Permits, Profits, and Passive Income: Dolf’s Guide to Smart Additions

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the podcast, the New and Experienced Investor Podcast. Today we're talking about value-add flipping, investing in-state and internationally. There's gonna be a lot to cover. It's gonna be a show you definitely don't wanna miss. I'm one of your hosts. I'm Alex Barnett. I'm the new guy.

I'm Joe Holmes and I'm the Experience Guy.

Oh yeah, we have an amazing guest with us today. He's, uh, he's on his way. He's gonna be joining us in about 2 minutes. Uh, he's a leading realtor and investor investing worldwide.

Nice.

Yeah, Mr. Worldwide.

Wow.

You ever heard of that guy?

No.

Mr. Worldwide?

No.

Pitbull.

Does he invest in Hawaii? Because I don't know, my wife is dying to go there. I know.

I know.

I found a sub-two in Hawaii we can buy, but she's too stingy. As well as forcing appreciation in local markets beyond just regular cosmetic flipping model. But before we bring him on, I just want to remind everybody about our upcoming meetup.

April 28th. We do not have a speaker yet. To be determined. If you're looking to speak at a meetup, then please reach out. Let us know. Yeah.

Yeah.

Not a big qualification. You know, there, there is an application involved, right? You know, a vetting process and some questions and under a heat lamp type situation. But other than that, it's not bad if you want to, you know, promote whatever it is that you're doing real estate related and do that in front of an audience of usually 75 to 100 people.

Yeah. Yeah. The last one was really good. We had Burton from PropStream. And even though we had him on, I think it was in September, he had all these new updates about stuff I didn't even know about. So yeah, it was very informative and an excellent hang afterwards. I always like to remind you guys that you get the most out of this podcast because it is live by joining the chat. So make sure to share this far and wide with any new and experienced investor in your circle. your network. And, uh, we're gonna pick a few of the chats, a few of the questions to ask our guests towards the end. Or maybe they're gonna ask you, Joe, if you're ready for it.

The guests? Yeah, that's what we're here about, the guests.

That's what we're here about.

Yes.

Um, but they can get, you know, full access to you through this show as well. That's pretty cool.

As long as you buy me lunch or coffee, I'm in.

No, they're gonna join. They're gonna do it in the chat. Oh, they're gonna do it in the chat.

Yeah.

So otherwise it's gonna cost you Lunch or coffee.

Yeah. But, uh, it's well worth it.

It is well worth it. So, uh, yeah, make sure to, to join in the chat. And, um, before we launch into the topic of value-add flipping and investing internationally, uh, let's, let's talk about our 2 tips of the week, shall we? Uh, my tip is we're, I think we're gonna be talking about forcing appreciation. You know, when you're, when you're flipping or you're gonna remodel a house, you can add square footage. Whether you're doing that or not, my tip is just stick to your numbers, especially right now. Stay conservative. Don't get all drunk on hopium and try to push your after-repair value up. Just stick to the numbers. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, just simply move on.

My tip is the opposite.

Oh.

Total opposite.

Okay.

Don't do value adds.

Oh, I see.

Yeah. Like add an ADU and it'll, you know, appreciate the property price. Put a pool in, in the backyard, it'll appreciate. Add this, add that. Like, no, just especially if you're just starting out, just a simple removing everything inside the house, putting it back brand new, move on to the next project.

Yeah.

When you start adding stuff on, it just takes such a long time. Usually there's a permit involved and they're just getting more difficult at the city on a daily basis. So mine's the opposite. I don't like value adds at all.

Okay.

Something simple, quick, even cosmetic, move on.

What if you're gonna make an extra $400 grand?

Never happened. Never happened. No, never happened.

Yeah, I was watching one of the videos on what it costs, and this was a guy in Florida. I think he said to add like 600 square feet, it was between $130 and $160 grand.

Yeah.

For construction. I don't know if that's true or not, but—

Yeah. And, and what value did it add? Not much.

I don't know. I've seen some places in LA where the difference between $1,000 and $1,800 is a big difference.

Square footage?

Yeah, square footage-wise. It could be, you know, a million.

Yeah, but I mean, we're talking, you know, to complete a project like that, at least 9 months to a year. You know, it's just like, it just doesn't pencil out. That was what your suggestion was. Do the numbers, pencil it out. If it doesn't pencil out, move on.

Yeah. That's the hardest thing I think when you're starting out and you're hungry for a deal, you just want every single one to work. And so you're just like, well, if we do this and I only spend $5K on the rehab, which never is gonna happen. No. Then, oh, I'll make this, this amount of money.

But yeah, I heard someone say they're spending $5K on just staging today.

Yeah, prices are going up.

They are going up.

Yeah, materials are up, labor is up.

I did see the staging at, uh, Ryan's new place in Lake Forest, and it does look very nice.

Oh yeah, no, it's totally worth it.

They staged all the rooms. My only objection was one room they put a king-size bed and it's like a small room. So it took up the— literally took up the whole room. And I'm like, wow, they did a really great job in the entire house, but kind of had a strike there.

Maybe the whole family's gonna sleep in one bed, Willy Wonka style.

So it's a 3-bedroom, So you're saying it's going to be for a family of—

Yeah.

5, 6, 7?

Co-living is all the rage.

Yeah. Maybe grandma and grandpa are coming to move in.

Grandma, grandpa, her 3 dogs, and then, yeah, the family and a couple of kids. Yeah. You're going to need a king-size bed in every room. We just have a twin bed that we share with a cat and a dog. We make it work.

Really?

No. Wow.

I can't believe anything you say. I have to just talk to her.

Yeah.

That's it.

Good idea.

Well, no, we have a queen and like Chad got a king-size bed. So he like makes fun of us now that we have a small bed.

I've got what's called a California king.

Oh, geez.

Yeah. You know, I have to write an email And get it to my wife to just tell her like, quit snoring or move.

Right.

Yeah.

You're like, is she even over there? She can't even tell.

Yeah. I know when it's like super, super quiet, we're watching a show or whatever, gets really, really super quiet, she's asleep.

Oh yeah.

Yeah. She's asleep.

That's, I know. Yeah.

I'm doing this like, hello, you awake? No, no, nothing. And then what I'll do is I'll shut the TV off as well. Oh.

She's like, I was watching that.

Yeah. And then she goes, she wakes up like 5 minutes later, like, was it over?

Yeah.

Yeah. No, I know it wasn't over. You were over.

You done. Yeah. I usually pass out before. I haven't seen the end of like any show that we've been watching.

Really?

Yeah. I just, you're like, I go to sleep. Well, I get up really early, so then I—

wow.

What size bed do you guys have? Drop it in the chat. I wanna know.

