EP 681 - Understanding The California Distressed Real Estate Market With Liza Florida

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This is the no Closer show where you get the latest developments in distressed note investing and learn the secrets of how you can control millions of dollars worth of property for panties on the dollar. Get educated and entertained by someone who has closed thousands of deals and lives to support you in achieving the same. Now, here's your host, CEO of We Close Nodes, Scott Carson.

Hi, everyone, this is Lisa Florida, the host of 8 Billion Podcast. And in this episode of the Note Closers, Scott and I talk about the Orange County Southern California foreclosure market now that the moratorium is done. But we also talk and delve into how I'm going to be the next healer for the homeowners. So stay tuned for this episode and you won't want to miss.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Note Closer Show. As always, Scott Carson. Excited to be here today and I am so jacked up. We've got a very special guest that I think for those of you guys out in our California investors, our California audience out there, you're going to love because this lady has her, I would say her ear to, to the palm. She's got an ear to the ground. She knows what's going on in the market out there because she's been around longer than 60 seconds. This is a lady that's been through some ups and downs in the market out there and just absolutely is a professional. And I'm so excited to have her on today to talk about what's going on there in Southern California. She's a real estate expert in specialized assets and she's actually the host of the 8 Billion podcast, which you want to check it out and hit the subscribe button. But she's the managing partner of the Myriad Group. It's a boutique real estate firm that specializes in short sale pre foreclosures and foreclosed assets. And she's been around since the last downturn, like yours truly, working with the likes of bank of America, Wells Fargo, IndyMac or One West bank now as we call it. And she's just a phenomenal person. She's committed to serving others in her work in real estate and one day looks forward to expand the 8 million podcast project to work on a global cost. So we're so honored to have Lisa Florida join us here on the Note Closure show podcast. What is going on? Lisa, how you doing today?

Oh my gosh, Scott, it is amazing to be here and you made me sound so wonderful.

That's because you are. Come on now.

Video camera off. Just Kidding.

No, leave the camera on. You're golden. But the thing is, I like to say, I think those have been around longer than 30 seconds or so. We do so much stuff, I think we forget a lot, kind of how awesome we are in a lot of cases, how we work with so many people, or we've taken the lumps. Going through something 14, 15 years ago and still being around today, don't you think?

Oh, absolutely, yes. No, I was like, I, you know, we know that market cycle, but I was just to see it come around again, I was like, holy. Oh, my goodness. And we are right at this. We are right on the cusp of it. I think it's already here, to be honest. It's just not, like, announced on the media yet.

Yeah, I think you have a lot of the media, and this is no offense to realtors, I can say this. I think a lot of the reports that come out are always backward facing. Oh, it was a record month. It's a record month. They don't look at what's coming down the pipeline as much. You think differently than that, which is the beautiful thing is what we have here. But before we dive in, let's talk. Why did you get into distressed assets back in 2000, kind of what was your foray into becoming a realtor and an investor?

Well, it's a family business, Mark. I mean, excuse me, Scott. It's a family business started by my mom. She was in accounting. She came here from the Philippines as a cpa and she was doing people's taxes. And what ended up happening was for many years, she told people to get into homes because it was a tax shelter. And then after some time, she just said, why don't I just take my chances and go into real estate? And she absolutely did amazing in it because she was really good at crunching numbers. So she saw different markets come on 1988, especially when we had the big for us in Southern California, that was big because aerospace was. Was having some issues. And we were hit immediately in our area of, like, Cerritos, Long beach, because that's where a lot of the corporations are. And that began, like, short sales. But it was in 2006 when she did start to notice frenzy of the market. Some things just weren't making any sense. And she goes, we're going to pivot, you guys. And our whole family was in it, all three kids. And she was a great leader. And because she was really good with numbers, she saw it. She goes, we're going to pivot. And we're going after the banks. So that's in our first bank that we landed was Countrywide Home Loans, which at the time they boasted one in every four loans was a Countrywide loan, which became bank of America. And that's really in a nutshell, like for a really quick reference, how we got into it. But to be boots on the ground during that time, I mean, just to try and describe that in like two minutes, really, I mean, could never, I could never describe it even in like maybe a documentary. But yeah, it had a lot to do with first starting to see that the clients. Of course, back in 2006 and probably before everyone was earning 20% equity. It's kind of like what was happening just these last couple years, they turn around and blink their eye and then their homes were 20% more. And it was just that everyone was able to get into loans. If you could breathe, you could get a loan. If you could prove you had a pulse, you could get a loan. Everything was stated income, stated assets, liar loans.

You had the, as we like to call it, the pick a pay the negative amortization loans, which were so big, which was part of the downfall. Countrywide, it was huge.

It was huge. It was those introductory interest only, right? And then once it reset, everyone was like, what do I do? And then the equity wasn't there. And it was huge. Because, you know, the big short actually documents the whole thing where they hedged against the, the actual market. Right. Or they bet again or they, they purchased against the, the hedge funds that were. And they were lying because they said all these papers were good and they were not at all good. Everything was cut and paste and doctored.

And fraud going on back in.

