EP 233: Swiss Army House: Revolutionizing Real Estate with Alvin Uy’s Multi-Exit Strategy

[00:00:00] Hello, and thank you for joining us today on The Gentle Art of Crushing It Show, where we focus on learning and sharing with our listeners all there is to know about how to create success in our lives. This show stands on the shoulders of giants. Our mission is to empower and inspire our listeners to create the life of their dreams whilst having a blast in the process. Let's celebrate life together. Welcome to the show.

[00:00:28] All right, welcome back to The Gentle Art of Crushing It podcast. My name is Randy Smith and I'll be the host today. And I'm really excited to have fellow GoBro with us, Alvin Uy. Alvin Uy is a decamillionaire. He's a real estate investor and a shark tank entrepreneur. So Alvin, welcome to the show.

[00:00:48] What's up? How are you, Randy? Thanks for having me on the show.

[00:00:52] Yeah, no glad to have you here. I see you all over GoBundance and you're doing a lot of really great things. So excited to have you on the show. So let's jump in if we can, like right out of the gates. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on today's market and how it might be impacting passive investment opportunities for those in the audience?

[00:01:13] That's a very big question. I think, you know, I think, you know, I think more in the lines of everything's very specific to a certain market. You know, I, I operate in Los Angeles and it, you know, I kind of live in a bubble here.

[00:01:28] For me, at least what I'm looking for is opportunity. There's a lot of opportunity here still. There's a housing crisis. So in terms of the current market conditions, rates, I mean, rates are supposed to go down.

[00:01:43] And then all of a sudden they're not, and I don't know if they're going to go down anymore. You know, it's, but that's never really, really affected the way I think in terms of what I do. I do a lot of value add creation anyway. So it doesn't really affect me that much.

[00:01:59] I've been investing for about 21 years now. So I've seen the trends go up. So I know how to create value. So in that case, it doesn't concern me all too much, to be honest.

[00:02:09] But so your, your thoughts are in the value add strategy, you kind of bypass the whole economic impacts and influences while they might influence it. It's not going to dictate or kind of the end result of what you're doing. You don't believe.

[00:02:26] Um, not necessarily because at least for me, like I have different exit strategies in place. And so that's why I mitigate a lot of those risks and being a good entrepreneur, being a good investor, you have to learn how to mitigate risk.

[00:02:42] And a lot of that is just educating yourself and really being able to fine tune what works and what doesn't.

[00:02:49] Awesome. Awesome. No, I love that perspective. I think we'll get into that a lot more as we dig into your strategy and the different types of projects that you're doing.

[00:02:59] Are you interested in real estate investing, but don't know where to get started or think you don't have the time or money?

[00:03:05] Are you stuck in your W-2 because the golden handcuffs make it hard to walk away?

[00:03:09] If this sounds like you check out impact equity.net and schedule some time to talk with the founder, Randy Smith.

[00:03:16] Randy went from massive income to leaving his W-2 through passive income, and he can help you do the same.

[00:03:23] www.impactequity.net.

[00:03:26] Maybe if we can, can we back up a little bit and can you walk the audience through your background and maybe some of the wins?

[00:03:33] I'd love to hear more about Shark Tank and some of the other things you've done, but how did you get to where you are today, Alvin?

[00:03:39] Yeah, I mean, how far do you want me to go back, man? Because I don't know if an hour is long enough.

[00:03:44] Sure, sure. Well, maybe we keep it towards entrepreneurialism, right? I guess that can go back really far as well, though.

[00:03:50] Yeah, I mean, there's a lot that relates to my childhood. So I think I can go back as like, you know, I came here, I'm an immigrant.

[00:03:58] So I came here when I was 12. Family of seven, including my parents and my four other siblings, just five siblings, came here from the Philippines.

[00:04:10] Needless to say, my parents came here without knowing what to expect to just kind of straight up just got to the US, you know what to do, had no, no job history, no credit history.

[00:04:22] Needless to say, they've spent all the money they brought, which they thought was a lot then, but, you know, it quickly got depleted.

[00:04:31] And to make the long story short, we ended up at a one bedroom, one bathroom, I think might have been 400 square foot house or apartment in the roughest area of Los Angeles.

[00:04:41] And, you know, sleeping on the floor, didn't even have a mattress, basically just blankets.

[00:04:51] And, you know, that was a rude awakening for me, especially since my parents left the Philippines from a wealthy family, you know, of me and said, they didn't know how to cook.

[00:05:03] They didn't know how to clean. They didn't know how to feed us.

[00:05:05] And, you know, that was a huge rude awakening for me and made me quickly realize what wealth really meant, you know.

[00:05:14] And so, you know, my, I guess my whole world was what's changed after that.

[00:05:21] And I made, you know, and I realized like, wow, this is the land of opportunity.

[00:05:25] What does that mean exactly?

[00:05:26] And I keep hearing that term like US is the land of opportunity.

[00:05:30] So I quickly set on the path to kind of discover what that meant and what that meant for my, you know, my, you know, basically my parents.

[00:05:41] Yeah.

[00:05:42] So I ended up, you know, going through school, trying to figure out what to do next.

[00:05:47] And, you know, I initially became a, you know, I went to, I went to college for engineering, aerospace engineering.

[00:05:54] Quickly realized this is not for me.

[00:05:56] You know, we visited a campus before my third year, by the way, third year in college.

[00:06:03] Third year, I think it was Boeing or I forget which one might be, but I believe it was Boeing.

[00:06:08] And I just saw like a bunch of people just dressed up in suits and ties and locked up in their cubicle.

[00:06:17] And mind you, this was like eight o'clock at night.

[00:06:20] And I'm like, wow, they're still working.

[00:06:21] It's just so soulless, you know, and I'm like, I can't imagine myself doing this.

[00:06:27] And I, I quickly made up my mind.

[00:06:29] Then I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm dropping out.

[00:06:31] I don't know what to do next, but I'm going to, this is not for me.

[00:06:34] Wow.

[00:06:34] So you dropped out of college, third year college as an engineer.

[00:06:37] Third year of college.

[00:06:38] Needless to say, my parents were really pissed.

[00:06:41] Sure.

[00:06:41] Yeah.

[00:06:42] What are you going to do now?

[00:06:44] And, um, I told them, look, I'm, I'm really good at art.

[00:06:48] And they're like, art.

[00:06:50] Why?

[00:06:51] Why art?

[00:06:52] Right.

[00:06:52] I've always been good.

[00:06:53] I've always been creative.

[00:06:54] Right.

[00:06:54] And I like building things and I thought, you know, uh, maybe that's why I was wanting

[00:06:59] to be an engineer, but sure.

[00:07:00] Seeing myself working for someone.

[00:07:02] I just couldn't see myself doing that.

[00:07:04] Um, so I quickly identified, okay, maybe I'll go to art just because, you know, I need to

[00:07:10] be more creative.

[00:07:10] I feel like that's more for me, but I didn't know where to start, you know?

[00:07:14] And at the time I was doing delivery services.

[00:07:17] I was a messenger service, uh, kind of like, uh, um, dropping packages to like the studios.

[00:07:24] So I'm here in Los Angeles, by the way.

[00:07:26] So, um, uh, a lot of the, you know, entertainment studios and things like that.

[00:07:31] And I, I, you know, I, I, I met this one guy.

[00:07:35] He's like, I see him every day working on a computer, drawing Mickey mouse on a computer.

[00:07:39] I'm like, Oh, I want that job.

[00:07:41] Yeah.

[00:07:42] And I saw him in his smoke break and I asked him, Hey man, what do you do?

[00:07:47] And he's like, Oh, I'm a, I think he said he was a designer or something like that.

[00:07:50] I'm like, Oh, that's great.

[00:07:51] How much, how much money do you make?

[00:07:53] He goes, Oh, I make about $70,000 a year.

[00:07:56] And this is like back in the nineties.

[00:07:58] And I'm like, Whoa, that's a lot of money.

[00:08:01] Sure.

[00:08:02] That's actually more money than what I would get coming out of an aerospace engineering,

[00:08:06] you know, at the time anyway.

[00:08:08] And I asked him, did you go to school?

[00:08:09] And he's like, Nope.

[00:08:10] I'm like, what?

[00:08:12] It just kind of blew my mind that that can happen.

[00:08:15] And so it made these, you know, it created this whole, uh, realm in my head of like possibilities

[00:08:22] of like, wow, I don't need to, I don't need to go to school.

[00:08:26] I just got to figure it out.

[00:08:27] And so I pivoted and just decided to learn how to do graphics, graphic design.

