HOW TO BUY 2 HOUSES IN 1 DAY!

Your moment is almost like my moment because I was at my son's basketball game, right? And I'm like, tony's calling. I know she was bidding. And then I answered it. And you like, yeah. So I got a house, but then I got another one and I'm like, wait, it took you a month but you got it today? You like? Yeah. So tell me about that. How'd that happen?

So, you know, after being a part of the Land bank club, I learned some strategic ways you can go about putting in your bids. So what I did was I had created two separate accounts.

Okay.

Created two separate accounts with two different emails. And I bid. I waited to the very last second to bid like it was down to like the last five seconds. And then I put a bid, right. And one I forgot about. The bid on the other property is what really what happened. I forgot.

Oh, my goodness.

I was the only bid on that property. So I ended up winning both. Like, the emails came.

Welcome to the real nation where we highlight some of the most creative and non traditional ways to make money in real estate. We will showcase some of the world's greatest male and female real estate developers and teach you how you can make money by using the same strategies. Now it's time to develop. Here's your host, Charles Noonan.

Welcome to another episode of the Land bank show where I highlight dope individuals that have done some extraordinary things in real estate through some non traditional methods. Today we have Tony the wealth CEO, who's going to share a lot about her story and everything that she does. And I'm super excited. So let's go. Toni, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

I'm so happy you made it. Of course, course. One or two? Two states over.

Yeah. Philly. Two.

Two. Philly.

Philly, yeah.

Philly. Philly in the house.

Like three on the drive. But it's all right.

All right. So it's important that you made it. So our guest today is a Land bank team member. Right off the bat, I have to say she did something special. Something I'm gonna say is not unheard of, but super creative and I love it. So Tony, what you did when you started, right, it took you a little while to get your first house, but when you did, you bought two, Right? I was like, wait, am I hearing this correctly? Because lambic team members, I asked you guys to call me. I don't care where I am, what country I was. This is so weird. Your moment is almost like my moment because I was at my son's basketball game, right? And I'm like, tony's calling. I know she was bidding. And then I answered it. And you like, yeah. So I got a house, but then I got another one. And I'm like, wait, it took you a month, but you got it today? You like? Yeah. So tell me about that, how that happened.

So, you know, after being a part of the Land bank club, I learned some strategic ways you can go about putting in your bids. So what I did was I had created two separate accounts.

Okay.

Created two separate accounts with two different emails. And I bid. I waited to the very last second to bid. Like, it was down to, like the last five seconds. And then I put a bid.

Right.

And one, I forgot about the bid on the other property is what. Really what happened. I forgot.

Oh, my goodness.

I was the only bid on that property. So I ended up winning both. Like, the emails came back to back. So by congratulations, I was like, okay.

By default, you ended up getting two houses at the same time, like, like within minutes to get like. Like you bought them one and two. Those same two.

I bid on them the same day. They went active in the bidding process and they both closed, like, within.

Give it up. Give it up. That is execution at, like, the highest level. Seriously. So I normally. I normally don't teach that. Right. We talk about it, but I like the process of, like, getting one, going through the steps. And then as you see now, some people, they just come in and they buy like 3 and 4 at the same time. Yeah, it's like going crazy. It's not. It's not what I expected. But then you got people with so much ambition, so much creativity that they just. They just go run with it. And they just run like crazy. So you did something that just shocked me.

Yeah, I was. It was fun for me. It was. It was an exciting moment. But I'm like, all right, what do you do now? Like, you got these two properties. What are you about to do?

Right? You got two. So here's the thing that. Here's the thing that I like. You got two properties, and those two properties are going to be in your family's name forever because you own them outright, debt free, with no mortgage.

That's correct.

That is something that I really love about our program and about the Land bank team. Like, the stuff that we do and the things that are being done. It's almost unheard of that you hear programs that people just accumulate properties like that.

Yes. It's not. That's not normal. Until I ran across you this is not something I heard of. You always hear the bird strategy and using hard money loans. But as far as land banks, I had no idea what a land bank was.

Right, right. So awesome. I'm happy. Thank you to for executing. Right. Thanks for being a member. I appreciate that. And thanks for executing. So let's dig into a little bit about you and who you are for people that don't know. So we know each other for quite some time. And before we started the show, we dated back to, like, me following you on, us following each other on Instagram. Instagram and me just watching your growth of your office and your business. Actually, remember I told you to post more.

Yeah.

I'm trying to figure out what to remember that. And I'm like, it's not easy, but be consistent at it because you have some really good information.

Yes.

You actually taught me some stuff about credit. And I was like, nah, Tony, where's your post? Right? I'm like, you got a post? I don't see a post today. So I'm looking as a consumer. And I'm like, I know you got the information. I'm like, where's your post today? I don't see a post.

And I appreciate that because it kept me on my toes. Like, all right, I got to post something. Like, I got to put something out here. Because I wasn't very consistent with Instagram, Facebook. I have a hard time, but now I am. I got in the groove of that. And thank you.

