Episode Summary

Alex Martinsen didn't get into real estate because he had years of development experience.

 

He got into it because he saw an opportunity to solve a problem and knew how to build a team.

 

After exiting a successful residential construction company, Alex found himself looking for his next challenge. Rather than jumping into another familiar business, he intentionally stepped away, traveled, met with entrepreneurs, and searched for the next opportunity that genuinely excited him. That opportunity arrived through a simple conversation with a friend who had been researching land home packages, a development model that combines raw land with manufactured homes to create attainable housing.

 

Instead of waiting until they had everything figured out, Alex and his partners committed to an ambitious goal: build 100 affordable homes in their first year.

 

The goal wasn't about proving they knew everything. It was about forcing themselves to think differently.

 

From day one, they focused on assembling the right team rather than trying to become experts in every part of development. Each partner brought a different strength, whether it was operations, acquisitions, raising capital, or sales. Alex believes that's the real advantage in development. Great projects rarely come from one person. They come from people with complementary skills working toward the same vision.

 

The development strategy itself is intentionally simple.

 

Rather than buying large tracts of land or pursuing lengthy subdivision approvals, the team purchases individual lots that are already zoned for manufactured homes. They verify zoning, analyze comparable sales, complete a perk test, and then develop the lot with utilities before placing a new manufactured home on the property. By repeating the same process over and over, they're building a scalable system instead of reinventing the wheel with every project.

 

One of the biggest misconceptions Alex challenges is the stigma surrounding manufactured housing. Today's homes are dramatically different than many people imagine, offering modern finishes, traditional financing options, and quality construction at a price point that many working families can actually afford. In a housing market where affordability continues to shrink, he believes these homes represent one practical solution to a problem nearly every community faces.

 

The conversation also dives into raising private capital, something many first-time developers believe is impossible. Alex argues that money is often more available than people think. What investors are really looking for are operators who consistently take action, communicate clearly, and follow through. Once someone completes one successful project, raising capital becomes dramatically easier because they can point to real results instead of just an idea.

 

Throughout the episode, Alex continually returns to one central idea: stop waiting until you feel ready.

 

Learn from people who've already done it. Find partners whose strengths complement your own. Build relationships before you need them. Then take the first step.

 

Because becoming a developer isn't about having every answer before you begin.

 

It's about being willing to solve the next problem until you've built something real.

Timestamps

0:00 — Intro
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=0

0:41 — Meet Alex Martinsen
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=41

2:47 — Why He Left His Previous Business
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=167

5:15 — Building the Right Team
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=315

8:15 — Selling His Construction Company
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=495

10:11 — Finding His Next Opportunity
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=611

12:32 — The Land Home Package Model
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=752

13:45 — Why Partnerships Matter in Development
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=825

20:50 — Defining Roles and Responsibilities
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=1250

23:31 — The Strategy Behind 100 Affordable Homes
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=1411

25:24 — Finding Lots Through Facebook Marketplace
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=1524

27:46 — How They Evaluate Development Sites
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=1666

30:49 — Manufactured Homes vs. Traditional Construction
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=1849

34:40 — Why Affordable Housing Matters
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=2080

36:07 — Financing Development Deals
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=2167

37:24 — Raising Private Capital Without a Track Record
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=2244

45:01 — Why 100 Homes?
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=2701

47:09 — Learn Before You Build
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=2829

57:01 — Advice for Future Developers
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=3421

1:00:15 — Where to Follow Alex
https://youtu.be/KYfwscjcyv0?t=3615

🔗 Related Episodes

 

How to Become a Local Developer: Katie Neason on Infill and Taking the First Small Bet | EP#29
A great companion episode on local infill, city relationships, and taking practical first steps in development.

 

How to Start Real Estate Development: Steph Weber Bought the Land First and Built the Plan Later | EP #41
A real look at taking your first development deal from idea to execution without having everything figured out.

 

Small-Scale Development: How She Left Her Corporate Career and Built a Tiny Home Village | EP #39
Another path from traditional career to building a community-driven development project.

Full Transcript

Raphael Collazo (00:41)

Welcome to the Local Real Estate Developer Podcast. I'm your co-host, Raphael Collazo, located here in Louisville, Kentucky. I'm a commercial broker, investor, and developer. And we're excited to be here with Kristi Kandel, my co co-host. It's always awesome to see ya.

 

Kristi Kandel (00:54)

Hey, awesome to see ya. Yeah, I am down here in Fort Myers Beach. I'm a real estate developer, investor, and I teach locals how to become developers in their own community. and I'm pretty excited today because I found someone on Instagram was like, Whoa, that's that's a pretty ambitious goal you put out there. you seem like our people. We we need to talk. So I would like to bring Alex into the show.

 

Alex Martinsen (01:15)

Happy to be here. It's good to meet you guys.

 

Kristi Kandel (01:17)

Awesome, yeah, great to great to meet you. And why don't we start with giving a little bit of background on who you are and where you're at?

 

Alex Martinsen (01:26)

Cool. So I'm physically in Greensboro, North Carolina. And I am a father of five. And my wife and I moved out here about five years ago from Arizona. So we both grew up in the desert of Arizona, Gilbert Chandler area. And during COVID, for whatever reason we just felt like moving. I feel like that was like a weird phenomenon. Everyone wanted to move. So it wasn't really like business related or anything.

 

but we had spent some time in North Carolina years previous and fell in love with the place and felt like that would be a good a good adventure. And so yeah, I've been here for a while. I don't think we'll move away. And so I've always been, you know, either self employed in some sort of like all commissioned sales role or launching a business. I haven't had a W two since high school. It's just kind of all I know. And you know, I don't think it's for everyone, but I I just don't think I'm employable, you know.

 

wouldn't know to do it. And so the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, the excitement of it is just I love I love everything about it. And so we very recently started a new venture that really isn't related to anything I've previously done. I mean everything is related in some ways, right? But as far as like the industry and the niche, I mean I have not done hardly anything in real estate. So to go

 

Deep into this niche of real estate and with some big ambitious goals, without any real estate experience kinda adds to the the adrenaline rush of it, I guess, you know?

 

Raphael Collazo (02:47)

First off, go devils. I I that's I went to ASU so I lived out in Arizona for quite quite some time. So it's a great great community. But but sec second, I mean I I I think that you're probably similar to a lot of people that listen to this podcast, I think that the entrepreneurship is one that I I had an itch from the beginning. even if when I was in corporate America, I was

 

Kristi Kandel (02:51)

Ha ha ha.

 

Alex Martinsen (02:51)

sweet. Awesome.

 

Raphael Collazo (03:08)

doing side projects and I was getting into just things that I could do to make money outside of what I was doing before and then ultimately got into, you know, full fully commissioned role in the brokerage side and it fits the personality very well. Like it just fits my personality very well. I've really enjoyed that and having been in in real estate for quite some time now, you know, I I I don't know I mean I'm glad that I found it 'cause I don't know if I would have really f had a fit long term where I w what I was doing before. But but to your point

 

You know, what made you decide to pivot away from what you were doing as an as an entrepreneur and whatever vertical you were exploring to then jump it into a brand new industry like real estate? And if you could elaborate a little bit on what your vision is, that'd be great.

 

Alex Martinsen (03:49)

Yeah, well, in the case of this most recent pivot, life kind of pushed me out the door to force a pivot in a way. because my last startup was something I started in mid 2022. And I had a lot of experience with sales to that point. I had been doing commission sales and running commission sales teams for the previous like 10 years, but I had no experience with the fulfillment side of anything we had ever sold.

 

And I'd certainly never managed a construction company. but that was the thing I set out to do. So we had a goal to not just sell residential solar and HVAC units, but to figure out how to do it all vertically integrated. So we were the installer, we you know hired and employed the electricians, the HVAC guys had the trucks. and so that was like a really scary thing to launch into. But I if I'm good at anything, it's getting good people, competent people.

