Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Stacey Salyer Show, the podcast for property management leaders ready to think bigger about growth. I'm Stacey Salyer and the only acquisition strategist in this industry who sat on all sides of the m and a table. I've been the buyer acquiring a 370 door competitor during COVID using seller financing.
I've been the seller building and exiting a seven figure business. And I've been the corporate evaluator as director of acquisitions, assessing over hundreds of companies nationally. That means I know exactly what you're thinking, what you're missing, and what actually works when it comes to buying and integrating in this space.
On this show, we dig into acquisitions as a real business tool. Not luck, not someday. You'll learn positioning, strategy, numbers, and integration from someone who's actually done it all. Let's go.
Stacey Salyer: welcome back to the Stacey [00:01:00] Salyer Show, where we talk about buying and selling property management companies. Today, I have a guest on my show Leo Young, the founder of Cornell Communities. He's out of New York City, and we are going to dive in and find out a little bit more about Leo and why he decided to come on my show.
A little bit adjacent, I would say, adjacent space out of the single family property management, but very much in the acquisition world. So welcome, Leo, to the show.
Leo Young: Yeah, thanks for having me, Stacey. Excited to be here and share with your listeners
Stacey Salyer: yeah, thanks for joining. So, for my listeners, I'd love to have you kind of give a little bit of a background on what you've done. I understand just as a little bit of my research, you worked at Tesla, and then you founded Cornell Communities. And if you could expand a little bit on what Cornell Communities is and what you all do, and we can just kind of dive in and start having conversation from there.
Love to do that.
Leo Young: Sure, [00:02:00] sure. So I'll, I'll start with just quick background on Cornell Communities. We own and operate manufactured housing communities, AKA mobile home parks, AKA trailer parks. You know, they're all the same thing. So we, we buy and operate them. We make money for our investors. We improve the communities that we operate.
And my background personally, so I, I started finance in college. After college, you know, I wanted a change. I didn't feel like sitting in a desk job for 40 years, so I was like, "Okay, n- now is the time to take risk and, you know, fix your, fix your weaknesses." So I went into sales at Tesla. Tremendous experience, like, I, I mean, like, one of the most valuable things that I've done.
And after then - well, during my time there, I, I was just getting burnt out, you know. E- Elon, he has, like, very, very high expectations for people, so I was like, "Man, I need to find a way to build income that doesn't depend on me showing up every day." So that, that's when I learned about the, you know, the concept of passive investing, [00:03:00] investing in real estate.
Like, hey, you know, people, people pay their rent every month, right? Theoretically. So then invested in some apartment buildings as a limited partner/passive investor. Fell in love with it, got my real estate license, was just helping people of all shapes and sizes with different transactions. And then I worked at a a fund for some time on their acquisitions team.
And yeah, now started Cornell Communities. This is our fifth year in business, and going, going strong.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Wow. That's a, that's a pretty big background. So you were- Yeah ... you were in sales with Tesla. Was that like corporate sales or what, what kind of sales was that?
Leo Young: Yeah, I mean the, there's only one, I guess one type of sales 'cause it, like they're all corporate owned. It's not like it's a, it's a dealership. So I was selling their cars, their solar systems, like everything
Stacey Salyer: Wow, okay. So hardcore sales it
Leo Young: Yeah. Oh, yeah
Stacey Salyer: Yep, and working lots of hours. And then when you started to dive into real estate, was that, were you still working at Tesla? So kind of doing, like, [00:04:00] both?
Leo Young: Yeah, so I started investing because I, I was a passive investor. Like I... That just meant I, I gave a sponsor team money, and they make my money grow for me. It's like what we offer right now as a product. So it didn't really take my capacity. But then when I went into being a real estate agent, I went there full time.
I, I was just like hot-headed, I was passionate, I was like, "Okay, I, I'm gonna do this," you know, headfirst. Looking back, I would've done things differently, but yeah, that's what I did.
Stacey Salyer: All right. That's fair. Yep. I, I think probably most people listening have done some sort of real estate sales. I know I, I have myself and, and all that. But I think that the property management piece of it or, you know, the managing the mobile home parks or whatever it is the, the rental, it seems to be kind of...
It's not necessarily a sexy business, but at the same time it is because of the recurring revenue. So was that something that kind of drew you into that as far as the, mobile home parks?
