1. Real Estate Investing School Podcast | Meet Brody and Joe

Summary

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Real Estate Investing School Podcast

Episode 1: Meet Brody and Joe
Date: July 25, 2022

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Overview

In this premiere episode, hosts Brody Fawcett and Joe Jensen introduce themselves, share their personal backgrounds, and discuss how real estate investing has enabled them to build lives rich with freedom and experiences. They set the stage for the podcast, emphasizing their mission to deliver actionable value, empower listeners to pursue real estate investing, and break down barriers regarding mindset, money, and the “doability” of real estate.

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Main Themes

• Freedom and Experiences over Wealth:
  Both hosts stress that, for them, financial success in real estate is a means to create meaningful life experiences for themselves, their families, and others.
• Real Estate as a Tool for Passive Income:
  The episode focuses on using real estate investing to build passive income, allowing flexibility, time freedom, and generational wealth.
• Overcoming Limiting Beliefs:
  The hosts tackle common misconceptions that real estate is “not doable” and argue that anyone, regardless of background, can get started.
• Practical Steps and Mindset:
  They share stories of their first deals, mistakes, lessons, and the importance of taking action rather than being paralyzed by information overload.
• The Role of Coaching, Accountability, and Community:
  Brody describes the Real Estate Investing School, its coaching programs, and how they help students convert knowledge into action.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Start This Podcast? [00:41]

• Giving Back & Community:
  Brody explains his motivation:

  “For me personally, like, I’ve learned so much from investing in real estate… through listening to podcasts… so what better way to give back than to start our own podcast?” [00:41]

• Adding Value:
  Their mission is to “over deliver”—breaking down what has worked for them and for their students.

2. Personal Introductions

Joe Jensen’s Journey [02:29]

• Grew up the youngest of five, on a remote farm; “less than a thousand people within a hundred mile radius.” [03:20]
• Initial lack of expectations about wealth; viewpoint changed after entering sales, exposing him to new experiences and lifestyles.
• Core motivation: more experiences, adventure, and time with family, not just accumulation of money. [04:30]

  “I feel like life is all about experiences… that’s what money’s about for me.” [03:20]

• Is now a husband and father of two young kids, splitting time between Utah, Hawaii, and Texas.
• Loves the outdoors, adventure, and challenging himself physically—how he first connected with Brody (through ultrarunning). [06:51]

Brody Fawcett’s Journey [11:46]

• Frequently moved as a child, eventually settling in Southern Utah.
• Middle-class upbringing: self-reliance expected, worked hard for all personal expenses from a young age. [14:37]
• Served an LDS mission in Japan (“culture shock, fight-or-flight experience”), learned Japanese, appreciates global perspectives. [14:37]
• Married with two young daughters.
• Early ambitions and drive; learned by working manual labor and sales jobs the value of not being capped by hourly pay.

  “I wasn’t afraid of hard work if it was going to get me to an easier tomorrow.” [15:36]

• Found the appeal and power of earning through results (sales), then realized even that traded time for money—real estate became the next logical leap.

3. The Appeal and Dynamics of Real Estate Investing

Moving from Trading Time for Money to Passive Income [18:52]

• Both hosts note the “levels” of earning: hourly jobs, then sales/commissions, then leveraging teams, and ultimately investing.
• Real estate’s appeal:

  “When you go to bed at night and your bank account grows while you’re sleeping, that’s the most amazing feeling.” – Brody, citing Warren Buffett [19:11]

• Key driver: financial freedom enables life freedom.

Customization & Self-Discovery [21:43]

• Joe:

  “Real estate… can mold into whatever you want it to be.” [21:57]

• Some prefer structure (systems, scaling, team), others just want flexible passive income—it’s up to the individual.

The Mindset Shift – From Employee to Visionary [22:19]

• Discussion of an investing conference:
  • DIYer → Project Manager → Visionary ($10,000/hour tasks, systems-driven, big-picture).
• Progression is more about evolving mindset and beliefs than technical knowledge:

  “If you view yourself as an hourly wage employee… those are the results you get and you stop there.” – Brody [22:19]

• The importance of recognizing and breaking through your own limiting beliefs.

4. Launching Real Estate Investing School [26:53]

• Brody began coaching organically as people saw his unique approach—emphasizing strategies for freedom and passive income, not just flipping for one-time paydays.
• Developed the Real Estate Investing School to bridge the gap between consuming info and taking action, providing:
  • Structured education
  • Community
  • Accountability via coaching
  • Personalized “game plans” for students

• “Knowledge is not power. The application of knowledge is power.” [30:30]

• The school is for everyone:
  “If you’ve started or you haven’t started yet, or you have a few properties … what they’ll do for free, completely for free, we’ll just map out: this is what I would suggest doing, and then this, then this…” [31:00]

5. First Deals & Real Lessons

Joe’s First Deal [37:10, 38:08]

• Bought at 24, with part-time income of less than $12,000/year.
• Father contributed a small down payment for the first house (“the one handout I had”), which he used for a rental investment, not a personal residence. [38:08]
• Did a rent-to-own (which fell through), ended up keeping the property which doubled in value and has provided reliable cash flow.

  “It ended up being like one of my best assets right now just because I did something.” [41:13]

Brody’s First Deal [45:16, 48:18]

• Chanced into real estate when looking for college housing; didn’t even realize at first the bank would lend him money.
• Parents co-signed, later refinanced to remove them.
• Packed the house with friends, took the “dungeon room” (no windows) for himself to allow max cash flow from others—a deliberate, strategic sacrifice. [48:18]
• When fully rented, his rental income matched his day job’s wage.

  “One of these I did absolutely nothing. … I’m like, okay, how do I get more of this money that requires absolutely, like, no work?” [48:35]

• That first property, purchased for a few thousand dollars down, has since generated “probably a million dollars” in cash flow, equity, and appreciation (thanks to reinvestment and leveraging—“steamroll effect”). [52:30]

Memorable Quotes on Getting Started

• “If you just look at it like it’s an education… you’re not going to get as frustrated with, ‘Oh, it’s not working.’ … The first thing, you’re like, ‘I don’t think I can buy a house.’ … Just talk to a lender.” – Joe [34:01]
• “It is doable for you, regardless of your situation.” – Joe [36:28]
• “As soon as the mindset shifts to, ‘I’m in control of that and I have a say in that,’ then you start to get to those levels.” – Brody [24:21]

The Power of Not Selling Investments Prematurely

• Both hosts still own their first properties, emphasizing the long-term benefits:

  “With real estate, who knows? The sky’s the limit. There’s no end in sight… it never has to end, you know?” – Joe [53:33] “Every single property they’ve sold, they regret.” – Brody [41:45]

6. Leveraging Equity, HELOCs, and “Recycling” Money [42:40]

• Practical tip: Get a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) even if you don’t plan to use it, as it creates options for acting on future deals.
• Rule: Only buy “toys” or make consumer purchases when passive income pays for them.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On overcoming limiting beliefs:

  “If you truly believe it’s doable, then you’re not afraid to start taking steps. … There’re thousands of ways that it is.” – Joe [00:00], [36:28]

• On the importance of action vs. knowledge:

  “Knowledge is not power. The application of knowledge is power.” – Brody [30:30]

• On redefining earning:

  “One of these [checks], I felt like all I was doing was … working with all my free time. The other, I did absolutely nothing.” – Brody [48:35]

