Raising Private Money and the 8 Traits of High Achievers with Josh Cantwell

In this episode, I welcome Josh Cantwell onto the show. Josh is the top residential real estate investor in his community of Northeast Ohio and has been a full-time investor since 2003. Josh has bought and sold over 700+ properties in 25 states since this time and he is the host of several podcasts, including the Accelerated Investor Podcast.

Josh begins by sharing some of his background and how he got into investing. He has raised and managed over $40M of private money that he is utilizing as part of his current deals through one-off deals, private lender loans, and as equity in his 2600 apartment units. But he got started, like so many of us do, by attending a real estate investing boot camp. Being from the greater Cleveland area, they were already seeing a foreclosure crisis with many publicly-traded companies leaving the city, so Josh got his start with foreclosure investing long before the national housing crisis.

Josh spoke in quite a lot of detail about the data that he is seeing that points to the possibility of the COVID-19 pandemic causing another similar situation in the summer of 2021. He compared the policies being observed now to the period of time following Hurricane Erma in 2017 when New York and New Jersey were impacted by this storm. Josh explained that in that case, the banks got ahead of the foreclosure crisis by offering all of the homeowners forbearance agreements. So the hurricane happened and twelve months later, there was a massive spike in foreclosures. Josh, along with many other investors, believe we are headed in this same direction with the pandemic.

I then asked Josh to talk to our listeners about raising money. Many would-be investors use not having enough money or not being able to qualify for loans as an excuse for not getting started. Josh said that being successful at raising money often comes down to a person’s own mindset about money. Josh talked about how reliable real estate investments are and how likely it is for lenders to get a high rate of return with no costs. He talked about approaching people on four different levels: if they can buy a house from you, if they can sell you a house, if they can cheerlead for you or refer you, and if they can lend or invest with you. By thinking this way, everyone you meet can become a potential client or partner.

Since Josh has been coaching other investors since 2006, I asked him to walk us through the eight traits to high achieving entrepreneurs. These traits include such attributes as self-reliance, taking responsibility for your own life, and having clarity about what you want. Seven-figure earners also have a clear idea of what their average, ideal day looks like and focus on a certain framework for getting things done even though their things to-do list may seem endless. We also talked about time management and allocating certain days per week to free-thinking, revenue-building, and buffer or preparation periods.

We talked about the steps to finding private money, marketing, networking at non-real estate events, using technology as a weapon, and so much more! Josh is an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable investor, so you do not want to miss this information-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“I’m primarily focused on raising capital and investing in multifamily properties.”

Josh Cantwell

“As a financial planner, I recognized that most of my clients owned real estate.”

Josh Cantwell

“You have to play the game and know what is working today.”

Josh Cantwell

“I’m glad to hear you say that because it makes me feel smart for doing what I am doing.”

Mike Simmons

“If you have something to offer, a product or service, that you think is going to benefit someone, you have a moral obligation to sell it to them.”

Josh Cantwell’s friend

“Tell me one person that is super happy with the stock market. Nobody.”

Josh Cantwell

“What I love about real estate is that if you buy it right, take care of it, manage it, and cash flow it, it’s about the safest investment in the world.”