 

Bought into a vision. So that's my cheat code. Like I think people think I'm maybe, maybe some people think I'm a little bit smarter than I am. They probably don't know me super well. But from a distance, you know. The key though is if you can just get really smart people around you that have an area of expertise, that's like the magic key. But the challenge is being able to convey a vision that will get those competent, you know, high energy, high trust people to leave what they're currently doing.

 

To jump into something with you. Because if they're great people, they're probably up to something pretty cool already. Right. So I was able to pull together an awesome group.

 

Kristi Kandel (05:15)

Yeah, we're we're not even five minutes

 

in, and you already said the key thing that everyone brings up is that development is all about relationships and it's getting the right people on your team to bring this forward and make it happen. So you're you're a hundred percent right. You don't have to know every part and facet of development. You just have to bring in the right team members, and then it's not so scary, which you clearly have experience in the in the last company trying.

 

Alex Martinsen (05:37)

Yeah. And you know, the thing that's the thing that's interesting about that is a lot of times the people that are great at the specific skills that they have, like let's say like just a great operator, someone who's really good at like managing complexity of inventory and crews and construction or whatever, they might be one of the best you've ever seen at that thing, but they may not be the type of person that's going to have the idea and just the unique type of

 

guts or crazy to just want to go start something from scratch with no safety net. And that's okay, but there's a place for people that have that thought process, that mindset, kind of the vision. And it's a great pair, you know? And so if you can find those people, bring them in, they appreciate the fact that you've got this interesting vision and hey, we're going to go chart this course because they need that. But then a lot of times the visionary high energy person, you know, is not

 

the best at the detail oriented operation. And so it's like if you can form a team that has the right balance of those different skills, I think it's it's a dangerous team that could like really pull some big stuff off. So I feel like we did that pretty well at the last company. It grew very quick. so I don't know how much you want me to get into the previous company, but anyways, it was yeah. So the short version is, you know, I had been selling residential solar for a few years at that point, but

 

Raphael Collazo (06:51)

Yeah. Sure, please.

 

Alex Martinsen (06:58)

Only selling. You know, we were just a dealer for other companies that handled all of the hard part. I mean, arguably, sales is the hard part. Depends on who you are, right? The people that are in operations tend to think I could never do the sales. The people that are in the sales vice versa. But we just knew how to acquire customers and then we would just hand it off and say, We hope it goes well. And it was the case that we would sell a lot of volume.

 

And then the fulfillment partners, because they had so many different sales partners, they just didn't prioritize our deals as much as we did because we worked hard to acquire the customer. And so when things went wrong, we felt so handicapped in our ability to make it right. We were essentially like calling a customer service line, you know, help my customer. I couldn't really help my customer. I just had to go to the installer and hope that they would come through, right? And so that was really frustrating and also just like hurt our own credibility at times, our own.

 

Kristi Kandel (07:41)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (07:48)

Like we felt like our ethics were being sacrificed because we told Mary we were going to do something and it's not happening, but we're kind of like not really in control. So that was like the catalyst for saying, hey, if we're going to stay in this space, what if we actually just figured out how to not need these other groups? Could we do it? And I had some people that were doing it really well that I used as mentors and they gave me a lot of consulting and guidance.

 

Kristi Kandel (07:57)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (08:15)

And I just started it in North Carolina. And by the time we were eight months into the business, we were doing a million dollars a month in revenue. And by the time we were three years in, we did 52 million in a year. And it was all sales, install, and it was going super well. And so we had a group come in and acquire a majority of the company from me really early on. I didn't like expect that, but it was just like kind of the perfect storm. And so we took that deal and

 

I was there for about a year. And if you're like a real entrepreneur mindset, the second you're kind of a part of a bigger organization where I was still getting K1 income. I wasn't like an employee, but I felt like I was. I felt a lot of obligation to do things rather than like the one kind of driving it. And for me, it's not really an ego thing, like I need to be in charge. It's just that's the mode I am most familiar with, you know. And so I started to fill my own motivation and focus waiver. And at the same time, this is where I was getting back to like

 

I feel like the universe gave me a push was the solar industry started to crack. There was two big things that happened. The interest rates spiked, obviously, for everybody. So the lenders that we used were struggling. Their businesses got ill. And then the big, beautiful bill that the Trump administration passed took away the 30% federal tax credit, which was a huge thing that the industry leaned on. And so I kind of saw the writing on the wall. I felt like this is not going in a good direction. So I should probably start now to think about the next

 

Move, you know.

 

Raphael Collazo (09:40)

So you got out the at a perfect time almost. And that enabled you now to take on a different project. And regarding regarding the the pivot, so you see I'm assuming as part of the the buyout agreement that you had with this group, there was a provision that required you to stay on board to be able to help the transition after that point in time. were were you kind of working towards

 

Trying to figure out what the next step was. If you could kind of talk a little bit about that that thought process and what made you decide to now take on what you're doing now.

 

Alex Martinsen (10:11)

So the thing is, way scarier than launching and running this like complex construction business, which had plenty of scary moments, way scarier was actually like when I made the pivot and did not actually know what I was doing next. Like I felt like previously in my life, the next game kind of started to materialize as the previous game was fizzling out, but that wasn't the case here. I was like, I do not even know what I want to do at all.

 

So I took this like sabbatical where I cleared my schedule for 60 days and just traveled and went and flew to Florida and to Utah and Arizona, Washington, places where I had network, people that were just up to cool things, people that are just the kind of people that I get inspired by. And I was just talking to everybody. I'm like, hey, I'm a free agent and I do not know what I want to do, but I'm just looking for inspiration. I'm looking for something. And that like kind of didn't materialize into anything.

 

Really, I had some cool experiences, some really cool conversations, but I mean, it was like going on a year where I had started up a I joined a group that was doing some internet sales, you know, just 'cause I know sales. So I'm like, all right, let's just go sell something that makes commission so we can just keep cash flow coming in. But I knew that wasn't the thing. And it wasn't until one of my really good friends and a guy that was out there selling internet with me. his name's Naaman. Late one night we're out of town on a sales blitz, you know, staying in an Airbnb after just like

 

grinding on the doors. We knock doors all day long and we're sitting there at midnight and he finally tells me about this little real estate idea that he's had for, you know, the last year. And he's been kind of quietly just researching it and geeking out on it, learning about it, networking within the space. And I had never heard him talk about it before. And he tells me, he's like, yeah, it's called a land home package. It's like you buy raw land, you develop it, add the utilities, and you put a manufactured home on it, you sell it on the MLS. You sell it like a spec home.

 

And I'm like, well, dude, thanks for telling me. Like, is this cool? Are we doing this? And so he's well, yeah, here's the margins, here's the process. And I was like, okay, let's keep doing what we're doing because we're just selling internet. We're making good money. You know, there's nothing crazy, but let's just do one together. So let's just like cobble together the cash that we need to just go do one property. And we we did that. And we were in the process of developing this land. And then one day, as I was headed out to another sales trip.

 

I literally pulled into a Chick-fil-A parking lot and was just like, dude, why don't I just go all in on this thing and pull together a dream team and let's just make like an insane goal and just stop doing anything else that doesn't feel nearly as exciting as this. So I made a couple calls to like exactly who I'd want to be involved. They both basically said yes right away. And a week later we all went down to Kiowa Island, which is one of my favorite places in South Carolina. We rented a house.

 

And for four days, we just hunkered down and just set these goals, figured out the business model, just like brainstormed. And then, you know, that was where we came up with this idea that, hey, let's do a hundred of these in the first 12 months of business. Because everybody we we talked to in this niche, which is a pretty small niche, it seemed like the big players were doing like 10 a month. Most people were doing a couple a month.

 

And so we just thought we've got a lot of horsepower here as far as like partners and just guys that have a ton of energy and have nothing else distracting them. Why don't we go for a hundred? And I added the public accountability to the equation by deciding let's actually document this and like have a social media play and see if people are interested in following the journey. And maybe that ends up being a bunch of people that we can form a community with and maybe educate and help along the way. And so that's what we did, and we're

 

We're on day a hundred and eighteen right now. So

 

Kristi Kandel (13:58)

I

 

I love that. so as far as the the guys you pulled in, did you because one of the things that comes up all the time is partnerships and people being willing to not just do it by themselves but to partner and development as a team sport. So how did you go about knowing, hey, I want these guys on my team and then maybe why from a strengths and weaknesses and and skill set standpoint?

