How To Add Sqft To Add Massive Return With Dolf Al Emara

Oh well, there we go.

All right, all right. Yeah, we're back, we're back.

Okay, we're good.

So anywho, do we need to introduce ourselves again?

I don't think so. I think people know us. Okay, I think people know us. And then I'll give them one of these too. Boom. Okay, so now they really know. Okay, but, uh, before we talk about our guest or bring him in because he's not here yet, uh, let's talk about the meetup December 29th.

December 29th, after Christmas, right before New Year's. It is the prediction meetup where I am going to go over what I said last year Which I have a whole month to catch up on my biggest prediction and then predict what's going to happen next year. Can't miss it.

No, it's going to be real good.

Because I'm human like everybody else.

Oh, now you're backing down.

I make mistakes, but we'll see. We'll see how many of my predictions came true.

Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be, it's going to be a good time.

Um, new place?

Yeah.

Oh, that's right. New location?

Yeah, new location. What'd you think about the new location?

I thought it was amazing.

Nice.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was pretty cool.

There's just this big bar in front of me. Is that what you call it now?

Yeah, railing.

Railing. Big railing in front of me, so, you know, I can keep all my fans away so they don't attack me.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it worked out really well. It's pretty good. Everybody enjoyed it. I had several people come up to me after and say, this is a cool place.

Okay, nice.

So if you haven't been, please come on down. Yeah, the 29th.

29th. It should be good predictions right before the new year too. Yeah, so that's important. Have you looked back at, you know, all your predictions that you had?

I have not yet.

Okay.

No, because I know the biggest one, and I won't mention it here because you have to come to find out what it is.

Yeah.

Come down and find out if I'm like wrong or really wrong.

Yeah.

So far I'm really wrong, but as we get closer to the end of the year, things may happen.

Mm-hmm.

Never— I mean, I've got the whole month of December.

Right.

I still have time.

That's when they said they're The things were gonna happen.

Yeah, see, that's right, that's right. Don't give it away, don't give it away, don't give it away.

We'll see.

Come on down to the meetup.

Yeah, pretty good. Yeah, last, last, uh, last Monday it was. Yeah, we, uh, we had Burton from PropStream. We both love that. We've had him quite a few times, but everybody loves it.

Yeah, he's a good speaker.

He's a good speaker. They got— they just bought out Batch Leads, so now their offering is even better. Yeah, for $200 a month you get free skip tracing, I think, on like 50,000 records. Yeah, that's pretty good.

That's a lot of records.

It's a lot of records. It's pretty dang good.

$50,000 a month, right?

Yeah.

That's a lot of records.

I know.

Wow.

Should be able to get a deal with that.

I would hope so.

Yeah, but you never know. Yeah, so yeah, that was cool. And we switched it last minute, so it was good to see, you know, decent turnout.

Yes, even in the rain.

Even in the rain. Diehards.

Yeah, yeah. I did have somebody call me and say, Joe, I know I told you I was going, but it was raining. Yeah, okay.

Yeah, you get— you Pretty much get out of everything if it's raining here in California.

Yeah, that's our show. Or you have COVID.

Or you have COVID.

Yeah, those are good excuses, right? Joe, I have COVID. Okay, don't come.

You're good, stay home.

Yeah, stay home.

Don't mind it.

Are you masked?

Yeah, but, uh, I left my tripod there, so I had to go back yesterday.

You did?

Yeah, but I got it back.

Sorry.

That's all right.

I forgot it. We did a special video right before we jumped on this today. Just wanted to let everybody know to expect my video on 50-year mortgages.

Right.

My opinion.

Is it good? Is it bad?

It's good. I think it's good.

Oh, okay.

I didn't say anything was bad. On the video because we critiqued another YouTuber saying that it was bad, but I personally don't think it's bad. But I didn't critique him and make him feel bad.

Right.

Well, there's people have a different opinion.

Yeah.

And there's you know there's a school of thought that we're still allowed to have different opinions.

You're allowed to have different opinions.

Yeah.

Just make sure because I mean it. There's a school of thought that all debt is bad, you know, so you should just buy your house cash, I guess, according to Dave Ramsey.

Yeah, wow, like everybody can afford that, right? Especially if you're just starting out, right? Like, yeah, does that make sense?

I don't think so. But then there's the other— there's the other school that's, you know, maybe more Kiyosaki, that if you use debt correctly That you can really leverage.

Yeah.

But you don't want to be too leveraged.

Well, he is.

He's— oh yeah, he's— yeah, he's way leveraged.

And like he says, what are the banks gonna do, you know?

Yeah.

Really, what are they gonna do?

I don't know. They could take your property back, but they don't even want to.

No, they don't want to do that. 2008, during the downturn, the people that were losing their houses were just normal, you know, I bought my house for $500,000 or less or whatever. The people that had multimillion-dollar properties, the banks, they wanted nothing to do with taking that back. Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing, no. It's like nuts. Why are we gonna take back this $2 or $3 million home so it can just sit there and do nothing? No, that doesn't make sense. So, no. They targeted, you know, the normal mom-and-pop type people at the time. So I think that's where Kiyosaki is. He's like so far up here that the banks go, gosh, let's not even talk about him. But does he want more money? Yeah, let's let him borrow more money.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

Maybe he'll pay us back in gold.

Yeah, exactly.

Or silver.

Right.

One of the two.

He's all about that gold.

Yeah.

Because the world's gonna end and then the currency, the grid's gonna go down, then all we're gonna have is gold to trade with each other.

You know, that's one thing about the world ending and different things happening. If the world ends, who cares?

Yeah.

Right?

Right.

Yeah.

You're not gonna be around to notice.

Yeah.

And the thing about California and earthquakes, it's like, If we have the big one, you know, and you have earthquake insurance, do you actually think you're going to get paid back? Like, I mean, if we have the big one, it's like, yeah, I've been paying insurance for 40 years on my house for earthquake and it's gone.

Yeah, you're not getting anything.

Yeah, so is everybody else. It's gone.

Right.

You know, it's like, I don't think you'd get paid back. I really don't.

