Dr. Travis Parry (00:01.698)
Hello everyone. Welcome today. We have an amazing guest, Mr. Leo Young. Leo is the founder and managing partner of Cornell Communities, a real estate investment firm revitalizing manufactured housing communities across eight states. With more than 75 million in real estate transactions, institutional private equity experience, and hands-on operational leadership, he expands access to affordable housing.

while generating disciplined, risk-managed returns. Leo, welcome to the Travis Parry Show. Appreciate you having you.

Leo Young (00:39.672)
Thanks for having me on, Travis, and excited to be here.

Dr. Travis Parry (00:42.818)
Absolutely You know we got to chat a little bit about what you do But you know tell tell listeners here a little bit about your story. How did you get to this point? And you know, you're doing some fabulous work and you have some great success But tell us a little bit about your origin story my friend

Leo Young (00:59.564)
Yeah. So how I got to here today, it was, it was quite a winding journey. So how I ended up founding and building Cornell communities. So I started back in college. I was studying finance in school. I would always get fascinated with investments and I also liked philosophy. I like to think about the why behind things like why is the company doing well and what are the reasons behind the numbers and

So after college, naturally, I took a job in sales at Tesla, which was kind of a 180 because, you know, at the time, like a finance job made sense, but I think a sales job was what really challenged me. As an introverted person, I wanted to aggressively face my weaknesses and work on them. So that's exactly what I did. And Tesla was my dream company at the time. And at Tesla,

It was, when I was there, it was a really critical period of the company's history. They almost went bankrupt for the third and most recent time. So everyone was getting worked extra hard. the work environment was very intense and I ended up getting burnt out. And I was just like, not, I was disassociating in, in work at times. And, you know, that, that led me to the thought of, Hey, I need to build.

a stream of income that's not dependent on me showing up. I need to diversify because right now, if anything happened to me, guess what? There's no more paycheck. And you know, my tap gets shut off. So I started looking at YouTube videos, digging into forums, found real estate, I found this concept called passive investing, like, what is this, you know, syndications, like, okay, that's interesting. And, you know, did a ton of research, you know, found an opportunity. So

I invested into some apartment buildings down South. And yeah, I mean, after I got my first check, I was hooked. I was like, whoa, I didn't need to do anything for this check. That's amazing. So I wanted to do more in the real estate space, learn more about it. I got my real estate license so I can learn and earn. I can help people of all shapes and sizes in different kinds of transactions. Then I worked at a national real estate fund for some time on their acquisitions team.

Leo Young (03:25.206)
So there I learned essentially how a big institution looks at investing in properties. And that was very helpful because then I started this investment firm, Cornell Communities, sort of with that thesis in mind of giving individual investors institutional access. So giving them access to compelling opportunities that wouldn't otherwise be available. Because my previous fund, think the minimum check size was like $10 million.

not accessible at all to regular people.

Dr. Travis Parry (03:59.68)
Yeah. you've gone after a problem. You saw it head on and which, you know, I talk about burnout and workaholism all the time. So I can appreciate the fact that you're trying to find a better way. You're trying to really build this and you came across real estate investing, which, then it always has an appeal. I mean, I remember the first book I read about it with Kiyosaki and kind of learning.

from, the man himself there about what he's done. And, yeah, it sounds like that's been very successful for you and for your clients. Talk to us now that you're kind of teaching and, and, mentoring and helping and creating this forum and, and, and resources for others. What do you see as the number one issue for those who are trying to create passive income, trying to get out of the workaholic trap here, like you were in.

What do you see as their biggest problem?

Leo Young (05:01.07)
So our investors, they fall into two buckets. There's the high earners. These are people that do very well. They're like doctors or people in finance tech. And then the other side is successful business owners. They have great businesses that they're growing and they want to build that income. for these two buckets, generally the knowledge gap that exists is what even is this? How is this compelling?

and how do you get these kinds of returns? So a lot of people, they're just not aware of it and they don't know how to get access to it. I mean, similarly to how I started, I just found someone who, know, they were advertising on Instagram. So I just clicked on them, right? It's not through any platform or anything like that. So it's the knowledge and the access. And that's what we provide. You we have a lot of free educational resources. We try to teach people, like we don't have

anything in return, but I think it's just helping people on their investment journey become better investors.