• On building generational wealth:

  “With real estate, it’s like, who knows? Like, the sky’s the limit. There’s no end in sight. … that’s why they talk about generational wealth with real estate. It never has to end.” – Joe [53:33]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:41] – Podcast Purpose: Motivation, Value, and Giving Back
• [02:29] – Joe’s Background, Early Life, Mindset Shift
• [11:46] – Brody’s Background, Upbringing, Early Career
• [18:52] – Differentiating Real Estate & Sales, Passive Income Motivation
• [22:19] – Stages of Real Estate Growth: DIYer to Visionary
• [26:53] – Journey to Creating Real Estate Investing School
• [37:10], [38:08] – Joe’s First Real Estate Deal
• [45:16], [48:18] – Brody’s First Real Estate Deal
• [42:40] – Leveraging Equity, HELOCs, Recycling Money
• [53:33] – On Holding vs. Selling Real Estate, Generational Impact

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Closing & Personal Reflections

• Both hosts share their upcoming “bucket list” experiences—Joe is planning a scuba dive trip with family [54:27]; Brody is heading to the Virgin Islands for a month with his family, a tradition powered by real estate-generated freedom [55:03].
• Closing thoughts:

  “All forms of freedom can be expanded through financial freedom.” – Joe [56:42]

• The next episodes promise interviews with successful real estate investors, actionable strategies, and continual focus on helping listeners build their own path to financial and personal freedom.

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Takeaway Message

Real estate investing is not reserved for the elite or those with perfect backgrounds. With the right mindset, willingness to take action, solid strategies, and accountability, anyone can leverage real estate as a tool for financial—and ultimately life—freedom. This show is here to guide, inspire, and empower you every step of the way.

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“It is doable for you, regardless of your situation.” – Joe Jensen [36:28]

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Transcript

[A]

If you truly believe it's doable, then you're not afraid to start taking steps. It's when people stop themselves that, oh, it's not doable for me. That they don't even find out all the thousands of ways that it is.

[B]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the first official episode of the Real Estate Investing School podcast. I'm so stoked to do this, to get going. Number one. Been wanting to this for a long time. I. I'm here with my co host, Joe Jensen.

[A]

What's up, Joe? What's up, Brody? I'm stoked we're finally doing this.

[B]

I know it's. It's been a long time coming, hasn't it?

[A]

It's been. It's been a minute. I'm excited.

[B]

So we're going to get into, like the background, like why we're doing this. First off, thanks for. Thanks for listening. Like, obviously taking time out of your day just to put us in your ear or if you're at the gym or whatever it is, like, we're super appreciative of that. And our whole goal is just to just to over deliver. And that's something like, get asked a lot is like, okay, why do you want to start a podcast? Or why did you want to do this? And something thought a lot about, like, why. Why is it something I want to do? And Joe and I have had a lot of conversations about it, but ultimately it's just really to give back. So for me personally, like, I've learned so much from investing in real estate, and I've learned so much about that through listening to podcast. And really, it's just been like, probably the number one thing that's helped me. And so what better way to give back than to. Than to start our own podcast?

[A]

For sure, dude. And I just want another chance to rub shoulders with you more often. So I was like, yeah, let's go, dude. Any chance I can, I want to be part of it. If it's Team Brody, I'm on it.

[B]

So Joe was telling me I. I gave him a compliment on his mustache, and he was like, yeah, this is. I was trying to decide what to do with my facial hair, and I was like, at least you have that option. For me, there's. There's no options. But mustache is looking amazing if you're not watching this but listening to it.

[A]

There you go. And Brody, you're just straight baby face for life, huh?

[B]

Hey, like it or not, but let's dive into it. We want to add as much value as we can. I think the first thing, like, with this being podcast number one, it's just right to introduce ourselves and give you guys a background on us and why we love real estate, why we're passionate about it, and why we feel qualified to teach about it as well. So, Joe, let's start with you, dude. Give me. Give me a background. You're. Right now you're. You're not in Utah. I'm in Utah. You're not in Utah. Where are you? Texas right now?

[A]

Yeah. So I kind of hop between Utah, Hawaii and Texas. Right now I'm kind of on the circuit. My life's crazy, but I'm loving it.

[B]

Sounds like the dream right there. Give us a background on you, like, and then. And then we'll dive into the real estate stuff later. Maybe first just talk about, like, your. Your personal. Your personal stuff.

[A]

Yeah, dude. So, I mean, so 36 years ago, I was born. Yeah. So no, I grew up.

[B]

And it's old, dude. Are you really 36?

[A]

I'm 36. How old are you?

[B]

Dude, I'm in my 20s.

[A]

Yeah, dude, maybe when you grow up, you'll be able to get a little bit of facial hair.

[B]

Maybe. I know, that's. That's the thing. No, I have one more year of my 20s, so I'm just holding on to that. That word 20s. But yeah, 20s, 29 and a half. Hey, count it. Right?

[A]

Yeah. So I'm freaking. I'm the. The youngest of five kids. I got two older sisters, two older brothers, grew up on a farm, playing in the dirt out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, there were less than a thousand people within a hundred mile radius. I mean, if you drew a circle around rugged, there is nobody. There's nothing. And honestly, I never really had a lot of expectations or high hopes for my. Myself, like, financially or this or that. Just really, like, just didn't even know what nice things were or what kind of life I want. I just was just rolling. But eventually I moved into the city around normal people and I got a sales job and started seeing what people were doing through his lives and the experiences they're having, getting to travel the world and do different things. And it just, like, it lit a fire under me of, like, I feel like life is all about experiences. Like, you're just collecting experiences. And it's just. It's super exciting to me to be able to have the opportunity to do more and more now. So real estate's about for me. That's what money's about for me, is Just be able to have more experiences and do more things. And that's kind of funny you say.

[B]

That because I think like, the more there's obviously people that are way more. More successful than, than me and both of us, but I think like, the more successful I've become, I've realized that exact same thing. Like, you just start to value moments so much more. Something like I've been writing down every day for, for a while now. It's just about creating memories. Like, I want to be the person that creates these experiences and these memories for my family, for my friends. Like, I want it to be where people that are in contact with me or that I come into their life or they come into my life like they're blessed with these experiences and opportunities that they would never have had. It not been like, for. For knowing me.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so not like in a selfish way or like a way of like, I want all the glory more in a way, like, I want. I'm motivated to go grind, to go build something because ultimately, like, I'm not just building it for me, but I'm creating these opportunities to like, really live my best life and help other people live their best life as well. But that's awesome. I love that. What will happen after that? You have some kids, right? That's kind of a big part of your life.

[A]

Uhhuh. Yeah. I've got two little kids. I've got a little girl, she's turning five in a few months. And my little boy is turning three at the end of the month. So right in the thick of it. I think he just got potty trained like last night. He goes, wakes me up at 4am Dad, I need to go potty. I'm like, okay, take him. Go potty. And like, he didn't pee all night. I was stoked. And then he's like, does this mean I'm potty trained? I guess so. Dude, let's go.

[B]

You're like, I hope so.

[A]

That's the funnest stage in the world right now. They're just, they still think I'm awesome and they want to hang out with me all the time and it's fun.

[B]

That's awesome. Yeah. Hopefully they don't figure figure out the real you anytime soon, right? No, that's awesome. I love seeing like all your pictures and everything of. Especially when they run around Hawaii. They just cutest kids in the world like too. They could be on, on the COVID of magazines, like with a, with a surfboard on the beach and they'd fit Right in.

