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_04 0:11

Hello, hello, hello.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

And welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Through.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

What is up, Micah Man?

SPEAKER_02 0:22

I am good, Stevie Stacks. It's an exciting Saturday. So uh how are you? How are you today?

SPEAKER_04 0:27

Yeah, a rare Saturday episode. I'm great, man. Um I'm excited about this episode. It's episode 151. We have a very special guest today. Uh, Mr. Alvin Hope Johnson is joining us. Okay, if you don't mind, I'll read a quick bio about um Alvin Hope Johnson. Alvin Hope Johnson has been in real estate in the real estate industry for over 35 years, starting out as a handyman selling painting and repair services door to door. Alvin grew his entrepreneur skills into an empire. He currently serves as the president of Hope Housing Foundation, an affordable housing company that offers beautifully, well-maintained and safe properties. Alvin also serves as president of Assertive Management Group LLC, a privately owned property management firm that helps to support the foundation. Alvin Johnson started his career in his real estate career almost by accident while struggling at a young age to make ends meet and picking up odd jobs here and there. Alvin continued to take his skills and he learned along the way to and parlay them into new opportunities. Starting out as a local handyman, Alvin eventually became a general contractor, and from there, Alvin began learning about property development and mortgages. He spent 12 years in the mortgage business and ran several successful firms. He soon realized that all of these seemingly separate industries were well part of a larger opportunity in real estate. When you know every single aspect of what goes on into building a safe and stunning home, it will help you to sell that safe and stunning home. Alvis focused on doing just that in order to bring a sense of community to those in need. We'll stop there and then we'll get into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Man, whoever wrote that was good. What is up, Alvin? I didn't like that. I like that. That's real tough.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

Oh man. So how you doing, Alvin?

Getting into multifamily by stalking a mentor for a year

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Man, I'm good. I'm good. It's glad to be here with you guys on a Saturday. Thanks for arranging your schedule so to accommodate. I really appreciate it. Thanks for bringing yours.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Definitely. So I know we read a little bit about your bio. So how did you just come into your first deal in real estate?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Well, in this uh let's start with the multifamily piece because I've been in real estate so long. Man, the way I got started in this seat, I went and found a guy that I wanted to be just like. So I prayed for a mentor uh in every area of my life business, marriage, um, and everything. And this guy fit that bill. Well, he helped me for about three weeks. He took three of my phone calls after meeting him, and uh he quit taking my calls. But he told me he was gonna help me, so I wasn't gonna take no for an answer. So I called him or emailed him every week for a year, and after a year, he finally answered and let me come hang out with him for 30 days. That 30 days turned into 13 months, and after 13 months, he died in a car wreck, and I became the president of a billion and a half dollar foundation, and uh I successfully walked that through a bankruptcy, and after that was over with, I got fired.

Unwinding a $1.5 billion bankruptcy and buying broken partnerships

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Well, I knew about broken partnerships at that point. You know, I sat there and unwound a billion and a half dollar company for two years with some $1,000 an hour attorneys, and I saw an opportunity by picking up properties that had broken partnerships with uh GPs that could not keep the properties up, and that's where we started. So my first property was a 110-unit deal that we bought for a million four because the partnership was broken. Today that deal is worth 7 million. We're recapping it next month and um doing our second refinance on it.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Now, now you that's that's amazing what you said right there because you answered one of my questions I actually had, you know. I was gonna ask, um, what was your your um I guess your your best setback or your your your your favorite adversity that you went through and what has it led to? And apparently, I mean you went you by navigating through that bankruptcy and discovering you know the how how effect how um broken partnerships could really affect things, you learn to take advantage of broken partnerships. That's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

I'll tell you, my greatest adversity, man, for me personally, happened when my son was three years old and I tried to kill myself. Oh, I put a 38 to my head, pulled a trigger a couple of times and it didn't go off. And then I went and took a bottle of nitroglycerin

Hitting rock bottom and deciding to rebuild from nothing

SPEAKER_01 5:12

pills. Um nitroglycerin pills are for heart patients. They put one under their tongue and it goes into the bloodstream and it explodes to blow your heart up to make your heart pump. Well, I took a bottle of those and um uh I remember going to sleep saying, God man, if you got a purpose for my life, then then I'll be okay. And if you don't, please have mercy on my soul. Well, I woke up 10 days later, man, in the hospital and said, Boy, you really are a loser, right? So from that perspective of being at your lowest low where I knew I couldn't even kill myself, then that's the lowest low. So everything from there is up. I couldn't even quit.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

Could can we ask what led to that point?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Yeah, so I had been a uh I had been a millionaire by the time I was 20, 21 years old, literally, money in the bank. Uh this was in 1987. By 1989, uh on my son's third birthday, we were sitting around a table and I couldn't even buy him a uh Hot Wheel car. Wow. Uh we were getting put out of our house that day. The lights were getting cut off that day, and I just I literally thought my family would be better off without me. Uh, I felt like a burden, I felt like a loser. I had had so much money, such a great business to lose it all, or to not be able to take care of my family was like like the lowest low, man. For a man, you know, we a lot of times associate who we are with what we do. And when what we do is not a defining thing for us anymore, we lose our identity. And I didn't have anybody to talk to, I didn't have a mentor, I didn't have anybody, not forget, look like me. I didn't know nobody that had been a millionaire and now don't have no more money. I was 23, 24 years old.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

I mean so how do you how did you lose your millions?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Oh, I didn't lose it. We spent it. Oh shit. I thought it was gonna always be like that. I didn't know. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

So how did you how did you make your first millions then?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

I was a paint contractor. So uh right out of high school, man, I started knocking on uh I got a job. So this we don't have enough time for the whole story, but uh I got a job knocking on doors. No, I didn't. My mother-in-law got me a job with her friend being a painter's helper, and we were painting million-dollar houses in Beaumont, Texas in the 80s, big houses. And uh I got really good at that. And then the guy went out of business and I needed to eat, so I started knocking on doors and said, Hey, I'll paint your house for 200 bucks. Well, after that, you know, I was really good. I'd you go buy the paint and I'd paint your house and you come home and it'd be done. Well, I knocked on one door, and this guy said, Oh, Alvin, I know you used to work for Richard. Man, we're doing this hotel job over here at Ridgewood Hotel. We'd love for you to get be our paint contractor if you can get some guys to work for you. So yeah, they'll all come work for me. They're all looking for work. So all the guys for for for two or three years that threw me in the closet and made me paint closets were not working for me. That was amazing. So that's how I made my money. So that hotel job turned me into a millionaire. And then when that hotel job was over with, we couldn't buy any more work because interest rates were 18%. They weren't building any more houses, nobody was remodeling their houses. So this was yeah, 80, 89, 90, interest rates were like that. So the construction industry was dead, and I had invested all my money back into my construction business and spent a lot, and we didn't have any more.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