Dr. Travis Parry (06:04.684)
Wonderful. So with that education, give us a little bit insight into your framework or the steps that you educate those who are following this journey with you.

Leo Young (06:18.712)
Yeah, so it's, I would break it down into three big steps or three main steps. Really it's one is learning about the vehicle itself. So, you know, why are, why are private investments good? You know, why do they outperform the public markets, right? You know, simply put, it's because it's less dependent on the volatility of kind of stocks. You know, stocks go up and down versus, you know, private equity. It's like much more stabilized. It's

kind of pegged to the interest rate to some extent. So there's the education portion. And then afterwards, it's the finding the right opportunity. I think it's finding the right sponsor groups that have opportunities like this, educating yourself on them, on the actual team, what their execution is, have they done this project, this exact project, and to what extent of results have they gotten, I think understanding that portion. And then...

of course is the actual investing itself. So a lot of people, they need to plan ahead. mean, these are typically larger, they're significant checks, right? I mean, they're between call it like 50, 100, 150, $200,000 checks. It's not like it just comes in thin air. I to some business owners, it does come like that, but for most people, like they have to plan ahead. So.

actually having the discipline and the intention of like, hey, okay, I want to put this money to work. I see that the private market has got compelling results. I want to build some passive income. I want to have an experienced team make money for me while I sleep. So, you know, people prepare, you know, a quarter like three months, six months in advance for the actual investment itself. So those are the three big buckets.

Dr. Travis Parry (08:09.601)
Yeah, so you see those buckets and you know how to help people, know, through those those steps in the process. But what would you say is the most important aspect of that three step plan, the three buckets analogy there? What is it that if the investor, regardless if they're a business owner or professional, if they could really lock in on one concept, that that would make the rest of it really work?

Leo Young (08:39.118)
So I would say begin with the end in mind. know, the big bucket or step number three of actually investing and understanding the characteristics of private market investments, because they're typically less liquid. It's not like you can flick your finger and sell it, you know, in Robin Hood or something, right? You actually have to go through a whole process and and these are multi-year projects. So making peace with that. So what I tell people is that this should be

this money should pass the tree test. And what that is, is if a tree falls on your house, you don't need this cash. You can let it ride. And the best investment is usually the patient one, right? Because Warren Buffett says, you don't want to interrupt compounding. And that's, that's the number one mindset that people should have. They should make peace that like, okay, I want to put this money to work. I want to leverage it. I don't need it. And that's what

we'll set them up for success because I fortunately not for me, but just speaking with other investors, they're like, my God, you know, my son got married, like I need to contribute to his wedding. So like, I'm trying to get my money back and like, well, you should not have put that money into that place in the first place. So yeah, setting the right expectations.

Dr. Travis Parry (09:58.305)
That was great. Yeah. think when we talk about passive income, I mean, let's be honest, I think maybe even that term can be misleading. You're still working for it, but it's not necessarily you there every step of the way. mean, business owners know they have to build a business to become an asset. And quite honestly, they can step away to the point where it is passive income and they're simply monitoring, right? And seeing what's going on and they're in name only ownership.

So I think, you know, I love that you put that emphasis on there. Like what are the expectations here? You know, your first deal is probably not going to be, it's probably going to be your worst, right? And it's, it's hopefully going to get better, but you know, it's not going to be, you know, passive income day one, just because you decide this is what it's going to be like. And you got to build that as well, just like you would a business, obviously with different parameters, different.

