Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. I'm Rashan McDonald, the host of
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Speaker 1: My guess is the founder and chief executive officer of
Speaker 1: the Benoi Group. The company has become a national leader
Speaker 1: in designing, developing, and managing complex projects ranging from mixed
Speaker 1: income affordable communities and independent senior living to mix use,
Speaker 1: workforce and multifamily anchored master plan developments. The commitment is
Speaker 1: sustainable housing for low to moderate income earners. Please welcome
Speaker 1: them Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Eddie Benoir Junior, How you
Speaker 1: doing Eddie?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Rashan, thank you for
Speaker 2: having me on your show.
Speaker 1: Now, I appreciate that and respect the fact that you've
Speaker 1: taken time to come on on a show, because show
Speaker 1: I want to spotlight what you've been doing with the community,
Speaker 1: what you've been doing with your life, and the best
Speaker 1: of When we get started, Eddie tell us about the
Speaker 1: ben War Group.
Speaker 2: Ben War Group, So we actually were established in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: We used to be part of a previous partnership that
Speaker 2: I was part of from two thousand and one to
Speaker 2: two thousand and ten. I'm sorry, we're established in twenty ten.
Speaker 2: It has been sixteen years since we actually transitioned to
Speaker 2: the ben War Group. And we're headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 2: But we actually have a gemographic footprint of about nine
Speaker 2: to ten states, primarily the southeast, couple station Midwest, and
Speaker 2: in the southwest of the country. And you know, our
Speaker 2: business is primarily focused on multifamily and multifamily anchored mixed
Speaker 2: use communities that are developed through public private partnerships with
Speaker 2: different municipalities throughout the different states that we focused on.
Speaker 2: So we develop on and operate our own portfolio of
Speaker 2: assets throughout our geographic footprint.
Speaker 1: You know, when I read your introduction, it had a
Speaker 1: lot of different I guess pillows when you talk about
Speaker 1: multifamily anchored master plan developments. We talk about affordable housing
Speaker 1: or load of moderate income earners. We talked about senior citizens.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the senior citizens projects or housing projects,
Speaker 1: and what is the model that you use for your
Speaker 1: company to ben one group to develop a revenue on
Speaker 1: an annual basis with your company.
Speaker 2: Well, with the senior projects, they're considered independent senior living
Speaker 2: properties where the residents are typically sixty two and older,
Speaker 2: at least one person who's the head of household if
Speaker 2: there's a couple living on the property. We target more
Speaker 2: low to moderate income earners. So some people fall under
Speaker 2: the lower income category. And then there are those who
Speaker 2: are not under the low income category that are moderate
Speaker 2: income that are anywhere from eighty percent to one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty percent of the area median income who are
Speaker 2: not able to get any form of subsidy from the
Speaker 2: government from a rental standpoint, but also don't have that
Speaker 2: much more income to afford housing that is earmarked primarily
Speaker 2: for seniors, but also that is affordable to them. So
Speaker 2: where we target that income band for those seniors in
Speaker 2: order to offer them similar housing options.
Speaker 1: And that's the key right there, because you know, I
Speaker 1: always tell when I was growing up. I was born
Speaker 1: a child, grew up in the sixties, you know, as
Speaker 1: a teenager in the seventies, and went to college as well.
Speaker 1: There are more older people now than when I was
Speaker 1: growing up. So is that a good thing for your business, Eddie?
Speaker 1: Or a situation where you don't have enough to be
Speaker 1: able to cover the need.
Speaker 2: The demand is extremely high, especially for the baby boomers now,
Speaker 2: many people are really building affordably priced housing. Again, that
Speaker 2: depends on what region, what market you're in as far
Speaker 2: as what's considered affordable right of course, if you're in
Speaker 2: a rural area is different than being in the metropolitan area.
Speaker 2: And so that income band, that demographic you know range
Speaker 2: is really suffering from a huge need from a housing standpoint,
Speaker 2: whether it's from a rental standpoint or from a ownership standpoint.
Speaker 2: Many people are not looking at the folks that are
Speaker 2: between that fifty five to eighty five that is probably
Speaker 2: still earning some former income or maybe retired, but they
Speaker 2: still want the ability to live close to the metropolitan
Speaker 2: areas or within the suburban areas, but are not necessarily
Speaker 2: in a position to afford a lot of the new
Speaker 2: inventory that's being built because the cost of housing is
Speaker 2: just so high.
Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
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Speaker 1: master Class with me Rashaun McDonald. See I'm right there,
Speaker 1: I'm right. I'm your customer, Eddie, you know, fifty five
Speaker 1: to eighty five right there? Okay, how do.
Speaker 2: You I'm my customer tooth.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's right, Which means that you're going to build
Speaker 1: a lifestyle that's comfortable for both of us.
Speaker 2: Exactly what it needs to be an environment where both
Speaker 2: people can actually live in the same under the same roof,
Speaker 2: meaning the same building, enjoying the same amenity, even though
Speaker 2: they may be within different income.
Speaker 1: Then then let's talk about that. Because you was talking
Speaker 1: about pricing, because always the key what do you get
Speaker 1: for your money? And so because I'm gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the different pillars, but I had to start in the
Speaker 1: area that hits home for me, which is that fifty
Speaker 1: five to eighty five. Also, that's the age group that
Speaker 1: some people give up on. And also some people don't
Speaker 1: plan for because as you know, when we plan for retirement,
Speaker 1: we don't plan for retirement to take care of our parents.
Speaker 1: And next thing, you know, that's what we're doing, is
Speaker 1: taking care of our parents. And it's it the lifestyle
Speaker 1: that's affordable to what they want to live. And so
Speaker 1: when you start talking about numbers, we talk about the
Speaker 1: word affordable. Are you in a position to be able
Speaker 1: to tell my audience what is the word affordable and
Speaker 1: how that it breaks down for them if they want
Speaker 1: to potentially to contact or can someone contact your company
Speaker 1: to get that information?
Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody can contact the company to get the information.
Speaker 2: But I'll just give just more of a high level
Speaker 2: we can talk about affordable. You have two different you
Speaker 2: have two different categories. We have what it's called the
Speaker 2: affordable with the capital A and that's for those who
Speaker 2: are making anywhere from no income up to sixty percent
Speaker 2: of the area meeting income and where they live, and
Speaker 2: so they are considered low income earners, and there are
Speaker 2: regulations in place that stipulates how much of their income
Speaker 2: can they pay from a rental standpoint for housing. Okay, Typically,
Speaker 2: you know, hood will stipulate for them not to pay
Speaker 2: more than thirty percent of their income. Now, some of
Speaker 2: them will have certain forms of rental subsidies from the
Speaker 2: different housing authorities that will support them, or they have
Speaker 2: vouchers that are a portable from one state to another,
Speaker 2: but there'll be subjects to waiting list if they're moving
Speaker 2: from one city to another city. Okay, and it's also
Speaker 2: based on availability. Those who make more than the sixty
Speaker 2: percent area meeting income fall under what we call the
Speaker 2: small A is forced affordabilities concerned. Right, those are the
Speaker 2: moderate income earners, and depending on the city that they
Speaker 2: live in, that may go anywhere from eighty percent of
Speaker 2: the area meeting income to one hundred and twenty percent
Speaker 2: and even one hundred and forty percent of the area
Speaker 2: meeting income. So we look at merging both that income
Speaker 2: band from zero to one hundred and twenty to one
Speaker 2: hundred and forty percent area meet income and figure out
Speaker 2: which the proper mix that allows project to be financially feasible.
Speaker 2: So we can do a deal that has a mixed
Speaker 2: income component with low and moderate income earners and even
Speaker 2: those who are beyond the one hundred and forty percent
Speaker 2: area meeting income that can live there and still afford
Speaker 2: a rent level that is lower than what the competition
Speaker 2: is offering.
Speaker 1: You know, before we go to break, I want to
Speaker 1: ask you this question, Eddie about vision. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of people have called me a visionary renaissance man
Speaker 1: because I'm willing to pivot when I do. If I
Speaker 1: see it's not going right, I will pivot, Eddie, I
Speaker 1: would understand that that is not the path I should continue.
Speaker 1: I'm not a hard headed guy when it comes to
Speaker 1: making business decisions. How has your original vision evolved in
Speaker 1: your company grown? And also how it has it remained
Speaker 1: unchanged at the core because they're a core business model
Speaker 1: or how you operate, but there are also some business
Speaker 1: parameters that you alter. How have they been changed or
Speaker 1: evolved over the years.