 

Alex Martinsen (14:18)

Yeah, it's a great question. I was actually just talking about this to someone the other day. Like all of the previous games that I've played, I just think of life as a series of games within the big game.

 

Kristi Kandel (14:30)

I I love that you

 

call this a game because I I do. I call it the game of life and I'm like, yeah, and if I don't like the game, I'm I'm not gonna change the rules. I'm just gonna start a new game.

 

Alex Martinsen (14:40)

Yeah, exactly.

 

when you treat it as a game, I think you play a lot looser and more creatively than if it's a test, if it's like this obligation like survival thing, you know, let's just treat it like a game. So all these previous games, even the ones that seemed to end in a dead end or didn't work out, along the way, I was making connections with great people that even if right then there was no clear path to me like working with them on something or partnering.

 

They just kind of go in this list in my mind where it's like, hey, this is the kind of person that I would reach out to if the right thing popped up. And so, yeah, I knew Naaman was absolutely the guy. I've known him for a long time, love and trust him. And he knows this real estate thing for sure better than the rest of us because he's been researching it for a year. He loves real estate. The day I met him, which was like seven years ago, he's always been with me wherever I've been, he was like, My dream is just to do real estate. so I'm like, obviously him. And then

 

I have my br Yeah.

 

Kristi Kandel (15:31)

just curious, so if his dream was real

 

estate, what was he doing when he wasn't doing real estate then?

 

Alex Martinsen (15:36)

selling stuff with me. So we were Yeah, we were selling solar when we were in Arizona. We were selling solar when we started my company out here. He was one of my top sales reps. And he always just felt like he didn't know where in real estate he was gonna end up. And it was just kind of this mystery. He just knew there was a passion there. Yeah. So that was obvious. And then as like the main operator, my brother-in-law Zach, he had been the guy that ran.

 

Kristi Kandel (15:38)

Okay, so just in sales of yeah, hustling, okay.

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah. I mean it's a it's a big field, yeah. Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (16:04)

all the construction operations at our previous company and he's incredible at it. And he happened to be like not a free agent completely. He had a job, but I knew he didn't love it. And I knew it was not a long term job. And so I was like, I bet I can sell Zach on doing this. and then my other brother in law Benson, we had worked together in the past and we're super close and he's extremely talented with raising capital. He's very strategic thinker. and so we put together what felt like the dream team and set a goal.

 

and have just been figuring it out literally every day. We're just like figuring this thing out on the fly. But it's it's going well.

 

Kristi Kandel (16:36)

Yep.

 

I I absolutely love that. And it's it's very clear in the way that you you picked your your teammates and partners. It's like, okay, so that that makes sense. from a family perspective, because s there's a saying out there which I don't buy at all. but don't do business with friends or family. What's your take on that?

 

Alex Martinsen (16:55)

I just think it's kind of a an overused cliche. personally I've done business a lot with close friends and with family. You know, I have two brothers in law that are partners of mine. So I don't know what to think about it. I just don't really resonate with it. I would just say like the issue with any partnership or any relationship, if especially money gets involved.

 

usually comes down to expectations not being managed and roles and responsibilities not being clearly outlined and and also like the risk not being clearly outlined, you know? Like people need to know if you're starting something, you're gonna go develop something that doesn't currently exist, we need to all be eyes wide open that like most of the time these things fail. Like this is not the probability of winning and winning as easily as we might think. I mean, we're fighting

 

Kristi Kandel (17:39)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (17:45)

upstream to make this happen. So I just think if the relationship is solid enough and it's built on more than this business and the right conversations are had up front, I just think good relationships can take a lot of hits and still be great relationships, you know, whether the business sinks or swims.

 

Kristi Kandel (18:03)

I completely agree with that. At first I had I tried to hold off on that because of what I was told and I'm like, wait, why am I gonna work with strangers and then go be really successful with them when I know that I have rock stars of people that I know how they act in good times and bad times? Like when you have history with people, you know when stuff hits the fans like, okay, this is how you're going to react in this situation. I actually get a lot of my friends from or and business partners from Beach Volleyball because you're you're not gonna win every game and I wanna see how you react when you go down.

 

Alex Martinsen (18:19)

Yeah.

 

Kristi Kandel (18:31)

So I'm I'm also a big fan of of doing business with friends and family. Yeah, go ahead.

 

Alex Martinsen (18:41)

That's actually that's actually a really good point

 

you make, just because like one of the things that's most difficult to know about somebody if your relationship with them is new is how they behave and act when things go not according to plan and things go total chaos mode. Cause whenever you meet somebody, I mean, it's a given that they're probably on their best behavior, they're bringing their best self, they're presenting all the good things about themselves, right? And so if you've been through

 

Kristi Kandel (18:58)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (19:08)

family life, family drama that happens or whatever life changes. If you've been through a previous business where you've seen what happens when all hell breaks loose and you were able to pull through it, I mean, man, I would much rather hit repeat on working with them than go take roll the dice on someone where it's like, I don't know what happens when things get tough. I don't know what happens when there's no money in the bank account. Like I just don't know how they're gonna react, you know?

 

Kristi Kandel (19:32)

Yep.

 

Hundred percent. Hands down. Hands down. yeah. And and like you said too, setting those expectations up front. So I think it it definitely comes down to to setting the expectations, the roles and responsibilities, and just making sure the communication never stops. And like any relationship, the minute you stop talking or the minute you're like something happens and and shifts that dynamic, that you're done. So you have to be willing to swallow your pride at certain times and step in and say, I'm gonna have this hard conversation or I'm gonna own up that guys, I messed up. Like you're right, you called me.

 

out I messed up and I'm not gonna try and make an excuse and be like 100% right here's what we can do to to maybe come back to it and I found the more businesses later and the older I get it's much easier to to you know step into that and do it and really the the bigger thing is like don't let stuff faster like just the minute you know it's there talk about the elephant in the room

 

Alex Martinsen (20:06)

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah, that is extremely true. we experienced that recently actually with our partnership where there were a couple of things that had started kind of like weeds in a garden, right? Where it's like a couple of th small weeds had, you know, cropped up because when you start something new, I feel like you can only do so much to clearly define roles and responsibilities because a brand new thing is a lot of wet concrete. Like we don't know what we don't know yet.

 

Kristi Kandel (20:48)

Mm.

 

Alex Martinsen (20:50)

But as it develops, you want to make sure that you keep the pace, like follow the development pace with also like continuing to refine the roles and responsibilities. Because if that lags too far, it's very easy for people to start feeling like they're carrying an undue burden or they're keeping, you know, track of, you know, what they're doing that the other person isn't helping with. And yeah, so we caught ourselves and had this is a couple of weeks ago, you know, very recent, where we had the best meeting we've had.

 

in our short time in business, you know, we're four four and a half months in or something. But we had a really clarifying meeting about roles, responsibilities, what needs to pivot, what needs to change. And every partner has said like that was the best, healthiest meeting and just kind of the vibes were just reset. Everyone's feeling really good now. So just to, you know, retweet what you just said. It's very true.

 

Kristi Kandel (21:38)

Yeah.

 

Yeah, and and a lot of times, so we will say this and we'll tell people define your expectations, your roles and responsibilities. The reality of it is, and I I just started a huge project and company in Elevate Southwest Florida. So it's like fifteen to twenty acres, it's a hundred and forty million, it's a five to six year development through phase. And with the two other founders I'm with, like I've done development for twenty years, they have completely different backgrounds. and we there it was almost impossible at the beginning for this type

 

Of project and how big it is for us to say, here's the roles and responsibilities because there's so many different things. But what's been cool over the past even since we so we we came up with the idea in August, we found our location of August of last year, we found our location in February, closed the deal in April, and then opened on June 1st, phase one. And from June 1st to now, so we're at July 9th, like it has all fallen into place in the sense that we're

 

Like, and probably two weeks ago we had a conversation. We're like, we know for this, this is a Chelsea thing. For this, this is a Julia thing. For everything else, right now, this is a Christie thing to drive the ship until it's clearly defined, and then can pass it off and they can go run with it to where we had that same conversation to go, okay. Like we knew it wasn't defined. We were all just kind of picking up where our strengths were. And if you observe and go, okay, she always picks this up, like that must give her energy. That must be part of her unique ability. And and same. So when you see that, then it's like

 

Alex Martinsen (22:45)

Yeah.

