Humility, Art, and Real Assets — How Lou Green Builds Trust and Outsized Returns

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Amazing Authorities Podcast

Episode: Humility, Art, and Real Assets — How Lou Green Builds Trust and Outsized Returns
Host: Mitch Carson
Guest: Lou (Luis) Green
Date: February 25, 2026

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Episode Overview

This insightful episode explores the remarkable journey of Lou Green, a real estate investor and entrepreneur, from his humble beginnings in foster care to building a thriving investment business characterized by humility, creativity, and a unique approach to real assets and art. Host Mitch Carson guides the conversation as Lou shares lessons learned, the power of family, innovative investment strategies, and the profound importance of staying connected to one's roots.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Humble Beginnings and the Power of Staying Grounded

[02:34-04:13]

• Lou shares his early life in foster care, surviving 11 homes between ages 10–13, and literally sleeping on the streets of San Diego with his mother and brother.
• Quote:
  "Never be so far removed from where you've been that you forget what it was to be there. Stay humble. Stay humble."
  — Lou Green [02:37]
• He speaks about being adopted at 13 by an elementary school teacher, Ms. Green, whose name he now bears.
• The emotional impact of his journey is not lost on either host or guest. Mitch recognizes the gravity, saying,
  "That almost brings me to an emotional moment. Those are humble beginnings... Very few are from lying on a curb and then going through all of these homes."
  — Mitch Carson [03:54]

2. Early Adulthood: Military Service and Self-Discovery

[05:12–07:25]

• After high school and a period of "flip-flopping," Lou joins the Navy at 20, serving six years.
• Highlights the military’s role in stripping away the past and enabling personal reinvention.
• Quote:
  "You have the ability to reinvent yourself or find out who you’re going to be in that following season. That was probably one of the biggest takeaways."
  — Lou Green [06:50]

3. Entering Real Estate: From E-commerce to Property Investment

[07:25–09:09]

• Lou leveraged the GI Bill to purchase and scale up homes for his growing family—a crucial stepping stone into real estate.
• With his brother and cousin, he established Arbit Group, growing annual real estate transactions to a projected $250 million.

4. Building the Business & Unique Investment Model

[09:09–14:00]

• The trio’s partnership evolved, leading Lou to found Arbit Capital Partners, raising and diversifying investment capital.
• Innovative use of art as a hedge in real estate investments—purchasing blue-chip art (notably, nine pieces by Andres Valencia).
• Memorable Insight:
  "Blue chip art... the annual growth on that is 10.4%... So if our fund is a seven-year fund, that means every year we're actually growing steadily at a 7.4% on the art piece. And we own nine of them."
  — Lou Green [12:10]
• Art functions both as a value-growing asset and as collateral for loans, mitigating project risk.

5. Creative Financing: Equity Partnerships for Developers

[14:00–16:52]

• Arbit Group offers early-stage capital to developers, acting almost like an "angel investor" for real estate.
• Instead of traditional hard-money loans, they take equity positions, guiding inexperienced developers while sharing risk and potential rewards.
• Quote:
  "If it’s a great project and we really trust the sponsor or the developer, it can be a really, really beautiful partnership."
  — Lou Green [15:58]
• This model allows Arbit Group to step in, finish, or repurpose projects if developers default.

6. Cultural Identity and Communication

[18:12–24:17]

• Lou’s first language was Spanish, only learning English starting in fourth grade when he began formal education.
• He discusses using "Lou" professionally for simplicity, due to the complex story and reactions his full name generated, especially in the “family office” world.
• Challenges of conducting business in Spanish versus English—technical language often eludes even fluent speakers.
• Lively banter around Spanish vs. English fluency, cultural assumptions, and the origins of Lou's surname.

7. Investment Returns and Creative Deal Structuring

[24:17–28:31]

• Arbit Group’s internal rate of return (IRR) sits at an impressive 37% over the last 15 projects.
• Lou provides a real assemblage deal example—combining neighboring lots for a larger development, compensating sellers with equity in the project rather than cash, enabling tax and logistical advantages.
• Memorable Example:
  "They contributed a $4 million piece of property and in exchange... what they wanted was the penthouse."
  — Lou Green [27:28]
• This arrangement allows profit, deferred taxes, and long-term strategic benefits for contributors.

