EP 237: Mission Driven: Empowering Military Families through Real Estate with Adam LaBarr

[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 will be your host today and really excited to have Adam LaBarr with us. Adam is the founder and CEO of RAL Capital Group, which primarily invests in multifamily and residential assisted living. He's also the owner of Active Duty Passive Income, and finally the podcast host of the Biz Dad podcast. So Adam, welcome to the show.

[00:00:55] Thank you so very much for having me, Randy. Really excited to be here.

[00:00:58] Awesome. Well, let's jump right in. I like to ask all guests when we first get started about your perspective on today's market and how you think that is impacting opportunities for the passive investor.

[00:01:09] Yeah, so I think that as we're recording this, almost a month after the election, I think that things may change here or there depending on how stuff happens on January 20th, right? But I'd say right now, this very moment, what I've been seeing is a lot of, really for like the past year, has been a lot of deals that have been difficult to find that the numbers work out.

[00:01:27] Over probably the last year, maybe two years to the point where it's difficult to get any cash on cash return that makes sense for the investor or the operator. You know, you have to really dig hard. It takes a lot of work to go find these deals like you're working a lot for free because you don't make any money as the person finding the deal until the deal closes.

[00:01:44] So I'd say for the passive investor, what it means is that when you find a good deal, it's probably time to jump in, right? If you're really looking for a deal and you find one that cash flows and you have an operator that you trust, it's time to jump into it.

[00:01:54] But, you know, it's a difficult market to kind of float through right now just because, you know, people saw a lot of excitement in being able to sell at a high price, which I was one of those people who sold at a high price because somebody offered it to me.

[00:02:04] And I said, sure, I'll sell some of these things. Like, I think you're crazy. You know, in the hindsight, I may have sold a slight bit early, but it worked out really well.

[00:02:11] But now that means that those people who didn't sell then are really mad that they didn't. And the rates went up and the prices are just kind of stagnant.

[00:02:18] So it's tough right now to find the right deals. So if you find them, jump on them as quick as you can, because it's time to get into those as soon as you can find them.

[00:02:26] 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?

[00:02:32] Are you stuck in your W-2 because the golden handcuffs make it hard to walk away?

[00:02:36] If this sounds like you, check out impactequity.net and schedule some time to talk with the founder, Randy Smith.

[00:02:43] Randy went from massive income to leaving his W-2 through passive income, and he can help you do the same.

[00:02:50] www.impactequity.net

[00:02:53] Yeah, no, I would agree with you 100%. Like I came into this space just a handful of years ago, and the last couple of years have been rough.

[00:02:59] So finding specific strategies that drive additional NOI, I think that's the key in today's market.

[00:03:07] But I think, you know, in the coming years, it's going to be hopefully get back to probably not the glory days, but certainly back to a market where you could go out there, pencil a bunch of deals and find a handful that actually makes sense.

[00:03:18] Well, good. Well, thank you for that perspective. I always like to get that on the front end.

[00:03:22] One, just to kind of test, like, are you a glass is half full or a glass is half empty type of guy?

[00:03:27] But just to get your gut feel where you're at today, and I think we're in alignment.

[00:03:30] Let's jump back. Adam, can you walk the audience through a little bit about your background?

[00:03:34] I gave a very, very high-level overview of who you are.

[00:03:37] Snapshot today, but I know there is a lot more story there.

[00:03:40] So, yeah, tell us a little bit more about Adam.

[00:03:43] Boy, is this a three-hour podcast? Is that what we have this book for?

[00:03:46] I got a long way out.

[00:03:47] Try to keep it under three, yeah.

[00:03:48] Okay, all right. I'll keep it under three hours, yeah.

[00:03:50] So I was a military brat turned military guy.

[00:03:53] I joined the military right out of high school.

[00:03:55] I was jumping around the world doing all sorts of crazy stuff.

[00:03:58] I started off as a crew chief on the stealth fighter many, many years ago,

[00:04:01] back when that plane was flying around.

[00:04:02] And then I became a dog handler and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan,

[00:04:06] living paycheck to paycheck.

[00:04:07] I had no idea what I was doing in my life.

[00:04:08] I didn't know what saving money meant.

[00:04:10] I didn't know anything about any investing, nothing.

[00:04:13] Ended up getting out of the military.

[00:04:14] I got married while I was in college.

[00:04:16] My wife is also Air Force.

[00:04:18] She was the one who said, hey, we should look at real estate.

[00:04:21] I kind of laughed at her and then decided I was going to go lose money in the stock market.

[00:04:25] And so I did.

[00:04:26] I lost money in the stock market and said, honey, what was that you mentioned about real estate again?

[00:04:30] Because her mom had a rental property.

[00:04:32] Her grandma had two rental properties.

[00:04:34] So she just thought, hey, we should have a house that we rent out to people.

[00:04:38] And I didn't think anything of it, but I started researching it and digging into it.

[00:04:41] And I said, hey, I think we're going to buy apartment buildings.

[00:04:42] And she was like, what are you talking about?

[00:04:45] And I said, yeah, I think that's what we're going to do.

[00:04:47] So my very first investment property was a 62-unit apartment.

[00:04:50] I bought it with the guys.

[00:04:52] Yeah, it was a very terrible deal.

[00:04:56] But I'm really glad I did it.

[00:04:58] It was one of those that I tell people that you either realize that you could do anything in real estate if you went through that or you run so far away from it that you never want to touch real estate again.

[00:05:08] And thankfully, I had already gotten to my second deal before that one really started going south.

[00:05:12] So it worked out well for me that I just stayed in real estate.

[00:05:15] But I was actually living in Japan at the time that we bought it.

[00:05:18] So I was in a mastermind group, We'll Barrow Profits with Jake and Gino.

[00:05:22] I don't know if you know who those guys are.

[00:05:23] I do, yeah.

[00:05:24] I was in their group long – I mean, this was years ago at this point.

[00:05:26] But I think 2016, 17, somewhere around there.

[00:05:31] But I got into their group.

[00:05:33] And within six months, I bought my first deal with a couple guys from in there.

[00:05:36] And it was off to the races from there.

[00:05:38] I invested passively.

[00:05:39] And then I bought a few more deals and really just enjoyed doing it.

[00:05:42] My wife had no idea what to do with herself when I told her we were going to buy an apartment building.

[00:05:45] She was like, I'm sorry.

[00:05:46] I was thinking like a house maybe?

[00:05:48] What do you mean an apartment?

[00:05:49] But, yeah, so that's how I kind of got into it.

[00:05:51] Learned how to save and invest and realize all this stuff and how much fun it was.

[00:05:55] But I ended up getting out of the military after becoming a dad, shortly after becoming a dad.

[00:05:59] I spent about 18 years in, but I wanted to be around my kids more than I wanted anything else.

[00:06:04] So now I homeschool my kids.

[00:06:06] My kids are home all the time.

[00:06:07] They travel on almost every trip with me.

[00:06:10] They are world travelers.

[00:06:12] They've been to like eight countries.

