Confronting BiggerPockets | Housing & Entrepreneurship | David Greene

inflation is creating a situation where

you're actually on an escalator and you

are going down but I have this belief

that when you buy your dream home and

you retire you die they watch me get

promoted over all of them and there was

some animosity there what about guns

more guns or less guns like these are

disasters you don't want to end up in

these kind of Partnerships with real

estate all of a sudden you would

absolutely almost without a doubt see a

softening of real estate prices in those

cities Market doesn't care that you

waited four more years to buy real

estate I would not be surprised if he

just Charmed the whole country and

stepped in and became the next president

all I was doing all day long was playing

World of Warcraft I was not a very

personable guy I was a cop I have

extreme amount of Regulation around me

at any point finra or the SEC could just

walk in my office that's my whole point

of this three pillars approach to wealth

building is it doesn't pigeon to hold

you into only one way to do it

welcome back to another episode of the

meet Kevin show today we have David

Green here you are authors of the book

uh buy rehab rent refinance repeat the

Burr book the long distance real estate

investing how to buy rehab and manage

out of state rental property and sold

every real estate agent's guide to

building a profitable business and now

you have a new book coming out tell me

about it and then we got to talk about

what is happening in this market are we

going to have another 2008 right on man

so this book is written as the antidote

to the get rich quick culture that has

made its way into real estate investing

I finally had it up to here with people

coming to me and saying hey David I have

no money no job no skills no credit

nothing to offer and my life is terrible

how do I invest in real estate so I can

fix the whole thing and I just I wanted

to help people and I knew that giving

you information about how to invest in

real estate is the equivalent of giving

a three-year-old a license to drive a

car it's you need some skills before we

get to that point so I wrote this book

pillars of wealth had a make save and

invest your money to Achieve Financial

Freedom and the idea is the blueprint

that I use in my own life to become a

multi-millionaire so I focused on saving

money I was very very detailed about

where every dollar was going and

tracking that and then I learned how to

make more money and I did that through

working in restaurants and then working

in law enforcement and then becoming a

real estate there's actually a skill to

making money that anybody can learn and

then once you have some money now you

can go invest it safely it is just a

different way to look at the world of

real estate investing as opposed to what

everybody hears is get rich quick take

my program buy my course and I will

teach you how to turn a dollar into 15

cents or whatever the case may be I mean

you're so right it's it's this get rich

a quick idea is is so Sensational it

goes viral it's so exciting but then

unfortunately I wonder if it's almost

like we were talking about earlier when

we came in it's like there's so much

like there's so many dating apps and

it's so easy everything seems so

desirable so then you just pick off what

seems most desirable but nothing

actually ends up working out and it's

very much in real estate where if we're

left with oh the only way to make money

is get a 10 cash on cash return you just

never end up investing and you never

actually build out as you say the

pillars of creating a strong foundation

so how should people in today's

environment with let's maybe start with

the market and then kind of work from

there how you know how concerned do

people need to be about this potential

for a real estate crash you know there's

little inventory but people are saying

the amount of buyers who have been

buying throughout 2023 uh might dry up

kind of like those excess savings have

dried up and when those buyers dry up

even though inventory is low months

Supply will Skyrocket and then prices

will come down what's your take

everyone's always waiting for that crash

the question I ask is what are you

seeing that would lead to one and I

always hear crickets the people that are

calling for the crash the most usually

have no idea what would cause a crash

they just know that well we had one in

2010 so we're due yeah right like we're

supposed to have one they don't

understand macroeconomics they're not

following what the government does with

quantitative easing they don't know

about companies like BlackRock that are

buying up as much real estate as they

can and they don't understand to be

frank the fundamentals of investing in

real estate are about more than just

cash flow cash flow is sold as the

foundation that you should build your

entire Investment Portfolio on in a lot

of ways those of us that own real estate

realize that cash flow is fickle it's a

cat sometimes it comes and lays on your

lap and it lets you pet it a lot of the

time it just knocks stuff off your

counter and makes a mess that you have

to go spend money and clean up you did

you never know how that cash flow is

going to work but things like Equity

buying in the right locations getting a

really good tenant base understanding

leverage buying the property right in

the first place you have a lot more

control over those things I don't know

if we're going to have a market crash

what I do know is right now there are

not a lot of cash flowing deals out

there we've seen interest rates double

or triple and prices have not gone down

they might have dipped a tiny bit in

some markets but in general they are

holding strong I think interest rates

will continue to go up and prices will

continue to hold where they are because

people only drop their prices your real

estate agent you know this when you have

a seller you have a listing and you're

listed at 6 hundred thousand dollars and

Jerome Powell comes out and says hey

we're raising rates do your clients call

you and say Kevin dropped the price to

five hundred thousand dollars the

Market's collapsing no no when does the

seller say hey I'll take less for my

house oh time yeah they have to be on

their 90 days 120 days pain of waiting

and they'll finally say what if we drop

at 10 grand it's always the same

conversation it's so funny you say that

you go in 2018 rates were uh a drone

Powell was raising rates uh you know we

went from like one and a half to one

three seven or one seven five two two

and a quarter two and a half and uh I

remember that summer so distinctly I had

seven listings and we put these seven

listings on the market then all of a

sudden we got another rate bump mortgage

rates shot up somewhere around on that

one I don't know why 75 basis points to

a full percent it kind of came out of

nowhere out of nowhere yeah and it was

like May of 2018 and all of a sudden the

buyers dropped off a cliff and I'm like

sellers rates just went up we need to

drop the price and all of them were like

man you just want to make a quick Buck

man we just need to wait and had they

dropped it then we would have sold right

away but they wanted to wait so we

waited and it was a fight it I mean

prices eventually stabilized uh Jerome

Powell eventually stopped raising rates

surprisingly in America things just they

tend to work out in the long term anyway

but I remember that Panic of the moment

like

this actually affects buyers and sellers

like

no problem don't care you got to sit on

the market for three to four months

before they're willing to start dropping

the price yet every buyer out there

thinks that when the news comes out and

it says rates are going up or whatever

the the next economic cycle shows would

they expect prices will immediately

collapse no and it's not realistic it

works off of supply and demand how many

houses are for sale and how much demand

are there for them and it's the comps

that make real estate so sticky uh and

so this is where

you know you have sellers that are

stubborn because they say well look my

house might be listed at 5.99 but that

one over there sold for 580 and mine is

way better than that and that that ego

yes makes real estate very sticky it

takes many months for comms to start

coming down that's a good point some

markets and you see this every season

especially back to school right now in

some markets I'm seeing some houses that

we're selling for six have some active

listings that are starting to stagnate

around like 590 and we're like okay

there's gonna be some fluctuation there

but I mean is it like they're sitting at

400. no of course not these are just the

minor fluctuations that we see could we

have a little downtrend going into the

winter hey look every winter you do

right that's my take at least November

December is when you go by don't let the

secret out right but in order for for

the real estate to drop in price to the

point that it's going to cash flow

really strong like people got used to

yeah very hard to see something like

that happening because there's still

even though real estate is not as

appealing as it was when rates were

lower it's still more appealing than

everything else it is still the cleanest

shirt in the dirty laundry where else

you're going to put your money that

beats inflation so my take with this

book is to say look if if it's very

difficult to get more income out of real

estate through cash flow then make

income out of real estate through other

factors like equity and tax benefits and

paying down your loan and go make your

money in the old-fashioned way doing

better at your job starting a business

being an entrepreneur actually be

intentional about building the skills

that people build in order to make more

money taking advantage of capitalism

while we still got it let's hope it

stays around for a while but we don't

know how long we're gonna have it right

and then managing that money better

people don't they often they'll do

anything to make another 300 a month in

cash flow but they won't look at their

personal budget at all and look at where

they could cut two thousand dollars a

month that's so well said I I have this

nightmare that we will run out of

opportunities to make money and we'll

just have like socialism and everyone

will be in like a tube with a Ready

Player One goggles and you know this

will just be you all day long right my

nightmare is that because then I can't

provide more value than somebody else

because we're all just in the same tubes

yes uh that that scares me I love that

we are in an environment now where

there's so many endless ways to make

money there is no shortage of ways to

make money uh I mean it's it's shocking

just from the different businesses that

we operate from the vendors that will

hire you know they'll say we have this

perfect solution for your problem and

then we get in we're like we could build

something better and as much as

sometimes we get frustrated we're like

no we should be saying thank you because

if other people aren't able to provide

good value we could provide better value

that means we can make money yes so if

we can provide more value yeah it's

empowering if the same is true at our

job if we can provide more value than

our co-workers we win yes

it's a great opportunity so I I think

you're you're it sounds like your books

right right on the perfect uh path of

what we should be thinking about uh not

necessarily the most viral path of put

everything into a money market fund and

just sit around and do nothing that's

exactly right but what do you think

though I mean people want to retire

early can they retire early with real

estate it's possible but but the people

that I know that have retired early and

probably you would say the same

they worked 10 times harder than

everybody else to get there and then

oftentimes once they got there they

realized you know what inflation is way

worse than when I first started on this

journey my money's not going nearly as

far as it did now I'm gonna go back to

work now my take on this is that if you

get to do things you like for work

instead of things you don't like you've

won it doesn't need to be you don't work

there's this idea in our culture that if

you're working if you're not sitting on

the beach with a mai tai you've done

something wrong that's what we all

should be getting to the point I should

never have to work that that's what

Financial Freedom is I just don't think

it's very realistic from what I've seen

in my own portfolio you look at the

second law of I believe it's

thermodynamics is that if you leave

things alone they will fall apart and it

will get worse okay I like that I looked

at my own portfolio when I stopped

paying attention to it even though I

have an organizational chart and systems

in place the people responsible for

those systems when they're not being

held accountable they start doing a bad

job the money goes away you've started a

business you built it up it's doing

great you stop paying attention to it

your employees start working less hard

stop there's no accountability it falls

apart everything in life works like this

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so much go to househack.com okay like

