Cold Open

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Live Let Thrive, a podcast about the Airbnb life, the share economy, and everything in between. Here are your hosts, Micah and Steve.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Hello, hello, hello. And welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive Rive.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

What is up, Micah? Man.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I'm chilling, Stevie Stacks. How you been, man?

Hot DFW Summer

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Oh man. Been been doing alright, man. You know, it's just uh very hot over here in the DFW. I guess in the whole country. Yeah. But uh summertime, we're what day is this? This is uh Tuesday, August uh 11th?

SPEAKER_03 0:47

11th?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

2026. Yeah, the 11th. August 11th, yeah. Yeah. And tomorrow's the first day of school for the kiddos. For my kiddos. Yeah, back to the ground.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Same for me. Yeah, getting up early mornings. I know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Oh man. And this is your favorite short-term, mid-term, long-term passplit podcast in the world. Live let thrive coming at you from Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas. This is episode 347, Micah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Let's go, man. Let's go.

Episode 347

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Episode 347. 347. Letting the hair down a little bit, you know. Let the pimp. It's been growing out, but I cut it. It was getting real long. But I I cut it recently, but I don't know. It's just easier than getting haircuts every week, right? It is. It is. It is. Man. But um funny story. We're gonna talk some good shop today. Talk some good short term and pad split and midterm. Um, but uh uh a listener of the show has uh reached out to you first, right? And asked, and he's uh Mr. Vince Vincent. What's up, Vincent? Oh yeah, and he called me. He called me uh actually last night, but I was already winding down, so I called him today and we talked. Real cool dude, man. He's uh originally out of California and now he's down in Houston, H Town. And so um so we were chatting about everything, and um he's really interested in the pad split, and he's doing um flips and buying holds and wholesaling, and and uh he does he does everything, man. So it's it's it's interesting. He's in the Pace Morvey group. So yeah, man. So we're gonna he's gonna hook me up with some houses, hopefully on the subject to end, and then you know I can teach him whatever I can teach him. But he's he's like a big fan of the show, he loves listening to us, so that's really cool that when a fan reaches out, you know, he's like, I can't believe I'm talking to Stevie Stacks. I'm like, a little celeb celebrity like for a second.

Shout-Out to Vincent

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Yeah, man. But yeah, bro. Uh yeah, shout out to Vincent because he that ain't his first time hitting me up. He didn't hit me up in the back in the past before, too. And uh he's been listening to for a long time. So shout out to old Vince, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Well now he's in H Town, so we'll either see him there or he'll see us up here, right?

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

The Chicken N' Pickle Meetup

SPEAKER_01 3:14

We got a big meetup coming up uh in a couple weeks. Yeah, what day is that? That will be uh the 21st, I believe. 21st of August. So this if this episode drops in a couple days or tomorrow or one Thursday, then that'll get yeah, people will know about that meetup and and hopefully come out and say hi.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Yeah, for sure, man. We got some good stuff in the works, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Chicken and pickle. Oh, yeah, and GP too. So we we all good, yeah. Oh, Grand Prairie, yeah. Yes, sir. We're gonna have to go drive to North Dallas, Mike Brown. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

Man, that was a that was a headache, boy. But man, we got a lot of stuff to discuss, man. A lot of uh you you what are we gonna start calling it? Steve's pad split diaries.

Learning the Ropes as a New Agent

SPEAKER_01 4:08

You know, it's it's fun doing something new and learning the ropes and all that stuff, but there's a lot of frustration involved too, right? Yeah, and doing the pad split stuff. Um, one of the more one of the more interesting things that happened, so a lady booked one of the rooms, right? Yeah, and um when she real cool, real real nice lady from the Caribbean Islands, and she um she hit me up. Well, she was, you know, I I I called her, you know, how you always I always call everybody to just to talk to them and get to know them before I approve their booking. And um, and she was cool and she was gonna move in that day. So she she got there to the house that day. It's it's the house, it's one of the Arlington houses, right? The two of them are like like a few blocks away, the two Arlington houses. And um, and I gotta admit, the one that I I had bought in um I bought it earlier this year. Yeah, I bought it earlier this year, and it was uh it was uh you know, a fixer upper. The guy, you know, the guy fixed it, made it look real nice. The only thing is the people that lived there before had cats, right? So some people can still smell that cat smell a little bit, man. That stuff is the worst. And um, most people don't complain about it, right? But she said, man, you know, to be the to be honest, it's really, you know, I can smell that smell and this and that. And I happened to be have someone move out like you know, a few days before to the other Harlington house. I was like, Well, you know, I do have another house down the road, it don't have that smell that smell. Uh I was like, um, I could go down there and then and tour you that house if you want. She goes, Yeah, that would be nice. I saw like an Uber dropped her off, right? And dropped her belongings and stuff. And um, and so I went, scooped her up, and then I um dropped, you know, we went and toward the the other Arlington house, and she liked it, you know. She goes, Yeah, this is really nice. You know, so you want me to transfer you there, so you can go in the app. You not only can you transfer like someone from one room to the other, you know, if they want a different room, you could transfer them from one uh house to another if you have multiple houses. Okay, so I just that's it's easy. Like I said, their app is really cool. All I had to do is, you know, you just hit transfer member to you know, house, whatever the room you're putting her in. And then I did that, and then she was transferred to that room. And I had my truck, so I picked got all hers. I said, I'll move all your stuff too. So I was like, one stop shopping, man. So she didn't have to call the Uber, she had to walk down the road to go see the house. So I went, I was able to problem solve and and keep a guest, a good guest, right? And then um, and then that room got booked like the next day for someone who loves that room. They didn't mention no smell or nothing, so it's just um, you know, problem solving and good, you know. Luckily, I got I got two great guests out of it. So you things happen, you just gotta know how to yeah, problem solve, man.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Yeah, so yeah, so dang, it looks like Pasplit's booming. If you got somebody else coming back in that same day, man.

Turnovers and Same-Day Bookings

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Yeah, yeah. They um there's a need for it. As soon as someone checks out, I I mean it's probably like maybe like a day or so, and then I and I start getting hit up hit up, right? Um, I will tell you that Passplit's starting their their kind of like um superhost thing. Um whatever they're whatever it's called, I forget, but if they're doing their own version of superhost. And they had mentioned before that um it doesn't ding me if I if I turn down people, right? If I turn down people like that wanna want to book one of the rooms. Now, part of their criteria of superhosts, like I said, I have everything, you know, five stars except for that, because I turn down a lot of people. I want to have good people in my houses, man. They're gonna be there for a while. And not only that, they can mess up the whole flow of the whole house, right? Put the wrong person in there, other people start leaving, you know what I'm saying? So it's um it's a delicate mix. So I'm gonna I don't care about that super host thing. I'm gonna keep turning down people that I I don't have a I don't have a good feel for, you know, for their vibe, for how they fit in the house. So yeah, so there's that.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

It sounds like you don't need dated anyway, from what it sounds like, you know, and also let's be honest, when Airbnb does the superhost thing, it's more or less there is more higher, I would say higher tier people on super hosts sometimes, like the guest. Here, you gotta really screen. I think that's a part of it, right? From how what I've been learning from you, you gotta really screen. Like you can't just let anybody book. You might end up with the dude butt naked in the swimming pool in the backyard and the kiddie pool.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