[00:06:13] They love hanging around doing all sorts of stuff.

[00:06:15] But, yeah, that's a quick snippet about me.

[00:06:18] I love it.

[00:06:19] I love it.

[00:06:19] So 18 years, first of all, thank you so much for your service.

[00:06:22] That's amazing.

[00:06:22] My pleasure.

[00:06:23] Appreciate it.

[00:06:24] And I've heard the conversation so many times where guys, you know, they get deployed,

[00:06:27] they go to different bases, or they buy a different house each time that they get moved to a new location.

[00:06:32] And that's how they kind of fall into space.

[00:06:34] And you just decided to bypass all of that and jump in and do a 62.

[00:06:38] You very, very, very rarely hear people jumping in and buying a 62 unit at first.

[00:06:44] For the listener who's thinking, maybe I should jump into full multifamily as an active investor,

[00:06:49] can you talk about that deal a little bit and what it looked like?

[00:06:51] And maybe some of the challenges, maybe some of the wins.

[00:06:54] What did that look like?

[00:06:55] So I'll say that, like, my brain works on, I'm a very analytical guy, very, like, if the numbers make sense, you do it.

[00:07:02] If they don't, you don't, right?

[00:07:03] I always say if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense.

[00:07:05] Like, just don't, just don't jump into it.

[00:07:06] So for this particular deal, well, how I got to apartment buildings was I just kind of started analyzing deals and where I wanted my future.

[00:07:12] I said, okay, what do I want for my wife and I and our kids?

[00:07:16] Where do I want us to be financially?

[00:07:17] Where do I want the numbers to be?

[00:07:18] Okay, well, how many houses is that going to take at $100 to $300 per door that I, you know, cash flow on it?

[00:07:24] And I was like, boy, it's going to take forever to get there.

[00:07:27] And I had the benefit of not having ever invested in anything.

[00:07:30] So I didn't have anything in my brain that said, hey, this is, you're supposed to start single family, which I would say you're not supposed to.

[00:07:37] Like, there is no, you know, one path to do it.

[00:07:39] Obviously, I didn't go that path, right?

[00:07:42] So I just said, hey, I think economy is a scale.

[00:07:44] Apartments make sense to me.

[00:07:45] Like, numbers-wise, this makes a whole lot of sense.

[00:07:47] I'm going to jump into it.

[00:07:48] So that first deal, yeah, I met with some folks.

[00:07:51] They reached out to me after being, you know, interacting in the community for a little while.

[00:07:54] They said, hey, I'd love to, you know, see if you want to jump in on this deal.

[00:07:57] I did a quick underwriting of it.

[00:07:59] I thought, yeah, this looks like it could actually work out pretty well.

[00:08:02] It was a major rehab.

[00:08:03] So it was like a C-class property and a B-class area with D-class tenants.

[00:08:07] So it's like, okay, this has potential, right?

[00:08:11] Because, and it was, you know, like, if we can rehab this to be a B-minus property in this B-class area and put B-class tenants in there,

[00:08:18] we're going to be in a pretty good spot compared to where we're buying it at.

[00:08:21] Yeah, well, part of the business plan was not all of the D-class tenants literally kind of getting together and saying,

[00:08:26] hey, how about we just don't pay any money?

[00:08:27] Because what are they going to do?

[00:08:28] Kick us all out?

[00:08:30] Well, we did, right?

[00:08:31] We ended up having to.

[00:08:32] So the sheriff's department came over.

[00:08:33] They were knocking on all the doors.

[00:08:35] Like, I mean, couches getting thrown out the door into the dumpsters.

[00:08:38] Everybody just stopped paying and everybody got evicted.

[00:08:40] It was an absolute mess.

[00:08:41] Contractors walking out on us.

[00:08:43] All of the money that we were supposed to be using for rehab went into paying all the bills.

[00:08:46] So we weren't able to actually rehab it.

[00:08:48] And it just, we had to go from, you know, bridge loan to bridge loan.

[00:08:51] I mean, it was a disaster.

[00:08:54] Sure.

[00:08:55] And of course, at the time, you're like independently wealthy and you're just a gazillionaire.

[00:09:02] So you can cash flow.

[00:09:03] Absolutely.

[00:09:04] You know, cash flow myself without any issues.

[00:09:06] Yeah.

[00:09:07] No, that is not.

[00:09:08] So it was funny because I told my wife once, I said, honey, there's going to be a day where

[00:09:13] I'm probably going to come up to you and I'm going to say, honey, I'm really sorry.

[00:09:15] We lost $30,000 on this deal.

[00:09:17] But the benefit is, is that the knowledge that that $30,000 will give us will make us

[00:09:21] $300,000.

[00:09:22] And as this deal was going farther and farther south, I was thinking to myself,

[00:09:25] huh, that check's a little bigger at this point than $30,000.

[00:09:29] I don't know what my wife's going to say.

[00:09:30] Because this, again, is our first deal.

[00:09:32] And I had just got us into another deal.

[00:09:33] So it was like, my wife's going to kill me if this goes completely, you know, over end.

[00:09:39] And, and thankfully we ended up getting it to the point where we could sell it off.

[00:09:43] And we made like 1% over the three years we owned that, you know, so we didn't lose money.

[00:09:48] But, but man, oh man, was it just an unbelievably stressful time.

[00:09:52] There are multiple times you get into those conversation at the end of the bed and like

[00:09:54] your heart's in your throat and you're freaking out.

[00:09:57] And you're like, I don't know how I'm going to have this conversation with my wife at the

[00:09:59] end of this phone call that I'm having.

[00:10:00] And it just, it was, it was a rough one.

[00:10:02] It was a tough, tough deal.

[00:10:03] Yeah.

[00:10:04] Gosh, I can, I can only imagine.

[00:10:06] Hey, I about had, I did single family.

[00:10:08] So I went that route and we had that situation where we walked into a property where we were

[00:10:13] thinking about doing 10 or $15,000 of rehab and the contractor had accidentally gutted

[00:10:18] the thing down to the two by fours.

[00:10:20] And we just looked at each other like, goodness, like, what are we going to do now?

[00:10:24] That's an accident.

[00:10:25] That's a, that's a really bad accident.

[00:10:27] Yeah.

[00:10:28] Yeah, exactly.

[00:10:29] It's certainly not as bad as having 62 residents move out within a short time period, but I can only

[00:10:33] imagine what you're going through there.

[00:10:35] Now, were you actually, you were in the military at the time?

[00:10:37] Yes.

[00:10:37] You were doing this one.

[00:10:38] Okay.

[00:10:38] So you're.

[00:10:39] And on the other side of the world, I was in Japan.

[00:10:41] Yeah.

[00:10:42] Unbelievable.

[00:10:42] Okay.

[00:10:43] So did you at least have like part of your team there feet on the ground?

[00:10:47] And that's one thing I'll always say is, is I won't buy a deal unless I have good solid

[00:10:51] boots on the ground.

