Transcription
MTM The Mortgage Guy, uh MLS number 290 >> 53018, man. 58700, let's go. >> [laughter] >> Mortgage expert. Um man, so much to talk about. Let's get into it. Let's let's let's start here. Let's start with um foreclosures hitting um highs that we haven't seen since 2019. Nobody's talking about the foreclosure. Are we in a foreclosure crisis? And and okay. Why what's happening? And is this an opportunity to maybe buy real estate being that there's a lot of foreclosures?
So, no. We are not in a foreclosure crisis. So, foreclosure filings, right? So, there's a difference, guys. Uh so, when you see headlines like that, foreclosures are at a all-time high since 2019, what they're speaking about are the filings, not the actual foreclosures of people getting foreclosed on, right? So, a filing is basically when someone misses 4 months of mortgage payments, then that bank is going to start that foreclosure proceedings. And that's what in the first half of this year is up. Um it's over 227,000 properties in the first half of this year that have started the foreclosure procedure, right? So, this is a very high level of foreclosures. You know, we haven't seen this type of, you know, activity since pre-pandemic, right? But, these are the starts. This doesn't mean that people are actually getting foreclosed on, but completed foreclosures are increasing, and activity is rising year-over-year. So, a lot of those moratoriums and all those workout plans, you know, a lot of those things are have come to an end over the past 12 to 24 months. And let's just keep it real, y'all. What's happening is people just can't afford their homes. It just doesn't matter if you have a low interest rate, 2 and 1/2%, 2%, 3%, when you have high insurance premiums, you have higher property taxes, you have increased consumer debt, right? The higher monthly housing cost is just increasing. And especially when you look at auto loans, right? The average auto loan payment, you look at car insurance is going up year over year. Hell, my car insurance just went up, right? Like it's just it's just the financial stress that home owners are feeling right now is it's not it's not a secret. So, you're going to start seeing more um foreclosure starts starting to happen. But, I do believe that most of these banks, look, they don't want to own these people's homes. They're going to try to work it out with them, especially if they have any type of government or conventional type of financing. There's still a lot of good programs that are out there to help people stay in their homes. But, you know, it's again, let's just keep it real. Doesn't matter what you do for certain people, folks just over-leverage themselves, right? They they they bite bite off more than they can chew. Um people are not taking in the consideration of just the overall cost of home ownership. They're just looking at their mortgage payment and think cuz they got a fixed rate, that's going to be their payment for the rest of their lives, and that's just not the case, right? Um so, people just can't afford it. So, there's going to be opportunity, Shottie and guys, that's going to arise over the next 24 months. If you know what you're doing and if and and quite frankly, if you got the capital to be able to play in that foreclosure market.
Yeah, it's it's a very trying time when you're talking about interest rates being elevated. I think I mean, for most people longer than we thought and we heard the Fed chair almost suggesting that perhaps we might have an increase at the end of the year, um which doesn't sound great for the housing market. I wonder as you look at it, like what is the solution, right? I know we have this 21st century Road to Housing Act. Maybe you can explain that and see if is that part of the solution to help new home buyers, first-time home buyers out in this climate?
Ah, man, I'm glad you brought that up. So, no, I don't think that's the solution. So, look, here's here's the thing, right? When any type of new new bill or law goes into effect, like the 21st century Road to Housing Act that just went into effect recently, these things takes years, literally years, for it to to hit the market. And the goal of the bill is to address the the national housing shortage, to increase housing supply, lower housing costs over time, and most importantly, reduce the barriers that builders can build, right? Modernizing that federal housing policy. Um, there's a lot of restrictions that are in this for Wall Street, but just the spirit of this bill, yes, they want to help more people buy, they want it to be more affordable, they want to have more supply out there, but how do you do that, right? You got to change zoning, you got to change the laws, you got to change the politics that it takes for someone to go out here and build a house, right? Just going through your local governments and you know, you guys build the homes, so you already know the pain in the ass it is to even try to get things done with the city departments and this, that, and the third, and the cost that comes with that, right? So, imagine if you're doing this at scale and and and building homes, right? Like the cost is just ridiculous in the material cost, right? Like this bill doesn't really, from what I read so far, is not really addressing the material cost, right? The material cost is just absolutely insane. So, do I think it's going to help folks today, next year, the year after? No, but probably 5 years down the road as we see this law going to effect and there's more um housing supply that's available, yes, this could make things a little bit more affordable in the long run, in my opinion.
get Can I just ask that follow-up really quick?
