How an NFL Player Built a Multimillion-Dollar Real Estate Wholesaling Business

Dek Bake (00:00)

I’d say, you know, just one of our core values, progress over perfection. You know, you have to get out there and you have to just try it. You know, even if you’re you’re not going to be successful at first, you know, the progress is is where it’s most important. I’ve seen so many people in this industry, you know, get stuck with the paralysis by analysis and waiting for the perfect opportunity. And there will never be a perfect opportunity.

Right. You have to make that opportunity, you know, and you have to get out there and grind and take those lumps and take those losses.

Scott Bursey (02:01)

Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast, powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey And pros, we have a total pro with us today, Dek Bake, founder and CEO of Fair Trade Real Estate. He’s built one of the fastest growing wholesale operations in California. Before he was dominating the real estate market, he was grinding in the NFL, and he brought that same elite level discipline, leadership, and competitive fire straight into his business.

Today you’re going to learn how to translate high stakes, field tested intensity into massive business success. Dek, welcome to the show.

Dek Bake (02:37)

Hey, thanks for having me, Scott. That was an awesome intro.

Scott Bursey (02:41)

Well, it is a pleasure having you here. And for our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please give us the front row seat and how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Dek Bake (02:53)

Okay. Well, I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now, multiple markets. I started my real estate career ⁓ outside of Dallas, Texas, back in 2008 and and have been in this space ever since. I fell in love with it immediately and it’s something that ⁓ I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I currently in California, moved out here in 2013 ⁓ to start an operation out here. ⁓ and we’ve been, you know.

Doing acquisitions and wholesale throughout the state sense.

Scott Bursey (03:22)

that’s that’s awesome. And Dek, what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to take that high octane NFL work ethic and apply it to scaling a massive wholesale company. That is not easy.

Dek Bake (03:36)

Yeah, it’s not. I was very fortunate to have some awesome leaders along the way, mentors, you know, coaches, being able to play for guys like Mike Leach and Tom Coughlin, you know, really I think set the framework and the real real expectations of what it takes to be a pro and operate at a an elite level. and so I’m just grateful I was able to learn from those guys.

Scott Bursey (03:59)

Please tell us what was the biggest mental shift you had to make when you hung up the cleats and stepped into the real estate arena?

Dek Bake (04:06)

that’s a good question. ⁓ starting off in sales, I would say it was very comparable to ⁓ being a defensive end, which was the position that I was. You know, the person that reacted the fastest, the most aggressive was usually the one that made the play and got the sale and made the money. When I transitioned into acquisitions, it was definitely a bit of a learning curve because it was much more analytical. I had to learn how to underwrite deals, the longer, slower negotiation process.

You know, in my mind, it almost feels a lot more like an offense or a quarterback, right? You know, everything is pre-calculated. They know where they’re going before the other person, you know, and and ⁓ but then the transition into leadership, man, it was, you know, each level, right? It’s it’s it’s challenging and it has its own challenges. Being aggressive, you know, like a defensive end doesn’t work in leadership, you know, and being too passive, you know, sometimes like maybe ⁓ or calculated like a quarterback maybe.

⁓ doesn’t always work in leadership as well. ⁓ so you know, throughout the the journey, man, I I I base everything kind of on sports. You know, that’s that’s where ⁓ I cut my teeth and and learn, you know, the majority of how to be successful and how to win. ⁓ so yeah, does that answer your question?

Scott Bursey (05:19)

Well absolutely, Dek. very nicely. And honestly, I love hearing that. It’s that drive to be the best that separates the players from the spectators.

Dek Bake (05:30)

Absolutely.

Scott Bursey (06:19)

And Dek, curious to know what do you see as the primary strength of your wholesale model compared to the traditional retail market?

Dek Bake (06:27)

you know, I’ve been doing this, like I said, almost 20 years now. And I I know for a fact that not all sellers want to go the traditional route and sell their house on the open market and have open houses and deal with realtors and commissions and inspections. Sometimes they just want to hit the easy button, you know, and maybe they won’t get top dollar or the highest dollar amount for their their property, but they get the peace of mind and they’re able to move on with their life, you know. So I know that.

⁓ also on the investor side, the investors need a solid and reliable source of inventory. For so long, you know, all the institutional buyers were able to just monopolize the space and buy the best deals. And different localized investors were trying to figure out how to market and advertise to, you know, direct to seller and do all of these things that were outside of their expertise, right? They ended up spending so much time, 80% of their time, maybe on acquisitions.

