The Best Real Estate Avenues For Building Wealth

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com and I'm really excited for today's guest of multiple real estate income streams. But before we talk to our guest, I'd be remiss until if I didn't properly introduce my co host. You know him, you love him. Six Sigma Scott Todd from scotttodd.net landmodo.com and most importantly, if you're not automating your Craigslist postings, posting Domination.com TheLandgeek Scott Todd, are you ready to have another income stream after today's podcast?

I'm ready. Let's go.

Alright, we're gonna talk to Jennifer Beatles from reimillionaire.com Jennifer, how are you?

I'm doing well. How are you guys?

I'm great, I'm great. So Jennifer, you are. You created 22 income streams in seven years. You're a real estate investor, you're also a realtor, is that right?

Yeah. Yep.

So can you kind of walk us back from the, your superhero origin story and kind of how you got started and like, and then you woke up one day, you're like, you know what? I want another income stream. Oh, you know what? Another income stream?

Yeah. So you know, I really got started in real estate when I turned 21 and I was one of those, I guess, overachievers when I was younger. I always had two jobs. I was always the friend that had, you know, more money than everyone else. So yeah, I really kind of became obsessed with this idea that I could, you know, work two jobs and you know, create as much income as I wanted. Really kind of for the freedom aspect. But then I realized that we only have 24 hours in the day and you can only ever work so much. So I was working those two jobs in order to be able to buy my first house. So I did that. And the goal in buying that first house was to turn it into an investment property, which is a great idea except that that was 2007 and so that property didn't necessarily work out but I really kind of continued this journey on, you know, with real estate investing and my focus, you know, after that first property was in buying cash flowing properties. And so yeah, so over the years I've really just kind of built up my portfolio, mostly focused on value add properties, which is basically the ugly stuff that no one else wanted to touch. And, and yeah, along the way I've helped other investors. I've earned an income stream by Being an agent who focuses on working with investors. So I was able to kind of earn, as I learned as well on that. And most recently I've added some more passive income streams by doing some hard money lending. And then I also just recently, it's not an income stream, it's more of an asset allocation, I guess. But I've done some cryptocurrency investing as well.

Wow.

Scott Todd, I'm smiling because cryptocurrency man. I paid a guy to go out and take pictures for me, Mark, last year. A year ago, I paid him $400 in Bitcoin. Basically at the time he quitted to like one bitcoin. So I'm looking back thinking I paid $4,000 for these pictures. But I mean, you know, Jennifer, like when you started, like, okay, so you know, you're working multiple jobs and like, you know, you had to have started with connections, right? Like, I mean, because geez, you know, no one starts off and just achieve success like you did. So I'm saying that like, jokingly because, you know, you probably didn't have the connections that you wanted to. So how did you build the connections that you needed in order to be successful? Because I'm sure you're not like, you weren't loaded with money at, at the time that you started, right?

Oh, gosh, no, no. So, so I bought that first house and I started to kind of learn how to remodel it. It was a built in 1901, which is pretty old for our area for, you know, Washington state. So it was actually one of the oldest houses in that city. But, but anyways, I was remodeling this house, you know, still working the two jobs, and I decided that I really wanted to go all in on real estate. And, and so the first thing, you know, I was not thinking about getting into sales at all on the, you know, agent side. So I actually got hired with a builder and I learned about land development. I basically kind of went in and, you know, was working as a project manager, helped do a lot of the budgeting and kind of the oversight permitting, site plans, you know, really everything to do with, you know, building houses. And one thing that I noticed that the owners were doing, which was really smart, is they would go and build a couple houses, take some of the profits, and then they would go and build a duplex. And so we would, you know, kind of repeat this process that we'd sell a couple houses and then we'd go ahead and build, you know, duplex for the owners to Keep. And that was something that really kind of stuck with me is this idea that, you know, you can have whatever business you have. You know, in this case, of course, it was, you know, building houses and selling them and then taking, you know, a percentage of that profit and, you know, adding in these additional income streams, which, you know, in their case was in the form of rentals. So my connections really came from the building and development side. So shortly thereafter, I decided to get my real estate license so that I could use my agent commission as a down payment to buy another property to owner occupy. So I went ahead and did that and, you know, bought a duplex where I owner occupied, lived in one side, and then had the, you know, the rent offset that mortgage. So I learned so much by working in that, you know, development side that. That really kind of catapulted me into this whole, you know, opening my eyes of, you know, how it goes into land development and rental properties and how financing works and, you know, getting an idea of the costs of everything, how to, you know, run budgets, how to rehab properties. And that really. That was really my connection, I guess, if you will, of how all of that. Of how all that works.

