August 13, 2024 • 48 mins
Embark on an inspiring exploration of luxury residential assisted living with our esteemed guest, Isabel Guarino, who's elevating the standard for senior care. By transforming elegant single-family homes into nurturing havens, Isabel and her team ensure seniors receive top-notch care without sacrificing the comforts of upscale living. We dive into the logistics of establishing these boutique sanctuaries, discussing the impact of location, demographic focus, and the nitty-gritty of regulations and renovations. But it's not all about the bricks and mortar; it's the stories that truly bring these homes to life. From my own mother's experience in assisted living to Isabel's heartfelt anecdotes, we paint a picture of the life-enriching communities these homes foster.
Creating a legacy is more than just accumulating wealth; it's about passing down the principles of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit. We tackle the concept of generational wealth through real estate investments, offering a candid look at how property ownership can sustain financial security over time. This chapter isn't just about teaching; it’s a reflection of our journeys, from my own breakaway from conventional employment to the lessons learned from "Rich Dad Poor Dad." Join us as we share the significance of mindset, the tangible assets that anchor our fortunes, and the enduring value of shaping our future generations' approach to success.
As we wrap up, the conversation takes a turn towards the personal – the clothing we choose, the homes we curate, and the principles we uphold in our businesses. Discover how authenticity plays a critical role in my fashion choices and learn why ethics are non-negotiable in the real estate and caregiving industries. We leave you pondering the balance between doing good and doing well, as we strive to impact millions through the transformative power of residential assisted living. Thank you for tuning in, and remember, we value your time and the stories you bring to our community as we continue this journey together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (00:02):
Hey everybody , welcome to the most Dwanderful
real estate podcast ever.
I'm your host, Dwan BentTwyford.
I'm America's most sought-afterreal estate investor and I am
so excited to have you here foranother episode.
I have an amazing guest todayIsabelle Guarino.
I said it right?
Yes, all right, I had tophonetically spell that last
(00:25):
name out there, and she's goingto share some really great
information with us.
If you are new to me or toDwanderful, you can go to
Dwanderful.
com D-W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L dot com.
I took Dwan and Wonderful and Imade a new word, and our motto
(00:47):
at Dwan-der-ful is people beforeprofits.
So if that is something thatresonates with you, you're at
the right place.
It's the right time Today.
We're your girl and you'regoing to have fun with us.
So, Isabella, how are you today?
Isabelle Guarino (01:03):
I'm doing wonderful.
I'm so excited to be here.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (01:06):
I'm so excited.
You're so pretty.
Isabelle Guarino (01:08):
Oh, thank you, I love, I love the, the we're.
We're matching with our purples, so it's good we're all vibing
today.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (01:14):
I know you have the black hair and the
purple and I'm the opposite.
There we go.
Everyone that knows me knows Idon't ever.
I'm all right, guys, I'mactually going to put some gray
on my hair.
Y'all have been knowing me fora long time.
That's a big step.
That's a big step.
So we like to start off with atoast.
We're trying to hydrate thiswater, but I think it's taking a
(01:35):
little longer.
So I have a backup.
So cheers, cheers, and you guysget a drink.
Cheers, cheers.
Everyone take a drink.
Everyone take a drink.
Everyone take a deep breath andjust relax, clear your mind of
all the stuff that you havegoing on and just tune in with
(01:58):
us and have some fun, becauseyou know me, you know we're
going to have a good time today,okay, so we kind of just throw
you straight into the wolves alittle bit.
So what I'd like for you to dois just like in like a sentence
or two, just tell us what you doand how we can get ahold of you
, and then I have all thesesuper fun questions and we're
(02:20):
just going to talk and chat andget to know each other and I
like to be as conversational aspossible.
So it's like if someone wassitting with us and they were
getting to know both of us.
We'd all just be sitting aroundhaving a drink and getting to
know each other.
I love it.
Isabelle Guarino (02:35):
I love it.
I do too.
Yes, as you guys know, and Igot the beautiful introduction I
appreciate that Currently Ioperate and own residential
assisted living homes and Iteach other real estate
investors exactly how to do that, so we like to.
It's perfect, for you know,your precipice of this show in
(02:56):
that we focus on doing good anddoing well, cash flowing, but
helping our senior community,and it's a really beautiful
blend of those two things.
And how you can reach out to usis by finding us on any of the
social medias, at RAL Academy orgoing to RAL101.com.
You can grab a free book,webinar, download anything you
(03:17):
want there, or schedule a callwith me or the team.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (03:20):
Okay, ral101.com and RAL Academy
everywhere on social media.
Yep, I will also startfollowing you today.
I always like to.
They send me bios and stuff.
I just like to get to knowpeople.
Let me just like talk and chatand find out and see what
(03:41):
happens.
So you work with theresidential assisted living.
Isabelle Guarino (03:44):
Yep exactly.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (03:46):
And so what does that mean?
Residential assisted living fora person?
That's really new and they'relike well, there's assisted
living, there's nursing homes,there's this, this, this like
what is in the slice of that.
What is that?
Isabelle Guarino (04:01):
Yeah, so we focus on basically assisted
living, but it's in a regularresidential home, so a single
family home.
And when I say that I don'tmean a three bed, two bath, I
mean a luxury, upscale home in areally nice part of town.
Our homes that we own andoperate, they're 10 bedroom, 10
bath homes, but they're inregular residential
(04:24):
neighborhoods and they house 10seniors who need help with
activities of daily living.
So they need help with 24 sevencare.
So there's caregivers there,there's an administrator there
and I my role that I play is Iown the real estate and operate
the business.
So down to about five hours ofweek of running those businesses
, but it's a great opportunityto provide housing for seniors.
(04:47):
That's not in the bigcommercial, big box setting that
we all fear going into.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (04:53):
We do.
My mom lives in a.
It used to be a women'sboarding home from the 1920s.
It was a women's boarding homeand they turned it into um, I
guess it's like assisted, likethey.
You know they have their ownapartment.
Okay, they had like a bigcafeteria and they have all the
games and the stuff and a busthat takes them places.
(05:16):
So they re did this place.
It was 1920.
Like a boy, you know, like awomen's day, but go stay at a
boarding home.
So they couldn't, you know, inthe 20s and 30s, like women,
couldn't just like travel.
And it is so beautiful this,it's antique, it's so beautiful,
she loves it.
There's only like 100 peoplethat live there.
I tell you she's like, oh mygod, because it's not like a big
(05:38):
, giant right facility, you know, like you pull in and it looks
like it's a big house, yeah, andwalk and it looks like it's a
big house.
Yeah, and walk in, it feels likeit's somebody's house.
Isabelle Guarino (05:48):
I love that.
I love that If she's doing youknow coming and going and in her
own apartment style it may bemore considered independent
living.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (05:56):
I think it is .
I think it's just elder seniorhousing.
Yeah, is what she's at.
It's senior housing, but theyalways have a nurse on staff, so
if somebody gets sick orwhatever, I think hers is just
like independent living forseniors but it's really
(06:19):
beautiful, yeah, amazing, good.
Isabelle Guarino (06:20):
I'm glad she's having a good experience,
because I do not hear about manygood experiences in larger
facilities, so I'm so glad she'shaving a great time.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (06:26):
She loves it.
They clean your room every day.
They wash all your clothes,they cook all your meals, they
make your bed.
It's like mom, it's like youhave maid service that I would
live there.
They cook all your meals.
I would literally live there, Iwouldn't have to do anything.
Isabelle Guarino (06:42):
There you go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (06:43):
So I always thought, you know, thought it
was funny my husband and Italked about um having like some
senior living.
I'm like you know, the peoplethat are seniors now were like
young in the 60s.
Yeah, like I feel like theyshould have like the Rolling
Stones playing and they shouldall be like smoking weed and
being hippies again in their oldage.
Isabelle Guarino (07:05):
And you know what?
We always joke that if you wantto open a niche home that
focuses on anything rightWhether it's a type of music,
whether it's, you know, allfemale or whatever you want you
can absolutely do that.
Niche homes go a really longway.
But we've got a home here inArizona.
It's not one we own and operate, but it's another care home
(07:25):
called Shalom Home.
Oh, but we've got a home herein Arizona.
It's not when we own andoperate, but it's another care
home called Shalom Home and socute.
They focus on the Jewishpopulation.
We've got another one that'scalled Rainbow Orchard, I think,
and it's focuses on LGBTQIAplus seniors and I'm like how
cool.
So you can definitely have funwith it and niche it up.
I love that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (07:46):
We've talked about it a lot, calling it like
something like rock and roll,seniors or something, and like,
hey, listen, we're not going toplay any of that.
Soft music, rock music, all day, bands coming in.
We're Colorado, here's all thepot you guys want.
Go back to being in your 60s,be a hippie, I love it.
Isabelle Guarino (08:03):
I love, love it.
You probably have a waitinglist out the door.
Oh my god probably, probably.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:09):
I'm like if I was in a place like that, I'd
want some like disco and likesomething that takes me back to
the days you know.
So that's fun, all right.
So now I love the fact that youhave 10 bed, 10 bath houses.
These are like bougie housesthey're big luxury upscale homes
.
Isabelle Guarino (08:23):
Yep, yep, okay , so I like that, so we have,
like bougie, seniors.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:24):
They're big, luxury, upscale homes, yeah,
yeah, okay, so I like that.
So we have like bougie seniorsand then, with the assisted, do
you guys take them?
Isabelle Guarino (08:33):
So you own more than one, three of them,
and then we've taught thousands.
At this point now, 10 years inthe business of teaching others
how to do this.
All across the country.
So thousands of students whichrepresent thousands of other
residential assisted livinghomes across the country.
It's not a franchise, so Idon't own any of their
(08:54):
properties.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:55):
See, I really like that because, like I'm 65.
And so I'm coming up on thatage, the boomer, like all the
boomers, are dying.
But the thing is we're allgetting older, but we were
really active when we wereyounger and everybody wants to
be like tied down until I, Idon't know, I don't know.
I know for me, like all myfriends, we also party and go
(09:15):
out and go dancing and like allthis stuff.
So I feel like that's a reallybig industry for people
worldwide, Cause how manythere's like?
How many?
Like 70 million boomers orsomething.
Isabelle Guarino (09:26):
Oh, I think it's 74 million boomers and
definitely I mean, like I alwayssay, we're still 10, 20 years
out from most boomers evenneeding assisted living.
Because the reality is youdon't move in for fun, you move
in because you physically needhelp getting out of bed, you
need help walking, you can nolonger toilet or bathe by
(09:47):
yourself, you can't feedyourself, and so that's when you
need true assisted living care.
You need help with three tofive activities of daily living.
So right now the boomers arenot really in assisted living.
It's more of the silentgeneration who's currently-.
That's my mom, she's 87.
Yep, but in the next 10, 20years, it's the silver tsunami.
(10:08):
Right, they're coming it's us.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (10:11):
It's us, the boomers, that's right.
They better get ready.
They're not going to know whathappened when all the boomers
start rolling in.
Isabelle Guarino (10:16):
Exactly.
There's a massive need.
We're currently 1.3 millionbeds short today and there's
only 44 million in the silentgeneration, so we're almost
doubling the amount of seniorswho are coming into this
particular market and there'snot enough beds.
