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“I’m Selling Everything!” Why Ben Mallah Is Cashing Out Of Real Estate — Transcript

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0:00We've been delaying. We've been praying.
0:02Eventually, the music has to stop. The
0:04housing market is flashing red. We're at
0:07a standstill. You can't even sell it to
0:09break even. All these newer buildings
0:10right now. Homes for sale in the US
0:12surging to 500,000. Well, loan is due.
0:15What are we going to do? How are you
0:17finding good deals right now? I'm
0:18looking every day and I'm lowballing.
0:20Baby, how do you lowball them without
0:22offending the seller? There's no
0:24offending in business. I'll sell Jimmy
0:27Hart to get that house. You wake up in
0:29the morning, what the are you going to
0:31do? That's the question. You got to be a
0:33machine. Have you noticed any effects on
0:35the housing market from the tariffs?
0:37Tariffs? The tariffs? The tariffs.
0:39Tariffs is the most beautiful word to me
0:41in the dictionary. What do you think are
0:43the biggest opportunities right now?
0:45Speaking of timing, I mean, opportunity
0:47is always out there. You got to look for
0:48it and you got to be persistent. I love
0:51it. I just absolutely love it. If
0:53somebody was a genius, they could figure
0:54out do all these
1:00Ben Mala, thank you so much for coming
1:02on the iced coffee hour. That's all you
1:05got to say? I'm just thanking you for
1:06coming on the show. But remember, this
1:09podcast is sponsored by car poolool
1:12tables,
1:14baby. You better get one. Can you put
1:16one in your house? How much did this
1:17cost right here? They start at about 20
1:19grand and they go up to maybe 50
1:22depending on what you want. Ford Mustang
1:2565 Mustang. You can get the 69 Camaro.
1:28This was the copy of the Indianapolis
1:30500 pace car that Mario and Dreddy won
1:34and was personally here and blessed it.
1:37And we do the 59 Corvette and we do
1:40Shelby's. We have them signed by Shelby
1:42before he passed away. And we can make
1:44them any color you want on the felt. We
1:46can do any body paint you want. Could
1:48you do a Ford GT? Real bumper,
1:51but not real wheels. The reels are real,
1:54but they're shrunken down. Okay. But the
1:56fenders are I mean the grill's real, the
1:59bumper's real, the headlights are real,
2:00the emblems are real, and they're
2:02licensed by Ford and GM. So, what's your
2:06affiliation with them? With who? With
2:08with the these pool tables. I created
2:09it. You created it and another company.
2:11Creator. I did it because I wanted one
2:14in my house. Because the the long story,
2:17the short story, the long story is this.
2:18Everyone was about three years old. All
2:20right. I wanted to get him a car bed.
2:22Why? Cuz I always wanted a car bed when
2:24I was a kid. But no, I slept on the
2:26goddamn floor or in a bathtub. Can you
2:31imagine a little kid? I slept in a
2:34bathtub. Can you imagine growing up like
2:36that when I was a little kid? Nowhere to
2:38sleep. Sleep in a bathtub. All right.
2:41Yeah. It was a tiny little house. It was
2:43My father bought a
2:45little bungalow. You know what a summer
2:47bungalow is? Okay. and he bought it
2:51where and he made us live in it all year
2:53round. The shower was a hose hooked up
2:56in the backyard until he built us a real
2:59bathroom
3:00finally. And uh that's the way we lived.
3:03And uh poor white, but we
3:06weren't thing was he wasn't poor. He
3:08could have done better. He wasn't rich.
3:10He was, you know, a city worker. He made
3:11a salary, but he was the ultimate
3:14cheapkate. I told you about my father,
3:16didn't I? Well, it was the ultimate
3:18cheapkate. You know, he take two ply
3:20toilet paper, make two rolls out of it.
3:21So, would he save money then and invest
3:23that money or what would he do with all
3:25of his excess money? He did stash it
3:26away, you know, he put away like in, you
3:29know, bonds and like that or whatever.
3:31He did piss himself away in some
3:32investments, but the point is he had no
3:36quality of life. His mentality was he
3:39grew up in the depression and they want
3:40to hoard every penny they had and even
3:42if they had a few extra bucks, they
3:43weren't going to spend it and make their
3:45family happy. They rather live with the
3:47ketchup bottles upside down, putting
3:49water in it and shaking it up to get
3:51every drop of ketchup. Sounds like me.
3:54You do that, don't you? He likes you out
3:57of laziness cuz he's too lazy to go buy
3:58another. He just does it for the thrill
3:59of shaking the bottle. Whatever turns
4:02him on. And you know, so anyway, that
4:05was where we grew up. You've also been
4:07very vocal about having $500 million in
4:09assets. I'm curious because we've now
4:11talked for a couple of years and that
4:13number has stayed consistent through
4:15those couple of years. How is this
4:16process going? When you pay all of these
4:19taxes, how much is that affecting your
4:20net worth and your equity? I mean, a lot
4:22of your profits are going to be going
4:24towards tax unless you can 1031. Well,
4:27as you know, or you probably don't know,
4:30um, for the past few years, there hasn't
4:31been a lot of opportunity in real
4:33estate. And that's life. It's a market.
4:36It's a cycle, you know. So, what do you
4:38do? You just keep fine-tuning the stuff
4:40you got. You sell some stuff off, you
4:43know, and you do whatever you can do.
4:45But there hasn't been a lot of
4:47opportunity in the past few years. Why
4:49not? Because we're at a standstill. You
4:53know, everybody locked in a lot of low
4:55rates and um you know, prices went up,
4:58rents went up, and uh everything is just
5:01overpriced, and uh there's not a lot of
5:03action going on right now. I mean, you
5:05know, the institutions, they go out and
5:07they they buy their five cab. Who the
5:10can I say? Sure. Who the wants to own a
5:1450 or hundred million asset and and have
5:17all that responsibility and all that
5:19liability for a 5% return and then if
5:24you know and then if you leverage it, it
5:26used to be you make money on the bank.
5:29Okay? But now you're not making money on
5:31the bank. the banks, you you're losing
5:32money cuz it used to be you borrow money
5:34at 4%. Right? And if you had say a 6%
5:38return, then you're making money on the
5:40banks. You're making that two point
5:41spread. You got debt. So now you can't
5:44borrow money cheap. So you're not making
5:46money. I made a lot of money just using
5:48the bank's money. And now I can't do
5:50that cuz rates went up. So why aren't
5:52prices coming down faster? Well, because
5:54you know, we live in a world now where
5:56they keep finding new tricks and you
5:59know, they don't want the to hit the
6:00fan. Can you imagine if it was exposed
6:04to the market? I'm surprised these stock
6:06guys aren't smarter because, you know,
6:09if they really really looked into the
6:12bank is only worth what the loans are.
6:14Correct. Mhm. If the loans ain't worth
6:16what they loaned them
6:18on, you know what I mean? Then the bank
6:22ain't worth what it should be because
6:23the loans ain't worth what they should
6:25be. So what happens? The stock goes
6:27down. Just like when I lost that million
6:30bucks on that California bank with our
6:32preferred stock, the loans weren't worth
6:36they were only worth 50 cents and a
6:38dollar. Well, then the bank's only worth
6:4050 cents and a dollar and eventually if
6:43they hit such lows, then the bank just
6:45goes belly up. So, you think someone is
6:47going to forgive some? The price goes to
6:49zero. This remember you weren't around
6:52in 2008. I used to trade City Bank at a
6:55dollar. What happened?
6:57It's worth a lot of money, man. You
6:59would have made a fortune buying a
7:01dollar. It's life. It's a cycle and you
7:02just got to ride a roller coaster. Do
7:05you still predict though that when these
7:07loans come due, these people are going
7:09to have to sell their properties because
7:11they can't afford, they didn't price in
7:13paying 7% to borrow for these commercial
7:15properties? Do you still think this is
7:17happening? And it's just delayed out. I
7:18see it happening every day. Every day
7:21I'm seeing more and more. And there's a
7:23ton of on the market. But right now,
7:25we're at the point where they don't want
7:27to sell at a
7:30loss, okay? And they can't get their
7:32money back, okay? They can't even sell
7:35it at break even. All these newer
7:36buildings right now. They can't. And now
7:39they're going to have to eventually come
7:40to the point or the bank's going to have
7:42to come to the point say, "Okay, the
7:43loan is due. What are we going to do?
7:45We've been delaying and uh we've been
7:49praying and uh we've been doing all the
7:51you know we can't eventually the the the
7:53the music has to stop and this cat has
7:56to get out the bag and unless rates what
7:59they're basically praying is that rates
8:01are going to finally come down and then
8:03these loans will be good again and the
8:04properties will meet the debt ratio and
8:06then and they'll have cash flow. Okay,
8:09but right now at the new rates they'll
8:10be in a negative. Okay. Cuz your four is
8:13now a seven plus and they can't handle
8:16that. And then who the hell wants to own
8:18real estate when you have no cash flow
8:19anyway? That's stupid. Yeah. Now, for
8:20the average person who's interested in
8:22the real estate market, who should not
8:24buy a home? If you can rent a property
8:28right now for less money, the equivalent
8:31property, than owning it, I would
8:34suggest you wait, okay? And just rent
8:37it. Now, by owning it, if it's a break
8:40even and the same, you might consider it
8:44just like we were talking earlier. If
8:45you think there's going to be future
8:47appreciation in the value of the home,
8:50then you say, "Okay, well, it doesn't
8:52matter whether I rent or own, but at
8:53least if I own, maybe prices will go up
8:56in homes and I'll make some money
8:58there." So, you know, everybody's got
9:00to, you know, has their own risk
9:02tolerance and u you know, and you got to
9:05just decide what's best for you. Do you
9:07think that people need to own a home
9:09anymore? Do you think that maybe a home
9:12is personal? It's not business. So, you
9:16know, it's like this house. This house
9:18is somewhat personal. Well, to me, it's
9:20business. Everything is business. Um,
9:23but you know, homes are normally
9:24personal, you know, cuz you got kids,
9:26you got wives, you got two cars, you got
9:28all these pools and all this and uh it's
9:31a personal thing. So, you're paying for
9:33the uh, you know, the amenities, the
9:35pleasure in life to, you know, what the
9:38to the point of working if you're not
9:39going to enjoy your life. See, I almost
9:41think that this myth of home ownership
9:43is going to go the way of a college
9:44education where people put it down your
9:47throat that you need a college degree.
9:49And I feel like there's that same sort
9:50of pressure for a lot of people that
9:51they feel like, I need to own a home
9:53even though when when I look at the
9:55prices, I'm like, it just doesn't make
9:56sense. The masses of people, the middle
9:59income, okay, the middle income masses
10:01of people should buy a home because
10:04that's really their only way of giving
10:07themselves that extra protection down
10:09the road. It's a forced savings account.
10:12You keep paying down the mortgage. What
10:13happens in 20 years? You're sitting
10:15around with a house. It's going to be
10:16worth a half a million bucks or more and
10:18you're not going to have a mortgage on
10:20it. So, it's a good thing for people
10:22that have trouble saving money, you
10:25know, and, you know, they'll get the
10:26appreciation, you know, from the house
10:28and uh it's it makes sense for the
10:30average person. Yes. What do you think
10:32about the theories that home prices have
10:33peaked overall and that we're having an
10:36aging population is going to go into
10:38care facilities. There's going to be an
10:40influx of homes on the market and our
10:42population's somewhat declining and
10:44there's going to be less demand maybe
10:45for single family homes. I don't have a
10:47crystal ball, but I can tell you, you
10:50know, you don't know. I mean, Mark,
10:53listen, it's you see it go up, then you
10:55see it go down. You see it go up, you
10:56see it go down. You see it's stable. I
10:59mean, you
10:59know, you just if it's your home and
11:02you're living in it and you can afford
11:04the payment, then you know, of course,
11:07you want to own a home. You know, what's
11:09your overall read right now of the
11:11housing market? Right now, people are
11:13not, you know, there's not a lot of
11:15houses moving. Things are kind of like,
11:17you know, unless you're in some high
11:19growth area where things are booming,
11:22you know, I mean, it's pretty much, you
11:24know, just flat flat houses sitting on
11:27the market. There's not five people
11:29making office for them like it used to
11:30be at the same time right away. And
11:32there's not bidding wars going on
11:34anymore. um rates are up, you know, and
11:38uh that's the thing, you know, typically
11:40if uh you buy a house for a million
11:44bucks in today's rate environment, you
11:47know, you're going to be paying probably
11:48with taxes and insurance somewhere
11:49between 89,000 a month. Have you noticed
11:52any effects on the housing market from
11:54the tariffs? The tariffs. The tariffs.
11:56The tariffs. Have you noticed anything?
11:59Listen, I'm so sick of hearing about
12:00tariffs. Listen, one day the tariffs are
12:03this, one day the tariffs are that. It's
12:05just a it's it's a game, okay? It's a
12:08game. All right? The people in the in
12:10the market just forget about tariffs.
12:12Tariffs are just political, okay? It's a
12:15way to, you know, play a card, okay? to
12:19scare people and negotiate to get
12:22something else or, you know, it's going
12:25to, you know, if the tariffs do go
12:26through um and get jacked up to the
12:29roof, then yeah, the cost of goods are
12:31going to be more money. Okay. Do we get
12:34wood from China? I don't know. How do we
12:37get wood from our own country? Canada.
12:39Canada. Okay. Well, you know, I don't
12:41know. I mean, you know, listen, [ __ ]
12:43happens and it happens. You just got to
12:45deal with it. But I can tell you right
12:46now, the homebuilders, I know for a fact
12:50a lot of home developments they built
12:54were converted to
12:56BTR, which they said. You know what BTR
13:00is? No. Build to rent. Oh. Oh. Because
13:04they couldn't sell them.
13:08It's true. I show you on my computer.
13:10They were on sale right now. The whole
13:11thing you buy the whole development of
13:13houses. So they're having trouble
13:15selling these houses. Why were they
13:16having trouble? Is it just like the
13:17race? The same guy that used to see the
13:20point is when they when they it takes
13:22years and years for them to go out, find
13:25the land, secure the land, get all the
13:29improvements done, the roads, the power,
13:32the water, all that. It takes years to
13:35put all that together when you build
13:37like say 100 or 200 homes. So when they
13:40did it, rates were low. that type of
13:42financing you typically, to my
13:44knowledge, don't fix. Okay? Banks don't
13:47fix them. They don't want the risk. Um,
13:50so, you know, they got bridge loans or
13:52if they got a bridge loan, they could
13:53have fixed it. Um, anyway, the point is
13:56when they started this project, rates
13:58were low and people were buying it out
14:01of homes. Why? Because there were home
14:03loans for three and a half%. Okay? So,
14:06that means you're going to pay
14:08$3,500, you know, on a what is that?
14:11Um it's it's um on a million bucks you
14:14only pay 35,000 which is only 3,000 a
14:17month. Okay. Now it's double or more. So
14:21of course you know people are just going
14:23to stop buying homes. There's a lot of
14:25home builders in Las Vegas go up. Huh.
14:28There's a lot of home builders in Las
14:29Vegas right now that are offering free
14:30incentives and free upgrades if you buy
14:33and they're Yeah. They're free upgrades
14:35if you buy this house today. will give
14:37you a free dishwasher and it'll be
14:39stainless steel or they're discounting
14:41the price of premium materials by 50%.
14:45That's where it starts. Okay, that's
14:47where it starts. And then they'll sit
14:49around. They'll sit around, but sooner
14:51or later if they got debt, which they
14:53do, they're going to have to discount
14:55that and hopefully walk away with their
14:57pants still on. So, who right now is
14:59buying and selling in the real estate
15:00market? I mean, there's not a lot of
15:02action going on. I mean, there's always
15:03deals going on. Institutions are always
15:05moving money. Why? because it ain't
15:07theirs. As long as they they don't want
15:09to sit on your money, they don't, you
15:12know, they want they got to put your
15:13money to work. They got to tie that [ __ ]
15:14up, okay? Uh so, you know, they'll buy I
15:19don't know. Anybody buys on a five cap
15:20these days when rates are seven is nuts.
