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 0:12

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

SPEAKER_03 0:23

What is up, Micah the Man? I'm chilling, Stevie Stacks. How you doing, brother? Still stacking them papers, baby. Yes, sir. Can't go wrong with that. I'm doing good on this gloomy day here in North Texas.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

We needed it. We needed it.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

You know, yeah, a break from the sun, man. Yeah, we need our ACs needed a break a little bit. You know, they've been running nonstop.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

For real, man. $500 electric bills, $400 electric bills, man.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Yeah, that'll make you want some that'll make you want some rain around here. Man. Oh well, someone's getting rich. Uh and then this is episode 353, I believe. Yeah. Of your favorite short-term, mid-term, long-term podcast, and a little bit of past button in their podcast in the world coming at you from Fort Worth in Arlington, Texas.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Let's go, man. We got a jam-packed episode. We got a lot of good stuff to talk about, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Let me jump it off with this question. Go ahead, go ahead and go for

What Sam Walton and Jerry Jones Have in Common

SPEAKER_03 1:21

you. Sam Walton of Walmart Fame. Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys. The Clintons of the Presidency. John Tyson, Tyson Chicken, JB Hunt, you know him, William Dillard, Dillard's, J uh, James McDonnell, uh McDonnell Douglas, and Micah Artis. What what what common thread do all these uh guys have?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Seems like residents of Arkansas at one point.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

I had asked you the other day. I was been reading the Walmart book, and you probably read it already, right? I have not. The Sam Walton. That's pretty interesting. And um, anyways, I was like, you know, how did this guy who made like the biggest uh retail chain in the world come out of little old Bentonville, Arkansas? And I and I sent uh I sent it to Micah. How did all these guys come from Arkansas, man?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Man, they some hustlers, man. Um, I'll be real with you, man. Um, when you're in the country like that, uh, I think it does something to you because like even my dad's brothers, sisters, cousins, they're all like hustlers, man. Like my my family, my family on my dad's side, they own like one of the only black um vodka distilleries in the U.S. And they're straight from the country of Arkansas, a little small town, but they're one of the only ones who own it. Um it's just a lot of hustlers, you know, even in like Mississippi too. Mississippi, Tennessee, all of them, you know, they just you know, smaller towns, they just have more they want to, you know, accomplish and live for, man. But yeah, Jerry, Jerry Jones is from down there. A lot of people, man. Waltons, Tyson Foods.

Sam Walton's Playbook: Small Margins, Big Volume

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Yeah, I guess just reading his um and Sam Walton, you know, founder of Walmart, reading his uh um autobiography a little bit. And he he he talks about, you know, as a young kid that they didn't have much, but they worked hard all day, you know. There was there was no shortcuts, man. They sun up to sundown. There was they were busting their asses, and he brought that into the the retail world, you know. He he he worked hard in the retail. I mean, he was there all day, every day, you know, six days a week, they took one day off kind of thing. And um, he expected his uh executives, employees, everybody else to do the same thing, right? And he just found uh he just okay, this is how retail works. Well, let's do it this way, you know. And retail back then, you know, you buy something for a dollar, you sell it for two dollars, right? And you make your profit. He goes, Why don't we just buy it for a dollar and sell it for a dollar five? You know, and that's where that's where um discount retailing started, kind of, yeah. Yep, and so um he became you know, it was like an innovative thing back then, you know, saving the customers, you know. Back then, you know, they buy what you sold them, right? Now he's like, Well, what if we chop it way down here? We make a little bit of profit, we don't make a whole bunch of profit, we make a little bit of profit, but we do it on a large scale, and that's what that's what blew it up. Yeah, it does it on volume, which people have had kickback about it, but yeah, but the

"I'd Rather Be the Walmart Than Neiman Marcus"

SPEAKER_03 4:13

employees do, but uh and I've always jokingly said we we we we get in these like groups and masterminds and whatever we get with other people that are that are talking about all this stuff, and some every now and then someone will bring up a property that looks like Disney World, and you know, they put a freaking train going through the living room, they have three pools and rack pickleball courts. Oh yeah, they could charge you know five thousand dollars a night, and this is you know, and that's fine, you know, they gotta pay a lot of money to make something like that. But I've always said, you know, I ain't competing with that. I said I'd rather be I'd rather be the Walmart than Neiman Marcus. I like that, I like that. I like that I just meant I'll make something nice, make something good, yeah, rent it for a good price, you know, and undercut my competitors in price a little bit and just make a make a nice profit, but just you know keep growing it and growing it.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

I like that. So you operate in volume. Mm-hmm. Okay, that's a that's a good thing to know. So you're operating volume, so then you can bring your price down, undercut, and then you're always viable in the market.

DFW Long-Term Rental Numbers Don't Work

SPEAKER_01 5:13

I like that. Okay, that actually is kind of I'm I was gonna talk about that because I'm noticing like the prices in the DFW, man, long-term wise, they just don't make sense. Like on a long-term rental basis, they just don't make sense. But like besides like sub two is what I'm finding, like what the deals I'm running. So if you're operating at scale, you'll take a little bit of a hit because the overall the business is still profitable. I like that, man. That that's that is actually a bar for people getting into this business. That's a bar, you know. But because you know you're you know what product you're giving.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Well, that's my philosophy, anyways. There's other people that say, Oh, all you need is you know five good properties that are making you you know five thousand a month each. That's great too, if you can do that. Yeah, if you can be, you can make your place all badass and you know, deck it all out. And of course, uh, it takes a lot of money to to make a place like that,

Furnishing a 3/2 for $5K to $7K

SPEAKER_03 6:03

right? Yeah, me, I can get it, I can get not I'm trying to brag and I can get a three-two house up and running looking good for around five grand, five to seven grand, three bedroom, two baths, maybe four bedroom. Because you know, I get it looks nice, right? And and it everything's you know pretty good. I ain't buying freaking highest end quality stuff. That's not my that's not my target market. Yeah, I want you know, I'm I'm hosting families, I'm hosting workers, I'm hosting stuff. I I ain't hosting people coming here to go to Disneyland because Disneyland ain't here, by the way. But but but you know what I'm saying. That's not my target uh

Know Your Guest: Housing Miners and Workers

SPEAKER_03 6:36

demographic.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah, you know what's funny? Your target, you remember back in the day when we were on the bigger pockets forums?

unknown 6:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

All the time. You remind me of that guy, Paul Sandhu. And I don't know where that guy is, I haven't been on the bigger pockets in a long time. But basically he he would start like he would go buy out these little 12-unit apartment complexes, and you know, but they were like midterm rentals. But he'd house, he'd house like miners and people that were and the work for the mining company and stuff like that. And he goes, Yeah, yeah. He goes, I don't have the best uh he goes, I don't have the best uh target market, you know. He says, I have to run, tell them they can't bring their prostitutes over every now and then, but that's just the people I serve, and that's what I'm gonna continue to serve. But that was his market, right? But that was his market. Uh his name's Paul Sand who I forgot where he's at. He's like up north somewhere, but that's the market he serves. And he goes, I learned how to deal with that target guest and whatever. I was like, Oh, okay, okay, but okay, and he has a lot of them, you know.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

So you're serving miners. That's not you. Serving miners, serving people that mine the mines.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Don't want to put them out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Miners, like the people that mine, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Underground. Automatically, no white sheets, no white nothing to the house, right? Nothing. Everything dark, dark, dark, dark. Second, I'm gonna post up right beside him and say, prostitutes are welcome here. Hey, you might start killing the competition.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Diddy, what are you doing here? But like, it's funny though, like, people, you really have a target that you have to go after. Um, and that was my thing with Passpit, right? That's I was like, dang, I wasn't for it, but you found the perfect niche in it. Like, well, I'll just house them and then I can take my whatever, and then I can get my properties at a good rate, and I go from there. Because I've always wondered that too. Like, but everybody's different, man. Everybody has that target that they go after for sure. And you have to know that too if you want to be successful in this. You gotta know your target.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

Oh, yeah. Now, if it's a beach house, I'm gonna make it look nice, like a beach house should be, right? Yeah, but uh that's not my that's not what I'm doing. I'm just you know, like housing workers, people that want a good night's sleep, that are working double shifts, you know, that's it, man. I mean, I I'm gonna put a decent mattress, I'm gonna put a piece of crap mattress, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah,