So, man, first off, that is inspiring that you were able to you you always what what it sounds like, you always find the way to keep going. You do. You you you found your you had a company you're I couldn't quit. Yes, you don't quit. Couldn't kill myself.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, so yeah, I had to, straight up, man. And I'm you know, I'm laughing about it and I'm making light of it, but it's so so true. I mean, imagine trying to kill yourself and waking up. It's like jumping off of a building and getting up. I mean, it's like, man, I couldn't even do that right. So it took a long time, man. My family had to nurse me back to health. It took a long time. Uh, you know, they say uh a life, a life, no, undealt with trauma leads to a lifetime of drama. So, nine years old, I was molested as a little boy. You know, my dad left me when I was 11 years old. I don't know what he did with my mama, but he left me. And that's how I internalize that. So you you take a broken kid, dreams were stolen early, daddy walked out on the family, beat mama up on the way out the door. And then you, and then, you know, this same little fat kid with braces that got teased all the time. You take him and put him in a new high school where he doesn't know anybody, and then he graduates high school and he's scared because daddy left some dude, raped him, and and now he's scared to go off to college, and uh he talks his girlfriend out of going to college because he don't want to be by himself, and then three years later they have this little kid, and it's like, oh shit, this kid is growing up and he needs shoes and he's got teeth, that means he needs to eat, and then you give him a bunch of money, and then it goes away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Man, this is probably the most inspiring episode we've had. You're episode 151, man.

Structuring corporations and waterfalls to never go broke again

SPEAKER_02 11:03

So what fi, baby? Yes, sir. So, what assurances have you put in place to make sure you don't go broke again and you'll always have something for your family? Are there certain assurances you've put in place for your life?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yeah, yeah. So now everything is done through corporations, corporate structures, uh, waterfalls of cash, long-term cash flow through uh multifamily ownership. I get a salary. I don't get, you know, I go make five million this year. I don't put 499.999 in my bank account. You know, just yeah. It's a business now. Back then I wanted to be 100% owner. I was 20 something years old. I didn't know no different. You know, I thought why mama and them tripping, mama told me she made my mom set me down at the table when my dad left home and said, Alvin, I need to show you. And this is a principle that has stuck with me my whole life, and I can tell you it's probably the only reason I'm still here. Mama made like $1,100 a month as a teacher on the first of the month. She showed me her first tenth, went to the church to God. She gave she gave back to God what was his. And then she did her 10% offering off of $1,100. And then she took the house note and then my lunch money, and then the car note, and then the light bills, and that's exactly the way she did it. And at the end of the day, she had about a hundred bucks left to live 30 days.

Living on 70% and tithing the first tenth

SPEAKER_01 12:30

And I knew at that point I needed a job. I was 13 years old, and so I went working at grocery stores and cutting grass. But the principal mom taught me that has again stuck with me today is that first tenth and that second tenth. She didn't have a third tenth to save and then live on 70%. But what so many people don't do, my pastor, he's ultra-rich and he was rich before he started a church. So don't think you know it's not because of the church. But he talked, he teaches on living on margins. Live on 70% of your income. First tenth goes to God, second tenth goes to saving, third tenth goes to yourself, and then live on margins of 70%. It doesn't matter if you make $10,000 a year or a million a year, if you live on those margins, you'll always be okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

I love that. So, yeah, that's what I was gonna ask you if you still abided by the importance of tithing or or chair. Absolutely, absolutely. And and how has that made you stronger and your business stronger?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Well, um, it's made me stronger because through all of the ups and downs in my life, I've got a couple of constants and a couple of non-negotiables. The non-negotiables are the tithing in my giving, and it doesn't stop with the church. I'm a generous person. The non-negotiable, and then what that does, Stephen, it's built a track record, right? So I've got I've got history with God. I got, I know that that out of all the stuff I've done, all the stuff I've been through, that I know that he's gonna always be there for me. It's just like going down the stairs, right? I know that next step is there. So that's what that has done for me in my relationship with him. I love that. Alvin, where are you from, real quick? Man, I grew up in Beaumont, Texas. I lived most of my life in Houston and Dallas and Amarillo, Texas. Never been outside of Texas. Why would I want to leave a great state of Texas? Ah, right.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Yeah, I bet there's plenty of business now, not like back when back when everything was drying up, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Man, the housing market around here, uh Frisco, McKinney, Texas. You know, Frisco is the fastest, one of the fastest growing communities in the country. Uh, it's been the best place to live in America in the last two years. McKinney was the best place to live in America three or four years ago. You cannot buy a single family home in either one of these cities for under a new home you can't buy for under 400,000. And, you know, I don't know where you guys are, but that's high for Texas. I mean, but they, you know, the average median home is probably 750, 800. Wow. And where do you get a city where the freaking average median house is 800, other than California or New York? That's insane.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, that's insane. We we out here in Arlington and Fort Worth. Yeah, that's it. Oh, well, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Well, you know what I'm talking about. I didn't know y'all was here in Texas.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Right down the street. Yeah, let's meet up.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

Let's meet up.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, let's do it. We gotta go through Clubhouse and and and YouTube and Zoom to meet. Yeah, we could have just rolled up to you, huh?

SPEAKER_02 15:38

I know it.

SPEAKER_04 15:39

That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

So oh, go ahead, Steve.

SPEAKER_04 15:43

I did I just wanted to touch on something he mentioned earlier. He he glossed over it. It's called he said waterfalls of cash. What did you mean by waterfalls of cash?

