Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the first episode of it's Personal an entrepreneur podcast. A lot of people like to throw around the phrase it's business, it's not personal, but to any entrepreneur out there, whether you're just starting out or already successful, we'll tell you that is, in fact, very personal. Every entrepreneur has a personal story of failures and successes, a story of personal sacrifice, a personal belief system and a personal definition of success, both in business and in life. This podcast will interview and dive into the mind of entrepreneurs and what makes business personal to them. Entrepreneurship can at times be lonely and tough. We want this to be a place where we get into the nitty gritty stories of entrepreneurs and provide relatable motivation to every entrepreneur that is out there fighting the good fight each and every day.

Speaker 2: 1:00

Yep, and as real estate professionals, we're gonna also spend some time talking about the real estate market, our multiple real estate businesses and asking our guests from various backgrounds, in conclusion, how they currently feel about the real estate market and the business that we have going on, so we can kind of relate these various backgrounds back to real estate and what their view is to get a well-rounded idea of how people are feeling about the real estate market right now. So let's get right into it. We got our host, me, kurt Fadden. We got Mike McCabe, aka Crazy Mike which I'm sure by the end of this podcast you'll be fully aware of why we call him that and Andrew McKelvie.

Speaker 2: 1:43

So I think today we just really wanna start by doing a couple of things getting to know the hosts.

Speaker 2: 1:48

Number one talk a little bit about our business and what we have going on, the multiple businesses we have and, as they relate to real estate, talk a little bit about the current state of real estate right now, which is a hot topic because there's a lot of things changing in the real estate market, a lot of things shaking up, and it takes the strong to survive in real estate right now. And then we'll close by announcing our first guest for our episode two and we'll close out that way so you guys can be hanging on to hear who we're gonna interview next time around. So I think a good place to start is letting everyone talk a little bit about their background and how we got to where we are now, as well as your individual personal connection to entrepreneurship and this podcast and why we started it. So I think, mike, why don't you kick it off just a little bit about your background and how you ended up where you're at and why you wanted to start this podcast?

Speaker 1: 2:41

Well, I came here through the Witness Protection Program, as everybody knows. Just don't tell everybody I don't know. Entrepreneurial spirit is really. It took me at a very young age. I knew right away that the most powerful mechanism that this country has to offer is capitalism and the root of that is entrepreneurialism. So whether it was selling candy in junior high to make money, just so I could buy chocolate, shakes and pizza instead of bringing that back lunch my mom would make for me, it was always a magic to me, and to see your efforts pay rewards, it just took root and I love what we do and what we're doing and look forward to more of it.

Speaker 2: 3:30

So obviously me and Andrew are pretty aware that you have like a pretty diverse work background, right, but for those people that don't, I think you kind of have an interesting story and some pretty cool jobs that you've had. Why don't you go through like a little bit about that, just like some of what led you to where you are now and some of those varying, different jobs you had? And obviously you've had a little bit more history than me and Andrew.

Speaker 1: 3:54

What are you trying to say? I'm always.

Speaker 2: 3:55

Well, a little bit, yeah, yeah. I think that that's a fair statement.

Speaker 3: 3:59

We did. Age comes wisdom, that's right.

Speaker 2: 4:01

Yeah, we did think about naming this podcast. Two dudes and an old guy.

Speaker 1: 4:04

That's right, that's true. Thankfully I won out. And just for the record, the Witness Protection Program was a joke, just for all the people out there who aren't humor related. Boy, my work history goes back to shoveling snow, cutting grass, working at an ice cream stand. In high school, majority of my career was in retail, sales and management, as well as advertising business to business. So I've had a flavor of business to business as well as direct to consumer, and Both of them have their strengths and benefits and they both teach you a variable degree of lessons.

Speaker 1: 4:52

Yeah, ultimately all sales people, in my view, are Service-oriented. You are there to facilitate a process and provide a feature and a benefit to the end user of your product, whether that's advertising or home furnishings, whatever that might be. You know, restaurant or your server is there to facilitate that process and To identify the needs of your clientele Should be, in my view, the the basis for any sales process. If you don't know what your customer is looking for, how can you begin to provide that product good of service in relation to that? So I've done everything from retail. I built my own small subdivision, I Was a carpenter, I've had a wide array of professions, but in a weird way.

