Willie

works with his parents in real estate

and blah blah blah and I've never been

the guy to kind of boast right like I've

never been hey look at me look at what

I'm doing because the reality is one I

just didn't need I didn't care to tell

you what I was working nor did I need

validation or anything like that and I

knew one these these kids at

the time were not again we're not even

on the same waveling so I just really

didn't talk about it with them it was

just more so yeah you're working a lot

and you see me whenever we're doing what

we're doing so again at the time it was

like Hey we're going to play golf or

we're going to go run cross-country

that's when I saw him and so literally

when I say it wasn't like oh I didn't

have friends because like I you know

socially awkward or whatever one might

think of a you know homeschooled person

it was more or less that was my choice

of why would I hang around the guy

that's thinking about you know whatever

he's thinking about something completely

pointless you know Duty

right Call of Duty right or should I

go you know talk to guys like Stan about

hey do you want to go buy this deal in

Nickel town right like that's what I want

you know and so the reality was you

didn't have a lot of common ground with

with your peers basically exactly didn't

have common ground and also didn't want

it, I didn't want the influence I didn't

want the influence of what you know I

mean because again you know whether

it's spending time at a movie or

spending time of anything that was

outside of my you know my goal at the

time was just finding the next deal

finding the next deal talking to buyers

talking to sellers anything outside of

that besides in my immediate family

it didn't matter to me it it really

didn't and so like I said I did play

golf and things like that which I'm so

glad I did because that skill has been

able to translate into you know doing

things I'm doing now with raising money

and you know all types of stuff in in

our in our game of Real Estate but the

reality is you know I really avoided

anybody that was not going to get

me closer to my goal at the time

which was prob of the next field

interesting so yeah was there did your

peers you know did they think you were

crazy were they jealous did they just

were they just completely

oblivious honestly probably oblivious I

mean I don't you know and at the time

too it's not like I was spinning my

money right again it was I again I

separate things right so it's the

company's making this money and it's

just going right back into the company

so it's just this is to build the

company right back back into it right

back into it so I'm still again doing my

thing and again they really probably

just thought I was just working with my

parents like oh he's doing construction

or whatever okay like yeah like whatever

this kid it you know and so you know I

think probably from that time I

literally I think I had one contact from

those high school days of a guy I just

play golf with now and well it's kind

of funny because he ended up going to

Clemson and he's actually my architect

now so again it's yeah so we

ended up kind of coming back but

again it's still in my world right it's

like you know again I follow

philosophy and I didn't do this at the

time but looking back it really is it's

like the concept of doing just one thing

I call it jck you know because in this

world we've got all these things we can

be doing you know we could we could you

know I mean you get a text right now hey

do you want to go to downtown do you

want whatever and it's like at the end

of the day I was jotting I was just

doing one thing I was focused and I

think people really in this world need

to focus everything works or many things

work not everything I should say many

things work whe it's from a marketing

strategy whether that's from a strategy

of you know performing in real estate

right what about hostelling what about

subject two what about becoming a real

it all works but you got to focus you

have to focus Master it you can't do all

of it and if you do you try to do all

this it's you're gonna get distracted so

you gotta Focus you gotta dial in and go

all in and so that's what I was doing

but that's why I still believe you know

we're doing other strategies now but

it's like I mastered or finding a deal

and guess what do F mastering finding

the deal that allows you to to Branch

off to many other things but at the end

of the day if you find a good deal you

know that's the first step you know and

I think a lot of times we it's the

hardest step yeah yeah it's the hardest

step it's like we got to start we got to

do it you know so

did with you being homeschooled and

and all of that like did your parents

see that you were gifted in this and did

they kind of meld your education around

that or did that did those kind of

words not intertwine yeah yeah so again

like at that time they were just

getting started in their real estate

career as well and I was again basically

in with them along the journey and I

think you know I parents they've

always been support of whatever we

decide to do whether that is again my my

I do have two other two brothers my one

of my brothers he's in the tech space he