[A]

Thanks, man. They're fun.

[B]

Cool. So you went from there, and then, I mean, I guess we can dive into your real estate stuff here in a second. I guess I can give you a kind of background on me. Anything else we need to know about you?

[A]

I mean, I love the outdoors. I love adventures and challenging myself physically, which you and I do the same. It's actually funny because that's how we first met, was on a podcast, and I had seen you. You know, I was following your. Your. Your real estate stuff, flipping faucets, and I was following, you know, some things you were doing, and you and your wife did this. What was it called? The grand to grand 200 something race. So you guys were doing the grand to Grand Ultra, which I actually knew of. I wanted to do it the year before or something, but I came up with some excuse not to, and you guys actually did it, and I was like, that's so cool. So I. I had you on my little podcast I was doing at the time just so I could meet you and hear the story of it. And so that was kind of how we ended up getting in touch in person, at least.

[B]

Yeah. No, that was. That was awesome. It was good meeting you for the first. That was probably. What? Well, it seems like a long time ago, really. Probably only like a year and a half ago. Years ago.

[A]

Two years.

[B]

Something like that. Two years ago.

[A]

Crazy.

[B]

It was funny because. It was funny because we actually, like. I want to say met, but I messaged you on Facebook before that. I didn't know you at the time, but you put this house up for rent, and I was trying to buy it from you. I was like, hey, you need to sell that instead. Will you sell it to me?

[A]

Will you sell me your house? I'm like, I don't think so.

[B]

He's like, no. He gave me the hard no. He's like, I know what I'm doing. I'm like, name your price. Dope house. Do you still have it today?

[A]

I still have it. Yeah, man. Yeah. It has this really nice basement apartment, and the upstairs, like, it's like, basically like a duplex, so I can rent out both.

[B]

It's like a modern duplex. Like, don't you have, like, a rooftop deck or something? Or you have, like, a. A hot tub on the deck?

[A]

Yeah, so I bought in. The house was super weird. It was a bank foreclosure. Like, no one wanted it sat there for years and, like, literally the master bedroom was separated by an outside deck from, like, the living room. So like, you had to go outside and then go through another door to get to the living room. It was the weirdest house in the world. No one wanted it. I bought it, ended up remodeling it and like, doubling it in size. But when I did that, I had a rooftop deck where you could, like, go up on the roof. And there's like. We put a hot tub up there. So we had like, reinforced the trusses to put a hot tub on the roof. So that was fun.

[B]

That's probably why I sold. I saw the hot tub.

[A]

Yeah, you should know, there's like a crane lowering a hot tub onto our roof. And he was like, what is going on?

[B]

That's awesome. No, I think, like, at the time I was looking at that and I was like, man, this would be like the perfect, you know, like almost like a luxury house hack where you're. You level up, you know, because you're living in a super nice place and it's modern and it's great. And then someone just lives below you and is paying your mortgage.

[A]

But it's like perfect entrance and like their own parking. And like, there are people down there and I never ever noticed them or heard them. Like, it was. It was perfect. But it paid. Especially when we first got in. It paid for the whole mortgage. So when I ran out the basement and I was in that weird upstairs, like, split thing. Yeah, they're my rent for them. Covered my entire mortgage. And then when I did the addition, it kind of, you know, made it a little more expensive, but it was good at first.

[B]

Well, you probably now, I mean, we. We don't need to get too deep into. I want to at some point for sure. But I'm with that house right there. I mean, what you rented out right now, how much does it rent for? What's the mortgage on it? What is it? Cash flow.

[A]

Yeah. So I ended up. So when I was first starting, I didn't really know a lot about real estate. I just kind of played with it on the side for a long time, and I didn't know what to do with my money, so I actually ended up paying it off. I'm in the middle of refinancing it now to pull the money out to invest with, so. Which is nice because then I can just decide what I want my mortgage to be. Right. Because I'll only pull out as much as whatever I want to make sure.

[B]

I'm still saying you're a baller and you got. You had lots of cash, and so you're like Huh. I guess I'll just put.

[A]

I don't know. I live like a miser and would just put all my money to my house because that's how I was. But it ended up working out, so.

[B]

No.

[A]

Yeah. I'm actually. The hard thing is I haven't raised rent in, like, three years and the market skyrocket. So I'm in this spot where I'm, like, talking to my tenants like, guys.

[B]

You know what you should do anymore?

[A]

Sorry.

[B]

You know what you should do with the house?

[A]

What?

[B]

Sell it to me.

[A]

There you go. Okay. I live in the area.

[B]

I'll take good care of it. So I'll send you off.

[A]

I know it's.

[B]

I know it's paid off now, so it might be a low ball offer, so. Just saying that. Yeah, I'm just kidding. Cool, man. Well, and then I want to get into your. Your first deal. Maybe we'll save that for. For a second because that wasn't your very first deal that you did, right?

[A]

No, I've done a couple before that.

[B]

Well. Well. Yeah. So give you guys, I guess, a background on me. Brody Fawcett. I live in southern Utah. Kind of. Growing up, I bounced around quite a bit, actually. There was a point when I was getting ready to go to high school, and I had been. I hadn't been to the same school more than two years in a row, and some of that was like, I went from the middle school. Yeah. It's crazy. And actually it's funny because I. As soon as I said that to my mom, I remember saying it to her, and then we, like, stopped moving. So I don't know if that was because of me and. And my dad actually still commutes. I lived in Las Vegas for a long time, and then we moved to southern Utah. And so he was driving, like, two hours to work one way. Two hours. So I guess four hours total every day. And I don't know if that was because of. Of me saying that or not, but.

[A]

We can't keep moving. Brody's getting messed up.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, he's struggling. No, that was good for me. Growing up, like, obviously put me in uncomfortable situations of having to, like, make new friends and. And go through that whole whole struggle at school and stuff, but really grew from that. And then was it all over the.

[A]

Country or mostly, like, still, like, southern Utah?

[B]

No, not really. Like, yeah, mostly between, like, Utah and Las Vegas, but we also moved around, like, I think three different places when we lived in Vegas. And so it was just kind of like a lot of moving around enough to shake things up, especially as like a, an elementary school kid and then a middle school kid and, and so for high school, like they really wanted to get somewhere more permanent and that's where we ended up in, in Southern Utah. So that's cool. Yeah. When high school, played sports in high school, I feel like from a young age I was always like a big dreamer. I had like a ton of drive, but I didn't always have the right, I guess mentors or I didn't not, not to put that on the mentors. Like that's 100 on me. But I didn't know what to do with it. Right. I had drive, I had ambition, but I didn't know what, what there was to do with it. And so I feel like I was always that way growing up. Like I'd see a life that I live and we grew up like middle class, you know, like I was the kid that paid for everything. I had to pay for my, my car when I turned 16, I had to pay for insurance, my phone. I remember getting so mad at my parents because in football or I guess all sports you have like the spirit packs, right? Where you get like your shirt and your shorts and you gotta pay for those, right? Well everybody else's parents paid for em, but I had to pay for it on my own. So anyhow, just growing up that was the expectations and super grateful for that now and something my wife and I bond over and just how much we grew because of that. But yeah, I was growing up and yeah, high school was great, I loved it. And then I went on a mission from my church, the LDS church. I went to Japan for two years, learned Japanese, so I speak Japanese.