[00:08:34] Cause that's kind of what he was doing.

[00:08:35] And it was just the beginning of computer graphics at the time.

[00:08:38] And I, you know, I tried to go to school quickly realized I couldn't afford it.

[00:08:44] And I definitely, you know, decided then like, okay, there's gotta be an easier way to do this.

[00:08:49] Um, so I took a trade school instead to come about a year, finally got a placement job.

[00:08:55] Cause I passed a test or something like that.

[00:08:56] And I got, I got placed at a, at a agency.

[00:09:00] And I quickly realized, okay, this is exactly what I want to do.

[00:09:05] That's also about the time I read rich dad, poor dad.

[00:09:07] Uh-oh.

[00:09:09] Yeah.

[00:09:10] Uh, but specifically cashflow quadrant, which talks about investing in real estate and also

[00:09:19] being a business owner.

[00:09:21] And so I quickly plotted my way to like, okay, if I really want to make it to those two quadrants,

[00:09:27] I got to learn how to start a business.

[00:09:30] Yeah.

[00:09:30] And so I, you know, I decided then, okay, I applied for a job at this other agency because

[00:09:36] I knew the owner was someone I could model.

[00:09:40] And this guy was like one of the top five agencies in all of Los Angeles.

[00:09:44] And he was Asian.

[00:09:46] And I'm like, okay, like I got to follow this guy, you know?

[00:09:50] Yeah.

[00:09:50] Got a job from him.

[00:09:51] And I told him on my interview, I'm like, you know, I want to work here.

[00:09:57] I'm taking a pay cut, but just, just know, like, I think one day I'm going to be helping

[00:10:03] you run this place for you.

[00:10:04] And I think I got the job because of that.

[00:10:07] Wow.

[00:10:07] Wow.

[00:10:08] Yeah.

[00:10:09] Yeah.

[00:10:10] So fast forward about 10 years later, you know, I was working there.

[00:10:14] Uh, you know, I, I was running, basically I was running the agency at that point.

[00:10:18] I was the senior creative director all the while.

[00:10:21] I've also been like, you know, I bought my first house in 2003.

[00:10:26] Uh, that's about the time I started that job because I, you know, I, I, I got a hefty,

[00:10:32] uh, payment.

[00:10:33] I mean, a salary there.

[00:10:35] I'm like, okay, let me, let me start my first job here.

[00:10:37] Sure.

[00:10:38] And sure.

[00:10:38] So did you buy a house?

[00:10:39] Did you really take a pay cut to go there or was that just part of your interview process?

[00:10:43] Oh, that was just part of my interview process.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:45] I love it.

[00:10:47] I love it.

[00:10:48] Yeah.

[00:10:48] But, but I mean, but I would say it was still about the same amount.

[00:10:53] It's just that, you know, I, I felt more secure at that place.

[00:10:56] And I, at that point I've also kind of saved some money already.

[00:11:00] Um, which, you know, interestingly enough, uh, before I got that job, you know, instead

[00:11:07] of, uh, renting an apartment like my, my brothers and siblings did, I actually asked my parents,

[00:11:14] you know, cause I had another job at the time.

[00:11:16] And I said to my parents, look, um, can I convert the garage and live in there?

[00:11:22] And maybe if you can kindly put me in title so I can write it off.

[00:11:27] Cause I've learned that stuff.

[00:11:28] Um, and I'll pay half the rent or half the mortgage.

[00:11:33] And so I was able to actually accelerate my savings because of that.

[00:11:38] Cause I learned how to depreciate all the tax benefits.

[00:11:42] Interesting.

[00:11:42] Yeah.

[00:11:42] And, you know, uh, you know, this is relevant because interestingly enough, like garage conversions

[00:11:48] are now a legal thing here in Los Angeles called ADUs accessory dwelling news, which I can talk

[00:11:54] about later on.

[00:11:55] But yeah, I mean, that was kind of like my start of like, oh wow, I can, I can save more money.

[00:12:01] If I can be a little bit more creative, why rent?

[00:12:06] If I can just buy property or, or have some ownership.

[00:12:10] So interesting fact, I've never actually rented an apartment or house ever in my life.

[00:12:16] No kidding.

[00:12:17] No kidding.

[00:12:17] Never, never.

[00:12:18] And do you mind if I ask how old were you when you did that first garage conversion with your

[00:12:23] parents or at your parents' house?

[00:12:25] I, I might've been in my really early twenties.

[00:12:28] Was it?

[00:12:29] Okay.

[00:12:29] Yeah.

[00:12:30] Really early twenties.

[00:12:31] I don't even remember.

[00:12:32] I was still in college.

[00:12:33] Okay.

[00:12:33] So I was still in college when I started thinking about that way, because, you know, first of

[00:12:39] all, my parents couldn't afford anything.

[00:12:40] I, you know, I couldn't afford anything.

[00:12:42] Like I couldn't dorm anywhere.

[00:12:44] So I'm like, okay, well I'm going to have to live with my parents anyway.

[00:12:46] And then ask my parents, my brothers and, you know, getting older, they're like, they're

[00:12:51] moving out of the, you know, they're renting.

[00:12:52] And I'm like, I don't want to rent.

[00:12:53] Cause I want to save.

[00:12:54] Cause I already read Richard Poor Dad about that time.

[00:12:56] Like, you know, I don't want to rent.

[00:12:59] Yeah.

[00:13:00] Absolutely.

[00:13:00] Yeah.

[00:13:02] Yeah.

[00:13:02] So, yeah.

[00:13:02] So, I mean, so fast forward, like, you know, I, I started, you know, learning the business

[00:13:07] of agency design business and, uh, and I learned how to develop products.

[00:13:15] I learned how to do marketing.

[00:13:17] It was a full agency, like branding, you know, graphics, business, learning how to talk to

[00:13:24] clients, learning how to sell, learning how to create stories, learn how to tell stories,

[00:13:30] uh, and it just made me really open up this vast, uh, ability of just thinking outside

[00:13:38] of the box and, um, and package that with like, you know, I, I, I still have my, my goal

[00:13:45] set on real estate being an end game, you know, so I had that sort of on the side as well.

[00:13:51] Side hustle is like, you know, flip houses.

[00:13:55] Yeah.

[00:13:55] You knew early on that real estate was going to be the final destination after reading

[00:13:59] the Kiyosaki books.

[00:14:01] Yes, sir.

[00:14:02] I mean, I read that like, I was fortunate enough to have read that at the right time, but I was

[00:14:08] also, I guess I had an open mind cause I was, I was seeking some kind of financial freedom

[00:14:14] and just freedom in general, you know, at the time.

[00:14:17] So I was open to it.

[00:14:19] Um, but yeah, I mean, absolutely.

[00:14:21] That kind of really defined my path and I just kind of stuck to that.

[00:14:25] You know, I had, I knew I need, I need to go there somehow.

[00:14:27] I just didn't have the right specifics yet, but I was kind of figuring things out as I went.

[00:14:33] Well, it's interesting too.

[00:14:35] So you're, you're an immigrant.

[00:14:36] Um, you see your parents come to this country for this freedom that, um, the American dream

[00:14:44] that you hear everybody talk about.

[00:14:45] And then you see this American dream quite often includes sitting in a suit in a cubicle

[00:14:51] working 60 hours a week where you have really no freedom at all from, you know, like you're

[00:14:57] stuck in this cubicle indefinitely.

[00:14:59] Uh, so it's interesting that you found that book early on and that's really kind of what

[00:15:04] opened your eyes up to this whole other world.

[00:15:06] Now, had your, had your parents, did they get into real estate as well?

[00:15:11] Were you following their footsteps or were you kind of stepping out of the norm and doing this

[00:15:16] all on your own?

[00:15:17] I was, oh God, that's a very, very big question.

[00:15:20] Did they do real estate?

[00:15:21] No.

[00:15:22] I mean, reality is this like, so, you know, I'll go back a little bit.

[00:15:26] My parents left the country to kind of start their new legacy.

[00:15:31] I would say, uh, my dad was being groomed to take over a business in the Philippines where

[00:15:37] I guess the family's pretty wealthy then.

[00:15:40] Uh, but my dad just wanted to set his own path.

[00:15:44] Uh, he didn't want anything to do with, you know, with a family business, I guess.

[00:15:49] I first, I can't remember exactly why.

[00:15:51] Sure.

[00:15:52] But, uh, by leaving the country, he essentially disobeyed his parents and they were cut off

[00:16:00] and ended up losing everything.

[00:16:04] And his only way to kind of prove himself was how to be successful.

