April 29, 2025 • 26 mins
Brittany and Shawn Louiseize share their remarkable journey from burned-out healthcare professionals to successful international real estate investors and coaches. They reveal how the COVID pandemic became the catalyst for their career change and how they're now helping others invest in high-return markets in Mexico's Riviera Maya.
• Transitioning from nursing to entrepreneurship after experiencing burnout during COVID
• Starting with a medical clinic as their first business venture before focusing fully on real estate
• Leveraging 20 years of healthcare leadership experience to develop their investment and coaching strategies
• Working successfully as a couple by maintaining clear communication and capitalizing on complementary strengths
• Identifying Mexico as a prime investment market with 10-18% ROI and 20-30% annual equity growth
• Debunking myths about foreign ownership in Mexico while highlighting infrastructural investments
• Developing an entrepreneurial mindset that embraces change, maintains consistency, and takes imperfect action
Reach out to Brittany and Sean to learn more about investment opportunities in Mexico or to get a copy of their book detailing their journey and strategies for success in real estate.
https://investingmexico.com/freeguide
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That is my biggest fear in life.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
I am your host, mario Lamar.
(00:24):
Our guest on today's show is acouple that built a successful
career in business in nursing.
They have now transitioned tofull-time real estate investing
not only in North America butalso in Mexico.
(00:47):
Brittany and Sean Luis-AizBrittany and Sean, welcome to
the show today.
Thanks for having us.
Thanks for having us.
The podcast the concept of thepodcast is real simple.
I ask five questions, eitherabout business or real estate,
and we get straight to the point.
You ready, let's go Good, layit on us.
The first one maybe forBrittany.
You've built a dynamic careerblending real estate, business,
(01:09):
coaching, nursing education.
How did you first discover yourpassion for real estate
investment and what motivatedyou to expand into the Riviera
Maya market, mexico?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Good question.
I would say that real estatestarted as just something that
we did on the side, just likeextra cash or just saw the value
and fixing up places we livedin or bringing extra value to
properties.
But I think it wasn't untillater on that it became
(01:45):
something that was a full-timeaspect.
So in nursing we just startedfeeling really burnt out,
looking for a change, and Iwould say what really drove the
change to say hey, we need to dosomething different now was
definitely COVID as a healthcareworker.
That was a lot to be in thesystem during that, and so
(02:09):
that's when we really took astep back and said I gotta do
something different with ourlives.
And that's actually whenbusiness became our first
passion project that we startedand we started our medical
clinic and that's what reallyled us further down the line
into into the more real estate.
(02:30):
Um, because we saw, you know,when I am able to be a
successful entrepreneur and Ican bring in, you know, the
effort that I put into my workand it actually pays off in the
end.
And now I'm seeing the benefitof working hard and and actually
being able to create what Iwant out of that and the income
level I want out of that.
(02:50):
Then it was like, okay, well,now what?
And so that's when real estatewas like well, this is the next
vehicle that we want to takethat business aspect and now
turn that into real estate.
And nursing actually was whatstarted us at looking at
sunshine destinations.
We had looked into travelnursing.
(03:10):
I had actually gotten mylicense in Florida State and we
were going to move to Floridayears ago.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I already did a placement down there as well.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, but because of the young kids it just didn't
work out.
And so when we startedinvesting and then started
looking at more internationalinvesting and we came down to
Mexico, we invested here andthought you know, why don't we
work on bringing that you knowand creating that life for us
instead?
And so that's the short versionof a very long story, and
(03:42):
that's the short version of avery long story.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Exactly, and what I like about your story is exactly
how it goes for a lot of realestate investors now is they add
a pain point in their life.
They wanted to make a changeand real estate has always been
a vehicle where people can trustand use for a better life.
I can see right now.
You're not in the snow, you'rein a warm place You're in front
(04:10):
of the pool.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
You can't see it because it's still sunny out.
Exactly yes.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Second question, and this one's for Sean Now, with
over 20 years in nursing andhealthcare leadership, how has
your background in healthcareshaped your approach in managing
real estate investments andcoaching investors?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Well, I think when we first met Mario a little while
ago I think it's been close totwo years now At the time we
were slowly getting into realestate investing I had been a
nurse educator for about 10years and managing a significant
amount of professionals andhelping them learn advanced
skills and so on and so forth,but also, like Brittany had just
(04:55):
previously mentioned, startinga business ourselves and not
knowing anything about businessas nurses, always having that
mindset that we wanted somethingmore.
So, taking all those and puttingit all together was, you know,
the realization that we need tostart doing this in real estate
and start helping others andlearn what we're learning at the
same time.
And, of course, during thattime, we've learned a lot about
(05:18):
investing in, you know, canada,us, and we had always been
working on what we're doing downhere in Mexico.
So, you know, the educationpiece was how can we start
giving back to investors that wework with, how can we start
providing value in what we do,not only helping ourselves, but
how can we help investors seethat there's other avenues other
than Canada and the US?
(05:39):
And so that's what's motivatedme specifically, or Brittany and
myself, to get into helping,coaching, giving back.
We uh at the event.
We wrote a book just previousto that about our struggles, our
pain points, uh, what we'velearned and how we can start
providing that value and givingback to individuals that we meet
and work with.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And I think that, like just to add to that, like
for the education piece, like wealways, we always saw the need
for like more like to add tothat, like for the education
piece, like we always, we alwayssaw the need for like more like
to to, especially when we first, like, came into real estate
investing full time.