[A]

I didn't know that.

[B]

Yeah, I use it like once every year maybe if we're, if we're in California or Hawaii where more Japanese people are.

[A]

But.

[B]

So that was an amazing experience. And then yeah, went, went to college at Sun Utah University and I guess the rest is kind of, kind of history. But I have two little girls right now. Ages.

[A]

How old are your girls?

[B]

Yeah, one and a half is my youngest. And then, and then I have a four year old, she's about four and a half, so probably close to.

[A]

Yeah, you're just like one year behind.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah.

[A]

And you've been married how long now?

[B]

7Ish years.

[A]

7 years, nice.

[B]

Yeah, I say ish so I don't get in trouble if I'm wrong.

[A]

Seven, like between six and eight, between six and nine. Something I Don't know. Do you still speak Japanese, then?

[B]

I do, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

We should do a Japanese podcast one day.

[B]

I don't see that. Well, that's for sure. There's certain terminology that just doesn't. Doesn't come out in Japanese, but. But yeah, we've been back a couple times since, and it's just fun. It's. Japan's so cool because it's exactly opposite of everything in America. Like, the food's different, the people are different, the language, the writing, the buildings, the. So, like, if you ever want a major culture shock, just go. Go to Japan. And that's how it was for two years. It was like me getting dropped somewhere, and it was like fight, fight or flight type thing. So you just have to figure it out. But, yeah, man. So, like, growing up, I think always just, I valued, like, this. This form of freedom, and I valued, like, my time. And I was always type of guy that I feel like if I knew there was an easier path, like, I would work really hard to be able to get there. I wasn't afraid of hard work if it was going to get me to an easier tomorrow. And I think I learned a lot of that growing up, like, in high school and stuff. I'd work for my. My grandpa. He had a ranch, and it was the summertime, and so he'd pay me 12 bucks an hour, which, I mean, before you're 16. 12 bucks an hour was. Was amazing. I don't know what it is nowadays. It's probably. It's probably like dirt. I know money's gone up. Minimum wage has gone up quite a bit, but for me, like, I wasn't capped. There was a ton of work. So it was like, as much as I worked that day, like, that's how many hours he was gonna pay me for. And he wouldn't pay me if I took lunch off, you know, so, like, I couldn't count that. And so, like, at an early age, just ingrained this idea of, like, okay, if I can put 12 hours in a day, 12 times 12, that's $144. And if I can do that six days a week, you know, So I just started doing the math, and I'm like, I'm just going to grind super hard and. And get this done. So I did that for a few summers, and that. I just feel like that mindset kind of correlated to now, especially once you discover real estate. And I got into sales as well, just like you, and was like, wait, holy smokes. There's. There's an Opportunity that you're not capped by an hourly pay, but now you can be smart and work hard and you can actually get paid thousands and thousands of dollars per hour. Like, that just blew my mind. And so once those opportunities came up, I was, I was all about it.

[A]

That's cool. I think that's so huge, like when you can start to correlate money not with time, but with like producing something and like the value add. It's not about just an hourly job. I think that's like leads into real estate really. Well, that's one thing I love about it. I was saying it's like one thing I love about it is you never know what it's going to become. Like you get some dinky little property that is like nothing, but in five or ten years from now, it's turned into like the most profitable thing in the world and you had no clue. So it's like every time you do a deal, it could be like a jackpot, it could be like a lottery ticket. And you just. I love the potential. As opposed like say that one hour is only going to be $12 no matter what.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Like, you never know what you could run into with, with real estate, which is exciting, but I can see the slipping stuff we both had of just grinding out hard work, then like learning to do sales and grind out how to do like more valuable work and then, you know, taking that into real estate.

[B]

Yeah, I think that was like a good transition from like sales too. Right. Because you started out like I started out as a sales rep and I was earning commission. Right. So it's like every time I get a sale, I made a big commission check. And so it was like if I wanted to raise, I just realized I needed to get better at sales and work harder. Right. And so I make more money. And so. But then eventually, like, no matter what, you're still trading time for money. Even though it's, it's at a very, very high dollar amount, you're still trading time for money. And if you don't work, then you don't get paid, you know. And so I think like that's kind of the next level. And once that started hit, it was like, okay, well if I'm in a management position where I go and, you know, recruit people and I, you know, run my own branch, so to speak. Now when other people are selling, I'm making a commission off of that or an override. And so if I'm not working that day, I could still make money. Right. But then there's still levels of, of work that's involved in that, right? There's management and different things like that. And so I think that's like, really why I've been so attracted to real estate and why I love it so much is like, just like Warren Buffett says, right? But like, when you go to bed at night and your bank account grows while you're sleeping, like, that's the most amazing feeling. And I think he says it, if you never, if you never learn to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die. And I'm like, I'm a huge believer in that, you know, and that's like, I mean, we'll get into it. And that's what the whole podcast is about is, is building more freedom. You do that by building more passive income, you know, and that's why I love real estate, because it's the, the fastest way, I think, to build passive income without having to have a ton of money. And then what passive income gives you is freedom to do, you know, what you want to do.

[A]

Dude, that was a big thing that got me into sales and got me in real estate was just the freedom of like, not. I couldn't have like a boss. I wasn't very. I have authority issues. Like, I couldn't have someone tell me when I had to show up, when I could check out. Like, here's your 15 minute break. Like, I had those jobs and it did not suit me well. And being able to be in control of my own world, like, that's really what I love about real estate is like, I don't have a boss. Like, if I want to go out and grind harder, I can work harder, I can work less. It's. It's up to me with, you know, some people don't like that. And, and I see people who are more, like, oriented, like, they don't want that. They want structure. They'll create a systemized perfect. They'll create a business out of real estate. And that's some, that's perfect for some people. For me, I don't necessarily want to run a business. I don't ever want to be an employee or even a boss, but I want to be able to do work that adds value and, and that pays off.

[B]

Do you feel like it's always been that way or do you feel like, do you feel like that's something that you kind of gained over time? And for a lot of people, like, what if they're not there yet? Like, what do you feel like is the next step or to, to getting them to that point.

[A]

You know, I don't think anybody, I don't think there's a right or wrong mindset. Like, some people want a boss, some people don't. Some people want a structured system. Some people just want freedom. Like, there's not a right or a wrong way. It's just find a way. That's what's so cool about real estate is it can mold into whatever you want it to be. You know, it can. So you can just make it into what best fits you and roll with that, which is what's cool. It doesn't have to be what I liked.