A lot of mortgage fraud. Yes. And to say the least, we were fortunate enough that because my mom is really good with numbers, we understood how to package short sales.

But.

But on top of that, what you couldn't beat was the volume of people that were in default as opposed to the time they had on their hands. And even the banks were not ready for it.

I think it's the biggest thing is the banks never expected it to be what it was. And then we were talking previously about how titanium and equator came about and some of these programs the banks have put in place to help deal with this. But it took a while. Short sales were rampant, distressed sales were rampant. It feels like a lot like because we were talking about this beforehand, it feels very similar, eerie with that big run up with the appreciation of value and we're at that cusp, you know, As a cusp, where is value still going up or is value going down? Is it the end of the world, you know?

Right.

What's going on? What, what's your take on what you're seeing out there? Out. Because you're in Mission Viejo, Orange county kind of area.

Correct, Correct. I was actually surprised to run the numbers. Right. Because of course for us in the distressed property, you know, industry, we try to run numbers, we try and stay close to our title reps. Right. But our title reps were also busy servicing all of the people that were doing the frenzy real estate. So in the recent, most recent report that I ran in just Orange county alone, I had no ds. So I, I ran the thing, I ran the, what do you call this.

Your MLS search for keywords and stuff like that.

Correct. The, the, my research for end of July to current, which was last week in Orange county alone, there was 450, the recorded notice of default. So I am literally boots on ground. I literally have identified who these homes are. Of course I still have to do research because, you know, I have to find out, you know, you can't always get the most accurate. And what I do is I try and go out and I try and reach out to, I'll try a couple of times a week, I'll try to reach out to some of these families. And you know, you can only, you can, you can only do so much because I'm pretty sure that they're inundated with so many people bombarding their mailbox. But I try and, and at least like reach out and try to get an appointment so I could serve as an advocate. But that's just Orange county alone. And with the network of distressed property real estate agents that I work with, they're anticipating that. They're saying that currently, right now, what you're only seeing is about 30% of what's really to come.

Oh, wow. So you're expecting, let's just say. So basically the 400 plus that you're talking about right now really kind of shows is really more so 1200 here, you think in the next quarter?

Yeah, and I wouldn't say in the next, potentially in the next quarter, only because with the mortgage moratorium ending on September 30th, the banks are now allowed to report FICO's on October 1st. But likely they're not going to because they're going to get everyone that's had forbearance, like all rallied up and saying, okay, this is what you owe and let's see if there's a portion of it you can pay if you owe the whole thing. Because of what a lot of American homeowners don't know that when they agreed to these forbearance programs, they didn't really know exactly what their agreements were. What I was telling on, I was, I was doing a live stream yesterday is that you come from so many different, so many different people, so many different backgrounds of either people completely job loss. Some people only made partial mortgage payments, some people missed payments, some people went the whole 18 months. So when you're talking about, let's just say an average mortgage here in California, 3,500 times 18 months, that's 63,000. The banks ain't going to say like, oh, I'm just going to tack this onto the back and you can go ahead and make your mortgage payments. And I'm telling you and your audience that this is true. I've already had two people that I know personally as friends that have gone back to their banks and tried to get out of their forbearance. They, I think one of them was like, okay, make a payment for three months at this rate, which was higher and then we'll go back to, you know what I mean? Your other. But it was higher. So you know, you're talking about people that have in some cases job loss, career changes, business losses. Like how are you going to. Can't just take, you know, you can't just pick up from where you left off. You also have this big balance that you haven't paid for probably 18 months. And what people don't understand is they're technically delinquent until they are reinstated in the system. That poses so many different scenarios. Right. And that's what we were talking about Scott is inside the banks there's so many different divisions of non performing assets.

Yes.

And you, you've, you know this obviously. And then once you decide a route, it's like okay, get in line under loan mods, get in line under refi. If you, even, if you, you can even qualify for a refi, right? Yeah.

Get a, get in line for the short sales.

Get in line for the short sales. Oh, you're pre foreclosure. Okay, go ahead in here. And you actually, it can stand in both lines.

Exactly. Now when you just pull your numbers and seeing the 400 plus, you probably have figured an average mortgage payment of 3500. Any insight into the average of months that maybe some of these people are behind? I mean I know that when we pull foreclosure list Sometimes we're able to see, hey, they're six months behind or 12 months behind or most.

In most cases, we're pulling our hours from either our title reps. Black Knight is another great source property radar. Right. But then you still have to do all of your research. So what I do is I pull from those sources and then I also. And then I kind of scrub the list and then I go to my title rep. But as far as us knowing exactly how long each of them are, like most of the homeowners are, it's kind of hard to say. What we do know is according to Black Knight, about 1.6 million. This is prior to forbearance. I mean, the forbearance program starting, 1.6 million homeowners were actually, you know, are estimated to be on forbearance. Right. But they didn't report for 18 months. So you don't really know. And those numbers don't add up in accordance to like how big was our. I think I mentioned this also last night. I think about at the height 50 million Americans were unemployed or on EDD.