You know situations, but yeah, I love that that you really harness that Because you know there are a lot of people out there who quite honestly there They are Miss marketing they're misrepresenting with their marketing So that you know, you know people are feeling like they're they're getting Getting hosed So and there's a lot of that. I know your industry and other industries, you know, we all have something

Leo Young (11:19.468)
Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (11:25.997)
and from our past. how do you, maybe let's just talk on that for just a little bit about what do you do to help curb those expectations so that people, know, clients of yours, you those are being in your mentorship and your education programs so that they actually have their expectations curbed.

Leo Young (11:28.334)
Yeah.

Leo Young (11:41.453)
Yeah.

Leo Young (11:47.01)
Yeah, you know, it's such a nuanced question, Travis, because, you know, this space in the grand scheme of things is relatively new, right? I mean, the idea of passive investing, you investing and being a part owner of, let's say, a piece of property or a business without actually needing to do work in it, at least for individuals. mean, like these private equity firms, like they've always had access to it, but it wasn't until

believe it was the Jobs Act of 2012 that actually opened this opportunity to individuals to invest. So there is a lot of education that's needed in this space. It doesn't have the of the well-knownness of a lot of different concepts. Like people understand SOX, people understand 401k, and somewhat they were taught in school, but nobody teaches you about private equity, about passive investing.

kind of the education is left up to people, people doing business. And when you're marketing, when you're trying to get attention, you kind of take a lot of shortcuts and like things are construed the wrong way. So I think it's just, you know, part of the default of the systems, right? It's just like, you have to lead the education to marketers when marketers are trying to get business. So it doesn't align. So, you know, how, how we do it is we, take a step back a lot of

our education is done upfront. You know, we put a lot of effort into these resources teaching you like, hey, what's the benefits of this? Like, why, why do you get depreciation? What is it? How does it benefit you? What does the general partner do? What is the limited partner do? I think all that is useful upfront education. And we, we ideally want to make our investors know enough to be dangerous.

And, you know, it doesn't matter if they invest with us or with other people, but we want to help them on their journey. That's ultimately what matters to us is that we're putting a positive kind of impact into the industry.

Dr. Travis Parry (13:49.569)
So you help them with you know this mindset so that they're in the right space you give them these three buckets to begin working on what would what would you say from here as people are getting started what are the biggest pitfalls some of the hurdles they may face as they're trying to apply the system that you've done so well at building

Leo Young (14:15.918)
So the number one pitfall that I see people make is kind of taking the marketing at face value. So you probably know, know this a lot, Travis, but when you're looking at a pitch deck or a marketing flyer, it's easy for someone to throw it a nice big sexy number and you're like, Whoa, I can make that. Yeah. Well, I mean, why wouldn't I do that instead of looking at the why behind it?

Like, okay, what assumptions are these guys making to get that number? Is that reasonable? Is this a doable business plan? Do I trust this group? Have they done the same thing over and over again? Have they demonstrated their ability to execute? So a lot of beginners, like they just don't know how to ask the right questions. They don't know how to vet it. And yeah, I mean, when it comes to passive investing, some people do...

no research. Some people are like, well, hey, I got an Instagram ad, I'm going to go in. That was what I did. And other people, they ask a million questions and they go in knowing it. So I think I'm always of the mind that you should ask more questions. You should know what you're signing up for, know, kind of the ups and downs of it, you know, that the people that you're working with, the people that are working for you, for your investment. So asking more questions is definitely important.

Dr. Travis Parry (15:16.097)
Right?

Dr. Travis Parry (15:37.858)
Yeah, wonderful. So if somebody wants to get started, what are the couple three things that you'd say? All right, do these things first, start with these very simple steps. And then, know, kind of spell them out a little bit for us. What would you do to someone who's brand new to all this? He's like, Yeah, I get it. That's totally me. I need to follow that framework. I, you know, I kind of screw up on those same problems and hurdles to

What would you tell them?