[B]

Yeah, totally. No, I love that. I think I went to this, this, it's like a real estate conference mastermind thing. Last week I was in Hawaii and Maui was awesome. Didn't have a ton of time to like, like hang out on the beach because we were in classes and stuff all day. But it was cool. They're like 30 other real estate investors and the whole thing was like, how do you go and, and scale and systematize your real estate investing business? And learned a ton. Awesome experience. But one of the things that one of the speakers there talked about was you go through these phases, right? And like the first phase is like the DIYer phase, right? It's talking about more so in like you're in real estate. But I think the same thing in like mindset or what we're talking about with, you know, how you view like hourly wage jobs, right? Because I think a lot of it is your mindset, right? Like if you view yourself as, you know, the, the minimum wage employee, like you're only going to look for minimum wage jobs, right? If you view yourself as the, hey, I'm the whatever, the accountant that graduated and like I'm the CPA and I only get a raise of whatever, five grand a year, whatever it is, right? Like we have these fixed mindsets on, like this is what I'm capable of. So those are the results that you get and you stop there. But anyhow, I just talked about like working your way up. Like the next phase is like the project manager phase. And for anybody out there who owns rental properties, you'll know exactly what we're talking about. If you don't yet, like, you're going to learn it really quick. Because for me, I start out diying everything, right? If something broke, like I'm the one that showed up with, with a pipe wrench to fix it. I'm the one that did all that because I want to Save money. Right. I wanted to cash flow more, all those things. And then you move to the project manager phase is what he calls it, where, you know, you're still taking the phone calls, but you're maybe sending somebody else over there to fix it, right? They're still calling it all. Yeah. You're coordinating all. It's still work, Right. It doesn't function without you. If you were missing there, like, it just doesn't work. Right. Which I definitely felt that next stage too, you know, where it's like, okay, I can afford to pay a few more people, or like, I don't want to go do all that. My time's worth a lot more. And that's, that's the only thing he talked about is each of these stages have like a dollar amount value to them, you know, but ultimately at the top is what he calls the visionary. And like, this visionary role is, that's the $10,000 per hour tasks where ultimately, like, you're just in charge of the overall vision and everything else is ran by systems. And so I think just, just relating it back to, like, this whatever stage you're at, maybe it's in real estate investing, maybe it's not in real estate investing, just in life and job and whatever. Like, that's what's so cool is like, as we start to shift our mindset a little bit and we start to think like, oh, I'm actually capable of doing something like that, or I'm actually capable of, of living a life that has a little bit more freedom, where I do have a little more control over, or I, I can spend time, you know, more time with my kids or I don't miss out on this as much or whatever it is, right? As soon as, like, the mindset shifts to I'm in control of that and I have a say in that, then, like, you start to get to those levels and work your way up to where ultimately, you know, you are the quote, unquote visionary. You're the one that, you know, decides when you want to work, how much you want to work, where you want to work from. And to me, like, that's, that's like the ultimate fulfillment right there.

[A]

Well, that's what's so cool. And that's one thing, like, I love about the wanting to do the podcast because like I say, it's letting people have an opportunity to see what's possible. Because when people start hearing the different guests we have on everything and they'll be able to hear, like this is possible when they didn't even know that was an option in their life. It changed everything. And so it's like, one, there's, like, the mindset, but then two, it's actually like, the nitty gritty facts of how to do it. And that's what's really cool with you, Brody, is you actually started the real estate investing school. You have, you know, a program. People can actually learn the nitty gritty things. There's so much, like, hype around mindset out there nowadays where it's like, oh, like, have a big vision or, like, dream big. It was like, but how do I actually do. Yeah, whatever I need to do to get to that place.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But maybe you can tell us a little bit more about the real estate investing school and, like, how that started and how that led into the podcast and what you're offering so many people. Because I remember when you were just doing the little videos on Instagram, and it was, you know, honestly got my mind back wanting to do real estate more and, like, really kind of dove me in, but maybe expand upon that a little bit.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. No, cool. I think so.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just give you guys background a little bit. Like, I been investing in real estate for, I don't know, eight or nine years now, probably. And so throughout the process, like, I started documenting some of it just because I think it's so cool. It's so fun. I'm passionate about what it can. Can do for. For me, my life for other people. And so along with that, a lot of people started asking more questions, and how did you do that? Or how did you get this cash flowing Property? But you used, you know, none of your own money. And from there, it kind of really just transitioned into, like, I started doing coaching a little bit where I'd help people do the exact same thing, show them how to get into it, show them which properties to look for. All of the strategies that I was. I was using because I feel like my. The way I've gone about it has been a little bit more unique. Right. Like, where I'm just focused on building freedom. Right. And to me, like, like we said earlier, like, freedom, like passive income buys freedom, allows you to do what you want to do without stressing about bills and all these things or having to go to work.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So, like, it allows you to get in control of your life. And so all of the strategies and everything that I use, like, it's meant to build that passive income. So I flipped a lot of houses and stuff like that over the years, but, like, ultimately that's not as exciting to me because it's a one time paycheck, right? You get paid one time and like, it's great. It's cool. You know, multiple deals that we've made six figures on. I say we like my wife and I, but like, I don't get as excited about those because it's a one time thing. And guess what? That money gets used and it's gone forever versus passive income or rental properties. They keep on paying you no matter what, right? So that's like my overall strategy. So obviously like as a college student, when I bought my first house, like I didn't have a lot of money. As a newlywed when I bought my second house, right, My wife and I got married. I didn't have a lot of money. Right. Like all of these things that we think keep us from getting into real estate money, credit, right. Like I didn't have credit. Like all of these different things that we have, I don't know what we call them, like a fixed mindset, I guess towards like, I figured out ways and which strategies to use to get around that to still go out and build, you know, my, my dream life while I was in my early 20s. And so at the age of 25, quote unquote, retired, right. Became financially free to the point where like I had enough passive income from all the rental properties that I got that it was paying for my lifestyle. Plus. Plus some. Right? So like at 25. 25, yeah.

[A]

So like.

[B]

And obviously it's not like balling out and living like the, the best life you want to live. Right? Which is why.

[A]

But it was functional.

[B]

Still grind today. Yeah, but it's like an empowering feeling, right? Because you're like, hey, dude, this is. I have the rest of my life to do what I want to do technically. I don't have to be like stressed about, you know, money or tied down for certain things. So long story short, like all those strategies and everything, because I started teaching it and coaching, it just got to be too much to where if I had a coaching call, like more people wanted to know, hey, how do you do this? Or what are you doing? It was difficult to give them the best information because I just didn't have that much time. Right. So that correlated into a course that I started where I basically filmed a bunch of content showing people how to do it, walking them through it launched that did extremely well. A ton of people, amazing success stories. And then through the process of that, like, what I realized was a lot of people, one of my Favorite quotes is knowledge is not power. The application of knowledge is power.

[A]

Right?

[B]

And so like, the course in and of itself and the information and even, like, even this podcast, even all the podcast content that I consumed, all of the books that I consumed, like, to get better, all the free YouTube videos that I consumed, like, all of that was information and knowledge, right? And so back to the quote, like, it's the application of that, that's where you get the power from. And so I realize a lot of people that had all the answers and they knew they had all the answers and they knew what to do, but they just struggle with, like, the accountability part and actually following through. So that's kind of where real estate investing school was born. And you guys can always find out more info about it if you think it's a good fit or you just want to know more about it. It's just real estate investing school.com, and you'll see everything there. We actually have a full team where you can book a free call and we'll just give you like a free game plan or a strategy session with you and your real estate investing career. So if you've started or you haven't started yet, or you have a few properties or you have a lot of properties, you're just looking to go to the next level or even take the first step, what they'll do for free, complete, for free will, just map out, hey, this is what I would suggest doing, and then this and then this, and then give you some action items. But yeah, so real estate investing school is. We have coaches, we have. It's. It's all based around live classes, accountability, like, you're expected to succeed, so you join the program. It's not just like, hey, you bought this course, or hey, you watch this YouTube video and you, you want to get into real estate someday down the road. No, it's, hey, you join the program and you're guaranteed you're gonna, you're gonna build passive income. And so we really just created it all around that.