15:23It's it's stupid. Okay. Unless you're in
15:25a 1031, you're going to save taxes. And
15:28you know, it could be some very strange
15:30weird reasons, but on on a big picture,
15:33it's stupid to buy borrow money at seven
15:37when you're only getting five. It means
15:39you're two underwater, you idiot. And
15:42you know, whatever. And then you're only
15:43getting 5% on your portion. So, um,
15:46right now we're in a standstill, you
15:48know, and we're waiting for the banks to
15:50finally, you know, fess up. you know
15:53what fess up means and and and open it
15:56up and say listen you know we got to get
15:57rid of this you know we can't keep
15:59sitting here with loans that aren't you
16:02know you know holding the value that
16:04they had when we loan the money and then
16:06you know then they'll have to sell them
16:08off take a loss write off their losses
16:11and hopefully the bank will stay intact
16:13and everybody live happily ever after
16:15and uh they'll do it all again so how
16:18are you adjusting your own strategy
16:19right now what I'm doing you know
16:21everybody's got their own personal I run
16:22a portfolio, you know, all different
16:25types of diversified assets. You know,
16:27right now we're trying to, you know,
16:29move away from retail. Um, and you know,
16:33we're limiting the amount of hotels we
16:35have. And you know, what I'm doing is
16:37I'm always looking at a property. Is
16:38this place making me money? Or if I sell
16:41it and I take that money from the
16:45sale and would it make the same amount
16:49of money if I put it in say taxree med
16:50bonds 5%.
16:52Okay, because you know the money I may
16:55be making more than 5% on the property,
16:57but then it's taxable. So what's my NOI
17:02after 37% tax, you know, paying tax on
17:05it? What does that number equal versus
17:07if I just take the money for the sale,
17:09put it in taxree beauty bonds, and
17:11what's the difference? Well, I might
17:13take less money. Why? You know why,
17:16right? Why would you take less money?
17:18Because you have to pay taxes on taxree.
17:20No, I take a little less money because I
17:22don't have the responsibility and the
17:24time and the work and and the and the
17:27liability of owning a big hotel when I
17:31can have the money safely sitting there
17:32giving me a return. I mean, you know,
17:34it's a give and take, you know, and
17:36then, you know, it's it's everybody's
17:37got their own portfolio in life to
17:39manage, you know, but right now I'm
17:41waiting because I know those apartments
17:42are coming. I see them every day.
17:44They're just sitting on the market. The
17:45brokers all tell me, you know, they they
17:48can't sell right now because the the the
17:50sellers know, but they don't want to
17:52swallow the fact that their properties
17:54don't cash flow and um the banks aren't
17:57ready to do any negotiating, short
17:59sales, you know, we're waiting, you
18:01know, they're just waiting and waiting.
18:03So, we talked to a lot of entrepreneurs
18:04on this show, just like this episode
18:06with Ben Ma, but one thing we haven't
18:07really covered is how do you actually
18:09get started? Like, what's the first
18:11step? How do you set up an LLC? And
18:13where do you even go? Well, fortunately,
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19:02B.com/ic. Seriously, guys, used it
19:04myself. Highly recommend it. Why do you
19:06buy bonds instead of index funds? Index
19:08funds are taxable, too. Yes, but they
19:11can grow at more than 5%. And probably
19:14more than 37%. What? They could also not
19:17grow, right? That's true. Yeah. I mean,
19:19the thing is this. I'm not saying I do
19:21everything in bonds, but I keep a safe
19:25haven of bonds. So, at least I know I
19:29got that to protect me. Why? Because
19:30they're 100% safe and they're taxfree.
19:32Anything else I have to pay 37% on
19:35except capital gains that's 20%. We're
19:3822 now. So, how are you finding good
19:40deals right now? I'm looking every day
19:42and I'm lowballing, baby. How much? I'm
19:44lowballing the out everything. And if
19:47you don't like the offer, then write me
19:50the one you like and then I'll go back
19:52and show you. You know, it's a game you
19:54play. The more you put into it, the more
19:56you're going to get out of it. You got
19:58to play the game. So, how do you lowball
19:59them without offending the seller?
20:03There's no offending in business.
20:06Wouldn't they just say, "Oh, this guy's
20:07not serious. This guy's not serious."
20:09Listen, I'm not making crazy offers. My
20:12kids My kids underwrite this stuff. They
20:15have formulas. They have underwriting.
20:18They plug the numbers in. How much is
20:20bringing in, how much is going out, and
20:23we figure out what is the proper price
20:26for us to pay, and do we have to make
20:28capital improvements to the property?
20:30That's another factor.
20:32Okay, I negotiated a deal. We just went
20:34into contract or going into contract.
20:37You know, the place I could blink an eye
20:39and really make the place the way it
20:41should be with a million bucks. And I
20:43asked for that million bucks. We ended
20:46up splitting it. They're going to give
20:47me a half a million credit. I mean, you
20:49know, it's a it's a game you play, but
20:52I'm going to have major 1031 benefits by
20:56buying that, you know, that. So, you
20:58know, there's a lot of factors involved.
21:00You got to figure out what's important
21:02to you and what are you accomplishing,
21:04but it's all about there's no offense.
21:06All right. This is the number I came up.
21:08Well, how'd you come up with that
21:09number? This is how I came up with it.
21:12It should be a seven or eight cap. Am I
21:15saying it too much? I don't like that.
21:17Now, here's the thing. You could say as
21:18much as you want for the members
21:20version. And if you guys want to see
21:22these episodes completely uncensored,
21:25join the membership and we're not going
21:26to bleep anything. Bleep everything.
21:29Bleep.
21:30Um, you know, basically there's no
21:32offense. Listen, I'm not making stupid
21:34offers, but on average, I'm offering
21:36about 25% less than what they're asking.
21:39That's what that's what their fat is.
21:41Does it help or hurt to have your
21:43YouTube channel? Do people ever see your
21:45offer and be like, "Wait a second. This
21:46is Ben Mala. I saw him on YouTube
21:49yelling at the homeless guy behind the
21:51the ride aid. Does it help you at all or
21:54does it give you credibility or do they
21:56just say, "Ah, this is Ben. He's he's
21:59probably filming this." They never say,
22:01"This is Ben. He's filming it.
22:02Everything I do is real." And they know
22:05if I tell them I'm going to make up an
22:07offer on a property, I'm real. It's a
22:09one-page LOI. It has my name and
22:11signature on it. They take it very
22:13serious. You know why? Because my name's
22:15not Jack. I got the
22:19money. No, I mean the YouTube thing I
22:22don't I don't you know does it help in
22:25in people knowing who I am? Yes. Okay.
22:28Yes. Most people most brokers especially
22:31they know who I am and they will respond
22:33to me where they probably wouldn't
22:35respond to him. Mhm. Um so it does help
22:39me because it shows who I am. I mean
22:41there's nothing fake about me. There's
22:43nothing, you know, it's all real. Uh, so
22:45they know this guy is the real deal.
22:48Okay? You know, like my wife said,
22:50"What'd you do all day? What'd you do
22:51today?" And I told her, "You want to
22:53know what I did today? Why don't you
22:55read the paper?" You know, there's a
22:57news article about what I a deal I just
22:59closed. Anyway, um, the point is it does
23:02help. How often is it that someone comes
23:05to you with a deal from YouTube that
23:08they just want to sign? I get them. I
23:09get them. I get them. And I almost had
23:11one, but I didn't want to go out of
23:12state. In fact, I fed it to the guy that
23:15me and you going to visit. Yeah. In
23:17Georgia. Okay. Um I do get
23:19opportunities, but they're mostly out of
23:20state. You know, anything going on in
23:21Florida, I pretty much know about. Got
23:23it. And I don't really want to branch
23:24out, you know. I I don't do deals from,
23:28you know, I don't get a lot of deals
23:29from YouTube, though. So, you're saying
23:30you're trying to get more liquid, but at
23:32the same time, you're still buying a lot
23:34of deals. Well, I'm always going to be
23:35buying if the deal makes sense. Mhm.
23:38Because I got kids to run. My kids run
23:41everything. I don't do it. If I tell
23:43them tomorrow, hey, go take over that
23:45250 units over there. They'll say fine.
23:47They'll go over there and they'll take
23:48over that and they'll run it and they'll
23:51make money. They'll actually do
23:54something to make money. I said, I'm not
23:56going to pick on Jack. I'm sorry. H to
23:58tell you. Or they could be like Jack and
24:00do nothing.
24:02How do your How do your kids stay
24:03motivated to actually go and kill
24:05managing a 250 unit apartment complex? I
24:08don't. But how do they like how do they
24:11how did you foster gonna hire an on-site
24:14manager? They have an on-site
24:15maintenance
24:17person. How are they how are they so
24:20motivated? How are they motivated to do?
24:22They're hungry. Why are they hungry when
24:25you've done so much that they could
24:27theoretically just be a bit lazy? My
24:30kids came from nothing, the older ones.
24:32And they're hungry. And they want to do
24:34it on their own, too. They wanted they
24:36listen I couldn't count the number of
24:38deals my kids have done or places
24:40they've lived in like gypsies all over
24:43the place. I couldn't even I tried to
24:44think about all the places my middle son
24:46lived. I couldn't I couldn't I I lost
24:48count. I couldn't remember. It was too
24:50many of them. Anyway, they I trained
24:52them. They grew up with me. They came
24:54from nothing like me. So they're they
24:56have the same motivation or hunger of
24:59being able to know that they've made
25:01millions of dollars and they can take
25:03care of the family and they can enjoy
25:04their life. I mean I'm an I'm their
25:06example. Well, look where the [ __ ] I
25:08live. They all live in million dollar
25:09houses. Not like this, but they live in
25:11multi-million dollar houses. They got
25:13boats, you know, not they'll get to my
25:15level when they're my age. But anyway,
25:17what are you talking about? What about
25:18your youngest? Who your youngest? Yeah,
25:20your youngest. He grew up in affluence.
25:22So, how do you cultivate that like that
25:25hunger? Well, he's not spoiled. I mean,
25:27you know, he he appreciates whatever he
25:29gets. And I I I still I you know, my
25:32youngest son, you know, I'm constantly
25:34giving him things to do. Okay. Yeah.
25:37He's the one that's going to go to
25:38college. He's graduating high school in
25:39a couple of days. He's going to college
25:41here in Tampa. And um he's interested in
25:44the stock market, you know, but I think
25:45he's really gambling. He just call you
25:48stock like this gambling. That's why he
25:49like stock market. Who you bullshitting?
25:51But anyway, he he he he's um definitely
25:54money driven. Likes to make money. He he
25:57he has that he has that bug that we all
25:59have. Is he born with it or spend money
26:01or that was taught?
26:04He's been around me and he knows that
26:06money makes your life a lot easier, you
26:09know, or helps and it definitely, you
26:11know, it's nice to go out to dinner and
26:13not worry about what the bill is, right?
26:16Well, you don't know. But um you know,
26:19luckily I'm I'm I'm lucky with all my
26:21kids. My kids all got the bug to make
26:23money. And if I tell you the young one,
26:25listen, go do this, go do that. Listen,
26:27during the hurricane here, he was out
26:29there filthy, dirty, shoveling sand,
26:32pressure washing, whatever the we had to
26:35do, we do, you know. And he also we go
26:37on a yacht, he works the boat with the
26:39captain, you know. He wasn't with us
26:41when you went, did he? Okay. Um anyway,
26:44you know, I try to raise my kids to
26:46where they're they're definitely um
26:49what's the word I'm looking for?
26:50Motivated. Hungry. Motivated. Now, what
26:52would you say to parents whose kids are
26:54not hungry or motivated? I think kids
26:57when you live with your kids, you spend
26:58a lot of time with your kids. Typically,
27:01a lot of them follow in whatever you do,
27:04you have to set the example and you have
27:06to put them
27:08in the environment. Okay? I put my kids
27:12in the environment. When Ben Jr. was in
27:15his first year of college and I saw he
27:17was just partying and having a good
27:18time, I told him, "College is not for
27:20you. You know, here's an address. We
27:23just bought the apartment building. Ship
27:25your car from California to Florida. Go
27:29get an apartment over there in this
27:31building and take the [ __ ] over and
27:33start collecting the rents and make sure
27:34everything's fixed." And he did. And he
27:37was 19. He was 19. Why did he do it? Did
27:40you like offer to pay him a lot of
27:41money? Well, he had no choice. I mean,
27:42it was either that or I had to walk away
27:44from him. I mean, I wasn't going to keep
27:46paying 50 grand a year for him to party
27:48in school, you know? I mean, what are
27:51you going to do? You're not going to
27:53school. You're not get you're taking
27:54course. You're not getting good grades.
27:56All right. You had a you had a good time
27:57for a year. I'm glad you had a good time
27:59for a year. Now, go and then this way.
28:01I'm also protecting myself by by helping
28:04my kids. I'm protecting myself because
28:07now I'm I'm almost 60 years old and I
28:10want to take a break. I want to enjoy
28:12life, you know, now let them take over
28:15and run everything. And now they all
28:17have the experience to do that. Did he
28:19resent you at all during that time where
28:20you pulled him out of school? No. How
28:23did he feel when you said, "Sorry, no
28:24more partying, but you have
28:25responsibility." Such an abrupt change.
28:27Listen, he he he he did what I asked him
28:30to do. I told him, "Go over here to
28:32Larville, Florida. Move in the
28:33building." He did. He took it over and
28:36he was already grew up in the business
28:38around the business. So, and he saw that
28:40how the business has helped the quality
28:41of our life cuz he remembers being dirt
28:44poor. I remember, you know, living
28:46really rough for my I had in when I was
28:4818. So, I was, you know, bad shape.
28:51Well, I was, you know, I was in the army
28:53and, you know, barely ends meet. But
28:56anyway, um, I'm lucky. You know, all my
28:58kids step up to the plate. They do
28:59whatever I tell them to do because they
29:01know it's the right thing. Okay? And
29:04they get rewarded.
29:06Okay? They all live in, like I said,
29:08million-dollar homes. They all have
29:09boats. They all have fancy cars. They
29:12all can go on vacation. They all take
29:14all their kids are in private schools.
29:16They all do very well. Does being rich
29:18make you happier? I mean, I' I've lived
29:21without money. I wasn't very happy. So,
29:23I mean, you know, listen, it depends
29:26with, you know, am I happy all the time?
29:28No. I'm sometimes I'm unhappy because I
29:30got issues I'm dealing with, but it's a
29:32lot easier living with money. Yes, my
29:34kids are getting a quality education.
29:36All of my nieces, my nephews, my
29:38grandkids, uh you know, my kids, uh
29:40whatever, they're all getting great
29:42educations. Why? They go to great
29:44private school and you know, and yes,
29:46they go on vacations and they enjoy
29:48their life. And it's a lot nicer having
29:50money than sweating and struggling and
29:53worrying about paying your bills. At
29:55what point do you notice that quality of
29:58life change most dramatically? I mean,
30:00when you feel like you're not worried
30:01about the dinner bill anymore. I
30:04remember counting the pennies to buy
30:06lunch for my kids. Pennies. Making sure
30:09enough to pay the California tax when
30:11you get two tacos for a dollar at Jack
30:13in a Box. They remember it, too. I mean,
30:17you know, when you can not worry so much
30:19about paying your house note and you
30:22don't have to worry about stuff on your
30:24cars. I mean, that's, you know, you're
30:25at a level in life where you can kind of
30:28relax. At least, you know, you got
30:29enough money to pay your necessity bills
30:31and and you ain't got car payments and
30:33and all that, you know, and you can
30:35handle an emergency when it comes up. I
30:37mean, it gives you some sort of comfort
30:39of saving that stability in life. Is
30:41there ever a point of having too much
30:42money where it just invites problems? I
30:46don't know. I I don't know. I mean, you
30:47know, not really because I got kids that
30:50I have to think about leaving it to. So,
30:52I always wanted to make as much money as
30:53I could. So, I have enough to spread it
30:54around everybody. Um, you know, and then
30:57I want to, you know, be able to live
30:59without worried about getting on my
31:00plane, you know, whenever I want and
31:02using the plane a couple of thousand an
31:04hour, whatever. Uh, you know, I want to
31:06go on my boat and it cost uh $3 a gallon
31:10and I need 2,800 gallons of gas uh or
31:13diesel. I mean, I don't know. It's nice
31:16to have money and not have to worry
31:17about it. you know, my American Express
31:19bill came in today and, you know, it
31:21was, you know, probably double what it
31:23normally was. I didn't give a I saw what
31:24it was. It was logical things. We don't
31:27piss money away. We don't waste money.