It's like like I want more, Ineed more knowledge, more
education and more support, andso like, if we can give that
back to anybody, then then thatwas what we wanted and how it's
(06:21):
helped us is it's kept usmotivated to continue to learn
all the facets about real estateinvesting, not just, you know,
BRRRR strategies or fixing andflipping.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
We have 12 years of experience doing fix and flips,
but we've learned every singlestrategy, and intensely enough
so that we can pretty muchmaster it even though we don't
use those strategies, but beable to use that in what we're
doing here and formulated in aprocess where we can start
giving back and helping othersand maybe help some people that
(06:50):
do want to use those strategiesfor their portfolio, and because
you studied them, you have theknowledge and you can guide them
through it.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
That's a very nice journey.
I love the story.
Like I said, you transitionedfrom one domain, one career,
into a new one, and you now wantto help others do the same.
So kudos to you guys.
Brings us to our third question, and now it's for both of you.
You both work together as apower couple in real estate and
(07:25):
coaching.
What's one key piece of adviceyou would give other couples who
are maybe considering workingtogether in these businesses?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So I'll start first Rule number one.
Mario, you should know you justgot engaged, congratulations.
Rule number one is alwayslisten to your wife.
I say that though it's thehonesty of me being able to
listen to my significant other,my partner.
We've worked as nursescollectively for around 20 years
(07:58):
together, nurses collectivelyfor around 20 years together.
She's always been my boss, mymentor, the person I look up to,
so to be able to have thatclear communication back and
forth and being understandingand opening to each other's
point of views and workingcollectively on our strengths
and weaknesses.
I'm pretty open and creativeand Brittany's more analytical
and to the point, so to be ableto bring that together it's kind
(08:19):
of like a dynamic duo, if thatmakes sense.
So that's kind of my point onthat.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, and I mean I think I would have to agree.
Actually I laugh because Iactually have been his boss in
many different roles and jobsthat we've worked in in hospital
.
But I think that's the key.
I mean, your work andrelationships are basically the
same thing.
Right, you need to be able tohave communication.
You need to actually be able tolike talk about what's going on
(08:45):
and strategize.
But I think before anything,before anyone goes into business
with their spouse or anythinglike, you guys have to sit down
and decide what is the goal ofthis, because if you're not
going towards the same goal,then you're going to have
conflict throughout the wholeprocess.
So, really, kind of getting aclear idea of what your goal is
and also what each other'sstrengths are, so that you're
(09:05):
not spinning your wheels and youdon't have somebody who you
know isn't a good communicatortrying to be, you know, the
person who's doing all thefrontline stuff with your
clients and then you havesomebody else sitting in the
background doing numbers who isterrible at it.
So, being able to play on eachother's strengths and understand
who has the skills in whatareas, and being able to just
(09:27):
talk about who's going to dowhat and divide and conquer.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And maybe to dig a little bit deeper in the
question, without going intopersonal things, but is there
things that you do or or saythat you decide to leave out,
not to get too many, too much ofthe emotions when you hit a
roadblock in a project or how?
How, working as a couple, whatpieces do you leave out?
(09:54):
What pieces do you bring in?
Maybe you know when you go backhome at night and where do you
draw the line bring in.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Maybe you know when you go back home at night and
where do you draw the line?
I'll start, yeah, I'll startwith that.
I don't leave any pieces out.
I'll be honest with you.
I'm honest with everyone I talkto and I'm honest with my wife
all the time, and I think that'swhat is a key to our success.
Working together is that I don'tsugarcoat things, I don't hide
things.
I don't do it, it's just hey,this is what I'm thinking Now
can I get your point of view onthis, because she has a
(10:22):
different point of view than Ido and taking those and molding
it together to one common goal.
So I think that's kind of thekey that we have is that we
don't hide anything from eachother when it comes to business.
We don't leave anything out,but we do keep our personal
relationship and our marriageoutside of business.
Business is one thing and thenour personal relationship is
(10:45):
another thing.
And, being nurses and workingtogether for such a long period
of time and her being my boss,we were able to develop those
strategies and those skills veryearly on in our careers years,
so that now that we're in, whenwe're in real estate or working
with investors, we're still ableto keep that professionalism
and keep those common goals infront of us but be able to, you
know, relax and unwind, like wedid at the REI investor at sea,
(11:08):
and spend time with others wherethey can actually see who we
are, other than the professionalpeople who we are on a regular
basis.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, and I would say that, um, I I would say it's
hard, I mean it's almostimpossible to like just say you
know, no, we're not going tothink about business anymore.
and now, it's just life, but Ithink that comes naturally with
when you're doing something youactually enjoy as well.
And so like, uh, I mean, whetherit's, you know, working with a
(11:36):
friend or, or, or, or yourspouse, like I, uh, it's a job
and it's a, it's a career choiceand a and a profession that we
love, and what we're doing welove to do.
So I don't think there's,there's never really a it's kind
of a gray line.
I wouldn't say there's ever astop to the end of like, there's
no like end of work day kind ofthing 's.
(11:58):
Just, you know, as things comeup, and I think that's what also
builds the strength of it isthat it is something we enjoy,
you know, and, and I mean youjust gotta engage when you, when
you're with somebody who youlove and they're your best
friend, you, you want to bearound them, you want to have
these discussions, you want todo these things, so, so I think
that um wouldn't say thatthere's a time where it's like
(12:21):
shut off.
It's just, you know, makingtime to do things outside of
work would be the skill there is.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
At 3 am, when I'm poking her, I put you to sleep
and I say hey, I got a businessidea.
She does tell me leave me alone.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
So there is a time, there's a time, but that's at
nighttime.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Other than that, there's still time.
Yeah, don't interrupt my sleep.
Well, that brings us to ourfourth question and, as we
mentioned, you are right now inMexico.