Leo Young: Yep. Yep. [00:05:00] So I think a couple reasons that drew me to mobile home parks and yeah, I mean, it w- it was kind of random. Like, I had a mutual friend, he knew my background in real estate and my experience in it, and he's like, "Hey, man, like I, I'm just starting this firm. Like, I, I wanna... I have the playbook.
I, I need someone to build this with." And he kind of walked me through the thesis. I thought it made a lot of sense. A, from an investment standpoint, it makes a lot of sense because it's, it's recession resilient, you know, it's like super low cost form of housing, so, like, the, the demand's always gonna be there.
And it's a, it's a simple business model because you're operating the land and you're, you're not hiring, like, a- an on-site super, you know, like, all, all these, you know, complex things as you know with property management companies. It's like there's so many moving pieces. So, you know, theoretically, you know, running one of these communities is simpler and consequently gives you more cash flow.
And then, you know, obviously, like, the, the tax benefit portion, that drew me into it as well. But okay, investment aside, what [00:06:00] gave me the kind of spark to do this was really the impact, 'cause I, I'm very impact-driven. You know, I, I work very hard. I, I think that's just who I am as a person. I'm, I'm very passionate, and I care about impact.
I care that my work goes towards something. And, you know, this was just such a misunderstood space. There's, like, a lot of just, you know, not, not the best education out there. Like, people don't really understand it. They think it's, like, trailer parks. They think it's like, ugh, you know, it's like flea-ridden places and stuff, but it's really not.
And, and yeah, y- you get to kind of revitalize this level of affordable housing, 'cause there's a lot of need for good operators in the space who, like, care about the long-term value of the property, of the quality of living for the residents. So, that's what was important to me, too.
Stacey Salyer: Oh, I love that. Yeah. I've, I've always actually used the word care. I've talked about that in my past, and that's what like whenever I'm setting up a business or, you know, another company, that's kind of the, the [00:07:00] number one word is lead with care and compassion. At the same time, you know, contracts are contracts.
But, but I do believe... I, I love that you mentioned impact as well. You know, I, and I know some of us that manage single family, some of us do manage some of the mobile home parks or what's the other word besides mobile home
Leo Young: Manufactured housing communities from trailer parks,
yeah.
Stacey Salyer: yes. I know whenever I hear the word trailer park, I always think of the show.
There's a show, right?
Leo Young: Trailer Park Boys,
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Yeah, ex- yeah, there we go. That one. But, but... And I think that there is a misconception of that, and I, and I, I think that it is a very overlooked piece in our communities of how it does actually provide pretty affordable housing,
Leo Young: Yeah.
Stacey Salyer: right?
Leo Young: Absolutely. It, it's 7% of the US population lives inside a mobile home park And the asset class, I mean, it, it's an asset class, right? There's, like, really nice [00:08:00] ones that, you know, companies like Blackstone or, or Brookfield, like these, you know, REITs and funds they own, and it, I mean, it's like y- you, you wish you were there.
As opposed to like, you know, the other side, like truly, like run-down parks, you know, like the owner hasn't really, you know, budgeted for these, like, capital projects well over the years, and they're like, "Ah, screw it, whatever." They get shut down for health and safety hazards. Like, yeah, sure, like they have those parks as well, and everything in between.
Stacey Salyer: Right. Okay. Yeah. I know in my area in Washington State, we actually have some beautiful ones where they have beautiful, like, community center and pools and hot tub. I have visited one, though, in Mississippi many, many years ago that was unfortunately the, on the other end of that, and it was very sad.
So kinda like moving into the acquisition, 'cause, you know, we talk a lot about acquisition on the show, what, what exactly does Cornell Communities do? And, like, how does, how does that work? Are you teaching people how to acquire the manufactured home parks? [00:09:00] Or what, what is it exactly you all do?
Leo Young: so in, in short, we, we buy and we operate these mobile home parks. I just say this because it rolls off the tongue easier than manufactured housing
Stacey Salyer: Thank you. Yeah. Okay
Leo Young: So, so we, we buy and operate mobile home parks. We, we raise money from investors. Investors are, you know, just like busy ex-executive business owners or whatever, you know.