So it's a big opportunity forreal estate investors to start
(10:37):
looking at this as a category,to actually start investing in.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (10:42):
I agree, I actually agree.
So I come to you and I say, hey, I heard you on Dwan's podcast,
I would like to have one ofthese.
So do I have to get certified?
Do I have to own buildings?
What do I have to do with noexperience at all and I'm like
I've got money and I have to getcertified.
Do I have to own buildings?
What do I have to do with noexperience at all and I'm like
I've got money and I want to dothat.
Isabelle Guarino (11:01):
I love it.
So the first thing I wouldalways say, in any form of real
estate you want to do, find amentor and get educated, learn
all my people know you learnfrom mistakes or mentors.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (11:13):
Mentors are cheaper.
Yep, yep, preach it cheaper,yep.
Yep, I preach it weekly.
It's like listen, pay somebodyelse who already knows how to do
it.
You don't need to reinvent thewheel, the wheel's already there
.
Come from someone who's alreadydone it, so you're the wheel.
There we go and I come to them.
Isabelle Guarino (11:35):
Okay, I've got $500,000 and I want to make an
assisted living for peoplePerfect.
So after that's settled, youknow, and you have someone that
you're working with, then Iwould say deciding on which of
the four routes you want to getstarted with.
So first, you could buy a homeand renovate it to become an
assisted living home.
Next, you could buy land andcustom build from the ground up,
or you could lease a home touse for this.
(11:58):
So use a home that someone elsealready has renovated for it
and you're just going to operatethe business within the home.
Or fourth, 30,000 group homesexist across our country today
and a lot of them are being runmom and pop style about 80%
where the person who owns thereal estate also works in the
home and cares for the seniorsthemselves.
(12:20):
There's about a seven to eightyear lifespan when they say I'm
starting to burn out and I don'twant to do this anymore.
So those businesses come ontothe market and so you may be
able to purchase an existingbusiness with the real estate
and be up and running right away, running it as a more
professional business ownerhands off, not working in but
(12:41):
working on the business.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (12:44):
So buy and renovate.
Buy land and build one, leasesomething or find a group home
that's already up on the market.
Perfect, yeah, okay.
So I call you and I'm like,okay, we're going to, we're
going to buy and renovate.
Isabelle Guarino (12:57):
There you go, so now it's all about finding
that perfect location.
We're looking for thedemographics of daughter Judy,
which is actually funny becauseit's somewhat of you, Dwan.
Like it's that 50 to 70 year oldwho's upper middle class,
possibly making twice the medianincome.
It's wherever they live, eat,work, sleep, play, because they
(13:20):
don't want mom or dad 45 minutesdown the road, they want them
five to 10 minutes, they wantthem really close to where they
are so they can go visit, theycan go say hello.
So that is our target market.
So then, yep, exactly, we gotto find that location and that
is the key.
Then, once you get the home,we're renovating it to be up to
(13:41):
code with all of your state orcounty rules and regulations,
which it varies all across thecountry, but typically we're
looking for 300 to 500 squarefeet per resident.
Most of your seniors are goingto want a private bedroom and a
private bathroom.
They don't want to share.
They are coming from their ownhome where they've owned the
(14:01):
whole home.
Now they're coming into ashared environment, but they
don't want to share theirbedroom.
So, as many private bedroomsand bathrooms as we can.
So, renovating the home to beup to code, whether that's
adding sprinklers or firesuppression, widening hallways,
doorways, you know, adding ramps, guardrails, handrails it
doesn't have to be ADA compliant, but you want it as close to
(14:24):
that as possible.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (14:25):
So that's your next step.
That's kind of like my mom.
I think her place it's not verybig, it's maybe like 400 square
feet, but she has her own bed,her own bed, but there's no
kitchens.
There's no kitchens because Ithink people, you know, forget,
they want to have thatsocialization?
Yeah, and they want them to goout and eat with everyone.
So she has everything but akitchen which at first she's
like oh, and I was like mom,just give it a try.
(14:47):
If you hate it, we'll findanother place to know a guy that
knew the owner like of thething and we got it right in
there.
And now after like a week she'slike okay, why are they like?
And now she's got like bestfriends.
She's got guys that come to herdoor and walk her to dinner.
It's like, okay, I love it.
Apparently those are crazyamount of like sex and stuff
(15:08):
going on at these places.
I'm like, oh, my god, they saythat.
That's what they tell me.
They said it's like collegedorm for seniors.
Isabelle Guarino (15:18):
They say that in the independent communities
it is like that, and I thinkthat is too funny.
By the time they're in ourhomes if they need help getting
out of bed.
There's not much of that goingon.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (15:28):
But probably not.
But my mom says I'm telling youwhy it's like.
It feels like it's a party allthe time.
Isabelle Guarino (15:35):
Yeah, Just because you get old doesn't mean
you're not attracted to people.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (15:41):
So that doesn't stop as you age.
I know I always thought like,hey, I'm old, you don't care.
But my mom puts on her lipstick, she fixes her hair, she puts
on jewelry to go out to thelunchroom because there are men
out there.
I love it, she's the hotcommodity.
87.
She's hot commodity and she'ssuper pretty, so she's the hot
(16:02):
commodity.
Okay, so I have it, I renovateit and then do I have to have
licenses?
Like, what do I need?
Because I just have money and Ihave no idea what I'm doing
yeah.
Isabelle Guarino (16:14):
So the physical home will get a license
based on those renovations thatyou had to do to get it
approved through the state.
So the physical home will getthat stamp of approval.
Once you've got it all ready togo, Then you're going to go
ahead and hire a licensedadministrator.
That is who's going to berunning all of the day-to-day
within your home.
They are going to hire and fireyour caregivers, make sure that
(16:35):
they show up and that theschedule is done, the payroll is
done.
They're going to market thehome so that new seniors come
into the home, right.
So they'll do the tours withthe residents or as someone
passes on, they'll make surethat the family has everything
that they need and then refillthat bed and they're really
running all of the wholeshenanigans within the home,
(16:56):
whether it's a private chef andactivities.
Whatever the case is, they runall the day to day.
So that's your key hire is yourlicensed administrator.
They hire your licensedcaregivers who do the day to day
work with the seniors.
So they're doing, you know, allof that direct care with the
residents.
So you don't necessarily have alicense.
The home does, theadministrator does the
(17:16):
caregivers do, but not you, andthat's kind of how it works.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (17:21):
I love that part too, because you know if
someone my age, like you said,like the daughters and the sons
are like, hey, I know a lot ofpeople my age that are
interested in investing inthings like that, because you
know we not that I mean, we'restill, we're still a ways off.
You just never know she canhappen next thing, you know,
(17:42):
like you know you need anassistant place and I, if it was
ever me, personally I woulddefinitely want to be like in a
more group setting than in a biggiant place that's got like
four floors and it feels likeit's a hospital.
I would hate that.
Isabelle Guarino (17:55):
Yeah, it's true and because my grandmother
needed care and so we needed tofind a place for her.
But when my dad started thiswhole business, he said you know
, this is not only a solutionfor grandma, it's a solution for
me and your mom if we ever needthis.
And then I get to leave my kidsa cash flowing business day in
the family and everyone justcash flows off of it and has a
(18:18):
place to go if and when theyever need it.
So it's kind of a good solutionin that regard.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (18:24):
And I like that too, because it helps to
build generational wealth.
Like, your dad started it, thenyou have it, then your kids
have it, then that, that, that,and that's what my husband and I
are all about.
We own a bunch of buildings inIowa commercial buildings in
Iowa and we have all three ofour kids involved.
(18:45):
All of our little grandkidshave candy machines and little
things they have to run andmaintain and take care of.
I'm like no, it's all aboutlike building generational
wealth, take care of.
I'm like no, it's all aboutlike building generational
wealth because once you get itgoing, you can change the entire
dynamics of your family from,from, you know, my great great
grandfather to my great greatgrandkids.
It'll be a staggeringdifference.
Isabelle Guarino (19:07):
Yep, I love that.
You have to be the start ofthat change if you want to see
it and doing anything, likeyou're saying, like you know,
with with the larger commercialbuildings, it's like, whatever
you want to do, real estate suchan amazing way to create that
generational wealth and be ableto pass it down.
Because it's really, if you'rethinking about it in that regard
, that long-term hold.
(19:28):
It's really the only thing thatwe can count on is something
physical, right, Because thedollar is not going to be the
same.
You could save a million nowand pass it to the grandkids,
and it won't be a million then.
Yeah they all blow it or that orthat.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (19:43):
I think it doesn't usually go like the
people, like the parents, likeme and Bill, create the wealth.
Our kids kind of keep it goingand the grandkids blow it
because they didn't have to workfor it.
So it's like no, my grandkids,they're only two, four, seven
and nine, and when we go to Iowathey have to clean their
machines, they have to help,they have to do all like.
I'm like listen, y'all aregoing to work.
(20:05):
So if anybody's going to blowit, it's going to be the kids
after you guys.
Isabelle Guarino (20:11):
At least you won't be around to see it, right
?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (20:13):
I know, it's like, oh man, I'd be so
devastated after we have, likewe own like most of this little
downtown, that we're kind ofrevitalizing this downtown, so
my heart would be so broken if,like 50 years from now, it was
back to being like just a junkhole, you know, yeah, well,
hopefully not hopefully they'vehad me work hard.
For you guys, you better get,keep going.
(20:34):
But you know, I'm from ohio andhe was from iowa and we were
raised like we graduated highschool in the 70s and back then
it was like get a job, work at afactory, get married, have kids
like that's what you did.
And so we're the first twopeople in our entire family on
both sides the only two thatever became millionaires, and
(20:57):
through real estate, michael, mykids are not going to know any
other way and my grandkids aredefinitely not going to know a
way.
And should I be blessed enoughto meet the grandkid, the great
greats, they're never going toknow any other way too, because
someone has to start.
Isabelle Guarino (21:10):
Someone has to start.
Yep, you've got to be that thatchange.
Uh, especially if?
If that's not how you wereraised.
You know, I'm very, veryblessed that you know.
Robert Kiyosaki is rich dad,poor dad.
I grew up with a dad with thatmentality of even if he didn't
have a lot of money at the time,he had the mentality of you
make your dreams come true andyou are the one in control of
(21:31):
your destiny.
Don't work to build someoneelse's dreams.
You know what's your vision forlife and let's make that come
to fruition, because betting onyourself is truly the only way
that you're actually going towin in life.
Um and so, being raised withthat mentality, absolutely, I
view the world differently thanmany of my even friends do,
because they had nine to fiveand work for the man and you
(21:55):
know, and so it's, it's abeautiful thing.
My dad discouraged me from goingto college.
He was like waste of time, donot go.
You know, and it's just sofunny that that's literally you
know, it's such a mindset.
It actually doesn't matter howmuch money is in the bank, it's
a mindset.
And it's so important to raiseyour kids like that, because if
that's what you want for them,then you have to change the way
(22:17):
they think you know.
Can I ask how old are you?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (22:21):
I am 33.
Okay, so you are the age of mychildren I have.
My son is 32.
My dad was 35.
When I was 30, say you're amillennial.
So all three of them, they'vealways just worked for
themselves.
