Lane Kawaoka - The Wealth Elevator
On the Reaching Higher Wealth Floors: "For some people out there, above a few million dollars net worth, time is more valuable than money. It's not the pursuit of money anymore, but it's the pursuit of trading in the money for the experiences."
One of the most important things to know when building your wealth is to use the tools that are available to you. Interestingly, the tools available to you grow as your wealth increases. This means you need to build your awareness of opportunities, as you build your wealth.
Lane Kawaoka, founder of The Wealth Elevator and a seasoned real estate investor, helps build that awareness to educate people that are in wealth building mode.
Lane started out like most of us, as a young worker-bee, blindly following the traditional path—working a W-2 job, saving up for a house, and living frugally. Realizing he wanted more and more was out there, he moved to discovering the power of cash flow and passive income through real estate investing. Starting with a single rental property, Lane scaled his investment portfolio strategically and ultimately transitioned from hands-on property management to larger commercial deals and passive investments.
Lane and James dive deep into the nuts and bolts of real estate, including how to evaluate a property with the rent-to-value ratio, why market selection and insider knowledge are critical, and how networking with the right crowd can redefine your investment trajectory. Lane breaks down key concepts like forced appreciation, the difference between Class A, B, and C properties, and the barriers to entry that can be both a curse and a blessing in the business.
Listen as Lane explains the value of knowing what opportunities are available to you at the floor you are on in the wealth elevator.
Enjoy!
Visit Lane at: https://thewealthelevator.com/
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewealthelevator/
Podcast Overview:
00:00 Network Determines Success
08:15 Strategic Networking vs. Weekend Warriors
12:10 Real Estate Investment Strategies
20:33 Investing in Apartment Demand
26:26 Building Wealth Through Real Estate Investments
27:48 Scaling Passive Income Strategies
36:46 Contractor Reliance Challenges
38:32 AI's Impact on Workforce Polarization
47:42 Wealthy's Real Estate Strategy
50:53 "Wealth Strategy and Investment Growth"
59:19 Self-Reflection on Book Quality
Podcast Transcription:
Lane Kawaoka [00:00:00]:
On a whim, I just got a. Got a property manager started to rent it out. And that was kind of where I got this taste of cash flow. And that was back in 2009, 2010. And when I mean the numbers, you look at this thing called the rent to value ratio, where you take the monthly rents divided by the purchase price. If that is not anywhere near 1% or higher, it's not going to work. You know, like, it might be a great place to live, great school district, but, you know, we're trying to find good rental properties that cash flow. And that was kind of why I started to buy these turnkey rentals.
Lane Kawaoka [00:00:32]:
Out in Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis.
James Kademan [00:00:41]:
You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link found@drawincustomers.com we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls On Call, Extraordinary Answering Service, as well as the Bold Business Book. And today we're welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Lane Kawaoka. I hope I did that. Okay, Lane of the wealth elevator. We're talking real estate investing here. So, Lane, how is it going today?
Lane Kawaoka [00:01:13]:
It's good. Aloha, everybody. Thanks for having me, James.
James Kademan [00:01:16]:
Yeah, thank you. I'm excited you're in Hawaii, but were you born and raised in Hawaii?