we've been sold this dream that you're

gonna buy a couple houses and then it's

done you get to retire and those of us

that have those houses realize there's

still problems there's still things that

need to be looked at it's just you

shouldn't have to to do the things you

hate I love that analogy I mean first of

all this reminds me so much of the

thorough Dynamics law you talked about I

think Ben Franklin had this quote a used

key doesn't rust yeah and if you think

about it it's like oh that makes a lot

of sense yeah you stick it in the slide

every day and turn it it actually

functions you know whereas if if you

don't function then then you rust and

you fade away I actually I have this

belief and I don't know what I'll feel

like when I get to like retirement age

but I have this belief that when you buy

your dream home and you retire you die

like you just you rust away and you die

and I I'm so excited about working that

it doesn't feel like work anymore and I

know that's frustrating for a lot of

folks because look I I didn't love my

job when I worked at Hollister I loved

it at first but then I got a bad manager

a manager that didn't like me because I

was a law enforcement Explorer I was

doing ride-alongs I had like 3 000 hours

of ride alongs and uh the manager hated

cops absolutely hate it so my schedule

got caught I got the worst duties right

I hated working them but now you know if

we can transition to finding things that

we love doing now it's it's fun because

we can take that money we build and

invest in real estate great analogy

sipping those monetize I get to still

sit monetize I just do it after work you

don't want to go 40 hours a week yeah

exactly food tastes best when you're

hungry vacations are best when you're

working hard yeah you want to help

balance in life right so I just had

balance of a few my ties last night

right okay

what you hear a lot in our space is this

formula that would say make money or get

money borrow money partner with someone

else buy houses get cash flow replace

your active income with passive income

and quit and then when you look at all

the people in the space I don't know

anyone that's done that yeah even the

guys that own a lot of real estate

things go wrong there's evictions

there's tenants things break you you're

constantly putting money into real

estate just like real estate is

providing money for you and it doesn't

always come from cash flow sometimes the

value that you create in real estate

sits in equity or it comes through tax

savings right but you have to be making

money to take advantage of these tax

savings so my case in the book is that

if you love real estate yeah and you

want to get out of your job get a job in

real estate there's so much need for

good real estate agents good loan

officers good property managers good

contractors good design people good

bookkeepers good CPAs we are always

looking for someone that has skills in

these areas as Real Estate Investors and

if you're passionate about it go be

great in that space make money put that

money into real estate it's still

possible to do but you got to work

harder than you used to I have this

analogy that most of us think that we're

standing on the stairs and we're halfway

up and if we're not working hard that

we're not getting somewhere in life but

we're at least not losing anything that

we have this ability to just sit where

we are and we're okay with how much

money the FED has printed inflation is

creating a situation where you're

actually on an escalator and you are

going down oh interesting not Building

Wealth not trying to get ahead your your

money is losing value everything is

probably in my world at least food Gas

Energy Vehicles it's probably twice as

expensive as it was three four five

years ago I love this escalator analogy

if you sit still it's I mean it's moving

down you're losing and you don't realize

it because everyone else is on the same

thing and you're comparing yourself to

everyone else and you're all moving down

if you want to get ahead you're going to

have to run up a down escalator which is

going to be harder but it's still worth

doing and you can do it and you don't

want to get clawed at the bottom of the

escalator I have this like like

childhood nightmare that I just cannot

shake out of my head it was my mom was

watching the show The Young and the

Restless or something like that I don't

know one of these like TLC shows or

whatever and the ladies on the escalator

she drops her her lipstick and it goes

down and I don't know why it's so like

dramatic in my childhood but I just see

it getting crushed by the claws at the

end don't get crushed by the coffee you

stay on too long that's what's gonna

happen to everybody right and you made a

good point we don't know how long we're

gonna have capitalism and when you move

into a socialistic economy your ability

to create wealth is greatly hindered

because like you said you're not you're

not rewarded for providing more value

everybody's in the same place yeah and

so if you wait till you get all the way

to the bottom and socialism kicks in you

may see a lot of the people that were

upset that David Green is saying I gotta

work hard I wanted to hear about passive

income we may look back at these days

and say oh I wish I was in a point where

if I worked hard I could get ahead

that's where all the haters are too at

the bottom of the escalator like that's

that's where like all the critical

people you can't do it it can't be done

they're all at the bottom so I'm like I

gotta keep running man I want to be in

that mess yeah that's what I take and

there's joy in the running right A lot

of the time in order to make more money

you have to become a better version of

yourself okay you want to sell more

houses you got to be more friendly more

knowledgeable more organized they're all

things that require you to step up your

game it's personal development that you

use to succeed in capitalism and a lot

of people get excited about real estate

investing which I love I want them to

it's a great carrot yeah but it it also

exposes all the areas where you're not

doing great if you look at where your

money's being spent and you can't

control your spending you've got some

issues with discipline maybe you're

relying on retail therapy to feel better

about yourself right maybe you don't

really want to have difficult talks with

your spouse and so instead of having

those talks you just go out to dinner

and spend 500 bucks and you just use

that as a Band-Aid right yeah when you

start looking at how you're actually

spending your money it reveals elements

of ourselves that maybe we've been

avoiding but it feels so good when you

actually rip off that band-aid and get

in there and fix that problem I think

one of the things that you mentioned uh

about

um a I think you said it in the

discussion of property management and

record keeping bookkeeping this is

actually I think there's a big

opportunity there for folks to learn

really good bookkeeping because not only

is that going to lead you to be

accountable in your own finances as

you're saying safe but it's also going

to give you a skill that I would venture

to say 99 of people are horrible at yeah

like if you can run a perfectly

reconciled QuickBooks or whatever

program you want to use for your

personal life and your businesses you

almost can't lose but now take that

skill and like you said become a

property manager like here's here's a

way you want to build a really big

business and you want to get successful

starting with real estate so you can buy

your own real estate start a property

management company understand everything

you can about bookkeeping so you run the

best books possible you become the best

property manager possible in your area

and trust me there's a lot of

opportunity to be a great property

manager everywhere around the country

everyone hates Property Management you

treat Property Management like your

clients are your class clients but your

tenants are your customers now you built

that five-star reputation there's no way

you won't become wealthy being a great

property manager because here's the

other way as well this property manager

you become a licensed real estate agent

what happens when those landlords are

like I don't know man I think the

American's gonna crash I want to sell

they're going to call their property

manager now you've got built-in clients

to sell properties from the number one

way to get buyers as a realtor is list

real estate yeah so you get in on the

ground floor in these painful times as a

property manager where all the Realtors

are leaving the business you're a great

bookkeeper you can build that five-star

reputation you're not going to have a

shortage of properties to sell then

you're not going to have a shortage of

buyers convert your tenants to buyers as

well that is a multi-million dollar

business idea in any City you're in

right now but it's very hard work but

it's doable and you don't even see those

angles if you're just thinking buy real

estate get cash no nobody nobody well

look the first thing people say when

they want to buy real estate is oh I'll

do the property management myself most

people don't know the first thing about

property management it is a job I say

people should start by hiring a property

manager and then learn and breathe and

then transition to doing it yourself

maybe in the future people get it

backwards they're like oh in the future

when I have all this cash flow hire

property manager I have my my ties

should be the opposite like build your

own business first learn what other

people do and then improve on it yeah

and I just think of where there's

opportunity you have opportunity to

build a business right now you have

opportunity to create equity in real

estate you decide the price you pay for

it you decide what improvements that you

make you decide how to read the comps

you don't have as much opportunity with

cash flow you're dependent on what the

market gives you and a lot of people

have tried to avoid that by getting into

the short-term rental space and as

everyone has flocked there what you've

seen is that the demand for these is is

kind of stagnating or going down a

little bit while the supply is

increasing which makes it harder and

harder and harder to run that business

what I'm getting is you don't want to

run in the same direction of whatever

everybody else is doing oh you're

guaranteed to fail that do you think

we're in a bubble for Airbnb I think

that certain markets yes definitely and

not only that but you're seeing even if

it's not a bubble you're seeing certain

municipalities just coming in and saying

nope can't do it incredibly unfair to

the people that just signed up for a

30-year mortgage to buy a property and

dumped a bunch of money into getting it

ready and energy and effort and have

done everything that they were supposed

to do to succeed as an entrepreneur and

then the city comes in and says oh we're

just not going to allow this anymore oh

yeah and you're up that Creek I wouldn't

say that you could ever say that real

estate as a whole is going to go up or

down but you have to look at the

individual markets and in many of these

markets you are going to see that it

becomes much tougher to run a short-term

rental and like you and I said before

