Ep 117: From NFL Player to Multifamily Investor with Hakeem Valles
Ep 117: From NFL Player to Multifamily Investor with Hakeem Valles
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Hakeem Vallesâ story is all about overcoming the odds. He made it to the NFL as an undrafted free agent and played in the league for three years with the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions and New York Giants.
He retired from the NFL in 2019 and is now a full-time real estate investor and national speaker based in St. Louis. He invests in multi-family properties, in emerging markets all around the country, focusing on a high quality of life and nice people. He shares how he started investing while playing football, what drove him to focus on multifamily investing, and how he uses social media to build his business.Â
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Partner:Â Download a Free Sample Apartment Deal Package
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Key Market Insights
- Went to Monmouth University in New Jersey
- Only started his senior year and blossomed
- Went undrafted and signed with the Arizona Cardinals
- Learned about commercial real estate, cap rates, and IRR in college
- Ex-girlfriend and dad started real estate house flipping business
- Installed floors, drove for dollars, went to auctions
- Retired from the NFL after realizing his true passion was real estate
- Bought a 4-unit in Arizona and then a duplex in Detroit
- Wanted to buy larger assets and was building a strong team
- Put in an offer for a 67-unit in St. Louis and negotiated for two months
- Received the actual income statements from the sellerâs accountant and the NOI was off by $200k â had to walk away
- Fiancé gave birth during one of the games
- Had 1-hr to be a dad after practice all day and realized he wasnât happy
- Just closed on a 7-unit in Des Moines â investing $60k
- Putting in an offer on 8-unit in Ft Lauderdale, partnering with private equity group in Israel
- Tips to Select Markets: Review market reports and compare to census reports â look for population and job growth and call economic devât office
- Ask economic office, âwhat plans do you have to incentivize big businessesâ
- Regrets not doing more with social media while he was playing
- Strategy approach - give value, use keynote speeches to create social videos
- Created a video of how he bought a four-plex in Arizona, it got 80,000 views on LinkedIn
- Blackerpockets got 100,000 views on it
- Answer questions and use the video as content
- Went to Biggerpockets and found questions and started answering the questions
- Content has to be contextual to the platform
- Instagram is more entertainment-based â college market, younger audience
- LinkedIn is more organic and catered to the business audience â more consumers of content than creators of content
- Twitter is jumping into conversations
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Partner: Check out the Passive Income through Multifamily Real Estate podcast with Kyle and Lalita Mitchell
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Bullâs Eye Tips:
Winning Your Market: Know the people and talk to everyone you come across
Tracking Market Changes: Staying connected
Daily Habit: Brandon Turnerâs 90 Days of Intention Journal
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Resources:
Best Business Books:
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
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Digital Resources:
Add Subtitles
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Tweet This:
âAsk the economic office, âwhat plans do you have to incentivize big businessesâ
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â85% of videos on social media are watched without soundâ
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Places to Grab a Bite:
Ginghams 24-Hr
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Connect with Hakeem:
Instagram: @hakvalles80
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