Ed Mathews

So the big question is this how are real estate investors who don't have a ton of free time, don't have access to off-market deals and didn't start life on third base, how do we grow a real estate business conservatively to support our families, finally leave the corporate rat race and build a legacy? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. I'm Ed Matthews and this is Real Estate Underground. This is the Real Estate Underground Podcast Show number 81. Greetings and salutations, real Estate Undergrounders. It's Ed Matthews with the Real Estate Underground. Thank you so much for joining us today. Today I am really excited because this lady that I'm interviewing, casey Franconi, is someone who lives in the single family world, and obviously that's my past life. I'm a multi-family geek now, but the fact is that. So Casey runs Brick by Brick Wealth, as well as the coaching program Success with Rental Properties. And so, casey, welcome to the show and thank you so much for your time today.

Casey Franchini

Thank you so much for having me on, Ed. I have been looking forward to this all week.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, cool, me too. So you know, I've been kind of paying attention online. I follow you on Instagram and I've been paying attention on LinkedIn, which is typically where I find professionals like you. So I know your story, or at least some of it. So for those out there who don't know who you are, why don't you kind of walk through what your story is and how'd you get here?

Casey Franchini

Sure. So I kind of started off in the real estate space a long time ago. I guess it's just always been something I've been interested in. When I was, I guess, in eighth grade, my dad bought a crack house on a VA loan and we moved into that and it was a 10-year fixer upper, oh my God. So you know many trips to Home Depot. They didn't even have loans at the time but I hated the trips. But I learned a lot about rehabbing houses and I went through college, you know, got my degree in communications and business and got my first real job and started that hour and a half commute, left in the morning in the dark, came home in the dark, crying on the way home like sucks, this sucks, is this what, like, you worked so hard for?

Ed Mathews

your whole life Is that?

Casey Franchini

Could you I mean I know you could imagine people, imagine people do it all the time and I said this is not what I thought being a grownup was going to be all about. So thankfully, you know sad but true but the company shut down because the great company but the owner was in some sneaky weird things and the FBI came and seized all the assets. It was a really kind of neat.

Ed Mathews

Way more exciting, so anyway. So I didn't have a job.

Casey Franchini

Yeah, so there's info online for that, but I realized that was my sign.

Ed Mathews

You were involved with any of that right.

Casey Franchini

No, no, no, no it was no personal issue.

Casey Franchini

It was no personal issues, so the company was no longer. That was my sign that this nine to five life was not for me, and my dad had always kind of told me you know, casey, you got to forge your own path. Don't follow the herd of cows, do your own thing. Right on, you know, don't, don't be like everybody else and don't do the 95. And then I get my mom I'm a nurse, you need to have a nine to five, you need to have a stable income for your family. Well, so I'm here in both sides of the table and so company shuts down. This is my chance. I'm getting engaged to my now husband and I say I don't want a real job. Yikes, you know. So I go be a real estate agent because I love houses.

Casey Franchini

I helped my dad rebuild, you know, ours for the past 10 years. I watched that thing go down and I know a lot about houses and for some reason I just love looking at them. Every open house, every new build, I'm there. That's what I want to do in my free time, right. So I'm living in Southern California and I'm in my early twenties and I I look like I'm 16 years old. So imagine 16 year old looking girl wants to be the listing agent for your million dollar house in Orange County. Not happening, so you know, that kind of sucked. And so I found my niche with flippers and through a referral from one of my one of my real estate agent friends and I started helping flippers find you know, investors find flips to buy, cause I would drive all around California and find them deals on the MLS. So that's kind of how I got into real estate and the investing side.

Casey Franchini

And it wasn't until we moved to Memphis, though, a few years later, about seven years later, that it actually started buying single family rental properties. I was then tired of being the buyer's agent and doing all the driving. So I moved here with two little kids and said you know, I'm not going to be a real estate agent and I'm going to be a stay at home mom. You know, it's like my husband got this job out here and we he took me away from my mommy and my daddy and my sister and all my friends. So I'm not going to get a job, I'm going to be a stay at home mom, get in my house with a pool and I'm going to live my life.

Casey Franchini

And so that was great until, you know, rielly started setting in that being a mom is great, but I need more and I went to school all that time and I need to make money and I'm not built to be only a stay-at-home mom and so, but I want to be a stay-at-home mom, so what can I do? How can I have my cake and eat it too? And that's when I said okay, blake, it's really time to take it serious and actually start buying rental properties so we can have income. You know, like they say, while you sleep, you're making money, so I can still be present with my kids at home and still be a room mom and do all those things, but still make an income.