Guests Keep Taking Off the Mattress Covers

SPEAKER_01 8:46

yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

But but um, and um couple of put two uh mattress covers, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because here's that here's another problem. We haven't talked mattress, we haven't talked to ins and the little you know ins and outs for a while. But people take the damn mattress covers off. I don't understand that, man. Maybe they don't like how it feels under them. I don't know. I I guess I'm I'm talking about like I'm hosting like pad split people that'll be there for months or maybe a year. Oh maybe they maybe they want it, I don't know, they take it off, and I'm like, oh man, I don't want my mattresses ruined.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Okay, one, have they ruined the mattresses or not?

unknown 9:25

No.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Well, they'll get you know little stains here and there. I I guess I'm able to get them out, but but I just I don't like having a whole bed, someone's gonna be there for a few months without a mattress protector on there.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, that's weird. I ain't never but yeah, even my midterm people, they ain't took the mattress covers off. At least I don't know. I well, my team would tell me, like, yo, they got the mattress covers, they took them off. Yeah, that's weird. I ain't never maybe they okay. You provide bedding for them, dude. Maybe they be bring their own bedding or something, or not not anymore.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

Now, I I I do I dress I was doing that for a little bit. Okay, and a lot of times they would end up taking that stuff off because they wanted their own bedding.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Like I said, I'm not putting the most expensive. If they want expensive stuff, they can put expensive stuff on the bed, right? So I'm just providing the match, you know, the bed, of course, and the mattress, and then I put a mattress cover. That's that's what I provide.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. Okay, because yeah, I was wondering, maybe they bring their own stuff and then strip yours, or yeah, I'm not because yeah, you got yeah, I would definitely put the mattress protector on there because you don't want to get caught up with that.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

Yeah, but that gets bad. It gives little bugs on there. You gotta you gotta get the zippered one. Get the zippered mattress protector, not just the one you put over the top, get the zippered one, yeah. Zip that thing up, yeah. You don't want always zip it up. Yeah, you don't want those critters on your beds, man.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

But hey, if you get them, you better have insurance, man, because insurance will cover it. But yeah, that's a that's a tough one right there. So yeah, always do the mattress covers. Dude, that is a tough

Did the Fed Hike Change Seller-Finance Rates?

SPEAKER_01 10:56

one. So something we talked about last week. We glossed over on the last episode, and somebody was asked me. A couple of people called me and asked, like, hey, last episode, you're talking about the feds hiked the rates, you know, and I was like, Yeah, they they hiked them, you know. So um, how has that affected you and like your okay? This is what I'm seeing. Are you seeing people asking for higher uh interest rates on some of these deals out here, like some of these owner seller finance deals?

SPEAKER_03 11:24

You know, it's been about the same. Okay, from what I and I'll say most people that put a house owner finance, they'll put it like nine or ten percent. That's just been that's just been what they've been asking for. And I'm like, come on, man, give me a give me a break here, give me a little bit of a break, right? And you want 20% down, why don't I just go through a bank and get a better deal? You know, it just doesn't make sense. Even with the rates as they are now, I can still get like 7.5 or 8% through a bank. Why would I pay you 10%? But you know why their target market is people that can't get loans through the banks.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

That right there, not okay. Dang it, that leads me into the next conversation. Them right there, because they're targeting a specific group of people that they know can't get loans from the bank and probably ain't gonna ever be able to get a loan from the bank.

Should Wholesaling Be Regulated?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

So we me and you, we uh listened to a podcast together, uh, Better Life episode, Better Life Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

And they were talking about ST, like not they were talking about real estate being regulated, they were really going after wholesalers, right? Because I still wholesale and then I also I can list now because I'm an agent. What do you think about that? Do you think real estate should be regulated? Like even with like owner finance deals, do you think it should be regulated?

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Now it it that's a tricky one because because uh how they mention it on the show. One guy said, Yeah, it should be regulated, wholesalers suck, all that stuff, right? He said, and he goes, and I'm a wholesaler, I'm saying it, blah, blah. The other guy said, Well, okay, but if you start letting giving the governments the power to regulate that, where do they stop? You know, it's just again, okay, we're regulate this, regulate, you know, that regulate everybody out of business. But but the thing is, um, I don't

The Texas Rule on Repeat Owner-Finance Sellers

SPEAKER_03 13:06

I don't like it. I don't like the regulation. Now, Texas does, I know here, I'm not sure everywhere, but Texas has a thing where um, let's say someone does that, that does sells their houses, owner finance, seller finance a lot, right? I believe, and I could be wrong, it's either the first after you do it three times with your portfolio, or it could be five times. It's three or five of times, right? You have to go through like an intermediate in intermediary to sell the rest owner finance. And I and it is this happened to me because I was I bought a house over here in in North Ocean Hills. Okay, and I said owner finance, this and that, and the manager gave me the terms. You know, I I talked to them, went back and forth. I got the house for cheap too. I mean, as far as a down payment, like I got like six thousand or so down, but um the thing is he he said, okay, you have to go through this company and submit all your information. I was like, wait, I thought it was owner finance. I don't I'm not trying to get a loan through a bank. No, no, no. It's a third-party company, and then um you just submit everything through them. You kind of it's kind of like going through a bank, like a Wells Fargo or something, you're submitting your you know, three months of pay stubs, three months of your your checking account, you tax returns, you're sending all this stuff to them, right? And then they're examining it and then they approve you. I don't know how, I don't know if they're as strict as banks, like underwriters and all that stuff, but then they uh either approve you or deny you, and then you can buy the house through that guy, owner finance. Now, I think why they started doing that is because they didn't want someone out there selling a hundred owner finance houses as a predatory lender kind of thing, you know, to people that can't afford houses and then taking their 10,000 or 20,000 down, and then they're there for a few months in a house they can't afford and they're and they bounce, and then you keep that money and you do it again and again. You know, there's predatory uh uh people out there, right? Yeah, so I think that's why this particular law was started. So they you after you do it three times, or like I said, maybe five times, I need to look it up. Um, you have to do it through an intermediary uh every time after that.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Now I have a question. Are was that a f owner finance or was that a rap? It was owner finance. Like there there was no heads.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

So this guy owns a bunch of houses. Okay, yeah. He likes to sell them this way, so he can, you know. No, no, he owns them free and clear. As far as I know, because I'm paying him, I'm not paying no bank or nothing.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

So, like when you do your paperwork, does it tell you if there's a lien on the property?

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Yeah, well, the title company uh checks all that. You close in a title company just like you're buying with a bank, he closed through a title company and they check out if there's any liens on it or anything. There was no it he was the the he owned it outright.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Okay, so it was free and clear. Because that's what I was wondering because I'm running into some where they're trying to do it, but like they'll they're kind of like doing like two positions on it. They'll be like, hey we have this VA loan. He goes, Hey, we'll sub to you the VA loan, but the rest of it you gotta go to a bank to get it. But this guy was like, Well, nah, but you have to be a VA, but you're we're only letting a veteran take over the VA portion of the loan. So it's quite a few things out there. That's what I was wondering. Is this a because I I'd be wondering if I'm selling my house owner finance, what the hell does that have to do with you? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Like a company or whatever, unless they're that's that's the state law.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Okay, so it's a state law. Okay, okay. That's what I was wondering. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

I didn't yeah, I didn't know it either until the, you know, but I guess this guy has a big portfolio, and that's how he he he makes money or he likes to make his passive income.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Okay. I wonder if like you put him in different LLCs, can they really even regulate that? I I don't know. I don't know. Like if I got a LLC with like three or four houses, I do it. I'm done with that LLC, I go do it. I don't know. That's interesting though.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

I uh I'm sure there's ways around it, but this guy, this guy's on the up and up, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's doing it

