Steve Trang Amazing everybody, thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate disruptors today, we got my good buddy Steve Valentine with limitless real estate strategies. Another operator in the Phoenix market I know, and he's gonna be talking about how he's got up to $50 million in single family rentals. Now I am on a mission to create 100 millionaires and the information on this podcast alone is enough to help you become a millionaire in the next five to seven years. If you'll take consistent action, you will become one. And we all know that you want to be a successful real estate investor. In order to do that you need to be able to buy houses consistently at the margins. Problem is you may be contract you may not be contracting enough houses or buying them deep enough causing them to feel maybe frustrated or anxious. We understand what deflating that can be when you walk out of the house without a signed contract. Now we've helped hundreds of people buy 1000s of houses at Deep margins, if you're interested in finding out how do me the worst sales on Instagram. And so you'll never have to worry about your revenue again. And this show is brought to you by our sister company investor lift, get access to over 2 million cash buyers across the country go to investor if they're competent disruptors to get 10% off anything of value today, please tag a friend below share this episode right now. That way we can all grow together. And we do ever shows power and disruption and certainty talks tomorrow and the day after now this is a live show. So please ask your questions for Steve to answer. You Ready? Steve Valentine Ready? Do it. Steve Trang All right. So it's been like three years, right? Or two years? How long has it been since the last time we? Steve Valentine It's three? Well, I was guessing one or two? Steve Trang You were pretty early. So yeah. So it Steve Valentine So I think see in the last three or four years is just really understanding the power of investing in real estate, right, you know, understanding how to the new evolution is really solving problems for people, right, the bigger the problem, I can solve for somebody, the more income I can earn, or the more wealth I'm going to generate. Steve Trang The little hypocritical, Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Trang Yeah. Well, and that's something that I've talked to we talked about this uncertainty talks, right. It's, we talked about, there is what you say? And is what you do. In a perfect world. They line up, Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Trang Right. And, you know, I can say personally, in the early part of my career as a realtor, it was a lot easier to explain, like when I went through this, right, and we like to use third party stories. But when I say hey, here's I remember, you know, when I was going through this scenario, here's how I felt about it. It always build a stronger connection. Steve Valentine So I set out to do which was really, you know, it was a trigger for my dad, actually, this week was seven years ago, my dad passed. Okay, he died of terminal cancer at age 63. And the thing that changed everything for me going forward was the fact that at age 63, he owns no real estate. But yet, he helped investors buy 1000 homes of trustees during the downturn. Steve Trang Yeah. Well, if it was seven years ago, this past weekend, then obviously we've known each other much longer than seven years. So they remember you went through that scenario. I remember one thing that stuck out for me was you were helping your dad who was ill in the hospital. And it was like an eye opening moment for you in that he had all these investors that were supposedly friends. That when things went dark wouldn't give you guys a time of day. Steve Valentine Well, I mean, my dad's biggest. And so here's, here's the big point that my dad went through. And this is my new thing with my investors. I will work with you, I will not work for you. Yeah. Okay. So we will build wealth together, but you're not going to drag me along like a Chihuahua, right? And that's where a lot of these people, the investors, they come into the seminars and things and they want to go find a real estate agent, drag them around and make them do all this work for the commission. And that's what my dad was doing. And so the one investor that my dad built, I mean, that guy's portfolio is probably worth 10x. Well, my dad bought a trustee sell for, and it was 500 homes. Steve Valentine It's really good. So, um, you know, I'm doing what I call situational group coaching for agents right now. Right to where I'm showing them how to capture opportunities, how to solve problems for their consumer, and then figure out what direction do I take this property? Right? Does it turn into a listing? Is it a wholesale, you know, a lot of my students, they end up bringing me the deals because I help them work through it. And a lot of them, you know, the biggest running joke right now is I go on more listing appointments with my students than I do my own clients. Steve Trang So I remember one thing, one conversation that came up, right was during the mastermind, that again, we met through Lizzie homefirst. mastermind, was, there was a time we were talking about commissions. Right now, there are no standard commissions, right, obviously, but some people like to charge six. And I think you and I were talking about charging more. And they're like, how can you possibly justify this right, like, right? And they were like really adamant, like, You're being unfair to the homeowner. And I'm, we're you and I are like you guys are like looking at this the wrong way. Right? Like, the homeowner needs help. And we can provide a solution that no one else can, right. And for that reason, we're charging more for those services. Can you talk through that? Because it was such an interesting, like, dynamic in that room for until until they finally like got it? Steve Valentine It's locally but I've got a couple of agents that are nation, you know, in parts of the country. Steve Trang So then like what do you like? What is it process that you walk them through to build their portfolio? Steve Valentine So it's really being situationally aware and understanding that every seller has variables, right? And if we can ask better questions and have a better conversation and really get to the pain points and talk through it, that's where the opportunity arises. Right? So we want to get through those pieces in order Are to guide them to what they want. So I'll give you a great example, the live call that I did with my students couple weeks ago, guys, 92 year old grandmother going into assisted living, okay, it has a $50,000 mortgage on it, they have about $300,000 equity. We work through the first call, to get to the point of a number and what it would cost to actually repair the house and put it on the market. And the last thing that I asked him, I said, when grandma gets this $300,000, how are you going to grow it in order to sustain her living? He says, nobody's ever asked me that. I says, Well, can I show you how we can do a wrap and I can help increase grandma's money. And I can buy the house and everything can be solved in this way. Right. So by getting to the point of asking that last question, how can I help them one more pain point than they don't know about? A lot of people in those situations? They don't understand what am I going to do to protect grandma's money? And one of the reasons that it's so near and dear to me on that is that my 92 year old aunt, I never thought she'd lived to 101 and it cost our family $7,000 a month for her to live 10 years. $7,000 a month for her assisted living facility. Steve Trang Wow. So I guess in this talk about, you said, there's five different evolutions in your career. So what are those five evolutions? Steve Valentine Um, I, I wish I had a picture for you of when I wore like, the slacks in the tie in the long snapper sort of got Steve Trang So $50 million in rentals, you know, it's no small feat. Steve Valentine So what I learned early on was to get really creative. And this is like, the biggest thing, and I think you'd probably agree with this. I think the biggest thing that agents don't I mean, general public in general, they don't understand how money moves in brief. Steve Trang So if there's one regret I have in real estate, was that mental health specifically? So I remember November 2007, right. I get licensed in May of 2007. I go to the annual asthma event, right. I don't know. Don't Have you remember them right there the Coliseum? Right. And like there is a Steve Valentine Yeah. I mean, that's, that's really been my advice to agents when they get into and then when I do these private strategy sessions with people showing them like, what's your dream life budget? And how are we going to reverse engineer that to get there and is all going to be in real estate or do you have it split up so that they can start to mentally think about it and mentally be prepared? See, I've never gone out just to buy a property to buy a property as an investor. It's always been prepared for the right opportunity. So either I have access to money, or have access to the right people, so that when that thing pops up, I can take advantage of it. Steve Valentine Yeah, I mean, there's there's something that I teach on a regular basis, and it's a dripping faucet fills a bucket. Right. So it's time that that bucket will be filled up with little drips, and so many people like when I get here, I will do when I do this, I will do and then they never do it. Because the more money they make, the more their lifestyle increases, because they never made the small habits of putting money in certain places. And it took me years to figure out like, I need to do that differently. And I'm teaching my kids how to do it differently. And making sure that the agents that I'm teaching now, like guys, is so important that you create this habit, right? And I'm sure you've read Profit First, right? Steve Trang right. And for that point, I would say, you know, a director here Profit First, for real estate investors definitely go watch that episode and buy his book. So money is the first thing. What's the second thing to be to building up your portfolio? Steve Valentine So now what's the mindset, right? And so when I, when I teach them, the easiest thing for an agency is buy a house for themselves, right? So interest rates, low low downpayment, all things, having the mindset that I'm not going to be here forever, and I'm going to buy this, I'm going to keep it and then I'm gonna utilize the equity or refinance it, and I'm gonna go move to the next one. If an age if I would have done that at age 20. And stayed on that course actually wrote it down. I said, one property a year for 20 years in my career, so I went through all the ups and downs in the market. And like, I would definitely be fully retired right now. Had I just stayed that course. Because even right now, crazy thing this morning was talking to someone I'm like, you know, what drives me nuts. Six months ago, you would run out and compete with 14 people and take on an extra $50,000 in debt and pay $50,000 over list price. And now all of a sudden, the rates are a couple points higher, and you can buy stuff at a discount now. But you're so concerned about the stupid monthly payment. That meant mentally you're not there. You're not thinking about the money. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine or the debt that you took. Steve Trang So I there's a guy Jason Rothman totally butchering it. But I heard us say this in a in a zoom call. Jason Hartman was what it was Jason Hartman, he was in this on a zoom call. And he was talking about how like, we all understand real estate values the wrong way. Steve Valentine remember the Foursquare box when you're buying a car? Like they get you to focus on the payment and you get screwed everywhere else. Steve Trang Yeah. So that's so yes. To your point. You were saying this morning, we're upset. Steve Valentine But they also making decisions like a lot of people in the current market. They're like, No, I'm not gonna buy anything right now because the rates are too high. Rather than going you know what, I'm gonna set my sights on something different and maybe I'll buy something that's less house a less bedroom, so they can least get into homes. Russia and start that process and knowing that the rates not going to be the same forever, that the value that I can buy in that house will be there for me down the road. And it's starting my investment journey, Steve Trang We learned that in 2007. So alright, so the mindset of, I'm not going to be here forever. So that's the second thing, Steve Trang The third step is really understanding money, right? Understanding how to be creative with things, how to make things work, rather than doing the, you know, the Dave Ramsey Suze Orman thing of like, gotta pay your house off, and you got to put 20% down? Well, I didn't have to put 20% down, I had to create the 20%. Steve Trang So for many years, I would argue with my accountant, okay, turns out he was right, you know, getting to the end. But like, I'm flipping this house, you know, let's say a buyer for 150. And I sold it for like, 200,000, right? Make like a $15,000 profit, nothing sexy, right? And I'll put out a port 15,000. IRS, he's like, no, what are you doing? Like, are you trying to get audited? Like not only Brian 15,000 in revenue is like, No, you run a 200,000 revenue, and your costs are 150,000 plus everything else, right? And I will, I mean, I'm just being honest here, like two or three years, I would consistently argue with him. And took him two or three years to get through my thick skull to understand like how the IRS taxes you or at least is looking at your numbers, right, reviewing your numbers. And I think to your point that people may sometimes forget is that whenever we close a deal and make some profit, Uncle Sam has a seat at the dinner table. Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Valentine yeah. And then you know, the other thing too, that I've really been showing agents to understand as well. And that's probably one of the biggest thing is the value and having like, the best CPA on the face of the earth, Steve Trang Yeah, the elements of cash out refi it's not income is just a tax free loan. Steve Valentine yeah, so So we've just done that right. We leveraged our portfolio earlier this year, where, you know, a lot of our homes, we were down to about 40% leverage on and we shifted Under 60% leverage, but the amount of cash, we're able to pull out property, still cash flow. And now that money has moved on to other investments, and the tenants are still paying for that, yeah, a million dollars that we pulled out. Steve Trang And that's so another, you know, type of mindset, like that's another reset. So before it used to be like, Man, I can have all these properties paid off, that'd be fantastic. Really, you don't really want that pay all the properties off. Because you can continue leveraging that Steve Valentine um, Munz was the magical place for us to start over. So in 2008, you know, we're dead broke, we have nothing, we have two, two infants. And they were one and three at the time we had good friends of ours invited us up there, we stayed the weekend. And it was just this breath of fresh air that we hadn't had in a while. And when he and I started walking around there and dreaming like one of these days, we might be able to own something like this. And this is a big piece too. And I know you've done really well with it is understanding the power of partnerships and relationships with people. So you know, mutual friend of ours, you know, George lawn, you know, we we dreamed about doing the ones Park thing, but we really weren't there to like be able to afford a second home and what does it look like and this was this before or really the VRBO days. And then in 2016, we were up there. I mean, we'd still gone up there every year 2016 We finally got to buy a place. And it ended up being a listing that George referred to somebody. It came back on the way down the hill where I did what if we bought a place together, and we shared it, the affordability, and then we can rent it out a little bit to try to cover some of our costs. George and I were still like, I mean, we're just come out of the reo business. And he started to build his team and I'm starting to do things. And I called the guy. The seller came into the office on Monday. It was listed at 330. I walked him through commissions a price reduction, everything else. And I bought it for 265 with $5,000 down on a seller carry a 4%. Steve Trang That's awesome. The other thing, too, is you are I think the first if you're not the first year, one of the first to go over the real. Steve Valentine I didn't do it for the purpose of what everybody else typically does real. They're looking at, like the recruiting and the that stuff. That's great. But when Kim Ryan, who was my life coach for a while she coached me through my dad died a lot, a lot of history there. She came to me, she says, hey, if lightnings gonna strike twice, would you like to be there where it strikes again, and we went through things and to work with him again, was was awesome. And I looked at it from the investment side. I looked at it from the stocks, the awards and some of the matching programs that they did, and like this is free money for doing the things that I already do. So why shouldn't I do this? And by the way, you know, I think every real estate agents to ask themselves what their ROI is, on the money that they pay in splits and the things to the brokerage. Steve Trang So I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Do it. Me exp you can make the same exact argument why real over exp? Steve Valentine I'm real was something that was it was new out of the gate. Right? I got to meet the Tamir the owner. Steve Trang You're like number two over there or something? Steve Trang Yeah. It's really bad, right? Like to say this, but like, it got to point I was like, I don't want to take this call anymore. Steve Trang All right, so looking at the questions here. First, we got Ingrid Hernandez, who says he loves Steve Valentine. So that's very nice verse has Steve Valentine Well, first of all, I'm not plugging it yet. But I wanted to be it real for a year number one to make sure I was still going to be there. Right? Is all this going to work out? Steve Trang Are you louder about it now? Steve Valentine Not as vocal, I probably will start to or we're getting ready to work at like, you know, like what Haneda has done. And you know, some of the other guys were there creating that works, you know, in that. So we're experimenting with some of that, you know, as we're kind of drafting that out to see what that's gonna look like. Steve Trang I know one thing we haven't talked about yet today was you went to go work, Chris. Harder. Right? It's limitless. Steve Valentine Um, so Chris Hart, are you talking about the mastermind that I did with Chris. I would encourage anybody. As much as I do, real estate conferences and things like that and the different things that we're doing, I would encourage anybody in the real estate space to go get out of the real estate space, and go experience what other people are doing that you can bring back to the real estate. So when I first met Chris, at Lewis Howes event, I was in his inaugural mastermind, his first one that he ever did. I don't even think he knew what he was doing at that point in time. Steve Trang Well, you know, it's interesting, right? Because you write a lot of people look at this as a cost. I don't want to spend this kind of money. And everything I've been in has made me more money than being than the cost. I mean, it's it's something as simple right? Is and I know you've experienced this in your own traditional business, but like my kids go to a piano school, right? These Valley Yamaha music school, right, you see me post about it sometimes. Steve Valentine and that's, I mean, that was the same thing with one's park right? Yeah, I didn't go up there and start marketing and advertising. I went