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So in a multifamily space, you know, we collect rent, and our goal is to get 14% of every dollar collected to the bottom line. That's so rule of thumb, 9 to 14% of every dollar collected

Getting 14% of every rent dollar to the bottom line

SPEAKER_01 16:05

in rent could be profit. So after you pay your mortgage, your expenses, your insurance, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, we get down to that waterfall of call it 10%. And then uh if we have investors and partners in our deals, they get a portion of that, and we get a portion of that. So it's not a whole lot. So that's why our goal is 20,000 units in five years, 100,000 units in 20 years. And so you just figure out that if we're making a hundred dollars per unit on average of a thousand dollars of rent uh times a hundred thousand units, that's our goal.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

Wow. I like that big goals, man. Yeah, you got it all the way down to the to the minute percentages. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah, so Alvin, where do you so right at this point now, where do you vet invest? Do you only invest in Texas?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

No, we're not geographically challenged at all. We got projects that we're gonna do in from California to Florida, from here to Upper Minnesota.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

And oh, go ahead. Alabama on the board now. Uh we should break ground in April, Minnesota on the ground now. We should break ground the end of April. Gotta wait for the ground to thaw out up there. Uh Florida, that may be a summer project. Chino, California, that one's still up in the air. Uh, so we've got a great product that we're partnering with developers all over the place, and and and yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

See, you're dropping words that that I'm I keep scribbling them down too. You said geographically challenged. And what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

That means anywhere that we can get to, we can get there.

SPEAKER_04 17:45

Right. And so a lot of businesses are they make themselves geographically challenged. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Uh yeah. Some people say, you know, I want to have an ice cream stand and it's in South Dallas, or I want a taco stand, you know, on the corner of Cooper and 360 or whatever, and that's where they are. Uh I've always wanted to make money in more than one place. Um, that way you're not affected by any particular market if that's the only thing you got.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

Because you even mentioned California. And I was gonna ask one of my one of my questions was um, what like big cities are you are you all in on, and what big cities or or cities across the country that you would stay away from at all costs?

SPEAKER_01 18:25

I would stay away from anywhere in California. The only reason I'm doing that deal out there is because the guy already owns the land and he wants our product, but I have no desire to own it. Uh I'd stay away from New York City or Chicago. I don't actually, in the multifamily space, our sweet spot are secondary and tertiary markets. So what do I mean? So a a secondary city to Dallas would be a Waxahatchie or a Midlothian, right? Uh a tertiary market would be a Greenville, Texas, or a like that. The people don't move much in those smaller cities. Uh there's not that much competition. Uh in those smaller cities, even during the pandemic, our residents have paid 100% of their rents. They don't have anywhere to go. A lot of them work in industry jobs that were essential. Where here in Dallas, uh, in certain neighborhoods, they're not gonna pay because you can't put them out. Uh, here in Dallas, you've got people from all different types of jobs, and a lot of people were affected, you know, uh, from this lockdown, where in a lot of those smaller cities they are more industry driven. So that whole city was almost essential in those markets.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Man. So, so and one thing I'm happy you brought up, you go out of state, you have you're not, you're not geographically challenged. So, how do you go about building those relationships for people that are scared to go outside of where they're from?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Ooh. Well, I would say this I have a problem with people that are scared to do something they should be doing. So, I mean, I'll take the horse to the water, but I'm not gonna waste my time drowning him. So if they scared, then I've, you know, there's a reason, and I'm not gonna try to talk them out of that. I remember dating this chick one time and she told me, I'm selfish. I'm so I'm like, girl, you're not selfish. Trust me, if somebody tells you something about themselves, they mean it. So if you're telling me you're scared, then I'll I believe you, and I'm not gonna because there's gonna come a situation we're gonna have to do something that you're already scared to get in it. So that means I'm gonna have to convince you again and again and again, and I'm not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Like the way you think, fam.

SPEAKER_04 20:48

I have a question, I have a like a little series of questions for you, real quick. Okay, I'd like to I'd like to hear your answer on this. Let's say you're broke, you oh for some reason you're broke again, you don't have any money, whatever. Oh, but you do. Here it goes. There are three scenarios. You have a thousand bucks in your pocket, what's your play? You have five thousand in your pocket, what's your play? You have ten thousand in your account, what's your play to get back to getting, you know, being rich again? Like three different scenarios. Start with a thousand.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Mine would be the same with either dollar amount. If I had either of those dollar amounts and I was dropped in a in a city where I knew no one, I would go find me a house and I would buy it. That's what I would do.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

With no money.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

With no money. I'd go find me a house that needed some work, I'd find me a lender that would give me a loan based on the after repair value, and I would get to work. I'd do the work myself, I'd find me some guys at Home Depot, whatever it took. So I'd use that $1,000 to pay for my appraisal and my application fee. If I had $5,000, I'd go buy or $10,000, then I'd go buy some of my. Supplies, but I would go buy me a house with no money, and that's how I would come up.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Straight hustling, man.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

I mean, that's that's all I know how to do, right? So if I was a cook, I'd go make a hamburger. I'm a real estate guy, so I'm going by a house. I don't care where it is, what it looks like, and

The $1,000 play: buy a house nobody wants with no money down

SPEAKER_01 22:19

and really I'm gonna go buy the one that is I only got a thousand bucks, and I probably don't have no credit. So I'm probably gonna go buy one that nobody else wants that looks like it needs to be torn down, and I'm gonna put $20,000 in it because you're gonna give me a loan because I'm gonna talk you into it. Because I'm a great storyteller. And when I get through telling the story, you're gonna believe that I can do it whether I can or not, and you're gonna give me the loan, and you're probably gonna come out there and watch me. But I'm gonna get it done and I'm gonna sell it and I'm gonna come back up.

unknown 22:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

I like that. See, because uh I know me and you are both, we're both big Master P fans, and that was a question. Someone that asked Master P said one time, he goes, If I lose it all, it don't bother me. Because I've already been down to the ghetto, I've been through everything, and I got a billion dollars worth of knowledge. I'm gonna get it right back. And you have that same mentality. I love that. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 23:10

That's nice. What else? We got a ton of questions, man. We got a ton of questions. Um, okay. I was gonna, uh I guess the big one was uh what sacrifices does it take to get into the millions to to reach the millions?