They're like, we're gonna rebuild the roads first and then we're gonna figure it out after that.

Well, maybe they don't need to rebuild the roads.

That's true.

Maybe it just breaks off.

Yeah, maybe.

That's what they say.

Maybe you get— just get into your CyberCab.

There you go.

Won't even matter.

Won't even matter. I was listening to Elon on YouTube yesterday and He says with AI, he says, I don't think there's going to be any need for people to work.

Hmm.

In 20 years. In 20 years.

Oh, in 20 years. I mean, that's not even that long.

Yeah. No, I—

so what is everyone doing?

I could still possibly be around. Imagine that.

Yeah. So what are you going to do?

I'm going to be on a podcast in 20 years.

Oh, that's true.

Yeah.

Cruise around.

Yeah. Because, yeah, because that's all I'll be able to do is just Sit here and talk because I'll be too old to do anything.

No, you'll have bionic legs by then. You'll be good.

Oh, you think we'll go into that stuff?

Yeah, we'll be good.

Okay, he will be doing a podcast from Hawaii. There he is. Yeah, condo in Hawaii.

I'm down with that.

Oh, I know you are.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But let's, uh, let's introduce our, our guest for today, uh, Dolph Olimara. How's it going, man?

Good, how are you? Good.

It's been a while.

Yes, we last spoke.

I know. Yeah, lots of things happened. So that's— I'm ready to share.

There we go. Perfect. That's what we love to hear. Yeah. Why don't you go ahead and jump on and maybe just do a quick introduction and then jump on into what's different this time?

Absolutely. My name is Dov Alimara. I'm a real estate broker. I became a broker. I remember asking Joe all these questions about, I'm scared. He said, no, you'll be fine.

You'll be fine.

So I became a broker. I got my an MLS license and my GC license. Woo hoo!

Wow!

Since the last time we the trifecta. Yeah, trifecta exactly. So all in one now, all real estate related.

Now no one can stop you.

Exactly, exactly. They better not.

Love that.

Sometimes inspectors they stop me for a little bit. For a couple of days. That's what happened.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Last week.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe fill us in like what's different besides that? Like what projects are you working on?

So I just finished. I just passed the final inspection on a building permit for my Granada Hills project. It was amazing. It's very probably you had a similar experience. It's very unique. Old-fashioned home, but I wanted to make it a little bit modern, but not wipe the the character in this home. So it was a very delicate project. So full remodel, four beds, two baths, 2,200, two stories. Basically, we removed everything and put new things. So it's it's nice. It's listed right now. I have open house tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday. There we go. I have a few tens of people signed up for RSVP. Yeah. Nice.

Yeah. Heck yeah. What's the price?

1.2.

Oh, that's a good price.

Which is way lower.

Yeah.

Which is way lower than market.

So yeah, it's a very good price.

Ready to sell.

That should be flying off the shelf.

Yes. Absolutely.

Good neighborhood of Granada Hills.

Did you, did you do, and did you add any square footage on that one?

No.

Okay.

No, it's, It's already big house, very nice. Plus there is a pool, so there is limited the amount of square footage I can add.

Yeah.

What kind of pool do you have?

The one that's shaped like a bean.

Kidney?

A kidney, yes.

Yes, okay. So my definition of a pool is a hole in the ground Or—

I knew you were gonna say that.

Or a resort where you have like rocks and trees and—

Waterfall.

Waterfall. So what kind of a pool do you have?

The first one. The first one. The hole in the ground. The hole in the ground, yes.

Okay, but you're making it look nice.

Yes, yes. Much nicer than before.

Okay. Did you think about making a resort look back there?

That wasn't in the budget? It's possible. That is a space. But I have to cut lemon trees, which I don't like to cut lemon trees. If you know me, I like to plant trees, not cut them. Yeah.

Yeah.

But lemon in particular?

What if it was an orange?

It's a very tough lemon. What if it was an orange? Any citrus.

Any citrus.

I'm a big fan of trees.

Fruit trees.

I think that was one of the biggest things when my dad bought his first house. He planted citrus trees in the back. Like, that's what he wanted.

Orchard.

Yeah.

He has his own orchard.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, nice.

He want— he wanted citrus trees in the back.

What is it about the trees that are so special?

Um, I like, uh, trees that give me value, like fruits, delicious ones. Uh, the, the only challenge is I have to beat the squirrels and to the punch. I was not lucky that much, especially in my home in Lakewood.

Oh yeah, it's, it's, yeah, a lot of squirrels, a lot of possums getting at it.

Exactly. Like delicious trees, delicious apple trees. Yeah. Organic. They, they know what they are doing. Yeah. One time I had a video of a raccoon doing like massaging for the avocado. With his legs and hands.

Nice.

I will send you that video.

Okay.

It's on my Instagram.

All right.

Nice.

And you tell me who owns the home, me or him?

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So you tell me.

Awesome. How long did that— how long did the Granada project take?

So the Granada, we had a hiccup. There is a very tough plan checker. He's not available. He's not do this and wait for a week or two. So it took me like 4 months of battling, and then I had to talk to his boss, and then that kind of situation. So 4 months, but the inspectors were really nice. I told them I have express permits to cover everything. So the fact that you want me to do a building permit, separate one to combine all of them is unheard of, but I will do it. Only if you let me continue the work, and by the final I should have the permit ready for you to sign up. They said yes. If you do that, continue, close the walls, close everything.

Compromise.

Good compromise. Yeah, we both got what we need. And so I to back to your question, eight months.

Okay.

Yeah. It's like why April?

Why did they need that extra permit? Like what?

Why?

I have no idea. More money.

Yeah.

Supress is like two hundred. The the building is like eight. So that's insane. It's insane. Yeah, well, it's, it's okay. I am so happy to pay them the $800 if they don't delay me for 8 months, right? And the back and forth and trying to chase that guy, and his name shall be not mentioned.

Yeah, so you, yeah, you're pretty much agreeable. You'll say, I'll do that if you can give me—

Correct.

Just to where I can keep working.