Yeah, that's why they said that there's somewhere at the peak it was like 4 million forbearance agreements or modifications. And a big chunk of that obviously is your government, your Freddie, your fannies, your Jennie Mae's and stuff like that. The VA loans, we see a big default and those Lily, the lenders are taking and putting the six months or the 12 months to the face amount of the note and just extended another six or 12 months. But there are so many other loan programs out there that aren't the government backed. That's what you're talking. That's the thing I love what you're talking about is you're seeing insight in a market that's been as hot as Orange County. We often joke about Florida being, I mean, not Florida, sorry, California being so overpriced and the demand, people are just gobbling up like crazy. You shouldn't see defaults that people wanted to sell because they should have that get out of jail. I'll just list in the market, get a price and be and move on and cash out little stuff. That's not the case, right?

No, it's not the case. And I'll just give you an example. So I started, you know, I'm going to do all of Orange county and it's literally the list that I have will take me probably three months at the rate that I'm going out. Right. But then I also have to, I Also have to consider that if I put out all of this, I have to make the appointments and make time for those people to schedule with me. So I can't do too many at a time. But let me just give you an example. Next neighboring city to us is Ledera Ranch. Out of my eight homes in Ledera Ranch that I was reaching out to, two were already under notice of notice of trustee sale and they were in high and gated communities. Yeah, you're going to see a lot. And that's what you were talking about, right? Like these coastal properties. Because the high, you know, it's the high value homes that, that lose the fastest equity. And it's interesting and then it's hard because it's not like the investors are looking to pick those homes up. That's why they lose, they lose equity so fast. Because it's, it really is in a, you know, it's really in a, you know, a category of its own.

Well, and that's the thing, we've seen that in Phoenix too. I was just out in Phoenix this last weekend. You're starting to see that million dollar plus price point in Scottsdale and stuff like that. That's the longest days on market trying to sell that. And people, if they're out of a job and it's a second home or you know, they're not making any money, a year of payments not being made or a year on the market, you're going to get motivated seeing homes drop from 5 million to 2 and a half over the year.

Yeah.

Could potentially be great deals for somebody to come in. I was curious though, have you seen an increase in short sales listings on the MLS or, you know.

Yeah. Interestingly enough for everyone boasting how hot this market was. I had a client that actually that came me about two, three weeks ago. They told me Anaheim, so Disneyland Anaheim, guys, point of reference, right.

Wow.

But they were, I think, max. I think they were at a max sales price of about 700,000. Out of the 12 listings that I could find, two were already in short sales over a hundred days listed. That's why I'm seeing a lot of these things don't make sense. So in media or wherever you're getting your reports, everyone's saying the market's hot. But I'm like, why are there short scales? Or why am I visiting these homes with recorded nods? Now imagine these people with recorded nods. I'm still trying to figure out what they're like, what their, you know, what their situation was. Because typically I would think for the last 18 months, the forbearance programs protected them that, you know, the foreclosure moratorium. So I'm curious to see what their issue, I mean, or what their, you know, what their issues are as to why they're this far and they're not listed. I'm like, you know, especially within a notice of trustee sale, you would think they were either listed or. And they would be in some type of negotiation inside the banks before they can even get a notice of trustee sale.

Exactly. Or if it's a short sale, it's got to be listed. Is what, you know, used to be requirement to even submit in a short sale package in a lot of cases too.

Yeah. Correct. So you are seeing a lot of that happen. And then even across the board, when I'm like, you know, when I'm masterminding with a lot of these agents, I mean, a lot. What's really sad is you have reverse mortgages too. And imagine these are people that, you know, these are older senior citizens that have relied on the equity of their homes to keep them there. And the only way to get out of it is a short sale. And you're thinking, gosh, you're, you know what I mean, you're in your older years. You shouldn't have to be thinking about this stuff. So it's really interesting where this is all going on top of the fact that, and I'm pretty sure that all eyes are on this, that we have to raise the debt ceiling by the 18th.

Yeah, that's definitely an interesting conversation to think about what's going to happen. And your heart goes out to folks that are, especially the elderly. They've gotten a reverse mortgage with the idea that, hey, we'll live off the equity and I have to make a mortgage payment. Oh, now we're upside down.

We're upside down. Yeah.

And the banks don't want to carry that upside down debt anymore. It's also the fact that banks bet on appreciation continue to increase as well too.

Yeah. And Scott, really, you working inside the banks, I mean, granted that for a short sale you give a hardship letter. The banks don't see things like, I'm a senior citizen or I'm going to be out of house. Banks see numbers. They, you know, I mean, they calculate the risk. That's all it is. And then I was telling people, I was like, with this forbearance program, do you think the banks are going to forget what you owe? They are not going to forget. I said, they are in business as bankers. To create money or to create profits from interest from us. So I'm all like, why do you guys think that, oh, it's so easy just not make a payment and figure it out, you know what I mean?

