Ekabo Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Podcast
A podcast for those who do not believe they were put on this earth to work 40 to 50 hours per week for 40 to 50 years, to hopefully retire at the age of 65.
Ekabo Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Podcast
151. Real Talk on Goal Setting: Small Investors, Limited Time, Major Moves
🌟 Goal Setting and AI in Real Estate: Preparing for 2026! 🌟
Welcome to the Ekabo Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Podcast! In this episode, host Niyi Adewole shares insights on goal setting as we approach the new year and discusses the transformative role of AI in the real estate industry. Join us for an engaging conversation filled with valuable tips and strategies!
🔥 The Quote of the Day:
"People overestimate what they can accomplish in a month but underestimate what they can accomplish in a year with consistent effort and focus." This quote serves as a reminder of the power of long-term planning and dedication.
🎙️ What You'll Learn:
- Vision Setting for the New Year: Niyi discusses the importance of setting clear goals and shares his favorite books, Vivid Vision and Traction, that have shaped his approach to personal and team goal setting.
- Utilizing AI in Real Estate: Explore how AI tools are being leveraged for tasks such as copywriting, scheduling, and automating communications, making processes more efficient for real estate professionals.
- Market Insights: Gain insights into the current real estate landscape, including the challenges of Florida's insurance market and the potential of portable mortgages.
- Celebrating Success: Niyi reflects on the accomplishments of the Ekabo Home team as they celebrate four years in business, emphasizing the importance of community and collaboration.
🏡 Key Takeaways:
- Focus on Long-Term Goals: Setting and working towards annual goals can lead to significant achievements over time.
- Embrace Technology: Implementing AI tools can streamline operations and enhance productivity in real estate.
- Stay Informed: Understanding market dynamics, including insurance costs and financing options, is crucial for making informed investment decisions.
⚛️ Why This Matters:
As we head into 2026, it's essential to stay proactive and informed about the evolving real estate market and the tools available to us. By integrating goal setting and technology into your strategy, you can position yourself for success and navigate the challenges ahead.
🗓️ Tune in every Wednesday at 7 PM Eastern! Don’t miss out on our journey toward financial freedom through smart investments.
👉 Hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications so you never miss an update! Let’s unlock your potential together!
Our Links
➣ Financial Freedom Mastermind Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/53083...
➣ Peer Space Host Referral Link https://www.peerspace.com/referrals/g...
➣ AirBNB Host Referral Link https://www.airbnb.com/r/niyia41
➣ Ekabo Home Network (IG, Youtube, Email) https://linktr.ee/ekabohome
Niyi Adewole is a licensed realtor in Georgia, brokered by EXP Realty. Feel free to reach out at Niyi.Adewole@exprealty.com if you would like to work with an investor friendly real estate agent.
Welcome to the Financial Freedom Mastermind Group Podcast. Here we're all about breaking free from the 40 to 50 year work pride and accelerating our journey towards financial freedom. Join us every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern as we explore different types of investments that can fast track your path to financial independence. We serve as a hub for connecting with fellow members during our sessions so you can share successes, ask questions, and keep the momentum going.
SPEAKER_02:Good evening, everyone. This is Niji Adwale, host of the Akaba Home Financial Freedom Mastermind Podcast. I'm excited to be joining you here on Wednesday, December 3rd, the first Wednesday of the month. It's exciting because we're in the final month of the year, and it's around this time that I actually start getting ready to do goal setting and start to plan the vision forward. And I highly recommend, if you've never read this book or heard of it, this book called Vivid Vision, that you check it out and or buy it on Audible and listen to it because it's truly changed the way that I think about goal setting. That combined with another book called Traction has changed the way I think about personally goal setting, as well as setting goals for my team and the different businesses that I am a part of. And it's truly incredible what you can accomplish in a year with a bit of focus. I think a lot of people underestimate what you can accomplish in in just a year. People overestimate what they can accomplish in like a month, right? But underestimate what you can accomplish in a year with consistent effort and focus. And so this is the time period of the year that I love because it starts to slow down. You're able to go ahead and put some goal setting in and start to prep for the new year to make it happen. So I'd highly recommend if you've never listened to it or read this book before, Vivid Vision, combined with a book called Traction, are amazing. Justin, how you doing, man?
SPEAKER_03:Doing all right, Nee, I can't complain.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now.
SPEAKER_03:Happy Wednesday, happy new month. Yeah, man. Off to a good start. Hopefully we can just keep things going. Got a couple of things I'm working on right now. That's why I'm not on camera, but I definitely wanted to tune into the call so I could listen in. Come on now.
SPEAKER_02:You're gonna hear me rambling for a bit, but this is an open session. And so I usually try to hop on a little early just to record some stuff. But question for you I'm gonna ask this to the rest of the group when other people join as well. How are you utilizing AI right now? And what specific tools are helping you just across the way? How are you utilizing AI? What tools are helping you? I'm super interested in starting to implement even more in my business.
SPEAKER_03:You know, sending out emails, things like that, things that are very meticulous when working in this business, guest responses, and utilizing AI in that, and then to automate a lot of things, right? Scheduling those messages, making sure that I don't have to be there for every touch point in my businesses. I think that's where I'm utilizing AI the most.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now. Nothing wrong with it. I think those are all amazing uses. I'm trying to figure out how it's going to because I was listening to a podcast the other day that really kind of lit a fire under me with this whole AI boom. And so I'm actually going to, I'm already a part of like a mastermind that where we meet weekly and there's like events and things that nature. And that's been awesome this year because there's people that are ahead of me when it comes to self-storage or even real estate or whatever. And I'm able to kind of pick their brain and it's accelerated a lot. And now what I'm looking to do heading into 2026 is actually get a coach, right? Like a real estate, at least a realtor team coach to help me even get better in that area. It's something that my mentor's been doing for three years, and she's been like, hey, Nee, this is amazing. You should do it. And I finally uh have heard the message, and I think it could be pretty incredible. So I'm excited about that too. Speaking of which, how were you doing on your real estate stuff, man? Your real estate courses and then the short-term mentals.