Go ahead.
Yeah, yeah. It makes me think about what affordability really is, right? When we talk about FHA and we talk about three three and a half percent down, average house being like $500,000, that's still a $20,000 down payment, let alone add additional costs and costs. When we talk about how much the average person has saved, right? Especially in our communities, two to $5,000, there's a gap there, right? So, like what I don't what what's the solution? How do we attack this?
And that's right? Watch Market Mondays every every Monday. You got to put Look, guys, if you First of all, if you're in chat right now, how many of you guys got $10,000 right now? Type in chat. If you got $10,000, $15,000 right now, type in chat. And if that's like all your money, right? Not to you folks out here who got green jackets on, you're part of Red Panda, right? Cuz you guys are just killing it out here. But there's a big market of us of people out here and our followers who watch this show that got 10 to $15,000. In In all honesty, I don't think you should even be thinking about home ownership. You can't afford it right now. You need to really think about how do I flip this money? How do I turn this 10 to $15,000 into 30,000, 40,000? And then how can I offset that capital gains? You do that by buying real estate and you do do it smart, right? You just don't go out here and buy a single family, you got to buy a multi-family because that's going to give you more tax benefits and more tax breaks and that can offset that capital gains that you'll get from, you know, investing and taking from your brokerage account to put it into the real estate, right? So, I I feel like there's a lot of people out there that want to buy real estate, that want to get into the game, but that that entry barrier is just too high for them. So, why not why sit on the money? Why put it into your savings account or even a high yield savings for that matter, right? I know people want safety. Yeah, I want to get 3% 4% and that's great, but you got to be a little bit more aggressive. Scared money don't make no money at the end of the day. And like you said, Magic said last year 3 years. We on year two now. 1 year's down, 2 years going 2 years down, right? And it's going by fast. So, we have to now accelerate that, take calculated risk, and learn the game to, you know, kind of increase our our net worth. So, that way you can really go out here and buy real estate, Troy.
Um, I've been looking at the housing market here in Houston like the last year. And then like in the last two or three months, a couple people have asked me about a all-in-one loan. Can you walk us through what that is? And also, can you tell everyone who's hoping for a housing market crash that one is never going to come?
Bro, I I've been saying that for [ __ ] 8 years, 9 years, bro. Like, everybody Everybody was killing me in the comments back in 2020 when I was like, "Yo, go out here and buy real estate. This is the best time to buy." And everybody was telling me I was crazy, the market's going to crash, but they just don't understand, you know, they don't understand the history of this, right? Um, right now there's not enough supply. This is why you have a new law that just came out to help increase supply cuz there's a housing shortage. So, no matter Look, and I'm not going to take away from um, you know, the debt that folks have right now, consumer spending, the rising housing costs of insurance and property taxes, but ultimately, there's not enough supply on the market right now. And at some point the feds, even if they raise them a little bit, that's okay. At some point these mortgage rates are going to come down and there's a lot of people on the waiting on the sidelines that's going to get back in the game once rates start hitting the fives and the fours again. And we've had some trickles of fives over the past 6 to 8 months, too. So there's been opportunities to get rates in the fives. You just have to be in position to capitalize on that. Now, when it comes to this all-in-one loan, I've I've been getting a lot of DMs about this lately. A lot of people been on the internet kind of talking about this. Um so the all-in-one loan, I'll I'm going to try to make this as simple as I possibly can. It's basically a first lien position HELOC. HELOC is a home equity line of credit. And what this does is there's some banks out there that's offering, you know, you open up a checking account with them and they combine like your HELOC and your checking account. So you make all your deposits temporarily into your home equity line of credit to reduce that line of credit balance. And then as you getting paid, you deposit into your HELOC and you using a HELOC to pay your bills. See a HELOC is not like a 30-year mortgage where it's amortized over 30 years. A HELOC is more simple interest. So as you pay down your balance, your your payment goes lower. So instead of having cash sitting in your checking and your savings account, you have that cash sitting in your HELOC and you just use that HELOC to go about your daily spending, paying your bills, etc., etc. Now this can reduce total interest that's paid and can definitely shorten the life of the loan. Um and it's definitely going to give you an increase in your cash flow and your flexibility. But but this is best fit for folks who have money.
