AIRBNB NIGHTMARE: Ghost Caught on Camera! 👻 How to Protect Your Property + Hygiene Tips for Women

Welcome to the real estate newsroom. Today's headlines team. We got paranormal activity. I don't believe in this stuff, but we actually have proof of it in this headline. So let's get to it. Now. Explain this to me.

So this is one of my Airbnb's. After the tenants left, and it seems like they left a ghost in my house.

They left a ghost in your house?

That is what you call an orb.

And it's orb, orb, orb.

And in the paranormal world, it's a sport, spiritual entity that has encompassed your home. And this video was taken maybe two years ago. And to this day, I still. I still get. There's something moving in your kitchen, dining room to this day, and it's that same orb.

Could you play that again one more time for the audience? Guys, let's watch this. This is called an orb. O, R, B. Looks to me like a flashlight. Somebody just got a flashlight waving it around. Could that be like an alarm clock? Maybe Something came on the TV and you don't know what's going on?

No, the people who are familiar with the paranormal world, they know that that is definitely an orb. And there's also a tail on the orb. Does that make it more powerful? I think it's making.

Let's watch it one more time. A tail?

Like.

Like Casper?

Yeah, it's like a tail on it. It's supposed to be more present, more extreme. Yeah, I think so.

I don't see. I'm just being subjective. I don't see a tail on that. That looks like a circle.

You don't see the.

That's a reflection.

No, no. If you. If you go back to the portion.

Guys, drop in the comments right now. Do you believe this is paranormal activity or is this just somebody with a flashlight? So go ahead one more time. Let's watch it one more time. Because I just don't believe in this stuff. But. But I can be convinced. So.

So you can see the little. The light at the. Right here. You see that? So again, that's called a tail. So that's like a definite presence in the paranormal world. So when this happened, I was actually at a party and I was looking at my phone like, what is it? And so I have a Karen for a neighbor at this particular property. So I called my neighbor on the other side and said, hey, girl, do you think Karen is. Got a flashlight in my house? Can you get your husband to go check? And she hit me back. She said, no, there's nobody out there. And I sent her the video and she Said, I have no idea what that is. And so. So I looked it up, and it's a orb. And again, to this day, still have that same orb show up in my house.

That has to be the craziest moment on the real estate newsroom that I have ever seen. I am not confirming or denying any of this stuff to be true or false. Just get it off of me. Get it off me. Get it off of me. It's on me. It's on me. All right, let's get into it. Thank you for coming. Let's introduce yourself to the real estate newsroom audience. Right there.

Okay. I'm Jasmine Brown. I'm originally from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and I've been in Houston about eight years now. Currently a project manager for land use for utilities and Airbnb owner and also a new entrepreneur for feminine hygiene products.

Let's go. I love it. All right, Jasmine, so let's get right to it. Special shout out to Melanie for having you here. I appreciate it. And Melanie is just like the perfect PR person and the plug for anything, MS, anything in the South. She covers Atlanta. She's so connected. Anything in the South. And now she's making her way to the Northeast. So shout out to Melanie Sanders. All right, let's touch on this Airbnb thing and this orb. Now, would you consider that thing behind you an orb? Cause it looks like. It looks a little orb ish to me. You see that, right, bro? What? So you saying the newsroom got an orb?

No, that is a graphic design. That is not an orb.

Okay, all right, so there's a difference.

There's a difference.

Okay, cool. So now. So you. Is that one of the Airbnbs that you currently have?

Yes, it is.

So you out here renting an Airbnb with a ghost in it.

I mean, here's the thing. I moved back into that Airbnb briefly, and again, the orb was showing up, but I didn't feel any negativity. I never felt scared. And one night I just went down there and, you know, slapped the camera because I was like. But the orb was still there, you know, so if I felt it was any negative impacts, I wouldn't have anyone in the home. But. But, yes, it's. It's just an orbit. It's a peaceful spirit. And in my opinion, the last group that left, the one I have a horror story about, the last group that left, they said their father passed away, and that's why they had to leave. So I think it's the dad maybe, you know, Snooping around, thinking that their. Their people, his people are still there. So that's just my opinion. That's just a story for me to feel better about it. But certainly you looking at me crazy, but there's a whole community of paranormal activity group. Seriously, it is.

I believe you.

Yes.

I just don't believe that there are Airbnb owners out here. Written haunted Airbnb. And it's not in the listing. So you. Do you list that?

Yes. Well, no, no, no. List that it's a active orb in the kitchen? No, I do not.

All right, look, everybody in the comments, she said it's peaceful. So. So me personally, my opinion is I'm okay with it if it's peaceful and nothing happens when it's on camera. She sees a little something. But now just keep it all the way real with us. Don't you think you should put that in the list in a little bit?

No, I don't. Because again, if it's something that's peaceful, it's not disturbing anything. It's just. It's just the spirit that comes to the kitchen in my dining room, and it doesn't do anything. So I don't think it's necessary. And here's the thing. There may be an orb in your house, but you may not have it, the camera directed to where it may come to. Because orbs typically come to the same place, the same do the same activity. People at home, you may have one. You know, it's just. Do you catch it on camera or not?

