Finding deals
How I Find a Deal on Crexi and Call the Broker in 5 Minutes
A live mentorship call: pulling a seller-financed Louisville listing off Crexi, prepping in five minutes, and running the actual broker call start to finish.
This is a segment from one of our Thursday mentorship calls, and it's about as unfiltered as these get. Somebody in the group shouted out a market (Louisville, Kentucky) I pulled it up on Crexi live, found a listing I'd never seen before, spent about five minutes figuring out what I did and didn't understand about it, and then called the listing agent with everyone else on mute.
That's the whole exercise. If you did only this, one or two times a day, you would be networked with every broker in your market and have more deals coming in than you could close. Here's exactly how the search went, what I looked for before dialing, what the broker told me, and why I'd call that call a completely normal one.
Related reading: How to Win On-Market Apartment Deals (Broker Call Script)
Start on Crexi, and Start by Getting a Feel for Price
I use Crexi, and it's free. You log in (I logged in through Facebook, because for some reason my computer doesn't like it when I try to use my email) and you can create an account in a minute. They have paid features and apparently they're pretty good. I've never used any of them. You can do everything I do for free. I'm not one to buy a whole bunch of systems, because I end up never using them.
So we dumped into multifamily in Louisville, and the first pass isn't about finding the deal. It's about getting a quick feel for what standard pricing looks like here. Twelve units at $900,000. Ten units that priced out around 70 a door. A triplex that was a little more expensive than that. I'm scrolling, building a quick map in my head of what's what.
Two quick filters I apply while I'm scrolling:
- Opportunity zones. I get asked about these constantly. OZs are usually for people who want to redevelop or put in significant value-add where you actually get the benefits. Don't worry too much about them. It's a benefit, but it's not a huge benefit.
- Unpriced listings. You all know those drive me nuts. I skip them for ease.
Then I saw the word I was looking for on a mixed-use building: seller financing. Any use. That got me intrigued, and I'm currently doing a mixed-use renovation, so it made sense to call on.
Read the Description Before You Ever Dial
This is the part most people skip. I always read the descriptions, because the description tells you what questions not to ask.
The listing was a redevelopment opportunity at 544 South Fourth in downtown Louisville: the Mimi's Wigs and McCrory buildings, both of which looked currently vacant. They wanted $3 million. Near the airport. It had been on market for about half a year.
Reading it, I already knew they were open to creativity, so I wasn't going to be a weirdo and ask whether they'd consider seller financing. It looked like they wanted about 10 to 15% of the purchase price at acquisition, a 20-year amortization, and they were looking at either a three-year balloon or a five-year balloon.
Quick aside on that: if the terms are the same, why would you ever choose the shorter balloon? You can still refinance at year three if you want to. I'd ask for longer and negotiate around the five-year in conversation.
Somebody had actually spent time marketing this thing. The description talked about combining the walls and leaving the support columns, a multi-purpose condo concept, a rooftop terrace, elevators. I went to view the operating memorandum to see if they shared numbers: they'd uploaded some random documents, so there was nothing there. No flyer either. Great description, no additional information.
The one thing I couldn't figure out was how many units were actually in it. The summary column on the left said 50 units, and there was no way that added up. Someone on the call caught it: look at the marketing description, it looks like there are four or five buildings in this. That was it. Multi-building. They technically have different folio numbers but they touch walls.
Last thing before dialing: I looked up who I'd be talking to. Rachel was our contact, and if it's not Rachel it's Stephanie. She had $5 million in listings sold, a marina for sale, land for sale, and it looked like some of these buildings were available individually. I'm not trying to stalk anybody, I just like to know who I'm talking to.
At that point I knew enough to make a call. What you don't want to do is overthink it. You also don't want to ask them a stupid question where the answer is right there on the listing.
The One Question That Made the Call Work
I didn't have an offering memorandum. I didn't have a flyer for four buildings. I didn't hate the price. I just didn't really understand the opportunity completely.