[00:10:52] Sometimes that's a trusted third party property manager, but they've got to be really trusted.

[00:10:55] Like one of my partners has used them before we know, like, and trust them type of thing,

[00:10:59] but I've got to have boots on the ground.

[00:11:00] So two of the guys wore boots on the ground there.

[00:11:02] Yeah.

[00:11:03] Love it.

[00:11:03] Love it.

[00:11:04] Yeah.

[00:11:04] So now when you, when you go back to that thought that you shared with your wife and you

[00:11:07] said this $30,000 mistake might make us $300,000 in the future.

[00:11:10] In hindsight, would you say that that experience has brought probably more value than the 300,000?

[00:11:17] Yeah.

[00:11:18] I mean, the, you know, it's similar when I talk to people about they're going to get their

[00:11:22] MBA because they want to start a business and I'm like, you can, you can go get your

[00:11:25] MBA if you want, but I, I can almost guarantee you that a majority of the people that are

[00:11:28] teaching that MBA have never actually ran a business.

[00:11:30] So your best bet, if you want to learn how to run a business is to go and run a business

[00:11:33] because there's no education, like actually doing it.

[00:11:36] So going through all of that and watching what happened with the contractors and watching

[00:11:39] what happened with partners and watching how it all went down.

[00:11:42] And it was like, okay, I, I learned a lot more about when to bring the right partner in,

[00:11:47] how to vet a partner better, when to talk to like how to work with contractors on a, on

[00:11:51] a more intimate level.

[00:11:52] You know, one of my, one of my partners is a good friend of mine.

[00:11:55] I asked him, I said, Hey, let me, and when things started going, not so great.

[00:11:57] I said, Hey, let me review the contract.

[00:11:59] I looked at this kind of like, Hey, this is my first investment deal.

[00:12:01] I'm bringing some capital in.

[00:12:03] I know how to underwrite.

[00:12:04] I know how to do all that stuff, but you know, I'll let some folks run, run their thing.

[00:12:08] Cause I don't really know.

[00:12:09] And then I was like, man, things are just not going well.

[00:12:11] Let me just review this contract.

[00:12:12] And the guy was like, Hey, you know, it's more of a handshake than a, than a contract.

[00:12:15] And I was like, it's a couple hundred thousand dollars.

[00:12:18] What do you mean a handshake?

[00:12:19] And I was so confused.

[00:12:20] I was like, that's not, that doesn't make any sense to me at all.

[00:12:22] So, you know, it's, I'd say just, just having some of those things that I'm talking about

[00:12:26] right now were enough that future deals.

[00:12:28] I was like, Hey, let me ask these questions.

[00:12:30] Let me be confident in where I'm going.

[00:12:32] Let me be confident even in myself to say, Hey, like you have, you have the knowledge,

[00:12:36] skills and abilities, even if it was through, through military stuff to jump in and take

[00:12:40] control in some of these areas and do well and invest properly.

[00:12:43] And then it also helped me when it came to some passive investing that I've done.

[00:12:46] So in being able to underwrite and ask questions of the operator and say, Hey, what, what are

[00:12:50] your ideas here?

[00:12:51] What are your thoughts there?

[00:12:52] Yeah.

[00:12:53] Yeah.

[00:12:53] So I'm curious with that experience, we talk a ton about due diligence here, but I'm curious

[00:12:58] your thoughts about partner selection and it can be around passive investments, active

[00:13:03] investments, or just the guys that you're going to, to go buy assets with.

[00:13:07] What has that due diligence process evolved to today?

[00:13:11] When you're looking at potentially partnering with a new partner, what do you do to feel confident

[00:13:17] that you're not going to run into one of those $200,000, no contract situations again?

[00:13:21] Yeah.

[00:13:22] So there's a couple of layers to that is one, a, I like to sit down and break bread with

[00:13:29] the person that I'm going to be partnering with.

[00:13:31] Like I want to know who they are.

[00:13:31] I want to meet their wife.

[00:13:32] I want to meet their, or their, their husband, whoever it is.

[00:13:35] I want to like the property is a property.

[00:13:37] I can underwrite the property and figure out what the numbers are going to do, but the

[00:13:41] partner can make or break the deal or will make or break the deal in most, most cases.

[00:13:45] Uh, there are, of course, there's always, you know, outside agencies that could ruin something,

[00:13:50] you know, some tax thing or some Brandon Turner was recently speaking at my, my company's

[00:13:55] conference.

[00:13:55] And we sat down and he was, he was like, yeah, like we all of a sudden had this like $2 million

[00:14:00] tax raise, a tax increase on three of our properties combined.

[00:14:03] And he was like, that does a lot to a fund.

[00:14:05] And I was like, yeah, those are the things that of course you have to communicate that

[00:14:08] with your investors, but you can't like that.

[00:14:10] You can't foresee if that's going to happen.

[00:14:12] You can maybe guess whether or not that's going to happen, but the partner side of the house,

[00:14:16] you can foresee, like you could sit down and have conversations with them.

[00:14:18] You can figure out who they are.

[00:14:19] You could do the background check.

[00:14:20] I haven't gotten to the point where I do background checks on partners yet, but I, at

[00:14:23] least, I mean, I'll check everything out on Facebook.

[00:14:25] I'll learn who they are.

[00:14:26] I will, uh, again, sit down and have dinner with them.

[00:14:29] I want to know ins and outs of them.

[00:14:31] If they'll have a drink, have them a drink, kind of loosen up when I was in Japan.

[00:14:33] That was one thing that like the Japanese, I worked a lot with the Japanese law enforcement

[00:14:37] while I was there.

[00:14:37] And they, uh, in their culture, they won't trust you in any business deal until they've been

[00:14:42] drunk with you because they want to see who you are drunk because that's how they can

[00:14:45] establish whether or not you're a trustworthy type of person.

[00:14:47] And I don't get to the point where I need them to be drunk, but I want to know that they're

[00:14:50] loose enough to be able to see who they actually are.

[00:14:52] How do they treat the people around them?

[00:14:53] So it's much more about the jockey than it is about the deal at this point, because,

[00:14:57] uh, the deal, you know, I can, I can pencil that out and see if it works or not.

[00:15:00] Um, but you know, that, that person running it can really kill the deal in a heartbeat.

[00:15:05] Well, good lessons.

[00:15:07] And I love the fact that you say sitting down and actually breaking bread with somebody as

[00:15:10] well.

[00:15:10] I think, um, you know, I, I think anybody can show up for a podcast or for a presentation

[00:15:16] or an investor debt or something like that, but like watching people like in their true

[00:15:21] setting, how they truly perform, how they, you know, hear people say, like, how do they

[00:15:24] treat the waiter?

[00:15:25] How do they treat the person at the front door?

[00:15:26] How do they treat those type of people?

[00:15:27] Cause that's how they're going to treat you and your, your colleagues and your employees

[00:15:32] and your residents when you get into business with them.

[00:15:35] So I love that you're sharing that.