Yeah, that's really important to real estate.

Yeah.

Yes.

Well, yeah, yeah. Bed size. Well, staging, bed size, but, um, enough of that.

Ryan, I know you're off camera, but, uh, hopefully you or Michaela knows how much did you spend for the staging there on Fortune? You what? $3,200.

$3,200.

Yeah, we used to spend like $1,200.

Geez.

When we first started. $1,700, $1,800 for a long time. Yeah, yeah, $1,700, $1,800.

It didn't look like that.

I know.

No, no, I agree. It looks really good.

Yeah.

Yes, it does.

I think our girl's like at $2,700 right now.

Okay.

Her price goes up like every time we use her.

Yeah, that's like— Does that make sense?

I have a static price.

I heard, um, Her last price to a referral I sent her was 29.

Jeez.

Okay.

Uh, yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

All right, time to go hunting. But enough screwing around. Our guest has arrived. He came here all the way from far away.

He flew here.

He flew here private jet style. So we're really stoked to have him. Dolph Al Imara, what's up?

Make it rain.

Yeah, that's right.

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, good to see you again. Good to see you in person again. Yes. Glad to be here.

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for making the drive and joining us in studio. Flew.

Flew.

Flew. Thanks for making the flight and being in here. Yes.

Drove my jet.

That's right.

Yeah.

Santa Monica to OC. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

Okay. But yeah, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself to the audience? How did you get into real estate? What led you there?

Awesome. So my name is Dolf. I'm a realtor. I have a license and to practice real estate, and I'm also a general contractor. Because I have done so many rehabs, I might as well just take the exam, be a licensed contractor. It makes perfect sense. So I have this control. It's all about control. Like, I want to have everything into the real estate journey. I started my, my first home I bought 2011 and rehabbed it 2012. And then it was in San Francisco. And then in 2019, I moved to Southern California and I really liked it. So I'm not going back. I like the weather here and palm trees. In 2019, I started to really go into real estate every year, either buy or rehab or Like look for another deal to like do the next year. So I've been doing 6 rehabs so far and I bought 4 buildings and I just syndicated a building in Northridge. So anything under the sun, you call it, I have done it.

I noticed that.

Yeah, your bio is very extensive. I didn't know like what to just land on. So we got, we got a lot to cover.

Yeah, absolutely. So that's my journey. And I, I am, um, uh, I came from engineering background, so I— you see how much passion I have that I left the engineering, my full-time job with John Deere, which is people die to, to get in John Deere. I left it all behind to practice real estate full-time.

People die to get into John Deere? Yeah, yeah, it's kind of like Laguna Oh, Laguna Woods.

Yeah, they're dying to get in, dying to get out.

Yeah, they are.

I can attest to that.

Nice. So, uh, what part of SoCal are you in now?

Uh, I am in Long Beach right now, and, uh, soon I will be moving to LA.

Okay.

To be next to the action.

Gotcha. Okay.

It's all about the action.

Okay, well, let us know, like, what sort of action is coming up in LA? What are you seeing?

So there is a lot of People are getting under the water and they want to sell. So my job is to find these good deals, good margins, buy them. I'm a big fan of like buying and holding. I did one time buy and sold. I did not like it. I paid so much taxes. And then within a year there is like a 20% appreciation for that home that I rehabbed like it was my own home.

Mm-hmm.

Everything brand new, like gut rehab. So I decided to no more, uh, uh, selling. It's all holding.

Love that. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that's how you're gonna build your wealth.

Exactly.

Let's go back to the beginning. It sounds like you have a ton of experience. And then also you mentioned that you, um, work with the city and the permitting to do value add onto these properties. It's not just a normal cosmetic flip.

No.

How did you get there? Like, how did you get that knowledge to do that?

So the first rehab I did in San Francisco, my home, I had to do— learn the lessons the hard way. I hired a handyman. I didn't know that there is a contractor and a handyman. So the guy charged me like 50%, took the money, never saw him again, had to sue him in court. I got my money back. That's good.

Nice.

So I learned that I have to be more careful when, like, doing these rehabs. So when I moved to Southern California, I did it by the book. I had to have reviews. I have to have, like, references. I call the references of the guy. He is working on my rehabs. So that's how I did it. And I like to When I have a vacant property, I'm not gonna like do like a lipstick kind of thing and have problems later. No, it's gonna be like I take out all the walls, put insulation, everything to reduce the amount of problems later down the line when tenants are there. And you know, like in LA or like Orange County, people don't leave. They want to stay, which is fine, but you cannot fix the property like, like a major rehab. So I had to study the law, study the, the city, a lot of phone calls to the city of LA, how to navigate. And I did a crazy thing, like in, in 2020 when I bought my first property, it was a triplex in LA. There were no city— like you cannot go to the city to get building permits. So I, I asked around, I called like a lot of people in the city. They told me the best way to do it is express permits. So when I, when I saw like that was like my entrance into like this, the building and the city and like the questions I have to ask. So I did that all express permits same day. You, you do the job, but then you have like 9 or 10 permits rather than one building permit.

Hmm.

So, so that was one of the experiences. And then I saw the people doing the jobs. I, like, I learned the drywall needs to be like this, needs to be like horizontal, not vertical. The nails has to be like in certain distances. The mud to avoid the cracks, it has to be that way. Because I like build a solid foundation. I took the best of the best in LA. They charged me a little bit extra. Totally worth it. So then like the first rehab, then the second rehab. So that one was just like gut rehab, make everything brand new. The next project, 2023, it was illegal addition in the back. So that was like the next level, if you will. So there was one bedroom, one bathroom on the back added. I don't know how the city did not come and put them in jail like these people. So it sounds like the tenant had all the additions without the seller's knowledge or like the owner's knowledge. So it was a good deal. Good spread, so I bought it, and I kind of like dive in, and then I discover later what kind of issue I run into. That was my my like the style. I go in, and then then you figure out later. And there is I I'm blessed not to have any problems that I cannot solve. Engineering background, not engineering background, I don't know. It's solvable. Like if you talk to enough people in the city or like outside, you will find a solution. You just have to do the work. So that one, I like got the plans. I hired a contractor. I was not a contractor yet. Had to wait a long time. Had to like, hey, what is the status? Can we?

Mm-hmm.

And it's like, Like dragging. So and then at the end, it was also got rehab. I had new foundations, new walls, everything, and then it was a success. I had the final permits like signed off.

That's great.

And then the next year, I decided, okay, I'm I'm gonna take the the exam. I'm gonna be a a license. So every hurdle that I did. it led me to do like something. So I had bad experiences in San Francisco when I bought my first home. I decided to become a realtor so I don't have that issue. I had issue with getting the permits process and so I had to get my contractor's license. It's for, for some people it's like huge, but for me it's totally worth the trouble.