It's like, hey, listen, don'tget a job, there's no man to
work for.
Like in my dad's day, you know,working for a factory was a
good thing.
(22:41):
I mean, ohio and michigangeneral motors cars are going
crazy.
People work 30, 35 years andretired at 60 with really good
amount of money.
But it's like.
But then my generation camealong and all those places went
bankrupt and out of business.
And now there's like but thenmy generation came along and all
those places went bankrupt andbusiness.
And now there's like there's noworking for the man because
there's a million companies andnobody keeps you and when you
(23:04):
get this age they get rid of youfor someone younger who will
work for less.
Yeah, yeah.
So I actually did, though Iactually did get a factory job
right after high school.
I thought, well, okay, getmarried, get a factory.
Da, da, da.
I worked in this factory forlike two weeks.
I thought, oh, my God, I'm only18.
I've never been in a factory.
It's 1977.
(23:25):
I'm like why would my parentswant me to work in this
God-forsaken hellhole?
It's boiling hot, it's June,it's the dead of the summer,
it's concrete floors.
There's no air conditioning,just fans.
They're standing all day andafter a week or two I was like,
oh God, if this has to be mylife now, like, kill me now.
(23:45):
So about six weeks in they were.
The boss came onto the floor oneday.
They had all these pink slipsin his hands and I mean everyone
got silent.
Now I'm really young, it's myfirst job.
I'm like what's happening?
And this girl next to me, she's, oh my God, they're giving out
pink slips.
I said what does that mean?
She said that means they'regoing to lay people off.
I said what does that mean?
She said it means people aregoing to get laid off and lose
(24:06):
their job.
And I was like begging.
So they started walking my way.
I was like, oh, please, give meone of those.
And I did because I was a newerhire and I was so excited.
I was like, and then I noticedit's funny because it didn't
even hit me till years laterthere was a woman I worked next
(24:27):
to in her 40s and she wasdevastated.
I was like why are youdevastated?
This is a hell hole.
She's like I'm a single mom, Igot three kids, this is my job.
Like go get a better job, whywould you want so?
I, you know, being 18 and nothaving a lot of sympathy and not
understanding the world, Ican't understand why she's upset
Like I'll be free, but for me Igo.
(24:50):
My dad, I got a pain slip.
Oh my God, cause you know, Iwas raised.
You can't quit your word, yourword, your work ethic, and I was
so happy that I I actuallymoved.
I said I'm moving to Florida,I'm moving out of state, so I
don't want to be anywhere wherethere's near a factory where I
could get sucked into it.
I actually moved out of state.
That's how bad.
(25:10):
I didn't want to do it.
I love that story.
But in hindsight I feel sorryfor that woman because I get it
now.
I mean, I was too young, she'ssingle, she's got kids, this is
her job.
She was devastated and I wasjust like woohoo, see you
suckers later.
And I'm out the door.
Man, I get so excited.
(25:38):
I told my kids you are neverdoing that.
Yep, absolutely Never.
So I have one of these.
So you have three that youpersonally own and then you
teach other people.
Yep, and so what would thatlook like?
Am I getting some handholding?
Am I going into some sort ofcoaching?
You're obviously going to giveme paperwork and tell me what I
need to do and how to besuccessful and oversee my
purchase, and things like that.
Isabelle Guarino (25:58):
Yeah, so we have an online training as well
as an in-person training inPhoenix, arizona, and we're
basically showing real estateinvestors, medical professionals
, whomever who wants to getstarted in this industry all
four of those routes how to godown them right, how to find the
property, how to market theproperty, how to hire your staff
, what you're going to need todo to get the property up to
(26:20):
code, how to host your openhouse and build those
relationships to fill your bedsright.
All the raising of the capitalin the meantime, because a lot
of people don't want to usetheir own money for investing
these days.
They want to use OPM, and soit's important to learn.
You know the different ways toraise the capital, what you need
in your business plan and yourpro forma, how to protect your
(26:40):
assets.
You know all that good stuff.
So we educate people on allthose different steps, really A
to Z, and then we show themexamples.
We drive them by our homes whenyou come to Phoenix and as well
as show you virtual tours ofwhat the homes look like from
the inside out, and as well asshow you virtual tours of what
the homes look like from theinside out and I'm not the only
one there educating in ourtraining.
We actually have about eightother team members who were past
(27:02):
students, who sat in the class,got their homes up and running
and now they're back to kind ofteach and educate and help
people along the way, and soit's a lot of fun.
We have a great time and wehost those about eight times per
year, always in Phoenix, and weactually have one this weekend.
So I'm really excited.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (27:21):
Next time I come to Phoenix, I'm coming to
see you and we're going to gothrough some places, because I
feel like that would besomething that Bill and we've
talked about off and on fordecades.
I think that's something wewould enjoy having.
Isabelle Guarino (27:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (27:33):
Especially for like boomers.
There you go, I love it.
I don't know I feel like, butyou know it's really needed
because, like you said, you knowI wouldn't want my mom, at 87,
to be in some type of hospital,vibe kind of place.
Isabelle Guarino (27:50):
Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (27:51):
After she's lived this great free life, I
would want her to be someplacesmaller and more intimate.
And you know she gets moreattention and more care and I
mean that's what I would wantfor my.
Isabelle Guarino (28:02):
Absolutely.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (28:03):
My parents, and so I feel like a lot of
people just like I was puttingwhere they have to go and also
things like that weren'tavailable.
You know my uncle was quite abit older available.
You know my uncle was quite abit older and when he got into
his 80s he had to live at a Idon't know what it's called
maybe it's assisted living butthey had two people in a room it
(28:25):
might've been we don't do anyshared bedrooms but if it was
like more low income.
And I hated that.
But the place he was at becausethe amount of work he needed
and the money he had and justall that he didn't have a lot of
money and it had to be likesome Medicaid involved and some
things like that.
And you know, here's this guythat's kind of traveled and been
free and he used to be like inthe boxing.
(28:46):
He used to have little amateurboxing teams and all those
really fun stuff and I hatedthat.
He ended up living in a placethat was so sterile and like
yeah, didn't feel like a home.
Isabelle Guarino (28:57):
Oh yeah, we, we unfortunately most of our
residents come from big boxes.
They had terrible experienceswith neglect or abuse or just
not getting the socializationand the you know quality care
that they need and that theydeserve, and so they're looking
for alternative options, and sothat's when they kind of come to
(29:17):
us.
And the problem is is that theBrookdale has a million, you
know dollar marketing budget,and so when you search assisted
living in my area, that's thefirst one that comes up, those
big box facilities.
And so these.
You search assisted living inmy area, that's the first one
that comes up, those big boxfacilities.
And so these smaller care homes, we just don't rank as high on
SEO and we're not.
We look like a regularresidential home, and so when
(29:40):
you buy you don't even know it'san assisted living.
It's not you know the big signout front, and so we are
competing against them.
But honestly, we find that mostof our residents come from bad
experiences over there and theysay I have to find something
better, and so when we're ableto provide that love and that
quality care and attention, it'sa drastic difference, for sure.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (30:02):
I love what you do.
I really do love that becausethat's how I feel too.
I feel like the seniors, whenpeople, the older they get, I
feel like people sometimes kindof like, ah, they got sort of
forgotten.
Those people raised you andchanged your diapers and took
care of you.
Yeah, Take care of them at theend and just throw them in some
place and just like, oh you know, I'll do twice a year Like
(30:23):
that's not right.
Isabelle Guarino (30:24):
It's not right .
Nope, nope Got to make it.
We have to have more optionsfor our seniors, we need more
beds and we need more qualitypeople who care and want to make
an impact in this industry, soit's so important for sure.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (30:39):
So if I'm working with your company, I can
buy one of these or build oneor whatever in any state.
Isabelle Guarino (30:46):
Yeah, actually , 31% of care home owners are
remote owners, so they own ahome in a state that they maybe
do not live in.
My homes are about 40 minutes,45 minutes, away from where I
live, and I like that distancebecause it's just enough that I
don't want to go visit every day, because then that forces you
(31:06):
to be more hands-on once you'rethere.
You're, you know now.
Now, oh, let me do this, let medo that, let me be in here.
I want it to be a little bitinconvenient so that I'm not
going there every day working inthe business.
So I visit them maybe everyother month and just swing by to
say hello and make sure theroof's not on fire, that's it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (31:26):
I really love that too, and there's so many.
The little town that we buyproperties is called Clinton
Iowa and back in I don't knowthe day I guess the silent
generation day they had moremillionaires living in that
little area because they wereall lumber barons, because the
railroad, because it's aroundthe Mississippi River, so the
railroads came by with all thelumber and there's all these
(31:47):
giant beautiful mansions I meanbeautiful, and people have
turned them into apartments now,but there's so many Absolutely
stunning, and some of them havelike 10 bedrooms.
I told Bess we should buy acouple of these.
Man, they're gorgeous andthey're beautiful and they have
all the old woodwork and the bigstyle staircases and it's like,
oh, so pretty.
Isabelle Guarino (32:11):
You just saw back in the day, it was like so
fancy, that's amazing, thatsounds beautiful.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (32:13):
I'm about to start zillowing those.
Oh, there's so many.
A couple of them have beenfixed up and they do like tours
and such and they have itdecorated like for the time
period and it's like, oh, peoplelive so fancy back then, not
like everyone's, why I shouldn'ttalk.
I'm wearing like a hoodie today, so but it, but it is different
.
Isabelle Guarino (32:29):
It is different, right.
The world is is a lot, a lotlazier in in the way we present
ourselves in our homes, right?
Even I read this article thatmillennials are getting rid of
the front room and the guestroom.
Right, like we're making ourhomes like that.
There's no like formal sittingarea, and that was such a thing
(32:51):
back in the day.
You had to have like that fancyroom where you sat, you know,
and you were quiet, and now it'sjust.
We just live such a differentlife these days.
So, whether it's fashion orhome styles or all sorts of
stuff, so it is, it is verydifferent.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (33:08):
Oh, when I go on stage now, I mean I started
off.
You know I always wore suitsand like that's what people wore
.
Then I was like you know what Idon't want to wear a suit.
I don't want to do all that.
Like I'm a girl, I don't.
I want to wear like jeans andlike a sweater.
So I just started showing up inlike my cowboy boots, my jeans
and a sweater.
In that I was like yeah, I feelbetter, I'm more comfortable
(33:30):
and I don't like wearing suits.
They don't fit me good.
My boobies are big, I don't sitright here.
That's what I'm wearing.
Yep, there you go.
Some of the places I spoke forhad meltdowns initially because
every single person was still inthe suit phase.
Yeah, I'm like listen, all theguys can wear suits.
All the girls can wear fancydresses and high heels.
I'm wearing jeans.
So if you don't want me to come, I won't come, but I want to
feel like myself.
(33:51):
I like it A trendsetter.
It's like let me tell me whatto do.
So, from the time of person.
So you do all the coaching andthe mentoring stuff.
So I really love that too,because that is something I feel
like.
In a business like this, youreally need to have your ducks
in a row for lawsuits and thingslike that.
Isabelle Guarino (34:11):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
You have to be protected.