SPEAKER_03:I'm doing pretty good. I just I'm done with the coursework. I just need to take the exam, man. Just I've been super busy. That's really no excuse, but just so much going on. I just need to get it done. I speaking of which, I just got an email from prep agent as we're talking about this. So, you know, the universe is pulling me in many directions to get that done. So I just need to get it done.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now. It's a sign. And then your short-term rentals, how are they doing? I know we were talking a little bit before, but what's going on with those?
SPEAKER_03:They're crushing it, man. I already got two. I'm still I still have an insurance agent at my property indicator. Uh, not an insurance agent, I still have someone who utilized their insurance just at my property indicator. They got about 40 days left on their stay. So still rocking and rolling on that front. And then my downtown property, we got two bookings for the World Cup already. So we had those dates opened up. We got them at about, I think,$600 a night. So we're looking to just keep rolling those and hopefully we can get June and July completely booked for the World Cup.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now. And and uh uh word to anybody that listens to this later this Friday is actually a momentous occasion. On Friday is when they're gonna draw which teams are gonna play where, right? Across the nation, as well as Canada and Mexico. And so we're gonna find out this Friday who's actually coming to Atlanta. So we need a route that the group of death or the top teams all come here. That'd be amazing. But after that Friday, you need to have your pricing optimized, really before Friday. You got to have your pricing optimized for the future. You should be charging more, right? Don't be that person that has it set at the same amount that you have it for this weekend as the World Cup, because after this Friday, that's when people are gonna get serious about booking because they're gonna know what team they can support there. So we're gonna know which group we're gonna get. We already know that Atlanta is gonna host the semifinals, which is amazing, but now it's gonna get real for people and they're gonna start booking in advance. And so this is the time to get everything set up. You got about uh 48 hours or 72 hours to get it done. Justin, what else is top of mind, man?
SPEAKER_03:I was interested to see what everybody else got going on, man. I see we got a little light group today. I haven't been on in a while. So I've been trying to set an alarm to make sure that I can jump on and get in the mix, but I don't have anything right now.
SPEAKER_02:That is fair. So you're gonna hear me ramble for a bit. And to your point, I know I changed the time on everybody. It used to be at seven. Uh, but the reason that it was originally at seven is because I was working a full-time W-2 and trying to do all the things. And now without that, it's like, dude, you could you could just do this right toward the end of the day when you're when you're still fully awake and aware. And so four to five works out a little bit better. But no, switching back to that AI thing that I started this call off with, this is something that it's already disrupting, right, the world and and the way that we work. And I even view just the industries that I'm in, which is real estate for the most part, as having a tight window for being able to invest the way that we are and also being able to help others invest the way that we are. The reason I bring this up is I've seen some software that's pretty good. It's not great there yet, but some software where AI can essentially run numbers and get very accurate to doing flips and other things for you, like on your behalf. And then you just have to go and pull comps and make sure that all the numbers do match up, but it's able to just look at pictures, look at an address and kind of figure that piece out. And it's pretty darn accurate. And so when I look at some of the biggest players out there, right? Like I think about a couple years ago when when Zillow was buying up all the properties in Atlanta, right? That was one of the big i buyers out here, and they were trying to use the zestiment to go buy these houses, but zestimate was way off. That was, believe it or not, just before the AI boom picked up. Now with AI, they're gonna be able to be a lot more accurate, and those big i buyers are gonna be able to come in and scoop up properties at a value that actually makes sense. And so it's gonna move a lot of us uh smaller players out of the way over time because they can spend the money to train a system that's gonna be able to pick it up and really make it happen. And so I'm kind of lighting a fire under myself to get out there and keep buying as many as I can, as quickly as I can, that makes sense, especially in this buyer's market, in anticipation of uh AI really changing the way that we go after properties in the future and changing the opportunities that are actually there. Because the thing that's keeping some of the big guys away from us right now is the work, right? Somebody who has, you know, multiple million dollars does not want to go in and individually analyze or multiple billion dollars, sorry, does not want to go in and analyze every single individual property. They'd rather buy a stabilized portfolio. But if it gets easier to analyze those individual properties, and now that delta, that risk delta of getting more money makes sense, they're gonna go after it and they're gonna be even smarter uh using these systems because they've been able to train them from the ground up. And so it's a word to the wise to get out there and start making it happen as quickly as you can because it's gonna shift pretty quickly over the next five to 10 years, in my mind.
SPEAKER_03:And that's crazy how AI works, man. Just as much as it's helping us, it's gonna help the big, it's gonna help the big wigs as well. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:But I am happy that you know, you alongside I are kind of controlling where a good portion of our income comes, whether it be with the investment properties that it has or with the the LLCs that we have kind of putting things together. It's good to have your own something that you can control because it really is coming for a lot of jobs. I've had a lot of people uh that I connect with on a pretty consistent basis that have been having some job issues, right? Getting laid off and or having to wait six to eight months before they even get another opportunity. And it's all to do with companies actually celebrating reducing headcount, right? It used to be a sign of weakness when you had to lay off 4,000 people. Now companies are using it as a positive, saying, hey, we've been able to eliminate all these jobs and do more with less and hit the PL. And so you definitely got to be watching out for yourself and your family in this environment. But I still believe, especially in the Metro of Atlanta and especially in this time frame, that we have an opportunity to go out there and secure some pretty cool deals. On a complete side note, this weekend, the Akaba home team is going to be celebrating our fourth year in business, right? So we've been, uh at least I've been full go for four years now. And we haven't done one of these end-of-year celebrations in the past, but we want to make it a tradition, and this is gonna be year one, where each year we can get together with the rest of the realty team and our extended partners that we work with on a daily basis to just celebrate what we were able to accomplish that year, celebrate another year in business and and kind of keep growing from there. And so, Justin, I'm excited to see you on Saturday as well as a few others, and it's gonna be a cool event, man.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, man. 100% excited to see you this weekend. I'll still have my uh fire suit in the car just in case anything pops up while we're out celebrating.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Yeah, this one may be a light call. I know a lot of people were traveling for the holiday from last week, so we'll see. But yeah, that's all I got, man.