31:28I'm not a degenerate gambler. Uh, you
31:32know, so, you know, look, I got I got a
31:34car pool table. You know, it's nice. And
31:37a lot of people when they first start
31:38making money, they're like, "Okay, I
31:39just need to make this amount and I need
31:40to have this amount of money to finally
31:42be happy." And then they get there and
31:43then they raise that number and then
31:45they get there and they raise that
31:46number. Yeah, that's what I did. I
31:47always thought I should have when I
31:50remember when I was younger, I always
31:51said when I first became a millionaire,
31:53I said I should have if I'm 35, I should
31:58be worth 35 million. That was my weird
32:01way of of of of setting my goals. And
32:05then when I'm 40, I should have 40
32:06million. And then when 50, I should have
32:0850
32:09million. But maybe the timing was right
32:12for me because a lot of timing has a lot
32:14to do with it. I call it luck. I don't I
32:16don't really believe in luck. I believe
32:17in timing. He just happened to be at the
32:19right place at the right time with the
32:20right money to do the deal, you know,
32:23and then it grew to be, you know, I I I
32:26exceeded my goals. Put it that way.
32:28Okay. But even once you exceeded all of
32:30those goals, you didn't really think
32:31about it anymore. You don't think about
32:32it. You just keep accumulating. You just
32:34keep doing it. If you're hooked on what
32:35you do and you're hooked on growth,
32:38money is the reward of busting your ass
32:41and making deals and making [ __ ] happen.
32:43I mean, it comes, that's the reward. and
32:45your bank account grows and your wealth
32:48grows. But it, you know, was I money
32:51driven? Yeah, because money was the
32:52reward. But I I always had the hunger
32:54with to find the next deal or better
32:56yet, have three or four deals going on
32:58at the same time. That's what I like to
32:59do. What do you think are the biggest
33:01opportunities right now? Speaking of
33:03timing, I mean, if somebody was a
33:05genius, they could figure out do all
33:07these empty office buildings, but I
33:09ain't seen that genius yet. I mean,
33:11opportunity is always out there. You got
33:13to look for it and you got to be
33:14persistent. I mean, you know, I was on
33:17the phone today with the same deal. It
33:19was 160,000 a unit about 3 or 4 months
33:23ago. All right. And the broker's calling
33:25me today saying, "You know what? I get
33:26the guy there at 130 a door. It's 30,000
33:29a unit. It's a couple hundred units.
33:31That's $6 million less he's willing to
33:33take. But even at buck 30, I didn't like
33:36it. And, you know, I'm more comfortable
33:38at about a buck 10 or a buck 15. you
33:41know, I got to be comfortable with the
33:42deal. So, you know, but but the point is
33:45I'm going to keep waiting or I'm going
33:46to keep making offers and I'm going to
33:48keep
33:48lowballing until the right deal comes,
33:51you know, and right now it's just moving
33:53slow, but it's moving. And if I can't
33:55buy, then I'm going to sell. If I ain't
33:58spending my time finding deals, then I'm
34:00going to be selling deals. What would
34:02you stay away from? Office buildings. I
34:05don't have any knowledge in industrial.
34:07Industrial always scared me because
34:09they're such large spaces that if they
34:12ever went empty and you need a specific
34:14type business to be in it, it would
34:16would be very dangerous. Um, so um,
34:19offices uh, you got to know what you're
34:21doing in industrial. I mean, you know,
34:24it's all about finding a deal. Palmets
34:25are great. Retail's another animal. All
34:28right. The only there's only one way
34:30you're going to make money on retail.
34:32You got to buy it with vacant space. M
34:35because when you buy it with vacant
34:37space, you're getting it for free.
34:40You're buying it on a cap rate. If you
34:42go out tomorrow and you buy 10 shops,
34:44okay, but only seven of them are rented,
34:46you're buying that property based on the
34:49rental income of those seven units. The
34:52other three that don't have any income,
34:55they just come with the deal. And then
34:57you rent them out and then your cap rate
34:59goes up and you made money. I always see
35:02those places that have like a 50%
35:04vacancy and they have these proforma
35:06rates on them that they're just trying
35:07to price it because they're living in a
35:09dream world. All right. Nobody buys on a
35:11proform.
35:14Okay. That I know of that has any sense
35:16in real estate unless apartments. Yes.
35:20Because with apartments, you pretty much
35:21know you can rent it. You know what the
35:23market is. You know the guy down the
35:24block is is charging $200 more a month.
35:28Okay. So, yes, that's and apartments.
35:31Yes, you can buy a performer if you're
35:33100% sure that that you could raise the
35:36rents and the market's higher by
35:38throwing in some new appliances or
35:39whatever you got to do. But perform
35:42typically you don't see ever in retail.
35:44If you do, then the seller's just
35:46dreaming and he's got his head stuck up
35:47as you know what. When you're
35:48negotiating in real estate, is money
35:50really the only thing that has any value
35:53in terms of negotiation or have you seen
35:55people win or lose deals due to
35:57personality or any other factors? I
35:59mean, everything in real estate is
36:02contractual, okay? You got your terms,
36:05they got their terms. As long as your
36:07terms come to meet together, you got a
36:10deal. All right? If people It's not I've
36:14never been emotional or anything, you
36:16know, like that with a with a real
36:17estate deal. I mean, I've done deals
36:20with snakes, guys that I knew were
36:23crooks, guys that went to jail for being
36:27crooks in real estate and other things.
36:29And and I still did business with them.
36:33All right? Because as long as you know,
36:35you know that the guy's a crook, then
36:37you know, you got to watch every little
36:38thing you're doing and cover your ass a
36:40lot more than you would normally. But
36:42the point is, it's not emotional. I've
36:44come across people with all kinds of
36:46personalities, you know, and you just,
36:49you know, you ignore it. It's not number
36:51one, in my world, it's all done by
36:52brokers and lawyers. I don't really get
36:54involved. I mean, you know, I get
36:56involved by making sure it's a great
36:57deal, making sure it's what I want to
36:59buy. But as far as making a deal, I just
37:02like I don't know if you were there
37:04right when you were there eating your
37:05hot dogs, I um I was telling I said,
37:08"Let I told my lawyer, let me get the
37:09broker on the phone. Let him deal with
37:10it. Oh, these people want this, they
37:12want that." And the broker says, "Okay,
37:14I'll handle it." All right. That's why
37:16you deal with brokers. You have lawyers.
37:18That's their job, you know, to make the
37:20deal happen. You just, you know, make
37:22the decisions. Now, in business, there's
37:24a saying that you could have better,
37:26cheaper, or faster, but you could only
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38:29important is it to be liked in the
38:32transaction? Because if a guy is just
38:34nice to you, you don't think that like,
38:36hey, I'll shave 20 grand off. It's just
38:39a pleasant guy to deal with. No, I've
38:41never seen it happen on buy side or sell
38:43side. It doesn't matter. It's all
38:45numbers. There's nothing, you know,
38:48personal about real estate. It's
38:51numbers. How much money's coming in? How
38:53much money is going out? But you're
38:54talking about commercial real estate.
38:55How does how does this apply to
38:56residential? I mean, you know,
38:58homeowners are a different breed. But
38:59even with homeowners, it's the
39:00salespeople that are handling the
39:03transaction, okay? You know, unless
39:05you're doing uh you're buying from an
39:07owner
39:08direct, okay? You know, that's
39:10different. I guess if you're buying from
39:12somebody and you smoo them over and you
39:14win, there was a crazy one I saw on
39:15Twitter recently. Uh, it was a
39:18handwritten letter to a family who had
39:20owned this home for generations in
39:22Hancock Park. And it was an old home
39:25from the 1920s. And their only wish was
39:29not to sell it to a developer, but sell
39:31it to a family who's going to keep the
39:33home in its character. And this person
39:35wrote this incredible letter. And the
39:37seller posted this on Twitter saying,
39:39"This is a letter we got, and they seem
39:42perfect. They were going to take care of
39:43it. They were going to make this their
39:44own." Um, and they did a deal and they
39:46[ __ ] them. Yep. They tore the house
39:48down immediately after closing. You
39:52know, they had pulled permit. They were
39:53getting everything started the second
39:55the deal closed. Reminds me of that old
39:57nursery rhyme or whatever or the old old
39:59kitty thing with the three little pigs.
40:02They'll huff and they'll puff and
40:04they'll blow your house down. But, uh,
40:07similar situation happened here. Similar
40:09situation happened right here in Cle
40:11right on the main ocean front here. The
40:14developers came in. This little old lady
40:16owned this nice house right on the inter
40:19coastal here. And some developer came
40:22in. He bought up everything around it
40:24and she wouldn't sell. So now she and
40:27they did everything they could to piss
40:29her off and they cut off her power while
40:31they were building. They cut off her
40:33water. They did all kinds of things to
40:35make her life miserable to make her
40:36sell. She wouldn't sell. And she
40:39actually stuck it to him. She I don't
40:41know what the name of the document was,
40:43but she recorded a document while she
40:46was alive saying that that house could
40:49never be anything but a single family
40:52residential house ever. And to this day,
40:56you got all these apartments and condos
40:58all around it and her house sitting
41:00right there on the on the the tip of the
41:02the land on the water. I always think
41:05about that whenever I try my boat. But
41:07yeah, I mean, you know, some people have
41:10emotional, you know, some people, you
41:11know, they they're, you know, just to me
41:13it never was emotional. I don't care.
41:15It's all about numbers. It's just uh
41:17real estate is a is a is a thing. It's
41:19material. It's an asset. You know, it's
41:21tangible is the right word, right? Would
41:23you place any value, let's just say
41:25you're selling a shopping center or a
41:28gym, and someone comes to you and says,
41:30"I worked out at this gym 18 years ago
41:32and I was broke. I was coming up and I
41:35said, "One day I want to own this
41:36property." and I saved and this is all I
41:38could afford. You're asking 12. All I
41:41have is nine and this would be a dream
41:44and I'll forever be appreciative to
41:46this. Would you do that?
41:50Depends on the I think it really depends
41:52on the situation. I think I think there
41:54are certain I'd be like all right screw
41:57over 5 10 bucks. You're such a lawyer.
41:59Okay, you're such a lawyer. Okay, maybe
42:00not me. You're the biggest I know.
42:04You're not shaving off aing penny. Who
42:06are you? I'm Graham sold me a t-shirt
42:09that didn't fit him and hardly fit me. I
42:11know. And he never wore it once and he
42:13sold it to me for like a great I wore it
42:17like three times. Gave it away for free.
42:18California uh softy whatever or what do
42:22you call it? Radical liberal whatever
42:24the hell they are. Anyway, the point is
42:26this. It has nothing to do with real
42:30estate in my world except the numbers.
42:33How much am I paying? How much is it
42:35worth? You know, what's the cash flow?
42:38Uh if I'm selling, what's my taxes? How
42:41much, you know, it's it's all about me.
42:44It's not about you. For the average
42:45person, how do they negotiate? What
42:47would be your advice to teach people how
42:49to best get a good deal on something?
42:51You got to you got to start low. But I'm
42:54not saying go ridiculously low where
42:56it's, you know, just total nonsense
42:58where somebody wants 500,000 for a house
43:01and you can offer them 250. No, but you
43:04have to, you know, get it to a point
43:07where you know you're going to be happy
43:09as the buyer and they're going to still
43:11be happy as the seller. It's just a
43:13matter of two people finding the number.
43:16It's all about money. It's all about
43:17numbers, you know. I I don't honestly I
43:20don't remember ever having deals that
43:22were emotional. I mean, you know, oh,
43:24one lady was emotional once. It was
43:27right near here, but we didn't do the
43:29deal because what happened was she was
43:31an old lady, inherited a bunch of
43:33apartments from her father, and uh she
43:35never ran them, right? She ran them like
43:37and she she she milked them for
43:39everything she could. And then I I
43:41bought one of her buildings and I went
43:43in and Vincent handled it, my middle
43:45son, he moved he was the manager and
43:46everything. and he fixed the place up,
43:48made it really nice, raised the rents,
43:50um, ran it really like a nice building
43:53and we sold it and made a lot of money
43:55and she found
43:57out. She got mad. She told the broker on
44:00the next building she was selling right
44:02near here that he could sell the
44:04building to anybody but Ben Mala because
44:08I made money on a building. What you
44:09stupid lady? You should have went in
44:11there and fixed the place up. You should
44:13have raised the goddamn rents. You
44:15should have added value and you would
44:17have made more money. But you didn't
44:18want to do it, you lazy old [ __ ] What
44:21the you been mad at me for? It's stupid
44:24to even be personal with real estate. It
44:26makes no sense. It's all about dollars
44:29and cents. You hear me? You said that in
44:32transactions the only thing of
44:34importance is dollars and cents. When in
44:37your life have you made emotionalbased
44:39financial decisions? Have you ever had
44:41like a crazy rich person purchase that
44:43didn't make any numbers sense, but you
44:45just did it anyway? Well, you buy
44:46personal things. That's different. Real
44:48estate is not emotional. Never. Ever. I
44:51never bought a place cuz oh, I like this
44:53place. I like the numbers. Now, cars,
44:57you know,
44:59boats, that's that's totally emotional.
45:02That's 100% emotional. And what about
45:05other rich guy purchases? like this
45:07would be an like I don't know how much
45:08that lion costs but I can't imagine that
45:11it's very inexpensive anyway these are
45:14just things that bring you some sort of
45:17pleasure you like a painting why do
45:19people spend hundred million on a piece
45:22of artwork or 5 million or 10 million
45:24why because they feel like they they
45:27enjoy it they like it that's emotional
45:30tax evasion you know tax evasion
45:33moneyaundering moneyaundering he's
45:36always He always thinks everybody's up
45:38to something. You know, there's always a
45:39cynical agenda behind everything.
45:43There's a word for that. You always
45:44think that there's um conspiracy. You're
45:47a conspiracer.
45:50So, what are some of the crazy rich
45:52person things that you've done? Crazy
45:53rich person things. I saw I saw I came
45:56up and created a car poolool table. Um I
46:00mean, not much. I don't do crazy. Not
46:02much. I saw you in a video. You got
46:04stuck in the Bahamas because of bad
46:05weather and so you flew cigarettes in a
46:08private jet to you. Like that's
46:10cigarettes. It was cigarettes which are
46:12very important. It was tequila which is
46:15very important to my wife. And see the
46:20plane also had to get my kids back to
46:23school which I wasn't ready to go back
46:25but they had to go back to school the
46:26spring break. So the plane had a lot of
46:29missions. It brought the camera guy out
46:31there. It brought my barber out there
46:33because I needed a haircut. Uh, it
46:35brought the cigarettes and necessities
46:37we needed. It brought a couple of
46:39friends I had that were coming on the
46:41boat because my kids are getting off the
46:42boat. I mean, I'm I was a traffic
46:44management coordinator, United States
46:45Army. You know that. I know how to
46:47coordinate things. It's all about
46:49managing, coordinating things, making
46:52[ __ ] happen without wasting money or
46:55time. Okay. I was under the impression
46:57that you literally just flew cigarettes
46:59and the barber. I flew him in because I
47:02mean you all right it made sense. There
47:05was a seat on the plane. The plane
47:07lands. Okay. He gets off the plane. He
47:10comes to my boat. He gives me a haircut.
47:12He gets with my kids back on the plane.
47:14He gives my son a haircut while he's on
47:16the plane going home. I like time
47:19management. I love to manage my time
47:23efficiently because you know you're
47:25getting done and saving time can be
47:29saving money. What is the cost of owning
47:32a plane? Well, you know, everybody has
47:34their own way of owning them. You know,
47:36do I own it outright? I don't have a
47:38loan on it, but I have partners. So, me
47:40and a couple of guys that I know really
47:42well, I trust. We share the cost of the
47:44plane. You know, you could buy planes
47:46anywhere from a couple of million up to
47:48who the [ __ ] knows 50 million or
47:50whatever. You know, ours is probably
47:52worth, I don't know, a couple few
47:53million. Okay, it's good enough for what
47:55I use. I used to have two planes. I got
47:57rid of one because I never used it. So,
48:00you know, I got one plane. I got a
48:02couple of partners. We're into it for if
48:05the planes today probably worth, I don't
48:07know, a couple million, few million,
48:09then we're into it for say 750 a piece
48:11or a million a piece.
