April 14, 2025 • 54 mins
Join Nick Lamagna on The A Game Podcast with our guest Dolmar Cross, real estate investor and star of the hit TV Show Zombie House Flipping on A&E. He is an educator, entrepreneur, public speaker and CEO fighting out of Florida by way of Jamaica. This son of a preacher who went from broke college student and balloon artist with an extremely rocky start In real estate investing. Through some decisive decisions and relentless commitment he stayed in the game and finally found financial success as this natural born entrepreneur found his calling.
He has since done over 1000 real estate deals from wholesaling to fix and flips, from lipstick rehabs to major renovations. You can now find him in your living room bringing some of the most decrepit houses in the greater Tampa area back to life as he is the host of Zombie House Flipping on A&E part of Homemade Nation!
He is not only one of the most photogenic investors out there with a massive social media following, he is an expert on brand building where he and his partners are the men behind the men for some of the bi
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Episode Transcript
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(00:13):
Welcome to the A Game podcast with NickLamonia digging into the minds and.
Experiences of some of today's brightestentrepreneurs in real estate and
business, along with Hollywood Stars, UFCfighters and your favorite rock bands.
People that have figured out howto overcome obstacles, take chances
live boldly, and no matter what theydo, they always bring their A game.
(00:49):
Alright.
My guest today on the AGame podcast is Domar Cross.
He is the host of Zombie Flippingon a and e, and he is a famous real
estate investor on social mediaand he's done tons of deals, over a
thousand deals over the last few years.
And he's a close personal friend of minethat tells his stories of the good, the
bad, and the ugly of the real estateinvesting doing a reality TV show.
And on the A Game podcast, realEstate Investing for Entrepreneurs.
(01:09):
What our goal is, is to showaverage people every day that you
can achieve extraordinary thingsand just the 350 plus episodes we
have, you can go back and listen tosome of the top athletes fighters.
Entrepreneurs, business people andinvestors in the world, and you can learn
what the path was for them to achievefinancial freedom and success, all the
things they did right that you can do, orall the things they did wrong, that you
(01:30):
can learn from their mistakes and not takethose bumps and bruises and probably just
find the way to achieve your personal bestwith just going into the back archives.
But if that is not enough, doDelmar Cross brings the heat today,
so definitely tune into this one.
We talk about how to find some ofthe hottest markets in the country.
What a good and a bad wholesaler is,how to find good contractors, how to
screen good workers, whether it's ageneral contractor, a subcontractor, how
(01:52):
to do your due diligence on your teams.
We talk about the state of the real estatemarket, the two top things that you need
to be doing in 2025 to stick out and besuccessful short and long term, and the
near and coming changes with the world.
With technology, we talk about.
Ai.
We talk about how Delmar's gettingsome of the best deals right now.
We talk about imposter syndrome, mindsetfailure, starting out, overcoming
(02:13):
obstacles, all the things that even ifyou are not a real estate investor, if
you are a human, a business person, oranybody that's just trying to do their
best in life, this is a great episodefor you to learn about how to keep
yourself going, keep yourself strong,fight through some of the bad times
to see some of the good that can come.
When you don't quit and yousurround yourself with the right
people and the right support tokeep going and achieve your best.
(02:35):
So thank you so much for Delmar coming on.
Can't say enough greatthings about real advisors.
Brian Hanson, Francis Abola, DelmarCross, they've been outstanding.
Rich Dun, I can't forget Rich Dun,but they've been friends and business
associates of mine for a very long time.
Uh, they do Killer Con out there,so definitely check the show notes
to see all the stuff they have goingon with their live and their virtual
events, the stuff that they haveteaching you about ai, the stuff they
have teaching you about real estate.
(02:56):
And of course, check outDelmar's smiling face.
On zombie flipping on a and E allthe time in your local TV stations.
The only feat that have amazing stars likeDomar on this show is just to subscribe.
So please, if you have not the A Gamepodcast, real Estate Investing for
Entrepreneurs is available everywhere.
You watch and listen to yourpodcast, please just take one
second and subscribe to it.
It really helps us to get great guestson and continue to get great guests on.
(03:18):
If you can't find it, just go tonic.com/links, L-I-N-K-S nik.com/links.
And what you will also see is allour social media, as I share clips
from this podcast, the way that Domarknows he bought you value is that you
interact with the social media clips.
So you're all usuallyscrolling on social media.
Anyway, please take a secondwhen these clips come out.
(03:38):
Follow us through nik.com/linkson Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
all that fun stuff, whereveryou prefer your social media.
And follow us and we'll followyou back and we can interact with
you and you could just let Domarknow that you love the clip.
Giving it a thumbs up, giving it aa tag, giving it a share, tagging
a friend, asking him a question.
So he tells other people what greatcommunities we have and they bring
other phenomenal guests on to giveyou free advice on what to do and
(04:00):
what not to do, to hit your best,reach your highest potential, and
not make mistakes along the way.
And the big thing here is Iwant to do real estate together.
So please shoot me a text message to 51 6 5 4 0 5 7 3 3 that says real estate.
And we can open up a conversation or justtext me the words real estate to any of
my social media platforms or real estate.
And then I will know to give you a callor set up a conversation so we can figure
(04:22):
out, do you wanna buy real estate from me?
Do you wanna sell real estate to me?
Are you just looking to seehow we can partner together?
But anybody that has any real estatethat they wanna sell at as an investment
on any level, please contact me.
You can go to sell to nick.com or justshoot me a message on that text message.
We are buying, buying, buying,and we would love to buy from you.
Thank you so much forlistening to the Game podcast.
(04:43):
Thank you so much to my good friend.
Do.
For being a great human coming on andbringing the Heat A Game Podcast ladies
and gentlemen, have a fantastic day.
Alright, my guest today is an entrepreneureducated public speaker and CEO fighting
out of Florida by way of Jamaica.
This son of a preacher went from a brokecollege student and balloon artiste to
(05:05):
an extremely rocky start in real estateinvesting through some some decisive
decisions and relentless commitment.
He stayed in the game and finally foundfinancial success and this natural
born entrepreneur found his calling.
He has since done over a thousandreal estate deals from wholesaling
to fix and flip from lipstick rehabs.
Two major renovations, and now youcan find him bringing some of the most
decrepit houses in the greater Tampa areaback to life as he is the host of the hit
(05:28):
TV show, zombie House Flipping on a and e.
He's not only one of the mostphotogenic investors out there with
a massive social media following.
He is also an expert on brand buildingwhere he and his partners are the
men behind the men for some of thebiggest influencers in real estate.
When he finally then decided it's timeto build up his own brand, he is now the
CEO of Real Capital and the co-founderof the Real Estate Education Company,
(05:49):
real Advisors, as well as many otherreal brand subsidiaries, all carrying
the tone of all authenticity that himselfand his partners bring on and off camera
Real Advisors has been recognized asone of IG magazines, one of the fastest
growing private companies in the nation.
He's a father, he's a husband.
He did animated sign language in anr Kelly video and at the Super Bowl,
and himself and his business partnersare people I could not be happier to
(06:11):
call close personal friends of mine.
One of the absolutenicest guys in the game.
Welcome finally to the A Game podcast,the one at only Dole Mar Cross.
Wow.
I don't think you missed anything out.
You, you covered a lot.
You definitely know me more than I,I, I forgot some of that stuff, man.
(06:32):
Hey, public figures baby.
This is what happens.
People get to know you betterthan you know yourself.
Right?
Wow.
Wow.
Well, we finally did it, Nick.
We finally hit it.
We did it.
Man.
I appreciate you how patientyou've been with me pestering you
to come on for a long time now,but, uh, I know you're a busy guy.
I don't know when you can't make the time.
You always do, sir. So.
I'm excited to have you here and there'sso many different things we can touch
on, and I think one of the first thingsthat, you know, you came to an event
(06:54):
that I was speaking at and you got upthere and I heard you tell your story
that I hadn't heard in a long time andI forgot, like some of the key points of
success are not only mindset, but makingas you call them, decisive decisions.
And I think that that's a, a bigthing because I think people see you
on TV and they don't realize that.
Things were tough starting outand you didn't have a really great
(07:15):
experience on your first few deals.
So I like to start there and talk aboutthat because I think as you and I have
both dealt with people that are startingout in real estate and maybe they sign
up for a mentorship or something andthen things don't go as planned for
the first couple and then they quit.
And I tell everybody, as long asyou don't quit, you can't fail.
And you are a living testament to that.
So talk a little bit about some of thelosses you had and how you kept yourself
(07:36):
mentally going through those to findyour first couple of wins in real estate.
Sure.
So you have to want to be successfulmore than you fear failure.
You know, when I found real estate,when I discovered real estate, it was
through a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad.
It was a book that opened up my eyesto the possibilities of what could be.
And this is during a time when I wasa broke college student going to the
(07:57):
University of South Florida, and Iwas in my junior year, I was gonna
school full time and I was also doing.
Door to door sales after my classesand then at nighttime after you
couldn't knock on people's doorsanymore 'cause it got too late.
I went out and I was making these things.
My sister just sent this to me as areminder of never forget where you
come from, uh, to remind me that I usedto be a balloon artist making balloon
(08:20):
animals, pregnant monkeys, you name it.
And uh, I made decent money, butoftentimes I was still broke.
I, I couldn't afford my bills and myparents had to oftentimes bail me out.
And so when I found real estate,uh, this was in the year 2005.
Uh, so 20 years ago, uh, at 20 yearsold is when I found real estate.
(08:41):
And so I was excited about the ideaand I shared the idea with my parents.
And my parents coming from Jamaicathought that, you know, the only
way to success here in Americawas to go to school, college, get
your degree when you graduate.
Go to corporate America and climbthe rungs of that ladder to success.
Um, and so when I shared this ideaabout getting into real estate,
(09:03):
they, like most people, thought,you need a whole lot of money.
You need good credit credentialsand so on, uh, to even, you
know, get into that space.
And at that time, at 20years old, I'm broke.
No established credit, nothing to my name.
And so they thought that, you know, mydream was a pipe dream, you know, not
that they didn't want me to be successful.
They really did.
My dad always taught me to be ambitious,strive for greatness, but he thought
(09:26):
that this was an unrealistic goal.
You know, my friends in college, my, I.The girls I was talking to at the time in
relationships with, nobody believed in me.
Everyone thought that, youknow, you're a balloon artist.
Who do you think you are?
You think you're better than us, you'regonna fail before you even start.
And so I was just so driven for success.
I was tired of being broke.
(09:46):
And when you get to that point whereyou're just sick and tired of being
sick and tired of being, of beingsick and tired of being broke, you
know you gotta do something different.
And I knew that.
There was something out there morefor me and I wasn't gonna settle.
I read that book, it opened myeyes to what's possible, but
it wasn't a step-by-step book.
But still, I thought, youknow, I'm a smart guy.
I can figure this out.
And so I jumped in head first.
(10:07):
Um, and I bought my first property throughan agent that my friend at the time,
who's now my wife today, my girlfriendat the time, uh, her, uh, uncle, and
he helped me buy my first property.
Then a month later boughta second one as well.
And so this is.
Q1 of 2005.
You know, I quickly realized thatI bought those properties wrong.
(10:27):
I, I bought them way above valueand, you know, it just wasn't
the right investment strategy.
So I read a few more books and realized,oh duh, you gotta buy these houses below
value, like buy dilapidated, distressedhouses, fix them up, force the value
up, and then sell them for profit.
Me being a pastor's kid, growingup in the church, spending most
(10:48):
of my life in the church, I had noconstruction knowledge or knowhow.
And so here I am still driven.
Uh, you know, I, I jumped in andbought my first rehab project.
It was in Lakeland, Florida onBrunel Parkway, and I failed
miserably on that deal because.
Contractors took advantage of myinexperience and I had to get rid of them.
(11:09):
I had to hire another crew to come inand fix the mistakes the first crew made.
And when I sold the property,I barely broke even.
Uh, but then I didn't quit.
You know, most people probablywould've thrown in the towel
and quit by now, but I.
Again, still driven.
I didn't quit.
I bought my fourth house from awholesaler in Tampa, Ybor City,
and this house was a shell.
You walk in, you look up, you seesky, you look down, you see dirt.
(11:30):
It was a complete shellof a house, a frame house.
One week into that renovation, Nick,the whole house falls down on me, um,
not on me, but falls down to the ground.
I, I took out a 65,000 hard money loanto buy this house, and now there's.
No house, it's completely gone.
So not only am I broke back againstthe wall bank account in the red
(11:51):
more times than I can remember.
Now I'm $65,000 in debt.
What do I do?
And I think most people probablywould've quit thrown in the towel.
Most people probably would'velistened to those voices or those
people that they had around them.
You know, when you think about an ideaor dream that you have and that you.
When you think about the people that yougo to or run to, to share these ideas
(12:13):
and dreams with, when you're excited andyou're looking for support or advice or
direction or guidance, you go to yourparents, your friends or your spouse,
people you're in relationships with.
And when none of those peoplesupported me, and I'm now in this
situation where I'm now 65,000 in debt.
I did fail.
Seemingly I failed.
I could have easily said, you know what?
Maybe those people were right.
(12:33):
Maybe success is not meant for me.
Maybe this business is not meantfor me after all, I should have
never gotten started because nowhere I am, it would've been so.
Easier to quit, it would'vebeen so much easier to settle.
It would've been so much easier tostay comfortable than pursue my dreams.
And in that moment I could have, youknow, thrown in the towel and called
it a failure and, you know, figureout how do I get out of it outta
(12:56):
that situation and, and move on.
But you know what I did.
You know, I became resourceful.
