[00:00:00] Jordan D’Silva: You know, I think there’s so many older philanthropists and older business people that are retiring, boomers that are wanting to give back. You’re seeing a lot of that with these older generations that want to give as much as they can from a monetary side, but mostly with advice and, and with guidance. So I think just trying to find those people in your life and and build those connections. And I’d be one of those people as well. That one that would love to build connections and help as much as I can.

[00:01:22] Nicole Pendergrass: I guess multifamily is the next phase of what you guys are doing. Well, those single families that you are holding for rentals now, do you plan to keep those, sell them, like, what portion, percentage-wise, I guess, of your portfolio now is the notes with homes that, I mean, you don’t own, but you have the notes on versus what you kept for rentals on the single family side. And is the only commercial one you have right now the 12- unit, or have you done other commercial assets?

[00:01:52] Jordan D’Silva: Yeah, it’s actually still about 70- 30 from notes to rentals. And we’ve done a couple of other, the 12-unit, and then we have a 4-unit office building in the north of Dallas. And then our office building that we own, which is in East Dallas. So we have a couple of commercial office buildings, but for the most part, it’s still just rental properties. We don’t plan on selling almost any of them. I think we’ll look at some and every year you kind of look at, you know, what’s underperforming, what area may not be appreciating or it’s a problem property, you know, you can’t ever get a good tenant. You have those properties where you’re just like, okay, we tried our best. Area’s not growing, the tenants, we can’t get a good tenant, so you sell those off. But for the most part, we intend to just hold everything, continue to see rent growth in the DFW market, double-digit every year for the past couple of years. And and we expect rent growth to still steadily grow in the future. So we want to, we definitely want to hold on to our single family.

[00:02:42] Nicole Pendergrass: Okay. Market research. So how do you guys determine, is there anything outside of the normal market research type of metrics, you know, job growth and rent growth, you know, all the businesses coming in, all that kind of thing, because your dad, like you said, is kind of contrarian and was going where people didn’t want to go. So what did your company look for in a market that would be not what everybody else is looking at, but still make you comfortable to go in there and make a difference?

[00:03:16] Jordan D’Silva: Yeah, I think that’s a great question. He actually struck out a little bit. So after 2018, 2019, we are struggling a little bit to buy property in our same market of Dallas. So he actually tried to buy properties more in rural areas between Dallas and Waco. So he was betting on that. You can find these cheaper properties in much rural areas, country towns, and then you could rehab them and do the same process, the note business with those areas and eventually they would appreciate, and you get plenty of buyers. It’s just like South Dallas. You can just repeat that process with the notes in rural areas, but it turns out there was a couple of problems with that. And the problem was that there’s just not the same pool. I mean, if you’re going to have a ton of buyers in South Dallas because of the population and because of migration into Dallas. In other areas, if it’s a ghost town, you’re going to have problems finding a big pool of buyers. And also because of that, you’re going to get less than good buyers, right? And so you get a lot of foreclosures. You have to take back the property, also hard to find contractors. So he did struck out there, but I still think there’s some principles to locating these rural towns that are on the path of growth, path of progress, right? I think that’s where we can separate ourselves still. We just need to be I think a little bit more intentional about understanding what makes a town get from point A to point B. There’s certainly a lot of towns that are starting to develop and grow. So I think that’s actually where our next stage is at and looking at multifamily. You know, what are the cities in Texas that are still underappreciated, where you can buy now and then you’ll see this major development, major growth. So a lot of it is just talking to cities and seeing where they’re at and and their stance on development, their stance on building. You know, surprisingly, there’s still a lot of cities that don’t want to have new development. And so in those cases, why would you buy in those areas if you’re not going to see that growth. On the other hand, one thing we also look for are places where there’s a lack of supply but other good factors. That could be schools. Our 12 unit is actually in an area where the city is is having a lot of problems with building new units. But the school district is so good that everybody wants to move there. And so we have a 12-unit, one of the only apartment complexes in the city. And so we’re able to drive rents up and be able, to take advantage of a supply issue. Now, of course, we’re always for, you know, increasing supply, getting more people housing, but it’s certainly something to look at, you know, where there’s supply issues as well. So I think to answer your question, we definitely look for areas in Texas that we can expand to, that have some factors where we can see longer term development. And so even if we buy now and we know that it won’t happen for a couple more years, three to five years, we can still hold it now and wait for that growth, and we’ll see rent growth and appreciation because of that. So I think definitely looking for those factors in the cities where we can see long-term development is where we like to look at.