[00:15:37] I think that the, you know, it was evident in, in this, in this election that we just

[00:15:41] saw, right.

[00:15:42] Where, you know, when, when you have somebody get on a three hour long podcast, you can

[00:15:46] kind of see who they are, right.

[00:15:48] In real life, you can kind of see how somebody is like anybody could fake it.

[00:15:51] I could completely be faking everything I'm talking about right now on a 30, 40 minute

[00:15:55] podcast.

[00:15:55] Um, and I can have some script that I use all the time on a 40 minute podcast and be fine.

[00:16:00] And everybody will think I'm okay.

[00:16:01] Um, but if I, if you sit down with somebody for three hours, you're going to kind of have

[00:16:04] a better idea who they are and have actual conversations with them.

[00:16:07] Um, you know, you're going to kind of have a much better idea of, of who the heck they

[00:16:10] are.

[00:16:11] Uh, and one thing I forgot to mention on the due diligence of the person is what the, the alignment

[00:16:15] long-term, right?

[00:16:16] You could like you and I may sit down and have an amazing dinner together.

[00:16:20] We love what we're doing.

[00:16:21] Like, man, I think we could make great partners.

[00:16:23] And then all of a sudden you're like, yeah, like I, I love doing these things.

[00:16:26] I want a two year hold.

[00:16:27] I want it to be gone.

[00:16:27] But if my vision is a 10 year hold and then refinance at seven years and then keep on

[00:16:31] holding after that, like we're no longer in alignment.

[00:16:34] Like our, our future desires for the property are no longer in alignment.

[00:16:38] Right.

[00:16:38] Or if, if you want to say, Hey, every single back to school, I want to have a back to school

[00:16:43] drive inside the neighborhood.

[00:16:44] We have backpack giveaways and all this stuff.

[00:16:46] And I'm over here being a penny pitcher and say, no, like every, like if we spend that,

[00:16:49] that $6,000 at a six cap, I mean, now we're losing a bunch of value in the, like you and

[00:16:53] I may be on a different alignment as well.

[00:16:55] Doesn't mean either one of us are bad people.

[00:16:57] Like, you know, sometimes you experience with partners, but it means that you need to know

[00:17:00] what the future looks like for, for you guys as partners as well.

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:04] So yes, I agree with a hundred percent.

[00:17:08] And I think people change in the evolve as well throughout these business partnerships.

[00:17:12] So it's hard to know what's going to happen there, but I'm really trying to dig in myself

[00:17:15] personally, because I, I'm a fairly new entrepreneur as well.

[00:17:18] Call it two and a half years, maybe three years.

[00:17:20] I interviewed entrepreneurs for 15 years in my W2, but actually being an entrepreneur

[00:17:25] is very, very different than reading the book about it or observing it or watching it.

[00:17:28] And I'm trying to figure out like this fast track process to like truly vetting people.

[00:17:35] Like I could interview people as a sales manager and see how they're going to perform

[00:17:39] there.

[00:17:39] But beyond that, like, how can I, and this is, I guess I am interviewing you to find this

[00:17:45] stuff out because you've clearly shown that you can do this, but like, how do you do

[00:17:49] that?

[00:17:50] Like breaking bread is one thing, you know, meeting multiple times, three hour conversation.

[00:17:55] Like, how do you go deeper?

[00:17:56] Like, how do you really get to know the person that you're, you're potentially signing multimillion

[00:18:01] dollar contracts with?

[00:18:02] Yeah, it's honestly, it's, it is difficult.

[00:18:04] And there's no, even, I mean, I've recently had partner issues, right?

[00:18:09] So it's one of those things that even after you've had, it's like having bad contractor

[00:18:13] issues.

[00:18:13] There's always bad contractors out there, right?

[00:18:15] And there's always going to be bad partners.

[00:18:17] You can only do what you can do, but the signs need to, like the second you start seeing

[00:18:20] signs, don't push them away too often.

[00:18:22] We're like, oh, well, I could have just misunderstood this.

[00:18:24] Like, no, ask the question, right?

[00:18:26] Be okay with uncomfortable, difficult conversations.

[00:18:28] Like ask the question why, like, Hey, you said this thing and I didn't quite understand

[00:18:32] it.

[00:18:32] I took it as this, what does it actually mean?

[00:18:34] And that way they can kind of start to explain what that means to them because they may be

[00:18:38] saying one word and you hear it differently.

[00:18:40] Like they, you know, they like long-term to them may mean something different than long-term

[00:18:43] to you.

[00:18:44] So like, let's break it down.

[00:18:45] And when you're talking about much deeper and more difficult things, like, you know, Hey,

[00:18:49] you said this thing about tenants.

[00:18:51] And I'm curious what that meant.

[00:18:53] Can you help me understand what you were saying and having the difficult conversations?

[00:18:56] It's one of those, like, you don't, you don't jump right in on the first day and

[00:18:59] get married most people.

[00:19:01] And I wouldn't recommend doing that with, with a partner also, because you're getting

[00:19:04] into a contractual relationship with somebody.

[00:19:07] So, you know, and that goes into, because, you know, we, in one, in one company that I'm,

[00:19:12] I'm an owner of, we, we recently were redoing our operating agreements and previously the operating

[00:19:17] agreement was very much in favor of the individuals.

[00:19:20] Right.

[00:19:20] And now we said, Hey, like we need to make this operating agreement in favor of the company.

[00:19:24] How do we make the company survive?

[00:19:25] And that means that we need to have a way to stop individuals from participating in the

[00:19:31] business.

[00:19:32] If needed, like having an operating agreement written down and say, Hey, when I'm, when

[00:19:35] we're writing up this business agreement and you and I are becoming partners, we think that

[00:19:38] this is going to work out well, but the OA can be kind of a prenup for the marriage.

[00:19:42] Right.

[00:19:42] And have it set up inside the OA that says, Hey, these three duties are yours.

[00:19:45] These three duties are mine.

[00:19:47] And if one of us doesn't achieve those duties, this third person is an arbiter for us.

[00:19:51] And if they think that one of us is not operating in and fulfilling our duties, then we have a

[00:19:55] 30 day period to correct the issue.

[00:19:57] And if we don't correct the issue, then that person has the ability to immediately buy that

[00:20:00] person out, you know, and there's, there's just ways to kind of write it up to where you're

[00:20:04] protecting the business and protecting each other and say, Hey, I think we're going to be great

[00:20:08] partners, but life happens.

[00:20:10] Like you said, you never know when something's going to change.

[00:20:11] Like I may, I may have a fourth kid and all of a sudden I go, Hey, this fourth kid, like

[00:20:15] I didn't foresee having a fourth kid that has autism and is deaf.

[00:20:18] And like, I'm struggling with these things.

[00:20:20] And I just, I don't have the time and ability.

[00:20:22] That's a very innocent reason why I won't be able to be a partner with you, but we have

[00:20:26] to have something written out that allows us to be able to separate this, you know,

[00:20:30] mutually to be able to make it happen.

[00:20:32] That is so smart.