Exactly. Yeah, I pointed to my workers. I told them, you see these people? It's my responsibility to give them work. So they said, oh, okay, there we go.

Yeah, nice. What about— I saw you were kind of— you were raising money for different projects as well.

Yeah, I'm always doing that. There is a multifamily project that I'm working on. There is a rehab project. That's in Woodland Hills. So wish me luck. We're going to close hopefully soon.

Nice.

We had 2 lenders backed out on us last minute. So fun, right?

Yeah.

So, but once it's done, I think it's going to be super beautiful. It's Woodland Hills on the hillside.

Nice.

Secluded.

Okay.

Kind of like a, you know, like these roads you go and it's, you have to make a U-turn to get out.

Yeah.

We looked at one of these.

These kind of, uh, we remember we looked at that one and it was like 3 levels.

Yeah.

And then it, it, it had a, uh, bathtub that you like stepped into. Remember that? Yeah, it was pretty funky. It was like from the '60s or something.

Yeah, but he likes '60s style. Either '60s style or, uh, like, um, resort pool. Yes, either that or that.

Yeah, I mean, have you had a lot of experience working on like, you know, inclines and all that kind of stuff?

Yes, yes, yes. I— my other project, it's in the hillside. I had to demo everything, put 13 piles. That was fun. Wow.

How far down?

40 feet only.

40?

Yeah.

Down?

Down, yes.

Wow.

Yeah, until we, we, uh, you hit China. China, exactly, on the other side. Yeah.

Wow.

With concrete, man.

Dang.

Yeah, that's why they sent a balloon to California. Why do you think? Yeah, what the hell are they like?

Yeah, why are they drilling there? It's like all our people are coming up the hole, you know?

Wow.

It's the, the, the hill was so steep you have to go really down to make it stabilized. Yeah, 13 of them.

Wow.

And a retaining wall in between. So yes, I do have experience.

And how long did it take to put one down?

So the— so we do the drilling first. So that took us a week. Then we do the dropping of the rebar. So we had to manufacture a travel Bring it on 30-wheelers. Then we use a crane to bring it down. So that one, we did it like 2 days for all of them. Then the concrete is another week because we had to do it 3 times.

It wasn't like a pylon then that you had to force down into the earth. You actually drilled first, put the rebar, and then threw the cement in.

That is correct.

Got it.

Yes. And then the rebar had to stay above the level, the ground level with cement, you know, like the cement blocks.

Yeah.

And then so the cement can like cover it and not touch. So the rebars does not get rusty.

Right.

Very delicate, very delicate process.

Wow.

Yes.

Wow.

It's like the roads are like 10 feet wide.

Right.

kind of like Italy part of LA. Like, you go, like, people have to wait for you. You go, yeah, almost scratch, almost fall down the hillside. Yeah, that kind of street.

Getting trucks back there is like pretty tough.

Yeah, I have every neighbor, like some of them, not all of them, mad at me for like bringing— I was like, it's permitted, I have a permit. So you You talk to the city, you don't talk to me.

Right.

I'm usually nice, but when I see like these kind of unrealistic people, the problem is they are renters.

Oh yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, that's—

What are you doing?

Right, right. Yeah, you have no say here. You have no say here. Go back inside.

Exactly.

Yeah, I wonder like what was the original house? Like how many, you know, pilings did that have?

So the original house, fun story about it. I'm not sure if it's a funny story or Joe will be mad at me. They shot an episode of Mad Men in that specific house that I demoed completely.

Right.

But I reconstructed it.

Right. Nice.

Not the same, but like much nicer.

Yeah.

More open.

'50s, '60s.

So he's thinking, he's thinking.

I'm trying to. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to think. Which episode was that? Because his young wife did come out to California. Is that where she was staying? Yeah.

Yes.

Oh, sorry.

That's what I've been told.

I remember the house then.

Wolf just took it out of the you know the back.

Yeah.

So it's not not recognizable anymore.

No, no.

Oh, I mean yeah. Nobody actually wants to. You know, live there permanently. So you made a nice new house.

Yes, yes, 3 levels, very nice. Heck yeah, white stucco, nice aluminum doors, black aluminum doors.

That one's our— good contrast. That one's, uh—

We are doing final touches. Oh, okay, very final, final details.

Yeah, okay.

Okay. Yeah. How is it?

I will invite you guys for the open house. Okay, please. You do not want to miss it.

Yeah, I would love to.

Food?

Okay.

Oh, wow.

Jeez. Absolutely.

I have to have seafood.

Seafood, whatever you like.

No, no, I don't. I'm allergic to seafood.

Oh, sure.

Okay. Some tacos or sliders or something like that. Okay.

That's fine. Yeah, absolutely.

Or hors d'oeuvres.

Yes.

Yeah, hors d'oeuvres. Definitely. Definitely.

Yeah.

Wow. Music.

That'll be nice.

I had speakers everywhere.

Wow.

40. Only 40.

40 speakers?

Only 40 speakers.

In the house?

In the house.

Wow.

From 0 speakers to 40.

Dang.

Yes.

That's cool.

Maybe they will call me. Maybe like Mad Men, they will call me. Season 2.

How far is the neighbor?

Um, my next neighbor, he is like, um, uh, 2 lots down.

Okay.

Yeah. So—

You can hear 40 speakers for a long ways.

Uh, probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sonos audio system. If you guys like Sonos. Anyone like Sonos?

Yeah, I got a couple Sonos.

Yeah, never heard of it.

They all like link to each other.

You can have it throughout the whole house.

You combine them, you separate them. You— they are very powerful. So it's like a device like this big amplifier. You could connect 4 speakers, like large ones, like 6-inch RCA Zenith.

Yeah, those are the names I remember.

I know what you're talking about. Yeah, classic.

It's a, it's a Wi-Fi connected system. It's amazing. So you leave the party, Joe, the music's still playing if we use your phone because they have a, they have a server on each amplifier.

Wow. So technology.

Technology.

Yes.

Yeah.

Do you put that into the underwriting when you're, you know, doing your like line items of things that you want?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay.

Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's a dream of 15 years in the making to design my own house by myself. So that's what I did.

Love it.

Yeah.

And then you're just gonna let someone else enjoy it?

Yeah. Okay, yeah, cool.

And then get going.

I, I, I might keep it, so there's a high chance.

Oh, there it is. Yeah, I knew. See the way he was Talking, I was like, there's no way he's gonna give it up.

Not with forty speakers. I'm gonna take my forty speakers with me. What do you think?

That's not gonna work.

Make holes.

Yeah, no, it's not gonna work.

No.

Okay. If it's fixated to the wall.

Yeah.

Rule number one in real estate.

Somebody walk in and go, what are all those holes up there?

I don't know. Big rats.

Yeah. Yeah.

Raccoons.

Raccoons.

Amazing.

Wow.

Yeah, so that's, that's, uh, a, a good project to be part of.

Yeah, for sure. Okay.

All the projects I enjoy. Do you guys remember the illegal house from last time?

Yeah.

Yeah, so we got the, uh, the, uh, 2 units approved on the back. So that's the next project after the hillside. So can I get a lender and then do 2 units next to each other? Oh, cool. Yeah.

Okay.

2,000 square foot.

Nice.

And most of your stuff you do is in LA?

And mostly LA. Yes.

Yeah.

Yes. I am dying to have a good property in Orange County.

Yeah.

So if you guys know something that you cannot take or you don't like to take, just let me know.

Definitely. Yeah, if it was in LA, I'd give you everything. I don't like LA.

Yeah, yeah, I got used to, you know, like when you get used to—

True.

Yeah, true.

So yeah, you learn, learn how to work. Yeah, and the system and all that stuff, and you're fine.

I know how to navigate through the—

Yeah, that's really important.

It is, it is.

Yeah, so we get something in LA, we know where to send it.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And they— I mean, have they made the permitting process any easier?

Not to me, especially, especially with the details I like to do.

Okay.

Yeah, I want to make LA much nicer and better. So they are not— they're not making me easy, not making it easy.

Okay. What about in some of the areas, you know, that have been affected by the fire? Have you looked for any like lots there?

So I am in, in, in talks with one of my clients. He, God forbid, he lost 2 homes. So it's like very sad. So this is his home and then his neighbor got burned down and his son's home also got burned down. So we, he is, Doing the planning. Once finish the planning, we I will do the foundation and framing for him. So I don't know how long it'll take because every time I go to West LA Building and Safety, they ask me, "Is your project fire related?" I was like, "No, why you keep asking me?" Yeah. Oh, because West LA is where the people from the Palisades come to. Get the plans approved, so they have to ask this question.

Are they giving him preferential treatment?

Yeah, make them wait eight months. Yes, eight months, nine months.

Yeah, yeah, that's preferential right there.

Very preferential.

Yeah, like yeah.

I wish the president would dissolve the the the the Coastal Commission. I'm dying to see these. People, like, never heard of them again. They are causing so much problems to these homeowners, unnecessary, by the way.

Right.

Yeah, it's just another governing body that you're like, what do they even do?

Yeah, they like to say no. They like to say no a lot.

Yes, they say no.

They think they are the protector of the coastal, but like, there is God, so it's kind of got that covered. Like, say fire will come, right? You cannot control it. So I don't know why they are complaining.

Yeah, yeah. I think it's basically like Gavin Newsom's friends.

Yeah, it is.

I, I, I believe so. Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, yeah.

They were, they were complaining about Elon and his rockets, so he just He just took most of them and said, okay, I'm going to Florida then.

Right.

A big loss. Seriously, big loss. This guy is amazing.

Yeah, he is.

You know, so we should lose whatever. And his buddies.

I think he still does do a few of them, but they're military related, so they have no jurisdiction over that.

Okay.

So as long as he says this is military related, that's the jail out of the jail free card. Yeah, he can send them up.

Oh my God.

But yeah, it's like, really? Mm-hmm. Well, I, I'm a— it's like, it's like a homeowners association is what it is.

Right, right, right, right.

Yeah, I got elected by the board. Yeah, it's like I'm on the board now. It's like, okay.

Yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, that's one of the issues, the biggest issues that people have in with California, especially if you're an investor. It's just the red tape, the bureaucracy. But I mean, you see—

The laws against the investors.

Yeah.

Especially in LA, the rent control. Like, give me a break.

Oh my God.

They just talked about that, a new rent control.

Oh yeah, it's getting insane. It's getting to where it doesn't even make sense.

Yeah, they said that you can't raise it more than 5% now a year. It used to be cost of living plus 3, so now it's down to 5. It's like You know, why be a landlord? You know, why be a landlord? Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

Well, and what's funny is like people bring up that it's actually worse for the tenant because then the landlords, they can't take any chances. So if you got anything on, you know, record or whatever, it's like you're not getting in. So they're gonna tighten it down.

Yeah, because—

oh, absolutely. Yes.

It, it, it's like that just has the opposite effect.

Exactly. Yeah. Then instead of building more, they are rent controlling. It's like they, they wired differently, these, these government officials.

Yeah, it's strange. I saw New York just passed some insane thing too where, um, the multi-family, uh, when the people want to sell their multi-family properties, they have to go to the tenants and ask them if they want to buy it first or something.

That is fine. You ask them, they will not buy, and then you move on.

Right, right. It was, it was just— but people were like, that's— so somebody that's just paying like $2,800, you're gonna be like, do you want to buy this $10 million building?

Yeah, I don't know.

Well, they can buy it, right? If it gets listed, they can buy it. No, like, you don't need the law and spend tax dollars on creating a bill or Exactly. Like, seriously?

I know.

Yeah. That's how they get elected, I feel like. Oh, yes, yes. You make the investors bleed, the tenants will love you and then vote for you, and then they get to shoot themselves in the foot. And then they want to get rid of it, except the next person do the same and get elected again. And then here we go. It seems downwards, right?

Yeah, it seems pretty obvious, but I mean, apparently the masses are pretty easy to— yeah, to maybe trick.

Do you think? I guess.