You're welcome. That mentorship, this mentorship, it does a lot, right? It's like, my goal is to help people not only get houses, but just with, like, general information. As you guys excel in your lives from a wealth perspective. Right. Things to look out for, things that are always going to help, like consistency, staying on top of contractors, how to find 10. All of that stuff is like, I'm here for it. Because I had to go along my journey. I had to go through it by myself. And I just. When I created the Land bank team, it was like, okay, how can I help other people do this without the struggle? Right. So I ended up with 35 properties. I was trying to shoot for 100, and I couldn't do it until I incorporated team members and collectively we put our heads together. And then other doors started opening up for me. Like, the chief operating officer of one land bank introduced me to the chief operating officer of another land bank, and they opened the floodgates to me. So I immediately was writing checks like, all right, let's go, let's get it. How many can I buy? And, you know, it was more so them speaking to my character that allowed them to say, okay, here's our process, here's how you apply, and here's what's not being applied for, which you can just start to grab right away. So I got just blessings from blessing and helping other people.

Yes. And that's. And that's the most amazing thing about what you do because. Because you're so open with the information and giving it to others, you know, I feel like doors are going to continue to open for you. And just for the average consumer like myself, when I started off like it was, you always see, like the. The fluff, should I say on Instagram about, you know, how I got this many properties. I did this and I did that. But they don't tell you how to get it. And then they don't tell you you're going to be left with a bunch of debt on the back end.

Yeah.

So the fact that you're able to acquire these properties and literally own them outright and have something to really pass down debt free, it's phenomenal. Everybody believe me, when I said I own the property, all right. It was like, what?

Oh, that's a whole. That's a whole nother topic. That's a whole nother topic. And I spoke about that today, too. And I'm noticing oftentimes some of the coaching that I do, it's about confidence saying, of course you can own a property. Right. You just have to have the information to where they are. They actually fit everybody's budget. So people that don't have great credit can buy them and actually partner with someone like you to help get their credit together for renovations and. And grab education on best ways to leverage and find and cash flow those properties as well. So, yeah, it's a lot of times, oftentimes I'm finding it's confidence that people need to go forward. It's somebody saying, yes, you can be a real estate developer. Yes, you can own multiple properties. That's going to help people now start to take the information and go execute on it.

Absolutely. They need a coach, someone to push them. Like, push.

So what was it that made you join? What was it that gave you the confidence to put what. First of all, what was it? I got so many questions for you because this story is like, phenomenal. Right. What was it that made you say, let me put in two bids on two different properties?

You know, I just was in a mindset like, I have to win something. I Feel like if I don't win one, I'm gonna win the other. I might win both. Really wasn't expecting to win both, but that's what happened. But I wanted to be. I wanted to eventually get in the race. I felt like I was looking on the outside for a while. Like, I was attending all the classes and I was there, and I would listen in and I would have all the information, but I was just scared to put the bid in. Like, I just wouldn't do it. And I said, you know what? This time, I made a promise to myself. I said, this time, this day, this is what I'm doing. And I. And I think I text you that day, too. And, Joe, I'm going to put a bid in on the property. I'm going to do it. And, yeah, it was more so, like you said, building up that confidence, knowing that it's. That even if it doesn't work right now, it will eventually. But you got to start.

Yeah. And you know what's weird to hear? So for you, you are on the team watching other people win bids all the time, right? That's why I know what you mean by saying I have to get in the race. Right. Because you see it and that gives confidence. But what's. What's unique about your situation is you on the back end. You know about credit, you know about if you needed money to repair it, how you can get it, but you still needed some level of like, tony, press the button, let's go buy, get in the race. Right? And that helped you. So I brought that up because people at every level need a little push. They need someone to believe. And then when they start to believe or even if it's transferred, even if it's my confidence getting into you, you need that. And then you see what happens. It can double, it can triple what your expectations are. And it's just like, get in the race, go fly, go run as fast as, go sprint. And then you start to win, you start to pick up wins, and that's how it happens. So I'm super happy about that. And congratulations to you, officially. Right, so. All right, so we're going to dig a little bit deeper now.

So.

So tell me about you and who you are and what you got going on.

All right, so I'm the wealth CEO. All right? So I am. I have my hands in a little bit of everything, to be honest. So, like, I. Like you said, I do credit repair. I also help people with business credit. I do turo cards. I love real estate. That was my very first passion was real estate. Do lead inspections. I kind of. I'm. I'm a type of person where I'm going to jump into something when I hear it to see if it works. But it. I'll research it a little bit first. But now I want to do it because I want to know if what you're saying is really true. So I like to go through the process, so that way when I tell the next person, I can say it from experience, not from what I think should happen or how it should go. So I have a lot of different businesses going that are successful. And I'm just. Just a. I'm going to consider myself a wealth of knowledge that I can give to other people in different areas. I may not know everything about a topic, but I can tell you a lot about a lot.

Awesome. No, I love it. I love the education aspect and that you actually learn something and go do it. However, you just surprised me. Right. I did not know you are a lead inspector.

Yeah. General contractor to what? General contract. Contract. All my own projects.

All right, so you got to tell me more because the Land bank team, right, we're in real estate, and we do real estate in different cities across the country. How. And tell me, how did you become a lead inspector? And tell me why.

So when I started Properties, initially I was using hard money loans. And the way the hard money loan will work is, you know, you have to put up 25%, they give you the rest, but then they front the construction. But they front the construction to whatever company or general contracting company you put on the paper. So I said, well, you know, how do I get this money too? Because I can get the work done for less than the amount that you're giving me.

Right? They're not. They won't. They're going to charge you for what it costs.