Speaker 2: Well, the vision and the mission never really changed from
Speaker 2: twenty ten when we're established a binoire group. Again where
Speaker 2: not separated from my previous partners. It's just that we've
Speaker 2: continuously looked at our litmus tests. Has been our why
Speaker 2: why do we do what we do? And so every
Speaker 2: deal that we actually pursue has to pretty much be
Speaker 2: weighed against our why as a company. And that's what
Speaker 2: really keeps us from being distracted. That's what keeps us
Speaker 2: from taking unnecessary risks. It keeps us from It keeps
Speaker 2: us really relatively focused and determined in what we're trying
Speaker 2: to do, even though our business is very cyffical, and
Speaker 2: so you've got to withstand a lot of the headwinds
Speaker 2: that are unanticipated. But it's the same thing when we
Speaker 2: sat down and came up with our mission statement in
Speaker 2: twenty ten. It has not changed whatsoever, and we believe
Speaker 2: that we've been able to follow it.
Speaker 1: Wow, and I respect you for Atlanta. I've talked to
Speaker 1: Eddiebinwall Jr. He's the Entrepreneur of the Year presented by
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Business League. If you have questions, you want
Speaker 1: to speak to him for zero four a eight zero
Speaker 1: nine two five five four zero four for zero four
Speaker 1: eight a zero nine two five five. But before we go, Eddie,
Speaker 1: could you tell everybody how they get in contact contact
Speaker 1: with you via website, a social media or an actual number.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure, they can get in touch with us. Our
Speaker 2: website is ww dot benwar group dot com. That's th
Speaker 2: A G B E N O I T G R
Speaker 2: O U P dot com. Or they can follow us
Speaker 2: on LinkedIn Eddie Binwall Jr. On LinkedIn or on I
Speaker 2: G wait.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more money making conversations. I
Speaker 1: got a lot of things to ask. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about his leadership, philosophy, changes and resilience, innovation in
Speaker 1: different differentiation, team building, impacting legacy. I got a lot
Speaker 1: of questions for you, Eddie. Don't you go nowhere? Entrepreneur
Speaker 1: of the Year. On this rainy day, brother, We're going
Speaker 1: to change some people's lives. Money Making Conversations Master Class
Speaker 1: hosted about Rashaan McDonald. We'll be right back. Please don't
Speaker 1: go anywhere. We'll be right back with more money making
Speaker 1: conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to money Making Conversations master Class
Speaker 1: hosted by me Rashan McDonald. Let's get back into it. Leadership, Eddie,
Speaker 1: that's key man. As you get older, it changes. I
Speaker 1: know I was a little stronger with my words when
Speaker 1: I was leading people. I thought I needed to move
Speaker 1: them with volume. They're move a lot faster. What is
Speaker 1: your role, How do you do How is your leadership
Speaker 1: practices changed? Always been the same throughout.
Speaker 2: Eddie, No, it's definitely changed over the past three and
Speaker 2: a half decades instead of being in the business. But
Speaker 2: one of the things that I know that inconsistent is
Speaker 2: the ability to maintain at least, you know, transparency and
Speaker 2: honesty with those who report to you directly and to me.
Speaker 2: I think that is the best form of communication or
Speaker 2: relationship that you can have with your leadership, and that
Speaker 2: kind of just trickles down within the organization at the
Speaker 2: different levels.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a I always tell people I
Speaker 1: try to be honest on this show, Eddie when I
Speaker 1: talk about my experiences as an entrepreneur a small business owner,
Speaker 1: and I will tell you that, like I said earlier,
Speaker 1: I'm not a hard headed person, but I have been
Speaker 1: a hard headed person and looking at my business model,
Speaker 1: it was not working for me and it got to
Speaker 1: a point where I was basically using my savings to
Speaker 1: run my business, which is a bad business model. And
Speaker 1: you a test to that, because you know, if you're
Speaker 1: using your person revenue, where's the revenue coming to replace
Speaker 1: the revenue you're taking away from your person? When you
Speaker 1: look at the philosophy as you're talking listening to people
Speaker 1: on the who are listening to us, what advice would
Speaker 1: you give to them when it's not going right? Like
Speaker 1: you said, your revenue can be seasonal or ebb and
Speaker 1: flows with the injurty or sometimes how do you adjust
Speaker 1: to that eddie because you know it's going to happen,
Speaker 1: but you have to prepare for that.