So my question was simple: how much of this should be multifamily, and what's her opinion of highest and best use? I do a little bit of retail and a lot of mixed-use downtown renovations, so that's an honest question from someone who actually does this work.
Her answer: it's vacant, and it's really open space. The first floor is extremely open, some of it's good to go, and part of it was like an old shopping mall: she thought there was a Master Cart or Master Credit in there at some point. Older elevators, a kitchen and a bar that used to be functional. The buildings touch walls, so if you put in a doorway they connect.
Then I asked the one that mattered: if my goal is ground-floor retail with the remainder converted to multifamily, is that within highest and best use, and is that what the city is going to want when I go through permitting? She thought they'd say yes to mostly anything, because the surrounding buildings are retail and multifamily.
The Free Market Research Nobody Asks For
I told her I'm invested in Washington state and in Texas, and Louisville would be market number three for me. I have family there and a great contracting team, but I'm still learning the city. So I asked what she could tell me about that specific street and area of town.
This is where the call paid for itself. She used to live downtown in apartments there, and her neighbors were doctors: all the hospitals are downtown, so they walk or take a scooter or a bike to work because they do surgery all day and don't want a long commute. The University of Louisville is close, so there are a lot of football players with sizable allowances. You can walk down Fourth Street to Bourbon Row around Market and Main, past the Seelbach Hotel (the Great Gatsby hotel) and you're near NuLu. The Omni fills up every single weekend because of the sheer volume of events that come through from Ohio, Indiana and Chicago. Her read on multifamily: if there were product for the doctors or the football players, she thinks they'd check it out.
That single answer told me what kind of renovation I'd be doing. Not entry-level housing. Upscale, which in turn determines the type of retail tenants I'd want to attract downstairs. And the Seelbach being three doors from the McCrory building told me I don't want to do hospitality there, because I don't want to compete with them.
On financing, I asked whether the owner prefers to be cashed out or whether seller financing is what they actually want. They'd like cash. So I asked the follow-up: are they flexible on price to get cashed out, or would they rather hit closer to their number and carry paper? They are negotiable if there's cash on the table. I'm pretty flexible on deal structure: I just want to make sure it makes sense for what they want to do.
I closed by telling her I had a business partner to run it by, that she answered my questions beautifully, and that if he's as interested as I am I'll schedule time to walk it with my team.
What to Notice About the Tonality
Honestly? I was hoping for some drama. There was nothing hard there. That was a pretty normal broker interaction, and that's the point: most of them are.
The thing to study is pacing. You want to try to pace with them. It's worth documenting this about yourself: my natural state is to transition into high energy anyway, so the fact that she was a little bubbly made her very easy to pace. I didn't need to control the pace of that call, and I didn't feel that I needed to.
Key Takeaways
- Crexi is free, and everything I do on it you can do without paying for a single upgrade.
- Your first scroll through a market isn't deal-hunting, it's price calibration: 12 units at $900,000, 10 units at 70 a door, and so on.
- Read the listing description all the way through so you don't ask a question that's already answered, and so you know where the seller is already flexible.
- If the terms are the same, take the longer balloon. You can always refinance early.
- Call with one honest question you genuinely can't answer from the listing. Mine was highest and best use.
- Brokers who lived in the neighborhood will hand you market research you'd never get from a spreadsheet.
If you want to see the whole search and hear the call exactly as it happened, watch the full video above: the tone matters more than the transcript.
This segment came from one of our Thursday mentorship calls, and you can learn about the mentorship at mentorship overview. We also have a free course on getting started in multifamily investing, and a free Skool community that comes with a deal calculator if you want to run these numbers yourself.
