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_01 0:11

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome. Oh, said you live. Hello, hello, hello. Keep it going.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Ride.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

What's up, Micah the Man?

SPEAKER_04 0:30

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

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Good, good. And this is episode, I believe, 337.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

I think 338. Because I dropped one.

Mexico barbershop upsells: vending machines for PadSplits

SPEAKER_03 0:41

237 or 338. Yeah, or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Whatever. We'll figure it out. It'll be on the thing. Of your favorite short-term, mid-term, long-term Pad Split uh podcast in the world coming at you from Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Let's go, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

So uh you just got back from Mexico. How's that? Yeah, man. I was there two weeks. I was there two weeks. It's a that was a long, it was a long trip, man. Two weeks somewhere, you know. You think like, oh, cool, you know, when I once I get you know financially, what's it called? Financial freedom, I go travel, I'll be somewhere for a month. I don't know, man. It's I think a week's a good enough uh uh time period to go somewhere. A week's pretty good. Two weeks, that's pushing it. You're like, oh man, this is I'm still here. I'm still bro.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

I went I went back home for seven days for Thanksgiving, and I felt the same way. After a week, you're like, yeah, it's time to go home. You gotta get back to your own bed, you know, living out of a suitcase.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Yeah, bro, it's time to go home.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Right. No, but one thing, you know, I touched uh base with you. I was like, hey man, we can learn something from this um third world Mexican barbershop that I went to that's out of someone's living room, you know, because they got they got the upsells going on. So we're there, you know, with the kiddos getting the kid uh our one-year-old uh his first um professional haircut, because my wife had had given a little haircut, but uh this is like his first sitting in a barber chair haircut, you know what I'm saying? And uh that whole deal. And um, but behind her, she had all kinds of things. You got you want a drink, you know, you want you want a beer, you want uh you want some chips, you want some hair extensions, you know, all all you got toys for the kids. I was like, man, every customer is like 10 sales. I was like, dude, we can learn from this. And what did you how was you how did you reply?

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Oh, you can get that at Pookie's in the hood. It's the same thing, man. You know, it's just in Mexico, it's the same hustle, bro. It's your pleasure, straight up, you know. We got what you need for real. Like, hey, everybody knows that barber shop, that barber in the hood, you know what I'm saying? You go over there, you can get your hair cut, you can buy whatever you need for the time being and go about your business, you know. Yeah, a baggie, whatever it is you like, you know, in America.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

We we try to, you know, Mexico, they allow you to hustle. I I don't know though. I don't know, because you know, here we're you got to get license and all that, man. Somebody who ain't got time to get license, man, they cutting out of their hair and out of their damn bathroom and they making their money, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah. It was cool. I was just I just you know, and and just thinking of doing you know stuff like that in our own business, the upsells.

Airbnb's grocery delivery feature and the logistics problem

SPEAKER_01 3:29

That's a big thing. Because I guess like I was saying, every every client is is 10 sales instead of just thinking of oh, it's just the one sale, you know, they're gonna rent a room a night at my place and then they're gonna leave, and that's it. You know, you gotta figure figure out ways to sell them some more stuff.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Yeah, you see you see the space Airbnb just hopped into, right? The groceries. Oh, yeah, they have a little feature now. You can uh I haven't turned it on. I keep getting the emails about it, but like, yeah, you can do the grocery thing, they'll let they'll deliver the groceries for you. So, you know, Airbnb's hopping into that space. I remember a while ago, I forgot we had an upsell guy on our on our podcast where you like he upsell stuff. You can upsell stuff in your Airbnb through his link or whatever. And I always wonder like why Airbnb never got into it, but they're getting into it now, like for the grocery thing. So, but I don't know how much you can charge for it. Plus, they're taking their 15% now.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

So I might try it at one of the units just to see what happens. Um, I know because back in the day, Sean Rasidic would talk about you know selling the popcorn packages and the you know candies and sodas, you know, stuff like that. To me, um, it was always you know, it was already hard enough to get the cleaners to do what they gotta do, you know what I'm saying? And then to ask them, hey, could you go in there and inventory the popcorns that they used and this and that see, or they'll be taking the popcorns themselves. I don't know. I'm not saying that they do that, but you know how people are. Um, but but it just to me, it was like it just added layers of like more logistics on top of what was already a challenging situation. Trying that was back when we were trying to find good cleaners and going through them, you know, and now you're gonna ask them to do more things. Now you already want them to do, of course, all the cleaning, you want them to do all the inventory, and and then you want them to charge the ring batteries, and you want them to check the batteries and the remote, and there's like so much stuff, and then you're gonna ask them to like check how many popcorns and sodas you sold and made a few bucks on. Yeah, it was just yeah, it seemed like too much. We talked about putting vending machines in the Airbnbs, but you know, then again, you have to go collect what changes in there and all that stuff. But I I mean there's ways, there's ways to do this. Um, I just thought that was pretty pretty creative. Someone that has a little barbershop, but hey, I'm gonna make money every way I can.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Yeah, for sure, man. And I I ain't gonna lie, I ain't fully against the vending machine business in inside of an Airbnb, especially if a person who already runs one who just starts a side hustle like a little Airbnb and puts one in the vending machines. Man, my boy doing six figures off his, but he hasn't he has them in hospitals.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

I was like, damn, you putting a he's like, Yeah, I just get a hospital contract, man, get a couple of those. He goes, only thing is if they don't if they stop working, you know, you got to send a tech out. But he goes, that's far and few in between. I was like, Oh yeah, you winning,

The $350 PadSplit referral fee and Furnished Finder integration

SPEAKER_03 6:16

bro. So yeah, if you get them in some Airbnbs, that might be a hit.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I I'll tell you one thing, because I, you know, I'm with these pad splits, and I'm making like six bedroom houses, and then the next the next few might do seven bedrooms, might go to eight, depending on how big the house is, right? Um, there's one particular one I'm looking at. It's like uh like an upscale house, you know, without a HOA, which is great. And um, but it automatically made me think, I could put a vending machine in something like that. Because, you know, people people work in double shifts, they get home, whatever, and hey man, you know, they get the munchies. Some of the some of my clients get the munchies quite often. Uh to have a vending machine there that can get them a soda and get them, you know, some chips or some MMs or something like that. That might be that might be an easy way to make a little bit more income.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Honestly, I think it'd be a great idea for all your past lists. If you think about it, because if you you're already saying they don't they have access to the living room, but they barely use it. If you had one in the living room, bro, like hey, they want a late night snack, they don't feel like leaving or getting up, they can go pop some popcorn out the vending machine or whatever, and then you ain't got an inventory nothing because the vending machine, you know what's low and what's not low. And then everything now with vending machines is done digitally.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

A lot of them don't have vehicles, so yeah, a lot of them don't have vehicles. So you have a vending machine in there because you're gonna Uber Eats stuff, man. You're gonna spend 50 bucks for that value mill, right? You're gonna but you you have some stuff in there they can munch on, so you know, trail mix and chips and sodas and whatever. But that you know, that might help. That might help uh well help them out because they don't gotta hit up Uber Eats or whatever, or go, you know, find a place to to deliver something. But but yeah, that I just thought of that right now. You just that's a good idea. Because I'm I'm actually running like miniature apartment complexes inside these houses.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Straight up, and what do you always see in apartment complex? A vending machine in the office. Um now I have a question for you. You said something very interesting. You said they don't have vehicles. So like not all of them, some of them do, not all, some do, or some don't.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

About 50%.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Wow, that's still a high especially in Texas. That's a high percentage of no vehicles in Texas. So, like how has so like I'm assuming there's a certain demographic, because you know, if somebody does get the munchies, how has it been working now? And then, like, you know,

50% of PadSplit tenants have no vehicle

SPEAKER_03 8:43

because if they don't have vehicles, I would assume they're getting a lot of Uber Eats, all that stuff coming to the house.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, those deliveries are happening a lot, man. Those deliveries, there's always like you know, look at the camera, there's always someone dropping off some food.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Game, bro. Yeah, that's expensive. That's expensive. Oh, dude. I I hate doing Uber Eats, bro. I'm gonna be real. Like, like for real, bro. I mean, uh if you do Uber Eats, you like look at the bill, bro.