I don't know.

Do you think?

But I mean, how do you do it? How are you— you're in LA, you're, you're staying in LA, you, you're, you're working around it. And I guess that's a testament to you getting your GC license, getting your broker's license. That gives you the most control So you can navigate the system.

Yeah, it's patience. I think it's the best thing. Like, you just be patient, outpatient. How do I say it? Be more patient than like the inspector or like the, the building safety or like—

That's hard to do.

That's hard to do. I know, for some people. Yeah, for some people.

Building inspector gets there in the morning, has his coffee. An hour later, he starts to get to his paperwork.

Jittery. Yeah, gets jittery.

It's like, wait a second, it's lunchtime. Break for lunch. Yeah, do a little bit more paperwork, maybe go out in the field, you know, drive around his personal stuff first, and then he'll go over and check your stuff.

Exactly.

And he— you have 5 minutes.

And then it's the end of the day. You know, it's like, sorry, but that's the way it is. Yeah, it's not like they have somebody looking over their shoulder.

Oh yeah, no, there's—

I think if you, if you get a job in the government, you have to murder somebody to get fired. Yes, that's what I heard.

True. Yeah, and then get caught for it too.

Glove fits the hand, basically.

Right, because I'm pretty sure some of them get away with it, but Depends on how high up you are. Okay, yeah, so are there days, you know, it's just a long process, you got to be patient. Are there days where it's pretty much you're just— all the work stops, they need to sign off on it, so you have nobody working, pushing the ball forward?

Yes, yeah, I have that example in the, um, illegal addition house. So there is one inspector, the guy who is responsible to sign off on the Fire sprinklers. The the contractor who did the plans for the fire sprinklers did not tell me that you need to change the the meter, the the water meter. So I am done. The the building is done. They are coming to do the final, and they said, "You have the the fire inspect inspection needs to pass before we can pass you." I was like, okay, I have the fire sprinkler inspector. And he said, you need to change the meter from 3/4 to 1 inch to allow for the flow for the fire sprinklers because I added so much square foot that I had to do fire sprinklers. So I said, okay, I will do it. He said, yeah, but I will need to see the meter before I could sign on it. I was like, can I do it? Send you a picture, just sign? He said, no, I have to see the meter. So lo and behold, I called DWP and they told me the wait just so your application gets seen is 3 months.

Oh my God.

Wow.

So we need a couple of weeks after to come Cut the the street, put a one-inch liner they call it.

That's going to be my question is what's what's what's the what's the line coming in from the street?

Also three quarters. Yeah, three quarters.

You have to you know get a new line all the way down to the street.

Exactly. Exactly. I I I was not lucky to have maybe one inch but a smaller meter to just change the meter.

Yeah.

By the way, I will still have to wait 3 months. Even so, I was like, what the hell is going on?

Yeah.

Yeah. So I had to wait 3 months. The property is ready to go. I could not have it rented because I need the certificate of occupancy because I added square footage. So I have to, it's a new, it's not remodel. The remodel, you don't, like they don't touch the certificate. But if you add, you legalize the, the owner's Mickey Mouse stuff, then you have to wait for the certificate. So that's an example, live example.

Wow.

I could not do anything for like 3 months and a half.

So, I mean, just, it's just sitting there.

And it's not my fault.

Like, right.

Somebody did not tell me change the meter. If he told me, I had so long time. Yes, I could have it done by the time the inspector comes in. Yeah, the meter is upgraded.

Yeah.

So, so I learned my lesson on my, on my hillside. I did it way before.

Way, way before.

Even before. Yeah.

Yeah.

Because it cost like double the amount.

Right.

Yeah. And Same wait period, like 3 months.

So you just get them involved right away?

Exactly.

Because is it just a square footage thing? So, you know, once you hit a certain threshold, it has to be an inch?

The house, I wanted fire sprinklers installed just because the hillside, it's very high fire risk. And the insurance will go Skyrocket. So to have fire sprinklers, it's going to bring your insurance down. It's a little bit of expense, but it's going to pay dividends in the long run. So that's what I wanted. They did not ask me, but I said, let's, let's do it.

Okay, gotcha.

Yeah.

Yeah, I heard, you know, DWP is like just notorious for—

For a long time. Yeah.

Holding up projects.

They're having lunch.

They're having—

and what's so funny, I mean, we talk about it all the time, is like they'll just cry about not having enough housing, and yet yours is pretty much ready to go. Yeah, we can move somebody in there, but we gotta wait on this one thing.

3 months.

Yeah, 3 months.

3 months here, 3 months somewhere else, like some other investor who didn't know as well. Yeah, yeah.

What is going on? But the spread is there.

Can we put all this information into ChatGPT? And then just like, this is what we're going to do, and then it'll spit it back out and say, you better do this up front.

Yeah, yeah, I am sure they can do it. Maybe ChatGPT is very smart. Okay, it's a very good friend of mine, right?

Yes, my good friend too.

Yeah. How— yeah, how are you integrating it into your business?

Um, the, uh, the open house videos invitations, I did ChatGPT scripts. I told them I want Funny secrets, and the President Trump would say it.

Okay, nice.

It came out really good.

Wow.

One of the videos I have like 11 shares.

Yeah, nice.

I love the president, but he says things.

Yeah.

Yes. But yes, especially if you're a reporter.

Oh yeah, yeah, he'll let you know.

Yeah, he'll let you know.

Oh my gosh, that's great. Okay, so you got a lot. A lot in the works right now.

Yeah, yeah, I keep myself busy.

Nice. Are there any other certificates or, you know, licenses you're going for?

So there is a, there is a lady, a client of mine, Japanese lady, very like very nice lady. She said she is listing the property in Redondo and she wants to buy in Nevada. So I listed the property, everything is working well, and then she wants to buy in Nevada. So sorry, she wants to sell her condo in Nevada. So she hired a real estate agent. Lo and behold, the real estate agent, she signed the contract and a week and a half and no pictures, no listing, no nothing, no nothing.

Normal.

No.

Yeah.