You know, you know what I'm saying? You've had the weird situation. So I mean I forgot about that. Yeah, you can't just have anybody booking your spot, bros. I I understand it, man.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I understand it.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

The um, but go ahead, though, because I had a question for

The Naked Guy in the Pool

SPEAKER_03 8:58

you.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

No, you you threw me off with that naked dude in the swimming pool. That's to look back at the earlier episodes, you'll see what Micah's talking about. That was that was a weird mofo, man. Um no, no, that oh, yeah, I guess um oh, a friend, a friend of mine that that she's out of Canada, the girls that were that were arbitraging one of my houses, right? Um, they they and I know I kind of been mentoring her, showing her, you know, a little bit about Airbnb, that what I know and stuff like that. Because she'd be tripping over, oh, this guest is saying something, you know. Like I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and give them like a half refund because you know they're they're complaining of I'm like, what are they complaining about? It was like nothing, right? You know, just one of those Karen's coming in there taking pictures of the the dirt in the corner, like a little bitty speck of dirt, or you know, one of those things. She was she was all freaking out because she really wanted to preserve that super host, man. And that was a smart thing on Airbnb's part to put that that carrot in front of people, but anyways, the newbies are all about that. Oh, I gotta I gotta no, I'm just gonna give them half the refund. I was like, I say, man, don't give them nothing. She goes, Well, but by superhost status, you know, that was how she was in the beginning. Anyways, I talked to her recently on the phone and she goes, You know what, Steve? Um, yeah, we don't care about that superhost thing no more. I was like, I told you the day will come when you're like, screw that superhost. We're not gonna get bent over by these guests anymore just to preserve the damn superhost status.

We Got Superhost Back

SPEAKER_03 10:26

It's crazy. You know what? And you know what? I'm actually we actually got superhost back, but you know how we got it back? We got it back through midterms. Like, we didn't get them back through short terms. Like, what what you just said, that little person coming in looking at that speck of dirt. That's what I hate about short terms, honestly. That's what I hate about it. So that's why I love like the midterm play, because you just get better guests, man. And yeah, that then you feel like you have to do it because they're there short term, and they're gonna complain. Forget all that, man. Midterm all the way, bro. That's why that's one thing I do like about pass, but it's it's all midterm, you know what I mean?

Held Hostage by Guests

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Right, right. But yeah, man, just getting held hostage by these guests, you know, people start off doing that because and and they and the guests know how to do it, they know how to freaking push the buttons and try to get what they want. Yeah, and it now the thing is the pendulum, the pendulum always swings one way or the other, and it's now swinging back towards the guests again. About we used to be able to get a lot of these reviews removed, right? By just citing, citing what the rules say inside of Airbnb. You know, they they're kind of they're threatening us, they're threatening to leave a bad review if we don't, you know, in so many words, and we used to get them removed pretty now. They're sticking, man. They don't give a they don't give a damn. Even if someone didn't stay there at all, then dingy with the bad review because you didn't want to cancel them. That I mean, it's it's terrible, dude.

Vincent and the 12,000-Person Conference

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Uh I'm happy you brought that up. Shout out to our boy Vincent, because before me and him were talking for a second, um, and he was like, Man, Airbnb stock shot, you know Airbnb stock just shot through the roof, right? It went up like 14% one day and then like five the next. So it's been up like almost 20%, something like that. Um, but so I looked it up. I'm like, well, what's going on with Airbnb stock? Airbnb, and this goes back into the review thing, they're saving a lot of money right now because they're uh basically everything's AI based. So the people you're putting in your review, like trying to get the review removal, it's AI, and they're saving a bunch of money with these bots. So that is why y'all are gonna see a lot more of that, what Steve's talking about. And uh they're saving the money at the end of the day, and yeah, it's their stocks up, so it will that was one of the key indicators. It's crazy, bro.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

They're teaching AI to deny everything.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Basically, basically, yeah, that's what they're doing, man. Because yeah, they they're like stocks up, money's up, yeah, deny everything.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

So you you got back from an AI convention?

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Man, yeah. I was at an AI conference for a whole week in Vegas, bro. And it was man, yeah, it was a your job sent you there? Yeah, my job sent me there.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Oh, you had it paid for then. Nice, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

And it was like 12,000 people there in this big ass room. Um, it was some celebrities there too. Russell Westbrook was there, Rick Fox was there. Um uh Ron Art Test was supposed to come, but he didn't come. But yeah, Rick Fox and uh Ron Art Red Russ Russell Westbrook were there. Um, but yeah, man, it was really good. It was a really good conference, man. I learned a lot, a lot of like AI stuff that I was just like, whoa, like like these doctors, they're putting uh malpractice insurance on these AI agents that they've created to like prescribe medicine for preventative care and things.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

I'm like, damn.

Digging Into the Conference

SPEAKER_03 13:44

But what I was gonna ask you, and I'll go deeper into the conference because I wanted to kind of stay on pad split because you know, a couple weeks ago, I think I sent you a mic, this lady complaining about pad splits, right? I didn't know what she was talking about. She was like, I want these multifamilies out of my neighborhood. And I'm like, what the hell? I'm like, what are you talking about? So I asked her what she's talking about. Comes, she breaks it down, and then I realize she's talking about pad splits, right? So I'd ignored it. I'm like, well, whatever. But I did tell you guys, I'm like, ah, they might start coming for pad splits. Man, another one popped up. Change ordinance in Arlington to ban multifamily housing. You know what it has? That little change.org crap, and they're gonna start signing a petition. So I will tell people, be on the lookout for that. Um, now the first lady, she did say they should move all patch splits to the entertainment district, which I'm like, yeah, I then okay, what for? That doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

The Airbnb's already there. Yeah, yeah. She have them over there by the crack houses.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Yeah, that's basically what you were saying. I was like, what's that sense? Does that make? And then uh, so this guy, he's uh yeah, this guy, Larry, he's uh sending out basically a petition to have it signed. So I will say it does look like, and it's funny how you're saying Pad Split is kind of starting taking an Airbnb's approach, the superhost, all that stuff. Right when now I want to kind of see how Pad Split's gonna handle this situation, right? Because I think PadSplit's probably the only people in the game, right?

Rumi and the Other Platforms

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Um, there's there's some others. Um, what are they called? There was Rumi is one of them. I think there's there's a few roomsters or something. Okay. Rumi Roomsters, but not as big as Passfit. Pasplit's by far the biggest, and um, there's people that do it without Pasplit as well. They just do it on their own.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Yeah, uh but yeah, I will tell people in Arlington they are because I know I I met some people that do like seven and nine bedrooms, and I'm like, shit, that's a lot of people. Yeah, that's yeah, that's a lot of people. So I was like, I'll do I would say just keep an eye on it. I don't know what's gonna happen or what's gonna come out of it, but I remember that's how it starts, those slow rumblings, and then it gets to the city council because of the complainers. Um I mean, I I I honestly I don't know how the city council is gonna do it because I will say when the Airbnb thing hit, we were in a different economic time, right? Um, houses were cheap. Uh well, houses were cheap, interest rates were low, people just buying, you could buy a crap deal and it'll turn into gold in a year or two back then when this happened. So now it's like, bro, we're in a financial crisis, people don't want to pay this expensive rent, you know, a six hundred dollars a month room, you're winning all the way around. So it it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But yeah, I did wanted to let you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

I mean receive costs. I've been through it before, man. Uh yeah, yeah, but I put a big ass Mexican family in one of these houses if they ban Pasplit.