[00:06:14] Nicole Pendergrass: Okay. And you stay in Texas. Do you have goals, like, and I’m assuming, of course, that’s because you’re there and you used to do California because you were there? So is that where you feel comfortable because you can go and you can create those relationships and be boots on the ground for your own properties? And do you have any plans to expand to areas where you’re not physically located if you built up a team in some other markets?

[00:06:41] Jordan D’Silva: Yeah, I think we definitely have plans to go to other markets. I don’t know that we have any plans now to go as a team and, and manage properties in other markets. We want to continue to stay with our Texas properties and preferably north Texas, but we are looking at other markets as well, looking for partners that we can team up with and buy in markets with the same characteristics that we’ve talked about that you look for. And so, yeah, I think we love the Southeastern part of the United States. We love states like Ohio, Indiana that are seeing a lot of growth as well. So we definitely are looking for great partners that we can partner up with and be capital partners, be asset managers for, utilize our experience with value add and with property management. So definitely if anybody wants to partner up, we’re interested.

[00:07:26] Nicole Pendergrass: Nice. You heard that invitation so get on it. Alright. So I guess actually I want to talk a little bit about the estate planning because I think you did mention your dad was good at estate planning. What kind of stuff, because it’s one thing to, everyone has the ideas of how to build it up and what kind of active activity, if you’re either going to be an active investor, you’re going to start a business or what you’re going to do to actually build that capital up and reinvesting it is good because then that’s a way for it to grow. But just like with your dad, like in his passing, he was able to pass things on to you, and then you’re going to be able to pass things on to, you know, your legacy and your other future generations. And how does that stay in the family and not get squandered because you have a good head on your shoulders, but we don’t know what the future generation’s going to be like, especially the farther away removed you are from the source, like the impetus of the family business, the more you don’t appreciate and respect it ’cause you’re too far removed, right? Like, the people who will have come down to future lines, who will have never met your dad, you know, they won’t take away those same values that you had. So what kind of estate planning I’m always interested in? How do people try to keep their future generations from squandering what they’ve built?

[00:08:49] Jordan D’Silva: I’m not going to give a ton of details only because I don’t want to. Say something that is not true ’cause it is very complicated. I’ll first say that you should definitely contact an attorney, a state attorney, get that figured out, wealth planner. Even today I met with a wealth planner to talk about some, some planning as well. So I’m only 25 and I’m planning for my future as well. But he definitely planned, I mean, he took the time. It was an extremely detailed family trust. I’ll mention that. That was the big primary piece was having the assets go to a family trust at his passing. So having a detailed family trust with, you know, details on everything, you name it. I think that’s extremely important. But also just surrounding yourself with great team members, great attorneys, state, attorney, wealth planner. If you don’t have those people in your life, and also don’t just go for the cheapest one. Go for ones that are quality. It pays off, you know, in the long run by leaps and bounds. So it pays off extremely from a dollar amount too, as far as tax savings and making sure that your wealth is not squandered, like you mentioned. So having that and making sure you get those trust planned out correctly, making sure that, you know, you talk about the gift tax and all the implications of that. So allocating assets correctly planning for, who’s going to take over is also important from an operational standpoint. So we knew when he passed away that it was my job to get into that CEO role. So having all that planned out I think is extremely important. And I think just from my standpoint, besides all the financial planning and the asset allocation planning, I definitely want to, like you said, you know, before we talked about getting a whole document in place to write that my future kids can look at and see all the lessons that I’ve I’ve gone through, record videos to be able to teach them when I’m gone. So I think that’s just a small part, but I’m definitely curious to see, you know, what else I can do to make sure that, you know, my kids, my grandkids, they all fall in line as well.