48:13And you know, we pay for we split the
48:16expenses and we pay for what you use. If
48:19I'm going to fly somewhere, I got to pay
48:20for the gas. I got to pay for the pilot.
48:22How expensive is the gas and pilot? I
48:24mean, you know, uh the gas is going to
48:26run about if I go to Fort Lauderdale and
48:28back, that's about 500
48:31miles. That's going to cost me
48:33$2,500. So, what's that come out to be?
48:35About $5 a mile. Anyway, so whatever.
48:38That's what it is. That's typically what
48:40it costs. Uh and it's about an hour. Oh,
48:42wait. It's 2500 bucks an hour with gas
48:44and pilot, you know. Well, no, not an
48:47hour cuz pilot you got for all day. You
48:48know, you can use a pilot for up to it
48:5212 or 14 hours a day, but after that you
48:55got to give them a break for how long?
48:5712 hours 8 hours. Yeah, I think so. Or
49:00something. But anyway, are there any
49:02safety issues of having your own plane?
49:05I I hear just the standard They're all
49:07being We have a management company that
49:09manages the plane. They meet all the
49:11requirements. make sure you get all the
49:12inspections and they're checking
49:14everything and the pilots are fabulous.
49:16They're brilliant and my plane only
49:17takes one pilot, my jet. So, you know,
49:21that keeps the cost down too a lot, but
49:24hopefully they're all young guys, so
49:25hopefully we're in good shape. One thing
49:27I really admire in you is your ability
49:28to negotiate everything. Like I see you
49:31I saw you in this one video where you
49:33were getting an Uber somewhere in like
49:35the Bahamas and the guy was like, "Oh
49:38yeah, it'll be $35." And you're like,
49:40"How about 20?" And then the guy's like,
49:42"Okay, yeah, we do." And then you're the
49:45Gilligan, you know, your like deck hand
49:47or whatever. He was like, "It's $35."
49:50Like, but the guy that makes, you know,
49:5420 bucks an hour, whatever he makes, you
49:56know? Yeah. Big shot with my money,
49:58right? So, do you negotiate every single
50:01price that comes your way? I grew up
50:03with the mentality of you shouldn't give
50:06away your money or you shouldn't have to
50:08overspend. I mean, if you want to make a
50:10lot of money in life, you can't go
50:11around wasting it. You got to, you know,
50:12so yeah, I have that, you know, we'll
50:14call it the Jew in me. I could say that
50:16I'm Jewish. But yeah, I don't know. It's
50:18just natural because I know for a fact,
50:20listen, does it really matter that
50:23there's six of us or four of us in a
50:25car? No. So why am I paying more? You
50:28know what they do in the Bahamas? They
50:30charge by the head,
50:32man. I charge you by the head. If you
50:35have six heads, I charge $5 a head. It's
50:37$30, man. Well, what the the difference
50:40whether it's four of us, if you order a
50:42XL Uber, you could have one, two people
50:45because they want a big vehicle, you
50:46have six in it because that's their
50:48mentality. They want to get you
50:50everything they can. And I'm there to
50:52say, well, wait, let's be fair now.
50:53Okay, you don't need $5 ahead. When is
50:56it ever not worth your time to
50:58negotiate?
51:00I mean, you know, it's always worth a
51:02try, but if the person is just an and
51:06doesn't want to negotiate, then you just
51:07say, "Well, how important is it to me to
51:10appease this person?" And you do, you
51:12know, and then sometimes you give a
51:14little extra and you really get some
51:16benefits in life. You know, my wife was
51:19telling me, she said, "Oh my god, she
51:21got six little kids with her in Hawaii
51:22right now." She says, "Oh, they're going
51:24crazy and the lady's acting like a you
51:26know what, that's works here." and she's
51:28telling us about rules and all this. My
51:31wife learned from being married to me
51:32for 22 years. You know what she did? She
51:35slipped her $100 bill. The rest of a
51:38week, the lady treat her like royalty.
51:40Kids can do whatever the hell they want.
51:43You know what's interesting? Uh Owen
51:45Cook uh was saying something that nobody
51:48does, and that's negotiate higher. And
51:51so what he says if you want to get the
51:53best deal on something is if someone
51:55quotes you a price give them more and
51:57say well how about I pay you double what
52:00could I get for that? Depending on what
52:02it is of course it could be a service.
52:04It could be a
52:06car you know the price is the price.
52:10What are they going to do? Throw in free
52:11oil changes maybe. But I don't know. I
52:14mean, listen, every situation's
52:16different, but I don't believe in
52:18overpaying for because saving money,
52:21making money. Thank you. He learned
52:23something today. What do you think is
52:25the weirdest thing that you've
52:26negotiated? A guy once told me he hated
52:30the price I offered for the property. He
52:32really was he was he was emotional about
52:34it. Well, he was getting less
52:36money. And honestly, he could have sold
52:39that building for more money. Okay. He
52:42wasn't getting my terms. See, but you
52:44got to understand terms have a lot to do
52:46with
52:47money, but we'll get into that. The
52:49point was in the story was he watched my
52:54videos and that's the one time the video
52:56actually hurt me.
52:59He said, "I'll take your offer, but you
53:03got to give me a Batmobile." And I I it
53:06came out of like nowhere. It's just
53:07like, you know how somebody says
53:08something to you that you never expected
53:12them to ever say, right? He just And the
53:15Batmobile, that Batmobile he got was a
53:18really one of the nicest ones I ever
53:19had. And um it was signed by the real
53:23Batman and Robin and everything. It
53:24wasn't wrong for the TV show, but it was
53:26worth it was worth a couple hundred
53:28grand. And I thought about
53:30it and uh I eventually gave in and I
53:34shipped it to him.
53:36So, you know, but I still felt like I
53:39was buying a building for a million
53:40dollars less than he probably could have
53:42sold it on the market if he would have,
53:44you know, I mean, the place needed a
53:46couple little things done, but whatever.
53:47The point
53:48was I'm open to anything. Put it on the
53:51table. It's all about two people
53:54agreeing, you know? That's it. What's
53:56the most you've ever gained from a
53:57negotiation?
53:58Typically, the best negotiating I've
54:01experienced was with
54:03banks buying their real estate or I
54:06bought loans from banks. I bought loans
54:09for 50 cents in a dollar. How do you do
54:12that? When a bank has an un
54:15non-performing loan, they want to get
54:18rid of it and they'll write off the
54:20loss. They don't care. They just want to
54:22do it. They don't want to go in front of
54:24their board or they don't want their
54:26investors or anybody. They don't want
54:29it. They don't want non-performing loans
54:31on their books. So, they want it gone
54:34quick. Makes the bank look bad. And once
54:38it's gone, everybody forgets about it.
54:40And you write off the loss and then blah
54:42blah blah blah blah. And that's the end
54:43of it. And you move on. So, I've had
54:46most of my success with banks buying
54:49foreclosures, buying uh doing short
54:52sales, um buying notes, and then I
54:55foreclose or go make a deal with the
54:58with the borrower and do a friendly
55:00foreclosure. Um you know, I mean, but
55:03that's pretty much where you probably
55:05get your your most um benefit is when
55:07you're dealing with because it's not
55:09personal. The banks just want to get rid
55:11of it. It was a deal that went bad. They
55:13want it gone. They're not in real
55:15estate. Banks don't want to be in real
55:18estate. They don't want to own this.
55:20Then they got to have management
55:21companies. Then they got to have
55:23receivers. Then they got to they're open
55:26to lawsuits. They have the
55:28liability. They don't want they don't
55:30want to be in real estate. They just
55:31want to loan the money. They don't want
55:33to be involved in this. So, you know,
55:36banks are pretty much the ones that are
55:38most vulnerable uh when you're doing a
55:40deal. So, you've been doing a lot of
55:42consulting lately. What's a common
55:44question that people come to you with? I
55:46mean, you know, typically is everybody
55:48wants to know based on what their
55:50situation is, what's the next step in
55:53the right direction. Okay? I get people
55:56from all different levels. I get a guy,
55:57I get kids, you know, in high school,
56:00graduating or whatever or even younger
56:02and, you know, and they want to know
56:03what the next move is, you know, they
56:06want a plan. They want to get cooking,
56:08baby. And um you know, so I look at what
56:11they are, what they got, who they are,
56:12where they're at in their life, and what
56:15would I do if I was in their shoes, and
56:17that's what I try to tell them to do.
56:19You know, whatever. I have guys that
56:20have 100 million that can sell with me.
56:22I got people that have nothing. Their
56:23first getting their first house, and
56:25they got to go to FHA, you know, I got
56:27some people that can't even raise the
56:29FHA deposit. You know what I tell them
56:30to do? Because they have an interest in
56:32real estate anyway. Get your license.
56:36Okay? You go buy that house and you
56:38represent yourself and you found a house
56:40yourself. Well, FHA is 3 and a half%
56:43down. The commissions 3%. How much you
56:46going to put down on that $200,000
56:48house? 1,000 bucks. Does FHA allow you
56:52to use commissions on a closing towards
56:54a down payment? Of course, because
56:56number one, it's in the it's in the
56:58closing. The money is going to you,
57:01correct? It's your money. You earned it.
57:03and FHA loans to real estate people and
57:05agents and everybody. Yes, they will
57:08because if you if you show them, you
57:10know, they're not illogical. It would be
57:12illogical for them not to. That's what I
57:15was doing when I was an agent. I would
57:17use my commission. It was a hassle.
57:19Well, back then things would change a
57:21little. Yes, sure. back then you always
57:24it's always question everything you know
57:27but if you if the lender is a real
57:29lender and they understand listen it's
57:30your money you know you earned it you
57:32know yeah what are the most frustrating
57:35calls that you get or frustrating calls
57:37or people that you see people that have
57:40just got too much going on in their life
57:43and they're not ready for it like you
57:44know I I have consults with people that
57:46just they're they're trying to be big
57:49shots and they didn't earn it we had the
57:51video about the guy in Vegas. He's
57:54driving a Lamborghini. Okay. But he
57:56ain't got no money in the bank. Does
57:58that make any
58:00sense? Stupid. Why do you drive a
58:02Lamborghini if you got no money in the
58:04bank? All right. And when I say no
58:05money, I mean like at least 50 grand,
58:07100 grand. Sell a Lamborghini and get
58:10your together. You know, you don't need
58:13it. And you don't want Everybody wants
58:15to be a big shop before they earn it,
58:16you know? How did he justify buying the
58:18Lamborghini? How do you justify How did
58:21he like what was his reason when you
58:22were like why did you do this? Listen,
58:23you know, listen, I'm sure you have done
58:25it. We've all done it. When I was young,
58:27I bought a Ferrari. I should have what?
58:29Okay. I I really wasn't financially
58:31ready for it. when you're young and you
58:33you you're impulsive and you want to
58:36look cool and it's the only way you're
58:38going to get a girl is to have a nice
58:39car. Uh, you know, I mean, you do things
58:42that don't make sense and you have to,
58:44you know, you have to discipline
58:46yourself that, you know, yeah, it would
58:48be nice to have this Lamborghini and
58:49yeah, you know, I could have the I make
58:51the payment, but then I want money for,
58:53you know, something else or I'll never
58:55be able to grow or I'll never be able to
58:56save money. I mean, you can't make
58:58stupid decisions in your life. I've made
59:00them. I'll be the first to admit I made
59:01plenty of stupid decisions, you know,
59:04when I was younger, but I learned from
59:06my mistakes. And I try to let people
59:08learn from my mistakes, like my kids
59:09especially, I always tell him, "Listen,
59:11I've been there. I've done that, okay?
59:14That was my mistake. And don't do it."
59:16And if you want consulting from Ben,
59:18that'll be linked down below. Listen,
59:20I'm not
59:21bragging, but I don't know anybody out
59:24there that the average person, not the
59:28big shots maybe, can call to get real
59:32advice that I'm not looking for
59:34anything. I don't want to, you know,
59:35they're going to pay the fee because,
59:37you know, my time is valuable. I could
59:39be working on a $10 million deal. Uh,
59:41Rafal crying. He needs to make money
59:43running the channel and coordinating and
59:45making appointments and all this stuff.
59:46The point is this. I don't ever give
59:49people bad
59:50advice, okay? I just tell them my
59:53opinion, what I would do if I was in
59:55issues, and I truly try to help them.
59:58How many other people do you know that
1:00:00you can for a few hundred bucks get on a
1:00:02phone that's worth uh whatever, 500
1:00:05million or whatever, and get really good
1:00:08advice. To me, I become your friend. I'm
1:00:11like a friend. I'm a real friend and you
1:00:13could trust and call to get solid,
1:00:17logical advice on your real estate. See,
1:00:21I honestly I was I was telling you off
1:00:22camera, I I think you're underpriced for
1:00:25where you are. I mean, it if anyone
1:00:27books you, it it's at a bargain. Like
1:00:30they are getting the better
1:00:32deal. Now, I can tell people that that
1:00:34don't have a lot of money, you know, cuz
1:00:36sometimes people do get on the phone, I
1:00:38feel bad, and I'll say, "Well, okay."
1:00:39Cuz right away, I'm going to ask them,
1:00:40"What are you making? What do you own?
1:00:42What do you got? I got to understand
1:00:44that person's life. And I'm making
1:00:45notes. Okay, he's this age. He lives
1:00:48here. He's got this much coming in a
1:00:50year. He owns this house. Blah blah blah
1:00:52blah blah. Okay. And a lot of them ain't
1:00:54got and, you know, for them to extra few
1:00:57hundred bucks is a lot, you know, to to
1:01:00spend. So, I try to really help these
1:01:01people. And I've gotten so many
1:01:03compliments and so many people have gone
1:01:05back and come back to me and said, "Oh
1:01:06my god, I'm so glad I listened to you
1:01:09and I did what you said." I had people
1:01:11families in the Bahamas coming up to me,
1:01:13you know, they were traveling from
1:01:14Miami. Families coming up to me and
1:01:17found they heard I was there. They came
1:01:19to my boat, which I love, and they were
1:01:22just thanking me and thanking me,
1:01:23thanking me. A Spanish family from Miami
1:01:26that listened to me and they made money
1:01:28and the kids were there and the kids, it
1:01:30was great. I can attest to this. We We
1:01:32were in the Bahamas and someone came up
1:01:34and you invited them on the boat. Him
1:01:35and his wife. I'm nice to everybody.
1:01:38You're nice to me. nice to you. Carla
1:01:40made them margaritas. When somebody
1:01:42wants to say hello to me or take a
1:01:44picture or whatever, it's the most
1:01:47flattering thing in the world. I love
1:01:49it. And everybody I meet is always super
1:01:51nice. Always. I've never met an [ __ ]
1:01:53Yeah. Well, okay. There was one crazy
1:01:56Jew, but he was mentally ill in New York
1:01:58City once and I had to tell him, "Go
1:02:00away."
1:02:02So, you grew up poor and now you've made
1:02:04a fortune. What would you say are the
1:02:05biggest mentality shifts around money
1:02:08that you've experienced? You know, when
1:02:10you have
1:02:11money, for me it was being exposed to
1:02:13other people that worked hard their
1:02:15lives and made and were successful and
1:02:19um I don't know, you could say it's, you
1:02:22know, moving up a
1:02:23class, it showed me the better way of
1:02:25living. Okay. Yes. When I moved here, I
1:02:30still was kind of rough. I I made a lot
1:02:31of I made some good money before I moved
1:02:33here, you know.