Start With the Exit Strategy

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Definitely, yeah, for sure. And then and start with that extra strategy. But I I don't I I don't know. I always remember I had faith that they wouldn't do nothing to Airbnb, but I don't I don't think they would I just don't see how you could like bro, it's cheaper housing, right? You know what I'm saying? You got an affordability issue,

From Rough Apartments to a Real Place

SPEAKER_03 17:01

fix it.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

You know, you know what tripped me out. So there was uh there was a dude staying at he'd been in um one of the rooms at my my original Passplit, like almost since day one. He'd been there a long time, right? But anyway, so he's like, Yeah, man, I uh I'm finally gonna move. I got me an apartment, I got approved, so I'm gonna move in there and and all this stuff. And it's like, all right, cool, man. Congratulations on that. And like he wasn't making a lot of money, right? He makes he's like uh he he makes money during the school year, like he works for the schools or whatever, but off you know, it drops quite a bit during the summertime because he has to find odd jobs and whatever. But, anyways, he's like, Yeah, yeah, you know, they the ladies told me I could move in, and I guess he was like some kind of deal where no money down or first month rent free, or it was some kind of deal, right? He texted me later that night after he moved out. He's like, Man, I got to this place, the the paint's coming off the walls, the ceilings falling, the the there's leaks everywhere. He goes, he goes, Man, what did I do? I'm like, man, sorry about that, dude. That's like um someone already gonna rent your room, but uh but he was so so what what it got me thinking, and we were talking about you know, is pad split versus one bedroom apartments out there, you know. I don't think that's that's really how I would put it. I would say pad split against um slumlord, slumlord apartments. That's who they're that's who they're fighting against because there's some ghetto ass apartments out there, man.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Yeah, it is some ghetto apartments out there. Look, but but think about it. He went from pad split to a ghetto apartment. Which one are you gonna choose if the what walls are falling down and everything? I'm for real, you're about to choose a pad split, bro. And then, like, let's say you don't go to a ghetto apartment, you about to afford $1,900 a month for a one-bedroom shack. Man, ain't nobody trying to, you know, ain't nobody paying that.

The Mike Brown Text Thread

SPEAKER_01 18:58

That's the thing. We talked about it a little bit, uh, me, you, and Mike Brown on the on the chat, on the on the text messages that these apartment complexes, and we saw it whenever we were we we saw all these apartment complexes springing up everywhere, right? In Grand Prairie, tons of them in Dallas, tons of them, you know, just going up when the economy was good. And I was like, you know, this is like musical chairs because one day the music's gonna stop, and where are all these people, where are they gonna get all their ventures from? You know, right now all these places are they were they were all at capacity, but you're gonna build build thousands and thousands of more units, it's not gonna be at capacity forever. And so um our buddy, uh Brandon Turner, kind of got his ass handed to him by um, you know, he started his fund and then he um got people you know to invest in his fund, and and then they they have they kind of spend that money, right? Went out and got him a big ass nice apartment complex in Houston. Austin and the it was it Austin? Oh, even worse, even worse than Houston. Yeah, but but then the economy started going the other way, and then their interest rates, because for what I understand, this is not the same as locking in a 30-year mortgage on your house, the interest rate stays the same, right? With the apartments, they they're those are variable interest rates, so they kind of go up when the interest rates go up. So you could be you could get in at three percent, but then like a few years later, it's at seven percent, even though you're running your apartment complex rate, you're losing money. And so that's what happened, man. The music stopped, and and he lost a lot of money for his investors. And he's out what he's he's being the big man, he he's over there, you know. He lives in Texas now, he was living in Maui, all nice, and you know, living a good life over there. But he he's actually handling he could just say, Well, you know, uh investing involves risk, so sorry guys, but he's out there trying to fix the situation and trying to to help the investors out, which is good.

He Was Stand-Up About It

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Yeah, and I like that he was real stand-up about it. You know what I mean? He was like, Man, dang, I'm you know, I'm losing. I moved to left Mountain Light's life in Maui, moved to Texas, and that's real cool that he did that. You know what I mean? Sometimes I mean you can't we can't predict the market, right? We can't predict it. We can try to make the best deal possible at the time, you know. And I'm gonna be honest, that story makes me realize why I want to stay in the single family, small, multifamily, and I'm not really to take on other people's money. That's just not me, right? And that's what people sell and people preach, take on other people's money. But man, that that's a big risk.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

And matter of fact, the the the title of this episode, this Steve's sentence, because we got to get into it.

Taking On Other People's Money

SPEAKER_03 21:36

Speaking of taking on other people's money, uh, Steve said the title to this show and stuff that we need to talk about is why real estate and Airbnb influencers are lying to you. Go into that, Steve. Because I I got a couple things too. Because I'm starting to notice two categories of influencers that are starting to pop up. And I'm gonna let you go, and then I'm gonna talk about my two pategories. influencers well I'll just say it like this because pe um people that have come to me you know trying to trying to either um get an arbitrage or get us to help them manage an arbitrage they've they've come from these influencers you know they they've they see them on on um they see them on uh what's it called uh freaking Instagram and and all those and then they they pay for their course uh hopefully I'll say some of them get out cheap and only pay like three thousand dollars for a course but some of them pay a lot more than that right and I would say to me three thousand that's a lot of money but but that's but they'll they'll get people for ten thousand twenty thousand thirty thousand dollars you know they'll hit people hard um but they're coming to me and they're you know they think they're gonna make all this money oh I need to make at least a thousand dollars a month on a one bedroom apartment right who told you you can do that show me how to do that and so and I just you know I'm saying I mean you you could be profitable but I don't know you're gonna come jump out the gate you don't know nothing about this industry I've been doing this for a long time you know you're not gonna just make a thousand dollars right off the bat you know first you got to spend money to make it look nice you're gonna be in the hole and if you're paying they're so eager to grab anything they're gonna pay too much for rent right and then they don't even factor the utilities and then when it's all said and done they're losing money every month and they're just trying to hop out plus they can't even cover the furniture they're trying to sell that stuff at the end it's just a messy situation all because they listen to some influencer saying this is what you got to do this is how you're gonna do it and you're gonna make all this money right and that's just what I see them coming to me and I'm I just I try to give them some truth right away I said don't expect don't expect those returns um unless you find something some unicorn over here um those days you know maybe in the early days you could do some stuff like that but it's too much competition out there there's um professional management companies out there that that know what they're doing a lot of them some of them don't but uh but yeah that's that's just what I'm seeing and and and whenever I see people online uh I'm not gonna name any names but I see like these big time influencers still peddling the same stuff about Airbnb about I mean it's it's just it it's kind of discouraging because people people eat that stuff up no um I'm happy you brought that up because like yeah the the Airbnb influencers you can teach somebody but at the same time you have to have some experience behind you and not only experience you gotta have like different exit strategies if they're just talking about putting your stuff on Airbnb with no marketing strategy nah bro it's over with I wouldn't even listen to that crap but um I there's two other waves of influencers I'm starting to notice to pop up too and they are AI influencers and pad split influencers those are the two I'm noticing pop up like it's funny like right when you send me like swear right when you text me something I see it it's like the phone's listening right it is so when you text me about the yeah it is and when you text me about the influencers the next thing I just happened to open my Instagram and a pad split influencer popped up and then I kept scrolling and an AI influencer popped up and I'm starting to notice and I'm like dang it's like what they do is and I know I'm gonna be honest influencing is really a business it's a good business it just it's it has ebbs and flows right so you have to find the hottest thing like okay bet let me go do this you know you might they might be getting it off podcasts they might be getting it off wherever and then you just make a little video about it charge 20 people $2,000 make money for that time shoes that's a couple that's a wholesale couple wholesales right there you know what I mean so yeah it it is starting to it's starting to happen like the pad split influencers are going to happen and I'm gonna be honest I think the pad split influencers are going to have a wave I think the AI influencers are going to have a wave too if they know how to use it. So we'll always see that both to the listeners be careful what you buy bro like you know um it ain't no instant return and I'm gonna be honest with you I was just reading in Robert Kiyoski's cash flow quadrant if you're looking for like a fast get rich quick scheme good luck to you go buy a lottery ticket to see what you can do. But I mean you know it that ain't how it worked bro it takes time it takes effort you know and and I'm gonna be honest we've been doing what Airbnb short terminals for what mid-terminals 10 years now close to 10 years. So I mean it's like 10 years of us doing this we're the ones winning because we didn't quit and we went we went through the down period. And another thing I think that is what gives us the power in the AI world because we already have the data of how this works um the data of what our pricing needs to be and some of us me and you we've probably had certain units what the whole time we've been doing it plus the new units we got on. So it takes work bro it takes work so yeah y'all are about to start seeing these influencers because I'm seeing them so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out well it's it's super easy now it was easy back then.