Wholesalers Who Rip Off Grandma

SPEAKER_03 17:01

by the book.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah, for real. And I mean, yeah, it's predatory lending out there. But yeah, my take on the whole regulating thing, I I get why it's like that. Um, and I'll be honest with you. So when I got my license, remember I was talking on the internet on threads, and a guy was like, Well, be careful with your license, they're gonna put stipulations on you. And he goes, Well, you know, you're gonna go, when you're trying to wholesale a property or you're trying to get a property on a contract, you have to disclose your realtor. I'm like, that doesn't bother me. I'm not like I'm out here ripping off grandma for our house, which and I think that's like the point they were making, is people out there to like go and rip off older people for their homes, you know. And I feel like a lot of people don't get their license because of that, because that that is what they do.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Um that's that's why our old buddy told us not to get licenses because it sounded like he used to do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And he's definitely the personality to do that. So I mean, I'm I don't know. So uh to me, I I get both sides of it. Um, but I always tell people, do your due diligence, man. Um, I I'll even tell a story. Like I mean when me and Mahogany were doing it full time, we had this older couple, they're like in their 80s, and we walked the property with them, and we're like, you know, they were older, so I was like, uh I hope y'all don't mind me asking, but like, do y'all have kids that you know are like helping y'all sell these houses? She was like, Yeah. And uh, I was like, you know, I don't want to like give you these lowball offers, and it seems like like I want to make sure you know you're on the up and up, like with the offers for given. And she's like, Oh yeah, you could talk to my kids, and they were real cool. They end up that we didn't get the properties, but they were like, Hey man, I really appreciate you for reaching out and like actually being someone because yeah, it is people that do that crap, they they do it it happens all the time.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

That's what I hear. Like, uh, I I listen to a lot of those podcasts when wholesalers come on, and and their number one thing is it's about relationships, and and they'll go into someone's house, right? I mean, there's bad ones too, but this this one, these particular ones that said they'll straight up tell them, Okay, you know, you could, if you wanted, sell your house retail. This is the price I can do, you know. But if you want to sell it retail and go get you an agent, this is what you can make out there. And he goes, and sometimes he'll say, You looks like you probably could make more doing it retail. And he goes, A lot of times they still pick us, anyways, for being honest, you know. We're saying, you know, we'd I'd rather just sell it to you, you know. I don't want to deal with all that and people coming through my house and all that stuff. So, so you know, it helps. I think it helps being honest in the long run, doing that something like that. You keep burning bridges, you know, uh, you get a reputation out there, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Straight up, see, and this is

Why Myka Got His License

SPEAKER_01 19:27

the thing though. If you're I see this is why I got my license. So when I run into a situation like that, I can tell them, hey, this is what you can get for listing it, this is what you get for wholesale. This is what if I'm your buyer, this is the wholesale price. And they'll be honest, my thing was sometimes they wouldn't go with my price. So now I have to give it to a realtor. Now I can just turn my hat around. By the way, I can go ahead and list your property. You know what I'm saying? So if you have if if you're a legit wholesaler like that, having your license is just a plus, you know what I mean? I can get paid either way. Um, I'll be honest, sometimes my three percent is higher than you know, um what I might get, you know, as a wholesale, but you know, um, well, it shouldn't be, but a wholesale should be more. But uh yeah, man. So I I was wondering about that. That that was a really good conversation. I commented

The PadSplit Host Who Became a Top Agent

SPEAKER_01 20:14

on it.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

You know what's cool about the the agent thing? Yeah, what I heard someone uh go on uh like a uh what's it called? Uh co-living podcast, right? Oh yeah, I got the uh you know uh he he was talking about he's like ah you know I'm just gonna and he was doing he already had houses, he's already written them out. He started doing pad splits, but he was like, you know, I'm gonna go ahead and get my license because you know, just in case, you know, I'll save on commissions, or every now and then, like a family member wants to buy a house, I can help him. Just just I wanna I'm gonna get it for that. Anyways, he ended up turning without even trying, he kind of became like a a big time agent, right? Over there because people knew he knew how to do padsplit, and people told him, find me a pad split house. And so he started helping people buy a PAS walking in with them. Okay, this is where you you know, perfect, right? This is where you can add rooms. This is this house is good for PASP. This house is not good for past, you know. He just was he had that knowledge and he started selling a shit ton of houses because he had that specific

The Bad STR Advice Realtors Give

SPEAKER_03 21:19

knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

You know what? That's funny. That's what I'm doing mine. Like, people want to do MTRs, STRs, or whatever they want to do. And like that's I'm I'm making that my niche. Like, hey, I do short-term rentals, midterm rentals, and I get people hitting me up. Hey, I want to get into that. And I'm happy I did because like I'm educating them, and like some of the stuff that they've heard from realtors is just piss poor advice. Like, you'd be like, nah, bro, don't do that. Like, you know, and I still have some clients, I'll be like, they'll say they want to do they're adamant about doing stuff that I wouldn't do. So I just kind of back off and I have to kind of learn. Hey, you know, like some people they'll go buy a house, like, and I tell them, hey, try to get you a place where you can do short term and midterm, you know, so you can bounce back and forth. Fill your gaps. They're like, no, no, no. I'll just do all midterm. And I'm like, all right, cool. You know, uh I'm like, you know, they'll be like, I'm like, hey, there's short-term rental laws over here, but I can do midterm. I'm like, you can, but they're like, no, I don't care about the law. All right, cool. I'll send you a bunch of houses. You know, I can do it. But I tell people though, you know, you gotta have that, you know, I have to have that. Now it's not me investing, everybody invests different. So yeah, man, it it does, it has its fun and challenging, but it also expands my mind because I see like, damn, people really do invest different. Like, because like how me and you look at it, it's like, hell no, I wouldn't do that. But, you know, everybody has their way of doing it. Everybody gotta learn somehow.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

I wanna say it like that, but I'd be thinking it like, yo, that's a wild investment,

Why Steve Won't Manage MTR-Only Homes

SPEAKER_03 22:49

but hey, you know, it's it's gotten to the point where like um I wouldn't even want to manage somebody's house anymore. That's just they want to do 100% MTR, and there's and you can't do short-term rentals there. Because it's just setting it's setting them up for disappointment, right? Yes. And I'm like, they're I we don't gotta, you know, because in the past, okay, I'll I'll try it out. I hope you try to try it out. And they don't get no bookings, or you know, a month, you know, a month going by and and they they can't get it rented, or you know, or the half the half the months going by, and where's hey, we need a booking. Like that's why I you know I told you to that I can do if you if you if you have the flexibility where it could be a short-term rental, this this could be worth it. But it's hard to just sit back and wait for uh three-month booking. And they happen, but you know, it's good to have the flexibility to rent it out in the meantime, and so every single time I've I've taken on a property like that, it's been disappointment. And and so I don't even I don't even bother anymore. Oh, I got one that's gonna be a good midterm over here, and blah blah blah. I'm like, sorry, man.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Over here in over here in South Arlington thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Hey, yeah, we know a few that are doing the South Arlington thing.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Oh man, boy.

Myka's Management Rules: No HOA, STR Allowed

SPEAKER_01 24:07

So uh it's funny. I I had a client like that too there. They only wanted to do midterm, and then they had an HOA. So, like now, like and if you this for people that that are in the management game. If you're in the management game, this is advice. Set up your standard. My standard, if there's no STR, I'm not gonna manage it. If there's no, if there's an HOA, I ain't gonna manage it. Um, that those are just my standards. If you don't have a fenced yard, I'm not gonna manage it, manage it. If it ain't at least three bedrooms, two baths are up, I'm not managing it. So you just have to have those standards of what you're doing, you know. And I work with people every day, bro. They they be like, oh, I don't care about that. I just want to get one up. You know, they're in that rush phase. You know, I'm helping like one of my partners right now, he's trying to get that short-term rental tax loophole. He's like, I don't care, let's just buy some. I'm like, I don't know about that, but I'm like, bro, let's slow down, you know, because a lot of people are doing that loophole. They just, you know, they only have to do it for like a certain amount of time, and now oh, I can just flip it to the midterm, you know, which is cool, but yeah, you got to make sure you're able to get it set up and running, man. But you know, everybody, everybody invests different. Everybody invests different.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

Yeah, man. That's not a good enough reason to to find a house. You you want to find it where it's gonna be profitable, like you want for the long term, not just to get some kind of loophole or something.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Agreed, man. Um, and you know, and and I don't know, I don't know if you're making offers on properties. Me and Jabron was talking about. I think we were in the chat with Jabron. We pissed Jabron off. I do anyway, they like poking at it.