Leo Young (16:09.666)
Yeah, so to bring it a step back, know, a lot of our art investors, you know, they're like successful business owners, they run their business, they have what it takes, and they know how much effort it takes to make cash and to make money and the returns. And they just don't have that spare kind of capacity to buy themselves a second job, right? Because there's a fair amount of people that they'll do their own fix and flips, they'll live in a renovated home, kind of do it that way.

You know, these people, just want to just invest it passively, have another team do it. So to them, it's important to understand two things. A is, is what are your financial goals? Like, what do you want this, you know, this lump of cash to do for you? You know, it's different people have different goals. Some people are speculative, you know, like people like they want to do like crypto assets or whatever and like see the ups and downs, right? That's fine for them.

But other people, they want to create something more stable. They want to create a financial foundation for them. So, you they want to build some cash flow. OK, then how do you do that? And what kind of deals do you have to look for? And kind of understanding the asset class a little bit better, because they all have different characteristics. know, people will boil it down to the same numbers, but they all behave differently. So, for example, for us, for manufactured housing, you know, it's a relatively recession resilient.

kind of characteristic to it because the comparable rents are about 30 % of another comparable unit. So let's say a person can live in our community for 700 bucks a month, or they can rent a two-bedroom unit in the same city for 2,000. So it's a very compelling value proposition there. So kind of understanding what you're investing in, that's important. And then once you do that, once you figure out

what you want your cash to do, what you want to invest it in, then you have to find the opportunity, you have to network. There's a lot of networking. I think the best deals are the ones that you don't see on social media because those people, they're marketers. They know how to market and like they've probably gotten so big that they can do anything that they want to. So actually networking and finding good opportunities, getting to know the people, getting to know the team over time.

Dr. Travis Parry (18:32.705)
That's great. great. mean, how often do you say, Gee, I want passive income or I want this goal. I want that. And some people are ready fire aim. Guilty sometimes, right? Like, okay, I want to get started. I'm so excited about this. But what's the plan? What direction do you actually want to go? And like you said, there's, you know, there's popular things that are out there kind of some fads.

Leo Young (18:47.086)
Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (19:01.793)
probably in any industry, right? People jump on those fads and think it'll work for them. So it'll work for me. And then they're not successful at it because of, you know, lots of reasons you already stated. What would be the next thing? If they've got a plan, they want to know which direction to go with it. And they'd like to build this up. So, hey, maybe this, you know, out produces their current income or can replace, you know, their wife's income or something, whatever their goal is on this endeavor.

What would you say they do next?

Leo Young (19:35.822)
will actually take action. think a lot of people, I mean, especially in real estate too, like I've spoken with so many people, they learn everything, they read all the books, but like they just can't pull the trigger. They're like, oh, but this, but that, but this, but that. I think there's a certain period in, I mean, as you know, as business owners, like when you see the opportunity, you step up, you take the action, you pull the trigger. So actually investing, taking that first step and you know, it can really flourish. think another kind of...

Dr. Travis Parry (19:38.058)
I'm

Leo Young (20:04.59)
not mistake, but just something that I see from from people that, you know, just start out investing. They're like, oh, great. You know, I put, you know, 50,000 with you guys. This is amazing. I'm getting like, I don't know, like a few grand a year from this. like, oh, man, like, how do I cover my salary of like 250,000? That's going to be a lot. Right. But Rome wasn't built in one day. You know, we have investors that they they've been investing passively for many, many years and like

Dr. Travis Parry (20:24.555)
Right.

Leo Young (20:33.336)
They've invested in 10 different sponsor teams and they have like 40 different deals and like, yeah, I their cashflow is a lot and it's just built over time. And the people that win the most are the ones who continuously push the chips back into the table. So, when it comes to business, right, you see people like Elon Musk, like he's bet on himself and his company, like push the chips back. Same thing with Mr. Beast, push the chips back. So a lot of these successful investors that

Dr. Travis Parry (20:41.942)
Hmm.

Leo Young (21:02.402)
you I've had the great fortune of working with like they push the chips back once they once the property sells. All right. Get rid of the money. Who do I invest with? How do I get in on the next deal? Like they make that snowball bigger and bigger.