there's people that are doing it but it

becomes their full-time job yeah well

well yeah it really important go check

out the Bigger Pockets podcast that we

did with David Green I I don't know you

guys might post after me but State go

subscribe to the BiggerPockets podcast

and wait for my episode we talked a lot

about that Airbnb becoming a job so

shout out for for them which also I

gotta I gotta shout out stream yard

really quick stream yard we do all of

our live streaming with stream yard and

some of our recording even as well with

them they're a great sponsor of the

channel go to metcaven.com stream yard

to learn more about them every single

Creator or somebody wants to be a

Creator should be using stream yard so

shout out to stream yard so on Airbnb is

there a potential that in some of these

markets uh where people have gone in

saying look I had cash flow in 21 and

22. but now they're like oh no I need to

go long-term rental and all of a sudden

then they go from cash flow or like

paying their salaries or something to

negative cash flow is there a

possibility that we're going to see some

short-term rentals start getting

liquidated and mass in certain markets

and could that drive prices down in

certain markets it would have to be so

significant in most markets to drive

prices down I think it's more like if

you get more of these short-term rentals

put on the market and sold it is going

to be like pouring a cup of water around

sand at the beach it's just going to

absorb it right away we need inventory

in most markets I mean you may live in

Wichita Kansas and you have plenty of

inventory there but where you and I live

in California something goes on the

market is getting offers in four days so

it depends on the specific Market but I

I think it could very easily some of

that short-term rental inventory could

be sold off you wouldn't even know that

it happened wow you would just have less

competition or yeah less competition for

short-term rentals if you're someone who

keeps it it's so interesting you say

that especially about California you

know if people hate California and this

idea of investing in California real

estate here's one of the Beauties about

California real estate is this

democratically controlled legislature

that we have it's like 77 Democrats I

ran for governor against doosom I tried

I tried okay but anyway I came in second

place recall candidates the the problem

that you have in California is they

don't build homes that is actually a

beauty as a real estate investor because

when you own real estate the California

government is basically increasing your

property values because people want to

live in California because of the

weather or whatever it is people do like

California despite what we hear on

social media and people who leave

California are starting to come back to

California or left during coven and so

what's fascinating is when you have a

government that doesn't want to build

you're really just increasing the value

of all the real estate other people

already own it's a great hedge I call I

call the California government my hedge

it's a good principle that applies in a

lot of markets because the the frequent

criticism of real estate is that it's

too expensive yeah okay well what's

keeping it expensive Supply yes and when

there's constricted Supply but

increasing demand the prices are going

to keep going up so the very reason that

people argue against buying real estate

is that it's too expensive is often the

fundamental that keeps it a good

investment and makes it a safer bet I

mean imagine if we actually had a

government that said you know what we're

now creating or even in California let's

say we're creating 20 new master plan

communities up and down the the entire

date and we're going to connect those

master plan communities to the big

cities with Elon Musk tunnels and let's

just say we could snap our finger and do

that and these master plan communities

were each twenty thousand homes that's

400 000 homes we can snap our finger

like this and they're connected to the

big cities

all of a sudden you would absolutely

almost without a doubt see a softening

of real estate prices in those cities

absolutely because I can now get to the

city quickly without living in the old

crap and I could live in a beautiful new

neighborhood with new schools and

everything but guess what it's never

going to happen because of government

yeah and a lot of people want that to

happen Kevin they think if we could just

get prices to come down that they could

be an investor well here's what would

happen it would be good for the economy

as a whole if real estate prices came

down sure I like the average person able

to buy a 100 okay well if that happens

more of them will buy homes and they

will become Real Estate Investors there

will be more Supply on the market for

tenants to choose from that will push

rents going down that will make it

competitive to get a tenant in the house

if you don't have fast Wi-Fi if you

don't include cable with your listing if

you tell the tenants you can't make

noise they'll just say screw it I'll

leave you and I'll go to the competition

over there it would actually create a

scenario where real estate investing was

less profitable because prices and asset

values are go are not going up right and

rents are not going up correct and if we

got what we wanted it would make it less

profitable to be in the business and

that is a common error that I hear

people making when they're wishing it

was easier I wish it was easier because

then I would do it if it was easier it

would be worse for you yeah there'd be

less opportunity 100 and that's why when

I wrote pillars or one of the reasons

that I wrote it was to get people

thinking the way we are talking you want

to run towards hard you want to look for

barriers to entry in whatever you're

doing because there's less people doing

it I give an example in the book of a

mechanic who works on a Honda Accords

everybody knows how to work on Honda

Accords it's not a valuable skill set to

have in the marketplace that you can

work on an accord right but what if you

go do the more difficult path and you go

tell your boss hey I want to learn how

to work on those European cars that make

no sense you made your life harder all

your co-workers mock you why would you

do that that you're making it harder

that's stupid you could just you know

change uh fuel injectors over here it's

the easiest thing ever we're smarter

than you because we're doing it easy

well then there's layoffs or they open a

new opportunity for someone that that

because they really need someone to work

on European cars you command a higher

wage because you have a rare and

valuable skill set that is how people

make money in a capitalistic environment

and somewhere along the way we got

poisoned in our mind to think that

easier is better oh my gosh you're so

right about that I mean people couldn't

get people couldn't pay enough to get

their Teslas repaired in 2018 and 19 and

insurance companies were like we can't

afford to pay for this because it's way

too expensive because nobody was trained

to work on these EVS for for collision

repair or whatever so you're so right

and it's it's so entertaining because I

see it every day uh and throughout my

career I've done this I became a

licensed agent licensed broker mlo

licensed contractor when the Drone

license came out I'm like I'm gonna get

my drone pilot license which was

actually out of all those tests I just

listed the hardest test it was like a

mini Pilots test you would think it'd

just be like it's a drone it's not that

it was really hard it was crazy still

past it but anyway I'm like all of these

barriers mean the other agents aren't

doing it right that means I can succeed

now right now I'm I'm regulated by by

finra by the SEC because I'm a licensed

financial advisor I just passed my

series seven broker we're creating a

broker dealer there's so much regulation

at any point finra or the SEC could just

walk in my office you know give me your

books show me everything right I have

extreme amount of Regulation around me

but to me I look at those and go those

are barriers that means there's less

competition around here and as long as

you you run your ship cleanly what do

you have to be afraid of so there's a

beauty in it and there's a joy that is

in taking the more difficult Road and

finding that less people followed you

there and so the reward is bigger when

you get there it's just a shift in

thinking that if people are struggling

with real estate investing or they're

struggling with wealth building in

general that's what I would tell like my

nephew when he gets out of high school

right like hey man don't ask the

question of what's the easiest way to

make money right you're thinking the

wrong way already you're going to end up

with the herd and there's not going to

be opportunity for you what do you think

about this getting a job in the real

estate industry sometimes I've I've

thought of it as almost like legal

insider trading where it's like when

you're a broker or an agent or a lender

or uh you know property manager or

you're in construction

you have such a competitive advantage

over the other per the the doctor who

wants to get into real estate on the

side right what do you think about that

yeah you're exactly right you're putting

yourself in an environment where you're

more likely to get what you want it's

like the analogy that we often use is

look if you're trying to get married why

are you trying to find a girl at a bar

could you find a wife at a bar it is

possible mathematically speaking are you

as likely to find her there versus

somewhere else okay if you're trying to

find deals and you keep going a roof

stock or you keep going up wherever

you're complaining like I can't find a

deal anywhere the people that are

finding those deals are not going

through the same channels as everyone

else they're not taking the easier path

like you said they're a contractor they

get called because Grandma passed away

and the house needs a ton of work and

they're like hey let's look at this

thing we need a quote to fix it and

you're like well it's going to be this

much to fix it or I'll buy it for you

from you for this much money they're

literally doing what we're saying

they're taking The Road Less Traveled

yup yup wow that's so interesting what

do you think about this sentiment that's

circulating now though about this

anti-landlord sentiment which is oh my

gosh how could you go in there and buy a

fixer-upper you know that's that's

that's what we do on a regular basis how

could you go into this neighborhood and

buy a fixer-upper that's got you know

water damage or fire damage or it's a

hoarding mess or there's malt whatever

right how could you how dare you go in

there and buy it and fix it up and take

that home away from a homeowner what's

your response to that

what would their what would the

homeowners other options be

when if you if they were selling or to

buy if they were trying to sell the

property oh well yeah that's the thing

if there was no investor who was willing

to do that renovation I guess they could

just walk away and let the property

default lose all their Equity now it's a

foreclosure now the bank takes it okay

and then what does the bank do they're

gonna go put it on the market and the