 

Kristi Kandel (23:02)

Cool, then you take all the stuff that is kind of aligned in that. so bottom line, it's not going to be clearly defined at first, but you must communicate and you must probably the key thing is having the right people with integrity who have a similar passion and work ethic because like we say we're sprinting a marathon and we all know how hard sprinting is and if you're sprinting a marathon, you're in it for the long haul, and that's what any development project is. so you gotta know that the people you're in the trenches with that you can count on.

 

Alex Martinsen (23:28)

Amen. Yeah. Very true. Couldn't agree more.

 

Kristi Kandel (23:31)

So so we've we've defined, okay, you've got your team, you've you're trying to do a hundred affordable homes. what market did you pick? How did you I guess what market did you pick? How did you structure the deals? Like are you taking land, subdividing and building like twenty at a time in a certain area? Are you doing how are how are you finding the dirt or what's that business model look like for this?

 

Alex Martinsen (23:52)

Yeah. So here's kind of the summary of it. We quickly did research on North Carolina, hoping that it would turn out to be a viable market because we live here. So that'd be a great place to start. Also, our previous business, all the construction that we did was in North and South Carolina. So we have a feel for the area. We dealt with counties getting permits. We dealt with a lot of subcontractors. We cleared a lot of trees. So they're definitely, you know, I say I've got no experience at this. It's like I have experience with some of that. It just never applied it to real estate, you know.

 

so that's why we chose North Carolina, and then it made sense to just expand into South. And probably the most common reaction I get from people when I tell them about manufactured homes and this model is they think that it's buying big tracks and putting a lot of these close together. I think a lot of people think it has something to do with like mobile home parks. And it really is not that at all. We actually are not trying to buy big.

 

Tracts of land. We don't want to subdivide anything. It's not saying we won't ever do it, but our whole thing is like we want to do one thing and figure out how we can make the process as efficient as possible. So if buying 20 acres that are not subdivided is going to add months to the process, which means we're going to float money longer. We're like, well, if there's other options that don't include that, let's do those. And for us, that's just buying individual.

 

lots. And we have just found lots mostly through wholesalers, people that just sell land, right? And believe it or not, Facebook is the land of milk and honey. Like Facebook Marketplace is where we found our first initial few deals, just people posting on Facebook Marketplace. And then another kind of pro tip is for anyone doing into real estate development, I think, is Facebook groups are a very underrated thing. There's Facebook groups about like every topic of manageable

 

Kristi Kandel (25:24)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (25:41)

Imaginable. And there's a bunch of Facebook groups in our case that are like rural land for sale, farmland for sale, North Carolina. You know, so we've just joined a ton of them and we just post in there. We're like, hey, here's what we're looking for. You know, in the month of July, this month, our goal is to buy 30 lots. And right before we started this, I got a text from someone on someone on our team. We just put our eighth property under contract in July. So eight out of thirty. So we've got, you know, we're on pace for the month. But anyway, so when you

 

Announce that you're gonna get a lot of people that for a living they sell land, so they love you and they're gonna be sending you leads. And so the game has been how to like filter those leads, underwrite them, because we get a lot of stuff that we don't want, right? We get a lot of weird leads coming in. So we've done some work to try to make that a process. Yeah. Someone sends me like a a townhome that was just built. I'm like, what are we doing with this townhome? Like, we're looking for land. I mean, so yeah, so we we go under contract on the property.

 

Kristi Kandel (26:10)

Mm-hmm. Yep.

 

Like it's not buildable, you don't have utilities. Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (26:36)

If it looks good enough to go under contract, which for us is basically we confirm that it's zoned for manufactured homes. And then we look at the comparables in the area to determine if other manufactured homes have sold in the last year, new manufactured homes, and we look at the price they were sold for and we punch it into our calculator and say, okay, cool. We think we can hit our profit target on this, but we still don't know for sure it's going to work until we've done a perk test and tested the soil to see if a septic tank can be installed and if it's going to be a

 

Traditional septic tank or it's gonna be one that's, you know, five times as expensive and really complicated. So we'll go under contract with a, you know, refundable deposit and then we'll order a perk test, send a soil scientist out there. And if he comes back with a green light, then we'll close on the property and begin the process of developing it, adding all the utilities. We'll order the home and and go from there.

 

Kristi Kandel (27:22)

I love them. so so being able to find them individually, that's where Facebook Marketplace wholesalers and yeah, agreed the land flipping groups are are great for that 'cause they yeah.

 

So when you once you close, so getting the perk test and zoning are pretty much the big ones. do you look for any other utilities and stuff ahead of time or have like a checklist of how you evaluate or I guess how do you evaluate all the leads that come in? What's the what's that process?

 

Alex Martinsen (27:46)

Yeah. Well,

 

I would say talking about roles and responsibilities, Naaman, my partner that I've talked about earlier, he has gotten really good at vetting this land. And so he does the majority of it. And so we're looking for the slope. You know, you can't have a super slopey needs to be under five percent slope. We look at how many trees are gonna need to be cleared and we get kind of a rough idea of how much is that gonna cost. but the perk test is probably the biggest thing. Perk test and the comparables and the zoning. Like that's like those all have to be

 

Very clear green check marks. now if we come across the property that happens to already have a septic tank and it's not crazy old, then that looks really good because we're gonna have it inspected. If that thing's still good, sweet. We don't have to do that. sometimes we'll find properties that have county water. and so that's just gonna be a hookup that we have to do instead of digging a well. So those properties are more rare, but we have acquired some and that's just like kind of a home run because it's just gonna mean the process is quicker and easier. But

 

Typically it's dig a well, install a septic, have the electric company come and run power to the lot, clear the land, grade the land. We kind of just have this whole order of operations. And then we ordered the home from the facility. And we have a a company that we have a few different companies that will do the setup for us. So they'll actually take this thing off the semi-truck, put it on, merge the two halves of the home together, right? Because these are double wides. They'll put it on the footers, the foundation, do all of that. And so.

 

Kristi Kandel (29:02)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (29:08)

It's it's a process. We've learned a lot. We've made some mistakes, but so far the mistakes have all been survivable. They haven't been crazy expensive. It's just been things where we're like, cool, we're not gonna do that again. and we have three homes now placed, and two of them are very, very close to being listed on the market. We're hoping by late next week we might have those listed for sale. And then total we have 40. Well, before today, we had 46 properties in the pipeline.

 

And we've added a couple more today. So we're getting close to fifty. And that's North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida. We now have six properties. and then Georgia. We just got our manufactured home license there. We haven't yet bought a property, but we want to be in Georgia as well.

 

Kristi Kandel (29:49)

Awesome. Do you use the same builder for the manufactured homes that goes to all areas or do you find a different one per state?

 

Alex Martinsen (29:55)

there's really not that many manufacturers out there. so Clayton Homes is the one most people have heard of, and then Cavco is one that's a little bit less known, but we like them a lot. So there's different facilities, is what they call them. It's a factory. And each facility or factory has their own series of home, their own product line. And they have their own sales rep that you work with. It's almost like a little mini, you know, you don't just do a deal with Clayton, you do a deal with Clayton.

 

In Rockwell, North Carolina, and the people there. So we would crawl around, get to know the different facilities. What products do you offer? You know, someone might only offer a really high-end home that isn't really our sweet spot. So we're not going to work with them necessarily right now. But we found a few facilities that are kind of our go-to, have co and Clayton, and they're great to work with. It's cool. I've toured these facilities. It's insane. If you've never seen a manufactured home facility, it's a cool field trip. They literally make like 10, 10 homes a day.