Speaker 2: 5:47

Honestly, like a lot of it, even though unrelated, even like furniture sales, building, the development stick framing, all those different things you've done. In a weird way they kind of all relate back to what we're doing, because that sales, that marketing, that construction background, it all kind of well rounds you for what we're doing now, to a degree, I think.

Speaker 1: 6:05

I, you know, from the structure of a building to the interior design, really does play to what we're doing creating that picture, that vision for the, the end user of the product, or the investor who's looking to buy a flip property, to provide ideas, whether it's, you know, creating a new structure of the interior of a building, or the cosmetics of paint and like fixtures, things like that. It all late plays into what we do.

Speaker 2: 6:34

So, yeah, and what we'll get it. I will get into in a little bit like what each of us kind of do in our business, and I think people will understand then what we mean. But, andrew, why don't you tell everyone a little bit about your background and you know how you ended up here?

Speaker 3: 6:50

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Guys Super excited about this podcast, excited to continue growing with the three of us and Broadening our horizon and then putting new things on our plate. You know, I know personal connections and meeting people in the community is important to us. So I think putting something out there like this, you know, doing something a little uncomfortable, is going to be something that that that grows us in great ways. So For me, you know, kind of like Mike said, you know it goes all the way back to elementary school, middle school, high school Just figuring out a ways to get a few bucks so I could find something at the gas station on the way home.

Speaker 3: 7:27

You know, in the at lunch period at school, you know I always wanted to go to the C store and get a couple of those fresh baked cookies and so I needed a couple dollars. You know my mom wasn't gonna give me three bucks every day. That adds up at the end of the week. So you know I had to figure it out between first and second period how I was gonna get my cookies that day, you know. And then leading into actually getting jobs, you know, in the restaurants, you know, living here in Panama City Beach. Obviously we're very tourism driven, working in the hospitality industry, the service industry, bus and table serving tables, bar tendon.

Speaker 2: 8:01

I think people are greatly under value how well like service industry plays to real estate or just really like anything customer facing. Yeah like sales customer service, how you show up even no matter like what, what state you're in that day. If you really want to do well in the restaurant business, you have to show up well and absolutely, and I agree with that.

Speaker 3: 8:20

And you know, even After I got my real estate license after college, after working a three-year corporate job traveling the country with the computer software company and car dealers, when I dove in a real estate full-time, I went back to a restaurant.

Speaker 2: 8:34

I was a full-time bartender at night, selling real estate during the day and in fact, a story that most people might not know in that regard is that when Andrew left his corporate job and and was selling real estate first got his license, he was bartending at Firefly, I believe it was, and I was still traveling for work. So when I would come back on Thursdays and Fridays and my wife would still be traveling for work and not in town, I would go sit at the bar there and eat and have drinks, and that's how we got to talking and, honestly, ultimately, how we ended up being partners. Right like I saw him selling real estate, working at the bar, hustling, I was wanting to leave my job and go into doing real estate and that's that's honestly kind of how we connected. Was sitting at a bar, why you were, you know, yeah absolutely, man.

Speaker 3: 9:15

We, you know, connect through conversations. You know, no matter where you're at, no matter if you're just at the grocery store trying to get your fruit and your Gallon of milk for the week, you know, you never know who you're gonna catch in the in the line checking out and what conversations You're gonna have. So, yeah, I mean that that that really drove our relationship from from me working behind the bar and you sitting on the other side of the bar, just just small talk. One week led to the next week and you know, ultimately, yeah, here we are Owned in an office and running some awesome businesses and trying to continue growing ourselves.

Speaker 3: 9:47

So, you know, I just think, no matter what part of the business you're at, everybody's got an important part, and I learned that you know bus and tables. You can't run a restaurant without your bussier. You know a lot of the people put the bussier in the dish man, you know, at the bottom of the totem pole and it's like, well, without that dishwasher you don't have dishes. And I bet you, if you run out of dishes at 730 on a Friday night, you're gonna wish you had that dishwasher. And so you got to understand that in business that, no matter what your role is, you are important, you are valued, and you got to do it to the best of your ability because everybody else's Success relies on that.

Speaker 1: 10:24

So I think you just hit on a great point. It's all about relationships. The root of any relationship is being relatable. Yeah, so as serve people or salespeople, we have to be relatable. The easiest way to create a bridge or a connection with somebody is to have something in common. So find what's relatable and you build a relationship.

