Episode 156: Building Wealth Through Real Estate: Expert Advice from Alex Capozzolo and Jay Conner

In the ever-evolving world of real estate, investors are constantly seeking new avenues for funding and innovative ways to attract sellers and buyers. The Raising Private Money podcast invites industry professionals like Alex Capozzolo to share their insights, providing a treasure trove of knowledge for anyone looking to succeed in the competitive real estate market.

Encouraging Entrepreneurial Beginnings

Alex Capozzolo’s journey into real estate investment began with a pivotal moment of inspiration upon reading ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ at 22. This eye-opening experience set him and his business partner on a path to explore opportunities in real estate investing. Their close-knit partnership, stemming from a friendship since kindergarten, is a testament to the importance of strong alliances in business ventures. The duo’s initial plunge into real estate saw them securing a triplex in Philly, which still stands as their best cash-flowing property. Through the podcast, Alex emphasizes the significance of raising money before hunting for deals—a strategy that has undoubtedly paved the way for their success.

Uplifting Through Private Lending

Alex and his partner have finessed the art of raising private capital. They believe in preempting doubts potential investors might harbor by preparing detailed presentations that not only cover the basics of a hypothetical deal but also delve into local economic trends and future forecasts. This approach highlights the critical role of meticulous preparation and honest communication in securing funds.

One particularly compelling aspect of their method is the consideration of worst-case scenarios. They communicate openly with lenders about options for repayment, showing that protecting their lenders’ investments is a top priority. Here, Alex shares a powerful insight: providing potential lenders with a mortgage or a deed of trust boosts confidence since it offers tangible security against their loan, reinforcing the investor-lender relationship.

The Digital Frontier: SEO and PPC in Real Estate

In a candid discussion with Jay Conner, Alex conveys the intricacies of real estate lead generation. While pay-per-click advertising and purchasing leads have been part of their strategy, they now predominantly rely on search engine optimization (SEO) to attract leads organically. Alex’s particular expertise in SEO has helped them rank at the top in Google searches for relevant real estate keywords—a significant feat that drives their current lead acquisition.

Alex mentioned an important shift in their business model, moving away from paid leads and pay-per-click campaigns toward mastering the art of SEO. As a result, they now enjoy the lion’s share of their leads from organic search results.

Final Wisdom for New Investors

For those embarking on their real estate journey, Alex imparts a nugget of wisdom: capitalizing on personal strengths, recognizing limitations, and engaging in strategic networking are instrumental in cultivating a thriving venture. Understanding what energizes you and partnering with others to cover areas beyond your expertise can accelerate progress and lead to fruitful collaborations.

The discussion in this podcast episode with Alex Capozzolo offers a deep dive into the possibilities of real estate investment. By embracing the power of private lending and exploiting the potential of modern marketing tactics like SEO, Capozzolo and his business partner demonstrate that innovative approaches can significantly impact the industry.

Maximizing Networking in Real Estate:

“Figure out what you’re good at and what you enjoy within maybe a business or a real estate strategy that you’re trying to do, and then identify also where your weaknesses are or what you’re missing to get you to x y z goal. Spell all that out in your head and then network intentionally to try and find those people, and that’ll get you a lot further, a lot faster.” – Alex Capozzolo

 

10 Lessons Covered on This Episode:

  1. ‘Investor Mindset’: Alex Capozzolo attributes his career shift to real estate to a mindset change prompted by “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” 
  2. ‘Early Beginnings’: Alex and his partner, annual kindergarteners, became business partners, securing their first investment property at age 24. 
  3. Money Pre-Deals: Underscores the importance of raising investment funds before locating the initial property deal. 
  4. ‘Private Funding’: Describes finding their first private lender among family friends using a well-prepared presentation. 
  5. ‘Protection Tactics’: Discuss how mortgage deeds and open communication ensure the safety of investments for private lenders. 
  6. ‘Marketing Prowess’: Highlights Alex’s strength in online marketing and implementing automated systems that manage real estate leads. 
  7. ‘SEO Focused’: Reveals the majority of their leads are generated through search engine optimization strategies.
  8. ‘Expanding Reach’: They’ve begun targeting industrial spaces with a new outbound campaign, diversifying from their main SEO-driven approach.
  9. ‘Squatting Challenges’: Touches on lingering squatting issues in Philadelphia, a potential topic for in-depth discussion or publication. 
  10. ‘Leverage Strengths’: Advises new investors to play to their strengths, delegate, and network purposefully to enhance capabilities.

