September 25, 2025 • 35 mins
Luis Perez of TrueView shares his rise from working construction summers to building Florida’s largest inspection company. In this cafecito chat, he unpacks Miami-Dade’s strict recertification rules, why they apply to more properties than many realize, and how proactive inspections protect both investments and lives.
You can get in touch with Luis at luis@truviewinspections.com or visit True View's website.
Miami Dade Recertification Website
Thanks for joining us on CRE Cafecito, the CCIM Miami Podcast where deals, insights, and Miami flavor come together.
For more information on CCIM Miami District please visit:
You can find Ruben the Cuban on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:40):
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to uh this episode
of CRE Capacito.
Today we have the one and onlyLewis Betis with uh TrueView
Inspection.
So we want to say, hey, thankyou, Lewis, for uh sponsoring
this with TrueView.
I'm sponsoring this episode.
And I'm sure we're gonna have agreat conversation here to learn
(01:02):
a little more about you, alittle more about uh the
industry or the the side of theindustry in which you provide
the services on and theinspection world, and hopefully
take some nuggets away that wecan put to practice in our in
our business as uh commercialreal estate practitioners.
So, welcome, Lewis.
Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
Thank you, uh Ruben.
It's uh pleasure to uh be onthis podcast with you.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Absolutely.
Well, thank you, thank you.
I always like to start uh kindof like uh giving uh the
audience a little bit ofbackground on who you are uh and
so forth.
So if you don't mind, just takeus back a little bit.
You know, who was Lewis as akid?
Where did you grow up?
What you like to do, and sort ofthing before we got into the the
the current modern dayprofessional that you are.
SPEAKER_01 (01:48):
So I am Cuban American.
I always say that I am I amAmericano criado a lo cubano.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
So I am an I like that the Cuban way.
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
And and I was born and raised here in Miami.
I you know, I I I didn't playsports when I was young.
My sport was fishing.
I always did a lot of fishingfrom when I was young, and
that's carried into over into myadult life where I'm an active
and avid fisherman of game fish.
And and yeah, today I ammarried.
(02:19):
I have two beautiful daughters.
I have a 13-year-old girl thatacts like she's 17, and I have a
10-year-old girl that acts likeshe's 13, you know, the modern
struggles of you know,millennial parents.
SPEAKER_00 (02:34):
Well, so you grew up here in Miami, so you've you've
been able to see a lot of thetransformation, especially over
the last 10, 15 years here inMiami, and the the real estate
and how the landscape haschanged and how's all the growth
that's happened here.
How how did you get into, youknow, so growing up in Miami,
get into the inspection worldand and so forth, and start
(02:54):
launching your own your owncompany?
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Sure.
So I uh, you know, being as akid and my my dad came from Cuba
in the 1980, Mario Boatlift.
And my dad didn't really know,you know, my dad came from a
town in Cuba with no education.
So he came here to this countryall by himself at 21 years old.
To this day, my dad stilldoesn't know how to read or
write.
(03:17):
He never learned how to read orwrite, but because of the lack
of education that they had, hewas forced to work the crops in
the fields when he was young asa kid until he came to this
country.
And so my dad, when he camehere, he he started working in
construction.
So he was working and building,doing masonry work in Kibiscane,
building all those buildingsthat were built in the 80s in
(03:37):
Kibiscane.
And then from there hetransitioned to just doing
construction on his own.
And you know, we grew up in ahousehold where my parents
couldn't afford to send me to asummer camp or send me to
vacation during the summer whenschool was over.
So when school was over, I uhall my friends went to summer
camp.
I I went to construction camp.
(04:03):
I was that one kid that I want Ihated when school was over.
I was like, no, please, justmore school.
I beg to go to summer schoolbecause my brother and my sister
stayed home with my mom and theoldest, they sent me to
construction camp.
So I used to have to work withmy dad in construction.
And you know, you look at it andyou look where I'm at today and
the knowledge that I have, it itit goes back to those days,
(04:27):
everything that I learned.
And it's like your journeyalways prepares you to for your
final destination.
And I learned that.
So, no, once I since I was doingconstruction my whole life,
every summer and everything,when I graduated high school, I
said, you know what, I'm gonnabe a general contractor because
I used to tell my dad, I told Iused to tell my dad, Dad, I
(04:48):
wasn't meant to work with thewith my with these, with my
hands.
I was meant to work with this,with my brain.
And even when I was young, Iused to be there and I used to
be like, Dad, one day I'm gonnabe your boss.
He's like, good, I want you tobe.
So I realized that my dad hadstruggles with uh obtaining
being able to do permanent workand having to pay general
(05:09):
contractors to pull permits forhim.
And I remember just, you know,as a when you're a construction,
you have a construction company,you have to have signage on the
vehicle with license numbers.
So he would have to pay ageneral contractor to put his
license number on our van and etcetera.
So always hiding.
And I said, you know what, thenI'm gonna fix this for you.
So once I graduated school, Isaid that was my my first
mission.
(05:30):
And it took me a couple years,but at 21 years old, I I got my
GC license, my generalcontractor's license.
And I I I was I remember thatgoing there and and and doing
the test, passing the exam, andguys were so upset that they
were saying, I've been 25 yearsin the industry.
How could this young puppy, youknow, they call me a young
(05:51):
puppy, uh, be able to pass theexam.
And I was like, Well, this youngpuppy is pretty smart.
So I was able to open up acompany, qualify a company for
my dad, and and and set my dadup the right way for him to be
able to continue working andoperating under my license.
And then from there I got intouh into just construction
management.
I was working, I started offjust as full concrete foreman on
(06:15):
commercial jobs, then I startedworking, I got out of, I was
able to get out of the sun and Ibecame an expert in in uh
finished in the punch outexperts in commercial
residential buildings.
So then back in uh 2017, I um Istarted realizing, I said, you
know what?
It's uh I I got into in 2015, Igot into doing, I got like a
(06:38):
side gig doing inspections forinsurance companies.
So the insurance companies tohire us to go out there and do
home inspections.
And I said, and you needed to bea general contractor to do that.
It was called the CitizensReinspection Program.
So I realized, hey, you knowwhat, this uh whole inspection
thing is a nice little, youknow, it's a pretty cool gig.
And then I said, you know what,it's a lot easier to criticize
(06:59):
people's work than to do thework yourself.
So I decided to to startTrueView in in 2017, and we
started doing residentialproperty inspections.
We came to the market with somefresh to market ideas, and today
we're one of the uh largestinspection companies in the
entire state of Florida.
SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
Wow, wow, that's an amazing, amazing story.
I I I know I I don't think I'veever heard the whole story that
way.
So I thanks for sharing.
I mean, just if we say goodbyeand we stop right here, that's
just inspiration for the day,man.
So hey, thanks for sharingbecause like I'm sure there's a
lot of people not only come fromfamily, like my you know,
(07:42):
similar uh first generation, andI was born here in the States,
but family come from from Cuba,and you know, and and to have
that story, like they have thestruggles that they went through
to kind of help set us up to tryto move forward and do better,
and we're trying to do the samefor the next generation.
It's it's it's an amazinginspirational story.
So thanks for sharing that.
(08:02):
You opened up TrueView, and nowyou're like one of the largest
inspection companies in thestate of Florida.
That's not an easy feat rightthere in a matter of less than
10 years, it sounds like.