Speaker 2: 10:46

What is that old amway sales tactic you always talk about, mike, it's, it's, it's.

Speaker 1: 10:52

We use it on every point, but we go to well, it's a basis of a lot of my sales strategy is it's F-O-R-M means family occupation, recreation message. So the most important thing in the majority of people's lives obviously is their family. But in business we talk about people's jobs, or then you transition into the personal lives by talking about maybe a sports event or their hobbies, what they did over the weekend, what they did last night for Halloween or whatever it might be. If you can talk about family occupation and recreation, obviously the most dear is family. You'll let your client or your prospect will then turn and open up to you and allow you to deliver your message. So F-O-R-M form family occupation, recreation message.

Speaker 2: 11:51

Yeah, absolutely, and you do it seamlessly. If I didn't know you were doing it, you almost can't even tell that you do that conversational.

Speaker 1: 11:59

Like you just said, it's not even a strategy anymore. It's become like second nature it has to.

Speaker 2: 12:04

It has to be kind of like your inclination to it.

Speaker 1: 12:06

I'm not going to say how old I was, but I implemented that strategy probably 30 years ago.

Speaker 3: 12:14

Yeah well, that's a challenge Longer than your boys have been born, if that gives you any idea on the age.

Speaker 2: 12:22

Like I said, lots of wisdom. So yeah, and then get so for me to introduce myself a little bit. I have a little bit of a different background, transparently, you know, but it really drove me to where I am now. And my grandfather and my dad, you know I was very blessed to grow up in a pretty good situation and they owned a technology company together and with that, you know, I still remember walking home or to my dad's office. It was very close to my middle school and they had kind of semi retired and sold the company, but my grandpa would be in his office, you know, tracking stocks and doing all kinds of things in that regard, and he would sit me down and explain to me what he was doing and ask me questions that I, you know, obviously had no value to me then, but over time I realized although I felt like a little bit different in my upbringing, was like a little bit different and boring to a degree in those regards that him and my dad were having conversations with me and teaching me things that would serve me well when I became a lot older. So you know, in that environment I really got an entrepreneurial bug and my, my grandpa and dad would always say they're so you're entrepreneurs, and they kind of taught me what that meant over time and included me in some things that they were doing.

Speaker 2: 13:40

And you know, my grandpa came from very humble beginnings eight siblings, a military dad Not a lot, you know, not really even a pot to piss in growing up. And he the story that most people don't know is that you know he he double mortgaged his house, he leveraged his family, he lived very stressed, he bought out his partners in that business and he believed and pushed forward. And that's how he became, you know, well off like he is now and provided, you know, that, opportunity for me and a lot of my siblings and my family to have a better life. But you know they really taught me to take risk and to bring other people along with you, and you know I have similar to you guys. We all have a sales background, a real estate background, and we've converged that into our business that we talked about. But you know I'll be forever grateful for them, for taking the time to sit me down and kind of, you know, send me on that path to degree. So that's enough about us, though.

Speaker 2: 14:40

I mean let's let's talk a little bit, a little bit about our current business and what we're working on and what we do. So we do a couple things, obviously. Andrew and I are licensed realtors and we've been partners in real estate for a long time and we started a house flipping business or like a boutique development group and we now have a general contractor in house and are starting to do some spec houses and builds. But really what it stems from is us rehabbing properties together and we've built a business around that. And you know me and Andrew, we were buying properties from a wholesale company to find, you know, good deals with Solid ROI. They're not easy to find.

Speaker 2: 15:19

And that's how we met Mike. He was working for another wholesale company. One thing led to the other and he decided that company wasn't the right fit for him anymore. And we had lunch and decided, hey, we should start wholesaling, cut out the middleman for our business and brought him on board to run our wholesale division. And that's really the gist of kind of what we have going on here. We're like a full service real estate company we invest, we hold, we wholesale, we retail, we develop and we have big plans for the future too. But I would just love to hear kind of. You know, we've kind of segmented this business out to a degree and let Mike talk a little bit about what he does and what the wholesaling business is all about, what that business is called, what our core beliefs are, that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 16:03

The business called property partners or 850 property partners. Really, at the core of what we do is helping all parties involved, whether that's a property owner or an investor. We handle difficult properties and difficult circumstances, whether it be someone struggling with health issues, trying to liquidate assets to have care or even end of life care To a divorced couple that can't necessarily communicate very well you know, who want to get through a process a little simpler.