Ed Mathews

Yep.

Casey Franchini

That's kind of how that started.

Ed Mathews

Well, that's awesome, you know it's interesting. So, and I hear you about the, you know the nine to five, right, I spent like 25 years, so I'm a lot older than you, but I spent like 25 years, you know, flying all over the country and in some cases, all over the world. I was gone like 150, 200 nights a year and it's really hard to be. I have two girls. It's really hard to be a significant piece of their life and have an impact on their lives from a courtyard merry out somewhere in the Midwest right. And so you know that was my thing is.

Ed Mathews

It started off as a side hustle. I was flipping, and so this is why I was excited, because I don't really get to talk to a lot of folks that are into the single family, whether you're flipping or renting or whatever, right, I love the chase, I love the design, I love the project and doing the work. You know I'm not the one doing the work, but I'm managing the work. I love, in my case, selling them and now, multifamily wise, I love renting, right, and so it's amazing the impact you can have on a neighborhood, a community, a family that you go and buy something really well, make it beautiful and then hand it to a family, whether they're buying it or renting it to then, you know, live their lives. It's pretty cool.

Casey Franchini

Yeah, it is. And so now you know we buy rentals and we fix them up ourselves, and you know, blake had. Blake and I, oh my gosh, you can't even walk in our garage without tripping over a tool. So either be careful. It's not a saw blade, because that's happened.

Ed Mathews

Blake's my kind of guy.

Casey Franchini

We just have everything, every tool known to mankind, and we do fix them ourselves. You know, after working on the weekends and seeing the before and after is great and I'll say we're a little, you know, unique because we do a pretty good job with our rental properties, a little bit more than most people would do. But I aim for that higher quality tenant in the neighborhood because I want my property to rent first. I want it to rent first and I want it to stay rented. So we'll make it the nicest we can. Right, we're not gonna go crazy. We're gonna make it the nicest we can to make sure that we cash flow and we don't overspend and always kind of price it slightly below market so that we retain our tenants and they don't leave us for someplace cheaper.

Ed Mathews

Right, yeah, it's, you know it's interesting. So we do the same thing from an apartment building perspective and you know, the thing that I buy into and clearly you do as well is that if you give them a nice, clean, safe place where they can be proud to live, they stay forever. And it's wonderful because vacancies, particularly in the single family world, are really expensive, right?

Casey Franchini

So oh, yeah, it's definitely gonna be a month of vacancy. You know you're gonna have to advertise, take two weeks and you're not gonna take your first applicant who wants to move in tomorrow, and it might be they move in on the first of the next month, right? So yeah, it's definitely takes a bigger hit, but you know, getting a, I don't feel like that turnover is high when you have a quality area and my tenants, you know most of them stay for four years, you know or more.

Casey Franchini

We're on the fifth year for a couple of them, and so we and we like to do two year agreements, so the longer they wanna stay, the better for me.

Ed Mathews

The other thing you said that I wanna I wanna kind of shine a light on is when you make them, you know, kind of give them a little bit right they are, they don't stay on the market, because then you become the standard of what they're comparing other you know other houses to and you go under lease or under contract a little bit faster, right. So you know, because the last thing you wanna do is accumulate days on market right.

Casey Franchini

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Ed Mathews

Totally makes sense. So, in terms of your business, I'm curious. So where are you looking to take this?

Casey Franchini

My real estate business.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, let's start with your real estate business. We'll talk to you in a minute.

Casey Franchini

So you know we used to have the goal of we want 10 properties and if we have 10 properties at $1,000 a month, when they're paid off, you know we'll bring in about $100,000 a year. You know that was kind of the goal and we met the $100,000 a year rental income goal on property six. And I'm like, how did that happen? You know well, first of all, over the course of time this is like six years we've been doing this or whatever rent prices have gone up, like the average rent isn't $1,000 anymore, like it was when I started. You know, out here in Memphis the average rent now for a three bedroom, one bath is about $1,200 a rent.

Casey Franchini

Nice, so you know, and that's like a C grade just rent ready property. You know our better properties and then obviously neighborhoods. You know, like our highest rented property is 1,600 a month and the one that we bought a few weeks ago will be 1,700. We're in contract with another one and that one will be 1,700. So property values and you know rents have gone up. So we've easily met our. You know our initial goal like play with less properties because rent appreciation and also rental increases.