Yeah, that totally makes sense.

Yeah.

Because like you said, when you have this other third party that's dragging their feet And you're doing all you can to get a hold of the guy and you're like, please make this a priority. His money's not on the line. It's your money.

No, it is.

So you're trying to get it done quick as possible. So you just take full control over that.

Correct. That's what I did.

That's great. I mean, Joe kind of learned a similar way just from like your dad taught you and then you just ended up doing so many flips that, you know, pretty much every single thing now.

My dad used to kick the Inspectors out of the house.

Oh, nice.

Yeah. Can I do that, Joe? Yeah.

Can you give me the blessing?

He would get so mad. And I think Ryan is running through this. My son-in-law is running through the same issue. They send one inspector one day, he corrects everything. Then they send an inspector a week later to see, you know, that everything was done, but it's a different inspector. And now he comes up with another list. It's like, yeah, seriously, you're here to inspect to make sure that everything was done that the previous guy was here about. No, no, that— yeah, I see that you resolved your realtor problem by becoming a realtor. Awesome. Great.

Thank you.

And I see you resolved your contractor problem by becoming a contractor. I don't know that there's a way around inspectors. Uh, you're, you're at their mercy.

So, so here is, here is the thing. Uh, I was doing a seminar about ADUs last Thursday for the Greater Los Angeles Investors Association. One of the guys asked me, how do you deal with inspectors? We know that inspectors are hard to work with. Do you have a problem? And I said to him that you're the response from the inspector. It depends on you. If you want them to be mad at you, You can do that if you want them to follow you and sign everything you need. You could do that as well. And he was surprised, like, what do you mean? I said, well, if you do everything by the book and they come and see your work is like flawless, they will not check on you and they will not give you a long list. They just write like a correction because they need to prove themselves that they are doing the work. Which is fine. One one issue, then you fix it next time, and it's it's good to go. If you try to like show them that you are wrong, you are just do the work what they ask you, and you will be fine. So that's that's how I and then at the end I told him just tell them jokes, man.

Yeah, try to buddy buddy up with them.

Exactly.

Yeah. And they're like distract them.

They're like yeah real funny.

Which city? Which city, Joe? I'm curious. Your father had these issues. Is it here in Orange County or?

No. And this was 40 years ago.

Okay.

Well, Ryan has, he's in Mission Viejo right now.

Yeah.

His flip that he has to get.

No, I agree with you totally. I agree with you. Yeah. Just hopefully they come in and, you know, make them your best friend and, you know, hey, this is done. But then you do have those people that just not having a good day.

Exactly.

And they start writing and it's like, Very frustrating. And then, you know, my dad's issue was, yes, he was a— my dad was a contractor as well. And most of these guys that are doing this inspection job for the city don't have a contractor's license.

No, no, they don't.

They don't have any experience at all.

They read a book, basically.

Exactly, they read a book. And that's, I think, was the frustrating part for him was, I know what I'm doing. I'm doing everything right. You're coming here and telling me that this is not right and you're wrong. And he'd kick him out.

And he is right. His dad is right.

Yeah, but that's the process.

Who is signing the—

No, and that's what I would tell my dad. It's like, okay, well, we just kicked him out. Now, now what do we do?

He would—

he went to fix this problem.

Yeah, he went to the city, talked to his supervisor. Supervisor says, go back home, I'll be there in a minute. Supervisor came out, signed it without looking at anything and said, keep going.

Oh yeah.

Okay. So he got his way.

Yeah.

He got his way. My dad got his way, but I agree with you totally.

Yeah.

It's best to make him your best friend.

Okay.

Yeah. And I don't know if that's donuts, uh, you know, I don't know if—

no, I never use donuts. No, I use melon jokes. I use melon jokes. Do you want to hear that?

Yeah.

Okay. So one time that was in the illegal edition. Property. The inspector came with a frown on his face like he was not having a good day. It was a Friday. So I kind of like little by little asking questions. What's going on? How is your family? And he said this and this, and his father was in the hospital and it was unexpected and I didn't know what to do. And so I told him, inspector, his name is Ben. I told him, Inspector Ben, life is like a melon. Sometimes you open it, it's red, or sometimes and delicious, and sometimes it's white and not so delicious. He was cracking up. He was so happy. And then every time I see him, he said, I still remember the melon joke.

Nice.

It got him through the day, actually. Wow.

Nice.

That's brilliant.

It's like a melon. Like you open it, you never know if it's delicious or mellow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I met with an investor once from India and he used to build large buildings and houses and stuff like a builder over there in India.

Okay.

And he met me here. He was on a special visa that they give you when you come here. And if you create a certain amount of jobs, You know, that's what the visa was for. And so he wanted to start doing the same thing that he did over there. And he goes, oh, Joe, how do you handle these inspectors when they come over? And so I'm explaining to him, you know, they just come over. He goes, oh no, that's not how we used to handle it back in India. I go, well, how'd you handle it back there? Well, that was the time that we would pay them.

Oh.

I go, oh my God, don't do that here. You're gonna get yourself in trouble if you do that here.

It's like straight to jail.

Yeah, it's like, no, no, don't do that here. You just go along with what they say and, uh, get everything fixed and move on. He says, oh no, we used to just pay him, you know.

It's like, okay, 1,000 rupees. Yeah, I'll do the job.

That'll do it.

That'll do it.

And then the next guy's lined up. It's like, okay, that's the first inspector and the next one's coming going, yeah, let me have some too.

Classic tale as old as time.

Yeah.

Well, you do see, you know, when you're searching the MLS for fixers, sometimes you do see non-permitted additions. Does that— now that doesn't deter you because you know what to do, or is there a certain thing that you're looking for, or do you take those on still?

Like, I, I take those all the time. Oh, because there is not a competition, right, in that arena. And especially the city of LA, I know, like The permitting process, the, the, like most of the inspectors, the, uh, the, the, the, like the, the cost analysis of like doing the rehab, the workers that they work in the LA area. Because if the job is in Orange County, they would like to charge me extra to go to Orange County and do the drive versus LA. Everybody is in LA. So it's So I know I never missed those opportunities.

How do you, how do you negotiate those type of deals? Because for me, I'm, I'm always negotiating everything. And for something like that, I would literally just like, that's a big red flag for me. Like listing agent, that's a big red flag for me. It's like, wow, they didn't get any permits for this. It's like, wow, that may cost me like $30,000 or $40,000 to cure something that your client did. You know, I know you want $1 million, but, you know, let's discuss it. Maybe we can do this deal for $900,000. Do you do things like that?