[A]

Well, it's so funny because it's like, say, like, you can learn so much just reading or YouTubing wherever, but like, when you go to school, it's like, here's an assignment. You have to pass this test. You need to do this thing. You, here's the deadline. And like, it actually forces you to, to go through and actually do it effectively.

[B]

And.

[A]

And it sounds like that's what you're doing with real estate is like actually helping people apply the knowledge, which is huge because I remember when I first tried to go into real estate, like full time, like heavy. I was just learning so much. And I did. I felt that analysis process from like, there's just too much info. I was like nervous to just move, you know, 100. That, that break of going from info gathering to actually just taking a step is huge. And you realize you're not made of glass. You can take a step and it's okay, you're not gonna break. Like, and then you can make another step and another step and then like, and then it goes just to your vision where it's like, oh, the sky's the limit. Once you start doing these little things, you just gotta get some wins under your belt. And then you realize anything's possible.

[B]

And that's. And that's the whole thing too. Like, our goal is like, hey, how do we get you a small win as fast as possible? You know? And then that's the cool thing with real estate investing and with passive income, it's like this big snowball, right? Like, once you get it going, you can't stop it. In the beginning, it might be a little bit tough, especially if you're trying to push it on your own. But like, once it gets going and once your passive income starts building up and like, I have a concept, call it like the steamroll effect, where it's the same idea, like you're taking your passive income, you're saving that up, you're rolling that over in your next property. Now that's cash flowing even more, right? So you're taking that plus your first cash flowing property, roll it over into your third one, it's cash flowing even more. And so it's this really like big steamroll effect. Honestly.

[A]

Yeah, I do. And that's what I love about when you approach each project, especially at the beginning when you're very first, let's say you've never done any real estate deal. If you just look this like it's an education, you're like, okay, so every step of you're just trying to learn, you're not going to get as frustrated with like, oh, it's not working, or I don't, I don't know how to get a good deal. You're like, yeah, that's the whole point. I'm not sure how to do this. So I'll just start doing it and like, I'll find a lender. Like, this is what I tell you. Like the first thing, you're like, I don't think I can buy a house. I'm like, talk to a lender and see what you're pre approved for. Just do that. But they're like, well, I don't think I'll qualify. Like, don't worry about what you think. Find out if there's a lender that see what they think. Like, that's the first step. Because sometimes we write it off before. But if you're just doing like, well, it's just an experiment, it's just an assignment. It's just like a test to learn. I'll go see what it takes to qualify, even though I know I won't qualify. And then half them can find a way to qualify because there's so many options with like FHA and USDA loans and like zero downs. There's so many options people don't know about. Then even then, like, test, they'll learn more than they ever realized with no fear of failure.

[B]

Because it's like, yeah, you're totally, totally. And even then, like, even say they don't qualify or their credit's that bad or they don't have enough credit history. There are so many other options, owner financing, partnering, right? There's so many different strategies that, you know, dive into. But ultimately, like, imagine if you had somebody, Joe, like for you, and they sat down with you one on one and was like, hey, Joe, where do you want to be 12 months from now? Like in your real estate investing business? Close your eyes, you open them. Best case scenario, what does that look like for you? Right? And then we basically look at that, talk about it, reverse engineer it, and somebody who's already been there, who's already done that, like, who? You don't have to go and make the mistakes. They say, hey, I've been there. I can show you exactly how to do that. And guess what? You can do that in 12 months. But here's what you're going to have to do. Like, will you commit to doing these things for me and I'll hold you accountable. Like that. That's so powerful. And that's like, yeah, created.

[A]

Well, this is what I love about real estate. I like to say it's doable. Some people say, like, oh, real estate, so easy. Some people like, oh, it's really hard and complicated. You know, I've heard professionals, like, say both those. And it's like, regardless if it's easy or hard, that's kind of subjective to people in their situation. But it's doable. Anybody can do it. And there are ways, and there's a thousand different ways to do real estate.

[B]

That.

[A]

That it's. It's doable. If you truly believe it's doable, then you're not afraid to start taking steps. It's when people stop themselves that, oh, it's not doable for me, that they don't even find out all the thousands of ways that it is. But so, like, that's the one message. If I could, like, shout to anybody that hears this podcast or goes to any of our schools or anything, is, like, it is doable for you, regardless of your situation. It's gonna look different for everybody, but it is.

[B]

Yes. And that's the power of having a coach or having a specific strategy. Right. Because it's easy analysis paralysis.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Where it's like, oh, he did this. I can't do that. And so, yeah, I think, speaking of which, like, for you, because you bought your first house when you were how old.

[A]

So I, you know, I was a.

[B]

Little later than you.

[A]

So I think I was 24. I was 24. Yeah. I was 24 when I got my very first place and before. And I was not making money either. Like, I mean, I never made more than $12,000 in a year up to this point. I mean, like I said, I didn't have a lot of high standards of that or expectations. There wasn't, like, a lot of people around me, like, I'm like, what were you doing?

[B]

Or were you working?

[A]

Well, I was going to school, and so I just kind of doing part time and, you know, I had, like, I did some phone sales jobs because their. Their schedules were more flexible. I was a roofer for a while. I was a server for a while. I just did a bunch of random jobs, whatever, just fit my schedule. Never tried to make good money.

[B]

You were married at this time?

[A]

I got married that same year that I bought the property. So.

[B]

Property because you have money. So how'd you buy it? Because you can't. You can't buy real estate unless you have money.

[A]

Yeah, well, I did get some money for this. So this is, you know, everybody's like, oh, I never had any help. I did have some help. My dad helped me. He always. He did a thing for each of his kids where he's like, help them get into their first place. Right? Getting into their first home. And so I wasn't even married at this time, though. I was like, I don't want my first home. I want my first real estate investment property. So I was like, don't buy me a. Or like, give me a down payment. It's a couple grand. I literally think it was like four grand is all it was is the down payment, right? So we're not talking about like buying a house, but he'd, you know, give each kid a couple grand that he had saved up, you know, the whole life for when we. And he didn't pay for our college, he didn't pay for our cars. Like when you're talking about, like, I had everything I had to work for. The one thing he did that was like a handout was a little bit of money for a house because he did a little bit of real estate investing. So anyway, to get to the first.

[B]

I think, I think that's so cool as a father, like as a parent to. Because look what's done for you now, right?

[A]

I mean, and the whole thing was like, I'm like, I just need to get a property. I don't know anything about real estate. I just know it's the answer. I don't know how to do it. And I just knew. I was like, the only way I'm gonna learn is by getting something. Like, I just have to buy something I knew nothing about. Like, I mean, I should have like studied. And this was, Shoot, I'm 36. So this was, you know, this back before podcasts and YouTube was like a popular thing. Like, this was, you know, the things weren't as accessible and there was stuff out there, but not the way it is today in. My point is I should have researched a lot more, but I didn't. I was like, I'm just going to buy something. So literally a townhome two streets over from my parents house went for sale. And I was just like, let's just buy that one. And my dad's like, well, it doesn't matter. I just need to buy something. I was like, I just need to do something or I'm never going to learn how to do real estate. The funny thing is I ended up doing a rent to own because I'd heard about that's a thing where you can get more, you can rent it for more if you rent to own, like rent to sell it. So I was like, oh, I'll do that. Which I'm so glad it didn't work out. Some people came, they did a rent to own, ended up falling through. They didn't end up buying it because they moved. And so I was. Kept the property. And I'm so glad I did. I still own it today. And if I had lost, I mean, if I had sold it to them three years later at the end of That I just, it would have become nothing. I would have made a little bit throughout the years, you know, a couple hundred bucks a month and then it'd be gone forever. But the fact that it fell through and they didn't end up buying it, I've had it for years and years. It's appreciated, you know, over a hundred grand more than it was when I bought it. I mean, it's probably doubled in price and it's been a cash flowing machine for me ever since. And this, with this last jump, I just upped the rent like 4 or $500 from what it was before. So the cash will just like hugely increased. And it's just like all of this like random house that I had no idea if it was a good deal. I had no idea about how to do anything. But I just wanted to get into something.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it ended up being like one of my best assets right now just because I did something.