So where did you get your original capital? Where did that come from?

Hustling, working? No, I just. I say, you know, I think. I think as a younger person, sometimes the challenge is, you know, when you've earned the money, the natural idea is to then go and spend it somewhere. But if you don't have a good place to spend it, then we just find ourselves spending it on, you know, entertainment or, you know, clothes, you know, whatever trips. And in this case, after I kind of got into real estate, I was like, great, I'm just gonna spend all my money on real estate. So. So, yeah, I just. I saved my money. That was my idea was, you know, I'm gonna save as much as I can and, you know, put it towards building a rental portfolio that would then, you know, pay me to own it.

I mean, Jennifer, kind of, you're kind of different for, you know, from, like, most people in the sense that you really kind of caught on very young about the compound power of money and multiple income streams. And kind of taking this sort of different view of money is not something to provide me pleasure, momentary pleasure, but something that's going to provide me security for the long run, real wealth, and then I'll be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. What did your parents do and where did you get this sort of philosophy?

Yeah, so my parents were Small business owners, and so was my grandparents. So I've really been kind of exposed to this idea that, you know, you can really have as much freedom as you want if you're willing to work for it. And my parents worked really hard. My dad was actually a wildlife photographer and, and still is. And so as kids I got to, we would set up in these little art festivals and sell my dad's pictures. And so I had the ability to work the cash register and kind of see how that side of things went. And I think I also learned a lot about that was my parents sole source of income. And they actually did really, really, really well. But I also noticed that, you know, if they wanted to take time off or if they didn't want to work as hard, you know, they were, they were kind of stuck in that, you know, I guess self employment, if you will. If you talk about, you know, Robert Kiyosaki and the difference between, you know, investor, business owner, self employed. Employed. They had great job security being self employed. And again, I learned so many lessons from them early on. And then I also learned that if I wanted to really kind of have a different lifestyle, then it would be about, yes, absolutely, working hard, but then building in those passive income streams kind of behind me to make sure that I didn't have to, you know, work 30 years hard. Right. So, yeah, they, I mean, those were, you know, invaluable lessons that I learned from them growing up, for sure.

Yeah, it's fantastic. And I love the private money niche. My, my buddy who lives out here works for a billionaire. They do private money and like their returns. Now, Scott and I would like laugh because we make like 300 to 1000%. But you know, in the real world, like he's averaging like 12, 13% on private money and, you know, able to deploy, you know, $500 million to do that. Of all the income streams, how would you rank them? Like which ones you like the most to which ones you like the least and why? That's a tough question. So answer it any way you want. Scott's like, mark, why are you giving her this question?

You know, gosh, you know, it's really hard because I think the rental properties, they're probably my favorite. They're definitely the most amount. I shouldn't say the most amount of time because. Right. I mean, my agent, commission income side of things, that's still pretty active. But you know, I think with the rentals, having the ability to be a good, you know, good at acquisitions and then being a good operator, in the sense that, you know, I'm able to buy properties, go in there, do, you know, pretty quick inexpensive rehab, and then get new tenants in there that will pay, you know, a much higher rental amount. At which point I have now increased the income. And then as a byproduct of increasing the income, I've increased the value. So I think having an income tied to an actual asset is a huge value. And I don't get that with the hard money. I mean, once the loan gets paid off, then that income stream is gone. I have to go find another one. Whereas, you know, with these rental properties, the income streams just go up over time, and the value of the asset also goes up over time. So I think that that's something that's really unique to rental properties that most people I think should really consider is the fact that, yes, there's an income stream, but there's also an asset that's attached to it. So that's my favorite.

