Welcome back to another episode of the Meet Kevin show we are here in Clearwater Florida Get it right, Bill here. Oh hey, you're about to see me visit. Ben Mala But before we confront a bad Mulla I Gotta remind you today's the expiration of uh, the coupon for the amazing programs on building your wealth. So if you like my perspectives, check it out via the links down below.

You get the best price guaranteed. Need a bundle code? Send us an email at Kevin Meet Kevin.com and we'll take care of you. Thanks so much! Remember: you get lifetime access paying once you get access to me in all of our live streams linked below. Daddy I Thought the Boy Scouts went bankrupt.

What are you selling cookies? You're actually here in in the presence of somebody that actually really knows real estates. Hey, how's that flip going? That 12 million dollar man? Not good. I'll tell you what. 9 million right now? cash? That's a steal.

foreign. The ones who aren't expensive I painted all the crown molding. Oh yes, we left the kitchen. No, the kitchen was fine.

What's the matter with the 90s? You were born in the 90s, Weren't you remember? Are you here on a undercover secret mission? He's now working for? uh, for the best dying organization Or the FED boys here to investigate Grant Cardone Just landed at your airport. His plane was there when I took off yesterday. Oh okay I broke down is it? I Don't know how you guys been lousy. Why? fed drunk because you? Mr brilliant when you came here? How long ago was that? Me: yeah if you would have said Ben if you don't listen to me about anything, please fix your rate.

but you didn't you didn't And now I gotta pay six million dollars a year more in interest on 200 plus million dollars if I would have been happy at three even though I was at two. Yeah, what was that? Three? That's six million a year, right? Three times two is six shorty. that's six million a year I was paying I would have been happy. You know I was really only paying about four, but I would have been happy at three I could have fixed it.

Now it's six plus percent. That's 12 million dollars a year in interest I need 500 Grand a month out of my pocket every month to give to the bank. But you got tenants can't raise the rents. they're in leases.

they're not going to pay for it. They'll pay the extra tax, bills on the property taxes and all the cam. They ain't gonna pay the bank for me. so I'm how's the hotel.

they're coming back but they ain't making enough to pay that kind of money to help and then what? I got you know? high cost of living here I mean it's wife big fancy house I'm selling every thing right now I swear to God Today I went to the dealership. he's taking my cars to the auction to one car. take it to the bucket auction the Batmobile to next week is an auction in Punta Gorda You should go there. You can buy my Batmobile you can buy my water car and you can buy Bob Hope's car.

if you remember who he was he was here I'm selling everything I can get rid of it I Need money baby? Can you loan me 200 million? right? Three percent? Absolutely. Hey! Jerome I Need a cigarette? So why are we here today? Can anybody tell me you guys are just bored? Hey, let's take the jet over the Clearwater and go visit. Ben Is that what you guys do already? Just wake up and say hey, what are we gonna fly to today last year been okay otherwise outside the market. No, my life is tied to cash flow.

yeah and the cash flow is low. My plan raise cash by down debt is the only thing I can think of. Well I'll start liquidating other assets that I have. you know it's not like you know I'm not 100 in real estate I Got stocks I Got bonds I Got You know what are you going to cover? Are you going to liquidate the real estate to cover the bonds of stocks? You're going to liquidate the stocks and boxes cover the real estate a little of both.

It's called balancing a portfolio. Look at the assets that are not performing well. everything is Diversified In my life we have everything we got stuffed at. It was a long shot or we got high wizard Menage he knows about this we got we got Investments that you know were higher risk that are doing very poorly.

Right now we have tax-free mini bonds that took about 10 percent hit. We've got things that are tied to interest rates uh that have taken a big hit. um you know. but basically we're looking at everything that does it pay to keep it or is it tape automatically If I go and buy down debt that's saving six percent.

Yeah so if I have something that's not making six percent, let me take something at four percent and convert into something that's going to help me save six percent. That makes sense, but you have to look at a lot of different aspects of it. What am I stated on taxes? Because if I go and buy down 10 million dollars worth of Real Estate Well yes I'm saving six percent. but after you write off the uh, the interest yeah, the interest, it's not really six percent you know I'm getting a savings.

But right now if the interest, that's no depreciation right now I'm looking into doing accelerating depreciation of course segregation things that can help me. So it's a matter of taking all these pieces and trying to put together a puzzle where all the pieces fit. Welcome back to another episode of the Meet Kevin Show We are here in Clearwater Florida one and only in Bel Air Sure, you could get it right. Bill here you do the intro where are we? We're in, we're in Florida and we've got Ben Mala here.

So Ben tell us how has the last year been since we went tubbing together? Number one: I had to empty the water in the tub twice I didn't want to make take no chances. Basically the last year sucked for me because you know I wasn't smart enough to you know, see the future and lock in my rate. And every single month your wonderful government has been increasing the rates so they increase the rates I pay more to the bank and get less money. So basically the past year has probably been one of the most stressful Worst Years of my career.

Oh wow, how does this compare to 2008 and the last recession? 2008 was a rough time. but the thing was the two, it was a great time if you had money to buy right now. see it's okay when you have bad times because the bad times actually can be good times. 2008 and 9 and 10 were actually good years for me because I had cash and I'd go out and get Bargains Now things are really bad but there's no Bargains I'm waiting for the bargains.

It wouldn't be so bad if I lost 10 million bucks here. But I Go make 10 million bucks over here. But that's not the case. I'm just losing I'm not losing and winning.

Now You're watching the market every day. especially hotels, retails, strip malls. What? What are you seeing? Are you seeing those prices come down but not to bargain levels or what's going on? I'm seeing things slowly come down. Cap rates have increased.

Okay, a year ago, you couldn't touch a Starbucks unless it was in fours. Wow, yeah now I've seen him in the 60s. Oh wow. So Camp rates have slowly come up, especially on the real trophy assets.

All the four captions have five caps if I captured out six caps. six caps now seven. And let's not even talk about medical marijuana. or it's it's what do you call it where you're at? um, recreational, right? Oh, why not, right? Yeah, Yeah, exactly.

Here in Florida it's all just Medical But they popped up everywhere so the Market's been flooded I'm looking at him at 10 caps a while. Yeah, you get 10 on your money right now for a medical marijuana, please. And so for the folks watching, cap up. Price down, right? Cap up.