[B]

You still have it?

[A]

I still have it, Yep. With the, the new current market raid and it's like it's, it's still there.

[B]

So that's awesome, man. I still have my first house too, actually.

[A]

That's dope. Yeah. And I'm glad I did. Like the biggest thing I've learned over the time is like, I never want to sell real estate unless I've got like a way better deal to put the money into. But I made some mistakes.

[B]

You hear everybody say that. Like, not everybody, but a lot of big time investors, like every single property they've sold, they regret, you know, and obviously there's going to be some exceptions in there. And, and my rule is like, especially now, if it's because my whole thing, right. Is passive income. So if it's going to require a ton of maintenance or it's older, then like that's when I'll consider selling it, you know. So it's a little bit more of a passive investment. But yeah, same here. The ones that I've sold, like the only reason I, I regret it if I had the option, but like what I did with the money at the time, it allowed me to get into a bigger deal that I wouldn't have had. You know that.

[A]

And that's fine.

[B]

Yeah, totally, totally. But you still regret it. Like still regret it, you know?

[A]

Yeah. You're like, oh. And then you learn about how you can cast out, refinance, like, oh, I should have kept it, pulled money out and bought the bigger deal. I didn't have to sell it.

[B]

Yeah, you got the best of both worlds.

[A]

Right, exactly. That's something.

[B]

So cool. We talk a lot about it in the school as well. We call it like recycling your money. And that's a whole, a whole section where it's just all about how to take, you know, money that's in deals, pull that out, recycle it through like a home equity line of credit through a cash out refinance. Like it's just a huge tool. Once you learn how to do it, that can really. It amazes me how many people right now, and if you're listening to this and you own a house and if you have equity in it, like go get a heloc. Basically it's just a credit card on the equity in your house. I just did one on my house and 0% down, no closing costs. Yeah. First year, like low, low interest rates. Like you're not, you're not making payments on unless you actually pull the money out. Right. So anyhow, you need to do it just because it gives you opportunities. Now if a deal comes up, you have basically capital or funds to be able to act on it. And if you don't ever use it, then that's fine too. But we'd encourage you to use it for smart cash flowing.

[A]

Yeah, I was going to say that. When you see it at the bank, it's like, do you need to do home improvements? Get a heloc. Don't get your heloc. Spend it on home improvements or buy a car. Get it as a working capital to invest in other projects that'll pay itself off. But yeah, like, because people have worked, you know, people might think, oh, I have no money. But if they have any equity in their home, they have working capital right there. They can pull from a property. That's really good advice.

[B]

And that's actually like one of like my wife and I, one of our biggest things. And this is like really set us up. Early on in our marriage. We just always had this rule, like we didn't want to buy any depreciating assets or like quote unquote toys, unless like our cash flow or our current assets, we're going to pay for it. Right. So what, what that means is like like the first few homes that we bought, like together, right. They were all houses. We got into them with the intent, this is going to be an investment. Right. We bought it first. Logically, instead of what most people do is they buy emotionally.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Instead looked at it like, hey, this is going to be a good investment. So we're going to use our primary residence loan and Actually live in the property and not do it. Joe did. I'm just kidding.

[A]

How did you guys have such a foresight though? Like that young, right off the bat, like, how did you know, like, what got you into real estate mindset and learning all that? I mean, because you started super young. Yeah, like, let's hear about your first still. But also like, how do you even got into real estate and knew to even think like that? Because it was years before I thought like that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Like I said, like at a young age I felt like I always had this ambition to go and like live a big life or do something special, but I didn't really have the guidance per se. And like, I remember, I remember my first, like self help book that I ever read. And dude, it's funny because I don't, I don't feel like I'm that old, but it was on CDs, bro, like legit CDs, it was like the full pack. And I remember just throwing them in like the DVD player and just listening to it. And it was, it was Grant Cardone. It was a 10x rule was the name of the book. But like, I remember listening to that and I listened to it so many times because I was like, oh, somebody like understands me. Like this is like information that like fuels me. Right. And so anyhow, it's the same with real estate. Like, I just didn't, I didn't know it was a thing in the beginning. Just probably like, like most people, that it was something that could really help you out. And so it was kind of by accident. In fact, it was like 100% by accident. I was looking for a place to go to, to go to college, we needed a place to live. It just so happened, like housing was tough to find. All my friends from high school that were going to go to the same college, like, they were in the same boat struggling to find housing. My mom, who's kind of always been like an entrepreneur at heart, like she runs her own hair salon now. She's always like done little side hustles growing up. And I've actually learned a lot, a lot from her example on that stuff. But she did real estate on the side. She, I mean, like one or two houses a year she would sell maybe and she's kept her license current, but she's like, why don't you buy a house? You know, everyone's struggling to find a place. Why don't you just buy a house? And this tells you how much I did not understand because I was like Mom, I, I don't have. A lot of the homes we were looking at were like 150 to 200.

[A]

Grand, you know, like have 200 grand.

[B]

Yeah, I don't have 200 gr. Like you should know this, you know, like you've seen my bank account. And I didn't understand it that the bank would loan you money. And why would the bank loan you money? Doesn't make sense. Well, figured out, okay, they loan you money because there's something in it for them. They get interest payments, right. And so basically once I figured all that out and realized I actually could buy a house, my parents did co sign for me and then later I did a cash out refinance and got them off of the loan. But yeah, ultimately found this house that was one house away from college campus. Amazing location. The way that we got it, this older once figured out like, okay, I want to buy a house, let's start looking. Started asking around anybody I knew in this college town. And this lady's like, hey, this older lady that goes to my church, she actually just passed away last week. Like maybe she, I don't know what her family's doing with her house. And so you can imagine how that phone call went. Like, hey, sorry, your, your mom died, your grandma died, but do you want to sell her house? You know, and so ended up getting that house crazy and living there. There was one dungeon room that called the dungeon room because it was a split level house and there were no windows at all and the carpet coat at all.

[A]

Don't worry.