Lowball Offers and "Commission Breath"

SPEAKER_01 25:39

We were talking about uh, you know, properties right now, you know, people are making bold ass offers. So, you know, I I definitely I'm definitely pissed off some realtors, you know. Uh they get mad at you you make a bold offer, bro. They don't like it. Like, I'm like you mean a low ball offer? Yeah, they don't like it, bro. I'm like, bro, this house has been sitting a hundred days. What you want me to do? I ain't about to give you the sticker price. But like, maybe a mat. They won't respond. Like, they'll do shit like that. They'll do stuff like this. They'll they'll respond and be like, uh, my client's really not interested. I'm like, well, you gonna give me a counter? No response. No response. I'm like, uh, so yeah, I'm a uh here shortly. I'm about to start hitting up um hitting up some of their men, they supervisors like, hey, uh Susie ain't got back to me, bro, on this offer I sent. So yeah, man, but you got to do it, bro, because they don't beat, man. It's crazy, man. They don't, they don't, you know, they they try to, and most of the time it's their feelings and what they're gonna get. They have commission breath. It ain't even about what the the owner's gonna get, you know what I'm saying? Is this what the owner's gonna net? You know what I mean? So

Getting to the Owner When a Listing Expires

SPEAKER_01 26:45

you gotta be careful out here.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Here's uh here's the thing. I just thought of it now, too. Cause this this um a couple houses ago I that I bought um owner finance in Arlington, right? Yeah, close to where my first house is, my other path split. And I turned it into a pad split and everything. But the lady across the street was selling her house. Yeah, the guy that sold me my house, he knew her. And he was he actually, yeah, she she's trying to sell her. She got in, she got in with the bad agent. One of those, one of those 1-800 uh online agents, you know, that don't even you don't even see the person. And yeah, it was one of those things.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Oh, oh, oh, open door agent.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

Yeah, one of those, right? They were just oh man, it was bad. She was in a bad spot. But she she she came home one day, and I was out there talking to him, and he's like, Oh, hey, you know, because he knew her. And so she she came over there, we started talking, and then he said, Well, he might be interested in buying your house if you ever get out of that deal with that agent, you know. And um, he's looking, you know, he he tries to buy houses owner finance. He ex he did a lot of the talking for me, you know. Yeah, and so she trusts him. She's like, Oh, okay, yeah, maybe this and that. And I was able to go in there and tour the house, and um and I got to know the lady a little bit. Uh, she ended up, we tried to make a deal work, and she got a little nervous about the whole owner finance thing and this and that. And so she she ended up getting another agent, and then she was able to sell the house, right? But uh that's what that's where I start thinking like a house that's been sitting forever. I'm not saying go out in front of their house and stock them, right? I'm just saying, I'm just saying if you happen to be walking down the street and you see the person that owns that house that has been sitting for a long time, and you just strike up a casual conversation. Oh, I see your house is for sale, blah, blah, blah. You get in, then you get to know the owner. When it does fall out, because it's eventually gonna expire, and then that agent's gonna drop it, whatever, right? You know, you got that lady's number, that dude's number, you got their number, and you, hey, I saw that it's not on the Zillow anymore. Oh, yeah, you know, we're just gonna, oh maybe I can buy it from you, you know. So you you get rid of that firewall, you're just dealing directly with them now.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

I agree. If you're by the way, don't do this stuff if you're licensed. If you're not licensed all day, but make sure you're not getting your owner, your agent, in trouble either by you going back around so you can kind of do it like have your wife do it. Like, hey, because I hey, I ain't gonna lie, bro. I I seen a couple deals out there, I'm

The Furnished Airbnb for Sale by the Stadium

SPEAKER_01 29:12

like, hmm. Like that one I did. I tell you I wouldn't seen a um this lady selling her Airbnb. I think I told you this lady selling her Airbnb right there. I'm talking right behind, you know where Buffalo Wild Wings is, right? In Arlington, like right there by the stadium, selling one right there with all the furniture in it. She ain't she said she ain't taking no furniture out, nothing. Brand new floors in there, furniture sucked. I could see why she wasn't making no money. Furniture was just horrible, man. I'm talking grandma's furniture up in there, but like she's like, hey, I'm getting rid of everything there in Colorado. They said never lived in the house, nothing. They just set up as an STR, brand new HVAC on it. Um but you know, those deals are out there, you know what I mean? But you gotta come down on price. You you your price ain't gonna fit. You gotta come down.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

It's a lot of price drops

Do Small 3/2s Work as Midterm Rentals?

SPEAKER_03 30:00

going on right now.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

It is, and I have a question for y'all because one thing I was thinking about, Mike said something to the tune of smaller three-bed, two baths in the DFW don't convert. Is that true? Like for midterm clients.

SPEAKER_03 30:17

Smaller three bed, two baths in the D in the DFW area. I I was I you know, it's it's I have a few that are small, and and they do all right in the corporate because a lot of times it's just either one person or like a couple, you know, and and in the neighborhood, in the older neighborhoods, it's usually an older couple or older person, you know, just by themselves, living by themselves, and they just need a they did they they don't want to live in a uh uh hotel, yeah. So they put them in a house down the road from that. I I've housed a lot of people that way. Not all of them are like families with five kids and shit. So so I've to me I do, and is and it and when you get in a house like that, you're paying a lot less too. So you can charge a lot less. You I can charge 3,500 bucks a month and I'll be fine, you know. I'm saying for a for a corporate. I try to do 45 or more, but push, come to shove, I I have that negotiating room, right?

unknown 31:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

So so that's just a blanket statement. It depends on where you're at. Maybe if you're in a brand new neighborhood and you're the smallest house on the block, it's not gonna do good in a brand new neighborhood because everybody else has huge houses, right? But in older neighborhoods where it's a lot of three ones and three twos that are 1500 square foot, it does it does fine.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Okay. Because this is this is exactly what it was. You know that neighborhood is old as hell, right? That old ass neighborhood over there. It is a smaller three two, but it's like a perfect mixture of it. For Airbnb, it don't matter. I mean, you said it's Airbnb, right?

SPEAKER_03 31:39

It's Airbnb.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

It's Airbnb, but one of my the my client he wants to do midterm, right?

SPEAKER_03 31:45

But he but he can do Airbnb. Correct, correct. He could do it. That's that's perfect, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yeah, see, that's what I was thinking too. I'm like, man, you'd hit because it's like the only thing I didn't like was you have to go out of the house to get to the garage. It's that old of a house.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Yeah, you gotta go through the side door, then through another door to get to the garage.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

So my manager went close by too over there. Same thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like one of those. So I'm like, eh, and then the the washer and dryer's in there too. So it's like, dang, it's like a lot of operational logistics, it's it's bad logistically, but inside the house to the backyard, it's legit. But I was wondering that too, because they uh Michael's like, yeah, man, the three twos here don't convert as much. And I'm like, the three twos where I'm at, like in Arkansas, they hit all day, man. Like if you're by a hospital or something, they're hitting. So I was just wondering if y'all have seen. But if yeah, if you're saying it works, you just have to know the target clientele.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

How much is that house, if you want to say?