To where the rehab and the flip and the retail or even the building of the business suffered. You know, so for us to be able to solve that problem for them and provide them quality opportunities that they can buy, fix, and sell, is something that I believe in and I’ll continue to.

Scott Bursey (07:40)

That makes perfect sense. And digging into your process, what is the one internal bottleneck you’ve had to work through to keep your team speed up?

Dek Bake (07:49)

⁓

I mean, there’s always different bottlenecks, right? Every every week it seems like there’s something else. You know, my job as the leader of the organization is try make sure everything is as efficient as possible, that I’m getting the highest and best use out of each agent. You know, so a lot of times that was building technology and tools that are gonna automate a lot of the redundant ⁓ you know, research and computer-based work for them so that they can be out in the field.

doing what I truly believe is their highest and best use is buying, selling, putting deals together and connecting with people.

Scott Bursey (08:23)

Appreciate you keeping it real. You know, those internal hurdles are where you find the real growth. And Dek, thinking about your growth, where do you see the biggest untapped opportunity for wholesale real estate in in California right now?

Dek Bake (08:39)

⁓

We’re pretty dominant in Southern California. You know, there’s a ton of opportunity ⁓ in Northern California, the Bay Area, Sacramento, Stockton, those areas I truly believe in. ⁓ the valley. ⁓ you know, the thing about California is it’s so big, man. It’s massive. You know, I mean, we could become as big of an organization out here as we wanted to without ever having to leave, you know. So ⁓ I don’t necessarily want to spread ourselves thin, you know, unless the right opportunity arises. Cause

Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire, you know, those are as big as it gets. I mean, we could quadruple our business just in those markets alone.

Scott Bursey (09:14)

Curious, are you ⁓ leaning harder into a specific asset class or or territory?

Dek Bake (09:20)

we’re doing all residential, detached mainly, some small multifamily. ⁓ we’ve been very fortunate out here with some of the new ADU laws, to where a lot of investors are coming in and adding these auxiliary dwelling units, junior ADUs to turn a single family property into a duplex or maybe even a triplex. And that’s been very valuable for the investors. but that’s kind of our primary focus.

Scott Bursey (10:17)

And that’s a huge opportunity right there. Dek, where do you see fair trade real estate in the next twelve to twenty-four months? Give us the the short term strategy, please.

Dek Bake (10:28)

12 to 24 months. ⁓ 12, you know, I’d say we’re gonna get back to a stable and dominant position. You know, I as we discussed earlier, we kind of went through some challenges over the past couple of years. The market had changed and, you know, our revenue had dropped, and we were really battling some some internal issues as well. ⁓ we just finished our, you know, biggest month that we’ve had in almost two years, and we have pending board and momentum to continue to keep going. So

Just keep growing, man, becoming the best that we possibly can and ⁓ being ready for that next big opportunity when it comes.

Scott Bursey (11:03)

I love that framing. And we’re fascinated by the market noise here. What external factor concerns you the most right now regarding deal flow?

Dek Bake (11:14)

I’d have to say interest rates, you know, because out here a lot of the sellers are kind of stuck. You know, they can’t afford to sell and move because of the cost and it’s not affordable and they’re stuck in, you know, three percent interest rates. ⁓

I’d say that’s one of the biggest challenges. We’ve kind of accepted it, you know, like I think everybody’s kind of a lot more comfortable with a six and a half percent thirty year fixed rate right now than they were two years ago. ⁓ but I’d say that’s one of the things that’s gonna, you know, always gonna be a challenge for us.

Scott Bursey (11:46)

How do you hedge against that to keep the machine running smoothly long term?

Dek Bake (11:51)

We have to continue to buy better, make the adjustments, you know, with the margins. Investors are always going to be buying, right? I mean, they’re always going to be buying. It’s just at what margin. And those margins are what kind of change, you know, month in and month out. we have adjusted, you know, our our strike point as far as the after repair value. We’re trying to go for anything under, you know, 1.2 ARV because that’s the FHA loan limit out here, and that’s where the majority of the buyers are. ⁓

But you know, you can’t control everything, man. You know, I’m not gonna change industries. We just have to keep plugging away and and making the adjustments as it happens.

Scott Bursey (12:27)

Spot on, controlling what you can control is the only way to play. And Dek, looking at the landscape, how does that leadership style from the NFL days specifically show up in the way you manage your team today?