And your orb you catch on camera?

I call mine on camera several times.

All right, so do your tenant. Do your Airbnb guest ever see it?

No. So currently, of course, I'm not filming in the house. Cause it's tenants in the home. But before. Right, so. But before I had it re. Released, then, yeah, I did see the orb.

So you got it released?

Yes.

Well, why didn't you just say. Why you ain't tell us you got it released?

No, no, no.

Like, meaning, like, it's out the house?

No, no, no, no.

It's still in the house.

No, when I leased the property again, I had to remove the cameras. I can't watch the tenants. But before it was leased again for a third time, I. Of course I saw the orb reappear multiple times. Yeah.

All right. I'm kind of, like, speechless, but I want to learn about the Airbnb space, so I'm happy you got your Airbnb there. And what got you into Airbnb?

Honestly, I was looking for extra income. And I just took pictures and posted it. I didn't look at any podcasts, YouTube tutorials, nothing. I literally got a ring light and took pictures in all the rooms. Put it up. And the property is gorgeous. This, this one in particular, it's three bedroom, three bathroom. It's a cute town home style. It's a single family home, small yard, deck, and it has. It's like New Orleans style. It even has a balcony outside the bedroom.

What city?

Houston, Texas.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yes.

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Oh, yeah, let's take, let's take a look at that. Let's take a look at that and explain to us what's going on here.

Okay.

Okay. So first let me say, is that the toilet. That's the toilet tank in the master bedroom that was broken apart. So let me say Airbnb typically is like a hotel. You have someone come for a couple of days and then they leave. So that was going great. I was making excellent money from that. However, my HOA reached out to me and said, per the bylaws, hotels are not allowed. So I had to find a way to remedy that. So I only accepted requests that were six months or better, because you can't stop someone from renting out their home in general. So I got a gold mine. I had someone, a family of five, including an infant, who wanted to come in for eight Months. And I checked them out. They seemed legit. And I allowed them to rent. They paid on time. Even when they went over their electric allowance, they paid the additional. No problem. Communication was great. I never felt there was a reason that I needed to check on the house. Again, this is me just doing this with no type of new to being a landlord. Exactly, exactly.

Normally good payment, perfect payment history. You're assuming they're taking care of the house.

Right.

Okay, but I'm just gonna say that a cracked toilet isn't, from my experience in real estate, isn't that bad. That's not a horror story.

Oh, I can tell you the whole. Everything that was found.

So anyway, you got more pictures?

I sent in quite a few. So that's the couch.

Stains on the couch.

Stains on the couch.

They have kids though, right?

Red and green marker. Mm. So this is gonna be kids, essentially. Blinds torn up. Okay, so let me go down the list of everything.

My kids have broken a toilet and as babies, infants have written on the couch and the walls.

But that couch was destroyed. You can't use that couch. You can't even rent to another Airbnb with that.

That's.

That.

Yes.

That's ridiculous. Wear and tear, in my opinion.

So did Airbnb cover that or because it was more than six months? They did not.

No, no. So after the tenant leaves, Airbnb has a 14 day policy. It's called air cover. And they'll cover. I believe it's like 75% of damages. Right. And depreciated value in some things. So in this case, my refrigerator was broken. The dishwasher had ran water, and I had to get the toe boards from the island fixed. And also on the counters, there was a flea infestation because they had dogs in there and that was not allowed. The mattresses were soiled and ripped. These are just pictures that's not seen.

All right, so that has passed. The normal stuff that my kids would do, they go that far. And I don't have any pets. All right, what else? So did you take a big loss or did Airbnb cover that?

So here's the thing. Before I found out, the two major things that were broken was what? The dishwasher and refrigerator. Right. So everything else, like getting Stanley Steamer to come in, getting Orkin to come in, you know, get the fleas out, do all that stuff. All that stuff they covered up to 75% of. Right. So I felt pretty good about that. But when I get back in the home, and I'm finding now, because you only have 14 days to report.

Yeah.

What's. What happened? So after the 14 days, I'm smelling the refrigerator, and then I'm seeing the leak from the dishwasher. So it's too late. So those things that I had to replace out of pocket. 100%.

Okay.

Yeah.

Abdul, I'm gonna ask you, bro, like, that's common in real estate or is that a horror story now?

It says common.

Yeah. I'm not. I hate to say so. So somebody that's new. It's like. That's why I'm like, yeah, I would.

Say, sis, your appliances being broken too. Two major appliances broken.

So here's the thing. One thing that I take out immediately if I'm going to do a rental is a dishwasher. We don't do dishwashers.

You take it out.

We take it out completely.

Because I say I always get.

Yes, that's one of the things that people. They either misuse, they don't know how to use the right way, and leaks. So in a mobile home, one thing that's detrimental to us is water. So now it was out.

Everything underneath.

Absolutely. Immediately. So we learned from a lot of the different things we call horror stories. Learn from those.