investors are going to go bid on the

property and they may end up paying even

less for it as a foreclosure than they

if they had bought it and then the

person's credit is destroyed and all of

their equities gone and the neighborhood

just has a low comp that lowered

everybody's property values yeah now I

would point out that I'm not a fan of

the people that go after 90 year old

grandma who thinks a hundred thousand

dollars is still a lot of money and

they're taking advantage of people that

don't speak English or they're older

they don't understand but when there is

a person who is I'm going to lose my

house I have mismanaged my own funds

I've got three weeks to sell this thing

before the bank's gonna take it and then

I'm gonna have a foreclosure on my

record I won't be able to buy real

estate for seven years you're helping

that person in that situation so you're

really helping the seller by making sure

they can maximize what they can get yeah

yeah and that they can buy real estate

in the future

so what about once uh once the

property's bought this idea that well if

you're a landlord that means you're

renting a property to a tenant who could

have been a home buyer you're not

stopping them from that why don't what

stops them from going to buying a house

Jerome Powell

yeah that is true yeah I mean if you

look at the housing market in general it

is very difficult to buy a home I'm not

without empathy for that yeah okay but

what we need is more Supply yeah it's

the only way you fix this problem in

order to get more Supply you need less

regulation yeah we've voted the

politicians in the place that have put

these policies in place and you can comp

you can keep complaining about

politicians but it's us that picked them

right so that negative energy where

people just complain about things all

the time doesn't benefit them it's

better to look at it and say well what

is the market doing where are their

opportunities regardless of if I agree

with this party or that party doesn't

really matter with the reality that I'm

faced with how do I save my money how do

I make more money and and what type of

real estate can I buy in this market

that makes sense yeah give me the rules

and they'll find a way to play the game

right that's it so uh what do you think

like how should people get started in

actually buying real estate is is it a

good idea to get that like cosmetic

fixer like we call it the wedge right

our version of The Wedge is hey look

here's a place that's selling for I'll

use numbers that are relevant to a deal

we just closed we go buy a place for you

know 475 it needs you know flooring

paint uh you know the new faucets and

the new countertops and some Landscaping

work but it's in a 620 neighborhood and

so we're not going to put in you know a

hundred and whatever that difference is

140 000 we're gonna put in like 40. uh

so that leaves us with Equity so we call

that the wedge uh what's your take is

that is that do should people start with

small wedges should people you know get

into something that needs some work what

do you usually like to see the more

somebody say this again the stronger the

financial position of the person buying

the more risk they can take or the

harder they can swing without putting

themselves in a bad spot so my thought

is we see the deals that make the most

money they're going to require the most

work and the most risk if you're someone

who can't be disciplined with your own

money can't put money in reserves

haven't worked hard at your job or have

told yourself you're working hard on

what you're really doing is just

checking in clocking in putting in your

time clocking out you're not really

giving it your best okay then you

haven't earned the right to go after

those bigger deals and and the

Temptation is to say well where do I go

to find the good deal as opposed to who

do I need to become so that I can get

the good deal you guys can take down

deals that maybe don't even cash flow

because you make enough money from

business that you can float that deal as

it appreciates to a really big degree

like the example I remember I was

walking on the beach with Brandon Turner

it's not as romantic as a salad or

something with my taste yes yes and

we're having like a philosophical

conversation about real estate and what

had triggered it was this idea that we

had been raised to hear cash flow is the

only thing that matters and I said I was

looking like a mansion in Maui and I was

like you see that house over there what

do you think that's worth he's like

that's probably like a eight million

dollar home I said okay in 10 years what

are the odds that it won't have gone up

he's like zero right they don't they

don't let you build in Maui it's on the

beach it's one of the best parts that's

gonna be a 16 17 million dollar home in

10 years and I said okay what if it lost

a thousand bucks a month in rent

everyone would say never buy it but

you'd be losing 12 Grand a year to make

seven million dollars over 10 years like

why don't we ever talk about the fact

that that actually would be a good

investment for a person that could

afford to lose a thousand dollars a

month now not everyone can right right

that was kind of my light bulb moment

where I realized you can make even more

money in this economy if you have money

if your financial position is strong and

when we don't have a lot of savings and

the first thing we do is buy a BMW or

we're taking vacations that we can't

really afford right we're not fighting

to get the promotion and competing with

our co-workers we don't realize that

you're robbing yourself of that profit

it's not just the cost of the car it's

the opportunity cost of what that

Capital could have done if you were in a

stronger position it changed a lot for

me I realize I want to run businesses is

it more work yeah but does it put me in

a position that I can take bigger risks

with real estate yes and and like you

mentioned when the economy goes bad

which it has for us it's been real

interest rates going up has hurt me

badly our real estate team is selling a

third of the houses they used to wow the

mortgage company is struggling like it's

much harder to make money in real estate

the properties that I have I've run into

some problems with it's been a very

tough time but because I had so much

money saved up I can weather that storm

I just want more people to understand

that that is how you build the

confidence and you get into a stronger

financial position not looking for an

nft or a crypto pump that's going to

make you easy money that didn't require

anything of you yeah yeah and it's

interesting too because you you started

uh I can't remember your first job but I

know you were in law enforcement for a

while so how can you walk me through

that transition like how did you go and

and make more money and and then apply

it when did you start applying that to

real estate yeah that story is in the

book and it's a it's a I here it's a

good story to me it's just my life right

when I was in college I worked in

restaurants

my goal was to save 500 a week now to do

that I couldn't spend a lot of my money

that I made and I had to work uh more

days so if I wasn't going to make 500

bucks or save 500 bucks that week I had

to pick up another shift I learned that

if I stayed late and picked up the

closing tables I could go from five or

six tables in the night to nine to ten

oh nice 40 increase in income to stay

one extra hour oh nice so I started

asking to close every night and if the

other server said no I'd pay him 20

bucks so I could close I paid 20 bucks

to make 70 or 80 bucks oh that's

brilliant you paid off your co-workers

they thought I was dumb for doing it

because they got paid to leave and I'm

like I just made a uh what a 400 return

on my money if I collect all the tips

yes that's exactly right so I'm working

at the best restaurant I could get into

I'm taking more tables then I realized

that oh wait that's a line right there

you just said you're working at the best

restaurants I wasn't at Applebee's good

for you because you need experience to

get in there yeah I went in there and I

said I want a job they said you don't

wait tables I said let me be a busboy

let me be a host still work for free

they let me work for like three days saw

that I was good said okay we'll give you

this many shifts a week and then when I

had those jobs when my job was done I

immediately went to the service and said

what do you need I was helping make

their salads I was helping serve their

tables I was helping the bus boys with

cleaning I was even helping the cooks

bringing them sodas when they were

thirsty what happened Kevin was everyone

in that restaurant started telling the

owners we love David we love this kid

he's the best guy there so I'm 18 and I

have a job with 35 and 40 year olds that

are feeding their families with this

server job and it was challenging it was

stressful you you have to do things

quickly I was always learning more about

Cuisine I was learning more about wine I

didn't come from a family where we ate

nice food and drank wine but in that

world that's what it took to be good

long story short I graduated college

with a hundred thousand dollars in the

bank my school was paid off and my car

was paid off that's amazing I mean

honestly it's chilling what you just

said because

what you did is you provided all the

possible value you could with your time

yes and energy which is so incredible

because you're not just narrowly focused

on okay now I got the busboy job all

right I'm gonna the dishes are clean you

know I clean the table and now I'm gonna

sit here and text for the rest of my

time it's like well what else can I do

maybe I'll go sweep I'll go bring some

sodas to the cooks I'll go help the

service that's brilliant I mean that

that's clearly why you became successful

it stops you from doing it man there's

not there's no defense nobody's gonna

say no no no don't give me the call cool

I don't have to get around the offensive

lineman to get to the quarterback to

help somebody else like the only thing

that stops US is us and it's a mindset

thing it's this belief that well they

don't pay me enough so when they pay me

more work harder oh you just hit on

another one the entitlement that's the

entitlement of the society holds people

so much back because the idea is well if

you pay me more I'll work harder well

that's the opposite of what you should

do it should be let me work extremely

hard and then there's no way you can

work extremely hard and the people

around you not going okay we need to

keep this person and then we need to

keep this person turns into we need to

pay them more so they don't leave right

we need to create opportunity for that

one that's my hope with writing this

book was for the people that never had a

mentor that showed them these principles

that they could get it there because

what happened is I became the top server

in this restaurant in Manteca California

at 20 years old good for you man and I

went and had reconstructive surgery on

my ankle to to fix some basketball

injuries that were pretty gnarly and

when I came back instead of going back

to that restaurant I went to a nicer

Steakhouse in a city called Pleasanton

where everybody's rich I drove about an

hour from my house to get to that nice

restaurant an hour each way but my tips

