What have you learned in 15+ years of investing in Real Estate? Here are Alan’s top 10 list of lessons to help catapult your Real Estate Investment business and STAY at the top without making all of the same mistakes.

Listen as he shares his story and gives you a clear game plan and strategy to be a successful Real Estate Investor and entrepreneur.

Alan Hernandez is a Houston Real Estate Pro, broker/owner of White Picket Realty and a Director for Texas Association of Realtors, also known as Texas Realtors. He is an active member of the Real Estate investment community and he believes that the first step to living a life you love is to break through the financial barriers placed on us. He has created a system to live debt free through investing in short term rentals, private money loans and renovations/flips. His goal is to help other Realtor fulfill their dreams by equipping them with the skills they need to operate a successful Real Estate business, to be a able to live a life by their own design by doing what they love daily, and investing in what they know best to build a legacy.

Welcome, Houston’s favorite broker and investor, the one and only, Alan Hernandez!!!!!

Video Transcript:

Today we get a chance to transform lives by sharing all about what it takes to be a real estate professional and more specifically, what it looks like to be an investor in today’s crazy market. My name is Alan Hernandez. Can’t wait for you to join us for Open Book. See you soon.

“Today, we have some very interesting guests coming up who have different backgrounds. The first one that we’re going to have coming up today is Alan Hernandez. I actually reached out to a very good buddy of mine, Danny Garcia, and I said, Danny, when you think about investments, who do you think about? He says, Alan Hernandez, White Picket. So I said, right away, let me give Alan a call and ask him if he would participate to come share some of his knowledge. Alan has been in the business. I’m not going to say how long because then I’ll tell you his age. But I want to go ahead and at this time welcome Alan Hernandez to the stage.”

Who’s excited to be here today?

My name is Alan Hernandez and I am a broker and investor. Today we get a chance to talk about investments. It’s such a sexy word, right? Like everybody that gets into real estate at one point or another says, Oh, maybe I should do some investments, or I’d like to do some investments. Statistically speaking, only 2% of us, us meaning realtors and loan officers, will actually invest throughout our career.

Only 2%. That’s it. That means in this room, there’s approximately what is that, 5 to 10 investors, maybe? People that are actually actively looking to build wealth. Yet we do it for others. So I know a lot of you guys came out here because you wanted to learn something about investing. And I figured, look, I only have 15 minutes to teach you all this stuff, right?

So I just made a list of the top ten things I’ve learned by investing for the last 15 plus years. You guys want this list? Yeah! All right. All right, all right. Here we go. We’re going to go straight to the chase, and then if it’s okay, I’m going to tell a little story. But here’s the deal. It’s really personal and it’s not one I’ve shared before.

It’s been a little while since I’ve been on stage. In fact, it’s been a little while since any of us have been on stage because times change. And just a year ago we had masks on. So with your permission, with everyone’s permission, we’re going to be vulnerable today. So I want you to tap the person to your right to say, hey, it’s okay to be on the road.

We’re going to learn today. All right, everybody agrees right? Fantastic. If you guys brought your notepads, these are the top ten things I’ve learned. And if you stay and follow me to the end, I’m gonna give you guys two bonus lessons that I’ve learned. The idea today is that maybe, hopefully, ideally, you take something home from my playbook, you learn a lesson without going through the struggles.

And maybe, just maybe, you take action. Number one, there’s no such thing as a get rich quick scheme. It doesn’t exist, especially in real estate. Entrepreneurial depression is a real thing. You guys are all entrepreneurs. It’s okay to not be okay. Can we all agree that? We have an agreement. We’re going to be vulnerable. Okay. It’s unrealistic to think that if you invest, it’s going to go just like on HGTV.

I know. Like, it seems like that should be common knowledge, but it isn’t. I still to this day, get people to walk into my office and say, I’d like to buy a house worth $500,000, but I only want to pay 100. Yeah, you’re eventually going to lose money. And if you’re playing the game on a large enough scale, you’re occasionally going to lose money.