SPEAKER_04 9:06

You like, man, I could have just drove up there for this crap, bro. And then and then they have the nerve to ask you to leave a tip, like, bro, you bringing them, bro.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Yeah, bro. Like, yeah, I was wondering, bro. Because yeah, I think you could, man, that's a market right there. Like the uh vending machines for pad splits, that might be a hit, bro.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

I'm gonna look into it for real. This this for real this time. I'm gonna look into it because it never really made sense out of an Airbnb too much, you know what I'm saying? Because it's one person coming in in town to stay at Airbnb. Who knows if they're gonna buy something, then I have to go check it and all that stuff. But a vending machine that I could like let sit for a while, and then um maybe have someone that I trust at the at the pad split go go and take a take a photo for me. Hey, could you take a photo see it so I can see what what I need to go restock and this and that?

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Oh no, bro. I'm gonna hook you up. I'm gonna hook you up with my boy Matt, the one who's doing six figures off of him.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

He'll tell you how electric it'll tell you automatically what's the levels. Oh you ain't gotta do none of that.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

So then you just know you're like, boom, okay, cool. It needs to be restocked here, here, and here. And plus the guest more than likely will tell you.

SPEAKER_05 10:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

How much would what do those vending machines cost? I I gotta get you in contact with him. He'll know he knows it from A to Z.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I'll tell I'll tell you at my job, at my day job, what what's a the biggest hit in those things is those the monster drinks, those energy drinks. People are drinking those things all day long, man.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Energy, uh, monsters and Celsius's, yeah, bro. They those hit all day, bro. Especially after lunch, after everybody had their morning coffee. Yeah, they go chuck down a monster after that.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Hey, could I put some could I put some Brewski's in there? I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

It'd be nice, but I wouldn't grow, it's all grown-ups. Yeah, I wouldn't, because now you're starting to look at liquor license and everything else. But yeah, bro, like monster energy drinks. I don't know. I don't know, because the monster thing, you're more or less looking like in corporate where people are working. It might still work, but yeah, I would I would more or less target like snacks and sodas. That'd be it, that'd be your hit right there. Or go even further if this is kind of going a little bit too far, but have you ever seen those parks vending stations?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Um called parks. I think oh yeah, yeah. It's like with the cameras, yeah. You just grab what you yeah, yeah, you just grab and then pay right there.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Yeah, yeah, that might be a hit because then you know like what's the inventory, and it has I don't know about a camera in your living room.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

I don't know about that, man.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Yeah, but it's just we're just throwing out ideas, you know what I'm saying? So, like, you know, the camera in the living room thing might get a little iffy, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

I don't want to be evicting folks for some Cheetos, man.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Yeah, yeah, for real. But like, no, no, no, Cheetos you would put in the vending machine, like your your your parts, you know, the new ones, you know, you have your vending stuff, but at the same time, you have like the frozen stuff, like those frozen red baron pizzas. Um then they scan it, like you know, they might steal it, but I don't know, you would you should try it. And then they like pizzas and stuff, then they ain't Uber eating that because then that's like a meal they can fill themselves up with.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Now, I did hear one thing that you mentioned the the frozen pizzas. I heard um I had a professor back in back in college, and he was you know entrepreneur kind of class, and he had he had vending machines, and he said, he said, now once you start getting into sandwiches or foods like that, that's when you bring in the the the people that the health inspectors have to come out and stuff. So you if you stick to like chips and sodas and stuff that's you know packaged, you don't have to worry about the inspect how food inspectors. But once you get into like yeah, stuff that can expire and make someone sick, then then that's a different I mean you can make money doing it, of course, but it's more systems, yeah. It's more getting people in that house that I don't want in that house.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Yeah, see, and also that see, and that goes back to demographic too. Like, you know what I'm saying? When you got like people you know who might steal a pizza or something, you know what I mean? Plus, you have to now make sure it ain't expired. Because at my job, they have the parks, but everything's open, but you're on camera, yeah. My job too, yeah, and then you have to badge in to even get into where it is, so they know who badged in. They know, you know what I'm saying? And plus, ain't nobody really gonna steal up there.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

So, but like you're a higher paid, higher paid workforce, like us. We're uh you know, higher paid workforce, and they're probably not gonna risk their job for some, you know, for a Doritos, you know what I mean? But in a bad split, you know, who knows?

SPEAKER_04 13:44

You know, I don't know if they'd risk an eviction for some Doritos, but you never know, bro.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Hey, speaking of that, like they said this year

The most returns in Christmas history to pay mortgage

SPEAKER_03 13:53

was the most returns in Christmas history of people returning stuff so they could pay their mortgage and their rent. I was like, people are crazy, bro. Like, I just I ain't that crazy about Christmas, like to where I teach my kids, hey man, we ain't gonna have no lights, water, and gas for some presents under the treat, man. Hell no, bro. Like, that ain't the move, man. Like, you know, and I'm gonna be real, this year for Christmas, what I did with my kids, like, especially my older one, Malachi's 10. I said, Hey, bro, tell me what you want, I'll budget it out. I was like, I'll give you. And he asked for one big item that was like 300 bucks. I said, Look, I'll buy that for you, but you ain't getting nothing else. And that's how I did Christmas, and it worked like that. You know, his grandparents bought him stuff, that's fine, you know. But we ain't about to go crazy like that's insane, man. People be risking everything and can't pay their mortgage, like, bro, you gonna have lights, water, gas, get evicted for Christmas?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Nah, bro.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

It's it happens though, it's it's crazy though, man.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

That's been happening, man. Sadly, you know, uh, folks want to give their kids a good Christmas, and that's a fact, yeah. But yeah, man, you gotta I I want to get rid of so many of my kids' toys. There's so many toys, man. Every birthday, every Christmas. I'm I feel like telling people no more, don't just gift cards, man. This is just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Yeah, bro. I know what you mean, man. I know what you mean. Cause you got girl, you got two girls. I got one, and my daughter man has stuff everywhere, bro. I'm like, dang, come on, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

I I was gonna, you know, I was thinking about it. And you and when we I said, hey, you know, we still have podcasting today, 5 30. You said, Yeah, yeah, I got I'm headed home. We got a little good traffic to contend with. And I was like, I was like, cool, man. Uh, and I started thinking, oh, I said, I had traffic, you need to you quit your job already, traffic. And then you said, Oh, you need to get some more houses or some more doors, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

I started thinking about it. I was like, all right, check this out. I know I know there's there's uh you're following a formula and all that stuff, and that's great, right? And then a lot of people, you know, that oh once I do this, I'll do this. But what would happen? Let's just say you got fired today. For whatever reason, you got fired today. What what steps would you take to like you know, to fortify your income, to make your to to fortify your income and

If you got fired today: AI skills as a backup plan

SPEAKER_01 16:16

grow your income like immediately?

SPEAKER_03 16:18

Immediately uh use all my AI skills and put them to use.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

In what way?