tripled yeah well you went in with now

experience yes you went in with no

experience God experience by providing

more value got way more experience than

you thought you probably would have even

bargained for and now use that to

increase your income that's it and then

and then I started at the bottom of the

totem pole and I had to learn even

fancier stuff even more expensive wine

like the pressure was on I would go home

and Google stuff about Cuisine how do

you pair Lamb with a certain kind of

wine because when my boss walks by I

want to hear him I want him to hear me

explaining to the customer things that

other people weren't doing well what do

you think happens when the celebrity

walks in uh goes to me John Madden Al

Davis if you know E40 he's a big rapper

in the berry he used to come in right uh

the Oakland days would come in all the

time I was getting the top people that

were going to tip the best that were

going to share the best experience

because I was the top waiter and even

though you're just waiting tables this

isn't like this isn't the boy in the

room where you're making a ton of money

it consistently adds up that was the

money that I ended up making when I

graduated college that bought my first

real estate and then I became a cop and

it became starting over there what do

the good cops do how do I become a

better cop what do I have to learn who

are the people I should emulate what do

I need to change about myself to be good

in this environment that led to overtime

opportunities that led to instructor

promotions that led to all of these

things that made it easier to make money

within that industry which then went

into real estate that's incredible I

mean it's it's even just to the extent

of you suggesting after work it's okay

what can I do to be better at my job I'm

going to tell these stories or provide

more value as as a server uh and then

the people around you are like how does

he know so much how did he learn all of

that we didn't teach him that and then I

think you're like a genius you know and

it's it's just this like it makes them

then go well maybe I need to figure out

how to learn this stuff and then

everyone around you works better and

more efficiently say that when I took

that first restaurant job and I started

as a busboy there were already guys that

had been working there as busboy is

before me they watch me get promoted

over all of them and there was some

animosity there oh yeah it wasn't cool

that I jumped ahead right well what you

found was that they all started doing

what I was doing and their promotion

came much quicker after mine did it

literally did what you said where the

bar was raised for the whole restaurant

my boss saw that and put me in a

position of authority because she wanted

me setting the example so now when the

20-person banquet comes in it's going to

David he deserves it right I ended up

house sitting for them like my boss

loving me created privilege that's how

it would often be spoken about right but

if you were a boss you would give the

most authority to the one that gave you

the biggest return on your money in your

business and then the other principle

was when you hit a ceiling which you

usually will at most jobs you don't feel

bad about leaving if you know that they

couldn't create enough opportunity for

you oh that's interesting so when you

outgrow the company basically ah yeah

and I went to her and I was like look I

want to make more money what can I do is

there another management position she's

like I'm sorry David you're already at

what we have this is the top and see

that's where the restaurant's like hey

you know if you're maybe at a larger

chain it's like well there's corporate

or it's District management and so

larger companies do have more of that

upward Mobility but you're right like at

some point cap out uh at many jobs and

then but then you take all that

experience and that work ethic and you

start over and you but you make more

money better the next time that's

exactly right there is a rhythm to

making money in a capitalistic

environment an actual blueprint that can

be followed and when you get a taste of

it it is so empowering it feels so good

right I wasn't going to work every day

mad that I had to work I was going to

work focused like it was a sporting

event and I'm like how do I give the

best performance that I can when I get

there every day before I go into work as

a cop I'd be praying all right help me

do the best job I can help me to be as

safe as I can help me to learn as much

as I can and then I start getting chosen

for all the instructor positions you get

a little bit more pay with that you get

a little bit better schedule right I'd

have a point if you're an instructor

that day and you're not actually working

a beat maybe you get all your work done

in six or seven hours but you're on a 10

hour shift that's three hours to do real

estate yeah there's other opportunities

that would come from so how did you

transition then from uh law enforcement

to real estate I got my real estate

agent's license okay because I was just

referring all my buddies to Realtors and

how they would come back to me and say

hey the realtor doesn't know and I

realize most Realtors don't know as much

as me because I just own some rental

properties well and if you're also a cop

in the area where you're buying you know

this you know yes exactly you know the

areas I could articulate to my cop

buddies why they should buy a house

instead of rent I could overcome all

their objections well it's cheaper to

rent well what if you put three cops in

the bedrooms here they all need someone

to rent you're gonna be living for close

to freeze it still sound cheaper I

didn't think of that right then you sell

in the house and then next year you can

go tell them hey do you want to buy this

one it's got five bedrooms instead of

three you could do the same thing so I

started selling so many houses that it

didn't make sense to stay in law

enforcement and I had developed some

injuries over the time so I just made

the jump and then and then it's the same

thing we said you're at the bottom

you're selling houses uh like I was not

a very personable guy I was a cop I

Jades you a little bit the business a

ton man and like you get things done as

a cop by having a rigid personality you

get things done as an agent by having a

very flexible personality so it was like

the most stiff person ever going to yoga

and I did not like it like people in my

life will tell you I was it was a hard

transition for me but building those

skills to be more personable to be more

articulate to explain things to overcome

objections led to me being able to form

a real estate team and not just be an

agent right so as a solo agent the most

houses I ever had in contract at a time

was like 12 in escrow and that's a lot

of work very hard right as a team we hit

53-54 wow right it opens up doors now it

comes with new challenges oh yeah

running a team is completely different

than selling the houses yourself like

the skills that it takes to be a good

Agent are not the same as the skills

that it takes to run a company so you're

going from customer service to business

building very much so and I started at

the bottom and I sucked at it right but

you see this pattern of like if you show

up every day saying I'm gonna work my

hardest I'm gonna see the people that do

it better than me and I'm going to copy

them I'm going to figure out what the

client needs and how we're going to meet

the demand of the market money finds you

right versus the people that we've hired

that are like I don't want to have to

show that person a house it's far away

from me or I don't want to hold an open

house this weekend I wanted to watch

football like those are things that

Crush you because at that open house you

might have met two or three clients one

of them could have been a neighbor that

you took the listing that you then sold

their house and got a buyer out of that

deal like these exponential things that

create wealth only come when you're in

the game

and you're playing it and I'm passionate

about trying to get people into the game

and when you're hearing the the point of

view of real estate investing that hey

just buy some properties they take care

of themselves sit on the beach of the my

tag you're not in the game oh for sure

well what's so interesting you said

about the open houses

I had uh this I I realized how beautiful

open houses were as an agent when I

could go back and calculate that I was

making

thousand to two thousand dollars an hour

from open houses because you're really

shooting fish in a barrel the problem is

we don't think about it that way because

we think we do the open house then we go

home and we're tired and we're exhausted

oh I had to put all those signs out oh

it's five hours out of my Sunday I could

have been watching the game what a pain

in the butt but the business cards you

handed out the the the connections you

made the sellers who are going to sell

in the next six months who came in to

survey the market and get to know you

and see how you run your business you

didn't even know they're like oh I'm

just a neighbor and you're like oh it's

just the neighbor no that's a future

seller right those all of those

connections that just makes so much

money per hour but again the problem

with our society is we're jaded to think

that well if I don't get paid more

upfront I'm not going to work as hard

but if you actually work really hard at

that open house knowing it's going to

come it's just going to be delayed

gratification then then you do what

nobody else is doing that is in the book

I talk about that exact problem is

people don't want to hold the open house

because it's not Gary guaranteed money

if you paid them 25 an hour they would

go but like you said you made two

thousand dollars an hour oh my gosh yeah

I talk about the 1099 mindset versus the

W-2 mindset and most of us have sort of

like been born into the Matrix where we

were shown W-2 jobs yeah right I show up

I'm at a physical location they pay me

money to be here and while I'm here if I

have to work that sucks

versus a 1099 mindset that gets no

security there's no floor yeah but

there's no ceiling there's nothing that

stops you from being able to do more you

have to deal with uncertainty if you

want to get the big payoff and you and

in the 1099 world I liken it to a cat

that has to hunt its own food but it

gets to pick what it wants it gets to

eat really good it gets to be like buff

and strong and powerful because it's

hunting versus a house cat that just

wants someone to bring its tuna when

you're the house cat you don't get to

choose what you're given yeah you have

to and then everyone complains and they

Grumble and you hear all this it's not

fair I don't make it up there's an

opportunity the government needs to do

something to fix this for me the house

cats never talk like that they're like

I'm just gonna go learn how to hunt and

find what I want in life and they're

happier people even though they have

less security yeah I think that's true

people always wonder like well whoa you

know what is the definition of happiness

and I think when we're 18 or whatever

people think okay well you know I'm

gonna get paid six figures and I clock

in at eight I clock out at five when the