So you did uh you've had somereally quick.
I'm sure part of it's likeyou're natural marketing
geniuses.
You're you're just a natural,like every time, and I I should
(08:23):
mention you're part of our CCIMboard.
And so every time I know I'veheard you you know kind of talk
and and give the little30-second elevator pitch of True
View, everybody loves it becauseyou bring such energy to
whenever you speak.
How did you grow so fast?
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Well, it wasn't no accusation.
Well, we grew the the old schoolway because look, the inspection
industry, Ruben, there's there'snot a lot of companies in the
state of Florida that has youknow more than five inspectors,
you know, like it's just it'svery it's a very difficult
industry to grow because youknow this is mainly one truck
(09:00):
trucks who who who run this whodo inspections.
And and and really becausethere's not enough margins in
inspections, when you thinkabout in a real estate
transaction, the inspector isthe one that makes the least
amount of money in the wholetransaction.
So the lenders make thousands ofdollars, the realtors make
thousands of dollars, titlemakes thousands of dollars, and
(09:23):
the inspectors make a fewhundred bucks.
So the way that I see it is youknow, we're out here selling
dollar menu burgers, you know,I'm selling burgers and hot
dogs.
So you have to really market tothe masses in order to be able
to be profitable, and you know,and and everything was done just
(09:43):
one goal at a time, right?
It's it's everyone wants to getto the finish line and get to a
certain place, and you have youreyes on that for too long, you
know.
But the only thing you got tofocus on is this the task that
you have at hand right now andexecute, and a lot of people
lack the ability to execute, andyou know, I thank God that I
(10:06):
that I have that ability toexecute.
So, you know, my my one of myfirst goals was okay, I want to
be able to get off the field.
There's inspectors that get it'sit's there's so many home
inspection company owners that Iknow that they have four or five
inspectors and they're stilldoing inspections, they're still
uh doing it, and and I haven'tdone an inspection since 2019.
(10:30):
And and to me, I consider thatone of the biggest accolades
because when I was doinginspections every day, doing 500
inspections a year, there was noway that I ever thought that,
hey, I'm gonna be able to getoff the field, right?
The first thing is is okay, whatdid I do?
Well, number one, I the firstthing you always have to do is
if you don't know something, yougotta go out there and learn it.
(10:53):
I knew how to do inspections, Ididn't know how to grow as a
business owner, right?
And be able to know that.
So when you don't know it, youhave to find it.
So my 13-year-old daughter now,she is she's like, hey, I I want
to get into martial arts, I wantto learn martial arts, and she
wants she wanted to get intothat.
Said, okay, let's do it.
(11:13):
So I wasn't gonna be here andsay, I'm gonna teach you, I'm
gonna teach you how some karate,I'm gonna teach you how to
fight.
No, you want to learn karate,I'm gonna take you to a karate
place for you to learn karate.
So if you want to learn to growyour business, you have to find
someone to help you grow yourbusiness.
So I got into coaching.
And I am a big believer incoaching because coaching
(11:36):
teaches you the skills that youneed, and most people just lack
the accountability.
So I got into coaching and I gotinto a coaching program that
taught me how to grow as abusiness owner, and I grabbed
the instructions that I wasgiven and I executed on a on a
weekly basis.
And little by little, I rememberthat my coach told me one day,
(11:57):
you will never be able to hit amillion dollars in sales until
you get off the field.
And I looked at him and I said,What do you mean?
I I do 500 inspections a year.
I just did in 2018 500inspections.
How do how am I supposed to getoff the field?
(12:17):
How do I replace that?
And and it's about just learningto trust the process and trust
the system.
There's people that have gonebefore you and paved the way,
and you got to learn to trust itand believe in yourself.
And I'm somebody that's alwaysgonna bet on myself and believe
on myself.
So it was a lot of coaching, alot of sacrifice.
I'll never forget my my firstyear doing home inspections.
(12:41):
I made$38,000 in a year.
I went through like a financialstruggle that was that was
great.
And I I I but I wasn't focusedon my current situation.
I wasn't thinking about where Icurrently was.
I only kept my focus on where Ineeded to be.
What was the next level?
What was the next step?
(13:01):
And and with that, I learned howto create systems and processes
because marketing's the easypart, Ruben.
That part's easy.
Most people say, oh no,marketing, yeah, getting
generating leads, marketing isthe easy part.
It's the business aspects that'sthe hard part, it's establishing
training programs, systems andprotocols, it's hiring, it's
(13:23):
managing employees, it'shandling finances, all of those
things that that really make itdifficult.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
Yeah, yeah.
In the commercial real estate uhcoaching world, one of the best
that's out there is RodsonTomassamos.
And he talks uh a lot about twothings that a lot of brokers
that you know we're in essence,we're all running our own little
business.
Of course.
And whether we're an independentshop, we're just you know one
person, you're running the wholething, or you're part of a
(13:51):
franchise or part of an um underan umbrella, you know, you're
1099, you're running your ownbusiness.
And then he's like, There's alot of people that spend time
working in the business, sotrying to generate the leads and
the marketing and so forth, butthey fail to work on the
business, which is the processesand the steps and the and the
planning and so forth.
(14:12):
So we often, you know, uh someof my colleagues and I, we
always talk about, hey, let'slet's have a place to work on
the business, and then you know,this is on the business stuff,
and then there's in thebusiness.
Hey, what's that pipelinelooking for like, and you know,
how are we working with these uhclients and so forth?
Tell us a little bit some of thethe challenges on the commercial
(14:34):
side that you're seeing.
Some of the commercialinspection rules have changed
over the last couple of years.
We've had some things here inMiami that uh has elevated some
of the needs for inspection.
So maybe you can help us give ussome some shed some light on
that, because there's still, Iwould imagine, some people out
there that A, they they may havean idea, but maybe you can help
clarify some of that stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:54):
Sure.
So there's there uh because ofthe incident that happened with
the chaplain tires, uh tires,chaplain towers in surfside, uh,
that tragedy that we occurred,that occurred.
And it's unfortunate that atragedy has to occur in order
for changes to make, right?
It's normally like the doctorhas to say, hey Ruben, your you
(15:17):
know, your cholesterol isextremely high for you to say,
oh my goodness, I need to get ona diet.
And that's kind of what happenedthere.
So the county or the state cameup with a milestone program.
But the thing is that thisprogram had already been in
place by Miami-Dade County since1978, because believe it or not,
the Chaplain Tires was not thefirst building to collapse in
(15:39):
Miami.
In 1978, a DEA building inBiscayne collapsed, and because
of that, Miami Dade started therecertification program.
So, because of what happened atSurfside, there are there were
changes.
So the the state adopted amilestone program.
So this milestone program arefor apartment and co-op
(16:01):
buildings, three stories ormore, over four stories or more
in height.
They have to do arecertification inspection, a
structural and electricalinspection by an engineer every
40 years.
But be when those what so nowthis whole the entire state has
adopted that, okay.
But after the entire stateadopted that, Miami-Dade County
(16:23):
has been doing this since 1978.
The only difference is thatMiami Dade County was doing the
apartment and co-op buildingsand commercial buildings as
well.
So after what happened, BrowardCounty adopted the same program.
So now these types ofinspections are done in Broward
(16:45):
County.
And then the the timing changed,right?