I want to ask you you bothemphasize international
investment opportunities whatmakes Mexico such a strong
market for Canadian and Americaninvestors a strong market for
(13:03):
Canadian and American investorsand how does the real estate
landscape differ?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
from North America?
Well, maybe.
I'll talk about how it differs.
I wouldn't say that there's ahuge difference.
The process of buying is verysimilar to that of Canada or the
US, especially, you know.
I know a lot of Canadians havelooked to the US markets to
purchase, so buying in Mexico isnot very much different.
There's definitely, you know,areas that you want to focus on.
(13:30):
There's different areas thatwill bring you different returns
.
So that, yeah, the biggestdifference, I would say, are
just the myths that people hear.
I think those are the thingsthat we spend the most time
addressing.
Just as an example, I got aquestion today that well, I
heard that Canadians can't ownland in Mexico and that's not
(13:52):
the case.
You can absolutely own propertyhere, just like you would own
in Canada or the US.
So I would say that thedifferences are insignificant.
Really, I think it's just amatter of maybe the actual
profession of real estate iswhere things differ.
There's differences withlicensing and brokerages and
(14:16):
different aspects like that.
So here, especially in theMayan Riviera, there is a lot
more push to have licensedagents who are knowledgeable in
real estate.
But I think that's one of thebiggest differences is that for
the longest time, you didn'trequire a license here, so you
were getting you know everyoneand their mother selling real
(14:39):
estate without any knowledge ofactual real estate.
So I think that's probably thebiggest difference.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I think that there is one big difference here is that
individuals from Canada and theUS need to source out
individuals like ourselves thatthey can like, trust, know and
know the market inside out, dueto the fact that there are
certain developments, for anexample, like pre-construction,
where I've heard some investorsthat have reached out to us
personally and said you know, Iinvested all this money in this
(15:08):
development.
Now what do I do?
They're not going to like,they're ready to deliver it, but
I want to finance the lastportion and I can't finance it
because I don't have the deedand title.
What am I supposed to do?
So the due diligence is verydifferent than Canada and US.
I would say that you need toknow individuals like ourselves
that work with trusted brokers,trusted developers, trusted
(15:30):
mortgage brokers.
Similarities you can get amortgage here, just like you can
in US.
20-year amortization anywherefrom 10% to 14% interest Seems a
little high, but, again, here,you only pay 1% property tax, so
it kind of balances out.
There's all kinds of optionshere, though there's short-term
(15:52):
rentals, there's BRRRRstrategies, there's mid-term,
long-term.
All the same strategies thatyou would use in a market in
Canada and US are available here.
The difference that we're seeinghere, though, is the ROI.
The return on investment hereis increasingly growing day by
day.
We see the percentage creepingup.
Right now you're looking atabout anywhere from 10% to 15%,
(16:15):
sometimes 18%, sometimes 18percent.
Equity in properties here go upfrom 20 to about 30 percent
annually.
So if you think of thosestrategies that you use back in
canada, the us, where you'recash flowing, you know a hundred
dollars a door and you want togo back to refinance at the bank
and take out that 80 percentloan of value, the values aren't
there anymore in canada, the usnot getting that increase.
(16:37):
Here in mexico, when you'regetting 20 to 30% increase in
value on a property in US fundsbecause everything's in US here
just think of that money thatyou're putting back in your
pocket or that you can take andnow increase your portfolio and
buy multiple properties and cashflow.
So the difference is increasein cash flow, the ROI is a lot
higher, equity on property ishigher and, again, the
(17:00):
difference is working withtrusted individuals.
I mean, like Brittany hadmentioned, there's so many
salespeople down here that arelike used car salesmen.
All they want is commission.
We're not focusing on that.
We're focusing on making surethat the investors that work
with us win and get successfulin doing what they're doing
building their portfolios.
If they win, then we win and wecan build that trust and
(17:20):
continue moving forward.
And that's, I think what we'retrying to do and change here in
Riviera Maya is make sure thatpeople can work with Canadians
like ourselves that are changingthe way that real estate is
done down here in Mexico, makingit just like home.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
And to address the why the international investing
and, specifically, why Mexico?
I think that you know it'sreally important to understand
that there's been a lot ofchanges here in Mexico for the
good and in order to really seeit, I always tell people you
should come here, you need tocome see it.
(17:54):
There is developmentseverywhere.
There's so much growth in thecountry, but it's because the
country is investing back intothe country.
They're investing ininfrastructure.
We just drove through Cancuntoday.
They're investing billions ofdollars to create a new overpass
to stop the influx in trafficthrough the hotel zone in Cancun
, to be able to bridge thepeninsula, to make it easier for
(18:17):
travelers back and forth to theairport, to the hotel zone.
They've invested in the Mayantrain, which is basically a
train that goes around theYucatan Peninsula, so it makes
it easier, so you can goeverywhere, from Merida all the
way down to Bacalar, so you cansee the infrastructure being
built up in these areas.
And they've revitalized a lotof new airports.
(18:38):
So the country itself isinvesting a lot of money into
everything that has to do withthe tourism industry, and so if
you're looking to come here andinvest, this is the opportunity
now.
This is the point in time.
I think that you're going tolook back in 10 years from now
and be like man.
I wish I would have gotten inthen, because it's going to
quickly get priced out of whatpeople are expecting.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
One fact as well, mario the increase in the
airports, tulum's airport, theincrease of flights that are.
Every day they're getting moreand more flights, thousands, or
sorry, millions of passengers inboth Cancun and Tulum.
And the GDP here, like Mexico,is not a third world country
like Canadians think orAmericans might think it is.