I have this thing where I say, yourbiggest resource is your resourcefulness,
and if you want something badly enough,you'll do whatever it takes to get
there, regardless of what limitationsor lack you might have in your life.
If you want something badlyenough, you will figure it out.
Tap into that producer mindset.
And so I took out a student loan.
(13:19):
I saw that.
People were successful doing this.
Um, and I realized that, you know,all that they know is a few more
things that I don't know right now.
They're no more smarter than me.
I'm just that smart.
They just have knowledge,specialized knowledge that I don't
have right now, and how do I getthat and how do I get it quickly?
And so I took out a student loan thatwas supposed to be for my tuition in my
books, and I could have used that money.
(13:40):
And, you know, paid the lender thatI now owe $65,000 to, and, uh, worked
out a payment plan on the balance owed.
But you know what?
I decided to invest in mentorshipand that was, I think, one of the
defining decisions and moments in myentire life because it's one of the
defining moments in my entire life.
I think one of the best decisionsI made, there are other decisions
(14:03):
I made later on, like, you know,my wife, you know, kids and so on.
But, um, uh, back then at 20 years old.
It was one of the best decisions I couldhave ever made, and I didn't know it
in the moment, right, but that decisionbecame a seven figure decision because
it helped me to, you know, launch mycareer and it would've been easy to again,
(14:24):
settle and listen to all of the limitingbeliefs of all the people around me.
But I didn't.
I believed in myself, and I knewthat I was gonna do whatever
it took to be successful.
I would run through walls if I had to,and I was gonna learn this financial
skillset so that no one can ever holdme back or down in life ever again.
And when I made that decision to investin myself, my education, I found my mentor
(14:44):
that last quarter of 2005, I made $60,000.
My mentor also helped me to negotiateout of that deal that now fell apart.
The house that fell down.
It helped me to negotiate what'scalled a partial release with the
lender where I could sell the lot'cause the land was still valuable.
It was a 50 by a hundred lot,sold it to a builder for 30,000.
That helped me reducemy debt to the lender.
(15:05):
Uh, they put a lien on the otherhouses I owned the ones I bought
in the beginning, the first two,uh, just to secure their loan.
And then I worked to pay them off.
And so my mentor taughtme the art of what.
We call wholesaling, I call itpaper flicking today, or you're
just flipping a piece of paper andmaking, uh, a good amount of money.
My mentor taught me back then the artof wholesaling, and it was almost like a
(15:26):
well kept underground secret that not alot of people knew about because social
media was just starting to come out right.
And so it wasn't mainstream like it istoday, back then, and very quickly at.
20 and 21 years old, I was makingupwards of $50,000 per month.
Um, even the local newspapers herein Tampa wrote articles about me
(15:47):
and I thought it would never end.
Nick, I thought it was gonna raining moneyfrom the sky and I was living a good life.
I was traveling, having fun doing things.
Uh.
Pastor's kid probably should not do.
Um, but I was living life and I was havingfun, and that was a great life until
2008 happened, 2007, 2008 happened, andI lost everything seemingly overnight.
(16:07):
In fact, I got married.
To my wife and came back from myhoneymoon to go see a bankruptcy attorney.
That's, that's how I started my marriage.
I don't know if any anyone can say thatthey have a spouse or a partner that would
be that supportive, especially in thebeginning, but I'm grateful and blessed
that mine certainly was, and she stoodby my side and helped me dig my way outta
(16:28):
that depression because I was embarrassed.
I became depressed.
I was spiraling down thisdeep, dark hole of depression.
I feared I couldn't get.
Eternal out of, and I quit.
I quit real estate.
I gave up, I filed chapterseven bankruptcy Even.
And I quit the business forabout three years until one day
someone helped shift my mindset.
Another colleague of mine who wasalso in the business, who also lost
(16:49):
everything during that last recession,but then he figured out how to pivot
and adapt, and he was making moremoney than when the market was good.
He was making more money in the recession.
And so that was the light bulb momentfor me that, you know, I protected
my mindset before I got started andI ignored all the naysayers, the
pessimistic, cynical people who said.
Don't do it.
Don't get started.
You're gonna fail.
And then I proved them wrong.
(17:09):
Well, not right away.
I did fail in the beginning, butthen I ended up proving them wrong.
Once I got mentorshipand guidance and help.
And then when I lost everything,I became embarrassed because
I didn't protect my mind.
You know, I became a victim of,you know, these negative thoughts.
And I quit.
And you know, there was a periodof time where I couldn't even put
food on the table for my family.
My 2-year-old daughter at the time, Icouldn't even buy her formula or diapers.
(17:32):
It was a rough journey and,and rollercoaster of a ride.
I jumped back in, in 2011, started mynew company, three Day Cash Buyers,
and started doing a lot of deals.
My first month I did one deal.
Second month I did.
Uh, seven deals by month three.
I had 17 deals on the contract.
And this is all because my friends,my colleagues, just helped to shift my
mindset to get my head back in the game.
(17:52):
You know, some of these people actually,um, you know, Jason Meley, Lee Carney, and
uh, drew Downs, those were the three guysthat are like, Domar, what are you doing?
And so you gotta surroundyourself with the right people.
Um, I, I can't stress that enough.
So mentorship, surrounding yourselfwith the right people can help.
Catapult you give you that launchingpad to achieve and accomplish
(18:13):
amazing things that you yourselfsometimes even think were possible.
Man, I think that's incredible.
Shout out to Lee and to Jason, both theformer guests of the podcast as well.
Great guys.
But I think that people when they gothrough this think that they're the only
ones who ever have like, and my buddyJim once said, you know, as people.
When things are good, you feellike times are never gonna end.
And when things are bad, you feellike times are ne like it always
(18:34):
feels like this will go on forever.
But I think every successstory has these man.
I think it's a huge thing with support.
When you talk about everybody has like99% of these people that doubt them and
make you doubt yourself, but sometimesyou can find just this one person that
makes you think that you're not crazy andgives you that little bit of hope and it.
It's very interesting 'cause I feellike, as you said, one of the best
things I've gotten from investing inentrepreneurs around me and mentorships
(18:57):
and stuff like I've done with you andsigned up for real advisors and things
is surrounding yourself with peopleevery day that show you things that
everybody else told you were impossible.
And at some people, sometimes you lookaround and you go, man, I. All these other
people are doing this, like at some point,like you feel crazy for not doing it.
And I think that that'sa huge thing people miss.
And I remember one of my, uh, dad'sfriends came over and bought me like this.
Like he, the guy was an entourage and hewas like, oh my, my kid's an entourage.
(19:18):
And it was like right when I hurt my hand.
And he was like, yeah.
He's like, uh, he plays Kevin Connelley.
He plays Ian Entourage.
He's like, and I remember he gotin a commercial and he moved out to
California and he was doing well.
He was like in Rocky and stuff.
And he had this friend that waslike freeloading on the couch.
And the mom kept saying like,get the kid out of there.
It is never gonna be anything.
Like you're doing something.
This kid's trying to mooch off you.
He is like, no mom, it's my friend.
(19:39):
He's gonna do good.
He is gonna be successful.
Fast forward five, 10 years.
The bum on the couch was Toby McGuire.
Wow.
And now Toby McGuire andLeonardo DiCaprio are like.
The guy's closest friends and fundall his movie projects and stuff.
So it's one of those things wherelike everybody, at some point,
once they see you on a TV show,they forget that you were like
the kid with no hope on the couch.
Like we all have those stories.
So I hope anybody that listens tothat, that feels despair at any point
(20:02):
in their journey realizes that I.
This is what we all do.
And so a a follow up question tothis is, I know in business what
we see in all the masterminds we'rein is people are forced to pivot.
Whether it's because of financial thingsor because of things like a pandemic.
And I know that that wasn't theonly time that you were forced
to pivot in your business.
You guys had to make a major shift.
Do you feel like goingthrough some of those.
Early trials and tribulations helpedyou have a smoother transition
(20:25):
through it later in life as you foundmore of them and pivoted with real
advisors and adapted to the pandemic.
Oh, for sure.
Uh, Nick failure did not break me.
Failure made me, yeah, that'swhat I'm talking about.
And so it really helped to strengthenand sharpen the mind because again, it's
easy to fall victim to negative thoughtsand, you know, wanting to give up.
(20:46):
And so.
During 2020 Covid, at the peak of that,you know, Nick's talking about our
other company, our education business,this, it's called Real Advisors.
Through that company, we have beenable to positively impact the lives
of many people all around the world.
We used to publish other expertsand um, you know, people that we.
We thought were real advisors and the bestof the best in their niche and category.
(21:08):
And so we were doing live events, hostinglive events, sometimes three to four
events per month around the country.
And when Covid hits, well, the CDCcomes and says, oh, you're not allowed
to host any live events anymore.
And so we had like.
Our next batch of eventsalready planned out.
Booked hotels, deposits,secure everything, and we
(21:29):
had to shut all of that down.
I think it was eight of them.
And not only that, we also had to shutdown some of our brands too, because
during that time people were So, I.
Uncertain.
People were scared not spending money.
The last thing undereveryone's mind was education.
Right?
Um, and so we had to shut things down.
We got rid of one of our brands,we sold one of the other ones.
(21:49):
It was a very scary time.
And we also had conversations, Nick, aboutwhat day are we gonna file bankruptcy?
Because we went overnightinto like just debt.
Massive, massive, massive amounts of debt.
And so our CEO also got sickwith Covid, and he was in the
hospital and there was some.
Times where we thoughthe was not gonna make it.
(22:11):
It was really scary for us and we alsostarted having conversations about what
day are we gonna file bankruptcy at?
At for a while there was a momentwhere it wasn't a question that we
were going to file, it was what daywe're gonna file, because that's how
bad it got for us, you know, just.
There's no way of generating new revenue'cause you can't do events anymore because
of Covid, um, getting rid of the brand.
(22:33):
So there's no newrevenue coming in either.
It was, it was very bad.
And so we were faced with decisions,tough decisions we had to make.
Unfortunately, we had to lay off almostmore than half of our staff and just
buckle down and get lean and mean.
And.
Figure out what to do.
And uh, it was also in that moment wheremy business partners looked to me and
said, you know what, it's time for you toget from behind the scenes and, you know,
(22:54):
start teaching what you've been doing.
Uh, 'cause you have the experience,you have the credibility,
uh, you have the resume.
But Nick, I did not wantto be in the forefront.
I didn't want to be on camera.
I enjoyed being behind the scenes.
And, uh, it took you and I just.
Even two years just to get on thispodcast because the truth is, and as
crazy as this might seem, because I havea TV show, I don't like being on camera.
(23:18):
I am very comfortable beingbehind the scenes and propping
and lifting and promoting someoneelse to be in that forefront.
Uh, but this was a moment wheremy business partners called on me.
Uh, they needed me andreluctantly I, I did it.
And the very first trainingthat I did blew even me away.
It surprised even me.
(23:39):
Um, people were excited,ecstatic, um, hungry, wanting to
learn, and because of a direct.
Uh, result of our trainings,we were able to really impact a
lot of lives, especially duringthat time when people needed it.
Like, what do I do?
You can't go anywhere.
There's a pandemic and epidemics.
Places are shutting down.
People losing jobs.
We were able to help a lot of people out,and so it created this thing within me.
(24:04):
You know, my dad's a pastor and healways wanted me to be a pastor too.
I was like, no, that's not for me.
But I truly believe.
You know, this has become myGod-ordained assignment to positively
impact lives in a different way.
Um, and so we've been blessedto be able to do that.
Just grateful man, grateful to play asmall part in a lot of people's lives.
If you have been kicking yourself thatyou didn't start investing in real
(24:24):
estate sooner, whether you're a beginner,intermediate, or advanced, any way you're
looking to get it on a residential,commercial, land development, wholesaling,
fix and flips, whatever it is, let'sfind a way to get you involved in some
projects, get you some properties,whether you wanna sell some properties
to me, whether you want to buy someproperties from me, whether residential,
fix and flip, cash flow, multifamily,whatever it is you're looking for.
Let's figure out a way to getyou involved or find a way for
(24:46):
us to partner up on some deals.
Reach out to me on any.
Of my social media channels.
If you go on www.nic.com/links, you willsee all the different ways to connect
with me and figure out how we canstart to work together, make it happen.
Everybody that invests inreal estate always just says
they wish they did it sooner.
Best time to start is today.
Super cool, man.
(25:06):
And again, I, I went througha lot of your events, man.
They were absolutely fantastic andI'm a big believer and there's a
lot of education out there, but whenyou find people that you click with.
It makes all the difference in the world.
And we just did man,like found each other.
And I've said this a lot of times, likeI've gone out to dinner with like, your,
your shout out to Brian Hansen, but Iremember we went out to like this dinner
and I was like introducing people andI was like, I'm probably into Brian
(25:28):
Hansen for about $60,000 at this point.
And I was like, but you know what?
I'd be happy to go into another60 'cause of what have I got
out of the 60 that I gave him?
That's why he's at thedinner right now, man.
So you guys have been.
People that I've been a, astudent and a friend of for a very
long time and everything you'veever done has been top-notch.
Top tier, like the events, the people,the education, like, I, I can't say enough
(25:49):
good things about you, Francis and Brian.
Dude, you guys have been outstanding.
So I, I watched what you didand I can vouch for that.
It was incredible and I'm sureanything you guys do that you all
focus on, we will be no different man.
As we pivot into someof these other things.
Now, I know you do have to get on settoday, so I don't wanna keep you too
long, but obviously we're a real estatepodcast, so I wanna touch on some real
estate stuff, and then obviously I gota bunch of questions about the show.