[00:10:47] Nicole Pendergrass: Yeah. And that’s the thing I’ve heard about too, is kind of you can create your own. If you don’t have enough assets to be like a family office, right, but you can create your own little mini-family office by having the right team members on place, like having a tax and strategy planner and having the right like estate planning attorney and having the wealth planner and all. All those people, like, play those crucial roles and even having them have joint meetings together, like have a joint conference meeting where everyone can discuss because there are some things on the tax side that may not be optimal on the legality side, but you have to come to some, you know, middle ground that’s beneficial for the bigger picture, you know? So I think that that’s great. And I think who’s good and who’s not, you know, like that to me is because a lot of people can talk a good game, but it’s not until you start using them, you find out where there’s holes in their story or where their experience doesn’t line up exactly to where they were saying, and that might be after you’ve already lost money or opportunities and things like that. So was there any particular strategy that you and your dad used to actually vet these people who were going to help with your planning, your estate planning?

[00:12:02] Jordan D’Silva: I think all leads back to networking. And that’s the beauty of the real estate community I think that we have now more than even when he was doing this is that we have so many resources for networking and getting good referrals. And so I think just being close with people that you trust in the real estate community and getting their referrals is the best way to go about it. And that’s what he did with our advisors as well. So he was able to talk to other similar investors that had the same amount of money and properties and assets so, just follow what they did, and smart people find smart people, right? So hopefully I think that’s the best way to do things rather than just Googling, you know, a state attorney. It’s better to first look at your internal network now and see what referrals you can get from them, and I think that real estate community is so great with that. There’s so many people that want to help. So I don’t think it’s going to be too hard to find some good people within the network.

[00:12:51] Nicole Pendergrass: Yeah, I agree. And you know, what’s funny too though, like, I know that getting a referral is preferred over just Googling someone yourself. But to be honest, there’s a few times when I’ve gotten referrals and those referrals sucked. It was just like, come on, man. I’m going, actually, I’ve gone back to look up who referred this person to me ’cause I’m like, why did I ever? But you know what I also have to admit sometimes I get that referral from somebody who I don’t know as well. So it’s like, Ugh, why did I take a referral from her? I just met her. Like, she seemed nice, but I don’t want to know why she referring this person to me, you know? Like she might think this person’s good, but maybe she never even used it. I don’t know. So I’ve just recently had an experience.

[00:13:36] Jordan D’Silva: The more friendships you build, then you can build those trust.

[00:13:39] Nicole Pendergrass: Yeah. And I could trust the referral. So story lesson of the story is don’t just take a referral because it comes from someone who’s nice that you just met. Make sure you actually have a relationship with the person. You can trust any referral that they give to you ’cause they know you know they’re not going to give you a crazy referral. So that was a lesson learned the hard way.

[00:13:58] Jordan D’Silva: Make sure that person that’s giving the referral is doing well with their business too, right? And they’re successful ’cause like I said, you want to attract the successful people in this business.

[00:14:08] Nicole Pendergrass: Exactly. And then once you find that one good team member, they probably have referrals to the other professionals who are actually good, so then you don’t have to go back to your network, like, you could get a referral from that professional ’cause they all hang out together. Okay. So this was great. Like, is there anything, okay, you know what, I do have one last question. So with all of your journey and story and everything that you, you know, learned from your father and taking the reins and running the business now and kind of keeping that legacy alive and all of that, you’ve seen a lot of people, I guess, from different various backgrounds and economic levels. And from the people that you’re helping at the lower levels and the people that, you know, you’re networking with or people who you want to partner with, who might have, you know, be further ahead on their journeys or whatever it is, so I know you’ve seen like a range and networked and helped and been in contact with a range of different people. For the people who maybe don’t have that family member, they don’t have anyone they know who’s doing real estate or has this bigger mindset, what do they do? And I know networking is key and education is key, but within that realm, like what are your suggestions from what you’ve seen has been maybe mindset blocks that people have had to their own, you know, journey and elevation or, you know what I’m trying to say? Like, how can people get involved? And maybe if they don’t want to do 50 properties a year or grow as big as your company has at this point, like, how do they even just get started with that one step at a time so that they can slowly build momentum into creating some type of generational wealth plan for themselves and their future family?

