What a year! I started 2020 in Iraq – halfway through a 6-month deployment. Neighboring Iran attacked our base with ballistic missiles, which was a significant moment in U.S./Middle East relations. The COVID pandemic soon overshadowed the attack. Thankfully the pandemic didn’t delay our return from deployment in late March, but we came back to a very different America.
I was excited about not having to go to work for the first month or so after returning. This freedom meant more time to read, relax, and spend time with my soon-to-be-wife, Caitlin. I enjoy reading, but I was voraciously consuming books, sometimes reading over 100 pages per day with all that downtime. We had planned to be married on May 9th in Miami (we live in San Diego), but like many people in 2020, we had to adjust our life plans. We were married here in San Diego, with only a few family members in attendance. It wasn’t the wedding we expected, but it was pretty fantastic, to be honest. Getting married to Caitlin was, without a doubt, the happiest and most significant moment of the year for me.
Joining A Mastermind Group
The second most significant moment was when I decided to join a real estate mastermind group for military members and veterans. A friend and mentor named Stuart Grazier (of Storehouse 3:10 Ventures) co-founded the War Room mastermind with David Pere (From Military to Millionaire). I was inspired to join a mastermind group after reading “Tribe of Millionaires,” an allegorical book produced by the founders of Gobundance outlining the benefits of joining a mastermind. (Check out my article about mastermind groups here). Being surrounded by motivated individuals with goals that align with yours is critical for personal growth. I started virtually meeting active duty service members who own multiple properties – and not just single-family homes; I’m talking apartment complexes, RV parks, and mobile home parks. I thought, “Wow, I need to up my game!” So I did.
I distinctly remember a post that Stuart Grazier made in our War Room Facebook group in which he challenged everyone to create a ‘thought leadership platform.’ This platform could be a blog, a YouTube channel, a Twitter account – basically any medium through which you can talk about your journey and experiences in real estate. I knew this was something I had to do, so I took action and created Honor and Equity, a personal finance and real estate blog for military members, veterans, and their families. I didn’t know how to design a logo, start a website, create content, or dance in TikTok videos, but I figured it out (minus the TikTok vids!) with the help of family, friends, and fellow War Room members. I’ve always enjoyed talking with anyone who will listen about personal finance, investing, and real estate. The platform would help me share what I have learned with others and document my journey.
Investing in Oklahoma City
I try to connect with a different War Room member every week because each person has a unique military and investing background. I enjoy hearing about what everyone is working on and what they have done in the past. One of these conversations inspired me in a significant way. Michael Barnhart is an active duty Navy officer like myself currently stationed in England. He told me about how he and his wife were aggressively pursuing real estate in the Midwest utilizing the BRRRR strategy (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat – a must-read book by David Greene, by the way). This conversation was my lightbulb moment: if this guy is doing the BRRRR method from England, why am I not doing something similar from San Diego? Almost immediately, I started researching markets and eventually decided on Oklahoma City (check out my article about why I decided on OKC). I re-read Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene and read his BRRRR book while carefully putting together a team of real estate professionals in OKC to help me achieve my goals.
Progress has been slow, but I write down my goals every day to stay focused and stay in the right mindset. We finally closed on the first property – a duplex – on December 11th, and everything is going smoothly so far. The home is already rented and needs mostly exterior cosmetic work. We are going to do all the rehab work with the tenants in place and the work should be complete in January/February after which we will do a cash-out refinance. My goal is to acquire two OKC properties per quarter, so if you know of anyone involved in real estate in Oklahoma City, send me a message! I post updates occasionally via the @honorandequity Instagram page, so make sure you’re following to get the most up to date information.
Beyond OKC, we also own a single-family home (SFH) in Pensacola, and we just closed on our third SFH in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We closed on this home in Milwaukee and the duplex in OKC within about 4 days of each other, which doubled the total number of doors we own (3 doors to 6 doors)! Back in April of this year, we invested in a mobile home park (MHP) syndication in Cañon City, Colorado (check out the article here). My favorite part about that MHP investment is I know about half of the other investors (who are also on active duty). The team who put the deal together is led by a husband and wife team (both Army veterans). You may have noticed a theme with my network: I like to work with fellow military folks! I think that someone with 10+ years of service in the military tends also to be someone you can trust that communicates well and has grit and integrity – the same type of person with which you want to invest.
The Milwaukee turnkey properties we own are performing better than expected (thanks Storehouse 3:10 Ventures!), and I hired a new property management company back in May, which was a fantastic decision. The Pensacola property is the star-performer, though: of the properties we own, it has the highest cash-on-cash return and has appreciated the most since it was purchased in 2016.
Honor and Equity in 2021
H&E has grown a lot since its inception in the summer of 2020, and we will experience substantial growth in 2021. This growth is driven by a desire to help fellow military members and veterans in their personal finance and investing journey. One of my favorite parts about doing this is connecting with people, so if you want to connect or know someone who might want to, please reach out!
Priorities
- Grow Honor and Equity via the creation of content designed to inspire and educate others within the scope of personal finance, real estate, and investing.
- Grow our portfolio in OKC via flips and BRRRR’s. Partner with others to scale and expand with the long-term goal of providing investment opportunities to other military members and veterans.
Thanks for reading this article! Please send me a message on Instagram @honorandequity or send me an email at doug@honorandequity.com!