And it goes back to 2009, 10 you had banks that were taking short sales and then truck negotiating unsecured second liens, unsecured loans with the borrowers that were walking away from negative equity. Like, okay, yeah, we'll approve the short sale, but you're going to have to start making a payment on this $50,000 loan which you're writing off at $500 a month. So it's not really, you know, and we're not going to forgive the debt. Now obviously if you've got the deficiency or you can chose to be insolvent, I think it's with IRS form like 928 or something like that. Yeah, you're going to write off those deficiency judgments without having to worry about paying it. And then also depending on what's, what kind of state you're in, whether it's a one action state or a multiple action state in the foreclosure process, you know, there's, there's some different things you got to worry about. Now I had a question for you. Have you on the report you pulled on the 400 plus, did you see the lender, do you see who the bank is on a lot of those?

No, I didn't. I would have to go on tax records to see a lot of who those banks are. But I, you know, just because I got in touch with you though, Scott, I'm definitely looking at who those are because that is definitely going to be an option for me now that I have that have you as a connection is to be able to see what banks and then see where these homeowners want to go. Because a lot of them, they really do, they're not listed because they can't come to terms with the fact that they have to sell. But here's the thing, what they're working against now is time and equity that they potentially have.

Right.

But as the market gets, as more properties start coming on the market, that equity is going to start going down and they're going to be losing it. So it's kind of like, you know, it's, so it's distressed market. The distressed property market is a completely different beast. And I mean, you understand for good reason, you know.

Yeah, it's different in, especially in those higher end homes, a million dollar home, it's a different model than buying a half million or even $300,000 or even 100,000 in our neck. I mean, 100,000, your neck of the woods, the doghouse, you know what I mean? On the outside, like cases or it's a shame to Eric or it's a tent on a lot for. For the most part.

Right, right, right, Absolutely. Yeah. It's. I mean, we are really in unprecedented times now.

I want to throw this in here. This just came out in the news a couple of days ago. We were just talking it prior to going on is. And this should release in the next week or so the added difficulty of what's going on in California with the fires, the drought, the oil slick on Manhattan beach and stuff like that would happen just recently. Have you seen some. And it's maybe too soon to talk about it, but have you seen concerns from buyers and sellers struggling with that stuff or any buyers that come in, like, I don't know, because of, because of this A, B or C, or people more motivated to sell, to leave California because of those things.

I feel like, I mean, like I haven't just. I mean, a lot of them were just recent, like the oil spill. But another thing too is if you. I don't know if it's me, if you guys see the news, but our ports are backed up. And I don't know if that's happening just across the nation, but our Long beach and LA ports are backed up. Right. And so they're saying, buy your Christmas gifts now because there's going to be a shortage of goods come the holiday season. And everything is inflation. I mean, inflation is going to rise. Everything's going to be more expensive, as if it already isn't. And then the cost of living in California, even I'm like, okay, my son's a senior. Maybe I should like plan on getting out of here. I mean, it's becoming very real for a lot of people. And they have, you know, like I said, that's why I was going to say spot. I was like, please don't hate us Californians because we're going to continue like going to Texas.

Well, Austin is just California east, as we've gotten the point to say, because we've seen an average of 50,000 individuals coming into Texas from California on an annual basis. And it's especially on the north side of town. I mean, we've seen that really much, so much with the average median home price value going from like 396 to 500. Now here in Austin, part of that is because of People moving from the west coast to have a million dollar housing budget. They sold their house off, they got some equity. They don't mind paying 50 to 100 grand over our list price to get a deal because we have such a small amount of inventory.

Yeah, no, it's like, that's what I was saying as far as natural disasters. I mean, we've had to deal with earthquakes, but even just in the last five to 10 years, these fires for us are just really, I mean, it's really sad to really watch your state just like go through all these fires. And then if it's not up north, then it's down here. If it's not on, you know, the Malibu side, it's inland. It's just like. I was like, did someone go around and start these things like every year on the same time?

Well, that also asks the question because then you, then you start running into insurance costs, being exorbitant. And the same thing happens in Florida or on the east coast with hurricanes in Louisiana. You know, insurance, everything's being below value, stuff like that. That's another cost a lot of investors may not initially consider when buying assets. What's the insurance going to cost? Me?

Yeah, absolutely. No, it's true. Everything counts now. And now more than ever, you're going to start seeing that. I think there's going to be less consumer spending and I think it's going to, because we need to bring the value of the dollar back up. And we knew this. I mean, they've been seeing it for a long time. We're just printing too much money. And I was just, I know this is going off random things, but I was just watching Robert Kiyosaki just last night was talking about, he's saying that he predicts the biggest financial crash in history. Of course, we're not trying to scare anyone or anything like that. Everyone has their own opinions. But obviously he says he's excited about it because for him, he's a big capitalist. He's going to load up on bitcoin. He said gold and silver.

Well, that's the thing. There's opportunities wherever, especially your own. Run towards it, not run away from it. So that's my question to you. With everything going on, how are you leveraging what you're learning and applying it to your own bottom line? You mentioned you're going out and making, working to make appointments with these bars, trying to help them in their houses, but obviously that leads to profits and potential listings, foreclosure, sales, reos. Have you toyed with the fact of going more into short sales again, is that number starting to pop back up again or do you have enough 10 years ago?