Ed Mathews

Right.

Casey Franchini

And you know, blake's like now he wants to pay some off and cause they have low balances. And I'm like, no, because we they have low balance, but we can just use that money we have for another down payment, like I'm not quite ready to pay them off. So he's like well, when are you ever gonna be satisfied? You know I'm like I'm a woman never, never satisfied. You know, I'm only 40. I'm not ready to quote retire and live on our rental income, like I want to buy more.

Casey Franchini

So I always think you know, where am I gonna take my business test? Do I want to do multi-family? Do I want to do some syndications? I want to and I'm just like I don't think so. Maybe syndications one day, you know, because it's very passive and you still get all the tax benefits. But for me, I think we're just gonna keep buying single families until we can't anymore. I think I'm always just going to want to buy properties. And the other day I was telling them I was like you know our addiction, our habit is buying houses. When we have money, what do we do? We go buy a house. What do my neighbors do? They go to Disney World.

Ed Mathews

Right, well, they buy a car.

Casey Franchini

You know right, so I'll go buy a new car. So I'm like I think that's a bad habit. It's like, you know, buying a house when you have some money, that's what we do. So I think we'll always probably do that. You know, we've had our bad experiences, of course. But you know, every time you go through an experience, you learn, you get better and you make less and less mistakes and you get a harder and harder, tougher and tougher skin. You know, especially when you landlord, like I do, and you learn how to do it better and better and more effectively each time. So I'm not sure if we have a goal anymore. I think my goal is to just keep buying properties until I can't, until you don't, yeah, until I don't anymore. So I'm over it.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, somebody was asking me a while, not that long ago, you know. So I'm 53. So I'm a little bit older than you, a lot older than you. But the you know they were asking well, when are you gonna retire? And I'm like, retire, like I don't know what, I don't see me ever retiring.

Casey Franchini

And it's fun.

Ed Mathews

Why wouldn't I? Why would I stop having fun Right, exactly Until I find something else that you know floats my boat more than what I'm doing today. I'm gonna keep doing it right, even if it's just one deal a year. I mean, why not, right? Like I said it's.

Ed Mathews

You know, I refer to my old flipping business that we dialed back a couple of years ago. I was, like you know, I don't drink, I don't do drugs. Lipping is my cocaine, right. It's just I can't get enough and I desperately miss it, to be honest. But you know, it comes for me. It comes down to, I think, probably the calculus that you probably you and Blake went through as well which was that you know, in order to build wealth, you've got to hold onto them and create cashflow and you know, at some point, hey, I'm off. But you know, the other thing that you said that it was really interesting to me was the conversation about do we pay it off or not, right? So you know you mentioned you started about six years ago and the Interest rates back then were what? Were they in the twos, threes?

Casey Franchini

Well, you could refinance, you know, and investment loans weren't really getting that, you know. But so but we did get like a four and a half, I think, you know it's still phenomenal, because that same rate is now an eight or nine right. Uh-huh. Yeah, seven and a half for today's interest rates for investors. Yeah, with a Fannie Freddie loan, you know, with a good VICO score, right and a W2 job.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, so that's the hard part. Is so you?

Casey Franchini

get a C-R loan, yeah, eight to nine, uh-huh.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't have a W2. That's where I, that's where they go. Yeah, no joy for Ed. But, um, yeah, I mean it's, uh, why, why not just take that, if you can make, if you have a dollar and you're paying 4% interest, or you could turn around and invest that dollar and make eight, 10, 12, 15, 20, plus Return over the course of 10 to 30 years. You know it's, it's right, you've got to think about that in terms of what's right for you and your family. But but the fact is, is that, um, you know me, I, I go by another building, so yeah, for me our houses are our bank accounts.

Casey Franchini

Now I have a bank account but I don't consider. I mean, I want to get rid of the money in my bank account as fast as possible, especially when the bank gives me 0.01% and inflation is like six to 9% or whatever it is nowadays, it's like I'm losing so much money, my cash is dwindling sitting in my bank account. So I need to put it in my other bank account, aka my rental properties, because that you know, the real state values rise with inflation and I won't lose money keeping it there. And you know it's got like my little pots of gold all over the city and as long as I keep them nice and I keep good tenants in there, my asset will grow and it'll be fine and it will be my retirement fund when I'm old.