Price down. Uh, and is that because uh, are you seeing sellers better medical marijuana or even the recreational? The banks can't load on them and only certain Banks alone on them and the terms of sure aren't that great. So you know those assets are really paying a high return right now. Would you buy any? No.

The reason why is because I was going to rent to one, but I decided not to because that's going to drive my cap rate up which is going to reduce the value of my property if I take a five cap property a six cap property by having a KFC or something like that in there and they put a medical marijuana place in there and that dries into a tin cap and it screws up my whole value. So the medical marijuana facilities here are actually devaluing a center. Yes, they do value if you have one right now. Wow, Wow.

and now what? what are you looking for in the market right now? I Know you're transitioning. It sounds like some properties to others, but then you have the tax implications. So what? Where's the world of Ben We're all buying. We're always buying, selling.

You know, building stuff. My son's building a brand new building and now parcel. Right now you know he's spending about a million and a half bucks. It should be worth 4 million after he gets it done and rented.

Uh we got some more rooms we're building out of John's Pass uh some you know retail we had we turn them into hotel rooms. we're selling hotels in Fort Lauderdale Where you know we're doing. We're always doing different stuff. So why are we selling hotels right now? It is Rates Every asset is different.

The reason why we're selling a hotel is because hotels are not real estate. Hotels are a business and it's very hard to run a business that's 250 miles away. Now we can easily run to hotels around here because we're here. Okay, so I don't want to have a business that's so far away from me reaching it.

So we're going to get rid of that one Focus on hotels Just in our area. We got shopping centers that we're improving. Right now. we're doing build outs for tenants.

Um, and we're trying to increase the value there by cutting out our Parcels building on them. But if we reach the maximum ability to add value to a property, then we look at selling it because we already did everything good with the property. Now we're sitting back and okay. Return.

Well, okay, return is not just okay for us. We want some fat on a bone, you know? so we can keep growing and making more money of course. Yeah, what? Uh, what's your favorite right now? If if you had to pick between residential hotels, retail office I mean I'm not the multi-family Market apartment buildings are still selling at ridiculously low cap rates are offered at that price, right? and today's interest rate. it makes no sense I'm not going to buy an investment at a six cap if I got to pay the bank six percent interest.

Yeah, okay, especially ticket on all that liability and all that responsibility. and then multi-family should stay strong. mainly because we're at an all-time low with homeowners. Or Home applications Home Mortgage applications.

If people aren't buying houses, that means the rental market is going to stay strong. Interesting? So do you think? uh, but then again, you're deal dependent so you're really just looking for where is the right number. and right now you're not really seeing that. Why would you get into hotel right now? Did you see a lot of really expensive hotels that are based on location? Yeah, number one, a lot of hotels couldn't make it to Covet.

Well, yeah, even though they're bouncing back now, I was strong enough to withstand the pain during Covid, a lot of people weren't and now it's all unraveling. Okay, we were looking at uh, guy works for me and just met. He went to New York City which I would never go to, but because people are are going belly up so bad it's worth looking at. I Mean you know there are people getting Office Buildings are getting crushed I Wouldn't buy an office building? would you buy an office building? No.

because it's too hard to convert to anything else and there's no demand. You know, the one thing cover taught everybody is you ain't got to come to work. You know? In fact, they prefer the police staying home as long as they get the same work productivity out of them. they're going to save a fortune.

Overhead expenses So Office Buildings are getting crushed. They can't fill them. they renegotiating all their leases with less space and less rent. so I wouldn't touch.

Office Buildings Hotels are strictly based on location. If you're in a good location then you'll do well. but a lot of guys could make it for two years and they got bled and now they just at the point where they can't make a deal with the bank and they got to throw their hands up. So multi-family there's no Bargains out there.

From what I've seen, you know it's still a high price to pay per unit. Uh, homes are coming down now. Maybe a good time to uh, come in there and start low balling everything You know? absolutely what do you Seeing your employees and construction costs. Constructs of course have come down somewhat.

Materials and shipping okay, but labor is definitely staying up and going up. So construction, you got to be very careful. Right now we thought we're going to build that building for about a million bucks. Yeah, by the time we're done, it's going to cost a million and a half.

Why do it now? Why not wait? Maybe until more pain? I Mean you know I Don't think it's going to get any better with construction. Wages are going to have to keep going up because when you go and buy a sandwich today and it costs you 15 dollars upon my language, people can't afford it. Of course they want more wages. You can't go to a restaurant now.

It's ridiculous. You go to the grocery store I was telling I'm telling my wife as wealthy as you think we are, which we're fairly wealthy I'm actually me looking online how much the price of eggs cost because she spent seven dollars on a dozen eggs. They used to be a dollar I told them no, you got to go to Walmart and get them for three dollars. Now it's crazy I Don't know how people can afford to live? Yeah, yeah, rents are up, food is up, everything's up.

How's your partner? or uh yeah, you probably? How is your uh, the Residential Waste problem? your your uh. you had a good friend that we flew with to the swamp up north. He has a restaurant, multiple restaurants. how's he doing? He's doing good.

You know why? Because he's made a lot of adjustments and I know I Ate in one of his restaurants the other night. Yeah. I had a 500 Bill Oh Lord Okay, you know what he did. He raised the prices and he cut down the portions, but he said it's because the cost of food went up to him.

His labor costs are up, his food costs are up, and don't let me not even talk about insurance. My insurance agent is probably going to get physically hurt when he comes to see me the next day or so because and I can't blame him. but I got to beat somebody up Insurance Prices have gone through the roof, especially in Florida You better keep that in mind. Yeah, before you buy anything in.

Florida If you're going to have insurance, you better get a quote because the insurance companies, you know, they take somewhat of a hit when we have a hurricane. Well now we all got to pay for the hit that they took for the hurricane. So insurance companies are trying to double the price of insurance right now, golly. I I There are some rumors of maybe insurance companies even collapsing here in Florida What's going on with that same thing I Don't know.