You have to have all yourdocumentation with the state
correct, you need that homerenovated exactly how they
require you to do it and youneed your licensed staff.
I always say slow to hire andquick to fire.
If there is any funny businessgoing on, you have to get rid of
it ASAP.
That's your reputation, yourbusiness and potential lawsuits
(34:34):
on the line, and these arepeople's lives, and so it's so
important that you put thatfirst and really um our company
motto of doing good and doingwell.
It's really about that balance,Like if you're just in this for
the money.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (34:46):
There are other forms of real estate, like
head over there, right, yeah, Ilike doing good, doing well.
Ours is people before profits.
I'm mostly buying houses onpeople that are in foreclosure.
They're losing their house.
It's like, look, if you can'thelp them and take care of them
and give them a fresh startbecause you just want to make a
bunch of money, you should notbe doing this.
Isabelle Guarino (35:06):
No, exactly You've got to live in their home
.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (35:09):
Yeah, it's like you know, give them some
love and help them get startedand feel good about themselves
again.
Isabelle Guarino (35:16):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (35:18):
I love your heart too.
That is really good, okay, sotell me what is the biggest goal
that you still want toaccomplish and how can all of us
at Dwanterful help you reachyour next big goal?
Isabelle Guarino (35:32):
I love it.
Our actually 10-year goal whichI think we're like four years
into when we set this goal is topositively impact 10 million
people by providing high-qualityassisted living in a
residential home environment.
So that doesn't necessarilyjust mean the seniors in the
home, it also means the daughterduties, because if your parent
(35:53):
has a terrible experience in abig box, you better believe it
affects you, and so so havingthese homes it not only impacts
the seniors but their families,as well as the care staff.
You know your caregivers a lotof them when they're working in
those big box facilities, thereason the care is so poor or
subpar is because it's 30seniors to one caregiver, and
(36:16):
that's not okay.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (36:18):
It's not okay .
Isabelle Guarino (36:20):
It's not okay.
So in our homes it's a four toone or five to one ratio and
that's a lot more comfortablefor these seniors.
So you're also providing thecaregivers a better opportunity
to do the mission that was ontheir heart.
Right, they could work at fastfood or somewhere else.
They chose to work in seniorcare.
They love seniors, they want tobe in this business.
(36:42):
But then when you put them in anenvironment where it's 30 to
one and they're rushed throughtheir day, they you know a lot
of what they want to do getsthrown out the window because
they're trying to make metrics.
And that's a systemic problem.
That's not a caregiver problem,that's you know.
It's a problem at the top,that's trinkling down to the
bottom.
And so in our homes we canprovide that opportunity for the
(37:04):
seniors, for the families andthe caregivers.
So all the listeners, if theywant to help join that mission
of positively impacting 10million people with RAL, either
putting your loved one in a carehome instead of a facility when
they need that option, or justpromoting them.
When you hear of someone inyour life who needs this, you
(37:24):
say, hey, have you considered alocal residential assisted
living home instead of the bigbox or opening your own Of
course, yes, I love it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:33):
Okay.
So 10 million people, that'sthe goal.
I saw all you wonderful peopleout there.
You got to get busy and help dothis and spread the word.
But I, you know, having like mydad's alive, my aunts, both my
three and my aunts are alive.
My one aunt's 97 and she stilllives at her house, but her
daughter moved in with her.
Wanda, she still walks twomiles a day, so how cute is she.
(37:54):
And my other, my mom's 87.
My other aunt is 85.
And they all still get out andthey do stuff and you know, and
my dad's 86, 86.
Yeah, and it's like I'm justjust yeah, they're all someplace
really amazing or still able tobe at home and with some help
at home and stuff like that.
(38:14):
And I think that's really thebest way because you know we
don't want our parents to go outin some horrible situation
where like 30 to 1, like you,can't take care of people like
that, especially assistants.
They need help with thebathroom, the shower, they need
help.
Isabelle Guarino (38:26):
Yeah, I agree.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:28):
I agree, it's so important and it sounds like
you've got a lot of longevityin your family, so I do that's
why I said listen, my, my auntdoor was 101 when she died and
she lived at by herself, so shewas 99 and my aunt wanda's 97.
My mom is 87, son is 85, andthat's on my mom's side.
On my dad's side he was theyoungest of a bunch of kids, so
(38:51):
all of them lived into their 80sand my grandfather into his 90s
.
I'm like girl, I'm going tolive to be 100.
Isabelle Guarino (38:56):
There we go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:57):
When I do want to live someplace, I'm
going to make sure it's likebougie.
I love it, I'm bougie till theday I die.
Okay, so let's jump some topics.
Calvin, what is your favoriteband of all time?
Isabelle Guarino (39:25):
Oh, can I go singer instead of band?
You know I this is silly andprobably embarrassing, but I
love Pitbull I love some funpoppy Pitbull.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:32):
Let me tell you something.
I have a house in Florida.
I've been in Florida for thelast 45 years.
Yeah, Everyone down there lovesPitbull he's like a renowned.
He's out His music.
He's so sexy.
My husband's like I don't getit.
I'm like, oh honey, you have tobe a girl to get it.
Pitbull is like.
Isabelle Guarino (39:51):
You, my husband's, like I don't get it.
I'm like, oh honey, you have tobe a girl to get it.
Pitbull is like you know.
His songs are great when you'reworking out and you're running
around they always put you in agood mood.
I love it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:58):
Now we have the Dish TV and it has all those
serious radio channels.
There's a Pitbull channel andso when Bill's at home, I'm just
like walking around, what areyou listening to?
I'm like dude, it's Pitbull.
He doesn't get it.
As a guy I'm like listen,there's no woman on earth that
doesn't think Pitbull is like,and besides that, his music is
(40:18):
great and he's a really nice guy.
Isabelle Guarino (40:20):
He's really nice, yep, I agree.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:22):
Yeah, nothing to be embarrassed about girl.
He's like one of my low keycrushes.
It's like, oh, if I wasn'tmarried and I ran into hip hop,
I'd be like I feel about oldwomen.
Isabelle Guarino (40:34):
I like it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:35):
That's awesome.
I love all dance music.
At heart, I love anything dance.
What's your favorite food?
What do you like to eat?
Isabelle Guarino (40:43):
Oh, I love a good steak.
I have a steak girl.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:49):
And then what's your favorite time,
what's your favorite part ofyour day, all throughout the day
, where's your place, whereyou're like, oh, this is great.
Isabelle Guarino (40:58):
You know, I I just had my first baby, my, my
son, just 10 weeks ago, and I'mreally enjoying.
Um, I already loved mornings.
I was always a morning girl,but I'm loving my mornings with
him.
There's nothing like waking upand just seeing that cute little
face.
So mornings for sure, oh,what's your baby's name?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (41:17):
Hendrix, hendrix, oh, that's so cute.
Is this your first baby?
Yes, oh see, I had my first at30.
So now in my day, 30 was likeold to be having kids.
But the millennials are like 30, 35, 37, all having babies.
It's like okay.
So I was like trailblazing backthen.
I don't have no babies on 20years old, I'm waiting on 30.
(41:37):
Babies are the best.
I'm going to tell you something, girl.
I know everybody tells you this, but they grow so much faster
than you can ever get over, likethey're so little, and then
they're crawling and thenthey're walking like oh my God,
what happened?
It goes so fast.
Isabelle Guarino (41:53):
Yeah, it's amazing.
It's so fun to watch him everyday just grow and learn more
skills every day.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (42:02):
Oh, and they're smiling and giggling and
laughing and just oh, I know, Ijust, I love babies and I had
my, all my grandbabies.
I was like, oh, you forget,like how much you love babies
and I had one for a long time.
It's like, oh my God, okay, soI come to Phoenix, we're going
to go listen to some pit bulland eat some steaks.
There you go, I'll take it Okay.
So one more time, because Iwant everything in the show
(42:23):
notes.
Tell people how to reach you.
Isabelle Guarino (42:26):
Yeah, you can find us on any of the social
medias, at RAL Academy, or checkout RAL101.com.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (42:39):
All right.
So first of all, I just want tothank you for coming on.
You are just like a ball ofsunshine, so I really enjoyed
talking to you today and whatyou do.
I am so on board with what youdo, and my husband and I talk
about this often and I'm likeyou know what.
Now that I know you, it's likeI know where to go when I'm
ready to do this, because I it'sjust I don't know.
I feel like it's something thatI just I just want to do this
at some point, yeah, and maybehave a nice place for my own
(43:03):
self too.
Isabelle Guarino (43:04):
There we go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (43:05):
I plan on just like rocking and rolling
and just dropping dead.
We don't want that.
That's my plan.
I'm going to rock and rolluntil I'm like 100 and then just
poo-poo.
But you know, should that notbe my path?
I would like to.
If I had to be an assistant, Iwould want to be someplace where
I felt a little more specialand people knew me and I knew
everybody.
I didn't feel like I was insome strange environment.
(43:27):
Absolutely that's what I likeabout what you guys do.
It's absolutely amazing, allright.
So, folks, if you're new, I wantyou to do me a favor.
If you had fun today, if youlaughed, if you learned anything
at all, I want you to subscribethe most wonderful real estate
podcast ever.
Subscribe, leave a five-starreview and write something and
(43:48):
say how amazing I am and howamazing isabel is.
Follow me on all the socials.
Everything is wonderful.
So youtube, tiktok, instagram,threads, linkedin, all the stuff
.
It's really easy, and if youopt in at any of those, you will
get a free ebook on how to towholesale houses, flip your way
(44:11):
to a fortune.
Okay, so now the hardest partof the day is I want you to
leave us with a parting word ofwisdom, but just a single word.
Isabelle Guarino (44:22):
Oh, a single word.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (44:33):
Inspire Okay, I love it.
Say never tell anyone, anduntil, because they'll be
thinking about their word whilewe're talking and see you do
like you can read.
They look up and you're likeyou think it's like inspire.
Inspire is a great word, and soeveryone that watches me on the
regular knows that when theyhear the word inspire from you,
that is their word of the week.
(44:53):
So they're supposed to focus onthe word inspire, but we want
to know what it means to you.
Isabelle Guarino (44:58):
You know, lately I've just been thinking I
love that I'm able to inspirepeople to start businesses that
make an impact.
And if anything, if I could beanything in this world, I would
love to just be a fleck ofinspiration in people's lives to
help them do something thatthey've wanted to do or that
they've thought about, whetherit's assisted living or
(45:20):
something else.
I just love helping people whenthey come with a dream, when
they come with a vision, talkthrough it and say let's take it
to that next level, and so Iwant to be an inspiration more
in a day-to-day life.
So that's why I think Inspirecame to my mind.
It's been on my heart and mymind lately.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:36):
See, now you got a chance to tell all of us
what it means to you andeveryone.
That's what that means toIsabel.
So what does Inspire mean toyou?
So today's word of the weekInspire and I love that word too
.
Because word of the weekinspire and I love that word too
, because part of the reason Iteach is I like to see people
change their finances.
I like to see people buildgenerational wealth.
Like to see people that hadthese jobs they hated, you know,
(45:58):
own their own business and inany facet, any facet at all, of
real estate investing.
So I also feel inspired to wantto help other people because if
I had followed my given path,I'd be working in a factory.