SPEAKER_03:Nah, man, but I see you're doing double duty there. Got Abe on your chest, so that's good to see, man, handle it. You know, it's it's not easy to do both things, so definitely kudos to you on handling handling that. Come on now.
SPEAKER_02:I appreciate you. And it's this chest carrier is amazing, by the way. Like, this is what I call the conk out carrier. When Abe's getting a little fussy, I just put him in this thing and we go for a walk, and he is he is knocked out, so it's a good day. Claudia, how you doing?
SPEAKER_01:Me, what's up? What's up? I'm good, I'm good. I see you on daddy duties. Congratulations. Yo, time is flying. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02:It is, it's it's literally, he's about to be five months old, and I feel like I was just holding him in the hospital like a day ago. So it's crazy how fast time flies. I know you remember from the event, like he wasn't even born yet. Now he's fully moving around.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm just like, damn, Tom is flying. Yeah, but I'm happy for you. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you, thank you. And how are you doing? I know we talked a few weeks ago and you were thinking about next moves and getting more renters in and things of that nature. How's it going for you?
SPEAKER_01:Right now, it's going pretty good. I just put my room back on the market, let's say about a month ago. I've had done a couple of tours since then. Speaking of which, I just did a tour this morning. You know, but people sound hopeful, but you know how that goes. So I haven't really got a person to fill it yet. But something just in me is just like, I'm I'm gonna get somebody. The person's lease, their lease ends December 31st. So I have a bit more time to, you know, get some more toys in, get some more leads and stuff like that. And then hopefully it's just like a clean transition. Like, you know, like I don't have any room vacant for a while, or even if it ends up being vacant, I just hope it's not for a long time, you know. So I'm good with like a month or two being vacant. Hopefully, what I really want is to for it to never be vacant. That's what I really want. But um, as for right now, it's cool. The tenants that I have in there, they're cool. One of them is kind of lacking on the payments a little bit, but he does pay though. That needs to be a conversation. I need to, you know, be a little bit more firm with him. But the second one that's about to move out, um, he always paid on time. Like I never had an issue with him at all. I wish he was renewing his lease, actually, because I I do like that, but hey, what's going on? But uh other than that, it's it's it's cool. Uh the first guy, they he did renew his lease, so he's gonna be staying. Hopefully he kind of tightens up.
SPEAKER_02:Nice, that's good. With with that guy, this is the one that's paying late, right? Or paying a little later. Yeah, the one that's staying, yeah. What what do you do when he pays later? Do you impose a late fee or not so much?
SPEAKER_01:So as far as like not so he's been late on like the utilities part of things, but like the rent, he hasn't been late on that, except for this month. This I can honestly, I could honestly say this month, the rent portion, um, I haven't gotten it yet. And I haven't seen him like either. I know he's been in the house and stuff like that, but I probably missed them back and forth. But I don't know. So there is gonna be a late fee in place, but hopefully you don't really get that. Yeah, I do have like a slight grace period of like four days after the fourth day, is just like that's when the late fee is gonna kick in, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, when it comes to people paying late or you know, missing a couple days or being off kilter, it's just training, right? If you hit somebody with a late fee one time, at least and give them a heads up before time beforehand, like, hey, listen, it's due on this date. There's a grace period of four days, but after that date, there is a late fee and it's automatically applied in your system. I've found in the past that it tends to curb that behavior over two or three cycles. Like they may be late for you know one or two more, but once they start paying that late fee, it's like, hey, they usually figure it out pretty quickly. But it's good that you're showing the place already for the other unit. I know, I know that you mentioned he's not leaving until December 31st. The fact that you get some people in to see it in between these two major holidays is a good sign.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, I get and some things that I do think about, because there is a couple of things that I do want to do to the house as well. Um, I'm trying to think about if I want to do it piece by piece while I'm living there or just like just save the money, just hold out for right now, cause and just pocket that money until I'm about to leave. So I'm not sure how I'm gonna do that. And I kind of don't know like what vision I have for it yet. I'll be using Chat GPT. I enter it and then it kind of gives me ideas that I like. So I'll probably go off that. But it's just a matter of figuring out when I'm like when I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Hey, well, that's what we're here for. We're all for bouncing ideas off and and kind of going through that piece. But I want to introduce uh Desmond to the call. Desmond, how are you doing? What's up, folks? I'm doing great. How about you? Super good. Just trying to stay warm because it's like 30 something out there, and and I'm bald. So I gotta make sure to protect all these all these pieces, man. Yeah, man, it's tough. Keep a beanie handy, keep that close. Hey, I keep it on my desk, man. It's around.
SPEAKER_04:It's around. Necessary in these times, man. I thought it was hot Lana when I moved down here, but it turns into cold lanter sometimes now.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it has. How is everything coming from your business, from your real estate? What you got going on?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, man, things are going well. Thank you for the referrals for the booking.com setup. So I appreciate that. So I'm making some headway on those. Actually, syncing with Monica tomorrow. We're gonna do her connection, so that'll be great. And then otherwise, man, I'm happy to say things are pretty stable right now. I gotta knock on wood when I say that though, just because you never know when the the real estate gods are listening, you know, just to uh kind of throw a wrench in your plans. But no, things are going well. The new BNB is up and running, uh just getting books, so that's great. And I was kind of nervous about doing an upstairs Airbnb. But folks just carry their suitcases up the stairs, and it's no problem. So doing well there. So yeah, man, it's going well. I recently was using Chat GPT just to get some more ideas for my space, right? Because I've effectively you know redesigned my entire apartment using Chat GPT, and what I found that really helps is showing the picture of the space that you're trying to you know renovate, putting that in there, and then just iterating from there. And it it takes a few tries, usually, at least from my experience. But man, it's it's insane what that thing can do when it really you know knows what you want and you give it the right prompts and stuff. It's it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now. And and you and Claudia are both using it uh to remodel spaces. I was just talking to Justin about this. I'm really trying to over the next year, we'll call it, lean into as many AI tools as possible and see which ones are gonna help the business. And so outside of Chat GBT, what other stuff are you guys using? Desmond, Claudia, Justin, what are you using outside of that uh from an AI perspective and how are you using it?