Ed Mathews

Exactly so. When you're looking at um renting out to somebody, you know what's kind of the process, at least at a high level that you evaluate. You know somebody, a potential family who's looking to move into one of your properties.

Casey Franchini

So there's a few criteria that I just don't deviate from and I don't care if it takes me three months to find somebody. I have learned the hard way that no tenant is better than a bad tenant, and even though I've always said that, I didn't even follow my own advice, you know, I put in a tenant and I didn't even check her credit score, and I do that now, yeah. So some hard and fast rules that I am a stickler to is you must make three times the rent. That's a hard like that. That's a disqualifier right off the bat.

Casey Franchini

Three times the rent and, depending upon the area, I have properties in B and C class neighborhoods and the B class neighborhoods I require a better FICO score than my C class neighborhoods. They have better quality finishes in them, like granite countertops and things like that, and newer cabinets that I don't want destroyed, right, so there's a FICO score requirement there Also. No bankruptcies, no evictions yeah, and those are the really the hard and fast, the hard and fast ones. There's other little things that I really try for, like at first, I try for no pets, and that's really on a case by case basis and if I like the person, because I've had great pet owners and I've had terrible pet owners and everyone tells me their dog is amazing. So you know.

Ed Mathews

So, so, so I'm very much a dog person, right, and so what I do is, when I'm meeting with a potential resident, I want to meet their dog too, right, and you know, and I'm kind of a tall, imposing figure, so I get down, you know, across my legs, and literally get on the ground and, just, you know, see if I can make friends. And that's just as important as walking through the property and figuring, you know, and asking the you know, the perspective resident questions about you know where they're coming from and why they're moving, and all the things you ask, right, both are interviews, for sure.

Casey Franchini

Yeah, I do heavy tenants reading up front over the phone. Since I manage my own, I'm not going to drive out for showings and no shows, and really I only try and show the property to someone that I would already rent to. So I'll talk to them on the phone, I will ask him my, I will ask them my slew of questions, yep, and if they pass that initial phone interview, then I'm like okay, if everything they say is true, if it can be valid and backed up by their application and everything that they're saying is true, then I will rent to them. If the phone combo is good, I set a time to meet them to rent and I will definitely check out their car and make sure they show up on time. See if they smell like smoke. Well, I'm not a smoker, but I smell like smoke. Give me a break. Okay, I wasn't born yesterday, so that's happening. Oh, we're quitting, okay, no, okay, you know, smoke outside for the first five days, well, and then you'll stop.

Ed Mathews

Yes.

Casey Franchini

Smoker, and that time Right. So, um yeah, no, smoking is also a big one. If I smell smoke, because smoke is so expensive to get rid of, you have to paint the whole place, and if there's carpet it has to be removed. And even then you paint the place top to bottom, shine the force, you never get it. It's gonna smell like smoke for six months. Yep, I mean. So I'm not. I'm not a fan of of smoking.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, and you know frankly, if, if, if they're like me, I can. I can smell nicotine or tobacco from a mile away. I don't care if you had some red, you know, today or last week, I can still smell it.

Casey Franchini

And it's. You know, my husband can't smell anything and he's like I think it's most fine in here. Mark, are you kidding? They're definitely smoking in here.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, um so, okay, so you know when you're. So I want to get into the coaching thing. Um so, when you are talking with folks who are, you know, I always, I, I, I, with, with love, I've talked, I, I refer to them as the dreamers, right? And there's, there's folks that stop you at the grocery store or at the car wash or whatever Going. Hey, I saw you online and, man, I wish I had time to do what you do?

Ed Mathews

And you know the answer to that comment is always well, what's stopping you? Right? And so you know the the idea of providing coaching, and I think you do one on one coaching, which is even better, right, I tell people I'm a cheap date, I'll buy them a cup of coffee and in the half an hour that we're together, I'll tell you everything I know about what you want to do. But having a formalized education process and having a mentor day one has got to be invaluable. So why don't we talk about the coaching program and let's get into that a little bit.

Casey Franchini

Sure, I'd love to. So I have a one-on-one coaching program. It's called Successfully Run with Properties and it's my pride and joy and I love it because I get to help aspiring real estate investors get out of that stage you were just talking about and actually be real investors. A lot of the things that hold people back from moving forward and actually taking action is a couple of things they're scared and their lack of knowledge. They don't have that validation that any decision they make is going to be right, so they don't make a decision. They just don't because they're not sure.