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Sacrifice, um hard work, man. The the time frame. So it's not for me, it's not about the money, it's the pursuit. Uh it's the journey. So, you know, if you're moving fast enough in life or in your purpose, because purpose has a lot to do with it, um, you will create a draft where everything that you need is gonna come behind you. Everything that you need to support what you're doing. I believe that. Um sacrifice, uh, man, time. I mean, you got to close out the noise, you gotta focus and not on the shiny things because there's so many shiny objects. You know, I think a lot of one of the problems with a lot of entrepreneurs is they see a lot of people getting a lot of things, or Johnny's making money over here, Susie's making money doing that, oh, Joe's making money doing that, and they can't figure out what they want to do because they're chasing the money. But when you get, I'll tell you, there are two great days in a man's life the day he was born and the day he figures out why. And when you can figure out why you were born, you will and and can operate in that. So I don't want to preach, but I'm gonna say somewhere in the Bible it says that if we honor God, you know, He'll give us the desires of our heart, right? So it's kind of like having a child. And if you want your kid to have uh white teeth and they brush their teeth every day, you know they're gonna have white teeth. So you're gonna do whatever you can to give that kid what they want to have because that's what you want them to have, right? That's kind of the relationship with God. So when we want what he wants for us, it's so easy for him to get it to us because that's what he already wants for us to have. So when we're operating in our purpose and our passion, it's not about the money. He's gonna give us all the resources we need to make that thing happen. And that is the way I operate. So I need 20,000 units of housing. I need a hundred million dollars to make that to just to get that started. Guess what's coming in the door? 100 million dollars. Because I'm in my purpose, I'm in my passion, I'm doing what I believe I'm supposed to be doing for this season of my life, and God's not gonna withhold any good thing, any good thing from those of us that love him and uphold him and do what we're supposed to be doing. I just had to say that.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

Preach. So I would uh I mean I I I might already know, but so who is the biggest influence on your life?

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Today?

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Uh sure, today, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Man, probably my spiritual father, my pastor, Kingcraft.

SPEAKER_04 26:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Probably the biggest influence on my life today.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

Nice, nice. And that's that's because you said he's our you mean you mentioned he's a uh multimillionaire too, right? Yeah. That that's that's interesting because you know he jumped from that to being a pastor. That's like uh that's a rare, that's a different step, different way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

He felt he his he felt as though so here's a guy that is uh at 15 years old, met his girlfriend, and they still marry today. So that's that yeah, and he's 62 years old. He knew at 15 that that was gonna be his wife, and he asked her to be their girlfriend, and and so they knew that. So his whole life has been structured. Uh, this is a guy that teaches on margins, right? So when I first came to, and the name of our church is Elevate Life Church. Elevate your thinking, you'll elevate your life. So those are the kind of thinking that's

Following a 6'8 pastor who was a multimillionaire before he started a church

SPEAKER_01 27:10

that's you know, that's my all of the one-liners and stuff you hear come from that kind of thought process. So when I walked into that church in 2013, I saw excellence like everywhere. And then I see Pastor come out and he's 6'8, 280, and he's got you know 25-inch guns and no fat. And I'm like, okay, this is a guy that I could follow because not only is a church in excellence, his body is in excellence, he can control his appetite. I might be able to listen to you. I, you know, I'm I'm hard-headed enough. You can't tell me something and you 500 pounds. Wait, come on, dude, really? So no disrespect, but that's just me. So when I saw that, uh that's the kind of guy I want to sit at his feet. Because now I'm I'm looking at your family. I see your kids, your grandkids. Everybody is like, yeah, we all have problems, but everybody's good. I mean, this is not by accident. This is a life of 45 years of since he was 15 of having plans and walking it out. So that's long-term wealth. So he at 40, he had been uh he had been uh uh so he had a deal called strike force, you know, big old guys breaking iron and breaking out of handcuffs. That was part of his ministry uh when he was in the marketplace. So um after that at 40, he knew he said he never wanted to be a pastor, but he felt called to to start a church in Frisco uh to raise up men, mighty men, to go out and take the kingdom and and really do some great things for God. So he believes he's called to raise up millionaires for the kingdom uh in men. So you can't listen to a broke dude tell you how to be a millionaire, so he had to have his money first. That's real. That's real.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

That's awesome, man.

unknown 29:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

So, like getting into the business side and and you began to grow, you know, after after knocking on doors and painting houses, stuff like that, you know, start your humble beginnings and you begin to like start putting the pieces together. How did you learn how to like how to manage teams and to trust others to help grow your business?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Wow, that's good, man. I'm still learning that. But I'll tell you, it that didn't happen until so I've had two mortgage companies, a mortgage bank in between, in between being a paint contractor and where we are today. And I'll tell you, when we started this, uh I had already had our first 110 units. We had already bought our, I think we were on our third property. We had almost a thousand units. And I was driving one day saying, God man, I'm tired of this. I just wish somebody would show up and let me pay them to lead this team. And of course, nobody showed up. So I started picking up some books on leadership. You know, the first book I read on leadership was John Maxwell's A 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Great book. Uh so then I started learning how, you know, the concept of the mastermind and what that was all about. And then I read his book about how to win friends and influence people. Uh, you know, I'm a master storyteller. I I think in pictures and analogies.

Reading 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership when nobody showed up to run the team

SPEAKER_01 30:25

So uh influencing people and winning friends is really, really good and easy for me because I'm a likable guy. Uh so leading teams and and man, that that is literally the hardest part because I treat people the way I want to be treated. I pay our associates the way I want to be paid for what they're doing, right? And it breaks my heart when I have a maintenance guy that I'm paying 25, 28 bucks an hour when I know the market is 18, 19, and then you steal a freaking plunger or you steal a sewer machine from me, you know? That so it's hard for me to manage people. So I'm my circle's kind of small. Uh my leadership team is kind of small, and and as we're growing right now, one of the challenges most challenging things are finding the right people to fill all these seats. Uh, because I need some really, really, really smart people and not gonna hire people because they're my friends and and I want to see them do good. So that it's really hard for me.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Oh, we now now you brought me something. You said your circle's really small. Yeah, you said your leadership team's really small. What do you look for in a person for them to be on your leadership team?

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Grit is first because grit outworks talent all day. I mean, uh so grit's first, and then nowadays they have to be super smart. So uh a lot of people want to uh hire people just like them. I know my weaknesses and I know what I'm not good at and I know what I don't want to do. So I try to put people around me to to to compensate for my weaknesses. You know, I'm not gonna focus on those and make them better. I'm gonna focus on what I'm good at and go get better at that and hire some people for my holes.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

You ever do any coaching? You sound like a you'd be a good coach, like a sports or anything.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Uh I'm not a good, I'm I I don't. Um, you know, I I've I'm I'm a John Maxwell certified coach. I teach, you know, I teach and train and work with all of our staff and associates. Again, I told you I'm hard, I'm I'm hard on excuses. So, you know, I'm on Clubhouse and and doing stuff, and I'm like, I can't believe somebody's still listening to me after I said that. Because it's like, oh, how do I add value to somebody? Well, you just like maybe find something that they're doing and try to help them do it better.