end up starting his company at like 18

years old my other brother he's a he's a

streamer he's a twitch streamer and

whatever we've done they've always been

supportive and whatever we want to do

they've always been there to have our

backs whether that's emotionally or you

know you know they've never been the

parents to hate like we we don't come

from you know money right so they've

never been able to give us checks or

anything like that per se but

yeah I mean the funny thing is like I

said when they started is when I started

so the reality is as they were learning

and becoming Real Estate Investors or

again they were just slippers is when

I got into it so it was a really

beautiful thing and as I evolved as a

whole-seller again I even ended up I not

a lot again they were definitely not my

biggest buyer but I would sell them

deals you know of course I cherry pig

and the best deals sell them to them and

then eventually you know again I

just started just building a true

business by myself but the reality is

you know I think

it was really good for me to start

when they started because again I was

kind of learning things along the way to

answer your question of you know was

there special education no not

necessarily but there they they did

provide the opportunity for us right

again they put us in the room so again

at that age of you know I guess I was

15 my brother was you know 17 18 at the

time they brought us along so

whatever they were doing they would

always have us around because they

never like hey this is what you're going

to do you know some parents are like

you're good at math you're going to be

in account you're good at this and we're

going you know you're going to go to

this County School whatever no no no so

it was really beautiful to have the

ability to choose right it's like they

would say hey this is what you can do

this is what we do and y'all go pick

what you want to do but they were always

hey provided the opportunity so again

so thankful for my parents again they

did not teach me all the ins and outs of

what I'm doing today but they did

provide the opportunity of get us in the

room and get us whatever exposure that

may be again whether that was hey you

want to go pursue a career in golf all

right we're here for you we'll take you

whatever tournament whatever so they

were there for that and they've

always been great to get us in the room

wherever that might be yeah that's great

now

one thing I'm trying to picture is

like a 15-year-old, like wholesaling like

talking to these old crusty investors

like did you ever feel like disrespected

by the real estate Community because of

your age or anything like that or did

were you able to just kind of like fit

right in did and you know people didn't

care

all the time man I mean even to

this day I mean people will discount you

I mean to this day now I mean I've got

a lot of results you know I've always

been a results driven person and kind of

let results speak for themselves but the

reality is I mean whether it's age

race you know class people always

judge you right and you know we can't

control what people think we can't

you know I'm not I can't say in front of

you and try to pit you and say

look at me I'm so great no no no I'm

good at talking to no no no like it's

like no you can't do that body of work

for itself at the end of the day the

reality is the work speaks for itself

you know it's like results speak so if I

come to you and say hey I have this deal

or hey I've done this deal check it out

you know we bought one two three main

street check it out here it is I've

always been a very visual result person

and so for example with host-selling

when I'm in those

rooms I'm not ignorant to the fact of

my youth race you know class whatever

you want to call it I'm not ignorant to

the fact I'm not ignorant to the fact

that I will be judged one way or another

and so when it comes to buyers you know

leading with I would always again the

Gary ve model or whatever you want to

call it it's like lead without value so

for example, I would say you know when I

was building a buyers list I would

approach people and say hey look this is

what I'm doing I've done this and how

can I help you because anything outside

of that they don't nobody cares like I

don't I don't care what you're doing

great but like lead with value I think

that's where people M up it's like we

always hear about it but guys just do it

like ask people how can I help you but

not just how you can help you actually

help them so if they say hey I'm looking

for deals I'm looking for deals in this

ZIP code what I would do as

those guys I would say look I would

approach people and say hey my name is

Willie Coleman you know I've seen you

around you seem like a heavy hitter

you know I'm in the hotaling real

estate space you know what are you

looking for get what they're looking for

but not just that I would say hey could

you tell me what you bought like in the

last you know 60 days like what actual

properties did you buy the exact

properties I get the actual address I

would take those addresses down and I

would go hunting for them right when

you lead with whatever you're doing in

life lead with adding value and serving