So so so explain Is it Is it a HELOC or is it not a HELOC?
It's a HELOC. It's a HELOC. So, when people say all-in-one, this is just marketing.
So, it's a HELOC.
It's a HELOC.
Thank you for your honesty, yeah.
It's another It's another name for HELOC.
It's an It's another name for a HELOC. It's something that people are using as more marketing because they're saying, "Hey, you get a checking account that comes with it and you can use a checking account with the HELOC." It's a HELOC, right? Plain and simple, it's a first-lien position HELOC. That's all it is. And a HELOC, for those of you who don't know, it's home equity line of credit, like I said. You have In most cases, you'll have a 10-year draw period. So, in that 10-year draw period, you can use it like a credit card, right? You can use it, pay it off, use it, pay it off, use it, pay it off, and you have that flexibility. And then after 10 years, it converts into like a 20-year principal interest mortgage. These rates are generally higher than what a 30-year um mortgage is going to be. These rates can range anywhere from 8 to 10, 11% just depending on who's the lender, who's giving the HELOC, and ultimately your profile, right? Um but this is again, this is this strategy has been around for decades, right? First-lien position HELOC, use that put all your money into the HELOC and use that HELOC to pay your bills. And then you'll have surplus. So, instead of it sitting in your checking account, you are paying less interest and it's essentially you can technically technically pay your off your mortgage much faster this way. But again, you have to have surplus of income to do this. If you are someone who's kind of living check to check, this is probably not going to work for you, right? This is going to work for people who have good income, high income earners, people who got strong monthly cash flow, who don't need to continue to dip into [clears throat] that HELOC every single month to live their life, right? Borrowers who keep larger cash balances, this is perfect for them. Now, when you go out here and you purchase a home, this is not like a FHA loan, guys, or a conventional where you can do 3%, 3 and 1/2%, 5%. At a very minimum, you have to put down 10%. And some banks that offer this, you're going to have to probably put down more, 15 to 20%. So, first things first, you have to have that down payment to even do this. Second thing is, you need to have a low debt-to-income ratio because again, that is extremely important and I think that's the part that people are not speaking about. You can't You can't really go out here and get a HELOC if you got a 55% debt-to-income ratio.
Tell them what debt-to-income ratio is for those if they're new at or don't know.
Debt-to-income ratio is exactly what it says, your debt towards your income and what that ratio is. So, for example, if you have $10,000 gross of monthly income and your mortgage payment plus all your bills that are on your credit report, like your car loan, your student loans, your credit card bills, if everything comes up to $5,500 a month, you're at a 55% DTI or DTI or debt-to-income ratio, right? So, that could probably good be good for FHA borrower, but if you're talking about a HELOC, you need to be at a 42% or lower debt-to-income ratio. And again, remember, one important key that folks when they when I hear people speak about this and they speak about HELOCs in general in first position, you have to understand the HELOC can be cut off at any given time by the lender. It's just like
With how much notice?
Can get Can be cut off like if if I have a HELOC, they could they could just cancel it even though I already have it?
Absolutely. [clears throat] They can cut your balance. It's the same thing like a credit card, right? If they feel like your spending is not up there, they'll cut your balances. They'll say, "Okay, you used to spend $100,000 a month, but you now spending 20. So, why am I going to keep giving you $100,000 when you're not showing that you're spending this money?" So, I'mma cut that balance. It's the same thing with a HELOC. If if you live in a declining market, if we start seeing these foreclosures continue to rise and that impacts Remember, real estate is local, guys. So, and the banks are monitoring this. There's so much technology in the banks are using all of this. And it's all based off of algorithms, too. So, if you live in a zip code that has the it's a declining market and you have a HELOC that's out, guess what's going to happen? You're going to wake up one morning and you're going to think you have, you know, 50,000 available and then you're going to wake up to see that your line was frozen. And there's nothing you can do about that because they reserve the right to freeze your line to protect their interest.