No, no, not by any means. That's why I was like, okay, guys. That's why I told you. I was like, okay, God, please let me make it through another market. You know what I mean? Because you learn. Because to be honest with you though, Scott was in that last market. We were over leveraged. We had purchased a lot of investment properties between 2004 to 2006. So we experienced loss ourselves, and then we had to recoup. But then at the same time, I feel like that kind of balanced out. So now I'm given an opportunity like, okay, I see this. But also that's another thing too, you know, is I feel like I'm more emotionally equipped to deal with these distressed homeowners where a lot. Where I probably couldn't it would be been too, is very emotionally like the anxiety and all that kind of stuff. You know what I mean? Because at the same time, you're going under. You used to have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to our relationship with the bank. But then you also have compassion for these people. You know, it's just like you. That's why I thought that the, you know, what you do is amazing because you give the homeowner an opportunity to really, truly make these payments first and then see, you know, and then if that is not an option, you know, I'd rather deal with you, Scott, than, you know, maybe the bigger banks where it really is just a, you know, a hard pull of the plug, you know.

Yeah, exactly. Well, that's the thing is then you've got an hourly employee making decision who really doesn't care about what's going on with that asset or that borrower. It's just a matter of churn and burn for the most part. When they look at their desk and they've got all these files, not really worried about, there's something missing. They, you know, they look at the hardship letter. It's more of a check the box hardship letter versus going on. And that's the power of when you've been through a downturn, you struggled, you've had losses, you know, you have that empathy and are able to really talk that language, understand the fear and the stress that the bar is going through. Because a lot of times bars are so stressed out. People do stupid shit when they're stressed out. Monetarily wise. They make dumb decisions a lot of times because they're just not thinking or they keep praying that, you know, praying that Biden's going to save them. Well, Biden's done about all he can, you know.

No, and then here's another sad part because I was in a mass in mind this morning where they're all like, oh, yeah, I'm a victim of mortgage fraud. And then you know what? I say that our coach was like the head loss Mitigator for IndyMac bank for C Lock paper. He's like, I've heard it all. You know what I mean? And that comes up all the time. But, and yes, it's sad because there really are some that were victims of mortgage fraud. And then there's. Everyone was like. And that's what he was saying. A lot of the hardship, you know, is they didn't know. They didn't know. And it's true. They don't know. They're getting into these, you know, really complicated contracts that, you know, the banks created and all they wanted was home. Or he was like saying, oh, you do everything to qualify for the loan. Not, I'm not saying lie in essence before lie. But he goes, but now you want to tell them the truth because you don't make all this money and you want a reduction.

Yeah, you turn tail real fast. Well, I didn't know. And that's the one thing I think it's going to. I'm glad you brought that up. You think back to all the laws that went into place after 2008, 9 and 10, with CFPB, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and the mortgage brokers being responsible to look in a crystal ball to see if the borrowers could actually afford the mortgage up to three years after they originate the loan. You know that, you know, that's the stuff that, like, as an ex mortgage banker, I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. People do all sorts of stupid stuff or they change jobs. God knows, a pandemic kicks in or a plandemic, some people would say, but.

Right.

You know, and then you look at all the craziness of the California reelection just taking place and absolutely, you know, it is.

That's what I say. That's right. And then I was telling, I was telling you, Scott, offline to the audience. We just had this huge thunderstorm in Southern California last night. I'm driving to go have dinner, you know, pick up our food with my son. And the hail is huge, right? And I'm all like, this is not safe. I was telling my son and he's all like, this is the coolest thing and you see all this lightning come across. I was like, please, God, let me just make it through one more market so I could help these people.

It literally sounds like a scene out of the Day After Tomorrow.

We are, we are really. Scott, in unprecedented times. It's going to be really interesting, you know.

Yeah, it's. You took the words right out of my mouth. Unprecedented times. And if those that understand the opportunities, because it was every upturn or downturn, there are opportunities. There's opportunities to help people. You'll probably see a re increase of short sale experts coming back into the market or loan modification experts coming back in the market trying to work with borrowers that don't have a clue what's going on or don't. Don't have the patience for it. That's the thing is, I mean, people had 18 months to try to figure something out. Yeah, I think we're going to see banks especially, they're already at that point in the conversations I've been having. Banks have been very flush with cash, a lot of cash. I mean, we've actually, during this last 18 months, we've seen actually savings and the average amount that people are saving actually increased, whereas beforehand we had a negative savings amount, record amounts of credit card debt. But we've also seen record defaults of cars, car, auto debt, medical debt, credit card debt, you know, so it's literally this house of cards that we've built our finances on or our economy on. Lily. Starting to crumble. And I wouldn't be surprised, Lisa, if you start seeing increase in garage sales or estate sales is what they say a lot of times, because I, when we, what happened back then, we started seeing a garage sale economy. People had cashed out their equity or saved their money to buy all these toys, these boats, these jet skis, the second car, the other things. And now they can't pay their bills, so they're going to attempt to sell off their toys to try to, you know, float as long as they can to the next month or so. So.

Oh, yeah, that's absolutely what's going to happen. And then you have this record of they're not being any people can't find employee employees. All of a sudden, no one wants to work.