And then she called the listing agent. Oh, I am golfing. I cannot call you.

Nice.

So she said, I am really frustrated. You took— you did a video tour, you did the pictures within 3 days. What is going on? I said, there is 1% and there is 99%.

Yeah.

So she said, can you please on the purchase, next purchase on Nevada, can you please get a license in Nevada because I want to hire you?

There you go.

So that's the answer I'm going to work on. I already bought the course and I just have to go through.

How hard is it to get your license someplace else? Because, um, in California you have to go through the entire process. They don't care if you've had a broker's license in wherever. Yeah, they want you to do the whole thing all over again.

Exactly. In Nevada it's easier.

Is it?

It's much easier.

Yeah, I know, like, if you're like, if you're a broker and you go over there, I want to get my license You know, the— they don't, they don't throw you through the entire course.

No.

You know, they make it easier for you.

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah.

Especially if you are a broker in California.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's good.

2 things in California. If, if you fly near LA, you are the best pilots everywhere. And then if you take your real estate license in California, you can take it pretty much anywhere.

Exactly.

It's the hardest state to have these 2 things.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

There you go. So you're gonna make a little empire in Nevada now?

Nevada, yes. And it's, it's close. I could drive to it. And yeah, and I like it. I like the hills and the snow, and we go skiing every year. So gambling? Gambling, not so much.

No, I don't either.

I gamble with the city of LA. That's enough.

Yeah, true.

Yeah, that's— yeah, true. That'll, uh, yeah, every day.

Yeah, really, I gamble.

Oh my God. Yeah, you're like, is this guy gonna be cool or a complete dick? Wow, it's like they have so much power and they know it.

Yeah.

That's unreal.

That's— it's, uh, no checks and balances.

I know. Yeah, that's like the next thing you should— you should try to get a job as an inspector in the city, like work within the city.

It's—

it's— I left that W-2 job. So I don't have to go through this. Now he is pushing me back.

So then you could wait.

How about having a friend there?

Yeah.

And then he tells me we get him here. Yes. Come to Joe's and Alex podcast. Spill the beans, please. Yeah. Everybody wants to know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's like, I have no idea how it works either. I bet you. I'm just trying not to get fired.

Get out of town one day.

He's definitely not coming on the podcast.

Retired. Had. Yeah.

A retired one will be good. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

But not a, not a current one.

Not a current one.

He'd have to be a whistleblower.

Yeah, exactly. He's a current one.

Yeah.

He'd have to be a whistleblower. We've got a whistleblower on today from LA. He spent 35 years saying, no, it's 3 months. Yeah.

Plus 2 weeks.

Plus 2 weeks. Jeez.

Yeah. Well, and that's kind of, you know, just going back to the Nevada license, that's pretty much how you got your other ones too, was out of necessity.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. When, um, when I had my license, I had the worst home experience, like first home buying experience in California. Showed me 3 houses. Dolphie, go pick one. And that's it. Your credits to show places is gone. You know, this and that. That was in 2011. Yeah, 2011. It was, it was fun days. Yeah. And so I had to choose. I chose the best one, which it turns out it's, it was a good investment. It's all about the gut feeling.

Yeah.

Yeah. I have a good gut feeling with real estate.

That's good.

Yeah. And then, and then the GC license was because the GC license because taking too long. Exactly. 2 years for The the the building, the ground up. I was like, that's too long.

Wow, that is a long time.

No bueno.

No, no, no bueno.

What?

You're learning Spanish too?

Ah yeah, yeah. That's nice. That's another thing. Yeah, I speak Spanish fluently.

That's good. Nice.

Yeah, it helps. Yeah, the workers.

Yeah, absolutely. How long is it taking you to do a ground-up project now?

Flat or—

Yeah, no, I know. Yeah, I guess flat.

Flat is easy. 2 months for like foundation framing, stucco, and then maybe another 4 months for the inside. 6 months if there is no strikes, if there is no— if I get lucky, if there is no fire, if there is no Tariffs with with like no ice rates. Ice rates. Yeah, that was yeah, that was a nightmare. Yeah, yeah. Even one of my my HVAC contractor, he said, "I'm scared to have to go to Home Depot." I was like, "Seriously? You are a U.S. citizen. Why are you scared?" He said, "They don't know, and I have to prove it." Yeah, like. That level, like, can you believe it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, yeah, I have a friend of mine that, uh, he's— he comes to our meetup every month and he's in Northern California and his wife told him, you're not flying. So he drives down here.

Oh my goodness, 8 hours to get down here.

And it's like, um, yeah, you're not driving. He's here legally, he's got a green card, but She doesn't want to take the chance. Yes.

Yeah. So, and I, I don't blame her.

Yeah. You can't fly.

Right.

Oh God.

She does not have patience and she doesn't gamble. Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's pretty—

She cannot, uh, have a project in LA.

Yeah.

Those are the 2 requirements. Oh my gosh. Well, um, I mean, what do you see as far as You know, as we're getting closing out the year, going into 2026, what do you got on your predictions list?

Predictions about the market? Market.

The crystal ball.

What's— let's talk about interest rates. Where do you see them going?

Interest rates, I think they will— they have to go down. They have to go. In the next 6 months.

They have to.

Not as much as people anticipating and waiting and in doing this market.

By the end of next year, where do you think interest rates will be at?

Probably 0.75% lower. Okay, which is not more than that, which would make it what, 5.5%?

5.25%.

Quarter?

5.25%?

Yeah.

Okay, which is pretty much standard where we've been, like Through the entire history, you know. Um, that'd be good.

That would be really good. That's gonna incentivize people to buy. Yeah, they don't know it's the same payment. It's the— like, you bring the, the interest rate down, the, the house price will shoot up. It's the same.

It's the same.

I don't know why the waiting.

And I don't know, I tell people that all the time. I said you should just buy now. And then, okay, you're buying at 6, 6.5 or whatever. By next year, let's say it's 5, you just refinance.

Exactly.

At that point.

Exactly.

You don't have to keep this loan at this rate.