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Oh shoot, I have to find it.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Because she's thinking she can get a whole bunch more because she's because it can Airbnb.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

See, I don't even think they're priced.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

That's what I saw. Back when everything was up, people would charge a lot more if they knew that you could Airbnb the house. They got hip to it.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Yeah. So back when I was not working, because I left my job in 2021. So 2022, I was all real estate. When I would go knock those doors, you either had to speak Spanish or you're talking to somebody extremely old, and everybody's saying the same thing. Well, I'm just selling it at a high price. So I end up running into this dude, this builder over there. And he goes, Oh, yeah, that's why I'm buying building new over here. He goes, because all these people, he goes, because he was buying like crappy ones and he buy them at a higher rate. He didn't care, he was tearing them down anyway, and just building brand new, making his money that way. Um, but yeah, a lot of those buyers, he was like, Bro, if you're gonna buy something over here, you gotta have to he goes, you got to tear it down and rebuild. He goes, and they know I'm doing it. So he goes, they think they can charge extra to sell. And he goes, you know, it ain't working for all of them, but there's a lot of brand new builds over there. Like yeah, even the neighborhood I drove to, it was a corner lot, brand new builds sitting there. Like in the middle of the neighborhood. I was like, dang, man, it's just a random brand new build house, but people

New Builds on Arlington's Rough Blocks

SPEAKER_01 34:01

are doing it.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

There was we managed one in Arlington, it was a new build, beautiful house. It was right across from uh crack uh crack house apartments, man.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Yes, that's what they do, like and and that and that's exactly what they're doing. They go to like quarter lot too, yeah. Yeah, you uh you across the street from a liquor store in a crack house, and that's where they set them up. And then like for real, like, and then if you ever watch like the Arlington news, the first thing they're complaining about, oh, somebody broke in my Airbnb. And they know it's the Airbnb, it's got the little coded lock on there, you can tell, you know. So, and uh, so and then one of them, so I kept driving the neighborhood, right? And I knew it was like kind of not sketchy, but they have to watch out. So it was this real nice one in the in this other corner area, right? It was like a cul de sac and it was in this corner. But like you drive in and had this circular driveway, it was an Airbnb, you can see the coded lock. However, they had a coated lock on the gate and then a coated lock to get into the house. So I was like, he had everything fenced off. Like, yeah, you ain't about to just be up in here. But yeah, that is that area of Arlington. Like I said, when they first said that you could Airbnb, I'm like, they're trying to gentrify it, which we already do. But yes, it is some crack houses and liquor stores and other stuff going on. Other stuff going on.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

For

$220 a Month on AI, $10K a Month Back

SPEAKER_01 35:15

real.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

I was gonna okay. We we were texting off you know, you know, before this, yeah. You I had asked you how much you pay for your AI.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

Uh uh, yeah, go ahead and go ahead and talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I pay uh $220 a month. That's $200 for Claude, $20 for Chat GPT.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

And I was like, damn. I mean that's so you're all in on AI. It's like, okay, how much does that how much does that make you a month?

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Oh, that can make me probably $10,000 a month.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

That's a that's a great ROA right there.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah, yeah, that'll bring me $10,000. Like you can like easily with like my like the um with my properties and the pricing mechanisms and pulling stuff from price labs. Like I got pricing down to where we're like using data to price. Like, and I'm using

Vivian Yip's Step-Up Minimum-Stay Method

SPEAKER_01 36:06

uh happy brought that up. Shout out to Vivian Yip. Right now I'm you I'm reading the uh frictionless MTR system. Um and I'm using her method uh to I'm I'm testing out her method on one of my properties because she has the step-up method. Like I used to just do two-night minimum, anything 30 days out, you have to stay for 30 nights. But now I kind of like went into price labs, grabbed some data, how she was talking about in her book, and what I'm doing is and I had AI do all this. I had it say, okay, her thing's all about algorithm, right? How do you always stay on our Airbnb's algorithm? She does allow one night stays, and that's when I kind of like, eh, but I seen how she did it. She's like, I'll allow one night stays from today for the next three days. You can stay for one night, but after that, you gotta stay for three nights. After that, you gotta stay for seven, fourteen, twenty, thirty goes up. So you're still targeting midterm clientele. But what happens is you're always on Airbnb's algorithm. So I tested it and I did get a two-day booking because someone uh midterm person checked out today. And then uh they have a and then we have a two-day person coming in. But I used I I told, so let me tell

Claude Pulled the PriceLabs Data Itself

SPEAKER_01 37:22

you how I did it. I took a picture of what she said in the book, and then I pulled the day and I told Claude, hey, I want to do this to my uh Airbnb listing, and I said, Hey, go pull the stuff from Price Labs that's needed from this, and it went and did it.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Damn.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

I was like, damn, it did it like I didn't have to do nothing. It just said it went and like pulled the stuff and did it. So that's like the time it saves

ChatGPT Thinks, Claude Does

SPEAKER_01 37:45

me.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

So the thing with Claude, it it goes and does things, it it does things for you. Yeah. ChatGPT gives you the info, right? Yeah, yeah. Claude goes out there and does it.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Yeah, ChatGPT is the manager and the researcher. Okay, and then Claude is the doer, the executioner.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

So you what you connect Claude to Price Labs, you connect Claude to your PMS. How what do you do?

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Yeah, uh, I connect Claude to Price Labs, Cod's connected to my Gmail, Claude's connected to my Google Voice, anything with Google, Claude's connected to, and it has access to all of it and it can pull data. And then I also have an extension inside of Chrome to where Claude can go up and talk to ChatGPT. Uh, I can use the AI of it, API of it, I can connect the two with the API and they talk to each other, but I just haven't used it that because then I have to use credit. So I try to avoid the credit. So Claude can go, like if it's a task that I give it, I'll tell it, hey, go consult with ChatGPT on this, you guys come up with it together. And it was like, hey, this is what I miss, this is what ChatGPT missed. Most of the time, Claude misses stuff because it's not researching, it's more doing. And then, like, anything I want it to do, man. Um, I've had it build apps for stuff like that I need checked. So like it tells me everything that's on my calendar for the day. Anything that it can do, it'll do it. You know, hey, what's going on with this client? How do I follow up? What do I need to be doing with this client? It does it all for me. Um, I have a dashboard like for today. Actually, yeah, so yesterday was the first. So my VA sends out all the management invoices, and Claude has a dashboard that shows me all the management invoices that went out, if they're open or paid, I don't have to do nothing because it connects to Stripe. So, like, and then the thing I was telling you about ChatGPT, ChatGPT has ChatGPT Finance. Chat GPT Finance is connected to Plaid. Plaid has all the banking systems. There's like a few of them that in there. Like if you have like a mortgage through like a you know, when you have a mortgage through like a third party company, credit union or something, yeah, like a random credit union, it won't pull that, but like it pulls all your wealth, Fargo, Chase, any big bank you're with, or even a credit union you're with, it'll pull it because it's from plaid. And then Chat GPT, like if I need to say, hey, I need to get this debt off, it'll start giving me a plan. Hey, well, cut this, cut your YouTube TV, cut your uh this, you know, it starts giving you ideas, but you can manage all of it through there. And then you could tell Claude to go ask Chat GPT to create a spreadsheet or something, you know, um, like create a spreadsheet of this and how I could do this, or you could tell it, hey, should I re readjust my profit first numbers for the month? You know, based upon what's coming in and going out, and it'll give you those numbers because it has everything. Damn. Yeah, man. Uh AI is all about data, bro. It's not nothing to be afraid of. It's just all data. It's like the more data you give it, the smarter it is. Um

"Claude Is AI With Dementia"

SPEAKER_01 40:37

Claude is Claude is not that good with data because it has short memory. That's why I always connect it to ChatGPT because ChatGBT has the memory, it'll remember everything, and then Claude will go do it. Like Claude is AI with dementia. I tell people that all the time. Chat GPT, Chat GPT is a thinker, but not a doer. It can, but it ain't as good as Claude. And so you just have to um I tell people you just have to know what it is that you need help with and what it is you need off your plate, and it will automate it for you. Yeah, you just have to, yeah. Whatever's in

Monday.com, Slack and the Switch to ClickUp

SPEAKER_01 41:12

your mind, you can build it.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

So you don't need Monday.com or Slack anymore or what?