SPEAKER_03 16:24

I'd be able to apply for a job in a minute because I've that's all I do is AI. I know how to do AI prompt engineering. I've invested enough skills to where I could immediately and plus I already have income coming in, but I'd be looking for an AI job. I almost applied to one yesterday because I saw it. I was like, it's what I do, but it's AI based for network engineering.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

And I was like, dang, but I didn't I didn't apply for it. Why not? It's hard to find good management. And my job has good management.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

I always say don't chase money, chase good management. And that's why. And I could have applied for it just to see, but you know, we're in the middle of some stuff that I'm really enjoying, like this data center stuff we're doing. I'm really enjoying it. Um but yeah, that that's what I'd be. Because like that's why, and this is funny, and this is for everybody. Like, if you're working a nine to five and you have a plan with your real estate and stuff, still be honing on a honing in on skills that can help you outside of your job and that can help you on the next job. Like my AI skills have helped me in my business and helped me on my job. So, like that's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

There you go. Win win.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

So so that I mean that's so cool that you you ought to automatically knew what you would do, you know? And a lot of people out there, you know, if they do get fired, and people do get fired all the time, right? Or laid off or whatever the job's going through, the economy's going through, and they don't have a plan B. And that's when they it's it's just like it's hell. And I saw, I saw, I told you, I brought it up on an episode that my brother went through that, you know, and he's never been without a job since he was like, you know, 15 kind of deal, you know. And he um they laid him off. It was this happened last year. Yeah, this happened last year. A job that he he had for a while, and and all of a sudden he didn't he didn't know what he he always talked about, oh I want to maybe do my own business like you're doing, stuff like that. But he didn't ever had a backup plan because he you know people get complacent and then after work you're busy and you just really don't think about it. And um, but the it's kind of like the I wouldn't say too late, but it's it's kind of hard to like, oh shit, they fired me today. I'm coming home with a box in my hand. What do I do? And start then you just start panic mode, and then just then a lot of people will just take whatever they can get. You know what I'm saying? They're just like, oh crap, I'll just whatever I'll go, I'll go work fast food. I don't care. I need I need to get this income back rolling, you know what I'm saying? Because they don't you're not gonna get a hundred percent from the government, you're gonna get like what 30% or uh uh whatever the percentages of what your pay was, you know, while you're if you get an unemployment. Um but like I said, but nobody uh um most people don't have a backup plan. Yeah, they're they're a hundred percent reliant on that job. And and and that it is tough, and and you know, of course, what we preach on this show is start gaining, you know, accumulating assets, start getting rental properties, and and start having we call it a side hustle, it turned into my main hustle now. It's my main thing I do. And so if I I wouldn't even you know, I'd kinda I'd almost be happy if they fired me or laid me off. It's it's it's to that point, you know. But you know, I put in the work to build something, yeah, you know, and I think everybody should do that or at least have, like you said, like a plan B in case something goes down.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

I I I a hundred percent agree with you, bro. And I'm gonna tell you, like this year, you know, everybody's getting big tax returns under Trump, you know, with the big beautiful well the people who do what we do, we get big tax returns. Yeah, so and and I tell people, I was talking to a young guy at my job and he came and he was like, you know, I think I said I told you before, I talked to him twice. The first time, you know, he was complaining about hey, he wants a raise, and I was like, hey man, I put a good word in for you. And he goes, Yeah, but you know, it's never the right people that want to put the good word in. I'm like, I know, but just keep your head up, you know. And I was telling him, because he's young, he doesn't want kids, and he's married. So I'm like, hold on, you're dual income, no kids. I'm like, and he has a house, he owns a house. I'm like, bro, you should I'd go sell the house, go beat me a duplex or fourplex, live in one of them, rent out the other three. If you ain't gonna have no kids, I mean that's the good life right there. I mean, for me, that's how my mind's thinking. I'm like, no, you can go buy, I was like, bro, I'd do the four, three, two, one method. Go buy a four-plex for the first year, put three and a half percent down, live in it for a year. You ain't paying no mortgage or nothing. Next year, go buy a triplex, next year buy a duplex, the next year buy your dream home. Now you walk into your dream home with what nine doors? Yeah, not eight, nine doors, bro, and then pay them off. You ain't gonna be asking them for a raise. You about to you got your own raise, but you have the opportunity to do it. But everything comes down to mindset, and therefore, you cannot change a person's mindset. You can spark it. Now he came to my office again, he was like, Hey, can you tell me about how to get a HELOC again? So it's starting to spark. You know, it's starting to spark, you know. So I tell people, you can spark someone's mentality. Always be, you know, always keep that mentality of helping the next man. But yeah, you can change people, but you you know, in that crisis, when you're in that crisis mode, like you said, you take the first thing coming, it's because you're operating out of scarcity, not out of abundance.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

You're forced to operate out of scarcity, bro. That's a Bad place to be in.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Right, right. And that and that's what we tell people, you know, the what's it called re the fire uh financial independence, retire early

Financial independence as freedom, option, and choice

SPEAKER_01 22:10

or whatever. And most people think, yeah, just as soon as I get to this point, I'm just gonna quit and just sit on the beach, you know, drinking mm mamosas or whatever the hell. Uh but but it ain't about that. And and a lot of people, you know, the shows that we listen to, they they talk about no, it gives you the freedom to choose to work to do some kind of work that you want to do. If you want to keep, you know, most most egos, most people don't just fire and retire, you know, whatever. They they go and say, Oh, you know, I could work for this, you know, giant corporate whatever machine, or I can go work for this startup that seems pretty cool, and then AI or stuff I want to do, I could choose that job because I'm already set, I already got the money in place, and I'm good. So I could take a chance on something like this. And then um, maybe that thing that you took a chance on will skyrocket, and you're all millionaires because they go IPO and all that stuff, you know. It just gives you the freedom to choose what to what you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Man, my my mentor says exactly that. He says, the reason why I teach this is so you can have freedom, option, and choice. That's all you want for your life is freedom, option, and choice. Because at the end of the day, like how you just said you were on a two-week vacation, right? But you were like, after a while, you're like, dang, bro, I'm ready to go home. It's because what happens is, and Brandon Turner talked about this because he said he backpacked across Europe for a year and he was miserable. He said, Because you're not acting out your passion, you're not living your purpose. Even if we get all the money in the world, but you don't have purpose and passion behind it, it ain't gonna do nothing for you. That's why I think even going into how we were just talking about starting something for yourself, when you're doing these things, you start to find yourself. Like you start to find out things you're good at that you never knew and find out something that you be like, dang, I'm good at this, and I actually love and enjoy doing it. And it puts you on a different trajectory. So, because it ain't all about vacations and stuff, because like you said, that gets draining, man. After a week, you're trying to come home, lay in your own bed, man. You ain't trying to be living on no suitcase and living on and sleeping on your homeboy's couch for a week with your family or and you know, have somebody else's bedroom. So it is, man, it gives you that that passion, purpose, all that it comes from just trying different things, and then once you try something and you stick to something and you'll start learning different avenues, like this AI thing came out of nowhere, and I was like, dang, man, it's pretty cool. And I just took advantage of it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Yeah, and you know, about to the vacation thing, we was it was two weeks there in a hotel room, too. The hotel room gets small, man. I was thinking, man, I you know, I love the hotel for a few days, it's cool, but I need me an Airbnb, I need me a house, I need to rent me a house if I'm gonna be down here, and then you know, the mother-in-law's house is super small, a little two-bedroom, like smaller than my living room kind of deal. Um, so yeah, it's just that it's how they live over there. But but that led me to okay, we're going back in March because we gotta do some of these, um, like we gotta do a couple classes so we can baptize our son and the Catholic Church kind of deal. So we're going back in March, and um, and and so I said, Listen, I'm gonna look up an Airbnb. And I just started looking all of a sudden I saw this one. It was a house, right? Yeah, it and it was um it's like four bedrooms, and it has a pool, you got your own pool, it's got a lush garden. I mean, this huge place, right? And I was like, dude, I want first of all, I want something like that in Mexico, you know. And I looked, and this is like this company is called um you know, Stays by Sarah or something like that, and they have like two of them there close to where her mom lives, you know, out there where there's land, and then they got a couple of them in the in the downtown area of Guadalajara, and they're like nice, they're like they're building out these big, you know, nice houses with multiple rooms. You got a like a pizza oven outside, you got a grill out. I mean, it's really nice, right? For a decent price. And um, I was like, I want something like this. And I said, I told the guy, I was like, This is cool, I'm gonna rent it for me for this week, but I want to sit down and talk to you when I get there about how I can get something like this, and we can, you know, I can invest