That's because we've been giving people free sandwiches and free food. Free. Oh, we'll just give you another $2,000, another $800 or another $3,500 a month.

You don't have to work.

And that's. We see that everybody, like, why are we having if we had a record amount of job openings, there shouldn't be any unemployment, there shouldn't be any of this stuff. If people want to work, they need to go to work because there's the opportunities out there, you know. And I have a buddy that runs a Cat Caterpillar dealership up in Indiana and he pays 125 grand a year for a diesel mechanic. Okay. He would pay somebody. He will actually hire somebody, send them to school for two years, making six figures and he can't fill the positions. I've got another friend who runs one of the largest plumbing franchises out of Waco, Texas, throughout the state of Texas. She can't hire enough plumbers. And you're a decent plumber. Half ass, only half butt cracks. Plumbers crack. You can make 80 to 100 grand a year, you know, doing that kind of stuff. But people, we've given away too many people. I think there's a sense of entitlement by a lot of people. You know, it's almost like the Randy Quaid, the Uncle Joy aspect of like from Christmas vacation. Oh, he's been waiting for a management position for six years, you know what I mean? It's kind of that aspect of things, you know?

Yeah. I just can't, I'm baffled at. That's why I was like, oh, if this real estate doesn't work, I was like, I'll go to Indiana.

I go to State.

Yeah, it was just. Yeah, that. I mean, honestly for me, I mean, going back to that question maybe you asked probably 10 minutes ago. I'm looking for an opportunity, of course, like I said, to really help a lot of these homeowners out. Because nothing, not every one of them is going to equate to a sale. But as I create, you know, if I create relationships and then they, if they do end up having to sell their home and they trust me with that, then I also have a big network of people that have been all in all kinds of real estate, you know, for the last 20 some odd years. Then I'm looking just to, for me just to really save up. And it's going back to the basics again. Yeah, you know, it really is going back to the basics.

Well, that's the thing. In an up market, everybody can make money, but when the market turns south, you've got to get back to the basics of marketing. You got to get the best back to the basics of door knocking, talking to people, getting in front of people, faces, not in a negative way, but getting back in front of them to listen hey, hey. You pray for something to happen. I'm your God's answer to your problems, right?

Yeah, that was exactly it. Like I go and I reach out. So like it's course permission based marketing for me. So I go out, I stick like, you know, some, a notice and then they call in to make an appointment. But I, you know, and typically what happens, I didn't have my package and she was outside, so I was like, please, how could you forget your package? But I really just felt so compelled because she was just sweeping, you know what I mean? I was just like, hey, are you okay? Do you have all of your resources available to you? Do you understand what steps have you taken? And then, you know, I understand that there's all kinds of people that solicit. So, you know, but it takes time to warm up the conversation to at least let them know you've been in the business like you understand. But it is, it's going back to the basics. It's boots on ground right now.

Yeah. And I mean, you're right, people are being inundated with direct mail postcards, robo dollars. One of the things that we've, we don't do a lot of direct mail marketing because we're going directly to the banks, but we are targeting subject to deals and some things like that. And we've gone back to the point of putting my picture on the bottom or my tell my students, like put your picture in the bottom of your letter and then put the bottom PS I put my picture on here. So, you know, I'm a real person with real solutions.

Right.

And people like that, they want solutions. They don't necessarily want to sign over their house for and let somebody else make a ton of money. But you know, if you can make money by helping people. And there are a lot of people that just want to walk away too. They want to get out of a bad situation and kind of restart everything all over there.

Yeah, they do. And another concern that a lot of the real estate agents were talking about too in the more recent times is, oh, we're going to lose our business to Zillow and all this kind of stuff because they're going to, they're going to list them. But I'm telling you, this market that's coming on, it's nothing Zillow can, can give you.

Well, I'm so glad Zillow's been overpaying for assets to buying their own assets and stuff like that. Blackrock, you know, they've been overpay paying for assets you know, that's, I wouldn't be surprised. You start seeing some short sales or Zillow was the buyer on at some point. I mean, yeah, you've got some cheap money, you might be able to ride that through a little bit. But this goes, goes on. It's not going to be a quick turnaround. If it does drop, it's going to be for a while. I would not be surprised. You start seeing some opportunities and foreclosures from some of the big E buyers out there, you know.

Yeah, it's different. And then like, then what I was also telling people was like back in 2008 you had a lot of millionaires that had like capital and they were the individuals that were going to the auction blocks buying 70, $80,000 homes. Right now everyone's the big grant cardone, the big capital groups where they're buying hundreds of millions of dollars in portfolio. It's like, it's really the gap is growing big. And that's why I'm saying like people have to open their eyes, you know. And I get it because there's going to be a lot of Americans that if the market crashes, they don't have the money. But what I'm saying is it would behoove you right now to save and you know, really save while, while we start going, undergoing this, you know, this correction and just yeah, going back to really the basics.

Yeah. Cutting out any exterior expenses, putting as much money aside because you've got cash or you've got savings, retirement 401k self directed IRAs, having that cash is going to be king to pick up assets. Especially as we get to the fourth quarter. I mean we're filming this the first week of October.