Luckily, the insurance company's ideal with a digger or International Okay, you know so I don't know I don't really deal with anybody on a local level, but I'm sure it's happening, but you're seeing rates. Doubles rates are doubling I mean I I I I I was Is it for flood or just even regular homeowners? Mainly, it's just you know, all insurance that ensures any real estate. Yeah, you know, especially hurricane. Insurance Wind You know, And hell, we're not hail, but wind in the rain or whatever.

Uh, flood. That too goes to the hurricane. When you have a hurricane. Everything floods.

Yeah, exactly. So are you seeing this just in residential or everything? Yeah, all across the board. everything. residential, multi-family uh, retail centers, liabilities also up.

People are suing the out of everybody you know and uh, driving the rates up down. Liability insurance? Ridiculous. Do you think maybe more lawsuits with tough economy? Or yeah, whenever the economy is, whenever we have inflation, people start getting desperate. You start seeing the lawsuits go up.

You see crime go up which also causes Insurance uh. issues? You know, when? when do you think, uh, sort of In In if you had a crystal ball? where do you see this? Market Pain ending? When is the pain over? Ben It's all tied to rates. in my world. As long as the interest rates keep going up, everyone's going to feel the pain because people live off of lines of credit.

Uh, you know they're not going to run and get a HELOC on their house now and buy stuff and fix up their house. They're not going to go out and buy a house. The same guy that qualified for a half a million dollar house a year ago now only qualifies for 250 000 house. And there ain't no 250 000 houses out there where he wants to live that are worth buying.

So it's going to be pretty rough. You know they need us. You know, the interest rates can in my opinion control everything. So you've really then felt every one of these increases.

Is that because of variable loans in commercial real estate? everything I had was a variable rate loan tied to what used to be Libor then converted to sofa. Then they have a Bisbee rates all the same. But the point is, the banks typically I'm paying the money to the banks, but in reality, you can't really blame the banks because they get their point spread. Yeah, that you're paying them, it's still the same point spread.

In fact, I made them lower it. Yeah, it's the FED fund rates. and there's a flip side to the banks. Yes, I'm paying six percent plus interest now.

But when I was getting zero on a money market account? Yeah, yeah, I'm now getting four and a half percent. Sure. So the banks is it's you know it's a double-edged sword. You know with them.

what do you hear from uh or have you heard from any maybe banks that are even do you have tenances Banks any banking tenants I used to Yeah Well yeah, I got I got a Chase here I got two I got two banks in attended somebody shopping centers? Have you heard anything beyond what we're seeing on the media? Yeah. I mean maybe even just your connections here. Have you heard anything about the banking crisis going on today? You know, obviously. Silicon Valley Bank Yeah I Was on the phone today with uh, my banker that runs our uh investment account and gets me all my loans.

He Was trying to sell I gave him 12 million dollars worth of um what do you call them CD the birds Oh yeah, okay yeah. Bank Preferreds all right. Yesterday he was able to sell only a few hundred thousand of them at the price that we felt was acceptable. Today he calls me says we can't sell anything.

Okay, because that one bank that got hit today in Silicon Valley it just it affects the whole Market that's the thing. even though that bank may have a um, what's the word individual problem yeah, bad balance sheet, toxic acid. They have their issues, but it affects the Home Market Yeah so everybody's maybe re-underwriting Banks Now it's like you know when something bad happens, Everybody says the sky is falling so everything falls apart. What's your take? How did you think we're gonna wait for it to blow over? So was One Bank had problems in Silicon Valley which that's where all the money's at but why is it Californians always messing stuff because Californians you were a Californian not by choice I was forced to be in a Californian the Army sent me there I was ordered to go there so One bank had some issues and then you know but the market looks at it as all the banks could be having a problem.

you know, like what happened in 2008 but that's not happening again. You don't think so. No, because everything that people I don't know, what assets they were loaning on, right? But generally ever since 2008, the banks have gotten, they've tightened up on their loaning and lending and appraisals and and credit. Uh, you know, checking people for credit worthiness and you know they're not loading money out like they were back Then you know, underwritings? dead people getting loans? Yeah I mean it's a different market now.

They actually have actually watching who they give the money to one. uh would you be uh, getting into a single family at all smaller deals? I I'm it doesn't help or pay for me to do small deals. Yeah, because management my it's just I can't I got 1031s that I just satisfied a 90 million 1031. if I spend time on a little deal for a few hundred grand, you can't get that done in the time frame you need and identifying it's the pain.

It doesn't really put a dent in my problem, you know? So and I'm still 10 million short? uh for your 1031 so you still? yeah, Hurricanes extended the time frame. Oh well, that's good. So I still got till June I was told to find another 10 minute I'll deal I Just bought a Harley Davidson dealership in Orlando for 13 million at a little over a six cap. Wow! Okay I pay cash.

Sure if I leveraged it, that would make sense. It'd be a joke. There'd be no return I'd be buying it I'd still help myself by deferring the taxes, but it wouldn't be a cash flow. Is that your goal right now? Try to minimize taxes from some of those sales you're making in.

let's say: Fort Lauderdale keep my taxes down by doing 1031s, deferring them, and worry about my cash flow. So tell us about that. How has that changed over the last year? I mean I mean it's a war I'm fighting a financial War right now I Never used to worry about how much I made every month now I Have to worry because I'm now paying out a half a million dollars more than I used to have in my pocket. Wow! Wow.

Now you said you're also selling the Batmobile I'm selling everything. How much you want to sell that watch I'll buy you sell it for you here. You can tap here and get all my contact info. You can call me anytime I Don't think I want that, but no.

Right now you know you got to change when you're managing a big portfolio and you're managing a life with all kinds of big expenses like planes. Yeah and uh, you know and and you know you got this house is A you got a I don't know the mortgage is on it but luckily I fixed that. The only thing I did fix was my couple of houses I got the residential. Yeah, but what are you gonna do? What about, uh, the plane? You said you had an engine oil issue? Did you have to buy a new engine or what happened I don't know I don't know I don't think I have to place an engine but they're gonna have to find out what's wrong with it and they're gonna be cheap.

Yeah, luckily I have Partners I I didn't have I didn't do it more Partners I Like your advice. so when a bill comes in yeah, I only got to pay one-fourth of it bro. and I haven't had the problem of needing a plane and not being available. Yeah, but you use yours so much now.