It's like can you imagine meworking in a factory?
I am not a factory girl.
Oh, you're not.
(46:18):
I am just not okay.
Everyone, uh, thank you so muchfor being on.
We'll be back next week, samebat time, same bat channel again
.
Thank you so much for spendingyour time with us today.
We really, truly appreciate it.
And you have a baby now.
So I always tell people time isyour most valuable asset.
And younger people.
When you're 20s, you're like 10foot tall and bulletproof, but
(46:41):
when you start having kids, yourealize time passes really
quickly.
So I always appreciate that youtook an hour out of your day to
be with us over here atDwanterful, so thank you for
that and remember everybody thatthe truth is in the red letters
.
Okay, we'll talk to you nextweek.
Ciao, bye, everyone.
Have a good week.
(47:01):
Make something happen, okay.
Hey everybody , welcome to the most Dwanderful
real estate podcast ever.
I'm your host, Dwan BentTwyford.
I'm America's most sought-afterreal estate investor and I am
so excited to have you here foranother episode.
I have an amazing guest todayIsabelle Guarino.
I said it right?
Yes, all right, I had tophonetically spell that last
(00:25):
name out there, and she's goingto share some really great
information with us.
If you are new to me or toDwanderful, you can go to
Dwanderful.
com D-W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L dot com.
I took Dwan and Wonderful and Imade a new word, and our motto
(00:47):
at Dwan-der-ful is people beforeprofits.
So if that is something thatresonates with you, you're at
the right place.
It's the right time Today.
We're your girl and you'regoing to have fun with us.
So, Isabella, how are you today?
Isabelle Guarino (01:03):
I'm doing wonderful.
I'm so excited to be here.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (01:06):
I'm so excited.
You're so pretty.
Isabelle Guarino (01:08):
Oh, thank you, I love, I love the, the we're.
We're matching with our purples, so it's good we're all vibing
today.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (01:14):
I know you have the black hair and the
purple and I'm the opposite.
There we go.
Everyone that knows me knows Idon't ever.
I'm all right, guys, I'mactually going to put some gray
on my hair.
Y'all have been knowing me fora long time.
That's a big step.
That's a big step.
So we like to start off with atoast.
We're trying to hydrate thiswater, but I think it's taking a
(01:35):
little longer.
So I have a backup.
So cheers, cheers, and you guysget a drink.
Cheers, cheers.
Everyone take a drink.
Everyone take a drink.
Everyone take a deep breath andjust relax, clear your mind of
all the stuff that you havegoing on and just tune in with
(01:58):
us and have some fun, becauseyou know me, you know we're
going to have a good time today,okay, so we kind of just throw
you straight into the wolves alittle bit.
So what I'd like for you to dois just like in like a sentence
or two, just tell us what you doand how we can get ahold of you
, and then I have all thesesuper fun questions and we're
(02:20):
just going to talk and chat andget to know each other and I
like to be as conversational aspossible.
So it's like if someone wassitting with us and they were
getting to know both of us.
We'd all just be sitting aroundhaving a drink and getting to
know each other.
I love it.
Isabelle Guarino (02:35):
I love it.
I do too.
Yes, as you guys know, and Igot the beautiful introduction I
appreciate that Currently Ioperate and own residential
assisted living homes and Iteach other real estate
investors exactly how to do that, so we like to.
It's perfect, for you know,your precipice of this show in
(02:56):
that we focus on doing good anddoing well, cash flowing, but
helping our senior community,and it's a really beautiful
blend of those two things.
And how you can reach out to usis by finding us on any of the
social medias, at RAL Academy orgoing to RAL101.com.
You can grab a free book,webinar, download anything you
(03:17):
want there, or schedule a callwith me or the team.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (03:20):
Okay, ral101.com and RAL Academy
everywhere on social media.
Yep, I will also startfollowing you today.
I always like to.
They send me bios and stuff.
I just like to get to knowpeople.
Let me just like talk and chatand find out and see what
(03:41):
happens.
So you work with theresidential assisted living.
Isabelle Guarino (03:44):
Yep exactly.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (03:46):
And so what does that mean?
Residential assisted living fora person?
That's really new and they'relike well, there's assisted
living, there's nursing homes,there's this, this, this like
what is in the slice of that.
What is that?
Isabelle Guarino (04:01):
Yeah, so we focus on basically assisted
living, but it's in a regularresidential home, so a single
family home.
And when I say that I don'tmean a three bed, two bath, I
mean a luxury, upscale home in areally nice part of town.
Our homes that we own andoperate, they're 10 bedroom, 10
bath homes, but they're inregular residential
(04:24):
neighborhoods and they house 10seniors who need help with
activities of daily living.
So they need help with 24 sevencare.
So there's caregivers there,there's an administrator there
and I my role that I play is Iown the real estate and operate
the business.
So down to about five hours ofweek of running those businesses
, but it's a great opportunityto provide housing for seniors.
(04:47):
That's not in the bigcommercial, big box setting that
we all fear going into.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (04:53):
We do.
My mom lives in a.
It used to be a women'sboarding home from the 1920s.
It was a women's boarding homeand they turned it into um, I
guess it's like assisted, likethey.
You know they have their ownapartment.
Okay, they had like a bigcafeteria and they have all the
games and the stuff and a busthat takes them places.
(05:16):
So they re did this place.
It was 1920.
Like a boy, you know, like awomen's day, but go stay at a
boarding home.
So they couldn't, you know, inthe 20s and 30s, like women,
couldn't just like travel.
And it is so beautiful this,it's antique, it's so beautiful,
she loves it.
There's only like 100 peoplethat live there.
I tell you she's like, oh mygod, because it's not like a big
(05:38):
, giant right facility, you know, like you pull in and it looks
like it's a big house, yeah, andwalk and it looks like it's a
big house.
Yeah, and walk in, it feels likeit's somebody's house.
Isabelle Guarino (05:48):
I love that.
I love that If she's doing youknow coming and going and in her
own apartment style it may bemore considered independent
living.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (05:56):
I think it is .
I think it's just elder seniorhousing.
Yeah, is what she's at.
It's senior housing, but theyalways have a nurse on staff, so
if somebody gets sick orwhatever, I think hers is just
like independent living forseniors but it's really
(06:19):
beautiful, yeah, amazing, good.
Isabelle Guarino (06:20):
I'm glad she's having a good experience,
because I do not hear about manygood experiences in larger
facilities, so I'm so glad she'shaving a great time.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (06:26):
She loves it.
They clean your room every day.
They wash all your clothes,they cook all your meals, they
make your bed.
It's like mom, it's like youhave maid service that I would
live there.
They cook all your meals.
I would literally live there, Iwouldn't have to do anything.
Isabelle Guarino (06:42):
There you go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (06:43):
So I always thought, you know, thought it
was funny my husband and Italked about um having like some
senior living.
I'm like you know, the peoplethat are seniors now were like
young in the 60s.
Yeah, like I feel like theyshould have like the Rolling
Stones playing and they shouldall be like smoking weed and
being hippies again in their oldage.
Isabelle Guarino (07:05):
And you know what?
We always joke that if you wantto open a niche home that
focuses on anything rightWhether it's a type of music,
whether it's, you know, allfemale or whatever you want you
can absolutely do that.
Niche homes go a really longway.
But we've got a home here inArizona.
It's not one we own and operate, but it's another care home
(07:25):
called Shalom Home.
Oh, but we've got a home herein Arizona.
It's not when we own andoperate, but it's another care
home called Shalom Home and socute.
They focus on the Jewishpopulation.
We've got another one that'scalled Rainbow Orchard, I think,
and it's focuses on LGBTQIAplus seniors and I'm like how
cool.
So you can definitely have funwith it and niche it up.
I love that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (07:46):
We've talked about it a lot, calling it like
something like rock and roll,seniors or something, and like,
hey, listen, we're not going toplay any of that.
Soft music, rock music, all day, bands coming in.
We're Colorado, here's all thepot you guys want.
Go back to being in your 60s,be a hippie, I love it.
Isabelle Guarino (08:03):
I love, love it.
You probably have a waitinglist out the door.
Oh my god probably, probably.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:09):
I'm like if I was in a place like that, I'd
want some like disco and likesomething that takes me back to
the days you know.
So that's fun, all right.
So now I love the fact that youhave 10 bed, 10 bath houses.
These are like bougie housesthey're big luxury upscale homes
.
Isabelle Guarino (08:23):
Yep, yep, okay , so I like that, so we have,
like bougie, seniors.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:24):
They're big, luxury, upscale homes, yeah,
yeah, okay, so I like that.
So we have like bougie seniorsand then, with the assisted, do
you guys take them?
Isabelle Guarino (08:33):
So you own more than one, three of them,
and then we've taught thousands.
At this point now, 10 years inthe business of teaching others
how to do this.
All across the country.
So thousands of students whichrepresent thousands of other
residential assisted livinghomes across the country.
It's not a franchise, so Idon't own any of their
(08:54):
properties.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:55):
See, I really like that because, like I'm 65.
And so I'm coming up on thatage, the boomer, like all the
boomers, are dying.
But the thing is we're allgetting older, but we were
really active when we wereyounger and everybody wants to
be like tied down until I, Idon't know, I don't know.
I know for me, like all myfriends, we also party and go
(09:15):
out and go dancing and like allthis stuff.
So I feel like that's a reallybig industry for people
worldwide, Cause how manythere's like?
How many?
Like 70 million boomers orsomething.
Isabelle Guarino (09:26):
Oh, I think it's 74 million boomers and
definitely I mean, like I alwayssay, we're still 10, 20 years
out from most boomers evenneeding assisted living.
Because the reality is youdon't move in for fun, you move
in because you physically needhelp getting out of bed, you
need help walking, you can nolonger toilet or bathe by
(09:47):
yourself, you can't feedyourself, and so that's when you
need true assisted living care.
You need help with three tofive activities of daily living.
So right now the boomers arenot really in assisted living.
It's more of the silentgeneration who's currently-.
That's my mom, she's 87.
Yep, but in the next 10, 20years, it's the silver tsunami.
(10:08):
Right, they're coming it's us.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (10:11):
It's us, the boomers, that's right.
They better get ready.
They're not going to know whathappened when all the boomers
start rolling in.
Isabelle Guarino (10:16):
Exactly.
There's a massive need.
We're currently 1.3 millionbeds short today and there's
only 44 million in the silentgeneration, so we're almost
doubling the amount of seniorswho are coming into this
particular market and there'snot enough beds.
So it's a big opportunity forreal estate investors to start
(10:37):
looking at this as a category,to actually start investing in.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (10:42):
I agree, I actually agree.
So I come to you and I say, hey, I heard you on Dwan's podcast,
I would like to have one ofthese.
So do I have to get certified?
Do I have to own buildings?
What do I have to do with noexperience at all and I'm like
I've got money and I have to getcertified.
Do I have to own buildings?
What do I have to do with noexperience at all and I'm like
I've got money and I want to dothat.
Isabelle Guarino (11:01):
I love it.
So the first thing I wouldalways say, in any form of real
estate you want to do, find amentor and get educated, learn
all my people know you learnfrom mistakes or mentors.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (11:13):
Mentors are cheaper.
Yep, yep, preach it cheaper,yep.