Yeah.
Right? So, this is not Yo, bro, I can't even tell you how many people I know that take out HELOCs. And I was speaking to somebody literally last week. And we were talking about this and she didn't even realize that her line was frozen and she just took out the HELOC like 6 months ago. Right? Cuz when she took out the HELOC, she did it to pay off all her debt. So, the HELOC was maxed out from the very beginning. Right? So, they
me ask you this Let me ask you this about cuz 203K loan. We talked about that when you first came.
Yeah.
Is that Is that still in play? Is that something that people that still have
Absolutely. 203Ks are in play. Fannie Mae homestyle. These are These are phenomenal loans. And And again, to tie that into the foreclosure conversation, if you're going to buy distressed real estate, foreclosure, short sales, any of these things, nine times out of 10, you're going to find something that needs work. And while we see a lot of homeowners that are in trouble right now because they're buying at the retail level, they're buying these homes 50,000, 20,000, or at retail prices that still need to be have 50 to 100,000 worth of work. So, what are they doing, bro? They're taking out credit cards. Right? They're going into that matrix and then now the debt is piling up on them and they don't know what to do, right? And then them taxes go up cuz you renovated the house and now the town reassessed it, now it's worth more. Great job, you got all this equity, but now you got to go up. So, if you use these rehab loans like 203K and Homestyle, you can get a all-in-one mortgage which has your rehab built into it and you solve that problem from the very beginning and it's going to be cheaper for you to do that in your mortgage versus going out here to put it into like a credit card or something like that. So, I'm a big a fan of 203Ks. I talk about this all the time. I love rehab. I think it's one of the best ways to go out here and buy a real estate. You should not Like I was speaking to a client today, one of my mentees, she she did a 203K last year in Virginia. I helped her negotiate it everything. After all her rehab, I think it's like a 100,000 worth of rehab, guys. She's up 200,000 in equity. Mhm. First property, first deal and now it it was a duplex and now she's looking to rent it. It's finally the work is done and now she's looking for a tenant to rent out that duplex and plus now she has 200,000 in equity that now she can go out and we can go get her HELOC on that. Probably pull out 75 to 100,000 of that to now so she can now go and rinse and repeat this process. So, you just got to know how to house hack, man. And do it the right way.
You you have famously said you you started in real estate in the Wild Wild West days, right? Right before right before the housing crisis. And so you've been through that. COVID was a time when we saw a lot of loans being originated. I wonder what the state of real estate now is from your viewpoint and what mistakes are you still seeing people make in 2026?
Damn, that's a good question. Um from my viewpoint >> [clears throat] >> people are buying. Regardless of what folks think, I know we hear the news that home sales are down, but there people out here closing deals every day and they're not closing little deals. They're closing 900,000, million five, one, two in everyday regular neighborhoods. And there's a lot of people out here that make money. Um so I think the biggest misconception is that everybody is broke and that's just not the case.
Mhm.
Right? People got money, guys. I don't know what how some of these people getting this money from. Some days I'm like, damn, [laughter] I I would have never expected that you had that money.
That's another conversation.
That's a different show, man.
Like, I'm trying to tell you, bro, but they got it. Um but I think, you know, one of the biggest mistakes that I I still see people doing and this has been probably for the last 10 years of my career is that people are not taking the time to learn this business before they go out and buy. Like, guys, we see these videos, these reaction videos all the time with the buyer's remorse, right? People crying, what what they home ownership is a scam. Oh, they didn't tell you this. Like, excuse me, it's called do your due diligence. You're supposed to know your taxes and insurance are going to go up. You're supposed to know these things. I'm sorry. Like, it's no excuse and I feel for some of these folks and I know a lot of people like to bring blame the real estate professional on it. Like, oh, the realtor didn't tell me this. The loan officer didn't tell me this, but it's your responsibility. It's your money.
Yeah.
You're the one who's responsible for the mortgage, nobody else.
If you never If you never lived in a home or if you If you purchased a home, you you you don't have a full understanding of all of the expenses that come into owning a home. So, you can't get You can't get blindsided. You can't get blindsided by the taxes, by the upkeep, by the maintenance, by the random, you know, things that you got to fix in the house, by the contractor giving you the runaround. So, that's important. That's why you're here, right? Education.
