Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All about the habits. You don't want to be dependent. I don't want to be average.
Hey, guys. Steve Seymour here with the Investor Agent podcast. Today's guest is Kevin Buzza. Kevin, thanks for being on today.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Glad to be here. Thank you.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: So the intention of the podcast is to transform the human mindset from scarcity and lack to abundance and wealth, one conversation at a time.
With that said, I always like to get a little backstory, Kevin. You know, how you got into real estate and whether it was getting licensed first or investing first, but just like to get a backstory. What got you interested in real estate in the first place?
[00:00:50] Speaker B: I think the concept of money and work. We're pretty large in the influence of getting into real estate. I'll explain. My dad had a corporate job. My dad's a lovely person. He's very active, you know, when I was a kid in sports and that sort of thing.
But he had a pretty demanding corporate job, working long hours. So he said to me, kevin, you know what? Go to school. Learn what you need to do. Own your own business. Don't work for somebody. And so I was like, okay, dad. And so I was kind of left with that thought. And I saw real estate as an opportunity to get in that vein, you know, to be in a position of having more options.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: How did you connect that? How did you connect real estate to, you know, the entrepreneurship? Was it a podcast? Was it a book? Was it.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: So one night when I was probably 15 years old, at my house watching a late night infomercial, tell me, Carlton, cheese.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Carlton, cheese. Oh, man.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: So Carlton, you know, so somewhat larger than life at the time, you know, on his yacht, talking about how, you know, you can be a real estate investor, too, with no money, cash out of your pocket. And my mom at the time was pursuing her real estate license. So real estate was a conversation at the dinner table.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Okay, so it was already in the family in a sense.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Yeah. And she was just starting off on that track. And I went to her, I said, you know, mom, Carlton Sheets said that I could be a millionaire. And this is 15. Yeah. Age 15. And I said, that's a great dinner conversation. I know. I said, I think if you buy me this program, I could be too, you know. And so it was. It was not inexpensive. It was 500 bucks at the time, 400 bucks, you know, so present day, you're talking 1500, 2000 bucks, inflation adjusted. And so my mom's like, sure, I'll get it for you. And my mom was just like, my dad very optimistic, you know, and believers in what we want to do. So I got it at 16 and I studied it and I studied it again and again and eventually. And we'll kind of get to this point, you know, I bought my first property when I was 22, which is a multi unit property. That's kind of how my trajectory changed because of watching some late night infomercial.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Pretty cool.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Thoughts do become things.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. And I tell my kids that, you know, the first creation, you know, is the blueprint, you know, and I tell them that they're all kind of the architect and also the builder.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: And so I do believe that that conceptual work that Carlton Sheets did, even though he was just trying to make a buck, it really helped me because it inspired me. I'd probably also add, you know, on that, that mountain, you know, of different characters, you know. Robert Kiyosaki was also a big influence. You know, around that time. When I bought the first property, I was, I was cold calling because I, I worked in it. I hadn't started my, my own business yet. I own an IT company, which that happened a couple years around that time. I was cold calling and I hated cold calling. You know, I like people, but the phone weighed like 300 pounds. And so I said to my, this one guy was trying to sell to just let's get to talking, you know, what's up with you? And he said, you got to read this book Robert Kiyosaki wrote called Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And so that was also a big influence. So these two concepts, both that at home study course.
No down pump.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: That book has been mentioned on this podcast almost every single time.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: I think it's wonderful. It's a conceptual masterpiece. And why is. Because he basically takes concepts of money and he turns them on their head. He basically talks about a lot of you. And I'm paraphrasing the messaging of Rich Dad, Poor dad are thinking about money incorrectly, because you're thinking about it, whether you realize it or not, as an addiction where you need to go get that job. You wouldn't even say the word job. It's like you had to spell it because it was a curse word.
And so you want to go get that job because you need that feeling of security.
But really what you need is you need to get outside of that. So kind of like this call to get outside of the Matrix. And so that was really big for me because I had these concepts that I was dealing with because of my dad. Don't get A corporate job. But it didn't really have.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Same philosophy really exactly.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: But it didn't have the legs. It didn't have the legs. Kiyosaki kind of outfitted that for me.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: That's amazing. So the seed was planted. And then what did getting started look like? You said you got your first multifamily at 22.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it looked.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: How did you find it? How did you finance it?
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Well, it's a lot of. A lot of conversations, a lot of asking questions, you know, because there's parts.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: And you weren't licensed at the time?
