304: [Crystal Hammond] Real Estate Investing for Beginners! (LIVE)

Recorded on Nov 30, 2023

Join host Anthony Weaver as he interviews Real Estate Specialist Crystal Hammond on the secrets to investing in your first rental property. Learn how to leverage your credit, finances and local government programs that align with your passions and goals, allowing you to have the freedom to do what you want.

Crystal Hammond is a versatile professional and real estate enthusiast celebrated for her dynamic approach to side hustles. Crystal's ingenuity shines through her early adoption of house hacking, a concept that has now gained mainstream recognition. Her commitment to diverse pursuits in the side hustle realm has not only garnered her multiple PLUTUS awards but has also traced a remarkable journey from the south side of Chicago to her current role as a co-host on the popular podcast, Stacking Deeds.

Book recommendation: 

Unreasonable hospitality! - https://amzn.to/3RlcTWf 

Crystal Hammond: 

https://stackingadventures.com/blog

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

 #CrystalHammond #HomeOwnership #RealEstate #AboutThatWallet 

Continue to support the show by subscribing, sharing and leaving comments on your favorite platforms. This help others like yourself find me.  

Takeaways:

• Real estate investing is a long game; patience is crucial for success in this field.
• Negotiation is key when purchasing property; don't just accept initial offers at face value.
• Understanding your finances is essential; always calculate what you can truly afford beyond lender approval.
• Networking can unlock opportunities; share your real estate goals with others to gain valuable insights.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the about thatWater podcast show.
This episode was recorded liveon November 30th of 2023 with Crystal
Hammond talking about realestate investment for beginners.
What up, everybody?
Hopefully y' all guys arehaving an awesome time today.
I am actually about to go livewith Crystal Hammond who is the co

(00:24):
host of an amazing podcast.
But right now the thing aboutit is that she does a lot of real
estate, a lot of things thatare happening in the real estate
realm and everything is crazyand a lot of people don't know what's
going on.
So my name is Anthony.
I'm Jose.
About that while the podcast.
Let's go on and get this show rolling.
In a world where financialadvice is as blurry as a wild night

(00:48):
of cheap jello shots, clearyour head and your monetary halitosis
with the about that Walletshow hosted by Anthony Weaver.
Leave those jello shots forthe amateurs and learn to indulge
in the top shelf bottles.
Bab.
Now here's your host, Anthony Weaver.
What up, what up, what up.

(01:09):
So let's bring to the stagethe one, the only, Crystal.
How you doing?
Let's get her the introduction music.
How you doing?
Wonderful.
How are you?

(01:30):
I'm doing amazing.
Amazing.
So it's been such an awesometime since I've.
Since we've chat and you know,thank you so much for, for coming
through and actually takingtime out of your day, of your busy
and amazing day to.
To have a chat with the.
About that Wilder family.

(01:51):
So what's been going on lately?
Hello.
First of all, thanks forhaving me.
We're old a bike ride.
So Anthony lives not too farfrom me and we realize that we bike
on the same bike path, butit's been too cold obviously.
Yes.
Vernon Trail.
So that's gonna see.

(02:12):
I only bike if it's 40 degreesor more.
So at 7:70, 70 degrees I mightcan go 60.
I like the cold weatherbecause I don't sweat my hair out
as fast.
But anyway, well, hi everybody.
My Twitter is kondocrystal.

(02:33):
So I've been in the realestate game since 2005.
Actually.
I'm actually coming to youlive from my hometown Chicago.
Even though I live inAlexandria now.
I flew in today to meet withthe alderman because I am going into
the developing space.
So I'm a full time engineer.

(02:54):
So this is my side Hustle stuffs.
And the city of Chicago has aprogram where if they.
If there's a city owned vacantlot on the same block where you own
already I own a Duplex, youcan buy the lot for a dollar.
So since 2017.

(03:15):
Yes, since 2017, I've beenbuying lots for a dollar.
So that first year, you canonly buy two per address.
So the first year in 2017, Ibought two, and then you hurry up
and wait.
So the next time the city hadthe program, I applied in 2018.
And so since I had threeaddresses, I applied for the last

(03:39):
four that they had on myblock, but I only got approved for
three out of the four.
So let's see.
I applied in 2018.
So fast forward to 2023 iswhen I actually closed on.
Well, no, I closed on two in2020 during COVID 2021.

(04:01):
2021.
Okay.
And the last one, I closedthis August 2023.
So you're moving at the speedof government, so you need to pack
your patience when you'redoing programs for the city.
But it was worth the waitbecause like I said, this is my side
hustle.
So I just sat back and waitedbecause way back in 2005, when I

(04:24):
bought the duplex, it wasfunny because it's by the lakefront
in Chicago on the south side.
They were like, oh, one day adeveloper is going to come in and
your property values are goingto go up.
And nobody ever came.
So little did I know that withmy patience.
And if you want to be in realestate, you gotta tell people.

(04:45):
Tell people your goals.
So the more people I told, themore information got to me, because
I didn't even know about thatCity of Chicago program.
Somebody knew I was in real estate.
And so my friend Shirley'sfriend Michelle was like, hey, Michelle
told.
Shirley told Crystal aboutthis program.
And that's how I found outabout it.
So the more people that knewthat I was kind of into real estate,

(05:06):
the more information came my way.
So finally, 2023 actually metpeople that I know and I trust enough
to start making deals with.
So it's real estate.
If you're in this to get richquick, no, it's not going to happen.
But if you're here to play thelong game, your gains will come,

(05:27):
but it's not.
Not get rich quick at all.
And Anthony will definitelytell you that.
Oh, we know, because.
And that's one of the thingsthat, you know, real estate is one
of those things where it'slike, it could easily become a.
A liability if you don't knowwhat your exit strategy is or even

(05:51):
with the gameplay that you'regoing to put in and entry.
Like, you need to do the mathfor Everything for, for getting in,
for running it and getting out.
Math should make all yourdecisions for you.
Yeah.
So we talking about first time investors?
What is that one thing thatyou wish you had known when you first
started investing?

(06:13):
I wish I'd known more aboutthe interest rates because I.
Well.
Or the, the power of negotiation.
So with me, some friends ofmine went to a real estate meeting.
So I was like, hey, can I gowith you to your real estate meetings?
So I went, I learned somestuff, but I did not know that I
could negotiate.

(06:33):
Even the first place that Ibought it was just like, oh yeah,
this is what we're selling it for.
I was like, yay, great, I'mbuying a house.
And then so when I wentthrough the lending, the mortgage
process, this is your interestrate, These are all the fees.
And I was like, great, Yay.
Where do I sign?
So I didn't know that youcould say, hey, can you come down
on this fee?

(06:53):
Or you know, how do I get thisfee lowered?
Or hey, well, the seller didpay for closing costs, but had I
had like a more experience, Idid it on my own, no realtor.
So had I had an experiencedrealtor, they could have done some
wheeling and dealing for me onwhere to negotiate so you don't have
to take what the people sayfor face value.

(07:15):
You can negotiate.
Like, you can say, hey, canyou work with me on this?
Or can you work with me on that?
So just knowing that's what Iwish I would have known that I could
negotiate now.
Okay, so I'm, I'm at myfriend's place, so they're coming
home now in case they was fine.
Hey guys, come on in.
Because you kind of wish thatyou had that knowledge back then.