Scott. Todd, what are your thoughts?

Well, I mean, I do like the fact that one of the things about rental income is the fact that you own an asset and then you're just renting it off, Right. Like, that income stream does not go away. You know, Mark, one of the things that, that, I mean, in a way, it's kind of. It's kind of funny how you play it, right? Like, you know, like for us, for you and I, when we sell a piece of land, we still own that asset and the person's basically essentially renting it from us. And there's a lot of times where they just don't pay it off, right? They just leave and whatever, it becomes that perpetual money machine. And then, you know, when you get that one that pays off, you're like, ah, darn it, you know. However, you know, I know that a lot of people are really focused on in the early days of building their passive income, and so they want. They want those notes to get paid. And for me, I'm like, you know, it's okay because I know where it's going to lead to, and I. Not necessarily dependent on that cash flow today versus, you know, we're just going to keep it going. So I do like the fact that you have an asset that you're renting out and then that that asset increases in value over time, plus you're getting cash flow today and some of the other aspects that go along with that, like depreciation, et cetera.

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, but I would say that our advantage is that, yeah, we don't own the physical asset, but we also don't own the headache of the physical asset. So Jennifer might be guiding call. At 3 in the morning, the roof is leaking where nobody calls us and says, hey, the dirt is turning brown, Mark.

You know. You know what's great about it though, is that it's the fact that it's. It's funny because I don't feel any, like, any pressure to like, do what Jennifer's doing, which is like, I've gotta then go and rehab the place or fix it up or, you know, I've got extra cash, I got to deploy. And honestly I can. And I'm not not slamming Jennifer. I'm just saying, like, what I like about. What I like about what we do here is I like the fact that I can deploy. I don't need a lot of money to deploy. Right? Like, I don't need a bank to say yay or nay. I don't have to go get hard money to go do what we're gonna do. And so it's like, I can turn the money faster and I can do more deal flow than someone who's got to now get involved with financing and building investors or building partners or going to get hard money loans and having all that tied back in. You know, like, we can just. We're like, we're like nimble. We're like, like yogis, right? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, Jennifer, do you ever watch these HGTV shows and DIY network shows and just roll your eyes?

Oh, absolutely.

What's the real. What really happens? What's going on in those reality shows?

Well, I mean, I think the biggest thing is, you know, it seems like they make it sound so, you know, easy and simple. And one is, I think the biggest thing today is, you know, actually my husband and I were just chatting about that last night, is how much things have changed in just a few short years. I mean, I remember, you know, back in the days when we were building a lot of houses that contractors were, you know, begging me for work and they were reducing their prices. They were knocking on my door, they were bringing me cards and gift cards and things. And today it's like, I was looking for an electrician the other day, and I think I probably called 15, like, literally, kid you, not 15 different companies. And all of them kind of laughed and they're like, oh, this is service work. Well, call us when you're building another duplex. We'll look at that. And so I think that's the biggest thing is, you know, on These shows, they make it sound like, oh, they've got their crews that come in and everyone shows up and everything, you know, goes for the most part, pretty well. And that's just not the case, at least not in the Seattle market or a lot of, you know, other markets of, you know, friends that I. That I have, that, you know, invest in. You know, right now we have a huge shortage of contractors. And, you know, it's kind of like pulling teeth getting anyone to show up and, you know, help do the work. So I think to your point, that, yes, you know, going in and rehabbing these properties, we have to get pretty darn creative. My husband this morning is installing new laminate floors in one of our rentals. Granted, he was able to retire at 30 years old from our rental income, but he is now our flooring install guy. He's our painter. He's our, you know, does a lot of the work because it's just really hard to find people that will come out, show up and do the work.