Read the episode transcript
0:00 Garrison. 0:02 Uh, how about Louisville, Kentucky? 0:04 Louisville. All right. I spelled it 0:06 right. For those who don't know, I am, 0:07 uh, I'm much better at math than 0:08 spelling. Spelling is not my strong 0:10 suit. So, this is always an exciting win 0:11 for Christian. We're starting off 0:12 strong. Here we go. Okay. So, uh, in 0:14 Correxy, and this is free anywhere. So, 0:17 you log in. I logged in through my 0:18 Facebook. You can create a account. For 0:20 some reason, my computer doesn't like it 0:22 when I try to use my email, but Crexy is 0:24 completely free to use. They have some 0:25 paid features. Apparently, they're 0:27 pretty good. I've never used any of 0:28 them. you can do everything that I do 0:30 for free. I'm not one to buy a whole 0:32 bunch of systems because I end up never 0:33 using them personally. So, we're going 0:35 to go into Crexy. We're going to go 0:37 ahead and dump into multif family like 0:39 we did last week and I'm just looking 0:41 for deals that look like the type of 0:43 thing that I would like to own. So, I'm 0:45 going through 0:48 um and I'm going to get a quick feel for 0:50 what feels to be the uh the standard 0:52 pricing here. So, 12 units, 900,000. 0:55 Uh how many units is this thing? I have 0:59 no idea. They're calling it an Oh, 10 1:00 units. There it is. 10 units. 70 a door 1:04 triplex. That's a little bit more 1:05 expensive. So, I was kind of looking 1:06 through getting a quick look. This is 1:07 kind of a cool looking building. It's 1:09 more expensive, but very interesting. 1:12 And we're just trying to get a we're 1:14 just trying to get a quick map of what's 1:16 what. Uh if you guys are wondering what 1:18 opportunity zones are, it's usually for 1:19 people who want to redevelop or put 1:21 significant value ad where you actually 1:23 get the benefits. I get this question a 1:26 lot. Don't worry too much about the OZ 1:28 zones. It's a it's a it's a benefit, but 1:30 it's not a huge benefit. I'm going to 1:31 skip for ease here. I'm I'm just gonna 1:33 say I'm going to skip the unpriced ones 1:34 because you guys know I those drive me 1:36 nuts. So, I'm just looking through. 1:39 We'll pick one or two. And the goal here 1:41 is just to get on some coal some some 1:42 some calls here. This is a mixeduse 1:44 building 1:46 of 1:48 seller financing. Any use? Okay. Cutting 1:51 me intrigued. Let's see. Uh, this is the 1:53 first one that I'm I'm seeing the word 1:54 seller financing on it, but I am 1:56 currently doing a mixeduse renovation. 2:00 This makes sense to call on. So, we got 2:03 dollar mimi wigs and mccroy. No idea 2:06 what these are. They both look like they 2:08 are currently vacant. So, very 2:10 interesting. They want $3 million for 2:12 it. Instyle Mimi's wigs buildings. Looks 2:14 like they are mixed use. Just to get a 2:17 quick I'm actually hoping they pick up 2:19 on this one because this is just such an 2:20 interesting deal. near the airport 2:23 seller financing. What do they want? So, 2:25 I know going into this, this is why I 2:26 always read the descriptions. I know 2:28 going into this one, they're open to 2:31 creativity. So, I'm not going to be a 2:32 weirdo and ask the question. Um, it 2:34 looks like they want 2:36 about 10 to 15% of the purchase price 2:38 acquisition. I assume this is what 2:40 they're asking for downization 2:42 20-year AM balloon. They're looking for 2:44 a three-year balloon 2:47 or a 5year balloon. If the terms are the 2:49 same, why would you ever choose a 2:50 shorter balloon? You could still 2:51 refinance at year three if you want. So, 2:53 I know that they're a little bit 2:54 flexible on terms, uh, I would ask for 2:56 longer, but we'll negotiate around a 2:58 5-year in our general conversation if it 3:01 gets that far, which I doubt. It has 3:03 elevators. Look at this description, 3:05 though. Someone actually spent time 3:06 trying to market this. Very interesting. 