I do things like that all the time. Like, I explain to him. I, I, uh, it's a lot of explaining, especially to agents. So that's the edge. Like, when you are a realtor and slash, uh, contractor slash, like, doing the actual work, It gives you an advantage. You can explain to him in details, this is what you have to do to fix it. You don't have to. I can take it. I'm going to charge you this. Just give me a discount of this amount. And you are doing your client a solid because nobody else will come like a traditional buyer will come and deal with all these issues because It's going to cost them more than it costs me because like, I'm doing the work, so I'm saving like 30% right off the bat and they understand and then they give me the deal.

Excellent.

Yeah.

So what are you looking for when you're underwriting these deals and you come across something like that? Are there certain boxes that you need to— that it needs to check?

So it has to be the work been done, the work needed has to be like a certain amount, and then that certain amount will add it to the purchase price. And then after all, like after all the fees and things, I like it to be within 80% of the ARV.

Okay.

So if everything is 75, 80%, then that's a deal. If not, then it's, it's not a good deal. And sometimes they, they didn't, they didn't want to do it. And then 2 months down the line, they cannot close escrow and then they call me and then I ignore them. I gave you the chance. I'm serious. I did one. I did that with one listing agent from Keller Williams. I'm not going to mention his name. I told him, this is the the deal. I'm gonna close it. Twenty-one days. And he said, no, I want this and this and this. I was like, this is not negotiation. Clearly, you don't know how to negotiate. So go go for it. Two weeks, he got into escrow, and then two months, he called me. Oh, this is available. He left me a voicemail. No, his friend. Which is a common friend with me. He called me and I did not answer this guy as well. Yeah. So hopefully he listened to us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Understands.

You're talking about an agent that's a gatekeeper. That's what I call them.

Yeah.

You know, and how often do you run into that problem of having to educate this agent and, and then not getting anywhere because, you know, they think they're representing their client, but they're really not.

No, they are shooting themselves in the foot. And the foot and the client's foot.

Yeah.

2 foots on the same thing.

I've had the same thing happen before. Um, you know, purchasing a property, getting a contract, you know, just about signed. And then they changed their mind at the last minute. And then they call me like, just, you just said 2 or 3 months later, it's like, hey Joe, you want to do the deal? And I go, you know what?

How do you respond to that, Joe? I, I, I'm interested too.

I was just going to tell you. Okay. My response is, Absolutely. Yeah. Remember I was going to pay you $600,000? Yeah. That's not going to work for me anymore. My price is $550,000. Are you good at $550,000? Yeah. They're good at $550,000.

Okay.

Yeah. So no, no, I never stopped the negotiation process going. Don't get upset. I don't know if you got upset or not, but anyways, don't take it personal, anything like that. You're you're constantly negotiating, and we negotiate until we close escrow. If there's something that comes up in the middle of escrow, obviously you have your request for repairs and all that stuff. But we're constantly negotiating. I had an escrow. I purchased a property. Nowhere on the MLS did it say there was a death on the property. Nowhere. And then I get this disclosures. And the disclosures say death on the property. Okay. And I've been flipping for a long time and I know the certain areas like Irvine, you may as well forget it. You know, you're not going to sell that house with the death on the property. Oh, so you have to wait 3 years. Wow. Okay. Okay. So this wasn't in Irvine. This was actually in Mission Viejo. We're talking a lot about Mission Viejo. But did you think I was just going to let that lie there? No. I called the agent back. I said, oh my God, I'm just like, So superstitious about you know this, and I don't know what I'm gonna do. Gosh, I think we're gonna have to cancel this contract. But you know, now that I'm thinking about it, if we could drop the price thirty thousand dollars, that might be able to help me. Yeah, like anxiety and stuff. And they came back literally an hour later.

The agent came back and said, "Okay, we got it." So these these these realtors, these Listing agents, they are the best. They they know how to like convince the sometimes you talk to someone who does not like he does not know how to talk to his clients and convince them with things. That's why I ignored the the voicemail from that guy because even if I tell him like my updated price, I think he will resist and say oh no.

Yeah.

I want more than the price that the guy who didn't close. Exactly. That, that, yeah. Yeah.

I'm, I'm kind of the philosophy that, you know, if I've got a listing agent and I tell all my listing agents the same thing, you've got a property on the market for $1 million and you get an offer for $700,000. It's like, oh, now I'm not going to respond to that. That's ridiculous. No, you respond.

You respond.

Okay.

You respond. Question why?

Yeah. Why is it? Why do you think it's $700,000? I mean, the way I respond to those type of offers is I'll send a counter back at $1.2 million. Like, wait a second, you went down $300,000. I just went up $200,000. If you want to play that game, we can.

Yeah.

It's literally— I tell my agents, it's literally one piece of paper. You know, here's the price, send it to them. It's not like, you know, somebody's asking you for your firstborn or anything. Just like, Get in there, start negotiating, continue the negotiation process. Why did they start so low? Ask them. Yeah, you know, you got to ask people why, you know, why they do things.

Exactly.

You'll get strange answers.

I am, I am one of those guys. I want to ask everything. Yeah, about anything.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, if you don't ask, you're never going to know. And if you don't ask to reduce the price, you're never going to get it.

Yeah, exactly. Leaving money on the table.

Yep.

And it's all numbers. You don't have to get all emotional about it. That's the part people get pretty emotional about some of these offers. What are some common mistakes that you see other contractors, other flippers, investors when they're doing like a value add through renovations?

Going above their budgets. That's very common. Even me, I do it all the time.

I know you did mention that on your first one that you Wanted it to look like something that you would live in.

Yes.

And that is honestly, that is the first mistake that somebody that starts out flipping, that's the first mistake.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Don't get emotional with the house. And, uh, because I thought I'm gonna keep it, Joe. That's why. Okay. Is, is the, the, uh, reason. And then I just, uh, it was, it was 2023. There were the, the loan situation was so bad. That you asked like top dollar rent and still not going to cover the mortgage. And then I didn't want to keep it for 1 year before I built the garage and make it an ADU. Then if I get the garage, it'll, it'll pay, it'll, it'll be solid. But I didn't want to pay because I have other deals in the pipeline. So that's why. But definitely paying more It's not paying more. It's you find something that is old. That's, that's like, to me, that's the case. And then I have to replace it. Like the sewer line in the, in the 2023 deal in LA, the legal edition. It was, it was bad. And I am doing a new driveway. I'm not going to let the cast iron But by the compaction, it's going to break when you, when you— so you do it, that's another $10,000 that's above your budget.

Right.

But it was strategic and I'm holding it, so it's okay. But the flippers sometimes, no, they do it and they have to sell. So they end up sometimes writing a check instead of getting a check at close of escrow. That's one of the Scary mistakes.