Nobody, you know, is keeping— like, I, I do like 2, 3 refinances in the course of 6, 7 years.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. What's your feelings? What's your feelings on a 50-year mortgage?

50 years mortgage is not gonna work. It's gonna, like, the payment is gonna change, what, like 100, 200?

200.

You will pay so much. You will pay so much in interest along the 50 years. Nobody will live 50 years. And it's gonna, it's like 50 years in one home. I mean, 50 years. Yeah.

45. Yeah.

45 years. Did you have the same loan for the whole time?

No. See, that's the thing.

That's the difference between you and everybody else.

14% was my loan.

Listen, people, that's the rate we had before.

And no, I'm not stupid. Along the way, as interest rates went down, I refinanced. I must have refinanced like 3 or 4 times. You know, I refinanced from a 15— I'm sorry, 30-year to a 15-year.

Yeah.

You know, which—

I like those.

If you know, like, the payment really didn't change much because now it's a shorter period of time.

Yes.

But I thought I could pay it off early, which I eventually did. But then I refinanced again, you know. So I think the 50-year The FHA loan is, if you think about it this way, it's just to get people into purchasing a home because that's really what you wanna do. You know, my house I purchased for $160,000. It's worth $1.4 million now. Like, yeah, that's what you do.

Yeah.

You buy here and hold onto it. And then, you know, if you decide to live there for 45 years, 'Cause that's what my dad taught me. He said, you know, and my grandpa, he said, you know, buy a house and stay in it for the rest of your life. And I actually listened to them.

That's good.

Most people, you know, most people buy a house and they're 5, 6, 7 years and they're out.

That's the average, yes.

Which is fine, you know, but the goal is to get people to buy houses.

Don't sell it, keep the house.

Don't sell it, rent it out, yeah. Absolutely. It's like, who cares what interest rate you start at or whether it's a 50-year mortgage? You're going to refinance out of that anyways.

Exactly.

You know?

Yeah. Sooner or later.

At least this way it'll get you started. But I agree with you. It's like the difference is like $200 a month. That's not going to move the needle.

No, it's not going to move the needle.

No, at all.

One time, speaking of needles, you want to hear a funny story?

Sure.

So a great mentor of mine, I told him one time in a, in a, I I was doing a presentation, so I was explaining and I said, this things you do, it's gonna move the needle. Something else is not gonna move the needle. So he said, Dolf, what do you mean by the needle? Like, this is not the needle. I was like, no, it's the needle in a gauge. Like, I gave him the engineering explanation.

Right, right.

It's the needle in the gauge. Something moves the needle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Got lost in the good needle, not the bad needle.

Definitely got lost in translation there. There's a movie they made, they called it Lost in Translation.

Yeah, yes, absolutely. Yeah, okay, I'll refer him to watch that movie.

Yeah, I haven't seen them.

Do they talk about needles or no?

No, no, I don't think so. No, I don't think so. No, no, no.

He got the— he got the explanation. I don't think he will forget it the way I was describing.

Yeah, yeah.

In front of like 60 people.

Yeah. It's like, what does that mean? So are you— you're doing talks now or—

Yeah. So presentations. Another thing I got involved into, I'm a part of a club. I'm an owner of a real estate club. In the, in the Greater Los Angeles. So it's like the border of Los Angeles County by West Covina. So every month we have a meeting, we have brilliant speakers. Every month we change the speaker topic.

Nice.

People come free to join. So anyone who wants to get the real real estate education comes come to our event.

Is it on Meetup?

It's, uh, it's on Meetup. Yes, we announced it on Meetup. We don't have a Meetup group yet. No, maybe we should do.

Yeah, you should.

But we post, like, we put a post, hey, come to our event, because you could do posts just like social media. Yeah, yeah, um, yeah, Meetup is a good idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah, make it You enjoy, you add it. The only thing with Meetups, you cannot like send emails. I guess you can send messages. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. They've got a new system now that you can actually obviously pay a little bit more and you can get everybody's emails and stuff.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah. Which is fine. Yeah. Meetup. I'm a big fan of Meetup.

I've got like 4,000 people on my meetup and nice, I get maybe 75 that show up every month.

Oh, okay, 75. Yeah, what was the percentage? Um, less than 10%.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's normal, right? Well, it started out where I think I had my first meetups of like 10, 15. Oh yeah, yeah, okay. And then I've grown over the years.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Outgrew the first location we were at and now we're at the What, 4th or 5th location now?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the biggest issue is the location.

He does, he does good meetup, this guy. That's how I met him. I came to one of your events. Oh, and the hangar— is it the hangar? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we outgrew this one. It was raining, right?

And the hangar has no cover.

Yes.

So we moved it inside, uh, this past month.

Yes, yes. Good idea. But it's a good location.

Yeah.

Yeah. Parking is easy.

Yes.

Free admission.

Free parking.

Free parking.

Yeah.

Yeah. No hors d'oeuvres though.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah. You gotta, you gotta get your own food. I don't know. That's not like Joe's style. Uh, we have Liz in the chat that asks, um, what do you see?

Hello, Liz.

What do you see as the best value-add play for 2026?

Best value-add play? Definitely ADU. Oh yeah.

All right. Yeah. Can you explain, extrapolate?

So, so ADUs is very easy. It's like a, it's like the get out of jail. Okay. You go there, they give you the permit very easily. You don't have to go through the rigorous process of, for example, adding a square foot to an existing home. So you could do garage conversions. It's very, very common. You take out the garage, you gut it out, and then divide it into 2 bedrooms. $400,000, you could do 2 small bedrooms. If you want to go lavish, you go 1 bedroom, nice living room, and then a kitchen. So that's— and it'll cost you very little, $80,000 to $120,000.

Okay.

but you have a unit, you can rent it out, which the rent's going to be the same. Like, people don't care if they are living in a house or an ADU. They cannot tell the difference.

Right.

It's the same building, same amenities. By the way, when I do the ADUs, it's like more fancy, like exactly the same fanciness of like rehabbing a single family.

Okay.

Because somebody will see the value and pay more.

Nice.