And it’s okay because you’re going to find a way to get back up. And we’re going to talk about that here shortly. Every loss teaches you something just like you pay to go to school. You pay to learn. Partners make the world go round. That includes your spouse. That includes the person that helps you operate your team at the office.

That includes the wholesaler, that brings you deals. It’s just as important to make a consistent small amount of money as it is to make large paychecks. It’s called fast nickles, slow dimes. You want both. You’re going to work your plan and plan your work. Making money while you sleep is the best place to be. We’ll cover some of that here shortly.

Number ten, Read. Read. And guess what else? Read. Yeah. I promised you guys I was to tell you a little it’s a little story. It starts with a 12 year old boy staying up a way past his bedtime. There was a time, believe it or not, where your TV would just stop. Seriously, TV at midnight, would do this weird thing where it would play the national anthem.

Bom bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. And then, beeeeep.. And after about 10 seconds of it, you’d be like, I can’t handle this anymore. Let’s just turn it off. You couldn’t pick it out. It was just done. You could watch TV again the next day. I know some of you guys are looking at me like, What the heck is he talking about?

TV used to turn off? If you were born in the nineties, you probably weren’t exposed to this, but that was the way it was. Would you guys agree? Some of you guys I see some you guys shaking your heads. Times change, right? Right before then, there was a guy that used to come on there with a fantastic infomercial, and he used to go something like this.

He’d drive out in his Corvette and drive up to his yacht and he’d get out and he’d say, You see this? I get a chance to drive a Corvette. I get a chance to drive to my yacht and live in a mansion. And why? Because I invest in real estate. And you should, too. For a small price of 299, you can buy my course.

But I remember looking at that and thinking, Man, that is so cool. I mean, he gets to drive a Corvette, has a yacht and owns a mansion, and I’d like to have some of those things too. But most importantly, what I really liked about what he was doing was that he looked happy, like he looked happy as he was getting out of his car.

He looked happy as he was leaving his amazing house and looking happy as he was getting into this beautiful yacht, and he was radiating happiness. And I wanted that. I wanted that more than anything else. So I remember walking up to my parents and saying, Hey, Mom, Dad, you know there’s this guy.. He comes on like right around like, midnight and they’re like, What?

Well, you know, he’s talking about investing in real estate. No, no, no, no, no. That’s not for us. They were afraid. They were afraid, like many of us are, to fail because it’s easier to sit on the sidelines and not try something than to try it. And fail. That’s the hardest part of investing. So fast forward because I only have 10 minutes left.

Fast forward from grade school and college and I get of college and I finally land this amazing job where I’m wholesaling houses full time and I’m learning all about what people pay for houses and why they do it and why I see people becoming millionaires right? And I’m like, Hey, why am I not making any of this? And so I decided I decided to start flipping houses.

And I do well. I do well. I make money on some I break even on others. I lose a little money on a few. It’s all good. And then I remember this one specific night and I was in my early thirties and this night changed my perception, changed my business, changed my life, and I want to share it with you guys today.

It was one of those nights where you toss and turn all night where your heart’s thumping real loud, and you can literally, like, feel your body throbbing. And you don’t know if somebody touched your thermostat because you’re sweating and you just don’t understand what’s happening. But these terrible thoughts keep crossing through your mind of failure and not being able to progress and not being able to do anything.

And it just keeps going on and on and on and on. And before you know it, you’re sitting up on your bed and you don’t know if you’re going to scream or cry or yell or what you’re going to do, but you want out because it’s awful. Anybody ever had a bad night before? Because this night made me immediately get up and write a note to myself.

And this is a note I’ve never shared with anyone I want to share today with you guys, that alright? Yeah. It says Alan today, you realized you lost at the game not because of the circumstances that the world brought to you, you see, we had just gotten into some multimillion dollar investment projects. We’ve been doing great.

Why not? We decided, hey, let’s flip some really big stuff. Let’s make some money. We thought it’s going to be perfect and all of a sudden it floods. Remember those floods that happened? Those tax day floods. Yeah, I was an investor for those and I took a hit on the first one and I said, Well, you know what, we have a great attitude, we’re going to fix these things up.

