“I think I’m having one of those déjà vu things,
“Maybe a dream from another life cause it stings
“As I go through this journey and how I find,
“These things keep playing beats on my mind.
“But I made my decision to move on from the best
“That’s the way it goes, I guess.”
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
The year: 2015
Josiah Grimes and Hunter Runyon were two bible study students with an idea.
Their bible study group was going well, but they also had an interest in real estate investing. And while they had experienced some meager success in the field, they both believed they could do better and be better, especially in the current real estate climate.
Residing in the Valley of the Sun – as Phoenix was routinely called – the two were starting to hear more and more about a dynamic duo of real estate siblings helping sellers who had trouble selling their homes.
“Who are these guys?” asked Hunter one day, shortly after hearing about how the two had managed to sell not one, but two homes in less than a few hours.
“They’re the people we need to be working with,” Josiah stated.
While he and Hunter knew enough about real estate to make this a side hobby, this Jamil and Rhi-Rhi apparently knew far more than they did on how to renovate, buy, and then sell homes in Phoenix.
If there was ever a time to group with investors who not only knew what they were doing, but were doing it in an effective and honest manner, it was now.
The industry after the Great Recession took advantage of the loopholes that were still being closed and the fragility of homeowners who now found themselves deep in debt and in trouble with their mortgages and loans.
Housing auctions could easily grow violent, with fist fights literally breaking out between spectators.
On the other side were scrupulous wholesalers who would sell the same house to several people and then make off with the earnest money, leaving those potentials without their house and without their money.
In a word, the industry as a whole was horrible; utterly horrible, if you wanted more than one word. It wasn’t a fun place to be – people hated working with each other, the idea of a standard process was laughable, and the latter was as much joy as you could find.
When Grimes and Runyon met the Damjis, a sense of purpose, rejuvenation, and happiness struck all four. Each of them had experience in how the industry worked and each of them hated it.
Hated how it took advantage of distressed sellers who were looking for help in their situation.
Hated how it took advantage of budding and curious buyers and investors looking to get started.
Hated how it made buyers and investors like themselves look like the predatory sharks people thought they were.
And that wasn’t what they wanted and certainly not what they were about.
A strange concept began to form – the idea of collaboration, not competition.
Yes, when seen separately, both Grimes and Runyon were competitors against the brother and sister team, but the very fact that Josiah actively went sought to work with the pair seemed strange.
Why would anyone want to work with their competitor?
What the quartet didn’t know was this partnership would usher in a new era when it came to real estate investing, something that was desperately needed.
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
The year: 2015
The past
Phoenix was hot, hot, hot – and not just the weather.
When Jamil Damji – former real estate investor and former standup comic – decided to move from his temporary home of LA to the Valley, his sister was already there waiting for him.
She and her family had moved to the city shortly after the market’s disastrous turn back in 2007 and 2008, hoping to make a new start. The move seemed to bring about good tidings as Rhi-Rhi discovered the growing market in the big city.
As a licensed real estate agent, Rhi-Rhi had a literal hand on the pulse of the city’s housing and like any good big sister, she shared those insights with her brother before convincing him to come down to the more affordable and lucrative Phoenix.
After the market crash, Jamil had been trepidatious about getting back into real estate, but the small deals he’d been working on remotely from Rhi-Rhi and with her had begun to change his mind about where the market could be headed and while he was still unsure of his place, that path was changing as well.
Now that the two Damji siblings were in one city, once again, they wasted no time in getting into the thick of things, finding and selling properties within the city. But they weren’t just selling houses on the major retail listing site; they were actively trying to help homeowners who needed to sell their homes.
And it was this method of real estate investing – what they would learn was the art of wholesaling – that made Josiah “Lil Skittles” Grimes sit up and take notice.
The industry as a whole was very much dog-eat-dog, the various sharks swirling in the waters just waiting for people to dip their toes in. So when Skittles went to speak with Hunter, the idea of where they wanted their own company – and hopefully the industry – to be was something…hopeful.
In December 2016, the Damjis, Skittles, and Hunter formed the real estate investing company KeyGlee, an integrity-based organization that promoted employee development and happiness, dedicated customer service, and the crazy idea of changing the real estate industry for the better.
KeyGlee was just the beginning; before long, Jamil would meet the person that would change everything for him and the world of investing.