Welcome to the Purpose Driven Investor, where we build more than portfolios, we build communities. I'm your host, Robert Howell, a real estate investor and founder of Define Communities. Each week, we'll explore how purpose and profit connect through affordable housing, land home packages, and impact-driven investing. If you're a lender, land seller, or a partner who believes money should move with meaning, you're in the right place. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Purpose Driven Investor podcast. I'm your host, Robert Howell. And today's conversation is going to be a great example of what this show is really about, the people behind the deals. So joining me today is Tim Woodbridge He's the founder of WCG Investments. He's an investor entrepreneur who's built a career around disciplined execution, long term thinking and aligning business with values. What I really appreciate about Tim is that he approaches real estate, not just a way to build wealth, but a tool to create stability, opportunity and impact both personally and professionally. So we're going to jump in here, talk about Tim's journey. It's going to be a relaxed, honest Robert, thank you so much for having me on. I was thinking before we get started, I was thinking, you know, we've known each other for a little bit. I'm pretty sure. Uh, someone hooked me up with your number when I just had one park and we just kind of traded, you know, trade secrets and, and kept in touch. So it's, it's really cool to see really how, how They do. Right. Um, who's the guy that connected us Ricardo, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who does land home packages down in Charleston. But yeah, great, great connection. And yeah, it's been several years now. And it's amazing to see what can be achieved in such a short period of time. Yeah. So let's talk about your background and your journey into real estate. Tell us a bit about kind of your background and how you ended up Yeah. So, you know, I went to school, got a bachelor's degree in nursing, completely unrelated. No one in my family, almost no one in my family is really an entrepreneur. And it wasn't really taught. It was more get a good job, a good study job that pays well. And so, you know, I did that for eight years or so. And yeah, you know, like while I was a nurse, when I moved to South Carolina, I just picked up rich dad, poor dad, and then saw asset and liability. And I know it's silly, but those were new terms to me in my early thirties. And so it was kind of like, oh, this is how people do it. And so from there, that just opened up the next thing and the next thing and the next book and the next podcast and so on and so forth. And then I saw Frank Rolfe on the Bigger Pockets podcast. And I was like, Oh, I didn't know you could buy those. And like from there, found one, uh, and then closed on it six months later. And then just haven't really stopped my pursuit of a man. I really like, I really enjoy So it was, uh, six years in, uh, in 25 and we're up to 1130 or so That's incredible. That's incredible. Cause that's six years ago, but So I was talking to a mindset coach just the other day and he's like, okay, let's do a recap since we started talking. And, uh, it was like, okay, well, mid, Uh, 2024 or early 24 is when I started working with Matias and like, he has, has really put the, the, the, you know, the gas on the flame. He's, uh, and like he and I working together, we closed Spartanburg. Uh, so a hundred units in Spartanburg, 75 in Oklahoma city, uh, 130 or so in Virginia. Um, God. I don't remember how much we closed a lot last year too. But like, so it's funny, you know, it was slowish for me. I closed one in 2019, second one in 2021, the third one in 2022, and then seven the year after that, seven the year after that. And then last year, let's see, I did one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 last Yeah. So Jason Drees, you know, I'm I love giving props to people who are amazing. And so my mindset coach is someone who works with under the Jason Drees mindset. And it's just wow. It's crazy how like getting into alignment really I love that. All right. Well, Hey, with that, why don't we talk about the vision of WCG investments? Tell Uh, yeah, so, um, we, it's funny, it is changing a little bit, but so we want to get to, we're at 45 million assets under management right now. Uh, again, 1130 lots. We want to get to 250 million. It was by 2030. We've. since gone and made it by 2028. So it's this big, big goal. It's super scary. I don't know how I'm going to do it. But I love operating in these big goals where it's like, OK, I don't stress myself because I know even if I don't hit it, we're still way farther ahead than where we are today. But assets under management, all that stuff, it sounds fun and sounds great. It didn't really get real to me until I went into a park and sat down with like, OK, what does that mean? Because everything's numbers on a spreadsheet. Make this real. And so I figured that 250 million assets under management at mobile home parks it creates affordable housing for roughly 10,000 people. So it's like, that's the big why. Like, sure, I want to get rich. I want my investors to get rich. I want all of us to do very well together. But at the same time, I want to create nice impact where there's all this affordable housing need, and we can supply that to people. And we can go in and put some money into things and make it a nicer place to live. you know, $100,000 for a road that was dirt before, like we did twice last year. It's a big, big change in someone's life. So, That's awesome, man. I love how you're obviously you're Yeah, yeah. It's about everything. You