justinsadauskas

What does it take to go from wholly mediocre to number one in the country in 18 months? Practices involving a combination of small-group passing, field tactics, defense, throw-ins, corner kicks, and, most importantly, open-play scrimmages? Oh wait, no, sorry—that’s what every other coach in the country does to waste their hour and a half.

The secret is individual development pushed to the absolute maximum. What I call “the race to one million touches.” My daughter was fortunate enough to drop in on a few practices with that team this year, and she got more touches in those single sessions than she would with her own team in an entire month. This is not an indictment on our club, which is as good or better than other top clubs at winning the race to a million touches, but a testament to how focused this particular team is at the race.

The skills were complex, pro-level moves, but largely the same. Focused repetition was key. Stretching and warm-up happened before practice. At 6:00 sharp, the coach would call out, “Rollover, rollover, double scissors, double stepover, L-turn, rollover, rollover, double scissors, pass. Switch.” All the kids immediately knew what this meant and began. After 10 minutes: “L-cut, L-cut, rollover, rollover. L-cut, L-cut, L-cut. Switch feet on the way back. Go.” Those unfamiliar, like my daughter, learned by watching and doing their best. They repeated these moves until they could do them in their sleep. And then they did them some more. Practices ended with 30 minutes of no-goal possession drills with three teams. Two hours, four days a week. In 18 months, he had the most skilled team in the nation.

**The Surf Cup loss was essentially a national championship – that team is currently number 2 in the nation and while I’m not certain likely a San Diego All-Star team and the host of that tournament. The teams in Michigan are the top clubs in the area just to illustrate the separation.**

In all honesty, the practices weren’t the most fun. The coach could likely gamify them to make them more enjoyable and maybe he does, I wouldn’t know. However, I know he did set the standard right away. He promised national excellence and Division I college-level skills at the cost of hard work. I’m sure the kids complained at times—but that happens at all top levels in every sport. The parents didn’t have to pay for private sessions at $50 per hour, as many other elite players do, to keep up their skills outside of their club and the kids results were immediate.

Pretty much every coach in the area has heard of this team’s story and their rapid rise to the top. The coach is quite polarizing and maybe even abrasive, so in my opinion people look for any chance to discredit him. It still astonishes me that no other coach or club has decided to replicate his blueprint.

One crucial point in defense of the coaches is that they are fighting an uphill battle with these effective practices. Most parents don’t want long practices of “boring,” technical drills. Many kids don’t want that either. Not everyone is that serious about the sport. It’s a big risk to take as a coach to step way out of the box. Our club has a technical training day in the realm of this type of effective practice, but it’s not nearly technical, long, or repetitive enough. The repetitive part probably being the most important. “Fear not the man that has done 10,000 kicks once, but the man that has done 1 kick 10,000 times.” There are a few teams that could get over the hump so easily by really buckling down on the technical side and it’s just curious that it never happens.

Lastly, some coaches will say, “It’s the players’ job to improve individually outside of practice; my job is to coach the team.” That might fly in college, its unrealistic at the youth level. If you are going to do that, you need to make sure that the work is getting done otherwise you are trying to learn algebra without first mastering basic arithmetic. Even dedicating the first 30 minutes of each practice to repetitive technical drills would yield significant results and minimize backlash. The last hurdle coaches face (and a reason I will likely never coach) is that you are limited to two-year team limits in most major clubs. So, you would be putting in all the risky, hard work, only for another coach to reap the benefits of coaching a technically sound team.

Coaching Red Flags:

I’ve observed many coaches in various sports as a player and a parent. I was even a subpar AYSO coach myself on multiple occasions. My daughter has had coaches who also coach high school and college teams, some who have won state and national championships, one who was a professional in Germany, some whose children have gone pro, and some who were just starting out. They all had their strengths, but they also made some mistakes that hindered individual skill development.

I believe most coaches fail this coaching test: “Would my team have been better off spending an hour kicking a ball against a wall instead of doing what I planned for today?” Very few practices can pass this test. Having a good first touch, accurate passing, and effective dribbling are fundamental skills, akin to learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in mathematics. You cannot teach algebra until you understand 8 x 4 = 32. Yet, that’s essentially what many soccer coaches do. The same teams struggle with the same issues year after year.