[00:16:08] And which was when they, when they first bought their first property, which is the house we

[00:16:13] lived in, they became, you know, my, my grandparents kind of recognized that, oh, you actually did

[00:16:17] it.

[00:16:18] And so there's that sense of pride of ownership then.

[00:16:20] And that's, that's actually one of the reasons why I realized, wow, that's, that's success.

[00:16:26] That's what's success in, in, in the U S.

[00:16:29] And so I immediately sort of linked that to like, Hey, real estate, red, rich, it all

[00:16:35] made sense to me.

[00:16:37] Yep.

[00:16:37] Does that make sense?

[00:16:38] It does.

[00:16:39] Absolutely.

[00:16:39] Yeah.

[00:16:40] So you spent, you spent 10 years then kind of building your career in the marketing agency.

[00:16:45] And as you said, in that interview, you'd be helping him run the business.

[00:16:49] It sounds like that actually came into fruition.

[00:16:51] So did you ever like remind him of that initial conversation in the interview that you'd be,

[00:16:55] you'd be working alongside him or.

[00:16:58] You know what?

[00:16:58] I think kind of, he kind of knew like we, we became buddies actually.

[00:17:01] Like, you know, he would go to lunch all the time and he, he'd end up mentoring me,

[00:17:06] you know, cause I think he just knew like, yeah, I think he saw himself in me.

[00:17:10] Uh, and so he, he couldn't help but mentor me.

[00:17:13] He was also looking to exit, you know, he's looking to buy his, I mean, looking to sell

[00:17:17] his company at one point.

[00:17:19] Actually, we had one lunch where I think he was asking me to see if I can take over and

[00:17:25] buy the business.

[00:17:26] But my, my brain just couldn't, I couldn't think big enough then.

[00:17:29] I didn't really identify that yet.

[00:17:31] And I, I declined.

[00:17:33] I said, no, I don't want to do that.

[00:17:35] Uh, but you know, and first of all, I couldn't afford it anyway, even if it did like, sure.

[00:17:41] Um, and my, my mind just, I wasn't thinking big enough to know how to even finance a business

[00:17:47] like that.

[00:17:48] And so, um, but yeah, I told him like, Hey, but you know, if you're looking to exit, mind

[00:17:52] you, it's about 10 years, I was kind of wanting my own thing.

[00:17:55] I wanted to leave, but I couldn't because I was kind of trapped, you know, that golden

[00:18:01] ball of chain where I had, I had this itch of wanting to leave.

[00:18:05] I just couldn't because it wasn't bad enough and it wasn't, you know, and it was, I was

[00:18:10] making good money.

[00:18:12] Sure.

[00:18:12] You know?

[00:18:13] And, but at the same time, like, Oh, there's this missing element.

[00:18:16] Like it's not, it's not making me happy, but I don't know why, you know?

[00:18:23] And, you know, in that moment, you know, of course, after we had like a bottle of scotch

[00:18:29] at that point, my heart was kind of speaking and I told him, Hey, you know, if you're looking

[00:18:34] to sell this company, you know, I'm the highest paid guy here.

[00:18:37] Maybe just lay me off.

[00:18:38] Give me a severance package.

[00:18:41] And of course, the next day I immediately regretted that.

[00:18:44] I'm sure.

[00:18:45] I'm sure.

[00:18:46] Yeah.

[00:18:47] Yeah.

[00:18:48] But, um, a few months later, that's exactly what happened, man.

[00:18:51] He laid me off and I was like, crap.

[00:18:55] That's awesome.

[00:18:56] Yeah.

[00:18:57] Yeah.

[00:18:57] But, you know, but that was a blessing in disguise because, you know, uh, you know, I

[00:19:03] realized, wow, it takes burning that boat to really make that move for me.

[00:19:09] And that was a huge lesson for me.

[00:19:12] Um, and what's, what's interesting is this, you know, I already had contacts with a lot

[00:19:17] of the clients and they become friends of mine.

[00:19:19] I reached out to a few of them and I said, Hey, um, I need, I need work.

[00:19:25] I was looking for a, I was looking for a job.

[00:19:29] Yeah.

[00:19:29] Yeah.

[00:19:29] Right.

[00:19:30] But they, but then they mistook as like, Oh, you're looking for projects.

[00:19:33] Oh, we will send you some projects.

[00:19:35] Yeah.

[00:19:35] Next thing you know, I was just like bombarded with projects and I ended up hiring more people.

[00:19:39] And there you go.

[00:19:40] I was a business owner.

[00:19:41] Started your own marketing agency.

[00:19:43] Started my own, started my own, started my own design and marketing agency.

[00:19:46] And yeah, I just kind of blew up from there.

[00:19:49] My first year, man, I made like $800,000.

[00:19:51] That was like three X or what I was weight making at the time.

[00:19:55] And I'm like, Whoa, I should have just done this sooner.

[00:19:58] You know, that old adage of like, Oh, you could have done it sooner, you know, looking

[00:20:04] back, you know?

[00:20:05] Um, but yeah, I mean, so that was kind of the start of my, my design agency career, which

[00:20:09] led me to product development.

[00:20:11] You know, talked about shark tank earlier.

[00:20:13] So I was on shark tank, I invented a product called soap socks.

[00:20:17] It's basically washcloth for kids.

[00:20:20] Um, and you know, look like a stuffed animal, uh, terry cloth outside, sponge inside, you

[00:20:26] feed it soap, you dunk it in water, you lather it.

[00:20:30] Kids, you know, use it to scrub their body, put it in the washer and dryer.

[00:20:34] You dry it becomes your friend outside and inside the tub.

[00:20:38] And so, you know, we, we pitched that to the sharks, uh, make the long story short.

[00:20:43] They really liked the product after destroying us for like an hour and 40 minutes.

[00:20:48] They wanted to buy us out.

[00:20:50] They offered us a million dollars to buy us out.

[00:20:52] And we're like, Nope, screw you guys.

[00:20:55] We're, we're, we're going to walk away and do this ourselves.

[00:20:59] So, yeah.

[00:21:00] So we, we did that and, um, yeah, and we, we took it to market successfully took it to

[00:21:05] market.

[00:21:06] In fact, I'm still part owner of that.

[00:21:07] I'm just not, uh, involved in the day to day, but this year we actually made Oprah's

[00:21:14] favorite things.

[00:21:15] No kidding.

[00:21:16] Yeah.

[00:21:16] That's amazing.

[00:21:17] Okay.

[00:21:17] Yeah.

[00:21:18] So it's still, it's still going.

[00:21:20] Uh, but yeah, I'm not as involved, you know, 2020 happened and basically, uh, shut down

[00:21:27] all of Los Angeles because of the known thing called COVID.

[00:21:30] Yeah.

[00:21:31] Um, and yeah, so I decided around that time, like, man, I'm tired of all these businesses.

[00:21:38] You know, I really want to go to real estate and I, and it, it really just solidified my

[00:21:43] idea of my end game is now that real estate end game is starting now.

[00:21:49] Why wait?

[00:21:50] You know, you know, especially since COVID made me realize, wow, I'm staying afloat, even

[00:21:58] though my, none of my other businesses are making money because everything shut down

[00:22:02] all from your real estate.

[00:22:04] Yeah.

[00:22:04] Cause I had enough investment to kind of at least maintain where I am like, whoa, okay.

[00:22:09] I think I might've reached financial freedom here.

[00:22:12] At least my, you know, enough to cover, you know, my monthly nut.

[00:22:17] Yeah.

[00:22:18] Yeah.

[00:22:18] I mean, that's the ultimate freedom, right?

[00:22:20] When you're, when your passive real estate exceeds your, your, your annual income needs,

[00:22:26] right.

[00:22:26] For your expenses, then you're there.

[00:22:27] So very good.

[00:22:28] Okay.

[00:22:28] And this was just 2020 when this happened.

[00:22:31] 2020 was, is, was when I realized it.

[00:22:35] Okay.

[00:22:35] I, it's, it probably, it's probably been going on for a while.

[00:22:38] And I'll be honest with you, Randy, like I've never actually tracked my, uh, my net worth

[00:22:44] or my cashflow.

[00:22:45] Like I, I'm, I'm a builder.

[00:22:48] So I just love being in there and figuring things out, you know, to this day, like, you

[00:22:53] know, the one sheets and stuff, like I don't pay attention too much to that, to be honest.

[00:22:58] Sure.

[00:22:59] Yeah.

[00:22:59] Um, but yeah, cause I feel like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm there to just build.

[00:23:04] Like, I, I love that, you know, I'm a product developer by, by heart.