The GDP in Mexico is actuallyhigher than the GDP in Canada.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
It's grown more than the US and Canada over the last
five years.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
So it's a very stable market, very trusting market.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And you're right.
One thing that you said ifpeople are interested in
investing in a market that theydon't know necessarily well,
reach out to a team like youguys, but also make it a
vacation and go visit, and I'msure you guys organize tours and
the different developmentprojects you guys are working on
so people can actually see fromtheir own eyes what they would
(19:54):
invest in the last three days wewere on tours.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, the last three days we were on tours down in.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Calgary.
That's why we're in Cancuntoday.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
We're in cancun today , we're in cal cancun today.
We're checking all thesedifferent developments because,
again down in mexico, land hereis a huge opportunity buying
land within residentialcommunities and planned
developments, the increase insometime with the land, within
six months they double inreturns.
It's crazy.
Once the shovels hit the ground, you're talking another 25K to
50K increase in equity in theproperty as soon as electricity
and plumbing is brought to thatland.
(20:25):
So just the opportunities hereare just so vast.
And we explain it this isBitcoin before Bitcoin blew up
and that's why we're down hereand we made the move from Canada
to be in this market just forthose reasons.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
That brings us to our fifth and final question for
today.
I want to circle back into,maybe, your experience as
leaders and educators in bothbusiness and healthcare.
What do you believe is theessential qualities and I'm sure
there's more than one of asuccessful entrepreneur, and how
can someone develop thesequalities even if they're just
(21:03):
starting from scratch?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, I'll start with that.
So number one I don't know ifit's a quality or more of a
process mindset.
The mindset is huge, as we seein real estate.
We're part of many groups wherethere's 95% of individuals that
would like to do what we'redoing and the 5% of us that
actually take action and do that.
I'm a big buff on a mindset andpositive thinking and positive
(21:32):
affirmations and those qualitiesare huge.
Just to get over that fear thatmaybe a new investor may have
when they come into real estateinvesting.
It's quite scary.
You're dealing with highnumbers, you're dealing with
other people's money, you'redealing with certain situations
where you might not feelcomfortable or feel confident
enough to do so.
But to be able to have thatpositivity and that open mind
(21:54):
and that drive to move forwardand to learn as much as you can
and move forward, that is thenumber one quality I think that
somebody needs to focus on.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, and I would say that you know along those lines
, you definitely, as anentrepreneur, you need to be
consistent.
I think consistency overeverything else.
You know you can havemotivation, you can have
determination, you can have allthese things, but you need to be
consistent.
You need to consistently do thethings and take that action in
(22:23):
steps.
The things and take that actionin steps, because I mean I can
say with certainty that everyday the motivation is there.
If you're relying on motivationto make it big and get you
through, it's not going to do itbecause it's only the
consistent action that's goingto continue that.
So I mean people talk about itall the time.
(22:44):
You know just 1% better everyday.
You know just doing somethingto move you forward, because if
you stop and you wait for youfeeling good about it or being
certain about things, it's justnever going to come.
And I think a perfect exampleof that is when we started in
(23:04):
business.
We started in healthcare and wewere seeing clients, mobily and
we just started.
We didn't have anything.
We had enough tools that weneeded to just go and do it.
We didn't have business cards,we didn't have a website, we
didn't have a logo.
We had nothing.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
We had the last $2,000 in a bank account and it
was like that's it we're goingto rent a clinic and let's do it
.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And I see it so many times.
I see business owners.
They want to start up abusiness, you know, whatever
idea it may be that they have,and they're like well, I don't
have a website yet, I'm tryingto make my business cards, I'm
trying to do pamphlet, I'mtrying to do all these don't
have clients or you don't havethe product or service, so so
don't worry about the businesscards, like things like that
(23:49):
will come, like you just need togo and do it.
And that's where that thataspect of taking action, like
don't just get through the fearand take the action and do it,
and consistently do it every day.
It doesn't have to be perfect,because it never will be.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Last thing I want to add is change.
Don't be fearful to embracechange.
I was like that before Istarted working on my mindset.
I would get into these you knowdepressions where, oh, I can't
change what I'm doing because ifI do, there's going to be some
fear or something might go wrong.
And I lived in this world whereI was living in my head too
much.
After that I started to embracechange and when you embrace
(24:24):
change, things start to moveforward.
You don't get growth if youdon't change Even our careers.
We've changed from one careerto the next or one hospital to
the next to get to where we gotto today, and we've always said
that we never wanted to bestagnant in doing what we're
doing and stay in the same place.
So being open to that changehas gotten us where we are today
and I'm just so grateful thatI'm now.
(24:47):
I've changed the way I look atchange.
If that makes sense, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I think my biggest fear, like when I remember
starting, nursing and and withinthe first couple months you
know I was working on a unit andI like to ask people questions
about their career, all that andand somebody had told me that
they had been working in thisunit on this same spot for the
last like 35 years.
It was like before I was evenborn they had been working there
(25:14):
and I thought that is mybiggest fear in life, like I
can't even imagine being in onesmall spot for the rest of my
life.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
That, like one of my mentor always says, you cannot
expect different results if youdo the same actions.
So you're 100 right.
Uh, you know changes is is whatis going to bring you from one
point to the next point, uh, andall the other qualities that
you mentioned.
So thank you so much, guys, forbeing on the show on the
(25:45):
podcast today.
Uh, lots of knowledge, lots ofideas where people could invest
in different areas where they'renot used to, such as Mexico,
and we will put your links inthe description of the video to
make sure that people can reachyou if they want to reach out to
(26:06):
maybe get a tour in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yes, yeah, we even have a we'll share a link as
well with a book that we wrote.