Speaker 2: Talk to us, yeare are a lot of people who
Speaker 2: actually Rashaan will treat budgets based on how they would
Speaker 2: like the outcome of the year to be. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: they're like, look, I'd love to make a couple of
Speaker 2: million dollars, so I'm going to make a budget for
Speaker 2: a couple of million dollars as opposed to really figuring
Speaker 2: out the path to making that too million dollars in revenue,
Speaker 2: and it's not achievable. They're lying to themselves. They're not
Speaker 2: honest with themselves. The other part is there are people
Speaker 2: who like to hire folks who are have the same
Speaker 2: kind of skill sets that they have, that think like
Speaker 2: they do, because that's the type of people that they like,
Speaker 2: and so they think that's the best thing to hire
Speaker 2: and work with. People who are like them. Well, that's
Speaker 2: not necessarily true. You really want to bring people who
Speaker 2: think a little bit different than you are, who are
Speaker 2: even smarter than you are, and that can bring different
Speaker 2: points of view, different approaches to the business, that can
Speaker 2: challenge even your thought process even if you're being hard
Speaker 2: headed about something, and they can help you see things
Speaker 2: from a different set of leanness. They could bring different
Speaker 2: subject matter expertise to the table to make you to
Speaker 2: even extend your capacity as a person, as an individual,
Speaker 2: as a leader, or even as a company. And so
Speaker 2: you know, to me, I think those are very essential
Speaker 2: when you have a business, when you have a company
Speaker 2: that you're looking to scale and grow. But also that
Speaker 2: allows you to be to create some flexibility and be
Speaker 2: nimble to withstand just the hard times in the business
Speaker 2: and be honest with yourself as to what does it
Speaker 2: really look like, what can we really achieve in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six, What can we really achieve in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting that you where you're approaching
Speaker 1: that When I look at myself, the classic statement I
Speaker 1: always tell people is you don't want to be the
Speaker 1: smartest person in the room all the time. And that's
Speaker 1: I believe that. In a wrap up, that's what you're saying.
Speaker 1: You know, don't hire people that think like you all
Speaker 1: the time, think differently, challenge you to be the better
Speaker 1: you challenge your company to do the better things that
Speaker 1: will win long term and not necessarily short term, because
Speaker 1: bring a third eye to your process and you're not
Speaker 1: always looking through the same lens at the same things,
Speaker 1: which means you might be achieving the same goals, which
Speaker 1: may not be a benefit to your overall company results.
Speaker 1: Earlier we talked about in our conversation, we talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, the independent senior living to mix use properties.
Speaker 1: One thing I want to get to is the most
Speaker 1: pay family anchored master plan development. That sounds huge to me.
Speaker 1: How does your company make those decisions and how big
Speaker 1: can these properties become? Our development's become, Eddie.
Speaker 2: Are usually projects like that that are mixed use are
Speaker 2: awarded to us through a competitive process where we submit
Speaker 2: a response to an rfp RQ and we're selected amongst
Speaker 2: a group of other developers throughout the country that are
Speaker 2: actually buying for the same project. And usually there's a
Speaker 2: best and final and you get selected and those deals
Speaker 2: are only done through a public private partnership with the
Speaker 2: municipalities or the public agency that's actually issuing that RFQ
Speaker 2: or the RP. And so the capital structure or what
Speaker 2: we call the capital stack is usually very complicated in
Speaker 2: order to build the different components of the mixed use development.
Speaker 2: So when we talk about multi family anchored project, we
Speaker 2: may have the multi family component, may be one building
Speaker 2: could be a senior independent senior living deal, the other
Speaker 2: one can be just regular multi family. Then we will
Speaker 2: have some commercial retail space under the buildings or maybe
Speaker 2: standalone commercial retail space that supports not only the residents
Speaker 2: that we're bringing to this mixed use community, but also
Speaker 2: the residents that are legacy residents that already live within
Speaker 2: that neighborhood and so we're bringing retail support to them
Speaker 2: that ordinarily didn't exist. Then we may have a pad
Speaker 2: that's available for some office development, hospitality, or hotel, or
Speaker 2: even home ownership within the same community. Wow.
Speaker 1: You know, when I think about what you're saying, that
Speaker 1: think about you know, the neighborhood, the communities. I grew
Speaker 1: up in a a neighborhood, low income neighborhood, the Ward
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas, and I always tell people we moved
Speaker 1: to a bevernor hood, better neighborhood, but I didn't know
Speaker 1: because when I walked out the front door, it was
Speaker 1: black people there too, so I just thought I was
Speaker 1: in another neighborhood. The house was a little bit bigger,
Speaker 1: I would tell you that, Eddie, but it wasn't that
Speaker 1: much bigger. But I lived a good life because my
Speaker 1: parents gave me an opportunity to be myself. And I
Speaker 1: think that's really key when we say that, you know,
Speaker 1: when you start talking about it. That's why I wanted
Speaker 1: to bring up the pillows of what you're doing at
Speaker 1: the Benuar group. You're actually changing lives, man, You're creating legacies,
Speaker 1: and that is something when you wake up in the morning.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you don't realize it till you realize it. Talk
Speaker 1: to us about what you do from an emotional standpoint,
Speaker 1: because you really are, Eddie, impacting the community, not only
Speaker 1: in the state of Georgia, but many states well.