(26:09):
But you talked about wholesaling andpaper flipping, and I think when, uh, oh
man, there was something the other daysomebody said, I forgot what it was, but
it was, I think we were at like, I waslike pickleball with Nicole or something,
and somebody was like, are you this?
And they were like, no, no, no, no, no.
Like.
It was like a dirty like word.
And I feel like as a real estateinvestor, when people hear like you're
a wholesaler, like sometimes it'sgot this negative connotation to it.
(26:30):
And I think it's because likeanything else, like if people have
an experience with a bad wholesaler,they go, well, that's a bad, I had
a bad experience with the doctor.
Now doctors are bad.
So talk a little bit about what it is,like what separates the good, the bad?
Why is there some bad.
Wraps for some of thesewholesalers out there.
Like what makes a goodand a bad wholesaler?
Sure.
So, you know, when I got started again,wholesaling was like a well-kept secret.
(26:51):
Not a lot of people knew aboutit, but thanks to social media,
um, you can find the topic ofwholesaling any and everywhere.
And so you can go on YouTube, watcha couple videos and feel like you can
go out there and do it even withoutknowing all the steps or the pieces of
the, all the, all of the moving parts.
And, and so I think because ithas become so mainstream and so.
(27:13):
Many people out there doing it,and honestly, just some bad apples
and greedy people in the industry.
Uneducated or not well trained peoplewho go out there and try to do a
wholesale deal and they'll contract tobuy grandma's house who might be facing
foreclosure, about to lose her house inX amount of days, but they contracted
it too high because they don't knowhow to properly analyze the deal and
(27:33):
try to market it to find a buyer for itbecause, but because it's not great of.
A price.
They don't find any buyers.
And instead of going back torenegotiate, they don't, and
they just string grandma along.
And Grandma's really hoping and prayingthat you are the person that's gonna
save them and help them sell theirhouse and save their credit and put
some money in their pocket to startthe next chapter of their life.
But then you don't, and then they endup losing the house and you're like, oh,
(27:57):
sorry, I tried because you were greedyand also didn't know what you were doing.
So unfortunately, uh, I think likemost industries, there are bad
apples out there and people thathave taken advantage of people.
And, you know, also justdidn't practice good business.
And because of that, um, ourindustry has gotten a bad rap.
(28:17):
You know, there's people that, you know,they just took advantage of people.
And also because of that is why lawsare starting to pass in certain states
that are cracking down on the loopholeor concept or idea of assigning
contracts, which is wholesaling.
And I actually welcome those changes.
I don't know if many people willsay that, but I welcome that
because I feel like it will.
Create another step on or another barrierfor these people who are greedy, who
(28:40):
try to take advantage of others or alsoinnocently don't know what they're doing.
'cause they're not well trainedand so inadvertently they
take advantage of people.
I think it would create another layer forthe people who are really trying to do
good business and do things the right way.
And when it comes to investing, Iidentify myself as a real estate
investor, not just a wholesaler.
A wholesaler is a tool in my tool belt.
You know, when we put aproperty under contracts.
(29:02):
To buy.
We have multiple options.
I can buy the house, fix it up, and flipit like you see me do on my TV show, or
I could fix it up and keep it as a rentalproperty, or I can decide to wholesale it.
So, uh, when I contracted to buy aproperty, I go in and I make that offer.
With the idea of having multiple exitstrategies and I decide which one
(29:23):
I'm gonna pursue based on what myinventory looks like, what my cash flow
looks like, and you know, and so on.
So, um, I do it all.
We buy fix and flip.
We wholesale and we buyand hold, um, as well.
I think that that's awesome man.
And uh, I think you said it perfectly.
I tell everybody the bad quote unquotewholesalers out there, they either
don't know what they're doing orthey don't care what they're doing.
(29:45):
So I think education is super important,but at the end of the day, it's just
'cause they didn't lock in a good deal.
But when you know how to lock in agood deal, somebody's gonna buy it.
Like at some point you're gonna move it.
If you're not moving it or not gettingfunding, it's 'cause it's not a good deal.
So I think that pivots to the nextgreat question of right now, obviously.
You are not having a huge issue withinventory because you have to have
literally inventory for the show.
(30:07):
So what are some of your favoriteways right here in Q1 of 2025 to
get some great real estate deals?
Sure.
So we, I. Do a lot of, uh,direct to seller marketing.
And so we pull lists, we downloadand buy lists of, uh, different types
of seller lead types, like peoplein foreclosure, pre foreclosures,
probates, or absentee owners.
(30:28):
Those are some of our favorites.
We skip trace them and we'll contactthem to see if anyone has any interest
about possibly selling their house.
And so that's one of the mainways that we go after, uh, and
pursue leads and opportunities.
We've also recently been testing ai.
I think, um.
If you are not leveraging ai,regardless of how you feel about it.
'cause my personal opinion is thattechnology is not going anywhere.
(30:51):
AI is not going anywhere.
It's gonna continue to advanceand evolve and after a while, very
soon, uh, just like the internet, I.People, consumers, clients are going
to, uh, become accustomed to it andalmost have an expectation for it.
And if you are not leveragingthat to stay on the cutting edge,
then you're gonna be left behind.
(31:11):
And so we lately, just recentlyhave started using AI in our real
estate business in multiple ways andactually all of our businesses, but
also with real estate, uh, to be moreefficient with our time and so on.
So we use AI to have conversationswith sellers, uh, whereas
before we would hire a team of.
Cold callers in thePhilippines, which are amazing.
(31:32):
Um, but they still, youknow, cannot work 24 7.
They, they ask for timeoff, they need breaks.
If they get sick, they can't work.
And so what we've done is we'vetransitioned that team to do something
else within our organization focusedon revenue and use AI now to.
Warm up the leads and then pass themon to, uh, the next team member.
(31:53):
So it helps us to be more efficientand helps us to target and focus
on quality leads that can bring us,you know, to a deal a lot faster.
And so that's one of the things thatwe're doing, uh, to generate leads.
And also, um, the MLS as well.
So we have agents, we buildrelationships with agents.
Um, I. People forget or don'trealize that 90% of real estate
(32:16):
transactions that happen in the UnitedStates are all listed on the MLS.
And so there's a lot oflow hanging fruit there.
Yes, you're gonna have to siftthrough and find the gems, uh, the
needle in the haystack, if you will.
And to help us with that, we buildrelationships with agents and so we
work with investor friendly agentsthat know what we're looking for.
And so if and when they come acrossan opportunity that they think
(32:38):
might meet our buying criteria,they reach out to us first.
And so through those relationshipsand through scouting and building
other relationships, uh, we'reable to lock up deals as well.
So tho those are our two mainsources is direct to seller
marketing and working with agents.
That's fantastic.
Ben and o one more, I think,important real estate question to ask
somebody who's been through so much.
(32:59):
You said when you started out you didn'treally have a construction background.
Contractors took advantage ofyou, you got burned a little bit.
And you know, it's, it's thesame thing as any industry.
Like, you know, people have abad experience with a contractor.
They go, contractors are bad.
But there's great ones outthere obviously, or we wouldn't
be able to do what we do.
So I think it's a huge thing startingout where people, like I use the
example, I go, look, you wouldn'tgo to court and represent yourself.
(33:20):
What makes you think you can gowith no experience and renovate a
house or run a construction crew?
Like go play with the electricand watch how good that works when
you have, you know what I mean?
Like it's, it's crazy but people tryand like cut corners and go, so what
are some maybe tips and tricks forsomebody starting out that are saying,
Hey, gimme some maybe red flags.
That might be something to say, I mightnot want work with this contractor.
Or maybe some systems andprocesses you put in place to make
(33:42):
sure that you have a good one.
So this is an area that canreally screw up your deal if
you don't hire the right person.
The right contractor can helpyou win and make a lot of money.
And the, a bad one can sinkyour deal and cost you a ton.
Um, and so for us.
You know, some of the first things thatwe're looking for is that they have
the proper paperwork, um, insurance, etcetera, license, and also references.
(34:07):
I, I think that's probably the biggestthing is recommendations and referrals.
And we check those and ask for,you know, obviously a portfolio
of their work so we can take alook at their past work as well.
And you know, even sometimes whenyou have all of that, they still
might take advantage of you.
And so it's one of those thingswhere you're just gonna have to.
Try your best to gather all ofthat stuff early, vet them and that
(34:30):
will greatly minimize your risk.
Um, but also give them a small project.
Um, see how they do, seehow their communication is.
I can tell you right now, uh,there's a company who went
through all of our checks.
And everything.
We vetted them.
It's a plumbing company.
And uh, we gave them one project.
They're actually not a plumbing company.
They do multiple things, butthey also specialize in plumbing.
(34:52):
And I could tell you just based onthis experience, on this one project
we gave, gave them, I'm probablynot gonna work with them again.
You know?
So you're gonna have to try peopleout, give them a chance, test
'em out, and see how they do.
And if they don't do well,then move on to someone else.
But you're gonna save yourselfa lot of headache, uh, lost
income by vetting them early.
Making sure that they're qualifiedto be able to even work on the job.
(35:14):
And one of the best ways thatI've been able to find people is
from recommendations from others.
Great stuff, man.
So I love that because I think that's aquestion I get a lot is like, well, how
do I know this person's gonna be great?
And I always give the analogy of dating.
Same thing with references, man.
It could be like, oh, Dolmar, my friendsaid, your sister's got this person that's
gonna be, I said, well, you like them.
That doesn't mean that I'm gonnabe a great fit for them, but I
appreciate that you feel like it.
(35:35):
So we're gonna go have a conversationand see if it makes sense.
And let's say that day goes, well,let's say we have everything in common.
We never fight.
We go on a hundred dates, we move intogether and we get married because
we are now sure that we're gonnabe the two greatest people matched
ever in the history of the world.
50% of the time, those peoplestill get divorced after being
married for 10, 15, 20 years.
(35:56):
You have to date the contractor,get some background checks.
It's like asking your buddies like, Hey,anybody know anybody date this girl?
Anything I should, you know what I mean?
Then, and then you go out and youfill it out, but it's, it's, you have
to go on a date, you have to try it.
There is no guarantee thatit's gonna work, just like
there's no guarantee anyway.
But just like you said.
A couple of questions, and that'sanother thing that I think is huge
is like you do the research therewhere one of my buddies once told
(36:16):
me the extra mile's never crowded.
That little bit of extra calls you madeor a little bit of extra research you did.
I. Is 99% more than 99% of the world does.
You know what I mean?
It's like, oh, this guy said it's a goodcontract and I'm just gonna hire him.
It's like, yeah, but youdidn't do any Well, no.
No, but so it, it's a crazy thing,but I think that that's great
information, sir. Thank you so much.
Yeah.
(36:36):
I, I, and every time I've bentaway from that process, it has
come back and bite me in the butt.
Uh, just recently we tried togive another guy a shot, a chance.
We didn't do any of our regular.
Process.
Uh, we were in a situation, wegot a lot of projects going on.
Uh, our current main team,we have four different crews.
Their bandwidth is spread thin becausewe're doing like 15 rehabs simultaneously.
(37:02):
Uh, we needed some drywall done at.
Two of our houses.
So I'm like, okay, wellthat's an easy project.
Um, we can probably find someonevery quickly that can hang mud
and texture, drywall, right?
So, uh, let's just go look for someone.
And so my team went and found someoneagain, a Russian not going through our
regular process 'cause we're Russian.
(37:22):
He actually did great.
He did great on thefirst two houses for us.
So, um, what he did is he hired othersubs that actually did the work.
He didn't do it himself,but, but, but they did great.
A couple weeks later, we have anotherproperty that's ready just for drywall.
We give him that project as well.
For some reason I'm like, again,I got so much going on, not.
Really paying attention.
(37:43):
Um, my, my team tells me like, Hey,this drywall has taken two weeks.
This is a project that shouldtake no more than two days.
It's been two weeks and it's not done.
And so I go check myself what's going on.
In fact, we're filming this for the show.
This is a house that's on the show.
I don't know if they're gonna show.
I was pissed off Nick.
I was so mad, but I'm sure they'reprobably gonna cover up some of that.
(38:06):
Um, but I was so mad, like we're twoweeks in and they're not even done.
And I go there and it's a completelydifferent crew as well than what
the guy had on the first two houses.
So I've tried to leave.
I start asking questionslike, what's going on?
Why didn't you have thefirst crew that you had here?
And he gives some excuse.
So I was just like, I called themmyself and they tell me, well.
(38:28):
He paid us for the first project, buthe didn't pay us for the second one.
I'm like, what do you mean?
Because I paid him.
He didn't pay you guys.
They're like, no, heowes us almost $7,000.
I'm like, wow.
And so I started asking the guysthat are on this job, this third
job, like, have you guys been paid?
Like, what's going on?
Have you?
And they're like, no, he hasn't paid us.
(38:48):
So I'm like, wow.
So he, he hired subpar peoplethat didn't know what they were
doing, uh, messed up the project.
I had to get rid of them that day.
But I actually paid them directly becauseI was afraid that if I paid this guy,
he wasn't even gonna pay these guys.
And so again, I, I didn't have to do that,but I did it anyway and I got rid of him.
I fired him.
(39:08):
And so now we're dealing with thatand he's pissed off and angry.
Did a little bit ofbackground search on him.
And you know what this guy.
Is in Tampa.
A known fraudster.
Known scammer.
He's been to prison like seventimes, and his last one was for
committing fraud in construction.
He's not even supposedto be doing construction.
Uh, he's on probation right nowand he's like over here threatening
(39:31):
my teen, threatening my family.
It can turn bad really quickly if youdo not, so let that be a lesson to you.
Let my mistake even again.
Trying to, you know, just movequickly and not follow our process.
Again, if it was someone else, you, youcould have been in a really bad situation.