That's That's why we're here, but that's You just took the words right out of my mouth. We have We have this right here. Like, how could there How could you Like, I'm I'm sorry. I'm a little biased on this, right? Like, everybody's on their phone scrolling. But, what are you really paying What are you really paying attention to? Like, I know everybody that's on this panel right now, if you're going to do something, even when you go to buy your house, you guys are doing your due diligence. You're asking people who have purchased homes, who has built homes, cuz I've got a call from all of y'all, right? And y'all going and y'all checking doing the checks and balances. You're on the internet. You're doing your research. You found out about China. You did your research. You went out to China to save money, right? All everything is at our disposal. Now, I do get there are shady folks in this industry. Like, I'm not trying to sugarcoat that. But, again, the biggest mistake that I I still see people do is that they're not taking the time to do the research on their own to make sure they're making a responsible decision about home ownership and making sure that they can actually afford versus what they get approved for. So, to me, I think that's the biggest mistake that I see up here, cuz everybody's trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Is there a ratio that you tell people to use to know how much house they should buy based on their income, especially for entrepreneurs? So, if they make 200 a year, how much do you think the maximum their house should be?
Nah, I don't really go by a ratio. Um what I try to do is just tell people, "Look, you know your bills, right? If I'm looking at your credit profile and I see you only have two credit cards, they low, you may have a car a car note, and let's just say you're a entrepreneur in your example, you make 200k, but you know 200k is really not your 200k at the end of the day, >> right? So, you have to be wise about, "Okay, do I really make 200k, or am I really at a 60 to 80,000, right? From from my net, cuz you still got to operate your business." But, then you have to look at the expenses that we don't see on our on your credit report, and that's if you have children, you got child care, you got to buy formula [ __ ] I got a 9-month-old, bro, I'm going through it. Diapers and all that stuff every single day. I feel like we buying diapers and and and and formula and everything like that. You like you got you you got to keep up with all of this stuff, right? And then don't don't send them to daycare or something.
Yeah, or no, the daycare costs what the mortgage costs.
The daycare costs more than a mortgage these days. Right? So, like these are all things that, you know, if you like to go out, if you like to party, if you like to do this, like vacation, like you got to you have to look at everything from a holistic point of view, get a budget tracker tracker, figure out what's really what you can really spend. And if wherever you live in whatever city, if it's not in your budget to own, that's okay. Continue to rent and use the money to invest into real estate properties or into the stock market to build up that capital and that cash flow, so that way in 2 to 3 years, you'll be in a better financial position to buy something at that moment, cuz you would increase your income. And I think that's a big thing people are not focusing on increasing their income. They're content with that one job, and you have to understand, the government layoffs should have showed us this, man. Nobody job is guaranteed.
Mhm.
[clears throat]
One too close to none, That's That's a
That's a fact.
You know that.
That's a fact. Yes.
And all around.
of income. Yes.
And all around.
Every aspect [laughter] of life.
In terms of income.
Yes.
I I am with Troy on this, Rashad.
Thank Thank you. Thank you.
You know, I'm part of that game.
Yeah. Yeah, thank you. We We sold application. Thank you.
Yes, sir.
DC Young Fly, this is jokes written by DC Young Fly, Carlos Miller, Chico Bean.
[laughter]
He know joke. He know joke.
[laughter]
But you got to factor them Some of y'all be trying to have three and four extras. I'm like, you know what that cost that carry cost is?
That's a fact.
Extra income.
cost. They carry cost.
The extra liabilities.
All the liabilities. Oh, no. Yeah.
You got to have an asset to offset every liability.
For sure.
That is definitely a liability.
Two assets for one liability. Think about it.
At least four four for real.
[laughter]
I'm talking about portfolio construction.
Of course.
[laughter]
Of course. Different The different construction. Yes. Portfolio construction.
[laughter]
All singles lounge out in Invest Fest. Get your tickets. Matt
I will be there to support EYL and Kendra G, a black woman who has a dating show on Oprah Winfrey Network, okay?
That's a fact.
Congratulations Kendra G.