[00:20:33] That is so smart.

[00:20:34] I love like this idea of the OA being the prenup, like asking the hard questions, like this is

[00:20:39] how we're going to break up.

[00:20:40] Try to think of every possible reason that could cause that and then solve for that.

[00:20:44] I really like your point about having the hard conversations too.

[00:20:47] I had a recent situation with somebody who I've, I've been doing business with for five

[00:20:51] or six years and it's always been rainbows and unicorns.

[00:20:55] And all of a sudden we enter a phase where things are a little bit challenging.

[00:20:58] And I start asking questions and a whole different person shows up.

[00:21:02] All of a sudden I'm like, gosh, who have I been doing business with?

[00:21:04] When everything was going well, it was great.

[00:21:06] But now that things are challenging, I'm seeing a different side of this person that I wish

[00:21:10] I would have known on the front end.

[00:21:13] So good stuff.

[00:21:14] Good stuff.

[00:21:14] Well, yeah, this is an interesting conversation about that piece of it.

[00:21:19] But considering that we're trying to educate and inspire the newer, newer passive investor,

[00:21:23] let's jump back if we can into the real estate related topics and talk a little bit about what

[00:21:30] your world and your organization looks like today.

[00:21:33] I know you've done multifamily and residential assisted living.

[00:21:36] Can we talk about REL a little bit to dig into that?

[00:21:39] Because we haven't talked about that much on this podcast yet.

[00:21:42] Yeah, so the residential assisted living, we have a 44 bed up outside of Atlanta.

[00:21:47] And I got brought into that one.

[00:21:49] So it was already, they had already kind of started it, had a partner in there.

[00:21:52] And it was a previous partner of mine that invited me in because they were having contractor

[00:21:56] issues.

[00:21:57] And I had had some issues with some contractor stuff, right?

[00:22:00] So I bought into the deal, jumped in and started working with it.

[00:22:04] And it's one of those that is, there is real estate involved.

[00:22:08] But even when you're talking to like the SBA, because you can get an SBA loan on these,

[00:22:11] right?

[00:22:12] So they value the business and they value the real estate.

[00:22:15] So when you have to look at both values and say, okay, what is my combined value?

[00:22:18] What can I get a loan for?

[00:22:19] What can I not get a loan for?

[00:22:20] How do they evaluate the business versus the real estate?

[00:22:23] And, you know, what can I do with these?

[00:22:24] Because it is a business, not just the real estate where apartment buildings, yes, still

[00:22:29] a business.

[00:22:29] But it is purely around the real estate where the business on residential assisted living

[00:22:34] is purely about the customer and where they're at.

[00:22:37] And, you know, your client is not even the person that's living in there.

[00:22:40] It's usually their kids who your client is.

[00:22:42] So now it's like, okay, well, how do I find these clients?

[00:22:43] And how do I get relationships with these hospitals who are going to be referring these

[00:22:47] folks over to me?

[00:22:47] And like, it's so much more, it's so much different about how you're marketing and what

[00:22:51] you're marketing and how you're evaluating the business and all the expenses that go into

[00:22:55] it.

[00:22:55] Because like we, we focus on memory care.

[00:22:57] So there's a lot of like, okay, well, I need to have certain amount of nurses or like, and

[00:23:02] when you get to a certain level, okay, we have to have a doctor on staff.

[00:23:04] Now it's not just a nurse.

[00:23:05] Like we have to have a doctor on staff and like, okay, well, it's multi-level.

[00:23:09] So now I need enough nurses to cover or enough staff to cover the first floor and the second

[00:23:14] floor.

[00:23:14] How do I make sure that I'm covering all of it?

[00:23:15] It just, it's a whole different world than just, you know, having an apartment building.

[00:23:19] Yeah.

[00:23:20] Yeah.

[00:23:21] Yeah.

[00:23:21] It's interesting.

[00:23:22] I've heard, and I shared this with you before, but I've heard multifamily

[00:23:25] guys jumping into assisted living and they think it's as easy as hiring an operator and

[00:23:29] they're going to take care of everything.

[00:23:30] And what I've heard from these guys is that it's much, much harder.

[00:23:33] There's a very difficult, challenging business that is underlying with residential assisted

[00:23:38] living.

[00:23:38] And it is not for the faint at heart.

[00:23:40] It's a difficult business.

[00:23:41] And you know, people talk about this silver tsunami that's coming in this huge opportunity

[00:23:46] for RALs.

[00:23:48] But if it was as easy as everybody thought it was, everybody and their brother would be

[00:23:51] doing it.

[00:23:51] So have you run into challenges with that, that maybe you weren't expecting that caught

[00:23:56] off guard or surprised you as you jumped into this business?

[00:23:59] Well, this was a major rehab in the process.

[00:24:01] So there were some things in there that we weren't expecting some commercial law that was

[00:24:04] like some buried in something that we didn't know about that the second you were like,

[00:24:07] like removed this stove.

[00:24:09] You had to now get new clearance on a, on this commercial hood that needed to be installed

[00:24:14] that also needs some sprinkling.

[00:24:15] And it was like, yeah, golly, I had no idea that we were getting into some of this stuff,

[00:24:18] right?

[00:24:18] Like it just, you know, and our, you know, our GC was also not aware of some of this stuff

[00:24:22] because he did mostly, you know, non-commercial type stuff.

[00:24:25] So, so there were some of that, but I'd say that, you know, when you, when you have a tenant,

[00:24:29] you can usually say, Hey, like if you have an apartment building, you can say, Hey, you,

[00:24:32] you have this 12 month contract.

[00:24:33] If you want to break your contract and you owe me X amount of money per whatever the state

[00:24:37] laws are.

[00:24:38] Well, usually when somebody breaks a contract in this, it's because they passed away.

[00:24:41] Right.

[00:24:41] So now, like, it's not like I'm going after, like, I'm getting your deposit back or anything.

[00:24:45] Like, no, like the guy died.

[00:24:47] Like there's nothing, you know, nothing we could do.

[00:24:49] And so now, now you're like, okay, well now I like, I have a, I can't project that somebody

[00:24:54] is going to pass away.

[00:24:55] Like, it's just something that's, that's part of the business.

[00:24:57] So we have to always have this, this rolling estimation of people, you know, passing away.

[00:25:03] And it's like, okay, how do, how do we, how do I calculate that on the numbers

[00:25:07] assuming that one and a half of my people are going to pass away every, every two months,

[00:25:10] you know?

[00:25:10] And it's like, that's what I have to do.

[00:25:13] Yeah.

[00:25:14] So they may have a quote unquote contract, but it's null and void at the time that they pass

[00:25:18] away.

[00:25:19] So, you know, that's something that you don't really know what those numbers are going

[00:25:21] to be until you start filling it up.

[00:25:22] And then you're kind of like, okay, well, on average, you can see that something, you

[00:25:25] know, we're going to say maybe every other month, somebody is going to transition,

[00:25:27] but, um, you know, I don't know, all of a sudden we'll see what the tenants are,

[00:25:31] but, and then also how, how, what are the laws on being able to raise rent?