Speaker 1: 16:37

or that rat infested, moldy, tear down property that is on the schedule to be bulldozed and then helping the property owner overcome those leans and those issues with the municipality and those struggles. But I work with investors finding properties for them to rehab, as well as finding properties for our sister company to rehab, and that's how I met these fun gentlemen right here.

Speaker 2: 17:05

Yeah, so, and we'll touch on a little bit toward the end too, but real quick. You know, it's no secret that in the retail real estate world there's a little bit of like distaste, I guess you would say, for wholesaling. You know, what do you think that we do differently to combat that? And if there was one thing that you wanted retail real estate agents who don't know a lot about wholesaling to understand about us and what we do, what would that message be?

Speaker 1: 17:31

Well, I mean initially. I just say wholesaling is is preliminary of every product sale process. Whether you're buying a can of hunts spaghetti sauce in your grocery store or a car on a used car lot, every product starts with a manufacturer, or at least most products start with a manufacturer. They go to a middleman, which is the retailer, and then to the end user. So we find real estate that will call wholesale. Typically those properties need significant amount of work, whether it's a new roof, might have a cracked slab or foundation. You could have a hoarder involved, but typically the properties need a significant amount of repairs. So those properties you can't usually get a mortgage on, some you can, depending on the condition. So we find these products, these properties that are in disrepair and we try to find a company like yourselves that will go in, rehab the property and bring it back to its former glory or new glory and put it on the market for a new family to either own it or an investor to rent that property out.

Speaker 2: 18:44

In a way, I feel like we kind of help move the process forward because we're really helping someone in a distress situation who may be indecisive and doesn't know how to go through that traditional listing process and has a very an anomaly of a property with a lot going on and we help move it to an investor, someone like ourselves or possibly a partner who is going to rehab it and make a better situation for the community and someone to live in. So I feel like we kind of push that process of enhancing the community for it a little Prime example is the first transaction we did together before becoming business partners.

Speaker 1: 19:18

It really changed the tone of the whole neighborhood from a property that was in plight condition to really the shining star of that block, the nicest, newest, freshest looking property in that whole area neighborhood. I would say it really changed the whole tone and the neighbors were so thankful it increased the value of all the area in real estate and property. Yeah, I agree. So, it makes a dramatic impact and it's a little different. A lot of these properties wouldn't be listed through traditional. They can't go retail, yeah, they can't go retail in traditional.

Speaker 3: 19:55

That's kind of where I think that the miscommunication is between license realtors and wholesaling is. It's not necessarily that the wholesaler, in my eyes, is doing anything immoral or wrong or unethical. It's just that your traditional real estate agent doesn't know how to deal with this process.

Speaker 2: 20:14

Well, and I think it goes back to this to a degree too. On the point, I think you're hitting on a good point. There is any profession can be done unethically, right? Yeah, I mean, the truth of the matter is, is every profession, whether you're an attorney, a doctor, a real estate agent, whatever you're doing, you can do it unethically, yeah?

Speaker 3: 20:33

it's about the individual.

Speaker 2: 20:33

We can do wholesaling transparently and explain the process to people and give them choices. I think that's a positive, not a negative.

Speaker 3: 20:40

I think that's a big thing about what we've got going on just inside of our four walls is is, mike, before we had this all happening with ourselves when you were still with your former employer, maybe it wasn't as transparent. Maybe sometimes the strategy to your point, you know, maybe the sales process and the way that they want to transfer that information to the seller maybe just wasn't all there. The right communication. And you know, I think that's a big thing that we're doing is we can go in with these clients and say you know, look, there's really three or four options. You know we can come in and look at it for ourselves and give you that number, you know, but obviously we're going to have to have our margin on the backside and we'll be transparent about what that looks like and what we feel needs to be done.

Speaker 3: 21:29

Or we can partner with somebody and wholesale the property and, you know, be transparent on how we get paid in that situation, how you know us dealing with the title and the closing documents and basically working through that process for you, how it pays at the end.