So. So definitely research is what, Because I.

Didn'T put more nice. A nice cabinet in there, nice drawer with the soft slam, Soft clothes. They won't even know that. They. They won't even realize it's not a dishwasher going forward because they both looking at me like I'm crazy. I'm like, all right, so the couc messed up.

Cool.

It's cloth. The toilet's broken. I'm like, but where's the disaster? And look, she. Look at her face right now. She about to curse me out. She's like, what the hell? And I'm like, well, my kids will. They. Younger kids will write. They don't know better. They do. They will write on some stuff. But it's nice to have another landlord who's been around the block. It's bad. No, no, it's bad. It's bad. But it's not like horror.

Horror.

I've heard stories of cement and toilets and cement and pipes and in toilets to where they got to redo the whole plumbing. People leave mountains of clothes and trash in there. I don't see that. So that's a little. Little nightmare at this thing, but not horror story.

To put semen in a toilet is almost like revenge on the landlord.

Yeah, they do that. So they be mad. Tenants be mad. Tenants be Mad at landlords because they laid on their rent and they gotta get out. They know they're never gonna pay. Oh, you got some stuff over there. Right.

So let me tell you, I just posted yesterday of one of the people who put about a thousand holes inside of the home.

That's a horror story.

So now watch this. When you flip around, they put about a thousand holes inside it, but this is not even. Look at that.

Why? What so that.

I'm saying because they were late on your rent, mad they couldn't pay you, and they ransack the house, they try to damage the house. They just be mad.

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So, so, so for everybody out there, this is why I build and I sell. I do not want these problems. I've been through it all, I've heard it all, I've seen it all. And the real key to real estate is building properties and selling them. Abdul fixes, he flips, he out of there if he could do it from home remotely. Done deal. You collect so much of the rent money. So how much did you make a month on the Airbnb?

I was making about 3,300.

And did you have a mortgage or were you renting?

Yeah, it was a mortgage, but I got my mortgage at a 275 during the pandemic. So the. The return was excellent.

But now you took a huge L on dishwasher, couch, steamer, and all the other stuff you had to do.

Right, Right, Right.

So if not for your situation, but like, the concept behind building, developing and selling is that you get all that rent money up front and you don't have to deal with this. You don't got to deal with claims for Airbnb. You don't got to deal with, oh, you missed something because you didn't run the bath water for an hour to see that they really screwed that up too. And you get stuck with, like a really bad situation.

So you would recommend for the Airbnb for the two properties I have to sell them instead of.

It depends if you in them, you like them. It's fairly passive and you're making money. I don't know the Airbnb space. I want to learn it from you. I want you to teach me some of the stuff, but just from a landlord perspective. Landlording that toilet. Like, come on, we go get that toilet for 129 at Home Depot. Black Friday 99. And you don't got to get American Standard on Black Friday. You get a Delta toilet, maybe 149. 199, shout out to Home Depot and Delta guys, if you're out there, do not get American Standard. It's gonna break. Would you agree? All right. This is common knowledge. This is our first. This is our first real conversation. By the way, we hung out in the Tulsa, Oklahoma auction, and we just been chopping it up through Instagram. But like, you, when you took some Ls before, like, you know, and then you relate like, like, oh, you took hell of that before, too. Yeah, I did. And those are just your lessons to where you get to a space where if you can grab $50,000 and not deal with toilets, headaches, kids grab it. It's like, it's good money. You don't have to be the guy that owns a million doors or the woman that owns a million Airbnbs. There's tons of other ways to make money it. So I love it. But let's get back to the Airbnb space. What you like about it?

I like the air cover was a big deal. Right. Because if something is broken or taken, that they cover it. I also like the communication style. You don't have to have phone numbers. If there's eviction needed. They handle that. So it's almost like having a property manager, in a sense.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wait, so they handle evictions?

Yeah, they will. They will handle evictions, meaning hire an.

Attorney, start the process, the court proceeding, get them out.

I've never had to do it, so I can't speak on exactly all that they do. But a portion of eviction is. I don't know if it's all the. All the steps, but they do handle eviction.

That's pretty cool. Passive income. How much did it cost you to. So you have a three. It's a townhouse.

Yes.

How much did it cost you to furnish it?

So it was my. My primary home originally. So honestly, I can't answer because that's true.

I mean.

Yeah.

So that's why she heartbroken. That's why she. That's the horror story.

It was my.

She done had a housewarming. She, like, this is a family she. You bought. You owned the home. I knew there was something more. Right. I knew there was something more. I'm like, why you sounding so distraught? Like, welcome to being a landlord. But that was. That's your couch. You used to lay on that couch and watch YouTube with episodes and everything else.

Exactly.

All right, cool.

You found a lot of people that you knew they did that too, though, right? They had Airbnbs where they would. Their personal ones that they would rent out. Yeah. Instead of, you know, paying for storage. Right. A high storage fee just. You can get top dollar. Cause, see, if I didn't have those amenities in there. Right. 3300 wouldn't have happened in Houston at that time. It probably would have been maybe 24. So I'm missing $900. Right. For not having those things inside. I'm like, okay. Instead of, you know, then you got to pay a storage fee on top of that, you know, for storing your. So anyway, I thought it was a good idea, but sounds like it.

