Learn more about the Multifamily Investment Advisor and Founder of 100Units.com
At 100units.com, everyone on our team plays a vital role in working to support your success as your trusted multifamily experts.
Join us to learn more about one of our team members: Joe LaFleur, Multifamily Investment Advisor and 100Units.com Founder.
Background
Joe LaFleur is the proud founder and owner of 100Units.com. His official title is Multifamily Investment Advisor, but as the owner of a small business, he does anything that’s needed to support the success of his team and clients. Joe believes that “If you take care of clients first, everything else takes care of itself.”
Joe’s professional career began after college in electrical engineering before moving to the real estate business. He worked in real estate for Stirling Sotheby’s and Marcus & Millichap which soon led Joe to his true passion: multifamily investment real estate.
At Marcus & Millichap, Joe had a mentor that recommended he try multifamily real estate, thinking Joe would enjoy the faster transaction time of the specialty. It wasn’t long before Joe knew multifamily was what he wanted to focus on in his career.
Founding 100units.com
In 2015, Joe took his passion for multifamily real estate to the next level and founded 100units.com with the mission of creating a boutique firm with the inside information and niche knowledge of the multifamily market to add value to clients’ investments.
“One of the things that separates you in real estate is adding value to your clients,” Joe explains. “In investment real estate, if you’re going to have any durability you’re going to need to be highly cognizant of the value you bring to your industry and the only way to do that is to be hyper focused. You need to know more about the niche of real estate that you’re in than your clients. We [at 100units.com] have definitely taken the approach of being hyper focused in our specific [multifamily] niche.”
In addition to being hyper focused on multifamily real estate in Central Florida, 100units.com is also able to take advantage of the fact that the widespread availability of the internet makes their listings, name, and branding recognizable anywhere in the world at an incredibly low friction level.
The Thrill of the Deal
As a Multifamily Investment Advisor, Joe’s favorite part of his job is negotiating deals for his clients. In the real estate field, Joe would be called a “deal junkie”.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster ride,” Joe expands on the process of negotiating deals. “The whole cycle of the deal is an adventure. Brokers are basically professional gamblers, but we gamble with our time because we can only invest our time into certain things and as you get better at that you learn what has the better odds of paying off.”
Joe is proud to share that 100units.com has closed $242 million in transactions, sold 4,215 units, and they’re about to break a quarter of a billion dollars in sales with the $15 million currently under contract as of March 2021.
Advice for Multifamily Investors
When it comes to advising potential multifamily investors, Joe stresses the importance of knowing who you are as an investor.
“Most people just gloss over quickly [knowing who they are as an investor], not really thinking how that investment is going to fit into their life,” Joe elaborates. “Real estate is a longer term investment, there’s a lot of friction involved in buying and selling it. You also have an operating component and that’s something a lot of people miss when it comes to real estate.”
Community Involvement
In the Greater Orlando community, Joe is most involved in the Downtown Orlando chapter of Toastmasters International, a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills. He has been a member for over a decade and finds it to be a great opportunity to work on public speaking and listening skills with a diverse group of people.
Joe is passionate about supporting the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida whose mission is to transform the lives of homeless people by providing crucial services to end their crisis of homelessness. “Homelessness is an issue that we as a society are going to be resolving at some point and I’m hoping we’re moving in the right direction on that. If there’s something I can do — or we can do — to help, we’re trying to do that,” Joe says.
Outside the Office
In his free time, Joe enjoys golfing and trying new wines, and attending performing arts events and traveling with his wife Elaine. Joe and Elaine currently most want to travel to Portugal, Spain, Asia and New Zealand. They are also season ticket holders to Broadway Across America and Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, attending performances whenever possible.
Joe finds that most people are surprised to learn he earned a degree from the University of Houston in electrical engineering, but he notes that the high level math and problem solving skills transfer well to real estate. He’s originally from Houston, Texas and while they still have family there, Joe and Elaine have been living in Central Florida for nearly 20 years.
When asked about his favorite quote, Joe shares an anecdote about entrepreneur and motivational speaker Gary Vaynerchuck. Gary was stopped at a stoplight in his car and said to the person in the car next to him, “Hey motivate me—motivate me in three words.” The person responded to Gary, “You’re gonna die.”
“If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will,” Joe explains laughing. “The worst thing that can happen to you is to look back and regret things. Push hard to go do whatever you’re interested in or you love or you’re excited about—go do it because your time is short.”
Interested in inviting Joe LaFleur to interviews and speaking engagements?
As an experienced speaker, Joe is happy to share his commercial real estate and multifamily expertise. Please contact him today at 407.504.1728 or info@100units.com.
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