 

Kristi Kandel (30:49)

How how long do they take to

 

yeah, so one day they can print or make out a home?

 

Alex Martinsen (30:52)

One day.

 

they'll they'll bust out

 

ten homes in one day, like completely finished. And it's just like this huge assembly line. So it's like they just start with the floor and then they move it. And by the end there's a home with recessed lighting and appliances and someone in there like vacuuming the carpet like every day. It's insane. It's cool to see.

 

Kristi Kandel (31:02)

Yeah.

 

That's awesome.

 

We so being in Fort Myers Beach, we got wiped out by the hurricane in twenty-two with Hurricane Ian. And so some of the building back is of course the mega mansions that are waterfront. But in other areas we're using modular to where Affinity out of Georgia does that and they can basically theirs is 21 days in the in the factory and then they ship out. So like a 1700 square foot home ships in four modules that can drive in trucks, and then they come and they take the crane and it's about a four three and a half hour process. and

 

Alex Martinsen (31:25)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Kristi Kandel (31:41)

They put each of them up and put them together and then they pop the trusses up, they connect it, do the utilities. and yeah, it's it's very awesome to see technology and construction going this way because otherwise like your what, your plumber and electrician, they're all in the field when it's raining, when it's hot, your roofer, like all the conditions you're you're mitigating to where and and maybe also touch on the the cheap aspect of it's not good quality because that's that's one of the

 

Yes, it can be known for that, but that's not necessarily true all the time.

 

Alex Martinsen (32:14)

Yeah,

 

no, I that's a a key a key point to make because we are combating some stigma for sure, right? When people hear and there's a lot of terms used interchangeably, but they hear mobile home or trailer manufactured home, modular home, most people don't know the difference. And most people are thinking of, you know, some mobile home that was built in the eighties and it's, you know, a tin can, poor quality, but

 

Regulations have changed, things have changed to where these are like builder quality homes and you know they're HUD certified, we're able to get people like people can buy these with a traditional mortgage, which wasn't the case in the past. And there's there's some fine details to things we have to do from a development standpoint to make sure it's eligible for a traditional mortgage. But w whenever people are kind of like naysayers, like I've been, you know, trying to post documentation of kind of the journey online and I'll always get comments. People are like, cool, so you're just putting ugly trailers out there.

 

And I'm like, look, you just need to pull over the next time you drive down a highway and see like a Clayton home center. There's a bunch of them all throughout the country. Just pull over and just walk through one. And then let me know if your opinion did not change. Because you'll walk in, you're like, dude, this thing's got accent walls, stainless steel appliances, like counter you know, cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling, a jetted tub, four bedrooms. Like a family could live here and they could live on an acre or two.

 

And they could do it for, you know, 220 grand or something. Compare that to their other options. You know, are they gonna get that much land? Are they gonna get a brand new home? Are they gonna get a home with four bedrooms that's in their price range? Especially right now, like it's just the the gap is widening so dramatically between what the average family can afford. And so they're just downgrading their expectations as far as like space and it being new and land. And so we're passionate about this from that standpoint, which is like,

 

You know, we're actually offering a really quality product that people are extremely hungry for. And affordable housing is something that is not really argued about, you know, like there it's not a partisan thing. You don't have who who doesn't agree that there's not enough affordable homes? Like everyone agrees. And so that's another kind of like I think pro tip anytime you're looking to start anything is if you can go tackle a problem that is widely agreed upon as a problem.

 

Kristi Kandel (34:23)

Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (34:33)

You don't have to convince people it's a problem. That's like gonna be some wind in your sails. And so that's what I like about the affordable housing thing.

 

Kristi Kandel (34:40)

Yeah, one hundred percent. It doesn't matter what community I lived in or am working in, they all have the same challenge of there isn't enough housing for teachers, for firefighters, for police officers, for city workers, for for servers, for bartenders, for like for the people who make communities run, you can't there isn't enough housing. So it's actually from a job and recruitment standpoint, it's actually a huge issue that a lot of communities have because they're like, I really need this city engineer, I really need this firefighter, I really need this teacher. and they're

 

Alex Martinsen (34:51)

Mm-hmm.

 

Seriously.

 

Yeah.

 

How are you gonna get great teachers? You know, you want your schools to be better. How are you gonna get these great teachers to move here when the average home that'll fit their family is five hundred grand at whatever interest rate there is? It's like you're not gonna get So you're exactly right.

 

Kristi Kandel (35:22)

Yeah.

 

So it's coming up with solutions like this and it's changing the stigma because we also like you say affordable people go, okay, section eight. And it's like, no, it's actually attainable housing. It's it's it's a way that somebody who doesn't have to spend their entire monthly salary to get a home to live in just to have a roof over the head and feel safe. So it's it's finding solutions like that. And it's not it's not a one size fits all. It's we need pocket solutions like this that fit in different markets that that can help bridge that gap. So definitely

 

Definitely love that for sure. so from a financing standpoint, and I know because I've I've looked into this in a couple different markets in Reno and in Florida, and you had mentioned head certified and different lenders. What are you guys doing to be proactive to to make it to where the people buying it have the easiest path forward?

 

Alex Martinsen (36:07)

Yeah. Well, we partnered with someone that has been in mortgage lending for a long time and is kind of a specialist at helping people get approved that might be kind of right on that line. and so yeah, again, kind of back to the first thing we said like go find experts and make them part of your team. So we we got really fortunate to find someone that was willing to be both a

 

a funder of projects for us, like an investor, and be our exclusive lender, like a preferred lender. You know, just like you'll have builders out there that say, hey, buy our home. You can use your own mortgage company, but if you use our preferred lender, we've got some perks. So I don't know if that's really been done at scale with manufactured homes. We're gonna try it. I think it could be cool. And so yeah, you know, it really shouldn't be much different than someone just applying for a 30 year mortgage on a

 

Kristi Kandel (36:34)

Nice, yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yep.

 

Alex Martinsen (37:01)

spec home that was stick built in a subdivision. and so we'll see. That's what that's part of like kind of the next phase though. We haven't sold one of these things yet, you know. the financing we were more concerned about was our own financing. Like there's a reason people that do this do a couple a month and they're like they're like a big fish if they're doing a couple a month, you know? And so to set out to do a hundred in a year, which like to be

 

Kristi Kandel (37:08)

Mm-hmm.

 

Right.

 

Alex Martinsen (37:24)

Candid with you, our goal is actually bigger than 100 a year. We thought, hey, let's just like give a nice round number that we're gonna commit to the people of the public that we'll do. But we're trying to like sandbag and we want to do more. So it takes a lot of capital. Our average project's about 180 grand to develop. And so you know, we need tens of millions of dollars afloat. And we did pull together some cash that we had as a partnership, but that's nowhere near enough to accomplish this side of the goal. And so we just talked to people.

 

Kristi Kandel (37:39)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (37:51)

And just opened our mouths. We're just willing to like not be embarrassed to be like, hey, let me pitch you on this. Would you be willing? And I'm talking like small, small time investors, relatively speaking, like find someone that would be willing to do one project. Like, I think a lot a lot of people that hit us up and say they'd love to learn this. They're like, Yeah, but I would never be able to find someone to provide the capital. And I don't think I would be approved by a bank for this. So I don't know if I could do this. And I'm like,

 

Kristi Kandel (37:58)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (38:20)

I I'm always like telling them like, dude, you probably know someone or someone you know knows someone that has some money sitting that's not making an impressive interest rate. They would like something that's a little bit, you know, call it higher risk, higher reward. And then when you explain to them that this is real estate, they're gonna have a lien against the home and the land, it's easy for people to understand. You're not raising money for some tech startup that could go to zero. It's a real asset.

 

Kristi Kandel (38:39)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (38:48)

And so the thing we've been pleasantly surprised by is the capital side has been really, really smooth to this point. we've raised a lot of money and we haven't really like solicited money in any sort of like public way. It's been just people we know and then people they know. And you know, I do know that a lot of that is because we are fortunate to have a great network. And so some people that are looking into this are like, sounds like that's a you thing, Alex. Like, I don't know people with any money.