So before these inspections weredone at 40 years, now buildings
that are within three miles fromthe coast have to do these
inspections at 25 years, andthen every 10 years after that,
it's called the recertificationinspection.
And then every other buildingthat's at with farther than
(17:09):
three miles from the coast hasto do these inspections at 30
years, and then at every 10-yearintervals after that.
These inspections are astructural and electrical
inspection in order to certifythe building for the next 10
years for its use.
I think that this program isvery good based off what we see
(17:29):
out there.
And I love how Miami-Dade Countykind of always sets the standard
for building codes.
So if you look at you have theSouth Florida building code, and
then Miami created the highvelocity hurricane zone building
code.
So Miami set the standard.
So the state does theseinspections only for co-op
buildings, four stories orhigher.
(17:52):
Miami-Dade County is doing thisfor all buildings, all
commercial buildings and allproperties that are three units
or more, whether it's three, twostories, three stories,
warehouses.
So if you're a property manager,if you are a commercial building
owner, an investor, and you havea triplex, that triplex needs to
(18:15):
be certified every 25 years orevery three years, depending on
the distance that they are fromthe coast.
So if you think about it, Ruben,a triplex, is it considered
commercial or residential?
SPEAKER_00 (18:27):
Residential.
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
It's residential.
Anything that's five units ormore is considered commercial.
So if you look at it, and and Ithey they are doing this for
three units or more.
So the only people who areexcluded are single family
properties and duplexes.
But the moment you get intothree units or higher, whether
it's one story, two stories,whatever it is, these buildings
(18:50):
need to be recertified.
And all commercial buildings, sowarehouses, storefronts, gas
stations, all of these types ofbuildings are being certified,
have to be recertified.
And when you look at this, theit is based when we see what we
see out there, I could see whythis is something so important
(19:13):
to be done.
Because the last thing is thatyou want to be at a gas station
pumping gas, and those canopiesat the gas station, they're done
with steel beams.
And for some reason, a lot ofI've seen a lot of places where
they put additional weight onthose beams, those beams are
corroded and just falling apartbecause of the rust and
corrosion.
(19:33):
And imagine, God forbid, youhave your wife at a at a gas
station pumping gas, and part ofthat canopy collapses on her.
They adopted the same standards.
If you see, not too long ago, wesaw that there was a nightclub
(19:54):
in Dominican Republic thatcollapsed.
SPEAKER_00 (19:56):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:57):
People lost their lives there.
The entire building structurecollapsed.
And and you look at this is ifwe just go by the milestone
program that the state ofFlorida adopted, it's only for
apartment buildings or co-opbuildings.
But so gas stations, warehouses,arcades, movie theaters, all of
(20:18):
these buildings, they don't haveto have a recertification
inspection.
But here in Miami, Dade, andBroward, we could rest assured
that all of these buildings arebeing inspected by licensed
professional engineers and beingrecertified.
And if there are issues with theproperties, repairs are being
done.
SPEAKER_00 (20:36):
Wow.
Wow.
I did not realize that.
And I'm I'm sure a lot of peopleare gonna be because like we
heard something about it, andyou know, we're getting you get
some sort of little tidbitsabout it, but thank you very
much for for clarifying that.
And is there any indication orthat you've heard that hey, is
the state gonna raise the bar aswell, or are they kind of
staying, you know, at the atwhere they're at for just the
(20:58):
co-ops and and and multifamily?
SPEAKER_01 (21:01):
I haven't heard any indication of them being able to
be having to change it.
Uh, I know that I was even backin February, I was I had the
privilege of speaking at the uhMiami Realtors Association uh
condo summit, and uh I spoke onthese bill, the difference
between the research, the MiamiDade recertification program and
the milestone program.
(21:22):
And there were staterepresentatives there, and you
know, nothing was spoken aboutmaking changes to this program.
So at least we know that here inMiami Dade and Broward, when you
walk into a commercial building,whatever type of building it is,
you could have the peace of mindthat chances are that these
buildings have been certifiedand inspected.
(21:46):
And you could there's even aportal where you could go online
to research and see if thesebuildings have been approved or
not approved, or if they're inviolation or not in violation,
because a lot of people ignorethe notices and then these
buildings get set to unsafestructures, right?
And and the beauty is that thatif you just go on Google and you
put Miami Date buildingrecertification portal as a real
(22:07):
estate professional, as aninvestor, or is just as a
regular consumer, and maybe youcould find a a way of maybe
putting the link to that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
That's exactly I'm just writing it down exactly.
Recertification, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:21):
So that Miami Data has created on a great portal
where you could put the propertyaddress of a building, whatever
building it is, and it tells youif the building is due for
recertification or not.
It tells you whether they bitthe the uh building has been
approved or disapproved, and italso tells you if they're in
violation, if they have ignoredthe notice or haven't gotten
(22:42):
these inspections done.
So if you are a real estateprofessional, whether you're a
lender, whether you're a realtoror just an investor and you're
thinking about purchasing aproperty or investing in a
property, this is a good placeto start to be able to look in
that portal, be able to see, andnow you know if you're gonna
have challenges with thisrecertification, because I know
that lenders aren't, ifbuildings are due and they
(23:04):
haven't done therecertification, they're not
lending the money until thesereleased recertifications are
done.
And then in Broward, Browarddoesn't have a specific portal
for recertification.
However, you could find all ofthat information on their online
building permit search, so youcould search and see if they've
pulled permits for therecertification or not.
SPEAKER_00 (23:26):
I had a property I sold a couple years ago.
The people that were running it,the daughters, they they had not
done the inspection for a longtime.
And we're in the middle of duediligence and so forth, and then
they get served with the noticeand the lien from the city.
Well, I have to go through theprocess to get the engineering,
(23:47):
get the certification done, andso forth, and it was kind of
running against the clockbecause we're coming up against
the wall for closing.
And literally two days or like aweek after it got clear, we're
like, oh, we're in the clear.
They get served with a secondone.
Because that one was for tenyears previously.
And so now the one that uh thatwas about a year a year you know
(24:11):
or so were just about to come upon it, they served them again
for that one.
So it was it was a race to to tothe to the end, literally days
before closing, to try to getthat all you know cleared up.
But it it can be verychallenging and nerve-wracking,
especially for for deals.
So, yes, thanks for the resourcethat we not had I had not uh
known about the Miami Daderecertification portal.
(24:33):
What are your your what's thelong view in the next three to
five years?
It's a big broad question, but Iguess I'm just getting you know
Lewis's perspective of Miamireal estate market over the next
several years, whether it's onthe financial side of growth or
on the inspection side or youknow, the building construction
side.
SPEAKER_01 (24:53):
Well, I think the uh the the main thing is these
these and not every building hashave gotten these
recertification inspectionsdone.
Quite frankly, there's notenough engineers to be able to
do all of the buildings thatneed to get done in in in Miami
and in the state.
I mean, even when you look at, Ijust downloaded a list of every
building that still hasn't doneit, and it's like thousands of
(25:16):
buildings.
And I I think that the firststep is to really recertify
these buildings and and makesure they're safe.
A lot of building owners,especially with like smaller
buildings, that you know, that'stheir investment, their their
their business per se, they theythey have a lot of challenges
whenever we have to go there andsay, hey, look, repairs need to
be done, but repairs need to bedone because there's people who
(25:38):
are occupying these buildings,and the main thing is to keep
everyone safe.