Speaker 3: 21:47

Or we can go retail. You know we have no issues listing it as a traditional retail transaction and we can walk you through that process and how that works. And you know, but and as we know, a lot of these properties they can't get loans, they can't get mortgages, banks aren't going to mess with them, fha and VA aren't going to do anything with them. So it really pinches those people. So to be able to give them that conversation and give them that knowledge and say, look, you can make the choice, it's on you. But we just want you to understand how all three of these options work and what that means for you as far as timeline and the bottom line of what you walk away with At the end of the day. For most situations they want to maximize what they can walk away from the situation with while also erasing that headache from their everyday life, and that's where form that acrimony comes in Again.

Speaker 3: 22:39

Before you start pitching these messages, figure out why they want to release the property. Are they unhealthy? They need to pay for medical bills, they've been in tax situations for the last several years and they can't pay back taxes. What is their motivation to release that? And then that helps them understand what route they want to go, and so I think that's a huge part of being able to give that message to them.

Speaker 1: 23:01

I can agree more Absolutely Well said.

Speaker 2: 23:03

Yeah, and I think that's a flavor that has been exciting with bringing Mike in, as he's kind of getting to change some of those things here that he maybe did or didn't appreciate about his former point. We're doing things a little bit differently which I think is which is, which is fun.

Speaker 1: 23:19

Which really at the root is the ability to offer solutions is what makes this organization Honorably.

Speaker 3: 23:26

Honorably, we can give you the solution, ethically and honorably and unique and no matter what route you choose, we're here to happy here and happy to help you with that.

Speaker 2: 23:37

And I think, something you know to any realtor that feels like wholesaling might be unethical or even like just doesn't really understand it, I would encourage them, you know, reach out to us wholesaler, ask questions, research it yourself and you'll find out that it's actually a tool that can help some people that you work with. And I truly believe that. I think there's certain people out there who are closed minded and they're going to be closed minded irregardless of what they look into and they believe what they believe, and and and to those people, I consider you a cold and timid soul because you're not going to, you're not going to develop and get skill sets that can help people further beyond that lane. That you know, you know, and I think that if you're interested and look into it and another thing, too, is something that makes us very powerful, I think, is we actually have a capital partner who can buy houses. We actually buy houses, and I'm going to say that again, we actually buy houses with cash.

Speaker 2: 24:33

We're not just advertising that we buy houses with cash to get a wholesale lead. We actually buy houses with cash, we renovate them, we invest, we have rental properties, and so you know, sometimes wholesaling is a better option because we have too many projects going on. But we are not false advertising. We affect by houses with cash and we have the capital backing to do so. So so, andrew, quickly, because we're running a little bit short on time here. But you know, talk a little bit about your segment like minute or less. Yeah, yeah, for sure so.

Speaker 3: 25:02

So Mike already hit on property partners. You know multiple avenues. Figure out where we want to go with those clients If they fall. On my side that's our sister company, enhanced Development Group. It's a little boutique development group that we've started here in Bay County area and I really had that side up because, you know, growing up my father was a general contractor. So I grew up in construction zones building houses with him and learning a lot of that trade from him throughout my childhood and I really enjoy that. I'm a real hands on person. I like to be in the job site, I like to work with those guys.

Speaker 3: 25:37

So for me yeah, and so for me, hey, you got to get the job done.

Speaker 3: 25:41

I mean a big part of this timeline, so, but for me, you know, I typically head up.

Speaker 3: 25:46

You know materials and subcontractors and you know some of the guys that we've got that we work with, that do you know small labor for us, and so my side of the business is to make sure that the product, the projects that we pick up from from different situations, make it from start to finish in a timely manner, so that we can't offer that product to an end.

Speaker 3: 26:06

You use it to enjoy a home and you know, again, ethically, you know, go in and do it right, clean it up, give them what they need to have a good structure to live in and not have to worry about it. You know, obviously around here, everybody from the Bay County area in the Panhandle knows what Hurricane Michael did to us back in 2018. So, taking care of those properties that still, to this day, are sitting around town and doing it the right way, so that you know you're not just putting lipstick on the pig, you're actually giving somebody a quality home to live in so that they can have a good life and keep doing what they need to do outside of their home.