On my way to my kids’ practice area, I pass by all the young children at our club, learning the game. I enjoy watching them play. I’m a big fan of the coach of this age group at our club. He puts tremendous effort into every training session. He’s enthusiastic about teaching soccer every day, which I respect. His energetic and demanding coaching style is the right approach. Watching him encourage the young players brings me great joy. It’s evident that they enjoy playing for him and respect him. One of my friends, whose child is on the team, said, “In two years, the kids have never done the same drill twice! Isn’t that great?” While I didn’t have time to fully explain my coaching philosophy, that statement is actually counterproductive. The coach expends a great deal of effort preparing new drills for each practice, and it’s a testament to his dedication. However, it’s ultimately detrimental to the players’ development. Imagine a group of six-year-olds with poles, cones, and various groups, but everything is new to both the coach and the players each time. Five minutes to set up. Five minutes to explain it. Five minutes to watch them fumble through the drill. Five minutes of them doing it somewhat correctly, just in time for the next drill, which requires another round of explanation. This coach is losing the race to one million touches.

Other phrases you don’t want to hear from your coach:

• “We focus on development here. It’s not about winning at this age.” This is often a euphemism for “Don’t get mad at me if we lose.”
• “I like to let the players figure it out.” This statement infuriates me. Kids need to hear the same lessons repeatedly. That’s the coach’s job. I’ve explained one forward positioning tactic to my daughter at least 50 times, and she still makes the same mistakes. The idea that kids will learn the game on their own like Galileo staring at the sun is absurd.
• “We play out of the back, while the other team just plays kickball. That’s why they win.” Even Premier League teams struggle to play out of the back against high-pressing opponents. You can play skillful soccer without conceding goals in your own third in the name of development. Furthermore, I’ve never seen a team successfully play out of the back against another top team until the 11v11 level. You can play out of the back against teams that you are much better than, I’d argue that doesn’t prove or help anything.

This is definitely my best soccer take. It’s an idea I believe in so strongly that I will gear both my kids soccer development around the idea. I’ve also never really heard it anywhere explicity stated so maybe I’m the one that’s crazy.

The epiphany hit me when I was watching high school girl soccer a few years ago. There were two players that were both in consideration for Gatorade National Player of the Year – the most prestigious state and national level award. These girls were strong soccer players, but the “best in the state?” was a question on my mind. One was normal height, the other was a little taller, they were fast and skilled but nothing that separated them from other good players. UNTIL, they got space in the midfield and just hit the gas with the ball.

(Notice what happens from the 20 yard line to 50 yard line)

That is the secret. The girls could dribble vertically as fast as they could run with their head up after every touch. They went from midfield into the box in a flash creating danger opportunities 2-3 times a game. One one occasion the run was 50 yards vertical. Once they were at full speed, the defenders had no chance, they were blown pass with pace alone. When the girls would get cooking, they were not panicked – they did not look for the nearest pass as 95% of other good players do, they were going to score themselves or put someone else in 1v1. Get flying vertically as often as you can – don’t panic or pass until you score. This type of dribbling is not to be confused with 1v1. The goal is to either blow by a defender standing still and mostly avoid them all together. We are not nutmegging players, stepovers. No Tricks! Speed through space.

The problem with this is most coaches don’t let you do it and actively discourage it. They confuse “too much dribbling” aka dribbling a lot and going nowhere with vertical daggers. Also trainers will take you through 20 minutes of cone work but never teach speed with the ball for long distances. If you have and elite player, have him dribble 50 yards as fast as he can. I bet its really terrible. I’ve actually NEVER seen it taught although I’ve heard they teach it in Europe more.

It’s very hard to dribble at full speed and hit the precise heavy (or sometimes light) touches without losing the ball. But it’s not harder than anything else, you just have to practice. The other thing you have to overcome is the fear that you’ve held the ball too long. I see this all the time from players. They break the line with a fake pass or get a lucky bounce and hit the midfield with great speed but than they panic and pass before they do any damage. Once you hit the turbo it’s neck-slicing time.