Yeah, I always get like higher rent than the average around me in LA because of the finishes that I use.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

And I choose good tenants so they don't break it.

Right.

And I use high quality materials so it lasts forever.

Love it.

Yeah. So ADU, definitely ADU.

And you're adding those to your rentals that you already owned?

Yes. Yes. One of the triplex that I own, it's a triplex and it has 3 garages. So I went from getting $300, $100 per garage per month to $2,600 now per month. And I just like converted it into an ADU. Very nice. I put AC, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. The bathroom is really nice, like very big.

Mm-hmm.

And kitchen with appliances and stuff. So Yeah, they are so happy to.

Do you go with full-size appliances or do you do like the mini stuff?

No, the full size. Full size, 30-inch for the stove, 36 for the fridge, and 30— I, I like to do microwave on top of the range to do 2 things, the exhaust and the microwave. You, you need— we need microwave. Everybody needs microwave. Yeah, so if you can have 2-in-1 In a small space, then definitely.

Do you know another new law they just passed in LA? Actually, not LA, all of California.

Okay, another California. I feel relieved now.

You have to supply a refrigerator now to your tenants.

Yeah, it used to be a stove, I mean the range. Yeah, now fridge and a stove.

Yes.

Yeah.

So yeah, okay.

But you cannot increase rent more than 5%.

That's 5%.

That's it.

We gotta cut you off there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess it just kind of has to come out of your pocket.

We'll pay 5% of the fridge and then they pay the 95%.

How about that? It's like, we're gonna make it happen somehow. Oh my God. All right, this is the part. I mean, you've been here, so you know.

I've—

we've curated 3 videos and I want to get your reaction.

Absolutely.

All right, let's do it. This first one's called Add Value Without Square Footage.

What?

So when we're talking about adding value to your builds, sometimes it's not big gains. What you want to do is you want to think about the lifestyle of the people that are going to live in there, the area. The area that we're in, a lot of people like indoor-outdoor spaces. So what we did is we actually added these 2 slider doors. Yes, these cost a lot of money. These probably cost us about $20,000 for the pair. But I know that when the people are living in this unit and they're basically able to slide this all the way open and have their backyard, that adds a ton of value. Now imagine we slide that one open too. These are things you got to think about. We have this great backyard, okay? It's south-facing. We're gonna get the sun. Now we can take advantage of that. And even though these doors cost us a lot, we're gonna get every single dollar back.

I love it. He is absolutely right on the money.

All right.

You add a small feature to— without adding square foot, but it adds value. So this increases rent, by the way, if he is renting. If he is selling, definitely this will increase the value of a home. I thought he was saying do a remodel for a kitchen that adds value and you are not adding any square foot. But yeah.

$20,000 for the door?

Yes.

Seriously?

Absolutely. That's why—

That's nuts.

You put that— you putting those in your—

I— it cost me like $60,000, but I bought like, like probably 14 doors.

Jeez.

So I got to— I talked to the manufacturer directly to get good pricing.

Nice.

Yes.

I don't pay $20. No, I don't like it for sure.

Okay, this next one is called Least Expensive Way to Add Square Footage to Your Home.

Okay.

Christian Carpenter here with Everything Residential and Commercial. This is the most affordable way to add value to your home with a home addition. Let me kind of talk about it here. When you do a home addition, you usually have to add an entire roof, trusses, the whole foundation, and then frame it in, plumbing, etc. However, if you have a patio cover like this with an existing roof, you can knock out that slab, pour a slab, and then frame it in, and you don't have to pay for roof or trusses or anything like that. And the benefit The benefit of this is, let's say you have some kids and you want like an extra bedroom, you know, something without plumbing, it's just minor electrical. This is a super viable option because like I said, we're just framing it in. We throw a window in on this big wall right here under the gable, and you have yourself a bedroom. Frame in a closet. Now if you do a comparison of your house value with a comp in the area, let's say a square mile of recently sold, you know, maybe a house in the area has kind of the same square footage, but they have an extra bedroom and it sold for $45,000 more because it has that extra bedroom. By enclosing your patio cover, you can get that value out of it. Now, most people in Arizona spend time indoors in the summertime. When it's outdoors, you usually have to have a pool or something. So if you have a lot of area, you can enclose your patio and then in the future build a new patio. But if you're having kids like me, I'll take that extra bedroom. Anyways, just want to talk to you guys about an affordable way to add value to your home with this kind of home addition. Make sure—

So I like the idea. The only thing I have to add to it, if you want to do it, please do it legally. Yes, don't, don't do it illegally and then I have to buy it and then have to permit it. Yeah, wait 3 months and 2 weeks to, yeah, to have the fire sprinklers. But it's a good way. It's— he is absolutely right. Like, if you have the roof done, everything done.

And obviously we didn't see everything that he was doing, but, you know, make sure that it fits to the house where You actually have access to that area without going through a kitchen.

Yes.

You know, or going through another bedroom. I've seen that too. It's like, where's the other room? Well, you have to go through this bedroom to get to the other bedroom. It's like, yeah, do it correctly. Like he says, you know, correctly with a permit and all that stuff.

Yeah. The, the, uh, don't make it awkward. But it was, was Joe's trying to say, don't make it awkward.

Don't make it awkward because you will, you're not going to see the return on it.

Exactly.

No, outside of that, because he was mentioning, okay, you had a 4th bedroom, now you're with the comps of the 4th bedroom in the neighborhood, so you could possibly add that value. But if the layout sucks, if the floor plan sucks, that you're not going to get the resale value.

Yeah, another, uh, another note on these kind of like additions: don't overbuild for your area. So if, if everybody has like 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, don't make 6-bedroom, 3-bathroom. You will not get the value.

Absolutely.

So that is a slippery slope.

Slippery slopes. Sometimes more is not better.

Exactly. Exactly. Absolutely right. All right.

All right. And the last one we have is 2026 housing market predictions.

Trump will do whatever he can. Trump will do whatever he can to make sure that interest rates go lower.

Pressure on.

If you want some more advice on real estate investing, reach out to us one-on-one.