Here's how you may be able to get around it. Just do spot checks. Just do a spot check. Hey, you guys gonna have to stop your kids from doing writing on the stuff in here, because if it gets on the couch, it's not a leather couch. It can't be wiped off. I may have to charge you to replace the couch and then communication. So if the dishwasher doesn't work, you might have a warranty where you can call and stop it before it gets really bad. So just probably spot check more.

Yeah, I didn't do any of that because they were paying on time.

I know.

Yeah. Charles, did you have a landlord rule? And. And did you. Do you all have landlord rules? Like, something that you do that you can tell us when your landlord. One thing, number one, you're gonna do with your tenants a rule.

What you got up do.

Yeah. So one of the things is we do like a in person interview. So, like, a lot of times, some people, they just look at the income that they're making and be like, oh, my gosh, they make great income. Okay, cool. No, like, we do an in person interview, and sometimes it takes two to three rounds for us to actually accept that person. So we want to make sure that you're giving us a reference, and we actually reaching out to that reference right then and there on the spot. So. Because a lot of times people, they be, you know, it's fake. And then, you know, we call the previous person that they was living with. So we talk to everybody before we actually, like, allow that person to move in. Because we want to just like we talk about, you know, we want to make sure that we really get to know that person before they move into our homes. Then another thing that you do is you can give them an itemized list. Hey, if this is broken, this is how much it costs. If this is broken, this is how much it costs. So now somebody see, oh, my gosh, it's $300 for a Creon mark.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Junior gonna get a beating when he went on that wall. They'll be more careful.

Everything and what it costs, then guess what?

They take care of it.

They're gonna take care a little bit more. Because when they see a thousand dollars next to that brand new refrigerator, when they see all that, you're like, this is what you're gonna get hit with once we do. So there's a lot of things. We do a whole checklist. It's just like, probably I don't take up too much time before the pilot takes off. They have a whole checklist. They can't miss one thing. If they miss one thing or one thing is not correct by law, they cannot take the plane off. So you gotta make sure that you set a checklist, and if everything checks off, then you can move forward. If one thing don't check off, don't move forward.

But with Airbnb, can you do that or no?

Right. So you get the benefits when you do Airbnb, like I said, with air cover. But you don't get that opportunity because.

To interview.

Exactly. We want to stay this amount of days. They check them. They did a background check, and they're saying this is what they want. But I did have them also because of the length of time. I did have them sign, like, a general agreement, and I did that because of hoa. If they wanted to come back and say, oh, well, you're doing Airbnb. Well, I'm like, actually, you know, this is a right. This is an actual lease.

Okay, Right, Understood. Discernment. You have to. But with Airbnb, you don't really get a chance to meet and fill them out. I like to. Like Abdul said, I like to get to know people. I want to have several conversations. Some people say their boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, and I want to spend some time with them because oftentimes I've gotten stuck with renting an apartment to an abort to a boyfriend and girlfriend thinking that it's going to be two incomes and they're going to have enough, they break up right away, right? I want to see, like, can we have a conversation without y' all arguing? Like, you can tell who's, like, going last and who gonna make it and who's not gonna make it. You could almost tell by having conversations like that. Then you want to see how the kids behave. Like, can they control the kids? Can the kids, like, take a seat and have a while the parents are having a conversation. If not, they can't control the kids. In an interview with the owner, the chances of them being able to, like, control the kids inside the house where they're most comfortable are going to be very small, very slim. You got to check your references. I'm big on checking references as a formality to let them know you're serious about your place. However, I'm not big on believing references unless it's a major corporation, because sometimes they could give the number to, like, friends and family, and you're calling that, like, their cousin or their uncle or something. So I go a step further, and I want to see rental payment history through either canceled checks or bank statements. I like to look at that because that tells me more of a story than what you're telling me or your previous landlord. Like, if I could see on the 1st, and I'm fine with the 5th, 6th, or 7th, right? If I could see every single month consistent payments, that tells me way more than what you could tell me or your previous landlord, because tell me. So I really want to see that and then your pay stubs and things like that. So it's tough. It is a crapshoot on. On how they're going to take care of your place, though.

You.

It's almost luck because I had people that wrecked places that I thought were, like, the most decent tenant and they wrecked the place. And then I had people that I thought were like, wild, crazy, young Bobby and Whitney couples shout out to Bobby and Whitney, and they actually paid the rent on time and did everything co raise their kids there and their tenants for like, seven years now. So you really just have to use your. Use your gut along with the whole checks and balance system, right?

And see, I should have listened to something like this prior to. So, yes, that would be the word of advice to definitely do your research. That's what I gather from this.