They have idle cash. They want us to, to make it work for them. So we, we go out there, we use their, their money to buy these parks, and parks that we think we can operate well. 'Cause I mean, as you know, the operations is what makes or breaks an investment, whether it's a company, a real estate, anything, right?
So some-somewhere that we feel like we have a defined value add and a good business plan that we can run. So we buy it, we run it, you know, we have we have some that we do third-party managers third-party property managers, and then some that we try to do in-house. So, it's a re- it's really a bit of both.
And then the asset management, we do it in-house. And then, you know, investor [00:10:00] servicing, we do that in-house as well.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. All right. And I know, so in my space, in the third party single family property management, the majority of the businesses are owned, you know, they're small business. So they're, you know, someone like me or, you know, some of my friends where we'll, you know, open up a business and get contracts under management.
We're not backed by larger PE funds. However, on the flip side, there are, in the single family space there are some of the larger, like, PE-backed funds or companies. Do you mind breaking down for my audience a little bit about like private equity funds and how that actually works? 'Cause I think there's like a misconception out there about private equity funds.
Do you mind like-
Leo Young: absolutely. And, you know, much similar to the kind of phenomenon with trailer parks, with mobile home parks, like private equity just has this like, you know, big, you know, unattainable feel to it. But the reality is just [00:11:00] that it's, it's an industry as well. So there's super big ones that, you know, take on life insurance money, sovereign wealth funds, like all that as a family office money, and then there's like regular ones, you know?
You know, for, for us, like we, we take on, you know, investors, they invest like 50, 100,000 with us, like sometimes even more, but, you know, an- anywhere in between, and there's like firms out there that take even less too. So it's not like, oh, you know, private equity. It, it's like big, scary company, you know, all that stuff.
But, you know, business model-wise, it's like the same mechanics and you have to kind of adapt to how big you are, what your goals are, et cetera.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Okay. So you basically founded Cornell and you run this. So kind of walk us through, like, what, what are you doing on a daily basis? Are you going out trying to raise funds, like find investors? Is that what your role is?
Leo Young: All of the above. You know, I think the reality is when you're starting a business, it's like you're [00:12:00] doing everything. So I started this business with a co-founder who has since left. You know, early days it was, like, learning how to do the, the business itself. So, like, how do you buy and operate mobile home parks?
And then later on, right now, it's that plus how do you run and build a company? So it's all, like, very applicable. It's like how do you put in standardized processes, like playbooks? How do you incentivize people correctly? How do you attract talent? You know, how do you get them on board with the limited resources that you have?
You know, how do you coach people to get the right results? So, so yeah. I mean, it's, it's a bit of everything. And then, you know, raising investor capital. I mean, it's just dinner table to dinner table, you know, catching up with people, kind of seeing, like, what their needs are, how you might be able to help them, and yeah.
I mean, it's, it's all of the above.
Stacey Salyer: Very cool. Okay. Just a little bit different business, I think, than some people that probably listen my listeners
Leo Young: all the same fundamental skills. You know, I, I think you're, you're [00:13:00] just vehicles, you know, end of the day. It, it's like, you know, y- you have different vehicles. Like some people drive a BMW, some people drive a Honda, you know? It's, it's just different vehicles, right? I mean, same thing with business.
Like the people that are good at building property management companies, that's a skill, right? When it comes to building companies, when it comes to acquiring companies, like how do you value that stream of cash flow? Like how consistent is it? Like you're asking the same questions
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Well, yeah, so let's dive into a little bit on the acquisition side. So do you mind kind of breaking down, like, what, what is your process? Now, are you the one that's doing the acquisitions or do you have a team for that? What does that
Leo Young: Yeah. Yeah. So, so we, we have three kind of departments in our, in our company. So we have the acquisitions team, we have the operations team, and the investor team. So acquisition team does everything it takes to find opportunities, analyze them, do due diligence on it, make sure it's, it's worth buying work [00:14:00] together with the investor team to raise the capital to, you know, take the deal down, to close it.
Operations team is basically managing it from closing to closing, from when you buy it to when you sell it. So, yes. So on, on the deal team, you know, we source deals two main ways really. One is through brokers. You know, we're, we're fairly well known in the, in the space, so, like, a lot of people come to us, they send opportunities to us.