Buying a Mexico Airbnb and a van for passive income

SPEAKER_01 26:18

in something like this and have something, either all of it or a piece of it for ourselves, and then whenever we come to town, we'll have something, and then it'll make it'll make money when we're not there. That's what I want. You know, I'm I'm used to that. Us entrepreneurs are used to trying to, you know, we don't want to pay no, we don't want to pay nothing now unless we're gonna get something back, right? And I was even thinking about, you know, every time I go, I'm renting a van while I'm there, right? And it costs a lot of money in Mexico to rent something, right? And so I was like, I'm already asking the guys, hey, do you got any vans for sale? I might just buy one. And then I said, Well, your sister's at the house or your or your dad's at the house, they can do Uber while we're not there, and the van's making us money. I'm already, you know, once you start twisting your mind like this, you're like, you start thinking, man, there's not just everything, every liability. No, no, you look at things that that are assets that are gonna make you money.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

Sure. They're straight up, man. And and how you're talking about this, you're making me think, because like we decided we're gonna go back to Oregon every year for Thanksgiving. And I'm like, dang, we got all the connections up there. We could just buy a little property, you know, either between Portland and Salem, have a little Airbnb, because we have friends with Airbnbs out there, but we weren't able to use them this year, you know, and have them because it's the same situation, like you said, like we want to stay at my grandpa, my mahogany's grandma's house, but the house is a little smaller, we have kids over, you know, it's just like ah, but then you know, we got saved this time. Our uncle had a spot, but you know, yeah, it's something you can think about, you know. Hey, let's see if we can make make an opportunity out of it, you know. Let's get a house down there or something. We can Airbnb. Heck, that'll pay for our trip to Mexico every time we go, you know. You know, so it is. You have to just think about things in different ways, but trying stuff that's what gets that mind to click and so you can start seeing opportunities straight up.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

That is true, and trying stuff. And and one thing I'm gonna I'm gonna go check out this high-end uh house not too far from me, and it's not too far from the airport, and and it's like a five-bedroom, four-baths, big house, and about 550k, man. But and they're offering seller finance, you know what I'm saying? So I can get in with a down payment around 50, and which

The $550k seller-financed house near DFW Airport

SPEAKER_01 28:25

ain't bad for a house that big and all that stuff. It's a nice neighborhood, it don't have a HOA, which is great. But what I'm what I'm thinking of doing is making it more like either a higher higher end pad split or like a kind of crash pad where I, you know, where the pilots and flight attendants and stuff like that will stay. And so uh, you know, I don't have experience in higher end pad split or higher end or crash pads, but I'm down to try. I'm down to try stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 28:53

Oh I was gonna ask you, because we know the demographic demographic of pad splits. Would it be a higher end pad split or just more heads and beds?

SPEAKER_01 29:05

That's a good question. I'm already leaning towards crash pad. I'm already leaning towards because crash pads, you know, they they'll put two bunks, you know, in in the rooms, you know, people something they call them cold beds and warm beds, something like that, right? Where where uh a cold bed is is uh I might have it backwards, but you know, a lot of people that work at the airport they commute, they live in New York, they live in Cali, they live in whatever, but they're stationed out of here. So they just want a place to lay their head while they're flying, you know, flying back and forth to their to their house, right? They're they're not they're not there all the time. Some people want a spot that they okay, this is my spot. I'm gonna pay monthly, I'm gonna stay there all month. Some people just want, okay, is there a bed available? I'm just gonna hop in that bed and use it for that night and then hop, fly back out the next day. So it's a different, it's a different deal, right? And it's something I I've I mean I've I've been working for the airline all my life, right? So why not learn uh how to do this? And this is a nice house and it's close to the airport. Every it checks all the boxes, it's higher end. And um I might I might I'm gonna go check it out tomorrow. I might go ahead and pull the trigger and try it, you know. And the the good thing is there's no HOA there for them to tell me what to do, stuff like that. But um, yeah, I I might try the the crash pad route with that one.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

Yeah, see, and what you just did go ties right back into what I just said about AI. You've been working for the airport, uh the airline industry your whole life. You know how to service a crash pad. You haven't done it, but you know the logistics of it, and you know what I'm saying? Doing stuff, it all ties back. You know, now you have certain other value outside of just being the airport. The airport let you go today. Heck, you said you're happy about it, and now you know you you still probably got some connections in there. Hey, man, you got any nurses, pilots, whatever, neither place. I got them. You know, that's power, bro. Power in there.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Straight up. Because that's that's the thing, because I have a mid-cities pad split over here, not too far from the airport, and I get inquiries from Furnish Finder from pilots and stuff, right? But it's it's completely full, so I don't have any rooms available there, but I still I still have you know one of my pad split rooms up on Furnish Finder. And a cool thing, and and you know, and I still get inquiries for that place. But anyways, a cool thing about Furnish Finder, and I just learned from from Justin King, who's on the show talking about Pad Split. No, he works for Pad Split. He said they're they're about to start an integration with Pad Split. The Furnish Finder Furnish Finder is gonna start an integration with Pad Split.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

I can see that being a perfect opportunity because I think I honestly think that is where Furnish Finder's target market is, is on Pad Split.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yep. We've been complaining about their cheapskates for years, right?

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Yep, and that that was the answer to it right there. That is the answer to it.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Well, here's the here's the thing, because like we've been suspended a few times because of sharing links outside of uh of Furnish Finder, and they've been cracking down on us and they've suspended us a few times. This last time we got suspended, they lifted it pretty quickly, right? Um, but I'm like, dude, why don't they just work with Pad Split? You know, otherwise Pasplit's gonna take all of their market share. And apparently they got the word out, so now they're gonna like they're gonna work together, so it's gonna be a lot better for us. We're not gonna be suspended for sharing a PadSplit link or whatever the hell, you know what I'm saying? And so, and so um, so I'm happy about that.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Yeah, integration always wins, bro.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Get you a PadSplit.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Straight up, yeah. Integration always wins. I I've I have been saying, like, I just paid the little 200 for one of my listings, and I was like, and then I'm like, I hope we this ain't a waste of money putting it on Furnish Finder. I'm like, man, I hope it's ain't a waste, but we did it anyway. Um, so we're waiting to get some hits on that. Because yeah, bro, I was just like, this is just straight up for cheap people who need a pad split to live in at this point. Like people hitting you up for a whole three-bedroom house for $1,100 a month, like, bro, get out of here. So, you know, pad splits the yeah, pad split is definitely the way for that.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

There is one thing that I've come across. Now, most I'll say most of the people that are unfurnished finer that are look are by traveling by themselves, just one person, they need a room for one person. But every now and then there's there's a couple that travel together, you know what I'm saying? But I can't house them at my passplits because my my rules at my passport is one person per room. You know, and that's but I'm I need to check this out because if I do maybe like a a higher end or some kind of other type of passport or or something where I'm renting to to you know pilots or flight attendants or employees for the air airport, maybe I can do something where I can do a room where two people can stay.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Yeah, you know what them pilots like their flight attendants.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Yeah, yeah, they ain't they ain't trying to be bringing their wife with them on those trips.

unknown 34:00

Damn.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

Oh man, that's funny, man. You know what's funny about that? So me and Mahogany, we went to the uh for New Year's.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

We got a room at the Sheridan, right? Because we didn't want to drive. It's gonna be crazy driving back and forth. We got invited by a podcast listener, one of our Live Let Thrive fans, to come to his condo, Adisa.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Oh, cool, cool.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

He invited, he's like, hey man, uh, if you're in town, uh I'm having a um I'm having a little get together at my uh condo, downtown condo, 26th floor, perfect view of downtown. You can see the fireworks, corner condo. Badass condo, bro. Bought it for like he got a killer deal on his condo. But anyway, we go down there. It's uh when we were checking into the hotel, you know. Mahogany was next to me. She goes, I have to see both your IDs, you know, see last names or whatever. And I was just joking with her. I was like, Yeah, she's my wife. Last names match, no funny business going on. She was like, Oh, she goes, trust me, I have some of the worst stories. I've had wives come in here pissed off.