Congratulations to Kendra G, man.
Yeah.
[clears throat]
Matt, talk about Invest Fest, man. What you going to be doing at Invest Fest? I know you got the how to build a home situation. You got two two things, I think, right?
Yeah. So, we got we got two great panels for real estate. Both are on Sunday, I believe. Um shout out to all the panels. Go to investfest.com. You know, get your tickets. You can download the app to see the schedule. The run of show is is there for you guys, so that way you can start making your plans. There's a lot happening at Invest Fest, but you know, obviously we going to give you high-level education on real estate, talking about building a home, flipping, multi-families, house hacking, you know, all that great stuff and all the information that you need from some of the best in the business, but I want to I want to shout out to our partners at Invest Fest, man. I want to give them some love while the floor. Shout out to all of our partners for Invest Fest 2026. We definitely appreciate you guys support and being a part of Invest Fest to to give us all these beautiful activations that you got going on. Friday, guys, let me tell you, there's a lot of partner um seminars and workshops that are happening. I mean, we got Sway the Pro who's doing Salon Suites. She got a whole thing going on. We got Invesco, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, right? We got High Rich. Shout out to Tommy Duncan. I mean, I don't want to miss nobody. We got We got so many different Shout out to Miss Business. We got Miss Business. She's doing a whole You know, Miss Business don't come to play, y'all. Miss Business is coming with the heat like she does every single year, but I want to give a big shout out to Square. Square partners with Invest Fest for 2026. You know, that we got the 50% off and they've been a great partner with us, but I want to tell you guys, Square's also giving $100,000 worth of Bitcoin in the vendor marketplace this year that can be used that can be used at Invest Fest, right? So, you guys got to really understand the level of partner
they What What are they doing? $100,000 of Bitcoin?
They're giving away $100,000 worth of Bitcoin at Invest Fest.
How are they How are they doing that?
Via Cash App, right? So, you're going to have to go to the Square to the Square Cash App booth. Yeah. At at Invest Fest. So, you're going to have to have Cash App to be able to participate in this and you you can only use the Bitcoin while you're at Investfest 2026. And
to spend with the vendors.
You to spend with the vendors, exactly.
Remember that's fire.
Exactly.
You know what I'm saying?
That's That's but that's how that partnership is that's incredible, right? Like where else can you go?
[laughter]
Right? Like really think about this, guys. Where else can you go out of everything that you see in the world but Investfest? Every single year we step it up, right? There's always something bigger and better and there's always resources that's available for you guys, right? Investco, I heard you guys mention QQQ, right? Investco's one of our partners this year as well and they're doing something I think that's going to be amazing. I just want to get this. Let me just go to this cuz I want to really say this the right way. Investco is having will have members of its recruiting and HR teams on site at Investfest. They're at booth number 801 and they want to If you want to explore a career opportunities at Investco and learn the possibilities, right? Of getting a job there, they're going to have recruiters and HR teams there on the spot and they're hiring across all departments, right? So, you know, we have partnerships with these big companies and they're coming in and one of my things with them, look, guys, we need to have more resources for our people, right? And this is like a big a To me, I think this is a big thing. This is one of the first companies that we've partnered with in the six years at Investfest that's actually saying, you know what, we want to come here, we want to recruit some of this talent. Right? And because there's a lot of talent that's that's that's at Invest Fest over that three to four days. So, when we giving you guys this sale 50% off, and especially if you are talent and you know you're looking for to increase your income and you want to get a new job and you work in that financial sector, you need to be going to investfest.com using that code square right now to get a ticket because there's going to be endless opportunities out there for you. And we have so many other things that's going on, man, from so many different pop-up shops and so many just wonderful things that's happening. The networking is going to be on fire. And I'm telling you, I'm speaking I I speak to these partners every single day almost, it feels like, for the last 5 months. They are gearing up to put on the show.
Mhm.
Right? Like, they are coming out here. They want to give resources. They want to give information. They want to help. They want to teach. Like, we got some of the biggest companies in the world partnering with us at Invest Fest 2026, and they just want to help us and help our community get to that next level. So, look, the education is on us, like Troy said, but the execution is on you. What are you waiting for? Why don't you have a ticket yet?