[00:05:11] Speaker B: I was.
I had just gotten my license probably within that. That year, six months. But I wasn't the licensee. There was actually a licensee out of Weickert.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Who represented you?
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Yeah, representing me there. And I chose to go that way because I was. But. But in all my future transactions, I represented myself. And that was also an important part of the process, too, is just this idea that if I'm going to be a real estate investor, which, you know, I don't know if I explained it to my. Myself that way in the earliest kind of iteration, but it was that concept. If I was going to take control, you know, then I wanted to have my license because it was just this concept that no one would care as much as me, you know, no one would want to know all the details. So I wanted to know all the details. And so I got my license to be able to represent myself through the process.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: And what did that deal look like? I mean, was it a. You said a small multi family?
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a multi family. It was a three unit with a garage, detached garage. And the play was I was going to move in, I was going to live there and rent it out and then save for my next property. The way that we did the financing was fha, which was favorable because of the low down payment. And then we were also able to do kind of like a seller assist to the extent that FHA would let you do it, because sometimes they can be difficult with that. And that allowed me to get into that property for very few dollars out of pocket. It wasn't quite the no down payment deal, but at the time for what was probably about $180,000 deal, I was into it for fewer than $5,000 out of pocket.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: It's pretty amazing, right? Great way to get started. Well, it's still a great way to get started.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: And it's funny. I agree. And I think for those that are looking to get into real estate and Are trying to do creative financing. It's definitely possible. I was at a dinner party with some friends, and it was a mix of real estate folks and then other people. And I remember this one guy was like, you know, and he wasn't talking to me. I was just circulating, maybe grabbing another glass of water from the fridge or something. And he was like, you know, these people talk about, you know, these creative financing deals, you know, it's not possible. You know, if they say they're doing that, you know, it's snake oil. And I just. I just, you know.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Didn't say anything, you know, but I was like, it is possible.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: You know, and I'm not doing anything unsavory. I'm not doing anything wrong. No, you just gotta hustle.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:22] Speaker A: So it sounds like you went down that creative financing route, even though your first deal wasn't necessarily creative. It was more of a traditional way to get into a triplex using fha. What are some of the other methodologies that you used?
[00:07:35] Speaker B: So in a couple of them, Interesting story. You know, some of the things we do when we're trying to drum up deals, you know, of course, I did the we buy houses signs. And who doesn't?
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: You know, I get however many people calling the number and cursing me for putting it wherever I was. Or townships reminding me of before they call you and remind you of the ordinance, you know, and then they'll find you and give you a fine. But, you know, you're just trying to make your way and try to get deals done. So I was writing letters and, you know, just going through it wasn't as easy as is now with the bright mls. And you just download it.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Or all the data sources.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. Right now it's like the cookies are on the bottom shelf. You just, okay, what do I do? It's so easy. But then, you know, it was this and that and mail merge and writing the letters. But now it's so easy. But I wrote the letters, and you get some people getting you back. And this one guy, he says, you know, I don't have any place to sell. He's like, I own some places, but why don't we get together for breakfast? And I think it was that idea of proximity that I was sitting with, which is kind of another Tony Robbins type thing. Another person that's kind of on the Mount Rushmore of my influencers. And I get it. Some people think he's kind of a caricature. And Tony, rah, rah. But I like him. And so this idea of being in proximity to those that could provide learnings, influence, opportunity. So when I saw someone contact me back on the letter and say, hey, let's get together, I was like, yeah, let's do it. So we met for breakfast at the Coffee cup in Downingtown, and just a great connection. Stayed in contact with him for years. But right there at that breakfast table, our first meeting, he says, you know, Kevin, this was great meeting you, and I'm going to give you this guy's contact information. I couldn't make this deal work, but there's this 7 unit in Downingtown. Maybe you could. And that came together as a wonderful deal, an opportunity for me. So that happened as another opportunity. And in that process, it was something where I was able to work with the lender to lend based upon appraisal value versus the purchase value. So, you know, for those kind of following along at home, you know, if you're in a situation where you got a contract price for like 750 and yet it appraises for a million, there had been lenders at the time that would give me 80% of that million, which in that case would be 800,000.
So don't, you know, I went to the settlement table for that seven unit. I bought it in Downingtown. It's worth probably four times as much now, five times as much now. And I got a check back, and I was like, wow, should I call that snake oil? It is. It's illegal in at least seven states.
