How to Spot Emerging Markets in Real Estate: Advice from Matt Stout
Show summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Michael Stansbury interviews Matt Stout, a seasoned mortgage broker and expert in short-term rental financing. Matt shares his journey from being a pizza delivery guy to becoming a successful mortgage broker and short-term rental investor. He discusses the evolution of the short-term rental market, the challenges faced by investors, and the importance of leveraging unique properties. Matt also provides insights on identifying emerging markets for short-term rentals and offers valuable advice for aspiring investors. The conversation concludes with a glimpse into Matt’s personal life and his passion for helping others succeed in real estate investing.
Key takeaways
- The transcript provided is primarily a pre-interview/off-air conversation about Investor Fuel's mastermind structure rather than the advertised episode content on emerging STR markets.
- Investor Fuel is a mastermind for real estate entrepreneurs that meets four times a year, including locations like San Diego, Dallas, and the West Coast.
- Investor Fuel membership criteria typically requires investors who have completed 25-30+ deals, rather than beginners.
- Membership costs mentioned: $3,000 to get in and $1,500 a month in ongoing dues.
- Service providers (e.g., Kiavi, RCN, Home Depot) pay to be part of the mastermind to get access to roughly 160 real estate investors doing fix and flips, long-term rentals, and short-term rentals.
- Members reportedly get a 13-17% discount at Home Depot depending on the product, due to the group's collective buying power.
- Matt Stout mentioned he is part of a mastermind called 'the filth of faith spirit' (name unclear in transcript) and spends much of his time educating buyers so they stop bringing him bad deals as a mortgage broker focused on short-term rental financing.
About the guest
Matt Stout is a mortgage broker who works on short-term rental financing deals, helping buyers who range from first-timers to investors with ten or more properties. He mentions being part of a real estate mastermind group and says he spends significant time educating his buyers so they stop bringing him bad deals.
Listen to the audio
“I have a conscience. So you can only tell people they have an ugly baby so many times before they just go somewhere else.”
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy
“Just don't be that guy, be that generous giver.”
Michael Stansbury
“There's a point when it's good, but there's a point when it's just overload.”
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy
Questions answered in this episode
What is Investor Fuel and who is it for?
Investor Fuel is a mastermind for real estate entrepreneurs and investors that meets four times a year in locations like San Diego, Dallas, and the West Coast. Membership is generally for investors who have already completed 25-30+ deals, not beginners.
How much does it cost to join the Investor Fuel mastermind?
According to the conversation, it costs $3,000 to get in and then $1,500 a month in ongoing dues.
How do service providers participate in real estate masterminds like Investor Fuel?
Service providers such as lenders (Kiavi, RCN) and retailers (Home Depot) pay to be part of the group because it gives them access to around 160 active real estate investors. Michael Stansbury advises these providers to act as generous givers rather than constantly trying to upsell members.
What discount do Investor Fuel members get at Home Depot?
Members reportedly receive a 13-17% discount on products at Home Depot, depending on the product, because of the group's collective size and purchasing relationship.
What does Matt Stout do as a mortgage broker for short-term rentals?
Matt Stout works with buyers ranging from first-time short-term rental investors to those with ten or more properties, helping them with financing. He says a major part of his job is educating buyers so they stop bringing him bad deals.
Resources and links
Full transcript
Michael Stansbury (00:00.248)
How did you hear about the real estate podcast?
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (00:03.822)
I got an ad on Facebook.
Michael Stansbury (00:06.554)
Nice. All right, perfect. know, Investor Fuel is a mastermind for real estate investors. A lot of guys that do a lot of fix and flips, a lot of my guys do have lot of short-term rentals. So, they have other verticals and things like that. And so we meet four times a year. We’re meeting in San Diego, I think in August, and we usually meet once in Dallas, once in the West Coast. But we’re mastermind for real estate entrepreneurs and investors.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (00:12.27)
Thank
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (00:19.95)
Go.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (00:36.76)
No, it’s good stuff. Send me links on all that. you have a lot of the people I talk to because the advertising that I’m doing and my website, things like that are their first timers that they’re just trying to get an idea of where they fit and how to get involved in it. And then all the way up to people that are on their 10th and 11th property. So, I mean, if you have different
You know?
Michael Stansbury (01:07.886)
Yeah, that’s a great question. Well, the, the, so.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (01:08.782)
different packages, maybe, you this is the guy you want to send to the newbies and this is the guy you want to talk to if you want to come, you know, do you help people find properties or what do you, what other?
Michael Stansbury (01:15.288)
Yeah. Yeah.