 

And understand that's a real struggle. but I think people would be surprised if they're just willing to put themselves out there. you can find it. And if you could just find one deal, like it's just about the first deal, right? And you can make a crazy deal for them. Like if someone's got money and you have no money, say, Hey, how about you give me the money and I'll give you the lion's share of the profit or all of it, like whatever you have to do. Like it's just about getting the first deal. Because once you have proof of concept, then getting more money is way easier. Cause you can say, Look what I did, not what I'm saying I'm gonna do.

 

Kristi Kandel (39:42)

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (39:43)

I did this, here's what it cost, here's what I sold it for, here was my margin. Do you want to give me five hundred grand? And people will be like, Yeah, I do, you know.

 

Kristi Kandel (39:50)

Yeah.

 

And people would be like, No, I don't believe you. It 1000% true. I was just having this conversation yesterday with someone who is currently renting their space, been a business owner, crazy awesome, multiple business owner for 20 plus years. And it's like, I think we actually need to build our own space. and I connected with them for a different reason. And I was like, Well, you know, I have this stuff, like, I'll give you all these resources, like take the courses, do the stuff for free, like go go do that, because you're clearly an action taker. But I was like, the the money part because the what was stopping her.

 

Was like, well, where am I gonna get the capital? I've got to work for at least six to ten more months to have enough to be able to put the money down, and the bank had pre-approved me for this. And it's like, no, no, no, this is this is real estate development. Like, you will have people on the sidelines. Just start telling people what you're doing. There will be people on the sidelines who don't know how, who don't want to put the vision together, who don't want to put the plan, but they want to invest in you. And it's not it. The fact that it's real estate is very helpful. just like you said, there is a tangible asset that you that you can be, okay, cool. I have, I, I.

 

Alex Martinsen (40:39)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kristi Kandel (40:47)

I can see it, I can touch it, there is something there, it can't go to zero. but then also they're betting on you. They're betting on you, the person to go execute. And you've got a 20-year track record that you can do it. Or you've got like your case, you've got all these other companies that you can do it.

 

Alex Martinsen (40:50)

Mm-hmm.

 

Hundred percent. Yeah.

 

Yeah. And the other thing is, yeah. So I have a couple thoughts there. It's like, even if you don't have a track record, the thing you're trying to develop, in our case a land home package, even if I can't go to a prospective investor and tell him that I've done five of these, I I'll tell him I've done zero. But I've done other things. My partners have done other things. And like you said, they're betting on the horse, I think is the term, you know? They're betting on the action taker. And the

 

Kristi Kandel (41:29)

Yes.

 

Alex Martinsen (41:31)

People that are really action takers are way more of a scarce resource than capital. And it's a it's a paradigm shift for people that are ambitious but don't have money. Because because they don't have money right now and they may feel very scarce with money, like, dude, I'm barely paying my bills, they tend to think that that's like everybody. And it's not. So when you actually open your mouth and start talking about investment, you're gonna find, you know.

 

Your uncle or your neighbor or whatever that lives a super modest lifestyle and drives an old beater car, they've been working hard for 40 years and guess what? They've got a million bucks sitting in a like mutual fund. They would love to throw a couple hundred grand at something that's a little more interesting. And people just need to take an effort to A, be an action taker, show people by the way you live and other things you've done that like you're for real. And then the capital is actually kind of the easy part.

 

Kristi Kandel (42:12)

Right.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

It it is. And and being the action taker, because there are so many people who say they want to do something, their actions don't prove that. It's like if you truly want to do something, your actions will back that up and you'll go make it happen. And it's yeah, very, very, very few people will do it. So you already are setting yourself up there.

 

Yeah, it's it the the money on the sidelines and like you said, s people are gonna get in just because they're they're curious, they can touch it, they can drive past it and be like, I funded that, I did that. even if they're the money person, did they yeah, you gave the money, you made that happen, but we actually built it, we did it, whatever. So but everyone gets to be involved in that, which is super cool.

 

Alex Martinsen (42:46)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

People aren't like fired up

 

necessarily about having their money in the S P five hundred. Like, you know, first of all, people are super uncertain about the state of the world and geopolitics. And it's like a lot people are just like, it's scary to feel like, I don't even know what's gonna happen. I'm in this lottery, you know, I'm in this the stock market casino, which, you know, I'm not anti-stock market, but like you said, there's something that hits a different like part of their brain to be like, this is land and a home and a family is gonna live in it, that there's not enough of these homes.

 

Kristi Kandel (43:01)

Yay, what else?

 

Right.

 

Alex Martinsen (43:24)

I mean, it's a story that you really can sell because it's it's a true story, you know?

 

Kristi Kandel (43:27)

Yep.

 

And and something else too, the the whole fact that people can invest their retirement dollars into your deals. So they can self direct their IRAs to be a private money lender, to be an LP, to to go in. So I I do it. I I both invest into other people's deals and I have people do that to invest into mine. And if you think about it, it's like, well, I'm I mean, I kind of look at the retirement dollars I put in there as fake money 'cause I can't touch it for how long unless I pay a penalty. So I'm like, yeah, so I tried out private money lending to someone or I I'll invest into other people's deals.

 

Alex Martinsen (43:51)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kristi Kandel (43:57)

Because I'm like, I'm not doing anything else with it anyway. And now if we can there's typically bigger upside, but that's a way. So if you're like, I don't know anyone with that much cash sitting around, yeah, but they have retirement accounts probably. So biggest thing here is just open your mouth and tell people what you're doing and you'd be very surprised. A lot of my partners have come out just because they've heard me talking about my deals. They're like, I want to get in on one. I just told my tech company, I want to get on this. I just did this, I wanna do that. but if you don't say anything about it, they don't know.

 

Alex Martinsen (43:57)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Here's a here's a little here's

 

a little like pro tip. Okay, here's like a little hack. So if someone is like, all right, I've got a thing I want to develop. I need money. I'm sheepish about asking people directly, because then if they say no or they don't have the money, then they feel awkward. I feel awkward. I don't want to do this. So here's the way around that. Don't ask them directly. You say, Hey, I'm looking for someone and I want to know if you know anybody. Let me tell you what it is. And then that person you're talking to goes, Well, actually me. And you're like, really?

 

Kristi Kandel (44:46)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Alex Martinsen (44:52)

hey, you? It's like that's the way to make it less awkward. So there's a there's a little pro tip.

 

Kristi Kandel (44:57)

From

 

a from a real sales guy over here, that a hundred percent. that that's awesome. So you've got you've got your first ones that are gonna go on the market. so what did did this year start January first or did your twelve when did your twelve months start for your goal?

 

Alex Martinsen (45:01)

Yeah.

 

March eleventh, I think. We the day I posted my day one video on Instagram we're calling day one, which was like early March. And so we have twelve months from that point, so until March of twenty twenty seven, to have done a hundred of these. so yeah.

 

Kristi Kandel (45:19)

Okay.

 

And to take full cycle, what is that like from the time you you see the deal, you you go ahead and bed it to it being done, is that a four to six month process? Is that a three month like just ballpark?

 

Alex Martinsen (45:40)

If we suck, it's gonna be five months. If we're good, it's four. And if we can really get efficient, we can get this thing closer to three. So

 

Kristi Kandel (45:47)

And is that to actually sell

 

or just to be in a contract to sell and then go through that next thirty days? Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (45:51)

Yeah, it depends on like how you want to count it. we

 

we tend to talk about from the point we close on the land, right? So we go under contract, due to diligence, but we close on the land to when we go under contract with a buyer. is one way to look at it. That should be four months. I I actually think it's more from closed on the land to closed purchase on the home. I really think four months is is still realistic in some of these areas. So

 

Kristi Kandel (46:08)

Yeah, yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (46:18)

Again, some of these things are still theory. but I would also just add this. Like, as much as I talk about be an action taker and figure things out, even that you don't have experience doing, like, just go for it. I want to add like the there's a disclaimer that's important to add, which is you don't want to be a pioneer. Russell Brunson said, you know, you know who the pioneers are because they have arrows in their back and they're facing the dirt. So

 

If there's other people that know how to do this, you need to glean as much as possible from those people because there's no reason to go make mistakes they've already made. If you can pay for their time, if you can somehow serve them and add value, some people are just really willing to just share advice for free because they just love to help. So we went and paid for a course. we called and just Facebook messaged everybody that we could find that was doing this. Like, hey, can we get on a call? And people are like stoked to give you advice and tips. And there's been some like invaluable things they've told us that would have

 

Kristi Kandel (46:45)

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

Alex Martinsen (47:09)

totally like been a disaster if we didn't know. So yeah, you got to combine like go learn from people that are doing this, but then also don't think that you have to have 10 years experience like them before you take action. Like you can do both of those things, you know?

