The Harsh Reality of Real Estate Investing
I sat down with an architect and real estate investor to discover what it takes to be successful in real estate. What I learned is that being a real estate investor is equivalent to “waking up and being punched in the face.” Over the course of an hour and a half, I was taken down a journey of self discovery, witnessed the construction of an incredible work ethic, and boarded a rollercoaster ride of financial ups and downs that left my head spinning.
Early Childhood
Our story begins in North Richland Hills, Texas, in 1988. 4th in the line of 9 children, Joe Hamiter is built Texas tough. By the time he was only 8 years old, Joe was working 8-10-hour days with his dad and brothers in the family window cleaning business. In what spare time he did have, he was developing his skills as a serious skateboarder. Between these two grueling undertakings, an intense work ethic was born.
By the time his family moved to College Station in 2001, he was 12 years old and had discovered a new passion; playing guitar. He was gifted a guitar by one of the family's business clients at 11, and by 13 was playing the familiar tunes of legends like ACDC and Lynyrd Skynyrd, learning by ear almost any song you could throw at him.
By high school, he was playing in a small, rag-tag band, but didn’t have big plans for the future.
“My highest hope at the time was to be a window cleaner and own my own business. Dad had done it and Wes [brother] had done it and had relative success so that seemed like the obvious path for me.”
Through the loving intervention of some close family friends, he was encouraged to pursue a college degree. It wasn’t long before he was strolling the halls of Blinn Community College in Bryan, Texas. By the time he was ready to transfer to Texas A&M University, he still didn’t have a clue what he wanted to do.
“There was a list of degrees to choose from, and they were in alphabetical order, so I just looked down the list and saw ‘architecture’ and it stood out to me. After doing some research, I realized this could be something I would really enjoy.”
Discovering Design through Architecture
He transferred to Texas A&M in 2010 and discovered a harsh truth about being an architecture student. “I was getting maybe three hours of sleep a night because I was always working on projects. Architecture weeds out a lot of people. To stay in that degree, you have to really love it.” When Joe graduated in 2012, he was among the few to finish the program and finally claim the coveted Aggie gold.
Joe believed the obvious next step was to attend grad school, and did eventually find himself at the University of Hawaii to do just that; however, he learned very quickly that not all that glimmer’s is gold.
“I started to become really disenfranchised with the idea of architecture because people tried to attribute that career to being able to solve major world issues and I just thought ‘if that is what this is, I can’t do it’. It felt like a huge undertaking.” This, combined with the jaw-dropping cost of attendance and confirmation from graduates that the small pay increase wasn’t worth it, fully fueled his decision to leave.
After some soul searching, and a lot of surfing, Joe eventually rediscovered the art within architecture, and tossed aside the bigger, egotistical view of it.
The next several years that followed were a whirlwind. Joe moved back to Texas and ended up getting married and having a son. His time in Hawaii, like sea salt that clings to your skin, had not yet been washed away. Those memories, still fresh in his mind, ignited his decision to return to the sparkling paradise he’d left behind — this time as a husband and father.
Over a serendipitous 10-day solo trip to Oahu, Joe secured his first official position at an architecture firm in Hawaii. He met the owner of the firm he would work for at a construction conference only a few days before he was supposed to come back to Texas.
“I had only gotten one call for an interview that whole week and I felt like a failure. I was ready to leave the conference and something told me to go back in and finish out the day there.” He did just that, and ended up meeting one of lecturers who owned a firm there in the city. They connected over college because while Joe went to Texas A&M, the firm owner had attended the University of Texas at Austin — the famous adversary to the proud Aggies. Joe’s determination and vigor left an impression, and he was invited to the firm for an interview the day after the conference ended. They sent him an offer letter a week later.
It was here that Joe would grow his passion for architecture and design while making connections and expanding his client base.
Hawaii to Texas: The Career Pogo Stick
When it rains, it certainly does pour.