Dr. Travis Parry (21:16.171)
Hmm. Yeah. So do you think that that because they're, they're successful at a deal, do you think quite honestly that that success can actually backfire for their future successes? They get like, man, I, want to capitalize on this. I want to take this out of the market. that that can prevent them from then picking up the next deal. Wow.

Leo Young (21:37.496)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. mean, there's always risk. the thing is with investment, there's always risk, right? mean, the risk, the return will always demand its risk. That's the saying in investing. So there's nothing venture, nothing gain. So, you know, someone might get false confidence, like, hey, you know, this thing has done so well with this team. Like, let me just keep on investing. And then all of a sudden, like, you know, COVID hit, you know, this thing, that thing. like,

Dr. Travis Parry (21:50.645)
Yeah.

Leo Young (22:07.586)
you know, the deals fall south and you're like, okay, well, what was I thinking? well, actually I didn't do that much research into it. You know, I think the first initial ones I did a lot of research and then the subsequent ones I kind of just trusted people, I just throw it in. So that's what happens sometimes too.

Dr. Travis Parry (22:23.605)
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, fair enough. Right. We have a lot of our own biases and opinions. And if we're not kept to some kind of standard or, you know, guideline, I can see how the emotion is. Well, I won. So let's take a break. Like, let's, let's use this for something, you know, to, to, to push back against this a little bit. then what do you suggest as pulling that money out?

Leo Young (22:37.08)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (22:49.033)
So you know, have like, is there a certain percentage guide and what you would suggest on moving forward with another deal? How do you capitalize on this?

Leo Young (22:58.446)
So, I mean, obviously there's not financial advice, right? And also I will say that I am an investor myself. So, you I invest passively into a lot of different deals in addition to being a sponsor myself. So a lot of the times, you know, when I get the money back, whether there is a refinance or a sale or, you know, a close of a transaction, I think of like, okay, where should I put it next? And I kind of value deals somewhat independently, not entirely. So...

you know, if I've done well from this one group, like, yeah, I mean, they'll automatically get, you know, brownie points and they'll start off higher. But then I still look at the deal, I still look at the market and like, is this good? Does this make sense to me? And sometimes it might be switching between different vehicles. So, you know, you might be investing in equity in one deal versus debt in another. you know, you might be part owner of this deal and then just you're the bank in the next one.

Dr. Travis Parry (23:34.465)
Hmm.

Dr. Travis Parry (23:56.354)
Gotcha. Gotcha. So again, you don't have a plan, have a plan for when you win. I mean, that's probably a good, you know, parameter for life. talked to people a lot of times just about achieving goals in all areas of life. Sometimes we're so much in the pursuit of the goal that when we achieve it, we actually don't want to do. And so, because all we know is like how to set a goal sometimes.

Leo Young (24:00.706)
Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (24:23.647)
We only just turn around and say, what do we do next? So I can see, you know, maybe real estate investors, if all they're doing is just continually reinvesting and they never pull anything out versus like, how do you celebrate? Do you celebrate with everything? Do you have a portion? Do you have a plan for when you win? This, wow, this is a new thought. I never thought this would apply to real estate, but man, that makes a lot of sense. Cause I could see the emotions being very high and

Leo Young (24:27.566)
you

Leo Young (24:45.038)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Leo Young (24:52.334)
Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (24:52.545)
put so much time and effort into this deal and it's been huge. And so now I'm going to pull it all out. And if they're not careful, they're not planning for the next event or they don't pull anything out and they never capitalize. And so then they never celebrate. Yeah.

Leo Young (24:56.29)
Yeah.

Leo Young (25:02.094)
Yeah

Leo Young (25:06.702)
So yeah, I think you touched on a very interesting point, Travis, of just fulfillment of why we're even doing this in the first place, right? I've spoken with people that they've built their kind of financial empire to the point that they're free. They're financially independent, their expenses are covered, they don't have to work. And they're like, well, what now? And it is a daunting question to some.