[00:23:08] But so, and that's how I look at real estate now too.

[00:23:12] It's a product.

[00:23:13] Real estate to me, it's a product.

[00:23:15] So dig into that.

[00:23:17] So you're, you're working at W2, um, you're helping, you know, build this marketing agency.

[00:23:23] And then you have this product launch with the, with the, um, very cool toy that you

[00:23:29] had, but the whole time you're like, you're buying real estate on the side.

[00:23:33] So are you buying single families?

[00:23:35] Are you doing this ADU process yet?

[00:23:37] Did you look into multifamily?

[00:23:39] Like what did, what did the real estate journey look like for you?

[00:23:42] All right.

[00:23:43] So very simple.

[00:23:44] I'm Los Angeles.

[00:23:45] Everything is very expensive here.

[00:23:47] As you know, uh, multifamily is probably, at least at the time it felt like it wasn't

[00:23:53] within my financial reach.

[00:23:55] Sure.

[00:23:56] Um, so I was looking at single family.

[00:23:57] I was rehabbing, flipping houses, learning how to do that.

[00:24:01] Basically learning how to burr properties.

[00:24:03] Most of them I was flipping, you know, like making small amounts, like 20, 30,000 at a time.

[00:24:11] Um, and in LA, I would imagine if you're doing what, what's the average purchase price out

[00:24:17] there.

[00:24:18] And it's gotta be got four or five, 600,000, isn't it?

[00:24:21] When you're doing those or.

[00:24:22] Well, at the time it was a little bit less than that.

[00:24:26] We're talking about like, we're, we're talking about early two thousands, right?

[00:24:31] Between before 2000 to about 2008 is when I started kind of learning this whole thing

[00:24:36] craft.

[00:24:37] And I wasn't buying a lot because I couldn't afford it.

[00:24:41] You know, I, I didn't know, I didn't know I can use hard money.

[00:24:44] You know, I had no idea that was a thing.

[00:24:47] Um, in fact, hard money was a bad word.

[00:24:49] Like, Oh, you don't want to do that too high interest.

[00:24:52] I was thinking, I was thinking too small.

[00:24:54] I didn't really understand the word leverage for financial real leverage for real estate

[00:24:58] then.

[00:24:59] And so I was saving 20, 20%, 25% at the time, which was a thing.

[00:25:04] And then.

[00:25:05] Traditional financing.

[00:25:05] Same year.

[00:25:06] Right.

[00:25:07] And then, and then all the, and then, you know, before COVID, uh, before, uh, 2008, before

[00:25:13] the crash, you know, they got really creative with the financing too.

[00:25:17] Like all of a sudden you got your 80, 10, 10, like everything, all of a sudden everything's

[00:25:20] free.

[00:25:20] I'm like, Oh wow.

[00:25:21] Okay.

[00:25:22] Yeah.

[00:25:23] Sure.

[00:25:23] Sure.

[00:25:23] I'll buy property now, you know, and I still save money for like the construction or the

[00:25:27] rehab.

[00:25:28] Um, but yeah, so that was my entry to buying property, but, um, did I buy multifamily?

[00:25:36] No, I, I kind of stuck with, with single family to that point.

[00:25:40] Um, and now I, I bought some property out of state, like, uh, in Florida at the time,

[00:25:46] I think 2006 or 2007, right before the crash.

[00:25:50] Uh, but it was at that point, like everything's kind of really high, very expensive.

[00:25:54] Sure.

[00:25:55] It's almost a top of the market before it crashed and, uh, kind of lost some money on

[00:25:59] that, you know, at the time, very different climate.

[00:26:02] Uh, everybody was an investor.

[00:26:04] Right.

[00:26:05] Right.

[00:26:06] Uh, there's definitely too much, uh, um, what's the right word here?

[00:26:14] There's too many units out there that are rental properties and not enough renters because

[00:26:20] everybody's buying houses.

[00:26:21] Sure.

[00:26:22] Sure.

[00:26:23] You know, so.

[00:26:23] Interest rates are low, right?

[00:26:24] Yeah.

[00:26:25] Interest rates are low.

[00:26:26] So the biggest challenge there was like, you can't find renters because anybody can buy

[00:26:29] a home.

[00:26:29] And I didn't realize that at the time.

[00:26:31] So, um, yeah, so I lost some money when I, when I bought some property out of state,

[00:26:38] cause I, it was, you know, I, I got sold into this whole turnkey investing, you know,

[00:26:42] which down the same path.

[00:26:44] Yeah.

[00:26:45] Yeah.

[00:26:45] Which now I don't necessarily believe in that.

[00:26:48] So anything turnkey, I don't buy anything turnkey anymore.

[00:26:50] I learned my lesson on that.

[00:26:51] Um, yeah.

[00:26:53] So I, I, I decided then let me, let me kind of just stick to Los Angeles because I know

[00:27:00] the area.

[00:27:00] I can keep an eye on stuff.

[00:27:01] I understand this market.

[00:27:03] And so after 2008, you know, I, I decided just start looking at long-term buy and hold.

[00:27:11] Okay.

[00:27:12] Yeah.

[00:27:13] And I bought my, and you're still using, still using your own money on all of these

[00:27:16] deals.

[00:27:16] You're not using people's money yet.

[00:27:19] Okay.

[00:27:19] Yeah.

[00:27:20] I mean, honestly, I didn't start using other people's money until probably earlier this

[00:27:24] year.

[00:27:25] No kidding.

[00:27:26] Yeah.

[00:27:27] Like I, I just, I don't know.

[00:27:30] Like I've, I've learned from the past that like, I'm just too afraid.

[00:27:34] I'm too responsible for other people's money.

[00:27:36] Sure.

[00:27:37] It stresses me out more than anything else.

[00:27:39] So like, make sure, you know, I'm, I want to make sure everybody's paid because I've

[00:27:43] been there before, you know, I've invested in other businesses and other things like

[00:27:47] that.

[00:27:47] And I'm like, there's no guarantees.

[00:27:49] And so I wanted to hone my craft as an operator to make sure I know that I can deliver.

[00:27:58] And so that's one of the key decisions that I made before.

[00:28:01] Like, I'm not going to raise funds unless I know exactly what I'm doing.

[00:28:06] Okay.

[00:28:06] I'm at, I'm at that level where I have the infrastructure and all the different exit strategies.

[00:28:11] I'm all about exit strategies, man.

[00:28:14] You know, especially after 2008, you know, like.

[00:28:17] I can imagine.

[00:28:18] Yeah.

[00:28:19] And especially after 2020, it's like, you know, what you think, you know, I had all

[00:28:24] these other businesses and I thought, Hey, I've got everything covered, but crash like

[00:28:29] that, like, you know, COVID like that, like all of a sudden, like, whoa, you get the

[00:28:35] rug pulled right underneath when you don't know.

[00:28:37] And it's a good thing I'm diversified.

[00:28:39] Okay.

[00:28:39] So you've now, you've been in real estate for 20 plus years, you know, buying and selling

[00:28:45] buy and hold primarily.

[00:28:47] It sounds like, um, it sounds like, well, let's talk about the strategies themselves.

[00:28:52] So what kind of strategies you mentioned burr, um, and everybody knows the burr strategy,

[00:28:57] but up until probably this year, you were just saving money, doing your own 20% down.

[00:29:03] What's, what's shifted this year and what is your current strategy?

[00:29:07] Um, well, not, I mean, I, let me, let me say like, I haven't really raised funds until

[00:29:14] this year, but I started, uh, using hard money probably around 2018, 2019.

[00:29:22] That's when I kind of discovered the power of, of hard money.

[00:29:25] I'm like, you know, at the time, like why hard money?

[00:29:28] I don't get it, you know, but I realized like, oh, I can borrow 90% and I can borrow the construction

[00:29:35] costs.

[00:29:36] I can borrow the construction loan for the, for the construction costs.

[00:29:40] I'm like, huh.

[00:29:42] And if I refinance, you know, I've been doing that all along.

[00:29:46] I just didn't have the right kind of formula until, until, and then I realized, oh, I can

[00:29:52] negotiate the rates.

[00:29:54] You know?

[00:29:54] Oh, there you go.

[00:29:55] Okay.

[00:29:56] And I'm like, oh, this is getting better.

[00:29:57] You know?

[00:29:58] Okay.

[00:29:58] And so I started realizing there's different leverages that allows me to get better deals,

[00:30:04] get better relationships, get better resources.

[00:30:07] Uh, and I, 20 is when I started realizing, okay, maybe, um, I got to look at this more,

[00:30:15] uh, in, you know, a better financial model and really scaling this way.