So I thought to myself, wow, this is great, you know, and what that could provide for me to kind of, you know, continue to build was huge. So I just kept doing it.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: So that kind of became your edge was ways to put deals together with little to no money out of pocket on multifamily. And you said you scaled up to how many units?
[00:10:22] Speaker B: So at one point, I was up to 50 units. And that was just because, you know, it's kind of like I talked to my dad. I tell my dad, I was like, you know, dad, I got into business because you told me, you know, go do this. And he's like, I don't even remember that.
But as a kid, you look up to your dad, he says something, it's okay, dad. But 50 was just an arbitrary number. It was like, yeah, I'm reading through these books.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Once I get to 50, then I'll be set.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds good, right? But then I got there and I was like, this is too much.
I don't need this much. So Then I sold a couple of buildings to a dear friend of mine who I taught how to do real estate investing, who also owns multiple buildings now. And so then it was comfortable. So Now I'm at 30 units among a number of different multi family homes. And that's, that was my thing. And I, and I really just did it because I was trying to figure out a way to, you know, take care of my expenses and be in a position where my, my financials were not dependent on a job because.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: And you achieved that at a pretty young age.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean I had, I had 30 units or 50 units, you know, in my early 30s probably.
And I did a lot of the property management myself for at least the first 10 years. But yeah, I did it at a relatively early age. I just kept going. Whenever I could find a deal, I would want to make it happen.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: So it's, it's great for anyone that's listening because. Right. It started with a, a TV infomercial and then your parents believing in you, giving you some encouragement, you believing in yourself, taking action and then inserting yourself into, you know, an office where someone helped you get into your first deal. And you just kind of took one step at a time. And I think it's one thing that, you know, I'm huge on goal setting and like envisioning the future and all this. But there's something to be said just taking one step at a time. Right. And how it unfolds because you don't really know what you do now, what it's going to lead to. And it's just all, you went to a meeting from a letter and you didn't get the deal from that guy, but he referred you to another deal.
And that's what I mean. It's just one thing leads to the next when you set the intention and you take the steps.
So anyone that's listening, they typically say I don't have enough time, I don't have enough money.
You know, they like the idea of it, but it takes a lot to go from that to that idea to taking the actions. So what would you say to anyone that's, you know, struggling with actually taking the first steps? Or they're saying right now a common excuse is there's no deals out there. Yeah, you know, that's great. That worked back then, but you can't do that anymore now.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean it's so generally speaking for people that are just trying to get after it and they're dealing with the self doubt and the limited resources mentality I would just say it's true. It feels that way. There's never enough time, ever. Convenient time, ever. Feels like there's enough resources or enough information. But you just have to keep with the question, you know, and whatever that question is, you know, has to be.
It basically has to sum up your desire and your reasons for wanting to push through. And if you have a big enough question, really a big enough reason, you'll keep with that question. Will keep with that reason. So I would say work on it from that perspective, because if you're not convinced yourself, you're going to give up. But for me, it was just. It was a puzzle, and it was something I was unwilling to give up. And I think that there's a really good video now we're talking about. Now, fourth character, maybe on the Mount Rushmore of my life, would be Ray Dalio. And he's big on the concept of principles for life and for business. But he says there's the call to adventure that happens first in life, whether we hear it or not. Some people just live a life of quiet desperation, just kind of the thought sometimes for the unfortunate, many that are in that situation. But the call to adventure is know what you want, you know, figure that out, you know, take your time, and then have the courage to pursue it. So for the people that are like, I don't know, I would just say, know what you want and have the courage to pursue it. You're never going to feel like you have enough time. But just one foot in front of the other. At one point, in an effort to try to get more leads, I brought in eight Verizon phone lines into my house, spun up a dialing server, and had had this bad boy calling people throughout Chester county to try to find me a deal. Because I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna find these deals. Yeah, I can't call enough people fast enough, so I guess I'm gonna have to let you know, built the server myself with, you know, with a friend and had that bad boy calling. We shut it down some point just because at the same time, legislation was happening for calling and spam calling. Yeah, I was like, yeah, I might want to slow this roll down, but I got a deal out of that. Actually, I was talking earlier about there's a property, a duplex that I own with a vacant lot.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Before you go into that, I want to go back to some of the things that you just said and unpack it a little bit.
So, you know, getting clear. You know, one thing that you said. Right. You said that when you were 15, you said, I could be a millionaire, too.
Right. And that was the spark that when you talk about the adventure and the desire, and that was, to me, that's like, you got to have that first.