1:02:35Uh, but I was never around like a lot of
1:02:36classy people, you know, people that I
1:02:39was never around country clubs. Now I
1:02:40belong in three of them, okay? I wasn't
1:02:43I I wasn't able to expose my kids to a
1:02:46finer life, you know, where people just
1:02:49and good people, nice people. I mean,
1:02:50they're not stuck up. I mean, you know,
1:02:52there's a lot of rich people in this
1:02:53area here that are just genuinely really
1:02:56super nice people and a lot of them came
1:02:58from nothing like me, but you know, but
1:03:01they they carried themselves and they
1:03:03lived a certain way and I respected it
1:03:04and liked it, you know, with the nice
1:03:06house and, you know, and acted to raise
1:03:09their kids respectful, you know, and
1:03:11they talked like normal people and and
1:03:13respectful people and had manners, you
1:03:16know. It's like I noticed my son, every
1:03:18time my youngest son talks to any adult,
1:03:21it's always yes sir, no sir, you know,
1:03:24and um very respectful and and it really
1:03:26brought our our our quality of life and
1:03:29the way we felt, how we lived a lot
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1:06:03episode. What about your mentality to
1:06:05other things such as like relationships
1:06:07or making money or other things? Has has
1:06:10those mentalities changed as well going
1:06:12from being broke to now being very
1:06:13wealthy or I mean when you start making
1:06:15money, you ain't got time to be around
1:06:16losers, people that are just negative or
1:06:19people that are are are going the
1:06:21opposite way. I have no
1:06:23tolerance whether I'm in business with
1:06:25these people, doing with them or not.
1:06:27you. I can't even be around people that
1:06:29just don't give up. They don't care.
1:06:33They're just going through life, not
1:06:35trying, and they have the ability to
1:06:37try. That's the one the part that really
1:06:39pisses me off. I've had people that I've
1:06:42that worked for me that were smart. They
1:06:44they had and they had me to back them
1:06:46and they still do it, but they're
1:06:48worried about stupid like partying and
1:06:50chasing women or whatever, chasing men
1:06:52or whatever the you know, their
1:06:54priorities aren't in order. the kids
1:06:56ain't living like they should. They
1:06:57just, you know, I don't like being
1:06:59around people that don't, they're going
1:07:00through life with just the bare
1:07:02necessities and not really trying, you
1:07:05know, and they have the ability to try.
1:07:07You know, if somebody doesn't have the
1:07:08ability and a nice person, I could
1:07:09tolerate them like you. How do you
1:07:13balance staying financially secure while
1:07:15also enjoying life? Is it much of a
1:07:18calculation in your brain anymore? Like
1:07:19you budget a certain amount for certain
1:07:21things? I mean, I'm not a wasteful
1:07:22person, you know? It's just like when
1:07:24when I took my kid this weekend for his
1:07:26graduation present to the Bahamas. You
1:07:29know, I could have stuck us in the van
1:07:30and made him drive four hours to Fort
1:07:33Lauderdale. Okay. I could have done that
1:07:35and I would have saved
1:07:38whatever the few grand five grand 2500
1:07:42there could send the plane back and
1:07:44don't pay to keep it there and whatever.
1:07:45Anyway, I would have saved the five
1:07:47grand if I would have made him drive the
1:07:49van. And he would have done it and he
1:07:50would have been
1:07:51happy, you know, but you splurge, but
1:07:54you know, for me, five grand is not
1:07:56going to make or break me, you know. It
1:07:58was it made our life easier. Impressed
1:08:00him, impressed his friends, you know, it
1:08:02made us feel like we're they were
1:08:03special and it was definitely, you know,
1:08:06convenient, you know. So, you know, I
1:08:08don't waste money. I do things in
1:08:10moderation. You live your life in
1:08:12moderation, you know. And then
1:08:14sometimes, you know, I I I correct
1:08:16myself. I had a half a million dollar
1:08:17fan. I'm sitting in a garage and when
1:08:20the rates were going up and I'm saying,
1:08:21"Oh, what the I have $500,000 sitting in
1:08:24the garage. I barely even used the
1:08:26goddamn car." All right. I went through
1:08:27the whole car phase, you know? So, I
1:08:30sold it. 500 grand, you know, sitting in
1:08:32a bank at that time is 5% even in a
1:08:35money market account. That's a couple of
1:08:36grand a month. I don't know. I just like
1:08:39doing what's practical and logical.
1:08:42That's the way I try to live my life. Do
1:08:44I live in a $30 million house?
1:08:46Hopefully, it's 30 million. I don't
1:08:47know. The market right now is going
1:08:48down. But in Florida, you get a weird
1:08:51sense of buyers. It's different when you
1:08:52have a high-end house in Florida. You
1:08:54know, there's always people with money
1:08:55who want to come to Florida because if
1:08:56you homestead it, they can't take it
1:08:58away from you. The bank can. The IRS
1:09:00can, but nobody else can. Is there ever
1:09:03a price tag for you that's just doesn't
1:09:05make any sense or just out of out of
1:09:07your league where you just wouldn't even
1:09:09consider it? Like what? Could just be
1:09:12any like a boat. Sure. I mean, yeah. I
1:09:15would not go out like I want to buy
1:09:16another boat. I'm selling mine right
1:09:18now. You need to buy my boat. You know
1:09:19that. Um
1:09:22you need those losses. So if if I buy it
1:09:24low enough, that's not that you keep
1:09:26mixing personal with with with with
1:09:29taxes. No, I think you could charter it
1:09:31temporarily and then it's but then it's
1:09:34now an investment, depreciate it, and
1:09:36then sell it to me at a loss, a
1:09:38substantial loss. Do that when you buy
1:09:40it. I they got to hurry to be in a
1:09:41business. We'll talk about that later.
1:09:43You could transfer it to a Montana LLC
1:09:45for the purposes of Listen, you guys can
1:09:47come up with all you do this and do that
1:09:48and do this. I don't do all that [ __ ]
1:09:49You know why? Cuz I sleep at night
1:09:51knowing the IRS will never with me. They
1:09:54got nothing to me on. So, I don't cross
1:09:57the line or I don't even get close to
1:09:59the line when it has to do with taxes. I
1:10:01just play it clearcut. You know why?
1:10:03Because it's the tax system that made me
1:10:05who I was today. If it wasn't for the
1:10:081031, there is no possible way I would
1:10:11have grown to the level I've grown to.
1:10:13No way. The the the the tax system that
1:10:17we have forced me pushed me to never
1:10:21touch the money and roll it into the
1:10:23next deal and defer the tax. That forced
1:10:26me to grow. How much do you think you'd
1:10:29have if you couldn't utilize the 1031?
1:10:32I mean, I know right now if I was to say
1:10:35I'm going to sell everything and just
1:10:37pay the tax bill, I probably owe about
1:10:3950 million bucks fine. And I'm, you
1:10:42know, it's definitely a possibility I
1:10:44consider sometimes, but I'm not going to
1:10:46do the whole 50 on 1031 some. I don't
1:10:47know. I might pay I may not sell you.
1:10:49It's it's a combination of a lot of
1:10:51scenarios. You know, you have to when
1:10:53you're managing a portfolio and you're
1:10:55managing your wealth, it's a job and
1:10:58you're constantly thinking about what's
1:11:00the right move to make. You got to make
1:11:02you got to do your homework. You got to
1:11:03sit down. You got to calculate. You got
1:11:06to calculate the tax ramifications on
1:11:08it. You got to calculate the
1:11:10appreciation, recapture depreciation,
1:11:12cash flow. There's a lot of things you
1:11:14have to consider before you decide to
1:11:17buy or sell a property. What do you say
1:11:19to the people who want to get rid of the
1:11:201031 exchange? They're absolutely out of
1:11:24their crazy mind because the 1031 is
1:11:29what capitalism is all about.
1:11:32All right. It pushes you to grow. Okay.
1:11:35It's making you want to do more. Do you
1:11:38know by 10:31 and forcing me or not
1:11:40forcing me but pushing me to buy more
1:11:43more materials I'm buying, more jobs.
1:11:46I'm creating more everything. It's just
1:11:49growth. Okay. And and and and that's how
1:11:52a person can grow on a personal level by
1:11:55it's it's a ticket to
1:11:57growth. You know, without the banks and
1:12:01without the 1031, I would be a garbage
1:12:04man today. Do you think that capitalism
1:12:07has gone too far? That maybe some people
1:12:11are getting really, really, really
1:12:12wealthy and other people are just
1:12:13getting left behind. Listen, if people
1:12:16are getting wealthy
1:12:19legally, that's what it's all about.
1:12:21They're the ones putting forth the
1:12:22effort. They're the ones that are
1:12:24putting out the risk, you know, they're
1:12:26taking the risk. uh you know so how can
1:12:29you knock somebody you know listen I'm
1:12:32sorry but I believe because of the life
1:12:34I've lived that
1:12:36everybody can try they may not succeed
1:12:39as well as I did but they can better
1:12:42their life okay when you can go out and
1:12:46anybody can take one course and one test
1:12:49for what few hundred bucks and get a
1:12:51license and then get a loan from FHA and
1:12:56only have to put a half percent down
1:12:58because your license or want three and a
1:13:00half percent. You can, you know, you can
1:13:02go out and buy a
1:13:03forplex for three and a half% down,
1:13:06right? Mhm. I mean, we have these types
1:13:09of tools in our country that, you know,
1:13:12enable you to get ahead and you should
1:13:14take advantage of them. Now what about
1:13:16the theory that wealth inequality as it
1:13:19grows to a certain point can't sustain
1:13:21itself and you do get just a demise of
1:13:24the entire country when it becomes so
1:13:26unsustainable between the rich and poor
1:13:29that overall countries do better when
1:13:31it's a little closer you've been rich or
1:13:32poor so now more people are rich is that
1:13:35what you're saying more people are rich
1:13:36and and better I've never seen unhappy
1:13:39people being rich you have the rich
1:13:41extreme couple cuckoo more extreme and
1:13:43the poor more poor basic Basically, I
1:13:46don't see there's becoming such a bigger
1:13:48divide. There's plenty of jobs out there
1:13:50for people. You know, it's the
1:13:52individual, I think, that really keeps
1:13:56them down and keeps them poor. It's
1:13:59them. They need to train their brain to
1:14:02do positive things that are going to
1:14:05make their life financially more secure.
1:14:09Okay? A lot of people just don't have
1:14:11the mindset. They they're worried about
1:14:14stupid
1:14:15Okay? Or they get hooked on drugs or
1:14:17they get hooked on gambling or they get
1:14:19hooked on alcohol or they're worrying
1:14:21about keeping up with their Joneses and
1:14:23their friends. You know, people need to
1:14:25focus on themselves. Forget about the
1:14:28rest of the world. Who cares what the
1:14:31somebody's doing? Who cares? What are
1:14:33you doing? What do you got? That's what
1:14:35matters. You got to get a plan for your
1:14:38life. And everybody's got a different
1:14:39life. You know, I never went one day to
1:14:42high school, okay? But I always knew
1:14:45that if an opportunity came my way, I'm
1:14:48going to take it. And that's what I did.
1:14:50I just kept taking opportunities and and
1:14:52and and maybe going a little further
1:14:56than the average person wanted to go. So
1:14:58what's holding so many people back?
1:14:59Mentality. And what's causing that
1:15:02mentality, do you think? I mean, you
1:15:03know, I don't know. I mean, you know,
1:15:05could it be they're spending too much
1:15:07time worried about, you know, Instagrams
1:15:10and all this online now? I don't know. a
1:15:12lot of people online making money. So,
1:15:14there's two stories, two sides to
1:15:16everything. It's the individual. It's
1:15:18it's their time management. What are you
1:15:21doing with your time? Did you accomplish
1:15:23anything positive today? Okay, let me
1:15:27tell you something. I'll get depressed
1:15:28and pissed at myself if a whole day goes
1:15:31by and I feel like I didn't do enough
1:15:34that I could have or should have or, you
1:15:36know, I didn't do enough. Okay, I I need
1:15:39to prove to myself. You know, I wake up
1:15:41in the morning. I'm thinking about,
1:15:42okay, I got this deal in contract. Is
1:15:44there anything I need to do on that
1:15:45deal? Do I need to call a broker? I need
1:15:47to call a lawyer. Do I need to find out
1:15:49what's going on? Do I need to get
1:15:51repairs done over here? What do I need
1:15:53to do? All right, you got to keep your
1:15:55brain focused on what you can do and
1:15:59what accomplishments you can make. And
1:16:01then you move on to the next thing. And
1:16:03next thing you know, you keep attacking
1:16:04things. You keep knocking things out.
1:16:06And next thing you know, you you you
1:16:08know, then you look for more
1:16:09opportunities because you you took care
1:16:11of the stuff you had to do. Where do you
1:16:12think lack of motivation comes from?
1:16:14Like all of those friends that you had
1:16:16when you were a kid and you were growing
1:16:17up poor, you're probably surrounded by a
1:16:19bunch of other people that were broke
1:16:20and maybe they went in a different
1:16:22direction. Did you notice any strong
1:16:23distinctions? The problem where I grew
1:16:25up was they had the ability. They had
1:16:28the intelligence even even though they
1:16:30weren't educated on I grew up on the
1:16:33streets
1:16:34but they just didn't know how to leave
1:16:37that world and apply the energy that
1:16:41they had and the talents they had you
1:16:44know from the street. They didn't know
1:16:46how to apply it in a legitimate way. If
1:16:49they would have taken the effort and
1:16:50been a little more patient and put it
1:16:53towards something positive and legal,
1:16:56then they all would have been
1:16:58multi-millionaires. You know, I ran into
1:16:59a guy the other day and this guy, he
1:17:03made me a lot of money and made himself
1:17:04a lot of money. I won't say his name,
1:17:07but he was a Cuban guy from Miami. And
1:17:09this guy just had a personality where he
1:17:12talked and he was we became great
1:17:14friends. We were like close. Our
1:17:16families were close. everything. We
1:17:18loved it. We go on vacations. We'd
1:17:20party. He loved to party. He was full of
1:17:22life. We had a great times. And he was
1:17:25bringing people, buyers from Miami, and
1:17:28I was buying up the out of Orlando. And
1:17:31he was just finding buyers, doctors,
1:17:33these people, and selling deals, and he
1:17:35was getting me really good prices. And I
1:17:37was cutting them in with good
1:17:38commissions. And then I think we even I
1:17:40even let him come in as a partner once.
1:17:42And he he was great about dealing with
1:17:44people and and getting, you know, but he
1:17:46liked to party. He just he, you know, I
1:17:49said, "Why aren't you here? You you
1:17:51should be running this building. Let's
1:17:53get these units turned over. Let's get
1:17:54the carpet guy in here. Let's get the,
1:17:56you know, get on top of the rents we got
1:17:58to collect. You know, what are you
1:17:59doing?" Uh, you know, he's having a good
1:18:01time in Miami, you know, with the girls
1:18:03and the booze and the boats and and
1:18:06that's what he wanted to do. And you
1:18:08know he always hustled and made a good
1:18:10life enough living but he never made you
1:18:12know who he could have been. He could
1:18:14have been major major. Does that
1:18:16frustrate you to see that that people
1:18:18can't live up to their It doesn't
1:18:19frustrate me. I just know
1:18:22that when you show me that you're not on
1:18:25the same road as I'm on then I got to
1:18:28get off the road or you got to get off
1:18:31or whatever. I mean, the way I live is,
1:18:33listen, if I feel you're a productive
1:18:35person and you're positive to be in my
1:18:37world, then I'll give you the shirt off
1:18:39my back. I'll work with you. Listen, I
1:18:41love to help people. I mean, that's
1:18:43that's been honestly, all right, it may
1:18:45sound corny, but put it this way. Money
1:18:47can't buy it. I'm not going to say it's
1:18:49better than money, but money can't buy
1:18:52the satisfaction I get when I take
1:18:54somebody and help them go to another
1:18:57level or or or better their life. I've
1:19:01had some serious stories uh of people
1:19:03personally coming to my events and
1:19:05telling me, you know, I've had like guys
1:19:07that I know had a wicked past, a very
1:19:10bad past or they were in the game or
1:19:13gang bangers, whatever you want to call
1:19:14them, and they have tell me this story
1:19:17on because of watching me and and
1:19:19knowing my story and doing what I did
1:19:21and they now take care of the kids and
1:19:23now they're not getting in trouble and
1:19:25now they're living a they feel so good
1:19:26about themselves that they'd be dead or
1:19:29in jail like I was going to
1:19:31You know, if I didn't leave New York, I
1:19:32would be dead right now. Guaranteed.