Yep, I preach it weekly.
It's like listen, pay somebodyelse who already knows how to do
it.
You don't need to reinvent thewheel, the wheel's already there
.
Come from someone who's alreadydone it, so you're the wheel.
There we go and I come to them.
Isabelle Guarino (11:35):
Okay, I've got $500,000 and I want to make an
assisted living for peoplePerfect.
So after that's settled, youknow, and you have someone that
you're working with, then Iwould say deciding on which of
the four routes you want to getstarted with.
So first, you could buy a homeand renovate it to become an
assisted living home.
Next, you could buy land andcustom build from the ground up,
or you could lease a home touse for this.
(11:58):
So use a home that someone elsealready has renovated for it
and you're just going to operatethe business within the home.
Or fourth, 30,000 group homesexist across our country today
and a lot of them are being runmom and pop style about 80%
where the person who owns thereal estate also works in the
home and cares for the seniorsthemselves.
(12:20):
There's about a seven to eightyear lifespan when they say I'm
starting to burn out and I don'twant to do this anymore.
So those businesses come ontothe market and so you may be
able to purchase an existingbusiness with the real estate
and be up and running right away, running it as a more
professional business ownerhands off, not working in but
(12:41):
working on the business.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (12:44):
So buy and renovate.
Buy land and build one, leasesomething or find a group home
that's already up on the market.
Perfect, yeah, okay.
So I call you and I'm like,okay, we're going to, we're
going to buy and renovate.
Isabelle Guarino (12:57):
There you go, so now it's all about finding
that perfect location.
We're looking for thedemographics of daughter Judy,
which is actually funny becauseit's somewhat of you, Dwan.
Like it's that 50 to 70 year oldwho's upper middle class,
possibly making twice the medianincome.
It's wherever they live, eat,work, sleep, play, because they
(13:20):
don't want mom or dad 45 minutesdown the road, they want them
five to 10 minutes, they wantthem really close to where they
are so they can go visit, theycan go say hello.
So that is our target market.
So then, yep, exactly, we gotto find that location and that
is the key.
Then, once you get the home,we're renovating it to be up to
(13:41):
code with all of your state orcounty rules and regulations,
which it varies all across thecountry, but typically we're
looking for 300 to 500 squarefeet per resident.
Most of your seniors are goingto want a private bedroom and a
private bathroom.
They don't want to share.
They are coming from their ownhome where they've owned the
(14:01):
whole home.
Now they're coming into ashared environment, but they
don't want to share theirbedroom.
So, as many private bedroomsand bathrooms as we can.
So, renovating the home to beup to code, whether that's
adding sprinklers or firesuppression, widening hallways,
doorways, you know, adding ramps, guardrails, handrails it
doesn't have to be ADA compliant, but you want it as close to
(14:24):
that as possible.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (14:25):
So that's your next step.
That's kind of like my mom.
I think her place it's not verybig, it's maybe like 400 square
feet, but she has her own bed,her own bed, but there's no
kitchens.
There's no kitchens because Ithink people, you know, forget,
they want to have thatsocialization?
Yeah, and they want them to goout and eat with everyone.
So she has everything but akitchen which at first she's
like oh, and I was like mom,just give it a try.
(14:47):
If you hate it, we'll findanother place to know a guy that
knew the owner like of thething and we got it right in
there.
And now after like a week she'slike okay, why are they like?
And now she's got like bestfriends.
She's got guys that come to herdoor and walk her to dinner.
It's like, okay, I love it.
Apparently those are crazyamount of like sex and stuff
(15:08):
going on at these places.
I'm like, oh, my god, they saythat.
That's what they tell me.
They said it's like collegedorm for seniors.
Isabelle Guarino (15:18):
They say that in the independent communities
it is like that, and I thinkthat is too funny.
By the time they're in ourhomes if they need help getting
out of bed.
There's not much of that goingon.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (15:28):
But probably not.
But my mom says I'm telling youwhy it's like.
It feels like it's a party allthe time.
Isabelle Guarino (15:35):
Yeah, Just because you get old doesn't mean
you're not attracted to people.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (15:41):
So that doesn't stop as you age.
I know I always thought like,hey, I'm old, you don't care.
But my mom puts on her lipstick, she fixes her hair, she puts
on jewelry to go out to thelunchroom because there are men
out there.
I love it, she's the hotcommodity.
87.
She's hot commodity and she'ssuper pretty, so she's the hot
(16:02):
commodity.
Okay, so I have it, I renovateit and then do I have to have
licenses?
Like, what do I need?
Because I just have money and Ihave no idea what I'm doing
yeah.
Isabelle Guarino (16:14):
So the physical home will get a license
based on those renovations thatyou had to do to get it
approved through the state.
So the physical home will getthat stamp of approval.
Once you've got it all ready togo, Then you're going to go
ahead and hire a licensedadministrator.
That is who's going to berunning all of the day-to-day
within your home.
They are going to hire and fireyour caregivers, make sure that
(16:35):
they show up and that theschedule is done, the payroll is
done.
They're going to market thehome so that new seniors come
into the home, right.
So they'll do the tours withthe residents or as someone
passes on, they'll make surethat the family has everything
that they need and then refillthat bed and they're really
running all of the wholeshenanigans within the home,
(16:56):
whether it's a private chef andactivities.
Whatever the case is, they runall the day to day.
So that's your key hire is yourlicensed administrator.
They hire your licensedcaregivers who do the day to day
work with the seniors.
So they're doing, you know, allof that direct care with the
residents.
So you don't necessarily have alicense.
The home does, theadministrator does the
(17:16):
caregivers do, but not you, andthat's kind of how it works.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (17:21):
I love that part too, because you know if
someone my age, like you said,like the daughters and the sons
are like, hey, I know a lot ofpeople my age that are
interested in investing inthings like that, because you
know we not that I mean, we'restill, we're still a ways off.
You just never know she canhappen next thing, you know,
(17:42):
like you know you need anassistant place and I, if it was
ever me, personally I woulddefinitely want to be like in a
more group setting than in a biggiant place that's got like
four floors and it feels likeit's a hospital.
I would hate that.
Isabelle Guarino (17:55):
Yeah, it's true and because my grandmother
needed care and so we needed tofind a place for her.
But when my dad started thiswhole business, he said you know
, this is not only a solutionfor grandma, it's a solution for
me and your mom if we ever needthis.
And then I get to leave my kidsa cash flowing business day in
the family and everyone justcash flows off of it and has a
(18:18):
place to go if and when theyever need it.
So it's kind of a good solutionin that regard.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (18:24):
And I like that too, because it helps to
build generational wealth.
Like, your dad started it, thenyou have it, then your kids
have it, then that, that, that,and that's what my husband and I
are all about.
We own a bunch of buildings inIowa commercial buildings in
Iowa and we have all three ofour kids involved.
(18:45):
All of our little grandkidshave candy machines and little
things they have to run andmaintain and take care of.
I'm like no, it's all aboutlike building generational
wealth, take care of.
I'm like no, it's all aboutlike building generational
wealth because once you get itgoing, you can change the entire
dynamics of your family from,from, you know, my great great
grandfather to my great greatgrandkids.
It'll be a staggeringdifference.
Isabelle Guarino (19:07):
Yep, I love that.
You have to be the start ofthat change if you want to see
it and doing anything, likeyou're saying, like you know,
with with the larger commercialbuildings, it's like, whatever
you want to do, real estate suchan amazing way to create that
generational wealth and be ableto pass it down.
Because it's really, if you'rethinking about it in that regard
, that long-term hold.
(19:28):
It's really the only thing thatwe can count on is something
physical, right, Because thedollar is not going to be the
same.
You could save a million nowand pass it to the grandkids,
and it won't be a million then.
Yeah they all blow it or that orthat.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (19:43):
I think it doesn't usually go like the
people, like the parents, likeme and Bill, create the wealth.
Our kids kind of keep it goingand the grandkids blow it
because they didn't have to workfor it.
So it's like no, my grandkids,they're only two, four, seven
and nine, and when we go to Iowathey have to clean their
machines, they have to help,they have to do all like.
I'm like listen, y'all aregoing to work.
(20:05):
So if anybody's going to blowit, it's going to be the kids
after you guys.
Isabelle Guarino (20:11):
At least you won't be around to see it, right
?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (20:13):
I know, it's like, oh man, I'd be so
devastated after we have, likewe own like most of this little
downtown, that we're kind ofrevitalizing this downtown, so
my heart would be so broken if,like 50 years from now, it was
back to being like just a junkhole, you know, yeah, well,
hopefully not hopefully they'vehad me work hard.
For you guys, you better get,keep going.
(20:34):
But you know, I'm from ohio andhe was from iowa and we were
raised like we graduated highschool in the 70s and back then
it was like get a job, work at afactory, get married, have kids
like that's what you did.
And so we're the first twopeople in our entire family on
both sides the only two thatever became millionaires, and
(20:57):
through real estate, michael, mykids are not going to know any
other way and my grandkids aredefinitely not going to know a
way.
And should I be blessed enoughto meet the grandkid, the great
greats, they're never going toknow any other way too, because
someone has to start.
Isabelle Guarino (21:10):
Someone has to start.
Yep, you've got to be that thatchange.
Uh, especially if?
If that's not how you wereraised.
You know, I'm very, veryblessed that you know.
Robert Kiyosaki is rich dad,poor dad.
I grew up with a dad with thatmentality of even if he didn't
have a lot of money at the time,he had the mentality of you
make your dreams come true andyou are the one in control of
(21:31):
your destiny.
Don't work to build someoneelse's dreams.
You know what's your vision forlife and let's make that come
to fruition, because betting onyourself is truly the only way
that you're actually going towin in life.
Um and so, being raised withthat mentality, absolutely, I
view the world differently thanmany of my even friends do,
because they had nine to fiveand work for the man and you
(21:55):
know, and so it's, it's abeautiful thing.
My dad discouraged me from goingto college.
He was like waste of time, donot go.
You know, and it's just sofunny that that's literally you
know, it's such a mindset.
It actually doesn't matter howmuch money is in the bank, it's
a mindset.
And it's so important to raiseyour kids like that, because if
that's what you want for them,then you have to change the way
(22:17):
they think you know.
Can I ask how old are you?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (22:21):
I am 33.
Okay, so you are the age of mychildren I have.
My son is 32.
My dad was 35.
When I was 30, say you're amillennial.
So all three of them, they'vealways just worked for
themselves.
It's like, hey, listen, don'tget a job, there's no man to
work for.
Like in my dad's day, you know,working for a factory was a
good thing.
(22:41):
I mean, ohio and michigangeneral motors cars are going
crazy.
People work 30, 35 years andretired at 60 with really good
amount of money.
But it's like.
But then my generation camealong and all those places went
bankrupt and out of business.
And now there's like but thenmy generation came along and all
those places went bankrupt andbusiness.
And now there's like there's noworking for the man because
there's a million companies andnobody keeps you and when you
(23:04):
get this age they get rid of youfor someone younger who will
work for less.
Yeah, yeah.
So I actually did, though Iactually did get a factory job
right after high school.
I thought, well, okay, getmarried, get a factory.
Da, da, da.
I worked in this factory forlike two weeks.