(07:38):
What is it right now?
Like, what will be thatblueprint, those set of questions
that everybody should answeror ask when it goes first to say
property.
Well, if you're going for aninvestment property, definitely speak
to someone.
And we've had worksheets andspreadsheets too that we've talked
about on our podcast is justgetting to know the numbers, know

(08:01):
what you can afford.
Because a lot of people alsodon't realize that what you get approved
for, for the lender is ninetimes out of ten, not what you can
actually afford.
Once you factor the, thetaxes, insurance, pity, principal,
interest, taxes, insurance.
So you make sure that yourmonthly payment covers all of that.

(08:22):
And then whatever you'rebringing in, like whatever income,
the rental income is comingin, like, make sure you have that
down pat too.
Because A lot of peoplemiscalculate what those monthly payments
are, and a lot of peoplemiscalculate how much money they
need to put down.
So get a spreadsheet.
And a lot of investors havethese spreadsheets.
They're happy to share themwith you.

(08:44):
I can share some spreadsheetswith you, too.
You let the math do the talking.
And then even what you'rethinking about buying, whatever that
difference is and what you'repaying now, save that for six months
to see if it's a stretch ornot, see if you can handle it on
your own, and then you can gofrom there, decide in six months,

(09:05):
okay, this was easy for me tosave, or, okay, this was a stretch.
I need to rent, calculate mybudget, and then maybe go lower this
time.
That way, in six months,you'll have a nice chunk of extra
savings to put towards yournew deal.
Or you'll decide, okay, let metake another six months to raise
or lower my expectations.

(09:26):
And then you also want toknow, what are reasonable expectations.
Are you a handyman?
If you're not a handyman, youneed to hire property manager to
make your whole process goessmoothly, but you're going to pay
for that.
So make sure you account forthe cost that it'll take to hire

(09:46):
a good property manager that'sgoing to run everything for you,
because that is going to makeor break you, too.
You want this to be as easy as possible.
And how do you make something easy?
You prepare for it.
And you ask people who havedone it before you.
You ask them how they did it,and then they can help you with all
of that stuff.

(10:08):
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
So one of the things I said upthere, just kind of make sure you're
being handy.
Because I've noticed that whenI went to look at a lot of properties
with my realtor, he was like,you're actually a lot easier to deal
with because most people willsee things and be like, I'm not dealing
with that.
I'm not putting on new light fixtures.

(10:30):
I'm not putting up blinds.
I'm not sweeping the deck.
I'm like, really like this.
What turns people off?
Just a little elbow grease.
It was like, yeah, cool.
But that's sweat equity andthat's money right there.
Sweat equity turns into cashbecause you, you are increasing value
of, you know, where you'releaving something better off than

(10:51):
you found it and that thatcounts for something.
Yeah.
So I want to give a shout outto the people that are here right
now.
BP has been awesome and amazing.
I'm still my hair from fincon.
I'm not sure.
Yeah, probably.
And I'm not sure who's.
There's room.

(11:11):
I don't.
Not sure fool that is.
But I seem like they mightknow you.
And we have Ruthie.
Gotta give us some air hornsfor coming through.
You know, I might not do the atmos.
I might do the Sonic Rings,you know what I'm saying?
There you go.
That plays Sonic.
Yeah, let's do Sonic.
All right.
We get some more someone else.

(11:32):
All right, so thank you allfor coming through in.
In case of you guys who arelistening to the audio piece, remember
I do go live on Thursdays at8pm Eastern.
All right, so we got realestate we're trying to get invested.
Where do we get our money from?

(11:53):
Ha.
That's a good question too.
All right, so it depends.
All right, FHA has that newprogram they like.
Because isn't it like 3.5% down?
Fannie also has new program.
So 3.5% down is money.
And my recommendation is likethat first property should be a multifamily.

(12:18):
Like it should be a duplex,because my first property was a duplex.
And guess what?
With my little percentagedown, what the existing tenant was
paying went towards themortgage, and it was over half of
the mortgage.
So I was paying way more thanwhat I was paying in rent.
So that's how I started andactually got a check back at closing

(12:39):
because the seller paid theclosing costs.
Nice.
Okay.
And so now I have.
There's options too.
So even after you have thatfirst place, like a lot of people
are tapping into their equity.
That's a place to get money from.
Because if you're tapping intoyour existing equity, if you get

(13:02):
like the heloc, the homeequity line of credit, whatever that
extra payment will be, youjust making sure that next place
the rent is going to cover that.
Like your tenant's rent isgoing to cover like whatever it's
costing you to get into thatnew property.
Other people's money.
So hard money.
So for this particulardevelopment deal, I have a hard money

(13:26):
loan for the pre development phase.
So pre development is whenyou're doing all your due diligence,
you're hiring all of yourlawyers, your contractors, your architects,
your money guys, your.
Your muscle.
You'll need a muscle.
More on that later.
But, but you know, you'repaying for, you know, like feasibility

(13:49):
studies and, and gettingcommunity development.
Like you're, you're putting infootwork to, to get people on board
for your vision because Realestate is also a people business.
You don't want to be alandlord that's just going to come
in, make your money and thenfloat off to the next neighborhood.
Nope, you want to be acommunity builder.

(14:09):
Because listen, if something'shappening at your property, like
while you're doingconstruction, you want the nosy neighbors
to like you and call thepolice if they see something happening
that shouldn't be happening.
Like, you don't want them tobe like, oh yeah, she never speaks
to us anyway, you know, andyou know, remember, there's no vista
and there's no view from NewJack City.

(14:31):
No white men can't jump whenthey're robbed.
She was like, I know somebodysaw something.
That's what you want.
You want to be in thatcommunity as somebody that's bringing
positive change.
So if you're in there as aselfish person, then nobody's going
to see anything.
And hey, you're going to get got.
Not get.

(14:54):
It's a people business.
So don't burn your community bridges.
You need make sure you havethat good insurance.
So if they do, if you do getgot, you have protection and you'll
get your money back.
It'll slow you down a littlebit, but at least you won't have
that financial headachebecause that part would suck.

(15:14):
Insurance.
Now what about on theinsurance either please tell the
truth on insurance, be ashonest and transparent as possible
because you don't want what Ifeel like this happens to what, what
do insurance do they get outof paying you.
So if you're trying to mess upand lie and shortchange the Insurance,
you are 10 steps behind theinsurance companies.

(15:36):
Trust me, they know whatthey're doing.
So be honest on that stuff.
Yeah.
And one of the things that Ifound out about insurance was that
depending on where you live,the roof, they cover a certain amount
of money for your roof.
So it's a townhome versus asingle family home, versus it being

(15:58):
a duplex and so forth.
So if you guys are looking forinsurances, please make sure you
call the insurance companyfirst to see what they cover before
you go ahead on and sign thatfinal paperwork.
Even if it's a broker.
Yeah.
Oh, the broccoli can tell you too.
They should be.
If they're a good one, they should.
Yeah, that's true.

(16:19):
This is my situation.
Like they should be able totell you.
If not, then, yeah, they'renot the person for you.
Okay, so I get to ask you allthese questions because I have recently
been through this.
What are Your thoughts on themactually selling your mortgage immediately
after you purchase theirproperty through that broker.