So we wrote all about ourjourney, how we got to where we
are today, the strategies we usesome strategies that you guys
can use or any investor outthere can use to replicate what
we did to be just as successfulas what we're doing.
And then, of course, we'realways here to reach out to
anyone.
I mean, anyone wants to reachout to us any time of the day.
(26:30):
That's what we're here for.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
So yeah, again, guys, thank you for being on the show
and we'll talk soon.
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
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That is my biggest fear in life.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
I am your host, mario Lamar.
(00:24):
Our guest on today's show is acouple that built a successful
career in business in nursing.
They have now transitioned tofull-time real estate investing
not only in North America butalso in Mexico.
(00:47):
Brittany and Sean Luis-AizBrittany and Sean, welcome to
the show today.
Thanks for having us.
Thanks for having us.
The podcast the concept of thepodcast is real simple.
I ask five questions, eitherabout business or real estate,
and we get straight to the point.
You ready, let's go Good, layit on us.
The first one maybe forBrittany.
You've built a dynamic careerblending real estate, business,
(01:09):
coaching, nursing education.
How did you first discover yourpassion for real estate
investment and what motivatedyou to expand into the Riviera
Maya market, mexico?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Good question.
I would say that real estatestarted as just something that
we did on the side, just likeextra cash or just saw the value
and fixing up places we livedin or bringing extra value to
properties.
But I think it wasn't untillater on that it became
(01:45):
something that was a full-timeaspect.
So in nursing we just startedfeeling really burnt out,
looking for a change, and Iwould say what really drove the
change to say hey, we need to dosomething different now was
definitely COVID as a healthcareworker.
That was a lot to be in thesystem during that, and so
(02:09):
that's when we really took astep back and said I gotta do
something different with ourlives.
And that's actually whenbusiness became our first
passion project that we startedand we started our medical
clinic and that's what reallyled us further down the line
into into the more real estate.
(02:30):
Um, because we saw, you know,when I am able to be a
successful entrepreneur and Ican bring in, you know, the
effort that I put into my workand it actually pays off in the
end.
And now I'm seeing the benefitof working hard and and actually
being able to create what Iwant out of that and the income
level I want out of that.
(02:50):
Then it was like, okay, well,now what?
And so that's when real estatewas like well, this is the next
vehicle that we want to takethat business aspect and now
turn that into real estate.
And nursing actually was whatstarted us at looking at
sunshine destinations.
We had looked into travelnursing.
(03:10):
I had actually gotten mylicense in Florida State and we
were going to move to Floridayears ago.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I already did a placement down there as well.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, but because of the young kids it just didn't
work out.
And so when we startedinvesting and then started
looking at more internationalinvesting and we came down to
Mexico, we invested here andthought you know, why don't we
work on bringing that you knowand creating that life for us
instead?
And so that's the short versionof a very long story, and
(03:42):
that's the short version of avery long story.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Exactly, and what I like about your story is exactly
how it goes for a lot of realestate investors now is they add
a pain point in their life.
They wanted to make a changeand real estate has always been
a vehicle where people can trustand use for a better life.
I can see right now.
You're not in the snow, you'rein a warm place You're in front
(04:10):
of the pool.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
You can't see it because it's still sunny out.
Exactly yes.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Second question, and this one's for Sean Now, with
over 20 years in nursing andhealthcare leadership, how has
your background in healthcareshaped your approach in managing
real estate investments andcoaching investors?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Well, I think when we first met Mario a little while
ago I think it's been close totwo years now At the time we
were slowly getting into realestate investing I had been a
nurse educator for about 10years and managing a significant
amount of professionals andhelping them learn advanced
skills and so on and so forth,but also, like Brittany had just
(04:55):
previously mentioned, startinga business ourselves and not
knowing anything about businessas nurses, always having that
mindset that we wanted somethingmore.
So, taking all those and puttingit all together was, you know,
the realization that we need tostart doing this in real estate
and start helping others andlearn what we're learning at the
same time.
And, of course, during thattime, we've learned a lot about
(05:18):
investing in, you know, canada,us, and we had always been
working on what we're doing downhere in Mexico.
So, you know, the educationpiece was how can we start
giving back to investors that wework with, how can we start
providing value in what we do,not only helping ourselves, but
how can we help investors seethat there's other avenues other
than Canada and the US?
(05:39):
And so that's what's motivatedme specifically, or Brittany and
myself, to get into helping,coaching, giving back.
We uh at the event.
We wrote a book just previousto that about our struggles, our
pain points, uh, what we'velearned and how we can start
providing that value and givingback to individuals that we meet
and work with.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And I think that, like just to add to that, like
for the education piece, like wealways, we always saw the need
for like more like to add tothat, like for the education
piece, like we always, we alwayssaw the need for like more like
to to, especially when we first, like, came into real estate
investing full time.
It's like like I want more, Ineed more knowledge, more
education and more support, andso like, if we can give that
back to anybody, then then thatwas what we wanted and how it's
(06:21):
helped us is it's kept usmotivated to continue to learn
all the facets about real estateinvesting, not just, you know,
BRRRR strategies or fixing andflipping.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
We have 12 years of experience doing fix and flips,
but we've learned every singlestrategy, and intensely enough
so that we can pretty muchmaster it even though we don't
use those strategies, but beable to use that in what we're
doing here and formulated in aprocess where we can start
giving back and helping othersand maybe help some people that
(06:50):
do want to use those strategiesfor their portfolio, and because
you studied them, you have theknowledge and you can guide them
through it.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
That's a very nice journey.