Exactly. So if you're going to give me 50,000 for a project, but I know I can get it done for 25 if I could pocket that other 25, how do I go about doing that? So that's when I realized, okay, I need to become my own general contractor. So I looked into the process of that and honestly is, you know, you pay your. You pay your fee and then you get all the licenses they need you to have. You go get your OSHA 30. And honestly. That's it.

Wow.

That's it.

Wow. That is like phenomenal. That is genius.

So now the money comes to me for the project as well as.

And then you could sub it out so you don't actually, as being a general contractor, you qualify to get. And oftentimes in those long and those deals, they will. They will give you 100% of the construction costs, right? 100% of the renovation cost. So you looked at that. That is like next level creativity, right? That is not normal. I'm telling you, that's not normal. I thought about that before, and I'm like, all right, so to get some of these, to get funding, you have to show who your contractor is. You got to submit licensing sometimes to different banks. They all have different qualifications. And I used to try to get contractors. I used to try to get funding for projects and to get contractors. And I'm like, all right, send me your license. I have to send it in. They won't do it.

They won't do it because a lot of contractors actually do not have their license. They don't have a contractor's license. They can't pull permits. It's. It's crazy. They're kind of just kind of working under the table. So I stepped in and I said, you know, I'm gonna get my own. I can put my own permit that you can do the work.

That is the type of stuff I love to hear. Because in everything in life, right? In everything you do in life, there's going to be roadblocks, there's going to be obstacles, there's going to be people telling you, no, you cannot do something. There's going to be contract male contractors that look at you and say, look, I'm not going to help you. I'm not giving you my license. They don't like your project if it's not big enough, right? So you just went off and got your own general contractor license is like. That's, like the best news I heard in weeks. That's. That is the stuff that makes people win, and that's what people don't know. So sometimes people look at success and they say, she got lucky, right? They look at success and they say, she knew somebody. Oh, she's a girl. She just took the test. But no, it was so much packed into what you just said. Like, I looked at it, I saw the obstacles, and I navigated ways around it. So you got OSHA 30, you got all these licenses because you want to do well in real estate, and you saw value or obstacles, and you saw value in finding out, all right, let me go get this stuff, right?

I feel like you can never know enough, especially if you want to be in whatever field you're in, if you really Want to dig deep in that field, and you want to learn, and you want to. You want to progress to the next level, whatever that next level for you might be. You have to know what is you're talking about. You got to be able to speak the language. So if they speaking to you and they saying they need to install drywall and put in, you know, insulation, and you don't know what they're talking about, and they say, okay, I'm gonna charge you $5,000 for that.

Right?

You wouldn't know because you don't Exactly.

Exactly. Or here's another example which is common. They need the green board for the bathrooms, right? Bathrooms are but so big. But if you see on an order they got 30 pieces, you know, they doing your bathroom, somebody else's, the person's bathroom down the street, and probably the bathroom of their own, right? And if you don't know that, you just think, oh, it's drywall, or Sheetrock, or whatever you call it. You know, it's weird. It's called different things in different states, right? It's drywall. It's greenwood, it's sheetrock. It's a whole bunch of different things.

But.

But we all know what it is because you took the time to really dig in and learn what it is. That is phenomenal. It definitely helps you from not getting cheated, because people will take advantage, right? A lead inspection could be something fairly simple where it takes an hour, two hours, or however long it takes. And then you're looking at the cost of that, and you're saying, man, I paid X amount of dollars if I just did my own lead inspection and submitted the certificate. And then if I could do. Because there's people around me that need them, if I could do theirs, I'll be in good shape.

Absolutely. Take the class, literally for like, 400 now, you take the class. It's a day class. You get your certification after you take the test, and now you can go and you can market yourself and be a lead inspector, do your own lead tests, do other people's. Like, it's. You know, and in the interim, you are learning. You know, it kind of all sorts started. But I feel like if you. If we have access to this information and we can be a part of the process, then why not?

Absolutely. Absolutely. So that is, like, phenomenal. Now, let's tell me about this Toro business, what you got going on there, because I did it. So people don't know this, and I don't talk about this. This was before I started to be On Instagram. I was the first person to do Toro in New York, and I did it for a whole year.

He was the only person out there.

I was the only per. I will not share numbers with you, but I was the only person. So a friend tour of mine in Atlanta, right? Pushman Mitch, he piqued my interest because he's like the king of rental cars in Atlanta. So a lot of his students in New York were asking me, how did I get on the platform or how did I start the platform? And I may have had, like, 10 cars on there at that point. I actually got up to 100 cars in New York.

100 cars.

I had 100. He taught me exactly how to do it, like, step by step. So I believe in mentorship, right. And I didn't know exactly how to get that far, so I bought his mentorship. We became friends over time because we were very similar in nature where we like to help people. So I started to just give him the information on how I got there. His students were able to benefit and open up rental car businesses in New York. Now, because New York is probably the most radical state as far as allowing something like that to happen.

That's what I was going to ask. Did they allow the tour room?

They did not. So because I had the licensing to do it, right? I've always loved cars. So similar to you, I had a dealership license where I just went and bought my own cars from, like, the auction or dealerships. They will actually let dealers buy from them and resell them as new. So I had all the qualifications to actually run and operate the business from an insurance perspective. Then I had the insurances too, to do it. So I had, like, mountains of paperwork that qualified me as a commercial company to do it. So you had to open. I could tell people this now. You had to have a commercial account to do it. So needless to say, I have, like, this understanding of that business that you have going on in Philly, and I did extremely well. It was like, almost two years. I was the only person to do it.

