Hello everyone and Welcome to another

episode of Selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

Greenville, South Carolina, I'm your host

as always Stan McCune realtor right here

in the Greenville area and you can find

all of my contact information in the

show notes if you need to reach out to

me for any of your real estate needs and

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with me today my second guest on the

show

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Channel please like the show leave a

comment all of those good things on

there today I am going to be

interviewing or really just having a

conversation with as I've already

alluded to a good friend of mine for

for several years now how woo

who is a good friend of mine I we

we met through real estate investing

years and years ago a former client of

mine and one of the most interesting

people that I know and I'm not just

I'm not just saying that like I think

that's truly

the case Hal has served in the military

he's run for political office

he is a Savvy real estate investor

and one of the most under the radar

interesting people that that you could

meet there's a gazillion Real Estate

Investors that I could talk about on

this show and and that I could talk to

on the show but one thing that is

completely different about how than

really any of the others that I've

that I've talked with over the years is

that he's not a slave to his Investments

he's not a slave to the real estate that

he owns you look at the other investors

that are out there

and they're typically all running around

trying to find this deal or that deal

trying to manage multiple projects Panic

panicking about where the market is

going all these things Hal always just

has a has a cool look on his face

just hanging out in in coffee

shops playing board games with friends

and you know spending time overseas

months at a time maybe breaking a leg

ou know doing doing this or that

well he'll have to tell you that story

maybe another time but

but in any event Hal just does it

differently and and he reminds me

of the the closest thing that I have

seen in in the real world to the spirit

of Tim ferriss's book the four hour work

week which I'm sure many of you myself

included many of you have been heavily

influenced by that book but not many

people actually know how to live out

that lifestyle

how has really demonstrated the

spirit of that book over the years and

that's been something that's that I've

always looked up to and and that I've

always been intrigued by and

interested in

and so for that reason and for many

others I'm really excited to have how on

the show so how welcome to selling

Greenville I really appreciate you

coming on

yeah thank you so much then I will

say that I appreciate that introduction

I consider myself to be somewhat

interesting but

I did not realize that I was that

impactful and I appreciate that I will

say that our friendship is has been

very very helpful for me in terms of

organizing and realizing my potential

over the past eight years that have been

in the upstate so thank you for that as

well and thank you for being a friend

and thank you for inviting me to all

your board game events at your lovely

house which I think you just sold right

like I did yeah I moved last

year and I feel like we're still

moving but the board game nights will

come back it's just a matter of of when

and where I'm in another basement home

but the the basement layout is a bit

different it's not we need to

reconfigure it so we've got a contractor

that we're we're working with that

on but the time will come but yes for

those of you that don't know me well on

the show I am a big board gamer just

like how I wasn't just making fun of how

we're both pretty nerdy comes to the

board games oh absolutely but yeah but

let's just jump right in

as far as you know again the thing that

I met you with and the thing that kind

of kick-started our friendship was real

estate investing

but I'm not even exactly sure that

we've ever talked about how you started

in it so I'm just interested for myself

but also I think the listeners would

would like to know as a starting point

how did you first get into real estate

investing yes

I think I need to talk a little bit

about my life and it would be short but

it'll be succinct so I was born in China

in 1985 under the Communists my dad was

a pro-democracy protester

1989 got blacklisted by the Communists

for participating in the pro-democratic

protest which most of you can google and

find out what happened in 1989 in China

my dad escaped in 1996 and I escaped

with my mom in 1997. I lived in

Nashville Tennessee for six years went

through middle school high school

one of the most tumultuous times of

my life trying to learn English as well

as trying to go through middle school

and high school

Middle School and High School are

probably some of the roughest years of

your life

graduated from high school with a

really good with a really good record

learned English as can be seen and

went to college at UNC Chapel Hill where

I majored in Biochemistry and got my

degree after four years in Biochemistry

and did two years of research in

curcumin long story short curcumin is

the ingredient of spices Indian spices

that's good for your joints because it

acts on the cox2 inhibitor still a huge

fan of biochemistry learn a lot of

Sciences but I will stop there in 2009

when I was working as a non-citizen in

United States University system well the

economic crash happened right and

that was the 2008-2009 Great

Recession was driven by the real estate

market and I was not a citizen at the

time so in order to gain citizenship I

joined the US Army to earn citizenship

not a lot of people probably know that

you can join the US military as a

non-citizen if you're here legally if

you have a language skill that's a

crucial and if you have more than a

graduate more than a bachelor's degree

so I joined the US military deployed to

a station out of Fort Hood Colleen Texas

with the first Cavalry division second

Brigade but Jack oh Blackjack

deployed to Iraq in 2011 came back in

2012 and got my citizenship so there's a

story there where I was deployed in Iraq

as a Chinese citizen in the U.S army

it's an incredible story that that's

those are all some of the things that

that you know make you in my mind one of

the most interesting people I know yeah

absolutely and I was doing route

clearance too so outside the wire

talking to Iraqi civilians through

translators of course but that's again

another story for another day 2013

was deployed to Afghanistan where I was

stationed out of Bagram Air Force Base

stationed out of the first aid

station the Battalion a station drove a

tiny little bungle truck which

definition of truck overseas versus

truck in America are very different

drove a little bungle truck to take the

patients and supplies back and forth

between within the Bagram Air Force Base

which is a huge City basically

came back in 2014 left the military

in 2014 after four years of active duty

service was still inactive so I figured

that I was going to try to be stationary

for the four years after that came to

the upstate because my dad by that time

had became a professor at Sherman

College in Boiling Springs

didn't think too much of the upstate

when I first came to the upstate about

eight years ago so and spent about a

year kind of just dawdling around trying

to figure out something well in 2015 my

dad actually found a better position and

a job down in Auburn University in

Auburn Alabama so he moved down there

with my mom and I was kind of stuck

right I was in a position where I've

lived in the American South my entire

life Nashville, Tennessee, Colleen, Texas

Boiling Springs, Chapel Hill, North

Carolina, and now my dad went down to

Auburn Alabama and I wasn't about to

complete my tour of the entire American