Uh, no partner's gonna put up with you. Yeah, how many people do put up with you anyways except the dwarfs over here. Um so what about uh, the um, would you ever go outside of Florida to look for real estate? or I would go out Florida I own Lowe's in Tennessee Okay, I wouldn't want to buy it I'm selling it right now. You're selling how much of your portfolio you're selling.

Everything's for sale. everything. Yeah, even in my so-called Associates I'll sell you if I could. but um, you know everything has a price.

Yeah, you know. but I'm definitely trying to sell the assets that really don't serve a strong purpose in the portfolio because today's interest rates. if it's not cash flowing before I look into selling a property I got to look at hey if I keep it. that's option number one in Bleed or Not Have a lot of cash flow.

Okay, my return on it used to be let's say 20 because rates are only two percent. Sure, Now they're probably down to the six percent. Okay, Do I keep it for cash flow. A little cash flow you can't refinance.

That makes no sense right now. today's interest rate more environment. Um, do I sell it. You know what's the tax ramifications? Can I replace it If I do sell it.

You know there's a lot of things you have to think about. That's why I'm looking into course segregation right now because maybe if I buy down the debt I won't have as much write-off. But if I do the segregation, that'll increase my write-off ability and it might balance out. Weren't you doing the cost tags? Anyway, No, I was no.

Okay, okay I'm just starting to look at that now. Yeah, okay, I might or should have been sure. Well, but I didn't But now you have that sort of piggy bank to break. so now it's a tool that you may have to utilize.

Yeah, so uh, what about um for your Tennessee property? I mean do you have a lot out of state? or is that just no? That's just that's I think that's the only one out of state what motivated you to go there. Just sort of a dealership. It was a great brand. Lowe's I went and visited the town it was in.

It felt like a good nice income. strong working-class town where people would come there. and Shop the place looked good. the place looked busy.

It's a no tax state uh based on rental income and I was in a 10 31. My clock was ticking. It was like a 25 million dollar deal or something away in that nature and it made sense at the time. Now if I would have fixed my rate at three percent, I'd be sitting here golden.

but I didn't My mistake Now is that because uh, originally fixing would have cost you maybe an extra half point or something. What a full point? How was that too? Okay, I could have fixed it at three so I would have paid an extra point. Yeah, Wow. I'm paying extra four points.

What? I Don't know that anybody really predicted that. Well, we should have known based on a political party as we're in the country. you know. Do you think that's what shifted all of this 2024 Biden Round two: They think that low raising the rates is going to reduce inflation.

What's your take? I don't know. I'm not a uh, what do you call it Economist we call that type of major in college. Um Econo I'm not an economist? Yeah yeah. I don't know I don't know.

It's too big a pay grade for me to understand I Just know money in and money out. And so the goal now is build up as much cash as you can for that. I'm building up cash to buy down my debt. Is that to improve the cash flow then? And the properties? Yes, Okay, so that's what I'm doing.

What about anybody you want to loan me? What about? Uh yeah. three percent, right? Thank you Anybody over right now I Feel What about the seller or a buyers when you're putting properties on the market? What are you seeing? How different is it Now on track today on a property? The reason the only motivation I see in buyers today is because they're trying to defer the capital gains on recent sales. They sold something. They got a big million, multi-million dollar hit they're going to take because their basis was so low so they're 10 31 into something else to defer the gains.

Are they going to get a tremendous cash flow on a new deal? No. But they might be saving millions of dollars in taxes, which is very important. Yeah, Do you ever move to Puerto Rico that four percent? Oh Senor I'm not going to Puerto Rico Why not? Peter Schiff Is there? There's a lot of stuff on the market right here now. I saw some Walgreens the sales of Cbs's yeah, what are the Caps like out there? They're higher in Puerto Rico Sure.

okay, but unfortunately Puerto Rico might be a territory of the United States but still out of the country. It qualifies to the 1031 of course. But I've been to Puerto Rico many, many times and I didn't feel like I was qualified to do business there because even though it's still part of the United States it doesn't run the same way. Okay, when you go to these countries or these other types of areas where the culture is very different, everything is different all right.

And I'm not in with the click my wife's Mexican she's not Puerto Rican What advice would you give to a person? a buyer today? Like a first time buyer or a retail investor? You know somebody may be watching our channels. I Mean you definitely should always try to find out what you qualify for. But right now is a Time to where you really got to stash your cash. Save as much money as you can because the deals are coming.

You think? so they have to when it's just impossible for them to just come in slow. Yeah, yeah, it's have to come because sooner or later, everybody that was in these great low rates. they're not going to last forever. Some people took five year loans.

Some people all the ones that took five year loans five years ago are now coming due. They got to refinance the property's. not going to appraise that for the same price. They're not going to qualify for the same price based on their debt ratio and your cash flow.

so the shit's gonna hit the fan. You think that, uh, poop, hitting the fan is still ahead of us? Yes, it's starting to happen now. We're starting to see a lot of big players take a big hit really. And those thoughts with the big guys.

Yeah, okay and then it's going to start coming down to small and small. smaller and eventually it's going to affect the whole Market Are you seeing sort of big player listings come up then? Or how are you saying seeing big player bankruptcies? Okay, I was looking at a hotel the Bank loaned over 100 million on it. It's going to bankruptcy court and he they're asking for 60 and don't even think they'll get that. Wow.

I've been watching guys take hits Banks and investors take hits in the hundreds of millions of range. It starts in New York especially the Office Buildings Yeah, yeah and the hotels because they got hit the worst. but eventually it's going to creep over the whole Market because it's all based on borrowed money. and eventually you didn't borrow that money forever.

Yeah now. Sony took a 30-year mortgage a year ago. They're golden and they're going to stay with that place for 30 years, but most people didn't Yeah, what did you do? Oh I Sold my real list most of my real estate around the time when I was here. Yeah, but that was also to start my startup.

It was lucky. but yeah, how about stocks? Still an Apple Stocks are a pain he is. You know you were buying. Apple I Remember we were on the plane.

you're like it's 139 I should buy it's like 150 I think right now I was gonna make some decisions but I didn't I think it was like Apple was that you know you got to catch things on a low. Yeah when it's low you got to make a move and I didn't I was playing around with Amazon Okay and I made a few bucks but what the hell did I would have made more? Uh, who was the Facebook was a killer when he when he dropped down like in the 80s? Was it yeah. yeah. Tesla Tesla dropped down to like the 80s also.

yeah. 101 Yeah right right. I'm talking before that. Oh okay, yeah, what was it? Maybe it was one.