SPEAKER_01 41:16

I do. I'm gonna tell you why I use those. I connect Monday to Claude and Slack to Claude. I took my whole business when I first got Claude. I said, go through Monday.com, go through Slack and tell me how to how can I run my business and create jobs for everything that my me and my VA does. So if I ever lose my VA, if I ever lose, if I'm never just not available or if I need help, it just created two job descriptions of what I have is a social media manager and an operations manager. It created the full job. Then I said, turn it into a SOP. It has a SOP for everything that I do because it had the data from Monday.com and it cleaned up Monday.com and organized it. And I was like, look, I told Chat GBT, hey, I want to cut my bills. It says um, so I talked to my VA. My VA was like, hey, well, let's look at click up instead of Monday. So we had she told me told me about it. I had Chat G Claude talk to Chat GBT and say, hey, how much is a how much would we save by switching to click up? Oh, you save um $1,500 a year. By switching to click up, do I still have the same features? Yes. So it's stuff like yeah, I'm switching to click up uh first of September. Um November, first of November. Yeah, and it does all that for you. So it's like if I pay $220 a month, I have a full-time assistant that doesn't need to sleep. So it's like it's well worth it if you know what you do. Like I tell people, like, even when you're doing anything, document your process of what you're doing. And if you know that process of what you're doing, just like okay, for example, I I made mahogany a website. We made mahogany a full-blown website in 10 minutes. Just mahoganyartists.com. We made it in 10 minutes. People look at it like, you made this in 10 minutes? I made it in 10 minutes. And it it manages that website manages her podcast, manages her guest signups, it manages um her Melaluca business, it manages it all, and it was 10 minutes because I said, because I kept telling her she needed my help, but I kept telling her because she would say something to me. I'm like, say exactly what you just said to me to Claude and it'll do it. I that's what people the blind. I'm like, say exactly what you just said to me to Claude. She did it, she was like, damn, and she's only paying for the $20 a month one. Wow. Yeah. So that's why I tell people just the stuff you would say to someone, just say it to Claude and

Where a Beginner Should Start With AI

SPEAKER_01 43:40

it'll do it for you.

SPEAKER_03 43:41

All right, all right, all right. So there's a lot of new I'll say newbies to to AI that listen to that show, including myself. How would you tell someone that that has you know a few short term rentals or a few midterm rentals or what a pad splits? How would you tell them to start implementing this stuff? Sound you're when you start talking about it, it sounds a little high level. It is. But you but you just said with the twenty dollar one, you can do some stuff. So how would you tell someone to set up their to start getting it to help their business?

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Um, first thing I would tell them to do is you need to feed it all the data you have. Do you have your data in one place? If you do not have your data in one place, figure out how to get it in one place, and then you can connect all your data to Google Drive if you want to. Connect everything about your properties to Google Drive, then tell Claude to go connect to your Google Drive and tell it everything about your properties, then start building SOPs around it.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

Okay, but first buy the $20 Claude, just to start off, right?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

You can do yeah, yeah, buy the $20 one. You need the $20 one.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Okay. And the $20 chat GPT.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Yeah, if you can. The $20 because $40 a month, that's pretty cheap. That right there, that $40 a month right there is power.

unknown 44:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

The only reason I have a $200 a month, I build applications too on the side. So I have other stuff I'm building. So, but $40 should do what you need to do. And I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest with y'all because like everybody keeps asking me, I might start holding some AI classes. I might start holding them. Like, because people keep asking me, I may do like some AI webinars on how I'm using it and just see how it would help y'all. But the first thing, the most important thing about AI is data. If you have your data in one place, like I don't know if you use a Notion, whatever you use, you know, you know, now Notion is powerful too. Like, I remember Fetty used to be Bill Big on Notion, and I never took them up on it. I should have, so I could have got in on that lower tier pricing. Their AI is to the next level. But I will say, like, yeah, data is the first thing you need. You need to have everything data because once you have the data, I could tell Claude right now to build me a landing page of all my listings with the pictures, and then to do it because it has the data. So it's just the data you have to have. That's my first thing. So, like all your processes, all your uh pictures. Um you you could really tell Claude to just connect to Airbnb and Claude and Chrome and go through all your listings, go through all the all the messages that have gone back and forth with guests, and then it can learn how you're how you're learning everything, and then tell Claude to tell chat GPT to take that information and turn it into a SOP and give it back to Claude so Claude can execute on it. Yeah, so yeah, that's how like some people like I hear people arguing who's better, Claude or Chat GPT. Everybody's arguing, I'm like, man, I use them both because you have to know their strengths and weaknesses. Yeah, yeah, just your data, your data is the most important piece. You have to have your data in in in order.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

All right, maybe let's step back a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:43

How about just getting started and just starting with Chat GPT? How much could that do for your business? It could create SOPs. Chat GPT could be standard standard operating procedures.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah, it could create standard operating procedures. It could create it could train a new employee. It could create the documentation to train a new employee. Um dang, I'm gonna be real, man. Chat GPT could probably do more, but I have it I'm so fine-tuned on it, I know exactly what I'm using it for. But yeah, it could it could do a

Generative vs Agentic AI

SPEAKER_01 47:23

lot for you. Um I look at ChatGPT as more generative AI. And Claude is more agentic, so generative produces stuff for you. Agentic goes and does stuff for you. So it can produce whatever you need it to produce, you know what I mean? It's just acting it out. It it's okay, like some of their features, it's okay with acting it out, but Claude's just much better. But yeah, if you had Chat GPT, you could have it build stops for you, you could have it, you know, give it all your financials, it could create budgets for your business, it could create a profit first system for your business. Um, it could do a lot, it could do a lot, just 20 bucks a month.

SPEAKER_03 47:59

Okay, and yeah, that's where I'm at right now. I'm at the I'm at the $20 a month chat GPT. Here's the thing. I got I got Chat GPT for my business, and I didn't get the business version that cost $100 a month or whatever. I got the $20 uh Chat GPT plus because I started seeing that I could do some things, and then um I gave it to I gave it to my employees. Here, here's the login, y'all have fun with it, and they use it all the time, right? And so I use it too for whatever I'm doing. You know, if I need help with something, I'll I'll get on there. But what I started I started wanting to do is more of uh, like you said, giving it all my finances, giving it all the business information so it can start like um organizing things better for me or giving me you know suggestions on how I should do things. Um, so I went and created a personal one just that I can get on because I don't want them to be able to look at all that stuff, right? So that's where I'm at right now. So I'm I'm getting that I'm getting that learned. I I've started talking to it because you know you can hit that button and then start talking to it, and it talks back to you in whatever voice you want. And my wife talks to it in Spanish and it starts talking to her in Spanish. So I it's it's neat, man. It's freaking cool. Yeah, and um, so I'm I'm at that at that phase right now, just to get everything into my chat GPT. And the next phase, I'm gonna do the the Claude thing because everybody, you know, everybody's talking about Claude. Uh I would love for it to do stuff for me, you know. That's what that's what it does. And I don't want it to wipe out my bank accounts, though.

Guardrails: How Much Access to Give AI

SPEAKER_03 49:28

That's not it's connected to a plan.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

You ain't gonna worry about that. Now that's what you do have to worry about with uh Claude, depending on how much access you give it, you have to put guardrails in place. Um, like at my job, we have a ton of guardrails in place, which kind of holds us back at times because we can't get to where we need to be, but we you have to create it in the corporate world. But in our world, it's a little bit different, like stuff's going through plaid and stuff like that. But yeah, you have your guardrails in place, you know, don't give it too much access. Um, but yeah, it like for example, like how you ask said how much that 220 make me. So on my mom's property,

$13,000 in 3 Days From Cancellations

SPEAKER_01 50:02

we made $13,000 in like three days due to cancellations. So like somebody booked for $7,000, canceled, somebody else comes in, booked for like a weekend, got a thousand, and somebody else booked for the rest of the month, and it was like five thousand. So we ended up uh we ended up getting uh quite a quite a few reservation and some cancellation money based upon that, and that was from the pricing that Claude has set up for us. Like I have Claude doing a dashboard, I can tell it how much do we need to be, how much discount do we need to do this month? And I just go slide the slider, tells you this is how much is going on in your area. Uh properties are making about $2,800 a month, can charging about $2,800 a month. So I can slide the slider to my discount. Discount maybe 28%, and then that's what you get, whatever that number is. And you can set it up, but Claude's reading the data straight out of Price Labs. And I'll be real with you, like Price Labs, like pulling data out of price labs on your listings and putting it inside of Chat GPT will do the same thing. It just won't create it, can probably create a dashboard, like an interactive dashboard. I think it can, but I just use Claude for

Should Kids Be Using AI?

SPEAKER_01 51:11

it.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

Here's one thing, man. This is a bit of a controversial sub topic because I'll I'll start it off like this. I'll you know, I noticed I a few this is months back. My my daughter, she sees me talking to Siri and asking things, right? Yeah and um Siri got Siri's gotten a lot dumb, a lot dumber lately. But anyways, she's like the uh the grandma of AI, I guess. But but my daughter, she asked me to put that on there, and I helped her put it on her little her phone, you know, the the why the phone she uses is like on the Wi-Fi, right? It's not like so she has like an old iPhone, we we let her put some stuff on there, and so she started see as I noticed she'll she'll ask Siri for things, right? She'll ask it, and I'm like, is that a good thing or a bad thing? And and then I started thinking to myself, should I should I start letting her use AI, like chat GPT and stuff like that? And I thought I'd ask you, you're the computer programmer guru guy over here. Uh, how would do you feel about teaching letting your kids use that stuff?