South by now don't go down don't go down

to Auburn my wife was from that area and

she's a big War Eagle person and no

don't don't do it no I don't recommend

it I decided that and also I kind

of had a midlife crisis when I turned 30

in 2015. and I decided that a lot of

things in my life and I'll be authentic

and vulnerable and honest a little bit

I was single I just got out of

military I was slightly directionless I

wanted to be a doctor at one point but

going back to school was difficult I

had a post 9 11 Bill and I'm

potentially still going back to school

but around 2015 what I did realize when

I was turning 30 was that I really

wanted to not be beholden to anybody

else's timeline except my own I wanted

my own timeline if I was going back to

school it wasn't going to be stressed

the hell out trying to get a job after I

graduate if I was going to start a

business for myself I wasn't going to do

anything and that's exactly where real

estate comes in and I also have to go

back a little bit I credit my parents of

course but my upbringing and the US

military for training me to become a

minimalist and a good Finance person

believe it or not the US Army

pays decently well like they pay me a

stipend between 24 000 to 30 000 as an

E4 so an enlisted Soldier but I was able

to eat out of the defects that they

cover Health Care they cover food they

cover Transportation all the things are

covered while you're in the Army so

basically all the money they pay you and

I was deployed twice

technically you can just save and

between 2010 and 2014 credit to the

fact that I wasn't gonna buy a whole

bunch of Furnitures just so that I have

to move those Furnitures literally

within the year I was deployed six

months after my basic training so

again the US military life is a life

of constant deployment and constantly

moving around so there was really no

point for me to buy a lot of stuff so I

lived a very minimalistic lifestyle took

all the cash invested in stocks which

again hindsight is 2020 like I could say

how smart I was investing in all these

great stocks between 2010 and 2014 but

truth be told

2017-2014 was a great time in the U.S

stock market you could look like a

Wonder Boy just throwing random money at

random companies but by the way I need

to offer the disclaimer that nothing

that either of us say on here composes

or comprises investment advice on on any

level what absolutely was there one

particular stock that that caveat being

said I am interested was there one

particular stock that that performed

really well during that period

actually every single one of them did

really really well and and I'll tell you

why I picked some of the stocks that I

did but which by the way I'm completely

out of the stock market right now that's

not something that I do well at the time

I was a U.S soldier with training but

you know you can train as much as you

want but you get plenty of free time I

played video games I played board games

I did all these things and I consumed a

lot of media so the companies I invested

in believe it or not was EA was

Activision Blizzard was Amazon I had an

Apple phone at the time never again I

have Android since then but I invested

in apple invested in Google basically

like just all the you know the Blue

Chips right like you would not think

like these kind of

Blue Chip major companies but hey like

if I was a consumer at the time between

2010 2014 I probably bought a little bit

of whatever company that I'm consuming

from their stock yeah and and if you

believe in the company why not yeah

exactly right if you are their customer

why don't you believe in what they do

so from 2014 to 2015 I still actually

held on to a lot of the stock but I

don't know if any of your listeners are

familiar with what happened in 2015 and

16 but there's always been tons of

naysayers about Elder stock has got to

come down we're due for another

recession right there's a recession of

2000 recession of 2008 2015 2016 was

around the time when people were getting

real jumpy they're like oh this is crazy

and so that was when my boss at the time

started buying up a bunch of gold and

silver like actual gold and silver that

he had in the safe in his office so oh

wow that's that's crazy

I didn't do that I don't believe in

gold and again by that point I have

actually already read a little bit of

Warren Buffett and I love listening to

Warren Buffett's interviews and things

like that right Warren Buffett is I mean

one of the most famous interview he ever

did was you give me a house of gold or

the equivalent of what that goat could

buy in terms of farm I will buy the farm

every single day because gold is just

gold it's just sitting there doing

nothing increasing in value because

people think it's increasing value

whereas if you buy Farmland it's always

producing it's always doing something

and it's always generating income and

so long story short in 2015 I was

getting kind of a little bit scared so I

started divesting from the real estate

from my stock portfolio and believe it

or not by the time I got out of the

military I my stock portfolio was

already over a hundred thousand dollars

in 2015 it got to about 150 000 so as I

was taking that money out I was looking

at what would make sense for me to get

passive income with only 150,000 not so

that I can live a good life but so that

I can live a minimalistic lifestyle well

and never have to be beholden to anybody

else be beholden to anybody else's

timeline except my own and so that's

when I kind of strike in when I was

looking around Boiling Springs

Spartanburg was kind of not really

investable around that time which

hindsight is also 2020 but I looked at

Greenville and Greenville was just

blooming and funny enough I was

actually first looking at Greenville

trying to buy some commercial real

estate downtown

and I'm not not gonna name names or

anything like that in 2015 there was an

office downtown that was selling for a

hundred thousand dollars I was like okay

this is something that I can do I looked

at it was rented for a thousand

dollars and it has 500 monthly HOA or

whatever the equivalent of commercial is

in terms of repair I was like this is

this doesn't make any sense this doesn't

make any sense

so I looked around more and I

realized that there were a lot of these

duplexes and triplexes out in the

western part of Greenville area and this

of course is back in 2015 where the

duplex is selling for anywhere between

50 40 000 to 50 000 the triplexes are

selling for slightly more like 75 to 100

000 the gore days The Glory Days the

good days which believe it or not at the

time when I was looking to purchase real

estate I have I was starting to make

friends and when I tell them that hey

like I'm buying real estate in

Greenville they're like why are you

buying Greenville we never seen the

price as high it is ever in Greenville

and it's got to go down right it's like

there's no way that Greenville prized

back in 2015 which apparently was like

10x from just 20 years ago or whatever

the number was people are looking at

these prices in Greenville they were

like what in the world is happening yeah

like people were telling me about the

time when they were paying a hundred

dollar rents like like people who are

alive who are like who are alive who was

telling me that they're paying 100 rent

in Greenville

and so they were like there's no way

there's no way that you're buying these

property that's rented for four hundred

dollars and you're expecting them to go

up in rent to like 600 and 800 and

things like that no way right how can

how can that be

I'm glad that I didn't listen to any

of those things

you need to compare your net worth to

those people now

again not again not to name names no

names will be named no no names it would

be named long story shorts I

took my money together and I was able to

buy one duplex in the sen Sushi area in