That's amazing. Yeah, that's awesome, though, like, to be the only person out there.

I was actually a brand ambassador for them, and sometimes I post that picture and in the stories or whatever. But they did, like, photo shoots, and they came to my lot, my garage. They saw the process and everything, and it was dope. It was cool. I'll put. I'll. I'll send it to you.

Yeah, you gotta send that to me. Scale to 100. Well, I don't think I'm a scale.

No. So here, I mean we're all about sharing information. So what helped me scale, There's a finance company called afc. They, they finance rental car companies. So they'll give you a line of credit. I had an $800,000 line of credit and then I had my dealership license. So it was. And they, the auctions are connected to the dealership. So I would just go to like Manheim Auction, buy all the cars connected to my AFC account. And they have like what's called a rental company floor plan. So I was able to just do it that way. It's fairly simple. And then there's, I'm, I'm just a giver of information. There's a company called arrc. Most people use Lula now. But there's a company called ARRC that I like a little bit more. They're a little bit more personable. Okay. And they insured all of my cars for me as well. As long as you have they, they are like a rental car insurance company. They give you like all the documents, all the paperwork and everything that you need to make sure you renting cars out the right way. So I had to be my own company and Toro allowed me to put my cars on that platform.

Awesome.

You see how similar we are? Yeah, we're creative and that's why I'm like going crazy over your story. But look, being that I'm giving out information on all these different companies, I have to get to our sponsors, right? So unsoldland.org is one of our sponsors. They sponsor the podcast. Unsoldland.org is that one stop shop where you can buy all your all things pertaining to land. There are some houses there, but very similar to most auction sites and regular Buy now site. So it's very similar to ebay. I call it the ebay of land. You can go there, you can buy land. You can buy land that has property on it. But I use it typically for land. That's their specialty. Unsoldland.org is that one stop shop. Go there and buy yourself some land. I'm going to give you a hint. They're not making any more. All right? They're not making anymore. Go buy land. Unsoldland.org then our other sponsor, which is Star Homes in Coleman, Alabama. So as you guys know what, what? My portfolio is comprised of several deeds of land. I love the state in Alabama. I'm just going to give you guys my advice. Go buy land in Alabama. Alabama is next. Birmingham Is a city that I love, not just for the food, but, but for the potential that I see in that city. So Star Homes, my guy Adam is there. He will help you out. But Star Homes is your one stop shop for tiny homes, manufactured homes, mobile homes, anything homes that you need, they will deliver those homes right to your land. Reach out to Adam. He's my guy. He will help you. They took care of me in ways that, like, I got deals that you would not believe. Star Homes, call Coleman, Alabama. The number's on the screen. Give Adam a call. Tell him Charles sent you. It's important that he knows you guys are calling from the Land bank show because they. They're just partners of ours. They partnered in the show. They're partners of the Land bank team. And I want you guys to win, but I want you guys to win safely. So Star Homes, Coleman, Alabama is where you is your one stop shop for everything pertaining to homes. All right, now that we done mentioned, like 20 companies that gave out everything of how we made money the last five years. Tell me how your. How your Toro business is going and what made you get into it.

So, and it's funny you mentioned Pushman Mitch, because I was following him for a while, but I decided to jump into Turo when I, you know, I had three cars already. I had three cars already. But I'm like, okay, I'm not making any money off of these other two cars are just kind of sitting here. But then one of them decided to break. So that. That's another story, one side to break down. But I said, you know what? I understand how to get myself business credit. So I got. I got business credit, and I decided to put the cars in my business name. And I went through bank of America. And at that time, bank of America was allowing you to get four cars with one pull, with one inquiry. So. So I jumped in, they approved me. I said, all right, great. I went to three different dealerships the same day and got three cars that same day. So I got a. And it was. I had this whole scenario going on, like, all white, everything. So all three cars are white.

Oh, nice. You're really creative.

So all three cars are white. And when I got the three cars, you know, I was looking up Turo, I was looking up hire car, get around, things like that. So I was, you know, kind of testing out the different platforms. But I really like Toro because it's the flexibility with it and being able to kind of determine, you know, what you want your split to be.

Yeah.

And having that Security of that insurance. You know, just like you're speaking of a doula is having that insurance. Because I thought about doing private rentals, but I said, you know, I'm not ready for that yet. I'm gonna put it on this platform.

Yeah.

Because I did end up having an accident. Not me, but one of my friends, and they kind of paid everything out. So I just wanted to get in Turo, because, like I said, I like to jump into things to see how they work and if it will work. And it has been very lucrative. I. My cars are never there.

They're always going nice.

So.

So here. Did you. Did you get into his mentorship?

I didn't get into the mentorship. I told you. I kind of browse around first for a while before I do anything.

No, that.

But I am. I'm thinking about the black club. Right.

That mentorship changed my life. Like, seriously, it just propelled the trajectory of my business. I don't know that I would have gotten to 100 cars without it. And he was actually there with me along the way. So we're sending each other cars as we're buying them. He got a Lamborghini, I bought a Lamborghini, and I've sended it to him. He got like, you know, our favorite car used to be, like, an i8, the one with the doors go up. He got one. I got one. I'm sending it. He's driving. It's like, we just. It's like he's with you as you're growing your business, but he has the answers every step of the way. Phenomenal mentorship. But I really. I believe in mentorships. And they're like GPS systems. Right. So you could want to be. You could want to do something. And oftentimes people will go to, like, Google, they'll go to YouTube, they'll go to all these places to think they could just grab the information. Meanwhile, you don't know what to Google. Right. You don't know what to YouTube.