3:09 Uh, it's been on market for about half a 3:10 year. Very unique space. Uh, let's view 3:13 the operating memorandum and see what 3:15 the if they share any numbers on this. 3:17 Um, thank you for putting the C. Our 3:18 agents will be in touch. Okay, so they 3:20 uploaded 3:22 a random documents to the operating. So 3:24 I have nothing there. Do I have a flyer 3:25 or something? No. Or contact the listing 3:28 agent. Okay, so they give no additional 3:31 information, but they have a great 3:32 description. Can combine the walls. 3:34 Leave the support columns. Multi-purpose 3:36 condo. Trying to figure out how many 3:38 units are actually in this. That's the 3:40 one thing I'm trying to figure out. 3:42 Don't want to call and ask a stupid 3:43 question if they answer. That's the only 3:44 thing we're going through here. So, 3:45 they're saying this has a rooftop 3:47 terrace. 3:48 Does it say if you if you scroll all the 3:50 way up to the the summarized on the left 3:53 are units 50 on the left column? There's 3:56 no way this is 50 units. There's no That 3:58 doesn't add up. I'm trying to figure 4:00 this out. Hey, Christian. Yeah. If you 4:03 look at the marketing description, it 4:04 looks like there's four or five 4:06 buildings in this. Oh, it's 4:07 multi-building. That's why. Okay. Right 4:09 side of the page, partway down. Well, 4:11 four or five buildings. Okay. This is 4:12 actually kind of cool. It's very 4:14 interesting. Of course, I'm not going to 4:15 buy this. I've not invested in in 4:17 Louisville, but I am uh, you know, we'll 4:20 play the part here. The fashion. Okay, 4:23 so it's all of these. We don't have a 4:24 whole lot of interiors, but they're 4:26 saying 50 units. I want to know, and it 4:28 property type is just completely 4:30 flexible. So, my question for them is, 4:32 how much of this do you think's multif 4:33 family? What's your opinion of highest 4:34 and best use here? I love projects like 4:36 this. I'm just trying to wrap my head 4:38 around it. I think that's a reasonable 4:39 call. Rachel is our contact here. 4:43 And if it's not Rachel, it's Stephanie. 4:45 Last thing I'm going to do, I'm not 4:47 trying to install, but I do like to know 4:49 who I'm talking to. 5 million listings 4:51 sold. She has a marina for sale, land 4:54 for sale. Looks like some of these 4:55 buildings are available individually. 4:57 Looks like I can buy this one 4:58 individually. Okay, so I know enough to 5:01 make a call. What you don't want to do 5:02 is overthink. You also don't want to ask 5:04 them a stupid question. They're like, 5:05 "Well, it's on the listing, right? So 5:07 this one, I don't have an offering 5:09 memorandum. I don't have a flyer for 5:11 four buildings. I don't hate the price. 5:12 I just don't really understand the 5:15 opportunity completely. So my question 5:16 is, how much of this should be multif 5:18 family? I do a little bit of retail. I 5:20 do a lot of mixed use downtown 5:22 renovations. What is her thought for 5:24 highest and best use? Certainly an 5:25 interesting property. So without further 5:27 ado, I think we have enough. Let's go 5:29 ahead and give a call to uh Rachel and 5:31 just see what's up with what's up. 5:32 Everyone stay on mute. Hi. Hey, this is 5:35 Christian. How's it going? I am doing 5:37 fantastic. I was actually um I was 5:39 looking at a fairly unique listing that 5:42 you have. It's the the redevelopment 5:44 opportunity in uh Louisville. It's the 5:46 the 544 South Fourth. I think it's four 5:48 buildings. Yes. Perfect. I do a good 5:51 deal of mixed use downtown and so I saw 5:53 the retail. I'm personally primarily a 5:56 multif family guy, but I do like mixed 5:58 use. I was trying to wrap my head around 6:02 what the project is and highest and best 6:04 use. you did a great job on the 6:05 description, but I was uh first of all, 6:07 just checking are these still uh are 6:09 these still available? Yes. Okay, 6:11 perfect. Well, that is good news for 6:13 these particular properties. Can you 6:15 help me wrap my head around the the deal 6:16 just a little bit? Give me a brief 6:18 description of what you think the 6:20 project looks like for a for a buyer. 