I remember that we uh we went todo a a recertification at a at a
commercial property, and theelectrical system was like an
electrical, an originalelectrical system from the 70s,
federal Pacific.
I mean, it was in really badshape.
The the units were overheating,and we're trying to explain to
(26:02):
the uh building owner you needto completely upgrade your
building electrical, maindisconnects, panels, everything
like this is not up to code, andit's unsafe.
And the guy was just fighting,fighting and fighting us, and
while the guy guy is fightingus, it's funny, it's like you
(26:22):
know, like the sign from God, ohyeah, and we're talking to the
guy out of nowhere, you justhear and we're like whoa! And
when you look, it was right, wewere right there talking about
the electrical system, and themain disconnect blew up right
there in front of us while wewere talking.
(26:43):
So it was like, there you go,sir.
You see what I'm talking about,you know.
So there's a big need to be ableto get these buildings safe.
So I think that's something veryimportant, and it's a big
challenge for the county.
A lot of building owners areignoring ignoring the notices,
they're not getting them done,they're waiting to the last
second.
So I know the county has gonethrough a lot with like
(27:05):
enforcements and things likethat.
And then on the other side, iseveryone is here just waiting
for kind of interest rates to togo down, to to spike a boom back
into the market.
You know, I I think that thatyou sow, as a business owner,
you sow seeds for for manyyears, and you wait for moments
(27:26):
like that where interest ratesgo down, where things become
easier for buyers to be able tobuy in order to capitalize and
reap the harvest that you sowedyears ago.
And that's what we're doing, andthat's what we're waiting.
I know that that in the past wehad a drop in interest rates and
(27:46):
and and property values kind ofwent skyrocketed, and housing
became unaffordable because ofthat, and and and buildings, but
you know, right now we have alot of inventory to kind of
sustain that an in-interest ratedrop and be able to put buyers
on the market to be able topurchase whether it is
(28:07):
residential, commercialproperties, multifamily
investment, whatever the casemay be.
So, you know, I think that asreal estate professionals, we're
all just sitting there waitingon the sideline, like, let's go.
Let's go, just watching thecloud, just waiting for that
bell to ring to jump in thering.
SPEAKER_00 (28:22):
Well, last question, actually, now that as you were
kind of talking about it, soundslike there's a lot of deferred
maintenance.
Do you have either preferredvendors or do you help them
something since you have a GCbackground, you may be able to
at least give somerecommendations or something
like that, or is that somethingyou don't get into?
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Yeah, look, Ruben, that that and people always get
asked that question, if ask thatquestion, and I so yes, I'm a
GC, I don't practice generalconstruction.
I I I own an inspection company,and I feel that when you go to a
property and I tell you, heyRuben, this is bad, that's bad,
that's bad, that's bad, and thisneeds to get fixed, that needs
(29:02):
to get fixed, and here I couldfix it for you.
It becomes it takes away theintegrity of the inspection.
Because now there's a monetaryvalue.
I'm not going there torightfully and justfully tell
you what's wrong with thisproperty for you to make an
informed decision or take stepsafterwards.
I'm going there with a financialinterest in mind.
(29:23):
And then I know that that's alot of custom practice for
engineering firms that haveconstruction, and they go there,
they they they they find theissues and then they fix the
issues, and there's a bigfinancial gain for them.
We don't do that.
We go out, we do the inspection,and we provide a non-biased
opinion, and people are able tomake the repairs and choose the
(29:45):
contractors that they choose,that they want to choose, right?
Because of that factor.
And then also referringpartners, it's like we know the
level of service that weprovide, and I I it's hard to
recommend people sometimes,especially contractors, because
there's such a bad rep outthere.
I'll never forget when I wasfirst starting in in uh in the
(30:08):
inspection side, I was hit, thiswas probably like 2018.
I I had a realtor that workedwith us, and she we I inspected
a house for her dad.
I I she asked me and she says,Hey, look, my dad wants to build
an addition.
Do you have a contractor torecommend to do the edition?
I knew this guy from church.
I was like, Oh, yeah, this guy,man, this is a great guy.
(30:30):
You could call him.
I I trust him to do youredition.
So then, no, she disappearedafter that.
And then, after like a reallylong time, I don't know, I'm not
too sure how long after that.
That she calls me, says, says,Hey, have you found are you able
to get in contact with such andsuch person you recommended me?
I'm like, like, sure.
I mean, I mean, I could call himlike what's going on.
(30:51):
Well, you know, we gave him$80,000 to start to do an
addition at my dad's house.
And you know, the guy kind ofdisappeared and never did any
work.
And then guess what, Ruben?
That realtor never called me,never called me again.
Why?
And then even and even though Ihad no part in it, it it's still
that sour taste.
(31:11):
It's like, oh, Lewis led me tothat guy.
So it's hard.
It's hard.
And I and TrueView is known forits service and the product that
we provide and the integritythat we provide with our
inspections.
That I never want to taint thatby referring people who would do
a bad job for somebody.
If I do a bad job for somebody,I have the ability to clean it
up.
But an$80,000 mess that someonemade, I don't have the ability
(31:32):
to clean that up, right?
So my biggest advice is, and Iand if there's something that I
want people to get up away fromthis podcast, is the biggest
issue that I see with thesebuildings are deferred
maintenance.
And here's the thing (31:45):
you choose not to do maintenance or take
care of your building the rightway.
So then when you go out there todo these re these
recertification inspections, theissues that are found at the
property are put into this form.
You're legally required tosubmit this to the county.
The county sees this and theymake you pull permits for all of
(32:07):
this type of work that you needto do.
And things just get morecomplicated, and then you have
to do another recertificationinspection, certifying that
these repairs were done to agood quality standard.
All of these things could beavoided by going up there.
If you have roof leaks,addressing roof leaks, make
maintaining your roof, takingcare of termite issues that
(32:30):
properties and concrete issuesthat properties may have,
updating electrical systems asthey come, hiring licensed
electrical contractors to do thework.
So the main thing is it's likeit gets a lot more expensive and
it gets a lot harder when youhave to go and these negative
items come up on arecertification inspection
(32:51):
rather than you being proactivea couple years before you know
you're due and doing the rightmaintenance to your buildings.
This is like especially oncommercial buildings, it's like
people don't have commercialbuildings to live in them.
People have commercial buildingsto make money.
But I remember I had somebody, amentor in my life that told me,
(33:13):
and I'm gonna say it in Spanish,but then I'll say it in English.
He's like, Luis, acu de algowhen I was doing my business, La
semilla no se come, la semillase siembra.
The seed that you have in yourhand, you don't eat the seed,
you plant the seed.
So pour back into yourbusinesses, pour back into your
(33:33):
buildings, keep on planting thatseed so that you could reap that
harvest later in the future.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
Luis Luis, thank you so much.
You've been amazing.
I really, really appreciate, andI'm sure all the listeners
appreciate your time, all thenuggets of wisdom, information,
clarification.
You continue to be a a pillarhere in the real estate
industry.
And well, wish you only the bestand look forward to seeing you
around uh the CCIM and the CCIMuh family and as we uh continue
(34:04):
to grow.
And I'll make sure to include uhyour your email and contact
information.
If you want to say it right now,feel free to say it.
Yeah, I'm sure people will lookit up and uh hopefully they'll
have some people that'll see orhear your integrity through this
podcast and know that uh youknow TrueView is uh is an
amazing company to work with.