Knowing the Big-Time Players

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I mean it's a little more challenging because what well because we knew some actually we we knew some big time players in the industry right we would interview them on our show and stuff like that. Like they knew what they were talking about a lot of them I mean we've interviewed some that are we probably should have deleted those episodes but but we've most of them they've been really good and and um and and so what what happens they they've said like they've told us like yeah I I made this um I made this program you know this um tutorial this whatever uh thing that I'm that I'm selling on my site you know they weren't trying to knock people's heads off they were they were charging a little bit for it but um she goes they she or he or whoever it was that was on our show they said what what these people do they go online they they buy one of my courses and then they copy the whole thing repackage it and then they go and they go put it under their own name and they start selling these courses so they did that back in the day right and but now it's even easier because you just tell ai to build it for you yeah you know you said oh pad split tell me all about Pad Split I'm gonna put it in the package I'm gonna add some videos I'm gonna do whatever and then boom I got something I can sell people even though they don't got one damn Pad Split right that that's exactly what's happening bro that's exactly what's happening you can because I mean I could build something man I build all types of stuff with short term rentals off AI off Claude but and I honestly I could really sell that stuff because when I was at that AI conference I showed this one guy what I had built and he goes bro you need to be selling this stuff I was like I know and I was like I will eventually but um yeah you can do it right now you know so you you're gonna see a lot of it um it's gonna be interesting to see how it turns out though yeah I mean me like me and you we got our hands dirty and really dug into this industry right from the beginning and um we weren't faking the funk as I put on the on the very top of this one we weren't faking the funk we were actually doing the work right yeah getting in there getting our bumps and bruises getting our asses handed to us sometimes and and figuring it out you know yeah and and it builds character and shows you how to do it and then we don't freak out over things you know it's always so it's always so funny when I bring on a newbie and I'm I'm either helping them out or either managing for them or whatever it is right uh and they like freaking out over every little thing I'm like listen it's just just calm down it's gonna be all right we're gonna get through this things happen acs go out you know things happen but you just gotta you you just gotta be okay you know the guests will understand if it's a cool guess if it's not a cool guest oh well but it's just uh it's just we're we've we've seen crazy things right we've seen crazy things we've been through crazy things and it and it kind of like builds a little tougher skin for us right it does it does man so you become something different man you learn how to you know learn how to navigate through it um you you had a bunch of like recession proof recessions and tough markets on here I wanted to hear your and you had a bunch of good pad split stuff too man so uh let's talk about this recession stuff you're talking about what do you think so yeah the recession I mean I feel that we're kind of in a recession I know the stock market's going up well they call it a what do they call it a K-shape economy you know the rich are getting richer the poor are getting poorer and because you can't just keep printing trillions of dollars and and people's money gonna still be worth the same right it's just mathematics right um so recession proof properties for example I would say the cookie cutter three twos that are you know starter homes if you're gonna invest in anything that's always gonna be recession proof if you're buying a five five six seven bedroom McMansion and you think you're gonna do something with that in a hoa area no right now those things are going like freaking half price um the those things are plummeting in price and um but the cookie cutter homes the the starter homes those are always gonna be you know I would say recession proof because those are always gonna you know people are always gonna have a demand for those right and a thing like doing pad split like like uh like is I would say unless the cities go mess it up it's a recession proof too like I I see the demand I'm staying like over 90% you know occupied I you know because I I say it's six it's three it's three property that's 18 that's 18 units if you if you look at it like that and I I I flow I fluctuate between one unit being empty and two units being empty but then they fill back up pretty quick. So um so I would say if if cities don't get involved and screw it up that that that passplit is pretty recession proof because there's going to be always a need for affordable housing as well right um if you're looking to go get you a a Disneyland Airbnb you know or an Airbnb and try to spend all that money and make it look like Disneyland inside uh good luck with that there's a lot of there's a million other people trying to do that right so I don't know how recession proof is if people got no recession you know if it's a recession people don't got no jobs they can't spend no money they're not gonna be able to rent your thousand dollar a night Disneyland place that you have a ten thousand dollars a month mortgage on um so straight up so I wouldn't say and when the good times are good hey those are probably gonna do real good right but when the when when the recession hits and the bad times come then that's the you're gonna struggle you know people ain't buying rollies people ain't eating uh lobster boils uh yeah what was that when they were giving out the when they're giving out the checks for covet remember and and then everybody the PPP loans them people get locked up right now boy yeah I'm not even talking about I'm just talking about the the checks they would send out for like the unemployment checks you remember those oh yeah yeah people over there eating uh eating the the seafood boils and stuff on the goes and then they cut off the checks and it goes that and then someone put online it goes I don't see a lot of people you know bragging about their seafood boils anymore online man that just show you people's priorities man they're getting free money and going out going getting uh lobster dinners bro oh man we had some time six years ago man it was crazy I I'll tell you something else too um that so that's okay if a crash is imminent we talked about recession but that's a lot of people are saying a crash is imminent but I don't we'll we'll get back to that because I I was gonna just bring up something real quick I'm I'm staying right now I'm getting work done at my house right my my primary home I'm getting the floors done I'm getting painted getting new um baseboards getting you know the whole nine getting new cabinets making it look pretty right yeah is it's long overdue I've been fixing up all these other houses that we buy why not why not mine you know it's long overdue and so um we I just bought the house that I'm at right now is um we I just bought this one about a month or two ago and I bought it um you know owner finance and I and I think I told y'all about it. Yeah this is the the last one we bought or the most recent one we bought and I plan to do corporate rental here anyways uh they did a real real nice job uh we love the house you know the finishes are nice everything's like modern brand new looking and um so we really like it the girls love their room you know the rooms it's it's a trip because their room is smaller here right but it has two twin beds in there and it doesn't have a lot of junk like their their room has stuff everywhere right they have all these toys millions of toys and they just love being in that room I'm I told my wife see a more minimal existence clears your mind you got all this clutter everywhere and and so I said that so when we get home this we're gonna clear out all that stuff that they got you know and build the room I mean they want their individual beds now which is cool but um anyways so we're staying we're we're lucky enough blessed enough to be able to stay at this house while they're working on ours right and and what's cool about it too is we get to try out the Airbnb the Airbnb the the short term midterm rental whatever this you know I only use Airbnb to fill in the gaps I don't it's not an Airbnb it's a corporate rental but um we get to try it out and see oh we need another trash can over here oh you know we need uh we need an ice maker over here we need you know just things that we we noticed that would to live more comfortably and we get to knock those things out while we're here right so I thought that was a that's a cool perk if you're able to ever stay at your own rentals I highly recommend it you know oh I was gonna ask you I think there's a way that I can rent this out to my company or to my company can rent it out to me and you say you do like a tax break that way I heard that you can rent one of your properties like for a few weeks out of the year and you get like a tax break you're talking about the Augusta rule is ah that might be it yeah you're talking about the Augusta rule that's when you you rent you you can really rent it out every month uh but you want you want to do that with your primary residence.