We get a first look before others do just because of our relationships. And we also go directly to owners. You know, we have the, probably s- the same thing that you do. You know, we send out postcards, we, we call people, we get hung up on. Same thing. So yeah, just go through the pain of that. There's different nuances, different pros and cons to each approach.
That's why we're not purely focused on one. And, and yeah, I, I think the goal in finding good opportunities is to just cast a wide net and, you know, that's, that's what we're doing.
Stacey Salyer: So what I hear you saying is there's no magic way
Leo Young: Exactly. There is no [00:15:00] magic way in life, honestly. I think to, to the listener, you know, when you, when you hear advice on podcasts, on social media and stuff, it's very important that you translate it to your own language, to your own language of your own life, right? We all have different lives. We're all in different places, age, business size and all that stuff.
So, there is no one magic wand that could solve all your problems. Like, you gotta figure it out yourself, you know? And, and as an entrepreneur, like, you know you're paid to solve problems
Stacey Salyer: Absolutely. I love that you bring that up because that's probably one of the number one questions I get is, "Well, how do you find the deals that you're, you know, buying?" Or, "How do, how do I go find a, you know, property management company to buy?" Or in your case, "How do I find a mobile home park to buy?" And I think people are always thinking that they're gonna hear this magical answer, you know, some secret squirrel thing.
And I always say, unfortunately, there's no magic wand that you wave. It really just is a matter of kind of what you [00:16:00] do. I mean, so you, you have two avenues. One, you go to business brokers where there's probably listings, and then two what I call just g- good old-fashioned hard work, right? So the, the cold calling, the outreach.
So what, what areas are you buying all over the United States or do you have like a specific area in the US?
Leo Young: Yeah. So, our, our model allows us to operate these assets remotely, so, you know, we don't have to be close to home, so to speak. I mean, we're all over the Midwest and the Southeast. We even got some, like, closer to home as well. So the, the reason for this is because it's hard to find good deals, right?
As we all know, like, I mean, the secret's out. People love mobile home parks, so then it's like you're not able to have a big spread between, like, the fair value versus, like, the price that you can get it at. Sometimes you're overpaying. Sometimes, like, you're paying for the work that you put into the property.
So, so yeah, that, that's [00:17:00] why we do it. Different geographies has its own challenges as well. There's different regulations, different climates, different populations that you have to kind of learn how to translate your systems to, to help
Stacey Salyer: Interesting. Okay. So pretty similar to single-family property management, it sounds like.
Leo Young: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're, you're working with different homes, right? Different ages. You know, some may have, like, shingle roofs, others are metal roof. May- maybe it's like a, you know, different owners, different personalities that, that you're managing and stuff like that. Maybe they have different preferences for how hands-on they wanna be, right?
It's all the same fundamental skills
Stacey Salyer: Okay. And so, you know, the initial, I mean, you have the two different ways that you're, you know, finding them and, and doing all that. What does due diligence look like for you? Like, what, do you have a due diligence team? Do you have, you know, some really good checklists? Like, what does that look like for you?
Leo Young: Yeah. So, so ba- basically everyone on our deal team they contribute to the whole. So, you know, everyone chips in to some [00:18:00] extent on, like, finding the deals, on negotiating the deals doing due diligence. You know, different people help out in different extents. But yeah, I mean, doing due diligence on commercial real estate, you, you can't take shortcuts.
It's, it's very important to not do that because you wanna make sure that you're setting up your team for success, right? Your operations team who then go and, and manage the property. You don't wanna give them a dumpster fire to be like, "All right, go figure this out. We told investors we would make X, go figure it out."
You, you wanna be as safe as you can. You wanna be reasonable with your assumptions, kind of figure out, "Well, based on what we see, we think we can charge X dollars for rent. We think we should budget Y dollars for, you know, capital improvements," things like that. And, you know, maybe the the capital mar- like, interest rates will be at, you know, this percent maybe in, in, like, how many years.