[00:25:35] Like in some, even if it's a, you may go to like, say Tennessee, which is usually pretty

[00:25:39] tenant or pretty, uh, landlord friendly.

[00:25:41] Uh, and you can raise the rents to whatever they are.

[00:25:43] Well, you know, even Georgia is decently landlord friendly, but you could only raise

[00:25:47] the rent on these bed rentals by X, X number per 90 days.

[00:25:52] And then you have to give them a notice and all these early notices, but because it's

[00:25:56] not a contract for one year, I can give them a notice early and be like, okay, well,

[00:25:59] in 90 days, this is what your, your new rent is going to be.

[00:26:02] Um, so there are just things that, that you didn't think about.

[00:26:05] Like, again, I don't typically think about when my, when my tenant is going to pass away

[00:26:08] in an apartment building, but I have to think about that in a residential assisted living.

[00:26:11] And also again, like I've got to have cooks on staff, right?

[00:26:14] So are they meeting the levels that they need for cooks?

[00:26:17] Do I need two cooks or any one cook?

[00:26:18] Like, I think I need two cooks, but then like, what are they actually capable of?

[00:26:21] And then what happens then when the commercial kitchen gets shut down, you know, that's

[00:26:25] all the problems that the operator, you know, the owner and operator always have

[00:26:29] to figure out that thankfully the passive investor doesn't have to, you just have to know

[00:26:32] that the person that's running it can.

[00:26:33] Right.

[00:26:33] So those are the things that's, that I rely on.

[00:26:36] Like I have an operator that does it, but me as the owner and the business manager side

[00:26:39] of the house is one of the owners and business manager side.

[00:26:41] I need to know that I'm looking at the numbers properly.

[00:26:43] So again, like, do you have the right person operating it as a passive investor?

[00:26:47] You just have to look at it and say, Hey, is this person the right person to operate

[00:26:50] this?

[00:26:50] Do they have the experience?

[00:26:51] Do they understand these things?

[00:26:53] Can I ask these questions?

[00:26:54] Do they know how to answer them type of thing?

[00:26:56] Yeah.

[00:26:56] And so my assumption is that the assisted living facilities provide better returns to

[00:27:02] investor because it sounds like a much riskier investment that which you're, would you agree?

[00:27:06] Or do you see that actually happening in the space?

[00:27:09] So I'd say yes, that it does provide probably, it does provide probably better returns, right?

[00:27:14] I'm not, I wouldn't say it's riskier.

[00:27:16] I would say it's more involved.

[00:27:17] So, cause there is a lot more involved into it.

[00:27:19] Now, you know, I think having a D class apartment is probably more risky than having an assisted

[00:27:23] living facility because like the deaths that happen at the D class apartment building are

[00:27:27] probably because somebody got shot or they, they, there's three of them that OD'd in their

[00:27:30] apartment and that creates a whole different mess of trying to get people in.

[00:27:33] But in an assisted living, people are expecting somebody to transition in, you know, like they,

[00:27:39] they obviously don't want their, their family member to die, but like, they know that that's

[00:27:44] why they need the help is because this person is close to that.

[00:27:46] They need, so people are just expecting that to be a part of the business.

[00:27:49] So it's just more involved.

[00:27:50] I wouldn't say that it's more risky, but that's why, you know, you're able to charge,

[00:27:54] you know, 4,500, $5,500 per bed per month is because there's a lot more involved.

[00:27:58] I've got, you know, 14 staff and all this stuff going on inside this facility that it's just

[00:28:03] a lot that, uh, cause you're running a full business at that point.

[00:28:06] Yeah.

[00:28:07] So with all of the learning education that you've been through since you, you've owned this

[00:28:11] unit, are you planning on doing more of these or are you still, you can still lean

[00:28:16] more towards wealthy family?

[00:28:17] I will likely do more of them.

[00:28:19] So, you know, when I was talking to somebody on my podcast a few months ago, they were

[00:28:22] like, look, you can't, you can't create the market.

[00:28:25] You just have to participate in it.

[00:28:27] Right.

[00:28:27] Like it's not.

[00:28:28] So where, and then to go back again to what Brandon Turner was talking about, he was like,

[00:28:33] Hey, like I've got to find the spots where I can make the money.

[00:28:36] So, you know, I don't, I can't be married to an asset class.

[00:28:40] I have to be married to running a business that makes money.

[00:28:43] Um, cause if I'm married to an asset class, that asset class is hurting.

[00:28:46] And like, I had a short-term rental for a while, I sold it at probably, we caught, it was me

[00:28:51] and a couple of GoBundance guys.

[00:28:52] We caught lightning in a bottle, I think on that deal.

[00:28:54] And we sold it at the perfect time ended up making, and then the next year, the person

[00:28:58] who bought it from us lost $60,000.

[00:29:00] Right.

[00:29:00] So not such a great time anymore for short-term rentals after we sold it.

[00:29:04] So, okay, well then I need to look at a different asset class.

[00:29:06] So if I can't find in an apartment building, what I'm looking for, for my returns, is it

[00:29:10] more difficult to go and learn a new asset class?

[00:29:12] Yeah.

[00:29:12] Learning assisted living was, is then a heck of a headache, but if that's where the

[00:29:16] returns are, then I'll gladly do that again.

[00:29:18] So it's more just being flexible and how can I participate in the market to be able to get

[00:29:21] the returns I need?

[00:29:22] Well, let's, let's, if we can, let's talk a little bit about your podcast, the active duty

[00:29:27] passive income as well.

[00:29:28] So you are, you're involved in a lot of different projects, a lot of different organizations.

[00:29:32] Can you tell the audience a little bit more about both of those?

[00:29:35] Sure.

[00:29:35] Yeah.

[00:29:35] So I'll start with active duty, passive income.

[00:29:37] We're a education company that teaches military members, veterans, and their families how to

[00:29:40] invest in real estate.

[00:29:41] We've got around 80,000 people in our Facebook group.

[00:29:43] We've got multifamily products.

[00:29:45] We've got single family products.

[00:29:46] We've got free resources, a whole bunch of them.

[00:29:48] We wrote a book to be able to talk to people that you had mentioned at the beginning,

[00:29:51] like the military folks bouncing around, like the accidental landlord, right?

[00:29:54] They bought a house.

[00:29:55] They ended up having to move and they're like, well, what do I do with this house?

[00:29:57] I can't sell it.

[00:29:58] So I'll just rent it out.

[00:29:59] And then they become a landlord.

[00:30:01] So we talk about how to do that on purpose, right?

[00:30:03] In our book to kind of go through and say, okay, well, how do I set myself up for retirement?

[00:30:08] Like, man, I want to do 20 years.

[00:30:09] What am I supposed to do?

[00:30:09] Well, I can have 10 houses at the end of those 20 years.

[00:30:12] And now there's 10 houses plus my retirement.