I love the story.
Like I said, you transitionedfrom one domain, one career,
into a new one, and you now wantto help others do the same.
So kudos to you guys.
Brings us to our third question, and now it's for both of you.
You both work together as apower couple in real estate and
(07:25):
coaching.
What's one key piece of adviceyou would give other couples who
are maybe considering workingtogether in these businesses?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So I'll start first Rule number one.
Mario, you should know you justgot engaged, congratulations.
Rule number one is alwayslisten to your wife.
I say that though it's thehonesty of me being able to
listen to my significant other,my partner.
We've worked as nursescollectively for around 20 years
(07:58):
together, nurses collectivelyfor around 20 years together.
She's always been my boss, mymentor, the person I look up to,
so to be able to have thatclear communication back and
forth and being understandingand opening to each other's
point of views and workingcollectively on our strengths
and weaknesses.
I'm pretty open and creativeand Brittany's more analytical
and to the point, so to be ableto bring that together it's kind
(08:19):
of like a dynamic duo, if thatmakes sense.
So that's kind of my point onthat.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, and I mean I think I would have to agree.
Actually I laugh because Iactually have been his boss in
many different roles and jobsthat we've worked in in hospital
.
But I think that's the key.
I mean, your work andrelationships are basically the
same thing.
Right, you need to be able tohave communication.
You need to actually be able tolike talk about what's going on
(08:45):
and strategize.
But I think before anything,before anyone goes into business
with their spouse or anythinglike, you guys have to sit down
and decide what is the goal ofthis, because if you're not
going towards the same goal,then you're going to have
conflict throughout the wholeprocess.
So, really, kind of getting aclear idea of what your goal is
and also what each other'sstrengths are, so that you're
(09:05):
not spinning your wheels and youdon't have somebody who you
know isn't a good communicatortrying to be, you know, the
person who's doing all thefrontline stuff with your
clients and then you havesomebody else sitting in the
background doing numbers who isterrible at it.
So, being able to play on eachother's strengths and understand
who has the skills in whatareas, and being able to just
(09:27):
talk about who's going to dowhat and divide and conquer.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And maybe to dig a little bit deeper in the
question, without going intopersonal things, but is there
things that you do or or saythat you decide to leave out,
not to get too many, too much ofthe emotions when you hit a
roadblock in a project or how?
How, working as a couple, whatpieces do you leave out?
(09:54):
What pieces do you bring in?
Maybe you know when you go backhome at night and where do you
draw the line bring in.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Maybe you know when you go back home at night and
where do you draw the line?
I'll start, yeah, I'll startwith that.
I don't leave any pieces out.
I'll be honest with you.
I'm honest with everyone I talkto and I'm honest with my wife
all the time, and I think that'swhat is a key to our success.
Working together is that I don'tsugarcoat things, I don't hide
things.
I don't do it, it's just hey,this is what I'm thinking Now
can I get your point of view onthis, because she has a
(10:22):
different point of view than Ido and taking those and molding
it together to one common goal.
So I think that's kind of thekey that we have is that we
don't hide anything from eachother when it comes to business.
We don't leave anything out,but we do keep our personal
relationship and our marriageoutside of business.
Business is one thing and thenour personal relationship is
(10:45):
another thing.
And, being nurses and workingtogether for such a long period
of time and her being my boss,we were able to develop those
strategies and those skills veryearly on in our careers years,
so that now that we're in, whenwe're in real estate or working
with investors, we're still ableto keep that professionalism
and keep those common goals infront of us but be able to, you
know, relax and unwind, like wedid at the REI investor at sea,
(11:08):
and spend time with others wherethey can actually see who we
are, other than the professionalpeople who we are on a regular
basis.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, and I would say that, um, I I would say it's
hard, I mean it's almostimpossible to like just say you
know, no, we're not going tothink about business anymore.
and now, it's just life, but Ithink that comes naturally with
when you're doing something youactually enjoy as well.
And so like, uh, I mean, whetherit's, you know, working with a
(11:36):
friend or, or, or, or yourspouse, like I, uh, it's a job
and it's a, it's a career choiceand a and a profession that we
love, and what we're doing welove to do.
So I don't think there's,there's never really a it's kind
of a gray line.
I wouldn't say there's ever astop to the end of like, there's
no like end of work day kind ofthing 's.
(11:58):
Just, you know, as things comeup, and I think that's what also
builds the strength of it isthat it is something we enjoy,
you know, and, and I mean youjust gotta engage when you, when
you're with somebody who youlove and they're your best
friend, you, you want to bearound them, you want to have
these discussions, you want todo these things, so, so I think
that um wouldn't say thatthere's a time where it's like
(12:21):
shut off.
It's just, you know, makingtime to do things outside of
work would be the skill there is.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
At 3 am, when I'm poking her, I put you to sleep
and I say hey, I got a businessidea.
She does tell me leave me alone.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
So there is a time, there's a time, but that's at
nighttime.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Other than that, there's still time.
Yeah, don't interrupt my sleep.
Well, that brings us to ourfourth question and, as we
mentioned, you are right now inMexico.
I want to ask you you bothemphasize international
investment opportunities whatmakes Mexico such a strong
market for Canadian and Americaninvestors a strong market for
(13:03):
Canadian and American investorsand how does the real estate
landscape differ?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
from North America?
Well, maybe.
I'll talk about how it differs.
I wouldn't say that there's ahuge difference.
The process of buying is verysimilar to that of Canada or the
US, especially, you know.
I know a lot of Canadians havelooked to the US markets to
purchase, so buying in Mexico isnot very much different.