Greenville and then a Triplex down in

the Judson Mill Dunning Mill area and at

the time and both of them had done

fairly well for me

and they're good but

at the time they were rented out for

between 400 to 500 which I put some

X Sweat Equity into repairing some of

the stuff repairing renovating it and

doing things like that and they were

both able to increase up to between 600

to 700 within a year or two

and so once again it's just basically

it grows when I had those five units I

was able to bring in basically four

thousand dollars between three and

four thousand dollars gross which Nets

me about two thousand dollars a month

which honestly like I'm a minimalist I a

single minimalist living in South

Carolina two thousand dollars a month is

enough to just cover everything

and actually believe it or not even now

my monthly expenditure is probably

around a thousand dollars or so so even

back then I was still saving months

over months so since then I have

basically Diversified into it and that

kind of comes into where I met you so

back in 2017 I was generating cash

generating income and enough income have

been generated that was like okay time

to look Beyond just these five units and

buy more units and White Horse roads

Emerald Commons are you okay with me

talking about Emerald Commons yeah

that's fine

yeah so 2007 for those that don't know

this is a this is a community in the

west side of Greenville Berea area that

has about 100 condos in it and I

used to own some units in there I have

sold out of that community and and

how also you you still own in that

community

yes so I sold four of the six but I

still own two of them okay and and

funny enough so around that time I was

looking around I was trying to make the

numbers work right so for me believe it

or not cash flow has been I mean I

definitely enjoyed the fact that there

was a lot of equity upside to the

Investments that I made but for me

honestly year over year month over month

cash flow is kind of the bread and

butter of a lot of these things

so I was looking at the cash flow and

you know looking at Emerald Commons back

in 2015 it was nothing to look at it was

located in a pretty rough area of the

neighborhood

and I can talk about it now because

now actually so I actually stayed

out of there for a considerable period

of time it is considerably better now

because and I hope this is not too

revelatory but yeah there you can hear

gunshots in the neighborhood there were

incidences that people can find out if

they care to know about all those things

but back in 2015 I was looking at the

neighborhood but I've recognized that

there were so much more that could be

done

there's a lot of things that could be

done there's a lot of ways that we could

renovate and kind of help the

neighborhood become a better place and

believe it or not and I don't know how

many of you are listeners are

familiar with the Greenville area but at

the time in 2017 I was also working with

a non-profit in the area called Upstate

Warrior Solutions so I'm a veteran I'm

very passionate about veteran issues I'm

also a board member of Mental Health

America of Greenville County

so long story short I care about mental

health issues like about veterans and

one of the biggest challenges to

Veterans is housing and so when I

decided to look into the area my

original idea was something that came to

almost like a veterans village where

there's affordable housing for other

people right basically pay what you can

and come in and when you have enough of

a number of housings that are paying

normal rent then I don't need to make a

complete profit because again I'm I'm a

single man who's trying to just live a

minimal lifestyle right and so I

actually believe it or not two out of

the six units that I purchase out of

emerald Commons in 2017 have was since

then used to take care of veterans

again they still pay they pay whatever

out of pocket that they are they can't

afford but I've definitely taken care of

Veterans for a month two months three

months at a time when they're unable to

pay so the reason why and actually that

kind of kind of comes down to the reason

why I still have two out of the six

units in Emerald Commons the four that I

sold was the one that was rented out for

normal rent for between 2017 and 2022

when I when again thank you so much for

helping me sell that as a package yeah

absolutely

and that's and now the other two were

used to take care of veterans at the

time and they still are used to take

care of veterans right now and by the

way I just want to interject for a

second

because I think that this is a an

important point I didn't intend to to

discuss this but

one thing that I think is is

noteworthy here you know you hear in a

lot of people right now give capitalism

a bad rap right because it's not

it's only focused on wealth

generation and I don't know too many

people that are more capitalistic than

you how but but at the same time you

understand the the compassion and

charity side of it and there's a giving

back

aspect of it and I think that this is

where you know this is the part of

capitalism that a lot of people don't

see and and probably it's because a lot

there need to be a lot more people like

you in the market that are that are like

you know what I'm I'm getting a surplus

I need to to give back not just to help

my brand like some of these you know

Mega corporations contribute to charity

just for the sake of their brand but

this is actually something that you're

passionate about helping homeless vets

and and people that that are are

struggling to just afford housing

and yeah and I just think that's

noteworthy yeah thank you and so again

just slow and steady just buying

purchasing properties renting them out

generating a decent return again so

far the return despite the fact that I

have these

even with the charity and even with

everything the the rental market in

Greenville as you probably know are just

going up and up and up and between 2015

and

2022 and I get I still own real

estate right I still own rental

properties right now but just between

that

the the prices of these properties

that I was able to purchase and then

sell so by the way I've already sold my

duplex and Triplex

I probably sold them a little bit

early because they have since gained

a lot more Equity but here's the here's

the on whatever time in the market you

can never time the market and plus when

I sold those properties I didn't need to

consume the money because again I'm a

minimalist and so those money would put

right back into the market so since then

I have invested in more properties just

not in the hot Market that's Greenville

right now but I you know I'm very

bullish and I think this is maybe

something that people are people need to

be more aware of is that you mentioned

earlier capitalism right I think

capitalism is compassionate and

compassion also comes from an optimistic

side of things I think a lot of people

are fear especially now in America are

very fear-mongering about oh this is the

direction that the world is going or

this is direction that America is going

can I just be perfectly honest I would

not be in an American if I did not

realize how shitty the other parts of

the world are right so my very first

beginning in America and I can tell you

a little bit more about some of the

startup investing I've done I'm also an

angel investor but that's another part

and without another topic for another

day and for another day we'll have to do

a spin-off podcast on that

but I am bullish on America periods I I

have done everything I can in my power

to be an American to live in America and

to believe in the American economic

success and to be leave in the American

economic story and Greenville area has

proven me right and right and right

again and so I think the compassionate

side of me right why am I willing to

give to give all these support to