(16:43):
That happens all the time like that.
That's, that's par for thecourse because.
Okay, so a lot of times whenthey're selling the debt and this
is a good question, I'm gonnaask Joe this question too from stacking
Benjamin's.
A lot of times they're sellingpackages of debt.
Like the more I'm learningabout because I'm reading why should

(17:04):
White Guys have All the fun.
Very good book.
Highly recommend that book.
But even when he wasstructuring different deals, he was
selling debt.
And that's what a lot ofmortgage companies do.
They're selling debt andthey're getting different debt off
their books.
So yes, they got you on thehook for a mortgage because they
even, they rate the borrowerslike, you know, I don't know if it's

(17:29):
A, B, C, D, E, whatever.
So they're rating your debtand your credit worthiness.
So they're deciding, they'renot necessarily deciding if they
want to keep it on the books,but their job is to get it to the
finish line and then to sellit off to the next person.
So it doesn't change anything,it just changes who you make your
payment to.
Because a lot of times beforethat first payment is due, you're

(17:51):
paying it to a differentperson anyway.
Yeah, that's just thesecondary market.
It has nothing to do with us.
That's crazy.
I mean it's like.
Because if you think about itjust for ballparking purposes, say
like you have a $300,000 property.
Like I'm the bank, I have$300,000 property that I'm just purchasing
right now.

(18:12):
And I know you are looking forlike hey, I got availability for
that kind of property.
I was like, cool, well justgive me $150,000.
You can have this $300,000 property.
All the payments will come to you.
Thank you for the 150,000.
And I immediately gotimmediate cash now versus the $300,000

(18:33):
promissory note thatsomebody's gonna pay me something.
Is that.
Yeah, I, I don't know how, Idon't understand how the bank does
that and how they, they, itmakes sense for them to get that
debt off of their books.
Yeah.
Hey Nia, what up?

(18:54):
I mean this is fun.
There's a reason why I lovelives is because we actually can
interact with everybody.
So if you guys have anyquestions, my phone lines are open.
You can actually give me acall when this or my Little ticker.
Come across 833-699-2558.

(19:14):
If you want to give a call,some of you have my actual number.
So you can just call me too ifyou want to ask Crystal any, any
questions.
So we do have five minutes.
I love to go.
Like I do have a drinking session.
So most people usually come ondorm and drinking session at 8:30.
That's kind of like the breakof the show.

(19:35):
And we can just kind of.
You do some more deep divesinto that.
So bartender here.
Oh, you got a bartender?
Yep.
What.
Make a drink?
You got, you got four minutesto make a drink.
So while he go make you adrink, I'm gonna see if I can.

(19:57):
I gotta come up with something.
Oh, book giveaway.
Because we are at the fourminute mark before, before the break
session, the drink session.
The first book that I want togive away is I'm gonna make you tiny
here, if you don't mind.
Yeah, please do.
He said please do.
Hilarious.

(20:17):
So it's by Maya Corbeck.
I actually met her at finconand this is the very first copy.
Keep in mind I'm the onlyfirst copy.
I'm saying I had to get myfirst copy first signed copy with
Babaya and so much so that shedidn't know where to sign it at.
And I actually gonna keepbringing it up because I like to

(20:39):
embarrass her sometimes.
So as you see, first timecopy, amazing.
But the cool thing I loveabout this book is that even though
it's for kids, you can easilylook at it as an adult.
Like it's nice and easy, bigfont, big pictures.
Who doesn't like pictures?
I like pictures.
I hate reading.
That's why I listen to audiobooks.

(21:01):
But if you get pictures tobreak up everything and break it
down to simple terms that thekids can understand, imagine what
you can do with the power ofyou actually understanding it at
your level.
So this is the first book, thesecond book.
All right, I gotta get somemusic for Nia because she likes her
music.

(21:22):
Neil loves her music.
Let me see what I got for Nia.
All right, all right.
This is for Nia because Nia likes.
So Nia's book is Life is shortby the house, the ultimate guide
to prepare for home ownership.
Nia is actually now in the audience.
She does better at advertisingher own book than I do.

(21:45):
But Nia will walk you throughon like different types of loans.
Yeah, she even does, I don't know.
Let me see some other stuff in here.
Home shopping and tips and Tricks.
And she has a full glossary inside.

(22:06):
So if you don't know any ofthese terms, this is the book for
you.
And please stay tuned for theend of this particular show so you
can get yourself a copy todayjust in time for the holidays.
All right?
So please stay tuned,everybody, for the end of this so
that you can actually get acopy of that.

(22:26):
All right, so did I do good,Mia, this time?
Hopefully.
Because Nia be getting on meevery time when I advertise her.
Oh, yeah, you got to be dancing.
She's.
She.
She approves.
All right, awesome.
Cool.
You ready for drinks?
Yeah.
Mine was delivered magic.
Amazing.

(22:47):
What you drinking?
Hold on, let me.
Let me play the music.
So I got.
Everybody get.
Time to go get that drink.
All right, everybody make surey' all go.
The peanut butter whiskey.
Fancy.
All right, Nice.
All right.
For you guys are first timelisteners, make sure y' all go get
your drinks.
I'm about to play some musicand we're gonna start talking details

(23:09):
about our drinks.
Hold on.
Now we're talking about how toget there.
What is really considered aninvestment, because you talk about
real estate investment.

(23:29):
What turns buying thatproperty, now that you got the property,
what makes that an investment?
Appreciation.
Not only appreciation, like.
And passive.
Because that's also adifference too.
Because some people think, allright, I want passive income.
Sometimes real estate is not passive.

(23:50):
That's another thing, too.
But what makes it.
Yeah, that's.
That's what makes it investment.
Because think about it.
When you're.
If you're still paying rent,when you're paying rent once a month,
you're just paying rent.
That's the end of the story.
But when you're paying amortgage, first of all, when you're
paying a mortgage, your placeis appreciating.

(24:10):
You own that much less on that property.
So 10 years from now, 20 yearsfrom now, 30 years from now, you
own it outright.
Second of all, too.
Now imagine if you own thatinvestment property, you're not paying
the property down.
Your renter is.
So you're pretty much just the middleman.

(24:32):
And you're getting a nice taxbreak, too.
Even when you own your ownoutright, too.
But you're getting that nicetax and the tax break, and then,
yeah, your renter is payingthat for you.
So, okay, so it's almost likeyou have a roommate, but without
a roommate.
Yes, if you get.

(24:54):
Yes.
You live in your space, theylive in theirs.
Except they're paying yourbills pretty much.
And so would it be better toget a four plex or a quadplex, depending
on who you go to multifamily.
Because even Fannie Mae, theyfund up to a four Plex.

(25:15):
And when you are qualifyingfor your loan, they take into account
how much rent you will becollecting in that four Plex.
And sometimes you can find onethat already has.
Renters.
I'm a person who works intothe budget that I have a realtor
find me good renters because Idon't want to screen because my,

(25:36):
maybe my screening could beoff, but you do get the final say
on who you pick to move in.
But they, they go through allthe no shows with you because imagine,
you know, having 10 peoplewanting to see your, your three apartments
and they are always no showing.
That's what you pay a happilypay a realtor for.

(25:56):
But it all starts with math.
So if I had that calculationin the budget, so once I save enough
or once I price a propertylike that expense will, will come
out of that.
It's like, okay, I need to beable to afford to have someone else
show the property need to afford.

(26:18):
There's like a, what, 5%vacancy rate is the norm too.
So there's a lot of things tocalculate for.
And once you can comfortablyafford all of that stuff, that's
when you are pushing a buttonand you're not rushing on anything
too.
You never want to rush on aninterest rate.
You never want to rush onanything because I promise you there'll

(26:38):
be more properties.
And even I say this doesn'teven have to do with real estate.
It has to do with investing alot of times too.
It's like, can you imagine ifeven people now, like, if you would
have bought something likewhen you were 18 or 21.
It's like, even interest rates.
When I bought my first place,it was a duplex.

(26:59):
I was making $14 an hour andinterest rates were 7.5%.
And it was a great deal.
So great deals come in allinterest rates, income levels.
It wasn't something that Icould afford.
That interest rate at myincome level, it was affordable,
so.
And it was cheaper than payingrent at the time.