SPEAKER_04 32:53

You know, just like yeah, sometimes the simple answer is the best answer, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 33:01

That's that's that's great, man. Um have a lot of lot more questions for you. And you got any questions, Micah?

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Oh, go ahead, go ahead, Steve. Go ahead, yeah, because I've been listening and uh just I'm writing notes.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

You know, you asked about me being a coach. One of the things we do is we I'm not a coach, but I'm a paid coach. We do have an educational platform, uh, the multifamily monopoly. Oh, that one. And uh what we do with that is we actually teach our students how to buy multifamily assets. And at the end of the day, uh our students actually wind up owning the building when we're done. So it's a 12-month coaching program. Uh, there are a lot of coaching programs, and I'm I'm not I'm not saying anything good, bad, or indifferent. What we were doing before, I'll say what we were doing before. We had four levels. We had a uh masterclass coaching program at 2,500. So it's module, 40 modules that you can watch. And then we had a $5,000 coaching program that was like uh four or five months, and then it was $25,000 and $50,000. Well, at the end of the day, at the end of those 12 months, you've got a lot of information, but there was no actual asset for you to go buy. So a lot of students get really, really frustrated. Man, I know all this information, but now I go out here and find out that I can't buy a deal because everything's overpriced. So what we've done with our new new construction opportunities, we're taking actually 20 students that have 50,000 bucks. We're putting that into a 506 B fund. Those 20 students get walked through a class of development to keys, where we teach them everything from building their building to leasing it up. And at the end of that 12-month process, those 20 students actually own a $4 million building. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

You touched on something that I would want to. Can you explain what a 506B is?

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Yes. So I'm gonna tell you in layman's terms because uh I'm not an attorney. The 506B is a regulation under the Securities and Exchange Commission laws that allows investors that are non-accredited, uh, and I'll tell you, touch on that in a minute, to invest into a syndicated

506B versus 506C and the accredited investor threshold

SPEAKER_01 35:21

deal. Syndicated meaning a transaction where we pull people's money together and buy an asset. A 506C is a same type of law under that same rule or same type of rule under that same law that requires investors to be accredited. And an accredited investor is an investor that makes, I think it's over $250,000 a year for more than three years consecutive and has the probability of making it again, or has a million dollars in uh net worth, excluding their personal home. So there are a couple of couple of qualifiers there for an accredited investor, and then the non-accredited investor is the 506 B rate. So so we're we're taking that, man, and and we're taking that education deal. So again, a lot of people want to know how can I do how can I buy assets? We're we're actually putting them into a brand new appreciating uh 27-unit building, 20 partners. You know, by the time it costs us 4 million to build it, that includes the land at $2 a foot. So there's some variables there, right? But um that building will appreciate by the time it's built, probably to about $4 million, and then over a seven-year period, seven-year period at a at a modest six cap, be worth about five and a half million bucks.

SPEAKER_04 36:51

So not only is it an investment on your education, it's an it's a literal investment that's gonna invest a literal investment that's gonna grow and and make your bank account fatter. That's I've never heard of anything like that, man.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

No, nobody's doing it, man. I mean, there are a lot of gurus out here that are teaching this stuff and they're really good at it. But what we have been able to do is we've taken the construction experience, the mortgage experience, the multifamily experience, and the coaching experience and packaged it up to where I can give somebody what they look for. So two key things. How are we paid? We are paid based on the problems that we solve. So if I solve a hunger problem, I work at McDonald's, I make $5 an hour because you can go next door to Jack in the Box. If I'm a heart surgeon and you got a heart attack, I'm gonna get paid real well because I'm probably gonna save your life. So, what I've done with this education platform is we have people that want to learn. We got people going through the process of learning and don't have a product to invest in when they're done. And we have a construction team and experience. So we just put all that together and we can teach, we can coach, we can guide, we can build, and then at the end of the day, we can deliver the asset. And what you're gonna pay us to teach you to do this will probably be realized at with depreciation write-off and your returns, probably a break-even point about three and a half to four years. So your $50,000 that you're gonna pay us to teach you will be a wash in about four years, and then you still got your investment into the uh into the asset that will yield you some great returns. So best college education you'll ever get.

SPEAKER_04 38:36

I wish college was set up like that too, man. That would be that would be we don't have any um student loan problems in this country, right? No, we would not. We'd have student assets. That's right. That's right. Um, yeah, let me see. I had I had a bunch of questions here.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Um what's up, man? You uh you like, you like man.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

I'm taking it all in. I'm I'm uh I didn't wrote down this book. You uh said 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, because everything you're saying, it definitely resonates, you know. That's a good book.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

Can we ask what your net worth is?

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Yeah, uh balance sheet today shows about 6.7 million personal. 6.7 million.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

And how much real estate have you moved?

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Our company, our company, the replacement values of our properties today is about 125. I do you happen to know Emmons Smith personally? I do not.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Oh, okay, because I know he's like a big well, I've heard he's a big mover in the real estate and commercial real estate in Dallas. So I just that's what they say.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Yeah, he's got Emmett Smith construction company, Emmons Smith Realty. Um yeah, yeah, he has several businesses.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

And that that brings me to another question. How do you because you mentioned tying it all together? How do you structure like your all your different businesses to where they function as one?