[00:30:13] And it's, you know, my ties on the beach, you know, and I'm hanging out.

[00:30:17] So, but, you know, our intent is really, you know, I don't want folks to wait until they

[00:30:22] were, you know, in their early thirties to start realizing what investing means.

[00:30:26] So if I can get somebody started much earlier in their early twenties to start getting that

[00:30:30] ball rolling, then I'd be a happy man to be able to see that happen.

[00:30:33] So our, uh, our goal is to impact the financial trajectory of 3 million military families.

[00:30:37] So looking forward to, uh, achieving that, uh, achieving that goal.

[00:30:40] So as, as far as the podcast goes, yes, the biz dad podcast.

[00:30:44] I absolutely love being a dad.

[00:30:46] It's one of my favorite things I've ever done in the world.

[00:30:48] I've got three kiddos and they're, they, uh, you, if you ever watch or listen to the podcast,

[00:30:53] you'll hear them scurrying around in the back.

[00:30:54] I mean, they do their homeschool right here in my, in my office with me.

[00:30:58] So, um, they're in and out of my office all the time, traveling with me, doing all sorts

[00:31:01] of stuff.

[00:31:01] So I just love talking to folks who are running business and, and trying to be a good dad in the

[00:31:06] process.

[00:31:06] When I was in the military, I saw way too many military dads who I didn't even know they

[00:31:10] were dads.

[00:31:11] I'd known them for like over a year, two years, and still didn't know they were a dad.

[00:31:14] And it was like, like, how did I just now find out your dad?

[00:31:18] Because they didn't talk about it.

[00:31:19] They weren't near them.

[00:31:20] They, you know, they were divorced.

[00:31:21] They never saw their kids.

[00:31:22] And I was like, I cannot be that dad.

[00:31:23] I ha I want to be a present dad.

[00:31:26] So how do I make sure that even as an entrepreneur, I don't become that?

[00:31:30] Cause you can see that in the entrepreneur world where, oh, I'm building this for my family.

[00:31:33] I'm building this for my family.

[00:31:34] Meanwhile, they haven't seen their kids at two weeks.

[00:31:36] It's like, okay, are you really building this for your family?

[00:31:38] And so I want to be able to be a dad that's able to integrate the two of those together

[00:31:42] in a way that my kids still love me at the end of this path, you know, and they know

[00:31:46] who I am.

[00:31:47] So.

[00:31:48] That is amazing.

[00:31:49] Such an admirable cause that you're spending so much time and energy and effort on both of those causes, I think are so much needed in this environment we are today.

[00:31:59] So thank you for that service as well.

[00:32:01] Of course.

[00:32:01] You're bringing so much value to the organization or to the group here.

[00:32:04] So, well, gosh, this is kind of, I feel like we just barely scratched the tip of what we could have talked about today.

[00:32:09] But I like to be respectful of your time and the audience as well.

[00:32:12] So maybe we have you back here in three or six months or so to talk a little bit more about what you're doing at that point.

[00:32:17] If that's an option.

[00:32:18] Awesome.

[00:32:18] Okay.

[00:32:19] Yeah.

[00:32:19] Well, let's wrap it up how we always do.

[00:32:22] I have a handful of questions I like to ask everybody before we go.

[00:32:24] So let's jump in.

[00:32:26] So considering this is geared towards the new or the newer passive investor, are there any educational journeys or educational resources or materials that you think could be helpful to the newer, newer passive investor?

[00:32:39] I'd say probably like if I were to pick a book out, it would be probably like Brian Murray's book.

[00:32:46] What was it?

[00:32:46] Is it the ABCs of?

[00:32:48] No, what was his?

[00:32:48] Dagnabbit.

[00:32:49] I forgot the name.

[00:32:50] I had a set ready to come out of my tongue for this.

[00:32:52] And then I forgot it.

[00:32:53] But Brian Murray has a book on apartment buildings.

[00:32:56] Yes.

[00:32:56] Yes.

[00:32:56] I think it's crushing it in apartment buildings and commercial real estate or something like that.

[00:33:00] Something like that.

[00:33:01] Yeah.

[00:33:01] I've got it on the bookshelf as well, but I can't see it from where I'm sitting right here.

[00:33:05] I don't know why I can't remember the name.

[00:33:05] Or Joe Fairless' book, especially like looking at syndications.

[00:33:08] I mean, it's a massive book.

[00:33:10] Like, you know, the best ever book on apartment syndications, I think is what it is.

[00:33:13] So I'd say that if you're the kind of person that is analytical and wants to learn all of that, and if you're a passive investor, you need to be analytical.

[00:33:20] You need to be analyzing the person who's operating the deal and the deal itself.

[00:33:23] But I would recommend those two books for sure.

[00:33:26] On learning what you want.

[00:33:28] Yeah.

[00:33:28] Both very good books.

[00:33:29] Both books that are on my bookshelf as well that I've been through in detail.

[00:33:33] So now, what's a favorite book or a favorite podcast that you're going through personally right now?

[00:33:39] Yeah.

[00:33:40] I'd say my favorite podcast is probably the Biz Dad podcast, if I were to say.

[00:33:43] But other than my own, right?

[00:33:45] So, boy, that's a tough one.

[00:33:47] So the PBD podcast is probably one of my top ones.

[00:33:50] Patrick Bat-David's podcast.

[00:33:52] I absolutely love listening to his podcast.

[00:33:53] The perspective he has as both an Iranian immigrant and then military turn, you know, U.S. military member turn.

[00:34:02] I think he's probably worth a half a billion, if not more than that, at this point with some of the businesses he's created.

[00:34:07] I love his perspective on life and outlook and where he's at.

[00:34:10] And he's a passionate father as well.

[00:34:12] So that lines up with where I'm at.

[00:34:14] So that's one thing I love.

[00:34:15] One book that I always try to recommend to people is Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.

[00:34:21] Yeah.

[00:34:22] It taught me a lot about how I view money and why I view money the way I do.

[00:34:27] Is that T. Harv?

[00:34:28] T. Harv Ecker?

[00:34:28] T. Harv Ecker.

[00:34:29] Yep.

[00:34:29] So I love that book as well.

[00:34:31] I highly recommend folks do that just as a way to kind of set a new blueprint for how you view money and investing.

[00:34:38] Love it.

[00:34:38] Yeah, because it talks about the money thermostat, I believe they said, right?

[00:34:43] Right.

[00:34:43] So if you're the $100,000 guy, you'll go to $110,000, but you'll come back to $100,000 until you raise the thermostat.

[00:34:49] Yeah, love it.

[00:34:50] Very good.

[00:34:50] And I've not listened to Patrick Bat-David for years, and I need to.

[00:34:55] I've heard his name referenced more than once in the last week or so.

[00:34:58] So thank you for that reminder.

[00:35:00] That's a good one to go back to.

[00:35:01] All right.

[00:35:02] So we talked a little bit about due diligence here today, but can you share anything more or anything really important that people should be considering when they're looking at due diligence of passive investing opportunities?