 

Fun Facts:

  • Alex Capozzolo and his business partner, John, have been friends since kindergarten and got into real estate investing after reading ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ at the age of 22. 
  • They started their first investment endeavor, a buy-and-hold triplex in Philadelphia, at the age of 24, and had raised money before even doing their first deal. 
  • Alex and John once dealt with squatters in one of their properties in Philadelphia for 12 months, which became a significant learning experience regarding squatter laws.

Timestamps:

00:01 – Raising Private Money Without Asking For It

02:35 – Helping people with real estate investment, realtor.

03:33 – True best friends, didn’t talk business.

08:09 – Creating a passive investment opportunity for a friend.

12:10 – Open, transparent meeting to clarify the situation.

14:36 – Private lenders receive added protection through insurance.

18:20 – Buying, cleaning, and selling property quickly.

20:12 – Managing leads, appointments, and automation for business growth.

23:35 –  Switched from expensive PPC to successful SEO.

25:39 – Connect with Alex Capozzolo: https://www.SdHouseGuys.com   and https://www.BrotherlyLoveProperties.com   

28:35 –  Network intentionally, focus on strengths, and delegate weaknesses.

 

Connect With Jay Conner: 

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It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book 

What is Private Money? Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner
http://www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast 

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $67,000 per deal.

#RealEstate #PrivateMoney #FlipYourHouse #RealEstateInvestor

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Building Wealth Through Real Estate: Expert Advice from Alex Capozzolo and Jay Conner

 

Jay Conner [00:00:01]:

Welcome to another amazing episode of Raising Private Money. I’m Jay Conner, your host, also known as the Private Money Authority. And this is the podcast where we talk about Raising Private Money without ever asking for money. Well, today I’ve got a very, very special guest that’s joining me here on the show. He’s raised 100 of 1,000 dollars in Private Money. In addition to that, he enjoys working with homeowners who are going through transitions. Well, as we all know, life isn’t always easy. It comes along with its challenges, and my guests can really empathize with that.

 

Jay Conner [00:00:41]:

So, if buying your house makes a difference in your life, then my guest wants to help you start that very next chapter. So not only is he a real estate investor, but he’s also a realtor as well. Now in addition to that, he and his business partner, one of them is in San Diego, and the other one’s in Pennsylvania. And they are combined forces, real estate investing in 2 different markets. Well, their goal is to continue helping people who need it. So what do they do? They pay cash for houses in both San Diego and the Philly markets. Now, selling on the market with a realtor can be expensive and time-consuming. So they know all about how to save money with their sellers.

 

Jay Conner [00:01:28]:

So this dynamic duo, if you will, make it their goal to help families overcome tough real estate situations and sell quickly, helping other people and always like me, creating win-win scenarios. So what do they do in real estate investing? And we’re gonna dig into it. They list, they flip, they wholetail, and they wholesale on both coasts. With that, in just a moment, you’re gonna be meeting my very, very special guest, Alex Capasolo, right after this.

 

Narrator [00:02:06]:

If you’re a real estate investor and are wondering how to raise and leverage Private Money to make more profit on every deal, then you’re in the right place. On Raising Private Money, we’ll speak with new and seasoned investors to dissect their deals and extract the best tips and strategies to help you get the money because the money comes first. Now here’s your host, Jay Conner.

 

Jay Conner [00:02:34]:

Well, hello there, Alex, and welcome to Raising Private Money.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:02:39]:

Thanks for having me, Jay. Excited to be here.

 

Jay Conner [00:02:43]:

Absolutely. I’m excited to have you. Now you’ve got a business partner. His name is John, and you all do all kinds of deals, whole tail, wholesale flipping, etcetera, etcetera. So you and your business partner, y’all been knowing each other quite a while. Right? How did you all first meet?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:03:03]:

We met many moons ago in, the hardest class to pass, which was kindergarten.