Yeah, you got to budget for those contingencies. There's always going to be something, especially if you're going down to the studs, you're ripping everything out. There's, there's stuff you couldn't see in the, in the initial inspection. It's just—

there's no way. Exactly. And, um, when you send the scope of work to your, uh, lender, it was not there and you have to fix it. And you cannot ask the lender because You could take it from the contingency, but the contingency is only 10%. So if it's more than that, then that was, that was a nightmare. Yeah, for sure.

You're like, okay, here we go. Well, that's kind of like what you were saying. It's like, it's almost going to school, you know, for to be a contractor.

Exactly.

You're in the trenches, literally.

Exactly.

Changing out a sewer line. It sounds like, so are you getting hard money and then you want it at that 80% so then you can refinance into a longer So usually with my experience, I get 90%.

Oh, yes.

So, okay.

And then full, full 100% rehab money, right? Probably Joe has that as well. He can, right, if he has the experience. I found a lender. She told me that your, your next deal, if you do only one more deal, which is The the place I was driving from, the Granada Hill deal.

Okay.

It's gonna be zero. It's gonna be 100% financing and 100%.

Excellent.

Yeah.

Okay. Well, I guess I mean once you finish the then you're gonna hold it. Do you get out of the hard money?

So 80%.

80%. Correct. Okay. So you're pretty much right there to where you don't have any money in the deal at that point and you just get a long-term loan.

Yes.

And then you are doing an ADU so then it can cover the mortgage and you can cash flow, or how are you getting over that hurdle?

So the, the, the last deal I did in LA, the Illegal Edition, that's a good name. The Illegal Edition deal.

Yeah.

It creates the buzz.

You're right.

The, all the money I took out, I paid the lender, I paid the excess, and I added like $125,000 of equity to the deal. And then I have 20% equity still. So that, and no ADUs, no nothing. There is a project to build 2 ADUs in the back. So it's still in the process.

Okay.

It's like a year now.

Right.

Uh, in the, in the making because, uh, it was the, the zoning is so tricky for this home. The, the, the, the things that we want to do, we had to redo the plans again. And instead of doing one, one, uh, single family and then ADU on top, we had to do one, uh, single family like this, 2-story, and then one ADU attached to it. To avoid the setback, right? So that takes a lot of time. So hopefully it's gonna be coming soon. So with that ADUs two, I mean one single family and one ADU, it's gonna be it's gonna be solid.

Gotcha.

It's gonna pay all the mortgages and okay. Yeah.

So in the meantime, do you move somebody in initially to pay that down? Okay.

So I had it in a way that I do the I do the rehab for the first. The existing single family gets cash flow, put a tenant, which is one of my workers. So I told him, if I bring— if I do the, the construction on the back, you will have no problem with that. He said, yeah, because I'm going to do the foundations for you. It's like, amazing. So that's a win-win right there.

Nice.

That's great. Okay, so building on your, your holding portfolio.

Yes.

I read that you're you're in state, you're out of state, you're international.

Yes.

Can you go over what that's like and the differences?

Sure, sure. So do you want to start? Let's start from interna, like from the outside in.

Okay.

Yeah. So I had an an apartment in Turkey, in Istanbul, the capital, five minutes from the From the sea, beautiful, and it's hillside. So that's the exterior. It's so big that the whole the whole level is one apartment, and then you have one apartment above you, and then the third one. And it's it's the I I got a lot of people. So here is another thing: a lot of people in Turkey they don't like the ground floor. But I saw that the ground floor only have a garden. And I grew up in California. We all have big gardens if you live in single-family home. So I bought it specifically cheaper than buying the second or the third floor. And I got like a garden full of trees, like I planted the trees. And the good thing is, no, it's supposed to be For everybody, but there is no access for anyone unless they go into my apartment to get access.

Nice.

Or they jump like using like parachutes.

Right.

And then they cannot go up. Okay, cool. So that's one. And then out of state in 2020, here is a background story for the 2020. What happened when I moved? So 2019, I moved to LA. I met my mentor and I A gentleman, his name is Sam Sadat. I met like three clubs, real estate clubs, and then he was the by far the best, like approachable and very easy to work with. And I told him, Sam, I have a property in San Francisco Bay Area. It has $500,000 of equity, and I'm getting $1,000 cash flow. I don't like it. It's it's not where I want to be. He said, "Go sell it and we will find you a deal here in LA, and it's gonna be more than a single family, and it's gonna be more than one thousand." I was like, "Okay." So I sold it. I sold the property. So I have five hundred k worth of cash, and I told him, "Okay, I did. I did what you told me." Just give me like a good deal. So he got me an off-market deal. That was the first time I got introduced to off-market deals. What is that? It's a person, no realtor involved, just a wholesaler and directly to the— I paid him $70,000 assignment fee because the deal was so good. I had 165 equity immediately, like when I buy it immediately. So I was like, even with paying him $70,000. So I was like, you are the best. Give me the deal. It had tenants inside I couldn't go look into. And I made a decision in 2 hours, wired them the EMD. I told him I want it. I did not see anything. So speaking of go in and then discover later.

Yeah.

Wow.

So that, that was one. And then I have still— so I did $250,000 because he's a lender. Sam was a lender. He said, if you do $250,000, I can lend you the other 50% because I don't know you. And I, and I, I said, okay. Sounds good. So I did 250, then the other 250, and I said, let me buy something else outside of California. And one of the states that I like is Idaho. So I bought a fourplex in Idaho ready to go. No, no rehab, no nothing needed. So cash flowing day one. So I bought that. And then so this is in-state, out-state. And then outside. And then, and then the next year I got the Gardena property, the one I sold. Then I got a property in the mountains. It's actually beautiful. It's one of the properties that I did not sell, but I had it with a partner. So the obvious way is to split the proceeds. So it was in Tehachapi. Are you guys familiar with Tehachapi?

Yeah.

North of here. Your neighbors are the, the elks, the rabbits, the eagles, like beautiful neighbors. And you are on a 1-acre lot and like custom-made 1996 house. We did flooring, painting, and we got it for $380,000. We paid the wholesaler $20,000 and we sold it for $585,000. No, $592,000. Sorry, $580,000. We gave them credit. So $585,000 is what we got.

That's a good deal.

That's a really good deal. Yeah.

Nice. Yeah. What made you pick that area?

It's the network. So we were not finding any deals and this came along within our real estate Club, and I said, "Let's do it. It's better than nothing, and it's a new experience." So I had to drive an hour and a half. It's a countryside. I want to see what kind of as you as you can see, I'm an action junkie, real estate action junkie.

Right.