8. The Airbnb Factor & Market Disruption

[28:31–30:00]

• Lou uses Airbnb to supplement cash flow on properties with good margins, but doesn’t rely on it as a primary revenue stream.
• Observes the ongoing disruption of the hospitality industry (like Uber for taxis)—the outcome for Airbnb remains to be seen, especially amid regulatory pushback.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Humility:
  "Stay humble. Never get too far from your roots." — Lou Green [02:37]

• On Art as Investment:
  "Blue-chip art... has an annual return of 10.4%. We use that to mitigate risk and can even take out loans against it if we need to." — Lou Green [12:06]

• On Early Real Estate Success:
  "Arbit Group itself... [is] projected [for] almost $250 million in total real estate transactions." — Lou Green [09:13]

• On Family and Trust:
  "The trio: me, my brother, and my cousin Artie." — Lou Green [04:32]

• On Creative Investing:
  "We invest in equity position... Most people, anytime I've ever told a developer... they say 'no way, that's crazy.' If it's a great project... it can be a really, really beautiful partnership." — Lou Green [15:40]

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Important Timestamps

• Early Life and Foster Care: [02:34–04:13]
• Adoption and Military Service: [05:12–07:25]
• Real Estate Journey Begins: [07:25–09:09]
• Business Growth; Arbit Group & Art Investment: [09:09–14:00]
• Equity Funding Model Explained: [14:00–16:52]
• Cultural Identity & Communication: [18:12–24:17]
• Creative Real Estate Deals & High Returns: [24:17–28:31]
• Airbnb and Market Disruption: [28:31–30:00]
• Contact Information & Episode Wrap: [30:10–31:44]

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Lou Green’s Contact Info

• LinkedIn: Lou Green
• Email: [e-mail] or [e-mail]

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Tone, Style, and Takeaways

Lou comes across as grounded, open, and passionate about using innovative, creative strategies to maximize and secure returns. Throughout, both Mitch and Lou keep a conversational, humorous, and candid tone, exchanging personal stories and business wisdom. At its core, the episode is about never forgetting where you came from, the value of family and trust, and applying creativity (from leveraging art to structuring deals) to build resilient, impact-driven wealth.

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For listeners seeking inspiration, tactical investment knowledge, and an authentic founder’s perspective, this episode delivers both heart and high-level business insight.

Transcript

[Mitch Carson]

Welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast, where game changers, visionaries, and category leaders share how they built their brands, platforms, and global influence. Your host is Mitch Carson, international speaker, media strategist, and creator of the Instant Authority system. If you're ready to learn from those who've done it and want to become the go to expert in your space, you're in the right place.

Lewis Green is here today. I'm in Thailand, and Lewis is in beautiful San Diego, California. Welcome to the show today, Louis.

[Lou Green]

Thanks, Mitch. Well, let me just start off by saying I am honored without a doubt. I was listening to some of your podcasts. You're fantastic. I mean, given the fact that you're over, what, over 175 episodes in now.

[Mitch Carson]

Yeah.

[Lou Green]

So that's huge. You have your book, you're on NBC. Oh, man. I'm just. I'm really the one that should be honored to be even talking to you. So I'm excited for it.

[Mitch Carson]

I'm glad you're patently waiting.

[Lou Green]

Yeah.

[Mitch Carson]

Well, we had a good little pre chat, which we won't discuss on the air, which is good.

[Lou Green]

It's all part of. Was wonderful.

[Mitch Carson]

Glad you're here. So you're a bicoastal guy. You. You go you from Florida to San Diego, California, but you're a San Diego native, correct?

[Lou Green]

Yeah, born and raised in San Diego.

[Mitch Carson]

All right. And yeah, you sound a lot more San Diego than you do Florida.

[Lou Green]

There's a whole in between the bros

[Mitch Carson]

and dudes and the dude and I. I mean, you probably surfed at one time, if I'm to speculate, because I'm a former for myself from Santa Monica.

[Lou Green]

Oh, I did?

[Mitch Carson]

Yeah.

[Lou Green]

Oh, wow. Yeah.

[Mitch Carson]

Yeah. I surfed all up the coast and Hawaii at one time, and that was a part of my deal. And I had hair your length and at one time as well.

[Lou Green]

Then, you know, I can see it.

[Mitch Carson]

Oh, dude, I can get rid of

[Lou Green]

it with his locks. Oh, yeah.