know, everyone's got to win. If not, then it doesn't make sense. The deal doesn't make sense. We're just adding zeros to our balance sheet, but everyone else suffers along the way. That's, to me, very narrow-minded thinking. And I know if I ever get in that, I won't get far. I won't be able to get as far as I can. I mean, you and I both know people who have or have heard of people who have gone in, and they buy a mobile home park, and then they jack up lot rent. They double it the next day, and it's like, you know, it's, it's just, it's bad juju, bad vibes, bad, whatever. Uh, I know some people have been foreclosed on, uh, doing stuff like that. And it's just, it's not sustainable. It's not a good way to Yeah. A hundred percent. Um, so let's talk a bit about purpose and values and some of your decision-making. How do you see that your value show up in your investment decisions week Yeah, so a big one for us is is honesty, because, you know, anyone can say anything, anyone can show a spreadsheet, but like, we pride ourselves on like, okay, this is what's happening. It's not always good. You know, that we both know that stuff happens. But it's like, can you show up honestly with your investors, with your tenants? Can you say, OK, yes, this sucks right now, and this is what we're doing to make it better. So that's a big one for us. And then perseverance, really figuring things out. Like I said earlier, like, I don't know how we're going to get to 250 million AUM and it's scary, but I know that if we set that goal and just keep working towards it, we'll figure it out. Um, and you know, the, the right who's who can help us get there. We'll, we'll show up. Um, and the side note, like just continuing to do things that align with your values that have aligned with our values. We're bringing in, you know, really great talent into our team. And like every day I'm kind of amazed at how, how far we've come and how like, yeah, yeah. We just have rock stars on the team because they want to work for that. You know, that not just the numbers, but also the, the higher purpose it's, it's, uh, It's definitely like a cheat code. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Um, when you look at deals and have you ever passed on, on good deals because it wasn't aligned with your values or where you wanted to Oh, yeah, yeah. Anytime someone says, hey, check out this good deal, but it's not in the Southeast, I'm like, man, not for us. Unfortunately, I feel the pull, but we're disciplined enough to be like, it's out of our region. So no, I hope whoever takes that down does really well. But yeah. Same with like, someone said, Oh, there's this great deal in Mississippi. And we don't really buy in Mississippi or we haven't yet. But he's like, here's this great deal. And it has a lagoon. And I'm like, that's, that's not us. That's out of our buy box. So I hope whoever is really good at lagoons kills it and makes a ton of money. But it's not for us. Or like, hey, here's this great deal, but it's half empty, and you have to do a ton of infill. And it's like, OK, I get it. I get it. But we're not doing heavy infill plays right now, because who knows? Who knows what's going to happen over the next few years, two, three, five years, in terms of a lot of things? So we're not taking on these heavy value-add projects. Sure, I could make a kick. lose a It's tempting, but not worth it. And that leads to my next question. That was a perfect intro to it when we talk about the market. You know, even though it's only been six years and just a few years since you've really gone heavy into mobile home parts, the market's changed a bit. And talk to us about what the market has taught you over the years, you know, from day one to today and how you've adjusted to that. So in 21, 22, a little bit at 23, things were trading at numbers that I couldn't even fathom. And I thought I was just dumb. I was like, I can't make these numbers work. But looking back on it, a lot of people just overpaid. And so I'm glad that I couldn't buy at that time. But really, the fundamentals are the same. So I hear of a lot of big money coming into the mobile home park space. I talk to people who are with these big money companies. I talk to brokers. I have my ear to the ground. But that doesn't change any of the fundamentals for us. It's all based on investor returns. So we have that benchmark to hit. That means I need this deal at this price, no matter what, no matter, Hey, well, this bigger guy comes in and he can buy it for this. And I'm like, dude, I hope that bigger guy does so well. That's so good for them. I'm so jealous, but we're, we're not there. Uh, I was talking to a broker, uh, a couple of days ago and, uh, you know, just status of the market. And he's like, well, this person's buying, uh, God. I want to say it was like $150,000 per pad in Raleigh, something like that, something that I'm like, that's crazy. Their thought is, and it's a big PE firm, so they got a lot of money, they got to place a lot of money. I don't have those same problems. But they're like, well, we're buying it because we know in five years, it's going to be worth more. And I'm like, I get it. I get it. But we're that's not our that's not how Yeah. Yeah. We pride ourselves on giving cash flow day one. Right. So we want to deal the cash flows day one. After 90 days, we're doing monthly dividends or monthly prep payments to our investors. And that's what feels good to us, that's what feels good to our investors. Love it. Um, so you talk a bit about, uh, you know, keep an eye on the market and seeing what other investors are doing. Where do you think other, other investors are getting Not sticking with fundamentals, uh, uh, you