Speaker 2: We typically go in areas that are been overlooked, were
Speaker 2: considered difficult to develop, stay away from, or that are
Speaker 2: subject to some form of gentrification because they're now a
Speaker 2: desirable area because of their location or proximity to high ways,
Speaker 2: to amenities, businesses, and maybe certain municipalities, and so we
Speaker 2: typically go in first, where people will shut away from
Speaker 2: those locations. But we view ourselves as going in first
Speaker 2: but being more catalytic, and that would allow other developers
Speaker 2: and builders to come in. Once they realize that we're
Speaker 2: willing to make that kind of investment in a large
Speaker 2: way in that community, not only within what we're developing,
Speaker 2: but also what we're doing outside the four walls of
Speaker 2: our development right, then that gives them some form of
Speaker 2: confidence to say, hey, if different war group can do this,
Speaker 2: then we should we should do it also. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just that that impact is huge. It can't just
Speaker 2: be for you're on the community that you're building, and
Speaker 2: it can't stay within the four walls with Sean. It
Speaker 2: has to expand by the four walls. That's where the
Speaker 2: true transformation comes. The transformation is not before you can
Speaker 2: get transformation from a physical standpoint as far as physical
Speaker 2: buildings being done. You've got to change the mindset and
Speaker 2: you've got to at least restore establish the confidence as
Speaker 2: it relates to other investors, builders and developers to come
Speaker 2: in that area too.
Speaker 1: You know, I in closing here, Eddie, I wanted to
Speaker 1: bring you on the show because, just like you said,
Speaker 1: we just grinders. Man. You know, sometimes we don't even
Speaker 1: see how we may change, but we understand. I tell
Speaker 1: my staff that that every day we're going to change
Speaker 1: or impact somebody's life life. So I want what they
Speaker 1: do to be as perfect as they can accomplish that day.
Speaker 1: And housing, quality housing. I grew up in a two
Speaker 1: bedroom shotgun house, Eddie, six sisters, two brothers, two parents,
Speaker 1: and so I know what quality housing looks like because
Speaker 1: I started someplace where I didn't have quality housing. And
Speaker 1: like I said, you're going and being inviting into communities
Speaker 1: where people don't think that opportunity can exist. In closing,
Speaker 1: what do you see the ben Wire Group in the
Speaker 1: next five to ten years and what are your top
Speaker 1: priorities moving.
Speaker 2: Forward in the next ten years. I see us probably
Speaker 2: just in a dozen states that it'll be you know,
Speaker 2: maybe from Texas as far as western Texas, but in
Speaker 2: as far as north and maybe Maryland, and we'll continue
Speaker 2: to do the same type of projects that we're doing
Speaker 2: that really are in alignment with our mission and our
Speaker 2: top priorities, you know, right now, is to act partner
Speaker 2: and mentor smaller developers that are looking to scale within
Speaker 2: their cities and that don't have the financial worth thought
Speaker 2: to do such and partner with them and leverage our experience,
Speaker 2: our balance sheet to help them grow so they can,
Speaker 2: you know, next five to ten years, be on their
Speaker 2: own without having to have you know, partners, and just
Speaker 2: kind of just showing them the roadmap on what it
Speaker 2: really takes in order to not only shape their deals
Speaker 2: but be successful at it. There's a lot of people
Speaker 2: who who are aiming to grow in this business, but
Speaker 2: it is a very difficult road to navigate.
Speaker 1: Any you a special brother man. Thank you for coming
Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversations master Class one more time. Can
Speaker 1: you give out the contact information so people who are
Speaker 1: listening to the show can reach out to you.
Speaker 2: The Feeling the website www dot Thebina group dot com,
Speaker 2: or you can reach Eddie Binwah on LinkedIn or on
Speaker 2: ig So looking forward to hearing from you, or you
Speaker 2: can follow us on our YouTube show where we talk
Speaker 2: about real estate development and everything that we're doing in
Speaker 2: real estate development on Shape the Deal, Shape the Deal
Speaker 2: on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Thank you, my brother.
Speaker 2: We talked so appreciate it. Thank you for having.
Speaker 1: Me, Thank you for listening to this episode. No, I
Speaker 1: need for you to do me a favor right now
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