Casey Franchini

You know people will join my program here have been in many group programs, taking lots of online courses, read a lot of books, watched videos, spent maybe two years doing research but never taken the next step. So something powerful about my program is that it's one-on-one, I hold you accountable and I help you the whole way through personally so you don't get stuck and stop making progress. So my program is five months long and the whole entire goal, the whole point of it, is to get you from owning no properties to closing and cash flowing on the first one. So I'll help you all the way through to cashing your first rent check, from understanding financing to market research. Like a lot of my students are out of state investors, you know, and I help them invest anywhere in the United States and teach you how to learn a market.

Casey Franchini

You know understanding rehab, going through all of that, picking a property manager or landlording yourself. So there's a lot of stages and a lot of things to learn and get right and a lot of people that start off, you know, worked really hard to save their money for their down payment and it would really set them back and be just devastating if they made a huge decision like buying a rental property and bought something that wasn't fruitful, like you can't just sell that, you know, without losing a lot of money. So I'm really there to help them the whole way be successful with their first one, get the tools and the knowledge and then they are out on their own and can just repeat the process for number two, three, four and so come out of the nest and the way they fly right Awesome.

Ed Mathews

Yeah. So you know one of the things when? So I used to be one of the partners at the local here in Connecticut, the Connecticut real estate investor association, and when we, when we took over the organization, they were, you know there were there were like 600 or so students from their coaching program and and I asked the you know the owner that we were taking over from, you know how many of those? I'm just curious, you know how many of those students have actually gone out and bought a property and are executing? And you know the person said probably 5%. Like wow, really. So you know me, like I'm a software guy.

Ed Mathews

So adoption was a huge thing in my world, right, I was fascinated by it and I started doing homework and I realized that that's, that's not a Connecticut real estate problem, a real estate investor's problem, that's pervasive, right, that's, you know you go and buy this guru or that professional or whoever. You know the numbers are about the same. Like you know, most people will will go to the show, will go to the events, will hop on the webinars, will read the books, will listen to the books, will go on the podcast and listen to them and then nothing. And so I love the fact that you do a one on one and hold them accountable, because you know I've told this story on previous episodes that you know I read Rich Dad, poor Dad in 2008 and it fundamentally changed my life. Three years later, it took me three years to get the courage to actually sign on the dotted line and buy my first property, and it was 100% fear, right On multiple levels.

Ed Mathews

Fear, afraid of a lot of things, not just you know hey, what if I screw up? It's hey, what if I screw up? Hey, what if I, you know, don't get the right tenants? Hey, what if I'm spending too much money on rehab? You know all those things right. And the fact that you know your program has a one on one component that is, you know, built in mentor as well as accountability partner is huge, because that's actually, if I ever do a coaching program I'm going to, I'm going to borrow that concept because that's that's a really good idea.

Casey Franchini

I mean, it's all I can do to guarantee their success is really be there to help them the whole way, so that they don't you know they don't put on themselves.

Ed Mathews

Right. You're doing your part and they've got to do theirs right, and that's you know what it takes to to dance right, and so you know they've got to put in the work. They've got to. You know commit to, you know educating themselves. Show up and do the homework, show up and do the next step.

Casey Franchini

You don't have to look too far ahead and you know, know how to do all the steps or know what they even are. I will tell you as one comes along. This is what you do next, this is what you do next. So it's not overwhelming and you can feel accomplishments, you know every week and making progress and it's great and I love. It takes a lot of my time, I will tell you. Takes a lot of time but it's very rewarding.

Casey Franchini

You know, it's like when I went back in the day I used to love event planning and through high school and college I would plan events, like that was what I did. And you know, I love to see something come from nothing. I love to see the finished result. You know, and that's what I get with my students. I get to take people that have never maybe even owned a house before. I have a lot of students in California who live in, you know, high, expensive markets and rents, never bought a property before and they're going to buy their first rental property, their first property ever is going to be a rental and out of state.

Casey Franchini

Like that's hard, like whoa, you know and so they go from I can never do this to I'm going to, I'm going to do this, to actually doing it. And now they have this life changing skill that's going to get them out of this. You know, having to work until they're 70 years old because they can now use their high income, or whatever they have their income, to start saving for down payments by more and more and more properties, right and like it's just, that's you free, you know. So I love it.