Like, that's how you kind of build up a business plan. But yeah, I mean, you're, you're looking at the financials of the property. You're looking [00:19:00] at the actual condition itself. You're looking to see how the market is, the climates you know, what the municipality has for the record. So there's a, a decent amount of work that goes into it.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Yeah, that sounds, sounds similar. So tell me, people love stories. Like, like what's some like really, like what's like the worst thing you've ever found? Or like give us some lore on, on a deal if you can think, think of
Leo Young: Yeah. Well, I, I think one thing is that you should get eyes on a property. I think it's like a saying in real estate, you should get eyes on, on the property that you're buying. You know, I, I think a lot of the mobile home parks, like Google just doesn't drive through with their Street View, so like you're not able to see it properly, and then like sometimes you drive through, you're like, "All right, that's...
I'm not buying this."
Stacey Salyer: Okay
Leo Young: Oh, man. There was like a park that we drove through, like potholes everywhere. It's like fricking run down. And y- like a, a dog was like chasing after our rental car and like trying to bite the [00:20:00] tires. And you're like, "Oh, my God. Like what is this place?" So yeah, that, that got a easy pass from us afterwards.
No matter how... And, and like, yeah, you know, we called the owner afterwards. He's like, "Yeah, I want this amount." Like, "Good luck. Good luck."
Stacey Salyer: That's probably still on the market.
Leo Young: Yeah, yeah. He'll never get his number
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Yeah. So how do you deal with that, like the unrealistic seller? Do you pretty much just say like, "Yeah, no way, man," or d- have you ever like said, "No way, man," and then they come back and you are a- able to negotiate maybe
Leo Young: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it, it's, it's all of the above, you know? 'Cause when you work with different people, they have different goals and, you know, what's important to them as well. So yeah, some- sometimes it's just, like, very far. We're like, "Ah, we're too far off." But maybe, like, a broker seller is like, "All right, well, show me your best number."
And we're like, "Okay, we could do this." And they're like, "No, we, we could do that." And then, you know, it goes back and forth if they're motivated. Other times, you know, it just dies off, you know? And then we kind of revisit it later [00:21:00] on. We're like, "Hey, what, what happened last year when you tried to sell this?"
That, that's why we keep good records on, like, the deals that we see, that way we can kind of figure out what the story is behind it. Because, you know, when you're looking at a property - I mean business as well - like, people are not gonna just tell you all the skeletons in the closet. It's kind of your job during diligence to find out what it is so that you can be comfortable with it, you can budget for it, and, you know, make a realistic business plan.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. So going back to early days so, you know, 'cause I always find like when you first start doing something, you don't know what you don't know to, to now, what are maybe a couple key things that you learned on maybe even the hard way? Do you have any good stories or something like that?
Leo Young: I think the, the hard skills are easy to learn. The soft skills are hard to learn. So soft skills meaning resilience, how do you stay calm under pressure? How do you figure out the right solution [00:22:00] to take the optimal next step? How do you keep going when faced with uncertainty? How do you convince people of your vision?
It, it just a lot of these things. I think early on it was painful. I mean, it, it's like all of the above. I, I don't think people talk about the-- Well, entrepreneurs know, like business owners, like we know how freaking hard it is to start a business, how to keep it going. You have payroll pressure, you know, this, that, the other thing.
But like non-entrepreneurs are like, "Oh, yeah, you know, it's all like sunshine and rainbows. It's all Lambos on Instagram, right? Let's go." But it's not. I mean, it's like, you know, you're, you're going extended periods of time of like no money, and you're like, "How the heck do I do this?" Like, how, how do I, you know, bridge the gap?
And like I, I, I gotta fund the business from my own savings. Like, you know, w- am I doing the right thing? Should I keep on doing this? Like, yeah, like all of the above
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. So what keeps you going?
Leo Young: Two things. I think th- there's like a, a true [00:23:00] north, you know, when it comes to like my life and what I wanna do. You know, I kinda wanna optimize around impact. You know, I, I think because we're all here as guests in this world, we wanna leave the world in a better condition than we found it. So, you know, kind of ultimately, I wanna just serve the world.
I wanna help people, inspire them to live their best lives. I wanna make the br- world a better place, provide jobs, you know, all that stuff, pay taxes to people, all that, right? But that, that's like theoretically like what keeps me going. But like what truly is like the pain of starting over is just too much.
It, it is like, hey man, like you've done this all this time, so like if you start something else, like the grass is not always greener. The, the grass always seems greener, but then, you know, you go into, you talk to other business owners and you're like, "Oh yeah, it's the same amount of work anyways." So might as well just get good at one thing.