SPEAKER_01:Like, as far as like outside of like what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02:Like, I've heard of other AI tools. For example, there's this new note-taking tool that I've been utilizing called Granola AI. Highly recommend it, especially if you're gonna have any like face-to-face conversations with people where you're gonna have to take a lot of notes. You just turn this thing on and it essentially summarizes everything and gives you the takeaways, and it could take a whole hour conversation and boil it down to you know, just one page of notes with the action items. So that's one piece. Another AI tool that I'm starting to look into is something called Atlas, which is essentially like an autodialer, like it could do cold calls or warm calls for you, or it could do intake calls. And I've played around with this thing and it sounds human. Like it literally, there's certain little ticks that they're trying to work out, but it's good enough to at least make an initial call, gather some information, and then push it to the next level, and or even do cold calls down the road. And so, is there anything else that you're using from an AI perspective to help you achieve more on a daily basis?
SPEAKER_01:No, honestly, honestly, no. Honestly, the only other AI thing I've used, I don't know, something that our job uses called copilot, but that's kind of like the same thing as chat GPT, it's kind of like the same thing, but like other than that, nah, I I need to dive deeper actually into AI because I've really just been using Chat GPT first.
SPEAKER_03:I've been using some voice clone apps, so I can uh so I can voice over some stuff without having it continue to do retakes. Basically, you can put a sample of your voice in, it'll clone it, and then you can type in a script or whatever you need to be read, and it'll utilize your voice in order to do it.
SPEAKER_04:That's super cool. Yeah, sorry, I think she's lying a little bit there. But yeah, no, I was saying that yeah, I I want to lean more into it as well. I know you're using the hospitable AI also. I'm using that, so that really helps with the inquiries and you know, responding to those middle of the night messages. So that's super helpful. Another one I really want to try out, and I've it's been on my to-do list, I've been slacking on it, but I really want to try out so um QuickBooks and into it as a whole, but specifically QuickBooks, they added in AI into their system now, and especially around the reconciliation process and actually making sure the books are in order. I want to check that out and see how well that works. I know that there's some other AI tools as well. I think book with an E at the end. Book AI is another tool that helps out with auto-reconciling your books. And I really want to try to lean into that and see how that can work. And then I'm also gonna be beginning to play around with the voice and dialer AIs as well. Because there's a few of those that have come out now, and especially around reaching out to those furniture finder clients that sometimes you kind of slip through the crack, you know, you'll get the notifications, but you know, you might not follow up with them for another week. I at least I know I'm guilty of that. So I'm really trying to lean into that and How I can improve my response time there. I've already set up something in my email. It's not like AI, but just an auto-responder basically. So anytime I get new lead from Furnish Finder, right, I'll automatically send them an email through Gmail and kind of parse out what they're looking for and do some automation there. But I want to take that further and I'm even maybe thinking about building something potentially, who knows? But I really want to try to see how I can lean more into that piece. And then also even, you know, more on the mid-ternal side, seeing is there a way to automate the lead generation process, right? So even going beyond Furnish Finder, is there a way for me to, you know, put this, put my listing up on say Zillow or Rent.com, excuse me, and then having AI having AI automatically following up and you know keeping track of those leads and whether it be an email reach out or a phone reach out, even text, all of that exists now. And I definitely think it's possible. So I really want to try to lean into that, hopefully before the end of the year and see what can be done there.
SPEAKER_02:Desmond, when you figure it out, because I know you will, please share with the group and hit us up because what you just said is incredible. Like one of the things that makes Furnish Finder a heavy lift is you have to manually follow up with all these people, and it's like you can forget. Whereas hospitable, at least everything that comes through there, it's automatic. You set it up one time and forget it. And so if you could have an AI agent make a call and gather more info and maybe even send that person a message to say, hey, here goes some of the properties that we have available, here goes the availability. I mean, that's pretty incredible. And it just makes it easier to get those longer bookings. Like that's stuff that I'm starting to think through. Like, how can we just make this whole thing easier, right? With without paying a whole lot of money.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I've I've been having that idea for a little bit, and you know, hearing it from you as well, I think it gives me even more motivation to want to go build that seeing that you know, folks will actually want to use that. I feel like that's a need. I feel like people have that similar problem because again, like they're not integrated with the hospitables or with any of you know management software. So it's hard, man, to get those leads. And even, I mean, Furnace Finder is really just another Zillow at the end of the day. Um, but you know, with a more targeted niche. But I want to really try to see is there a way to automate that? Because I think that would be huge.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And sorry to go down that whole pathway. It's something I'm thinking about. Um, I'm asking just about everybody I talk to now, like, hey, what are you using AI for? What different tools? Because now I'm trying to lean in as heavy as possible into that piece. But we are in December. This is the first meeting of December. We're heading into 2026. Have you guys started setting goals for the new year and what you want to accomplish, both personal, business, etc.? And Claudia, I'm gonna kick it to you first for that question.
SPEAKER_01:You know what's crazy? While you asked the question, one of my co-workers came up to me and she was saying goodbye. So I actually missed it, but I'll be more than happy to answer.
SPEAKER_02:No, come on now. So I was asking about hey, we're in December. Have you started setting goals, both personal, business, et cetera, for 2026?