SPEAKER_04 35:01

Oh man. I was like, damn. That's where pas split comes in. I know, right? But yeah, it happens out here, man. People crazy. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

No, Patsplit on the DL, baby.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

But yeah, Passpit, I think that's the I think that's a good integration. And I think, you know, a crash pad too. You know, if you're right by the airport, you know, them hotels be expensive as hell for them. But I know they get a discount, but it ain't that much of a discount. And you get a whole, like you said, padsplit, you get a whole kitchen, you get your room. Um, now I did have a question. That passplit, you said you can only do two people. Is that a pad split rule or your rule?

SPEAKER_01 35:41

See, that's I thought, you know, when I started this, that was the rule. There was only one person per room. Now, I don't know if if you have the ability to allow two people per room. Um, I'm gonna look that up because I mean I've heard stories that you can't um you know you can't discriminate kind of deal. And and um I don't know if that has to do with how many people you can let in a room. But um, I I do have to I I'll look that up. Uh, you know, I just cause I just thought of it about maybe I can let couples rent a room. I guess you the only thing you worry about is you know, you know, they're bumping and grinding and then someone next door is here. That's where I was going with it. But there's a lot of there's a lot of apartments with thin walls too, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:29

Yeah, but a house, man. If you're already hey, if you're already getting Karen's up in there complaining, you don't want to give them get them next to the two freaks next door, man. You that can get bad.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Hey man, you know human nature. I always wondered I always wondered at my pad splits if you know people are meeting in the hallways and I don't know. I mean it happens. I'm not there, I don't have cameras inside the house. I mean it could happen, right? It's human nature.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

Straight up. And I was wondering that too, like are you saying they're not allowed to bring people in, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:01

You know, there's they're not allowed to bring overnight guests. Once quiet hours start, you can't have people spending the night and stuff like that, right? Okay you have the cameras in the front of the house and back on the house kind of deal. You know, you could see if you're if you're on it all the time. But um, yeah, they can have guests during the daytime, but like overnight guests is is not allowed.

unknown 37:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

So you wouldn't but if they're living there, if they're all under the same roof, I mean they can hop into the other person's room, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Yeah, yeah, they're allowed. I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah, it happens. And remember, that's when I went back to like because I I was wondering too, like, because you said you're doing males and females, you know, because now you gotta worry about like bathroom duties, you know. Uh it can get messy, but it sounds sounds like it's working out.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Man, I'll tell you, the times I've been to my pets, but they've been really clean, they've been nice. You know, I thought I was gonna have to like send a cleaner every month to to go, you know, make sure to do like a deep clean or whatever. But every time I've been there, man, it's been clean.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

Really? Yeah, that's good then. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Most people just hang out in their rooms. Most people just hang

Screening PadSplit tenants: phone calls and background checks

SPEAKER_01 38:09

out in their rooms. There was a guy I and I mentioned there was uh a gentleman that that had health issues, and he would leave uh Dookie on the seat and stuff like that. And he and and we, you know, we put then the notice to vacate and he left, you know, no problems. But uh and had to send my guy out to go clean a few times because you know that wasn't fair for the rest of the the house. But but I mean it's been great since he's been gone, you know.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

How now, like because I know you've had the issue with that guy, the issue with the caring lady, and the issue with the crazy guy at the beginning. Now, like if someone was just now starting to pad split, what would you say is there a healthy uh like mix of people or how do you how do you screen like hey, is this person gonna be a good fit for the house? How would you do that? Or you said or is it by pad split? Like let's say a person with no reviews like Airbnb, how do you guys how do you how are you screening them?

SPEAKER_01 39:01

And I've gotten a few of them. The best the best gauge is to talk to them, you know, because you get their phone number right away, unlike Airbnb, you can't talk to them on the phone, right? But um, you get their phone number right away and always schedule a call with them, you know. See, so so it goes, I I mean it goes by responsiveness. You send them a message, if they don't respond to it, I don't I don't like that. That's already a bad sign, right? So as soon as someone does an inquiry, I send them a message, hey, how you doing? You know, tell me a little bit about yourself. And if they answer right away with a decent message, that's a good sign. And they say, Okay, can you do a phone call? And then you can do a phone call and you give them a chat, and and you get a lot from just talking to somebody on the phone, right? Okay, and um I'll say this. I have a friend that's uh that's an agent, you know, uh um what's it called? Uh yeah, yes, uh real estate agent, and she uses this kind of uh software where they can, you know, when they they because they tour houses, right, with strangers, and that's dangerous for a lot of female um agents. So they'll they'll ask for the person's license and they get their phone number and they can look up like all the background on me or you or whoever, you know, before they go on a tour with somebody. I'm having that my friend run these these people that are inquiring. I'll send it to her and I'll say, Hey, could you because you get 24 hours to approve or reject it, right? Uh an inquiry. And um, so I'll send it to her as hey, when you get a chance, could you check this person out? And she'll send me all the stuff she finds. She's found, she's found like like criminal stuff on their background, you know, and that's not popping up for some reason on the Padsplit. It might be misdemeanors, maybe they don't care about misdemeanors or something like that. Um, so you'll find yeah, if I find like an extensive uh criminal history, of course I'm gonna deny them, right? Um evictions, uh I don't I've never seen one on her on the stuff she says. I think she's doing more background checks, right? Um, but Pasplit will tell you if someone's had an eviction. Okay, and and so so you get to, you know, you just weigh it all together. And if if someone had an eviction and it's like five years ago, I'm like, okay, you know, is uh maybe and then you talk to them, you say, Yeah, man, you know, I messed up. I was like, I was like, you know, 18 and I had a play, you know, whatever, whatever their story is, if it's compelling, and then say, Hey, I I got this job, I've been there two years, you know, you got a steady job. Oh, make sure they have a steady job. Because there've been a few inquiries where guys didn't have a job, and I haven't I haven't let those people in. But they're getting like some kind of um unemployment deal going on or whatever is and said, but I just nah nah. Sorry, bro. Uh so I haven't honestly, yeah. I want to see that I want to see that they can afford the place, right? And uh, because Passpit will say, hey, this person can afford to pay up to like 300 bucks a week, which is good. Because if you're charging, yeah, because you're charging 700 bucks a month, that means you know, 369, that they can afford like 1200 bucks, so it gives a little buffer. Now it's right on the edge that you might have to consider that too. If they can only afford to bear if they're only gonna barely make the rent, you know what I'm saying? Because transmission blows, then what's up? They're not gonna pay you. So so yeah, it's just all these factors. But I say the main thing is to talk to them on the phone, just get a good feel for them. If they they sound all ghetto, is shit. Uh okay, man. Yeah, I'll let you know. I'm I'm gonna check some things out and then reject. Um an old school line. We'll give you a call. I'll tell you this too. Um uh what's it called? Don't call them from this is dumb. I've done this before. Just to I was I learned I'm learning by mistakes, right? I called him from my own cell phone. Hey, you know, and then I'll get messages from oh, I saw you rejected me, man. Anything, anything I can do? You just get all these stupid messages. I'm like, man. So I always call from your your um Google voice or phone, uh, you know, business phone number. Call from the burner.