[00:35:14] Boy, this is a double-edged sword, right?

[00:35:17] Track record.

[00:35:18] Like what's the person's track record?

[00:35:20] It's one of those things that's difficult, right?

[00:35:22] Because everybody's got to start somewhere, right?

[00:35:24] I had my first syndication deal.

[00:35:26] So if somebody looked at my track record, they would have seen a 62 unit that went horribly wrong.

[00:35:31] And at another property that went decently well.

[00:35:33] And then I syndicated a deal.

[00:35:35] So the track record is important, but not just in real estate.

[00:35:38] What is their track record and other stuff?

[00:35:40] Like if they don't have a track record in real estate, okay, talk to me about other things.

[00:35:43] Tell me about when things went wrong.

[00:35:44] Ask situational-based questions on how they handled certain things before, how they would handle certain things in the future.

[00:35:51] And if they don't have good answers or if you're not comfortable with the answers, then just don't invest.

[00:35:54] That's fine.

[00:35:57] No, I love it.

[00:35:58] And I love the fact that you say track record doesn't start in this asset class or in this function.

[00:36:04] Yeah.

[00:36:04] Track record starts literally in high school or even earlier than that, technically, depending on how far back you want to go.

[00:36:10] Being a guy with a military background, your track record was very specific and you acquired very specific skills during your time in the military.

[00:36:16] That was certainly transferable into what you're doing today.

[00:36:19] I could not agree more.

[00:36:21] But I will also say I love to see guys that do cookie cutter over and over and over again for 20 years because they've probably run into every issue you could ever possibly run into.

[00:36:31] There's not going to be a lot of surprises.

[00:36:32] So, yeah, good answer.

[00:36:34] All right.

[00:36:35] And then since you and I are both GoBundance guys, I got to ask the bucket list item.

[00:36:39] So is there a recent bucket list item you've checked off your list or what you hope to in the near future?

[00:36:43] So my wife retires from the Air Force next year.

[00:36:46] So when she retires, our intention is to, depending on some things I've got cooking in the background at the moment, our intention is to go sell this house, go buy a camper and go travel the country for, I don't know, four or five months.

[00:36:58] Drag the kids around and go see every state that we can, travel up to Alaska, go check things out.

[00:37:02] So that's a very large bucket list thing that we're putting together right now.

[00:37:06] Me and ChatGPT are building out our track and how we're going to go through it.

[00:37:09] So that's the biggest one on the horizon at the moment.

[00:37:12] An experience for you and the kids and your wife to be able to go do that as well.

[00:37:15] What better way to learn about geography and history and all of those types of things?

[00:37:20] For sure.

[00:37:21] Fantastic.

[00:37:22] All right.

[00:37:22] And then the final question we ask everybody is if you had 100 grand that you had to invest today and you couldn't have put it in your own deal.

[00:37:28] Boy, you know, I've been thinking about this since the email came out telling me that you're going to ask me this question.

[00:37:33] And it's a tough one because there's, you know, I want to look at this from a newer investor aspect.

[00:37:39] And if I were a new investor coming in now, I would probably put in four deals, 25 grand in the four different deals, in four different passive deals.

[00:37:46] Two of them that I really knew the person like really well.

[00:37:51] And that I was like, hey, if anything is going to go well, I may only quote unquote only, you know, double my money on this one.

[00:37:57] Maybe I'll 1.5 it over three to five years.

[00:37:59] But there's good solid investments.

[00:38:01] I'll learn a lot from them.

[00:38:01] One of them may be a much more riskier play where it's like, hey, boy, I've got a chance of forexing this over the next three years to four years.

[00:38:09] But I mean, we'll see how it goes.

[00:38:11] But I've still, it's still somewhere I can learn.

[00:38:12] And then another one, I, you know, I probably do something along the lines of putting it into like my self-directed IRA to passively invest in deals on that as a passive tax saving investment.

[00:38:24] I love it.

[00:38:25] I love it.

[00:38:25] So you, you and I speak the same diversification, diversification, diversification.

[00:38:29] So one thing to kind of add to that and not to answer the question there, but when I first came to GoBundance, I was very much an equity multiple and a growth investor.

[00:38:38] And as a high income W-2 guy at the time, I thought that it wasn't important to be a cash flow investor.

[00:38:45] And then I got laid off.

[00:38:46] And all of a sudden, you become a cash flow investor overnight.

[00:38:49] The mantra I hear in GoBundance time and time again and from seasoned investors is cash flow first to cover your expenses and then equity multiple and growth at that point.

[00:38:58] So I like that you say spread it around, though.

[00:39:00] Well, very good.

[00:39:00] Well, Adam, yeah, thank you so much.

[00:39:02] This has been a really fun conversation.

[00:39:04] Thank you so much for all the work that you're doing with active duty, passive income and with the podcast.

[00:39:09] And of course, your 18 years of service.

[00:39:11] But thank you so much for being on the show.

[00:39:13] This has been a lot of fun.

[00:39:14] Absolutely.

[00:39:15] My pleasure.

[00:39:15] Thank you so much for having me, Randy.

[00:39:16] Hopefully I didn't ramble on too awfully long.

[00:39:19] I tend to talk a lot.

[00:39:20] So happy to come back on.

[00:39:21] Like you said, I can keep on rambling for sure.

[00:39:24] Fantastic.

[00:39:25] Fantastic.

[00:39:26] Well, awesome.

[00:39:26] And to the audience, as always, we suggest that you continue that education journey.

[00:39:30] But more important than that, make the decision to take some action.

[00:39:34] Invest in your first passive investment deal.

[00:39:36] Both Adam and I are convinced that once you do, you will only wish that you had started that much sooner.

[00:39:41] So thank you again for joining us again today.

[00:39:44] Join us again next Thursday for another great episode.

[00:39:46] And be sure to like and subscribe on whatever channel you listen to.

[00:39:50] And thanks so much for being here today.

[00:39:51] I hate to interrupt right at the end of your thing, but I want you said something that made me think of it.

[00:39:56] I spent four years in analysis paralysis of just sitting there looking at deals, trying to figure out, I need to know this.

[00:40:02] I need to get this more education.

[00:40:04] I need to do this.

[00:40:04] But there is no substitution for execution.

[00:40:07] Just go out, execute.

[00:40:08] You can't learn it by just reading into the book.

[00:40:10] You have to go do it.

[00:40:11] So sorry you said something and it made me want to say something.

[00:40:13] So thank you for letting me interrupt you, Randy.

[00:40:16] Drop the mic and we'll leave it there.

[00:40:17] Thanks so much, Adam.

[00:40:19] Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:40:21] Another episode of The Gentle Art of Crushing It.

[00:40:24] It was an amazing episode.

[00:40:26] We know we sure learned a lot and we hope you did as well.

[00:40:29] We want to take a second and thank you so much for viewing or listening to this episode.

[00:40:34] And please just know that we only ask for one favor, and that is to make this life magnificent.

[00:40:40] Thank you and have a wonderful day.