Once you know about the secret, you put on any high school game or college women’s game and you will see girls have the opportunity to carry the ball UNABATED 40+ yards all the time. I recently watched MSU vs OSU and you might think two top programs the game would be a chess match of tiki-taka soccer. Wrong. These girls are dribbling the ball through oceans of space all game – no single teams, let alone double teams.

In the men’s top leagues it much less of thing – however, many of the game breaks still start with a long vertical dribble, but it’s much harder to do it without beating someone and taking big risk. However at every level below men’s top league. The best players flying through space. There is more to be said about the obsession with “pretty soccer” but that is for another blog.

Last year around August, the market in our area had shifted in a way that made it hard to find good deals.  Houses that we would normally buy for $100,000 were going for $120,000.  I think we do a decent job really looking under every rock, but the deals were few and far between.

At the time, I had been kicking around the idea for a direct mail campaign to find sellers, but hadn’t been able to figure out a plan for the logistical hurdles.   Direct mail is a pretty serious undertaking.  Find the lists, send the mail, handle the phone calls, set the appointments, followup phone calls, make the offers, follow up again, get the contract, solve the title problems, and close with the seller.  All that before you can even start the process of rehabbing and then selling the house.  However, the lack of assets was the wake call I needed.

The good news is that we are just over a year into the direct marketing and it’s going great!  We are getting better deals, and we are getting more of them!  This type of system has a snow-ball effect and our snowball is growing pretty rapidly.

Unforturnately for the first time ever, we recently had some investors pull some money out, so we are looking to replace that money.   Our company has a track record of 100’s of flips and deals and a long history of success.  We do have a very large credit line through a major real estate lender, but everything works much smoother for us if use that credit line for larger deals and keep a pool of investor funds for moving quickly on smaller deals (the majority of our deals).  A lot of times the sellers are selling because they need to move very quickly – which is less conducive to larger institutional lending.

If you have money you are looking to park for at least six months or know somebody who is looking to invest, please email me at JustinSadauskas@gmail.com.

Here is a house we purchased through direct mail and the end result:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/19249-Heckman-St-Clinton-Township-MI-48035/170351345_zpid/

I don’t reread any of my blogs.  Despite my Nostradamical takes on Detroit real estate and DJT, I’d probably end up deleting everything else.  Whatever.  90% of the time I just want to anonymously do my thing and 10% I feel like oversharing.   I guess if you want to enjoy the long reach of social media, you have to put yourself out there.

This blog has definitely opened quite a few doors and I’d like to keep that going.  If your interest is not real estate,  I hope I can hang around on your curiosity/entertainment blogroll.

Quick recap:

In 2012, I took on a very large delinquent note project which was a disaster.  There are a lot of reasons why it didn’t work out.  Bad luck, bad partner choices, bad execution.  Investors were paid off in full plus interest, but I took a financial bath.  Equally annoying, I wasted four years of a huge Detroit real-estate bull run.  I could have picked pretty much any real-estate vehicle under the sun and crushed it.  Somehow I missed the dartboard.  Bricked the breakaway dunk.  It was my first big setback on a professional level, and those four years were not much fun.

On the homestretch of untangling from that note mess, I started a side project with my new neighbor and his brother (Tony and Chris). We started company with one asset, on a bit of a lark, and now it’s now a solid full-time endeavor.  I think we have a chance to build it into something long-lasting.  Our end-goal is to build a company that has the ability to be a long-term player in the Metro Detroit real estate game.

We flipped around 45 houses in 2017.  Our goal is to get to 80 deal/flips in 2018.  Here is the plan to get there:

1.  Find enough deals.  If you know of someone that has a unique selling situation, we would love to help solve their problem.  We will always be straightforward in assessing what their house is worth, what it would be worth it were completely rehabbed, how much it would cost to rehab, and what we can offer.  If we buy their house that’s great. If not, we’d be happy to point them in a direction that helps fulfill their goals.  Also, we will pay a bird-dogging fee if we end up buying or selling your contact’s house.
2. Raise more money.  If you are interested in following along and/or hearing the details of potential involvement feel free to email me at JustinSadauskas@gmail.com.  If you just want to connect or talk real estate, that is great too.
3. Manage the rehab madness.  I thank my partners for handling 99% of the actual meat and potatoes of the rehabs.  It’s a huge logistical undertaking, and they are very good at it.  We have recently added one full-time employee and two part-time employees so we can take our process’ to the next level.
4. A cooperative market.  This is out of our hands, but I’m hopeful that we have a year or two in us before the interest rates increase or a unforeseen catalyst changes things dramatically.