6:22 So, they basically, you know, it's it's 6:25 vacant and it's really open space. 6:31 The first floor is really really open. 6:33 Some of it's good to go. And then 6:37 there's space that maybe was like an old 6:40 shopping mall like it has before Master 6:44 Cart was there. It might have been like 6:45 called like Master Credit or something. 6:48 And it looks like there's 6:50 there's like an open area. There's a 6:52 couple um older elevators and like a 6:55 kitchen and bar that used to be 6:58 functional. That's basically the first 7:00 floor. second floor. Let me think. It's 7:03 a lot of space to try to um summarize. 7:06 Oh, I know. I was trying to wrap my head 7:08 around it myself. Especially that 7:10 because it looks like there there's four 7:12 different buildings, correct? Or is it 7:13 all technically one building? They're 7:16 technically different like folio 7:19 numbers. They do touch walls. So, if you 7:23 put a doorway, then they connect for the 7:26 for so the first floor. Obviously, that 7:29 needs to be that all needs to be retail. 7:32 That's that's the correct use for it. If 7:34 my goal was primarily to look for 7:36 something where I can do ground floor 7:37 retail and turn the remainder into 7:39 multif family one is is that going to be 7:41 within what we think highest and best 7:42 uses and uh is that what the city is 7:46 going to want to go for when I go 7:48 through the uh the permitting? I think 7:50 that they would say yes to mostly 7:52 anything 7:54 because the surrounding buildings are 7:56 retail and multif family. Okay. Well, 7:59 that's that's good news. I I'm working 8:01 on a smaller project right now um that 8:03 that's very very similar to this, which 8:04 is why it caught my eye. Um I have a lot 8:07 of fun with these. I am going to be new. 8:11 I'm specifically looking for a project 8:12 in Louisville. I'm invested in 8:14 Washington state and in Texas and this 8:16 is going to be market number three for 8:18 this particular area. Do do you have any 8:20 insights at all in this particular area? 8:22 I'm getting to know the uh I'm getting 8:23 to know the area better. I have a bunch 8:25 of family and I have a great contracting 8:26 team up there, but I am learning 8:29 Louisville personally myself a little 8:32 bit. Can you give me any insights on the 8:33 on the specific like street and area of 8:35 town? I used to live in residences like 8:38 apartments. Mhm. the Louisville football 8:41 player in college or high school. I 8:44 don't really understand men's football, 8:46 but Okay, neither do I. 8:49 They're making like 2003 300 a year now 8:51 or whatever. They're getting like big 8:53 They're getting big allowances, some 8:55 type of big allowance. So downtown, my 8:58 neighbors were doctors. All the doctors 9:01 walk to work or take like a scooter to 9:03 work or a bike because all the hospitals 9:06 are downtown and they just don't want a 9:08 long commute because they do surgery all 9:10 day. So, there's a lot of doctors and 9:13 then UL's pretty close. So, there's a 9:15 lot of football players. Let me think. 9:18 Then there's, you know, as far as that 9:21 area, what what I would do is you can 9:23 just walk down Fourth Street all the way 9:26 down to Bourbon Row, which is B, I think 9:28 it's like Market Street and Main Street. 