SPEAKER_01:For sure. Starting with, man, I could probably list the whole book right now. But um, as for right now, with my current job, definitely looking into another role to first of all earn, you know, more funds so I can save more for my next property. And while also, you know, pay down some debts faster as well. So that's one. And then two, kind of figuring out what route I want to go as far as like, I mean, my original idea is really long-term rentals, but you remember you kind of remember how my citizens it'll make a great BB. But I kind of don't want to stay away from like that niche. I think I kind of want to stay in like the long-term rental, but yet again, I do want to know what works. I don't know. So just ultimately figuring out what's my next move and how I'm gonna transition from this property to another. Like, am I gonna rent it out to a whole big family? Am I gonna rent it out room by room still? And then like move out and then rent it out by mind, and then you get what I'm saying? So just figuring out when I want to do different renovations that I wanna do the that I do wanna do to the house. I do have a couple of things in my in mind. So it's just a matter of just putting it all together and stuff like that. So yeah, that's mostly it. That's that's that's been on my mind like heavy, like like super heavy. I do want a duplex for my next one. Hopefully it works out. I do want that. Worst case scenario, I'll set it for a single family with a finished basement this time. So it could be something along the lines of that. But yeah, that's my goals that I have prepared for 2026. And just to learn more, hopefully I gain a new, well, a mentor with real estate, because I I do need that. Somebody who's real, real knowledgeable and that, you know, can really guide me in the right direction, making the right connections and just putting myself out there more, buckling down more as well. I know I'm probably just talking and rambling, but yeah, just buckling down more because sometimes, like I, you know, I'm young, I do be, you know, kind of doing my thing, but I I definitely do need to log in just a bit more with this. But I feel like I'm doing a great job for my first going round as well. I feel like I'm being a little bit too hard on myself. That's all.
SPEAKER_02:I would agree. Like the first deal is just getting in and figuring it out, and you figured it out and you've put in the sweat equity, right? Because when I look at real estate, you can make a lot, right? But it there's a spectrum or like uh a line, we call it, right? So long-term rental, like a pure long-term rental, that's gonna be the least amount of cash flow. But also if you vet the person right, it's the least amount of headache. Because once you get somebody in there after 30 to 60 days, they're not, they don't want to be bothered. They're just paying each month and they kind of just keep going from there. And then you get into like midterms, then you get into short-term rentals that requires a lot more. But now with systems like hospitable, you can automate it. And now we got AI that could help. But what you're doing, which is essentially pad split, where you're renting by the room, I still believe is one of the most intensive ones that you can do because not only do you got to deal with potential roommate drama between people, but also if one person doesn't pay, is it gonna affect everybody, right? How do utilities work? But you figured it out and doing that way can bring you a significant amount of cash flow, right? And so if you're able to continue growing even that way, I think it's incredible to make things cash flow in this environment. And then eventually, over time, it will work as a regular long-term rental as well. And we already know it works as a short-term rental.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. And that also ties into like like say if say if I do want to turn to a short-term rental rather than a long term, the design of what I'll probably do on the inside when I move out, it'll probably be completely different. So I I feel like I have to figure out what I whether I want to do a BB with that one or long term, because that's gonna determine what kind of styles and additions I'm gonna add in the home as well. So I need to figure that out.
SPEAKER_02:That is fair. Hey, we will cross that bridge when the time comes. Justin, what about you, man? You started setting goals for 26 or what?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I have a new business venture that I've been working on. So my goal for that is to get to 15k a month, top line. So I got, you know, just working on some systems, tighten up some things right now. I've been having a couple issues with some things going on from a management standpoint. So I'm just working on that, trying to share all that stuff up and watch and continue adding clients that way we can reach that number for our top line. That's my goal right now, just trying to align and get everything straight on that piece and make sure that I'm taking care of the people that are working for me as well. And, you know, just moving forward. Come on now.
SPEAKER_02:Nothing wrong with it. I'm always a fan of starting new businesses, right? And and Desmond, I'm gonna kick it to you in a second, but I'm not gonna put you on a hot seat for a second. We're gonna give you the value of three other people going first. Um, for me, some of the goals heading into 26, and I haven't formalized it yet, still bouncing around my head. I'm gonna do that probably in the next week or so. But one of the definite goals is to continue to have the real estate team move up that ladder. We want to compete for the number one spot in Georgia. Uh, last year we finished number 15. Right now we're ranked 13, and we got a couple deals closing this month that should keep us in that spot. And so we're looking to go top 10. That was the goal this year. We didn't get there until we're looking to go top 10 next year. That's a huge thing. And I'm working actually right now on putting together the tools to help us get there, i.e., I'm bringing in outside trainers, right, which are gonna come in in February. We're trying to work out the dates to come and help to train the team because maybe a different voice will help with that piece, and also putting other incentives in place to really make everybody gel together. From a real estate investing standpoint, there's two big things I'm gonna do. One, I want to get a short-term rental outside the state and potentially outside the country. So stay tuned on that. So I'm working on that piece. Uh, I just need to find the right partner that can that can get the house built if we do decide to go outside the country. And then also looking to continue helping uh my wife grow her business, which has been incredible. So she moved into full-time design now. Before she was doing it alongside of W-2, now she's doing it full-time. And it's crazy what's happened over the past couple of weeks. Now she has a client that she's working with in Texas, and we're actually gonna be heading out there here soon to go and finish putting this thing together, but it's just blown up. She's worked on like three or four projects in the past month and a half, uh, two of them ongoing right now. And so looking to continue helping her optimize that as well. Desmond, what about you, man? What you got? That's awesome. Congrats to your wife. That's huge. Thank you. Come on, man. That's really cool. Um, I'm just trying to encourage her so I can live the soft life. No, I'm playing. I'm I'm messing with a stay-at-home dad life.
SPEAKER_04:That's what you're working for.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, come on, eh. Listen, I'm working on it. I'm working on it right now.
