I sat down with Frank Iglesias for a deep, honest conversation about what really happens after you’ve been in real estate for a while. Not the beginner phase, but the stage where opportunities are everywhere and clarity starts slipping. Frank shares what 17 years of investing taught him about shiny object syndrome, mission drift, deal selection, and why most investors don’t fail from lack of opportunity but from saying yes to the wrong things. If you’ve ever felt stretched, distracted, or unsure whether your next move actually supports the life you want, this conversation will resonate deeply. Watch the video before you chase another deal.
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Hi everybody. I’m Adrienne Green, and I’m excited to have Frank Iglesias here with me. Get ready for insights to help you create more freedom with your real estate investing.
So Frank, what I would love is to set the stage. Can you give us a quick overview of what you focus on in real estate today?
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Our focus today, we’ve been at this 17 years now, so we’re actually getting back to basics. We’ve seen so many things in the real estate investment space between wholesaling, construction, flips, rentals, Airbnb, and more. We’re just getting back to basics. We didn’t get into real estate to become a guru or anything like that. The goal was to get involved with real estate, make some investments that make money, nothing too crazy, nothing too difficult, and something that can have a return in a relatively short amount of time.
Rinse and repeat. It’s simple. The real estate world is really large, and it’s easy to get caught up in a hundred different rabbit holes. In reality, you end up becoming incredibly distant from why you were here in the first place.
When I first got into real estate, I started with Rich Dad Poor Dad back in 2008. I got the email, went to the seminar, and I went to my wife and said this looks like another investment vehicle that could make money better than what we’re doing in the stock market. That’s where it all started. It was very simple. When I look back, I think about how much we’ve deviated from that over time.
That’s a great transition. You’ve successfully operated across wholesaling, flipping, rentals, and new construction. How do you decide when to add a new strategy versus doubling down on what’s already working?
Today it’s easier because we’re past shiny object syndrome. If I log into Instagram, it’s mental abuse with more shiny objects, so I try not to go on there much. It’s such a distraction. Now my approach is simple. I’m only doing two or three things. That’s it. I’m not interested in a lot of the other things I’ve done in the past unless it’s a prime opportunity.
For almost a decade, we did a lot of new construction. The problem was that I became a builder. When I first learned about real estate with my wife, the idea of becoming a builder was never part of the conversation. We learned a lot, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t part of the mission.
There are a lot of things we enjoy, but if we don’t do them, we’re okay because they’re not part of the mission. We got to a point where we were literally running a construction company and realized this wasn’t what we signed up for. Some people love being builders, and that’s great. That’s not me. If I do it in the future, it’ll be a one-off on the side, and it needs to be in a location that’s inspiring. Building a house itself isn’t that inspiring. At the end of the day, it’s four walls and a roof. Some are prettier than others, but it’s still four walls and a roof. It’s just not the goal.
What I love about what you said is how tied it is to mission. Shiny object syndrome is real, especially for visionary investors who can see potential everywhere. You have to know why you’re doing this in the first place and use that as a filter. How did your mission evolve?
In the early days, it was easy to stay focused. I had a full-time job, bought a property, remodeled it a bit, and rented it. This was before BRRRR was a thing. In 2012, we bought a house, and the market was terrible. Nobody was buying, but it was on a small lake, so we decided to rent it short term. This was before Airbnb was mainstream. We were doing short-term rentals before we even knew what to call them.
The goal was simple. If I’m holding a property, it needs to make a little money. If we’re flipping, it needs to make a little money. Nothing crazy. Then we started seeing more opportunities. Opportunity is a dangerous word. There are always opportunities. The real question is whether that opportunity lines up with your mission. It’s very easy to convince yourself it does when it doesn’t.
That’s why coaching matters. If you’re not leaning on people who’ve experienced the highs and lows, it’s easy to end up knee-deep in something that doesn’t align with who you are or what you want.
That’s so true. Coaches aren’t emotionally attached to opportunities. They can help you see whether something aligns with your mission or is just a distraction. Can you give an example of how that shows up today?
It’s happening right now. I have an opportunity in Pittsburgh. The numbers look great. I’ve never been there in my life. I know what it takes to go into a new market. It’s a sizable renovation, likely 30 to 40 percent over budget. The numbers still work, so it becomes tempting.
I reached out to contractors and we’ll do one walkthrough. That’s all it’ll take to know whether this is something we should do or if we should pass it to someone else in Pittsburgh. Ten years ago, my brain wouldn’t have thought this way. This is how investors get into trouble. They don’t have someone with experience guiding them, so they jump in because it looks good.
That’s such an important point. Beyond mission, what systems or frameworks do you use to evaluate deals quickly?
It depends on the opportunity type. Take fix and flips. People say 70 percent of ARV minus repairs. That sounds good, but it’s inaccurate for many markets. We fine-tuned our system. Today we might be closer to 65 percent because the market is flat or declining.
That percentage includes repairs, all holding costs, all financing, and worst-case scenarios. If you think it’ll take five months, budget nine or twelve. The formula needs to account for realistic risk. That comes from experience.
I love that example. I do private lending, and we recently had a borrower do a BRRRR deal. They put very little down, paid us off, walked away with cash, and kept the property cash-flowing. Deals still exist if you run numbers realistically, but you have to work for them.
Exactly. I rarely find deals anymore. I create them. In 2008 and 2009, deals were everywhere. Now there’s real competition, especially from hedge funds. Investors need to relearn how to create deals.
Creating a deal comes down to negotiation and understanding why a seller is selling. Many people don’t know that answer. If you don’t know the need, you can’t craft a solution. The need is rarely money. It’s emotional. Money is a by-product of emotion. When you understand that, you can negotiate real solutions.
That resonates so much. Investors aren’t in it just for money. They’re in it for what money allows them to do. We need to approach sellers the same way.
Exactly. People throw around terms like financial freedom and generational wealth, but those words don’t move people. When you dig deeper, it’s about family, stress, quality of life. That’s what actually drives action.
We also talked a lot about trust. Trust breaks when people don’t talk about what happens when things go wrong. In real estate, mistakes can show up years later. We trust people based on what they know instead of who they are.
Trust is built by having hard conversations upfront. How do we handle problems? How do we protect the downside? If you don’t address that early, relationships break when stress hits.
That’s so true. Taking ownership, having those conversations, and being honest upfront can save so much pain later.
Exactly. You can’t do this over text or email. Real conversations matter. Depth matters. Going deeper instead of broader creates better results.
Frank, this conversation has been incredible. If people want to connect with you, what’s the best way?
The easiest way is Facebook. You can also visit frankedglesius.com or reicoachingwithfrank.com. You can email info@workingwithhouses.com or call 678-408-2228 and leave a message. We actually call people back.
I love that. Real conversations in real time. Thank you so much, Frank, and thank you to everyone listening. If you know another real estate investor who would benefit from this conversation, share it with them.