reality is it's it's usually not money

there's some degree of money helps

because then you don't have Financial

stress once you get above Financial

stress that's great I think

statistically that's like 70 80 000 a

year but beyond that more money usually

doesn't change much what what changes

happiness for people and sort of a base

level of Happiness so we're always going

up and down on that base level but what

raises that base level is

failure and achievement right getting

through hardship but then coming through

that stronger and then succeeding

because now all of a sudden you get

almost this success High yeah and then

it makes you want to okay let's try

something else okay that's not working

let's try something else some people

call that flip-flopping I I call it like

necessary yeah you have to change and

just keep looking for that success being

that house cat hunting Tony Robbins

refers to that as progress he says human

beings are happiest in life when they

are making progress I love that you

think about every time in life that

you've been at a peak it's because you

were seeing that you were making

progress and in the book I actually in

the offense section that pillar I talk

about ways to hack into that part of

your mind and measuring things so that

you see your progress and you stay

motivated to keep going when the money's

not flowing in yet yeah I like that

progress yeah I did not know that about

Tony Robbins I've read Tony Robbins

books some of them uh but wow I mean

that's a perfect way to say it yeah and

if you think about the W-2 mindset that

says I want to go to work and I have to

exist and I have to be here and I'm in a

bad mood you're not making progress

that's why Congress is so unhappy

there's no progress

that's amazing so what do you recommend

to like the 18 year old today what what

do they practically do like step one

right now you know they're watching them

like I want to be the house cat man like

I I get it capitalism okay I'm in step

one can they look themselves in the

mirror and say that they're doing the

best possible job with the job they have

right now let's say they hate their job

because they're working at Jamba Juice

and they're like I don't even like this

job are they the best Jamba Juice worker

in that store okay are they tracking how

fast they can make a smoothie compared

to somebody else are they literally

looking at the steps like what I would

do and I'm not exaggerating when I was

in the restaurants we had to make our

own salads pour our own soups run our

own food we didn't have support I would

visualize what the process was to make a

salad and this sounds cheesy but like I

can still see it in my mind you had the

different bowls for the different

dressings your my left hand would be

trying to grab the bowl that I needed

while my right hand was reaching up and

to the right and opening the solid

container grabbing a handful of salad

which was the same every single time at

the same time the bowl was coming out

the leaves of the salad were going in

there my right hand would go to scoop

the dressing as my left hand was

grabbing the fork to stir it the

dressing would go in I would switch from

my left hand holding the fork to the

Bowl my right hand would grab the fork I

would stir it I would visualize this

process which people think may sound

extra but when you're stressed out and

you're super busy saving seven seconds

on a salad if you're making like 30 of

them in a night when there's a point

where every second counts was what made

me faster than the other servers and I

could keep up with the table rush

because I would do that with everything

if they're on cruise control and Jamba

Juice and they hate their job they're

going to be on cruise control if they

get a better job and they're going to

lose it oh wow when you get to be you're

the fastest person in Jamba Juice now

that like what I tell my teams that my

business is do it faster better and with

less mistakes you're unfireable then yes

so you're faster now are you doing a

better job are you giving better service

to the people to walk in are you

cracking jokes with the customers are

you recognizing that person's waiting

it's a long time let me say say

something nice to them let me give them

a free something to make it easier let

me get them to come back in and I'm

doing it with less mistakes you control

that okay what I've found is there's a

Measure of Faith but when you are doing

that every single day if your boss is

not giving you the opportunity which

they may just not be able to when you go

get the better job somewhere else you

become the best person there too because

you built these habits right and

somewhere along the way in America we

got away from that approach that we had

that made us into this amazing country

is we took pride in our work you went to

work every day and said I'm going to

learn a trade I'm gonna get good at

whatever that thing is whether it's

writing a book or stacking bricks or or

being an architect or keeping somebody

else's books or being a CPA there was I

want to be the best at this thing they

knew they were in a competition the good

news is if you're the person that takes

that route today there's no competition

it's amazing I mean it's like music to

my ears for me what you're saying is is

you're so right about everything you

just said and I love this idea of how

with your visualization what you did is

you went to the micro you know I think

people think like oh yeah I'm gonna run

a business and it's going to be really

efficient and then they think of it from

a top level that oh I'm gonna I'm just

gonna make it efficient well how how do

you make an efficient you make it

efficient because every little micro

thing adds up and then the efficiency of

every little micro move makes the sum so

much more productive it's it's as

detailed as like why is every employee

typing every property address out uh

every single time they're writing an

email for Real Estate when everybody

should be taught to have shortcuts okay

it's it's escrow one two boom types out

one two three East Main Street Ventura

California like now they wrote two they

had two or three key strokes as opposed

to 25 right like all of those little

micro things add up in a massive way and

I think that's what you just described I

couldn't agree with you that's about the

pursuit of Excellence which is one of

the chapters in the offense wow so what

I'll tell the low own officers and work

at the one Brokers that's my mortgage

company they'll tell me I'm busy I don't

have time to lead generate okay and then

I'll sit and watch them work oh no and

I'm just watching as they move the mouse

through the different screens that

they're trying to navigate and I'll

watch them do it and I'll say let's have

a race let's see which one of us can get

through this faster you've done this for

years I just watched one time how you

did it right but I'm visualizing where

the parts of the screen that they have

to click when it's a process they do

over and over right and I'll beat them

every time because I'm focused on how

quickly I can click through where I am

to get to the part where I even have to

type something in right okay they're

just on autopilot I'm here I have to

work I'm typing in a speed that's

comfortable for me I'm thinking at a

speed that's comfortable and then I get

the excuse of saying that I'm busy and

I'm not trying to sound like a tyrant

okay they're in a 1099 position where

they have unlimited income potential

sure but they are taking a long time to

do basic tasks that keep them away from

the dollar active activities that are

going to make them right money we

control that Kevin no one is there

stopping them from typing there's no one

moving the computer around like when

you're playing a sport you have a

Defender it's our own selves our own

brain is what stops us from making money

so so relatable just to this idea of

when I got into the real estate industry

uh you know I'd have a listing and

somebody said oh we're going to send you

an offer I go great when can I present

it you know I can meet my seller in 45

minutes they're like oh

I gotta drive to the office and then

then I gotta right now oh I don't need

to make a coffee and then I gotta write

the offer and I gotta get signatures it

takes them like all day to write an

office that's all that work yeah it's

like well no wonder you're busy it takes

you all day to write an offer uh fast

forward to the system that I got down is

I had a laptop stand in my car I had

templates for drafting the offer

templates for signing these I have a

cover sheet made with the client's name

already in it all of it it's it's not

that hard uh and 99 of these offers the

details are the same you're just

changing the parcel number the address

the client names right the vast majority

of it is the same you're using the same

forms there's no excuse not to have the

same essentially cover sheet and format

and escrow opening email you know

template in your DocuSign whatever

there's no excuse for any of that so we

should get this down to should we 10

minutes soft or should we do 100 and you

shouldn't consider writing an offer work

okay that's just the thing I have to do

it doesn't count as work work was how

many conversations I had how many houses

that I found for a client that they

might like though those were things that

countered as work nice I had a thought a

minute ago I'm trying to remember it's

all right what it was it's those

efficiencies though I mean you're right

it's probably related to just that

because I I think that it I really like

this thinking down to the micro how can

you make all of the little steps that

you're doing in your life slightly more

efficient and it's your responsibility

to do it and nothing everyone listening

to this can improve their performance

it's a different way of thinking though

because it takes the attention off your

boss yeah right my real estate agents

will complain the buyers aren't

motivated like I want an easier client

to sell a house to not I want to be a

better agent like well what can you do

to increase their motivation how can you

find them better deals that they would

be happy with that's a completely

different question than it's their

responsibility right I liken it to the

person who's having a hard time dating

okay they can't find a spouse they can't

find a girlfriend they're just

struggling

most of those people think I my one is

out there if I just wait I'm gonna bump

into the one that likes me for me it's

gonna be okay that I'm 35 years old and

I live with my mom and I eat Cheetos all

day on the couch and I don't have any

confidence and I I'm not funny and I'm

not in shape and I'm not any of the

things that the opposite sex wants okay

I need to find the person that's just

right for me and some people you could

say listen you're the problem there's a

thing that women like and if you become

more of that you're gonna have your pick

of which one you want and if you don't

become more of that you're always going

to have this problem you control this

right some people get angry at that they

don't like being told that they are

actually empowered to fix this situation

okay they want to believe this dream

that there's a perfect person out there

for them like they saw in the Disney

movies and they don't have to change