Rental Property Requirements and Personal Development

Ed Mathews

Yeah, so. So let me ask you, you know I have my own theories, but I'm curious what yours are. You know, when you meet people and you're trying to evaluate, okay, are they a good fit? Are you a good fit for them? Are they a good fit for your program? Right? You know, what do you think separates the folks who buy in, show up and execute right From the ones that you know? I was referring to the 95%ers, and I'm going to coin that phrase actually from here on out that you know would love to do it, just can't get over that hump of courage.

Casey Franchini

I mean, I think I think you know, well, I will say, when people make the decision to join my program, it's not like super cheap, you know. So it's if there's a financial commitment. So they're like, okay, well, I paid for this, I'm going to do it. Right, you know, I require them to come in with a down payment for their rental property and a loanable FICO score.

Casey Franchini

So they have to show me that they already have a down payment. It can come, they don't have to like, prove it to me. I mean, I'll take their word for it. But they have to either have you know, cash saved, or have enough in their 401k to borrow, or have equity in their home. I'll help them get a E-lock, but it's one of those three things that they have to have can be a combo.

Casey Franchini

So they have to have money for a down payment. So that can't be an excuse of I don't have any money. And then they have to have a 680 or above FICO score because I want them to be able to get a loan. I don't want to be no question about it. They don't even need a job. There's other loan options. But you have to have money for a down and closing costs and you have to have a FICO score. So there's really no excuse for them at that point. They paid the money. They joined my coaching program. They have the funds available to buy a rental property. So now they're only going to embarrass themselves if they don't show up to our meetings.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, disappoint themselves. Yeah, that's right.

Casey Franchini

So the success rates are really high because people are not going to tell, not going to email me. Okay, see, I'm not going to make our meeting Right, they're going to. You know I can tell they'll do the work three days in advance. Two days in advance because I can tell when they've done their work last minute, because I got done, or I talked to Linda yesterday, she did because he knew we were meeting today.

Ed Mathews

Right, Because they didn't want to go eyeball to eyeball.

Casey Franchini

Yeah because they're going to have to answer me. You know I might do their homework. Did you do it, you know? And so they get it done and they're like, and at the end of every time, every five month program, when they're all done, and I ask them for a testimonial video and they have, of course. They say yes, and I say what benefited you the most from my program? And they say what was the accountability?

Casey Franchini

I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't helped me accountable and honestly, when I started this whole thing, I never thought that would be. That would be the biggest benefit.

Ed Mathews

But it is. You know, the fact is is that that is by far the biggest challenge, right? And yeah, I mean the fact that you do one on one and you're I have to sit in front of you on Thursday afternoon and have a conversation with Casey, and man, I don't want to come empty handed, oh, I don't want to do that, Right. Right, it's, it's brilliant, it's fantastic. So, you know, along the lines of mentors, right, I'm sure you've had. I mean, obviously you're just going to be a great mentor, you know you've had. I mean, obviously your dad was one and I'm sure you've had others along the way. You know, I'm curious about the folks that have kind of thrown an arm around you and and helped you and, more specifically, I'm curious about the best advice you ever got.

Casey Franchini

The best advice I've ever got. I mean, I would have to say it was my dad, you know. He grew up. He as, when I grew up, his young adult life was being an aspiring entrepreneur and he tried a lot of different things. He didn't really quite make it, you know, like he wanted to, which always makes me sad, but he always tried and that's why I do what I do today and it wasn't. If it weren't for him, I would not be here.

Casey Franchini

My sister is very she's younger 10 years younger than me and she is more successful than most people. You probably know, I am so proud of her. Awesome, and it's all from our dad, you know, and when he would just ingrain me over and over again is you know, don't follow the herd, go the other way, make your own path Right. You know you're unique. You can do whatever you want to do If you just believe in yourself. You have all the tools and you can do it, you know, just in stealing the confidence and not letting the naysayers get to you Right, and it's because there's so much social pressure out there, especially now that there's social media, right, I mean, I'll tell you like we don't have some massive portfolio and I teach coaching.