You got to have the clear desire. You might not know the how, how to get there. At that time, you did not know how to become a millionaire, but you had the idea that you could. Right?
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: So that was the desire. And then that desire fueled your knowledge, your search for the knowledge to how to do it.
And then the other element, the other piece that you may. I said it briefly, but it's so important that you have to have someone else believe in you bigger than yourself. Right. And that's great for anyone who's done this to give back. As a good reminder, if you're listening and you've achieved a lot, think of the people that believed in you and how you want to give back. But also for someone that maybe is on the fence and they have that search for the knowledge, but they can't take the action.
What a big difference to have two parents that believed in you. Right. Because not everyone has that. So if you don't have that, my suggestion is to surround yourself with people that are doing what you want to do, because someone will see that desire in you and believe in you.
I just wanted to unpack those elements and see. Do you agree with what I said? And if so, is there anything you want to elaborate on with that?
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that the world without relationships is a cold and lonely place. And if you have goals and you have things you want to pursue, it's good to have people around you. I mean, for me, part of my style has been always kind of bringing those with me, those that I care about. And there's a number of friends and family members that I've taught, you know, in this case, you know, real estate investing, and who are successful in owning another number of properties. And so I think that that's. That's fair. You definitely don't want to go it alone, and you want to be in community. I think for people that have some belief that they got to kind of like, grin and bear it, get through it, and not make it a part of a process with a community, I don't think they'll succeed. I don't think you can do it any other way.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Yeah. The secret sauce is having the desire, believing in yourself, but having someone else really believe in you as well. So Fast forward. It's 2025. We're in an interesting market. Right. But the market's never not been interesting, especially if you went through 2008.
What would you say to anyone that is really struggling to find deals right now? That's one of the biggest challenges that I see. I see most people use that as the biggest excuse.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah. What's true?
[00:18:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: It's part of the market. Right. What are you doing? I mean, are you buying now? Are you. Not really.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Not really. I mean, I think that, you know.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: With your accumulated knowledge, what would you. What would you do to help someone position themselves to buy deals?
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you just have to be aggressive. You have to be, you know, doing a lot of activity. I mean, if you look at it just simply from the perspective that you go into, you know, the multiple list system online, you do a search, there's not much there. There are some things there, but putting it into a historical perspective, people might say there's nothing there. Of course, there are a couple things there, but relatively speaking, there's not much there. Why?
Just because we came out of COVID Real estate appreciated quite rapidly. Interest rates went up, they came down a little bit, you know, but now they're still going up some more. And so it's just difficult to. To finance a deal, you know, and sellers that are sitting there, you know, owning that those properties are like, well, why would I sell right now? You know, my rents are up. I mean, my rents have gone up since COVID you know, double digit compounded, which is crazy. People wouldn't even believe me, you know, if I say that. And it's not like I'm some miserly, you know, property owner looking to exact my will. Just the market. But I ran a kegger, you know, compound annual growth rate on my rents from 2020 to now, and it was like 11%, you know, so rents are up a lot. So you've got this tension where sellers are wanting to seek the value of the value of those cash flows in the market, but then buyers are in a position where. Well, I don't.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: So are you telling me they should not go buy real estate right now? Well, that's what I'm feeling. I'm like, all right, maybe I shouldn't, should, shouldn't.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: I mean, so that question, by saying, you know, why was it that I got into real estate in another way? So we talked a little bit about the conceptual kind of undergirdings. You know, my parents support Carlton Sheets, you know, Robert Kiyosaki, so maybe take another page from Kiyosaki's book. He talks a lot about the concept of inflation. He was talking about this 20 years ago. So one thing that resonated for me very early on was that real estate just made sense as a storeholder value. We talk about store holds of value and what is money, maybe more so in this generation, in this conversation, because of crypto and that sort of thing, which are also things I'm sure your listeners and entrepreneurial people are thinking about these days. And so that concept of the value of an asset, and in this case the value of real estate being able to preserve your purchasing power, was very apparent to me at an earlier point in time. I was still a little clumsy with it because. Why? Because people are talking about inflation is going to have its way with pricing, but it wasn't happening, meaning government spending was happening, deficits were happening, but inflation was like 2 1/2 percent. But I just thought to myself, I was like, if I own this property and if inflation does what it's supposed to do, I'm going to be in a good spot. And it worked out. And so here we are. Fast forward.