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Well, it's vertically integrated. So our construction company supports our our our apartment business, our management company supports the apartment business. Um, with our new construction platform, we partner with a 30-year-old company. This is so dope. Check this out. So we I've I needed a lot of money a couple years ago

Vertically integrating construction, management, and a 30-year SIP panel company

SPEAKER_01 40:16

and I didn't have it. So we said, we're gonna go build some houses, and that way I can come back in the apartment game with $15 million. So we went out and found 81 acres in Greenville, Texas. It took me a year to get the loan. We got the loan done, and now that the loan is done, 30 days after we started construction, uh, national company came in and offered us 10 million for 200 of the 360 lots. So that was great, but it was a bummer. But what I found out during the process, so we talked about the journey, right? It's never the destination of figuring out how to build 300 houses in a year. I found a product and a process that has allowed us to do our apartments. So now instead of going out and buying all these old apartments like I was talking about, we've got a company that is 30 years old that was selling SIP panels only, structurally insulated panels to builders and developers. Okay. I went to them and told them what we wanted to do, and they began to put their heads together to see how they could give me a complete envelope that they could white label and say, Alvin, this is your product. So this 30-year-old company has given me the ability, the bandwidth, and the authority to go out and sell on their behalf uh their product. Why would they do that? Well, I'm gonna bring them a lot of money. But why would I do that? Because I want a manufacturing plant for ourselves in Texas. So all of these wall frames for this, for our building system come out in four by eight panels. So instead of looking at a house being built a two by four at a time, the walls come out in four by eight panels. They're structurally insulated. You don't have a light bill and a 2,000 square foot house over 40 bucks.

Putting nonviolent ex-offenders in a franchise manufacturing plant

SPEAKER_01 42:02

But the reason I want a plant in Texas is because we're gonna go to the penal system and the parole board, and we're gonna give nonviolent offenders jobs in our manufacturing plant. And once they're trained, we're gonna deploy them to build our product because you don't have to know how to swing a hammer to build this. So I'm working really hard to bring that plant a thousand units of housing so that they will give us a franchise plant that's never been done before in Texas to where we can employ nonviolent offenders and give people some careers and go put the newest stock of apartments and housing on the planet in the next five years. That's the goal.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

That's what's starting, man. Loving that.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

That's what's uh I love how like your business, you have this a theme going on. You're always wanting to not just, you know, build a lot and help and make a lot of money. You're always you're always trying to tie in, trying to help other people at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Well, man, we we're in the people business. This we're supposed to be with people, and I believe if I can help make what you want to happen come true, just kind of like that thing that we were talking about with God, right? If I know that's what you want and I give it to you, then you're gonna be kind of receptive to what I want you to do. So if I can solve your problem and make your dream come true, then my dream is automatically gonna come true. Zig Ziggler said that.

SPEAKER_04 43:23

So, how do you how do you solve the housing crisis in the United States?

SPEAKER_01 43:27

We go build a whole bunch of apartments. We go build a whole bunch of houses. How do we do that? I partner with people and get all I need is the first hundred million. The first hundred million, I'll turn it into a billion in about six years. We go build a whole bunch of houses, whole bunch of apartments. How do we cure the homeless problem? We put people in houses. How do I cure the hunger problem? I go back go make a whole lot of money and teach people how to feed themselves. I can't I can't cure the problem by being part of the problem. I gotta be the solution. So if I if I need to cure the housing problem, I need to learn how to build some houses and get some money to do it and show other people that if you partner with me, you can do good while doing good. I'll let you, you can do extremely good while doing a whole lot of good.

SPEAKER_04 44:15

And so how do you, I mean, it sounds like if I was a politician and I spoke with someone that that's telling me all that, I'd I'd really want to work with them and get and help the city give them resources to accomplish that. Have you started working with cities or or or politicians or anything?

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Ain't no government gonna come save you. Biden ain't gonna come save you. Free money ain't free money. Nobody's gonna come, oh man, where's my stimulus check, man? Please try to qualify to not get a stimulus check.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

So let's say I have a portfolio because now you got me, you got me interested. I might want to hop into this multifamily game. Might not do that. Okay. I got a portfolio of single family homes. Can I 1031 of them into the multi into a multifamily?

SPEAKER_01 45:03

It depends. Okay. Are you the maintenance man and the manager of all those multi- uh single family homes? No. Nah, keep your money coming in. Just go make some more money and get in the multifamily game. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Okay. Like the way you do that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

I mean, if if those was causing you a headache, and again, you was changing the light bulbs, I'd say absolutely sell that junk and put your money somewhere else. But you got your money working for you right now, so it's no different than having an apartment complex. You don't have a job, you have an investment. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

So especially right now, what what kind of um okay, what kind of trials and tribulations has COVID caused for your business, businesses, and and what opportunities has it brought?

SPEAKER_01 45:49

Uh trials. We've got uh today. Well, I'll tell you, we wrote off about 400,000 in bad debt last year from rent collections. So that hurt. Uh but we gave that much of a of a fresh start. Because realistically, the moratorium of evictions is going on right now. And if they lifted it January 31st, if we ran down there and filed eviction on 50 people, you won't get in court till June or July. So I may as well write the write that money off and take the stress off of my residents and let them go out and try to make some money so they can pay me for January. So we did that. Um, what kind of opportunities has it created? I'll tell you what, on March 21st, when everything was shutting down here in Texas and I didn't know if my residents were going to be able to pay their rent in April, I put my hand in my head and I had one of those moments to where if I was not as grounded as I am today, uh, it could have been one of those moments where the devil would say, Man, go ahead and jump off the building, man. And then when that thought pops in my head, I go, no, because I would just get up with a freaking broken leg. So don't company me like that. So the opportunities when everybody else was staying home. So I live in Cedar Hill. My office is in McKinney. So I drive an hour every day.

Making the relationships that brought $100 million because there was no traffic at the top

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Uh when the roads were free and clear, nobody driving through Dallas looked like a ghost town, and I kept coming to my office. I sat here and I made phone calls and I made relationships. And I have made relationships during the COVID crisis that's gonna bring us this hundred million dollars by April. Because everybody that kept working, we was all doing the same thing. So man, we we don't have six months to make up. I'll tell you, I went, I uh I posted a video on my Facebook about a month or so ago about I decided. So I decided, you know, I used to tell myself that I uh I was undeserving of really nice things, uh or subconsciously, not out loud, but subconsciously, I just didn't feel good when I bought a hundred and fifty thousand dollar car. Subconsciously, it didn't feel good when I had on $300 shoes, right? And even though I liked it, and finally I decided that uh God knows He could trust me with the money. I know I'm a good steward. I know that I'm a good person, and I know that I'm doing the right thing with everything that I've been given charge over. So I decided that I'm gonna go get rich. I decided that just the other day, right? And I was sitting in my truck at this neighborhood where we're about to buy a lot, where it's under contract. The lot cost more than my house costs today, and we're about to build a big old house. And I sat up there and I was sitting, it's not about the house or the lot or the money or any of that. I sat up there and I rolled my window down and it was quiet. And I said to my, I said out loud, I said, Man, it sure is quiet up here. And the thought popped in my head that there's no traffic up here. No traffic up here. So, what does that mean? People aren't willing to do what it takes to get to the top. There's no traffic up there.