We’re going to put these back on the market, and we’re going to do all right. We’re going to make it happen. And then the next tax day comes in and floods those houses again. But they didn’t flood during Harvey. Isn’t that something. So as I’m going through this, I write this note: you lost sight of what was truly important and played the game for your ego and put all of your eggs in one basket.

What is it that truly makes you happy? Is it as simple as just money or is there more for you? From this point forward, you’re going to play the game differently. You’re going to come back from this, like you’ve come back from other setbacks in your life. You’ll forgive yourself and you will allow this setback to give you strength and come back stronger.

You will learn and you will use this to fuel your hunger. You will do what it takes, because if money was no object, what would you want to do every day? Is there a way for you to feel happy, fulfilled and complete first and then just trust that the rest will follow? Maybe it’s time for a mind shift.

Now, don’t get me wrong, guys. When I wrote this to myself, I had no problems and still don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with being hungry, taking risks. And wanting more, like we’re all here because we want that right? We all want to make it. We all want to make it big. We all want to do big things. Hopefully, shake your head if you agree with that.

Yes. Yeah. Fantastic. But the lesson here today is about diversifying, is about being intentional with everything that you do. Intentional with the people you surround yourself with, intentional with the books you read, intentional with the way you spend your time. So due to this note, I created a list of mind shifts that I was going to adhere to. This is my next list for you guys.

You guys want to hear this list? Yeah! Fantastic. I will create multiple streams of investment income and not rely solely on flipping properties. I will house hack my way out of a mortgage because mortgages suck. Yeah. I said it. I will begin to create a six month savings bond for my family’s well-being because life happens and we live in Houston. I will make certain that as I create passive income revenues, I will create revenues that make money while I sleep.

It could be anything for you, but for me it was creating an Airbnb portfolio and rental properties. Money while I sleep. I will celebrate and be proud of all of the small wins. I will choose my hard on a daily basis because it’s just as hard to live life broke as it is to do the things needed to be rich.

I will choose my hard, daily. I’ll stop focusing on the results and find joy in the process. I will work because I love what I do and once I get there, I will share my knowledge and story with those around them. Those are the commitments I made after that night. So back to those real lessons learned from 16 years of investing.

Remember we talked about those earlier, no such thing as a get rich quick scheme. It’s high highs, low lows. Unrealistic to think it will go like HGTV. Eventually there’s going to be some losses. Every loss teaches you something. Partners make the world go round. Consistent income is just as good as big income. Making money while you sleep is the best place to be.

Airbnb’s, private money loans, rentals. You name it, are so many ways for you to make money while you sleep. Plan your work, work your plan, read, read, read. And I promised you guys two bonus ones today. Bonus number one, this night, looking in hindsight from a bird’s eye view was awful at the moment. But I get a chance to remember this night and remember that winners never lose.

Winners learn. Bonus number two, remember that 12 year old? That 12 year old now goes to Pershing Middle School. He’s in seventh grade. His name is Daniel. We go to Krav Maga after school every day. We do homework together. We go bike together. I go to all of his band concerts. I go to his swim team meets. He says he wants to be a doctor one day and that when he makes the money that he wants to make, that he wants his dad to invest it with him.

Number 12 is build a legacy. Don’t do it for you. Do it for the people around you. That love you. That you love. Get out there. Take action. Make it happen. Choose your hard. You can do it. And if you need help, don’t be afraid to reach out. My name is Alan Hernandez. I am a happy broker and investor.

Thank you guys for having me here today, I sincerely appreciate it.

What’s up, everybody? Alan Hernandez here. We just got done with the first session of Open Book here in Houston, actually at a place called Katy Vibes, in Katy, and we had a phenomenal set of speakers. Yours truly was able to share a little bit about my investment experience and things that have gone right. Things have gone nuts. All right.

Several other people shared about how to build teams, how to get leads, how to create a marriage that works inside of real estate, everything that has to do with being successful. It was a fantastic event. I’m so happy to be able to share some of it with you. Follow us on our page. Hit that like button. If you like any of the content that we’re putting out there and let us know if there’s anything else you need to continue growing your business.

We’ll see you guys next time.