Renting Your Home to Your Own Corporation

SPEAKER_03 36:31

So with rent my own home out yeah to your corporation once a month oh okay like one but it has to be uh I'm not a CPA by the way but I just heard about this and y'all can go ask your CPA about this first off just tell them it's the Augusta rule and tell them you're trying to do it on your house. So basically 12 times a year it's either 12 or 14 times a year you can rent out your house you can have a board meeting one time in your primary residence and that board meeting it has to you have to rent it out to where you know as it would as if like you were to go rent some other place it has the cost has to match most people make sure that the board meeting you're renting it out is happens to be the mortgage so you know you just have to justify it and you just have to get a good CPA that knows how to do it. And you can do it once a month you can have a board meeting have the minutes you have to set all that up so yeah

Twelve Board Meetings a Year

SPEAKER_03 37:28

you can do that.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

You could do one board meeting a month. Yeah okay so you're talking 12 days out of the year. Yeah 12 days I think it's 14 days total but yes think it's 12 okay because I heard the same thing you could do yeah you could stay in one of your properties two weeks rent it out to your company or something like that. So it's kind of similar I think okay yeah similar yeah we'll have someone that hit us up I know we have some people on the show that might know how to do that. But so I I'm I'm gonna figure out because we're we're being here we're gonna be staying here about two weeks as well. Two weeks to while we're while we're waiting on our house to get fixed. So anyway so one thing about this house in this area you know okay is perfectly it's perfectly legal to do Airbnb in this area right perfectly legal you can do Airbnb here it's you can get a STR permit so when I hit but here's the funny part when I went online I said okay I'm gonna submit all this stuff it looked just like you know like submitting that Grand Prairie or somewhere right you submit the floor plan you submit the parking you submit all that stuff right and and so I was submitting all that through their portal and the lady said okay everything looks good here um be sure to to look at that look at the rules on getting a commercial smoke alarm system I was like okay well what do I commercial smoke alarm you I said could you send me the what the what the rules are on that and she goes yeah and if you need help you can call the fire department too and they can help you I was like alright cool she sent me this paper and it talked about this this commercial smoke alarm system you have to put throughout the house not just smoke alarms you stick in the in the rooms a commercial system that acts like um you have to you have to submit blueprints to the city and then they have to approve it right and a fire marshal has to walk it as it had all these rules right and then uh it has to be able to um call the fire department if there's ever you know if they ever go off it automatically it's connected to the fire department and I said the hell how do I do this and then I looked on on this they had some phone numbers there right of contractors that do this but these companies look like um big companies that do this stuff for like giant warehouses and shit you know it's not just it doesn't look it's like it's commercial it's for like you know they they go and do this stuff for the warehouses or big buildings and stuff and um and I talked to a guy and he's like yeah man you know it's um we can do it at a house and this is what we do and we got to submit the blueprints and all this stuff and then we'll go install it and you have to hook it up to the monitoring thing to the fire department he goes it's gonna be around fifteen thousand dollars like what he's like yeah man commercial smoke commercial systems are expensive it's not yeah he said it's about it's about 15 grand he goes other people have called us before you know the city gives the phone numbers he goes but not one person has gone through with it I was like whoa it's fifteen thousand dollars I can understand why people won't go through with it dry it up it's so um yeah and so anyways I I was like man I I called that lady back to the city I was like you know this did you know these things are 15 grand he goes yeah I heard they're expensive I was like all right how how about if I do just 30 days plus do I need one of these systems no 30 days plus no you don't need a commercial system just regular smoke alarms which is so to me wow so if someone stays at your house 29.999 days you have to put a commercial system for them if they stay there 30 days then you don't it's such a it's so such a trip man but to me that's crazy what automatically I'm thinking oh okay the city said we're not gonna go the same route as as Arlington and all these other cities and ban it we're gonna make it legal but you have to do these things pay to play baby pay to play and I was like yeah I'm not yeah so that's what I'm I'm just gonna focus on corporate.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

So I have a question did you get another quote on that?

SPEAKER_01 41:34

I haven't yet I haven't yet but um I've why you got a guy no I don't I'm just wondering because like you know it because I'm gonna be honest you know that the city's gonna give the highest end company that they know all they're reputable we have probably have city contracts with them whatever else of course they're gonna charge 15 grand I'm pretty sure we can go find somebody do that shit for five four or five thousand if that you know what I mean yeah yeah that's that's you know it's funny because the guy that sold me this house I still talked to him because he's gonna you know get some other deals for me in the future and I'm gonna buy him subject to or or owner finance from him um but but he I told him the whole deal he said you know he goes yeah that's that's pretty crazy but I had he goes you might ask my handyman he's got like a handyman that's a freaking genius right like genius handyman he goes don't tell him how much they quoted you but just say just see how much is you know show them the specs of what they need and see how much he'd charge you because even because he goes that's that might be a good thing that's a big barrier to entry to this city but if you're the only one that to actually go through the process you know you can make a lot of money here.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

I was like yeah you got a point you know yeah because because think about it like let's say you are in between MTRs and you're the only short term rental standing man now there are now there are other short term rentals here I'm pretty damn sure they didn't do

What Other Operators Used to Say

SPEAKER_03 43:01

that process.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

I don't know you know but but I remember back in the day we talked about our our our other operators saying hey man that dude don't have a permit you might go check that house turned into some snitches on here in the cut hey man Hyatt and Hilton you know they do that crap you know little guys don't have their things they get them get them out of here you know and then the big ones are the lobbyists they're the they're the they're the real snitches man they get us all banned banned short term rentals in Arlington and all of a sudden they got a bunch of hotels going up yeah you know what it is so one thing you said you said about the smoke detector the the fire alarm is that something that's public information um you know I I it might be but I just someone that doesn't know what the hell that is they just oh they just we need smoke alarms they just smoke smoke alarms right Yeah.