people well it comes from a place of

abundance right I not only am I abundant

right now but I have this optimism of

the abundance of the generation that's

going to come that's yet to come and I

am not in need of anything that I'm

lacking and so of course of course I

will be supporting more people of course

I will be giving back to the community

of course I will be giving more because

there there is no scarcity we're doing

fine like I I cannot over emphasize the

the fact that people are worried about

oh what the banks are doing right now

what about the economy and things like

that you know what we've gone through

these things we have gone through these

rigmar rolls multiple times before and

we came out better especially the

fact that every time that we had a.com

bubble in 2000 we had the economic

recession in 2008. guess what the people

who are optimistic the people who are

capitalists who believe that it will be

better in the future actually double

down they they just reinvested more they

kept putting their resources more into

this economy that we have here in the

United States well and I'm on record on

this podcast that you know towards the

second half of last year that I said

that as the the market was slowing down

that I was going to be a buyer and I'm

on record saying that and I have stayed

true to my word I made more Acquisitions

the past six months that I made in

several years and they they've all

turned out really really well because

you know you again before we started

recording you said you know about there

being some blood in the water that you

detected and and that's the thing is

that people hear all these headlines and

the headlines are misleading you know

they'll make it sound like oh we're back

in 2008

um and you know again I'm not

encouraging people to go crazy and spend

all their money on on real estate as if

there's nothing that could potentially

me and you are both extremely

conservative in terms of of what we

purchased

um but when it comes to the market

Sometimes the best times to pounce in my

experience are the times when there's

the most uncertainty because other

people are going to be holding back and

there's less competition oh yeah 100 and

and so yeah I'm actually and I

before we started I talked a little bit

about how to I am I've been very very

conservative so that's an understatement

I've been buying property selling

property using that money to buy more

property and so on and so forth and kind

of just like taking one money and buying

another but now I do need to

recognize the the burden that one that

there's tax implications that I've been

fortunately able to kind of offset but
more than that I need to start working

on leveraging more right

you know debt I hate to say that I

disagree with Dave Ramsey 100 but I

really I really wish more people would

understand that there are nuances in the

in terms of debt in terms of anything

that has to do with our economic system

right

I hope nobody just a hundred percent

believe that debt is bad or debt is good

or that Dave Ramsey is always right or

he's always wrong I wish that people

understand some of the nuances and I

will say that debt in certain

circumstances are probably terrible but

right now I'm trying to get as much debt

it's definitely a different reason

there's different kinds of debt you know

that's that's where some schools have

thought that are

anti-debt they don't recognize that not

all debt is equal it's just it's not the

same thing to take out a loan on a

mattress

as it is to take out a loan on a house

it's just not the same thing

yeah and honestly to be perfectly honest

the biggest debt holders that we have in

the world is obviously U.S federal

reserve right and and not only is the

U.S federal reserve taking out

well they're they're printing money to

their printing debt but having said that

they are um the debts that they are

holding are our banks right so there's

no institution that have more debt in

this world than all the banks that we

have here and so again just you know

you utilize the access to those

to those um to those resources that you

have which I'm I'm actively searching

right now so one of the things that um

that intrigues me and that I think will

Intrigue my listeners the most is you

talking about again in this in the vein

of the four hour work week

um obviously a big part of that is

keeping those personal expenses down to

you know it sounds like around a

thousand a month is what you have

managed to do which is very very minimal

so what

um

it from your perspective what kind of

sacrifices have you had to make I mean

do you it does it I know that you have

that minimalistic perspective so

sacrifice might not be the the right

word yeah to the average person like

what would what would you say or here

are here are the things that the average

American needs to do in order to reduce

their monthly expenses without you know

resorting on eating poorly and you

know having cars that don't work you

know things like that

yeah I think again just I I think that's

one of the things is in America so to be

perfectly honest I also have the fact

that I own my house outright right so I

have properties that I own so I'm living

out of it rent free there are

certainly taxes that need to be paid but

again the thing about these property

taxes is that you can use these property

taxes to offset your federal taxes so if

if if you don't by the way if you

don't have an LLC

it and if you don't have an LLC go out

get an LLC right talk to your account

and figure that out because that figure

that out it might be done that needs to

be done 100 because if you're not

expensing everything like business lunch

business dinner as much as you can again

like so I don't think so I will be

perfectly honest I'm not living I am

living a minimal lifestyle but I'm

living a very comfortable lifestyle

um I desire traveling but traveling is

going to other countries meeting with

friends who also have resources who

wants to invest and we basically go out

to coffee and why we're talking business

we're talking about investment

opportunities in Europe we're talking

about all these Investments going to

conferences going to events guess

what business expense business travel

again I cannot over emphasize the fact

that you need to do that

having said that I certainly still have

personal expenses right but those

personal expenses are spent

um you know just regular everyday

things like groceries

um which you shouldn't be spending too

much money on groceries also by the way

I'm a scientist by training

biochemist by training

um I am very very skeptical of Whole

Foods again great marketing right like

that you you can you can eat really well

whether you go shop at Whole Foods or

you go shop at Publix I I hesitate to

over emphasize this fact but just

because you're spending three thousand

dollars a month on groceries and I only

spend three hundred dollars on grocery

doesn't mean that I'm actually not

getting the nutrients that I need to

thrive and survive but that's obviously

another another conversation we're

talking about we're covering a lot of

things on here guys Whole Foods is bad

they're owned by Amazon no I'm just

kidding

um but again just yeah I I think I

think that's a that's a great

consideration

um you know obviously some people have

certain Health needs that that perhaps

it's hard for them to to fulfill at a

Publix or an Aldi or or you know

legal or Food Lion

um yeah but but but certainly

groceries are a big part of it yes and

having said that again the big the

big budget items right the cars the rent

the um the the the taxes the mortgages

all those things some of the some of the

expenses I can defray by having an LLC

some of the expenses I can defray by

basically just

doing doing doing my purchases

smarter and and more more reasonable

um and also like I just don't like to

buy I don't like to buy clothes