the other person so I would serve that

buyer not in the sense of working for

you but I'm working to find exactly

what you're looking for in my business

and I'll provide the opportunity to you

and most buyers especially like in a

hot Market you know if one buyer is

looking you know in a certain zip code

nine times out of 10 50 other buyers are

as well so leave with value and I would

go get these deals go get them lock them

up and say hey got this thing locked up

do you want it and it's like okay this

guy's leading with actual value he's

going to do the work versus a guy so

imagine a guy that asks you those

questions he comes back to you 30 days

later and says hey I got it versus the

guy that says hey what are you looking

for and hey can I call you for advice

every other day you you just nag them

and then it's just like you have to

think how the person what is the other

person's goal and just go provide that

right it's not easy but it's simple yep

yeah and I mean I'll say from

experience I've had you know obviously

particular particularly you know from

2020 through 2022 there was a new

wholesaler you know every couple of days

in Greenville and I'm sure they

were reaching out to you they were

reaching out to me you know I'd tell

them well here's what I'm looking for

and then you know they'd send me some

Millhouse, and Anderson I'm just like I

never said I wanted Millhouse and Anderson

like don't did you listen yeah did you

listen that it's not it's not that hard

but at the same time but what's

happening in those situations is the

deals are hard to source and so they're

like well this is the closest thing I

could find I think is what's going on

there but you've got to put in the

real work I mean wholesaling I think is

in my opinion the hardest real estate

task to do because you've got to have

enough margin for multiple different

people and that's really really hard to

to pull off so I have a lot of respect

for the people that do it

currently or that got into the business

doing that very hard yeah yeah 100%

you can figure out how to I'm sorry go

ahead no I was say if you can figure out

how to find deals you can always eat

because if you can find a good deal no

matter what your strategy is subject to

wholesale owner finance rap if you can

be a good person at sourcing quality

deals you'll be okay in any Market in my

yeah

absolutely so you mentioned some of

the disrespect and whatnot on on

class race all those different types of

things you know one thing I really

like and I don't know if this is unique

to Greenville per se but the Greenville

real estate investing scene I feel like

is very diverse men women you know

Asians Hispanics Russians black white

everything like I've run into so many

different investors from so many

different backgrounds I just think

that's really cool yeah have there

been racial challenges that You' run

into to or maybe advantages too I

mean take that in whatever Direction you

want what is that like as a

black man investing in real estate and

South

Carolina

sure so when it comes to race I think

I'll put it this way I think that no

matter what you do we all have

disadvantages right whether you're

minority female you know you could have

a disadvantage as being a white male

right one could say depending on which

side you're on and the reality

is it's a game right we're playing a

game you know and I think no matter what

disadvantage you have I think it's

important to identify the disadvantage

and move accordingly because the reality

is we're talking we're dealing with

people you know and like I said

you're not going to be able to change

people's mind fundamentally if someone

some's racist or somebody you know is

Prejudice like I'm not going to do a

deal because he's a black guy it's like

okay you're lost all right you're lost

on to the next one why it is a matter

of don't get me wrong it pisses me off

it teas me off whatever to have those

encounters I mean it definitely happened

a ton coming up in terms of like just in

life you know going in a store and like

always being watched I mean I was

yesterday I was at a store walking

around and people were just like

watching me I was in the middle of

nowhere it's like you see the eyes it's

like okay you know yeah it's got to be

unsettling yeah it's just and it's just

it's it's honestly just how we how we

live you know it is what it is and you

it's definitely a long conversation

there but the reality is it's like when

you understand what's going on it's like

okay we understand that some people for

example in real estate I'll use examples

here if I call a homeowner you know

and I say hey my name is Willie Col this

side the other sometimes people might

not be able to tell my race on the phone

right they might not be able to tell but

if I actually come out they're like okay

yeah this guy's young whatever

and you know my thing is you know in my

brain I can say oh they're gonna think

this they're gonna think that they've

Got a make America great again this and

this and the other you they got a

Confederate flag and like you know they

they could possibly be a little

Prejudice maybe because of all those

signs possibly and if that's the case

it's like I could start going to my head