I, I had to have my maincrew come and fix everything.
They got it all done in two days andit was beautiful, but we lost two
(39:54):
weeks of time and it cost me more moneyto fix his mistakes and do it right.
And now I got some crazy.
You know, person, uh,that we're dealing with.
Luckily he's gone away.
Now that situation has resolved itself,but dude, just follow the process.
Don't bend.
It's not worth it.
'cause every time I didit just didn't work out.
So normally when somebody gives me astory like that, the thing we would
(40:18):
say to each other at the bar is, manDelmar, if only there were cameras there.
A guy like you, you need a TV show.
But thankfully for us, you have one.
So as we start to wrap up here,you have to go to set soon.
But let's talk about zombie house flippingon a and e. You, sir, are the star of it.
I will never forget you sendingme a Nicole text message.
(40:38):
Like, holy crap.
I just got the text.
They just hired me for the like.
I remember it doing.
It all came together and stuff andwe were so proud of you and so it's
come a long way, but talk about it.
So everybody wants to be a realestate investor and get a TV show.
And you did man.
So talk a little bit about whatthe show is and how you got it.
How did it come about?
Let's go into that.
Sure.
So, uh, my business partnerFrancis, he was at a mastermind.
(40:59):
Talking about our business model andwhat we do, and coincidentally, there's
someone in the room as well attending thismastermind that is related to a casting
director for a production company that'slooking for someone for this real estate
show that they're looking to expand.
They were looking to franchise it justlike Housewives of Atlanta, and I don't
know what other cities they're in, but,um, they're looking for a franchise.
(41:21):
This show was, uh, very successful.
Show, and it was a hitfor a and e in Orlando.
And so there was zombiehouse flipping in Orlando.
Those are the original OGs of the show,and they did the first four seasons
and because it was such a hit, theywanted to expand into other cities.
And so this guy was like, Hey,you know, you should talk to my
cousin who was the casting directorfor the production company.
Maybe your.
(41:41):
Partner would be interested.
I've had other people hit me up in thepast about this, and it never worked
out, so we didn't give it much thought,but my business partner vetted it and
was like, this seems pretty legit.
And the show that they're castingfor is actually on the air right now,
and so maybe you should look into it.
And so I remember we were in Tulum,Mexico when he told me about it.
He was like, DOMA, you wanna do this?
I was like, sure, why not?
(42:02):
And then I had the call.
Turns out, oh my gosh, it is legit.
You know?
Again, not trying to getall excited about it.
Like, okay, cool.
We'll just go through theprocess and see what happens.
If it goes somewhere, awesome.
If it doesn't, no big deal.
I did an interview with them.
They liked, I guess, what they heard.
A couple weeks later, I was back in Tulum.
I looked.
Vic, you know, I go to Tulum quite a lot.
I do.
I know you're a big fan of Tulum, so Iwas back in Tulum a couple weeks later.
(42:27):
And they called me againwhile I was in Tulum.
I was there for about two weeks this time.
And they were like, Hey, we love you,but uh, we need you to shoot a video real
quick of you walking a house just so youcould see what you look like you and your
team look like when you walk a house.
And I'm like, well, my team's in Florida.
I'm in Tulum right now.
I'm like, oh man, but weneed it like tomorrow.
I'm like, what?
(42:48):
So I came up with this quick story of.
Well, maybe I can just find a distressedhouse here in Lumin filming on my
phone as if like, my team is gonnalook at another house in Tampa.
And, uh, Sam's like, Hey, Delmar, I foundthis other house for you to look at.
But because they're around thesame time, uh, we have to look
at them around the same time.
You look at this one by yourself.
(43:08):
And so I have my friend with me, uh,Sandra, who you also know Yeah, yeah.
Who lives in Tulum now, actually.
I was like, Sandra, uh, take my phoneand just film me walking through this
house talking about it and we'll.
Edit it together.
And so we did that, sent itto the production company.
They loved it.
They pitched it to a and eand you know, the, the casting
director was like, they loved it.
And they said, get that man to contract.
(43:29):
So that's how it happened.
We passed our background check anda couple months later we're filming
on set zombie house flip in Tampa.
Resourcefulness, sir.That's exactly what that is.
Yeah.
Full circle.
That's awesome man.
Yeah.
So what are some things that, uh, onceyou got into that, 'cause obviously
people watch stuff and you knowit's a TV show and there's a little
bit of a mix and match for what hasto be shown versus what goes on.
(43:51):
So that, that you'veactually experienced that.
What are some surprises?
That you experience going through itin real life versus what you expected
from watching these shows on tv?
A lot.
A lot.
Oh my gosh.
What an experience.
So, listen, first of all, I, Ilove this, I love production.
Um, before TV I went tohigh school for production.
(44:12):
You know, everything we deal with,our education business, I was the one.
Behind the scenes with the productionand the creative of all, of all of this.
So I, I love it.
Um, but there's a lot I did not expect.
Um, you know, I'm a real estate investorand, uh, one of the things that Brad
from a e he's the executive at a ewho gave the green light for our show.
And I think you met Brad, right?
(44:33):
Because he is in our mastermind now.
Yeah, he was just on the podcast.
Awesome, awesome.
So.
Um, Brad and I became friends lateron, um, and I invited him to join our
mastermind and he's been an absolutegem and value add for that group.
Uh, but before building thatrelationship with him, I didn't really
know him, and so he gave the greenlight for our show and when we met.
(44:56):
One of the things he said was, he islooking for attainable aspiration.
His goal with this show, unlike othershows that are on other networks, is,
you know, uh, there's a lot of stuff thatthey show, and the biggest thing is more
so the transformation, but they don'tinclude stories of, well, how did you
find the house and how did you structureyour deal and what are the numbers like?
And so he wanted to focus onattainable aspiration here where.
(45:20):
We can show through us thatwe're doing this for real.
So the risk is really on us.
We really have to go find these deals.
We have to secure funding for them.
And so he wanted to follow usmore documentary style than
scripted, like other shows are.
Also show that anybody can do this.
Anyone sitting on the couch, anyoneat home that with determination drive.
To want to get involved in realestate, let's show them through
(45:41):
the show how they can do this, butalso have some fun with it as well.
Showing the crazy houses thatwe are buying to renovate.
And so, uh, that was the goalfollowers documentary style.
Um, but the challenge is, and,and this was a challenge for
both the production company andus because it's not like someone
coached us before we got into this.
(46:02):
Uh, we're just thrown in andwe have to figure it out.
And the dynamic between productionand that world and construction, where
we're buying these crazy houses, ifyou've seen them, I'm talking about rat
infested, roach infested mold everywhere.
Termite infestations, rotted, woodroofs, caved in, we're taking down walls,
(46:22):
redoing the entire layout of the house.
When you're doing stufflike that, at that level.
Those things requireengineering plans and permits.
And what the production companywas not prepared for is how
long that stuff can take.
Sometimes, um, you know, forexample, right now there's a house
that we're supposed to be doingon, on the show, and it's month 11
and I still don't have my permit.
(46:44):
And that ruins and destroys productiontimelines because they have to hit
these deadlines because of air dates.
And so for us, for both production and us.
That was quite an experience andtrying to figure out how to navigate
that and work cohesively together.
And so that, I think was thebiggest challenge and hurdle.
And so production has learned alot through this, uh, when they're
(47:08):
producing and filming and followingand documenting a company and creating
a show that has to go through this.
And there's a lot of things outside of mycontrol, things I, I just don't control.
Um, and so.
That was a, a learningexperience for both of us.
And then a couple other things.
You know, just trying tomarry our worlds together.
Again, they're following usdocumentary style, right?
(47:28):
So something major could happenand they want to capture it.
They wanna capture it in real time.
They want to capture the drama, theywant to, anything that goes bad for me,
they, they, they, they're like, yes.
And I'm like, no.
Well, they wanna capture that, right?
They want to capture those moments.
And so sometimes the camera guyswill be on set, is our house, our
project, and I might not be there.
(47:51):
And so the camera guysmight see something happen.
Before I know about it before myguys call me and they're like, I.
Don't call Dmar, uh, we're justgonna have him come over here so he
can experience it in, in real time.
And so I, I remember one daymy house was flooding, A pipe
broke and the house was flooded.
And they didn't tell me.
I go and everyone on set knows about it.
(48:14):
And I, so they're filming, Hey, we'rejust doing a check-in, you know, and,
you know, and 'cause that's what we do.
We we're always constantlychecking in on our projects and
filming the, the, uh, progress.
And I walk in.
I'm like, what the hell is going on here?
And you know, again,this happened for real.
We don't know how it happened,but it happened for real.
(48:35):
The pipe broke.
I think it broke during ourdemo, but I didn't notice it.
And so the house was flooding fora couple of days and we go back a
couple days later to check on it.
And so they intentionally, uh, don't sharecertain things with me to try to catch.
The real authentic reactions of,uh, how I feel in the moment.
And sometimes I get reallypissed off and angry.
(48:58):
Other times it's like, not a big deal.
But, uh, it, it's been fun.
It's, it's been inter interesting.
My, my biggest joy though ishaving my wife on the show with me.
Um, I think the dynamic of my wifeand I showing our relationship.
Showing how we interact with each other.
People tell me that theylove the banter between us.
(49:18):
Um, I, I am very, uh, very ambitious.
I wanna do a lot of things, crazythings, and she somehow knows how to
control and check me and keep me, yeah.
Grounded oftentimes.
And so, uh, I love having her onthe show and filming with my family.
Now.
My kids have been on there as well.
Very cool man.
Shout out to Keisha Cross.
(49:39):
She's a powerhouse, amazing personality.
Always bubbling.
Always life of the party.
For sure.
For sure.
Awesome stuff, man.
And your kids too.
Dude.
I, it was great.
So you came out, we watchedAl Jermaine Sterling.
Uh, win the title, I think, or defendthe title in, uh, Jacksonville.
Out there.
We all came out.
You brought the kids out there.
You wound up taking apicture in the bathroom.
I remember.
Did you send me a picture?
You're like, Hey, I justtook a picture with this guy.
(50:01):
Who's this?
I was like, dude, that's Alexander Koski.
He's like one of the most famousUFC fighters in the entire way.
Everybody in this hotel is trying tomeet this guy and you like randomly
work up next to him in the bathroom.
Don't even know who he is.
But it was awesome.
It was a good time, dude, so I did it.
It is always good to see you.
It's always good to see your family.
So talk a little bit about howdo people connect with you now?
'cause not only the TV show.
(50:21):
But you guys are helping with AIbusiness, real estate stuff, wholesale.
You have so much stuff going on.
So talk about what are the things youhave going on now that you can help
people begin or expand their businesses?
Sure.
So now we are teaching people if theywant to get involved in real estate,
one of the fastest, easiest ways todo it, uh, with minimal risk with
limited capital is, uh, wholesaling.
(50:43):
We call it paper flipping.
And so if you wanna learn how toget involved in real estate with.
Limited to no cash or without using yourown cash, without using your credit,
without any credentials or certifications.
When I say credentials, I'm talking aboutno bank statements or tax returns needed.
Paper flipping is what we teachand we share how to do that.
So you can hit me up on Instagram orsocial or any of my social media accounts.
(51:05):
Is Domar Cross is my handleon, you know, TikTok?
Instagram, YouTube, you name it.
And, uh, I'm sure there's linkssomewhere on, on those pages
of how to get into our world.
Um, and so that is one of the thingsthat we're doing with real estate.
And then with ai, uh, my businesspartners are spearheading that
(51:26):
now, Nick, we actually have ourfirst live in-person event since
2020 coming up in a couple of days.
And it is on ai.
It has been such a revolutionarything that's happening in that.
Space and, and it's moving at so faste every six months, it's almost like
you can't keep up with the changes.
Uh, every time we've been doing theselive virtual events, we have, you know,
(51:47):
700 to a thousand people that attend.
It's nuts.
And so this is our firstlive in person event.
Uh, we have over 300 people registeredfor this, and so I'm excited about that
and, and, uh, we're gonna be sharinghow you can leverage AI in your business
regardless of what you're doing.
I personally think that this year.
Two of the biggest things that you shouldbe focused on, especially if you're an
(52:08):
entrepreneur, is building your personalbrand and leveraging AI tools, uh, to
keep you on the cutting edge as well,and give you that unfair advantage.
And so that, those are some of thethings that we're gonna be talking
about, how you can use AI in your lifeand your business regardless of what
you do to win and thrive this year.
So if you have any interest in ai, Iwould encourage you to go check out our
Real Advisors page on Instagram, and I'msure there's a link there as well, so
(52:33):
you can look more about what we're doing.
Awesome man.
Obviously anybody listening to this, I'llput all the links for you and for all your
companies and for all the stuff you gotgoing on in the show notes at any time.
And again, I, I basically buy everythingyou guys have and it's always fantastic.
So I vouch for it for sure.
You, sir, are somebodywho brings your A game.
Everything you do in life, everythingyou do in business, and this
interview has been no different.
You definitely both a gameto the A Game podcast today.
(52:55):
Do more cross any final thoughts beforeI let you go about your busy day?
I don't know why we didn't do this sooner.
I just shouldn't have.
I should have asked you sooner.
That was my fault.
I'll take responsibility on that.
No, no, no.
It's not your fault at all.
Honestly.
It was me.
It was, it was all me.
I just mentally, I wasn't, I, Iwas not trying to be out there as
much, but I am being intentional.
(53:15):
This time, this year, it was oneof my, uh, goals is to get outta my
comfort zone and get out there more.
And so when I saw your invite.
Probably, I don't know howmany times you've sent it.
Like this time I'm not going to skip it.
I'm gonna do it, I'm gonnacommit, I'm gonna be there.