[Mitch Carson]

And I flipped it to one side, so I'm just envious that you still have it.

[Lou Green]

So I. I lost that at 60 anything. You're doing great, man. You look fantastic.

[Mitch Carson]

Thank you. Thank you. So. So, Louis, you've got humble beginnings. You're now a successful business person in a couple categories. You embraced e commerce and then your journey. What have you learned along the way?

[Lou Green]

So I'd say one of the biggest takeaways, if I had to pass away today and just leave something, and it would be the fact that never be so far removed from where you've been that you forget what it was to be there. Stay humble. Stay humble. So I honestly, I think about that. So I was in foster care. I grew up in foster care. At the age of 13, actually was adopted. Went into foster care at the age of 10, went through 11 different foster homes in a matter of two years.

[Mitch Carson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lou Green]

So about every other year went through. There's a. There's a little documentary out there. Yes. Reviewers want to check it out. I'm sure we could put a link down for them. And so literally, when we talk about humble beginnings in San Diego, literally, I remember me, my mom, and my little brother laying on the curb, sleeping in downtown San Diego, which is kind of like a really beautiful full picture when you think about I was laying on the curb. And now we get to truly change the skyline of San Diego.

[Mitch Carson]

Man, that almost brings me to an emotional moment. I mean, yes, that, that's, that those are humble beginnings. And this is before you went to the foster homes, I presume when you were with your mom. It was just you, your mom and your little brother, who's now. And is he part of your business today?

[Lou Green]

He is. Him and my cousin, who we ended up finding him years and years, years later. Biological cousin. Him and my brother became partners in orbit. And then along the way, I ended up investing into the company, embodied as a partner as well.

[Mitch Carson]

So.

[Lou Green]

So the trio, me, my brother, and my cousin Artie.

[Mitch Carson]

That's fantastic. And I want to back up because I think people can relate to where you were and where you are today. All right, so you're successful today. All right, great. There are a lot of rags to riches stories. Very few are from lying on a curb and then going through all of these homes. So when you were 18, you became an adult. Technically, but you've got. You had some trauma there. It had to have. We've all experienced what we've experienced before become adult. What did you do at 18?

[Lou Green]

So, well, we'll start at 13. I was adopted by a single 27 year old elementary school teacher, Ms. Green, which is where Louise Green comes from.

[Mitch Carson]

Oh, okay.

[Lou Green]

And so 18 years old, about to graduate, end up getting. Coming out of high school. Just kind of flip flop my way through the next year to two years. Did a little bit of college. Really. I just went to have fun. I did a bunch of electives. If I ever had to go back to college, let's just say Mitch, I wouldn't have to do any electives. My PE courses are done. Okay. And then I really hit my stride when I decided I Wanted to do something different. I was like, I need to get out of here and figure out, you know, I need to grow up. And I ended up going to the Navy.

[Mitch Carson]

Oh.

[Lou Green]

So I went into the Navy for six years at the age of, I think at that point I was 20, about to turn 21 when I went in.

[Mitch Carson]

Any regrets or do you think it was a good learning experience for you?

[Lou Green]

Good learning experience. There's definitely a lot of challenges in it because what you realize it's for me, what I really gained out of it is that I was looking to find out who I was. And what the military does a great job of doing is they strip out your previous self so who you think you are, it's all gone. They take you from where you lived, they put you in a relocate in a different place so you're not associated with your friends and family that you're normally used to being your common self or your old self. And it really allows you to flourish and say, okay, now that I'm not bound by my previous mannerisms or expectations of mannerisms, who do I want to be? And you have the ability to reinvent yourself or find out who you're going to be in that following season. And that was probably one of the biggest takeaways. So I wouldn't say there was regrets in it. There's challenges, but those challenges definitely I wouldn't call them regrets.

[Mitch Carson]

Now, were you able to use your GI Bill for your current business to help buy properties or your first property, did that help being a serviceman or.

[Lou Green]

It did so when we, well it started even before even having my E Commerce company. So me and my previous wife, we had purchased our first little house and then from there we moved and we had our first little baby. So we moved further away into a better neighborhood. We did it again and then we actually got our third house. And that's kind of how we really progressed in real estate of like understanding the markets. So with those three houses there's a couple different case scenarios where you're allowed to use it multiple times in regards to not having to do your down payment or your house. And it's if you move a certain amount of miles away and or if in lieu you have life changes. So example expanding in family size would a lot from you going from a two bedroom or three bedroom and needing a fourth bedroom or fifth bedroom or sixth or so on and so forth. Luckily we had four kids, so total of six of us. So a six bedroom house didn't sound out of the ordinary for that to

[Mitch Carson]

be covered and that allowed you to scale up.