(27:19):
So do the math.
And the math will let you knowif you can afford something.
But you're not jumping onsomething you don't understand.
You're not chasing an interest rate.
You're not chasing, you know,rates going up or down.
You're just, you're goingafter what, what you can afford.
Nice.
Because I was actually onFannie Mae's website, you know, we

(27:43):
gotta pull up receipts, youknow, so we have here as far as home
buyers and they have like thecalculated checklist.
So this goes along the sidewhat you were talking about as far
as not chasing things andmaking sure that the numbers work.
I know there's so manycalculators out there.

(28:04):
Is there one in particularthat you recommend or that you go
to your go to calculator.
I'm an engineer full time, soI make my own Excel spreadsheets.
But yeah, I love the mortgagecalculators because they do they
do they include everything foryou because you do, you do want to

(28:25):
make sure that the pity theprincipal, insurance, taxes and insurance
because even look, I made, Ieven made a spreadsheet because for
this project I was gettingdifferent bids from different contractors.
So I made a spreadsheet thatequalizes like, okay, this is what
all forested plumbing costs.
So I made my own spreadsheetto compare what exactly?

(28:49):
Comparing apples to applesjust to see it all in one spot.
But yeah, see on thiscalculator you're moving the slider
to see what you can afford andit includes everything that sometimes
a lender doesn't tell you.
Or a lot of times realtors,they're selling the sexy side of
real estate ownership andthey're not including like all the

(29:10):
extras that you want.
A safety.
Safety net, right.
And you want an emergency fund too.
Like you want a personalemergency fund and you want a housing
emergency fund.
Okay, now Neil mentionedsomething about a cap X rate.
Now most people who are newinvestors and as they researching

(29:31):
all of this stuff, can you doa quick overview of what in the world
is capex and what does it mean?
I know it's a capitalexpenditure rate.
We did a whole episode on thecapex rate because that's telling
you that is your money betteroff in this investment or are you
better off doing somethingelse with this investment?

(29:51):
But I would defer to otherprofessionals on the Cap X rate calculation.
Sounds good.
I mean you over here makingyour phone spreadsheets and everything
like that, right?
Thing to be aware of peoplewho, you know, purport to know it
all.
Like I'm happy to say Cap Exis not my, my jam.

(30:12):
I depend on someone else toknow that information for me.
And that's another thing toofor me too where I am, I don't have
to understand everything fromA to Z.
You just have to have someoneyou trust that understands that and
can explain it to you likeyou're a five year old and they,
or they'll tell you, hey, thisis not a good rate.
Or this is a good, or this isnot good, right?

(30:35):
Okay, now that we, we got theunderstanding, we need the calculator,
we got the expense rates, wehave all the cool sexy know how.
Now where the heck do we lookfor these properties?
So that, that's where anexperienced realtor comes into play.
Because just like you justsaid, your realtor works with investors.

(30:57):
You want a realtor that workswith investors.
Because another good thingabout realtors that work with investors
is a lot of times they haveaccess to properties that are not
on the MLS yet.
They're not general public knowledge.
And we just interviewedsomeone on our show that about most
of the properties that heowned, they were not listed.

(31:21):
Him and his dad just know the neighborhood.
So when different people wereselling, they would come to them
about selling their propertiesbecause that's the neighborhood person
that they trusted.
So you want a realtor thatworks with investors, you want to
work with a realtor that hasaccess to off the market deals.
And you can ask them that havea sheet and you can even ask ChatGPT,

(31:45):
hey, what are the top 10questions I need to ask my realtor?
And then what are objections?
Like what are rebuttals?
Because what are the topthings realtors lie about when they're
trying to get your business?
Like you can ask chatgptthings like that.
Just so you know you'repicking a person and ask around if

(32:06):
you don't know anybody in thearea that you have an arm's length
transaction with.
Like, like us, you know, we goto fincon.
That's how I'm the co host ofthe show.
One of the fellow finconersare like, hey Crystal, we like you,
we like what you're doing, welike your style.
Would you, you know, want todo a podcast?
I'm like yes, me spotlight.

(32:29):
Where do I sign up?
You know, so you need tosurround yourself with the people
that are doing what you wantto do.
That's one of the commonstories because I surrounded myself
that were doing it and peoplethat were doing it and it was a safe
space for me to say, hey, whatlender did you use?
How many places did you lookat before you finally found something?

(32:49):
So they're going to answer allthese questions for you.
And another thing, I forgotwhat I was going to say.
How is it buying off market deal?
There was one more thing aboutthe realtors questions.
Ask your realtor.
And you said ask ChatGPT, right?

(33:10):
Yes, as chat GBT.
And then you ask them whatrealtors lie about to get Your business.
Are we in there right now?
So, all right, what you wantyou should say?
I'm.
I'm an.
I'm a. I'm a beginninginvestor, and I want to buy my first
piece of real estateinvestment property, and I'm looking

(33:32):
for a realtor.
What are the top 10 questionsI should ask?
When you're talking to chatGBT, you want to get as specific
as possible, and you want totell them who you are.
Okay.
So even for me, I'll be like,hey, I'm a podcaster, and I need
to write the show notes, andthis is midnight, and I got a deadline.

(33:52):
You know, the show is posted tomorrow.
You know what I mean?
So you want to tell it as muchinformation as possible possible
so it can help you.
All right, so we saying right now.
I'm saying I'm a beginner.
Let me see.
I just downloaded this newcool tool that I can zoom in.
So right now, I'm not sure ify' all can see that and zoom in.
All right, so right now I have an.
I'm a beginner.
I mean, I'm a beginninginvestor, and I want to invest in

(34:16):
my first real estate property.
Right?
Yeah.
And then after I say that,what else I want to do?
Yeah, you want to say, whatare the top 10 questions I should
ask a potential realtor?
Want to ask a. Yeah, realtor.
Potential realtor.

(34:38):
And I'm glad Chat GPT doesn't,you know, get at me for misspelling
words like everybody else.
Okay, see, I like how it says congratulations.
All right, that's so cool.
Let me see if I could zoom inusing my mouse.

(35:00):
And then now you can say.
All right, what are the topthings that realtors lie about to
get business?
Okay, so.
All right, and then we can gothrough these questions if you got
time.
All right.
What are the top 10 thingsthey lie about?
Yeah.
To get your business.

(35:20):
Oh, man.
All right, can I cancel it?
That is still good ones, too.
Okay, so let's scroll.
What?
What?
What?
Due diligence should I, youknow, do for not to keep.
Like.

(35:42):
Do diligence.
Don't get at me on my spelling.
Ah, I really.
I messed up.
Due diligence.
Two words.
Yes.
There's.
Ls.
I know they.
Oh, my God.

(36:03):
I hit enter by.
Oh, yeah, get cut off.
Shall I perform again?
Okay, there we go.
Okay.

(36:23):
All right, while it'sgenerating that, I'm gonna just go
through the top.
Yeah.
I talked about local market knowledge.
So you want to pick.
You want to pick somethinglike you want to pick a neighborhood
for me, it was a comfort zonefor me, my neighborhood that I grew
up in.
But you don't want to say,okay, I want to think, I want a single

(36:43):
family, or maybe I want amultifamily, or maybe I want a modular
home or a storage unit.
Like, you need to picksomething and then laser focus in
there, get to know that zip code.
Like, go on Zillow every day,you know, and look up like 10 or
even 100 properties per day inthat zip code.