Right.

Fourth quarter of this year I think is going to be Christmas for distressed asset, distressed realtors, distressed investors out there that have the capital to purchase this stuff off the bank's book. And whatever doesn't happen in the fourth quarter, it will definitely happen. Q1 as the banks are like okay, we oh fully.

Because right now you're just thinking like okay, all these people that are coming out of forbearance now, they're in negotiations. So depending on what type of negotiations they might get a reporting on November 1st, it's going to just start trickling. By three months from now you're going to have your nods.

Well that's the thing. You have such a unique thing in California too with it being a non judicial foreclosure of owner occupied. You have a judicial foreclosure, non occupied Investment. It's going to be a non judicial. It's a faster foreclosure process. So you've got that thrown in the mix as well too for you.

Correct, Correct. So there's so many different. Yeah, there's a lot. And then you also have. What's going to trigger now is because the eviction moratorium ended or lifted in August. Right. The only reason you're not seeing too much of a frenzy right now is because the actual physical part of it has not happened. But all the reportings have started. But once that starts, the physics, like the physical eviction start, we are in for a show. That's why I'm all like. And everyone was like, well, you know, how come this. I mean, we could foresee it. It was just like, we knew it was like the people from, you know, like, what was that? The big short, they saw it. But me, I was already posting about distress property short skills on my, on my Instagram, I got like no likes, maybe 10. So thank you to all of my audience. Right? That did. And I was like, guys, they're not like, they're not listening, but it's okay because everyone be like, what are you talking about? This is a hot market and it's not. It's going to stay like this. I was like, that's what they said in 2006 and literally overnight.

Now let's talk a little about your passion. You've got an amazing podcast in the 8 Billion podcast. Let's talk about that.

Oh, thank you.

All right, tell us about it. Tell us about the wide list. People need to listen to it because you do such a great job with it.

So I know you guys, I know that I've, like, I put out a lot of real estate info in the first 40 minutes, but really a big part of my life is a mission and a calling that I said yes to. And it's a passion project. It's called 8 billion right now it serves as a podcast and I'm hitting my one year next week. So yes, I'm so excited. I. In the first year, I hit the top 5% in global podcasts on listen notes. So I. And everyone will say, well, how did you do that? And what was really interesting is when I set out to. At first I started livestreaming in the Philippines and then I ended up starting the podcast because someone said, do you. Do you know, have you ever thought about doing a podcast? I said no. And so I looked into it. I started it literally like within a week or two. And I set off on a global mission. And what I wanted to do was just share inspiring stories of people that were finding their purpose and passion. And I was able to. And there's. Believe me, there's no shortage of it, Scott. And they're in every division. There are people that have given up 20, 30 years of their career and have said, forget it. I'm going to do what makes me happy. I think that's partially why you're not finding a lot of people that want to be employed, because they're finally deciding that they are going to take that leap of faith. And even if it really overhauls their, you know, overhauls their lifestyle, they're willing to be more committed to. To what their heart tells them.

Yeah. And that's the thing, I think also too, I think we need to hear those stories because of all the doom and gloom and the negativity on social media and Facebook. Having positive, inspiring stories is something we don't see on NBC, ABC, CBS News @ night. And that's why I love so much about your podcast is such the great stories that you're sharing out there of people literally being committed to their why or saying, enough is enough. Hey, boss man, take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more.

And I want to go right? Yes, no, absolutely. And so that's exactly what the 8 billion mission is. You know, I do believe that we are in, like, what I kept saying is unprecedented, unprecedented times. And what you're going to start seeing is a rise in different leaders that are coming up from, like, more of the heart space. It's not always going to be about the revenue and profiting and all that kind of stuff. It's really people genuinely concerned about, like, each other. And so I share those stories, and it's more about people like that have, you know, find, you know, they go down a road of healing and they. And they're empowered and they're speaking their voice. So I've been fortunate enough to, I think, record 43 episodes. I've got another season lined up already. So I'm just. It's been amazing. And I really do hope that as travel restrictions, hopefully we'll see, start to lift, you know, depending on where they decide they want to go with, you know, restrictions that I would take this podcast global and then eventually use it towards different causes. So lots in the works. It's really interesting.

You're not an underachiever at all, are you? No.

Everyone's like, how do you do everything you do? And I was like, I don't know how to not do this. It's just the weirdest thing. I was like, almost. If my life isn't chaotic, I feel like it's too quiet. And I'd be like, I'll go find something to do. I'll go find a reason to go save the world. But right now, I'm going to be the healer for the homeowners.

Oh, I love that hashtag.

I know. I only thought of that.

You got to throw that at the hashtag healer for the homeowners. That's a great marketing right there. You have to put on every flyer, business card out there for you.

Well, you know, that's what I was thinking about those Scott. Because it comes a time when like a lot of them just need to know that they're okay with their decision right then and that it's okay. You know what I mean? Because we are dealing in this age of like social media and everyone's ego is boosted and you know what I mean? And so it's hard when you come from million dollar properties and it's just not, you know, I mean, you just can't afford it anymore. Like sometimes it all is just about that person having compassion and just saying like, I understand, like, or I've down that road, like I know what it feels like to take that next step.