 

Jay Conner [00:03:11]:

Kindergarten. Well, I’m in a number of mastermind groups, and, I’m thinking you and your business partner, John, y’all had some masterminding going back all the way in kindergarten. So when did the 2 of you or when did you start thinking about and talking about getting into real estate, and how did that come about?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:03:33]:

It’s funny because we never talked business, and we grew up as true best friends. He was the best man at my wedding a couple of years ago, and I was just one of the best men along with his brother at his wedding. So true best friends growing up, But, yeah, we never really talked about business. It wasn’t a thought growing up as teenagers and things like that. And it literally wasn’t until the year I moved across the country, that we still stayed in touch, obviously, because we’re close. And I read a book, changed mindset, kinda opened me up to the thought of, like, passive income, real estate investing, and things like that. And, I called him. And I was also at that time not a book reader.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:04:18]:

But this one, it was one of those, like, right book, right time kind of moments, you know, where it’s just okay right when you needed it to. And, called him, and we were 22 at the time. And I told him just to read the book and then talk to me after, and he picked it up, read it in a week. And then, from there, we started just kinda brainstorming how we could maybe work together and try to also make money.

 

Jay Conner [00:04:42]:

Love it. What was the book?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:04:45]:

Rich Dad Poor Dad.

 

Jay Conner [00:04:46]:

Of course. It was Rich Dad and Poor Dad.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:04:49]:

A classic. I know. Never been said on this podcast before. Right?

 

Jay Conner [00:04:53]:

Oh, I think I think I’m the only real estate investor who has not read Rich Dad Poor Dad.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:05:01]:

Just gotta wait for the right moment.

 

Jay Conner [00:05:03]:

That’s right. That’s right. So how old were you and John when you started?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:05:12]:

We probably started our 1st, like, investment endeavor slash looking for deals together. I think we were 24.

 

Jay Conner [00:05:21]:

Okay. 24 years old. 24 years old. So, we’re gonna we’re gonna get into Raising Private Money here in just a second. But before we do, tell us about your first deal that y’all did.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:05:37]:

Yeah. It’s, we still hold on to it today. It’s a buy-and-hold. Triplex in Philly, and it was also it was on the MLS. This is back when there were a lot more deals on the MLS.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:05:50]:

Right. A couple of years back. And, I think it was bank-owned too. There was something it wasn’t from, like, a traditional Mhmm. Seller. Right. But we saw it, and we had already raised money before that. So we actually did raise money for this first one.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:06:04]:

So we had the money, and we took a swing. We won the bid, and we took it down. And that’s actually it’s probably our, funny enough, it’s our best cash-flowing property still today out of all the ones that we’ve gotten since then.

 

Jay Conner [00:06:19]:

Okay. Well, you just said something very, very important, and I’m so glad you said it. And that is you raised the money actually before you did the deal. Right?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:06:30]:

Right.

 

Jay Conner [00:06:31]:

Yeah. Well, let me tell you what I love about that. And and I and I tell you, Alex, I’m sure you have heard this. I’m sure your business partner, John, has heard this. And it absolutely drives me crazy. Then, you got gurus out there going around telling and instructing new real estate investors. And I know you’ve heard this. They’ll say, oh, just get the deal under contract.

 

Jay Conner [00:06:57]:

The money will show up. Have you ever heard that, Alex?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:07:02]:

A couple of times.

 

Jay Conner [00:07:03]:

That drives me crazy. Drives me crazy. I’m going, where is the money gonna show up? Is it just gonna sort of, like, rain out of the cloud? Now you know if somebody’s wholesaling deals and they’ve got a list of buyers and has a buyers list, well, guess what? They were probably smart and put that list together before they went out there and started getting deals under contract. So I practice and I preach all the time, get the money first. The money comes first because there’s always going to be deals. There’s always going to be deals. So let’s go back to your very first private lender that you and John got. Tell us the story about how you found and how you got your very first private lender.

 

Jay Conner [00:07:51]:

What relationship are they to you, if any? And how did you start the conversation, and how did you get them to become a private lender with you?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:08:04]:

Family friend. Family friend? On my side. So

 

Jay Conner [00:08:09]:

Right.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:08:09]:

A friend of mine there’s gotta be someone we know that has some money looking to invest, that’s something more passive. They can earn interest. It could be a win-win type of thing. We had no idea who that person was and didn’t think they’d be so close to home, not our direct family, but a family friend who was pretty close to me growing up and still is. So since we didn’t know, we just created, like, almost like a mock presentation of a deal, you know? It’s like an average deal in Philly. This is what we’d expect in terms of the numbers, but we did it fully step by step by step. And I think the mindset that we kind of entered this with is what questions are people going to for sure have? And then even further, what questions are people going to think and not even ask us, but they’re gonna be like that doubt? Like, what doubtful things are they going to think? And we came in with that mindset when we decided to design this whole pitch deck just on PowerPoint on our computers and, tried to answer all those questions. Like, for example, this person might not live in Philly.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:09:24]:

So, like, what’s the local economy in Philly doing right now? What’s the future economy doing in Philly? Like, they at the time, Philly had planned to, build a skyscraper downtown, which I think is the tallest building in the city. I forget. If not, maybe that’s the second or third. But, they ended up building that, but that was something that we added into the pitch deck was like, oh, it was Comcast, was the company building that building, the skyscraper. And it was supposed to bring 54 100 jobs to the city, big economic growth, and, you know, it’s that’s just things that we kind of added in that we’re good to know. At the time, my partner and I were pretty well versed in even, like, ZIP code by ZIP code, street by street, block by block, which is very much Philadelphia. So we included all of that stuff for a mock presentation and just kind of reached out to everyone we knew, both friends, friends our age, friends we were like, may have money, maybe they don’t, maybe their parents do, whatever. And this happened to be the parents of one of my childhood best friends, a different childhood best friend.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:10:24]:

And they were interested in learning more. And then from there, we kinda hopped on a couple of different calls and gave them a rundown of how it could work and what they could expect. And then, you know, they funded us, and then eventually we got, you know, a deal not too long after that.

 

Jay Conner [00:10:38]:

That’s awesome. Well, you went about it the very, very smart way because desperation has got a smell to it. And so you weren’t desperate when you were talking about your program, talking about what you could offer, as opposed to having this deal under contract and you’re trying to run around and get funding, you know, for that deal. I mean, the worst time to be Raising Private Money is when you need it for a deal. And I’ll tell you, you went about it a very, very smart way as far as thinking about what would the objections be, or what the questions be that a new potential private lender has. So I want to dive into that a little bit more as to some of the other questions you thought about that a private lender might have. So, let me ask a few. So, let’s say that I’m a friend of yours and I’m a new private lender. So let me just ask some questions.

 

Jay Conner [00:11:38]:

I’m not gonna do a role play, but here are some questions, popular questions that I get from new private lenders when they’re learning about how they can loan out money and make high rates of returns safely and securely. So one question would be, well, what happens if you, the borrower, do not pay me, the lender? How am I protected? What are my layers of protection? What’s my recourse, in case you don’t pay me?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:12:10]:

For that one, at least for us, we spelled it out as we would first have an honest and open meeting just to review exactly the situation, what’s going on, honest, and transparent, so everyone’s on the same page at that moment, because you don’t wanna come up with a plan and then, like, also not disclose part of what’s actually going on. So first just honestly lay out everything on the table, and then we would just come up with a plan. But first see if the the private lender had any just, like, preferences at that point. Ideally, we’d still like to keep the deal and try to make it work. So whether that’s getting put on a payment plan with interest that was on the table and an option and put into our agreement that that is just something we can negotiate over, and we can we’d be open to it if that worst case scenario happened and we were having trouble paying you back. We could start there. That’s the ideal because that’s just you know, if they if they believe in us and trust in this long term, I mean, obviously, the hopefully, the money thing wouldn’t happen in the 1st place. But if it did, hopefully, we can kind of re re regather ourselves and, still pay them back over time.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:13:18]:

So that was option 1 and probably the preferred. Option 2 is, you know, they could foreclose on us as a lender and then do whatever they need to do, and that’s just kind of like a fail-safe for them, worst-case scenario type thing, but was on the table too.

 

Jay Conner [00:13:33]:

Right. So like myself, you and, John, your business partner, y’all are giving your private lenders a mortgage or a deed of trust, securing their note by the real estate that you’re investing in. Right?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:13:48]:

Yeah. That’s right.

 

Jay Conner [00:13:49]:

Awesome. And the reason I bring that up is, you know, legally, we can borrow as real estate investors and entrepreneurs. We can borrow unsecured, but we don’t. We don’t put our private lenders in that position. We always give them here in North Carolina. It’s called a deed of trust. It’s that document that collateralizes the note to where and here’s the answer that we tell, you know, new private lenders. And the answer is, if I don’t pay you, the property does.

 

Jay Conner [00:14:21]:

If I don’t pay you, the property does. So that way, they’re protected. Another layer of protection goes ahead, Alex.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:14:29]:

I was just gonna say a great way to say it and that, like, I bet that makes people feel at ease a lot, and it’s just easy to remember that line. So I like that.