So here's the other side of the coin, right? Uber, Airbnb, they have these apps in place to kind of help quell and eliminate discrimination. So there was a time where African Americans couldn't get a taxicab, right? In New York City, they wouldn't just stop for you, they stopped for other people first. The same thing with renting, with renting places, right? You get to choose who you rent to up front. We were like on the bottom of the preferred list. So like the apps kind of like now when you get an Uber, they probably don't get to see your face or what you look like or where you're going. So that kind of eliminated discrimination in that sense. And the same thing with housing. So six months, it's like, if I have the financial ability to pay and, and, and the app does their background check, I get to live there without you looking at me and saying, oh, that's a black male, two young kids, whatever, whoever else is in the household and say no. So I kind of, this is kind of double sided. You do take a risk with Airbnb and letting them do it for you. Just like an Uber driver takes the risk, he's gonna let belligerent, whatever person, and they don't know what they're getting. So it's give and take. And it sounds like with those apps you make more money than if you just rent it for. What's the going rent? Probably like 2000, 2500 right now without.

Anything in it, about 25.

So you may make an extra $800.

A month, something like that.

Yeah, not bad. So. So I like that as a house hack too. So here's just a quick house hack. If you guys are looking for a retirement home, right? Everybody has to retire and get a home. Buy your retirement home and then Airbnb it out. That will pay the mortgage. So let's just say you're retiring in 20 years. You now got 20 years paid of the mortgage. I don't know the Airbnb space. This is just conceptual. So let's say for Miami, buy a place in Miami, Airbnb it out. You got 20 years of your mortgage paid. By the time you're ready to retire and move, you got 10 years of the mortgage. If you really want to go crazy, you just take all the money and then pay your mortgage off. So now you got your home where you live, your retirement home. But you kind of house hacked because you had your house where you had your mortgage and then you moved.

Yes, I moved.

And then what made you get another Airbnb?

Because the money was so good. That's the honest best answer. The money was so good. So I Took out another loan, and I bought another property that was much smaller.

Another house.

Another property. Well, it's a. A side of a duplex of one side of a duplex. So it's like a attached house. Yeah, it's a house. Yeah.

Okay.

So with that, I was making money with that. It's just a lot smaller. I had better outcomes with that one. The same person's been in there since I. Since I started renting it out.

Share some numbers with us. We share on the show.

Okay, so give me mortgage and give me.

If you're. If you're comfortable. Give me. Give me prop. Just give me the prop.

It.

You don't have to go.

So in. In this. In this one and this one, it is shared, so I don't pay this one solely by myself. It's with a partner. Right. So I would say my profit from the duplex is about 600, something like that. It's not because it's an Airbnb. If it didn't have anything in it, I would say maybe 400. Right.

Because I'm sure it didn't have anything in it.

When I say anything, I mean the amenities, like the. The couches and the beds. And so it's a difference when you're renting just a shell of a home.

Okay.

Versus you.

You. Oh, yeah. So they pay more because.

Right, exactly. Because. Right, exactly.

Okay, cool. That's another. I like that strategy, too. As long as you can consistently collect the money. I like the strategy because at the end of it, you have a house, you got appreciation that you're taking advantage of. You have the tax credits that you're taking advantage of, you're making money on top of that. And then maybe at the end of it, if you're ready to retire, move, whatever the case, you could sell the house. You may have bought it at like 300,000. And whatever amount of time when you're done, it might be worth double.

Right. Going back to the original house that we're talking about, the. The equity in the home is crazy because I bought it in December of 2020, so the money I was making from it with Airbnb was amazing. And now if I even sell it, I would get 50% of what I even bought it.

Come on. Come on, talk to me. Risk takers making money. Sounds strategic. So, yeah, that little problem, like, yeah, you'll be all right. You get over it.

Make me feel better about it. Yeah.

Next couch, you get. Get a warranty on it. Get like the color stain. Stain warranty or whatever. And get that dishwasher out of there. They don't need that. Make them wash their own dishes. People order out nowadays anyway. Yeah. So now it's less liability for you. All right, now give me what you do for the city of Houston.

So I do not work for the city of Houston anymore, but when I did, I was a city planner for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Okay.

And we, we were driven under an ordinance for parkland and green space. Right. Because we care about green space. When I left the city back in 2018, I believe the city of Houston has 375 parks at that time. That's a lot of green space. Right. Lots of parks. So one of my main jobs was to do multi family plat review. So if there's new dwellings that are built in the city of Houston, the developer is required to pay $700 per new dwelling. So if you're building, let's say a unit with, I don't know, 80 new units, it's 80 700. And that goes to the park sector fund that that particular building is being built in. Right.

Smart.

And then that, that money has to be spent in three years to go back into that park sector. The city of Houston has 21 park sectors. And so then you kind of get a little bit into, well, this a poor area, no one's building in it. These kids aren't getting a new park. They only have $300 in this park sector and have 3 million in this park sector. Right. So. So that was a lot of, we ran into a lot of problems with that. I mean, I get the ordinance and what it's intended for, but there was a lot of problems, I think, with that. So let's say park sector, I can't remember exactly.

So you left because of that?