Speaker 2: 26:40

And so a huge component of our business delivering like an end product and again going back to like the wholesaling thing. We're not just wholesaling, we're actually buying properties, rehabbing them and reselling them and delivering excellent finished products to end users. And then you know my role in the business. I'm kind of it's hard to describe exactly what I do, to a degree, I guess, but I day to day focus on the retail side of our business and listings and our buyer clients, but I also do all our finances. I head up our marketing and I kind of deal with like the big picture vision of what we have going on and integrating the parts between all of those things. And so I wear a lot of different hats, but I would say I also get pulled in from them where they need me to be and we all wear hats and flex between the sections of our business as needed. So I want to talk real quick about one question. It's going to be like 30 seconds or less each person.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Andrew, we'll start with you. Why entrepreneurship and not a W2 job? Because obviously listen, this is the truth that nobody really talks about is it's financially very stressful. At times it looks like we're doing a lot of stuff, but we get paid in arrears. There's a lot of risk, there's a lot of uncertainty. Sometimes we lose money, sometimes we make money. You've got a budget differently. That's just the truth of this game. So why this and not something more stable?

Speaker 3: 28:04

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, you know I mean going back to my background. I went to Troy University. I've got a bachelor's degree in international business and administration and straight out of college I took that corporate job Back in 2017, I went corporate and I worked, like I mentioned a few minutes ago, in a computer software company and car dealerships, and so I spent about two and a half almost three years of my life straight out of college traveling all over the country, went to 27 different states, put 65,000 miles on a car and took 57 flights on a Monday through Friday trip.

Speaker 3: 28:40

And it was fun. You know I enjoyed it. I made a lot of great connections, people I still talk to this day, but it was hard for me. You know I couldn't settle the way that I wanted to settle start a family, enjoy my life, have life outside of work. You know it felt like it never shut down, the emails never stopped coming and the expectation from the employer just continued to grow. You know it almost feels like for me in the corporate world or in the W2 world, you sometimes get punished for being a good employee.

Speaker 2: 29:09

Yeah, it's like that control of time factor.

Speaker 3: 29:11

Yeah, I mean, it's almost a punishment to be the good employee.

Speaker 2: 29:14

And it doesn't always mean like you're going to have more free time, but you can control when you have the free time to a degree. You have a say so over it which I think you know. Control time is huge.

Speaker 3: 29:23

It's like that freedom aspect Absolutely being able to start a family and you know I recently just got married and you know being able to have that freedom to you know, go do this, go do that, be it my son's. You know sporting events or school plays or whatever it may be. You know not having to feel guilty about that, not having to tell somebody that you know I'm sorry. I want to go to my son's football game tonight, yeah, and then them kind of making me feel bad for it.

Speaker 3: 29:48

So you know, for me the risk is always been there. You know, always worked commission jobs throughout high school and college. A lot of how I've always been paid through my life before that corporate job was based off of work ethic and if you don't work you don't get paid. Working on the beach out of your tourism. It's 100% commission. It's 12 hours a day, seven days a week for about seven and a half months every year and you work every day for seven and a half months and if you're not out there hustling and making relationships and talking to people each and every day, you're not getting a paycheck at the end of the week. So you know I did that for eight years. It put me through college, you know. It got me my degree and it was hard but it was well worth it for me because it taught me a lot and it makes me appreciate the value of money and freedom and internal peace and knowing what I'm doing. So for me, that's really the important part for me.

Speaker 2: 30:42

Yeah, that makes total sense to me. I agree that that control of time, the freedom to set your hours and even if that means you work seven days a week, being able to take that afternoon or that day off to do something with your family when it's important, matters to me too. What about you, mike?

Speaker 1: 30:59

I just believe entrepreneurship is the root of the American dream. That's really what propels this country and put this country on the map, is the spirit of the individual who takes all the risk, you know, and gets that reward, which can be multi-generational as far as setting the foundation for you know your namesake.

Speaker 2: 31:24

People don't talk about that a lot. The risk has a lot of reward, but a lot of times people don't talk about that downside either. And that's where you know you got to have a little bit of gumption to take the leap. I think there's a lot of upside, but there's a lot of downside too.

Speaker 1: 31:39

You look at the landscape of successful entrepreneurs, and typically they've had a multitude of failures. You know, I always tell the story of. You know, I'm going to have a chess player and I went to this chess group for two years and I lost every game except for one, and in business, all you need to do is win one time. You may have a lot of failures, so you only have to get it right.

Speaker 2: 32:03

once I was playing a chess master.