Either way, it was a good deal. It was a good deal. Yeah yeah. now it doubled right? So once you're doubled in a matter of like a month or two, are you buying a Tesla No, Why not? I Did install a bunch of charging stations in all my shopping centers.

Did you? uh, just regular EV Chargers or did you get a Tesla some bulbs? some just Tesla you got some Tesla ones Tesla plug it in baby. Tesla's the only one that does the Quick Charge yeah the supercharger. that's why. So the shopping center is.

we did. We cut a deal with Tesla to put a bunch in because they're quick charge so what the hell is we doing both? What did that look like the Tesla deal? Uh, they got me at first but then we got smart and made a deal with them. The first time we offered it as amenity and we don't get any return. but they came in and paid for everything right? So we felt like it was a good thing for the uh property.

Okay, but then I found out they're paying and when they still come in. So the second and third time we cut a deal. we get some residual income from it. So uh, like a percentage of whatever they're collecting percentage of what they're collecting I think some rent too.

What would you say is a percentage? What's a typical range like five ten percent? I Don't know. my son has that. Yeah, okay okay. I don't deal with contracts.

Yeah, but we're getting some sort of income on the usage. Okay, and we get a flat fee rent every month depending on the location. Okay, you know if it's a really high profile location like next to Buck Stadium Yeah, the pan is rent and they're paying this percentage and they're paying for all the insulation because they want that high profile location. Yeah, of course it's not for them.

Basically, you know real estate location. Location Location That's all it is. and a little bit of timing a lot of times. Yeah, what about um, so why no Tesla for you? Were you waiting for the Cyber truck? Do you like this one? I don't really I have somebody that fills my cars up with gas so I don't worry about it.

Okay I don't know I have a guy that works every day every day make sure all cars got gas in them if I take them over. You know? Yeah, these are Cars Part of Matt's job is maintain the cars, make sure they kept clean, make sure they got full tanks of gas in them, make sure they're running right. Got it? What about uh for for people watching you right now, Do you think they should start a business right now? Or what should I do? What should they do? Anything you can do to make money? Yeah, whether it's a business, whether it's real estate, whatever it is, money at it. Do it.

Yeah, all right. But if it doesn't make money, only waste a little bit of time on it to find out. You know, put the time in. Is it going to make you money? Or it's not.

Time is money. Is that a license to change your mind? Like flip-flop if you flip flop flip flop I Flip-flops You flip-flops all the time. I Don't hear about your personal life. Um I mean you know it's good to get a real estate license if you don't have any license.

because getting a real estate license is basically starting your own business. You become your own business. You're a walking business and every person you encounter in life is a potential client. They could be a buyer.

They could be a seller. They may know somebody that's a buyer or seller. They could be renting and looking for a home. A kid called me the other day.

He said I got my license. Like you said, but how do I find clients To what you did, start knocking on doors and uh, so you know what I told them I said is there a big apartment building in your neighborhood where the rents are probably around 1500 plus a month? Why? Because I said every one of those tenants is a potential buyer. You go to them. Number one, You go to a post office.

It doesn't cost you nothing for like a four by eight card. put your face on there, put your number on there, and tell them stop renting, start owning. There's something to that effect. Yeah, and it cost you nothing to deliver that postcard with the post office to those 300 mailboxes.

The people open up the mail, start printing, Stop buying. Give me a call, see if you qualify, then they call you. You hook up with a mortgage broker and you'll get a piece of his commission to get them qualified for first time home buyer with FHA three and a half percent down. Find out if they are worth your time helping them look for a house.

If they qualify, find out what their range is, find out everything, then go to town, find them a house and get the deal done. You make a commission, you create your buyers. My first uh apartment building I got banned from is when I got my real estate license was I went into the coin laundry rooms and I put a flyer on their cork board. Thanks for paying my mortgage.

You want to stop renting? Call me. Oh there you go, You know? But you know you can't get in trouble if you do a direct mailing. Enter your mailbox and the post office doesn't charge you practically nothing. Yeah, because it's all going to one location.

Yeah, and the cards don't cost nothing to print up. That's cheap so you know you got to look for business right? What about? uh, you know this? the market out here you're trying to locate your real estate here to Tampa Are you seeing a lot more on the Tampa area? Tampa Is growing you trying to consolidate everything here? Do you have any concerns about hurricanes? the insurance issues? problems like Water Rising I don't know anything I mean I got concerns but you know you just have to roll the punches. I mean if you go to San Francisco to say oh, we got earthquakes yeah, not that often they happen. They moved to Turkey for some reason.

but um I mean you know there's a lot of concerns here. You got to do your homework and you got to know your risk tolerance. I mean there's risking everything. but this area is a growing area because bottled water? I'm not.

you know I caught a cold I think covet. Either that or a red tide was here. Red tide. red tide.

That's another concern. Red Dwight comes and nobody wants to go to the beach. them are hotels and lose money. Is that like yeah, that's like an algae or some kind of uh California oh, it's always The Californians Well you got Ronnie you like Ronnie you know I Met him in a close small meeting not too long ago.

Okay, I mean you know? Is he going to be I don't think anybody's perfect? Yeah, but he's definitely young girl. Yeah, you know I don't think he's going to be able to compete with Trump because you know Trump has an effect on people. What Trump does is he kind of makes people feel empowered somehow. like like you know, like they could be in, you know I don't know, it's it's like he just he motivates a certain type of people.

you know where you know I don't know I mean you know, but he's too old, you know and I don't care I mean I'm sorry. It's common sense and logic. When people get old, they don't work so good like a car. It's simple.

It's true. It's logic. You can't do the same stuff as a 30 or 40 or 50 year old when you're in your 70s. And if you're supposed to retire if Social Security kicks in at what 62 or 65 even the government says you're not supposed to be working I don't know I Don't like these old guys in in office because number One Old people God Bless them all, they're setting their ways.