um you can I I hate to say it like this

so I have a very limited wardrobe and

limited color palettes I I probably am

I've been wearing my white shirts for a

long time I've been wearing my black

overcoat for it's I think I look good

but I think you look great yeah you

you you can spend probably like seventy

dollars a year updating your wardrobe

and have a really nice looking Woodrow

for that year I I don't know why

again I've I've seen people consume in

terms of their wardrobe option that I'm

just always just like wow like if

Americans would just cut out that

expense how much money could they save

but anyways that's another story for

for another day

no I I think those I think those are all

um

helpful thoughts you know it you know

when I see you you don't strike me as

like I don't think anyone would see you

and be like okay that's someone that's

living an extremely minimal lifestyle

like you do appear to be living the way

you want to like anytime want to go get

coffee or lunch like you're not just

like oh I can't afford that like I've

never once have I ever heard you say

anything like that

um and so I just want people to hear

that that you know this is it is

possible for some people sacrifices

would have to be made you you you know

they're not necessarily sacrifices to

you because you've been living this way

maybe even before you were in the

military it might be something that you

were doing for a while but at least

since the military

um and so it just comes a little bit

natural but I wanted to ask you with

regard to

um with regard to the the real estate

investing because I don't want to get

too off off track here

um

a lot of Real Estate Investors tend to

be extremely goal oriented you know you

hear people say I want to I want to flip

X number of houses per year or a very

common one I hear is I want to have this

many rental properties I heard someone

said that they wanted to add one rental

property per year you know for the next

however many years

um

as far as your perspective and maybe

this has changed

um but tell me what has been and what is

your perspective on that do you set

goals for Real Estate and try to hit

them or do you just kind of react more

to opportunities as they as they arise

so this is where again I have a specific

investment philosophy so real estate

investing is really only one part of my

investment but I will focus on that of

course

um because of how aggressive my other

Investments are real estate is probably

the most conservative portfolio of my

investment period and I'll I'll kind of

give you an example right I purchase

fifty thousand dollar duplexes and 75

000 triplexes and they were already

generating four thousand dollars in

between them not calculating for the

future growth of that rental in terms

of the cash generation so just to be

clear if you're if you're an

out-of-state listener right now and

you're just like oh my gosh Greenville

what are these opportunities it is very

hard to find those opportunities in 2023

I just want to make that very clear

yeah not in Greenville County but there

are still those opportunities out there

yes and I will give an example of last

year I actually purchased an

additional property in Gaffney South

Carolina

and so I I will just say this when I

look at opportunities right I actually

don't necessarily look at whether

they're big small like for example the

past three real estate that I have

purchased are about twenty five thousand

dollars a piece now like anybody I I

hate to say that anybody can do that but

like if you worked in any industry for

like a decade you can probably save that

amount of money

um twenty five thousand dollars is not a

lot the rent not too much the rent

started about 450 they're slowly

creeping up about 25

um every year every like whenever

renewal happens and things like that

but the key is to find the deal rights

and I hate to say that I have that I

have that privilege or I have that

ability to just wait right I I don't

care if you have a million dollar

property that's generating 200 000 or

something like that if it doesn't maybe

that is a good deal but if it doesn't

fit my number

then I don't care I don't know what

would be that number

so the rough number of that and I showed

you this obviously before and I'm going

to use my calculator trusty calculator

for a little minute is that I

I take the monthly gross rent because I

I always believe that gross is a good

number to work it's an easy number to

get from anybody just tell me how much

grows and I always assume that 50 of

that has to go towards some sort of

open rent or some sort of anything like

that but anyways so let's say that it's

generating six hundred dollars per month

divided that by point zero two

that's thirty thousand dollars so I'm

not spending more than thirty thousand

dollars to purchase a property that

gross monthly six hundred dollars per

month so so for those listings some of

you picked up on this right away some of

you maybe not but how is following

what's commonly known as the two percent

rule

that the purchase price is two percent

of the of the gross rents and that

that's that's an aggressive rule to to

hit but would you say that you just

ignore everything unless it unless it

hits that rule for you

I don't necessarily ignore everything

because there is that kind of potential

right for example in a market like

Greenville I have not seen the two

percent rule ever print out like if I'm

buying in Pickens County Spartanburg

County Anderson County and Gaffney

County which are all the counties along

I-85 by the way I'm also extremely

bullish on charlotta that's a term that

somebody else's court has coined I've

not heard that in a while but yes

Charlotte between Charlotte and Atlanta

anywhere along that I-85 Corridor I just

think that people are moving their

Industries are coming here there's

already infrastructure builds people are

just they're just coming like you can't

stop it they're just gonna come yeah and

so anywhere between that obviously

Greenville right now is a premium which

some I I think about Greenville as still

investable but right now I'm looking

more towards like Spartanburg I think

Spartanburg is interesting much much

more interesting now than ever before

Pickens County Anderson and obviously

Gaffney I I also think but long story

short and you're talking about counties

more so than than cities right you're

not saying Spartanburg city specifically

more more Spartanburg County more

Spartanburg County right

um anywhere within that within the I-85

Corridor sure

um and so long story short I I do that

two percent rule outside of Greenville I

have purchased properties in Greenville

that doesn't quite hit that but having

said that I almost will tell you that I

I I only buy it if I know that it's in

an area that the rent will almost match

the two percent within a year or two

after I purchase it right there's um

there is kind of a premium that people

do have to pay unfortunately now to live

in Greenville sure and um and so again

even if it's not the two percent rule

I'm I aim to make it to the two percent

before anything else so sometimes

there's a little bit of a projection

involved together sometimes sometimes if

if the deal if the location is

attractive enough like for example

Greenville

got it so

um so I teased earlier that you have a

four hour work week lifestyle

um and you know of course as as has has

already come out in this conversation

um a lot of that has to do with you're

able to live minimally you've you've

made smart real estate Investments and

as well as other Investments but but the

reality of like what Tim Ferriss writes

in the four hour work week

um like nobody actually does that right

like even even Tim Ferriss like he's

working way more than four hours like

that dude is working a ton like he's

produced television he has his own

podcast that he puts a ton of work into