And I did.
So I'm glad.
And again, thank you for yourpatience and also for giving me
(53:36):
the opportunity, uh, to be here.
I. I ne I never want togive anybody any pressure.
I just wanna always extend the invite.
And I knew eventuallywe would make it happy.
And yeah, I'm very happy that we did, man.
This has been awesome.
Thank you for sharingyour time with us today.
Go Mark Cross.
Have a fantastic day, sir. Awesome man.
You too.
Welcome to the A Game podcast with NickLamonia digging into the minds and.
Experiences of some of today's brightestentrepreneurs in real estate and
business, along with Hollywood Stars, UFCfighters and your favorite rock bands.
People that have figured out howto overcome obstacles, take chances
live boldly, and no matter what theydo, they always bring their A game.
(00:49):
Alright.
My guest today on the AGame podcast is Domar Cross.
He is the host of Zombie Flippingon a and e, and he is a famous real
estate investor on social mediaand he's done tons of deals, over a
thousand deals over the last few years.
And he's a close personal friend of minethat tells his stories of the good, the
bad, and the ugly of the real estateinvesting doing a reality TV show.
And on the A Game podcast, realEstate Investing for Entrepreneurs.
(01:09):
What our goal is, is to showaverage people every day that you
can achieve extraordinary thingsand just the 350 plus episodes we
have, you can go back and listen tosome of the top athletes fighters.
Entrepreneurs, business people andinvestors in the world, and you can learn
what the path was for them to achievefinancial freedom and success, all the
things they did right that you can do, orall the things they did wrong, that you
(01:30):
can learn from their mistakes and not takethose bumps and bruises and probably just
find the way to achieve your personal bestwith just going into the back archives.
But if that is not enough, doDelmar Cross brings the heat today,
so definitely tune into this one.
We talk about how to find some ofthe hottest markets in the country.
What a good and a bad wholesaler is,how to find good contractors, how to
screen good workers, whether it's ageneral contractor, a subcontractor, how
(01:52):
to do your due diligence on your teams.
We talk about the state of the real estatemarket, the two top things that you need
to be doing in 2025 to stick out and besuccessful short and long term, and the
near and coming changes with the world.
With technology, we talk about.
Ai.
We talk about how Delmar's gettingsome of the best deals right now.
We talk about imposter syndrome, mindsetfailure, starting out, overcoming
(02:13):
obstacles, all the things that even ifyou are not a real estate investor, if
you are a human, a business person, oranybody that's just trying to do their
best in life, this is a great episodefor you to learn about how to keep
yourself going, keep yourself strong,fight through some of the bad times
to see some of the good that can come.
When you don't quit and yousurround yourself with the right
people and the right support tokeep going and achieve your best.
(02:35):
So thank you so much for Delmar coming on.
Can't say enough greatthings about real advisors.
Brian Hanson, Francis Abola, DelmarCross, they've been outstanding.
Rich Dun, I can't forget Rich Dun,but they've been friends and business
associates of mine for a very long time.
Uh, they do Killer Con out there,so definitely check the show notes
to see all the stuff they have goingon with their live and their virtual
events, the stuff that they haveteaching you about ai, the stuff they
have teaching you about real estate.
(02:56):
And of course, check outDelmar's smiling face.
On zombie flipping on a and E allthe time in your local TV stations.
The only feat that have amazing stars likeDomar on this show is just to subscribe.
So please, if you have not the A Gamepodcast, real Estate Investing for
Entrepreneurs is available everywhere.
You watch and listen to yourpodcast, please just take one
second and subscribe to it.
It really helps us to get great guestson and continue to get great guests on.
(03:18):
If you can't find it, just go tonic.com/links, L-I-N-K-S nik.com/links.
And what you will also see is allour social media, as I share clips
from this podcast, the way that Domarknows he bought you value is that you
interact with the social media clips.
So you're all usuallyscrolling on social media.
Anyway, please take a secondwhen these clips come out.
(03:38):
Follow us through nik.com/linkson Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
all that fun stuff, whereveryou prefer your social media.
And follow us and we'll followyou back and we can interact with
you and you could just let Domarknow that you love the clip.
Giving it a thumbs up, giving it aa tag, giving it a share, tagging
a friend, asking him a question.
So he tells other people what greatcommunities we have and they bring
other phenomenal guests on to giveyou free advice on what to do and
(04:00):
what not to do, to hit your best,reach your highest potential, and
not make mistakes along the way.
And the big thing here is Iwant to do real estate together.
So please shoot me a text message to 51 6 5 4 0 5 7 3 3 that says real estate.
And we can open up a conversation or justtext me the words real estate to any of
my social media platforms or real estate.
And then I will know to give you a callor set up a conversation so we can figure
(04:22):
out, do you wanna buy real estate from me?
Do you wanna sell real estate to me?
Are you just looking to seehow we can partner together?
But anybody that has any real estatethat they wanna sell at as an investment
on any level, please contact me.
You can go to sell to nick.com or justshoot me a message on that text message.
We are buying, buying, buying,and we would love to buy from you.
Thank you so much forlistening to the Game podcast.
(04:43):
Thank you so much to my good friend.
Do.
For being a great human coming on andbringing the Heat A Game Podcast ladies
and gentlemen, have a fantastic day.
Alright, my guest today is an entrepreneureducated public speaker and CEO fighting
out of Florida by way of Jamaica.
This son of a preacher went from a brokecollege student and balloon artiste to
(05:05):
an extremely rocky start in real estateinvesting through some some decisive
decisions and relentless commitment.
He stayed in the game and finally foundfinancial success and this natural
born entrepreneur found his calling.
He has since done over a thousandreal estate deals from wholesaling
to fix and flip from lipstick rehabs.
Two major renovations, and now youcan find him bringing some of the most
decrepit houses in the greater Tampa areaback to life as he is the host of the hit
(05:28):
TV show, zombie House Flipping on a and e.
He's not only one of the mostphotogenic investors out there with
a massive social media following.
He is also an expert on brand buildingwhere he and his partners are the
men behind the men for some of thebiggest influencers in real estate.
When he finally then decided it's timeto build up his own brand, he is now the
CEO of Real Capital and the co-founderof the Real Estate Education Company,
(05:49):
real Advisors, as well as many otherreal brand subsidiaries, all carrying
the tone of all authenticity that himselfand his partners bring on and off camera
Real Advisors has been recognized asone of IG magazines, one of the fastest
growing private companies in the nation.
He's a father, he's a husband.
He did animated sign language in anr Kelly video and at the Super Bowl,
and himself and his business partnersare people I could not be happier to
(06:11):
call close personal friends of mine.
One of the absolutenicest guys in the game.
Welcome finally to the A Game podcast,the one at only Dole Mar Cross.
Wow.
I don't think you missed anything out.
You, you covered a lot.
You definitely know me more than I,I, I forgot some of that stuff, man.
(06:32):
Hey, public figures baby.
This is what happens.
People get to know you betterthan you know yourself.
Right?
Wow.
Wow.
Well, we finally did it, Nick.
We finally hit it.
We did it.
Man.
I appreciate you how patientyou've been with me pestering you
to come on for a long time now,but, uh, I know you're a busy guy.
I don't know when you can't make the time.
You always do, sir. So.
I'm excited to have you here and there'sso many different things we can touch
on, and I think one of the first thingsthat, you know, you came to an event
(06:54):
that I was speaking at and you got upthere and I heard you tell your story
that I hadn't heard in a long time andI forgot, like some of the key points of
success are not only mindset, but makingas you call them, decisive decisions.
And I think that that's a, a bigthing because I think people see you
on TV and they don't realize that.
Things were tough starting outand you didn't have a really great
(07:15):
experience on your first few deals.
So I like to start there and talk aboutthat because I think as you and I have
both dealt with people that are startingout in real estate and maybe they sign
up for a mentorship or something andthen things don't go as planned for
the first couple and then they quit.
And I tell everybody, as long asyou don't quit, you can't fail.
And you are a living testament to that.
So talk a little bit about some of thelosses you had and how you kept yourself
(07:36):
mentally going through those to findyour first couple of wins in real estate.
Sure.
So you have to want to be successfulmore than you fear failure.
You know, when I found real estate,when I discovered real estate, it was
through a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad.
It was a book that opened up my eyesto the possibilities of what could be.
And this is during a time when I wasa broke college student going to the
(07:57):
University of South Florida, and Iwas in my junior year, I was gonna
school full time and I was also doing.
Door to door sales after my classesand then at nighttime after you
couldn't knock on people's doorsanymore 'cause it got too late.
I went out and I was making these things.
My sister just sent this to me as areminder of never forget where you
come from, uh, to remind me that I usedto be a balloon artist making balloon
(08:20):
animals, pregnant monkeys, you name it.
And uh, I made decent money, butoftentimes I was still broke.
I, I couldn't afford my bills and myparents had to oftentimes bail me out.
And so when I found real estate,uh, this was in the year 2005.
Uh, so 20 years ago, uh, at 20 yearsold is when I found real estate.
(08:41):
And so I was excited about the ideaand I shared the idea with my parents.
And my parents coming from Jamaicathought that, you know, the only
way to success here in Americawas to go to school, college, get
your degree when you graduate.
Go to corporate America and climbthe rungs of that ladder to success.
Um, and so when I shared this ideaabout getting into real estate,
(09:03):
they, like most people, thought,you need a whole lot of money.
You need good credit credentialsand so on, uh, to even, you
know, get into that space.
And at that time, at 20years old, I'm broke.
No established credit, nothing to my name.
And so they thought that, you know, mydream was a pipe dream, you know, not
that they didn't want me to be successful.
They really did.
My dad always taught me to be ambitious,strive for greatness, but he thought
(09:26):
that this was an unrealistic goal.
You know, my friends in college, my, I.The girls I was talking to at the time in
relationships with, nobody believed in me.
Everyone thought that, youknow, you're a balloon artist.
Who do you think you are?
You think you're better than us, you'regonna fail before you even start.
And so I was just so driven for success.
I was tired of being broke.
(09:46):
And when you get to that point whereyou're just sick and tired of being
sick and tired of being, of beingsick and tired of being broke, you
know you gotta do something different.
And I knew that.
There was something out there morefor me and I wasn't gonna settle.
I read that book, it opened myeyes to what's possible, but
it wasn't a step-by-step book.
But still, I thought, youknow, I'm a smart guy.
I can figure this out.
And so I jumped in head first.
(10:07):
Um, and I bought my first property throughan agent that my friend at the time,
who's now my wife today, my girlfriendat the time, uh, her, uh, uncle, and
he helped me buy my first property.
Then a month later boughta second one as well.
And so this is.
Q1 of 2005.
You know, I quickly realized thatI bought those properties wrong.
(10:27):
I, I bought them way above valueand, you know, it just wasn't
the right investment strategy.
So I read a few more books and realized,oh duh, you gotta buy these houses below
value, like buy dilapidated, distressedhouses, fix them up, force the value
up, and then sell them for profit.
Me being a pastor's kid, growingup in the church, spending most
(10:48):
of my life in the church, I had noconstruction knowledge or knowhow.
And so here I am still driven.
Uh, you know, I, I jumped in andbought my first rehab project.
It was in Lakeland, Florida onBrunel Parkway, and I failed
miserably on that deal because.
Contractors took advantage of myinexperience and I had to get rid of them.
(11:09):
I had to hire another crew to come inand fix the mistakes the first crew made.
And when I sold the property,I barely broke even.
Uh, but then I didn't quit.
You know, most people probablywould've thrown in the towel
and quit by now, but I.
Again, still driven.
I didn't quit.
I bought my fourth house from awholesaler in Tampa, Ybor City,
and this house was a shell.
You walk in, you look up, you seesky, you look down, you see dirt.
(11:30):
It was a complete shellof a house, a frame house.
One week into that renovation, Nick,the whole house falls down on me, um,
not on me, but falls down to the ground.
I, I took out a 65,000 hard money loanto buy this house, and now there's.
No house, it's completely gone.
So not only am I broke back againstthe wall bank account in the red
(11:51):
more times than I can remember.
Now I'm $65,000 in debt.
What do I do?
And I think most people probablywould've quit thrown in the towel.
Most people probably would'velistened to those voices or those
people that they had around them.
You know, when you think about an ideaor dream that you have and that you.
When you think about the people that yougo to or run to, to share these ideas
(12:13):
and dreams with, when you're excited andyou're looking for support or advice or
direction or guidance, you go to yourparents, your friends or your spouse,
people you're in relationships with.
And when none of those peoplesupported me, and I'm now in this
situation where I'm now 65,000 in debt.
I did fail.
Seemingly I failed.
I could have easily said, you know what?
Maybe those people were right.
(12:33):
Maybe success is not meant for me.
Maybe this business is not meantfor me after all, I should have
never gotten started because nowhere I am, it would've been so.
Easier to quit, it would'vebeen so much easier to settle.
It would've been so much easier tostay comfortable than pursue my dreams.
And in that moment I could have, youknow, thrown in the towel and called
it a failure and, you know, figureout how do I get out of it outta
(12:56):
that situation and, and move on.
But you know what I did.
You know, I became resourceful.
I have this thing where I say, yourbiggest resource is your resourcefulness,
and if you want something badly enough,you'll do whatever it takes to get
there, regardless of what limitationsor lack you might have in your life.
If you want something badlyenough, you will figure it out.
Tap into that producer mindset.
And so I took out a student loan.
(13:19):
I saw that.
People were successful doing this.
Um, and I realized that, you know,all that they know is a few more
things that I don't know right now.
They're no more smarter than me.
I'm just that smart.
They just have knowledge,specialized knowledge that I don't
have right now, and how do I getthat and how do I get it quickly?