 

Jay Conner [00:14:36]:

Exactly. And, you know, I give my private lenders, I’ve got 47 of them right now, individuals that are funding our deals. We give them additional layers of protection. And I’m wondering if you do as well, Alex. We name our private lender as the mortgagee on the insurance policy, and and that gives them a layer of protection because if there’s ever a claim against that insurance policy, then the, more the insurance company is gonna name the private lender on that check that they make it payable to. So, like, if you borrow money from the bank, and you get an insurance policy and you’ve got a mortgage with the bank, then the bank is gonna be named as the mortgagee on that insurance policy. So I don’t know if you do that or not, Alex.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:15:28]:

We haven’t, but I like that, and I think that makes sense. So we probably will start. Right? Because like you said, it’s like when there’s just a normal bank involved. That’s just how it works with insurance a lot of the time. So, I like that. That’s a good thing to add.

 

Jay Conner [00:15:42]:

Exactly. Now here’s a question, Alex, you might not have, you might not have thought about or you might not have been asked, but you wanna have an answer for it. So I’ll put you on the spot. What if a private lender or a new private lender looks at you and says, what happens if you die? What’s the answer?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:16:09]:

Both I and my partner just got married in the past couple of years.

 

Jay Conner [00:16:12]:

Question. Right?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:16:13]:

Yeah. Oh, man, I guess, like, off the top of my head, who spouse is now the lost their husband, would have the opportunity to continue owning that 50% of the property or or they could be bought out by the current partner, and then the current partner would have a meeting with the the private lender to see what makes sense for you.

 

Jay Conner [00:16:48]:

So I just heard you say something important. So your private lenders, you’re giving them 50% ownership and equity in the property.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:16:58]:

Well, in an instance like that, I mean, maybe. I don’t know. Yeah. That’s a that’s a tough one.

 

Jay Conner [00:17:04]:

Mean, like, with my private lenders, I’m just paying a straight 8% interest. They don’t have any ownership of the property. Right? But I’ll tell you my answer, which I seldom get. But, my answer is, of course, my wife, Carol Joy, we’re in the business together. But if something were to happen to me, then, our attorney would be the trustee or executor of the estate. And, so he’s instructed to liquidate everything. And as the properties are sold off, then the private lenders are paid off when the properties are sold. So, anyway, that’s our that’s our exit strategy.

 

Jay Conner [00:17:47]:

But anyway, let’s move ahead, Alex.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:17:49]:

I was gonna say, that’s a good way to do it.

 

Jay Conner [00:17:51]:

Yeah. So let’s move on to your superpower, Alex. Your superpowers. So, you’ve told me that one of your superpowers is marketing and systems. You do different types of deals. You’re wholesaling. You’re, retailing. You’re wholesaling.

 

Jay Conner [00:18:11]:

By the way, just to make sure our audience understands, what’s the difference between wholetailing and wholesaling?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:18:20]:

Wholetailing, you’re actually buying it, and it’s almost the way to think about, like, a really quick flip, like a cosmetic flip if it’s hardly any cosmetic. Sometimes we just call it a whole tale. But you’re actually taking it down. You’re buying it yourself, taking title to it, and then maybe cleaning it out, and that’s all you do. You don’t even paint it. You just clean out the trash and then put it back on the market. And you would do that in an instance where, like, the deal is better suited for selling it on the MLS. Oftentimes, if there’s, like, a big difference in that versus selling it to an investor, we’ll go that route and just take it down ourselves, maybe clean it out, and then put it back on the market and just kinda wait.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:19:01]:

Both John and I are licensed agents in our respective states, so we save on the fees and have control over the listing and all that, which is nice. And then wholesale is just you’re kind of the middle man, and you’re conveying the contract between the buyer and the seller and not really and you’re not actually closing on it yourself unless you’re doing a quick double close same day type thing, but, it’s more of like a middleman type thing.