They come from a different time. Okay, they don't. Um, they don't Advance Like everybody. like the world's advancing, they're on the same speed they use.

They have a lot of personal feelings. They're getting involved with the uh, logical Sense on how to deal with issues and I don't feel good about it I'm sorry and um and you would say that even for Trump he returned Trump You know, let's see, everybody in the world knows Trump's got a big ego. You can't have an ego and represent how many people 400 million in this country? Almost. Yeah, somewhere you can't have an ego.

You can't be selective. You got to just think about what's right for everybody. I Hate the fact that we have Democrats and we have Republicans Yeah, why can't we just take the the good stuff out of both of them? because both of them have good uh agendas. You know the Democrats had a lot of good programs programs that I've benefited from.

People benefit from Uh, you know, because everybody needs some help, everybody can't be successful. The Republicans had a lot of uh, you know, good policies too. When it comes to business and taxes and things like that, we need to just combine them and we need somebody that knows how to take the best from both sides and find a common ground and do the right thing for the country which pretty much can cater to everyone. Could Gavin Newsom do it I Don't know I'm not familiar, but he was from California so I doubt anybody from California could do anything I mean you know DeSantis You know he's been doing a good job as a governor.

He works very hard. I Will tell you that he works very, very hard. I Do believe he's a very honest guy, but I Don't know if he has the experience to start dealing with world leaders. You know that's another problem when you're dealing with world leaders in other countries.

They don't play by logical, sensible rules. They play by their own rules. I Mean let's face it, you got to be a certain type of person that can also play the game. Trump He knows how to play the game, you know? but you know he goes too far sometimes.

What do you think about Ron DeSantis and Disney for example I mean Disney I I've owned a lot of property in near Disney I won't property within Disney Kissimmee Orlando Yeah I run property I was under the Disney umbrella. Uh, you know, hotels that was actually part of their whole whatever. Listen: Disney uses up a tremendous amount of services, not just in their little area in the whole city. Yes, they bring a lot of business to us, but they all those the businesses and the money they're bringing in also causes the government to spend a lot of money.

Roads Transportation Crime there's all kinds of this goes on and on and on. I Think Disney should pay their fair share and be under our same government. and Taxation like guys like me that were when I was there I had a hotel, I had a couple of hotels and I was paying tax bills every year, property tax bills and the hundreds of thousands of dollars I was paying my share. Yeah, they should pay this year too.

It's all part of doing business. They're writing on some rules that they had created back I think 40 years ago mayor of Miami or DeSantis The mayor of Miami is who Suarez who Mr smart I don't really follow politics I'm too busy running my own goddamn politics. Well then back to real estate then. uh, what is? Um, tell me about the different parts of Florida and where would you invest or like we're looking to potentially invest in Florida What Where would you stay away from when you go to Tallahassee Jacksonville South Florida is a University Town in my opinion.

from what I know about, Tallahassee is if if it's not related to the school and some kind of connection way with students with teachers, with employees with businesses that support the school I stand in Tallahassee Okay, student housing can be very profitable if you buy it for the right price. Management intents: I've had 500 bed student properties in a very intense running them. Yeah, a little bit of a hall monitoring drama games goes the same way. Okay the problem.

The thing is if Florida to me is this: yes, home ownership is slowed down. but if you can find where have the newest huge big home developments been built like Boca or like Westin follow the money. If some big home builder went out and just built three or four or five hundred houses somewhere and they all were sold, then that's where you want to go. You want to go where the money's at.

You got to trace. follow the money you know you know. Like for instance, if Amazon's building something or if a car company or some factories being built somewhere they're going to need housing, housing is just a necessity, It goes along with business or something else. What do you say to people who say oh, if somebody's investing in real estate they're really or like, especially single family real estate, they're taking away affordability from somebody else.

If somebody invests in real estate, how would he take an affordability away? Oh well. Some people say, well, if you go buy rental homes, you're increasing the costs of those homes, making it harder for a tenant to become a homeowner sort of. It's a little anti-capitalistic the argument, but you hear it all the time because they're going to be a renter or an owner. Yeah, you can't be a runner forever.

I Mean unless you really have that personality and you want to be fine, you want no responsibilities. That's your lifestyle I Don't know, but typically every renter should become an owner in my opinion. but they have to do at the right time in their life when they can afford it, when they qualify. and hopefully I would say the the most money that has been made in this country for the average person is always through their home.

Yeah, yeah, I Agree with you. Okay, people have gone from nothing to becoming multi or at least a millionaire zero through their home ownership coupon down below. Unless who provides a roof over your head, you know, and you can borrow against it? I Mean you know home ownership is always I Think the first key to everybody's you know life in general. especially on YouTube You've been posting a lot of shorts, shorts, short videos, short videos and you're doing very well with them am I I Don't know a lot of views I Don't really.

Are they making you money? I'm just like you know I Don't really get involved with the YouTube thing is outside of trying to get the message across of get off your ass and try to help yourself and better your life I mean everything else is run by the uh, the Polish Putin over here. How are shorts monetizing for you guys? Yeah, they said February 1 they would start monetizing shorts. Not not really? Huh? All right. No, no shorts short shorts because you guys are killing it.

Not amazing? Yeah. I mean you know we do the YouTube and it does generate enough income to keep him happy and sausage. But you know it's doing well. You know we're getting some sponsors sponsors I Saw that hey sponsors baby, You did.

You know right now if you go to Mybookie.com and place a thousand bucks on deposit deal, match you if you use the code Ben What's bookie? Oh, it's gambling online gambling. You don't bet you were here online casino? Well I think it's more like sports betting right? Sports is better. Oh Faster works. You can't invest in real estate right now.

Maybe you can buy some fine art? Well, if I wanted to gamble I could just put it into any bank right now. Well you know we're doing some. Masterworks Fine Art We can own a percentage of the artwork. Yeah, we're doing.

Um, what do we do? We just did something for cooking meat yo? Did you get a butcher block? No, it's a temperature thing. it runs off your phone right? Are you diversifying into Masterworks too? Do you like art? I mean I'll dip and dab in a little here and there I got some artwork in there, you know I got the flea market but um no I mean actually before I before we did I made somebody go visit their office and we do some research and check them out. Agree to play ball but um, we're having fun with it I like it, you know I enjoy it, you know I was in New York I went to New York and uh, we went to visit one of the sponsors and they made me these beautiful shirts. oh my.