Mark, I mean, like, do you feel like. And Jennifer, maybe you have this thought too, but like, you're talking about, like, the shortage of contractors and the fact that people just aren't, like, willing to jump at the work. Is that a sign that, like, the economy is so great and, like, the markets are, like, near their top? Because, you know, what I see a lot right now is I'm starting to see a lot of bandit signs that say we buy houses. Right? It's, like, reminiscent of, like, I don't know, 2006, maybe 2005, where people are, like, starting to get into the hunt again. And it seems like they always start to get in the hunt too late. Right. Like, you know, in terms of. In terms of, you know, residential or rentals, I mean, fix and flips. Do you feel like it's like, is there still opportunity or you. Are you seeing prices just ridiculous?

Yeah, I think that there's opportunity in any market. And then no matter what the market's doing, I think the difference is finding opportunities that others may have passed up for any given reason. Or, of course, off market opportunities. I am seeing more and more investors enter the marketplace than I ever have in my entire career. I definitely am feeling some reminders of 2007. And honestly, I'm a little concerned. And we're kind of seeing that across the board, really. I had a private equity deal pitch about two weeks ago, and it was just. It was entertaining. You know, these guys had a $5 million valuation on a company that brought in $30,000 in revenue in last quarter. It was like, you know, and granted, I'm not a, you know, that used.

To be my world. I used to do investment banking with private equity groups. That doesn't. Those numbers don't sound right, Jennifer.

Yeah, well, needless to say, I didn't do that deal. But, but you know, and honestly, I asked them how. This is just, of course, an example of the marketplace that we're in, right across not just real estate, but, you know, stock market, all these different things is everyone's looking for yield right now and everyone seems to be going in directions that maybe they shouldn't be. You know, of course real estate's included in that. And so, you know, it's concerning though, at the same time, you know, investors ask me all the time, well, should I wait it out? Should I wait for the next recession? Should I wait to do something until everything cools off? And honestly, my advice is. Well, it doesn't necessarily. You're not going to gain anything by waiting, though. I would definitely be cautious and very careful. In today's marketplace. The rental properties that I've bought this year have increased my net income by, I think I've brought in like an additional $4,000 a month by these rentals that in these projects that I've acquired this year, which is, and we're still in a really hot market. And I'm in Seattle, which is really one of the hottest markets, you know, in the US but it's only because I have the ability to, you know, find deals and only find projects that make sense. So, yeah, I would say deals are out there, but people just really need to be careful and really need to be, you know, strict with their criteria.

Alright, so one more question before we get to the tip of the week. What is the best or most worthwhile investment you've ever made? And that can be an investment of money, time, energy or otherwise.

Um, so I would actually say buying that very first house, which was a terrible investment. I didn't actually lose any money, but it was, I mean, I, you know, I bought the house for 218 and I think within 18 months it went down to maybe 140. Right. So it was a terrible investment. But I think making that terrible investment gave me the insight, gave me the lessons, really got me started in real estate. So had I not, you know, had that experience, had the market continued to even increase at that point, I probably would have been in a really tough position, you know, acquiring more properties that, you know, weren't cash flowing, potentially Going to go underwater. So I think just taking that action step and just making a decision and saying, I'm going to do this, of course it was a bad decision, but just taking. Taking action, making that decision and making something happen was definitely the best deal. Deal of a lifetime.

Yeah. I always think action trumps inaction, even if it's imperfect action. Scott. Todd loves saying, always be moving your feet, Scott.

Yeah, don't stop, man. Like, I don't care what, what you get slammed with. Just, like, how fast can you, like, get off the ropes and get back into the boxing match, right? Like, you know, don't. Don't be like McGregor and just rest on the ropes, right? Like, you know, keep swinging at all costs. And, you know, I don't know. Even McGregor laid on the ropes and got 20 million, so I'm.

He got 70 million. Yeah. Scott. I mean, the rumors he bought Ireland.

I didn't. I didn't hear that he had 70.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, Jennifer, we're at that point in the podcast now. We're going to put you on the spot, ask you for your tip of the week. Your mentorship has been phenomenal. But we want one more tip. A website, a resource, a book, something actionable. With the art of passive income, listeners can go right now, improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got?