Just keep on doing what you're doing. It doesn't matter that long-term it's not the right kind of business vehicle to be in, but what matters is [00:24:00] that you're building the skills, network, resources, expertise, reputation. Like all this stuff is translatable and, and that's why I really emphasize this, is that for me early on in life, I was very fixated on what is the right next step. But the, the right next step is the one that builds you as a person. And, you know, in the journey of entrepreneurship, the, the reward is who you become in that process, not like, not your bank account, not like anything out there
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. No, I love that. I'm not personally a money chaser. I like money, but I always f- I always say that's just the result of, you know, doing something that I'm very passionate about. And,
Leo Young: Yeah.
Stacey Salyer: yeah.
Leo Young: Absolutely. I mean, it, it's about how you allocate the resources, right? Like money is just a store of value. You know, people transact when, when they, they value what you have more than the dollar in their hands. So it's just a store of value. And, you know, as entrepreneurs, you're like, "How do I [00:25:00] allocate this?"
Like I, I'm not a - I'm not much of a spender. Like I don't see like, "I wanna buy so and so for myself. I wanna go on this vacation." It's just like, "How can I put this money to use? Like can I hire people? Can I train them? Can I you know, build a better system to better serve my customers?" Like that, that's all
Stacey Salyer: seems like you talk a lot about kinda giving back or, you know, stewarding maybe, you know, your gifts and talents in the communities that you're serving. Is there a specific reason why, or is it just, is that just how you, you feel, you grew up?
Leo Young: if you wanna get really deep, so, I'm a philosopher at heart. I love to think. I had a very active mind as a kid and, you know, I think growing up, like, learning to tune that to places to just, like, truly see what matters to yourself.
And, like, me as a person, I just want my life to matter. That's, like, fundamentally, that's all that matters, is, like, people care that I lived here. You know? People care that I was talking to you. You know, you're listening to this podcast. Hopefully, you got something useful out of it. That's all I care [00:26:00] about.
Everything from there is, is bonus. And you know, I, I would challenge you to be like the conventional ways to get to where you wanna go. Let's say, "Oh, you care about impact. Why aren't you at a, a nonprofit? Why aren't you volunteering?" Because, like, that's only one vehicle to get the end result, right?
You wanna be hard on the goals and soft on the process. So, you know, for me, it's like building a good business, being a cultivator of, of my team, you know, getting them to be better versions of themselves helping people out here, like sharing my insights, like sharing my, my pains, my ups and downs, like with you, hopefully shortcut your journey.
I think that's, to me how I like to, to impact people.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. I feel like you're bringing the real, the real side of private equity here, here on my show. Because again, I feel like especially in my industry there's just kind of, you know, and I even, I'll even admit, I kind of make fun of, I'll be like, "Oh, the private equity bros, they just keep hitting me up on LinkedIn.
They want [00:27:00] to know like what, where they can go buy property management companies." Yeah. But I think we forget that there actually is groups of humans behind that, and a lot of them have you know, real purpose and, you know, service behind the, that, that
Leo Young: Yeah. You know, I, I think an important lesson, Stacey, is to remember the human behind it. There's always a human behind everyth- I mean, look, we're, we're run by people for now, right? Before robots
Stacey Salyer: Yep.
Leo Young: over and whatnot.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah, that's a whole nother episode.
Leo Young: yeah. But yeah, you know, some- someone had to rationalize their decision somehow. I, I think, you know, when I, when I scroll on, like, social media and I see how people comment, like, I see they're in very, very different place and have a very different worldview. But, like, they, they got there somehow, right? We're all logic-based beings. It's not like we woke up one day and we're like, "Okay, this is how I think."
It's like, "Okay, this makes sense because of this." So, you know, when you kind of peel back the layers, you're like, "Oh, interesting." I mean, yeah. I mean, that makes sense. That makes sense why this guy wants to [00:28:00] do this.
Stacey Salyer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I love that too. Very cool. So kind of getting back to, like, the acquiring although I do believe that you can acquire anything in life. I know I'm... Obviously, I think you and I could totally, like, hang out and have dinner or Coke Zero or Titos. What- whatever it is that you like drink.
Coffee, I don't know. Yeah.