(37:04):
That way you'll get to know,okay, this is what the old properties
look like.
This is what the newproperties look like.
This is how much an oldproperty would cost.
This is how much a newproperty would cost.
These are the upgrades thatadd value, and these are the upgrades
that are total waste of money.
So you need to think about itfrom an investor point of view, too.
Because if I'm an investor,I'm not putting a Jacuzzi in a renter's

(37:28):
apartment.
But if this is my foreverhome, I want a Jacuzzi, know what
I mean?
Like, or that's just anupgrade that I'm going to think,
okay, I'm not going to getthis money back.
So you really need to think asan investor, not as, this is your
forever home.
Because that's another mistakethat beginners make.
They think they're looking fora house that they want to live in

(37:51):
that's totally different froma house that is good for that neighborhood.
Because even think of.
Think of a house in sohoversus a house, well, you can't say
Brooklyn, because that's gentrified.
But, you know, think of twototally different neighborhoods and,
you know, something that's of,you know, a value in one neighborhood

(38:12):
is useless in another.
You know what I mean?
So you really need to get toknow the neighborhood, what rents
are in that neighborhood,like, with a reasonable rates.
So you need to do a lot ofresearch in that neighborhood.
So even you're coming to theRealtor with, hey, I'm not wasting
your time.
I'm not throwing a stick inthe mud.
Like, I actually know what neighborhood.
I've narrowed it down.

(38:33):
Like, I really know a lotabout this neighborhood.
I know about the schools.
I know who lives here.
I know, you know, maybethere's an Amazon factory coming
to this neighborhood, or maybethere is an Amazon factory.
So, you know, I want to marketto those workers so you know, what's
important to them or what canthey afford or what are they paying
in this neighborhood.
So this is all stuff that youneed to know and there's a lot of

(38:56):
spreadsheets out there.
There's a lot of books.
Like we have bookrecommendations and in a lot of the
books too for us, some of thebooks we actually talk to the authors
and so it's almost like a book club.
I was going to recommend thattoo for some of the books that you're
giving away.
Oh really?
We can add extra books evenfor Nia's book.
Like you can read that bookand have people that you can lean

(39:19):
on to answer your follow upquestions about that book.
Because I know that's why alot of people hire coaches, mentors,
is because yes, I read thisbook but I need my specific questions
answered.
And a lot of times sometimesyou still have questions so you want
to talk to the source.
That's why I'm glad Nia's here.
We're giving away her book andnow you can chat with her about.

(39:39):
Oh, I was still a littleconfused about Capex.
Can you explain how that wouldwork in this property?
Because I'm looking at buyingthis property in this neighborhood.
Can you just explain to me howthat works?
So you really need to be intune and show that you're really
serious about this or else wewill help you.

(40:01):
I'm going to help somebodythat if you want me to do all of
your work for you, you don'twant it.
I need to buy it myself if I'mgonna do all the research.
I know, right.
But because a lot of us arefirst time investors so we're gonna
pretty much going to need alot of that hand holding and how
do, and this is the reason whywe're having this conversation now

(40:23):
is to kind of alleviate someof that hand holding.
We did our research.
Now that we ready for this,first thing you talk about the fees
and costs because I think youmentioned that earlier which was
talking about the, the fee faras the, the percentage rates which
is important.

(40:43):
One of the things that wasshocking to me was the assessed value
versus the price of the property.
Bring it down.
That's what your tax rate ispaid on.
So yeah, that's the comp.
You do the comps and you'relike okay, these are what these houses
are paying.
Here's the proof.
But this is also anotherfollow up too because you can also

(41:04):
add chat, ask ChatGPT.
Hey, what closing costs are negotiable?
And you can say can you writeme a script?
A script to get my, to getthose costs lowered and even what
financing costs are Negotiabletoo, for a lender.

(41:25):
So be like, hey, I want to askmy lender what.
What financing costs are negotiable.
Wow.
And even when I was getting my.
When I was getting my hardmoney loan, I went to Fincon Beach.
This was the first time theyhad Fincon beach this year.
We were just chatting.

(41:45):
This is another reason tosurround yourself with people that
are doing something thatyou're doing that you have a hope
to do.
Because when we were at Fenconbeach, we were all just sitting around,
we had a game night, and wewere talking about real estate, what
we were working on.
I ended up asking one of theother guys at Fencon Beach.
I was like, hey, I'm getting ahard money loan for this pre development.

(42:10):
And this is what they'retelling me the fees are.
He's like, oh, no, this iswhat you can negotiate.
I just would have happily paidthose fees had I not told, you know,
and asked that guy that does.
He's done lots of developing,he's in Ohio.
But yeah, he was the one thattold me that these are the fees that
you can actually negotiate.
And so I kept.
I had the.

(42:31):
I had the lender on the line,like, on hold, and I was like, hey,
I'm at the airport.
And I really was at the airport.
And.
But I kept putting him on holdto ask the other guy, like, okay,
he came down to this price.
Is that low enough?
Like, nope, you can get them lower.
So.
Because you know how the usedcar salesman, when they're trying
to get you the price, they'relike, oh, let me go talk to the manager.

(42:53):
You can use that tactic to belike, oh, let me talk to my partner,
or, you know, let me talk tomake up a spouse.
Or, hey, I'm gonna go talk to my.
My plant.
My plant plants.
And if they rustle to theleft, that's.
Yes.
Or if they rustle to the left,make up somebody that you need to
talk to and put them on holdand don't make that, you know, decision.

(43:16):
Especially if they have you onthe phone.
They really want to closeright then and there.
So you make them.
Oh, see, I never even thoughtabout that.
Yeah.
And a lot of people don't know.
Yeah.
Because a friend of mine was.
She was buying her daughter a condo.
I'm like, my mom never boughtme a condo.
But anyway, she.
I think she said something wasleaking, and I was like, make them

(43:39):
give you a home warranty.
And she's like, I would havenever asked for that had I Not talked
to you.
Yeah, and we already talkedabout the property taxes that can
be negotiated even.
After you close for property taxes.
You would.
You would.
Your.
Your.
The assessor office is who youfight for on your property taxes.

(44:00):
Yeah, you just do a realproperty search.
I think you do for your stateor city.
It's all different because forChicago's, the Cook County Assessor,
Accessor assessor's officer'soffice, like ccrd.info like, I'm
very familiar with all their precise.
But yeah, you.
You can do.

(44:20):
And they even in the mailernow, they even send you instructions
on how to.
How to fight your tax assessment.
Because all she's doing issaying, hey, this is what these addresses
are paying on my same block,and this is what I want to pay to.
Oh, I didn't know you can do that.
The same.
Like, hey, everybody else ispaying it.
Yeah, no sense.

(44:44):
So we coming up to the lastround of this particular live show.
And for those of you, as wementioned earlier, we do have, in
a way, two books for this.
So the first book I want togive away.
Let's see.
Should we do kids first orshould we do the adults first?

(45:06):
Which one?
Kids or adults first?
And also, too, when you're atthe closing table, to always look
at.
Look, read everything.
They're banking on you notreading stuff and charging you for
stuff.
Because my friend Shirley's here.
She's writing notes.
You can come and talk.
But yeah, she was like, they.

(45:26):
They charged her some for somedocuments that they emailed to her
that they never sent.
And.
Yeah, bring her in.
Yeah, and 150.
Like, come on, you know, 150.
Really?
Right.
And you can tell them that tobe like, do you know?
Yeah.
Or yeah, show me the emailwith the documents.
Exactly.
And you know how far $150 goesat Costco?