Yeah, so I want to actually, since we're on the topic of, you know, hot markets and, you know, things like that, I to want. I want everyone to go back, even if you watched it before, but rewatch the Big Short. The Big Short and actually Too Big to Fail is also a phenomenal movie, and you might start seeing some things that are currently happening in the market, but I think that movie is a phenomenal reminder. So action. Or your. My tip of the week is go watch for the first. Either for the first time or rewatch the Big Short.

I love the Big Short and I read the book, too, but the Big Short, the movies, is really just as good as the book. Scott, what's the last time you watched the Big Short? I watched, like, last month.

It's been a few months. It's, I don't know, six months or so.

Yeah, it really makes you so just sort of, you know, what's the word? Disenchanted or whatever with, like, our system, like, the system is corrupt, basically. Like, no one's out there looking after you. It's insanity. And I don't know, Jennifer, what was the. What did you get out of that movie?

Well, you know, I think the Biggest thing is people don't understand how mortgages work. How really I think Wall street works. And, and I think I've always tried to explain it to people. And so finally I had a movie and I just said, hey, just go watch the movie. And that's something I make it a point to go learn about what I'm investing in, even specifically on land, right? I mean, before I buy any land, I'm going to go and read the code, get an idea of what's allowed in that zoning, really understand what I'm getting into. And so I think, yeah, there's a lot of people that they sign on the dotted line for these mortgages, but they have no idea, you know, how it works. They have no idea, you know, really what they're getting into. So I think that that's probably the best, is just the foundational piece of understanding how, you know, mortgage backed securities work, how even that the last recession was created and really, you know, how that all works. So I think just, yeah, the understanding the fundamentals is the most important.

I love it. I love it. Scott. Todd, what's your tip of the week Mark?

Check out this website. It's dreamypixel.com dreamy pixel.com. basically, you know, if you enter in your email address to their, like lead magnet, you're gonna get access to like a boatload of like beautiful, fresh landscape images that you can use, you can use in your deals of the week. Your ads, okay, they may not be exactly for the properties, but I mean, maybe you need it for your website. I don't know, maybe you just need a beautiful picture. There you go. I just brought you freedom.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

This is great mountains. I mean, this is really good. Yeah, this is perfect. I just described. But it's not as good as my tip of the week, by the way.

I can only imagine.

I mean, not to be competitive, but my tip of the week, I actually have two tips of the week. Two tips of the week. Because I'm going to piggyback on what Jennifer said regarding the economy. One of my favorite YouTube videos is it's a billionaire hedge fund from Bridgewater. Bridgewater Associates is the largest hedge fund in the country. And billionaire Ray Dalio created this video called how the Economic Machine Works. So if you go on YouTube and just search how the economic Machine works, you can watch it or you can just Google it. It's so simple the way he describes how the economic machine works. Like, I make my children watch it. Phenomenal video. But my final Tip of the week is learn more about Jennifer, her 1.2 million income streams@reimillionaire.com reimillionaire.com tons of information in there and experiments in passive income resources. She's got courses. It's a plethora of knowledge and information. So, Jennifer Beatles, are we good?

Yeah. Yep. I think we covered a lot of different topics. I mean, you know, there's, there's a lot to talk about within real estate and I love what you guys are doing with land. You know, that, that was really kind of my point of reaching out is, you know, very few people talk about the options with land. Of course, you know, my goal is to always build on it and build, you know, small, multifamily and, you know, stick tenants in there and get myself income streams, you know, on that way. But, but yeah, I love what you guys are doing, so keep it up.

Thank you. Thank you, Scott. Todd, are we good? Yeah. Okay. Well, we're good. All right. I just want to remind the listeners the only way we're gonna get the quality of guests like a Jennifer Beatles from reimillionaire.com is if you do us three little tiny favors. It takes you five seconds. You got to go to itunes, you got to subscribe, you got a rate, and you got to review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of your review to support at the Land Geek Calm. We're going to send you for free the $97 passive income launch kit. So please do that. I just want to remind everybody, today's podcast is sponsored by Geek Pay IO. The only set it and forget it. Financial CRM automates everything. GeekPay IO. Alright, well, let freedom ring. Ring. All right, thanks everybody. Thanks, listeners, and we'll see you geeky people. Ladders. Thanks.