SPEAKER_04 49:12

I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

So I kept pushing through when everybody else was at home, waiting on a stimulus check, waiting on somebody to call them, waiting on something to happen, waiting to see what was gonna happen, waiting on Trump or Biden or somebody to come save them. I kept coming to work and we pushed through. There was no traffic on the road. There was no traffic up there. I'm driving through Dallas at 95 miles an hour at 7:30 in the morning because there's no traffic. That's what I did. I kept pushing through.

SPEAKER_04 49:43

I love that. Lack of traffic made it made your ride a lot easier.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Lack, lack of traffic, baby. Wow, man.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

Yeah. Do you have any funny stories? Because like someone sees you, you're like, oh, he ain't no millionaire. They the way they treat you differently, and then they find out that you're like actual multimillionaire. You have any funny stories like that?

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Well, no, because no, because I man, I don't consider myself a millionaire, right? I mean, we got a lot of millions under management. My balance sheet looks great, and all that stuff is good. None of that stuff is the defining factor. The thing that defines me, man, you guys said, hey, will you be on my podcast? So I must have said something that grabbed your attention. So if I can do that and sprinkle a little light, man, spread a little hope, tell that old man to get his ass up off the couch, it ain't never too late. That's what that's that's that's what inspires me. That that the money, that's great. Yeah, I'm I'm I can't wait to buy me a culinary. I'm not yet. Uh I ordered a jet the other day. I did that. I applied for airplan for a jet loan because I got places to go and people to see. Uh, I don't know if they're gonna give it to me, but I applied for it. Uh yeah, I want all of that, but those aren't the defining things. Why do I want a jet? Because I gotta go to Alabama on Monday and I want to be home on Monday night, and American only got two flights that day. I need to go see somebody on Tuesday, but I'm coming back from Alabama on Monday. And if I'm going and we're creating these kind of opportunities, this, the money, these kind of opportunities for people to have a better life, for people to live better, for people to make more money, for people to be in a better environment. I need the tools. So that's all.

SPEAKER_04 51:30

Have have you built your business where it could run without you?

SPEAKER_01 51:34

It can today. So our management company and the properties that we have today under management can run without me. The development part of me being out front, I got the sickle in my hand, cutting the trees down, telling people we're gonna build 20,000 units in five years, that can't do it without me yet. But once I get the machine started and get the money relationships in place, somebody will be able to come behind me and finish it.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

Now, do you have any tips on how to build a business that you could actually sell? And do you ever have any plans on selling your business?

SPEAKER_01 52:07

Well, our business is a 501c3 nonprofit, so I don't own it and it can't be sold, so that's a really great thing. So I just get a salary here, and uh, you know, there are there are a lot of protections there. Um so this is a legacy play. Um people always talk about building a business to sell. Build a business that makes money, and if somebody buys you win. Oh man, because if it sounds like you building it to sell, that means you you putting duct tape on shit that needs to have a clamp on it because you just trying to get to the sale date. You know, you got super glue where you're supposed to have a screw in it, and I don't like to hear that because that's exactly what it sounds like to me. Build a business to where it looks like you get to stay here for the rest of your life and make a bunch of money, and then if somebody comes and buys it, guess what? You can sell that and feel good about it. You don't have to worry about the tire falling off when they turn the corner. If you're slinging hoopties, huh?

SPEAKER_02 53:20

That's what's up, man. That's real. Build a business that makes money. That's true. So, okay, because I'm really interested in this. So you said you guys made connections during COVID. Like, did those connections like bring down your did you guys have more people paying rent? Did it bring down your uh did it increase your occupancy?

SPEAKER_01 53:38

So how did that work? Those connections had nothing to do with our in-place business. Those connections had everything to do with the forward vision. Because everybody I was talking to was already in what they were in, and they couldn't do nothing about my situation or theirs. But what are we gonna do for tomorrow? So we started having real talks, real conversations with real people. And uh, you know, you just again, you know, it's thin, the air is thin up there. You know, everybody can't run five miles in Denver because it's you know, it's that's the mile high. It's the air is thin. There's it's quiet up there, there's no traffic. So we we just pushed through and got to a lot of the decision makers. And because everybody that was on the on the salary, they was working from home. The guys making the decisions are in the office, and that's the guys I was talking to.

unknown 54:28

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

They were doing the same shit I was, banging their head against the wall. So we up we supported each other through that process. And I got, I mean, I made some great relationships I would have never made had COVID never happened.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

That's true. I I'm in the same boat. Like, man, uh even like Clubhouse, man. With COVID. COVID like Clubhouse.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah, I wouldn't have met you podcast this year. I got my education platform off the ground. We started last October, but we really pushed through and

Getting on stage with Grant Cardone and pitching Cardone Johnson 2024

SPEAKER_01 54:59

got all of this stuff like buttoned up to where I look like I know what I'm talking about now. So yeah, it's it's been good. It's been good.

SPEAKER_04 55:08

Speaking of Clubhouse, uh, I heard you were on the stage with Grant Cardone. Do you know him personally?

SPEAKER_01 55:12

I've been to his 10x conference. Uh so I met him, and the thing that made him connect with me on Clubhouse, I asked him um when I was at 10X, I said, Grant, I see you. You got Cardone University, you've got 20 years, 30 years in real estate. One of your guys on the platform is Donald Trump's campaign manager. Are you thinking about running for president in 2024 or whatever the next I don't even know what year it is now? Yeah, 2024. And he said, No, that's too soon. So when he got on Clubhouse and he popped in the room, he came in our room. We had like 400 and something people came in there. Grant came in and went up to about 700. And I said, Grant, you remember me? He said, Alvin, how would I remember you? I said, I'm the guy that asked you if you were running for president, and you told me it was too soon. He said, I do remember you. I'm only gonna run if you run with me. And I said, Bet, Cardone Johnson, 2024. So every time we go in the room together and he's in there, and if I get a chance to get on the floor, I say, Hey man, 2024, Cardone Johnson. So uh we're keeping that, you know. That's just trying to, and Grant is the guy that got me doing this jump. Grant said, the reason we are not where we want to be is because of obscurity. Nobody knows who you are or what you do. Man, that that is never been for that statement. You'd have never seen me on Clubhouse, I wouldn't be doing this. I wouldn't have been so active on social media because I was good, but I'm not where I want to be because nobody knows who I am or what I do.