(45:47):
Like getting me out of a quickCostco trip.
Yo, you can at least get yourfirst round of groceries or something.
Okay.
No.
$150 at Costco, you probablyget like, two items.
Like, no, you can.
That's toilet paper for the month.
That's eight items.
That's eight chickens.

(46:13):
Is that.
So true?
We gonna talk about your show.
Yeah, Stacking deeds.
So another thing, Connor.
So if you scroll to our latest episode.
So we talked to Antoinettefrom maximizing your minimum, your

(46:33):
rental.
So Antoinette, she's fromFearless and fine.
She converted one of herrentals into an assisted living facility
and makes $90,000 a month.
What?
It took her two years, though,because she had to get.
It's a business.
So she had to get all theproper licensing.

(46:55):
She actually hired nurses andshe turned a single family house.
So it was a three.
No, it was like a fourbedroom, whatever.
She turned it into a threebed, one and a half bath on one side
and then it's a one bed, oneand a half bath on the other side
for where the nurses liveduring their shift.

(47:17):
And it's $90,000.
So I was like, during theepisode, you'll hear me quit and
say, I'm gonna quit and dothat now.
How'd she get a permit for that?
I don't know about theoccupancy permit.
That's what I wanted to askabout the occupancy.
Because she did.
Sorry.
Because in that city.
That's a good question.
Orlando.
So she put a wall in the middle.

(47:38):
She talks about this on the show.
She put a wall in the middleof the rentals.
And as long as.
Because at first she lived in one.
So it was legal.
But that is a good question.
But.
And I want to see what theylook like.
It'll be cool to see what theylook like.
But that also opens the window to.
There's so many other kinds ofhomes like that.

(47:59):
You got postpartum homes.
So a lot of times women, afterthey have a baby, instead of going,
Instead of paying all thatmoney at the hospital and instead
of going home where they don'thave everything, there's that middle
ground.
Surgeries.
People do that for surgeries too.
I never knew that.
That was a whole nother surgery.

(48:19):
Yeah, the plastic surgeries,the bbls, they can't sit.
They gotta, I guess for themto sit like this, you know, it is
cool to talk.
So we talk to so manydifferent people that make money
different ways in real estate.
And a lot of times they'reauthors too.
Like.
And what I like about it too,as I'm a nine to fiver, I actually

(48:42):
like my job most days.
I love my job.
So I don't want to quit my job.
But you know, I like my jobbecause I'm just.
I like going to work and goingto the holiday parties, all that
fun stuff.
And so we do talk to a lot ofpeople too who still have a 9 to
5.
And they do the real estate onthe side.

(49:02):
So that's a lot of people.
They share their spreadsheetsthat they use.
They share their methods they use.
So it's for beginners.
So if you're a beginner, weexplain there's a Cap X episode that
Explains it a lot better thanI can.
And that's the beauty of ittoo, because I'm learning stuff that
I've wanted to learn about too.

(49:23):
So we have people on, and wehave over 80,000 listeners.
We are not even a year old.
Yeah, we crossed 80,000 actually.
I mean, here.
I'm gonna log into it now tosee how many.
All right, well, while you'relogging in, we have a wonderful author
that's coming up there.
Shelby, ready?
Yep.

(49:44):
All right, we gotta get.
Get some.
Get up in there, get theshoulders going.
You know what I'm saying?
Oh, you took.
All right.
Welcome to the stage.
Nia.
Hey.
Hey.
How y' all doing?
How y' all doing?
How you doing?
How y' all doing?
I'm gonna say what she went.

(50:05):
What was.
I had some to say from whatCrystal was saying.
Dang it.
I had something.
I said I was gonna come on and said.
She was just saying, so.
Oh, I'm a nine to five or two.
See, I'm a nine to five.
I like my job my best.
It's very flexible.
Then they have a spin suit.
I'm a lawyer.
I own a business.

(50:26):
We work all the time.
I don't need to be in here.
I'm just kind of.
I'm honest.
Yeah.
So I like.
I like my job.
My job is very flexible.
So it allows me to run mybusiness while doing my job, you
know, so same thing.
It's a part of my goals.
So it's not a short term.
Me planning to leave it in thenext year or two either.

(50:47):
It's a part of my system.
And it helps me when it comesto real estate too, because it's
a secure income.
Yeah.
For the real.
The lenders like to see that.
Yeah.
So that don't care becausethey just look at the deal.
Yeah, true.
You see it too.
And they won't let that slipthrough the cracks.

(51:07):
And they help you through ittoo, because that's another cool
thing too, about being a womanthat's one minority.
And black, that's another minority.
And we're not in this space, so.
Because even last month was itmonth before last, I was here for
the Chicago Build Expo.
It was a free conference.
I saw that.

(51:28):
I met so many people.
And it was after I moved, Iwas so mad.
Okay.
I just relocated from Chicago.
Okay.
Got it.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
But I met a lot of people.
Met people from the city.
I met different contractor associates.
There's a.
There's a contractorassociation for everything.
There's a women one.
There's a minority one.

(51:48):
There's just a whole bunch of different.
So go ahead, Nia.
But no, no, that's good toknow because it makes a huge difference.
I'm fortunate to know enoughthat I have a mentor that he's just,
you know, older, black male.
He's invested in real estateand he left his job.
He got laid off.
And that severance included anon compete clause.

(52:11):
And he was like, no,absolutely not.
So he declined it and insteadhe went into real estate and he's
been doing real estate ever since.
Yeah, yeah.
He has like 15 to 20 properties.
Like, but he.
So he's in Texas, but heinvests in Cleveland.

(52:31):
He got properties in Georgia.
He wants more of us to knowthat it's possible.
So I follow him like secretsquirrel and just like, watch and
learn and ask questions, andthat's how I've learned a lot of
what I know and.
That'S what I love about our community.
Sorry, Anthony, we took over.
Go ahead, scoot yourself out.
No, I'm just kidding.
But no.

(52:51):
Put you to the side all day.
No, we're just kidding.
Come back.
We can't do this without you.
But no, it's slowly.
People can't wait to share.
You know, like, we're doingthis, you know, new to the the area,
and we want y' all to do it, too.
Like, we gain nothing fromkeeping information to ourselves.

(53:14):
There's enough for everybodyto eat.
So the more.
The more we learn and the morethat comes back to us.
And so you'll notice,community, we love sharing what we
learned.
Like, that's why I have allthese hustles too.
Because when I learn somethingcool, I love teaching others.
I can't help it.

(53:36):
Nice, nice, nice.
Welcome back, Anthony.
Thank you.
Welcome back, back, back toour show.
We're glad to have you.
Allow me to come.
Welcome.
This is Anthony Weaver fromAbout that wallet.
And he's going to be sharingwith us today.
How to exit and drink strings.

(54:04):
He's stage crew, all the soundeffects and everything like that.
Exactly.
See?
Stage crew.
Yeah.
All right, so Nia, we have youup here.
You.
Your book giveaway.
Because you're the only personthat can do your book giveaway like
anybody else.

(54:25):
Yes, I. I have a Baltimoreaccent, so.
Yes.
The dues and twos.
What do you want to do thehashtag for your book giveaway.
Buy the house.
By the house.
Love it.
All right, everybody make surethat you put in buy the house.

(54:47):
Put it right now in the chat.
Just how you talking about it?
And Everything like that is.
That's cool how it picks it upas an entry.
It is.
Streamyard is bomb.
Yeah.
Anthony had really showed mewhat Streamyard can do.
Yeah, we use Riverside.
I don't, we haven't taken fulladvantage of its features but it

(55:09):
has features.
It has like an AI built inthat'll take clips from the conversation.
They do post productionfeatures though.
That's right, it's post.
Yeah.
So we gotta get people thinking.
So when we get what a synopsisof the book?