God For a fat person to get perfectly fit shirts, what was it called proper proper cloth custom clothing and you do it online. You give them your measurements, how they did it I don't know I gave my measurements online I went to New York they would have shipped them here but I was in New York I said hey I'll come by and pick them up Uncle come on boy, we did a video there I couldn't believe it I put these shirts on and they were like the material, the fit was great they used to live in New York unfortunately yeah Hell's Kitchen Why'd you go back I Had to go back because it was a stopover to catch these really cheap first-class fights my wife found to go to. Paris oh how was Paris oh you've been there? yeah I Met my wife there oh I'm from pretty I'm French I do not speak English and my food is so great the food sucked the people were pain in the ass uh we caught Covid uh and we saw all the sights. It was nice to see you know the history and the sights but it's a very busy City people were there was a shooting going on over.

they got their own issues there. They got issues with um people. they got a lot of refugees that came in for the Middle East The problem is all the Europe LED and all these people from the Middle East yeah I don't understand these people weren't raised in this type of civilization. They got different Customs They got different culture and a lot of those things that they practice in their own country.

That's when it comes to women is against the law. How do they treat women? You know, just in typical mannerisms and uh, they actually had some big problems when I was in. Paris Wow! so I don't know every country's got their problems. It was a good trip, you know we had a good time and uh we got the hell out.

Did you go anywhere else in? Europe We just went around Paris and Dick yeah Paris Okay, wow, it was a short script show. the kids take them out as the Eiffel Tower there's the Museum of and and uh, see the Mona Lisa Yeah yeah. My son was very uh, he was. He wasn't as impressed as he thought he would be.

Yeah, we waited in line all that time in the museum or whatever it's called and uh. you get in line to see the Middle Eastern it's only like this. Big yeah yeah, it's pretty small. That's awesome.

So what else, band? what else is going on? What am I mean I'm fighting a war right now and you're interrupting me right now. My life is all about making money. I'm not making as much money as I normally would and that's my priority. Yeah, okay, everything is.

It revolves around cash flow with me. Yeah, of course. and that right. How I live where I go what? I Buy everything.

It's all you know. When you're not making as much money, you start thinking about not spending as much money. Do you think this will just be a short? Maybe you know, another year of pain or so and then maybe back to normal or anything. I Don't think we're going to see the rates that we used to see.

Really? that's behind us, huh? I Think it's gonna. it's good. I'm hoping and waiting for it to come down a little and just stabilize right there right now. Yes! I grew up in a seven to ten percent interest rate environment when I started in real estate, but prices were a lot less right? right? The cap rates were higher, right? Yeah, you know what? I used to pay 30 or 40 000 in unit four is now a hundred thirty forty thousand.

So and then rents have gone up. So I mean it's just the world we live in. It's all about finding a deal and lowballing a deal to get the price to make sense for you. How are you doing that? Are you going through the sort of the listings yourself? or is it agents that are calling your videos or everything I Do it all.

Yeah. I look at 300 emails a day I pick out the ones that I think may make sense for me I got people that work for me making offers I go with the listing broker sometimes I got, uh, you know I'm just I don't care whatever it takes to get whatever the deal is. Yeah, absolutely constantly making offers. they get counted back I'm selling property I'm getting offers I'm countering on the back.

It's all about playing a game until you feel like you won the game that's busy. it's a chess game. Yeah, what? What does keep motivating you? Why do you keep doing it? Why do you keep playing the game I was ready to quit, but then the interest rates went up and screwed everything up for me. So now I'm stuck playing more playing hard.

Uh, what has anything really largely changed in your lifestyle because of that? Yes, I'm selling my Rolls-Royce I Used to sit in the garage with a half a million dollar car. Now I'm looking at saying what the hell I got half million dollar car sitting in a goddamn garage for that could save me. Uh, 30 000 a year? Yeah, sure. just the interest.

Yeah, absolutely almost as much as you've been. uh, paying yourself? Yeah, well, uh. does anybody else have a question? What did I miss? you know? McKay McKay you got something? Where'd Tristan go he disappeared. Okay you you? Mikey Cigarette break Union rules Oh you know why turn down the hotel in Manhattan I was gonna buy it.

you were gonna owe you. okay I was gonna buy it. The guy the little Indian guy went out there and uh he inspected it for me and and he's an expert underwriting. we've seen real estate.

what do you guys want to get? Tristan he worked for he he while he was in college even where he worked for really top dollar uh big companies in Manhattan like you know Wall Street time guys doing a gold man or whatever. like a package of 50 hotels at a time. Yeah sure. Anyway I sent them out there because he lived in New York and man, when he came back to unions, you can't hire employees unless they're part of they have a housekeepers.

Union They got a separate Union for maintenance. they got a separate Union for the restaurant. The housekeepers are making 35 bucks an hour. Wow, Uh, we paid.

We were crying about paying them even 12 to 15. I Can't make the numbers work, it doesn't work and then you know there's all the taxes. Oh my. God you got Federal You got state city you can't make any money in New York Tristan Any questions you have for Ben Um yeah.

I mean for commercial? Do you have an extra mic? Yeah, Go ahead. yeah. For a commercial, go ahead. keep going.

What type of commercial real estate? Uh yeah. commercial real estate? What type of commercials commercials like Office Buildings What? Office Buildings Office Buildings Office talked about offices a little bit. He's a big believer that offices can be converted eventually into something I don't know or use for something I Think not now, but in the next year, maybe two years I Think it'll get so bad where they'll start selling on Pennies on the dollar I Mean is there any way you can convert them into maybe storage units that might be profitable or I thought about storage. but I mean you know, high-end storage baby in a fancy building or dealing building I'd be dragging their old in there, but you know, you got people coming in and out at one building.

It's not like storage is spread out, you know? or I don't know I mean storage might work depending on the layout of the building. The problem is every building is different, but every single person I know that was brilliant in building. and I've seen some guys lose this shirt is. Everyone told me it would have been cheaper to tear it down than convert it to Apartments that's what I thought because the kitchens and the bathrooms and today's code and the fire systems that you might as well instead of gutting the whole thing and be left with a shell because that's what you got to do and the windows and the entrances and exits.

it's just the list is a mile long. You might as well tear the building down is what I've been told and I've seen a couple of guys go belly up trying to do it. Oh yeah, could you? Oh yeah, no utilities. You need metering systems.