SPEAKER_05 42:59

Rookie mistake.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

That was a rookie mistake. So yeah, definitely don't don't call them from your personal cell phone because you don't want to get a pissed off person harassing your phone. Um, so yeah, just just do your due diligence and and and talk to them and weigh all these different options and let it because I did let a there is a guy that's staying at one of my my pad splits, and he has one eviction. The rest of the people I've stayed there, then it doesn't show they have evictions, but he has one. But I talked to him, he was cool, you know, and everything was good. Um, and of course, here's the thing if they get a second eviction, they're kicked off the pad split platform, right? Passpit only lets people have that have one eviction uh use the platform. Two evictions, you can't, you're kicked off. So that's kind of like it's kind of like your last stop, you know what I'm saying? You're like you can't get an apartment anymore because you got an eviction, right? You can't get a house unless you let you know, BS and you know someone into getting their house. But if you can't even get a passport anymore, that leaves you like in a Hard spot, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Damn, okay. Okay. Well, at least it sounds like they putting forth some barriers, you know what I'm saying?

unknown 44:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

And then, like, okay, so like let's say they say this person can pay afford to pay $300 a week. That's like what $1,200 a month, right? Are you do I guess does that person see what your rent is before inquiring? Oh, yeah. Or okay, okay. And $700 is the highest you've gone up to?

SPEAKER_01 44:26

I'll say it's around $700. I'll say I'll say between seven and eight hundred bucks a month for the room. Right, right around, depending on the big room, or it's a small room, has a closet, don't have a closet. You know, it's just the variables. Okay. So I price them differently.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

Now I have a question. Like, have you done like market since seeing like what everybody else is charging around you?

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Yeah, I'll I'll do some market research.

SPEAKER_03 44:47

It's like 700, 800, like the sweet spot.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

Yeah, I'll say it's it's it's around the same price for the same area kind of deal. Like I said, there's some higher end ones that are charging over 200 bucks a week, you know, and there's some that are charging 160. So it's just a big difference.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

The reason why I ask is because if you notice, like on Furnish Finder, like this partnership with Furnish Finder might be a hit because I see a lot of them saying they'll do a shared room for $1,100. I'd be like, damn, but I ain't got it to give. You know, I got three, but I was like, hmm, if they're willing to pay that, and they start going from Furnish Finder to pad split, you know, that increases everybody's margins.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Because I'll I'll tell you this, because like people have reached out for us you know through Furnish Finder before, and we tell them, hey man, you know, we we do have a room available here. If you it's a but here's our link also, if you don't like this room or it might not work out for you, whatever, go on Pad Split. Because the people are just learning about PadSplit, you know, a lot of the Furnish Finder people like, oh, I said, go on there and just search the area and just use my link and then you know as a referral and then book whatever place you want. So I still get if someone if he goes and looks looks at my pad split, you know, signs up for Passplit, looks at mine, but he likes okay. Let me look what else is in the area. I don't care because if he books something else, I get paid like 350 bucks. So I get like a referral fee, you know what I'm saying? If someone signs up through my link.

SPEAKER_03 46:13

Oh, you're sending them through you're sending them two pads split with the referral link.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Right. I give two links. Yeah, I give them a link to my place, and I say, Hey, if my place don't work out for you, I'm not offended. But just you know, sign up through my link and then choose whatever and go and start looking around the city and find there's a bunch of different passages.

Furnish Finder suspended us for sharing PadSplit links

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Oh, that's a hit. That's a hit.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

So I'm getting they're great with the referrals. I remember in the early days, Airbnb was was cool with referrals too, but they got stingy.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

I got a bunch of man, I got a bunch of free stays at the referrals, bro.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

I know, right? For real. But Passport's doing the same thing, they they pay out pretty good on referrals, man. And and so um, so I I I um I've been getting here's the thing. I've been getting a lot of a lot of uh people signing up for PadSplit through me. Okay, and booking places, you know, and so it is and that's cool because you know, like I said, you're getting the referral fee and you're getting the word out and everything like that. That's why I was saying that men furniture finder needs to watch out, man. They need to link up with these people instead of trying to being afraid of them and suspending our accounts and stuff because we're pad splitters.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

I wonder why. Remember, we had the CEO of uh Furniture Finder on Brian Payne. I think he he's handed off the role to someone else. But I was wondering why they didn't make it like a booking site. Like Pad Splits a booking site, Airbnb is a booking site. I was wondering why they never did that.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

I know I know it costs money, but just yeah, that I don't know that's a good question, man. It's a whole different animal once you're doing becoming the place that people book through, you know.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

Because it seems like they've signed themselves up to just be the middleman.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Yeah. That seems like the easy the easy route, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:53

It is the easy route, but now it's like it seems like they're pushing you out of business. Because that target market you had, like when the pandemic hit, that target market was, you know, them nurses was making money hand over fist, they'll pay whatever because they feel like they're getting that stipend. Now they ain't getting that no more. That target market's kind of dwindled down to like on the cheaper side, and then now you got pad split coming in. You know, that's like a learning lesson in business, man. You gotta be innovative. Oh, you just muted.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

Yeah. Uh there. No, it's a big time, man. Um, yeah, so you so that that um what was I gonna say? I was uh moving right along. We have a few other topics. We always get stuck on Passplit, man. We do is good. It's good. You need to get one, man. You need to get one so we can we can talk more about this stuff. I uh I might. I'll see. I'll see. You can try one, why not?

SPEAKER_03 48:49

I gotta, I would have to come to Texas for it. You know, Texas has the market for it. Yeah, I won't want to be no Passpit where I'm at. Like, nah, office. Nah, I get bad. Not Little Rock, man. Not Little Rock Arkansas, bro. I do not want no Passport down there.

SPEAKER_04 49:04

Hell no.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

It'd be like the Dave Chappelle show, the real world in the hood.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Real. Oh, he got a job. Let's rob his ass. Hell nah, I ain't doing it. I have to send my cousins over there, man. It won't be good. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