all day long this side the other or I

could just say you know what

that's the case and let me just lead

with my knowledge and let me just lead

with facts and let me just know my

because the reality is the guy that goes

in and doesn't know what he's talking

about or the guy that goes in and can

solve a problem you know we're dealing

with people we're dealing with people

that are in distress and I always just

said you know what I already know I'm

starting behind right we have to work

and I say we as you know whether you're

a minority a female or whatever your

disadvantage is you could have a

disadvantage of not physically being in

a location there's all types of

disadvantages identify your disadvantage

and you know perform at your highest

level so to me I always you know was

affected or I felt like I was affected

by again those things and it's

like okay well I'm be gonna become the

best and you know it's sad to say but

hopefully that would compensate for any

of the other preconceived notions and

the reality is man I think I've dealt

with some crazy people I've dealt

with a guy so funny I co-called him and

or somebody on my team was

co-calling I called him to get a contract

and he said you know there was a tenant

living in the property at the time and

he said yeah and there's a tenant

in there and he lived there for you know

five six years he keeps saying he's

gonna buy it but you know he's a black

guy and you know you know how they are

with finances and he said that while I'm

on the phone right and he's talking

directly to me and I said oh okay and

in one in that moment I could have been

like well hold on now like I'm a black

guy how dare this or the other this no

like I could have rebutted and and and I

could have been rid morally and this or

the other but the reality is I said oh I

didn't agree with him obviously I said

okay and moved on ended up he said that

right so I understood the the possible

disadvantage that our team could face

with doing this deal yeah so what did I

do I moved accordingly I ended up doing

it all virtually so I sent him a

contract virtually ended up telling my

attorney the situation of what he told

me so we ended up closing at two

separate times so he went inside his

paper work I went time my paper work

bought his house and guess what this

black guy ended up creating $150,000 in

equity but we don't know what we're

doing with our

money so the reality is so you you

turn you turned that into your

advantage exactly it's like okay awesome

all right you've already told you

know somebody has he said he showed his

hand a little bit show me your hand you

know so it's like identify that let's

get that out of the way immediately I

said you were a ruthless negotiator I

wasn't joking you're like a poker player

over here dude so it's like you know you

can get mad at your disadvantage or you

can understand your disadvantage and

move accordingly again so other

scenarios is you well sometimes you

can't always do things virtually you go

out to the property they say oh I don't

want to sell it to you or they you

know typically again racism or pres it's

not always done directly you know said

or directly you know whatever but but

things happen it's like okay I didn't

get that deal why didn't I get that deal

it wasn't logic it didn't make sense I

mean I've had things even on our

construction side I'm getting into new

build constructions now and I've had a

framer tell me he told me he said and

I'm not going to give out names here or

anything but there's somebody locally

that probably is just probably a little

intimidated by my age or race whatever

they are intimidated by or that I'm just

doing cool cool dop stuff and they told

this gentleman he does a lot of framing

for them or whatever and they told him

they said you know if I would have known

you were doing that property for Willie

Coleman I would have paid you and it was

thousands of dollars they said we would

paid you I think it was like

$510,000 to not do the job for me wow Ju

Just So they wouldn't do it for me right

and that's things that happens behind

the scenes right it's like it's just

crazy man it's like you can't even make

this stuff up and it's like you know

that type of stuff it's never not going

to happen people always have their

preconceived notions and you just got to

understand it happens but guess what it

is what it is we got to keep moving

don't let it hold you back quit using as

an excuse you know because the reality

is I you know again that guy could have

said that I could have responded to him

and oh I didn't get the deal oh I'm mad

oh and I could say St it's so much

easier for you where but or I could say

okay yeah black people don't know how to

deal with their money

bet like like it's like so you know so I

just use it and on the other side

right you get people that you know you

go to the and they're so happy they're

like oh my God the youth is coming in

your minority like yeah let me do the

deal with you versus doing it with you

know traditional you know traditional

crusty investor yeah yeah yeah it's like

they like the new blood they like the

minority side right so that does happen

too right sure you know but but

unfortunately I wish that happened more