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Well, we're about to know you after this. Everybody in the short-term rental spaces and uh multifamily space is gonna know you after this because we we promoting the hell out of you. Yeah, I gotta get with you. If you ever have some vacancies, you call us up. We wey y'all right here in Dallas, y'all just need to pull up, baby.

SPEAKER_01 57:08

Oh, yeah, yeah. We'll pull up to Cedar Hill, Lord McKinney. I'm right down the street from Cedar Hill. Absolutely. Anytime, I mean, really, I got an open door policy. I don't have so many people come from Clubhouse ladies in here going, who the hell is that? Like real talk. So y'all, anytime, anytime.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

Yeah, shoot us the office hours. I'll roll

Alignment before assignment: right people, right place, right time

SPEAKER_02 57:27

up there, man.

SPEAKER_01 57:27

I'll do it. I'll do it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 57:30

Oh man. What so what what's the what's the best piece of advice you give to some to someone starting out? Uh yeah, starting out on their journey.

SPEAKER_01 57:41

Wow, that's so much, man. Right people, right place, right time, right things happen for you. Alignment before assignment. That's the key. Alignment before assignment. It doesn't matter what you do if you're doing it with the wrong people. But if me and you are aligned in in our thoughts, we think alike. If if our hearts are aligned, there's nothing we can't do. So alignment before assignment. So that those those are some of the the key principles of our church. Alignment before assignment, the right people in the right place at the right time, the right things are gonna happen for you. Um elevate your thinking. You can elevate your life. Pick up a book, uh, get get serious about your education. Uh, if you if it's real estate, yeah, get serious about that, man. We I don't know. I don't I don't know how to tell somebody how to be successful. Just go do the freaking work. I mean, if you got a bump into the wall, you're gonna figure out damn it, I wasn't supposed to be there. You're gonna find the doorway, just go do the work. Just go do it, man. Do it.

SPEAKER_04 58:52

I guess uh one one follow-up question. What what is uh like a worse piece of advice you've heard people try to give other people that are starting? That's a bad thing that people have been telling someone.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

I've heard a lot of people talk about research and research and research, and I understand data, trust me, I do. But man, there's no research like doing the work. You know, I you could read a book all day on how to pull a battery out of a car, but you're not gonna know, you know, you can YouTube it and all this old fancy stuff, but you're not gonna know how to do it until you put the wrench on the nut and pull a battery out of the car. So just get started. So I I get it. Research, research, research. But so many people uh get what is it, analysis paralysis or something like that, where they get so much research, they're so freaking smart they can't do nothing. And but I'll tell you the first the best thing, the worst mistake I've made in real estate is I didn't count the costs. I've done some rehabs where I thought my budgets were good and they weren't. I have bought multifamily properties where we had nine-year, 10-year tenants, and I thought that was good. So I didn't factor in any rehab money. Uh count the costs. That's the biggest deal. That's in any piece of real estate. Count your costs. You make your money when you buy it, and if you underdo your budget just to get in a deal, I'm telling you, you starting out on a freaking banana pill because it's gonna go quick the wrong way. So count the costs, and if you don't have enough money to do it right, don't do it because it's gonna eat you.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:27

Golden advice today, Micah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:29

Yes, sir. That was golden. That was golden. Man, man, Alvin, it's been a pleasure, man, having you on. I'm definitely gonna uh be pulling up on you. And I don't know, we might do you might be the uh guest for episode 200. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

Let's do it. Hey man, we're having a clubhouse live at Texas Live on February 19th through 21st. Clubhouse live at Texas Live, baby. We got 150 people, 200 people coming in. We're making everybody send in a negative COVID test before they come within three days of the event. So we're being socially responsible right there in Arlington at Texas Live. And you said February 19th? Uh that Friday and Saturday, yes. Oh, we'll be there. Uh uh, I need I just y'all send me an uh email so we could get you to e vibe. So what we did, what we did, we um so we got rooms blocked, we got uh meeting rooms, we're expecting about a hundred people. We made it 300 bucks, so nobody had to bear the burden of the $15,000 hotel. They're gonna feed us on Friday and lunch on Saturday. So, I mean, yeah, we got some dope people coming in for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:49

We're gonna be there.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:50

I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

Clubhouse live in Texas Live.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:56

I love it. First Clubhouse Live event, baby. We did that right here in Texas. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:03

So where's the best place uh people can find you, Alvin?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:06

Alvinhohnson.com. Alvin Hope Johnson on IG and Facebook.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:14

Nice. Well, thank you so much for hopping on. This has been an amazing episode, man. And yeah, pleasure. Yeah, we learned so much, and we got we got a lot of a lot of studying to do. A lot of studying to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:26

Well, we here, um, I mean that anytime y'all want me, y'all got my email. You got the best email, so I always answer that one. Uh uh, my phone number is in it. I sent you the reply, so you got all my numbers. So anytime we're right here. That's done. Awesome. All right, Michael Steve. Appreciate y'all, man. All right, thanks. And anytime y'all get free on a Sunday morning, man, Elevate Life Church Frisco. Frisco, come get with it. Yeah, man. Man, we done drove an hour to do some worse stuff than go to church, so don't be thinking that's too far. For real. So don't be acting like that. Oh, man, that's too far. No, we drove way farther than that.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:07

We've flown farther than that, expecting.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:11

For real. That's a fact. That's a fact. But yeah, man. Yeah, thank you. And uh, we definitely gonna connect, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:19

All right, I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

Okay, all right, Ben. All right, later. That was episode 151 of your favorite Airbnb V RBO short-term rental real estate podcast in the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:31

Yes, it was. That was a great episode, learned a lot from Alvin, and we will be back again next week with another exciting guest. And uh, we got anything to take us out with, Steve?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:42

Uh, keep grinding.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:44

Yeah, keep grinding. Uh, yeah, follow us at Liv Let Thrive on uh IG, and you can send us an email, liveletrive at gmail.com, and we are out. Dream of a dreamer. Yeah, life of a dreamer.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

Appreciate y'all, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:00

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.