SPEAKER_04:But no, yeah, I've I definitely have been getting more intentional with writing goals down and just, you know, goal setting for the future. So I'm still bouncing around in my head, though. I haven't like, you know, necessarily gotten locked down, formalized, concrete, what I want to do for the next year, but I know I want to build something. That's really where I'm at, right? So I was, you know, six years working in my previous role. I'm in a final round interview now for a startup company working with AI. They've, you know, raised some money. So I looks like I'm gonna go work with them, but man, like I just all I keep coming back to wanting to build something of my own, specifically with software, more than likely with AI, and just seeing not only share up my skills on that front, since that's where software engineering is going, but also to create something meaningful and hopefully create a company out of it, right? Because at the end of the day, I'm realizing more and more each day that working in a W any WT, right? At the end of the day, you're building someone else's company up, which, you know, is great. I mean, at the end of the day, because you're getting paid for that time. So it's not like you're doing that, you know, out of your own free will. So it does make sense, but I look, you know, down the road, look more long term in where do I want to be, you know, in in 10 years, in 15 years. So I really kind of had that idea in my mind of, you know, if it's 10 years from now and I look back, what do I want to say that I've done and what do I want to say that I'm currently working on? So I'm really trying to think about that and help that help me set goals, you know, going forward. But yeah, I I'm really, man, every day just, you know, thinking about building something. And I've I was quite busy with the real estate stuff for a while. I had a turnover, and then there was some other maintenance that just needed to be taken care of, either from that or in some of my other units. Uh, and now that that stuff is mostly stable, again, I'm gonna knock on some wood here. Hope I had a stud there, but no, uh, I I really want to try to lock back in on the moneymaker and on and keeping the main thing the main thing, right? I know we've talked about that before. So yeah, that that's really what I'm gonna be laser focused on is not only, you know, working on my W-2, which I think at this point seems to be inevitable. I'll probably step into another role. But in the meantime, really kind of tick my foot off the gas in terms of real estate. Probably won't be acquiring any more properties in the next year, I don't think. Who knows, unless something just amazing comes across my plate. But other than that, I really want to tick my foot off the gas there and put it full, full term on the gas uh in terms of building and uh just trying to make something happen and and seeing where that can go. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:And and every time we talk, I just know like the passion that you have for this, right? And the things that you're doing behind the scenes. And I keep thinking back to like I read Mark Heben's book, right? And and he has like a biography, I forget exactly what it's called, or it's called The Sport of Business, right? The sport of business. And long story short, one of the lines that stuck out in there was the reason he was successful is not because he wrote the best code, it's because the internet was coming up and he started to go around to businesses and help them integrate internet into their business. Hey guys, we're gonna get you online, we're gonna, you know, build whatever website, but we're also gonna integrate your systems to where it's all seamless. And I look at now as that time frame for AI because I'm one of those people, and I and I've actually been listening to these podcasts and reading a couple books and things that nature. But there's a lot of people out there like me, they're like, hey, I want to find ways to integrate this into my business. The example you just gave was amazing. Like, if if somebody, like if you were to come and say, hey, I got this thing, it's gonna cost X amount, I'd be all over it. And many other people would. And so I think there's an opportunity, if you have the time for it, to be that integrator for a lot of businesses to help say, hey, instead of increasing your headcount, you can hire me as a consultant to come in and integrate some of your stuff to AI, whatever that looks like, right? And whatever that really means, but make it more efficient, right? And things of that nature.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, absolutely. And that definitely makes sense. And we're on the same page for sure. I think the one thing I kind of get hung up hung up on, and I'm doing a lot of listening and a lot of reading to try to shore up on this. I've been listening to a lot of Dan Martel. So thank you for listening, sending me that podcast. I've been pouring into that stuff, man. He is great. So I've been really trying to understand how business works, right? At the end of the day, that is one of the things, uh, one of the tools I feel like I don't necessarily have in my toolbox. Like, you know, I got into real estate and got into rentals to have a zero dollar rent payment. That was my whole goal. I wanted I wanted to live for free. Um, and that's gone well and even you know, been able to profit from that. But, you know, outside looking in, you know, this is a business, but it doesn't feel a hundred percent like a you know true business, quote unquote, since I'm I'm here, you know, every day on the ground. Like I live here, so I can do a lot of the maintenance or just whatever comes up just kind of in my free time, or I'll walk outside and I'll see something go, you know, deal with it. But yeah, so I think that's really what I'm trying to understand is and and pour into more is how does business work and how how what would that even look like? You know, what does it mean to go around to businesses? Am I am I calling them up? Am I going in there in person? Like who am I talking to? Who do I who I who do I ask for? Like what's my what's my pitch? Do I bring a deck? Do I do I come with a contract? So, you know, all those kind of things that I feel like don't necessarily get mentioned or kind of get glossed over, like some of those details I'm really trying to lock in on. So that's why Dan Martell's podcast is great. He really kind of goes more into some of those details and how to actually do it and how he did it. So yeah, thanks again for that for that, Rick.
SPEAKER_02:Of course, of course. And for those who do not know who Dan Martell is, um, that's the guy who wrote the buy back your time book, which is all about automation and trying to get more off your plate so you can focus on on being the architect and not just in the business. And and I think you're spot on, Desmond. I try to simplify everything because I am not the most complicated mind, right? And in my mind, it's always about problem solving. Like the problem you just mentioned, the furniture finder problem, is is one that we have. Like it's a pain point. And you felt that it's like, dude, like I've missed on this one, this potential three-month, four-month booking because I didn't respond to them, you know, in the last 48 hours. I just I just saw it, I missed it, I got busy doing something else. I think it's just looking for things like that. And then also, if if there's any type of uh software or any type of integration that can help with sales, it can help with operations and in kind of reducing that headcount if needed, and/or marketing, you can't go wrong with those three things, right? Sales, marketing, operations. If it's gonna make one of those more efficient or better or allow a team member to focus more on the customer, I think it's a win. Yeah, definitely. Guys, opening it up, anything else top of mind for tonight? So I do have one.