times you are a little bit you know or

you submit an offer and it's like I know

I know that was the best offering like

we just never heard back so it's gonna

happen but like I said the reality is

you just got to keep moving

understand it is and adapt accordingly

yeah absolutely yeah and I guess the

one positive about real estate in this

discussion is that of I mean I can't

think of

maybe maybe the stock market to a

certain extent trading maybe to a

certain extent but there's not too many

businesses that are more free market and

just focused on money over everything

else than real estate right like if you

bring people a good deal and they turn

it down because of all of these

peripheral things they're just losing

money they're just not helping

themselves and most Real Estate

Investors are honestly too greedy to

do that they might be prejudiced or

biased or whatever but money is gonna

Trump that to use I hate to use that

word in this discussion but it

money is gonna is gonna win out at the

end of the day

but yeah that thank you for that I

was I was really curious you know we've

talked a little bit about that on the

side but I was really curious to to hear

a little bit more so so thank you for

sharing that absolutely so you're gen

Z right you would be you'd be considered

gen Z do and I don't want to go too

much longer here because this has

been a great discussion and we're both

busy I've got a ton of notes and I'm not

going to get through all of these no

worries but it but as far as J Z goes do

you feel like your generation views real

estate differently than previous

generations did or not so much oh

absolutely completely different I think

the idea of

homeownership kind of has it's not

necessarily the American dream anymore I

don't think it is the top of everybody's

to-do list by any means I think

that's one thing on terms of the

traditional side why that's the case

I haven't done enough research to

give an educated answer on that but

you know my thing is just like from

my perspective of being a Gen Z it's

like well people always have to live

somewhere it doesn't matter what's going

on in the economy you have to lay your

head down somewhere whether that's an

apartment building multi-family duplex

single family him whatever and so my

thing is like well they might not want

to jindy or whatever they might not be

buying real estate they're always gonna

have to live in real estate so from

my perspective it's like that belief is

kind of ignorant to a certain

I do kind of see the understanding

of it like even from my perspective I

don't own I don't necessarily own a

house that I live in I actually well

I do some creative stuff with our

companies and I actually rent a house

that I that our company owns but I don't

I don't personally own a house because

the reality is personally own a house

one could actually argue it does not

make much sense from a financial

liability or not liability but just it's

a responsibility you got to keep

up the grass you got to keep up the roof

you know there is maintenance you

have to keep up with so I do get it

but from the perspective of an

investment all day long it just makes

sense to own real estate depreciation

you know not having to really into

paying taxes or whatever you know you

know so I think people from a investment

standpoint should probably change their

mindset a little bit but yeah I

definitely you know just from you know

even dealing with buyers and

renting to to the Gen Z world just

hearing their mindset it's it's

completely different dealing with you

know whether it's a baby boomer or know

even Millennials right they're still you

know on the concept of owning so it's

very interesting the new generation as

you know the next 10 15 years evolve

we're going to definitely be seeing a

interesting Market I think with the new

generation yeah that will be interesting

I wonder how much of that is just

affordability you know cuz like home

ownership being the American dream I

think a lot of it was we've got these

government government loan programs that

kind of subsidize real estate and make

it you know affordable for people who

otherwise would not be able to

purchase a home but now the average

first-time home buyer is 36 years old

which is the highest ever and so you

know I wonder how much that

contributes to what you're saying I

would imagine quite quite a bit yeah

yeah absolutely so changing gears a

little bit here

I know that your

business is separate from your parents

and has been kind of it I mean would you

say it's always been separate from your

parents yeah yeah so literally since the

day I started our company I started

separate you know although my parents

have been an amazing guide you know in

terms of you know life advice and you

know dealing with people I've never

like worked to where you know my mom's

never been working and Co calling and

like she never worked in the host sale

business or my dad or anything like that

you know again i' I've I'm big on

like Partnerships so like I've sold them

deals I've even partnered with them

as I started buying properties I've

partnered with them right might as well

keep it in the family because it just

makes sense but yeah like I've