Building My Own AI Toolbox

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Because speaking of AI, what I've been doing is I actually I created like a little toolbox where people can type in a zip code and it'll tell them, hey, is STR is allowed and then pull the laws for it. So if that if that stuff of stuff is there, I've been building that. I I have it working for like Arlington and Grand Prairie. Um so I would like to try to test it out in that area because that seems that seems like that would suck. Let's say some out of state investor comes down to Texas, drops 20% with the idea of Airbnb or short-term renting it, and like, oh yeah, by the way, on top of those closing costs 15 grand for this. Yeah, that'd be that that's just that's a that's a sturdy bill. So I that's interesting. I was wondering

Big Houses vs Small Ones

SPEAKER_03 44:44

about that.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

No, it's all relative because I if I had like a a giant, you know, big ass five, six bedroom beautiful house with I mean this is a beautiful house, but I'm saying like a high end with a swimming pool and all that stuff. Okay, 15 grand, I could see, I could see that, you know. Yeah, but a small cookie cutter house, I was just like, it didn't make sense as far as what I'm I'm thinking to be, you know. I'd like to as a corporate, I'd like to, you know, profit at least a thousand a month as a corporate, so it would pay for itself eventually, right? In 15 months or or less. But um, but yeah, I just thought it was a trip how cities can be clever with um keeping STRs out of the city.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

You know how that is, man. Yeah, because because yeah, because I I like your idea. You're like, you're just gonna go mainly corporate, because I like the STR MTR split, kind of like what me and you and Mike were talking about, you know, being able to do it, but at least your short-term rental is allowed over there, and it's other operators they ain't spent that 15, so I think you're good.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

I I get I get I feel like you sometimes when you say I hate Airbnb guests, because there's so many bad ones, man. Oh my god. But

Why MTR Beats Short-Term Guests

SPEAKER_01 45:54

you know what?

SPEAKER_03 45:54

Now I'm to the point where I hate short-term Airbnb guests, those the worst ones. MTRs, I don't really care. That it yeah, the short-term Airbnb guests, that's what the Karen's, you know. I I used to say I hated all of them, but the short-term Karen guest, oh my god. I can't deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Oh man. But um so what do you what uh what did you want to talk about? We're dropping into a lot of my topics.

SPEAKER_03 46:21

No, I was gonna go into like I actually have a couple questions about your topics, but uh yeah, like you were talking about that guest moving out and then buying a house, or you said he he did like a percentage down to buy did he buy a house or move into an apartment?

SPEAKER_01 46:35

Oh, the the the padmate? The pad the padmate? Yeah, no, that was an apartment. He moved into a ghetto ass apartment.

The Complaint That Doesn't Add Up

SPEAKER_03 46:42

Okay, he was complaining about that. I have a uh guest right now, and this is not making sense to me. He's he's booked our place corporate, right? And I think he's gonna be there for a long ass time. The the one who ran up the electric bill. He booked our place corporate, but like he he he keeps he's extending again, right? He's like the the the company was like, hey, can we put him on a month-to-month lease? He's trying to save up to buy a house. I'm like, he's trying to save up to buy a house. Why is he paying this high rent? Like, we charge him $5,200 a month, and he's like paying it. I guess I don't know if somebody's paying it for him, but he's like trying to save up to buy a house. I'm like, why is he paying this? But I I know I don't question it. Hey, he pays on time, they pay on time every time, so I'll be quiet. So I there is like a group of people, like I think there is like a market for people staying in MTRs that are looking to save up to buy a house, but I think that goes back into pad splits. I think I would, but he has I think he has a wife, but like I would look into a pad split. Why how are you why are you spending five thousand dollars a month and trying to buy unless she just got it like that? But I don't understand it.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Yeah, that don't make sense. Yeah, that was the one yeah, I would look for like subsidized housing, but but like there there are the you are allowed to have two people and if you if you allow it in your own passpit, you can have two people per room. Now the thing is you you can your house handle two people per room, you know, six six-bedroom house that's 12 people, and then people are putting seven eight bedrooms in their houses, you know, 16 people with how many bathrooms trying to share two bathrooms, maybe three.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

That's that's where I'm wondering where these complaints are coming from. I wonder if it's from those people, because I mean, I mean, I'm honestly, if I'm if I'm trying to if I owned a passplit and I was doing two people a room, I would charge double the price. Both of y'all can afford 600 a month, 1200 a month with two people and all the utilities paid, and you got six rooms, whoo that's a lot. But I mean, yes, a lot of people outside too. But you said most of them don't have cars, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:50

About 50% of my my pad split people have cars, maybe maybe less, about 50 or so.

18 Rooms, Half With Cars

SPEAKER_03 48:57

18 rooms and only 50% have cars, that still ain't a lot. You know what I'm saying? You might be able to get away with it. But I'm I'm wondering what kind of hosts these people are hosting, if they got cars and they're causing a commotion.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

Now, here's here's a conundrum. And it's one, it's on one of my things because we're talking about two people per room, right?

SPEAKER_02 49:18

I'm happy because this is what I wanted to talk about.

My VA Hit Me Up Last Night

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

So my um VA hit me up last night, and they're like, um and they're like, hey, because they check the cameras, right? And in the passplits, I have cameras inside you know the common areas as well. And so they were checking the the cameras at one of my pad splits, and they're like, hey Steve, um so and so has a seat, it appears they have a guest going in their room. And I was like, Is they're like, is that allowed? I was like, no, and then you no, it's one person per room, it's not allowed. I said, just send, you know, send them the message, hey, you know, there's after hours, no guests, and then especially no overnight guests, and whatever the the the the message he goes, they if whoever just needs to leave immediately. And so I didn't think nothing of it. Like the next day um well when I got home from work, my my wife said, Hey, did you see the thing the messages about the extra someone had a guest in their room at the pad split? I was like, uh yeah, I was like, She goes, I said, Did you see did you see someone on the camera? Because she has access to the cameras too, and she's like, I think I did. She's going back and you know to the at night and you know, swiping back on the ring camera, and she's yeah, yeah, see this guy goes in right there, you know. And uh I was like, hmm, who's that guy? I was like, and I said, okay, go to the where the he goes, he's going to the kitchen, go go follow the kitchen. And he was going to the kitchen. There's a camera, he the camera, right, you know, where his face is. I was like, oh, and then he went down the hallway to the other side of the house. I was like, that looks like the person from that other room on the other side of the house. I think I think you had a name for that guy. Oh, oh, Trinidad James.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

He had Trinidad, yeah, yeah, Trinidad James.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

I was like the big fro. I was like, I was like, zoom in. I was like, that's him. I was like, I mean, he's paying rent in his room. I guess I can't say nothing. He's not an outside guest that ain't paying no rent. If he wants to go share a room with her that night, what can I, you know, I can't what can I say? Unless the neighbor of her room is complaining about the bumping and grinding, right? Or jealous. Damn, that's funny, bro. But that dude just moved in not too long ago. I even I sent you the picture. I was like, this should I should I accept this dude? I said, Oh, yeah, yeah. Let's trigger that James. So he just barely moved in. He don't take he, yeah, he don't mess around, man. He he don't waste time, right? Came in with the Mac from almost ready, bro. He found the honey pot right away.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

Okay, so that now that I have questions on that though. So, like in the future, right? Is that kind of a liability though?