Well, it was one of the reasons it disturbed me. I didn't like how that, you know, and having to be a part of that. But just to make the example, let's just say Park Sector 8 only has a thousand dollars. Right. Because no one's building there. So you have to spend it in three years. So all they're getting is new wood chips on a playground. And you got Park Sector 4, getting a brand new state of the art playground for kids. Right. Volleyball courts and all kind of different programming and everything in a park. Right. So yeah, I did disagree with that. Now presently I have no idea what's on, going, going on at the city, cuz I've been gone for some time.

How long did you work for the city for?

Three years.

Three Years. Have you seen gentrification in Houston?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Developers run the city of Houston.

I love it.

They ask. They ask for forgiveness later. They do what they want.

We're going to get into that. What do you think about or tell me what the area is, because I have a family member lives across the street from the Turkey Leg Hut. What is that? Is that midtown?

No, that's. That's Almeida. That's. It's a little past Third Ward, I guess. I guess the Medical district.

Okay, the medical district. Up the street, there's a big park. There's like the museum district, and then there's a big park. Yeah, so I've ran in Herman Park. Is that like a side that would get a lot of money because there are a lot of new developments.

Yes, exactly. But the thing is, with the. The bigger parks that are programmed, for example, Herman park and Memorial park, there's management districts that actually run those. So even though it's city owned, management districts run those. And so they have all kinds of programming. Theater shows, run clubs.

I actually went to one. They have an open park there. They have a park that does, like, shows, live music shows, and it's like a. It's big, open, open thing. People bring their food and everything. And you go there?

Oh, yeah. So do you live near there? No, I'm. I'm far. I'm okay. I'm pretty far from there. But I spent a lot of time in the city. I've spent a lot of time at Herman park. And I know a lot of people want to know the difference between a place like Herman park and, I don't know, let's see, Levy park is also planned and programmed. It's because management districts are involved. Those communities get in there. They spend money to have management districts. Right.

Okay, so you've seen the city of Houston change, right? Give me the. Just give me like an appreciation percentage as far as, like, houses that start at 500,000 six years ago. What are they worth now?

I would say right under a million.

If not six years ago. That fast?

Yes. Post. Post pandemic. I would say the pandemic. You know, I would say around 21, everything starts skyrocketing.

Okay, what started the skyrocketing? Is it that they started to build upward redevelopment? Like what happens to a city for it to. For the increase in appreciation to take place like that?

Well, I will say, I know Houston has gotten real popular over the years. I mean, the influx of people. I think we're the fastest growing city in the United States right now. So I think the influx of people is number one. Houston is a metropolitan city that you're getting so much for at an affordable rate. And I don't want to say that somebody realized that or people start realizing that, but I think that's a driving force. I mean, it's warm, it's accessible, it's diverse. I mean, it has all the winning qualities. And I think that on top of just the national housing increase, economic.

Yeah. So do you think developers got together and planned or we gonna put a lot of money in Houston to turn this city around and start to increase in property values? You think that happened?

I could imagine it did. The only thing with Houston, and I get it, you know, it's growing, it's beautiful. I've been seeing, you know, the burst and, you know, growth. But the biggest thing Houston needs the most to focus on is infrastructure. You know, the flooding, we have lots of natural disasters, as many as we have that come there. You know, you always see Houston in the news for, for something regarding weather. And we really need to rebuild the infrastructure. But yes, that could have been a conversation between developers because it is a. It's so much growth, especially like places like Third Ward, which was traditionally a historic black neighborhood. Those people are being pushed out. Acres, homes. Those people are being pushed out.

I'm gonna tell you a secret. I'll let you in on a little secret. Developers actually get together. They actually plan, where can we go develop and change the city? Where can we go 5x10x20x our money. Long term, these places are targeted, right? It's just gentrification, in a sense, in a location where we don't get to take advantage of. So the same thing is happening in Birmingham, Alabama. You start to see the high rises, you see certain chains. Well, it gets a little bit deeper in the fact that when developers are looking at cities and I'm getting this information from developers that actually do this, right, they look at the worst performing cities where they're really bad. They find out who gets money, who gets the help from the federal government, who's going to get money from HUD housing, who's going to get money from the federal government to change their city. So Houston at one time was bad, was violent, it had its parts that really needed some help, right? They get the money, the cities get the money. And they need to develop, they need the partnerships with developers to actually make the change. So as a developer, we track that information on who gets what money. It's public information. If the federal Government. So here's an example. Alabama two years ago got $7.7 billion to kind of help boost change, Regent Gentrify and kind of revamp this, revamp certain cities that needed help. And then it trickles down. You'll see Birmingham gets 20 million for certain things, right? For their Section 8, the housing, their low income housing. And it happens that way. So the developers actually get to see that. They get together and then they say, all right, we're going to target this area and we're going to develop it together. Naturally, there's programs in place where, like you said, the cost of living, the bang for your buck that you get in Houston, that stuff is all done strategically so the city can make deals with companies. And we hear this all the time, right? Major companies, they move to different cities because they're getting incentivized to move there. So if we find out Amazon is opening a new, a new distribution facility in a specific place, they didn't just decide that they want to go to this particular part of Michigan just to have their new distribution center. They are incentivized by the city and the county through tax breaks and through actual money and partnerships to build a distribution center there. And that brings the jobs. So then they get money for workforce development to bring in more companies, incentivize more companies to come into those cities. Then once you have the jobs and the people, we know now that when we build the new houses, the new apartment buildings and everything else, that they're going to be occupied because we already brought the jobs, the people, the entertainment infrastructure.

