Avery: Hey guys, welcome back to the Short-Term Show. Today I have a really interesting guest. Rich Summers, he’s done a lot of things. He’s got a lot of cool stuff going on, but I’ll let him introduce himself. Hey Rich, how’s it going?

Rich: Avery, you’re doing great! It’s been a little while since we last spoke on your podcast, about a year ago, but things are rocking and rolling. I’m excited for this conversation today!

Avery: Awesome, awesome. So, why don’t you start off by just telling our audience a little about yourself?

Rich: Yeah, absolutely! So, I grew up middle class. My mom is an immigrant from Taiwan, and both of my parents know the value of working hard for your money and saving it. I was always taught from a young age to go to school, get good grades, go to college, and get a job. For the most part, that’s what I did.

I have a background in sales. While I was in college, I started selling cell phones, and then I went on to sell used cars. I really love sales, so I thought I wanted to go into commercial real estate when I got out of college.

Avery: Yeah?

Rich: Yeah, so I got out in 2008. I interviewed at a couple of commercial brokerages—CB Richard Ellis and Grub Ellis. At the time, 2008 was happening. They were like, “Hey, we love your hustle, but this is not a good time to get into the industry.” They pulled those two positions, and I found myself working on a car lot, wondering what I was going to do with my life.

Avery: Wow.

Rich: And then I stumbled across a job as an air traffic controller with the FAA. I thought, “Why not? Let’s do it.” I ended up doing that for 11 years. Along the way, I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, and I remembered real estate. I thought, “I’ve got to get back into real estate. I’ve got to figure this out.”

I became obsessed. I went through this education process where I just started reading a lot of books, listening to podcasts, going to networking events, and meeting other real estate investors before I had even bought my first deal.

Avery: That’s amazing!

Rich: Yeah, at the time, society tells us it’s too risky, but I cashed out my retirement plan. I cashed out my 401k and used that as my seed money to do my first couple of deals. My first deal was an 11-unit building, an apartment building in Cincinnati, a C-class building. It had all the issues—deferred maintenance and a lot of lessons learned.

That property taught me a lot. Shortly after, I joint-ventured with a couple of partners. We bought a 32-unit multifamily deal in Indianapolis, also run-down, with all the problems and a lot of learning lessons baked in. But we fixed up that property and sold it a couple of years later for about three times what we had bought it for.

Avery: That’s incredible.

Rich: Yeah, I learned how to raise private money, started working with people doing bigger deals, and started taking down larger deals. I’ve taken down about 300 units now, all in multifamily, primarily in North Carolina.

I accidentally backed into a couple of short-term rental deals here in San Diego where I lived. Those things were just cash-flowing great, even through the pandemic. I thought, “Man, I have these three things right now. Why not buy some more?” So, I did a 1031 exchange.

Avery: Wow.

Rich: Yeah, I bought a luxury property out in Scottsdale, Arizona—7,600 square feet. I did a full renovation, put about $800k into it, and it turned into this really cool luxury property. We’ve got a beach volleyball court, full-court basketball. We’ve got a putting green, a fitness room, and all the amenities.