SPEAKER_01 52:12

I was literally thinking about this on my drive to work this morning. Uh, this is my honest opinion. And anybody with kids, this is my opinion. Y'all can take y'all's opinion.

"They Should Be 18 Before Generative AI"

SPEAKER_01 52:21

I don't want kids, I think kids should be teenagers before shit. They should be 18 before they start using generative AI. I think generative AI at a young age, uh, it takes the creativity and critical thinking away from kids. I think the only form of AI a kid should be using is agentic AI. The reason is a gentic AI only responds to what's in your head, and then 10x is what's in your head. Generative AI is just giving you answers to stuff. Like, oh, this is this, this is, and it takes away the thinking. Generative AI, you're more or less creating stuff that's in your head that might have taken you years to create before. That I'm all for because I like the creativity of that. And then I I like that a kid, it shows me a kid or a child is still using his um what is it? The thinking, his uh critical thinking, yes. He's still using his critical thinking skills to come up with this stuff, right? Like the programs I build, I can hire somebody to build them, but I can build it exactly how I want to build it, but it's all from the data that's in my head. You know what I'm saying? And I think when you take away critical thinking from a child, we don't want to live in a world where they're the future of the adults, where they don't have critical thinking stills. If their critical thinking is let me go ask a robot, you know, it goes back to that movie i Robot with Will. Like, bro, we're giving them too much anonymo autonomy. Everyone's like, nah, nah, you're crazy. Then the damn one robot took over the whole damn the whole system. Now you're like, it's crazy out here. So yeah, my thing is I wouldn't give a kid generative AI, not at all. I'm not letting you use generative AI. Like my son, Malachi cannot use Chat GPT. He if he wants, I will do a Claude project with him where he wants to build something, I'll sit alongside him and we'll build it together. And then I'll depending on how his thinking is, I'm watching him, you know, what's your thinking on this? Because I think that it does take away critical thinking skills. And shout out to my friend, he's a doctor. Uh he's right here in Mansfield, brother, uh named Dr. Brian Pullen. He's a professor, and he said the kids nowadays he teaches college students. He goes, bro, they have no critical thinking skills. I was like, damn, in college? He's like, nah, they ain't got critical thinking skills, they can't even hold a critical thinking conversation. I was like, Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 54:48

Holy crap.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah, it's like it's cooked, like they don't have critical thinking skills. So yeah, I when I I would avoid it unless, like, if you hear her saying, Hey, I want to build something that does this, then yeah, just test it, you know, with Claude or something. But just getting on there asking for answers, man. What's two plus fifty? What's a hundred divided by? I don't want you using AI for that. Like, I need you to have some critical thinking skills, you know.

SPEAKER_03 55:13

Um well, what about us? Well, we started getting calculators. The calculator did the answers for us, right?

SPEAKER_01 55:19

It did. However, even in school today, what's the first thing they're gonna ask you?

SPEAKER_03 55:24

Well, you still gotta learn show your work.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

Yeah, you gotta show your work. So it shows that you have to critically think through this problem to get to the solution, right? What's your thinking process? See, and I feel like that's what agentic AI is. What is your thinking process to get from A to Z? Because, like, even my job as an engineer, a person cannot create agentic AI for if they don't know the basic basics of being a network engineer. They couldn't do it. So that's why I was like, hmm, AI is only gonna take the job of the person who's not willing to learn AI. You know, so yeah, when it comes to kids, man, I'm against gen, I'm against generative AI. Agentic, I don't really mind. But like I was on an AI call a few days ago at work. This dude got on there and he was like, I don't even like the agentic AI stuff. I don't like it. And he's like, I think he was like a CTO somewhere. I'm like, yeah, you're you you're you'll you'll you'll be replaced in a few years. I didn't say it, but I was thinking it's like, yeah, your ass is gonna be replaced because you're you're just

NIL, Dabo Swinney and Adapting or Losing

SPEAKER_01 56:26

I'm gonna relate it back to sports. Who was the team a few years ago that was dominant, right? But they hate the NIL. Clemson Tigers, Dabo Sweeney is adamant. I hate the NIL. Now your team sucks. You gotta adapt, bro. Like now you gotta adapt, bro. You you can hate the NIL all you want. At least Nick Stable was like, I'm gonna just get the hell up out of here. This is too much for me. He retired, got a front dot desk job. You know what I mean? You can't be coaching and hate the NIL, bro. You just gotta you suck. And then don't nobody want to go there. If the quarterback's saying you up here telling the quarterback he shouldn't be making 2 million, well, I'm about to go somewhere else. I'm about to go to South Carolina and make 2 million. You know what I mean? You gotta adapt, bro. It's like in business, you have to adapt. I I don't like some of the stuff with the NIL, right? But at the same time, it's changing and you gotta be willing to adapt and see how things change. Like, um, I don't want to go on a deep sports tangent, but this is one thing about the NIL I hated everyone was on. Like, you know, Jaden Daniels told LSU they can't use his NIL, his name, image, and likeness anymore because they let somebody use the number five. So all these people are like, oh, Jaden, it's bigger than you. It's about the university. And I'm like, bro, we're not even looking at the bigger picture. This ain't about Jaden Daniels. This ain't about the LSU. This is about the power that NIL has given players. This is about the power that they've given players and y'all aren't calling it out. Quit calling out the small fish and go for the big fish. If y'all think it's a problem, take it up with the NIL. They don't want giving these players all the power. If I'd have made X amount of millions and I done gave y'all a Heisman trophy, and y'all are now telling me, hey, you have the power to say people can't use your name, image, and likeness, I'm gonna definitely do it. I bet you Reggie Bush, which he would have had NIL. Should have all the money he was. I bet you Johnny Manzel, which is they had NIL, because they can legally make the money that they were already making. You know what I mean? So I mean, you you just have to adapt in business. You just have to adapt, man. It's about the adaptation. You have to adapt. And right now, AI's making us adapt, NIL and college is making us adapt. I mean, now you got people sending their kids to be gymnasts. Shit, you get some NIL money, baby. Get a full ride and get up out of here. You know what I mean? So you just have to adapt, bro.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

Yeah, Indiana won the national championship.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

When would that have ever happened without the NIL, bro?

SPEAKER_03 58:41

Never.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Who the hell is on who who the hell wants to go to Indiana? You see what I'm saying? You have to be willing to adapt.

SPEAKER_03 58:49

Basketball school.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

That's that coach up their head and up that money, but Cuban, all those guys sending the money.

SPEAKER_01 59:01

I don't know. The only I don't like the at like I'll I'll I listen to a lot of Cam Newton. Cam Newton's like, I don't like the attitudes they have now because you can't red shirt them no more. So, like, if me and Steve go to a college together, we're both battling for the quarterback position, Steve gets it, and I don't want to sit behind him. I can just give my coach the middle finger and go somewhere else the next year. Hit the portal. Yeah. That part I don't like. And I think I think that piece they'll have to get under control. Because that that's that's crazy. It's just like with AI has the same barriers. The government just told uh Open AI or Chat GPT they couldn't go public because you know they were saying they thought that we'd die from AI in the next 10 years, but you do have to have checks and balances. I guess that kind of goes back to the regulations thing, right? But yeah, you have to have checks and balances in anything.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

Going back to real estate a little bit. Yeah, yeah, but sorry, got on a tangent. We got on a tangent, but uh it's good stuff.