Leo Young: right
Stacey Salyer: but kind of getting back to like the acquisition piece of it do you have any other advice for, you know, people who may be listening to my show? So the, the average listener of my show is like, you know, a, a small business owner, somebody who's not ac- you know, they haven't done an acquisition before or maybe they've kind of done one.
And it's this kind of big, scary thing which is why I love to teach it. I'm super passionate about it. I believe that everybody should, you know, start your business and create your business to sell your business one day and then, you know, obviously you want, you wanna go buy a business. It's a little bit easier than doing startup.
Any good advice [00:29:00] that you can give?
Leo Young: To the listener, let, let me kind of just share some thoughts with you that come to mind in no particular order. One is that don't, don't overestimate your ability to execute. I think a lot of people when they're starting off, like, there's a difference between ambition and ability. I, I think when you take a transparent look at yourself, what you're able to do, you'll be able to execute better, and it, it's just like these are...
It, it's just fancy corporate jargon. It just means, like, you're able to get the result that you want better. And when you haven't done it, when you don't have that experience just yet, it will take time. It, it's all reps, you know? If you wanna build up your bicep muscle, like, go do some curls at the gym, right?
How many thousands of reps do you need to do to get, like, a bicep like... I mean, I, I work out too much to be this small. But anyways like, wh- when it comes to getting good at something, it's gonna take reps. So, it's good to have long-term ambitions, but don't, don't let that shroud your judgment because the, [00:30:00] the sad part and, and the trap to avoid is just to do a deal because you want to, because the timing is right.
And w- when you put on your rose-colored lenses, you're like, "Oh, yeah, you know, I can make this work. I could fudge these numbers. Yeah, like, I can do this." But what are you set, what are you setting yourself up for, right? Like, when you buy a business, it, it's not like a, it's not a stock. It's not like on Robinhood, you just flick your finger and, and it's done.
Like, it's work, and it's work to keep it going. It's even more work to improve it, and it's work to get it ready to sell and to sell it. So, you have to just know what you're signing up for, and then obviously at the same time is realizing that you're never gonna be fully ready to do anything in, in life.
Very few things especially when you're buying your first property management business, your second one, your 10th one. It, it's a different game every time, right? I mean, the same thing for me. When, when I was growing out my, my [00:31:00] portfolio, it, it's a different challenge every time. So just know that you're not ever gonna be fully ready, and just, just be sensible about the plans that you set for yourself.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah, I love that. And I think the other piece too I like to tell people is that there's so many people involved and it's not, you know, the business is one, one thing, but then you have the whole people piece of it. And that, that is really important and not to lose sight of. You're kind of dealing with people's lives and their livelihood.
I mean, you know, if you're buying mobile home parks, you're dealing with pe- where people live. And even to what we do in property management, third party, you know, single family, we're also doing that, right? And it's such an important piece of what, what we do. I mean, we're managing you know, homes where people live and community, and we're in the community, and it's such an intimate business.
So I, I think
Leo Young: Yeah. You know, th- this might be just not really [00:32:00] heard out there, but I, I think it's better to be kind than it is to be nice. And what I mean by that is that, yes, you should care about the people that you, you serve, the people that are on your team, the people you impact, but sometimes it's just not the right fit.
And I think the beauty of, of America - and I, I'm, I'm an immigrant, so, like, I kind of have, like, a different perspective. But, like, the beauty of America is that, you know, the, the fundamental truth is the pursuit of happiness. It's like, where are you best suited? So if you're not, i- if you're not, like, the right fit when it comes to, like, an employee or, like, a resident, like, it's totally okay to be like, "Hey, I wanna be kind to you.
I wanna give you the opportunity to find a better fit."
Stacey Salyer: Mm-hmm
Leo Young: And having the courage to do that as a leader just strengthens the, the value that you can bring people. Because, you know, like, we all know, like, people that are, like, miserable in their marriages, they, you know, they carry it for too long. But, like, nobody makes that courageous step to be like, "Okay," like, "I wanna be kind to you and, like, let you [00:33:00] live your best life."
So, you know, that, that's one thing I would say.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Yeah, no, I love that. In fact, that, gosh, that reminds me of many years ago when I was a retail store manager. I was a new store manager. I think I was 19 or 20. Why? Well, I mean, I know why I got the job, but it's a... I look back, I have kids that age now, I'm like, "Wow, that's crazy that I was in charge of a store."