I thought, oh, my God, I'm only18.
I've never been in a factory.
It's 1977.
(23:25):
I'm like why would my parentswant me to work in this
God-forsaken hellhole?
It's boiling hot, it's June,it's the dead of the summer,
it's concrete floors.
There's no air conditioning,just fans.
They're standing all day andafter a week or two I was like,
oh God, if this has to be mylife now, like, kill me now.
(23:45):
So about six weeks in they were.
The boss came onto the floor oneday.
They had all these pink slipsin his hands and I mean everyone
got silent.
Now I'm really young, it's myfirst job.
I'm like what's happening?
And this girl next to me, she's, oh my God, they're giving out
pink slips.
I said what does that mean?
She said that means they'regoing to lay people off.
I said what does that mean?
She said it means people aregoing to get laid off and lose
(24:06):
their job.
And I was like begging.
So they started walking my way.
I was like, oh, please, give meone of those.
And I did because I was a newerhire and I was so excited.
I was like, and then I noticedit's funny because it didn't
even hit me till years laterthere was a woman I worked next
(24:27):
to in her 40s and she wasdevastated.
I was like why are youdevastated?
This is a hell hole.
She's like I'm a single mom, Igot three kids, this is my job.
Like go get a better job, whywould you want so?
I, you know, being 18 and nothaving a lot of sympathy and not
understanding the world, Ican't understand why she's upset
Like I'll be free, but for me Igo.
(24:50):
My dad, I got a pain slip.
Oh my God, cause you know, Iwas raised.
You can't quit your word, yourword, your work ethic, and I was
so happy that I I actuallymoved.
I said I'm moving to Florida,I'm moving out of state, so I
don't want to be anywhere wherethere's near a factory where I
could get sucked into it.
I actually moved out of state.
That's how bad.
(25:10):
I didn't want to do it.
I love that story.
But in hindsight I feel sorryfor that woman because I get it
now.
I mean, I was too young, she'ssingle, she's got kids, this is
her job.
She was devastated and I wasjust like woohoo, see you
suckers later.
And I'm out the door.
Man, I get so excited.
(25:38):
I told my kids you are neverdoing that.
Yep, absolutely Never.
So I have one of these.
So you have three that youpersonally own and then you
teach other people.
Yep, and so what would thatlook like?
Am I getting some handholding?
Am I going into some sort ofcoaching?
You're obviously going to giveme paperwork and tell me what I
need to do and how to besuccessful and oversee my
purchase, and things like that.
Isabelle Guarino (25:58):
Yeah, so we have an online training as well
as an in-person training inPhoenix, arizona, and we're
basically showing real estateinvestors, medical professionals
, whomever who wants to getstarted in this industry all
four of those routes how to godown them right, how to find the
property, how to market theproperty, how to hire your staff
, what you're going to need todo to get the property up to
(26:20):
code, how to host your openhouse and build those
relationships to fill your bedsright.
All the raising of the capitalin the meantime, because a lot
of people don't want to usetheir own money for investing
these days.
They want to use OPM, and soit's important to learn.
You know the different ways toraise the capital, what you need
in your business plan and yourpro forma, how to protect your
(26:40):
assets.
You know all that good stuff.
So we educate people on allthose different steps, really A
to Z, and then we show themexamples.
We drive them by our homes whenyou come to Phoenix and as well
as show you virtual tours ofwhat the homes look like from
the inside out, and as well asshow you virtual tours of what
the homes look like from theinside out and I'm not the only
one there educating in ourtraining.
We actually have about eightother team members who were past
(27:02):
students, who sat in the class,got their homes up and running
and now they're back to kind ofteach and educate and help
people along the way, and soit's a lot of fun.
We have a great time and wehost those about eight times per
year, always in Phoenix, and weactually have one this weekend.
So I'm really excited.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (27:21):
Next time I come to Phoenix, I'm coming to
see you and we're going to gothrough some places, because I
feel like that would besomething that Bill and we've
talked about off and on fordecades.
I think that's something wewould enjoy having.
Isabelle Guarino (27:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (27:33):
Especially for like boomers.
There you go, I love it.
I don't know I feel like, butyou know it's really needed
because, like you said, you knowI wouldn't want my mom, at 87,
to be in some type of hospital,vibe kind of place.
Isabelle Guarino (27:50):
Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (27:51):
After she's lived this great free life, I
would want her to be someplacesmaller and more intimate.
And you know she gets moreattention and more care and I
mean that's what I would wantfor my.
Isabelle Guarino (28:02):
Absolutely.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (28:03):
My parents, and so I feel like a lot of
people just like I was puttingwhere they have to go and also
things like that weren'tavailable.
You know my uncle was quite abit older available.
You know my uncle was quite abit older and when he got into
his 80s he had to live at a Idon't know what it's called
maybe it's assisted living butthey had two people in a room it
(28:25):
might've been we don't do anyshared bedrooms but if it was
like more low income.
And I hated that.
But the place he was at becausethe amount of work he needed
and the money he had and justall that he didn't have a lot of
money and it had to be likesome Medicaid involved and some
things like that.
And you know, here's this guythat's kind of traveled and been
free and he used to be like inthe boxing.
(28:46):
He used to have little amateurboxing teams and all those
really fun stuff and I hatedthat.
He ended up living in a placethat was so sterile and like
yeah, didn't feel like a home.
Isabelle Guarino (28:57):
Oh yeah, we, we unfortunately most of our
residents come from big boxes.
They had terrible experienceswith neglect or abuse or just
not getting the socializationand the you know quality care
that they need and that theydeserve, and so they're looking
for alternative options, and sothat's when they kind of come to
(29:17):
us.
And the problem is is that theBrookdale has a million, you
know dollar marketing budget,and so when you search assisted
living in my area, that's thefirst one that comes up, those
big box facilities.
And so these.
You search assisted living inmy area, that's the first one
that comes up, those big boxfacilities.
And so these smaller care homes, we just don't rank as high on
SEO and we're not.
We look like a regularresidential home, and so when
(29:40):
you buy you don't even know it'san assisted living.
It's not you know the big signout front, and so we are
competing against them.
But honestly, we find that mostof our residents come from bad
experiences over there and theysay I have to find something
better, and so when we're ableto provide that love and that
quality care and attention, it'sa drastic difference, for sure.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (30:02):
I love what you do.
I really do love that becausethat's how I feel too.
I feel like the seniors, whenpeople, the older they get, I
feel like people sometimes kindof like, ah, they got sort of
forgotten.
Those people raised you andchanged your diapers and took
care of you.
Yeah, Take care of them at theend and just throw them in some
place and just like, oh you know, I'll do twice a year Like
(30:23):
that's not right.
Isabelle Guarino (30:24):
It's not right .
Nope, nope Got to make it.
We have to have more optionsfor our seniors, we need more
beds and we need more qualitypeople who care and want to make
an impact in this industry, soit's so important for sure.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (30:39):
So if I'm working with your company, I can
buy one of these or build oneor whatever in any state.
Isabelle Guarino (30:46):
Yeah, actually , 31% of care home owners are
remote owners, so they own ahome in a state that they maybe
do not live in.
My homes are about 40 minutes,45 minutes, away from where I
live, and I like that distancebecause it's just enough that I
don't want to go visit every day, because then that forces you
(31:06):
to be more hands-on once you'rethere.
You're, you know now.
Now, oh, let me do this, let medo that, let me be in here.
I want it to be a little bitinconvenient so that I'm not
going there every day working inthe business.
So I visit them maybe everyother month and just swing by to
say hello and make sure theroof's not on fire, that's it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (31:26):
I really love that too, and there's so many.
The little town that we buyproperties is called Clinton
Iowa and back in I don't knowthe day I guess the silent
generation day they had moremillionaires living in that
little area because they wereall lumber barons, because the
railroad, because it's aroundthe Mississippi River, so the
railroads came by with all thelumber and there's all these
(31:47):
giant beautiful mansions I meanbeautiful, and people have
turned them into apartments now,but there's so many Absolutely
stunning, and some of them havelike 10 bedrooms.
I told Bess we should buy acouple of these.
Man, they're gorgeous andthey're beautiful and they have
all the old woodwork and the bigstyle staircases and it's like,
oh, so pretty.
Isabelle Guarino (32:11):
You just saw back in the day, it was like so
fancy, that's amazing, thatsounds beautiful.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (32:13):
I'm about to start zillowing those.
Oh, there's so many.
A couple of them have beenfixed up and they do like tours
and such and they have itdecorated like for the time
period and it's like, oh, peoplelive so fancy back then, not
like everyone's, why I shouldn'ttalk.
I'm wearing like a hoodie today, so but it, but it is different
.
Isabelle Guarino (32:29):
It is different, right.
The world is is a lot, a lotlazier in in the way we present
ourselves in our homes, right?
Even I read this article thatmillennials are getting rid of
the front room and the guestroom.
Right, like we're making ourhomes like that.
There's no like formal sittingarea, and that was such a thing
(32:51):
back in the day.
You had to have like that fancyroom where you sat, you know,
and you were quiet, and now it'sjust.
We just live such a differentlife these days.
So, whether it's fashion orhome styles or all sorts of
stuff, so it is, it is verydifferent.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (33:08):
Oh, when I go on stage now, I mean I started
off.
You know I always wore suitsand like that's what people wore
.
Then I was like you know what Idon't want to wear a suit.
I don't want to do all that.
Like I'm a girl, I don't.
I want to wear like jeans andlike a sweater.
So I just started showing up inlike my cowboy boots, my jeans
and a sweater.
In that I was like yeah, I feelbetter, I'm more comfortable
(33:30):
and I don't like wearing suits.
They don't fit me good.
My boobies are big, I don't sitright here.
That's what I'm wearing.
Yep, there you go.
Some of the places I spoke forhad meltdowns initially because
every single person was still inthe suit phase.
Yeah, I'm like listen, all theguys can wear suits.
All the girls can wear fancydresses and high heels.
I'm wearing jeans.
So if you don't want me to come, I won't come, but I want to
feel like myself.
(33:51):
I like it A trendsetter.
It's like let me tell me whatto do.
So, from the time of person.
So you do all the coaching andthe mentoring stuff.
So I really love that too,because that is something I feel
like.
In a business like this, youreally need to have your ducks
in a row for lawsuits and thingslike that.
Isabelle Guarino (34:11):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
You have to be protected.
You have to have all yourdocumentation with the state
correct, you need that homerenovated exactly how they
require you to do it and youneed your licensed staff.
I always say slow to hire andquick to fire.
If there is any funny businessgoing on, you have to get rid of
it ASAP.
That's your reputation, yourbusiness and potential lawsuits
(34:34):
on the line, and these arepeople's lives, and so it's so
important that you put thatfirst and really um our company
motto of doing good and doingwell.
It's really about that balance,Like if you're just in this for
the money.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (34:46):
There are other forms of real estate, like
head over there, right, yeah, Ilike doing good, doing well.
Ours is people before profits.
I'm mostly buying houses onpeople that are in foreclosure.
They're losing their house.
It's like, look, if you can'thelp them and take care of them
and give them a fresh startbecause you just want to make a
bunch of money, you should notbe doing this.