 

Kristi Kandel (47:21)

Yes.

 

Yes, that is great advice. And it it's you don't know the landmines, you don't know. So go getting out there and finding that mentor and people are like, Well, how do I find a mentor? How do I whatever? You know, being on the other side of it now, it's like if you show me, if you ask me questions, I will give you I will give you time. If I see the right characteristics, I will give you time initially. If you go out, do something and report back and go, I got to here, I pushed it to here and now this and and now I you know, what what do I do here? You I would literally keep pouring into people, not getting a dime out of it because I'm just

 

Like, my gosh, you're doing it. Like, you just need someone every time you hit that that you need a backstop to go, here, I can keep going. And like, we just need more people that take action in this world. So, finding that mentor, finding that people, like, there are so many times people will give me a call, and I'm like, yeah, I hit that development thing. Like, here, try this, this, and this, and and try and work around it. And we are more than willing to share our information. just because it's it's like we already had to learn it the hard way. We learned from the school of hard knocks, or and or someone else gave a handout to us and said, Hey, here, this will.

 

Alex Martinsen (48:02)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kristi Kandel (48:23)

This'll do it. So of course we're paying it forward.

 

Alex Martinsen (48:26)

Well

 

it's also counterintuitive that a lot of times when the newbie or the rookie is reaching out to someone who's experienced, you may think like you're just being a nuisance to them or something. A lot of times the experienced person, let's say, actually gets a lot from that conversation because if you're really deep into a thing, any area of expertise, it's not that often that you're forced to articulate the fundamentals of the thing. And in doing so, you're like

 

I kind of forgot about that. It's very clarifying. So a lot times, like whether it's sales related or like my limited experience in this or other businesses that I've built, people will call me and think that I'm doing them this huge favor. And I'm like, dude, that call was super helpful for me. Thank you. And so just keep that in mind, you know, if if you have any aversion to like asking people for advice, like they like it. You know, they're talking to their wife or their husband endlessly about business and they're like, Stop talking to me about this. So someone else that wants to like ask them questions about the thing they love to do, like there, people like it, you know.

 

Kristi Kandel (49:14)

Right.

 

Yeah, that is so so true. I love that.

 

So I mean we've we've touched on so many awesome things. and we've got your your current plan, which I mean, you are clearly clearly an action taker. You've got the plan, you got the people together. And really right now you're just about building the pipeline and then executing. And sure you're gonna hit the hiccups along the way, but as long as you avoid the the death blow, like of course you can build this like I s I see the path, like of course you can build this machine and it goes. So let's say this machine is is up and running, you're you're an entrepreneur, I feel like you're gonna have different itches or or niches that

 

that you might want to venture into outside of just single family affordable housing. so what what would maybe like the five tenure goal be now that you're getting into the real estate realm? when would it be staying in there and would it switch asset classes or or is there a bigger picture vision and plan?

 

Alex Martinsen (50:06)

Yeah.

 

So what I would say to that is on the real estate side, I would say I like the idea of getting familiar with real estate generally, learning the terminology, just getting my my feet wet because there's so many tangents that may look interesting and lucrative and like great timing five years from now that we'll be able to just dive into, right? So I just like that. as opposed to some things that could go out of style.

 

Right. Like we were in solar. Solar got hit by a nuke of legislation and like macroeconomics just as like not a thing anymore.

 

Kristi Kandel (50:40)

I was in hydrogen

 

at the same time that you are did a decade of hydrogen fueling stations in California, building the supply chain, all of that, and then all of that dries up, the venture capital dries up, and everyone goes, ooh, maybe not in the commercial sense.

 

Alex Martinsen (50:44)

Yeah.

 

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah, so like kind of a value I try to have be a North Star for anything I do in business, it comes from Naval Ravikant. he says play long-term games with long-term people. So I feel like real estate generally is a long-term game, and I'm teamed up with people that are long-term people. but beyond that, like I just find entrepreneurship stimulating and fun. And so my

 

One of my goals is like I just want to have enough financial capital, like a ability, you know, to go and invest in people's startups and give you know, consulting and help, but also like give them dollars. And if I could do that and a lot of my life was just having different deals come my way and deciding which ones I want to go be a part of, that seems like a game you could play.

 

Kristi Kandel (51:29)

Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (51:40)

Till you're a hundred, you know. So

 

Kristi Kandel (51:42)

Yep. Getting to see someone else realize their dream and go, I c I can do this and then you can help make sure that they they get it right. Yeah, yeah. I'm so with you on that. That's amazing. Yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (51:50)

Totally. Yeah. Cause you get the you get the rise out of like seeing something that you think

 

of in your head go to fruition. And so like you get that same feeling if it's like someone you helped and they see it. Like it's it's probably even it's I I would argue it's even better. and so yeah. So I think about like, hey, let's make enough money that we don't have to like solve the money problem anymore personally. but then we can just go out and like look for ways to, you know, infuse that into people that are doing good work and have good ideas.

 

Kristi Kandel (52:00)

you one hundred percent do.

 

Yeah.

 

I couldn't agree more. When the little birdies fly and they go do their thing, I'm literally like the proud mama just like, Yes, go, go, go. I'm your biggest cheerleader. I love that. Well that that is in incredible. And I love the mission and what you're doing. And and I think we need to put those big goals out there because i if you had said I'm gonna do five this year, great, yeah, you can do five. But by doing a hundred, you're challenging and pushing so many limits that are gonna teach you guys a lot about yourselves, your partnership, the the area, the community. You're going to

 

Alex Martinsen (52:24)

Yeah, for sure.

 

Kristi Kandel (52:43)

Then inspire and impact so many people along the way because you're you're selling the people you're partnering up with, the manufactured homes, the installers, the the just every even your wholesalers, everyone you're touching, you're impacting because they're like, Whoa, this is crazy awesome! Like, I want to be part of this, and so you're helping change and rewire their brains too, which all of that I I love is awesome. And it's like, okay, what if you only get 50 in year one? Guess what? That's more than five or ten that you could have started with playing it safe, and how many other doors, opportunities, partnerships, really.

 

Relationships were open as a result of just saying, hey, let's go do this. Or maybe you blow it out of the water and do 5,000. You never know.

 

Alex Martinsen (53:16)

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You never

 

Yeah. You never know. The guy that's just a vendor right now or, you know, the g the gal that you're like talking to because she owns the well digging company. Like these are all people that you interact with along your journey that you don't know what that's gonna turn into way later. And that's been so the case for me. I actually have this like opinion on social media personally that you know, social media is like this kind of polarizing thing. A lot of people are like, Hey, we're too addicted to it, we shouldn't have it. All of that.

 

True, yes. But for me personally, especially because I moved east away from my whole network, you know, I've tried to share something either educational, entertaining, or inspiring to my story for the last 15 years of my life, like every day. And so I have this group of people that like, they feel like they know me and I feel like I know I know them. A lot of them we've never met in person, but like I cannot tell you how often it's been one of those people that the perfect thing comes along and like.

 

Now we're working together. That happened with my buddy Ned Eric. We just were friends over social media. And when I started my company, I just needed someone with his skill set. But I thought there's no way he'd come do this. He's got like a really big boy job. Like he's like in venture capital. Like he went, you know, I'm just this like college dropout sales hustler. He's not gonna wanna. And he dropped everything, quit his job, moved up, and was our our chief revenue officer.