Right.

Because you don't know.

Exactly.

So that's just one of the misconceptions that people get about mentorship. If you find a good mentor. And good mentors, to me, are not only people that have done it. That makes. I'm going to say that gives you the right to be a mentor because you've done something, like, great and phenomenal that people can't just easily figure out. But what I find make the best mentors are the ones that can teach. So I always look for, like, in every mentorship. Right. I know you did this, which is great, right? Which is great. I'm not that good of a student, so I now need you to mentor me, but I'm gonna need you to have your teaching skills up so that you can transfer that information to me. And I just feel like all of my mentors, friend tours, everybody that I buy information with, and I don't care what the price is. Because you make so much money from them, right? I find that I look more so and try to study their teaching style. And I ask, can I relate to his teaching style and any mentorship? Because if I can, then I feel like I can learn from them because I've paid thousands and thousands of dollars for mentorship programs to experts. And then we sit there, and they're yelling at me because I don't understand something.

They're frustrated at you. Like, it's like, I don't understand it, right?

They're frustrated, and I'm frustrated. I'm like, I'm paying you, but you yelling at me, like, what happened? Like, I. Forget it. Keep your information, right? Keep your stinky information. Because what I found was that not everybody can teach. So now I'm a mentor, right? Now I'm the founder of the Land bank team, and I find myself catering my teaching style to whoever I'm mentoring. So there's generic information that I say, then I'll say it in other ways. Then I'll break it down the 10 steps, maybe in different ways, where I'm learning. And I ask a lot of questions in my own mentorship to understand, to kind of find out. Did you get that? Did you understand? Some stuff flies over people's heads, and some people like you get the information and you go buy two right away. You're not even in the bundle program. No. You in the regular one house. You in the one house, one package program. But you ran off and you got the. You heard it. You only need to hear it one time, which. That information is for the other. That's for the. The. The other level, right? But I said it, and you. You absorbed it. You picked it up and you ran with it. And I can't tell you now because you already got them, so it's like, you got them. So your mentorship does that for me, and I love it. And I'm happy you joined the Landbake team.

I'm happy I joined the Land bank team.

Awesome. And. And. And it doesn't stop, right? So we. We talk often and just different ways that we could help each other. And I'M here for a resource for you, but you're here for a resource for me because now we're like minded. We own property, we find we're in similar businesses. I don't rent cars anymore. But we find we're in similar businesses and it's awesome. It's just turned into, it's morphed into way more than what you get.

Yeah, no, I'm. I'm watching you as you, you know, you go out there and you get your bundles of property at a time and said that's, that's my next level. That's going to be.

Yeah. Awesome. All right, so. So you got car business, you got property. We know you got GC licensing, you got the lead inspector, you got the credit which is the money. You got the credit repair and the business funding. Like, like you know those industries well. Right. How's business for you? How's life for you?

Business? Business is busy. Business is busy. But it's, it's been great. I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Like I'm. I can say that it's been until I got my virtual assistants now.

Yeah.

Like it's been very, very conducive to just me until they came on. But I wouldn't trade it. I really enjoy what I do so. Because I enjoy what I do and I like helping people and I, and I really sit and I analyze each person individually so I don't give like a generic plan.

Right.

I'm more so I have to talk to you first. You know people, they ask me questions all the time and the DM like can this work or how can I get this money and credit? Like I got it. You got book a call. I'm not going to tell you to do something that's going to, it's going to hinder you like so I, I enjoy what I do because I like seeing people win and when I see people win, I. My last client got her two vending machine just bought a house and got two turo cars.

Wow. Nice. So it's a cus you take a customized approach to what you do. It's not a cookie cutter where you're just a number and do this. It's more. So how can I help you? What are your needs before you even take the client on?

Right.

You're doing awesome. Awesome. I love that. Here's what's important to me that you said though you like helping people. I like helping people. Yes. We get busy. Right. However, when you get that phone call from somebody saying I got Two vending machines. I got a house. And what, the two, two, three, car. Whatever else you said, right? Doesn't that make up for all the busy work?

It does. It does. It makes up for everything.

It's the most fulfilling feeling that you can have when you take someone from where they started to where they are today. That, to me, defines success. It's not how much money you have, it's not like how many things you have. It's actually where you are based on where you started that defines the success for me.

Absolutely.

Yeah. So I love it. So business is good, business is busy. Everything is cooking. You got the property. Nobody's cheating you, right? Because I know. Because I know. You know yourself.

Cheating me. Now they got me. When I first started in real estate in 2014, it got me good. They even tore my house down. I had a property in southwest Philadelphia. I know what I was doing.

Right.

I just said, you know, I'm taking my income tax money. I don't want to buy clothes. I'm going to take this $3,000. I'm going to buy a property. I bought a property from like the sheriff's sale for three grand. I don't know whose pays. Like, I don't know how I even came up with the money, but like $15,000 for a clean out. I didn't know at the time.

Wow.