[00:30:20] Uh, and, you know, I, you know, I brought in a partner to manage operations because I don't

[00:30:26] want to be in the daily operations at that point.

[00:30:28] So I brought in a partner who is a younger version of me.

[00:30:32] There you go.

[00:30:33] He's also a, uh, yeah, he's also a, uh,

[00:30:36] construction engineer by, by, you know, by trade.

[00:30:40] Very good.

[00:30:41] And he's also general contractor license and, you know, he's, and he's hungry and, and he's

[00:30:46] got the hustle and he's got the business mindset and we're operating the same area.

[00:30:50] And we decided just, let's just partner, see where this goes and everything just kind of

[00:30:54] fit.

[00:30:54] That's great.

[00:30:55] Okay.

[00:30:55] And you found through the power of hard money that you can do more projects.

[00:31:00] If the numbers work with the added cost of the hard money, then you can do more projects.

[00:31:04] And then just recently you found if you bring on partnerships, maybe capital partners that

[00:31:10] you could even bring on more projects, I'm guessing.

[00:31:14] Right.

[00:31:14] That's right.

[00:31:15] That's right.

[00:31:16] So, and that's kind of where I'm operating now.

[00:31:18] Like here in Los Angeles, I've re quickly realized like going back to this whole thing about

[00:31:23] investing out of state for me.

[00:31:25] Um, so I invested in like multifamily.

[00:31:28] I even have RV campground out of state and you know, there's this whole sort of phenomenon

[00:31:34] that everybody's chasing a unit count.

[00:31:37] I think you and I were talking about this during one of the events, like everybody's infatuation.

[00:31:44] I'm like, Oh, I want to buy 5,000 units or 500,000 units.

[00:31:50] And meanwhile, I'm thinking, man, I've done that.

[00:31:54] I've done the multifamily.

[00:31:56] I'm like, that's just more doors.

[00:31:57] Just, just means more headaches to me.

[00:31:59] You know, it just, it just, it just takes away my time.

[00:32:03] You know, even if I'm managing property managers, like, man, I had, you know, I don't,

[00:32:08] I can't tell you how countless property managers have, I've fired.

[00:32:12] You know, so, so I started going down this avenue of like, well, why don't I focus on figuring

[00:32:21] out the least amount of units?

[00:32:24] Like, let me, let me 10 X the cashflow somehow.

[00:32:29] By figuring out what the exits are, by also 10 X less the units.

[00:32:34] See how I could, see how I can make that work.

[00:32:36] So I started thinking differently.

[00:32:39] And then this is when I started putting my product development hat.

[00:32:42] Cause I'm like, and that's when it dawned on me.

[00:32:46] Wow.

[00:32:47] People are looking at real estate incorrectly.

[00:32:49] People are looking at real estate as an investment.

[00:32:52] When it's a product.

[00:32:53] If you create a product that has a need or solving a problem, that's going to create a lot of demand.

[00:33:01] And so I started seeking out like, okay, well, I'm in Los Angeles.

[00:33:05] There's a massive housing crisis here.

[00:33:07] And within that housing crisis, there's a subset of population that needs even more housing that are very underserved.

[00:33:19] So, you know, outside of like short-term rental, midterm rental, which, you know, those are, those are vacation rentals really.

[00:33:26] Right.

[00:33:26] Or, you know, COVID kind of spiked that up a little bit, but outside of that, you got, you know, you got the underserved or like assisted living facilities for elderly.

[00:33:38] You got assisted living for those who have mental disabilities or behavioral, you know, they're, they're overlooked.

[00:33:45] You got these guys who are like, you know, who need sober homes.

[00:33:50] Interesting.

[00:33:51] Or like, or like, you know, treatment centers for rehab, for addiction.

[00:33:56] Yeah.

[00:33:56] So I started going down that path of like, wow.

[00:33:59] Okay.

[00:33:59] I can create a formula.

[00:34:01] I can create a product for all these different exits that will not only 10 X my cashflow, but then I don't have to buy that many units.

[00:34:10] And I can start looking at whatever deals I can find or whatever property I can even find an MLS that people aren't recognizing as deals because they don't have the right exit.

[00:34:22] But if I look at it at this lens, all of a sudden, what that doesn't look like a deal is a deal.

[00:34:28] Yeah.

[00:34:28] Does that make sense?

[00:34:29] It does.

[00:34:30] Yeah.

[00:34:31] Yeah.

[00:34:32] Yeah.

[00:34:32] So I started coming up with this idea and I think we spoke about this, that I'm calling kind of like a Swiss army knife.

[00:34:39] It's a Swiss army house.

[00:34:41] Okay.

[00:34:42] Multiple different strategies.

[00:34:43] So now I'm developing this idea of creating a product specifically for a co-living model where I can either use it for certain, for different strategies and I can pivot at any time.

[00:34:56] Regardless of what the, what's going on with the political landscape, regardless of what's going on with lending.

[00:35:03] If you've got a similar type of product that works for four or five different models, then all of a sudden you have all kinds of options.

[00:35:11] Right?

[00:35:11] That's right.

[00:35:23] That's right.

[00:35:25] I've got co-living models like student housing.

[00:35:29] That's another need, right?

[00:35:30] Student housing.

[00:35:32] There's also co-living models like rent by the room, furnished rent by the rooms.

[00:35:39] So I can do that too because there's a huge need here.

[00:35:42] It's an affordability issue, but we start renting them by the room.

[00:35:45] You can effectively get better rents and keep them occupied.

[00:35:53] And you've got the ADUs also.

[00:35:55] That's another thing here in California and Los Angeles.

[00:35:57] It's like with the ADUs, like that's one thing that California did right was allow these new zoning, you know, I guess up zoning of these single families.

[00:36:13] All of a sudden I can build four units, even some areas like San Diego, build up to eight, 10 units in one parcel.

[00:36:20] Yep.

[00:36:21] And can you explain what, what an ADU is?

[00:36:23] We don't talk about ADUs a lot.

[00:36:26] And it's something, it's a phenomenon.

[00:36:27] I think that, I think it started actually in Hawaii and now we're seeing a lot in LA and California and it's actually coming into Arizona now quite a bit as well.

[00:36:37] But can you talk about ADU a little bit?

[00:36:39] Yeah.

[00:36:40] I don't know if it started in Hawaii.

[00:36:41] I think it actually started in Los Angeles.

[00:36:44] Okay.

[00:36:44] Okay.

[00:36:45] I believe, but you know, they're, you know, I know Hawaii has it.

[00:36:48] They have, they're called casitas, but they're basically like another unit, you know, in Los Angeles.

[00:36:55] You know, you can, you can do different variations of an ADU.

[00:36:58] An ADU stands for accessory dwelling unit.

[00:37:01] You know, it's not technically a second unit, but it's considered, it's, it's, they look at it, at least in Los Angeles right now, they look at it as an amenity.

[00:37:10] It's kind of like having a pool house, but you can rent it out separately.

[00:37:13] Right.

[00:37:14] Okay.

[00:37:14] So I can convert a garage into an ADU or a living space that I can actually rent out.

[00:37:22] Okay.

[00:37:22] Um, and that's kind of the, their solution to being able to, uh, solve this housing crisis.

[00:37:31] Have you able to develop these things?

[00:37:33] Seattle is a little bit more advanced now because they're more progressive over there, but in Seattle, you're allowed to sell these units separately.

[00:37:42] Hmm.

[00:37:43] Which all of a sudden.

[00:37:45] Where in LA, you can't, you can't do that in LA?

[00:37:47] Well, they had just, they had just passed a law.

[00:37:50] The governor, the governor just signed a law saying that you can, but the infrastructure is still not in place to actually execute that.

[00:37:57] Got it.

[00:37:58] Uh, so that, that takes some time.

[00:38:00] The city moves too slow, but in anticipation of that being a thing, this is why I'm building these, these additional units now, because that's just going to, you know, that's just going to ramp up the, the, uh, equity portion of it.

[00:38:16] Not only that, but the cashflow.

[00:38:17] And what's interesting about this is California, you know, you, you get, California's got the stigma that everybody's like, oh, don't invest in California.

[00:38:25] You can't invest there.

[00:38:26] You know, it's just a appreciation play.

[00:38:29] You know, you can't cashflow there.

[00:38:30] Well, no, that's wrong.

[00:38:33] Yeah.

[00:38:34] You know, I'm cashflow and yeah.

[00:38:36] Appreciation.

[00:38:36] Awesome.