Oh, so I was let me give you my answer real quick, because I I like how you went, and you already had a plan B in case you got fired or laid off or whatever. And and and you jumped into like, okay, I'm gonna grab me another job real quick, AI, you know, and that's cool. But uh my the how I how I looked at it was I would go heavy on what I'm doing already on the on the entrepreneur side because I would um I would what's it called? I I got a ton of knowledge, and and I talked, you know, we got a ton of knowledge, and I talk to people all the time. We're like, oh, I just want to sit with you and learn what you're doing. How are you doing this? How are you buying these houses? How you doing, you know. I'm just like, I don't know, man. Uh, I just you know, I could, I could, I don't know, I'll talk to you, we'll hang out, whatever. I'll I'll tell you what I know. But I would, I would really, really um, you know, jump into how okay, let's okay. First off, I get fired day, I get fired today. And I'm like, okay, you know, I've got I got some money in place, but I want to I want to pat it a little bit first. So I I might consider selling one of my houses just to have a nice chunk of change. Just to have a nice chunk of change so I don't gotta sweat, right? Uh it's cool to have all your money tied up or a lot of money tied up in houses and and investments and stuff like that, but it's good to have a nice pile of cash, right? So I do that first. Give me make sure my cash is good, have a nice pile of cash there. And then what I would do is um I would start, you know, and and this this is a cool like thinking tool because I would start looking at okay, how can I keep acquiring houses or arbitrages or whatever, pad splits, how you know, how do I keep doing this without putting a penny of my own money in? You know, the Grant Cardone method. And so, because I already got people that are like, wow, how do you do that? That's cool. Let me know when you get another arbitrage. Let me know. Okay, I got people that that want the knowledge in my head, right? So I'll start trying to, I'll start putting a um, you know, I was gonna say PowerPoint, you know, whatever, old school, right? I'll start putting the AI package together. This is what I do, man. This is I find a house, you know, either fix it up or or I or I furnish it and then I get it on the on all the sites, right? And I do corporate and stuff like that. This is this is this is what I do. Here's a house I think that would work out for us. Here's the numbers. Would you like to invest in this house with me? We'll buy it, and then I'll run it and everything, and I'll get a piece of the equity. So so I already changing my mind, and right now I'm putting my own money into these houses to buy them and stuff like that, or or building putting my own money to arbitrage and pay all the furniture. But you notice that the big dogs, they don't put any of their own money in the shit, right? That Grant Cardones and these big guys, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:13

That's what they say.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Yeah, they use other people's money to acquire assets. So Grant Cardone will buy this like multi-million dollar apartment complex with other people's money, and he'll take a big, nice $10 million paycheck for himself, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Not give it back. No, I'm joking.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

I'm joking, I'm joking. I'm joking, y'all. I don't want to screw people like that, you know. But I would like to, if people were looking for opportunities, okay, I'll do all of the upfront work, I'll get this thing ready for you, I'll get it furnished, you know, and then we'll profit together. Or I'll run it for you. You don't have to run it. People like to do people like easy, right? People are easy. So I would really dive into figuring out how to do that without putting my own money into place. And since I don't got a job, I want to still keep acquiring assets and still keep you know getting equity in these things. And um, so yeah, it made me think maybe I should start doing that now, not just wait till I get fired.

SPEAKER_03 53:09

I was gonna question for you what keeps you at

Pay off 10 houses for $25k a month and you're the bank

SPEAKER_03 53:12

your job? I know it keeps me, but yeah, what keeps you at your job?

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Benefits is the big thing, right? Insurance insurance, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:22

Okay. My question next question is this I'm gonna go down this rabbit hole. Can you afford your same insurance if you didn't work?

SPEAKER_01 53:33

I I am talking to a dude about getting seeing pricing out what it would be if I paid it myself.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

And then there you go.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

Same type. Now my question is this What's your cash flow number per month?

SPEAKER_01 53:51

My total cash flow?

SPEAKER_03 53:52

Like, what do you want per month? Hey, if I got this the rest of my month, this a month, rest of my life, I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 53:58

Yeah, 20 grand a month.

SPEAKER_03 54:00

How many doors you got?

SPEAKER_01 54:03

Um well you say with the ones I manage and all that stuff about 80.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

The ones you own.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

The ones I own, 10 houses.

SPEAKER_03 54:10

10 houses? Average rent in Texas in the DFW is about $2,500.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

Pay off your houses. There's no point to keep picking them up if I can pay them off. I got $25,000 the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_03 54:25

That's how my mentor broke it down to me. He goes, after you pay those off, now that's when the freedom begins. Now you can do it the hell you want. He said he took all his money that was coming in. Hey, I can go take the $10,000, put it in that project, put it in that apartment complex. Hey, I can own I own 10 houses outright. I'm the bank. I ain't gonna ask nobody for shit. I'm the bank. Do you want 10 houses outright? You're the bank. And you got money coming in. You can go, hey, I'm gonna take this month, I'm gonna take 10,000. I'm gonna put it on this project. 10,000 on this project, or I can just save it up every month and put it down. It's just all you're about your goals. You know what I'm saying? It's like, but yeah, it's just about your goals and just knowing.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

So once you get that 10 houses, because I heard you talk about the Thatch Duin method. Yeah. Once you get that 10 houses, you're based, uh, you know, you're set for life, whatever. Then you're you're you're cool with taking loans after that to buy houses, right?

SPEAKER_03 55:22

Or let's say you're let's say one of the 10 houses, you can 1031 it up. You might be like, hey, I got one of these houses, but dang, I could get the same cash flow off this house if I 1030 won't it into this 10 unit over here. Now you're you're in a different now. You've moved from personal to commercial, and now you're in a different system. Like shout out to Adam Johnson, he's paying his off. He just paid off seven of them. Yeah, he's he said he's yeah, he's cash flow that cash flow is crazy. That's what I tell people. Uh, first thing my thatch ever told me you do not need that many damn houses. He goes, it's been sold to you. And he him and his million multimillionaire friends showed like they were like, they get this number of doors, they cash flow however much cash flow they want, they pay the houses off. So you might be sitting on freedom right now. You just gotta pay. Because if you just keep acquiring, it works, but you eventually want to have a low overhead because the lower your overhead is, if the market crashes anything, you're good. My house has paid off.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

You know something to think about. No, it is for real.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

And then with you, you're in a better situation because you got that money coming in, that's just your guarantee. Plus, you got your management money coming in.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Yeah, yeah, that's another stream

Arbitrage kills you in taxes; buy assets instead

SPEAKER_01 56:44

of income. I will I will say this. I will say this. And I'm personally, you know, I'm I'm not trying to pick up a bunch of arbitrages like before. And now I always heard I always heard, you know, you know Sean Rasidic, our buddy from the show and stuff like that, he ain't about buying properties. His he's about 100% arbitrage. You know, why spend all this money to buy something when you can just go rent an apartment, furnish it, and then make make a bunch of money on Airbnb. Um, that's his route, right? And we we got into that ourselves, and I'm still in it, I still got arbitrages. Um, and if something presents itself that I know I can make a pretty good spread on, I'll get it, right? But but I you know, and I sent you the video too today about about um how how rich people have been doing it forever. They acquire assets, right? Yeah, and then they borrow against their assets to live, and they don't pay any taxes. So so that's but if you ain't doing that, if you're just a hundred percent arbitrages, you don't have any assets, you're getting hammered by the taxes, right? So to me, I'm looking at it like this okay, I I want to find a way to to buy a house instead of arbitrage it with as little money down as possible, even if I have to bring in an investor or something, and um, and I'm gonna get all the benefits from the depreciation, from the tax benefits, and from the appreciation, from the the place appreciating and and building wealth, and then plus making the the cash flow off of a short-term and midterm rental. It's worth a lot more than just going and renting a house and doing it because you're just gonna get hammered in taxes. Plus, the city anything under 30 days, the city's gonna hammer you in taxes too. Plus, the state wants a chunk of that hot tax too, right? So you're getting you're getting really, really hammered in taxes if you're doing it that way. Whereas if you're buying the finding a way to buy these assets and do it, then you're actually building wealth.

SPEAKER_03 58:47

Straight up. And you get the big big tax benefits, bro. STR cost STR short-term rental tax loophole with the uh Cossack. That's what I talked about all last episode. That's what I'm buying one a year, one a year. Even if I got a 1031 one, I can go 1031 a duple into a duplex. Now I got two units, you know. And then once I hit the number of doors, paying them chokers off. Yeah, man. It's powerful when you buy it. Because yeah, but yeah, we yeah, it it's it's it it kills you in taxes with the arbitrage. That's one thing nobody talks about. Yeah, you get eight with taxes. I mean, your tax write-offs, I mean, you can get

Trump's Blackstone ban and the personal loan interest deduction

SPEAKER_03 59:30

yeah, it limits your tax write-offs for sure. And you know, oh, but you saw the Trump that Nim just put in.