SPEAKER_04:I know I've been talking for a lot, but and I know a couple of weeks ago we were talking about, you know, some of the potential changes that are coming to help soften the housing market and to help, you know, just put some more energy and life back into it. So I know we had talked about the, you know, lowering the credit rating for potential borrowers. I also heard of one, I don't know if it was either on bigger pockets, the main podcast, or on the market, but they were talking about the portable mortgages. And this is not something I had heard of prior. I know that apparently they have it in Canada where you can get a mortgage. And I don't think it's the 30-year mortgage that we have here, might be a five-year or a 10-year, but or I don't know exactly the details. I think you might be able to talk more to it. But essentially, you can take the interest rate that you lock down in your mortgage and take that to another property. And I heard that, I was like, whoa, like that sounds pretty cool. Um, especially from the borrower standpoint, right? Of being able to utilize that. I mean, that would be huge. If I could take my 375 year and go put it on a, you know, another bigger, better property. I might consider that. So, any thoughts around that? Have you heard about that? And do you think that is a potentially better solution to some of the ones we had previously talked about? Or how do you think that fits in?
SPEAKER_02:So, I definitely heard that same episode, right? And I went into research mode like, hey, what does this look like in these other countries? And you're right, it's it's not a 30-year mortgage, it's definitely a lot shorter. It's essentially what resembles a commercial loan over here. And so the the great thing about residential and that 30-year loan that we all utilize to buy our properties is you're locked in for 30 years. The only thing that's going to change is your taxes as that goes up and maybe insurance, right? But you can shop that. Uh, but you're locked in for 30 years at that same rate. In other countries, they do not have that because the government's not subsidizing and taking some of these loans off. And so that's one of the reasons that even other countries pour money into our real estate. And so that portable mortgage sounds great, but it's essentially moving into commercial territory. And the thing about commercial loans that is not talked about enough is these things come with high, high penalties if you get out of that loan, right? So say you take that portable loan or you buy a commercial loan. If you pay that thing off early, which may sound great, you get hit with two, three points of the total loan amount that they gave you. And it can kind of make it not make sense anymore, right? So say you take a portable loan, right? And you still need to go ahead and get a loan for the rest of the money on that property. And say that blended rate goes from, I'm just gonna use round numbers, say you had 4% at 500K, right? And you're buying an$800,000 house and now you need to go buy uh or get another$300K from a loan standpoint. If you're getting that$300K at say 6% and the blended rate is right around 5%, what if interest rates drop really low and you want to refinance? You cannot refinance, or it wouldn't make sense, because you'd be paying points on the whole mortgage. The same way you pay closing costs, they make you pay, you know, two to three percent of that overall loan to refinance, which in my mind defeats the whole purpose of doing that. And I don't know that a portable loan would work for a 30-year mortgage. I think it'd have to be a lot shorter to make sense for a bank because just the paperwork of trying to keep track of all that would be kind of crazy. Instead of doing portable loans, what I would love to do as an investor is more of the seller finance loans where you're able to take over somebody else's loan if they're looking to get rid of the house and kind of just free up capital for them that way. But definitely pushing it to the rest of the group. What are your thoughts on the portable loan? Have you heard about this, Justin and Claudia?
SPEAKER_03:I heard about the portable loans, but I'm I haven't looked too much into it, similar to what Desmo was saying. I'm the idea of it, but I don't think it will work from the standpoint, like you said, you know, just all the extra fees that will be added into that and the risk that it would be for the bank. Well, not necessarily the risk for the bank, but it's like the bank is in the business to make money as well, and you know, they make money on these interest rates in the long term that they're sending with these people, right? They're making money over long term over a long period of time, and they want to be able to charge the higher rates when rates are higher. So I don't think that makes a whole lot of sense from the banking standpoint in America either. Absolutely. Desmond, back to you.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and to Justin's point, that was actually one of the concerns that came up in the podcast, right? In that it might sound great for borrowers, but you have to think of both sides of the coin too. And for banks, it doesn't sound like as great of an option. It sounds like a lot more, you know, paperwork and accounting, to your point me. And then also, you know, what would the incentive be for banks to offer that? Apparently, in other countries, at least talking about Canada, because I think that was the main example in the podcast, it's not a guaranteed thing. Bank has to offer you. So they have the option to give you that. And then you have to think about well, what's the incentive for banks to do that if they're not, you know, potentially subsidized from the government in some way to provide for those loans. And then if the government is stepping in to help out and you know putting money into that, well, maybe they should just put that money into other potentially more useful ways for folks to actually acquire homes. So yeah, definitely a great point, Justin.
SPEAKER_02:And it's one of those, like we talked about it a little bit before, but all these feel like band-aids and like headlines for me. The the real I definitely for sure. See you guys. I think the real way the government can help is through some tax incentives. Same way they did back in 08, 09, where it's like, hey, if you're a first-time home buyer, we're gonna give you X amount of credits, which will essentially cover your down payment in taxes, right? Or just like make it a little easier to get some of these credits from the seller. Hey, increase the the limit instead of six percent, make it eight percent. If you do that, realtors like us are gonna be able to negotiate some pretty crazy deals to allow our clients to get in without really spending any money. And so I think those are two ways. And then honestly, we've been on a tear for a long time, right? We've been on a tear for a long time. And 2020 only accelerated that. I wouldn't want to see it continue to accelerate quicker. I'd rather it just kind of float a little bit and everybody be able to catch up from uh income standpoint and from just a normalization standpoint, even with interest rates coming down. I'd much rather that than to have something or a program get introduced that accelerates us again to where now we're making it even more unaffordable.