Dr. Travis Parry (25:14.987)
Yeah.

Leo Young (25:36.088)
but also delivering to others, right? I think when you're actually there, yes, making money is one aspect of life, but what does that money allow you to do? Does it allow you to spend more time with your family? Does it allow you to see more parts of the world? For example, me and my wife, have an investment account that we put money there and the cashflow, it comes out, it's our date budget.

You know, we go out to date night with the cash flow from this property. We go out to date night. We go out on trips. That's the budget. And, you know, that becomes much more tangible and a lot more fun too, because, you know, you get her involved and, know, like you're, you're working together for this one, one goal. So, yeah, I mean, look, money isn't everything. You decide what it means to you. You decide how you want to allocate your capital, your resources, right? You know, what causes you care about, but then.

Also, like, what does it do to you? How do you, you know, enrich your life from it?

Dr. Travis Parry (26:38.251)
Yeah. No, I mean, well said. That's what I'm all about is it's not just financial goals. It's not just reaching new heights and all of that is, is important, but, are you bringing the right people with you? your family, you know, your spouse, friends, are you taking care of your health? Are you doing all those other things to stay balanced along the way? Quite honestly, that's why I started this podcast to interview great people like you who

And I see you go from burnout to passive income. I love this. This is great. This is a phenomenal story of somebody who now is, is, is turning around and helping others to do the same. Um, you know, Leo, if, people want to follow you, what, what's the best way to contact you or the best way to follow what you're, you're doing, what you're about.

Leo Young (27:29.836)
Yeah, so two ways. One, you if you want to reach out to me, if I could be of any help, you know, run any idea by me or something, you can reach me on LinkedIn. Name is Leo Young, L-E-O-Y-O-U-N-G, or on Instagram, it's at Leo Young Real Estate. Or, you know, if you want to learn more about my team, Manufactured Housing, investing with us, you can go to CornellCommunities.com.

Dr. Travis Parry (27:38.026)
Okay.

Dr. Travis Parry (27:52.545)
Wonderful. Thanks for your time today and your expertise and being so willing to share your framework and your experience. Any last words, anything else you'd like to wrap up that you've been thinking about that may be helpful to anyone out there? Happy to hear any insight that you have.

Leo Young (28:12.28)
Yeah, think what people, what I see people that are truly fulfilled that they do is that they have a healthy relationship with the day to day and the big picture. I think a lot of us in the world, know, we're overly indexed on being logical beings. Like, you know, we're working, we're on Zoom calls like this, that, and like, we're very like, you know, in our own lives, but sometimes we forget to take a step back and...

look, you're never going to be ready to take that step back. I would say, you know, go for the walk, go on that trip and it changes your perspective on things. And, you know, that that's how I was able to get a lot of fulfillment through life. It's not that, you know, like I need to spend a lot of money to be happy. think the simple things in life bring me happiness. And and I wouldn't have discovered it if I didn't consciously take the step back and figure out like.

Why am I here? Why does it matter? Like, what am I after? How do I spend my time? Like, what do I want to be remembered for? So I think doing that, know, setting some time, maybe it's like a 90-10 breakdown would be a great start.

Dr. Travis Parry (29:22.187)
Hmm. Yeah. Love it. Fantastic. Thank you for your wisdom. Thanks for being here again and everybody fall, get ahold of Leo. You know, if you want to learn about his story a little bit more, or connect with him or jump on again to his community, we'll, know, we'll, put those links down in the show notes. Thank you, Leo, for being here again. And, for, for again, parting this wisdom.

Leo Young (29:29.431)
Yeah.

Leo Young (29:48.11)
Thank you, Travis. I appreciate your questions, your intentionality, and thank you to the listeners for tuning in. Hopefully you got something good out of it. And best of luck on your journey.

Dr. Travis Parry (29:58.209)
Thanks Leo.
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