anything I think a lot of people go

through life doing jobs like that my

boss wants me to be there at nine

o'clock I don't like it I'm gonna find a

different job my boss micromanages me

meaning that they want me to get get

things done in a timely fashion I don't

like it let me find another job this

job's hard this job's complicated this

job doesn't fulfill me you see what

people do in dating happens in the

workplace too but the people that are

good with the with their dating have

figured out I gotta become what the

market wants and the same thing is true

in capitalism right so I'm just

passionate about the people that don't

like where they are in life I that's

great you're listening to content like

this you should be it's not enough to

know it are you doing the best that you

can with where you are because what I

found is when I did I hit a point that I

recognized it doesn't make sense to work

here I need it I need to step up and if

my boss couldn't provide the opportunity

I had no guilt about finding a better

job and I made more money and I built

more skills and I improved myself and

then I hit a ceiling and success for me

came just like a series of stairs it was

just stepping up consistently over and

even right now where I am if I want to

get to the next level there are things

that need to change with me I need to be

better at holding employees accountable

I need to be better at paying attention

to detail I need my energy levels to be

higher so that I can come in focused

every single day and if I don't do that

I don't deserve more money I think I

like this idea of the stairs up I think

uh we generally think we we need the

rocket ship you know the lottery ticket

yes but that's not how you build all of

those micro efficiencies or what you

were saying about dating and capitalism

it's almost like dressing a real estate

property in the uniform it's really hard

to sell a property when there's dirty

clothes all over the place and the pain

isn't even you know tidy and it's dark

so you change the light bulbs and you

touch up paint and clean a little it's

not you say no no the perfect buyer

isn't going to mind the dirty underwear

on the floor it'll be perfect for them

yeah no no we changed the property right

it's a great example I mean I I don't

have experience really dating other than

once uh because well I met my wife

through this and what's incredible is I

always wanted a girlfriend but all I was

doing all day long was playing World of

Warcraft that's a great example yeah so

like I literally girls love that no I

was but you went to my back then my

space page and was it like me being out

there happy in the world and productive

it was screenshots from World of

Warcraft so like my identity was sloth

and not working right that was my

identity and so it's really weird but I

I went into uh 2008 January I quit World

of Warcraft I started running working

out uh and not much I'm much more of a

cardio guy than a weights guy yeah I

don't know if that's obvious but anyway

then uh you know then I I would go to

the beach so I wasn't like super pale in

Florida or whatever and when I did all

these things

I met my wife by like April 1st you know

we've been doing coincidence do you

think it just happened to happen or do

you think there might be a correlation I

think it's what you're saying man yeah

it's yeah you've got it you gotta

set yourself up so you're actually

marketable that's a marketable product

what do what do other people want and

and it works in dating but it works in

capitalism it works with making friends

if someone's listening to us they don't

have any friends maybe you're just not a

good friend yourself maybe you're

selfish maybe you're boring maybe you

don't bring anything to the people in

your life and that's not it's okay to

say that as long as your next step is

what do I have to change right it's a

completely different way of looking at

the world than what they get told by the

average Tick Tock influencer that wants

their views wants their follows wants

their subscriptions and says you're

perfect the way you are let me tell you

a way to make money that doesn't require

you to do anything hard it's just a lie

what do you think about like the whole

Andrew Tate is I don't know how much you

followed Andrew Tate but he's obviously

pretty big and you know some people call

it toxic masculinity some people are

like no he's motivating people to get

off their butt and work what's your take

on internet let's say both of those

could be true okay he has some views

that are that could be considered toxic

and he also is motivating people to get

off their butt to work why not do what

he does when it comes to motivating

yourself and then when you get there

don't live the toxic life that you don't

like about him why don't we have more

people like you know what that's a good

point I'm going to get in shape I'm

going to make more money I'm going to be

intentional I'm going to build better

relationships but when I hit that Peak

I'm going to get married and be good I'm

not going to go date around if that's

what your problem is interesting

interesting Nothing Stops people from

doing that yeah yeah pick and choose

what you like you know I I say this uh

even just about other YouTubers people

people like Kevin I hate this about you

but I like this about you I was like

well take what you like and just ignore

the other stuff then you know when I was

a cop I would look at the cops that were

really good in um stressful situations

okay but they were maybe terrible

talking to people when they were amped

up I copied how they acted when they

were stressed out and I ignored what

they did when they were rude to people

then there were other cops that had a

great mouthpiece they could talk to them

they could sell snow to an Eskimo and I

was just fascinated like how did you do

that and I would want to be like them

but I didn't want anything to do with

their physical fitness we all recognize

greatness in certain people okay there's

a musician you love that makes great

music but you would never want your hair

to be like theirs or something that is

what smart people do is they look at

who's good and they emulate that the

parts they want yes and so the criticism

of other people actually hurts ourselves

because our energy moves away from how

could this person benefit me and it

moves into I'm going to criticize them

so that I don't have to change and it

only hurts us you just end up playing

more World of Warcraft and not have a

girlfriend hey man well it was fun okay

so uh okay some some different topic

things uh who's gonna win the election

oh boy man I'm

I'm kind of like a pessimistic person in

general I always plan for the worst case

scenario it's probably my law

enforcement background I just assume the

worst right still jaded in a sense yeah

I I am nervous as a Californian that

Gavin Newsom can just pull the wool over

everyone's eyes like we live in this

state and we've seen the objective

measurables

but he's so charismatic and people tend

to make decisions off that yeah that

like I would not be surprised if he just

Charmed the whole country and stepped in

and became the next president that you

know it's actually it's so funny you say

that I was live streaming uh the

Republican debate and then afterwards

Fox interviewed Gavin Newsom and there

were comments popping up they're like I

had no idea this guy was so likable even

though some of the stuff he was saying

was like dude you're lying about that or

whatever like okay that's true but

that's what I always like to fact check

but it's like the way he says it it's

great that's how you become a good

politician yeah it's not from doing

things well it's from making people like

you right but here's here's my take on

it because some people listening to this

will support Gavin some won't some will

be angry some won't it really doesn't

matter

it matters who becomes our political

leaders but it doesn't destroy my

ability to be happy okay if we have a

certain political party like let's say

we have the one right now that stays in

place for another four years there are

ways to succeed financially and

otherwise in that economy yes getting

mad and just screaming about who the

person is doesn't benefit me right I

want a better life if this person

becomes president this is the road that

I will take to get there if this person

does I'll tweak it this way but

ultimately keeping my attention on what

my goals are stops me from getting angry

about things that I can't control oh I

love that that's great focus on what you

can control and what you can't there are

some people who I I see they write these

comments they're like I would never buy

real estate until Biden's gone they're

just shooting themselves in the foot it

doesn't make sense why they like I don't

know if it's like a uh if it's an idea

in their head that that likes that

philosophically they've proven a point

or something but like the market doesn't

care that you waited four more years to

buy real estate you just are four years

behind on paying down that mortgage and

four years of rent increases that you

missed out on nailed it what about guns

more guns or less guns

I'm kind of a fan when it comes to that

of the state rights and I go in general

to everything that we argue about

abortions guns I don't know whatever

other hot button topics that's going to

piss everybody off yeah yeah let the

state choose and if you like it go to

the state that has it and if you don't

go to the state what if you love

California but you hate their gun policy

I think I mean a mature person would

just be like I mean you could vote for

it but you're going to get out voted but

I think in general the majority rules

even if I'm in the minority you have to

if you believe the majority rules it

can't only be when you're winning right

so okay I'm a proponent of guns my my

law enforcement career I don't think I

ever saw anyone ever commit a gun crime

with a licensed weapon Yeah a hundred

percent of the weapon crimes that we saw

were people that were not supposed to

have them right but I can also recognize

that if like everyone else around me

doesn't want them my ego can take a

backside and I can say okay like if I if

that's that important to me I'll move to

a state that has them and I think that

trying to keep the whole country in the

same value system is what's causing them

nasty fighting between everybody it was

just like hey you got that corner you

got that corner go to your own Corners

we would see way less anger between the

two political parties how'd you become

so logical

that's a good question somewhere along

the process of waiting tables and

working in law enforcement and running a

real estate team great job I mean it's

really incredible because it's usually I

mean there's there's so much emotion

especially today and I think to some

extent social media enhances that

specifically short form social media

what's your take on that like the

Instagram shorts The Tick Tock shorts to

Twitter you know the viral kind of uh

headlines my take on that is that

nothing in life is free okay people

think that if I get my education off

Instagram or Tick Tock or YouTube it's

free it's not free okay and that's not

bad but no one does things for no reason

that is a human nature right that's why

capitalism works because you're