[00:15:57] Jordan D’Silva: I first should say that I’m the least qualified person to ask probably about how to start from scratch, given my privilege, but from my dad’s standpoint, what did he do? And of course, it was a different time, but you know, he came from another country with very little, and he was able to figure it out. And so what did he do? I think the biggest thing he did from a mindset standpoint was that, like I mentioned earlier, he outworked everybody. At the very least I couldn’t speak too much on, you know, and especially with the housing market now, like how does somebody that has no experience, no capital? How do they start building generational wealth? It’s a tough question that I’m definitely not prepared to answer, but I think at the very least there are definitely people out there that want to help, including myself, help people that are trying to get out, that are in, you know, lower-income neighborhoods and want to get out, want to grow, want to help their neighborhoods grow. There’s a lot of people out there that want to help them. There’s a lot of programs out there. And so I think just getting involved as much as you can, and then following up with a lot of action and providing value to other people and providing value that is hard to replicate too. So figuring out where is a niche that people need, and how can I make myself indispensable? It’s always been a big thing I’ve I’ve seen from people. And I’ve seen it from people that I’ve met in these neighborhoods that I’ve hired for work or for contracting jobs as well. People that have come from very poor backgrounds, but have shown a skill that is very hard to replicate and also very hard to find combine that with a good work ethic, integrity, honesty. And you, you have something that, you know, you want to keep that person and you want to provide value to them. And so in my case, you know, especially with a lot of the programs that I see, the ones that I see that are most successful in these, whether they’re incubator programs or whether they’re programs to help entrepreneurs in lower-income neighborhoods, the ones that I see the most successful are the ones that really put their all into these programs really put their all in following up, and doing all the work that’s required. From there, the more you get connected, the more work you do, and the more work you put in these programs, people want to give to you. People want mentor. You know, I think there’s so many older philanthropists and older business people that are retiring, boomers that are wanting to give back. You’re seeing a lot of that with these older generations that want to give as much as they can from a monetary side, but mostly with advice and with guidance. So I think just trying to find those people in your life and build those connections and I’d be one of those people as well, that one that would love to build connections and help as much as I can. So that’s all I can say from that. You know, I really don’t have as much experience, but I certainly know that there’s a lot of people out there that want to help.

[00:18:42] Nicole Pendergrass: Yeah. I love that. And if you did not hear that clearly, people, he said he wants to help you. Reach out to him, you know, like, don’t be too proud. Like, there’s people who are out here who are. Ahead of their journey and they’re doing great things and they want to give back and they want to create impact. And when you find those people or you hear those people, like, grab on, take ’em up on their offer and see how you can create and add value to what they’re doing. And maybe at this point, you can’t, but you can learn the skill, like he was saying, learn how to become indispensable, you know, and it’s not impossible. You just got to put in the work and have the work ethic, but then also work smarter.

[00:19:24] Jordan D’Silva: That’s right.

[00:19:25] Nicole Pendergrass: So there’s a lot to go with that. Okay. So, oh my gosh, this conversation was really good. I feel so blessed and honored to hear about your dad’s story and that whole journey and how you’re picking up the baton and your story. You’re very humble, but it’s nothing to be sneezed at either. You know, whether you think you came from privilege or not, like, your mindset is fantastic. You’re taking up right where your dad left off. I know he’d be more than proud of you. You have a great head on your shoulders,, and you know, you want to give back and that is very commendable and you’re creating your own. Like, it’s already been started, you’re blazing your own trail, you know what I mean? So and that’s not just because we’re recording, I really feel that way about your story and what we’ve discussed and so far, so I love it.

[00:21:20] Nicole Pendergrass: We are actually going to wrap up and I’m going to ask you the last few questions I ask every guest.

[00:21:26] Jordan D’Silva: Okay.

[00:21:27] Nicole Pendergrass: And so first question, Warren Buffett said diversification is protection against ignorance. I take that to mean people just invest in diversified assets because you don’t really know what you’re doing to kind of hedge your down risk. But what is your take on that, ’cause some people think that that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I don’t know. But what do you think about it?