[00:38:37] Especially if you know how to force appreciation, you build a value really quickly.

[00:38:42] Like I'm, you know, I, if I can build something at 200 to 225, 250 per square feet, but all of a sudden retail values are on 800, 900 per square foot.

[00:38:53] Like.

[00:38:54] Unreal.

[00:38:54] You're going to win all day on just valuation.

[00:38:56] Yeah.

[00:38:57] And if you build more units, more bedrooms, that's just more cashflow, you know, and I'm able to burn these out because I've created all these value and cashflow already.

[00:39:07] Take all my money out.

[00:39:08] All of a sudden it's infinite return.

[00:39:10] And then the second layer of like putting these businesses on top, like assisted living, that's just going to 10 X everything.

[00:39:17] Oh my goodness.

[00:39:18] And so that's kind of my model right now.

[00:39:20] Um, and what's interesting about this, um, and what's interesting about this, just with the ADUs, uh, in rent control is another thing that people are scared of in California.

[00:39:29] Uh, but little known fact that most people don't understand is that any new build in Los Angeles in California is exempt from rent control for the next 15, the day they're, uh, issued their certificate of occupancy.

[00:39:43] So it's like, there's opportunity here.

[00:39:46] So, you know, you can build units are, uh, exempt from rent control.

[00:39:50] That's a big thing.

[00:39:51] That's huge.

[00:39:52] That's huge.

[00:39:54] Yeah.

[00:39:54] And it actually adds a premium probably to any units that are 15, that are newer than 15 years old.

[00:40:00] I would imagine.

[00:40:01] Right.

[00:40:02] Yep.

[00:40:02] That's exactly it.

[00:40:03] So, you know, and it's, you know, I'm, I'm headed that path.

[00:40:07] Like I'm developing now.

[00:40:08] Like I do, I call them micro developments, I guess.

[00:40:12] Not your, I mean, we do ground up developments, but those take a long time.

[00:40:15] Permitting takes a long time here.

[00:40:16] Um, but, um, you know, there's all these little tricks that we do.

[00:40:22] Like we'll buy, you know, we'll buy a two bedroom house, you know, that's on the market, two bedroom, one bathroom house, which are usually seem expensive to a lot of people.

[00:40:32] Cause it's like two bedrooms sound expensive.

[00:40:34] Right.

[00:40:35] Because they're usually, uh, you know, look that differently.

[00:40:41] Right.

[00:40:41] But I'm looking at it like, Ooh, that two bedroom, I can do that in a four bedroom.

[00:40:45] If I just add five rooms to our feet to it, I'm going to double the value just with that.

[00:40:49] If I put an ADU in the back, that's bonus.

[00:40:52] If I put another ADU in the back, that's even more bonus.

[00:40:56] Right.

[00:40:56] You know, it's all of a sudden every, it becomes a great deal.

[00:40:59] Um, and so, you know, the value there is the opportunity there is if you know how to kind of do this small developments, um, that you, that you can accomplish within, you know, we're, we're turning some of these units between, uh,

[00:41:11] six to about 18 months at a time.

[00:41:15] So much quicker than, you know, these larger builds.

[00:41:20] A lot of syndication is like three to five years, man.

[00:41:23] I'm like, I look at that now.

[00:41:24] It's an opportunity cost for me.

[00:41:27] Yep.

[00:41:28] Well, this is, yeah, this has been eyeopening and I think it's, it's a different conversation than what we've had on this podcast for the last, you know, going on two and a half years or so.

[00:41:38] Um, and, and I think it's a good option for a certain type of investor that is looking to work with somebody like you to put some of their money to work.

[00:41:49] So, um, we won't, we won't get into the details because I know a lot of the details are still being worked out about what type of opportunities are going to be available for you.

[00:41:59] But if our listeners wanted to reach out to you and talk a little bit more about this and see how these type of strategies could fit into their portfolio, how could our listeners find you?

[00:42:13] Oh, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm wrapping up my social media.

[00:42:16] Okay.

[00:42:18] Like, yeah, I've, I've been told like, you got to go on social media.

[00:42:21] You got a really cool, interesting story and really great strategy that no one's thinking about.

[00:42:26] And like, you gotta teach, you gotta reach and teach more people out there.

[00:42:31] So I've started ramping up my social media, um, which is, I was initially very uncomfortable with because I was kind of a DIY guy, stealth wealth, but all of a sudden like, all right, if I'm impacting as many lives as possible, that's, that's my goal.

[00:42:44] I guess, I guess maybe it's my duty to do so.

[00:42:47] So I'm on, I'm on, uh, Instagram, uh, I guess also some, you know, you can find me at Alvinized, A-L-V-I-N-I-Z-E-D.

[00:42:58] If you just Google that or whatever, I mean, you'll find me.

[00:43:02] You're everywhere.

[00:43:02] Okay.

[00:43:03] I'm, I guess I'm everywhere now.

[00:43:05] Very good.

[00:43:06] Very good.

[00:43:06] Well, that, that's how I found you initially everywhere and go abundance.

[00:43:09] Um, you started seeing your videos on some of the WhatsApp and then found you on social.

[00:43:14] So yeah, this is, this has been fun, Alvin.

[00:43:16] I think, uh, there's a lot of interesting opportunity that's going to come in the coming years, especially in this space.

[00:43:23] Um, and as affordable housing continues to be a bigger and bigger issue, it's going to, it's going to provide more opportunity for passive investors to get involved with operators like yourself.

[00:43:33] So I appreciate you coming on the show and, and helping us understand a little bit more about, uh, the positive aspects and benefits of working with somebody like yourself.

[00:43:44] So thank you.

[00:43:45] Thank you.

[00:43:46] Awesome.

[00:43:47] Well, let's, uh, let's do this.

[00:43:48] I do have a few questions I like to ask everybody before we wrap up.

[00:43:52] So let's jump into those real quick and I'll, I will send you on your way.

[00:43:56] I know you've got a lot going on today.

[00:43:57] So, um, if, if you were to give some advice to the newer, the newer passive investor, is there any specific educational resource that you would suggest they start with or be sure to have on their, on their, uh, on their bookshelf?

[00:44:13] Oh, you know, the, it's funny cause I've, I've been on a path of, uh, identifying what worked for me in my success, what brought me success.

[00:44:24] And there's four things that I've, I've, I've really focused on.

[00:44:29] Number one is skillset.

[00:44:32] Number one.

[00:44:33] And number two is relationships.

[00:44:36] Number three is resources.

[00:44:38] And number four, the most important thing is time.

[00:44:41] Uh, if you start focusing on all four of these, let's say you are able to buy back your time.

[00:44:46] Your time will allow you to get yourself more skillset to develop.

[00:44:52] Skillset leads to more resources and relationships.

[00:44:55] And all of these actually can kind of go and help each other kind of rise up.

[00:45:00] So it's almost like I'm constantly playing this game of like trying to figure out what to do next, elevate one to elevate the others.

[00:45:08] And that's one of the most important things I developed while I was kind of working my way through my path and my journey.

[00:45:18] And a very powerful book that I've, you, I've read recently is this buy back your time by Dan Martel.

[00:45:26] I love it.

[00:45:27] Yeah.

[00:45:27] This is, this is a great book, man.

[00:45:28] I'm like, you know, I, I've been kind of figuring out how to buy back my time and it just kind of 10 X, you know, you know, I guess that direction for me, you know, um, I got myself like an executive assistant.

[00:45:43] More virtual assistant.

[00:45:45] You know, I was able to, uh, think outside of being a DIY entrepreneur of like just delegating.

[00:45:53] I mean, that was a big thing.

[00:45:54] Um, you can't buy, you can't ever buy back your time unless you're delegating.

[00:45:59] And that's a big key lesson that I've learned.

[00:46:01] Um, and so I, I've been, and, and most important thing too, is once you buy back your time, don't just be watching Netflix all day.

[00:46:10] You know, you got to start using that time now to start buying yourself, you know, education, learning new skillsets.

[00:46:18] That's what I'm doing.

[00:46:19] Like every time I'm always like, okay, what's the next thing I got to chart?

[00:46:22] What's the next education I'm learning, doing assisted living next year.

[00:46:26] I'm going to start tackling sober living.

[00:46:28] So I'm like, I'm always leveling up by finding more resources and relations between those.

[00:46:33] And then within that, once I establish that, then I'm also looking for more time by, by finding, finding like operators, partners, you know, I've learned that real estate is a team sport.

[00:46:48] If, especially if you guys want to scale and, and not just in the business aspect of it, just even in its investment aspect of it, you know, there's, there's definitely different versions that you can apply.