 

And just crushed it for us. And then after we exited, he he now works for Alex Ramosi and is a VP over there at acquisition.com. Like it's just, but if I hadn't put myself out there, I never would have met Ned. We never would have had that experience. And so there's just a lot of value, whether it's social media or or not, you want to make connections and keep those connections warm. Cause there's gonna be a way you can serve them or they can serve you. And that's just like the best stuff in life, you know?

 

Kristi Kandel (55:03)

Hundred percent. Relationships, connection, collaboration, it's just yeah. And I'm also a big fan of the dance dance Olivan and Ben Hardy wrote the ten X is easier than two X. And I just I love that because if you think about doing something two X of of what you're currently doing, you go, Cool, I can put in more hours, more time, more money. If you say ten X, there is zero chance that you can do that by yourself. And so it forces you to think differently. Okay, who are my who's? Who are who are the people that I can then connect to make this crazy ambitious goal happen? So

 

So and it's so much more fun. Yeah

 

Alex Martinsen (55:33)

Yeah. Well, I gotta show these books. So I'm a big fan of Ben Hardy. And

 

and my on my little like 60 day sabbatical adventure, you know, one of those trips was down to Florida with Ben. I stayed at his house and just hung out. We we become friends. And like that is an example of a person that is not normal. Like, talk about a high performer that actually does what he says, knows what he's talking about.

 

Kristi Kandel (55:41)

Mm-hmm.

 

Okay, okay.

 

Yep.

 

Alex Martinsen (55:58)

Like when you come across people like that, you need to make sure that you notate, okay, this is you'll meet a lot of good people that have the character that you want to be around. You will also meet some people that are true outliers, like true high performance human beings. and I'm just glad that you mentioned Ben Hardy because yeah, that's he's one of those. So great books. Yeah.

 

Kristi Kandel (56:01)

Yes.

 

Yeah. Hundred hundred

 

percent. I was in I was in strategic coach and the some different stuff when he was super big into that and and yeah, and it's you you're right. You you can attach and and see, okay, you are someone who is doing something amazing and yeah, I love it.

 

Alex Martinsen (56:22)

were you? Okay.

 

Kristi Kandel (56:33)

well, I could keep nerding out forever, so but we probably shouldn't. where well, one is there anything that I didn't ask you that I should have or that you want to share. so our our audiences, people who are probably on the peripheral of getting into development themselves, they probably have some residential or some type of investment they do, but they're like, Man, I keep looking at that building in town or that vacant lot, and they need that extra step to get over the hump. Is there anything that that you would tell them about just getting started?

 

Alex Martinsen (57:01)

Yeah, and when you say development, are you referring to real estate-related development specifically? Like different forms of real estate? Yeah. Well, I mean, I would just say, hey, if you need a little confidence, like I have no experience in real estate. I know how to sell, I know how to assemble teams, I know how to work hard, and I take really good care of my friends and my people. So whatever your set of like whatever's on your baseball card that you're good at, because you have things that you're good at.

 

Kristi Kandel (57:05)

Yeah, yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (57:26)

You know, and and you have things that you're good at in a very unique way. Naval Ravakant calls that specific knowledge. Like nobody has exactly what you have. And so take that, realize there's so much value there, and then go find someone else that has the things you don't have and do it with a team. Like it just changes the whole game. You're way more willing to like take risks if you've got a co-pilot. So I would say you don't have to go do this alone, that can help. And then yeah, I think just everything else we've said, it's like

 

The things you think are the impenetrable barrier, whether it's capital or, you know, expertise. Like, look, we live in the age of Claude and Chat GPT. Information is not a scarce resource. It's action takers and people that are willing to take risk. And another thing, I don't know, I I keep mentioning Naval Rabakant. I don't if you know who that is, but it legendary and he he just put on my mind today because I just reread his book for probably the fifth time. It's called The Almanac of Naval Rabikant.

 

And he says that in a modern society, down risk is he says upside is virtually unlimited and downside risk is limited. Like in America, if you go full send on something and it goes completely wrong, as long as you avoid total ruin, which is inju like life-altering injury or death, or like prison, right? Like so you can't

 

You avoid total ruin. Don't get involved in things that could sabotage your name and your credibility forever, take away your freedom, commit crimes, hurt people, hurt yourself. But financially, like how many people do you and I know that have gone completely bankrupt, had everything repossessed, and they are killing it today? And they might have had it happen multiple times. Those are just called cycles. But it's so contrary to like our whole wiring. Like we're like, don't risk things, but it's like

 

Kristi Kandel (59:07)

Right, and then they go Yep, exactly.

 

Alex Martinsen (59:16)

Life is risk anyway. The person that's got the W2 job that thinks, hey, business is too risky, like doesn't fully appreciate the fact that they are an expense item line that someone's gonna come along and fire them. Like, so I would just say, yeah, kind of just like recontextualize what risk really is. And I would say that not taking risk today in 2026, like risk, is the riskiest thing you can do, in a sense, because you know, the thing that you're calling like comfortable and stable.

 

Kristi Kandel (59:26)

Yep. At some point they're they're cutting it, yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (59:43)

is probably not as stable as you think if it involves other people continuing to exist and do what they do. You've got to like bring the locus of control in and learn to be a little bit more the captain of your own ship because if your ship burns down, you're just gonna get another ship. Like you're the you're the asset, you know?

 

Kristi Kandel (59:57)

Mm-hmm.

 

Mm-hmm. I love it. We could go into that in so much more detail too. so how can people you said you mentioned social media, how what is the best way for people to follow along on what you're doing with the affordable homes, but personally and just all the different business ventures, what's the best way for them to connect and support you?

 

Alex Martinsen (1:00:15)

yeah, honestly

 

just Instagram. It's my favorite app in the world. It's great. So I'm on Instagram, Alex Martinson. I think it's an underscore, Alex Martinson underscore, land home package guy. You'll see it. And yeah, I'm just trying to share things about the process. And there's links on there to some of the other stuff we have going on related to this. And yeah, I'm coming out with and I saw in your email you sent me, I think you said you like to have like something you can like offer to your people, like a free resource.

 

Kristi Kandel (1:00:38)

Yeah, if you if

 

you have something that can help, yeah.

 

Alex Martinsen (1:00:40)

So I'm working on it right now. I'm almost done. so if people want to follow along, they'll be able to get access to this. It's something people have asked me for a lot. It's just like a PDF that breaks down a deal, a land home package deal, line by line. So every single cost. And so I'm just gonna basically offer that to anyone who wants it. and we're starting a Facebook group. I just started it today.

 

haven't even told anyone about it. I just was doing it before. So I think we're gonna kind of have some just community vibe going on in there. It's called Land Home Package Insiders by Alex Martinson. So those are a couple of ways people could like get close to this. If they're looking for an idea of what to develop, I think they should look at affordable housing. They should look at land home packages. there's a lot to love about it. So

 

Kristi Kandel (1:01:02)

Right on.

 

Well, thank you so much for for joining us today. I this is my favorite hour of every week just because I I love other entrepreneurs, real estate investors, developers, and just because we think differently and we we have to we get to think outside the box. We get to create things that don't exist and that just it opens so many doors of possibilities. So thank you. Thank you again for being part of this.

 

Alex Martinsen (1:01:41)

Well yeah, thank yeah, thank

 

you. And you're awesome, Kristi. Appreciate what you're doing and happy to just be another resource, another person that you know. If there's any any way I can ever help or collaborate, you know, I'm I'm open to it. So

 

Kristi Kandel (1:01:54)

Awesome.

 

And and likewise, so again, action takers, action takers unite. awesome. Well, thank you all for listening today to Local Real Estate Developer Podcast. if you can, please give us a five-star review, like, share, subscribe. Whatever you can do in that sense helps us get the word out further to get more people in their communities to take action. And we appreciate you and everything that you do. So we will see you next time.

 

Alex Martinsen (1:02:00)

That's right.

 

Thanks, Kristen.