Speaker 1: 32:05

I should preface that I was playing a grand master, chess guru or whatever, and I was just a little peon and I remember the one game I beat him and that was with a three move night to King Fork and I took his bishop and he laid down his king games over. So I still remember. But that's really that excitement that I just felt about remembering. That is the success of entrepreneurship the trials, the struggles, the wins, the losses, all of it to make an impact on other lives. That's the benefit of business, is really helping other people and if you keep that as the focus of your business, you will be successful. You may not find the optimum level of success that you dreamed of, but you will find success, whether that's continue that operation or start another operation that'll reach its pinnacle. Helping others achieve their goals is the greatest form of love, in my view, is self-sacrifice to help others achieve their optimal success and you will be successful.

Speaker 2: 33:13

And it can be very financially rewarding if you can make those things meet up too. Yeah, I completely agree and for me, honestly, it was just kind of a combination of the two things. Out of school, I was in regional management and sales and at a pretty young age I had the opportunity to manage upwards of like 150 plus people and that was a great learning experience. But very quickly I became very disenfranchised with the politics of corporate America and growing up going back to what I was saying growing up around my grandpa and my dad and their ideology as entrepreneurs and how they ran their company, it was like so polar opposite. Everything was politicized. It wasn't about productivity or efficiency or a result. It was all about the rules and this way or that way.

Speaker 2: 33:59

And, to be transparent, I have a very strong person ality and I butted heads pretty hard. Now, in hindsight, 2020, I was part of the problem in that situation too. I don't think I addressed all those situations perfectly, but I just knew I wasn't going to fit into that mold and so, although it's a huge risk and at times not very financially rewarding, being an entrepreneur something a lot of people don't talk about. To Mike's point, more failures than wins most of the time and you just hope. Over time, the wins amount to more than what the failures resulted in and you learn along the way and you learn, you learn.

Speaker 2: 34:32

But I would rather be doing that stress to the max every day than having someone tell me to follow a rule, even if it wasn't what was best for a business, or moving forward or helping other people. That's just not a confine I wanted to work in. Now, listen, I think being a W2 employee has power and we all need employees to work within our companies and I think entrepreneurs are an important part of corporate America and what makes the world go round. I just knew that wasn't the role I wanted to lead and be partnered with people who wanted to lead and come up with kind of creating their own situation, and that's how I ended up there, real quick. We're going to close out here because we're coming to the end of the show here.

Speaker 2: 35:16

Let's talk about real estate right now. Real estate right now. I think the hottest topic we can talk about right now is probably consumer interest rates and mortgage rates. I know consumer interest rates are at like 5.25 to 5.5% right now. Inflation is at like 3.7% and we got mortgage rates that you know they fluctuate, but I think the latest thing I read was that they were at 7.1% and us being in the industry, talking to title agents and consumers. We know that most of the time it's coming across the closing table at 8%, 9%, not really 7% on things that are really closing.

Speaker 2: 35:51

Consumer goods are up you got groceries, electric household goods. You know they're projecting that with inflation up rates up, that consumer spending will continue to decrease. So, all that being said, all of the businesses we just talked about that we're in are affected by that. A lot more uncertainty in the mix. What's your kind of take? And we, you know we'll make this very bullet, point and quick. But what's your guys take on what all those things mean for us and where things are heading? If you could give any like one piece of advice to kind of like calm people right now in the midst of that, what would that be? This too shall pass.

Speaker 1: 36:26

You know, our country has a history of ups and downs in the real state market and businesses in general. But as this market finds its position moving forward, you need to find your individual position of what you need to achieve or have happened. Whether you need to sell or you need to buy, you still need a place to live. Yeah, and that doesn't change the fact of the interest rates or the economy in general. You need a roof over your head and some people need to sell, and it's not necessarily the optimal time to sell, but it's better to sell now than when this market hits the bottom.

Speaker 3: 37:04

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 37:06

And it's better to buy now than when you're homeless. You need a place to live.

Speaker 2: 37:11

And the other thing too, is it's better than renting. There's all options out there too, For buyers and even sellers marketing their properties. There's a two one buy down, which you can help three people. I saw three two, one that Elinder send me recently.

Speaker 3: 37:27

They'll buy down your rates three years and, like you said, this too shall pass. So if you're in that situation where it's a must go, you're relocating for work, you're military, whatever that is, it's a now kind of thing, it's not a oh. We have the flexibility to wait. There's options. Get with somebody knowledgeable and discuss with the lender, local realtor ourselves and figure out what the best option is, because every situation has a solution If you can find somebody to communicate with, enough to open up the doors to what those solutions might be, and if you're a seller and you have one of those 3% interest rates, try to figure out a way to Is it assumable?