[Lou Green]

Yep.

[Mitch Carson]

And where have you taken your company since you said you you rejoin or circle back to your brother and your cousin and they were in partnership and then you joined them and then where's the business gone? How long has that journey been since you went and found your brother again?

[Lou Green]

So. Well, we found. Me and my brother were together through the foster care the whole time. But my cousin came into the picture back a little bit into high school. But we all started doing business together roughly eight years ago. Okay. At that time it was solely passively for me as a very entry level friends and family investor. And since then it's grown to Arbit Group itself has grown to over annually. Almost 250 is projected for the year. In 250 million in total real estate transactions. That's not at profits or on the books, but just in transactions altogether in the pipeline. And from there I actually started a real estate investment company. So what we did there is we started Arbit Capital Partners, which is I'm the CEO and founder of the company and or the partner in the company. And what we do there is we actually raise the capital from that sec from that sector and we deployed into different real estate projects. Sometimes it will be deployed into Arbit groups projects. But what this did is it allowed me to have the diversity to place into a bunch of different projects and then also diversify what we actually put our money into. Good example for anybody out there who likes art. We are art collectors. So the fund actually hosts or we purchased nine of Andres Valencia. You can Google the Katie's world renowned famous. Jake Paul has his stuff. Yeah, so he was on the Jake Paul show. He was on the Jimmy Kimmel show. They call him little Picasso and he's actually a dear friend of one of my dear friends, which is how we got connected with his artwork. So we have nine of his pieces. And so we use the art to mitigate the risk by using 25% or up to 25% of the total capital raised to buy art. So if, let's say we deploy the capital into a project with a developer and the developer flung so they get stuck on the project and they need additional capital. Well, we can take over the project and without liquidating any of the assets, we can take a loan against the art because it acts exactly like a really it's an asset. So we'll take a look at the art which crazy enough, you're about to get floored. Anybody out there is gonna get floored. Blue Chip art or art like on this alonz is the annual growth on that is 10.4% annual return. This is historically along all blue chip art.

[Mitch Carson]

I had no idea. I had no idea.

[Lou Green]

So if our fund, so if our fund is a seven year fund, that means every year we're actually growing steadily at a 7.4% on the art piece. Right. And we own nine of them. They each go for roughly 150 to 250,000 per art piece. Right. So we can use that to take loans up if in the case that we need to. Now that's never what we want to do. That's. But it does help mitigate the risk. So let's say somehow we get. It's a hedge we're hedging against. Yeah.

[Mitch Carson]

I love it. I had no idea about art. I know so little about it. I, I feel so uncultured. Oh my gosh.

[Lou Green]

I must say it's super neat. It really is super cool. Like our art was actually so Art Basel Basil in Miami. Uhhuh. It's a huge. It's actually the third largest art expo in the world. Valencia's art was one of the largest auctions and everything was fully sold out last year. So our artwork is actually featured there too. So it's just really cool. Just, I don't know, it's just fun. It makes the whole for investors when you say, hey, just to let you guys know, these artworks that we just purchased ahead, we're also going to exhibit them at like the Humex, which is a world renowned art gallery in Mexico. We're going to have that. And when that goes there, it actually grows in value. It's similar to saying hey, we're going to grab the project, this house that's in the slumps of San Diego and we're going to put it in Beverly Hill. We're just going to relocate it. Just by placing it in a different place, it just grows in value arts the same way.

[Mitch Carson]

I had no idea. Well, that's an education. So you, you said something I want to bring up for people that are listening and or watching us. You invest where people can't get hard money loans possibly or they can't get traditional loans. Instead you'll take an equity position. Tell us about that. Because that's a unique way or a special way for people that may not have the credit history or if you see the value in the investment, that's something that makes your background unique and helpful.