9:30 You can just go towards the G House and 9:33 then you can make a right and then 9:35 that's like Bourbon Row. So, there's not 9:38 a ton of I think that, 9:42 you know, those are the two main people 9:44 that I hung out with when I lived at the 9:46 Omni. And then I would just walk down 9:50 Third Street 9:52 and go to all the restaurants on Main 9:54 and Market. You're near Nulu. 9:58 You know, the Omni would fill up every 10:01 single weekend as like a main 10:03 destination. But as far as multif 10:06 family, yeah, I mean, I think that if 10:08 there was some product for the doctors 10:10 or the football players, I think they I 10:12 think that they would check it out. 10:14 Well, that's actually a really good 10:15 insight because that that tells me what 10:16 type of renovation that I would be 10:17 doing. I wouldn't be doing entry- level 10:19 housing here. I'd actually probably be 10:21 doing more upscale, which would which 10:23 would determine the type of retail 10:24 tenants that we want to attract there, 10:26 too. So, that's actually extremely 10:27 helpful. Thank you for that. Yeah, I 10:30 noticed my next question of course on 10:33 renovation is going to be how we would 10:34 take this out with the bank, but I did 10:36 notice the listing mentioned seller 10:38 financing. Do they does the owner prefer 10:40 to be cashed out or is seller financing 10:42 what they want to do? I'm imagining 10:43 that's probably what it needs to look 10:46 like, but I'm just curious what their 10:47 objectives are. 10:49 They 10:51 would like cash. Yeah, I assume so. But 10:55 with the financing, would they are they 10:57 flexible on price to get cashed out or 11:00 would they prefer to hit closer to their 11:02 number and receive financing? I'm I'm 11:05 pretty flexible on deal structure. I 11:07 just wanted to make sure if we end up 11:09 going with this project 11:11 that it makes sense for what they want 11:13 to do. They are negotiable if there's 11:17 cash on the table. Okay, that is that is 11:21 very helpful. Um, let me do this. It's a 11:24 very unique project. I'm going to go I 11:26 have I have one business partner I need 11:27 to run this by, but you answered my 11:29 questions beautifully and I'll just tell 11:31 you there. So, it's it's like that 11:33 street who invented the hot browns. Then 11:36 there's the Sealbach Hotel which was the 11:39 Great Gatsby. Well, that's cool. Yeah, 11:42 that's like I don't know three three 11:46 doors over from that from the Mcru 11:49 building. Okay. That makes me think I 11:51 don't want to do hospitality because I 11:52 don't think I want to compete with them. 11:53 So that's that's good for multif family. 11:55 Really? Yeah. I think there's still a 11:58 huge market. Okay. because the the Omni 12:01 would fill up and then it always fills 12:04 up because there's just so many events 12:06 that come here. I think because of Ohio, 12:10 Indiana, Chicago, it just there's so 12:13 many events. Okay. Well, let me let me 12:15 do this. Let let I got what I needed 12:17 here. Let me run some of this past my 12:19 business partner and if he's as 12:20 interested as I am because I think this 12:21 is a really cool project. I will uh I 12:24 will make the jump over and uh schedule 12:27 time to walk it with my team. So, let me 12:30 let me give this one some thought. This 12:31 is this is good to know though. So, so 12:33 if we can bring a little bit of cash to 12:34 the table, we may have some negotiating 12:36 room. I want to figure out it's a such a 12:39 unique listing. I want to figure out 12:40 what the the highest and best project is 12:42 and how we would structure it. But um I 12:45 will um I will talk to my partner here 12:47 in just a little bit and I will uh I 12:49 will reach back out to you and let you 12:50 know what we're thinking. But very cool 12:52 project. Thank you so much for giving me 12:53 the time. Yes, ma'am. This is a pretty 12:56 normal broker interaction. That was like 12:59 I was hoping for some drama. There was 13:01 nothing hard there. So I'll try to we'll 13:03 try to hop on a harder call. But that's 13:06 the basics of how you're doing this 13:07 tonality. You want to try to pace with 13:10 them. My natural state. And it's good to 13:13 kind of document this about yourself. My 13:16 natural state is to transition into high 13:18 energy anyway. So the fact that she was 13:20 a little bit bubbly was really easy for 13:22 me to pace. I didn't need to control the 13:24 pace of that call. It was I didn't feel 13:26 that I needed to with
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