 

Jay Conner [00:19:24]:

There you go. Alright. So let’s talk about your expertise. When you say you’re really good at marketing and systems, what do you mean? And be as specific as you can.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:19:36]:

Well, we started our business only in Philly, and this is when I lived in San Diego California. So I was forced to not be able to help my partner do all the in-person stuff, which I still feel bad about to this day. I don’t feel bad. You know, we both do our part, put in the same similar hours and all that, and both bust our butts. But I was forced to just be on the computer and try and help and help grow our business from across the country because we were only in Philly at this time. So I just learned lots of different system stuff, marketing things because it’s all I had to do. It’s like he was busy. I was setting appointments for him.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:20:12]:

I would be like a lead manager type thing, and I was, you know, talking to people, setting appointments for him to go to in person in Philly. Doing lots of stuff like that. As our business grew, we needed more of a system to manage the leads, follow up, and send automated texts. We have all sorts of bells and whistles at this point integrated into our CRM or before or after, to make sure that we’re not only the quickest company to get back to these people if they reach out, Like, if it’s an inbound lead, which is most of our leads at this point, they find us on Google and on online through SEO. They’re usually filling out, you know Like, when you go shopping or looking for something online to buy, you always just fill out the first things. And a lot of people, fill out 123 or 1234 5, the first couple websites that show up on Google. So it’s up to us to not only, you know, send them an automated text, say, hey. Just got your form filled out.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:21:10]:

We’ll reach out soon, but also get back to them soon and then be able to track that follow-up. So that’s just like an example of, like, day-to-day stuff that we’ve built out. We even have a system now that, like, if if someone calls our website and both John and I are busy and it gets routed to both of our phones, right, if they call our our website or it gets routed to both of our phones at first or picks it up first, gets it. If we both miss it, then it goes to another system that we just hired. We hired another company, and then they answered it. So we’re always answering. We’re always staying on top of it because when leads come in, especially through SEO and online, they’re usually pretty hot. So if we don’t jump on them right away, oftentimes miss out on them.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:21:48]:

And that having that tight system has helped, us grow our business and just monetize as many leads as we can.

 

Jay Conner [00:21:55]:

Well, based on what you just said, Alex, it reminds me of, marketing 101, which says the older, the colder. Well, what in the world does the older the colder mean? The more time that goes by from when that lead first raised their hand reaching out to you. And until you get them on the telephone, the less likely you ever will. Right? And, of course, the older the colder, the longer time goes by between talking to them and closing the deal, it becomes less likely. However, there’s another side to that coin. The money’s in the follow-up. So that’s why your CRM system is so important, Keeping up with all of your leads. We just closed on a house a few weeks ago.

 

Jay Conner [00:22:40]:

We started talking to this person a year ago in our CRM, and you can just track all the conversations since that time. Now, one thing you mentioned a moment ago, Alex, is, you’re getting leads from Google and you’re using Google. So I have a question for you. Are you doing your campaigns with your own pay-per-click, or are you using companies and you pay them, pay-per-lead instead of pay-per-click?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:23:11]:

We’ve done it all. Actually yeah. Gosh. I mean, the story of a real estate company has been around for a long time. Right? You just try everything, and you find what aligns and works for you your lifestyle, and your flow. Right now, we actually don’t do either of those things. So we used to buy leads from a company that got their own leads. Don’t do that anymore because the quality went down, but it did work for a bit.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:23:35]:

The ROI on it was, like, 2 or 3 x, but, like, they just were a lot of quantity, for low quality. So it was kinda, like, draining us a little bit and stressing our systems and at least our current setup. And then, we used to do PPC as well, but not that much. It just got really expensive. And because of that, we’ll we’ll actually fine-tune and learn, SEO. So just ranks organically below the PPC section. And I, you know, just kinda again, because I was forced to just be on the computer, clicking all day here on the West Coast trying to grow our Philly stuff and, learned how to do SEO and got us ranked. So now we rank number 1 and 2 for, like, all the good key most of the good keywords in Philly at least, and then a lot of them in San Diego as well.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:24:24]:

So we just show up, and we don’t pay for those clicks anymore, thankfully.

 

Jay Conner [00:24:27]:

That’s very nice. Would you say most of your leads or most of the deals that you’re getting now come from SEO?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:24:37]:

Up until 2 months ago, it was 97% of them. We just started a new campaign where we’re also targeting some, like, bigger assets, and industrial space warehouses. So we’re doing traditional outbound for that, direct mail, cold calling, email marketing. But before that, in the past 2, or 3 years, it was 97% SEO and 3% referral.

 

Jay Conner [00:25:01]:

Wow. That’s fantastic. When have you ever thought about providing SEO services for other real estate investors?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:25:10]:

Did that in 2021, burnt out, couldn’t scale it, and stopped doing it.