And so I took out a student loan thatwas supposed to be for my tuition in my
books, and I could have used that money.
(13:40):
And, you know, paid the lender thatI now owe $65,000 to, and, uh, worked
out a payment plan on the balance owed.
But you know what?
I decided to invest in mentorshipand that was, I think, one of the
defining decisions and moments in myentire life because it's one of the
defining moments in my entire life.
I think one of the best decisionsI made, there are other decisions
(14:03):
I made later on, like, you know,my wife, you know, kids and so on.
But, um, uh, back then at 20 years old.
It was one of the best decisions I couldhave ever made, and I didn't know it
in the moment, right, but that decisionbecame a seven figure decision because
it helped me to, you know, launch mycareer and it would've been easy to again,
(14:24):
settle and listen to all of the limitingbeliefs of all the people around me.
But I didn't.
I believed in myself, and I knewthat I was gonna do whatever
it took to be successful.
I would run through walls if I had to,and I was gonna learn this financial
skillset so that no one can ever holdme back or down in life ever again.
And when I made that decision to investin myself, my education, I found my mentor
(14:44):
that last quarter of 2005, I made $60,000.
My mentor also helped me to negotiateout of that deal that now fell apart.
The house that fell down.
It helped me to negotiate what'scalled a partial release with the
lender where I could sell the lot'cause the land was still valuable.
It was a 50 by a hundred lot,sold it to a builder for 30,000.
That helped me reducemy debt to the lender.
(15:05):
Uh, they put a lien on the otherhouses I owned the ones I bought
in the beginning, the first two,uh, just to secure their loan.
And then I worked to pay them off.
And so my mentor taughtme the art of what.
We call wholesaling, I call itpaper flicking today, or you're
just flipping a piece of paper andmaking, uh, a good amount of money.
My mentor taught me back then the artof wholesaling, and it was almost like a
(15:26):
well kept underground secret that not alot of people knew about because social
media was just starting to come out right.
And so it wasn't mainstream like it istoday, back then, and very quickly at.
20 and 21 years old, I was makingupwards of $50,000 per month.
Um, even the local newspapers herein Tampa wrote articles about me
(15:47):
and I thought it would never end.
Nick, I thought it was gonna raining moneyfrom the sky and I was living a good life.
I was traveling, having fun doing things.
Uh.
Pastor's kid probably should not do.
Um, but I was living life and I was havingfun, and that was a great life until
2008 happened, 2007, 2008 happened, andI lost everything seemingly overnight.
(16:07):
In fact, I got married.
To my wife and came back from myhoneymoon to go see a bankruptcy attorney.
That's, that's how I started my marriage.
I don't know if any anyone can say thatthey have a spouse or a partner that would
be that supportive, especially in thebeginning, but I'm grateful and blessed
that mine certainly was, and she stoodby my side and helped me dig my way outta
(16:28):
that depression because I was embarrassed.
I became depressed.
I was spiraling down thisdeep, dark hole of depression.
I feared I couldn't get.
Eternal out of, and I quit.
I quit real estate.
I gave up, I filed chapterseven bankruptcy Even.
And I quit the business forabout three years until one day
someone helped shift my mindset.
Another colleague of mine who wasalso in the business, who also lost
(16:49):
everything during that last recession,but then he figured out how to pivot
and adapt, and he was making moremoney than when the market was good.
He was making more money in the recession.
And so that was the light bulb momentfor me that, you know, I protected
my mindset before I got started andI ignored all the naysayers, the
pessimistic, cynical people who said.
Don't do it.
Don't get started.
You're gonna fail.
And then I proved them wrong.
(17:09):
Well, not right away.
I did fail in the beginning, butthen I ended up proving them wrong.
Once I got mentorshipand guidance and help.
And then when I lost everything,I became embarrassed because
I didn't protect my mind.
You know, I became a victim of,you know, these negative thoughts.
And I quit.
And you know, there was a periodof time where I couldn't even put
food on the table for my family.
My 2-year-old daughter at the time, Icouldn't even buy her formula or diapers.
(17:32):
It was a rough journey and,and rollercoaster of a ride.
I jumped back in, in 2011, started mynew company, three Day Cash Buyers,
and started doing a lot of deals.
My first month I did one deal.
Second month I did.
Uh, seven deals by month three.
I had 17 deals on the contract.
And this is all because my friends,my colleagues, just helped to shift my
mindset to get my head back in the game.
(17:52):
You know, some of these people actually,um, you know, Jason Meley, Lee Carney, and
uh, drew Downs, those were the three guysthat are like, Domar, what are you doing?
And so you gotta surroundyourself with the right people.
Um, I, I can't stress that enough.
So mentorship, surrounding yourselfwith the right people can help.
Catapult you give you that launchingpad to achieve and accomplish
(18:13):
amazing things that you yourselfsometimes even think were possible.
Man, I think that's incredible.
Shout out to Lee and to Jason, both theformer guests of the podcast as well.
Great guys.
But I think that people when they gothrough this think that they're the only
ones who ever have like, and my buddyJim once said, you know, as people.
When things are good, you feellike times are never gonna end.
And when things are bad, you feellike times are ne like it always
(18:34):
feels like this will go on forever.
But I think every successstory has these man.
I think it's a huge thing with support.
When you talk about everybody has like99% of these people that doubt them and
make you doubt yourself, but sometimesyou can find just this one person that
makes you think that you're not crazy andgives you that little bit of hope and it.
It's very interesting 'cause I feellike, as you said, one of the best
things I've gotten from investing inentrepreneurs around me and mentorships
(18:57):
and stuff like I've done with you andsigned up for real advisors and things
is surrounding yourself with peopleevery day that show you things that
everybody else told you were impossible.
And at some people, sometimes you lookaround and you go, man, I. All these other
people are doing this, like at some point,like you feel crazy for not doing it.
And I think that that'sa huge thing people miss.
And I remember one of my, uh, dad'sfriends came over and bought me like this.
Like he, the guy was an entourage and hewas like, oh my, my kid's an entourage.
(19:18):
And it was like right when I hurt my hand.
And he was like, yeah.
He's like, uh, he plays Kevin Connelley.
He plays Ian Entourage.
He's like, and I remember he gotin a commercial and he moved out to
California and he was doing well.
He was like in Rocky and stuff.
And he had this friend that waslike freeloading on the couch.
And the mom kept saying like,get the kid out of there.
It is never gonna be anything.
Like you're doing something.
This kid's trying to mooch off you.
He is like, no mom, it's my friend.
(19:39):
He's gonna do good.
He is gonna be successful.
Fast forward five, 10 years.
The bum on the couch was Toby McGuire.
Wow.
And now Toby McGuire andLeonardo DiCaprio are like.
The guy's closest friends and fundall his movie projects and stuff.
So it's one of those things wherelike everybody, at some point,
once they see you on a TV show,they forget that you were like
the kid with no hope on the couch.
Like we all have those stories.
So I hope anybody that listens tothat, that feels despair at any point
(20:02):
in their journey realizes that I.
This is what we all do.
And so a a follow up question tothis is, I know in business what
we see in all the masterminds we'rein is people are forced to pivot.
Whether it's because of financial thingsor because of things like a pandemic.
And I know that that wasn't theonly time that you were forced
to pivot in your business.
You guys had to make a major shift.
Do you feel like goingthrough some of those.
Early trials and tribulations helpedyou have a smoother transition
(20:25):
through it later in life as you foundmore of them and pivoted with real
advisors and adapted to the pandemic.
Oh, for sure.
Uh, Nick failure did not break me.
Failure made me, yeah, that'swhat I'm talking about.
And so it really helped to strengthenand sharpen the mind because again, it's
easy to fall victim to negative thoughtsand, you know, wanting to give up.
(20:46):
And so.
During 2020 Covid, at the peak of that,you know, Nick's talking about our
other company, our education business,this, it's called Real Advisors.
Through that company, we have beenable to positively impact the lives
of many people all around the world.
We used to publish other expertsand um, you know, people that we.
We thought were real advisors and the bestof the best in their niche and category.
(21:08):
And so we were doing live events, hostinglive events, sometimes three to four
events per month around the country.
And when Covid hits, well, the CDCcomes and says, oh, you're not allowed
to host any live events anymore.
And so we had like.
Our next batch of eventsalready planned out.
Booked hotels, deposits,secure everything, and we
(21:29):
had to shut all of that down.
I think it was eight of them.
And not only that, we also had to shutdown some of our brands too, because
during that time people were So, I.
Uncertain.
People were scared not spending money.
The last thing undereveryone's mind was education.
Right?
Um, and so we had to shut things down.
We got rid of one of our brands,we sold one of the other ones.
(21:49):
It was a very scary time.
And we also had conversations, Nick, aboutwhat day are we gonna file bankruptcy?
Because we went overnightinto like just debt.
Massive, massive, massive amounts of debt.
And so our CEO also got sickwith Covid, and he was in the
hospital and there was some.
Times where we thoughthe was not gonna make it.
(22:11):
It was really scary for us and we alsostarted having conversations about what
day are we gonna file bankruptcy at?
At for a while there was a momentwhere it wasn't a question that we
were going to file, it was what daywe're gonna file, because that's how
bad it got for us, you know, just.
There's no way of generating new revenue'cause you can't do events anymore because
of Covid, um, getting rid of the brand.
(22:33):
So there's no newrevenue coming in either.
It was, it was very bad.
And so we were faced with decisions,tough decisions we had to make.
Unfortunately, we had to lay off almostmore than half of our staff and just
buckle down and get lean and mean.
And.
Figure out what to do.
And uh, it was also in that moment wheremy business partners looked to me and
said, you know what, it's time for you toget from behind the scenes and, you know,
(22:54):
start teaching what you've been doing.
Uh, 'cause you have the experience,you have the credibility,
uh, you have the resume.
But Nick, I did not wantto be in the forefront.
I didn't want to be on camera.
I enjoyed being behind the scenes.
And, uh, it took you and I just.
Even two years just to get on thispodcast because the truth is, and as
crazy as this might seem, because I havea TV show, I don't like being on camera.
(23:18):
I am very comfortable beingbehind the scenes and propping
and lifting and promoting someoneelse to be in that forefront.
Uh, but this was a moment wheremy business partners called on me.
Uh, they needed me andreluctantly I, I did it.
And the very first trainingthat I did blew even me away.
It surprised even me.
(23:39):
Um, people were excited,ecstatic, um, hungry, wanting to
learn, and because of a direct.
Uh, result of our trainings,we were able to really impact a
lot of lives, especially duringthat time when people needed it.
Like, what do I do?
You can't go anywhere.
There's a pandemic and epidemics.
Places are shutting down.
People losing jobs.
We were able to help a lot of people out,and so it created this thing within me.
(24:04):
You know, my dad's a pastor and healways wanted me to be a pastor too.
I was like, no, that's not for me.
But I truly believe.
You know, this has become myGod-ordained assignment to positively
impact lives in a different way.
Um, and so we've been blessedto be able to do that.
Just grateful man, grateful to play asmall part in a lot of people's lives.
If you have been kicking yourself thatyou didn't start investing in real
(24:24):
estate sooner, whether you're a beginner,intermediate, or advanced, any way you're
looking to get it on a residential,commercial, land development, wholesaling,
fix and flips, whatever it is, let'sfind a way to get you involved in some
projects, get you some properties,whether you wanna sell some properties
to me, whether you want to buy someproperties from me, whether residential,
fix and flip, cash flow, multifamily,whatever it is you're looking for.
Let's figure out a way to getyou involved or find a way for
(24:46):
us to partner up on some deals.
Reach out to me on any.
Of my social media channels.
If you go on www.nic.com/links, you willsee all the different ways to connect
with me and figure out how we canstart to work together, make it happen.
Everybody that invests inreal estate always just says
they wish they did it sooner.
Best time to start is today.
Super cool, man.
(25:06):
And again, I, I went througha lot of your events, man.
They were absolutely fantastic andI'm a big believer and there's a
lot of education out there, but whenyou find people that you click with.
It makes all the difference in the world.
And we just did man,like found each other.
And I've said this a lot of times, likeI've gone out to dinner with like, your,
your shout out to Brian Hansen, but Iremember we went out to like this dinner
and I was like introducing people andI was like, I'm probably into Brian
(25:28):
Hansen for about $60,000 at this point.
And I was like, but you know what?
I'd be happy to go into another60 'cause of what have I got
out of the 60 that I gave him?
That's why he's at thedinner right now, man.
So you guys have been.
People that I've been a, astudent and a friend of for a very
long time and everything you'veever done has been top-notch.
Top tier, like the events, the people,the education, like, I, I can't say enough
(25:49):
good things about you, Francis and Brian.
Dude, you guys have been outstanding.
So I, I watched what you didand I can vouch for that.
It was incredible and I'm sureanything you guys do that you all
focus on, we will be no different man.
As we pivot into someof these other things.
Now, I know you do have to get on settoday, so I don't wanna keep you too
long, but obviously we're a real estatepodcast, so I wanna touch on some real
estate stuff, and then obviously I gota bunch of questions about the show.
(26:09):
But you talked about wholesaling andpaper flipping, and I think when, uh, oh
man, there was something the other daysomebody said, I forgot what it was, but
it was, I think we were at like, I waslike pickleball with Nicole or something,
and somebody was like, are you this?
And they were like, no, no, no, no, no.
Like.
It was like a dirty like word.
And I feel like as a real estateinvestor, when people hear like you're
a wholesaler, like sometimes it'sgot this negative connotation to it.
(26:30):
And I think it's because likeanything else, like if people have
an experience with a bad wholesaler,they go, well, that's a bad, I had
a bad experience with the doctor.