SPEAKER_01 59:37

I was just gonna I was gonna say that. What are you talking about which one were you talking about? I was talking about the Blackstone thing. What were you talking about?

SPEAKER_03 59:42

Okay, hold on, what Blackstone thing, and I'll talk about what I was talking about.

SPEAKER_01 59:44

Trump wants it to make it where giant corporations can't snap up all the single family homes anymore.

SPEAKER_03 59:50

Okay, I did see that. I did see that. Uh my boy posted. My boy made a good com good comment. You know, we you know, me and him, we ain't liberal or dem, we're not Democrat or Republican. He's like me. He goes at both parties.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:05

He was like, he was like, oh, now Trump wants to step into this corporate racist buying houses. I'm like, he's like, damn Republicans, they just don't like it when their money's getting stepped on.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:16

Like, hey, it is what it is, but I'm like, I'm cool with it, but I know what you mean. But uh, yeah, I did see that. I saw that, and then I saw the new personal loan deduction. Personal, the personal car loan deduction. So they'll let you distract the interest rate. So um uh yeah, man. Yeah, so we got two cool little things. So I don't I don't know how how far he's gonna get with the corporations buying up the properties and stuff. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:41

I will say this. I've noticed the prices going up a lot on things on Amazon. Things that I'm usually that I usually buy, they've been going up quite a bit, man. Because at first when he installed all those tariffs and stuff like that, the companies had enough supply where they didn't have to hammer you right away, they could still sell it at decent prices. Now the prices are going way up, dude. Way up, almost double on some things that I used to that I used to buy. I mean you put 150% tariff on Chinese

Tariffs double Amazon prices and robots deliver hospital medicine

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

goods. That's where's that's gonna come from somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:14

Yeah, somebody gonna say you're gonna have to you're gonna see that price hike. But that comes up to us. If with the certain things we buy, we're writing that shit off.

unknown 1:01:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

Not only are we writing it off, you know, we doing the because I always tell people when it comes to politics, I guess we're going down a little politic rabbit hole just a little bit. It comes to politics, especially when it comes to money, they're gonna put some things in place that you know seem bad, but you have to learn how to go around them. You know what I'm saying? Like if the prices go up, okay, how do I save in taxes so I ain't gotta pay taxes and keep all my money in my pocket, you know?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:48

But I'm not for the the poor and middle class getting creamed by paying all these giant tariffs on everything, which is a tax, it's a big big ass tax of paying. I don't like that because then they can't afford to buy, you know, to rent from us and all that fun stuff and go on vacations. But it is gonna be good for the Pasplit World. Because that's how they can afford in the future is to rent a room out of a damn house.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:11

Sadly, I mean that's why Brandon Turner's in it. He's like, bro, we need affordable houses. That's the only way to do it because all we built, the American infrastructure of real estate was built out and not up. You know what I mean? The only time you see up is downtown, so somebody's gonna have to rent out some houses and be single. I don't know about kids being born who might have to, you know, because that's the thing, you know, birth rates probably gonna start going down unless people are about to be living with their family in a bad split. Uh, but it's interesting stuff though. But yeah, and uh a lot of good tax stuff coming for y'all, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:48

So and the robots are taking all the jobs, and they are.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:51

Did you see the one where the robots were delivering the medicine for the doctors and the nurses?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

Uh uh, I didn't see that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:58

Yeah, they're taking the jobs, bro. Um interesting enough, um, a guy who's a multimillionaire who always talks about the effects of AI. Follow John Hope Bryant, y'all, on Instagram. Black dude, he sold his business for like 120-something million a few years back, and you know, now he's teaching like financial literacy and stuff. But like he's going hard on showing people like the stuff that's going on at AI.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

Was he on our show?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:22

No, no, no. I wish we could.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:24

There was another Hope guy. There was another Hope guy, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Are you talking about Alvin Hope Johnson?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

Ah, there you go. There you go. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:29

Uh but yeah, this dude, yeah, he started showing some AI stuff. I was like, damn, man, I'm happy I'm ramping up on my AI knowledge because it's coming, bro. Like they had the damn, they had like these how they set the hospital up, the medicine just gets delivered to them, whatever they need. The the little uh like if they need their nurse, their uh lunch tray. It's crazy, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:51

I got my I got my wife on chat GPT now, and she's use it. She's loving it because she was a she was a Canva person. Oh, I'm gonna design this, I'm gonna print this. I said, babe, just tell I said, Well, I'm thinking, you know, because I'm I'm getting her her first arbitrage. I was like, you know, downtown Fort Worth arbitrage. I was I'm getting her one. She always wanted one. I'm getting her one. And she's out, she's like, Oh, I want to design, you know, because doing a western type deal. It goes, I want to design this like um blue bonnet that's inside of a star. And this, I said, babe, tell Chat GPT, don't go

Chat GPT replaces Canva, acts as CFO, and day-trades stocks

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

to Canva. And she did it, and it made this beautiful freaking star with the blue bonnets in it. Oh, I want to add a I want to add a uh what's it called? A ladybug, and it added a ladybug. And I'm like, yeah, Canva, I'm sorry, your days are gone, your days are numbered, Canva.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:36

Oh no, I'm not bro. Canva's partner with Chat GPT, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

Yeah, they have their own I have their own AI. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can touch it up. You can touch it up, bro.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

I I put took a picture of this hallway and I told Chat GPT because we needed to uh I did we just needed an idea for Christmas. Chat GPT did that, and it gave us the idea, and then we just put up stuff after that and they said, Hey, if you want a backup option, dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:59

I was like, dang, bro. Dude, my photographers that that I use like to for take all the pictures of the of the units, right? Yeah, I had them because they do some cool refreshes, you know. They did a they did a they just finished a refresh for me at like a down, like uh a Dallas uh condo that I got. And I said, Hey, I'm gonna put together this uh you know my wife's arbitrage. Can y'all help with that? Yeah, yeah. My wife, my my mom loves to do that, so we're gonna go over there tomorrow. You know, they're excited. They like they did they like to do design too, right? Yeah, yeah. And so she's showing me, she went in there and snapped photos of all the of the of the apartment of the apartment, right? And then she said, Okay, this is what we're gonna do. I mean, she sent me from you know chat GPT like a finished product, like holy crap, it looks like you know, the the Western theme got the paintings. Are you like this painting? I mean, just like it's unbelievable what it can do.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:49

Straight up, man. I I told I told on the last episode, I said I made a chat GPT agent that's a CFO, and it goes through all my stuff and tells me where I need to cut back, what I need to where we should invest. Yeah, bro. It man, get on AI, bro. It's some crazy stuff, bro. It really is, man. Straight up. You can tell one to act as your marketing director. Wow. Straight up. Yeah, it's it's it's it's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:15

Does it telling you to buy more Bitcoin?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:17

No, I don't, I don't, nah. It's all you can you can do that. Um uh a friend, a co-worker of mine said his friend who does uh he does plumbing, he said he showed him a 50k account that he used to do stock day trading, but he has it run by chat GPT.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:35

Holy smokes! I was like, damn.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:37

I see, I and you know me, I tried it. I just couldn't get chat GPT to get around like all the security stuff. So I'm still working on that one. Once I get it to working, I'll let you know how it works out.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:48

Yeah, awesome, man. So yeah, it's been a great episode, Mike. Uh it has, man. Working, folks.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:54

Find us, find us on Instagram, TikTok, uh, follow us on YouTube, Live Let Thrive. Thank y'all for continuing to listen to us as well, man. We're happy we're able to continue to provide hopefully it's some valuable content to you. And uh, yeah, we are Micah and Steve, and we are out.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

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.