incentivized to do the things that

people want to get what you want it's

why this is the the best political or

economical system you could have

when you're watching short form content

the person is making it for a reason

they are trying to get views because

they can get more subscribers because

they can be monetized as some other way

or they're putting you in a funnel that

doesn't mean it's bad it is reality so

when you're watching a eight second clip

because you've decided that you're only

going to watch Eight Second Clips

because you're not going to discipline

yourself to look at more content you've

also put yourself at the mercy of

somebody who does not have your best

interest at mine they might they

probably don't they have their best

interests at mind and they have to give

you some click bait they have to give

you some sensationalized thing this is

why Andrew Tate blew up so much as he

was able to say something controversial

in a short period of time it pissed

everyone off but it got everyone talking

about them wow understand how that world

works and if you choose to get your

information from free sources there's

still a price you're paying you're going

to have to weed through what you're

eating and pick out the bones there's

going to be a lot more or they're going

to be putting unhealthy dyes in that

food right like it isn't all pure and I

think as long as people are smart when

they show up and they realize that

they're going to be okay but most of

what my

my like uphill climb in life is I'm

trying to get people to stop believing

the stuff that they heard in these Eight

Second Clips right they've got this

belief that like no the perfect girl is

out there for me and she's gonna like me

for what I am right and you're like Dan

lock yeah you gotta stop thinking that

the world owes you what you want and

starts thinking well how do I become

what other people want right like that

is in general my friendship with Kyle

he's here with us right now when I when

we were first becoming friends I was

thinking like you know what do I wish I

had in a friend and how do I become that

for someone else

and it led to me having a lot of friends

I've been the best man in Four Weddings

wow right but it's a different way than

like let me just go find the friend that

makes me feel good wow and not think

about what that person would want so in

in Pillars I talk about how in the

defense pillar we are unaware and

ignorant of how much money energy and

effort is spent to separate us from our

money wow okay there are professional

marketers that are incredibly skilled at

making me think I need this thing that

before I watched that commercial I

didn't even know I needed making me

think that my life isn't good enough

unless I have that they are smarter than

me and they know that they're in a

battle I'm wandering through a

battlefield of economic proportions

clueless that there's bullets flying

around me not realizing how many people

are trying to separate me from my money

and it's not until you start tracking

that money and you give it a plan I want

to save this much money to buy my first

house or to pay off this debt that's

when you become aware oh my God

everything I want to spend money on

everything right it's so so hard like I

heard you talking earlier about a new

wallet you have right you have cash

again for the first time isn't it harder

to spend cash than it is to put

something on a credit card oh my gosh

yeah Apple pay is dangerous yeah it

hurts to be able to spend money in cash

that's how it used to be to spend money

all the time we've got money that just

flows out of our account like nothing

and we don't even think about it so and

social media works the same way a lot of

what we spend our attention these are

not our friends interesting it doesn't

mean you may be paranoid it doesn't mean

you need to get better just be critical

yeah because I mean like obviously so

you you have books that people can buy

you know I have things that people can

buy as well or invest in or whatever

everybody has something but that doesn't

mean the like just because somebody's

selling something that the value is bad

correct it's just on the individual

recipient to select okay well I agree

with this I like this I you know maybe I

want more of this maybe I want more

detail of some of the things you hit on

and someone buys your book or or

whatever to get more detail on that is

that what people have to do is that what

you're saying and people have to sort of

segregate like okay do I I like this

underlying content or what do you what

do you recommend people when you dated

your wife did you just find the first

person that would talk to you and say

I'm going to marry her and see how it

goes no there's like a process we call

dating or courtship where you're

evaluating each other to decide would

this person be a good fit for me and

part of that is do they have my best

interests in mind why do we not look at

these educational opportunities the same

way yeah I see what they're selling

they're making me want this thing is

this a person that I can trust that what

they're telling me is going to get me to

where I want to go and do I want my life

to look like what their life looks like

when you see some 24 year old with a

rented Ferrari talking about how you can

have this too if you just take his

course on crypto trading or whatever

odds are this person is full of it okay

and like I you should be expected as a

person who's gonna pay the money to do a

little research before you say that's

the road you're gonna take it and one of

the ways that in my life that I look at

making sure I'm not being deceived

because people can make claims all the

time is does this thing they are selling

me work at other areas in life okay

they're saying you can make money easily

I say can I get in shape easily can I

make my partner romantically happy

easily are really good strong

friendships easy to make nope they all

have fundamentals if you want to get in

shape you're going to have to play

defense which is watching what you eat

an offense which is exercising and there

is no way around that okay the Ab Roller

and the Thigh Master and all of these

things that were so popular because they

were easy they didn't work Shake Weight

man yeah the shake weight there you go

like but everyone buys them because

that's what they're looking for right if

you want to try to avoid being taken

advantage of just ask yourself the

simple question of do other things in

life follow the same principle and work

can we get a shake weight on the table

here hilarious wow man this has been

really insightful what what am I missing

uh what what else should I be asking you

like when should people wait until rates

go down I guess like maybe what do you

think or just buy good deals now now

like I don't know what what else let's

use a sports analogy let's say you're a

football team okay and what you want to

do is is throw a long pass that's the

equivalent of I want to buy real estate

and and it used to be that the team that

you were playing was stacked against the

run and you had a lot of opportunities

to throw the long ball you did really

good yeah that's the last 10 years of

real estate okay now they're getting

through now you're looking like oh man

they're in a deep Zone I got nowhere to

put that ball in and my margin of error

is very small does that mean you should

quit playing football or does that mean

you should look to run the ball or throw

shorter passes or find a way because the

defense can't be strong at everything at

once economies are like that right wow I

what I'm seeing is there is much more

opportunity in business than there is in

real estate investing that doesn't mean

don't invest in real estate but maybe I

Was 80 thinking about putting my energy

there now I'm 80 putting into business

okay if you're not willing to adapt you

just get frustrated and you complain and

you scream and you bang on your keyboard

and you talk bad about whatever people

are doing stuff if you're willing to

adapt you don't get stressed just like

okay what are the Run strategies I

should be learning who's a good running

back that I could be following what are

the people that are making money in

business and what principles are they

following and if we do go into a

recession and it becomes harder to make

money in business well real estate will

probably be cheaper and you start

throwing the ball again that's my whole

point of this three pillars approach to

wealth building is it doesn't pigeonhole

you into only one way to do it you don't

get these people that are like well I

have no money so how do I partner with

someone to buy real estate who also has

no experience like these are disasters

you don't want to end up in these kind

of Partnerships with real estate oh my

gosh yeah no kidding which we talked a

lot about on the bigger podcast that

Bigger Pockets podcast which definitely

watch that when it drops so um what this

is amazing what am I missing

just the idea that we are in charge of

our own future yeah and it is not going

to be easy but that's okay because

everyone listening to this has been

successful at something okay we all have

a genius and those that are good at

whatever their thing is know that it

didn't come easy they had to Perfect The

Craft if they're a great musician if

they're great with Fitness if they're a

great conversationalist if they're great

in Social settings they put effort into

developing that skill business is just

another thing finances are just another

thing there are fundamentals that you

can learn and if you are willing to

self-improve you can do this it's

getting all that bad information out of

your head where you've been told is

supposed to be easy or real estate will

just provide a bunch of cash flow you

don't have to do anything fall in love

with the process of becoming great wow

what that's that's so amazing how do

people get in touch with you how do they

buy your book to shout yourself out

thank you for this thanks man they could

go to biggerpockets.com pillars they

could get the book there uh and please

do and then and then let me know what

you guys think about that book because

this was the hardest book I've ever had

to write but uh it's probably the one

I'm most proud of they can find more

about me at davidgreen24.com or Spartan

League 24 sorry let me say that again at

davidgreen24.com or spartanleague.com

That's The Mastermind that I run or they

could just look me up David green24 on

social media and send me a DM amazing

really amazing incredible nuggets in

this uh love it it should definitely

motivate you to check out the book

because there's if it's got Nuggets like

this it's going to be amazing thanks man

thank you so much for being here

congratulations man you have done so

much people love you people looked up to

you which I say yes meet Kevin where

does this mean we are in the economic

cycle should we be thinking about buying

real estate should we be thinking about

buying stocks I have a background in

real estate as a real estate agent real

estate broker real estate investor a

stock market investor and fund manager

why not advertise these things that you

told us here we'll try a little

advertising and see how it goes always

great to have you all Kevin financial

analyst and YouTuber meet Kevin