I mean his podcast is a long-form

podcast sometimes his podcast goes for

more than well not more than four hours

but sometimes it approaches four hours

so nobody can say that Tim Tim

Ferriss actually you know follows his

own book but it's more of a of a

mindset at the end of a day right

um a mindset that

um your your free to work at your own

Pace on your own projects within your

own environment and able to potentially

break away from any of that any of that

work for extended periods of time if and

whenever you want to like that's the

that's really what I think that book was

about at the end of the day

so with that in mind what what does a

typical week look like for you just just

in general

well so I actually my I I wish I

could share my Google Calendar with you

so my Google Calendar is always very

packed and and to your point right I am

my own Administrative Assistant may be

in the future if I actually make it to a

point where my LLC is generating enough

Revenue I can hire a admin but right

now my Google calendars are always

filled I'm always in meetings I'm always

networking and I think there is

something to be said about

um doing a review process and I will

tell you I have a weekly review process

monthly and a yearly review process of

hey like here's the meetings that I did

in this day was these productive

meetings I mean and I'm I'm not just

saying productive as oh did they

generate me money right because I do

have to say that's kind of interesting

right now I think if you're chasing

money unfortunately you're just chasing

money and nothing else but I think if

you're chasing friendship or if you're

chasing growth like and I don't just

mean growth as an investment but like

shakes and gross as are you spending

time reading are you spending time

making yourself a better person in some

sort of way right are you learning new

things are you learning a new

language I I I will tell you I will

confess perfectly well that right now my

time is my own even though I fill it

with time because I just have so much

interest I'm learning German French I'm

hoping to travel I'm hoping to travel

and learning German French but more

importantly than that those language

skills probably could potentially result

in me making some very interesting

Business Connection down the line right

I'm not thinking about making business

connections when I do those things but

there are

but I I do think having a growth mindset

and having a not having an abundant

growth mindset is a very very important

quality that I think a lot of people

either unwilling or unable to get to

anywhere

um I I will just give you an example

right a lot of the investment that I do

right now whether it's through real

estate like for example even you right

we gotten to know each other because we

invested it together but we got into a

more friendship oriented place because

of the board game groups that we kind of

did with each other you obviously know a

lot of board gamers I know a lot as well

and when you invited me into your home

to play board game with you that's a

very important Act of social networking

and kind of social net worth I think a

lot of people are are potentially

missing out there's a lot of CDC data

and a lot of data that shows that

Americans are becoming more and more

lonely they're becoming unable they're

unable to say how many good friends they

have and I will say that

um because of the time that I was able

to procure back take back for myself I

was able to join you know board game

groups philosophy discussion groups

I'm able to do dance groups go on hiking

groups join a lot of Charity doing a lot

of um phenomenal things that really I

want to do and I I want to learn and I

want to do but believe it or not going

into those worlds having an authentic

open mindset allows me to kind of

connect with people in an authentic

connected way that actually brought

plenty of business opportunities or

business investment opportunities into

my life in addition to what I was

pursuing so I was going to ask you too

are you selective with who you network

or or like what

you know how do you how do you approach that

I think the most important thing that I

mentioned earlier is just open authentic

and being able to be vulnerable with

each other right share not just a good

time but also like being able like if

I'm friends with you if I hang out with

you for six months or so and we haven't

shared a deep conversation about you

know what are your struggles in life

what do you fear in life what are some

of the joys of your life that you have

been able to have like for example with

you Stan I love seeing you with your

family when when you invited me to your

church last year I think it was a

Christmas Thanksgiving or Christmas

Christmas yeah I got to see yeah I

got to see your wife I got to see your

kids I got to see their

um faces lit up when they're around you

like those are the human interactions a

very humanistic interactions that I crave

um so I wouldn't say that I'm selective

in the front end because I want to meet

as many people as possible know as many

people as possible but again that's

where my daily weekly monthly and yearly

review kind of comes into play which is

that hey like I will give anybody the

time of the day I will have connection

with them but if I'm nourishing

something and it's not being

reciprocated then you know it's not that

I'm gonna become not friends with you

it's just that that connection is

superficial and weak and it will just

kind of naturally Fall by the wayside so

do you have like a writing a rating

system for like for different contexts

I I don't necessarily have a rating

system I I hate I hate swipe right or

swipe let

no I I think for me it's

it's more of an intuitive

um heartfelt system right um I hate to

use Mary kundo as an example but I

really do want to utilize her right

because she lives she she does the

coloring decluttering and minimalist

lifestyle right and she doesn't kind of

say oh this is valuable so we keep this

piece of furniture that's not valuable

but she like just says hey bring that

thing to your heart and think does this

bring me joy right is this fulfilling to

me somehow is this

bring a certain sense of satisfaction in

my life and I and and believe it or not

I will say that just because you're only

bringing my me one percent satisfaction

doesn't necessarily mean that I'm gonna

cut you out for my life all that it just

means which I hate to say like this

because it is the the rub of things is

that if somebody else comes along brings

me two percent happiness unfortunately I

have to readjust the capitalism my time

I have to readjust my investment of my

time and effort sure differently

right so what is weekly and monthly and

an annual like what does that look like

there's reviews that you're doing like

is that just kind of like you taking

mental inventory or is there like a

big board or spreadsheets or anything

like that

no I don't necessarily I have a lot

of spreadsheets by the way I have a

spreadsheet on how much net worth that I

do want to have by a certain age I have

a spreadsheet of how many different

goals I have some goals I have a

spreadsheet of numbers of languages I

wish this to be fluent in over the over

my lifetime I have a list of bucket

list of items of places that I want to

travel to right and and I hate to say

that there is some nuances to what I do

so I don't have any anything necessarily

about oh you as a person as a friend

must provide x amount of value to me

before I do that my to be perfectly

honest my monthly weekly Daily Review is

as simple as kind of like meditate on

the the events of the day on the events

of the week on the events of the month

and where I felt most seen where I felt

most heard where I felt most valued

right because I honestly um Almost

Doesn't Mind how much I value you unless

I understand or I see like it's the old