Joe would eventually go through a divorce, be laid off from his position at the firm, and find himself once again pondering the next steps while staring out across an endless sea. Life often brings us to these moments, and it feels like there isn’t a rescue boat for miles. Whether it was luck or providence, Joe was offered a job at a firm in Texas and by February 2020, Joe was back in the saddle in his hometown of Bryan, Texas. The differences between the Hawaii firm and the Texas firm were stark.
“At the Hawaii firm I was designing hotels, million dollar homes, villas in China; there were a lot of foreign projects. The Texas firm was very rigid and structured. It was primarily work for A&M. It was highly technical and it was not suited to my strengths, which are a lot more design focused.”
After about 2 years at the Texas firm, Joe was let go. Through a small smile he told me “I’m just a bad employee; I don’t enjoy being in a company.” When leaving that job, there wasn’t an initial plan. “When I went out on my own, I got a legal pad which I called the ‘scorched earth model.’ I laid out all my bills and my money and realized this was all I had before I’d be homeless. I think I had maybe 6 months if I cut out all the fluff.”
First Investments
Before his departure from the firm, he had heard about a real estate mentorship through a friend.
“There were a lot of people having success with it so I took the risk and started paying $500 a month for the mentorship.” He purchased a home to flip through “creative financing” in 2022, which he got through Google ads that were costing him a cool $1,500 a month. “I borrowed $10k to do the ads because I believed in the model I learned through the mentorship so much.”
He made a decent profit from that flip and started looking for ways to reinvest it.
He had long dreamed of developing the property he grew up on, and was able to start construction on a home on that land during this time. “I got the wire for fifty-five grand from the house flip and I was like ‘I’m the king of the world’ and then all of that money went into the house build because it went totally off the rails. So it was fun, but then it immediately crashed back down to earth.”
After 18 months, the house was finished and he was $50k over budget due to COVID affecting the price of materials. By the time the home was done he was down to $1k of his own money. It’s hard to fathom the kind of resolve it takes to get to that point and not lose your sanity completely. My respect has officially been earned.
He listed the home on Airbnb and reached out to some influencers and local talent to help boost visibility. Overall, he credits his success to having a “great property with a great design.” He also spoke fondly of his mom and sister, who through the magic of interior decorating — and Facebook marketplace finds — turned the house into a home.
Hindsight and Advice
I asked Joe what lessons he learned through the building process.
“It's very important who you hire for projects like these, and you must have a determination to keep going. Real estate investing is like waking up and getting punched in the face…It’s not rocket science, but if you haven’t done it before it can feel like a lot.”
“At the end of the day, the insistence to make something work was my biggest asset. I knew it would all work out, I just didn’t know how.”
When asked what advice he would give new investors or those interested in the industry these were the key points he gave:
Find a Mentor
“Mentorship is extremely valuable. I spent several years researching real estate investment but it wasn’t until I started doing the mentorship that I started doing real deals.”
Take a leap
“Start sooner rather than later and bite off maybe more than you think you can chew and force yourself to figure it out.”
Educate yourself
“It’s such a huge world, there are so many different ways to make money in real estate but education is a huge part of it.”
Belief and Action
“Your mindset matters, but you can’t just be a mindset guy, you have to be an action guy too. You need the belief but you also need the application.”
What’s next?
As of today, Joe is currently studying to get his architecture license while working with some clients. He is primarily focused on his move to Arkansas to be closer to his son and plans to sell the Airbnb property, which he has lovingly coined “Ombre Stays” due to the transition of light to dark greens painted on the front, and reinvest the money into a development property or additional house flips.
The Takeaway
Real estate, like life, can be messy and brutal. There are many avenues to take. and many of them can lead to detours and sometimes, dead ends. Some readers might be fresh out of college and wondering what’s next for them, and some of you might be fresh out of a job and asking yourself what this means for your future. What I learned through my interview with Joe is that life is a series of curveballs and some days you might strike out, but there is always something waiting around the corner.
There is always someone willing to invest in you, but you have to be willing to invest in yourself. With belief and application, you’ll one day find yourself looking up at this incredible thing you’ve created feeling like you’re the “king of the world.”
-Jo
If you’d like to book a stay at Joe’s Airbnb, please follow this link!