(55:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maybe I want to take.
Get a synopsis synapses of Capex.
No, just kidding.
Well, Capex depends on your market.
It's going to be different fordifferent markets but.
So this book is made for firsttime home buyers.
I bought my first investmentproperty in 2020 and in that process
I walked my people throughlike every painstaking detail.

(55:52):
Because of that I got so manyhorror stories that I heard or just
people who didn't know aboutthe process.
So that's what made me feellike I had to create a resource.
Like even if they can't, maybethey don't feel comfortable working
with me or maybe they can'tafford a course I have.
Let me create a resource theyhave that's tangible that they can
go through to empower themthrough their process.

(56:12):
Because like pretty much likeCrystal said, a lot of people out
here are scamming a lot ofthese Realtors don't really educate
you.
They say all these things justto motivate you to purchase.
And lenders do the same thingbecause especially when they get
into these scarcity marketswhere people are not buying as often,
they get really scandalous.

(56:35):
So going through the book, ithas everything.
First of all, I tell my story.
So I bought and lost my firsthome at the age of 27.
So I tell that whole story andwhat I learned and how it shaped
my process.
Then I go through what youneed to do like preparing your finances
and everything gets explained.
Explain from the lender'sperspective so you can know like

(56:55):
why they're asking for these things.
They're telling you not tomake huge purchases because it looks
risky and it looks like youmight be mismanaging.
So it's basically to help thefirst time home buyer who's looking
to purchase.
It also goes through comparingbuying a condo to a multi unit to
a single family.
And like the pros and cons ofeach so that you can learn it goes

(57:16):
through questions you shouldask your lender, questions you can
ask your realtor or a loanOfficer, similar to what Crystal
said, like what things are negotiables.
Ask them what overlays theymight have, which are additional
restrictions they might havefor what you might see online.
Because at the end of the day,fha Fannie Mae, they are not the
ones giving you the money, thelender is.

(57:37):
So they're going to makerequirements when they're giving
out money the same as you cando when you give out your money.
So the book is basicallybreaking all those things down and
putting them in regular terms.
It goes through the full homebuying process so you can know all
the different steps to expect.
It goes through the home inspection.
What can you expect through that?
What things not to do whileyou're going through a home buying

(58:00):
process.
Don't co sign anything, don'tmove large sums of money, all those
things that might be looked atas frowned upon by the lender.
And then lastly there's goingto be a glossary at the end in alphabetical
order.
So as you're going throughthis process, if your lender or your
realtor are using terms youdon't know, sometimes we feel intimidated
and we might not ask what thatterm means because we feel like,

(58:22):
oh, if I ask, you know, thatmakes me look stupid.
Even though it doesn't, Iwanted to provide again another resource
so you have something thatbreaks it down in laying terms so
you can be more empowered inyour process.
Because that is the biggestweapon against fear when it comes
to doing anything.
Being educated about it andmore knowledgeable will make you
be more comfortable.

(58:45):
Boom.
That's all we got.
So make sure that you go aheadon and do hashtag by the house if
you actually want this book,go ahead on and type in right now
hashtag by the house to goahead on and get this book.

(59:07):
You do not want to be left outwithout this book.
Yes, I have the only lightskinned version.
Yes, you always have to tellthat story when you show the book.
So he's showing you that book.
I'm gonna show you the realbook now.
You see anything different?
Not the light skinned version.
How did one has a light andone has a black hand.

(59:29):
So initially I put a blackhand of course because most of the
time you see books with wealthor about home buying, you typically
don't see anything that lookslike us on the front.
So I wanted to, you know, makeput again.
It's all about making peoplefeel more comfortable in their process.
And apparently Amazon, when heordered they sent him that version.
But my author copies all come with.
The black Anthony's white.

(59:51):
Or you need advice from awhite person.
Well, they did the same thingto Rakim's book.
Oh, show them Rakim's book.
We have Rakim on the show.
You see that?
You gotta see this.
Wait, hold it up.
We gotta see this.
All right, let me.
Let me make.
He looked like a big pun.
Oh, wow.

(01:00:11):
He does look like.
Wow.
I don't know what anybody's doing.
Wow.
That's what they sending out.
But during that shipment, Iguess they ran out of brown or something
more black, but.

(01:00:32):
Right.
Something happened with the printer.
You almost need to keep themjust so you can.
Well, what I said was thesebooks are now worth $2,000.
Well, Rakim's $2,000 becausehe signed his NIA.
I need you to get your sign.
I need to get it.
You should have brought it to fincon.
I did bring it to fincon.

(01:00:52):
I just didn't have it with me.
Oh, okay.
I was gonna say, because Iknow you signed my other book that
you gave me.
Oh, yeah.
Wow, that is interesting.
That's.
I don't know what it is or whythey do it, but they did it to both
of our books.
Yeah.
So Hashtag the house.
Yeah.
Ram is my.
Or people.

(01:01:12):
No, he's my.
He said Michael.
Ram is.
Yeah.
Wow.
That is.
He said what?
She said.
That's disrespectful.
Disrespectful.
It's coming from a white lady.
I don't know if it's aconspiracy or what.

(01:01:32):
We say that they're like, oh,they just.
But it's like, how did both ofthem come light skinned?
Right.
Did you order them around thesame time?
Exactly the same day.
Also, maybe they was like athey ran out of ink day and they
figured you would know anybetter, but you actually know the
authors.
And that's a big difference.
That's the difference.
You know, the authors.
A typical person wouldn't.
So they would never be.

(01:01:52):
They would never know.
Right.
Years.
So it's funny when you guyssay, like, I love my job because
I have a full time job and wedo fitness, so.
Nice.
Yeah, I do.
I like my job.
I work for the.
I guess the people.
There's nothing wrong withhaving two jobs.
You get up at 4, you go to bed.

(01:02:14):
There we go.
Midnight.
I get up at 5.
I do really up at 5.
Typical life.
And I see a lot of peoplewasting time watching Netflix, you
know, going out to eat.
That is four or five hours.
You could be doing somethingproductive with your life, like doing
something Saving your money,putting your money away.
I. I preach a big time aboutcooking your own food.

(01:02:35):
Stop going out to eat, stop wasting.
So I have a newsletter that Isend out weekly, and one week is
dedicated to a healthy recipe,like, so I share, like, a YouTube
video.
So you have.
Because we got food at the house.
So I'm gonna either help youhave food at the house, I give you.
New recipes, $10,000 a year almost.

(01:02:56):
You could go to Africa on asafari instead of going to Starbucks.
So many places I could go for $10,000.
Yeah, you talk about thattrip, that layover trip you just
saw.
How much was that?
The trip I just took with theEurope trip?
No, the one you went on theislands with.
And remember, you said you hadthe layover.

(01:03:17):
Oh, I go to Carnival everyyear in Trinidad and Tobago.
So my husband.
Have you been to Barbados?
Yes, I have.
I love Barbados.
Do the crop over in Barbados.
I haven't.
I have not.
It's fun.
I'm hooked on Trinity.
I heard that Crop over was good.
Convince someone.

(01:03:38):
You said what?
Oh, really?
You don't want to go, Crystal,Crop over.
She's been to Barbados, butnot the crop over.
So maybe we could do, like, a.
A blog.
It'll go viral.
It'll go viral.

(01:03:58):
Oh, you went mute.
Mia's mute.
Oh, there she go.
She's not mute unless youmuted herself.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah, she lost, I don't know,her ipods did.
I mean, we see it.
We up here make it funny thewhole time.
Like, yo, wait, what?