Also, we began dabbling in new construction. Currently we have plans to build on six lots.  At least four of the basements should be dug by winter, and we should be finished in time to sell by spring.  It’s pretty exciting.   I think taking some new ventures on is always worth the gamble as it may end up being a new opportunity and the more malleable you are as an investment company the longer you can stick around.  I count these in the goal of 80 homes.

Lastly, I am trying to put together a direct-mail marketing campaign.  It’s been a loooong time coming.  Honestly, I just can’t get out of the analysis-paralysis portion of it.  I have a bad case of phone phobia.  I love talking to people in person, but I just get anxiety of the phone.  Have to overcome that!  I’m hoping to have my first mailers out before Christmas.

We have two or three houses hitting the market next week; I plan to post some links.

Looking forward to a big 2018.

It’s been quite a summer.  The market in Metro Detroit has been STRONG.  Prices in some areas are  3-4 times their 2011 prices.  Because of this, we have shifted some of our focus to traditional flips.  My partners are logistical wizards and rehabs are running very smoothly.  Big shout out to them.

One thing, I learned from my time at poker is that opportunities can change quickly.  Everything changes. Economic profits become normal profits.  Bad markets become good markets and vice-versa.  Not exactly earth-shattering, but it’s easy to stay narrow-minded when you have a model that is working.  I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about many different real estate related avenues in preparation for the inevitable shifts.  I love investment real estate and I realize that I want to be involved in this for a long time, so I can’t just stay pigeon-holed with ideas that are currently working.

The first new direction we are headed towards are multi-family rentals. I have been looking diligently all summer.   We finally found something that is a great deal near where I live.  We have placed an offer and if it gets accepted, we will be looking to raise $200k-$250 in financing.  The plan is to extensively rehab the building. Increase rents.  Then either refinance and hold it, or sell it to an investor.  The multi-family market is smoking hot nationwide with people looking to park money.  As always, our company will still retain a 1-1 equity to investment ratio.

If you are interested in investing the annualized return will be 10% for a period of 1 year.  Please email me at JustinSadauskas@gmail.com to discuss all the details! 

Also, if you are looking for a multi-families in A/B class areas – hit me up as well, we will have a great asset in about 3 months ;). 

Lastly, we had our first offer accepted in Chicago.  We are only in the infancy of the Chicago Project but it’s very clear we can great deals there.  If you are interested in Chicago as many of you have said you are – please email me.  Most of the deals in the beginning will be wholesaled to experienced investors. In the future, we will consider partnerships but as for now the plan is for us to find the deals for experienced investors.   Thanks for reading.

Last February, two partners and I started a new real estate investment venture, Blue Moon Acquisitions, with the plan of  buying , rehabbing, renting and ultimately selling the final product as a turn-key asset income-producing asset.  The idea was that we could provide a lot of value for the investor that wanted the ROI/appreciation but none of the headaches.  Everything went according to plan.  As our company grew, we expanded into traditional rehab projects, and we are starting to have good success there as well. Our focus now is equally split between traditional and rental flips.  For the curious, here are 3 assets that we have for sale on the rental sale side of the game:

8654 Ford St, Warren, Mi 48089. 

Price – $40,750

2 bedroom, 1 bath, rented $825/mo.

23574 Columbus, Warren, MI 48089

Price – $43,000

3 bedroom, 1 bath.  Rented – $850/mo.

11076 Hudson, Warren, MI 48089

Price – $44,500

3 bedroom, 1 bath,

rented $875/mo

If you are interested in purchasing these assets, feel free to contact me.  We work with a excellent management company that handles all the B.S. so that the investor can just collect checks.  All the assets have full picture files and everything you would need to make an informed decision.