Negotiate Everything Right Now

SPEAKER_03 59:58

Um hey, well, I I wrote down now is the time to negotiate your ass off, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:04

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:05

With everything, absolutely not trying to be mean to people, but just trying to get the best deal for you because you everybody's business is at the point where it could it could go out of business, just the way the economy is. They're not saying we're in a recession or a crash, but there's a lot of signals out there. Prices have gone up like crazy on everything, right? I mean, utility costs are killing us, right? They're killing our profits. So, anyways, now if you ain't negotiating, you're gonna be out of business. That's pretty much it. And I'll say I'm going back to you know, all my leases that I'm in right now. If that I get them before they hit me up, hey, you know, if before they hit me up with hey, you know, it's gonna be time to renew. I know that you know, it's just uh the human nature of landlords, they're gonna ask for more money, right? Because taxes goes up, insurance goes up every year, whatever. I hit them up before that. I say, hey, you know, I'm looking forward to renewing. Here's the thing the market, how it's at right now, I can get a lot more house for um what I'm paying here. You know what I'm saying? So if we can if we can negotiate a good deal where I'm not paying as much as I'm paying right now, then I might, you know, consider staying because I like it here, blah blah blah. Don't try to be mean, I like it here, it's a good house. But I can get a whole lot more house out there for the same price, which is could be true. But the other part of that is you know, I still have to go negotiate with that person and try to be able to get do Airbnb and then have to move all the furniture and everything. I don't want to do all that, but I'm just letting them know I got other options. Um, what can you do for me? So I hit them up before they even ask for an increase. Now they're totally flips their brain, they're asking, oh, how can I keep this guy? I guess I gotta knock off a hundred or so from the rent. So I've got all my rents reduced that have been that have come up, right? Because I'm in the negoti I've got the negotiating power right now. It ain't always like that. Some you know, when everything was going up and up, we didn't have the negotiating power, right? We had a I mean you still want to try, but um, but right now everything's going down or down. Rents are going down, the home prices are going down, the only thing that's going up is interest rates. But um, oh well, taxes and insurance that goes up every year. But anyways, um, so I'm negotiating that. I'm negotiating with apartment complexes too. So, hey, yeah, I'd like to stay, but I I need I need y'all to do something for me. Otherwise, I'm I'm out of here because I'm not making I'm not making no money. This the spreads are thin, the economy's bad. I just you know, you tell them the truth. You don't try to be mean. I I I want to stay, but it doesn't make financial stance sense. How can how can this make sense for me to stay here? He puts it on them to figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

Hey, how we were talking about AI earlier, that right there is what you use Chat GPT for. All these apartment complexes you're negotiating with. Hey, I'm negotiating with Casa Lane in Arlington, Texas. Uh, I have a four, three or four arbitrages there, and I want to negotiate rent. Can you do some research on that property, see what how much the what their vacancy is and see what's a good negotiation power, and then write up an email to send to them to negotiate with them. Or if you want to call talk on the phone, give me a phone script. It'll give you that if you talk to it to negotiate. You can do that. Um, but I 100% agree. And I think what we aren't talking

"The Texas Real Estate Market Is Crashing"

SPEAKER_01 1:03:30

about, I think the Texas real estate market is crashing.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:34

Um the whole Texas real estate market, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

DFW is crashing. I'm not saying it's gonna be, I don't know if it's on 2008 levels, but I'm gonna say this is crashing, bro. Like stuff is sitting 90 days, 100 days, people viewing it, people not making offers, or people making aggressive offers, and realtors or by or the sellers don't want to adjust to the market, right? Um I'm seeing that. So I would definitely say be bold right now, be very bold in your offers. Um I'll be real, the list that I just had, first offer was like 150k under the ask. The next offer was 15k under the ask. So it depends on what buyer you're attracting. You have to price right if you're a realtor, but even if you're looking for off-market, negotiate everything. It's a buyer's market. Buy and negotiate, you know, because it it's it's bad right now. And I've been hearing people say houses have been overpriced since 2020. They have to come back down to normal because when people, all those people who are bidding a hundred thousand dollars over the that's where I think the next year, we're gonna see some, we're about to see something in real estate. I don't know if it's gonna. I and I don't think it's gonna be good. We're gonna see something. I think some of these people are gonna be having to belly up. You know, the people who are buying these bad deals, they're gonna have to belly up, you know. So or hopefully that thing cash flows, but if you paid 100 grand over asking, I don't know. It's crazy, man. So, but but but if people in those situations who are paying 100 over asking, they probably can afford to take a little haircut on the on the resale value, and that's where the deals are for us, you know? Yeah,

Airbnb's Winter Update: 3D Floor Plans, Dynamic Pricing

SPEAKER_01 1:05:26

yeah. But um one more thing before we get out of here. I wanted to talk about Airbnb just rolled out the new updates for the winner. You seen them?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

Not yet. What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:37

Um, so they're gonna now so shout out to uh Mark Simpson. We need to get Mark Simpson on. We need to get Vivian Yip on. We got a few people. I I hit up uh Ashley out of Detroit. I'm trying to get her on, but we got a few people we need to get on. But Airbnb is like announcing that they're gonna be using like a lot of AI inside of like their algorithm and stuff. Um, so they are rolling out 3D. Four plans. You can they're gonna now allow you to have 3D floor plans. They're rolling out dynamic pricing. Uh, not the Airbnb smart smart pricing. That's interesting. Uh, they're rolling out pricing and availability insights. I'm assuming that's gonna be connected with the dynamic pricing, and then they're also gonna have smart setup. So basically, you tell Airbnb, you upload the pictures, tell Airbnb about the listing, and it sets up the listing for you. That will encourage, I think, a lot more people to start, you know, even though setting up a listing is easy, but yeah, they're they're definitely implementing a lot of AI tools coming here shortly. So the only way to combat AI is with AI. So make sure you're using AI.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:41

You know, smart pricing, price it as cheaply as you can. I remember smart pricing.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:46

Yeah, yeah, for real. And I think I think with the dynamic pricing, they're giving you a price range that they're gonna price it through. So it's a little bit more, a little bit more in uh intuitive. So yeah, those are the Airbnb updates. I just want to tell everybody about that. So Airbnb is making changes.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:02

I wonder if they're bringing like a company in-house to handle that dynamic pricing for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:07

Um my thinking would be I think they have enough money. I think they're just investing in the AI themselves, building their own LLMs, building their own insights, and then using that to give it to the customers.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:17

Yeah, they've always been kind of a closed loop, as you call it, right? Yeah, they they've always it's not like um I don't know what shoot, name another major company that they've always brought in. Oh, let's say Apple, for example. You ask Apple to say, hey, can you name this song for me? And then it pulls up Shazam, and Shazam, you know, they buy companies like that to do that stuff for them. Whereas Airbnb is always trying to do it themselves.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:42

See, and see, and this is okay, and this is the power of AI, because I'm happy you bring up Airbnb has always tried to do it themselves, or what do they do? They just don't get involved with it, or they let another company do it, like dynamic pricing. Oh, well, we'll let you partner with price labs, or we'll let you partner with Beyond Pricing. Uh PMS handling everything, partner with them. Now they have the guest messaging. I think AI, that's what the power of AI AI is now making it easy for them to have access to the tools to do it themselves. See what I'm saying? And I think that's it makes sense that they're doing it. You know, the dynamic pricing. Well, we already have what I told y'all earlier. We already have the data. If we already have the data, we have the power, right? So now I can just you bring in, create a little LLM to go through all of Steve's listings. I can tell them what the price. This is how much you've been priced at. Now I don't know if they'll do that. Price apps will, but I don't know if Airbnb will do it, but they probably will. Um, and another thing they don't talk about with AI, I think a lot of big companies might get hit by it too. Because let's say you've been providing a service to someone that can now be replaced with AI. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:48

So it's it's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

Times are changing, man. Yeah.

Where to Find Us

SPEAKER_03 1:08:53

Hey, times are changing. Right up. Uh, it was a fun episode, man. Uh yeah, it was. It was fun. We got a lot of good stuff out there to the world. Uh, where can people find us, Micah Man?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Find us Instagram, TikTok. Um, oh, check out our website, Livelet Thrive.com, is back up and operational. So definitely check us out on there. Um, thank y'all for continuing to listen. Send us a fan mail. You'll find that on our website. Follow us on all our sites. That's on the website: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. We own all of it. Yeah, talking this crazy on LinkedIn. We do that. Nah, but um, yeah, man. Thank y'all for continuing to listen, and that's where y'all can find us, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:31

All right, see y'all on the flip.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:33

We are out. Peace. 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.