I'm not sure, Joe. Is there a solution for me? Like no, no.

Keep going. That's what I would say. Keep going. Absolutely.

No, it's fun. You know, it's fun going to these new places.

Everybody keeps asking me if I'm going to retire, and it's like.

No, hell no.

Why? It's like, hell no.

Oh my gosh.

Pick me up off the floor when I'm passed out or something, but no retiring here.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's why I told her.

Who's gonna do the negotiations with the unrealistic—

I know, exactly.

That's right.

So with being spread out Internationally, how are you sort of ensuring, you know, everything's going to plan and, you know, quality control and all that stuff?

So quality control, speaking of quality control, I have to visit my family to Mediterranean region. And every 2 years we put a condition in the contract that before we go, we have to give 1 month notice. And then the tenants have to leave. So we go there, we live for like 2 months in Turkey. We enjoy the food and get 10 pounds of weight.

Yeah.

Eating all the baklava. Right.

Yeah.

And then make sure that everything— by the way, I didn't tell you that I did rehab for the, for the apartment in Turkey. I had to hire people locally.

Okay.

Had to do the painting, had to move the— for some reason they like to put the, the, the tankless water heater inside the kitchen. Like, who does that? Like, take it outside. So I did that. I did what else? It was kitchen cabinets. And because the jet lag, there is a cool feature in Turkey. I don't, I don't see it here. Maybe it's available. You have a motor outside of the window to close the, the— it's like a blind, but it's like a very strong blind. No light will go in.

It's like kind of like a security.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a bomb shelter. Bomb shelter to sleep. So you can sleep Like when you are not supposed to sleep.

Yeah, exactly.

Because of the jet lag.

You're up at night.

So yeah.

What is it?

You want to guess how much it cost me to redo? Like, I think it was 1,200 square foot area.

Let's go $40K.

$40K? Yeah. How about you?

$5K.

$5K? The winner is here.

No.

It was $4,500. Oh my God.

Nice.

Everything.

Brand new everything.

Wow.

Yeah. What the heck?

And, and is it the same working with contractors? Like, are they showing up half the time and kind of like taking long breaks?

No, they are, they are, uh, good quality contractors. So my, uh, my, um, um, the husband of my wife's best friend, he is, uh, speaking fluently Turkish. And they lived there for a long time. And he did the negotiation on my behalf, like getting the good contractors because his house— everybody lives in an apartment in Turkey. It's super expensive. It was newly remodeled. So I told him, I want the guy who did this. I want the guy who did this. I want the guy who did this.

Perfect.

I want your— like the shutters of your window outside, the motor, the electrician. I want your electrician. So that's how, and they cost a little bit more than, I'm not sure if they are licensed. I think they have a licensing system because they do everything by the book. Like, I really like them and I don't check on them. The kitchen was marvelous. And I could charge like maximum rent.

The the neighbors never came over and said, "Hey, your contractors are over here the other day," and they took my cabinets. Yeah, $4,500 is very inexpensive.

It is very inexpensive. It's not expensive at all.

Wow, that's pretty amazing.

Brand new stuff.

That's awesome. Yeah, and I like that how you get to you know utilize it once you're over there too.

Yeah.

Yeah, I, every, everybody, when I told them the story, they said, seriously, you rehab out of state?

Yeah.

Like, I mean, out of the country? Yeah. Like, yeah, why not? Same concept, same principle. That's it. Like you do, you find the reviews, you speak to them, you see like what kind of mentality they are and yeah, see their previous work.

That's, that's all I need to So much of the real estate game is just referrals, you know, going to the meetups.

Absolutely.

And it's kind of cool when people are open to sharing their contractor, sharing, you know, whatever resources that they have. You know, you talk to some people, maybe they're a little bit more reluctant, but then you talk to another guy, he's like, yeah, I'll give you, I'll give you my contractor. He's not working right now, so here you go.

Yeah.

We've, we've found a bunch of guys like that, and then you know this guy's vouching for them. You're not just going in blind off of maybe like Google reviews or something.

Exactly.

Which can be manipulated. And so I think that's great. So now that you're, you're a general contractor, you're basically just subbing out everything and overseeing everything.

Exactly.

Are you doing that for other investors?

That is under the, uh, under the development. So I, I, I have to, uh, prioritize my work schedule before anybody. But if The, the— so dealing with investors, it's also kind of like a coin toss. You could find a good investor who is reasonable, or you could find an investor that is not reasonable. And he wants like so many things with like low pricing. I, I don't have time for that. So if it's for the right investor, to answer your question, Yes, I could do that.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

I got like calls to do like ADUs for people that it's not like my property. They came to the event and I sent them a quote and we'll see what happens. So.

That's great. Yeah. Especially the ADU thing is getting really, just because they made it easier to build, easier, I guess, with the laws that have passed. So people are now looking at properties that they already own and saying, hey, maybe I can, you know, actually generate some cash flow here in California, which some people say is not possible.

Yes.

Just add more structures, more affordable housing, you know.

And get funding from the state, from the city, from, um, any, anybody that can fund you for your ADU because Everybody needs housing. The city needs housing. The United States needs housing, especially California. We have a housing shortage that like no other.

Yeah.

So you are doing a good thing. The city and the state will reward you for it.

It's about time that they did.

Exactly. And I keep telling people that if we don't do that, then our kids will not have housing to live in. They will stay with us for the longest time. Can you imagine that?

He's like, Dad, I did go look. There's nothing. You're like, no, I just built a couple units over there.

Exactly. You use the units. Yeah. And I build everything I did that got rehabbed, so they cannot—they cannot complain. You can't complain. Dad, what does gut rehab mean? Did you take the guts out? How do they live?

I did everything. Dolph, this is the part of the show where I have some videos. that we curated, and I'd love to get your reaction on them.

Okay.

Some videos from the internet.

Oh, okay. I love the internet, man.

The first video is adding 800 square feet to a house flip.

Fireplace has got to go here and above us because we're going to actually extend this house off to this back side. We're going to wind up getting another 400 square feet on both floors, and that's a worthwhile sacrifice. We'll just put A gas fireplace that direct vents on the other side of the house. So we still have a fireplace, but in exchange for that, we get 800 more square feet of house.

Fireplace has got to— so for a fireplace, replace it with 800 square foot, I'm game every day, all day.

Okay. Would you put another gas fireplace back in?

No.

Yeah, no, I don't really know if they'll even allow you to do gas anymore on anything.

We don't need it out here.

No, it's super hot already.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. I don't know where he was.

Yeah, probably Chicago, Michigan.

Yeah, out here you would not even consider it.

Well, they have those ones that like go in the wall, you know, like fake ones.