Here is an example of a retail flip that just went under contract today:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/22026-Alger-St-Saint-Clair-Shores-MI-48080/83568641_zpid/

Investment – One aspect we didn’t expect is that we would find more deals than we could buy, but we are there.  Instead of turning down deals or wholesaling them to other investors, we would like to keep buying.  We are offering a 12% per annum return for investments of $10,000 or more.  We are looking to raise $100,000 on a first come first serve basis.  The term is flexible, we have started most people out for either 6 months or 1 year.  The investment would be a business loan and secured by the assets in the company and a promissory note with me personally.  We currently have two times more equity in the company than we are looking to borrow, which speaks to the security of the investment.  Email me at JustinSadauskas@gmail.com with all interest and questions.

Posted a little routine on facebook, it was well received, so I’ll try it here.

Chipotle done properly:

Burrito.  Make em put on the peppers.  Fierce eye contact to establish ingredient skimping will be not be tolerated. When the server is sufficiently intimidated, you hit them with “double meat.”  The key here is that you don’t jump the gun.  Let them pile-high then “Double it.”  They will be forced to match the meat tower.

Two salsas minimum. Guacamole optional. By this point a veteran salsarista will know that you know – that guacamole is extra. However, a rookie might try a quick little gambit – “Guac is extra!”  You have to see it before it happens. “Double Guac!” <double finger pistol> big smile – game over.  You’re walking out of there with a budget buster and they can’t stop you.  The dent will probably will show up on their quarterly earnings.  There gonna have meetings to try to stop guys like you.

If they can wrap the burrito without tearing it, you’ve made a mistake somewhere – take a mental note.  Always to-go. Take that hog back to a no-judgement zone. Nobody wants to see you eat that in public.

A final tip for the man that rides that fine line between winning with class and taunting: by the time you’ve hit them with all your best moves the crowd will be in your pocket. Call loudly for a wheelbarrow.  Tell them to double bag it.  Pretend it’s too heavy to carry.  Take a victory lap to the tobascos while singing “Gold Bless America.”  All gold.  Use em all.  Never leave a laugh on the table.

$49,000 asking price

This is our rental property – 9075 Brace, Detroit.  1500 sq ft, 5 beds, 2 baths.  Solid street in Detroit (streets are important and often vary quite a bit). Rented on a 2 year lease for 800/mo.  The asset is on the West Side, which is the “hot” side of Detroit – with easy access to the expressways, casinos, stadiums, bars etc and that drives demand.  There is just a lot more happening on the west side.

Numbers:

Yearly     Monthly
Current Rent   $9,600      $800
Taxes                   $1392       $116
Insurance          $744         $62
Cash Flow        $7464        $622

This has a 15.2% ROI.

And also, the renters are on a two year lease and will probably never leave.  They love the house.  They cried when they signed their lease.  Very sweet, hard-working people.

Fair market for rent is probably 900/mo.  We liked the renters in the property so we didn’t want to push the price. We think the $ 49,000 asking price is fair and on top of that, we will guarantee rent for 12 months.  Meaning that we will take 12 months rent and put in an escrow account and after 12 months if your renter misses a payment, it comes straight out of the escrow.  Or better yet, we pay you the entire escrow up front and then collect the rent on our own for one year.  It’s a testament to the belief we have in our tenants that we rigorously screen.

If an investor from this blog buys this asset, he will have the option to put a management team to manage the asset.  We have three highly qualified teams to choose from or he can manage it on his own.

Lastly here are two other houses in the same subdivision that sold as investment assets for much more and are not nearly as desirable.

9584 Warwick St, Detroit – $50,400  http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9584-Warwick-St-Detroit-MI-48228/88661901_zpid/

9341 Piedmont St, Detroit – 56,300  http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9341-Piedmont-St-Detroit-MI-48228/88751708_zpid/

We will be offering it to the market at some point, but I’ve had good success and interest with blog readers in the past.  So, if you are interested in this asset, or just want to learn more, feel free to hit me up with some questions.  If you buy an asset from the blog, I will be able to guide you and give you tips should you ever run into a new situation.

Justin