know, doing a lot of that. Well, it's going to be worth more in the future and like, yes, but, Yes, but maybe, right? So it's like doing a speculation play instead of let's talk the details of the deal. Let's talk the NOI. Let's talk the occupancy. Let's talk the five-year business plan, five to seven-year business plan. What are we going to do to make this better? There's no deal that we are just like, OK, yeah, let's just get in. We'll hold. We'll do and hope the market Raises this up like every deal we have a very specific pro forma of how we're gonna get from here to here in this deal and how we're gonna give our investors That's great but i can attest to that too cuz i tried to sell them some mobile home part portfolio. And, uh, even with all my sales tactics and sales pressures, he did buy one part from me for a really good deal, but not the portfolio. He We tried, we tried to trust me. I still want to don't, don't get me wrong. I, there's a million things that I want to do. Uh, and I'm very grateful for the, um, the guardrails that I have and we have I love that. All right. So you've grown a ton, which is awesome. Let's talk about that growth and some of your leadership. And obviously there's some pressure that comes with that. What's the hardest part of growth Um, uh, my brain, it wants to stay comfortable and it wants to continue things. It's like, okay, this is working. Just keep doing it. And so there's part of me that I have to pull myself forward, kicking and screaming. Right. So like, I, I want to hold onto that, but I'm like, no, no, let's keep doing this. It's I like that. OK, yeah, that's good. That's that's a good one. You're holding yourself back, right? And you got to keep pulling yourself forward. What leadership? I mean, clearly your team has grown and you've had to implement your leadership skills. And maybe Mateus and some of your other leaders have. How has that leadership changed as your business has grown and your leadership, whether it It's 90% the people and focusing on them because they do everything. It's such a game changer having good people working with us. And I don't like to say they work for us. It's like we all work together. Sure, we pay people salaries, but maybe it's the Californian in me that's just like, let's work together sort of thing. Because that is what makes more sense. Um, and then, you know, there's the 10% of, of me having to adjust based on the individual and me having to get better and better at things. And I got, you know, a weekly. Reminder in my calendar just to kind of, you know, how, how to be a better leader, how, like, what can we implement to, to be better? A lot of it, to be honest, is me letting go. And it's not just like completely letting go, it's like supporting people in them doing whatever. You know, it's definitely had a lot of the, I can do this better, just let me do it. And I've slowly had to learn that it doesn't make sense Got it. That's great. All right, let's go into lightning round here and we can conclude. Um, got four or five questions here to go through. What's the best decision Uh, working with Matias, honestly, like where it's so rocket fuel, Love it. What's the toughest lesson learned so far in Things don't go the way you want it to. I mean, that's life, right? I'd say maybe in mobile home park investing, a lot of it has been me adjusting to reality. So it's like, okay, yeah, if everyone in the park, uh, you know, fixes up their home and then we can turn this C class into an a class. And it's like, yeah, that's probably not going to happen. Adjusting Um, so a habit would be, you know, having regular EOS meetings with the team. So like for every, uh, Park we have, it's like, okay, there's a weekly EOS meeting for that, or every portfolio of parks. And just, you know, Manteas has implemented EOS with us, and that has been such a game changer, especially like for meetings. Meetings used to be rambly. I mean, you can tell me, for me, I ramble. I just talk about stuff, and it doesn't really get to a place where it's workable. So having EOS implemented, has made such a game changer Love it. All right. Last question. What's a principle that you Uh, honesty, just, you know, if you can't like, and here's, here's a funny thing about honesty is I've realized that when I first hear bad news or scary things or things aren't going according to plan, my natural inclination is to want to run away. And I'm just like, oh, shoot, what are we going to do? And I catastrophize in my head. So on top of the honesty, I need to give myself a day to just step back from it and be like, OK, What are we going to do about it? And how are we going to tell investors about it? And not in like a fluffy, like, how are we going to paint this in a rosy way? It's just like, you know, what, what wording makes sense. So it can be That's great. That's great. Honesty. Number one. All right. Well, Hey, Tim, I appreciate you joining. I know you're a busy guy and, um, I think you sharing your story and perspective adds Uh, wcginvestments.com, um, is, you know, the best way to learn about us. Um, Tim Love it. All right, well, thanks for listening, everyone. Thanks, Tim, for joining. If today's conversation really resonated with you, go connect with Tim. He's a great guy. We've known each other for several years now and have thoroughly enjoyed the relationship and have learned a ton from Tim. So Robert, thank you so much, man. Keep it up. Can't wait to see what Awesome. Thank you, Tim. Thanks for listening to The Purpose Driven Investor. If today's episode sparked an idea or inspired you to make an impact, connect with me at howellandsons.com. 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