(34:24):
So thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:28):
Thank you, Ruben.
It was a pleasure doing thiswith you, and I hope that we
could help you know real estateprofessionals and commercial
professionals with some of thenuggets that we dropped here
today.
SPEAKER_00 (34:40):
Perfect, perfect.
Thank you.
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to uh this episode
of CRE Capacito.
Today we have the one and onlyLewis Betis with uh TrueView
Inspection.
So we want to say, hey, thankyou, Lewis, for uh sponsoring
this with TrueView.
I'm sponsoring this episode.
And I'm sure we're gonna have agreat conversation here to learn
(01:02):
a little more about you, alittle more about uh the
industry or the the side of theindustry in which you provide
the services on and theinspection world, and hopefully
take some nuggets away that wecan put to practice in our in
our business as uh commercialreal estate practitioners.
So, welcome, Lewis.
Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
Thank you, uh Ruben.
It's uh pleasure to uh be onthis podcast with you.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Absolutely.
Well, thank you, thank you.
I always like to start uh kindof like uh giving uh the
audience a little bit ofbackground on who you are uh and
so forth.
So if you don't mind, just takeus back a little bit.
You know, who was Lewis as akid?
Where did you grow up?
What you like to do, and sort ofthing before we got into the the
the current modern dayprofessional that you are.
SPEAKER_01 (01:48):
So I am Cuban American.
I always say that I am I amAmericano criado a lo cubano.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
So I am an I like that the Cuban way.
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
And and I was born and raised here in Miami.
I you know, I I I didn't playsports when I was young.
My sport was fishing.
I always did a lot of fishingfrom when I was young, and
that's carried into over into myadult life where I'm an active
and avid fisherman of game fish.
And and yeah, today I ammarried.
(02:19):
I have two beautiful daughters.
I have a 13-year-old girl thatacts like she's 17, and I have a
10-year-old girl that acts likeshe's 13, you know, the modern
struggles of you know,millennial parents.
SPEAKER_00 (02:34):
Well, so you grew up here in Miami, so you've you've
been able to see a lot of thetransformation, especially over
the last 10, 15 years here inMiami, and the the real estate
and how the landscape haschanged and how's all the growth
that's happened here.
How how did you get into, youknow, so growing up in Miami,
get into the inspection worldand and so forth, and start
(02:54):
launching your own your owncompany?
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Sure.
So I uh, you know, being as akid and my my dad came from Cuba
in the 1980, Mario Boatlift.
And my dad didn't really know,you know, my dad came from a
town in Cuba with no education.
So he came here to this countryall by himself at 21 years old.
To this day, my dad stilldoesn't know how to read or
write.
(03:17):
He never learned how to read orwrite, but because of the lack
of education that they had, hewas forced to work the crops in
the fields when he was young asa kid until he came to this
country.
And so my dad, when he camehere, he he started working in
construction.
So he was working and building,doing masonry work in Kibiscane,
building all those buildingsthat were built in the 80s in
(03:37):
Kibiscane.
And then from there hetransitioned to just doing
construction on his own.
And you know, we grew up in ahousehold where my parents
couldn't afford to send me to asummer camp or send me to
vacation during the summer whenschool was over.
So when school was over, I uhall my friends went to summer
camp.
I I went to construction camp.
(04:03):
I was that one kid that I want Ihated when school was over.
I was like, no, please, justmore school.
I beg to go to summer schoolbecause my brother and my sister
stayed home with my mom and theoldest, they sent me to
construction camp.
So I used to have to work withmy dad in construction.
And you know, you look at it andyou look where I'm at today and
the knowledge that I have, it itit goes back to those days,
(04:27):
everything that I learned.
And it's like your journeyalways prepares you to for your
final destination.
And I learned that.
So, no, once I since I was doingconstruction my whole life,
every summer and everything,when I graduated high school, I
said, you know what, I'm gonnabe a general contractor because
I used to tell my dad, I told Iused to tell my dad, Dad, I
(04:48):
wasn't meant to work with thewith my with these, with my
hands.
I was meant to work with this,with my brain.
And even when I was young, Iused to be there and I used to
be like, Dad, one day I'm gonnabe your boss.
He's like, good, I want you tobe.
So I realized that my dad hadstruggles with uh obtaining
being able to do permanent workand having to pay general
(05:09):
contractors to pull permits forhim.
And I remember just, you know,as a when you're a construction,
you have a construction company,you have to have signage on the
vehicle with license numbers.
So he would have to pay ageneral contractor to put his
license number on our van and etcetera.
So always hiding.
And I said, you know what, thenI'm gonna fix this for you.
So once I graduated school, Isaid that was my my first
mission.
(05:30):
And it took me a couple years,but at 21 years old, I I got my
GC license, my generalcontractor's license.
And I I I was I remember thatgoing there and and and doing
the test, passing the exam, andguys were so upset that they
were saying, I've been 25 yearsin the industry.
How could this young puppy, youknow, they call me a young
(05:51):
puppy, uh, be able to pass theexam.
And I was like, Well, this youngpuppy is pretty smart.
So I was able to open up acompany, qualify a company for
my dad, and and and set my dadup the right way for him to be
able to continue working andoperating under my license.
And then from there I got intouh into just construction
management.
I was working, I started offjust as full concrete foreman on
(06:15):
commercial jobs, then I startedworking, I got out of, I was
able to get out of the sun and Ibecame an expert in in uh
finished in the punch outexperts in commercial
residential buildings.
So then back in uh 2017, I um Istarted realizing, I said, you
know what?
It's uh I I got into in 2015, Igot into doing, I got like a
(06:38):
side gig doing inspections forinsurance companies.
So the insurance companies tohire us to go out there and do
home inspections.
And I said, and you needed to bea general contractor to do that.
It was called the CitizensReinspection Program.
So I realized, hey, you knowwhat, this uh whole inspection
thing is a nice little, youknow, it's a pretty cool gig.
And then I said, you know what,it's a lot easier to criticize
(06:59):
people's work than to do thework yourself.
So I decided to to startTrueView in in 2017, and we
started doing residentialproperty inspections.
We came to the market with somefresh to market ideas, and today
we're one of the uh largestinspection companies in the
entire state of Florida.
SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
Wow, wow, that's an amazing, amazing story.
I I I know I I don't think I'veever heard the whole story that
way.
So I thanks for sharing.
I mean, just if we say goodbyeand we stop right here, that's
just inspiration for the day,man.
So hey, thanks for sharingbecause like I'm sure there's a
lot of people not only come fromfamily, like my you know,
(07:42):
similar uh first generation, andI was born here in the States,
but family come from from Cuba,and you know, and and to have
that story, like they have thestruggles that they went through
to kind of help set us up to tryto move forward and do better,
and we're trying to do the samefor the next generation.
It's it's it's an amazinginspirational story.
So thanks for sharing that.
(08:02):
You opened up TrueView, and nowyou're like one of the largest
inspection companies in thestate of Florida.
That's not an easy feat rightthere in a matter of less than
10 years, it sounds like.
So you did uh you've had somereally quick.
I'm sure part of it's likeyou're natural marketing
geniuses.
You're you're just a natural,like every time, and I I should
(08:23):
mention you're part of our CCIMboard.
And so every time I know I'veheard you you know kind of talk
and and give the little30-second elevator pitch of True
View, everybody loves it becauseyou bring such energy to
whenever you speak.