 

Jay Conner [00:25:15]:

In other words, that one on in words, you couldn’t get a VA trained, to scale the business because you were doing it yourself. Right?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:25:22]:

Had 2 VAs, and then it was just yeah. I couldn’t figure out what I was missing, and I was working a ton and not making that much. And I was like, I should just do this more for our business and make a little bit more money.

 

Jay Conner [00:25:35]:

There you go. Well, Alex, this has been fantastic. What’s the best way for, our listeners to get up with you to continue the conversation with you?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:25:48]:

I’d say reach out to us on the 2 websites that we have. If you’re on the West Coast or anywhere, say west of the Mississippi, go to s d houseguys.com. That also has a lot of different guides on it too. So, like, if you’re looking to just get into real estate, certain strategies, we have a lot of guides that and helpful videos that I’ve made over the years that, are just pieces of of things and strategies I follow.

 

Jay Conner [00:26:12]:

Right. Now what does the what does the s and the d stand for?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:26:16]:

San Diego.

 

Jay Conner [00:26:18]:

San Diego. So to make sure everybody hears this correctly, it’s www.sd, for San Diego, sdhouseguys.com. And again, what kind of guides and information is there on the website?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:26:36]:

Lots of different stuff around investing. So things about squatter at California in San Diego, things about rent control in San Diego, things that change a lot, Airbnb laws, which in San Diego County, a lot of different cities within the county are all making new ordinances about short-term rentals. I stay up to date on that stuff, so I just write about it. So all sorts of stuff depending on your investing strategy that could be helpful depending on what you’re doing.

 

Jay Conner [00:27:01]:

Okay. Wonderful. Now tell us about your other website.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:27:05]:

Any other one? East Coast people. It’s brotherly love, like in Philadelphia. Right? Brotherly love? Brotherly love properties.com and that same thing. I mean that website’s been around for a bit more, but we have a really good one on squatters. And squatter-squatter laws in Philly are crazy. We just dealt with squatters for a whole 12 months, went through 2 different attorneys, and spent $14. So we know a lot about how

 

Jay Conner [00:27:31]:

that stuff works. To get to get them out of your property?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:27:36]:

Yeah.

 

Jay Conner [00:27:37]:

So in other words, squatters in Pennsylvania have more rights than the owner of the property?

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:27:44]:

In Philly, at least, they do. Wow. Amazing. Yeah.

 

Jay Conner [00:27:50]:

Yeah. I bet you could write a I bet you could write a book on, lessons learned from that scenario.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:27:57]:

That could be a whole book.

 

Jay Conner [00:27:58]:

Agreed, Jay. Awesome. Well, Alex, you have brought so much value. So, again, that’s sdhouseguys.com for those of you, investing in California. And then over here on the East Coast, we got brotherlyloveproperties.com. Alex, one last question, and we’ll let you go. What’s the best advice you would give to a new real estate investor just looking to get started? I know you have an article about it there on the website, but best advice for a new investor.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:28:35]:

You don’t have to do everything yourself, and don’t be afraid to, you know, they say, like, when you first get into anything. Right? It’s like networking, talking to people, going he events, do this, do that. But, like, take it a step further, define what you’re good at and what brings you energy. You can, like, actually do that on a day-to-day basis and not be drained. Figure out what you’re good at and what you enjoy within maybe a business or a real estate strategy that you’re trying to do, and then identify also where your weaknesses are or what you’re really missing to get you to x y z goal. Spell all that out in your head and then network intentionally to try and find those people, and that’ll get you a lot further, a lot faster.

 

Jay Conner [00:29:20]:

Alex, thank you so much for joining me.

 

Alex Capozzolo [00:29:23]:

Appreciate it, Jay. This is fun. Thanks for having me.

 

Jay Conner [00:29:25]:

You got it. And there you have it. Another amazing episode of Raising Private Money with Jay Conner. We certainly appreciate you, ringing that bell if you’re watching on YouTube. If you happen to be listening on your favorite podcast platform, whether it be Spotify, iTunes, or whatever, be sure and follow, subscribe, like, and share. We appreciate it all. Thank you for joining me here on this episode, and I look forward to seeing you right here on the next episode of Raising Private Money.

 

Narrator [00:29:58]:

Are you feeling inspired by the knowledge you gained in this episode? Then head over to www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide. 

That’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide, and download your free guide that shares seven reasons why Private Money will skyrocket your real estate investing business right now. Again, that’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide to get your free guide. We’ll see you next time on Raising Private Money with Jay Conner.