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Well, how big, how big is he?

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Oh, we're wrong for that. Somebody sucker moms turn the voting down.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Oh man.

When You First Started

SPEAKER_03 52:38

Only reason I ask is because, like, okay, because you because I remember when we you first started Passport, we were like, are you gonna do all guys, all girls? Then you you were like looking at the app, you're like, man, everybody's coming in, right? So damn, like, is that like a liability in the future? I don't know. I don't know. I guess yeah, you can't really say anything. He's paying rent, she's paying rent. I mean, I I don't know. I hey this might be the opportunity to be like, hey, do y'all wanna just share a room and I rent out the other room, but y'all, it's gonna be $1,200 a month?

SPEAKER_01 53:06

I don't know. I just that's too much commitment, dog. I live on the other side of the house.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

Oh man, bro, that's funny. Hey, they said you can't have guests, we're gonna figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

But we uh we talked about it too. We talked about it before. Like what happens, you know, it's human nature. What's you know, yeah, we didn't mix living, so I'm sure things happen.

SPEAKER_03 53:33

Yeah, bro. Yeah, that that's an interesting one right there. That's an interesting one. Interesting. Oh, uh uh one more question I had. Oh, yeah, about your pool. Oh, no, no, about the recession proof. Getting in what I think also is recession proof right now is how much equity you can get in with. Because I think that's a big thing. Like people doing burrs, if you can still find a good burr, I think that's recession proof too. If you get in with a lot of equity, because right now it's like when the it starts crashing, who's got the equity? You know what I mean? Who can survive? So that I think that's the another recession proof key. Um and speaking of crash, you know, I think I said this the last time, historically, real estate market has crashed every 18 years. Last crash was 2008, 2026. It's 18 years, so we'll see. We'll see. But you know, I I think even if you get in with enough equity or you get in with a good deal, I think you're good. But one thing you put on oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

No, I mean, if you're able to stay out of debt mostly and save up a little cash, you you know, you can make some you get some good deals during the crash.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

I agree, I agree. Um, now Steve the pool man, man. What happened, pool man?

The Pool Guy Problem

SPEAKER_01 54:52

It's always something, right? It's always something. So um my my pool guy, I guess he's been a magnet for cars slamming into his truck recently because he got into two accidents in the last few weeks, man. So so the thing is, here in Texas, it's hot as hell, right? If you don't maintain that pool every week, it's gonna turn green quick. It's gonna you gotta stay on top of these pools here because the algae grows fast, man. And so I don't know, he sent an email after the second crash, and he um he said he had to go to the hospital and all this stuff, and he didn't have a vehicle, but he he sent it like after he he missed his um when he was supposed to clean. So we already have guests there, and that hey man, these pools are turning green. Um, I was like, Well, the pool guy didn't didn't go by, and then that's when I saw the message, and I was like, Man, he didn't tell us. I you know, I'm sure you know it was very traumatic. He said some like um street racer slammed into him at high speed and he went to the hospital, he ruined his truck. Um, but and he was probably, you know in a way, he maybe he just just was out of it. He couldn't contact all the people he's doing the pools for or something. Contacted him later, but it was already too late. The pools are already starting to turn a little bit, so he couldn't make it out because he didn't he and it's the weekend too. We got people booking, they want these pools, right? And so he couldn't make it out until like till Monday, till like yesterday, because um because he he was finally gonna get a rental car. And and I was I was like, dude, well, I guess I'm gonna go buy these. I well, I I have a I have a like a pool guy that was doing one of the houses that it came, he came with the house, you know what I'm saying? So the the the owner pays it's an arbitrage, so they she pays for this guy, but he couldn't make it out to those other houses, and I couldn't find a you know last-minute pool guy on the weekend. So I had to say, well, I guess I'm Steve the pool guy. So I just I jumped by my house where my pool is, got my pool shock, you know, the the the chlorine granules, whatever, and I got my tabs and I got my scrub brushes and the the thing and uh to scoop everything out, and that's I'm hitting up the pools, man. It's like a hundred on a Sunday, it's like a hundred and some degrees, and I'm over here scrubbing as my the CEO of the company is scrubbing pools. Man, bro.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

How long does that take to get that all the way clean?

How Green Did the Pool Get?

SPEAKER_01 57:25

Well, it depends on how how green it got. So one of the pools, that's another funny story. The one that turned really, really green uh uh at this one of the Grand Prairie houses. It um the the the pool guy, the the backup pool guy said he went, oh, I went out there and the water was super low below the skimmer, so I had to I turned it on. I'm gonna come back at two o'clock and turn the water off. He didn't come back, he got tied up somewhere else. So the pool overflowed. Oh, we're getting calls. Hey, the pool's overflowing this big ass ugly green pool. And so, what the hell? So now I really gotta go out. I tried, I told the you know, we asked the the guests if they could turn it off. They said, Oh, I think it is off. I don't know what the hell you can't trust guests to do maintenance stuff, but so I was like, All right, I went out there, it was off, but it was like I don't know, it was like semi-on, it was it was weird, but I I was able to turn the water off and it was like overflowing. Oh damn, so I I I at at the pump, I was able to like let some of the water out just see if I can get it down a little bit, and I scrubbed the hell out of it and I shocked it. So that one was super green. I I got this really good shock that I get on Amazon now for the pool that I bring it back pretty quick. Um, but I shocked the hell, I put a whole bunch of that in there, and I put some tabs in the in the in the traps, right? Some of those chlorine tabs, and by the next day it was starting to clear up, but that's when my pool guy could come out that Monday and he could scrub the rest of the way. It still needed it needed like three the third by the third day, it was gonna be good. So he went back again today and was able to get his vacuum and and vacuum out all the dead algae, right? So it took three days for that one. Now the other ones weren't as bad, so yeah, just a good shock and the good scrub was able to get him back in a day. Um, and and so I did I hit up all three pools just to make sure, and then I said, Well, might as well do mine too while I'm got this stuff. I did four swimming pools that freaking day, man. I was worn the hell out, dude.

SPEAKER_04 59:25

Oh yeah, hot ass heat.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Hot ass heat. I was like, man, how do these how do these guys do it, man? We're just you know, we're a little spoiled of the AC all

We Need a Disaster Recovery Plan

SPEAKER_01 59:34

day.