built my own company so again I started

at I used to co call I built I

started hiring virtual assistants so I

built a virtual assistant team we've got

10 cold callers that are all over the

world we've got people in Colombia and

the Philippines just co-calling and

sending text that's all they do allday

is find the next deal you know on the

local skill i' I've hired operations

assistant to help me you know with you

know at this point I don't think I got

too far into it but you know again I

started as a hosteller which was great

because I was able to identify deals and

then I started buying properties so at

17 years old I started buying buying

rental properties I built up a rental

portfolio then I got into short-term

rentals back in 2020 everybody in their

mama probably did and I hopped on the

bandwagon frankly I started doing

short-term rentals like ABNB vbo stuff

like that and now I've transitioned into

the luxury real estate side of things so

for example like I I'm I'm currently

doing a property where I raise 1.5

million we tore down a single family

house and we're just trying to do real

estate but lead with perfection versus

profit you know a lot of times that are

business people are leading with oh The

Profit the profit margin so I can't use

that though because that's going to take

us over a budget so anyway I've kind

of changed my model a little bit in the

past year to really do more fulfilling

projects and doing projects that I

actually really really am passionate

about and unique properties things

that you know we are in a market where I

believe is huge opportunities I mean

we're well into our growth but we got a

long way to grow go in Greenville and I

want to be the start of creating real

estate that is not what you see every

day you know I'm doing houses where

we're putting elevators we're putting

theater rooms we're providing Smart

Homes where every room has a speaker and

you know there's just you know I took

a trip to Europe a couple months back

and I said you know what you know

everything in Europe you know is very

you know every country has things ahead

and behind of course but things like

you know Fleek lines and clean and

and just doing things simplifying things

so that's really what I'm bringing to

Greenville right now is you know a lot

of La inspiration and European

inspiration it's I'm bringing that to

Greenville because I believe that the

reality is that's what's missing and

I want to solve a problem for people

that want to be in Greenville but you

know they also want to have notes of

other part of the globe not just your

standard traditional whether that's The

Farmhouse modern or whether that's the

Craftsman you know that's kind of a

everyday flip and it's like you know

what how do we switch Swit that up a

little bit so that's my next side and I

say all to say you know I built a team

and building a team actively again I

just got a lady in operations to help us

really put all this together I don't go

and hire Builders I'm very OCD about

everything we do so whether that's you

know picking light pictures out or you

know whether that's the Cabinetry

whatever leading with a more artistic

creating creative side of things versus

thinking about profit so

to do that I can't really do the two

$300,000 house anymore so I'm only

really doing high margin big big

deals like I said I just raised 1.5 to

do a new construction property to do

some of this stuff to make a vision this

Vision come to life and so definitely

we're at a pivotable point in our

business and it's definitely an

interesting time with you know the

market and interest rates and things

like that and so I just said you know

what let me just give this a guide and

say you know what I want to be creative

and God let all the numbers and things

like that the market it all work out at

the end you I've always done flips that

way I've never thought about oh like for

example I went to area in Greenville

where I would create comps and the way I

did that was I would I bought for

example in like the west side I bought

four houses at one time I renovated all

of them and then I put two in the market

so I was able to sell two and then it

made it easier to refinance two you know

so there's things that you know people

say oh well you can't do whatever the

market says you can't out do the market

it's like well we ever thought about

somebody starts a market somebody sets a

bar so let's just keep raising the bar

yeah the market is just people it's just

people it's it's literally money is

money's not real like it's just like

it's all made up it's all what we decide

it is so I said you know what let's just

move a different way so anyway

and the good thing for you as far as

that strategy goes is like the the part

of the market that's the

most insulated from all of these

interest rate increases whatnot is the

luxury

Market yeah yeah the reality is you know

one could say you know you're serving

the rich right now I hate to say it that

way might be true I'm I'm serving the

clientele that they don't care about

interest rates they don't care about

they want what they want you know it's

like oh that house is that house yeah I

want it you know I'll pay cash for it

it's like there we go who gives a [ __ ]