I have to tell you, I just searched while you were talking there. Healerforhomeowners.com is available. You better go grab that.

So you heard it here on the note closer.

That's exactly right. Healershomers.com International announcement, everybody.

He's taking the United States by storm. Yeah, don't worry, I can help heal.

You and do your realtor from California to Florida, the healer for homeowners right there, ladies.

I know. That is so crazy. I don't know. I think I was sitting on the toilet and I was like, you're for homeowners. Right? I looked up at this guy and I was like, God, really? Are you just. They're all just go with it. Like we're giving you these blessings.

That's. Hey, you know what? He speaks to each of us in his own time and his own place.

He does.

You know what's. When you think about it, I mean, you've been through things. You've seen the good, the bad, the ugly out there, the ups, the downs. You've been around longer than four minutes. I think that's, you know, fact that you've been around works in your favor too, versus so many new investor, not new Investors, but new Realtors getting the market because, oh, it's an easy market. You've got a poll. So everybody wants to be a Realtor. We saw that here in Austin, where 67% of the realtors actually stopped being Realtors during the last downturn. You'll probably see something like that again here in the next 12 to 24 months as well, too, for you. Big goal for you for next year. What's your big goal? Have you started working on your 2022 goals? Lisa?

Yeah, absolutely. Like this, you know, like what I was saying is I never knew that I'd see the day when this. Martin of course, we were watching it. I knew it just because of forbearance, but I didn't know it was just literally going to come on like this, even though we're watching the statistics. Because, like what I was saying, Biden can extend as far as he wants, but the banks are going to be like, no, it's not happening anymore. Big goals for me. I'd really love to expand, like 8 billion to go global. So I'd like to do some projects outside of this country. From a real estate perspective, What I'm going to do is just continue to be that resource for these homeowners, whether, you know what I mean? And I'm, you know, as. As long as my body can handle, if I can build a team around it and I can truly educate them, which is really what my mom taught us as the kids. Right. Like, really be of, like, be of service, really give them their options, and they do, they come back because they trust you. If I could do that in 2022, then I will have already exceeded anything that, you know, I put a vision out there for.

Yeah, I love that. That's. That's phenomenal. And I think we have a lack of that. A lot of times people don't realize you stick around. You keep giving being a service to your listeners, being to your audience and walking along, not just talking about, but literally going out there and continuing to give to people, to pour yourself into people that are having a rough time. It's such a valuable thing to have, and people will see that. They'll love you for it, and they'll come back and you'll be the person that they reach out to when they need. They need help or healing.

Right, Right. Sometimes some of the best ideas come up on podcasts. I better actually get that one. I said you should start hashtagging it.

There you go. Exactly. Like the whole John Oliver, the hashtag this. So check it out. If you're listening, everybody out there, whether you're watching this live on YouTube or listening to this live or you're listening on our radio station, especially like in Long beach, we got to give a big shout out to 1 on 1.5 FM, which is our Internet radio station, California. And listeners out there type in a hashtag, healing. What do we say? What?

Sorry, Healer. For the homeowners.

For the homeowners out there. And check out Elise's podcast, the eight million, Lisa.

Oh, eight billion. Eight billion.

Sorry, eight billion. Let's not undersell it. Eight billion. My apologies.

I'm definitely an underachiever. It's the whole human race.

That's right. That's exactly right out there. So looking forward to you helping and starting with those 400 plus that are struggling there in Orange county, those bars that need some help out there. It's a good drop in the bucket to get things rocking and rolling for you.

Yeah, it sure is. Yeah. I've got my work cut out for me.

What's the best way for our listeners and our audience to connect with you, Lisa? What's the best way?

Well, of course, I am on all platforms, social media platforms, LinkedIn, Instagram, and of course, Facebook. Under Lisa, Florida, I have a website, lizaflorida.com. so that's lizaflorida, like the state dot com, but yeah, just that. Not the state. And of course I have a website for 8 billion. So it's 8 billion project. And that's spelled 8e I g h T. So you could find me on all of those platforms. And like I said, if you have any questions, please DM me, especially if you are a homeowner in distress. If you're not in California, I can at least plug you in or at least refer you out to someone that's in another state, if you. So just remember, yeah. That there's laws that apply to each state, you know, and so you need to definitely get with those people that are your specialized agents in those areas.

Awesome. So check it out, Lisa L I z a florida.com. she's very active on LinkedIn. Check it out. Connect with her. Guys, check out the podcast at the subscribe button. Amazing stories on the podcast. And I think everybody get out. Binge it, check it out and take some action out there and be an asset to everybody out there. Be a healer for your own homeowners in your own community. Everybody out there, Lisa, thank you so much. It's been such a fun episode as always, and thanks for coming on the Nook Closer show?

No. Thanks for having me. It's been an absolute pleasure.

Awesome. All right, guys and gals, Go out there, take some action, and we'll see you off the top, everybody. Bye.

Sam.