Yeah, yeah, fake ones. They are electrical. Yeah, yeah, they don't generate heat. They look nice.

We actually used to put those in The flips we did in Laguna Woods.

Right, yeah, I remember that.

Yeah, they look beautiful.

Okay.

Yeah.

Maybe that trout.

But definitely not gas.

And so, I mean, and I did notice, I was telling Joe this, you know, when you go to LA, it's, uh, what?

It's off.

Oh, okay. I don't know what happened. Okay, that's okay. I think go grab the, the plug is in the green bag.

Okay.

Yeah. Just, yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you go to LA, I mean, you'll go into some neighborhoods and it'll be like a 1,000 square foot house and then you'll see, you know, 1,800 square foot house and the ARV is massive.

Yeah. Big change.

And so that's what you're looking for.

Yes.

You're looking to take like a 1,200 square foot house. If I add 600 square feet, I'm gonna get an extra like $800K or what's, what's the spread that you're seeing? What's kind of your formula?

So the, uh, the formula is, To build the the the the square foot. If you build a square foot in LA, you will get like three average from 300 to 350. Not this year, last year. This year I I have not done any addition in LA. It's all Granada Hills area. The if you could build it. less than $350, then you are making like a dollar. So I like to build it for like $200 or like $180 to, to get like $350. So if that's the case, then it's a good deal. If, if it is like $300 to get $350, not so much. Still doable.

Yeah.

Still good. But I will not have the room to replace everything that needs to be replaced. It has to be Like left alone.

And is this like a year-long process?

For the, for the, the legal edition, it was a one-year, full one-year. And I was, Joe, check this out. I refinanced, closed the, the refinancing escrow 7 days before the, the, the loan due. Like I have a one-year loan due. Yeah. Like the hard money. 7 days. Nice. I was like sweating bullets.

Nice.

Like, let's get this thing done. And is it just because of the permitting process that it takes so long?

It's the permitting process. The, uh, the, uh, I, I did not have control. Like, I have to stick to whatever guy who was doing the plans, whatever guy who was doing the, uh, the communicating with the city. And it took, I think, Like my job, it took 3 months. It's 7 or 8 months is the permit, like getting the permit. So, okay. Wow. Like I did it in 3 months. Everything like gut rehab. Yeah. Foundation, new foundations. Oh my gosh. New door. Like I extended the meter for the, the fire sprinklers, everything.

Wow. Okay. What do we got next?

We've got the number one rule of international real estate investing. Oh, here we go.

My first rule of international real estate is you've got to go there and do the boots-on-the-ground research. You've got to become a local expert. If you don't, you're most likely going to get burned. You're going to wait, overpay, and then if you do make money, it's just going to be complete luck. So that would be my number one rule. But then just from my quick due diligence, it Seems that in the overall market now, it's not to say that you can't find opportunities. You are a local expert, but it seems just the market in general has gone up very substantially because like you always see with the super extreme levels of inflation, property market usually goes up even in real terms because everyone wants to get out of cash and into a harder asset. You've seen this in Argentina. You've seen it play out in Turkey that you would think that oh my gosh, you know, 60% inflation, the economy sucks. And therefore housing's gonna crash. And usually what you see is the exact opposite, that real estate goes up quite substantially in real terms until you get that hyperinflation. And then, you know, the whole country just implodes like seen in Venezuela, and then the prices just plummet in real terms. My first rule of international real estate is you've gotta go there and do the boots-on-the-ground research. You've got to become a local expert. If you don't, you're most likely gonna get burned. You're gonna win.

So I like it. I did that when I went to Turkey. I did the boots on the ground research. I talked to a friend of mine who has like a language help.

Mm-hmm.

And I did ask. I interviewed a couple of workers there and did it and it was successful. So I agree 100%. You have to be on site. You have to be doing the due diligence. You don't skip. It's actually, you have to do more due diligence than you do here because you are away.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You, I had to stay for like 2 weeks out of the 1-month project, but it is, is Is doing that, I, you know, and I always get a, uh, a kick out of people that do things like that, especially out of state. Is that something that you would recommend to a novice? It's like, I always tell people that I talk to, it's like, you know, it's hard enough to flip here. Why don't you learn how to do it here before you go someplace else?

Exactly.

I mean, I can't imagine And especially if you're going to a foreign country, if you don't speak the language, that's a problem.

Yeah.

Okay.

Huge problem.

Yeah. And then I'm sure, you know, not that they do, but they can take advantage of you because they know you're a foreigner. It's like, you know, back east—

I'm from California.

Yeah, I'm from California. Exactly. It's like, oh God, he's from California. Let's sell him.

Yeah. Like double the price.

That's double the price. Why not? He's from California.

Yeah.

They don't know how, like, tough Californian people, like investors, like the people who knows how to do business. Knowledgeable.

Knowledgeable. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Do you, um, have another video or?

Yeah.

Okay.

I got one more for you.

Yes.

Okay.

Keep them coming.

Does permitting really matter in Los Angeles? Recently someone asked me if they should get permits for something that they're building. I 100% recommend that you get permits for what you're building on your property because it will be a lot easier to sell later on. And whatever you build can be counted as part of your square footage. It can be Legally advertised as what it is, instead of not counting it as part of the sale because it was completely unpermitted.

My first, I like the last one. Yeah, gotta go there. So definitely, I agree 100%. The like couple of my friends, they did rehab jobs. They spent 200 and 40,000 in Granada Hills and like other city, Winnetka, I think. And I asked, yeah, Winnetka and Granada Hills. I asked them, did you do any permits by chance? And they said no. So I told them, why? Do you know that the appraisal when you sell the property, and don't tell me you're going to live there for like 30 years because you're going to sell 5, six years when your kids grow up and you want to move, you have to sell. When the appraisal come in, they will they will look for the permits for the the rehab that you have done. What what will you tell them when when when that time comes in? You're not gonna like do the permits again and and do the and they were surprised. They thought that. It's easier and cheaper to do it, but they don't understand the fact that if you do the permit, the appraisal will easily give you the value that you need to, and he is fully supported. Like we know, we all know how appraisals are very conservative and they always like to cut from your value. Right, right. And for the right reasons or the wrong reasons. So I explained to them and they were in shock and they wish that they did it with permits to have that leverage when they sell.

Yeah.

But it's too late now.

Yeah, it's too late. I saw a video when I was pulling out these videos in LA, you got to get a permit for landscaping. I mean, how far do you take it? It's like you're changing a paint color. I got to go down to the city and it's not Okay.

So landscaping requires grading. If you have like a hillside, if you have like a little bit of slope and grading, by the way, I think Joe would agree, it's very difficult.

Right.

Like doing the grades, especially on like the steeper it is, the harder the grading will be.