There's definitely, you know,areas that you want to focus on.
(13:30):
There's different areas thatwill bring you different returns
.
So that, yeah, the biggestdifference, I would say, are
just the myths that people hear.
I think those are the thingsthat we spend the most time
addressing.
Just as an example, I got aquestion today that well, I
heard that Canadians can't ownland in Mexico and that's not
(13:52):
the case.
You can absolutely own propertyhere, just like you would own
in Canada or the US.
So I would say that thedifferences are insignificant.
Really, I think it's just amatter of maybe the actual
profession of real estate iswhere things differ.
There's differences withlicensing and brokerages and
(14:16):
different aspects like that.
So here, especially in theMayan Riviera, there is a lot
more push to have licensedagents who are knowledgeable in
real estate.
But I think that's one of thebiggest differences is that for
the longest time, you didn'trequire a license here, so you
were getting you know everyoneand their mother selling real
(14:39):
estate without any knowledge ofactual real estate.
So I think that's probably thebiggest difference.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I think that there is one big difference here is that
individuals from Canada and theUS need to source out
individuals like ourselves thatthey can like, trust, know and
know the market inside out, dueto the fact that there are
certain developments, for anexample, like pre-construction,
where I've heard some investorsthat have reached out to us
personally and said you know, Iinvested all this money in this
(15:08):
development.
Now what do I do?
They're not going to like,they're ready to deliver it, but
I want to finance the lastportion and I can't finance it
because I don't have the deedand title.
What am I supposed to do?
So the due diligence is verydifferent than Canada and US.
I would say that you need toknow individuals like ourselves
that work with trusted brokers,trusted developers, trusted
(15:30):
mortgage brokers.
Similarities you can get amortgage here, just like you can
in US.
20-year amortization anywherefrom 10% to 14% interest Seems a
little high, but, again, here,you only pay 1% property tax, so
it kind of balances out.
There's all kinds of optionshere, though there's short-term
(15:52):
rentals, there's BRRRRstrategies, there's mid-term,
long-term.
All the same strategies thatyou would use in a market in
Canada and US are available here.
The difference that we're seeinghere, though, is the ROI.
The return on investment hereis increasingly growing day by
day.
We see the percentage creepingup.
Right now you're looking atabout anywhere from 10% to 15%,
(16:15):
sometimes 18%, sometimes 18percent.
Equity in properties here go upfrom 20 to about 30 percent
annually.
So if you think of thosestrategies that you use back in
canada, the us, where you'recash flowing, you know a hundred
dollars a door and you want togo back to refinance at the bank
and take out that 80 percentloan of value, the values aren't
there anymore in canada, the usnot getting that increase.
(16:37):
Here in mexico, when you'regetting 20 to 30% increase in
value on a property in US fundsbecause everything's in US here
just think of that money thatyou're putting back in your
pocket or that you can take andnow increase your portfolio and
buy multiple properties and cashflow.
So the difference is increasein cash flow, the ROI is a lot
higher, equity on property ishigher and, again, the
(17:00):
difference is working withtrusted individuals.
I mean, like Brittany hadmentioned, there's so many
salespeople down here that arelike used car salesmen.
All they want is commission.
We're not focusing on that.
We're focusing on making surethat the investors that work
with us win and get successfulin doing what they're doing
building their portfolios.
If they win, then we win and wecan build that trust and
(17:20):
continue moving forward.
And that's, I think what we'retrying to do and change here in
Riviera Maya is make sure thatpeople can work with Canadians
like ourselves that are changingthe way that real estate is
done down here in Mexico, makingit just like home.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
And to address the why the international investing
and, specifically, why Mexico?
I think that you know it'sreally important to understand
that there's been a lot ofchanges here in Mexico for the
good and in order to really seeit, I always tell people you
should come here, you need tocome see it.
(17:54):
There is developmentseverywhere.
There's so much growth in thecountry, but it's because the
country is investing back intothe country.
They're investing ininfrastructure.
We just drove through Cancuntoday.
They're investing billions ofdollars to create a new overpass
to stop the influx in trafficthrough the hotel zone in Cancun
, to be able to bridge thepeninsula, to make it easier for
(18:17):
travelers back and forth to theairport, to the hotel zone.
They've invested in the Mayantrain, which is basically a
train that goes around theYucatan Peninsula, so it makes
it easier, so you can goeverywhere, from Merida all the
way down to Bacalar, so you cansee the infrastructure being
built up in these areas.
And they've revitalized a lotof new airports.
(18:38):
So the country itself isinvesting a lot of money into
everything that has to do withthe tourism industry, and so if
you're looking to come here andinvest, this is the opportunity
now.
This is the point in time.
I think that you're going tolook back in 10 years from now
and be like man.
I wish I would have gotten inthen, because it's going to
quickly get priced out of whatpeople are expecting.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
One fact as well, mario the increase in the
airports, tulum's airport, theincrease of flights that are.
Every day they're getting moreand more flights, thousands, or
sorry, millions of passengers inboth Cancun and Tulum.
And the GDP here, like Mexico,is not a third world country
like Canadians think orAmericans might think it is.
The GDP in Mexico is actuallyhigher than the GDP in Canada.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
It's grown more than the US and Canada over the last
five years.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
So it's a very stable market, very trusting market.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And you're right.
One thing that you said ifpeople are interested in
investing in a market that theydon't know necessarily well,
reach out to a team like youguys, but also make it a
vacation and go visit, and I'msure you guys organize tours and
the different developmentprojects you guys are working on
so people can actually see fromtheir own eyes what they would
(19:54):
invest in the last three days wewere on tours.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, the last three days we were on tours down in.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Calgary.