1:19:34Guaranteed. Or ride away in jail if I
1:19:36was lucky. I mean, you know, it's it's a
1:19:39mentality. You got to want it. You got
1:19:41to want a good life. We're not here that
1:19:43long. Listen, you know, who knows 10
1:19:46years from now, 20 years from now, I
1:19:48probably won't even be here, okay? It's
1:19:50going to be over. So, you know, make the
1:19:53most of it. And the people that you
1:19:55brought into this world while you're
1:19:57here, that's what you should do, you
1:19:59know? And then maybe, you know, my kids
1:20:01will remember me, my grandkids will
1:20:02remember me and say, "Hey, yeah, I'm
1:20:03living good because, you know, my father
1:20:05did something when his was here. He made
1:20:08it happen." And then we make and then
1:20:10we're making it happen and we all lived
1:20:12our life on this planet, you know, in
1:20:15peace and happiness and, you know,
1:20:16enjoyed it. Do you ever have concerns
1:20:18that maybe a few generations down they
1:20:20just start wasting the money? I mean,
1:20:23you know, they've said that about every
1:20:24generation. You know, they say in the
1:20:2660s, they said the 60s generation suck.
1:20:28And he said the 70s suck. But meanwhile,
1:20:31listen, you're either a loser or you're
1:20:33a winner. It's up to you. You can be
1:20:35whatever you want to be. You have the
1:20:38power. All right. You wake up in the
1:20:40morning. What the are you going to do?
1:20:42That's the question. Do you know what
1:20:44you're doing? Are you doing something
1:20:45smart? Are you doing something that's
1:20:47going to lead to a better life? You
1:20:49know, are you helping anybody? Are you
1:20:51making money? And it's up to you. How do
1:20:53you ensure that your like great
1:20:55grandkids don't go and take that money
1:20:57and instead of going to college they go
1:20:59and buy like you can't there's only so
1:21:00many things you control in life. All I'm
1:21:02saying is I'm doing the best I can to
1:21:04set them up for success. Now hopefully
1:21:08my kids now are going to set their kids
1:21:10up like I set my kids up and then their
1:21:13kids will be and we all keep living and
1:21:15growing in that same mentality. Okay. By
1:21:19you know our living experience. Has it
1:21:21always been very easy for you to become
1:21:23motivated or have there been spells
1:21:26where you've lacked motivation for a
1:21:27couple months or a year? I've always
1:21:29been motivated about making money
1:21:30because I knew money would make my life
1:21:31better, okay? And make my life easier
1:21:34and make my family happier and get my
1:21:36kids better educations and lifestyles. I
1:21:39mean, I don't know. I've always been
1:21:40motivated since a very young age, even
1:21:4310 years old. I remember thinking about,
1:21:45you know, because we grew up in a place
1:21:46where we had no money. So it was all
1:21:48about hustling and trying to think about
1:21:49how can we make next, you know, make
1:21:51next dollar. Do you notice any
1:21:53difference between
1:21:54generations in terms of motivation or
1:21:57work ethic? I mean, my kids, you know,
1:21:59which I don't knock them for it, but I
1:22:03they don't have Well, maybe because they
1:22:04don't have to. See, I I sacrificed being
1:22:06a parent when I was very young. I had
1:22:09to. I wasn't the best parent. I wasn't
1:22:11mean to the kids. I took care of my
1:22:12kids, but my kids spent a lot of time in
1:22:14the backseat of a car while I'm running
1:22:16around in the worst neighborhoods buying
1:22:18boxes, fixing them up, or then when they
1:22:20got old enough, I put them to work. I
1:22:23mean, you know, instead of taking them
1:22:24to baseball, which I tried to do that,
1:22:26but they sucked anyway. Um, I mean I I I
1:22:30I didn't I maybe I could have been a
1:22:32better parent, you know, and uh but now
1:22:35luckily they're in a position where they
1:22:38can have the best of both worlds because
1:22:39of my struggle, you know, and they
1:22:41suffered and they struggled when they
1:22:43were young. So now it paid off in the
1:22:45long run cuz now their kids don't have
1:22:47to struggle like they did or like I did.
1:22:50I don't know. Hopefully, we always talk
1:22:52about our kids being not spoiled. You
1:22:55can't spoil your kids. You can treat
1:22:57them good. You can give them whatever
1:22:58you want and can. But you got to make
1:23:01them appreciate it and realize it didn't
1:23:04come out of the air magically. We earned
1:23:07it. Okay. What childhood experience
1:23:10impacted you the most in terms of how
1:23:13you behave now? I mean by growing up so
1:23:16bad and in such a terrible place, I
1:23:20always wanted a better life. Ex. I
1:23:22wanted to escape New York, you know? I
1:23:25mean, so that always and then when I
1:23:26went to California, that was just as
1:23:28bad. When I was in Oakland for 17 or 18
1:23:32years, was there ever a specific
1:23:34experience that happened? Like you
1:23:35mentioned sleeping in a bathtub or
1:23:37something maybe that happened where
1:23:38you're like, "Okay, I'm never going to
1:23:39do this." Or, you know, listen, I've
1:23:41slept on trains. Okay. I I I've been
1:23:44around I watch people get actually right
1:23:47in front of me in Manhattan in New York
1:23:49and Hell's Kitchen.
1:23:51Um, I mean the whole life experience of
1:23:55me growing up was no fond memories, just
1:23:58negative, negative, negative. The
1:23:59people, the atmosphere, everything. So I
1:24:02was always motivated to get the hell
1:24:04away from it. Get away from these
1:24:06people. Get out of here. Go move on.
1:24:08There has to be a better life, you know.
1:24:10And luckily the army saved my life. If
1:24:12you were to restart today, how would you
1:24:15do that if you wanted to make a hund00
1:24:17million over the over the course of a
1:24:19lifetime? Assuming you're starting over
1:24:21right now. I mean, you know, these days
1:24:22things are a little different. You know,
1:24:24I would still, you know, listen, I
1:24:27started by working for other people. I
1:24:30managed other people's real estate. And
1:24:33then common sense told me, well, if
1:24:36you're making them money, you can make
1:24:38your own money. So I went from managing
1:24:43and learning to
1:24:45ownership you know and anybody can do
1:24:47that you know anybody can pick a field
1:24:50any field and say okay I'm going to work
1:24:52for somebody else learn that field be
1:24:55really great at it have a passion for it
1:24:58and then I'm going to become my own you
1:24:59have to become your own boss or you have
1:25:02to have your own company you have to
1:25:04what do they call it um you know
1:25:06self-employed self-employed
1:25:08proprietorship ship, whatever. You have
1:25:10to be your own person and your own
1:25:12create your own growth. You can't let
1:25:14somebody else see. You can't work for a
1:25:15paycheck for the rest of your life. You
1:25:17can't. You, you know, you got to have
1:25:18some opportunity. Okay. Just like he's
1:25:21got opportunity. The bigger you grow,
1:25:23the more he grows. What sector do you
1:25:26think you'd end up pursuing? Would it be
1:25:27real estate? Would you try something new
1:25:29like AI? Or do you think you'd go more
1:25:30the YouTube entertainment route?
1:25:32Entertainment I do because, you know,
1:25:34it's just we enjoy it. Well, it's highly
1:25:36lucrative. You're making a lot of money.
1:25:37It makes good money. Yeah. If you were
1:25:38to restart today, where do you think the
1:25:40most opportunity would lie and what you
1:25:42would pursue? I mean, nothing would
1:25:44compare to real estate. That you'd still
1:25:45do real estate 100%. It's the only It's
1:25:47the oldest profession in the world next
1:25:49to you know what? Mhm. You know what the
1:25:51oldest one is? I'm sure it's the one
1:25:53that Graham is a frequent patron of
1:25:56but they had to Hey, they had to go rent
1:25:58a space somewhere, right? True. The
1:26:01second. But um I don't know. I always
1:26:03looked around and the real estate's
1:26:05always been the most solid uh way of of
1:26:08of making money. And listen, I could
1:26:09have went in a car business and buy cars
1:26:12and fix them and flip them, too. I could
1:26:14see that I did. I used to survive before
1:26:16I owned real estate. I'd sell one
1:26:19Mercedes a
1:26:21month cuz I wasn't making much money in
1:26:23real estate. I was managing for other
1:26:25people. I would buy to San Francisco
1:26:27where nobody could park. Parking is
1:26:29impossible in San Francisco. And people
1:26:31would sell their cars just say, "Get rid
1:26:32of I'm tired of paying for parking. I'm
1:26:33tired of dealing with it. And I'd buy
1:26:35him I'd drive it over one bridge, the
1:26:37Bay Bridge to Oakland. I'd put it in a
1:26:40newspaper ad and some doctor out of
1:26:42Haywood or somewhere would come make
1:26:44five grand. That was my little hustle.
1:26:47And um and I used to finance it. Imagine
1:26:50that. I would finance it because what
1:26:52the hell do I care? I mean, for one
1:26:55month, I'm going to owe the bank uh you
1:26:58know, I think the cars were like 10
1:27:00grand. I'm selling for 15 $10,000 even
1:27:04at 10% is it's a big,000 bucks. It was
1:27:07like nothing. I was using the bank's
1:27:09money. I'm curious, why do content at
1:27:12all? At least now in this stage of life.
1:27:14Is it for fun? Is it for legacy? Is it
1:27:17money?
1:27:18I I I I always I I wanted to be an actor
1:27:21when I was young. I liked entertainment.
1:27:23I always like being enter, you know,
1:27:24entertaining and you know, but then now
1:27:26I'm doing entertainment and I'm teaching
1:27:30people. You see, you can look at all
1:27:32these big shot actors, okay? And I'm not
1:27:34knocking them. I'm not, you know, all
1:27:36the guys, you know, you know, I'm
1:27:38talking about all the whatever. And you
1:27:40can look at all the ball players, okay?
1:27:42And you can look at all the singers and
1:27:44you can look at all the dancers and all
1:27:46these people. Listen, they're very
1:27:47talented people, all right? and they
1:27:50bring amusement and entertainment into
1:27:52your life. But it's nothing, nothing,
1:27:56not
1:27:57one minuscule of the satisfaction you
1:28:01get when you can entertain and help
1:28:05people. Okay? Yeah, they're great actors
1:28:07and they tell a great story, but once
1:28:10the movie's over, that's it. You know,
1:28:13you saw the movie, you laughed, you
1:28:14enjoyed it. What else? That's it. I get
1:28:17to help people go through their life and
1:28:19and improve their life. You know,
1:28:21educating people is very important.
1:28:23Okay? Everybody needs education. I need
1:28:25education. I learn it every day. You
1:28:28know, we all learn that when you can
1:28:30help people and entertain them, it
1:28:32doesn't get any better than that. And
1:28:34make a few bucks while you're doing it.
1:28:36Now, what about implementing Bitcoin?
1:28:38Because I saw Grant Cardone when it
1:28:39comes to real estate is now doing real
1:28:42estate funds that are tied to Bitcoin
1:28:43where he takes the rents to buy Bitcoin
1:28:46and when you buy one of his buildings,
1:28:48you're also buying Bitcoin. I can't get
1:28:50involved with something I really don't
1:28:52understand and I would never ever risk
1:28:56anybody's money in something that I
1:28:59don't know what I'm doing. So, you know,
1:29:02I'm not knocking it and I'm not for it
1:29:04because I don't understand Bitcoin and
1:29:06I've seen it all over the place and I
1:29:09know it's a new thing and yeah, my son
1:29:11told me to buy it when it was a dollar.
1:29:14Ben Jr., he told me to buy Bitcoin when
1:29:17it was a dollar. He even with the
1:29:19dollar. Why didn't he buy it? I think he
1:29:20was in college.
1:29:22Why did you Because you don't know, you
1:29:24know, because the law it could have been
1:29:26a fraud and it's run by computers. And
1:29:29you know who controls the computers?
1:29:30People. And then if the wrong people get
1:29:33in there, I don't know. You know, I
1:29:35heard all kinds of stories here. Good,
1:29:36you hear bad. I don't know. It It's not
1:29:39my generation. Technology. I came when
1:29:42technology was born. Okay. I didn't
1:29:45really grow with it. That's the problem.
1:29:47Guys like you have grown with technology
1:29:50and understand it is more part of your
1:29:52life. So you know what are you gonna do?
1:29:55You can't do everything in life. But do
1:29:57you think it's worth it to take the time
1:29:58to understand it or to diversify
1:30:023% into it? It's always good to
1:30:05diversify because when you
1:30:07diversify, if something hurts you, it's
1:30:11okay because you got some
1:30:12diversification there of other things to
1:30:14protect you. So I'm not against it. And
1:30:17then maybe if my son insisted or Aaron
1:30:19insisted, hey, let's open up a Bitcoin
1:30:21account or whatever, I'd say, fine, open
1:30:23it up. But I'd be doing it more for him
1:30:25than me. I'm in real estate just like I
1:30:28don't loan money. What's I don't play
1:30:30the stocks anymore. I just do what I
1:30:33know because if I focus on what I know,
1:30:36I know I'm going to do well. I know what
1:30:38I'm doing. This is going to either sound
1:30:40really stupid or really amazing 20 years
1:30:43from now, but I see a lot of people
1:30:45online, a lot of real estate investors
1:30:46on Twitter saying, "I don't see the
1:30:49point in real estate anymore to try to
1:30:51bust my making 6 7% when I believe
1:30:55Bitcoin is going to average 20 to 40%
1:30:58annualized returns over the next 20
1:31:00years. Why am I going to do that?" But
1:31:03even even at 10, why take the risk, the
1:31:05work, the Everybody's different.
1:31:07whatever works for you. You're in
1:31:10control of your life. If you have a risk
1:31:12tolerance for Bitcoin and go for it, um,
1:31:16you know, I hope you make a fortune. I
1:31:17know guys that have made millions and
1:31:19millions of dollars of Bitcoin, millions
1:31:21and millions. And and I'm happy for him,
1:31:24but it wasn't my route. I focused on
1:31:26what I knew and I focused on necessity.
1:31:29People always need a place to live.
1:31:31People always need a place to shop.
1:31:33People always need a place to work.
1:31:35People need real estate is the world.
1:31:37You can't live without real estate. You
1:31:40know, if Bitcoin something happens and
1:31:42the computers go cuckoo tomorrow and
1:31:44everybody's Bitcoin can't find it or
1:31:46whatever the happened, uh computer chips
1:31:49or whatever break down, whatever the
1:31:51happens or somebody figures out a way to
1:31:53it up, someone turns it off. You know,
1:31:55you still got your house. You buy your
1:31:57house, you got your house, you buy that
1:31:59building, you know, the people going to
1:32:00pay your rent every month. I mean,
1:32:02listen, it's everybody. It's just like
1:32:04why didn't you become a doctor? You
1:32:06know, you choose your path in life and
1:32:07you choose where you want to put your
1:32:09efforts and your time and you you go for
1:32:11it. You know, it just, you know, it
1:32:13wasn't me. Even stocks aren't me
1:32:14anymore. My my youngest wants to, you
1:32:16know, we will over the summer for his
1:32:18benefit to trade some stocks, but I have
1:32:21no interest in it because I don't do six
1:32:23or 7%. I do value ad. I take garbage and
1:32:26I try to turn it into gold physically,
1:32:29mentally. I create it. I make it happen.
1:32:32I'm in control. I'm not just saying,
1:32:33"Oh, Bitcoin should go up. I'm going to
1:32:35make money." You're not What are you
1:32:37doing? You ain't doing I mean, to me, I
1:32:40like to make my money happen. Make it
1:32:42create it, you know. And uh just like,
1:32:44you know, you work for a living, you're
1:32:46you're creating your wealth. You're in
1:32:48control. If you make money, it's because
1:32:51you did it, not because you invested in
1:32:53Bitcoin. Yes, we got to have
1:32:54investments, you know, and you pick your
1:32:57and choose your investments. I choose
1:32:58mun bonds. You might choose Bitcoin.
1:33:01Whatever works for you is fine. It's
1:33:03your money. You earned it. Looking back,
1:33:05is there a life lesson or philosophy
1:33:08that you've adopted that you wish you
1:33:10implemented earlier in life?