(01:04:20):
I had a phone call comingthrough, and I didn't want to decline
them and make it seem like Iwas rejecting them.
You know, it was my daughter.
What's I gonna say?
But, yes, I go there.
So he's talking about.
Because leaving Trinidad tocome back can get very expensive,
so this.
I typically booked to anotherisland so that I can save money,

(01:04:45):
which sounds odd, but I savedmoney that way because the flight
coming back was like a thousand.
And then I paid, I think, $400to go to Antigua and then leave Antigua
and come back.
So I end up paying that.
And then I found an Airbnbfor, like, 200.

(01:05:05):
So I'm doing good.
Right.
And I would have paid thatover a thousand for the one flight
just going back straight from Trinidad.
Yep.
Yeah, I want to go to Cropover, though.
Maybe maybe 20, 25.
Well, Nia, you got a message.
Crystal or me.
And then we look up at thecrop over.
Yeah, definitely.

(01:05:26):
Definitely.
It's a vibe.
While we're Drinking.
We'll talk about finances.
Exactly.
Making a business trip.
Yes.
Yeah, it does.
We can have a consultation at a.
At a breakfast.
Fat.
Yeah.
We could put on a seminar.
And even if it's just.

(01:05:49):
There's our seminar.
I'm super proud of retreat.
There you go.
It's a retreat.
Yeah.
I'm super proud of you.
You know, like, we've allpurchased houses.
I was telling Crystal when Ipurchased my first house, I had to
learn everything, because Idid, too.
That's how I bought and lostit in the same year my mom purchased
houses.
She was like, figure it out onyour own.

(01:06:09):
You have an education.
And so I went to my credit union.
I sat down and learned about mortgages.
I had to learn, like, what wasthe best one, because I didn't know
what to do.
And I just felt reallyignorant and really dumb and there
was no nobody to help.
And so.
And that's how I feel.
Like people feel.
They, like, they feel likewhen you.
Don'T know and you go withwhatever your realtor says, and your

(01:06:31):
realtor is not educated.
They're just a realtor.
So you have.
Not about loans, not abouteven a good realtor.
Some of them, they don't knowabout the lending side.
Find you the right house.
You have to do everything yourself.
If you are.
You just have to do thelegwork if you want to, like, be
successful.
And so unfortunately, it takestime, effort, and energy.

(01:06:53):
But, like, you can do it.
You can do it.
I've done it.
You know, like, here I am.
You can do it.
I'm an immigrant.
I'm a lawyer.
I came here.
You know what I mean?
We started this.
I got two jobs.
I work all the time.
And it's just when I hearpeople say, oh, well, you know, I
get up at 4 and I go to bed at5, you know, I get home at 6, and

(01:07:13):
I'm like, that's it.
That's wonderful.
You get to sleep after that.
Yeah, I'm working all the time.
But, you know, there's gonnacome a point where I don't have the
energy and we get old, older,and we can't do it.
And you want the luxury to notbe able to do it.
Yeah.
And you may not have the, youknow, if you have rich parents, that's

(01:07:33):
great, but most of us don't.
We would not be listening tothis podcast in the best sleep already.
Right?
Parents are going to help you.
So if you don't haveassistance, financial aid, you know,
you don't have all this help.
You really have to do it alone.
And so just educate yourself,do the legwork.
It's not that hard, and it'sworth it.

(01:07:57):
I agree.
See, she should have came on earlier.
I know, right?
I'm glad you finally came on.
You know, you wrote a bookhelping somebody from front to back,
literally.
Yeah, that's the goal.
That's the goal.
I mean, obviously, you can'tpredict every single head buyer transaction.
I want it to be an impartialparty that I'm not making anything
off you purchasing the home.

(01:08:18):
I'm not a realtor.
I'm not a loan officer.
Like, my goal is to help youstay in the home.
They just want to help you getthe home.
That's wonderful, becauseforeclosure is real.
Yeah.
So ask me how I know.
Now you're an expert.
You know what I mean?
So, like, if.
Exactly.
And I'm a real estateinvestor, like.
Yeah.
It does not define you at all.
Yeah.

(01:08:39):
In the process of buying ahouse right now in my new location.
Oh, that's awesome.
Oh, yeah.
Atlanta, where fincon is this year.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It's come.
Yeah.
I mean, I had just moved,like, maybe two weeks before fincon.
Ah.
And then they announced it wasgonna be in Atlanta.
I was like, too.
She's a Spelman.

(01:08:59):
You could have went.
You could have came to spin.
You were here.
No, Chicago.
Oh, in Chicago.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You do any.
Well, it don't matter if youdo virtual.
I don't have a spin bike.
That's okay.
I didn't hit one, though.
We do training.
Her spin is real.

(01:09:20):
It is certified.
Yeah, I heard it's real.
I tried it twice.
And that's the thing.
Like, be active.
Be, like.
Be productive.
Don't just say.
That's the word.
Productive.
What can you do?
Can you do six things?
Why not?

(01:09:40):
Why you want to do one thing?
You could do seven things.
You could do everything.
You know what she sound like?
Y' all remember In LivingColor when everybody was like, we
got three jobs.
It's like, that's it.
We got three jobs.
Jamaicans, you know?
And we have educations, right?
We have education.

(01:10:00):
People think like, oh, my gosh.
I would.
You got this, people.
You got this.
Yeah.
Because it's a book that I'm.
I'm actually reading.
I say audiobook, but it'scalled Mindset.
I know I'm reversed, but thereason why I like Mindset is because.
Talking about the growthmindset versus the.

(01:10:21):
The fixed mindset.
And what she's saying is,like, you Know why?
Why are you stuck?
And then most people just failand be like, give up.
Well, like, I.
With the first property, itwas like, well, you know, I got my
first property, right?
Then it didn't work out, soI'm gonna just give up.
Exactly.
So, all right, I know this ismy show, but is there any less?

(01:10:49):
Stage right.
All right, Deuces.
Bye, guys.
You must just get.
You know, just send you thelink and just kind of.
Okay, Right.
We need to drop her.
Drop her tag in the chat.
Yeah.
Next time, though.
Next time.
All right, so is there anylast things that y' all want to say

(01:11:10):
to leave everybody withsomething that they can take action
on today?
Like a call to action for.
For tonight.
Reach out to somebody.
That's my advice.
Reach out to one person that'sdoing what you want to do and ask.
Ask them, even.
Even Ask Chat.
Gbt.
Ask them a few questions.

(01:11:31):
That's gonna get to your next level.
Awesome.
All right, Neil, you gotsomething I'm gonna say.
Figure out exactly where youwanna go.
Write it down, like, make it.
Make it in stone, what it isor where you're trying to go just
to start off with.
And then, like, same thing.

(01:11:51):
Like she said, like, follow.
Find people to follow.
Start consuming that contentand consuming things about that topic
regularly so that you canstart replacing.
It'll change your whole algorithm.
So then your algorithm won'tbring any of those other things.
It'll start bringing that goodcontent and continue to help you
stay focused.

(01:12:12):
Awesome.
And as you're talking aboutbringing up that content, make sure
you continue to go ahead onand, like, subscribe and hit that
bell so that you can continuein getting this lovely content.
Because, as you know, we talkabout habits all day, every day.
So because you haveunderstanding of a habit, you have
the understanding of what abehavior is, I want you to go out

(01:12:33):
there and build strongfinancial habits.
All right, everybody, y' allhave a good one.
We're out.
Peace.