Dek Bake (12:41)

⁓ I’d say the majority of of

My leadership, I’d say, was came from my college coaches. You know, I had some incredible college coaches, got to play for, you know, the great Mike Leach, who was just a disruptor by nature, you know, unapologetic about disrupting and changing. And he was the guy who could, you know, see something in that three star recruit and get them to compete at the highest level and be able to beat out the five star recruits, you know, and ⁓

Yeah, I’d say I probably took the most from my college coaches, my high school coaches. My time with Coach Coughlin was so short, you know, and I’m gonna be honest with you, he was intimidating as heck. So I was just into I wasn’t around him much more than I had to be, you know. But ⁓ I guess with him, man, just like the the he was like very militant style and just very disciplined. It didn’t matter if you were Michael Straighthand or if you’re an undrafted free agent, everybody wore the same clothes, showed up the same, you know, same time.

Just, you know, it just very disciplined.

Scott Bursey (13:39)

The lessons that you learn from your coaches, does that ⁓ apply? Does it help when the pressure really hits today?

Dek Bake (13:46)

I’d say yeah. ⁓ you know, one of the best, I think, characteristics or skills a leader can have is is how they lead through crisis, right? And a lot of that comes down to just being able to stay calm, keep your head clear, not make any irrational decisions, you know, like you have to have incredibly high pain tolerance, you know, because it’s challenging to to to navigate those waters day in and day out.

Scott Bursey (14:09)

That’s powerful. That’s powerful perspective. Thanks for sharing that. Dek, curious to know, what does your professional network look like right now?

Dek Bake (14:17)

as far as me personally or or like as the organization.

Scott Bursey (14:21)

Well, for both, if you could take us down both paths real quickly.

Dek Bake (15:06)

⁓ I mean, I I like to keep an open line of communication with all of the biggest players in our space. You know, a lot of times people get caught up in, they’re our competitor, you know, but to me, there’s enough business for all of us to go around. I like to do a good job of, you know, keeping open dialogue and and solid relationship with them. as far as like, you know, I guess mentorship and groups, you know, I’ve been affiliated with a bunch of different groups over the years. The one I’m currently doing is the collective genius, which

Is is specifically for real estate investors, wholesalers, owner operators throughout the state and well throughout the country. ⁓ and then that’s been a very valuable resource for me as well.

Scott Bursey (15:45)

Well, thank you for highlighting that. And Dek, what is the single biggest aha moment or strategy that allowed you to move from good to multi million dollar operational?

Dek Bake (15:57)

Ooh, that’s a good question. The big aha moment for me. I don’t know if it was one just like specific aha moment. I think it just happened so gradually, you know, and we’re just chipping away at it, grinding every single day to, you know, one day we we looked up and wow, we’re having a monster year and we are a multimillion dollar company. And you know, ⁓ I don’t know if it wasn’t. I think I’m so busy, man, and I’m so focused. I don’t know if I still

have allowed myself to have those aha moments. I don’t know. That’s a tough one to answer.

Scott Bursey (16:27)

Yeah, it’s simple, you know, gradual, getting better each and every day, but that’s game changing. That’s what makes a champion. Thank you for for sharing that. And you have shared a lot of great information with us here today, Dek. Is there any other additional advice you can leave with our pros?

Dek Bake (16:46)

⁓

I’d say, you know, just one of our core values, progress over perfection. You know, you have to get out there and you have to just try it. You know, even if you’re you’re not going to be successful at first, you know, the progress is is where it’s most important. I’ve seen so many people in this industry, you know, get stuck with the paralysis by analysis and waiting for the perfect opportunity. And there will never be a perfect opportunity.

Right. You have to make that opportunity, you know, and you have to get out there and grind and take those lumps and take those losses.

And eventually, I truly do believe, man, that real estate is fair. If you’re doing the right things, if you’re treating people with high integrity and you’re a good character and you’re a good organization, it’s going to reward you. It may not happen today, tomorrow, next month, even this year. But if you continue to chip away and grind and do the right things, I’ve seen it time and time again.

you’ll get rewarded from it.

Scott Bursey (17:38)

Dek, that is powerful. Thank you so much. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Dek Bake (17:51)

I’d say probably LinkedIn. That’s really the only social platform that I’m I’m on. So I’ll just look me up, ⁓ backslash dek bake. /dekbake

Scott Bursey (17:57)

Dek, thank you for joining us here today.

Dek Bake (17:59)

Awesome. Thanks for having me, Scott. It was a pleasure.

Scott Bursey (18:01)

This

has been a pleasure. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be fueling your tanks with the lineup of elite guest, just like Dek Bake, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.