How did you grow so fast?
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Well, it wasn't no accusation.
Well, we grew the the old schoolway because look, the inspection
industry, Ruben, there's there'snot a lot of companies in the
state of Florida that has youknow more than five inspectors,
you know, like it's just it'svery it's a very difficult
industry to grow because youknow this is mainly one truck
(09:00):
trucks who who who run this whodo inspections.
And and and really becausethere's not enough margins in
inspections, when you thinkabout in a real estate
transaction, the inspector isthe one that makes the least
amount of money in the wholetransaction.
So the lenders make thousands ofdollars, the realtors make
thousands of dollars, titlemakes thousands of dollars, and
(09:23):
the inspectors make a fewhundred bucks.
So the way that I see it is youknow, we're out here selling
dollar menu burgers, you know,I'm selling burgers and hot
dogs.
So you have to really market tothe masses in order to be able
to be profitable, and you know,and and everything was done just
(09:43):
one goal at a time, right?
It's it's everyone wants to getto the finish line and get to a
certain place, and you have youreyes on that for too long, you
know.
But the only thing you got tofocus on is this the task that
you have at hand right now andexecute, and a lot of people
lack the ability to execute, andyou know, I thank God that I
(10:06):
that I have that ability toexecute.
So, you know, my my one of myfirst goals was okay, I want to
be able to get off the field.
There's inspectors that get it'sit's there's so many home
inspection company owners that Iknow that they have four or five
inspectors and they're stilldoing inspections, they're still
uh doing it, and and I haven'tdone an inspection since 2019.
(10:30):
And and to me, I consider thatone of the biggest accolades
because when I was doinginspections every day, doing 500
inspections a year, there was noway that I ever thought that,
hey, I'm gonna be able to getoff the field, right?
The first thing is is okay, whatdid I do?
Well, number one, I the firstthing you always have to do is
if you don't know something, yougotta go out there and learn it.
(10:53):
I knew how to do inspections, Ididn't know how to grow as a
business owner, right?
And be able to know that.
So when you don't know it, youhave to find it.
So my 13-year-old daughter now,she is she's like, hey, I I want
to get into martial arts, I wantto learn martial arts, and she
wants she wanted to get intothat.
Said, okay, let's do it.
(11:13):
So I wasn't gonna be here andsay, I'm gonna teach you, I'm
gonna teach you how some karate,I'm gonna teach you how to
fight.
No, you want to learn karate,I'm gonna take you to a karate
place for you to learn karate.
So if you want to learn to growyour business, you have to find
someone to help you grow yourbusiness.
So I got into coaching.
And I am a big believer incoaching because coaching
(11:36):
teaches you the skills that youneed, and most people just lack
the accountability.
So I got into coaching and I gotinto a coaching program that
taught me how to grow as abusiness owner, and I grabbed
the instructions that I wasgiven and I executed on a on a
weekly basis.
And little by little, I rememberthat my coach told me one day,
(11:57):
you will never be able to hit amillion dollars in sales until
you get off the field.
And I looked at him and I said,What do you mean?
I I do 500 inspections a year.
I just did in 2018 500inspections.
How do how am I supposed to getoff the field?
(12:17):
How do I replace that?
And and it's about just learningto trust the process and trust
the system.
There's people that have gonebefore you and paved the way,
and you got to learn to trust itand believe in yourself.
And I'm somebody that's alwaysgonna bet on myself and believe
on myself.
So it was a lot of coaching, alot of sacrifice.
I'll never forget my my firstyear doing home inspections.
(12:41):
I made$38,000 in a year.
I went through like a financialstruggle that was that was
great.
And I I I but I wasn't focusedon my current situation.
I wasn't thinking about where Icurrently was.
I only kept my focus on where Ineeded to be.
What was the next level?
What was the next step?
(13:01):
And and with that, I learned howto create systems and processes
because marketing's the easypart, Ruben.
That part's easy.
Most people say, oh no,marketing, yeah, getting
generating leads, marketing isthe easy part.
It's the business aspects that'sthe hard part, it's establishing
training programs, systems andprotocols, it's hiring, it's
(13:23):
managing employees, it'shandling finances, all of those
things that that really make itdifficult.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
Yeah, yeah.
In the commercial real estate uhcoaching world, one of the best
that's out there is RodsonTomassamos.
And he talks uh a lot about twothings that a lot of brokers
that you know we're in essence,we're all running our own little
business.
Of course.
And whether we're an independentshop, we're just you know one
person, you're running the wholething, or you're part of a
(13:51):
franchise or part of an um underan umbrella, you know, you're
1099, you're running your ownbusiness.
And then he's like, There's alot of people that spend time
working in the business, sotrying to generate the leads and
the marketing and so forth, butthey fail to work on the
business, which is the processesand the steps and the and the
planning and so forth.
(14:12):
So we often, you know, uh someof my colleagues and I, we
always talk about, hey, let'slet's have a place to work on
the business, and then you know,this is on the business stuff,
and then there's in thebusiness.
Hey, what's that pipelinelooking for like, and you know,
how are we working with these uhclients and so forth?
Tell us a little bit some of thethe challenges on the commercial
(14:34):
side that you're seeing.
Some of the commercialinspection rules have changed
over the last couple of years.
We've had some things here inMiami that uh has elevated some
of the needs for inspection.
So maybe you can help us give ussome some shed some light on
that, because there's still, Iwould imagine, some people out
there that A, they they may havean idea, but maybe you can help
clarify some of that stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:54):
Sure.
So there's there uh because ofthe incident that happened with
the chaplain tires, uh tires,chaplain towers in surfside, uh,
that tragedy that we occurred,that occurred.
And it's unfortunate that atragedy has to occur in order
for changes to make, right?
It's normally like the doctorhas to say, hey Ruben, your you
(15:17):
know, your cholesterol isextremely high for you to say,
oh my goodness, I need to get ona diet.
And that's kind of what happenedthere.
So the county or the state cameup with a milestone program.
But the thing is that thisprogram had already been in
place by Miami-Dade County since1978, because believe it or not,
the Chaplain Tires was not thefirst building to collapse in
(15:39):
Miami.
In 1978, a DEA building inBiscayne collapsed, and because
of that, Miami Dade started therecertification program.
So, because of what happened atSurfside, there are there were
changes.
So the the state adopted amilestone program.
So this milestone program arefor apartment and co-op
(16:01):
buildings, three stories ormore, over four stories or more
in height.
They have to do arecertification inspection, a
structural and electricalinspection by an engineer every
40 years.
But be when those what so nowthis whole the entire state has
adopted that, okay.
But after the entire stateadopted that, Miami-Dade County
(16:23):
has been doing this since 1978.
The only difference is thatMiami Dade County was doing the
apartment and co-op buildingsand commercial buildings as
well.
So after what happened, BrowardCounty adopted the same program.
So now these types ofinspections are done in Broward
(16:45):
County.
And then the the timing changed,right?
So before these inspections weredone at 40 years, now buildings
that are within three miles fromthe coast have to do these
inspections at 25 years, andthen every 10 years after that,
it's called the recertificationinspection.
And then every other buildingthat's at with farther than
(17:09):
three miles from the coast hasto do these inspections at 30
years, and then at every 10-yearintervals after that.
These inspections are astructural and electrical
inspection in order to certifythe building for the next 10
years for its use.