Isabelle Guarino (35:06):
No, exactly You've got to live in their home
.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (35:09):
Yeah, it's like you know, give them some
love and help them get startedand feel good about themselves
again.
Isabelle Guarino (35:16):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (35:18):
I love your heart too.
That is really good, okay, sotell me what is the biggest goal
that you still want toaccomplish and how can all of us
at Dwanterful help you reachyour next big goal?
Isabelle Guarino (35:32):
I love it.
Our actually 10-year goal whichI think we're like four years
into when we set this goal is topositively impact 10 million
people by providing high-qualityassisted living in a
residential home environment.
So that doesn't necessarilyjust mean the seniors in the
home, it also means the daughterduties, because if your parent
(35:53):
has a terrible experience in abig box, you better believe it
affects you, and so so havingthese homes it not only impacts
the seniors but their families,as well as the care staff.
You know your caregivers a lotof them when they're working in
those big box facilities, thereason the care is so poor or
subpar is because it's 30seniors to one caregiver, and
(36:16):
that's not okay.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (36:18):
It's not okay .
Isabelle Guarino (36:20):
It's not okay.
So in our homes it's a four toone or five to one ratio and
that's a lot more comfortablefor these seniors.
So you're also providing thecaregivers a better opportunity
to do the mission that was ontheir heart.
Right, they could work at fastfood or somewhere else.
They chose to work in seniorcare.
They love seniors, they want tobe in this business.
(36:42):
But then when you put them in anenvironment where it's 30 to
one and they're rushed throughtheir day, they you know a lot
of what they want to do getsthrown out the window because
they're trying to make metrics.
And that's a systemic problem.
That's not a caregiver problem,that's you know.
It's a problem at the top,that's trinkling down to the
bottom.
And so in our homes we canprovide that opportunity for the
(37:04):
seniors, for the families andthe caregivers.
So all the listeners, if theywant to help join that mission
of positively impacting 10million people with RAL, either
putting your loved one in a carehome instead of a facility when
they need that option, or justpromoting them.
When you hear of someone inyour life who needs this, you
(37:24):
say, hey, have you considered alocal residential assisted
living home instead of the bigbox or opening your own Of
course, yes, I love it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:33):
Okay.
So 10 million people, that'sthe goal.
I saw all you wonderful peopleout there.
You got to get busy and help dothis and spread the word.
But I, you know, having like mydad's alive, my aunts, both my
three and my aunts are alive.
My one aunt's 97 and she stilllives at her house, but her
daughter moved in with her.
Wanda, she still walks twomiles a day, so how cute is she.
(37:54):
And my other, my mom's 87.
My other aunt is 85.
And they all still get out andthey do stuff and you know, and
my dad's 86, 86.
Yeah, and it's like I'm justjust yeah, they're all someplace
really amazing or still able tobe at home and with some help
at home and stuff like that.
(38:14):
And I think that's really thebest way because you know we
don't want our parents to go outin some horrible situation
where like 30 to 1, like you,can't take care of people like
that, especially assistants.
They need help with thebathroom, the shower, they need
help.
Isabelle Guarino (38:26):
Yeah, I agree.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:28):
I agree, it's so important and it sounds like
you've got a lot of longevityin your family, so I do that's
why I said listen, my, my auntdoor was 101 when she died and
she lived at by herself, so shewas 99 and my aunt wanda's 97.
My mom is 87, son is 85, andthat's on my mom's side.
On my dad's side he was theyoungest of a bunch of kids, so
(38:51):
all of them lived into their 80sand my grandfather into his 90s
.
I'm like girl, I'm going tolive to be 100.
Isabelle Guarino (38:56):
There we go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:57):
When I do want to live someplace, I'm
going to make sure it's likebougie.
I love it, I'm bougie till theday I die.
Okay, so let's jump some topics.
Calvin, what is your favoriteband of all time?
Isabelle Guarino (39:25):
Oh, can I go singer instead of band?
You know I this is silly andprobably embarrassing, but I
love Pitbull I love some funpoppy Pitbull.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:32):
Let me tell you something.
I have a house in Florida.
I've been in Florida for thelast 45 years.
Yeah, Everyone down there lovesPitbull he's like a renowned.
He's out His music.
He's so sexy.
My husband's like I don't getit.
I'm like, oh honey, you have tobe a girl to get it.
Pitbull is like.
Isabelle Guarino (39:51):
You, my husband's, like I don't get it.
I'm like, oh honey, you have tobe a girl to get it.
Pitbull is like you know.
His songs are great when you'reworking out and you're running
around they always put you in agood mood.
I love it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:58):
Now we have the Dish TV and it has all those
serious radio channels.
There's a Pitbull channel andso when Bill's at home, I'm just
like walking around, what areyou listening to?
I'm like dude, it's Pitbull.
He doesn't get it.
As a guy I'm like listen,there's no woman on earth that
doesn't think Pitbull is like,and besides that, his music is
(40:18):
great and he's a really nice guy.
Isabelle Guarino (40:20):
He's really nice, yep, I agree.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:22):
Yeah, nothing to be embarrassed about girl.
He's like one of my low keycrushes.
It's like, oh, if I wasn'tmarried and I ran into hip hop,
I'd be like I feel about oldwomen.
Isabelle Guarino (40:34):
I like it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:35):
That's awesome.
I love all dance music.
At heart, I love anything dance.
What's your favorite food?
What do you like to eat?
Isabelle Guarino (40:43):
Oh, I love a good steak.
I have a steak girl.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:49):
And then what's your favorite time,
what's your favorite part ofyour day, all throughout the day
, where's your place, whereyou're like, oh, this is great.
Isabelle Guarino (40:58):
You know, I I just had my first baby, my, my
son, just 10 weeks ago, and I'mreally enjoying.
Um, I already loved mornings.
I was always a morning girl,but I'm loving my mornings with
him.
There's nothing like waking upand just seeing that cute little
face.
So mornings for sure, oh,what's your baby's name?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (41:17):
Hendrix, hendrix, oh, that's so cute.
Is this your first baby?
Yes, oh see, I had my first at30.
So now in my day, 30 was likeold to be having kids.
But the millennials are like 30, 35, 37, all having babies.
It's like okay.
So I was like trailblazing backthen.
I don't have no babies on 20years old, I'm waiting on 30.
(41:37):
Babies are the best.
I'm going to tell you something, girl.
I know everybody tells you this, but they grow so much faster
than you can ever get over, likethey're so little, and then
they're crawling and thenthey're walking like oh my God,
what happened?
It goes so fast.
Isabelle Guarino (41:53):
Yeah, it's amazing.
It's so fun to watch him everyday just grow and learn more
skills every day.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (42:02):
Oh, and they're smiling and giggling and
laughing and just oh, I know, Ijust, I love babies and I had
my, all my grandbabies.
I was like, oh, you forget,like how much you love babies
and I had one for a long time.
It's like, oh my God, okay, soI come to Phoenix, we're going
to go listen to some pit bulland eat some steaks.
There you go, I'll take it Okay.
So one more time, because Iwant everything in the show
(42:23):
notes.
Tell people how to reach you.
Isabelle Guarino (42:26):
Yeah, you can find us on any of the social
medias, at RAL Academy, or checkout RAL101.com.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (42:39):
All right.
So first of all, I just want tothank you for coming on.
You are just like a ball ofsunshine, so I really enjoyed
talking to you today and whatyou do.
I am so on board with what youdo, and my husband and I talk
about this often and I'm likeyou know what.
Now that I know you, it's likeI know where to go when I'm
ready to do this, because I it'sjust I don't know.
I feel like it's something thatI just I just want to do this
at some point, yeah, and maybehave a nice place for my own
(43:03):
self too.
Isabelle Guarino (43:04):
There we go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (43:05):
I plan on just like rocking and rolling
and just dropping dead.
We don't want that.
That's my plan.
I'm going to rock and rolluntil I'm like 100 and then just
poo-poo.
But you know, should that notbe my path?
I would like to.
If I had to be an assistant, Iwould want to be someplace where
I felt a little more specialand people knew me and I knew
everybody.
I didn't feel like I was insome strange environment.
(43:27):
Absolutely that's what I likeabout what you guys do.
It's absolutely amazing, allright.
So, folks, if you're new, I wantyou to do me a favor.
If you had fun today, if youlaughed, if you learned anything
at all, I want you to subscribethe most wonderful real estate
podcast ever.
Subscribe, leave a five-starreview and write something and
(43:48):
say how amazing I am and howamazing isabel is.
Follow me on all the socials.
Everything is wonderful.
So youtube, tiktok, instagram,threads, linkedin, all the stuff
.
It's really easy, and if youopt in at any of those, you will
get a free ebook on how to towholesale houses, flip your way
(44:11):
to a fortune.
Okay, so now the hardest partof the day is I want you to
leave us with a parting word ofwisdom, but just a single word.
Isabelle Guarino (44:22):
Oh, a single word.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (44:33):
Inspire Okay, I love it.
Say never tell anyone, anduntil, because they'll be
thinking about their word whilewe're talking and see you do
like you can read.
They look up and you're likeyou think it's like inspire.
Inspire is a great word, and soeveryone that watches me on the
regular knows that when theyhear the word inspire from you,
that is their word of the week.
(44:53):
So they're supposed to focus onthe word inspire, but we want
to know what it means to you.
Isabelle Guarino (44:58):
You know, lately I've just been thinking I
love that I'm able to inspirepeople to start businesses that
make an impact.
And if anything, if I could beanything in this world, I would
love to just be a fleck ofinspiration in people's lives to
help them do something thatthey've wanted to do or that
they've thought about, whetherit's assisted living or
(45:20):
something else.
I just love helping people whenthey come with a dream, when
they come with a vision, talkthrough it and say let's take it
to that next level, and so Iwant to be an inspiration more
in a day-to-day life.
So that's why I think Inspirecame to my mind.
It's been on my heart and mymind lately.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:36):
See, now you got a chance to tell all of us
what it means to you andeveryone.
That's what that means toIsabel.
So what does Inspire mean toyou?
So today's word of the weekInspire and I love that word too
.
Because word of the weekinspire and I love that word too
, because part of the reason Iteach is I like to see people
change their finances.
I like to see people buildgenerational wealth.
Like to see people that hadthese jobs they hated, you know,
(45:58):
own their own business and inany facet, any facet at all, of
real estate investing.
So I also feel inspired to wantto help other people because if
I had followed my given path,I'd be working in a factory.
It's like can you imagine meworking in a factory?
I am not a factory girl.
Oh, you're not.
(46:18):
I am just not okay.
Everyone, uh, thank you so muchfor being on.
We'll be back next week, samebat time, same bat channel again
.
Thank you so much for spendingyour time with us today.
We really, truly appreciate it.
And you have a baby now.
So I always tell people time isyour most valuable asset.
And younger people.
When you're 20s, you're like 10foot tall and bulletproof, but
(46:41):
when you start having kids, yourealize time passes really
quickly.
So I always appreciate that youtook an hour out of your day to
be with us over here atDwanterful, so thank you for
that and remember everybody thatthe truth is in the red letters
.
Okay, we'll talk to you nextweek.
Ciao, bye, everyone.
Have a good week.
(47:01):
Make something happen, okay.
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