SPEAKER_03 59:34

Straight up, man. Straight up. But what it made me think of, we gotta have disaster recovery plans, bro. Because when stuff like that happens, what's our backup to the backup? Yeah, you know, yeah. I uh you know what I do? I have a very expensive backup to the backup, but they're always reliable, but he just gotta pay them. So I just pay them for yeah, pay them for convenience because then that sounds like a horrible uh uh uh Sunday,

Inside the Pool Cleaning Industry

SPEAKER_03 1:00:02

man.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

But here's here's the thing, man, and I'll say this it's the pool, the pool cleaning industry is still for some reason, it's still the wild west. You could you could get a company out. I mean, I'm unless you're gonna pay like a super huge mega corporation company and spend a crap load of money. But if you're gonna go just try to find the your local pool guys that have been doing the area for like years and years, some of them are good, some of them are crap, some of them go in there, they don't do nothing, they still want the money, you know what I'm saying? And they and we've seen we've because you look through the windows, you say, Oh, that person just like went in there and threw a cup of granules and took off. It's like and they charge you 50 bucks for that appearance, you know. It's 200 bucks a month right now for a pool guy, right? Yeah, and um there's and then there's some that try to sell you every single thing under the sun. Oh, you're pooling each this, you're pooling each that, because that's how they make all their money, right? Yeah, and so it's just it's just it's hard to find like uh reputable, reliable pool guys.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:03

Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that. Damn, it's that

Plumbers and AC Guys Too

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:07

Yeah, yeah. I guess you could say that with maybe plumbers and AC. You could you could probably say it with all of those uh the trades, right? Unless you hire uh baker brothers or one of the big ones, right? Maybe, but they're gonna charge you a buttload of money, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:24

Yeah, they they will, they will. Um yeah, if it's like that, even plumber, you can find a plumber. It's just like this. You can find a plumber, it's just being able to fit into their schedule. That's why you always gotta keep a bunch of them. Plumbers, electricians. They got they make money, so they yeah, you gotta get into a schedule. And maybe the same thing for pool guys, too, because you you also have to look at how many pools are around here. It's a lot of pools around here, but you know, can you really, you know, covet?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:55

Everybody put a pool in their backyard because they thought we were gonna stay and live in our houses forever, right? And not go anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:01

Like the last house, like the last house on Netflix. Yeah, for real, man. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:06

I saw the preview to that. I don't know what the hell that's about.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

The last I didn't get the point of it, but it was pretty good. Like the action part of it, it was pretty good. Me and my me and Mahogany watched it last night. It was pretty good. Um, but um, yeah, man, it it's it's interesting.

Movie Break: Obsession

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

One movie I one movie I'm digging is that obsession movie. You seen that? You gotta watch. It's called Obsession, it's like a horror movie, but really, really good. It's on uh Peacock if you got peacock.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:33

I got peacock, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:35

I'll check it out. It's freaking good. What's a trip, what trips me out about that movie? I mean, it the way it's well written, it's clever, it's I mean, and and the the guy that made it, he's like a like a YouTuber guy that was, you know, he'd make his own shorts and stuff, but he was more like a comedian's uh style. But he uh he made like a horror movie on YouTube. But anyways, he he wrote he wrote the movie, he directed it, he edited it, he did everything, like you know, on his computer or whatever. Uh but he did everything on it, and um, and it came out freaking awesome. They they spent under a million bucks to make this movie, like 700,000 bucks, and it's already gross, like 300 million dollars. It's just but it was just a good idea, a good concept, well written, and and kept people on the edge of their seat, kind of thing. It's just it's like I I I love those kind of stories because like he's beating the Spielberg movie that they put hundreds of millions to make, and he's kicking its ass. You know what I'm saying? It's just like yeah, I love I love hearing stories like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:38

Obsession. Okay, I'm gonna check that one out. Uh, another one I watched, uh, because I was at the AI conference in Vegas, and I was telling the Uber drivers, like, where you at, man? What are you doing here? I'm like, hey man, I'm at this AI conference in Vegas, a bunch of people, and I was telling them the stuff I was learning. He was like, damn, man. He goes, That sounds like Elysium. I was like, Elysium, what's that? He goes, Oh, you never seen Elysium with Matt David. I'm like, nah, man. And he's like, Man, go watch it, man. I watched that movie, I was like, dang, that shit, it was good, it was really good. Elysium, it it was kind of iRobot-ish a little bit, but it had it was like further in the future, like way further down the line. It was really good, man. It was yeah, check out Elysium on Netflix.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:19

Speaking of Ben Netflix, I still haven't seen the accountant. I need to watch the accountant.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:23

Dang, I ain't seen that yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:24

I ain't seen that yet either. I need to check it out. Hers really good.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Yeah, but yeah, man, this was a good episode, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:30

Yeah, one thing I wanted to just touch on real quick.

My Daughter at UNT

SPEAKER_03 1:04:33

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:33

So, my oldest daughter, my 19-year-old, she's at UNT. Okay, she she was hit, she hit me up the other day saying that she she wants to try to find a house to buy over there by UNT. And I said, Oh, cool, you're speaking my language now. You know, she's getting interested in doing the rental house thing. Yeah, I might just live in it for a year and then move to the next one and then rent the so you've been paying attention.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:57

Yeah, it's like they always do, bro. They always do.

Helping Her Buy Her First House

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

So I'm excited, man. I'm gonna try to help her get her first uh her first house that'll eventually be her rental house, you know. So it's yeah, that's how you gotta do it, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:10

Oh, um, she's in Denton. Okay. Uh Josh lives up there. He's uh yeah, Josh lives up there, and he actually rents by the room.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

He does test of it? He rents a room.

Live in One, Rent the Others

SPEAKER_03 1:05:26

Yeah, he rents the rooms. He has like he lives in one and rents out the other ones. So you check out his house is actually pretty nice too. Like a brand new build, nice, and they do it over there, so it's definitely an opportunity for that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

Oh dude, I'll hit him up. Yeah, yeah. That's and it's a college town too, so though they're really they're more flexible on that.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:45

Yeah, it's right by UNT too. Like it's probably five minutes from UNT. So yeah, definitely check it out. Because that's yeah, you be the only issue he said was he goes, You gotta be careful because students are seasonal. So, like if it's for your daughter, it may work, but like, yes, students are seasonal, so it's like you know, ups and downs, you know. They hey summer or something, they all may all go home, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

So yeah, yeah, that's and that's that's why uh apartment doesn't really work well for a lot of them, right? Because then they gotta pay sign up for a year, even if they're not there, they still gotta pay for that damn thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:19

Yeah, because they're on a lease, so yeah, uh, yeah, definitely check it out. That's actually a good place to do it, yeah. Yeah, our our yeah, boy Josh does it up there.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:27

Cool, man. I'm gonna hit him up

Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_01 1:06:29

for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:29

Heck yeah. Well, yeah, man. It's another good episode, episode 347, man. A lot of good stuff. MTRs, strs, pad split, AI influencers, pad split influencers, Brandon Turner. Man, uh, hope you get better, Brandon man, because that that just sucks. I know I'm for real, man. That just sucks. That situation right there, bro. I I'm I stayed up my lane. I ain't doing no OPM. I just I'll work for it. You know what I mean? That but hey, you know, hey, that that's a tough one, bro. But yeah, that was it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

Good episode. It's always it's always fun touching bass. I know we have a million more things to talk about. We'll save it for the next episode. But hit us up if you're interested in going to the meetup. It's gonna be fun. Gonna meet, meet, and greet and have some drink and have a good time and talk, talk real estate, talk about our favorite topic.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:24

Yes, sir. Yeah, find us at inst on Instagram, TikTok, all that good stuff. Follow us, IG, TikTok, live, let thrive. And thank y'all for listening. We are out. Peace. Later.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:39

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Live Let Thrive. Be sure to tune in next week for all the latest in the world of Airbnb and all that entails. Bye-bye.