You know, so I didn't know. And then I come back to have one more person look at the property. Because the people billed on me, I paid them, they come back and then I have another contractor go back and say, hey, you know, how much you gonna charge me to finish this clean out? He get there, said, there's no property here. So what you mean there's no property there? I said it was there two weeks ago. Like, what you mean it's a property? Said there's no property here. Come back to city, knock the property down. So now it's a lot.

Oh, my goodness.

What is going on? But that's.

Did they bill you for the tear down? How much was it?

$19,000. 19,000?

This is not anything to laugh at. They billed you $19,000.

I said I owe them for knocking down the property. My. My property. I didn't ask y' all to knock it down. Right. And y' all didn't notify me. And I had a structural engineer come out to say it was a safe to build in there. So now it's like I've been fighting the city because they don't want to. They want to wipe away the debt, but they don't want to pay me. For what?

For the property that was there.

So, like, I'm still going back and forth all these years.

Wow. All right, that. That's a whole lot. But that just goes to show, like, what made you today, right? Having that happen to you now the woman you are. There's still a lot more real estate to acquire. Now. When you acquire, you actually know what you're doing, how to do it, how to pay contractors, how to vet contractors. However, there's never an easy way to vet these contractors, right?

Never.

You get a hold of a good team. I overpay them. I over tip them. I overcompensate. I do everything. Everything. Because I know they are the strength of my real estate business. I can't do anything without them. If they decide to run off, I'm stuck. I have to now go meet new people. And that's another reason why I. I created and structured the Land bank team to be a team. Because now when we're passing around contractors and referral partners. And referrals, we are. I could say, hey, Tony, use Mike. Mike just did my bathroom. Here are the pictures. It's different coming from me than if it was coming from Mike.

Yes.

A contractor showing you his own work and all of that stuff. I don't. I don't even look. I'm a. I'm going to tell you. This is what I tell him. I don't want to see no work that you did for anybody else. Go do that to my bathroom. And then I'll be happy. Because they could be taking those pictures from anywhere. They could go see a bathroom at an open house and take. Take them. Put the crazy portfolio up and they'd be like, oh, yeah, look at my work. I don't know ever any contractor, Any contractor out there. Don't ever come to me and say, you want to show me your work. I don't want to see your work. Show me on my property what you did have. I'm going to find out from somebody else what you did, and then I'll hire you. I will never hire a contractor off of what they tell me or what they show me. I don't care. I don't want to see it. Go do it for mine and then we working. Or let me get somebody that knows you and then I will hire you based on what that friend of mine said, what the Land bank team member said, or what somebody else said. It's not, don't call me the contractors. Don't call me I'm not hiring you. I'm never hiring you. You off of you calling me? I'm hiring you off of somebody's work. You did. That's going to call me and say, charles, this guy is good. He knows his stuff. Tile. Everything's going to be done right? License, bonded. Then we can work. Lesson for the day.

Lesson for the day. That's.

That's all right.

Use that.

You have to. It's all about protection, right? Because the stuff is not hard to do. You got electrical, you got plumbing, you got floors, you got sheetrock and a roof.

Right?

It's that simple. Right. It's not hard. The hard part is the contractors. I try not to give one contractor an entire job because I feel like in different parts of the country is too much for them. So I may actually do. Or lately I've been doing one thing at a time. Okay, do the rough and electrical. Do the rough and plumbing. Let's get that pass inspection. Then wrap up the electrical. Then wrap up the plumbing. Let's close up the walls. Here's your money. Now let's do flooring or flooring. I say for last. Now let's do drywall, right? Any roof work, we got to do roof first so it stops the leaks. Let's. Let's get that done. But I don't give. I don't ever even negotiate a full job because what I find is they got half the plumbing done, they got half the electrical done. Yeah, the roof is leaking. Oh, I didn't get to that yet, but they starting on the. On the kitchen, and I'm walking in, or I got my camera system and I'm looking and I don't see anything completed, which drives me crazy.

That's the best way to do it. The way you're saying. Do it kind of in stages. Like, all right, here's. Here's the scope of work. Once this part is done, you won't get paid for this. Finish that part, you get paid.

Absolutely. It's just diff. Diff. You have to know to navigate real estate. Different parts of the country operate differently. I actually just learned yesterday from a team member who's in South Carolina. I told her in the Midwest, I was coaching her, and I told her in the Midwest. One of the things that we really don't do, we do not rent properties out with a kitchen, refrigerator, and a stove. They don't expect you to have those in those parts of the country. You actually don't. Yeah, you don't. They. When tenants move, they bring their Own. She's. She told me it's so in the Midwest, that's how it is, right? You don't have to give a stove and a fridge. And I was saying, hey, just make sure you're careful. You don't put brand new appliances in the land bank properties until you have a tenant. And sometimes they bring their own. She was like, yeah, no, we don't. We don't. We don't sell properties or we don't rent properties with those appliances in them. And I was like, wow, that's new. Yeah, good to know. Good information to know. So as you navigate and as you guys buy properties across the country, get a friend or mentor who knows and ask those questions because that will save you $2,000 house. You might not have to buy it. You might not have to buy it. And then if you're doing land bank properties in unsafe neighborhoods, you might not have to buy it and have it stolen. Like, which happened to me talking about that story.

Oh, that was bad.

That's. You know, people still remember that. That was like eight months ago on a Friday night, right? You remember that?

I remember that was bad. It was just hard, horrible people still and stuff. And what can you do?