Now doctors are bad.
So talk a little bit about what it is,like what separates the good, the bad?
Why is there some bad.
Wraps for some of thesewholesalers out there.
Like what makes a goodand a bad wholesaler?
Sure.
So, you know, when I got started again,wholesaling was like a well-kept secret.
(26:51):
Not a lot of people knew aboutit, but thanks to social media,
um, you can find the topic ofwholesaling any and everywhere.
And so you can go on YouTube, watcha couple videos and feel like you can
go out there and do it even withoutknowing all the steps or the pieces of
the, all the, all of the moving parts.
And, and so I think because ithas become so mainstream and so.
(27:13):
Many people out there doing it,and honestly, just some bad apples
and greedy people in the industry.
Uneducated or not well trained peoplewho go out there and try to do a
wholesale deal and they'll contract tobuy grandma's house who might be facing
foreclosure, about to lose her house inX amount of days, but they contracted
it too high because they don't knowhow to properly analyze the deal and
(27:33):
try to market it to find a buyer for itbecause, but because it's not great of.
A price.
They don't find any buyers.
And instead of going back torenegotiate, they don't, and
they just string grandma along.
And Grandma's really hoping and prayingthat you are the person that's gonna
save them and help them sell theirhouse and save their credit and put
some money in their pocket to startthe next chapter of their life.
But then you don't, and then they endup losing the house and you're like, oh,
(27:57):
sorry, I tried because you were greedyand also didn't know what you were doing.
So unfortunately, uh, I think likemost industries, there are bad
apples out there and people thathave taken advantage of people.
And, you know, also justdidn't practice good business.
And because of that, um, ourindustry has gotten a bad rap.
(28:17):
You know, there's people that, you know,they just took advantage of people.
And also because of that is why lawsare starting to pass in certain states
that are cracking down on the loopholeor concept or idea of assigning
contracts, which is wholesaling.
And I actually welcome those changes.
I don't know if many people willsay that, but I welcome that
because I feel like it will.
Create another step on or another barrierfor these people who are greedy, who
(28:40):
try to take advantage of others or alsoinnocently don't know what they're doing.
'cause they're not well trainedand so inadvertently they
take advantage of people.
I think it would create another layer forthe people who are really trying to do
good business and do things the right way.
And when it comes to investing, Iidentify myself as a real estate
investor, not just a wholesaler.
A wholesaler is a tool in my tool belt.
You know, when we put aproperty under contracts.
(29:02):
To buy.
We have multiple options.
I can buy the house, fix it up, and flipit like you see me do on my TV show, or
I could fix it up and keep it as a rentalproperty, or I can decide to wholesale it.
So, uh, when I contracted to buy aproperty, I go in and I make that offer.
With the idea of having multiple exitstrategies and I decide which one
(29:23):
I'm gonna pursue based on what myinventory looks like, what my cash flow
looks like, and you know, and so on.
So, um, I do it all.
We buy fix and flip.
We wholesale and we buyand hold, um, as well.
I think that that's awesome man.
And uh, I think you said it perfectly.
I tell everybody the bad quote unquotewholesalers out there, they either
don't know what they're doing orthey don't care what they're doing.
(29:45):
So I think education is super important,but at the end of the day, it's just
'cause they didn't lock in a good deal.
But when you know how to lock in agood deal, somebody's gonna buy it.
Like at some point you're gonna move it.
If you're not moving it or not gettingfunding, it's 'cause it's not a good deal.
So I think that pivots to the nextgreat question of right now, obviously.
You are not having a huge issue withinventory because you have to have
literally inventory for the show.
(30:07):
So what are some of your favoriteways right here in Q1 of 2025 to
get some great real estate deals?
Sure.
So we, I. Do a lot of, uh,direct to seller marketing.
And so we pull lists, we downloadand buy lists of, uh, different types
of seller lead types, like peoplein foreclosure, pre foreclosures,
probates, or absentee owners.
(30:28):
Those are some of our favorites.
We skip trace them and we'll contactthem to see if anyone has any interest
about possibly selling their house.
And so that's one of the mainways that we go after, uh, and
pursue leads and opportunities.
We've also recently been testing ai.
I think, um.
If you are not leveraging ai,regardless of how you feel about it.
'cause my personal opinion is thattechnology is not going anywhere.
(30:51):
AI is not going anywhere.
It's gonna continue to advanceand evolve and after a while, very
soon, uh, just like the internet, I.People, consumers, clients are going
to, uh, become accustomed to it andalmost have an expectation for it.
And if you are not leveragingthat to stay on the cutting edge,
then you're gonna be left behind.
(31:11):
And so we lately, just recentlyhave started using AI in our real
estate business in multiple ways andactually all of our businesses, but
also with real estate, uh, to be moreefficient with our time and so on.
So we use AI to have conversationswith sellers, uh, whereas
before we would hire a team of.
Cold callers in thePhilippines, which are amazing.
(31:32):
Um, but they still, youknow, cannot work 24 7.
They, they ask for timeoff, they need breaks.
If they get sick, they can't work.
And so what we've done is we'vetransitioned that team to do something
else within our organization focusedon revenue and use AI now to.
Warm up the leads and then pass themon to, uh, the next team member.
(31:53):
So it helps us to be more efficientand helps us to target and focus
on quality leads that can bring us,you know, to a deal a lot faster.
And so that's one of the things thatwe're doing, uh, to generate leads.
And also, um, the MLS as well.
So we have agents, we buildrelationships with agents.
Um, I. People forget or don'trealize that 90% of real estate
(32:16):
transactions that happen in the UnitedStates are all listed on the MLS.
And so there's a lot oflow hanging fruit there.
Yes, you're gonna have to siftthrough and find the gems, uh, the
needle in the haystack, if you will.
And to help us with that, we buildrelationships with agents and so we
work with investor friendly agentsthat know what we're looking for.
And so if and when they come acrossan opportunity that they think
(32:38):
might meet our buying criteria,they reach out to us first.
And so through those relationshipsand through scouting and building
other relationships, uh, we'reable to lock up deals as well.
So tho those are our two mainsources is direct to seller
marketing and working with agents.
That's fantastic.
Ben and o one more, I think,important real estate question to ask
somebody who's been through so much.
(32:59):
You said when you started out you didn'treally have a construction background.
Contractors took advantage ofyou, you got burned a little bit.
And you know, it's, it's thesame thing as any industry.
Like, you know, people have abad experience with a contractor.
They go, contractors are bad.
But there's great ones outthere obviously, or we wouldn't
be able to do what we do.
So I think it's a huge thing startingout where people, like I use the
example, I go, look, you wouldn'tgo to court and represent yourself.
(33:20):
What makes you think you can gowith no experience and renovate a
house or run a construction crew?
Like go play with the electricand watch how good that works when
you have, you know what I mean?
Like it's, it's crazy but people tryand like cut corners and go, so what
are some maybe tips and tricks forsomebody starting out that are saying,
Hey, gimme some maybe red flags.
That might be something to say, I mightnot want work with this contractor.
Or maybe some systems andprocesses you put in place to make
(33:42):
sure that you have a good one.
So this is an area that canreally screw up your deal if
you don't hire the right person.
The right contractor can helpyou win and make a lot of money.
And the, a bad one can sinkyour deal and cost you a ton.
Um, and so for us.
You know, some of the first things thatwe're looking for is that they have
the proper paperwork, um, insurance, etcetera, license, and also references.
(34:07):
I, I think that's probably the biggestthing is recommendations and referrals.
And we check those and ask for,you know, obviously a portfolio
of their work so we can take alook at their past work as well.
And you know, even sometimes whenyou have all of that, they still
might take advantage of you.
And so it's one of those thingswhere you're just gonna have to.
Try your best to gather all ofthat stuff early, vet them and that
(34:30):
will greatly minimize your risk.
Um, but also give them a small project.
Um, see how they do, seehow their communication is.
I can tell you right now, uh,there's a company who went
through all of our checks.
And everything.
We vetted them.
It's a plumbing company.
And uh, we gave them one project.
They're actually not a plumbing company.
They do multiple things, butthey also specialize in plumbing.
(34:52):
And I could tell you just based onthis experience, on this one project
we gave, gave them, I'm probablynot gonna work with them again.
You know?
So you're gonna have to try peopleout, give them a chance, test
'em out, and see how they do.
And if they don't do well,then move on to someone else.
But you're gonna save yourselfa lot of headache, uh, lost
income by vetting them early.
Making sure that they're qualifiedto be able to even work on the job.
(35:14):
And one of the best ways thatI've been able to find people is
from recommendations from others.
Great stuff, man.
So I love that because I think that's aquestion I get a lot is like, well, how
do I know this person's gonna be great?
And I always give the analogy of dating.
Same thing with references, man.
It could be like, oh, Dolmar, my friendsaid, your sister's got this person that's
gonna be, I said, well, you like them.
That doesn't mean that I'm gonnabe a great fit for them, but I
appreciate that you feel like it.
(35:35):
So we're gonna go have a conversationand see if it makes sense.
And let's say that day goes, well,let's say we have everything in common.
We never fight.
We go on a hundred dates, we move intogether and we get married because
we are now sure that we're gonnabe the two greatest people matched
ever in the history of the world.
50% of the time, those peoplestill get divorced after being
married for 10, 15, 20 years.
(35:56):
You have to date the contractor,get some background checks.
It's like asking your buddies like, Hey,anybody know anybody date this girl?
Anything I should, you know what I mean?
Then, and then you go out and youfill it out, but it's, it's, you have
to go on a date, you have to try it.
There is no guarantee thatit's gonna work, just like
there's no guarantee anyway.
But just like you said.
A couple of questions, and that'sanother thing that I think is huge
is like you do the research therewhere one of my buddies once told
(36:16):
me the extra mile's never crowded.
That little bit of extra calls you madeor a little bit of extra research you did.
I. Is 99% more than 99% of the world does.
You know what I mean?
It's like, oh, this guy said it's a goodcontract and I'm just gonna hire him.
It's like, yeah, but youdidn't do any Well, no.
No, but so it, it's a crazy thing,but I think that that's great
information, sir. Thank you so much.
Yeah.
(36:36):
I, I, and every time I've bentaway from that process, it has
come back and bite me in the butt.
Uh, just recently we tried togive another guy a shot, a chance.
We didn't do any of our regular.
Process.
Uh, we were in a situation, wegot a lot of projects going on.
Uh, our current main team,we have four different crews.
Their bandwidth is spread thin becausewe're doing like 15 rehabs simultaneously.
(37:02):
Uh, we needed some drywall done at.
Two of our houses.
So I'm like, okay, wellthat's an easy project.
Um, we can probably find someonevery quickly that can hang mud
and texture, drywall, right?
So, uh, let's just go look for someone.
And so my team went and found someoneagain, a Russian not going through our
regular process 'cause we're Russian.
(37:22):
He actually did great.
He did great on thefirst two houses for us.
So, um, what he did is he hired othersubs that actually did the work.
He didn't do it himself,but, but, but they did great.
A couple weeks later, we have anotherproperty that's ready just for drywall.
We give him that project as well.
For some reason I'm like, again,I got so much going on, not.
Really paying attention.
(37:43):
Um, my, my team tells me like, Hey,this drywall has taken two weeks.
This is a project that shouldtake no more than two days.
It's been two weeks and it's not done.
And so I go check myself what's going on.
In fact, we're filming this for the show.
This is a house that's on the show.
I don't know if they're gonna show.
I was pissed off Nick.
I was so mad, but I'm sure they'reprobably gonna cover up some of that.
(38:06):
Um, but I was so mad, like we're twoweeks in and they're not even done.
And I go there and it's a completelydifferent crew as well than what
the guy had on the first two houses.
So I've tried to leave.
I start asking questionslike, what's going on?
Why didn't you have thefirst crew that you had here?
And he gives some excuse.
So I was just like, I called themmyself and they tell me, well.
(38:28):
He paid us for the first project, buthe didn't pay us for the second one.
I'm like, what do you mean?
Because I paid him.
He didn't pay you guys.
They're like, no, heowes us almost $7,000.
I'm like, wow.
And so I started asking the guysthat are on this job, this third
job, like, have you guys been paid?
Like, what's going on?
Have you?
And they're like, no, he hasn't paid us.
(38:48):
So I'm like, wow.
So he, he hired subpar peoplethat didn't know what they were
doing, uh, messed up the project.
I had to get rid of them that day.
But I actually paid them directly becauseI was afraid that if I paid this guy,
he wasn't even gonna pay these guys.
And so again, I, I didn't have to do that,but I did it anyway and I got rid of him.
I fired him.
(39:08):
And so now we're dealing with thatand he's pissed off and angry.
Did a little bit ofbackground search on him.
And you know what this guy.
Is in Tampa.
A known fraudster.
Known scammer.
He's been to prison like seventimes, and his last one was for
committing fraud in construction.
He's not even supposedto be doing construction.
Uh, he's on probation right nowand he's like over here threatening
(39:31):
my teen, threatening my family.
It can turn bad really quickly if youdo not, so let that be a lesson to you.
Let my mistake even again.
Trying to, you know, just movequickly and not follow our process.
Again, if it was someone else, you, youcould have been in a really bad situation.
I, I had to have my maincrew come and fix everything.
They got it all done in two days andit was beautiful, but we lost two
(39:54):
weeks of time and it cost me more moneyto fix his mistakes and do it right.
And now I got some crazy.
You know, person, uh,that we're dealing with.
Luckily he's gone away.
Now that situation has resolved itself,but dude, just follow the process.
Don't bend.
It's not worth it.
'cause every time I didit just didn't work out.