adage people don't care how much you

people don't know how much you care

until they care how much no no no no

it's it's some variation I'm sorry

if I had chat GPT pulled up I would ask

it to to try to tell me that yeah

people don't care how much you know

until they know how much you care is

probably the best way to phrase that

thing

um and and I think that's the case which

is that you know for me it really is

about natural connection it really isn't

just about how much worth you're

bringing into my how much worth you are

it's how much worth I feel like I am to

you right because and this is gonna

sound so obnoxious I'm a pretty cool

person I'm a pretty smart person I'm a

pretty business savvy language Savvy

socially Savvy

um whatever things that drive you

whatever passion that drives you I'm

probably just as passionate about it as

you are or could be and so if you care

enough about me then we are gonna do

something fantastic together yeah you do

have a wide range of interests that's

that's for sure

you're an extremely curious person which

is one of the things that I've always

enjoyed about you oh a hundred percent

and and I hate to say like this but

if I'm doing well for myself it's

because I have invested in real estate

and in other companies again I'm not

going to go into detail with them I have

gone into businesses with my friends who

value my input who value what I bring to

the table who I was able to help them

get to a point where they're almost at

the point of exiting their companies

they're doing really well they're

generating million dollar revenues and

again I don't just go around talking

about it because I don't need to talk

about it because I'm not friends with

them because they're big businessmen I'm

friends with them because they're my

friend it is as simple as that and they

value my friendship so long story short

and I hate to put it bluntly like this

but if we're friends we're gonna do

something great together and if you

don't value what I bring to the table

then well sorry because then there's

just nothing I could do right yeah no I

appreciate that because that's that

abundance mindset you know kind of

brought to bear on on your relationships

and I think that's great oh 100 because

two you know I think too often it's easy

to assume when you meet someone or when

you're getting together with someone

okay

you know this this might completely

flame out but you have the different

mindset of of there might be and there

should be something awesome that comes

out of this what um so

I wanna I want to explore one other

aspect of just kind of your your weekly

routine and all of that

um and just I know that you've spent

what's the longest you've ever spent

since you've been a US citizen what's

the longest you've ever spent overseas

for like one chunk of time

I mean definitely when I was deployed

right so I was okay so so not not deploy

not deployed not deployed not the not

deployment

since I've become a US deploy U.S

citizen the longest chunk of time I've

been was in Europe last year for about

two and a half months two and a half

months okay two months and or three

and a half weeks so did you have to was

there anything that you had to automate

or any processes that you had to put in

place to kind of keep things humming

here in the US or where all those

processes already in place

well also that's the thing is um the

reason why it was only two and a half

months was kind of a process that

I've been slowly doing since 2020.

um and I'll just reveal like

something kind of deeply personal

because I believe in authenticity so my

mom passed away in 2020 of cancer in the

middle of the pandemic and that really

impacted me a lot in terms of my life in

terms of what I want to do with my life

and what I see my life going so since

2020 I have traveled to Mexico for a

month I have traveled to Thailand for a

month and a half almost a month not

quite a month and then I have traveled

to Europe for two and a half months so

all that within the span of two years

and the reason for that is precisely to

kind of push that boundary right I'm

also a scientist by training so I like

to kind of break things I I like to

put processes in place but then test

them vigorously so I have prop I have a

I have obviously properties I have

Investments I have projects that I have

invested in so the way I have done them

is I put them in the good hands I have

people that I trust that are doing them

here in United States and I tell them

hey be prepared I will be gone for a

month by the property manager for

instance property manager

um some a friend that I invested in

who's doing a flip so I can contact with

him he's paying me monthly

um income because I invested in the flip

as a note

and then also like companies that I

invested in who have board meetings who

I'm sitting on their board so basically

I'm still in touch like while I'm

traveling I'm still in touch with

everybody I basically call them if at

least once a week if not once a month

kind of get an update and I tell them

that you know when I'm overseas

obviously the time zone is a little bit

different and definitely I might not be

always accessible but always feel free

to contact me and call me or send me

emails and do anything like that

and so so far so and the reason why I

did it first only a month is to test

whether something goes wrong and sure

enough things go wrong or believe it or

not believe it or not property

managers I had to change

a few times

um

yes long story short the the the

Mexico and the Thailand tests came out

so there was a fragility test and I

replaced some of the pieces and then

when I went to

um Europe for two and a half months last

year that was another test of another

kind of like okay now I'm putting more

stress on this whole entire system is

that gonna be a problem and also I'm

always prepared that if shits hit the

fan I'm coming back early to deal with

unforeseen problems and things like that

but again so far

um there were little things that were

problematic and iffy and I'm also not a

hundred percent passive in terms of my

income generating Revenue screen

um but again I'm Gonna Keep traveling

I'm gonna keep pushing those fragilities

I'm Gonna Keep managing my portfolio

from overseas if possible

um the next travel that I'm due is

probably gonna be two and a half months

not longer later this year

where are you going do you know yet yes

I have a schedule

um there's also a snack because I

recently applied for a visa to go to

China and the Chinese Embassy have my

passport and that's a problem because

they're hard to get a hold of like

Chinese Embassy is literally one of the

most

dysfunctional plays I've ever seen in my

entire life but that's that's another

story for another day yeah getting a

Visa and having to ship your passport

is a terrifying thing I've had to do

that a few times and and I don't enjoy

it it's terrible

um but again I have a backup plan which

is that I'm just going to tell the US

government hey like the Chinese

government has my passport and I just

want to I want to claim I just want to

report it and get a new one because

otherwise I'm not going to be able to

travel having said that my friend and I

already have travel plans scheduled he's

um by the way he's a very interesting

character his name is Beck blando young

man graduate born and raised in

Greenville graduated Riverside High

School 2016

19 no no no

2017 2018. in case anyone's watching and

my wife just walked in and I don't know

what she wanted in case anyone's

wondering why I was just doing a weird I

wasn't saying wait for how to stop just

so you know how my wife just walked in

for no reason so I don't know I don't

know what was going on there my

friend Beck he's making a hundred and

fifty thousand dollars a year as a

digital Nomad working for a Silicon

Valley startup

um and I've known him since he was 17.