[Lou Green]

So the way we came up with the concept really was doing it Ourselves, right? So being developers and going along the process ourselves, the hardest piece to be able to raise capital for the most challenging is really that inception piece, which is either acquiring the land to do the project, whether or maybe publish where it's entitlements, legal, architect and engineering. So all those things are really, really expensive. And so what we do is we partner with the developers, especially if they're early on. We really love that. It's almost like angel investing for developers. If you're early on, you need some guidance, you need some help. You get that piece because we're experienced in it. But then also the front end is you get us as an equity partner. So what happens is we'll get through architect, engineer, legal entitlement and we can repackage that, right? So we'll repackage that as a package. And then since we have the experience, we can take that to private equity, which that's how we get our construction loans. And that way we can truly fully help the developer get the project fully vertical. But what makes it interesting, the only way it works is if you have an initial equity position at the front end to help you in actually creating that type of package. So that makes it super unique. So most people, anytime I've ever told developer, oh yeah, we invest in equity position, like no way. That that's crazy. Like, I mean they now we vet these projects because there's a lot to come in. But if it's a great project and we really trust the sponsor or the developer and it can be a really, really beautiful partnership.

[Mitch Carson]

And for your investors, they probably sleep better knowing that you have an equity piece. And I would imagine there's some security in that. Knowing that they can sleep at night, that their money isn't just loaned, it's like, hey, I own this. And if they don't, if they default, we can come in and take care of the situation or manage the situation and turn it profitable.

[Lou Green]

Absolutely. Yeah, we can take over the project, we can finish a project, we could bring another developer into a project. Since we're developers ourselves, we can fully execute the project ourselves. So it's just really utilizing our set skills already and just being able to maximize on those. If you, in case of a worst case scenario, we obviously don't want that and we don't bank on that. And it's never favorable. I mean there is a lot of risk in it. But by mitigating some of that risk, investors really do. You said it right, they sleep better.

[Mitch Carson]

Well, you get to screen people closely, you're experienced in this sector. So you know what you're looking for. And if you can help, be big brother for these people who may have a dream. You're bringing that dream into reality where they can't get funded somewhere else. You cover yourself and you're helping them where others won't. And that's a win win in the, in the true sense. You're helping people. Is your heart still this little boy or young man that was on the street? Do you, are you involved with helping? What's, what's your motivation at a core level with, with Lewis Green, Is it Louise or Louis?

[Lou Green]

So it's Louise. I go by Lou. Okay. I'll tell you why he goes by Lou. So anytime I would meet. Well, when I first started going to these family office events, I'm part of a family office club. And for those who don't know, family office is just, it's a, It's a group of people that are really like minded and they manage huge family wealth.

[Mitch Carson]

Oh.

[Lou Green]

So for example, my. One of my dear friends, Rich, he manages a very well known billionaire a percentage of his money, he manages it and he deploys it into projects kind of like ours. So that's what family offices are. So but in the family office space, I would meet people and just like day one, hey, how's it going? My name is Luis Green. And I'm like, oh, Lewis. And I said, no, no, it's Luis, like Latin. And they said, but your last name is Green, like white. Right. And so then I'd explain. Well, the reason my last name is Green is because I was adopted when I was 13 and then became this big intricate story where like I just met somebody and they knew I was adopted and it just became funny. So along the way I started just going by Lou Green because people less red flags, less questions. And Lou's single syllable made it really simple for people to remember.

[Mitch Carson]

Okay.

[Lou Green]

But people that, people that know me really, really well, they'll always call me Luis. But most 99 of the people call me Lou now.

[Mitch Carson]

So was your first language Spanish?

[Lou Green]

It was. Actually. I didn't speak English until the fourth grade, which was also my first grade of school. I didn't go to school until the fourth grade.

[Mitch Carson]

Wow. Wow.

[Lou Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mitch Carson]

Mexicano.

[Lou Green]

Mexicano. So Latino. Latino.

[Mitch Carson]

Okay.

[Lou Green]

Yeah. Which means my mom's from Spain.

[Mitch Carson]

I know. Okay, got it, got it. Well, that, that I was brought up in by. I grew up in Los Angeles, so my second language is Spanish, but I would call it Mexican Spanish compared to English. Spain. Well, I read it and write it quite well. Speaking it, I haven't. Yes. That means I understand everything for people who are listening. Yeah, we just went in a little bit of Spanish deal there, but I

[Lou Green]

was, I didn't know.

[Mitch Carson]

Okay, so. So you've got the Spanish background or so Lou, I thought, Lou Green. I was thinking you're just some white dude I didn't know well, and then

[Lou Green]

you get a Jesus look alike comes on there.