That's what makes you though. That's what, that's the thing that make. That's what gives you confidence saying, I could buy that property right there. I could buy the one next to it because now I'm smarter. I know I'm not going to get robbed because I'm not going to leave anything in there. I know. Here's another thing. We doing more education to interview. But look, we're just passing. Listen, I know my windows are never going to get stolen again because I'm never going to put brand new windows in a vacant property with all the stickers on them showing, like the energy levels, the high efficiency. I didn't know what that looked like to a thief or there's people in the neighborhood that. That need windows, right? That looks like Christmas to them. They went in and they. When my. The first time I did that, the windows got stolen so good. I didn't know they were put in. I didn't even know they were installed. Right. I thought the contractor tricked me. They actually took their time and uninstalled. They didn't rip them out.

Anybody gonna be here for a while? Let me just.

This is so. So they know. They see me show up and I didn't know better. This is like my first. This is why I'm so passionate about t. Teaching this I just had no clue on how to do it. I was proud that I was building these properties in this neighborhood that needed it so bad. Not thinking the people need those windows. Right. More than they need a house and a new, A new, a new neighbor. They needed those windows. Exactly. So there's a whole trading system in the Midwest that where they sell new windows and they sell new, they sell used. And I wonder where they get their new windows from or where they get the used ones from. But that's a whole nother topic. All right, so Land Bank Team, everything is good, business is good. Even the ones that don't do well. It's okay when they just start out. It's okay to be bad. Like your start.

Yeah.

You lost the property and some money on the property. Right. But now when you look today, you're good at it. You know better. Right. So. Oh, I also want to share one thing and I'm we just giving information away. There is two websites that I want you to try to use for virtual assistants.

Okay.

One of them is Happy Manager, Happy Manager. The other is Online Jobs ph, they have really good virtual assistants. Online Jobs PH has virtual assistants that perform well. They take pride. There's background checks. There's a lot going on there that I really like. However, there's a company called Happy Manager. They get you high end, high level virtual assistants. So you can hire an attorney there, someone that has a law degree. You can hire like executive assistants there that can almost replace you in your business because they've been vetted, they have the education levels and you also get a trainer with them. So as you do the training, you input your SOPs and all the information that you need. You actually have a trainer, a training system so that if you did lose that person, you don't have to retrain on five businesses. Right. You don't have to retrain on everything you do. There's a training in place, there's a trainer that's going to train your executive assistant or whoever you want to input your business. So Happy Manager, Happy Manager.

I. I'll be on that today. Thank you.

You're welcome. You didn't drive for nothing, right?

Listen, I didn't get caught for nothing. I knew it was getting something. When I get out here.

Absolutely. New York, we just share. We love to, we love to see people win. Like I feel like we champion winners. Like that's awesome. Any sort of like a comedy, accomplishments, we're behind you, we want to push you forward, we want to push you higher because we experience how hard it is, right?

Absolutely.

So, Tony, take me to a time in your life where things weren't so good, where you weren't like the CEO of multiple businesses, having multiple streams of income, having these experiences that you have and having real estate. And tell me what that was like.

My lowest, lowest point. That was kind of like a game changer for me for knowing what I wanted to do in life was I would bounce around from, like, shelter to shelter. And I had my son with me at the time. And I was like, this. This is not the way to be. And I know this doesn't have to be my reality. So I really honed in on what I wanted to do and I sat down and. And I. I guess in a sense you call it meditation. But I just kind of sat in the dark for a moment and I just was kind of recapping my whole life and I. Then I started to write about where I wanted to be and what exactly it is that I wanted to do. I didn't even at the time really know, but I knew this isn't where I wanted to be. So I decided to go back to school. I went to school and I think I worked at like a breakfast diner like. Like, for like two years. Like, so I would have to leave Norristown on the bus, go to Philly, drop him off at somebody that could watch him, and we'll watch him go to this diner, pick him up, and be back in by 8 o'. Clock. So that was my life. But in that time I was able to really figure out that I know that there's better out here. So I started to like, I want my own house. I don't want to live in here. I said, I want my own house. So how do I do right? So I was like, I want to buy a house. Though I realized that that wasn't. I tried to buy, and they said, oh, your credit's bad. I said, my credit's bad? What's credit? I didn't know what that was. So it kind of introduced me to something very, very different. So I said, all right, I'm going to move out of here. Because I didn't save that. My money. I've been here for a year now. I did my part, I saved up, I got some money, I got myself an apartment. But then in the same breath, I was like, they told me my credit was bad. What does that mean? Like, so I started to research credit and understand it, and at that point I fixed my own credit. Once I fixed my credit, I then got Myself approved for a home, went and got my real estate license. So I just started doing things and the pieces just started coming together, but I really had to put in my mind that this is not where I wanted to be.

Wow.

And so, yeah, for anybody that think you can start from the very, very bottom, you absolutely can.

I love it. That is, like, phenomenal. So what did you do? Did you. Were you working and living in a shelter?

Yes.

Or you actually got a job?

Well, I wasn't working, so when I was in the shelter, I wasn't working initially. I was looking for a job, and then the. The breakfast diner hired me as a waitress. So it was under the table, so it wasn't. You know, they had me doing, like, a welfare to work program.

Okay.