But I remember I had actually hired a sales girl, and she hated the job. She was terrified to speak to people. She would, as soon as a customer would come in, she would, like, go hide in the back of the store, and she just was not the right fit. And I do remember, you know, I had that conversation with her, and I was like, "You know, I'm really sorry.
Unfortunately, you know, like, you're a great person but you're just not the right fit for this particular position, and I know you're gonna go find something different." And she actually came back three months later and thanked me for letting her go. I hate using the word firing. But, you know, transitioning her out [00:34:00] because she found a job working with a photographer as a photographer assistant.
She didn't have to talk to anybody. She got to do cool things, and she loved it. And yeah, came back and thanked me for transitioning to- her to something that was better s- well-suited.
Leo Young: Yeah, absolutely. I, I think it's, it's great that it happens. And, and look, sometimes like, you know, people are too afraid to do that themselves and like they don't see past it. But, you know, a- as a leader, y- you see the best in people and you're like, "Yeah," like, "You would thrive elsewhere." And yeah, I, I think doing that is a great service to them
Stacey Salyer: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I would love to kind of recap. What else would you like to share with my audience about your company and anything else, any other great advice you have for acquiring or
Leo Young: I would reiterate to translate advice that you hear to your own world before you take it into account, and not take anything at face value. 'Cause I think it's easy to [00:35:00] hear things, but judgment, especially with AI, with the world moving faster and faster, more and more leverage, judgment is your secret weapon.
Judgment and being able to take something and, and discern what is right from wrong, what is relevant to you, how you should implement it, that's gonna be the skill that is gonna make you valuable down the line
Stacey Salyer: Love that. That's really awesome. Very cool. So what about is there anything that you're working on where you would like to share? Are you raising funds? Are you always looking for investors? What, what does that look like for you?
Leo Young: Yeah. Yeah. So the, the way that we work Cornell Communities, we, we have an investor wait list. So, you know, basically people who are interested or curious, you know, they can apply to the wait list, and, you know, whenever there is an opportunity, we would let them know. It usually comes, like, couple times a year, may- maybe two to four times a year, not very often.
So, you know, we kind of emphasize the education portion. We have a lot of resources to learn about my team, [00:36:00] mobile home parks, all that stuff, and feel free to check us out at cornellcommunities.com.
Stacey Salyer: Very cool. Yeah, and I'll make sure that in the show notes we have all your contact information, and sounds like you're bringing humanity into communities across the United States, which I love
Leo Young: That's right. That's right. I, I try to. It, it's not always perfect, but, you know, we, we put in the attempt. That's all we can control
Stacey Salyer: That's cool. Well, I really loved our conversation. It went way different places than maybe we would, you know, I would ne- anticipated, which is always super fun for me. I love to also have those deeper philosophy type conversations. So
Leo Young: Yeah.
Stacey Salyer: yeah, thank you so much for- Yes. Yeah
Leo Young: Th- thanks for you know, bringing the energy, Stacey. You know, I, I think it's all connected, right? When, when you realize as you grow in life, like everything is connected. Like when you look back, the dots will always make sense. But looking forward, you're like like what am I doing?
Is this a risk?" And all that stuff. But yeah, the, the better you are able to kind [00:37:00] of, recruit your prior experiences to, to make your current decisions better, like the better you are
Stacey Salyer: Absolutely. Very cool. Well, thank you so much, Leo, for joining the show today, and I hope that we get to connect again in the future
Leo Young: Thank you. Likewise
Outro: Thanks for listening to the Stacey Salyer show. Here's the deal. You can read about acquisitions anywhere, but you can't learn acquisitions from someone who's done it the way I have as a buyer, a seller, and from the corporate side evaluating hundreds of companies. That's why I need you to subscribe and share this with someone in your network who needs to hear it.
And if this episode landed, leave a five star review. It's how more PM owners find the only acquisition expertise in the space that comes from all sides of the table. And while you're at it, grab my Acquisition Readiness checklist on my website at staceysalyer.com. Then when you're ready to move from Growth Thinking to Growth [00:38:00] Building, explore the Built to Acquire program.
Don't leave it on the table. See you on the next episode.