So do you think that with the tech boom going on in Austin, all these big tech companies moving to my brothers live in Austin, do you think that was the case? Because a lot of people just say, oh, they're moving here because of taxes and California is so expensive. Do you think that's true or do you think those conversations happen for Austin?

They happen across the board. Right? Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley for a reason. All the tech companies were there at one point. They move for a reason. Right. They are incentivized, specifically, let's just say Michigan for its manufacturing. So if you want to like start manufacturing or manufacturing companies can go there. Birmingham, Alabama was known for its manufacturing at one point too. So it's all strategic and incentivized companies. New York, New York, owners of companies don't just move because we think it's cool outside of the city. We're moving because companies are paying for it.

Okay.

I'm developing in, in Birmingham, Alabama because There's so many incentives there. Yes, I'm forecasting the change. But there is money being given to developers to develop the city of Birmingham, Alabama. And then it becomes more and more obvious and apparent as you read. So I'll give you. I'll give you a publication to read. I read the Business Journal. So there's. There's a Birmingham Business Journal and there's an Austin Business Journal. So Austin has one. Houston has a business Journal. And you could just. It's just publications, but what they do is they centrally focus on certain cities where they public. They publicize all the things that happen. So that's how I know so much. Like the New York Times. I read the New York Times every morning. The real estate section. I read the Birmingham Business Journal and like five other cities. And then the Wall Street Journal real estate section will tell you everything. They report on the major companies and their development. And then it's just like everything else. You just have to follow the money. So Warren Buffett says, I'm going to buy these shares. The whole world starts to buy shares of whatever. And that's how development is. And that's my strategy in real estate. I just follow what the major developers are doing because they're going to gentrify. They're going to 10 and 20x their money. So I go there, right? I find the local land banks, local tax auctions, and I buy property there along with them. And my properties seem to appreciate really well, too. Yes, it does. When you break it down like that. It does, right. All right. So you left the city. Thanks for sharing that. And now I got a little bit of education on parks, too. Because when I'm just thinking back when I was younger, my area would not get money to. For, like the best parks, but other areas had, like, better parks than ours. And I just. It just dawned on me, like, that stuff at a higher level, the money gets dispersed in different areas.

Yeah, I know Cities tend to design themselves similarly. And so that could very well be the case. That could. I know, for the city of Houston, for sure. That's how the money is dispersed. Parks.

Cool. All right. So you came here, right? You got these products on the table. Tell me about. Tell me, tell the audience what these products are. I see it has a story on the back. Pretty cool. Tell us what these products are and how they came about.

Okay. Yes. So these are my babies. These are 100% me, 100% my blood, sweat and tears into this. But this is.

That's your camera, right?

Oh, sorry. Go ahead yes, this is Feniman hydrating product. It's a non soap vaginal wash and basically it's made at a Ph3. It has calendula and chamomile extracts so that it can relieve any irritation and soothe. I want women to know that you're not supposed to use soap down there. It's gentle, it's a delicate space. The soaps that you get off the counter in the stores have sodium hydroxide in it and that throws you completely off. I feel that you know women and in that space, our intimate area is the cornerstone of everything that we are and we should treat it special. You shouldn't use those same products, those harsh products you use on your body in that area. So I have two different varieties. One is fragrance free and one is Teacher and Eucalyptus. And the name of it is Lady Garden. And the slogan is Where Feminity Blooms. And my website is ladygarden co.com where you can go purchase and try it out and how this kind of Segway.

I like it. I see it has a story on the back.

Yes, yes. It has a whole story on the back how I came about the product. Basically, I won't name the. The product that I originally I loved. That was a product I came across and that formula changed once they were bought out by a bigger company. And so I was completely devastated. And I wanted to recreate that myself because I loved it so much and it improved me so much in my body. And so I got with. One thing I want women to know for sure about this product is that this is not something that I just found and slapped a label on that I just. Oh, let me go fill this bottle of. Absolutely not. This was created by a certified chemist that I purchased the formula from. And then I had to set out to find a manufacturer and do all the things. But me and the chemist, we went back and forth to fine tune this product to make sure it was perfect. That's such a special area. And I definitely wouldn't want to push something that I couldn't 100% back and know that I put a lot of energy into this. So, yeah, so this is. That's basically my product. Lady Garden. Yes. Yes.

Where do you, where do you sell it?