Speaker 3: 38:06

Yeah, it's assumable.

Speaker 1: 38:07

Flip that whole loan to somebody else. Those are the creative strategies that every professional in the industry is looking for to find solutions for our buyers and sellers.

Speaker 2: 38:17

Yeah, and the truth is and I don't wanna get too far down this rabbit hole but the truth of the matter is this is you can go out and make a pretty significant offer off a list right now, and what we're finding on a regular basis is people will take it. You know, they're understanding that the market's down. Not only that, it's kind of holiday season right now. Election year.

Speaker 2: 38:39

Election year, interest rates are up If you go. I hate to use the term low ball, but if you go low ball right now, people are taking them and people are accepting crazy terms. So although interest rates might be high for the next several years, it's likely that they come down. You know two, three years from now, and when that happens you can always go refinance. But if you need to buy now, you can actually get a better purchase price on the home and you can counterbalance that even by paying a couple hundred dollars more a hundred dollars more and reducing the interest every month.

Speaker 3: 39:10

This part people don't understand what $50 extra a month over your minimum payment does over the course of a year alone. So tens of thousands of dollars by the time you finish.

Speaker 2: 39:19

So, all that being said, you know, consult a professional. I'm not gonna say it's a great time to buy, not gonna say it's a great time to sell, because I think that would be false, but it's not a terrible time either and there's solutions out there and if you consult with someone, you can figure it out. I think you can, and you can stomach it and calm down a little bit and realize where we're at.

Speaker 3: 39:39

So, listen.

Speaker 2: 39:40

I think we'll touch more on that on our next episode too and we'll get back to where real estate is at right now, which is how we'll end every show. For next show we're gonna have our in-house general contractor. It's actually Andrew's dad, Michael McKelvie, on the show and we're gonna be talking deep diving into contracting some of the builds he did over in the Cayman Islands in water, sound and watercolor back in the day and how he's kind of integrating himself back now that he's in the States, into what we're doing and what we have going on with him in-house and kind of get the contractors take on the real estate market right now and ask him some good questions. That might help some people out that have some general contracting questions as well.

Speaker 3: 40:23

Super excited to get him over here. Like you just mentioned, the Cayman Islands, we'll keep it brief and leave something out there for people to look forward to in the next episode. But my dad for the people who know, 30a he started out in watercolor phase one Back when watercolor was taken off. He started when water sound was just getting going and started back there in 2003. He went through the same housing crisis in 0708, 0909 that some people try to relate what we're in right now to. So he felt that he had his own contracting company and he was building custom luxury homes direct to the end user, working daily with that buyer, and that was really the first market that hit. As we know, back in 0809, the first market that crashed quick was vacation homes and luxury homes and those secondary properties for people, and so he felt that hard, and you know.

Speaker 2: 41:17

I think that's really pertinent to like what's going on right now and we can draw definitely some relations to kind of help prepare people.

Speaker 3: 41:23

based on that too, it ended up pushing him to the Cayman Islands, man, and you know he'll elaborate on that. But, dude, some of the houses that he built, man, they're spectacular, you know Infinity pools into the water in the Caribbean.

Speaker 2: 41:37

7,000 square foot houses, multi levels, multiple kitchens, and so we're super excited to have him back, super excited to get him back into Bay County and yeah, if you're in Bay County and you're looking for a builder to build a home, we have that now and he's, to this point, super experienced and he'll get into all that on that next show. But we have that in-house now, which?

Speaker 3: 41:59

is huge. Yeah, super excited and happy to hear him tell us some more about that next week, yep.

Speaker 2: 42:05

And OK, yeah, so that's the first episode of its personal and entrepreneurs podcast. If you're an entrepreneur in Bay County or surrounding areas and you're interested in being interviewed or being on our show, we would love to have you. We're interested in having as many varying opinions and people on the show as possible so we can get really a round of take from the community. Involve people in this. You know I personally relate back to the name of our podcast. It's personal. This is very personal to me. It's therapeutic for me to be able to talk these things out with two people I love as much as you guys and I'm really looking forward to having some guests on here. So me, kurt Fenn, andrew McKelvie, crazy Mike.

Speaker 1: 42:50

It's personal. It's personal. Thanks for tuning in.