There you have
MGizzle, we appreciate that. Breaking news alert, by the way.
MG the Mortgage Guy.
real. That's That's dope with the Cash App and and Invesco talk about QQQ at least once episode. So,
Yeah.
that you know that they're doing that. But, MG, my brother, thank you so much. Looking forward to seeing your panel on especially the especially how to build a home. That's something I've been going through for the last 4 years.
Tell me about it.
Oh, with that, before you leave, should you buy a home and renovate it or should you build from ground up? Oh, you you're on Rashad's panel right now.
Well, we we all got a similar experience cuz we all built a home.
Yeah, so I I personally would say if you want to make the maximum margin on a build, build. Right? That's going to give you the maximum return, but you need to have the right team. Right? Like that's strictly for live men, not for freshman. If you've never done it before, stick to rehabs. It's quicker, it's easier, you can learn a lot, you can still make good money, but I don't think you can go wrong with either or. What's your thoughts on that, Troy and Rashad?
Uh I think the most important thing you said was have the right team because without them it's going to be even more delays, there's going to be cash grabs, it is cash intensive building. I think the other thing you need to do is study the municipality that you're building that house in to know obviously from a legal standpoint, but from a permit standpoint about how you get these permits and what can be allowed and what is permitted, what is zoned. That is important. Team, permit, and having cash, man. That's one thing that they won't tell you that you need to know. This is a cash intensive and it can be stressful, but having a strong team and having multiple teams sometimes can help. Rashad, what's your thoughts?
Don't do it.
[laughter]
You know I I ain't mad at you for talking like it's not
No, no, no, no. Don't do it. Please don't do it. Oh.
[laughter]
Reconsider.
So Rashad, you would buy something and renovate it given your experience now? Beautiful staircase by the way.
Thank you.
Shout out to the staircase. It's moving. I had to text you like oh.
Ain't nothing
[laughter]
to it. Thank you. I appreciate that. The good thing you I designed the house. I did design the house. Um you know it's one of these things. The good thing about building a home is that you get to build it, right? You get to design it. I'm to I meant to interior design, so
Mhm.
You know, most men are not into interior design. I'm into interior design, so I enjoyed that part of the process, but the amount of money is is unbelievable.
Mhm.
And the stress
Mhm.
and the delays and the hiccups and arguing with contractors and man
It's not for the faint of heart.
something that I think and you know, I had a bad situation, so people obviously probably have better situations than me, but it's unbelievable. It's actually unbelievable the amount of stress and the amount of money that I personally have spent over the last 4 years. So, was it cool to design my house? Yes, cuz I always liked Sims growing up. So, it is cool to just say, "Okay, I want this. I want that. I want this. I want that. I want that. Go to China." That's all been cool. But, if I had to do it over I would most likely not do this. I would most likely not do this. Never again. Never again. Never again.
That's why I said, so like even we've had these conversations just like personally, right? I'm like the process is tedious and the the glory is on the other side of it. When yes, you have created something. My situation is obviously different, but I mean, we're pretty much neighbors. Building that with somebody, waking up in it and realizing like, "Yo, you really did this. Like, this is something that you really did. You accomplished it." It's something that you can be proud of. It's something that your kids can be proud of, but it's also something that your community can be proud of, right? Because we've kind of did this anywhere in the world. Like, the fact that we we did it, you know, in a place that is familiar to us and that people that are from our community can look at and say, "Yo, these guys still out here giving back to the community, but are actually in the community that are accessible to us." I think that part of it is like, "All right, bro." I get it. It's It's It's terrible, right? And like I've had to watch him go through it. He's watched me go through it as well. But like that first night you sleeping there, it's like, "Yo, damn. I I did this."
I I'll say this, too. Nobody talks about A lot of people don't make it past this. Like even area that we we live in, a lot of people built their homes. One guy got a divorce because he got a because one one lady went broke, couldn't finish the project. I actually developed sleep apnea I mean, insomnia sleep insomnia for 2 years. One guy developed a heart condition.
[laughter] [clears throat]
No, that's not it.
No, that was pre-existing.
[laughter]
There There is health stresses that pop up with these financial issues, though.