about interest rates that's just the

reality yeah for sure so if you if

there's someone listening that they

would like they're they're in real

estate or maybe in other business they

they want their kids to get involved in

it maybe as a family business Maybe not

maybe kind of the model that you did

where you learned from your family but

then ultimately did your own thing what

advice would you

give to those

parents tough one I think this I think

that at the end of the day we all

have you know

things that we want I'm not a parent

yet so I can't speak from the parent

perspective as much but yeah from the

child perspective yeah from the child

perspective I feel

like the child has to want whatever

they're doing and just to be clear

I'm asking you this question because I

think a lot of parents desire that but I

think a lot of children don't so that's

why I'm ask that's why I'm asking you

that exactly I think I think parents

need to you know every Situation's

different everybody grew up in a

different way right you know people go

through childhood you know trauma

right and they and or you know they go

they go through a struggle in their life

that might say you know what I'm going

to be a hustler because I don't ever

want to have the challenge again or

whatever that might be I think you know

at the end of the day people have to

find themselves in a way right they have

to figure out what they're passionate

about but not even not even figure out

what you're passionate about because I

believe you know one maybe should even

do what they're not passionate about to

fill you know to give them the the

resources to go do what they're

passionate about sure and I think look

you know little Johnny if you want to go

you know become a you know architect

well to become an architect beat that in

your mind you want to be an architect

you want to end up going to Clemson or

whatever great well to get there the

parent might need to like give him a

little tough love right it's not a free

ride right I don't think you can really

teach hustle and drive you can't really

teach that it has to come with you know

from within and so I would say it's like

you know sometimes you know the best

lesson is you know hey look no you don't

have an allowance you got to go figure

it out so that might be go have them

become a landscaper go have them you

know go do the dishes go you know

work the neighborhood whatever that

might be you know but kind of create

you have to create that drive in them so

honestly you know not you know my

that's my goal up you know as I look at

it today that might change tomorrow as a

parent my intention obviously my kid

will have every resource and they could

think of anything but the reality is my

intent really is to to get them to be

driven and so whatever they want they're

gonna have to work for it's just that

simple you know it's like hey you wanna

you know go to your summer camp well it

cost 500 bucks all right well you can

you're gonna get in my truck and we're

GNA go do real estate you might hate it

that's okay you might hate it you might

fall in love with it whatever but

whichever side land on either way it's

going to drive you say I hate this and I

never want to you know be in the car

with my dad again to look at house okay

great well now you know what you don't

want yeah so go work for what you do

want you know so find another way to

make 500 bucks exactly I think

it's got to come within of their

drive at the end of the day they've

got to want it you cannot you they

people watch interviews with me all the

time or you know I meet with people

they're like man I just Swit my kid D

it's like would you and they say would

you be able to talk to them I'm like

well yeah but I'm I'm just going to tell

them like hey what do you want and

they're like why I just want to go play

Call of Duty I'm like okay well do you

want anything else do you want to do you

want to go to California like and they

like oh yeah I would love to do that but

yeah my my parents still pay for it I'm

like well what if they don't what would

you do and so it's like you know you got

you got to kind of find what the you

know what what's what's in it for them

and really start there not just

little you're going to do this you're

going to be like Willie it's like no

they're not going to do that again for

me it was like I felt like I didn't love

everything I did but God was giving me

that talent and I said you know what I

don't want to take the traditional path

so I'm driven by not going the

traditional path and that's again what

drove me to be great at you know

entrepreneur side of a business and

stuff like that but again that's not

taught it's more discovered and the

person's got to want it yeah absolutely

and there's a lot more that I I've had

written down that I wanted to discuss

but this has been a great conversation

yeah I'm going to have to I'm gonna have

to call this because I told you right

before I got a contract right before we

went on the show I've got to review that

I'm sure you've got you're actually for

those that are watching it you're

actually in one of your Airbnb

properties right currently I am y that's

awesome one of our airbnb’s yeah so we're

GNA have to do a part two at some

point not probably not this year but

maybe next year at some point and

talk about your Airbnb business because

I think that'll be really interesting

but I want to close with this one

question if you could go back to your

15-year-old self with the knowledge you

have now about real estate what would

you what would be one thing that you

would want to tell your 15-year-old self

about real

estate don't second guess go your gut

you know I think a lot of times as 15

or when I was starting at 15 it was like

oh what about this well they're gonna

think this they're gonna think that it's

like dude just do it just do it move

move with a sense of urgency I think

America has a problem in general I mean

you go out to a fast food restaurant you

go out to a restaurant people are not

moving with a sense of urgency I'm not

even talking about being motivated by

money or what I'm just saying like take

over your feet and do the work it's like

it and once you start doing it stop

second guessing yourself you know it's

like even if you're doing it and you're

doing it wrong well fail fast fail

forward I don't believe in the idea of

failing I just think we fall forward

because whatever we do we're just

learning and we just keep learning so

move you're learning how to do it better

exactly move quick and that's how when

you start moving even if you're not

doing the right thing you start building

momentum you know like again as you

start putting stuff out momentum starts

so I tell myself stop second guessing

and move quick I wouldn't change

anything oh what I made mistakes of

course yeah lost deals lost earnest

money I mean I probably you know lost a

ton of money great it's like great lose

faster fail fa fast and fail forward and

move with a sense of urgency that's

awesome great advice Willie thank you so

much for your time this has been

really enjoyable for me I always enjoy

talking to you just in general but

but I think that this will translate

well for the audience I think they'll

enjoy it it's probably going to I'm

probably going to run this and end of

October maybe early November we're

recording this October 16th so

it'll I'm out of town during that

period of time so that'll be a good time

to run it but anyway I really

appreciate how if people want to get a

hold of you how can they find you yeah

man if you want to get a hold of me guys

find me on Instagram it's Willy.Coleman

on Instagram and just shoot me a DM

would love to connect with you on

however I can help whether that's do you

want to deal with you or just point in

the right direction of who can help hit

me up and that's Willie

correct all right perfect yes

sir all right awesome well thank you so

much Willie thank you to everyone

watching or listening again you can find

all of my contact information in the

show notes if you need to reach out to

me for any of your real estate needs

please support the show by liking,

subscribing, rating, reviewing, and we will

talk again next time