I sell it online and also I've done several different markets. Vendor. Vendor shows. Yeah. And I'm working to build up social media management to do more via social media. But yeah, I know Houston knows about it. Houston definitely knows about Lady Garden. I've been, I've been out there with Lady Gardening Houston for sure.

Awesome.

I was going to say off camera, audience person over here. First time I saw the product, I've been to Jazz. She actually let me have her Airbnb one weekend. Thank you. And she was advertising.

Wait, the one with the orb?

Yes, I was there.

Anything?

I didn't see an orb. I did not see an orb.

All right.

But I remember you. And one thing I love about Airbnbs are and just like hotels, you see these products. And so Jasmine was smart enough to say, let me put my products in my space where people can see it. And women, we like stuff like this. So when I saw, I was like Jazz, like, what is this? And so that was my first time seeing it. And I just thought it was great that she thought enough to, you know, put her products in her Airbnbs as well. Yes, yes. I thought that was a great way to. Yeah, yeah. I give my guests a free bottle to try, you know, but yeah, it went a long way. I even had a few guests ask me before I had long term tenants, I had a few guests ask me about the product and you know, where could they get it from? They actually. So it was like my first way of testing the product was in my Airbnb.

Nice. What's your vision? Let's just say like three years and five years for the product.

I would like to see my product. First of all, I want it to stay the same. That's number one. I know when people get bigger, they have to add certain things. And if another company wants to buy it, I do not want to compromise the naturalness of this. That's for 1, 2. I want to see it in stores. More specifically, Target. I'm a Target girly. I love Target. So, hey, Target, I'm coming for you. Yes. And I still want to see it in the smaller places. Like we have a black owned grocery store in Houston, District Green Grocers, Pharmacies, you know, just the. I want to keep it local, I want to keep it original, you know, so. But definitely want to see it in bigger stores like Target. I want women all over to experience Lady Garden.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I love anything entrepreneurial. I love when we. We create our own stuff and you have like a, like, like that was a really good idea to market it that way and get sales from it. Do you plan to grow it out into like a hand wash, body wash, and maybe some other things, or do you just like that one particular product and you want to keep it there?

So this is my favorite. Of course. It's my Flagship product. But I do plan to expand. And I know sometimes people want to just add something and do something, but again, this took a lot of time to get this formula right. And anything that I put out, I want it to be. I want it to be with my thoughts in mind, with truly what's healthy. Right? Not just to sell, sell, sell. So I do plan to expand. I have some ideas in mind. Maybe even adding this might be tmi, maybe even. Even adding some natural sanitary napkins to the line. Adding some, what they call now, booty deodorant to keep it fresh on the other end. Right, okay. But. Yes, but. But everything, for sure. I just wanted to be natural, in tune to what I think products should be. And number one, nothing. That's. What's. What's the word I'm looking for? Chemicals. We. I just do not want any chemicals in my products. And also, this is also vegan. The glycerin that is listed in the ingredients, it's not made of animal fat. So for. For those critics out there, it is not animal fat glycerin. It's vegan.

Awesome. All right, well, thank you so much for stopping by. I want to get more information on Airbnb, like, how much it costs and things like that. So we're going to definitely have some more conversations. Definitely. Good luck to your product. It sounds like a really good product that I think anything natural is just better than all the things that have all the chemicals in it, because nowadays we're being more mindful of what we put in our body, on our body, and just everything that we're digesting. So, yeah, kudos to you. Shout out to that. And I talked a little bit about what's going on in Birmingham, but you're not far from Birmingham, so I want to invite you to my national conference, which is. It's called let's Build Birmingham. And what I'm attempting to do for the first time in our history, is to bring 500 people together in one room, and I'm going to actually share the resources that I have that help me become successful in Birmingham, because a lot of people hear about building, we hear about developing, but we just don't know where to start. So I'm doing a conference where 500 people can actually learn from people that are local in Birmingham, that are honest, good, licensed, insured, and bonded contractors that will help us start to buy land and be able to develop land and take advantage of some of the gentrification that's going on in Birmingham today. So I know Melanie Sanders is hosting it. She's our host. Can I get your commitment as a guest that you'll come to? Let's build Birmingham.

Let me look at those dates. Let's see. Yeah, I think I can make that.

You can make it.

I can make that. And of course I would. I'm so appreciative to be on this show. So appreciative of Melanie and Lux Life pr. Shout out to Lux Life pr. So I would definitely support back. Absolutely.

I love it. All right, thank you so much. All right, guys, that wraps up this episode of the Real Estate Newsroom with Charles Noonan. We got Jasmine here with Lady Garden where femininity blooms. Make sure you go to the website, grab a bottle, try it out, test it out. Will you also give me a link that I could put in this YouTube? Yes.

Yes.

All right, perfect. What's the website? One more time.

It's ladygarden co.com ladygardenco.com.

You heard it here first. To the Land bank team and to all my audience, you guys heard it first. She is a guest, one of our first guests to have her own products. So I appreciate it. Make sure you guys, like, subscribe. Share this episode with anybody that might need Lady Garden as well. Thank you so much. Peace. We'll see you next week.