It's all run as a Master Meter You know that's a similar problem you have with converting hotels to Apartments any other, maybe any other ideas of what you could convert them into any opportunity. Whoever figures that one out. Rebrand The only thing I can think of is data centers. Oh, fill them up for computers.

Yeah, but you put those having the new Miner I mean you know data centers I think not just for mining. They're fairly big now. fill them up with computers. I Can't think of nothing else but maybe data centers where you bump up the electric on them, get some more power going to them, do the electric company and have fill them up with goddamn computers.

Intelligence may require it. Yeah, Oh yeah, but do that in the desert where power's cheap and I mean build a cheap that I Don't know Why take an office building in the middle of a city where electricity is more expensive? Potentially it's interesting I don't know. Yeah, no, it's somebody you've got to run those data centers. You know there was a whole piece in New York about how uh, I think all the way down, not fifth.

but I think third, they've got office on the east side. The buildings are from the 60s and they have Windows on the outside, but so much of the square footage is away from the windows on the inside of the property. And for homes, everybody wants windows and so 80 of the square footage is almost useless because it's just interior dark space. That was good for fluorescent lighting and cubicles, but you can't even make homes out of them if you wanted to anymore.

Go ahead. yeah. uh. I Kind of just thought of Weworks business model, but we learned that that's not a good business model.

What? Uh, you know we work. That's about the New York is making a comeback. Oh no. I think in some places.

Listen, it's all about location. Yeah, you know if you have a place where you have a lot of entrepreneurs type people, uh, and people that have small businesses or startups or whatever and they just want a little space to work at and you know it depends. It depends if it's down here in Saint Pete in that type of neighborhood, it might work, but it ain't going to work. You know, in some other areas it depends on it's all about location.

You know? one more far-fetched idea is that you could somehow what you could somehow have low input costs in order to revamp it so that homeless people could live there and then you could try to get subsidies from the government. But I mean that's a far stretch that's major. Yeah, the problem with getting involved with stuff like that is it has a lot of social aspects. Can't just say here is a decent place to live and say, get off the street, Go Live here.

It's not that simple. These people have all kinds of mental issues. They have, uh, all kinds of concerns and hygiene. And it's a whole big bowl of wax trying to deal.

That's more you know of a medical thing dealing with homeless people too. Um, but what I was thinking was, um, how about you know how big shopping malls are now People they don't like them, they're dead. In fact, my son called me up the other day didn't want to hear Countryside it is for sale I said hell no but imagine if you took an office building and every floor, you don't have to walk around the whole goddamn wall. Every floor was a store you could have Macy's you could have this store and then like the old days in New York they took the elevator up to every goddamn floor.

It's like Macy's and when I was a kid there was a guy that sat in the elevator in New York and he said okay, third floor drapery Linens towels, underwear. he would tell you hey, you get up the elevator and shop for that stuff you know, but imagine if you had different stores and every floor. um I don't know, but it's definitely something that you know. Yeah, it's definitely a problem right now.

Yeah, go ahead anybody else. Uh, after that good, good, good. all right. McKay Go ahead.

so I'm not 100 sure how filled in you are on on Kevin's new startup househack. but what advice would you have or what are some ideas you have in terms of scaling a real estate business as large as Kevin wants to scale his inter with single family to give you an idea briefly of what we're looking to do is when the market bottoms out by 50 to 100 Homes at a time. bundle them together, securitize them read: Stellar Statutory Trust you syndicates whatever, and do with the cycle over and over again, take fix or stabilize them, and do it over and over again. Everything with me depends on Castro Cash flow or value? Yeah, yeah, it's only to buy if you're buying something at the right price and you're really sure by doing your homework in the market, or if you're really sure you know which way the Market's going, it's all about are you going to make money on this asset? There's no sense in buying something that's not going to make money if you're going to break even every month.

What's the point? You're owning real estate for what reason? Unless you're really sure things are appreciating. Well, unfortunately, right now things are depreciating. So you got to go in there and look. I think there's a lot of Home Builders out there that build homes I Haven't done my homework yet.

but I would imagine because these guys plan these home developments years ago. many years ago. In some cases when things were booming, prices interest rates were low and everything was great. Now they're stuck now.

they got all these houses and they already got all this money invested in plans and land and zoning and and on and then tied to building. They have to build them all right? So I think there could be a lot of opportunity where people that had plans of doing things and now the plan has to change and they may be taking a big discount so it's all in the buy. All right. Did the numbers work? Are you going to cash flow by buying it? or are you going to make some money? If you hold it, fix it up a little and flip it.

It's all numbers, all numbers. Yeah. What do you? What do you say to people who say uh oh, You can buy real estate remotely. You don't have to be there in person with the agents and see Properties or managing them.

What's what's your take on that I think that's risky I agree I Think that's risky to buy anything without if you're buying a physical asset no matter what it is I want to touch it and feel it all right. The agent is not going to be responsible Once you close the deal, he's going to be off on his trip to Hawaii with the commission. All right. You're the one stuck with the problems.

You got to do your homework. You got to touch the acid, you got to kick the tires like a car and know what the hell you're buying and be ready to deal with it. Yeah. Ben Anything else you want to add? No, get the hell out.

Yeah. Shout yourself out I Mean you know, go to Ben Miller on YouTube it would have been mail.com consult with Ben Get me on the phone and you can get advice on your next real estate deal. Awesome! Do you have any events coming up? Any events? No. right now actually I'm so busy.

Honestly, this is the busiest time of the year. You know what made me start the whole event thing? It was because my hotels were empty. Right? because the covid I said well hey people kept saying they want to meet me. Well, fine, come stay in my hotel and I'll come meet you and I'll talk to you whatever you want to do.

but we are starting to do some private Consulting in person I think uh but it could fly down. stay in a hotel or have a private meeting with them. but we're probably going to start doing some events when the slow season comes into hotels which I believe is May let's go drinking. let's go.

You drive always Ben Thanks man!.