SPEAKER_04:Right. And I had heard about that too. I think it was also in bigger pockets where you know you have highs in the market, you have lows in the market. At some point you have to kind of have some stagnation and some bottoming out. And it seems like that's you know the period we're in now, which might not be the worst thing, right? Like at the end of the day, if the housing market is quote unquote frozen or you know, people are getting priced out for now, and that's not necessarily the long-term outlook over the next 10 or you know, five, 10, 20 years, maybe that's okay. And maybe there isn't too much the government should or you know needs or should try to do to help that situation. Maybe it's just a function of how the market works.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And I and I I look at even when I compare it to like the stock market, stock market is near all-time highs again. And it's like, how much longer can you keep doing this? And and when is the domino going to fall? And so it's almost like, hey, I'd rather just hang out, not make another all-time high for a bit, as opposed to have a crazy crash, uh, you know, and come back up. So you we'll see. I think that's kind of out of our hands. We just got to play the cards that we have. All I know is that for me, like what I'm looking at right now, is an extended period of time to go out there and make some new deals happen personally, right? And so I'm looking in 2026 to do that short-term rental out of state, but also to get some more stuff here, maybe another personal house through a house hack or others to kind of make it happen from there.
SPEAKER_04:So I know I know we're about at time, but talk about that a little bit with the short-term out of state. What are what's the you know, thinking and goal around that? Is it to go and look at more advantageous markets, maybe you know, more in the Midwest and look in a place that's just easier to buy? Is it a just goal to have it in a certain state? What's your idea there?
SPEAKER_02:So I've been investing for a decade now, right? And every time I've invested, it's all been about delayed gratification, right? It's like, hey, how can I keep pushing this down the road, down the road, down the road, and keep compounding? And it's been amazing. So this one's a little bit selfish, right? I'm doing this because uh it's actually a spot I want to go to and be able to hang out there. Now the numbers work, right? When we're not there, we can rent it out, but it's a spot I would love to go hang out, you know, two, three, four months out of the year and and kind of go hang with the family out there. So that's that's the reasoning for it. Otherwise, it makes more sense to do it here. We got all our team here, don't really got to think about it, right? It's just plug and play. Uh, and that's why we're gonna continue investing here. But I want to do at least one out of state, and that'll be the one that we can actually go enjoy as well. Because I don't stay in the B and B's here much, right? Like really at all. So I barely even see these ones because they're they're booked. So I wanna be able to go out of state and check those ones out.
SPEAKER_04:That makes sense. So it sounds like you're keeping the state secret. You sound like you don't want too many of us to go by the company.
SPEAKER_02:I'm between a couple right now, but once I have it locked in, you know me, I'm gonna share once I have it locked in, but I'm between a couple right now. Once I have it locked in, we will have a conversation and talk through it and the numbers and why I made that decision. But I'm excited about it and I'm hoping that we can pull it off in 26. Awesome, man.
SPEAKER_01:Good luck on that. Thank you. Need a quick question how do you feel about Florida versus the market in Atlanta? Do you feel like it's more expensive, or how do you feel about that?
SPEAKER_02:I think the insurance is definitely more expensive. We actually have helped three clients this year close on houses in Florida because we we cover Florida now as well, too. And it's just a different market. Like the houses are sitting for a super long time down there, like 150 days, 180 days. So you can negotiate some pretty cool deals, but the thing you got to factor in is the insurance. Like over the last two years, that insurance has gone astronomical. Florida and Texas are two places where it's not just about the deal, you've got other things that are outside of your control. So, one of the things that I try to avoid personally in investing is HOAs, because that's something that you can't control. And now in Florida, you have to factor in insurance. It's not just a throwaway number, like it's almost double or triple what you would get out here, which is crazy. So I've seen some wild numbers out there. And then in Texas, you got to factor in property taxes, which is a good chunk of what you're paying, and it's much higher than where it is everywhere else. And so I like Florida, but you really got to make sure it's a solid deal and that you factor in those insurance costs and talk to an insurance broker, right? And and compare prices to make sure it's gonna work for you because all these hurricanes coming through, these guys are trying to recoup their money and they're they're bumping up those premiums.
SPEAKER_04:Right. Yeah, I I would wonder too how that changes as you move more inland. Like I would imagine if you're out in the quay somewhere or you're on Miami Beach, it's gonna be insane because you're right there next to the ocean. In the keys, you're in the middle of the ocean. But if you're in somewhere like Orlando or more kind of central in the state, I I just wonder how that compares because I would hope that your policy would be at least somewhat cheaper given that you're not as affected as much by those disasters.
SPEAKER_02:So sometimes we haven't been able to help anybody close in Orlando yet, but we've closed or we're closing in Vero Beach here soon. And and Desmond, I know you lived in Florida. We were so we're closing in Vero Beach here soon, and then we're also we also have closed in Panama City, uh, two deals in Panama City. So it's it's those those are near the water. So the insurance was crazy. We just had to make sure it was okay. Claudia, did that help?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, it helped a lot. It helped a lot. Yes, it did.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, well, guys, last thing I was gonna say, I'm I lived in Miami. I would I will move back there at some point. That place is amazing. So if you deform a property in Miami and it can be close to the beach and you can pay the insurance, I would highly recommend because that place is dope.
SPEAKER_02:Last thing on now, especially right now when it's 30 degrees outside. Miami's beautiful. I was actually there a couple weeks ago for um exp con, actually, like the conference. One thing about Miami is that traffic is nuts from the airport to like it wasn't even that many miles, just just to like the conference center. It took me an hour and 20 minutes. I'm like, this is the longest. It was middle of the day. I'm like, what is everybody doing on the road right now? This is crazy. So that traffic is is is real in Miami.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet I was just there over at Thanksgiving. I just came back.
SPEAKER_02:Come on now. I was wondering why you had that Miami glow, Claudia. Come on now. But guys, I appreciate you jumping on today and happy new month. And I look forward to to catching you a little later this month as well. Join us every Wednesday at 7 p.m.
SPEAKER_00:Eastern as we explore different types of investments that can fast track your path to financial independence.