he's a smart young man with a non-profit

that he build called id2pi in Greenville

seven years ago oh interesting long

story short

he's a very interesting young man super

smart but he says he is making money the

stupid way and I'll tell you why he is

making money by having a W-2 and an

income of over 150 000 a year he is

paying up the Wazoo in terms of federal

income taxes

and he will never even though his

girlfriend is Dutch he has to be very

careful getting a EU citizenship or EU

Visa because then he has to pay EU taxes

in income and nobody wants to do that

yeah

um so that's that's long story short so

together we have planned a trip with

some of our friends who are also coming

along and by the way I'm a people person

I never traveled outside by myself

even when I was in the military I've

traveled with friends we shared the cost

and believe it or not it's also cheaper

to do it that way and fun I think it's

more fun to do it that way as well but

long story short we're going to be in

Malta where he already has a condom in

in for a week in maybe late May

early June and then after that we're

going to be flying to Berlin and spend a

week there and then we're gonna spend

two and a half weeks to three weeks in

Ireland we're flying in grabbing a

car renting a car and driving from

Dublin up to Belfast down Patrick

checking out boyne's Valley and Giants

Causeway and then take a a right to go

to Donegal County Donegal and Dingle and

then check out some of the western coast

of the

islands of Ireland

going to the Cliffs of mirror going

to Limerick and then go down to County

Cork and then probably finish and

Shannon or Dublin depends on where we

can fly out the cheapest

um so that's what we're gonna do and

then we'll have two weeks to be in the

Netherlands and we're gonna do

weekend trips so by the way he's working

right so this is more like a weekend

trip for him and then we're gonna

probably hit Poland and do some ski

trips and then probably hit Belgian and

then I am going down to Spain to go to

Madrid for a week by myself and then

the lady that I'm currently dating

um I don't know if she would accept

the fact that I think we're a girlfriend

boyfriend yet but I'll just say that the

girls we'll keep this away from her the

girl that I'm dating

um I told her of my travel plans and she

has accepted that she she has agreed

that I'm gonna be spending four days in

Valencia and four days in Sevilla and

the reason why I'm going to Spain is

also to study Spanish but that's another

story for another day and she is fluent

in Spanish and she's gonna join me

for eight days in southern Spain oh

that's great my original plan before

um before I started dating her about a

month and a half ago was to continue

my travels and go on to Japan and Korea

for about a month a piece but I think

I'm gonna come back to I'm gonna come

back to Greenville at the end of the

Sevilla trip and and take stock and

then maybe travel more later this year

I'm glad we were able to get you before

you started doing all this traveling

because it sounds like that's happening

pretty soon you said May you're gonna

you're gonna start if again the passport

thing will probably get resolved

Sometime Late May then I will start

to travel as soon as it's resolved

but potentially if if I have to

sacrifice I'll sacrifice Malta and

then start to travel maybe a week later

but again all of these are planned for

and I'm excited yeah very very excited

and we're also excited to hang out with

friends yeah yeah that sounds like a

blast well we're recording this end

of April but this show will probably air

more like mid-may is what I think or

early maybe mid-may

um so hopefully you're hopefully by the

time this airs your your passport was

will be resolved or at least close to

being being resolved

um how I I don't want to take any more

of your time

um and and this is already gone for a

while do you have is there any is there

anything you wanted to to say that you

didn't have a chance to say or any kind

of parting remarks that you'd like to

make

not too much but again I think what I

said when I was with you was very kind

of Illuminating for myself as well

because I never really kind of talk

about it in that way I think there's a

lot of knowledge in my head that I

wasn't able to talk about unless I'm

talking with other person so long story

short I think it at a certain point once

you have gone past survival you

really need to take a look Inward and

see what your purpose is and I really

think that your friendship your network

is your net worth fundamentally that's

how it is make

um I don't know I think it's my call

to action is that I am concerned about

the mental health obviously I'm very

concerned about mental health issues and

Veterans issues but I am very concerned

about the fact that Americans are not

making enough friends and that they

don't see those friends in their life

and I really and in real estate that's a

struggle too because I know a lot of

investors that are kind of loners you

know like that's yeah that's actually a

pretty common I feel like stereotype

among Real Estate Investors that they

they get so consumed in their work that

they become loners

yeah and that's honestly I think

they're there are a lot of things you

could do that could synergistically

support your real estate aspirations in

addition to all of your aspirations as a

human as a person of growth mindset as

somebody again

um and I'll just reveal a little bit my

friend Beck who said that he's making

money the stupid way well right now I

told him hey like you know what I think

I'm a very smart business person you're

making a lot of money let's figure out a

way that we can help each other right it

doesn't even matter that we're friends

it's just that I want to help you as a

friend and sure enough we do have a

joint LLC as of January of this year and

we're gonna be doing some leveraging

and it's exciting to look forward to the

kind of the the New Path right and I

think deep friendship is built like that

you know each other you understand each

other you trust each other and then you

get to a place where you can help each

other yeah that's fantastic

um

how is there if if someone would like to

reach out to you that doesn't already

have your information do you want to

give a way for them to reach out to you

or do you want them to just go through

me

they can go through you but I will

tell you that I go to a lot of events in

Greenville

um again yeah where can I find you what

what events can they find you at they

can find me at philosophy meetups

there's a thought provoker meetup on um

meetup.com right now that's honestly how

I first started to know all these groups

was going on meetup.com and just show up

to all the different groups right and I

think funny enough in Greenville the

the largest meetup groups are dating

meetups but that's another story for

another day it's usually that way yeah

but I think one of the things whether

whether they say it's for dating or not

that's what it's for that's what it's

for one of the things again I want to

over emphasize and over emphasize is you

have to develop the whole person if you

want money you can't just go after money

if you want companionship you can't just

go after companionship develop

everything develop a hill human learn

new things do new things understand New

Opportunities and do all the things

because if you just you never know what

you can get into right I did not realize

how much I love board games until I step

out of my comfort zone and start playing

board games by the way tantrum house

give a shout out to them they got me an

opportunity to travel to Gen Con last

year

um oh did they oh that's great oh yeah

yeah for those who don't know tantrum

house is a local local board game

marketing company

um they they do board game reviews

and hype hype videos and things like

that yes so again you can reach out

to the Stan I trust Stan to give out

my information but again just go out

there there's so many things people some

people have told me there's nothing to

do in Greenville and I just show them

websites that's crazy I've not gotten

that one yet but I guess if you're from

perhaps like New York City or San

Francisco you might feel that way yeah

but if you want to do things just go out

of there and do it and you might see me

at one of these events

well it was great having you on the show

I always thought provoking you always

come at things from a from a different

angle and that's what I've always

appreciated so I really appreciate you

coming on and and generously giving

of your time when there's not like an

immediate way that this will benefit you

um although you know I hope that

perhaps indirectly maybe there will be

some kind of connection that you'll be

able to make but but just doing this

meant a lot to me so thank you

absolutely thank you I appreciate this

and for those listening or watching

um my contact information is in the show

notes if you need to reach out to me for

anything or if you want to reach out to

how you can contact me I will put you in

touch with him

um please like this show on YouTube if

you're watching subscribe to my channel

go ahead and leave a rating leave a

review subscribe to the show and

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listing on and we will talk again next

time