I think that this program isvery good based off what we see
(17:29):
out there.
And I love how Miami-Dade Countykind of always sets the standard
for building codes.
So if you look at you have theSouth Florida building code, and
then Miami created the highvelocity hurricane zone building
code.
So Miami set the standard.
So the state does theseinspections only for co-op
buildings, four stories orhigher.
(17:52):
Miami-Dade County is doing thisfor all buildings, all
commercial buildings and allproperties that are three units
or more, whether it's three, twostories, three stories,
warehouses.
So if you're a property manager,if you are a commercial building
owner, an investor, and you havea triplex, that triplex needs to
(18:15):
be certified every 25 years orevery three years, depending on
the distance that they are fromthe coast.
So if you think about it, Ruben,a triplex, is it considered
commercial or residential?
SPEAKER_00 (18:27):
Residential.
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
It's residential.
Anything that's five units ormore is considered commercial.
So if you look at it, and and Ithey they are doing this for
three units or more.
So the only people who areexcluded are single family
properties and duplexes.
But the moment you get intothree units or higher, whether
it's one story, two stories,whatever it is, these buildings
(18:50):
need to be recertified.
And all commercial buildings, sowarehouses, storefronts, gas
stations, all of these types ofbuildings are being certified,
have to be recertified.
And when you look at this, theit is based when we see what we
see out there, I could see whythis is something so important
(19:13):
to be done.
Because the last thing is thatyou want to be at a gas station
pumping gas, and those canopiesat the gas station, they're done
with steel beams.
And for some reason, a lot ofI've seen a lot of places where
they put additional weight onthose beams, those beams are
corroded and just falling apartbecause of the rust and
corrosion.
(19:33):
And imagine, God forbid, youhave your wife at a at a gas
station pumping gas, and part ofthat canopy collapses on her.
They adopted the same standards.
If you see, not too long ago, wesaw that there was a nightclub
(19:54):
in Dominican Republic thatcollapsed.
SPEAKER_00 (19:56):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:57):
People lost their lives there.
The entire building structurecollapsed.
And and you look at this is ifwe just go by the milestone
program that the state ofFlorida adopted, it's only for
apartment buildings or co-opbuildings.
But so gas stations, warehouses,arcades, movie theaters, all of
(20:18):
these buildings, they don't haveto have a recertification
inspection.
But here in Miami, Dade, andBroward, we could rest assured
that all of these buildings arebeing inspected by licensed
professional engineers and beingrecertified.
And if there are issues with theproperties, repairs are being
done.
SPEAKER_00 (20:36):
Wow.
Wow.
I did not realize that.
And I'm I'm sure a lot of peopleare gonna be because like we
heard something about it, andyou know, we're getting you get
some sort of little tidbitsabout it, but thank you very
much for for clarifying that.
And is there any indication orthat you've heard that hey, is
the state gonna raise the bar aswell, or are they kind of
staying, you know, at the atwhere they're at for just the
(20:58):
co-ops and and and multifamily?
SPEAKER_01 (21:01):
I haven't heard any indication of them being able to
be having to change it.
Uh, I know that I was even backin February, I was I had the
privilege of speaking at the uhMiami Realtors Association uh
condo summit, and uh I spoke onthese bill, the difference
between the research, the MiamiDade recertification program and
the milestone program.
(21:22):
And there were staterepresentatives there, and you
know, nothing was spoken aboutmaking changes to this program.
So at least we know that here inMiami Dade and Broward, when you
walk into a commercial building,whatever type of building it is,
you could have the peace of mindthat chances are that these
buildings have been certifiedand inspected.
(21:46):
And you could there's even aportal where you could go online
to research and see if thesebuildings have been approved or
not approved, or if they're inviolation or not in violation,
because a lot of people ignorethe notices and then these
buildings get set to unsafestructures, right?
And and the beauty is that thatif you just go on Google and you
put Miami Date buildingrecertification portal as a real
(22:07):
estate professional, as aninvestor, or is just as a
regular consumer, and maybe youcould find a a way of maybe
putting the link to that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
That's exactly I'm just writing it down exactly.
Recertification, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:21):
So that Miami Data has created on a great portal
where you could put the propertyaddress of a building, whatever
building it is, and it tells youif the building is due for
recertification or not.
It tells you whether they bitthe the uh building has been
approved or disapproved, and italso tells you if they're in
violation, if they have ignoredthe notice or haven't gotten
(22:42):
these inspections done.
So if you are a real estateprofessional, whether you're a
lender, whether you're a realtoror just an investor and you're
thinking about purchasing aproperty or investing in a
property, this is a good placeto start to be able to look in
that portal, be able to see, andnow you know if you're gonna
have challenges with thisrecertification, because I know
that lenders aren't, ifbuildings are due and they
(23:04):
haven't done therecertification, they're not
lending the money until thesereleased recertifications are
done.
And then in Broward, Browarddoesn't have a specific portal
for recertification.
However, you could find all ofthat information on their online
building permit search, so youcould search and see if they've
pulled permits for therecertification or not.
SPEAKER_00 (23:26):
I had a property I sold a couple years ago.
The people that were running it,the daughters, they they had not
done the inspection for a longtime.
And we're in the middle of duediligence and so forth, and then
they get served with the noticeand the lien from the city.
Well, I have to go through theprocess to get the engineering,
(23:47):
get the certification done, andso forth, and it was kind of
running against the clockbecause we're coming up against
the wall for closing.
And literally two days or like aweek after it got clear, we're
like, oh, we're in the clear.
They get served with a secondone.
Because that one was for tenyears previously.
And so now the one that uh thatwas about a year a year you know
(24:11):
or so were just about to come upon it, they served them again
for that one.
So it was it was a race to to tothe to the end, literally days
before closing, to try to getthat all you know cleared up.
But it it can be verychallenging and nerve-wracking,
especially for for deals.
So, yes, thanks for the resourcethat we not had I had not uh
known about the Miami Daderecertification portal.
(24:33):
What are your your what's thelong view in the next three to
five years?
It's a big broad question, but Iguess I'm just getting you know
Lewis's perspective of Miamireal estate market over the next
several years, whether it's onthe financial side of growth or
on the inspection side or youknow, the building construction
side.
SPEAKER_01 (24:53):
Well, I think the uh the the main thing is these
these and not every building hashave gotten these
recertification inspectionsdone.
Quite frankly, there's notenough engineers to be able to
do all of the buildings thatneed to get done in in in Miami
and in the state.
I mean, even when you look at, Ijust downloaded a list of every
building that still hasn't doneit, and it's like thousands of
(25:16):
buildings.
And I I think that the firststep is to really recertify
these buildings and and makesure they're safe.
A lot of building owners,especially with like smaller
buildings, that you know, that'stheir investment, their their
their business per se, they theythey have a lot of challenges
whenever we have to go there andsay, hey, look, repairs need to
be done, but repairs need to bedone because there's people who
(25:38):
are occupying these buildings,and the main thing is to keep
everyone safe.
I remember that we uh we went todo a a recertification at a at a
commercial property, and theelectrical system was like an
electrical, an originalelectrical system from the 70s,
federal Pacific.
I mean, it was in really badshape.
The the units were overheating,and we're trying to explain to
(26:02):
the uh building owner you needto completely upgrade your
building electrical, maindisconnects, panels, everything
like this is not up to code, andit's unsafe.