Casey Franchini

I have an Instagram and I have a presence online. And it's still hard. I still feel imposter syndrome because I'm not one of those huge gurus with the Lamborghinis flashing, my 400 apartment complexes Right, you know like I'm still small. Right, it's hard to not want to chase cash flow and chase the number of doors, it's hard to not give into the social pressure, but I know that my lane is the right lane, that I'm doing what I need to do. I know what I'm doing is best for me, yep, and I can't let anybody infiltrate and make me, make you know, cause me to make bad decisions.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, I mean the fact that you're so right about that. It's you know. The fact is is that the reason that you know the naysayers exist is because they're afraid, right, and so they're trying to get you to come into their, their you know fear bubble. And the fact that you know you reject that is is wonderful. And I'm going to challenge you on one thing. So, being a girl dad myself, right, yeah, the fact that you and your sister are as successful as you are, he did succeed, he nailed it as a matter of telling Right.

Ed Mathews

So it doesn't matter, right? The fact that you know, at during the holidays, when he sees the two of you come in in your, in your Lamborghinis or whatever you drive I don't know which drive, but you know the fact is is that that's, that's what he cares about. And I know that because that's, you know, I'm that guy too. So so, anyway, the. So let me ask it you know, in terms of growth, right? Because obviously you know one of the things, like, I had a mentor of mine, you know it was on the technology and services side, but the you know, he told me he's like look, you know, part of what you do is you think for other people, right, and you boil that information and that knowledge down to digestible pieces so that they can consume it, learn and go do it themselves, right, and then they're going to learn and then hopefully, they pay it forward at some point as well.

Ed Mathews

And so I'm curious about really two things. One you know how do you consume information. You know podcasts, audio books, real, you know tangible, actual books. You know conferences, whatever. I'm curious how you consume information and how you sharpen that song. The other thing is, I'm also curious, I'm always, I'm always looking to find the next, next person to read. Right, I'm a voracious reader, so who you paying attention to?

Casey Franchini

So for my learning, I will say I've never read a real estate book before ever, except for when I got my real estate broker license a long time ago in 2007. Of course, I had to go to school for that online, whatever. I was actually in person at school at the time. So I read those real estate books but otherwise, and I bought some bigger pockets books because I'm going to read them and I really have not. I appreciate one day.

Casey Franchini

One day I will. I read I think I started listening to one on private money.

Ed Mathews

But I, you know, oh yeah, my fair class, it's fantastic.

Real Estate, Books, and Outdoor Adventures

Casey Franchini

Yeah, yep, but the books and stuff that I do read, how I did is I'm really into personal development. I have felt like the thing that has changed my life over the past three years has been realizing that I have the control of, I have control over my own life. Yep, I'm so stupid to say, of course I've control of your own life. Yeah, you know, people blame society, they blame their boss, they blame their dad, their mom, they blame school, they blame that they grew up in whatever lower middle class, they blame external factors, when really you are your own creation and you have God in you and I'm not even really religious, I'm very spiritual now and you have the ability to do, to change your life however you want. You don't like your life. You don't change it with a simple thought, with belief. So I read spiritual books, like all up and down the world, and one of my favorite, my favorite book, is the Power of the Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.

Ed Mathews

Okay, that's a new one.

Casey Franchini

I haven't heard of that. That is my favorite book. And then I have Thinking Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, next to me now and I've, you know, read, listened. I've read that one then physically. But I do a lot of audiobooks because I have kids and I like to my time to read or consume information is at night, when everyone's asleep. But I still sleep next to my five year old and my husband and they like to go to sleep and they don't want to see my glowing light on my phone, so I audiobook.

Ed Mathews

Right Smart.

Casey Franchini

For hours and YouTube, and so I have some YouTube. You know friends online that I that I listened to as well, and one of them is my good friend, michael Zuber. One rental at a time. He's amazing. I'm a weekly guest now on his YouTube show and he's great. So my favorite people to pay attention to are ones that are realistic. They are not pie in the sky. They're not my ways the best way as far as real estate strategies and they really are genuinely out to help people, right, you know, and I can smell them a mile away, so I like to smell those people Right. So, as far as real estate content, I do listen to a few guys on YouTube for their daily news advice. Michael Zuber is one of them. One rental at a time. Give him a shout out that he deserves. There he is. Otherwise, I'm all about spirituality and learning about how to make myself a better person and believe in myself more and manifest, and you know all that.

Ed Mathews

Well, I, you know, I agree. I think that's why we're here. Right Is to is to figure out the best form of ourselves, and you know, with me, part of it is real estate, but it's not the only thing Right. I also like to read Tom Clancy and I read self improvement, and I'm a huge fan of Tony Robbins and you know others and you know, so it's it's a whole thing Right, and but you should listen to the Matt Faircloth book. It's actually really good. That's where I would start, and then Brendan Turner's book on managing rentals is one of them.