[00:21:47] Jordan D’Silva: Well, I think diversification is a result of no one knowing what will happen. And that’s what the ignorance is, the ignorance of what the future holds in any industry. And so if you diversify, you mitigate your risk of the ignorance of what will happen in the future. You know, none of us know what’s going to happen with real estate. As much as everybody likes to say that they have the answers, we don’t know how the market’s going to turn out in the next couple months. Crypto, the same thing. You name whatever industry you want to name. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Pandemic is a perfect example of how things can just, you know, go crazy, without any foresight. So I think it’s a great quote and it speaks to the importance of diversity. And I was actually thinking about that in the sense of if I know that real estate’s going to do so great, why don’t I just put everything into real estate and put everything in this one asset class that I know is going to grow? I’d be fine, but then boom, another pandemic or whatever catastrophe happens next ruined your whole bet. I could not have foreseen whatever that would be. So I think it’s important, even if you are so sure that this one bet is going to pay off, you know, everybody wants probably last year, wanted to take all their savings out and put it all Bitcoin and we’re seeing that maybe that’s smart, maybe that’s not. We’ll see, right? We don’t know. So diversity protects against that.

[00:23:02] Nicole Pendergrass: Yeah. Okay.

[00:23:03] Jordan D’Silva: Diversification, I should say.

[00:23:05] Nicole Pendergrass: Yeah. I knew what you meant. Okay, next question. Have you ever played Monopoly?

[00:23:11] Jordan D’Silva: Yes.

[00:23:11] Nicole Pendergrass: Okay. Baltic Avenue is, you know, one of the cheaper properties versus Boardwalk, most expensive. What’s your strategy for winning the game? What property are you buying first and why?

[00:23:22] Jordan D’Silva: I think just, you can tell from my experience in real estate, my dad’s experience, we’re Baltic buyers over here. We prefer to buy up the whole block and put our hotels up and all that and have the rent go in, you know. I think, in that sense, right, you’re able to have lower capital investment and potential for higher return, especially if you buy all the neighborhood you’re able to double that and triple that. So we’re, Baltic buyers over here.

[00:23:47] Nicole Pendergrass: Baltic buyers. I love that. I haven’t had anyone say I’m a Baltic buyer. That’s a strong statement.

[00:23:54] Jordan D’Silva: I’m buying that too.

[00:23:55] Nicole Pendergrass: Oh, yeah, yeah, you are. But that’s a strong forefront. Like, that’s exactly what you guys have been doing in your business. So it’s really like a real-life example. Okay. So actually another question. What’s one thing that you would need in your business today that would catapult you to the next level of whatever you see, the business or yourself personally heading?

[00:24:19] Jordan D’Silva: I think it’s really systems to scale. We’ve been more of an operations-focused business. In that we have our investment, you know, single family, pretty simple. We’re going to do this, this, and this. That’s our process. We’re going to manage it. I’m going to be the CEO managing this operations. And like you said, working on the business has not been enough of the forefront. How do I get out of the business and focus on scaling it, growing it? And then also, you know, I think, like you said, getting into other markets, expanding our ability to be in a lot of deals. I think we saw that in the DFW market, how hot it was and how hard it was to buy that. We were very limited because that was our only market that we knew. And so having those partners, you know, networking has only been a really a new thing for me over the past year and a half. So I’m still, you know, new to it and building partnerships, but it’s already transformed my outlook on investing. And, and so I think just capitalizing on that, growing that to build more opportunities to partner and you’re scaling our business to be able to take on those future deals.

[00:25:25] Nicole Pendergrass: Okay, great. I love it. All right, so, wow. That’s a wrap. Thank you so much for being with us today. How can people who want to reach out to you, you offer to help, extending that, you know, that hand, but how can people reach out to you? How can they learn more about what you and your business are doing? Maybe someone has resources for you. You never know who’s listening, you know. What’s the best way?

[00:25:50] Jordan D’Silva: I think our website is webcityproperties.com. That’s our company, Web City Properties. I don’t know the story behind the name. My dad just, he liked that. So webcityproperties.com, jordan@webcityproperties.com is my email, always look forward to talking to anybody and seeing how I can provide value. I think that’s our big focus is provide value to as many people as possible and then opportunities will eventually come. So certainly welcome to talk to anybody.

[00:26:18] Nicole Pendergrass: Exactly. And I love that opportunities will come, just provide value. Ah, wow. This was a really great conversation. I feel like I know you so much better now. But yeah, I definitely want to continue this. I’m glad this is the start of our relationship. I know this won’t be the last time we talk and everyone else reach out to Jordan. If you have any questions, if you need assistance with anything, he sounds like he is more than willing to help out. And that is a wrap. We will see you at the next episode.

[00:26:52] Jordan D’Silva: Thank you.