Inflation has just been like dropping haymakers on everything, whether it's a gallon of gas or a dozen eggs. You go in to buy a dozen eggs these days and it's like $6 unless you go to Aldi and then they've got them rationed. I tried to buy three dozen eggs the other day because I got four kids and set off an alarm. Lady comes up, she's like, did you take three eggs? And I said, I did.
And so I had to do a separate transaction after that solemn conversation. But my point is that.
So inflation's had its way, and so you're just. We're living in this liminal.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: I'm saying, to buy chickens.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm buying.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: That's what I'm here.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Buy chickens and sell eggs. We're living in this period where it's just a little bit clumsy to try to do the deals because of the mechanics of. Of inflation happening so quickly. Sellers not being willing to part for their property for less than what they know it's worth. But then buyers being in a more complicated situation where they have to put more money down in addition to having higher interest rates to get whatever cap rate or return that they're looking for. So that's where we're at. Those mechanics are just making people delay and some people just not be interested.
So, yes, you can find a deal, but that's the air we breathe right now.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: That's not very inspiring.
Give us some hope here.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: It's funny.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: Where's the hope?
[00:22:53] Speaker B: I think the hope is just in dealing with the reality.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: But realistically, going back, talking about the inflation, it's like, I mean, I'm a big believer that once you become clear on the why, the how becomes easy. And if, you know, even just buying real estate is just a way to preserve wealth from the inflationary environment, that alone is a pretty big why. When you see what's happening when you go into buy eggs.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree.
Here's what I'd say. And I said this the other day to someone that was looking into real estate and I said, just look in Westchester, for example. Westchester, higher priced units, lower cap rates, but great way to preserve your wealth. And so if you look at that from the perspective that you're only going to get, I don't know, a 6 cap or something like that these days, I haven't run the calculations lately. But a lower cap and then you're going to finance it, you're not going to put 100% down, you're going to have a fairly good return on equity, which is to say, you know, if you put 50% down with favorable lending terms, that cash flow that it's going to create would be a decent return. You know, I don't, I don't. We'd have to run the calculation, you know, 12, 14% maybe, you know, return on equity and that's okay, but it's not going to be as high as it was in an earlier point in time. So I still think it's favorable. I still am a very strong proponent of real estate being a big part of your, your breakdown.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, yeah, no, I get it. I mean, it's definitely challenging.
I know for me I've got into more creative financing deals and getting into them for little to no money even still.
And I just look at the return on that investment.
If you have very little out of pocket and you're leveraged and as long as it carries itself, you're still long term paying down debt, you're getting some appreciation, you're getting some tax benefits, you're getting some cash flow. Hopefully they're not easy deals to structure, but they are out there still. So I mean, I bought more last year than I have ever.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: And in Westchester specifically, you know, but at the same time it's, you know, it's finding a needle in the haystack. So you got to take Some swings.
So looking forward, what are you, what are you seeing, you know, over the next couple years? I know you don't have a crystal ball, but if you did, if you had any, I don't want to say projections, but where do you see things going with the rates, with the market inventory?
What do you think the next year two looks like with the landscape in Chester county, since that's the market we're in?
[00:25:33] Speaker B: I think Chester county is a great place to live and to invest. I think that it'll continue to be favorable for people to own property because you're probably going to experience at least five and a half to six and a half percent compound appreciation going forward. And I think that's going to be a function of what the government does with continued inflation. And I don't think the government can stop spending as much. I understand you've got the new administration and there's a hopeful eye towards cutting government waste and I think that will happen. But I just think that there's too much entitlement programs, too much spending. So what that's going to do in the real economy is it's going to push inflation up. So I think, kind of like you were saying, you did really well in the last 12 months or so with buying, I think people that buy, and I say this to anybody who wants to listen, if just buying one property at about half a million dollars a year, I'm sorry, half a million dollars acquisition price, so you buy one property should protect your purchasing power in retirement. And I've done this with some friends where I would model it out, I do the math for them. So at math, right, you just do a spreadsheet and you basically show you buy one property for half a million. And the other column, I put their 401k balance with them smash buying every year the maximum that they could do. And then I set the compounding for the 401k to anywhere between 9 and 12%. And at a certain point the snowballing of the property value exceeds their ability, you know, with their contribution, their retirement account. And then it goes much beyond it. So my thought process is that it's always a good time to buy real estate. Yes, we're talking about it's challenging, but I think just that alone, because you're going to get a large asset that's going to just be.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Yeah, what are the other options? Right.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: I mean, I know there's always ton of other options, but that you feel safe and secure. I mean, I think anyone that invests in Real estate does it because it's a. It feels safe, you know. You know, it's a very tangible asset.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: It's not always the highest return, but it's generally speaking, performed pretty well over time without being a downer here. And we'll talk about the market and stuff, but just going back to big picture mindset, what are some of the things that have helped you? I know you mentioned Ray Dalio, Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, Carlton Sheets.