No, no, no. our members are more than likely real estate investors that have been, they’ve done more than 25, 30 deals. fact, so we have some service providers in there. In fact, you you’ve heard of Kiavi and…
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (01:36.91)
Mm-hmm.
Michael Stansbury (01:37.066)
RCN and all those. We have some service providers and they pay to be in our group because they get access to 160 real estate investors that are doing fix and flips. They’re doing long-term rentals, but also we have a good bit of them doing short-term rentals as well. But these are, so we don’t have like an entry level. We’re looking for people that have already, that have done.
enough deals to kind of qualify to be in the mastermind. Because what we, yeah, there’s a lot of benefits for being in the mastermind, but if you’ve ever been in one, have you ever been in a mastermind or had a coaching program at all? Yes, okay, yeah. Yeah.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (02:01.464)
Okay.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (02:10.99)
I’m in the inner circle, the filth of faith spirit. That’s the most current one that I’m in, but yeah.
Michael Stansbury (02:18.529)
Yeah, so and you know the benefit and value of just it’s those relationships that you make with people that you wouldn’t normally rub shoulders with unless you get together in those types of capacities. And that’s what happens there is.
is we help each other with our business if we’re having some obstacles or some problems in our business. Or hey, we found something that’s really working with this piece of marketing and we want to expose this to everybody. So that’s kind of stuff that happens at the masterminds.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (02:51.086)
Cool, yeah, that sounds really similar. Probably a little bit, if it’s mostly investors doing it, it’s probably a little bit more real data too, because some of the groups that I’ve been in, the whole focus is to just sell you on the next thing and get sold.
Michael Stansbury (03:11.253)
Yes, they get you in the funnel. So we have, you know, so that’s what we try to do is we try to, we have a lot of guys in our group, but we also have a, we also allow service providers to come in and what we tell them is when they come in.
Like if when we have a lender come in or we had we had home deep home Depot actually came in and because we use So our members get 13 to 17 percent discount on everything at Home Depot depending on the product but as a low 13 percent because we have we have so many in our group they they they allow us to have it but We tell people hey just don’t be that guy be that generous giver. It’s just like what you did on the podcast. You just gave examples of how you know your
your lending can help fund those short-term rentals. And it’s kind of exposing people to that in a way where, this is something you may not be able to do the traditional lending way where we can help you in that. so we have a lot of service providers that do it that way, and they just crush it. They come in and crush because they’re talking to a captive audience. And if they’re real relational and they’re
givers, know, they make back the… It’s like our mastermind’s $1,500 bucks a month, $3,000 to get in, it’s $1,500 a month, but they make that back in spades if they would just not be that guy, but be the guy that’s always generous given. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (04:35.822)
There’s nothing wrong with that either. It’s just tough when the provider is trying to constantly send you to new boot camps. I mean, there’s a point when it’s good, but there’s a point when it’s just overload. Yeah.
Michael Stansbury (04:52.185)
Right, they’re always trying to upsell you. Yeah, that doesn’t happen in our group. Once you’re in, you’re kind of in. There is, there’s a, well, if you’re interested, what we can do is.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (04:59.148)
Cool.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (05:02.776)
How do you get in?
Michael Stansbury (05:08.203)
I can kind of share a little bit more. I’ve got one more podcast that I’ve got to do, but we can take 20 minutes and I can show you the back end of Investor Fuel, all the people that are involved, and kind of the benefits of it. It’ll take about 15, 20 minutes. What I can do is I can send you, if you’re available again at this time next week, I’ll send you a link and we can do that for 15, 20 minutes and see if it may be something that aligns with your STR guy type.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (05:36.28)
Yeah, myself, a lot of what I do is just try and educate my buyers so that they quit bringing me terrible deals. You know, because I have a conscience. so, you you can only tell people they have an ugly baby so many times before they just go somewhere else. So it’s like, you know, but I’ll let you go. Whether I send people your way or join up, that’d be cool. just be nice to have more resources. So yeah, shoot me an invite.
Michael Stansbury (05:43.095)
Yes. Yeah.
Michael Stansbury (05:47.211)
you
Michael Stansbury (05:53.399)
Yeah.
Michael Stansbury (05:59.673)
Alright.
We got you. We’ll do it. All hey, very nice to meet you. Sorry, I really appreciate it. Actually, I’m gonna connect two people here in my out town Memphis to you because they do have short-term renown. So I’ll send you that email. Thanks, Matt. See you, bud.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (06:07.298)
Yeah, you too.
Matt Stout, The STR Loan Guy (06:13.89)
Okay. Cool. You guys take care. Bye.
