- Tarek El Moussa is an HGTV star and the owner and CEO of Tarek Buys Houses and TEM Capital.
- He learned six lessons throughout his career that have made him a real-estate mogul.
- El Moussa believes in cold calling and working with the right people to find success in real estate.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tarek El Moussa, 43, an HGTV star and the CEO and owner of Tarek Buys Houses and TEM Capital. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m a TV personality, a CEO, an entrepreneur, and a father. The foundation of all of that was real-estate investing.
There was really no barrier to entry to getting into the business and starting to sell houses other than getting a license. I grew up in a lower-end community in Southern California, and I never knew what was out there until I started looking at real estate.
I’ve been running Tarek Buys House since 2010 to flip houses and doing commercial real estate for about 10 years. I started TEM Capital about six years ago. I realized I could do much bigger and better deals if I had more money and more partners, and that’s how TEM Capital was born. The goal is to help accredited investors increase their wealth by partnering with me to buy real estate.
In 2025, Tarek Buys Houses will probably flip between 300 and 400 houses.
For TEM Capital, we’re about to launch our triple equity fund. We’ll take houses and turn them into triplexes and fourplexes. We’re also about to launch our distressed multifamily fund. Just like I buy, fix, and sell houses, we buy 400-unit apartment buildings, fix them, and sell them.
Here are the six biggest lessons that have contributed to my real estate and business success.
Put in the effort
In my first six months in the business, I totally struck out. I wasn’t making money, and then, one day, I got hyper-focused and decided to talk to 50 people who owned a house every day.
My real-estate coach told me I had to talk to 20 people a day. I told him I would talk to 50. He said, “That’s what everybody says. Nobody does it.” And I did it.
Ninety days later, I brought in almost $300,000 in revenue for the company, which completely changed my life.
Peter Tran
A lot of people believe it takes years to make money. That’s not true.
You just have to decide to go for it, put in the work, take the time to learn, study, and practice, and get ready to fail a few times. Eventually, you’re going to win.
People make all the difference
Make sure you work with the right people. It is a lot of work to find the right people.
I used to be terrified to let people go, change staff, or fire people because I always try to get them to change or improve. Then, I learned it’s really about finding that right team member.
You have to hold your team accountable, and you have to hold yourself accountable.
It’s important that every one of my team members know that I am as committed to what they are doing as they are.
Commit to cold calling
If you’re not talking to people every single day that you do not know, you will never be in the real-estate business.
The money is in the people you do not know. In this business, you look for a needle in a haystack, and the only way to find that needle is to move a lot of hay.
I tell all my staff members every day that our minimum goal is 50 conversations a day with someone we’ve never talked to.
That’s how you learn who needs to sell or who has a distressed property. I know there are people all over the country today thinking, “Man, we need to sell this house.” They don’t know we want to buy it, so we need to find them.
People watch YouTube and read books, but you know what they never do? They never actually go look at a house, call a homeowner about a foreclosure, or call a real-estate agent to ask if they have any off-market distress deals.
The only thing that matters is calling real-estate agents and asking them if they have any distressed properties that you can buy. If someone were to do that all day, every day for a year, they would change their life.
Use setbacks to get stronger
The more pain we go through, the stronger we get.
If I had not gone through all these painful experiences, all these highs and lows of winning and losing and losing money, it wouldn’t have made me as strong as I am today.
Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
The only way to continue growing is to accept that you will have to go through painful processes that will help you go further.
You have to acknowledge the fact that life is not fair. You gotta pick up the pieces, keep your head up, and keep going.
Find your magic hour
I’m a big believer in creating a sleep schedule that works for the life you live. I used to be one of those people who said, “I’m a night person, blah, blah, blah.” It’s an excuse. It’s easier to go to bed late than it is to wake up early.
I was feeling overwhelmed by life because I woke up at 6:45 or 7 a.m. Then you have the kids, and you’re trying to squeeze in the gym and then go to work. With all of life’s responsibilities, I was just out of time.
One day, I decided to start waking up at 4:30, and picking up that extra two hours a day completely changed my life. For the first time, I had two hours of “me time.”
No one’s awake. It’s dark downstairs, and I have the fire going. It’s my magic hour where I can think and create in peace.
Most people are so overwhelmed by business, family, cellphones, and social media that they never have time for themselves. I’m a big believer that we need some time for ourselves.
Build career growth into your routine
I’m evolving every day. I’m learning every day. I’m growing every day.
During my magic hour, I’m studying. I’m reading. I’m learning about AI. I’m learning about technology. I’m learning about marketing. I’m learning about systems. I’m watching YouTube videos.
When I drive to the gym every morning, I leave my house at 6:40 and listen to books on Audible for 20 minutes. I then get there, do cardio, and listen to more books. I’m always educating myself.
I’m all about killing two birds with one stone. If I have a conference call or something, I’ll go for a walk. That way, I can get my cardio in while being on a call and I’m not even noticing that I’m walking.