1:33:13Sometimes I I could have took more risk
1:33:15and I didn't do it. I I always played it
1:33:18a little too. I didn't I could have bit
1:33:21off more than I could chew. Did I say
1:33:23that right? I could have bit more off
1:33:26and I could have chewed it. I could have
1:33:27swallowed I could have well I don't know
1:33:30if you like to swallow but that's
1:33:31another thing I don't that um the point
1:33:34is that you know my sons do it to me all
1:33:37the time and it actually gives me a
1:33:38physical pain. We're driving down the
1:33:41street. You know we could have bought
1:33:42that building 5 years ago for half of
1:33:44what it's now. You know we could have
1:33:46bought that bill. I could have bought
1:33:48Why do they say this to you? They just
1:33:50rub it in or what's No, but listen. you
1:33:55know, the facts are the facts and the
1:33:57truth of the truth. Did my kids tell me
1:33:59to buy more property back in the day?
1:34:02And I said, "No, I don't think so. The
1:34:03market's the market's already at a
1:34:05height." I didn't see it coming. I
1:34:07didn't see rents going from 800 to 1,600
1:34:10in such a short period of time. You
1:34:12don't have a crystal ball. Now, I did
1:34:15pretty good, so you can't beat me down.
1:34:17But could I have done more? I could have
1:34:19done a more. I could have been a
1:34:21multi-billionaire.
1:34:23If if I would have leveraged all the
1:34:25assets, I could have leveraged a lot
1:34:27more stuff that I did. I had the down
1:34:29payment. I could have bought up a ton
1:34:31of, but I didn't do it. I didn't want to
1:34:33over, you know, bite off more than I
1:34:35could chew and I could have chewed it.
1:34:37But, you know, it could have went the
1:34:38other way. My do my kids always say,
1:34:40"Well, you know, it could have went the
1:34:41other way, Dad. You know, the market
1:34:43could have went down or it could have
1:34:44stayed the same and you'd be stuck with
1:34:45all this." So, you know, nobody's got a
1:34:48crystal ball. You don't know what the
1:34:50future is. You can predict it. You can
1:34:52sometimes apply logic to it. Like, yeah,
1:34:54if an Amazon place gets built up in an
1:34:58area where it's it's it's a deserted
1:35:00area and you know they're going to have
1:35:022,000 employees there, then you know
1:35:05damn well it pays to build, right? And
1:35:08you know it pays to build retail and you
1:35:10know it pays to create a community, a
1:35:12housing community. That's common sense.
1:35:14It's interesting. I hear that a lot
1:35:16actually when I ask people what their
1:35:18biggest financial regret is, especially
1:35:20people that are like doing well
1:35:22financially. They always say, "I wish I
1:35:23could go back in time and have bought
1:35:25more equity, more assets, and invested
1:35:28more aggressively." But I also wonder if
1:35:30that's a little bit of survivorship bias
1:35:33because they're here, they're doing
1:35:35great by all means. Sure, they could be
1:35:37doing better, but to do better, you have
1:35:39to have a completely different
1:35:41framework. Instead of being conservative
1:35:43and calculated that applies to every
1:35:45action in your life, you would then
1:35:47become risky and aggressive and then
1:35:49that's what it would take and you don't
1:35:50know where that would have also led you.
1:35:52And so it's like, but I came from a
1:35:54being a risk taker, but even though it
1:35:57really wasn't risk, I don't know, it's
1:35:59hard to explain, you know, I always
1:36:01tried to do deals that I knew for a fact
1:36:04I was going to make money.
1:36:06I knew that if I bought this property, I
1:36:09know I can raise the rents if I do A, B,
1:36:11and C to it and manage it better than
1:36:14the last guy. So, there was no risk in
1:36:17everything I did. You know, I always
1:36:19knew ahead of time, I'm I'm making money
1:36:22the day I buy this place because I know
1:36:23what I got to do. I know it's going to
1:36:25work because I already know what the
1:36:26market's going on. Now, to predict the
1:36:28future, that's a different story. Now,
1:36:30what about rising insurance costs right
1:36:32now? Because I know that's it actually
1:36:34came down this year. I just I just
1:36:36insured my whole portfolio and we got
1:36:39about a 15% savings. How did that
1:36:42happen? Because insurance got so high
1:36:44people stopped using it. In fact, you
1:36:46know what I stopped doing? If I didn't
1:36:47have a loan on the property, I didn't
1:36:49get insurance. I only got a liability in
1:36:51case I get sued if somebody got hurt. I
1:36:53said, I'll be the insurance company if
1:36:55there's a fire and it cost 50 grand or
1:36:57100 grand or, you know, god forbid the
1:36:59whole place burns down, which never
1:37:00happens. I'll I'd rather take the risk
1:37:03than just give that kind of money to the
1:37:05insurance company. Insurance on
1:37:06apartments were always three $400 a
1:37:10unit. Right now they're 15 to 1,800 a
1:37:15unit. All right. In Florida, we get hit
1:37:17hard because of the hurricanes and all
1:37:18that. The problem is this. The insurance
1:37:20companies are the biggest crooks in the
1:37:22world. I'm sorry. It's true. Because
1:37:24they don't they don't have no risk. You
1:37:26know why? Because if they do get hit
1:37:29with big claims, okay, and I've seen it
1:37:32time after time again, they get hit here
1:37:33in Florida with big claims and
1:37:35hurricanes. What do they do immediately?
1:37:37They raise everybody else's rent and
1:37:39make us pay for it. That's what they do.
1:37:42So, they recapture all the money they
1:37:44paid out. I heard another strategy that
1:37:47they use is not to pay out the full
1:37:48amount. They claim some sort of loophole
1:37:51or whatever. that they expect a certain
1:37:52amount to settle and then the lawsuits
1:37:55they expect they're going to spend X
1:37:57amount fighting this and we're going to
1:37:59spend X amount fighting this so
1:38:00therefore it's better for us to fight
1:38:02this thing to try to settle for less
1:38:05most insurance companies like to settle
1:38:06if they can because they don't want to
1:38:08deal with lawyers and they don't want to
1:38:09run up legal fees we deal with this all
1:38:11the time I mean and the lawyers have
1:38:14driven the claims up so high now they
1:38:16make no sense they're just totally
1:38:18ridiculous with something a lawsuit that
1:38:20should be $100,000 is now $500 100,000.
1:38:22I mean, you know, it's crazy. The courts
1:38:24and the lawyers have gone nuts with
1:38:27lawsuits. Is there any solution to this?
1:38:30Stop. You know, the lawyers want make a
1:38:32fortune. You know, if somebody has a
1:38:34million dollar claim in a car accident,
1:38:38you know how much the lawyer gets? 30%.
1:38:4140. Maybe they can negotiate 30. You're
1:38:43right. Imagine that. They're going to
1:38:45make 300 grand off somebody's car
1:38:48accident. The lawyers have driven the
1:38:51settlements all the way up to the top.
1:38:53And who runs the courts? Who are the
1:38:56judges? Ex
1:38:58lawyers, they control the whole system.
1:39:02The system is is is, you know, they're
1:39:04not going to go against their own
1:39:05people. And lawyers kind of have this
1:39:07like bond. Well, the hard part is that
1:39:09it costs so much to defend a lawsuit,
1:39:11even if it's bas. Yeah. Lawyers are
1:39:13charging ridiculous money an hour now.
1:39:14And then they got to hire people. They
1:39:16got to charge for this. It's crazy.
1:39:18Well, you know, a good lawyer is going
1:39:19to charge 500 bucks an hour now. It's
1:39:21ridiculous. An hour. Do you think it
1:39:23could ever be feasible that we implement
1:39:26a system in the United States where if
1:39:28you pursue a lawsuit and you lose, you
1:39:32are responsible for the other person's
1:39:34legal fees. you know, sounds logical,
1:39:37but technically sometimes you can lose
1:39:39and really not, you know, deserve to
1:39:42lose deserve to lose or maybe it was a
1:39:45you shouldn't have lost so much or, you
1:39:47know, I don't know. I I try to stand in
1:39:50the court system because it's just very
1:39:52very tricky. But do you think that might
1:39:53cut frivolous? I feel like instead of
1:39:56having to frivolous lawsuits, yeah,
1:39:59publics, you know, publics, right? I
1:40:01think they get sued like I don't know
1:40:03how many if you count all the lawsuits
1:40:04they have for slip and falls and most of
1:40:06them you know like constantly like every
1:40:09day they have lawsuits coming in. It's
1:40:11crazy. It would be interesting instead
1:40:13of having to resue for legal fees to sue
1:40:15them back for legal fees. It could just
1:40:16be a part of the dismissal process where
1:40:19the jury then decides okay you sued it
1:40:22was frivolous to this degree 70%
1:40:25frivolous you pay 70% of what you're
1:40:26going to have. But then if somebody sues
1:40:28you for a frivolous lawsuit, nine times
1:40:31out of 10 they ain't got to pot the
1:40:32pistons. They ain't getting anyway.
1:40:34That's true. So what's the point is The
1:40:37problem is is you got the you got the
1:40:39people in life that are always trying to
1:40:41over and and and and and have some slick
1:40:44way of beating the system or doing
1:40:46something that's crooked or doing
1:40:48something that's shady. And they're the
1:40:49ones that ruin if everybody really tries
1:40:51to do the right thing. What if there's a
1:40:52a database for lawyers and you can go
1:40:55back and see their history of
1:40:56performance in the court of law and that
1:40:59evidence and data could be used? Maybe.
1:41:01No, because most lawsuits settle outside
1:41:03of court. They're not going to go to a
1:41:05jury trial. It's easier just to settle
1:41:06and get 20. Either way, we don't use I
1:41:09don't think we have a solution. Paid
1:41:11regardless. Yeah. Unless they took their
1:41:13own contingency and lose. To single guys
1:41:16out there, cuz that's a lot of our
1:41:18demographic is like men 18 to 35. You
1:41:22have had plenty of experience dating,
1:41:25right? What would you say not dating?
1:41:28Mating. Okay. What would you say most
1:41:30guys are getting wrong in terms of
1:41:31dating? You know, you can't get too
1:41:33caught up in a relationship at a young
1:41:35age. You just can't. What is a young
1:41:37age? How it holds? 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
1:41:4018 to 25. And then it depends on what
1:41:42you've accomplished while you're 18 and
1:41:4425. You can't get into a
1:41:48relationship unless you got your
1:41:50together and you got your life on track
1:41:53and you're, you know, you're you're
1:41:54moving in the direction you need to be
1:41:56and you're you're self-sufficient, you
1:41:58know, and you're stable and then the
1:42:01other person should be stable, too. I
1:42:03mean, you know, and then, you know, I
1:42:05mean, really, you shouldn't really be
1:42:06getting I wouldn't see people having
1:42:08kids till like 30. I think 30 is really
1:42:11the right year to to maybe start
1:42:14thinking about having kids if you're
1:42:15successful and stable and comfortable in
1:42:17your life. Isn't that early? Because if
1:42:19you're 20, let's just say you're 26, you
1:42:21got your life together and you meet
1:42:23someone. Then it's also like, well, you
1:42:25got to date him for a few years and then
1:42:27you got to get married and then it's
1:42:29like another year and then and then
1:42:30you're 35. Okay. Whenever Listen,
1:42:33everybody's different. You never know.
1:42:35You know, it's all about meeting
1:42:36somebody that's going to make your life
1:42:40pleasant and
1:42:41productive, whether it's moneywise or
1:42:44home life. Like my wife, she don't work,
1:42:46but I still feel like she's productive
1:42:49because she's got her responsibilities.
1:42:51She's got the house, she's got the kids,
1:42:53she's got our life, she's got she's
1:42:55involved. Okay. Uh, you know, it's got
1:42:58to be people that and and we're
1:43:00opposites. 100% opposite in every way.
1:43:03Imagine that. Mhm. You know, it's funny
1:43:05how you say, "Oh, this person likes
1:43:06doing this and I like doing that." Me
1:43:08and my wife are opposites and it works.
1:43:12I mean, everybody's different. We're all
1:43:13human. But, you know, you really
1:43:14shouldn't get caught up in a
1:43:15relationship till you got your own
1:43:17together and you got some money. You got
1:43:19your career going. You got your goals
1:43:21set. You're on the right track. You take
1:43:23care of yourself. You know, and you
1:43:25know, cuz dating, you know, you can
1:43:26start dating, you can start spending
1:43:28money. you know, you want to wine and
1:43:30dine, you want to have a fancy car, you
1:43:32know, you want to have a nicer place. A
1:43:35lot of people don't want to struggle.
1:43:36They don't want to they want it right
1:43:37now. They want to live it now. And
1:43:39that's how they up their credit and uh,
1:43:42you know, and and then put themselves in
1:43:43a hole they can't get out of. That's the
1:43:45worst thing in the world is to dig
1:43:46yourself in a hole where it's almost
1:43:49impossible to get out of. Do you think
1:43:51guys should pay for taking a girl out
1:43:53every single time?
1:43:55I mean, yeah, I think that um, you know,
1:44:00he's still a man, okay? You know, I
1:44:01mean, I think, you know, it depends. I
1:44:03mean, you know, to me, yeah, you're a
1:44:05guy and you're dating a woman. Listen,
1:44:07no matter all the crap that goes on
1:44:08these days, it's still pretty much
1:44:10expected. You know, it's funny. All
1:44:12these women, women's lib and they want
1:44:15to be equal, but you when you go out to
1:44:16dinner, they sure want you to pay the
1:44:18bills, don't they? Yeah. Um, so, you
1:44:21know, I don't know. It's just it's it's
1:44:23the human custom I think that's been
1:44:25just the man's a man still, you know,
1:44:28and typically, let's face it, you know,
1:44:30men make more money than women and men
1:44:33women ain't going to do a lot of jobs
1:44:34men do. So, are there certain things
1:44:36though in a relationship that you would
1:44:38say look out for this, beware of this
1:44:41that you've learned this is like a bad
1:44:42characteristic or red flag. You got to
1:44:44know when the flags pop up and the
1:44:45signals pop up. You got you got to know.
1:44:46So, what are signals that you should be
1:44:48privy to? Anything that you feel is not
1:44:52you know, conforming with your life. I
1:44:56mean, you know, when you stop seeing
1:44:57like people, you know, like, you know,
1:44:59you like a girl and she's whatever,
1:45:01super hot and she got a lot of good
1:45:03qualities, but maybe she drinks too
1:45:05much, you know, maybe that's, you know,
1:45:08not, you know, a good sign. You know, if
1:45:11they overindulge in anything, you know,
1:45:13no moderation or, you know, I mean, you
1:45:16know, the person's got to match you and
1:45:19what your goals are in life. you know,
1:45:21if they want to constantly worry about
1:45:23party
1:45:24party, then you know, you know, it's not
1:45:28gonna get you nowhere. It's going to
1:45:29take you down the wrong road, you know,
1:45:31cuz the party's over the next day and
1:45:33you forget all about it anyway. So, what
1:45:35the hell? How much more did it motivate
1:45:37you to make money and be successful
1:45:38having a wife and having kids? I mean,
1:45:41you know, having the kids definitely was
1:45:45a motivation knowing that I need money.
1:45:48I got to put the I got to pay for these
1:45:49kids food. I got to pay for these kids.
1:45:51I got to have a decent place to live. I
1:45:52got to have a decent car to get around
1:45:53with. I got to have them in school. I It
1:45:56cost money. Kids are not cheap, you
1:45:58know, and you don't want to, you know,
1:45:59have a kid and raise them like uh, you
1:46:01know, a piece of like I was raised, you
1:46:04know. See, coming from such a bad
1:46:05upbringing made me, you know, have a
1:46:09more bigger desire to really do well for
1:46:11my kids and give them a good life. We're
1:46:14going to go on to some rapidfire
1:46:16questions if you're ready.
1:46:19Perfect. Yeah. So, what's the most
1:46:21ridiculous thing you've ever bought that
1:46:23you absolutely love? Probably my
1:46:25statues. Like the pelican out there.
1:46:27There's a pelican out there that looks
1:46:29over the beach and is an eagle. How much
1:46:31were those?
1:46:33I don't know. Somewhere between more
1:46:35than five, less than 10.
1:46:37Batmobiles. Cars. Yeah, Batmobile is
1:46:40definitely I had a lot of them. I had
1:46:41the ones from the movies with the wings.