What would you want to leave the listeners with in terms of words of wisdom from things in your past 20 plus years of experience in this business that have really helped you stay in it and helped you grow?
[00:28:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I listened to you as you started the podcast talking about helping your listeners with having a mentality that's less about scarcity and more about abundance. And what else is it that kind of describes what you're doing here and that might help me better answer your question. What is it you try to inspire in the listeners? What are the general tenets?
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah, so the terminology I used was transform the human mindset from scarcity and lack to abundance of wealth. And I think it's ingrained in us from a survival mechanism like squirrels going out and grabbing some nuts for the winter to store away. I think that we operate from that like humanity does as a race to a degree. And, you know, I think no matter what, I mean, I have people that I've seen grow 100 million in net worth and guess what? They don't feel like they have enough.
I just talked to someone 20 minutes before this. They have 2 million in cash. They have 900K in their SEP, they've got, you know, 200,000 a year in rental income. And he said he's worried about his bills, right?
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: So it's very ingrained to more, better, different, and how much is enough? That's one thing. That's the external. So what I'm talking about is that transformation of the internal feeling like there is enough.
I think that that to me is really what I'm after because I don't believe we need as much as we think to be safe, secure, you know, have a roof over your head, food, you know, clothing, obviously you want, we all want the nice car and the big house and the boat or the vacation house, whatever it may be. But for me, getting to that point where you, you know, essentially feel safe.
Right. I think that's this shift from the scarcity to the abundance where you, you have, you know, you have Enough faith in the future, in yourself, that you are coming from a place of abundance. And that's really the intent behind the podcast. Because I think all the meat and potatoes can help everyone on the external, but I think that the external is just a reflection of what they're really trying to achieve on the inside.
And I didn't know if you had been inspired by anything in the past. I mean, my original question wasn't around necessarily that, but you referencing the beginning of the podcast, just anything that would leave them with, you know, some, some guidance, some wisdom. You know, you, you're always listening to these things for an aha. What's in it for me? What could make a difference? But anything related to that, that whole concept of, you know, coming from abundance and, and growing, I mean, you obviously have, have created a lot of abundance and wealth in your life. So for anyone that hasn't, what can you, what can you leave them with?
[00:31:02] Speaker B: Yeah. So if it's about, give you a couple ideas, try not to go too long. But I think if it's the real estate concepts and just trying to maybe have both the abundance mentality while also thinking a little bit more tactically, I would say Gary Keller's book the Millionaire Real Estate Investor is a very good resource because it's almost like a field manual for doing it, but it's, it layers in Gary Keller and he's the one who started Keller Williams, his kind of unique viewpoints, which includes abundance and possibility and team and synergy and that sort of thing. So I think that's a good resource. We already mentioned Kiyosaki's book. My kids are going through that right now. They're listening to it on Audible, which I'd highly recommend if you've got kids.
Our kids are 17, 14, 11 and 9 and they're all listening to it and really enjoying it. So. So I'd say that's a great conceptual masterpiece, not just for kids, but also for adults.
I think going back to that idea of the call to adventure, which is not my thought, but Ray Dalio's, I think if you look up on YouTube, Principles for Life, it's a cartoon, 30 minute kind of miniseries with different parts to it, and I've subjected my kids to that too. But I think it's good for kids young and old because it, it talks about the challenge, in this case, Ray Dalio had growing up as a kid in Long island with blue collar parents and his desire to kind of get outside of that. And that's really what everybody's dealing with is the tension of your present circumstance and this idea that you have of who you could be and you really have to deal with that first and foremost. And so I would say that's the work. If people come upon this podcast because they know there's some good ideas for real estate, that's great. But you really got to do that work because you got to know that you've thought through it, at least to the extent that it's going to continue to empower you. And so I'd say watching that video could be helpful, but there's so many things I could say, but I think that's probably a good place to end on.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Well, I really genuinely appreciate you sharing everything you've shared. Hopefully the listeners got value out of the conversation. I know I did. And good reminders.
Just want to be grateful for the abundance of knowledge that you shared and hope that the abundance of information really was conveyed to the listeners. So thanks for being on.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: You bet. Thank you.