That's why we're in Cancuntoday.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
We're in cancun today , we're in cal cancun today.
We're checking all thesedifferent developments because,
again down in mexico, land hereis a huge opportunity buying
land within residentialcommunities and planned
developments, the increase insometime with the land, within
six months they double inreturns.
It's crazy.
Once the shovels hit the ground, you're talking another 25K to
50K increase in equity in theproperty as soon as electricity
and plumbing is brought to thatland.
(20:25):
So just the opportunities hereare just so vast.
And we explain it this isBitcoin before Bitcoin blew up
and that's why we're down hereand we made the move from Canada
to be in this market just forthose reasons.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
That brings us to our fifth and final question for
today.
I want to circle back into,maybe, your experience as
leaders and educators in bothbusiness and healthcare.
What do you believe is theessential qualities and I'm sure
there's more than one of asuccessful entrepreneur, and how
can someone develop thesequalities even if they're just
(21:03):
starting from scratch?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, I'll start with that.
So number one I don't know ifit's a quality or more of a
process mindset.
The mindset is huge, as we seein real estate.
We're part of many groups wherethere's 95% of individuals that
would like to do what we'redoing and the 5% of us that
actually take action and do that.
I'm a big buff on a mindset andpositive thinking and positive
(21:32):
affirmations and those qualitiesare huge.
Just to get over that fear thatmaybe a new investor may have
when they come into real estateinvesting.
It's quite scary.
You're dealing with highnumbers, you're dealing with
other people's money, you'redealing with certain situations
where you might not feelcomfortable or feel confident
enough to do so.
But to be able to have thatpositivity and that open mind
(21:54):
and that drive to move forwardand to learn as much as you can
and move forward, that is thenumber one quality I think that
somebody needs to focus on.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, and I would say that you know along those lines
, you definitely, as anentrepreneur, you need to be
consistent.
I think consistency overeverything else.
You know you can havemotivation, you can have
determination, you can have allthese things, but you need to be
consistent.
You need to consistently do thethings and take that action in
(22:23):
steps.
The things and take that actionin steps, because I mean I can
say with certainty that everyday the motivation is there.
If you're relying on motivationto make it big and get you
through, it's not going to do itbecause it's only the
consistent action that's goingto continue that.
So I mean people talk about itall the time.
(22:44):
You know just 1% better everyday.
You know just doing somethingto move you forward, because if
you stop and you wait for youfeeling good about it or being
certain about things, it's justnever going to come.
And I think a perfect exampleof that is when we started in
(23:04):
business.
We started in healthcare and wewere seeing clients, mobily and
we just started.
We didn't have anything.
We had enough tools that weneeded to just go and do it.
We didn't have business cards,we didn't have a website, we
didn't have a logo.
We had nothing.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
We had the last $2,000 in a bank account and it
was like that's it we're goingto rent a clinic and let's do it
.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And I see it so many times.
I see business owners.
They want to start up abusiness, you know, whatever
idea it may be that they have,and they're like well, I don't
have a website yet, I'm tryingto make my business cards, I'm
trying to do pamphlet, I'mtrying to do all these don't
have clients or you don't havethe product or service, so so
don't worry about the businesscards, like things like that
(23:49):
will come, like you just need togo and do it.
And that's where that thataspect of taking action, like
don't just get through the fearand take the action and do it,
and consistently do it every day.
It doesn't have to be perfect,because it never will be.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Last thing I want to add is change.
Don't be fearful to embracechange.
I was like that before Istarted working on my mindset.
I would get into these you knowdepressions where, oh, I can't
change what I'm doing because ifI do, there's going to be some
fear or something might go wrong.
And I lived in this world whereI was living in my head too
much.
After that I started to embracechange and when you embrace
(24:24):
change, things start to moveforward.
You don't get growth if youdon't change Even our careers.
We've changed from one careerto the next or one hospital to
the next to get to where we gotto today, and we've always said
that we never wanted to bestagnant in doing what we're
doing and stay in the same place.
So being open to that changehas gotten us where we are today
and I'm just so grateful thatI'm now.
(24:47):
I've changed the way I look atchange.
If that makes sense, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I think my biggest fear, like when I remember
starting, nursing and and withinthe first couple months you
know I was working on a unit andI like to ask people questions
about their career, all that andand somebody had told me that
they had been working in thisunit on this same spot for the
last like 35 years.
It was like before I was evenborn they had been working there
(25:14):
and I thought that is mybiggest fear in life, like I
can't even imagine being in onesmall spot for the rest of my
life.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
That, like one of my mentor always says, you cannot
expect different results if youdo the same actions.
So you're 100 right.
Uh, you know changes is is whatis going to bring you from one
point to the next point, uh, andall the other qualities that
you mentioned.
So thank you so much, guys, forbeing on the show on the
(25:45):
podcast today.
Uh, lots of knowledge, lots ofideas where people could invest
in different areas where they'renot used to, such as Mexico,
and we will put your links inthe description of the video to
make sure that people can reachyou if they want to reach out to
(26:06):
maybe get a tour in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yes, yeah, we even have a we'll share a link as
well with a book that we wrote.
So we wrote all about ourjourney, how we got to where we
are today, the strategies we usesome strategies that you guys
can use or any investor outthere can use to replicate what
we did to be just as successfulas what we're doing.
And then, of course, we'realways here to reach out to
anyone.
I mean, anyone wants to reachout to us any time of the day.
(26:30):
That's what we're here for.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
So yeah, again, guys, thank you for being on the show
and we'll talk soon.
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Thanks for tuning into the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
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Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
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