[Mitch Carson]

Yeah, well, you know something? I didn't know if I was going to bring you some bread. You know, we were going to have our last supper.

[Lou Green]

Whatever works great.

[Mitch Carson]

So do you, do you. So that gives you that flexibility. So you're able to talk to Spanish speaking investors as well, because that's your first language. What do you speak at home?

[Lou Green]

We speak English.

[Mitch Carson]

Okay.

[Lou Green]

So it's, it's kind of interesting. So as I was going through the foster care system and then going into school, my, my goal was obviously to learn English.

[Mitch Carson]

Okay.

[Lou Green]

So I would even say now, as you know, 35 year old, it's. My English is superior to my Spanish now. And all of my Spanish, or most of it is very conversational Spanish. So business Spanish is very different. We'll give a good example. I said, if we're, if I'm in sales. And I said, hey, how's it going? Can you okay the paperwork as opposed to saying can you sign the contract like those. That verbiage is different. So saying it in Spanish, I use what I call the yuck words, which it's not very finesse, it's very direct because that's kind of how conversational Spanish is in business. It's just, can you sign the contract as opposed to can you okay the paperwork? So it, I would say it definitely is more challenging to try to sell or speak business in Spanish for me than it is in English. But I could definitely fumble my way through it.

[Mitch Carson]

Oh, but I had to do a video series with a Mexican veterinary doctor and her first language was Spanish. And I'm conversational. I mean, I went, studied, I lived in Latin America for a bit. But when you get in the technical language, I was so tongue tied and I didn't know body parts on a dog to explain. How do you talk about a split? I couldn't, I didn't know a spleen from a liver. And explaining all this in Spanish. And with the dog, I could get by order food, converse, listen to the news. But when you get into the specifics, there's a difference between being fluent and bilingual.

[Lou Green]

Right, yeah, big difference.

[Mitch Carson]

And the gap is wide. And you. I realized, oh, I was so limited and I just had to halt the, the recording. I felt very small at that point.

[Lou Green]

Yeah, I couldn't.

[Mitch Carson]

And I thought, man, I got a lot to learn. I am not bilingual. I'm fluent in Spanish with an accent. Very proud of my gringo accent, but not bilingual, you know, so you just have to sort of learn that language. So when it applies to business, you better know your language, you better know the terms. I mean, there are a couple like you mentioned, investor returns. What kind of investor returns are people looking at when they invest with your, your, your fund?

[Lou Green]

Yeah. So our internal rate of return, which would be irr. Which funny enough, I don't know how to say that in Spanish, but nevertheless.

[Mitch Carson]

Well, hence my point.

[Lou Green]

Google away.

[Mitch Carson]

We'll stay with English on that, Lou.

[Lou Green]

Yeah, yeah. So then aren't average internal rate of return for Arbit group has been 37% within the last 15 projects.

[Mitch Carson]

Wow.

[Lou Green]

So it's really, really high. But I'd say the reason it's, it's we really are super creative in how we, we structure our deals. And then secondly, we love assemblage deals. So assemblage is, let's say for example, we did creative finance and then an assemblage at the same time. So what that means is I'll give you a real world scenario, something that we actually did.

[Mitch Carson]

Sure.

[Lou Green]

So we bought a lot and in that lot there was a couple other lots on either side. Right. Four to be exact. So what we did is we approached those other homeowners, we gave them a sweet killer deal that they couldn't refuse. And so technically we were able to assemble a lot where now we're going to turn that into a three story townhome that's going to have beautiful skyline views of downtown San Diego. It's going to have the airport coming in. It's gorgeous. Right. So with some of those, with some of the. Now the creative piece in it is for some of the sellers, we allowed them to, for us not to have to hold the cost on the property. So what they did is they contributed that property as equity into the project. So instead of paying them 1.2 for their property, they invested 1.2 into the project. So now since it's paid off for them, we're able to take that property and we don't have to have the holding costs on it. So that's where you get creative financing.

[Mitch Carson]

And the taxes matter too, because they didn't have to pay any tax when they slid it in. So there they looked at, hey, what's the bottom line here? I think people overlook the tax ramifications a lot, especially in California. Oh my gosh.