Casey Franchini

I do have that one next to my bed. Yeah, I have read a little bit but I know I'm like I can read that one. I self manage I should. I got my systems down but I should read it. I know I should, but I'm like, but my subconscious mind, books are calling me.

Ed Mathews

Yeah, Well, hey, you know that's fine Right, you got to, you got to do both. So yeah, I do know if you're drawn to a particular book, then read that book. You're not going to do yourself a disservice by learning new things, whether it's state or not.

Casey Franchini

Another book, another book that actually I did read one. Well, Alex Hermosi, I really like his book. He has, he has books really good. He's a very, very inspirational. And then Jason Dries I don't know that one. Okay, his book, something that's read and it's something about impossible on it, very good.

Ed Mathews

I'll look it up.

Casey Franchini

He's a performance coach.

Ed Mathews

Okay, oh, I know, I know Jason, so I don't know him, but I know who he is, so he, I met him through bigger pockets, as a matter of fact.

Casey Franchini

Yes, he was a coach for Brandon Turner.

Ed Mathews

That's why I know the name. All right, Gotcha Cool, All right. So let me ask you one last question and then we're going to wrap up. So you know, obviously, you're well on your way to building your, your empire, right, Whatever that looks like in the future to be determined, right? But so let me ask you something. If, if some wise guy in Connecticut named Ed waved a magic wand and took it all away from you other than the people you know and the knowledge you have, how would you start over?

Casey Franchini

I would take my knowledge and start another online business, like I have with my coaching company.

Ed Mathews

Right.

Casey Franchini

Awesome. Now that I've learned how to do that, and that's what my sister teaches. That's how I learned how she teaches how to create an online business. Now that I have this skill, I tell my husband all the time. I'm like, you realize it hits the fan, or whatever. If everything was taken from us, we'd be just fine, because I could start all over again, right, and I know how to do it, and all I need is me and a laptop. Yeah, and a laptop so maybe some french fries from McDonald's or something.

Ed Mathews

A little bit of coffee, so all right. Well, hey, casey, I've really enjoyed our conversation today, you know. First off, congratulations on all your success. I'm really excited for you and but I am curious about something. So when you're not conquering the real estate world, what do you and Blake and the kids, what do you like to do?

Casey Franchini

Oh, we love camping Awesome, we love it. So we used to camp all the time in California when there was no mosquitoes and dry, dry heat. Now, within, you know, in Tennessee we get, you know, humidity and mosquitoes and that becomes also fun. So we bought a travel trailer last year and it's been amazing. Now, unfortunately, the best time to go camping is during baseball season and both my boys are in baseball, so the weekends are full, but we have taken advantage of it already so many times. We just love being in nature. We love the mountains there's no mountains here, but we do miss that. We love taking hikes and going camping and sitting out by the fire with a beer. That's to us, that's living the life.

Ed Mathews

It is, and you know what. Those are the things that your kids are going to look back on, you know 30 years from now, and go. That was, that was good. That was good stuff, right.

Casey Franchini

We love it, no technology. We love it when there's no internet.

Ed Mathews

Right, awesome, yeah. So, casey, if somebody wants to learn more about your business in terms of your investing business or your coaching program, success with rental properties what is the best way to get ahold of you?

Casey Franchini

Sure, so you can definitely go to my website brick by brick wealthcom. You can find my freebies. I have a lot of free download information available for beginners, as well as a video on my coaching program success with rental properties. You can. There's a button somewhere all over my site. I'm sure you can click that to get more information on that Awesome. But you can find me there on my Instagram all the time. Break by brick wealth.

Ed Mathews

Okay, cool, so so if you're out there and you're looking to get into the rental business, we just met somebody who's going to hold your hand, the thrown arm around you, and maybe grab you by the neck if you don't if you don't follow through which is a good thing. Right, you got it so awesome. Thanks so much for your time today. It was really good to see you and I wish you well. Obviously, we'll keep in touch, but for now, good to see you, take care.

Casey Franchini

Thank you so much.

Ed Mathews

All right, this has been the Real Estate Underground podcast, a Clark Street capital presentation. Thanks for joining us. If you're enjoying the show, please remember to subscribe and share it with your friends. If you'd like to learn more about Clark Street capital and our upcoming projects, please join our investor club at clarkstcom. Slash join Until next time. Happy investing.