1:46:43I had the one where it shot fire out the
1:46:45back. I had the machine that came up and
1:46:48shot, you know, you get in these little
1:46:49kicks, but I made money on it stuff,
1:46:51too. Yeah. You know, creating this
1:46:53thing. Um, I mean, I've done crazy
1:46:56things, you know, mostly cars. What's
1:46:59one thing you refuse to spend money on,
1:47:00no matter how rich you are? Refuse to
1:47:03spend money
1:47:04on
1:47:05air. I hate that when you go to a gas
1:47:08station and now you got to put your card
1:47:10in. You don't pay for air. I thought
1:47:13it's free if you just go and ask for it.
1:47:15It's in California. No, but now they got
1:47:17machines on every gas station. Yeah, I
1:47:19always
1:47:19used that might be a California thing
1:47:22though. I just walk in and ask, "Hey,
1:47:23could you turn on the air?" Sure. No,
1:47:25they got machines normally in gas
1:47:27stations and now you got to pay for them
1:47:29right there. Yeah. There's always a
1:47:31compressor in the
1:47:32ground. Give us some kind of convenience
1:47:34for ripping us off on the gas. I always
1:47:36walk in and just ask and the guy's like,
1:47:38"All right." Clicks the button, it turns
1:47:40on. Not here. It's air. You got paper
1:47:43here. Which do you enjoy more, the chase
1:47:45and negotiation and structuring of a
1:47:48really good deal or the moment you
1:47:49close?
1:47:51Finding the deal. Once you find a deal,
1:47:53everything else is programmatic.
1:47:55Programmatic, whatever the word is. So,
1:47:56it's the once you find that deal and you
1:48:00know you got that deal,
1:48:03everything else you get, you close the
1:48:05deal, you got the money, close the deal,
1:48:06you fix it up, you know, then you can
1:48:08start making moves. But finding the deal
1:48:11is the key to real estate. Everything
1:48:13else is easy. You can hire somebody to
1:48:15fix [ __ ] You can hire somebody, you
1:48:17know, to manage [ __ ] You can you can,
1:48:18you know, finding that deal with value
1:48:21add a component. In one sentence, what
1:48:24is one piece of advice that you would
1:48:26love to give to your 20-year-old self?
1:48:28Focus on making money and not, you know,
1:48:32having a good time. You know, worrying
1:48:35about having a good time. I mean, that's
1:48:37the biggest problem that 20-year-olds
1:48:39do. You know, they're just, you know,
1:48:41and it's natural. It's human nature, I
1:48:42guess. You know, you can have a much
1:48:45better time when you're 30 and you're
1:48:49rich. Okay? Spend your 20 to 30 years,
1:48:5320 to 30 to 10 years doing everything
1:48:56you possibly can to get ahead so you
1:48:59won't have to work so hard when you're
1:49:0030. And then when you're 40, you'll be
1:49:02even better. And when you're 50, you'll
1:49:03be even better. I mean, really put the
1:49:05time in because you got the most energy
1:49:07when you're 20 years old. I worked well,
1:49:10you know, I partied, but when I first
1:49:12started, when I was 20, I know damn
1:49:14well, I worked constantly for the time I
1:49:17got up, you know, except the weekends
1:49:19you party. Um, I was working probably
1:49:2216, 18 hour days. And you would have
1:49:25wanted to work on the weekends to add
1:49:27that time. I did work on the weekends
1:49:28and I, you know, really started getting
1:49:30hooked on, you know, knowing, hey, I got
1:49:31to get the [ __ ] done because the quicker
1:49:32I get it done, the quicker I can make
1:49:33that money. So, you know, but partying
1:49:37was always the biggest problem when I
1:49:38was chasing, you know, when you're
1:49:39chasing, you know, out dating and, you
1:49:41know, all that and going out and clubs
1:49:43and drinking.
1:49:45What do you feel? How do you feel about
1:49:46that, Jack? It's really a waste of time.
1:49:48Yeah. I mean, you can do a little You
1:49:50can do it in moderation, but you can't
1:49:52do a lot of it. And you can't get hooked
1:49:53up on what your friends are always doing
1:49:54and trying to keep up with your friends.
1:49:56You know who's having money in the bank.
1:49:58I'm telling you that'll protect you for
1:50:00the rest of your life and lead to a
1:50:02great life. I mean, I don't party and go
1:50:05out that much. It's a pretty but I'm
1:50:07talking like pedal to the metal like
1:50:09head down 10 years 20s. I disagree. I
1:50:12think 10 years is a really big
1:50:14sacrifice. I think if you're like you
1:50:17should do everything within reason. So,
1:50:18like if you know the general idea of the
1:50:21life that you want to live when you're
1:50:2230, when you're 40, when you're 50, when
1:50:23you're 60, add on like 30%, maybe 40%,
1:50:27and shoot for that. Oh, I'd say double
1:50:29it. It's like I got friends, people I,
1:50:32you know, friendly with, and they say,
1:50:34"Oh, yeah, when I was 20, I was
1:50:35backpacking and traveling the world and,
1:50:38you know, and all that great experience
1:50:40and sleeping in host." And you know,
1:50:43they claim it was a great time, but
1:50:46today they're broke. If I want to go
1:50:49travel to all the places you were
1:50:50backpacking to and all that. I'm going
1:50:52to get on a plane. I'm going to stay in
1:50:54a nice hotel. I'm really going to enjoy
1:50:56the place and enjoy the experience. You
1:50:59should have been working when you were
1:51:0020 years old, not sleeping in the street
1:51:03and traveling all around. I mean, you
1:51:05know, but and now and now they cry to me
1:51:08how broke they are. Well, you're broke
1:51:09because you controlled your life. Okay?
1:51:13You know, and well, in fairness, we hear
1:51:15a lot of the other side of the token as
1:51:17well. So, a lot of other people say, "I
1:51:19wish that I enjoyed my 20s a little bit
1:51:20more." Gary Vee, actually, we asked him
1:51:23like, "Well, what is if you could go
1:51:24back in time, what would you have done?"
1:51:25And he's like, "I just wish that I would
1:51:26have let myself enjoy my life a little
1:51:28bit during the 20s." If he did, then he
1:51:31might not be enjoying as much now. True.
1:51:34Yeah. But then again, your body, he
1:51:36might not have what he has now to help
1:51:39his if he has kids. I don't even know
1:51:40what you're talking about. But, you
1:51:42know, you know, listen, I don't know. I
1:51:45think you got to earn. You earn and you
1:51:48make [ __ ] happen. Then you enjoy life.
1:51:50That's the way I think it should be. I
1:51:51agree. But I don't think I made my
1:51:53mistakes, don't get me wrong. You know,
1:51:54I don't think it's zero like on or off
1:51:56like a life. You find a balance.
1:51:58Moderation. Everything is good in
1:52:00moderation. Drinking is fine. Uh, eating
1:52:03is fine, traveling is fine, everything,
1:52:07partying, whatever in moderation. But
1:52:09the main focus of your life has to be
1:52:12moving ahead because the clock's ticking
1:52:15and one day you're not going to be able
1:52:17to do it. Time is up. Clock's ticked and
1:52:20you're done, you know, or you're too old
1:52:23to do. So time is so valuable. People
1:52:26don't appreciate the value of time.
1:52:29That's the biggest problem that people
1:52:31don't realize because by the time you
1:52:32know it, you're going to be 30 and
1:52:35you're gonna say, "Oh, I still ain't got
1:52:37my together, you know, or I don't have
1:52:39money in the bank and I don't have, you
1:52:41know, where I I I really wish I was at."
1:52:44I would agree with that. I think it's
1:52:45the main focus that you should have in
1:52:47your I'm not saying you should never go
1:52:48out to a restaurant. You should never go
1:52:49on a date, you know, but you do it
1:52:51within, you know, you have a little
1:52:53entertainment in your life. Yes. It's
1:52:55important. You're human, but you can't
1:52:57do too much. Yeah, I think I think I
1:52:59sound more like a contrarian than I
1:53:01actually am because I I agree. It should
1:53:03be the main focus. It just shouldn't be
1:53:04the only focus. Everything is right in
1:53:06moderation. Everything is right in the
1:53:08proper place. You know, you have a
1:53:10proper time set aside to focus on
1:53:13growth. You have a you have a certain
1:53:15time where you have to maintain your
1:53:17responsibilities. You have certain time
1:53:18where you can spend with your kids. You
1:53:20know, you have to allocate your time
1:53:23accordingly and logically. But growth
1:53:26has to be a driving most important
1:53:28thing. You never sacrifice the time you
1:53:32need to spend growing and pushing to get
1:53:33ahead uh on stupid that ain't going to
1:53:36do for you because you the next day oh
1:53:38wow I went to a concert big deal. You
1:53:41had a good time at a concert. Is it
1:53:43how's it going to help you tomorrow when
1:53:44your ass is broke and you spent all the
1:53:46money on a concert? I mean, you know,
1:53:48you got to think logically and
1:53:51sensibly, and hopefully one day you
1:53:53will.
1:53:55I hope so, too. Ben Mala, thank you so
1:53:58much for coming on the ice. Thank you
1:53:59for coming to my house and occupying it.
1:54:01Thank you for having us here. I got to
1:54:03say, I've seen this house in plenty of
1:54:04different videos. This is way more
1:54:06impressive. And I had very high
1:54:08expectations. This is way better. It's
1:54:10beautiful than I thought. All could be
1:54:12yours. What price? As long as it has a
1:54:15three in front of one, two zeros, two
1:54:18zeros. How about it could be a three in
1:54:20front of the one? 13.
1:54:24Well, cuz you're a cheap bastard. That's
1:54:26one of you always want a bargain. You
1:54:28want a bargain, but you know, that's
1:54:30fine, you know, but the people I'm going
1:54:33to sell this house to are not really
1:54:35going to care that much. They're they're
1:54:37going to say, "Well, I'm paying what the
1:54:39going rate is if I wanted three lots on
1:54:42the Gulf of America. My wife's pissed
1:54:45about that." You know, why does he do
1:54:48that? Does he do that just to irritate
1:54:49people of Gulf of America? Probably. Is
1:54:51that just part of his obnoxious talking
1:54:53point? Now, we're talking, don't get me
1:54:55wrong, he does things on purpose cuz he
1:54:58knows he likes to shock you. New Yorkers
1:55:00like to shock you. They like to stick it
1:55:03in there and start some That's the New
1:55:06York mentality. I think he just likes
1:55:08and it it helps a lot, but sometimes he
1:55:11goes a little too far. Also, it's like
1:55:12cementing his legacy. Like, if that
1:55:14sticks, then he's the guy that turned
1:55:15into Yeah, I'm the guy that changed it
1:55:16to Gulp America. Anyway, it is what it
1:55:19is. But, um, where we at? I was saying
1:55:22thank you for coming on. Thank you for
1:55:24inviting us into your house. And uh
1:55:26guys, if you're interested in some
1:55:28consulting, Mhm. go to benmemaller.com
1:55:32and consult with Ben, okay? Because
1:55:34you're not I'm not bragging, but I'm
1:55:36just going to tell you right now, you're
1:55:38not going to find anybody with 30 years
1:55:39experience, has accumulated all the real
1:55:41estate wealth I have, that's going to
1:55:43give you a straight answer, not with a
1:55:46hidden agenda,
1:55:48um, and looking to take anything from
1:55:50you, just help you out and get you on
1:55:52the right track and answer questions if
1:55:54I can. And if I can't, I'll try to find
1:55:56the answer or, you know, find somebody
1:55:59that does have the answer. And you need
1:56:00to raise prices cuz I think you're
1:56:02underelling yourself. But if that's
1:56:04you're looking at a crazy opportunity
1:56:05for you guys arbitrage
1:56:09opportunity to book your call and then
1:56:12upsell it somewhere else and then profit
1:56:14the difference. I'm not looking to get
1:56:15rich. You know, I already am considered
1:56:17rich, I guess. So, you know, it helps a
1:56:20little, but I like helping people. Okay.
1:56:22Imagine if the whole world helped each
1:56:24other. Can you imagine that? How better
1:56:28a world we'd all live in? I don't even
1:56:30know. Why are we fighting wars anymore?
1:56:32Why are we Why are we even going to
1:56:34violence and destruction and all? Why
1:56:36are there so many
1:56:38[ __ ] world if you were in charge?
1:56:40Can't they solve any problem by pretty
1:56:44much money, you know, or you know,
1:56:46necessity they need? I mean, I don't
1:56:48understand. I don't understand. Makes no
1:56:50sense to me whatsoever how they can take
1:56:52something that's running and good and
1:56:55destroy it. Blow up buildings, destroy
1:56:58people's
1:56:59lives. Where where does it benefit? I
1:57:01don't understand. There's no benefit in
1:57:03it. There's no there's no p there's
1:57:04nothing in it for anybody. And then if
1:57:07you do win, all right, now you're stuck
1:57:08at a bombed out place. Who what the is
1:57:11the point? What is the problem here? And
1:57:14whenever people have conflict, they need
1:57:15to sit down. Okay? And there's two sides
1:57:18to every story, but you know, the
1:57:20problem is that I think we're dealing
1:57:22with people who are just irrational. The
1:57:24Middle East has always been irrational.
1:57:26They just then they're not rational. And
1:57:29then the communists are not rational cuz
1:57:31they want to control everything. It
1:57:33makes no sense to control people for
1:57:36what? You're not here that long. What is
1:57:38Putin in the 70s now? He ain't going to
1:57:40be around that long. Is he in the 70s?
1:57:43He's in good shape. He's in good shape.
1:57:45Wow. But you know why? Why? I I I
1:57:48there's no reason in the world to kill
1:57:50people and destroy people's lives.
1:57:54There's no logical reason for that. I
1:57:56can't think of one. I just don't I
1:57:59can't. When things are peaceful, let
1:58:00them be peaceful. If you have
1:58:03differences, then figure out how you can
1:58:06work those differences out. But to kill
1:58:08people and destroy places makes no sense
1:58:11to me whatsoever. It just makes no
1:58:13sense. humans. I'm sure with all the
1:58:16technology we have, we're going to
1:58:18planets and all the AI and the computers
1:58:21and all the we, you know, let's face it,
1:58:24humans evolve very quickly lately, too.
1:58:28If you notice, I mean, think back only
1:58:3050 years ago, how the world was so
1:58:32different, but we can't be human and
1:58:35treat each other with respect and, you
1:58:37know, and just get along peacefully. I
1:58:39don't understand it. It's like we're
1:58:40animals, you You know, we got to get rid
1:58:42of that animal animalistic
1:58:44mentality, okay? And not even let it be
1:58:47tolerated in society, you know, and all
1:58:49the criminal. There's no room in this
1:58:52world for criminals. People that want to
1:58:54hurt you or, you know, rob you. There's
1:58:56just no room for that. There's just no
1:58:58room in the world anymore. I'm surprised
1:59:00that we we haven't evolved into a more
1:59:02peaceful society. You know, it's
1:59:04unbelievable. You guys got to vote Mala
1:59:072028.
1:59:09Not the job for me.
1:59:11I feel like you'd be a good president.
1:59:13We'd at least have really good
1:59:14infrastructure and housing. Good
1:59:15negotiations,
1:59:17too. Department of HUD. Yeah. I mean,
1:59:20listen, affordable I believe in
1:59:21everything. I believe in affordable
1:59:22housing. I believe in helping people and
1:59:25it makes the world a better place. But
1:59:28the people that don't want to act right,
1:59:30there's no room for them in society. I'm
1:59:32sorry. You know, how many millions of
1:59:34people are in jails? It's ridiculous.
1:59:36And why are they there, you know, and
1:59:39how did they grow up? And how did they
1:59:41get there? We need to change our whole
1:59:43society and eventually all the cuckoo
1:59:46and bad people will just eventually die
1:59:48off from hopefully natural causes or
1:59:50whatever or kill each other and and then
1:59:52you just have good people left in the
1:59:53world. I don't know. It's I don't know.
1:59:56I don't know the answer, but maybe you
1:59:58guys do. Maybe one day. You're a new
2:00:01generation. We'll work on it. You're the
2:00:02new generation. AI will figure it out.
2:00:04AI. Guys, thank you so much for
2:00:06watching. It really means a lot. Thank
2:00:08you, Ben, for inviting us in your house.
2:00:11And until next time, see you guys.

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