So normally when somebody gives me astory like that, the thing we would
(40:18):
say to each other at the bar is, manDelmar, if only there were cameras there.
A guy like you, you need a TV show.
But thankfully for us, you have one.
So as we start to wrap up here,you have to go to set soon.
But let's talk about zombie house flippingon a and e. You, sir, are the star of it.
I will never forget you sendingme a Nicole text message.
(40:38):
Like, holy crap.
I just got the text.
They just hired me for the like.
I remember it doing.
It all came together and stuff andwe were so proud of you and so it's
come a long way, but talk about it.
So everybody wants to be a realestate investor and get a TV show.
And you did man.
So talk a little bit about whatthe show is and how you got it.
How did it come about?
Let's go into that.
Sure.
So, uh, my business partnerFrancis, he was at a mastermind.
(40:59):
Talking about our business model andwhat we do, and coincidentally, there's
someone in the room as well attending thismastermind that is related to a casting
director for a production company that'slooking for someone for this real estate
show that they're looking to expand.
They were looking to franchise it justlike Housewives of Atlanta, and I don't
know what other cities they're in, but,um, they're looking for a franchise.
(41:21):
This show was, uh, very successful.
Show, and it was a hitfor a and e in Orlando.
And so there was zombiehouse flipping in Orlando.
Those are the original OGs of the show,and they did the first four seasons
and because it was such a hit, theywanted to expand into other cities.
And so this guy was like, Hey,you know, you should talk to my
cousin who was the casting directorfor the production company.
Maybe your.
(41:41):
Partner would be interested.
I've had other people hit me up in thepast about this, and it never worked
out, so we didn't give it much thought,but my business partner vetted it and
was like, this seems pretty legit.
And the show that they're castingfor is actually on the air right now,
and so maybe you should look into it.
And so I remember we were in Tulum,Mexico when he told me about it.
He was like, DOMA, you wanna do this?
I was like, sure, why not?
(42:02):
And then I had the call.
Turns out, oh my gosh, it is legit.
You know?
Again, not trying to getall excited about it.
Like, okay, cool.
We'll just go through theprocess and see what happens.
If it goes somewhere, awesome.
If it doesn't, no big deal.
I did an interview with them.
They liked, I guess, what they heard.
A couple weeks later, I was back in Tulum.
I looked.
Vic, you know, I go to Tulum quite a lot.
I do.
I know you're a big fan of Tulum, so Iwas back in Tulum a couple weeks later.
(42:27):
And they called me againwhile I was in Tulum.
I was there for about two weeks this time.
And they were like, Hey, we love you,but uh, we need you to shoot a video real
quick of you walking a house just so youcould see what you look like you and your
team look like when you walk a house.
And I'm like, well, my team's in Florida.
I'm in Tulum right now.
I'm like, oh man, but weneed it like tomorrow.
I'm like, what?
(42:48):
So I came up with this quick story of.
Well, maybe I can just find a distressedhouse here in Lumin filming on my
phone as if like, my team is gonnalook at another house in Tampa.
And, uh, Sam's like, Hey, Delmar, I foundthis other house for you to look at.
But because they're around thesame time, uh, we have to look
at them around the same time.
You look at this one by yourself.
(43:08):
And so I have my friend with me, uh,Sandra, who you also know Yeah, yeah.
Who lives in Tulum now, actually.
I was like, Sandra, uh, take my phoneand just film me walking through this
house talking about it and we'll.
Edit it together.
And so we did that, sent itto the production company.
They loved it.
They pitched it to a and eand you know, the, the casting
director was like, they loved it.
And they said, get that man to contract.
(43:29):
So that's how it happened.
We passed our background check anda couple months later we're filming
on set zombie house flip in Tampa.
Resourcefulness, sir.That's exactly what that is.
Yeah.
Full circle.
That's awesome man.
Yeah.
So what are some things that, uh, onceyou got into that, 'cause obviously
people watch stuff and you knowit's a TV show and there's a little
bit of a mix and match for what hasto be shown versus what goes on.
(43:51):
So that, that you'veactually experienced that.
What are some surprises?
That you experience going through itin real life versus what you expected
from watching these shows on tv?
A lot.
A lot.
Oh my gosh.
What an experience.
So, listen, first of all, I, Ilove this, I love production.
Um, before TV I went tohigh school for production.
(44:12):
You know, everything we deal with,our education business, I was the one.
Behind the scenes with the productionand the creative of all, of all of this.
So I, I love it.
Um, but there's a lot I did not expect.
Um, you know, I'm a real estate investorand, uh, one of the things that Brad
from a e he's the executive at a ewho gave the green light for our show.
And I think you met Brad, right?
(44:33):
Because he is in our mastermind now.
Yeah, he was just on the podcast.
Awesome, awesome.
So.
Um, Brad and I became friends lateron, um, and I invited him to join our
mastermind and he's been an absolutegem and value add for that group.
Uh, but before building thatrelationship with him, I didn't really
know him, and so he gave the greenlight for our show and when we met.
(44:56):
One of the things he said was, he islooking for attainable aspiration.
His goal with this show, unlike othershows that are on other networks, is,
you know, uh, there's a lot of stuff thatthey show, and the biggest thing is more
so the transformation, but they don'tinclude stories of, well, how did you
find the house and how did you structureyour deal and what are the numbers like?
And so he wanted to focus onattainable aspiration here where.
(45:20):
We can show through us thatwe're doing this for real.
So the risk is really on us.
We really have to go find these deals.
We have to secure funding for them.
And so he wanted to follow usmore documentary style than
scripted, like other shows are.
Also show that anybody can do this.
Anyone sitting on the couch, anyoneat home that with determination drive.
To want to get involved in realestate, let's show them through
(45:41):
the show how they can do this, butalso have some fun with it as well.
Showing the crazy houses thatwe are buying to renovate.
And so, uh, that was the goalfollowers documentary style.
Um, but the challenge is, and,and this was a challenge for
both the production company andus because it's not like someone
coached us before we got into this.
(46:02):
Uh, we're just thrown in andwe have to figure it out.
And the dynamic between productionand that world and construction, where
we're buying these crazy houses, ifyou've seen them, I'm talking about rat
infested, roach infested mold everywhere.
Termite infestations, rotted, woodroofs, caved in, we're taking down walls,
(46:22):
redoing the entire layout of the house.
When you're doing stufflike that, at that level.
Those things requireengineering plans and permits.
And what the production companywas not prepared for is how
long that stuff can take.
Sometimes, um, you know, forexample, right now there's a house
that we're supposed to be doingon, on the show, and it's month 11
and I still don't have my permit.
(46:44):
And that ruins and destroys productiontimelines because they have to hit
these deadlines because of air dates.
And so for us, for both production and us.
That was quite an experience andtrying to figure out how to navigate
that and work cohesively together.
And so that, I think was thebiggest challenge and hurdle.
And so production has learned alot through this, uh, when they're
(47:08):
producing and filming and followingand documenting a company and creating
a show that has to go through this.
And there's a lot of things outside of mycontrol, things I, I just don't control.
Um, and so.
That was a, a learningexperience for both of us.
And then a couple other things.
You know, just trying tomarry our worlds together.
Again, they're following usdocumentary style, right?
(47:28):
So something major could happenand they want to capture it.
They wanna capture it in real time.
They want to capture the drama, theywant to, anything that goes bad for me,
they, they, they, they're like, yes.
And I'm like, no.
Well, they wanna capture that, right?
They want to capture those moments.
And so sometimes the camera guyswill be on set, is our house, our
project, and I might not be there.
(47:51):
And so the camera guysmight see something happen.
Before I know about it before myguys call me and they're like, I.
Don't call Dmar, uh, we're justgonna have him come over here so he
can experience it in, in real time.
And so I, I remember one daymy house was flooding, A pipe
broke and the house was flooded.
And they didn't tell me.
I go and everyone on set knows about it.
(48:14):
And I, so they're filming, Hey, we'rejust doing a check-in, you know, and,
you know, and 'cause that's what we do.
We we're always constantlychecking in on our projects and
filming the, the, uh, progress.
And I walk in.
I'm like, what the hell is going on here?
And you know, again,this happened for real.
We don't know how it happened,but it happened for real.
(48:35):
The pipe broke.
I think it broke during ourdemo, but I didn't notice it.
And so the house was flooding fora couple of days and we go back a
couple days later to check on it.
And so they intentionally, uh, don't sharecertain things with me to try to catch.
The real authentic reactions of,uh, how I feel in the moment.
And sometimes I get reallypissed off and angry.
(48:58):
Other times it's like, not a big deal.
But, uh, it, it's been fun.
It's, it's been inter interesting.
My, my biggest joy though ishaving my wife on the show with me.
Um, I think the dynamic of my wifeand I showing our relationship.
Showing how we interact with each other.
People tell me that theylove the banter between us.
(49:18):
Um, I, I am very, uh, very ambitious.
I wanna do a lot of things, crazythings, and she somehow knows how to
control and check me and keep me, yeah.
Grounded oftentimes.
And so, uh, I love having her onthe show and filming with my family.
Now.
My kids have been on there as well.
Very cool man.
Shout out to Keisha Cross.
(49:39):
She's a powerhouse, amazing personality.
Always bubbling.
Always life of the party.
For sure.
For sure.
Awesome stuff, man.
And your kids too.
Dude.
I, it was great.
So you came out, we watchedAl Jermaine Sterling.
Uh, win the title, I think, or defendthe title in, uh, Jacksonville.
Out there.
We all came out.
You brought the kids out there.
You wound up taking apicture in the bathroom.
I remember.
Did you send me a picture?
You're like, Hey, I justtook a picture with this guy.
(50:01):
Who's this?
I was like, dude, that's Alexander Koski.
He's like one of the most famousUFC fighters in the entire way.
Everybody in this hotel is trying tomeet this guy and you like randomly
work up next to him in the bathroom.
Don't even know who he is.
But it was awesome.
It was a good time, dude, so I did it.
It is always good to see you.
It's always good to see your family.
So talk a little bit about howdo people connect with you now?
'cause not only the TV show.
(50:21):
But you guys are helping with AIbusiness, real estate stuff, wholesale.
You have so much stuff going on.
So talk about what are the things youhave going on now that you can help
people begin or expand their businesses?
Sure.
So now we are teaching people if theywant to get involved in real estate,
one of the fastest, easiest ways todo it, uh, with minimal risk with
limited capital is, uh, wholesaling.
(50:43):
We call it paper flipping.
And so if you wanna learn how toget involved in real estate with.
Limited to no cash or without using yourown cash, without using your credit,
without any credentials or certifications.
When I say credentials, I'm talking aboutno bank statements or tax returns needed.
Paper flipping is what we teachand we share how to do that.
So you can hit me up on Instagram orsocial or any of my social media accounts.
(51:05):
Is Domar Cross is my handleon, you know, TikTok?
Instagram, YouTube, you name it.
And, uh, I'm sure there's linkssomewhere on, on those pages
of how to get into our world.
Um, and so that is one of the thingsthat we're doing with real estate.
And then with ai, uh, my businesspartners are spearheading that
(51:26):
now, Nick, we actually have ourfirst live in-person event since
2020 coming up in a couple of days.
And it is on ai.
It has been such a revolutionarything that's happening in that.
Space and, and it's moving at so faste every six months, it's almost like
you can't keep up with the changes.
Uh, every time we've been doing theselive virtual events, we have, you know,
(51:47):
700 to a thousand people that attend.
It's nuts.
And so this is our firstlive in person event.
Uh, we have over 300 people registeredfor this, and so I'm excited about that
and, and, uh, we're gonna be sharinghow you can leverage AI in your business
regardless of what you're doing.
I personally think that this year.
Two of the biggest things that you shouldbe focused on, especially if you're an
(52:08):
entrepreneur, is building your personalbrand and leveraging AI tools, uh, to
keep you on the cutting edge as well,and give you that unfair advantage.
And so that, those are some of thethings that we're gonna be talking
about, how you can use AI in your lifeand your business regardless of what
you do to win and thrive this year.
So if you have any interest in ai, Iwould encourage you to go check out our
Real Advisors page on Instagram, and I'msure there's a link there as well, so
(52:33):
you can look more about what we're doing.
Awesome man.
Obviously anybody listening to this, I'llput all the links for you and for all your
companies and for all the stuff you gotgoing on in the show notes at any time.
And again, I, I basically buy everythingyou guys have and it's always fantastic.
So I vouch for it for sure.
You, sir, are somebodywho brings your A game.
Everything you do in life, everythingyou do in business, and this
interview has been no different.
You definitely both a gameto the A Game podcast today.
(52:55):
Do more cross any final thoughts beforeI let you go about your busy day?
I don't know why we didn't do this sooner.
I just shouldn't have.
I should have asked you sooner.
That was my fault.
I'll take responsibility on that.
No, no, no.
It's not your fault at all.
Honestly.
It was me.
It was, it was all me.
I just mentally, I wasn't, I, Iwas not trying to be out there as
much, but I am being intentional.
(53:15):
This time, this year, it was oneof my, uh, goals is to get outta my
comfort zone and get out there more.
And so when I saw your invite.
Probably, I don't know howmany times you've sent it.
Like this time I'm not going to skip it.
I'm gonna do it, I'm gonnacommit, I'm gonna be there.
And I did.
So I'm glad.
And again, thank you for yourpatience and also for giving me
(53:36):
the opportunity, uh, to be here.
I. I ne I never want togive anybody any pressure.
I just wanna always extend the invite.
And I knew eventuallywe would make it happy.
And yeah, I'm very happy that we did, man.
This has been awesome.
Thank you for sharingyour time with us today.
Go Mark Cross.
Have a fantastic day, sir. Awesome man.
You too.
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