[00:47:00] Awesome.

[00:47:01] I think that's, uh, yeah, that's great advice.

[00:47:03] I will put that in the show notes and I like how you tied those together.

[00:47:07] So free up your time so you can improve your skillset and then focus on your relationships and resources.

[00:47:12] What's, um, I'm curious, are there any podcasts that you're listening to that, uh, that jump out?

[00:47:19] Oh my gosh.

[00:47:20] I listened to so many podcasts, to be honest.

[00:47:22] Oh, you do?

[00:47:22] Good.

[00:47:23] All the time.

[00:47:24] Like I can't, I, I'm like a, I'm a podcast addict.

[00:47:27] Like, like my, I have like two AirPods is because they keep running out.

[00:47:32] So I'm like having, you know, if I'm at the gym, I'm listening to like different things.

[00:47:37] I mean, I started with like, it's for new investors, bigger pockets, great resource.

[00:47:41] Sure.

[00:47:41] Um, I discovered that in 2019 and I'm like, Oh, house hacking.

[00:47:45] Oh, I've been doing that already.

[00:47:46] It's called house hacking.

[00:47:48] You know?

[00:47:48] Yeah.

[00:47:49] So I've, I've been, I've, I've learned all those things, uh, before, but, uh, uh, bigger

[00:47:53] pockets is, it's just shortcut to knowledge.

[00:47:57] Um, I listened to all in podcasts because I like the, you know, listen, keeping up with

[00:48:02] a political climate and I just love the conversation they have.

[00:48:06] They're so much smarter than I am.

[00:48:07] So I'm like, okay, I got, I can learn from these guys.

[00:48:11] And then I, you know, I just random stuff, man.

[00:48:13] Like, you know, I, I listened to some CPA podcasts so I can learn how to, you know, uh, tax

[00:48:20] benefits, things like that, you know, listen to, um, uh, Ken McElroy's podcast.

[00:48:26] I forgot the name of it.

[00:48:27] Uh, but it's just, you know, uh, obviously Brandon Turner's podcast.

[00:48:32] Um, yeah, it just, you know, I, I just engulf myself with anything I can get my hands on.

[00:48:38] Um, yeah, I don't really have a, I don't really have a favorite, man.

[00:48:42] Like I'm, I like to diversify just because to me, knowledge is, you know, kind of, I like

[00:48:49] to cast a wide net because the wider the net I can cast, the more information I can have.

[00:48:55] And I'm really good at piecing things together for my own opinion.

[00:48:58] Yeah.

[00:48:59] Yep.

[00:48:59] Very good.

[00:49:00] All right.

[00:49:01] And then let's see, we spent a lot of time talking about due diligence.

[00:49:05] So I'm curious, is there a due diligence question that you think passive investors should be

[00:49:12] asking that maybe, maybe they're not, maybe the non-obvious due diligence question?

[00:49:17] Well, I will tell you from an operator standpoint, I mean, anyone can seem like they're doing

[00:49:22] big things.

[00:49:24] Um, you just have to make sure they have the track record.

[00:49:29] And sometimes that's really hard to, that's really hard to identify right off the bat.

[00:49:34] Cause you know, you have to understand that if this person is operating for a long time,

[00:49:38] then they must know what's going on.

[00:49:41] If they've gone through dips and realize the pain of making corrections, those are the

[00:49:48] operators you want because they made those mistakes.

[00:49:50] They're not going to make those mistakes again.

[00:49:53] I mean, to me, that's more, more important.

[00:49:54] It's all about the operator.

[00:49:55] You know, investors really need to look at the operator and where they've been, uh, and

[00:50:01] not what they're, not how good their, their investor deck looks like.

[00:50:05] Cause anybody can put that together, you know, anybody with a couple hundred dollars can have

[00:50:11] a beautiful investor deck, right?

[00:50:13] Yeah.

[00:50:13] And, and I, I, I personally feel like before you invest in anybody, watch them first, watch

[00:50:21] them for the first year or two, keep an eye on it.

[00:50:24] Ask other investors to invest with them.

[00:50:26] Have they actually done a full cycle, uh, or not, you know, or, you know, what, what's

[00:50:32] their reputation like, you know, even within GoBundance, you know, like everybody's like,

[00:50:37] you know, everybody's, uh, um, kind of concerned about certain operators that so-called have

[00:50:44] good reputations, you know, uh, even for me right now, like I'm, I'm scared to raise

[00:50:48] funds right now, to be honest, just because like, okay, let me, let me just thread the

[00:50:52] water lightly.

[00:50:53] You know, I want to make sure I prove this, you know, prove out some of these, well,

[00:50:58] not just that, but like, you know, I want to make sure I get full cycle with some of

[00:51:01] my new investors just because I want to, I want to feel good that they feel good.

[00:51:06] Yeah.

[00:51:07] That they're, that they got their money back.

[00:51:08] So, um, I'm, I'm almost like, I guess tapering some of the fundraising just because I want

[00:51:16] to make sure I can, I can continue and give a good experience.

[00:51:19] I think that's really smart.

[00:51:20] I think it's really smart because it's, um, you don't know what you don't know.

[00:51:24] Right.

[00:51:25] And you need, you're, you're playing in a new arena with new strategies and there's probably

[00:51:30] a lot of unknowns.

[00:51:32] Um, and I think the cautious approach makes, uh, makes a lot of sense.

[00:51:36] So, um, yeah, and it's, it's difficult when I suspect Alvin that you have a lot of people

[00:51:42] that would actually throw money at you.

[00:51:44] So, um, yeah, kudos to you.

[00:51:48] Yeah.

[00:51:49] Not, not so much that I don't, I'm not experienced in what I'm doing.

[00:51:52] It's more about, I'm not experiencing, uh, I'm not experienced in, in raising money in

[00:51:58] capital and managing capital investors.

[00:52:01] So I'm still learning how to put, uh, you know, funds together.

[00:52:07] And those are things I'm, you know, I think you and I had a discussion before about right

[00:52:11] now I'm just, you know, raising for gap funding, which is basically, you know, just, just

[00:52:16] quick secondary promissory notes.

[00:52:19] I haven't really put together a debt fund.

[00:52:21] That's my next kind of level, uh, might start to look into that next year.

[00:52:26] And this is why I'm kind of pulling back a little bit until I understand what that looks

[00:52:28] like.

[00:52:29] And that's what I meant by pulling back just because I want to understand that first, you

[00:52:33] know, from an operating standpoint, I'm pretty sure I, I'm, I'm pretty confident with what

[00:52:37] we do.

[00:52:38] We've proven it out already.

[00:52:40] Um, and you know, I just want to make sure though, that like, you know, I've got new investors.

[00:52:44] I don't want to burn anybody.

[00:52:45] You know?

[00:52:47] Yeah.

[00:52:47] No, I think that makes a lot of sense.

[00:52:49] I think it makes a lot of sense.

[00:52:50] And I think, um, I might challenge you as well.

[00:52:54] I mean, we're both good budding guys, so hopefully you're open to it, but you, you possess skills

[00:52:59] and have the ability of creating wealth for yourself.

[00:53:03] And I think you're doing your audience a disservice if you don't make that available to them.

[00:53:09] Thank you.

[00:53:10] I appreciate that.

[00:53:11] I, I, it's funny.

[00:53:13] My wife's looking at me right now.

[00:53:14] She's like, wait, you're too humble.

[00:53:16] Yeah.

[00:53:18] Yeah.

[00:53:19] But no, I'd, I'd rather have that than the opposite.

[00:53:21] So thank you for that.

[00:53:22] Um, but yeah, I would, I would urge you.

[00:53:24] Yeah.

[00:53:25] Just to consider to not go too slow with that.

[00:53:27] Cause there's a lot of investors out there that could use a partner like you to work with.

[00:53:31] So yeah.

[00:53:32] Yeah.

[00:53:32] I appreciate that.

[00:53:33] I just want to make sure to like, you know, I, I, I understand the process correctly, you

[00:53:38] know?

[00:53:39] Of course.

[00:53:39] Of course.

[00:53:41] Yep.

[00:53:42] I agree with your wife though.

[00:53:43] So don't be so modest.

[00:53:45] All right.

[00:53:46] Well, here's, here's a couple of fun ones just to wrap us up and, uh, we'll let you, let

[00:53:50] you go on your way and keep, creep, keep creating wealth for, for you and your investors.

[00:53:54] But is there a bucket list item that you've recently checked off your list or one you're

[00:53:58] hoping to in the near future?