up there and started donating to charities and being involved here and playing pickleball I'd like the more people I got to know the better the relationship was. And that's what what threw me you know are pushed me forward up there. Steve Trang Yeah. So what did you get out of being in that mastermind me five years. That's Steve Trang There's so when you say that it's interesting, because there's two things that come to mind. There's a guy up in Salt Lake, I want to say Rex or something. But he has a meeting every year in his office or his team does with all their investors. Right? And this is like, if you have a financial planner, or financial advisor, whatever, every year, you go their office and you look at your investments, like what's good, what's not good, what changes we need to make? Yep. By doing that, you're Top of Mind conscious, and you're the professional when they need help. You're the guy. Steve Valentine So because here's, here's the thing, especially on the investment side, yeah. But I also believe that everyone's an investor. If you're a first time homebuyer, you're an investor. Steve Trang 100. But we'll get to 1000. I'll be number two. We're gonna got we're well past number two, Steve Valentine No, but I love that. It's like, what's the legacy? So when I look at things I think about so my younger clients that are just buying their home, when when I sit down and do a discovery call with a buyer, I'm already injecting the investment mindset. Because I want to know what their end goal is. Steve Trang Yeah, that's powerful. I wanna hear another stupid thing I said in the past Steve Valentine That's so true. I mean, I think about it. So have you ever you know, back when you're doing more traditional business? Do you remember when the bigger seminars like Fortune Builders Steve Trang Yeah. So I was really, really naive at that time. So real places wants your opinion on this comment. Alright. So, in a saturated market full of competition, all else equal it is it is it efficiency, it is confusion, it is efficiency and conveyor belt, that will determine the winner. So read that there. So what are your thoughts on that comment? Steve Trang No, I think everything right, even in a competitive market, I'm assuming they're talking about competitive in a place of a bunch of real estate agents, Steve Trang or investors. Steve Trang That's impressive. Steve Trang Yeah. So I think to add to your point, right, is that all else being equal? I think it's the relationships you have. And the resourcefulness you have Steve Valentine gross rent, what percentage of my gross rents go towards expenses? Right now, probably 80%. Because everything's leveraged. Steve Trang Yeah. So I'll keep firing away. All your questions, guys. The other thing I noticed doing that kind of comments on you a couple months ago, three months ago now is I know you've been active on your on your media, but I've noticed a recent leveling up on your media. What's changed in your strategy? Steve Valentine I'm finally figuring out who the hell I was. Steve Trang And it's very noticeable how much you leveled up. Another thing too, is you kind of mentioned the church component. Like, I remember there was a guy that worked here, he was like, oh, you know, what's the experience? Like he worked in a church and in my mind, because I haven't been to church since like, 1999. Steve Valentine churches are legit right now. Steve Trang I went to a baptism. I want to say late last year, maybe early this year, like wow, this is a full blown rock concert. Like I might get converted if I keep right I'm gonna do this. Steve Trang yeah. Steve Trang Their brain works a bit differently. Steve Trang And then which markets are you not currently in, that you're interested in? Steve Valentine That I'm not in that I'd be interested in. I just, I like my backyard. I like to be able to touch it, feel it. I know what it's like when I see an address. I can tell you what it looks like. I've never I've watched people go back to like the Midwest and do different things. And I'm like, it's never really worked out. Yeah. So I just, you know, plus, we have the property management company here. Everything's under one roof. And remember my wife's GC? So Steve Valentine You have to be intentional with those relationships. So let me give you a great example, about how my real estate business was actually built over the last couple of years. Most real estate agents, they're running around building the team, right? I need buyer's agents. I need TCS, I need all these things. I chose to build mine as I'm, I'm the CEO, and I need a CFO. And I need the CFO. And so Erica is my CEO, she handles everything. Steve Trang Awesome. Let's just go with you. Because I remember working with her transaction years ago, Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine Freakin school, hard knocks on the education really came from my dad being a mentor, right? Even though we didn't see eye to eye on things. And the the the shit that happened when it did. My dad actually let me back this up. Kim Ryan said the most profound thing to me was really pissed off my dad after he died. So my dad dies, doesn't own anything, leaves my mom a very small life insurance policy. Okay. And a lot of debt. So it took me nine months to help him through from diagnosis to passing. And it took me 18 months to clean up the mess with my mom. But what Kim Ryan told me was there are things that our parents teach us to do, and not to do. And both of them are equally important. Steve Trang I think the masterminds that you and I were in We're awesome. I also think you're never the troublemakers. Steve Valentine I've always been a troublemaker. So how do we break the rules? Steve Trang I think we might have drove Lizzie a little crazy in some of those masterminds. I remember, there was one there like, Steve, do you realize how much of like an asshole you saw on these things? Like, really? Because I've always been the was like, Hey, see, like, why are you doing this? Right? It was always like, you do something which was like to me, like immediately obvious that was stupid, right? But instead, like, Hey, how can you do it? That was like, Why do you do that? Steve Valentine You mentioned her name early on here. Something funny about Carly said, the first time I ever met Carly and Jen. When we were with Todd book span at a mastermind in Scottsdale Quarter. Steve Trang And you guys are obviously able to smooth out over Steve Valentine We're right now is knowing knowing that the things that I'm going to do now on a share story, but my data second, knowing that the things that I'm doing now are going to have an impact not only on my clients, but their kids, if they will follow the plan and not deviate from certain things. Right. So and the other Why is my dad's legacy, right? My dad was at his Ria, I've never been as involved as he was down there. But he created his his reputation and things. And so my reputation is a little bit different. Because I'm helping agents and I'm helping consumers. My dad was trying to help the investors. And I ran into a guy in the lobby of our office. And he looked at me, he's like, you, Steve Valentine. I'm like, yeah, he's like, he shook my hand. He looked at me, he's like, your dad changed my life forever. I'm like, What do you mean? He says, in 2009, I moved here, I quit my job at UPS in California. And I moved here. And I started to see some real estate stuff. And I would go to your dad's classes. And today I wholesale, he's he's driving a nice car, he's dressed in a nice suit. He's like, your dad changed my life forever. And I'll forever be grateful for that. And so like, those are the things you think like, it's not the money, the stuff the other things? It's what are the lives that you impacted? What do you change, right? And we always talk about like social media and stuff. And that's what that's what I always love about social is like, what is the impact have one person that never comments that will never see anything? But the one thing you said, might have changed or had an impact on their life? Steve Trang Yeah. And that's the, that's the most valuable thing you can give, you know, like, money is great. We need it. Steve Valentine And there's, there's there's no price tag you put on it? Steve Trang No, there's not. What is your biggest struggle right now? Steve Valentine struggle right now? Ah, time, right, always, always trying to duplicate and always like, Who's the next person who's the next hire, so that you can do more? And I think part of the struggle too, is like how many squirrels are chasing? Yeah, I think that's always a struggle for all of us that are that are in this world, like, man, was easier when it was just real estate stuff. And now it's like this, and this. And, you know, my kids are older and my wife is wanting to travel. And I'm like, I don't want to do any of that. I'm still working. Steve Trang I don't want to travel either. Steve Valentine I won't speak more. Right, nationally. I am in the process, it should be done October 1 books being written. Steve Trang Well, you're not alone. Steve Valentine though I don't feel obligated to do it. I think it's it's a passion that I enjoy. Steve Trang Yeah, that's awesome. How do you measure success? Steve Valentine I think you measure success based on the rhythm you've been able to create in life. So what I mean by that is, I've got a good friend that said once he says, it's never work life balance, it's work life rhythm. Your kids are different ages than mine are, you have a different rhythm happening right now. As they get older, the rhythm is going to change, right? So my rhythm is changing. And I think that that's where the success is when you can find that rhythm and what feels good and what impact you're having. Right? Because I think when I look at all the fights my parents used to have, it was because my dad spent so much time trying to help everybody else. But he wasn't doing it inside his own family. Steve Trang yeah, isn't as fascinating that we have that in common? Because that was the same fights that I saw growing up. Yes, Dad was always helping everybody else. Yep. But not helping enough at home. Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang Yeah. Oh, that's, that's totally powerful. Got a question here real places? What are some of the most recent innovations that you think are going to impact consumers? And then impact investors and the real estate industry? Steve Valentine Um, you know, obviously, there's been some articles recently about, you know, Amazon and their fractional ownership. I think that there's some, you know, we've got crowdfunding and source funding and some of the other things. I think that's great. You know, I think that's going to be something down the road where you can gather people together, I still looked at and go, this is going to be really complicated. So I talked to my CFO, she's like, I'm not paying 20 people out on this stupid rental property every month, not happening. Steve Trang Well, good news for you. Is that we're gonna have to do that. Steve Valentine What I clothes Steve Trang not you know, generally speaking Steve Valentine You have a choice and what your mindset is. And the reason that the tattoo on my forearms is limitless is that there's infinite possibilities. If you will take the time to surround yourself with the right people. And you will put yourself in the right places, and you don't have to limit yourself to this is what it is. And this is how it how it has to be done. Right. Real estate was my dad limited it. So my 40th birthday, my wife and I wrote down a tattoo parlor. And that was the word that was going to be the mindset that I was going to teach my kids today. It's tattooed on all of us, both of my kids. That was their first tattoo. It's on the back of my blazer. It is a mindset that I believe we can all have. And that anytime you think you're limited, there's somebody, right, you said right. There's a relationship or a resource somewhere. You just have to find it. Steve Trang Right? Yeah, I think it's a very powerful message. Someone wants to get a hold of you. What is the best way to do that Steve Valentine Instagrams, the best place at imcd Valentine. Steve Trang Awesome. Perfect. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure again, Steve Valentine really Steve Trang four years, Steve Valentine four years, Steve Trang four years has been the show you things have changed. Steve Valentine You things have changed. Steve Trang All right. So let's talk about some of those changes. You've gone through a few evolutions since the last show and we met like six, seven years ago, and you've already gone through a few evolutions since then, yes. So what's changed in the last three or four years in your business? Steve Trang All right. Steve Valentine And then it's also taking that one step further and teaching real estate agents how to build generational wealth. You know, the stat that I had from a couple of years ago, which will get updated, but 95% of real estate agents don't own real estate. Steve Valentine I'm saying, Steve Valentine but they'll sell anybody an investment property. Steve Valentine right. Steve Trang But there are people in real estate that preach real estate, don't own real estate. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Valentine they will. I mean, I remember speaking a couple of years ago, and it was just always intrigued me that only 5% of the room owned it, but 100% of them will sell you something that they don't know anything about. Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Trang right. Versus like, Yeah, so like, this is what we're supposed to do. Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang Yeah. So you notice that 95% of people don't own real estate. So then what did you set out to do? Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine So now what what it was was, my real estate license is my greatest opportunity to build wealth and pass on wealth to my kids and show them. So that's where everything kind of changed for me is that there's opportunity in this business to do some of the things that you train right on the wholesale side. And then there's opportunity to list and represent buyers and sellers. That all creates income. But then there's the opportunities where you start to, you know, when I first started with, I want to buy one rental property a quarter. And then they got addicting, and we started figuring out how to do it more creatively, to where we were able to build it faster and stronger without a lot of money. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine so that portfolio is probably worth about $500 million right now. And that guy literally gave my mom and I two middle fingers on his way out the door after my dad died. And that was the last time that I would ever, like, put my faith in somebody that is like, we're friends. And this is all the promises he made. And then he was pieced out. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And then I really, really did really well at Barrett Jackson this year, because I walked right past him. And I didn't say anything. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine but it's still, it's still an angry moment for me. Steve Trang Well, absolutely. Right. I mean, this was a friend to the family. Steve Valentine Yes. Steve Trang So yeah, so you set out to help Realtors understand, or at least, maybe take advantage opportunities presented to them? Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang So how's that going? Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine because I'm always the buyer there, right. And so having that reputation as an agent, as a problem solver, that's where a lot of my stuff comes from is that I can solve the problem, we can be creative with it. And so teaching the agents and watching them build their portfolios, helping them work through creatively, and then also help them solve problems and create that wholesale piece or that, you know, instant instant sale. So, you know, I've got about 20 students right now that are weekly. It's kind of fun, I'll even do some live calls, you know, that are that are warm calls for me as far as referral, and then letting them listen to all the way through what it looks like to put that deal together with that person and how to take them down that road. Steve Valentine Right? Well, I think talking through the commission thing is is one of those pieces, what do you value in yourself, right? So I can bring these solutions to you. And I have 20 years of experience, I can charge more money, you go to an attorney, you can go to the bus by the bus guy. And he's probably whatever it is, or you can go to this guy, which is going to charge more because of experience reputation, those types of things, Steve Trang right. Steve Valentine And I also just believe that, if you want to be discounted, that's fine. But that's not the service that I want to provide. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine and nobody realized from the consumer, that you're, you don't realize how poor your agent is, until shit hits the fan Steve Trang until it's too late, until it's too late Steve Valentine until it's too late. Steve Trang And that's like the thing that we always see over and over again is like, the time you realize the value of a good agent. There's nothing you can do about it, Steve Valentine though. You already have a problem. Steve Trang Yep. So you've been coaching agents, is this nationwide? Is this locally? Steve Trang Well, Steve Valentine uh huh. Steve Trang Yeah. And you know, Steve Valentine getting Getting old is expensive. Steve Trang I had no idea. Steve Valentine Yeah, it's, it's ridiculous. So same thing with him, he was going to be about $5,000 a month for grandma. So I'm like, Well, what if we can grow this by an extra $20,000 a year at this interest rate? And so that's how we solved the problem. So it's getting to that point and trying to figure out what solves the greatest problem? Is it an all cash out? Do you want to put it on the market? And then also, the other thing that I'm really teaching the students, which is always hard in this part of the business is, what does it cost to renovate something? And how do you determine what that cost is? Right? And I have the secret weapon, right? Because my wife's the general contractor, and she's done almost 1000 renovations to date. Steve Trang no Steve Valentine swear to God, it's terrible. It's awful. I look back, there's like what was happening. So I mean, that was when I first got in traditional who my dad, you know, I came out of the automotive business, and then did traditional through oh five when it was kind of normal. And then it changed a little bit, doing the traditional buying and selling. Then in oh six. We got into pretty heavy into the investment space. My dad was selling to investors, we referred to a bunch of people in California. This is when your dog, your daughter, your unborn child to get a loan with no money down. And Steve Trang we're just kind of happening again. Steve Valentine But anyway. So in oh five, I think we sold 800 homes to investors that never saw those homes. And it was insane. We were number two Realty executives team at the time. We were doing property managers, all the things. The second evolution of that when my dad was he sits down one day at a coffee. He was like, we need to start a painting company. All we need is two guys in a van. Like That sounds awesome at age 25. Sure, Dad, that sounds awesome. Let's start. So that was another evolution of all of a sudden we have seven construction companies. We have plumbing painting, a high pressure misting company, a landscaping company, Steve Trang I a pressure misting company. Steve Valentine So like when you think about the restaurants, outdoor restaurants, the mistakes. Yeah, some guy needed needed my dad's help to keep his business going. So all of a sudden, we owned that company. And by the end of oh seven, we had taken our eyes so far off the ball in real estate, when everybody else was flipping homes and doing things and making a bunch of money. We were managing 75 employees and 25 fleet vehicles. And what my dad thought was going to work was taking our real estate reputation and utilizing it to build those companies. And what happened was those companies actually took down the real estate reputation because now I referred my painting company to a client, the clients pissed off about the painting. And now they're calling me back because my last names on the company. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine so I'm like never again, will I do that. So, you know, fast forward 2008 Everything goes away. We lose our house to foreclosure. I even this is how bad it got as a family because I'm like I'm peace out. One of the investors gave my dad an opportunity to bail out of the building that we owned at the time, which I had put the down payment on, and he wouldn't let it go. He wanted to go file bankruptcy anyway. And so, so I bailed. I actually it was so bad. I watched my mom take a closed fist swing and my wife and my office, like family wise like that. Right? So so we fast forward and then the evolution was, I was broke. I had nothing I left my parents I'm on my own and that was when I got the opportunity to do Oreos, Fannie Mae Freddie Mac, Steve Trang alright, Steve Valentine so went through that evolution. When that died down. It was like okay, well what now? So when my dad got sick watching his business and you vestment side. That was when we started getting into flips and investing in rentals. And that's where Wendy created her general contracting company. And that's where I really got focused on it. And now the evolution is really going into, we still hold all that real estate, and we still do that. But now the evolution is teaching people to do it for themselves. Steve Valentine No. Steve Trang So if I were to, you know, come to us, like, hey, you know, I want to start buying rentals, I want to build out this portfolio. What are the steps involved in making that happen? Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang Yes. Steve Valentine They don't understand like interest rates and moving things around and what it looks like. And, you know, we're playing chess, not checkers. Right? Checkers is when you just go buy a house with a loan and 20% down, I'm like, Well, I don't have 20% down. So how can I get creative. So I started looking and talking to the lenders, and trying to figure out, so if I can buy a property at a deep discount, and explain to the seller, like you've got a 10% cost to sale, commissions, repairs, closing costs and condition, if I can buy this deep enough and hold it with hard money for six to 12 months and let it season. And the market kind of helps out. Obviously, the market helped out over time, right? I can refinance, using the equity has downpayment. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine So that's what we did over and over again. And it started to be one of those things where the more people I talked to, it's It's so insane to think that today, every conversation that I have, when I'm with a real estate client, I'm like, so hey, what do you invest in? What kind of rate of return you have? And you ask them, they're like, Well, I really don't know what my rate of return is on my 401k. Well, how much does the investment company charge you to manage? I don't know, they really don't know what the rates of return are. So we started building it out to create money relationships with our clients. So over the last seven years, the better I got with conversation, we've raised $20 million in private capital. It's one house at a time, one investor at a time showing them how to make money, and how we can all win together. And that was probably the biggest thing. So we started with I remember my first investor, I borrowed $110,000 from him by hard money was negative $300 a month, when I had that rental, this is a mindset, thanks people, like, I want cash flow. I'm like, well, cash flow comes with cash, right, you have to own it free and clear if you want the cash flow. So we did that. And it was negative $300 a month for 12 months. But when it went refinanced, it was worth $180,000. I got I had zero money into that deal. And it cost me $3,600. To buy that $80,000 in equity. Yeah. And the tenant helped cover that. So we started doing it over and over again. And then we started realizing, well wait, if we do these flips, and we renovate them, then this is what we can capture. And we can pull some cash out. So we just started getting really, really creative with how we were going to do it. And that's what I'm trying to teach students is like, you have to get over the mindset or the mental hump of using hard money to buy a rental property if you're buying it at a deep discount. Steve Valentine Michael Jordan play there. Steve Trang Yeah. All right. So you have active funding group. I think that was like the big one at that time. Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang And like 18% interest rate when we got back then right Steve Valentine house was only 20 grand. Steve Trang I know. But like looking back, I was like 80%. That's worse than my credit card. Why would anyone agree to that? Steve Valentine Right, Steve Trang right. Meanwhile, I got people coming in from Salt Lake, Canada, all over the country, flying in the Phoenix, paying cash for these $50,000 homes. I'm showing as a realtor. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang Making 1500 $1,800 Commission Steve Valentine is your splits the Steve Trang four splits, Steve Valentine right, Steve Trang right. So after splits was like, I don't know. 1200 bucks. Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang If I wanted to bought those properties at 18% interest, I would have been cash flowing right off the bat. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang Right. 18% on 15 on 50,000. That's like 700 bucks a month. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang And cash flow right off the bat. And beginning my empire. But so like I said, if there's one thing I would have changed, would have been that. Steve Trang Right. Steve Valentine And most agents are solely looking at. It's the example I always use. And you know, because you know, being in the business together early on, you get that great deal that you're going to put on the market. And you know, what we do? We go chase the buyer to make an extra $6,000. Rather than go chasing the money to Steve Trang me want to double end it. Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Trang we've been double then it doesn't be great. Steve Valentine Yeah, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be huge. When I'm like, you know, much money the investor that you just sold it to made? Steve Trang Yeah. Especially over the time, lifetime of the of that asset or whatever. Yeah. So getting understanding money. So that's one of the things you focus on the teaching. Steve Valentine Yes. Steve Trang I completely agree with you. Like, I think money is just one of those topics that Realtors probably more so than the general public. But in general, I think most people don't really have an understanding of money. And something I've said before, like, sales and marketing, right? I appreciate sales, marketing. We're all in the sales and marketing business. I love sales and marketing. Right. But once if your sales or marketing, that money skill is that other skill that not that many people have. And if you can figure out that skill, it is way more important than the sales and marketing skills. Steve Trang Oh, yeah, for sure. Steve Valentine So So you look at how he breaks the business down a percentage, so that it never changes every paycheck does the same thing. It's not well, $100. Here based on the check, it's based on percentages, Steve Valentine Right. So Steve Trang you're focused more on the monthly versus the value of the home Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine right. So right now you can buy something with $50,000 less debt and the payments gonna be an extra $4,000 a year. Steve Valentine Okay, Steve Trang we look at like, comps, and this and that. Right. He's like, you guys got it all backwards. The value of the home is based entirely on what someone can afford. Monthly. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang He's like, the way that people buy cars. And in a way people buy houses. Exactly. Same is like no, like, it's for cars. People don't treat houses like they do cars. And well Clearly. Clearly, Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Trang people make decisions based off of payments versus value. Steve Trang right? Steve Valentine It's not going to be that way forever. So people give up and people try to time the market perfect. Never never works. Some people are lucky. Steve Valentine right? Steve Trang Is there a third step here? Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine and you can do it. And because we're in real estate, we see those opportunities. And it always, it always kills me when I when I watch things and like, especially and I know you see this in your side is, you know, in the influence rolling people, like, look at my $100,000 Check that I just flipped, I'm like, Cool. Half of that goes the IRS. And you also probably paid 20 or 30 grand for real estate fees, closing costs, the other things, it's really not that much. But if I kept it as a rental property, or I did a 1031 exchange, or like, so understanding that is probably like the most critical thing. Because if you don't understand the numbers, yeah, you make decisions based on that, that bottom line, HUD, and that bottom line, HUD still got to go out to IRS at the end of the day. Steve Trang yeah. Steve Valentine And and he's hungry. Steve Trang He's hungry. Steve Valentine He's hungry. Steve Trang Always gotta take care of people student loans. So Steve Valentine don't start. Steve Trang So. But on top of, you know, like, you were saying, understanding how money works. I think it's not just it's not what you gross. We know that obviously, Steve Valentine right? Steve Trang It's not even what you net, either. Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang It's what you keep. After Steve Valentine after Steve Trang everything. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang Right, including Uncle Sam. Steve Valentine Yes. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Trang priceless, Steve Valentine is priceless. Because they're they're guiding you and going through all those processes. And that was like, the one of the most important things that I found. And she specializes in real estate and really walked me through a lot of different stuff. But one of the things, we started doing it and I get it, we're trying to flip homes, we're creating income. And when you flip a house, that income is taxed the same as if you got a commission. Right, it's ordinary income that year. So when we started building specs this last year, rather than flipping them, we held them for one year so that we get 1031. Exchange the profit. And so the cool thing is by understanding that that move, even if I have to sell the house for less money in the current market, being able to move that money tax free to end up with a half a million or a million dollar home free and clear that I can now pull all my profits out tax free and refinance, and then let a tenant pay for it. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine It like so once you start, like understanding the rules and how to move it and start playing chess changes everything. Steve Valentine Yes. Steve Trang That you can continue to build up and like it might sound. What's the word I'm looking for? This might sound crazy, right? Right. But this is what the super wealthy do. Right? Like Elon Musk doesn't pay himself in active income. He just gets loans against his portfolio. Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang Jeff Bezos just gets loans against his portfolio doesn't. Amazon doesn't W to Jeff Bezos. Alright, so we're talking about what the truly wealthy do you gotta understand how the wealthy operate. So you've done Steve Valentine right Steve Trang to get more cash flow Steve Valentine keep, you can keep moving it. Steve Trang You know, you're talking about your dad. I was so Mike Dell pretty. He was a guest here about a month ago. And we were talking about, you know, I've seen speaking as realized, like, you know, see you do what Dan Valentine did? Who? Again, Valentine's like, he was like, one of the biggest names as you say, oh, yeah, like see Valentine's like that. Then Valentine? Oh, okay. So I mean, you're talking about the reputation. He definitely had a reputation. But the other thing too, you talked about how having those companies ruin the brand name. So you know, a lot of times we're thinking about currency. And this is something I've been learning I was talking about. We have this on Friday, ever blockchain content, I certainly talks but one of things we talk about is that we all think about as far as currency as a resource we have available, like time, money and energy as what we think about. But there's also two more we talk about timer is also influence. And lastly, reputation. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang Right. Like, sometimes we think reputation is what's the word? It could be priceless. But it can also be tarnished, Steve Valentine yes, Steve Trang and ruin the brand. And then you don't get to just recoup it. Steve Valentine No, you don't. Steve Trang Right, it takes even longer to rebuild that. So I want to touch on that. Because I think that's one of the things that you know, people may miss out on so you also have for fun ones Park. Steve Valentine Yep, Steve Trang talking about that, Steve Trang Nice. Steve Valentine In Georgia this day will still go I don't know how you did that. But it was pretty amazing. So we own that house up until 2021. Steve Trang And you sold it. Steve Valentine Yeah, we kept we sold it. We started putting money into some bigger investments out there. It was the height of the VRBO market and I'm still back and forth on the VRBO stuff. Some people love it. Some people hate it but months Park is my my enjoyment. And I got tired of hey, can you go put a window a CNN? No, I'm busy, right? I'm sitting on the patio. Steve Trang Well, I like how a month Park is like your positive story. Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Trang because it's my negative story. All right. Steve Valentine So you're saying Steve Trang Yeah, so like I've only had one foreclosure shouldn't have more. We only have one. That was probably the bottom one spark, right. And this is a time like you talked about making the right decision, wrong decision, whatever. Like we bought this property is a flip 2007 I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and all that fun stuff. And the market turns. And it's me and three of my best friends. And we're still friends, right? But like, we bought this property to flip it market adjusted if you recall, Steve Valentine right. Steve Trang And they're like, well, since we're not going to make a profit anymore. Let's keep it as a rental. And I was like, No, we should just sell it like we intended because we don't we're not property manager and that landlords, especially a month part Steve Valentine actually months, Steve Trang right? And they're like, well, let's just keep it and see what happens. So we kept it as a VRBO like vrbo.com existed back in 2008 2009, whatever. And we had to do VRBO just to keep the cash flowing. And then after our like, you know what, like, we're spending all this effort to break even if it just let it go. So Yeah, I still remember right 895 Reindeer that's, that's our foreclosure property. So Steve Valentine looking that up when I went there this weekend, Steve Trang yeah, it's a great property I like I looked forward to like retiring. You know, one day is like just hanging out here. But anyway, Steve Valentine so it was cool. I mean, you know, it went from being a summer home. And then we bought another house that was bigger with George and Jen and 3500 square feet when you remodel it did all the things and, and now we, we sell real estate up there like I do it. Steve Trang I really Steve Valentine know on the weekends. I love it. We go up Thursday through Monday. It's a town of 3000 homes, pretty much know everybody and I'm known as the mayor of months Park, I've made a reputation. Steve Trang That's awesome. Steve Valentine And it's been a lot of fun. And you talk about CPA and knowledge. We, you know, my love for cars, right? So I have this 72 blazer that I bought, that was next door to my rental property down here. I bought it from the guy. And I finally got to fill one of those bucket list items where we did a complete frame off restoration on it for the last year. And it got delivered the month park for Fourth of July weekend. And it's it was done through the business as a marketing ploy. So we got to write it completely off. And it stays up there. It's it's just been it's been a fun, fun journey. Steve Valentine Yes. Steve Trang So why did you go over to Real? Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Right, where I was at before, I'm writing a $15,000 check year, a year plus transaction fees, and like, what do I get out of this? I own my own office. I don't need training. I don't need the brokerage support for for that stuff. So I'm like, What is my return on investment? There isn't one. So my own pace the amount of money. And I have these other abilities to do this? What's my long term play on it? Oh, and bonuses. If I have organic conversations and other agents come over. And I can do that through my coaching and so many other things. Great. That's a bonus. But I was looking at the free money that I was giving back through it. And I'm like, this is a no brainer to me. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Why doesn't anybody else see that? From the traditional side? Steve Valentine Yeah. I just, I felt more comfortable with it. Even though like a lot of my friends, a lot of our friends are over there. I didn't like how it came out of the gate with the XP. And I know that that was rough for them. Right? It was a very hard recruiting. We've all been there. Nobody's gonna lie about it. If you met a real estate agent at a conference and they weren't exp. It's like sitting next to a real estate agent on a plane. You're like, can I please move? Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang It sucks. Like, because before we could just talk, Steve Valentine right? Steve Trang I was like, Ah, they're gonna recruit me like, right? They want to take this call. Steve Valentine And I think some of them did it well, and some of them, you know, really pushed. But I also watched some of our friends from the mastermind. Go from selling real estate to being recruiters. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And I was like, Huh, that's interesting. I'm like, I get it. Right. It's, it's, it just changes things. Yeah. And that's okay. Whatever you want to do. I'm good with it. It just wasn't for me at that point. And so when Kim came around with real I'm like, I like this. Plus, Kim was a big proponent in getting me to move right just having that Congress. Steve Trang Well, obviously, right. She was influential and so I want to take some questions from the audience. Before we do that. We're going to take a quick commercial break Steve Valentine always been Steve Trang very, very, very supportive. So let's see, we got this some real places one problem we will face if this media for the rap negates him. I don't really understand these questions here from real places. So question from from Ingrid, reality is that getting paid off revenue versus profit is highly attractive? Why wouldn't you plug a recruiting component that's leaving money on the table? In my honest opinion? So I guess we're talking about MLM. Right. Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang So why wouldn't you plug the recruiting component? Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine we've had too many people like, yeah, and then all of a sudden, they're not there anymore. And so I wanted to see how it played out. And I also wanted to figure out what that supposed to look like for me. And so you know, I'm talking to some agents in Denver, but they were organic. I'm not going to Instagram and Facebook and going, you should be over here with me and doing those things. I wanted it to be organic conversation, that you're seeing what I'm doing, and you want to be a part of that. And you want to know why. And so that's, that's why I left it that way. From that standpoint. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang That was a, I mean, that's not cheap investment. Steve Valentine No. Steve Trang Talk to me about why you did it, and what you got from it. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And it was such an insane connection with him. So I'm still in it. Five years later, I think you're still in collective genius, right? Steve Trang Some collective genius. Yeah. Steve Valentine I won't give it up because of the relationships. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine so many people will look at the expense versus the value get out of it. And the relationships that I've built over the last five years, I joke with everything like It's like $5,000 per year per new front. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And what what I gain out of that is insane. Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Trang on Facebook. And when there was a real estate transaction to be had that Hey, Steve, we like you. You guys have been here for these years. Will you help us with a transaction? Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang Like, legit. If we look at this school, as a mastermind that's more profitable than what we paid the school over all these years. Like the cool thing about our industry, we really don't have a lot of costs, because it always ends up coming back to us in one way or another. Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang So Steve Valentine yeah, five years. First year. Um, it was like, opening a cage of squirrels. and watching them run all over the place. He's like, well, this person over here, they're making money coaching, this person is doing a course. And I could do that. And then I realized, like, wait, wait, wait, I need to stay the course, which was how can I take the influence community and bring it into the business. And that's, that's where we started going with that, which changed how I was probably the biggest thing on it was as real estate agents, what do we do when investor comes in, and I'm gonna take this outside of like the traditional homeowner, so investor comes in, like I want to buy an investment property, you're a great, I'll start sending you lists or off market or whatnot. Well, now what I've created is a another piece of my business where I do a four week private strategy session with them, and it costs them money to come in the door, before I will sell them a house, because I need their mindset to be the same as mine. And if they're willing to pay that, then they're gonna be willing to invest. And if they don't invest, that's okay, they paid me for my time versus running around in the car, trying to teach something that you know, that you've specialized in. So it's been a lot of like, Hey, I have value that people are willing to invest in not charge, people will invest in my time for that knowledge. That was just another leg of my business. And, you know, just understanding that part of like, all the different operations of the business was really like, the most beneficial thing that there was more value than just the transaction. Steve Valentine Yes. Steve Trang Alright, that's first thing. Second thing. I remember reading Millionaire Real Estate Agent many years ago, over 10 years ago, now. There was a gal I once said she was in New Mexico, whatever, but it was, if you want to work with her to buy property was $5,000 upfront, or you don't pay, that's okay. You just don't get to work with her. Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang And that's kind of what you're doing here. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine So getting to walk people through that process, and showing them the power of real estate as far as the house hack, or, you know, going from one house to the next. So doing those strategy sessions is where I really enjoy it. Because I feel like that I'm I'm carrying on my dad's legacy. Yeah, right. This is this is what I do. Your your legacy of, you know, 100 millionaires, right, is that 100 million or 1000? Millionaires, Steve Valentine nice. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine can't wait. Steve Trang So I remember again, as a young realtor, right? Someone come in as like, I want to buy these properties, you know, and the problem is, all these realtors are buying these good deals before I get them. It's like, what? Why would anyone do that? The way we get paid is off of commissions. Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang That sounds ridiculous Steve Valentine right? Steve Trang Now, I realize how stupid I sound back then. But I believed at the time. Now it's like, yeah, I want to buy these houses. 70 65% of market value. That's great. Why would I call you? Steve Trang Coronavirus, Steve Valentine right. They'll come in and then they're teaching the seminars, teach them go get your real estate agent to write all these contracts and go and find you something at 50 cents? All they will do that work for you Steve Trang for free? Steve Valentine I'm like, yeah, if I'm gonna buy anything at 50 cents on the dollar is going to be for me. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Right. And then, and then I will charge you for finding the deal. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Right. But I mean, that's the same thing we talked about if you go out to a listing, and like, same thing with a wholesale what? Why would I give that up? Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine I, I've been in the business 23 years, I've earned the right to keep that deal. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And that I will let go of the stuff that I don't want to keep. Steve Valentine Right. So both, I think what what we've done really well is that we've become known as being able to solve problems for people in different ways. And I think no matter what saturation is, look, there's all kinds of billboards all over the place. There's all kinds of advertisements for we pay cash for houses. I've never run one of those ads. But what I have done is I've gone into the community, and if somebody knows that you're a buyer or problem solver, you've created a relationship. And that relationship is what pays you. So I think last year, we acquired 80 homes that we bought, Steve Trang well, Steve Valentine 40 of those came from agents. Steve Valentine They still got paid. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine they still got paid the same thing. The difference is like one of my students this year, they came to me, they're a year in the business. And the wife had a relationship with a probate attorney. He's like, I don't know how to have the conversation with the guy that's managing the trust or the probate or the executor. I said, Well, hey, you don't have to. But let me show you how it's done. Let's get him on a zoom call. So I got on the Zoom call with the seller. It was managing it. I walked through the stuff. I told him this what it would cost to fix it. Here's all the things. We end up thinking both those deals a Moon Valley. My student cleared 50k in seven days, Steve Trang yeah. Steve Valentine Because he gave me the power to do it for him rather than stumbling and screwing it up. Steve Trang Right. Steve Valentine Right. He was willing to do that. And so you know, we turned around, and, you know, he bought he made 50. I made 200. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine but the power was like, I was able to do that for them. So and it was a relationship game. So you know, having that relationship with people and people really understanding what you do. Because I think if you're just out there being known in the world as a realtor, nobody knows you're a problem solver. Steve Valentine agreed, Steve Trang and the resourcefulness comes from experience and everything else. But their knowledge, understanding how money works, that's a valuable skill. And that's I think that's what's gonna determine the winner on YouTube, Dimitri VanCamp. What percentage of gross rents? What percentage of gross rents would you say go towards expenses and capital expenditure expenditures? Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine I see. You've got more Steve Trang by design Steve Valentine like that. Right. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Right. So when I started to talk about the investing stuff, or the coaching, or what I was doing, I felt like I was gonna alienate the retail part of the business. Right? So the Steve Trang realtor the retail part of the business as in like, your existing database, Steve Valentine yes. Right. And so I was afraid, like, if I'm talking to agents about solving this problem, like, what are my sellers going to think? Right? What does it look like it and so it felt weird to figure out like, where am I going to influence and impact the most? And once I found that lane of I just want to talk about problem solving and investing and strategies, right? Because I think that real estate has multiple strategies. There's also multiple variables and there's multiple ways to get from point A to point B. And so that was the leveling up was really finally finding the right people to help me level up as well. Right so I was very fortunate that my brother in law moved out here from Rockford, Illinois, and he was part of the media team of a very large church. mega church in Rockford. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And so he came out and he started dialing things in he hired a couple of different people to help him level up the social media. And of course, you know, I'm watching you and pace and some of these other guys go, man, I gotta get my shit together. Steve Valentine Right, Steve Trang right. I was like, so the guy knows how to plug in like a mic stand into like a speaker like Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Valentine So he was response. Ansible to bring the Church Online during COVID. Steve Trang Got it? Steve Valentine So he was like, and he's, he's an avid photographer and all those things. And it's always crazy like the media people like how fast they can do something like, have you seen me try to make a real like two hours later, I'm still sitting trying to figure out how to get the sound on it. Steve Valentine Yeah, Steve Trang yeah. So the McCall so clarify guests name and company, please. So you want to repeat it? Steve Valentine Oh, yeah. Steve Valentine. Instagram is I am Steve D. Valentine. And the company's limitless real estate strategies, which is our retail part of the business. And then Steve de Valentine is my agent coaching platform. Steve Trang yeah, Steve Valentine if I go somewhere else, I gotta figure all that stuff out. And it sounds painful. Steve Trang Yep. And then follow up. So real plays is asking so she was the one or he or she was asking you earlier about, you know, what's important. And we talked about relationships, and resourcefulness. So what do you do once you've created the relationships? Steve Valentine yeah, eight years. Steve Valentine you know, Tammy has been there eight years. Tammy manages the investor relationships. So we manage about $20 million in capital, you know, on different properties, plus of our rentals and all stuff. But Tammy makes a very good effort to maintain the relationships with the money aspect. And that is the thing that she has taken on, she's like, I want this piece. So it doesn't take me to reach out to the investors and make sure they're doing good. Make sure the other payments, she's got that Eric has taken on the relationships on the on the retail side, and she's making sure that those relationships are intact. My job is really to be that voice and to be there and make the strategy for them. The team will execute the rest of it. And then I've got a couple of retail partners that do the showings and some of the listings and things like that. But I chose to keep it small and extend my reach by having people that could help me manage and maintain the relationships. Steve Trang Yeah, I remember in those mastermind days, you're always beating your head. We're like building out a team. I don't want a big team. I don't want to manage all the salespeople. And you had your brokerage. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang That you'd like to help with this? Steve Valentine Yep. Peace out. Steve Trang So, Arturo, what education did you plug into that changed the game for you? Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine Okay. So she went through, she's like, your dad was generous. You're a good father, all these things. You didn't like how he managed finances and what he did. So you're going to change those. So this lessons were equally as important. And I would say, so much of my education has really come from experience. But it's also come from mentors like Kim Ryan and my dad. And like when we did masterminds, Steve Trang right, Steve Valentine it was it was putting yourself in those positions to learn from what others are doing. I don't know that there was specifically any one, one piece or section of education because I think there's so much of it out there. But I do think that it's really important that you you have mentors and you have people that are going to consistently help you level to the next next playing field. Steve Valentine How would you do that? Steve Trang Yeah. So I got pulled aside and like, you realize, like, how bad you sound like? Awful. Steve Trang Yeah. Like, Steve Valentine why are you such a big? She's like, nobody's ever been that upfront with me. And I'm like, Well, I just got to ask him like, this is gonna be expected forever. I just need to know. Steve Valentine Yeah. That's been fine. Steve Trang Yeah, we love. Love, Carly. So what is your why? Like, what keeps you going right now? Steve Valentine Right. Steve Trang But you know, hearing the success stories, hearing someone say like, Hey, my life changed because of you. Steve Valentine Yep. Steve Trang You'll never get tiring. I'll never go. Steve Valentine That makes too let's, Steve Trang what more do you want to do? Steve Trang Nice. Steve Valentine So I'm excited about that. And what else? There's still you know, it's starting to look at the bigger picture of things of, you know, the real estate funds and some of the other things that can be created to do more with and, you know, again, it's there. But there's all this other stuff going on. And I think my last biggest struggle is getting rid of the last 10 Freaking houses I bought in April or I got caught with my pants down. Steve Valentine Good. Steve Trang Yeah. So I'm asking this question. Like what more you want to do, because it's something I've been learning again, you know, from Nick Peterson, we talked about uncertainty talks on Fridays, is there's this concept of like, closer versus more. So one thing I think is really awesome that you've always been very clear with your purpose, right? You want to have like, a rewarding life with your children. Steve Valentine Right? Steve Trang Right. So the question I'll ask you is Does doing what you're talking about speaking and everything else gets you closer to your goals? Or is it feel like I have to do this because I feel obligated to do it, Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And we're at a different stage in life, right? So my kids are 17 and 19. Steve Trang Don't need that anymore. Steve Valentine They don't need it right. When we do get together, we're having fun. Like, it was really cool. Last two weeks ago, I did a custom gun build with them. So we had a, we hired a guy that didn't experience bought all the parts for eight hours. And we built three ARS together, and it's their first gun. And I watched my 19 year old pull out of the driveway in one of our Super Sport shovels. And like, it's time that I now have time to do the other things like I've had the impact, not that not the impacts over Steve Trang right. Steve Valentine But now there's some things that I want to accomplish. That doesn't require me to be around as much. And I want to do those things right to to create that legacy and that impact. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine with his kids with this things, right. And so I've always been priority of family and kids, and making sure that that we get to have that life but also living a life of extreme generosity in the same, right so I think that we get to make some money, we get to have some cool shit. And we get to give some stuff away and have a fun life. Right? It's never been I need a bigger house like it never struggled it always have with people when I start seeing make more money is all the sudden it's the bigger house, the more toys the more debt, the more things. Steve Trang Yeah. Steve Valentine And that's not always I mean, some people that's their success, right? I mean, we live in the social media world, and we know what that looks like. So Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine he wasn't around enough at home or whatever. And it was always like, well, this person needs me here. This person needs to be here. And there's a I think that even in our business or industry, there's some people have savior complex, or hero complex, right? Like, they always have to be that person trying to save somebody else. That was one of the demises of all those businesses that we had, because my dad was trying to give so many people opportunities, right? So we had these houses that were like halfway houses. So you'd get the guys that were coming out of drugs and out of jail, and they were always our problem. But that was the way my dad would try to help and, and my mentor, he's 80, I still play racquetball with him. He was a good friend of my dad's. He told me a couple years ago, he's like, your dad couldn't make the choice. When I asked him, Do you want to be a minister or business person? You can't mix? Right? So if you're gonna be a business person you can give to the ministry, but you can't bring the ministry into your business. Because it's like, you're never gonna perfect either one of them and you're gonna screw them both up? Steve Valentine Okay. Steve Trang All right. So blockchain to Steve Valentine me, Steve Trang we're gonna do that through the blockchain. We're actually talking about tokenizing real estate assets. Steve Valentine Interesting. Steve Trang Yeah. So that's what we're working on. That's something that if you guys are interested in right, obviously tune in to our show on Friday. Edwin Nunez says the show how many signed contracts have you heard actually close? He's heard it's one in 10. Do you know what percentage of contracts get signed as far as investors close? Steve Valentine well, Steve Trang the industry average Steve Valentine Two out of 10. Steve Trang Two out of 10. Steve Valentine Yeah. Steve Trang So what I've heard typically is five out of 10, which I think is really low. But yeah, so I've heard five and 10. These guys make my substitute teaching job very, very well. Thank you, bonita, that's awesome. All right. So I want you to think about one message. But to leave the listeners with while make a few quick announcements, guys, we do have power into disruption tomorrow, and then certainty talks on Friday. And next week is gonna be a very special episode. We're gonna be on Thursday, next week, I'm going to be making a huge announcement. You won't want to miss it. Next week, same time, but on a Thursday, next week, be sure to tune in, what are the last thoughts you'd like to leave the listeners with? Steve Valentine again. Steve Trang Yeah, Steve Valentine go back and listen to the first episode. Steve Trang Yeah, it's been a while Steve Valentine in a while. Steve Trang See you guys next week. Transcribed by https://otter.ai