[B]

Oh, horrible. It's funny because like since then we've actually cut windows into the basement and it's all like legal now. I've actually made two rooms down there. But at the time, like there was probably 100 different types of carpet cut up into these squares and they hot glued them down to the floor.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

And that was the carpet. And anyone just called a dungeon room. Like, imagine as a college student, you could sleep forever if you wanted to because there was no light. But yeah, so I took that room because that was the one that was the worst room I could get the least amount of rent out of. And so I stayed there. All my friends, you know, we packed him in there. And I was working at a gym at the same time just while going to college. And what kind of like hit home for me was when I got my check from the gym after my, you know, month of work there. And I got my check from everybody paying rent, then me paying the mortgage, all the bills, and me not paying any rent, and they were about the same. And I'm like, looking at both of these, and I'm like, one of these, I felt like all I was doing was, like, school homework, and then, like, working with all my free time. And then one of these, I did absolutely nothing. And I'm just, like, comparing both of the checks. And for me, I'm like, okay, how do I get more of this money that requires absolutely, like, no work? And so from there, the wheel started going, like, what if I was able to do this again and again? And now when I move out, someone's got to live in my room, you know, once we get it up to code, right? And now I can cash flow even more. And so anyhow, it was really cool. And going back, like, same as you. Like, you know, you. You didn't. You could have maybe lived in the townhouse. Maybe you couldn't. You couldn't afford it, but you probably wanted to, right? Like, it's a nice house. Like, it's new. You own it. My wife and I, we got married. It was the same way. I'm like, ah, part of us just wanted to live in this house so bad and kick all my friends out. It was a nice house, nice, nice backyard, whatever. But instead, like, we were smart, made a smart decision. We rented out a basement until we bought our duplex and lived in this. This crappy basement because we were cash flowing so much off this house, and we knew it was setting us up for the future. So, yeah, it's kind of by accident. And then it all just fell into place. And I think it's like one of those things, especially going back. You talked a lot about, like, the fear side of things, too. Like, I was scared, dude. And, like, I don't even remember it now, but, like, as I start to think back on it, like, I was worried if my friends didn't pay, for whatever reason they didn't help pay their rent, then I would be stuck. I would not be able to pay for the mortgage that I just wasn't making enough money to be able to do that. So it was just like this very, like, real fear that I feel, like a lot of people today feel and just know that you're not alone, you know, it's the same way for me, same way with Joe, same way with most people getting into it, but once you start doing it again and again, it just eventually becomes second nature and you get more confident. That's awesome, dude.

[A]

It's cool to hear how it starts. Like I said, it can be so small and so no vision or big picture at all. But once you start getting a taste of it and you overcome a little fear, it just snowballs into the next thing, the next thing. And it can take a while. I mean honestly it took me years before I really started like taking it seriously. I just kind of do a little bit on the side here, there if like a no brainer thing fell in my lap. But it wasn't until more recently that I was like, oh, I could really put so much time and effort in this and get like the most amazing returns ever. And one thing I love about it is like I'm very task oriented. I like a project because you said you didn't do anything to get that rent check or whatever. But it's like no, you went, you got qualified, you found that your, you know, your parents to co sign with you, you found enough money to put down, then you found renters to put in. Like you did a little project, you did all this pre work and then you just send it out to the world and then it, it just works as opposed to just doing the same thing every single day like you're doing at the gym. You did all this work at one time and then it just pays off after. I love that. Getting, finding a project, doing everything, figuring it all out and then put the projects done. That's like I love about real estate.

[B]

You know what's crazy too is like if I were to track this back and like I kid you not, I actually need to probably put, put it all down on paper and come up with a graph and actually show. But like because of that house, which I mean we didn't get into it but like the coolest thing about it was right, it was a couple thousand dollars down out of my pocket. That house, that investment, that decision right there, right, which was 8ish years ago or whatever, like has made me, I kid you not, probably a million dollars in the last, yeah, crazy. And like a lot of people won't believe that but like I mean it cash flows like $1,500 a month right now. It's been that way for you know, the last five, six years or whatever, right? So that's a lot of cash flow. I've taken that and I've bought a few other properties with that. I did a cash out refinance because it appreciated by another like 50 grand, right. So I took that, that money out, bought another property. I have cash flow from that. So it is insane. Like just from being disciplined and making a Smart decision, how far that can go for you.

[A]

So I love it, dude. And that's thing. It's like, if you work hourly, and the cool thing is you can do real estate and any other job, you know, but if you're working out, like, you just get paid that hour. If you're working commission, whatever, you sell it, like, that's all the commission you're going to make on that deal. With real estate, it's like, who knows? Like, the sky's the limit. There's no end in sight. And there really isn't. And that's why they talk about generational wealth with real estate is like, it never has to end, you know?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And so it's cool. It's really cool, man. We could literally just talk about this forever.

[B]

Like, I feel like we just started.

[A]

And even, like, get into that podcast.

[B]

I know now we're bundled up on time.

[A]

I could talk about it forever. I love it, dude.

[B]

Well, just kind of finish things off and then we'll get out of here. Like, what's. What's one thing that's on your bucket list item? Joe, what do you want to accomplish, like, here in the next little bit? Something fun.

[A]

I don't know. So the next, the most, the coming up one is doing a big scuba dive trip with my dad. He's getting a little older and not being able to do a bunch of these things in the future. And he taught me how to scuba dive, like, forever ago. And we've, like, never done, like, a family vacation, I swear, since I was like a little kid. But all my brothers and sisters and.

[B]

My parents, we're going to go do.

[A]

A big scuba dive trip to like, eight dives while we're out there. And like, we've never done anything like that, so I'm super excited for that. So that's the most recent thing coming up.

[B]

Yeah, that'll be.

[A]

What about you? What do you got on your bucket list? Next?

[B]

I think next. Let's see. Next month, less than a month. We're going to the Virgin Islands for a month. So something I've always wanted to do is, like, just travel with. With my family, like, at least one month out of the year, like, live somewhere else and experience a different type of culture. So super stoked. Rented this awesome beach house that probably costs as much for the month as my house, my mortgage does all year. But we'll go out there, we'll have some family come out for. For one of the weeks and just like, live the. It's right on the Beach. So excited. Like, take the kids and just really hang out and, and unplug a little bit and just enjoy the simple things in life.

[A]

So I love that. I know. I knew that you do that every year. You pick a different location in the world and you just go spend a month there. I love that you do it with your kids. And that's going to be what's so cool. As they grow up, they'll just be like, seeing all these cultures and like, variety of life. Like, you're saying, like, Japan's so different than southern Utah, you know, and that's really what could expand your vision of the world. So, like, that's such a cool thing to offer your family.

[B]

Thanks, man. Thanks, man. It's all possible, obviously, because of real estate. So we're stoked, stoked to this podcast. Stoked it with you, Joe. Excited to, like, we have an incredible lineup of just different guests that we're already gonna have on. Honestly, all of it is just to give you, like, the tools, the knowledge, the motivation, whatever you call it, to get you to the next level, to get you started to building more ultimately freedom in your life to do what you want to do, where you want to do it, with who you want to do it, and just live, live a maxed out life and go accomplish your maxed out potential.

[A]

Amen, man. Like, that's really what it's about for me as well. It's about freedom, because that's whatever you want to create it. You know, having financial freedom will allow you to have physical freedom and emotional freedom because you can, can use your time and resources to make everything else in your life better if you have the time and the money to pursue those other things. And so all forms of freedom can be expanded through financial freedom.

[B]

And I don't know a better way.

[A]

To do that than real estate. And that's why I'm so stoked to be a part of this and to be able to share it and meet people and have all the listeners be able to kind of get a taste of what we've been lucky enough to get a taste of in our lives and just keep building it for everybody.

[B]

Sweet, man. Well, until next week. Why don't you get us out of here?

[A]

All right, well, this is Joe Jensen signing off for the Real Estate Investing School and just reminding you to go and make your life of freedom.