[00:54:00] Um, well, this has to do with family.

[00:54:04] Uh, so, um, my, my kids have always been fans of Disney.

[00:54:12] And so we're, uh, we're, we're traveling to, uh, Japan, uh, in a couple months, uh, to go

[00:54:21] at the, the bucket list is to check off all the Disney parks and all of the, uh, all of

[00:54:26] the world.

[00:54:27] No kidding.

[00:54:28] And we're going to our first international one.

[00:54:31] And, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm really, uh, uh, excited about that.

[00:54:35] Kids are excited about it.

[00:54:36] Uh, my, my first born has been, uh, studying Japanese, learning Japanese just so he can

[00:54:42] go.

[00:54:43] So, um, but yeah, so that's one of the bucket lists that I've had and, um, you know, and

[00:54:48] just travel in general, you know, like, you know, up until this point, up until before

[00:54:54] I go, you know, I, before I joined GoBundance, I've never really traveled.

[00:54:57] Like I've always worked in like, I found a lot of enjoyment and passion, just building

[00:55:03] stuff and never really dabbled in the adventure aspect of travel.

[00:55:09] So, yeah.

[00:55:10] Yeah.

[00:55:11] Very cool.

[00:55:11] Yeah.

[00:55:11] That's, that is, uh, that is one thing that brought me to GoBundance and I've experienced

[00:55:16] the same thing since joining.

[00:55:17] So, um, not that this is an advertisement for GoBundance, but, uh, live life big, right?

[00:55:23] Yeah.

[00:55:24] Yeah, exactly.

[00:55:25] All right.

[00:55:26] And then our final question I want to ask you, uh, is if you had a hundred grand you had to

[00:55:31] invest today, but you couldn't put it in one of your own deals, where would you put

[00:55:35] that a hundred grand?

[00:55:36] Oh man.

[00:55:38] That, you know, that's, that's the, that's a question I was struggling with.

[00:55:41] Yeah.

[00:55:42] Cause the first, the first thing that comes to mind is I wouldn't even put it in a deal

[00:55:46] for myself.

[00:55:48] I would actually invest it in education to teach my kids something somehow.

[00:55:53] And I don't, I don't, I don't have a specific on that yet, but that's kind of where I want

[00:55:58] to put that info on because really that's kind of where I need to be.

[00:56:03] It's like, I look at legacy and execution and in this part of my journey, it's like, it's

[00:56:08] all about figuring out how to invest more into my kids education in one way or another

[00:56:15] without me forcing education down their throat, you know?

[00:56:18] So yeah, I don't have a specific direction for that, but that's my first instinct is like,

[00:56:26] you know, it's not going to go to myself because I can, I don't need that money to invest

[00:56:30] in because I can generate money on my own.

[00:56:34] But if, if I had an extra a hundred thousand dollars laying around, this is where I need

[00:56:39] to put it.

[00:56:40] The answer, I heard a quote recently.

[00:56:43] It probably wasn't go, but it's actually where, you know, people always tried to figure out

[00:56:48] this legacy piece and like, how much do you leave your kids?

[00:56:51] And I don't know who said it, but they said the ideal amount to leave your kids is enough

[00:56:56] that they can do anything, but not so much that they don't have to do anything.

[00:57:01] And I like that.

[00:57:03] I like that idea.

[00:57:03] Let's give them the resources and the opportunity to do anything that they want, but let's make

[00:57:10] sure that they earn that and have to work and have to hustle and have to go out there

[00:57:15] and get things done.

[00:57:16] So I really liked that answer.

[00:57:18] Thank you for sharing that.

[00:57:19] I've not heard that answer yet.

[00:57:20] There's, there's some interesting thing that I'm, you know, me and a couple of other friends

[00:57:25] of mine are kind of discussing about this word legacy.

[00:57:29] You know, the word legacy sounds very selfish as a word for me.

[00:57:33] It's like, Oh, my legacy.

[00:57:35] I want my kids to carry my legacy to me.

[00:57:37] That just seems so selfish.

[00:57:39] Right.

[00:57:39] But there's also another meaning to that.

[00:57:41] It was like, you know, passing something from generation to generation.

[00:57:45] Right.

[00:57:46] That to me is much more powerful, much more meaningful.

[00:57:48] It doesn't necessarily mean monetary and asset or wealth.

[00:57:52] Right.

[00:57:53] Yeah.

[00:57:53] But just the idea of teaching my kids how to actually build stuff.

[00:57:58] Yeah.

[00:57:59] Educating on how to actually start something.

[00:58:01] The reason I say that, I think it's really important to you guys because I've seen my

[00:58:06] family's generation of wealth kind of crumbled because my dad never kind of took over that

[00:58:12] business.

[00:58:12] So they kind of crumbled and he tried to build his own legacy, but he'd have the

[00:58:17] framework to do that.

[00:58:19] He had to sort of learn in a kind of weird way.

[00:58:23] And he just didn't get very far because he never had that sort of grit and framework

[00:58:31] to and discipline to kind of start that up.

[00:58:34] And this is why for me, like my focus on my kids is not talking about, you know, teaching

[00:58:44] them how to be shepherds of wealth, but more so like I want you guys to learn how to build

[00:58:49] things on your own.

[00:58:50] Build it from ground zero.

[00:58:53] Because what good is this thing if I give it to you, if you don't even know what to do

[00:58:57] with it and what happens if it goes down, if it crumbles, can you rebuild on your own?

[00:59:02] Right.

[00:59:03] Because if they can be on their own.

[00:59:05] Yeah.

[00:59:06] So the legacy is to me, it's like educating them on how to create their own wealth.

[00:59:13] And if they have my foundation, my wealth to begin with, then they can just build on top

[00:59:17] of that.

[00:59:17] But it's not for them to have.

[00:59:21] I don't want to have that sense of entitlement.

[00:59:23] In fact, I don't even, we don't even give our kids allowances.

[00:59:26] Everything they do, they earn on their own.

[00:59:28] And, you know, I have a 10 year old and 11 year old, I mean, a 10 year old who's turning

[00:59:32] 11.

[00:59:32] And I have a 14 year old who, you know, when he turned 14, I gave him the book, Rich Dad,

[00:59:40] Poor Dad, 14s.

[00:59:42] And he just opened his eyes.

[00:59:44] And, you know, I told him, look, you know, you want to learn how to invest, learn how

[00:59:51] to learn liabilities and assets.

[00:59:56] And he learned that.

[00:59:57] And just a couple of days ago, he's asking me, hey, Dad, you know, I want to invest in

[01:00:01] some stocks.

[01:00:02] And he was kind of like going back and forth.

[01:00:04] He picked out Apple and Tesla.

[01:00:07] And we're like, all right, which one are you going to go with?

[01:00:10] Yeah.

[01:00:11] He picked Apple.

[01:00:12] And guess what?

[01:00:13] Two days ago, Tesla shot up like 22%.

[01:00:15] He's like, damn it.

[01:00:17] Good lesson to learn early on.

[01:00:19] Good lesson to learn.

[01:00:20] But, you know, but I was so proud of him that he actually made that decision to invest on

[01:00:26] his own.

[01:00:27] And I didn't have to force it down his throat.

[01:00:28] Like, you know, they're learning how to see things in a different light.

[01:00:33] Yeah.

[01:00:33] Well, Elvin, this has been great.

[01:00:35] I really appreciate the discussion.

[01:00:37] And as I mentioned before, you kind of opened my eyes to some different opportunities that

[01:00:41] I've not been considering.

[01:00:43] So thank you so much for being on the show.

[01:00:45] This has been a lot of fun.

[01:00:47] Thank you.

[01:00:48] Awesome.

[01:00:49] All right.

[01:00:50] To our listeners, as always, we urge you to continue that education journey in passive

[01:00:56] investing.

[01:00:57] More important than that, though, we urge you to make the decision to invest in your first

[01:01:01] or in your next passive investment deal.

[01:01:03] I am convinced that once you do, you'll just wish that you had started that much earlier.

[01:01:07] So again, join us next Thursday for another great episode.

[01:01:11] And don't forget to like and subscribe on your favorite channel.

[01:01:14] And thanks again for joining us today.

[01:01:16] Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, another episode of The Gentle Art of Crushing

[01:01:21] It.

[01:01:21] It was an amazing episode.

[01:01:23] We know we sure learned a lot and we hope you did as well.

[01:01:26] We want to take a second and thank you so much for viewing or listening to this episode.

[01:01:31] And please just know that we only ask for one favor, and that is to make this life magnificent.

[01:01:37] Thank you and have a wonderful day.