No, I'm not I'm I'm not trying to be facetious here. Yes, and I've watched it because the sleep apnea he's talking about I literally I'm watching this happen to him, but I'm watching my wife go through it, too. Like the stress levels, the insomnia, can't sleep. I'm watching that and realizing that I can't develop those things because there's people that are going to be relying on me, right? Like so I got to have That's just my spirit. It's just like I got to be optimistic. Yo, when is this going to end? It always It gets to that point. And Matt, you can speak to it, too. It's like, "Yo, when are we going to stop spending at this level?" It It drives me nuts.
though, Troy. This [ __ ] is a pain in the ass, bro. This is the
I'm not lying. I'm not hiding that.
This is one of the most stressful things that I've ever experienced in real estate. It It just doesn't make no sense some days. And it's just like, "Yo, I just feel like Yo, just I'm I'm Some days I'm just like I feel like I just want to throw in the towel." Like but I'm like, "I didn't come this far to get this far." So I I got to I got to see this to the end, you know? But, I can't wait to have that experience like you saying just to wake up and you being your joint after all the blood, sweat, and tears and and all the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars that you have spent. Like, you need to be able to enjoy it. So, I know there's going to be a rainbow after the storm, but it's just like, damn, this need to hurry up.
So, that That's the thing, right? So, like I've been able to do that. And even now, like I'll wake up and just be like, yo, look at God.
Mhm.
Like, God is God is really the greatest. To a point where sometimes I'll wake up like, where am I? And this is really like where I'm living? Like, this is crazy. But, that just goes to like, yeah, I know people say when you in it, it [ __ ] sucks. It does [ __ ] suck. And they're like, yo, don't worry, you won't think about it as much as as when you're living here and it's it's a part of your everyday and you know, you can really be proud of it. And like, slowly I'm feeling that. I'm cuz I'm still like, I'm still building. There's still pieces that I'm adding. I'll I'll text you. I'll call you after this so you can see what we just did.
Yeah.
But, it's slowly happening. I mean I watch it. I'm watching him go through it and I'm like, yo, I've been I know exactly what he's feeling cuz it's like, damn. You know what I mean?
of them days about a year and a half ago, I called Rashad like, "Yo, you good?" He like, "Yeah." I'm like, "I know you not good. I know you not sleeping." That These are other parts of the conversation that have to be had, too. I keep telling you, after you get the money, they have a thousand ways to take it from you.
100%.
And it goes fast.
That's some fact.
Build Building a house, you'll see your money go fast.
Yep.
And it's it's like I said, it's every day is every I spend money every single day, but you know, I moved in. The house is not done yet, but you know, we working around construction, but it you know, it's it's
It's coming together.
Like, you know, you know, all right, if if you get married, they say, "This isn't something you should enter unadvised." Something like that. Like, that's They say you should seek counsel. This isn't something that you should enter unadvised.
Mhm.
[cough]
Mhm.
Building a home, or even buying a home. Buying a home is not something you should enter unadvised.
Agreed.
Like, that's a big, big, big deal. It's a commitment. And you know me, I never lived in a home. So, even now it feels slightly weird, like waking up, like by myself in a home. It's kind of
It's kind of a big It's It's a big space.
Yeah. It feels slightly weird, honestly. Like, you know? To be completely honest with you about it.
[laughter]
Y'all put a family in there. We talking about a blackout.
I'm [laughter] eating I'm eating lunch. This guy's in my front yard, man.
What [laughter] you doing?
Yeah, bro. I mean, look. Yeah, shawty, man. You got to have more kids or something, bro. Yo, yo, come on, man.
Yo, I'm just saying.
[laughter]
I'm just saying. So, you might have to like pop out two more or something. I don't know, babe. Like, y'all got that big, you know? Like, y'all got that big crib.
Hey, hey, hey.
Pause.
You know what he talking about.
Like, pause, but like
That one is crazy.
Damn, I'm just I'm just saying, though. Like
for yourself.
[laughter]
Oh.
I'm just saying, though.
God is good, bro. God is good, bro. God is good.
God is good as a follow-up is crazy after that.
[laughter]
Respectfully.
Man, all right. MG, I'm going to hit you after this.
Always always a pleasure, bro.
Man, I appreciate
[music]