Yeah.

So it's not like landscaping, like meaning putting grass, but it's the grading.

Okay.

You have to have a grading permit.

Gotcha.

Especially in LA, like Hollywood area.

And are you still doing all the express permitting or?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes. The express permit, it depends on what I'm doing. If I am doing wiring and it's very quick, then express permit will be more than efficient. If I am doing drywall, taking out the drywall, then I have to have a building permit. If I am doing windows, replacing the windows, that's a— that's— there is no express permit. I wish there is an express permit for windows because I see a lot of windows are old-fashioned or like a single pane, and I hate those. Like, they are energy suckers.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So then that means you got to go down and physically—

Yeah, I, I, uh, and, and express permit, a lot of people, they Now that I know how to use express permits, I have a building. I syndicated a building. I'm one of the owners, 16-unit building. The the I I got one express permit to do all the electrical of a 16-unit. I just have to write it correctly, right? That they accept it and add the the things like the outlets have you have to multiply 16 by. 5 or 6. You have to multiply the light switches. Before, in, in the, uh, in the triplex in LA when I did it in 2020, the first time I do like, like a permitted work in, in LA, 9 express permits. Each unit has one express permit for electrical, one for plumbing, one for sewer lines. So now it's, it's one permit for 16 units.

There you go. Yeah, trial and error.

Live and you learn.

Exactly. Uh, do we have any comments?

We do, we have a couple. All right, let's see here.

Only a couple?

There we go, guys. Ask me before I step out.

We got Liz in the chat. She says, was there ever a time the city pushed back on a project? How did you navigate that while still getting the job done?

The that that is a good question. One time there the the illegal.

Yeah. Oh yeah. This could be famous.

Yeah. They I told them that there was foundation, and they said no. There is areas they require foundation. It's not like a push back per se. I I told them they they the the the footing was like six inches. So I made it like, uh, 12 inches. So I added, uh, underpinning. Have you done underpinning?

Yeah.

Yeah. So I added—

I'm actually very surprised that you only went another 6 inches because we used to go 18 to 24.

I think the total, I probably— it was 12 and I added, uh, extra to make it 18. I— okay, now I remember. Yeah, it was 18 total. Yeah. Okay. So the, the, the back, the illegal addition, it was some of it, it was has foundation and deep foundation, but some section it did not have foundation. It has a little bit of foundation, but they said it's not deep enough. So, so I end up like digging and then doing the ABC like section because you don't want that house to collapse. Yeah. So you do one section and then a section like five feet after, and then another section. And then you do the once you cure, you do the other. So that that was does that answer the comment?

Yeah, I think so. All right, we got Coach Stephanie in the chat. She says, "Hi, Dolph. I met you at Marco and Jenny's flips." Look at you doing the pod circuit now.

Yes, I miss Mark and Jenny and probably you. Hopefully I have time to join them again. What is the question?

She was just doing a shout out, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Comment. You're famous.

That was a comment. Celebrity. All right. Thank you so much.

We got one more question from Chad. How long does it take you to get a permit for a house that you bought with the unpermitted ADU? Like, what's your timeline permit to to finish?

So before, if you hire other people, it took me seven months. Right now, I. I think 3 months is more than enough. Wow.

To do everything from A to Z with permitting and all that stuff. Like a building permit.

Like a legit building permit.

You know, I start it right away, get it signed off, boom. And then you just keep the timeline really tight.

Exactly.

Wow. There you go. That's quicker than I expected.

Yeah, that's insane.

And it depends on the legal, like what did they do? The Yeah, what kind of things? But 3, 3, 3 and a half months should be more than enough.

I've seen somewhere, it's like they built a whole nother shanty shack in the back, and I'm like, they got plumbing and electrical running all here and there. And like you said, no one from the city is really checking it out. They don't have the resources to go house to house.

Straight to jail. Like, yeah, if I see that, if I am in the city, straight to jail. Sorry, man.

You know what you did.

I, I have, uh, I, uh, I remember the shower. One of— I don't know why the bathroom— I guess since it's illegal, like, sky's the limit. They have a shower pad and a tub. Like, why would you do that? And then the shower pad, no hot mop, no, uh, waterproofing. It's straight on the, uh, on the— yeah, straight to the floor.

I think our Winnetka house had that. That's what the guys were saying is like there's no pipe, it's just falling into the dirt.

It's probably how they originally built it.

Yeah, yeah, like the dirt will soak it up.

That's probably what caused all our foundation issues. It's just the shower water going under the house.

No wonder why we have earthquakes in that area.

Exactly. Oh man, soil is fun stuff. Dolph, this, this has been amazing.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, no, I really appreciate you coming down here and, and, and, uh, joining us in studio.

Absolutely.

Dropping the knowledge. of, uh, you know, everything that you're doing.

I enjoy it.

How can people get ahold of you if they want to partner up on a deal or—

So easy, uh, 323-630-8552, or you could email me at info@uniqueplacesbuilders.com.

Nice.

info@uniqueplacesbuilders.com.

Perfect.

So Unique Places Builders is the, the, uh, the contracting company.

Okay. Yes. Excellent. Yeah. And I was poking around your YouTube. I saw you got a podcast going and you're doing a lot of content. What, is there anything new going on there?

I want to do an interview with a CPA. I feel like my channel is missing. I've been busy for like the past 3 months. I syndicated the deal. The syndication is, That is something new I did recently, and I did not expect that amount of work during the syndication and after the syndication. Especially if you are the general partner, you want to make sure that the business is running as smooth as possible and you are meeting the timeline of like making the appreciation. And the one of the units is vacant now. We are doing the rehab. For the for the whole unit, so it's it's gonna be a beautiful sixteen unit building once we rehab everything. Love that.

Yeah, we we have a CPA that we interviewed maybe. We do. Yeah.

And you like? Yeah, Natalie. She's really good. Yeah.

Yeah.

She's fun and she's a good interview and knows her stuff and works with investors and business owners.

So yes. I got my guests.

I got the That's it. Are we still frozen on there? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Just are you guys frozen? You cannot see his like Hawaiian shirt. No, no. I can see it.

It's frozen. Yeah, yeah.

It's a pretty good screenshot. It is a good screenshot.

So we'll just do our overdubs. Thank you guys for joining us today, and we will be. No, we won't be back here. I'm going out of town for a little bit, so we're gonna take a couple. Weeks off, but we'll have some content dropping on this day or next week.

He's going to Turkey to buy an apartment by the Marmara Sea.

If he'd have said Hawaii, I would have believed him.

Not Turkey. Thank you guys so much. Thanks for jumping in the chat. Make sure to share this far and wide, and we will see you very soon.

Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you for having me.

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