Like, you have to get a job. I was like, okay. So I got that job. And it was. I mean, it didn't really pay. I mean, I got tips. I may make $60 a day, $100 a day on a good day. But a lot of that was used through my commute, too, because I had to come back and forth from Norristown to Philly. But it taught me something. It's like, you really gotta, like, push for what you want. Like, if you want better, you got to get better. Eventually, I got hired at Amtrak, so Amtrak hired me, and I said, all right, it's up from here.

And that's how you began to. So you taught yourself credit while in the shelter system. That is phenomenal. Instead of just looking down and feeling down on yourself, you started to educate yourself. Then you somehow. Was the application process for Amtrak hard?

So it wasn't hard. Did ask a lot of questions, but you did need to know, like, simple, like, math and, like, understand how to read a map and things like that. But, you know, I can say also, my instructors at Amtrak, they really liked me because they understood my story, and they kind of gave me the answers, to be honest.

I don't know if you want to be repeating that, but go ahead.

But it was like they kind of pushed me. Like, listen, you know, you notice, like, redo it.

Redo the test.

You know this. And I was like, all right, Tony, try harder. Study harder. You can do this. It took me about three times to. To pass, but they gave me a chance.

Okay.

And I've been there for 10 years.

10. That is amazing. Congratulations to you on that. Some of these stories that I hear about, I wonder, are people born with that fight and that desire, or was it something one day that hit you where you said, look, I Got to turn this thing around, and I'm just going to turn over a new leaf. Or was it that you were just in a bad circumstance? Right, Because I come from a similar background where, like, we were super poor and impoverished. But I tell people, like, my upbringing, the mindset wasn't that we were poor. The mindset wasn't that we were in poverty. It still came from, like, an abundance mindset. We would share our food. It was welfare food. We would still share it. And it was like my whole upbringing was like, all right, this is temporary and going to change soon. So I'm not saying we never claimed it. We knew we. We were poor, but it was like, we never accepted it. It never defined us. It never defined our character. And as we got older, me, my sister's brother, mom, we just like that. That winning mindset transferred from the lowest point to the highest point. And it's still like we bust through barriers. You can't tell us we can't do something we just already know. Right? You can't tell us we're supposed to be poor or things are supposed to be broken and just stay like that because it's just how we were raised. And we just. It was like, in us that we're just not poor people, just probably because we weren't a poor spirit. But do you think there's something in you that made you change or the whole time you're in a shelter system? Like, yeah, I'm going to fix this. I'll be out of here soon.

So I really do think it was something that was in me that made me change. Like, I. I feel like being in that low point did open my eyes to a lot of things because, like, you. You think you, you know, want to be around certain people. Because I was not with the best of people, you know, and I kind of got myself there, but I'm like, all right, little light bulb had to go off at some point, and I'm like, I know that I want better for myself. I always knew I wanted better for myself. I just never knew how to get it. And being at that low point is what gave me time to think.

Okay, so there were some bad nights in that shelter where you. You really reflected and you like, I gotta change this. Wow. So fortunately, like, you had the mindset to educate yourself once you knew what you needed to do to do better, right? You knew you needed a job job, not like, fast money or any other thing like that. Then you also know you needed credit, although you knew nothing about it. You started to look up how to fix that and get that to where it's fundable. Right. To where people would want to lend you. And you found a way to use that to make money. And now you start. You have excelled.

Yes.

Which is phenomenal. That is a phenomenal story. I didn't know that. I'm learning so, so much, right. About people through the Land Bank Show. Like, this has been a phenomenal experience for me. And the, the goal of the show was to share stories like this and share some non traditional ways, but it's turned into so much more.

Yes.

Right.

So people, you give people hope, let them know, like from regular people, real life experiences.

Absolutely. And it just tells you, right, your situation. Regardless of where it is, it can change. Right. Your story is written by you, not anybody else. Not by a shelter, not by a job, not by a failed business, not by two failed businesses or three. Right. You can write. It only takes one to write, to hit the right way. Right. It just takes one to where. Now your story goes from like vacant to vibrant. And I love that about what you did and about hearing and learning about that. That is phenomenal. So I wish you tons of luck in your future endeavors.

Thank you.

Of course, Land bank team members. Your Land bank team member forever. So our relationship doesn't change or end. Right. And I designed it like that way. Right. So who knows how far you're going.

To go, but going up.

Right. And I'm coming up with you and I'm bringing the whole team.

Bring the whole team.

Exactly. That's, that's the, the basis of it. So I appreciate you coming. Thank you so much for sharing your story and your time. Tell everybody where they can find you.

You can find me on Instagram at the wealth CEO. So Tony, underscore the wealth CEO and Tik Tok at two RG consultant solutions.

You got to tell me about TikTok.

Hey, tick tock, that's. That's where it's at. All the peoples is on TikTok.

You gotta show me. This is what it's about, right. Teaching each other. All right, guys, that wraps up another dope episode of the Land bank show with Charles Noonan and Tony Glover, the Wealth CEO. I want you guys to like and subscribe to the Land bank show and make sure you catch every single episode that we do because it's turning out into something way more than just a show. We're educating, we're inspiring, we're giving hope where needed. And these are real stories from real people that have done real things that run up a bag in non traditional methods in real estate. Stay tuned for more. Thanks.

Thank you for listening to the Langdance show with Charles Newman. Please leave a review for this podcast and give it 5 stars. Also follow on Instagram Arlesj Noonan and share with others as we want to share these unique strategies with developers across the world.