[Lou Green]

Yeah. And what it does is it also gives them a lot of stability and preparation time. Because if we're to take over it today, well, they would move out today. Right. As opposed to, we have 18 months or so for entitlement, either way. So it allows them an 18 month time frame to really fully prepare and feel comfortable on how they're going to move forward. Sometimes what we'll do is we'll build it in and we'll say, hey, you know, what we'll do is we'll afford you this property over here that we own. It's an Airbnb, but we'll let you stay in it for X amount of time just to sweeten up the deal, to make it easier for them. Sometimes we had another person that they actually contributed a $4 million piece of property and in exchange what they wanted was the penthouse. So they alleviate, I mean, as far as tax, tax friendly options, they literally contributed their land as equity. So there was no true sale. Right. Because there are partners in the project at this point, we were going up vertically, five stories. They have a penthouse that they're going to exchange their equity. So there will never be a change of funds. Right. So they'll exchange their equity for the 6.4, I think, million dollar penthouse, which technically was three penthouses that they took all the walls down and created into a single dwelling unit.

[Mitch Carson]

Right.

[Lou Green]

So now it's a homestead and they'll hold it for three years and then they'll sell it as a, the primary residence. So they'll pretty much cash out. They could put the walls back in or whatever they want to do at that point, but they'll probably cash out at seven point change on that property without having to pay capital gains on it, which is incredible. I mean, I'm a tax person. I'm sure they consulted their tax professional. And I don't know how they do it exactly, but I just know that that was his incentive. And I just thought it was really beautiful how, I mean, it really is pretty neat.

[Mitch Carson]

No, that's great. And then you also have Airbnbs. You're, you're calling in right now from one of your Airbnbs in San Diego and has that been a profitable venture? I mean, there's been a lot of talk about Airbnbs and I think it's the Marriott Group or Is it Sheraton that's behind? They. They don't. They've lost money because of Airbnb, so they're doing everything, the lobby against it. What do you see happening in the Airbnb space?

[Lou Green]

I mean, it's definitely becoming more and more challenging for California residents just in general. But let's say, for example, I think it's very similar to, let's say, Uber and taxi cabs, traditional. Then there's a disruptor, and this disruptor, obviously, from Uber's perspective, has absolutely annihilated. So which way it's going to go in regards to Airbnbs, I'm not really sure, but for us, really, the Airbnbs, we do it just to add cushion to something that already has a lot of margin on it already. So whether it rents out or doesn't rent out, it doesn't really change really that much for us, but it is a way for us just to get additional capital along that time frame. So we don't really bank on it as far as Arbit Group, we don't bank on having to get that capital, but it is something that's just like a nice cushion. It just kind of adds to what

[Mitch Carson]

we do, a little bit of cash flow. Oh, cool.

[Lou Green]

Yeah,

[Mitch Carson]

Louise, I'll say. Well, you got Lou Green here.

[Lou Green]

Now we're friends.

[Mitch Carson]

Okay, bud, so I'll just call you Louise. Where can people get in touch with you if they want to be investors and have some great returns? Like you talked about, your internal rate of return of 37%. Boy, that's a. That's a steak dinner or two.

[Lou Green]

Oh, maybe three. Maybe three. So as far as social media, the only thing I actually have is LinkedIn. Okay. So you can. You can find me on LinkedIn, which. Lou Green. That's Lou Green. Light the color. Or they can send an email to teams T E A M S at Arbit, A R b e t partners.com or [e-mail] as well.

[Mitch Carson]

Great.

[Lou Green]

Or honestly, they could probably reach out to you, and if they're in San Diego or Florida, we could just meet up for lunch and make it easy.

[Mitch Carson]

There you go. There you go. Well, that's fantastic, Louise. You've been a great guest today. Muchas gracias, amigo. And thank you very much, my friend, and I wish you the best. And if I were back in the U.S. man, I would invest for sure, because I. I would. I know it's very hard to get 37 return, and there's nothing more safe than real estate. There's something that's tangible. It's a lot more interesting to me than crypto, which I. I don't understand.

[Lou Green]

I agree. I agree. All right. Well, Mitch, thank you so much for letting me be on the show. And what an honor. Incredible. Thank you.

[Mitch Carson]

Thanks for tuning in to the Amazing Authorities podcast. If today's episode inspired you, take a moment to subscribe, rate and leave a review. It helps more experts like you rise to the top for behind the scenes access and free resources to boost your authority. Head to MitchCarson.com until next time, stay amazing.