And the guy was just fighting,fighting and fighting us, and
while the guy guy is fightingus, it's funny, it's like you
(26:22):
know, like the sign from God, ohyeah, and we're talking to the
guy out of nowhere, you justhear and we're like whoa! And
when you look, it was right, wewere right there talking about
the electrical system, and themain disconnect blew up right
there in front of us while wewere talking.
(26:43):
So it was like, there you go,sir.
You see what I'm talking about,you know.
So there's a big need to be ableto get these buildings safe.
So I think that's something veryimportant, and it's a big
challenge for the county.
A lot of building owners areignoring ignoring the notices,
they're not getting them done,they're waiting to the last
second.
So I know the county has gonethrough a lot with like
(27:05):
enforcements and things likethat.
And then on the other side, iseveryone is here just waiting
for kind of interest rates to togo down, to to spike a boom back
into the market.
You know, I I think that thatyou sow, as a business owner,
you sow seeds for for manyyears, and you wait for moments
(27:26):
like that where interest ratesgo down, where things become
easier for buyers to be able tobuy in order to capitalize and
reap the harvest that you sowedyears ago.
And that's what we're doing, andthat's what we're waiting.
I know that that in the past wehad a drop in interest rates and
(27:46):
and and property values kind ofwent skyrocketed, and housing
became unaffordable because ofthat, and and and buildings, but
you know, right now we have alot of inventory to kind of
sustain that an in-interest ratedrop and be able to put buyers
on the market to be able topurchase whether it is
(28:07):
residential, commercialproperties, multifamily
investment, whatever the casemay be.
So, you know, I think that asreal estate professionals, we're
all just sitting there waitingon the sideline, like, let's go.
Let's go, just watching thecloud, just waiting for that
bell to ring to jump in thering.
SPEAKER_00 (28:22):
Well, last question, actually, now that as you were
kind of talking about it, soundslike there's a lot of deferred
maintenance.
Do you have either preferredvendors or do you help them
something since you have a GCbackground, you may be able to
at least give somerecommendations or something
like that, or is that somethingyou don't get into?
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Yeah, look, Ruben, that that and people always get
asked that question, if ask thatquestion, and I so yes, I'm a
GC, I don't practice generalconstruction.
I I I own an inspection company,and I feel that when you go to a
property and I tell you, heyRuben, this is bad, that's bad,
that's bad, that's bad, and thisneeds to get fixed, that needs
(29:02):
to get fixed, and here I couldfix it for you.
It becomes it takes away theintegrity of the inspection.
Because now there's a monetaryvalue.
I'm not going there torightfully and justfully tell
you what's wrong with thisproperty for you to make an
informed decision or take stepsafterwards.
I'm going there with a financialinterest in mind.
(29:23):
And then I know that that's alot of custom practice for
engineering firms that haveconstruction, and they go there,
they they they they find theissues and then they fix the
issues, and there's a bigfinancial gain for them.
We don't do that.
We go out, we do the inspection,and we provide a non-biased
opinion, and people are able tomake the repairs and choose the
(29:45):
contractors that they choose,that they want to choose, right?
Because of that factor.
And then also referringpartners, it's like we know the
level of service that weprovide, and I I it's hard to
recommend people sometimes,especially contractors, because
there's such a bad rep outthere.
I'll never forget when I wasfirst starting in in uh in the
(30:08):
inspection side, I was hit, thiswas probably like 2018.
I I had a realtor that workedwith us, and she we I inspected
a house for her dad.
I I she asked me and she says,Hey, look, my dad wants to build
an addition.
Do you have a contractor torecommend to do the edition?
I knew this guy from church.
I was like, Oh, yeah, this guy,man, this is a great guy.
(30:30):
You could call him.
I I trust him to do youredition.
So then, no, she disappearedafter that.
And then, after like a reallylong time, I don't know, I'm not
too sure how long after that.
That she calls me, says, says,Hey, have you found are you able
to get in contact with such andsuch person you recommended me?
I'm like, like, sure.
I mean, I mean, I could call himlike what's going on.
(30:51):
Well, you know, we gave him$80,000 to start to do an
addition at my dad's house.
And you know, the guy kind ofdisappeared and never did any
work.
And then guess what, Ruben?
That realtor never called me,never called me again.
Why?
And then even and even though Ihad no part in it, it it's still
that sour taste.
(31:11):
It's like, oh, Lewis led me tothat guy.
So it's hard.
It's hard.
And I and TrueView is known forits service and the product that
we provide and the integritythat we provide with our
inspections.
That I never want to taint thatby referring people who would do
a bad job for somebody.
If I do a bad job for somebody,I have the ability to clean it
up.
But an$80,000 mess that someonemade, I don't have the ability
(31:32):
to clean that up, right?
So my biggest advice is, and Iand if there's something that I
want people to get up away fromthis podcast, is the biggest
issue that I see with thesebuildings are deferred
maintenance.
And here's the thing (31:45):
you choose not to do maintenance or take
care of your building the rightway.
So then when you go out there todo these re these
recertification inspections, theissues that are found at the
property are put into this form.
You're legally required tosubmit this to the county.
The county sees this and theymake you pull permits for all of
(32:07):
this type of work that you needto do.
And things just get morecomplicated, and then you have
to do another recertificationinspection, certifying that
these repairs were done to agood quality standard.
All of these things could beavoided by going up there.
If you have roof leaks,addressing roof leaks, make
maintaining your roof, takingcare of termite issues that
(32:30):
properties and concrete issuesthat properties may have,
updating electrical systems asthey come, hiring licensed
electrical contractors to do thework.
So the main thing is it's likeit gets a lot more expensive and
it gets a lot harder when youhave to go and these negative
items come up on arecertification inspection
(32:51):
rather than you being proactivea couple years before you know
you're due and doing the rightmaintenance to your buildings.
This is like especially oncommercial buildings, it's like
people don't have commercialbuildings to live in them.
People have commercial buildingsto make money.
But I remember I had somebody, amentor in my life that told me,
(33:13):
and I'm gonna say it in Spanish,but then I'll say it in English.
He's like, Luis, acu de algowhen I was doing my business, La
semilla no se come, la semillase siembra.
The seed that you have in yourhand, you don't eat the seed,
you plant the seed.
So pour back into yourbusinesses, pour back into your
(33:33):
buildings, keep on planting thatseed so that you could reap that
harvest later in the future.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
Luis Luis, thank you so much.
You've been amazing.
I really, really appreciate, andI'm sure all the listeners
appreciate your time, all thenuggets of wisdom, information,
clarification.
You continue to be a a pillarhere in the real estate
industry.
And well, wish you only the bestand look forward to seeing you
around uh the CCIM and the CCIMuh family and as we uh continue
(34:04):
to grow.
And I'll make sure to include uhyour your email and contact
information.
If you want to say it right now,feel free to say it.
Yeah, I'm sure people will lookit up and uh hopefully they'll
have some people that'll see orhear your integrity through this
podcast and know that uh youknow TrueView is uh is an
amazing company to work with.
(34:24):
So thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:28):
Thank you, Ruben.
It was a pleasure doing thiswith you, and I hope that we
could help you know real estateprofessionals and commercial
professionals with some of thenuggets that we dropped here
today.
SPEAKER_00 (34:40):
Perfect, perfect.
Thank you.
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